Gulab Chand of India (right) runs to the bronze medal during the men's 10,000-meter final in the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok on Sunday. At left is Baek Seung-Do of Korea. AP/PTI

Indians struggle against Wellington
WELLINGTON, Dec 13 — Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly notched up half centuries while opener Ajay Jadeja missed his by four runs as India struggled to reach 219 for seven at close on the second day of their four-day match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve today.
5 non-whites in SA team
PORT ELIZABETH, Dec 13 — Five non-white players have been named in the South Africa ‘A’ squad to play the West Indies in a four-day match, starting in Pietermartitzburg next Saturday.

Australia set to retain Ashes ADELAIDE, Dec 13 — Another sickening English batting collapse put Australia in a commanding position to retain the Ashes for the sixth consecutive time on the third day of the third Ashes cricket Test today.

Aravinda, Murali may miss tour
COLOMBO, Dec 13 — Beleaguered Sri Lanka’s hopes of staging a morale-boosting comeback during the coming Australian tour appeared bleak with uncertainty hanging over the participation of two of their key players - Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan who are nursing injuries.

Maiden Test century by Yohanna
LAHORE, Dec 13 — Yousaf Yohanna scored an elegant maiden Test century to give Pakistan a 142-run first innings lead on the fourth day of the second Test against Zimbabwe today.

Khurasia, Ramesh fashion colts’ win
AHMEDABAD, Dec 13 — Left-handers Amay Khurasia (68) and S. Ramesh (52) struck fine half centuries to steer India ‘A’ to a comfortable six-wicket win over West Indies ‘A’ in the second one-day cricket match here today.

Shooters, athletes bring cheers

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — India had its best day at the Asian Games in this "city of angels" when its shooters and athletes provided the contingent with two silver and three bronze medals to make up for the past seven days.

Star shooter Jaspal Rana picked up the centre fire pistol silver by shattering his own previous mark and also guided mates Ashok Pandit and Ved Prakash to the team bronze.

Trap shooters Mansher Singh, Manavjit Singh and Zoravar Singh picked up the team silver while failing to grab any medal individually.

Later, at the athletics arena, India tasted success when national champion Neelam J. Singh and pint-sized long distance runner Gulab Chand finished third in the finals of the women’s discus throw and men’s 10,000m, respectively.

To add to the generally good show was the fact that seasoned track stars P.T. Usha, K. Rosa Kutty and Bahadur Prasad, along with the not-so-old Paramjit Singh and Rachita Mistry, qualified for the finals of their respective events.

In another notable display, India’s number one woman tennis player Nirupama Vaidyanathan shocked world number 87 Janet Lee of Chinese Taipei in straight sets in the women’s singles second round while the men kabaddi players thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan 17-9 in their opening round-robin clash.

India’s rich medal haul today, although sans any gold, took their overall tally to eight (three silver and five bronze medals) with most of the events having gone through on the eighth day.

Ace marksman Rana, in fact, missed narrowly to retain his centre fire pistol title, settling for silver instead, amidst high drama and later wept inconsolably after winning silver with a tally of 589, one better than his gold-winning effort at Hiroshima four years ago.

The front sight of Rana’s pistol, at the tip of the gun’s nozzle, came loose and was found hanging during the nerve-wracking shoot-off for the gold between him and South Korean world champion Park Byeung-Taek, who too had shot 589.

Rana could hit only 41 targets as compared to the Korean’s 49 due to his predicament with the gun in the second tie-break to settle the gold.

The Korean picked up the gold, Rana got the silver and Kazakhstan’s Vladimir Vokhmyananin secured the bronze.

Earlier Rana, Byung-Kaek and Vokhmyananin were involved in a three-way tie after returning an identical 589. The Kazakh fell off in the first set of tie-break where again Rana and the Korean shot an identical 149 leading to the second set which the Indian ace lost.

The second silver of the day was fetched by the men’s trap team of Mansher, Manavjit and Zoravar. They helped the team tally 329 points and finish second behind winners Kuwait (346) and ahead of bronze medallists China (323).

Rana and his mates Ashok Pandit and Ved Prakash also managed to secure the centre fire pistol team bronze with a total of 1,747 behind champions North Korea who won a shoot-out for the gold with South Korea after the two had tied on 1,749.

On the athletics track, Gulab Chand ran a courageous race to clinch the men’s 10,000 metres bronze in a creditable 29 minutes 10.53 seconds to finish behind Japan’s champion Kenji Takao and silver medal winner Ahmed Ibrahim Hashim of Qatar.

The 26-year-old Allahabad-born Gulab Chand, a silver medalist at the July Asian championship in Japan, produced a superb ‘kick’ at the finish to land the bronze medal by outpacing formidable South Korean Seung-Do Baek and China’s Xia Fengyuan to bring back memories of India’s top-class distance runner of the 70s, Hari Chand.

Takao won gold in 28:45.66 with Qatari Ahmed Ibrahim Hashim coming second in 28:46.55.

Neelam J. Singh fouled three of her tries and could touch only 55.09 m in landing the women’s discus bronze for the other Indian success. The 27-year-old Kapurthala athlete finished behind China’s Zhili Luan, who took gold in 63.43m, and Liu Fengying (59.34), who claimed the silver.

The other Indian, Swaranjit Kaur, could reach only a best of 51.46m to end up fourth.

Veteran P.T. Usha made her fifth Asian Games entry in a less than convincing manner, struggling home fourth in the second women’s 400m semifinal heats to make the final as one of the fastest losers in a slow 54.63 seconds.

Rosa Kutty however, breezed through to the final by winning the first semifinal at 54.06 seconds.

Metric miler Bahadur Prasad and 400m runner Paramjit Singh breezed into the respective finals untroubled while Rachita Mistry made it to the women’s 100m final by clocking a personal best 11.46 seconds.

India set to clinch kabaddi gold

BANGKOK, Dec 12 (UNI) — Defending champions India trounced Pakistan and Bangladesh, the second and third-placed teams at Hiroshima four years ago, to virtually ensure gold for themselves in the kabbadi competition of the 13th Asian Games here today.

In the opening match of the competition, India thrashed traditional rivals Pakistan 17-9 after leading 10-6 at half time.

In their second match of the day, the title holders routed Bangladesh 34-10. The winners led 14-5 at half time.

"We had promised gold and are more than halfway through to retain it," a beaming coach S.P. Singh later said.

Tomorrow, India take on Nepal and Thailand and will play the last match against Japan on December 15.

"We have beaten the two best teams on the opening day itself, so we are sure to retain the gold for the third successive time," S.P. Singh said.

The Indians were in such a tremendous form that they reduced the match against Bangladesh to virtually a no contest.

The leading scorers for India were Sanjeev Kumar, who garnered nine points, B.C. Ramesh (seven) and all-rounder Ram Mehar Singh (four).

All the 10 players in the squad - Viswajit Palit, C. Honappa, B.C. Ramesh, Ram Mehar, Sanjeev, Kiranpal, Shamsher Singh, Muruganan, Ranbir Singh and Virender — were tried by the coaches in this match.

After the morale-boosting win in the morning, the Indians played a very attacking game throughout and never allowed the Bangladeshis to settle down.

Bangladesh, winner of the bronze medal in Hiroshima, were totally overawed by the Indians and failed to give their rivals any decent fightback.

India gave an all-round display to make it sure they take back the gold for the third successive Asian Games.

"We have now only Nepal, Japan and Thailand on our way to gold and I think we will overpower them easily," S.P. Singh said.

This is the first time that, being the host, Thailand is taking part in kabbadi.
In the morning, Pakistan, runners up in the last two editions of the games, displayed better defence but their attackers were no match to the Indians.

"We conceded more points in the first half due to our attackers’ exuberance to go into the rival’s deep defence," S.P. Singh said.

"We told our players not to get carried away and don’t go too deep into the rival territory. The strategy helped us".

Ramesh was in good form as he garnered six points with tactical raids.

India ousted in snooker

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (UNI) — India crashed out of Asian Games snooker losing 1-2 to Hong Kong in the quarterfinals of the team event here today.

For once, Alok Kumar gave an inspired display but was let down by his compatriots Yasin Merchant and Devender Joshi.

The Indians were off to an ominous start as former Asian champion Yasin Merchant lost to former world champion Marco Fu 1-5. Alok Kumar routed Chanwaj Tat 5-0 to draw parity but in the crucial third match, Devender Joshi went down 1-5 against Chang Knok Ming.

India was depending heavily on Yasin but he failed against an in-form, and winner of the 1997 world title, Fu 14-64, 86-0, 117-17, 72-24, 90-15, 98-23.

Alok drew parity for India routing Chanwaj 83-30, 64-37, 71-42, 8-1, 58-19.

Under pressure, Devender Joshi failed to rise to the occasion and lost the match for himself and India. Chan defeated him 67-37, 37-70, 73-15, 65-60, 73-47 and 50-23.

Yasin was off to a great start, winning the first frame with ease 64-14 but Fu, who turned professional after winning the world title last year, came back strongly to win the next frame 86-0 with a break of 82.

In the third frame, FU outplayed Yasin by 100 points (117-17) and then with a break of 62 won the fourth frame 72-24.

Yasin threw in the towel then and virtually conceded the match losing the fifth and sixth sets tamely.

Fu won the fifth set 90-15 and then had a break of 89 in the sixth to win the frame 98-23 and the match 5-1 to give his side the 1-0 lead.

Alok, who has been in indifferent form, gave a pleasant display to score a convincing win over Chan Waj Tat.

The Indian national champion from Punjab scored 83 in his first frame, 64 in the second, 71 in the third and had a big break of 72 for a total of 81 in the fourth frame to wrap up the match with a 58-1 frame win, in which he had a break of 40, to draw parity for his side (1-1).

In the crucial third match, Devender Joshi failed and India lost the chance to make it to the last four.

The Gujarati gave some hope to Indian supporters when after losing the first frame 37-67, he staged a fine comeback to win the next 70-37.

Chang Kwok Ming won the next frame 73-15, in which he had a break of 46. The Indian had a chance in the fourth and fifth frames but missed black in both to let the chance slip out of his hands.

Chang had a break of 65 in his fourth frame as against 60 by Devender Joshi. He consolidated the lead taking the fifth frame 73-47 and wrapped up the match winning the sixth frame 50-23.

Indians score fluent wins in tennis

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — India kept their hopes alive for an individual tennis medal with both Mahesh Bhupathi and Prahlad Srinath in the men’s singles and top Indian woman Nirupama Vaidyanathan scoring sound victories to move into the next round at the Asian Games today.

The 24-year-old Bhupathi who could not lead India beyond a bronze medal round, looked keen to make amends as he thrashed Ghareeb Mohammed of Kuwait 6-2 6-1 while Srinath also overpowered a Kuwaiti, defeating Adel Al Shatti, 6-2 6-3 in the opening round.

Nirupama, ranked 173 in the world made it to the third round of the women’s singles with a fighting 6-4 7-6 (7-5) upset win over Chinese Taipei’s fifth seed Janet-Whids Lee to set a quarterfinal meeting with Chinese second seed Li Fang, who defeated Jeon Mi-Ra of South Korea 6-3 7-5 at the slow synthetic courts in the Muong Thong Thani complex today.

India also remained in the reckoning for mixed doubles honours when Syed Fazaluddin and Manisha Malhotra combined well to defeated Aqueel Khan and Nida Wasseem of Pakistan 6-4 6-2 in the first round clash.

The top seeds in the women’s section, however, moved up. Favourite Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand beat Maricris Fernandez of the Philippines 6-3 6-3 while Li Fang downed South Korea’s Jeann mi-Ra 6-3 7-5. Yayuk Basuki, who beat Nirupama in Indonesia’s team win over India, moved up with a 6-0 6-0 thrashing of Tayana Babina of Kazakhstan.

India draw blank in golf

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — India drew a blank in the golfing greens finishing outside the medal bracket in both team and individual events for men and women in the Asian Games at the Alpine Club course here today.

Former champions India finished fourth in the men’s team event with a four-day tally of 879 to miss the bronze medal for the second time in a row. They finished at the same position at Hiroshima four years ago.

Japan, led by Tomohiro Kondo, won the gold at 862, followed by Philippines (866) and China (872).

The women’s team, comprising national champion Parnita Garewal, Nonita Lal Qureshi and Urvashi Sethi Sodhi, finished a position below the men with an aggregate of 612.

The men quartet of Harmeet Kahlon, Amit Luthra, Amit Dubey and Digvijay Singh, joint-second at the halfway stage, slumped two spots below yesterday and failed to improve on their position today.

Harmeet Kahlon, who slipped from second position to seventh yesterday with a poor six over 78, continued his slump with a five over 77 to finish 11th in the individual tally with an aggregate of 295.

Digvijay Singh, overnight 10th, struck an even-par 72 to finish sixth at 292 while Amit Luthra, a member of the gold medal winning team in 1982, was placed 17th after today’s four over par 76.

In the women’s section, the 18-year-old Parnita came 11th with a four-day total of 305, followed two places behind by Nonita Lal Qureshi (307) and Urvashi Sethi Sodhi (329) at 20th.

Gulab, Neelam bag bronze medals

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — Diminutive Gulab Chand ran a courageous race to clinch the men’s 10,000 metres bronze and Neelam J. Singh bagged third place in women’s discus throw as India opened their medal count on a bright note in the Asian Games athletics competitions which began today.

The 26-year-old Allahabad-born Gulab Chand seemed to wilt under the intermittent bursts of speed from eventual winner Kenji Takao of Japan, but showed much in reserve to produce his patent "kick" at the finish and land the bronze medal by outpacing formidable South Korean Seung-Do Baek and China’s Xia Fengyuan.

Gulab Chand, the Asian championship silver medallist, clocked a superb 29 minutes 10.53 seconds at the Thammasat University Stadium after producing one of the best efforts by an Indian since the heyday of Harichand in the 1970s.

Takao won gold in 28:45.66 with Qatari Ahmed Ibrahim Hashim coming second in 28:46.55.

Neelam J. Singh fouled three of her tries and could touch only 55.09 m in landing the women’s discus bronze for the other Indian success.

The 27-year-old Kapurthala athlete, whose national mark stands at 59.44m, finished behind China’s Zhili Luan, who took gold in 63.43m, and Liu Fengying (59.34), who claimed the silver.

The other Indian, Swaranjit Kaur, could reach only a best of 51.46m to end up fourth.

Veteran P.T. Usha made her fifth Asian Games entry in a less than convincing manner, struggling home fourth in the second women’s 400m semifinal heats to make the final as one of the fastest losers.

Usha clocked a slow 54.63 seconds in the race won by favourite Damayanti Darsha of Sri Lanka, who clocked 52.48 seconds. Rosa Kutty however, breezed through to the final by winning the first semifinal at 54.06 seconds.

On a generally satisfying day for India, metric miler Bahadur Prasad and 400m runner Paramjit Singh breezed into the respective finals untroubled while Rachita Mistry made it to the women’s 100m final by clocking a personal best 11.46 seconds in the race won by Sri Lankan world 200m silver medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe in 11.30 seconds.

China’s Asian champion Li Xuemei threw down the guantlet winning the first semifinal at a superb 10.99 seconds to break her own games mark of 11.27 seconds set in 1990 at Hiroshima.

Koji Ito of Japan twice broke the Asian record to storm into the men’s 100 metres. The 28-year-old ran a sensational 10.00 seconds in the semifinal after clocking a wind-aided 10.03 in the preliminary heat.

Koji Murofushi began the programme with a bang, breaking the games record and exacting revenge over former Olympic gold medallist Andrey Abduvaliev (Uzbekistan) in winning the men’s hammer throw.

The Japanese came up with a scintillating series which all bettered the existing mark of 72.24m (Bi-Zhong, China) and won recording a best of 78.57m. Abduvaliev, who beat Murofushi to win gold in the July Asian meet in Fukuoka, fouled his last three tries and took silver at 77.14.

Gulab Chand reestablished his class after the 5000m silver and 10000m bronze showing at the Fukuoka Asian meet. The pint-sized runner fought a terrific pace set by the early leaders by prudently holding back and then burst through in the final 250 metres to land a creditable bronze medal.

"The race was slow. I started having stomach cramps in the final stages and had problems with my spikes. That’s why I decided not to chase the Oapanese," a pleased Chand said after the victory.

The Railway athlete said being a vegetarian, he found the food at the village not to his taste and was half-starving leading to the cramps.

Takao took off midway through the race and again stepped up the pace to successfully shake off the rest, barring Qatar’s silver winner Ahmed Ibrahim Hashim, and then had enough in reserve to stave off the latter’s challenge on the final straight.

Usha, who has just recovered from a hamstring injury, ran a sluggish race from lane one in just making it to the 400 finals with the seventh best time overall.

She will have to come up with a vastly improved effort to claim a medal. But Rosa Kutty handled her heat well, moving up in the last stages to win.

Another veteran Bahadur Prasad showed good form in cruising into the finals of the men’s 1500m, clocking 3 minutes, 51.00 seconds to come second in the semi-final heat behind defending champion and former Olympic bronze medallist Mohd Suleiman of Qatar (3:50.43).

Paramjit Singh looked good enough to run yet another sub-45 second race in the 400m final, clocking 46.68 seconds to win the preliminary heat and then looking impressive in coming through second to Sri Lanka’s Sugath Tillekeratne (45.88) in the semi-final.

Tomorrow, India will look for success in the men’s and women’s 400m, men’s shot put, men’s and women’s 1,500m, women’s 100m and Javelin.

Mukesh puts India into semifinal
From K. Jagannadha Rao

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — Right winger Mukesh Kumar sizzled to give India a 2-1 win against the tirelessly hardworking China and entry into the semi-finals from group ‘B’ of the Asian Games hockey championships at the Queen Sirkit Complex here tonight.

Earlier, the Indian women suffered their first defeat in four outings, going down to defending champions Korea 0-5 in the round robin tournament. They now have to beat Japan on December 16 for a passage to the final.

The Indian men’s win sequence continued though they had to overcome the stiffest resistance of the current games so far. The Chinese did give the Indians anxious moments but didn’t have the skills and ability to prevail over India, who won their only Asiad gold in this very city 32 years ago.

For the Indians, who led 1-0 at the break, Mukesh Kumar was in fine fettle by being associated with many great moves and keeping the Chinese defence constantly busy.

The Indians took their time to settle down and in the 11th minute Mukesh gave a fine pass to his skipper Dhanraj Pillay to put India ahead.

He followed it up with a solid shot, off Dhillon, but the ball hit the upright. The right extreme came up with yet another essay but Chinese custodian Han Jizhong brought off a good save.

A ding dong battle followed and the Chinese, immediately on resumption, equalised through Wang Jun off Zhung Xiadong.

The Indians swung into the attack once more and Mukesh Kumar, off Sabu Varkey, found the custodian coming in his way once again.

The Chinese began getting a bit rattled and Ren Baode was shown the yellow card by umpire Fudimura of Japan.

Prabhakaran then launched out and Mukesh Kumar passed the rebound off the custodian to Sameer Dad who, however, drove wide. A little later Prabhakaran himself sent the ball out.

The match winner came six minutes to the end with Mukesh Kumar initiating a duet with Pillay before pushing the ball across to Dhillon. But, before the Indian left winger could get to it, the ball got deflected into the goal via a defender’s stick.

The obviously unsighted umpire Neru Ruben of Malaysia consulted his colleague Fujimara before signalling goal amidst protest from the Chinese who mistakenly thought that Mukesh Kumar had hit the ball from outside the circle.

India will meet Korea in their last match to decide who heads the pool.

The Indian girls may have lost 0-5 to the Koreans after trailing 0-3 at half time at the Kasetsart University ground but they certainly were not disgraced.

The scoreline was not the true indication of the fight put up by the little Indians against the physically fitter, bigger and faster opponents.

The fact that the Indians forced as many as nine penalty corners while conceding seven and also two penalty strokes to the Koreans speaks highly of the girls’ determination and fighting qualities.

The Koreans went into the lead in the 10th minute through penalty corner conversion by Lee Eun-Young off Choi Kwan-Soon. Kim Seong-Eun followed that up with a pass from Woo Hyun-Jung.

A rough defence tackle by the Indians earned for the Koreans their first penalty stroke just before the breather and Choi Kwan-Sook made it 3-0.

There was a flurry of activity by the Indians immediately after the break forcing as many as six penalty corners in 10 minutes. They, however, could not convert even one of them.

There was stray Indian attack too. Once Kamla Dalal got through to the Korean circle only to be thwarted by custodian Park Yong-Sook.

The Koreans came back into the attack and Choi Mi-Sok struck a field goal and Kim Myung-Ok converted her team’s sixth penalty corner.

With barely seven minutes left for the hooter, Indian goalkeeper Tingoliema was found guilty of hitting Kim Eun-Jin and the Koreans were awarded their second penalty corner.

The Indian custodian, however, made ample amends by bringing off a fine save off Woo Hyun-Jung shot.

After tomorrow’s rest day, the Indians will meet Kazakhstan in their penultimate league match on Tuesday.

Pugilist Harpal defeated

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — Indian hopes of gaining a third medal from boxing ring in the Asian Games vanished today when superheavy pugilist Harpal Singh went down to Pakistan’s S. Shahid on points in the quarterfinal bout at the Muong Thang Thani hall.

The 25-year-old Punjab Police inspector was more purposeful and held the early edge by landing a few combination punches on his opponent, but began receiving a series of blows to his face as the Pakistan boxer went for wild swings at his opponent.

Harpal Singh, who was expected to land India their third medal after both bantamweight N.G. Dingko Singh and lightheavy Gurcharan Singh made to the semifinal stage, steadily soaked up punches to eventually lose by a huge 7-19 points decision.

In a fight which was scrappy almost throughout and saw much clinching from both and wild punches thrown at each other, both began tentatively.

In the very first round, Harpal connected a left jab to rock Shahid, but the Pakistani found the mark with a couple of blows as the Indian was never cautious to dodge, concentrating rather in going for an all-out attack and facing the consequence.

Harpal got three combination punches to the Pakistani’s face in the second round, but the latter also managed to connect a few right straights and left hooks.

For the next three rounds, Harpal Singh was guilty of placing himself at the right range for the Pakistani boxer to time and again land his right and left hooks. The Indian drove home two uppercuts to the face, but Shahid held on and sent down two powerful right punches to score points.

The fourth round saw a lot of holding and Harpal Singh looked to be fighting a losing battle as he walked into a powerful left hook. He again took heavy punishment without any accuracy in his own attacks as Shahid came up with a left-right combination.

The final round proved a totally scrappy affair with Harpal desperate, but unable to land body blows from close to end up loser.

Injury-hit Japan fall to Korea

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (AFP) — South Korea booked their place in the Asian Games men’s volleyball final when they beat an injury-hit Japan 3-1 here today.

It took the Koreans only 110 minutes to win 15-11, 13-15, 15-3, 15-6.

They will meet China who beat Taiwan 15-11, 15-4, 15-11 in the other semi-final.

Japan, with three key players missing, including captain Yuichi Nakagaiuchi because of injury, were never able to match the Koreans.

For Korea it was their second straight win over their arch-rivals. They beat them last month in the world championships.

"We have fully analysed the Japanese side after beating them in the world championships", said Korean coach Jun Taik-Jin.

"Today they seemed tired and lacking their normal fighting spirit", he added.
Japanese coach Futoshi Teramwari blamed the loss on injuries.

"We had registered only 11 players out of a maximum of 12 because of injuries", explained Teramwari.

The defeat was a major blow for Japan who have been the dominant force in Asian volleyball. They won both men’s and women’s volleyball at the Asian games for five straight times between 1958 and 1974. The Japanese men’s worst Asiad result was fourth place at the 1986 Seoul Games.

New Asian record in men's 100m

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Japanese sprinter Koji Ito set an Asian record in the men’s 100m semi-final today and failed by the narrowest of margins to become the first Asian to dip under 10 seconds.

Ito streaked into the Asian Games final in 10 seconds flat shattering the previous Asian record of 10.08 and the games record of 10.18.

Tomorrow’s final now holds the intriguing possibility that it will see an Asian man joining sport’s elite sub-10 club - all of whose members are black.

"My only goal was the medal, not the record," he said.

The previous Asian record of 10.08 seconds was set by another Japanese, Nobuharu Asahara, at a meet in Lausanne earlier this year. ITO had already matched that time.

Sailors disappoint

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (PTI) — India failed to win a single medal in Asian Games sailing for the first time since the sport was introduced in the seventies when strong medal hopes Ashim Mongia and Pushpendra Garg ended outside the top three in the enterprise class at the end of the 10- race regatta today.

The Mongia-Garg pair were set for a silver or bronze going into the last two races today only to belie the hopes and end up fourth with a tally of 22 penalty points, one more than bronze medal winners Sri Lanka (L. Jirashina and W.P. Jinaka).

South Korea’s overnight leaders Chung Yoon-Gil and Lim Jin-Houng expectedly sailed to the gold with 16 penalties while the experienced Pak duo of Mamoon and Munir Sadiq accumulated 18 penalties to clinch the silver.

Open O K Class Sailor Gautam Dutta too flopped in his quest for a medal after seemingly poised to take the bronze last evening when he was third overall.

But he failed to do enough in the last two races and finished fourth, with 22 penalties. South Korea’s Jin Hong-Chu (11), Singapore’s Kiong Lye-Ming (18) and Thai P. Moolprasert picked up the three medals in that order in the event.

The other Indian sailors had gone out of medal reckoning yesterday itself. Mahesh Ramachandran logged 48 penalties to take the seventh spot in men’s laser, Saif Shaikh (men’s optimist) finished ninth with 52 penalties, Arjun Pradipak was fifth with 31 penalties in open super moth and woman sailor Amruta Chapekar got the sixth position with 42 penalties in the optimist event.

China’s Yu wins 20 km walk

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Yu Guohui of China won the men’s 20 km walk today at the Asian Games and said he felt so fresh at the end he could have done the distance again.

Yu, who won the race in an Asian Games record time of one hour 20 minutes 25 seconds, took the lead after only the first few kilometres of the walk through the ruins of Thailand’s ancient capital about 65 km from Bangkok.

He was never challenged after getting to the front, beating silver medallist Valeriy Borissov of Kazakhstan by about two minutes with China’s Li Zewen of China about the same distance further behind.

"I could have walked another 20 km," Yu said. "The conditions were perfect because of the coolness of early morning".

His win marked the start of the second week of competition in the December 6 to 20 Games.

Archers move beyond elimination round

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (UNI) — Indian archers performed well in the 90 and 70 metres to move beyond the elimination round of the tournament at the 13th Asian Games here today.

In the 90 mt, Mangal Singh shot 267 out of a maximum 360 to be placed 15th, Satyadev hit 262 for the 19th position, veteran Skaljang Dorji shot 255 for the 22nd position and Rajesh Hasdak scored 234.

South Korea’s Han Seung Hoon led the field of 43 archers in the category with a total of 300, followed by Zhao Faqiao (China) 289 and Kim Kyung Ho of South Korea (288).

In the 70-metre event, Mangal Singh shot 305 and slipped to the 18th position with a total of 572 (267 in 90 m, 305 in 70 m).

Satyadev Prasad hit 302 and was at 23rd place with an aggregate of 564 (262, 302).

Skaljang Dorji shot 303 for a total of 558 (255, 303), to be at the 27th position.

Rajesh Hasdak was last but one to qualify with 300 to total 534 (234, 300).

Crunch time for weary soccer teams

BANGKOK, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Eight teams drag weary legs and tired minds on the field tomorrow for the quarterfinals of the Asian Games soccer tournament, half of them just 48 hours after playing their fourth game in nine days.

The other four — South Korea, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and defending champions Uzbekistan — will have had three days rest and the extra day could prove crucial in the battle for gold.

Hosts Thailand, China, favourities Iran and Qatar all played their last second round matches yesterday and all had to throw everything they had into the quest for a quarterfinal place.

French man Philippe Troussier, coach of a young Japan team which went out in the second round, said a third day of rest made all the difference in such an intense competition.

"If he had one day more to recuperate, I think the recovery and attitude of the players would have been totally different," he said after the jaded World Cup 2002 co-hosts slid out of the competition.

Other coaches also criticised the onerous schedule.

"At the World Cup you have mature players, but nobody asks them to play this many games in such a short time," said Carlos Quieroz, the Portugese coach of the United Arab Emirates, another side which went out in the second round.

"The Asian Games is one of those tournaments where coaches bring a lot of young players and this schedule, physiologically, is too much for them," he said.

None of the teams got to the quarterfinals unbeaten, but in terms of physical and mental resilience, none looked quite so impressive in the second round as Iran, who brought their 1998 World Cup squad to Bangkok, and World Cup 2002 co-hosts South Korea.

The Iranians were stunned 4-2 tiny Oman, but rebounded to thrash Tajikistan 5-0 and then outclass previously unbeaten China 2-1 yesterday to go through to a quarterfinal clash with Uzbekistan, a game they should win.

South Korea, who brought the side expected to play in the 2002 World Cup finals, opened their Asian Games campaign in miserable fashion with a 3-2 defeat by Turkmenistan in their first game.

But they recovered well and were the only unbeaten side in the second round. Tomorrow, they meet hosts Thailand, who scraped through to the quarterfinals by the narrowest of goal difference margin after losing to Qatar 2-1 yesterday.

The Thais will be tired, but there will be 60,000 passionate fans in Rajamangala Stadium to give them a lift.

China, another largely young side with a backbone of veterans, including four who play in Europe, take on Turkmenistan, who have not really impressed since their first round defeat of the South Koreans.

If China and Iran do win their quarterfinals, which they should, they would meet again in the semifinals and China's English coach Bob Houghton is relishing the prospect.

Gulf champions Kuwait are another side with a lot to prove after moving up the favourites list early in the tournament with some impressive performances despite Czech coach Milan Macala's protestations that they were not yet a good side.

They ended up with only one win in the second round but edged out Japan on goal difference, thanks to a 5-0 thrashing of the UAE. They take on Qatar in the quarterfinals, a game they should win.

ACB refuses comment on summons

ADELAIDE, Dec 13 (AP) — The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) refused to comment on Sunday on a summons for Test stars Mark Waugh and Shane Warne to appear before a Pakistan judicial inquiry.

The Judge investigating allegations of match fixing and bribery in Pakistan has sent a summons for the pair to appear before him in Lahore on December 19.

ACB Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said today the board would not comment on the summons until it was received.

Mr Speed and ACB Chairman Denis Rogers have both previously said it was unlikely Warne and Waugh would give evidence to the Pakistan inquiry before Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum.

Mr Rogers also said the ACB was unlikely to release to the inquiry details of the board’s investigation into Warne and Waugh’s involvement with an illegal bookmaker.

Waugh and Warne last week admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker for providing pitch and weather information during Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

They were fined by the ACB in February 1995 in action kept secret until last Tuesday.

The bookmaker scandal has implications on the Pakistan inquiry which in part is investigating allegations of attempted bribery against former Pakistan captain Salim Malik.

Waugh, Warne and former Test spinner Tim May alleged Malik offered them bribes to throw a match during Australia’s tour of Pakistan that followed the Sri Lankan series.

Waugh gave evidence to that effect before the Pakistan inquiry last October but did not mention his link with the Delhi-based bookmaker.

Australian captain Mark Taylor also gave evidence to the inquiry.

A lawyer for the Pakistan Cricket Board, Mr Ali Sibtain Fazli, said Waugh’s credibility had been "severely dented" because of his admission of taking money from the Indian bookmaker.

The Judge wants Waugh to reappear again so he can be re-examined, Mr Fazli said.

The Judge at no stage feels the Warne and Waugh admissions mean Salim Malik is innocent but he maintains the revelations have changed the scandal.

Justice Qayyum was to have reported to the Pakistan Government within 10 days but says the Waugh and Warne scandal will delay his findings.

Meanwhile, a Hobart newspaper claimed today that an Australia-Pakistan one-day international in Hobart last year may have been a fixed match that went wrong.

The Sunday Tasmanian based its front-page report on an alleged conversation between an Australian and Pakistani player after the match.

Pakistan won the low scoring match at Bellerive Oval on January 7 last year by 29 runs. They had been dismissed for 149, but then bowled out Australia for 120.

Cricket writer David Stockdale reported that after the match an Australian player spoke to a Pakistani at the bar of Hobart’s Grand Chancellor Hotel.

"What are you looking so glum about, you won the match?" the Australian was said to have asked.

"That’s the problem," the Pakistani allegedly replied. "We were supposed to lose and it’s caused a lot of friction because the bookmakers have lost a lot of money."

ACB chairman Denis Rogers refused to comment to the report.

Aussies' admission "serious matter"

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (PTI) — Former BCCI president Madhavrao Scindia has described the revelations involving Australian cricketers Shane Warne and Mark Waugh with an Indian bookmaker as a very serious matter for the sport.

Expressing shock over the cricketers acceptance of money from the bookie in exchange for pitch and weather inputs during a 1994 tour of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Mr Scindia, interacting with journalists here yesterday, said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should take steps to prevent such incidents in Indian cricket.

Both Waugh and Warne admitted in Adelaide on Wednesday that they had accepted money from the Indian bookmaker. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) had fined them for the offence in 1995 but kept it a secret till it was leaked to the Press.

Mr Scindia also said the BCCI should have taken a firm stand on the International Cricket Council's (ICC) directive on Harbhajan Singh and asked the world governing body to provide more footage on the young off spinner's suspect action instead of succumbing to its dictates.

In this connection, Mr Scindia praised the firm stand taken by the Sri Lankan board when its star off-spinner Mutthiah Muralitharan's action was questioned by the ICC's throwing panel.

Australia set to retain Ashes

ADELAIDE, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Another sickening English batting collapse put Australia in a commanding position to retain the Ashes for the sixth consecutive time on the third day of the third Ashes cricket Test today.

The home side were 150 for one at the close, boosting their lead to 314 with two days left to build an even more imposing total and then bowl England out on a crumbling Adelaide Oval pitch.

Michael Slater is 74 not out and first innings century-maker Justin Langer is unbeaten on 34.

The English batting collapse in the morning session seems certain to have decided the course of this match and the Ashes series overall.

The middle and lower order disintegrated in the face of the often vicious leg spin of Stuart Macgill and the sustained pace of Glenn McGrath. Nasser Hussain topscored with 89 not out but the tail once more offered virtually zero resistance.

The visitors lost seven wickets for just 40 runs in the last hour before lunch, extending a depressingly familiar run of batting failures.

Australia lead the five Test series 1-0 and victory in Adelaide would mean a drawn series at worst, leaving Australia holding the Ashes for the sixth series. England have not held the Ashes since 1989.

Australia, (1st innings): 391

England, (1st innings): overnight 160 for three

Mark Butcher lbw b Miller 6

Mike Atherton c Taylor b

Macgill 41

Nasser Hussain not out 89

Alec Stewart c Slater b Miller 0

Mark Ramprakash c Mark

Waugh b McGrath 61

John Crawley b McGrath 5

Graeme Hick c Taylor b Macgill 8

Dean Headley lbw b Macgill 0

Darren Gough c Healy b Macgill 7

Alan Mullally b Fleming 0

Peter Such lbw b Fleming 0

Extras (1b, 3lb, 1w, 5nb): 10

Total: 227 all out

Fall of wickets: 1/18, 2/83, 3/84, 4/187, 5/195, 6/210, 7/210, 8/226, 9/227, 10/227.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 18-4-48-2 (1w, 5nb), Damien Fleming 10.5-2-34-2, Colin Miller 23-6-71-2, Stuart Macgill 28-6-53-4, Mark Waugh 3-0-17-0.

Australia, (2nd innings):

Mark Taylor lbw b Such 29

Michael Slater not out 74

Justin Langer not out 34

Extras (10 lb, 1w, 2nb): 13

Total: 150 for one

Bowling: Darren Gough 10-2-28-0, Alan Mullally 11-4-12-0, Dean Headley 11-1-42-0 (2nb), Peter Such 16-3-32-1 (1w), Mark Ramprakash 11-1-25-0, Graeme Hick 1-0-1-0.

Fall of wicket: 1-54.

Indians struggle against Wellington

WELLINGTON, Dec 13 (PTI) — Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly notched up half centuries while opener Ajay Jadeja missed his by four runs as India struggled to reach 219 for seven at close on the second day of their four-day match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve today.

Dravid made exactly 50, left-hander Ganguly batted fluently to remain unbeaten on 68 (132 b, 2x6, 4x4) and Jadeja made 46 off 93 balls with six boundaries in India’s reply to the home team’s first innings total of 317.

Javagal Srinath (7) was at the crease with Ganguly at stumps.

The tourists, who captured the last three wickets of Wellington in one hour this morning, lost theirs at regular intervals in their final match before the first of the three-Test series commencing at Dunedin on December 18.

Seasoned opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, expected to open at Dunedin with Jadeja, flopped by making only six, while the other top-order batsman, V.V.S. Laxman, who came two-down, made an unconvincing 28.

The team hardly seems to have found a solution to its batting problems ahead of the opening Test even if coach Anshuman Gaekwad saw a lot of good in the Indian reply, saying "the game plan was to spend as much time in the middle as possible."

Ganguly played the most attractive innings of the day.

His two sixes came off left-arm spinner Mark Jefferson and he made his runs with a sense of urgency.

Ganguly did not seem to have any particular discomfort against the faster men and relished the slow stuff of Jefferson.

All the Indian top-order batsmen spent a good deal of time in the middle, including Sidhu, who batted for 51 minutes and faced 40 balls before falling to a reflex catch at short leg off opening bowler Carl Bulfin with India on 22.

Dravid, who put on 52 runs for the second wicket with Jadeja - whose last Test appearance was in July 1997 against Sri Lanka, was impressive in negotiating pace but was only on 22 after nearly two hours of stay in the second session.

Jadeja had begun to thump the fast bowlers with elan after a watchful start. But a dreadful one-handed steer shot proved his undoing with the total reading 74.

Dravid and the lanky Laxman then put on 40 runs for the third wicket with the latter quick to find the vacant spots in the attacking field-setting.

Laxman effortlessly reached 28 when he flicked Jefferson to mid-wicket fielder Gavin Larsen and departed.

The left-arm slow bowling of Jefferson ensured two more Indian batsmen, Anil Kumble (7) and Sunil Joshi (1), and he finished the day with 3 for 82.

Bulfin grabbed two wickets while his pace partner Robert Kennedy accounted for the wicket of Dravid, who fell leg before to one that cut back sharply, and Jadeja.

Earlier, Wellington resumed at 273 for seven overnight before being all out after adding 44 runs. Kumble snapped up five for 56 to emerge as the most successful Indian bowler.

Scoreboard
Wellington (1st innings)
P. Chandler c Mongia b Kumble 35, R. Twose c Laxman b Kumble 99, J. Wells c Mongia b Kumble 15, T. Boyer c Dravid b Srinath 54, C. Nevin b Kumble 9, R. Petrie c Sidhu b Mohanty 48, J. Franklin c Laxman b Joshi 3, G. Larsen b Singh 3, M. Jefferson c Laxman b Srinath 7, C. Bulfin b Kumble 7, R. Kennedy not out 11,

Extras (lb-9, b-7, nb-9, w-1): 26

Total (102.5 overs): 317

Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-141, 3-193, 4-207, 5-232, 6-239, 7-259, 8-294, 9-297, 10-317.

Bowling: J. Srinath 22-5-82-2, D. Mohanty 19-3-66-1, R. Singh 17-6-45-1, S. Ganguly 7-2-24-0, A. Kumble 28.5-7-56-5, S. Joshi 8-1-27-1, A. Jadeja 1-0-1-0.

India (1st innings):

N. Sidhu c Chandler b Bulfin 6, A. Jadeja c Larsen b Kennedy 46, R. Dravid lbw Kennedy 50, V.V.S. Laxman c Larsen b Jefferson 28, S.C. Ganguly not out 68, N.R. Mongia c Twose b Jefferson 3, A. Kumble c Wells b Jefferson 3, S. Joshi c Jefferson b Bulfin 1, J. Srinath not out 7.

Extras (nb-5, lb-1, b-1): 7

Total (for 7 wkts, 75 overs): 219

Fall: 1-22, 2-74, 3-114, 4-147, 5-168, 6-204, 7-208.

Bowling: C. Bulfin 23-4-54-2, R. Kennedy 16-3-54-2, R. Petrie 5-2-15-0, G. Larsen 11-3-12-0, M. Jefferson 20-1-82-3.

5 non-whites in SA team

PORT ELIZABETH, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Five non-white players have been named in the South Africa ‘A’ squad to play the West Indies in a four-day match, starting in Pietermartitzburg next Saturday.

They are batsman Ashwell Prince, off-spinner Shafiek Abrahams, left-arm wrist spinner Paul Adams and fast bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Victor Mpitsang, the 12th-man.

"The team contains rising young players we are interested in having a look at," said selection convener Peter Pollock.

South Africa’s senior team selection for the first Test against the West Indies last month caused a storm in political circles because it was composed entirely of white players with Adams as 12th-man.

Herschelle Gibbs, a non-white batsman, was brought in for the second Test and the United Cricket Board of South Africa announced selection guidelines which should ensure the inclusion of non-white players in future provincial and national teams.

The government has subsequently threatened to legislate for mixed teams if sports organisations do not select them voluntarily.

Former South Africa, Transvaal and Somerset Open Jimmy Cook has been appointed national director of coaching.

South Africa ‘A’ : Nic Pothas (captain), Sven Koenig, Boeta Dippenaar, Martin Van Jaarsveld, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Lance Klusener, Shafiek Abrahams, Paul Adams, Makhaya Qntini, Charl Willoughby, Victor Mpitsang.

Aravinda, Murali may miss tour

COLOMBO, Dec 13 (PTI) — Beleaguered Sri Lanka’s hopes of staging a morale-boosting comeback during the coming Australian tour appeared bleak with uncertainty hanging over the participation of two of their key players - Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan who are nursing injuries.

Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and manager Ranjit Fernando said last night during a felicitation dinner for star bat Sanath Jayasuriya here that they were not sure whether De Silva and Muralitharan would be fit enough to take part in the limited overs series also featuring hosts Australia and England.

When asked whether the two would overcome their fitness problems in time for the tour, Ranatunga said he was not sure and that the board was handling the team selection and it was for them to take a decision.

Mr Fernando too appeared uncertain and was seen enquiring of Muralitharan whether he was fit enough to bowl.

The ace spinner suffered a shoulder injury during the mini World Cup match against South Africa in Dhaka, which the islanders lost.

The bad run for the Sri Lankans continued with their disastrous performance in the subsequent triangular tournament at Sharjah where the world champions even failed to qualify for finals of the tournament featuring India and Zimbabwe.

Muralitharan and De Silva, who suffered a leg injury and needed a few weeks rest, have been given time by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board till December 23 to prove their fitness.

The team is scheduled to leave for Australia on December 28.

Maiden Test century by Yohanna

LAHORE, Dec 13 (Reuters) — Yousaf Yohanna scored an elegant maiden Test century to give Pakistan a 142-run first innings lead on the fourth day of the second Test against Zimbabwe today.

But with the final session of play being lost through bad light, the match looked destined to end in a draw.

The umpires called off play during the tea interval when heavy mist enveloped the stadium. Zimbabwe were then 48 without loss in their second innings.

A total of eight hours and 23 minutes of play has been so far been lost in the first four days of the match.

Yohanna, playing in his seventh Test, hit an undefeated 120 before Pakistan declared at 325 for nine in reply Zimbabwe’s first innings 183.

Starting the day on 46 in his side’s 211 for five, Yohanna slammed 15 fours and a six in his 206-ball innings which spanned 306 minutes.

He dominated a ninth-wicket stand of 60 with Shoaib Akhtar who contributed 11 and then put on 50 in an unbroken last wicket partnership with Waqar Younis who made 24 not out.

Zimbabwe paceman Henry Olanga earlier rattled Pakistan with three quick wickets in 20 balls when play began after a delay of 75 minutes and finished with three for 63. Neil Johnson took two for 71 and leg-spinner Adam Huckle two for 40 from seven overs.

Moin Khan had added a single to his overnight 24 when he was trapped leg before. Olanga then had Wasim Akram well taken by Neil Johnson at second slip for two and bowled Saqlain Mushtaq for nought as Pakistan slipped to 215 for 8.

But they were revived by the 24-year-old Yohanna who shared useful partnerships with Shoaib and Waqar to give his side a substantial lead.

Zimbabwe lead the three-match series 1-0.
Scoreboard
Zimbabwe: (1st innings) 183
Pakistan: (1st innings) (overnight 211-5)
Anwar c A. Flower b Johnson 75
Naveed Ashraf b Streak 32
Ijaz c Huckle b Johnson 16
Malik run out 2
Yohanna not out 120
Raza c Rennie b Huckle 3
Moin Khan lbw b Olanga 25
Akram c Johnson b Olanga 2
Saqlain b Olanga 0
Shoaib b Huckle 11
Waqar not out 24
Extras: (lb-10, nb-5) 15
Total: (for nine wickets declared) 325
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-121, 3-129, 4-132, 5-147, 6-213, 7-21, 8-215, 9-275
Bowling: Streak 33-8-75-1, Olanga 25-9-63-3, Mbangwa 24-4-66-0, Johnson 24-2-71-2, Huckle 7-0-40-2.
Zimbabwe: (2nd innings):
Rennie not out 16
G. Flower not out 17
Extras: (lb-5 nb-10) 15
Total: (for no wicket) 48
Bowling: Wasim Akram 6-0-23-0, Shoaib Akhtar, 5-1-15-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 1-0-5-0.

Khurasia, Ramesh fashion colts’ win

AHMEDABAD, Dec 13 (PTI) — Left-handers Amay Khurasia (68) and S. Ramesh (52) struck fine half centuries to steer India ‘A’ to a comfortable six-wicket win over West Indies ‘A’ in the second one-day cricket match here today.

Khurasia (68 off 77 balls) and opener Ramesh (52 off 99 balls) added 116 runs for the second wicket in 27.5 overs to help the Indian colts score 185 for four in 47.1 overs after restricting West Indies ‘A’ to 184 for eight off 50 overs at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, near here.

The Indians rattled up the required runs with still six wickets in hand thanks to a fine unbeaten 49 runs partnership between skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (35 n.o.) and wicketkeeper Saba Karim (19 n.o.).

With this win the Indians, who had lost the Hyderabad tie on Friday by 119 runs, have squared the three match series 1-1 with the last match to be held on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium.

India ‘A’, needing to score 3.70 runs per over, started disastrously losing the in-form Debang Gandhi for five with the total reading just 10.

However, the stylish left-handers, Khurasia and Ramesh played some attacking shots to take the fight to the enemy camp.

Khurasia, who was very severe on West Indies colts’ best bowler Reon King, hitting the paceman for three fours in his fifth over, played the main role striking three more well-timed boundaries in his 115 minutes stay at the wicket.

He was ably supported by a confident Ramesh who hit three fours during his 149-minute stay at the wicket as the Indian colts reached 126 for one.

India ‘A’ lost three wickets in the space of 22 balls as both Khurasia and Ramesh got out to rash shots. Khurasia tried to pull leg-spinner Nagamotto and was clean bowled while Ramesh tried to cut King and was caught by wicketkeeper Wayne Phillip.

From a comfortable 126 for one India slumped to 136-3 when another left-hander Rohan Gavaskar was caught by Griffith off King at short cover for no score.

However, Kanitkar and Saba Karim saw the home side through without any further damage.

 West Indies ‘A’:
Griffith run out 57, Semple c and b Kanitkar 27, Hinde c Kanitkar b Pandey 18, McGarrell lbw Pandey 0,

Smith b Kanitkar 19, Gayle b Chopra 25, Sarwan lbw Ganesh 0, Bishop c Pratap b Kanitkar 11, Nagamotto not out 4, King not out 2, Extras (LB-9, W-6, NB-6) 21.

Total (for 8 wkts off 50 overs) 184.

Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-110, 3-111, 4-119, 5-154, 6-155, 7-174, 8-179.

Bowling: D. Ganesh 10-0-37-1, R.S. Sodhi 8-0-22-0, V. Pratap 2-0-12-0, G. Pandey 10-0-24-2, H. Kanitkar 10-0-35-3, N. Chopra 10-0-45-1.

India ‘A’:
Ganghi b King 5, Ramesh c Phillip b King 52, Khurasia b Nagamotto 68, Kanitkar not out 35, Gavaskar c Griffth b King 0, Karim not out 19, Extras (LB-3, W-2, NB-1) 6.

Total (for 4 wkts, 47.1 overs) 185.

 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-126, 3-136, 4-136.

Bowling: King 10-0-48-3, Ian Bishop 9-0-43-0, K. Semple 10-0-33-0, N. McGarrell 9.1-1-30-0, C. Gayle 3-0-10-0, M. Nagamotto 6-0-18-1.

DAVC, Arya College triumph

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13 (BOSR )— DAV College, Sector 10, scored two easy wins — first over Punjab University Campus, Chandigarh, by 12-1 and the second over Government College, Ludhiana, by 14-1 — in the Punjab University Inter College Softball Tournament being played here at the PU Campus today.

In other matches of the day, Arya College, Ludhiana, defeated Government College, Ludhiana by 5-4 while the former drew with PU Campus, Chandigarh, at 6-6 in their second match.

Haryana cops are football champs

YAMUNANAGAR, Dec 13 (FOSR)— Haryana Police won the 25th Senior Haryana State Football Championship defeating Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam, Panchkula by a solitary goal at the BILT Football stadium here today.

Haryana Police took the lead in the 10th, minute through Lakhwinder Masih. Thereafter, H.V.P.N. mounted pressure and functioned like a well oiled machine.

In the second half the match started on a dull note and the game was confined to the midfield.

In the dying minutes Ranbir Singh of Haryana Police got the ball in the midfield, dribbled past the defenders but missed the target.

The prizes were given away by Mr L.M. Jain, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, and president, Haryana Football Association. He announced that Mr Satish Bhardwaj, president of the District Football Association, Yamunanagar would henceforth be member of the HFA executive committee.

Tribune CC, ICC emerge champs

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13 (TNS) — Tribune Cricket Club and Industrial Cricket Club won the Super-8 wicket cricket tournament organised by C.Y. Cricket Club, Sector 46-C, in the junior and senior categories respectively.

In the first final, Tribune Cricket Club beat St. Perter's Cricket Club by four wickets. Brief scores: St Peter's C.C. - 39 all out (Amit 3 for 15, Gaganpreet 2 for zero), TCC - 42 in 4 overs (Sukhjot 15).

In the final for seniors, Industrial Cricket Club beat Chetna Cricket Club by four wickets. Brief scores: Chetna CC: 118 for 5 (Rotash-37, Rishpal 3 for 25, Aman 2 for 18. ICC: 122 for 3 in 11.3 overs (Jatinder 32 and Aman 55 n.o., Chetan 2 for 32 runs).

Mr Satya Pal Jain, MP, gave away the prizes.

WCC-30 lift title

CHANDIGARH, Dec 13 (BOSR) — Weightlifting Coaching Centre, Sector 30, lifted the overall trophy by securing 31 points on the concluding day of the 10th Chandigarh State Senior Men's Weightlifting Championship, here last evening. Thirty weight-lifters took part in this meet where 19 new state records were established.

The results:
56 kg: Manwar Singh - WCC - 30 1 (total weight - 207.5 kg), Kanam Buan - WCC-30 2, Jagrat Singh - Chd 3.
62kg: Balwinder Singh - WCC 1, (total weight 175 kg), Dharmvir Singh - WCC-30 2, Surinder Singh - Chd 3.
69 kg: Ram Paul - WCC 1, (total 240 kg), Kamaldeep Singh-PSC-SAS Nagar 2, Arun Kumar-WCC - 30 3.
77 kg: Balwinder Singh - WCC 1 (total 200 kg), Surinder Singh - PSC, SAS Nagar 2, Harish Tanwar - PUC, Chd 3.
85 kg: Harider Kumar - Chd 1, (total 312.5 kg), Vikas Duggal - PSC, SAS Nagar 2. Didar Singh - PSC, SAS Nagar 3.
94 kg: Shalinder Singh - Chd 1 (total 272.5 kg) Vikram - Chd 2, Satwinder Singh - WCC 3.
105 kg: Malkit Singh - Chd 1, (total 245 kg), Sachin Vaid - WCC-30 2.

Ludhiana cops, Thapar Academy in final

NABHA (Patiala), Dec 13 (FOSR) — Thapar Academy, Sansarpur, downed a fighting PSB to enter the final of the 23rd All India Liberals Hockey Tournament played at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

Sansarpur boys will cross swords with Ludhiana Police who quelled a spirited challenge put up by Air-Force, Delhi, before taking the tie breaker route to beat them 6-5.

Left out Lokpreet Singh was the nerve centre of all action for the Sansarpur team and his speedy runs down the left flank and precise passing pulled the rug from under the PSEB Academy lads.

In the other semi-final a complacent Air-Force, Delhi, were stunned by a confident Ludhiana Police. After playing a goalless draw in regulation time, everything boiled down to the tie-breaker in which both teams scored four goals each. In the sudden death, Air Force international Baldev Singh sent his firm push wide to gig the Ludhiana cops an entry into the final with a 6-5 verdict.

Meanwhile, the organising committee has banned Punjab Police for a period of two years from playing in this IHF grade 'A' tournament. Punjab Police in yesterday's match against Thapar Academy had physically assaulted umpire Daljit Singh.