UNMIN chopper crash

Ten persons were killed when a helicopter of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) crashed today in ward no. 9, Bhwansa, of Bethan VDC in Ramechhap district. Police said there were 12 persons, including the crew, aboard the chopper.The 301 MI-8 chopper was carrying UN staff who had gone to Jutpani of Chitwan district and Dudhauli of Sindhuli district for inspecting the Maoist People’s Liberation army camps there.While returning to Kathmandu, it hit a hill slope at Ramechhap’s Ghyang Danda and crashed at Bhwansa.Ramechhap deputy superintendent of police Khinu Prasad Acharya said that 10 bodies were retrieved from the crash site till this evening.He added that most of the bodies were mangled and unrecognisable.

The chopper had caught fire before crashing, he added.Bethan VDC resident Uttam Chalise said he saw the white helicopter burst into flames and crash to the ground at Bhwansa.Chalise said a storm was blowing and that it was raining heavily, adding that lightning also had struck at the time of the crash. Some 60 persons, including police personnel and locals, are engaged in search operation.

The lashing rain has made their task very difficult. Ramechhap civil aviation authority chief Ramesh Mahat said that radio contact with the chopper was lost three minutes after it took off from Dudhauli of Sindhuli.He said details of the cause of the mishap were not available.

UNMIN’s reactionKATHMANDU: UNMIN confirmed late on Monday night through a press release that the ill-fated helicopter was carrying seven UN personnel and three crew members.It has sent its team by road to the site of the chopper crash to confirm the status of the UNMIN employees on board. Earlier, UNMIN had said that it had lost contact with a Mission helicopter at around 4 pm while the chopper was returning to Kathmandu from the Maoist cantonment site at Sindhuli.It said UNMIN had contact with local authorities at Ramechhap, who advised that a chopper has crashed in the vicinity of the Bethan, that it has been located and that there are deaths.

SOURCE: THT, UNMIN, EKANTIPUR

SA wins the Chittagong TEST

South Africa on brink of victory in Chittagong Test

Chittagong: Dale Steyn claimed 3-4 on Sunday to crush Bangladesh's top order and put South Africa on the brink of an innings victory in the second Test. Robin Peterson claimed the other two wickets as the hosts were reduced to 54-5 following on in the second innings at the end of day three, having been bowled out for 259 in the first innings.

Mushfiqur Rahim (4) and Abdur Razzak (0) will resume Monday, with Bangladesh needing a further 270 runs merely to make South Africa bat again. Bangladesh resumed on Sunday at 60-3 in its first innings, and by the time it had moved to 176-4, the home side looked capable of providing a contest and perhaps even forcing a draw after South Africa's mammoth first innings of 583-7 declared. But from thereon, South Africa's pacemen Makhaya Ntini and Steyn destroyed Bangladesh's resistance, and hospitalized Aftab Ahmed in the process.

Ahmed retired hurt after top edging a pullshot into the gap between helmet and visor, and could not return in either innings thereafter. Shakab Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim put on a 56-run stand after Ahmed's departure, but from thereon Bangladesh collapsed, as Ntini ran through the tail with four quick wickets, all caught behind by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

Ntini finished with 4-25, moving him into outright second on the all-time list of South African Test wicket-takers, ahead of Allan Donald and behind Shaun Pollock. Steyn struck early in the second innings, having Junaid Siddique out for a duck, fishing at a ball outside off stump and caught behind. Tamim Iqbal scored just 9 runs from 57 deliveries before he went, attempting some belated aggression but holing out to Steyn at mid-on off the bowling of Peterson.

Shahriar Nafees was the pick of a poor bunch among Bangladesh's batsmen with 69 in the first innings and 31 in the second, but he went in the same over, caught at slip. Short-pitched deliveries by Steyn then claimed captain Mohammad Ashraful (4) caught behind and Al Hasan (2) at short leg. On day two, South Africa's openers Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie set a Test opening partnership record of 415, topping the previous mark set in 1956 by India's Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy.

South Africa won the opening Test of the two-Test series by five wickets.

INDIA won the first final at SYDNEY

CB Series: Indians take useful 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals series

Sydney: Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored his 42nd ODI century to lead India to a comfortable six-wicket win over Australia in the first tri-series final Sunday.

Man-of-the-match Tendulkar's unbeaten 117 was his first one-day hundred in 39 matches in Australia. ''I'm not sure why it took so long, but the timing was right tonight,'' Tendulkar said after the visitors scored 242-4 in reply to Australia's 239-8, reaching the target with 25 balls to spare.

It was India's first one-day win over Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 12 matches.

Rohit Sharma added 66 runs for India, which will take its 1-0 lead into the second match Tuesday at the Gabba in Brisbane. A third match, if necessary, is scheduled for Friday in Adelaide. Tendulkar and 20-year-old Sharma put on a 123-run fourth-wicket stand.

''We were probably 30 to 40 runs short of what we needed,'' said Australia captain Ricky Ponting. ''We had a couple of close shaves with Sachin early on, but then he got into his groove and played a super innings.'' Earlier, India spinner Harbhajan Singh took the vital wickets of his two antagonists _ Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. Australia won the toss and slipped to 24-3 in the sixth over, before Hayden and Symonds revived the innings with a 100-run partnership in 103 balls.

Symonds (31) was caught at deep midwicket, prompting Harbhajan to set off on one of his trademark gallops around the field to send off Symonds, who accused the Indian of making racist remarks during the second test in Sydney last month. The Indian offspinner then claimed Hayden (82), who was batting well and looked set for a century, when the Australian opener top-edged a sweep. Last week, Hayden was reprimanded for calling Harbhajan an ''obnoxious weed.''

Harbhajan (2-38) punched the air in delight, and then taunted the retreating Australian by staging an impromptu mock boxing match with teammate Yuvraj Singh. Hayden was a witness in the Symonds hearing against Harbhajan, which resulted in a three-test ban. The ban was later overturned on appeal _ after reports India would boycott the rest of the tour if it was upheld _ and Harbhajan was fined a portion of his match fee instead.

Praveen Kumar was the other star bowler for India on Sunday, getting opener and retiring wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist out for seven and Ponting for one when he bowled the Australian captain _ both major reasons for the poor Australian start. Michael Hussey scored 45 for Australia and fast bowler Brett Lee added 16 from 10 balls late in the innings.

INDIA won the U-19 world cup CRICKET

India produced a remarkable performance in a rain-interrupted final to beat South Africa by 12 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method for their second ICC Under-19 World Cup since 2000 at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night.

The Indians owe much of their victory to the swashbuckling batting showmanship of Tanwar Srivastava whose 46 runs came at a time when they were certainly looking for some form of divine intervention to pull through as they crawled to 159 in 45 overs and a masterful bowling effort from openers Pradeep Sangwan (0-14) and Ajitesh Argal (2-7) and an equally strong support from spinners Ravindra Jadega (2-25), Siddharth Kaul (2-26) and Sayyed Abdullah Iqbal (0-12) that crippled the South Africans back.

“It’s definitely a big victory for us and I dedicate this win to my late father who passed away in 2006. It has been a team effort and I compliment all my fellow team-mates especially the good job done by the bowlers,” said Indian captain Virat Kohli at the post match press conference.

Set a victory target of 160 runs in 50 overs and later revised to 116 in 25 overs due to the two-hour rain stoppage, it has been a challenging moment for the South Africans when the second innings resumed at precisely 9.05pm – leaving more than 6000 fans at the edge of their seats.

South Africa had slumped to 17-3 before the first drop of rain fell on the Oval but failed to get started on an aggressive note as the Indian bowlers and fielders did everything possible to stop the junior Proteas from getting anywhere near the revised target of 116..

Still needing 99 runs to win, Reeza Hendricks and Jonathan Vandiar took off from where they had left before the rain and were in for a further shock 12 balls later when off-spinner Ravinda Jadeja bowled a superb line and length ball which edge the outside of Vandiar’s bat and into the gloves of the quick wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami as the South Africans slumped further down to 22-4 in the 10.3 over.

Hendricks and skipper Wayne Parnell than prodded along but despite two dropped chances and a missed stumping, the duo could not make much breakthrough and were contented with taking singles and twos’ added 50 runs for the fifth wicket before Hendricks fell just when South Africa needed him to carry on at a crucial time for 35 runs off 43 balls (72-5), still needing 44 in the last five overs.

Roy Adams was next to go, trapped leg before by Kaul as the South Africans added four more runs (75-6) and it was left to Parnell to see them through. However, it was an uphill battle for Ray Jennings boys as at the 24th over the South Africans still required to score 19 runs from six balls and when Parnell fell at 102 – everyone knew the Indians are well on their way to the second win in the World Cup. They could only post 103 at the end of the 25th over and the Indians celebrated, joined by equally excited fans.

Earlier in the day, a maiden from Parnell in the first over spelt a gloomy start for India with the exception of Srivastava as they found the going tough and never really had it in them to get back on track.

Srivastava had prevented a complete disaster as Parnell and Matthew Arnold broke through the Indian top order, dismissing openers Taruwar Kohli (1) and Goswami (6). Taruwar did not learn from his semi-final performance against New Zealand as he top-edged a lame pull from wide outside off stump off Parnell while Goswami edged and prodded his way to six off 25 balls, showing his discomfort against anything not full, and then edged Arnold to second slip, leaving India at 27-2 in the 10th over.

Parnell, playing in his second Under-19 World Cup, mixed the bouncers well with the swing, while Arnold bowled the fastest spell of the tournament, troubling the left-handers from round the stumps. Srivastava and Virat put India on the comeback track with a 47-run third-wicket partnership before Sybrand Engelbrecht’s mid-air dives rocked the Indians. He had Srivastava and Kohli dismissed with similar catches. Saurabh Tiwary (20) and Manish Pandey (20) were the last men standing as the Indians were finally dismissed for 159 in 45 overs.