Monday, December 27, 1999
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S P O R T | Monday, December 27, 1999 |
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 MELBOURNE : Greg Blewett of Australia is bowled out by Indian bowler Javagal Srinath on the first day of second Cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. — AP/PTI |
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Lloyd steps down as manager
Salgaocar have edge on Dempo Mahilpur college in last eight Isha,
Yamini surprise entrants Mukesh
in; Dhillon ‘rested’ HP
to host 2nd winter games Pankaj
lifts trophy England crawl to 135 for 2 Haryana,
West Bengal dominate Krishnan
is non-playing captain |
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Aussies 138 for 3 on truncated day MELBOURNE, Dec 26 (PTI) — India once again let slip early advantage wrested by pace spearhead Javagal Srinath but managed to restrict Australia on a rain-truncated but absorbing opening day of the second cricket Test here today. Srinath gave a sensational start for India alike the first Test at Adelaide as he fired out opener Greg Blewett and Justin Langer cheaply to leave Australia at 28 to two after skipper Sachin Tendulkar inducted the opposition on winning the toss on a bouncy track and under grey skies. But opener Michael Slater hit up an unbeaten 64 and produced a crucial 95-run third wicket stand with Mark Waugh, the woefully out of form batsman making an unconvincing 41, as the hosts reached 138 for three. Over two hours of play, including the entire morning session, was lost. Play had to be called off due to rain and bad light after only 48 off the 70 overs planned to be accommodated had been sent down. India, who had the hosts by the scruff of their neck at Adelaide by prising out four early wickets, stunned a crowd of over 49,000 into silence when Srinath bowled Blewett and trapped left-hander Langer leg before in a fiery spell that had the Aussie batsmen in all sorts of trouble. Seamer Ajit Agarkar broke the third wicket stand when he capped a superb spell in tandem with leg spinner Anil Kumble by trapping Mark Waugh leg before with a vicious in-cutter. Agarkar in fact had skipper Steve Waugh in real trouble and was also unlucky not to claim Slater with a brute of an inswinger that beat him all ends up. Tendulkar chose to give his bowlers the chance to have a go at the Aussie batsmen on the bouncy MCG track and Srinath took good advantage in a splendid opening spell (7-3-22-2). Srinath almost removed Blewett second ball of the test but Anil Kumble at gully dropped a fairly easy catch. But he recovered well to remove Blewett (2), who played on to his stumps inner-edging a pull. He maintained an excellent off-stump line and beat Langer by sheer pace to trap him leg before, umpire David Shepherd upholding the vociferous appeal. But Indian hopes for further inroads into the Australian innings were dashed as Srinath gained little support from the other end. Tendulkar shuffled his bowlers in desperation, using five of them in the first 16 overs to cash in on the bouncy track. Agarkar, after bowling two beautiful leg-cutter lost rhythm and Venkatesh Prasad was worse and bowled only eight overs. Saurav Ganguly sent down four no balls in two overs and Kumble also struggled as Australia reached 97 for two at tea. Slater fashioned the Australian recovery as he came up with a fighting half-century. Aggressive and scratchy in turns, he became the first batsman to reach 1000 Test runs this year when he reached 43, but was lucky when Kumble just failed to reach a caught and bowled chance after he had crossed his half-century. Waugh, desperate to get among runs, took full two hours and 110 balls, hitting a lone four, for his 41. Agarkar, who varied his pace and bowled an excellent length on replacing Srinath, claimed him for the breakthrough. India pulled things back remarkably in the final session and Srinath had a very close caught behind appeal against Mark Waugh turned down. Srinath was going full steam when Tendulkar decided to replace him with Agarkar, who vindicated his skipper’s faith in him by bowling his livliest spell of the day, removing Mark Waugh and forcing Steve Waugh into tentative play by excellent change of pace and direction. Steve Waugh took quite a while to get off the mark and was uncomfortable against both Agarkar and Kumble in his 38 minutes of stay. Slater, on the other hand, has batted for 208 minutes and faced 131 balls, hitting seven fours. Earlier, both India and Australia made one change to the sides that played at Adelaide. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the middle-order batsman replaced opener Devang Gandhi in the eleven while making his debut alike tearaway paceman Brett Lee who came in for Mike Kasprowicz. Weather may decide the course of the match with more rain and thundershowers predicted in the next four days. Slater, who likes to go for his shots from the word go, hit his first four only in the 11th over when he drove Venkatesh Prasad through extra cover. Two balls later, he hit another boundary through covers. Playing his 14th Test of the year, Slater then cashed in as the Indian attack lost sting before crossing the landmark of 1000 runs, the first player to do so in 1999. Two other batsmen, Tendulkar and Steve Waugh, are in with a chance of reaching the milestone. Tendulkar needs 81 runs while Waugh is 71 adrift, playing their 14th and 10th Test of the year respectively. True to the weather forecast, the entire morning session was washed out due to persistent rains. The final hour, or a minimum of 22 overs before draw of stumps, was then consumed by rain followed by bad light. When the final drinks break was taken, the drizzle prompted the umpires to stop play and later bad light ruled out resumption. The umpires David Shepherd and Steve Davis waited for 40 minutes before giving up hopes. Australia (1st
innings) Total: (for 3 wkts, 48 overs) 138 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-28, 3-123. Bowling: Srinath
12-4-35-2, Agarkar 12-5-23-1, V. Prasad 8-1-34-0, Ganguly
2-0-10-0, Kumble 14-3-28-0. |
Kapil disappoints Waugh MELBOURNE, Dec 26 (PTI) — Australian skipper Steve Waugh expressed disappointment that India turned down the request to play under lights to make up for lost time on the rain-hit first day of the second cricket Test today, but Indian coach Kapil Dev felt his team was willing only if all other Test playing countries do so. “I have no problem in playing under lights. Obviously we could have made it up for the crowd who braved the bad weather and rain here today”, Waugh said after only 48 of the 90 overs of the day could be sent down due to rain and bad light at the Melbourn Cricket Ground. Kapil Dev reportedly turned down the request saying his team would agree only if all other Test playing countries were already doing it. “It was magnificent to watch 50,000 people staying all through on the Boxing Day”, said Waugh, but added: “I can understand the Indians must be having their own reasons for not playing under lights”. Kapil Dev defended the move to bowl first on the bouncy MCG track. “We were very positive because we wanted to have a go at them. It was a very attacking move”, he said. However, he felt the team gave some advantage away after reducing the hosts to 28 for two. “This should turn out to be a good batting wicket if the weather improves”, Kapil Dev added. Only 48 of the day’s quota of 90 overs could be sent down. Play could start only 20 minutes into the afternoon session and had to be called off after the drinks break in the final session due to rain and bad light. Steve Waugh said he also would have elected to bowl had he won the toss. “It was a very difficult wicket to bat on in the first hour. The wicket had a fair bit off bounce and it was also affording seam movement if you hit the deck hard,” he said. “It was not only difficult to survive in the morning, but also in the evening. It was very tough for me to survive the final moments”, Waugh, who was given a torrid time by Ajit Agarkar and got off the mark edging the bowler to third man region, said. Waugh said the day was 50-50 for the teams. “I would think it was more in our favour given the wicket. Indians would have liked to knock down one or two more wickets today,” he added. But the Aussie skipper, looking to guide his team to a sixth straight win, still hoped to win the match. “I have been told
the lost play can be made up on subsequent days and it
makes me reasonably confident on arriving at a decision
in this match in our favour”, he said. |
Paes-Bhupathi duo scripts top sport story of the year MUMABI, Dec 26 (PTI) — Setting aside their personal differences firmly, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi forged a victorious partnership to scale the tennis world’s men’s doubles summit twice in little more than a month and script the most outstanding sports story for India in 1999. Paes and Bhupathi complemented each other to a nicety on two totally different playing surfaces to clinch the men’s doubles crowns at the French Open and Wimbledon and grab the attention of the cricket-crazy public at home engrossed with the World Cup in England which was sandwiched between their two little-triumphs and in which India flopped miserably. To fill their cup of happiness to the brim were the mixed doubles title — triumphs by Bhupathi and Japan’s Ali Sugiyama in the US Open and by Paes and his American partner Lisa Raymond at Wimbledon. The duo also made it to the finals of the Australian and US Opens, an unprecedented showing on the men’s circuit, before losing in the season-ending ATP World Championships. Their stupendous display was in sharp contrast to the much-hyped Indian cricket team whose performance graph rose and fell, proving a big let down for the millions of fans by failing to make it to the semi-finals of the all-important World Cup in England. Cup skipper Mohammed Azharuddin lost his job and a reluctant Sachin Tendulkar was installed in his place after undergoing physical pain due to a recurring back trouble and suffering a huge personal loss during the mega event when he lost his father Ramesh. Coach Anshuman Gaekwad too was eased out and Kapil Dev took over from him. Tendulkar, who first experienced his back pain during his glorious, but vain, century knock against arch-rivals Pakistan in the first Test of the revived series at Chennai, had to take a sabbatical from the game at the end of the Asian Test series match against Sri Lanka at Colombo. He returned for the World Cup, missed the second match against Zimbabwe — which India contrived to lose from a winning position — by airdashing to Mumbai to attend his father’s last rites and then put his personal loss behind to rejoin the team in England. But neither he, nor the other two batting mainstays Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly, could pilot India into the semi-finals from the super six stage in which the team thumped Pakistan for its most emotionally satisfying show in the Cup. After drawing blanks in two tri-nation events in Sri Lanka and Singapore, Tendulkar took another break to attend to his back urgently and Ganguly led India to a 2-1 win over the West Indies at Toronto. India failed to win the four-nation event in Nairobi next under Ajay Jadeja before Tendulkar returned to lead India to 1-0 and 3-2 triumphs over the visiting New Zealanders in the Test and one-day series, besides notching up the first double ton of his 10-year-old international Test career. In hockey, Bangkok Asian Games gold medal winning men’s team was controversially split down the middle at the beginning of the year by the federation bigwigs — with six players including skipper Dhanraj Pillay given the boot — and the team struggled to regain its rhythm throughout the year. The revamped team lost a nine-match Test series, held on both sides of the border, against Pakistan 3-5 (one tie drawn), flopped miserably in two four-nation events in Australia and then, with Pillay recalled after a lengthy gap, lost to defending champions South Korea 4-5 to a last-gasp goal in the Asia Cup semifinal at Kuala Lumpur. In badminton, national champion Pullela Gopi Chand won his maiden international title by clinching the men’s crown by beating Richard Vaughan of Wales and then compatriot Sidharth Jain to win the Scottish Open at Edinburgh. Another Indian Sachin Ratti defeated world number 23 Rio Supriyana of Australia to win an international tournament in New Zealand. The runners-up finishes by left-hander Nikhil Kanetkar, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and former national champion Manjusha Kanwar in the US Open, the Olympic Test international at Sydney and in the New Zealand event highlighted their potential. But the paddlers continued to disappoint barring national champion and India number one Chetan Baboor who had some outstanding results to show for in the ping pong game. Baboor stunned Olympic champion Liu Guoliang of China in the Asia top-12 tournament in Iran besides shocking former world champion and current world number 22 Ma Wenga of China and number 29 Lucjan Blaszcy of Poland in the Qatar Open. It was no wonder that Baboor, who won the national crown for the fourth time, was the only Indian to make it to the main draw of the World Championship open events held at Eindhoven. Baboor lost to Izak Abramov of Israel in four games in the second round after beating a qualifier while six others — Bhushan Thakur, Arjun Datta, Arup Basak, S. Raman, N.R. Indu and Poulomi Ghatak — failed to survive the qualifiers. In football, the performance rarely matched the following with India failing to retain their SAF Games title at Kathmandu after winning the SAFF Cup Tournament earlier at Margao. The national football team was also eliminated in the first round of the pre-Olympic qualifiers by losing the two-leg (home and away) tie against Thailand in Asian zone group 9 in which only two countries competed after three other teams withdrew. India lost the first leg held near Bangkok 0-2 and, needing a 3-0 win in the return leg at Calcutta to advance, drew 0-0. Towards the end of the year India put up a much-improved performance, with star striker I.M. Vijayan being voted as one of the two best strikers too, when they finished third out of five teams in the Asia Cup group 3 qualifiers at Al Ain. India squandered leads to lose to the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan 1-3 and 2-3, respectively, in their first two ties before slamming Sri Lanka 3-1 and drawing with SAF Games winners Bangladesh 2-2 to end up with four points. Elsewhere, the ironwoman of India belied the hopes pinned on them for the Sydney games by dishing out a dismal show at the World Weighlifting Championship in Athens. Kunjarani Devi (fifth in 48 kg class) and Karnam Malleswari (fourth in 63 kg class) performed slightly better than their team-mates, notably Sanamacha Chanu and Neelam Setti Laxmi who ended up with no lifts in their respective classes. But there are very slim hopes of even these two making it to Sydney through the Asian championship at Osaka in May, 2000. Kunjarani had to be satisfied with a silver in the 48 kg clean and jerk which was the only medal won by India in the meet in which it finished well outside the top 15. India’s domination of the South Asian region continued unabated during the SAF Games at Kathmandu in which it finished way of second-placed Nepal with an overall medal tally of 102 gold, 58 silver and 37 bronze medals. The athletics contingent flopped miserably at the World Championship at Seville, Spain with throwers Shakti Singh, Neelam J Singh and Gurmeet Kaur again proving to be lambs once outside home environments where they rule the roost in man’s shop put and women’s shot put and women’s discus and javelin. The domestic scene saw new national marks set by these two apart from very promising middle and long distance runner Sunita Rani, long jumper Pramila Ganapathy, triple jumper Anju Markose and hammer thrower Jabeshwari Devi, all in women’s section, and Anil Kumar in the men’s 100m sprint. Long jumper Sanjay Kumar Rai leapt 8.02 m to become only the second Indian man behind national record (8.07m) holder T C Yohannan, who did it in the 1974 Teheran Asian games, to clear 8.0 metres. Evergreen P T Usha came back to the scene towards the latter part of the year to give a tough time to her much younger rival Saraswati Day in the sprints. In canoeing and kayaking, India picked up a silver and a bronze at the eighth Asian championship at Chengdu City in China through the efforts of Pradik Kumar Boroi-K Topo (silver in k-2 1000m) and Siji Kumar-Vaga Ram (bronze in c-2 1000 m) Ace cueist Geet Sethi got beaten by unfancied compatriot Arun Agarwal by a lone point in the World Billiards quarter-final at Chennai leaving the way for his bitter rival Mike Russell of England to regain the crown. Seasoned trap shooter Mansher Singh clinched the gold after a tie-shoot with Italy’s World Cup winning team member Marcellow Tittorelli in a three-day invitational event in Italy. In golf, Jeev Milkha Singh came joint 26th in the Masters Golf Tournament at Milton Keynes and also won his fourth Asian PGA Tour title by edging out Zaw Moe of Myanmar and Tainur Hussain of Pakistan in an exciting play-off while Arjun Atwal won the Indian Open at Calcutta. Chennai girl Aarthie Ramaswamy won the world under-18 title in the World Youth Chess Festival held in Spain while Knoeru Humpy had to be satisfied with a runner-up placing in the under-12 group. The Vijaywada girl, however, gave notice for bigger deeds by claiming the Asian under-12 boys title. Kerala emerged as the top outfit in the National Games held at Imphal with a tally of 52 gold, 34 silver and 22 bronze medals, relegating hosts Manipur (49-24-29) to the second spot Punjab (34-31-41) were third. Salgaocar Sports Club of Goa won the National Football League while Bengal captured the Santosh Trophy for the 29th time by whipping Goa 5-0 in the final at Chennai. Services were the best outfit in the boxing nationals at Vishakapatnam with a haul of seven gold while in the Shimla nationals, also held during 1999, they were tied with Railways (runners-up at Vizag) with four gold, two silver and one bronze each. Punjab men and Railways women triumphed in the volleyball and basketball and nationals held in Bengal and Rajasthan respectively. Bangkok Asian Games
athletics double gold medallist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar bagged
the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. |
Punjab, Railways record wins NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (PTI) — Defending champions Punjab and Railways scored easy victories while National Games winners Maharashtra started well in the women’s section on the second day of the Senior National Basketball Championship here today. Reigning men’s champions Punjab rode on another superb show by skipper Parminder Singh, who topscored with 25 points, to outplay Madhya Pradesh 82-40 for their second win in group A while their women’s counterparts Railways also did not have to sweat much in defeating MP 85-30 at the Talkatora Stadium. After scoring 34 in yesterday’s victory over West Bengal, the gangling 6 ft 9 inch pivot added 25 more to his tally as Punjab made short work of MP. Narayan Singh and Gagnesh Kumar added 10 and 9 points, respectively while Surjit was the highest scorer with 11 points for MP. Maharashtra, the Manipur National Games winners, were also impressive in their 60-46 victory over strong opponents Andhra Pradesh in women’s group A. In the men’s section, former champions Railways quelled a strong first half challenge from Maharashtra (29-27) to win the group B super league clash 81-50 while in group A, Karnataka emerged 61-49 victors against West Bengal, who lost their second match in a row. Rajasthan outclassed Gujarat 88-49 for their second straight win in men’s group C, Tripura lost to Haryana 37-85 while in two group D clashes, HP defeated Pondicherry 67-41 and Andhra Pradesh edged past Chandigarh 62-54. Railways, who beat Kerala to win the women’s title at Jaipur last year, scored a relatively easy victory though the Madhya Pradesh team was no push over. The defending champions did not give their opponents any chance to settle down and used their superior allround abilities to race to a 39-18 lead at half time. They then upped the tempo to add 46 points to MP’s 12 in the second session. The Railway men, however, faced a tough challenge from Maharashtra in the first session as the two teams were separated by only two points at the break. Railways raced to a 10-2 lead within five minutes and then maintained a eight point lead for the next 10 minutes. Maharashtra men levelled at 27-all just before half time with a three pointer from Mahesh Naidu. But the railway men outclassed their opponents in the second session, adding 52 points to their tally while Maharashtra could manage only 23 more. Former India player and skipper Ram Kumar topscored for Railways with 23 points, which included a three pointer, while Mahender Singh contributed 22 points. For Maharashtra, captain Shatraghun Gokhale tallied 11 points before he fouled out in the second session. Vijay Naygandhi scored eight points which included two three pointers while Satish Warrier added six points. In other matches in
women’s section, Punjab prevailed over Tamil Nadu
49-27 in group B, Rajasthan outplayed Pondicherry 51-17,
Assam lost to Gujarat 38-45 while UP defeated Haryana
68-26. |
Mohun Bagan get past SBT CALCUTTA, Dec 26 (PTI) — Former champions Mohun Bagan recovered from an early jolt to script a 2-1 victory over State Bank of Travancore (SBT) in the fourth National Football League match here today. Striker Dipendu Biswas slammed in both the goals after Vinu Jose converted a penalty to put SBT in the lead early in the opening session in a fast-paced encounter at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium. The Kerala outfit shot into the lead in the 14th minute of the contest when Vinu Jose converted a spot kick without much fuss, placing the ball to the left of Mohun Bagan custodian Sandip Nandy. The penalty was awarded by referee B.K. Singh after Bagan stopper back Samuel Omollo brought down SBT striker Abdul Hakim inside the box Undaunted by the early reversal, the glamour club stepped up the pace of the game with a barrage of raids from both the flanks and found the equaliser just a minute before the interval with Dipendu Biswas finding the target. The home team, spurred on by vociferous supporters, sealed the fate of their spirited opponents when Biswas struck his second goal with a left-footed grounder five minutes before the long whistle. With this victory, Mohun Bagan have now secured seven points from four outings while SBT have no points to their credit having lost all the three matches so far. .The hard-working Biswas headed home a measured centre from James Singh from the right flank to fetch the equaliser much to the delight of the holiday crowd. With the score tied 1-1 at the interval, Bagan launched into the offensive and could have forged ahead much earlier had their forwards not frittered away a number of scoring opportunities that came their way in the second session. Biswas saved the day for the local giants by scoring the match winner about five minutes before the long whistle, capitalising on a defensive lapse. The goal was the result of a fast counter attack which saw Biswas, fed by a gentle through pass by medio R.P. Singh, break through the defence and find the target with a left-footed grounder with only the SBT goalkeeper at his mercy. Bagan failed to play
cohesively in the initial stages and the poor form of
striker Stephen Abarowei did not help matters much. |
Lloyd steps down as manager WELLINGTON, Dec 26 (AFP) — West Indies cricket manager Clive Lloyd has resigned but denies his decision is linked to the team’s terrible record away from home, a report said today. “It’s been three years, three long years,” Lloyd, whose contract expired last month, reportedly told the New Zealand Herald. “And now it’s time to do something different. I’ll step down at the end of this tour.” Coach Sir Vivian
Richards confirmed he would re-apply for the position
despite not fulfilling the minimum criteria in terms of
formal qualifications, the Herald said. |
Sinclair tames Windies WELLINGTON, Dec 26 (Reuters) — New Zealand finished the first day of the second Test against the West Indies at the Basin Reserve on 263 for three after being sent into bat by West Indies captain Brian Lara today. The highlight of the day was the unbeaten debut century by 24-year-old Matthew Sinclair. He was on 123 at the close and he figured in a partnership for the third wicket of 164 with his captain Stephen Fleming. Sinclair’s century came in 215 minutes off 164 balls and contained 11 fours. His second 50 took 99 balls as the West Indian bowling tightened particularly that of Franklyn Rose, who looked the most dangerous. Stephen Fleming was the first batsman to fall in the afternoon and like Craig Spearman’s wicket in the morning, it was a soft dismissal. Three overs before the new ball was due, Fleming pulled a short ball from Shivnarine Chanderpaul straight to Jimmy Adams at square leg. Fleming became the holder of the unenviable record of having failed to convert a 50 into a century on 23 occasions, topping Pakistan’s former batsman Rameez Raja by one. Fleming has two Test hundreds to his name. Scoreboard NEW ZEALAND (Ist innings) Spearman c Walsh King 24 Stead c Campbell b King 17 Sinclair batting 123 Fleming c Adams b Chanderpaul 67 Astle batting 8 Extras: (5-B, 11-LB, 1-W, 7-NB) 24 Total: (for 3 wkts, 91 overs) 263 Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-76, 3-240. Bowling: C. Walsh
24-4-50-0, R.King 21-6-68-2, F. Rose 18-3-62-0, N. Perry
17-4-48-0, J, A. Adams 8-1-13-0, S. Chanderpaul 3-0-6-1. |
Salgaocar have edge on Dempo MARGAO, Dec 26 (UNI) — A depleted Dempo Sports Club will have a tough task when they take on defending champions Salgaocar in the National Football League tomorrow at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here. Winners of three titles — Rovers Cup, Durand Cup and the Super Cup — Salgaocar look menancing both on paper and performance and hold a psychological edge over Dempo. All eyes are on striker Joas Dos Santos and Alvito D’Cunha who scored the all important goals against Churchill in the Rovers Cup finals and Super Cup against Mohun Bagan. They will be assisted by veteran Bruno Coutinho, who is fully fit. Salgaocar with seven points from three outings finished fourth below Churchill Brothers with 12 points, Tollygunge Agragami 10 points and East Bengal seven points. Dempo, who have suffered two defeats against Churchill 5-0 and BSF 1-0 are at present at the 11th place with one point earned against JCT in a drawn match. Both teams met each other three times this season, twice in the local professional league in which Salgaocar won the first encounter by 2-1 and in the next match Dempo drew against Salgoacar 1-1 and in the Police Cup semifinals Dempo beat Salgoacar by solitary goal. Dempo have strengthened their defence and midfield with the inclusion of two Iranian recruits Assad Sultan in defence and Kamal Sayyad Ahamadi. They have to depend heavily on foreign players as Dempo’s three key players captain Jony D’ Souza is sick and Canan Priolkar and Teotinho Fernandes both are on the injured list. Kamal Ahamadi and Remus Gomes had to do a lot of running to find the opening. Their midfielders will have to take on some more burden with Minguiel Rodrigues, Socorino Silva and Stanely D’ Souza needing to show more enterprise. Salgoacar, who are in full form would certainly go all out for full points and are mainly dependent on Joas Santos and Alvito D’ Cunha and Bruno Coutinho to deliver the goods. Jules Alberto, Gbengo Lawal, Dharamjit Singh and Ravichandran form the midfield. Salgaocar coach Shabir
Ali is happy with his team’s performance and is
looking forward to earn full points tomorrow. |
Mahilpur college in last eight FATEHGARH SAHIB, Dec 26 — On the third day of All-India Baba Zorawar Singh Fateh Singh Memorial Football Tournament, four quarter-final matches were played today. In the first half match Khalsa College, Mahilpur, beat Budhist Blue Star Club, Delhi, 2-0. The college boys dominated the show. First half, the college boys made several moves but without any success. The college boys earned a penalty kick in the 40th minute of the second half and Sukhbir scored for his team. Later Dharminder Singh scored another beautiful goal. In the second match RCF, Kapurthala, last year’s winners, defeated Diamond Club, Kalka, 3-1 Manjinder Singh scored twice (2nd and 20th minute) while the third goal was scored by Manmohan Singh in the 75th minute. The Kalka boys reduced the margin through Navjot Singh in the 21st minute of the second half. In the third match A.G. Haryana caused a major upset defeating Punjab Police 5-4 in the tie-breaker. The semifinals will played tomorrow at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., according to Mr Amarjeet Singh, chairman, organising committee.
|
Isha, Yamini surprise
entrants CHANDIGARH, Dec 26 — Isha Chopra and Yamini Thukkiandi, both of India, were surprise entrants to the main draw in the $ 10,000 Bakeman’s ITF Tennis Tournament at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Tournament courts here today. Isha of Yamunanagar had a smooth passage, routing Vishika Chhetri, also of India, 6-1, 6-2, while Yamini upset Stutti Smit 6-3, 6-1. However, both Chhetri and Stuti also gained berths in the main draw as lucky losers. The others who qualified for the main draw were Ukraine’s Anna Aniakova, who brushed aside the challenge of Neetu Batra 6-0, 6-0, and Ayako Suzuki of Japan, who defeated Nandita Chandrasekhar of India 6-2, 6-1. The main draw matches will start from tomorrow. Those who have qualified
for the 32-member main draw are: Katarine Daskovic (Yug);
Katherine Turinsky (Ger); Vishika Chhetri (Ind); Nikita
Bharadwaj (Ind); Arathi Venkatraman (Ind); Urska Vesenjak
(Slo); Isha Chopra (Ind); Keiko Tameishi (Jpn); Rushmi
Chakravarthi (Ind); Anna Anikanova (Ukr); Radhika Tulpule
(Ind); Ayako Suzuki (Jpn); Yamini Thukkaiandi (Ind);
Syetlana Mossiakova (Rus); Jasleen Randhawa (Ind); Olga
Kaliojnaja (Rus); Anna Nefedova (Rus); Harsimran Kaur
Bedi (Ind); Maria Kondratieva (Rus); Simmi Rani (Ind);
Antonia Matic; Karishma Patel (Ind); Nandini Perumal
(Ind); S. Jayaram Jayalakshmi (Ind); Archana Venkatraman
(Ind); Tara Kanbargimath (Ind); Stutti Smit (Ind); Masa
Vesenjak (Slo); Geeta Manohar (Ind); Shalini Thakur
(Ind); Sheethal Goutham (Ind); Manisha Malhotra (Ind). |
Mukesh in; Dhillon ‘rested’ JAMMU, Dec 26 (PTI) — Veteran winger Mukesh Kumar, who controversially chose not to attend the camp for the recent Asia Cup competition, is among 22 players shortlisted by the Indian Hockey Federation for the upcoming four-nation tournament to be held from January 6 to 8. The IHF selection committee which met here yesterday retained veteran forward Dhanraj Pillay but “rested” striker Baljeet Singh Dhillon, who led the team at Kuala Lumpur, and picked left half Ramandeep Singh as captain for the 10-day trip. Announcing the team at the ongoing camp here, IHF President K.P.S. Gill told PTI that only 18 players will be sent to Spain and the others will be stand-bye. The key players not included for this trip are Dhillon, Deepak Thakur and Senthil. “They have been given rest this time,” Gill said, adding that “there will be no major changes in the team until the Olympics”. India, Germany, Canada and the hosts Spain will figure in the four-nation tournament held as a build up to next year’s Sydney Olympics. India will then play a lone Test against Canada (Jan 11), followed by three Tests against Belgium (on Jan 12, 14 and 15) before returning on January 16. The squad: goalkeepers: Jude Menezes (Mum), R.V.S. Prasad (Ser). Fullbacks: Dilip Tirkey (IA), Dinesh Naik (TN), Anurag Raghuvanshi (UP). Half backs: Sukhbir
Singh Gill (Mum), Mohd Riaz (IA), Ramandeep Singh (Pun),
Thirumalvalavan (TN), Bimal Lakra (IA). Forwards: Mukesh
Kumar (IA), Dhanraj Pillay (Mum), Brojen Singh (IA),
Gagan Ajit Singh (AI), Baljit Singh Chandi (Pun), Kamal
Horo (Ser), Samir Dad (IA), Prabhjot Singh (AI). |
HP to host 2nd winter games NEW DELHI, Dec 26 — Himachal Pradesh is geared up to host the second national Winter Games to be held at Shimla and Manali between January 4 to 8 and February 4 to 10, respectively next year. With a outlay of Rs 7 crore, the state government hopes to create infrastructure for winter games which can be exploited for tourist purposes later on. Addressing the media here this evening, the state Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal said Himachal Pradesh would host the South Asian Federation Winter Games a year after the current games. The ice events — hockey and skating — will be organised at Shimla from January 4 to 8 while the skiing events like Alpine (slalom, giant slalom and super giant slalom) and Cross country will be held at Manali at Solang Nallah from February 4 to 10. The opening ceremony of the games will be conducted at the historic Ridge Maidan with the Union Minister of State for Sports, Mr U. Ananth Kumar being the chief guest. The Chief Minister said nearly 700 participants from various parts of the country would take part in the event and Himachal Pradesh took pride hosting the event since the State won the overall title at the last National Games held at Gulmarg. Mr Dhumal also outlined the various steps the state government had taken to popularise adventure sports. He said recently an
Austrian expert had toured the State and was impressed by
the slopes near Shimla and Holy in Chamba district. |
Pankaj lifts trophy SHIMLA, Dec 26 —Pankaj Prabhakar won the overall best ice skater’s trophy in the annual gymkhana at the Shimla Ice Skating Club yesterday. The gymkhana was held to select the Himachal team for the ice skating events for the second National Winter Games which will be held here from January 4 to 8. The Marshall Titoo Ice-Hockey Trophy was won by Degeneration X team captained by Dobby Dawar. Junior ice hockey was won by Fire Balls team captained by Ankit Banga. The figure skating trophy for men was won by Dr Deepak Sood while the ladies’ trophy was won by Ambika Sood. The dancing trophy was won by Peter Ta-Tung and Ambika Sood. The speed skating trophy
was won by Pankaj Prabhakar while Mayank Shandil won the
back race trophy. The junior race was won by Kunal Sood
and Ankit Banga and the girls race by Doha Ayub and
Shuban Gini. The junior boys race was won by Neeraj Dutta
while Manidra Khanna won the ladies race and Ashutosh
Sharma won the jumps over baskets. |
England crawl to 135 for 2 DURBAN, Dec 26 (AFP) — England captain Nasser Hussain made a cautious half-century as the first day of the third cricket Test against South Africa ended in near stalemate at Kingsmead today. England crawled to 135 for two in 85.1 overs before bad light ended play half an hour early. SCOREBOARD England (first innings): Bucher c Klusener b Adams 48 Atherton b Hayward 1 Hussain batting 51 Maddy batting 24 Extras (lb-9, w-2) 11 Total (for 2 wkts, 85.1 overs) 135 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-82. Bowling: Donald 7-3-7-0,
Pollock 18.1-8-24-0, Hayward 13-3-34-1, Kallis 11-6-12-0,
Klusener 14-4-23-0, Adams 22-10-26-1. |
Haryana, West Bengal dominate CHANDIGARH, Dec 26 — Haryana boys and West Bengal girls dominated in the sub-junior group competition of 18th National Yoga Championship being held at SD College at Panipat today. Rakesh Jakhar of Haryana entered the final round of sub-junior boys scoring 131 points. Rakesh and Dinesh, also of Haryana, booked berth in final scoring 124.5 and 118 points, respectively. Amiya Debnath (Tripura 114.5), G. Viney Krishna (Karnataka 114) and Debasis Roy (West Bengal 110) also entered the final. Sudipta Bhatacharjee and Sudipta Chatterjee (West Bengal) scoring 139 and 132 points, respectively, entered in the final round of sub junior girls group. S. Swati Reddy (AP 126) Supriti (Tripura 125) Hardi Desai (Gujarat 125) and S. Radhika (AP 120) also made their way in the final-round competitions. In junior girls first round, Sarika of Haryana with 139 points entered in the final. Yashoda (Haryana 136), E. Kiran Mayee (AP 134), Sanchita (W.B 130), Meenu (J&K 129) and Joyshree Talaptra (Tripura 128) also made to the final round. Deepak Sharma of Haryana and Mritunjaya Das of West Bengal moved into the final of junior boys group scoring 132 and 118 points, respectively. Bhupinder (Haryana 112), Parveen (Bihar 112), Paras Arora (Chandigarh 111) and M. Raghuveer (AP 110) points also entered in the final. Ranjita Ghosh of West
Bengal and K. Usha of Karnataka made their way in the
final of senior girls group scoring 213 and 198 points,
respectively. Nandita Banik (Tripura 195), Nidhi (Haryana
186), Gohil Tarika (Gujarat 180) and Suman (Haryana 174)
also reached the final. |
Krishnan is non-playing captain MUMBAI, Dec 26 (PTI) — Former Davis Cup spearhead and touch artist Ramesh Krishnan was today appointed as the new Davis Cup non-playing captain of the Indian team by the All-India Tennis Association, replacing Jaideep Mukherjea. “The executive committee’s decision yesterday was unanimous,” AITA president R.K. Khanna told reporters on the choice of Ramesh as the new non-playing skipper after the apex tennis body’s AGM here today. Ramesh, who piloted
India to the Davis Cup semifinals with a memorable away
win on clay at Frejus over France in the 1993
quarter-finals with the then in-experienced Leander Paes
before retiring from the game, would replace Mukherjea,
who recently resigned from the job. |
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