South Africa beat Windies PORT ELIZABETH, (South Africa), Dec 12 — South Africa beat West Indies by 178 runs on the third day of the second Test at St George’s park today.

Hussain, Ramprakash steady England
ADELAIDE, Dec 12 — England recovered from losing two wickets in the space of five balls to reach 160 for three in their first innings by the close on the second day of the third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval today.

Pakistan 211 for 5
LAHORE, Dec 12 — Fog and misty conditions allowed only 13 overs of play on the third day of the second cricket Test between Pakistan and Zimbabwe today.

Punjab cops assault umpire
NABHA, (Patiala) Dec 12 — In a match marred by rough tactics, Thapar Academy, Sansarpur, entered the last four stage beating Punjab Police 2-0 in the 23rd All-India Liberals Hockey Tournament played at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

RCF, SCR move into last eight
KAPURTHALA, Dec 12 — Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), will clash with Calcutta Port Trust, Integral Coach Factory (Parambur), will play against South Central Railway (Secunderabad), Western Railway (Mumbai), will face South Eastern Railway (Calcutta) and Northern Railway will fight against Diesel Locomotive Works (Varanasi) in the quarterfinals of the 59th All India Railway Men's Hockey Championship to be held tomorrow here.

Central need 235 for victory
VALSAD, Dec 12 — Facing a victory target of 235 runs Central Zone reached 48 for two against North on the penultimate day of the five-day Duleep Trophy semifinal here today.

Boxer Dingko assures India of medal

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — N.G. Dingko Singh scored a stunning victory over Cambodian boxer Vireak Svay today to storm into the semifinals of the bantamweight class and assure India of their second medal from the Asian Games rings.

Dingko Singh, a surprise and controversial omission from the officially cleared jumbo-sized Indian contingent who reached Bangkok as he had a confirmed plane ticket, achieved what most of those touted as medal hopes failed to do — reach the medal round.

The 20-year-old Services puncher, winner of the King’s Cup here last year and the ‘best boxer’ in the last two nationals, did it in great style by forcing his rival to take two standing counts before the referee stopped the mismatch with 30 seconds remaining in the quarterfinal bout.

Dingko Singh, the second Indian in the semis following the entry of light-heavy pugilist Gurcharan Singh last night, was streets ahead on points at 19-2 when the bout was stopped.

The Manipuri is now drawn to meet tough Thai boxer Sontaya Wongprates for a berth in the final. The home fighter got past Turoh Adnan of Malaysia 19-6 in another quarterfinal bout.

Dingko’s performance boosted the sagging morale of the contingent after their women shooters and tennis players displayed abysmal form on the seventh day of the games.

The men spikers, however, put up an improved show to whack Pakistan 15-4, 15-7, 15-11 in their last group ‘b’ engagement and finish third in the pool. They also earned the right to fight for the 5th-9th places.

The women shooters, including Commonwealth Games gold medallist Roopa Unnikrishnan, performed miserably in the sport rifle three-position and India finished a lowly seventh out of 13 competing outfits with a modest tally of 1,679 points.

The trio finished 36 points adrift of gold winners China while Thailand (1,702) and Uzbekistan (1,700) picked up the silver and bronze medals.

Individually too the Indian trio were way behind the field with Anjali Vedpathak logging 562 to finish 15th, Roopa ending up 20th with 559 and Suma Dixit 23rd with 558.

The Indian shooters, pronounced as the major medal hopes, have so far drawn a blank with even star marksman Jaspal Rana yet to find his wonted form.

Later in the day, there was some hope from the men’s trap trio of Mansher Singh, Manavjit Singh and Zoravar Singh who helped India figure in the top ten after completing the opening day’s 75 targets in the two-day event.

Mansher and Manavjit shot identical 685 to lie fifth and seventh, while Zoravar, with 67, was eighth.

The women’s tennis players, too, were found out of depth with national champion Uzma Khan ripped apart in her singles first round encounter by Filipino Maricris Fernandes and the two doubles pairs on view were also eliminated in the first round after losing in straight sets.

Uzma started the match on the wrong note, losing her first service game, and just could not recover her poise thereafter. The doubles teams of Nirupama Vaidyanathan-Manisha Malhotra and Uzma-Sai Jai Lakshmi did no better against South Korea’s Cho Youn Jeong-Park Seng-Hee and Japan’s Rika Hiraki and Nana Miyagi.

The Indian medal hopes rest solely with Nirupama, ranked 187 in the world, who has drawn a first round bye in singles but faces a tough task tomorrow to get past world number 87 Janet-Whids Lee who guided Chinese Taipei to the team gold in the title-clash against China.

The men spikers provided the lone bright moment till well past noon by outclassing Pakistan through splendid spiking by Jobby Joseph and Surjit Singh and effective blocking by M.S. Rajesh and Yavar Ali to finish third in the group behind mighty China and Japan.

India totally dominated the first two sets and rallied well from 2-8 in the third before winning the one-sided match lasting an hour and 20 minutes.

India, who recovered from straight set losses to China and Japan before putting it across comfortably against Kazakhstan, will now fight it out with Indonesia and hosts Thailand in the classification matches to decide 5-9 spots.

"We will beat both Indonesia (tomorrow) and Thailand (on Monday) and finish fifth," national coach and former India setter G.E. Sridharan confidently said after the win.

In women’s 75 kg weightlifting, Ujwala Mane finished ninth and last with a combined effort of 200 kg after clearing 107.5 kg in clean and jerk and 92.5 kg in the snatch.

With a new snatch world record of 115 kg, China’s Wei Xiang Ying overcame the handicap of an injured thigh to claim the gold with a combined lift of 242.5 kg.

Spotlight on PT Usha, quarter-miler Paramjit

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — The grand dame of Asian athletics, the ever-green P.T. Usha, is seeking to make her final bow from the arena she had lit up in the eighties in style in the Asian Games athletics competition getting under way at the Thammasat University Stadium tomorrow.

Quarter-miler Paramjit Singh, who created a sensation by lowering ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh’s long-standing men’s 400m mark at the Calcutta Open Nationals, is also keen to prove that his recent effort was no flash in the pan.

Usha, Paramjit and other Indian competitors are gearing up to match their might against a formidable field in the showpiece event of the games and improve upon their meagre haul of one silver and two bronze medals (all by women) at the previous games in Hiroshima.

But they have their task cut out to establish that their recent domestic record-breaking spree, especially in the throws, can be re-enacted at the international stage.

The athletes’ confidence-level has been boosted by a decent outing at the Fukuoka Asian Championship in July which should stand them in good stead.

Quite a few records are certain to fall by the wayside with the Chinese juggernaut, after their disappointments in the pool, ready to roll on with full force.

China, the biggest influence in the past decade, snapped up 26 of the 47 gold on offer at Fukuoka despite holding back quite a few top-notchers at home and are once again expected to dominate the show.

India, on the other hand, have arrived with a squad of 27 athletes, including 14 women, and are expecting to better their heist of one gold, three silver and eight bronze medals at Fukuoka.

India’s medal hopes in the men’s section rest mainly on seasoned distance runner Bahadur Prasad (1500m/5000m), his young successor Gulab Chand (5000m, 10000m), shot putters Shakti Singh and Bahadur Singh besides discus throwers Anil Kumar and Ajit Bhaduria.

In the women’s events, in-form Jyotirmoy Sikdar (800m/1500m), Usha and discus thrower Neelam J. Singh look to be the best bets.

The Indian medal haul has been steadily dwindling and the last two games marks — established by T.C. Yohannan in men’s long jump and Charles Borromeo in men’s 800m — were erased at Hiroshima.

Eight years ago, at Beijing, a 25-strong team came back with just four silver and two bronze medals after Usha had stolen the thunder at Seoul in 1986 to spearhead India’s haul of four gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The 34-year-old Usha is competing in her fifth games in-a-row, along with veteran shooter Ashok Pandit, and has declared herself to have recovered from the right hamstring strain she suffered in November. She is eager to do well in 200 and 400m as well as the two relays.

"I am perfectly fine now and my training is peaking. My only worry is I lost valuable training due to the injury," Usha said.

Her sights for medals in both events will have to be set lower as Li Xuemei, the Chinese Asian 200 m record holder at 22.01 seconds, is expected to fight it out for the gold with Lanka’s Jayasinghe, who is recovering from fever and also from the scare of a drug row.

Jayasinghe, who was banned after testing positive in a random dope test at home, has been cleared to run here by the world body (IAAF), pending a final verdict on her plea that she was not guilty of drug-taking.

Usha, whose domestic season in the last few months have been less than impressive, clocked 23.27 seconds at Japan to equal her national mark twice, but could be out of medals unless she is able to run under 23 seconds.

The quartermile will have the Asian champion Damayanti Darsha fighting it out with Chinese Chen Yuxiang and Zhang Hengyun, who have all clocked sub-52 seconds this season.

Usha, whose national record stands at 51.61 seconds set in 1985, clocked only 52.55 for bronze in July which also remains her season’s best.

Indian focus will also be on the 26-year-old CRPF inspector Paramjit Singh, who ran a sensational 45.70 seconds in the 400 metres at the Open Nationals last month to break the ‘eternal record’ of legendary Milkha Singh (45.73) set while coming fourth in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Paramjit Singh will be under pressure to prove that he is capable of repeating the performance abroad. His effort of 45.95 only helped him come fifth in Fukuoka and the field led by Sri Lanka’s Sugath Tillekeratne will demand a race close to 44 seconds to land a medal.

The 29-year-old Jyotirmoyee Sikdar offers the best chance for a gold. The Calcutta-based Railway athlete who has been threatening to become the second woman behind Shiny Wilson to run 800m under 2 min has been consistently clocking around 2:01, but she will have to produce her very best if she aims to top the field led by Asian champion Zhang Jiang of China.

"I am confident of going under two minutes. The challenge has always come from the Chinese and it will be no different this time," Sikdar said.

In men’s long distance events, the return to peak form of seasoned Bahadur Prasad gives room for hope. He clocked three minutes 41.90 last month, but Prasad lacks the final ‘kick’ and will be pushed hard in a race expected to be dominated by 1997 Olympic bronze medallist Mohammed Suleiman of Qatar.

But the 24-year-old Allahabad based Qulab Chand looks promising in 5000 and 10000 m after he produced a superb effort to land silver in the Asian championship. Prasad’s presence in the shorter race will help work out team tactics for the two.

Eves bow out in first round

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — India’s hopes for medals from women’s events received a severe blow today when two of their doubles pairs and national champion Uzma Khan in singles were eliminated in the very first round on the opening day of individual tennis events at the Asian Games.

The 19-year-old Uzma Khan went down tamely to Maricris Fernandes of the Philippines in straight sets 4-6 1-6 in the first round while both the Indian pairs - Nirupma Vaidyanathan /Manisha Malhotra and Uzma Khan/Sai Jayalakshmi - were brushed aside by their South Korean and Japanese opponents in the doubles first round.

Nirupma-Manisha went down 2-6 2-6 to Korean Pair of Cho Yoon Jeong and Park Sung-Hee while the Uzma-Sai tandem was tamed 2-6 2-6 by the Japanese duo of Rika Hiraki, former French Open mixed doubles champion with India’s Mahesh Bhupathi, and Nana Miyagi.

India’s dismal outing in weightlifting, barring 63 kg woman lifter Karnam Malleswari’s super silver-winning effort, came to an end without a whimper when inexperienced Ujwala Mane finished at the bottom in the women’s 75 kg category.

Ujwala ended up ninth and last with a combined effort of 200 kg after clearing 107.5 kg in clean and jerk and 92.5 kg in the snatch.

Wrestlers lose

Indian medal quest in wrestling began on a disastrous note when both Kaka Pawar and Gurbinder Singh crashed out of reckoning in the greco-roman to end the country’s challenge in this style.

In the 54 kg class, Railway grappler Pawar, better known for his infamous tussle with Papu Yadav for the lone berth to the Atlanta Olympics, began promisingly.

Setback for India in golf

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (UNI) — India’s gold medal hopes suffered a jolt when their seasoned campaigner Harmeet Kahlon returned a dismal six over par 78 today to slip to the seventh place at the end of the third and penultimate round of the golf competition at the 13th Asian Games here today.

In the team event India slapped to the fourth place with an aggregate of nine over par 657.

The three other Indians in the fray — Amit Luthra, Digvijay Singh and Amit Dube — carded identical two over 74 in the third round.

The Philipines’s Gerald Rosales and Japan’s Tomohiro Kondo shared the lead with a total of four under par 212, followed by Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yih Shin and Lee Cho Chuan both at 217 and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (218).

Hong Chai Yuh of Chinese Taipei and Harmeet Kalhon were joint seventh at 219.

In the distaff section, national champion Parnita Grewal shot four over par 76 to aggregate 228 (77, 75, 76) and went down from fifth to ninth slot.

Former national champion Nonita Lal Qureshi, with a steady round of one over par 73 and with a total of 234, was at joint 13th.

Urvashi Sethi continued with her poor form and shot another dismal round — ten over par 82 to total 248 (83, 83, 82) — and was at joint 19th slot.

Much was expected from Harmeet Kahlon who had given a fine performance in the first two rounds at the Alpine Club. But today, the Chandigarh golfer disappointed as he shot six over par.

Kalhon had a triple bogey, a double bogey and three bogeys while he sank three birdies.

On his way out Kalhon started with a bogey and fired a birdie on the sixth but then double bogeyed on the ninth to finish with two over par 38. On his back nine, he birdied the tenth and 14th hole, but lost the strokes on 12, 15 and 17 holes and triple bogeyed on the 16th to finish with four over par 40 for a total round of six over 78.

Digvijay Singh carded two over par 74 and with a total of 220 (75, 71, 74) was lying at tenth position. He shot a birdie on the tenth and 14th while he had bogeys on 3rd, 7th, 8th and 11th.

Amit Luthra earned the dubious distinction of carding the third successive round of two over par 74 and with an aggregate of six over par 222 was lying at the 13th slot.

Luthra, who was a member of the gold medal winning team in the 1982 Asiad, had two birdies and four bogeys in his round. He started with a bogey on the first and third but sank a birdie on the fourth before carding another bogey on the ninth to finish with one over 37. On his back nine, he started with a birdie but had two bogeys on the 11th and 15th to end the round with 74.

Amit Dube also ended the penultimate round with 74 and he aggregated 16 over 232 to be at the 34th slot.

Dube had two birdies and four bogeys in his round. However, his total was not taken in consideration while calculating the team total.

In the team event, Japan led the field with 648 points, followed by the Philippines (652), Chinese Taipei (653), India (657), Korea (668), Thailand (674), China (676), Pakistan (678), Bahrain (83) and Sri Lanka (688).

In the ladies section, Chandigarh teenager Parnita Grewal had a double bogey and four bogeys while sinking a birdie on the sixth.

Nonita Lal Qureshi had one bogey and two birdies in her round.

Urvashi Sethi shot a triple bogey on the 11th hole, a double bogey on ninth and five bogeys in a third round.

Iran book berth in q-finals

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (Reuters) — Favourites Iran stormed back from a humiliating defeat to win a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games soccer tournament today while hosts Thailand squeaked through despite losing.

A shock 3-0 victory by previously pointless Lebanon over Kazakhstan, apparent certainties to go through after a win and a draw in their second round group 4 games, meant Thailand’s passionate fans in the end were able to celebrate the home side’s 2-1 defeat by Qatar.

Thailand scraped through thanks to a just superior goal difference over Kazakhstan.

The Thais now have to play the powerful South Koreans in Monday’s knockout quarterfinals.

Qatar’s win put them top of the group and they face Gulf champions Kuwait, an early tournament favourite who stuttered in the second round.

Iran’s World Cup squad, beaten 4-2 by tiny Oman in an earlier second round group match, had to beat China today to have a serious hope of going through to the knockout stage.

They did so, 2-1, in the best match of the tournament so far and Oman, who had the near impossible task of beating Tajikistan 7-0 to edge the Iranians out, could only draw 3-3.

China still ended top of group 3 with a superior goal difference and face Turkmenistan on Monday while Iran meet defending champions Uzbekistan.

On current form, both Iran and China should win and set up a semifinal showdown between what China’s English coach Bob Houghton described as the two best teams in the tournament.

The Iranian determination not to bow out of contention for a gold medal was obvious from the start against China.

"We were overconfident against Oman. Today all our players concentrated very well," said Iranian coach Mansour Pourhadari.

The normally patient Iranians came out playing at a much higher tempo and Bayern Munich striker Ali Daei rose above fan Zhiyi of English first division side Crystal Palace in only the second minute to force giant Chinese goalkeeper Jang Jin into good save.

Against the run of play, it was China, seeking revenge for two defeats by Iran in the qualifying rounds for the 1998 World Cup in France, who took the lead in the ninth minute.

Yao Xia fired in a fierce low shot from 25 yards (metres) which Iranian goalkeeper Bezhad Gholampur let slip from his grasp and Li Jinyu raced in to touch the ball home.

The Iranians raised the pace yet further and worried the Chinese defence several times before Karim Bagheri of German second division side Arminia Bielefeld, who had already brought a superb save out of Jin Jang with a 25 yard effort, equalised.

Bagheri, the dominant force in the midfield, raced on to superb defence-splitting pass from Ali Daei in the 28th minute and blasted home a shot that gave the Chinese goalkeeper no chance.

The celebrations of the small, but noisy, band of Iranian fans had not died down when Iran took the lead a minute later as Ali Daei headed home a free kick from five yards.

Houghton, who brought several young players to Bangkok, was far from upset by his side’s first defeat in 11 games.

"This was the best match of the tournament between the two best teams here," he said. "We finished top of the group, so we’ve had a good week. There’s no shame in losing a match like that against such a good side."

Nor did he fear meeting Iran again.

"You make a big error if you think that because we lost today we will lose the next one. Football’s not like that," he said.

"We could play Iran in the semifinals and I’m really looking forward to that."

Loser refuses to leave the ring

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (Reuters) — Controversy erupted at the Asian Games boxing tournament today when North Korean Kwang-Si Ri refused to leave the ring after he lost on points to Timur Tulyakov of Uzbekistan in a bantamweight quarterfinal.

North Korean officials were outraged at the decision but said they would not appeal in case it jeopardised the chances of their only fighter left in the competition, Pek Yong-Chol, lightweight due to fight his quarterfinal on Monday.

Appalled at having lost the fight, Ri at first fell to his knees before walking around to the other side of the ring and sitting on the ropes.

He only left the ring at the insistence of his coach when the fighters for the following quarterfinal arrived.

Ri then broke free of his coach and team -mates trying to restrain the distraught boxer and wandered over to where ringside officials were sitting, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

With the help of security men, North Korean officials finally managed to coax him away from ringside and into the dressing rooms, into which he disappeared shaking his head.

Soccer fans resort to bottle-throwing

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (AP) — Thousands of soccer fans considered themselves losers at the Asian Games today, unable to get tickets to watch the home team try to reach the quarterfinals. Some reacted with bottle throwing or fence-climbing attempts.

And that was hours before the home team from Thailand went out to play Qatar, hoping to gain the quarterfinals. The police urged ticketless Thais to go home and watch the game on television.

For an estimated 80,000 Thais, attention was focused on trying to get into the 60,000-seat Rajamangala National Stadium.

One person was slightly hurt in the jostling but did not require hospital treatment, said Torpong Sewarmra, a spokesman for Asian Games organisers.

A sea of humanity pressed toward the surrounding sports complex.

Some people threw plastic bottles of water at police; others tried clambering over stadium fences and were repelled by the police, he said.

People also threw bottles, cans and shoes that members of the crowd lost in the crush at a ticketing booth that shut down at 8 a.m., having sold out, said Nop Beaugot, who travelled 30 km (18 miles) by bus to see the match.

Indian eves down Uzbekistan

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — India overcame stubborn resistance from Uzbekistan with a 2-1 margin to notch up their third win in as many outings in the Asian Games women’s hockey tournament here tonight.

After their effortless 13-0 win against hosts Thailand, the Indians had prevailed over a strong China 2-1 in their second engagement and, as if to prove that it was not a flash in the pan, they showed courage, patience and determination while standing their ground against the central Asian nation from the former Soviet Union today.

The Indians are now at the top of the league table jointly with South Korea with nine points from three wins each. Incidentally, their goal differences (17 goals for and two against), too, are identical, and they clash tomorrow to decide the leader in this round-robin tournament.

If any Indian supporter expected today’s match to be a cakewalk he or she was in for a surprise, if not shock. It were the Uzbeks who went on the offensive first and forced their first penalty corner in the 11th minute and a little later, Mamedova tested custodian Tingoleima.

It was ironic that Mamedova was shown the yellow card for rough play by Japanese umpire Kazuko Yasueda immediately afterwards.

The Indians swung into the attack midway through the session and earned as many as three penalty corners in a matter of 10 minutes. The third in the 27th minute proved fruitful with skipper Pritam Rani Thakran deflecting into the Uzbek goal Sandeep Kaur’s shot.

The Indian attacks continued but nothing came beyond two abortive penalty corners.

The Uzbeks pressed briefly after the breather and the Indians were back in business midway through the half when in a goalmouth melee Jyoti Kullu drove home a pass from Suraj Lata to make the scoreline read 2-0 in India’s favour.

That stung the Uzbeks and they piled pressure on the Indian defence. They met with success in the 63rd minute when following a Sidorova free hit, Kensaeva gave a pass to Elena Inyakina who made no mistake.

The attacks for the equaliser continued and shortly before the end, Kensaeva was given temporary marching orders by umpire Yasueda for rough tackling Jyoti Kullu.

Spikers rally to thrash Pakistan

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — India thrashed strong rivals Pakistan in straight games today to register their second victory in group ‘B’ of the Asian Games volleyball competition to finish third in the group behind mighty China and Japan.

India totally dominated the first two games and splendidly rallied from 2-8 down in the third before winning 15-4, 15-7, 15-11 in a one-sided match lasting an hour and 20 minutes at the Muang Thong Thani Hall here.

India, who recovered from straight games losses to China and Japan before putting it across comfortably against Kazakhstan, finished third in the group and will now fight it out with Indonesia and the hosts Thailand in the classification matches to decide the fifth to ninth spots.

"We will beat both Indonesia and Thailand and finish fifth," national coach and former India setter G.E. Sridharan said after the confident performance of the spikers against the neighbours today.

China, who beat Japan, topped the group with the latter also qualifying while India finished ahead of Kazakhstan and Pakistan, who ended up last after losing all their matches.

India meet Indonesia tomorrow followed by Thailand the next day in the play-offs.

The 1986 bronze medallist, who could not make an impression against world class sides of China and Japan, were too good for the Pakistan team which kept them in line for a spot below the top four.

In the first game, Jobby Joseph and Surjit Singh kept up steady spiking with the tall M.S. Rajesh and Yavar Ali successfully blocking out the Pakistani spikers, in particular the left-handed Abbas, who was quite a handful throughout with well angled smashes.

In the second game, India once again scored points at will to reach 14-6 before wrapping it up. Captain and setter Ravikant Reddy left the Pakistan net blocks quite ineffective with good variations as Aman Singh, Rattan Lal and Yavar Ali joined in unleasing fine smashes.

The Indian defence was as good as the reception and passes were maintained at a very high level and the Pakistan spikers Jamil, Ishan and Rahim time and again smashed into the double net blocks put up by India.

India levelled scores at 9-all with ease before effective spiking by Surjit Singh and the steady Joby Joseph helped them seal the game and match at 15-11.

"We fell slightly behind as we were trying out a particular strategy. But once we changed our pattern of play and introduced more speed in our game from the centre of the net, we quickly regained the advantage," Abdel Hamid El-Wassimi, the Egyptian-born German expert who is a consultant for the team said.

El-Wassimi said there was no need to imitate the game being played by China and Japan and it was possible to build India’s own style.

"This is a team for the future. There are a lot of young players from the junior World Cup squad and there are many who will come in. They will become technically sound as they play more and more tough matches," he said after the victory.

The Indian team was being groomed for next year’s Asian championship for which the camp is scheduled in Calcutta from January. The tournament is slated for September and India will put up a solid performance there, he added.

Snooker: India storm into last eight

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (UNI) — Led by former Asian champion Yasin Merchant, India stormed into the quarterfinals of the snooker team event crushing United Arab Emirates 3-0 at the 13th Asian Games here today.

In the eight ball pool doubles event, India’s Raju Jagtiani and Prem Prakash also made the last eight when they got a walkover against Vietnam's Le Cong Duc and Ly The Vinh.

Mumbai based bespectacled Yasin Merchant thrashed Al Mehairi Obaid 5-0, Alok Kumar downed Al Johar Mohamed 5-1 and M. Alhashmi conceded the match after being levelled 3-3 with Devender Joshi.

Ebullient Yasin Merchant proved far superior to his rival Al Mehairi Obaid and raced to an easy 63-13, 72-14, 72-31, 65-24 and 83-0 win to give India 1-0 lead.

Alok Kumar was already 3-0 up before Al Johar Mohamed could win his first frame. The Indian, potting well crushed whatever hopes Al Johar had by claiming the next two frames and the tie 60-31, 40-22, 69-31, 42-74, 60-40, 54-48 to give India a 2-0 decisive lead.

On the third table M. Alhashmi who was giving Devender Joshi a good fight conceded the tie after being levelled 3-3.

Yasin was the master of the green baize against his not much experienced rival. The Mumbai player started with a flourish winning the first two frames 63-13 and 72-14.

Al Mehairi’s best effort was in the third when he garnered 31 points as against Yasin’s 72.

The Indian champion shut out Al Mehairi in the fourth frames 65-25 and scripted the finish in the fifth 83-0.

Punjab’s Alok Kumar, who has been in indifferent form, overpowered Al Johar Mohamed but not before losing the fourth frame.

Al Johar put up a decent fight against his experienced rival. Alok had to fight it but his experience helped him sideline the UAE player.

Alok took 3-0 lead clinching three frames 60-31, 70-22, 69-31 but Al Johar came back with a 71-42 win in the fourth frame. The Indian however, subdued Al Johar in the next two frames 60-40, 54-48 to see India through to quarterfinals.

M. Alhashmi, who was giving Gujrat’s Devender Joshi a run for his money, gave up after his two other team-mates lost.

Devender and Alhashmi were levelled 75-55, 7-77, 37-43, 43-58, 62-50, 73-62 when the later conceded the match.

India face Hong Kong in the quarterfinals.

Good show by men’s trap team

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (PTI) — A good performance, by their own standards, was just not good enough for the Indian girls who finished seventh in team event and failed to qualify for the final round of individual competition in the sports rifle three-position competition of the Asian Games here today.

The men’s trap trio of Mansher Singh, Manavjit Singh and Zoravar Singh put up consistently steady show to figure among the top 10 on the first day of the two-day event after 75 targets. Mansher fired 68 to lie fifth while Manavjit (68) and Zoravar (67) were lying eighth and 10th.

The women’s trio of Roopa Unnikrishnan, Anjali Vedpathak and Suma Dixit came up with an aggregate of 1679 points which was far behind the gold medal winning performance of 1715 by China, followed by hosts Thailand and Uzbekistan with 1702 and 1700 for the silver and bronze, respectively.

Among the Indians, Anjali came up with a score of 562 which was seven below the qualifying mark of 569 attained by Xu Zi Min of China. She finished 15th along with two others. Roopa’s 559 helped her end up joint 20th and Suma, with a score of 558, shared the 23rd spot with a Japanese.

China’s Shan Hong won the individual title with a score of 672.8 while Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan edged out Kong Hyun-Ah of South Korea (670.2) for the silver.

According to Indian coach Sunny Thomas an average score of at least 565, which translates to a total of 1695, would be necessary for the Indian girls to be in contention for a medal.

South Africa beat Windies

PORT ELIZABETH, (South Africa), Dec 12 (Reuters) — South Africa beat West Indies by 178 runs on the third day of the second Test at St George’s park today.

Scoreboard
South Africa (first innings) 245

 West Indies (first innings) 121

 South Africa (second innings 143-5 overnight)

G. Kirsten c Jacobs b Walsh 2

H. Gibbs c Lambert b Ambrose 4

J. Kallis c Jacobs b Ambrose 3

D. Cullinan c Lambert b Walsh 10

H. Cronje run out 24

J. Rhodes b Ambrose 64

S. Pollock c Dillon b Ambrose 42

M.Boucher c Hooper b Ambrose 1

P. Symcox c Lambert b Ambrose 16

A. Donald b Walsh 11

D. Terbrugge not out 3

Extras (B-1, LB-5, NB-9) 15

Total 195

 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-9, 3-11, 4-47, 5-53, 6-145, 7-151, 8-173, 9-183.

 Bowling: Ambrose 19-4-51-6, Walsh 23.5-5-58-3, Dillon 9-2-26-0, Hooper 7-0-35-0, Mclean 5-0-19-0.

Wellington race to 273 for 7

WELLINGTON, Dec 12 (PTI) — Indian bowlers failed to take advantage of ideal conditions against a weak opposition as Wellington reached a healthy 273 for seven by close of play on the first day of their four-day match at basin reserve here today.

Only Anil Kumble could overcome the lack of bounce with variations on a wicket generous to seam and swing bowling, claiming four wickets for 56, even as the home side, led by a workmanlike 99 from skipper and Test discard Roger Twose, made the tourists work hard on the outfield.

For India, who decided to rest Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, Venkatesh Prasad and Harbhajan Singh, makeshift captain Ajay Jadeja won the toss and chose to field.

Kumble got a breakthrough in the 24th over, his very first, getting opener Phil Chandler (35) caught behind with the hosts on 74.

Earlier, Kumble was unlucky when Srinath, in a frustrating morning that saw his leg-before appeal against Twose turned down, made a mess of an easy chance from an uppish on-drive by the same batsman, then on 34.

Between lunch and the tea break, the Indians met with just one more success, again through Kumble and Mongia, when Jason Wells (15) edged one on the leg-side.

Twose, on 99 at tea break, was struck with misfortune in the first over on resumption when, trying to push Kumble down the pitch, he edged the ball straight to Laxman at forward short leg. His 179-ball innings was studded with 14 fours.

Kumble struck again when wicketkeeper Chris Nevin (9) was clean bowled attempting to pull a short delivery.

Sensing an opening, Jadeja brought on Javagal Srinath from the other end and the move paid off when the paceman had Tim Boyer (54) play an uppish shot to be caught by Rahul Dravid.

Boyer had earlier played some audacious cuts off Srinath, whose 14th over yielded 16 runs.

Sunil Joshi chipped in with teenager James Franklin’s wicket with a catch to slips. When the second new ball was claimed after 82 overs, Robin Singh Jr had Gavin Larsen’s bails disturbed.

On the day’s evidence, Robin Singh looked a better bowler than Debashis Mohanty, bowling with a pace and aggression that the Orissa medium-pacer did not show.

Captain Jadeja had something to say about his bowlers’ performance, conceding: "We did not at all bowl well in the first two sessions. Only in the final one did we come together in the attack."

Twose’s batting came in for a fair bit of praise from his coach Bob Carter and Jadeja.

Carter said "though one is disappointed with Twose’s dismissal at 99, it is fair to say we would have been delighted in the morning to see any of our batsman reach 99."

Jadeja added: "It was a fine innings, in which Twose cut down on fancy and concentrated on building up the innings."

Carter said his team would be aiming to reach 300 tomorrow, a target that looks well within their reach.

SCOREBOARD
Wellington (1st innings):
Chandler c Mongia b Kumble 35, Twose c Laxman b Kumble 99, Wells c Mongia b Kumble 15, Boyer c Dravid b Srinath 54, Nevin b Kumble 9, Petrie not out 34 Franklin c Laxman b Joshi 3, Larsen b Robin Singh Jr 3, Jefferson not out 2.

Extras: (B-7, LB-5, W-1, NB-6) 19.

Total: (for 7 wkts, 90 overs) 273.

Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-141, 3-193, 4-207, 5-232, 6-239, 7-259.

Bowling: J. Srinath 18-4-71-1, D. Mohanty 13-3-45-0, R. Singh 15-6-37-1, S. Ganguly 7-2-24-0, A. Kumble 28-7-56-4, S. Joshi 8-1-27-1, A. Jadeja 1-0-1-0.

Hussain, Ramprakash steady England

ADELAIDE, Dec 12 (Reuters) — England recovered from losing two wickets in the space of five balls to reach 160 for three in their first innings by the close on the second day of the third Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval today.

It left England still 231 runs behind, after Australia were earlier dismissed for 391. Their recovery was due to a strong partnership between Nasser Hussain (58 not out) and Mark Ramprakash (45 not out) who both went on the attack against Australia’s spinners who were extracting increasing bite and turn on a dry and wearing pitch.

The pair wrested the initiative from Australia in the final 80 minutes of the day, scoring 76 runs with series of glorious drives and pulls to the boundary.

Australia earlier squandered their strong position of the opening day, adding just 125 runs for the loss of their last six wickets.

They owed much to Justin Langer whose 179 not out was his second Test century and his first in Australia.

England’s cause was not helped by two controversial umpiring decisions that sent openers Michael Atherton and Mark Butcher walking back to the dressing room shaking their heads.

Atherton was adjudged caught by Mark Taylor at slip off leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, but replays raised doubts about whether the ball bounced off the ground into Taylor’s hands or off Taylor’s fingers into his hands.

Numerous television replays appeared inconclusive, but third umpire Paul Angley watched the closest replay just once before giving Atherton out.

Taylor said he was unsure if he caught the ball and umpire Steve Bucknor asked the third umpire to look at television replays.

A visibly grim Atherton, who scored 41, shook his head several times as he watched the big screen replays at the ground on his long walk back.

SCOREBOARD
Australia (Ist Innings):

Slater c Stewart b Headley 17

Taylor c Hussain b Such 59

Langer not out 179

M. Waugh c and b Such 7

S. Waugh c Hick b Gough 59

Ponting c Hick b Gough 5

Healy c Ramprakash

b Headley 13

Fleming lbw b Headley 12

MacGill b Such 0

Miller lbw b Headley 11

McGrath c Stewart b Gough 10

Extras: (6-LB, 13-NB) 19

Total: 391 all out.

Fall of wickets: 1/28, 2/140, 3/156, 4/264, 5/274, 6/311, 7/338, 8/339, 9/354, 10/391.

Bowling: Darren Gough 29.5-4-103-3 (6-NB), Alan Mullally 26-5-59-0, Dean Headley 23-1-97-4 (6-NB), Peter Such 38-8-99-3 (1-NB), Mark Ramprakash 9-1-27-0.

England (Ist innings):

Butcher lbw b Miller 6

Atherton c Taylor b MacGill 41

Hussain not out 58

Stewart c Slater b Miller 0

Ramprakash not out 45

Extras: (1-B, 3-LB, 1-W, 5-NB) 10

Total: 160 for three.

Fall of wickets: 1/18, 2/83, 3/84.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 13-2-41-0 (1-W, 5-NB), Damien Fleming 8-2-22-0, Colin Miller 13-1-48-2, Stuart MacGill 15-2-28-1, Mark Waugh 3-0-17-0.

Pakistan 211 for 5

LAHORE, Dec 12 (Reuters) — Fog and misty conditions allowed only 13 overs of play on the third day of the second cricket Test between Pakistan and Zimbabwe today.

The home side added only 27 runs to their overnight score of 184 for five and were 211 for five when umpires halted play at tea owing to deteriorating light.

Pakistan led by 28 runs when the day’s play ended.

Yousaf Yohanna was on 46 after having resumed at 30 while captain Moin Khan extended his overnight score of 18 by six runs.

The pair has so far put on an undefeated 64 runs for the sixth wicket as Pakistan answered Zimbabwe’s meagre first innings total of 183.

A total of 91 overs were to have been bowled during the day, but weather conditions ate heavily into the proceedings.

Pakistan need to win the match to square the three-Test series, which Zimbabwe leads 1-0 after winning the first Test at Peshawar.

SCOREBOARD
Zimbabwe (first innings): 183.

Pakistan (first innings): (overnight 184-5).

Saeed Anwar c A. Flower

b Johnson 75

Naveed Ashraf b Streak 32

Ijaz Ahmad c Huckle

b Johnson 16

Salim Malik run out 2

Yousaf Yohanna not out 46

Hassan Raza c Rennie

b Huckle 3

Moin Khan not out 24

Extras (lb-8, nb-5) 13

Total (for five wickets) 211

Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-121, 3-129, 4-132, 5-147.

Bowling: Streak 21-6-53-1, Olanga 19-6-52-0, Mbangwa 20-4-48-0, Johnson 19-2-45-2, Huckle 1-0-5-1.

Punjab cops assault umpire
From Our Sports Reporter

NABHA, (Patiala) Dec 12 — In a match marred by rough tactics, Thapar Academy, Sansarpur, entered the last four stage beating Punjab Police 2-0 in the 23rd All-India Liberals Hockey Tournament played at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

Jostling and pushing the umpire by agitated players is nothing new in hockey or football but what happened today was unprecedented when the Punjab Police players pulled down the turban of umpire Daljit Singh after physically assaulting him. The fracas, which by all means has brought a bad name to the Punjab Police team, started when umpire Daljit Singh pulled up left-back Sukhwinder for rough play.

The cops registered their protest but despite the umpire's best efforts the cops were not placated and started beating up the poor umpire whose turban was sent spinning after he was badly assaulted. The situation seemed to be heading from bad to worse when the spectators who had turned up in large numbers to see the match, entered the playing arena, upset over the fact that cops had turned the hockey match into a battle zone.

After two red cards the match resumed but the cops playing with nine players found the Sansarpur boys too hot to handle. Jaswinder and Gurinder scored for the Sansarpur team to put them in the semi-finals.

The other teams to make the last four grade were Air Force, Delhi, who beat ITBP 2-0, Ludhiana Police who shocked Army XI 2-0, and PSB Academy who earned a semi-final spot with a facile 4-2 win over FCI Delhi.

RCF, SCR move into last eight
From Our Correspondent

KAPURTHALA, Dec 12 — Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), will clash with Calcutta Port Trust, Integral Coach Factory (Parambur), will play against South Central Railway (Secunderabad), Western Railway (Mumbai), will face South Eastern Railway (Calcutta) and Northern Railway will fight against Diesel Locomotive Works (Varanasi) in the quarterfinals of the 59th All India Railway Men's Hockey Championship to be held tomorrow here.

In today's first match, RCF defeated Diesel Locomotive Works by 1-0 in an exciting encounter. In the early minutes, both the teams played on level terms and tried to dominate. RCF achieved success in the ninth minute when inside-left Sabal Barla scored a beautiful field goal (1-0). Till the half time DLW did their best to equalise but failed to convert the two earned penalty corners. In the second half the game again started at a hot pace. RCF forwards missed two chances to score in the 56th and 67th.

In the second match, South Central Railway beat Western Railway by 2-1. SCR opened scoring in the fourth minute by scoring through a penalty stroke. Western Railway could not get the equaliser in spite of their best efforts in the first half. They got success in the 59th minute when their left-in Deepak Gupta scored a beautiful field goal (1-1). SCR made it 2-1 in the 62nd minute by converting a penalty corner.

The third match between Northern Railway and Central Railway ended in a 2-2 draw, while in the fourth match of the day, North Eastern Railway defeated Research Design and Standards Organisation by 2-1.

Central need 235 for victory

VALSAD, Dec 12 (PTI) — Facing a victory target of 235 runs Central Zone reached 48 for two against North on the penultimate day of the five-day Duleep Trophy semifinal here today.

Brief scores:

North Zone 113 and 467 (Rajiv Nayyar 91, Vijay Dahya 92, Murli Kartik four for 136, A Zaidi two for 86, Pritam Gandhe two for 83).

Central Zone: 346 for Nine decl and 48 for two (Yogesh Ghare batting 8, Mohd Kaif batting 21).

Yoga camp from Dec 24

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (BOSR) — The Haryana State Yoga Association will organise a seven-day Yoga camp at Panchkula for the state team which will participate in the 23rd National Yoga Championships to be held at Bijnour (UP) from December 24 to 27.

The following players will attend the proposed camp scheduled to start at Sector 7 community centre, Panchkula from December 15.

Men: Karan, Randeep, Ved Prakash, Anup Singh, Ishwar Singh, O.P. Arya (all from Hisar), Gautam Makkar, Rahul Kumar, Ram Dass, Kapil Dev (all from Sirsa), Som Dutt (Jhajjar), Vijay, Deepak (Karnal), Ajay Singh, Anand Saini (Rewari), Sunil Sharma, Udayvir Singh (Bhiwani), Surinder Singh, Deep Chand, Brij Mohan, Pradeep Singh (Faridabad), Jasbir Singh (Panipat), Tansukh Yadav (Mohindergarh).

Women: Malvika, Payal, Usha Singh, Seema Verma, Rajni Verma, Archana, Romi Khurana, Vandana, Usha Chauhan, Kamlesh, Sudershana Kumari (all from Hisar), Rashi Makkar, Vijay Laxmi, Umesh Godara, Shweta, Raj Bala, Anu Nagpal (all from Sirsa), Sonika Sharma (Panchkula), Pooja, Shashi Kala (Yamunanagar), Neelam Bahri (Ambala), Satyawati (Faridabad), Tarun (Karnal).

Chandigarh in U-21 soccer final

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (TNS) — Chandigarh entered the final of the North Zone (under-21) National Football Championship beating Punjab 2-0 in the first semifinal of the tournament currently under way at Varanasi, according to reports reaching here today. The scorers for Chandigarh were Munish and Mohan Singh.

In the second semifinal, Uttar Pradesh defeated Delhi by an identical margin. Earlier in the league, Chandigarh thrashed Himachal Pradesh 7-0 but lost to UP by a solitary goal.

Shooting camp

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (BOSR) — A specialised coaching camp in shooting will be organised at Ranjitgarh Rifle Club, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur for all categories of shooters of Punjab and Chandigarh on December 19 and 20. The focus of this camp will be on providing tips to shooters in view of the forthcoming All-India GV-Mavlankar Shooting Championships to be held at Asansol (West Bengal) from December 27 to January 4 next year. The camp will be conducted under the guidance of former international and qualified coach T.S. Dhillon.

GNPS eves lift handball title

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (BOSR) — DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 Club ‘A’ and Guru Nanak Public School Club, Sector 36 bagged the boys and girls titles by defeating DAV Senior Secondary School Club ‘B’ and Coaching Centre Sector 21 respectively on the concluding day of the Chandigarh Handball Championships at the DAV School grounds here today.

Results: DAV SS School Sector 8 Club ‘A’ beat DAV SSC-8 Club ‘B’, 32-27 (half time score 23-23) Girls:- Guru Nanak Public School Club-36 b Coaching Centre-21, 9-5 (half time score 5-2 in favour of GNP School)

Earlier, DAV SS School, Sector 8, clinched the Men’s title by overpowering Chandigarh Handball Club, Sector 23, by 20-13 while the Women crown also went to DAVCC -8 when they got the better of MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36 by 10-7.

GCG bag title

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (BOSR) — Government College for Girls, Sector 11, won the Panjab University Tennis Tournament which concluded today on the PU campus. Panjab University Campus secured second position while MCM DAV College for Women finished third.

Results: Final:— Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh b Panjab University. Campus 2-0. (Simmi Rani (GCG-11) b Vandana (PCU) 6-0, 6-0. Tarminder (GCG-11) b Ritu Sharma (PUC) 6-4, 6-2.)

The following are the results of the softball (men) tournament played today: Government College, Ludhiana b Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, 15-12: Arya College, Ludhiana b GGD SD College, Chandigarh, 12-5: DAV College, Chandigarh b GGN Khalsa College, Ludhiana, 6-1.

Chandigarh in last eight

CHANDIGARH, Dec 12 (BOSR) — Central Secretariat Delhi and RSB Jaipur entered the quarterfinals of the All-India Civil Services Hockey Tournament being played here at the Sector 42 hockey stadium today. The other teams who have made it to last eight include, Chandigarh Civil Services, MP, RSB Chandigarh, RSB Hyderabad, RSB Ranchi, RSB Chennai.

In the matches played today, Central Secretariat Delhi blasted UP Civil Services by 12-1 with Dev Shankar remaining the top scorer scoring four goals. Mahesh Dayal A. Chandi (two each), Amit, Sumesh, Rohit, Suresh (one each) were the scorers. Anuj Saxena scored the lone goal for the losers.

In another match, RSB Jaipur beat AP Civil Services by 11-1 with Arvind Mathur, Mohit and Athi Raj scoring three goals each. RS Rawat and Sandeep scored one goal each for the winners while Madhu Sudan scored the only goal for the AP team.

The quarterfinal matches will be played on Monday.