The Morung ExpressSPORTSSunday13 February 201110 Dimapur

SALT LAKE CITY(UTAH), FEBRUARY 12 (AFP): The NBA's Utah Jazz, playing without Jerry Sloan at the helm as head coach for the first time in more than 22 years, fell to Phoenix 95-83.

Sloan was a fixture on the Jazz bench for 26 years and was in his 23rd season as the head coach -- the longest active tenure in major US pro sports -- until he sudden-ly stepped down on Thursday. The move came one day after Sloan met with Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor after a 91-86 home loss to Chicago.

At half-time of that game, Jazz player Deron Williams clashed with Sloan, but the star guard denied that he issued any "him or me" ultimatum to the club. "May-be arguing was the last straw, so there I am, guilty of that," Williams said. "But I think anybody who believes I could force Coach Sloan to resign is crazy.

"He's stronger than that and, person-ally, if I said that to him, he'd probably go tell me to go do something." Sloan said only that he had lost the energy to coach with the intensity he believes the job requires.

Williams received enthusiastic ap-plause when he was introduced before Friday's game, but there were also a smat-tering of boos in the crowd. He had been critical of Sloan in the past over the coach's practice and study demands. One of Sloan's best-known former players, Hall of Famer Karl Malone, made it clear before the game that he had no time for critics of Sloan and his "old school" tactics, whether they were players or pundits.

"It's like saying the game passed Phil Jackson by," Malone said, comparing Sloan

Jazz open post-Sloan NBA era with defeatMUMBAI, FEBRUARY 12 (TNN): It's a little dif-ficult to understand Lean-der Paes. One might try to figure him out with the help of numbers. The man's 37 years old. He turned pro in 1991, making this year his 20th in international ten-nis. He has 12 Grand Slams to his name, 6 in men's dou-bles and 6 in mixed doubles.

Remind him of these fig-ures and he laughs. Instead, he prefers to talk about karma and getting the timing right.

He thinks karma brought Mahesh Bhupathi and him back together again after nine years to team up first for the Chennai open and then the Australian Open. It might just lead them to the red surface of the French Open, the next slam on the calendar, as well. "We've just signed up to play three more tourna-ments together, the Dubai Open, the Palm Springs and Miami. Of course there's the Davis Cup," he says. "I am sure we'll play a lot more together. If we are winning and we are enjoying, we'll take it from there. We've won the French Open twice before so it'll be interesting

to play there and see how it goes."

He claims reuniting with his former partner happened at the right time. "I think it was a good time to get back together, even though it may have taken nine years," he says.

In those nine years, Paes admits, the two of them have tried to reunite at least five times. "A lot of my family, coaches and friends have been trying to get us together for years. In fact, a lot of people think we have never tried before. But really, we have. In the last nine years, there have been at least five times that we've tried," he says.

"Every time he would ask me to play, I've done well with a partner. If you are winning a Grand Slam with someone, it's tough to break that team. Every time I've asked him, he would be doing well with his partner. The timing in life is very important. Over the years, we've both matured a lot, we've both grown as indi-viduals. I have to commend Mahesh for a great run at the Australian Open. Our coming together now is re-

ally karma. It's like life com-ing a full circle."

Life, he says, has been good to him and he has thor-oughly enjoyed the journey so far. This year there's more to look forward to. He's acting in a movie. His daughter Aiyana is growing up and of course there's the tennis.

"It's been a great ride. There have been lots of ups and downs. I have enjoyed the journey more than just the victories. For me, the euphoria of winning a tro-phy or a tournament lasts for about 12 hours but the journey to get there has taken 37 years of dedica-tion. That's something I en-joy more," he says. "And ev-erything I do there's a lot of passion involved. So if I am acting, I want to give me my best shot."

His partner Bhupathi too has a packed calendar this year. He's taking to acting as well. The tennis schedule is busy and he is tying the knot with actress Lara Dutta in Goa on Feb-ruary 19. Paes is going to be there to wish the couple well. Karma, after all, brings two people together.

'It's good to be back with Bhupathi'to the veteran Lakers coach. "Old school worked. The players (have) got to buy into the system."

Malone, who lives in Louisiana, had made plans to attend Friday's game be-cause his children had a school break. "We had planned this trip and lo and behold I didn't know all this would happen," Malo-ne said of Sloan's resignation. "I don't know the details, but the way things appeared to have happened wasn't good." And Malone said he didn't think Sloan, 68, would have gone voluntarily.

"The guy I know and love, he don't quit or nothing," Malone said. The Suns' victory spoiled Ty Corbin's debut as Jazz coach.

Steve Nash had 18 points and 10 assists to lift Phoenix, who improved to 26-25.

Corbin, who played for the Jazz in the 1990s and had been an assistant coach since 2004, received a warm ovation as he took his place at the Utah bench, although signs lamenting Sloan's departure, such as "Come Home Sloan", dotted the stands.

Williams and CJ Miles scored 19 points apiece, but the Jazz have now lost 11 of their last 15. Utah led 56-44 at half-time, but Phoenix stormed back in the third quarter, when Robin Lopez had 11 points and five rebounds. The Suns outscored the Jazz 51-27 in the second half.

The Jazz also lost Andrei Kirilenko to a twisted right ankle in the second quar-ter. His departure left them with just nine healthy players. Raja Bell was side-lined by a strained calf and Ronnie Price wasn't in uniform because of a sprained toe. Francisco Elson played with inflam-mation in a knee.

Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap (24) goes for a shot against Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez (15) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, February 11, in Salt Lake City. The Suns won 95-83. (AP Photo)

Tiger Woods has McIlroy in his sights

DUBAI, FEBRUARY 12 (AFP): Tiger Woods was look-ing to close in on leader Rory McIlroy in the third round of the Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday with gusting winds complicating the job on hand for both men. The 35-year-old American, who last won 15 months ago in Australia, reached the halfway stage in a tie for fifth place four strokes behind the 21-year-old Ulsterman who was on 11 under par.

Woods had his best round of the year to date on Friday with a bogey-free, six under 66 and firmly stated he had played himself "right back in the tournament." Aware of the forecast for testing conditions at the weekend on the desert course, Woods said: "If it gets breezy around here with the greens as firm as they are getting, it's going to be a bit of a test." McIlroy, whose last, and so far only, European Tour victory came here two years ago, said that he was reaping dividends with his new gameplan with has him being more patient and less gung-ho on the course. With Woods and the top two players in the world, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, all still in contention, the Irishman has a tough task before him, but he insists that will not worry him.

"I've never experienced being in contention with Ti-ger up around the top of the leaderboard so I don't really know what will happen," he said. "I don't mind who plays well over the weekend or who shoots what score as long as I go out and shoot the numbers that I want to, then that's the most important thing." Wedged in between McIlroy and Woods at the top of the leaderboard are back-to-form Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Thomas Aiken of South Africa who are both on 10 under with Steve Webster of England a further shot back. Among the early starters on Saturday, Ra-phael Jacquelin of France stood out with birdies and the third and fourth followed by a hole-in-one at the seventh to get to seven under for the tournament around the turn.

Tiger Woods plays a ball out of a bunker on 8th hole during the third round of Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sat-urday February 12. (AP Photo)

PARIS, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Belgian Kim Clijsters gained the WTA number one ranking for the third time in her ca-reer with a 6-3, 6-0 quarter-final win over Australian Jelena Dokic at the Paris Indoor event.

Clijsters, a four-time Grand Slam winner, will take over the number one position from the Dane Caroline Wozniacki on Monday, ending the contro-versy of top-ranked players earning the spot without winning a major title.

Wozniacki had followed Dinara Safina and Jele-na Jankovic as a number one without a Grand Slam crown dating to 2008. “I’m very happy to be number one again,” said Clijsters, a mother of one, who quit the game in 2007 to have a child and then returned to win 2009 and 2010 US Opens and the Australian title a fortnight ago.

“I hope I can also win the tournament maybe.” The experienced Clijsters, who first moved into the top spot in 2003 and did it again in 2006, said the mo-ment was “a nice feeling but it doesn’t change anything for me personally.”

Clijsters regains top ranking

Belgium's Kim Clijsters holds the trophy as she celebrates her win against Australia's Jelena Dokic during the Paris Open tennis tournament at Coubertin stadium in Paris on February 11. Clijsters of Belgium secured the No. 1 ranking by defeating Jelena Dokic of Australia 6-3, 6-0 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Open Gaz de France. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI, FEBRU-ARY 12 (AGENCIES): Shekhar Deorukhkar, an aide of then Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee (OC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi, was on Sat-urday brought before a spe-cial court here and sent to five days in remand of Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an official said.

"He was presented before the magistrate in the court and has been sent to five of days in CBI remand," informed CBI Deputy Inspector General Vinita Thakur. Deorukh-kar was arrested on Friday afternoon from Pune and was brought to the capital on transit remand.

The CWG were held in

Delhi October 3-14, 2010, but were marred by allega-tions of massive financial irregularities and corrup-tion. Kalmadi was ques-tioned by the CBI on Janu-ary 5 and his premises in Delhi, Pune and Mumbai were searched by the in-vestigative agency.

Three close aides of Kalmadi - TS Darbari,

the joint director general (revenue, marketing and chairman secretariat) in the OC, and Sanjay Ma-hendroo, the deputy direc-tor general (marketing) - were arrested on Novem-ber 15, 2010, while M Jay-achandran, joint director (finance), was arrested on November 21.

But even after the stip-

ulated 60 days, the investi-gative agency failed to file a charge sheet against them. So, Darbari was released on January 14, Mahendroo on January 15 and Jayachan-dran was let off on January 19. Kalmadi and OC secre-tary general Lalit Bhanot were sacked on January 24 from their posts following the allegations.

Kalmadi aide sent to five-day CBI custody

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene will lead new en-trants Kochi to the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the franchise is trying to persuade Sourav Ganguly to join the team's think-tank.

Kochi chairman Mukesh Pa-tel said Jayawardene will lead the team in its debut season. The fran-chise bought the former Sri Lankan skipper for $1.5 million in January.

"We are happy to have Mahela. He is a great leader and getting him was on top of our priority list. I am sure we will have a great team un-der him," Patel said, adding that the franchise would soon finalise the name for the team and its logo.

"As for Ganguly, he is an experi-enced player and he will be an asset to the team in any capacity. We are still

open to have him in a role that would help us in building the team for future. Ideally, we would like to see him men-toring the young players," said Patel.

Asked why the franchise want-ed to buy Ganguly out of auction, Patel said the team's strategy was not formulated by the time of auc-tion and when the team manage-ment thought of getting Ganguly as player, the IPL Governing Council (GC) put its foot down citing rules.

"During the players auction there was no plan to buy him. But later we thought we could use his experience. Unfortunately our re-quest was turned down by the GC. We are fine with it, but his presence as a player would have made a big difference to the team."

The 45-year-old businessman from Gujarat also dismissed allega-

tions that the government is prob-ing illegal funding of the franchise.

"We are open to any kind of in-vestigation. In the past, too, we co-operated with the government and will continue to do so. I can assure everyone that everything is clean. At the end of the day all our share-holders are businessmen and they know how to handle it," he said.

Patel also distanced the fran-chise from Harshad Mehta, a senior partner of Rosy Blue Group. Mehta has been reportedly served a notice by the government for tax evasion.

"Mr. Mehta is not associated with Kochi. He is just a partner in Rosy Blue, which is one of the pro-moters of the franchise," said Patel.

Patel also informed that they will be recruiting domestic players from Kerala and the neighbouring

states. "We have started our re-cruitment process and our coach Jeff Lawson is on a talent hunt. There is a lot of talent in Kerala and Kochi IPL will give them the per-fect platform," he said.

Asked if they are facing any problem in recruiting players from its catchment areas in the neigh-bouring states, since they have their own IPL teams, Patel said: "Haven't come across any problem. But if we do, we will surely take up the matter with the Governing Council."

At a time when the teams are struggling to break even, Mehta sees a bright future for the franchise. "This is a long time investment. We have to set long-term goals. It is like any other business and if we do well I have no doubt that we can rake in profits soon," he said.

Kochi want Ganguly to join think-tank, name Jayawardene captain

Rooney special sinks CityMAGICAL LATE GOAL SEALS 2-1 SUCCESS FOR UNITED

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, center right, scores the winning goal with an overhead kick against Manchester City during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England on February 12. (AP Photo)

MANCHESTER, FEB-RUARY 12 (AP): Wayne Rooney struck a spectacu-lar overhead kick for Man-chester United to beat rival Manchester City 2-1 at Old Trafford and strengthen its grip at the top of the Pre-

mier League. With his back to goal, England striker Rooney met a right-wing cross from Nani after 77 minutes with a perfectly-timed right-foot strike that flew into the top corner as City goalkeeper Joe Hart

stood motionless.Asked if it was his best

ever goal, Rooney told Sky Sports later: "I think so, yeah. I saw it coming over and I thought why not? Nine times out of 10 they go into the stand." United

manager Alex Ferguson said he had never seen a bet-ter goal at Old Trafford.

"It was stunning," Fer-guson said. "We've had some fantastic goals here but in terms of execution... you'll never see that."

Nani had given Man United a 40th-minute lead when he controlled Ryan Giggs' first-time pass be-fore rolling a confident fin-ish past Hart.

City equalized after 64 minutes when Shaun

Wright-Phillips crossed for fellow substitute Edin Dzeko, whose shot went in off David Silva's back.

City deserved to be level with United, having more than held its own for most of the contest. Ferguson sprung a surprise before kickoff by leaving top scor-er Dimitar Berbatov on the bench, and playing Rooney on his own up front.

City counterpart Ro-berto Mancini also went for a lone striker in ex-United forward Carlos Tevez and his side should have been ahead after only three min-utes when Tevez played in Silva, who shot inches wide of the far post from a close, but tight, angle.

Yaya Toure also threat-ened with a far-post header from a Gareth Barry free-kick, but, by the half-hour mark, Nani was starting to assert his influence and a Darren Fletcher header, from Giggs' cross, forced Hart into his first save of the game with 33 minutes gone.

Nani's goal, after Rooney had won an aerial challenge in midfield, sent United in at halftime with a 1-0 lead, but City started the second half in committed fashion with a Tevez run threatening and Silva, and Tevez again, shooting tamely at Edwin van der Sar. Rooney, though, had the final say with only his fifth league goal of the season.