Monday, February 1, 1999
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Tendulkar's brilliant ton in vain CHENNAI, Jan 31 — A magnificent century by Sachin Tendulkar notwithstanding, Pakistan snatched a dramatic 12-run win over India in the first Test of the two-match series at the Chidambaram Stadium here today. Kafelnikov
wins Australian Open title |
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Trainer predicts win for Holyfield ATLANTIC CITY, Jan 31 — Two days before the opening of training camp, trainer Don Turner said that his fighter Evander Holyfield would handily beat Lennox Lewis in their upcoming heavyweight title unification bout. Anand closes in on Kasparov WIZK AAN ZEE (Netherlands), Jan 31 — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand clawed his way to within half a point of the world champion Garry Kasparov as the 61st Hoogovens GMS Chess Tournament neared its last stages. Muralitharan not to play for Lancashire PERTH, Jan 31— Controversial Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been denied permission to fulfil his English country cricket commitments as Lancashire’s overseas player in 1999. Salgaocar
take on Mahindras today
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Tendulkar's brilliant ton in vain From
Abhijit Chatterjee CHENNAI, Jan 31 — A magnificent century by Sachin Tendulkar notwithstanding, Pakistan snatched a dramatic 12-run win over India in the first Test of the two-match series at the Chidambaram Stadium here today. At one stage it seemed that the match, which in any case has been a cliff hanger right from the first ball with fortunes fluctuating from minute to minute, was going India’s way with Sachin Tendulkar, who today scored 136 runs, his 18th Test century, and Nayan Mongia going from strength to strength in a sixth wicket partnership which took India almost to the doorstep of what would have been a great victory. But the visitors, known for their quality of bouncing back from the most adverse of conditions, simply did not give up. After wrapping up the first two India second innings wickets yesterday, Pakistan put India totally on the defensive by claiming three wickets this morning for the addition of only 42 runs to the overnight score of 40 for two. But then they ran into the pair of Sachin Tendulkar (unbeaten on 20 when stumps were drawn for the day on Saturday evening) and Nayan Mongia. Throughout play the one thing which was most outstanding from the visitors was their fielding and the leadership of Wasim Akram. This quality paid huge dividends today at the Cheepak as, in spite of a blitzking launched by Sachin as the home team neared the victory target of 271, the Pakistanis kept their cool and waited for the Indians to make a mistake. The heroes of the Pakistanis win was undoubtedly their skipper himself who today took three wickets for the cost of 80 runs. But more than the wickets he was instrumental in propping up the morale of the boys even when it seemed that victory was slowly slipping out of their grasp. Then the visitors had the wily Saqlain Mushtaq, who in spite of getting quite a fair amount of stick from Sachin, stuck to his task manfully to finally end up with figures of five for 93 in India’s second innings. This haul included the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, who was in clear discomfort due to cramps and back pain in the closing stages of his innings which one must rate as one of his best in the most adverse of conditions. Saqlain is indeed a wily bowler. Like with Shane Warne last year Sachin tried to grab the upper hand in his duel with the Pakistani off spinner by going on the offensive right from the first delivery he faced in the Test. Saqlain came out on tops, dismissing the Indian for a rare duck in the India first innings, and then in the second innings when India needed the services of Sachin the most he forced the "master blaster" to mistime a huge heave to Wasim Akram at extra cover. The Pakistani skipper did not make any mistake and with the departure of Sachin after a brilliant 136 (405 minutes, 273 balls, eighteen fours) practically all hopes of an Indian win evaporated with only the nine, ten and jack yet to come in. Saqlain ended with match figures of ten for 187, the first time he claimed 10 victims in a test match. And this could not have come at a better time. It was indeed his bowling which played a major role in India’s downfall. When play resumed this morning, the fourth day of the match, the home team needed 231 runs for a possible win with eight wickets in hand. The overnight batsmen were Sachin and Rahul, who is having a great run this season with a string of good scores in the tour of New Zealand as also a half century in the first innings here. But today was not Dravid’s day. After batting for just 14 minutes and adding two runs to his overnight score of eight he found his off stump uprooted with an Akram delivery which kept low. With the scoreboard reading 50 for three the alarm bells were already ringing in the Indian dressing room. A woefully out of touch Mohammad Azharuddin joined Sachin in the centre with Akram persisting with a pace-spin attack in an effort not to give the Indians an opportunity to settle down. The Indian skipper just could not get going and time and again played and missed. It was finally left to Saqlain to end his misery with a fairly straight delivery. Azharuddin did not even offer a stroke as the ball hit his front pad. The umpire’s finger went up and India were for 73 with Azharuddin scoring just seven (59 minutes, 34 balls, one four). But India were destined for bigger shocks as Saurav Ganguly, a success in the first innings, playing with a fair amount of confidence was adjudged caught behind, again off Saqlain. He lunged forward to execute a shot, saw the ball deflect from the boots of Azhar Mahmood, fielding for the injured Inzamam and Moin dived full length to latch on. India were 82 for five and in deep trouble. As umpire Steve Dunne consulted square leg Umpire V.K. Ramaswamy Ganguly repeated pointed to the ground to say that the ball had hit the ground before hitting Azhar Mahmood’s boots. And as Dunne’s fingers went up television replay did showed that the ball had indeed hit the ground first. While one is willing to accept genuine umpiring mistakes, one can say that this match had seen so many mistakes by the umpires, specially Steve Dunne. It would have been in the fitness of things in the Ganguly incident if the umpires had consulted the third umpire in this case as they had done in the case of Ijaz Ahmed yesterday. If such a step had been taken then the verdict in Ganguly’s case would have been different. With half the team back in the dressing room any hopes of an Indian win slowly evaporated. But Sachin, who today played like a man possessed cutting out all fancy strokes and playing every ball on merit, found a resolute partner in Nayan Mongia. For Mongia too the tour of New Zealand had not been fruitful with the bat but today he showed an altogether different approach and put his head in an effort to build a stand. And the two Indians really sparked. Between lunch and tea the two just kept the scoreboard ticking and 61 runs were added in 120 minutes of play. It was in this session that Sachin reached his 50 with a single off Akram to third man. So intense was Sachin’s concentration that he waited for 111 deliveries in 115 minutes before executing a four. While Mongia gave Sachin ample support it seemed that the wheel of fortunes had turned India’s way. Tea was taken with the score reading 147 for five with the victory target 124 runs away. It was after the break that Sachin raised visions of an Indian win with four fours in a single over of Saqlain, the third after resumption. Sachin first picked up a four to square and then despatched the bowler to fine leg. And in the third delivery he tapped out of his crease only to see keeper Moin Khan fumble with the ball. Getting a reprieve he again sent the fifth and sixth deliveries to the ropes to enter the nineties. The next over from Saqlain saw Sachin reaching his century which came in 339 minutes 235 balls and included 13 fours. Akram claimed the second new ball with the India total reading 176 for five but there was no stopping the Indians. In the meanwhile Mongia also reached his personal 50 with a six off Saqlain who was inducted into the attack again after just five overs had been sent with the new ball. The Indian score gradually neared the magical 271 mark. But at 218 disaster stuck as Mongia going for big hit off Akram mistimed only to be caught at mid on by Waqar. Mongia scored 52 (192 minutes, 134 balls, one six three fours) and added 146 runs for the 6th wicket and when Sachin fell with the total of 254 even scoring 17 runs was beyond the capacity of the Indians. The innings finally ended at 258 with Srinath bowled by Saqlain. Sachin won the Man of the Match award, a small consolation indeed. SCOREBOARD Sachin unable to walk after knock CHENNAI, Jan 31 (PTI) — Sachin Tendulkar, who struck an epic 136 to lift India to the verge of victory in the first Test against Pakistan today, was unable to even walk due to a severe back spasm. Tendulkar, who was declared Man of the Match by referee Cammie Smith of the West Indies, did not come out for the presentation ceremony due to the strain, which saw him clutch the right side of his back repeatedly during his innings which lasted six hours and 45 minutes. Indian skipper Mohd Azharuddin, who accepted the award on behalf of the master batsman, said Tendulkar was unable to walk and was receiving medical attention. It was not immediately
clear whether the condition was serious with the second
Test slated to be held in Delhi from February 4. |
Kafelnikov wins Australian Open title MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (AP) — Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov outsmarted Swedish power hitter Thomas Enqvist to win the Australian Open final and his second Grand Slam title today. The 1996 French Open champion and No. 10 seed moved to a No. 3 ranking in the world with his 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory over the unseeded Enqvist. Kafelnikov thanked his coach Larry Stefanki, and also No. 1 Pete Sampras, who decided to miss the tournament because of tiredness. "Pete, it’s really a great wonderful feeling thanks for letting me do that," Kafelnikov joked. Kafelnikov was overpowered in an early baseline duel but used his experience to run Enqvist ragged in a nine-game streak through the second set and into the third. He hung on grimly in the third set as fatigue moved in and was steady through the fourth set tie-breaker after the set went all the way with serve. Enqvist lost the first five points of the breaker and surrendered the match with a double fault. It was his 62nd unforced error. "He played too solid for me today," said Enqvist. "Next year, maybe, can go all the way." Kafelnikov’s victory earned him Australian $ 722,000 (US $ 454,860) while Enqvist got Australian $ 361,000 (US $ 227,430). Enqvist broke Kafelnikov in the fifth game of the first set but the Russian turned the match around by moving the Swede away from the sanctuary of the baseline. Enqvist, a different player when forced to volley at the net, struggled to finish off the set at 5-4. He took it on a fourth set point as Kafelnikov hit a return wide. The Russian had a break point during the game and he was horrified when a line umpire gave a close call against him. Kafelnikov ripped through the second set with three breaks as Enqvist lost control over his main weapon, a backhand down the line, and played poorly near the net. Kafelnikov won the first three games of the third, extending his run to nine straight, before Enqvist staged a mini recovery. Enqvist finally ended the dismal slide by holding in the fourth game with two aces and then got back into the match with a break in the fifth as his backhand power returned. As the Swede soared back the Russian started to lose his cool. He shaped to smash down his racket as an Enqvist ace fizzed by in the sixth game and hung his head as the Swede held for 3-3. Enqvist had a break point as Kafelnikov started to look tired in the seventh game but the Russian was able to scrape through for a 4-3 lead and his survival proved crucial. Kafelnikov then claimed a second break of the set when Enqvist played a regulation forehand long from the baseline. He held in the ninth to go 2-1 up. The fourth set went to serve all the way to the breaker. Enqvist served first and lost the point after a close call went against him. A double fault at 0-3 put him into a hole he could not get out from. Unseeded South Africans David Adams and Mariaan De Swardt took the Australian Open mixed doubles trophy today with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 win over Wimbledon and US Open champions Swrena Williams and Max Mirnyi. Wild card entries Williams and Mirnyi came close to capturing their third straight Grand Slam title but fell short in the end as the South African pair relentlessly attacked the beaded American teenager. The South African’s triumph ended a unique run by Williams and her sister Venus, who kept the Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in the family last year, Venus and compatriot Justin Gimelstob took the titles at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros. Adams and De Swardt, playing together for the first time, fought off a match point when they were serving at 4-5 and battled down to the wire to secure the final tie break at 7-5 as Williams sent an easy smash long. De Swardt hit an awesome stretch reflex volley across the width of the court in front of Mirnyi to take a 5-1 lead in the tie break, but the Belarussian Mirnyi came back with a sharp volley down the middle. Two badly hit service
returns by the South Africans allowed their opponents
back into the decider to 4-5, but Mirnyi and Williams
eventually cracked. |
Ponting makes a hero's return PERTH, Jan 31 (Reuters) — Ricky Ponting made a remarkable comeback from disgrace when he won the Man of the Match award as Australia beat Sri Lanka by 45 runs in their tri-series match at the WACA ground today. The result guaranteed the best-of-three finals will be between Australia and England, starting on February 10. Replying to Australia’s 274 for seven, Sri Lanka were all out for 229 off 46.3 overs. Ponting, in his first match back from a three-match suspension incurred for his part in a drunken brawl in a Sydney nightclub, was the hero for Australia. After making a polished 39, he effected a brilliant run-out, took a classic catch at mid-wicket and claimed one for 41 from his 10 overs. Sri Lanka’s victory bid received a major setback in the 13th over when opener Sanath Jayasuriya had to retire hurt after hitting 50 from 49 balls with a suspected break of his right forearm. His knock included eight fours and a six. Jayasuriya, who survived a confident caught behind appeal off Shane Lee on 49, was taken to hospital after being hit a sickening blow by Brendon Julian. His premature departure was a blow for Sri Lanka after he had flayed eight fours and one massive six. Earlier, a brilliant unbeaten 72 (65 balls) by Michael Bevan and brisk innings by Damien Martyn (48) and Adam Gilchrist (47) helped Australia post a formidable total. Bevan struck only four boundaries, but his placement and running between wickets was full of precision. However, he spent only a few overs in the field after suffering slight hip injury. Australia: Gilchrist b Vaas 47 M. Waugh c Atapattu b Wickremasinghe 12 Ponting run out 39 Lehmann c Kaluwitharana b Wickremasinghe 20 Martyn c Mahanama b Muralitharan 48 Bevan not out 72 Lee c Atapattu b Wickremasinghe 22 Jullin c Kaluwitharana b Vass 1 Warne not out 1 Extras (B-1, W-6, NB-5) 12 Total (for seven wickets, 50 overs) 274 Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-62, 3-100, 4-138, 5-205, 6-266, 7-2-68. Bowling: Vass 10-0-51-2, R. Perera 10-0-70-0, Wickremasinghe 10-0-48-3, Muralitharan 10-0-46-1, Jayasuriya 10-0-57-0. Sri Lanka: Kaluwitharana c Lee b Dale 13 Atapattu run out 34 Tillekeratne c Ponting b Warne 30 Vaas c Julian b Warne 20 Ranatunga c Gilchrist b Ponting 14 Jayawardena c Dale b Warne 36 Mahanama lbw b Julian 4 Perera b McGrath 3 Wickremasinghe c Warne b McGrath 10 Muralitharan not out 0 Extras (b-1 lb-4 w-2 nb-8) 15 Total (for nine wickets, 46.3 overs) 229 Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-126, 3-153, 4-159, 5-201, 6-213, 7-219, 8-229, 9-229. Bowling: McGrath
8.3-3-19-2 (nb-7), Dale 6-0-51-1, Lee 5-0-32-0, Julian
7-0-28-1 (nb-1 w-2), Ponting 10-0-41-1, Warne 10-0-53-3. |
Trainer predicts win for Holyfield ATLANTIC CITY, Jan 31 (Reuters) — Two days before the opening of training camp, trainer Don Turner said that his fighter Evander Holyfield would handily beat Lennox Lewis in their upcoming heavyweight title unification bout. "Lewis will probably fight the best fight of his life and Holyfield will fight the best fight of his life and will win," Turner said on Friday night a few hours before another of his fighters, heavyweight Michael Grant, was to go into action at the Atlantic City convention centre. "I see Evander hitting him and him falling down," Turner said. Holyfield, 36-3 with 25 victories inside the distance, is International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association champion. Lewis, 34-1 with 27 ending early, is the World Boxing Council champ. One of the two will unify the crowns on March 13 at Madison Square garden. Turner said he was more optimistic about this fight than he was before Holyfield’s first bout with Mike Tyson three years ago. "I feel better about this fight than I did about the Tyson fight," Turner said of the clash when Holyfield surprisingly stopped Tyson in the 11th round. "I don’t think it will go as long as the Tyson fight. "Evander is going to go in there and make Lewis fight and mix it up. I don’t think he will be able to stand up to it," Turner said. Turner questioned 33-year-old Lewis’s fighting spirit. "I don’t really think he wants to fight," Turner said. "When he gets in there he don’t give his all. Fighters find a way to do it." Turner was careful not to say that Lewis didn’t have the heart to fight, but explained that a fighter can find subtle ways of surrendering in the ring. "How can I say that he doesn’t have heart, he is a world champion?" "You can quit in a lot of different ways. When they get hit, they don’t want to get knocked out so they start holding. They just quit fighting," said Turner. That has never been the case with 36-year-old Holyfield — and never will be, promised Turner. "Very few
heavyweights — Ali, Holmes and Holyfield —they
would die before they quit," said Turner. "And
after five rounds every fight just becomes a battle of
wills." |
Anand closes in on Kasparov WIZK AAN ZEE (Netherlands), Jan 31 (PTI) — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand clawed his way to within half a point of the world champion Garry Kasparov as the 61st Hoogovens GMS Chess Tournament neared its last stages. World number two Anand scored a meticulous win over Dutch GM Loek Van Wely after a marathon 60-move clash, while Kasparov was held to a draw by Jan Timman that brought Anand’s tally to eight points after 11 rounds. Kasparov (8.5 points) is just ahead and if the Indian continues his winning form in the final two rounds, he should edge out the chess wizard from the top spot and retain the title he jointly won last year. Kasparov has one tough game, the final 13th round, against Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik (7) and with everything going to the wire, the Kasparov-Kramnik tie should decide the winner. In the 11th round game last night, Anand, with white pieces, slowly but steadily grounded Van Wely to defeat from a Sicilian opening, even as Kasparov, whose tempers have been varying after the shocking loss to Bosnia’s Ivan Sokolov, again lost his cool. The Russian was angry as he played for a dead draw which was settled in 16 moves from a sicilian, where Kasparov had black. Timman avoided taking any chances and Kasparov was clearly upset at the result that allowed Anand to move closer. Anand won a strategically interesting battle from an accelerated dragon and he was happy with his position after 34 moves at which point he felt he had a good winning chance. Still black had a chance to salvage half a point after 39 moves when Anand played 39th - QD1. But Van Wely made an error here and Anand pounced on it. Van Wely played 39th - RD8 and after that Anand was able to regain his control of the game. In the 12th round, Kasparov had white against Peter Svidler and black against Kramnik in final round. Anand plays with black against Alex Yermolinsky (USA) in round 12 and will have an advantage of white against Bulgaria’s Vasselin Topalov in the final round. Jeroen Piket scored a convincing victory over Vassily Ivanchuk after he sacrificed a pawn in the king’s Indian main line lasting 38 moves. Alexei Shirov (Spain) got the day’s best game prize for the demolition of last placed Dmitri Reinderman in a sicilian game that lasted 44 moves. Sokolov, whose win over Kasparov threw open the tournament, scored his third successive victory, demolishing Yerimolinsky in 32 moves from a queen's gambit declined. Peter Svidler (Russia)
drew with countryman Kramnik in 27 moves from another
sicilian Sveshnikov and Rustam Kasimdhzanov also settled
for half a point with Topalov from a sicilian game as the
day saw five sicilian games from seven matches. |
Muralitharan not to play for Lancashire PERTH, Jan 31 (AP) — Controversial Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been denied permission to fulfil his English country cricket commitments as Lancashire’s overseas player in 1999. Muralitharan, who replaced Pakistan allrounder Wasim Akram as the county’s overseas signing, has been told that as a contracted player to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), he will not be released. The spinner was signed up by Lancashire on Akram’s recommendation that they sign a top-class spinner to replace him. He is very weak and we want him to rest and that’s why the decision has been made,’’ Mr Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of the BCCSL, told the Associated Press yesterday. Muralitharan, who has been called for throwing in successive tours to Australia, will undergo surgery on the shoulder of his bowling arm and Mr Sumathipala said the 27-year old will miss the forthcoming Asian Test Championship. "He is our key bowler and we don’t want to risk losing him. That’s why we want to rest him,’’ Mr Sumathipala said. But Sri Lanka’s decision not to release Muralitharan is also based on the fears that he will miss the country’s first Test against Australia later this year. Australia are scheduled to visit Sri Lanka for a three-Test series in August followed by a one-day triangular series. Initially they (Lancashire) wanted him for six weeks after the World Cup. But now they want him for eight weeks, which overlaps with the first Test,’’ said Mr Sumathipala. "If so we can’t contract him for the Test series. He has to decide whether he wants to play for Lancashire or Sri Lanka,’’ Mr Sumathipala added. The decision is expected to be ratified when the BCCSL’s executive committee meets in February. Muralitharan would have been only the second test player after Aravinda De Silva to play for an English county. De Silva played for Kent
in 1995 and his prolonged commitment forced him to miss
the first Test in Pakistan that year. |
Salgaocar take on Mahindras today MUMBAI, Jan 31 (PTI) — Goa’s glamour outfit, Salgaocar Sports Club, lock horns with Mumbai’s Mahindra and Mahindra in a group "B" National Football League clash at the Cooperage ground here tomorrow. The Goans start as firm favourites in the match despite the fact that their two Nigerian forwards, Jude Indegah and Habib Idnkule, are doubtful starters because of injuries. Salgaocar thrashed Mahindras, the first Mumbai outfit to clinch the prestigious Durand Cup at the beginning of the season, 3-0 at home which should give them a big psychological advantage over the Mumbai team. In Bruno Coutinho Salgaocar have a thrustful forward who can trouble the Mahindras defence no end with his youthful predominantly left-footed frontline colleague Alvito D’Cunha. In Juje Sidhi, the Goans have a cool customer to man their goal. Salgaocar go into the match with eight points to their credit from five matches in the six-team group and would be eager to win the tie and pocket three more points which would keep their hopes for a berth in the super league alive and kicking. Salgaocar have lost only one match in the league so far falling 0-1 to Indian Bank at Chennai on January 26. They have drawn with East Bengal and FC Kochin in their first leg ties and beaten ITI, Bangalore, 3-0 at home. They, thus, go into the tie with their confidence quite high. Mahindras, on the other
hand, have done badly by logging only three points to
their credit from four matches. They need to produce much
better display than they had done so far to put it across
the Goan team. |
Sehwag, Bhandari script North win CALCUTTA, Jan 31 (PTI) — Virender Sehwag’s blistering 78 and paceman Amit Bhandari’s (4/18) exhibition of controlled seam bowling helped North carve out a 27-run victory over East Zone in their final Deodhar Trophy limited overs cricket match at the Eden Gardens here today. Put into bat, North rode on a 114-run fourth wicket partnership between Sehwag and Pankaj Dharmani (58) to pile up 267 for six in their allotted 50 overs and then restricted East to 240 for nine. East never really recovered from the early jolts as the North speedsters ripped through the top order to leave the hosts tottering at 54 for four at one stage. Captain Saba Karim was the top scorer with a defiant 75 while Rajiv Kumar Raja (34) and Sanjay Raul (32) were the other notable scorers. With Central having already won the Deodhar Trophy, the match only had an academic interest. North completed their engagements with three wins and a loss while East suffered defeats in all the four matches. (Scoreboard): Extras (lb-1, w-9) 10. Total (for 6 wkts in 50 overs) 267. Fall of wickets: 1/48, 2/101, 3/105, 4/219, 5/245, 6/259. Bowling: D Mohanty 10-2-31-1, G Dutta 9-1-50-0, S Khan 10-0-50-0, R Gavaskar 10-0-51-2, S Raul 7-0-54-0, D Gandhi 4-0-30-0. East Zone: S S Das c Dharmani b Bhandari10, Haldipur c Dharmani b Sodhi 8, Gandhi c Dharmani b Singh 14, Gavaskar lbw b Bhandari 7, Karim c Minhas b Singh 75, Raja c Rathore b Mongia 34, Raul run out 32, Kaderkar c Dharmani b Bhandari 17, Dutta b Bhandari 6, Mohanty (not out) 2, Khan (not out) 6. Extras (b-2, lb-9, w-14, nb-4) 29. Total (for 9 wkts in 50 overs) 240. Fall of wickets: 1/12, 2/24, 3/46, 4/54, 5/143, 6/207, 7/217, 8/230, 9/231. Bowling: A Bhandari
10-4-18-4, R S Sodhi 10-0-63-1, Robin Singh (Jr)
10-0-44-2, S Sharma 8-0-39-0, V Sehwag 8-0-41-0, D Mongia
4-0-24-1. |
Carlos Moya for Chennai meet NEW DELHI, Jan 31 (PTI) — Reigning French Open champion Carlos Moya has confirmed his participation for the ATP Chennai Open to be held at the Nungambakjam Stadium in April. World number four Moya’s entry at the Chennai Open will mark his first trip to India, tournament director Brian Cooney said today. Moya will be the third reigning Grand Slam champion to appear in the ATP Tour event in India after Richard Krajicek of Netherlands in 1997 and Pat Rafter of Australia in 1998. "I am going to talk to (Mahesh Bhupathi) and (Leander Paes) about it, but I have already been told many good things about the open and it should be nice to play there," Moya said announcing his participation. The 22-year-old Spaniard thrust into limelight after he reached 1997 Australian Open final and became a pin-up for young tennis players. In the June 1998, the mild
mannered player joined the elite club when he crafted a
splendid victory over countrymate Alex Corretja to become
only the third Spaniard to win it. |
Jaspal Rana bags gold BANGALORE, Jan 31 (PTI) — Ace shooter Jaspal Rana won the gold, despite a "malfunction" in his weapon, in the standard pistol (25m) event at the 42nd National Shooting Championship here today. Rana emerged a clear winner with a score of 574. He shot a perfect 50 in the fourth series in 150 seconds. Rana had scored 573 at the recent Asian Games and ended up with silver. There too, he had used the same weapon "fass" and had "bad experiences." The gold medal went in favour of a Korean at the Asian Games with the score of 574. "I am likely to change my weapon and have the satisfaction of scoring 574 here. Every day you can’t do well and hope to improve better," said Jaspal. There was a tie shoot for the second spot between Samresh Jung (CISF) and Ashok K. Pandit (Mah) with the score at 558. Samresh shot 136 out of 150 and won the silver, while Ashok was one short (135) to earn bronze. Ashok was in lead with
five points till the second shot. Samresh shot 48 in the
final round and Ashok ended up with 42. |
Kambli fashions West Zone win GUWAHATI, Jan 31 (PTI) — Riding on a quickfire 69 by Vinod Kambli, West beat South Zone by 64 runs in the Deodhar Trophy cricket match at the Maligaon Railway Stadium here today. Batting first, West scored a respectable 244 for seven in 50 overs and then managed to restrict South to 180 for nine, thanks to a fine spell by Paras Mhambrey, who took three for 28. In the match, rendered inconsequential with Central having already won the championship, former India medium pacer Doda Ganesh for South failed to make any impression on the placid Maligaon pitch. Kambli, hoping to be included in the World Cup team, spurred his chances with an unbeaten knock of 69. Middle order batsman V. Kale gave good support to Kambli scoring 65 while Sugwekar chipped in with a valuable 54. For South, except for a Nandkishore who scored 37, no other batsman could come to terms with the West bowling and the innings folded up at 180. Medium pacer Mhambrey bowled superbly while Nilesh Kulkarni, Robin Mehta and S. Kotak took two apiece. Brief scores: West Zone: 244 for 7 (V. Kambli 69 n.o., A. Kale 65, S. Sugwekar 54; H. Ramakrishna 3/38, A. Padmanavan 3/40). South Zone: 180 for 9 (A.
Nandkishore 37; P. Mhambrey 3/28). |
H
North defeat East Zone ROHTAK, Jan 31 (FOSR) — North Zone defeated East Zone by 55 runs and West Zone defeated South Zone by 4 wickets in their last encounters of Vijay Hazare Trophy here today. At Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium, North Zone piled up 203 for 9 wickets in allotted 40 overs. The runs were scored at brisk pace. Deepak Joon scored 34 whereas Harkishan Kali made 29. Debashish Mandal took 3 for 48. In reply East Zone could score only 148 in stipulated number of overs at the loss on 8 wickets. Javed Ali remained not out of 36. Sandeep Vig contributed 33. Ashwani Kumar returned with impressive bowling analysis of 8-0, 25-4. In the other match at Vishwakarma Stadium South Zone batted first after losing the toss. They scored 131 runs in 39.3 overs. Opener Ibrahim Khalil scored 36 and Deepak Chowgle made 35. West Zone chased the victory target successfully in 36.3 overs after losing 6 wickets. Hardik Choudhry made 39 in 33 balls. Today's matches were of academic interest only as the winner had been decided yesterday. The champions of Vijay Hazare Trophy — Central Zone — take on the Rest of India tomorrow in the Polly Umrigar Trophy encounter at Vishwakarma Stadium. Soccer trials CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 (BOSR) — The field trials to select 25 probables to represent Chandigarh in the National Sub Junior Football Championship for Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy will be held on February 2 at 3 pm at Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 23. This championship will start on February 15 at New Delhi, according to Mr A.S. Bains, president of the Chandigarh Football Association. The players born on or after January 1, 1983, are eligible to take part in the trials and they must bring with them their original birth certificates. College soccer CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 (BOSR) — GHG Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sudhar (near Ludhiana), has won the Panjab University Inter-College Football Championship, which concluded here at the Panjab University grounds today. Arya Evening College Ludhiana, finished second. Results: GHG Khalsa College of Education b Arya Evening College, Ludhiana 4-0 (Narinder 3, Charanjit Singh 1). Double crown for Sanjay LUDHIANA, Jan 31 (FOSR) — Commandant Sanjay Kishore of Ferozepur was the star attraction as he annexed two titles in the inaugural Inter-Posts Railway Police Force (Ferozepur Division) Badminton Championship which concluded at the Shastri Hall of Guru Nanak Stadium here today. In the singles final Sub-Inspector Sanjeev Rana of Pathankot tried to put up a fight against Sanjay Kishore but Sanjay came away the winner in Rallies and played a good game at the net to win the first set 15-5. After wrapping up the first game, Sanjay looked set for an easy win. But Sanjeev launched a splendid fight back in the second to gave some anxious moments to Sanjay before going down 10-15. Later in the doubles final, Sanjay Kishore pairing with Sanjeev Rana demolished Jalandhar duo Rakesh Sharma and Charanjit Singh 15-7, 15-3 to clinch the issue easily. Mrs Jaya Kishore, wife of the Commandant, RPF, Ferozepur, presided over the concluding function and distributed the prizes. Chess meet results CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 (BOSR) — Hari Om Sharma with four points end was in lead in the North Zone AG (IA and AD) Chess Championship being played here today. The result at the end of the 4th round: Hari Om Sharma (4) b SK Sinha (2): Baij Nath Prasad (3) b Dayal Singh (2): GP Singh (3) b Virinder Singh (1): VP Gill (2) b Ashok Kumar (0.5): SK Gosain (2) w/o Shadab Akhtar (0.5). St Stephen's win CHANDIGARH, Jan 31 (TNS) — In the fourth match of the ICSE Schools Cricket Tournament here today St. Stephen's defeated Minerva Public School by 8 wickets and 14.5 overs to spare. St. Stephen's won the toss and elected to field. Minerva Public lost their first wicket on the very first ball and from then on wickets kept falling at regular intervals and the Minervas finally scored 49 in 15 overs. In response St. Stephen's scored 50 in 10.1 overs with 8 wickets to spare. The highest scorer for St Stephen's was their captain, Bhuvan (22). The main wicket takers for St. Stephen's were Sunny Behl 3 for 7 off 3 overs and Varun 3 for 11 off 5 overs. St. Xavier's and St
Stephen's will clash in the finals on February 6. |
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