Wednesday, November 4, 1998
today's calendar
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S P O R T | Wednesday, November 4, 1998 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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Railway
athletes rule |
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Spain rout champions
Germany 5-1 We
have to start Punjab
cops win title |
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Anand
in sight of Tilburg title Easy
victories for Kannan, Sridhar Nefedova
stuns fourth seed Susanthika
for Asian Games Indians
hope to improve ranking Harbhajan
in Board President's team |
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Spain rout champions Germany 5-1 LAHORE, Nov 3 (AFP) — Olympic silver medallists Spain thrashed title holders Germany 5-1 at the 20th Champions’ Trophy men’s hockey tournament here today. Juan Escarre and Xavier Arnau each scored two goals and Pablo Amat got the fifth as the Spanish got their first win over the Germans in nine encounters at the Champions Trophy. And for the Germans, who caved in to a fast spirited Spanish onslaught, it was one of the worst defeats in the history of the event. With no points from three matches, the seven time winners of the event are now sixth in the table. Amat got past three German defenders and passed the ball to Escarre who pushed the ball into the net for Spain’s first goal in the 22nd minute. Seven minutes later the 29-year-old Escarre, playing his 109th match, doubled the tally off penalty stroke. Amat was fouled by Philipp Crone in the circle and a penalty stroke was awarded to Spain. Germany reduced the deficit when Christian Mayerhofer dodged three Spain defenders to score the only goal for his team in the 39th minute. Arnau, out with a stomach upset for the first two matches, scored two brilliant goals in the 43rd and 51st minutes. Amat completed the rout when in the 53rd minute he scored from a rebound off Spain’s fifth penalty corner. Holland pip Korea Olympic and world champions Holland swept aside South Korea 5-0 in the third match of the day. Holland have won all their three games and are top of the table with nine points. Piet Geeris scored one goal in each half while Tuen De Nooijer, Remco Van Wijk and Marten Eikelboo scored three more in the second half to seal the fate of Asian champions South Korea. The Koreans had an impressive 4-3 win over Pakistan and a 1-1 draw against Australia in their earlier matches. In the first half the Dutch forwards were frustrated, failing to force a single penalty corner, as South Korean defenders kept a tight check on them. South Korea attacked through their fleet-footed Hong Kyung-Seob but two good tries were well stopped by Holland goalie Ronald Janssen. The Dutch goalie was back after missing the match against Germany through suspension. Student Piet Geeris, 26, opened the scoring in the 30th minute when he deflected a ball from the right into the net. The Dutch team gained three penalty corners in the initial moments of the second half but all were wasted. However, Geeris scored off a pass from Tuen De Nooijer in the 41st minute and De Nooijer and Van Wijk added two more goals. Pak hold Aussies Pakistan fought back to hold Australia to a 4-4. Pakistan was down 3-1 late in the second half until quick goals by Atif Bashir and Sohail Abbas tied the score. However, Troy Elder gave Australia a 4-3 advantage when he received a well-timed pass from Scott Webster. With only two minutes left on the clock, Bashir once again rescued Pakistan and got the much needed equaliser off a fine pass from Imran Yousuf. Earlier, Australia opened the scoring with Brent Livermore’s ninth minute field goal, while captain Jay Stacy doubled the lead with a penalty score. Pakistan narrowed the gap to 2-1 just before half time when Naveed Iqbal capitalised on a fine cross from Haider Hussain. Stacy scored his second
goal four minutes into the second half when a powerful
shot off his team’s seventh short corner beat
Pakistan custodian Mohammad Qasim. |
We have to start winning: Azhar DUBAI, Nov 3 (PTI) — Still smarting under the defeat at the Dhaka Mini World Cup, a tired-looking Indian cricket team led by Mohd Azharuddin arrived here today with a point to prove in the triangular Coca-Cola Trophy starting from November 6 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. "We did not play well in the semifinal against the West Indies," skipper Azharuddin admitted on arrival at the Dubai International airport. "we have to put that tournament behind us and give our best and win the Coca-Cola Trophy. We have to start winning again," he said. Azharuddin refused to be drawn into the ongoing controversy regarding the participation of India at the Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decides the schedule for the team. We just follow it," Azhar said. Team manager Anshuman Gaekwad was also optimistic. "We have a winning record in Sharjah following our victory against Australia in the Coca-Cola Cup earlier this year. We have to continue from there and we hope to do exactly that," Gaekwad said. World Cup champions Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are other two teams participating in the tournament. Gaekwad too was quick to admit the collapse in the batting line-up during the semifinal against the West Indies at Dhaka. "Of the six batsmen, only two clicked (Robin Singh and Saurav Ganguly) and we did not get the 300-plus runs we were looking at. And neither did we bowl well to defend the score," Gaekwad added. The Indian team will be putting up at the city centre hotel in the heart of the city. Niranjan Shah is accompanying the team as manager, while Ravindra Chaddha is the team doctor. The team will have light workout at the nets later this evening. India will take on Sri Lanka in the opening match on November 6. A total prize money of $85,000 is up for grabs in the tournament in which all the matches will be day-night affairs. In the runup to the 1999 World Cup in England, India will look to prove a point at this tournament, which will be telecast live on Fox Sports through the Star TV network and on Doordarshan. Veteran Indian players Naren Tamhane, Roger Binny and current team manager Anshuman Gaekwad will be the beneficiaries, with each players receiving $35,000 taking the total tally of CBFS beneficiaries to 110 players so far. The winning team will get
$40000 while $30,000 will go to the runners up. The third
team will get $15,000. Besides $2,500 will be at stake
for the man-of-the-series. |
Railway athletes rule the roost CALCUTTA, Nov 3 (PTI) — The strong Railway contingent rules the roost picking up seven of the 14 gold medals at stake as two national and four meet records tumbled on the opening day of the 38th Open National Athletic Championship at the Salt Lake Stadium here today. The 25-year-old Lekha Thomas of LIC and Neelam J. Singh of the Railways stole the limelight on the opening day setting new national records in the women’s long jump and discus throw events, respectively. Lekha set the tone of the three-day meet, serving as a selection trial for the forthcoming Asian Games in Bangkok, by improving upon her own national record in long jump with an impressive leap of 6.33 m, eclipsing her previous best of 6.30 m established in the Asian track and field meet in Jakarta in 1995. Veteran thrower Neelam Singh, who had won the gold in the recent all-India railway meet here last month, hurled the disc to a distance of 59.18 m to re-write her own national record with a brilliant effort. Her previous best was 57.94 m set in Bangalore this year. Star sprinter Rachita Mistry of the Railways bagged the gold in the showpiece 100 m event with a new meet record timing of 11.58 sec while her railway compatriot Harbans Kaur eclipsed the meet record in women’s shot put event with a hurl of 17.04 m. With all the top sprinters competing for the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) team for the relay events, both the men’s and women’s 4x100 m relay races saw new meet records. Upcoming sprinter Anil Kumar of Services emerged the fastest man of the meet by claiming the coveted gold medal in a rather controversial men’s 100 m run which saw a spate of false starts. Anil Kumar outraced favourite Amit Khanna with a timing of 10.50 sec in the glamour event but Khanna later lodged a protest with the AAFI stating that it was a false start. But his appeal for a re-run was turned down by the apex body. Ace middle distance runner and local favourite Jyotirmoyee Sikdar of the Railways kept her reputation intact by taking home the gold in the women’s 800 m with a timing of 2:01.74 sec. Jyotirmoyee, having planned her training so as to peak at the Bangkok Asian Games in December, maintained her lead right through to finish well ahead of her rivals. KM Beenamol (2:07.00 sec) of the Railways had to be content with the silver while the bronze went to Geetha Manral (2:10.28 sec) of police. The seasoned Bahadur Prasad of the Railways upstaged his rival Gulab Chand after his debacle in the recent all-India Railways meet to bag the gold in the 1500 m run with a timing of 3:41.90 sec. "Sprint queen" PT Usha’s 13-year-old meet record in the women’s 100 m event was finally erased by Rachita Mistry who took full advantage of a flying start to pick up her first gold in the three-day meet which is seen as a build-up for Asian Games aspirants. Rachita then went on to complete a "double" when the AAFI team won the women’s 4x100 m relay race with a new meet record timing of 45.25 sec. The team comprising Rachita, Jayalaxmi, EB Shyla and Vinita Tripathi bettered the previous record of 45.59 sec set by the Railway quartet. Veteran thrower Ajit Bhaduria (steel plant) was a bit of a disappointment by settling for a silver in the men’s discus throw event with Anil Kumar (HESB) creating a flutter by grabbing the gold with an effort of 57.46 m. Bhaduria could manage 55.72 m while the bronze went to KPS Brar of Punjab who hurled the disc to a distance of 55.64 m. K Deveswari of West Bengal brought cheer for the host team by claiming the gold in the women’s hammer throw event with an effort of 49.14 m on an otherwise disappointing day for the hosts. Star athlete PT Usha, who
took part in the all-India railway championship last
month, pulled out of the meet at the last minute because
of a strained leg. |
Punjab cops win title JALANDHAR, Nov 3 — A brace by left-winger Harinder Singh from the goalmouth openings late in the second half helped Punjab Police to win the second Dr Sadhu Singh Hamdard Memorial All-India Hockey Tournament at Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium here this afternoon. After a barren first half, Punjab Police defeated Rail Coach Factory 3-1 for their second successive title win of the season in three finals they have figured so far. And Harinder Singh's heroic efforts got him a deserving ‘man of the match’ award through ‘man of the tournament’ award went to Kuljinder Singh Grewal, also of Punjab Police. In fact, Punjab Police, besides retaining the title, also bagged a cash award of Rs 51,000 for winning the tournament and full back Jagdev Singh ended up with a cash award of Rs 5,000 for scoring the first goal of the final in addition to the best full back of the tournament award of Rs 5,000. The final, though played at brisk pace saw the Rail Coach Factory boys, mostly adivasis, playing to the best of their capacity in holding their more fancied and powerful opponents to goalless for the first 55 minutes. The scoring started once Olympian Jagdev Singh, playing with a heavily strapped knee pelted in a powerful grounder from the fifth penalty corner to put the All-India police champions ahead. But the joy of the cops was shortlived. Two minutes later when RCF got their first penalty corner, right-half Jagmohan made a neat stop for Anil Kumar to score with grounder that got deflected into the met from a defender's stick. Stung by the reverse and the equaliser, Punjab Police, who had been mostly attacking from the right flank, had a couple of openings on the left flank with Harinder Singh chipping in with two brilliant opportunistic goals in the 59th and 63rd minutes to seal the fate of Kapurthala boys. The second goal by Harinder and third by Punjab Police witnessed a volley of exchanges between the left winger and the RCF coustodian R Bage. It was the fourth attempt by Harinder that beat Bage in the interesting duel. Playing without four of their stalwarts — Dhillon brothers, Gursewak Singh and Ramdeep Grewal — Punjab Police definitely enjoyed territorial and skill advantage. But the heroic efforts of the young adivasis in no way can be undermined as they excelled in marking and had the cops in splits on several occasions. At one stage, skipper Saibal Kumar almost scored after a neat move from the right flank by Lalit and Walter Eakra. He fell while shooting goalwards, sending the ball into the orbit. For Punjab Police skipper Sarabjit Singh did work out good moves in the first half but was not allowed a clear view of the RCF goal. Though police forced five penalty corners against two by their opponents, they could convert only the fifth and the last while RCF made full use of the only penalty corner they got in the second half after wasting the first in the first half. But once police got going and scored their first goal, they had the upper had as they subsequently dominated the proceedings with RCF boys, after good performance, started showing sings of tiredness. Punjab Police had lost to Punjab and Sind Bank in the final of the Gurmeet Memorial Hockey Tournament at Chandigarh before winning the All-India Police Games at Bangalore last month. Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal,
Union Minister of State for Industries, gave away the
prizes to winners. |
Easy victories for Kannan, Sridhar KANNUR, Nov 3 (PTI) — National junior champion Vijay Kannan and left-handed Vinod Sridhar of Tamil Nadu notched up emphatic victories in their first round matches on a day when Indians had mixed fortunes in the 6th ITF Satellite Master International Tennis Tournament here today. Eighteen-year-old Kannan, a Davis Cup reserve, was stretched to three sets by his countrymate Nitin Kirtane 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an interesting match. This win was sweet revenge for Kanna as he had lost to Nitin in the national Sriram Open tournament at Delhi last month in straight sets. An elated Vijay said: "The win is a very good one. It has come at a crucial time when the selection for the Asian Games and Cup are there." In the Kannan-Nitin encounter, at 5-5 in the final set, Nitin developed cramps in the leg but resumed after receiving medical aid. But he could not stop Kannan from breaking him in the very next game. The national junior champion then held his serve to win the set and the match. Earlier, in the morning, Sridhar, a computer science student from Chennai, faced a stiff challenge from Ondreaj Chvapil of Czech Republic before winning 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) in a thrilling match that lasted over 120 minutes. In another one-sided match, former national junior champion Harsh Mankad of India trounced Mike Boulding of Britain rather easily 6-0, 6-4, while Hungary's Zoltan Borockzy, rallied brilliantly to beat India's Mustafa Ghouse 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-2 in 112 minutes in another first round match. Mustafa, who matched
Zoltan point for point in the first set which he won in
the tie-breaker, suddenly lost his rhythm and surrendered
the next two sets and the match. |
Anand in sight of Tilburg title TILBURG, Nov 3 (PTI) — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand faced unexpected resistance from Russian Vadim Zviaginsev in the ninth round, but the Indian came out unscathed with a draw to maintain his one point lead and a chance of winning the crown at the Tilburg International Chess Tournament. Barring an unseen tragedy in the last two rounds, Anand (6.5 points) should take the Tilburg title. The world number three leads the 12-player field with only Peter Leko of Hungary having an outside chance of upsetting the Indian. Leko (5.5) drew with Joel Lautier of the Netherlands here last night. Anand, playing Zviaginsev for the first time in his career, earned a draw — his fifth in nine games — but it was not easily achieved. The unassuming 22-year-old Russian, who has not lost any game so far, has been fairly solid thus far. He has only one win to his credit. In a slav defence, Zviaginsev looked better in the middle game and Anand, playing with black pieces, reached a very complex position. Even experts had difficulty in judging how Anand was placed. Zviaginsev, who was enjoying the domination, strived for an outright win but Anand’s defensive play turned out to be perfect and the two split the point. In a rather unique feature, Anand used more time than Zviaginsev. Viktor Korchnoi, the Russian-born Swiss GM, handed the world number three Vladimir Kramnik his second win of the tournament. In a semi-slav defence, where Kramnik had black pieces, the veteran korchnoi was outplayed in 31 moves. The win gave Kramnik (4.5) the 50 per cent score. Vasselin Topalov (3.5) of Bulgaria, who is going through a severe bad patch, went down for the third time in a row. British GM Michael Adams (5) beat the Bulgarian. Holland’s Jeroen Piket defeated team mate Loek Van Wely in a Nimzo Indian game that laster 38 moves. Piket now has five points. In the penultimate round Anand will have white pieces against thus far undefeated Mathew Sadler while Peter Leko will clash with Michael Adams in another interesting duel. Results of the ninth round: Rdter Leko (5.5) drew with
Joel Lautier (3); Mathew Sadler (5) drew with Peter
Svidler (4.5); Vadim Zviaginsev (5) drew with Viswanathan
Anand (6.5); Michael Adams (5) beat Vasselin Topalov
(3.5); Loek (4) lost to Jeroen (5); Viktor Korchnoi (2.5)
lost to Vladimir Kramnik (4.5). |
Tendulkar heads batting rankings CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 — Sachin Tendulkar's fine form in the Dhaka tournaments helped him climb atop the batting standings in the Pepsi world cricket rating for one-day internationals. Tendulkar, second behind Sri Lankan batsman Marvan Atapattu in September, opened up a big lead at the top of the table, taking the first place with 8950 points. Zimbabwe batsman Alistair Campbell made a giant leap to climb to the second spot with 7784 points while Atapattu slipped two berths to take the third place with 7684 points, followed by Sri Lankan teammate Aravinda de Silva on 6030 points. India head the country-wise break-up of the 15 batsmen who make the qualifying mark of 225 runs during the current season. Four Sri Lankans, three South Africans and one batsman each from Zimbabwe and England complete the list. Besides Tendulkar, the five other Indian batsmen who figure in the select group are ninth place Rohin Singh (4467 points), tenth ranked Ajay Jadeja (4277 points), eleventh ranked Saurav Ganguly (4023 points), 13th ranked Mohammed Azharuddin (3401 points) and 15th placed Rahul Dravid (1835 points). South African medium pacer Jacques Kallis sprung to the top of the bowling standings with 8403 points while Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq slipped one place to take the second position with 8376 points. Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble's indifferent performance in Dhaka saw him crash 10 places from his second position two months ago. Kumble is now in the 12th place with 7772 points, while Tendulkar is the top-placed Indian bowler at the ninth place with 7901 points. Other Indian bowlers in the select list are 10th-placed Harbhajan Singh (7838 points) and 16th ranked Venkatesh Prasad (7283 points). India head the
country-wise break up of the 19 bowlers who have made the
season's qualifying mark of 10 wickets. India have six
men in the elite group followed by five Sri Lankans, four
South Africans and two bowlers each from Pakistan and
England. |
Nefedova stuns fourth seed NEW DELHI, Nov 3 (PTI) — Rock steady Russian Anna Nefedova stunned fourth-seeded Orawan Wongkamalasai of Thailand in straight sets to storm into the semifinal while top seed Sai Jayalakshmi and second ranked Rushmi Chakravarthy headed for yet another summit showdown in the Central Bank ITF Women’s Circuit Masters Tennis Tournament here today. Nefadova, (16), hardly played a false stroke as she overwhelmed her erratic rival 6-2 6-1 to set up a keen clash with Sai Jayalakshmi, who brushed aside the feeble resistance of Archana Venkatraman 6-2, 6-2 at the Delhi Tennis Association’s deco turf courts here today. Second seed Rushmi Chakravarthy faced minor resistance early in the second set before outplaying SK Tara 6-2 6-3. She will take on the 16-year-old Shruti Dhawan, yesterday’s upset winner over third-seeded Montika Anuchan of Thailand. Shruti Dhawan made heavy weather of a fight between two unseeded players with several unforced errors before gaining a grip over her game to defeat Delhi’s Shalini Thakur 4-6 6-2 6-4 in a long drawn out encounter. Muscovite Anna Nefedova, seeking her first title win in a satellite event served a strong warning to Sai Jayalakshmi as she outplayed Orawan Wongkamalasai. Sending down deep returns on either flanks and using a fluent double-fisted backhand crosscourt to telling effect she never gave her 17-year-old opponent a chance to rally. She clinched two breaks to seal the first set and then reeled off three breaks after wriggling out of a tight spot to hold serve for one-all in an absorbing affair, in the second. Sai Jayalakshmi, winner at Pune and Indore in the current satellite series, was merciless against Archana, who dished out a feeble serve and only hoped for any mistakes from the opponent sitting at the baseline. Jayalakshmi clinched breaks in the second and eighth games in both sets to win the tame affair. With precise forehand and backhand shots, she moved around Archana and forced her many times to meekly net returns. Rushmi Chakravarthy on the other hand, began dropping her serve against the talented Tara, but broke back immediately and jumped to a 5-1 lead with another break in the sixth game. Rushmi left her opponent struggling with fine sliced backhand and powerful forehand cross court winners. The 21-year-old girl from Chennai committed a series of unforced errors to be broken while serving for the set, but returned the compliments to win it 6-2. In the second set which saw both struggling to hold serve, Rushmi clinched a vital break in the eighth game to go 5-3 up as her opponent from Karnataka sent down four double faults. The second seed converted the fourth breakpoint and then served out for the set and match. In the Anna Nefedova-Orawan Wongkamalasai clash, the latter ran out of ideas as the Russian made her run from one end to another before finishing off with ease. Nefedova broke in the sixth game which went to deuce four times to lead 4-2. She dictated terms with
controlled shots and Orawan also gifted points by
mishitting several putaway winners. |
Susanthika for Asian Games COLOMBO, Nov 3 (Reuters) — Sri Lanka have included controversial world 200 metre silver medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe in their squad for the Asian Games in Bangkok, the state-owned Daily News reported today. Jayasinghe, who was recently cleared of drug charges by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), qualified for next month’s games after she set a national record clocking 11.27 seconds in the 100 metre sprint at the national championships last week. She clocked 23.28 seconds to win the women’s 200 metre event. Jayasinghe was temporarily suspended from all international events after she failed a random drug test conducted by the IAAF in April this year. The local athletics body appointed a three-member disciplinary committee to look into the charges. It concluded that the Amateur Athletics Association of Sri Lanka had failed to prove that Jayasinghe had taken drugs. Jayasinghe rose to fame when she became the first Sri Lankan in 49 years to win a medal at an international championship. She clocked 22.39 seconds in the 200 metre event in Athens at the world championships, beating favourite Merlene Ottey of Jamaica. In September, she declined
to participate at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia
because of lack of training and poor timing.
|
Indians hope to improve ranking NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — Three renowned Test stars — Syed Kirmani, Kapil Dev and Madan Lal — are among many seasoned professionals, Indian and foreign, in the field for the Hero Honda Masters Pro-Am which tees-off tomorrow morning on an improved Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course. Among 130 plus galaxy of players in action will be Bangkok-bound Asian Games Indian players to assess their skill and ability following their stint of training under Italian coach Donato. In the fray for the $ 200,000, which tees-off on Thursday, are Carlo Espinosa (Mexico), back in form, American duo of Gerry Norquist, already a six-time winner in Asia, and Mike Cunning, a multiple champion and the winner of the 1997 Omega order of merit. The competition, one of the best in Asia, will also provide an opportunity to India’s leading professionals to give their individual Asian PGA rankings a significant boost. About half-a-dozen Indian pros, according to leading Asian experts, are technically sound and can jump to leaderboard abroad if they only sharpen their mental faculties, which are key to success in golf. According to organisers, there are four ranking events left on the 1998 Omega Tour for Indians, four of whom are standing within 60 on the Order of Merit, which represents the cut-off mark for automatic exemptions on to the next year’s circuit. Arjun Atwal (31), Vivek Bhandari (37), Arjun Singh (44), Gaurav Ghei (76) are among many Indian pros who will like to dazzle on home course amidst home surroundings. Despite not being consistent in his display for the last one season, Ghei is rated as one of the favourites for the competition. "Winner in 1995 and runner-up Ted Purdy (America) last year, he is a quiet destroyer of the opposition if only he gets in his proper mood", said a veteran golfer who has been monitoring this Indian pros's successgraph. Two Chandigarh lads, Jeev Milkha Singh and Amritinder Singh, are also in the field to display their prowess. Much is expected from Jeev, who finished joint third in Singapore two weeks ago. Amritinder Singh, now on the 88th spot, may get into top 60 if he finishes among first five in the competition. Jeev’s display has always been a mixture of light and shade. He gave a very poor display in third round in Singapore. But then struck a dazzling form in the concluding stages of the final round to demonstrate his skill. The player to watch will be Jyoti Randhawa. Unlucky not to have won the Honda-Siel-AGC title a few days ago, he is a golfer with nerves of steel. Composed in defeat and calm in win, he is a player capable of causing surprises. While Feroz Ali, winner of
the Classic Indian Open, will be missed as he is
participating in Gene Sarazen invitational meet in
America, many of his colleagues, like, Ali Sher and Vijay
Kumar will be seen in action. |
Harbhajan in Board President's team MUMBAI, Nov 3 (PTI) — Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, controversially dropped from the Indian squad because of a "suspect" bowling action, has been included in the board president’s team to take on the visiting West Indies "A" squad at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) here from November 18 to 20. The board president’s team, to be led by Maharashtra all-rounder Hrishikesh Kanitkar, also includes openers Jatinder Singh (Haryana) and Shib Sunder Das (Orissa). The national cricket selectors also named Mumbai leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule as captain of the India youth team to take on the West Indians, who are led by fast bowler Ian Bishop and are scheduled to arrive on November 13, at Pune in the second three-day match from November 23 to 25. Announcing the teams, the BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele said Harbhajan, who had left for London to take corrective measures on his "suspect" action with the help of former England off-spinner Fred Titmus, was now available for selection to the national squad on his return tomorrow. "The selectors are now free to select him after having undergone measures to correct his action," Mr Lele told reporters while announcing the two teams. The 18-year-old Punjab office was controversially omitted for the just-concluded Dhaka nine-nation Wills International Cup and the November 6 to 13 Sharjah Triangular following a letter to the BCCI from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Mr Lele said Harbhajan Singh’s action would again be put under the microscope during the match against Windies "A" which is to be videotaped and sent to the ICC for the world cricket body’s "throwing panel", chaired by West Indian Clyde Walcott, to pass judgement on his "corrected action". Karnataka middle-order batsman Vijay Bharadwaj, young Delhi pace bowler Amit Bhandari, Mumbai’s flashy opener Amit Pagnis, Tamil Nadu opener Sadagopan Ramesh, all-rounder S Sriram, UP batsman Mohammed Kaif and seasoned medium-pacer Ubaid Kamal are some of the notable inclusions in the two teams. The two teams are: Board President’s XI (to play at Mumbai from November 18 to 20): Hrishikesh Kanitkar (Maha, capt), Nikhil Haldipur (Ben), Jatinder Singh (Har), Shib Sunder Das (Ori), Amol Muzumdar (Mum), Vijay Bharadwaj (Ktk), Amay Khurasia (MP), Rajiv Kumar (Bih), MSK Prasad (Andhra, wk), Rahul Sanghvi (Del), Harbhajan Singh (Pun), Robin Singh jr (Del), Debasish Mohanty (Orissa), Amit Bhandari (Del). India Youth XI (to play at Pune from November 23 to 25): Sairaj Bahutule (Mum, capt), Jyoti Yadav (UP), S Ramesh (TN), Amit Pagnis (Mum), Rohan Gavaskar, Devang Gandhi (both Ben), Mithun Minhas (Del), Mohd Kaif (UP), S Sriram (TN), Vijay Dahia (Del, wk), Nilesh Kulkarni (Mum), Sanjay Raul (Ori), Ubaid Kamal (UP), N Madhukar (Andhra). The India "A"
team for the first two four-day Tests at Bangalore
(November 28 to December 1) and Chennai (December 4 to 7)
would be chosen at Pune on November 24. |
H
Skating recognised by IOA CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 (TNS) — The Indian Olympic Association has accorded recognition to roller skating as per a communication received from the Roller Skating Federation of India.Two months back the School Games Federation of India had included skating for competitions in the National School Games. Charanpreet wins bronze medal CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 (TNS) — Charanpreet, participating in 40 years plus category, gave sterling performance winning bronze medal in 400 meter in the 10th Asian Veterans Athletic Championship held at Okinawa (Japan) from October 14 to 19.Charanpreet has been representing Punjab National Bank in All-India Inter-Bank Athletic Championships for the past 12 years. Impressed upon by his performance at the national level he was selected by Amateur Athletic Federation of India Veterans Committee as member of the Indian contingent to participate in the Asian meet at Okinawa. |
Punjab eves' sport fest at Amritsar CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 (TNS) — The Punjab Sports Department after having successfully conducted games for boys and girls (under 16 and 19) at Patiala and Ludhiana recently will now organise the Punjab Women's Festival at Amritsar from November 5 to 7. Competition in athletics, handball, kabaddi, volleyball, basketball, hockey, gymnastics and kho-kho will be conducted at Guru Nanak Dev University. As many as 1000 participants from the state are expected to participate. Kit to all participants will be provided by the Sports Department. Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, Sports Minister, Punjab, will be the chief guest on the final day. According to Col Raminder Singh, Director Sports, Punjab, for the National Women's Festival which Punjab have been winning for past six years, will be selected during this meet. Sports Dept pension scheme under review CHANDIGARH, Nov 3 (TNS)
— The Punjab Government's sports schemes under which
a monthly pension of Rs 1000 per month is given to
eminent sportspersons is being reviewed. According to Col
Raminder Singh, Director, Sports, Punjab, it has come to
the notice of the Sports Department that certain eminent
sportspersons who have played in the Olympics, World Cup,
Asian and Commonwealth Games do not have a sound
financial status and they need financial assistance to
meet their daily needs. Such sportspersons should
approach the Sports Directorate so that their pension
cases could be considered. The Sports Department
according to Col Raminder Singh will look after such
sportspersons instead of those who are well placed and
are financially sound. The matter was discussed with the
Secretary, Sports, Mr BR Bajaj, and the Sports Minister,
Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, who approved the proposal and
directed that no person who requires financial aid be
left out of this scheme. |
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