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Thursday,
August 1, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Indian eves pull off stunning victory Clean sweep by Kunjarani Indian bid evokes good response Indian shooters win
three more medals |
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Abhinav clinches silver Women paddlers
triumph
Shuttlers sail into second round Weightlifter C. Kumar
claims bronze Thorpe starts with new world record
Capriati, Dokic power into third round Lanka crush Bangladesh Indian colts
draw first ‘Test’
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Indian eves pull off stunning victory
Manchester, July 31 Trailing 0-3 at the half time, the Indians bounced back in dramatic fashion by pumping in three goals in quick succession to draw level before Jyoti Kullu turned the table on the South Africans by fetching the golden goal early in the extra time. India’s golden goal came seven minutes into extra-time when Jyoti Kullu deflected a powerful Pritam Siwach shot into the goal to send the entire Indian team and their supporters into a frenzy. India now have a bright chance of winning a medal in women’s hockey which had eluded them in earlier editions. India’s lacklustre display in the first half helped their opponents to take advantage by scoring two goals within the first 15 minutes. The Indians had no clue to a rampaging P. Coetzee who gave their side the lead in the fourth minute. She soon made it 2-0 with another goal in the 13th minute. J. Wilson added to the misery of the hapless Indians — who were desperate for a victory to move into the semi-finals after failing to register a win in their earlier two league matches — with a goal just a minute before the half time. However, the second half saw a completely different Indian team as they found their rhythm to take control of the game with a fine blend of defence and attack. It was Pritam who drew the first blood for India in the 46th minute with a superb goal. Sensing their chances, India increased the attacks and soon earned a series of penalty corners when their opponents made desperate attempts to keep the Indian forwards at bay. The South Africans panicked as the Indians unleashed a series of attacks from both the flanks and won more penalty corners as the rival defenders tried to foil the moves. Jyoti Kullu scored her first goal, second for the side, in the 64th minute when her shot off a penalty corner beat the South African goalkeeper. Soon Suman Bala levelled the score again off a penalty corner in the 65th minute. India, who had taken the third position in pool-B after their league engagements, will now clash with New Zealand in the semi-finals tomorrow. New Zealand and Australia had automatically qualified to the semi-finals having topped their respective pools. PTI
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Clean sweep by Kunjarani
Manchester, July 31 The 34-year-old Kunjarani stole the limelight with a stunning display as she lifted a total of 167.5kg in the women’s 48kg category to reaffirm her supremacy after returning to an international meet following a long lay-off. She also claimed the snatch (75kg) and the clean and jerk (92.5kg) gold medals. Kunjarani, who returned to the weightlifting arena after serving a six-month suspension for testing positive, proved much too strong for Karine Tourcoute of Canada and Ebonette Deigaeruk of Nauru, who took the silver and bronze medals respectively. The experienced Thandava Muthu and Vickey Batta made their presence felt in the very first event of the weightlifting competitions by providing five medals in the 56kg category. While Muthu claimed the overall silver medal with a lift of 245 kg, his colleague Batta lifted 242.5 kg to take the bronze. Malaysia’s Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim, who lifted a new record total of 260kg, made a clean sweep of the gold medals in the event. Muthu, who has been one of the best performers for the country in international meets, bagged the silver medal in the snatch and bronze in the clean-and-jerk. Batta collected the silver in the clean and jerk.
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Indian bid evokes good response New Delhi, July 31 Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi, senior vice-president Tarlochan Singh and president of the newly-revived All-India Council of Sports Vijay Kumar Malhotra, returned to Delhi today after bidding for the games in Manchester on July 23. All the 72 countries of the Commonwealth Games Federation attended the bid committee meeting. Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Uma Bharti and IOA secretary-general Randhir Singh also attended the meeting in which India made a detailed presentation of its bid. Besides India, Canada and Singapore are also in the fray to bag the 2010 Games. The name of the bid winner will be announced at the Commonwealth Games Federation meeting in Jamaica next year. According to sources, member countries of the Commonwealth Games Federation were very much impressed with India’s bid presentation, and also its argument that only once before the games were hosted by an Asian country when Malaysia successfully conducted them in 1998. Sources said the Indian sportspersons’ commendable performance in the ongoing Commonwealth Games, particularly the showing of the shooters, also gave a shot in the arm to India’s bid, as the member-countries were impressed with India’s display. The shooters’ performances have also been taken note of by Sports Minister Uma Bharti, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi and AICS chairman V K Malhotra, and it has been decided to give the best of facilities to the shooters for their training as India’s chances of striking a medal in the Olympic Games now look brighter than ever before. But it was felt that the process of sustained coaching to the shooters should start in right ernest, for them to peak for the Olympic Games two years from now. |
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Indian shooters win three more medals
Manchester, July 31 The talented Abhinav Bindra and veteran Samaresh Jung emerged the heroes as India took its overall medals tally to eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals on a, relatively, lean day. Pistol king Jaspal Rana, who was expected to bag his fourth gold medal in the competitions, put up a rather disappointing show to be pushed to the third position in the men’s 10 m air pistol event. Anwer Sultan was the other bronze winner in men’s trap event. Bindra clinched the silver medal in the men’s 10 m air rifle event while Jung took the silver in the men’s 10 m air pistol event on a day which saw Australia, Bangladesh and England win a gold each of the three on offer. The 19-year-old Bindra, who had scooped up a gold on the opening day of the shooting competitions, narrowly missed out on his second gold as he finished just 0.5 points behind the winner Asif Hossain Khan of Bangladesh in the men’s 10 m air rifle event. The Bangladeshi won the first ever gold medal for his country with 691.9 points while Bindra had to be content with a silver with 691.4 points. In the men’s 10 m air pistol, Samaresh Jung displayed good skill and concentration to take the silver by logging 674.8 points while the favourite Rana finished close behind on 674.7 points. The gold in the event went to England’s Michael Gault. The experienced Anwer Sultan added one more medal to the Indian kitty by securing the bronze in the trap event with an effort of 142 points. PTI
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Neelam wins silver
Manchester, July 31 Neelam, bronze medallist at 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, achieved a distance of 58.49 metres in her fifth attempt, to win the silver medal. The gold was claimed by Beatrice Faumuina of New Zealand who retained her crown with a throw of 60.83m. Newman Shelley of England won the bronze with a throw of 58.13m. Anju B. George had earlier won India’s first ever medal in track and field events at Commonwealth Games when she claimed the bronze medal in long jump. However there was disappointment in men’s shot put where Navpreet Singh failed to qualify for the final. Bobby Aloysius later missed the bronze medal in women’s high jump by a whisker. She cleared 1.87m, the same as Nicole Forrester of Canada, but while the Indian cleared the height on her third attempt, the Canadian did it in her first try itself. Aloysius then tried jumping 1.90m but failed in all her three attempts. South Africa’s Hestrie Cloete won the event clearing a new Games record height of 1.96m while Susan Jones of England took the silver with a jump of 1.90m. PTI
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Abhinav
clinches silver Manchester, July 31 The 19-year-old Bindra, who had scooped up a gold on the opening day of the shooting competitions, narrowly missed out on his second gold as he finished just 0.5 points behind the winner Asif Hossain Khan of Bangladesh in the men’s 10 m air rifle event. The Bangladeshi won the first ever gold medal for his country with 691.9 points while Bindra had to be content with a silver with 691.4 points. Australia’s Tomothy Lowndes took home the bronze medal. Another Indian in the fray, Sameer Ambekar occupied the fifth position with an aggregate of 689.2 points. The Indian marskmen, who had set the ranges ablaze with their medal grabbing feats on the first three days of competitions in Bisley, saw a slight drop in their dominance yesterday as they could manage just one gold and a bronze.
PTI
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Women paddlers
triumph
Manchester, July 31 Indu had no problem in demolishing Claire Bentley of Scotland 3-0 in a pool C qualifying match. The Scot posed no threat to Indu as the Indian cruised past her 11-2 11-7 11-5. However, the other Indian, Nandita had to battle it out with Natasha Lake before downing the Wales’ girl 7-12 12-10 11-5 14-16 11-9 in a pool E match. Earlier in their respective matches, Indu survived a scare before winning against Nigeria’s Dorcas Anike Durotime 11-5 10-12 11-8 11-4 while Nandita beat Rheann Chung of Trinidad 11-9 11-6 7-11 5-11 11-9.
PTI
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Shuttlers
sail into second round Manchester, July 31 Star performer Pullela Gopi Chand began his campaign in style with a facile 7-2 7-0 7-1 victory over Curwin Cherubin of Barbados to proceed to the second round on a day which saw no major upsets. Gopi Chand will take on Bruce Tipping of Northern Ireland in the next round. Strong contender Abhinn Shyam Gupta also kept his medal hopes alive demolishing David Geddes of Northern Ireland with an easy 7-2 7-1 7-3 verdict while Sachin Ratti brushed aside the challenge of Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria with a 7-2 7-0 7-4 scoreline . Like all his other
teammates, Nikhil Kanetkar also did not have to sweat much as he disposed of unfancied Abdulla Ali of the Maldives with a clinical 7-0 7-1 7-0 victory in what turned out to be ridiculously lop-sided contest.
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Weightlifter
C. Kumar claims bronze Manchester, July 31 Kumar could manage just one bronze medal in the snatch as the strong Indian lifters continued their medal collection on the second day of the weightlifting competitions. Kumar finished sixth overall, lifting a total of 282.5 kg behind compatriot Govinda Vadivelu who had a combined total of 285 kg. Cameroon’s Tientcheu Dabaya made a clean sweep of all the three gold medals in the event. The seasoned N. Kunjarani Devi had provided a huge boost to India’s medal quest by sweeping all the three gold medals in the women’s 48 kg category yesterday while Krishnan Madaswamy, Thandava Muthu and Vickey Batta accounted for six silver and two bronze medals.
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2 medals in judo Manchester, July 31 Akram reached the final defeating Craig Fallon of England by ippon. Bhupinder Singh could not go beyond the semi-final stage, losing to James Warren of England, but earned a bronze medal nevertheless. In the women’w upto 52kg weight category, Angom Anita Chanu made an exit at the quarter-final stage when she lost to L. Bradley of Nigeria.
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Thorpe starts with new world record
Manchester, July 31 Thorpe clocked 3 minutes 40.08 seconds — pulling inexorably away from team-mate Grant Hackett and a tad closer to the 3:40 mark he keeps in his sights. Thorpe (19), changed his training slightly for the games and has added nearly 5kg to the weight at which he won six world titles in Fukuoka, Japan, last year. Size usually pays off more in the sprints in swimming, so Thorpe is hoping that his improvement in the 400m — his longest race of these games — augurs even better things for the 200m and 100m freestyles and the 100m backstroke. “I hope it means I’ll swim all my events faster, because they get shorter from here,” Thorpe said. “I’m trying something I’ve never tried before, and you never know how it’s going to turn out.” As if to emphasise the point, he followed up his 400m free triumph with a victory in the 4x100m free style relay. “I’m really happy with the way I swam tonight,” Thorpe said. “I have another five races to compete in. I hope I can swim equally well in them.” One factor in his success yesterday, Thorpe said, was how relaxed he felt coming into the meet. “I always try to stay as relaxed as possible,” he said. “Tonight when I walked out — I’ve never been so relaxed. The music, I was dancing ...” But Thorpe’s bid for seven golds here, echoing American Mark Spitz’ seven Olympic golds, is no sure thing. It requires branching out into backstroke, where he’ll take on world champion team-mate Matt Welsh in the 100m. Perhaps one day Welsh will have to accustom himself to what seems to be 1500m specialist Hackett’s role in the 400m free — runner-up to Thorpe. “It sucks,” Hackett said with a laugh. “I’m swimming times that no one else in the world can come close to and I’m finishing second quite often. “Ian is just a fantastic competitor. I’m determined to get up to his level at these events.” AFP
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Capriati, Dokic power into third round
San Diego (California), July 31 Second seed Capriati was joined yesterday in the third round at the La Costa Resort and Spa by sixth seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia, No 8 Elena Dementieva of Russia, No 9 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, No 12 Anna Smashnova of Israel, No 14 Chanda Rubin of the USA and unseeded Russian Anna Kournikova. Capriati was vicious with her groundstrokes against 17-year-old Harkleroad, overpowering her smaller opponent with big shots into the corners of the court and pouncing on her second serves. “She started out hitting winners from everywhere,’’ said Harkleroad, the 2002 French Open junior finalist. “I guess when you are ranked No 3 (in the world) and have three Grand Slam titles, that’s what you do.’’ After losing a classic three-set French Open semifinal to eventual champion Serena Williams and then falling in straight sets to Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon, the reigning Australian Open champion took a week off and then hit the practice courts. “I didn’t play too badly in those two losses but there are definitely things I can do better,’’ said Capriati (26). “I needed some time off to improve my fitness and recover. I could be a little quicker and more aggressive. I want to win again. It’s been a while. “I still have the variety and execution, there just are certain things on the mental side I need to improve on,’’ said Capriati. “In the close matches against elite players, I need to close it out better and be more aggressive. I could also work on that by winning my early round matches with an exclamation point.’’ Despite the fact that world No 1 Serena Williams has won five titles this year (including the French Open and Wimbledon), and has beaten her three times in 2002, Capriati refuses to concede that she is an inferior player. “I don’t think so,’’ said the American. “Everyone has a good run and she’s on a hot streak. But my matches against her have been so close. You have to win everything to be dominant, like Martina Hingis once did. Serena hasn’t. “It’s hard for me to call Serena dominant when I feel like I should have won every match against her.’’ Kournikova’s attempt to re-establish herself as an elite player continued when the Russian destroyed 30th-ranked American Alexandra Stevenson 6-0, 6-1. The 47th-ranked Kournikova completely controlled the centre of the court and make light of Stevenson’s huge first serve. “I played almost perfect,’’ said Kournikova, who reached the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic last week but was forced to pull out of her doubles semifinal there with a strained abdominal muscle. “It was really important to get ahead of her early and not give her any room to breathe. I returned serve unbelievably well and felt really confident going for my shots.’’ Dokic gave a hard-hitting performance to beat Gala Leon Garcia 6-2, 7-5. “I was really disappointed in the way I played last week,’’ said the 19-year-old Yugoslav referring to her quarterfinal defeat by Lindsay Davenport at the Bank of the West Classic. “I felt a lot better physically today,’’ said Dokic, who reached a career high ranking of No. 5 this week. “I’m really happy with the ranking,’’ said Dokic, who has won two titles this year and reached the quarterfinals of the French Open. ‘’It’s shows what can happen if you work hard. Now, I am going to have to work harder to stay there.’’ In the next round she will play Myskina, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Italy’s Francesca Schiavone. Dementieva beat Argentine Paola Suarez 6-4, 6-2 and now meets Smashnova, who triumphed 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 over American Marissa Irvin. Rubin trounced South African Amanda Coetzer 6-1, 6-1. Top seed Venus Williams will play her opening match against Slovakian Janette Husarova today. Reuters
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Sampras posts tight victory Toronto, July 31
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Lanka crush Bangladesh
Colombo, July 31 It was Sri Lanka’s 10th successive Test victory at home since September 2001, including 3-0 sweeps over the West Indies and Zimbabwe. Off-spinner Samaraweera was well-supported by left-arm seamer Sujeeva de Silva (4-35) as Bangladesh were shot out for 184 in their second innings chasing an improbable 473-run target on the fourth day. This was Bangladesh’s 12th defeat in 13 matches since they gained Test status two years ago. The tourists were 167-4 before losing their last six wickets for 17 runs in a dramatic collapse, with Samaraweera taking four in six tight overs and Sujeeva two. Mohammad Ashraful top-scored with a gutsy 75 for Bangladesh, who failed to cross 200 for the 11th successive time in a Test innings. Bangladesh, resuming at 103-4, offered resistance only in the opening hour as overnight batsmen Ashraful and debutant Alok Kapali extended their fifth-wicket stand to 68. The 25-year-old Samaraweera, who had taken just five wickets in his previous nine Tests, began the slide when he had Kapali caught bat-pad by Jehan Mubarak at short-leg for 23. The spinner struck a vital blow in his next over when he had the well-set Ashraful caught by close-in fielder Mubarak. Sri Lanka (1st innings): 373 Bangladesh (1st innings): 164 Sri Lanka (2nd innings): 263-2 decl Bangladesh (2nd innings): Sarkar c Jayawardene b Sujeev 30 Sahariar b Sujeeva 6 Bashar c Jayawardene b Gamage 3 Ashraful c Mubarak b
Samaraweera 75 Imran st Jayawardene b Kapali c Mubarak b Samaraweera 23 Mashud not out 13 Baisya c Chandana b Sujeeva 3 Muntasir lbw b Sujeeva 1 Islam c Tillakaratne b Jubair c Mubarak b Samaraweera 0 Extras
(lb-1, nb-1) 2 Total (all out in 60.4 overs) 184 FoW: 1-27, 2-36, 3-40, 4-99, 5-167, 6-168, 7-171, 8-175, 9-184. Bowling: Buddhika 5-2-12-0, Sujeeva 13-5-35-4, Gamage 12-2-48-1, Jayasuriya 9-4-14-0, Samaraweera 11.4-1-49-4, Chandana 10-3-25-1.
AFP
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Indian
colts draw first ‘Test’
London, July 31 Facing a daunting target of 334, India were 87 for two at close on the fourth and final day, Valthaty contributing a valuable 43. England’s mammoth 511 for nine declared in the first innings was based on a brilliant 254 by Gordon Muchall who hit 37 fours and three sixes. Indians did not help matters by dropping two catches and with some shoddy ground fielding. In reply, India lost their top order batsmen cheaply and were at one stage 111 for five. It needed was a cavalier knock from wicket-keeper batsman Subhojit Paul who hit a brilliant 115 that was studded with three sixes and 16 hits to the fence. Still, India could manage only 325, falling 186 runs short of England’s total. Host captain Paul MmMahon, however, decided not to enforce the follow-on. Brief scores: England: U-19 511 for 9 declared (G.J. Muchalll 254, Kadeer Ali 67, B.M. Shafayat 57, S.P. Pope 51; Pathan 3-122, Chandrashekar Atram 2-83) and 147 for 8 declared drew with India U-19 325 (S Paul 115, S Raina 72, P.C. Valthaty 52) and 87 for 2.
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First day’s play
abandoned Worcester (England), July 31 The tourists were hoping to give a look-in to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel in this four-dayer in an effort to stregthen their batting line-up. “We want to have a healthy competition for the wicketkeeper’s slot. It will be a toss-up between Ajay Ratra and Patel in the second Test,” team sources said.
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Manchester, July 31
