Ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh continued his goal-scoring spree as he scored a hat-trick to guide favourites India to a convincing 6-2 win over France in an enthralling match of the men's hockey Olympic Qualification tournament on Tuesday.
It was India's third consecutive win.
India earned four penalty corners in the match and Sandeep (9th minute, 30th, 37th) converted two of them while scoring his third from a penalty stroke.Shivendra Singh (4th), S V Sunil (39th) and Tushar Khandker (62nd) score the other three goals for the home team, while Lucas Sevestre (35th) and Fabien Magner (57th) converted two penalty corners for the French team.
By virtue of two today's three goals, Sandeep has moved to the top of the goal-scorers tally with seven strikes.With this win, India moved to the top of the men's pool with nine points from three matches while France dropped to the third spot on goal-difference even though they have same six points as second-placed Canada.
India will play 14th-ranked Canada in a crucial round-robin match on Wednesday, while France (18th ranked) will be up against a lowly Italy.Even though the 10th ranked Indians were by far the better team on display today, they lacked co-ordination in the midfield and were guilty of losing possession of the ball in search of quick attacks.The Indians also missed plenty of scoring chances and wasted two penalty corners out of the four they got in the match.
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Indian women improved their chances of qualifying for the London Olympics as they registered their second win of the hockey qualifiers on Tuesday by beating a lowly Poland 3-0.
Though India failed to convert the two penalty corners they got, the forwards looked in full flow, handing Poland their third straight loss of the tournament. Ritu Rani opened India's account in the 14th minute, with Rani Rampal and Poonam Rani consolidating the lead in the 36th and 62nd minute of the match.
Poland's strategy of crowding the Indian forwards in the opening exchanges induced a few mistakes in the striking circle. The deadlock was broken by a crafty one-two between Poonam Rani and Ritu Rani in the 14th minute of the game, with the final pass selling a dummy to Polish goalkeeper and leaving Ritu with a simple tap into the open goal.
The remaining 21 minutes of the first half saw India creating many chances but they could neither score nor create a penalty corner (PC). During that period, Poland didn't play badly either, just that they kept losing possession just before entering India's 25-yard line.
India got a cushion in the opening minute of second half through Rani Rampal's solo effort from the right of Poland's baseline. She beat three defenders before lifting the ball over the goal-line to trigger celebrations. India were all over Poland in the next 10 minutes, creating two PCs but failing to convert those into goals.
Poland then secured three back-to-back PCs in the 46th minute, but some shoddy planning, faulty stopping and an alert Yogita Bali in the Indian goal kept them from scoring.
India's third goal came in the 62nd minute through Poonam Rani. Deepika curved in from the left of Polish baseline before foxing two defenders to pass the ball to Poonam who did the finishing job.
Poland got one last chance of pulling a goal back in the 70th minute, when the umpire awarded them with their fifth PC of the match. However, there was no gas left in the Polish tank by then as the attempt was easily thwarted by an alert Indian defence.
India now have seven points from three games, which is the same as South Africa. However, a goal difference of +6 gives India an edge over the South African team (+3).
In other matches in the women’s section of the qualifiers on Tuesday, South Africa were held to a 1-1 draw by Italy while Ukraine thumped Canada 5-2.
India will next play South Africa on Wednesday, with the winner to go clear on top of the standings.
Source: ibnlive
India plummeted to their second successive defeat in the Commonwealth Bank ODI series Down Under as a casual effort saw them lose to Sri Lanka by 51 runs in Brisbane. The result means India must not only win both their remaining matches, but they will also be dependent on the other results to secure their spot in the best-of-three final.
The loss seemed inevitable after India lost their top three batsmen with just 54 runs on the board while chasing a target of 290 set by the Sri Lanka. Two of those wickets went to man-of-the-match Nuwan Kulasekara who benefitted from sticking to the basics of good line and length.
Source:cricket.yahoo
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed the early loss of wickets for the crushing defeat against Australia in the seventh match of the One-day International tri-series here Sunday.
Dhoni(56) for the third time in the series had to come to India’s rescue after Australia set a stiff target of 288. India lost Gautam Gambhir (5), Sachin Tendulkar (3), Virat Kohli (12) and Rohit Sharma (0) in no time to put the side in a precarious position.
“With that kind of score you needed a brisk start. They got early breakthroughs and that put pressure on us. Our bowlers were affected by the heat, they were cramping so it affected their execution,” Dhoni said in the match presentation.
India were bowled out for just 178 runs giving Australia the top position in the table as well as a bonus point to take it four clear of second placed India.
The dominant forces in tennis and football were honoured on Monday, with Novak Djokovic winning the top individual prize and Barcelona capturing the team trophy at the 2012 Laureus Sports Awards.
The top-ranked Djokovic won sportsman of the year at the ceremony in London, one week after the Serbian triumphed at the Australian Open to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win three Grand Slam titles in a row.
He's already targeting a fourth at the French Open in Paris in June. "I have to stay optimistic, believe in what I can do, believe in my abilities and believe that I can win on all surfaces," Djokovic said. "I have proven on numerous occasions that I can really be one of the candidates to win every Grand Slam on every surface. I need to keep that up. Roland Garros is the one to win this year.
Queensland were 4-111 in their second innings - holding a lead of just three runs - before the heavens opened half an hour into the last session.
Mitchell Marsh (2-14) helped WA launch a stunning counter attack after a Ben Cutting-inspired batting collapse ensured they were dismissed in their first dig for 359 earlier on Wednesday.
The visitors at one stage lost 5-55 after resuming on Wednesday at 4-250.
WA easily earned first innings points but would have been disappointed to only hold a 108-run overall lead after sitting pretty at 2-234 on Tuesday.
Queensland quick Cutting (5-99) - in his first Shield game since missing two months with a side strain - took five of the six WA wickets to fall on Wednesday.
But the Bulls began their second innings disastrously, losing opener Wade Townsend for a duck in the first over.
Townsend - who took four hours to hit 54 in the first innings - lasted only five balls before he was caught behind off ex-Bulls quick Nathan Rimmington (1-16).
Marsh then broke a 53-run second wicket stand between Ryan Broad (40) and Andrew Robinson (30) to have the Bulls reeling at 3-84 - still trailing WA by 24 runs.
Resuming after tea at 3-91, Queensland were dealt another blow when Chris Lynn - first innings top scorer with 80 - was caught behind for a 17-ball duck off Nathan Coulter-Nile (1-39).
Meanwhile, Queensland are sweating on allrounder Michael Neser's fitness after he left the field during WA's first innings with an ankle complaint.
Source: foxsports
Dinesh Chandimal (64) top scored for Sri Lanka, hitting the only fifty of the innings, as others got out failing to build on a start. Tillakratne Dilshan started off quickly, finding the odd boundary but it was a controlled bowling effort and sharp fielding from the Indians that kept the pressure on the batsmen. A prime example of this was the bowling powerplay where they gave away only 11 runs.
Meanwhile, Dilshan moved on to 48 runs and was nearing a well deserved fifty when he tried breaking the shackles but in his attempt to cut Jadeja towards point was caught by Virat Kohli.
Similar was the fate of Chandimal when he charged down the track to be stumped by Dhoni off Ashwin’s bowling.
Sachin Tendulkar's aim to score his hundredth international ton may have to wait as he may be rested for the upcoming one-day international match against Sri Lanka in Perth.The move comes as a part of India's rotation policy to rest either of the top three batsmen at some point during the triangular series, The Age reports.Tendulkar has been stranded on 99 international centuries for almost 11 months now, with the pressure building on him as each chance passes him by.Virender Sehwag, who was rested from the opening one-dayer and will return for the Perth match, said the rotation policy would ensure players remained as fresh as possible following a hectic tour of Australia.
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