Skipper Nasser Hussain saves England PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa), Dec 14 — England captain Nasser Hussain guided his team to a draw on the fifth and final day of the second Test against South Africa at St George’s Park here yesterday, ending a 10-match streak of home victories by South Africa.

Army, CISF shooters steal the show
PHILLAUR, Dec 14 — Army and CISF shooter’s dominance was well pronounced as they cornered three and two gold out of total 10 at stake on the last day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of Punjab Police Academy here today.

East Bengal to go all out against ITI
CALCUTTA, Dec 14 — Stung by their shock solitary-goal reverse against Tollygunge Agragami on Saturday, East Bengal will fight to redeem their honour as they take on ITI, Bangalore in a National Football League match here tomorrow.

Praise showered on Hunte at Burial
BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), Dec 14 — Conrad Hunte, a West Indies batsman during the 1960s who spent seven years coaching cricket in the black townships of South Africa, was buried yesterday amid praise for his contributions to the game.

Gujarat skaters in limelight
CHANDIGARH, Dec 14 — The ‘real action on wheels’ began here today with inauguration of the 37th National Skating Championships. Competitions in speed, roller hockey and artistic skating for all age groups were held and skaters from Gujarat excelled in speed and artistic events. Khushboo Saini, the lone girl from Haryana, cornered glory in speed events. In roller hockey Haryana and J&K surged ahead by winning their matches.

General Zia named Chief of PCB
ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 — The beleaguered Pakistan Cricket Board has had yet another change at the top, third in six months, when the country’s military regime appointed a serving general as the new chairman of the board replacing its earlier appointee, a civilian bureaucrat.

Sportspersons move HC on job scheme
NEW DELHI, Dec 14 — Sportspersons of the Capital have challenged in the Delhi High Court the city government’s move to appoint sports teachers without laying down any guidelines for their selection, praying that preference be given to those who have excelled in various fields.

Nirupama begins in style
NEW DELHI, Dec 14 — Top Indian woman player Nirupama Vaidyanathan started her campaign in style by thrashing Arthi Venkataraman, while national champion Sai Jayalakshmi went down to a qualifier in the first round of the Women’s Circuit Tennis Tournament here today.

Pele claims to be man of century
BRUSSELS, Dec 14 — With just 18 days remaining until the new millennium, football legend Pele said here that he was the greatest sportsman of the century.

Punjab, Bihar in final
JAMSHEDPUR, Dec 14 — Holders Punjab and hosts Bihar stormed into the finals of Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) by virtue of their first innings lead in the semifinals against Madhya Pradesh and Delhi respectively.

India lose by 285 runs

ADELAIDE, Dec 14 (PTI) — The Indian batting humiliation was completed with the team crashing to its lowest total in Australia in 51 years and the second worst defeat by 285 runs in the first cricket Test here today.

With defeat already staring them in the face last evening, India, resuming at 76 for five, lost the remaining five wickets in about an hour’s time for the addition of only 34 runs on the fifth and final morning.

Hit hard by dubious umpiring decisions in both innings, India were all out for 110 in the second knock, chasing an imposing 396-run target for a win. In the first innings, they had scored 285 replying to Australia’s 441. Australia declared their second innings at 239 for eight yesterday.

This was lowest India has got to in a Test innings in Australia in more than half a century of cricket between the two teams. Their previous two lower totals had come in the 1947-48 series when they had made 58 and 67 at Brisbane and Melbourne.

In terms of defeat by runs, India had only once done worse than this debacle. They had lost the Perth Test in the 1991-92 series under Mohd Azharuddin by 300 runs. In terms of defeats by innings though India has suffered many a times at the hands of Australia though not once in this decade.

Sourav Ganguly was the top scorer before he was done in by a brilliant piece of keeping by Adam Gilchrist.

Resuming at his overnight score of 31, Ganguly had added 12 runs in just 14 minutes of batting before his attempted hook was miraculously held by a leaping Gilchrist on the legside.

Ganguly batted for 97 minutes and hit four fours from 72 balls.

Fleming was on a hat-trick when Ajit Agarkar pushed a full toss to gully straight into the hands of Steve Waugh.

The hat-trick would still have materialised since the next batsman Javagal Srinath had a go at a wide delivery and the catch went head-high to first slip. After putting his hand up in the right place, Shane Warne let the chance go.

If Fleming had grabbed the hat-trick, he would have been only the fourth bowler in Test history to grab a hat-trick twice.

In the Rawalpindi Test of the 1994-95 series, he had bagged a hat-trick against Pakistan. Hugh Trumble, Tom Matthews and Wasim Akram are the three other bowlers to have done so in Test cricket.

So from 93 for five, the Indian slide was quick. The wicket was wearing fast and a few deliveries were rearing up from a good length area.

M.S.K Prasad, who had defended stoutly and impressively for 80 minutes and 40 balls for 11 runs, was surprised to see a ball rear up and take the top of his bat.

Srinath was similarly done in by Fleming as the ball ballooned to slips. Anil Kumble put a lid on the proceedings when he was beaten by a low delivery from Fleming that crashed into his stumps.

Fleming thus completed yet another five-wicket haul for 30 runs. He was the highest wicket-taker for Australia in the recent series against Pakistan with 18 wickets. Today, he took four wickets for seven runs from 23 deliveries.

India now move to Hobart to play a four-day game against Tasmania. The second Test will start at Melbourne on Boxing Day on December 26.

SCOREBOARD

Australia (Ist innings): 441

India (Ist innings): 285

Australia (2nd innings):

239 for 8 decl

India (2nd innings):

Gandhi c Gilchrist b McGrath 0
Ramesh lbw Warne 28
Laxman b Fleming 0
Dravid c Gilchrist b Warne 6
Tendulkar lbw McGrath 0
Ganguly c Gilchrist b Fleming 43
M. Prasad c langer b Fleming 11
Agarkar c S. Waugh b Fleming 0
Srinath c Slater b McGrath 11
Kumble b Fleming 3
V. Prasad not out 2

Extras: (LB-1, NB-5) 6

Total: (all out in 38.1 overs) 110

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-3, 3-24, 4-27, 5-48, 6-93, 7-93, 8-102, 9-108.

Bowling: McGrath 12-2-35-3, Fleming 9.1-2-30-5, Warne 10-6-21-2, Kasprowicz 6-0-23-0, Mark Waugh 1-1-0-0.

Tendulkar ducks controversy

ADELAIDE, Dec 14 (Reuters) — Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar refused to buy into the row over his controversial dismissal yesterday in his team’s first Test loss to Australia, despite widespread condemnation of the decision by India’s fanatical cricket supporters.

The master batsman was given out without scoring late on the fourth day of the first Test at Adelaide Oval after ducking into an attempted bouncer from Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath.

But the ball did not bounce as high as expected, skidding through and striking the Indian skipper on the shoulder as he was crouching down.

Australian umpire Daryl Harper, who also gave Tendulkar out in the first innings, hesitated for some time before raising his finger, sparking a row within both the Indian and Australian media.

While some commentators applauded Harper’s decision, others said the batsman should have been given the benefit of the doubt. Television replays of the ball’s trajectory indicated it might have clipped the top of the stumps but were mostly inconclusive.

When asked about the decision and the row it had created it back in India, Tendulkar graciously shrugged it off though he admitted he was a little disappointed.

“I think the whole world has seen it, I don’t think I should be talking much about it,” Tendulkar said shortly after India crashed to a 285-run loss in the first of three Tests.

“I was disappointed so I didn’t look at the replay at all.

“I thought it was the only ball in the match which kept low.’’

Australian captain Steve Waugh was fielding at gully when the incident happened. He said he thought Tendulkar was out but added that the call had little impact on the match outcome.

“A lot’s been made of it but Justin Langer went into this game with two hundreds under his belt and got a debatable decision in the first innings and nothing was said so let’s put it in perspective,’’ Waugh said.

“He’s (Tendulkar) a great player but I don’t think one decision altered the course of this match.’’

English Press flays SA umpire

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) — The English Press savaged South African umpire Rudi Koertzen today following his controversial decisions in the drawn second cricket Test at Port Elizabeth.

Four of the six English wickets to fall in their second innings went to dubious decisions with Koertzen, who is from Port Elizabeth, responsible for three of them.

“He’s a rudi joke’’ said the tabloid Sun. The Daily Mail said: “Umpire’s gaffes leave England seething’’ while The Guardian’s back-page headline read: “England survive umpiring nightmare’’.

Former England seamer Mike Selvey, reporting on the match for The Guardian, said: “If this is the best the International Cricket Council (ICC) can come up with, then things have reached a sorry pass. The players and the game deserve better.’’

Former England captain and allrounder Ian Botham, working at the Test for Television, said: “You are being very polite if you say those decisions were dreadful. A couple of them were beyond me”.

Former England opener Geoff Boycott added: “Some of the decisions were plain diabolical”.

Opener Mark Butcher was the first to suffer as he was given out lbw to a ball pitching outside leg stump while another impressive innings by Michael Vaughan was brought to a premature end when Koertzen gave him out caught behind when TV replays appeared to show no contact.

West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor then gave Alec Stewart out lbw to a ball that appeared to be missing leg stump by a distance.

But the most bemusing decision of all came when Chris Adams was given out caught by Jonty Rhodes after the ball popped up from his pad. Few South Africans appealed and Rhodes appeared uninterested but Koertzen put his finger up — much to the disbelief of Adams who spread his arms and shouted “no way” before reluctantly returning to the pavilion.

Later Koertzen, standing at square leg, was involved in a bizarre situation when Lance Klusener bowled at England captain Nasser Hussain from 15 metres behind the stumps.

Hussain stepped away from his wicket, the ball narrowly missing the stumps, but a no ball was not called.

Hussain sought guidance from Koertzen but Klusener repeated the ploy next delivery and Hussain played the ball which, under the laws of the game, should have been called a no ball because Bucknor could not see his delivery action.

Koertzen was also involved in controversy on Sunday when he ruled South African batsman Jacques Kallis not out after Adams claimed a low catch in the gully.

ICC regulations forbid players from talking to the media about umpiring decisions. “It’s not for me to comment on umpires,’’ said Hussain.

“I shall fill in my report which will be a private opinion on what I thought of it. You’ve all seen it and I’ll leave it to others to comment publicly”.

Koertzen is due to stand in the fifth and final Test beginning on January 14 in Pretoria.

South Africa’s players might feel that the mistakes have evened things up after they were on the end of some poor decisions during their 1998 series defeat in England.

South Africa lead the series 1-0 and the third Test starts in Durban on December 26.

Skipper Nasser Hussain saves England

PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa), Dec 14 (AFP) — England captain Nasser Hussain guided his team to a draw on the fifth and final day of the second Test against South Africa at St George’s Park here yesterday, ending a 10-match streak of home victories by South Africa.

Hussain, who made 82 in the first innings, batted for just over five hours, scoring an unbeaten 70 as England struggled to 153 for six after being set a target of 302 runs in 79 overs.

England had a scare when openers Mike Atherton and Mark Butcher were dismissed within the first seven overs.

The crisis seemed to have passed when Hussain and Michael Vaughan (29) batted for almost two-and-a-half hours in a third wicket stand of 75 to take the sting out of South Africa’s all-pace attack on an easy-paced pitch in hot, sunny weather.

But a late flurry of wickets, including a controversial decision against Chris Adams, kept the players on the field until there were just two possible overs left.

South Africa lead the five-match series 1-0. The third test starts in Durban on December 26.

South Africa’s chances of forcing a result slipped away on the fourth day when they scored too slowly to be able to make a declaration which would enable them to have the use of a second new ball, due after 80 overs.

Jacques Kallis and Jhonty Rhodes batted aggressively, however, to add 35 runs off 8.5 overs to enable skipper Hansie Cronje to declare. Kallis finished with 85 not out and Rhodes 57 not out. They put on 126 for the fifth wicket in 174 minutes.

England were soon in trouble when Shaun Pollock claimed the prize wicket of first innings century maker Atherton whose offstump was sent cartwheeling in the sixth over.

Atherton misjudged the line of a ball which straightened slightly and hit the top of the stump.

England’s opening partnerships in the first two Tests have been 1, 0, 5 and 5.

In the next over, Cronje brought new cap Mornantau Hayward into the attack after three maiden overs from Allan Donald. With his first ball Hayward trapped Butcher leg before and England were five for two.

Hussain relieved the pressure with some bold strokes, hooking Hayward for six and taking 20 runs off two overs from the fast bowler as he and Vaughan fought back.

Hussain appeared to be fortunate when the South Africans claimed a catch by Pollock at gully off the bowling of Lance Klusener when he had 31.

The home side seemed convinced the ball had gone from the edge of Hussain’s bat before looping off his pad. Umpire Rudi Koertzen gave Hussain not out and it appeared some harsh words were directed at the England captain.

The incident was an aftermath to the controversy on the fourth day when Kallis, on 12, did not walk after edging the ball to gully where Adams claimed a catch. Kallis was given not out because television replays were inconclusive.

Kallis, who was under medical advice not to bowl after suffering a knee injury last month, came into the attack as Cronje juggled his bowlers. He made a breakthrough when he had Vaughan caught down the legside by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.

Kallis then made a ball lift sharply and fly off Alec Stewart’s glove just out of reach of gully fielder Pollock.

But he bowled only five overs. Stewart went on to make 28 in a stand of 45 with Hussain before being lbw to Pollock with 19.4 overs still possible.

Kallis took another wicket when Andrew Flintoff edged to Boucher to be sixth out with four overs remaining. It was the 100th dismissal by the wicketkeeper. He set a record for reaching the landmark in his 23rd test, one fewer than Wally Grout of Australia and Dave Richardson of South Africa.

Earlier, Klusener bowled two balls from at least two metres behind the back crease, causing Hussain to step away the first time it happened. But the umpires pointed out there was nothing to stop a bowler doing this.

Klusener was named man of the match. He made 174 in South Africa’s first innings.

South Africa’s sequence of 10 successive home wins started in 1997/98 and included wins against Pakistan (1), Sri Lanka (2), West Indies (5), Zimbabwe (1) and England (1).

It equalled the world record set by India between 1988/89 and 1994/95 when they defeated New Zealand (1), Sri Lanka (1), England (3), Zimbabwe (1), Sri Lanka (3) and the West Indies (1).

Scoreboard

South Africa: (Ist innings) 450

England: (Ist innings) 373

South Africa: (2nd innings) 224 for 4 decl.

England: 2nd innings

Butcher lbw Hayward 1
Atherton b Pollock 3
Hussain not out 70
Vaughan c Boucher b Kallis 29
Stewart lbw b Pollock 28
Adams c Rhodes b Cronje 1
Flintoff c Boucher b Kallis 12
Caddick not out 4

Extras (lb2, nb3) 5

Total (5 wkts, 77 overs) 153

Fall of wickets: 1/5 (Atherton), 2/5 (Butcher), 3/80 (Vaughan), 4/125 (Stewart), 5/137 (Adams), 6/149 (Flintoff)

Bowling: Donald 13-4-37-0, Pollock 17-8-18-2, Hayward 20-8-55-1, Kallis 7-1-22-2, Klusener 14-9-17-0, Cronje 6-4-2-1.

Army, CISF shooters steal the show
From Anil Datt

PHILLAUR, Dec 14 — Army and CISF shooter’s dominance was well pronounced as they cornered three and two gold out of total 10 at stake on the last day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of Punjab Police Academy here today.

There was more success for the Army marksmen in the 25m standard pistol (ISSF) national championship event for men as their of Ved Parkash-550, Pemba Tamang-555 and Mahaveer Singh-551 logged 1656 points to finish well ahead of the navy and BSF trio which finished second and third with total 1645 and 1629 points respectively.

In the same event for junior men, Pemba Tamang of Army was eight on target with 555 points to annex the gold. Raunak Pandit and Amol Chauhan both of Maharashtra returned identical scores of 531 but Raunak with better ratio was awarded the silver medal.

Army trio of Pemba-555, Mahender Singh-516 and Amit Thapa-500 accumulated 1571 points to pick the gold in the 25m standard pistol junior men team event. The Maharashtra team of Amol Chauhan-531, Abdul Majid Shaikh-502 and Raunak Pandit-531 total 1564 points to take the silver while the CISF team consisting of Kamal Sain-503, Anubhav Dhillon-499 and Pawan Kumar-504 total (1506) settled for the bronze.

CISF bagged two gold through their ace shooter Jaspal Rana (25m standard pistol men event) and Shilpi Singh in the 10m air pistol national championship event for junior women.

In the 25m standard pistol, S. Kumar of Navy who with a score of 561 had established a lead over others last evening was pushed to the second spot today by Jaspal Rana (576).

It could have a slip between the cup and the lip for S. Kumar (561) and Vivek Singh (560) of Indian Airlines as just one point separated these two shooters to decide the silver medal. In the 10m air pistol (junior women) Shilpi Singh of CISF shot 373 for the gold, followed by Sonal Ramendra of Indian Airlines (371) and Sonia Rana of CISF (368).

Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, distributed the prizes to the medal winners. The cash awards for the medal winners in the previous Commonwealth Games at Auckland announced by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on the opening day of this championship by Mr Digvijay Singh, Minister of State for Railways and President, NRAI, were also presented to them on this occasion.

The winners were (gold) Jaspal Rana, Ved Parkash, Anjali Vedpathak, Vivek Singh, Soma Dixit and AP Subbiah — Rs 51,000 each; silver — TC Palanggapa, Kuheli Gangulee, DK Dhaka and Dhiyan Singh — Rs 25,000 each and bronze — Shilpi Singh, Abhinav Bindra, Chetan Deshmukh and Samresh Jung — Rs 11,000 each. In addition, a cash prize of Rs 11,000 each were given to Abhinav Bindra, Deepali Deshmukh and Anjali Deshpande for their outstanding performance during this championship.

Last day’s results: 25 m standard pistol (junior men): 1-Haneet Jakhar (Pun) 525, 2-Navneet NS Tyagi (UP) 520, 3-Anunay Yadav (UP) 518.

10 m air pistol (women): 1-Sheila Kanugo (Mah) 474.2, 2-Baljeet Kaur (Army) 469.8, 3-Harvinder Kaur Waraich (Mah) 468.5.

25 m standard pistol civilians: 1-Rajeev Sharma (Del) 551, 2-NS Bhogal (Pun) 538, 3-Raunak Pandit (Mah) 531.

25 m standard pistol junior men team: 1-Maharashtra 1517, 2-Punjab 1497, 3-Manipur 1429.

10 m airpistol women team: 1-Maharashtra 1123, 2-CISF 1108, 3-Indian Airlines 1087.

25 m standard pistol men: 1-Jaspal Rana (CISF) 576, 2-S Kumar (Navy) 561, 3- Vivek Singhia 560.

25m standard pistol (men) team: 1-Army 1656, 2-Navy 1645, 3-BSF 1629. 25 m standard pistol junior men: 1-Pemba Tamang (Army) 555, 2-Raunak Pandit (Mah) 531, 3- Amol Chauhan (Mah) 537. 25 m standard pistol junior (men) team: 1-Army 1571, 2-Mah 1564, 3-CISF 1506. 10 m air pistol junior (women): 1-Shilpi Singh (CISF) 373, 2-Sonal Ramendra (IA) 371, 3-Sonia Rana (CISF) 368.

East Bengal to go all out against ITI

CALCUTTA, Dec 14 (PTI) — Stung by their shock solitary-goal reverse against Tollygunge Agragami on Saturday, East Bengal will fight to redeem their honour as they take on ITI, Bangalore in a National Football League match here tomorrow.

“My boys played their worst game of the season against Tollygunge. But there is nothing to worry about, as I still have 21 matches in hand,” East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick told reporters after a practice session today.

Bhowmick is planning to play an all-out game at the Salt Lake Stadium tomorrow by reverting to his early season formation of three deep defenders and five medios. “I want my charges to play good football. Even if that brings only one point, it’s okay,” he said.

But the local league winners will miss the services of their central defender Chanchal Bhattacharjee who has to sit out after being marched out against Tollygunge.

With Nigerian right back Suley Musah looking rusty and compatriot medio Emmanuel Opoku not fit enough to withstand the strain of a 90-minute game, the East Bengal coach has to ponder a great deal before finalising the starting line up.

Karnataka league winners, ITI, on the other hand, need a substantial contribution from their three foreign recruits — Nigerian linkman Onykya Okefu and striker Lulu, besides Palestinian midfielder Youssuf Mohammed — to upset the applecart of their famed opponents.

ITI, who finished goal-less in their league lung-opener against Mahindra and Mahindra, Mumbai, can also draw upon the vast experience of defenders Rehmatullah and Ilyas Pasha, who have had substantial stints at the Calcutta maidan.

The visitors’ coach, D. Nagendran, also plans to play an all-out attacking game, but has ample respect for his opponents. “They may have lost the Durand final and also suffered a shock defeat against Tollygunge, but they cannot be taken lightly. After all, East Bengal is East Bengal,” the former national under-19 coach said.

At the same time, the ITI coach cautioned his opponents not to take his team, a good mixture of juniors and seniors, lightly.

However, the injury to two key players — defender Murli and medio C. Prakash — during the morning practice session has caused concern in the ITI camp. While the former is doubtful, the latter is likely to take the field tomorrow.

ITI, who finished tenth in the last national league, have not played in any all-India tournament this year.

Last year, the Bangalore outfit had drawn their home match against the red and gold brigade. East Bengal, however, won the match here.

Praise showered on Hunte at Burial

BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), Dec 14 (AP) — Conrad Hunte, a West Indies batsman during the 1960s who spent seven years coaching cricket in the black townships of South Africa, was buried yesterday amid praise for his contributions to the game.

Mr Ali Bacher, head of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, called Hunte the “Nelson Mandela of cricket” for his work encouraging black South African youth to excel at a game once dominated in that country by whites.

Mr Bacher called Hunte a visionary whose “presence, example, humility and dedication helped make for a better future for all South Africans.”

Hunte died at the age of 67 of a heart attack in Sydney, Australia on December 3 while attending a conference.

Hunte played 44 Tests for the West Indies between 1958 and 1968. In 1991 he moved to South Africa and began coaching youth teams in the townships. He returned to Barbados in 1998 and was recently elected president of the Barbados Cricket Association.

Former team-mates, cricket officials and politicians packed into St Michael’s Cathedral in Bridgetown for the service. Hunte was then buried at the St Andrew’s Parish Church near Shorey, the village where he was born on Barbados’ east coast.

Hunte was the second of three former West Indian and Barbadian players to die in the space of a month. Former fast bowler and team coach Malcolm Marshall died of colon cancer on November 4 and former fast bowler Sylvester Clarke collapsed and died on December 4, reportedly of diabetic complications.

Clarke will be buried tomorrow.

The deaths shocked the 260,000 inhabitants of this small island-nation for whom cricket is a passion.

Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur took part in the service and Peter Chingoka, president of the All-Africa Cricket Association and the Zimbabwe cricket union, flew to the Caribbean nation to pay their respects.

Hunte’s widow, Patricia, a former television news anchor in Atlanta, Georgia, where the couple lived for seven years before moving to South Africa in 1991, attended the service with the couple’s three daughters.

Gujarat skaters in limelight
By Our Sports reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 14 — The ‘real action on wheels’ began here today with inauguration of the 37th National Skating Championships. Competitions in speed, roller hockey and artistic skating for all age groups were held and skaters from Gujarat excelled in speed and artistic events. Khushboo Saini, the lone girl from Haryana, cornered glory in speed events. In roller hockey Haryana and J&K surged ahead by winning their matches.

In the evening, the formal inauguration was done by Mr Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Youth Affairs, Culture and Sports. He was accompanied by Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, Sports Minister, Punjab Arjuna awardee Nikhil Parekh of Gujarat , Nancy Kothari, Natasha shah , Pooja Rathore (all from Gujarat and the Abhishek/ Sanjana pair also from Gujarat took part in the special show.

Nearly 600 skaters from 18 states and units are taking part in this five day meet. A team from the Maldives is also taking part said Mr Pradeep Ganderiwal, president of Roller Skating Federation of India.

Results:

I- roller hockey: sub junior boys: Haryana b Chandigarh 7-2; J&K b MP 20-0. II- Artistic:boys: below Six years: P Karnakar (AP) 1, Aditya (Guj) 2, Manoj Kumar (AP) 3. 6-8 yrs: Poojan Bedi (Guj) 1, Tanmay Shah (Mah) 2, CarlD ‘ Souza (Guj) 3.

Girls: below six years: Anjali Patel (Guj) 1, Arshana Shah (AP) 2, Krupa Chadna (Guj) 3. 6-8 yrs: Manusi Desai (Guj) 1, Sanjana Parikh (Guj) 2, Anshini Bhatt (Guj) 3.

Speed: In-line: road race II: boys- 10-12 yrs- Samyak Joshi (Guj) 1, Jeet Shroff (Mah) 2, Pranav Kerkar (Mah) 3. 12-14 yrs: Jagrut Thaker (Guj) 1, Alap Bhatt (Guj) 2, Arjun Boopanna (Ktk) 3. Above 14 yrs: Srikanth Rao (Ktk) 1, Nishanth Deshpande (Mah) 2, Zubin Ginwala (Guj) 3.

Girls: 10-12 yrs- Heer Patel (Guj) - consolation. prize ; Sheena Parakh (Guj) consolation. 12-14 yrs: Khushboo Saini (Har) 1, Kanan Chaudhary (Guj) 2, Meghavi Surji (Guj) 3. Above 14 yrs- Janet S. Rani9 Ktk) 1, Jamuna Poojiah (Ktk) 2, Angana Mehtha (Guj) 3.

General Zia named Chief of PCB

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (PTI) — The beleaguered Pakistan Cricket Board has had yet another change at the top, third in six months, when the country’s military regime appointed a serving general as the new chairman of the board replacing its earlier appointee, a civilian bureaucrat.

Lt-Gen Taufeeq Zia, a corps commander, has been appointed the new chairman of the PCB with immediate effect, replacing a senior bureaucrat in the Agriculture Ministry, Dr Zafar Altaf, who was given the charge barely a month and half ago, board officials said today.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, the PCB office at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore has been sealed and is awaiting the arrival of its new chief, who is expected to take charge tomorrow.

This is the third change in the PCB in less than six months as immediately after the World Cup final loss to Australia in England in June, the previous Nawaz Sharif Government had sacked Mr Khalid Mahmood, also a bureaucrat, and appointed Mujeeb-ur Rehman, a leading businessman and Prime Minister’s family friend, as PCB chief.

Rehman took several controversial decisions during his brief stint as he first suspended skipper Wasim Akram and two other leading cricketers over match-fixing allegations but later withdrew the suspension to re-appoint Akram as skipper.

General Zia, who was an athlete of national level and a keen cricketer, has promised “revolutionary changes” in the domestic cricket set-up with main emphasis on the physical fitness of the players, according to the daily “News”.

He said he might review the decision to drop opening batsman Aamir Sohail from the Australia-bound team.

A 14-member Wasim Akram-led team was announced only last week to take part in the triangular series in Australia beginning next month with India as the third team. The squad is due to leave for Australia by the end of this month.

Sportspersons move HC on job scheme

NEW DELHI, Dec 14 (PTI) — Sportspersons of the Capital have challenged in the Delhi High Court the city government’s move to appoint sports teachers without laying down any guidelines for their selection, praying that preference be given to those who have excelled in various fields.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice S.N. Variava and Mr Justice S.K. Mahajan, issued notices to the State Government, its Director of Education and Chairman of the Subordinate Services Selection Board (SSSB) and asked them to file replies by January 17, the next date of hearing.

The petition seeking laying down guidelines for selection of teachers from among the sportsperson was moved by Delhi Sportsmen Association (DSA) which said that the advertisement issued by the government in March did not make any such offer.

DSA, a registered body, in its petition alleged that the advertisement had not specified any guidelines and criteria for selection of sports teachers in various schools though it required a specialised qualification.

“The selection process adopted by the government does not attempt to verify the competence of a sports teacher ... though the criteria has to vary for different sports in which they are supposed to impart training to the students,” it said.

The association also pointed out that it had given a representation to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as well as the SSSB Chairman making it clear that sports teachers work in the field and it was not proper to decide their selection only on the basis of written test.

It was necessary to determine their sports skills on the basis of physical tests and ground trials and achievements in respective fields at the state, national and international level events, it said. “For physical teachers it is a practice not only in other parts of the country but also in the whole world,” DSA’s letter to the Chief Minister said.

For promotion of sports in the schools, it was necessary that clear guidelines were laid down for future so that the selection could be made accordingly, the DBA prayed.

Nirupama begins in style

NEW DELHI, Dec 14 (PTI) — Top Indian woman player Nirupama Vaidyanathan started her campaign in style by thrashing Arthi Venkataraman, while national champion Sai Jayalakshmi went down to a qualifier in the first round of the Women’s Circuit Tennis Tournament here today.

Nirupama, coming here after a semifinal appearance in last week’s Manila ITF Circuit, scored an emphatic 6-0 6-3 win over veteran Arthi in just 45 minutes.

The India No1 will meet Frenchwoman Marina Caiazzo in the second round tomorrow. Caiazzo ousted Katalin Miskolczi of Hungary 6-4 6-4 to make it to the round of 16.

Sai Jayalakshmi struggled throughout her match against Slovakian qualifier Urska Vesenjak, a player 200 places above her in the WTA rankings, before losing 6-4 1-6 1-6 in just under two hours.

Though Sai won the first set, she was hardly a picture of confidence, dropping her serve twice and winning the set only with the help of a lucky break in the ninth game.

The Slovakian, who made it to the main draw through gruelling qualifiers over the weekend, upped her gears in the second set and raced to a 4-0 lead with two breaks.

Though Vesenjak was broken in the fifth game, another break in the sixth followed by a perfect service game in the next saw her level the sets.

The decider was a more agonising affair for Sai, who was broken four times as she struggled to match the faster Slovak.

Top seed Tithiana Garbin of Italy swept past Thailand’s Benjamas Sangram 6-2 6-1 for a second-round match against Tong Ka-Po of Hong Kong.

Garbin, who is lively on court with her fist-pumping after winning long rallies, gave no signs of jet-lag as she completed her first engagement in just under an hour.

In another setback for India, national runner-up Rushmi Chakravarthi lost to Britain’s Abigail Tordoff 4-6 4-6, which meant only two of the seven home players advanced to the second round.

Wildcard Archana Venkataraman booked a place in the round of 16 yesterday by rallying to beat lucky-loser Svetlana Mossiakova of Russia.

Nirupama joined her today after dispatching compatriot Arthi with ease. India’s best bet here should have no trouble in the next round against Caiazzo, whom she beat in the first round of the Manila event last week.

Second seed Katalin Marosi of Hungary made easy work of Taiwan’s Weng Tzu-Ting and won 6-3 6-1 for a second-round place against Archana.

Sixth seed Rika Hiraki of Japan, who was tied 4-6 6-4 in an unfinished match against Belgian Daphne Van De Zande, wrapped up the third set 6-4.

Pele claims to be man of century

BRUSSELS, Dec 14 (AFP) — With just 18 days remaining until the new millennium, football legend Pele said here that he was the greatest sportsman of the century.

The Brazilian also took a swipe at the modern game’s highly-paid stars, whom he considers to be sporting mercenaries.

Few would question that the Brazilian legend is the greatest player in the history of football, the world’s most popular sport.

And most would agree that Pele — born Edson Arantes do Nascimento — is one of a handful of sportsmen to dispute the title of the greatest in any sport.

Heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali and American athlete Jesse Owens are arguably his biggest rivals for that honour.

But Pele, here in Brussels for the draw for Euro 2000, was adamant he deserved the honour.

Asked who he would choose as his sportsman of the century, Pele replied: “I have to stay with Pele, no doubt.”

“When someone has played for his country at 16, won a World Cup at 17 and scores more than 1000 goals they deserve it.

“Until you find someone else who has done that then it must be me,” Pele said.

Pele revealed that his own sporting idol was his father, who died last year.

He played professional soccer for Atletico Mineiro in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil and his son quipped: “When I was young my goal was to score more than five goals in one half as he did. My father did that but I never managed to do it. I always matched myself against him.”

The 59-year-old, born in Tres Coracoes in Minas Gerais, scored 1279 goals in a 20-year career with Santos, New York Cosmos and the Brazil national team. He was a part of three Brazil World cup-winning teams, being the key player in the 1958 and 1970 victories although his participation was limited through injury in 1962.

He was the victim of brutal defending in both 1962 and the 1966 tournament won by England.

He also won two World Club Championships with his club side Santos.

Pele had a dig at some of the modern game’s highly-paid stars.

He said: “We see that a player plays for Sao Paulo and then kisses the shirt when he scores. Then he moves to Corinthians or Santos and scores for them and he kisses the shirt again. He loves the club because he earns more money.”

But Pele remained upbeat about the sport he famously dubbed the beautiful game.

He concluded: “There are problems, but it is still the beautiful game.”

Punjab, Bihar in final

JAMSHEDPUR, Dec 14 (UNI) — Holders Punjab and hosts Bihar stormed into the finals of Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) by virtue of their first innings lead in the semifinals against Madhya Pradesh and Delhi respectively.

Bihar entered the final for the first time as they took a140-run first innings lead over Delhi. The match ended in a tame draw on the final day at the Keenan Stadium here today.

Resuming their overnight first innings at 115 for 2, Delhi kept alive their hopes to take first innings lead as Gautam Gambhir (81), Pradip Chawla (56) and Ranjan Gupta (57) all scored half centuries.

But Bihar captain Vikash Kumar and medium pacer Mihir Diwakar ran through the Delhi innings claiming four wickets each, conceding 71 and 75 runs preventing Delhi for the final berth. Delhi were all out for 258 before tea.

Batting second for an academic interest, Bihar scored 56 for two. The play was called off after eight mandatory overs.

Jat College champs
From Our Correspondent
HISAR, Dec 14 — Local CRM Jat College annexed the men’s title in the Kurukshetra University Inter-College Judo Championship which concluded here today.

Judokas from this college won four bouts out of seven decided in the championship. Mr Subhash Malik, general secretary of the management committee of Jat Educational Institution, gave away the prizes. As many as 80 judokas took part in this championship.

The results:
(Men) 50 kg: Sanjay Kumar (KC, Yamunanagar), Jagbir Singh (UTD Kurukshetra), Ganesh and Ghansham 3. 55 kg: Vikas (CRM Jat), Sandeep (RKSD) 2, Harwinder Singh (KC Yamunanagar) 3.

60 kg: Jasbir Singh (CRM Jat), Rajesh Kumar ( KC Yamunangar) 2, Mast Ram (UTD) and Kurmeet Singh (RKSD) 3. 65 kg: Vinod Kumar (D.N. HISAR) 1, Ajit Singh (Nehru MC Hansi) 2, Mukesh (Jat, Hisar) and Neeraj (Arya, Panipat) 3. 71 kg: Sanjeev Kumar (Jat, Hisar) 1, Amarpal Singh (GHC, Jeevannagar) 2, Jasbir Singh (RKSD) and Sunil Kumar (GNKC Yamunanagar) 3.78 kg: Devender (Jat, Hisar) 1, Surender Kumar (RKSD) 2, Kuldeep (UTD) and Pramod (GNC, Sirsa) 3.

Open: Kirpal Singh (RKSD) 1, Praveen (GC, Hisar) 2, and Navneet (GC, Sirsa) 3.

Girls section: 44 kg: Neelam (UTD) 1, Anju Rani (SSC, Sirsa) 2, Neelam (FC, Hisar) and Satyawanti (Arya, Panipat) 3. 52 kg: Poonam (F C, Hisar) 1, Reena (SSC, Sirsa) 2, Meenakshi (Arya, Panipat) 3. 61 kg: Seema (GNC, Sirsa) 1, Anita (SSC, Sirsa) 2, Sunita Rani (Jat, Hisar) and Sunita (F C, Hisar) 3.

Haryana sport fest
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, Dec 14 — About 3300 sportspersons and 400 technical officials are expected to participate in the 15th Haryana State Sports Festival being organised by the Haryana Olympic Association (HOA) at Bhim stadium from December 16 to 19.

Competitions in athletics, archery, basketball, gymnastics, handball, kho-kho, kabaddi (national and circle style), volleyball, wrestling (both men and women) and boxing (men) will be conducted at Bhim Stadium.

Competitions in table tennis would be conducted at the senior secondary school ground, hockey (men and women) at Adarsh Mahila College Ground, football (men) at Government College and weightlifting at Vaish College, Bhiwani.

Judo, fencing, lawn tennis, badminton, (all in men and women) and squash (men) competitions would be held at the agricultural university in Hisar.

Ludhiana eves win 4 gold
From Our Sports Reporter
PATIALA, Dec 14 — Ludhiana eves claimed four gold medals out of a total of six at stake today in the Punjab State Women’s Sports Festival being held at the local polo grounds here today.

The four gold medals were in shot put, 100 metres, 100 metres hurdles and in the 4x100m relay.

The results: shot-put: Surinderjit Kaur (Ldh-1), Hardeep Kaur (Ldh-2,) Monika (Ropar)-3. 100m: Maninder Kaur (Ldh)-1, Deepinder Kaur (Ldh)-2, Manjit Kaur (Hoshiarpur)-3. 4x400m relay race: Ludhiana-1, Jalandhar-2, Patiala-3. 100m hurdles: Deepinder Kaur (Ldh)-1, Rajvinder Kaur (Jalandhar)-2, Palwinder Kaur (Muktsar)-3. The results of the league matches are: Basketball: Jalandhar b Ropar 54-30, Amritsar b Muktsar 32-9, Kapurthala beat Bathinda 35-4, Hoshiarpur b Ferozepore 64-35, Mansa b Moga 26-12. Handball: Ludhiana b Sangrur 8-7, Hoshiarpur b Kapurthala 20-6, Jalandhar b Moga 19-3, Bathinda b Muktsar 11-2, Faridkot b Mansa 14-5, Amritsar b Fatehgarh Sahib 8-0.

Kabaddi: Jalandhar b Kapurthala 62-29, Amritsar b Ferozepore 42-12, Ludhiana b Bathinda 51-38, Faridkot b Moga 81-18, Ropar b Fatehgarh Sahib 44-6, Patiala b Muktsar 26-9, Hoshiarpur b Sangrur 78-30.

Susheel emerges strongest
From Our Sports Reporter
PATIALA, Dec 14 — Asian record holder Susheel Kumar of PSEB was declared the strongest lifter in the men’s section while Narinder Kaur of Punjab was declared the strongest lifter in the women’s section in the fifth men’s and third women’s Northern India Powerlifting Championship, which concluded at Rajpura, near here, today. The other results are: Strong Man of Northern India: Niraj Giri Goswami (total lift of 682.2 kg). Strong Woman of Northern India: Mandeep kaur (total lift of 380 kg). Overall championship: Punjab-1 Uttar Pradesh-2.

Men’s championships: Punjab-1, PSEB-2, Himachal Pradesh (joint second).

Women’s championships: Punjab-1, Uttar Pradesh-2, Haryana (joint second).

Individual events: (for men): 52 kg Jaswinder Singh-1, Eshaq Ahmed-2, Varinder Kaushal-3; 56 kg: Faraz Ahmed-1, Rajinder Kumar-2, Tejinder Singh-3; 60 kg: Piara Singh-1, Pawan Kumar-2, Kapil Tiwari-3; 67 kg: Ravi Kumar-1, Ashok Kumar-2, Ramesh Kumar-3; 82 kg: Gurinder Singh-1, Rajindera Mishra-2, Kamalpreet Singh 3; 90 kg: Vicky-1, Swaranjit Singh-2, Dharmendar Kumar-3.