Masters badminton results

Durand Cup from October 19

Amritinder returns the best card

Indian spikers in limelight

Rohan leads strong Indian reply

AMSTERDAM, Aug 15 (PTI) — Stylish left-hander Rohan Gavaskar continued his unbeaten run with a classy second century of the tour to help India ‘A’ score 258 for two in reply to Holland’s first innings total of 268 on the second day of the three-day match here yesterday.

The final match of the two-week tour appears heading for a draw even as Gavaskar has an enviable reputation of being yet to be claimed by a Dutch bowler.

Gavaskar (106 no) and Rajiv Kumar (43 no) stood firm through the day to post an unbeaten 152-run third wicket stand after openers Vikram Rathore (55) and M.S.K. Prasad (44) gave a solid start putting on 97 runs.

Gavaskar, who played fine shots all round the wicket, was dropped once at his personal score of 60. Playing mature and compact cricket throughout the tour, he hit 16 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock.

Gavaskar remained unconquered on 100 in the first three day tie, which India ‘A’ won convincingly, and was also not out in two of the three one-day ties with 44 and 69. He did not get a chance to bat in the first one-dayer.

The lone successful bowler for the hosts was Ravi Singh, who claimed both the India ‘A’ openers.

Earlier, Holland added 15 runs to its overnight total of 253 for nine to be all out for 268. Kanwaljeet Singh claimed the tailender and top scorer Bouten for 57.

Brief scores:

Holland (Ist innings): 268 all out (Sinclair 53, Bouten 57, Zulfikar 43, Statham 40, Sairaj Bahutule 6/76, Kanwaljeet Singh 2/68).

India ‘A’ (Ist innings): 258 for two (Rohan Gavaskar 106 no, Rajiv Kumar 43 no, Vikram Rathore 55, M.S.K. Prasad 44).

Vijay Singh takes 1-stroke lead

REDMOND, (Washington), Aug 15 (Reuters) — Vijay Singh took a page out of Tiger Woods’ book and tied his day-old course record of 66 to hold a precarious one-stroke lead halfway through the PGA Championship, as Woods fell off the pace.

Singh added his 66 to an opening par 70 for a four-under-par total of 136 that put him one shot in front of Colin Montgomerie, Steve Stricker and Scott Gump and two better than five others, including Woods.

Woods, who said he did not hit the ball well all day, stumbled to a 72 that left him tied at two under par with defending champion Davis Love, 1995 champion Steve Elkington, Brad Faxon and Andrew Magee.

A native of Fiji, Singh could have set a new record at 29-year-old Sahalee Country Club but his long birdie attempt at the last just missed the hole.

"I played to the middle of a lot of greens and that was key for me," Singh said after posting five birdies on the front nine and then making two bogeys and only one birdie coming home as the course toughened.

Woods used exactly the same strategy on Thursday in shooting his 66, which eclipsed the 67 Jack Nicklaus set at Sahalee in an exhibition 14 years ago.

Singh, who has two top-five finishes in six PGA Championships, said he got something of a break by playing early in the day before the 6,906-yard course was dried out by the sun and warm temperatures.

"The greens were a little bit softer and you could actually hold the ball," he said.

Montgomerie, who was also on course to at least tie Woods’s record, bogeyed the difficult 18th hole and had to settle for 67, which left him at 137.

The Briton, who thrives on difficult courses that require accuracy off the tee, made five birdies, but he three-putted the par-3 fifth hole as well as bogeying the last.

He stumbled on 18, a 475-yard par-4 that is usually a par-5, when he hit his tee shot through the dogleg and into the deep rough.

Gump, one of eight players to shoot 68 on Thursday, went as low as five under par, but he bogeyed 15 and 16 and finished with 69, which tied him with Montgomerie and Stricker at 137.

Stricker was also on his way to matching the course record but he double bogeyed the par-3 17th, where he put his tee shot in the water, and had to settle for 68.

Elkington, who posted his second 69 for his 138 total, got to three under par with consecutive birdies on 11, 12 and 13, but he gave one back at the 15th and then parred in.

Magee, who has played well in only one of nine previous PGAS, tying for 13th in 1991, and Faxon, who was fifth in 1995 each shot 68 to join the group at 138.

Mark O’Meara, seeking a record-tying third major championship victory of the year, matched par 70 to stand at 139, along with Frank Lickliter, who shot 71, John Cook, 68, David Frost of South Africa, 69, and Glen Day, 71.

A total of 75 players will play on the weekend after making the 36-hole cut, which was set at 145.

Among those missing the cut were Justin Leonard, last year’s British Open champion, Lee Janzen, this year’s US Open winner, and veteran Tom Watson, who missed the cut in all four majors this year.

India snatch 14-run victory

DUBAI, Aug 15 (UNI) — The Indian XI led by Mohammed Azharuddin scored an exciting 14-run victory over Pakistan in the first of three exhibition matches here last night.

Electing to bat first, the Indians made 205 for seven from their 50 overs. Hrishikesh Kanitkar was the top-scorer with 53.

Leading the Pakistan run-chase, captain Rashid Latif scored a valiant 71 but his efforts proved futile as his team was bowled out for 191 in 47.1 overs.

Latif staged a fighting 62-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Mohammed Akram, who remained unbeaten on 17. The two brought the match alive with superb batting and gave the spectators something to cheer about.

Latif’s 71 included three sixes and four fours and came off 80 balls. The performance won him the Man-of-the-Match award.

He and Akram ensured that the match ended in a close finish after Pakistan were tottering at 129 for eight at one stage after losing some early wickets.

When Latif finally got out, Pakistan were only 14 runs short of the target, but last man Mohammed Zahid ran himself out without adding to the score.

For the Indians, pace-bowler Javagal Srinath bagged three wickets for 38 while Robin Singh took two. Venkatesh Prasad, Sachin Tendulkar and Kanitkar ended up with one each.

Kanitkar’s crisp half-century came off 67 balls and included two sixes and as many fours.

Ajay Jadeja (37) and openers Saurav Ganguly (29) and Tendulkar (20) were the other main scorers for the Indians. Jadeja’s knock was punctuated by a six and a four.

The day-night event was the first of a series of three matches between the teams in the Gulf. The remaining two encounters will take place at Doha, Qatar, today and on August 17.

The match was played on a makeshift wicket at the Al Ahli football stadium here in hot and humid conditions. Luckily for the players, a brief duststorm just before the match brought down the mercury considerably.

The ball kept low and slow, hardly giving the batsmen any chance to try out their strokes.

The outfield was also slow making it difficult to fetch runs. Boundaries were scarce, with the Indians managing only eight fours and four sixes during their innings.

Pakistan batsmen preferred the aerial route and managed nine sixes and as many fours during their innings.

Tendulkar and Ganguly put on 45 for the first wicket, after which they lost wickets at regular intervals till Jadeja and Kanitkar added 42 for the fifth wicket.

Azharuddin XI: Tendulkar run out 20, Ganguly b Zahid 29, Dravid c Latif b Zahid 9, Azharuddin c and b Hussein 17, Jadeja c Akram b Afridi 37, Kanitkar b Zahid 53, Laxman not out 14, Karim run out 1, Robin Singh not out 6, Extras 19 (1b, 5lb, 5nb, 8w) 19.

Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 205.

Fall of wkts: 1/45, 2/63, 3/67, 4/100, 5/142, 6/196, 7/197.

Bowling: Aaqib Javed 10-1-35-0; Mohammed Zahid 10-0-41-3; Mohammed Akram 10-0-45-0; Mohammed Hussein 9-0-32-1; Aamir Sohail 7-0-15-0; Shahid Afridi 4-0-31-1.

Latif XI: Sohail run out 5, Afridi b Srinath 21, Ejaz c Jadeja b Singh 21, Anwar c Azharuddin b Prasad 7, Inzamum c Jadeja b Singh 8, Moin Khan c Ganguly b Tendulkar 21, Latif c Karim b Srinath 71, Mohammed b Kanitkar 6, Aaqib b Srinath 10, Mohammed Akram not out 17, Zahid run out 0, Extras (1nb, 2b, 1lb) 4.

Total (all out in 47.1 overs) 191.

Fall of wkts: 1/5, 2/28, 3/38, 4/63, 5/72, 6/86, 7/101, 8/129, 9/191.

Bowling: Srinath 10-0-38-3; Prasad 10-1-42-1; Singh 10-2-33-2; Ganguly 3.1-0-19-0; Tendulkar 10-0-34-1; Kanitkar 4-0-22-1.

Umpiring blunders paving
way for technology

NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (PTI) — Glaring umpiring mistakes in the just-ended cricket series between England and South Africa have spurred demands for greater role for the third umpire using technology to cut down errors.

The demand for using television replay and developing electronic aids has touched a feverish pitch after the number of controversial decisions on leg before wicket and close catching that marred England’s 2-1 series win at home.

All quarters in South Africa led by their cricket chief Ali Bacher have demanded that technological aids should be used in handing down lbw verdicts with the Australian board all for use of cameras and computer projections strengthening the argument in favour of reducing contentious decisions.

The International Cricket Council itself has come in for sharp criticism as different neutral umpires stood in each of the five Tests, the South African media describing some of the decisions by Akhtar as ‘diabolical’ with the British media also pointing to the inconsistencies amidst fulsome praise for the first full series win by England in 12 years.

Amidst screaming headlines of ‘Just not cricket’, ‘South Africa robbed’ and ‘Cricket fiasco in the aftermath of South Africa’s narrow loss, ‘Business Day’ daily of Johannesburg said, "South Africa pioneered the use of TV replays in line decisions. The system is now widely used and there is no question it has been good for the game."

"The ICC should ask South Africa to run a pilot project expanding the system in its inter-provincial competition. When it has been fine-tuned in cooperation with umpiring bodies, it could be extended to other countries and international matches," Business Day added.

South African Umpires Association president Barry Smith is for greater use of technology and wants the third umpire’s role to be ‘extended for the betterment of the game.’

Leg before decisions have always been a grey area, but have been brought to such sharp focus after a series of mistakes by Pakistan’s Javed Akhtar, majority of them going against South Africa in the final test.

ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya, in Calcutta, was not available for comment on the issue.

But ACB national umpiring manager Tony Crafter said the day before the final Leeds Test began that cameras and computers be used to deliver foolproof lbw verdicts.

Crafter, who has umpired in 33 Tests and 85 one-dayers, said anything that ensured a correct decision was worth examining.

Tim Noakes, sports research head of South Africa’s Cape Town university, has added momentum to moves in this direction by claiming he could develop a system within weeks if he received funding. Having the cameras placed at right angles, umpires could establish the trajectory and height of the delivery.

Crafter was against entirely removing the human element but was keen to see what was being proposed was an alternative in making the right decisions.

Former India captain S. Venkatraghavan and fellow member on the ICC panel of umpires, V.K Ramaswamy, refused to comment, but some of their other Indian colleagues gave specific views.

Current international umpires Suresh Shastri and M.R. Singh were against TV replays to adjudge lbw but former Test umpire Dara Dotiwala was all for this revolutionary idea.

Both Shastri and M.R. Singh, who have officiated in one-day ties, told PTI that status quo should be maintained as far as calling for the TV umpire’s adjudication was concerned.

Dotiwala, now retired from the game, felt technological advancement would reduce margin of umpiring errors and ease player pressure on officials.

Shastri said if technology invaded too far, umpires would be reduced to keeping the players’ caps and sweaters. "Trying to introduce TV replays for lbw decisions would be neither foolproof nor practical," he said, pointing to the amount of time that would be lost in referring to the third umpire and carrying out a number of replays before giving the verdict.

"It would also be difficult for TV cameras to correctly say whether a sharply moving, bouncing or turning ball would have hit the stumps when the batsman plays half forward or stretches fully," Shastri said.

"It will lead to ground umpires losing concentration. Besides, many times the bowler on his follow through blocks the umpire’s view. TV cameras then would not be able to capture a good view of the incident."

Dotiwala said technology, if found foolproof, could be introduced. "One has to move with the times. Ultimately powers to decide will rest with umpires, wherever they are placed. There would be stoppages. That won’t matter much as a specific number of overs (90 per day) are to be bowled in Tests."

M.R. Singh disagreed that technology could be foolproof, ‘in cases of a very thin edge on to pads in noisy conditions like in the Indian subcontinent, even sensitive microphones buried near the stumps are unable to catch the sound.’

British media slammed the choice of Akhtar in Leeds in his first ever Test in English conditions, but was divided.

Simon Wilde had, in the run up to the Headingley Test, wondered in ‘The Sunday Times’ whether Akhtar would pass Muster coming off a three month break and whether mistakes from him — which eventually were plenty — would force the ICC to enlarge the third umpire’s role.

But highly-regarded cricket writer John Woodcock of ‘The Times’ was philosophical about fallibility of umpires and bemoaned that the commandment `when in doubt, it’s not out’ seemed to have been forgotton in the face of close scrutiny from slow-motion TV replays.

‘The umpire’s job is rapidly becoming a living nightmare. As things stand, the situation is untenable, not because the appealing has got out of hand nor because batsmen don’t walk anymore (the majority never did), but because cricket has been hijacked by television.’

Such sentiments notwithstanding, the present clamour for changes looks all set to rob cricket of its enduring sobriquet as ‘the game of glorious uncertainties.’

Sahara Cup: Akram, Saqlain doubtful

ISLAMABAD, Aug 15 (PTI) — Pakistan speedster Waqar Younis’ nagging injury problem has put the cricket selectors on a difficult task of naming quality bowlers for the five-match Sahara Cup series against India in Toronto.

Younis has not played for his county side Glamorgan since June 24 following elbow injury before taking four for 26 in his last game for the county side at Bedfordshire.

With indications that Younis is now a doubtful starter, the Pakistan selectors have much more to worry about as Wasim Akram and off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, may also opt out of the tour following their county commitments.

They will have to name the squad for Sahara Cup starting September 12 without taking Akram and Saqlain into count as their counties, Lancashire and Surrey, respectively, have refused to release them before the end of the season.

This is simply because both the counties are in the run for the English county championship title. While Saqlain has been a resounding success for Surrey with over 50 wickets, Akram is leading Lancashire in his testimonial year and has also guided them to the Natwest Trophy final.

Without Younis, Akram and Saqlain, the selectors are left with a list of specialist bowlers such as Muhammad Zahid, Shoaib Akhtar, Aaqib Javed, Shahid Nazir, Fazle Akber, Arshad Khan, Mushtaq Ahmed and all-rounders in Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzak, Muhammad Hussain, Shahid Afridi, Azhar Shafiq and Muhammad Javed.

This leaves the selectors to perform the tricky excercise of finalising the line-up for Sahara Cup.

Nitika, Tejinder enter final
From Our Sports Reporter

KHANNA, Aug 15 — Nitika, a student of Hindi Putri Pathshala, quelled strong challenge from her opponent Parminder Kaur of Amritsar 21-18, 21-14 to enter the final of the junior section of the first Punjab state ranking P. Nand Lal Memorial Table Tennis Tournament at the Narottam Hall here today.

In the final, Nitika will cross swords with Tejinder of Jalandhar who fought tooth and nail to upstage here city mate Rishu 21-19, 25-23.

Earlier in quarter-final, Nitika overpowered Nancy (Ropar) 21-19, 21-15 while Tejinder had to sweat it out to outplay Gurminder Kaur of Amritsar 21-19, 21-12.

In the sub-junior girls section, Amritsar eves, Navdeep Kaur and Anjali scraped past their rivals to make it to the final. Navdeep edged out Poonam (Khanna) 21-19, 21-17, while Anjali managed to outplay Ashu (Khanna) 21-18, 21-19.

Results:

Cadet boys single (q-finals): Harpreet Singh (Jal) Inderraj (Ldh) 21-19, 21-18 Shiv Bhudar (Pat) b Robin Verma (Pat) 21-18, 21-15 Pawan Saini (Pat) b Inderjit Singh (Ldh) 21-19, 21-15 Sahil (Asr) b Neha (Pat) 21-18, 17-21, 21-3.

Semifinals: Shiv Bhudar (Pat) b Harpreet (Jal) 21-15, 21-11 Sahil (Asr) b Pawan (Pat) 21-14, 21-19.

Cadet girls singles (quarter finals): Sukhbir Kaur (Fdk) b Darpan (Asr) 21-15, 19-21, 22-20 Manisha (Pat) b Dimple (Kh) 21-19, 21-11 Sarika (Pat) b Vaneet (Asr) 21-17, 21-16 Anjali (Asr) b Neha (Pat) 21-11, 21-19.

Semifinals: Anjali (Asr) b Sarika (Pat) 21-18, 21-10 Sukhbir Kaur (Fdk) b Manisha (Pat) 21-10, 21-18.

Sub junior girls singles (semi finals): Navdeep Kaur (Asr) b Poonam (Kh) 21-19, 21-17 Anjali (Asr) b Ashu (Kh) 21-18, 21-19.

Boy singles (q-finals): Bakul (Jal) b Tilakraj (Jal) 21-18, 21-15 Vikas (Kh) b Puneet (Ropar) 21-19, 23-21 Sumit Bahri (Jal) b Lovekesh (Fdk) 18-21, 21-15, 21-11 Disney (Ldh) b Sanjeev (Jal) 21-19, 21-15.

Girls singles (q-finals): Rishu (Jal) b Shally (Asr) 21-12, 22-20 Tejinder (Jal) b Gurminder Kaur (Asr) 21-19, 21-12 Nitika (Kh) b Nancy (Rop) 21-19, 21-15 Parminder Kaur (Asr) b Arti (Asr) 21-15, 21-10.

Semifinals: Tejinder (Jal) b Rishu (Jal) 21-19, 25-23 Nitika (Kh) b Parminder Kaur (Asr) 21-18, 21-14.

Nabhi, Harneet move into semis
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 15 – Nabhi Sahni and Harneet Chahal sailed into the final of the junior section on the second day of Chandigarh Ranking Carrom Championship for St Stephen's Trophy organised by the Sector 45 St Stephen's School here today.

In the semifinal, Harneet Chahal outclassed Prabhjot by 25-0, 25-7 while her school mate Nabhi Sahni routed Neha Sharma 22-8 23-11.

In the sub-junior girls section, Bhavneet and Eveleen also emerged victorious in the semifinals by edging out Sikha Jain and Navneet, respectively.

The biggest upset of the day was seen when Pramdeep thrashed Jagdev Mann by 18-8 in the boys junior singles category.

The results:

(Boys Junior Singles): 3rd Round: Yogeshwar b Jaspreet 25-8, Sanjay Negi b Panini 25-2, Vishal b Harpal 25-4, Puneet Pahwa b Saurav 19-7, Rozaria b Jighashu 25-0, Ajay Pal b Taranpreet 19-16, Amit b Vinod 20-2, Charrukh b Shahil 25-0, Gagandeep b Dhurva 25-0, Devinderjit b John 16-14, Paramdeep b Jagdev Mann 18-8, Ramanpreet b Anu 25-4, Arun Seemar b Gaurav 25-0, Amrinder b Gurdev 25-4, Randhir b Gurinder 21-12,

Pre-Quarter Finals: Sanjay Negi b Yogeshwar 20-19, Vishal b Puneet Pahwa 25-6, Rozario b Ajay Pal 25-6, Charrukh b Amit 25-0, Devinder Jit b Paramdeep 25-13, Ramanpreet b Arun 25-10, Amrinder b Randhir 25-0.

Q-finals: Sanjay Negi b Vishal 25-3, 25-9, Charukh b Rozario 25-18, 25-21, Gagandeep b Devinderjit 25-16, 25-10, Ramanpreet b Amarinder 25-0, 25-8.

Sub-Junior boys: 3rd Round: Ramanpreet b Harman 25-0, Dhurva b Shashank 25-0, Lovneet b Amanpreet Saini 25-13, Harkirat b Pamesh 25-0, Abhey Hora b Yudhpreet 25-4, Deepak Bishnoi b KP Bhargav 25-0, Ashish Sharma b Jagjit Singh 25-0, Aita Ram b Ankit 25-0, Hasneet b Deepak Bansal 25-0, Rajat b Ritesh 25-0, Gurinder Singh b Lokinder Singh 25-5, Anurudh b Attinder 10-8, Anu Kumar b Sukhpal 25-2, Akhil b Karan 10-4, Abhishek Kashyap b Asnish Pahwa 25-0, Baninder b Taranpreet 24-8.

Pre-quarterfinals: Ramanpreet b Dhurva 25-1, Lovneet b Harkirat 22-15, Deepak Bishnoi b Abhey Hora 23-9, Aita Ram b Ashish Sharma 25-0, Hasneet Nehra b Rajat 25-0, Gurinder b Anurudh 25-0, Anu Kumar b Akhil 25-0, Baninder b Abhishek Kashyap 25-11

Girls Junior (Q-finals): Neha Sharma b Roomika Sachdeva 25-0, Nabhi Sahni b Puneet 25-0, Harneet Chahal b Shabri Parsad 21-2, Prabhjot b Poonam Jain 25-0

Semifinals: Nabhi Sahini b Neha Sharma 22-8, 23-11, Harneet Chahal b Prabhjot 25-0, 25-7

Girls Sub-Junior: Second Round: Bhavneet b Jabsleen Kaur 25-0, Jasneet b Neetika 13-0, Harmeet b Kaveri Dutta 5-0, Shikha Jain b Prabhpreet Kaur 25-0, Evleen b Akrit 25-0, Geetu b Pallavi Piplani 18-13, Neevneet b Deepika 11-5, Sakhshi Bawa b Harmeet Kaur 25-8,

Quarterfinals: Bhavneet b Jasneet 25-0, Shikha Jain b Harmeet 11-6, Evleen b Geetu 14-9, Navneet b Sakhsi Bawa W/O

Semifinals: Bhavneet b Shikha Jain 25-0, 25-0, Evleen b Navneet 10-7.

Sampras moves into last eight

CINCINNATI (USA), Aug 15 (DPA) — Pete Sampras took another step towards regaining his number one ranking, crushing American Vince Spadea 6-3, 6-2 to power into the quarterfinals of the $2.45-million ATP Championship last night.

Sampras, who lost his top spot on the computer for the second time this year to Chile’s Marcelo Rios, could grab it back if he defends his title here.

Sampras was unworried by Spadea’s newly won reputation this week after knocking out both Andre Agassi and Richard Krajicek in 48 hours. World number 2 Sampras calmly broke once in the first set and once in the second to seal the fate of Spadea, ranked a career-high 44th in the world.

Earlier a rock solid Patrick Rafter won a battle of Grand Slam champions and ran his current win streak to eight matches in a 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) quarterfinal victory over Petr Korda.

Rafter, who is defending a pile of ranking points in excess of 1,400 through to the US Open, which he won a year ago, is moving into position for what he hopes is a successful defence of his only major title. He started his recent string of success last week with a trophy at the Canadian Open, his first title at a Mercedes super 9 event.

The 25-year-old Australian fifth seed was emphatic in his victory over Korda, seeded Third, winner of the Australian Open last January. Rafter next faces Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a former French open winner, in the today’s semifinals.

MANHATTAN BEACH (USA), (AP): Martina Hingis, motivated by some brash words from Richard Williams, beat Serena Williams 6-4, 6-1 yesterday in the quarterfinals of the Acura Classic.

 The world’s no. 1 player saw Richard Williams, the father and coach of teen sensations Venus and Serena, on television on Tuesday night saying how he wanted Hingis and Serena to play here.

"I think Serena would kick her butt going and coming," the elder Williams said.

Hingis giggled at the comment, part of which was bleeped because of an expletive.

"I don’t think she did it," the 17-year-old Swiss player said after advancing to today’s semifinals against No. 3 seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario at Manhattan Country Club.

Sanchez Vicario ended the dream run of Elena Tatarkova of Ukraine with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Tatarkova, ranked 63rd in the world, got into the main draw as a lucky loser when Mary Pierce withdrew because of injury.

Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport, winner of two straight tournaments in California, met No. 8 seed Natasha Zvereva in the night match.

Kannan, Zaman to clash for title

CHENNAI, Aug 15 (PTI) — Defending champion Vijay Kannan of Delhi and second seeded Sanzaruz Zaman of West Bengal today scored contrasting semi-final wins to set up a title clash in the boys singles event of the IOB National Junior Hard Court Tennis Championship here.

Kannan looking for a double crown, battled it out against third seeded Manoj Mahadevan in hot and humid conditions before winning 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4, while Zaman dismissed unseeded Paramtab Chaturvedi of Delhi 6-2 6-4 in the incident-marred semifinals.

The Delhi lad had earlier pairing with Mustafa Ghouse (Mah) claimed the doubles title defeating Ravi Kiran Bhat and Rohan Hopanna (Kar) 6-3 6-2, while top seeds Shruti Dhawan (Del) and Gautam Sheetal (Kar) claimed the women’s doubles title, outwitting Maharashtra’s duo of Radhikas – Mandke and Tulpule — 6-4 7-6 (7-5).

In the two-hour duel between Kannan and Mahadevan, the latter was unlucky to be penalised when umpire Muthu awarded a game point to Kannan in the eighth game of the decider. The umpire apparently did not notice Mahadevan gesturing to Kannan to "hold-on" before serving. The incident upset Mahadevan’s concentration and confidence after putting up a good fight.

In the other match, umpire R. Lakshminarasimhan slapped a "point penalty" for racquet abuse on Chaturvedi when Zaman was serving for the match. In fact, Chaturvedi who was warned in the ninth game, saved three match points before losing the second set (4-6) and the match.

District badminton
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Aug 15 — Jalandhar district badminton championships will start at Raizada Hans Raj Stadium at 4 pm tomorrow in which about 100 players are like to participate in men, women and junior boys and girls events.

The following are the seedings in different events:

Men: Ranjit Singh, Gagandeep Ratti, Jaideep, Rohan Kapoor.

Women: Sapna, Gurpreet, Sandhya, Sumeet.

Boys under-19: Rohan Kapoor, Ramanjit Kalia, Karandeep Kohli, Rohit Kapoor.

Girls under-19: Sandhya, Sumeet Kalia.

The teams for the junior and senior Punjab State Badminton Championships will be selected on the basis of this championships, according to Mr Rajinder Kalsi, Secretary, District Badminton Association.

Masters badminton results
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Aug 15 — Displaying good court craft K.K. Gudiala carved out a fine win over S.D. Bharat in the men's (35 plus) event to reach the next round in the Patiala District Masters Badminton Championships which started here today.

In the doubles (35 plus), K.K. Gudiala combined well with Antar Pal Singh to beat the duo Om Prakash and Mohinder to advance to the next round.

Other results:

Men's singles (35 plus): Joginder Bansal b Girish Chander 15-4, 15-4; Nirmal b N.K. Sharma 15-1, 15-1. Baljit b Jagdish 15-8, 15-10, K.K. Gudiala b S.D. Bharat 15-11, 15-6.

Doubles (35 plus): Baljinde Goni and Parveen b Ram Chand and Jagdish 15-1, 15-3, Satinder Jain and Naresh Pathak b Nirmal and Gurcharan Singh 15-7, 15-5, G.S. Shah and Chowdhury beat Mahesh and D. Mittal 15-10, 15-5, K.K. Gudiala and Antar Pal Singh b Om Parkash and Mohinder 15-7, 15-8, Yashpal and Vipin b Surinder Goyal and Varinder 15-4, 17-14, J.S. Bhasin and Bhupinder b S.D. Bharat and Sanjay Kaushik 15-7, 15-6, Sunil Jain and Kalicharan b Govind Khanna and Joginder 15-3, 15-10.

Durand Cup from October 19

NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (PTI) — The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) today announced the football calendar for the coming season which will kick off with the Sikkim Governor’s Gold Cup Tournament in Gangtok.

The prestigious Durand Cup will be played from October 19 to 31 and will be followed by the DCM Trophy scheduled from November 1 to 11, an AIFF press note said here.

Schedule of major tournaments:

Sikkim Governor’s Gold Cup: October 2 to 13; Bordoloi Trophy: October 11 to 22; Durand Cup: October 19 to 31; DCM Trophy: November 1 to 11; IFA Shield: November 7 to 20; and Rovers Cup: November 20 to December 3.

Pele becomes a reluctant grandfather

RIO DE JANERIO, Aug 15 — (AFP) — Brazilian football great Pele became a reluctant grandfather when his "daughter" gave birth to a boy, the Brazilian news service Estado reported.

Pele did not recognise Sandra Machado Arantes Do Nascimento Felinto as his daughter until court ruling forced him to do so in 1991.

A DNA test presented in the paternity suit against Pele proved that Machado was his daughter, and legally entitled to use his last name.

Machado (34) delivered a boy by cesarean in the town of Santos, the news service reported. The infant will be named Octavio Felinto Neto, Estado reported.

Early in his stellar career Pele — otherwise known as Edson Arantes Do Nascimento — had a relationship with a household maid named Anizia Machado. Their daughter was Sandra Machado.

Pele said he never had any contact with Machado, who is a candidate for lower house of Brazil’s congress in October elections.

In July Machado published an autobiography titled "the daughter the king never wanted," focusing on her quest to be recognised as Pele’s daughter.

Amritinder returns the best card

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 (PTI) — Amritinder Singh returned the best card of the day among the Indians as he along with Arjun Singh, Gaurav Ghei, Arjun Atwal and Vivek Bhandari made the cut in the Omega Tour’s meet here today.

Amritinder Singh’s three-under-par 69 saw him log one under 143 to be a stroke behind Arjun Singh who shot a par 72.

Ghei and Atwal scored identical one-under 71 in the second round for a cumulative 144 at the half-way mark while Bhandari caught up with them with a second successive par score.

Mayanmar’s Zaw Moe with another scorching round of five under par 67 led the leaderboard with a superb 10-under-par 134 as fading light brought a premature end to the second round.

Eric Meeks of the USA stole the limelight with a six-under 66 to share the second spot with Danny Zarate of the Philippines with a total of 137.

Other Indians in the fray — Firoz Ali who carded a poor 76 to miss the cut by a stroke, Uttam Singh Mundy (74 - 150), Jyoti Randhawa (78 - 150), Kanwar Sekhon (77-152) and Amandeep Johl (75 -153) shot themselves out of contention.

Indian spikers in limelight

CHENNAI, Aug 15 (PTI) — The dominance of Indian volleyball team in the Asian central zone has been proved as the senior national team won the silver medal in the zonal championship at Tehran (Iran) which concluded yesterday.

According to Mr K. Murugan, executive vice president of the Volleyball Federation of India the team had won two out of their three matches in the four-team tournament.

He said the tournament was allotted to Iran by the Asian Volleyball Confederation as India could not host the international Sivanthi Adityan Gold Cup due to conduct of World Grand Prix Women's Volleyball Championship in Chennai from September 4.

India, who started their campaign against Iran, won the first two sets but lost in the decider. India beat Pakistan and Kazhakistan squarely in three straight sets.

India lost to Iran 15-11 15-12 8-15 5-15 11-15, the ultimate champion of the tournament. India beat Pakistan 15-7 15-2 15-5 and the next day defeated Kazhakistan 15-8 15-5 15-10.

This victory has boosted the morale of the Indian team that is under preparation for the coming Bangkok Asian Games, Mr Murugan said, adding, the VFI would definitely field the team for the Asian Games.