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| Wednesday, January 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Ganguly
stars in India’s victory
Ricky, Yuvraj power India into
final |
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Anand draws with Van Wely
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Ganguly stars in India’s victory ADELAIDE, Jan 25 (Reuters) — Opener Sourav Ganguly belted 141 as India beat Pakistan by 48 runs in a thrilling limited-overs match today, their first win of the triangular competition. Batting first, India scored 267 for six from their 50 overs and then dismissed Pakistan for 219 in 44.4 overs. Ganguly led the way for India, blazing 12 fours and a six off 144 balls before leg-spinner Anil Kumble chimed in with four for 40 off 9.4 overs as the Indian bowling saw the cause through. India went into the game having lost their four previous matches in the series and Tuesday’s win kept them in with a slim chance of making next month’s best-of-three finals against Australia. But they must still win their next three games and also depend on Pakistan losing their remaining match. India face Australia in Adelaide on Wednesday and then play Pakistan in Perth on Friday. Kumble was well supported by Venkatesh Prasad, Debashish Mohanty and Javagal Srinath, who each finished with two wickets. Azhar Mahmood was top scorer for Pakistan with 67 off 50 balls. Ijaz Ahmed added a valuable 54 off 77 balls but the side were always in trouble after losing early wickets. “It was a do-or-die situation, we were pushed into the corner,” said Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 41 off 46 balls and combined with Ganguly in an opening stand off 88. “We really gave a good start...the rest of the guys chipped in and played very well around him (Ganguly).” Ganguly was thrilled with his performance, which earned him ‘man-of-the-match’ honours. “It was a good wicket to bat on,” he said. “For us it was a do-or-die situation. We had lost all four games and thought we were better than that.” Ganguly and Tendulkar hit 42 runs off as many balls on the way to their 88-run partnership. Tendulkar was caught behind after he nudged at an Abdur Razzaq delivery outside off stump. Ganguly then took over, dominating a second-wicket partnership of 87 with Rahul Dravid (32). He eventually fell lbw to Pakistan captain Wasim Akram in the second-last of the 50 overs. Srinath was the sixth and last man out for India when he charged down the wicket at spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and was stumped by wicketkeeper Moin Khan for four. Saqlain was Pakistan’s best bowler, taking two for 56 in 10 overs. Kumble and his fellow bowlers then set about the task of completing India’s win. Mohanty and Srinath made the initial breakthrough with the wickets of openers Saeed Anwar (8) and Shahid Afridi (9) to leave Pakistan 21 for two. Ijaz contributed 54 off 77 balls before he was caught by Dravid at deep mid-off from the bowling of Kumble. Mahmood, determined to close the gap, swept Robin Singh over square leg for a huge six as he raced to his 50 off 34 balls. Kumble’s other victims were Yousuf Youhana (19) and Moin (15). SCOREBOARD India: Ganguly lbw b Akram 141 Tendulkar c Moin Khan b Razzak 41 Dravid c Inzamam b Afridi 32 Kanitkar c Inzamam b Akhtar 6 Robin Singh c and b Saqlain 21 J. Martin not out 10 J. Srinath st Moin Khan b Saqlain 4 S. Dighe not out 0 Extras: (LB-6, W-1, NB-5) 12 Total: (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 267 Fall of wickets: 1/88, 2/175, 3/186, 4/234, 5/257, 6/262. Bowling: Wasim Akram 10-0-55-1 (nb1); Shoaib Akhtar 8-0-39-1 (nb2, w1); Abdur Razzak 7-0-37-1 (nb1); Azhar Mahmood 9-1-42-0; Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-56-2; Shahid Afridi 6-0-32-1 (nb1). Pakistan Anwar c Martin b Mohanty 8 Afridi c Dighe b Srinath 9 Ijaz Ahmed c Dravid b Kumble 54 Inzamam c Kanitkar b Prasad 15 Youhanna c Martin b Kumble 19 Moin Khan lbw b Kumble 15 Razzaq c Kumble b Prasad 13 Mahmood c Kanitkar b Kumble 67 Akram c Srinath b Mohanty 4 Mushtaq c Tendulkar b Srinath 1 Akhtar not out 1 Extras: (LB-4, NB-7, W-2) 13 Total: (all out in 44.4 overs) 219 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-21, 3-62, 4-109, 5-124, 6-128, 7-200, 8-207, 9-210. Bowling: Srinath
8-0-47-2, Mohanty 10-0-42-2, Prasad 8-0-41-2, Singh
9-0-45-0, Kumble 9.4-0-40-4. |
Ricky, Yuvraj power India into final COLOMBO, Jan 25 (PTI) — Spurred a superb century by opener Ravneet Ricky and aggressive half centuries by Manish Sharma and allrounder Yuvraj Singh, India crushed Australia by 170 runs and set up an intriguing summit clash with Sri Lanka in the Youth (under-19) Cricket World Cup here today. Ricky played the sheet-anchor’s role to perfection in his 108 while his opening partner Sharma (65) and allrounder Yuvraj Singh, who exhibited awesome power hitting in his 58 off just 24 balls, batted around him as the Indian colts posted a big 283 for six in their allotted 50 overs. The young Punjab opener almost carried his bat through in his 148-ball knock — he was bowled by Watson in the 47th over — to set India on the course to victory after skipper Mohammed Kaif chose to bat first at P. Sara Stadium here. In reply, the Aussies succumbed to the pressure of chasing the imposing total and some tight bowling by left-arm spinner Amit Dave (3/25) and were bundled out for 114 with 15.1 overs to spare as the Indians stormed into Friday’s showdown with the hosts. Ricky and Manish Sharma laid the perfect foundation for the big total as they raised a breezy 124 for the opening wicket before Sharma, who brilliantly coped up with the uneven bounce and the strong Aussie pace attack in scoring 65 off 93 balls, was caught by Hartley off O’Brien. Kaif continued the good work adding 78 runs for the second wicket with Ricky before being caught by Hartley of his Aussie counterpart Nathan Haurtz after making 29. The exit of the skipper, however, spelled doom for the Australians as it brought in Yuvraj Singh, the biggest find of the tournament. Encouraged by the solidity provided by Ricky at the other end, Yuvraj played some awesome shots off the wayward bowling and thrashed all the bowlers without exception. The big shots unleashed by Yuvraj on all sides of the wicket demoralised the Aussies to such an extent that their bowling and fielding collapsed under the weight of the mounting Indian total. Yuvraj, who completed his 50 off just 20 balls which included four fours and five superb sixes, was caught by Shuan Marsh at the long-on boundary off S. Watson, who claimed two wickets for 47 off his seven overs. L. Bucannan also claimed two wickets for 35 runs but it was O’Brien who impressed most, giving away just 24 runs in his 10 overs. The Aussies never looked confident in their chase and were also thwarted by the good Indian bowling. Speedster Mritunjay Tripathi struck the first blow when he forced Marsh (8) to edge one behind to wicket-keeper Ajay Ratra to reduce Australia to 15-1. The Indians continued
the good work and struck at regular intervals as the
Aussies slumped to 80-7 at the halfway stage. |
Akshay crashes out; Sunil advances NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (UNI) — Four seeds, including top seed Akshay Vishal Rao, tumbled out of the ongoing ITF junior Circuit Tennis Tournament today while promising Sunil Kumar entered the quarterfinals. Akshay, who is the junior national champion, today could not match the power of compatriot Vishal Punna, losing his second round match 2-6, 4-6. Fifth-seeded Karan Doctor, sixth-seeded P. Ravi Krishna and seventh-seeded Alok Bhide of India also lost their tie, going down to Vinod Sewa, Chandrasekar Mohanty and Uros Kuhar (Slo) respectively. While Karan went down tamely 2-6, 2-6, Ravi was ousted 3-6, 0-6. Bhide lost 2-6, 1-6. National hardcourt champion Sunil, who met state-mate and sub-junior champion Amanjot Singh, clinched the match 6-3, 6-2. The last seeded player in the category, second seed Omar Behroozian of the UAE also won his tie, beating Indian Vivek Jhaveri 6-4, 6-3. In the girls category, top-seeded Shuai Peng of China also advanced to the quarters, scoring a come-from-behind victory over Malaysian Yuin Pei Keng, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Other seeds moving to the round of eight were Indian girls Liza Pereira and Sania Mirza, coming through in straight sets. While Liza blanked Indian Rati Kumar 6-1, 6-1, Sania moved past another country-girl Vishika Chettri 6-2, 6-2. Others proceeding in the category included fourth-seeded Rattiya Hiranrat of Thailand who beat Indian girl Isha Chopra 6-0, 6-2, sixth-seeded Anna Shchupak (Uzb) who ousted Chen Yee Liaw (Mal) 6-1, 6-3 and eighth-seeded Thassha Virayaviroj (Tha) who defeated Indian Geeta Manohar 6-0, 6-4. In the boys quarterfinals tomorrow, Punna meets Sewa while the eighth seed Sunil runs into Raian Luchici (Rom). Indian Parantap Chaturvedi, who yesterday ousted third seed Benc Raymond, clashes with fellow Indian Chandrasekar Mohanty. In the girls section, Peng clashes with Sania while Liza runs into the eighth seed Virayaviroj. Other encounters include that of sixth-seeded Shchupak who meets Indian girl Samrita Sekar and Yan Ze Xie of China who fights it out with the fourth seed Hiranrat. Results (pre-quarterfinals): Boys: Vihal Punna b Akshay Vishal Rao (1) 6-2, 6-4 Vinod Sewa bt Karan Doctor (5) 6-2, 6-2 Parantap Chaturvedi (Ind) b Adam Jaya (Mal) 6-1, 6-1 Chandrasekar Mohanty b P Ravi Krishna (6) 6-3, 6-0 Sunil Kumar (8) b Amanjot Singh 6-3, 6-2 Raian Luchici (Rom) bt Nishank Mishra (Ind) 6-2, 6-2 Uros Kuhar b Alok Bhide (7) 6-2, 6-1 Omar Behroozian (2) b Vivek Jhaveri 6-4, 6-3. Girls: Shuai Peng (1) b
Pei Yuin Keng 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Sania Mirza (7) b Vishika
Chettri 6-2, 6-2 Samrita Sekhar b Nandita Chandrasekhar
7-5, 6-4 Anna Shchupak (6) b Chen Yee Liaw 6-1, 6-3
Rattiya Hiranrat (4) b Isha Chopra 6-0, 6-2 Thassha
Virayaviroj (8) b Geeta Manohar 6-0, 6-4 Liza Pereira (2)
b Rati Kumar 6-1, 6-1. |
Sampras, Agassi in semis MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (AFP) — Third seed Pete Sampras of the USA beat unseeded countryman Chris Woodruff 7-5 6-3 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open today. Sampras will play arch rival Andre Agassi in the semifinals. The pair have met 28 times before, with 12-time Grand Slam winner Sampras leading 17-11. Sampras won the Australian Open in 1994 and 1997 and was year-end world No.1 for six consecutive years until Agassi ousted him last year. Nearly a decade after landing in her first major semifinals as a precocious, smiling 14-year-old, Jennifer Capriati is in the Australian Open semis and challenging for a Grand Slam title again. “Right now I believe I can go all the way,” Capriati said “I’ve come this far, so I’m not going to think otherwise.” If there were any doubts that Capriati, at 23, is ready to contend for major titles once more, she erased them today. Not even a strained abdominal muscle, which caused her to take an early injury timeout, slowed Capriati in a thorough 6-0 6-2 thrashing of Ai Sugiyama, who had knocked off no. 4 Mary Pierce. Like Capriati, Andre Agassi dropped out of the top 100 a few years ago and worked his way back - in his case dramatically to No. 1. Now after following Capriati’s victory with his own 6-4 6-4 6-2 triumph over Morocco’s Hicham Arazi, Agassi is one win from his fourth straight Grand Slam final. Capriati struggled at times, losing matches that once would have been easy, fighting through injuries that stalled her progress dealing with an emotional roller coaster, but she never gave up. “I kind of decided at the end of last year, I wanted to keep going forward, forward, forward,” said Capriati, who lost in the fourth round of the US Open last September and left a news conference sobbing. Capriati hadn’t reached a Grand Slam semifinals since Wimbledon and the US Open in 1991, when she was almost universally viewed as the future star of women’s tennis. But she fell in the quarterfinals of majors six times over the next two years, then drifted out of the game and didn’t play the full Grand Slam circuit until last year, when she failed to get past the fourth round. This time, at a tournament where she had never gone past the quarters, she showed that all her work in coming back, all the practice sessions with coach Harold Solomon have paid off. Playing under the closed roof because of light showers, Capriati crushed returns so consistently that Sugiyama managed to win only four points on serve in the first set, which lasted just 24 minutes. Capriati kept pummelling groundstrokes down the lines to race to a 4-0 lead in the second set before finally yielding on her own serve. After Sugiyama held serve for the first and only time, Capriati closed out the match by holding serve easily and breaking Sugiyama for the sixth time to win in 55 minutes. Capriati is already
assured of moving up to No 17 after the Australian Open,
and if she beats Davenport will jump to at least No 11. |
JCT thrash ITI; Churchill win BANGALORE, Jan 25 (PTI) — Former champions JCT, Phagwara came up with a dominant display to thrash Indian Telephone Industries 3-1 in the National Football league here today to move up to the fourth position. JCT were tied with holders Salgaocar at 16 points from 10 matches behind Churchill Brothers (22), Mohun Bagan (19) and Mahindra and Mahindra (17). ITI are in the tenth spot with 10 points and have a match against BSF on January 28. JCT outplayed their rivals in all departments of the game and dominated the proceedings, particularly in the second half. But it were ITI who shot into lead in the 29th minute when Geroge Ekeh received a pass from Rajesh Meeti, turned around and slotted home from inside the box. JCT’s Hardip Sangha levelled in the 42nd minute on a Jaswinder Singh pass. Soon after, Ram Pal scored a brilliant goal, capitalising on a lapse in ITI defence, to put his team ahead. Coming in from the right flank swiftly for a cross off Jaswinder Singh, Ram Pal scored with ITI defenders Nasir Jamal and captain Sunil Kumar standing as mere on-lookers. Hardip Singh completed the tally in the 75th minute off Jaswinder Singh who was left unmarked on many occasions and was instrumental in his team scoring all the three goals. Deepak Mondal and Jaswinder Singh were shown the yellow card for rough play. ITI messed up too many passes and lacked cohesion. They depended too much on Nigerians Gabril Emechete and Ekeh, and Nowshad Pari was completely off colour. Substitutions of Rajesh Meeti by Candid Naring and Keenth Raj by R.C. Prakash also bore no fruit. CALCUTTA (UNI): Title-aspirants Churchill Brothers of Kerala scraped past Manaksia Tollygunge Agragami 1-0 in the National Football League at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium here today. The all important salvo was fired by medio Somatai Shaiza in the 18th minute of the play. With this victory, Churchill Brothers tallied 22 points to stay atop the league standings, while Tollygunge have a total of 13 points. Churchill Brothers drew one all against Mohun Bagan in their earlier match at home.
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North Zone lose by 3 wickets PUNE, Jan 25 (PTI) — Opener Gagan Khoda’s 71 and unbeaten knock of 45 runs by Devendra Bundela helped Central Zone to post a fluent three-wicket triumph over North Zone in the one-day Deodhar Trophy match at the Nehru Stadium here today. North Zone: Vijay Dahiya c Gandhe b Sodhi 8, Vikram Rathore c and b Kartik 37, Ajay Jadeja c Kartik b Sodhi 3, Pankaj Dharmani b J.P. Yadav 12, Virendra Sehwag c Bundela b J.P. Yadav 0, Dinesh Mongia b Kartik 23, Mithun Minhas b Pandey 72, Rahul Sanghvi not out 44, Amit Bhandari run out 18, Robin Singh (jr) not out 0. Extras: (B-1, LB-5, NB-5, W-9) 20. Total: (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 237. Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-45, 3-74, 4-74, 5-74 6-123, 7-202, 8-234. Bowling: H.S. Sodhi 8-0-34-2, P. Krishnakumar 7-0-33-0, J.P. Yadav 10-2-51-2, Murali Kartik 10-1-38-2, Preetam Gandhe 8-0-37-0, Gyanendra Pandey 7-1-38-1. Central Zone: Gagan Khoda c Mongia b Sanghvi 71, Jyoti Yadav b Robin Singh (jr) 30, Jaiprakash Yadav c Manhas b Shewag 33, Amay Khurasia c Shewag b Robin Singh (jr) 10, Davinder Bundela not out 45, Gyanender Pande c Sanghvi b Robin Singh (jr) 18, Manoj Mudgal c Dahiya b Robin Singh (jr) 1, Krishnakumar c Jadeja b Sanghvi 19, Harvinder Sodhi not out 1. Extras: (LB-2, NB-1, W-10 ) 13. Total: (for 7 wkts in 47.5 overs 217 mts) 241. Fall of wickets: 1/77, 2/127, 3/138, 4/158, 5/194, 6/200, 7/235. Bowling: Amit Bhandari
9, 5-1-55-0 (1 w), Surender Singh 10-1-39-0 (3 2), Robin
Singh (jr) 10-0-45-4 (2 w), Ajay Jadeja 6-0-21-0 (1 nb),
Rahul Sanghvi 10-0-61-2, Virendra Shewag 2-0-16-1. |
Anand draws with Van Wely WIJK AAN ZEE (Holland), Jan 25 (PTI) — Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand rallied from an inferior position to draw against Dutch Leok Van Wely and maintain his second position after the eighth round of the Corus Chess Championship here. The lead positions remained unchanged as the day was marred by draws and overnight leaders — Russians Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik — continued to lead the table with 5.5 points each. Anand has 5 points and
is in joint second position with Hungary’s Peter
Leko. |
Churchill consolidate position CHANDIGARH,Jan 25 —Churchill Brothers,Goa,consolidated their position further by notching up another win over Tollygunge Agragami in the tenth and penultimate round of the first phase of the National Football League which concluded today.The team coached by Danny McLennan is now comfortably placed at the top with 22 points from seven victories and one draw. Also moving up were Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan who are close behind with 19 points from five wins and four draws and winners of the inaugural edition,JCT Phagwara.JCT's win over ITI at Bangalore today boosted their tally to 16 points and they are now at the fourth position,relegating Salgaocar to the fifth position on superior goal difference. The tenth round also witnessed Salgaocar crashing to their second defeat when they lost to Mohun Bagan in a home match at Margao on January 23.East Bengal's dismal run also continued unabated as they were held to a goal-less draw by Mahindras at Calcutta a day later.Mahindras,in fact,have rallied back strongly after a couple of lacklustre performances in the earlier rounds and are currently occupying the third position from four victories and five draws. Debutants Border Security Force crashed to their eighth defeat when they lost to State Bank of Travancore in their away match at Thiruvananthapuram by a solitary goal.The defeat pushed BSF to the last spot as they have garnered only four points from ten outings so far in the league. The following are the latest standings of the teams after taking into account the results of today's matches at Calcutta and Bangalore,which marked the end of the tenth round of the National Football League (read under teams, matches played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, and points):
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Osaka bids for 2008 Olympics TOKYO, Jan 25 (AP) — Osaka has officially submitted its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, adding its name to a list of seven competitors including Beijing and Paris. With less than a week to go before the February 1 deadline for submissions, Osaka Mayor Takafumi Isomura presented documents for his city’s bid to the Japanese Olympic Committee in Tokyo yesterday, JOC spokesman Tetsuo Oyama said. Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul, Seville and Havana have already presented their candidacies for the 2008 games. Japan’s
second-largest city is hoping to become the fourth
Japanese Olympic host. Tokyo, Sapporo and Nagano have
previously staged the games, and Nagoya made an
unsuccessful bid in 1988. |
Paddlers to receive more prize
money CHANDIGARH, Jan 25 — The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has decided to increase the prize money at the national as well as the zonal levels, according to Mr Rajeev Kaushal, joint secretary TTFI, who attended the annual general meeting of the association during the senior nationals at Lucknow. The nationals men’s winner will now get Rs 75,000, runner-up Rs 45,000, semifinalists Rs 15,000 each and quarterfinalists Rs 2,500 each. Women’s winner will receive Rs 50,000, runner up Rs 25,000, semifinalists Rs 7,500 each and quarterfinalists Rs 1,500 each. Prize money at the quarterfinal level has been introduced for the first time. At the zonal level, men’s winner will get Rs 30,000 and the runner-up will get Rs 15,000 while in the women’s section the winner will get Rs 20,000 and the runner-up Rs 10,000. The TTFI has also decided to open table tennis academies at Mumbai and Bangalore after Ajmer and Calcutta, where the academy is run with the assistance of the Sports Authority of India. The association decided to allow a to state, which has more than 5000 players registered with them, to field two teams. This year the TTFI would hold the Asia Cup championship at Mumbai from March 19 to 21, and also the Asian junior championship in August. The 62nd Junior National Table Tennis Championship will be held in Mumbai in November, the sub-junior and cadet nationals in Tamil Nadu in December, while the senior nationals will be held in Orissa. The Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship will be organised by the TTFI at Delhi in April next year. India will also host the Asian top-12 championship for men at Chennai in October this year. The training camp for
the Indian team, which will take part in the 2000
Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship at Singapore from
February 11 to 17 and the World Table Tennis
Championships at Kuala Lumpur from February 19 to 26,
will be held in Calcutta. Egypt for Shastri Cup hockey NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (UNI) — Last year’s quarterfinalist Pakistan XI would be sorely missed by the hockey enthusiasts in the 10th Shastri Cup hockey tournament in which eight teams from India and the Egyptian national team will take part. Organising committee chairman Sqn Ldr Kamal Chaudhary said yesterday “Pakistan was not invited for this year’s tournament”, to be held here from February 3 to 9. This year the tournament will be played on a league basis unlike the earlier editions, which were held on knock-our-cum-league-basis, where some of the better teams lost in the initial matches thus taking away the sheen from the tournament, he said. Apart from defending
champions Central Reserve Police Force, Air India,
Mumbai, Border Security Force, Punjab and Sind Bank, Sikh
Regimental Centre, Air India Academy and Central
Industrial Security Force will field their teams. |
SAI Patiala record victory LUDHIANA, Jan 25 — Sports Authority of India (SAI), Patiala, began their campaign on a rousing note as they pipped Father Agnus School, Delhi, 2-0 in the inaugural match of the first all-India Jagtar Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament for junior boys being organised by Aryan Hockey Club at the Astro Turf hockey ground of Punjab Agricultural University here today. SAI boys, after wasting two penalty corners during 25 minutes of play, went ahead in the 26th minute through a field goal scored by Sarbjit Singh. Delhi lads earned two corners in quick succession (34th and 35th minute) but missed these scoring chances. After changing ends, both the teams failed to take advantage of penalty corners they earned. Just five minutes before the long hooter, SAI’ Gurmeet Singh scored a field goal to help his team wrap up the issue 2-0. The second match scheduled to be played between Mumbai Hockey Association XI and Grewal Sports Academy, Kila Raipur could not be held because of rain. Earlier, Pargat Singh, former India captain, inaugurated the tournament. Col Raminder Singh, Director, Sports, Punjab, and Dr M S Bajwa, Director Students Welfare, PAU, were also present. Tomorrow’s
fixtures: Sports School, Jalandhar v Lucknow XI —11
am; Surjit Hockey Academy, Jalandhar, v Mumbai Hockey
Association XI — 12 noon; SAI Patiala v Shivalik
Public School, Chandigarh — 2 p.m; Haryana XI v
Grewal Sports Academy, Kila Raipur — 3.30 p.m. |
Suresh, Jitender qualify TAIJON CITY, Jan 25 (PTI) — India’s lightfly weight S.Suresh Singh and middle weight Jitender Kumar put up a glittering performance yesterday to unsure their participation in the Sydney Olympic Games later this year. Gurcharan Singh, the light weight boxer, has already qualified and superb performances by Suresh Singh and Jitender Kumar makes sure that there will be atleast three Indians in the Olympic boxing ring. As one more qualifying tournament will be held in Bangkok in April, atleast three more Indians, Sanjit Kumar and Ramanand, who narrowly lost their bouts here and the presently far-from-fit Bangkok Asian Games gold mediallist Dingko Singh have an opportunity also to make the grade. Manipuri lad Suresh Singh opened the Indian account in the day’s first bout challenging the tough Kazakhstan boxer Aman Batyrba in the 48 kg class. The tall Kazakh boxer has the height and reach with powerful punches but perhaps what the did not have was the brain to block the Indian’s attack. Suresh has faster footwork with tonnes of stamina and flashing punches. The first round was a draw with both the boxers being awarded two points each and so was the second, with the tow boxer having five points each in their kitty. In the fourth and decisive round, the Indian backed by stamina geared himself up and made lightening attacks on the Kazakh boxer. Not knowing what was happening, the Kazakh opened his guard for counter-attacks and Suresh landed his power packed right cross and left hooks to snatch the bout 11-7 in his favour. The Kazakh boxer and his coach certainly did not expect such a devastating performance from the Indian and quietly left the ring. The other Indian bout in
the middle-weight category was slated as the last bout of
the evening. Jitender Kumar, the Commonwealth silver
medallist, met his challenge in Mongolian boxer Batbujan. |
Sultan qualifies for Sydney Olympics NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (PTI) — Anwer Sultan today became the first Indian shooter to qualify for the Sydney Olympics when he fired an outstanding score of 143/150 in the trap event for an individual silver medal at the Asian Shooting Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia. Sultan was just a point behind the Chinese gold medallist while the United Arab Emirates (143) settled for bronze. Sultan’s effort, however, won India the team gold with an aggregate score of 343/375 with Mansher Singh and Manavjit Singh doing their bit in pushing China (336) and Kazakhstan (335) to second and third spots, respectively. Mansher and Manavjit, however, failed to make it to the finals in the individual event scoring 114/125 and 110/125, respectively, on the first day of the ninth edition of the championship, a press note issued here said today. Sultan, who tied for the second spot with the Emirates shooter, edged past his rival in the tie shoot to grab the ticket for Sydney. Meanwhile, in the Free
Pistol event, Samresh Jung shot 554/600 to take eighth
position in the finals. |
School Games at Anandpur Sahib CHANDIGARH, Jan 25 — Anandpur Sahib (Punjab) will host National School Games in volleyball (under 14-boys and girls), hockey and handball (under 17- boys and girls), baseball (under 19 boys and girls) boxing, (under 19, boys), gymnastics (under 14, 17 & 19-boys and girls) and fencing (under 19- boys and girls) from February 21 to 26. This was stated in a press release by Mr P.S. Chhabra, Secretary General of the School Games Federation of India. Basketball for under 14, 17 years in boys and girls and lawn tennis for under 14, 19 years will be conducted at Guna in Madhya Pradesh from February 15 to 19. Lawn tennis will be held after a gap of two years. Mr Chhabra said that
sport disciplines such as fencing, hockey , handball
(under 17), lawn tennis and table tennis were to be
hosted by UT Education Department at Chandigarh from
December 25, but at the last moment they refused to
conduct the same.
Punjab judo from February 1 PATIALA, Jan 25 — The Punjab State Judo Championships (for both junior and senior men and women) will be held at the Anandpur Sahib martial arts academy’s indoor hall from February 1 to 3, according to Mr T.C. Gupta, president, Punjab State Judo Association. More than 300 judoks are
expected to participate in the three-day meet. |
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