LAUSANNE : German tennis champion Steffi Graf (left) smiles during a ceremony at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday as she is awarded by IOC president Juan-Antonio Samaranch (right) for her outstanding career — AP/PTI

Laver, Graf ‘top tennis players of century’ NEW YORK, Dec 7 — Rod Laver beat out the player who grew up idolising him, Pete Sampras, as The Associated Press men’s tennis player of the century, and Steffi Graf edged Martina Navratilova as the top women’s player.

Delgado outlasts Fazaluddin
JAIPUR, Dec 7 — Promising Indian Syed Fazaluddin gave Lucknow-leg finalist Jamie Delgado of Britain a scare before the fourth seed managed to escape with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory to reach the second round of the ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

Abhinav clinches 2 gold medals
PHILLAUR, Dec 7 — Chandigarh lad Abhinav Bindra like yesterday was at his best and shot steadily to clinch two gold medals in the men’s as well as junior men’s section of the 10 m air rifle event on the third day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of the Punjab Police Academy here today.

PSEB, RCF move ahead
NABHA, Dec 7 — Fancied PSEB downed ICF, Chennai, 3-0 while RCF, Kapurthala, tamed BEG, Roorkie, 4-1 on the third day of the 24th Liberal Hockey Tournament at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

Gopichand, Meenakshi champions
HYDERABAD, Dec 7 — Top seed P. Gopichand and B.R. Meenakshi won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, in the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament here today.

NZ central revenue meet from today
CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — More than 450 sportspersons, including international stars, will participate in the two-day North Zone Central Revenue Sports Championship starting here tomorrow.

National Football League set for quiet kick-off
CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — The fourth edition of the National Football League is all set for a quiet kick-off at New Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium on December 9 with defending champions Salgaocar FC,Goa,taking on winners of the inaugural edition,JCT Phagwara,in the opening tie.

Punjab cops triumph
CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — The Federation Cup champions Punjab Police defeated BSF 102-61 to win the 50th Punjab Basketball Championship for men at Government Senior Secondary School indoor stadium at Dhanuala in Sangrur district today. At half time, Punjab cops led 49-29.

• BK Sinha technical delegate

Indian eves outwit Korea

NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (PTI) — India struck thrice in the space of six minutes to beat defending champions South Korea 3-2 in their last league match and booked a place in the final of the 4th Asia Cup Women’s Hockey Tournament here today.

Striker Pritam Rani, who carved out a number of chances in the first half in vain, placed herself in perfect position to deflect a Manjinder Kaur long-ranger from the centre and put India 1-1 level with the Koreans in the 57th minute.

Fancied Korea led 1-0 at half time giving shivers to the Indian camp which is hoping to win the continental tourney and earn a direct berth in the 2002 Buenos Aires World Cup.

Korea is already through to the final with 10 points.

Asian Games silver medallist India wasted four penalty corners before Marystella Tirkey struck a full-blooded shot on the fifth in the 59th minute to give India a crucial 2-1 lead.

Tirkey’s shot kissed a defender’s stick and flew high but the ball was directed right into the net from top of the post which set off wild celebrations among the sparse crowd.

After a subdued first half where they struggled to combine well with their passes being intercepted with ease, the hosts raised their game in the second half of this high-voltage tie.

It was Pritam’s excellence that saw India go 3-1 up in the 63rd minute when she attacked from the right flank, passed the ball to Kamala Dalal who in turn gave it to Sumrai Tete. Taking the ball on the half volley Tete scored the third goal.

India’s win today took the hosts to 11 points from five encounters while Korea (10 points) ) will be assured of second place regardless of the result in tomorrow’s match between China and Kazakhstan.

With top two teams from league stage meeting in the final, China’s chance of making it to the summit clash hinged on today’s match where either India’s loss or a draw could have given them some hope.

Last edition’s runners-up China, should defeat Kazakhstan tomorrow but it will take them to only nine points for a 3-4 place playoff against Japan (8).

In an inconsequential tie today, Japan defeated lowly Malaysia 3-0 after leading 1-0 at the half time. Malaysia, without a single win from five matches are to meet Kazakhstan for a 5-6 place playoff.

Sahori Miyazaki put Japan ahead in the 3rd minute when Naoko Saito attacked from the left and after being mobbed in the circle, passed the ball backwards to Megumi Suzuki whose hard hit from outside was deflected into the goal by Miyazaki (1-0).

On changing ends, playmaker Sachimi Iwao made a brilliant move with Aki Matsui in toe from the right. Toshie Suzuki was waiting in the circle with no one to mark her. Suzuki took the pass and in the same action banged in for 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute.

Malaysians failed to match the pacy Japanese as most part of the match was played in their territory. After a good move by captain Iwao in the 63rd minute, Kaori Chiba deflected the ball into the post for a convincing 3-0 win over clueless Malaysia.

Hosts India, meeting Korea third time in this year after their loss in the Bangkok Asian Games final in December last, looked tentative at the start.

With Korea coming here with 13 members of the Asian Games gold medal winning team resting five top players, India though underrated were expected to beat their fancied rivals.

The fleet-footed Koreans led by Kim Soo-Jung and Kim Eun-Jin continuously prodded the Indian defence which in the first half was all but solid.

The hosts paid the price by going straight for the attack. Mercurial striker Pritam Rani heavily marked and with playmaker Suraj Lata doing duties both in the front and back, the Indians ran out of steam midway through the first half.

Added to their woes were awfully misdirected passes of which the Koreans took advantage and continuously raided the Indian post. But for goalkeeper Chanu Tingonleima, India would have been in dire straits.

Just before the break, the Koreans attacked through Cho Bo Ra and Hyun Jung-Woo and earned a penalty corner. Tingonleima excelled under the bar as she saved well struck scoops, but soon a long-range pass from Cho forced Tingonleima out and Jung-Woo showed good reflexes to deflect the ball in (1-0).

But in the second half, India came out with totally different attitude and scored three quick goals to go 3-1 up. Jung-Woo had the consolation of scoring another with just two minutes left, but India was well on course for a deserving win.

Hair no stranger to controversy

CANBERRA, Dec 7 (PTI) — Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who was at the centre of a bitter row with the visiting Indian cricketers over the weekend, is no stranger to controversy.

The teams from the subcontinent have a problem with Hair. Sri Lanka, Pakistan and now India all share a common concern at the way this burly-looking umpire from New South Wales likes to go about his job.

In 1995, he called off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for throwing on the Boxing Day Melbourne Test. It caused a near diplomatic row between the two nations and was the genesis of Australia's refusal to tour the island during the 1996 World Cup citing security reasons.

He was not through with the Lankans yet. When they toured again before the World Cup in 1998, Hair timed the release of his book ‘Decision-Maker’ with the tourists arrival and made further disparaging remarks about Muralitharan’s action being diabolical.

He wrote if he had a choice, he would have called Murali many times over, and not just seven times, during the Australian summer of 1995.

It got the tails up of Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and embarrassed them enough to ask him to stand down from the three-Test series in 1998.

This summer, Hair got his chance against the Pakistanis only in the last Test at Perth. Wasim Akram, during Pakistan’s bid to contain Australia on the second afternoon, wanted the ball to be looked at by Hair, asking for a replacement. Hair did not as much as look at it as threw it back to Akram, most arrogantly.

Now he has picked up a fracas with the Indians. At SCG, he was most schoolmasterish, as a senior Indian member of the team put it, and reported acting skipper Sourav Ganguly for dissent.

To the naked eye, he appeared very physical and intimidating during the New South Wales second innings.

Hair and NSW go a long way back. Born on September 30, 1952, Darrell Bruce Hair was a member of the NSW under-14 side in 1966 and was an opening bowler and a capable batsman. He also played cricket for North Sydney and Nosman in the Sydney grade competition.

He took up umpiring in 1985-86 in order to maintain contact with the game and rose quickly through the ranks, umpiring his first Sheffield Shield match in 1988-89.

Test recognition came in the Adelaide Test against India in 1991-92 and he was the first Australian umpire to join the ICC international panel. He, along with Darren Harper, still represents Australia in the ICC panel.

Hair first came into focus in 1992-93 at Adelaide giving Craig McDermott out caught behind which gave the West Indies victory by one run and helped them square the series.

In 1993-94, again at Adelaide, he caused Hansie Cronje to wince when he gave Gary Kirsten out leg before, a poor decision. The South Africans went fuming at Hair and it was the beginning of often hard, often bitter cricket between the two nations.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has an interesting insight of the man in his book ‘Time to Declare’. Mentioning the Murali incident of the 1995 Melbourne Test, Taylor wrote: Hair was standing back from the stumps to get a clear look at Murali’s action (before no-balling him) and when the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga switched Murali to the other end, however, Hair’s fellow umpire New Zealander Steve Dunne failed to call him. I understand that Hair had then asked Dunne to move back and watch the bowler’s action from behind. Dunne declined saying it was a shame. I don’t think umpires should gang up on a player.

At the tea break, the drama came to a head. Hair told Ranatunga that if he kept bowling Murali, he would have no option but to call him from square leg.

Left with no choice, Ranatunga took the spinner off.

Hair has had a rough two past two years. He was a sales manager of a Sydney promotion company and was retrenched. His marriage also broke up last year.

164-run defeat for India

CANBERRA, Dec 7 (PTI) — The touring Indians folded up all too easily against a young Australian Prime Minister’s XI to suffer an embarrassing 164-run defeat in the one-day festival cricket match here today, ahead of the first Test against Australia starting on Friday.

Neither the presence of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, throughout the duration of the match, nor a capacity crowd could rouse the Indians to inject any seriousness as they were bundled out for 170 runs in 44.6 overs, chasing a massive 334 for five at the Manuka Oval here today.

The hosts, in contrast, were all fired up and centuries by man of the match David Fitzgerald (115) and Andrew Symonds (101) and a superb haul of 4 for 25 by speedster Brett Lee amply illustrated their spirit.

Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar chose to field on winning the toss instead of making first use of the ideal conditions, conveying certain strategies being applied for the match.

But everything else thereafter was antithesis to this notion. Runs were gifted freely and wickets surrendered without any resistance.

Lee, considered by many as the fastest Australian bowler, fired out both S. Ramesh (1) and V.V.S. Laxman (3) with only five runs on the board.

Ramesh failed to move his feet again and was bowled by Lee while Laxman, who made a superb start to the tour with a century against Queensland, played an unwise slash to be caught by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin off Lee.

SCOREBOARD

Prime Minister’s XI

M.Hussey c Kanitkar b Kumaran 18

D.Fitzgerald c Tendulkar b Mohanty 115

A.Symonds c Laxman b Kumaran 101

B.Hodge run out 5

S.Lee not out 55

I.Harvey c Mohanty b Kumaran 19

G.Cunningham not out 3

Extras: (b-1 lb-12 w-5) 18

Total: (for five wickets, 50 overs) 334

Fall of wickets: 1/40, 2/227, 3/247, 4/269, 5/327.

Bowling: Agarkar 9-0-52-0 (w-1), Mohanty 8-0-50-1 (w-1), Kumaran (w-1) 9-0-63-3, Ganguly 4-0-26-0 (w-1), Singh 5-0-36-0, Bharadwaj 6-0-39-0, Tendulkar 5-0-34-0 (w-1), Kanitkar 4-0-21-0.

India

S. Ramesh b B.Lee 1

V.Laxman c Haddin b B.Lee 3

R.Dravid c S.Lee b Harvey 21

S.Tendulkar c Haddin b B.Lee 2

R.Kanitkar b Harvey 5

V.Bharadwaj run out 45

S.Ganguly c Symonds b Marsh 46

A.Agarkar c (sub) James b S.Lee 25

T.Kumaran b B.Lee 1

H.Singh b S.Lee 3

D.Mohanty not out 2

Extras (b-5 lb-2 nb-4 w-5) 16

Total: (44.4 overs) 170

Fall of wickets: 1/4, 2/5, 3/8, 4/28, 5/44, 6/122, 7/134, 8/137, 9/151.

Bowling: B.Lee 10-1-25-4 (w-1 nb-4), Wilson 10-4-25-0, Harvey 7-0-44-2 (w-2), S.Lee 7.4-1-27-2 (w-1), Marsh 10-0-42-1 (w-1).

Delgado outlasts Fazaluddin

JAIPUR, Dec 7 (PTI) — Promising Indian Syed Fazaluddin gave Lucknow-leg finalist Jamie Delgado of Britain a scare before the fourth seed managed to escape with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory to reach the second round of the ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

But the hosts did not have a good day as national champion Sunil Kumar lost to third seed Thomas Ketola of Finland 3-6, 1-6 while Rohan Bopanna put up a slight resistance before bowing out 5-7, 1-6 against top seed Thai Srichan Paradorn in other first round matches at the Jai Club here.

Another Indian, Jagdish Tanwar lost 4-6, 3-6 to sixth seed Takahiro Terachi of Japan as 10 out of the total 12 Indians in the fray fell by the wayside at the first hurdle itself.

Top Indian Leander Paes and Vishal Uppal had reached the second round yesterday.

In other first round matches today, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia overcame Denmark’s Krestian Pless 4-6, 7-6 (10/8) 6-3 while second seed Mose Navarra of Italy thrashed wild card Peter Schuster of Germany 6-4, 6-2.

Fazaluddin had himself to blame for letting the opportunity slip after he came back to win the second set and tie the score 1-1.

In a keenly-fought decider, Fazal looked a winner every inch, but he made some costly unforced errors in the fourth game which helped Delgado break serve to take a 3-1 lead. The Briton again broke serve in the eighth game to win the match and reach the next round.

The fourth game of the third set was keenly fought as it went for deuce twice before Delgado managed to break Fazaluddin’s serve.

Fazaluddin rushed to the net and pressurised Delgado who took a 40-15 lead in the game but a weak return and a measured lob which fell in brought the score to deuce.

A good serve gave the Indian the advantage but Delgado came up with a good return, low and dipping, to restore parity again. An unforced error at the net by Fazaluddin gave advantage to Delgado who then broke the Indian with a deft cross court return to take a 3-1 lead.

Fazaluddin got his last chance in the seventh game but Delgado hung on grimly to hold his serve. The Indian was again broken in the eighth game and Delgado wrapped up the match with a beautiful back-hand pass to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Laver, Graf ‘top tennis players of century’

NEW YORK, Dec 7 (AP) — Rod Laver beat out the player who grew up idolising him, Pete Sampras, as The Associated Press men’s tennis player of the century, and Steffi Graf edged Martina Navratilova as the top women’s player.

Laver, an Australian, received three first-place votes and a total of 47 points from a six-member panel of experts assembled by The AP, while Sampras received no first-place votes and 39 points.

Bill Tilden, who dominated men’s play in the 1920s, finished third with the help of one first-place vote. Dubbed the “rocket,” Laver is the only double Grand Slam winner in history. He won the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US titles in 1962 as an amateur, then repeated the feat in 1969 as a pro.

He attacked the net relentlessly, yet possessed a potent all-around game from the baseline.Laver won the Australian singles title three times, the French twice, Wimbledon four times, and the US twice.

He probably would have won many more majors but was banned from the Grand Slam events in his prime after he turned pro in 1963. He did not return to the majors until the open era in 1968, then he promptly won Wimbledon for third time.

Sampras always listed Laver as his favourite player, admiring the completeness of his game, his aggressive style on court and his gentlemanly demeanour off court. Although Sampras owns 12 major singles titles, including six at Wimbledon, he has never gone beyond the semifinals in 10 appearances at the French Open. That failure on clay led one voter to omit him from the top 10 list, while another rated him only No. 5.

Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, winner of five straight Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980, finished fourth, followed by Don Budge, the first player to complete a Grand Slam in 1938.

In the women’s poll, Graf and Navratilova were separated by a point, 52-51, and were followed by Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Suzanne Lenglen of France, Helen Wills Moody, Maureen Connolly, Monica Seles of Yugoslavia, and a tie for No. 10 between Evonne Goolagong of Australia and Martina Hingis of Switzerland.

Abhinav clinches 2 gold medals
From Our Sports Reporter

PHILLAUR, Dec 7 — Chandigarh lad Abhinav Bindra like yesterday was at his best and shot steadily to clinch two gold medals in the men’s as well as junior men’s section of the 10 m air rifle event on the third day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of the Punjab Police Academy here today.

Maintaining cool and exhibiting utmost efficiency, Abhinav logged 695.70 points to win a keenly-contested event. He shot perfect ten for the first eight shots thus increasing the lead in every shot over his nearest rival Dalip Sawant of the Indian Army. In the process, Abhinav established a new national record erasing the previous record of 683.80 by PC Palangapa of Delhi set during the Commonwealth shooting championship at Auckland recently.

Dalip Sawant who too bettered his earlier record with 688.50 points had to content with a silver. The bronze medal winner, Ashok Kumar of Indian Army, scored 685.10 points.

Abhinav Bindra struck another gold in the air rifle (jr men) with a national record breaking performance of 593 points. The previous record of 571 points also stood against Abhinav’s name since 1998. The other two medal winners, Rakesh Kumar of Army (silver with 582) and Sudhir Paul (bronze with 579) too surpassed the existing national record.

Today’s results:

Team air rifle (men): 1-Army 1739, 2. CISF 1739, 3. BSF 1719.

10m air rifle (men): 1 Abhinav Bindra (Pb 695.70), 2. Dalip Sawant (Indian Army 688.50), 3. Ashok Kumar (Indian Army 685.10).

10 mtrs air rifle (jr men): 1. Abhinav Bindra (Pb 593), 2. Rakesh Kumar (Indian Army 582), 3. Sudhir Paul (Indian Army 579).

Team air rifle (jr Men): 1. RSCB (1663), 2. Maharashtra (1634), 3. West Bengal (1595).

10 m air rifle (civilian category): 1. Sudhir Kumar Singh (Delhi 576), 2. Deepak Mautiyal (Delhi 564), 3. Aman Veer Singh Wadalia (Delhi 557).

50 m free pistol team (men): 1. Indian Navy (1618), 2. Indian Army (1576), 3. CISF (1573).

50 m free pistol (civilian): 1. Rajiv Sharma (Delhi 526), 2 Pawan Kumar (CISF 523), 3. Anubhav Dhillon (Pb 512).

50 m free pistol (jr men): 1. Abhinav Yadav (UP 505), 2 Anshumali Dewedi (488), 3. Navneet Jakhar (Pb 482).

50 m free pistol men: 1. S. Kumar (Navvy 650.20), 2. Samresh Jang (642.30), 3. Subhash Rana (629.80).

PSEB, RCF move ahead
From Our Sports Reporter

NABHA, Dec 7 — Fancied PSEB downed ICF, Chennai, 3-0 while RCF, Kapurthala, tamed BEG, Roorkie, 4-1 on the third day of the 24th Liberal Hockey Tournament at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

The powermen played an aggressive game and found themselves one up through the brilliant stickwork of left-in Kuljit Singh who dazzled into the striking circle before he unleashed a stinging shot. Bouyed with this success, left-out Hardayal scooped the ball to the roof of the net after dodging two defenders to make it 2-0 for the powermen.

The Chennai team failed to reproduce its past form and its fraility in the defence was its undoing. The hard working Hardayal Singh completed the agony for the Chennai outfit when he superbly reverse flicked the ball into the goal. The best part about Hardayal’s goal was that his vision of the goalmouth was blocked by a couple of defenders. Yet Hardayal managed to hoodwink them to slot the ball home from a tough angle making it 3-0 for PSEB.

In the second match RCF, Kapurthala, swamped BEG. Roorkie 4-1. The pick of the Kapurthala teams were G.D. Barla and right in M.Ekka and rival defence held little threat for both these strikers. After Barla scored, RCF surged ahead through M.Ekka sounded the board. In the second half RCF’s centre-forward Jagmohan neatly deflected a pass from the right flank to make it 3-0 for RCF. Minutes later R. Lakra of the Roorkie team reduced the margin after showing some deft stickwork. M.Ekka closed out the match for the railmen with a scoop to give his team a comprehensive 4-1 victory.

Despite having the speedy Dinesh Thakur in their ranks, SAI, Patiala could not wither the onslaught of DLW, Varanasi, going down 2-3 to the Varanasi team.

In the last match of the day Meerut eleven escaped an early barrage of attack by the CRPF, Delhi, and collected themselves to play with verve and vigour to beat the Delhi securitymen 3-0. For Meerut Eleven the scorers were Jasbir Singh and Amarjit Singh who scored a brace. For CRPF S.Bara found the target.

Gopichand, Meenakshi champions

HYDERABAD, Dec 7 (PTI) — Top seed P. Gopichand and B.R. Meenakshi won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, in the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament here today.

Gopichand defeated third seed Ajit Wijetilak 15-6, 15-13. The national champion’s victory was expected but not before he had a tough fight on his hands against Wijetilak.

Meenakshi denied P.V.V. Lakshmi the pleasure of having a triple crown with a thrilling 7-11, 11-4, 13-10 triumph in the women’s singles final. Lakshmi won the mixed doubles title with Vidyadhar and the women’s doubles with Archanad Deodhar.

Gopichand had the measure of Wijetilak at 4-6. He rightly took the defensive stance and produced some breathtaking jump smashes to tie the score and raced to a 9-6 lead dominating the net. He used the half smashes intelligently to run away with the set at 15-6.

But in the second set, Gopichand gave away many negative points that saw him down at 0-4. He crawled back to 3-4. However, Wijetilak came up with forehand smashes to take a 8-5 lead. Gopichand began playing percentage game and tied the score with a half smash to the back court.

Then the eventual winner moved to 14-11, but Wijetilak did not throw in the towel. He saved two championship points before being finally overwhelmed.

NZ central revenue meet from today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — More than 450 sportspersons, including international stars, will participate in the two-day North Zone Central Revenue Sports Championship starting here tomorrow.

Talking to newsmen here this afternoon, Mr S.S. Jha, Commissioner, Central Excise, Chandigarh Commissionerate-I, said competitions in athletics, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, table tennis, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, kabaddi, body building, bridge and chess would be held in which teams from Patiala, Delhi, Indore, Jaipur, Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and the hosts Chandigarh will participate.

Former India’s cricketer, A. Khurasia and Bhupinder Singh (Senior) besides former international athlete Vijay Mala Bahnot will feature in the meet. The all-India revenue meet in team events will be held in Calcutta from December 20 to 22 while the athletic meet will be held at Patiala from January 14 to 16.

Mrs Surinder Paul Kaur, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, will inaugurate the meet at the Sector 7 athletic club at 9.30 a.m.

The competitions will be held at Athletic Stadium, Sector 42 Sports Complex, Sector 16 Cricket Stadium and DAV College, Sector 17 Football Stadium and the Lake Club. Mr Jha said that all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the championship have been completed. Also present at the Press conference were Mr D.S. Sra, Commissioner, Customs, and Mr S.J. Singh, Deputy Commissioner, besides Mr R.S. Bedi, Assistant Commissioner.

National Football League set for quiet
kick-off
By Amardeep Bhattal
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — The fourth edition of the National Football League is all set for a quiet kick-off at New Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium on December 9 with defending champions Salgaocar FC,Goa,taking on winners of the inaugural edition,JCT Phagwara,in the opening tie.

Although the All-India Football Federation released the draws for the first leg of the league in New Delhi yesterday, it did not disclose the name of the sponsors although,according to reliable sources, a leading soft drink manufacturing company has agreed to provide the financial support.The AIFF also is yet to come out with details, if any, regarding arrangements for live coverage of the matches on Doordarshan, total amount of prize money at stake and other issues such as man-of-the- match awards etc.

In all, 66 matches will be played in the first leg on home and away basis from December 9,1999, to January 30,2000.While Delhi will host only the opening match, Ludhiana will be a major centre in north India with the city playing host to as many as nine home matches of JCT Phagwara and BSF. The teams who will be playing at Ludhiana, besides JCT and BSF are Calcutta’s glamour outfits Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Tollygunge Aggragami; Goa’s Dempo FC, and runners-up of the inaugural edition, Churchill Brothers. Other venues of the first leg ties include Calcutta, Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, Trivandrum, and Bangalore.

The league will have 12 contestants. Besides defending champions Salgaocar, Goa, who recently made football history by lifting the Rovers Cup at the Cooperage, the Durand Cup at New Delhi and the Super Cup,others vying for the title will be winners of the first two editions JCT Phagwara and Mohun Bagan, Durand Cup runners-up East Bengal,Tollygunge Agragami, Mahindra and Mahindra, Dempo FC, Churchill Brothers, and FC Kochin. The league will have three debutants — Border Security Force, Jalandhar, State Bank of Travancore and Indian Telephone Industries, Bangalore. Border Security Force, by virute of being the Punjab league champions, have thus become the second outfit from the state to qualify for the league.

After the opening match in New Delhi on December 9, the action will shift to Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium when IFA Shield winners Mohun Bagan clash with BSF to be followed by the much awaited JCT-Mohun Bagan match on December 13.While Goan outfits like Churchill Brothers and Dempo have already played at Ludhiana in the past, Calcutta’s Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will be playing on Punjab soil for the first time. During the inaugural edition, most of JCT’s home matches were shifted to Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium after a couple of ties at Ludhiana and Phagwara.

Although stars like Baichung Bhutia, who performed wonders for JCT in the opening edition will be sorely missed as he is currently playing for Bury FC in the English Second Division, several foreign imports in the ranks of some of the participating teams like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will be the cynosure of all eyes. Among them are Stephan Abarowei, who only till last year was with JCT Phagwara.

The following is the draw for the first leg of the National Football League:

December 9 — JCT v Salgaocar (Delhi); December 10 — BSF v Mohun Bagan (Ludhiana); December 11 — Tollygunge v East Bengal (Calcutta); December 12 — Mahindras v ITI (Mumbai), Churchill v Dempo(Goa); December 13 — JCT v Mohun Bagan (Ludhiana); December 15 — FC Kochin v Tollygunge (Kochi); East Bengal v ITI (Calcutta).

December 16 — SBT Salgaocar (Trivandrum), BSF v Dempo (Ludhiana), M&M v Churchill (Mumbai); December 19 — JCT v Dempo (Ludhiana), SBT v Tollygunge (Trivandrum), Mohun Bagan vs M&M (Calcutta); December 20 — JCT vs East Bengal (Ludhiana), Churchill vs ITI (Goa); December 23 — JCT vs East Bengal (Ludhiana), December 24 — Churchill vs ITI (Goa), M&M v FC Kochin (Mumbai), BSF vs Tollygunge Aggragami (Ludhiana), December 26 — Mohun Bagan v SBT (Calcutta), December 27 — Dempo vs Salgaocar, December 30 — SBT v FC Kochni (Trivandrum), January 3 — ITI vs SBT (Bangalore), Mohun Bagan v East Bengal (Calcutta), Salgaocar v Churchill (Goa), FC Kochin v BSF (Kochi); January 6 — ITI v Tollygunge (Bangalore); January — M&M v JCT (Mumbai), SBT v Churchill (Trivandrum), FC Kochi, v Mohun Bagan (Kochi); January 8 — Salgaocar v BSF (Goa); January 10 — FC Kochin v JCT (Kochi); M&M v SBT (Mumbai); January 11 — Churchill v BSF (Goa); January 12 — East Bengal v Salgaocar (Calcutta), ITI v Mohun Bagan (Bangalore), Tollygunge v Dempo (Calcutta); January 13 — SBT v JCT Trivandrum), M&M v BSF (Mumbai); ITI v FC Kochin (Bangalore);

January 16 — Churchill v East Bengal (Goa); January 19 — Salgaocar v FC Kochin (Goa); Tollygunge v M&M (Calcutta); January 20 — JCT v BSF (Ludhiana), Chuchillv Mohun Bagan (Goa); SBT vs East Bengal (Trivandrum); January 21 — Dempo vs ITI (Goa); January 23 — East Bengal v M&M (Calcutta), SBT v BSF (Trivandrum), Salgaocar v Mohun Bagan (Goa); January — Dempo v FC Kochin (Goa); January 25 — Tollygunge v Churchill (Calcutta); ITI v JCT (Bangalore), January 28 — East Bengal v FC Kochin (Calcutta), ITI v BSF (Bangalore), M&M v Salgaocar (Mumbai), Dempo v SBT (Goa); January 29 — Tollygunge v Mohun Bagan (Calcutta), January 30 — JCT v Churchill (Ludhiana).

Punjab cops triumph
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 — The Federation Cup champions Punjab Police defeated BSF 102-61 to win the 50th Punjab Basketball Championship for men at Government Senior Secondary School indoor stadium at Dhanuala in Sangrur district today. At half time, Punjab cops led 49-29.

Cagers from BSF and Punjab Police scored to keep the scoreboard moving simultaneously. However, after the score reached 10-all, BSF cut lose to take 18-12 lead. The policemen, however, fought back gallantly to forge ahead at 21-18. With Mandip potting at will, policemen mounted to a comfortable 39-22 lead which was increased to 49-29 at the breather.

In fact, BSF men were handicapped due to height of Punjab Police’s Parminder Singh Sr, Tejinder Virk and Gursharanjit Singh. After the game resumed, Punjab Police cagers increased the lead to 64-31 within five minutes of the second half. With five minutes left, policemen led 96-53. Mandip (16), Gagnesh (23) were the main scorers for the winners while Ashok (17), Vipin and Satya Narain (12 each) were the main scorers for the losers.

Earlier, in other Super league encounters, Punjab Police beat Punjab State Electricity Board 87-59, while Border Security Force beat Patiala 43-33. For the third position, Kapurthala beat Bathinda 58-51.

Kiran Dhillon of Ludhiana and Reena of Jalandhar were declared best players in women’s section. Parminder Singh Sr and Mandip, both of Punjab Police, also shared the best players’ award in the men’s section.

Mr Rajdeep Singh Gill, president, Punjab Basketball Association, gave away the prizes.

BK Sinha technical delegate
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 —Dr B.K. Sinha (IPS) has been nominated as a technical delegate for the All-India Police Athletic Meet being held at Gandhinagar.

Dr Sinha, is a qualified technical officer of the AAFI and has been working as technical delegate for various athletic meets. In the All-India Police Games also he was deputed as technical delegate. He was a member of the Indian contingent in the 13th Asian Games at Bangkok.

Sharanjeet, Maninderset new records

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 (BOSR) — Sharanjeet Kaur of GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, created a new record in 400 m hurdles by clocking 1:05.21 seconds as against the previous record held by Rupinderjit Kaur of SB College, Budhewal, (1:05.77 sec) on the penultimate day of the Panjab University Inter-College Athletics championship here today.

Results: Men:

1Mahavir Singh ( GC, Ldh dist 42.32 m; 2 Gagandeep Singh ( DAVC, Chd) 3, Gurmeet Singh( AS College, Khanna ).

200 M:

1 Sukhwinderjit Singh (Govt College, Ludhiana), 2 Surjit Kumar (Khalsa College, Garhdiwala) 3,Guriqbal Singh (GNNC, Doraha).

800 m:

1 Bikramjit Singh(GNC, Doraha), 2 Sunil Yadav(DAVC, Chd) 3, Vipan Kumar( PUC, Chd).

Shot Put (Evening & Edu)- 1 Som Raj (DAV Edu, Hosh), 2 Rajinder Kumar( GHG Kh Edu Gurusar Sudhar), 3 Sukhpal Singh (Govt Edu, Chd).

High Jump: (Even& Edu) - 1 Jagjit Singh(DAV Edu, Hosh), 2 Kewal Singh (GHG Kh Edu, G. Sudhar), 3 Gurmeet Singh(GHG Edu, G. Sudhar).

Discus throw (Even.& Edu), 1Hardeep Singh (Arya Ludhiana), 2 Sukhpal Singh (Govt Edu, Chd), 3 Sikandar Singh (Govt Eve, Ldh).

200 m (even): 1 Gurinder Singh (Arya, Ldh), 2 Vishal Banga (Govt Eve Ldh), 3 Malkiat Singh (Kh Edu, Muktsar).

Women:

400 m (hurdles): 1 Sharanjeet Kaur (GGS College W, Chd), 2 Sharmishta (KCW, Ldh), 3 Karamjit Reshma( Ramgarhia Girls, Ldh).

10000 m: 1 Amarjit Kaur Ramgarhia, Ldh), 2 Kavita(MCM DAV-36, Chd), 3 Rachna (GGSC, Chd).

Triple Jump: 1 Rupinder Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 2 Deep Mala(KCW, Ldh), 3 Deep Sharma (GGSC, Chd).

High Jump: 1 Sandeep Kaur (KC, Ldh), 2 Manjinder (KCW, Ldh), 3 Supinder Kaur (GGSC, Chd).

200 m: 1Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 2 Sagardeep Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 3 Sharanjit Kaur (GGSC, Chd).

800 m: 1Paramjeet Kaur (Ramgarhia Ldh), 2 Manjit Kaur (Ramgarhia, Ldh), 3 Mansiha Lehal (KCW, Ldh)

PAP lift title

YAMUNANAGAR, Dec 7 (FOC) — Punjab Armed Police, Jalandhar, won the 33rd All-India Ballarpur Industries Football Tournament here yesterday defeating J&K Bank, Jammu, by 1-0.

By half time both the teams could not score but they played well. In the 73rd minute, Madan Lal of PAP converted a corner kick into a goal.

The performance of J&K Bank was outstanding but they could not cash in on the opportunities. In the last 20 minutes, PAP Jalandhar dominated the proceedings.

Selection trials

ROPAR, Dec 7 (TNS) — Trials to select the Ropar district women’s teams for athletics, basketball, handball, volleyball, gymnastics, kabaddi and judo will be held at the local Nehru Stadium on December 9 at 2.00 p.m. according to Mr R.D. Singh, District Sports Officer.

The selected teams will take part in the Punjab State Women’s Sports Festival to be held at Polo Ground, Patiala, on December 13 and 14.

SBP paddlers steal the show

CHANDIGARH, Dec 7 (BOSR) — State Bank of Patiala paddlers stole the show on the concluding day of the Punjab State Veterans Table Tennis Championship which concluded at sector 23 TT hall here today. In team championship finals, the SBOP outplayed Ludhiana by three games to two in a tough battle. Sanjeev Sood won both matches while Jitender Kishore was able to win one.

Team championship finals results: SBOP b Ludhiana 3-2 (Sanjeev Sood b Harminder Singh 21-18, 21-19; Jitender Kishore b Nirmaljit Kalsi 21-19, 22-20; PK Chawla lost to Sham Lal 19-21, 17-21; Jitender Kishore lost to Harminder Singh 19-21, 21-23; Sanjeev Sood b NS Kalsi 21-09, 24-22.

Mr Sardara Singh, General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, a keen TT player, was present to witness the finals.

Men singles: above 40 yrs: (Finals): Sanjeev Sood (SBOP) b J. Kishore (SBOP) 21-18, 21-19.

Semifinals: J. Kishore b PK Choffla (RBI) 21-18, 21-19; S. Sood b MS Bisht 21-9, 21-18.

Above 50 yrs (Finals): Jitender Kishore (SBOP) b Harminder Singh (Ludh) 18-21, 21-19, 21-18. Semifinals: J. Kishore (SBOP) b CK Sachdeva 21-8, 21-9; Harminder Singh (Ldh) b Inderpal Singh 21-18, 21-17.

Jyoti emerges fastest runner

hAMIRPUR, Dec 7 (FOC) — Jyoti Panwar of Government College, Dharamsala, became the fastest woman of the HP Inter-College Athletics Championship that started here today. Tarawati of the RKMV came second and Kauradevi of Government College, Mandi, got the third place in the 100 mtrs final.

Anita of the RKMV, Shimla, won first place in short put followed by Sunita Devi of PG College, Shimla, and third place went to the Arti of the RKMV, Shimla.

In the 1500 m final for women, Kaura Devi of Government College, Mandi, won the first place. Second place went to Sonia of the RKMV, Shimla, and third to Anjna Devi of Government College, Jogindernagar.

In men’s high jump, Kishori Lal of Government College, won the first place and Manohar Lal of Government College, Mandi, won the second place. Pankaj Kumar of DAV College, Mandi, won the third place.

Earlier, Mrs Urmila Thakur, the HP Parliamentary Secretary, declared the three-day meet open.