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Thursday,
May 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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North Korean teenager deals China a blow Waldner
hints at retirement Tennis legends’ meet from today Roddick enters 2nd round; Gambill ousted ICC anti-graft panel grills Aravinda |
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GND varsity
claims
three trophies Chanderpaul lifts Windies Bayern
stun Real Madrid ONGC, Hoshiarpur cops in final
SZ cricket academy inaugurated
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North Korean teenager deals China a blow Osaka, May 2 Kim Yun-Mi, who turned 19 on Saturday, beat China’s world No 2 Li Ju 3-1 in the third round singles tie, one of the surprises of the tournament so far. The North Korean, rated No 59 and playing in her first world championship, said her opponent “seemed to be a little bit nervous about her technique” in the decisive fourth game. “I am very happy, Li Ju played very hard in the first game, but I was just thinking: ‘Try to beat her’,” said the teenager, who is rated only fifth in her own country. China suffered another reverse, albeit a minor one, in the men’s singles second round today afternoon, when Yan Sen was beaten by Belgium’s Philippe Saive. However, apart from these stumbles, the Chinese bid for a clean sweep of gold medals at the Osaka tournament appeared to be continuing as planned. In the men’s singles, table tennis’s dominant nation had six players through to the third round, as well as five in the women’s singles last 16 and no fewer than three of the four women’s doubles semifinal spots. World No 1 Wang Liqin and Sydney Olympic champion Kong Linghui, seeded one and two, both coasted through to the men’s singles next round, as did third seed Ma Lin. In the women’s singles, world No 1 Wang Nan also continued her attempt to add a second world title to her Sydney Olympic gold medal. Wang swept aside Slovakia’s Eva Odorova 3-0, and afterwards Slovak team captain Vladimir Mihocko admitted his protege could do little to alter the course of the match. “I told her to try her best, but the Chinese player’s serve was very difficult, always different,” he said. The Chinese men and women have already triumphed in the team events here, having won all the table tennis golds at the Sydney Olympics. Swedish two-time world men’s singles champion Jan-Ove Waldner, who won his singles tie against Roko Tosic of Croatia today, said he wanted another nation to take at least one title. “I hope for the sport someone from another country, maybe in Europe, can win something. I think it would be good for the sport if they did,” he said. And the 35-year-old double world champion said he might be the person to do just that. “If I am playing good, for me I feel that I am not afraid to play the Chinese, although I cannot say what they are feeling. But that does not matter.” And after her loss to China’s Yang Yin and Sun Jin in the women’s doubles, Asa Svensson, part of Sweden’s 15th-seeded pairing, admitted she found the Chinese players especially hard to compete against.
AFP |
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Waldner
hints at retirement Osaka, May 2 The 35-year-old Swede, speaking after winning his men’s singles second round tie against Roko Tosic of Croatia, said he was “considering” playing in a tournament over the summer, but after that might retire. And while refusing to absolutely rule out one more world championships, he admitted the next event, in Paris in 2003, was probably too far away. “I don’t know for certain if it will be my last championships, it is difficult to say for sure. But 2003 is a long time to go, maybe too long,” he said. Waldner, a double world singles champion and gold medallist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, added that he was happy with his progress so far in pursuit of a third title despite losing a game to his Croatian opponent.
AFP |
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Tennis legends’ meet from today Mumbai, May 2 Among the all time greats to be seen in action will be the incomparable Bjorn Borg, winner of five Wimbledon singles titles in a row, Guillermo Vilas of Argentina and India’s own Vijay Amritraj in a series of singles and doubles matches. Vijay Amritraj will play John Lloyd of England in the second league match of the tournament at CCI courts tomorrow. Vijay Amritraj told reporters today that his brother Anand will team-up with 1977 French and US Open champion Vilas against Borg and Mansour Bahrami of Iran in the first doubles. The first league match will be between Baharami and Vilas. The six singles players — Borg, Vijay Amritraj, Lloyd, Bahrami, Vilas and Frenchman Henri Leconte — have been divided into two groups of three players each. The tournament will be played on round robin basis and the topper in each group will make it to the final. Anand Amritraj and Ross Case of Australia will be seen only in doubles. The singles and doubles finals will be played on May 6, Vijay Amritraj added. Borg will be seen in action on Friday when he takes on Bahrami in his first league match while Leconte will play Lloyd the same day. Borg will cross swords with Vilas in his second match on Saturday. Borg said the players were very serious and all of them were looking forward to the tournament. Bahrami said he always loved coming to India and playing in front of the Indian crowd was always enjoyable. “People over here are amazing, the hospitality is great and the environment to play tennis is superb especially in Bangalore and Chennai and of course Goa”, Bahrami added. Lloyd, who is making his first trip to Inia, said he loved Indian food and was really looking forward to this visit. “I have heard a lot about this country from my friends and it has looked very interesting so far,” he added. Leconte said it was his
fourth visit to this country and “I love Indian food though it is a bit spicy”. “The events are always well organised over here and all of us are happy to be here. I have very good memories of India and I just love coming back”, Leconte added. Ross Case said he had been here many times in the early 70s though he played in Bangalore six months ago. “We still like to compete by playing hard. This time around we not only want to win but entertain as well. It is fun to play with all these guys and to compete like the olden days”, Case added.
PTI |
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Roddick enters 2nd round; Gambill ousted Houston, May 2 Roddick scored a 6-3, 6-4 win against Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands yesterday for the second time in two weeks. He beat Sluiter in the first round last week in Atlanta on his way to his first ATP title. But fellow American and No 1 seed Jan-Michael Gambill made an unsuccessful first round appearance on clay losing to Norwegian qualifier Christian Rudd, 5-7, 6-3, 2-6. It is the first time Gambill had been seeded No 1 in his career. The 18-year-old Roddick is playing in only his 11th career tournament, but he made an instant mark when he defeated former world No 1 Pete Sampras at the Ericsson Open to reach his first career quarterfinal in March. In other games, third seed Jerome Golmard of France battled his way into the second round by defeating Karim Alami of Morocco, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic also advanced by beating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 7-5, 6-4. The Rochus brothers of Belgium had mixed results against American qualifiers. The sixth-seeded Olivier Rochus defeated 18-year-old Robby Ginepri, 6-4, 6-4, but Christophe Rochus was eliminated by James Blake 6-2, 6-4. Stefan Koubek of Austria held off Dutchman Edwin Kempes, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-3. Gambill’s big serve was not enough on the red clay surface and, despite 15 aces, 50 per cent of his first serves did not land in allowing Norwegian Ruud an opportunity to get in the point. “It was great for me”, Ruud said. “Probably not so great for the tournament, but great for me.” For Gambill, it was simply another frustration. The world No 15 has not gone beyond the second round of the French Open in three tries and has had equally dismal results in most of his other clay court appearances. “I consider myself one of the best in the world on hard courts and grass, but not even in the top 100 on clay,” said Gambill, who is now 1-5 in this tournament — which was formerly in Orlando. “I have to figure it out quickly or
skip all the clay court events. “I don’t know what it is. It’s just not happening for me. Year after year, I have horrifying matches on it”. “I think the hardest thing is the footing,” added Gambill, who has never reached the quarterfinals of any tournament on clay. “I was scrambling around, sliding. It wasn’t so much balls in the corners, but balls in the middle of the court”. Ruud, who had to play his way into the field due to a ranking of 162, said: “When his (Gambill’s) first serve goes in, it is hard to return. HAMBURG: Belgian Justine Henin hinted at a return to her fine early-season form as she beat France’s Anne-Gaelle Sidot to reach the second round of the Hamburg Cup WTA clay court tournament on Tuesday. The sixth-seeded Belgian won 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, but eighth seed Magui Serna of Spain was beaten 4-6, 3-6 by Germany’s Andrea Glass in their first-round match. Bianka Lamade, also of Germany, overcame Tatiana Panova of Russia 7-6, 6-4 to set up a clash with second-seeded South African Amanda Coetzer, and Patty Schnyder of Switzerland came from a break down in each set to beat Austria’s Barbara Schett 6-4, 7-5. Henin began the year in great form, winning both the Gold Coast and Canberra events before losing to Monica Seles in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Since then she has struggled to maintain her momentum, although she managed a semifinal finish in her last outing in Estoril, Portugal. Sidot served for the opening set at 5-3 but dropped her serve to love before capturing the tiebreak 7-5. In the second set, Henin lost a 2-0 lead before breaking for 5-3 and serving out for the set, and she was always in control in the third. “I can be happy because in the first set I was a little bit nervous and she was hitting the ball very hard, and it was difficult for me to be inside the court and aggressive,’’ Henin said. “In the second set I was more relaxed, and in the third set I tried to be more aggressive and go to the net, and everything was going okay for me.’’ Henin’s success in Australia took its toll on her. She was unaccustomed to playing so many matches, while more was then expected from her. “Afterwards it was difficult mentally and physically, and it was difficult to be cool and play the other tournaments,’’ she said. “Now the other players have a lot of respect for me and everybody knows me. I’m a different player. Now I think I’m okay to play my best tennis again.’’ Schnyder gained a rare victory when she overcame friend and sometime doubles partner Barbara Schett to reach the second round. Once ranked No 8 in the world, the 22-year-old has not recovered from a disastrous period of her career that resulted from an ill-fated association with controversial coach Rainer Harnekar. Now ranked 46, she beat her Austrian opponent to claim only her third victory since reaching the semifinals of the Gold Coast event in early January. During that period Schynder, who burst into the top 10 in 1998 with five titles but has since garnered only one more and that was in 1999 in the Gold Coast event, has suffered no less than six opening round defeats.
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ICC anti-graft panel grills Aravinda Colombo, May 2 The International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption panel questioned De Silva in the company of his lawyer on Monday, Sri Lankan investigator Desmond Fernando said. Sri Lanka’s former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who is also implicated in the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report, would be questioned later today, Mr Fernando said. De Silva was questioned by Fernando as well as the chief investigator of the ICC’s anti-corruption panel, Jeff Rees, and fellow investigator Alan Peacock. “Questions suggested by the New Zealand (cricket) board and Martin Crowe’s counsel was also put to De Silva,” Mr Fernando said without elaborating on what the questions were. The former New Zealand skipper has admitted receiving $ 7,500 for what he believed was a series of media articles, but broke contact when he realised it was a scam involving an Indian bookmaker. Ranatunga and his deputy De Silva are accused in the CBI report of taking bribes to engineer a Sri Lankan defeat in the 1994 Test against India at Lucknow. Ranatunga has flatly denied the charge while De Silva maintained that he never took bribes, although he was approached by bookmakers. The head of the ICC anti-corruption panel, former Scotland Yard chief Sir Paul Condon, said after arriving here for a brief visit Saturday that international players named n the Indian match-fixing probe would be investigated beyond the charges made public against them. Asked whether the inquiry would be confined to the Indian CBI report, he said it would also look into matters not mentioned by the Indian investigators. “There would be a whole realm of charges and not confined to the CBI report ... It will expand to further material that would not be in the public domain.” He said all Test-playing nations were affected by the allegations. It was not immediately clear if more players were under investigation and the nature of the new investigation line, but Condon said they had collected an enormous amount of information on how matches were fixed. LONDON: The International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit has submitted its preliminary report to Lord Griffiths, head of ICC’s code of conduct committee, reportedly drawing a deep pessimistic picture of match-fixing in international cricket and indicating that the scourge has not been eliminated, sources said. Confirming that it has been submitted, an ICC spokesman told PTI here today that Lord Griffith would now convene a panel to consider the report which would be forwarded to the ICC board scheduled to meet here on June 15. The board would consider the confidential report on June 18, the spokesman said. He, however, said details of the report would not be made officially known till then. According to sources, the scourge of match-fixing was still going on in international cricket and at least a couple of the matches in the recent one-day series between Pakistan and New Zealand might have been affected. Though no specific allegations have been made against any Pakistani players, Javed Mianded who was coach of the Pakistan team during the New Zealand tour, also reportedly told journalists in Pakistan that matches were fixed and that he wanted an inquiry. Though he later denied having made the comments, the Pakistan board has now appointed its own inquiry panel, headed by a former Inspector-General of Police, Dilawar Hussain, sources said. Sir Paul, who is currently in Sri Lanka as part of the world-wide investigation, said he would not be part of any cover-up.
PTI\AFP |
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Pybus appointed
Pak coach Karachi, May 2 This was announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday, hours before the squad left for London. A PCB official said the contract with Pybus might be extended subject to mutual agreement. Pybus, a born Englishman who is now settled in South Africa and coaches the provincial side, Border, will join forces with Australian bowling coach Daryl Foster to ensure that Pakistan retain their record of winning Test series in England which started in 1987 and continued on the 1992 and 96’ tours. Sources say the reason why the announcement on the contract with Pybus was delayed was over financial matters and because the South African wanted a longer term with the team, which the PCB have not offered him at this stage. Pybus has had two previous working experiences with the team as trainer and coach in the 1999 World Cup and then in Australia.
ANI |
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‘Tyson can’t think, plants feet wrong’ New York, May 2 Adrian Davis guided Rahman to a stunning fifth-round knockout of Lennox Lewis on April 22 to win the Briton’s World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles. Davis, also repeated, in a recent interview, the widespread criticism that Tyson has little stamina past the middle rounds of a fight. “I have a tape. It’s amazing,’’ Davis told Reuters. “Tyson is actually telling (his former trainer) Kevin Rooney ‘I’m getting tired’. That was early in the fight about the fifth round.’’ Added to that, Davis says that if Tyson “goes four, five, six rounds he can’t think.’’ The veteran trainer, who has worked with former champion Sugar Ray Leonard, will work the corner of World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight champion William Joppy when he puts up his title against Felix Trinidad next month. “Mike Tyson is an easy fight for us. Tyson’s feet are all wrong,’’ said Davis, setting himself in a boxing stance with his feet square to an imaginary opponent. “You can’t fight like that. And his hands, they’re like this,’’ said Davis derisively, putting both fists up in front of his face in Tyson’s “peek-a-boo’’ style which some ringsiders say costs him time to pull his hands back to launch a punch. The big question these days for Rahman is who will be his next opponent. The contract with Lewis calls for a rematch. But Rahman’s promoter Cedric Kushner said his man can take an interim fight. Tyson’s handlers have been furiously angling to be Rahman’s next opponent in what would likely to be a big payday for both men.
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Anand, Kramnik to clash in June New Delhi, May 2 The 10-game rapid match face-off will occur in Mainz, 25 km from Frankfurt. Hans-Walter Schmitt, organizer of the annual Frankfurt Chess Classic for the last seven years, has now found a new venue and got consent from the two to play a 10-game rapid match from June 26 to July 1. The Frankfurt Chess Classic had pulled one of the biggest coups last year by getting together top 10 world players for a rapid tournament in Frankfurt. It was the only time in more than 150 years of competitive chess that these players had competed under one roof in the same all-play-all tournament. Now Schmitt, Anand’s close friend, has pulled off another coup by getting the two players to agree to a clash for an undisclosed appearance fee. A match between Anand and Kramnik is something the chess world has been awaiting since Kramnik dethroned Gary Kasparov in the BrainGames “world” title match last year, and more so after Anand won the official FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs) World Championships in New Delhi and Teheran. When the top 10 players played at Frankfurt last year, they had done so under the 25 minutes per game rule. But this time, Kramnik insisted on 10 extra seconds for each move. Anand, who is considered among the “fastest players of all time” finally agreed. The highlight, of course, will be the 10-game clash between Anand and Kramnik. On June 23 and 24, Anand and Kramnik will respectively, give a simultaneous display against 40 opponents. Interestingly, 20 of these boards will be auctioned to the highest bidders — which means amateur players can bid to get one of the 20 slots to play against a world champion of their choice. In addition, the programme also includes an eight-game match between world No. 6 Peter Leko, who had taken lessons from the legendary Bobby Fishcer, and World No. 4 Michael Adams, the England No. 1.
IANS |
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GND varsity
claims three trophies Amritsar, May 2 The Osmania University plantium jubilee and Kridamaharshi Shri Meghnath trophies have been won for 4th times consecutively by women sportsperson. By winning these prestigious trophies, the Registrar added, the university was likely to retain the coveted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy for the 16th time for which the formal announcement is yet to be made by the H.R.D. Ministry. |
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Chanderpaul lifts Windies
St John’s, May 2 West Indies, put in to bat on a good pitch at the Recreation Ground, made a studied but sluggish start, scoring 51 without loss in the first 15 overs. They became even more bogged down, with opener Leon Garrick struggling to score just 16 runs from 61 balls before running himself out attempting an impossible single. Fellow opener Chris Gayle was starved of the strike for much of the opening stand but completed a solid half-century from 70 balls before mistiming a drive against a Lance Klusener slower ball and holing out to Shaun Pollock at mid-off for 50. Brian Lara (13) failed to settle against tight bowling from Allan Donald and Jacques Kallis and was also dismissed by Klusener, Pollock holding his second catch at mid-off. Chanderpaul was in sublime form, however, striking Klusener for a pair of sixes over mid-on and mid-wicket before launching Donald for a third six back over the bowler’s head. Hooper, too, scored at better than a run a ball, riding his luck to reach 48 from 46 balls with four boundaries and another straight driven six, this time against Kallis. Chanderpaul’s demise came after another misunderstanding between the batsmen when Hooper wisely refused a second run and sent the left-hander back, only for Boeta Dippenaar’s throw from the cover boundary to beat him by almost 10 yards. Chanderpaul’s 60 runs required just 54 balls and contained two fours and three sixes. Hooper then sliced a slower ball from Pollock high to Justin Ontong at extra cover, while Marlon Samuels (3) made a bizarre decision to attempt a run after playing the ball straight to Jonty Rhodes at backward point. Rhodes trotted in to remove the bails and complete the third run out of the innings. Two further wickets fell in the final over as the home side’s innings fell away, kallis bowling Neil McGarrell (3) and Nixon McLean holing out to Herschelle Gibbs at extra cover first ball. West Indies Garrick run out (Kallis) 16 Gayle c Pollock b Klusener 50 Lara c Pollock b Klusener 13 Chanderpaul run out (Dippenaar) 60 Hooper c Ontong b Pollock 48 Jacobs not out 13 Samuels run out (Rhodes) 3 McGarrell b Kallis 3 McLean c Gibbs b Kallis 0 Dillon not out 1 Extras: (b-1 lb-4 nb-3 w-5) 13 Total: (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 220 Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-80, 3-104, 4-190, 5-208, 6-214, 7-218, 8-218 Bowling:
Pollock 10-1-34-1 (w-1), Telemachus 9-0-50-0 (w-1), Donald 10-0-40-0 (w-1), Kallis 10-1-38-2 (nb-1, w-1), Klusener 5-0-28-2 (nb-2, w-1), Ontong 6-0-25-0.
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Bayern stun Real Madrid Madrid, May 2 The victory puts Bayern firmly in the driving seat in
the tie, and they will feel confident that they can hang on to their
advantage when the two team’s meet again in the second leg in Munich’s
Olympic Stadium on May 9. Bayern’s coach Ottmar Hitzfeld
preferred to view the result as a fair return for his tactical
judgement rather than a lucky win. “From the very beginning I knew
that a good defence was necessary and our own defence played
magnificently. We always believed we could score on the counter-attack
because we expected Madrid to risk everything going forward, and so it
proved,” Hitzfeld said. “Although a 2-0 win would have been
unfair.” Hitzfeld paid tribute to his goalkeeper Oliver Kahn for
keeping a clean sheet under almost continuous assault from Real
Madrid. Real Madrid, the reigning European champions, will feel
dismayed that they were unable to find the net after dominating the
match for long periods. After Elber’s 55th-minute goal against
the run of play, the hosts threw everything they could at Bayern and
only heroics from Oliver Kahn in the Bayern goal prevented Real
levelling the score, or even clinching victory. Raul, Michel
Salgado and Ivan Helguera all had shots acrobatically saved by Kahn in
the final half hour. Real though will also regret not putting the game
beyond Bayern Munich’s reach by half time. The first 45 minutes will chiefly be remembered for the series of missing opportunities by the hosts, who repeatedly prised open the Bayern defence but could not finish off a number of clear-cut chances. Only four minutes had elapsed when Raul shot high and wide when in front of the Bayern goal. After 15 minutes, Michel Salgado made an outstanding run down the right wing but no one was able to stab his cross into the open goal. Raul again failed to find the net after half an hour, when he chipped over the prone Oliver Khan in the Bayern goal from out on the left. However, the ball agonisingly trickled along the line and beyond the post. A fourth chance went begging four minutes before the break when Jose Maria Gutierrez failed by inches to get his foot to an outstanding pass from Ivan Helguera. After the break, Brazilian Elber then celebrated his goal by kissing the knee which he had operated on just a fortnight ago after they ousted Manchester United. However,
his evening ended prematurely after he tumbled over in the area
chasing on to a through ball and he had to go off to be replaced by
the more cumbersome Carsten Jancker. AFP |
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ONGC, Hoshiarpur cops in final Kangra, May 2 B.S. Negi of the ONGC, the right striker, scored the only goal in the 28th minute of the first half. Both the teams played well in the second half, though no team could score a goal. Hoshiarpur Police also entered the finals defeating the last year’s champion, Punjab Sports Club, Faridabad, by 3-0 goal to nil in an impressive match last evening. Bichter Singh of Hoshiarpur Police scored the first goal in the 12th minute of the first half through corner kick directing to the net and Vicky goal keeper of Faridabad, who represented India too, could not stop the ball. In the second half Bichter Singh again scored for the winning team, while the third goal was scored by Bobby. Chennai, May 2 Zonal academy chief coach and former India wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani said a system wouldbe in place
through this academy based on what is practiced by the Australian Cricket Academy. He said emphasis will on fielding and physical fitness, which is lacking amongst the cricketers in India. The academy was inaugurated by Vino Mammen, Vice-Chairman, MRF and Vice-President, TNCA. Stating that such facilities were not available to him, Kirmani said ‘these boys are lucky that they have all facilities and equipment to improve their standards’.
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