BANGKOK : Japan's Naoko Takahashi crosses the finish line of the women's marathon. She won the first gold medal of the Asian olympics in the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok on Sunday — AP/PTI

Hard, bouncy pitch unsettles Indians
NAPIER, Dec 6 — A day before they take on the Central Districts at McLean Park here, the Indian cricketers got a taste of the home pitches today when a bouncy wicket forced them to abandon any idea of serious net practice.
Windies ‘A’ post modest total
CHENNAI, Dec 6 — India ‘A’ were 64 for two at close in their second innings on the third and penultimate day of their second cricket Test match against West Indies ‘A’ at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here today.
Sweden clinch Davis Cup
MILAN, Dec 6 — Defending champions Sweden swept to their seventh Davis Cup title yesterday when they took an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Italy in the final.

Fanfare marks opening of Asian Games
From N. Ananthanarayanan

BANGKOK, Dec 6 — Uncertainties born of economic woes gave way to a sense of relief and pride as a melange of music coupled with the abiding theme of Asian unity and friendship heralded the opening of the 13th Asian Games with traditional fanfare at the Rajamangala National Stadium this evening.

King Bhumibhol Adulyadej, the venerated Thai monarch who recently celebrated the golden jubilee of his reign, formally declared open the games amidst pomp and fanfare.

The highlight of the two and a half-hour ceremony was the lighting of the games flame by Atlanta Olympic Games featherweight boxing champion Somluck Kamsing in the presence of an array of dignitaries led by the International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The ceremony, which began at 1830 hours (1700 hrs IST), closed with the "songs of friendship", capturing the games theme of "friendship beyond frontiers", and lively dance displays.

Sparkling fireworks illuminated the night sky over Bangkok in celebration of its hosting the century’s last continental games following successful ventures in 1966, 1970 and 1978.

An hour into the spectacular evening show, the King — presiding over the ceremony — was welcomed by the Thai Prime Minister, Mr Leekpai and his deputy, Mr Bichai Rattakul, who is also the chairman of the games organising committee (BAGOC).

The Kuwaiti president of the Olympic Council of Asia, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al Sabah, was among those present to witness the colourful pageant.

The Prime Minister made floral offerings and rendered his speech before the contingents of the 41 participating countries marched past with India placed at the rear of the parade behind Singapore as per the Thai alphabetical order.

After the Mayor of Hiroshima, venue of the last games, handed over the Asiad flag to the OCA chief, the inaugural address was delivered by the King before hundreds of white doves were let free to soar away into the evening sky.

The games flame was brought into the stadium by Khassaraporn Suta, women’s weightlifting gold medallist at the South East Asian Games, followed by bearers of the national flags of all nations taking part.

The lighting of the games flame by Kamsing preceded the oath taking by Preeda Chuliamonthol.

Once the formal function was over it was again time to unveil more of Thailand’s cultural depth in music. "The gods joyfully granting victory" was followed by the rendition of "The spirit of Asia" with the sun, moon, star and lotus as motifs for the power of men, gentleness of women, togetherness of youth and faith of Asians.

The continental quadrennial extravaganza at the 60,000-capacity stadium kicked off with a musical introduction and presentation involving 445 performers with the King’s compositions of ‘Ohisay’ and ‘Sweet words’ being rendered.

It was then time for ‘Sawasdee Asia’ (welcome Asia), projecting the continent as the land of the rising sun and hence a dawn of hope and eternal peace.

Over 100 nominated persons blew the conch and the procession of the sun chariot entered. Sixteen strips of cloth, symbolising rays of sunlight, were spread covering the entire field to create an enchanting sight.

The over-riding theme of the sun god’s omnipotence was reiterated in the next rendition of ‘United Asia’ by 1,600 performers to capture the essence of the sun creating life and fostering harmony through sporting activity.

The impressive opening ceremony came to an end with the playing of the royal anthem throwing open the stage for the 7,000-odd participants to show their mettle over the next fortnight. — PTI

China’s gymnasts aim for domination

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (AP) — When famed Japanese gymnast Mitsuo Tsukahara watches his son take on the Chinese tomorrow in the battle for Asian Games gold, he’ll see twists, jumps and vaults that were inconceivable in his heyday as an Olympic multi-gold medalist.

So good was the elder Tsukahara in the 1960s and 1970s that two gymnastics moves, a vault and a high bar somersault, are named after him. But two decades later, those once-daring manoeuvres are so standard that Tsukahara’s son, Naoya, learned them in junior high.

"In the whole world, there was me, the only one," said the trim-looking 50-year-old elder Tsukahara, recalling his dominance of days gone by. Now his namesake moves are "easy, easy," he said.

Japan hopes the father has taught his son well. The younger Tsukahara, a double bronze medalist at last year’s world championships, is among Japan’s leading contenders to break what otherwise threatens to be a Chinese takeover of the Asian Games gymnastics championship.

China won 13 of 14 gymnastics golds at the last Asian Games in 1994, its stranglehold broken only by South Korea in the men’s vault. This time, China has set its sights only a little lower: it’s going for more than 10 golds, said team manager Zhang Jian.

The competition kicks off tomorrow with the men’s team event. China, the favourite, is fielding a mixture of veterans and newcomers that is essentially the same squad that is expected to compete at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Zhang said in an interview.

"They are pretty much China’s strongest athletes," he said. "We have strength in basically all of the disciplines."

Three members of the six-man team are veterans of China’s 1997 victory at the world championships. They include 21-year-old Zhang Jinjing, who also won a world championship team gold in 1995, and the world title on parallel bars two years later.

China’s women, meanwhile, include four members of the bronze medal-winning team from last year’s worlds. Zhang, the manager, said only a "big mistake" could stop the Chinese men and women from winning the Asian Games team titles.

But the competition for individual titles could be fiercer.

Tsukahara, 21, is Japan’s reigning three-time national champion, a title he first won at age 19 — the youngest Japanese man ever to do so. His two bronze medals at the 1997 world championships came in the all-round competition and parallel bars, which was won by China's Zhang.

Despite the tough Chinese competition, the elder Tsukahara said he fancies his son for gold in the all-around, the parallel bars and the vault.

"If he does his best performance and does what he does in practice, he has a good chance," he said in an interview.

The elder Tsukahara won a total of five golds in Olympics in 1968, 1972 and 1976 and pioneered his two namesake moves. For the Tsukahara vault, a gymnast cartwheels onto the vault, hitting it sideways before springing off into a back flip. His high bar manoeuvre is a full-twisting, double back somersault.

Tsukahara said he was 22 when he invented the vault and 24 when he first did the high bar salto. His son learned both by age 15.

Sweden clinch Davis Cup

MILAN, Dec 6 (Reuters) — Defending champions Sweden swept to their seventh Davis Cup title yesterday when they took an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Italy in the final.

Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti sealed Sweden’s victory, their third in five years, by beating makeshift Italian double pairing Diego Nargiso and Davide Sanguinetti 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 6-3.

Sanguinetti had to step in for Italian number one Andrea Gaudenzi, who retired with a shoulder injury in the fifth set of an epic singles match with Magnus Norman.

Magnus Gustafsson had beaten Sanguinetti 6-1 6-4 6-0 in the second singles match to give Carl Axel Hageskog’s team a 2-0 overnight lead.

After yesterday’s matches, Italy’s defeat had appeared a foregone conclusion because of the quality of Sweden’s doubles pairing. Bjorkman has lost just two of 17 cup doubles and the Bjorkman/Kulti partnership was last defeated in the 1996 final

"Winning a point in the doubles would only have been possible with Gaudenzi at 100 per cent. Like this, we could not do more," said Italian team coach Paolo Bertolucci.

Bertolucci had told reporters earlier Italy would need "not one, but many miracles" to win the doubles.

Nargiso, Italy’s only seasoned doubles player, could not hide his disappointment. "We needed to invent a team. It wasn’t possible to do so in one night," he said. He had played with Sanguinetti only twice before and never in Davis Cup.

The Italian pair started off the match strongly and the two teams were head to head until the seventh game in the first set, when the Swedes broke for a 4-3 lead on the slow, clay surface.

Kulti held serve to love in the eighth, but then strong serves and some clean volleys by Nargiso gave the Italians the next three games before Bjorkman held serve to take the set in to a tie-break which they won convincingly 7-1.

The second set was over in 26 minutes, with Kulti and Bjorkman outclassing and overpowering their deflated opponents

The Italians nearly won a break point in the fifth game, with the score at 4-1 for the Swedes, but the umpire overruled the line judge and ordered the point to be played again.

The third set mirrored the second and although the Italians, spurred on a by 12,000-strong crowd, found the strength to break serve in the sixth game, the Swedes polished off the set at 6-3.

It was Bjorkman and Kulti’s seventh consecutive victory in Davis Cup doubles. Bjorkman joins Pete Sampras as the alone "active" player to have played in four finals while Sweden and the USA are the only countries in the modern era to defend their title twice.

Italy, on the other hand, have now lost six of their seven Davis Cup finals. Their only triumph came in 1976 when they beat Chile 4-1 in Santiago.

Merchant’s win raises India’s hopes

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (PTI) — Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar produced stellar performances to get past strong Pakistan rival Mohammed Saleh and Vietnam’s Le Cong-Duc by 5-4 and 5-1, respectively in the snooker first round of the 13th Asian Games, which were declared open today with traditional pomp and fanfare by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The bespectacled former Asian amateur champion Merchant clinched a hard-fought singles win over his Pakistani rival even as the host nation’s superstar James Wattana crashed out of the singles event of the tournament after being shocked 5-1 by Hong Kong’s 1996 world junior champion Chan Kwok-Ming.

In the morning, Japan’s 26-year-old Naoko Takahashi scooped up the first gold medal of the century’s last continental, quadrennial games when she won the women’s marathon in an astonishing 2 hours, 21 minutes and 46 seconds which was only 59 seconds off the world’s best effort.

Braving the 30 degrees Celcius temperature and stifling 70 per cent humidity, front-running Takahashi stole the thunder early in the morning with her splendid effort.

Competitions would start in right earnest from tomorrow in the fortnight-long games which offers as many as 377 gold medals.

India, who have entered in 22 out of the 36 medal-awarding sports in the games, have an unenviable task on the opening day of full competitions in men’s football when they take on Turkmenistan in their opening second round clash while the women too have a tough lung-opener against South Korea in group ‘B’.

The Indian women’s hockey team also begins their campaign with the round-robin match against hosts Thailand.

In weightlifting Arumugham Pandiyan, gold medallist in last September’s Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, and strong contender Kunjurani Devi will be seen in action in men’s 56 kg and women’s 48 kg weight divisions.

The men’s volleball team, making an appearance in the games after missing the last two editions at Beijing and Hiroshima, also begin their bid when they take on China in a group ‘B’ encounter.

The Indian swimmers, numbering six but not expected to make any impression, would also be in the thick of things as the event gets under way tomorrow.

The preliminary bouts in boxing too are commencing tomorrow and the Indian interest centres around Jitender Kumar — a silver medallist in the middleweight class at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, Gurcharan Singh and Harpal Singh.

In shooting, India get into action with the men’s skeet (first day - 75 targets) where Harinder Singh Bedi, Rao Inderjit Singh and Rahoul Rai will look for individual and team honours.

Japan's Takahashi bags first gold

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (AP) — Japan's Naoko Takahashi set her sights on the world marathon record after a brave front-running performance gave her the first gold medal of the 13th Asian Games today.

Takahashi was on world record pace through 20 kilometres (12 miles) of the 42.195-kilometre (26-mile, 385-yard) event but found it hard to maintain her tempo in rising heat as no one pushed her along.

Her official time of 2 hours, 21 minutes, 47 seconds shattered the Asian record of 2:24:07 set by China's Wang Junxia in 1993 and was one minute outside the world record of 2:20:47 set by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe in Rotterdam this year.

The time, the fifth fastest women's marathon ever, was far faster than the old games record of 2:29:32 set by China's Zhong Huangdi in 1994.

Her coach, Yoshio Koide, says Takahashi has the ability to run 2 hours, 18 minutes given the right conditions.

"At 20 kilometres, I intend to lose the pace but my body wouldn't keep going properly," Takahashi said. "I wasn't expecting a world record here but it's true that I'll look back and think I could have done much better over the last 10 kilometres (6 miles).

The 26-year-old made a flying start and was already holding a good lead at 10 km. She finished more than 13 minutes ahead of North Korean Kim Chang, who outsprinted Japan's Tomoko Kai down the final 100 metres in the main stadium to take the silver.

Takahashi is tiny but coach Koide said she is powered by a voracious appetite.

"Sometimes she will eat a whole plate of meat and 50 pieces of sushi in one go'" Koide said. "She has noticed a Chinese restaurant in Bangkok and wants me to go there with her tonight.... she'll probably stop for more food at a street stall after that".

Koide said Takahashi's next race would be the World Championships in Seville next year but added that the record would have to wait.

"It will be very hot there and that's not too good," Koide said. With her ability now she can break the record any time the conditions are good. He said he did not know which race Takahashi would target after the world title.

Takahashi admitted she started to flag as temperatures picked up following a cool dawn.

"It was very, very hard at 30 kilometres (19 miles) but everyone kept saying you're doing good, so I kept going," she added.

The marathon finished about 10 hours before the start of today's opening ceremony.

Pak "will clinch" hockey gold

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (AP) — Banking on recent signs of resurrection, Pakistan predicted yesterday it will win gold in the Asian Games field hockey tournament.

"We do not have mega stars any more, but we have a mega team," said Pakistani hockey manager Khawaja Zakauddin, as his team practised on Bangkok’s outskirts for the 12-nation tournament beginning on Monday.

Pakistan’s confidence stems from its recent performance. It lost to the Netherlands 3-1 after taking the lead in the 20th Champions Trophy tournament in the Pakistani city of Lahore in November.

"Though we lost, mind you we lost to a country which was holding two top field hockey titles — World Cup and Olympics," said Zakauddin. The Netherlands won the 1996 Olympics title and then the World Cup earlier this year, at home in at Utrecht. It added the Champions Trophy at Lahore.

"We have a much younger team and we have a tremendous team spirit," coach Shahnaz Sheikh said as he instructed his players to practice penalty corners and flicks — a match-winning technique that Pakistan is famous for.

In fact, against the Netherlands, Atif Bashir, who is now the captain, had opened the scoring off a penalty corner rebound. Pakistani penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas’ attempt was stopped by the Dutch keeper, but Bashir pounced on the rebound and flicked the ball home.

Coach Sheikh said he expects tough battles from reigning Asian gold medalist South Korea and long-time rival India.

"The Koreans worry us, but we have a game plan for them," Sheikh said, but declined to elaborate.

The South Koreans, who have remained a force in field hockey since winning the gold in the 1986 Asian Games at home, are the favourite to triumph again.

"We have studied the Koreans very closely and we know their weaknesses," Sheikh said.

"India has a very good team, but they somehow fail," he said of his neighbour.

Since winning the last Asian Games gold in Hiroshima in 1994, the Koreans have figured in two World Cups, two Champions Trophy events and the Atlanta Olympics.

The Indians were silver medallists at Hiroshima, but since then have suffered a downward swing. They placed eighth at the 1996 Olympics and one step lower in the Utrecht World Cup. At this year’s Commonwealth Games, India was out of the medals.

Shooters’ chances bright

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (PTI) — Growing in stature with each passing international outing, Indian shooters led by pistol ace Jaspal Rana will look forward to marking down a clutch of medals in the Asian Games shooting competition to be held from tomorrow to December 13 at the Hua Mark shooting range here.

The 23-year-old Rana is riding high on superb form which saw him claim both centrefire individual and team golds besides clinching two silvers in air pistol at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in September from where India returned with a healthy haul of four gold, two silver and two bronze medals from a squad of 16 shooters.

Trap shooters Mansher Singh and young teammate Manavjit Singh took the pairs gold there while Rhodes scholar Roopa Unnikrishnan lifted the stature of Indian women’s shooting by claiming the sport-rifle (prone) gold with a games record to boot.

Rana, whose exploits have raised Indian shooting’s profile, will seek to retain the title in his favourite centrefire pistol event which he struck as a teenager in 1994 Hiroshima Games.

"He is a much more mature shooter now," said his Australian coach Tibor Gonczol. Rana will also take part in the standard pistol and air pistol events where India also stand excellent chances for team medals.

India this time have prudently decided not to field anyone in men’s rifle and women’s pistol events which have time and again proved nothing but embarrassing. But they have brought in double trap and skeet instead where Indian medals chances do not seem too bright.

In both standard and centrefire pistol veteran Ashok Pandit, participating in his fifth straight Asian Games, will also lend weight in the team standings.

"We have medal chances in all three events and Roopa is also shooting very well apart from the trap shooters," chief coach Sunny Thomas said while refusing to predict the nature of medals saying the form on the day counted a lot.

The 32-year-old Mansher Singh and 21-year-old Manavjit Singh who struck it rich in Malaysia will have the talented 21-year-old Zorawar Singh for company for the team event. Zorawar Singh, who had trained extensively in Italy under Marcelo Dradi was the best during the training phase and the coach expects much from him too.

The trap shooters, however, would have to contend with the tough conditions at the range. Flats with clothes hanging from each floor and people moving about is the background which would make any shooter’s work unenviable.

"We have already been here for the pre-Asian and we are familiar with the conditions. So we can’t complain," said Mansher Singh.

India get into action with the men’s skeet (first day -75 targets) where Harinder Singh Bedi, Rao Inderjit Singh and Rahoul Rai will look for individual and team honours.

The Indian build-up had been good with the work load ideal ahead of top competition. Sunny Thomas and Rana himself felt his form was excellent.

"But I don’t want to talk about medals and put needless pressure on myself," Rana said. South Korea, Japan, China and Kazakhstan are the top powers in Asia.

Favourable draw for men's tennis team

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (PTI) — Defending champions India, who suffered a serious setback due to the pullout of star Leander Paes, look set to go all the way for a summit clash after receiving a favourable draw in the 13th Asian Games men’s tennis team competition to be held at the Muang Thong Thani Tennis Complex from December 8 to 18.

India, seeded a surprisingly low fourth in the 13-team field behind Uzbekistan, Japan and South Korea, will take on Qatar in the opening round to be played on December 8.

Placed in the lower half they will meet the winners of the tie between the Philippines and Pakistan in the quarterfinals.

The draw made this morning after the captains and managers meeting, however, pitted the unseeded Indian women’s team in a tough tie against fourth seeds Indonesia in the eight-team field. Chinese Taipei, China, Japan are the top three seeds in that order.

Seven gold medals are at stake in tennis in the men’s and women’s events including team golds, the men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles.

India number two Mahesh Bhupathi, who will spearhead India’s challenge to retain the gold medal they won in Hiroshima four years ago, is the top-ranked Indian in the squad but at modest 351 on ATP computer, but Bhupathi is world number three in individual doubles reckoning.

India play their first tie on December 8. The women’s team competition ends on December 11 and the men’s final is slated for the next day.

Unlike the Davis Cup format, the games tie would comprise the second ranked two from the either country meeting in the first singles followed by the clash between the top-ranked duo before the doubles completes the best-of-three affair.

Mukherjea said despite the absence of Paes, who pulled out at the last minute and is under treatment for ankle injury in Orlando, USA, "we stand a good chance in the men’s but the field in Asia is always tough for women."

Indonesia is led by the world number 57 Yayuk Basuki, while Tamarine Tanasugaran (ranked 38) and Li Fang (45) will lead the hopes of Thailand and China.

India come into the games competition with the morale high after Bhupathi came up with a heroic effort again and again to guide India to the ATF Asia Cup in Delhi last month.

Mukherjea said he was yet to decide whom to field at the number two, but Prahlad Srinath (394) and Syed Fazaluddin (572) had both failed to win a match during the Delhi event which saw Bhupathi’s prowess alone help India beat the strong Uzbek duo of Oleg Ogorodov (214) and Vadim Kutsenko (249) in the final.

In men, both Uzbekistan and Japan have received first round byes. The Uzbeks will meet the winners of Iran-Chinese Taipei tie while Kuwait or Indonesia will meet Japan in the second round.

The Indian women’s challenge will be led by the 22-year-old Nirupma Vaidyanathan, who enjoys a world ranking of 173, but Nirupma, Uzma Khan, Sai Jayalakshmi and Manisha Malhotra will find the Indonesians too good, barring miracles.

All six players, including Rushmi Chakravarthi and Shruti Dhawan are here but on the cost of the All-India Tennis Association after the government refused clearance to the two.

Indian women take on Thailand today

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (PTI) — Leaving behind the disappointment of finishing at the bottom in the Utrecht World Cup and the subsequent lack of exposure as a nightmare best forgotten, India take on hosts Thailand in the opening women’s hockey round-robin match of the 13th Asian Games here tomorrow.

Rajbir Rai, who led India to the gold in New Delhi Asiad in 1982 — where the women’s event made its debut, has given way to a new generation bubbling with confidence.

Star striker and skipper Pritam Rani Thakran brushed aside any doubts about the physical and mental fitness of her girls by saying simply "we are raring to go."

Gurdial Singh Bhangu, who took over as chief coach when Balbir Singh was axed following the World Cup debacle, has ensured the team does not suffer from lack of match practice.

"We had five practice matches a week during the camp in Patiala. They were against boys’ teams as there was no girls’ team in India strong enough to test this outfit", he said.

Immediately after landing here, the team went into intensive training sessions and had a practice match against the Kasetsart University boys.

The reason for playing against boys once again was simple. They can’t afford to play against any of the participating teams as they meet them all in the tournament ,which is on a round-robin basis with the top two fighting it out in the final for the gold.

Regarding change of pattern from league-cum-knock out to league, Bhangu said India would have two tough matches in the former format — with China in pool and Korea in knock-out — while under the present system the tournament will be wide open.

"As per our calculations we should be in the final as we are confident of overcoming China," Bhangu said. In a series of matches even strong teams like Korea and China could have a bad day," according to the coach.

Pritam Thakran, on the other hand, was more cautious. She said each match was very important as one defeat could bring a team down by a notch in the race for top honours. As far as she was concerned there would be no let-up at any stage of the tournament against any team.

Korea, China and India are the obvious favourites as all three had qualified for Utrecht World Cup. "Realistically speaking, I would put Korea, India and China, in that order, As favourites, though my girls would be going all out to topple Korea too," Bhangu added.

Bhangu must have his reasons for that confidence as this team has eight girls who took part in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games — Pritam Thakran, Sita Gussain, Sandeep Kaur, Manjinder Kaur, Tingongleima Chanu, Nidhi Khullar, Suraj Lata Devi and Mary Stella Tirkey.

The other members of the squad are: Sunita Dalal, Kamala Dalal, Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Helen Mary, Amandeep Kaur, Lakshmi Shree, Neha Singh and Surinder Kaur.

The team’s morale is also high after reaching the semi-finals of the September Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Schedule of India’s matches in the seven-team league (all times ISI): Dec 8 vs Thailand — 5.30 pm; Dec 10 vs China — 3.30 pm; Dec 12 vs Uzbekistan — 5.30 pm; Dec 13 vs Korea — 3.30 pm; Dec 15 vs Kazakisthan — 1.30 pm; Dec 16 vs Japan — 3.30 pm. Dec 18 final.

Millionaire boxer

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (AFP) — Thai Olympic gold medallist boxer Somluck Kamsing has millions in the bank but the thrill of getting into the ring keeps him from hanging up his gloves.

And that spells bad news for everyone else in his featherweight division.

Somluck is one of Thailand's most idolised sporting sons. He stars in popular soap operas and has Asian Games gold to go with his Olympic title, Thailand's first ever.

Success has failed to dampen Somluck's enthusiasm for boxing, says Taweep Juntararot, technical advisor to Thailand's boxing squad at the Asian Games.

"Somluck has been boxing in major international events for seven years," said Taweep. "He knows boxing and loves boxing."

Somluck gave the gold medal he won in the Atlanta Olympics to Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej although the International Olympic Committee graciously provided him with a replica.

But the 25-year-old's hopes of collecting another gift to offer his King in Bangkok are clouded by injury.

Somluck injured his ankle while sparring last week although he said soon afterwards that he would be alright for the games.

"He is about 60 per cent at the moment but he feels confident that he can do his best in the competition", said Taweep.

Marathon traffic jam

BANGKOK, Dec 6 (Reuters) — The Asian Games' first medal event today also set off the first traffic jam of the tournament.

Many spectators, journalists and athletes commuting to the main games complex at Thammasat University on the outskirts of Bangkok were forced to leave vehicles when they were caught in gridlock caused by the women's marathon.

Streets were blocked off for the event leading to queues of traffic up to 5 km long.

Games spokesman Torpong Sewatarma vowed the traffic jam would be the last of the December 6 to 20 event.

"We don't expect any problems this afternoon for the opening ceremony or any other day," he said.

Bangkok's notorious traffic jams have been a major worry for game organisers.

About 10,000 police men are on Bangkok's streets trying to keep traffic moving.

Schools and universities have been given special holidays for the two-week duration of the games to help keep vehicles off the roads and spectators have been asked to take public transport to events.

Hard, bouncy pitch unsettles Indians

NAPIER, Dec 6 (PTI) — A day before they take on the Central Districts at McLean Park here, the Indian cricketers got a taste of the home pitches today when a bouncy wicket forced them to abandon any idea of serious net practice.

With deliveries exploding from a length, the medium pacers soon curtailed their run-up, but by the time the nature of the turf dawned on everyone, Sachin Tendulkar had been hit on the back of his right leg by a Debashis Mohanty inswinger.

Even though the master batsman was stoic, it was clear that the blow had hurt. He needed massage and some treatment from physio Ravinder Chadha before crossing over to bowl.

The net strips were obviously underprepared, still drying out under a bright sun after the last few days’ rains, and were difficult to bat on. With the ball standing up from close to a length, some, like Navjot Sidhu, decided to have "knocking" rather than a stint in the middle.

Coach Anshuman Gaikwad said Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble, V V S Laxman and one of the two spinners, Sunil Joshi or Harbhajan Singh, will be rested for tomorrow’s game.

The tour opener affords a good opportunity for Venkatesh Prasad, Debashish Mohanty and Robin Singh junior to fight for the two medium pacers’ slots in the Test matches.

Another worry for the Indians is the experimental laws New Zealand Cricket (NZC) wishes to introduce in the series.

The Indians were due to discuss the issue with NZC this evening and by all accounts are not in favour of the proposal.

Central Districts team comprises largely of new faces. Medium pacers David Blake and Andrew Penn are keen to make a sizeable impression, more so the latter who has an outside chance of earning a Test berth if he does well in this game.

Jacob Oram, a middle order bat, and Jarrod Englefield, the New Zealand youth captain, are two other names who have a lot to play for.

Teams (from): Central Districts: Craig Spearman (captain), David Blake, Mark Douglas, Jarrod Englefield, Campbell Furlong, Michael Mason, Glen Milnes, Jacob Oram, Andrew Penn, Martyn Sigley, Mathew Sinclair, Glen Sulzberger

India: Mohammed Azharuddin (captain), Ajay Jadeja, Sachin Tendulkar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Nayan Mongia, Sunil Joshi, Robin Singh jr, Harbhajan Singh, Sourav Ganguly and Debashis Mohanty.

Windies ‘A’ post modest total

CHENNAI, Dec 6 (PTI) — India ‘A’ were 64 for two at close in their second innings on the third and penultimate day of their second cricket Test match against West Indies ‘A’ at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here today.

Earlier, the visitors recovered from a middle order collapse to score a modest 243 in their first innings, giving the hosts what could be a significant 54-run first innings lead.

Putting behind their first innings performance, Indian openers Wasim Jaffer and S. Ramesh went on the attack right from the start in an attempt to set a challenging target for the visitors.

Jaffer (23), who was more aggressive of the two, struck four fours before giving a simple catch to Richard Smith at short extra cover off an outgoing delivery from Carl Tuckett.

India then lost Amay Khurasia (16) when Campbell took a running catch at fine leg off McGarell.

At draw of stumps, Ramesh and captain Kanitkar were batting on 17 and four respectively.

Earlier, the visitors, who lost three quick wickets and were reeling at 93 for 5 at one stage, recovered through some significant contributions by tailenders Ian Bishop (22) and Tuckett (51), besides Courtney Browne (23) to reach 243.

The West Indies, who began the day at 79 for two, lost three wickets — Shervin Campbell (40), Christopher Gayle (14) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (zero) — in the pre-lunch session, all at the same score, leaving them tottering at 93 for five.

However, they recovered through Richard Smith and Courtney Browne who added 53 runs in 54 minutes off 13.1 overs Browne made 23 before being caught by Khurasia off Sanghvi.

Ian Bishop and Tuckett then kept the Indian attack at bay for 38 overs. Sanghvi again broke the partnership, which yielded 63 runs, by having Bishop caught by Khurasia. Bishop occupied the crease for 186 minutes to score 22 off 144 balls.

India 'A' 1st innings: 297
West Indies 'A' (1st innings): Adrian Griffth c Jaffer b Ganesh 2 Sherwin Campbell lbw Ganesh 40 Wavel Hinds c Jaffer b Chopra 26 Christopher Gayle c Jaffer b Chopra 14 Richard Smith c Ramesh b Kanitkar 41Ramnaresh Sarwan c Ramesh b Chopra 0 Courtney Browne c Khurasia b Sanghvi 23 Ian Bishop c Khurasia b Sanghvi 22 Neil McGarell c Jaffer b Sanghvi1 Carl Tuckett c Kamal b Sanghvi 54 Pedro Collins not out 0
Extras: (b-3, lb-8, nb-9): 20
Total: (all out in 119.2 overs) 243

Fall of wickets: 1/2, 2/68, 3/93, 4/93, 5/93, 6/146, 7/160, 8/169, 9/232.
Bowling: Doda Ganesh 20-5-33-2; Ubaid Kamal 9-4-14-0; Rahul Sanghvi 32.2-12-79-4; Nikhil Chopra 28-8-56-3; Hrishikesh Kaniitkar 18-8-22-1; Sanjay Raul 9-2-18-0; Rohan Gavaskar 3-0-10-0.

Scoreboard
India 'A' (second innings) Wasim Jaffer c Smith b Tuckett 23 S Ramesh batting 17, Amay Khursia c Campbell b McGarell 16 H Kanitkar batting 04.
Extras: (b 2, w 1, nb 1) 04
Total: (for 2 wickets in 11 overs) 64
Fall of wickets: 1/30, 2/54
Bowling: Ian Bishop 5-30-0, Carl Tuckett 4-0-22-0 McGarell 1-0-6-1, Christopher Gayle 1-0-4-0.

Taminder Pal, Amarjit best athletes
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 — Shri Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Mahilpur, with 51 points and Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, with 59 points clinched the men's and women's titles, respectively, on the concluding day of the Panjab University Inter-College Athletics Championship at the PU campus here today.

In the men's section, GNN College Doraha got the second position while GGS DAV Centenary College, Jalalabad and SGGS College, Chandigarh finished third and fourth respectively.

In the women's section Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, GGS College for Women and MCM DAV College for Women secured the second, third and fourth positions respectively.

Taminder Pal Singh of SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur was declared the best athlete among boys while Amarjit Kaur of Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana, was adjudged the best athlete among girls.

Baljit Singh of Government College, Hoshiarpur today broke the 400 metres record by clocking 48.6 seconds. The earlier record stood in the name of Daya Singh of the same college who clocked 48.9 seconds in 1979.

Col. Raminder Singh, Director Sports, Punjab gave away the prizes.

Results-Men: Javelin throw:- Davinder Singh (DAV Jalalabad) 1, Dist. 56.18 Mt. Inderpreet Singh (DAV, Chd) 2.

10000 Mt:- Balwinder Singh (SGGS Kh. Mahilpur) 1, Time: 31:51.8 Sec. Puran Chand (GGS DAV, Jalbd) 2.

110 Mt hurdles:- Gurpreet Singh (GNNC Doraha) 1, Time 15.0 Sec. Taminder Pal Singh (SGGS Kh Mahilpur) 2.

High Jump:- Surjit Singh (GNNC Doraha) 1, Dist. 1.88 Mt Raminder Singh (GNNCD 2. Shot Put:- Navpreet Singh (GNNC Doraha) 1, Dist. 16.96 Mt Gurpeet Singh (DAVC Chd) 2.

100 Mt:- Aaya Singh (GC Ldh) 1, Time 11.1 Sec. Sandeep Singh (DAVC Chd) 2. 400 Mt:- Baljit Singh (GC Hpr) 1, Time 48.6 Sec (New Record). Rajinder Singh (DAV Jlbd) 2. 1500 Mt:- Rashpal Singh (SGGS Mahilpur) 1, Time 4.13 Sec. Vipan Kumar (SGGSC Chd) 2.

Women: 100 Mt:- Manjinder Kaur (KCW Ldh) 1. Time 12.5 Sec. Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh) 2.

Discus throw: Gurminder Kaur (PUC Chd) 1, Dist. 39.24 Mt, Hardeep Kaur (KCW, Ldh) 2.

400 Mt:- Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh) 1, Time 59.6 Sec. Raj Rani (Dev Samaj) College for Women, Fzpr) 2.

1500 Mt:- Jaswinder Kaur (GCG-42) 1, Time 4.52 Sec. Amarjit Kaur Ramgarhia GC Ldh) 2.

Punjabi varsity go down fighting
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Dec 6 — Punjabi University exhibited splendid hockey, yet were a bit unfortunate to go down 11-12, via the tie breaker, against Nehru Youth Centre (NYC) Bhopal while AOC Secunderabad had the better of ONGC, Dehra Dun, beating them 4-1 on the opening day of the 23rd All-India Liberals Hockey Tournament at the Ripudaman College grounds at Nabha, near here, today.

After a barren first half, NYC scored for the Bhopal team with a goal flicked in from an acute angle by Asad Kamal. Punjabi University equalised in the last minute of the regulation period when Deepak Kumar collected a stray ball to weave his way past two defenders before putting the ball in the net with a deft placement.

In the tie-breaker NYC, Bhopal clinched the issue by converting all their strokes while the university lads missed a stroke giving NYC, Bhopal a 12-11 verdict.

In the second match between AOC, Secundrabad, and ONGC, Dehra Dun, the latter opened the scoring after centre-forward Ravinder Singh sounded the board with a stinging shot. After this the Dehra Dun team tended to relax with the result that the Army men from Secunderabad pumped in two goals through Kandulana and Bopanna. AOC Secunderabad moved into the next round with a 2-1 win over ONGC Dehra Dun.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by the Commissioner, Patiala Division, Mr RPS Pawar.

RCGC register thumping win
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Dec 6 — The Royal Calcutta Golf, Club with a total team score of 430.8 scored a thumping victory today at the end of the two-day national finals of the Jonnie Walker International Club Championship played at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Calcutta. The club has emerged winners of the national finals of JWICC consecutively for the third time.

The Bangalore Golf Club were the runners-up with a two-day total team score of 453.8.

The highlight of today's game was an amazing performance by Sudip Chitlangia of the RCGC. Sudip played a superb 5 under par gross 67. He went out with a score of 33 that included three birdies and came in with a score of 34 with one bogey and three birdies.

Results: Royal Calcutta Golf Club (430.8). Bangalore Golf Club (453-8). Fort William Golf Club (454.6). Narmada Golf Linds (457.2). Bombay Presidency GC (458.4). Chandigarh Golf Club (461.2). Army GC (Delhi) (461.6) JC Wadiyar Golf Club (454.8).

Kalaswala Golf Cup for YPS

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 (TNS) — Y.P.S. Mohali, showed their supremacy in the golf tournament for old boys of public schools when they clinched the Kalaswala Golf Cup at the Chandigarh Golf Club here today.

The winning team comprising Sandy Lehal, Amandeep Bhaika, Jaspreet Bhaika and A.P.S. Khar triumphed in the tournament played on the stableford basis, four players representing each school.

Girish Virk, I.P.S. Mann, Savrah Dhillon and Jagdeep Singh comprising the St John's team finished runners-up with Lawrence School, Sanawar, occupying the third place. The Sanawar team comprised U.S. Grewal, Ravipreet Singh Sidhu, Sheena Sekhon and S.S. Punia.

The longest drive prize was bagged by Brig Jagjit Singh among men and Mrs Sheena Sekhon among ladies.

The nearest to the pin award went to H.S. Guron and the individual title was bagged by Jaspreet Bhaika. The runner-up was Dimple Minocha.

UT boxers corner glory

CHANDIGARH, Dec. 6 (TNS) — Chandigarh boxers won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal as the team secured the overall third position in the 31st National Junior Boxing Championship held at Dimapur (Nagaland) from November 30 to December 4, according to Mr C K Jerath, Secretary of the Chandigarh Amateur Boxing Association.

Shakti Singh won a gold medal in light heavy weight category, Aman Awasty — and Kuldeep Singh annexed silver medals in Super heavy weight and heavy weight categories, respectively, while Surinder Kumar did well and clinched bronze in light weight section.

Twelve-member Chandigarh team participated in the championship organised by Nagaland Amateur Boxing Association.

Rajeev, Pranab win

CHANDIGARH, Dec 6 (BOSR) — Rajeev and Pranab Jain scored victories over their respective rivals Aman Kashyap and Vishal Gupta on the third day of the 16th Chandigarh Senior State Billiards and Snooker Championship being played here at the Sector 22 centre.

Results:
Shiv Pal Singh Chaudhary b VK Sachdeva 3-0 (48-33, 48-38, 56-30). Rajeev Bhardwaj b Aman Kashyap 3-1 (60-10, 59-34, 50-57, 72-39). Shiven Chaudhary b Judge Bali 3-1 (53-39, 47-59, 44-37, 58-55). Pranab Jain b Vishal Gupta 3-1(45-33, 57-31, 39-24, 48-43). Kamal Kant b AD Singh 3-0 (106-30, 67-46, 81-15). Ajay Chandel b Romi Sekhon 3-0 (49-3, 62-6, 72-14).

In billiards, Ashok Sharma downed Manav Dhawan at 355-271 and Ashu Duggal got the better of Pradeep Kinger at 395-302.