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| Monday, June 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
India beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets
Ponting stars in Aussie win |
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Anand beats Leko, enters
final
Hendrawan wins
badminton
crown India lift Junior Asia Cup Athletes condemn AAFI
decision
CBI team’s visit
delayed Spotlight on Anju
Markose
Swimming trials on
June 13
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India beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets Bulawayo, June 10 The Indians reached the victory target of 184 losing just two wickets in their second innings from 53.4 overs with opener Shiv Sunder Das coming up with a brilliant unbeaten effort of 82. It was a thoroughly professional performance by the Indians who dominated the match right from the start after having taken a 145-run lead. India’s last Test win outside the subcontinent came in 1986 against England and the latest triumph comes fresh in the wake of their stunning 2-1 series win against Australia two months ago. The win also gave India sweet revenge against the Zimbabweans who had defeated them in the one-off Test in Harare by 61 runs in 1998. The target of 184 runs never really looked to be difficult for the Indians after they had bowled out Zimbabwe for 328 this morning. Das and Sadgopan Ramesh gave India a reasonably good start putting up 71 runs for the opening wicket. Though Ramesh perished at 17, Das, the eventual man-of-the-match continued to play an attractive innings in the company of V.V.S. Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar to anchor his side to a historic victory. Das and Laxman were engaged in an aggressive 61-run stand for the second wicket which put paid to any hopes the Zimbabweans might have had of stretching play into the last day. Laxman was very flamboyant in his 35-ball knock of 38 that contained five fours and a lucky six. When Laxman was finally out, caught and bowled by Grant Flower, the Indians were 52 runs away from victory. Tendulkar joined Das and completed the formality less than a hour into the final session remaining unbeaten on 36 when India reached the target. But it was Das who actually stole the limelight. Having survived a few anxious moments earlier in his innings, Das settled down to play some delightful strokes all around the wicket. His 183-ball knock contained 10 hits to the fence. He was lucky to have been let off by Andy Blignaut of his own bowling and again when a top edge off his bat landed in between the fielders at first slip and gully. Off the very second ball of the innings, Das seemed to have edged a Blignaut delivery to wicket-keeper Andy Flower but the umpire gave the batsman the benefit of doubt. In the end, those lifes could take nothing away from the classy innings of Das who was unlucky to have been given out, caught bad-pad, in the first innings. Laxman too was in his elements as he indulged in some beautiful drives and pulls on both sides of the wicket. He hit Watambwa for a crushing boundary through the covers and hooked the very next ball over mid-wicket for a six, though a lucky one as substitute fielder Mluleki Nkala stepped on the ropes after catching the ball. Unnerved, Laxman played a brilliant square cut in the bowler’s next over for another boundary. He was in great form and looked set for a big score when a casual-looking shot off Grant Flower, bowling his first over, gave the bowler an easy return catch. However, Zimbabwe had hardly any reasons to rejoice. Bowling with a depleted attack since captain Heath Streak and Henry Olonga were out of the field due to injuries, they got no chance against Tendulkar and Das who were subdued in the three overs between Laxman’s dismissal and tea break but opened up again after the break. Tendulkar took 49 balls for his 36 runs which was studded with four boundaries. India had played 38 Tests outside the subcontinent since their last win at Headingly, England and lost 19 of them while drawing the other 19. Zimbabwe (1st innings): 173 India (1st innings): 318 Zimbabwe (2nd innings): Ebrahim c Dravid b Srinath 0 Whittall c Ramesh b Srinath 20 Carlisle c Laxman b Nehra 52 Campbell c Das b Harbhajan 16 Murphy c Das b Khan 10 Flower c Ramesh b Nehra 83 Flower run out 71 Streak lbw b Khan 14 Blignaut not out 32 Olonga b Srinath 0 Watambwa run out 0 Extras (b-1, lb-17, nb-10, w-2) 30 Total (all out) 328 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-34, 3-63, 4-86, 5-134, 6-235, 7-273, 8-308, 9-312. Bowling: Srinath 32.2-11-71-3, Nehra 26.4-4-77-2, Harbhajan Singh 37.5 8-92-1, Zaheer 22-6-44-2, Tendulkar 6-0-23-0, Ganguly 1-0-3-0. India (2nd innings): S S Das not out 82 S Ramesh c Carlisle b Blignaut 17 Laxman c and b G Flower 38 Tendulkar not out 36 Extras (b-4, w-1, nb-6) 11 Total (for 2 wkts, 53.4 overs) 184 Fall of wickets: 1-71, 2-132. Bowling: Watambwa 15-4-54-0, Blignaut 12-3-25-1, Murphy 18.4-1-78-0, G Flower 8-0-23-1.
PTI |
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Ponting stars in Aussie win
Bristol, June 10 Australia, with two wins out of two, got home with three balls to spare, captain Steve Waugh sealing victory with two consecutive fours off medium-pacer Mark Ealham. The world champions, needing 24 off three overs to overhaul England’s 268 for four, got back on track when all-rounder Ian Harvey hit a six over extra cover off the last ball of the penultimate over from Ben Hollioake, leaving five needed off six balls. Waugh said: “We were probably fortunate to get away with it. “England played very well. It’s been a really good start for us. It’s not easy to chase a big total and win.’’ Ponting, “man of the match’’ for the second time in two days after scoring 70 in Australia’s opening win over Pakistan, was involved in stands of 89 with Mark Waugh and 97 with Damein Martyn. Earlier, England scored 268 for four following a 124-run second-wicket partnership between Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight. The two left-handers struck a succession of powerful boundaries as England recovered from a slow start to unsettle the world champions. Trescothick made 69 off 75 balls and Knight a 116-ball 84 which included seven fours and two sixes, but Australia recovered from that onslaught before England accelerated again in the final overs. Alistair Brown was first out for 12, attempting to hit Glenn McGrath through the off-side and edging a catch to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. Trescothick and Knight, however, after struggling to 25 for one after 10 overs, then plundered the much-vaunted Australian attack, 75 runs coming off the next 10. Knight advanced down the pitch to strike McGrath over mid-off for four and Trescothick followed suit, clipping Ian Harvey to the mid-on boundary three times and then clearing the ropes at mid-wicket. Knight, who passed 2,000 runs in one-day internationals, then hit Brett Lee over long-off for six as England reached 66 for one after 15 overs. Scoreboard England: Trescothick run out 69 Brown c Gilchrist b McGrath 12 Knight c Warne b Lee 84 Stewart lbw b Lee 25 Shah not out 28 Hollioake not out 37 Extras: (lb-10 w-2 nb-1) 13 Total: (for four wickets, innings closed) 268 Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-137 3-189 4-198 Bowling: McGrath 10-1-45-1, Lee 10-1-55-2 (nb1 w1), Harvey 10-0-59-0 (w1), Warne 9-0-48-0, Symonds 3-0-24-0, M.Waugh 8-0-27-0. Australia: Gilchrist c Shah b Gough 4 M. Waugh b Cork 46 Ponting run out 102 Martyn b Mullally 46 Symonds b Gough 23 S. Waugh not out 26 Harvey not out 19 Extras: (b-1, lb-4, w-1) 6 Total (for five wickets, 49.3 overs) 272 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-101, 3-198, 4-211, 5-230. Bowling:
Gough 10-2-44-2, Mullally 10-1-50-1, Ealham 8.3-0-60-0, Cork 10-0-39-1, Croft 7-0-46-0, Hollioake 4-0-28-0.
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Kuerten French Open champ Paris, June 10 The Brazilian top seed, champion here in 1997 and 2000, becomes only the sixth player to complete a hat-trick of Roland Garros singles titles. Kuerten, who struggled to find his rhythm in the first two sets, raced to the brink of victory at 5-0 up in the fourth with sublime clay-court tennis that Corretja could not match. Corretja saved three match points at 0-40 with a string of incredible recovery shots from the baseline before finally succumbing on the fourth, putting a forehand wide as Kuerten took the match in three hours 13 minutes. Just as he had at the end of his fourth-round match against American Michael Russell, when he had saved a match-point in the third set, Kuerten drew a heart on the court. This time he also lay down in the clay in relief at landing his third title. Kuerten is the first champion to defend his title since Sergi Bruguera in 1994. Corretja also lost the 1998 final to compatriot Carlos Moya. Corretja, the number 13 seed, took the first set off the Brazilian 7-3 on the tie-break and rocked the defending champion further as he eased into a 2-0 lead in the second. But the top seed upped his game to unmatchable levels as the sun came out on centre court, his groundstrokes flashing past an increasingly bemused Corretja. Kuerten came into the final as the overwhelming favourite after his stunning victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semifinals. Early in the match he found Corretja a very different type of Spanish test, however, as the experienced Catalan kept probing from the baseline, with every shot heavily spun. Corretja stunned Kuerten by breaking in game two. After a short rain interruption that the players sat out on court the Brazilian broke straight back. Corretja, who has still to win a Grand Slam title, broke again for a 4-2 lead, gliding in to pick off a poor Kuerten drop shot on the crucial point. But once again Kuerten managed to break back straight away as Corretja looked to go 5-2 ahead, a devastating backhand clipping the line. The pair then settled into a better service rhythm and the set went to 6-6 and a tie-break. Crowd favourite Gustavo Kuerten clinched a third French Open title on Sunday before wooing Roland Garros with his new linguistic skills. “As I said I would last year, I am going to speak French this year,” he said to rapturous applause after beating Spain’s Alex Corretja 6-7 7-5 6-2 6-0. Last year Kuerten thanked the centre court crowd in English. After Sunday’s triumph the top seed said in French: “The centre court is incredible it is an unbelievable atmosphere. “I really enjoyed playing here all tournament and thank you all for everything. I want to thank Alex he is a great competitor and a great person. “Excuse me but I want to say something in Portuguese to all my Brazilian fans,” he said, before thanking the Brazilians in the 15,000-strong crowd. Switching to English the Brazilian said: “It is a great feeling, it was a great fight especially in the first two sets. “At the beginning I was nervous but finished off playing my best tennis. “Alex is always a top opponent... especially today he really push himself hard. But I made a good fight and a good comeback. “It is more than all my dreams to become three times a French champion.” Corretja also addressed the French crowd in their mother tongue. “Well done to Guga, he played a great match towards the end,” he said. “I commend you for your great victory. I think the second set was vital. I had a break point at 5-5 in that set but afterwards he played super well. When I lost that second set I lost the key to the match.”
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We knew we could do it: Paes Kolkata, June 10 The Grand Slam victory, coming after a gap of almost one and half years, proved that they had not lost their old magic as a team after their acrimonious split in May last year. The title was very important for the two players striving to convince themselves and hordes of detractors that they could still be a potent force in the world of men’s doubles after rejoining forces in August last. The three-month separation saw the career-graphs of the duo plunge sharply and it was only a matter of time before the two friends realised that being together was the best prospect to make an impact in the circuit. Despite a series of indifferent performances in their “second innings”, Paes and Bhupathi believed in their abilities and stuck to their task silently and sincerely, hoping to regain the magic which had made them household names in a sports-crazy country. The moment came last night when they eased out the 10th seed Czech pair of Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner in straight sets to annex the French Open doubles crown, silencing all the doubting Thomases. The last time the duo had won the French Open title was in 1999, when they became the first pair in 47 years to reach all four Grand Slam finals in the same year, winning at the Rolland Garros and Wimbledon. “We knew all along we could do it, that’s why we had got back together. There was a time when our rankings dropped so much that we were contemplating playing lower-level tournaments. But never thought we had made a mistake by rejoining forces,” Paes had told his media friends. The former number one pair were a trifle lucky at the French Open this time.
PTI |
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Capriati: from oblivion to stardom Paris, June 10 After arrests for shoplifting and possession of marijuana, it was Capriati’s mug shot being plastered across newspapers and magazines eight years ago rather than billboards. It was a far different image being captured on film on Saturday, as a beaming Capriati added another chapter to her fairytale renaissance with a gritty 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 win over Belgian teenager Kim Clijsters in the final of the French Open. Almost overnight, it seems, the 25-year-old American has gone from being a subject the WTA were reluctant to discuss, to a shining example of human resilience. With two Grand Slams already in the bank, Capriati has gone from the brink of tennis extinction to becoming its leading lady, on course to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to lift all four Grand Slams in the same calendar year. Only three women have ever swept the Grand Slams in a single year and Capriati, displaying some of the same confidence in the interview room that she displays on the court, indicated that she has not written off her chances of accomplishing the rarest of tennis feats. “I think anything is possible right now,’’ shrugged Capriati. “I didn’t expect I would win the first or two in a row. “Who knows what can happen.’’ In 1990 Capriati arrived at Roland Garros as a fresh-faced 14-year-old prodigy and confirmed that potential leaving Paris as the youngest player to reach the final four of a Grand Slam. But the pressures of the multi-million dollar contracts and sky-high expectations soon got to Capriati, leading to burn-out and arrest on charges of shoplifting and possession of marijuana forcing her from the game in 1994 and 1995. With wins in Australia and France, the tough part has been done. The hard-hitting American has declared a preference for faster surfaces such as grass and hardcourt, on which Wimbledon and the US Open are played. Before her fall from grace, Capriati’s two best Grand Slam events were always the ones staged at the All-England Club and Flushing Meadows. In her first three visits to Wimbledon as a teenager, she advanced to the fourth round, semifinals and quarterfinals; her first two trips to the US Open ended in the fourth round and semifinals. As Capriati returned to form so did her presence in the latter stages of the big events, including fourth round appearances last year at Wimbledon and the US Open. “I haven’t won every Grand Slam so I don’t know which one is the most difficult,’’ laughed Capriati. “I mean usually I like the faster surfaces, this was tough for me being on clay. “We’ll have to see how it goes.’’ While Capriati was willing to speculate on her Grand Slam prospects, she was unwilling to handicap her chances at Wimbledon later this month, preferring to revel in her latest triumph. “I’m not even thinking about Wimbledon yet,’’ said Capqriati. “But I like the grass, I feel comfortable on grass. “I can’t wait to play on it. But I’m going to take some time to rest, regroup, freshen up, forget about this and go on to the next one.’’
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Anand beats Leko, enters final
Anand will now take on grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain in the final in a repeat of last year’s match. It was a perfect display of precision combined with speed that steered Anand to a scintillating 1.5-0.5 victory in the tie-break blitz games after the advance match ended 2-2. Playing white in the first game, Anand faced the Petroff defence and Leko did not have any difficulty in getting a balanced position after the opening. Anand started his play on the queenside with a pawn roller while on the other flank Leko made a foray with all his pieces. The pressure on the kingside became increasingly difficult to handle and Anand had to part with a rook for a knight on the 31st move to stay in the game. Leko went for exchanges and reached a winning endgame. Anand called it a day after 49 moves. In the second game Anand struck back with vengeance with the black pieces to level the scores. It was a Sicilian Nazdorf where Leko did not shy away from complications and castled queenside. Anand’s pieces coordinated excellently in the middlegame and he launched an attack against the king along the queen bishop file. By the 22nd move itself computer programme Fritz-6 declared the position as won for black and Leko resigned after 25th move when loss of material became inevitable. The third game was a Petroff by Leko again but this time Anand played it cautiously in one of the popular variations. The pieces got exchanged at regular intervals and the ensuing minor piece endgame was drawn in 48 moves. Anand came up with a surprise by adopting the Petroff defence himself in the fourth game and drew comfortably after trading the knights. This game turned out to the shortest in the match and lasted only 20 moves. The stage was set for the five-minutes blitz games and Leko appeared under pressure right from the start. Playing white, Anand made most of a tactical shot and won a pawn amidst complexities but with his clock ticking away, decided against pressing hard and settled for a draw.
PTI |
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Vieira seals French victory Yokohama, June 10 He scored when defender Frank Leboeuf sent a long, upfield pass to the edge of the box where Vieira out-jumped Naoki Matsuda and goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi to steer a high looping header home. It was a bad mistake by the goalkeeper who appeared to hesitate rather than clear the ball and it was the first goal Japan had conceded in five matches in the tournament. But Japan rarely threatened the outstanding French defence in which Marcel Desailly and Leboeuf soaked up what little Japanese pressure came their way. For Vieira, who waited four years and 40 matches to score his first goal for France in the opening match against South Korea on May 30, it was his second goal in 12 days and underlined his place in the tournament’s All-Star team. France now emulate Brazil as the only other country to hold three international titles at the same time. Brazil won the World Cup in 1994 and the Copa America and Confederations Cup in 1997. France, added this title to the World Cup they won in 1998 and the European Championship they won a year ago. Before the match silence was observed as a mark of respect to the eight primary school children murdered in Osaka last week.
Reuters
Yokohama
Yokohama
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India lift Junior Asia Cup Ipoh, June 10 Dominating the match from the word go, India led 5-0 at the break against a fighting Uzbekistan. In the very fourth minute, full back Jugraj Singh, captain of the Indian team, drew first blood following a penalty ‘stroke’ and he scored twice later (third and fifth goals), while K P Dinesh and Bikramjit Singh were the other scorers in the first half. While Indian players grit and determination paid off, the rivals were made to return empty handed by the Indian defence, which deserved full credit for thwarting the efforts of Uzbekistan, who squandered five penalty corners and a ‘stroke’ Indian goalkeeper Suraj Kantha from Manipur was at his best today and brought off an excelent save to deny Usmanov Ilhomsojon’s push. The stroke was awarded for an Indian defender’s infringement inside the circle. At that time India were leading 2-0. In the second hald, forward Imitiaz Ahmed and right half, Sandeep Kumar scored the sixth and seventh goals for India. Compared to India’s eight penalty corners, of which two resulted in goals, Uzbekistan squandered all five penalty corner attempts. Jugraj Singh, who scored 14 goals in the tournament in five matches, was adjudged the top scorer of the Asia Cup, while Rajpal Singh was picked as the best player of the tournament. Tushar Khandekar, the wily forward, who was instrumental in almost all of India’s seven goals, was adjudged as the ‘man of the match’ in the final. Three members of the Indian team made it into an Asian xi. A panel of selectors drawn from the Asian region selected Jugraj Singh, Suraj Khantha and Rajpal Singh. The Asian XI has been selected for future tournaments in the coming season in the under-18 category. The victorious Indian team will be arriving in Chennai tomorrow
morning. PTI |
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Hendrawan wins
badminton
crown Seville, June 10 Olympic silver medallist Hendrawan won 15-6 17-16 after a dramatic final at the San Pablo Stadium which lasted just under an hour. Hendrawan, who won his place in the final after his semi-final opponent Taufik Hidayat withdrew while leading yesterday collapsed to the floor with joy after Gade fluffed a return at the end of a thrilling second game. A bitterly disappointed Gade had been quietly confident of winning his first world title to make up for disappointments at the Olympics and 1999 World Championships. He could not hide his disappointment at defeat, burying his face in a towel and slumping to his chair dejectedly. The 29-year-old Hendrawan had only won three major titles before in a lengthy career but had seized control early on as Gade started slowly.
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Athletes condemn AAFI
decision Patiala, June 10 A resolution to this effect is scheduled to be passed in the annual general body
(AGM) meeting of the AAFI to be held at Bangalore on June 11. A top AAFI source revealed that top brass of the AAFI has decided to take this decision as some of the top athletes had gone to the media in the recent weeks to air their grievances against some top ranking AAFI office-bearers. Such acts on the part of athletes, sources reveal, proved to be detrimental to the interests of the federation. It may be recalled that after the deluge of new national records set last year, athletic icons like
P.T. Usha and Milkha Singh had expressed serious concern over the ‘veracity’ of the records and had urged the AAFI to dope test the record breaking athletes before their names were entered in the record books. Top drawer Indian athletes have come down heavily on the federation for trying to ‘gag’ their voices and many of them have termed the decision as ‘draconian’ in nature. A top male Indian athlete, who narrowly missed the berth for the Sydney Olympics, speaking on the condition of anonymity said that ever since the federation appointed Ukrainian Dr Yuri Boyko prior to the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games the use of dope had become all the more widespread. Keeping this in view, the federation has decided to take punitive action against those athletes who air their views in the media. Elaborating further, the source explained that prior to the Sydney “Olympian” fiasco, as many as 18 national records were lowered and one
equalled. However, at Sydney none of the athletes could come near even their personal bests set in meets held at home in the run up to the
Olympics. The source said that the AAFI had yet to come up with a logical explanation for what happened in Sydney. The athletes, instead of approaching the media, will have to list their grievances before the AAFI secretary Lalit Bhanot who will take action within 30 days from the receipt of the complaint. If the secretary fails to act on the complaint, the athlete will be free to approach the federation president Mr Suresh
Kalmadi. However, if both the secretary and the president fail to pay heed to the complaint, the athlete will have the option to directly approach the executive committee of the federation and the complaint will be discussed in the next scheduled meeting of the executive committee even if it is not listed on the agenda. |
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CBI team’s visit delayed New Delhi, June 10 The team was to leave for London this week, but now it will leave some time later this week. CBI sources, however, refused to state the reason for the postponement of the visit. “It could not go this week due to some reasons.... Now they will visit next week,’’ they told UNI today. The team of senior officials from the agency’s anti-corruption unit is to visit London to hold discussions with the International Cricket Council (ICC) officials and the Scotland Yard on the multi-crore telecast scam case and gather information about some other cases, including the extradition of accused in the Hansiegate case Sanjeev alias Sanjay Chawla.
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Spotlight on Anju Markose Bangalore, June 10 Twentythree-year-old Anju, who had bettered her own record leaping to 6.74 m in second meet in Thiruvananthapuram, is likely to improve upon her mark with the weather and conditions being ideal for the athletes. However, some sheen has been lost even before the meet gets underway with three top female atheltes backing out citing different reasons. However, the ace thrower Shakthi Singh is expected to be in action. Beenamol and Jincy Philip, who had done well in the sprints in the two events, will be skipping the meet because of viral fever. Rachita Mistry, who had not competed in the first two meets owing to an injury, was training at the camp here but was not competition fit. However, she will be returning to the competitions in the Federation Cup. Shakti Singh will be back as his wife had shown improvement. Since he has been training hard, his performance will be better. Coach Bahadur Singh said the performances will be “definitely better than the two earlier meets. The performance has improved from meet to meet. With ahtletes entering into their third meet and Federation Cup scheduled here between June 23 and 25, the performances will definitely be better”. In all, over 160 athletes will be battling out for the honours in 14 events. Of them, six will be for women-100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, long jump and discuss throw. Men will compete in 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, javelin throw, shotput, long jump and hammer throw. The federation has dropped 1500 m for the third meet and is not holding hurdles as planned earlier. Before the action gets under way in the stadium, the Amateur Athletic Federation of India is having its general body meeting here tomorrow to take major decisions that could have far reaching effects. The 100 m dash should see a good contest between first meet winner C.T. Durai of the Railways and second meet winner Sandeep Sarakaria from Delhi. In the women’s section, Kavita Pandya of the Railways will be looking for a hattrick of sorts in the 100 m. Neelam J. Singh should easily add one more medal to her kitty in discus throw. Among the runners, Liju David, Arun D’Souza, Joseph Bagla and Jata Shankat are expected to come out with improved timings.
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Abhinav Bindra’s record Chandigarh, June 10 Abhinav, who is participating in the World Cups at Milan and Munich, has been consistent in his shooting. He was the lone Indian to enter the finals of the Milan World Cup with a score of 594 and now he has achieved an incredible score of 597.
Patiala, June 10 Those selected will participate in the Punjab State sub-junior and junior swimming championships slated to be held at Sangrur from June 15 to 17. This was stated by Mr M.S. Sidhu, secretary of the Patiala District Swimming Association, here today. |
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Leon (Spain), Jun 10
