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| Tuesday, February 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Kallis,
Pollock lead SA into final
Sachin, Ganguly, Srinath to skip
Challenger series
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Mumbai demolish Karnataka
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Kallis, Pollock lead SA into final PORT ELIZABETH, Feb 7 (Reuters) — Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock made telling contributions as South Africa reached the final of the triangular limited overs series with a 53-run win over Zimbabwe yesterday. Kallis scored an unbeaten 98 and paceman Pollock produced an opening burst of three for six off seven overs as the home side made 204 for seven in their 50 overs and dismissed Zimbabwe for 151 in 46 overs. South Africa’a opponents in the final in Johannesburg will be decided in the last round-robin match between Zimbabwe and England at Centurion Park on Wednesday. Kallis was the only South African batsman to come to terms with a slow St George’s Park pitch and canny Zimbabwean bowling as he faced 132 balls, hitting six fours and a six. The six came when he hit paceman Henry Olonga’s last ball of the innings over extra cover. Lance Klusener’s 29 was the next highest score and his stand of 58 with Kallis for the sixth wicket was the highest of the innings. It ended when Klusener was run out by Olonga’s pinpoint throw from deep square leg in attempting to take a second run in the 46th over. South Africa failed to find the boundary between the 18th and 48th overs, with fast bowler Heath Streak and left-arm spinner Grant Flower each conceding just 21 runs off eight overs. Zimbabwe made a wretched start and were reeling at 25 for three after Pollock swiftly made inroads. He had Grant Flower caught by Louis Koen at second slip for a duck with the second ball of the innings, then bowled Craig Wishart for nought in the fifth over and had Alistair Campbell caught behind by Mark Boucher for four. Zimbabwe never recovered, although opener Neil Johnson tried hard to put them back on track with 56 off 82 balls, including seven fours. Johnson was fifth out, well caught by Hansie Cronje at deep extra cover of Klusener in the 31st over. Whatever momentum the visitors had left evaporated in the 39th over when captain Andy Flower was run out for 37 by Herschelle Gibbs ‘direct’ hit from the covers’. South Africa: Gibbs run out (Whittall) 11 Koen b Olonga 13 Kallis not out 98 McKenzie c Goodwin b Brent 6 Cronje c Carlisle b Brent 13 Rhodes c Brent b Whittall 3 Klusener run out (Olonga) 29 Pollock b Streak 8 Boucher not out 6 Extras (b-1 lb-3 w-10 nb-3) 17 Total (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 204 Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-37, 3-66, 4-97, 5-106, 6-164, 7-188. Bowling: OIonga 7-0-43-1; Johnson 8-0-33-0; Brent 10-0-48-2; Streak 8-0-21-1; Whittall 9-0-34-1; G. Flower 8-0-21-0 Zimbabwe: Johnson c Cronje b Klusener 56 G. Flower c Koen b Pollock 0 Wishart b Poolock 0 Campbell c Boucher b Pollock 4 Goodwin lbw b Cronje 7 A. Flower run out (Gibbs) 37 Carlisle b Williams 17 G. Whittall c Koen b Klusener 12 Streak c Klusener b Cronje 4 Brent not out 2 Olonga b Williams 0 Extras (b-1 lb-3 w-7 nb-1) 12 Total (all out, 46 overs) 151 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-9, 3-25, 4-52, 5-97, 6-120, 7-135, 8-148, 9-151 Bowling: Pollock
8-4-7-3; Kallis 8-2-26-0; Williams 10-1-30-2; Cronje
7-0-28-2; Boje 3-0-19-0; Klusener 10-0-37-2 |
Career-best knock by Ravneet
Ricky SAS Nagar, Feb 7 — An unblemished knock of 134 runs by opener Ravneet Ricky was the highlight of the penultimate day’s play of the four-day Ranji Trophy super league match between Punjab and Hyderabad at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today. Also to share the day’s honours was Hyderabad’s medium fast bowler, N P Singh. He bowled an impressive spell of 31 overs and accounted for the cream of the rival batting, finishing with a creditable haul of five wickets for 69 runs. Punjab, resuming from the overnight score of 127 for two, went on to score 363 for eight before declaring their innings closed, taking a sizeable first innings lead of 246 runs. Hyderabad openers negotiated the remaining 10 overs of the day without any damage. The day undoubtedly belonged the junior World Cup ‘best batsman’ Ravneet Ricky. The Amritsar lad, playing only his fifth Ranji Trophy match, proved that he had a mature head on his shoulders. When his senior partners and established batsmen in the team barring all rounder Sandeep Sharma displayed lack of resolution and were back in the pavilion without worthwhile contributions, the youngster grafted a flawless innings of 134, his highest score in the national championship overtaking his previous best score of 40 he made against Haryana at Amritsar last year. Ravneet’s maiden century was studded with 15 fours and spanned 449 minutes. Ultimately it required the vast international experience of former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin who introduced himself into the attack and uprooted the leg stump of Ricky. Before he was dismissed Ricky displayed sound temperament and technique. He played strokes on either side of the wicket and by the time he was dismissed the team was already in the position from where it can only go all out to force an outright victory when the play resumes tomorrow. He was ably assisted by No 8 batsman Sandeep Sharma, who went on to make valuable unbeaten 68 runs. Hyderabad batsmen will have to show application and stubbornness when they come out to bat again.The very thought that two of their key batsmen opener V V S Laxman and Venka Pratap are carrying injuries must be very discomforting for them. Both were not seen in the field during the day. Punjab, in fact, would have finished the day on a happier note had Reetinder Sodhi stationed at the third slip been a bit more alert to hold on to a sharp chance offered by opener P Satwalkar off medium fast bowler Sandeep Sharma when the batsman had yet to get off the mark. It has been a largely forgettable outing for Azharuddin so far. Sandeep, during his knock, got three reprieves. And on each occasion Azhar was the benefactor.As a batsman also, the stylish batsman was run out for just one. Scoreboard Hyderabad (1st innings):117 Punjab (1st innings): Rathore b N P Singh 15, Ravneet b Azhar 134, Reetinder lbw N P Singh 21, Dharmani c Youvraj b N P Singh 46, Mongia lbw N P Singh 0, Yuveraj b N P Singh 8, Harminder c Shridhar b Raju 32, Sandeep not out 68, Harbhajan c N P Singh b Kanwaljit 16, Navdeep not out 5, Extras ( nb 3, w 1, lb 8, b 6) 18. Total ( declared for eight in 123 overs) 363. Fall of wicket:1- 20, 2-56, 3-146, 4-146,5-156, 6-213, 7-312, 8-333. Bowling: N P Singh 31-9-69-5, Venka Pratap 3-0-17-0, V Raju 45-14-102-1, P Satwalkar 7-0-29-0,Kanwaljit 32-2-115-1, Vinay 3-1-8-0, Azhar 2-0-9-1 Hyderabad(IInd innings): P Satwalkar not out 6, Nandakishore not out 8 Extras (nb 1) :1 Total ( in 10 overs):15. Bowling: Sandeep
4-2-6-0, Gagandeep 4-2-9-0, Reetinder 1-1-0-0, Navdeep
1-1-0-0. |
Innings win for TN CHENNAI, Feb 7 (PTI) — Former national champions Tamil Nadu inflicted an innings and 26 run defeat over Saurashtra with about over an hour and one full day to spare in their Super League group C Ranji Trophy cricket league match here today. Fifteen wickets fell on the penultimate day as Saurashtra, overnight 189 for 5, crashed to defeat through medium pacer Gokulakrishnan, who had a haul of five wickets for 42 runs, to compile 217 all out in their first innings in reply to the home team’s total of 471. Saurashtra, needing 255 to make Tamil Nadu bat again, were all out for 228 in 56.3 overs. Aashish Kapoor claimed five Saurashtra wickets for 85 runs and Mahesh four for 61. The hosts gained eight points from this win. Tamil Nadu struck in the seventh over of the morning when Anand George took a brilliant catch at second slip off Mahesh to dismiss Firoz Bhambania for 25 (2 fours). Later, Gokulakrishnan stuck fine form dismissing the remaining four batsmen, who added just 17 runs in the process. In their second knock, Saurashtra lost two early wickets but Prakash Bhatt and opener Vasanthkumar (28) steadied the innings with a 68 run partnership, before the latter made his exit to leave the visitors at 88 for three. Thereafter, wickets fell at regular intervals and Saurashtra were reduced to 180 for eight. Bhatt, who waged a lone battle, was finally out for 88 (15 x4) when he was adjudged leg before to Kapoor. Narendra Rana chipped in with a quickfire 37 off 29 balls, (4x6; 2x4) before the visitors folded up. Scoreboard: Tamil Nadu (1st innings): 471 Saurashtra (1st innings): R.C. Vasanth Kumar c Sharath b Kumaran 9; A. Merchant lbw b Gokulakrishnan 3; S. Kotak c Paul b Mahesh 35; P. Bhatt b Kapoor 61; B Jadeja b Mahesh 6; F. Bhambania c George b Mahesh 25; H. Parsana not out 54; M Parmar lbw b Gokulakrishnan 5; D. Chudasama c George b Gokulakrishnan 2; N. Rana b Gokulakrishnan 0; Extras (b-4, lb-6, nb-7) 17; Total (all out in 63.2 overs) 217. Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-108, 4-120, 5-122, 6-204, 7-211, 8-217, 9-217. Bowling: T Kumaran 5-1-24-1, Gokulakrishnan 17.2-6-42-5, Mahesh 21-4-57-3, Robin Singh 6-1-29-0, Aasish Kapoor 10-2-45-1, Sriram 4-2-10-0. Saurashtra (2nd innings): R.C. Vasanth Kumar lbw A. Kapoor 28; Altaf Merchant c Sriram b Mahesh 0; Shitanshu Kotak c Madanagopal b Mahesh 7; Prakash Bhatt lbw b A. Kapoor 88; Bimal Jadeja b Mahesh 13; Firoz Bhambania c and b A. Kapoor 0; Hitesh Parsana c Anand George b Sri Ram 36; Manoj Parmar b A. Kapoor 0; D. Chudasama c Gokulakrishnan b A. Kapoor 0; Narendra Rana b Mahesh 37; R. Garsondia not out 4; Extras (b-4, lb-6, nb-5) 15. Total (all out in 56.3 overs) 228. Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-20, 3-88, 4-112, 5-113, 6-179, 7-180, 8-180, 9-195 Bowling: Robin Singh
5-2-7-0, Mahesh 11.3-2-61-4, Gokulakrishnan 6-0-24-0,
Aashish Kapoor 17-0-85-5, Sri Ram 9-3-15-1, T. Kumaran
8-3-26-0. |
Sachin, Ganguly, Srinath to skip Challenger series MUMBAI, Feb 7 (PTI) — Three leading lights of the Indian team who returned from a disastrous outing in Australia — captain Sachin Tendulkar, vice-captain Saurav Ganguly and pace spearhead Javagal Srinath — have pulled out of the February 10-13 Challenger Trophy Limited Overs Tournament in Ahmedabad. Tendulkar has sought and obtained permission from the cricket board to skip the event citing the need for rest after the gruelling tour down under while Ganguly and Srinath have said they would be unable to play in the tournament as they were having injuries, board sources said here today. Ganguly is recovering from a knee injury sustained at the fag end of the tri-series in Australia while Srinath opted out of the event today as he had been “asked to undergo strenuous rehabilitation for hip strengthening”. “Andrew Leipus (team physio in Australia) is aware of it”, Srinath has added in the reason given for pulling out the event which has been touted as ‘mandatory’ by the board for all the players barring injuries. Tendulkar was to lead the India squad in the four-day event to be held under lights while Ganguly was to be in charge of India A. In their absence, Rahul Dravid and former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin will lead the India and India A teams respectively. Then third team in the tournament, India B, is to be led by Ajay Jadeja who missed the Australian tour. Tendulkar, Ganguly and Srinath, in the India team, have been replaced by Shiv Sunder Das of Orissa, Ashu Dani of Delhi and Harvinder Singh Sodhi of Madhya Pradesh respectively, the sources added. All three had earlier pulled out of their home associations’ opening Ranji Trophy super league encounters. Srinath has stated that he would be available to play for Karnataka’s second super league clash against Rajasthan at Bangalore from February 16 to 19. The doctor’s report from Australia has advised a two-week rest for Ganguly to recover from his knee injury which has put a question mark on his availability for Bengal’s second super league tie (February 16-19) against Delhi at Calcutta. As Mumbai have no outing scheduled for the same period with their next super league match scheduled only from February 24 to 27. Tendulkar may have to go straight into the tough first Test against South Africa (Feb 24-28) here without playing a competitive match for returning from Australia. The pull-out of these three superstars of Indian cricket seems to have hit the Challenge Tournament hard in more ways than one, according to other board sources. It has robbed not only a lot of sheen off it and also off the players’ performance in it, but might upset the sponsors who have been lined up by the organising association, they said. The tournament was allotted to Ahmedabad, to be held at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Motera, following its near-complete wash-out last season at the same venue due to unseasonal rains which allowed only one out of four matches scheduled to be gone through. The tournament had assumed importance not only due to the poor display of most players on the Australian sojourn but also because the board president’s team to take on the visiting South Africans in their tour opener at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium is to be chosen during its course.Some outstanding displays in Ahmedabad following consistent domestic performance earlier in the season would grab the attention of the selectors who are on the look-out for quite a few spots in the national line-up after its dismal display in Australia. Interestingly, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has wondered in his latest syndicated newspaper column on how many stars would play in the tournament and how many will back out with some excuse or the other. “Many will claim that they are tired from non-stop cricket and will want to take a break but at the same time if there was a masala tour on they would forget their tiredness and hop onto the flight and play wherever,” he has caustically written. Saving further that there was no money in the Challenger Tournament and it would be hardly a surprise if some big names backed out, the ex-India captain has also taken the board to task for their thoughtless way of programming the event. Supporting his point of
view, board sources said it would have been better, in
view of the forthcoming visit by South Africa, of having
a conditioning camp for 20 probables ahead of the
two-Test series instead of holding the limited-overs
event at this time. Jasbir Singh for Challenger
Trophy SAS NAGAR, Feb 7 — Jasbir Singh has been named among the panel of umpires who will do duty in the Challenger Trophy slated to start at Ahmedabad from February 10. Jasbir will stand in the India Seniors vs India A and India A vs India B matches. The other umpires to have been selected for the tournament are K. Hari Haran, V.K. Ramaswamy and I Sivaram. The former Punjab player has also stood in the inaugural edition of the meet in Calcutta and the Hyderabad edition.
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Mumbai demolish Karnataka BANGALORE, Feb 7 (PTI) — Seamer Abey Kuruvilla’s rich haul of five for 32 helped Mumbai demolish hosts Karnataka by an innings and 74 runs on the penultimate day of their four-day group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy Super-League cricket match here today. Earlier, Mumbai, who resumed at their overnight score of 322 for 8, added 69 more runs before being all out for 391. Jatin Paranjpe, overnight 93, completed a well deserved century before being caught by Barrington at deep square leg when he tried to pull a bouncer off D. Ganesh. His 107 came in 272 minutes off 190 balls and had 13 hits to the fence. Karnataka (Ist innings): 209 Mumbai (Ist innings): W. Jaffer lbw b Khan 72; A. Pagnis c Arun Kumar b Joshi 54; J. Paranjpe c Barrington b Ganesh 107; A. Muzumdar c Shiruguppi b Joshi 0; V. Kambli c Shiruguppi b D. Ganesh 22; S. Dighe c and b Joshi 11; A. Dani c Shiruguppi b Joshi 4; R. Pawar c Shiruguppi b Ganesh 49; S. Kannan c Khan b Ganesh 1; N. Kulkarni c Arun Kumar b Joshi 19; A. Kuruvilla not out 37; Extras (b8, lb1, nb5, w1) 15; Total 391. Fall of wickets: 1-125, 2-145, 3-147, 4-177, 5-208, 6-214, 7-309, 8-313, 9-336. Bowling: D. Ganesh 37-5-113-4; M.A. Khan 25-3-71-1; S. Joshi 40.2-8-126-5; A. Yalvigi 13-2-71-0; Somasundar 1-0-1-0. Karnataka (2nd innings): J. Arun Kumar c Pagnis b Kuruvilla 1; M. Beerala c Dighe b Kuruvilla 34; R. Barrington c Pagnis b Kannan 3; S. Somasundar c Pagnis b Kannan 0; T. Naidu lbw b Kuruvilla 5; A. Vijay lbw b Kuruvilla 5; S. Shiruguppi c Dani b Kulkarni 1; A. Yalvigi b Kuruvilla 6; D. Ganesh run out 26; M.A. Khan not out 9; S. Joshi did not bat; Extras (lb-3, nb-15 18; Total 108). Fall of wkts: 1-10, 2-32, 3-32, 4-47, 5-55, 6-64, 7-67, 8-73, 9-108. Bowling: S. Kannan
8-2-34-2; A. Kuruvilla 8-0-32-5; R. Pawar 12.5-5-14-0; A.
Dani 1-0-11-0; N. Kulkarani 10-3-14-1. |
Dey’s self goal sinks East Bengal MUMBAI, Feb 7 (UNI) — A self-goal by East Bengal’s Ranjan Dey ended a superb National Football League contest in favour of Mahindras 1-0 today at the Cooperage. The return game was played right in earnest and both sides were on even keel. In the 35th minute Dey made one of the most regrettable errors of his career. Mahindras Aqueel Ansari had chipped the ball into the circle and Manjeet fortunately missed his clumsy header but Dey also rose at the same moment and managed to brush the ball. Goalie Prasanta Dora was completely off balance. He slipped and was horrified to see the ball roll in for the goal. Mahindras goalie Virender Singh was at the start tested with two powerful kicks from Willie Brown and Emmanuel Opoku. Then Ansari gave similar treatment to Dora twice and later passed the test. In the 18th minute East Bengal had the first clear chance when a Dipankar Biswas chip gave Renedy Singh a good sight of the goal. But he failed to convert. Biswas again sent a dart-like header straight into the belly of Virender the next minute. Immediately after the goal, Shamshi Raza took advantage of East Bengal’s disappointment and smashed a volley which Dora blocked with a dive. Then Jackson, who had been donning East Bengal colours with great pride, made a terrible lapse which could have given a second goal to Mahindras. Ramesh tossed a ball near East Bengal goal and Jackson tried a scissor kick but the ball slipped to Manjeet whose shot hit the post. The second half was dominated by Mahindras but they could not increase the tally. First Raza booted a clever throw-in by Bernard to Dora. Then Khaild Siddique curled a ball which Jordanian Bassam Khatim volleyed a foot away from the goal. The latter won a hard fought duel with Ratan Singh and gave an inch-perfect backward pass to Rizvi in the 70th minute but the latter shot over the empty goal. In between Willie Brown took the defence on his own and could not beat Virender. Earlier his colleague Opoku saw his header from a hugging distance saved by Virender’s reflex action. This was Mahindras fifth win in 13 matches and Bengal’s seventh loss in 13 matches. Churchill beat Tollygunge MARGAO, PTI: Two second-half goals powered local champions Churchill Brothers to a 2-0 victory over Calcutta’s Tollygunge Agragami to keep their title aspirations alive in the National Football League here today. After a goalless first half, medio Rocky Baretto gave Churchill the lead in the 60th minute and in the 78th minute, striker Andriy Malchevsky consolidated it. Churchill controlled the fast-paced match, though Tollygunge made several counter-attacks. A minute before the interval, Francis Silveira netted the ball after keeper Bivash Ghosh blocked a Malchevsky shot but linesman Krishen Avtar ruled that the ball had gone out before Silveira retrieved it. Churchill kept up the tempo in the second half and in the 60th minute, Malchevsky from the middle relayed the ball to Silveira on the left and he squared it to Baretto, whose shot found the far post beating keeper Ghosh to his left. Eighteen minutes later, Baretto worked his way up on the right and relayed the ball to Malchevsky, who took a long shot from the top of the box. Keeper Ghosh got a hand to the ball but fumbled, and it crossed the goal line. Churchill now have 27 points from 13 matches and are at the second position, one point behind leaders Mohun Bagan. Tollygunge suffered
their fifth defeat and remained on the seventh spot with
16 points. |
Jasvir hits 94 for Haryana ROHTAK, Feb 7 — A brilliant knock of 94 by Haryana’s Jasvir Singh and a four-wicket haul by Uttar Pradesh left arm medium pacer Shalabh Srivastva were the highlights of day three of the Haryana Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy Super League encounter being played at Vishwakarma Stadium here today. At close Haryana were 189 for 6. Earlier, play could commence only after lunch. Gyanendra Pandey won the toss and opted to field first. Haryana, made three changes in their squad which played the last league match against Punjab at Gurgaon. Sonu Sharma, Pradeep Jain and Amarjit Kaypee were replaced by Manish Shakhalkar, Feroze Ghyas and debutant Satish Ohlan. The opening pair of Jitender Singh and Parinder Sharma failed to lay a sound foundation. When the score was nine, Jitender, while attempting a flick, was caught by Mohammad Kaif off Shalabh Srivastva at short leg. He made only five at his home ground. Skipper Parinder Sharma and Jasvir Singh then added 70 runs for the second wicket in 94 minutes. At tea Haryana were 79 for one. At the same score Gyanendra Pandey dismissed Parinder when he had scored 30 with three boundaries. Left arm medium pacer Sahalabh Srivastva, who was also a member of the U-19 World Cup winning team, struck again to dismiss Sanjay Dalal in his 16th over. In the 19th over he dismissed Rajesh Puri and debutant Satish Ohlan on the first two half. Puris off stump was uprooted while Satish Ohlan was declared leg before wicket before opening his account. Both the wickets fell at 118. However the new batsman, Ajay Ratra, succeeded in denying him a hat-trick. Jasvir Singh, who played with great determination, drove the bowlers with authority and on occasions displayed good running between the wickets. His half century came in 106 minutes off 78 balls. But he was out leg before wicket to Gyanendera Pandey for 94 (237 minutes, 182 balls) he hit 14 boundaries. At close Ajay Ratra was unbeaten on 37 and Pankaj Thakur was yet to open his account. Tomorrow is the last day of the match. As seven sessions lost due to bad weather the match appears to be of academic interest only. Scoreboard Haryana (Ist inning): Jitender Singh c Mohamad Kaif b Shalabh Srivastva 5; Parinder Sharma lbw Gynendra Pandey 30; Jasvir Singh lbw Gyanendra Pandey 94; Sanjay Dalal b Shalabh Srivastva 10; Rajesh Puri b Shalabh Srivastva 1; Satish Ohlan lbw Shalabh Srivastva 0; Ajay Ratra batting 37; Pankaj Thakur batting 0. Extras: (B-7, LB-1, NB-4): 12 Total: (for 6 wkts in 67 overs) 189 FOW: 1-9, 2-79, 3-114, 4-118, 5-118, 6-182. Bowling: A.W. Zaidi
15-4-38-0; Shalabh Srivastva 26-4-76-4; Pankaj Tiwari
7-0-27-0; Gyanendra Pandey 16-7-22-2; Mohammad Kaif
1-0-10-0; Moosi Raza 2-0-8-0. |
Dramatic comeback by USA, Aussies PARIS, Feb 7 (AFP) — American Chris Woodruff and Australia’s Mark Philippoussis won tense deciding matches to bring their nations from the brink of defeat at 2-1 down to a place in the second round of the Davis Cup tennis tournament last evening. Philippoussis, two sets to one down in the final fixture against Switzerland’s George Bastl, went on to win 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to give the defending champions a 3-2 win. Woodruff had a slightly easier time giving the USA their 3-2 victory after beating Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-4. It was the first time since 1981, when Arthur Ashe made his debut in Mexico as captain of the team, that the USA had come from 2-1 down to win the tie. For Australia, they had not performed the feat for more than 15 years. Czech Republic and Germany, both leading by 2-1 against Britain and the Netherlands respectively, put in perfect display to win both singles and secure 4-1 scorelines. Four other first round fixtures were already decided on Saturday as 3-0 winning scorelines were secured by Spain, who beat Italy; Russia, who had the better of Belgium; Brazil, who vanquished France; and Slovakia, who downed Austria. The April 7 to 9 quarterfinals comprise Australia against Germany, USA versus Czech Republic, Brazil against Slovakia and Spain versus Russia. Australian No 1 Lleyton Hewitt beat fellow teenager Roger Federer 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 before Philippoussis earned the final victory. The Swiss led after Saturday’s doubles when Federer and Lorenzo Manta, playing together for the first time, beat Wayne Arthurs and Sandon Stolle 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). That win had put the home team within one triumph of one of the biggest upsets in Davis Cup history - but the Australians were able to fight back on a long and emotional final day. Only four times since the current system was introduced 30 years ago have the defending champions failed to make it past the first round in cup play — and this was a narrow escape for the Australians. On Friday, Hewitt had beaten Bastl 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, though Roger Federer had the better of Philippoussis 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4. Woodruff earned the USA a quarterfinal berth but world No 1 Andre Agassi had earlier pulled them back from the brink when he overcame Wayne’s older brother Byron 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to level the first round tie at 2-2. On Saturday Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett had put Zimbabwe ahead following their 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Rick Leach and Alex O’Brien. In Friday’s opening singles Agassi beat Wayne Black 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 and Byron Black beat Woodruff 7-6 (7/2) 6-3, 6-2. Thomas Haas earned Germany their last eight spot with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Sjeng Schalken for a 3-1 winning lead. David Prinosil made it 4-1 to Germany with a 6-3, 6-3 win over John van Lottum in the dead rubber. On Saturday, Marc-Kevin Gollner and David Prinosil beat Paul Haarhuis and Jan Siemerink 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 after Friday’s singles were shared. Haas beat John van Lottum 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2 and Sjeng Schalken downed Rainer Schuttler 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1, 6-0. In the absence of the injured Greg Rusedski, Britain’s Tim Henman was all too aware Britain’s fate was almost certainly in his hands in both the singles and doubles. And in the end it proved an impossible task for the 25-year-old, who was unable to reproduce his opening-day heroics in the Zimni Stadium. Czech No 1 Jiri Novak proved too strong for Henman in front of a passionate crowd in Ostrava, winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 as the world No 10 visibly wilted. Henman’s defeat
gave the Czechs an unassailable 3-1 lead, before Bohdan
Ulihrach beat Jamie Delgado 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in the dead
rubber. |
Cameroon, SA enter semis ACCRA, Feb 7 (Reuters) — Ten-man South Africa eliminated co-hosts Ghana 1-0 to join Cameroon, who knocked out Alegeria 2-1 after a typically erratic display, in the semifinals of the African Nations Cup yesterday. Sticker Siyabonga Nomvete, one of the few players at the tournament to play for a club in his own country, gave South Africa a 1-0 win over the Black Stars in Kumasi, Ghana’s second city. Four-times champions Ghana played nearly the entire second half with an extra player after Eric Tinkler, the hard man of the South African midfield, was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 48th minute. Cameroon swept into a two-goal lead after half an hour in Accra thanks to Real Madrid’s Samuel Eto ’O and West Ham’s Marc-Vivien Foe, who each claimed their second goal of the tournament, but then had to survive a second-half fightback by Algeria. South Africa and Kaizer Chiefs striker Nomvete missed three gilt-edged chances, but in the 42nd minute he headed in a pinpoint cross from fellow striker Shaun Barlett. It was the first game Barlett, who remained tournament top scorer with four goals, had failed to get on the scoresheet. Ghana, who scraped into the last eight despite losing their final group game 2-0 to Ivory Coast, gave another inept performance which could cost Italian coach Giuseppe Dossena his job. They repeatedly lost possession in midfield, showed no real sense of urgency and were restricted to a couple of long range shots as they failed to trouble goalkeeper Andre Arendse. Their best effort came when Bayern Munich defender Samuel Kuffour headed against the crossbar in the 49th minute. South Africa earned a trip to Lagos for Thursday’s semifinal against the co-hosts Nigeria or Senegal. Cameroon played some entertaining football, but woeful finishing and a few wild tackles left question marks over their ability to win their first Nations Cup since 1986. They took advantage of slack Algerian marking as Eto’O and Foe scored in the eighth and 24th minutes. Algeria came back strongly, reduced the arrears when Abdelhafid, Tasfaout headed his second goal of the cup in the 79th minute and nearly equalised shortly afterwards, when the same player miscued his shot from close range. Cameroon should have been out of sight by then but a string of misses, particularly one by Salomon Olembe, who missed an open goal at point blank range, kept the result in doubt. The indomitable Lions also displayed some of the reckless tackling which marred their last World Cup appearance with captain Rigobert Song, who has already earned the distinction of being sent off at two World Cups, lucky not to be dismissed for sliding, two-footed challenge on Abdelaziz Benhamlet. Surprisingly, Song was not even booked. “We created a lot of chances, that is the positive side”, said Cameroon coach Pierre Lechantre, whose team stay in Accra to play either Egypt or Tunisia on Thursday. Algeria were less happy.
“We didn’t like the refereeing”, said
assistant coach Abdelghanin Djadaoui. |
Manna, Vijayan adjudged top footballers NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (PTI) — Former India captain Sailendra Nath Manna (Sailen Manna) and mercurial striker I.M. Vijayan were today declared footballers of the millennium and the year 1999 respectively by the All-India Football Federation. Manna, who earned the reputation as “iron man of the Indian team” while playing at Hamburg, West Germany in post Olympic tour of the continent in 1952, was the captain of the 1951 Asian Games gold medal winning team and led the country for five years from 1949 to 54, the longest period by a captain. Born in 1924, Manna came into prominence in 1941 while playing in the inaugural Inter-University Football Tournament and was soon picked up by Mohun Bagan and played for it for a number of years. Manna, who was awarded Padma Shri in 1971, also captained India in the 1952 Olympics and the South-East Asia Quadrangular Tournament for three years starting from 1952 and also coached the Indian team for a number of years in the ’60s. Vijayan, at present
playing with F.C. Kochin in the ongoing National Football
League, was selected for his outstanding performance in
the Asia Cup qualifiers at Abu Dhabi in November, AIFF
president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters here
today. |
Argentina fail to qualify for Sydney LONDRINA (Brazil), Feb 7 (AFP) — A goal four minutes from time by Reinaldo Navia handed Chile a 1-0 win over Argentina here yesterday and knocked the Argentines out of the South American Olympic qualifying football tournament. Brazil, who had already bagged the other ticket on offer for the continent by ousting the Chileans 3-1 on Friday, finished the phase unbeaten with a 2-2 draw against Uruguay last night to top the group. They go to Sydney with the Chileans. A 30,000 crowd saw Fabio Bilica give the Brazilians the lead after just four minutes but Uruguay, still behind at the break, stormed back and Risso and Varela had them 2-1 in front by the hour mark. However, Fabio Junior rescued Brazil with the equaliser three minutes before the end. Brazil topped the group with seven points from their three matches. Argentina finished with three and Uruguay one. Argentine coach Jose
Pekerman, who said he felt hard done by with the Chilean
defeat, noted that “we did not reach our objective
and it’s bitterly disappointing. I apologise to the
Argentine people.”
Aussies retain team for NZ series SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) — Australia on Monday named an unchanged one-day squad for their forthcoming tour to New Zealand, sticking with the line-up that beat Pakistan last week in the limited-overs finals series. Steve Waugh’s men completed a dominant summer campaign by thrashing Pakistan by 152 runs in Friday’s second limited-overs final in Sydney. The win clinched the best-of-three finals series 2-0 and was Australia’s ninth victory in a row in the triangular series, leaving them two matches shy of the one-day world record of 11 held by the West Indies and England. Australia will play six one-day internationals against New Zealand from February 16. Squad: Steve Waugh
(captain), Shane Warne (vice-captain), Michael Bevan,
Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist, Ian Harvey, Brett Lee,
Shane Lee, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting,
Andrew Symonds, Mark Waugh. |
Cricket week from April 2 CALCUTTA, Feb 7 (UNI) — As part of an effort to globalise cricket the International Cricket Council (ICC) launches the first edition of cricket week from April 2 to 9. Announcing this here on Saturday ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya said one of the main features of the cricket week would be a special day and night match between Asia XI and Rest of The World XI to be played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on April 8. The Asia XI would comprise best cricketers from India, Pakistan and Sri Laknka, while Test players from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies and Zimbabwe would be drawn together for the World XI side, Mr Dalmiya said. The ICC President
informed that the two teams for the match would be
selected by a panel of reputed former cricketers
appointed by the ICC and the meeting of the panel was
likely to be held in early March. “The selection
proceedings will be telecast during the cricket week. |
Bela Singh steals show in
cart race KILA RAIPUR, Feb 7 — The 66th Kila Raipur Sports Festival, widely perceived to be the biggest rural sports carnival in the country, culminated at the Grewal Sports Stadium here today, amidst great fanfare and festivity. It was on the last day of the three-day “Rural Olympics”, that the sports meet came alive, as unlike the previous couple of days the weather gods seemed to be benevolent for the first time since the meet commenced. Due to the time lost to bad weather, the organisers had to scrap several events. However, favourites like bullock cart racing and tent pegging were held. Since there was still a pool of stagnant water near the cart racing finising line the organisers reduced the distance of bullock cart racing from the normal 300 metres to 240 metres. The organisers, fighting against time, had to coincide the last event of the meet with the visit of the Chief Minister, who, however, did not turn up. Gurdev Singh (64) of village Lalton Kalan pulled a 85 kg heavy iron cultivator with his teeth over a distance of 20 yards — and for his efforts was awarded a tin of desi ghee. Gurjant Singh (34) with a 7.5 kg plough held between his teeth ran a few metres. After the second round of heats in bullock cart racing, 36 bullock carts remained in the fray and the third round saw 16 carts vying for top honours. In the final the winner, among the last four bullock carts, was to be crowned as the “Rural Olympian” of the games. And the honour went to Bela Singh of village Dehlon. Bela Singh, for this years sports meet had specially gone to a village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan to buy “Rajasthani Marwari” breed of bullocks, supposed to be the best racing breed of bullocks. He reared his pair on a rich diet of desi ghee and mustard oil. For all his efforts, he had spent over Rs 80,000 and he was awarded a golden bracelet weighing eight tolas (ounces). Shingara Singh finished second to receive five tolas of gold. So close was the finish that the winner, Bela Singh and runner-up Shingara Singh were separated with the help of photo-finish cameras. In the tent pegging
event four nihangs, attired in their traditional dress,
exhibited their skills to the great delight of the crowd. |
Thorpe, Krayzelburg set records BERLIN, Feb 7 (AFP) — Australian star Ian Thorpe and Lenny Krayzelburg of the USA set new world records at the Berlin World Cup shortcourse meeting but their triumphs came amid controversy over drug testing procedures which almost prompted an Australian and US withdrawal. The 17-year-old Thorpe, who is almost single-handedly rewriting the record books in men’s competition, smashed his own 200 metres freestyle record, clocking 1 minutes 41.10 seconds. “I hope I will be in this form at the Olympics,” said a delighted Thorpe after eclipsing his previous mark of 1:42.54 set in Sydney last month. Aside from the pre-Olympic boost and the kudos of yet another record-breaking showing the teenage star, who has now clocked seven individual world records in the past 18 months, also receives a jeep worth around $ 25,000 for his exploits from the organisers. Thorpe promptly said he would sell the vehicle and give the proceeds to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Krayzelburg bagged his second world mark of the weekend in the 200 metres backstroke, timing 1 minutes 52.43 seconds, having triumphed on Saturday in the 100 metres backstroke. His previous world mark had been 1:52.47. “I was very calm at the start. I concentrated hard and the record was the end result,” said Krayzelburg. Australian and American teams earlier withdrew their threat to quit the meeting. The two teams had raised the prospect of a pull-out on Saturday night after concern over what they considered lax drug testing. Thorpe and Krayzelburg were two of five swimmers tested after the first day of the shortcourse meet on Saturday. But Australian coach Don Talbot was furious that organisers had not provided tamper-proof containers for the urine samples. He said the swimmers had to wait four hours for the matter to be resolved, when the police arrived to seal the plastic bags. Yesterday Talbot gave the green light for his team to compete, saying: “The police gave us every guaranteee concerning the security of the samples.” On the strength of these guarantees the USA also decided to compete. The German swimming
federation (DSV) meanwhile threatened to exclude national
coach Manfred Thiesmann from taking part in the Olympic
Games after remarks he allegedly made about Thorpe. |
North zone yoga from Feb 26 CHANDIGARH, Feb 7 — The third North India Yoga Championship will be held at Chhatrasal Stadium, Delhi, from February 26 to 27. Teams from Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, MP, Rajasthan and UP will participate in this championship, according to Mr Dharam Vir, President, Indian Yoga Federation, today. He said competitions in
girls section in the age groups 8 to 12, 12 to 18, 18 to
25 and in boys 8 to 14, 14 to 20, and 20 to 30 would be
conducted in this meet. Only three competitors from one
team in each group be allowed to participate. The trails
for selecting the Haryana team for this championship
would be held on February 13 at C.R. Stadium, Rohtak. Punjab, Delhi eves win SANGRUR, Feb 7 —
Punjab and Delhi won their opening matches in the North
Zone Inter State Women’s Cricket Championship, which
started here today. In the first match Punjab defeated
Jammu and Kashmir. Batting first Punjab scored 163 for
four in 35 overs, Gulshan was the top scorer with 73
runs. Anjumen scored 25 runs. In reply J&K were
bundled out for only 65 runs in just 22 overs. Anuradha
scored 14 runs for the losers, Kiran took three wickets. |
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