Services crawl to 313 for 8 NEW DELHI, Dec 27 — C D Thomson made a slow, unbeaten 58 as Services crawled to 313 for eight wickets in their first innings at close on the severely truncated second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy cricket tie against Haryana at the Harbaksh Stadium today.

Harsh Mankat falls at last hurdle
MUMBAI, Dec 27 — Local lad Harsh Mankad failed to cross the last hurdle when he was defeated by Kobi Ziv of Israel 6-1 6-1 in the final qualifying round in just 51 minutes in the men’s singles of the $ 50,000 prize money ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

Prabhsimran routs Mandeep for title
LUDHIANA, Dec 27 — Prabhsimran Kaur of local Guru Nanak Public School outplayed Mandeep Aulakh of Hindi Putri Pathshala, Khanna, 11-9 11-2 to win the title in the girls (u-13) section of the Sunanda Bhanot Memorial Ludhiana District Badminton Championship here today.

J and K defeat Punjab
VIJAYAWADA, Dec 27 — Defending champions Services started their campaign on a bright note, defeating Bihar 29-23 in a quarter-final league match on the fourth-day of the 27th Men's Senior National Handball Championship here today.

BSF hold PSB Academy
NEW DELHI, Dec 27 — Trailing 0-2 till the 51st minute, BSF staged a fine rally to hold Punjab and Sind Bank Academy to a 2-2 draw to top the pool-II in the 19th Servo Sanjay Gandhi Hockey Tournament here today.

Jr athletic meet results
PATIALA, Dec 27 — Praneet Randhawa won the 100 metres event for girls while in the 100 metres sprint for boys the spotlight was on Deepinder Singh who stood first in the Patiala district athletic meet for juniors which concluded at the polo grounds here today.

RCF lift soccer trophy
FATEHGARH SAHIB, Dec 27 — The defending champion R.C.F. Kapurthala lifted the Baba Zorawar Singh Baba Fateh Singh Memorial Saheedi Football trophy by defeating BSF Jalandhar by 1-0 in the final played at Mata Gujri College Stadium here today.

Sasikiran triumphs; Neelotpal held
JALANDHAR, Dec 27 — The 3rd day of the 28th National Junior Chess Championship proved to be a day of upsets.

Kurukshetra, Sonepat score big wins
AGROHA (Hisar), Dec 27 — Kurukshetra stormed into the semi Final of the 17th Haryana State Women's Hockey Championship here today.

Haryana, Chandigarh in last eight
CHINSURAH (WB), Dec 27 — Haryana, Chandigarh and Karnataka registered wins to sail into the men’s quarterfinal of the 47th Senior National Volleyball Championships here today.

New Zealand tail-enders frustrate India

WELLINGTON, Dec 27 (PTI) — Indian bowlers once again failed to wipe out the tail after fighting back to regain initiative as New Zealand built an 82-run first innings lead with three wickets in hand at close on the second day of the second Test at the Basin Reserve here.

Dismissed for a modest 208 yesterday, India led by leg spinner Anil Kumble forced their way in the post-lunch session to leave the Kiwis at 209 for seven at tea-break. But their inability to drive home the advantage was exposed as Dion Nash and Daniel Vettori posted an unbeaten 82-run eighth wicket stand to pull their team to 290 for seven at stumps.

Nash, unbeaten on 56, and Vettori, batting on 35, built up what could emerge a very crucial stand to give New Zealand the upperhand after the hosts had resumed at 52 for one.

India, needing to effect early breakthrough on a wicket which is showing all signs of assisting spin, began well by removing both overnight batsmen Matt Horne and skipper Stephen Fleming to leave the hosts at 132 for three at lunch.

Kumble, who was the most impressive and returned three for 67, alongwith the fiery Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad captured four wickets after lunch to raise strong visions of India making up for their poor batting but looked a tired lot in the final session to let their rivals move towards their target of posting a lead of around 120 runs.

Left-hander Fleming was the first to go, run out to a fine pick and throw by Ajay Jadeja as the Kiwi skipper went for a second run on playing Srinath to the onside. His 42 came off 96 balls and contained four boundaries.

Kumble then dismissed Horne (38 - 129 b, 4 x 4) by deceiving to bowl him off-stump with a googly as the batsman played back after the opener had survived two difficult chances when Rahul Dravid at slips just failed to reach a snick and Jadeja could not reach an uppish hook.

Horne occupied the crease for 190 minutes which sapped the energy of the limited Indian attack.

On resumption, Srinath greeted the Kiwi batsmen with a hostile spell. The lanky pacemen even bowled Nathan Astle, then on 24, off an inside edge only to find it was off a no ball. He rattled the batsmen with bouncers, striking Craig McMillan on the helmet grille and then Parore on his shoulder.

He was finally rewarded after Saurav Ganguly’s delayed response to a chance at forward shortleg by McMillan saw the fielder replaced by Rahul Dravid. Dravid came up with a fine catch off the very next ball to remove McMillan (24).

After Srinath’s nine-over spell (1 for 27), Prasad and Kumble returned and were rewarded with two quick wickets, Kumble trapped Adam Parore (2) leg before and Chris Cairns (3) fell playing Prasad uppishly to Sachin Tendulkar at mid off.

Kumble then took the most important wicket from the far end when he bowled the well-entrenched Nathan Astle (56-137 b, 6 x 4, 1 x 6) after he had celebrated his fifty by carting off-spinner Harbhajn Singh over long off for a six.

Both Nash and Vettori confidently took on a tiring Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, still struggling with his rhythm. Once Vettori smashed the teenager for two fours, Azhar went in for the second new ball at 233 which did not yield any reward.

Nash and Vettori gained confidence against an overworked Srinath and a totally exhausted Prasad. Srinath made a decent attempt despite failing stamina but Prasad looked totally out of breath and had to be replaced by Ganguly.

The eighth wicket pair worked up the third 50-run stand of the innings off just 95 balls in exactly an hour. By close, Nash had equalled his career-best 56 even as India pondered a difficult road ahead.

India had a problem in the slip cordon today because the usual first slip, Tendulkar, was nursing an injury in his right little finger and to protect it from further damage.

Indian options, going in with four bowlers, was also restricted. Added to it, Harbhajan Singh failed to inspire much confidence in his skipper.

"We are there, almost there," said an elated Steve Rixon, the Aussie coach of the Kiwi side. "We were looking at a lead of 100-120 runs at the start of the day," he said.

He praised the Indian attack but put it in perspective. ‘It was a magnificent effort by the bowlers in a way. Srinath and Kumble were outstanding and considering it was largely a three-bowler attack, they couldn't have done better.’

Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad was frustrated at the inability to polish off the tail. ‘We had the game in our grip, but we gave away quite a few runs in the end,’ he said but supported Azhar’s decision to take the second new ball.

Gaekwad pinned hopes on a better performance by Indian batsmen in the second innings and felt the pitch taking turn should work in India’s advantage with three days left.

Scoreboard
India (1st innings) 208
New Zealand (1st innings)

Bell c Mongia b Prasad 4

Horne b Kumble 38

Fleming run out (Jadeja) 42

Astle b Kumble 56

McMillan c Dravid b Srinath 24

Parore lbw Kumble 2

Cairns c Tendulkar b Prasad 3

Nash batting 56

Vettori batting 35

Extras (lb-17, b-8, nb-5) 30

Total (for 7 wickets in 112 overs) 290

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-79, 3-112, 4-162, 5-172, 6-179, 7-208.

Bowling: Srinath 30-4-81-1, Prasad 23-6-57-2, Kumble 37-14-67-3, Harbhajan Singh 16-3-47-0, Ganguly 6-0-13-0.

Australia to resist life bans

MELBOURNE, Dec 27 (AP) — Australia will resist calls for life bans on Test stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh when cricket’s governing body meets next month to discuss gambling in the sport.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood was today reported as saying that Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka would lobby the International Cricket Council (ICC) at its meeting in New Zealand to slap life bans on Warne and Waugh.

The Australian pair apologised earlier this month for providing pitch and weather information to an illegal Indian bookmaker while on tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

The duo were fined by the Australian Cricket Board in February 1995 in action kept secret until early December.

The bookmaker scandal and the impact of gambling on cricket is on the agenda of the ICC meeting on January 10 and 11 in Christchurch.

Mahmood said ICC member nations from the subcontinent were set to turn up the heat over Waugh and Warne.

"The subcontinent was unanimous that the guilty players should be banned for life when we met at New Delhi 10 days ago,’’ Mahmood said.

At least three countries (Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka) will be pressing the ICC to step in, investigate the charges and clamp life bans on those found guilty.’’

Any ban would have to be approved by a majority of the nine ICC executive board members with Australia certain to resist.

ACB chairman Denis Rogers and chief executive officer Malcolm Speed could not be contacted today but both have said the board considers the Waugh and Warne controversy closed.

They have declined to supply documents relating to the ACB’s investigation in 1994-95 into Waugh and Warne to a Pakistan judicial inquiry into match fixing.

Two days before the ICC meeting, Waugh and Warne will give testimony before the Pakistan inquiry sitting here.

PCB legal adviser Ali Sibtain Fazli and Lahore High Court registrar Abdus Salam Khawar will travel to Australia to hear the testimony because Waugh and Warne were reluctant to travel to Pakistan, and attempts to set up a live video link failed.

Waugh, Warne and former Test spinner Tim May have accused former Pakistan captain Salim Malik of offering them bribes to play poorly during Australia’s tour of Pakistan in 1994, which followed the Sri Lankan tour.

Rhodes resists rampant Rose

DURBAN, Dec 27 (Reuters) — Jonty Rhodes stroked an unbeaten 85 to give South Africa the edge over West Indies in the face of inspired fast bowling by Franklyn Rose in the third Test today.

Rose captured a Test career-best of six for 75 as South Africa scored 292 for eight in reply to West Indies’ first innings of 198 before bad light ended play 13.4 overs early on the second day.

Rhodes, timing and placing the ball beautifully in his 123-ball innings containing eight fours and two sixes, was the dominant figure in a South African fightback after they were reduced to 80 for three during the morning session.

Daryll Cullinan (40) and captain Hansie Cronje (30) launched the recovery which was sustained by Rhodes and Shaun Pollock (30) in a sixth wicket partnership of 80.

West Indies, already trailing 2-0 in the five-Test series, needed to make early inroads when South Africa resumed at the overnight 46 without loss.

Rose did the perfect job with a spell of 11-2-30-3 in which he dismissed Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis as the home country declined from 57 for no wicket to 80 for three.

South Africa suffered their first loss in the fourth over when Gibbs clipped a ball off his toes which flew to Philo Wallace at wide mid-on. Gibbs played solidly for his 35 in 80 minutes off 58 balls.

Kirsten edged a bouncing delivery to Carl Hooper at second slip to be out for 26, then two overs after that Kallis played an expansive drive and was caught behind by Ridley Jacobs for 11.

Cullinan and Cronje put on 60 for the fourth wicket before the South African skipper failed to move his feet to a delivery from Courtney Walsh that cut back to bowl him between bat and pad.

West Indies (1st innings) : 198
South Africa (1st innings) :

Kirsten c Hooper b Rose 26

Gibbs c Wallace b Rose 35

Kallis c Jacobs b Rose 11

Cullinan run out 40

Cronje b Walsh 30

Rhodes batting 85

Pollock c Hooper b Rose 30 Boucher b Rose 0

Symcox b Rose 12

Donald batting 1

Extras (b-4, lb-5, w-1, nb-12) 22 Total (8 wkts, 93.2 overs) 292

Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-79, 3-80, 4-140, 5-182, 6-262, 7-262, 8-284.

Bowling: Ambrose 17-1-60-0, Walsh 27-6-60-1, Rose 25.2-6-75-6, Lewis 20-2-70-0, Hooper 4-0-18-0.

Stewart’s century props up England

MELBOURNE, Dec 27 (AFP) — England threw away the foundation of Alec Stewart’s breakthrough century to once again play second fiddle to Australia in the fourth Ashes cricket Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here today.

Captain courageous Stewart exercised his Down Under demons with a fighting knock of 107, his first hundred in 12 Tests against the Ashes foes, but a customary batting collapse undermined England’s position.

Mirroring familiar shudders elsewhere in the series, the tourists slumped from 200 for four to be all out for 270 and at the close of the bitterly cold extended second day’s play after boxing day had been washed out, Australia were 59 for two.

When bad light stopped play at 6:13 p.m. (1243 IST) and with still nine overs to bowl, Justin Langer was not out 26 with Mark Waugh on 12.

Stewart, relishing his new role as opener and relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves to debutant Warren Hegg almost bettered all of the 112 runs he had accumulated in six previous innings of the series.

Stewart persevered for 212 minutes and hit 16 fours in surpassing his previous highest score of 91 against Australia in the third Sydney Test of the 1990-91 tour.

But once Stewart and Mark Ramprakash (63), with whom he put on 119 runs for the fourth wicket, threw away their wicket to false strokes, England’s brittle tail was again exposed.

Graeme Hick provided some hope of a revival in lifting legspinner Stuart MacGill for a huge six over mid-wicket, but was tempted into another big hit off MacGill and was caught by Damien Fleming at deep mid-on for 39.

MacGill mopped up the wickets of Darren Gough (11) and Alan Mullally - for his fifth duck of the series - in the 76th over of the innings - to finish with 4-61 off 19 overs.

England had a disastrous start with pace spearhead Glenn McGrath removing Michael Atherton and Mark Butcher for ducks and have the tourists tottering at four for two.

McGrath finished with 3-64 for 197 wicket in his 44th Test.

Debutant Matthew Nicholson, who conceded 26 runs off his first three overs, captured his first Test wicket when Nasser Hussain edged a leg-cutter to Healy to be out for 19 and leave England at 81 for three. It was Healy’s 350th Test catch.

Atherton lasted five balls before his tormentor McGrath got an edge as he played forward to be snapped up by wicketkeeper Ian Healy for a duck.

It was the 13th time in Tests that McGrath had claimed Atherton’s wicket and the fourth of this series.

Butcher, dropped down the order to accommodate Stewart’s elevation to opener, got an edge and Justin Langer at short leg flung himself to his right to take a spectacular diving catch to dismiss Butcher for a duck, the 24th overall in the series.

Australia had to face 28 overs to complete the marathon seven-hour day to make up for yesterday’s washout and Darren Gough gave England early heart with the wickets of openers Michael Slater and Mark Taylor.

He trapped Slater lbw for one in his third over and waited on bended knee for an interminable time for West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor to raise his finger in confirmation.

England’s key bowler then got Taylor on seven to edge to Hick at second slip and have the Australians 26 for two.

Wholehearted Gough’s opening spell was 2-15 off seven overs with five maidens.

Scoreboard
England (1st innings):

Atherton c Healy b McGrath 0

Stewart b MacGill 107

Butcher c Langer b McGrath 0

Hussain c Healy b Nicholson 19

Ramprakash c McGrath b S Waugh 63

Hick c Fleming b MacGill 39

Hegg c Healy b S Waugh 3

Headley c Taylor b McGrath 14

Gough b McGill 11

Fraser not out 0

Mullally lbw b MacGill 0

Extras (lb-7, nb-6, w-1) 14

Total (all out, 76 overs) 270

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-81, 4-200, 5-202, 6-206, 7-244, 8-266, 9-270.

Bowling: McGrath 22-5-64-3, Fleming 19-3-71-0, Nicholson 10-0-59-1, MacGill 19-2-61-4, S Waugh 6-2-8-2.

Australia (1st innings):

Taylor c Hick b Gough 7

Slater lbw b Gough 1

Langer batting 26

M Waugh batting 12

Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-4) 13

Total (for 2 wkts, 18 overs) 59

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-26.

Bowling: Gough 7-5-15-2, Headley 7-1-18-0, Mullally 3-1-12-0, Ramprakash 1-0-5-0.

Govt to establish sports university

INDORE, Dec 27 (UNI) — Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Uma Bharti yesterday announced that the government was planning to establish a sports university and a sports development fund to check political interference in the field of sports in the country.

Inaugurating the 34th national kho-kho championship here, she said the government would try to restart conferring of Arjun Award for the kho- kho event.

Assuring that the government would check under which consideration or regulation kho-kho players were being deprived from the award, Ms Bharti said if there was any regulation it would be made flexible.

She said efforts would be made to accord an international status to kho-kho as in its absence the government could not be able to provide sufficient help and facilities to the sport.

Maintaining that there was no dearth of talented players in the country, Ms Bharti said, even a Sports Minister could not interfere in the selection of the Indian team due to the presence of various sports federations and the Indian sports authority.

Ms Bharti claimed that Dingko Singh, the gold medal winner in the recent Asiad Games, was inducted in the national team only after her intervention.

Ms Sumitra Mahajan, MP and president of the organisation committee, informed that women's and men's teams from 27 states were participating in the national kho-kho event.

Thrilling 323 by Devang Gandhi

GUWAHATI, Dec 27 (UNI) — Riding on a magnificent triple century by Devang Gandhi (323), Bengal is all set to humble hosts Assam in a big way in their Ranji trophy match being played here.

Devang not only became the sole scorer of a triple century in the domestic season this year but also turned out to be the highest individual scorer in an innings in the Eastern zone.

His epic innings lasted for more than ten hours as he slammed Assam bowlers all over the ground. He along with overnight batsman Ajoy Das picked up 266 runs this morning in just a 200 minutes.

Visitors declared their innings immediately after Ajay Das also completed his century (102) and took a mammoth 460- run lead. The duo added 246 runs for the fifth wicket.

Almost certain to lose the match, Assam began solidly putting up 72 runs for the first wicket but then within a span of three overs and five runs, five wickets fell.

Rajesh Bora and Sangram Swant then put up a brave performance to stop the procession as the host ended the day at 150 for five, still 310 runs behind to avoid an innings defeat.

Earlier, resuming at overnight score of 362 for five, both the Bengal batsmen made their intention clear going after Assam bowlers.

So confident both the batsmen were that Devang added another hundred runs even before the lunch.

Immediately after lunch he eclipsed Arun Lal’s 287 scored against Rajasthan at Eden Gardens in 1984-85. Till now it was the highest score from a Bengal player. But Devang was in no mood to give in and slammed three consecutive sixes to jump from 285 to 303 and added another 20 runs before giving a simple catch to Rajinder off Rajesh Bora.

Devang scored 539 runs in his previous two innings of Ranji Trophy. He scored 216 against Bihar at Eden Gardens and then missed a match against Orissa as he was picked up for India ‘A’.

Bengal eves to clash with Assam in final
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Dec 27 — Last year champion Bengal will clash with Assam in the girls team championship final of the 60th Junior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships being held at Raizada Hans Raj Stadium, here. Petroleum Sports Control Board Academy and Bengal set up the title clash in boys team championship final.

In the boys team championship favourites PSCB Academy won the semifinals tie defeating Maharashtra 'A' 3-1. Subajit Saha was the star of PSCB 'A' s victory. He varied his service to set up smashes and baffled Aditya. In the fourth match also Saha wasted no time against Eric Fernandes winning 21-17, 21-16.

Bengal started with a bang when their star performer Subhajit Saha outwitted national school game champion Manish Bhardwaj (PB) 8-21, 21-14, 21-14. Shubam trounced Bakul in two state games 21-19, 21-18. In the third match it was left to Ranabir Das to clinch the tie in his teams favour when he crushed Disney 21-15, 21-16.

The main draw of the open individual events will start on Monday.

The following are the results:

Girls team championship (quarterfinals):

Assam beat Punjab 3-1: Mrigakhi Borodui lost to Shikha Ghai 13-21, 15-21. Jonali Handique beat Shelly Dhawan 21-14, 21-14. Sanjukta Godoi b Parminder Kaur 21-16, 21-18. Jonali Handique b Shikha Ghai 21-12, 21-16.

Bengal beat Tamil Nadu 3-0: Mouma Das b K. Ramaya 21-16, 21-12. P. Ghatak b J. Swetha 21-10, 21-9. S. Roy b M. Aparna 21-2, 21-17.

Maharashtra (B) beat Karnataka 3-1: Amrutu Joshi b B.M. Ashwin 18-21, 21-19, 21-12. Mamta Prabhu b Sumul C Paul 22-20, 8-21, 21-14. Deepaki Janvi lost to K.S. Maduri 19-21, 14-21. Mamta Prabhu b B.M. Ashwin 21-11, 21-14.

Maharashtra (A) beat PSCB Academy 3-1: Mallika Parekh b Runjata Rege 21-16, 21-8. Chandni Asav lost to Bishaka Bijay 21-18, 16-21, 18-21. Sherry Crawford b Neetu Ramesh 21-12, 23-21. Mallika Parekh b Bishaka Bijay 14-21, 21-15, 21-14.

Girls (Semifinals) Bengal beat Maharashtra 'A' 3-0: Poloumi Ghatak b Mallika Parekh 21-11, 21-15. Mouma Das beat J. Despande 21-18, 21-11. Susmita Roy b Sherry Crawford 21-10, 21-14.

Assam b Maharashtra 'B' 3-2: Jonali Handique b Deepali Jhaveri 21-10, 21-17. Mrigayakhe Bordnoi lost to Mamta Prabhu 13-21, 14-21. Sanjukta Gogoi b Amrita Joshi 21-12, 21-13. Jonali Handique lost to Mamta Prabhu 21-13, 13-21. Mrigayakyee Bordnoi b Deepali Jhaveri 21-11, 13-21, 21-13.

(Boys' team championship (semi-final)

Bengal beat Punjab 3-0: Subhajit Saha b Manish Bhardwaj 8-21, 21-14, 21-14. Subham b Bakul 21-19, 21-18. Ranabir Das b Disney 21-15, 21-16.

PSCB Academy beat Maharashtra (A) 3-1: Anal Kashyap lost to Eric Fernandes 18-21, 7-21. Subhajit Saha beat Aditya Mahagankar 21-18, 21-7. Soumyadeep Roy b Ankur Mahajan 21-14, 21-17. Subhajit Saha b Eric Fernandes 21-17, 21-16.

Services crawl to 313 for 8

NEW DELHI, Dec 27 (PTI) — C D Thomson made a slow, unbeaten 58 as Services crawled to 313 for eight wickets in their first innings at close on the severely truncated second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy cricket tie against Haryana at the Harbaksh Stadium today.

Thick fog ruled out any play in the morning session and Services, resuming at their overnight 201 for 5, added just 112 runs losing three more wickets in two sessions of play.

Thomson and J P Pandey (20 batting) had added 42 runs for the eighth wicket when play was halted 20 minutes beyond scheduled close due to enveloping haze and poor light.

Thomson, 29 overnight, continued sedately as Services, needing to win this final tie for a superleague spot at Haryana’s expense, showed no enterprise.

Haryana bowlers struck with the second new ball as Vineet Jain had Amit Nadkarni caught by Jitender Singh at first slip for 43 (7 x 4) and fellow paceman Parinder Sharma removed Sanjay Sirsat (12) before off-spinner Pankaj Thakur trapped Syed Javed (16) leg before to make it 271 for 8.

But Pandey and Thomson took the score past the 300-run mark. Thomson was dropped by Shafiq Khan at silly point playing forward to left-arm spinner Pradeep Jain while Pandey was caught off a no ball from Vineet Jain.

Vineet Jain sent down many short pitched stuff and was guilty of bowling 16 no balls.

Scoreboard
Services (Ist innings): (overnight 201 for 5)

Narender c Jitender b Parinder 9

Sarabjit c Jitender b Sanjay 65

Pankaj b Vineet 5

Sanjay c Nitin Goel b Pradeep 29

Chinmaya c Vijay Yadav b Pradeep 16

Thomson batting 58

Amit c Jitender b Vineet 43

Sanjay c Rajesh b Parinder 12

Syed Javed lbw b Pankaj 16

Pandey Batting 20

Extras: (b 14, lb15, nb 21) 40

Total (for eight wkts in 123.2 overs 313

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-55, 3-119, 4-124, 5-140, 6-222, 7-242, 8-271.

Bowling: Vineet Jain 25.2-4-87-2, Parinder Sharma 26-14-42,2; Pankaj Thakur 30-6-78-1, Pradeep Jain 33-14-67-2, Sanjay Dalal 9-1-20-1.

Harsh Mankat falls at last hurdle

MUMBAI, Dec 27 (PTI) — Local lad Harsh Mankad failed to cross the last hurdle when he was defeated by Kobi Ziv of Israel 6-1 6-1 in the final qualifying round in just 51 minutes in the men’s singles of the $ 50,000 prize money ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

The others who made it to the main draw were Frenchmen Sebestian Dechaunac and Olovere Mutis and American Mashika Washington, the younger brother of US Davis Cup star Maliva Washington.

Mashika rallied from the brink to down plucky Pakistani Ahsan Qureshi 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour 42 minutes while Sebestian Dechaunac needed one hour two minutes to pack-off Arvind Parmar, a Briton of Indian origin, 6-4, 6-3.

Olivere Mutis took just 55 minutes to sideline his countryman Lavergne Regis 6-2, 6-3 to book the last qualifying berth.

The results (men’s singles) final qualifying round: Kobi Ziv (Isr) b Harsh Mankad (Ind) 6-1, 6-1, Mashika Washington (USA) b Aisan Qureshi (Pak) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, Sebestian Dechaunac (Fra) b Arvind Parmar (Gbr) 6-4, 6-3, Olivere Mutis (Fra) b Lavergne Regis (Fra) 6-2, 6-3.

Prabhsimran routs Mandeep for title
From Our Sports Reporter

LUDHIANA, Dec 27 — Prabhsimran Kaur of local Guru Nanak Public School outplayed Mandeep Aulakh of Hindi Putri Pathshala, Khanna, 11-9 11-2 to win the title in the girls (u-13) section of the Sunanda Bhanot Memorial Ludhiana District Badminton Championship here today.

In the girls (u-16) category Prerna Sood, a student of Kundan Vidya Mandir, Ludhiana, quelled stiff challenge from Harneet Kaur of local Government College 10-15, 15-7, 15-2 to enter the final. In the second semi-final, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana student Balreet Kaur registered a comfortable win over Kamaljeet Kaur of Khalsa College for Women 11-9, 11-3.

In the doubles, Prerna pairing with Balreet outwitted Sukhpreet and R. Ratti 15-0, 15-1 to move into the final. In the final they will take on Harneet and Kamaljeet who defeated Mandeep and Balpreet 15-3, 15-4. The duo of Nazma and Balreet got better of Kamaljit and Prerna 15-4, 15-4 to enter the final in the junior girls section while the pair of Anu and Paramjit outclassed Rupinder and Parminder 15-5, 15-7.

Girls singles (u-13) final: Prabhsimran b Mandeep Aulakh 11-9 11-2. (girls singles-u-16) (semis) Prerna Sood b Harneet Kaur 10-15 15-7 15-2. Balreet Kaur b Kamaljeet Kaur 11-9 11-3.

Girls doubles-u-16 (semis): Prerna and Balreet b Sukhpreet and R. Ratti 15-0 15-1 Harneet and Kamaljeet b Mandeep and Manpreet 15-3 15-4.

Junior girls singles (semis): Nazma b Paramjit 11-3 11-0. Anu Vij b Balreet 13-10, 11-7.

Junior girls doubles (semis): Nazma and Balreet b Kamaljit and Prerna 15-4 15-4 Anu and Paramjit b Rupinder and Parminder 15-5 15-7.

Boys singles-u-16 (q-finals): Sumit Salaria b Anuj Dhand 15-4 15-13. Bhuvan Dhanda b Ramnik Sharma 15-11 15-10. Abhishek b Gaurav Dhand 15-9 15-6. Ankur Munjal b Dinesh Gupta 15-3 15-10.

Boys doubles (u-16) (semis): Sumit Salaria and Abhishek b Kapil Gupta and Dinesh 15-13 15-11 Ramnik Sharma and Anuj Dhand b Ankur Munjal and Bhuvan 15-4 15-11.

Men's singles (q-finals): Sunil Sekhri b Ranbir Singh 15-3 15-9, Dilpreet Singh b Deepak Ramdev 12-15 15-13 15-5. Tajinder Singh b Ankit Dhir 15-6 15-11. Amandeep Sekhri b Ramandeep Singh 15-9 15-10.

Mixed doubles: Ankit Dhir and Nazma b Amandeep and Kamaljit 15-2 15-9 Tajinder Singh and Anu Vij b Dilpreet and Prerna 15-7 15-5.

J and K defeat Punjab

VIJAYAWADA, Dec 27 (PTI) — Defending champions Services started their campaign on a bright note, defeating Bihar 29-23 in a quarter-final league match on the fourth-day of the 27th Men's Senior National Handball Championship here today.

In another match, last year's runners-up Bhilai Steel Plant lost to Madhya Pradesh 6-13 in pool "A".

In their pool "A" match, Services Manoj Kumar scored six goals while A K Chauhan, Arunachalam and Raghuvir Singh scored five goals each. Inderjeet Singh and Jost scored six goals each for Bihar.

National Handball Academy (NHA) beat Maharashtra 35-33, Anil Kumar scored 10 goals for NHA while Rahul Chauhan scored 11 goals for Maharashtra.

In another match, Jammu and Kashmir beat Punjab 26-23.

Results: Services b Bihar 29-23, NHA b Maharashtra 35-33, Bhilai Steel Plant lost to Madhya Pradesh 6-13, Jammu and Kashmir b Punjab 26-23.

BSF hold PSB Academy

NEW DELHI, Dec 27 (UNI) — Trailing 0-2 till the 51st minute, BSF staged a fine rally to hold Punjab and Sind Bank Academy to a 2-2 draw to top the pool-II in the 19th Servo Sanjay Gandhi Hockey Tournament here today.

However, both the teams had already qualified for the semifinals from this pool.

In the semis tomorrow BSF will take on ASC while Western Railway faces PSB Academy.

Academy took the lead in the 13th minute through Ajit Pal Singh (1-0).They increased the lead 15 minutes later when Sharanjit Singh scored off a second penalty corner(2-0).

Academy boys held on to the two goal lead till the 51 minutes before Harbir Singh reduced the margin for BSF.

Two minutes later N.Kullu scored off the sixth penalty corner to draw parity for the BSF.

Jr athletic meet results
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Dec 27 — Praneet Randhawa won the 100 metres event for girls while in the 100 metres sprint for boys the spotlight was on Deepinder Singh who stood first in the Patiala district athletic meet for juniors which concluded at the polo grounds here today.

The other results:

800m (under-16) boys:

Gurwinder Singh Randhawa 1. Kulwinder Singh 2. Jagbir Singh 3.

800m (under-18) Boys: Gurmeet Singh 1. Dharminder Kumar 2. Chander Shekher 3.

800m (under-20) boys: Jasbir singh 1. Jaswinder Singh 2.

100m (u-16) Boys: Deepinder Singh 1. Prabhjot Singh 2. Harsimran 3.

100m (u-16) girls: Praneet Randhawa 1. Gagandeep Kaur 2.

100m (Under-18) boys: Bharat Sharma 1. Rajesh Kumar 2. Harpreet Singh 3.

100m (u-20) boys: Gurwinder Singh 1. Bant Singh 2.

100m (u-20) girls: Baljeet Kaur 1.

Shot put (u-16) boys: Jaspal Singh Sidhu 1. Harpreet Singh 2. Bhupinder Azad 3.

Shot put (u-18) boys: Jaspreet Singh 1. Avtar Singh 2. Gursewak Singh 3.

Shot put (u-20) boys: Jagjit Singh 1. Bant Singh 2. Rajinder Singh 3.

5000m (u-18) Gurmeet Singh 1. Tarseem Singh 2. Dharminder 3.

5000m (u-20) boys: Jasbir Singh 1. Chander Shekhar 2.

3000m (u-18) girls: Baljeet Kaur 1.

Javelin throw (u-16) boys: Jatinder Singh 1. Kulwinder Singh 2.

Javeline throw (u-18) boys: Daljeet Singh 1. Sher Singh 2.

Javeline throw (u-20) boys: Gursewak Singh 1.

Long jump (under-16) boys: Amandeep 1. Mahesh Kumar 2. Prabhjot 3.

(U-18) Harsimran: under 20): Bhupinder Azad 1.

Long jump (under-16) girls: Gagandeep Kaur 1. Inderjeet Sahota 2. Maninder Kaur 3 (under-18): Mandeep Jolly 1. Kiran 2. Amarjeet 3.

Under-20): Baljeet Kaur 1. Jasvir Kaur 2.

1500m (under-18) boys: Gurmeet Singh 1. Tarsem Singh 2. Gurtej Singh 3. 1500m (under-20): Jasbir Singh 1. Jaswinder Singh 2. Chander Shekhar 3.

Discuss Throw (under-18) boys: Jagjit Singh 1. Amarinder Singh 2. Jaspreet Singh 3.

Hammer Throw (u-18) boys: Amrinder Singh 1. Navpreet Singh 2. (under-20): Gurmukh Singh 1.

600m (u-14) boys: Kulwinder Singh 1. Jagbir Singh 2. Prabhjot 3.

600m (u-14) girls: Gagandeep Kaur 1. Sonia 2.

400m (u-16) boys: Gurwinder Singh 1. Devinderpal Singh 2.

400m (u-16) girls: Gagandeep Kaur 1. Inderjeet Sahota 2. Jasvir Kaur 3.

400m (u-18) boys: Gurmeet Singh 1. Deepinder Singh 2. Jaswinder Singh 3.

400m (u-18) girls: Baljeet Kaur 1. Baljeet Kaur 2. Kiran 3.

400m (u-20) boys: Bant Singh 1. Jasbir Singh 2. Kulwinder Singh 3.

RCF lift soccer trophy
From Our Correspondent

FATEHGARH SAHIB, Dec 27 — The defending champion R.C.F. Kapurthala lifted the Baba Zorawar Singh Baba Fateh Singh Memorial Saheedi Football trophy by defeating BSF Jalandhar by 1-0 in the final played at Mata Gujri College Stadium here today.

The final match was played on a very fast note. Both the teams restored to defensive play and were not taking risk. The play was mostly confined to the mid-field.

The all-important goal of the match was scored by Manmohan Singh of the RCF in 8th minute of the play following a beautiful pass given by Jaswinder Singh. After the goal the BSF players made some effective moves but they could not pierce the solid defence of RCF.

The second half of the game started on a fast note. The BSF players were looking determined to equalise. They made efforts but the RCF players made man-to-man markings and gave no scoring chance. Rather RCF men continued their attack and wasted two sure chances of scoring in the second half. In the dying minute of the game the goalkeepr of BSF saved a sure goal from a direct kick taken by RCF player and the tension was witnessed among the players in the dying minutes but RCF continued the pressure and won the match.

G.S. Tohra, president, SGPC, gave away the prizes to the winners. Sukhdev Singh Libra, MP, announced Rs 1 lakh donation for the club.

Haryana, Chandigarh in last eight

CHINSURAH (WB), Dec 27 (PTI) — Haryana, Chandigarh and Karnataka registered wins to sail into the men’s quarterfinal of the 47th Senior National Volleyball Championships here today.

The three thereby join defending champions Kerala, last year’s runner-up Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Manipur in the round of eight.

In the women’s section, Kerala brushed aside a feeble challenge from Bihar 15-0 15-5 15-2 in group D to move into the quarters.

In men’s group C, Haryana humbled Gujarat 15-13 6-15 15-4 15-6 in a group C clash, while Chandigarh took only 53 minutes to crush Pondicherry in straight sets 15-11 15-5 15-3.

Karnataka men stormed past Bengal 15-12 15-13 15-9 in group B, handing the hosts their fourth successive defeat in the championship.

Sasikiran triumphs; Neelotpal held
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Dec 27 — The 3rd day of the 28th National Junior Chess Championship proved to be a day of upsets.

S. Kutwal of Maharashtra, seeded 19th, held the second seed Neelotpal Dass to a draw in scillian Scandinavian opening. The national 'A' player Neelotpal, playing with white pieces, was in a slightly better position till 16th move where tempting move of e5 led him astray and on 29th move both players agreed on truce.

Rishipal Singh of Hyderabad playing English opening with reigning champion R. Karthik followed the book upto 9th move, whereon he played d4! and took initiative and advantage. On 24th move black sacrificed an exchange to get even but the Hyderabad player foxed the defending champion by sacrificing a piece on 27th move and gained a decisive advantage. Later he overlooked a simple winning line on 47th move allowing the defending champion off the hook for a draw.

National Sub-Junior champion Beenish Bhatia of Hyderabad adopted Pirc defence against lesser fancied Rahul of Bihar and won a piece early in the game but overlooked a fork by knight losing his queen and then the game.

K. Sasikiran smoothly came over the challenge of Dipanjan Dass of West Bengal who gave a pawn sacrifice on move 5 to disturb the pawn structure around the uncastled black king. On move 19th Dipanjan missed a good counter-play through Qh5 and instead opted for Rf2 and his position went on deteriorating. Sasikiran trapped Bengali players queen and forced him to resign in 28 moves.

Former under-10 World Champion P. Harikrishna of Andhra Pradesh was pitted against N. Pramod of Karnataka. He held the advantage in a King's Indian defence (four pawn attack) game but in his eagerness to mate overlooked squares protected by opponent's queen and blundered his rook and lost the game making it a major upset in the 3rd round.

At the end of the third round K. Sasikiran (Tamil Nadu); Tejas Bakre (Indian Airlines); S. Kidambi (Tamil Nadu); T. Karthikeyan (Tamil Nadu) N. Pramod (Karnataka); G. Vinod (Tamil Nadu); Rahul K. Shandilya (Bihar) were leading the tournament with three points while Vikas Sharma (Punjab); Vikramjit Singh (Manipur); D. Ravishankar (Maharashtra); Bidyut B. Handique (Assam); Updesh Sharma (Delhi); Neelotpal Dass (Goodricke Chess Academy); Satyapragyan (Orissa); Shashikant Kutwal (Maharashtra); V.R. Kamble (Maharashtra) and Rohan Shandilya (Bihar) were following the leaders with two and half points. Naveen Jain (Chandigarh); Bharat Gupta (Rajasthan); Arvinderpreet Singh (Punjab); K. Chakarborty (W.Bengal); Kartik Machandy (Goa); Beenish Bhatia (Hyderabad); Dipanjan Dass (West Bengal) were down the ladder with two points.

Today's results after 3rd round are:

K Sasikiran (3) b Dipanjan Dass (2); Neelotpal Dass (2.5) drew Sashikant Kutwal (2.5); Rishipal Singh (2.5) drew R. Karthik (2.5); Tejas Bakre (3) b Biswajit R. Chaudhary (2); S. Kidambi (3) b C.J. Arvind (2); T.V. Karthikeyan (3) b Abhey Karnatki (2); Satyapragyan (2.5) drew V.R. Kamble (2.5); N. Pramod (3) b P. Harikrishna (2); Vinod Gopal (3) b Wilson Cruz (2); Vikramjit Singh (2.5) b P. Veeraswamy (1.5); Vikas Sharma (2.5) b Ravi Khanna (1.5)

Kurukshetra, Sonepat score big wins
From Our Sports Reporter

AGROHA (Hisar), Dec 27 — Kurukshetra stormed into the semifinal of the 17th Haryana State Women's Hockey Championship here today.

In a one-sided match Kurukshetra stroked out Jind 6-0 after leading 5-0 at the breather.

Kiran Bala, right in, opened the account for Kurukshetra when she scored a goal immediately after the start of the match. This goal came in the first minute of the game. After two minutes she struck again. Right out Minakshi netted two goals in 8th and 14th minute of the game followed by fullback Suman Bala in the 15th minute.

The only goal in the second half came through the stick of Simaranjit Kaur in the 3rd minute. Jind girls tried their best but they failed to score any goal.

In another match of the day Narnaul outclassed Fatehabad 3-2 via tie-breaker as both the teams were level (1-1) in the allotted and even the extra time of 15 minute.

Fatehabad took the lead when centre forward Neeru scored a field goal. After 10 minute left winger Sharmili equalised by scoring a goal in the first half levelling the score 1-1.

In the penalty stroke Sammet and Shushma of Narnaul netted the goal while on behalf of Fatehabad Neeru scored one.

In another match of the day Sonepat routed host Hisar 10-0.

Sarbrinder stars in DAVC win

CHANDIGARH, Dec 27(TNS) — Sixteen-year-old Sarbrinder Singh, a plus-one student of D.A.V. College, created a stir on the Panjab University tennis courts when he knocked out the number one and two seeds of the campus to enable his team (DAV College) to defeat P.U. Campus 3-2 and clinch the Panjab University Inter-College Tennis Championship here today.

Fresh from his experience in the Islamabad Junior International and Calcutta Championship, Sarbrinder rallied to down Gagandeep Basu 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 and then got the better of J.P. Singh in the reverse singles 6-4, 7-6, 6-4.

The other singles player of the winning team Birbal lost the opening singles, but came back in the reverse singles to defeat J.P. Singh 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

At one stage the winners seemed to be fighting a losing battle trailing 1-2 after losing the doubles match. But the victory in the reverse singles gave then the 3-2 victory.

Sarbrinder has been adopted by the Punjab Sports Department and is working on special schedules for his future tournaments.

Bhajan Lal, Gurdip best athletes

KAPURTHALA, Dec 27 (FOC) — Bhajan Lal (Hoshiarpur) and Gurdip Kaur (Jalandhar) were adjudged the best athletes among men and women sections respectively in the 43rd Jalandhar range police athletic meet which concluded here today.

The overall trophy was bagged by Hoshiarpur district.

The final results are:

800 m (men): Baldev Raj (Jal) 1, Balraj Singh (Hpr) 2, Satnam Singh (K'thala) 3.

4x100 m relay (men): Hosh 1, Jal 2, and K'thala 3.

400 m hurdle (women): Sukhbir Kaur (Hpr) 1, Balbir Kaur (Jlr) 2, Gurdip Kaur (Jlr) 3.

Pole vault (men): Pritam Das (Jlr) 1, Sukchain Singh (Jlr) 2, Pritpal Singh (K'thala) 3.

200 m (women): Sukhbir Kaur (Hpr) 1, Balbir Kaur (Jlr) 2, Kulwinderjit Kaur (Jlr) 3.

Judo (women): Kulwinderjit Kaur (Jlr) 1, Satpal Kaur (K'thala) 2.

Javelin throw (women): Gurdip Kaur (Jlr) 1, Naresh (K'thala) 2, Kulwinderjit Kaur (Jlr) 3.

200 m (men): Pritpal Singh (K'thala) 1, Harbhajan Singh (Hpr) 2 and Balraj Singh (Hpr) 3.

5000 m (men): Bhajan Lal (Hpr) 1, Baldev Raj (Jlr) 2, Amrik (Jlr) 3.

Triple jump (men): Gurmukh Singh (Kpr) 1, Ripudaman Singh (Kpr) 2, Pritam Dass (Jlr) 3.

Hammer throw (men): Narinder Singh (Jlr) 1, Kamal Kumar (Jlr) 2, Navjot Singh (Hpr) 3.

Javelin throw (men): Navjot Singh (Hpr) 1, Kamal Kumar (Jlr) 2, Manjit Singh (Jlr) 3.

Inter-college badminton

SANGRUR, Dec 27 (FOC) — Government College, Malerkotla, won the Punjabi University Inter College Badminton Championships for men which concluded at Patiala. Malerkotla College dethroned holders Govt. Mohindra College, Patiala, 3-2 in a well contested final.