S P O R T

Ivanisevic serves a warning
MELBOURNE, Jan 18 — Goran Ivanisevic is one big server who hasn’t been mentioned as a threat on the Australian Open’s faster courts. That could change after he ousted 13th seed Cedric Pioline in the first round.

Thrilling win for England
CENTURION, (South Africa) — Jan 18 — Alec Stewart and Michael Vaughan set up a thrilling two-wicket victory for England in the fifth and final cricket Test against South Africa at Centurion Park today.

MELBOURNE : American tennis star Jennifer Capriati from Saddlebrook, Fla., rows on the Yarra river with the Australian under 23 Olympic rowing team (Not shown in the photo) during her a break between the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday — AP/PTI

• Asia to clash with Rest of World
• Haryana beat Punjab
• Donald to play

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

• Kaushal coach of TT team
• Moga triumph

Ivanisevic serves a warning

MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (AP) — Goran Ivanisevic is one big server who hasn’t been mentioned as a threat on the Australian Open’s faster courts. That could change after he ousted 13th seed Cedric Pioline in the first round.

Ivanisevic served 13 of his 32 aces in the final set in today’s 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 9-7 victory.

Pete Sampras says the resurfaced Melbourne Park hard courts are playing like grass, and Ivanisevic has had his best Grand Slam results on that surface, finishing as runner-up three times at Wimbledon.

“It is fast like Wimbledon, which is ok for me,” Ivanisevic said.

Then again, Pioline said, “you never know with Goran. Tomorrow he can lose to his mom.”

Not so, said Ivanisevic.

“She never played tennis. But I can lose to some pretty bad guys,” added the 28-year-old Croat.

Ivanisevic saved three break points in the final set’s ninth game, and four in the 13th, where he came back from 0-40 with two aces and a service winner, and closed the game with another ace and service winner.

He broke Pioline in the final game at love, finishing with a forehand serve return winner.

Last year, he said, there were so many first-round losses “you go crazy.”

“I can beat anybody when I play good, when I think that I can, but I lost that kind of feeling. When I come on the court I am struggling too much,” he said.

The next seed he might meet would be No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer in the round of 16.

Pioline was among three men’s seeds who lost today.

No. 5 Gustavo Kuerten had three match points in the fourth set tiebreaker before losing 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, (10-8) 6-4 to Spain’s Albert Portas.

Belgium’s Christophe Rochus ousted No. 15 Albert Costa 6-3, 6-7, (8-10) 6-4, 6-3.

Defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov received treatment for a groin pull at 5-4 in the second set and then lost only three more games in a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Jens Knippschild.

Kiefer beat Argentina’s Guillermo Canas 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

No 7 Nicolas Lapentti, a semifinalist here last year, overcame Ukraine’s Andrei Medvedev, the French Open runner-up, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7, (2-7) 6-4, 8-6 in 3 hours, 38 minutes.

No 10 Tommy Haas beat France’s Cyril Saulnier 7-6, (7-2) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 and No 12 Magnus Norman beat American Cecil Mamiit 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The second-seeded Kafelnikov, also troubled by back pain since last week, said he was proud he could tough it out.

He was aced 20 times, but received help from 74 unforced errors by Knippschild.

No 3 Sampras, No 9 Richard Krajicek and No 16 Mark Philippoussis all won their first-round matches yesterday.

Michael Chang, runner-up here and at the US Open in 1996, lost 6-4, 6-4, 7-6, (7-5).

In women’s matches, Martina Hingis, who has won three consecutive Australian Opens on slower courts, quickly beat heavy-hitting Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 6-2, and said the faster surface didn’t worry her.

No 6 Barbara Schett downed American Meilen Tu 6-2, 6-7, (7-1) 6-4; No 10 Conchita Martinez crushed Sandra Kleinova 6-1, 6-1; No 12 Sandrine Testud beat Hungary’s Petra Mandula No 13 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat Julia Abe 6-2, 6-2 and No 16 Elena Likhovtseva breezed past Bulgaria’s Pavlina Nola 6-2, 6-2.

Thrilling win for England

CENTURION, (South Africa) — Jan 18 (AFP) — Alec Stewart and Michael Vaughan set up a thrilling two-wicket victory for England in the fifth and final cricket Test against South Africa at Centurion Park today.

England reached a victory target of 249 in 76 overs with five balls to spare. The veteran Stewart made 73 and Vaughan, in his first Test series, hit 69.

They shared a fifth-wicket stand of 126 but South Africa then grabbed four wickets in four overs before the win was sealed when Darren Gough pulled Mornantau Hayward for four off the first ball of the last over.

It was a consolation victory for England, with South Africa winning the series 2-1.

Earlier, in an unprecedented decision in Test Cricket, England forfeited their first innings and South Africa their second to try and force a result in the rain-affected fifth Test today.

South Africa declared their first innings on 248 for eight on the final day at Centurion Park.

England then forfeited their first innings and South Africa their second innings — the first time such an arrangement has been made in Test cricket — leaving England to score 249 off a minimum of 76 overs for victory. South Africa, 2-0 up in the series, scored 155 for six in the 45 overs possible on the first day on Friday. There was no play on the second, third and fourth days.

Tuesday dawned bright and clear following five days of persistent rain which washed away parts of roads in Centurion and cost the Northerns Cricket Union more than 2.5 million rand (411,700) in lost revenue.

South Africa (first innings) (overnight 155-6)

Kirsten c Adams b Gough 0

Gibbs c Adams b Caddick 3

Kallis b Caddick 25

Cullinan c and b Mulally 46

Cronje c Maddy b Gough 0

Strydom c Stewart b Silverwood 30

Klusener not out 61

Pollock run out (Hussain) 30

Boucher b Mulally 22

Adams not out 4

Extras (b-2 lb-11 nb-11 w-3) 27

Total (for eight wickets,

declared) 248

Fall of wickets: 1/1 2/15 3/50 4/55 5/102 6/136 7/196 8/243

Bowling: Gough 20-2-92-2 (nb-10 w-1), Caddick 19-7-47-2, Mulally 24-10-42-2 (nb-1 w-1), Silverwood 7-1-45-1 (w-1), Vaughan 2-0-9-0

England (first innings) forfeited.

South Africa (2nd innings) forfeited.

(Scoreboard incomplete)

Aussies keen to seal final spot

SYDNEY, Jan 18 (PTI) — World Cup champions Australia and Pakistan, who have set up a two-team race for the final berths with India reeling under three defeats in a row, brace themselves for another high voltage clash in a one-day triseries day-night cricket contest here tomorrow.

Australia, who smartly recovered after their 45-run loss to Pakistan in the lung-opener at Brisbane, will aim to maintain full momentum towards becoming the first team to seal a place in the best-of-three finals and the Sydney Cricket Ground will provide them the opportunity.

While the hosts have three wins from four outings to be at the top of the table, Wasim Akram’s men with two wins and the six-wicket defeat in Melbourne after another top-order collapse, will be keen to snatch vital points ahead of the clash with India to come off at Hobart on January 21.

Both teams have thus far been powered by their bowlers, though Australian middle-order led by skipper Steve Waugh, Steve Martyn and Andrew Symonds has shown better resilience on the hard and bouncy tracks that have been equally exploited by the Pakistan pace trio of controversial speedster Shoaib Akhtar, Akram and all-rounder Abdur Razzaq.

The Australian pace firepower has proved too much for both the Indian and Pakistan batsmen this summer and Pakistan’s hopes will hinge on the seasoned Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam-ul Haq coming good against Glenn McGrath and company.

Australia will be keen to seal a final spot well within the distance which will enable them to give some rest to McGrath. The lanky paceman has kept pegging away and his perfect line and length and ability to extract disconcerting lift from the good length spot has left even technically sound batsmen shaking their head in resignation.

The pace attack, with young tearaway Brett Lee and Damien Fleming, apart from seamers Shane Lee and Andrew Symonds, have done the job of run denying so well that the team has not missed star leg spinner Shane Warne, who went out of action with a side strain suffered during the opening tie on January 9 at Brisbane.

The Australian thinktank has also kept Warne’s replacement Stuart MacGill out of the 11 and has not felt the absence of spin, especially because both Indian and Pakistan batsmen prefer facing slow bowling to raw pace.

The only worry for Steve Waugh will be the wretched run of his twin Mark, whose best in four innings has been 12. But the stylish opener’s failure have been made up by others and the specialist players like Michael Bevan, apart from their brilliant fielding, have stuck to their task well.

Akram’s main worry has remained the poor run of the top order and will be desperate that things improve to give his team the cutting edge. Though the tail has been contributing without fail, only big knocks from Ijaz or Inzamam will help Pakistan pile up big totals to make the job of their formidable bowling attack to exploit.

Agassi-Graf romance down under

MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (AP) — In his many tennis incarnations, Andre Agassi has gained almost as much attention for the women who watched him from the guest box as for the titles he won.

There was singer Barbara Streisand, proclaiming him a zen master. There was actress Brooke Shields, his former wife and most ardent cheerleader.

And now at the Australian Open there is Steffi Graf, smiling and grimacing and bobbing her head in encouragement from her courtside seat.

Graf obviously has more going for her where tennis is concerned. She has taught Agassi the subtleties of the sliced backhand since they began their romance four months ago. She is also the only player in history who can match him as a winner of all four Grand Slam championships and an Olympic gold medal.

Agassi and Graf would make an intriguing mixed doubles team, though the last time Graf played mixed, with John McEnroe at Wimbledon last summer, it ended unhappily.

Graf quit their fine run to concentrate on her quest for one last singles title. She lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport and promptly retired.

Agassi, soon to turn 30, is not thinking about retirement — or, at least, he’s not talking about it. And with good reason: the top-seeded Agassi has a chance to become the first man to reach four straight Grand Slam finals since Australia’s Rod Laver swept them all in 1969. Last year, Agassi sandwiched the French and US Open title around a runner-up finish at Wimbledon. Agassi arrived in Melbourne fit and feisty, even downright nasty when the subject of his reported marriage to Graf came up. Rather than just denying a story out of Britain about a secret wedding, he ridiculed an Australian reporter who asked about it, saying sarcastically that 20 invitations were sent out “to the most intelligent and professional journalists. Sorry you weren’t there.”

It was a comment as sharp as any of his two-fested shots, and it silenced everyone in the room.

Maybe that’s a sign that a new love hasn’t dimmed Agassi’s competitive fire. Certainly he’s the biggest threat to No 3-seeded Pete Sampras, who is going for a record 13th Grand Slam title. Sampras won the Australian twice but lost to Agassi in the 1995 final.

As he did at the US Open, Agassi is strutting around bare-chested in practice, proudly revealing his trim physique.

“Thank you for noticing,” he told a female reporter who commented on his well-defined abdomen.

Agassi insists that his best tennis is ahead on him, no matter what the calendar says. And after coming back from a ranking low of No 141 in November 1997, when retirement really was on his mind, he is determined to stay in shape to get the most out of the remainder of his career.

“I have way too much appreciation these days for what it takes to come back again, and I have a hunch that if I slipped, that would be the end of it,” he said shortly after arriving in Melbourne.

“So, my goal is to hit every level I feel I can hit with my game. I still felt motivated highly at the end of the year, and even now, because I feel as long as I’m staying healthy, getting stronger physically, I can play even better tennis. Ultimately, that is what you want. As an athlete, you want to feel like you saw your best, and I still think that is ahead of me.”

Mahindra & Mahindra on superb run

NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (PTI) — From the bottom to the third spot, the reversal of fortunes has been unbelievable for Mumbai’s Mahindra and Mahindra in the IV National Football League.

Plumbing the depths of the league after three draws in first four games, the Mumbai outfit came back roaring, reeling off four successive wins to take the third position with 15 points behind Goan rivals Churchill Brothers (18) and Salgaocar (16), who swapped positions at the end of the eighth round.

Churchill, relegated to second place after losing to Salgaocar and State Bank of Travancore (SBT), recovered well to outplay last year’s runners-up East Bengal and BSF to edge past top-placed Salgaocar, who were held to goalless draw by Calcutta outfits East Bengal and Tollygunge.

The Goan professional league champions got the much-needed relief when prolific scorer Francis Silveira, who leads the scorers’ list with six goals, struck his seventh early in the first half against SBT at home and Ukranian import Mykola Shevchinko rounded off the tally after the breather.

Churchill consolidated their lead atop the table with a facile 3-0 win against strong East Bengal with striker Andriy Malchensky (5th), Rockey Baretto (67th) and Somatai Saiza (87th) scoring for the Goans as the Calcutta club slumped to their third defeat in the NFL.

But even more impressive was Mahindra’s resurgence. The jeepmen, who moved up four places to fifth at the end of sixth round, climbed two more places to be in a strong position to top the table at the end of the first phase of 11 rounds.

The Mumbai team was level with former champions Mohun Bagan at 15 points but was ahead on goal difference as the green and maroon brigade maintained its fourth position.

Mahindras, who beat Dempo by a whopping 7-1 margin to start the superb run, scored their third win in a row with a fluent 3-0 verdict against SBT. Medio Satish Minz scored his second goal of this year’s league when he netted in the 30th minute against the bankmen.

Jordanian Bassam Khatib made it 2-0 off an Aqueel Ansari cross just three minutes from half time and then rounded off the tally with his second goal of the match 20 minutes later.

The jeepmen maintained their victory march with a hard-fought lone goal win over BSF — defender Bernard Operanzoia slotting home the winner in 58th minute after the two sides shared the honours in the brazen first session.

Bagan could have jumped to third position but for a goalless draw with Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bangalore. The glamour club, however, recovered well in time to prevail 3-2 over bottom placed Dempo in a hardfought clash in Margao as they maintained their chances in the league.

Bagan dominated the match though Dempo put up a spirited fight. The Calcutta giants went ahead in the 14th minute through medio James Singh before the Goans restored parity via Kannan Priolkar four minutes before the breather.

Striker Dipendu Biswas put the green and maroons ahead and substitute Ramires Baretto made the issue safe in the 87th minute, a minute before Mohammed Raza pulled one more back for Dempo but Bagan held on for a deserving win.

But the indifferent run of the two other Calcutta squads in the 12-team league continued as both Tollygunge Agragami and East Bengal slid down the leaderboard.

While Tollygunge (12), who started on an impressive note winning three matches in the first two rounds, dropped two spots to fifth with draws against lowly Dempo and defending champions Salgaocar, East Bengal (9), who held Salgaocar to a goalless draw in their seventh match, slipped to eighth spot (2-3-3) after being thrashed 3-0 by Churchill Brothers.

JCT Phagwara, winners of the inaugural NFL, were placed sixth with 10 points (2-4-2), ITI (2-3-3) were seventh at nine points, the same as East Bengal, with FC Kochin (8), SBT (7), BSF (4) and Dempo (4) bringing up the rear.

Salgaocar take on FC Kochin today

MARGAO, Jan 18 (UNI) — Buoyed with an unbeaten record, defending champions Salgaocar Sports Club (Goa) have a chance of securing full points on home advantage when they take on Kerala league champions FC Kochin in the National Football League match to be played at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda here tomorrow.

A well- knit Salgaocar stands second with 16 points from eight outings with four wins and four draws. A win ensures them the top place.

However, they can hardly allow themselves to be complacent as FC Kochin drew against top teams, Calcutta’s Tollygunge Agragami, Mohan Bagan and JCT (Phagwara).

FC Kochin, playing their second match in Goa tomorrow, in the earlier match lost to table toppers Churchill Brothers 0-2 and are at present placed ninth with eight points from eight matches.

Salgaocar have a superior striking power with Alvito d’Cunha, Brazilian Joao Das Santos, followed by substitute Bruno Coutinho and Augustin Rodriques who were very impressive in their last outing.

Their midfield comprises the speedy Gbenga Lawal, Jules Alberto, Habib Adenkunle, S. Venkatesh and Dennis Cabral, who all have really been working overtime by feeding their forwards with accurate passes which have resulted in goals so far.

Franky Barreto, Robert Ferandes stand out like solid rock in the deep defence along with the ever agile custodian Juje Siddi.

Franise Coelho and Roque Pereira too have made their presence felt with some very good marking of speedy strikers of Tollygunge, East Bengal, ITI, Dempo in the previous games and is the only team not concede any goal till the end of the eight round.

On the other hand, FC Kochin’s main worry is their defence as Feroze, Mahesh Singh, Mir Forroq and K. Dhenesh will have to come out with better performance tomorrow.

Their forward line — I.M. Vijayan, Jo Paul Ancheri and Rama Rai — has failed to impress.

Their midfield too have failed to feed the forward line with accurate passes. If the Kochin outfit have to put up a good performance their midfielders Tejinder, Gunabir Singh and Naushad will have to work overtime.

Jo Paul Ancheri has not really pulled up his socks to see his team do better.

FC Kochin’s coach T.K. Chattuni said Salgoacar was a strong team but “we will have to put in our best efforts to garner points. If our defence and midfield clicks tomorrow, it will not be difficult for us to find the opening against Salgaocar through our ace strikers Jo Paul Ancheri and I.M. Vijayan, who are fully fit now.”

Wins title with one hand

NEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) —Roy Jones Jr, widely billed as the best fighter in the world pound for pound, retained his undisputed light heavyweight title by unanimous decision over fellow American David Telesco on Saturday — and he said he did it mainly using just one hand.

On the first boxing card in the 67-year history of Radio City Music Hall, Jones danced with the famed Rockettes an hour before entering the ring, then did a number on the overmatched challenger.

Fighting as midnight brought in his 31st birthday, Jones (41-1) showed little rust in winning on all three judges’ scorecards. After the bout, he said he had fractured his left wrist several weeks ago in a motorcycle accident but opted to go through with the fight.

‘‘I sparred three days, I never hit a heavy bag, I never hit anything with my left hand the entire training camp. I couldn’t,’’ he said. ‘‘I just got to where I could make a fist yesterday and I still can’t make a complete fist and I can’t turn my left hand all the way over. But I refused to be beat.’’

He added: ‘‘Had I lost, I would never have said a thing about my hand because that’s how Roy Jones is. Roy Jones is real, baby.’’

Early on, Jones used Telesco (23-3) for target practice and rattled the challenger. In the third, Jones switched to left-handed style.

In the fourth, Telesco tried to roughhouse Jones and nearly threw him out of the ring. Both fighters began to trash-talk and were warned by referee Arthur Mercante Sr.

Jones continued to outbox and dazzle Telesco and appeared to be coasting in the seventh when the crowd began to boo. The champion came out in the eighth with overhand rights to the head. Telesco tried to attack the body and bulled Jones into a corner to the delight of the crowd.

Jones continued the onslaught but after the 11th, round Telesco shouted to the champion: ‘‘You can’t take me down.’’ Telesco went for broke in the final round but it was Jones doing the battering down the stretch.

‘‘I think I hurt him to the body,’’ said Telesco. ‘‘I think I did enough to win.’’

‘‘Going into the fight I felt I was about 60 per cent with the injured hand,’’ said Jones. ‘‘I was willing to test it and to try it out. I have to tell you that he takes a really good punch. He took some great shots from me.’’

Maradona to be treated in Cuba

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 18 (AFP) — Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona is due in Cuba today to receive treatment for his cocaine habit, his doctor Alfredo Cahe announced here at a Press conference.

The troubled 39-year-old is set to leave on a flight with his wife Claudia Villafane and his parents.

Also travelling with him will be a neurologist and heart specialist.

Maradona said last Friday that he would be enchanted to be treated in Cuba, with whose President Fidel Castro he enjoys a warm relationship.

In his first interview since collapsing and being admitted to a Uruguayan clinic a fortnight ago, Maradona told Fox Sports Channel on Friday: “I will do everything to get out of this mess (drugs). I will pull myself up because I do not want the kids to do it.”

Huge gap between Indian athletes, world’s best

NEW DELHI, Jan 18 (UNI) — Notwithstanding their winning ways in the 1998 Asiad at Bangkok, Indian athletes fare badly in the world rankings list published by the Track and Fields News of USA.

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, winner of two gold medals at the Bangkok Asian games surprisingly fails to get a respectable place.

In the 800 metres, her best timing of 2 mts 01,00 sec, places her a poor 46th.

The top place is occupied by Maria Mutola...showing a big gap between the Asian gold medallist and the world’s best.

In 1500 metres neither Sikdar nor Sunita Rani are among the top 50 of the world. Sunita Rani, who had won the silver medal in the Asian Games, has no place either in 5000 or 10,000 metres in top 50 in world ranking.

Among the men, the highly rated Paramjit Singh, who had broken Milkha Singh’s record of 45.73 sec, converted to electronic timing against the original time of 45.6 sec, recorded at the Rome Olympics fails to get a place in the first 50 in the world.

The top spot in 400 metres is occupied by Michael Johnson of the USA, with 43.68 sec, a record he bettered at Seville, and the 10th place winner has clocked 44.65 sec. The last in the 50 runner in the quartermile is Piotre of Poland in 45.65 sec.

Bahadur Prasad is not among the top 50 either in 1500 or 5000 metres. Interestingly Shakti Singh, who won the silver medal at Bangkok, in shot put, earns the 42nd place.

Dokic fined for being late

MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (AFP) —Australian teenager Jelena Dokic, who went to church rather than a Press conference, was slapped with a fine today.

Dokic, 16, said she was so upset after her shock loss to Hungary’s Rita Kuti Kis in the first round of the Australian Open yesterday that she needed to pray.

Tennis officialdom failed to see the light, fining her for appearing more than three hours late for the mandatory post-match interview.

Under Grand Slam rules players are obliged to attend interviews within 30 minutes after their match.

“Basically, I lost to a player today that, you know, has never been a player and, I guess, probably never will be,” Dokic said.

While she belittled her opponent, Dokic praised her own abilities, saying there were only “three or four” players in the world capable of beating her on the practice court.

Pointing out the obvious, she conceded that there were a lot more who could do so when it counted. Dokic is best known for reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year and in the process knocking out world no.1 Martina Hingis.

India beat Nepal; England lose

COLOMBO, Jan 18 (PTI) — Skipper Md Kaif struck an unbeaten 57 after claiming two wickets for 15 runs to take centrestage with the consistent Yuvraj Singh as India crushed Nepal by eight wickets in the under-19 cricket World Cup here today.

After putting Nepal in to bat in their first super league tie, India bowled out the minnows for 101 in 44 overs with Punjab allrounder Yuvraj Singh grabbing his second straight four-wicket haul, for just 15 runs, to follow up on his match-winning performance against New Zealand two days ago.

In reply, India hit up 105 for two in just 25.2 overs.

The Nepal batting crumbled against a sustained attack with only K. Agarwal (21) and S. Sreshta (29) showing some resistance. The game was shifted at the last minute from suburban Kattunayake to Police Park grounds in the city.

Holders England slid to a seven wicket defeat against hosts Sri Lanka while Pakistan beat New Zealand by six wickets and Australia downed the West Indies by four wickets.

Indian bowlers gave little respite to Nepal, surprise qualifiers after South Africa’s unfortunate exit. Mrityunjay Tripathi (2/19) and Shallabh Srivastava (1/10) played a fine supporting role to Yuvraj.

In India’s reply, opener Ravneet Ricky (35) complemented Kaif in an 87-run stand for the second wicket after Manish Sharma was dismissed for a duck, caught and bowled by B. Das.

The duo thrashed the Nepalese bowlers all around the ground. Ricky struck a six and two fours before he was caught and bowled by Lunia. Kaif’s 71-ball knock had four fours. India next play England on January 20.

Experienced Hingis gets wiser

MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (AFP) — Martina Hingis is learning from bitter experience to watch what she says after diplomatically skating around Australian Jelena Dokic’s ungracious exit from the Australian Open.

The Swiss world No 1, bidding for a record four consecutive Australian Open titles in the open era, powered past former doubles partner Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 6-2 in 43 minutes in the first round today.

Hingis, whose mouth got her into trouble here last year with her ‘half-a-man’ comments about muscular French star Amelie Mauresmo, was more circumspect when drawn to comment on the antics of Dokic after the Australian was bundled out of her national championship yesterday.

V’ball nationals at Kozhikode

SALEM, Jan 18 (PTI) — The 49th edition of the Senior National Volleyball Championship will be held at Calicut (Kozhikode) in Kerala next year while the junior meet is to be hosted by Maharashtra by this year end.

As per the calendar of events, finalised by the executive committee of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) here on Sunday, the senior nationals will be conducted from January 7 to 14, 2001. The dates and the venue in Maharashtra for the junior nationals have not been announced.

The fourth National Super League would be played in Chennai from February 16 to 21 with the first two phases to be staged at Surat from February 1 to 6 and at Payyanur in Kerala from February 6 to 13, a VFI press note said here.

The committee also decided to conduct this year’s mini-nationals at Avadi, a suburb of Chennai, from January 26 to 30, the subjunior nationals in Andhra Pradesh in October next, VFI vice-president K. Murugan said.

The Federation Cup will be staged at Renukoot in Uttar Pradesh from April 9 to 16 this year, while the sixth youth nationals are slated from February 25 to 29 at Bagaon in Assam.

The departmental national league would be held at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu from March 5 to 12. The National Beach Volleyball is to be organised at Kozhikode from February 24 to 26, the note said.

Cricket developing more in Asia: ICC

KARACHI, Jan 18 (AFP) — A senior official of the International Cricket Council said yesterday cricket in Asia was growing faster than in European nations, where a lack of television coverage remained a big problem.

“The following of the game is enormous in Asia as compared to in Europe and the ICC likes to help the Asian countries come up in their effort to globalise the game,” said Nigel Laughton, ICC’s development officer for Europe.

Mr Laughton was here as a special observer for a development course to train coaches from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“It’s a sort of beginning but Asian countries like Malaysia, Nepal and Singapore are developing by leaps and bounds,” he said.

“It’s a good sign for the game which has tough competition with games like rugby and soccer,” he said.

“Asia has the advantage of television but in Europe we have no television coverage which is a big problem,” he said.

Mr Laughton said cricket is gaining popularity in France, Germany, Italy and Sweden but it will take them another five years to join the international fray.

“Scotland and Holland are next in line to gain one-day international status,” he said.

Besides the nine Test playing countries, Bangladesh and Kenya have one-day international status.

Asia to clash with Rest of World

DHAKA, Jan 18 (DPA) — A commemorative day-night cricket match between Asia and the Rest of the World will be held in Dhaka on April 8.

The match was announced yesterday by International Cricket Council (ICC) President Jagmohan Dalmia after a meeting here with Bangladesh PM.

Donald to play

CENTURION (South Africa), Jan 18 (Reuters) — Paceman Allan Donald has made himself available for the two Test matches that South Africa will play on their tour of India starting next month.

Donald had announced ‘at the weekend’, he would take a six-month break from international cricket, with the rider that he still had to decide whether to go to India.

Haryana beat Punjab

JABALPUR, Jan 18 (UNI) — Last year’s runner-up Haryana have entered the final of the 50th Senior Women’s Hockey Championship.

In the first semifinal of the tournament here today, Haryana defeated Punjab by 1-0.

No goal was scored by either side till half time and the ball kept on moving from one end to another.

After half time, Haryana built up pressure and the decisive goal was scored by Haryana’s forward Meenakshi in the 44th minute of the game off a penalty stroke.

Green card was shown to Kanwaljit and Kulvinder Kaur of Punjab and Soonbala of Haryana. Punjab’s forward Saravjit was sent out in the 49th minute of the game.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

Kaushal coach of TT team

CHANDIGARH, Jan 18 (BOSR) — Rajeev Kaushal, table tennis coach with the UT Sports Department, has been nominated as coach of the Indian TT team by the Table Tennis Federation of India for two major international TT championships. The TTFI has asked him to accompany the team as coach for the Commonwealth TT Championships to be held at Singapore from February 11 to 17, followed by the World TT Championships to be hosted at Kuala Lumpur from February 19 to 26. He has also been told to report for a 15-day coaching camp begining at Salt Lake Stadium, Calcutta, on January 24. The team will leave for Singapore on February 9. Kamlesh Mehta will be the chief coach whom Kaushal will assist.

Moga triumph

JALANDHAR, Jan 18 (FOSR) — Moga defeated Nawanshahr 5-4 via the tie-breaker in the opening match of the Punjab Junior Boys’ Hockey Championship here today. In other matches, Ferozepore beat Hoshiarpur 3-2 and Fatehgarh Sahib defeated Muktsar 2-0.

Earlier, Mr M.S. Bhullar, Additional Director-General of Police, inaugurated the tournament.