PORT OF SPAIN : Australians celebrating the run out of West Indies batsman Carl Hooper by Ricky Ponting left in the 4th One Day International, West Indies vs Australia at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday. Others are Adam Gilchrist (centre) and Shane Lee (right) — AP/PTI

Russia to clash with Slovakia in semis
LONDON, April 19 — Russia’s Elana Makarova and Elena Likhovtseva scored a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Nathalie Tauziat and Amelie Mauresmo in the deciding doubles yesterday to gain a semifinal place in the Federation Cup. With the match all square at 2-2 after the singles, the Russian duo overwhelmed the fancied French pair in the opening set and then held on in the tiebreaker.

Boldon, Jones triumph
WALNUT(California), April 19 — Marion Jones, who plans to go for four gold medals in this summer’s world championships and five in the 2000 Olympics, cruised to an easy 400-metre victory in the Mt. SAC relays.

Karnataka 291 for 9
BANGALORE, April 19 — A fighting 86 by in form Vijay Bharadwaj and Sujit Somasundar’s 70 helped defending champions Karnataka close the opening day on 291 for nine in the Ranji Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh here today.

Two Indian referees for SAFF Cup
NEW DELHI, April 19 — Tamil Nadu’s K. Shankar and Michael Andrews of Kerala are among the seven referees who have been chosen by the Asian Football Confederation for supervising the South Asian Football Federation Cup to be played in Margao from April 22 to May 1.

Upset win for Radhika
MUMBAI, April 19 — Unseeded Radhika Tulpule today shocked 2nd seed Anna Nefedova of Russia when the Indian beat her opponent 6-3 6-2 in the women's singles first round of the ITF Women's Tennis Circuit (Indian first leg) here.

Nigeria, Brazil ousted
LAGOS, April 19 — Mali knocked hosts Nigeria out of the World Youth Cup last evening while Uruguay beat three-time champions Brazil 2-1 with a controversial late penalty on a day when another match was halted by a powercut.

Hingis maintain lead
HAMBURG, April 19 — Martina Hingis of Switzerland maintained her lead in an unchanged women's top 10 tennis rankings issued today by the WTA.

Wrestling bouts at Badal
CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Top wrestlers from India and Pakistan will test their skill and strength at Bhikhiwind on April 21 and at Badal village on April 25, according to former international wrestler Kartar Singh and now President of the Punjab Wrestling Association.

Two city girls for Asia-Pacific Golf
CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Two Chandigarh girls have made it into the Indian team for the 21st Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship to be held at Myanmar from May 4 to 7.

Warne rediscovers form as Aussies win

PORT OF SPAIN (Trinidad), April 19 (Reuters) — A vintage performance with bat and ball from Shane Warne and some fielding magic by Ricky Ponting carried Australia to a 20-run win over West Indies in their fourth one-day international here yesterday.

After being held to 189 for nine in their 50 overs, Australia dismissed West Indies for 169 with almost four overs remaining to square the seven-match series 2-2.

Australia looked to be heading for defeat after paceman Mervyn Dillon claimed career-best figures of four for 20 to wreck their middle order and leave them on 104 for eight. But then Michael Bevan, with 59 not out, and Warne produced a record ninth-wicket stand to give Australia at least a competitive total.

West Indies then struggled against Warne’s penetrative leg-spin bowling and despite an enterprising 42 off 49 balls by veteran Phil Simmons, celebrating his 36th birthday, they were bowled out for 169 in the 47th over.

Warne showed further signs of the form of old which he has struggled to recapture in the wake of major shoulder surgery last year. He finished with three for 35 from his 10 overs, including the prized wicket of West Indian captain Brian Lara who was bowled for six when attempting a sweep.

Ponting, who missed the last two matches with a strained stomach muscle, was equally devastating in the field and reasserted the Australians’ claim that along with South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes he is the best fielder in the world.

Ponting combined with wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist to run out Jimmy Adams (27) as he attempted a quick single, and repeated the dose 10 overs later when his direct hit from gully caught Carl Hooper (23) well short of his ground.

He narrowly missed claiming a third victim when the third umpire decided Nehemiah Perry had just beaten another direct hit in the 43rd over.

Earlier, Dillon at one stage boasted the extraordinary figures of four wickets for two runs from five overs.

The strongly-built 24-year-old Trinidadian, omitted for the previous two matches, made the most of the variable bounce offered by the two-paced pitch and reaped the rewards of moving the ball off the seam away from the right handers.

After Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose had taken care of the top order to have Australia struggling at 78 for four in the 19th over, Dillon delivered what appeared to be the knockout blow when he tore through the middle order.

In the space of 26 balls he fired out Australian captain Steve Waugh, bowled Tom Moody with a perfectly pitched leg-cutter and had Shane Lee and Brendon Julian caught behind off consecutive deliveries which left the innings in tatters.

But then Bevan joined forces with Warne to launch a rearguard action and their 77-run ninth-wicket stand, which was broken when Warne was run out in the final over, was a record for Australia in one-day internationals.

Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA:
Gilchrist lbw b Walsh 25
M. Waugh b Ambrose 18
Ponting c Jacobs b Walsh 7
Lehmann b Ambrose 12
S. Waugh lbw b Dillon 16
Bevan not out 59
Lee c Jacobs b Dillon 1
Moody b Dillon 4
Julian c Jacobs b Dillon 0
Warne run out 29
Fleming not out 0
Extras: (b-5, lb-7, w-5, nb-1) 18
Total: (9 wkts, 50 overs) 189
Fall of wkts: 1-39, 2-49, 3-66, 4-78, 5-91, 6-93, 7-103, 8-104, 9-181 bowling
Bowling: Ambrose 10-1-39-2, Walsh 10-0-37-2 (3w), Simmons 4.3-0-27-0 (1nb), Dillon 10-5-20-4 (1w), Hooper 10-0-29-0 (1w), Perry 5.3-0-25-0.

WEST INDIES:
Campbell lbw b Fleming 13
Jacobs run out 29
Adams run out 27
Hooper run out 23
Lara b Warne 6
Williams b Warne 0
Simmons c Gilchrist b Lee 42
Ambrose lbw b Warne 4
Dillon b Fleming 2
Perry not out 8
Walsh b Lee 1
Extras: (lb-4, w-8, nb-2) 14
Total: (all out, 46.2 overs) 169
Fall of wkts: 1-27, 2-60, 3-90, 4-97, 5-103, 6-116, 7-135, 8-149, 9-166, 10-169
Bowling: Fleming 10-1-30-2 (2w), Julian 3-0-21-0, Warne 10-1-35-3 (1nb, 1w), Moody 7-1-24-0, M. Waugh 5-0-16-0 (1w), S. Waugh 5-0-13-0 (1nb), Lee 6.2-1-26-2 (1w).

Seles gives USA unbeatable lead

RALEIGH (USA), April 19 (Reuters) — Monica Seles continued her dominant ways in Fed Cup play, sealing the U.S. Victory over Croatia with a 6-0 6-3 defeat of Iva Majoli in the first reverse single.

The victory by Seles gave the USA an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five series and a date in Italy on July 24-25, and lifted her Fed Cup singles record to 10-0. The Americans went on to a 5-0 sweep yesterday after winning the second reverse singles and doubles matches.

Seles, ranked third in the world, wasted little time in both of her singles wins over the weekend. Yesterday’s win took only 42 minutes - the first set took just 16 minutes -and on Saturday, she defeated Silvija Talaja in just 63.

"I was on," said Seles. "Everything was going my way."

U.S. captain Billie Jean King had nothing but praise for Seles. "She played unbelievably well," King said. "I was looking at her this weekend and last week, and she’s getting physically stronger, and I just think it will be interesting to see her the rest of the year."

While Seles was clearly on top of her game, Majoli made many of the same mistakes which led to her defeat on Saturday by Chanda Rubin.

Majoli did jump out to a 2-0 lead in the second set.

Seles, who rarely found herself behind this weekend, said she began to think about the last time she played Majoli. "Here we go again like in Tokyo when I lost to her," said Seles, who lost there after taking the first set.

But Seles, cheered on by the American crowd chanting "USA, USA," would not fold.

A pair of double faults led to Seles tying the score at 2-2. From there, Seles scored four of the last five points for the win.

For the match, Majoli committed 35 unforced errors, including 14 in first set. Seles totalled only 12.

In the meaningless second singles match, Chanda Rubin defeated Talaja 6-3 6-4. In doubles play, Seles and Rubin defeated Majoli/Talaja 6-3 6-2.

Russia to clash with Slovakia in semis

LONDON, April 19 (AP) — Russia’s Elana Makarova and Elena Likhovtseva scored a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Nathalie Tauziat and Amelie Mauresmo in the deciding doubles yesterday to gain a semifinal place in the Federation Cup.

With the match all square at 2-2 after the singles, the Russian duo overwhelmed the fancied French pair in the opening set and then held on in the tiebreaker.

"The Russian team is a very strong team. And a brave one," French coach Guy Forget conceded after his team’s loss.

The Russians will meet Slovakia, which clinched victory over Switzerland in Zurich when Henrieta Nagyova downed Emmanuelle Gagliardi 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 to put her team out of reach at 3-0.

Switzerland was playing without its top two players, World no. 1 Martina Hingis, who can’t fit Fed Cup play into her busy schedule, and Patty Schnyder, who won’t play for the team until the other players, her parents and the media accept her relationship with her controversial "healer" Rainer Harnecker.

The USA will face Spain in the other semifinal.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Monica Seles and Chanda Rubin teamed to give the USA a 5-0 sweep of Croatia in a match that was moved because of NATO’s airstrikes in Yugoslavia.

Seles routed croatia’s Iva Majoli 6-0, 6-3, and Rubin beat Silvija Talaja Talaja 6-3, 6-4.

In Reggio Calabria, Italy, Rita Grande and Silvia Farina won singles matches as Italy eliminated defending champion Spain 3-2.
Grande sealed the outcome, giving Italy an insurmountable 3-1 lead, by easily overpowering Virginia Ruano-Pascual 6-4, 6-1. Earlier, Farina beat Magui Serna 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

In world group ii matches, one level below group I, Austria hit back from 2-0 down to beat Australia 3-2 in Klagenfurt belgium scored a crushing 5-0 on the road victory over the Netherlands and the Czech Republic downed Belarus 4-1 in Minsk.

The remaining match, Germany vs Japan, takes place next weekend in Hamburg.

Passarella to coach Uruguay

MONTEVIDEO, April 19 (AFP) — Argentinian football legend Daniel Passarella has finally confirmed he will be the new coach of Uruguay although he will only take the reins after the Copa America this summer.

Passarella, who quit as Argentina coach following their World Cup exit at the hands of Holland in last year’s finals, has made it his immediate priority to qualify the Celeste (or sky blues) for the 2002 World Cup.

Once-mighty Uruguay have twice won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950 but have failed to qualify for the last two editions.

Passarella did not promise to win trophies at yesterday’s Press conference to confirm his appointment but promised "professionalism, seriousness and work."

It took the Uruguyan Football Association (AUF) nine months to land their man and Passarella promised to "make up for lost time."
Victor Pua, Uruguay’s highly successful under-20 coach, will lead the senior side in the Copa America in Paraguay from June 29 to July 18.

Pua led the under-20s to the final of the 1997 World Youth Cup in Malaysia where they lost ironically to Argentina.

Passarella, meanwhile, will be assisted by two fellow Argentinians Aleiandro Sabella and Aleiandro Kohan in Montevideo and also hopes to integrate Uruguayan coaches into his management team.

Passarealla became a legend in Argentina when he captained his country to their first World Cup victory on home soil in 1978.

As well as coaching Argentina he had been in charge of top Buenos Aires Club River Plate.

As a coach he is a stickler for discipline, taking a dim view of homosexuality, long hair and earrings.

Real Madrid midfielder Fernando Redondo was one player whom Passarella did not select for Argentina because of his flowing locks.

At the Press conference to confirm his appointment he warned Uruguayan players he would be watching the Copa America very closely although he did not make it clear whether this was for the quality of their football or their sartorial elegance.

Boldon, Jones triumph

WALNUT(California), April 19 (AP) — Marion Jones, who plans to go for four gold medals in this summer’s world championships and five in the 2000 Olympics, cruised to an easy 400-metre victory in the Mt. SAC relays.

In a family sweep, C.J. Hunter, Jones’ husband, upset world champion and No. 1-ranked John Godina in the shot put.

Not long after Hunter unleashed a lifetime best throw of 21.41 metres to win his event on the Mt. San Antonio College infield, Jones won the 400 with a time of 50.79 seconds.

Jones, ranked top in the world last year in the 100, 200 and long jump, competes in the 400 mostly for training purposes.

‘‘This is my last open 400-metre race of the year, but I hope to be selected for the US 1,600-metre relay team for the world championships in Spain this August,’’ she said.

Ladonna Antoine of Canada finished a distant second in 52.94.

Jones lost just once in 35 finals last year, her only defeat coming in the World Cup long jump won by Germany’s Heike Drechsler.

Jones hopes to compete in both sprints, long jump and a relay in Spain, and hopes to add another relay for the Olympics.

‘‘I think if I can stay healthy, I think I have a chance at five events in the Sydney Olympics,’’ she said.

Ato Boldon, whose 100-metre winning time of 9.86 last year at the relays turned out to be 1998’s fastest time in the world, came back to win the 200 this year.

Boldon, a native of Trinidad and a former NCAA champion at Ucla, eased in front coming out of the turn and went on to win in 20.19.

‘‘My goal for 1999 is the gold medal in the 100 at the world championships,’’ Boldon said. I want to win two gold medals in the sprints in Sydney and if I succeed, maybe just one more world championships and then call it a career.’’

The 25-year-old Boldon, who finished third in both sprints in the 1996 Olympics, added, if I had won gold in Atlanta, I’d be out of the sport now.’’

Maurice Greene, the world No. 1 in the 100 last year, was scheduled to run in the event at Mt. SAC, but did not because of a slight leg injury.

Derrick Adkins, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 400 hurdles who had a forgettable year in 1998, looked sharp again in winning his speciality with a 48.71 clocking.

Another former Olympic gold medal winner in the 400 hurdles, Barcelona champion Kevin Young, finished seventh in 50.60.

Karnataka 291 for 9

BANGALORE, April 19 (PTI) — A fighting 86 by in form Vijay Bharadwaj and Sujit Somasundar’s 70 helped defending champions Karnataka close the opening day on 291 for nine in the Ranji Trophy final against Madhya Pradesh here today.

Somasundar and J Arun Kumar gave the hosts a flying start with a 94-run opening wicket stand after skipper Sunil Joshi won the toss and elected to bat. But Harvinder Singh Sodhi took 4 for 52 to wreck the middle order and reduce the hosts to 188 for five by tea.

But the ever reliable Bharadwaj, who has been quite consistent this season, kept one end up by intelligently rotating the strike. But just as he looked heading for his century, Test discard Rajesh Chauhan struck.

The offspinner had Bharadwaj caught by C P Sahu. His 145-ball knock contained five boundaries and took his tally of runs to 1200 this season.

Somasundar 70 (196m, 128b, 11x4, 1x6) was the only other batsman to reach a half-century. He played an array of shots and hit a huge six of leg spinner Narendra Hirwani, who was offcolour today. Sodhi ended his innings when he had caught at short leg by Abbas Ali.

Chauhan finished with two for 51 while Hirwani went wicketless.

Arun Kumar, who gave splendid support to Somasundar in their opening wicket stand, was out for a well made 34. But he was unhappy with umpire S.K. Sharma’s decision when the latter gave him out after the ball bounced for Nikhil Patwardhan but was taken by keeper Sahu.

The later batsmen except for Bharadwaj and Joshi hardly put up any resistance. S. Shiraguppi (6) and A. Vijay (14) were claimed cheaply.

Even Tilak Naidu, who scored a vital 125 in the semifinal against Punjab, failed to come up with a good contribution. He gave a tame catch to Pandit off Majithia to leave Karnataka reeling at 172 for five.

Skipper Joshi then tried to resurrect the innings in the company of Bharadwaj but was run out for 31.

Sodhi then removed D Akhil (6) and A Yalvigi (4) and M.P. making their maiden entry into the final, looked set to restrict Karnataka to under 300 runs.

Fifteen minutes of play was disrupted due to problems with the sightscreen at the BEML end had to be replaced with a cloth screen.

Karnataka (1st innings):
Somasundar c Abbas Ali B.H. Sodhi 70, Arun Kumar c C.P. Sahu B.R. Chauhan 34, Shiraguppi c R. Chauhan b H. Sodhi 6, R. Vijay Bharadwaj c Sahu b Chauhan 86, A. Vijay c C. Pandit b J.P. Yadav 14, Tilak Naidu c Pandit b M. Majithia 12, Joshi run out 31, Akhil lbw b Sodhi 6, Yalvigi c Sahu b Sodhi 4, Ganesh batting 7, Khan batting 7. Extras (lb 4, nb 10) 14.
Total (for 9 wkts in 90 overs) 291
Fall of wkts: 1-94, 2-113, 3-125, 4-154, 5-172, 6-172, 7-229, 8-258, 9-266.
Bowling: Harvinder Sodhi 25-3-72-4, Devendra Bundela 4-0-22-0, Jai Prakash Yadav 22-5-51-1, Narendra Hirwani 11-0-51-0, Rajesh Chauhan 15-1-51-2, Manish Majithia 13-3-40-1.

Two Indian referees for SAFF Cup

NEW DELHI, April 19 (PTI) — Tamil Nadu’s K. Shankar and Michael Andrews of Kerala are among the seven referees who have been chosen by the Asian Football Confederation for supervising the South Asian Football Federation Cup to be played in Margao from April 22 to May 1.

Manit Sridranop of Thailand has been appointed match commissioner for the tournament, a press note here quoting Goa Football Association secretary Alberto Colaco said.

The Asian body has chosen two referees each from India and Thailand with the others coming from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Singapore.

The Indian team, announced yesterday by All-India Football Federation, has been training here for the past few days. Bangladesh and the Maldives have also reached Goa while Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected on Wednesday.

The Indian team, training under Sukhwinder Singh, played a friendly match against National League champions Salgaocar yesterday and the coach was confident of the hosts retaining the cup, the note added.

The Nehru Stadium, Margao, will be hosting its third international tournament in 10 years. It was the venue for the 1989 Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Cup Tournament and for the 1996 pre-Olympic group matches.

All matches, barring the first semifinal and the third place play-off, will kick off at 5 p.m. and will be played partly under floodlights, Mr Colaco said.

Upset win for Radhika

MUMBAI, April 19 (PTI) — Unseeded Radhika Tulpule today shocked 2nd seed Anna Nefedova of Russia when the Indian beat her opponent 6-3 6-2 in the women's singles first round of the ITF Women's Tennis Circuit (Indian first leg) here.

Radhika, yet to acquire ITF points, was a picture of confidence. She broke the only foreign player in the fray in the seventh game to win the first set 6-3. In the second Radhika broke Nefedova, world ranked 595, in the fourth and sixth games to emerge a worthy winner in 45 seconds.

In other first round matches, Radhika's Pune teammate and unseeded Radhika Mandke needed a second set tie-break to oust local girl and lucky loser Rekha Natrajan 6-0 7-6, 8-6 while top seed and world number 509 Sai Jailaxmi Jayaram of India moved into the second round without even hitting a ball as she received a first round bye.

Qualifier Sricharanta Thyagarajan of India blanked out lucky loser Sonal Marker 6-0 6-0 while wild card Padma Preetham sidelined Shivani Bhatt of India 6-1 6-1.

Unseeded Nikita Bhardwaj subdued another unseeded player Vishnupreetham Mahalingam 6-2 6-1 while Karishna Patel defeated Nandini Perumal 6-0 6-3 in other first round matches.

In yet another one-sided first round match, unseeded Sonal Phadke crushed lucky loser Parminder Grover 6-1, 6-0.

Results (women's singles) first round: Radhika Tulpule (Ind) b Anna Nefedova (Rus) 6-3, 6-2: Karishma Patel (Ind) b Parminder Grover (Ind) b Rekha Natrajan (Ind) 6-0, 7-6 (8-6): Padmapreetham Mahalingam (Ind) b Shivani Bhatt (Ind) 6-1, 6-1 Sricharanya Thyagarajan (Ind) b Sonal Marker (Ind) 6-0, 6-0.

Scintillating ton by Tendulkar

MUMBAI, April 19 (UNI) — Staging a superb comeback after two months lay-off due to back injury, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar scored a stupendous unbeaten 115 helping Azhar eleven pile up a massive 292 for four in the stipulated 35 overs in the good luck match between the 1983 World Cup winning team and the 1999 World Cup bound team at the Wankhede Stadium here yesterday.

Sachin, playing for Azhar XI (World Cup bound), who opened the innings, blasted bowlers of Kapil XI comprising the 1983 winning World Cup team.

The maestro played for 151 minutes to scoring a scintillating 115 not out. His majestic innings included 13 boundaries and three mighty sixes. Sachin clobbered all the bowlers including Kapil Dev, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Roger Binny, Madan Lal, Ravi Shastri, Mohinder Amarnath, K. Srikanth, Sunil Walsan and Sandeep Patil.

The ace batsman partnered with S. Ramesh, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh during his stay at the crease.

The 30,000 odd crowd at the stadium gave a standing ovation to the star batsman.

Sachin missed action at the Pepsi triangular series in India and the recent Sharjah Coca-Cola Cup tourney due to back pain

Nigeria, Brazil ousted

LAGOS, April 19 (Reuters) — Mali knocked hosts Nigeria out of the World Youth Cup last evening while Uruguay beat three-time champions Brazil 2-1 with a controversial late penalty on a day when another match was halted by a powercut.

Japan produced a further surprise by eliminating Mexico 2-0 and Spain’s dramatic 8-7 win on penalties over Ghana left one team each from Africa, South America, Europe and Asia to contest the semifinals.

The Nigerian hosts, already in shock after their team’s elimination in the afternoon, were left red-faced after a power failure interrupted a match for the second time.

The Spain-Ghana game stopped for 10 minutes shortly before halftime in Kaduna after the stadium was plunged into darkness. A similar incident occurred in the first round tie between Ireland and Mexico when FIFA president Sepp Blatter was in the crowd.

Nigeria’s absence from the tournament is likely to result in the remaining matches being played in near-empty stadia.

The Nigerian game with Mali in Enugu was not shown live in Lagos to encourage local fans to go to the Brazil-Uruguay match played there at the same time. However, the ploy was ineffective and only a few thousand fans attended.

Mali, the surprise package of the tournament, stunned Nigeria when Mamadou Bagayoko scored after just 58 seconds for the fastest goal of the tournament. But Nigeria, who sacked coach Tunde Disu after losing a first-round game to Paraguay, hit back through Garba Hashimu.

Nigeria then dominated much of game but their traditional weakness in front of the goal cost them dearly as Mamadou Diarra and Bagayoko, with his second goal, sent Mali through.

Brazil appeared set to steamroll Uruguay when Fernando Baiano put them ahead with a 27th-minute goal. The Brazilians were dominating and playing some of the best football of the event but they missed several chances to increase their lead.

They were then punished when Jorge Anchen equalised just before halftime with a powerful shot from long range.

The tournament was then deprived of its most entertaining team when Uruguay captain Cesar Pellegrin fell threatrically in the 86th minute and a penalty was awarded amid furious Brazilian protests.

Substitute Nestor Canobbio converted to earn Uruguay a semifinal with Japan.

In Ibadan, Japan stunned Mexico with two goals in the first 25 minutes from Masashi Motoyama and captain Shinji Ono. The Mexicans, 4-1 conquerors of defending champions Argentina in the previous round, played without inspiration and never looked like scoring.

Spain’s game in Kaduna went to penalties after Ghana’s Peter Ofori-Quayle scored his fourth goal of the competition with a dramatic deflected shot in the last minute. This equalised Saludes Barkero’s penalty in the 53rd minute.

Spain’s shoot-out victory earned them a semifinal clash with Mali in the same city tomorrow.

Hingis maintain lead

HAMBURG, April 19 (DPA) — Martina Hingis of Switzerland maintained her lead in an unchanged women's top 10 tennis rankings issued today by the WTA.

Hingis remained on top with 5.763 points as none of the top players was involved in the only regular tournament last week, the Japan Open in Tokyo. Others were on Fed Cup duty for which no ranking points are given.

Lindsay Davenport is second with 5.098 points and fellow American Monica Seles third with 4.033 points.

WTA top 10 as of April 19:

1 Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 5.763 points; 2 Lindsay Davenport, USA 5.098, 3 Monica Seles, USA 4.033; 4 Jana Novotna, Czech Republic, 3.885; 5 Steffi Graf, Germany, 3.079; 6, Venus Williams, USA 2.990; 7 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Spain 2.847; 8 Mary Pierce, France 2.092; 9 Serena Williams, USA, 2.080; 10 Patty Schnyder, Switzerland. 2.072.

Wrestling bouts at Badal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Top wrestlers from India and Pakistan will test their skill and strength at Bhikhiwind on April 21 and at Badal village on April 25, according to former international wrestler Kartar Singh and now President of the Punjab Wrestling Association.

Earlier, a 15-member squad had come from across the border to participate in the Tercentenary Khalsa International Sports Festival at Anandpur Sahib.

Organiser of the wrestling bouts, Mr Gurcharan Singh Dhillon, said Ms Parneet Kaur Kairon, daughter of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will inaugurate wrestling bout at Bhikhiwind on April 21. The prizes will be distributed by Mr Adesh Partap Singh, MLA, Patti.

In the wrestling bouts that day, junior world champion Randhir Singh Dhire will take on Rustam-e-Pakistan Abdul Majid while Mohammad Umar will grapple with Satish Kumar of India. Mohammed Ali of Pakistan will measure his strength against Ram Phal of India. International wrestler Gurbinder Singh will fight against Yahid Khan of Pakistan. Other well-known wrestlers like Chand Butt, Bhi Pehlawan and Mohammed Anwar will also be present on the occasion.

Mr Dhillon further said that for the first time women's bouts would also be organised at Bhikhiwind in which Nirmal Kaur, Naresh Kumari, Gurmit Kaur, Seema Thapar, Sukhwinder Kaur, Renu Bala, Neelam and Parminder would take part.

Meanwhile, a Punjab coaching camp is already in progress at Jalandhar to select the state team for the Junior National Wrestling Championships to be held from April 27 to May 1. According to wrestler Kartar Singh, the final election trials will be held at the Raizada Hans Raj Stadium on April 22.

The Pakistani wrestling squad is: Haroon Khan, Zahid Khan, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Umar, Mohammad Shahbaz, Mohammad Bashir, Mohammad Yasin Butt, Abdul Majeed, Shaukat Hussain, Mohammad Anwar, Mohammad Shafique, Khalid Mahmood, Tariq Mahmood and Chand Pehalwan.

Two city girls for Asia-Pacific Golf
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 19 — Two Chandigarh girls have made it into the Indian team for the 21st Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Championship to be held at Myanmar from May 4 to 7.

The three-member team has one girl from Delhi, Ayesha Kapoor.

The two 15-year-old are Irina Brar and Guneet Raikhy, Class X students of Vivek High School and Carmel Convent School, respectively.

Their performance during the just concluded Ladies Amateur Open Golf Championship and their showing in the earlier matches got them the slot in the three-member Indian golf team.

There is jubilation in the ladies wing of the Chandigarh Golf Club at the selection of the two girls.

They will be leaving for Delhi for a coaching camp before proceeding for Myanmar.

Kabaddi trials

CHANDIGARH, (BOSR) — The Chandigarh Kabaddi Association will hold trials for the UT men's, team for the National Kabaddi Championship, on April 21 at 5 pm at Government College of Education, Sector 20 here, according to a press note of the association.

Gursharan wins tennis title

BARNALA, April 19 (FOC) — The three-day zonal tennis tournament held at Barnala Club concluded here yesterday. Mr Malkiat Singh Keetu, MLA, Barnala, inaugurated the tournament on April 16 and Mr Anirudh Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, Sangrur, gave away the prizes to the winners. Gursharan of Jalandhar won the men's singles title defeating Ashoo 6-4, 6-4. In the men's doubles final Kamal Kakkar and Ashoo humbled Anoop Garg and Rajdeep 6-2, 6-3 and in the veteran doubles final Kamal Kakkar and R.D.C. Garg defeated Grib Dass and Shergill 7-6, 6-3.

The Deputy Commissioner announced a grant of Rs 50,000 in from the District Sangrur Olympic Association fund for the construction of a swimming pool at the Barnala Club.

Tourist complex near Pehowa

CHANDIGARH, April 19 (TNS) — A new tourist complex named Anjan has been set up about 3 km from Pehowa for the benefit of pilgrims visiting the holy town. This complex having 10 guest rooms on low budget tariff will also provide restaurant facilities.

The Haryana Minister of State for Tourism, Mr Ram Bhajan Aggarwal, will inaugurate the complex on April 23.