Thursday, January 28, 1999
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S P O R T | Thursday, January 28, 1999 |
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An engrossing battle on the
cards |
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Indian due to take on
Leach-Ferreria in semis |
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Aldrin
to lead hockey team |
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An engrossing battle on the
cards While Test cricket was put on the backburner, the two teams have met regularly on foreign soils for one-day internationals, not only at Sharjah, Bangladesh or Singapore but also at Toronto, where the Sahara Cup was started a couple of years ago so that India and Pakistan could play a five-match one-day series every year. Also, Pakistan did come to India not only to play in the Wills World Cup Quarter Final at Bangalore in 1996 but also the Independence Cup in 1997. But then Test cricket is altogether a different cup of tea. For purists Test cricket is the thing. It is Test cricket alone, they argue, that brings out the real character of the players, so be it. Pakistan are now in India and the series get underway here tomorrow at the Chidambaram Stadium here under the tightest security ever seen in Indian cricket. It might be difficult for India to exploit home conditions against Pakistan as they have been doing in the past against visiting teams. For years India have become almost unplayable at home. A look at the performance last year would give enough indications of the prowess of the Indians at home. India lost both series played abroad in 1998, first to Zimbabwe, when the babes of international cricket outplayed the tourists at Harare, and then more recently to New Zealand, where the conditions did not allow any leeway to the Indians. In contrast, the Indians got past the much stronger Australians in a home series where even Shane Warne was unable to exploit the turning Indian tracks. For this success against Australia the Indians must thank a young cricketer who answers to the name of Sachin Tendulkar. It was he who singlehandedly put Warne to the sword, thereby breaking the will of the total Australian squad. And the single big good news from the Indian camp is that Sachin, who missed the last one-dayer in New Zealand due to an injury to his left arm, is now fully fit and was batting in the nets today as fluidly as ever. And it goes without saying that if India are to prosper against their rivals from across the border a lot will depend on Sachin. But the moot question which remains is: will India be able to exploit home conditions against Pakistan who have the spinners to make use of any turning track. And if by any chance the ground staff here give a green-top wicket (and it is doubtful whether such a step will ever be taken in Indian cricket) the Pakistanis have the fast bowlers to make life rather tough for the Indian batsmen. Unlike India the Pakistanis play better abroad. And against India, every Pakistan cricketer gives his more than 100 per cent on the ground. As Pakistanis Manager Javed Miandad remarked after nets yesterday, the Pakistanis play better abroad as their record will show. Although they lost two home series recently, against Australia and Zimbabwe, both by identical 1-0 margins, they drew against South Africa 1-1 in South Africa and then got the better of Zimbabwe 1-0 in a two-match series. The biggest problem for the Indians on the eve of the match was deciding the playing eleven. With the openers, Navjot Sidhu and Ajay Jadeja, who did duty in the last match played by India, against New Zealand at Hamilton, not included in the 14-member squad, the Indian team management will have to decide who will open for India. The national selectors, while announcing the team for the Test at New Delhi, had said that V.V.S. Laxman would open with debutant S. Ramesh, whose 56 in the India "A" second innings in the match against Pakistan at Gwalior two days ago did show glimpses of class. But if the home team do open with this pair, the playing squad can have only four regular bowlers, two medium pacers and two spinners. Such a situation, however, can only show a "play safe" attitude and not a winning one. It is quite likely that the national selectors, who will be here in full strength to select the playing eleven tomorrow morning, might just ask Nayan Mongia to open with either Laxman or Ramesh, thereby leaving place for a fifth bowler, which is essential if one is to force the pace in the match. With the middle order of Rahul Dravid, whose confidence must be skyhigh after the successes in the New Zealand tour, Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mohammad Azharuddin as also Saurav Ganguly being the most important cog in the Indian squad, there is bound to be a lot of debate on who the bowlers will be. With the team management announcing today after nets that neither 17-year-old Laxmi Ratan Shukla or Hrishikesh Kanitkar had been shortlisted in the 12-member squad, it seems quite apparent that both Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad would find a place in the playing squad. With the fast bowlers selecting themselves the one place of spinner (Anil Kumble is of course the automatic choice) would be a toss up between Sunil Joshi and Punjab’s Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan Singh was wayward in the Gwalior outing and gave away too many runs but then he is the class of spinner who can come good on any day, especially on Indian pitches. However, in case Mongia is asked to open the Indian innings then of course both Harbhajan Singh and Sunil Joshi can find a place in the playing eleven. Like India, it is the opening slot which must be worrying the Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram. At Gwalior, their opening pair of Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti could not get going. The visitors must be missing the veteran Aamir Sohail, whose presence might have given greater confidence. Like the hosts, Pakistan have lots of class and talent in the middle order. Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousaf Youhanna showed in the Gwalior outing that they are in good nick, and made good scores. And like their middle
order batting the bowling looks good with the skipper
himself, who did not stretch himself much in the lung
opener at Gwalior, and Waqar Younis sure to pose a number
of problems for the Indian batsmen. With the spinners
like Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Nadeem Khan
keenly looking forward to tweak their fingers the
pointers are all there for a very engrossing battle over
the next five days. |
Tightest ever security for
Chennai Test CHENNAI, Jan 27 — The first match of the two-Test series between India and Pakistan, which gets under way tomorrow at the Chidambaram Stadium, is being held under the tightest security ever seen in international cricket in India. What to talk of talking to the team skipper or cricket manager of India and Pakistan at the hotel where the teams are staying, even the customary Press conference with the captains of the two teams was not conducted today. As per norms laid down by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, captains must address the Press, both print and electronic, a day before the match and at the conclusion of the match. This rule has been scrupulously followed in recent international matches played in India. Most stadia make available the conference room for the Press conference. But today there was no Press conference either by the visiting captain or by the home team captain. On whose instructions the norms were broken was not immediately known, although the president of the board, Mr Raj Singh Dungarpur, was present at the Stadium while nets were on. Earlier in the morning the Chennai police had sent word that no mediaperson would be allowed to even enter the ground. As the teams arrived at the stadium under very heavy escort, the officials of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association were allowed to enter the ground, but not mediapersons. However, after a couple of hours the police relented and allowed mediapersons to come into the stadium with the strict stipulation that they would make no attempt to enter the ground or talk to the players or team officials. And while the teams had nets, the police formed two rings, one in uniform while the inner ring was manned by policemen in white. Needless to say no one was allowed to inspect the pitch but from what one was able to see from afar, it seemed to be a good batting track. And as the players left for their hotel, the security was taken over by commandos.
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Indian due to take on Leach-Ferreria in semis MELBOURNE, Jan 27 (UNI) — Top-seeded Indian pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will meet the fourth-seed pair of Rick Leach (USA) and Ellis Ferreria (South Africa) in the doubles’ semi-final of the Australian Open here tomorrow. Leach and Ferreria, both left-handers, today outplayed Paul Haarhuis (Holland) and Patrick Galbraith (USA) 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-final match. A former No.1 world doubles’ champion, Leach, 34, is currently ranked 15th. Ferreria, 28, is ranked 10th. Paes and Bhupathi have played against the Leach-Ferreria pair twice last year, winning one and losing one. The Indians beat them in three sets in the final of the Tim Cup in Rome, in May, and lost in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Du Maurier Open in Toronto in August. Paes and Bhupathi have a day off today. Paes and Bhupathi produced their most professional display in a week to enter the semi-finals when they defeated Americans Rickhey Reneberg and Jonathan Stark 6-4, 7-6(7-5), 6-3, in an hour and 52 minutes yesterday. Reneberg-Stark may have been unseeded here but both are veterans of the doubles tour. Stark, 27, in fact, was the Rick Leach, at the world doubles championships in 1997. Reneberg, 33, has played for the US in Davis Cup doubles and has two Grand Slam doubles titles under his belt. Given the way Paes-Bhupathi started the tournament, both coming in to Melbourne well below top form, it was reasonable to expect a tough encounter against Reneberg-Stark. "They will be tough," Bhupathi's coach Enrico Piperno said before the match. But Paes-Bhupathi showed on court that they too could be tough. After the match, Piperno said. "Chalk and cheese that's the difference between the way they played their first match and this one." So much so, neither Indian dropped his serve in the entire match. It was Paes-Bhupathi's aggressive approach at the net that enabled victory to come to smoothly. Paes, of course, was his ebullient self, producing winners with amazing touch and dexterity. His hand speed makes him manufacture shots when all seems lost. But it was Bhupathi who gave a standout display at the net today. Said Paes's coach Bob Carmichael: "Mahesh volleyed very well." That must rank as high praise, for Carmichael is known to be a man of few words. Bhupathi himself was pleased: "I don't think I have ever volleyed as today... both these guys, their strengths are their returns and we were prepared for it." Paes-Bhupathi's positive play meant that the pressure was on Reneberg-Stark all the time. Not that the Americans didn't try to turn it around. In fact, in the beginning of best-of-five-sets match, it was the Indians' serve that come under threat. Bhupathi and Paes both faced a breakpoint in their opening service games but they respond to the danger superbly. Bhupathi and Paes producing good returns of serve, and that was enough for them to take the first set. Stark finally proved to the weak link in the American pair. He was inconsistent, both while returning serve and at the net while Reneberg was solid, even defiant. He was down 0-40 in the opening game of the second set but produced two aces and one service winner to hold service. Neither pair gave much ground during the set but in the tie-breaker which eventually followed two good returns from Bhupathi gave the initiative to the Indians pair and they wrapped it up on their first setpoint. Reneberg finally cracked in the third set. He was broken in the eighth game, netting a fairly simple volley, and Bhupathi closed out the match in the next game, sending down an ace at matchpoint.
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Seles, Hingis set up semifinal clash MELBOURNE, Jan 27 (Reuters) — Monica Seles and Martina Hingis came out on top today as a quartet of champions battled it out for the last two women’s semifinal spots at the Australian Open. In the men’s draw, Russia’s former French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov ousted American Todd Martin 6-2 7-6 6-2 to become the only male seed still surviving. The 10th-seeded Kafelnikov will play brilliant young German Tommy Haas, who beat 44th-ranked American Vincent Spadea 7-6 7-5 6-3 in today’s other men’s quarter-final. Four-time champion Seles earned her first victory in six years over old rival Steffi Graf, turning the tables after a shaky start for a brutal 7-5 6-1 win. Defending champion Martina Hingis had a more comfortable time of it against 1995 title winner Mary Pierce, dispatching the powerful Frenchwoman 6-3 6-4. Seles and Hingis will meet each other in tomorrow’s semifinals, with the winner taking on either world number one Lindsay Davenport or French giant-killer Amelie Mauresmo in Saturday’s final. While the men’s draw has sprung up a veritable "who’s he?" of tennis — the other semifinalists are Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist and Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador — class has won the day in the women’s competition. Seles has won all four of her previous opens and her win against Graf took her unbeaten run in Melbourne to 33 matches over eight years. It looked at first like Graf would end Seles’s winning streak. The German dictated almost every point for the first six games, hitting incredibly deep groundstrokes as she waited for an over-excited Seles to hit one wide or long. But her concentration abruptly disappeared as she was serving for the first set at 5-4. Her shots started going astray, and Seles raced away with the match. In the other women’s quarter-final Hingis came out clearly on top of seventh seed Pierce, who had not dropped a set en route to the last eight. The Swiss 18-year-old was not exactly indomitable, but produced some fierce returns of serve and gained her points around smart groundstrokes to the very corners of the court. Pierce held her serve only twice in each set, and had too big a deficit to overcome despite her late fightback with service breaks in the sixth and eighth games of the final set. Haas, world ranked 33, blasted his way into the semifinals to keep alive an unlikely Grand Slam dream. The 20-year-old from Hamburg is out to emulate his hero Boris Becker by winning a Grand Slam event as an unseeded player. Kafelnikov and 15th-seeded Martin were the only top ranked players left in a tournament robbed by upsets and injury of most of its stars by the fourth round. Yesterday, the Australian Open found an unlikely new hero when Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador — a distant 91st in the world ranking — battled to a five-set win over seventh seed Karol Kucera of Slovakia. Unseeded Lapentti, who had failed progress beyond round two of his 11 previous Grand Slam appearances, beat Kucera 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, 0-6, 8-6 to reach the semifinals. Lapentti's victory set him up for a last-four showdown with Thomas Enqvist after the unseeded Swede overcame Swiss Marc Rosset 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to underline his status as clear favourite. Van Roost fell 6-3, 7-6 to unseeded Frenchwoman Smelie Mauresmo while Williams was blown away 6-4, 6-0 by world number one Lindsay Davenport.
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Australia triumph despite Hick’s ton ADELAIDE, Jan 27 (Reuters) — Graeme Hick cracked 109, his third century in four one-day games, but failed to prevent Australia beating England by 16 runs in their triangular limited-overs match yesterday. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne took three wickets apiece, while Brendon Julian grabbed another two, in an England total of 223, chasing Australia’s 239 for eight off 50 overs. England were 162 for two at one stage but lost their last eight wickets for 61. Leg-spinner Warne gave his
best display since returning from shoulder surgery and
took 3/39 off 10 overs. Paceman McGrath finished with
three for 40, after collecting five for 40 in
Australia’s win over Sri Lanka on Sunday. Hick was named Man-of-the-Match honours for his innings, which came off 119 balls, but it proved in vain as the England batting crashed. It was a bitter finish for the gallant Hick, who scored an unbeaten 126 against Sri Lanka in Saturday’s controversial match only to finish on the losing side. "I’d rather get nought and win the game," said Hick, whose innings included six fours and two sixes. Warne and Julian were instrumental in the England slide after the visitors appeared to be in a commanding position after Hick and Nick Knight (42) put on 80 for the seconds wicket and Hick and Nasser Hussain (21) added another 64 for the third. After Neil Fairbrother was bowled by McGrath for 10, Warne and Julian shared the next four wickets to leave England needing 30 with eight wickets down. Julian brilliantly caught and bowled John Crawley (11) and then repeated the feat against Robert Croft (0). Warne also caught Mark Ealham (4) off his own bowling and had Darren Gough caught by Adam Dale for two. Hick was the next to go, run out after advancing down the pitch and failing to make his ground. McGrath then dismissed Dean Headley (2) to complete a home win on the Australia day public holiday. Australia’s 239 for eight was achieved by partnerships of 93 by Mark Waugh (65) and Darren Lehmann (51) and 90 from Dalien Martyn (59 not out) and Lee (41). Waugh’s total came off 80 balls and was his sixth consecutive half-century of the one-day series. Headley was on a hat-trick when he dismissed Lee and Julian (0) in successive balls but Warne denied him. England captain Alec Steward paid tribute to the bowling of Warne, Julian and McGrath, which he said had limited Hick’s ability to get the strike towards the end of the match. SCOREBOARD England: |
Aldrin to lead hockey team CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 (PTI) — Defender Anil Aldrin will lead India in the four-Test home series against Pakistan, Mr KPS Gill, president Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), said here yesterday. Announcing the 24-member squad for the series starting next month with Delhi hosting the first Test on February 3, Mr Gill said all players except P. Shanmugam had played at the international level both for the junior and senior sides. Half back Mohammed Riaz is vice captain of the team, which does not include any of the six 'rested' senior players of the Bangkok Asiad gold medal winning squad. Mr Gill said he was under no obligation to explain to those rested, the reasons behind such a decision. "Those having any grievances can go to the media and air these," he said, adding "It was the federation's prerogative to select a team which it thought was the best for the country." Mr Gill said Baljit Singh Dhillon who recently got married has also been included in the team. The Pakistan team will arrive on February 2 and will play matches in Delhi (February 3) Bhopal (February 5), Hyderabad (February 8) and Chennai on February 10. Pakistan will host the remaining five Tests of the series. Aldrin had last captained India on their tour of Australia in 1988. Mr Gill said Baljit Singh Dhillon who recently got married has also been included in the team. Chief coach V Baskaran, expressing satisfaction with the squad, said he viewed the team as a 'first step' towards the 2000 Sydney Olympics build-up. He said his team would take the Test series as a serious challenge and at the same time a building exercise. The team: Goalkeepers: Jagdish Ponnappa (IA), B.C. Poonacha (Central Excise), P.U. Boppanna (Karna). Full backs: Dilip Tirkey, Anil Aldrin (capt) and Lazarus Barla (all IA). Half-backs: Baljit Singh Saini (PSB), Mohammad Riaz (vice-captain), (IA), Ramandeep Singh (Punj), Thirumalvalavan (TN), P. Shanmugam (Karna), S.S. Gill (Chd). Forwards: L. Prabhakaran (TN), Sameer Dad and Gagan Ajit Singh (Both AI), Daljit Singh Dhillon (PP), Rajesh Chauhan (AI), Ravinder Singh (IA), Gurusewak Singh (Pun), Kamal Horo (Ser), Surinder Singh (AI), Deepak Thakur (Patiala), Sarabjit Singh (PP) and Baljit Singh Dhillon (PP). The dates and venues of the Indo-Pakistan Tests to be played later in Pakistan are February 16 at Lahore, followed by February 18 at Karachi, February 20 in Peshawar, February 22 in Rawalpindi and February 24 in Lahore.
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North beat West by 53 runs CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 — North Zone and East Zone won their respective matches on Wednesday against Headquarters and South Zone teams in the 29th All India FCI Inter-Zonal Cricket Tournament being played here. Earlier yesterday, North Zone beat West Zone by 53 runs while East Zone had prevailed over North East Zone by 116 runs. In the matches played today, North Zone made 182 for 8 in the stipulated 40 overs, thanks to a fine knock of 60 by Ranji player Amarjit Kaypee followed by good knocks of 48 by Akash Malhotra and 25 by Pankaj Thakur. In reply, Headquarters team were bundled out for 135 runs with Pankaj Thakur claiming four wickets for just 15 runs. The match was played at cricket stadium. Sector 16, and won by North Zone by 47 runs. In the second match at Gursagar grounds, South Zone batted first and made 165 for the loss of six wickets with DS Sridhar scoring 55 runs. P. Ramanan contributed 33 valuable runs. But East Zone piled up the score to 169 runs with five wickets still in hand. Here, Jaidev Mukerjee remained not out with 50 runs, while D. Sarkar made 34 runs. Thus East Zone won by five wickets. Brief scores: First match NZ-182 for 8 in 40 overs. (A. Kaypee 60 N.O., Akash Malhotra 48, Pankaj Thakur 25, Balkrishan 3 for 33) HQ-135 all out (Sanjeev Kohli 34, A. Katyal 30, T. Anand 24, P. Thakur 4 for 15). Second match: SZ-165 for 6 ( (D.S. Sridhar 55, P. Ramanan 33, J. Mukerjee 2 for 18. W. Mazumdar 2 for 38). EZ-169 for 5 (J. Mukherjee 50 N.O., D. Sarkar 34, K. Ravi 2 for 39, Chandersekhar 2 for 51).
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Punjab judokas finish on top CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 — Hosts Panjab University became the proud winners of both men's and women's titles in the All India Inter-University Judo Championship which concluded here today. Last year's runners-up Panjab University secured 10.5 points in the men's section. They won two gold, two silver and one bronze medal while Kurukshetra University got the second place with seven points and the University of Mumbai finished third with six points. In the women's section Panjab University retained the title with 14.5 points securing four gold, one silver and one bronze medal while Kurukshetra University got the second place with seven points and GND University, Amritsar, secured the third position securing 6.5 points. Results: Men-below 50 kg: Ajay Dhir (PUC) 1, Sandeep (KUK) 2, Rameshwar (Jammu) & Mahesh Chand (Rohilkhand) 3. Open weight: Manoj Kumar (Delhi) 1, Ravinder Singh (KUK) 2, Jogleker (Aurangabad) & M. Museedi (Kashmir) 3. Women: Belok 56 kg-Sonia Kanwar (PUC) 1, Kavita (KUK) 2, Neeru (Pbi Patiala) & Pooja (MDU, Rohtak) 3. Below: 66 kg: Seema (KUK) 1, Vandana (HPU Shimla) 2, Dimpy Sachdeva (GND varsity) & Sonia (Pbi Patiala) 3. Below 61 kg: Surjit Kaur (GND varsity) 1, Rupinderdeep Kaur (PUC) 2, Shashi (KUK) & Sarita (MDU) 3. Open weight: Nutan Devi (HPU) 1, Varinda (GND varsity) 2, Manpreet Kaur (PUC) & Ranjana (KUK) 3.
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81-run win for North Zone ROHTAK, Jan 27 — Splendid batting by Chandan Madan helped North Zone to register an 81-run victory over West Zone in the Vijay Hazare Trophy cricket encounter at Vishwakarma Stadium here today. Put in to bat first, North Zone scored 221 in 45.5 overs. At one stage they had lost five wickets for 84. But a strokeful innings of 69 runs in equal number of balls brought the situation well under control for the North Zone. Chandan hit six boundaries and three sixes. Deepak Joon scored 29 and Nishant Goyal another prolific scorer for the zone, contributed 24. Jagdish Patel was the most successful bowler for the visitors. He took five wickets for 36 runs in 8.5 overs. In reply, West Zone were bundled out for 140 in 43.5 overs. Only Vineet Indulkar made a significant contribution of 51 runs. Scoreboard West Zone: Saeed
Khot b Joginder Sharma 2, Vimal Joshi lbw Amandeep Singh
3, Vineet Indulkar lbw Deepak Joon 51, Sangram Bagul c
Nishant Goyat b Joginder Sharma 3, Rohan Dharvat st
Nishant Goyal b Rajiv Jolly 9, Jitender Singh run out 5,
Omkar Khandelwalkar run out 12, Uday Karavdra run out 11,
Hardik Choudhary not out 17, Jagdish Patel c Binwant b
Rajat Jaisal 5, Parthiv Patel c Nishant Goyat b Rajat
Jaisawal 0, Extras 22. |
Overall title for CPS CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 — Century Public School, Nayagaon, won the overall championship in the seventh Chandigarh State Karate Championship which concluded here at the Bal Bhavan, on Tuesday. The meet was organised by the Amateur Karate Association of Chandigarh. The results are: Boys — Below 20 kg: Mahesh 1, Prince 2, Ankur 3. Below 25 kg — Karanvir 1, Gurpreet 2, Deepak 3. 35 kg: Vishal Sharma 1, Dinesh 2, Mohit Verma 3. 40 kg — Sandeep 1, Vikram Dogra 2, Sumit Raj 3. 30 kg — Perminder 1, Ashwani 2, Amit 3. 45 kg — Rakesh 1, Amit 2, Vijay Parsad 3. 50 kg — Kishore Kumar 1, Karan Singh 2, Charan Singh 3. 55 kg — Vikram Malik 1, Devinderjit Singh 2, Joginder 3. 60 kg — Naveen 1, Aman Kumar 2, Nimit 3. 65 kg — Anil 1, Dinesh 2, Ajay Kumar 3. Open weight: Puneet Kumar, Bhagwan Dass 2, Chitrender 3. Girls: Below 25 kg — Rita Thakur 1, Hamjit 2, Preeti 3. 30 kg — Sunita 1, Pooja 2, Manisha 3. 35 kg — Monika 1, Ramanjot 2, Radha 3. 40 kg — Upasana 1, Rekha 2, Suman 3. 45 kg — Itu Nath 1, Kriti Puri 2, Arti Sharma 3. Above 45 kg — Anu Chaudhary 1, Renu 2, Nisha Rawat 3. Mr K.K. Adiwal, Mayor, Chandigarh Municipal Corporation gave away the prizes.
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H
District soccer meet results PATIALA, Jan 27 — Local Khalsa College subdued Samana Sports Association 3-1, New National Club, Nabha got the better of Goverment Physical Education College, Patiala, 3-1, Tigers Club edged past Talwani Club 1-0 while Physical Education College 'A' thrashed Punjabi University School 3-0 in the men's section of Patiala District Football Championships which commenced here today. In the women's section, Punjabi University campus beat Tripuri Senior School 2-0 while Physical Education College (Girls) overcame stiff challenge put up by Government Women's College, who were beaten 1-0. Ambala football team CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 — The following women players will represent Ambala in the Haryana State Women's Football championship to be held at Bahadurgarh from January 28. Shefali Bansal (captain), Neha Dewan, Sunaina Mehta, Anuradha, Poonam, Vandana, Pooja, Neetu, Perminder, Poonam Verma, Reshma, Poonam Bhandari, Seema Yadav, Bindu, Ruma Sharma, Shikha Sharma and Preeti Sharma. Varinder Arya and Arun Kant will be the coach and manager of the team respectively. UT badminton squad CHANDIGARH, Jan 27 — A five-member badminton team comprising three men and two women players has been selected by the Chandigarh Badminton Association to represent Chandigarh in the Indian Oil Servo 63rd Senior National Badminton Championships to be held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi from February 4 to 10, according to Mr MC Sethi, president of the association. Chandigarh qualified for the individual events only which will start in February 6. The teams Men-Amit Sachdeva, Vivek Sharma and Rajnikant Prajapati. Women-Bhavna Sharma and Pallavi Jain. Surinder Mahajan will be
the coach-cum-manager of the team. The team leaves on
February 4. |
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