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| Saturday, January 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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India,
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| India make winning start BARCELONA, Jan 7 — India tuned themselves for tougher competition with a fighting but deserving 1-0 win against Canada in the four-nation men’s hockey tournament here yesterday. Mahindras down JCT 2-1 MUMBAI, Jan 7 — Local outfit Mahindra and Mahindra Football Club recorded their second consecutive win when they pipped JCT Phagwara 2-1 in the National Football League at the Cooperage here today. Laxman: middle-order batsman at heart BRISBANE, Jan 7 — Hours away from being packed off as a total failure, VVS Laxman’s classy maiden Test hundred has enabled him to resuscitate his international cricket career from near oblivion and rediscover himself as a Test opener of merit. Who is telling the truth ? CHANDIGARH, Jan 7 — Who is telling the truth and who is hiding facts? The national selectors, prior to their meeting where they picked the Indian squad for a one-day series in Australia, were informed by the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Mr J.Y. Lele, that Ajay Jadeja could not be considered for the three-nation tournament as he was still nursing an injury he had suffered during the India-New Zealand one-day series in November last.
Sridhar, Tara lift crowns
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India, Pak keen to do well BRISBANE, Jan 7 (PTI) — Sub-continental rivals India and Pakistan will be keen to show their class after identical 0-3 Test reverses at the hands of Australia when the Carlton and United Triangular One-Day Cricket Series begins here on January 9. Boasting of star one-day performers in skippers Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram, India and Pakistan will be keen to put behind them a summer of defeats Down Under, soured further by controversies over umpiring and banning of tearaway Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar for chucking. Both visiting captains are confident their teams will give World Cup champions Australia a run for their money in the one-day tournament, which they believe will be a totally different proposition. “One day cricket is a new ball game, because everything depends on how you play that day”, Tendulkar said today. Akram agreed: “Australia may be the world champions, but no team can take anything for granted”, he said. Akram needs just four wickets to become the first man in cricket history to reach the 400-wicket mark in one-dayers, while Tendulkar, with 24 centuries, is already the most prodigious scorer in the short version of the game. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, the two top run-getters of 1999, with 1,767 and 1,761 runs, respectively, are looking to wipe out their humiliating Test series run where only 177 and 93 runs came their way. Having made 16 centuries between them, Dravid and Ganguly will have to drastically improve their game with much hopes resting on V.V.S. Laxman, who has been retained in the wake of his superb 167 in the third Test in Sydney. Ganguly, with four tons last year, and Dravid, with six, have to redeem themselves after the poor run thus far. The Indian team, which has had free days to reflect upon their problems, held nets here this evening. Pakistan, looking to build a young batting side around the experience of Saeed Anwar and Inzamamul Haq, have no trouble in the bowling department where Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq are man for all seasons. But the two bowlers have been laid low in Australia this summer, a fact blamed on controversial umpiring and sustained pressure from the local media. Pakistan, who contested the finals of last year’s World Cup against Australia in England, have a fair record against Australia, having won 22 of the 51 matches contested and lost 26. India, contrast, have lost 32 and won 22 of their 57 one-day encounters against Australia. The record between India
and Pakistan also favours the latter, who have won 47 of
the 78 matches played between them and lost just 27. |
Lee on fast road to success SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) — Brett Lee, lightly built and with schoolboy looks, scarcely seems like Australia’s most ferocious fast bowler since Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee terrorised the world’s best batsmen in the mid-1970s. Yet appearances are certainly deceptive in the case of Lee, who burst onto the international cricket stage with 13 wickets in his first two Tests during Australia’s recently-completed home series against India. “He will do to quick bowling what Shane Warne did to leg spin bowling,” Australia’s captain Steve Waugh forecast as Lee had some of the country’s best judges waxing lyrical about his performances. If his figures alone are any guide, the 23-year-old Lee looks destined for a long and fruitful Test career. He had a match haul of seven for 78 in his debut against India in Melbourne last week, then followed up with six for 106 in Sydney in his second Test earlier this week. His tally of 13 Indian wickets cost an average of 13.78. The blond paceman, who bowls at speeds in excess of 150 kph, first caught Waugh’s eye when they were playing for New South Wales in an interstate match against Western Australia. Fielding at gully, Waugh watched in admiration as Lee struck fear into the opposition with a series of frightening short-pitched deliveries. The western Australia captain reportedly told his players that Lee was so quick that if they intended hooking him they should start swinging before he let go of the ball. One player failed to heed the warning and discovered the hard way just how quick Lee is, breaking his arm when the ball cannoned into him. Impressed by what he saw, Waugh pushed Australia’s selectors to pick Lee for the second Test against India. Given his international chance after just 14 Sheffield Shield appearances, Lee announced his arrival in the most dramatic fashion. He became the first Australian bowler in 22 years to take a wicket in his first over at Test level when he bowled Sadagopan Ramesh with his fourth delivery, sending the ball crashing into the stumps with the batsman still on his backlift. He also dispatched Rahul Dravid in his first spell before returning to snare three wickets in six balls. Lee repeated his heroics in Sydney, condemning India’s Ajit Agarkar to a world record four successive golden ducks when he dismissed him first ball on his way to taking six wickets in the game. Lee made his first-class debut in 1994-95 but did not secure a permanent place in the New South Wales team until this season, partly because of a stress fracture in 1997 but also because of a youthful inability to translate pace into wickets. That problem has now been rectified. Lee no longer relies purely on speed, preferring to mix up his deliveries. His main weapons are still his bouncer and his yorker but he can also swing the ball both away and into the batsman. For all his joy at making the Test team, Lee said he was just as thrilled when chosen this week for the national one-day squad, joining his older brother Shane, who was in Australia’s World Cup-winning squad last year. “Things are happening so fast for me, I just never expected it,” Lee said. “I never thought of
playing for Australia as a kid in the backyard and to
play with my brother would just be a dream come
true.” |
India make winning start BARCELONA, Jan 7 (AP) — India tuned themselves for tougher competition with a fighting but deserving 1-0 win against Canada in the four-nation men’s hockey tournament here yesterday. The Asian Games gold medallist India, coming here after an error-prone campaign at the Asia Cup championship in Kuala Lumpur, were matched by the gutsy Canadians in the first half. Indians failed to open up and the Canadian defence looked strong going into the breather. Sukhbir Singh Gill gave India much needed respite when he sounded the boards three minutes into the second half. Indian forwards staged several attacks on the Canadian post but failed to give finishing touches and settled for a 1-0 win. India take on Germany while Spain meet Canada next. Earlier, striker Javier Arnau scored twice as Spain made a winning start by defeating Germany 3-1. The Spaniards struggled to find form early in the first half before Arnau scored in the 13th minute. But Germany reacted and Flaorian Keller equalised in the 35th minute. A 52nd minute goal by
Xavi Rivas set the pace for a Spanish victory, followed
by another goal from Arnau five minutes later to give
Spain a 3-1 advantage. |
Mahindras down JCT 2-1 MUMBAI, Jan 7 (PTI) — Local outfit Mahindra and Mahindra Football Club recorded their second consecutive win when they pipped JCT Phagwara 2-1 in the National Football League at the Cooperage here today. The hosts took the lead in the very second minute when their medio Satish Minz tapped home their Jordanian import and striker Bassam Khatib’s pass. Mid-fielder Khalid Siddique had initiated the move. JCT got their equaliser in the 27th minute when their mid-fielder Hardeep Saini scored an opportunistic goal. Mahindra defender Christopher tried to clear the ball in front of the goal-mouth with a header but the ball came to Saini who made no mistake. With just four minutes to go for the hooter, Khatib headed in substitute Abhay Kumar’s cross from the right flank. Seven minutes after Mahindras scored their first goal, JCT almost pulled one back when Mahindra custodian Virender Singh, who came off the bar to collect JCT medio Daljit Singh cross was subsequently beaten. However, JCT winger Hardip Gill fumbled with the ball before Mahindra defender Syed Hussain cleared the ball. Salgaocar take on BSF MARGAO: Defending champions Salgaocar will be favourites to win when they take on new entrants Border Security Force (BSF) in the fourth edition of the National Football League here tomorrow. With the league halfway through the first phase, Salgaocar are the only unbeaten team not to concede a goal, which speaks well of their solid defence manned by Robert Fernandes, Franky Baretto, Francis Coelho, Roque Pereira and keeper Juje Siddi. Salgaocar, placed second with 11 points from five matches, one point behind leaders Churchill, have been playing well as a team but lack finishing ability upfront which forced them to split points with lowly ITI and Dempo. Medio Gbenga Lawal will
not be playing tomorrow on account of two bookings.
However, Jules Alberto has recovered from his injury and
will be playing along with Darmajit Singh, Venkatesh and
Habib Adunkule. |
Laxman: middle-order batsman at heart BRISBANE, Jan 7 (PTI) — Hours away from being packed off as a total failure, VVS Laxman’s classy maiden Test hundred has enabled him to resuscitate his international cricket career from near oblivion and rediscover himself as a Test opener of merit. A natural middle-order batsman struggling to live up to expectations as an opener, Laxman admits to still living a dream after breathing fresh live into a beleaguered Indian squad with his courageous 167 in the Sydney Test. The 25-year-old, who recovered smartly after he was struck on his helmet visor by an express Glenn McGrath delivery to play an electrifying knock, says he has gained fresh confidence as opener but would remain a middle-order batsman at heart. The tall batsman, whose wristy shots remind fans of his senior Hyderabad team-mate Mohammad Azharuddin, admits the extra life in the pitches had seen him dismissed after a decent start, but denied being unnerved by rising deliveries. “It is still a dream for me,” Laxman, who has been retained for the one-day series after being booked for home after the Tests at the end of a disappointing run, told PTI as he geared up for the fresh challenge. Asked whether he struggled early on due to the extra bounce in the Australian pitches, Laxman said: “It is not because I don’t know how to play rising deliveries. The trouble with Australian pitches is it doesn’t matter even if you are in for a long time — these turfs are always doing something”. Laxman, who took only 114 deliveries to reach his hundred admitted he was extremely nervous in the 90’s as he had been dismissed for 95, his previous best in 16 Tests, against the same opponents at Calcutta in 1998. It might not have appeared so, but I was nervous like hell,” he said when asked how he felt nearing his century. “One, I was remembering I had got out on 95 in Calcutta. Two, the atmosphere at the SCG was overwhelming. “There is something about the SCG. The place has so much of history. Fortunately, I did not spend much time in the 90’s,” he said. Laxman, who waded into Brett Lee in the course of his entertaining, 198-ball innings, hit the new pace sensation for two fours and a single in one over to race to his hundred. Explaining his refreshing approach in the innings, Laxman said concentrating extra hard has not really helped. “Extra concentration could mean extra caution and you could turn strokeless and sure your dismissal would come,” he said. The technically sound Rahul Dravid was a victim of such an approach as he ended up with just 93 runs from six innings despite spending considerable time at the crease. Asked whether he was comfortable opening the innings, Laxman, who donned the role only because Devang Gandhi failed in the first Test, said “I have no complaints with the selectors wanting me to open. It is an honour to play for your country. I would be happy to play at any spot they ask me to. “But I have always been a middle order batsman, be it at school, club, state or any other grade of cricket. The only time I have opened is in Tests,” he added. On the extra bounce that has done in Indian batsmen several times in the series, Laxman said he was shaping well in the first innings of the first Test in Adelaide to reach 41 before the extra bounce did him in. He tried to cut McGrath but was undone by extra lift to hit to Steve Waugh at point. “I have been comfortable in all the matches. But then something happens. I would not say its been because of lapse in concentration. But as I said, there is always something extra in these wickets for the bowlers,” he said. Though he has had a tough time as opener, and mostly in exacting conditions abroad, Laxman has two good fifties against the pace of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in the West Indies in 1997 and made an impressive 67 against Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar in the Asian Test Championship in Calcutta early last year. Laxman hammered Shane Warne to send the star leg spinner for 60 runs in 13 overs, but he denied it was deliberate, like skipper Sachin Tendulkar’s assault at home in 1998. “It wasn’t deliberate. I just was seeing the ball so well and my feet were really moving. I didn’t have any trouble in hitting against the spin,” he explained. Did he ever nurse hopes of a double hundred? “Actually, I did.
Not when Anil Kumble (with whom he put on 89 runs for the
seventh wicket) was there, because then I was still a
long way off but when (Javagal) Srinath showed the
intention of hanging around,” he said. |
Who is telling the truth ? CHANDIGARH, Jan 7 — Who is telling the truth and who is hiding facts? The national selectors, prior to their meeting where they picked the Indian squad for a one-day series in Australia, were informed by the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Mr J.Y. Lele, that Ajay Jadeja could not be considered for the three-nation tournament as he was still nursing an injury he had suffered during the India-New Zealand one-day series in November last. At that time even the President of the board, Mr A.C. Muthiah, had insisted that Jadeja must prove his fitness first before he could play for India again. And now the same selectors have gone ahead and picked Jadeja to lead the Wills XI in the Wills Trophy limited overs tournament. And mind you this has been done without the player undergoing any fitness test. Has this been done to help Jadeja prove his fitness as the Indian squad, mauled badly by Australia in the three-match Test series, prepare to take on both Australia as well as arch rivals Pakistan in the one-day tournament with the team morale at a very low level. It is quite possible that Jadeje will prove his fitness in the course of the tournament and then will be hurriedly rushed to Australia to join the Indian team. Even when the selectors met to pick the team for the one-day tournament Jadeja went on record to say that he was fully fit to play. He offered to undergo a fitness test but the board did not conduct such a test. One remembers that in 1992-93 the board had set up a panel to test the fitness of Ravi Shastri when India, incidentally, were touring Australia. Ravi Shastri, who like Jadeja was injured in the course of playing at home, not only passed the test but also went on to play some stellar knocks Down Under. The moot question which
remains unanswered is: Who is to judge Jadeja’s
fitness. While agreeing that the board has to consult
specialists while deciding whether a player is fit or not
it would also be prudent if the board has a standing
medical board to test the fitness of players. This board
can use the services of a large number of sports medicine
specialists available in the country. It does not add to
the prestige of the nation if everytime a player is
injured he has to rush to either Australia, South Africa
or England to have his injuries treated. Or do the
players go abroad for treatment to hide their exact
condition? |
Madugalle fends off criticism BRISBANE, Jan 7 (PTI) — Ranjan Madugalle has sought to fend off criticism that his rulings were biased against India in the just-ended three-Test cricket series with Australia and said the match referee’s intervention on every single on-field incident will “tear the game apart”. The former Sri Lankan skipper, who came under fire for alleged double standards — penalising Indian paceman Venkatesh Prasad heavily but letting off Aussies Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting following onfield incidents — defended his action and said things should be viewed in the larger perspective. “These things will continue to happen in every single session of every match. You can’t haul everyone to the judgement room. It will tear the game apart,” he told PTI. Madugalle, without pointing out specific issues, said the “bigger issues” now rocking the game needed urgent attention than uproar over conduct of players, which he felt was sometimes blown out of proportion on the television. The trouble is these things get really highlighted on TV. They do appear ugly at times, but I am not sure if a match referee hauls up everyone, it could necessarily mean smooth running of the game.” Asked about his fining Prasad 35 per cent of his match fee and handing him a four-month suspended sentence of one Test or two one-dayers for show of emotion on dismissing Aussie opener Michael Slater at Melbourne while letting off McGrath with a caution for abusing Sachin Tendulkar on getting him out in the same Test, he said the Indian’s act was more deliberate. “If you look at the replays, Prasad actually stood in front of the batsman, nearly blocking his way while McGrath did not break his line of follow through and kept heading towards his mates in the slips,” he said. He denied McGrath had abused Tendulkar after dismissing him. “If you lip-read him, it wasn’t. A few of these four-letter words are common in certain societies. But are not meant as an obscenity. (Damien) Fleming, whenever he bowls a bad ball, is always mouthing these words,” he said. The former Sri Lankan batsman who said Prasad was guilty of his third act of misconduct, however, said McGrath “was only expressing his frustration” when asked how he was let off after abusing Kiwi umpire Steve Dunne in the Adelaide Test for calling a wide. Asked how Ponting got away after abusing Srinath and waving his bat menacingly at the bowler after being struck on his forehead, Madugalle would only say the incident was not as plain as it appeared. “Srinath had also
said something in reaction to which Ponting had done his
bit. Either you call both of them and punish. You
can’t punish one and let off the other, especially
since it was a bowler who had said something first,”
he argued. |
Panja-Srinath duo storms into semis CHENNAI, Jan 7 (PTI) — Saurav Panja and Prahlad Srinath stormed into the semifinals of doubles event to keep Indian tri-colour flying after Leander Paes had bowed out in the singles at the ATP Tour Gold Flake Open tennis championship here last night. Paes’ challenge ended when he lost to the former Wimbledon finalist and second-seeded Frenchman Cedric Pioline 3-6, 4-6 earlier in the day. Paes and Byron Black, top seeded in doubles, were ousted on Wednesday, and Paes ended his three-year winning streak here. Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who slumped to a new low when he lost to Michael Tabara of the Czech Republic in the first round of singles, yesterday exited from the doubles also, making this year’s championship a graveyard for seeded players. In a gruelling three-setter, Panja-Srinath tandem defeated the Russian-Bulgarian pair of Ivanov-Smolensky and Orlin Stanoytchev 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, (7-3) to draw applause from a goodly crowd which was earlier upset by Paes’ loss to Pioline. In the semifinals, the Indian duo meets the pair of Toumas Ketola of Finland and Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan, who upset Kafelnikov and Martin Damm 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in a 80-minute encounter. Though Kafelnikov showed flashes of brilliance, it was far too few to pose problems to Ogorodov and Ketola. The other doubles semifinal will be between Jerome Golmard and Jan Kroslak, who defeated the duo of Tabara and T. Zib 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, and Jullien Boutter and Christophe Rochus. The latter upset top seeded pair of Paes-Byron Black. In the other singles
matches, eighth seed Andreas Vinceguerra was upset by D.
Sanguinetti 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 while fourth seed. J. Golmard
moved into the quarterfinal with an easy 6-2, 6-3 win
over Fredrik Jonsson. |
Sridhar, Tara lift crowns HYDERABAD, Jan 7 (PTI) — Top seeded Vinod Sridhar of Tamil Nadu and SK Tara of Karnataka annexed the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, in the AITA-AII India Prize Money Tennis Tournament here today. In an anti-climax in men’s final, Sridhar scored an easy victory over Vijay Kannan of Tamil Nadu who had to concede to a much experienced teamate due to shoulder injury 6-3, 3-2. In an evenly-contested women’s final, which lasted for three hours and 25 minutes, Tara had to put her best foot forward to outplay the stiff challenge from Sheetal Gautam also of Karnataka 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. In a one-sided boys under-16 final, R Arun Prakash of Tamil Nadu got the better of V Vignesh of Andhra Pradesh in straight games 6-2, 6-3. Results: (all finals):
Men’s singles: Vinod Sridhar (TN) b Vijay Kannan
(TN) 6-3, 3-2 (conceded). Women’s singles: SK Tara
(Kar) b Sheetal Gautam (Kar) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Boys under-16
years: R Arun Prakash (TN) b V Vignesh (AP) 6-2, 6-3. |
Abhin, Nikhil storm into final MUMBAI, Jan 7 (PTI) — Top-seeded Abhin Shyam Gupta and his second-seeded Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) mate Nikhil Kanetkar stormed into the men’s singles final by carving out straight-game semifinal wins in the NSCI Senior Grand Prik Badminton Tournament here today. The UP-born Gupta drubbed another PSCB mate Ajit Wijetilak, the Bangalore-born fourth seed, 15-6, 15-2 while the left-handed, Pune-born Kanetkar had a slightly tougher time in overwhelming Air India’s seventh-seeded Chetan Anand 15-5, 15-13 in the semi-finals. The final is set for tomorrow. Top seed BR Meenakashi of Karnataka expectedly reached the women’s summit clash by ousting unseeded Goa player Leena Padnekar 11-3, 11-1 conqueror of third seed CH Deepti of Andhra Pradesh in the morning quarter-finals, in the women’s singles semifinal. Meenakshi will meet fourth-seeded former two-time national champion PV Vara Lakshmi (PSCB) in tomorrow’s final Andhra-born Atlanta Olympian Lakshmi quelled the strong challenge of unseeded Parul Priyadarshini of the Railways 11-9, 11-9 in another semi-final. The results: Women’s singles
(quarter-finals): BR Meenakshi (Karnataka) beat Ketki
Thakkar (Maharashtra) 11-4, 11-3, Leena Pednekar (Goa)
beat CH Deepto (AP) 11-9, 1-6 (conceded): PV Lakshmi
(PSCB) beat Gutta Jwala (AP) 12-13, 11-8, 11-1. Parul
Priyadarshini (Railways) beat Shruti Kurian (AP) 11-1,
11-4. |
Gagandeep wrecks Rest of India PATIALA, Jan 7 — Rest of India were precariously placed at 191 for five at the draw of stumps on first day of the M.A. Chidambaram Trophy match against Punjab at the Dhruv Pandove stadium here today. At one stage, the Rest team was cruising comfortably at 157 for 1, but Gagandeep Singh, who in an inspired spell of seam bowling, rocked the rivals Boat taking all the five wickets that fall today in the post-lunch session. For the Rest openers Chetan Sharma and Dhruv Mohan put up a century stand and it seemed that the hosts’ move had backfired. But Gagandeep jolted the rival batsmen as he moved the ball both ways and stuck to a neat line and length. Southpaw Chetan Sharma was all grace and played some elegant drives off the front foot, Dhruv Mohan was confidence personified from the first ball he faced till the Delhi youngster was out in the nervous nineties as he tried to play across a full length Gagandeep delivery towards the fag end. Bad light ensured an early end to the day’s play. The play started 90 minutes late in the morning due to fog and bad light. Trying to extract the maximum of leverage in the morning, both Gagandeep Singh and left-arm medium pacer Amit Uniyal were guilty of either banging the ball too short or spraying it all over with none of them looking penetrative enough to find any gaps in both the openers defence. Equally impressive was the performance of Ranji Trophy leg spinner Sandeep Sanwal who took a bit of stick from Dhruv Mohan as he failed to control the flight of the ball and most of his deliveries were either short or half volleys. Scoreboard Rest of India (first innings): 191 for 5 Chetan Sharma c S.P. Singh b Gagandeep 64, Dhruv Mohan lbw Gagandeep 95, Rattan Kumar b Gagandeep 00, Alok Pandey: 08 n.o. Ankit Srivastva b Gagandeep: 00, Uday Karvara: 02 n.o. Fall of wickets: 1-113, 2-157, 3-157, 4-185, 5-185. Bowling: Amit Uniyal
17-2-24-0, Gagandeep Singh: 13.2-4-39-5 Sanjay Dhul:
9-1-26-0, S.P. Singh: 3-0-8-0, Gautam Mandora: 8-1-25-0,
Vivek Mahajan: 1-0-12-0. |
Chandigarh pip Haryana LUDHIANA, Jan 7 — Chandigarh outclassed Haryana 31-27 to score their second consecutive victory on the second day of the 22nd Junior National Handball Championship for boys at the Guru Nanak Stadium here today. Yesterday, Chandigarh lads had defeated Manipur 28-23 in the inaugural group ‘B’ match of the meet. Chandigarh’s centre left Yadwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh performed well with 11 and 6 goals, respectively. Paramjit scored five goals while Amritpal Singh and Satish netted three goals each. Raj Kumar chipped in with two goals. For the losers Ranbir Singh (8), Surinder (7) and Deepak, Hardeep (three each) fought well. The group ‘D’ match between Delhi and Karnataka turned out to be an exciting one in which the former emerged winner 34-28 after conceding three-point (14-17) lead at the interval. For Delhi, Amit and Manoj excelled, scoring 10 and 8 goals, respectively, while Anil Kumar (7) and Ranjeeth (5) reduced margin for the losers. In group ‘E’ Jammu and Kashmir trounced Pondicherry 26-14 and Himachal Pradesh routed Gujarat 22-10 after leading 19-8 at half time. Jugraj Singh and Kamal of Himachal Pradesh scored 6 goals each while Vishal Patel and Nambooni Ahmed netted five and three goals, respectively, for Gujarat. In a group ‘A’ match, Jaswinder Singh (9) and Narpat Singh (8) starred in Rajasthan’s 36-15 easy victory over Tamil Nadu. The winners led by 14-9 at the lemon break. For the losers, Sampath and Prabhakaran scored eight goals each. Kerala scored an
emphatic 33-8 victory over West Bengal in group
‘F’ while in Group ‘C’ SAI,
Gandhinagar, Drubbed Bihar 33-13. |
PAU go down to GND varsity LUDHIANA, Jan 7 — In a battle of nerves, hosts Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, went down fighting 1-2 to last year’s losing semi-finalist Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, to suffer second successive defeat in the league stage of the North Zone inter-University Hockey Tournament for men at the PAU astroturf ground here today. The first session saw some lively moves by both the teams but none could take advantage of penalty corners they earned. GND varsity boys wasted four short corners while the hosts missed on two occasions. After the first unproductive first half, PAU men made determined attacks into the rivals territory. Navdeep Singh of PAU put his team one up in the 45th minute through penalty corner conversion. Down by one goal, GND varsity made counter attacks which resulted in earning two penalty corners (48th and 49th minute) which went abegging. In the 50th minute, GND varsity were awarded a stroke and full back Sukhamritpal Singh did not disappoint and restored parity 1-1. With five minutes to go for the whistle, GND varsity’s Tejbir Singh sounded the board to help his team to register second win in the league phase. In another match, last year’s runners-up Panjab University, outplayed Kurukshetra University 5-0 after establishing 2-0 lead at half-time. This encounter proved to be mismatch as Kurukshetra varsity boys were unable to come up with anything worthwhile, Chandigarh went ahead in the 11th minute through Navdeep Singh. He again struck in the 29th in minute to consolidate the lead. After changing ends, Chandigarh varsity enhanced the lead in the 41st minute through Satwinder Singh. Manveer Singh found the target in the 64th minute to make it 4-0. Three minutes later, Manjit Singh made it 5-0 to complete the rout. Kurukshetra University
got a chance to reduce the margin in the 40th minute but
failed. |
Himachal make clean sweep SHIMLA, Jan 7 — Army will take on Jammu and Kashmir (Blues) in the final of ice-hockey at the second National Winter Games being held here. The Army thrashed the host Himachal (Blues) 15-2 in a one-sided semifinal. The Army went into attack from the very start and gave no time to the home team to settle down. Earlier, the league match between Jammu and Kashmir (Reds) and Himachal (Reds) turned out to be thrilling affair, which the hosts won 6-5. Himachal boys made a clean sweep in the 500m speed skating with Pankaj Prabhakar, Pawan Verma and Neeraj Dutta, winning the gold, silver and bronze, respectively. The hosts completely
dominated the games and bagged 14 out of the total 15
medals decided so far. They made a clean sweep of all the
events, except men figure skating in which Delhi claimed
silver medal. |
I will play Davis Cup: Philippoussis PERTH, Jan 7 (AFP) — Australia’s Davis Cup hero Mark Philippoussis has rejected reports he may snub his country’s first round Davis Cup match in Switzerland next month. “I am making myself
available for Davis Cup, and I am available to play
against Switzerland,” he said here today after
Australia was knocked out of the Hopman Cup mixed teams
event at the Burswood Dome. India to host Asian junior hockey NEW DELHI, Jan 7 (UNI) — India will host the Asian juniors girls (U-16) hockey tournament to be held in July-August this year. Indian Women’s Hockey Federation (IWHF) secretary Amrit Bose said the venue of the tournament is yet to be decided. She said India will also take part in two other tournaments to be conducted by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF). Mrs Bose said the AHF
cup for girls U-18 will be held at Hong Kong in
March-April. |
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