Azhar's plea looks logical
CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — The reported request of the Indian cricket skipper Mohammad Azharuddin that he along with the cricket coach, Anshuman Gaekwad, should be permitted to select the playing eleven in all international matches played by India at home make for sound cricketing sense.

US men swimmers taste defeat

UNIONDALE, (USA) Aug 1 (AP) — For U.S. men’s swimming, it’s never been this bad. Even when American women struggled in the pool with the rise of East Germany in the 1970s and China in the ’90s, the guys always found a way to win more than their share. With the Olympics coming up in two years, it looks now like the men’s team has a long way to go to catch up with the women who are undefeated in two Goodwill Games dual meets. The men are 0-2 after a 78-43 thrashing by a World All-Star team yesterday night.

"I saw my mom in the stands and she made eye contact with me and said, good job," said Bill Pilczuk of Auburn, Alabama, a world champion this year in the 50-metre freestyle, but third to two world teamers. "I just rolled my eyes and said sheesh."

Wednesday’s loss to Germany was painful. This time, the defeat was downright embarrassing, with six 1-2 sweeps by the world team in 12 individual events.

"Americans come in to win every race, everyday,’’ said Josh Davis of San Antonio, one of the few US winners. "Wednesday was just a bad day in the office. It was an off day. We pride ourselves on having one of the strongest swimming programmes."

The Americans, who lost to Germany on the final race, the 400-metre freestyle relay — an event they’ve won at every Olympics started ok against the world team by winning the 400 medley relay for a 7-0 lead.

But the world team then went 1-2 in five of the next seven events for a 46-24 lead that the Americans never challenged. Among the sweeps was in the 50 freestyle, where Pilczuk finished third behind Lorenzo Vismara of Italy and Ricardo Busquets of Puerto Rico.

"I would’ve liked to have another meet where it came down to the free relay, but it didn’t work out that way," US men’s coach Bill Wadley said.

US men traditionally included a wealth of speedy freestylers, but the embarrassment in the sprints continued with another world sweep in the 100.

Fernando Scherer of Brazil became the fourth man in history to break 49 seconds in the event, joining Americans Matt Biondi and Gary Hall jr., and Russian Aleksandr Popov, the world record-holder at 48.21 seconds. Scherer was timed in 48.91, and Pieter Van Den Hoogenband of the Netherlands was second in 49.61.

"I knew I had swum a great race when I finished, but I wasn’t sure how good my time would be," said Scherer, who was fifth in the Olympic 100 free two years ago. "I felt great until the last 5 metres, when my legs felt dead."

The final indignity came in the 400 freestyle relay, as the world team, anchored by Scherer, won in 3:22.42 2.73 seconds ahead of the Americans.

"This is the fastest pool I’ve ever been in," Scherer said. Few Americans would agree, but there were a few US highlights. World champion Lenny Krayzelburg of Los Angeles won the 200 backstroke in 1:58.17, a Goodwill record and the ninth-fastest time in history. Davis captured the 200 freestyle and Kurt Grote of San Diego, California won the 100 breaststroke.

"The world team is a lot stronger than the rest of the competition," Davis said. They have an advantage because they have some of the best in the world mixed on one team."

World champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won the gold medal in pairs figure skating, beating arch rivals Artur Dmitriev and Oksana Kazakova. The bronze went to Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek of Poland.

There will be a new champion in women’s beach volleyball. Defending gold medallists Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan of San Diego lost to Brazil’s top-seeded Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar 15-9.

Bede and Behar scored nine straight points for a 10-1 lead, then four of the last five points to wrap it up. In between, the US pair scored seven of eight points with play that brought back visions of their days at the top: an ace, three kills and a block by Kirby, and pressure behind Masakayan’s serve.

"Once we started getting points, it was really the old Liz and Karolyn started coming back, where we started gaining some confidence and we had something we could work with," the 37-year-old Kirby said. "It’s just too bad we didn’t think of that a little bit earlier."

Masakayan and Kirby’s last chance of advancing to Saturday’s semifinals ended when Pauline Manser and Kerri Pottharst of Australia beat winless Kristine Drakich and Guylaine Dumont of Canada 15-8.

Also reaching the final four were Americans Holly McPeak and Lisa Arce, who beat Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of Germany 15-11, and Italy’s Laura Bruschini and Annamaria Solazzi.

As boxing prepared to crown its first champions, four referees and judges accused of bias against Russian boxers were suspended by the International Amateur Boxing Federation.

Suspended for the rest of the games were referee-judges Macario Sosa of Guatemala and Alfredo Toledo of Cuba, Referee Per-Olaf Larsson of Sweden and Judge Dieter Mika of Germany.

Cullinan’s ton helps SA pile up 406

CHELMSFORD, Aug 1 (Reuters) — Daryll Cullinan scored his second century of the tour as South Africa racked up an imposing total of 406 for five on the first day of the three-day match against Essex.

The home side then survived four overs before the close yesterday to reach 13 without loss, with Darren Robinson unbeaten on six and Ian Flanagan three.

Having been put in to bat on a well-grassed but true wicket, the tourists made a rollicking start with an opening stand of 63 in 10 overs. Cullinan dominated the rest of the day with an innings of 157 from 250 deliveries with 15 fours and two sixes.

Gary Kirsten dominated the early exchanges with a brisk 43 from 48 balls before Ronnie Irani removed his off stump with a surprisingly brisk delivery.

But Essex had to wait until 217 runs later for their next success.

Gerhardus Liebenberg, who is battling to keep his place in the side for the decisive fifth Test against England next week did his best to convince the watching convener of selectors, Peter Pollock, with a controlled innings of 96 from 167 balls with 10 boundaries.

A top-edged sweep off acting Essex captain Paul Grayson’s left arm spin resulted in his downfall.

Liebenberg’s first class aggregate of 569 runs at an average of 71.1 against county sides remains in stark contrast to his performance in three Tests this summer where he has collected 32 runs at an average of eight.

Cullinan reached his century from 171 deliveries and celebrated by immediately on-driving Grayson for six. He repeated the stroke against off spinner Peter Such and was forced to wait several minutes before the ball was finally abandoned as lost in the river can.

Cullinan, who scored an unbeaten 200 against Durham two weeks ago, was finally dismissed by left arm seamer Mark Ilott who swung a ball into the batsman to trap him lbw with no shot offered.

It might have been very different for the home side if Grayson had held a straightforward catch at slip off the bowling of Danny Wilson before Cullinan had scored.

Brian McMillan, considered by the tourists as a possible short-term replacement for Liebenberg, never looked settled in his 29 from 68 balls before Wilson trapped him lbw to earn some consolation.

Jonty Rhodes (2) edged Ilott to wicket keeper Barry Hyam in the next over but a series of classic off drives from Jacques Kallis (29 not out) shepherded the total to 406 for five wickets at the declaration with Shaun Pollock unbeaten on 22.

Bright future for Indian chess: Anand

CHHENAI, Aug 1 (PTI) — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, whose meteoric rise in the world of chess has culminated with his bagging the coveted chess Oscar, predicts a bright future for Indian youngsters in the game.

Anand, who came here on Thursday night to spend time with his parents, told PTI "There is a positive sign and the rise of Indian youngsters’ standard is good. It is only a question of time when they will peak to world levels."

The chess wizard said he had met Gujarat’s Tejas Bakre (ELO 2290) in Moscow and heard from him about the number of boys and girls in his age group doing well on the international circuit.

Anand, who has an ELO rating of 2795, as on July 1, 1998, said he had definite plans to start an academy to help develop Indian chess. "I need to give something back to the game that I love and to my motherland. I have definite plans for this".

On playing against a computer, Anand said he felt as if he was playing with a phantom. "There is no opponent in front of you and not a single move of yours escapes it’s attention."

Referring to his successes this year, Anand said: "Indeed, one should go still higher and so it should be possible to conquer the next peak".

On his future plans, Anand said: "Basically I am looking forward to the tournament in Tilberg from October 22 and then on, will be hoping to reap the best in the Las Vegas world tournament, if confirmed by fide".

The only Indian to hold onto his ranking in the world and trying for the coveted world champion title, Anand said he had kept away from the world chess Olympiad as it had a lower rating. "I am definitely not playing in the Olympiad this year. I had played in this from 1984 to 1992."

Asked why he had not played in the tourney when even Karpov and Kasparov had represented their countries in Olympiads, he said: "They last played in 1988 and were playing in Olympiads only when their federation was involved in organising them".

Anand, who said the Grandmasters Association (GMA) was a non-existent body now, felt the Olympiad had a low rating. To preserve his rating and position, he would have to win every tournament for more ELO points. "It is not so simple to weave a victory every time you enter a tournament," he said.

On his second, Anand said he was happy with Elizbar Ubilava, a Georgian settled in Spain, and would continue with him. He also expressed happiness over fide’s decision not to provide seedings to any player for the coming fide world tournament.

Azhar's plea looks logical
By Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — The reported request of the Indian cricket skipper Mohammad Azharuddin that he along with the cricket coach, Anshuman Gaekwad, should be permitted to select the playing eleven in all international matches played by India at home make for sound cricketing sense.

The demand was reportedly made when Azharuddin and Anshuman Gaekwad met the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Mr Raj Singh Dungarpur, and the board Secretary, J. Y . Lele, at Mumbai earlier this week. The meeting was reportedly convened to discuss the modalities of the first coaching camp for next year's World Cup, scheduled to be held in London, to be conducted by former Australian skipper Bobby Simpson. Simpson has been taken as consultant by the BCCI till the World Cup.

The national selectors of the board are scheduled to meet on August 10 to pick up 25 players for the proposed coaching camp. The meeting of the selection committee was earlier scheduled to be held on August 8 but was deferred at the request of Ajit Wadekar who has to attend a family function on August 8.

Normally, in a domestic series the selectors first pick a squad of 14 and then some or all the selectors reach the venue of the match, a day in advance or on the morning of the match, and name the actual eleven who will play .On a foreign tour, however, the final eleven for a particular match is always chosen by the tour management committee which consists of the cricket manager, captain and vice-captain.

During Sachin Tendulkar's short span of captaincy the selectors apparently even dictated the batting order to him. Among the various "orders" given to Sachin by the national selectors was that he should not open the Indian innings " as his early dismissal demoralises the entire team".

The BCCI President should accept Azharuddin's request . By letting the Indian skipper and cricket manager pick the final playing eleven the responsibility can be fixed. And in any case if this arrangement works well when India are touring abroad it should logically work in India also.

Normally during a domestic series the selectors do not name a vice-captain for the team. If Azhar's request is accepted then the selectors can name a vice-captain who could also be consulted when the playing eleven is picked.

With the World Cup less than an year away the board should first name the captain and cricket manager right up to the World Cup (Anshuman Gaekwad's tenure is till the next annual general body meeting of the board scheduled to be held towards the end of September) so that the two can work out the right and correct strategy for the tournament.

Jaspal Rana fails to make final

NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (PTI) — Pistol ace Jaspal Rana agonisingly missed out on making the final of air pistol and ended sixth in the non-Olympic centrefire and standard pistol events at the top of a subdued Indian performance in the just-ended 47th World Shooting Championships in Barcelona.

The Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist was distracted by time warning announcements to return a poor score of 94 in the final series of 10 shots to tally 579 out of 600 to eventually be placed 16th in air pistol.

The score of 581 had a place in the eight-man final with the incentive of the top-six finishers gaining automatic entry to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"Jaspal hurried his fourth shot after the announcement which ended in a poor eight after he had excellent 10 points. He did the same with the last shot when announcement came for the final five minutes and this was only a 9," chief coach Sunny Thomas explained on the squad of 18 shooters and four officials, including five juniors, returning here early yesterday.

"He lost only 15 points in the first five series but lost six in the last series which pushed him back," he said.

None barring Rana came anywhere close to qualifying for the final which revealed the catching up India had to do to close in on world standards.

"I am happy the scores are fast improving. We’ve nothing to show except for Jaspal’s 1994 junior world championship gold in standard pistol. But Indians who were pushovers earlier are now being noticed as their quality of shooting has really gone up," Sunny Thomas said analysing the performances.

India had an international class team in men’s air pistol though the trio of Rana, Satendra Kumar (572) and Vivek Singh (574) could manage only the 10th spot. "Vivek could have made it to the final as he had a score of 484/500, but lost full 10 points in the last series to end up 44th overall," Thomas said.

In centrefire pistol, Rana showed better form in recent times to tally 584/600 but ended up sixth. A poor precision round of 289/300 proved the undoing though he had 295 in the duelling round, the coach said. In standard pistol too Rana could manage only 572/600 to finish sixth though far ahead of his teammates Vivek Singh (557) and Ashok Pandit (549).

India were identical 12th in both centrefire and standard pistol events. Sunny Thomas attributed it to one of the worst efforts by veteran Ashok Pandit.

"In standard pistol Pandit has never fared so poorly. The shooter next to him was taking his attempts very fast which upset his rhythm. These things can’t be helped though."

In men’s free pistol, upcoming Satendra Kumar who had a personal best of 555/600 in last year’s Commonwealth meet in Malaysia could touch only 546 and 544 in elimination and final qualification rounds due to weapon malfunctioning.

"I lost 40 minutes of matchtime in the qualifying round due to mechanical problem of pistol," Kumar explained.

The shooter also had weapon trouble during free pistol where he availed of an additional 15 minutes grace time to qualifying from the elimination round.

Indian shooters, whose next major competition will be the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur in September, will take part in the pre-Asian championships to come off at Bangkok.

The trap shooters are leaving here on Saturday for the competition beginning on August 2 while the other events would be held from October 1 to 10.

Assessing his performance at the World Cup and looking ahead to the Commonwealth Games where he won a gold in Victoria in 1994, Jaspal Rana said, ‘I am satisfied’.

"In air pistol I shot my best in an international event and we are also shaping well as a team in this event (with Satendra Kumar and Vivek Singh also in their early 20’s). But I could have done better in centrefire," Rana added.

Jaspal, however, said the shooters suffered from lack of enough practice. "The organisers allowed just one day. The target was different with only an electronic sensor to shoot and monitor scores. There were no turning targets for practice," he added. The range was the venue for ’92 Olympics.

Of the five shooters — Abhinav Bindra, Nikhil Singh, Zoravar Singh in men and Sonal Ramendra and Sheila Kanungo among women — who made it at their own cost, youngsters Bindra and Zoravar did exceedingly well.

Trap shooter Zoravar, who was ineligible for the junior event by a few months, shot a fine 118 out of 125 to finish 15th thanks to intensive training at Italy under coach M. Dradi. "He was excellent. A score 117 fetched junior gold which puts Zoravar’s effort in perspective," said seasoned Mansher Singh who was 36th with a score of 116.

Bindra, training in Germany, shot a personal best 574/600 in junior men’s air rifle to be 44th.

Indian performances:

Men:

Centrefire pistol: Jaspal Rana 584/600 (289 + 295) — sixth. Ved Prakash 573/600 (288 + 285) — 37th. Ashok Pandit 564 (286 + 278) — 61st. Team: 12th.

Standard pistol: Jaspal Rana 572/600 — sixth. Vivek Singh 557/600 — 42nd. Ashok Pandit 549/600 — 61st. Team: 12th.

Free pistol: Satendra Kumar — elimination round 546/600 — 22nd. Final qualifying round 544/600 — 42nd.

Free rifle prone: A.P. Subbiah — 588/600 (19th in elimination round). T.C. Pallangappa — 577/600 (37th in elimination round).

Air pistol: Jaspal Rana — 579/600 — 16th. Satendra Kumar — 572/600 — 53rd. Vivek Singh — 574/600 — 44th. Team: 10th.

Trap: Zoravar Singh 118/125 — 15th. Mansher Singh 116/125 — 36th.

Junior men:

Air pistol: Subhash Rana 566/600 — 16th. Nikhil Singh 507/600 — 51st.

Air rifle: Abhinav Bindra 574/600 — 44th.

Women:

Sport rifle prone: Kuheli Gangulee 587/600 — 11th (elimination round) 584/600 — 43rd (qualifying round).

Air pistol: Sheila Kanungo — 366/400 — 91st.

Air rifle: Anjali Ved Pathak — 382/400 — 88th.

Sport rifle three-position: Kuheli Gangulee — 550/600 — 47th (elimination rd) Anjali Ved Pathak — 539/600 — 36th (elimination rd).

Junior women:

Air pistol: Shilpi Singh — 371/400 — 15th. Sushma Rana — 360/400 — 36th. Sonal Ramendra — 353/400 — 43rd.

National Games schedule
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — The Manipur Olympic Association has released the complete detailed programme for competitions in as many as 27 disciplines for the forthcoming National Games to be held at Imphal (Manipur) from October 4 to 14.

Mr K.S. Sahota, Secretary of the Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA), received the detailed programme here including the competition in sepak takraw schedule for first time in the National Games. The Khuman Lampak, main Stadium, where the track and field events will be held from October 6 to 10, is the main venue of the games and the main stadium venue of the games will also be the venue of the opening and closing ceremonies of the games.

The National Games to be held in the North-Eastern state for the first time are expected to be attended by more than 7500 sportsmen and women and technical officials. Besides, 100 mediapersons from all over the country are also expected to cover the National Games.

The schedule:

Opening Ceremony-Khuman Lampak main stadium-October 4; archery-Khuman Lampak main Stadium-October 5 to 9; athletics - Khuman Lampak main stadium - October 6 to 10; badminton-D.M. College hall-October 5 to 8; basketball-Khuman Lampak main stadium indoor hall-October 5 to 9; boxing-Assam Rifles-October 5 to 10; canoeing and Kayaking-Loktak Lake-October 5 to 9.

Cycling-Khuman Lampak velodrome-October 6 to 11; equestrian-Bhagychandra Field-October 5 to 9; fencing-SAG hall-October 5 to 7; football - Khuman Lampak Eastern Club ground-October 7 to 13; gymnastics-University Hall-October 7 to 11; judo-RIMs Hall-October 5 to 8; handball - SAI athletics field/indoor Hall-October 8 to 13; hockey-Khuman Lampak Hockey Stadium 6 to 12; kabaddi. D.M. College ground-October 5 to 10.

Kho-Kho-D.M. College ground-October 8 to 13; rowing-Loktak Lake-October 10 to 13; shooting-Khuman Lampak shooting ranges-October 5 11; swimming - Khuman Lampak swimming pool - October 6 to 12; sepak takraw - SAI indoor hall — October 5 to 9; table tennis — D.M. Hall - October 9 to 13; taekwondo - RIMs hall-October 10 to 13; tennis-Officers Club-courts — October 5 to 10; triathlon — Kanglmoat Tidim Road Athletics Stadium — October 11 and 12: volley ball — Khuman Lampak, indoor hall-October 10 to 13; weightlifting — University Auditorium-October 5 to 11; wrestling-SAG Hall-October 9 to 12; closing ceremony - Khuman Lampak Main Stadium-October 14.

NZ Federation Cup begins today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — The stage is set for exciting football as Indian Air Force, Delhi, take on Haryana State Electricity Board, Panchkula, in the opening tie of the Kalyani Black Label North Zone Federation Cup Football Tournament at the Sector 17 football Stadium here tomorrow.

In all, nine teams will be taking part in the tournament and the winners will join the eight seeded teams in the main round to be played later this month. Among the teams who will be participating in the north zone meet are former national league champions JCT Phagwara and star Punjab outfit Punjab State Electricity Board. Last year's winners Punjab Police will not be seen in action this time as they finished third in the Punjab Super League and thus could not qualify for this meet.

According to Mr Rakesh Bakshi, Secretary of the Chandigarh Football Association, as many as three teams have already arrived in the city, including IAF, HSEB and YMCA from Jammu and Kashmir. City Club from Delhi are expected to arrive tonight.

Chandigarh's Youngster Club will be making their debut on August 4 with a match against the Jammu and Kashmir outfit.

Star studded JCT Phagwara will open their campaign on August 5 when they will meet the winners of tomorrow's tie.

The winners from north zone will get a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. Mr B.S. Chauhan from New Delhi has been appointed the match commissioner by the AIFF.

Mr Rajan Kashyap, Finance Secretary, Punjab, will inaugurate the championship. The kick-off is at 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Punjab 'A' lift hockey title
By Kuldip Singh

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — Last year's runners-up Punjab "A" who fielded players from the Punjab Hockey Academy run by the Punjab Sports Department at Jalandhar, shocked defending champions Haryana "A" 7-0 in the final of the second Independence Gold Cup Subjunior Regional Hockey Tournament for boys under 14 years which concluded at the Sector 42 hockey stadium here today.

Punjab "A" and Haryana "A" qualified for the All-India Independence Gold Cup Inter-Regional Hockey Tournament to be held in Delhi later this month.

From the beginning, both teams played with short passes.

In the sixth minute, Punjab launched a good attack through Navdeep Singh, Harbinder Singh and centre-half Manbir Singh but Jarnail missed a superb chance as he failed to push the ball into the net.

In the 12th minute, Harbinder Singh of Punjab "A" sent a powerful shot from 25 yards towards the rival goal where outside-right Inderpal Singh was present. Inderpal touched the ball which went in leaving the defenders stranded. Punjab thus took the lead by a solitary goal.

Agassi, Henman advance to semis

LOS ANGELES, Aug 1 (AP) — Andre Agassi kept up his recent habit of speedy victories, defeating Australian Sandon Stolle 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 yesterday in just over an hour to advance to the Mercedes Cup semifinals.

Agassi won his ninth straight match without dropping a set since Wimbledon. His streak includes a title last week at Washington, where his matches averaged 59 minutes. He beat Stolle in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

"I tend to walk quick, but when it comes time to serve I slow it down," he said. "I don't think I rush out there."

Agassi advanced to today's semifinals against Justin Gimelstob, who upset top-seeded Patrick Rafter 6-4, 6-3 in the night match.

"I know he wants a piece of me," said Gimelstob, who earned the biggest victory of his career here last year when he beat Agassi in the first round.

In other quarterfinals, no. 2 seed Tim Henman beat no. 7 Byron Black 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 and Guillaume Raoux of France outlasted local favourite Michael Joyce 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-5.

Agassi didn't take the court until nearly 0100 GMT after the two previous matches went three sets. By then, the sun was going down and towering trees on the Ucla College campus cast long shadows across the court.

"You can't see the ball at all that time of day," he said. My game is based around hitting the ball cleanly and I didn't have any confidence at all the first set that I could swing and hit it cleanly in the shadows."

Carrom titles for Chandel, Sidhu
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 1 — Saroj Chandel and Sudhir Sidhu of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bagged the women's and men's singles titles in the Inter-Banks/Financial Institutions Carrom Tournament organised by State Bank of India here today.

Mahavir Singh and his partner Sudhir Sidhu (RBI) clinched the men's doubles titles, ousting S.P. Janjua and B.S. Sandhu also from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 25-14, 25-4.

Earlier, Mr K.K. Narula, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Chandigarh circle, gave away the trophies.

Other results are: (all finals) Men's singles — Sudhir Sidhu (RBI) b S.P. Janjua (RBI) 25-9, 25-8; women's singles: Saroj Chandel (RBI) b Inder Kanta (RBI) 25-14, 25-21.

Sikdar felicitated

CALCUTTA, Aug 1 (PTI) — Ace middle distance runner Jyotimoyee Sikdar was felicitated by the Amateur Athletic Association of West Bengal AAAWB) yesterday for her creditable performance in the Asian Track and Field meet in Fukuoka.

Sikdar was presented with a wrist watch and a plaque by the AAAWB president, Mr Rajpal Singh, at a simple function at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

Two others Bengal athletes - Saraswati Dey and Soma Biswas - who performed well in the Asian junior athletics meet, were also felicitated.

The AAAWB also announced a cash incentive of Rs 5,000 for the three athletes.

Sikdar picked up a silver medal (1600 m relay) and two bronze medals (800 m, 1600 m) in the meet at Fukuoka.