Set to score 237 off 50 overs, Sri Lanka, who were tottering at 27 for 4 in the 9th over, made a superb comeback through brilliant efforts of Maravan Atapattu (66), Arnold and Perera (56 not out) and romped home to 240 for 5 with nine balls to spare.

With this third consecutive victory, Sri Lanka have strengthened their chances of a final berth with six points to leave New Zealand and India to battle it out for the other place. New Zealand have two points from three matches while India have yet to win a match in the series.

In keeping with the tradition so far in the series, New Zealand captain Craig McMillan, leading the side in the absence of Stephen Fleming who was ruled out due to stomach upset, promptly elected to bat on winning the toss. But the hosts upset their calculations and registered the first victory for a side batting second in this tournament.

Kyle Mills gave New Zealand a dream start when he dismissed Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya and wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharna in the second over of the innings.

Jayasuriya was a trifle unlucky in being given lbw when the ball seemed to pitch outside the off-stump when he was on 5. Kaluwitharna was caught behind by Adam Parore off a beauty from the paceman. The ball pitched on perfect length and left the batsman after kissing his bat. Sri Lanka lost the first two wickets with just five runs on the board.

Atapattu opened his account with a cover driven boundary off Darryl Tuffy in the third over and looked solid as he set out for the damage control exercise. But his partner opener Avishka Gunawardene, who too started his scoring with a four off Mills, was increasingly uncomfortable having been tied down by the New Zealand bowlers.

Gunawardene was getting frustrated and in an effort to break the shackles slashed Tuffy off a widish delivery in the ninth over only to see Chris Harris come up with a brilliant diving catch at point. Gunawardene could manage only five off the 26 balls he faced.

New man Mahela Jayawardene went for an non-existent run and paid the price when a direct hit from Mathew Sinclair found him way out of the crease and he was back to pavilion without opening his account.

Atapattu remained unperturbed though and played some delightful drives on the off-side. He square cut Tuffy for a boundary in the fourth over and drove a over-pitched delivery from Mills for the same result in the sixth over.

Showing impeccable timing and excellent footwork, Atapattu executed some brilliant strokes to keep the scoreboard moving. Arnold, who came at the fall of Jayawardene, took his time to settle down and gave able support to Atapattu who was looking in a very fine touch.

Sri Lanka, who have a reputation for putting up a big score in the first 15 overs, were in an extremely difficult situation at 48 for four when the fielding restrictions were lifted. However, Atapattu and Arnold restrained their flashy stroke-making and concentrated on building a big partnership.

Atapattu reached his 33rd half-century with a single off Chris Harris in the 27th over which also brought up the hundred of the team.

Atapattu, however, could not take his efforts to the logical conclusion and was run out for 66. Atapattu hit seven boundaries in his 91-ball knock. Sri Lanka lost their fifth wicket at 137 runs.

With the asking rate nearing six runs an over, the Sri Lankans needed to step up their scoring and all-rounder Suresh Perera and Arnold did exactly what was required as they went on the attack with some intelligent stroke-play.

With 37 needed from the last five overs, Arnold found an effectively ally in Suresh Perera, who hammered 56 off 51 deliveries to secure success with nine balls to spare.

The match, the fourth of a series also involving India, was being played under increased security a day after a LTTE killed 20 people and destroyed airliners at Colombo’s international airport.

With Sri Lanka winning their match against New Zealand by five wickets today, India’s cause has been helped and they must now win at least two of the remaining four league matches for a place in the final. The hosts, with three consecutive victories under their belt and six points are almost assured of a final slot ahead of New Zealand who have 2 points.

“It is a do or die situation,” Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly summed it up aptly on the eve of the crucial match.

Coach John Wright confirmed that Ajit Agarkar and Debashis Mohanty have been ruled out and named the same 13 that lost to Sri Lanka by six runs in the previous outing for tomorrow’s match.

Losing their opening encounter against New Zealand by a huge margin of 84-runs and then fumbling at the winning post by six runs against Sri Lanka in the next, India have been quite unpredictable which makes weighing their chances a dicey proposition.

A draw would have taken India to the last four and confirmed their place in the 2002 World Cup. India now finish third in Pool F but still can go through to the 2002 World Cup if they finish in the top seven.

India now play Canada in the classification matches for the lower places. The top seven teams out of the 16 in fray make it to the 2002 World Cup.

India wasted 11 penalty corners and worse, with Poland down to nine men, in the last five minutes, two being sent out with yellow cards, couldn’t provide the finishing touches to tie the match 2-2.

For now, Indian coach Cedric D’Souza’s prediction seems to be coming true. Before leaving for Edinburgh, he had said that he didn’t bother where India finished: “The important thing is to qualify for the World Cup. Whether you finish at the top of seventh, you still have to play and win the World Cup.”

The Indian finishing has been awfull as they wasted 11 penalty corners and about six field chances exposing the absence of goal scorer. It was not that Poland were attacking or playing equal to India. They played tough in the first 10 minutes and then settled down to defend.

Poland scored as early as in the third minute when off their first penalty corner Juszczak converted beating Indian goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan. India’s number one keeper Jude Menezes was not played in the match.

India equalised in the 11th minute when Samir Dad moved in to intercept a pass and then gave it to Bipin Fernandez who shot in with a superb attempt.

The Indians seemed in control of the midfield and looked like setting down and taking control of the match. But in the 21st minute, a defensive error was taken advantage off by the Poles who had Thomasz Choczaj deflecting the ball over the keeper Chauhan.

In the 28th minute, India earned their second penalty corner and both, the shot and the rebound were saved in brilliant fashion by Polish goalkeeper Chyla.

At the break, Poland led 2-1. With the territorial advantage that India had, all they had to was improve the finishing to score goals.

The second half saw the Poles retreating into the circle and with flat sticks holding off the marauding Indians.

In the 54th minute, India had five consecutive penalty corners but the goal remained elusive. Poland had their only chance in the second half in the 58th minute when Mikula was one-to-one with Chauhan but couldn’t control the ball.

With five minutes left, the game got a bit physical with the umpire sending out two Polish players reducing Poland to nine men. India still couldn’t take advantage.

Australia were then denied a second gold on the day when the women’s 4x200m relay was disqualified after winning the race because three team members jumped into the water in celebration before the competition was over.

Thorpe made no such mistake and gained a full body-length over his Dutch rival on the final 50m and clocked 1 minute 44.06 seconds to improve his previous record of 1:44.69 from March 25 in Hobart.

The Olympic champion van den Hoogenband had to settle for silver in 1:45.81 and Klete Keller of the USA grabbed bronze in 1:47.10.

Thorpe, 19, is bidding for an unprecedented seven world championship gold medals in Japan to match the achievement of Mark Spitz from the 1972 Olympics.

He has won four races, the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle all in world record time, and the 4x200m freestyle relay. Wednesday’s result was his 15th personal world record and the fifth of the championships overall.

“It was great to compete with Pieter who is a great athlete and friend. It is an honour to swim against him and beat him,’’ said Thorpe. Van den Hoogenband conceded: “The last 40 metres killed me. He is in great shape.’’

The other Dutch star, Inge de Bruijn, fared better, adding the 100m freestyle world title to her Olympic gold over the distance with an unchallenged victory in 54.18 seconds.

Katrin Meissner of Germany was a distant silver medallist with 55.07 and the bronze also went to Germany from Sandra Voelker’s 55.11 showing.

Agnes Kovacs of Hungary also confirmed her Sydney gold with a world title, in the 200m breaststroke, coming from behind for victory in 2:24.90 ahead of two Chinese swimmers.

The 16-year-old world record holder Hui Qi took silver in 2:25.09 while long-time leader Xuejuan Luo faded to bronze in 2:25.29 minutes.

Indians lacked killing instinct and made repeated errors in the midfield which gave Brentford forwards enough room to manoeuvre and then conceded three consecutive goals in a five-minute spell in the first half itself.

Striker Lloyd Owusu fired the first salvo when he neatly headed a Tony Folan corner which caught Indian custodian completely off guard and the ball romped into the net.

Brentford enhanced their lead in the very next minute when skipper Paul Evans grabbed a pass from linkman Ijah Anderson outside the box and his powerful swerving right-footer to the right-hand corner barged into the net.

Brentford sealed Indian team’s fate in the 39th minute when Folan’s brilliant centre was received by Stephen Hunt, who headed the ball down and Lloyd again shot the ball into the net.

These goals galvanised the visitors into action and in the second half the team made some changes. FC Bury player and Indian skipper Bhaichung Bhutia making solo runs but despite his best efforts the Indians could not reduce the margin.

Brentford had their first real chance in the 29th minute when a free-kick from just outside the Indian penalty box went over the goal bar. Five minutes later Owusu took the ball inside the box and had only the goalkeeper to beat but shot wide much to the relief of the Indians.

The relief was short-lived though as Owusu made up for the miss in the very next minute. Hardly had the celebrations for the home team died down that Evans made it 2-0 within seconds of the first goal.

A shaken India were still coming to terms with the twin shock when Owusu pumped in the third goal in the 38th minute to increase their agony.

The Indians managed to ward off further threats in the first half and went into the breather in deep contemplation.

However, they came out stronger in the second half playing with greater zeal and purpose. Their passes were more accurate and they raided the rival goal with alarming frequency in the first few minutes.

“The proposal was first made two years ago but got stuck in the finance department of the SAI. It was forwarded to the Sports Ministry for approval two months ago,” the official told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The proposal assumes significance in the light of observations made by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday when it asked the government to take “immediate remedial measures” to control a major doping scandal that has hit Indian sport.

The court also ordered the establishment of a high-level committee to examine, among other things, the “desirability of having a fully-equipped laboratory which will meet international standards” to conduct dope tests on Indian sportspersons.

“The committee shall examine as to how foolproof methods can be evolved to see that sportspersons and athletes do not use prohibited drugs and if they are found to be using such drugs, the test to be performed to find out about such users,” the court said.

Under the SAI proposal, a team of German scientists would be invited to set up the dope testing facility in India.

However, it is learnt that even if the finance ministry clears the proposal immediately, it would not be possible to set up the facility in time for the inaugural Afro-Asian Games to be conducted here from November 3 to 11.

Thus, the mandatory dope testing of all medal winners in the eight disciplines at the games would have to be conducted outside the country. Currently, the SAI’s dope testing laboratory is manned by three scientists, one of whom is a zoologist by training.

The High Court said the committee would also examine the possibility of “recommending suitable action against those who are found to be using prohibited drugs,” as also the action to be taken against the national sports federations if they do not act on these reports.

The committee, which will be headed by the Secretary (sports) in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, is to submit its report by August 29. A representative each of the SAI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will be the other members of the committee.

The court orders came on a public suit filed by the Health Fitness Trust and sportswoman Sunita Godara alleging that doping was rampant in Indian sport, as was evident from the results of a large number of tests conducted by the SAI.

At the last hearing of the case, the court had directed the SAI to submit the names of 257 sportspersons who had tested positive for banned substances in the last decade.

The SAI submitted the list in a sealed envelope on Tuesday and the court directed that it be kept in the custody of the Registrar.

The SAI is believed to have cited a number of reasons for keeping the list confidential. It says the drug tests are not definitive as its dope control laboratory is not accredited to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

It has said that its laboratory lacked equipment to confirm the initial results — a mandatory requirement of the IOC — and acquired this only in 1999.

It also said that the samples it received ran the risk of contamination since they were often sent from far off places and took a long time to reach the laboratory in New Delhi.

The SAI, meanwhile, has declined comment on reports that a number of Indian sportspersons are planning to sue the organisation for wrongly including their names in the list of those who had tested positive.

The 2-0 defeat on Monday knocked the Brazilians out of the Copa America and ended their quest for a third straight title in the continent’s oldest and most prestigious tournament.

And that was probably the least of their concerns.

The humiliating loss to 48th-ranked Honduras, a last-minute replacement missing its top players, was a body blow to Brazil’s self-respect. Losing is part of the game, but not to Honduras.

In three previous encounters, Brazil had two wins and a tie against the Hondurans, with a combined score of 14-3.

“Write it down in your notebook, in the book of records,” Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said. “I will be the coach who lost to Honduras.”

Worse was the way they lost. Even with a five-man defence, Brazil couldn’t handle the modest Honduran attack. The defence was lax, the midfield confused, the offence inoperative.

“If it’s humiliating, shameful or ugly, whatever adjectives you want. But we’re all hurting,” Scolari said.

With a crucial World Cup qualifier against Paraguay just three weeks away, Brazilians more than ever wonder if their “selection” will miss soccer’s premier event for the first time.

After the loss, reporters asked Scolari if he thought he still had a job. The question wasn’t just tacky — it was coldly realistic.

Last year coach Wanderley Luxemburgo was fired after Brazil lost to Cameroon at the Sydney Olympics. No matter that he had won two national titles or that Cameroon went on to take the gold medal. Defeat to the Africans was unacceptable.

His successor, Emerson Leao, fared worse. After Brazil finished fourth in the Confederations Cup last month, he was fired at the airport on the way home.

Yet Scolari, with a record of two wins and three losses, could survive. Brazilians are slowly coming to grips with the idea that it’s not his fault, that their country isn’t No 1 any more.

It’s a tough admission for the four-time World Cup champions. Even before Pele, Brazil was “the land of soccer.” The samba soccer, the sheer joy of a dribble, the speed and grace and carnival celebration of a goal, defined who they were. It reflected the best Brazilians saw in themselves and gave them a treasured superiority over richer, more developed nations.

It also helped relieve the pain of poverty and oppression, and Brazil’s leaders banged the soccer drum. When Brazil won its third World Cup title in 1970, Pele, Rivelino and co were summoned to Brasilia to pose with dictator President Emilio Garrastazu Medici. The national team became known as “the fatherland in cleats.”

But the image began to crumble last year. In World Cup qualifying, the Brazilians lost to Paraguay, Chile — even tiny Ecuador. Now tied with Uruguay for fourth place in the South American group, Brazil are flirting with elimination.

Scolari was summoned to fix things, but Brazil opened Copa America by losing 0-1 to Mexico. It was the team’s fourth straight loss, a string unmatched since 1921.

Scolari didn’t try to hide Brazil’s problems.

“We should admit that we’re not the premier power in the world of soccer,” he warned after the loss to Mexico. “In the future we can be great again, but let’s be sensible and admit that right now we have difficulties.”

Self-respect had sunk so low that Scolari changed Brazil’s traditional yellow jersey for blue, so the players wouldn’t feel the pressure to live up to past glories.

“At this moment we don’t instill respect,” he said. “On the contrary, we respect our opponents.”

Things seemed to be turning around when Brazil beat Peru and Paraguay to reach the quarterfinals. But then came Honduras, and Brazil were back on square one.

Sampras was dismayed to find himself home in Los Angeles during the second week of Wimbledon — where his fourth-round exit at the hands of Roger Federer marked only his second defeat in nine years at a tournament that he has won seven times. But he seemed at ease in the afternoon sunshine on the hardcourts of the University of California Tennis Center, completing a 7-5, 6-2 victory in an hour and 17 minutes.

“I felt pretty good,” Sampras, seeded fourth, said. “I got off to a good start and I let it slip a little, but in the second set I started getting the first serve going.” After taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, Sampras let Woodruff work his way back to 4-4 and then 5-5 before breaking him in the final game to take the set.

In the second set Sampras served nine of his 12 aces and made his break in the second game stand up.

“I’ve had quite a long break since Wimbledon, it’s nice to get out and compete,” Sampras said. “I’ve been practicing hard, and it’s good to put it on the line.

SKATING CAMP
CHANDIGARH: The second national roller skating camp for men and women in preparation for the Asian roller skating meet to be held at Chinese Taipei in first week of October will begin from August 4 at Chandigarh, according to Mr Inder Pal Singh, advisor to the president, Roller Skating Federation of India, here yesterday. He said similarly the camp for artistic events will be held at Visakhapatnam from July 28 while the camp for the speed events was already on at Nagpur. The inaugural All India Skating Championships which was to be held from July 28 to July 30 at Nagpur has been postponed due to continuing rainfall there. Now this will be held in the third week of September. FOSR