England's Graeme Hick looks up after hitting the ball high in the air, to be caught by wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, for three off Damien Fleming (right) as England choose to bat first against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday — AP/PTI

Aussies rout England by 9 wickets
MELBOURNE, Jan 15 — England suffered their first loss of the triangular series when they crashed to a nine-wicket defeat against Australia today.

Kambli, Sehwag, Shukla among probables

CALCUTTA, Jan 15 (PTI) — Young all-rounders Laxmi Ratan Shukla of Bengal and Delhi’s Virender Sehwag were among the new faces while dashing left-hander Vinod Kambli has also been included in the 30-member list of probables for the May 14 to June 20 cricket World Cup in England.

All the 15 players currently in the national team doing duty in New Zealand have expectedly been retained in the list of probables announced by the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Wadekar here today.

The in-form Devang Gandhi, Jacob Martin, Sadagopan Ramesh, Gyanendra Pandey, Amay Khurasia, Gagan Khoda and M.S.K. Prasad, who have been on the selection fringe for some time now, were also selected.

The following is the list of probables: Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, Devang Gandhi, S. Ramesh, Gagan Khoda, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Amay Khurasia, Vinod Kambli, Jacob Martin, Nayan Mongia, Saba Karim, M.S.K. Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Debashish Mohanty, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Dodda Ganesh, Robin Singh (Sr), Nikhil Chopra, Gyanendra Pandey, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh.

Wadekar said the list of probables will be pruned to 20 by February 28 and the 15-member squad will be announced before the March 31 deadline set by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

He said the players were selected on the basis of current form. "We tried to accommodate as many all rounders as possible keeping in mind the requirements of one-day matches".

He said names of Jatin Paranjpe, Abhihit Kale, J.P. Yadav, Rohan Gavaskar, Nikhil Haldipur and Rajesh Sutar were also discussed by the selectors but they could not find a place in the list.

The names of leg spinner Sairaj Bahutule, Robin Singh (Jr), Ashish Winston Zaidi, Mohammed Kaif and Nilesh Kulkarni also came up for discussion.

Asked whether Mumbai batsman Vinod Kambli, who has been out of action for a long time due to the ankle injury, was fully fit now, Wadekar said: "He has started playing again and appears to be fit".

He said the Indian World Cup team would reach England at least 10 days in advance and play as many as seven matches to get acclimatised to the conditions. The team will leave for England on April 24.

Asked whether the selectors had also consulted the Indian captain Azharuddin before finalising the list of probables, Wadekar said "board secretary Lele had a talk with Azharuddin. The team management had certain suggestions."

The five selectors — Wadekar, Madan Lal, Shivlal Yadav, Ashok Malhotra and Anil Deshpande — took almost one and half hours to finalise the list. The Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jaywant Lele was also present at the meeting.

Lele, however, was not present at the press conference as he had to rush to New Delhi to meet home ministry officials in connection with Pakistan cricket team’s tour of India, leaving Wadekar to announce the probables.

Samaranch not to quit over bribery scandal

LAUSANNE, Jan 15 (AP) — Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch says he will not resign over the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, declaring he will remain as IOC President "until the last minute" of his term.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr Samaranch dismissed calls by several Olympic-related officials that he should step down to accept responsibility for misconduct committed by IOC members during his leadership.

"Some people are saying this. But I have been elected by the IOC members, and if I have the confidence of the members of the IOC, I will remain as President of the IOC until the last minute of my mandate," he said.

Mr Samaranch, who has been President since 1980, is scheduled to complete his final term in 2001 when he will be 81.

He said 13 IOC members had been identified in the internal inquiry into allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.

Mr Samaranch said nine members were accused of "serious" offences punishable by possible expulsion, while four others were cited for lesser violations. He declined to name the members or the offences.

Mr Samaranch said the IOC was considering a code of ethics for its members.

In recent days, calls for Mr Samaranch’s resignation have come from officials outside the Olympic inner circle — Ken Bullock, a member of the Salt Lake Organising Committee, Robert Helmick, a former U.S. member of the IOC who resigned in an ethics scandal in 1991, and Rene Paquet, who headed the losing 2002 bid from Quebec.

But Mr Samaranch’s position appears rock solid within the IOC. Executive Board officials and rank-and-file members have all rejected calls for his resignation and expressed confidence he can lead a clean-up of the organisation.

"I have received many, many letters from members of the IOC supporting the IOC, supporting me," Mr Samaranch said.

Asked whether he should accept some of the blame for the crisis, Mr Samaranch said, "I think the blame is not only for the President. The blame is also for the International Olympic Committee."

Mr Samaranch set up a high-level IOC panel last month to investigate allegations that IOC members or their relatives received cash payments, scholarships, jobs, free medical care, lavish gifts and other inducements from Salt Lake boosters.

Mr Samaranch said the IOC sent letters this week demanding explanations from the 13 members cited in the Salt Lake investigation.

He said four members had replied by yesterday. The deadline is next Tuesday.

At least seven IOC members have been linked with the Salt Lake City investigation by Olympic officials, investigators, press reports or the members themselves — Jean-Claude Ganga (Republic of Congo), David Sibandze (Swaziland), Bashir Attarabulsi (Libya), Agustin Arroyo (Ecuador), Sergio Santander (Chile), Anton Geesink (Netherlands) and Pirjo Haeggman (Finland).

Samaranch said some of the members may ask to appear before the six-man investigative panel when it meets in Lausanne on January 23. The panel will report to the Executive Board the following day.

If investigators recommend that members be expelled, the board will suspend them immediately, Mr Samaranch said.

Actual expulsion must wait until the next meeting of the full IOC Assembly, scheduled next June in Seoul, South Korea.

Under the Olympic charter, expulsion requires a two-thirds majority vote of the IOC session. However, any members facing expulsion would be free to resign before then, Mr Samaranch said.

The IOC leader said it was still uncertain what action would be taken against members cited for lesser violations. He said official warnings were possible.

Mr Samaranch did not completely close the door on the possibility that the 2002 games could be moved from Salt Lake City.

"I can speak only on behalf of the International Olympic Committee,’’ he said. "The hope, the desire of the IOC, is that the games will go on as planned in Salt Lake City.’’

Marc Hodler, the Swiss IOC Executive who alleged widespread Olympic corruption last month, has suggested the games could be moved or some events held at other venues if Salt Lake fails to meet its $ 1.45 billion budget.

But Mr Samaranch said the IOC had no contingency plans in the event Salt Lake organisers face a shortage of sponsorship funds and public support.

"I think the sponsors and public opinion are waiting for the reaction of the IOC, how we can clean our house," he said. "The reaction will be on the 24th."

Mr Samaranch said the IOC has three priorities: close the Salt Lake City scandal, adopt special measures for the bidding on the 2006 Winter Olympics, and change the voting procedure for all future site selections.

"The system we have today is not working," he said. "We have to change the system."

He said the Executive board would consider recommendations to ban visits by IOC members to the six 2006 Winter Games candidates and leave the selection of future host cities to the board or other small "electoral college."

He said he may call a special session in the next few months to get changes adopted by the assembly before the 2006 site is selected at the June meeting in Seoul.

Meanwhile, the IOC will examine claims by a senior member of Sydney’s successful bid for the 2000 Games that he was approached to offer bribes, an IOC member has said, AP reports from Canberra.

Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said he had spoken to Bruce Baird, a former New South Wales State Olympics Minister and now member of federal Parliament, about the claims.

"He’s advised me of two conversations he had at the time of the Sydney bid, which may have been interpreted to be seeking some sort of opportunity,’’ Gosper told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio.

I’ve asked him to set that down on paper and I’ll use that as part of the process we’re going to have when I get back to Lausanne next week.’’

International Olympic Committee member Jacques Rogge said earlier he would welcome any evidence of bribery allegations surrounding the winning bid by Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Baird says he is prepared to name people who sought bribes from him while claiming to represent IOC members, but that he had been surprised the IOC has not jumped on the offer.

Baird said he has given a statement to Gosper claiming that one IOC member and an intermediary made approaches seeking cash in exchange for votes for Sydney’s bid, the ABC reported.

Rogge, a member of the IOC Executive Board and the Chairman of the Coordination Commission overseeing Sydney’s preparations for the 2000 Games, said he would welcome any information Baird had to offer.

"If Mr Baird wants to give us information we would be very glad to receive it,’’ Rogge told ABC radio.

"This is the first thing I hear about that. But we are open of course to everything.’’

"This is about bringing charges against people, it’s a serious matter and if Mr Baird has documents, we would be extremely glad to receive them and discuss them with him. To take disciplinary actions you need evidence, you need material evidence."

Baird said later that he had provided several pages of information to Gosper.

"It’s not war and peace, I am providing the name of the person who approached me on behalf of, or claiming to speak on behalf of several IOC members looking for commercial inducement," Baird said.

"I am also providing the name of the IOC member who contacted me the night before the vote in Monte Carlo to say he wanted to see me and then talked about such issues as can you please outline to me the reasons why I should vote for Sydney and what incentives can you suggest there should be in voting for Sydney."

Weather holds key to one-dayer

AUCKLAND, Jan 15 (PTI) — The fourth one-day tie between India and New Zealand looks a doubtful starter with sharp showers in the afternoon greeting the Indian team on arrival here with more rain forecast for tomorrow.

The Indians, who took an early afternoon flight out of Wellington after rain washed out replay of the third tie there today, were greeted to a brief but sharp spell of rain on landing in this northern New Zealand city.

The third tie had to be abandoned yesterday due to rain with New Zealand, chasing India’s score of 208 for four in 32 overs after play was curtailed, 89 for two in 12.1 overs. The match had already started late and was disrupted again during the early part of the Indian innings.

Any hopes of a replay vanished today due to steady downpour which was continuing as the team flight took off from Wellington.

The sky over Auckland was thickly overcast with forecast of more rain which could disrupt what will effectively be only the third tie in this five-match series.

The team reached Auckland by 2.30 p.m. local time and worked out strategy on how to overcome New Zealand in the fourth tie.

The Indian team also escaped from a major controversy over sporting the logo of a tobacco company after the New Zealand Health Ministry decided to drop the issue.

Tomorrow’s day tie is slated to start at 2.45 a.m. (IST).

The Indian top order which came good as one yesterday will be hoping to put up a similar show to help India take the lead ahead of the final tie at Christchurch on January 18.

Both teams, however, gained a much needed rest with the Indians in particular able to re-charge their batteries as they have been looking quite haggard playing cricket non-stop for some time now.

The biggest success story for India is the emergence of Rahul Dravid as a strong one-day batsman and he had so far piled on 522 in the last five innings, including 229 runs in the three one-day knocks he has played so far.

With Aussie consultant Bob Simpson travelling with them, India would be concentrating on improving fielding and bowling further in preparation for the World Cup.

The ministry had sought an explanation from New Zealand Cricket (NZC) over the Indian team members sporting the logo which contravened laws in this country that prohibits any advertisement for tobacco companies.

The NZC, through a brief by the Indian cricket board, had explained that the logo belonged to a subsidiary unit of the tobacco company which manufactures sport equipment.

The ministry has conveyed to the NZC that it would not seek any action as the particular tobacco product was not sold in New Zealand.

Aussies rout England by 9 wickets

MELBOURNE, Jan 15 (Reuters) — England suffered their first loss of the triangular series when they crashed to a nine-wicket defeat against Australia today.

The Australians, who rebounded from last Sunday’s shock defeat by England with a confidence-boosting victory over Sri Lanka on Wednesday, coasted to a comfortable win in front of 80,000 unruly fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

They dismissed England for just 178 then passed that total for the loss of just one wicket and with more than 10 overs in hand. The final stages of the match were delayed when sections of the crowd showered the field with debris, including beer bottles, golf balls and pieces of fruit.

The umpires were forced to halt play for almost 10 minutes while Australian captain Shane Warne and his English counterpart Alec Stewart walked to the boundary rope and appealed for calm.

The incident occurred late in the match when Australia were firmly in control after Mark Waugh had produced another elegant innings.

Waugh hardly raised a sweat as he effortlessly piled on 83 runs from 109 balls after he was dropped by Graeme Hick at second slip from the first ball of Australia’s innings.

He was well supported by Ricky Ponting who made 75 as Australia joined England at the top of the standings.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat on a wicket which did give some early assistance to the bowling side, England’s batsmen self destructed.

Nasser Hussain, playing his first match of the series after missing England’s previous games, top scored with 47 but only two of England’s other players made it past 20.

England’s intentions were clear from the start as they went after the bowling. But their all-out approach came at a hefty price.

They lost their Stewart in the fifth over, then Mark Ealham, who smashed 19 off just 21 balls, in the ninth with the total on 44.

Opener Nick Knight made 21 from 27 deliveries as England lifted their score to 77 in the 14th over but Australia hit back with a string of quick wickets through a combination of reckless English batting and an outstanding performance by the Australians in the field.

Hick (3), Neil Fairbrother (15), Adam Hollioake (13), Robert Croft (2) and Hussain all departed in quick succession as England collapsed from 85-3 to 145-8.

Darren Gough (15) and Dean Headley (10 not out) provided some late resistence but were unable to push England towards a bigger total as Australia wrapped up the tail under the inspired leadership of stand-in skipper Warne.

Australian paceman Glenn McGrath was the main destroyer, taking four for 54 from 10 overs, joining a select group of Australians to take 100 or more wickets in one-day internationals.

Michael Bevan claimed the last two wickets to finish with the impressive figures of two for nine off three overs, while Warne, Adam Dale and Damien Fleming took one wicket each.

Needing to score just 3.58 runs an over, the Australians wasted little time. Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, who made 131 in Australia’s midweek win over Sri Lanka, put on 44 for the first wicket before Gilchrist was deceived and bowled by a slower ball from Alan Mullally on 21.

But Waugh and Ponting then steered Australia to a comprehensive win with an unbeaten partnership of 138.

Scoreboard
ENGLAND:
N. Knight c Waugh b Warne 27

Stewart c Gilchrist b

McGrath 8

Ealham b McGrath 21

Hussain c Warne b McGrath 47

Hick c Gilchrist b Fleming 3

Fairbrother c Bevan b Dale 15

Hollioake c Gilchrist b

McGrath 13

Croft run out 2

Gough c M Waugh b Bevan 15

Headley not out 10

Mullally c Ponting b Bevan 2

Extras: (lb-3, w-8, nb-4) 15

Total: (43.2 overs) 178

Fall of wickets: 1-15 2-44 3-77 4-85 5-112 6-139 7-143 8-145 9-173.

Bowling: McGrath 10-0-54-4, Dale 8-2-27-1, Julian 5-0-28-0, Warne 10-0-44-1, Fleming 7-1-13-1, Bevan 3.2-0-9-2.

AUSTRALIA:

M Waugh not out 83

Gilchrist b Mullally 21

Ponting not out 75

Extras: (lb-2, w-1) 3

Total: (for one wicket, 39.2 overs) 182

Bowling: Gough 10-0-48-0, Mullally 10-2-42-1, Headley 3-0-21-0, Ealham 6.2-0-25-0, A. Hollioake 4-0-14-0, Croft 6-0-30-0.

Philippoussis eases past Chang

MELBOURNE, Jan 15 (Reuters) — Australian Mark Philippoussis deployed sizzling forehands and courtside antics to beat American Michael Chang today, putting him into the finals of a tune-up event for next week’s Australian Open.

Philippoussis, defending champion of the Colonial Classic exhibition at Kooyong, fought back from a tie break loss to win 6-7, (2-7), 7-5 6-3, setting up a final against 18th ranked Thomas Enqvist of Sweden.

The match slipped from Chang after Philippoussis engineered a courtside distraction, stealing a sweet from a spectator as the American was poised to level the second set at 6-6.

Serving at 40-30 but ever gracious, Chang gave his opponent time to gulp the candy down with a glass of water, then promptly lost the next three points to hand Philippoussis the first break of the match.

"It was a bit of tactic there to break him and it worked," Philippoussis said, adding that he came up with some good shot after Chang missed an easy forehand.

Philippoussis broke Chang’s next service game, adding to the three-time Colonial Classic winner’s frustrations.

Though Chang broke back, Philippoussis broke him again and closed the battle in the next game with one of his renowned aces.

The two are likely to face each other in the second round of the Australian Open, though Philippoussis claimed not to know it, saying his first priorities were to hold his Colonial title tomorrow and survive his first match at Melbourne Park next week.

In other action, Croatian Goran Ivanisevic dropped out of the eight man exhibition, nursing a pinched nerve in his back ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

He was replaced by 86th ranked Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden who defeated jet-lagged Briton Tim Henman, the world’s number seven, 7-5 6-1, and was scheduled to play an invitation match against Philippoussis compatriot Patrick Rafter tomorrow.

Match-starved Rafter, Australia’s pet, was available to entertain the crowd at Kooyong after losing in the first round of the Sydney International earlier this week.

Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov rebounded to crush Czech Petr Korda 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Hadad-Erlich duo wins doubles crown
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — Amir Hadad of Israel could not have asked for more. The 385th ranked and top seed Hadad lifted the men's doubles title partnering his countrymate Jonathan Erlich and in singles subdued the hard-hitting Canadian Simon Larose thus making it into the final of the $ 10000 Gold Flake Aces ITF Men's Futures Tennis Tournament on the penultimate day at the CLTA courts, Sector 10 here today.

J. Erlich of Israel, too, ended the winning spree of close to six feet ten inches tall Croatian Ivo Karlovic for a title clash with Hadad in the tomorrow's final.

In the men's doubles final at the centre court between Syed Fazalludin pairing Cedric Kauffman of France against the Israeli combination of A. Hadad and J.Erlich. The first set started with a bang. Syed-Cedric pair got 1-0 advantage as both continued to flourish with volleys and baseline cross court shots. Israeli players, however, managed to level at 4-4. Fazalludin served his way to a 5-4 lead. Next game saw Hadad deviating from his usual net placings and with big lobs who levelled the score at 5-5. This see-saw battle for supremacy was ended by Kauffman who smashed a down the line slice, thus a lead of 6-5 in favour of Syed and his partner. Here the new balls were taken and at 30-30, a judgement angered Israeli and eventually lost temper which cost them the set (5-7).

The second set again proved to be a thrilling one and with 2-4 down, Syed/Cedric regained their touch to book the score to 5-4. But the day belonged to the Israeli pair as a fine centre line serve helped them in neutralising 5-5. The next two games were easily and quickly taken by the Israeli thanks to the cross court net placings of Jonathan. They won this set at 7-5 and it was 1-1 all.

In the decider, Israeli gained an early lead of 4-1. The score surged ahead to 4-5 in favour of Indo/French paid and a double fault at this moment proved fatal and the Cedric/Syed faltered at 4-6 and lost the match which lasted for more than two hours. The winners pocketed $ 630 while the runners up $ 330.

Earlier the singles semifinals were both extended to three sets in the chilly and foggy morning.

The centre court semifinal was played between top seed Amir Hadad of Israel and spirited Simon Larose ranked 733rd who yesterday defeated A. Brunoled of Switzerland, ranked 690th, in the quarterfinal.

Larose fared badly in the earlier part of the set and after trailing at 0-5, made a heroic comeback to level the same at 5-5. This invited a thunderous applause from the spectators mainly the school children enjoying every bit of the world class tennis in their city. Hadad went ahead to equalise at 6-6. In the tie-breaker Larose finally emerged winner at 7-6(2), lasting 56 minutes. The second set saw Simon completely surrendering to much superior Hadad who confidently bagged the second set at 6-1 in just 19 minutes. The third and final set had a close lead 3-2, the nearest close at any point of time in this set, which later went on increasing in favour of Hadad who finally forced Larose to commit errors who went down fighting at 2-6 and the match which took 95 minutes in all.

Men's Singles:

(Semi-final): Amir Hadad (Israel) b Simon Larose (Canada), 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2; Jonathan Erlich (Israel b Ivo Karlovic (Croatia), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Doubles-Final: Amir Hadad & Jonatnan Erlich (Israel) b Syed Fazalludin (India) & Cedric Kauffman (France), 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Laxman to lead India ‘A’

CALCUTTA, Jan 15 (PTI) — Stylish Hyderabad batsman V.V.S. Laxman has been named captain of the India ‘A’ team to play against the visiting Pakistan team at Gwalior from January 23 to 25.

Young all rounders Laxmi Ratan Shukla of Bengal and Virender Sehwag of Delhi have been included in the 14-member team announced by selection committee chairman Ajit Wadekar here today.

Saurashtra all rounder Sitangshu Kotak and left arm medium pacer from Andhra H. Ramkrishna have also found place in the squad after having performed consistently in domestic tournaments.

Apart from captain Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Sanghvi Saba Karim, Amay Khurasia and Dodda Ganesh were the other players who have played at the international level.

Wadekar said some youngsters like Shukla and Sehwag, who have been performing well, were given the opportunity to play against the visiting Pakistan team.

The team: V.V.S. Laxman (capt), Devang Gandhi, Sadagopan Ramesh, Jacob Martin, Mohammed Kaif, Virender Sehwag, Dodda Ganesh, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh, Sitangshu Kotak, H. Ramkrishna, Saba Karim, Amay Khurasia.

Prasad takes third place

LINARES (Spain), Jan 15 (PTI) — Former national champion D.V. Prasad scored a creditable win against Dutch IM Van Der Weide to take joint third place even as most of the Indian players suffered setbacks in the crucial seventh round of the Linares Open Chess Tournament at hotel Anibal here.

In a kings Indian attack, IM Prasad (5) sacrificed a pawn to gain the initiative and later won two more pawns. The Dutch resigned when he was unable to stop one of Prasad’s pawn from queening.

IMs R.B. Ramesh and K. Sasikiran (4), former national ‘A’ champion P. Konguvel (3.5), IM-elect V. Saravanan (3.5) and national women’s champion S. Vijayalakshmi (3) all lost while double-grand master norm holder Abhijit Kunte (4) and IWM Pallavi Shah escaped with draws as the Indians had another agonising day here last night.

Gm Andrew Kharlov of Russia scored a facile win over compatriot IM Yandemirov to join country-mate gm Alexi Dreev at the top spot with six points. Dreev, the overnight leader, drew with gm A Minavian (5.5) of Armenia.

Ramesh’s unbeaten run in the tournament was halted by IM Kazheleyev. Ramesh, the second best placed Indian in the event thus far with five points, opted for Slav defence against Kazhgeleyev’s d4 opening.

Pak hockey tour 'on schedule'

ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (PTI) — Pakistani hockey team’s scheduled tour of India, beginning early next month, will go ahead as scheduled despite threats from Shiv Sena to disrupt the hockey series also, according to Pakistan Hockey Federation.

Phf Secretary Col Muddasar Asghar told PTI over phone from Lahore: "As of now we are working as per plan to go ahead with the tour and the Pakistani team for the tour will be selected on Monday".

When told that like the threat to the cricket team, Shiv Sena has said it would disrupt the hockey series too, the PHF secretary replied he was not aware of this development.

"In any case the Pakistani cricket team will be going to India first and, if they can go then we will also send our team," he said. The Pakistan cricket team is scheduled to reach New Delhi on January 21 to start their first full tour of India in 12 years.

"From our side there is no problem in going ahead with the tour but eventually what the government of Pakistan will say we will do accordingly", Col Asghar said.

The Pak cricket board has also left the final decision to the government which is expected to decide the fate of the cricket tour by this weekend on the basis of reports on security arrangements prepared by a PCB special emissary Brig Saeed Rafi and Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi.

Pakistani hockey team will be visiting India early February to play four of the nine-match series there which is part of an annual exercise resumed last year after long gap.

Aggragami pull off stunning victory

CALCUTTA, Jan 15 (PTI) — Debutants Tollygunge Aggragami pulled off a stunning solitary goal victory over fancied Dempo sports club in a group-A match of the third National Football League at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium here today.

Tollygunge striker Chibuzor struck the match winner just one minute before the interval to seal the fate of the Goans in a match which seldom rose to great heights.

The home team, who have not yet lost a match in the high-profile league, began with a flourish with a series of raids from both the flanks to unsettle the Dempo defence but had to wait till the dying minutes of the first half to open their account.

The lone goal of the match was the result of a fast counter attack which saw medio Bastab Roy break the defence and cross to an unmarked Chibuzor inside the box who slammed the ball in from close.

Leading by a solitary goal at the interval, Tollygunge went on the defensive in the second half giving very little room for manoeuvring to their rivals who failed to play cohesively.

Dempo had themselves to blame for the setback as they missed as many as three easy scoring opportunities in the second half with their forwards failing to get their acts together inside the box.

Dempo got an opportunity to restore parity midway through the second session but the hard-working Sanaton Singh’s volley from inside the box was brilliantly saved by Tollygunge custodian Sumit Mukherjee.

On another occasion, Tejinder Kumar managed to pierce the defence but his shot from close to the goalmouth went straight to custodian Mukherjee.

The standard of the game in the second half dropped quite a bit as both the teams made a number of mispasses while the Dempo strikers looked a trifle off colour.

Despite making their maiden appearance, Tollygunge Aggragami have not lost a single match yet. They have secured seven points from three outings while Dempo have four points to their credit from three matches.

Ntini faces rape charge

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 15 (AFP) — Newspapers here today named fast bowler Makhaya Ntini as the South African cricketer who is to be charged for allegedly raping a 21-year-old student at a cricket ground in December.

Senior prosecutor Les Roberts announced his intention to prosecute the cricketer, but did not name him.

Roberts said in a statement he had deliberated for a month over a decision on whether to prosecute the player following a police investigation into the incident, which allegedly took place on December 1 at Buffalo Park cricket ground in the eastern Cape Town of East London.

Buffalo Park is the home of the Border cricket team, of which Ntini is a member.

Ntini originates from Mdingi, near King William’s town, and was spotted by border development programme staff when they held a mini-cricket clinic in the township in 1993. The same year he was selected for the Border U-15 team.

He advanced to the Border U-19 squad in 1994-95 and in 1995 was selected for the South African Schools XI on their tour of England and India. He made his debut for Border against England in their 1995-96 tour.

He was later selected for the South African ‘A’ team and his big break came when he replaced injured Boland player Roger Telemachus on South Africa’s tour of Australia.

Ntini was selected to represent South Africa on their tour of England last summer. A loss of form has seen him excluded from the South African team that has destroyed the West Indies during this current tour of South Africa, winning all the four Test matches played so far.

Police said a warrant of arrest is to be issued this week for the cricketer, whom they also did not name.

Neither Ntini nor his lawyer have been contactable.

According to east London’s Daily Dispatch newspaper, one of the publications to name Ntini, the cricketer has not been home.

United Cricket Board Managing Director Ali Bacher, who has backed the player publicly, has not immediately commented.

Border Cricket Managing Director Reunert Bauser said: "We have no comment at the moment. His lawyer is handling the whole affair."

Kali helps Punjab clinch trophy
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Jan 15 — Riding on the crest of a strokefilled 72 by skipper Harikrishan Kali, Punjab won the All-India Vijay Merchant Cricket Tournament which concluded at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium here today.

In a truncated match, it all boiled down to the battle to take the first innings lead. With Punjab, in reply to Uttar Pradesh score of 193, sailing smoothly at 72 for no loss, the hosts innings suddenly lost direction due to some rash shots by its middle order. At 160 for 7 it was anybody's game till Harikrishan Kali took the game away from Uttar Pradesh with some fluent shots.

Once Punjab got the all important first innings lead, the competitive interest in the contest seemed to be over. The hosts won the tournament for the second successive time. Punjab had earlier lifted the trophy at Nagpur last year.

Scores:

Uttar Pradesh (Ist innings): 193 all out.

Punjab (Ist innings): 224 all out (H. Kali 72, Binwant 42, S.P. Singh 43, Harjit 4 for 75, S. Dikshit 4 for 53, A. Upadhaya 2 for 50).

Chiranjeev shoots one-over 73
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 — Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian to qualify for the European PGA tour, looked set to make the cut in the first event of the new season when he shot one-over 73 on the first day of the Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship at the Houghton Golf Club on Thursday.

Jeev, who managed to retain his card on the European Tour after earning over £ 60,000 last season, was tied for the 42nd place in the 156-man strong field competing in this 400,000 pound event, according to information reaching here.

The top 65 and ties will make the cut, which will be applied after the second round.

Another Indian interest in the tournament, Sweden’s India-born Daniel Chopra was among one of the 20 players tied for the 88th place at four-over 76.

Leading the tournament was South African Nicovan Rensurg, who shot an excellent round of seven-under 65 with the help of six birdies, one eagle and a single bogey.

Two strokes behind him was his close friend and countrymate, the newly-married Ernie Els. The double US Open champion shot five-under 65.

However, the season began badly for the six-time major winner and former world number one, Nick Faldo. The Englishman has a job in his hand when he tees off for the second round after a round of five-over 77, which tied him for the 107th place.

Murali’s action under scrutiny

MELBOURNE, Jan 15 (Reuters) — Questions over the bowling action of Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan have resurfaced after a leading South African umpire joined in the chorus of doubters.

South African official Peter Van Der Merwe, now in Australia as a match referee for the tri-series limited-overs tournament between Australia, England and Sri Lanka, said he would be submitting a report to the International Cricket Council (ICC) asking them to review his suspicious action.

"It is certainly not the standard action," the Herald-Sun newspaper on today quoted him as saying. "Part of my job is to look out for bowlers with doubtful actions. I will be sending a report to the ICC and they can handle it how they see fit."

Muralitharan has long been accused by umpires of throwing the ball instead of bowling it.

At least two Australian umpires have expressed doubts about legitimacy of his action, including Darrell Hair, who no-balled Muralitharan seven times during a Test match in 1995.

The ICC investigated Muralitharan’s action after several other umpires complained but cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Four days ago, the ICC announced it was charging Hair under the umpire’s code of conduct after he criticised Muralitharan’s action in a book.

Van Den Merwe said it was not for him to decide whether Muralitharan had broken the rules but said he hoped ICC would review the situation. "ICC has a sub-committee that makes a decision and may recommend remedial coaching," he said.

Punjab shooting meet begins

CHANDIGARH, Jan 15 — The 34th Punjab State Open Shooting Championship began today at Ranjitgarh Rifle Club, PPA, Phillaur (Punjab) in which 135 competitors drawn from all over the state are taking part in senior men and women, junior men and women categories. The matches are conducted on 10 metre ranges for air weapons and on 25 metre for .22 and .32 pistol and on 50 metre Modern Shooting ranges for .22 rifle.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Mr A.A Siddiqui, Additional DGP cum Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur.

Softball meet

AMRITSAR, Jan 15 — Guru Nanak Dev University will host All-India Inter-University Softball (men and women) competitions from January 19 to 25 at the university sports complex.

According to Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Director of Sports, more than 35 teams of different universities will participate in this championship.