India news

Jet Airways starts Amritsar-London flights Amritsar, Aug 4 (IANS) Jet Airways Friday started its flights directly between Sikh holy city of Amritsar and London. This is the first direct flight from here to London. Earlier, there was an Air India flight from Amritsar to Birmingham. The flights from here are likely to help the Punjabi diaspora settled in Britain and other European countries. Earlier, they had to go to Delhi to take flights to Britain. The new flights would also attract tourists wanting to see the city's famous Sikh religious shrine - the Golden Temple. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh flagged off the inaugural flight. Jet officials said that three flights would operate between Amritsar's Rajasansi airport and London's Heathrow airport. He said Amritsar had become an important international airport in the past couple of years with 82 flights being operated from here every week. More airlines wanted to start flights from here due to heavy business of non-resident Indians and tourists, he said. Jet Airways officials said they were planning more international flights from Amritsar. They said a Chandigarh-Amritsar flight was also being proposed. Chappell backs Wright on India www.news.com.au 05aug06 INDIA coach Greg Chappell, who completes one year in the job this month, has backed his predecessor John Wright over comments which have generated much heat in India. Former New Zealand captain Wright has criticised India's zonal system of appointing selectors in his recently published book, angering the board and selectors. But Chappell said: "I've read some of the excerpts from the book and I think he's made some positive comments about Indian cricket and India. "Knowing John as well as I do, he's a decent human being and a very honest fellow. He'd have given a very honest opinion of his experience." The former Australia skipper said India had improved since he took over the job. "We've gained ground in all fronts, as a team and as individuals." He also warned his players to prepare for slow pitches in Sri Lanka and an in-form home team during this month's limited-overs tri-series. "Sri Lanka and South Africa are tough competitors," he said. "Sri Lanka are a different team from the one we played in India a few months ago." The tri-series will be played from August 14 to 29. India claimed its first Test series victory in the West Indies for 35 years last month, but suffered an unexpected 4-1 defeat in the limited-overs matches. Sri Lanka was thrashed 6-1 by India late last year, but displayed ominous form to rout host England 5-0 last month. India has not won a limited-overs series featuring three or more teams for four years. Chappell blamed a lack of focus for the Caribbean defeat, but dismissed it as a "blip on the radar screen" and said it could spur the team during the March-April World Cup in West Indies. "Maybe that was fortuitous," he said. "It taught us some lessons about playing one-day cricket in the West Indies which may be useful somewhere down the track."