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Thursday,
October 3, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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India bag medals in rowing, shooting India trounce Japan 3-0 Daunting task for India in football Easy wins for India in tennis |
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Squash players fizzle out World records tumble in swimming, shooting; China leads medals tally Busan to bid for 2016 Olympics In graphic: Medal tally
Baichung Bhutia ‘greatest’ Indian footballer Pakistan to bank on spin Waugh twins battling to prolong careers Richards hopes to find a world-beater
In graphic: West Indies team in India ONGC
scrape through to semis Gorkha Club start
with win Govt college
bag PU title
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India bag medals in rowing, shooting Busan, October 2 Besides, the men’s hockey team kept itself on course for the title defence with a 3-0 demolition of Japan to move into the semifinals from group A. After the gold medal in snooker doubles yesterday, India have one gold, one silver and one bronze medal till now. The Indian team comprising Suma Shirur, Anjali Bhagwat and Deepali Deshpande bettered the previous Asian record but still had to be content with a silver in the event which was won by the Chinese team with a new world record. The Indians shot a total of 1187 points to finish seven points adrift of Chinese team of Li Du, Zhao Yinghui and Jing Goa, who scored 1194 points. Suma Shirur scored 397 points while Anjali and Deepali fired 396 and 394 respectively. The South Korean team took the bronze with a total of 1183 points. Anjali, however, missed the bronze in the individual event by just 0.1 points. She scored 396 in the preliminary rounds and 104.5 in the final for an aggregate of 500.5 for the fourth position. The gold was won by Zhao Yinghui of China with 501.4 points while compatriot Gao Jing took silver at 501.0. Park Un Kyong of South Korea won the bronze with 500.6 points. Suma stood fifth in the same event with 499.9 points (397+102.9) while Deepali failed to make it to the final round after scoring 394 in the preliminaries. In coxless fours event of rowing, the Indian team of Jenil Krishnan, Inder Pal Singh, Roshan Lal and PT Paulose finished third with a timing of seven minutes 2.91 seconds to win the bronze. The gold was won by the Chinese team in six minutes 46.25 seconds while Uzbekistan took the silver in six minutes 58.79 seconds. The Indians narrowly missed the medal in two other events of rowing. Jamaluddin Jamaluddin in men’s lightweight single sculls and Pere Karoba in women’s single sculls missed the bronze medal by about three seconds each. Jamaluddin clocked 7:27.80 seconds while Karoba timed 9:55.79 seconds. In women’s coxless fours, Indian team of Jincymol Verghese, Monalisa Mohanty, Sobhni Rajan and Julee Verghese finished sixth with a time of 8:36.66. Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra finished seventh in his favourite 10m air rifle event scoring 694.3 points (593+101.3). The gold was taken by Ll Jie of China with 700.8 points. Equestrian team fifth The equestrian team was placed fifth after the dressage round of the team events. The Indian quartet comprising Rajesh Pattu, Indrajit Lamba, Bhagirath Singh and Deep Ahlawat failed to make much of an impression to be at fifth place with a total of 193.48 points with cross country and jumping events to follow. In the individual
evening, Rajesh Pattu was lying in the 13th position. with a total of 62.39 points followed by Indrajit Lamba (64.57) in 16th place and Bhagirath Singh (66.52) in 18th
position. PTI |
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India trounce Japan 3-0
Busan, October 2 Deepak Thakur, Dhanraj Pillay and Daljit Singh Dhillon - all scored a goal each as India scored their second straight victory in league encounters. With Japan losing both their matches - they lost their opening match to Korea 0-4 on Sunday - India’s second win assures them of a top-two finish in group A, guaranteeing them a semifinal slot. India had earlier defeated Hong Kong 5-1 and next play South Korea on Friday. In an earlier match in group B, two goals each from skipper Shanmuganathan Kuhan and Chua Boon Huat helped Malaysia defeat Bangladesh 6-1. Japan, who had held Bangkok Games gold medallist India to a draw in their previous encounter in the Kuala Lumpur World Cup earlier this year, seemed once again to upset the calculations of the Asian powerhouse. But once Deepak Thakur gave them the opening goal in 20th minute, India broke Japan’s stranglehold and took command of the match. The second goal came 10 minutes into the second half when Pillay slammed in a rebound from the Japanese goalstopper’s block off a Gagan Ajit Singh shot. The third, which came in the 55th minute, was a combination of a fantastic move by Ignace Tirkey who weaved past two defenders and a smart finish by Dhillon. PTI
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Daunting
task for India in football Busan, October 2 The Indians have won both their league matches so far and will be hoping to pull off an upset victory over the formidable Chinese to move into the quarter-finals as group champions but it would need a really inspired performance by Bhutia and company to make that happen. Chinese have a couple of World Cuppers in their ranks but the Indians, who have done their homework on how to tackle their opponents, believe that Chinese are slightly immature and “beatable”. Captain Baichung Bhutia indicated that the team will not take the field with a defeatist attitude and that they will play their natural game. “They are no doubt a good team, but we will go there with a positive frame of mind,” he said. Although India have registered comfortable victories in the first two matches of the 24-team championship, their performance has neither been consistent nor convincing particularly in the opening session. The Indians, desperate to break the pattern of their dismal performances at Asiad which has haunted them for close to four decades now, prevailed over Bangladesh 3-0 in the lung-opener and then came from behind to carve out a 3-1 victory over Turkmenistan in the second match to maintain a perfect record. Even if they fail to win against China, the Indians should fight for a draw or at least ensure that they don’t lose by a big margin as that could jeopardise their quarter-final hopes. Apart from the champion team of each of the six groups, the two best second-placed teams will also make it to the last eight stage. The first half slumber in both the matches so far has been a worrying factor for India and coach Stephen Constantine would have drilled it in to his players on the need to play attacking soccer for the full length of ninety minutes. The hamstring injury to medio Renedy Singh has been a big setback for the Indian camp ahead of the crucial match and it was still not clear whether he would play tomorrow. Team doctor Vece Paes has been attending to Renedy’s injury but it was quite unlikely that he would recover sufficiently to be match fit. The Indians will heavily depend on star striker Bhutia to deliver the goods and the captain has more often than not inspired his team with some brilliant goals. The diminutive striker struck two goals in the last match against Turkmenistan to add to his brace against Bangladesh and coach Constantine will be hoping that he would carry on the good job. The defence has looked a trifle tentative at times and the defenders, particularly Satish Bharti, Debjit Ghosh and S Venkatesh will have to pull up their socks to foil the Chinese raids. Goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar has been quite tidy under the bar in the first two matches but his acid test will come
tomorrow against the nippy Chinese forwards who would be pouncing even on half chances.
PTI |
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Easy wins for India in tennis Busan, October 2 While the men’s team spanked debutants East Timor 3-0 in a totally lop sided contest to romp into the quarter-finals, the women’s team also had an easy outing thrashing lowly Mongolia. Star player Leander Paes, who brushed aside a slight ankle injury to take the court, gave India a rousing start by whipping Matias De Souza with an effortless 6-0, 6-0 verdict in a match which lasted just a little over 40 minutes to give India the lead. Rohan Bopanna, who played the second singles, also did not have to sweat much as he demolished Antonio Mendes 6-0, 6-0 to give India an invincible 2-0 lead. In the doubles, the Indian duo of Rohan Boanna and Sunil Kumar Sipaeya combined well to carve out a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Antonio Mendes and Matias De Souza. In the women’s team event, India fielded Sania Mirza prevailed over her Mongolian opponent 6-0, 6-1 in the first singles. Rushmi Chakravarty then blanked Khandsuren Khishataqlokh 6-0, 6-0 in the second singles. In the doubles, Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Rushmi Chakravarthy toyed with the Mongolian duo of Enkhjargal Khaliun and Natsagsuren Jigjidsuren to register a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
PTI |
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Squash players fizzle out India’s medal hopes in squash came to an end today as all three players failed to get past the quarterfinal stage. While Joshna Chinappa and Vaidehi Reddy fell by an identical 3-0 margins against third seeded Lin Wee Ee of Malaysia and Korea’s Lee Hai-Kyung, respectively, Bhattacharya played an excellent game before being ousted in the decider by third seed Mohammad Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia. In the women’s last eight matches, Chinappa failed to raise her game in the first two games which she lost 1-9, 1-9. She did better in the third but her opponent proved much stronger and took the third game at 9-6 to emerge the winner. Reddy, on the other hand, began well but lost the first game 6-9. In the second and third games, the Korean was at her best and won points at will to progress to the semifinals with a 9-6, 9-1, 9-2 result. She will now play Hong Kong’s Yin Chiu Wing. Spikers lose to S. Korea India opened their campaign in men’s volleyball on a disasterous note, going down 0-3 to hosts South Korea. Cleared by the government at the last moment, the Indian spikers did put up a good fight but that was not enough as the hosts romped home in 61 minutes. The Koreans, backed by vociferous partisan crowd, overpowered spirited India 25-22, 25-17, 27-25. The difference between the winners and the losers was only 13 points, with the Koreans aggregating 77 points in three games as against 64 by the Indians. The winners were strong in their attack with Shin Jin sik spearheading the challenge. They had effective blockers in Se Jin Shin, while Jin Sik shin was a good blocker and a fine server. Jobi Joseph and Subba Rao were efficiently supported by Tom Joseph as the Indians garnered points. It was neck-and-neck in the first game with Indians excelling in blocking but serving let them down. The Koreans capitalised on their rivals weak serve and earned the points at crucial moments. In the second game, which lasted 18 minutes, Koreans smashed their way as Indians suddenly slumped. It was a poor game for the Indians in all departments. Despite trailing 0-2 against superior rivals, the Indians fought out till the end in the third game, which came as a surprise to many.
Poor show by judokas Indian judokas reduced the country’s reputation to a joke as they crashed out in the initial bouts Why the judokas were here is not known, but if they came here to get exposure, they certainly got the country exposed. What they got here after the humiliation, only federation will tell. In the men’s 66 kg class, India’s Bhupinder Singh fell to Mir Esmaelli Arash of Iran in the second round. In the women’s section, Brojeshori Devi lost in the very first round, much to the disappointment of her team-mates. The gold in the event went to Ok Song Hong of North Korea, who got the better of Kie Kusakae of Japan in the final.
PTI, UNI |
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World records tumble in swimming, shooting; China leads medals tally Busan, October 2 In rowing, where no challenger came closer than four seconds, China swept all six of the day’s races. Then their shooters took seven of eight possible golds and set world records in men’s and women’s team 10-metre air rifle competition. Those 13 early golds plus Zhou Yan’s triumph in women’s 58 kg division weightlifting gave China a total of 29 for the four-day-old games, well ahead of Japan’s 12 and South Korea’s 10. Even before they had a chance to compete, three Malaysian sepak takraw players were ordered home for testing positive for morphine, the nation’s delegation chief, Khalid Yunus, said today. The action was based on tests administered earlier in Kuala Lumpur. There have been no positive doping tests reported so far at the games. Kitajima, back from an elbow injury that kept him out of the 200m in last month’s Pan Pacific championships, set a fast early pace and finished in two minutes, 09.97 seconds. That beat the oldest record in men’s swimming, the 2:10.16 set by American Mike Barrowman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It put Kitajima 3.63 seconds ahead of team-mate Daisuke Kimura, the silver medallist. Kitajima, bronze medallist at 200 metres in last year’s world championships, won the 100 metres breaststroke here on Monday. “I’ve been working toward this for a long time and I don’t feel as though I’ve even reached my limit,” Kitajima said. “I think I can swim even faster.” Japan gained another gold from their world champion synchronised swimming pair, Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda. Tachibana had won the solo gold yesterday. South Korea won three of the day’s four judo golds, ending Japan’s run of four consecutive men’s victories. Another gold came from Kim Yong-mi’s photo finish victory over Indonesia’s Uyun Muzizah in the women’s 96.8 km cycling road race. North Korea had three golds. They won the only shooting event not won by China today — in women’s team trap shooting — and took a judo gold too. In rowing, Japan’s Hitoshi Hase fared best against the Chinese, finishing four seconds behind Zhu Zhifu in the men’s lightweight single sculls. Zhu led by only half a second at the halfway point but pulled away over the last 500 metres of the 2,000 metres race. It was the 51st victory in 53 Asian Games rowing races for China, who won all 11 rowing golds in the 1998 games. Cui Yonghui won the men’s singles sculls and China’s men also won the fours with coxswain both decided by 12 seconds. In women’s races, China’s Fu Fengjun won by 18 seconds in the lightweight single sculls, the fours without coxswain won by 21 seconds and Zhang Xiuyun had a 23-second margin in the single sculls. Three Chinese men shooters scored a total of 1,788 in the men’s team air rifle event, beating the old world mark of 1,785 set by Russia in July. Li Jie won the individual gold with an Asian record of 700.8. The women’s air rifle team scored 1,194, breaking their own three-month-old world record of 1,190, and Zhao Yinghui took the individual gold with 501.4. China’s Wang Yifu won in men’s 50 metre pistol shooting, and joined in capturing the gold in the team event. In cycling, the top 10 riders all finished in two hours, 47 minutes, 19 seconds, and officials used photos to determine the winners. “In the last 200 or 300 metres, I sprinted and was able to break away from the pack,” said South Korea’s Kim, a bronze medallist in the 3 km individual track race at the 1998 games. China’s Zhou won the women’s weightlifting with a total lift of 220.0 kg — a snatch of 95.0 kg and clean and jerk of 125.0 kg. Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim lifted 215.0 kg and Indonesia’s Tanti Pratiwi took the bronze based on lighter body weight after tying with Myanmar’s Shwe Sin Win at 212.5 kg. Misery for Koreas Ulsan: It was a dismal outing for both South and North Korea in women’s team table tennis competition, with the South falling 0-3 to Singapore, while the North lost a tough match up to rival Japan 1-3. After falling behind 0-2, the North Koreans put on a valiant effort with Kim Hyang-mi beating Mikie Takahashi three games to two, before Kim Hyon-hui lost after taking Japan’s Aya Umemura to a fifth game. It was hard to say which part of the crowd in the Ulsan gymnasium was the more disappointed with the North Koreans singing a sad dirge as the team departed, while the South Korean fans saw their women lose twice in two nights. The South Korea women, coming off of a tough loss to Hong Kong yesterday, took two of their three singles matches against Singapore to the fifth and deciding game, but failed to win either of them. Despite the losses, both teams appear poised to enter the quarterfinal round if the final preliminary round plays out to form. Also set to advance will be favourites China, followed by Japan, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong.
AP, AFP
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Busan to bid for 2016 Olympics Busan, October 2 “We will make every effort to succeed in our hopes of being the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games,” said Ahn Sang-Young, the city’s mayor. However, any bid would come against a background of the 14th Asian Games being widely snubbed by the city’s population seemingly having had their fill of sport after the summer’s World Cup finals. Even though Ahn insisted that 90 per cent of tickets were sold for the opening ceremony, only 40 per cent had so far been picked up for the closing ceremony on October 14 while there has only been around a 30 per cent sale for the tournament’s events. AFP
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Three expelled BUSAN: Three bodybuilders from Yemen have been sent home from the Asian Games in the first doping-related controversy to hit the sporting event. The International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) said in a statement the three athletes had been kicked out for failing to submit a report detailing the results of dope tests taken prior to the competition. The three bodybuilders are Aref Sharaf Al Shaer, the favourite for gold in the men’s +90kg class, Ali Ahmed A Ayesh and Ziyad Moqbel Saleh. The three bodybuilders pleaded for leniency from the IFBB, insisting they had not known the regulation also applied to the Asian Games.
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Baichung Bhutia ‘greatest’ Indian footballer
New Delhi, October 2 “Baichung is undoubtedly the best Indian striker ever and probably the greatest footballer the country has produced so far...though he has a long way to go. But, like Sachin Tendulkar, one can see the genius in him,” Chuni Goswami told UNI after running in the “Run in pursuit for learning on” in which more than 500 Delhi school children participated near India Gate here. Goswami was a member of the Indian football teams that won the Asian Games gold in New Delhi in 1951 and in Jakarta in 1962. He was the leading Indian scorer in Jakarta and scored a brace in the semifinal victory over Thailand. Goswami said India had a good chance of getting into the semis and could even win tomorrow’s match against China. Banerjee, the skipper of the Indian team that reached the semifinal of the Melbourne Olympics in 1966, said under the captaincy of Baichung India was fast developing as a super power in Asian football. “Indian football has entered a new phase...the attitude of the players has changed, they have become more aggressive and are playing a very balanced game...the team is on a roll,” he added. Banerjee said the change had come since India’s 1-0 win against the United Arab Emirates in a qualifying round match in Bangalore in March. “The coaching camps have been the single most influential factor in the change of attitude of the players,” he added. Asked what made Baichung “the best player” of the country, Banerjee pointed out that he was the quickest mover, a sharp shooter and had tremendous knack for scoring. “You can call him India’s Ronaldo...the speed, the stamina, physical strength is quite remarkable,” he noted. About the present team playing in the Asian Games, he said the team was playing a good allround game with compact defence and incisive midfield. “After Deepak Mandal has joined the squad, the defence looks good, Venketesh in the midfield provides the necessary moves for Baichung to strike hard at the opposition,” he added. Striking a note of caution, the former captain said one should not read much into the team’s performance as this was confined to only under-23 and did not reflect the overall strength of Indian football. UNI
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Pakistan to bank on spin
Colombo, October 2 Both India and Sri Lanka used spin to defeat the world champions in their previous home series, and Pakistan hope the Australians will be equally vulnerable against wily off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and leggie Danish Kaneria. Both slow bowlers will take the field even on the damp Tamil Union ground wicket with captain Waqar Younis sharing the new ball with speed king Shoaib Akhtar and all rounder Abdul Razzaq. Younis has not forgotten that Australia crumbled for 162 against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy one-day semi-final here last week with Muttiah Muralitharan and his spinning partners picking up seven wickets. “I believe the wicket will dry out giving both Saqlain and Kaneria a chance,” said Younis. “If there is a chink in Australia’s armour, it is spin.” Pakistan are more worried about their depleted batting resources in the absence of the seasoned trio of Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul Haq and Yousuf Youhana. Anwar, like Wasim Akram, opted out of the series for unspecified reasons, while both Inzamam and Youhana were sidelined with injuries. That has left newly-appointed vice-captain Younis Khan the most experienced batsman in the side and he has played only 20 Tests. None of the other specialist batsmen have played more than six. Left-handed Taufiq Umar will open the batting with either Imran Nazir or Imran Farhat with Misbah-ul Haq, who has played just one Test, and Hasan Raza, who has played two, expected to shoulder the middle-order. Pakistan could miss the hard-hitting batting and leg-spin bowling of Shahid Afridi, who was surprisingly axed by the selectors after the Champions Trophy. Its the gaping hole in the middle that Australia’s dreaded pace attack, led by Glenn McGrath, will exploit in the hope of gaining the early advantage in the three-Test series. “There is a lot of pressure on the young ones coming into Test cricket,” said McGrath, the spearhead with 389 Test wickets. “If we get on top of them early, we may keep them down for the whole series.” But the battle-hardened Aussies were wary of Pakistan’s uncanny ability to bounce back when least expected. “When they are going well, they are really going well, but when they are going bad, they are really going bad,” McGrath said. “There’s no middle ground which makes them quite a dangerous team.” Australia’s bid to sweep the series could be thwarted by uncertain weather, that ruined the two finals of the Champions Trophy between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday and Monday. The late arrival of the monsoon means that rain is usually around the corner. A heavy downpour yesterday morning warned teams they may have to keep one eye on the skies. The series was shifted to neutral venues in Colombo and Sharjah after Australia declined to tour Pakistan due to security concerns. Australia (from): Steve Waugh (capt), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Bichel. Pakistan (from): Waqar Younis (capt), Taufiq Umar, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul Haq, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Abdul Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Danish Kaneria, Mohammmad Sami, Mohammad Zahid, Rana Naveed-ul Hasan. Umpires: Steve Bucknor (WI), Srinivas Venkataraghvan (Ind) Match referee: Clive Lloyd (WI). AFP
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Waugh twins battling to prolong careers
Colombo, October 2 The brothers - Steve and Mark — need runs against their names to prevent the unthinkable - an Australian Test side without either of them for the Ashes series against England at home next month. The 37-year-old twins have been a constant feature in Australian Test teams since Steve, elder by four minutes, made his debut 17 seasons ago. The Waughs have played 103 Test matches together, almost double the next best of 57 by the Zimbabwean siblings Andy and Grant Flower. All that could, however, change if the Pakistan series does not go according to plan. Steve could still retain the Australian Test captaincy if his team defeats Pakistan in the three-Test series to be played at neutral venues in Colombo and Sharjah. But Mark may find himself out in the cold against England if he fails with the bat as the selectors look for younger players to build for the future. Already the brothers have been axed from the one-day team and look doubtful for next year’s World Cup in South Africa. “I’m not stupid,” said Mark. “You’ve got to be realistic. As you get older you know you’ve got to make more runs that you did last summer. “If the selectors are faced with two guys who are playing to the same level, they would probably lean towards the younger guy.” Steve Waugh conceded he was feeling the pressure to prove himself all over again despite a momentous 148-Test career in which he has scored 9,600 runs with 27 centuries. “I’ve felt that pressure all my career,” he said. “For the last 17 years I have been playing for my place. That’s professional sport, there are no guarantees. “I don’t expect a free ride and I expect to be able to score runs to stay in the side.” Steve hoped that when it came to ending his career, it would be his decision alone. “I’d love to go out on my own terms,” he said. “Any player would, but there are not too many Cindrella stories in sport.” The pugnacious cricketer was replaced as Australia’s one-day captain by Ricky Ponting earlier this year, but the selectors persisted with him for Test cricket. “We’ve never picked a captain for his captaincy alone,” Steve said. “You pick captains because they are worth their place in the side. That’s the position I want to be in.” For the moment, Steve is concentrating on the job at hand - to win all three Tests against Pakistan, the first of which begins at the Tamil Union ground here on Thursday. The series was forced to be shifted to neutral venues after Australia declined to tour Pakistan for security reasons. “We are the best Test side in the world and want to prove that again,” Steve said. “There are factors like the weather and pitch conditions, but we play to win every match. It’s a policy that has worked for us well.” Under Steve’s leadership, Australia have won 27 of their last 39 matches — including a record 16 on the trot two seasons ago — with five draws and seven defeats. AFP
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Richards hopes to find a world-beater Bangalore, October 2 “The current West Indies team has a bunch of talented individuals and a tour in the past has brought out world beaters,” the West Indian Chairman of selectors told reporters here recalling the rise to fame of fast bowlers Andy Roberts and Malcolm Marshal, as well as himself. He also reminded that he made his Test debut in India and after that “Vivian Richards never looked back”. Richards rated India as a good side and said India played very well in the recent ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. “It’s a pity that the rain interrupted the finals. India at that time were a better team.” But he exhorted the Caribbeans to get into a mental mode that will make India crumble. “Regardless of how good the Indian team is at this point, we have got to be confident about ourselves. Sometimes, good things do crumble and we have got to think along those lines,” Sir Vivian said. But he admitted it’s always very difficult to beat India in India and it’s going to be hard. “But when you participate in a sport, never say never”. “Yes, we are hoping that we can give them a good fight. It would be a great cause to us to judge ourself and how well we played against India,” he said. Richards described Indian batsman Virender Sehwag as “pretty exciting”, and said “world cricket needs more cricketers of that sort”. He said he was enjoying his role as Chairman of selectors and stressed that the West Indies was keen to move ahead “collectively”. Noting that some of the touring individuals were new to Indian conditions, Sir Vivian said having toured India on numerous occasions, it does give him qualification to pass on some of that knowledge in terms of “things to look for, not to look for and what it takes to succeed in India”. Giving due credit to the West Indies side, Richards said “judging by our performance and of some of the individuals, I do believe there is a renewed spirit and renewed vigour by individuals and how they would like to succeed”. “One felt a sense of pride even when they (West Indies) lost to South Africa (in the recent ICC encounter). We (West Indies) had a better team. Sometimes, better team does not win always”. Meanwhile, the tourists had nets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium where they would begin their campaign on Friday with a three-day game against Mohammed Kaif-led Board President’s XI. Dillon exudes confidence West Indies main strike bowler Mervyn. Dillon said the Caribbeans are upbeat and were raring to have a go at the Indians during the nearly two-month long tour. Dillon told reporters here that the side has put behind their unimpressive show in the recent ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, and were now looking forward to doing well in India. “We are professionals. We have moved on. We are an upbeat bunch of players and looking forward to the Indian tour,” he said. Dillon said he had learnt a few tips (regarding bowling in India) from past cricketers. “Playing in Test matches and one-dayers in India is probably one of the tough assignments for a cricketer. I am looking forward to it and confident,” the right-arm fast bowler said. Dillon said he would utilise the tour opening three-day game against the Board President’s XI beginning on Friday to get used to the conditions. Dhillon conceded the Indian tracks were not favourable to pace attack but said, “If you stick to the basics, you can still be successful”. He said India had one of the best batting line-ups in the world and there was no question about that. “But having said that, it just needs one ball to get a batsman out”. On the West Indies bowling attack, he said Pedro Collins, Darren Powell and Jermaine Lawson were pretty sharp.
PTI
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ONGC scrape
through to semis Chandigarh, October 2 In the crucial match between ONGC and Punjab Cricket Club played at the PCA Stadium at Mohali today, the latter needed to win with a bonus point to ensure their entry to the last four grade. Punjab boys won the match but failed to earn a bonus point rendering their victory futile. Batting first, ONGC thanks to fine batting by Mithun Minhas who scored 67 put 242 for the loss of seven wickets on the board in 50 overs. Gagan Khoda and Sandeep Sharma contributed 47 and 33, respectively. Punjab boys needed to overhaul the target within 40 overs to book a berth in the semifinals. Reetinder Sodhi and Pankaj Dharmani batted valiantly and kept them in hunt. Sodhi scored 82, while Dharmani contributed 88. Their efforts fetched victory for the Punjab team but not a semifinal berth as they won the match in the 43rd over for the loss of six wickets. Maintaining their superb form, Bishnoi XI trounced PCA Colts by seven wickets in a lop-sided match at the Sector 16 cricket stadium here today. Bishnoi XI owe their victory to an all-round good show by the team. First their bowlers bowled a decent line and virtually choked the PCA Colts batting line-up. They were never allowed any freedom to play their shots and the innings folded sooner than expected at 157. Chasing this total Bishnoi XI were in control throughout and barring minor hiccups overhauled the target when over 15 were yet to be bowled. Put in, PCA XI were off to a disastrous start and lost three wickets with just 11 on the board as new ball bowler Doda Ganesh struck twice and Rajat Bhatia claimed opener Samrat Sharma. The slide continued with fall of wicketkeeper batsman Chandan Madan and S.P. Singh as half the team was back in the pavilion with just 36 on the board. Sachin (33), Sanjay Mahajan (31) and Amit Kakaria (30) batted well and saved the team from further embarrassment as Colts were able to put 157 on the board. This total was not enough to test the strong batting line-up of Bishnoi XI. Though Colts achieved some initial successes as medium pacer Harish Puri dismissed openers J. Arun Kumar and M.S. Bisla early in the innings, while left-arm seamer Amit Uniyal trapped Shafique Khan lbw to reduce Bishnoi XI to 39 for three. Rashmi Ranjan Parida and Tejinder Singh took charge at this stage and took the team to victory without any further loss. Parida remained unbeaten on 75 while Tejinder was not out on 46 when target was achieved in 35th over. Parida was adjudged the man of the match and the award was given by Mr Karan Singh, Finance Secretary, UT Administration. |
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Gorkha
Club start with win Patiala, October 2 The university students began with a flourish as Gurjit Singh wove a web around a dazed defence before kicking the ball past a bewildered Lucknow custodian. However, barely had the cheering died down for the students when defender Bijendra Thapa stunned the university goalkeeper, Anwar Ali, with a 20 yard driver. In the second half, university defender Amritpal Singh failed to control a back pass only to see striker Bika Gautam getting hold of the ball and slamming it home. Down 1-2, the university lads went on the offensive but paid for loosening up their defence. Taking advantage of the slack defence, Bika Gautam scored again when his header floated into the top of the netting to make it 3-1 for his team. The Patiala students reduced the margin through Samual Masih but Bika Gautam finally settled the issue in his team’s favour when he scored to make the final scoreline read 4-2. SN College, Banga upset AG Haryana 4-1, with the goals coming from Tarsem Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Harish and Avinash Kumar. Sanjay Kumar scored the lone goal for the Haryana outfit. In the third match of the day, NIS beat Sports Hostel, Rohru, 3-0. In tomorrow’s matches, IAF, New Delhi take on DFA, Kapurthala, while RCF, Kapurthala, meet Gorkha club, Lucknow.
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Govt college
bag PU title Chandigarh, October 2 Panjab University campus secured second place, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Sector 26, were third while DAV College, Chandigarh, secured the fourth place. In matches played today, PU Campus got the better of SGGS College, Sector 26, 3-1 while Government College, Ludhiana beat DAV College, Chandigarh, 3-2.
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Busan, October 2
