Pulsating 3-wkt win for India
SHARJAH, Nov 6 — Mohd Azharuddin cracked a skipper’s knock of 94 and broke the world record for one-day aggregate before young all-rounder Ajit Agarkar slammed a heroic unbeaten 26 to give India a thrilling three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Coca Cola Cup triangular cricket tournament here tonight.

Lehmann fashions easy Aussie win
KARACHI, Nov 6 — Darren Lehmann’s maiden one-day international century paved the way for Australia’s 86-run win over Pakistan in the first game of their three-match series today.

(Left) American tennis player Todd Martin, jubilates after winning 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 against Australian tennis player Patric Rafter, during the Paris Open on Thursday. (Right) Rafter reacts after losing a point against Todd Martin — PTI/AP

Martin ousts Rafter; Agassi advances
PARIS, Nov 6 — Todd Martin won a thrilling final set tie break to eliminate No. 3 seed Patrick Rafter from the $ 2.55 million Paris Open yesterday.

Pulsating 3-wkt win for India

SHARJAH, Nov 6 (PTI) — Mohd Azharuddin cracked a skipper’s knock of 94 and broke the world record for one-day aggregate before young all-rounder Ajit Agarkar slammed a heroic unbeaten 26 to give India a thrilling three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Coca Cola Cup triangular cricket tournament here tonight.

The 21-year-old Agarkar took centrestage with things looking bleak for India in the slog overs, but coolly carting two sixes and took 15 runs in the 48th over by off-break bowler Kumara Dharmasena and struck the winning boundary as romped home making 248 for seven off 49.1 overs after putting Sri Lanka in and pegging them to 245 for seven in 50 overs.

Mohd Azharuddin, playing his 302nd match compiled a patient 94 (131 b, 3 x 4, 4 x 6) to overhaul West Indian opener Desmond Haynes’s world record one-day aggregate of 8648 runs made in 238 appearances.

Azharuddin, who already holds the world mark for the most number of appearances, drew level with Haynes smashing his fourth stunning six, off Aravinda de Silva’s slow stuff before picking a single in the 41st over.

The promoted Nayan Mongia struck his second one-day fifty (51- 63 b, 5 x 4, 1 x 6) as he raised 104 runs for the third wicket with Azharuddin to make up for the early loss of both Sachin Tendulkar (3) and Saurav Ganguly (5).

But a hash of run outs once Azharuddin departed just six short of his century second ball after reaching the world record saw Sri Lanka bounce back with a vengeance. But Agarkar hit the very first ball for a six in the Dharmasena over which went for 17 runs to pull India to a nail-biting win.

Chasing a relatively easy asking rate of 4.92, India fumbled early on as left-arm pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Ruwan Zoysa forced both Tendulkar and Ganguly to edge to stumper Romesh Kaluwitharana.

But Mongia overcame the disadvantage of a slow pitch where the ball never really came on with beautiful use of his feet in his breezy knock and with Azharuddin ensured India was coasting along.

But Mongia hit off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera, who has been included for the injured Muttiah Muralitharan, tamely to Roshan Mahanama at midwicket to depart on reaching his fifty.

Azharuddin was surprisingly subdued, which affected the going once Mongia went. He stuck on 49 for long, but vented his frustration by carting Samaraweera over long-on to cross the mark. In fact, all his sixes were over long-on, two of them landing outside the stadium and relieved the pressure.

Azhar struck two consecutive blows off Dharmasena and then gave the same treatment to De Silva to reach 93 and level the mark of Haynes. But his departure, bowled by Vaas in the 42nd over, suddenly found India in a rut at 198 for five.

The well-settled Jadeja (26 - 38 b, 2 x 4) was run out to a direct hit by the alert Roshan Mahanama as he responded to a desperate call from Robin Singh (12 - 26 b) for a non-existent single to further plunge them into trouble.

With the normally aggressive left-hander looking totally out of sorts as Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga employed De Silva to great effect and India looking headed for certain defeat stepped in Agarkar and propelled India from 217 after 47 overs, 29 needed in three overs, to victory.

Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe tomorrow while India meet the Africans on November 8.

INDIA: Ganguly c Kaluwitharana b Zoysa 5
Tendulkar c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 3
Mongia c Mahanama b Samaraweera 51
Azharuddin b Vaas 94
Srinath run out 1
Jadeja run out 26
Robin Singh not out 12
Chopra run out 4
Agarkar not out 26
Extras (lb 9, w 11, nb 6) 26
Total (for seven wkts in 49.1 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-13, 3-117, 4-119, 5-198, 6-207, 7-215.
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 8-0-19-2, Ruwan Zoysa 8-0-45-1, Kumara Dharmasena 10-0-69-0, Sanath Jayasuriya 8.1-0-39-0, Thilan Samaraweera 10-0-41-1, Aravinda De Silva 5-0-26-0.

SRI LANKA:
Jayasuriya b Chopra 27
Gunawardena b Kumble 52
Atapattu lbw b Srinath 64
De Silva c Ganguly b Kumble 0
Ranatunga c and b Agarkar 43
Kaluwitharana c Kumble b Agarkar 22
Mahanama not out 12
Vaas b Srinath 6
Dharmasena not out 2
Extras (lb-7, w-7 nb-3) 17
Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 245
Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-85, 3-86, 4-175, 5-219, 6-228, 7-238.
Bowling: Srinath 10-0-59-2, Agarkar 10-0-56-2, Kumble 10-2-39-2, Chopra 10-2-34-1, Joshi 6-0-33-0, Tendulkar 4-0-17-0.

Lehmann fashions easy Aussie win

KARACHI, Nov 6 (Reuters) — Darren Lehmann’s maiden one-day international century paved the way for Australia’s 86-run win over Pakistan in the first game of their three-match series today.

He made 103 of Australia’s 50-over total of 324 for eight — their highest against the hosts — and Pakistan were never a threat after losing their first five wickets for 41.

Lehmann faced 101 balls and shared in a 157-run fifth wicket stand with Michael Bevan to lift the touring team from 113 for four.

Bevan hit 83 from 77 balls, his 18th half century in 86 matches.

Opener Adam Gilchrist had laid the foundation for a handsome total by scoring a rapid 45 off 36 balls with seven boundaries.

Shoaib Akhtar, playing only his second one-day international, was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers with three for 44 from nine overs.

Pacemen Glenn McGrath and Damien Fleming ripped the heart out of the Pakistan reply by taking the first five wickets and only a spirited knock of 92 by Yousuf Yohanna spared the home side’s blushes. He hit nine fours and a six.

Yohanna’s 91-run eighth wicket partnership with Shoaib Akhtar, who made 36, helped Pakistan to 238 all out.

For Australia, McGrath took three for 35 and Fleming two for 32.

Scoreboard

Australia:

Gilchrist c Azam b Akhtar 45

Waugh run out 11

Ponting c Afridi b Akhtar 16

Lehmann c Sohail b Arshad 103

Waugh c Afridi b Arshad 10

Bevan c Sohail b Arshad 83

Martyn c & b Akram 13

Julian b Akhtar 9

Young not out 8

Extras (b-4, lb-7, nb-5, w-10) 26

Total (for eight, 50 overs) 324

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-78, 3-83, 4-113, 5-270, 6-304, 7-307, 8-324.

Bowling: Wasim Akram 10-0-48-1; Kabir Khan 7-0-59-0; Shoaib Akhtar 9-2-44-3; Shahid Afridi 9-0-63-0; Arshad Khan 10-0-70-3; Aamir Sohail 5-0-29-0.

Pakistan:

Elahi c M.Waugh b McGrath 0

Afridi c & b McGrath 6

Sohail c M.Waugh b Fleming 5

Ahmad c Young b McGrath 22

Yohanna c Bevan b Julian 92

Azam Khan c Gilchrist b Fleming 3

Moin Khan b Julian 16

Akram c & b Bevan 28

Shoaib Akhtar run out 36

Arshad not out 8

Kabir c McGrath b Waugh 5

Extras (lb-5 nb-5 w-7) 17

Total (all out, 47.2 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-19, 4-38, 5-41, 6-76, 7-130 8-221, 9-224.

Bowling: McGrath 8-1-35-3; Fleming 8-0-32-2; Young 10-0-66-0; Julian 10-2-31-2; Bevan 8-0-47-1; S.Waugh 3.2-0-22-1.

Martin ousts Rafter; Agassi advances

PARIS, Nov 6 (AP) — Todd Martin won a thrilling final set tie break to eliminate No. 3 seed Patrick Rafter from the $ 2.55 million Paris Open yesterday.

Martin, who beat No. 14 seed Goran Ivanisevic in the second round, beat the US Open champion 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) to advance to the quarterfinals — the first time in six attempts that he has reached that stage of the Paris Open.

After losing the first set, Martin was a break of service behind in the second, but came back to force a tiebreak.

In the third, Rafter was 0-3 behind and was at his athletic best to force another tiebreak.

Rafter looked to have taken the initiative in the decisive game with a high backhand volley played at full stretch.

But Martin kept his consistency, saved a match point and ran out an 8-6 winner in the tiebreak.

"It was an incredible match. I can’t recall playing that well and losing," Rafter said.

Pete Sampras played through the pain barrier to beat little-known French player Jerome Golmard 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, and line up a contest against surprise quarterfinalist Mark Philippoussis.

Sampras, who needed intensive medical treatment on his troublesome back three times during the match, always looked below par against Golmard, a 25-year-old who came into the tournament ranked a career-best 49.
In the first set, Sampras had saved two break points with the scores at both 4-4 and 5-5.

But the world No. 1 didn’t make the most of his chance, and was overpowered in the tiebreak.

Nicola Arzani, the ATP Tour’s director of communications, said Sampras’ injury was not the same as that sustained in Lyon.

The player will decide whether to continue playing at the tournament after more treatment, Arzani said.

Andre Agassi defeated Marc Rosset — the player that he beat in the 1994 Paris Open final — in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

Agassi faces Martin in Friday’s quarterfinals.

In a tight match between two players striving to qualify for the ATP world championship, Yevgeny Kafelnikov saved a match point before beating Tim Henman 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2).

After taking the first set and leading 4-2 in the second, the big-serving Russian, seeded No. 8 here, was pulled back to one set all by a determined fightback by the British No. 1.

In the third, No. 9 seed Henman led 5-1. But despite serving three aces and having a match point while leading 5-4, the Briton couldn’t finish off Kafelnikov, and was over-run in the decisive tiebreak.

The match was made more important by Richard Krajicek’s knee injury, sustained on Wednesday.

Krajicek was competing with Kafelnikov and Henman to finish in the top eight — and thereby qualify for the World Championship in Hanover — but has now ruled himself out of the event.

"I was outclassed for most of the first two sets. But I got a chance and took it and played great in the third," Henman said.

"The damage was done at the 5-2 game. I played a couple of loose points early on and that’s a break of serve gone and his motivation was right back."
Kafelnikov agreed that the match turned when Henman failed to hold serve at 5-2 in the final set.

"At 5-1 down I thought I would go off the court a loser. When I broke back, I thought I would win the match," he said.

But the Russian was upset that Henman didn’t apologise for several fortunate net cords in the final set.

"I got so frustrated, maybe I said something bad to him at the changeover. I got so mad I didn’t know where I was. When you go on the court you should respect each other."

In another third round match, No. 2 seed Marcelo Rios had two tough sets against Vincent Spadea, but won 7-5, 6-4.

Mark Philippoussis of Australia continued his fine run, beating No. 7 seed Karol Kucera 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Greg Rusedski and Magnus Gustafsson each won third round matches, and will play each other in today’s quarterfinals.

Chinese Taipei, Qatar cagers impress

CALCUTTA, Nov 6 (PTI) — Strong contenders Chinese Taipei opened their campaign in style with a resounding 106-76 win over Kazakhstan in a group-D league match of the 15th Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship for junior men at the renovated Netaji Indoor Stadium here today.

Displaying superior all round game, the Chinese Taipei cagers raced to a huge 58-38 lead by half-time and kept up the pressure after the breather with a series of three-pointers in a rather one-sided contest.

Chinese Taipei, who had finished fifth in the last three editions of the championship, relied on the shooting prowess of Han Siao Yong (17 pts) and Chen Hsin-An (16 pts) to suppress their opponents who paid the price for making a number of mispasses at crucial junctures.

Sharp shooter Sargey Dovin of Kazakhstan gave ample display of his shooting abilities doing the bulk of scoring for his team with 36 points, including three three-pointers, while Maxim Semyonov chipped in with 12 points.

In another group-C league match, Kuwait had no difficulty in brushing aside the challenge of unfancied Bangladesh with a 67-21 verdict in a low-scoring encounter.

The Bangladeshis, who had finished last in the previous edition of the championship held at Johor, Malaysia, in 1996, struggled to make any impact against their towering opponents who gave very little room for manoeuvres under the basket.

The talented Hassan Saquer was the highest scorer for Kuwait with 20 points, while the fleet-footed Salem Fahed and Alrashidi Mutlaq chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Kuwaitis, taking part in the meet for the first time, raced to a 33-10 lead at half time and added 34 points in second half capitalising on a weak defence by the Bangladeshis.

For Bangladesh, Mohammed Kabir Hussain (8) and Fazal Mukim (6) were the main scorers but both their defence and attack left much to be desired.

The first match between Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan was of a high standard with both teams managing to put in their attempts, but the Chinese Taipei cagers took full advantage of their heights to take control of the defensive rebounds.

Hosts India, who find their quarter-final hopes in jeopardy after going down to Malaysia in their opening group-B league match, will clash with Pakistan in their second game tomorrow.

Altogether 15 teams are taking part in the championship being held on a league-cum-knock out basis. The three top teams of the championship would get a direct entry into the sixth world championship for junior men to be held in Portugal next year.

Title aspirant Qatar also opened their campaign in style with an emphatic 87-32 win over a hapless Pakistan in a group-B league match which turned out to be a lop-sided contest.

Qatar, who had finished runners-up in the last edition, began rather tentatively but toned up their game after the half-time with a flurry of baskets as they exploited their height advantage to the hilt.

Leading by 29-14 at the breather, the Qatar cagers added as many as 58 points in the fast paced second half which saw the fancied team virtually break loose by taking total control of both the offensive and defensive rebounds.

The towering Hashem Zaldan was the highest scorer for Qatar with 20 points while Ali Saleh was the other notable contributor with 18 points.

The Pakistanis, who did reasonably well to keep their much stronger opponents at bay for most part of the first session, crumbled in the second half as their rivals relied on a series of fast breaks and long passes to unsettle the defence.

Ahmed Haris Yousuf was the main contributor for Pakistan caging 14 points while Umer Mehmood chipped in with six. None of the other Pakistani cagers got their acts together under the basket.

Pak down Germany, enter final

LAHORE, Nov 6 (AFP) — Pakistan made heavy weather of their last league match against Germany, but won 3-1 to reach the final of the 20th Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament.

The hosts will play Holland in the final on Sunday.

Pakistan edged out Australia, who earlier in the day lost 4-1 to Holland. Both teams finished with eight points in five matches, but Pakistan had a three-goal advantage to Australia’s one.

Pakistan missed a penalty stroke and, at 1-1, found the winning goal hard to score.

Haider Hussain, Sohail Abbas and Atif Bashir were Pakistan’s scorers while Max Klink slotted one for Germany.

Two penalty corner goals by Bram Lomans and one each by Remco Van Wijk and Marten Eikelboom saw Olympic and world champions Holland routing Australia 4-1.

Commonwealth Games champions Australia, the only unbeaten side of the tournament after four matches, needed just a draw to reach the final, but they had no answer to the Dutch excellence.

Holland, wounded after their 5-3 loss to Pakistan on Wednesday, gave no quarter to the Australians. Though missing Tuen De Nooijer, who left for home after his family member died, Holland were the better side in most of the match.

"This was the best start my team had in this championship and we were expecting a one-goal win, but they left Australia in doldrums," Dutch coach Roelent Oltmans said.

Adam Commens scored the consolation for Australia.

The Australians were upset over the loss, but most of the players waited at the ground to see the result of the last match. Had Germany held Pakistan to a draw, Australia would have reached the final.

Asian champions South Korea downed Spain to finish fourth in the table with eight points, but with an inferior goal difference. South Korea will take on Australia. Spain and Germany line up on Sunday for the last two positions.

Pakistan, who needed to score a clear goal, scored their first in the 12th minute when Haider Hussain dived to convert a cross from Mohammad Sarwar.

Both teams forced two penalty corners in the first half with Germany equalising in the 35th minute through Klink.

Pakistan found it hard to break a stubborn German defence and the first 10 minutes saw both teams playing in the mid-field.

Sohail Abbas finally netted Pakistan’s second goal when in the 54th minute he scooped home Pakistan’s third penalty corner. Sohail then missed a penalty stroke in the 62nd minute when his push was stopped by German goalie Christian Schultz.

Bashir scored Pakistan’s third goal to send the 17,000 home crowd to their feet.

Kim Young Kui scored two goals for South Korea while Kang Keon Wook, Yoo Moon Ki, Yeo Woon Kon and Song Seong Tac netted one each for the Koreans.

Juan Escarre with two and Jordn Casas found the target for Spain.

At one moment Spaniards threatened to hold their opponents to a draw but the fleet-footed Koreans edged them out by creating more goal scoring opportunities.

Delhi beat Himachal

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (PTI) — Delhi collected full points beating Himachal by 49 runs in the truncated one-day North-zone Ranji Trophy match at Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.

Electing to bat first, Delhi rode on opener Ashu Dani’s (78) and Mithun Minhas’ (48) to post 212 in 45 overs after the match was reduced by five overs following a delayed start due to bad light.

Delhi restricted Himachal to 123 for eight in 31 overs to emerge victors by 49 runs and take their points tally to five after three outings.

The victory target for Himachal was twice revised as rain interrupted play midway through the innings. First the umpires set the target as 208 in 43 overs and following a rain delay, it was again revised to 172 in 31 overs.

Himachal, who scored a stunning win over Punjab, and then lost to Haryana, have two points from three outings.

Ashu Dani and Mithun Minhas shared a 95-run second-wicket partnership after they lost captain Vijay Dahiya (15) early. Rahul Panta (2/23) and Jaswant Rai (3/39) were the pick of the Himachal bowling.

In reply, Himachal fared badly with wickets falling at regular intervals.

Virender Sharma (42) was the top scorer while other batsmen could not even cross 25 runs as Himachal was restricted to 123.

Amit Bhandari (2/28), Sumit Dogra (2/21) and Ajay Sharma (2/20) took the bowling honours for Delhi.

Brief scores:

Delhi: 212 for six in 45 overs (Ashu Dani 78, Mithun Minhas 48, Rahul Panta 2/23, Jaswant Rai 3/39)

Himachal - 123 for eight in 31 overs (V. Sharma 42; Amit Bhandari 2/28, S. Dogra 2/21, Ajay Sharma 2/20).

Randhawa, Cunning joint leaders
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 — Playing brilliantly, 26-year-old Jyoti Randhawa played the best round of five-under 67 amidst intermittent drizzle here today. This saw him join Mike Cunning (US) on the leaderboard with an aggregate of 136 after 36 holes in the Hero Honda Masters (Omega Tour) at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course.

Gaurav Ghei, Jeev Milkha Singh and Gerry Norquist were tied at 138, two strokes behind the duo of leaders. Sanjay Kumar, so far not much known in this type of circuit, was at 139, three strokes behind the leaders.

Daniel Chopra (Sweden), Adrian Percey (Aus), Arjun Atwal (India), and Scott Taylor (USA) were tied at 140 followed by Mardan Mamat (Sin), Scott Rowe (Hong Kong), Grant Dodd (Aus) at 141. Five were on 142 and another four on 141. In all, as many as 19 had carded sub-par scores after two days’ play.

Playing with rapt concentration and application, Randhawa showed that in his youth were nerves of steel. He carded as many as six birdies and only solitary bogey.

"I am playing superbly on the whole although I am still to feel comfortable with my short iron shots from within 60 yards", said Randhawa, adding: "I am pleased with my putting".

Randhawa, however, had a harrowing time on the 16th on which he dropped a stroke because of needless confusion. He had a birdie on the 15th and so was the case with his colleague, Kim Chang Min (Korea). As Randhawa positioned himself for the tee-shot, came a shout from the Korean that it was his turn to start. Randhawa took the shot which landed into a bunker. "Had it not happened, I might have finished with better score", said Randhawa.

Starting on the 10th, Randhawa went out in 35. But he came back with a four-under 32. He had birdies on the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th. He sunk a superb 30-foot putt for par on his final hole of the day.

Cunning, who had an indifferent season in Asia after claiming the 1997 Omega Order of Merit, played each half in 34. He might have been a sole leader had he secured a 10-foot birdie chance at the last.

Cunning was generally happy with his overall display on the course which, according to him, played as true as on the opening day. "The greens", he said, "were expectedly slow and "I enjoyed my play after a while. I am, however, not pleased with my putting because I needed as many as 31 putt in the round of 18 holes", said Cunning. "This has got to be improved considerably", he said.

Jeev Milkha Singh had a round of one-under 71. This placed him on 138, six under. He was tied with Ghei, who played a round of two-under 70, while first day’s leader Norquist, who had a double bogey on the 14th, had a round of one-over 73.

Norquist was disappointed that he should have earned a double bogey on the 14th. He was disturbed in his concentration.

Leading scores:

136: Jyoti Randhawa 69, 67; Mike Cunning (USA) 68, 68.

138: Gaurav Ghei 68, 70; Jeev Milkha Singh 67, 71; Gerry Norquist 65, 73.

139: Sanjay Kumar 69, 70.

140: Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 71, 69; Adrian Percey (Aus) 71, 69; Arjun Atwal 71, 69; and Scott Taylor (USA) 69, 71.

Gurdaspur gymnasts excel at eve's meet
From Our Sports Reporter

AMRITSAR, Nov 6 — The Open Punjab Sports Festival for Women was inaugurated here yesterday by Mrs Chanchal Surjit Singh Randhawa, Joint Director Sports, Punjab. The festival, being organised by the Sports Department at Guru Nanak Dev University campus will conclude tomorrow. More than 1200 women of eight disciplines from all over the state wearing colourful kit participated in the march-past at Shri Guru Hargobind Hockey Stadium.

During this competition, the state teams in various disciplines will be selected which will represent the state in the National Women Sports Festival (group-II) being held at Nizamabad (AP). According to Mrs Randhawa Punjab are the national champions for the past several years.

Girls of Government Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, presented giddha at the colourful ceremony.

The results: 1500 m: Paramjit Kaur (Ludhiana) 4.45.22 sec. 1; Parampreet Kaur (Jalandhar) 2; Sarabjit Kaur (Ropar) 3.

Shotput: Monika (Ropar) 12.15 m 1; Hardeep Kaur (Ludhiana) 2; Narinder Kaur (Jalandhar) 3.

100 m: Mandeep Kaur (Jalandhar) 1; Balwinder Kaur (Ludhiana) 2; Narinder Kaur (Jalandhar) 3.

High jump: Kulwinder Kaur (Gurdaspur) 1.54 m 1; Supinder Kaur (Fatehgarh Sahib) 2; Pankti Lakra (Ludhiana) 3.

800 m: Inderjit Kaur (Bathinda) 2.15.88 sec. 1; Paramjit Kaur (Ludhiana) 2; Kamaljit Kaur (Amritsar) 3.

400 m: Raj Saini (Sangrur) 1.03.41 sec. 1; Sharanjit Kaur (Ropar) 1.03.62 sec. 2; Palwinder Kaur (Jalandhar) 1.04.85 sec. 3.

Discus throw: Narinder Kaur (Jalandhar) 35.90 m 1; Rajwinder Kaur (Jalandhar) 2; Satwant Kaur (Amritsar) 3.

Long jump: Deepinderinder Kaur (Ludhiana) 5.54 m 1; Bhupinder Kaur (Ludhiana) 2; Deepmala Gupta (Patiala) 3.

4x100 relay: Amritsar (Rajwinder Kaur, Kamaljit Kaur, Monika Rana and Harjit Kaur) 1; Jalandhar 2; Ludhiana 3.

Gymnastics: Gurdaspur (151.95 points) overall champions; Patiala (134.85 points) 2; Jalandhar (119.95 points) 3.

All round champion: Jaswant Kaur (Gurdaspur) 1; Amandeep (Gurdaspur) 2; Samita Sharma (Gurdaspur) 3.

Basketball: Kapurthala beat Gurdaspur 65-63.

Volleyball: Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Patiala and Amritsar qualified for the semifinals.

Srinath to clash with Rovai in final

KANNUR, Nov 6 (PTI) — Indian David Cupper Prahlad Srinath will clash with top-seed Federico Rovai of Sweden for the ITF Satellite Masters International Tennis Tournament title at the Municipal Jawahar Stadium here tomorrow.

In an exciting semi-final, Srinath brought in some extra stuff to edge out a battling compatriot Vijaya Kannan 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7-1) in 156 minutes.

Federico Rovai entered the final, when his countryman Johan Hede withdrew from the second semi-final due to an injury.

Second-seeded Srinath, who got a walk over from German Gerhard Fahlke in the quarter-finals, struggled in the first set to get his rhythm and his opponent took full advantage to win 6-3 in just 37 minutes.

Eighteen-year old Kannan, who trains at DHAITA academy at Delhi, was consistent with his first serve and was solid with his returns. He wore his experienced opponent down and also blunted Srinath’s stroke play with some accurate returns which the tall player from Mysore fumbled.

Kannan got off to a great start by clinching the first game with an ace and later broke Srinath in the fourth. Srinath also helped him by serving a double fault.

After holding his fifth service game Kannan had Srinath in all sorts of problem in the next, but Srinath rallied to take it after trailing 0-40 and deuce was called thrice. Thereafter, both held on to their service and Kannan clinched the set when Srinath in haste banged a return into the net.

The second set saw a complete reverse in the trend as Srinath dominated the proceedings and had Kannan in a spot of bother with his low returns to the backhand.

Kannan was also troubled by his inaccurate first serve and was frequently caught in wrong position. Srinath kept his opponent on the run with his well directed strokeplay on either side of the court and also with his crafty returns.

Srinath broke Kannan in the fourth and sixth games with some excellent down-the-line winners and deft placements. He volleyed well and his shots were on target. He wrapped up the set 6-1 in only 23 minutes.

The decider was marked with long rallies and excellent groundstrokes. Kannan after clinching the first game broke his opponent in the next, despite Srinath serving two aces.

Kannan won the third game at 40-0 to race to a healthy 3-0 lead. But Srinath rallied splendidly to equalise at 4-4 and was tied at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker Kannan missed some easy points and allowed Srinath to take a 4-0 lead and win the set and the match 7-6.

Amanjyot storms into final

MUMBAI, Nov 6 (PTI) — Chandigarh’s top seeded Amanjyot Singh scored a convincing straight-set win over unseeded Nishank Misra of Delhi to storm into the boys u-14 singles final in the AITA All India Juniors Tennis Tournament at the Bandra Gymkhana here today.

Amanjyot, with a tally of 88 AITA points to his credit prior to the tournament, notched up a facile 6-4 6-1 win over his Delhi rival to earn a meeting with unseeded Bengal boy Saurab Sukul in tomorrow’s final.

Sukul packed off local boy Rohan Gajjar 6-1 4-6 7-6 (7-2) in the other semi-final.

The U-16 boys’ final will pit Chandigarh’s second seeded Sunil Kumar against local player and fourth seed Benjamin Xavier.

Kumar, with 80 AITA points in his kitty, ousted third seed Vinod Kumar Sewa of Bengal 7-5 6-4 while Xavier accounted for Pratim Parekh (Maha) 6-4 6-3 in today’s semi-finals.

Other results (all semi-finals) (prefixes denote seedings):

Girls’ u-14: 1-Megha Vakharia (Mah) b 4-Johan Fernandes (Mah) 7-5 6-1; 6-Sasha Abraham (AP) b 4-Lata Assudani (Mah) 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-2.

Girls’ u-16: 1-Sonal Phadke (Mah) bt 4-Jitisha Shelerk (Mah) 6-2 6-2; 3-Lisa Pereira (Mah) bt 2-T Yamini (TN) 6-2 6-3.

MCC membership for Kiran More

BARODA, Nov 6 (PTI) — Former India stumper Kiran More has been given the honorary life membership of London’s prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

More, who is now the Ranji team captain of Baroda, said here today that he received a fax message to this effect from the club on November 4.

The 36-year-old is the sixth Indian to receive the MCC membership after Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Bishan Singh Bedi and Vijay Hazare, all former India captains.

The right-handed wicketkeeper batsman had played 49 Test matches for India, scored 1285 runs from 64 innings, took 110 catches and effected 20 stumpings. In 94 one-day internationals, he batted in 65 innings scoring 564 runs.

In 151 first class matches so far, More scored 5038 runs, besides taking 301 catches and effecting 61 stumpings.

Haryana register 70-run victory

JAMMU, Nov 6 (PTI) — Fine half-centuries from Rajesh and Shafeeq Khan helped Haryana beat hosts Jammu and Kashmir by 70 runs in their one-day match of the North Zone league tournament here today.

Put into bat Haryana scored 213 for seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs and then skittled out Jammu and Kashmir for 143.

Jammu and Kashmir skipper Sanjay Sharma won the toss and put Haryana to bat. Haryana began badly losing opener Parminder Singh for just five when the score was only 32.

However, the other opener Vijay Yadav and Rajesh Puri took the score to 82, when Yadav (38) was dismissed.

Another good partnership for the fourth wicket between Rajesh (52) and Shafeeq (59) took the score to 199.

After the two departed in quick succession, Dhan Raj (3) and Pankaj (8) remained unbeaten and took the score to 213.

Chasing the victory target of 214, the hosts batsmen were never really in the race. Skipper Sharma played a captain’s knock and was unbeaten on 53 but could do little in the absence of support from the other batsmen, seven of whom failed to reach double figures.

For Haryana Raju, Ashwani and Sanjay took two wickets each. Raju was the most economical with his ten overs costing just 26 runs.

Brief scores:

Haryana 213 for 7 in 50 overs (Vijay Yadav 38, Rajesh 52, Shafeeq Khan 59).

J and K 143 all out in 49.5 overs (Kamaljeet 29, Sanjay Sharma 53 n.o. Raju 2/26, Ashwani 2/44, Sanjay 2/59).

Air-India off to flying start
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 6 — Russia-XI began their campaign on a disappointing note by losing their opening match to Air-India in the 15th Indian Oil Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament, which commenced at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, Jalandhar, today.

Russia-XI and Air-India were locked goal-less at half-time. After the interval Air-India took the lead in the 46th minute when centre-half Sanjay Kumar received the ball near the 25 yard line from inside-right Kishore Kumar, dodged past the Russian defenders and sounded the board with a powerful hit.

The second goal for Air-India was scored in the 62nd minute when outside-left Edward Arhana got a pass on the 25-yard line and sent a cross to Madan Vishavnath who deflected the ball into the goalmouth. In the 65th minute, skipper Surinder Kundu completed the tally off a penalty corner.

In pool-B Rail Coach Factory took the lead in the 10th minute when centre-forward Anil Ikka gave a measured pass to inside-right Mariunus, who passed the ball to Sabbal Kumar. Sabbal made no mistake and made it 1-0. Army XI tried hard for the equaliser but failed.

Earlier, Jathedar, Tota Singh Didarsinghwala, Education Minister, Punjab, inaugurated the tournament and announced a grant of Rs 25,000 from his discretionary fund for the tournament. A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of Mr Ravinder Singh, former vice-president of the Surjit Hockey Society, Mr Darbara Singh, former Governor of Rajasthan and veteran international hockey player R S Passi.

Uttar Pradesh beat Rajasthan

JAIPUR, Nov 6 (PTI) — Opener Gagan Khoda’s brilliant ton went in vain as Uttar Pradesh beat Rajasthan by two runs in a thrilling finish in the Central Zone Ranji Trophy one day match here today.

Khoda’s 124 runs - off 145 balls and including nine fours and two sixes - had put Rajasthan, chasing a victory target of 224, in a strong position before they succumbed to 241 all out in the last over.

The hosts looked certain of bagging two points from the match, going strong at 170 for four in 37.4 overs with Khoda playing with authority. But some rash and uncalled for strokes by the hosts’ batsmen saw Rajasthan stumbling from the comfortable position to lose by two runs.

Mohammad Kaif gave an all-round performance scoring 62 runs and then claiming four wickets for only 23 runs.

Earlier, asked to bat Uttar Pradesh were struggling at 80 for 7 in 19 over with Shamsher, P. Krishna Kumar and off-spinner Ashish Kapoor doing the damage.

But a valiant unbeaten eighth wicket partnership between brothers Mohammad Kaif (62 - 109 b, 1x4) and Saif (87 - 88b, 6x4) propelled UP to a respectable 243 for seven in the allotted 50 overs.

The brothers frustrated Rajasthan bowlers with some sensible batting to put on 143 runs to rescue the visitors from the precarious position.

Brief scores: Uttarn Pradesh 243 for 7 in 50 overs (Kaif 62 n.o., Saif 87 n.o; Krishan Kumar 2-48, Kapoor 2-43).

Rajasthan: 241 all out in 49.4 overs (Khoda 124; Kaif 4-23, Brijendra Singh 3-30, G. Pandey 2-55).

AG (Audit) Haryana win team title

CHANDIGARH, Nov 6 (BOSR) — Sajal Kaushal of Govt Model School, Sec 35 and Nadia Saini of DAV Sec 8 today scored glorious win over their respective opponents in the cadet boys and girls singles final of the 11th Chandigarh State Table Tennis Championship being played here at Sec 23 TT hall.

Sajal faced a tough resistance from Aditya Puri of Manav Mangal, Sec 21, before winning at 17-21, 21-13, 21-12. Nadia too had to face some anxious moments from Tarunpreet Kaur of GMS Sec 38 and won at 21 at 21-18, 21-19.

Earlier AG (Audit) Haryana won the prestigious men's team championship when in a thrilling encounter they beat SGGS College, Sec 26, by 3-1.

In the women's team championship, Coaching Centre 'A' got the better of Coaching Centre 'B' by 3-1.

Coaching Centre 'A' also won the boys team championship defeating Coaching Centre 'B' by 3-2. Girl's team championship was won by Coaching Centre 'A' when they defeated Bhawan Hawk 'A' in straight games at 3-0. The detailed results are:

GND varsity in last eight

PATIALA, Nov 6 (FOSR) — Dazzling goals by medios Kuldeep and Jaspreet enabled GND University, Amritsar to carve out a convincing 2-0 win over MDU, Rohtak, and make the quarterfinal grade of the North Zone Inter-University Football Championship being played at the university campus grounds here today.

Kumaon University, Nainital, routed Meerut University 7-0, to move into the last eight. In the other pre-quarter final match PAU, Ludhiana, routed Hisar University by a massive 10-0 margin. In the last match Aligarh University showed better coordination and agility to thrash HPU, Shimla 4-2.

Patiala 256 all out

PATIALA, Nov 6 (FOSR) — A fluent knock of 53 runs by young Harikrishan Mandora and good batting by the Patiala middle order batsman enabled the hosts to pile up 256 against SAS Nagar on opening day of the M L Markan Inter District Cricket Tournament match played at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium here today.

In reply SAS Nagar team was precariously placed at 28 for 3.

Scores:

Patiala (1st innings): 256 all out (H Mandora 53. Amit Chopta 31, Harikrishan Kali 49, Binwant 26. Arvind 26. Varinder 3 for 57. Kamal 3 for 69. Ankur 2 for 22. Sunil Dutt 2 for 39).

SAS Nagar: 1st innings: 28 for 3 (Gagandeep Dhindsa 2 for 9. Harikrishan Kali 1 for 7).

Services, Punjab share points

NEW DELHI, Nov 6 (PTI) — Services and Punjab shared points when their one-day North-Zone Ranji league match was washed out midway through the first session as rain started pouring and bad light prevented any further play at the Palam Grounds here today.

Put in to bat, Services openers played cautiously on a chilly day and only 20.1 overs of play was possible. Services were 76 for no loss when umpires decided to abandon the match and split points between the two teams.

Punjab, who lost a dramatic tie to Himachal in their first one-day encounter, now have three points from as many matches, while Services also logged the same tally.

Services openers Narendra Singh (34) and Sarabjeet Singh (36) slogged for over 20 overs in a match which was reduced to 35-overs-a-side affair after bad light had delayed the start of the match by two hours.

The match began at 11.15 am and was stopped at 12.45 pm when rain started pouring in. Umpires made final inspection at 02.35 pm and decided to abandon the tie.

Brief scores: (Services — 76 for no loss (Narendra Singh 34 n.o., Sarabjeet Singh 36 n.o.). Punjab — did not bat.

GGD SD College win basketball title

CHANDIGARH, Nov 6 (BOSR) — GGD SD College, Chandigarh, won Panjab University Inter College Basketball (men) Championship here today. Govt College Ludhiana, DAV College, Hoshiarpur and PU Campus got second, third and fourth positions respectively.

The following are the results of the matches played today;

DAV College, Hoshiarpur beat Panjab University Campus by 65-51 (half time score 25-33) GGD SD College, Chandigarh, beat Govt College, Ludhiana 80-56 (half time score 32-23).

Air Force hockey

CHANDIGARH, Nov 6 (BOSR) — Southern Air Command went down fighting to Central Air Command 1-2 while Eastern Air Command downed Training Command by 2-1 in the Air Force Hockey Championship being played here at Sector 42 Astroturf hockey stadium.

The semifinals will be played tomorrow at 8 a.m.

Shveta Anand all the way

CHANDIGARH, Nov 6 (BOSR) — Panjab University campus, Chandigarh, defeated Khalsa College for Women by nine wickets to win the PU Inter College Cricket (Women) tournament at PU grounds here today.

Shveta Anand of PU wrecked the Khalsa College team by claiming nine wickets for just 17 runs in 10 overs. Later she scored 83 runs, including 14 boundaries, giving PU the coveted trophy.

Brief scores: KLW, Ldh; 150 runs all out in 50 overs; (Geeta 55, Shefali 35, Shveta Anand 99 for 17, Sunaina 1 for 15).

PU, Chd; 155 for one in 32 overs; (Shveta 83, Rupinder Cheema 22 n.o., Sunaina 22 n.o.

Swimming trials

CHANDIGARH, Nov. 6 (TNS) — Trials to select Chandigarh team for 44th National School Games to be held in Nasik (Maharashtra) from November 26 to 30 in the age group of U-19, U.17 and U-14 (boys and girls) will be held in the swimming pool, Sector-23-C on November 10 at 11.30 a.m.

The swimmers willing to participate in the trial U-19, U-17 & U-14 should be students of class XII, class Xth and class VIIIth, respectively.