Sunday, February 7, 1999
today's calendar
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S P O R T | Sunday, February 7, 1999 |
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SA rout Windies by 114 runs Maharashtra
take 1st innings lead S.S.
Dass, Mullick thwart Railways |
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Bagan
ground Air-India Aparna
in 3rd round; Kurien ousted
Paes
rallies to beat Bhupathi |
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Chance for
India to level series NEW DELHI, Feb 6 — India drove themselves into the driver’s seat at the Ferozeshah Kotla here today. At the draw of stumps on the third day of the second Test between India and Pakistan, the hosts, leading by 80 runs on first innings, had scored 324 for seven, an overall lead of 404, with three wickets still in hand. This lead in any case should prove to be decisive. Down after losing the first match of the "Friendship Series" at Chennai by a slender margin of 12 runs, the hosts are definitely in line for a win and thereby square the series. The hosts should be thankful to two left handed batsmen, Tamil Nadu’s S.Ramesh and Bengal’s Saurav Ganguly, for the position in which they find themselves. While the former scored a career best knock of 96 (271 minutes, 277 balls, fifteen fours) in only his second Test of his career, the latter, playing his 25th Test, scored an unbeaten 58 (191 minutes, 119 balls, six fours, two sixes) and in company with Javagal Srinath, unbeaten on 44 (122 minutes, 103 balls, five fours), had added 96 runs for the unfinished eighth wicket partnership. It is around the success of these two Indian batsmen that the story of India’s dominance of the day’s play is built after honours were shared by the two teams in the first two days of the Test. Both handled the Pakistani bowlers with poise and elan. More important, Saqlain Mushtaq, the mainstay of the Pakistani bowling with fifteen wickets under his belt in the current series, ten at Chennai and five in India’s first innings here at the Kotla, could not bowl as effectively against both the left handers. While Saqlain did pick up two wickets in the Indian second innings, those of Rahul Dravid, out after scoring a patient 29 (121 minutes, 72 balls, two fours) caught by Ijaz Ahmed and Anil Kumble who scored 15 (37 minutes, 36 balls, two fours), again caught by Ijaz at slips, he was not at all effective against the Indian left handers. Saqlain’s delivery which has got him most of the wickets is the drifter, leaving the right handed batsman. But in the case of the left handers this delivery come in with the arm allowing the batsmen enough time to execute their strokes. And to India’s advantage Saqlain did not maintain line nor length early in the morning allowing the Indian batsmen to settle down. Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed who did cause some problems for the home team batsmen in the first innings was also wayward, sending down too many loose deliveries. He did a favour to his team by picking up the wickets which mattered most, the first of S.Ramesh just four short of what would have been a good century and later of Sachin Tendulkar (batting with a belt around his waist so as not to aggravate his back strain) who was very quite in his 99-minutes stay at the crease during which he scored 29 (55 balls, four fours). Ramesh who was shaping well fell in the nervous nineties when he was foxed by a full toss only to send the ball back into the hands of Mushtaq. Ramesh, who reached his second half century of the Test was rather unlucky. But barring these success Mushtaq did get a fair amount of stick specially in the last session of play when Ganguly and Srinath scored runs at a rapid pace. The other Pakistani main bowler, their captain Wasim Akram, did bowl in short burst but it seemed that he was not fully fit. In the first session of play Akram sent down only three overs before retiring into the pavilion. Returning after the lunch break he again sent down three overs in which he claimed the scalps of Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored 14 (52 minutes, 24 balls, two fours) and Nayan Mongia (zero) in consecutive deliveries before Anil Kumble broke his hat-trick bid by digging out an yorker and straight driving it to the ropes. But surprisingly Akram took himself off immediately afterwards and let Waqar Younis operate from one end. These two wickets helped Wasim Akram become the highest wicket taker for Pakistan in Test cricket overtaking the record of Imran Khan of 362 wickets. Akram’s tally after the wicket of Nayan Mongia became 363, having taken five wickets in the first match of the current series and one for 23 in India’s first innings here. India, overnight 46 for one, scored as many as 278 runs in the course of the day, and in the bargain was able to put Pakistan totally on the defensive. With two more days of play left Pakistan will have an uphill task to save the Test. And the pitch too is now showing signs of wear and tear with mud popping up with every delivery. Followers of the game will
remember that only India have successfully chased a 400
plus target in the fourth innings of a Test match. As for
the visitors they have only once chased a 300 plus
target, scoring 315 for nine in the 1994-95 series to win
a Test against Australia at Karachi. |
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BLOEMFONTEIN, Feb 6 (Reuters) — South Africa recorded a crushing 114-run victory over West Indies last night to take a 5-1 lead in the seven-game one-day cricket series. West Indies were bowled out for 159, losing three wickets in three balls on the way, as they vainly chased a target of 273 on a good batting pitch. They reached 40 for nought but then lost eight wickets for 42 runs in nine overs. In what appeared an effort to prolong the match for a big crowd on his home ground, South African skipper Hansie Cronje used an assortment of occasional bowlers at the death, allowing the last two wickets to add 77. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Junior Murray had given their side their best start of the series, reaching 40 in the ninth over. But once Shaun Pollock achieved the breakthrough, having Chanderpaul caught by Mark Boucher for 19, the innings collapsed tamely. Black fast bowler Victor Mpitsang, at 18 years and 314 days the youngest player to represent South Africa in an international match, overcame a nervous opening to bowl Nixon McLean for eight, 10 runs later. Pollock then sent back
Murray and Keith Arthurton in the last two balls of his
sixth over and Mpitsang bowled Darren Ganga with the
first ball of the next to reduce the tourists to the
impossible position of 54 for five from where the West
Indies never recovered. |
Maharashtra take 1st innings lead PUNE, Feb 6 (PTI) — A brilliant century by Abhijit Kale (114) enabled hosts Maharashtra take a 65-run first innings lead over Delhi on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy super-league match at the Nehru Stadium here today. Resuming at their overnight score of 93 for three in 32 overs, the hosts added 128 runs for the loss of remaining seven wickets. They were all out for 221 in 87.2 overs. Yesterday Delhi collapsed to 156 all out in 57.5 overs in their first innings while in the second innings the visitors are 86 for no loss in 33 overs with Devendra Sharma (37) and Ashu Dani (37) unbeaten at stumps. Kale, unbeaten on 46 yesterday, continued his fine form this morning before being snapped up by Pankaj Joshi at short mid-wicket off the bowling of Nikhil Chopra. The Maharashtra middle order bat faced 232 balls and hit 16 fours while compiling the 114-run knock, his tenth century, second against Delhi, in the national championship. Seamer Amit Bhandari (four for 67), Robin Singh (Jr) (two for 54) and spinner Rahul Sanghvi (two for 41) were the more successful bowlers for Delhi. In the second innings, Delhi opener Devendra was lucky to survive at 20 as Hemant Kinikar, who dived to his right, failed to snap the ball at gully off Milind Kulkarni. Earlier, Kale was dropped
by Nikhil Chopra at mid-wicket off Virendra Sehwag. But
the batsman could not make much of the "life",
as he perished in the next over. |
S.S. Dass,
Mullick thwart Railways PATIALA, Feb 6 — S.S. Dass (100 n.o.) and P. Mullick (76 n.o.) read the pitch very well and enabled Orissa cruise to a comfortable 245 for 1 against Railways on day one of the Ranji Trophy super league match at the DCW Sports Stadium here today. After the dew disappeared quickly in the morning the pitch eased up which proved to be a nightmare for the Railway bowlers, including those who were willing to bend their backs on the docile track. Orissa, batting by choice, flourished in the first session itself as openers S.S. Dass and P. Jayachandran put their heads down to collect 77 runs before Jayachandran launched himself into an on drive but had the mortification of seeing the ball hitting his leg stump through the huge gap the batsman had left between his bat and pad. With Jayachandran's dismissal the stage was set for S.S. Dass and P. Mullick, two of the most successful batsmen in the East Zone Ranji league ties, to give their team a solid foundation. With the bowlers failing to make any significant inroads, the Railways fielding became increasingly sloppy. Wicket-keeper Abhey Sharma was guilty in the first session of play with the Orissa score reading 39 for no loss. P. Jayachandran tried to sweep left arm spinner Murli Karthik against the spin and the resultant top edge ballooned high up in the air. With Abhey Sharma all set to back the catch, Sanjay Bangar rushed in from first slip and knocked both the ball and the wicket keeper to the ground. This was the only chance both Dass and Mullick offered in what turned out to be a long and grinding day in the middle for the Railways bowlers. Dass and Mullick played in
contrasting styles with the former having more fluency in
his shots while the latter being more defiant in his
approach. |
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MUMBAI, Feb 6 (PTI) — Calcutta’s glamour outfit Mohun Bagan notched up a lone first-half goal victory over lowly Mumbai team Air-India in a scrappy group "A" National Football League encounter at the Cooperage ground here today. The match-winner in the ill-tempered match was scored off a penalty by Bagan’s Nigerian skipper Chima Okorie who was lucky not to have been sent off prior to earning the award when he was brought down inside the box by Air-India’s wing back Henry Picardo in the 42nd minute. Two minutes earlier Air-India were dealt a big blow when their left wing back Subir Sinha was sent off for hacking R.P. Singh of Bagan and the local team had to play the entire second half with only 10 men. Okerie, needled initially by Air-India defenders, retaliated by hitting rival stopper Subir Chakrabarty on the face later and was lucky not to be given marching orders too. He was surging towards goal to take control of a diagonal pass from Jo Paul Ancheri when he was tripped by Picardo. The African striker cooly scored from the "spot" by sending Air-India custodian Partha Das the other way to find the left corner of the net. The win, Bagan’s third in eight matches and second in-a-row, took their points tally to 13. Air-India, with only four points prior to today’s match, are already out of recoking to make it to the six-team super league. Apart from the red card shown to Sinha, three other Air-India players and Okerie were booked by referee C Sethumadhavan in the hot-tempered match. The first half was very scrappy and referee sethumadavan failed to take firm control of the situation. Okerie and Surjeet Tigga of Air-India nearly came to blows in the 23rd minute and were both shown yellow cards. Right wing back Biswanath Mondal nearly gave Bagan the lead in the 32nd minute when his long-range effort from the right struck the cross-piece and rebounded into play. Late in the second half he came up with an identical effort which was tipped over the bar just in time by Air-India goalkeeper Das. There was little else of note in the first half prior to the penalty except the marching orders given to Sinha, the yellow card shown to Picardo and Okerie’s deliberate foul on Kuntal Chakraborty which went unnoticed by the referee and linesmen. The second half was much more sedate after Chakrabarty earned the yellow card in the fourth minute for hitting Okerie. Bagan had an edge in ball possession and the introduction of Iranian Basim Yonan for R.P. Singh gave the Calcutta team’s attack a little more bite but they were never dangerous. Bagan obviously missed the presence of the injured I.M. Vijayan in the frontline. Bagan are proceeding to
Goa to take on Dempo and Churchil Brothers in their last
two matches while Air-India have to play JCT in Ludhiana
and Churchill at home. |
NFL
standings CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 — Calcutta's glamorous outfit Mohun Bagan jumped to the top spot with 13 points in group 'A' of the National Football League with a solitary-goal victory over Air-India at Mumbai today. After today's victory, Mohun Bagan's tally has gone up to 13 points from three victories and four draws. Following close behind are JCT Phagwara who have accumulated 12 points from three victories and three draws. Air-India, who suffered their sixth defeat today, are out of the reckoning for a berth in the last six. In group 'B' East Bengal
have virtually assured themselves of a place in the super
league having accumulated 17 points from five victories
and two draws. FC Kochin and Salgaocar are second and
third with 13 and nine points respectively. |
Aparna in 3rd round; Kurien ousted NEW DELHI, Feb 6 (PTI) — Top woman shuttler Aparna Popat crushed Assam’s Bibari Basumatory to storm into the third round of women’s singles even as men’s section saw an upset when junior national champion Thomas Kurien was knocked out in the first round at the 63rd Senior National Badminton Championship here today. Aparna, who received a bye in the first round, simply outsmarted Bibari 11-3, 11-0 with her better court coverage and perfect placements on the first day of the open event. Railway’s Thomas Kurien became the first casualty when the seasoned Utsav Mishra (Uttar Pradesh) prevailed over the youngster 15-9, 10-15, 15-10 and set up a second round tie with Saumen Bhattacharjee (West Bengal). The Bengal shuttler beat Sanyasi Rao of Andhra Pradesh 15-8, 15-10 on the side court. Utsav played a tactical match by engaging his dangerous opponent into long rallies before turning aggressive. This unsettled Thomas, who prefers dribble and smash game. The UP shuttler raced to 10-2 lead before Thomas clawed his way back right upto 10-9, but Utsav had his chances and won the game 15-9. After losing the second game 10-15, Utsav concentrated on keeping the shuttle in play for longer period which again put pressure on Thomas and subsequently he succumbed in the decider. Kerala’s Roopesh Kurien scored an inspiring 14-17, 15-2 15-6 win over Sanket Shetty of Maharashtra while Vivek Gautam (Mah) was stretched to three games by Mayur Ghatnekar (Rlys) before winning 15-9, 10-15, 15-10. Bhupathi, who knows Leander’s game much too well, put his opponent under pressure straightaway by breaking him in the very first game of the first set and then held his serve in the next game to take a 2-0 lead. Paes struggled to hold serve in most of his service games as Bhupathi produced some brilliant fore-hand returns catching his fancied opponent on the wrong foot on a number of occasions. After conceding the first set 4-6, Paes looked much more charged up in the second set though he continued to struggle to hold his serve and was lucky at times to win the game after being on deuce. Both the players held their serves till 4-4 in the second set. Paes held on to his serve in the ninth game and then broke Mahesh in the tenth game to wrap up the set 6-4. Improving his serves, Paes broke Bhupathi in the second game of the third and deciding set and held on to his serve comfortably to race to a 3-0 lead. The early lead seemed to
unsettle Bhupathi to some extent as he could not display
the same touch as the game wore on, allowing his famed
doubles partner to consolidate his position. |
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CALCUTTA, Feb 6 (PTI) — Top seed Leander Paes recovered from an early slump to script a labourious three-set victory over compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi and win the title in the ATP Tour challenger tennis championship at the South Club here today. Ace Davis Cupper Paes, ranked 93 in the world, rallied back brilliantly after conceding the first set to carve out a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 triumph over his friend in an absorbing battle which lasted nearly two hours. Spurred on by his home crowd, Paes relied on a solid serve and volley game against the spirited Bhupathi who showed qualities of a much improved singles player. The local hero’s title win not only fetched him 70 valuable ATP points, but a purse of US $ 7,200 (about Rs 3.02 lakhs) also. Bhupathi had to be content with 50 ATP points and a cash prize of $ 4,240. Paes seemed to produce his best tennis when under pressure as he fired a number of aces and unleashed crisp baseline returns to wriggle out of tight situations. In the doubles final, Noam
Behr and Eyal Ran of Israel had to dig deep into thir
reserves to suppress the fighting duo of Barry Cowan of
England and Wesley Whitehouse of South Africa with a 6-4,
6-7, (7-9), 6-2 verdict. |
Mike Tyson gets jail term for assault ROCKVILLE (USA), Feb 6 (Reuters) — Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was sentenced to spend a year in jail for assaulting two motorists after a minor traffic accident, casting doubt on the future of his career. The 32-year-old fighter, long known as the bad boy of boxing, stood dumbfounded between his attorneys yesterday as Montgomery county District Judge Stephen Johnson ordered him taken away in handcuffs, without bond, for what the Judge called "potentially lethal road rage." An audible groan swept the packed courtroom as Johnson imposed a sentence of two years imprisonment on each count, with all but one suspended. He also ordered Tyson to serve two years of probation after his release, pay all fines and charges, and provide 200 hours of community service. Defence attorneys warned that Tyson’s career may be headed for catastrophe, saying his boxing licence could be revoked by Nevada State Athletic Commission and he could be sent back to prison for four years if the Maryland sentence was found to violate his parole for a 1992 rape conviction. The Nevada commission "has a number of options open to it, ranging from doing nothing to revoking his licence," Mr Curt Hendricks, spokesman for the Nevada Attorney General, said. Officials in Indiana had no immediate comment. Tyson pleaded no contest in December to two counts of second-degree assault stemming from a minor three-car collision in nearby Gaithersburg. The boxer allegedly jumped from the car and attacked the two other drivers, punching a 62-year-old man in the jaw and kicking another, 50-year-old man in the groin. Tyson’s attorneys claimed the blows were unintentional and presented a string of witnesses including his wife, Monica, who tried to persuade the Judge that the boxer was really a loving family man under stress because of financial difficulties and stalled career. Tyson himself declined to address the court but submitted a letter that was read by Johnson in court. "Jail time would mean I lose everything," the boxer pleaded. Monica Tyson tearfully told the Judge that her husband was "a good, kind person" who "doesn’t deserve even a minute of incarceration." Even Tyson’s victims said through their attorneys that they did not want jail time and were satisfied with the boxer’s apology, an undisclosed financial settlement and the psychotherapy Tyson has been undergoing for months. But the Judge, reviewing a long criminal record stretching back to age nine, said Tyson’s propensity for violence had become "almost predictable". "This court can’t look into Mike Tyson’s soul," Judge Johnson observed, while gazing down at the boxer over a pair of horn-rimmed cut-glasses. "The defendant lashed out at two innocent people while on probation for rape," he said. "They’re not young, strong and vigorous people. And the weapons he used were the hands and feet of a professional fighter." Tyson manager Sheldon Finkel had told court that the fighter known as "iron Mike" owed more than million to the Internal Revenue Service and former trainer Kevin Rooney before getting paid for his January 16 fight against South African Franscois Botha. Finkel also said cable television channel Showtime had a lien against all of Tyson’s properties, and estimated that Tyson would need three or four fights to break even. Jail, he said, would mean disaster. Tyson’s attorneys, who were unavailable for comment after yesterday’s sentencing, have 30 days to file an appeal. Prosecutors said the fighter could be transferred from the montgomery county detention centre to a local half-way facility within five months. "(Prison) is not going to help him, or anyone," Mexican -born Abimelec Saucedo, the 62-year-old male nurse whom Tyson punched in the jaw, said after the sentencing. Asked about the Judge’s description of Tyson’s road rage, he added: "That came as news to me." But prosecutors, noting Tyson had not admitted guilt by pleading no contest, said the boxer could have received a much stiffer sentence had he been tried and convicted of assault, which is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. Tyson later appeared in
handcuffs at the back of the Montgomery county district
court, where he was put into the back of a Sheriff’s
security truck as cameras flashed and dozens of fans
clinging to a chain-link fence called to the fallen
sports hero. "Peace! love!" cried one
supporter. "Don’t let them break you down,
brother." |
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TOKYO, Feb 6 (AP) — Martina Hingis today regained the world’s top singles ranking as she beat Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open Women’s Tennis Tournament. WTA, the world’s governing body for the women’s professional tennis tour, is scheduled to release a weekly ranking on Monday. The Swiss teenager has been ranked second to Lindsay Davenport of the USA since last October 12. Hingis first climbed to the no. 1 rank March 31, 1997, surging ahead of Steffi Graf of Germany. Davenport, a semifinalist in the Australian Open last week, was eliminated in the quarterfinals yesterday by Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. In the final tomorrow,
Hingis meets the winner in the other semifinals match
today between American Monica Seles and Coetzer. |
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National School Games in jeopardy CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 (TNS) — The National School Games in a number of disciplines may not be held this year as the host states have either expressed their inability to hold the events or have not replied to the SGFI about hosting the event. Giving this information to The Tribune, Mr B.D. Gandhi, honorary secretary-general of the School Games Federation of India, said Kerala had expressed its inability to host the athletic events in the under-19, under-17 and under-14 categories as also the cross country races allotted to it. Andhra Pradesh has not replied to the SGFI and therefore badminton and table tennis events are also not likely to be held. Likewise Maharashtra is also not likely to host the lawn tennis event. Bihar has not responded to the SGFI thus football (under-17), basketball under-14 (boys and girls), kho-kho under-14 (boys and girls) and kabaddi under-14 and hockey under-14 (girls) may also not be held. |
St Stephen's clinch trophy CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 (BOSR)— St. Stephen's School, Sector 45, bagged the ICSE Schools (Chandigarh region) Cricket Tournament by overpowering St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Sector 44 by three wickets in the final today. St. Xaviers team batting first scored 91 in 23.5 overs. Kuber Kataria and Uday Keshab contributed valuable 17 and 12 for their team. Raghav took three wickets for 19 runs while Bhuvan and Sunny got two wickets each by giving 11 and 20 runs, respectively. In reply, a fine knock of 23 with great support of Padam Rai, who made 14 not out, and 12 runs by Sachin gave St. Stephen's School a three-wickets victory. The winning team scored 96 for 7 in 21.1 overs. Sahil Sahni took three wickets for 13 runs while Gaurav Sharma claimed two wicket for 13 runs. Mr Andrew J. Gosain convener ICSE Schools, Chandigarh region, gave away prizes to the winners and the runners up. Soccer tourney CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 (BOSR) — Western Air Command Inter Area Football Championship will be played from February 8 to 12 at the sports ground of Air Force Station here. The opening ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Rathore, Gowde in title clash CHANDIGARH, Feb 6 (BOSR) — SK Rathore and Milind Gowde will clash in the final of the All India Inter Zonal AG (IA and AD) Chess Tournament today. At the end of the fourth round, SK Rathore and Milind both were leading the table with 3.5 points each. The results: M. Gowde
(3.5) drew Hari Om Sharma (3): SK Rathore (3.5) b SK
Sinha (2): BN Prasad (3) b SK Srivastava (2): S.
Bhatacharjee (2) b RKB Panchal (1): PR Harsh (2) b D.
Barua (1) SK Gosain (2) b NV Ramakrishna (0).
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