• Sachin not going
• Football trials
• Gymnastics meet

• Mongia to lead
• Handball meet

Indian lifters win 2 gold, 3 silver

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (PTI) — Arumugam Pandiyan and Dharmaraj Wilson hauled a gold each in the 56 kg class as Indian ironmen began their medal charge by scooping up two gold, three silver and three bronze medals on the opening day of the Commonwealth Games weightlifting competitions today.

Pandiyan hoisted the combined title with a Commonwealth record effort of 245 kg and picked up silvers in snatch and clean and jerk sections while Wilson lifted the clean and jerk gold and overall silver to make it an Indian one-two in two of the three sections in the weight category.

India added three more bronze medals in the 62 kg class in the face of stiff competition when Arun Murugesan came third in clean and jerk and overall and G. Gnanasekharan achieved that standard in snatch.

The 21-year-old Arumugam Pandiyan made a sensational international debut as he and his 26-year-old team-mate Wilson, both hailing from the Tamil Nadu port town of Tuticorin, made the 56 kg class their own show of friendly rivalry.

In fact, Pandiyan was unlucky not to clinch the snatch gold too after he and Australia’s Mehmet Yagci produced an identical lift of 107.5 kg. The Aussie was placed ahead as he had weighed in 20 grams lighter than the Indian.

Railway-employee Pandiyan followed up his superb snatch effort of 107.5 kg with an equally impressive clean and jerk attempt of 137.5 kg to clinch the overall gold with 245 kg.

Wilson, who could finish only sixth in snatch section after a poor haul of 102.5 kg, bounced back in brilliant fashion to clear 140.0 kg and claim the clean and jerk gold ahead of his team-mate.

The stupendous effort also enabled Wilson to take silver for combined (total) behind Pandiyan with a tally of 242.5 kg.

Malaysian Matin Guntali took the bronze medals in all three sections.

In the 62 kg class, the 21-year-old Murugesan Arun, who was also on his first overseas trip fetched two bronze medals in clean and jerk and overall while his 25-year-old countryman G. Gnanasekhar stood third in snatch.

Gnanasekhar took bronze in snatch with an effort of 117.5 kg with Arun pushed to fourth due to higher body weight after with an identical lift. But Arun hoisted 155.0 kg in clean and jerk where Gnanasekhar stood fourth (145.0 kg). The fine clean and jerk effort by Arun helped him take combined bronze with a total of 272.5 kg with Gnanasekharan (262.5) fourth.

Marcus Stephen of the Pacific island nation of Nauru swept to all three gold medals (125 + 167.5 = 292.5) and Yurik Sarkisian, an Australian with origins in the erstwhile Soviet bloc, winning the silver medals (125 + 157.5 = 282.5).

India had won only three gold medals in Victoria and coach Arun Kumar Sirohi was happy after the stellar opening day’s performance. "It is a good beginning. We are hoping for more medals tomorrow also. Have a good chance," he said.

India, who have fielded seven lifters here, hope to reap more medals from the 69 kg class through 23-year-old G. Vadivelu and Sandeep Kumar Sharma, who had finished fifth in the 1994 games in the 59 kg class.

The seasoned Sathish Rai, a silver medallist in the 70 kg class in Victoria, will compete in the 77 kg class.

India triumph in hockey

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (PTI) — Indian men pummelled a weak Trinidad and Tobago 8-0 in a pool-A league match, after jumping to a 3-0 lead at half-time, to keep their sights trained firmly on a semifinal berth in Commonwealth Games hockey here today.

The Indians had a field day pumping in goals at will with Baljit Singh Dhillon, Lakshmanan Prabhakaran and skipper Dhanraj Pillay notching up a brace of goals each with the other two strikes coming through Selvaraj Thirumalvalavan and Gagan Ajit Singh.

The runaway victory against a weak Caribbeans’ defence gave India their third win in four matches ahead of their fourth and crunch clash against New Zealand tomorrow.

India have won against South Africa, Wales and Trinidad after suffering a 2-5 reverse at the hands of title-favourites Australia who, later, suffered a shock defeat against South Africa which has thrown open the pool.

The Indian show today should have given them a major boost. They struck with embarrassing regularity in the lop-sided contest.

The Indians moved into top gear straightaway in today’s match and shot into the lead in the 11th minute when Baljit Singh Dhillon found the target off a penalty corner.

Dhillon trapped the ball neatly, moved in a bit before unleashing a blistering drive that gave no chance to Trinidadian custodian Glenn Francis.

The Indians stretched the lead to 3-0 before the breather when forward Prabhakaran struck twice in the space of 14 minutes.

The first goal, and the team’s second in the 21st minute, was a gem of an effort which he scored on-the-run by connecting a measured cross from the right sent by Dhillon who often switched his position to unsettle the rival defence.

Prabhakaran struck once again, a minute before half-time, when he capitalised on a rebound following a try from Pillay to slot home from close range.

Pillay, then, got into the goal-scoring act with a brilliant solo effort five minutes into the second stanza.

The Indian captain dodged his way past a host of defenders with sheer speed and mesmerising stickwork in his inimitable style before gently pushing the ball in with the rival defence in total disarray.

Pillay struck again, four minutes later, by scoring off a penalty corner rebound to put India into a commanding 5-0 lead against a set of totally flummoxed opponents who were left clueless on how to stop the rampaging Indians.

Thirumalvalavan found the target in the 47th minute (6-0) before Baljit Dhillon completed a brace by converting a penalty corner award in the 53rd minute to take his tally of goals to five in the tournament.

The hard-working Gagan Ajit later hammered the final nail on the Trinidadian coffin in the 67th minute with a neat placement after Dhillon did the spadework by breaking through the right flank.

Indian eves beaten

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (PTI) — Title favourites Australia put an end to India’s winning streak by handing down an emphatic 4-0 verdict in a pool ‘A’ league clash to storm into the semifinals of the Commonwealth Games women’s hockey today.

India, hoping to put up a strong fight after registering three easy victories in a row, had no answer to the tactical superiority of the world champions as they trailed 0-3 at the break before tightening their defence to good effect on change of ends.

With four successive wins in the six team pool, the Aussies have assured themselves of a place in the last four stage while India have to put it across Scotland in their final league match to ensure a knockout berth in their quest for a medal.

Having won all their previous matches with huge margins, Australia launched into the offensive straightaway and struck a brace of goals by Michelle Andrews (10th, 62nd) and star player Katrina Powell (12th, 22nd).

Michelle Andrews converted an early penalty corner and the Aussie eves tightened their grip when Powell produced a superb field goal after breaking through the Indian defence, which looked tentative at times in the face of the merciless onslaughts.

Katrina Powell, one of Australia’s stars in their World Cup triumph, looked very dangerous with her searing runs through the flanks and struck again in the 23rd minute with another solo effort after the Indian defence caved in once again.

Trailing 0-3 at the break, the Indians made a valiant effort to reduce the margin with a series of attacks launched mainly through either flanks, but the goal remained elusive till the final hooter.

Centre forward Pritam Rani Thakran, who has pumped in eight goals in the championship, was marked tightly which crippled the Indian forays. The usually busy Kamla Dalal and Manjinder also could not find too much space to operate with the Aussies nipping Indian attacks before it could reach the striking circle.

The Indian forwardline, which had no difficulty in piercing the defence of weaker teams, could not make much of an impact against the Aussies who managed to snatch the ball away before it posed any big threat to their citadel.

But the Indians tightened the defence in the second half giving little room to their vastly superior opponents which helped them restrict the margin of defeat to some extent.

But Australia, though not being able to get their moves going on most occasions in the second half, managed to score the fourth goal through a penalty corner conversion by Michelle Andrews in the final minutes.

Rana, Satendra win 3rd shooting medal

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (UNI) — Jaspal Rana and Satendra Kumar got India’s third medal from shooting in the Commonwealth Games, but this time a silver, when they finished two points behind England’s Michael Gault and Nick Baxter today in the pairs events of air pistol at Langkawi, 400 km north of the Malaysian capital.

Although Indians missed the gold, as Satendra Kumar’s performance was not all that great, the satisfying part was that Rana, the flag bearer of the Indian contingent, was way ahead of the 34 shooters from 17 countries with a score of 581 and should be wearing the individual gold in the event around his neck on September 20. A better performance than 562 by Satendra Kumar would have brought India the pairs gold this morning.

Yesterday Rana and Ashok Pandit had claimed the centre fire pistol pairs gold and on Sunday Mansher Singh and Manavjit Singh had brought in the first gold when they won the trap pairs.

Rana, who won two gold medals at the last games in Victoria, had consistent score of 96 in the first three series, improved to 97 in the next two and then got into top gear and finished off with a superb 99. Kumar began with a decent score of 96 and 94, then slipped to 91 in the third series, picked up again with 94 and 95 but finished poorly with a 92.

Michael Gault, with 578, was closest to Rana and unless the Indian ace is in really bad form, the gold should be his in the individual event. Besides Gault, the only others to hit 570 and more were John Rochon of Canada (570), Friedhelm Sack of Namibia (575) and Bangladesh’s Nazrul Islam (572).

Gault’s partner Nick Baxter came up with a steady 567 which enabled the English pair to edge out Indians for the gold. John Rochon and Jean-Pierre Huot brought the bronze to Canada with a total of 1138.

When contacted on phone, the Indian camp was pretty upbeat and confident of improving on the three gold medals won in Victoria.

The women shooters have not been doing too well. Roopa Unnikrishnan and Anjali Vedpathak finished seventh while Shilpi Singh and Sushma Rana were sixth in the smallbore sports rifle and air pistol events yesterday.

The only other gold decided today had no Indian in it. The skeet pairs gold was won by Costas Stratis and Antonis Nicolaides of Cyprus with a score of 188. Australia’s Andrew Austin and Drew Harvey took the silver with 187 and Douglas McCutcheon and Joe Trinici of Canada claimed the bronze with 186.

Boldon keen to erase Bailey's world mark

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (Reuters) — Trinidad's Ato Boldon set the pace in the first round of heats for the Commonwealth Games 100 metres today, finishing in 10.17 seconds but pledging to keep plenty in the tank for tomorrow's final.

Boldon, the fastest man in the world this year, has said he will be out to break Donovan Bailey's 9.84 world record on the untested Bukit Jalil track.

Next fastest was Namibia's Frankie Fredericks, who raced 10.19 to push fast-improving young Australian Matt Shirvington, who finished in 10.24.

But the most impressive performance of the heats came from Barbadian Obadele Thompson, who cruised through in 10.30, easing off in the last 10 metres to finish 0.05 ahead of Canada's Bradley Mccuaig in 10.35.

Thompson won the world cup 100 metres in Johannesburg at the weekend in 9.87, the second-fastest time this year.

Boldon said he intended to avoid the drama of last year's world athletics championships in Athens, where he went under 10 seconds in the heats but failed to capture a medal. "There'll be no theatrics, not like in Athens," he said.

"English hope Darren Campbell won his heat in 10.23, while Erick Nkansah-Appiah won his in a smooth 10.25.

Second-round heats were due to be held later today.

In the men's 400 metres heats, Sri Lanka's Sugan Thilakaratne was the only racer to dip under 16 seconds as he sped away the field in heat five. Thilakaratne finished in 45.97.

European champion Iwan Thomas qualified second fastest in his heat, coming home in 46.76, behind Jamaica's Gregory Haughton in 46.38. Thomas's English rival Mark Richardson won the tightest heat of the morning in 46.19 just edging Zimbabwe's Jeffrey Maswanhise (46.20) and Kenya's Abedengo Matilu (46.25).

The heptathlon competition saw an intriguing three-way tussle in the high jump between English's Denise Lewis Australia's Jane Jamieson and Canada's Catherine Bond-Mills.

All three eventually failed to clear 1.85 metres to leave Lewis, who won the earlier 100 metres hurdles race in 13.77 seconds, leading after two events with 2,014 points to Jamieson's 1,997 and the Canadian's 1,988.

Early exit not much of a surprise

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (PTI) — The Indian team’s ignominous exit from the debut-making cricket event of the Commonwealth Games did not come as a surprise, but they could have bowed out with at least their guns blazing.

With many of the top players playing in the Sahara Cup series against arch rivals Pakistan in Toronto, the depleted squad failed to put up inspired show against the full-strength Australia in their crucial and last group-B league match yesterday and got knocked out by 145 runs.

The Indians, who had the match under control at one stage with Australia gasping at 84 for five, failed to put the lid on the Aussies’ recovery act with captain Steve Waugh (100 not out) and Tom Moody (76 not out) wresting the initiative from the Ajay Jadeja-led team.

However, the Indian cricket board has to share part of the blame for the team's indifferent show here. The board could not make up its mind about the composition of the team for the Commonwealth Games till the eleventh hour.

The board’s decision to "send two formidable teams’’ to both the Sahara Cup and the Games by virtually spliting the national team into two halves was not too wise as it broke up a combination which was yielding results in the last eight months.

Star performers Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble and Robin Singh were asked to board the flight to Kuala Lumpur, a decision aimed mainly at pacifying the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after the war of words between the two premier sports bodies over composition of the games team.

Once the board agreed to take part in the Games, it found itself in a no-win situation as IOA kept piling on pressure for sending the best possible team in national interest, a demand which it could not meet because of the contract with the promoters of the Toronto series against Pakistan.

The IOA’s sentimental refrain of "it is a question of medal or cash’’ put the board in a far more embarrassing position as sending a second-string team could have led to misinterpretation of its intentions.

By opting to send "two equally formidable teams’’, it took a great gamble hoping that the teams would click at both places at the same time. But spliting a winning combination could be disastrous has been proved.

Speculations about whether the four senior players would fly to Toronto if India lost the match against Australia further queered the pitch here. It did not help the players also who were confused with various officials saying different things at different times.

All these factors combined together to upset the team’s equilibrium and, except for Kumble, the other three seniors performed dismally in the tournament, which, in a large measure, led to the team’s uninspiring show.

Indian eves move into third round

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (UNI) — Indian women shuttlers, including medal hope Aparna Popat, moved into the third round of individual competitions of Commonwealth badminton today with victories against players far below their standards.

Aparna, the India number one, walloped A Wilson of Samoa 11-1, 11-1, Neelima Chaudhary thrashed Scotland’s Gillian Martin 11-4, 11-1, Manjusha Kanwar took a 11-1, 11-1 win over Amrita Sawaram of Mauritius and p.v.v. Lakshmi, playing her first singles at the Games, had no trouble beating G. Agnes of Fiji 11-3, 11-2.

After a brilliant showing in the team championships, although on game difference they had to settle for the bronze, India’s medal hopes are now pinned on shuttlers taking part in individual events.

Aparna’s real test will come against world number 16 Li Feng of New Zealand whom she is expected to meet in the quarterfinals. The former Chinese player, who is now settled in New Zealand, beat Jersey’s Danielle Le Feuvre 11-9, 11-2 in the second round today.

But Neelima, who next meets Elizabeth Cann of Jersey, has a big fight on her hands in the prequarters as she is going to clash with Kelly Morgan, the top-seed here and world number 10.

The Welsh player did not lose a match in the team championships and in the second round today beat Mara Faletoesse 11-0, 11-0.

Manjusha’s next encounter is against Charmaine Reed of Canada whom she should easily beat. But after that she will run into England’s Julia Mann, the second seed here. However, on current form, the Indian has a very good chance of going through to the quarters.

Lakshmi next meets Malaysian Sze Mei Woon ranked 57th in the world. Since Lakshmi has not been tested in the singles in the team events, she might find the going a bit tough against the Malaysian, particularly since Woon will have tremendous crowd support.

Hackett out to mar Perkins' reputation

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (AFP) — World champion Grant Hackett will be looking to further undermine the reputation of Australian team rival Kieren Perkins in the gruelling 1,500 metres swimming final here tomorrow.

Hackett is the new king of the swimming marathon, while Perkins, still only 25, is fighting to retain his sporting virility to keep him in the team for the 2000 Olympics.

The 19-year-old Hackett is determined to break Perkins’ world record of 14:41.66 set at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games. He thrives on the punishing 30 lap race and is sure he will get a new personal best in tomorrow’s final.

Hackett clocked a slick 15:19.63 in the heats, where Scotland’s Graeme Smith came second. He took the world title in January with a time of 14:51.70. He said the winning time in Kuala Lumpur would be under 15 minutes, but aims to go much faster.

"I think the time that will win it is between 14:50 and 14:55, but my goal is to do a personal best and to get it into the 40’s, that would be great," said Hackett who swam the third fastest time in history in coming second to Ian Thorpe in the 400m freestyle final last night.

Perkins was only fourth fastest qualifier for his big race, behind England’s Ian Wilson. Atlanta Olympics silver medallist Daniel Kowalnki of Australia was fifth quickest in 15:43.39.

Perkins, who scraped into the Atlanta Olympics final with the slowest qualifying time only to defy the pundits and steal the gold medal, was troubled by his heat time of 15:34.75.

"That was a hard swim for me," said the triple world record holder.

There is a barely veiled rivalry between Perkins and Hackett, who has Perkins’ world record time pinned on the door of his bathroom to ponder.

Time is on Hackett’s side though.

Perkins did not make the World Championships in Perth and struggled into the Commonwealth Games squad as the number three member of the 1,500m team.

But he is sticking to a quest for an unprecedented triple 1500m Olympic gold medal in Sydney and has the deep respect of Australian head coach Don Talbot.

Smith, who took the bronze medal in Atlanta, wants to break the 15-minute barrier for the first time.

The Scot admitted though that even if he broke 15 minutes it may not be enough to win a medal here.

"Grant is obviously the favourite after his 400m swim yesterday, but whether he gets close to Kieren’s (Perkins) record I’m not sure, but my aim is to go under 15 minutes," said Smith, whose best is 15:02.48 from the Atlanta final.

South Africa oust Sri Lanka

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 (Reuter) — South Africa ousted World Cup champions Sri Lanka in a nail-biting battle of spin today to march into the inaugural cricket final at the Commonwealth Games.

The Springbok hero with both bat and ball was Nicky Boje, who took four wickets as Sri Lanka tumbled to 130 all out in 44 overs, then steered South Africa to an unlikely victory with an unbeaten ninth wicket stand of 35 with Alan Dawson.

Sri Lanka, who brought to Kuala Lumpur only one of their established stars, captain Hashan Tillekeratne, looked to have the match well in hand with the South Africans reduced to 96 for nine on a viciously turning wicket.

But then Boje and Dawson came together and decided not to do what most of the other batsmen had done - attack spinners who were turning the ball by as much as 75 degrees.

Batsmen on both sides went sweeping, pulling and driving the spinners without ever getting to the pitch of the ball properly.

"We were not going to play any risky shots. We ran the two and picked up the ones," said Dawson.

There were not many twos, but with plenty of time left the pair defended watchfully, picking up occasional singles until Sri Lanka’s quartet of spinners — introduced in the second over of the innings — had used up their allocation.

The pace quickened a little as the second-line bowlers came on, but Boje (20 no) and Dawson (15 no) still took no risks in accumulating the necessary runs to put the Springboks into the final against Australia or New Zealand, who play tomorrow.

After struggling to 130, the Sri Lankans could not afford to give much away and their spinners were well nigh impossible to play and their fielding was outstanding.

Jacques Kallis was one of the very few South African batsmen who looked at least half comfortable at the crease until Boje and Dawson got together, but he went out to a stunning run out.

Milanda Warnapura chased down the ball at short extra cover, then managed to toss it towards the bowler’s end as he fell in the opposite direction. His throw was right on top of the stumps and Kallis was gone for 10.

Most of the other South African batsmen went out attacking but in the end it was patience, not normally a critical virtue in the one-day game, which won the match.

The Sri Lankan batsmen went in much the same fashion as Boje and Derek Crookes proved early on how much the pitch would turn.

Left-arm spinner Boje took four for 16 in nine overs, while Crookes took two wickets and conceded only 17 runs in 10 overs.

The only real danger to their dominance came from Avishka Gunawardene, who completed an excellent tournament — having hit the first century of the games as cricket made its debut — by scoring 53.

But he went like most of the rest, hitting out at a ball that spun just too much for the shot.

Gunawardene, who had struck three fours and a six, stepped out for a big hit from off-spinner Crookes. The ball spun wickedly, Gunawardene was stranded well out of his crease and Mark Boucher took an easy stumping.

Ganguly India's key weapon: Richards

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 (PTI) — All-rounder Sourav Ganguly could be India’s key weapon in next year’s cricket World Cup in England as his seam bowling should be ideal for English conditions, West Indies great Viv Richards said yesterday.

"Ganguly is an intelligent user of the swing and in typical English conditions where slow medium pacers get maximum help, he could be lethal," Richards, technical director of the Antiguan team at the Commonwealth Games, told PTI.

"He is a positive individual and an elegant left-hander and makes batting look so easy," he said of Ganguly.

The Calcutta all-rounder’s showing in the first match against Pakistan in the ongoing Sahara Cup at Toronto and his exploits at the same venue last year suggested that he should excel in England, the former West Indies captain said while reminiscing about the deadly seam bowling of Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Balwinder Singh Sandhu in India’s 1983 World Cup triumph.

"Even Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh could be the aces in India’s bowling attack," he said.

On India’s pace attack, he said with a new crop of youngsters like Ajit Agarkar to complement Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad India looked a strong World Cup contender.

Richards was however disappointed with Antigua’s showing in the Games, "We have a talented batting line-up but it failed to deliver the goods against Australia. We should have got at least 150 on the board to give our bowlers a chance."

The Antiguan attack, boasting of the best pace quartet on view here with Curtly Ambrose, Kenneth Benjamin, Winston Benjamin and Eldine Baptiste, could have given the strong Aussies a scare had it got a better total to defend, he said.

"We were real unlucky against India in the opening match. India has not sent a full team here and we got Sachin out cheaply, we were on top then," he said, rueing the rain that forced abandonment of the game and robbed his side of a chance to grab two full points and stay in contention for the semi-final berth from group E.

But the trip here, Richards said, had given international exposure to some of the talented youngsters.

"West Indies under-19 captain Sylvester Joseph and Anthony Lake, the best off-spinner I have seen since (Lance) Gibbs who can also bat well, are the two players we hope to graduate to the national team from Antigua in the days to come," he said.

Akram hires judge to fight charges

LONDON, Sept 16 (AP) — Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram resigned from international cricket yesterday and hired a retired judge to help him fight match-fixing allegations.

Akram, who has captained Lancashire to two English titles this season, also slammed Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Majid Khan for heading a witch-hunt against him.

"The match-fixing allegations are a conspiracy, especially within the board," he said.

Akram had planned to play for Pakistan in a Test series against Australia later this month and had quit as Lancashire captain, after 10 years with the county, to concentrate on Pakistan’s 1999 World Cup campaign.

The 32-year-old all-rounder said it could take two or three years to clear his name but he has not ruled out a return to international cricket.

"I’ve taken on a former judge from Karachi because I must clear my name for me, my friends, my family and most of all my son," he told Britain’s domestic news agency.

Unfortunately I have to leave cricket. When allegations arise you need to fight it out — you can’t just sit back.

"I would love to carry on but I simply can’t. But I’m happy because I know that I have done nothing wrong."

Akram said he heard the match-fixing allegations against him through the media.

"If there’s evidence that I’ve been involved, (the PCB) should come out and fight it in court," he said.

Akram said the allegation "probably arose due to a lot of politics" within Pakistani cricket.

"People begrudge me because I am earning millions and they are not," he said.

"But they’re all getting at me in particular. They don’t seem to realise it takes six, seven or eight people from a team to rig a match."

The International Cricket Council revealed last week that Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed had been implicated in match-fixing allegations and were being investigated by the PCB.

The investigations commenced with a board committee of enquiry, which was later reinforced by a government judicial commission.

An interim report by the PCB found the three players responsible for match-fixing and recommended they be banned from Tests until further investigations were completed.

However, Malik and Ahmed were selected to play for Pakistan in the Sahara Cup international series against India currently underway in Canada.

Akram has continued to play for Lancashire, which has already won two limited-overs titles this season and is in the running for the county championship.

Kapil faces opposition at HCA meeting
From Our Correspondent

BHIWANI, Sept 16 — Former international cricketer Kapil Dev faced great opposition at a meeting of the Haryana Cricket Association held here today at the residence of its honorary secretary, Mr Ranbir Singh Mahendra, Kapil Dev, who came here as secretary of the Gurgaon Cricket Association, had to leave the meeting when the district units objected to his statements to the Press a few days back. Later, the association expressed faith in the present executive body with the exclusion of its joint secretary and doctor of the Indian cricket team Dr Ravindra Chadha. The meeting flayed the former captain for his "indemocratic attemptus" to grab the post of secretary.

Secretaries of 16 district units and a few representatives of other district units interested in affiliation with the association took part in the long-awaited meeting of the association. These representatives, later alleged during a Press conference that Kapil Dev had been interfering through unfair means in the affairs of the association. An international scorer and the secretary of Sonepat District Cricket Association, Naresh Parashar, appreciating the efforts of Mr Ranbir Singh for the upliftment of cricket in Haryana, alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to install "opportunists" like Kapil Dev. The honorary secretary of Rohtak Cricket Association, Aman Kuamr, alleged that Kapil Dev, under a conspiracy, shifted the India-Sri Lanka match from Faridabad to Ferozshah Kotla Stadium, Delhi, whereas five one-day international matches had already been organised at Faridabad. He said the pitch at Faridabad stadium was for better than Cochin and Vadodra but member of the pitch committee Kapil Dev did not use his good offices to finalise Faridabad as venue.

Secretary of the Sonepat Cricket Association Naresh Parashar alleged that Kapirl Dev was allotted a large piece of land on the National Highway No 10 to set up a cricket academy but now he had given it on contract basis for his personal gain.

Mr Ranbir Singh Mahendra, refuting the charges levelled by Kapil Dev that Rs 10 to Rs 12 crore was lying with Haryana Cricket Association, said that the association only had Rs 1.50 crore in its account. He said if state governments provided land, the association would construct its own international stadium.

The joint secretary of the Haryana Cricket Association, O.P Taneja, said Kapil Dev had made a request for becoming secretary of the Gurgaon Cricket Association and had promised to make efforts to set up an international stadium there.

Mr Ranbir Singh told the Press that Kapil Dev had come with court orders and the meeting obeyed and maintained the decorum.

A former Test cricketer Chetan Sharma could not attend the meeting. He had come as a representative of the Panchkula Cricket Association. According to Mr Ranbir Singh, the Panchkula Cricket Association was not affiliated with the Association and so, Chetan Sharma was not allowed to attend the meeting.

The meeting passed the budget for 1998-99 and passed the accounts for the previous financial year. The following committees were also constituted unanimously: Senior selection committee: chairman: Rajender Goyal, member: Aman Kumar and Rajesh Bava, Convener: Ranbir Singh.

Junior selection committee: chairman — Rajender Amarnath, members: Ajay Gupta, Ashwani Kumar and Bijender Rana, Convener: O.P. Taneja.

Tournament Technical committee: Ajay Kumar Gupta, Aman Kumar, Devender Rathee, Bijender Rana and convener: O.P. Taneja.

Coaching committee: chairman: Ashwani Kumar, member — Vijay Goyal and Kishori Lal, convener: O.P. Teneja.

Umpires’ committee- O.P. Taneja, K.K. Chahel, Ajay Gupta and Rajesh Dutt and convener — Dr Ved Beniwal.

Statutory committee — Naresh Parashar, Pradeep Gupta, Anil Khanna and convener — Aman Kumar.

Mr S.K. Misra has been nominated chairman of the finance committee and Mr Arvind Chaudhary will be a member of the committee.

Sweden Davis Cup squad

STOCKHOLM, Sept 16 (Reuters) — Defending champions Sweden named Jonas Bjorkman to head their team for the Davis Cup semifinal against Spain from September 25 to 27.

Captain Carl-Axel Hageskog called up Bjorkman, Thomas Johansson, Magnus Larsson and Nicklas Kulti for the clash in Stockholm where Sweden will be seeking a place in the final against the USA or Italy.

Sweden swept the USA 5-0 in last year's final.

Thomas Enqvist won one of the opening singles in the quarter-final against Germany but in named in the semifinal team. Bjorkman won the deciding reverse singles in the quarter-final, beating Nicolas Kiefer in five sets.

BSF Inter-Frontier Meet from today
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, Sept 16 — The BSF Inter-Frontier Athletic Meet will be organised by the Punjab Frontier at Ashwani Stadium in the BSF complex here from September 17 to 20. BSF athletes from all corners of the country will converge on Jalandhar to participate in the meet.

There will be a total of 10 teams representing all BSF frontiers besides training institutions and reserve battalions. Of these, four will be from north India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat Frontiers and four from the eastern region, i.e Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

According to Mr S.K. Dutta of BSF, top athletes like Parveen Kumar have won laurels for the force and the country in the past.

This meet shall also witness a keen contest between top athletes.

A games village with required facilities has been set up for the meet. The meet will be declared open on September 17 at 3.45 p.m. by Mr M.S. Bhullar, Additional DGP, PAP, Jalandhar. The chief guest at the closing ceremony will be Mr E. N. Rammohan, IPS, Director-General, BSF.

Sachin not going

NEW DELHI, Sept 16 (PTI) — In a sudden volte-face, the Indian Cricket Board today decided, without giving any reasons, not to send Sachin Tendulkar and three other players to Toronto to reinforce the team in the Sahara Cup series against Pakistan. Less than 24 hours after board president Raj Singh Dungarpur had announced that Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble and Robin Singh would proceed to Toronto to join the team for the last two of the five-match one-day series, BCCI secretary Jayawant Lele gave out this reversal of decision.

Mongia to lead
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 16 — Dinesh Mongia will lead Chandigarh in the Punjab Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the Katoch Shield starting on September 21.

The other members of the team are: Uvraj Singh, Harminder Singh Kaku, Bhupinder Singh Jr Jaspreet Singh, Balraj Singh, Jagjit Singh Saini, Nagesh Gupta, Viram Sodhi, Munish Warral, Amit Anurag, Sanjay Dhall, Jaisreet Singh, Dhiraj, Saurab, Lilly and Major Singh.

Football trials

PHAGWARA (FOSR): Trials to select the Punjab football probables for the 21st Subjunior National Football Championship will be held at the local JCT Stadium on September 24 at 11 a.m., according to Mr G.S. Virk, secretary, Punjab Football Association. Players born on or after January 1, 1983, are eligible.

Handball meet

FEROZEPORE (FOC): The District Handball Championship will be held at the local Malwa Khalsa Senior Secondary School on September 23 and 24, according to the association president, Mr Karnail Singh Bhullar. Entries should be sent to the school Principal by September 22.

Cross country race
From Our Correspondent

AMRITSAR, Sept 16 — Punjab Athletes Welfare Association organised a cross country race in the memory of Bhagat Puran Singh, founder of all-India Pingalwara society here at the Guru Nanak Dev University sports complex.

In the men's event, Paramjit Singh of Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, won the 12.5 kilometre race and in the women's section Amandeep Kaur of R.G. Women College, Phagwara (in the 5 kilometre race), claimed the title. The team event, the open championship was claimed by Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, for men and in women sections title was won by R.R. Bawa DAV College for Women, Batala.

In the junior boys (8 kms) and girls (3 kms) sections Rajesh Kumar of Government High School, Tibba, and Naginder Kaur of Tarn Taran won the individual championships, respectively.

The team championship for girls (3 km) was won by Nehru Garden Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, Jalandhar, while among the boys section it was claimed by Government Senior Secondary school, Tibba.

Gymnastics meet

LUDHIANA (fosr): The Ludhiana District Gymnastics Championship for boys and girls will be held here at the multipurpose hall of Guru Nanak Stadium on September 22 and 23, according to Dr G.S. Grewal, president, Ludhiana District Gymnastics Association. Entries close on September 20 with Prof Prem Walia, secretary, LDGA.