LAHORE : Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, giving away winners trophy to Atif Bashir, captain of Pakistan hockeyteam, on Wednesday. Pakistan clinched the nine match hockey series against India 6-3. — AP/PTI

India rally to beat Pakistan
LAHORE, Feb 24 — Giving yet another inspiring performance, India came from behind to upset hosts Pakistan 3-2 in the nine-match hockey Test series which concluded at the National Hockey Stadium here today.

IHF to requisition Bovelander
ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 — The Indian Hockey Federation has decided to requisition the services of legendary Dutch penalty corner specialist Floris Bovelander once again to address India’s perennial penalty corner conversion problem.

Indians fare badly in chess
DHAKA, Feb 24 — India had yet another bad day when both of its participants, International Masters Abhijit Kunte and Neelotpal Das suffered defeats in the fifth round of the 4th United Insurance Grandmasters Chess Tournament here today.

Waugh, Warne "should have been suspended"
MELBOURNE, Feb 24 — Australian Test stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh should have been suspended and their fine made public over their involvement with an Indian bookmaker, an Australian Cricket Board inquiry found today.

Churchill subdue Bagan
MARGAO, Feb 24 — A superb performance by goalkeeper Edward Ansah and a brace from Somatai Shaiza helped Churchill Brothers overpower defending champions Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the National Football Super League at Nehru Stadium here today.

Why has Eden changed over the years ?
CALCUTTA, Feb 24 — With the myth of Eden Gardens as ‘the Sporting Mecca’ having exploded due to unruly crowd behaviour, mob psychologists and cricket observers attribute the increasing violence in playfields to lack of "restraining forces and growing intolerance of spectators to accept defeat."

Haryana declare at 506 for 9
RANCHI, Feb 24 — Making the most of a slipshod fielding by Bihar, Haryana struck a big first innings total of 506 for nine declared at Ranji Trophy super league match at Thebirsa Stadium here today.

President’s XI score 9-wicket win
MUMBAI, Feb 24 — The Board President's XI registered a comprehensive nine-wicket victory nine minutes before tea on the final day of their three-day match against the visiting Sri Lankan under-19 team at the Brabourne Stadium here today.

Punjab retain hockey title
IMPHAL, Feb 24 — Giving a fine display of the forthright game they are famous for, Punjab beat Maharashtra 2-0 to retain the men’s hockey title in the fifth National Games here today.

Big victory for RMC, Rourkela
AMRITSAR, Feb 24 — P.C. Chennai and S.A. College, Mumbai, played a 1-1 draw on the sixth day of the seventh Jawaharlal Nehru-SAIL Champions Colleges Hockey Tournament being played at the Guru Nanak Dev University sports complex here.

Ramesh, Dravid in record stand
From K.J.M. Varma

COLOMBO, Feb 24 — India made mince-meat of Sri Lankan attack to pile up 351 for the loss of three wickets including S. Ramesh and Rahul Dravid who both hit centuries after the islanders’ gamble of putting them in on winning the toss backfired on the opening day of second match in Asian Test Championship here today.

A record second-wicket partnership for 232 runs between Ramesh and Dravid and an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 63 runs between Sachin Tendulkar and Mohd Azharuddin enabled India to reach 351 as Sri Lankan bowlers including Chaminda Vaas toiled against their fierce onslaught.

Ramesh’s maiden test ton, a brilliant 143 (18x4, 214b) set the pace for India as he executed some fine shots in the company of Dravid (107, 12x4, 218b), who scored his fifth Test century.

The duo utilised the wayward Lankan bowling and a rather sloppy fielding to put on a record second-wicket partnership after the fall of VVS Laxman (11) at the score of 20.

After the exit of Ramesh, who was caught brilliantly by skipper Arjuna Ranatunga off Mahela Jayawardene, Dravid put on 36 runs with Tendulkar (53 batting, 10x4, 53b) before getting caught at gully by Ranatunga off Chandika Haturasinghe.

Tendulkar was at his devastating best from the start as his first 16 runs came off boundaries. With the exit of Dravid he picked up the tempo and added 63 runs for the fourth-wicket with Azharuddin (19 batting, 2x4, 42b) and helped India garner four bonus points.

It was a day of anti-climax for the shrewd Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga who misread the pitch completely and sent India in to bat.

Carried away by patches of green on the pitch, Ranatunga roped in three medium pace bowlers, two of them making their debut at the cost of a full-time spinner.

The Lankans were unable to utilise the new ball to perfection though they got opener Laxman early on. Laxman got out to a rising delivery outside the off stump, snicking to the third slip, Russel Arnold.

Arnold fumbled, but Aravinda de Silva, in the first slip made good the catch.

To add to the misery of Ranatunga, all the three seamers bowled too short and were wayward in line as the hosts agonisingly felt the absence of full time spinners like Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya, both out of the team due to injuries.

Ramesh and Dravid put the insipid Sri Lankan attack to sword before surpassing Indian record for the second wicket against Sri Lanka just after tea.

Earlier record of 173 runs stood in the name of Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar during 1982-83 series in Chennai.

With solid start provided by the second wicket pair, Indians went for the kill in the final session and Sachin Tendulkar made it more nightmarish for the Lankans as he clobbered the bowling towards the end.

After exhausting all three pacemen, Ranatunga pressed in four part time bowlers, who too failed to make much impression.

His attempt in the end to get a breakthrough with the new ball too failed as the debutants, Ruchira Parera and Eric Upasantha wasted their overs by resorting to short pitch deliveries.

Unlike the Sri Lankans, the Indian team management which yesterday toyed with the idea of pressing a third seamer if the Lankans retained the grass on the wicket, luckily decided against it and included debutant left-arm speedster Ashish Nehra to replace injured Srinath.

The Indians, after assessing the ground conditions retained the rest of the team that played Calcutta Test against Pakistan which included two specialist spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Both should come in handy as the wicket is expected to take turn from tomorrow.

The good show put up by Indians, putting aside the bad memories of Calcutta match, has definitely brightened their chances to go for an all out victory against Sri Lanka and earn a berth in the final to be played in Dhaka from March 12 to 16.

Scoreboard:

India (Ist innings):

Ramesh c Ranatunga b Jayawardena 143

Laxman c de Silva b Perera 11

Dravid c Ranatunga b Haturasinghe 107

Tendulkar batting 53

Azharuddin not out 19

Extras (LB-4, B-5, NB-9) 18

Total (for three wickets) 351

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-252, 3-288.

Bowling: Vaas 22-4-70-0, Perera 19-2-102-1, Upashantha 17-0-68-0, Hathurusinghe 13-2-38-1, Arnold 13-1-46-0, Jayawardene 6-1-18-1. — PTI

Ramesh has a lot of talent
By Geoffrey Boycott

SADAGOPAN Ramesh made a very fine maiden century on a flat pitch and against ordinary bowling. Congratulations are in order to the young man and let us hope he makes many more. It's not his fault that the Sri Lankan bowling was friendly and the fielding left a lot to be improved on. As a batsman it is his job to score runs and to make them well and he did just that! But more importantly for Indian cricket is will he last the pace? Can we expect to see him opening the batting for India for years to come? Too many batsmen have come and gone with nobody making the opening spot their own. India was spoilt in having a great opener Sunil Gavaskar. Everyone who comes after him will be judged by Sunil's standards. Sidhu has done better than most but Jadeja, Laxman, stop gap Mongia, Raman, Rathore, Manjrekar have all come and gone.

First let's take the plusses in Ramesh's batting. A tall man who takes the ball at the top of its bounce means he times it exquisitely. His placement is good and he has the knack of putting the bad ball away for runs. An excellent driver off the front foot he still is able to work the ball off his legs and his body. I loved the way he got up high on his toes to balls just short of a length from the medium pacers and whipped the ball through mid-wicket.

I was concerned when he tried to hook the bouncers. When he swayed out of the way, he looked good but too often his attempted hooks went in the air and out of control. When the bouncer gets head high it is near impossible to hit the ball down. The batsman usually finishes up hitting at it like a tennis shot and the ball gets out of control. Ramesh would be wise to work on letting more bouncers go harmlessly by. If he can't hit controlled hook shots against medium pacers then he will get into serious difficulties on faster pitches against faster bowlers. He must become a selective hooker not a compulsive hooker.

Ducking and swaying is not a sign of weakness. The bowler will soon get tired of banging the ball into the pitch if the batsman lets it go harmlessly by. If Ramesh keeps hooking the ball in the air and giving the bowlers a chance then the bowlers will give him plenty of short stuff.

There were times when he lost concentration and played at balls which he should have left alone. Occasionally he got careless and put his foot down off stump and played and missed at the ball nearly two feet wide. No batsman can afford to get out to sloppy shots. In Test match cricket there are a lot of good new ball bowlers around-a lot better than these Sri Lankan bowlers! He will get out to some "beauties" without doing anything wrong, so it is vital the batsman does not add to his dismissals with poor shots. Make the bowlers get you out.

Young Ramesh should also work on his technique when playing forward and back. In the sub-continent the bounce is usually very predictable and about stump high. There is a lack of bounce and/or movement. If he is to open the innings and tour countries like Australia and South Africa he will find the ball bouncing higher and coming on him quicker, which means he has to play with the bat very close to his pad or close to his body. If he tours England there won't be as much pace but a great deal more movement. At the moment he plays forward with a half stride and stands upright to hit the ball beautifully on the up. He needs to make a bigger step forward and bend his front knee more to allow his head to come over the ball and his weight more forward.

The young man has a lot of talent and I make these observations not as criticism but in the hope that he will learn and improve. The bowlers around the world will be studying him and he must stay one step ahead if he is to survive for long at this level. India needs a successful opening batsman.
— PMG

India rally to beat Pakistan
From Amardeep Bhattal
Tribune News Service

LAHORE, Feb 24 — Giving yet another inspiring performance, India came from behind to upset hosts Pakistan 3-2 in the nine-match hockey Test series which concluded at the National Hockey Stadium here today.

The winners were trailing 0-2 at half time.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's presence enthused the 15,000-strong crowd but it failed to lift Pakistan from mediocrity after a spirited show in the first half.

With today's victory, India have narrowed the series loss to 6-3. They had earlier won the Tests at Chennai and Peshawar.

As Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran admitted, India were off to a lethargic start. Skipper Anil Aldrin was rested due to a back problem, but centre-half Baljit Singh Saini was back in action after a short break due to injury sustained at Peshawar.

In Aldrin's absence, Iazarus Barla was brought in as left back to assist Dilip Tirkey in the defence. Pakistan were off to a good start as India conceded an early penalty corner. Off Saqlain's push penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas shot home to put Pakistan in the lead.

Six minutes later Pakistan were 2-0 up thanks to a brilliant goal by Mohammed Khalid. A cross by skipper Atif Bashir was the ball striking Baljit Saini's leg before coming to Khalid who hit it through the stretched legs of goalkeeper Jagdish Ponnappa making it 2-0.

India did carry out several forays in the first half but without any success. Forward Gagan Ajit Singh muffed a gilt-edged chance midway though the first half when Baljit Saini had initiated a fine move near the centre line. Saini's pass to Dhillon saw the latter putting Gagan Ajit in possession but Gagan Ajit only managed to hit wide in haste. Outside-right Kamal Horo also had a good opportunity when he managed to dodge his way into the 'D' but his reverse flick was also off target.

IHF to requisition Bovelander

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 (PTI) — The Indian Hockey Federation has decided to requisition the services of legendary Dutch penalty corner specialist Floris Bovelander once again to address India’s perennial penalty corner conversion problem.

The federation had earlier invited Bovelander but the visit which was to have taken place last year, could not materialise due to the preoccupation of the players.

But the reverses suffered in the ongoing Pepsi hockey series against Pakistan, seemed to have woken up the IHF officials, who have once again arranged for a stint with the famed former hockey star when the team travels to Germany for a test series in June, Indian coach V. Baskaran said.

However, Bhaskaran here with the team on its Pakistan leg of the series, said he was satisfied with the performance of the young Indian side despite the defeats.

"It has been a great learning process for the young Indian side", he said adding "the boys have shown remarkable improvement during the course of the series which was very much evident during the matches at the Pakistan leg and it should be an eye-opener for people back home".

Though Pakistan convincingly won the series, Bhaskaran claimed that in almost all the matches in the Pakistani leg the Indian team was in a winning position. Talking about the match at Rawalpindi he said: "It was in our pocket but we lost out in penalty shootout".

He said the Indian team, whose average age was below 23 years, had improved with every match despite the fact that Samir Dad had to be left out due to injury.

Baskaran said: "The performance of the boys was more than my expectations", but conceded that the two departments — penalty corner conversion and goalkeeping — needed improvement. "We were weak in these two departments, which was the main reason for the defeat in the series.

Baskaran was specially critical of the performance of goalkeepers saying that, "some of the goals conceded, were unnecessary from the goalkeeping point of view," and added that they have to work a lot on this.

Poor penalty corner conversion has also been one of the reason for the loss in the series as the forward-line worked well and forced as many 36 penalty corners in the first eight matches but could convert only four whereas Pakistan scored nine goals out of 22 penalty corners, the Indian coach said.

The Indian coach, however, was all praise for the performance of the forward line saying that specially during the matches of the Pakistani leg the forwards scored field goals which was quite encouraging.

Bhaskaran further said after some more training and international exposure the boys would be ready for the 2000 Olympics for which they are being groomed.

"During the current year the boys are going to play 25 to 30 international matches, which would be sufficient for building up their match temperament," he said.

Next year would be mainly concentrated in training and less of the matches, he added.

Bhaskaran justified the dropping of the six established stars including former skipper, Dhanraj Pillai immediately after the gold winning performance at the Bangkok Asian Games saying that, "had we retained them the training and international exposure of these boys would have been delayed by another six months".

"This team is being prepared for the 2000 Olympics and it is a fact that we could not have carried with those established stars till the Olympics", the Indian coach said.

Baskaran said he had submitted a project to the IHF for grooming the Indian team for the Olympics and the ongoing exercise was part of it, including a stint with Bouvelander.

Commenting on the result of the series against Pakistan he said: "It hardly matters" as the main purpose was to give exposure to the boys and there was no doubt that the Pakistani side was superior as they already had a prepared team."

Match-fixing proved: Quayyum

NEW DELHI, Feb 24 (UNI) — Pakistani judge Malik Mohammed Quayyum, who investigated match-fixing allegations against some leading cricketers of the country, has said that he had sufficient evidence to substantiate the charges and asserted that he would recommend a life ban on the guilty players in his final report.

The accused players include Pakistani captain Wasim Akram and leading batsmen Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed.

"I have prima facie evidence and based on that I am fully satisfied that match-fixing is going on," Justice Quayyum of Lahore High Court said in an interview to a television channel.

"It is interesting that former Pakistani captain Imran Khan and almost all managers, except one or two, have said that their players were involved in match-fixing. Some of their allegations have been corroborated by the bookmakers. Naturally, there cannot be smoke without fire," Justice Quayyum told Star News.

The judge said the final report would be out in a fortnight and denied reports that he was under pressure from the Pakistani cricket establishment to defer its tabling till after the World Cup.

Justice Quayyum said: "I am not under pressure here, but I did not want to demoralise the players who were playing in India. That’s why there was a small delay. But the report is in its final stages and I will be handing it over to the government next month."

The Pakistani Government had initiated the inquiry after the allegations first hit the headlines last year.

He refused to disclose how many players he would name in the final report, but added that some leading Test cricketers would have to be held accountable for their actions. "These are the players who have defiled their country and I am recommending the strongest action against them, including a life ban because this has been going on for several years now", he remarked.

"I am also recommending the setting up of a committee that will monitor every international match and every player. This committee should not just contain cricket officials, but people from other walks of life who are known for their integrity", he said.

On the specific accusations, the judge said that in many cases the "evidence is of a very direct nature". "For example, I have received direct evidence of Salim Malik’s involvement in match-fixing. The accusations against him have been corroborated by many others which is why I allowed his lawyers to go to Melbourne to meet Shane Warne and Mark Waugh," Justice Quayyum said.

Regarding Wasim Akram, the judge said there had been a lot of propaganda against the Pakistani skipper, the most serious of which was the accusation by fellow fast bowler Ata-ur-Rehman. "I have agreed to give Wasim more time to cross-examine the witnesses so that no one can claim that he was not given a complete chance," he explained.

Referring to the other cases, he said the evidence was more circumstantial in nature. "One cricketer had deposed before me that a player was paid money to bowl badly. If you know the player’s quality and if you see the video clippings that I was given, you know that there was something wrong. The bowler kept bowling outside the off-stump, full tosses and half-volleys. So on a probability factor, it’s almost certain that something was wrong somewhere", Justice Quayyum said.

Asked if there was any Indian connection, the judge said the scope of his inquiry was limited to Pakistani cricket. However, he added: "From the evidence before me, it would seem that the entire match-fixing business started in India when Asif Iqbal was playing a Test series there. It is also clear that Karachi, Dubai and Mumbai are the three main betting and match-fixing centres in international cricket", he added.

Why has Eden changed over the years ?

CALCUTTA, Feb 24 (PTI) — With the myth of Eden Gardens as ‘the Sporting Mecca’ having exploded due to unruly crowd behaviour, mob psychologists and cricket observers attribute the increasing violence in playfields to lack of "restraining forces and growing intolerance of spectators to accept defeat."

"Restrictions from social bodies like police and political parties have taken a beating, resulting in rising intrepid mob behaviour," says noted psychologist, Dr Jayanta Basu.

Pointing out that mob behaviour is markedly different in the eastern part of the country, Mr Basu says the current volatile trend is a reflection of unruly behaviour in every sphere of life.

"In West Bengal and Bihar, deteriorating social structure is largely responsible for outbursts of emotions at the slightest inkling of defeat. And when the defeat comes from one’s favourite teams, with whom majority of the crowd identifies, an Eden-like fiasco happens," he explains.

Veteran cricket observers feel that with emergence of one-dayers as the most popular sport, the difference between dedicated cricket and football crowds has nearly disappeared bringing in football hooliganism into cricket stadia.

Noted clinical psychologist of Pavlov hospital Dr Namita Basu Roy says crowd unrest like these are basically impulsive and draw from the ‘Theory of Imitation’.

"If one person in the crowd makes an adverse comment on a cricketer’s performance, others in the crowd tend to believe it. This tickles the emotional chords of already charged up spectators," says, Dr Basu Roy.

Besides, Eden Gardens was a special case in point, she feels. "With traditional rivals India and Pakistan facing each other, the home crowd expected more than a win. They wanted a spectacular performance, something bordering on a miracle."

Dr Basu observes that most of the trouble-makers belonged to lower educational strata and lacked foresight. "People who threw bottles obviously did not know that such frenzied behaviour could lead to a ban on Eden as a cricket centre."

Dr Basu Roy agrees. "Literacy level of the spectators decides their capacity of emotional restraint. The less you are in the know of things, the more barbaric you tend to be," she elaborates.

Dr Jayanta Basu also attributes the media hype on cricket in general and the Indo-Pak series in particular to crowd outbursts. "Fierce competition and huge money in the game have created unseen tensions, among the players as well as the spectators," he says.

Veteran sports scribe Shyam Sundar Ghosh says that hooligans, who do not understand the intricacies of the game, are flocking the cricket galleries following the game’s popularity.

"These people do not have the mental approach to appreciate the pressures of a five-day game and are easily provoked into illogical actions," he feels.

With the earlier Indo-Pak Test series ending in a 1-1 draw, cricket fans were seeing the Eden match as the ‘final’ and refused to accept an Indian defeat sportingly.

"The expectations were much too high. When things went otherwise, a section of the crowd gave vent to their anger," he says.

While psychologists try to analyse the behavioural pattern of the crowd, police ineptitude in handling unruly crowd behaviour has also drawn flak.

As a section of the crowd continued to hurl stones and plastic bottles onto the ground on Saturday, police took the unprecedented decision of clearing the galleries before the inaugural match of the Asian Test Championship could be completed.

Never before had an international cricket match been completed in front of empty stands, a sad commentary on Calcutta’s image as a ‘sporting Mecca’.

Although the police had beefed up security on the tense fifth day after batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s controversial run out triggered off unruly scenes a day earlier, it was all the more surprising that a small number of mischief-makers could not be controlled.

"The police failed completely, but then it is not so easy to tackle such situations when the crowd includes women and children. You cannot just afford to create a stampede-like situation," says a cricket expert.

"Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and police were very casual in their approach, while allowing plastic bottles into the stadium from the second day onwards. They should have stuck to their earlier decision throughout," Dr Basu says.

Unlike Chennai and Delhi, where the crowd quality was far more tolerant, the Calcutta crowd became more and more peeved by every Indian dismissal.

"Perhaps the quantity also mattered. As against Kotla’s 30,000 and Chidambaram’s about 50,000, Eden housed over 90,000 people making it more open and vulnerable to unwanted elements," Dr Basu sums up.

Haryana declare at 506 for 9

RANCHI, Feb 24 (PTI) — Making the most of a slipshod fielding by Bihar, Haryana struck a big first innings total of 506 for nine declared at Ranji Trophy super league match at Thebirsa Stadium here today.

The visitors declared their innings at 506 for nine wickets after which Bihar were 60 for one in reply at the draw of stumps.

Parinder Sharma, who played a vital role in steadying the Haryana innings after the team made a shaky start losing two early wickets in quick succession piled up 154 runs after resuming at his overnight score of 123 this morning.

His 154-run essay was sprinkled with fourteen beautiful hits to the fences. Resuming at an overnight score of one Sanjay Dalal scored a quick 70 before he was dismissed by Vikas Kumar.

Pankaj Thakur remained not out at 73 while Vineet Jain was still at the crease with 23 when Haryana declared their innings.

Bihar started miserably in reply losing Nikhilesh Ranjan to a Vineet Jain delivery when the team was yet to open its account. Zeeshan Ali and Tariq-ur-Rehman, however, brought about some stability in the Bihar innings remaining not out with 17 and 33, respectively, at the close.

Churchill subdue Bagan

MARGAO, Feb 24 (PTI) — A superb performance by goalkeeper Edward Ansah and a brace from Somatai Shaiza helped Churchill Brothers overpower defending champions Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the National Football Super League at Nehru Stadium here today.

Shaiza scored the first goal in the 17th minute and then followed it up in the injury time to win the match and ensure three points in the six-team league.

At the end of the second round, Salgaocar, Churhcill and East Bengal have four points each. But Salgaocar have a better goal difference of plus three to Churchill’s plus two and East Bengal’s plus one.

Bagan, who suffered their first defeat after splitting points with JCT Phagwara, have just one point. FC Kochin lost both their matches and are at the bottom of the table.

It was not Bagan’s day today as their star forwards IM Vijayan, Cheema Okerie and Bassim Yonam time and again fumbled before Ansah who dived to his right, left and lept high to save his team at least half-a-dozen times.

Churchill drew the first blood after the Bagan keeper, while charging out to grab the ball, lost his balance and collided with defender Reazul Mustaffa.

The ball deflected off Ferrao’s body and came to Shaiza to nudge into the goal.

Salgaocar win

MARGAO (PTI): Salgaocar pumped in three second half goals to trounce F.C. Kochin 3-0 in a first leg National Football Super League match at Nehru Stadium here today.

The first goal was scored by the Goan team’s captain Bruno Cutinho in the 58th minute. The veteran medio’s stiff grounder slipped out of the hands of Kochin’s goalkeeper Naseem Akhtar and went in.

Two minutes later, Jules Alberto increased the margin after getting a loose ball on the top of the box, while substitute Sabir Ali Mondal made the issue safe three minutes before the end of play by chipping the ball in over Akhtar.

F.C. Kochin were reduced to ten men in the 69th minute when referee Krishna Avtar showed second yellow card to medio K. Noushad for a foul on defender D.C. Nathaniel. Earlier, he received a yellow card for a foul on Coven Lawrence.

With this win, Salgaocar have four points from two matches, while the Kerala side have lost both their matches, the first one against East Bengal.

Indians fare badly in chess

DHAKA, Feb 24 (PTI) — India had yet another bad day when both of its participants, International Masters (IM) Abhijit Kunte and Neelotpal Das suffered defeats in the fifth round of the 4th United Insurance Grandmasters Chess Tournament here today.

Kunte was outplayed by Polish GM A. Wojtkiewicz and his compatriot Neelotpal lost to Bangladeshi GM Niaz Murshed.

In the fifth round match, Kunte with white pieces, played King Pawn opening for which Wojtkiewicz replied with Pirc defence. The Indian played an inaccurate 7th move, which let Wojtkiewicz exploit the weakness and win two pawns, forcing Kunte to resign after 45 moves.

Neelotpal also employed Pirc defence against Niaz Murshed of Bangladesh. Murshed playing with black offered a draw to Neelotpal after the 15th move.

Neelotpal rejected the offer and decided to continue the game. Murshed attacked the white king and won in 35 moves.

On other board, a mistake cost Bangladeshi IM Abdullah Al Rakib a match against English GM Nigel Short.

Playing with white pieces, Rakib who made a queen-pawn opening against his illustrious counterpart, committed an error in the 61st move when the match was heading for a draw and subsequently lost the game after another eight moves.

With the defeat, Rakib (3), who had been leading the table along with Short, and Belarus GM Yuri Shulman, fell behind in the race. Short, with his third win, remained atop the table with Yuri Shulman, both have four points each.

Yuri defeated Hungarian GM Peter Szkeley. Playing with white pieces, Yuri took 56 moves to checkmate Szkeley for his fourth point.

Standings: 4 points (Short and Shulman), 3.5 points (Ehlvest and Wojtkiewicz), 3 points (Rakib), 2.5 points (Ziaur Rahman), Niaz Murshed), 2 points (Abhujit Kunte), 1 point (Sergeivelni), Rajib, Reefat-Bin-Sattar, Szkeley), 0.5 point (Neelotpal).

Waugh, Warne "should have been suspended"

MELBOURNE, Feb 24 (AFP) — Australian Test stars Shane Warne and Mark Waugh should have been suspended and their fine made public over their involvement with an Indian bookmaker, an Australian Cricket Board (ACB) inquiry found today.

The two-month probe cleared Australian cricket of any involvement in bribery or betting, but castigated the ACB for the way it handled the Waugh and Warne case.

The pair were fined $ 10,000 and $ 8,000, respectively, last year after admitting they received money from a bookmaker for match and weather reports several years ago.

Rob O’Regan, who conducted the conduct inquiry, said any player found guilty of breach of conduct should have their fine made public.

He said he was puzzled at how the ACB did not link Waugh and Warne’s involvement with an Indian bookmaker to the Salim Malik bribery scandal.

Warne and Waugh had accused former Pakistan captain Malik of offering them bribes during the Australian team’s tour of that country in 1994.

O’Regan said that during his investigation he discovered the Indian bookmaker who gave the pair money was the same person involved in the Malik controversy.

"I don’t know how the ACB concluded they were separate."

President’s XI score 9-wicket win

MUMBAI, Feb 24 (UNI) — The Board President's XI registered a comprehensive nine-wicket victory nine minutes before tea on the final day of their three-day match against the visiting Sri Lankan under-19 team at the Brabourne Stadium here today.

The Lankans, who began the day at 162 for three after following-on 222 runs behind, lost Gajanayake after adding just ten runs to their overnight total to be four down for 172. After that, Senevitarne and Silva started accumulating runs sensibly, putting on 38 for the fifth wicket before Senevitarne was caught by substitute Yuvraj Singh off the bowling of leg spinner C.K. Shyam for 27 which included five hits to the fence.

Silva then had another fruitful partnership with Perera putting on 31 runs. This partnership saw the Lankans past the target of 222. Perera perished as he gave a tame catch to Dheeraj Jadhav at first slip off the bowling of Lahiri for eight.

By this time, the Indian colts looked certain to wrap up the match in double quick time with only C. Silva, who was batting with supreme confidence, standing between them and an early victory. However, he lost patience and spooned a catch to mid-off off the bowling of Lahiri. He was caught by Swapnil Hazare for a very well made 73 which contained nine hits to the boundary.

Scoreboard

Sri Lankan under 19 XI (1st innings): 56

Board President's under 19 XI (1st innings): 280 for 7 decl.

Sri Lankan under 19 XI (2nd innings):

Upeka Fernando c and b Shyam 49

Jerom Fernando lbw Laheri 17

Milintha Gajanayake c Bangari b Hazare 38

Thilina Kandambi c Pushkaraj Jadhav b Hazare 19

Chamara Silva c Hazare b Lahiri 73

Pubudu Snenevirathne c (sub) Yuvraj Singh b Shyam 27

Duminda Perera c Deeraj Jadhav b Lahiri 8

Nalin Wijesinghe lbw Hazare 8

Jehan Mubarak c Deeraj Jadhav b Tripathi 9

Ranil Dhammika c Bangari b Tripathi 11

Satpath Kalum not out 0

Extras (B-7, LB-3, W-1) 11

Total (all out in 358 mins, 89.5 overs) 270

Fall of wickets: 1-67, 2-69, 3-109, 4-172, 5-210, 6-246, 7-246, 8-258, 9-270.

Bowling: Tripathi 13-1-56-2, Hazare 21.5-8-45-3, Murtuza 4-2-15-0, Lahiri 23-8-49-3, Shyam 28-2-95-2.

Punjab retain hockey title

IMPHAL, Feb 24 (PTI) — Giving a fine display of the forthright game they are famous for, Punjab beat Maharashtra 2-0 to retain the men’s hockey title in the fifth National Games here today.

Earlier, Karnataka thrashed Tamil Nadu 6-1 to clinch the bronze.

It was a rematch of the last game in Bangalore in 1997 where Punjab had defeated Maharashtra 1-0. Today, however, they went one better this time to increase the margin to two with Kuljinder Singh and Sarabjit Bahia striking once each after a barren first half.

With all the top players in the country busy with national duty or preoccupied with personal assignments, there was no question of a high level of competitiveness on display. Between the two sides, Maharashtra appeared to be worse off with stalwarts Dhanraj Pillay and Sabu Varkay absent.

The Maharashtra forward line, spearheaded by an off-form Gavin Fereira, had only two worthwhile efforts to show to their credit.

The first Maharashtra essay was midway through the first session when Ravi Nayakar raced brilliantly down the left flank and gave a back pass to claes Perera who failed to connect.

Soon, Gavin Perera put the ball across to Manoj Lokhanda who, with custodian Ashok sprawled helplessly, failed to lob it over him.

What was worse, in the entire 7o minutes of the match, Maharashtra could not get even one penalty corner awarded to them against the eight of Punjab.

Punjab, who had been content making a stray foray now and then, suddenly stepped up the pace of their game and applied relentless pressure on the opponent’s defence.

Linus Ekka executed a fine duet with Habil Topno before messing up and with their fifth penalty corner, Punjab struck pay dirt as a melee ensued Sarabjit Singh’s shot and, in that confusion Kuljinder Singh found his mark.

Sarabjit then launched out on his own in the 47th minute and sent the ball crashing in past a helpless Edgar Mascrenhas.

Towards the end, when a Jagdev Singh penalty corner sizzling grounder struck the leg of M.P. Prakash on the goal line, umpire Palangappa awarded another penalty corner instead of a stroke.

Big victory for RMC, Rourkela
From Our Sports Reporter

AMRITSAR, Feb 24 — P.C. Chennai and S.A. College, Mumbai, played a 1-1 draw on the sixth day of the seventh Jawaharlal Nehru-SAIL Champions Colleges Hockey Tournament being played at the Guru Nanak Dev University sports complex here.

Both the teams were on the offensive from the very beginning and attacked each other's citadal time and again but could not succeed. The teams wasted a number of penalty corners and long corners. It was Chennai team which was able to take lead just before the half-time whistle through C.S. Paglenthy who scored a fine field goal.

After the lemon break, S.A. Mumbai attacked repeatedly but their efforts could not bear fruit. Centre forward Iyas Butt connected a through pass from right-defender to equalise the score 1-1.

In the second match of the day last year's champions RMC, Rourkela, thrashed Lakshmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior, by 8-1 goals. Jitender Larka and Anil Parful scored two goals each for the winners while Suraj Ramtek reduced the margin for the loser's.

In another match, GGDSD College, Chandigarh, beat Birsa College, Ranchi, by 4-0. Navdeep Singh and Jasmit Singh scored two goals each.

Basketball trials

JALANDHAR, Feb 24 (FOSR) — Trials to select the Jalandhar district basketball team, both men and women, will be held at the Hans Raj stadium on February 27. According to Mr Parjinder Singh Nijjar, Secretary-General, Jalandhar District Basketball Association, here today.

He selected team will participate in the Senior Punjab State Basketball Championships to be held at Hoshiarpur from March 1 to 3.

Gurpreet emerges fastest runner

LUDHIANA, Feb 24 (FOSR) — Gurpreet Kaur, a student of college of Home Science, emerged the fastest runner in the 33rd annual athletic meet of the Punjab Agricultural University here today.

Gunjeet Kaur, another student of the College of Home Science (COHS) Gunjeet Kaur, followed Gurpreet in 100 metre race. Seema, also of COHS, finished third.

Today's results:

800m (women): 1 Sumedha (COHS), 2 Manreet (COA), 3 Charanjit Kaur (COHS).

100m (women): 1 Gurpreet Kaur (COHS), 2 Gunjeet Kaur (COHS), 3 Seema (COHS).

1500m (men): 1 Jeetinder Kumar (COA), 2 Sukhpal Singh (COA), 3 Gurparsad Duggal (COVSC).

21-km half marathon (men): 1 Balraj Singh (CAE), 2 Abhinandan (COA), 3 Ankur Sharma (CAE).

20-km walk (men): 1 Abhinandan (COA), 2 Manpreet Singh (COA), 3 Zaffar Iqbal (COVSC).

AGM postponed

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 ((BOSR) — The annual general meeting of UT Cricket Association which was earlier scheduled to be held on February, 28, will now be held on March 7 at the same venue at 6.30 p.m.

Civil Services badminton

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 (BOSR) — The All India Civil Services Badminton Championship will begin at War Heroes Stadium, Ambala Cantt, tomorrow. The championship, which is being organised by the Haryana Sports Department will be inaugurated by Mr Ram S. Verma, Chief Secretary, Haryana.

Twentysix teams (men and women) from different Regional Sports Boards and Civil Secretaries have so far reported at the venue, which is the Gymnasium Hall of the stadium.

'Best fighter' award for Krishan

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24 (BOSR)— In the 4th Panchkula District ITF Taekwondo Championship held at Pinjore, Master Krishan, a student of class I of Alpine Primary School, won the 'best fighter' and 'best demo' awards in his weight category. Alpine Primary School was declared the overall best school and awarded the champions trophy.

As a gesture Alpine School Management has decided to give free education to Master Krishan till he studies in this school.