The Tribune...Sports

	S P O R T	Sunday, July 19, 1998
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Indian Airlines drub Punjab
CHENNAI, July 18 (PTI) — Indian Airlines, Mumbai, defeated Punjab 4-2 to virtually assure themselves a berth in the semifinals of the MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here today...

Holland tour to polish Dalmiya’s image?
Chandigarh, July 18 —There seems to be some substance in the controversy which has arisen over the selection of the India "A" cricket team which will tour Holland from July 26 to August 15 next. The team, to be led by Punjab's Vikram Rathore, was selected by the national selectors in New Delhi on July 11...

J&K to host Ranji tie
SRINAGAR, July 18 — After a gap of over a decade, Jammu & Kashmir will host a Ranji Trophy cricket tie in October...

Usha, Sikdar lead Indian challenge
FUKUOKA (Japan), July 18 (PTI) — Veteran P.T. Usha aims at a memorable comeback in the Asian arena as Indian athletes hope to translate their enthusiastic showing back home into medals in the 12th Asian Athletic Championships beginning here tomorrow.
The 33-year-old Usha, who captured five gold medals and a bronze in the 1985 Jakarta edition during her reign as the Asian track queen, has drastically pegged down her ambitions confining herself to the 200-400 metres combine and the relays in this four-day meet.
But the ‘Payyoli express’ is at her best since she began a prolonged comeback and has shown great form at home to raise hopes for a few medals as India aim to better their medal count - a modest gold, silver and four bronze medals at Jakarta in 1995.
The Asian Amateur Athletic Association had put off the bi-annual meet by a year and competition here will give a good idea of what could be expected in the December Bangkok Asiad.
A showdown between Asian powerhouses China and hosts Japan is on the cards. Male runners from Qatar and throwers from erstwhile Soviet republics are also expected to dominate.
But star performer Nobuharu Asahara, the Japanese long jumper turned sprinter who set an Asian 100 m mark of 10.08 sec last year, has withdrawn due to a foot injury. Sri Lankan world 200 m silver medallist Susanthike Jayasinghe is serving a doping ban with many wards of Chinese coach Ma Junren also missing from the fray.
A gold may be out of the reach for Usha, but her 200 m effort of 23.30 seconds in the Chennai Federation Cup and 52.43 seconds clocked to win the 400 m, holds bright hopes for a medal of lesser hue. Her national mark is 51.61 set in 1985.
Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, the lone gold medallist in Jakarta, will fancy her chances in the 800 metres. But she is certain to run a faster race than the 2:06 she clocked last time.
Among men, Rajeev Balakrishnan, who has made it a habit to lower the men’s 100 national record, may not be in the reckoning for medals but can definitely aim to set fresh standards for himself at the well laid out Hakata-Nomori Stadium.
The US-based sprinter, who clocked 10.43 for the new mark in Chennai early this month, also has an unofficial 10.34 to his credit and a place in the final should be a big boost.
Quartermiler Paramjit Singh, the best bet to obliterate Milkha Singh’s long standing national 400 m record of 45.73 seconds, is also capable of improving on the 46.21 seconds he clocked this season.
Starved of decent competition, the lanky 26-year-old gets the best chance to prove his mettle. With Lijo David Thottan also coming here after a 46.41 sec effort, Indian medal hopes in the men’s longer relay look bright.
Indian throwers have always flattered to deceive abroad and the present lot led by Shakti Singh (shot put/discus), bronze medallist in Jakarta, Ajit Bhaduria (discus), winner at Manila in 1993, women’s discus national champion Neelam J. Singh have their task cut out. Surinderjeet Kaur enters hammer throw, being introduced here with women’s pole-vault.
National coach Bahadur Singh is certain the 32-strong Indian squad will give off their personal bests which should take care of the medals.

Indian Airlines drub Punjab
CHENNAI, July 18 (PTI) — Indian Airlines, Mumbai, defeated Punjab 4-2 to virtually assure themselves a berth in the semifinals of the MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here today.
Punjab, playing their second and last group B match, came from behind to equalise two first-half goals by IA. But the airlines asserted their superiority, slamming in two more in a space of three minutes in the dying moments of the match.
Earlier, the Punjab and Sind Bank scored an authoritative 7-1 win over Gujarat in group C, while Air-India overwhelmed All-India Customs and Central Excise 5-1 in group A.
IA man of the hour was goalkeeper A.B. Subbiah, who was dropped from the World Cup squad. Subbiah saved 12 of the 14 goal-bound shots off penalty corners alone, besides effecting a few heart-stopping saves.
Punjab’s misery was compounded as the Airline defence rose to the occasion, especially in the second half, in which Punjab’s dominance was pronounced.
The match was interrupted on at least three occasions but the umpires avoided any untoward incident by asking the captains to restrain their players. Punjab’s Baljit Singh Bhullar received a yellow card.
Though Punjab were in command for most of the 70 minutes of play, the Airlines forwards made the most of the chances they got, scoring twice through Rawat and Mukesh Kumar. Punjab forced 14 penalty corners, but could convert only one.
The Airlines first goal came in the 23rd minute with Rawat deflecting a Mohd Riaz free hit. A joint Virender Singh-Mukesh Kumar move enabled Sameer dad to increase the lead.
Thereafter, Punjab were in full cry and Baljit Singh Dhillon reduced the margin when he took the 10th penalty corner. With eight minutes to go, Sarabjit Singh found the equaliser.
But Airlines struck through a swift counter-attack with Mukesh converting their first and only penalty corner in the 62nd minute. Punjab were still in control, but Rawat’s solo effort settled the issue.

Tomori, Rocca jump into lead
SOUTHPORT (England), July 18 (Reuters) — Italian Costantino Rocca and Katsuyoshi Tomori of Japan defied a brute of a Royal Birkdale wind to seize the early third round lead in the British Open with remarkable level-par 70s today.
As scores skyrocketed in a fiendish gale that gusted up to 40 miles an hour, defending champion Justin Leonard showed just what a challenge the players faced as he soared to a 12-over-par 82. Lefthander Phil Mickelson was even worse, carding an 85 capped by a triple bogey seven at the last.
But Rocca, who lost a playoff to John Daly for the 1995 title at St Andrews, and Europe-based Tomori both managed somehow to match par for a share the lead with six-over-par totals of 216 that might not look at all bad by the end of the day.
They led by three shots from 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia, fellow American Mark Brooks and Englishman Mark James.
Rocca and Tomori were early starters as they had barely survived the halfway cut and the leaders, pacesetter Brian Watts of the USA, English amateur Justin Rose and the menacing duo of Tiger Woods and Nick Price, had not begun.
There were many scores in the 80s and other big names also suffered in the wind. Britain’s Ian Woosnam shot 76 and felt the tees should have been moved forward, three-time champion Nick Faldo had 75 while Ernie Els, twice the US Open champion, shot 74 which he considered about par for the day.
Rocca’s metronomic swing was a model of consistency for a card containing two birdies and two bogeys against 14 pars.
They led to his bogeys. But he had birdies at the third and the long 17th and also missed six-foot chances for birdies at 14 and 15.
Tomori’s card was similar, with three birdies and three bogeys, one birdie coming as he pitched into the hole at the short 12th after missing the green.
The 43-year-old Japanese from Okinawa, playing his second season on the European tour, said he felt he had not done anything spectacular.
He also birdied the 17th with a bunker shot to seven inches.

Holland tour to polish Dalmiya’s image?
By Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 18 —There seems to be some substance in the controversy which has arisen over the selection of the India "A" cricket team which will tour Holland from July 26 to August 15 next. The team, to be led by Punjab's Vikram Rathore, was selected by the national selectors in New Delhi on July 11.
The controversy was raked up by the Treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mr S.K. Nair, who in a letter to the board President, Mr Raj Singh Dungarpur, criticised the national selectors over the choice of some of the players. However, Mr Dungarpur, who according to the laid down conventions of the board must have approved the squad prior to the release of the names to the media, refused to be drawn into a debate on the issue. "He must have written the letter as a representative of the Kerala Cricket Association and not as a board official," he said referring to Mr Nair's letter.
The national selectors have said more than once in the recent past that their efforts were now focused on the 1999 World Cup and it was in this direction that players were being given an opportunity to play in national teams. However, if this be true then the national selectors should have applied their mind more while selecting the India "A" team for the tour of Holland. It is altogether a different thing that sending a team to Holland at this juncture makes little sense and this exercise is probably being carried to polish the image of the International Cricket Council President, Mr Jagmohan Dalmia, whose clout in the BCCI can never be belittled although he now holds no official position in the board.
There are a couple of players in the India "A" squad whose presence in the team can be questioned. What purpose will be served by playing the 37-year-old Hyderabad off-spinner Kanwaljeet Singh when it can be said that by no stretch of imagination will he have anything to do in India's World Cup campaign next year. Also, players like Nikhil Haldipur of Bengal, Rohan Gavaskar, who also plays for Bengal, and Punjab's Reetinder Singh Sodhi have already turned out for India "A" during the tour of Pakistan. In fact, the team to Pakistan also generated controversy when former Test star Brijesh Patel questioned the inclusion of Andhra medium pacer N.Madhukar, son of BCCI Vice-President N.Venkat Rao, who is also the President of the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association.
Two medium pacers who could have been given a try during the tour to Holland were Obaid Kamal and Asish Winston Zaidi, both of Uttar Pradesh, whose performance in last year's Ranji Trophy helped their side to finish runners-up in the National Cricket Championship. While Kamal ended up with 25 wickets, Zaidi had a haul of 33 wickets. And one must remember that in England next summer India would have to field good medium pacers , given the ground conditions.
Then let us come to the batting department. At least two good batsmen who should have been given an opportunity to prove themselves were Jatinder Singh of Haryana and Rajeev Kumar of Bihar. These two batsmen were placed second and third in the overall batting performance in the National Cricket Championship behind Mumbai's Vinod Kambli. A number of batsmen in the India "A" squad scheduled to tour Holland have got more that one opportunity to prove their mettle. Should they be given chance after chance knowing fully well that no vacancy exists in the India senior squad for any batsmen . By playing Jatinder Singh or Rajeev Kumar these youngsters might have picked up some valuable lessons of playing international cricket.
Haryana, known more for the feats of fast bowlers Kapil Dev and Chetan Sharma, have two spinners, Pradeep Jain (left-arm spinner) and Pankaj Thakur (off spinner) whose performance in the Ranji Trophy last year was much above average. While the left-arm spinner had a bag of 44 wickets , Pankaj had a tally of 43 wickets. Why they have not found a place in any representative India team so far is a question which only the national selectors can answer.
Similarly, when talking of wicketkeepers the name of Vijay Yadav, again of Haryana, and Sulakshan Kulkarni of Mumbai come up. True, Yadav has been given a number of opportunities to play for India in the past but surely Kiran More needs a deputy. Last year Yadav had a total of 38 victims (equalling the national record of most victims in one season) while Kulkarni had a tally of 34 victims.
For India "A" skipper Vikram Ratore this might well be the last chance to play for India. He last played for India in the three-nation series involving India, South Africa and Zimbabwe in February last year following which he was dropped from the national squad. Will a good performance in Holland bring him back into national contentions ?

J&K to host Ranji tie
Tribune News Service
SRINAGAR, July 18 — After a gap of over a decade, Jammu & Kashmir will host a Ranji Trophy cricket tie in October.
This was disclosed when the Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, Mr S.D.A. Draboo, who along with other members of the association, called on the Minister for Information, Youth Services and Sports, Mr Ajatshatru Singh, here yesterday. They discussed various problems regarding the smooth functioning of the association with the minister. The members also demanded government intervention for settlement of certain problems within the association.
The minister, who is also the President of the association said that in view of the importance of the game, he himself was keen to resolve the matter regarding holding of the tournament and selection of players in the state.
Mr Ajatshatru Singh assured the deputation that all matters regarding the association would be resolved shortly after discussing some issues with the Jammu based members of the association.