Monday, September 7, 1998
today's calendar
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S P O R T | Monday, September 7, 1998 |
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Sampras
sails into last 16 World
champs France manage draw |
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MOSCOW : Marion Jones of USA crosses the finish line winning the 100 meters at the IAAF Grand Prix Finals at Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on Saturday. Jones capped an undefeated season and pocketed over $ 600,000 by winning the 100 meters and the long jump. — AP/PTI Jones’
earnings soar as rouble plummets Bagan
set up title clash |
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Boxing camp for C'wealth
Games ends Inter-medical
TT tourney results Nisha
rewrites own national mark Title
not within grasp, says Safin Indian
shuttlers put up good show |
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Sampras sails into last 16 NEW YORK, Sept 6 (AFP) — World number one Pete Sampras and former number one Andre Agassi moved nearer to a US Open quarterfinal showdown while a foe that reigning champion Pat Rafter fears is already upon him. Sampras beat 71st-ranked Swede Mikael Tillstrom 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, and 1994 US Open winner Agassi ousted 50th-ranked Italian Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 6-3, 6-0, in third-round matches yesterday at the $ 14 million event. Australian third seed Rafter beat 188th-rated South African qualifier David Nainkin 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, and next faces temperamental Croat Goran Ivanisevic, who snapped a five-match losing streak to Dutchman Paul Haarhuis 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4. Britain’s Greg Rusedski, last year’s runner-up, was ousted 4-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 by 21st ranked Dutchman Jan Siemerink, who won on his fourth match point after three hours and 22 minutes with a 123-mph ace, his fastest of 10. It was 13th seed Rusedski’s third consecutive five-set match. He played nine hours and 20 minutes in 15 sets over five days before faltering on the seventh match point against him in the tournament. Siemerink next faces 12th-seeded Swede Jonas Bjorkman, who lost to Rusedski in the 1997 semifinal here. Siemerink is 1-4 against Bjorkman but lost their most recent meeting in July at Wimbledon in five sets. The women’s round of 16 was set with only two ousted seeds, Belgian 14th Dominique van Roost and Japanese 16th Ai Sugiyama. The 14 seeds into the fourth round matched a US Open record set in 1986 and 1987. Fourth-seeded French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario will face Russian 15th seed Anna Kournikova, a 17-year-old who has won all three prior matches against the Spaniard, two this year. Spanish seventh seed Conchita Martinez plays 13th seed Amanda Coetzer and has a 12-1 record against the South African. America’s top players will face French challenges when Davenport meets 10th seeded Nathalie Tauziat and fifth seed Venus Williams takes on 12th seed Mary Pierce. Swiss teen Mastina Hingis plays 64th-rated Nathalie Dechy of France while sixth seed Seles must get past US compatriot Kimberly Po. Eighth seed Graf faces Swiss 11th seed Patty Schnyder. Novotna faces ninth-seeded Romanian Irina Spirlea. "I picked Goran four weeks ago as a danger man," Rafter said of taking on the 14th-seeded Wimbledon runner-up from Croatia. "We all know how well he serves. He is going to be very dangerous. "It’s important when you play Goran to hang tough all the time. You never know with Goran. He can make mistakes. He’s going to have to beat me. I’m not going to lose it.’ Rafter beat Nainkin in 66 minutes and has not lost a set since dropping his two of the tournament to Morocco’s Hicham Arazi, matching the number of sets he lost in seven matches here last year. Ivanisevic served 21 aces, the last 117 mph on match point, and has dropped only one set in three matches. "I’m hitting the ball great. I’m playing good tennis. Anything is possible," Ivanisevic said. "I’m looking forward to playing Patrick. It’s going to be a great match. If I play great tennis he has to beat me.’ Ivanisevic could enjoy seeing a Sampras-Agassi showdown. "Pete is always looking good. Even when he doesn’t look good, he looks good," he said. "Andre is another great player. He’s hitting the ball well. If they meet it’s going to be a hell of a match." Reuters: In the women’s section Lindsay Davenport (2), Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (4), Venus Williams (5), Conchita Martinez (7), Nathalie Tauziat (10), Mary Pierce (12), Amanda Coetzer (13) and Anna Kournikova (15) assumed their projected berths in the fourth round. PTI: The ace doubles duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi kept India’s hopes alive with a second round straight-sets victory over Karsten Braasch (Germany) and Marcos Ondruska of South Africa here. The fourth seeded Indian pair hardly broke a sweat in demolishing Braasch and Ondruska 6-2 6-4 to advance to the third round yesterday. AP: The fifth-seeded pair of Indian Davis Cupper Mahesh Bhupathi and Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic upset Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) and Menno Oosting (The Netherlands) in straight sets in the second round of the US Open mixed doubles tournament here yesterday. Bhupathi and Lucic
advanced to the third round by defeating Likhovtseva and
Oosting 6-3, 6-3. |
Euro
qualifiers LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) — France’s return to competitive soccer ended with a nasty shock yesterday as the world champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland in their opening qualifier for the 2000 European Championship finals. Iceland stunned France in their group four match in Reykjavik when Rikhardur Dadason put the home side ahead after 33 minutes following a blunder by goalkeeper Fabien Barthez who fumbled a corner. But Christophe Dugarry saved France’s pride with an equaliser three minutes later. It was France’s first competitive match under new coach Roger Lemerre since they beat Brazil 3-0 to win the World Cup on July 12. While Iceland were recording one of their best results, fellow lightweights Cyprus scored their greatest victory with stunning 3-2 upset win over Spain in Nicosia. Cyprus’s upset win came courtesy of goals by Panayiotis Engomitis (44 minutes), Sinica Gogic (48) and Milenko Spoljaric (77) while Spain could only score through Raul (72) and Fernando Morientes (84). After a disappointing World Cup, the result further undermines the position of Spanish coach Javier Clemente who will come under even greater pressure to quit, or be sacked. Ireland also scored an upset victory with a 2-0 win over Croatia, who finished third in the World Cup. Croatia had Mario Stamic and Krvnoshiv Jurcic dismissed in a three-minute spell midway through the second half. Another side who missed out on the World Cup finals but who impressed were Israel who, despite being reduced to 10 men after 58 minutes, came back to draw 1-1 with Austria in Vienna in group six. But there were no upsets at neutral Liverpool where Italy shrugged off the disappointment of their World Cup failure to overcome Wales 2-0 in group one. Italy scored through Diego Fuser and Christian Vieri, who finished off a fine move with a brilliant individual strike 13 minutes from time to give Dino Zoff his first competitive win as Italy manager. There were also wins for Sweden, Finland and Ukraine on the day the qualifiers began in earnest after a few isolated matches during the summer. Sweden, who fell behind to an Alan Shearer goal after only two minutes, came back to defeat England 2-1 and maintain their 30-year-old unbeaten record against the English. England midfielder Paul Ince was dismissed midway through the second half for a reckless tackle on Henrik Larsson. Sweden won with goals from Andreas Andersson after 32 minutes and Johan Mjallby a minute later. Ukraine scored an important win in their group four qualifier, beating Russia 3-2 in the first ever international between the two former Soviet states. Serhiy Popov and Serhiy Skachenko put Ukraine 2-0 ahead but after Yevgeny Varlamov pulled one back for Russia, their goalkeeper Dmitry Kharin was sent off for bringing down a player in the box and Serhiy Rebrov added Ukraine’s third from the penalty spot. Viktor Onopko scored a second for Russia in the closing minutes. In another group four match Armenia defeated Andorra 3-1. Finland, who had their most successful World Cup qualifying campaign despite not reaching the finals, won an exciting group three match 3-2 against Moldova after three goals in the first 11 minutes left Moldova 2-1 ahead. Finland pulled level just before halftime with a goal from Jonatan Johansson before Mixu Paatelainen scored what proved to be their winner after 63 minutes. In Istanbul, Turkey swept past a flat-footed Northern Ireland 3-0 in group three, Oktay Derelioglu scoring two elegant goals and Tayfur Havutcu slotting home a penalty in between to the delight of 30,000 Turkish fans. At Kosice, Slovakia made a convincing start with a 3-0 win over visiting Azerbaijan, Martin Fabus, Peter Dubovsky (penalty) and Lubomir Moravcik being the scorers. A second-half penalty from striker Sergej Barbarez earned Bosnia a 1-1 draw against Estonia in group nine at Sarajevo. The visitors went ahead
through an own goal in the 28th minute when Bosnian
goalkeeper Mirsad Dedic hammered the ball against
defender Mirsad Hibic and watched in dismay as it bounced
into the net. |
Jones’ earnings soar as rouble plummets MOSCOW, Sept 6 (Reuters) — As the rouble plummeted, Marion Jones’ earnings soared during a surreal two hours of athletics in Moscow at the weekend. She flew to Johannesburg today to prepare for this week’s World Cup after earning well over half a million dollars at the Grand Prix final while the rouble continued to tumble in value. She left a country in economic and political chaos and a city from which only 10,000 spectators turned up to watch the world’s top track and field athletes perform in the 83,000-seat Olympic Stadium. Local reporters said schoolchildren, who had been given free entry for the event in an attempt to fill the stadium, had been trying to sell their tickets at underground stations. Some of the fans booed when Jones, Hicham el Guerrouj and Haile Gebrselassie held up a giant replica cheque of the $ 1 million jackpot the trio shared for winning each of their events at the six golden league meetings and the final. And Jones was pointedly asked at a news conference after the meeting what she planned to do with the money. "Put the money in the bank and let interest draw on it," she replied. Jones’s riposte showed some understandable exasperation at a somewhat rambling question and in all other respects the young American proved an admirable ambassador for her sport. Unlike a small group of American male sprinters who decide not to travel to Moscow because of exaggerated fears over security, Jones made the trip and gave full value to those fans who could afford the entrance price. She defeated European champion Heike Drechsler in the long jump and was in a class of her own in the 100 metres, winning by nearly three-hundredths of a second. Now she goes to Africa for the first time in her life to compete at altitude, also for the first time, in the 100, 200 and long jump. "I’m excited about going to Africa," she said. "I’m looking forward to warm weather, to competing at altitude for the first time and meeting Nelson Mandela." Jones, unbeaten in any event this year, would be most people’s choice as track and field athlete of the year. El Guerrouj, who won each of his 12 1500-metre races this season as well as breaking the world record, is an equally worthy champion. The Moroccan will not be running at the World Cup and he said yesterday he did not plan to defend his title at next year’s world championships in Seville. "For my part, I will
probably not compete in the world championships but
concentrate on meetings and establishing more world
records," he said. |
Bagan set up title clash with East Bengal CALCUTTA, Sept 6 (PTI) — National league champions Mohun Bagan edged out city rivals Mohammedan Sporting 2-1 to set up a potentially explosive title clash against arch rivals East Bengal in the KBL Federation Cup football tournament. After a barren first half, star strikers I. M. Vijayan, who missed a number of easy chances, and Chima Okerie scored for Bagan, while Joy Kabui netted the equaliser in between for Sporting in an action-packed second half. In a rain-marred match at the Salt Lake stadium, the men in green and maroon made heavy weather of their match, which they could have won by a far bigger margin had their strikers shown some ingenuity inside the box. Bagan kept up the pressure throughout, but Sporting, a resurgent force this year, managed to gain a foothold after going down by a goal. Vijayan headed in the first goal in the 50th minute from a Khemthang Paite cross after the speedy medio had intercepted a ball thrown by Sporting goalkeeper Shanti Majumdar. But Sporting equalised in the 70th minute immediately after two of their players were shown yellow cards following a scuffle over a tackle near the Bagan box. Joy Kabui, who got the ball from a melee, placed it past Bagan custodian Hemanta Dora after the defenders failed to clear the Sporting freekick. But veteran Nigerian Chima Okerie sealed Sporting’s fate in the 79th minute through a neatly placed header from a low centre by Amit Das. Bagan could have gone ahead in the 22nd minute, but Vijayan’s lob past the Mohammedan goalkeeper struck the crossbar. The seasoned striker could have scored in the very first minute of the game, but his volley from the right corner of the box flew past the Sporting bar, with Majumdar watching helplessly. Another attempt by Vijayan from the top of the box with only Majumdar, hero of Sporting’s tie-break win over PSEB in the quarterfinal, to beat went wide. Chima Okerie then headed wide a Yonnan Basim centre from inside the box in the 16th minute. Sporting, who had upstaged Bagan in the Calcutta super division league, went into a shell and came back only after conceding a goal. Sporting got a good chance in the 25th minute from a counter attack which caught the Bagan defence napping. They were awarded an indirect freekick when a Bagan defender’s backpass from inside the box was handled by Dora, but failed to score. Shanti Majumdar, who had a very difficult time under the Sporting bar, then saved a shot by Amit Das. Bagan could have enhanced
the lead in the dying minutes, but Chima and Vijayan
missed two easy chances with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Both tried to dribble past Majumdar, but only managed to
give away the ball into his hands. |
Boxing camp for C'wealth Games ends PATIALA, Sept 6 — After undergoing intensive preparations here at the NIS the national boxing squad left for Delhi today morning to join the Indian caravan slated to participate in the 16th Commonwealth Games to be held at Kuala Lumpur from September 9 to 20. "Modern boxing is a such fiery combination of skill, speed and strength that it is difficult to guess the outcome of a bout well in advance," said national boxing coach G.S. Sandhu when asked to comment on the medal hopes the four Indian boxers — N.G. Dingko Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Jitendera Kumar and Gurcharan Singh — had at Kuala Lumpur. Sandhu may be right, but if the track record is anything to go by then the India definitely stand to win a bagful of medals. The Indians' training cum preparatory stint in Cuba, a known boxing powerhouse, in July this year, will stand all the four boxers in good stead. The Indians, on the Cuban tour, won nine out of 13 medals at stake — N.G. Dingko Singh (bantam weight) and Gurcharan Singh (light heavy weight) leading the individual medals tally. Former world champion and Cuban boxing legend Teoffilo Stevensonn showered high praise on the Indian pugilists with Dingko Singh and Gurcharan Singh coming in for special mention. The Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) has decided to field boxers in only four weight categories. This, according to G.S. Sandhu, has been done keeping in view the tough competition expected, particularly from African and some European countries. This is the reason why Sandhu terms the competition at games more stiff as compared to the Asian Games to be held in December. The Indians' medal hopes could have been boosted by Birju Shah, a bronze medalist in the 1994 Commonwealth Games, who for "unknown" reasons left the Patiala camp midway. Moreover, the absence of ace boxers Lakha Singh and Devinder Thapa has also hit the Indians hard. Both Lakha and Thapa defected to the USA during the world army meet in June and have been declared as deserters by the Indian Army. The team: N.G. Dingko
Singh (bantam weight), Gurmeet Singh (feather weight),
Jitendra Kumar (lt. middle weight) and Gurcharan Singh
(lt. heavy weight) Chief coach: G.S. Sandhu. Assistant
coach: B.I. Fernandez. |
Inter-medical TT tourney results LUDHIANA, Sept 6 — The hosts Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, prevailed over Government Medical College, Patiala 2-1 to enter the final (women's section) of Nozitt-98 the second North Zone Inter-Medical Table Tennis Tournament at the Dumra Auditorium of the DMC and Hospital here today. In the first match, Anubha of DMC lost to Satinder 14-21 14-21 but DMC restored partiy through Dimple who faced a stiff resistance from her opponent Neelam before clinching the issue 21-15 28-26. In the deciding match, the pair of Anubha and Dimple quelled a strong challenge before emerging winners 21-16 6-21 22-20. In the second semi-final, Government Medical College, Chandigarh, scored an identical win over Dashmesh Institute of Research and Dental Sciences, Faridkot, to sail into the finals. Results: Men's team champ (group A): GMC (Asr) b CMC (Ldh) Kamal b Abhey 21-10 20-15, Sandeep b Francis 21-18 17-21 21-18, Manish b Pramod 21-12 21-15, DMC (Ldh) b DIRDS (Fdk) 3-0: Anurag Duggal b Raja 21-12 21-13, Inderpreet b Neeraj 21-19 21-12, Vikas b Sandeep 21-10 21-15. (Group B): DMC and H (Ldh) b DC (Sunam) 3-1, Mahesh lost to Rajeev 21-17 22-20, Avnish b Rohit 21-13 21-7, Navdeep b Ritesh 21-15 21-18, Avneesh b Rajeev 21-15 19-21 22-20. Patiala b GMC (Chandigarh) 3-0: Rajan b Geetinder 21-12 19-21 21-16 Amit Kashyap b Pritpal 21-19 21-17 Mayank b Divesh 21-8 21-12. Women's team champ (semi finals): DMC and H (Ldh) b RMC (Patiala) 2-1: Anubha lost to Satinder 14-21 14-21, Dimple b Neelam 21-15 28-26, Anubha and Dimple b Satinder and Neelam 21-16 6-21 22-20. GMC (Chd) b DIRDS (Fdk) 2-1: Anuraddha b Aman 21-19 21-19 Tript lost to b Shilpa 11-21 14-21, Anuradha and Tript b Shilpa and Aman 21-18 21-17. Men's singles (2 nd round): Anurag Duggal b Neeraj Bansal 21-18 15-21 21-16 Abhay b Gagan 21-18 21-19, Avneesh b Rohit Mehra 21-15 21-19 Sandeep Rai b Ashish Pal 21-19 21-15, Amit Kashyap b Manish 21-17 21-17, Navdeep Sethi b Ritesh Gupta 21-17 21-19, Inderpreet b Surjit 21-19 Kamal Sachdeva b Nadish Garg 21-18 21-15, Vineet b Ajay 22-20 21-19 Rajeev b Lalit 21-18 22-20, Dinesh b Vabhav 21-18 21-10. Women's singles (Q finals): Satinder (Patiala) b Anubha (Ldh) 21-10 21-15. Mandeep Brar (Ldh) b Vandana (Pat) 21-17 21-18 Reetika (Asr) b Neelam (Patiala) 21-12 21-13 Dimple (Ldh) b Shilpa (Fdk) 21-18 19-21 21-12. Semifinals: Satinder (Pat) b Mandeep (Ldh) 21-16 21-14, Reetika (Asr) b Dimple (Ldh) 24-22 17-21 25-23. Women's doubles
(semifinals): Anubha and Dimple (Ldh) b Reetika and
Jasjot (GMC, Asr) 21-12 21-17, Tript and Anuradha (GMC,
Ldh) b Pooja and Neelam (RMC, Pat) 21-16 21-23 21-14. |
Nisha rewrites own national mark BANGALORE, Sept 6 (PTI) — Nisha Millet continued to dominate the pool rewriting her own national record in the 200m freestyle and both men and women created new national marks in the 4x100m medley relay on the second day of the 53rd Senior National Swimming Championship here today. Police swimmer S.H. Hakimuddin also shared the limelight by creating a new meet record in 200m freestyle. Nisha who had bettered her own national record in the 50 m backstroke yesterday, won the 200 m freestyle with a timing of two minutes 8.68 seconds to erase the mark of 2:10.54 she set in the Thiruvananthapuram nationals last year. Nisha Millet, 16, plus one student of Mount Carmel College was headed for a clear win right from the start. She stormed ahead of the others leaving Chitra and Richa Misra to battle for silver and gold. She covered the halfway mark in 1:08.01 while Chitra had 1:06.14. "Everything is fine till now I should see how I fare in 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle and 50m freestyle" said Nisha after breaking the record. Hakimuddin (Police), who was in lane six, was unlucky not to get into the record books. Hakimuddin’s 200m freestyle with a new meet record of 1:58.70 erased the old record of 1:59.53 set by Abhijith Jayathirth in 1995. The national record was set by Abhijith at the National Games, Bangalore in 1996 and stands at 1:58.68. Police, with Railway and Delhi men drawn in adjacent lanes in the 4x100 m medley, created the national record. The team comprising Senthil Kumar, Hakimuddin, Deepak Kumar and Elvis Ali Hazarika clocked 4:06.51. To obliterate the old mark of 4:07.18 held by Railways. Railways and Delhi won silver and bronze. Karnataka quartet of Abhinaya Shetty, Archana Bhushan, Meghana Naryan and Nisha Millet etched a name for themselves and the state by setting a national record of 4:46.91 (old 4:47.88) to improve upon the old record. Kerala and Bengal were second and third. Abhijith, who had been out of competitive swimming, showed good signs of a comeback by winning a gold in the 200m individual medley clocking 2:18.09. His old record created in 1995 however stands at 2:14.20. Abhijith did not face competition even from silver medalist Depak Kumar (Police) in the butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke legs. Deepak showed some signs of a fight only in the final freestyle leg but failed to impress. The 14-year-old Richa Misra, a 10th standard student of S.D. Public School in Delhi bagged the gold in 200m individual medley with a timing of 2:32.29, pushing another youngster Shikha Tandon of Karnataka to silver.
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Title not within grasp, says Safin NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) — Riding a rocket serve, Russian teenager Marat Safin has soared into the fourth round of the US Open tennis in his debut at the Grand Slam tournament. The unseeded 18-year-old does not believe he is ready to contend for the title, but he is certainly showing he is a force to be reckoned with. "No I can’t win it," Safin said of his title chances, despite outslugging former French Open champion Thomas Muster 6-4 6-4 1-6 6-3 on the windswept grandstand court yesterday. "I have to improve my game, my forehand, my serve, my head for sure," said Safin, who slammed 13 aces and 36 winners past the Austrian. Safin has climbed more than 100 spots on the world ranking this year and at number 60 is the youngest member of the world’s top 100. Muster, who has seen lots of young players come and go in his 15 years on the pro circuit, liked what he saw of Safin in their two-hour-and-nine-minute battle. "He has good potential," said the 30-year-old Muster, a former world number one. "He’s definitely playing on a very good level already." Safin made his first splash in his Grand Slam debut this year at the French Open by beating former world number one Andre Agassi and defender Gustavo Kuerten to reach the round of 16. But Safin went into a tailspin after that, losing in the first round in five of his next seven tournaments and bowing out in the second round in the other two. Safin says those defeats taught him some important lessons. "Maybe I’m more clever than before because now I know what I have to do in the difficult moments of the match," said Safin, who reached the semifinals on Long Island in a US Open tune-up last week. "I have to be not so nervous, just to think and not go for too much," said Safin. Easing back on the power goes against the natural tendency of the 6-foot, 4-inch (1.95m) Russian. Anna Kournikova, now a darling of the women’s tour, used to practice with Safin when both were growing up in Moscow and remembers his go for broke style. "As long as I can remember, he was hitting the fences," said the 15th-seeded Kournikova. "All the other juniors were keeping the ball in play and just trying to win that tournament or point or whatever." Now Safin is swinging for
the fences at the US Open. |
Cuba edge out Russia, finish on top CHENNAI, Sept 6 (UNI) — Olympic champions Cuba edged out reigning Grand Prix queens Russia 3-2 in a thriller of a contest to round off their league run on an unbeaten note and finish on top in the third leg Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix at the SAF Games stadium here today. In a two hour match, stretched to full five sets, Cuba won 8-15, 15-4, 15-12, 3-15, 15-13 with some fine display of their well-known aggression. Earlier, Italy put up a terrific performance for their lone win in the league competition defeating Korea in another marathon five setter exploiting the latter’s poor blocking and inconsistent service. Italy won 13-15, 15-8, 6-15, 15-12, 15-10. Both Russia and Cuba had already qualified for the title. The Russians were ahead 4-1 as the contest began. But Cuba levelled 4-4 with some fine spiking from the left by Ruizluaces. They forced a 7-5 lead with captain and southpaw Bell Mackenzie too finding gaps in the Russian defence. But Elizaveta Tichtchenko, Elena Vassilevsa, the setter, Aramanova and Elina Godina combined well to steer Russia to a 13-8 lead after levelling 7-7 and 8-8. Despite their own aggression, the shorter Cubans could not get past the tall Russians at the net. The Russian women took a 1-0 (set) lead at 15-8, up 10-8. But in the second set, the Russian defence seemed to cave in. Aguero Leyva and Valle Fernandez frustrated the Russians with unstoppable high smashes. Even as Godina Andartmanova could get little chance to catch up, Cuba raced to 12-2, 14-3 lead. The Cubans dropped a point before drawing level on set score at 15-4. Into the third set, the Russian women coped well under pressure levelling 1-1. They forced a 4-1 lead as the Cubans failed to beat their block at the net. But Cuba relying on their aggression spiking clawed back smashing to rival back court and levelled 6-6 down 4-5 and 4-6. It was then touch and go until 9-8 in Cuba’s favour with each waiting for the other to faulter. But Cuba managed to forge ahead 11-8 and 12-9. But the Russians fought back employing the net block on their left to stop the rival’s high smashes. They drew level 12-12 but their long smashes to rival’s back court landed out giving the Cuban women three points in a row. Cuba at 15-12 took the third set to lead 2-1. PTI: Italy finally salvaged some pride when they outwitted Korea 13-15, 15-8, 8-15, 15-12 and 15-10 to finish third. It was a thrilling encounter and the Italians’s fighting qualities helped them to overcome Korea after the latter led 2-1 at one stage. The match was a tough one from the start with long rallies and marginal lead changing hands often. With Rinieri in her spiking best, Italy led 3-1 with the Koreans neutralising at 3-all and 6-6. Libero Chang-Hun Kim, a glutton for hard work, was seen moving round the court like a spinning wheel. After level-pedalling till 11-all, Korea won the set at 15-13 when Jing’s smash got a touch-out verdict. In the second set also Korea forged into a 4-1 lead only to allow Italy in at that stage. Slowly flourishing, Italy, well served by Rinieri and Leggeri, got on top to win at 15-8. Korea’s domination went on into the third set too. The team took a 5-0 lead and with Hong and substitute Chung in fine nick, never looked back and won at 15-8. The fourth was a repetition of the first set, the only change being Italy emerging victors at 15-12 with Rinieri smashing the final point into the mid-court. In the fifth set
tie-breaker, Italy was always ahead and finally won the
set at 15-10. |
Roma pips
Gauri
for badminton title CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — Top seed Roma, representing Faridabad maintained supremacy and clinched the title in girls under 16 years singles in the mini Haryana State Badminton Championship which concluded at the Sector 7 Community Centre Panchkula this evening. She beat the hosts district Panchkula's Gauri by 11-6, 11-2 while top seeds in girls under 16 years doubles, Roma and Aarti of Faridabad lost to district mates Chanchal and Rashmi 10-15, 1-15. Earlier in the girls under 16 singles semifinals, Roma routed Nidhi of Panchkula 11-0, 11-4 in a one-side affairs while in another semifinal, Gauri of Panchkula ousted Faridabad's Aarti 11-7, 11-4. Boys under 13 years
singles title was claimed by Sumit of Bhiwani who
defeated the hosts district outfit hero Sachin Garg 15-2,
15-1 in a lopsided final. |
Lone, Chandel claim top honours NEW DELHI, Sept 6 (PTI) — Experienced Bhairav Singh Lone of Madhya Pradesh and Sharda Chandel of Punjab won the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the 16th Rath Indian Open Marathon here today. In a slow-paced race through the roads of the capital after being flagged-off from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the 26-year-old Lone completed the 42.195 km course in two hours 30 minutes and 14 seconds to win by a comfortable margin of over three minutes from Delhi’s 32-year-old veteran Yashwant Singh Rawat (2:33:28). Delhi’s Girdhari Lal, another known face in the marathon circuit, came in third at 2:35.58. Both Lone and Chandel collected handsome prize money of Rs 50,000 each for their effort. In the women’s race, the Ropar-based Chandel, 25, upstaged the better-known V. Satyabhama to claim the women’s honours, clocking three hours 16 minutes and 59 seconds. Satyabhama was way behind (3:22:4) with Indresh Dhiraj from Dadri in Haryana third at 3:27:42. Jasbir Singh (1:10:25) of Rajasthan and local girl Pushpa (1:26:24) claimed the men’s and women’s half-marathons. Fiftyone-year-old Ranjeet Singh (Rajasthan) won the veteran’s race with a creditable 3:32.03 while Mangala Khattar of Delhi won the veteran women’s half-marathon. Results: Men (Full marathon): Bhairav Singh Lone (2:30:14) 1; Yashwant Singh Rawat (2:33:28) 2; Girdhari Lal (2:35:58) 3. Veterans: Ranjeet Singh (3:32:3) 1; Vijay Singh (3:38:23) 2. (Half marathon): Jasbir Singh (1:10:25) 1; Hariom (1:11:12) 2; R.N. Pathak (1:11:13) 3. Veterans: Jatender Singh (1:30:45) 1; Philip Harding (1:36:50) 2; Dalpat Singh Patel (1:38:10) 3. Women: (Full marathon): Sharda Chandel (3:16:59) 1; V. Satyabhama (3:22:4) 2; Indresh Dhiraj (3:27:42) 3. (Half marathon): Pushpa (1:26:24) 1; Rigzen Angmo (1:33:22) 2; Sarbjeet Kaur (1:36:54) 3. Veterans: Mangala Khattar
(2:13:55) 1; Zulu Mama (2:20:22) 2; Aheibam Mecha Devi
(2:42:35) 3. |
Indian shuttlers put up good show BANGALORE, Sept 6 (PTI) — Young shuttlers, Ajit Wijetilek and Mangrish Palekar performed creditably at the just-ended Asian Badminton Confederation Championships at Bangkok by reaching the pre-quarterfinals before bowing to seeded Malaysian and Chinese rivals, according to reports received here by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). Twentytwo-year-old Wijetilek, returning to international competition after a two-year gap due to a heel injury, scored an easy first round win over a Rahim of Bahrain (15-0, 15-1). Wijetilek then upset Japanese No.1 Furnikho Machida in an exciting three game encounter (15-13,11-15,15-12) before going down to Malaysian Lee Tsuch Seng. The lanky Karnataka player could not sustain the tempo after winning his first game and lost 15-9, 1-15, 11-15. Incidentally, Seng had won the just concluded Asian satellite event in Chennai. The 20-year-old Mangrish Palekar defeated Ong Heng Chi of Malaysia (15-0, 15-1) and Liao Chun Yi (Chinese Taipei) 15-5, 15-13 but lost to former world number one, Dong Jiong of China 4-15, 9-15, showing glimpses of a fight in the second game. The other two youngsters
Chetan Anand and Sachin Ratti lost to Luvin Aung
(Myanmar) and Hwang Sung Ho of Korea in the first and
second rounds. |
|
CHENNAI, Sept 6 (UNI) — Chinsura in West Bengal would host the Senior National Volleyball Championship this year from December 24 to 31 while the Federation Cup would be held at Calicut in the first week of May next year. Releasing the calendar for the national events after the executive and annual general body meeting of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) held here in the midst of the grandprix world women’s league championships, VFI secretary-general Rajkumar has said the National Beach Volleyball Championship would be hosted by Karnataka. The state association would inform the federation about the dates and venue, he added. The junior nationals would be held at Macharial in Andhra Pradesh and Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district of Kerala from January 21 to 25. The youth nationals would be held at Burban in West Bengal in the last week of May. The mini nationals would be conducted at Bhadrashah in West Bengal from January 23 to 25 while Karnataka and Kerala would host the first and the second legs of the national league championship, respectively, in the last week of January. Another leg of this competition would also be held either in Surat (Gujarat) or in Kerala in the last week of February. The VFI would depute
observers to all venues to study the facilities there for
the conduct of the events. They would submit a report
based on which these venues would be finalised, Mr
Rajkumar said. |
Sinha heads
PWA PATIALA, Sept 6 — Mr
S.K. Sinha and Mr D.S. Virk have been elected president
and secretary respectively, of the Punjab Weightlifting
Association (PWA) at a general body meeting of the
association held here. |
Krishnan
coaching camp from today CHANDIGARH, Sept 6 — Ramesh Krishnan will hold a coaching camp at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium here from September 7 to 12. This was stated here yesterday by Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chairman, Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association. The association has
selected about 20 promising young boys and girls, who
would participate in this camp. In addition to the young
tennis players, the coaching faculty of the CLTA will
also make use of the expertise of Krishnan. |
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