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September 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
Hewitt stuns Sampras, lifts US Open crown
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Always had drive to succeed Sydney, September 10 Brash Australian tennis star Lleyton Hewitt was labelled a quiet boy by his former teachers today after he won the US Open. Hewitt attended Adelaide’s Immanuel College but left at the age of 16 when he won his first ATP Tour title in his home town. Sampras confident despite setback
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Defeats raise doubts over Bangladesh status Flower scores 2nd century of match Chennai to host 1st one-dayer India juniors beat Malaysia Easy victories for Tushar, Vivek Seeded players have it easy Chances brighten for lifters
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Hewitt stuns Sampras, lifts US Open crown New York, September 10 The 20-year-old Australian, embroiled in a racial controversy a week ago, routed sampras 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-1 last night in the worst US Open finals rout in a decade and the worst loss here for 10th seed Sampras since 1989. “It’s unbelievable,” Hewitt said. “It’s a feeling you can’t describe. It’s these moments you dream of and for it to come true for me at such a young age, it’s just fantastic. It’s a dream come true.” Fourth seed Hewitt committed only three unforced errors in the final two sets, zipping winners past the 30-year-old American with deadly accuracy as Sampras settled for runner-up honours for the second year in a row. “I started to get into a bit of a zone with the passing shots,” Hewitt said. “I was determined to hit the shots and I was getting them all. The match-winning shot was probably my backhand pass up the line.” Hewitt won his 10th career title, and by far his most important, before a crowd of 23,960 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, becoming the youngest US Open champion since Sampras won his first of four US Open crowns 11 years ago. “He had all the answers for everything I tried, from picking off my serve to hitting great passing shots,” Sampras said. It was just too good. “What do you do? you play a solid point. You couldn’t do any more. He hits a winner. You have just got to tip your cap and say, ‘that’s too good.’ it seemed to happen a lot. He outplayed me. He didn’t miss.” Hewitt went from villian to hero after being hounded when remarks he made in a second-round match were interpreted as racial insults. Hewitt was down two sets to one to black American foe James Blake when he complained about a black linesman calling him for foot faults. But when he asked umpire Andreas Egli if he saw any “similarities” in opposite calls on ends of the court, Blake thought he meant similar skin colour of player and linesman. An uproar arose, but Hewitt apologised for the misunderstanding and was not fined by the International Tennis Federation. Scattered booing has dogged Hewitt since what he called one of the worst moments of his career. “I didn’t mean anything bad and it all got blown up,” Hewitt said. “I copped a lot of flak for something I didn’t mean at all. I was disappointed because I was innocent in the whole thing. I had to just block it out. “You have got to go through some rough times to be a better person on and off the court. Maybe I will be stronger for it and maybe this is one of the signs of it.” Hewitt put aside the controversy, ousted 19-year-old Andy Roddick in a five-set quarter-final and inflicted the most lopsided semi-final rout in US Open history on Russian seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov. It was the worst US Open finals blowout since Stefan Edberg, one of Hewitt’s favourite players, beat Jim Courier 6-2 6-4 6-0 in the 1991 final and the worst men’s slam final blowout since Czech Petr Korda beat Chile’s Marcelo Rios 6-2 6-2 6-2 in 1998 Australian Open final. It was the worst U S Open loss for Sampras since his fourth round exit in 1989 when Jay Berger ousted him 7-5 6-2 6-1. Sampras has not won a slam title away from his beloved Wimbledon grass since the 1997 Australian Open. “I lost to a great champion,” Sampras said. “You’re going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy for the next 10 years. It’s unbelievable. The kid is so quick. Those legs, I wish I had some of those legs for this old guy.” Sampras beat Hewitt 7-6 6-4 7-6 in last year’s US Open semi-finals, the Aussie’s best prior slam performance. But Sampras, who turned 30 last month, saw his career-record title drought reach 18 events. “I think this week I have proven I can still win slams. There is no question in my mind,” Sampras said. “Thirty isn’t that old. I still feel like I have got many years left.” Sampras failed to win his fifth US Open title in his 17th slam final. He has not won any title since taking his record 13th slam title last year at Wimbledon. Sampras also failed to become the only man with Slam singles titles in nine consecutive years. He and Bjorn Borg share the record eight. Hewitt won $ 850,000, improved his season-best ATP victory total to 64 and levelled his career mark with Sampras at 4-4. He becomes only the second Aussie to win the US Open crown since 1973, following Pat Rafter. Sampras had not been broken in 87 consecutive games before Hewitt broke him in the match’s first game. “I knew I had to get off to a quick start,” Hewitt said. “He wants to put the pressure on you from the start. I was really pleased to get up.” Hewitt returned the favour quickly, missing on four first serves and handing over the break in four points with two double faults. “Obviously I had a few nerves going playing the greatest player who ever lived in the biggest match of my life,” Hewitt said. “I got off to a great start and he broke right back so it settled my nerves.” In the tie-breaker, Hewitt won four of the last five points, three on errors by Sampras, the last of them a backhand volley beyond the baseline. Hewitt dominated from there. “When I got down two breaks in the second, I felt it slipping away,” Sampras said. “He got up two breaks and I didn’t have the answers.” By the third set, Sampras was shattered. Hewitt broke him in the first game with a cross-court backhand winner, broke again in the fifth game and ended it on his second match point with a backhand cross-court winner after one hour and 54 minutes, then fell onto his back in relief. “I wasn’t taking any chances,” Hewitt said. “It was going a couple millimeters over the net very hard.”
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Hewitt looked incredibly poised New York, September 10 And it was no dream. He was hammering the four-time US Open winner. “You’re trying to block it out as much as possible that you could be winning the tournament here,” said Hewitt after blowing Sampras off the court with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory in the 20-year-old Hewitt’s first Grand Slam final. “I even had to look up at the scoreboard a couple of times just to check what the score was.” “Is this really two points from the match here,” he said he thought. “Really hasn’t sunk in that I was that far ahead. I was still taking it one point at a time, one game at a time.’’ And the 30-year-old Sampras was taking it hard on the chin, one point at a time and one game at a time. Sampras, who has won 13 Grand Slams, looked like he was standing in quicksand as the younger man rocketed two-fisted backhands past him and fired powerful baseline shots that Sampras could only return weakly. Although the amazingly fast Hewitt, wearing his trademark ball cap backward, seemed incredibly poised and determined on the court, he admitted to being nervous before the match. “Your’re not human if you’re not going to be nervous going into your first Grand Slam final.” “You know, it was probably the fact that you have to play Pete Sampras in your first Grand Slam final as well. There would be a lot of easier guys to play.” Although Sampras didn’t look like he belonged within shouting distance of the same court as the young Australian, Hewitt, in a nice nod of respect, paid respect to Sampras when asked whether Sampras still had his championship aura. “You know, I’ve still got as much respect for him as a player, on and off the court, you know, as I’ve ever had.’’ After he won the match with a backhand return of serve that blasted past Sampras, “the sort of shock of winning a Grand Slam sort of set me on my back, on the floor.” Although Hewitt said the victory still had not fully registered with him, he acknowledged how quickly he has come so far. “Four years ago I was here playing juniors. I lost in the round of 16 or something. My badge, I still have the junior photo on the front of my badge here,” he said about player’s credential. “It wasn’t that long ago when I didn’t talk to any of you (reporters). No one was out there watching. I was playing Taylor Dent out here a few years ago, and no one could care less.” “Now in front of everyone, I have the world’s TV cameras on me, in front of me.” SYDNEY: First came Australia’s all-conquering Wallabies rugby union team, soon followed by Steve Waugh’s world champion cricketers. Now brash youngster Lleyton Hewitt has added tennis to Australia’s imposing list of international sporting success this year, smashing American Pete Sampras to win the US Open crown and his first Grand Slam title. Sports-mad Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a self-confessed “cricket tragic’’ who was on hand when Australia’s Wallabies scored an historic series win over the British and Irish Lions, was one of the first to congratulate Hewitt. “This is absolutely fantastic, I mean this is a great achievement,” Howard told Australian radio from Washington.
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Hewitt always had drive to succeed Sydney, September 10 Hewitt attended Adelaide’s Immanuel College but left at the age of 16 when he won his first ATP Tour title in his home town. And Immanuel College principal Neville Highett said today the school was abuzz after Hewitt trounced tennis legend Pete Sampras in New York. Hewitt, whose provocative gestures and angry spats with judges have turned him into the latest tennis brat, was remembered as quiet, co-operative and always focussed. Highett said Hewitt’s drive to succeed in sport manifested itself early in the classroom. “I was reading a piece of his work this morning where he wanted to improve his spin bowling because he wanted to bowl all the English cricketers out,” Dr Highett said. “It was part of that young boyhood dream of being a sporting person but at that stage he was focussing on sport across a range of sports even though tennis was his first love.” However, Hewitt himself admits he first wanted to play football. Former Aussie great John Newcombe hailed Hewitt’s ability to concentrate on his tennis after his complaint about foot-faults during a match against black American James Blake was misinterpreted as racist. “I suggested he put his head down, forget about everything else that was happening around him and play tennis. It was a lot to ask, but he is a tough young guy,” Newcombe said from New York. “Somehow he managed to do it, and it worked.” Newcome said Hewitt was misunderstood. “He came on the scene with his hat on backwards, wearing the grungy gear, pumping his fist, and he was a naive kid talking to trained journalists,” Newcombe said. “Some of them sucked him into saying things and then they headlined it.” But Newcome agreed Hewitt was not entirely innocent. He once referred to Australian tennis fans as stupid and called an umpire at the French Open a spastic. Adelaide coach Peter Smith, who began coaching Hewitt as a six-year-old, described him as a terrific pupil. “My first impression was he was just an athletically talented little kid who was keen to learn to play tennis,” he said. “He was very small for his age, he was a Stefan Edberg look-alike and he was a shy, quiet kid, as he still is, whatever people might think”. Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard called on fans to wear their hats backwards tomorrow. “What better message of support can we send to him out in New York than to see images in the media of Australians of all ages paying tribute to his success by wearing their hats backwards for a day in trademark Hewitt style,” Pollard said.
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Sampras confident despite setback New York, September 10 It remains to be seen whether or not the 13-time Grand Slam champion can summon the strength to join Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors as the oldest men in the past quarter-century to actually win a Slam title. Australia’s 20-year-old Lleyton Hewitt routed Sampras 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-1 here last night to win his Grand Slam debut, denying the 30-year-old American who lost last year’s final to rising Russian star Marat Safin. “I tried to figure it out and nothing seemed to work,” Sampras said. “He returned and passed as well as anyone, I think, I have ever played.” Sampras was upset at suggestions he should retire, but struggled through early matches, praising France’s Julien Boutter and Brazil’s Andre Sa in terms typically reserved for such rivals as Andre Agassi. But Sampras raised his game and became the first man to oust three Open champions from the draw in the same year, dismissing Australia’s Patrick Rafter, Agassi and Safin in the three matches leading to the final. “I think this week I have proven I can still win Slams. There is no question in my mind,” Sampras said. “There are always going to be younger, stronger, quicker players. As you get older, it gets harder. “But my game is still there. I just ran into two guys, Safin last year and Hewitt this year, who played as well as they can play.” Sampras has been asked to step up his game to face a new generation of rising stars. He feels he can compete with them despite the drubbing he received from Hewitt. “That’s a challenge for me I feel like I answered the last couple of weeks,” he said. “These next couple of months is a time to reflect a little bit on the future, look forward to next year, continue to do the work. “You realise guys are getting better, younger, faster. You just have to match that. But I look forward to coming back for many years.” And Hewitt is among those who know better than to count out Sampras, whose fourth-round Wimbledon loss in July to Swiss prodigy Roger Federer started the critics questioning his future. “When everyone was starting to write him off, especially after he lost in the round of 16 to Federer at Wimbledon, he has come out and proved a point over the last two weeks,” Hewitt said. “He is capable of winning Grand Slams still, that’s for sure. I have as much respect for him on and off the court as I have ever had.” If the seven-time Wimbledon, two-time Australian Open and four-time US Open champion ever wins at Flushing Meadows again, he would be no less than the second-oldest US Open champion ever, with Ken Rosewall’s 1970 title at age 35 the standard. In the past 26 years, only Agassi’s 2001 Australian Open title and Coonnors’ 1983 US Open title have come from the over-30 crowd. Sampras takes some solace from getting so far coming through one of the toughest draws of his career. But his standards are exacting and anything less than another Slam trophy simply does not measure up. “To get to this point and not get the grand prize at the end is a little deflating. He was just good. I can walk out with my head high. I got some good matches. But it’s disappointing not to get the ultimate prize.”
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Defeats raise doubts over Bangladesh status London, September 10 The 10th and newest arrivals on the Test scene were humbled by an innings and 137 runs in Colombo, meaning they have now lost each of their first five Tests by significant margins. Bangladesh gained their Test status from the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year and tumbled to defeat in their opening three matches, against India last November and twice against lowly Zimbabwe in April. They lost to India on their debut in Dhaka by nine wickets and then by an innings and 32 runs and by eight wickets respectively, on tour in Zimbabwe. Bangladesh coach Trevor Chappell immediately set his sights on his charges making 250 runs or more in each innings with matches against the might of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asian Test Championship to follow. But it was not to be as the Asian minnows crashed to the sixth heaviest Test defeat of all time, losing by an innings and 264 runs to Pakistan in Multan last month. Pakistan lost only three wickets in totalling 546 in that match to rub more salt into Bangladeshi wounds, as no Test nation has lost so few wickets in winning by such a massive margin. Then came Bangladesh’s fifth Test defeat in Colombo over the weekend, and even that came with added humiliation. Sri Lanka lost only five wickets in achieving their one-sided victory, with two of their batsmen setting a precedent in Test cricket by retiring out after hitting 200 and 150 respectively. Even so, there was a solitary ray of hope for Bangladesh with the remarkable century on debut by the 17-year-old Mohammad Ashraful. Ashraful became the youngest Test centurion in the history of the game at the age of 17 years and 63 days. Suggestions that his genuine date of birth might in fact be even later would make him just 16 and 364 days. Which ever date is right, the youthful Bangladeshi has eclipsed the previous record held by Pakistan’s Mushtaq Mohammad, who was 17 years and 81 days when he reached three figures against India in Delhi during the 1960-1961 season. While Bangladesh can only hope to arrest their losing start to Test match cricket, they can take some comfort from the fact that South Africa before them experienced an even worse baptism on cricket’s biggest stage. South Africa played their first Test against England in Port Elizabeth in March 1889 and, after losing that match by eight wickets, proceeded to surrender their next seven Tests in a row before drawing with Australia in Johannesburg in 1902-03. Some would argue, though, that matches in those days were generally played against touring teams of English club and county players and the only people who really considered them as “Tests” were the statisticians. As for the eight other Test countries, their respective debuts never plunged as low as either South Africa or Bangladesh with regard to losing streaks. Australia made their Test debut against England in Melbourne in 1876-77 and promptly won. England, however, managed to shrug off that setback in what was also their very first Test by winning the second match of that series in Melbourne just two weeks later. The West Indies lost by an innings on their Test debut to England at the Lord’s in 1928 but managed to taste victory in their sixth outing the following year when they beat the same opponents in Georgetown by 289 runs. New Zealand began their Test career with a defeat and three draws in their home series with England in 1929-30 but they had to wait through 42 matches before registering their first triumph against the West Indies in Auckland during 1955-56. India lost their Test opener to England by 158 runs at the Lord’s in 1932 and, like New Zealand, had to be extremely patient before securing their maiden Test win against a weakened England side in Madras during 1951-52. That success came 24 games and almost 20 years after they first cut their Test teeth at the Lord’s. Pakistan lost on their Test debut, by an innings to India in Delhi during 1952-53, but they managed to hit back with an innings triumph of their own in the Test which followed in Lucknow one week later. Sri Lanka were beaten in their first two Tests, by England and Pakistan, in 1981-82 before drawing their third with Pakistan but their maiden victory came only 11 games later when they beat India by 149 runs during 1985-86. Zimbabwe, the ninth additions to the Test match fraternity, drew their debut match with India in Harare during 1992-93 after making 456 in their first innings, the highest total by any debutant country. Their first Test win came in their 11th outing less than three years later when they beat Pakistan by an innings and 64 runs in Harare during 1994-95, although this victory has subsequently been tarnished by murmurings of match-fixing. Bangladesh, over the next few months, will almost certainly play Test matches with more frequency than New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe managed to do during their infant days in the Test ranks.
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Flower scores 2nd century of match Harare, September 10 South Africa scored 600 for three declared in their first innings, to which Zimbabwe replied with 286 and followed on. Flower scored 142 in the first innings, and became the first wicketkeeper and the second Zimbabwean after his brother Grant to score centuries in both innings of a Test match. He also became the first Zimbabwean to achieve the feat against South Africa and the first player from any country to do so in 52 years after Australia’s Jack Moroney, who scored 118 and 101 not out in Johannesburg in 1949-50. SA (Ist innings): 600-3 declared Zimbabwe (Ist innings): 286 Zimbabwe (IInd innings): Ebrahim lbw b Pollock 0 Campbell b Kallis 7 Masakadza c Dippenaar b
Wishart c Klusener b Pollock 6 A. Flower not out 138 G. Flower c Dippenaar b Ntini 16 G. Whittall lbw b Henderson 3 Streak c Kallis b Pollock 19 Friend not out 10 Extras (b-5 lb-6 nb-9) 20 Total (for 7 wkts,133 overs) 304 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-18, 3-25, 4-211, 5-243, 6-260, 7-287. Bowling: Pollock 24-4-50-3, Nel 14-5-32-0, Kallis 16-4-32-1 Henderson 41-11-98-2, Ntini 23-10-48-1, Klusener 15-5-33-0 ).
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Chennai to host 1st one-dayer New Delhi, September 10 England team’s tour is divided into two parts-first from November 14 to December 23 for first class matches and three Tests series and second from January 12 to February 3 (which has been revised). There is no change in the dates and venues for the first part of the tour. As per the itinerary for the second part of the tour there is no change of dates of the one day international matches only the venues have been switched. The new itinerary: Nov:18-19: England v Mumbai President’s XI-Mumbai Nov: 22-24: England v Board President’s XI-Hyderabad Nov: 27-29: England v India A-Jaipur Dec 3-7: first Test-Mohali Dec 11-15: second Test-Ahmedabad Dec 19-23: third Test Bangalore Jan 17 and 19: practice one-day matches Mumbai Jan 22: Ist one-dayer-(D/N)-Chennai Jan 25: 2nd one-dayer-(D/N)-Kolkata Jan 28: 3rd one-dayer-Kanpur Jan 31: 4th one-dayer-New Delhi Feb 3: 5th
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India juniors beat Malaysia Hyderabad, September 10 The junior Indian side took off on a fast note and missed a sitting duck of a chance in the first and the third minutes, the villain being Somesh Kantha. From then Malaysia held sway but failed to capitalise on the three penalty corners which came their way. At this stage, the Indian team changed their game plan to take an the upper hand. India opened their account in the 20th minute when Somesh Kantha hit home following a cross from Jagbir Singh to make it 1-0.
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Easy victories for Tushar, Vivek Chandigarh, September 10 Results:
Boys: below 14 — Vivek Showkeen (Dli) b Pritam Singh (Chd) 6-0, 6-1; Uday Punia (Chd) b Saurav Ahuja (Pb) 6-3, 6-4; Dilpreet Gill (Chd) b Varun Nagrath (Dli) 6-2, 6-3; Simervir Singh (Chd) b H. Javed (Pb) 6-3, 6-4; Nitish Raj (UP) b Rahul (Dli) 7-6 (6), 6-7 (8), 7-6 (12); Gopal Singh (UP) b Chandil Sood (Dli) 6-3, 6-4; Simranjeet Singh (Chd) b Rubal S. (Dli) 6-1, 6-4; Kinshuk Sharma (Chd) b Sanchit Srivastava (Dli) 6-0, 6-1; Paras Thakur (Chd) b Rishabh (Dli) 6-1, 6-3; Vijyant Malik (Chd) b Puneet Kumar (Dli) 6-0, 6-1; Shiva Sangwan (Chd) b Karan Uday Singh (Dli) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Honey Rana (Dli) b Anshul Garg (Chd) 6-2, 6-1; Raghav Nanda (Dli) b Lakshit Sood (Dli) 6-0, 6-1; Gursher (Chd) b Vipul Sehrawat (Chd) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; Karan Patnaik (Chd) b Navinder Pal singh (Pb) 6-2, 7-5; Sanjog Kapoor (Chd) b Harkamal Singh (Chd) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Below 16: Tushar Liberhan (Chd) b Gurdit Singh (Chd) 6-2, 6-2; Manish Gupta (UP) b Faiz Rub (Dli) 6-2, 6-2; Sanam K. Singh (Chd) b Manjit Singh 6-2, 6-3; Ardaman Sidhu (Chd) b Vishal (Dli) 6-2, 6-4; Jitinder Mehna (Har) b Nitish Raj (UP) 6-3, 6-4; Jitin Bishnoi (Har) b Aditya Narain (UP) 6-1, 6-0; Hiney (Dli) b Rahul (Dli) 6-2,7-5; Neelabh Awasthi (Dli) b Avnish (UP) 6-0, 6-0; Sidharth Gulati (Dli) b Abhinav (Dli) 6-3, 6-3; Nakul (Dli) b Karan Patnaik (Chd) 6-4, 6-2; Vivek Showkeen (Dli) b Harneet Singh (Chd) 6-3, 6-4; Paras Thakur (Chd) b H. Javed (Pb) 6-4, 6-4; Parikshat Pandey (UP) b Pankaj Thapa (UP) 6-1, 6-2. Girls: below 14—Nuikunj Kamal (UP) b Ghazal Verma (Chd) 6-3, 6-2; Nitya Uppal (Dli) b Konika Sangwan (Chd) 6-0, 6-0; Alipt Sandhu (Chd) b Apoorva (Dli) 6-2, 6-1; Shubneet Sandhu (Pb) b Garima Batwani (Dli) 6-0, 6-0; Gungeet Bains (Chd) b Janishkaur (Chd) 6-0, 6-0; Jiliki Nelord (Dli) b Priyanka Tohan (Dli) 6-2, 6-1; Inayat Khosla (Chd) b Amrita Seth (Dli) 6-3, 6-2; Taskeen Bains (Chd) b Mehak (Chd) 6-1, 6-0; Isha w/o Kriti Puri (Chd); Henna Kumar (Chd) b Ankita Singh (Chd) 6-1, 6-4. Below 16: Shubhneet Sandhu (Pb) b Nitya Uppal (Dli) 6-2, 6-1; Pinki Tokaj (Dli) b Garima (Dli) 6-2, 6-4; Gitanjali Sharma (Pb) b Anukriti Parsad (Dli) 7-6 (3), 7-5; Simmer (Chd) b Ghazal Verma (Chd) 6-0, 6-0; Isha Toor (Chd) b Jilkene Lord (Dli) 6-0, 6-0; Bahar Paul (Chd) b Bonika Sangwan (Chd) 6-1, 6-2; Amrita Seth (Dli) b Nikunj Kamal (UP) 6-3, 7-5; Taskeen Bains (Chd) b Chandni Thakur (Chd) 6-0, 6-0; Priyanka Tohan (Dli) b Apoorva (Dli) 6-2, 6-4; Amanpreet Kaur (Chd) b Alipt Sandhu (Chd) 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4; Jaya Batwani (Dli) b Inayat Khosla (Chd) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3). |
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Seeded players have it easy New Delhi, September 10 Top-seeded Sai Jayaram Jayalakshmi pulverised Nandini Perumal with a power show to score a 6-0, 6-0 victory while second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarty was equally ruthless when she demolished Deepanwita Chakrabarty 6-2, 6-1. Fourth-seeded Sonal Phadke, with her consistent baseline game, wore out Olexandra Verkhnyatsa 6-0, 6-1 while the doughty Isha Lakhani got past Alice Joy 6-3, 6-1. Samrita Sekar crawled back from a set down to oust Sai Swapna Ramakrishna 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 while third-seeded Shruti Dhawan, after comfortably cruising through in the first set, found the going tough as Pichaya Laosirichon of Thailand pulled up her socks to give back as much as she got with some fantastic down the line and cross-court winners. But Shruti had the last laugh in the tie-breaker as she scored a 6-1, 7-6 (7) victory. In other matches, Nichela Boda Reddy beat Vishika Chhetri 6-3, 6-2 while Prariyawan Ratanakrong of Thailand beat Pragya Yadav of India 6-0, 6-1. Tara Kanbargimath beat Naina Karsotta 6-1, 6-0 in another one-sided match, and so did seventh seeded Geeta Manohar, who gave a 6-1, 6-2 pasting to Shubha Srinivasan 6-1, 6-2. |
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Chances brighten for lifters Patiala, September 10 The IWF, after two postponements, has now decided to hold the World Championships at Antalya (Turkey) from November 4 to 11. These dates overlap with the Afro-Asian Games which are scheduled to be held at New Delhi from November 5 to 11. Asian weightlifting powerhouse China have reportedly fielded only two lifters in the male section. Interestingly, China had won four gold and two silver medals in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Iran have also shown little interest in sending their lifters for the games and have decided to send just one entry. In the Bangkok Asiad, Iranian lifters had won an impressive haul of five medals, including one gold, two silver and two bronze. The maximum number of competitors will be from Qatar, although the country failed to win even a single medal in the Bangkok
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India’s decision immature: Raza New Delhi, September 10 “I am sure history will see this (India’s refusal to play against Pakistan) as an immature step,” Raza said in an informal chat with reporters here. “Politics should stay away from cricket. There is no point in cricket boards making moral judgements,” he said. |
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Non-bailable warrant for Yograj New Delhi, September 10 Yograj is accused of harbouring Shrama in Chandigarh and other places while he was on the ‘run’ after he allegedly killed Jessica Lal here on April 30, 1999. UNI |
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Patiala ‘awarded’
match Patiala, September 10 Bathinda players failed to produce the age-verification certificates at the start of their match. The umpires objected to this and ‘awarded’ the match to the hosts. |
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RAYMOND, STUBBS WIN DOUBLES TITLE CAMEROON COACH NASH OMITTED |
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