Saturday, January 30, 1999
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S P O R T | Saturday, January 30, 1999 |
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Test evenly poised as India
lose initiative |
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Churchill, Dempo to clash today |
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Test evenly poised as India
lose initiative CHENNAI, Jan 29 — It was an engrossing day’s cricket at the Chidambaram Stadium here today. India, chasing the Pakistani first innings score of 238 all out, ended their first essay at the crease with their total reading 254 all out, a slender lead of just 16. The hosts must blame themselves for not being able to take early command of the historic first Test between the two teams in 12 years. Two indiscreet shots, the first by Sachin Tendulkar, who after facing just two deliveries from Saqlain Mushtaq, the most successful of the Pakistani bowlers with a haul of five for 94, tried to hoist the Pakistani off break bowler out of the ground only to hole out to Salim Malik at point and the other by the Indian skipper himself. Mohammad Azharuddin did try to break the stronghold of the Pakistani bowlers but was unable to do so. He looked woefully out of touch and potted around for 54 minutes during which he faced 28 deliveries and was able to score just 11 with the help of two fours. What forced Sachin Tendulkar to go for the huge heave was difficult to fathom. Knowing fully well that the whole team was looking forward to a solid contribution from him, the indiscretion shown by the best batsman in the world of cricket today might well have a bearing in the match. With the pitch taking turn. India will have to bat in the fourth innings of the Test and a handsome first innings lead would have stood them in good stead as the match progresses. Sachin was unable to open his account. By the draw of stumps of the second day Pakistan were able to reach 34 for the loss of opener Saeed Anwar’s wicket. The left handed Pakistani batsman was trapped in front of the wicket by Prasad after he had scored seven (18 minutes, 15 balls, one four). Shahid Afridi (16 not out) and Ijaz Ahmed (11 not out) were able to ward off further damage with the umpires V K Ramaswamy and Steve Dunne of New Zealand calling off play due to bad light with 5.1 over still to be delivered. India’s condition would have been even worse but for two half centuries of contrasting style. Rahul Dravid, who has come to be known as the Mr Dependable of Indian cricket hit up 53, his 16th half century in 26 matches, before being trapped in front of the wicket by Saqlain Mushtaq who bowled more or less continuously from the pavilion and except for a couple of short breaks. The other half century was scored by Saurav Ganguly, who scored 54 before holing out to Ijaz Ahmed at slip and the bowler to prosper was Shahid Afridi, who finished with figures of three for 31 in 7.1 overs. The Indian left handed batsman was a little tentative in the beginning but later grew in stature as he hoisted Saqlain Mushtaq twice over the ropes, the first to record the 200 of the Indian innings and the second to reach his personal 50 (196 minutes, 126 balls, two sixes, three fours). These two Indian batsmen shared a stand of 53 runs for the fifth wicket in 18.4 overs. This stand, in fact, saved quite a few blushes on the home team because after the good start given by openers S Ramesh and V V S Laxman, who put on 67 runs for the first wicket, the hosts lost wickets at regular intervals before Dravid and Ganguly somewhat stemmed the rot. While Dravid batted for 152 minutes during which he faced 113 balls for his 53 (one six, five fours) Ganguly took a little more time to reach his half century. Ganguly batted for 213 minutes during which he faced 138 balls for his 54 (three fours, two sixes). If Saqlain Mushtaq was the main tormentor of the Indian batsmen the initial damage to the innings was done by the Pakistani skipper Wasim Akram himself who claimed the wickets of both openers who were shaping very well. Resuming at the overnight score of 48 for no loss in eight overs, Laxman could add just five runs to his overnight score of 18 before he was adjudged leg before off the bowling of Akram. And when after eight minutes Akram sent back the other opener, debutant Ramesh, also leg before after left hander had scored 43 (66 minutes, 41 balls, five fours) the hosts knew they had a difficult task on hand with the Pakistani bowlers bowling with their tails up. Akram's figures read 4-1-12-2 at this stage. New man Sachin Tendulkar, who had joined Rahul Dravid at the middle faced one delivery from Akram, the last ball of the 15th over of the innings. After Dravid had crossed over in the next over Sachin faced one Saqlain delivery before he went for the huge heave. This wicket gave all the confidence which the Pakistani bowler needed as he picked up the wickets of Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Nayan Mongia as also Anil Kumble. Saqlain finished with figures of 35-8-94-5, a stupendous effort indeed. It was left to Shahid Afridi to wrap up the tail by claiming the wickets of Srinath and Prasad as also the prized wicket of Ganguly. Sunil Joshi did offer some resistance to the Pakistani bowlers with an unbeaten 25 (100 minutes, 67 balls, four fours) but not getting enough support from the Indian tail there was hardly anything that he could do. Srinath was around for just 17 minutes for his 10 (seven balls, one four) while Prasad faced just 11 balls before he was stumped by Moin Khan after scoring just four. The pitch at the Chidambram Stadium is taking slow turn but is playing easy as was amply proved by the Pakistani batsmen in their second innings. India will have to tighten their game because they must remember that it will be they who will bat last on the strip. The Indians might well rue the absence of a fifth bowler in their line up as the match is delicately poised. (Scoreboard) Ramesh lbw b Akram 43 Laxman lbw b Akram 23 Dravid lbw b Saqlain Mushtaq 53 Tendulkar c Malik b S Mushtaq 0 Azharuddin c Inzamam b S Mushtaq 11 Ganguly c Ijaz b Afridi 54 Mongia st Moin Khan b S Mushtaq 5 Kumble c Youhana b S Mushtaq 4 Joshi not out 25 Srinath c Ijaz b Afridi 10 Prasad st Moin Khan b Afridi 4 Extras: (2 b, 2 lb, 18 nb) 22 Total (all out in 81.1 overs) 254 Fall of wickets: 1/67, 2/71, 3/72, 4/103, 5/156, 6/166, 7/188, 8/229, 9/246. Bowling: Wasim Akram 20-4-60-2, Waqar Younis 12-2-48-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 35-8-94-5, Shahid Afridi 7.1-0-31-3, Nadeem Khan 7-0-17-0. Pakistan (2nd innings): Saeed Anwar lbw b Prasad 7 Shahid Afridi batting 16 Ijaz Ahmed batting 11 Total (for 1 wkt in 8.5 overs) 34 Bowling:
Srinath 4.5-0-18-0, Prasad 4-1-16-1. |
Kafelnikov to face Enqvist in final MELBOURNE, Jan 29 (Reuters) — Tenth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov spared the 1999 Australian Open a dubious place in tennis history when he beat Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 today to reach the final against in-form Swede Thomas Enqvist. Kafelnikov’s clinical win over Germany’s Haas guaranteed one seeded player will contest Sunday’s final at the end of a star-starved men’s singles draw. Victory for Haas would have seen the men’s final become the first contested between two unseeded players since open tennis began in 1968. Kafelnikov, however, declared he would still start the final as the underdog since bookmakers’ favourite Enqvist won two open warm-up tournaments and downed seeds Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis en route to the final. "Hopefully I will get my chances but I feel like I’m definitely the underdog," said Kafelnikov, the 1996 French Open champion. The Russian’s efforts were overshadowed by a growing off-court row ahead of tomorrow’s women’s final, with the world’s top two players disputing reports of comments made by them about unheralded finalist Amelie Mauresmo of France. Defending champion Martina Hingis — the Frenchwoman’s opponent tomorrow — was reported to have said yesterday in a German-language news conference that the powerfully-built Mauresmo travelled with her girlfriend and was "half a man". German reporters said Hingis’s exact words were: "Sie ist ein halber mann." — she is half man. But Hingis today denied she had ever made the remark. "A half-man? who would say that?" Hingis said. "She’s a girl, she’s playing tennis... very good and I have to beat her on court, not somewhere else." Hingis, who earlier won her fifth successive Grand Slam doubles title, said she had been talking about Mauresmo’s style of play. World number one Lindsay Davenport angrily accused newsmen of taking out of context comments she made after losing to Mauresmo in a thrilling three-set semifinal yesterday. She said after that match that world number 29 Mauresmo hit the ball so hard at times she "thought I was playing a guy". "Unfortunately you guys love to write, you know, the worst line possible and unfortunately you have probably hurt a very nice girl," Davenport told reporters after she and Natasha Zvereva were beaten by Hingis and Russian starlet Anna Kournikova in the women’s doubles final. "I’m not going to say anything at all about anything any more and you guys can have the most boring press conferences ever," she said. There was no room for doubt about Kafelnikov’s performance the Russian started strongly against a tentative Haas and gained important early service breaks in the first two sets. Haas had never before made it past the third round in a Grand Slam tournament. He began nervously and so slowly that the match was almost over by the time he began to find his range with damaging groundstrokes in the third set. Kafelnikov out-thought and outplayed Haas and broke the 20-year-old baseliner’s serve in the 11th game of the final set and then calmly served out the match to love. The Russian varied his tactics constantly, slamming 16 aces and also drawing Haas into long rallies. The world number 10 said he would need to adopt similar tactics against Enqvist, who downed unsung Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in straight sets in the first semifinal yesterday. "The one thing I do have to do to stay in the match with Thomas is to hold my serve," Kafelnikov said. "I know if I stay in the match with him I will have my chances." Today’s semifinal was played with Melbourne Park’s retractable centre court roof closed after light rain fell, a decision that did not please Kafelnikov. "I was actually disappointed with the decision because Tommy beat me once indoors," he said. Teen queens Hingis and Kournikova began the day’s action with a 7-5, 6-3 win over top seeds Davenport and Zvereva in the women’s doubles final. Hingis last year became
the third woman to complete a doubles Grand Slam when she
teamed with Mirjana Lucic to win the Australian Open and
then Jana Novotna to win the French, Wimbledon and US
Open titles. |
Anand-Kasparov match ends in a draw WIJK AAN ZEE (Netherlands), Jan 29 (PTI) — The clash between the world’s top two — Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov — turned out to be an anticlimax as the 10th-round game was drawn after just 22 moves in the 61st Hoogovens Grandmasters Chess Tournament here last night. Kasparov (8 points) leads Anand (7) by a clear one point and it will take an enormous effort from the Indian to catch up with the Russian as just three rounds are left in this 14-player super category tournament. Anand, a sole second, has another point to worry about. Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) scored a facile win over Jan Timman (Netherlands) to be just half a point behind. Anand and Kasparov spent less than two hours on the table and none wanted to take any chances, particularly with the Indian having disadvantage of black pieces and Kasparov, after having a full point lead, did not want to jeopardise that after his surprise loss to Ivan Sokolov in the previous round. In a ‘queen’s gambit accepted’, Anand had few opening problems to overcome but made no mistakes. Kasparov spent some time in an effort to regain the initiative but, finding none, proposed to sign the peace treaty himself. The man profiting most from this quick draw was Kramnik of Russia. Kramnik inched closer to Anand on the points table with a win over Timman in English variation. Kramnik played a novelty on the 12th move - na5 and the Dutchman failed to find a counter. Timman sacrificed a pawn but did not get counterplay and finished in a poor rook ending, which the Russian exploited well. Dutch open champion Ivan Sokolov from Bosnia added another win to his cap by beating young Loek Van Wely in the best game of the day. It was another English opening and a draw looked likely, but Van Wely pushed himself in the game, and lost. After having been in enormous trouble with pieces, the Dutchman resigned on the 34th move when he could no longer prevent a black pawn from queening. The four other games yesterday were also drawn. Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Peter Svidler (Russia) drew in just 16 moves of a English opening, while Vesselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Alxei Shirov (Spain) drew in a long 58-move French classical game. American Alex Yermolinsky and Rustam Kasimdhzanov of Uzbekistan were also tied in a long battle before drawing in 70 moves from a kings Indian. In an all-Dutch game Dmitri Reinderman and Jeroen Piket drew from the exchange variation of the ruy Lopez. Results of tenth round: Kasparov drew with Anand; Kramnik beat Timman; Ivanchuck drew with Svidler; Topalov drew with Shirov; Van Wely lost to Sokolov; Yermolinsky drew with Kasimdhzanov; Reinderman drew with Piket. Standings after round 10: 1 Kasparov (Russia) - 8; 2
Anand (India) -7; 3 Kramnik (Russia) - 6.5; 4 Ivanchuk
(Ukraine) - 5.5; 5 Svidler (Russia) - 5.5; 6-9 Sokolov
(Bosnia), Shirov (Spain), Piket (Netherlands), Topalov
(Bulgaria) - 5 each; 10 Timman (Netherlands) - 4.5; 11
Van Wely (Netherlands) - 4; 12-13 Kasimdhzanov
(Uzbekistan), Yermolinsky (US) - 3.5 each; 14 Reinderman
(Netherlands) - 2. |
Mauresmo perturbed MELBOURNE, Jan 29 (Reuters) — Leading women’s players denied today they were talking about anything but tennis when they said Australian Open finalist Amelie Mauresmo of France was like a man. The 19-year-old Mauresmo has powerful shoulders and a game to match. She downed world number one Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals yesterday with a fearsome display of power tennis. She is also openly gay, and speaks freely about her relationship with a woman who travels with her on the tour. Mauresmo was reported to be angry about a comment made by defending champion Martina Hingis, whom she will play in tomorrow’s final. Hingis was quoted as saying in a German-language news conference yesterday: "She travels with her girlfriend, she is half a man." German reporters said Hingis’s exact words were: "sie ist ein halber mann" — she is half man. But Hingis denied today she had ever made the remark. "A half-man? who would say that?" Hingis said. "She’s a girl, she’s playing tennis... very good and I have to beat her on court, not somewhere else." Asked to explain what she had said in the news conference with Swiss reporters, Hingis said she had mentioned Mauresmo’s girlfriend and had spoken about her style of play. "She has got a lot of topspin and it’s not... that she is man but she plays really like a man, the way she plays. That’s what we were saying with Lindsay, I think both of us." Davenport, who said after being beaten by Mauresmo, "I thought I was playing a guy" — angrily accused reporters of taking her words out of context. "Unfortunately you guys love to write, you know, the worst line possible and unfortunately you have probably hurt a very nice girl," Davenport said. "I’m not going to say anything at all about anything any more and you guys can have the most boring press conferences ever." Gone are the days when leading women’s players feel the need to cover up their sexuality. For tennis great Billie-Jean King felt unable for many years to admit she was gay, although she had the courage to take on the sport’s governing body to bring proper money into women’s tennis. The Mauresmo row, however, shows the issue still has the potential to create a stir. Australia’s Channel Seven television was due to screen an interview with Mauresmo’s coach, Christophe Fournerie, later today and reported she had been angered and "motivated" by Hingis’s remarks. Told of her
opponent’s reaction, the unflappable Hingis replied:
"Well, so am I." |
Churchill, Dempo to clash today MARGAO, Jan 29 (PTI) — With a victory behind them, Goa’s professional league runners-up Churchill Brothers and Dempo will be looking forward to increase their tally when they take on each other in the third edition of the National Football League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here tomorrow. Both the teams played a goal-less draw in their first leg. Dempo who have a win, two losses and two draws, are placed fifth with five points, while Churchill with one win, and four draws are third with seven points. Churchill coach Danny McLennan who pinned his hopes on the Ghanian and Portuguese recruits to deliver the goods, is a little worried with the poor finishing by the frontline which has led them to four draws. Portuguese recruit Jose Martins played well in his first match against Air-India, but was injured while scoring and could not play to his potential against JCT. Now that he has recovered he will carry the responsibilities upfront along with Philip Mensah. Cyril Baretto, the leading scorer so far will assist them in the second half. "My boys are playing well so far and I hope that they will continue the good work", Danny said. Churchill are having injury problems. Medio Mahesh Singh who is running temperature will not play tomorrow, but the inclusion of Mario Soares will boost the midfield. He had missed the last match due to two yellow cards. Bitan Singh is having groin injury and Xavier Fernandes has a pulled muscle. On the other hand Dempo who have not played to their potential will have to improve their performance. Dempo upfront have not been able to combine effectively along with the medios. The injury to striker Marcus Carvalho has caused a lot of worry to coach Chathunny as Henry Okoro, Kannan Priolkar and Orlando who were tried in the slot did not yield much result as they have not combined well with Francis Silveira. Dempo’s main forte is their midfield comprising Tejinder Kumar, John D’Souza, Joao Soares and Sanaton Singh and it is left for them to create opening and bulk their rival midfield consisting of Mario Soares, Aqueel Ansari, Somatai Shaiza and Anthony Fernandes. Churchill defender Osumanu
Husseni and keeper Edward Ansah have proved a hard nut to
crack in the rear guard. |
Ealham overwhelms Sri Lanka PERTH, Jan 29 (Reuters) — Mark Ealham ripped the heart out of Sri Lanka’s batting with five wickets as they were shot out for a paltry 99 for England to win their tri-series match by 128 runs today. It left England, who made 227 for seven in their 50 overs, almost certain of a place in the tournament final. Paceman Ealham, who was hit for 14 runs in his first two overs, finished with five for 32 in 10 overs. Only Sanath Jayasuriya made any impact with the bat, scoring 40 from 58 deliveries, but only two other Sri Lankans reached double figures. Earlier, one-day specialist Neil Fairbrother rescued England from a disastrous start to lift them to 227 for seven. Fairbrother hit an unbeaten 81 from 119 balls to take England to a respectable total after they had earlier crashed to 38 for four. Adam Hollioake (46) and Robert Croft (32) also got among the runs after England’s top order folded cheaply. Paceman Ruchira Perera had a mixed day on his international debut. He finished with three for 55 off 10 overs and also ran out Hollioake. He picked up the key wickets of England captain Alec Stewart (0), opener Nick Knight (13) and Nasser Hussain (0) in a fiery opening spell. But the lanky left-armer failed to get another wicket in his final spell and was expensive. He also bowled 10 no balls and three wides. England looked to be in big trouble when in-form batsman Graeme Hick (10) fell in the ninth over when he failed to offer a shot and was hit on the pad by a ball from Chaminda Vaas. But Fairbrother and Hollioake combined to put England back on track with a fifth wicket partnership which yielded 89 runs. Hollioake’s stay at the crease ended when a direct hit from Perera at deep backward square caught him centimetres short. Controversial off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan bowled superbly to finish with 1-26 from his 10 overs. SCOREBOARD: Stewart b Perera 0 Hick lbw Vaas 10 Hussain c Kaluwitharana b Perera 0 Fairbrother not out 81 Hollioake run out 46 Ealham c Mahanama b Muralitharan 16 Croft c Chandana b Vaas 32 Gough not out 0 Extras (lb-6 w-8 nb-15) 29 Total (for seven, 50 overs) 227. Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-30, 3-37, 4-38, 5-127, 6-166, 7-221. Bowling: Vaas 10-2-38-2,
Perera 10-0-55-3, Muralitharan 10-1-26-1, Chandana
8-0-39-0, Jayasuriya 9-0-47-0, De Silva 3-0-16-0. |
Hingis, Kournikova win doubles MELBOURNE, Jan 29 (Reuters) — Teen queens Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova took their first Grand Slam title together when they beat top seeds Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva 7-5 6-3 in the Australian Open women’s doubles final today. The third seeds won five games in succession from the ninth game of the first set to dominate the middle stages of the match on Melbourne Park’s centre court. Belarus’s Zvereva, a doubles specialist with 20 Grand Slam titles, and singles number one Davenport struggled with their serves as their teen opponents grew in confidence. Zvereva lost her serve again in the final game to hand Hingis and Kournikova the match in 72 minutes. The win extended a remarkable run of doubles success for Switzerland’s Hingis, who last year became only the third woman in history to complete a doubles Grand Slam. Hingis, 18, teamed up with Mirjana Lucic to win the Australian Open and then Jana Novotna to win the French, Wimbledon and US Open titles. The only other players to complete the Grand Slam were Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, who did it together in 1984. They won a record eight titles in succession between 1983 and 1985. Hingis and Kournikova had
never played together before this tournament but are
close friends off the court. |
Notice issued on Kapil Dev's plea CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — Former captain of the Indian cricket team Kapil Dev today preferred a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court questioning the functioning of Mr Ranbir Singh Mahendra and Mr S.K. Mishra, honorary secretary and president of the Haryana Cricket Association. Mr Justice R.S. Mongia and Mr Justice S.S. Sukhalkar, before whom the petition came up for hearing, issued notice to the respondents for March 4. The petitioner stated that the aims and objectives for which the Haryana Cricket Association was formed were not being achieved. In fact, the cause of cricket and public interest were adversely affected due to undemocratic functioning of the respondents. Kapil Dev added that Mr Mahendra and Mr Mishra took over as honorary secretary and president of the HCA about 12 years ago. "Due to manipulation they are continuing as such without caring to achieve the objectives for which the HCA was formed," added the petitioner. He claimed that Mr Mahendra had inducted 62 life members in the association who were either his relatives or friends. None of them had ever played cricket for the country or any state. On the other hand players, including the petitioner who had played for the Haryana state and the country, had not been made life members. Kapil Dev stated that the
accounts of the HCA were not being circulated and as such
there was no transparency in the working of the
association. Neither any notice of the meeting was ever
issued nor were the minutes circulated. |
A-I hold Tollygunge MUMBAI, Jan 29 (PTI) — Local outfit Air India failed to capitalise on several chances that came their way and shared points with Tollygunge Agragami, Calcutta with a goal-less draw in the National Football League at the Cooperage here today. Languishing at the bottom of group-A, Air-India played their hearts out against the group leaders, on change of ends in particular, but failed to score. On two of the three occasions when they came close to scoring they struck the crossbar, after the Calcutta team’s defender Hussain Mustafi denied Khalid Jamil by effecting a goal line save in the 48th minute following a free-kick by Air-India captain Godfrey Pereira. Pereira floated the ball into the box where Ratan Singh back passed it to Jamil, who diverted the ball to the goal only to see Mustafi on the line effect a save. Two minutes later, Jamil’s firm header rebounded from the crossbar. In the 70th minute, the crossbar came in the way of Henry Picardo. The Air-India defender came a long way to the rival box to connect a Khambiton Singh floater, but the ball went out for a goal kick after kissing the crossbar. Tollygunge have 10 points from six outings while Air-India have four from six matches and are still at the bottom of the table. Tollygunge's Sri Lankan striker Roshan Pereira, who looked dangerous in the first half, was totally off colour in the second. His reverse kick at the Air-India post in the middle of the first half was ruled off-side. The best chance for the visiting team was created by mid-fielder Biswarup Bisu, whose fierce 30-yarder hit the bar before going out of play in the 37th minute. A couple of minutes later, Air-India, too had a chance but Jamil could not latch on to the free-kick taken from just outside the Tollygunge box. Nitin Shetty replaced Jamil in the second half. Air-India captain Pereira also missed a similar chance off a pass from Henry Piccardo. For the Calcutta team,
experienced striker Chibuzor Nwakanma was totally out of
touch today, forcing coach Amal Dutta to replace him with
Gaurab Sengupta a few minutes after the commencement of
the second session. |
WWF man to take up coaching CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — I will launch a vigorous campaign to select and train the cream of wrestling in India", revealed Tiger Jeet Singh, international ambassador of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who was in the city last night on his way to Hoshiarpur in Punjab. Tiger Jeet is 52 and weighs 270 pounds and is settled in Milton-Ontario (Canada). He has made big money in professional wrestling. Nearly, four years back he gave a live show at the Parade Ground here and he says, like other countries India also has a large following of such shows. The only thing is the tapping of sponsors. In Pakistan, his shows got tremendous response and these were held in famous cities like Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi and at many places, the jampacked stadium had 50,000 people. He plans to hold more such shows there in October this year. Tiger Jeet hails from Hoshiarpur district and studied at Sai Dass School and DAV College, Jalandhar. Tiger feels sad for those sportspersons who despite bringing glory to the country are not treated well. Tiger Jeet Singh is a household name in Japan, Middle East, North America and Africa. He has also triumphed over Antorio Inoki (who defeated Mohammed Ali) in Tokyo Dome, Tokyo. He has three sons and the eldest — Tiger Ali Singh — is also a leading wrestler in the WWF circuit. He has a height of 6'-5", and weighs more than 250 pounds. Tiger Jeet also shared a anti-drug campaign with Nelson Mandela whom he called another Mahatma Gandhi. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently made a film on Tiger Jeet, which is a rare privilege for this Jat of Punjab. When asked about the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa, Tiger Jeet said, it all depended on the Punjab Government. Meanwhile, an NRI, Mr Ajay Aggarwal, of Ambala, said there were plans to hold shows of Tiger Jeet Singh in Punjab and Delhi to coincide with the tercentenary celebrations. Tiger also admits that
when a large sum is involved, the shows become
stage-managed. Tiger has diversified his business into
cartoon books, and sports kit manufacturing. |
Kapil’s
advice
to MCM girls CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — Savitri could not have asked for more as she strode up to receive the-best sportswoman of the year trophy from former India cricket captain Kapil Dev at the annual Sports Day of Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College here today. Equally happy was Aishwarya on receiving the best athlete trophy from the former cricket star. The very presence of Kapil enthused the girls. They mobbed him for autographs. And the Principal and teachers had a hard time escorting him away from the crowd of girls, who wanted to shake hands and get themselves photographed with their cricketing hero. For Kapil Dev it was homecoming, as he himself was a DAV product, having studied in the DAV Senior Secondary School and the DAV College. Addressing the girls he asked them to put their heart and soul in the sport they participated in. The Principal, Mrs Sneh
Mahajan, read out the annual report highlighting the
achievements of the college. The college won the Panjab
University General Efficiency Shield for the third year
in succession. |
Bhullar shines in national
shooting CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — Gursimranjit Singh Bhullar won a gold medal in the centre fire pistol event and a silver medal in standard pistol event in the recently concluded National Shooting Championship in Bangalore. A keen tussle was witnessed in the centre fire pistol event between Gursimranjit and N.S. Rana for the gold, but the former displaying superior skill emerged deserving winner. Gursimranjit started shooting a year back and has won 18 medals so far in various tournaments. At the recent Punjab State Shooting Championship at Phillaur, he won gold medals in standard as well as centre fire pistol events. In the G.V. Mavlankar
Shooting Championship at Asansol (West Bengal) last year
he won a silver medal. |
Panchkula prevail over Ambala CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — Panchkula prevailed over Ambala by 1-0 today in the opening match of 3rd Haryana State Women's Football Championship being conducted here at Hoshiar Singh Stadium at Bahadurgarh, according to information reaching here. The winning goal was scored in the 15th minute of the match by Sunita when she got a fine pass from her team mate Rina. Both the teams could not score any goal in the second half. In the second match of the day Fatehabad went down to Gurgaon 2-0. In the 12th minute of first half Gurgaon got a chance just outside the penalty box. Surbhi took the shot but the ball was collected by the keeper neatly. The first half remained goal-less. In the second half Fatehabad player Santosh Punia handled the ball in the penalty box and Gurgaon got the first penalty which was converted by Surbhi. In the very next minute Gurgaon got the second penalty when Poonam of Fatehabad handled the ball. Surbhi again took a powerful shot and netted the ball to increase the score 2-0 for Gurgaon. In the third match of the day Kurukshetra defeated Rewari by 2-0 goals. Rajbala scored the first field goal in the 14th minute of first half in favour of Kurukshetra. Rajbala struck again to increase the score by 2-0 for Kurukshetra victory. The second half remained goalless. The score between Sonepat and Faridabad remained nil after the normal time. In tie breaker Sonepat prevailed over Faridabad by 4-3 via sudden death. In the fifth match Rohtak
routed Jind by 3-0 goals. |
North-East Zone triumph CHANDIGARH, Jan 29 — North-East Zone scored an easy 83-run victory over South Zone in the 29th FCI All-India Inter-Zonal Cricket Tournament at the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16 today. After the heavy rain yesterday, the match started in bright sunshine. South Zone won the toss but elected to field. NE Zone players piled up 148 for 5 with Bachan Singh remaining the top scorer with 63 runs. In reply, South Zone could make 65 in the stipulated overs for the loss of five wickets. D. Roy wrecked the South innings by claiming four wickets for just 15 runs. Brief scores: NEZ: 148 for
5. (RKM Gohain 29, RB Inderjit 28, Bachan Singh 63; SZ;
65 for 5 (Seshadari 15, Ravi Shankar 17, Ramanan 10, D.
Roy 4 for 15). |
H
Trials CHANDIGARH (TNS): The Amateur Athletic Association of Chandigarh will conduct trials to select the cross country team on February 1, at 10 a.m. at the DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, according to Mr Milkha Singh, president of the AAAC. Entries close with Mr Raj Kumar at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, on January 31. Selection trials HISAR, Jan 29 (FOSR) — Haryana State Judo Association will conduct the selection trials to select the Haryana men and women teams for National Games to be held at Imphal from February 15 to 25 at Mahabir Stadium on January 31 at 10.30 am. These trials would be held in all the eight weight categories of each section, secretary of the association said here today. District wrestling HISAR, Jan 29 (FOSR) — Hisar district wrestling championship started here at Mahabir Stadium today. Over 200 grapplers from all over the district are taking part in the two-day championship which is being held in senior, junior and sub-junior categories. The district team for
state wrestling championship to be held at Narwana from
February 4 to 7 will be selected during this
championship. |
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