| Sandeep Yadav stars for VPPN
HYDERABAD: Striker Sandeep Yadav did the star turn for Vignan Prabodananda Prashanti Niketan (VPPN) in its emphatic 6-1 win over Wesley High School in the fourth inter-school hockey tournament for the V. Purushotham Memorial Trophy on Wednesday. Sandeep scored four goals including a hat-trick striking in the 20th, 24th, 40th and 44th minutes while Jaswanth and Mohan scored one goal apiece to complete the tally for the winner. In another match, Moulana Azad Memorial School defeated CRPF (Hakimpet) 6-0. Khaleel Hussain struck a brace in the first-half while Subhan Bin Osman netted one to give MAZHA a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break. On resumption, MAZMS slammed in three more goals through Mohd. Shanawaz (2) and Wajeed Khan (1). Match drawn State Bank of Hyderabad and South Central Railway were locked in a goalless draw in the SAAP Premier League prize money football championship here.
Is this the season the Lake's late show doesn't lack?
Games are under way across the state in boys' hockey. Before we know it, we'll be talking about that annual winter storm that seems to strike the area each year during tournament time. But with the season still young, here are a few story lines and notes to get you going. By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune Last update: November 27, 2007 – 4:56 PM .
BCS could expand at-large pool
The Bowl Championship Series will expand the pool of teams eligible for at-large bids if it's faced with a shortage of qualified contenders when the season is over. BCS rules state a team must have at least nine victories and finish in the top 14 of the final standings to qualify for an at-large bid to one of the five marquee bowl games. But because no conference can have more than two teams, including its champion, in the BCS, officials were facing the possibility of not having enough eligible teams to fill the 10 spots this season. The BCS announced Tuesday that if fewer than 10 of the top 14 teams in the standings are eligible for an at-large bid, the qualifying standard will extend to the top 18. If enough teams are still not available, the standard would be pushed back four spots until the pool is big enough to fill all the bowls.
'Female Yao'
Wei Wei, the sizable center of the Guangzhou women's basketball team, caused quite a stir at the 6th Chinese City Games. Her performance earned her a reputation as a "female Yao Ming". Although her team failed to top the podium last week after losing to defending champion Nanjing 80-72, plenty of observers took notice of the towering talent. The 18-year-old Wei is 2.07m tall, three centimetres taller than Zheng Haixia, the enormous centre who helped the national women's basketball team win the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. "Other than Wei Wei, we haven't found any other potential stars," said Gong Luming, former head coach of the Chinese women's national basketball team. Standing at 2.07 metres, Wei Wei will be a scene in the WNBA if she realises her dream of playing in the world's top women's basketball league.
Gogoi now rushes into award for cricketers
Two days ago, as Team India defeated Pakistan in the first one-day international cricket match at the Nehru Stadium here, the first thing that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi did was to declare a cash award of Rs 1 lakh to each of the Indian team members. What is surprising is that the Assam Government is yet to disburse cash awards that Gogoi had announced for each of the 148 players from Assam who had won medals in the 33rd National Games held here in February. Assam had won 38 gold, 53 silver and 27 bronze medals in the National Games and became the overall third best team, Gogoi had announced Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh each for the gold, silver and bronze medallists, respectively, in individual events. For team events, the awards announced were Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh.
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