Test sacrificed for commercial gain
DUNEDIN, Dec 22 — The hoax of a cricket match played at Carisbrook yesterday signified at least one thing — the welfare of Test cricket is no longer the primary objective of the people concerned.

Decade's most interesting year in women's tennis
LONDON, Dec 22 — After suffering years of sniping from the men’s tour, women’s tennis savoured the sweetest sensation of all in 1998 — success with a hint of revenge.

India "ready to host" 2006 Asian Games
NEW DELHI, Dec 22 — India is absolutely ready to host the 2006 Asian Games, according to the Indian Olympic Association President, Suresh Kalmadi, here yesterday.

• Year of shame for Asian sport

Srinath the lone Indian survivor
AHMEDABAD, Dec 22 — Prahlad Srinath was the lone Indian survivor as three of his compatriots crashed out on the second day of the first leg of the Bharat Petroleum ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament at the Ageta courts here today.

PARIS : French soccer player Zinedine Zidane smiles with his Golden Ball trophy, France Football magazine's prestigious player of the year award in Paris on Monday, with his wife Veronique (left) and his sister. AP/PTI

Zidane Reuters personality poll winner LONDON, Dec 22 — Zinedine Zidane, scorer of two goals in France’s World Cup final win over Brazil, is the winner of the Reuters 1998 sports personality poll."Zidane was one of the most important stars in the most important event of 1998," said Ori Lewis, sports editor of the Jerusalem Post in Israel. Zidane, who came last in the 1997 poll, was the clear winner with 128 points out of a maximum of 305. Almost neck-and-neck, trailing some way behind Zidane, were Austrian alpine skier Hermann Maier with 76 points and American sprinter Marion Jones who took third place with 74.

Inter-varsity boxing results
ROHTAK, Dec 22 — In a bid to claim third successive team championship, MDU boxers moved ahead on the third day of the All-India Inter University Boxing Championship at MDU sports complex today.

PSB, Punjab Police to clash in final
JALANDHAR, Dec 22 — Archrivals Punjab and Sind Bank, Delhi, and Punjab Police, Jalandhar, will cross swords in the final of the 2nd All India Ramesh Chander Memorial Farmtrac Cup-98 Hockey Tournament at the Surjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, tomorrow.

Hari Krishan to lead
CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 — Punjab has selected a 16-member squad to represent the state in the knockout stage of the Vijay Merchant Cricket Championship.

Test sacrificed for commercial gain

DUNEDIN, Dec 22 (PTI) — The hoax of a cricket match played at Carisbrook yesterday signified at least one thing — the welfare of Test cricket is no longer the primary objective of the people concerned.

Two full days of Test cricket were sacrificed at the altar of commercial gain and an exhibition match was staged, ostensibly to see if play was possible under lights with a red ball.

The officials would have been happy had coloured clothing been available to the players. In its absence, there was no option but to use the red ball as the white ball would not have gone well with white clothing.

The abandonment of the Dunedin Test on the third morning had come with a rider: "A practice day-night match is scheduled for the fourth day on Monday".

No thought was given to the fifth day today, the official version being "the weather forecast is very bad".

As it happened, the sun was out in its full glory today. Thus, while the weather played the spoilsport on the first three days, it were the officials who decided to eat away the remaining two days.

And, everyone has been voicing concern over promoting Test cricket.

The chief executive of New Zealand Cricket (NZC), Christopher Doig, has said he would put the idea of a reserve day in Test matches before the International Cricket Council at its cricket committee’s meeting in Dubai in February.

The idea is that a reserve day be played if a day is lost due to bad weather during a game.

"This year the South Africans were compromised when they lost a day when on the verge of winning against England," Doig said.

Match referee Barry Jarman Shares Doig’s concern for the future of Test cricket, yet he went ahead with a meeting at which it was decided to scrap the last two days for an exhibition match.

The match itself had all the trappings of an international game.

The three television commentators from India — former Test stars Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar — and their counterparts from New Zealand — Martin Crowe, Glenn Turner and Sir Richard Hadlee — came to the middle for the pitch report, toss and the subsequent captains’ interviews.

The match was telecast live back in India and was partly shown live in New Zealand, with highlights of the night’s play following later.

With the organisers eager to cash in on the Tendulkar mania, there were tickets for the match, more than 4000 turned out to watch the proceedings.

Notably, while NZC has insured all the 11 one-day internationals scheduled for this summer, none of the Tests have been.

The reason given by a high-ranking local official was: "Because the money we are looking from Tests is minor."

Kiwi coach Steve Rixon, when asked if it would not have been better to play three or four sessions of Test cricket instead of an inconsequential match, said: "No, in a one-dayer both the batsmen and bowlers can get some sort of practice."

It was ironical that New Zealand authorities did not give any thought to a tension-free debut for young Matthew Bell or to Adam Parore, who needs less than 100 runs to cross 2,000 in Test cricket.

The Indians, meanwhile, displayed some muddled thinking.

They had rejected the idea of playing with a red ball under lights on the eve of the Test, saying the "reports on its sighting are not encouraging."

Clearly, behind all their talk about the visibility of the ball was the fear of a lively wicket, as it turned out, the pitch turned out to be a batsman’s delight.

Indeed as things stand today, cricket is now in real danger of becoming only incidental to other things.

India "ready to host" 2006 Asian Games
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 — India is absolutely ready to host the 2006 Asian Games, according to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President, Suresh Kalmadi, here yesterday.

"We will bid for the games and will go all-out to impress upon the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for allotting the games to us", emphasised Mr Kalmadi.

"India has infrastructure ready in important cities, knowldegeable officials and also experience of hosting the inaugural games in 1951 and again in 1982", said Mr Kalmadi, adding, "we have already placed our proposal before the OCA President Sheikh Ahmad."

According to Mr Kalmadi, he had a detailed discussion with the OCA chief about allotment of the games after OCA granted permission for staging the Afro-Asian Games in 2001.

In the race for the 2006 Asian Games are Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Qatar. Pusan (South Korea) has already been allotted the 2002 games.

Mr Kalmadi said the IOA would bid for staging the games in the country. "We will then decide when to stage the games since we have facilities at various centres, including Pune", said Mr Kalmadi.

The IOA would soon submit a detailed plan and proposal for the government's approval to develop a centre for the 2006 games "The centre should be as good as hosting the Olympic games", said Mr Kalmadi.

PTI adds: Mr Kalmadi said Indian sports was in an upbeat mood after a splendid performance by its athletes at the Bangkok Asian Games and looked to further improve upon its standard in coming international meets.

"It's been a resurgence in many fields and we should continue to improve in years to come," Mr Kalmadi said while congratulating Indian athletes and their coaches for the stupendous show in Bangkok.

"It is the highest ever medal haul by India and specially the resurgence of Indian hockey — men and women — has been a pleasant news for Indian sport," Mr Kalmadi told a press conference after his return from Bangkok.

The IOA President said he was thrilled at India’s gold medal performance in men’s hockey and described the women’s effort of a silver, equivalent to its weight in gold.

He said athletics, the mother of all sports, brought glory to India when athletes won 15 medals, including two gold.

Kalmadi reserved a special praise for double gold medallist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and compared her feat to that of P.T. Usha’s at the 1986 Seoul Games when the sprint queen bagged four gold and a silver. Sikdar won two golds and a silver in Bangkok.

The IOA chief expressed hapiness at the fact the medals were well distributed among the events represented and not restricted to one or two.

On the decision to drop veteran P.T. Usha from the 4x400 metre women’s relay team, Kalmadi said: "There is no place for sentiment when a medal is at stake. Winning a medal for the country is more important than personal standings."

The IOA President urged the corporate sector to come forward and help Olympic sports.

"There is definitely a resurgence in Indian sports and it is high time for corporates to come forward and sponsor Olympic Sports," Kalmadi said.

He pleaded with corporates to make a beginning by sponsoring at least one discipline to help India make a better team for future multi-sports events.

The IOA President said the government should come forward with more money if it wanted to see better performance from athletes in future.

"There has to be enough budget allocation to fund sports activities and a mere Rs 70 crore will not be enough," he said and added that IOA would lobby to seek "tax exemption for all sports sponsorships."

Skirting queries over bantamweight pugilist Dingko Singh’s non-clearance by the government who eventually boxed his way to the Asian Games gold, Kalmadi said: "Past is behind us. If government does not clear and IOA feels that athlete was competent of winning a medal, we will bear the cost."

"Dingko Singh has shown us that anything could be achieved if there was a strong will," he said.

India entered in 21 disciplines and won medals through 11 sports, which is a creditable showing, Kalmadi said and added only women’s football team failed to live up to expectations while all others performed much above it.

Year of shame for Asian sport

BANGKOK, Dec 22 (AFP) — Attempts to buy an Asian Games table tennis gold medal in Bangkok capped what has been a year of shame for Asian sport.

The year 1998 started badly with Chinese swimmers caught with drugs at the World Championships in January.

It worsened with match fixing in Asian soccer, a similar inquiry into cricket, more drug scandals for athletics and badminton, and more trouble for football as Thailand and Indonesia tried their best to lose a match.

When China announced in Bangkok that someone had approached a top mainland table tennis player offering money to throw a gold medal final, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) quickly ended its inquiry.

"It is like the allegations that have hit cricket — if it can’t be proved what can we do. And in this case the agent got away so we cannot prove anything," said Mr Randhir Singh, the OCA Secretary-General.

Chinese team leader Yuan Weimin still insisted that "young athletes need education" and other Asian sports leaders have not been able to hide their anger so easily as scandal has overshadowed true sporting endeavour.

Asia Football Confederation General Secretary Peter Velappan has been at the forefront of a desperate attempt to halt his sport drowning in sleaze.

Hong Kong international Chan Tsz-Kong was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for his role in fixing a World Cup qualifier against Thailand in March, 1996, as well as a series of Hong Kong Championship matches.

Five other players have also been charged as soccer corruption spreads from bases around Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Allegations have even been made about results in South Korea.

Arab nations have been accused of fielding over-age players in youth internationals. But in the World Cup year, the ultimate humiliation came when Indonesia scored an own goal to lose a Tiger cup match against Thailand in September to avoid a match against the Vietnamese hosts.

The pictures were flashed around the world, and the AFC leader admitted that "we have had some negative elements that have taken Asian football one step back."

"We are still very concerned about this problem of bribery and corruption. It is basically in this region and now Hong Kong has come into this group as well.

"The Tiger Cup was a real stigma for this region. I am very concerned about the situation of football in South East Asia and South Asia."

Velappan said all of Asia "needs an injection to revitalise their game. I do hope they will not lose out in this challenge."

The scandals came at a bad time as the AFC battles to get extra place for the 2002 World Cup finals. FIFA has only allocated two places on top of the two for Japan and South Korea.

"We received a big jolt with the FIFA decisions but I am confident everyone will be sensible and we will get the result due to Asia," said Velappan.

China has also had a jolt from drug scandals this year but recovered to claim it had learned a lesson in sportsmanship.

Yuan Yuan got caught smuggling human growth hormone into Australia for the World Swimming Championships and four more tested positive for a steroid-masking diuretic during the competition.

There was relief in the Chinese camp when the swimmers came through the Bangkok Games unscathed, though with fewer titles.

"Our athletes have learnt a lot about winning fairly and sportsmanship," admitted Tu Mingde, Secretary-General of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

The drug investigation into Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe, winner of the women’s 200-metre silver medal at last year’s World Athletics Championships, has dogged her all year.

The 22-year-old failed a test in April and has proclaimed her innocence and started running again even though the authorities have warned she could lose any medals won. Jayasinghe left Bankok under a shadow, withdrawing from her event with an injury that some doubted.

Bandminton was hit when Indonesia’s world doubles champion Sigit Budiarto tested positive for a steroid at the Singapore Open in August.

With his preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympics in disarray, Sigit has appealed. But the International Badminton Federation has promised to clamp down and stop any spread of the phenomenon.

Srinath the lone Indian survivor

AHMEDABAD, Dec 22 (PTI) — Prahlad Srinath was the lone Indian survivor as three of his compatriots, including Mahesh Bhupathi, crashed out on the second day of the first leg of the Bharat Petroleum ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament at the Ageta courts here today.

Srinath, a wild card entrant, posted an impressive straight set 6-3, 6-4 victory over Croatian Ivan Ljubibic ranked 293 on ATP list in under an hour.

Srinath got his serves going and his neat placements at the net caught the Croatian on the wrongfoot many a times. The Croatian tried his best to contain Srinath’s flowing shots but it was just not his day.

Srinath claimed the first set easily with good serves and then kept up the pressure in the second set also. His serve and volley and net-rushing tactics saw him gain ascendancy over his rival.

Three other Indians crashed out unceremoniously against their foreign rivals.

Syed Fazaluddin another wild card entrant was shown the exit by great Britain’s Jamie Delgado who proved just too good for his Indian rival. Jamie won 6-3, 7-5. It was only in the second set that Syed showed some resistance, but he knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

Barry Cowan of Great Britain, seeded fourth, had to give out his best against a fighting Mahesh Bhupathi ranked 383 on the ATP ranking list. He beat Bhupathi 7-6, 6-3.

Bhupathi gave a valiant display but the Briton was just a shade better. His court craft and booming serves caught Bhupathi stranded many a times. Bhupathi later said that he was tired and did not play to his strength.

Later on partnering Srinath, the Indian pair defeated M. Pampolouv and Oran Motevassel to record a fluent 6-2, 6-3 win.

Bhupathi said they had entered in the doubles just for fun. They were actually not in contention for the title but this win had propped up their confidence and they would have a go at the title if all goes well.

Vijay Kannan ranked 931 on the ATP list was outwitted by second seed Anthony Dupuis of France who lost the second set 2-6 but managed to script a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win.

Results: (Singles Ist round): G. Motomura b A. Merinov 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; K. Masuda b G. Cladwell 6-1, 7-6; S. Delgado b S. Fazaluddin 6-3, 7-5; A. Strambini b M. Joachim 6-3, 6-4; Barry Cowan b Mahesh Bhupathi 7-6, 6-3; O. Sela b L. Mor 6-3, 6-3; A. Dupuis b V. Kannan 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; P. Srinath b I. Ljubibic 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: N. Behr and E. Ran b D. Cladwell and A. Merinov 6-2, 7-5; M. Bhupathi and P. Srinath b M. Pampoulov and O. Motevassel 6-2, 6-3. N. Okun and N. Wellgreen b N. Kirtane and S. Kirtane 6-3, 7-5.

Inter-varsity boxing results
From Our Sports Reporter

ROHTAK, Dec 22 — In a bid to claim third successive team championship, MDU boxers moved ahead on the third day of the All-India Inter University Boxing Championship at MDU sports complex today. Hitesh Kumar, Vikram Gautam and Dalbir Singh defeated their opponents in super heavyweight, & middleweight categories, respectively. North pugilists continued to perform well in their respective bouts.

Categorywise results:

Light flyweight: Ajay Keemta (Nagpur Uni) b Rakesh Meena (Jaipur Uni) D. Prasad (Osmania) b Sanjeet Chauhan (HPU, Shimla) Ranbir Singh (Garhwal) b Abdul Jaffar (Madras Uni) Mukesh Mwana (GND, Asr) b Pramod Sharma (Delhi) Parminder Singh (Jhansi Uni) b Deepak Singh (Ruhelkhand Uni).

Bantam weight: Satnam Singh (GND, Asr) b Pawan Kumar (PU, Chd) Vinay Singh (Bilaspur Uni) b M.D. Tariq Quereshi (Bhopal Uni) Mohammad Zahid (Calcutta Uni) b Ashok Kumar (Jabalpur Uni) Kailash Chander (Jodhpur) b Bharat Kumar (Raipur) Kulwant Phogat (Delhi Uni) b D. Kishore Sagar (Andhra Uni).

Light weight: Jagdip Singh (PU, Chd) b Shiv Prakash (MDSU, Ajmer) Harish Badhwana (Jaipur Uni) b Manoj Kumar (Kerala Uni) Manoj Kumar (Delhi Uni) b Praveen Kumar (Pbi Uni, Patiala) Arun Kumar (Jamia Uni) b K. Giribabu (Osmania Uni) Naveen Kumar (Allahabad Uni) b Rupesh Kumar (Bilaspur Uni).

Welter weight: Bhisham Singh (Meerut Uni) b Rakesh Godar (KU, Kurukshetra) Vikkay Sharma (PU, Chd) b Partap Singh (MDSU, Ajmer) Arvind Singh (Pbi Uni Patiala) b Rakesh Pandey (BHU, Varanasi) Paramjit Singh (GNDU, Asr) b Sukhanta Mitra (Calcutta).

Fly weight: Ranjit Singh (Pbi Uni, Patiala) b Jai Parkash (MDU, Rohtak) Riazuddin (Raipur Uni) b Santosh Kumar (Meerut Uni) M.A. Bagi (Osmania Uni) b Love Kumar (PU, Chd) Abdul Hassan (Calcutta) b Dalip Biharia (Utkal Uni) Puran Mal (HAU, Hissar) b M. Santhill (Madras Uni) Shree Sherani (Bhopal Uni) b Kuldeep Joshi (MLSU, Udaipur).

Feather weight: Rajesh Kumar (Nainital Uni) b Sujeet Kumar (Kerala Uni) B. Girdhar (Osmania Uni) b S. Polani (Madras Uni) Vikram Tyagi (Kuk) b Sheikh Altaf (Pune Uni) Jasbir Singh (GNDU, Asr) b Moh. Afaq Ansari (Jhansi Uni) Manoj Pawar (Delhi Uni) b Rajinder A. Bhilau (Mumbai Uni) Anand Chauhan (MLSU, Udaipur) b Amit Mudgal (Bhopal Uni) M. Sanjeeva Rao (Kakatia Uni) b Pushpendra Jabalpur Uni).

Light welterweight: R.P. Narain (Madras) b Vinod Kumar (Ajmer) Brijesh Kumar (Allahabad) b Jaiparkash (Ruhelkhand) Vikram Singh (Pbi Uni) b Umesh Mitra (Gorakhpur) Rohtash Kumar (Kuk) b Ram Avtar (Jaipur) Khem Raj (Jabalpur) b K.S. Ravi Prakash (Bangalore) Dushyant (Meerut) b Khemraj (MLSU, Udaipur).

Light heavy weight: Ajit Pal Singh (GND, Varsity Asr) b Dharamraj (BHU) Bhagat Singh (HAU, Hissar) b Suneet Chaturvedi (Kanpur) Clive Loyal (Mumbai) b M. Kalicharan (Kakatia) Paramjit Singh (Pbi Uni, Patiala) b Arjan Karidas (Utkal) Rajesh Kumar (Kuk) b Mahesh Kumar (Meerut).

Super heavy weight: Hitesh Kumar (MDU) b David Raj Kumar (Kakatia) Brijesh Tiwari (Nainital) b V. Alan Chabiyan (Madras), Aman Awasthi (PU, Chd) b Rajiv Shukla (Jodhpur) Parminder (Kuk) b Sunita Shukla (MLSU, Udaipur).

Heavy weight: Vikram Gautam (MDU) Walkover Sunil Dahiya (Kuk) b Manish (HPU, Shimla) L. Hari Prasad (Kakatia) b Lokesh Kumar (Meerut).

Middle weight: Dalbir Singh (MDU) b Rakesh Kumar (PU, Chd) Pawan Singh (Jammu) b H.S. Lamba (Ruhelkhand) Darshan Singh (Delhi) b T. Rajeshwar (Osmania).

PSB, Punjab Police to clash in final
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Dec 22 — Archrivals Punjab and Sind Bank, Delhi, and Punjab Police, Jalandhar, will cross swords in the final of the 2nd All India Ramesh Chander Memorial Farmtrac Cup-98 Hockey Tournament at the Surjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, tomorrow.

In league round Punjab and Sind Bank carved out a 3-2 victory over Air-India, Mumbai. Centre half Sandeep Singh, right back Rajinder Singh (Jr) and left in Sanjeev Kumar Dang each contributed one goal in this victory. For his excellent show Sanjeev Dang of bank team was adjudged man of the match.

In the seventh day of the tournament three matches were played. In the first match of the day CRPF defeated SAIL 1-0. CRPF team displayed excellent hockey. SAIL wasted two penalty corners while CRPF wasted one in the first 20 minutes. Left out V. Hemram of CRPF scored first and only goal in the 29th minute.

In the second match of the day BSF scraped past Sutlej (PSB Academy) by 5-4. The BSF surged ahead in the 5th minute when left out Habil Topno sounded the board. BSF forwards right out Shinu Herenj and Peter Tirkey initiated a combined move which resulted into a goal. In the 12th minute of the game, left out Harmit Singh of bank academy reduced the margin in the 16th minute. Two minutes later right out Shinu Herenj scored a goal for BSF and took the score 3-1. Baldeep Singh scored the second goal from the academy team. Centre half Sushil Kumar scored fourth goal from BSF. At half time the BSF team were leading 4-2.

In the second half left in Marianus Lakra scored fifth from BSF while Ajit Pal Singh and Harmit Singh each scored one goal from academy.

In the league fixtures Punjab and Sind Bank, on top with 13 points from four victories and a draw, Punjab Police, Jalandhar already through to the final fight with 13 points from victories and a draw.

In the last match of the day star-studded Punjab and Sind Bank outclassed Air-India by 3-2 to register their fourth victory in the tournament. Bank team succeeded in forging ahead in the 5th minute when centre half Sandeep Singh converted a penalty corner. At lemon break bank team was leading by 1-0.

In the second half airmen displayed good game. Left half Edward Arana scored two goals for Air-India in the 39th and 69th minutes. From bank side right back Rajinder Singh (Jr) and left in Olympian Sanjeev Kumar Dang scored one goal each.

‘Decade's most interesting year in women's tennis’

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) — After suffering years of sniping from the men’s tour, women’s tennis savoured the sweetest sensation of all in 1998 — success with a hint of revenge.

The men still hit the ball harder, play five sets rather than three and earn more money. But the women’s tour now has the more potent advantages of charisma and personality in depth.

The season-ending tournaments epitomised a bad year for the men’s ATP Tour and a great 12 months for the women.

In a thrilling final at the Chase championship, 18-year-old Martina Hingis beat Lindsay Davenport, who had ousted her as number one a month earlier.

The ATP championship in Hanover, by contrast, was ruined by injuries. Pat Rafter pulled out before it started and world number two Marcelo Rios soon followed suit.

An exhausted Pete Sampras failed to make the final but still clinched the number one spot for the sixth year in succession.

The American seems weary with the daily grind of full-time tennis and complained he wanted more respect for his achievements, which included a fifth Wimbledon title this year.

Hingis and Davenport were happy to talk of a battle royal for the number one spot in 1999 with a resurgent Steffi Graf, the Williams sisters and veterans Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Jana Novotna in the frame.

Davenport beat Hingis in the US Open final for her first Grand Slam title and the American then took over the number one spot from the Swiss who, this time last year, had looked set to dominate women’s tennis for many years to come.

"Overall it was the most interesting year in women’s tennis in a decade," said Jana Novotna whose Wimbledon triumph was probably the biggest tear-jerker of 1998.

"We had four different Grand Slam champions. If you compare that to a couple of years ago when we had such a dominating era with Steffi and Monica, I think this year was the most interesting and best year for the women’s game."

While Sampras remains the biggest name in men’s tennis, his domination is its greatest problem.

Voted the best player of the past 25 years by his peers, the American still struggles to capture the public’s imagination and will never set pulses racing like Andre Agassi or Pat Rafter.

Another dilemma for the men’s tour is that top players rarely meet, either on or off the court, meaning rivalries to equal Borg/McEnroe or Lendl/Becker never have a chance to grow.

Sampras revealed in November he had never had a conversation with Rios, who fleetingly pushed Sampras off the top of the tennis tree during the year.

Astonishingly Sampras last played the clay court specialist at the 1994 French Open. Before losing to Alex Corretja, now ranked three, in the semifinals of the ATP championship in November he had last played the Spaniard four years previously.

Corretja went on to win the Hanover title, taking revenge on compatriot Carlos Moya who had beaten him to win the French Open in straight sets in June.

The opening Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, threw up an unexpected winner in Czech veteran Petr Korda who beat Rios in straight sets.

Korda, who almost retired from tennis in 1995 because of a chronic injury, said it was a dream come true to win a top four title at 30. The victory seemed to be enough as his form, and will to win, melted away over the rest of the year.

Sampras, who had not fully recovered from a leg injury in Melbourne, was hot favourite to win at Wimbledon and he did not lose a set on the way to a semifinal with local hero Tim Henman.

Henman was swept aside in four sets before Sampras emerged victorious from a five-set power battle with Goran Ivanisevic. It was his fifth Wimbledon title in six years and one of four titles Sampras won in 1998, his worst showing for seven years.

Australian Rafter also retained a Grand Slam title he had won in 1997 when he beat compatriot Mark Philippoussis.

Like Sampras, Rafter felt he played too much tennis this year and plans to take it easier. But the men’s game needs the photogenic Rafter to have a good year and for Agassi, ranked sixth, once again to become a contender at the big tournaments.

As with the men, four different women won the Grand Slams. Hingis started the year as she finished 1997, looking as if she would sweep all before her, and she cruised past Conchita Martinez to win the Australian Open title.

But she was surprisingly beaten by Seles in the French Open semifinals and, from then on, seemed to take her foot off the pedal as she enjoyed being a teenager rather than a tennis automation.

Seles, mourning her father who had died three weeks before, was beaten by Sanchez-Vicario in the Paris final, the Spaniard’s third French Open title, despite winning the second set 6-0.

But even that gripping final was overshadowed by Novotna’s two-set defeat of France’s Nathalie Tauziat at Wimbledon. The Czech had lost the 1997 final, still haunted by her defeat by Graf in the 1993 final when she led 4-1 in the deciding set.

But her nerve held, despite a late crisis of confidence, and there was hardly a dry eye on centre court as she finally lifted the winner’s trophy.

Zidane Reuters personality poll winner

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) — Zinedine Zidane, scorer of two goals in France’s World Cup final win over Brazil, is the winner of the Reuters 1998 sports personality poll.

"Zidane was one of the most important stars in the most important event of 1998," said Ori Lewis, sports editor of the Jerusalem Post in Israel.

Zidane, who came last in the 1997 poll, was the clear winner with 128 points out of a maximum of 305. Almost neck-and-neck, trailing some way behind Zidane, were Austrian alpine skier Hermann Maier with 76 points and American sprinter Marion Jones who took third place with 74.

More than 60 sports editors and reporters from 35 countries ranked their leading five sportsmen and women from a 30-strong list compiled by Reuters sports journalists.

Each first place choice was awarded five points, second place four points and so on.

French-born Zidane, whose parents’ homeland is the Berbe region of Algeria, enjoyed an outstanding season with Juventus when they won the Italian championship and reached the European Cup final for a third successive year.

Sports journalists said Zidane’s crucial goals in the World Cup final were a brilliant response to a red card and suspension which threatened to ruin his World Cup.

"There’s no bigger sporting achievement than scoring the match-winning goals in the World Cup final," said Clive Ellis, of the Daily Telegraph in London.

England’s Michael Owen, who at only 18 was widely considered to have scored one of the best goals of the World Cup, gained only six points in the poll.

Runner-up "Herminator" Maier won Olympic gold medals in the super-G and giant slalom after an extraordinary comeback from spectacular crash in the downhill at the Nagano Olympics in February.

"Nagano saw the most incredible comeback in skiing history since the days of Pirmin Zurbriggen," said Jaros Andreas of Sportmagazin in Vienna. Zurbriggen, one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time, won two gold medals just weeks after surgery in 1985.

Jones was undefeated in 38 events during the 1998 season until she was beaten in the long jump in September.

"Marion has made the greatest impact on athletics since Carl Lewis," said Godfrey Robert of the Straits Times in Singapore. "A drugs-free athlete, she was truly a sensation for 1998."

Jones was the fastest woman in the world over both 100 and 200 metres this season. She led the American women’s team to victory in the World Cup with the third fastest time in history over 200 metres.

"Her amazing performances have put women on top again," said Gert Roets, sports editor of supersport in South Africa.

Close behind Jones was Ethiopian distance runner Haile Gebrselassie who clinched fourth place in the poll.

"In the space of two weeks Gebrselassie’s achievement was just remarkable," said one sports journalist.

US basketball player Michael Jordan took fifth spot for the second successive year with 66 points, ahead of Finnish formula one world champion Mika Hakkinen and tennis world number one Pete Sampras who each scored 61 points.

Hakkinen staged a remarkable comeback from a crash at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix which almost killed him.

Jordan led the Chicago bulls to their sixth NBA title in eight years. His tally of 45 points in the final game against the Utah Jazz marked one of his best performances.

"He proved himself the best basketballer one more season in the toughest league in the world," said Marco Keller of Sportinformation in Zurich.

Americans bagged more points in the poll’s top 10 with baseball player Mark McGwire and Golfer Mark O’Meara sharing sixth place with 51 points.

At the age of 41, O’Meara won the US Masters, British Open and world matchplay titles. "O’Meara finally won after years of trying and coming close — and did it twice — a rare feat on the tour," said one sports journalist.

McGwire scored a sensational 70 home runs for St Louis Cardinals, smashing the previous record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961.

His battle with sammy sosa for the record was one of the sporting highlights of the year. Sosa gained six points in the Reuters poll.

Hari Krishan to lead
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 — Punjab has selected a 16-member squad to represent the state in the knockout stage of the Vijay Merchant Cricket Championship.

Three teams from the North Zone secured 24 points each in the zonal league tournament. In order to determine the top two teams from the zone the quotient was taken out and Haryana topped the quotient by securing 1.89, Punjab were second with 1.69 and Delhi came third with 1.48 points.

The Punjab team by virtue of their being national champions in the Vijay Merchant Trophy tournament last year, will be counted as number one in North Zone and Haryana as No 2.

The Punjab team will play their first match from January 5 at Patiala.

A practice-cum-coaching camp will be held for the Punjab team from December 25 to January 3 at Dhruv Pandove Cricket Stadium, Baradari Gardens, Patiala.

The following is the Punjab team: Hari Krishan (captain), Binwant Singh, Amit Chopra, Vikram Sodhi, Nagesh Kumar, Rajeev Jolly, Amit Behal, Manik Kohli, Chandan Madan, Harish Puri, Varun Mishra, S.P. Singh, Rajan Singh, Varun Gupta, Ranjeet Singh and Vikram Jit Singh.

Mr Sunil Saggi will be the manager of the team, according to Mr M P Pandove, secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association.

Cricket meet

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — John's Yellow beat John's Blue by eight wickets while John's Red defeated John's Green by three wickets in the under 16 age group of the Edmund Rice Inter House Cricket Tournament being played at the St. John's High School, Sector 26, here today.

Easy for GC-11

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh, faced little resistance in beating SGGGS College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, in the Panjab University Inter College Tennis Tournament at PU Campus today.

Carrom squads

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — Nabhi Sahni of St. Stephen's School, Sector 45, and Gagandeep of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 20 will lead Chandigarh in the girls and boys sections respectively in the XXVII Junior National & Inter State Carrom Championship to be held at Vadodara (Gujarat) from December 25 to 29.

Kang in last 8

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — HS Kang of PSEB advanced into the last eight of the Eastern India Amateur Golf Championship being played at Royal Club Golf Course (RCGC) Calcutta, according to information reaching here. Kang upset seeded players like Simarjeet Singh and Zai Kipgin. However other city golfers Harmeet Kahlon, Sandy and S. Singh have lost their matches. Kang will meet Aman Behl of Delhi in the quarterfinal.

Bhupinder excels

PATIALA, Dec 22 (TNS) — Fine bowling by Bhupinder Pointoo (3 for 7) enabled Kings Club, Patiala to beat Double Decker Cricket Club, Ludhiana, by nine wickets in the second Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament played at the Ripudaman College grounds at Nabha, near here, today. Bhupinder Pintoo was also awarded the 'Man of the Match'.

Raju triumphs

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — The Haryana State Billiards and Snooker Championship began here today at two different venues, snooker at Canon Ball, Sector 37 while billiards at YMCA Hall, Sector 11, Chandigarh. In snooker, Raju Sian had to struggle hard to overcome the challenge of Sandeep Duggal at 45-47, 67-44, 51-24 and 51-25, Vikas Bhagat drubbed Ajay in four frames at 63-35, 57-47, 38-58 and 57-34, while Lalit too was extended to four frames by Bhupinder at 86-8, 35-53, 74-38 and 61-47.

CBSE soccer

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — Ansar English School, Perumpilavu (Kerala), will take on St. Aloysius School, Jabalpur, in the final of the first CBSE National Football Tournament being played at the DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, here. In the first semifinal, Ansar School boys trounced SD Public School, Sector 32, by 3-1. Satinder of SD School opened the account for his side in 8th minute but Ismail of Ansar School equalised in 18th minute of the match. Then there was no stopping for Ansar school whose stalwart Shaje Niwas scored two consecutive goals in 40th and 48th minute thus booking a berth in the final. The second semifinal was extended into tiebreaker as Bokaro Ispat Senior secondary School and St. Aloysius School, failed to produce any results after the stipulated period. Bokaro lost by 1-3. Amit, Vikrant and Rahul socred for the winning side while I Modi scored for the losers.

Jalandhar to host Junior national TT

CHANDIGARH, Dec 22 (BOSR) — The Punjab Table Tennis Association will be organising the 60th Junior National and Inter State TT Championship (for boys & girls) at Raizada Hansraj stadium, Jalandhar, from December 25 to 31, according to Mr PC Budhia, Organising Secretary of the tournament. About 325 players are expected to be seen in action and all prominent TT players of the country will vie for top honours. Jalandhar will play host to this tournament after a gap of 32 years. The first three days of the tournament will be devoted to the team championship and the rest four to the individual events.