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Saturday,
June 16, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
‘Sachin
the Great’ |
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Johnson
to quit after Goodwill Games Karthikeyan’s
debut Aussies
“knocked the stuffing out of us” |
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Barua
lifts 3rd national crown
Sangrur
swimmers to the fore DFA
Mandi defeated Punjab
basketball squads
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India all out for 237 Harare, June 15 Ashish Nehra bowled his heart out and struck thrice to have Zimbabwe in deep trouble at 18 for three in the sixth over and suddenly the Indian score did not seem to be that inadequate. It was left for Andy Flower to once again rescue his team from a precarious position, a job he has accomplished with rare distinction on so many
occasions. Flower was batting on five in the company of Dion Ebrahim who was unbeaten on 13 when the day’s play came to an end. Earlier, the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up failed to live up to its reputation and crumbled against a spirited Zimbabwe attack keen to avenge the loss in the first Test. Opener Shiv Sunder Das and vice-captain Rahul Dravid were the only batsmen to have made some fight of it while Harbhajan Singh played another cameo knock of 31 runs. Das and Dravid got some partnerships going but big stands eluded the Indians as wickets fell at regular intervals. Debutant Hemang Badani was unable to justify the faith reposed in him and failed to click as an opener while Tendulkar got out just when he was starting to look good. V V S Laxman cut his flamboyant knock with an indiscreet shot and captain Saurav Ganguly’s nightmarish run with the bat continued as the Indians struggled to put a decent total on board. But Das was impressive. The diminutive opener from Orissa has been very consistent in recent times and today he produced another classy knock. Unperturbed by the early loss of Badani and Laxman, Das displayed fine technique and sound judgement to pull India out of trouble in the company of Tendulkar. The duo added 45 runs for the third wicket before Tendulkar, who had an unusually subdued start, got out immediately after lunch. The maestro was beginning to open up when he hit Travis Friend for a six over the mid-wicket fence just before the break. However, a delivery from Streak hit his pads and rolled on to stumps as Tendulkar watched helplessly. He made 20 off 46 balls that contained two fours besides the six. Das, who had negotiated all the bowlers with equal ease, reached his half-century after Tendulkar’s dismissal. But he too got out after that, caught behind by Andy Flower off Blignaut for 57 which came off 121 balls and contained eight fours. Laxman started in his characteristic fashion, treating every bowler with disdain and looked in terrific touch. But he could score just 15 off 16 balls including three fours when he chased a widish delivery from Streak without moving his feet and paid the price. He was caught by Blignaut in the third slip. SCOREBOARD India (Ist innings) Das c Andy Flower b Blignaut 57 Badani lbw b Watambwa 2 Laxman c Blignaut b Streak 15 Tendulkar b Streak 20 Ganguly c Blignaut b Streak 9 Dravid not out 68 Dighe c G. Flower b Friend 20 Agarkar c Bilgnaut b Friend 6 Harbhajan b Murphy 31 Srinath run out (Murphy) 0 A. Nehra c Ebrahim b Murphy 0 Extras: (lb 2, w 6, nb 1) 9 Total:
(74.2 overs,328 mins): 237 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-45, 3-90, 4-103, 5-122, 6-165, 7-172, 8-228, 9-237, 10-237. Bowling:
Watambwa: 3.4-0-14-1; Streak: 20-4-69-3; Friend: 20.2-4-48-2, Blignaut: 20-1-84-1; Murphy: 9.2-3-17-2; G. Flower: 1-0-3-0. Zimbabwe (Ist innings): Whittal c Dravid b Nehra 0 Ebrahim not out 13 Carlisle c Badani b Nehra 3 Campbell b Nehra 8 A. Flower not out 5 Extras:
(lb 1, w 1) 2 Total: (3 wickets, 11 overs) 31 Fall of wickets:
1-5, 2-9, 3-18. Bowling: Srinath 5-2-8-0, Nehra 5-0-19-3, Agarkar 1-0-3-0.
PTI |
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‘Sachin the Great’ London, June 15 In the past 27 months since February 1999 Tendulkar had piled up 1720 runs in 15 Tests at a near-Bradmanesque average of 71.67, it said. Should Tendulkar continue at that rate in the next decade, playing 12 Tests a year and hang up his boot at the age of 38, he will have amassed 20,480 and 81 centuries in 202 Tests. His average will be a cool 66.06, placing him all alone on a unique second tier of champion batsmen — still behind Bradman (99.94) but distinctly ahead of Pollock, Headley and Herbert Sutcliffe (60-odds), Wisden wrote. The jury is still out on whether he would have outbudgeoned Don Bradman if he had been around in the run-thirsty 1930s, but the Indian maestro had two sweet statistics to savour on his 28th birthday in April, Wisden writes in a piece headlined “Tendulkar the Great (and getting greater)”. It went on to cite that Tendulkar’s had been the 28 most prolific years and 27 of the most prodigious months in the history of batting. Pointing out on his birthday Tendulkar’s record in limited overs international stood at 10,179 runs and 28 hundreds — twice as good as any one else at the same age, the magazine says that in Tests, his omnipotence is equally jaw-dropping. He was 1676 runs clear of the previous record held by Javed Miandad and his 25 Test centuries dwarf the 15 made at the same age by Bradman and Neil Harvey, his nearest rival. Wisden writes that average-wise Tendulkar still trails the Don who made 3849 runs at 98.69 by his 28th birthday. But even that gap was closing.
PTI |
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No one-dayers in Lanka stadium Colombo, June 15 |
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Johnson
to quit after Goodwill Games Dallas, June 15 Johnson reiterated yesterday that he would not compete at the US Nationals as a prerequisite for entry to the World Championships in Edmonton later this month. Johnson, in a teleconference call from Dallas, never actually said he would retire. But a public relations spokesman for the Goodwill Games asked him to tell reporters “why you decided to conclude your career at the 2001 Goodwill Games”. Johnson said: “I decided earlier in the year that I would put together a tour that would not be focused on competition this year. It would be focused on interacting with the fans a lot more and doing a lot of kids’ clinics and things with kids.” Johnson had hoped to run at the World Championships in August. But despite lobbying by Johnson and other athletes, US Track and Field officials have held fast to their long-standing rule that every US athlete hoping to compete at the worlds must first participate in an event at the Nationals later this month. And if Johnson, who holds world records in the 200 and 400 meters, were to compete at the Nationals, he would have to run in an individual race. In addition to the five gold medals, Johnson has nine world championship gold medals. Johnson’s world records are 19.32 seconds in the 200 meters and 43.18 in the 400. Johnson is staging a “Golden Victory Lap Tour” as part of his effort to “keep kids involved in track and field, especially in
America”. Asked whether his competitive juices would lure him out of retirement after a while, Johnson said he “was very” sure he could stay away. “There are no more realistic goals for me. Everything I do from this point on is something I’ve already done. “In 2003, I’ll be 36-37 years old. I’ll understand then I hope that a comeback there means I won’t come back at the same level of competition that I had at 32 or 33.” Johnson said in retirement he would be “spending more time with my son and trying to be a good parent. I know that doesn’t come automatically, it take a lot of work.
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Karthikeyan’s debut Silverstone, England, June 15 Spokesman Nav Sidhu said Karthikeyan, who had a contractual entitlement to a Formula One test, yesterday completed 15 timed laps and a total of 24 on a day of interruptions at Silverstone. “It was a pretty solid job given that he’s never been in a Formula One car,” said Sidhu. “It was a very promising debut from a young man who obviously has the talent to compete at the highest echelons of motorsport.” He didn’t do anything stupid. “All in a very good prospect.” Karthikeyan, driving last year’s Jaguar R1 with this season’s Michelin tyres on, put in an early handful of laps to get used to the car before the session halted at lunchtime. The afternoon was plagued by red flags, with the session constantly stopped on a day when the main Formula One teams including champions Ferrari were at the circuit for testing ahead of next month’s British Grand Prix. A water leak kept the R1 in the garage for more than an hour while a small spin by Karthikeyan into the gravel trap forced a further delay as gravel was cleaned out of air ducts. His best lap time was some two seconds slower than the average times of established Formula One drivers but the Indian was handicapped by using last year’s car with tyres that were not designed for it. Karthikeyan was first promised a test with Jaguar when he was with the Jaguar-owned Stewart Formula Three team last year before moving to Japan to race in Formula Nippon. The test was postponed several times, most recently due to Karthikeyan’s Japanese commitments.
Reuters |
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Aussies
“knocked the stuffing out of us” Manchester (England), June 15 Waugh, clearly delighted after his bowlers dismissed England for 86 to secure a 125-run victory in their triangular series meeting yesterday, said: “Naturally there will be a bi-product (for the Ashes) if we are winning and England are losing. “It’s hard to know how big an advantage it is but if you are losing, you probably have a few doubts.” England captain Alec Stewart, in contrast, appeared to be in a state of denial after the game, which has already condemned his side to watching the triangular series final between Australia and Pakistan from the sidelines with almost half the first-phase games still to be played. He had no excuses, he said, admitting “they knocked the stuffing out of us” before listing a string of reasons why England had been unfortunate to be dismissed for the lowest score in their one-day history, extending a record losing run to nine in a row. “I’m not going to use excuses but the fact is that they bowled well in helpful conditions,” he said. “The between-innings rain made a difference.” “No excuses, but the ball certainly moved around far more. But they put the ball in the right areas. Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie were quite outstanding.” England’s injury list, he added, had not helped. “With six players out, that’s half the side and you are going to struggle.” And there were some positives, he said, justifiably praising his bowlers for limiting Australia to 208 for seven off their 48 overs, while arguing that Test and one-day cricket were clearly different. “You have to segment the two styles of cricket.” Waugh, though, who said before the game that his side were still operating at 70 per cent of its potential, would surely have enjoyed listening to Stewart’s desperate attempts to make sense of the Old Trafford debacle. Simply put, England were blown away by opponents who found sharp seam movement at top pace on a pitch which, despite the rain, provided a true surface for batting. While England’s strike bowlers of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick had been impressive in reducing
Australia to 27 for three at the start of their innings, McGrath and Gillespie were awesome, bowling throughout to a highly attacking Test-cricket field of four slips and a gully. England, after scratching 25 runs in the face of the Australian onslaught, lost three wickets for one run in six balls. After edging up to 40 for three, they then lost three more batsmen without adding to the total. Waugh, who had said at the start of the tour that he was keen to “re-open some old scars” early in the Ashes series, could not believe that Thursday’s mauling would not leave some clear psychological marks, highlighting Michael Vaughan’s golden duck in particular as his stumps were shattered by Gillespie. He accepted that England were missing captain Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe at Old Trafford, saying: “They’re two quality players and we won’t get carried away.” But he added: “Gillespie’s dismissal of Michael Vaughan, I think, was significant. We won a few battles today. “Jason Gillespie has been out with injury but he’s quality. He has pace and hits the seam every ball. “We did everything we talked about in pre-match planning. There was a bit of experimenting and some things came of it. We felt we could expose their inexperienced batting line-up.” A line-up which included regular Test batsmen Marcus Trescothick, Vaughan and Stewart, all-rounder Dominic Cork and bowlers Caddick and Gough, the occasionals Nick Knight and Alan Mullally and the up-and-coming Test prospect Owais Shah. The Ashes series begins on July 5. Australia, ranked the best side in the world in the newly devised world Test championship, have won the last six Ashes series but England have turned around their fortunes under coach Duncan Fletcher by winning four and drawing one of their last five Test series. Waugh, however, was happy to concentrate on Thursday’s satisfaction of having handed England a record beating. “It’s always nice to have those sort of things on your record,” he said.
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Barua lifts 3rd national crown New Delhi, June 15 At the CDCS Eventspecific Hall both Barua and Krishnan Sasikiran, the two main protagonists on an absorbing final day, kept one eye on their own board and the other on their arch-rival’s board. In the end, neither Barua nor Sasikiran was able to score a win in the final round and tied on points at 13.5. But that situation suited Barua who won his third national title on the strength of a better score calculated on the Koya System. Barua drew against Saptarishi Roy Chowdhary and Sasikiran was held to a draw by Neeloptal Das. Under the Koya tie-break system, the score of each player against others who have a score of more than 50 per cent is calculated. Barua had 6.5 under the system and Sasikiran six. Barua’s win over Sasikiran in their individual clash helped the Kolkattan annex the title. “All national titles are special. The turning point in these nationals came when Neeraj Mishra beat Sasikiran. Of course, I had also beaten Saskiran, but then Sasikiran had a good win over Kunte. Then the fact there was one bye for every players because of the withdrawal of one player (Tejas Bakre) meant a complicated situation till the closing stages,” said Barua. Behind Sasikiran in the third place was Abhijit Kunte, the defending champion. Kunte, who had a last round bye, had 11.5 points. Neeraj Mishra, who drew his last round against P. Harikrishna, finished in his best-ever position at fourth with 11 points. Young Harikrishna ended fifth at 10.5 while Ponuswamy Konguvel, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and DV Prasad tied for the sixth to eighth place. Konguvel grabbed the sixth place and sneaked into the Indian team, on a better tie-break score. Ganguly was seventh and Prasad eighth. Seven-time national champion Pravin Thipsay was ninth with 9.5 points and Lanka Ravi at nine completed the top 10. Barua was candid enough to admit that once he saw he had no chance of forcing a win against Saptarishi Roy, he got up to go and have a look at Sasi’s board. “I saw that Sasi also did not have a winning chance and since a draw suited me in the tie-break, I offered my opponent a draw, which he accepted,” said Barua. The 35-year-old Barua’s earlier national wins came in 1982, the year he turned an International Master and the next one came in 1998. Barua said he was surprised by Saptarishi’s going into the Petroff defense. “I was not exactly inferior, but I did not have a chance to get a winning position,” said Barua. Standings (final): 1 Barua (13.5), 2 Sasikiran (13.5), 3 Kunte (11.5), 4 Mishra (11), 5 Harikrishna (10.5), 6 Konguvel (10), 7 Ganguly (10), 8 Prasad (10) 9 Thipsay (9.5), 10 Lanka Ravi (9), 11 Sahu (8.5), 12 Muurgan (8), 13 Lahiri (8) 14 Saptarishi (7.5), 15 G.B. Prakash (7.5), 16 Sriram Jha (7), 17 Neeloptal Das (6.5), 18 V Sarvanan (5.5), 19 Nassir Wajih (4). Vijayalakshmi wins Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi today entered the record books with her fifth National A women’s chess title. Though Viji’s fifth title, fourth in a row, had been decided as much as two rounds earlier, the 23-year-old Chennaite closed the championships with a comprehensive win in the final round against Bhagyashree Thipsay, the seniormost player in the women’s section. And Viji’s fifth title ironically brought her on par with Bhagyashree, Anupama Gokhale and Rohini Khadilkar, all of whom have won the nationals five times each. Viji finished the championships at 10.5 points from 13 rounds, while her sister, S.Meenakshi kept her second position intact from last year she ended at nine points with a final round win over Y.Pratibha. Swati Ghate who was held to a final round draw by Saheli Dhar Barua was third with 8.5 points. Aarthie Ramaswamy was fourth with eight and Bhagyashree fifth at 7.5 points. Top standings: 1. S Vijayalakshmi (10.5), 2. S Meenakshi (9), 3. Swati Ghate (8.5), 4. Aarthie Ramaswamy (8), 5. Bhagyashree Thipsay (7.5), 6. Nisha Mohota (7),
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Sangrur swimmers to the fore Sangrur, June 15 In the 4x100 meters event of the medly relay in the boys-I and 4x50 meters medley relay boys-III, holders-Sangrur broke the previous records clocking 4.56:58 and 2,30:68 respectively. In 100 meters breast-stroke Sukhman of Ropar shattered the previous records by clocking 1.31:55 in the girls-III group as against the previous record of 1.33:68 registered by Bindiya Sarin of Ludhiana in 1994. In the waterpolo for boys (group-I) Sangrur beat Ludhiana by 14-0 in a one-sided match. The Sangrur swimmers dominated the match right from beginning and did not allow their rivals to open their account. In another one-sided match, Jalandhar outclassed Patiala by 12-1.
PTI |
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DFA Mandi defeated Mandi, June 15 Dharmandra opened the account for the Delhi team in the very second minute and then Nageshwar sent a rising ball into the goal. Vivek struck the third blow wile Negeshwar again made it 4-0. The visitors made them run around most of the time retaining possession of the ball. Dharmendra fetched the fifth goal just before the break. |
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Punjab
basketball squads Chandigarh, June 15 According to Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, the squads are: Boys: Harminder Singh (captain), Gurkamal Singh, Amit Prashar, Jasjit Singh, Fatehjeet Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Menpreet Singh, Gurpal Singh, Snehpal Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Pawandeep Singh and Lakhwinder Singh. Coach: Ramesh Kelly Girls: Kamaljeet Kaur (captain), Harinder Kaur, Kiran Bala, Satwinder Kaur, Gaganpreet Kaur, Kiranpreet Kaur, Rajbeer Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Avneet Kaur, Paramjeet Kaur, Margret and Manpreet Kaur. Coach: S. Manjeet Singh |
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