Monday, October 31, 2011

India Under-19 start with a win against Turkmenistan

The India Under-19 boys started their AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers in Group C with a 3-1 win against Turkmenistan at the Takhti Stadium in Tehran tonight.

Turkmenistan had the better start into the game, but after their initial burst it was the young Indians who took charge of the game. Brandon Fernandes and Sehnaj Singh took control in midfield and with Holicharan Narzary and Captain Malswamfela interchanging, the Turkmenistan defence was stretched a lot.

The first goal for India came in the 39th minute. Brandon Fernandes, who with his deft touches had always kept the rival defence guessing, got past Gurt Podarov with a sudden burst of speed on the right side. Caught on the wrong foot, Podarov, all in desperation had little option but to bring Brandon down inside the box only to be given marching orders. Brandon gleefully converted from the spot to put India in the lead. It stayed 1-0 for India at the breather.

After the break against the run of play Myradov equalised for for Turkmenistan in the 56th minute. But it didn't last long as four minutes later, Malswamfela side-stepped two defenders before blasting it in to give India a 2-1 lead.

India U-19 head coach Colm Toal made a double substitution – Johnychand Singh coming in place of Brandon Fernandes and Prabir Das replacing Pronay Halder -- and the fresh legs sealed the game for India. In the 82nd minute, Prabir tapped in India's third goal after Holicharan Narzary had moved past a couple of defenders down the left flank. But as a late dampener for India, birthday-boy Anto Xavier was red-carded in the 86th minute.

India next play Iran on November 2 in what could be a crucial match in deciding India's fate in the qualifiers, while in today's other match Uzbekistan U-19 defeated Pakistan U-19 3-0.


India Under-19: 23-Ravi Kumar; 14-Narayan Das, 4-Bikramjit Singh, 3-Sonu, 16-Pritam Kotal; 12-Brandon Fernandes (67' 20-Johnychand Singh), 22-Anto Xavier, 9-Sehnaj Singh, 8-Pronay Halder (69' 7-Prabir Das); 11-Holicharan Narzary, 13-Malswamfela [C] (85' 24-Sunny)
Unused Substitutes: 21-Albino Giovanni Gomes, 26-Mohammad Moniruzzaman Ansari, 2-Pawan Kumar, 5-Arijeet Singh, 6-Akashdeep Singh, 10-Sumeet Passi, 15-Edwin Gosula, 17-Rajinder Kumar, 33-Tirthankar Sarkar

Marouane Chamakh Striker Out Of Champions League Clash With Knee Injury.

Marouane Chamakh has been ruled out of Arsenal's UEFA Champions League clash with Marseille on Tuesday and the 27-year-old striker is likely to be replaced on the bench for the Group F clash by Park Chu-Young after suffering a knee injury to a arsenal boss Arsene Wenger now faces an anxious wait to see how long the Morocco striker is sidelined.

The Chamakh is injured, said Wenger he has a knee problem and is not involved and joining the promising South Korean on the bench will be Thomas Vermaelen as he eases himself back to full fitness.

The Belgian defender suffered a minor calf strain on his return against Bolton and featured late on as a substitute in Arsenal's 5-3 mauling of Chelsea on Saturday and the wenger is also able to welcome back Carl Jenkinson who was named in the squad alongside his defensive partner he added, They will both be available and in the squad tomorrow and i have not picked the team yet so I don't know if they are fit enough to start are they fit enough to play? Yes, of course for a yossi Benayoun is also back in the squad.

International career for a Chamakh is a Moroccan international at the senior level in prior to representing Morocco he played for the under-19 team of France and made his debut on 12 February 2003 in a friendly match against the Czech Republic to that was his only appearance with the team in qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Chamakh scored 3 goals and One of his goals during qualification occurred on 8 October 2010 against Tunisia for he appeared in only 4 matches and scored no goals as Morocco failed to qualify for both the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.After going scoreless for 6 months at international level, on 4 June 2011, Chamakh scored the second goal in a 4–0 win over Algeria in qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Abu Dhabi GP 2011 - Yas Marina Circuit (11-13 November)



2011 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

FRI 11 NOVEMBER 2011
PRACTICE 1RESULTS
PRACTICE 2RESULTs
SAT 12 NOVEMBER 2011
PRACTICE 3RESULTS
QUALIFYINGRESULTS
SUN 13 NOVEMBER 2011
RACERESULTS

ALL TIMES ARE GMT (+4)


Race Date:13 Nov 2011
Number of Laps:55
Circuit Length:5.554 km
Race Distance:305.355 km
Lap Record:1:40.279 - S Vettel (2009)


The Yas Marina Circuit is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, about 30 minutes from the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. Yas Marina is the second Formula One track in the Middle East, with the first being in Bahrain. A two day GP2 Asia Series test was held to officially open the circuit, which was held a week before the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It also hosted the opening event for the Australian V8 Supercars series, the Yas V8 400, in February 2010.

Design

Designed as an Arabian version of Monaco, the twenty-one corners twists through the man made island off the Abu Dhabi coast, passing by the marina and through the Yas Marina Hotel designed and conceived of by New York based architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, Asymptote Architecture, and winding its way through sand dunes, with several long straights and tight corners.
The marina-based development includes a theme park, a water park, as well as residential areas, hotels and beaches.
The circuit has five grandstand areas (Main Grandstand, West Grandstand, North Grandstand, South Grandstand and Marina Grandstand (aka Support) and part of its pit lane exit runs underneath the track. It also houses a team building behind the pit building, Media Center, Dragster Track, VIP Tower and Ferrari World Theme Park. Additionally, one of the gravel traps runs underneath the West grandstand.
The circuit has few potential overtaking spots. From turns 2, 3, 4 down to 5 will be a good place as a car which has good speed out of Turn 4 could get beside a fellow driver and outbrake them. After turn 7 the second longest straight on the Formula One calendar (after the Korean GP) is ended with a heavy braking chicane at turn 8. Finally the long curve down to turn 11 as the potential for overtaking. The pit exit of circuit runs under the actual track through a tunnel. Also, part of the track runs through one of the on site hotels.
Seating Capacity – 41,093
Area – 161.9 ha
Length – 5.5 km

Construction

The circuit was built by main contractor Cebarco-WCT WLL, under contract from developer Aldar Properties. Among the sub-contractors involved were KOH AH HING from Malaysia (Structural contractor), as well as specialised subcontractors; Voltas (MEP), PKE-Siemens (MEP), Able-Middle East (Earthworks), Hamilton International (Interior), Bau Bickhardt (Track) and Unger Steel (Steel structure).
The circuit was constructed with a permanent lighting system provided by Musco Lighting, similar to that also installed at the Losail Circuit in Qatar. Yas Marina Circuit is the largest permanent sports venue lighting project in the world; previously that title was held by Losail.
The surface of the track is made of Graywacke aggregate, shipped to Abu Dhabi from Bayston Hill quarry in Shropshire, England. The surface material is highly acclaimed by circuit bosses and Formula 1 drivers for the high level of grip it offers. The same aggregate material is used at the Bahrain International Circuit for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
On 7 October 2009, the circuit was granted final approval to hold Formula One races by the FIA. Bruno Senna was the first driver to complete a test run on the circuit.

Reception

After the first practice sessions at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the circuit was welcomed by the drivers, with Nico Rosberg commenting that every corner was 'unique', while double World Champion Fernando Alonso echoed his sentiments, stating that it was enjoyable because there was always something to do. Force India's Adrian Sutil rated the circuit as being better than Formula One's other night race in Singapore as he felt there was too much light at Marina Bay.
Not all of the drivers were complimentary, with Giancarlo Fisichella expressing a particular dislike of the pit exit, which dips under the main circuit by way of a tunnel. Although the pit exit remained free of incidents for the early practice sessions, Fisichella claimed that it was both very difficult and dangerous.
The circuit came under much criticism from drivers following the 2010 race for a lack of suitable overtaking opportunites, despite the lack of high speed corners, which cause the cars to spread out somewhat. Fernando Alonso was unable to pass Vitaly Petrov for much of the race, with Mark Webber also remaining behind Alonso. The organisers were urged to modify the circuit for the 2011 race, in order to create more legitimate overtaking opportunities. While initially agreeing to make changes, organizers have since postponed any changes following the massive increase in overtaking seen in the 2011 Formula One season caused by new tyre strategies and the DRS & KERS systems.

2010 Abu Dhabi GP Results:
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15Germany Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault551:39:36.837125
22United Kingdom Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes55+10.162218
31United Kingdom Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes55+11.047415
44Germany Nico RosbergMercedes55+30.747912
511Poland Robert KubicaRenault55+39.0261110
612Russia Vitaly PetrovRenault55+43.520108
78Spain Fernando AlonsoFerrari55+43.79736
86Australia Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault55+44.24354
917Spain Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari55+50.201172
107Brazil Felipe MassaFerrari55+50.86861
1122Germany Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber-Ferrari55+51.55114
129Brazil Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth55+57.6867
1314Germany Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes55+58.32513
1423Japan Kamui KobayashiBMW Sauber-Ferrari55+59.55812
1516Switzerland Sébastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari55+1:03.17818
1610Germany Nico HülkenbergWilliams-Cosworth55+1:04.76315
1719Finland Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth54+1 Lap20
1825Brazil Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth53+2 Laps22
1921Brazil Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth53+2 Laps23
2020Austria Christian KlienHRT-Cosworth53+2 Laps24
2118Italy Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth51Rear wing19
Ret24Germany Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth43Gearbox21
Ret3Germany Michael SchumacherMercedes0Collision8
Ret15Italy Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes0Collision16