SEVILLE : India's Gurmeet Kaur Rai prepares to throw, during the qualifying round of the Women's Javelin at the seventh World Track and Field Championships in Seville, Spain on Thursday.— AP/PTI

Cathy Freeman wins historic 400m SEVILLE, Aug 27 — There was another 400-metres final last evening in the Estadio Olimpico and it was also historic. It may not have been as spectacular as Michael Johnson’s record-smashing 400-metres gold medal run, but tell that to the people Down Under. Delhi to host final one-day tie MUMBAI, Aug 27 — The cricket board has made one more change in the itinerary of the forthcoming tour to India by New Zealand according to which the fifth and final limited overs international (ODI) is to be played at Delhi and the fourth at Guwahati instead of the other way round.

Kafelnikov, Corretja survive
COMMACK (USA), Aug 27 — Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached the quarter-finals of the ATP tour event here last evening, but admitted he was afraid of fatigue affecting his performance at the upcoming US Open.

Indian juniors lose to Germany
BERLIN, Aug 27 — Indian juniors lost 0-1 to Germany in their last league match but qualified for the semifinals on better goal difference in the eight-nation Junior Challenge Open Hockey Tournament at Poznan, Poland.

Khalifman takes lead against Akopian
LAS VEGAS, Aug 27 — Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman struck a crucial blow when he outsmarted Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in the fourth match of the six-game finals to keep alive Russia’s hope of retaining a stranglehold on the chess crown at the world championship here last night.

Krayzelburg, Heyns set world records
SYDNEY, Aug 27 — American Lenny Krayzelburg completed a magic double and South African Penny Heyns continued her amazing feats as the world record tally hit 10 at the Pan Pacific swimming championships today.

Asian schools tennis meet at Jakarta
CHANDIGARH, Aug 27—The first Asian Schools Tennis championship will be played at Jakarta (Indonesia) from September 19 to 28.

Aparna bows out in pre-quarters
BANGALORE, Aug 27 — National woman champion Aparna Popat, who was expected to keep the country’s flag flying high, crashed out of the 1999 Konica Cup Open Badminton Championship, being played at Singapore.

Team for Toronto to be picked on August 31
MUMBAI, Aug 27 — The Indian team for next month’s three-match limited overs international series against the West Indies in Toronto is to be selected here on August 31, it was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India yesterday.

Klim struggles in 100 m heats

India in must-win situation

COLOMBO, Aug 27 (PTI) — Reeling under two embarrassing defeats, Sachin Tendulkar and his men will have to shed their lethargy if India hope to beat World Cup champions Australia tomorrow to remain in the race to make the final of AIWA triangular cricket tournament.

The Indian team that came under criticism in the wake of an early ouster from the World Cup has failed to rectify obvious shortcomings and looked a ragged outfit going down by eight wickets to Australia and by seven wickets to hosts Sri Lanka.

While the Aussies have remained motivated and fit despite a layoff since the June World Cup triumph, the revamped Sri Lanka under new captain Sanath Jayasuriya have shown vigour to offset the tumult at home before the tournament and the axing of deposed skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva from the one-day squad after the debacle in England.

India have been left with the task of winning both their remaining league matches to prevent being knocked out and make the final at Sri Lanka’s expense.

After two defeats, they are yet to log a point while Sri Lanka (one win, one loss) with two points also have a vastly superior net run rate which would come into play if both India and Sri Lanka end up with the same number of points.

Tendulkar, unable to provide typically rousing starts, will be under pressure to galvanise the top order and also push the tail-enders to deliver. The bowling has looked insipid, especially leg-spinner Anil Kumble, while Indian fielding here has remained sloppy as ever.

A win over Australia alone will not be sufficient for India as they have to beat Sri Lanka the following day as the islanders won the game between the two.

That victory and yesterday’s fighting effort against Australia have given the hosts a net run rate of minus 0.67, marginally better than India’s minus 0.77.

Tendulkar admitted both matches were crunch affairs and India must win both of them.

“It is a big game tomorrow. We have to win it as it will give lot of confidence to play in the all-important game against Sri Lanka,” he said in an informal chat with reporters after an intensive session at the SSC ground nets today.

The batting maestro, desperate to re-discover his dominating batsmanship and a first victory in his second tenure as captain, said India played their two games without much chance for nets due to rain and they turned out to be bad days.

Tendulkar, who appeared to be in a positive frame of mind said the SSC wicket, was not completely ready to decide on team composition.

He refused to offer any excuse for the two losses and said at the international level no opponent can be taken lightly. “We have to play better to beat them,” he said.

Tendulkar attributed Sri Lanka’s win over India on August 25 to exceptional fielding. “The only way to overcome this was to play in the gaps and for this we need more matches,” he said and stressed India had to bat well to win both the games and ensure qualification without any problem.

He was quite happy with the bowlers and refused to criticise leg spinner Anil Kumble, who is struggling for success here. “He is too good a bowler and will come back in a big way in the coming matches. Sometimes you struggle with the line and length,” he said.

The day match at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground could provide India the right conditions to bat to potential, an area where they have to come good to reverse their fortunes.

Opener Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid too are due for big knocks, but the job could be tough as Aussie pace spearhead Glenn McGrath has recovered from a thigh strain that kept him out of the first two matches.

McGrath produced a stunning three-wicket burst for his team’s big win in the World Cup to virtually end Indian hopes of making the semifinals and the other medium-pacers too have grasped the conditions here quite fast.

Leg spinner Shane Warne, never a terror to batsmen from the sub-continent, too has showed ominous form backed by superb fielding.

In contrast, the Indian attack barring off-spinner Nikhil Chopra has looked toothless. Pacemen Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad have been unable to make early inroads and Kumble has struggled with line and length and has been handled easily by both the Aussies and the hosts.

Teams:

India (from): Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Ajay Jadeja, Amay Khurasia, M.S.K. Prasad, Robin Singh, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Nikhil Chopra, Venkatesh Prasad, Vinod Kambli, S. Ramesh, Laxmi Rattan Shukla, Debashish Mohanty.

Australia (from): Steve Waugh (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Adam Dale, Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming, Shane Lee, Simon Katich.

Need for Sachin to bat well
by Allan Border

GAMES three and four of AIWA triangular tournament have been contested with some interesting results. It seems to me that, judging by those results, the Aussies have shown themselves to be the dominant team and that it’s basically a race between Sri Lanka and India for the other place in the final.

The match between the hosts and India loomed, therefore, as a vital contest, given that both teams had lost their opening encounters against the Australians. This game never reached any great heights as a contest mainly due to another inept batting performance from the Indians.

I know much has been written about the need for Sachin Tendulkar to fire with the bat for India to do well but the situation is becoming just that. I have a very high opinion of both Ganguly and Dravid as top line batsmen and Ajay Jadeja is a brilliant player himself but looking at recent result, unless Sachin makes a big score, India doesn’t win! This maybe over simplifying the situation but how much truth is in this statement.

Throughout the World Cup Ganguly and Dravid played quite brilliantly but results didn’t come. Maybe the bowlers were to blame on that occasion? It seems to me that it must be a psychological thing that if the little master fires it has a great effect on the karma of the team and converts to wins. It is time for the team itself to lift, hunt as a pack and play with some passion so as to take the pressure off their captain. His own leadership needs this, he will grow in confidence as will the team around him.

Getting back to specifics. The match against Sri Lanka saw India at one point cruising to be 155 for 3, Jadeja and Khurasiya playing pretty well. Then disaster struck and the innings petered out. This is the main area of concern — the lack of runs in the vital last 10-15 overs, and runs in particular from the tail. You might argue that the batsmen should be doing the bulk of this work but the best teams always seem to be able to extract important runs from their tailenders. This is not happening with the Indians.

All in all it was an emphatic win for the Sri Lankans and a very good effort from their new skipper Sanath Jayasuriya. Another player who has impressed is Chandana who is having a good tournament with the ball and is a handy man coming in down the order.

Speaking of spinners, where have all the left-armers gone from the Indian scene? I personally bemoan the absence of a quality left-arm tweaker. I find it quite strange that in a country with such a proud tradition of this type of bowler this current Indian side is missing someone with these skills. Where is a player like Ravi Shastri when you need him?

The Sri Lankans are starting to get on a bit of a roll and even though well beaten, showed up some flaws in the Aussie middle order against the turning ball. In this respect, once again Chandana was the most impressive with Murili offering great support.

If coach Dave Whatmore can get young Jaywardene to settld down more, early in his innings, I’m sure he will prosper as will his team. This will go a long way towards bridging the gap between themselves and Steve Waugh’s men.

The Australians weren’t at their best in the game against Sri Lanka but still create chances just when they need them most. Ricky Ponting’s catch to dismiss Jayasuriya was an absolute pearlier, and he then backed that effort up with a couple of stunning run outs! It’s the little things like these that make all the difference.

News of Geoff March’s retirement from coaching this Australian team has caught everyone by surprise. He has been a stalwart around Australian teams over the last 15 years. Geoff was major part of the resurgence of the team in the latter part of the eighties as a player, then overseeing impressive away wins in England, Pakistan, the West Indies culminating in the recent World Cup. I personally can’t praise Swampy enough for his efforts over the years; he is a great friend and will be sorely missed by the team.

With this in mind, it might just make this Australian team all the more determined to send their beloved coach out on a winning note. — PMG

Johnson breaks 400 m record

SEVILLE, Aug 27 (AP) — Michael Johnson broke the longest-standing men’s track record last evening, running the 400 metres in a time of 43.18 seconds to win his fourth world championships title in a row.

The Olympic 200 metres and 400 metres champion broke the 11-year-old mark of fellow American Harry Butch Reynolds, who had clocked 43.29 seconds in Zurich on August 17, 1988.

His eyes were on the scoreboard as he crossed the finish line, some 10 metres ahead of the field.

Sanderlei Claro Parella of Brazil took the silver in 44.29 and Mexico’s Alejandro Cardenas the bronze in 44.31.

Running in lane five, Johnson ran a blazing final 150 metres to break the record before holding aloft the No 1 sign alongside the record on the score board.

After the race in front of some 45,000 excited fans in the crowd, Johnson waved the American flag, before collecting his thought, laying on his back. He went over to the stands and slapped high-fives with several spectators.

It was the first world record that was broken at these world championships after fellow American Stacy Dragila tied the world record in the women’s pole vault.

Johnson also owns the 200 metres world record of 19.32 seconds, which he set at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Coming into the championships, the 31-year-old Texan had personal best of 43.39, seconds, which he clocked to win the 1995 world championships.

The double Olympic champion already owned the season’s best time of 43.92, and had shown a sign of his incredible potential in the semifinal by running 43.95 while slowing down well ahead of the finish line.

Johnson has dominated the 400 metres for a full decade and had a undefeated streak from 1989 to 1997. He now holds eight of the 10 fastest times in the world. But over the past few years, he has been troubled by injuries in the hip and pelvis areas, accounting for the few losses he has suffered.

AFP adds: Double Olympic champion Michael Johnson delivered the only thing missing from the seventh world championships here last evening — a world record.

After headlines of drugs, injury, protests and upsets, the 31-year-old switched the spotlight firmly back on track by running the greatest 400 metres race in history to shatter the 11-year-old record of Butch Reynolds.

It was a desperately needed fillip for a championship still reeling from the injury that destroyed Marion Jones’ dream of a sprint double.

The pole vault got a new world champion for the first time in 16 years as Maksim Tarasov finally succeeded to the throne which Sergei Bubka has occupied ever since the first world championships were staged in Helsinki in 1983.

A first-time clearance at 6.02 metres — higher even than the great Bubka ever managed at a world championships — won the gold for the 28-year-old from Yaroslavl, Russia.

Dmitriy Markov, the former Belarussian now representing Australia, took the silver with 5.90 metres and Israel won their first ever world championship medal through a former Russian decathlete, Aleksandr Averbukh (5.80).

Tarasov, the 1992 Olympic gold medallist, only had a brief scare 5.96 metres, when he needed to clear on his third attempt to stay in the competition. His first-time clearance at 6.02 metres, though, was very comfortable.

Gete Wami’s desire to escape the poverty and hardships of life in Ethiopia paid off for her when she won the women’s 10,000 metres title at the world championships.

Her victory brought her $ 60,000.

“Life is hard in Ethiopia,” Wami said, “but if you train hard and win gold medals, then you win recognition and fame in my country.

Kafelnikov, Corretja survive

COMMACK (USA), Aug 27 (AFP) — Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached the quarter-finals of the ATP tour event here last evening, but admitted he was afraid of fatigue affecting his performance at the upcoming US Open.

A two-time champion here, Kafelnikov survived three rain delays to beat Fabrice Santoro of France, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0. Earlier, Magnus Norman — a two-time winner this season —dispatched Mariano Puerta of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3 to earn a meeting with Kafelnikov.

Kafelnikov took a 5-4 lead over Santoro before inclement weather forced another stoppage. There was a delay of about 20 minutes after the first game. When the pair returned, each held serve to force a tie-breaker, which the Russian won. He then zipped through the second set.

Fatigue remains a worry for Kafelnikov, who has been tabbed, along with Pete Sampras, Agassi, and two-time defending champion Patrick Rafter as a favourite for the US Open, which starts on Monday.

Second seed Alex Corretja of Spain also overcame rain as well as his opponent to advance to his fifth quarterfinal of the season.

With heavy clouds overhead, Corretja defeated Martin Damm, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

Sixth seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden reached the quarterfinals on Wednesday but was forced to pull out of this event and the US Open due to viral illness.

The day’s final second-round match saw seventh seed Thomas Enqvist improve to 5-0 all-time against Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

BROOKLINE (AP): Second-seeded Marcello Rios of Chile needed to call upon his best clutch shots on Friday night to overcome Daniel Nestor of Canada and advance to the quarterfinals in the US Pro Championships.

Rios, down two break points on his serve in the ninth game of the final set, survived 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-4 in dramatic fashion.

NEW HAVEN: In her third try, Lindsay Davenport finally figured out Amelie Mauresmo and advanced to the semifinals of the Pilot Pen with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on Friday night.

Cathy Freeman wins historic 400m

SEVILLE, Aug 27 (AP) — There was another 400-metres final last evening in the Estadio Olimpico and it was also historic.

It may not have been as spectacular as Michael Johnson’s record-smashing 400-metres gold medal run, but tell that to the people Down Under.

Cathy Freeman became the first Australian to repeat as world champion in track and field when she won the women’s 400 metres, about 15 minutes before Johnson shattered the world mark by clocking 43.18 seconds.

While Freeman ran her race, the crowd of more than 40,000 was already in tense anticipation of the men’s event.

Freeman ran the fastest time of the year of 49.67 seconds to retain the title she won in Athens, Greece, in 1997.

“Without sounding cocky or arrogant I knew that I had it over a month ago,” she said.

“It wasn’t a foregone conclusion but I always have enough to do the job and I wanted to win tonight.”

Freeman held off a late surge by Germany’s Anja Ruecker, who grabbed the silver in 49.74 seconds. Lorraine Graham of Jamaica took the bronze in 49.92.

In 1998, Freeman was named the Australian of the year and in 1990 she was named the young Australian of the year. She is the only person in the history of the Australia Day awards to have received both the honours.

Imagine what will happen if she wins the gold medal at next year’s Olympics in Sydney.

Indian juniors lose to Germany

BERLIN, Aug 27 (PTI) — Indian juniors lost 0-1 to Germany in their last league match but qualified for the semifinals on better goal difference in the eight-nation Junior Challenge Open Hockey Tournament at Poznan, Poland.

A better goal difference also came to the rescue of Germany for entering the last four yesterday at the expense of Egypt, who had earlier shocked the pre-tournament favourites in a pool A encounter.

India, Germany and Egypt, with two victories each, had six points at the end of the league phase but India with a goal difference of plus nine, topped the group ahead of Germany (+7) and Egypt (-2).

India will take on hosts Poland after today’s rest day while South Korea, who beat the hosts 6-0 in their last tie, take on Germany in a clash of two high-profile teams in the other semifinal tomorrow.

Germany put everything at stake in the match since a defeat would have eliminated them from the tournament, but the Indians held them at bay in the first session.

Captain Max Landshaut scored the all important goal via a penalty corner conversion in the 56th minute and Germany held on to the lead till the final whistle.

India, who failed to convert six penalty corners including one in the last minute, had a couple of easy chances to take the lead.

While Inderjit Singh failed to latch on to a pass from Prabjot Singh for what could have been an easy goal, Prabjot had only the German goalkeeper to beat but passed the ball to another player instead of taking a crack at the goal.

The Germans, playing under pressure, got six penalty corners in all and converted one for the crucial goal.

South Korea finished their league engagements as the only undefeated team in the tournament and have also not conceded a goal but scored the highest number of goals (21).

Delhi to host final one-day tie

MUMBAI, Aug 27 (PTI) — The cricket board has made one more change in the itinerary of the forthcoming tour to India by New Zealand according to which the fifth and final limited overs international is to be played at Delhi and the fourth at Guwahati instead of the other way round.

As per the changed programme the ODI at Guwahati is to be held on November 14 to be followed by the fifth and last ODI at Delhi on November 17.

This is the lone change in the schedule released on Thursday by board’s secretary Jaywant Lele. The Kiwis, who are to arrive in Mumbai on September 28, are scheduled to play the first three ODI’s at Rajkot (November 5), Hyderabad (November 8) and Gwalior (November 11).

The itinerary is:

Sep 28: New Zealand team arrives in Mumbai

Sep 30- Oct 2: v India “A” at Pune

Oct 5-7: v Board President’s XI at Jodhpur

Oct 10-14: First Test at Mohali

Oct 17-19: v Ranji champions Karnataka at Bangalore

Oct 22-26: Second Test at Kanpur

Oct 29- Nov 2: Third Test at Ahmedabad

Nov 5: First one-day international at Rajkot

Nov 8: Second one-day international at Hyderabad

Nov 11: Third one-day international at Gwalior

Nov 14: Fourth one-day international at Guwahati

Nov 17: Fifth one-day international at Delhi.

Khalifman takes lead against Akopian

LAS VEGAS, Aug 27 (PTI) — Grandmaster Alexander Khalifman struck a crucial blow when he outsmarted Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in the fourth match of the six-game finals to keep alive Russia’s hope of retaining a stranglehold on the chess crown at the world championship here last night.

Khalifman, the 36th seed from St Petersburg, now has 2.5 points to 1.5 of Akopian with two more games to go in the FIDE world event.

The 33-year-old Russian, who spends more time at his chess grandmasters school than in taking part in elite tournaments, needs just one point — two draws or a win to engrave his name on the world chess title.

Any player reaching 3.5 points first will be declared the 14th world champion by FIDE, games’ world body. If the two are tied after six games, a set of tie-breaks on Sunday will decide the new champion.

The two players were tied 1.5-1.5 after three rounds and a day’s rest on Wednesday seemed to have done a lot of good for Khalifman.

The Russian had demolished the 27-year-old three time junior world champion Akopian in the first round on Sunday but Akopian struck back in the third game to level scores, after the two settled for a quick 18-move draw in the second,

Khalifman, who avoided taking risk in his first game with white, opened the fourth, his second with white, with a ‘D’ file pawn move. Akopian answered it with knight.

Khalifman, who accounted for American Gata Kamasky, Boris Gelfand of Israel and Hungary’s Judit Polar — world’s highest rated woman player in the initial rounds, gained a comfortable advantage shortly thereafter.

After four hours of play in which 40 moves were completed, Khalifman had won a pawn and was clearly heading towards a winning position.

The former under-16, U-18 and U-20 world champion, who eliminated fifth seed Michael Adams of England and Russia’s Evgeny Bareev in earlier rounds, was however, in no mood to give up.

Krayzelburg, Heyns set world records

SYDNEY, Aug 27 (AP) — American Lenny Krayzelburg completed a magic double and South African Penny Heyns continued her amazing feats as the world record tally hit 10 at the Pan Pacific swimming championships today.

Krayzelburg smashed an 8-year-old world record in the 200 metres backstroke to add to his 100 metres record on Tuesday. Heyns, who revealed she is using the controversial food supplement creatine, broke her seventh world record in 10 swims during the 200 metres breaststroke final.

At least one record has fallen on all six days so far in the pool which will host next year’s Olympic Games meet.

The perfect record could be extended to seven days with a meet official saying the sport’s governing body FINA has given Heyns permission to attempt to break her own 50 metres world record in a special time trial following tomorrow’s heats.

American Jenny Thompson, who broke a 100 metres Butterfly mark claimed her fourth gold when she won the 100 metres free style final. She clocked 54.89 to finish well clear of Sarah Ryan of Australia at 55.58 and add her second individual gold to two relay wins.

Tom Wilkens of the USA won the last final today, taking the 200 metres medley in 2:01.01.

Krayzelburg was world champion in the 100 metres and 200 metres backstroke events but came into the meet without owning either record.

He clocked 1:55.87 in the 200 metres final today to beat the 1:56.57 set by Martin Lopez Zubero of Spain on November 23, 1991 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

While Heyns said she thought her times might have fallen without the help of creatine, billed as a legal alternative to anabolic steroids, she has been on a remarkable roll for the past five weeks.

The spurt started at last month’s Janet Evans Invitational in Los Angeles when she broke the 100 metres and 200 metres mark twice each. She broke the 100 metres record in the heats of the Pan Pacific championship and missed it in the semifinals and final, while easily winning gold.

Heyns took the 200 metres record down to 2:24.42 in yesterday’s semifinals and crushed it in today’s final with 2:23.64.

“I am shocked by that,” said Heyns. “As much as I tried to convince myself that I was relaxed tonight, I felt a little distracted during the race. Coming home it wasn’t as easy as it has been. Now I know why.”

Heyns has returned from contemplating retirement after the Atlanta Olympics, where she won the breaststroke double.

She said she got to the stage of hating her sport, but after deciding to carry on to next year’s Sydney Olympics she wanted to do everything possible to make sure she competed at her best, including taking creatine.

Asian schools tennis meet at Jakarta
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Aug 27—The first Asian Schools Tennis championship will be played at Jakarta (Indonesia) from September 19 to 28. The championship is being organised by the Asian Schools Sports Federation.

Mr PS Chhabra, Secretary-General of the Schools Games Federation of India, (SGFI) said the Government of India had principally agreed to fund the entire expenditure of the Indian team consisting of four boys and four girls in the under-18 age group. As per the tournament format, each country will be eligible to enter one team in both boys and girls for the team championship. In the individual section, two players each in boys and girls will be allowed for singles and one pair each in doubles.

The team championship would be conducted from September 21 to 23 while the individual events would be played from September 23 to 26. Each contingent should not consist of more than eight players (four boys and four girls) and maximum of three officials.

According to Mr Chhabra, trials for the selection of the Indian team are scheduled for August 31 and September 1 at NIS, Patiala. Each affiliated unit has been directed to send maximum of two boys and two girls for taking part in the trials. An executive committee meeting of the SGFI will also be held on September 1 at the NIS, Patiala.

Meanwhile, the Punjab School Education Department would hold trials for selecting the best four players of the state at NIS, Patiala on August 29 and 30.

The players born on or after December 31, 1981 will be eligible to participate in the trials. Original proof of birth certificate of class X is mandatory.

Aparna bows out in pre-quarters

BANGALORE, Aug 27 (PTI) — National woman champion Aparna Popat, who was expected to keep the country’s flag flying high, crashed out of the 1999 Konica Cup Open Badminton Championship, being played at Singapore.

She went down 3-11, 6-11 to Gong Zichao of China in the pre-quarterfinals, according to a press release from the Badminton Association of India (BAI).

Aparna started off well taking a 3-0 lead. But once Gong got going, there was no stopping her. She claimed the first game and ran up a huge 10-0 lead in the second. Aparna fought back well and came upto 6-10. But the lead was too big and she could not prevent the former world No 1 from winning 11-6.

Team for Toronto to be picked on
August 31

MUMBAI, Aug 27 (PTI) — The Indian team for next month’s three-match limited overs international series against the West Indies in Toronto is to be selected here on August 31, it was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) yesterday.

India, to be led by Sachin Tendulkar who has been appointed as the national captain till September-end by the selectors, is to take on the Brian Lara-led West Indies in the ‘Toronto cricket festival’, on September 11, 12 and 14 with September 13 being the reserve day.

The three-match series against the calypso cricketers has been drawn up by the organisers of the five-match Indo-Pak friendship series, the International Management Group (IMG), after the cancellation of the annual series at the same venue.

Klim struggles in 100 m heats

SYDNEY, Aug 27 (AP) — World record holder Michael Klim struggled in the heats of the 100-metres butterfly at the Pan Pacific championships today as three Australian swimmers were placed in the top four.

Klim, who is also the world champion in the event, was fourth and must be among the top two Australians in tonight’s semifinals to be eligible for a place in tomorrow’s final.

Aman, Gurvinder triumph

Chandigarh, Aug 27 (BOSR) — Aman Bhasin and Gurvinder surged ahead in their respective matches in handicap snooker event against AS Banipal and Eroz respectively in the ongoing YMCA open Billiards and Snooker Championship at the YMCA, sector 11, here today.

Aman routed the much-experienced opponent Banipal in two straight frames at 53-29,54-28 while Gurvinder got the better of Eroz in a one-sided affair at 52-30,45-9.

In open snooker matches, Sunny Bhalla accounted win over Harpreet of Shimla at 51-47, 35-43, 49-25, while Honey Bhalla on the disposed of Manav Dhawan at 43-32, 45-27.

Manan Nagpal and AS Banipal easily won their open snooker matches by defeating Tarun Kumar at 64-34,57-42 and Pardeep at 49-36,51-36 respectively.

Trials on Aug 30

CHANDIGARH, Aug 27 (TNS) — Trials to select six players each for basketball and handball players for sports wing at Government College, Ludhiana, will be held at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, on August 30 at 8 a.m., Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, Secretary, Punjab Handball Association, announced here today. All eligible players should report for trials at the venue.

Piccadily XI in final

Chandigarh, Aug 27 (BOSR) — Piccadily XI would take on PCA colts in the tomorrow’s final of the inaugural Major Sandeep Sagar Memorial Cricket Tournament.

In the second semifinal today, Piccadily XI outclassed ICC XI by five wickets at the Sector 16 stadium. ICC XI batted first and openers Rahul Panta (36) and Amit Bhardwaj (26) were involved in a partnership of 83 runs. Rest of the batsmen failed to prosper. Jaswant Rai, claimed four wickets for 20 runs, while Arun Kumar took three wickets for 32 runs. ICC XI made 183 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

In reply, Piccadily XI scored 188 runs for the loss of five wickets Ajay Mannu made superb 62 runs and Arun Kumar remained unbeaten on 35 runs.

Uplift club win

PATIALA, Aug 27 (FOSR) — Uplift Hockey Club, Patiala, prevailed upon STC School in the tie-breaker 5-3 to win the inaugural match of the National Sports Day Tournament played at the NIS here today.

The tournament is being held in the memory of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, whose birth anniversary falls on August 29, coinciding with the National Sports Day which is being celebrated for the first time in the country.

The tournament was inaugurated by the Director General, Sports Authority of India (SAI), Mr D.K. Mittal.