Wang-Li duo lifts doubles title
EINDHOVEN (Netherlands), Aug 8 — Wang Nan and Li Ju won the women’s doubles title at the 45th World Table Tennis Championships here today, beating Chinese compatriots Yang Ying and Sun Jin 22-20, 21-14, 21-19 in the final.

ATLANTIC CITY, USA : Heavyweight Francois Botha, of Witbank, South Africa (right), lands a right to the temple of Shannon Briggs of Brooklyn, N.Y., during their scheduled 10-round bout at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., Saturday. The fight ended in a controversial majority draw. — AP/PTI

Cuba clinch four boxing gold WINNIPEG, Aug 8 — Cuba won some more medals; it also lost another defector. Cuba added eight more gold medals — half of them in boxing — to its tally at the Pan Am Games yesterday, but also saw its list of defections grow, losing a basketball player to hike the total to nine who have left the Caribbean island nation’s delegation at the regional Olympics.

Azhar hopes to be fit by month-end
HYDERABAD, Aug 8 — Deposed Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin today announced he would be fully fit and “ready” by this month-end to regain his place in the Indian team and said his operated right shoulder had improved a lot and he was feeling better.

Indian wrestlers claim 2 gold
NEW DELHI, Aug 8 — Indian grapplers produced a splendid haul of two gold medals and a bronze in the four-day world freestyle Cadet Wrestling Championship that ended in Poland last night.

Jabeshori sets record in hammer throw
BANGALORE, Aug 8 — National Games gold medallist Jabeshori Devi of West Bengal created a new national record in the women’s hammer throw while seven meet records fell on the second day of the fifth Federation Cup Athletic Championships here today.

Martina Hingis is back on top
CARLSBAD, (California), Aug 8 — Martina Hingis climbed back to the top of the world rankings by crushing Amanda Coetzer after Venus Williams toppled defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals of the $ 520,000 T.I.G. Classic.

Nadia lifts TT crown
SHIMLA, Aug 8 — Nadia Saini of Chandigarh clinched the junior girls title in the second day of the Shimla Hot Weather Table Tennis Championship.

Jr hockey team eying long-term goals
NEW DELHI, Aug 8 — The Indian junior hockey squad leaving here on Monday for their three-week long European tour will aim for exposure with an eye on the 2001 Junior World Championship to be held in Hobart, Australia.

Sun will rise on SA again : Klusener
NEW DELHI, Aug 8 — Lance Klusener, the master hitter who single-handedly won many a game for South Africa, said he did not want to forget the horrible mix-up with Alan Donald in the World Cup semifinal against Australia, but would like to learn from it.

Kafelnikov routs Agassi
MONTREAL, Aug 8 — Yevgeny Kafelnikov triumphed over Andre Agassi yesterday in a battle of one-time number ones, routing the American in 63 minutes to reach the final of the $ 2.45 million Du Maurier Open.

• Freitas wins title

Russel rallies to regain title

CHENNAI, Aug 8 (PTI) —Three-time champion Mike Russel of England regained the coveted title scoring a run-away 2001-832 victory over compatriot Peter Gilchrist in the Florsheim World Professional Billiards Championship here this evening.

Russel went about his task at a scorching pace registering century plus breaks of 294, 192, 195, 124, 332, 341 and an unfinished 245, showcasing his control and concentration during the four hour and 42 minutes final, split into two sessions, at the Taj Connemara Residency.

Though the world No 1 Russel looked tired, scratching his eyes on a couple of occasions, during the morning session, it took fewer visits for him to get into his act of serious play.

Russel, who lost the title to India’s Geeth Sethi in last year’s championship, later said: “I slept only for about three hours and was tired this morning.”

It was Gilchrist, a former world champion, who ran away to a 198-39 lead initially before Russel found his touch in his eighth visit with a break of 74 to narrow the gap.

Once Russel, who was the clear favourite after Sethi’s ouster at the hands of India’s Arun Agrawal in the quarters, started working towards big breaks, Gilchrist became nervous and allowed the pressure to affect his game.

Gilchrist said he lost the match close to the end of the first session itself. “I missed too many chances,” the 30-year-old Englishman, who halted Agrawal in the semi-finals, said.

Russel had a success rate of 71.4 per cent compared to Gilchrist’s poor 31 percent.

The winner was more fluent in the second session notching up the big breaks. He did have three lean visits after scoring a 332. But again he showed his class coming up with a superb 341.

On the other hand, Gilchrist was unable to rise his game and started committing silly mistakes. Yet he took his blunders sportingly, laughing after every missed chance. He managed breaks of 85, 99, 115, 88, 72, 124, 98 and 60.

Needing 250 points to win, Russel had a few problems towards the end as he missed two successive attempts for just eight points. He made 24 in his penultimate visit.

Gilchrist, who forgot to cross the Baulk Line after being warned at 80, made a 98 and 60 before Russel clinched the issue with a superb unfinished 245 for his fifth tournament win in Chennai.

Rain halts fourth day’s play

MANCHESTER, Aug 8 (AP) — Former captains Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart led the fightback for England with an unbroken stand of 79 today after New Zealand declared 297 ahead in the third Test.

Craig McMillan completed his century before the Kiwis declared on 496 for nine at lunch on the fourth day.

Although Dion Nash removed captain Mark Butcher nine with the score on 19, Atherton and Stewart made sure the Kiwis didn’t make another breakthrough.

At the tea interval, Atherton had made 35 and Stewart 43 with England on 98 for one, still needing 199 to avoid an innings defeat.

With the series level at 1-1, the Kiwis, having bowled England out for 199, opened up a lead of 297 with McMillan unbeaten on 107 and last man Daniel Vettori on two.

Before a sparse crowd, the Kiwis resumed at 399 for six, exactly 200 ahead. But they soon lost Chris Cairns, who lofted a catch to Andy Caddick on the boundary off left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell and departed for 41 with the score on 425.

But England failed to follow up that success and McMillan and Dion Nash put on a 50-run stand for the eighth wicket.

England was soon in trouble in their second innings, when Butcher, leading the side in absence of the injured Nasser Hussain, was trapped lbw by Nash.

But Atherton and Stewart held firm, punishing the bad balls and not tempted to attack the good ones.

Last summer, the two batsmen saved England in a Test against South Africa at Old Trafford with a stand of 226 and England went on to win the series.

Earlier, McMillan had become the second centurion of New Zealand’s first innings before the declaration at lunch on 496 for nine.

He was almost run out going for his 100th run, before the third umpire watching a slow motion replay ruled that Phil Tufnell had touched the rope in stopping the ball, and awarded a four.

McMillan faced a total of 210 balls, hitting three sixes and nine fours in making an unbeaten 107.

England Ist innings (M. Ramprakash 69 not out)
New Zealand (Ist innings) (overnight 399-6)
Horne b Caddick 39
Bell c Atherton b Headley 83
Fleming lbw b Such 38
Astle c Such b Caddick 101
Twose lbw b Such 20
McMillan not out 107
Parore c Butcher b Such 10
Cairns c Caddick b Tufnell 41
Nash c Caddick b Such 26
Harris b Tufnell 3
Vettori not out 2
Extras: (b-6 lb-17 nb-3) 26
Total: (for 9 wickets, declared) 496
Fall of wickets: 1/46, 2/110, 3/263, 4/280, 5/321, 6/331, 7/425, 8/476, 9/487
Bowling: Caddick 39-11-112-2, Headley 31-4-115-1, Tufnell 46-12-111-2, Such 41-11-114-4, Hick 1-0-8-0, Butcher 2-0-13-0.

Wang-Li duo lifts doubles title

EINDHOVEN (Netherlands), Aug 8 (AFP) — Wang Nan and Li Ju won the women’s doubles title at the 45th World Table Tennis Championships here today, beating Chinese compatriots Yang Ying and Sun Jin 22-20, 21-14, 21-19 in the final.

Pugnacious left-hander Wang, the singles champion, and her partner Li were always on top in a one-sided contest.

Yang and Sun briefly threatened to take the third set, establishing a 19-16 lead in that rubber before Wang and Li reeled off five consecutive points to clinch the title.

Wang punched the air and shook her partner’s hand as she clinched her second gold medal of the tournament — she missed out only in the mixed doubles.

Afterwards she said: “I think actually it is impossible for me to win all the titles. I can not be too greedy. I was not too regretful (after the mixed) because I lost to a Chinese team.”

The Chinese team is already assured of all five gold and silver medals on offer here.

Unsurprisingly Wang said the mood in the Chinese camp was one of elation.

The 20-year-old said: “It is something we are very happy about. It is something we were not expecting. Before the games we just wanted to do our best and give 100 per cent.”

Waldner bows out

Reigning world champion Jan Ove Waldner bowed out of the championships at the semi-final stage after China’s Ma Lin came from two sets down to pull off a remarkable comeback win.

Waldner, seeded fifth, took the first two sets 21-18, 21-14 before edging ahead of Ma in the third.

But ninth-seeded Ma seemed to find an extra gear and began to outplay Waldner, who at 33, has two world titles and one Olympic gold medal to his name.

Waldner briefly led in the deciding rubber but Ma, conqueror of Belarus’ top seed Vladimir Samsonov earlier in the tournament, ran out an 18-21, 14-21, 21-19, 21-19, 21-17 winner.

Only Austrian outsider Werner Schlager, who plays Chinese Olympic champion Liu Guoliang in the second semi-final, can prevent China completing a clean sweep of five gold medals and five silvers at the event.

Kapil emerges best golfer

GURGAON, Aug 8 (PTI) — India’s legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev fired a spectacular two-under par 142 over two days — earning 74 points under the Stableford format — to win the best cricketing golfer award at Ambassadors’ Cup Golf tournament.

Zimbabwean Craig Evans (67) and New Zealand’s Deepak Patel (65) took the second and third prizes respectively in the inaugural event at the Classic Golf course here today.

Away from the pressures of cricket, 16 former and current players paired up with amateur golfers from corporate and other fields, and crossed swords against each other in a game played at the spectacular 18-hole par-72 greens.

In the team event on day two, Kapil Dev and Shruti Khanna with aggregate score of 77 won the trophy and were followed by Madan Lal and Kamilan Maksom (74) and the pairing of Craig Evans-S S Duggal (73).

The overall prize (for best aggregate score over the two days) went to the team of Craig Evans, Manish Periwal, Punit Beriwala and PM Sinha.

Former West Indian opener Desmond Haynes’ team of UK Bose and Vinod Dutta settled for the runners-up prize.

The best golfer of the tournament award — a crystal ball and putter - went to Kamilan Makson while Karun Dube won “straightest drive” of the tournament award.

Other cricketers — Allan Border (64), Haynes (62), Craig Spearman (61), Lance Klusener (61), Ashok Mankad (59), Dean Jones (58), Alistair Campbell (56), Mark Boucher (52), Madan Lal (51), Ashok Malhotra (51), Kiran More (50), Ajay Jadeja (40) and Gordon Greenidge (39) — finished in that order behind Kapil Dev, Evans and Patel.

Azhar hopes to be fit by month-end

HYDERABAD, Aug 8 (PTI) — Deposed Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin today announced he would be fully fit and “ready” by this month-end to regain his place in the Indian team and said his operated right shoulder had improved a lot and he was feeling better. Addressing his first Press conference after the World Cup, Azharuddin said “the shoulder injury was there for quite a long time and as a precautionary measure I went for the operation. I am doing a lot of exercises for recuperation”.

The 36-year-old wristy batsman, who was replaced by Sachin Tendulkar as skipper on July 28, opted out of selection for the coming triangular one-day tournaments in Sri Lanka (Aug 22-31) and Singapore (Sept 24 to Oct 1) as he expected to recover full fitness following his shoulder operation only by August-end.

Asked whether he spoke to the doctor who had operated on him in England — on June 17 immediately after India’s campaign had ended — before opting out of selection, Azharuddin said it was on the doctor’s advice that he opted out.

“Yes, I spoke to my doctor and he has directed me to take enough rest and give the injured shoulder time to repair the damage. On his advise only I opted out of the side touring Sri Lanka and Singapore,” he added.

Azhar admitted that his poor batting also contributed to India not qualifying to the semifinal at the World Cup.

“I admit that in the World Cup, except for a few matches, I was not consistent enough with my batting, which shattered our hopes to clinch the cup”, he said in reply to a question.

Azhar, who had informed the cricket board president that he expected to regain full fitness only by this month end, declared he would be available to represent Hyderabad in the All-India Moin-Ud-Dowla Gold Cup Cricket Tournament, scheduled to commence in the third week of next month.

He confidently said “I am ready to play in the tournament and I will even play Ranji Trophy matches for my home team”.

When asked about coach Anshuman Gaekwad’s comments to BCCI on his captaincy, Azhar said “I don’t think it will be wise to comment on the coach. I am very confident he has done his job well in the World Cup. The report which he has given to BCCI is a confidential affair and I am not aware of it”.

Asked about former skipper Kapil Dev’s suggestion that Azhar should retire from the game after the World Cup debacle, he said “winning and losing are part of a sportsman and these things are bound to happen in any international matches. I refuse to be dragged into this issue anymore”.

Asked about the progress of the cricket academy he proposed to set up in Hyderabad, he said “I have forwarded all the necessary proposals to the Andhra Pradesh Government and I am awaiting their reply”.

On sponsors, Azhar said “at the moment there are none, but I hope in the future I shall rope in someone and this academy will be better than the Australian academy (run by the Australian Institute of Sports in Adelaide)”.

Asked whether he felt there was too much media pressure on the team during the World Cup campaign, Azhar said “there is always pressure when our team is playing in such a big event”.

“Pressure from the media was tremendous, apart from the officials and more strongly from cricket loving spectators of India. But there are no excuses for our show at the World Cup”.

“However, I do not want to comment on the pressure created by media after our dismal show,” Azhar added

Asked for his views on the team chosen for the twin tours of Sri Lanka and Singapore, he said “the selectors have done their job well and I hope the team comes back home winning.”

Azhar was very sad he could not be present when his mentor and former India batsman M.L. Jaisimha died last month.

“I miss him now, at this moment. I am very lucky to have played under his tutelage. He was a wonderful coach with many ideas to tackle situations at the right moment,” Azhar said about the late Hyderabad stalwart.

Indian wrestlers claim 2 gold

NEW DELHI, Aug 8 (PTI) — Indian grapplers produced a splendid haul of two gold medals and a bronze in the four-day world freestyle Cadet Wrestling Championship that ended in Poland last night.

Delhi youngsters Yogeswar Dutt (42 kg) and Sushil Kumar (50 kg) showcased India’s strength in freestyle category by claiming the gold medals to match India’s previous best of two gold won when they hosted the prestigious event in Delhi in 1997.

Punjab lass Raminder Kaur cornered glory by achieving the bronze medal status in the girls 38 kg category, according to information received here by Wrestling Federation of India president G.S. Mander.

In fact, India were in with a chance to win another medal as Manju in the girls 40 kg class had reached the bronze medal round, he said.

The medal in the girls’ section was also significant as India were fielding a girls squad for the first time in an international meet.

Jabeshori sets record in hammer throw

BANGALORE, Aug 8 (PTI) — National Games gold medallist Jabeshori Devi of West Bengal created a new national record in the women’s hammer throw while seven meet records fell on the second day of the fifth Federation Cup Athletic Championships here today.

The 22-year-old Manipuri girl, working for Eastern Railways based at Calcutta, hurled the iron to a distance of 55.62m shattering the old 51.50m record of Surinderjit Kaur set in 1997 to account for the second national record here.

Jabeshori, who switched to the hammer from sprints, had won the gold at the Imphal Games with an effort of 50.68 m.

New meet records were created in men’s 100m hurdles, 2 km walk, long jump, shot put, 200m and women’s discus throw and 4x100 m relay.

Veteran P.T.Usha equalled her own record in the 200m sprint with a timing of 23.3s.

While Shakti Singh expectedly dominated the men’s shot put with his first attempt of 19.50m as he set aside Bahadur Singh’s 18.39m record of last year.

Southern Railway’s womens 4x100m relay team comprising Jayanthi, Pandeswari, Jacey Thomas and P.T.Usha created a new meet record clocking 46.0s. The old record stood in the name of West Bengal (47.85s).

Sanjay Kumar Rai of Uttar Pradesh became the second athlete in the country to touch 8.00m mark in the long jump. He created a new meet record erasing Amit Saha’s 7.58m set in the first Federation Cup in 1995. T.C. Yohanan in 1974 had recorded 8.07m at Teheran.

Kumar, from Bengal presently working with Eastern Railway, leaped to glory in his sixth attempt.

Usha won the 200m event easily with a timing of 23.3s. She was the clear leader right from the start. Vinitha Tripathi of Delhi got the silver clocking 23.8s.

Neelam J.Singh (Pun) bettered her own meet record in discus throw. She hurled 58.45m in the sixth attempt to better her earlier mark of 53.34m achieved in Chennai Federation Cup.

Gurpreet Singh, also of Punjab, set a new meet mark in men’s 110m hurdles clocking 14.2s. He clipped four seconds off Harish Kushalappa’s record.

Services men donated the 20km walk, Amrik Singh bagging the gold with a timing of 1hr 31:5.7s.

Results:

Men:

200m: Anand Menezes (Mah) 20.8s; Anil Kumar (Ser) 21.0, Jata Shankar (UP) 21.4s.

110m hurdles: Gurpreet Singh (Pun) 14.2s; P.T. Yesudoss (S Rly) 14.3s, Harish Kushalappa (Kar) 14.5s.

3,000m steeple chase: Amrish Kumar (Services) 9:20.9s; Sanjau Kumar (SR) 9:44.6s, Amritpal Singh (CRPF) 9:48.9s.

4x100m: Bihar 41.4s; Tamil Nadu 41.7s; CRPF 41.8s.

Shot put: Shakthi Singh (Haryana) 19.50m; Bahadur Singh (Punjab Police) 18.70m; Jaiveer Singh (Services) 17.82m.

Pole vault: Prabhjot Singh (CRPF) 4.55m; Shamsher Singh (CRPF) 4.40m; Satpal Saini (Telco) 4.20m.

20km walk: Amrik Singh (Ser) 1hr31:5.7s; Seetharam (Ser) 1hr32:15.3s; Gurudev Singh (Ser) 1hr33:39.9s.

Long jump: Sanjay Kumar Rai (UP) 8.00m; Amit Saha (WB) 7.32m; S Ramachandran (TN) 7.20m.

Women:

200m: P.T. Usha (S.Rly) 23.3s; Vinitha Tripathi (Del) 23.8s; Mandeep Kaur (Del) 24.0s.

800m: Rosa Kutty (S.Rly) 2:04.1s; Beenamol K.M. (SR) 2:07.6s; C Latha (TN) 2:08.1s.

10,000m: I Aruna Deb (WB) 37:54.9s; Renuka Hede (Kar) 39:07.6s; Madhuri Gurnule (Mah) 39:10.5s.

100m hurdles: Poonam B (Kar) 13.9s; Soma Biswas (WB) 14.0s; Pramila G.G. (S Rly) 14.2s.

4x100m relay: Southern Railways 46.0s; Karnataka 46.3; West Bengal 47.3s.

Hammer throw: Jabeshori Devi (WB) 55.62m; Hardeep Kaur (Pun) 55.58; Phool Pati (CRPF) 53.10m.

Discuss throw: Neelam Singh (Pun) 58.45m; Saroj Kumari (CRPF) 54.00m; Harjeet Kaur (Pun) 54.00m.

High jump: S.Jayanthi (Indian Bank) 1.74m; Deepa A.K. (CRPF) 1.68m, Pramila (S Rly) 1.65m.

Cuba clinch four boxing gold

WINNIPEG, Aug 8 (AP) — Cuba won some more medals; it also lost another defector.

Cuba added eight more gold medals — half of them in boxing — to its tally at the Pan Am Games yesterday, but also saw its list of defections grow, losing a basketball player to hike the total to nine who have left the Caribbean island nation’s delegation at the regional Olympics.

Juan Leopoldo Vazquez was the latest, requesting asylum in the USA, according to the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation.

His loss didn’t seem to bother the Cuban basketball team, which beat Uruguay 85-79 without him for seventh place at the Games.

It also didn’t seem to affect the Cuban boxers, which won all of their matches yesterday and helped their country remain in second place in gold-medal race with 71.

The boxers were perfect for a second straight day, with Yudel Jhonson capturing the 57-kilo division, Jorge Gutierrez the 71 -kilo division, Humberto Savigne the 81-kilo division and Alexis Rubalcaba the 91-kilo and over.

Rubalcaba had the easiest bout; his was a walkover. American Davin King forfeited the fight because he had two stitches in his upper lip, an injury he received in the semifinals.

The victories gave Cuba nine of the 12 boxing golds and a sweep of all the finals in which they had a fighter.

Cuba finished the night by prevailing on penalty shots in the men’s handball final over Brazil.

The two boxing golds Cuba didn’t win last night went to Argentina. Omar Narvaez and Victor Castro claimed the 51- and 63.5-kilo crowns, helping push Argentina past arch South American rival Brazil in golds.

Argentina moved into fourth place with 25 while Brazil, which was to play for the women’s handball and men’s basketball gold today, was next with 22.

Canada relied on the water to provide them with most of their gold yesterday, winning a pair in swimming, another in synchronized swimming and a fourth in water skiing. They also won the men’s softball title, a team fencing crown and one in women’s taekwondo.

One of their swimming gold medals came from Jessica Daglau, who became the first Canadian to win four gold in Winnipeg, winning the women’s 200 butterfly.

The Americans reached 100 gold plateau by adding 10 in sports from archery to weightlifting.

Nadia lifts TT crown
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 8 — Nadia Saini of Chandigarh clinched the junior girls title in the second day of the Shimla Hot Weather Table Tennis Championship.

She defeated Amita Rana 21-13, 21-10 in the one-sided final.

Neeraj Sharma of Haryana, a junior player, caused a major upset by defeating second seed Pankaj Sharma of the PSEB in straight games.

In another upset, Alkesh Saini, former Himachal Champion, outclassed fourth seed Jagmohan Bist of Delhi.

Results:

Women (semis): Kuldeep b Anuradha (21-16, 21-13), Nitika b Chitra Gupta (21-16, 16-21, 21-16).

Q. finals: Kuldeep b Promila (21-10, 19-21, 21-10), Anuradha b Sonia (21-10, 21-9), Nitika b Nadia (21-17, 21-13), Chitra b Seema (21-10, 19-21 and 21-10).

Boys (under 10) Semis: Divesh Saina b Manish 21-9, 21-14, Kamaljeet b Moon 21-17, 21-18.

Men (2nd rounds): Vikas Mahajan b Sanjay Shastri 21-11, 21-17. Shyamo Kumar b Jawant Gangta 21-12, 21-12, N. Somani b Anamik Sood 21-18, 21-17, Sunil Bamboo b Arvind 21-12, 21-18, Harish b Varun 21-12, 21-15. Dheeraj b Ramit 19-21, 21-11, 21-14, Vikas Sharma b Manu Sharma 21-11, 14-21, 21-18, Alkesh Saini b Jagmohan Bist 21-13, 21-17, Neeraj b Pankaj Sharma 21-14, 19-21, 21-18, Anup b P.P. Manchanda 21-17, 21-13, Ajay Sharma b Saurabh 22-20, 21-17, Tarun b Mandeep 21-12, 21-14, Vinod b Vivek 21-19, 19-21, 21-19, Partho Chowdhary b N S Rawat 21-14, 18-21, 21-15,Gagan b Narinder 21-19, 18-21, 21-18, Munish b Mandeep Walia 21-10, 21-17, and Ajay Jha b Kapil 21-15, 21-5.

Martina Hingis is back on top

CARLSBAD, (California), Aug 8 (Reuters) — Martina Hingis climbed back to the top of the world rankings by crushing Amanda Coetzer after Venus Williams toppled defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals of the $ 520,000 T.I.G. Classic.

Hingis defeated Coetzer 6-1 6-2 in 51 minutes yesterday. Williams, armed with a new forehand, beat the top-seeded Davenport 6-4 7-5.

Hingis said she did not know that reaching the final combined with a Davenport loss would bring her back to the top when the WTA rankings are issued tomorrow.

“I didn’t know before the match, nobody told me,’’ said Hingis after winning 12 of the final 13 points to improve to 6-2 over the South African. “It’s exciting news for me to get the number one spot again. I didn’t expect it.”

“Coming into the tournament I was happy to win just the first round and then just keep going. Now I’m back on top and it feels good.’’

The Swiss 18-year-old had a disappointing first-round loss at Wimbledon last month against Austrian teen Jalena Dokic, where Davenport won the title.

“I didn’t deserve to be number one at that time,’’ Hingis said. “At the beginning of the year I was favoured but wasn’t consistent enough and that’s why she was there to take the number one spot. She took her opportunity to be up there winning Wimbledon.’’

Though Hingis has won six of nine matches in her two-year-old rivalry with Williams, she said she expected a stern task against the 19-year-old American star.

“I think it will be an exciting match, two youngsters always talked about playing the finals,’’ she said. “She’s a very powerful player with a good serve. I just have to take my chances or I’m out of there.

When a reporter joked that she would be the underdog, Hingis joked: “I’m the underdog, yeah I like that.’’.

Williams was pleased to get past the world number one for just the second time in 10 career meetings, though their one hour 15 minute baseline slugfest was no work of art by either player, as the two Californians posted 52 unforced errors against 32 winners.

“I like winning against her,’’ said Williams, who crushed 23 winners to 9 for her opponent. “I’ve only had two wins against her and it’s only the beginning of better times.’’

Disappointed after her fourth consecutive straight-sets loss to Davenport in the final of the Bank of the West Classic last week, Williams added a new wrinkle to her punishing baseline game — a ferocious forehand. The change paid off for the world’s fourth-ranked player.

“I learned a lot from the last match last week,’’ Williams said. “I don’t want to be picked on anymore. I don’t want anyone to pick on my forehand just because it’s weak, and just give it to them.

“All the other times, Lindsay overpowered me mainly because I was unable to generate good power from my forehand. I would hit a lot of short balls and mis-hits but I changed. I didn’t want to keep losing in the manner than I had been.

Williams said she was sending a message to the other players.

“In the past I would hit it, it would land short and people would look great hitting winners,’’ she added. ‘’it was never my best side over the last year, and people started taking advantage of it. After matches, they were declaring, ‘Oh yeah, just hit to her forehand.’

“I wasn’t very happy about that. So I decided the only way to stop that is to get better. It’s no longer my weakness.’’

Davenport witnessed a noticeable change first-hand: ‘’her forehand has improved a lot over the last few months. It used to be a weakness but it’s not a liability for her as it used to be. She definitely hit it better today but I don’t think I made her hit enough of them.

“She has one of the best backhands in the game, and was going for it, I knew that. I just got outplayed by everything.’’

While Williams has improved, Davenport did not have her normally aggressive all-court game, spraying shots wide, long or into the net.

“I just felt a little flat and sluggish,’’ said Davenport, whose 13-match winning streak was stopped. “You get those days throughout the year and hope that it’s in the beginning of the week or days you can get through. I tried to get myself going or get pumped up but I just couldn’t do it. Today, was just one that was in the semifinals against a girl who’s very good.’’

Jr hockey team eying long-term goals

NEW DELHI, Aug 8 (PTI) — The Indian junior hockey squad leaving here on Monday for their three-week long European tour will aim for exposure with an eye on the 2001 Junior World Championship to be held in Hobart, Australia.

The team had its final practice session at the National Stadium and will play a match against the senior side bound for South Africa today, coach C.R. Kumar said.

The team which landed here after a 15-day camp at the SAI south centre, Bangalore, two days ago, is basically made up of players under 19 years of age who will gain much from the trip as they will form the nucleus for the junior world meet when India aim to go one up on their silver medal winning effort in England in 1997.

India, who reach Amsterdam on Tuesday, take on the Netherlands in a four Test series and will follow it up with a series of practice matches before taking part in the eight-nation tournament in Poznan, Poland, to be held from August 23 to 29.

“We have trained in two particular systems where defence receives a lot of importance and there is much stress on the fitness of full backs,” Kumar said.

He said the European teams comfortably counter the five forward system adopted by Asians which poses fresh challenges.

In Poznan, India are placed in group “A” with Germany, Belgium and Egypt while group “B” comprises Korea, England, Scotland and hosts Poland.

When asked about some players not issued visas by the Dutch Embassy, Kumar said the problem was that some of them had not travelled abroad earlier. But things were being sorted out and there will be no hitches, he said.

As many as 24 players were picked by the selectors and the Indian Hockey Federation has decided to send 20 players to provide exposure to as many as possible.

India take on Egypt and Belgium before meeting Germany in Poznan. “It is a low-intensity start, but we can’t underestimate Egypt who beat our development team 4-1 last year,” he added.

The junior team was also seeking a trip to Australia later this year, hopefully in October, for a junior tournament there as further exposure. Besides, the IHF will be fully focussed on the senior side next year due to the Sydney Olympics

Sun will rise on SA again : Klusener

NEW DELHI, Aug 8 (PTI) — Lance Klusener, the master hitter who single-handedly won many a game for South Africa, said he did not want to forget the horrible mix-up with Alan Donald in the World Cup semifinal against Australia, but would like to learn from it.

“It was very disappointing at the end. I thought he heard my call. It was a loud call,” Klusener, who has faced questions on the unfortunate runout times without number, said here yesterday.

Klusener, who is taking time off from cricket for a while and is now India to play in the Ambassadors’ Golf Tournament, does not seem to be tired of answering the nagging queries about the incident.

He, in fact does it very coolly.

“We had been trying to win the World Cup. Everyone worked for it, but at the end of the day, it was not to be our day. There was nothing to argue about. We learnt our lessons.

“And, I am sure the Sun will rise on South Africa tomorrow,” said an optimistic Klusener.

The South African allrounder, who was named man-of-the-tournament for his heroic knocks averaging 100 plus, rated his innings in the Super Six match with Pakistan as the best.

“It gave me greatest personal satisfaction. We were in trouble at the start of the game and under pressure we ended up winning the tie,” Klusener explained with a hint of smile on his face.

Popularly known as “Zulu” - for his origin in the Natal province of Zululand and mastery over the language — Klusener said he had no particular goals to chase and only wanted South Africa to achieve glory in cricket.

The 28-year-old strokeplayer, who patented baseball-style shots in cricket that captured fans’ imagination, said he was here to relax and spend some time away from the pressure of cricket.

“Golf is a nice way to relax. It’s something I grew up with,” Klusener said of his liking for the game which he started playing at the age of 10, even before he took to cricket.

To a questing why he took to cricket rather than golf, Klusener said: “To earn a living buddy.” I can’t play golf as proficiently as cricket.”

Kafelnikov routs Agassi

MONTREAL, Aug 8 (AFP) — Yevgeny Kafelnikov triumphed over Andre Agassi yesterday in a battle of one-time number ones, routing the American in 63 minutes to reach the final of the $ 2.45 million Du Maurier Open.

The third-seeded Russian, who won the Australian Open in January and held the world number one ranking for six weeks earlier this year, routed second-seeded Agassi 6-1, 6-4.

Kafelnikov’s precision was in stark contract to Agassi’s error-strewn play, especially in the opening set, which Kafelnikov finished off in 23 minutes.

“I haven’t played this well in a long time,” said Kafelnikov, who was ousted in the first round of the French Open and retired injured in the third set of his third-round match at Wimbledon.

Agassi, winner of this title in 1992, 1994 and 1995, pulled himself together somewhat in the second set, but it was too late to stop Kafelnikov, who stretched his career edge over Agassi to 4-2.

Freitas wins title

LE CANNET (France) Aug 8 (AP) — Little-known Brazilian fighter Acelino Freitas won the WBO super-featherweight title yesterday with a shock first-round knockout of champion Anatoly Alexandrov of Russia.

The 23-year-old Brazilian caught Alexandrov with an early combination and floored the Russian in the second minute.

Bilaspur b’minton

BILASPUR, Aug 8 (FOC) — The District Badminton Association will organise the district level championship from August 24 to 29 at Nagar Palika Club here. According to Mr Anil Sharma, secretary of the association, competitions will be held for girls and boys under 19, under 16 and under 13 as also for senior men and women and veterans.