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Tuesday,
July 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India   |
Venus, Hewitt enter quarters
Sri Lanka battling for survival |
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Chetan Sharma writes Srinath ‘should’ reverse
decision Career-best 204 by Chris Gayle Brazilian football set to remain in chaos Individual genius prevails over team ethic Expert comments — Gary Lineker Asian soccer will never be same again Not a great final: Maradona With an eye on Olympic medal
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Venus, Hewitt enter quarters
London, July 1 Hewitt swept Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours, 13 minutes on centre court to make the final eight at Wimbledon for the first time. The Australian hasn’t dropped a set in four matches. Williams, the two-time defending champion, routed 35th-ranked Lisa Raymond 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes in the day’s opening match on court one for her 18th straight singles win at Wimbledon. Williams, who wore a white bandage on her left knee and had her right wrist taped, was much sharper than Saturday, when she dropped the first set against 110th-ranked Maureen Drake of Canada. Raymond, a 28-year-old American who is known primarily as a doubles specialist, couldn’t cope with Williams’ power game. Williams had 20 winners, 16 more than Raymond. Williams took the first set in 18 minutes and faced her first break point while serving for the match at 5-2 in the second. But she saved it with a backhand winner and, two points later, Raymond hit a weak forehand into the net to end the contest. With her mother, Oracene, watching from the stands, Williams twirled twice and clapped her racket to acknowledge the crowd’s ovation. Hewitt had faced Youzhny the week before Wimbledon at a tournament in the Netherlands, winning 7-6 in the third. But it was a mismatch this time as Hewitt outplayed him in all phases. Hewitt played a controlled match, while Youzhny went for broke and had more winners (29 to 19) and unforced errors (42 to 22) than his opponent. Hewitt broke five times. Youzhny broke only once, with Hewitt serving for the second set at 5-2. Hewitt broke back in the next game to take the set. In the third set, Hewitt saved two break points at 3-3 and broke in the 12th game to end the match. Hewitt will next meet 18th-seeded Sjeng Schalken, who downed Jan Vacek 6-2, 7-5, 7-5. In another early men’s match, 20-year-old David Nalbandian beat Wayne Arthurs 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 7-6 (9/7) to become only the second Argentine to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Guillermo Vilas was a losing quarterfinalist in 1975 and 1976. For Likhovtseva it will be a first quarterfinal at the All-England Club after she downed 19th seed Magdalena Maleeva 6-3, 6-4. She overcame a swirling wind and the threat of rain to win in 68 minutes after breaking Maleeva’s serve twice in the first set and again in the second.
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Sri Lanka battling for survival Headingley (Leeds), July 1 Sri Lanka,
ranked higher than both England and India in the one-day format, could
face an early exit should they end up losers yet again tomorrow. In
what has turned out to be a disastrous summer for them, Sanath
Jayasuriya’s boys lost the Test series to England 0-2 and then
suffered defeats in their first two games in the triangular one-day
series. Another defeat would render their chances of making it to the
final on July 13 very bleak. Sri Lanka’s batting, their biggest
strength, appears low in depth and is suffering from loss of form of
key players. The opening pair of Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana
is not what it used to be a few seasons ago and Kumar Sangakkara, an
ebullient middle order batsman, is so out of touch, he was rested in
the game against India at Oval yesterday. To make matters worse,
Marvan Atapattu still does not seem to have recovered fully from a
finger injury in the Test series which threatened his chances of
staying back for the one-dayers. Their bowling, without Muttiah
Muralitharan, is struggling to contain the powerful line-ups of
England and India who registered a 44-run and four-wicket victories,
respectively, against them. England are also not without their own
worries with key batsmen appearing ill at ease while negotiating the
middle overs. Invariably, England have got good starts from Marcus
Trescothick and Nick Knight but the middle order has lost track and
the team has not been able to capitalise in the slog overs. Nasser
Hussain is an impressive captain but his one-day average of only
30-plus without a hundred to date, as well as the strike rate of only
65 does not quite make him an ideal one-day batsman. England’s
premier strike bowler Darren Gough is still to get a green signal on
his fitness from team management though he continues to travel with
the squad with his troublesome knee closely strapped. Gough is the
leading England wickettaker with 168 wickets from 106 games but has
been troubled by his knee since the tour to New Zealand in February.
Still England have shown some encouraging pointers in the form of all-rounders
Paul Collingwood and Ronnie Irani with left-arm spinner Ashley Giles
appearing as crafty as ever. England clearly appear a better side
than Lanka at the moment and it does not quite seem plausible that the
latter would be able to turn the tables on the home team. Sri Lankan
coach Dave Whatmore conceded the Headingley ga- me was a make or break
moment for them in the NatWest trophy. “It will be the midway
stage of the competition. For us it is absolutely vital that we are
able to give a good account of ourselves in the match,” Whatmore
said. PTI |
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Chetan Sharma writes Two out of two will never be short of being excellent and this must be one of the best weekends Indian cricket team has ever enjoyed while playing abroad. Yesterday, they won a big run-chase against England and today, even though Sri Lanka had posted a relatively smaller total of 202 for eight, the Indians achieved it quite methodically. Who said India are bad chasers? They have beaten England by six wickets and Sri Lanka by four wickets, so now their confidence must be really high. Once again, I must compliment the youngsters within the team. Apart from pushing the seniors for places in the playing eleven, they have made winning a habit and if the trend continues, the English summer will make men out of most of the boys in the team. I am very happy with Yuvraj Singh’s show. Here is a lad, in his early 20s, but with a big-match temperament. He has his flaws but who cares if his batting has won India two matches on successive days. With his fielding and bowling abilities, Yuvraj should make the all-rounder’s spot his own. What he has shown in these two matches is that he remains cool even in a pressure-cooker situation. Well done, Yuvraj Singh. Today’s victory was also a result of disciplined Indian bowling and fielding. As I said, the youngsters have raised the quality of fielding and it is reflecting on others. They are holding the catches, and even though I would wish they improve further, it’s a start in the right direction. Rahul Dravid’s wicketkeeping is improving by every match, so I think the team management has made its decision of continuing with him in that role. As for our bowling, the Indian seamers were spot on. Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan picked up from where they left off yesterday; and bowled good line and length. The inclusion of Ashish Nehra was also a good decision and he responded well to his captain’s demands. It helped Agarkar too, as he could now come on first change as suits him. Sri Lanka started well, with Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana looking in good nick. It looked as if the Lankans would post a big total. Here, Saurav Ganguly showed his leadership ability, making quick bowling changes and rotating his seamers. It paid rich dividends as the spate of wickets falling did not allow Lankans to feel comfortable in the middle. They got to the 200-figure only because Mahela Jayawardene held one end up. He is one of the most promising young batsman in international cricket, just like our own Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag. Jayawardene had done well against England in the Test series so he knows that when you are in form, don’t settle for less. I think that’s the mistake Sehwag is making now. He plays a very good innings, like yesterday, but throws it away with some reckless shots. He should put his head down and concentrate. Today, he played a very poor shot under the conditions. Dinesh Mongia was also guilty of throwing away his wicket when the team needed him to stay there. It is high time these two learnt the importance of big knocks. |
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Srinath ‘should’ reverse
decision London, July 1 “I’ve seen a lot of people come back from retirement and I keep my fingers crossed with
Jav,” Ganguly said after India’s four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at the Oval today. “We still want him to play for India, he’s still got a lot of cricket to offer and I hope he changes his mind.” Srinath announced his retirement from Test cricket earlier this month, at the age of 32, after returning from a series in the West Indies where he took just 13 wickets in five tests. His 232 wickets in 64 tests, make him India’s second most prolific fast bowler behind Kapil Dev with 434 wickets.
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Career-best 204 by Chris Gayle St George’s (Grenada), July 1 Gayle smashed 29 fours and two sixes in an innings that lasted two minutes over eight hours and included 332 balls. West Indies were 21 runs ahead of New Zealand at the close. His innings ended with six overs to go when he got the finest of edges to a Shane Bond ball and was caught behind by Robbie Hart. On a flat wicket in boiling sunshine, the hard-hitting Jamaican started the day on 23 and tore through a New Zealand bowling attack that could do little other than watch his shots scream past them on their way to the Queen’s Park boundary. Yesterday’s innings was a career-best for the 22-year-old whose only previous century was 175 against Zimbabwe last year. Hitting the ball so hard that at least one fielder suffered a hand injury, Gayle delighted the 8,000-strong crowd watching a test match in Grenada for the first time. West Indies overhauled New Zealand’s first innings total shortly before the close and will be aiming to build a lead on the fourth day and try to bowl out the tourists on the last day. Gayle has entrenched himself as the West Indies opening batsman in one day matches but his Test place seemed less secure until yesterday. He scored two half centuries in the one-day series against New Zealand and 73 in the first Test, which the West Indies won by 204 runs. Gayle yesterday only gave two clear chances, when Mark Richardson dropped him at mid on the ball after he had walloped pace bowler Shane Bond for a straight six and he was also dropped at cover on 199. At lunch he was 88 not out, taking part in a 100-run partnership with Ramnaresh Sarwan, who ran himself out for 39 taking on veteran fielder Chris Harris with the score on 128. Gayle was then joined by Brian Lara, who batted brightly to score 48, including seven fours, until he presented Scott Styris with his debut test wicket to add to the debut Test century he scored on Saturday, edging an outswinger to the wicketkeeper with the score on
204. Styris took the shine off his own performance when he dropped Gayle on 199. SCOREBOARD New Zealand (1st innings): 373 West Indies (1st innings): Gayle c Hart b Bond 204 W Hinds b Bond 10 Sarwan run out 39 Lara c Hart b Styris 48 Hooper lbw b Bond
17 Chanderpaul not out 51 Jacobs not out 2 Extras: (lb4, b1 nb13, w5) 23 Total: (5
wkts, 118 overs) 394 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-128, 3-204, 4-246, 5-385 Bowling: Bond 24-5-88-3, Butler 17-4-66-0, Styris 22-3-77-1, Vettori 34-7-103-0, Astle 6-2-15-0, Harris 15-4-40-0.
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Brazilian football set to remain in chaos Yokohama, Japan, July 1 They hoped that a disastrous performance could help topple soccer directors who have clung to their posts despite being accused by a Congressional investigation last year of a corrupt and negligent administration. Now Brazil have won their fifth title, many fear that, paradoxically, success could strengthen the position of the directors and slow down attempts to reform the game. The national team itself is left facing an uncertain future as a footballing equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters. The world champions may have to wait up to two years for their next competitive game depending on when the next Copa America — originally planned for 2003 but likely to go ahead one year later — is held. In the meantime, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is likely to line up a string of lucrative — and meaningless — friendlies. In the past, the CBF has used the prestige of its team to arrange endless friendly matches in exchange for a fat appearance fee estimated at about $500,000. Commentators have often complained that financial, rather than technical, criteria are used to determine who and where Brazil play. In the last few years Brazil’s opponents in friendly matches have included Australia, Lithuania, Iceland, Panama and Andorra and have gone ahead whether or not their top players are available. The games — plus a lucrative sponsorship deal with sportswear manufacturers Nike — have brought the cash rolling in. But, in its final report, last year’s Congressional investigation said the CBF’s expenditure had increased even more quickly than it’s income.
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Individual genius prevails over team ethic Yokohama, July 1 South Korea, Denmark, the USA, Sweden and Turkey were among sides who enjoyed successful campaigns on the back of a fierce collective spirit allied with skill as other, supposedly superior, teams fell by the wayside. But as Germany found out against a
Ronaldo-inspired Brazil in yesterday’s final, organisation and efficiency can sometimes only take you so far. The instinctive creative football that has been Brazil’s legacy prevailed. “Many teams make use of discipline and organisation to minimise risks,” said former Scotland manager Andy
Roxburgh, now technical director of European football’s governing body
UEFA. “Brazil’s style is still the opposite. They take high risks, with the attitude that they will do enough in attack to win matches.” That Brazil were to provide an artistic edge came as a surprise. Their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had said before the tournament that he would make his team play ‘ugly football’ if he thought it gave them a better chance of winning. Yet through the twinkling feet of Ronaldinho, the panther-like presence of Rivaldo and the finishing of Ronaldo, Brazil bore more than a passing resemblance to their celebrated teams of yesteryear as they clinched a record fifth title. The comeback of Ronaldo was the most heartwarming story of the tournament. The Inter Milan star only returned to the national team in March after a series of severe injuries had threatened to cut his career short at the age of just 25. In 1998 he suffered a mysterious seizure just hours before the World Cup final against France, yet controversially played anyway as Brazil were beaten 3-0. But Ronaldo’s two goals yesterday laid to rest his nightmare of four years ago once and for all - and saw him finish the World Cup as top scorer with eight goals in seven matches. “It’s a fantastic feeling to be a Brazilian tonight,” an overjoyed Ronaldo said. “The whole squad has worked very hard. I worked for two and a half years to be here tonight. We are all so happy to have landed this fifth championship.” Brazil’s victory was a popular end to a World Cup which will go down as one of the most entertaining in the tournament’s 72-year history. The number of goals may have been fewer than in France 1998 — 161 in 64 matches compared to 171 — but the drama and excitement quotients so far exceeded anything seen four years ago. Senegal’s stunning 1-0 upset of holders France in the opening game set the tone for much of the tournament, inspiring other so-called minnows to turn tail and start taking bites out of the big fish. Incredibly, by the completion of the first round, the two pre-tournament favourites Argentina and France had been sent packing, along with Portugal. Arguably the most thrilling upset came with South Korea’s 2-1 golden goal win over Italy. Ahn
Jung-Hwan’s header in extra-time saw Italy revisit their 1966 World Cup humiliation against North Korea. Italy, convinced of a conspiracy, cried foul as did Spain, South Korea’s next victims in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile one image encapsulated the fall of France -Zinedine Zidane, the hero of the 1998 final, with his face in the turf after bravely trying to create the magic he and his team-mates needed to stay in the tournament against Denmark. Struggling with a heavily strapped thigh, he failed miserably to spark Les Bleus’ much-vaunted attack into life and they somehow failed to score a single goal in the tournament, the worst ever performance by a holder. Their conquerors in the opening match Senegal, ironically playing with a side made up entirely of players based in France, eventually went all the way to the last eight, equalling the best performance by an Africa side in World Cup history. The style in which Senegal’s success was achieved also suggested a bright future for coach Bruno Metsu’s squad, with striker
El-Hadji Diuf and midfielder Salif Diao among the stars of the World Cup.
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Expert comments — Gary Lineker I really couldn’t see any outcome to Sunday’s World Cup final other than an emphatic win for Brazil. But I had anticipated a fantastic personal duel for the Golden Boot award for the tournament’s top goalscorer. Germany’s Miroslav Klose went into the game with five goals, one fewer than Ronaldo. But I knew the Golden Boot was going to develop into a battle between Ronaldo and his teammate Rivaldo, who had also scored five. Klose has been the real find for a German team that struggle to score any goals at all. He’s a decent player with a good spring and all his five goals in the tournament have come from headers. Given enough ammunition from the wings, Klose could have managed a few more goals, but eventually he didn’t scored in the last four games which is bizarre when you’re in the running for the Golden Boot. Ronaldo has been absolutely dynamic throughout and he has come back from the brink of retirement to show that he is as good as he was before, which is amazing. Against Germany, he had everything: touch, pace, strength and the ability to get a shot in when no one expects it. This was also how the winner came against Turkey in the semi-final, a little toe-poke that deceived the goalkeeper and provided the little bit of genius the game needed. Even before the final I could see him getting a couple in the final, this despite the fact that Germany have conceded only one goal in the whole tournament. Rivaldo too has the touch, the control and the vision to match him, not to mention the appetite, having scored in every game before the semi-final. However, in the end it was Ro and not Ri who topped the chart. We have seen some excellent performances from strikers at this World Cup, even if the competition took a little dip after the group stages and the excitement of those early shocks. Jon Dahl Tomasson of Denmark showed a significant improvement on anything he displayed at Newcastle and Sweden’s Henrik Larsson took his club form on to the international stage for the first time. Michael Owen also did well, considering the service — or lack of it — that he received, and Christian Vieri of Italy again proved himself a class act until he missed that sitter against South Korea in the closing minutes of their second-round match. Then there was Hasan Sas of Turkey, who scored only twice but demonstrated lovely touch. Coming back to Sunday’s final, a Brazilian win was the only logical conclusion to the tournament. I know we had what many considered a massive shock in the final of France ‘98 but this time, Brazil have been head and shoulders above everyone else in the tournament. The usual cliches about the German side, that they’re well-organised, disciplined and technically proficient, did surface over the weekend. But take away goalkeeper Oliver Kahn and Michael Ballack and they are a very ordinary, workmanlike side. When Ballack was actually taken away from the German side following his cynical tackle against Korea, manager Rudi Voller had said that he deserved his nation’s praise for his self-sacrifice. However, without him, the German team had little to offer but the hope that Klose’s head will get them a goal. Also, Germany struggled to beat Paraguay, America and Korea in the knock-out stages, winning all three matches by scoring a goal and shutting up shop. They hadn’t faced anything like the competition that Brazil had to deal with, and that alone would have separated the teams. People have talked a lot about a changing world order but the reason that so many of the smaller sides did better than expected - and the bigger nations fared worse - is that the former had more time to prepare, while the likes of France and Argentina turned up with players who were exhausted from domestic and Champions League battles. However, we have to give a big pat on the back to Turkey whose football has improved massively at club level in the past few years and have now proved that they are a force at international level, too. Without wishing to depress England fans further, they are, of course, our main qualifying group rivals for the European championships in Portugal in 2004. It has still been a fascinating World Cup overall and though we have not seen the same quality across the board as in former competitions there has been enough, thanks to the Brazilians, to satisfy us. It was good for football that they defeated Germany. And I’ve no hesitation in saying that the alternative would have been almost too awful to contemplate.
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Asian soccer will never be same again Yokohama, July 1 The success of South Korea in reaching the last four, the impressive displays from Japan and the enthusiasm and interest generated by holding the finals in the two countries will surely have an impact for years to come. “These countries have worked hard to bridge the gap between Asian and European football. It is indeed wonderful to finally see Asian teams outthink and outfight more illustrious football nations at the highest level,’’ said Peter Velappan, general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). South Korea beat Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain as they became the first Asian team to reach the last four, while Japan reached the second round for the first time after beating Russia and drawing with Belgium in their group games. The AFC will now be aiming to maintain the momentum of progress and the new Asian Champions League, modelled on Europe’s most successful international competition, should help to ensure a constant level of competitive football for the top players and an increasingly fascinated public. It is not only the results that have improved for Asia at this World Cup-both Japan and South Korea’s performances finally laid to rest the stereotypes that Asian teams may have a nice touch but lack the physique and aggression to survive among the best. One of the leading central defenders at this World Cup has been Korean captain Hong Myung-bo while Japan’s Shinji Ono is typical of a new breed of Asian player — super-fit, hard and aggressive. Korea in particular have managed to introduce a new-found toughness to their game which has ensured that they can no longer be considered polite pushovers. Guus Hiddink’s side were aggressive as any European or Latin American team and the Dutchman has made no secret of the fact that he has installed some bite and a necessary bit of badness to his team. “I’ve been a little bit mean to them to give them examples. Sometimes in training I did mean things to them. And nobody reacts,’’ said Hiddink. “Then after five minutes I came back and asked, ‘You accept what I did? You accept what I did?’ I got angry that they accepted me being mean. I told them they have to be mean as well,’’ the Dutchman said. Hiddink will almost certainly be applying those lessons to another team soon as his contract with South Korea ended with the final whistle in Saturday’s third-place play-off. His replacement will have the task of leading Korea into the 2004 Asian Cup which will take place in China and must now be the most eagerly awaited ever. The Koreans won the first two editions of the tournament but have not had the their hands on the trophy since 1960 and have failed to make the final since 1988 but they will be confident of turning their World Cup success into continental dominance.
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Not a great final: Maradona Tokyo, July 1 “This tournament was mediocre and the final was not a great final,” he told a news conference here today, the day after Ronaldo’s two goals powered Brazil to a 2-0 win over Germany for a record fifth World Cup. “Germany were one of the worst Germany I have seen in my life. Brazil were a handful of individuals. It was not a team,” said the 41-year-old hero of Argentina’s 1986 World Cup triumph. Despite many pundits hailing the return of Brazilian flair and proclaiming Ronaldo the star of the tournament, Maradona had other ideas. “If I were to choose the best two players, they are Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos,” he said. “The man who gave Brazil the trophy is obviously Ronaldo, but he was not the best man because his knee was hurting so he could not perform well technically. “But we should give him the trophy for the passion and the heart he had for this tournament,” Maradona said. “If Ronaldo’s knee is healed, he could probably and easily be the best man for the next tournament. “If we need to consider Ronaldo as the best player because of the marketing problems, advertising problems and sponsor problems, it is okay. But he was not fit.” The chubby South American praised Senegal, who beat 1998 champions France 1-0 in the opening match and became the first African team in 12 years to reach the World Cup last-eight, for showing “great potential as a team.” He said they could have been even better if they had smoothed out the physical side to their play. “Soccer is about technique but not about who breaks the legs of other players,” he said. “So letting four or five play soccer and the rest do that is not the healthiest way.”
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With an eye on Olympic medal Chandigarh, July 1 Anjali is now practising hard in Finland prior to her active participation in the forthcoming World Shooting Championships-2002, to be held at Lahiti, Finland beginning July 2. Anjali told The Tribune she had to go to Finland to acclimatise herself for this world championships which comes after every four years.The best part is that Anjali wanted to have pre-hand training under the world renowned air rifle coach Lazslo Szuvask of Hungary. Lazslo had coached Indian rifle shooting team two years back when he was on a contract with India. Prominent shooters of the country, including Anjali, and Abhinav Bindra, had taken training from him. But last year, his contract could not be renewed and he was oped in by Japan to coach their team. Now Lazslo is the coach of the Japan team. Anjali was given top world ranking with 1971 points by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), followed by Jing Gao of China, ranked second. The third spot went to Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany. In the top-10 of air rifle event , apart from Anjali, three women were from China, two from Korea, one each from Germany, USA, Russia and Czech Republic. No other Indian male or female — figures among top 10 in any other event, be it air pistol, clay pigeon events. Anjali had recently shot 399/400 in the World Cup meet at Atlanta (USA). She, however, missed the second World Cup at Milano (Italy), as she was not granted visa. Early this year, she had taken part in the other two qualifying World Cups at Sydney (Australia) and Shanghai (China). Anjali is at present the only Indian sportsperson to qualify for the Olympic quota place in 2004 Olympics. When Anjali had participated in the 31st National Games at SAS Nagar, she had confessed that shooting required a lot of patience. She said it was over the years and with more exposure to various international tournaments, that one reaches near perfection. She had felt that the year 2002 was an important year in her shooting career, since many vital tournaments were to be held this year. True to her words, the hard work put in by her bore fruit last month, when she shot her career best score 399/400 to secure the silver medal in the World meet at Atlanta. She narrowly missed the gold medal by 0.7 points.
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