India file

Azhar still optimisticCHENNAI: Mohammad Azharuddin today expressed confidence that he would be recalled to assist the National team. I a...

Azhar still optimistic
CHENNAI: Mohammad Azharuddin today expressed confidence that he would be recalled to assist the National team. 8220;I am very optimistic on my getting back into the Indian team. I have confidence in my ability and I do not see why I should not get a chance to play for India again,8221; Azharuddin told reporters during the Hyderabad-Tamil Nadu One-day match here. Asked to comment on the performance of the Indian team Down Under, Azharuddin said, 8220;It is not fair on my part to talk on this. It is not in my character to criticise others.8221;

North, Central win
CHENNAI: North Zone and Central Zone won their matches against South and East on the opening day of the C K Nayudu Trophy inter-zonal u-19 cricket limited overs matches here on Sunday.

Brief scores: East Zone 155 in 47.4 overs Arindam Das 34, Mahendra Dhani 37, Shalabh Srivastava 2-28, Anup Dave 2-27, Sameer Khare 2-23 lost to Central Zone 156-4 in 45.3 overs Parvinder Singh 73, Vineet Saxena 44, MihirDiwakar 2-23.

South Zone 224 in 49.5 overs 206 Avinash Pai 76, R Satish 73; Amit Suman 2-37, Amit Uniyal 3-41, Ishan Ganda 2-45 lost to North Zone 225-2 in 47.2 overs Ravneeth Rickey 87 n.o, Gautam Gambhir 85 n.o.

Arun in quarters
CHENNAI: National under-14 champion R Arun Prakash of Tamil Nadu saved set points and break points at will which broke Shivsankar8217;s Karnataka spirit as the latter squandered six set points in the first set which proved decisive. Arun8217;s creditable 7-6 10, 6-4 victory over a higher ranked player enabled him to reach the quarter-finals of the Indian Oil-Servo Millennium Tennis Tournament at the KTC courts here on Sunday.

In the only other match of the day, Manoj Mahadevan TN was made to work hard for his 7-5 1-6 6-2 victory over P Ravishankar TN.

Beatson best
CHENNAI: In the CSI-Y Young Riders International Show Jumping Competition Juniors-Individual under 21 years held at the Mohite Stadium OTA Chennai, New Zealands Sam Beatson beat allcomers handsomely. Beatson rode so flawlessly across the two rounds and cleared all the 20 hurdles without so much as dislodging a single pole! Course designer, Col GM Khan had even set up a triple combination of fences which competitors referred to whimsically as the triple whammy. But Beatsons bested it by not logging even log a single penalty.

8212; Express News Service