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Friday,
July 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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India squander early advantage In Graphic: India VS England in Test cricket Colourful opening to Commonwealth Games Manchester hopes for rich rewards Frankie Fredericks older, wiser and HOCKEY |
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Indian eves face tough task Aussie cleared despite drugs failure Irina Lashko gives Aussies bright start
HPCA to
build cricket museum Haryana hikes Olympians’ pension Basketball trials on
July 28
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India squander early advantage
London, July 25 England captain Nasser Hussain backed his decision to bat first with a fine unbeaten 82 and was associated in two good partnerships with Mark Butcher and John Crawley. Zaheer Khan had struck in the second over of the innings when he sent back opener Michael Vaughan even before England had been able to put a run on the board. Two quick wickets on either side of lunch break - one each by Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble - had forced England on the backfoot at 78 for three. But Hussain, who has hit 13 boundaries in his 171-ball knock, and Crawley batted sensibly after that and have so far added 99 runs for the unfinished fourth wicket stand. Crawley was batting on 48 at the tea break. Hussain batted quite confidently and always looked to attack the bowlers. He punished the wayward Ajit Agarkar severely and even took on Kumble, twice stepping out of his crease to loft the bowler over mid-on for boundaries. England accelerated towards the last quarter of the second session with both Hussain, who raised his 24th Test half-century with his ninth four, and Crawley trading in boundaries. Earlier, Zaheer Khan, who has figures of two for 34 from 15 overs so far, bowled an inspired spell and troubled the English batsmen considerably. However, his lone support came from Kumble as both Ashish Nehra and Agarkar were off the mark.
PTI SCOREBOARD England (1st innings): Butcher c Jaffer b Kumble 29 Vaughan lbw b Hussain batting 82 Thorpe b Zaheer Khan 4 Crawley batting 48 Extras (b-3, lb-5, w-1, nb-5) 14 Total (for 3 wkts, 58 overs) 177 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-71, 3-78. Bowling: Nehra 14-2-38-0, Zaheer Khan 15-6-34-2, Agarkar 10-1-45-0, Kumble 16-7-36-1, Ganguly 3-1-16-0.
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Colourful opening to Commonwealth Games
Manchester, July 25 Queen Elizabeth II, celebrating her golden jubilee year, formally declared the Games open amidst a thunderous cheer from the capacity 38,000 crowd who filled the newly constructed stadium. Dazzling fireworks lit up the evening sky as the Queen heralded the first Commonwealth Games of the millennium in the presence of a host of dignitaries and top officials in this northern English city hoping to bury the miserable and costly memories of two failed Olympic bids and a football World Cup bid. More than 6000 athletes from 72 countries, ranging from giant Australia to little Nauru, will battle for honour and glory in the next 10 days of competitions though the absence of a number of star performers has taken away some of the sheen. India has fielded its largest ever contingent to the Games this time hoping to improve upon its tally of 25 medals collected in the last Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur but may find the medal hunting mission more difficult with powerhouses like Australia, England, South Africa and Canada expected to maintain their stranglehold. Cultural themes depicting the contemporary British society and the heritage of the host city and a breathtaking acrobatic display were the highlights of the opening spectacle watched by millions of television viewers worldwide. The proceedings began with the ceremonial arrival of the Queen, setting the stage for the spectacular show to unfold the biggest ever multi-disciplinary extravaganza to be staged in the country since the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. After the formal speeches by some of the dignitaries and organising committee members, the participating teams made their way into the stadium amidst cheers from the spectators, many of whom had occupied their seats well before the scheduled start. The Indian contingent, attired in their traditional blue blazer and with the men athletes wearing saffron turbans, also received a loud ovation as they took a lap of the stadium constructed at a cost of 173 million dollars. The 148-member strong Indian contingent, led by shooter Anjali (Ved Pathak) Bhagwat, will be vying for honours in 10 disciplines this time with the shooters, lifters and shuttlers expected to do the bulk of the medal shopping. The Indians had taken part in just six disciplines, including cricket which was included for the first time, in the last Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and had returned home with seven gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze medals. And in the true spirit of the Games, the athletes mingled and exchanged pleasantries soon after the formal march-past was over. Many of the athletes took photos of themselves to preserve the moment for posterity. The Games also struck a first with both the able-bodied athletes and the disabled taking part in the main programme. To mark the occasion, Tanni Grey-Thompson, who has won nine gold medals in four Paralympic Games, had been chosen to carry the Welsh flag at the opening ceremony. More than 4000 performers, including dancers, singers, musicians and acrobats took part in the colourful ceremony which was designed and handled by a local company. The nearly two-hour show, combining established Commonwealth Games protocols and traditions with innovative creative segments, ended with the departure of the Queen. Although diving competitions began today ahead of the opening ceremony, competitions in all the other 18 disciplines will start tomorrow. The Indian athletic, badminton, table tennis, gymnastic and women’s hockey teams will be seen in action tomorrow while the other teams will begin their medal quest at later dates. PTI
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Manchester hopes for rich rewards
Manchester, July 25 Certainly Manchester will hope to succeed where Edinburgh failed in 1986, the last time Britain staged the event, and the north-western city has a point to prove after its bids for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games were rejected. The Edinburgh Games, hit by a boycott from 32 countries protesting at the British government’s refusal to impose sanctions on South Africa over apartheid, needed to be bailed out by millionaire publisher Robert Maxwell. The Commonwealth Games Council has said that none of the 16 events since 1930 has made a profit, however. Manchester has looked beyond the 10 days of sporting events for its investment and spending on the Games has so far been relatively contained. The city has secured over £ 600 million of public and private investment and hopes to generate £ 12 million a year from new visitors coming to the area as a result. New stadiums, including the centrepiece 38,000-seat City of Manchester athletics stadium and the Acquatics Centre, have been built for a total cost of £ 170 million, funded mainly from lottery money. The City of Manchester Stadium, costing £ 110 million, will be converted to a new home for Manchester City Football Club for the 2003-2004 season, when the athletics track will be removed and capacity increased to 48,000. Such developments put London’s attempts at sporting projects to shame, but providing they run smoothly, the Games should have a positive effect on the country’s potential to stage international events in the future. Reuters
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Frankie
Fredericks older, wiser and
Manchester, July 25 The 34-year-old Namibian returned this season from three years of injury troubles to clock the second fastest times in the world in both the 100 and 200 metres. Fredericks, who has four Olympic silvers in the 100 and 200, won the 200 at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, and finished second in the 100 in 1998 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In his attempt to complete the set, Fredericks will also be looking for Namibia’s second-ever Commonwealth Games gold when the heats are held tomorrow. “I don’t have a 100 gold so it might be best to try for that one,” he said. “But maybe it will be easier in the 200. I just hope that I can stay healthy so I can race these young guys in Manchester. The Commonwealth Games is important to me. It’s a major competition. His 100 best was 9.94 seconds in Windhoek, Namibia, in April. Maurice Greene has the season’s best of 9.89. A week before the games, Fredericks ran 19.99 in the 200 at the Golden League race in Rome, second only to American Shawn Crawford’s season best of 19.85. With defending champion Ato Boldon absent, Frederick’s main rival for the 100 metres is England’s Dwain Chambers, who has a season’s best of 10.03. Teenage rival Mark Lewis-Francis has run 10.04 while Nigeria’s Deji Alui also has a chance to make the medals. In the 200, South African Morne Nagel has a season’s best of 20.10 which makes him a contender along with Stephan Buckland from Mauritius and England’s Marlon Devonish and Darren Campbell. The men’s and women’s 100 is contested Saturday at the City of Manchester stadium, with the 200 raced Monday. In the women’s 100, Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence is the favourite. Lawrence has pushed Olympic champion Marion Jones throughout the season and is the only Commonwealth athlete to have gone under 11 seconds this year. Her main competition will be from three members of the Bahama’s 4x100 metres Olympic gold medal relay team -defending champion Chandra Sturrup, who raced 11.01 seconds in May, Debbie Ferguson and Sevatheda Fynes. Ferguson is also a strong chance in the 200, along with Jamaicans Beverly McDonald, a Sydney Olympic silver medallist in the 4x400 relay, and 1998 silver medallist Juliet Campbell. Cydonie Mothersille, one of two athletes representing the Cayman Islands, is also a contender. Australian Olympic 400 metres gold medallist Cathy Freeman is only running the 4x400 metres relay, but is bound to be a crowd favourite. Canadian 100 metres star Bruny Surin also makes a relay appearance, which will be his last race after 10 years at the top. World record holder Colin Jackson bids for his third Commonwealth Games gold in the 110 hurdles while Jonathan Edwards, Olympic and world champion and world record holder in the triple jump, bid to win his first Commonwealth title after being runner up twice. Another Olympic champion, Maria Mutola of Mozambique, is back to defend her 800 metres title. London Marathon winner Paula Radcliffe seeks to win her first gold medal of an international athletic meet and is favourite for the 5,000 metres. The men’s pole vault has a strong field, with world champion Dmitry Markov of Australia and South Africa’s Okkert Brits, who have both cleared 6.00 metres. Other contenders are Kuala Lumpur silver medallist Paul Burgess and fellow Australian Viktor Chistiakov, who has the best height (5.77 metres) of Commonwealth pole vaulter this year. Chistiakov’s wife, Olympic silver medalist Tatiana Grigorieva is the favourite in the women’s pole vault. The competition was clouded by the positive drug test and subsequent suspension of England medal hope Janine Whitlock last month. A strong Kenyan team is likely to dominate the distance events. Jacqueline Maranga is defending her 1,500 title and former Rotterdam marathon champion Susan Chepkemei in the 10,000. The men’s team is without Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Noah Ngeny and Bernard Lagat, which gives William Chirchir the chance to win his first Commonwealth title. Benjamin Limo is likely to win the 5,000, having set the second fastest time (12:57.27) this year. Defending 800 metres champion Japheth Kimutai returns, while Olympic silver medallist Eric Wanaina is favourite to win the marathon. Joining the list of absent stars - which includes Denise Lewis, Boldon and Merlene Ottey - was sprinter Darrel Brown of Trinidad and South African 800-metre runner Hezekiel Sepeng. Brown, the world’s fastest sprinter under 18, is skipping the games, citing fatigue. Brown was to travel from Kingston, Jamaica, where he won gold in the World Junior Championships with a record-breaking 10.09 seconds in the 100-metre race. Sepeng failed to arrive in Manchester from Europe. He is believed to be returning to South Africa to get treatment for an undisclosed injury. Officials want him to be treated in Manchester instead. “It is our opinion that, should we get hold of Hezekiel Sepeng, that he should arrive at the Commonwealth Games where he will be assessed by our team,” South African medical officer Ismail Jakoet said. “I think they are capable enough to assess Hezekiel Sepeng should he be harbouring an injury.” The six-day athletics competition is breaking with tradition and being held at the beginning of the games to allow athletes eligible to also attend the European athletics championships in Munich, Germany, from August 6 to 11. That mainly applies to the athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who will go to the Europeans as Britain. AP
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HOCKEY
Manchester, July 25 Strange qualifying norms - one team from each Commonwealth region besides the defending champions and the hosts — threw eight-time Olympic champions India out of the competition as higher-ranked Pakistan grabbed Asia’s lone
berth. Dhanraj Pillay and company were forced to stay at home even as unlikely hockey nations like Wales and Barbados were given entries to the eight-team men’s event. Canada’s men and women’s teams made the trip to Manchester without breaking sweat - it is the only Commonwealth country from the Americas. “Whoever made these rules is an idiot,” said Manchester resident Avtar Singh, angry that he and thousands of Asian immigrants in this industrial city were deprived of a mouth-watering clash between India and Pakistan. “We waited in hope that the organisers would finally see sense and take India in at the last minute. “I wanted to see India play Pakistan, not Australia or England. I want my money back and I know many of my friends do too,” he said. Games organisers, who framed the rules in consultation with the International Hockey Federation, defended their decision. “Where else will Wales or Barbados get a chance to play against Pakistan or Australia,” said a Games official. “These are, after all, the friendship Games.” Moves by Indian Olympic officials to gain back-door entry by forcing Barbados to pull out were scoffed at by the country’s hockey administration. Indian Hockey Federation secretary K Jyothikumaran said the national team preferred to train for “much more important” events like the Champions Trophy and the Asian Games. Australia, meanwhile, are set to rule both the men’s and women’s
competitions which get underway at the Belle Vue Hockey Centre tomorrow. The Australian men, who reached the final of the World Cup in Malaysia in March, are favourites to overcome England and Pakistan and retain the title they won in Malaysia four years ago. It should be an even easier time for the awesome Aussie women, who are the reigning Olympic, World and Commonwealth champions. In the men’s event, Pakistan play Canada, Wales and England in group B of the preliminary league, while holders Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Barbados form group A The top team from each group will advance directly to the he semi-finals. The second and third placed teams will play-off for the two remaining spots. Pakistan have recalled goalkeeper Ahmed Alam and striker Kamran Ashraf to bolster the side that finished fifth at the World Cup. But their hopes rest again with penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas, who was the leading scorer at the World Cup along with Jorge Lombi of Argentina with 10 goals each. Australia’s squad includes just four players who won the inaugural men’s competition at the last Commonwealth Games, pinning their hopes on the players who secured second place at this year’s World Cup. England, hoping to use the home advantage to end Australia’s monopoly, will bank on versatile striker Dave Matthews, whose seven goals at the World Cup were only behind Abbas and
Lombi. Few will look beyond Australia, Pakistan and England for the men’s gold, but South Africa’s star striker Greg Nicol and New Zealand’s Ken Robinson are capable of springing surprises. In the women’s event, Australia are the team to beat despite fielding just five players which won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics two years ago.
AFP
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Indian eves face tough task
Manchester, July 25 But it would need a stupendous effort for the Indian eves to break the medal drought in the event this time also as they have to contend with Commonwealth powerhouses like Australia, England and Canada. The women’s team came within sniffing distance of a bronze medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur but a defeat in the semi-finals made them return home empty-hand. The team will need more than luck to change the script this time in the eight-team championship beginning at the Belle Vue Regional Hockey Centre tomorrow. The Indians have been placed in the tough pool-B along with strong contenders New Zealand, hosts England and Canada, making things all the more difficult for a team which has never been known for consistency. Defending champions Australia, Scotland, South Africa and Jamaica have been clubbed in pool-A. The championship will be played on a league-cum-knock out basis with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. The final is slated for August 3. The Indians will open their
camping against Canada tomorrow and then take on New Zealand two days later. They play their last group league match against
the hosts England on July 29. While the Kiwis are considered to be the strongest team in pool-B, both England and Canada are certainly no push-overs and are more than capable of jeopardising India’s medal hopes. The team had a conditioning camp in Patiala under the supervision of coaches Gurdial Singh Bhangu and Inderjit Singh Gill to prepare for the meet and have flown into this northern English city well in advance to get acclimatised to the conditions. The poor ratio of penalty corner conversions in
international meets and the failure to adapt to the more fast-paced European style of play has been the worrying factor for the team and it remains to be seen whether these chinks have been sorted out. The Indian defence has also left much to be desired and the defenders will have to pull up their socks to counter their formidable opponents. The team, led by Surja Lata Devi, has a number of talented players like Pritam Rani
Siwach, Manjinder Kaur, Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Suman Balla and Sita Gussain but has to show the desired consistency to make an impact at the highest level.
PTI |
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Aussie cleared despite drugs failure
Manchester, July 25 But Adams, who tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide which is a banned substance, was given the go-ahead to compete in what will be his sixth Games. A statement issued by the Australian team said that Phillips failed the test conducted on June 25. “Phillip’s doctor prescribed him the medicine Avapro HCT to treat high blood pressure,” said the statement. “Avapro HCT contains the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide which is a banned substance.” A hearing was conducted by the Australian Shooting Association (ASA) yesterday and Phillips was found guilty of taking a banned substance. However, the ASA decided not to impose a punishment because of ‘extenuating circumstances’ deciding that his performance was not enhanced by the taking of the substance. “The tribunal directed that Phillip cease taking Avapro HCT. Additionally, there was no suggestion that the banned substance was taken to enhance performance and the tribunal found that Phillip was not aware that the medication he was taking contained a banned substance. “By reason of the finding by the ASA tribunal, which is fully accepted by the ACGA, Phillip will now compete in his sixth Commonwealth Games.” AFP
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Irina Lashko gives Aussies bright start Manchester, July 25 Lashko, a two-time Olympic silver medallist for the Soviet Union and then Russia before she became a naturalised Australian last year, beat the field with 302.82 points. Blythe Hartley, the current world champion on the one-metre board, took silver for Canada, finishing 15 points adrift of the winner after leading for most of the event. Jane Smith collected the bronze medal for England with 274.71 points. Men and women will compete Friday and Saturday in the 3-metre springboard and the 10-metre highboard events. Australia is the most successful nation in the 72-year-old history of the Games and the country’s competitors are expected to dominate the action at the pool in Manchester. Lashko was silver medallist on the three-metre springboard at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and at the 2001 World Championships when she made her global championship debut for Australia. Lashko, 29, finished sixth and last behind the victorious Hartley on the one-metre board at the World Championships in her unsuccessful defence of the title she won in the Australian city of Perth in January 1998 when she was still competing for her native Russia. She moved to Melbourne in April 1998 but continued to represent Russia the following year when she collected two more springboard silver medals at the European Championships. The experienced diver made her Olympic debut at the 1988 Seoul Olympics at the age of 15 in the days of the communist Soviet Union when she finished fourth on the three-metre springboard.
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HPCA to
build cricket museum Jalandhar, July 25 Addressing a Press conference here today, the president of the association, Mr Anurag Thakur said the Kapil Dev Cricket Museum would be
apart of the HPCA’s international cricket stadium, which was being constructed at Dharmsala. “You see, this cricket stadium, which is being constructed at a height of 4500 feet, has been designed on the lines of stadiums of New Zealand and Australia and the total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 10 crore. The main pavilion block will have a capacity of 3200 whereas the overall capacity of the stadium will be 25,000, said Mr Thakur adding that the work on the first phase of the stadium, including laying of ground and construction of main pavilion block would be completed by the year end. “The detailed design of the cricket museum will be finalised in consultation with Kapil Dev,” Mr Thakur added. |
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Haryana
hikes Olympians’ pension Chandigarh, July 25 Earlier, the pension was admissible after the age of 60 years to those sportspersons who took part in Olympic Games. Now, the government had withdrawn the condition of age and it would be given to the sportspersons after they retire from the game. The Central Government was giving a pension of Rs 2500 per month to those sportspersons who win a medal in Olympic Games. |
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Basketball
trials on July 28 Ludhiana, July 25 To select the state boys and girls teams for the event, trials to shortlist candidates for the coaching camp will be held at the indoor basketball stadium here on July 28 at 3 p.m. Players desirous of making it to the team should report to Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, honorary general secretary of the association at the stadium. Players born on or after January 1, 1986 are eligible to participate, Mr Gill added. |
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London, July 25
