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| Monday, March 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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India
struggling to avoid defeat
Captain’s knock by Gagan
Khoda |
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| Vijaydeep Singh for b’minton
meets CHANDIGARH, March 5 —Vijaydeep Singh of Patiala who is employed with the Railways has been picked by the Badminton Association of India for two prestigious international badminton tournaments — All-England Badminton Championships to be held in the UK from March 7 and the French Open to be held in France from March 15. Miandad recalled as Pak coach PESHAWAR, March 5 — Former captain Javed Miandad was reappointed Pakistan coach for the forthcoming tours of Sharjah, the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, officials said today. Lanka 88 for 2 PESHAWAR, March 5 — Sri Lanka were 88 for two at close on the opening day of the second Test against Pakistan at the Arbab Niaz Stadium today. Defeat spoils Matthaeus’ farewell BERLIN, March 5 — Lothar Matthaeus would have willingly accepted any other Bundesliga farewell than yesterday’s 2-0 defeat by VFB Stuttgart. The 38-year-old veteran, bound for New York-New Jersey Metrostars next week, suffered on a snowy afternoon. Hingis, Davenport in final SCOTTSDALE (USA), March 5 — Top seed Martina Hingis needed little more than an hour to defeat third-seeded Mary Pierce and set up a clash with her nemesis, Lindsay Davenport. Jimmy Adams named West Indies captain BRIDGETOWN, (Barbados), March 5 — Jimmy Adams was named the West Indies captain for the forthcoming home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan. FC
Kochin down Tollygunge
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India struggling to avoid defeat BANGALORE, March 5 (PTI) — Mohammed Azharuddin struck an unbeaten half-century in a splendid act of defiance but India were left battling to avoid an ignominious innings defeat and a 0-2 series rout against South Africa on the fourth day of the second and final cricket Test here today. Set a daunting task of staving off an embarrassing defeat with two full days left after South Africa set a massive first innings lead of 321 before being bowled out for 479 early in the day, India were struggling at 196 for five in their second innings — still 126 runs away from making the visitors bat again — at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The 37-year-old Azharuddin, back in the side for his 99th Test after seven months in the wilderness, showed glimpses of his wristy elegance and sheer experience to be unbeaten on 73 after a stay of well over three hours. A determined Anil Kumble (14 batting) was giving him company, the two having raised 52 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket at close after another top order capitulation. With Indian hopes of maintaining their 13-year unbeaten Test series run at home effectively buried in the first three days, the hosts trailing 0-1, failed to show any fight to be reduced to 95 for four in the afternoon once they suffered the big blow of losing skipper Sachin Tendulkar (20) cheaply. Azharuddin stemmed the rot with a vital 49-run fifth wicket stand with debutant Mohammed Kaif (23) before teaming up with Kumble as India braced themselves to prevent their fifth straight Test defeat. Azharuddin, who came to bat with India precariously placed at 71 for three, dug into his vast experience and even opened out to reach his 50 with a six off left-arm spinner Nicky Boje. His knock (198 m, 144 b) was also studded with 10 boundaries. Boje, playing in only his second Test, was a marked contrast to the predominantly listless Indian spin attack as he did most of the damage to return excellent figures of three for 56 after sending down as many as 31 overs. The Free State player, who took two for 10 in the first innings and then struck 85 as nightwatchman to steer his team into a position of strength, struck close to lunch when he had both the out-of-form Dravid (18) and youngster Wasim Jaffer (23) edging sharply spinning deliveries to close catching positions. India lost both Ganguly and Tendulkar after lunch to be in disarray. The left-hander fell leg before for the second successive time, this time paying the price for not offering a shot to a ball from Boje that kept low and struck him on the back pad. He made 13 in an hour’s stay. The South African pace bowlers, who had settled to a fine rhythm after Dravid and Jaffer punished a poor line early on, accounted for Tendulkar. The batting maestro, who did not appear to be in the best of forms, departed soon after for 20 (76 m, 53 b, 2 x 4), Herschelle Gibbs taking a low catch at point as he tried to cut a widish ball from pace spearhead Allan Donald. Azhar did face some anxious moments against the pacemen, Mornantau Hayward in particular, as he was tested with a series of short, rising deliveries. But along with Kaif, he took the score to 123 for four at tea, the two looking set for a big match-saving partnership. Jacques Kallis then ended Kaif’s tenure by trapping him leg before for 23 (82 m, 135 b) to raise fears of India going down quickly. India (Ist innings): 158 South Africa (Ist innings): G. Kirster c W. Jaffer b Kumble 79 H. Gibbs lbw b Kumble 4 N. Boje b Kumble 85 J. Kallis c Jaffer b Kumble 95 D. Cullinan c Jaffer b Kumble 53 L. Klusener c Tendulkar b M. Kartik 97 H. Cronje b Srinath 12 S. Pollock c Tendulkar b Kartik 1 M. Boucher b Kartik 15 A. Donald lbw b Kumble 7 M. Hayward not out 0 Extras: (b-24, lb-3, nb-4) 31 Total (all out in 191.4 overs) 479 Fall of wickets: 1/10, 2/171, 3/186, 4/271, 5/435, 6/441, 7/449, 8/468, 9/477. Bowling: Srinath 30-6-53-1, Kumble 68.4-15-143-6, Chopra 24-3-78-0, Kartik 50-11-123-3, Tendulkar 10-2-23-0, Ganguly 6-1-18-0, Mohd Kaif 3-0-4-0. India (2nd innings): R. Dravid c Pollock b Boje 18 W. Jaffer c Kallis b Boje 23 S. Ganguly lbw b Boje 13 S. Tendulkar c Gibbs b Donald 20 M. Azharuddin batting 73 M. Kaif lbw b Kallis 23 A. Kumble batting 14 Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-3) 12 Total (for 5 wkts, 87 overs) 196 Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-48, 3-71, 4-95, 5-144 Bowling: Donald
13-5-52-1, Pollock 18-11-21-0, Hayward 16-0-31-0, Boje
31-12-56-3, Cronje 3-0-17-0, Kallis 6-3-10-1. |
Azhar, Jadeja back in 1-day squad BANGALORE, March 5 (PTI) —Veteran Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja staged a comeback while young batsman Mohammed Kaif and promising medium-pacer Amit Bhandari received the nod in the Indian one-day cricket squad named for the upcoming series against South Africa. The 37-year-old Azharuddin was not considered for the team since he led India in the England World Cup in May-June last year while Ajay Jadeja had missed the one-day tri-series in Australia held in January as he had not fully recovered from a right shoulder injury. The 14-member squad named under Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy will be only for the first three one-dayers to be held at Kochi (March 9), Jamshedpur (March 14) and Faridabad (March 15). The team for the remaining two matches as well as the Sharjah triangular tournament to be held from March 22 to 31 will be announced at Faridabad, cricket board secretary Jaywant Lele told reporters. The national selectors who met here after the fourth day’s play in the second cricket Test against South Africa also selected the 21-year-old Delhi medium-pacer Amit Bhandari, who has consistently been among wickets. The selectors rested pace spearhead Javagal Srinath and omitted Venkatesh Prasad in two major changes. The team: Saurav Ganguly (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mohd Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Mohd Kaif, Robin Singh, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, T. Kumaran, Ajit Agarkar, Amit Bhandari and Samir Dighe. Selection committee chairman Chandu Borde said Srinath was not picked after the bowler himself requested that he be used sparingly. Borde said the 30-year-old bowler could return to the side for the last two one-dayers to be held at Baroda (March 17) and Nagpur (March 19). Prasad, who played in the triseries Down Under, was also left out of the Test series and his omission showed the lack of confidence in selectors about his diminishing abilities. The team featuring many changes also saw the exclusion of batsmen VVS Laxman, Jacob Martin, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Devang Gandhi, who all failed in the triseries in Australia. Samir Dighe, who did a competent job behind the stumps in Australia but hardly contributed with the bat, has been retained as wicketkeeper. Borde said Nayan Mongia, who made a comeback to the side for the first time since the World Cup when he was chosen for the first test in Mumbai, was not considered as he was suffering from fever and back pain. The Baroda stumper, who was not very sharp on the third day of the Test yesterday, did not play today with Rahul Dravid donning the gloves and Anil Kumble coming out to bat ahead of him in the evening. Asked about left-handed opener S. Ramesh, Lele said he has been advised three more weeks of rest. On his controversial
selection for the second Test before being omitted as he
had not recovered from his left thumb injury, the BCCI
secretary said the batsman did not feel any discomfort
batting in Chennai but felt pain facing upto quality
bowlers in the nets here. |
Unbeaten
137 by Rathore SAS NAGAR, March 5 — Impressive batting and bowling performance kept Punjab’s chances for the knockout stage alive on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match against Bihar at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today. Skipper Vikram Rathore led the way scoring unbeaten 137, while left-handed batsman Dinesh Mongia and opener Ravneet Ricky also chipped in with a half century each as Punjab, chasing Bihar’s first innings total of 244, finished the day at a satisfying 269 for four. Medium fast bowler Gagandeep earlier in the morning bowled a controlled spell and scalped three wickets to finish with overall figures of four for 44 as the visitors resuming from their overnight score of 197 for six were bundled out for 244. In fact, it was Rathore who set the momentum for the innings, cutting to third man and then flicking to mid-wicket medium pacer Dheeraj Kumar’s deliveries for two boundaries in the opening over of the innings which yielded 10 runs. The going never proved tough for Punjab batsmen after that. Rathore and Ricky were comfortable against the innocuous Bihar bowling attack. Hardly ever bothered, the duo played their shots confidently as 50 of the innings came in just 10.4 overs. Ricky, who went into the match with the knocks of 134 versus Hyderabad and 83 against Baroda in the last two super league matches, was again assured. Before he was dismissed edging an S Gupta delivery behind the stumps to M.S. Doni 107 runs were already there on the board for the opening-wicket partnership. Ricky’s 50-run knock came from 83 deliveries seven of which were despatched to the fence. Punjab suffered twin jolts at this stage. Yuveraj Singh promoted up the batting order was ruled out caught behind, while Pankaj Dharmani got an lbw verdict to a Gupta delivery which the batsman appeared to have played. The hosts slid from a seemingly solid position to 128 for four when Reetinder Sodhi was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Shaheed Khan. Rathore and Mongia batted beautifully thereafter. Mongia with delicate nudges and pushes while Rathore with authoritative strokes on the either side of the wicket consolidated Punjab’s position. When on 97 Rathore thrashed S. Gupta deliveries for three successive fours to race to 109. Bihar (1st innings): N. Ranjan lbw Gagandeep 39, Javed Khan c Ravneet b Harbhajan 60, Amir Hashmi c & b Harbhajan 22, Rajiv Kumar c Jugnu b Gagandeep 55, Sunil Kumar lbw Harbhajan 5, Manish Kumar b Harbhajan 0, M S Doni c Mongia b Harbhajan 13, Shahid Khan c Mongia b Gagandeep 3, Dheeraj Kumar c Dharmani b Sarandeep 3, Sanjeev Gupta b Gagandeep 19, Anil Kumar not out 5 Extras ( nb 6, w 5, lb 9 ): 20 Total (all out in 108.1 overs):244 Fall of wickets: 1-77, 2-121, 3-150, 4-161, 5-161, 6-197, 7-208, 8-217, 9-219, 10-244. Bowling: Sandeep 25-6-87-0, Gagandeep 26.1-12-44-4, Reetinder 20-6-30-0, Harbhajan 33-11-69-5, Sarandeep 4-2-5-1 Punjab(1st innings): Rathore batting 137, Ravneet c M.S. Doni b S Gupta 50, Yuveraj c M.S. Doni b S Gupta 2, Dharmani lbw S. Gupta 0, Reetinder lbw Shaheed Khan 5, Mongia batting 67 Extras:(nb 3, lb 4, b 1) 8 Total (for four wickets in 70 overs) 269 Fall of wickets: 1-107, 2-111, 3-111, 4-128. Bowling: Dheeraj Kumar
16-2-52-0, Sanjeev Gupta 21-2-82-3, Shaheed Khan
16-2-58-1, Anil Kumar 7-0-37-0, N Ranjan 5-0-14-0, Sunil
Kumar 5-0-21-0. |
Captain’s knock by Gagan Khoda MUMBAI, March 5 (PTI) — Gagan Khoda played a captain’s knock of 83 to help Rajasthan recover from a sorry-looking 75 for 5 to 224 for 9 in their first innings at stumps on the second day of their group A Ranji Trophy super league cricket match against Mumbai here today. Khoda, who opened the innings with Anshu Jain after his bowlers had packed off the remaining five Mumbai first innings wickets quickly in the morning to restrict the hosts to 336, struck 10 fours and a six in his three-hour knock to help the visitors avoid following on. Khoda, who has played for India in one-dayers, and another ex-international Sanjeev Sharma put on 74 runs for the sixth wicket to rally the innings. He was lucky to be let off in the slip cordon by Amol Muzumdar when only one in the second over bowled by Abey Kuruvilla. Later the last-wicket pair of Jaikumar Sharma (21 in 86 minutes) and Shamsher Singh (5 in 45 minutes) frustrated the home team to help Rajasthan end the day 112 runs adrift of Mumbai’s first innings tally of 336 by remaining unbeaten with a stand of 26 runs. Karnataka 119 for 3 CALCUTTA: Holders Karnataka recovered from an early setback to reach 119 for three in reply to Bengal’s first innings total of 316 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy group ‘A’ super league cricket match here today. B Roland (43; 272 mins, 211 b, 4x4) and A Vijay (21) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day. The visitors suffered an early jolt when their reliable opener J Arun Kumar (0) departed leg before to medium pacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla in the opening over, but Roland and Mithun Beerala (35; 147 mins, 107 b, 4x4) did the repair work by adding 59 runs for the second wicket. The Karnataka batsmen found runs hard to come by with the Bengal bowlers, particularly skipper Utpal Chatterjee, maintaining a tight line and length. Chatterjee, a former India spinner, used all his experience to bottle up the Karnataka willowers, and in the process picked up the wickets of Beerala and Tilak Naidu (9) to finish the day with impressive figures of 31-11-44-2. Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 281 for five, the Bengal first innings folded at 316, 75 minutes into the day’s play. Brief scores — Bengal 316 (Saba Karim 129 n.o.; Prasad 4/62, Ganesh 3/62). Karnataka — 119 for
three (B Roland 43 batting). |
Cricket
tie for cyclone victims GURGAON, March 5 — The parliamentarians, cutting across party lines, were all humour and mirth regaling the audiences playing in a cricket match in aid of Orissa super cyclone victims. After batting first in a 30 overs match the spirit of the parliamentarians did not flag even though it became clear that TERI XI was heading for victory. However, the mood on the ground became serious for a few minutes when the Vice-President, Mr Kant fell down. He was inaugurating the match by batting the first couple of balls. Negotiating a ball going way down off side, he lost his balance. Mrs Suman Kant, wife of the Vice-President along with the Governor of Haryana,Mr Mahabir Prasad, played the refree when Mr Kant batted. The match was initially planned for 20 overs each. However, it was extended first to 25 overs and then to 30 overs. The most attractive of the batmen from the parliamentarians was former President of the Indian Youth Congress Satyajit Singh Gaekward. Gaekward, who was declared with the best batsmen, made 31, studded with four hits to the rope and one six it, in a total score of 181 for eight for his side. Other members of the Parliamentarian XI were Information and Broadcasting minister, Arun Jaitley, former Indian Test player, Chetan Chauhan, Rajiv Pratap Singh Rudi, Mohan Rawale, Lakshman Singh, Wasim Ahmed, M.S. Varkey, Mohammed Salim, F.M. Khan, Akhilesh Das and Ashok Mohal. TERI XI team had former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi and a former Ranji player, Vijay Lamba. Prakash Shah, the special UN envoy to Iraq was also part of the team. Bedi bagged two wickets. TERI XI overhauled the score of the Parliamentarians XI with three wickets in hand and seven overs to spare. Mr Jaitley was chosen the man of the match. Rajiv Pratap Singh Rudi was chosen as the best commentator. The awards were given by
the Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. |
Vijaydeep Singh for b’minton
meets CHANDIGARH, March 5 —Vijaydeep Singh of Patiala who is employed with the Railways has been picked by the Badminton Association of India for two prestigious international badminton tournaments — All-England Badminton Championships to be held in the UK from March 7 and the French Open to be held in France from March 15. Two doubles pairs were selected and Vijaydeep Singh, the only one from north India, was picked for bagging the national doubles title at Kochi (Kerala) on March 1 along with Markose Bristow, who has also been selected. Vijaydeep was also a member of the Indian men’s team which secured the third place in the Thomas Cup held at Delhi last month. Gopi Chand, national champion, will, however, miss the All-England Championships as he is not fit. The team: men —Gopi
Chand, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Nikhil Kanetkar, Siddharth
Jain, Chetan Anand, Jose George, Ajit Wijetilak,
Vijaydeep Singh, Markose Bristow, Jassel P. Ismail and
Vincent Lobo. Women—Aparna Popat, BR Meenakshi and
Manjusha Kanwar. |
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PESHAWAR, March 5 (Reuters) — Former captain Javed Miandad was reappointed Pakistan coach for the forthcoming tours of Sharjah, the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, officials said today. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Tauqir Zia said Miandad would take over from Intikhab Alam at the end of the current three-Test home series against Sri Lanka. “Initially, Miandad has been appointed coach until July 13 when Pakistan end four months of non-stop cricket,” Mr Zia said, adding that Intikhab would return to his International Cricket Council (ICC) duties as a match referee. Mr Zia said Saeed Anwar would continue as captain, the PCB having no other option when wicketkeeper Moin Khan sustained a knee injury and had to miss the second Test here. “Moin’s injury disturbed our planning,” he said. Anwar lost the recent
three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka and his team
trail 0-1 in the three-Test rubber. |
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PESHAWAR, March 5 (Reuters) — Sri Lanka were 88 for two at close on the opening day of the second Test against Pakistan at the Arbab Niaz Stadium today. Sri Lanka (first innings): M. Atapattu not out 29 S. Jayasuriya b Akhtar 30 R. Arnold c Zaman b Razzaq 2 P. De Silva not out 18 Extras (lb-4 nb-5) 9 Total (for two wickets) 88 Fall of wickets: 1-58 2-67. Bowling: Waqar Younis 5-0-20-0, Shoaib Akhtar 10-2-25-1 (nb 4), Arshad Khan 14-6-23-0 (nb1), Abdur Razzaq 6-3-9-1, Shahid Afridi 2-0-7-0.
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Defeat spoils Matthaeus’ farewell BERLIN, March 5 (Reuters) — Lothar Matthaeus would have willingly accepted any other Bundesliga farewell than yesterday’s 2-0 defeat by VFB Stuttgart. The 38-year-old veteran, bound for New York-New Jersey Metrostars next week, suffered on a snowy afternoon. His foul on Krisztian Lisztes enabled Krassimir Balakov to open the scoring from a free kick in the 50th minute. He had been substituted and had left the pitch to loud applause from a packed Stuttgart stadium when Lisztes added Stuttgart’s second in the 69th minute. Before the start Matthaeus received a gift from Stuttgart defender Thomas Berthold. His team-mate in Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning side gave him a shirt displaying all the colours he has sported in his prolific career — Borussia Moenchengladbach, Inter Milan, Germany, and, naturally, Bayern. Matthaeus, a teenager
when he made his Bundesliga debut for Moenchengladbach in
1979, will make one more appearance for Bayern when they
host Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. |
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SCOTTSDALE (USA), March 5 (AFP) — Top seed Martina Hingis needed little more than an hour to defeat third-seeded Mary Pierce and set up a clash with her nemesis, Lindsay Davenport. Hingis downed Pierce 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $ 535,000-WTA tour State Farm Tennis Classic to advance to a meeting with Davenport, who beat Russian Anna Kournikova 6-2, 6-2 yesterday. Hingis, who reached her third final of the season, has lost her last four encounters with Davenport, all in straight sets. The biggest of those defeats came in the final of the Australian Open in January. Davenport is 10-8 all-time against Hingis. Pierce had lost just six
games and spent a total of one hour, 42 minutes on the
court in her first two victories before running into
Hingis. |
Jimmy Adams named West Indies captain BRIDGETOWN, (Barbados), March 5 (Reuters) — Jimmy Adams was named the West Indies captain for the forthcoming home series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan. Adams (32), who recently led Jamaica to the Busta Cup championship on Friday, replaced Brian Lara who said on Thursday he was taking a break from international cricket after resigning as captain last week. Lara quit after the
disastrous tour of New Zealand in w0hich the West Indies
lost both Tests and all five one-day internationals. |
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CALCUTTA, March 5 (PTI) — F C Kochin played a neat game to outwit an off-colour Tollygunge Agragami 3-1 in a National Football League tie here today. Mercurial I.M. Vijayan, the spearhead of the Kochin moves, struck early, while Liberian Issac Tondo scored a brace late in the second half to enable the visitors garner three full points at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium encounter. Abdul Latif Seriki was the scorer for the losers who paid the penalty for a over-defensive approach. Kochin went ahead as early as the sixth minute, when Mahesh Gowli cut in from the left, dodged past a couple of rival defenders, and then unleashed a rasping shot which was saved from the goal-line by Tollygunge stopper Nilanjan Guha. But the ball went only as far as Vijayan, who shot in. However, the visitors’ joy was short-lived as Tollygunge restored parity within two minutes as the heavily built Seriki despatched home with a powerful right footer from 15 yards after receiving a loose ball. Kochin, the better team on view, again took the lead in the 76th minute when Tondo slotted in a Vijayan square pass. The Kerala outfit, regarded as the country’s first professional club, consolidated their position two minutes later as Tondo again found the target after outsmarting two Tollygunge defenders with his speed and ball control. F C Kochin now have 28
points from 17 matches, while Tollygunge remain on 25
points after 19 outings. |
Delhi
Blues in semis JALANDHAR, March 5 — The decks are clear for the semifinals of the second All-India Shri Guru Gobind Singh Prize Money Football Tournament currently underway here.Former runners-up Punjab State Electricity Board Hoshiarpur, will square off with New Delhi Blues, in the first semifinal and Punjab Armed Police, Jalandhar, will cross swords with Sporting Club De-Goa, in the second semifinal. From pool B New Delhi Blues became the second team to qualify for the semifinals with six points. Punjab Armed Police are already through to the last four with seven points from two victories and a draw. The first match of the sixth day was played in pool B between New Delhi Blues, Delhi and Jamshedpur Sporting Association, Jamshedpur. The Delhi team opened their account in the seventh minute through Sammer Jung. The second goal was scored by Hitender Rawat in the 38th minute. In the second half the Jamshedpur team tried hard to score but failed. In the last 15 minutes, the Delhi team consolidated the lead in the 78th minute through Bhupinder Negi. Punjab State Electricity
Board defeated Sporting Club De Goa by a solitary goal
scored by Sarabjit Singh off a penalty in the 78th
minute. |
Aarti Singh clinches skeet bronze NEW DELHI, March 5 (PTI) — Promising shooter Aarti Singh killed 23 of 25 birds in the final round to win India a bronze medal in women’s skeet while ace marksmen Mansher Singh and Zorawar Singh kept alive the country’s hopes for a team medal in trap at the World Cup Shotgun Championships here today. National champion Aarti started sluggishly in the first two rounds, scoring 20 and 19, but a brilliant third round performance saw her finish among the medal winners. Azerbaijan’s Zemfira Meftakhetdinova (23+25+25) shot an excellent 73 to clinch the gold and Cypriot Sofia Miaouli (21+23+22 - 66) settled for silver. Aarti, who missed a
bronze in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games by one
point, said she was happy to win her first seniors medal
in an international event. |
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LINARES (Spain), March 5 (PTI) — India’s Viswanathan Anand continued to struggle as he was held to a draw by FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia to be stuck at the bottom while world No 3 Vladimir Kramnik joined fellow Russian Garry Kasparov at the top by crushing Alexei Shirov of Spain in the Linares Super Grandmasters Chess here last night. World No 2 Anand
recovered somewhat after two losses to Shirov and the
peerless Kasparov in the previous rounds, but employing
black pieces he was left with just 1.5 points after being
forced to a draw in just 22 moves against Khalifman, the
lowest ranked player in the field. |
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