KADOMA : Spanish players (from left) Miguel Angel Falasca, Jose Luis Molto and Enrique de la Fuente, jump together to block a spike from Cuba's Angel Dennis Diaz (right) during their quarter-final round match of the Men's Volleyball World Championships in Kadoma, western Japan, on Wednesday. Cuba won the match 15-4, 15-5, 7-15, 15-12. AP/PTI

SA, Windies Test begins today
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 25 — Injuries and lack of match practice have hampered the West Indies’ preparation for the first Test against a fully fit and highly motivated South African side starting tomorrow.

Murali in Lanka team for Australia
COLOMBO, Nov 25 — Controversial off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was included today in Sri Lanka’s 15-member squad for the world series tournament in Australia.

Dahiya’s unbeaten knock in vain
PUNE, Nov 25 — Wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya’s unbeaten knock of 75 proved futile as India Youth conceded a 16-run lead to West Indies "A" on the final day of their three-day tie which ended in a draw at the Nehru Stadium here today.

Kotecha only 13th to achieve feat
MUMBAI, Nov 25 — Gujarat opener Amrish Kotecha sailed into cricket record books here by slamming six fours in the first over of his team’s second innings against Mumbai in their West Zone Ranji Trophy league clash yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium.

Joginder, Nishant put Haryana on top
ROHTAK, Nov 25 — After facing the ignominy of follow on, Jammu and Kashmir were struggling to avoid an innings defeat against Haryana on the second day of Vijay Merchant Trophy match being played at Vishwakarma Stadium here today.

12 school teams for Pannu hockey
LUDHIANA, Nov 25 — The super league phase of the 6th Harbans Singh Pannu Memorial Hockey Tournament for schoolboys being organised by the Aryan Hockey Club will be conducted here at the Guru Nanak Stadium from November 26 to 30. Mr Sukhbir Singh Grewal, president of the club, has said.

Laxman, Humpy steal the show
KOZHIKODE, Nov 25 — World under-12 champion Koneru Humpy shocked seventh seed Irina Krush (USA) in the girls’ section while compatriot R R Laxman climbed to the joint-second position in the boys' section after a fruitful eighth round for India at the World Junior Chess Championship here today.

India start favourites NEW DELHI, Nov 25 — If consistency is key to success then India will be favourites when they take on South Africa in the semifinals of the inaugural Kanishka World Cup Cricket for the Blind tomorrow.

Chinese Taipei meet India in semis

NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (PTI) — Fourth seeds Chinese Taipei played true to their billing to defeat Indonesia 2-1 and set up a semifinal clash with defending champions India in the ATF Asia Cup Tennis Tournament here today.

Taiwanese number one Chen Wei Ju overcame a stiff challenge from Indonesia’s Andrian Raturandang to win 6-4, 6-1 and put his team 2-0 ahead to complete the semifinal line-up.

In the first singles, Lin Bing Chao scored a convincing 6-3, 6-1 victory over Indonesia’s Sulistyo Wibowo.

Wibowo and Wirjawan Sugiharta then scored a consolation 6-3, 7-6 (11/9) win for Indonesia in the doubles.

Chinese Taipei will take on India, 2-1 winners over Pakistan yesterday, in the second semifinal tomorrow.

In the Chen-Raturandang clash, Chen raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set, breaking Raturandang in the second game. However, Chen was stretched by the Indonesian in the third, which went into deuce six times, before prevailing.

Raturandang, remembered here for his upset victory over India’s Mahesh Bhupathi last year, broke Chen at love in the fifth game with some powerful crosscourt returns.

Chen returned in the next game with brilliant passing shots to go 4-2 ahead.

In the next game, Chen handed the advantage to Raturandang as he sent a return wide to be broken again.

But Chen sealed the set 6-4 with a crosscourt winner as the Indonesian squandered his service game in the 10th.

Raturandang gave up in the second set, losing his service twice, in the third and sixth games, as Chen took a 5-1 lead.

Serving for the match, Chen sent down deep serves to which the Indonesian had no answer. Chen earned matchpoint with an easy crosscourt volley and, after dropping a point, sealed the match with an ace down the middle.

Earlier, Lin Bing Chao used his powerful groundstrokes to dispatch Indonesia’s Sulistyo Wibowo 6-3, 6-1.

Lin, the Taiwanese number two, broke Wibowo in the sixth game of the first set and then held his serve at love to go 5-2 ahead. He served out the set 6-3 and raced to a 5-1 lead in the second.

Wibowo lost all hope when Lin reached 40-0 in the seventh game. The Indonesian clawed back, serving an ace to make it 30-40. But Lin closed out the match with a simple passing shot down the line.

In the doubles tie, Wibowo-Sugiharta put up a better show and downed their Taiwanese rivals to salvage some pride for Indonesia, semifinalists last year.

The Indonesian pair took a 3-0 lead in the first set before closing it out 6-3, but the second was a thriller, going into a tie-break.

Chen and Lin seemed to be taking it easy with their team already in the semis. The tie-break stretched to 18 games before the Indonesians won two consecutive points to seal the issue at 7-6.

Perfect start by Sampras

HANOVER (Germany), Nov 25 (AP) — Pete Sampras got a perfect start yesterday at the ATP World Championship and, unfortunately for Marcelo Rios, so did Tim Henman. Even worse for Rios, his back is hurting again.

Sampras and Rios, the two top players in the world, are locked in a battle for the No. 1 ranking at the end of the year.

While Sampras beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 6-4 in his opening match, Rios was upset 7-5, 6-1 by the big-serving Henman.

Sampras leads Rios by just 33 points in the computer rankings and he is seeking to make history by becoming the first man to finish as No. 1 for six years in a row. He shares the record of five with Jimmy Connors.

Rios needs to win at least two matches in the round-robin portion of the elite event to have a shot at dethroning Sampras in the final rankings for the year.

Sampras showed how badly he wants the record he believes may never be broken again by crushing Kafelnikov.

"I don’t want to say it was a statement, but I definitely was very focused,’’ Sampras said. "I think the guys know that, that this is an important week and it showed.’’

Rios on the other hand simply faded after falling behind a break in the second set.

The Chilean blamed a recurring back problem for his poor performance and indicated he may even drop out of the tournament.

"My back is hurting really a lot. I’m not in a good condition to continue playing,’’ Rios said.

I’m going to see how I feel tomorrow. I want to play, I want to be No. 1 but you have to listen to your body,’’ he said. "It’s tough to run, it’s tough to play when you are in pain.’’

Henman said beating the No. 2 in the world was always satisfying.

"If things don’t go your way, you may feel the injury is worse than it really is,’’ he said.

If Rios drops out, Sampras will be certain to secure the No. 1 spot and break the record.

"I just hope I can maintain this level throughout the week, which is not going to be easy. But today was definitely a good start,’’ Sampras said.

Sampras was impressive in the first set with his crisp serve-and-volley game. Kafelnikov gave him more of a battle in the second set but Sampras still dominated the opponent he beat in last year’s final, when he won the title for the fourth time.

"I definitely had a lot of work to do in the second set,’’ Sampras said. "I didn’t want to do what I did last year when I lost my first match and played a little bit flat. I didn’t want to dig myself into a hole, having to win my next two matches.’’

Sampras had problems closing the match, needing six match points. He won it after 66 minutes when Kafelnikov made two straight backhand errors.

Kafelnikov was the last player to clinch a place in the $ 3.5 million tournament that brings together the eight players with the best results in the year. The round-robin portion consists of two four-man groups, with two players from each advancing to the semifinals.

Rios, who leads the tour with seven titles this year and became the first player to qualify back in August, dropped his serve to lose the first set.

He wasted a break point in the third game of the second and lost his serve again in the fourth, beginning a series of sloppy errors that got him boos from the public. The match was over also in 66 minutes, when Rios hit a careless backhand long.

In a battle between the other two players in Sampras’ red group, Carlos Moya rallied to beat Karol Kucera 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-3.

Moya, the French Open champion, won his first indoor match of the year, after going 0-5 until Hanover.

The next opponent for Sampras today is Moya, who beat the American in the opening match last year. In other matches today, Kucera plays Kafelnikov and Andre Agassi makes his debut against Alex Corretja.

Is Simpson serving the purpose?
By Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 — The Indian cricketers scheduled to tour New Zealand from early December, during which they will play three Tests and five one-day internationals, will attend a short "training camp", if one may call it so, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from November 28 to December 2. The camp will be conducted by the Indian cricket manager Anshuman Gaekwad and other senior cricketers, including team doctor Dr Ravinder Chadha.

But as preparations for the camp get under way the question which arises is: why has the Board of Control for Cricket in India not invited its consultant Bobby Simpson of Australia to conduct the coaching camp ?

It was in August last that Bobby Simpson, employed by the board as cricket consultant up to the World Cup next year, conducted a two-week coaching camp for India probables prior to the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur and the Sahara Cup in Toronto. To start with only 22 players were invited for the camp. But subsequently the national selectors invited a few more cricketers to join the camp at the fag end so that two "teams of equal strength" could be fielded for the Commonwealth Games and the Sahara Cup.

For his efforts Bobby Simpson picked up a cool £ 4000 per week besides all expenses. But of what use was the exercise given the fact that the Indian cricketers have hardly picked up any useful tips from the former Australian skipper and selector?

But things have not really changed after the Indian cricketers attended the two-week coaching camp under the charge of Bobby Simpson. The running between the wickets of the Indian cricketers, an area where, it is reported, Bobby Simpson spent a lot of time and effort, have not improved, to put it mildly, nor has the fielding picked up the way it should have.

In the last 15 one-day internationals ever since Bobby Simpson conducted the camp at Chennai India have lost wickets through run out on 22 occasions while managing to run out their opponents on just eight occasions. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that in 25 one-day internationals in 1998 before Simpson took charge India had lost only 13 wickets through run outs while dismissing their opponents through this effort on 21 occasions. And Ajay Jadeja, said to be the most nimble footed among the Indian cricketers (barring probably Robin Singh), has the dubious distinction of succumbing to run outs four times after attending the Chennai training camp.

The five one-day internationals between India and New Zealand will be played in the New Year, the year of the World Cup. Therefore, this should be the best time for Bobby Simpson to join the team in New Zealand and work out the various theories during actual match play. With India on a high, having won five limited over tournaments out of eight this year, the only thing which the Indian cricketers must do is to carry on the good work right up to the World Cup. And for this there has been, as yet, hardly any contribution from the former Australian skipper.

SA, Windies Test begins today

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 25 (Reuters) — Injuries and lack of match practice have hampered the West Indies’ preparation for the first Test against a fully fit and highly motivated South African side starting tomorrow.

It will be only the second time that the two sides have met in a Test match after the West Indies came from behind to win the one-off Test in Bridgetown, Barbados, in April 1992, by 52 runs.

That match came just after South Africa’s readmission into world cricket after more than 20 years of apartheid-induced isolation and it was an inexperienced, naive South African team who under-estimated Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh on the final morning.

Tomorrow, that same duo and Brian Lara stand between South Africa and victory over a side who have not been favoured by fortune over the past three weeks.

First there was the defeat at the hands of South Africa at the ICC Trophy tournament in Bangladesh and then the pay row that almost finished the tour before it had even begun.

On their way to South Africa, Jimmy Adams sliced open his finger with a bread knife putting him out of contention and then their opening warm-up match against a Provincial XI in the black township of Soweto was rained off after 47 overs.

Their only two first class games were less than promising.

They drew against minnows Griqualand West and then suffered an astonishing two-wicket defeat at the hands of provincial champions Free State who chased 438, thanks to an unbeaten 158 from Hansie Cronje at the weekend.

Despite his impressive knock over the weekend, Cronje was well aware of the danger of playing a West Indies side seemingly down and out.

"We must be careful. The only form that counts is the form we have tomorrow," Cronje said. "Not for one minute can we expect the same bowling we saw on Sunday night and Monday morning."

South Africa will start the Test with a well balanced side both in age and variety. On the one hand is Terbrugge and on the other, 38-year-old offspinner Pat Symcox, who is likely to play ahead of left armer Paul Adams in the final eleven to be selected tomorrow morning.

The teams will contest another four Tests and seven one-day internationals.

Teams:

South Africa (from): Hansie Cronje (capt), Gary Kirsten, Adam Bacher, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Pat Symcox, Allan Donald, David Terbrugge, Paul Adams.

West Indies: to be announced.

Non-bailable warrant against Padukone

JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 25 (PTI) — A Jamshedpur court has issued a non-bailable warrant against ace shuttler and executive president of Badminton Association of India (BAI), Prakash Padukone, following a suit filed by the Bihar Badminton Association (BBA).

Warrants were also issued against BAI president VK Verma, secretary SS Mani and assistant secretary LC Gupta by the sub-divisional magistrate's court on a criminal suit filed by the BBA against BAI.

The BBA petitioned the court in June against Padukone and others contending that the BBA had been disaffiliated from BAI after 45 years of association.

The suit by the BBA secretary SV Ramani claimed that in April 1997, the BBA had paid membership fee to BAI and continued to be its member.

But without any reason, BAI cancelled the membership of the BBA, formed in 1953, the petition said.

Murali in Lanka team for Australia

COLOMBO, Nov 25 (Reuters) — Controversial off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was included today in Sri Lanka’s 15-member squad for the world series tournament in Australia.

Australia, England and Sri Lanka will compete in the one-day tournament in January and February.

Muralitharan, who spearheaded Sri Lanka to a 10-wicket victory over England in August, missed this month’s one-day tournament in Sharjah due to an injury to his shoulder.

Australian umpire Darrell Hair recently described Muralitharan’s bowling action as "diabolical." Hair said he would have no hesitation in no-balling Muralitharan in the future if the bowler has not sorted out his action.

Squad: Arjuna Ranatunga (captain), Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Upul Chandana, Pramodaya Wickremasinghe, Suresh Perera, Nuwan Zoysa, Avishka Gunawardane, Tilan Samaraweera.

Dahiya’s unbeaten knock in vain

PUNE, Nov 25 (PTI) — Wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya’s unbeaten knock of 75 proved futile as India Youth conceded a 16-run lead to West Indies "A" on the final day of their three-day tie which ended in a draw at the Nehru Stadium here today.

West Indies "A" were 111 for three in their second innings after India Youth, resuming at the overnight score of 242 for four, added 141 runs to take their tally to 383 for nine.

The highlight of the day was Dahiya’s knock, which sustained the Indian innings. Dahiya hit eight boundaries in his 137-ball stand.

Amit Pagnis did not bat as he had twisted his left ankle yesterday while fielding at forward short leg and the home team collapsed 35 minutes before tea.

India Youth, who were 315 for 5 in 96 overs at lunch, failed to gain an upper hand as wickets started falling in the post-lunch session.

Bahutule, who was dropped by Campbell at second slip off Carl Tuckett, failed to capitalise and fell to Keith Semple. He was caught by Courtney Browne for 24.

Ubiad Kamal made 13 before being bowled by Niel Mogarrel. Nilesh Kulkarni and Ashish Zaidi both departed on a duck.

Kulkarni was snapped by Griffith off Mogarrel while Zaidi was caught by Griffith off Bishop.

Kamal was also dropped by Campbell at mid-wicket off Bishop when he was on 11.

Off spinner Mogarrel (5 for 87) and seamer Pedro Collins (2 for 90) were the main wicket takers for the visitors, with Bishop and Semple taking a wicket each.

Courtney Browne was on 52 (53 balls, 6x4, 3x6) and Christopher Gayle on 27 (85 balls, 5x4) in the visitors’ second innings when the match was called off.

Seamer Ubaid Kamal and spinner Nilesh Kulkarni chipped in with a wicket each for India Youth.

Meanwhile, leg spinner Rawl Lewis, here with the West Indies "A" team, has been summoned to the West Indies national squad for the South Africa tour, according to the tourists’ manager Joel Garner.

Lewis will replace injured Dinanath Ramnarain, Garner said. Leg spinner Mahindra Nagamotoo has been called here as replacement for Lewis for the two Tests and three one-day matches the tourists are scheduled to play.

India Youth (1st innings): Debang Gandhi c Bishop b N. Mogarrel 120; S. Ramesh c A. Griffith b P. Collins 46; Rohan Gavaskar c C. Gayle b N. Mogarrel 4; Mithun Manhas b N. Mogarrel 28; S. Sriram c K. Semple b P. Collins 45; Vijay Dahiya n.o. 75; Sairaj Bahutule c Browne b K. Semple 24; Ubaid Kamal b N. Mogarrel 13; Nilesh Kulkarni c A. Griffith b N. Mogarrel 0; Ashish Zaidi c Griffith b Bishop 0.

Extras: (b-9, lb-7 nb-12) 28.

Total: (for 9 wkts in 115.2 overs) 383.

Fall of wickets: 1-128, 2-133, 3-215, 4-230, 5-296, 6-330, 7-382, 8-382, 9-383.

Bowling: P. Collins 20-2-90-2; Ian Bishop 21.2-3-58-1; Carl Tuckett 20-1-65-0; Neil McGarrel 33-5-87-5; Christopher Gayle 14-1-40-0; Keith Semple 7-1-27-1.

West Indies ‘A’ (2nd innings): Adrian Grifith c and b N. Kulkarni 2; Sherwin Campbell b U. Kamal 8; Keith Semple run out 19; Christopher Gayle n.o. 27; Courtney Browne n.o. 52.

Extras: (lb-2, nb-1) 3.

Total: (for 3 wkts in 36 overs) 111.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-11, 3-24.

Bowling: Ubaid Kamal 5-2-10-1; Ashish Zaidi 5-3-5-0; Nilesh Kulkarni 13-5-27-1; Rohan Gavaskar 8-1-35-0; S. Sriram 1-0-1-0; Debang Gandhi 4-1-31-0.

Kotecha only 13th to achieve feat

MUMBAI, Nov 25 (PTI) — Gujarat opener Amrish Kotecha sailed into cricket record books here by slamming six fours in the first over of his team’s second innings against Mumbai in their West Zone Ranji Trophy league clash yesterday at the Wankhede Stadium.

The left-hander cracked 24 in the first over bowled by lanky Mumbai paceman Abey Kuruvilla to join 12 other batsmen in world first class cricket history who have smashed 24 or more runs in one single over.

Incidentally, Kotecha is the fourth Indian after Ravi Shastri, Sandeep Patil and Kapil Dev to score 24 or more runs in one over in a first class encounter.

The world record for maximum runs, 36, in one over is jointly held by West Indian Gary Sobers and India’s Ravi Shastri.

Sobers achieved feat in 1968 at Swansea for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash while Shastri did it at the same Wankhede Stadium in 1984-85 for Mumbai against Baroda’s Tilak Raj.

The 13 instances of batsmen scoring 24 or more runs in one over are:

1. 36 — G S Sobers off M A Nash for Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan at Swansea in 1968

2. 36 — R J Shastri off Tilak Raj for Mumbai v Baroda at Mumbai (Wankhede Stadium) in 1984-85.

3. 34 — E Alletson off E H Killick for Notts v Sussex at Hove in 1911 (in 8 balls including two no-balls).

4. 34 — F C Haynes off M A Nash for Lancashire v Glamorgan at Swansea in 1977.

5. 34 — R M Edwards off M C Carew for New Zealand Governor’s XI v West Indies at Auckland in 1969 (8-ball over).

6. 32 — I T Botham of I R Snook for England v Central Districts at Palmington North in 1983-84.

7. 32 — P W G Parker off A I Kallicharran for Sussex v Warwickshire at Birmingham in 1982.

8. 32 — I R Redpath off N Rosendorff for Australia v Orange Free State at Bloemfontein in 1969-70.

9. 32 — C C Smart off G Hill for Glamorgan v Hampshire at Cardiff in 1935.

10. 24 — A Roberts off I Botham for West Indies v England at Port-of-Spain in 1981 (Test record for 6-ball over).

11. 24 — S M Patil off Bob Willis for India v England at Manchester in 1982 (7 balls including one no ball).

12. 24 — Kapil Dev off E Hemmings for India v England at Lord’s in 1990.

13. 24 — A Kotecha off A Kuruvilla for Gujarat v Mumbai at Mumbai (Wankhede) in 1998-99.

India start favourites

NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (PTI) — If consistency is key to success then India will be favourites when they take on South Africa in the semifinals of the inaugural Kanishka World Cup Cricket for the Blind tomorrow.

After clearing the preliminary hurdles without much difficulty, the Indian team will be hoping to maintain their winning spree against a rejuvenated South Africa at the Harbaksh Stadium here.

India made into the semifinals with a clean slate and did not face much trouble while South Africa’s campaign started on the wrong foot as they lost their first three matches and looked like crashing out before they recovered.

The South Africans, who lost to Pakistan, Australia and India, made a strong comeback by beating Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand to make in to the last four. Their top order, led by skipper Rury Field and his brother Scott, has been the key to their success as Rury struck four centuries and a 50 in the six league matches and Scott scored three hundreds and a fifty.

The Africans however face a daunting task against a strong Indian side — especially a powerful bowling attack which has caused problems to all the sides thus far.

Pakistan take on Australia at Air Force ground, Palam in the other semifinal.

Joginder, Nishant put Haryana on top
From Our Sports Reporter

ROHTAK, Nov 25 — After facing the ignominy of follow on, Jammu and Kashmir were struggling to avoid an innings defeat against Haryana on the second day of Vijay Merchant Trophy match being played at Vishwakarma Stadium here today.

Haryana, who had opted to bat first yesterday after winning the toss, piles up a massive total of 404 for 8 wickets before declaring their first innings closed today. The highlight of Haryana innings was 7th wicket stand of 193 runs between Nishant Goyal (162) and debutant Joginder (133).

In reply, Jammu and Kashmir surrendered meekly. Their wickets continued to fall at regular intervals. The innings finally folded at 141.

Haryana bowler Joginder Sharma, who had impressed earlier with his batting, took three wickets.

After being forced to follow on, Jammu and Kashmir scored 35 for 2 in their second innings.

Scoreboard
Haryana (Ist innings): Gaurav Bhardwaj c&b Tariq 4; Nishant Goyal c Vimarsh b Inderjeet 162; Vikas Sharma lbw Pranab 10; Bhuvnesh Sharma c Ashish b Pranab 39; Deepak Joon c Inderjeet b Pranab 19; Anuj Mehndiratta c Charanjeet b Inderjeet 6; Devender Rana lbw Pranab 3; Joginder Sharma c Imtiaz b Inderjeet 133, Gaurav Vashishta not out 1.

Extras (B-5, LB-7, NB-3, W-12) 27.

Total (for 8 wkts dec.) 404.

Fall of wkts: 1/15, 2/29, 3/97, 4/146, 5/159, 6/176, 7/369, 8/404.

Bowling: Tariq 18-4-87-1; Pranab 40-9-99-4; Mudasir Rasool 9-0-58-0; Inderjeet Singh 31.5-7-111-3; Ashish 10-1-37-0.

Jammu and Kashmir (Ist innings): Asif Jeelani lbw Joginder 9; Rajesh Kumar b Joginder 8; Vimarsh c Joginder b Ashwani 11; Inderjeet Singh not out 73; Charanjeet Singh c Nishant b Joginder 9; Mudasir Rasool c Deepak b Ashwani 4; Imtiaz lbw Ashwani 4; Owais Ahmed c Gaurav b Deepak 3; Pranab c Anuj b Gaurav 4; Ashish st. Nishant b Gaurav 0; Tariq run out 4.

Extras (B-12) 12.

Total (60.4 overs in 226 mts.) 141.

Fall of wickets: 1/16, 2/27, 3/39, 4/56, 5/61, 6/67, 7/77, 8/82, 9/88, 10/141.

Bowling: Rahul Rathee 8-3-11-0; Joginder Sharma 15-4-38-3; Ashwani 14-2-42-3; Gaurav Vashishta 13.4-3-22-2; Deepak Joon 10-3-16-1.

Jammu and Kashmir (IInd innings): Asif c Nishant b Rahul 6; Rajesh b Rahul 0; Vimarsh batting 9; Inderjeet batting 13.

Extras (LB-7) 7.

Total (for 2 wickets) 35.

Fall of wickets: 1/6, 2/9.

Bowling: Rahul Rathee 5-1-16-2; Joginder Sharma 5-2-10-0; Ashwani 1-0-2-0.

12 school teams for Pannu hockey
From Our Sports Reporters

LUDHIANA, Nov 25 — The super league phase of the 6th Harbans Singh Pannu Memorial Hockey Tournament for schoolboys being organised by the Aryan Hockey Club will be conducted here at the Guru Nanak Stadium from November 26 to 30. Mr Sukhbir Singh Grewal, president of the club, has said.

Twelve top school teams of the state will be seen in action during this five-day tournament. These teams have been divided into four pools and two top teams of each group will qualify for the quarterfinals.

SPDA, Patiala, Government High School, Roomi, and Lord Mahavir Senior Secondary School, Raikot, are placed in pool ‘A’. In pool ‘B’ Burlton Park Academy, Jalandhar, are put along with Lala Lajpat Rai Senior Secondary School, Doodike, and Shivalik Public School, Chandigarh.

Pool ‘C’ comprises Sector 42 Academy, Chandigarh, Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Bahadurgarh and Government Senior Secondary School, Kila Raipur, while Pool ‘D’ consists of Ropar Hockey Academy, Government Senior Secondary School, Kamalpura, and Sports School, Jalandhar.

Four matches will be played daily and in the inaugural match to be played tomorrow at 12.30 p.m. Government Senior Secondary School, Kila Raipur, will take on Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Bahadurgarh.

Laxman, Humpy steal the show

KOZHIKODE, Nov 25 (PTI) — World under-12 champion Koneru Humpy shocked seventh seed Irina Krush (USA) in the girls’ section while compatriot R R Laxman climbed to the joint-second position in the boys' section after a fruitful eighth round for India at the World Junior Chess Championship here today.

Humpy upset Krush in queen’s Indian defence after the latter got into a mate in a rook and opposite colour bishop ending. With 5.5 points, the 11-year-old Humpy remains India’s best hope in the girls’ section.

Laxman (6) moved closer to his first IM norm by beating Swiss Jenni Florian in 40 moves of king’s Indian defence after getting a king side break. The 18th seeded Indian is assured of the IM norm even if he loses in the next round.

P Harikrishna recovered from a difficult start against Herraiz Herminio of Spain to win in 44 moves and reach five points while K Sasikiran beat Janz Frerik of Germany in 30 moves of queen’s gambit accepted for his first win in seven rounds, to reach 4.5 points.

K Ramu (4) beat Medak of Croatia, Vikramaditya Kamble (4) beat Dovramadjiev Tihomir of Vulgaria and Beenish Bhatia (3) prevailed over Kosmac Blaz of Slovenia. Sunderajan Kidambi (4) drew with Miroslav Houska of England.

Among the girls, Vijayalakshmi Subburaman reached five points after a win over teammate Swathin Mohota in Slav defence while her sister Meenakshi beat Compatriot Pratibha.

Sukhdev wins 1,500m gold

MANSA, Nov 25 (TNS) — Major Singh of Bathinda won the gold in the 400m race on the first day of the three-day annual games of the Faridkot police range which started at Nehru Memorial College ground here today.

Major Singh finished the race in 52 second while Gamdur Singh of Faridkot district who finished the race in 54 second won the silver while Gurdip Singh of Bathinda got the bronze (54.3 sec).

In the 1,500m race, Sukhdev Singh of Mansa won the gold with the timings of 4:37.48 sec, Ranjit Singh of Bathinda came second (4:37.50sec) and Sukhdev Singh won the bronze (4:46.50sec).

Earlier, the games were declared open by Mr Harnek Singh Sran, SSP, Bathinda who also took the salute.

Mr Yurinder Singh, SSP, Mansa, while talking to TNS said that it was for the first time that the Faridkot police range games were being held here.

Judo panel chief

CHANDIGARH: (BOSR): Mr LV Sehgal had been unanimously elected president of the Amateur Judo Association of Chandigarh at the general body meeting of the association held recently. In was also decided to host the next state championship in December.

Handball meet at KU

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (BOSR) — Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, will play host to the North-East Zone and All-India-Zonal Inter-University Handball Tournaments for men and women to be held at the University Sports Complex from December 10 to 16 and from December 18 to 22, respectively, Mr D.S. Chauhan, organising secretary of this tournament, has said.

Rajeev deadly

PATIALA, Nov 25 (FOSR)— Off spinner Rajeev Sirhindi tore open the rival batting with an amazing spell, claiming 5 wickets conceding just 3 runs. In the process Sirhindi not only picked up his second five wicket haul in successive matches but his effort was enough to help State Bank of Patiala (SBOP) to reach the final by beating Air Marshal Club by 9 wickets in the "Khalsa 300 Years Cricket Tournament" played here today.

Scores:

Air Marshal Club 83 all out (Anoop Kumar 31, R. Sirhindi 5 for 3. Tanpreet Singh 3 for 23). BOP: 85 for 1 (Rajeev Sharma 26. Rakesh 38 not out. Sonpreet 1 for 33).

Punjab declare at 371 for 8

PATIALA, Nov 25 (FOSR)— A gritty knock of 92 by Vikranjit Sodhi and a flamboyant 78 by skipper Harikrishan Kali enabled Punjab to pile up 371 for 8 declared against Himachal Pradesh in the North Zone Vijay Merchant Cricket Tournament league encounter played at the Dhruv Pandove Cricket Stadium here today.

Trailing by 210 runs, Himachal Pradesh were 20 for 2 at the draw of stumps.

Brief scores:

HP (Ist innings): 161 all out.

Punjab (Ist innings): 371 for 8 declared (Vikranjit Sodhi 92. H. Kali 78, Binwant 74, Ranjit Singh 29 n.o. Pankaj Thakur 3 for 36. Umesh Kumar 2 for 53).

HP (2nd innings): 20 for 2 (Amit 14 not out. Bikram Jit 2 for 10).

Tarun Ludhiana skipper

LUDHIANA, Nov 25 (FOSR)— Tarun Kanish, a student of Kundan Vidya Mandir School, has been selected to lead Ludhiana district cricket team (u-14) in the Punjab State Inter District Cricket Tournament for Sushil Bali Trophy being organised by the Punjab Cricket Association, according to Mr Vinod Chitkara, general secretary, LDCA.

Ludhiana will play their first match against Faridkot on November 27 at Faridkot. Other members of the team are: Amit Sharma, Jummy Shankar, Prabhjot S. Khatra, Tavish Gupta, Karan Goel, Ashish Vinayak, Karan Kapur, Jai Parkash, Karan Puri, Deepak Bajaj, Gautam Dhanda, Vikas Sethi, Abhijit Bassi, Rajiv Chinaliya, Chinton, Deepak Sharma, Dushyant, Parnanir, Vinod Arora, Sandip Dhanda, Tarun Passi.

GMS-28 defeat St John's

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (BOSR) — Government Model School, Sector 28, defeated St John's High School, Sector 26, by 20 runs to enter semifinal in the under-14 event of the UT Inter-School Knockout Cricket Tournament being played at Government High School, Sector 32, here today.

Brief scores: Govt Model-28: 121 all out in 19.4 overs (Vishal 28, Rakesh 12, Joginder 10, Mohinder 10, Harneet Arora 5 for 11, Yuvraj 4 for 13).

St John's-26: 101 all out in 18.1 overs (Harneet Arora 28, Rajat Bhalla 16, Jasraj Bhatti 11, Aseem Gill 10 n.o., Vishal 2 for 12, Amodh 2 for 20 Amit Bakshi 2 for 27.)

SD-32 to host CBSE meet

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (TNS) — SD Public School, Sector 32-C, here, will host the first CBSE North-East (zonal) Volleyball Championship from November 26 to 28, a press note issued by the school has said.

Twenty teams from Punjab, Delhi, UP, Bihar, Assam and Meghalaya will participate.

SD Public School basketball champs

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (BOSR) — Pandit Mohan Lal SD Public School, Sector 32, lifted the 2nd CBSE North East Zonal Basketball Championship by defeating DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 at 49-46 in the final. The championship was held at Ludhiana recently.

Roller skating meet from tomorrow

CHANDIGARH, Nov 25 (TNS) — The Haryana State Roller Skating Championship will be organised by the Haryana Roller Skating Association from November 27 to 29 at Skating Rink here.

While stating this here today, the president of the association, Mr Sushil Kumar, said that about 300 boys and girls from all over the state would participate in this championship. The outstanding players would be selected to represent the state at the national roller skating championship.

Fencing trials

CHANDIGARH (BOSR): The Himachal Pradesh Fencing Association will conduct the selection trials to select the state team for the Junior National Fencing Championship to be held at Guwahati (Assam) from December 26 to 28, at DAV College, Daulatpur Chowk, Una, on November 29 at 2.30 p.m.

Dist TT meet

CHANDIGARH, (BOSR): Muktsar district Table Tennis Association will organise the District Table Tennis Championship at Gidderbaha on November 26 and 27, a press note of the association has said.

Entries close with Mr Avtar Singh, City Club, Gidderbaha.