Ruthless approach won Brazil Copa America
ASUNCION, July 20 — Brazil’s Copa America win yesterday, their sixth in the history of the tournament, rewarded a ruthless approach imposed by coach Wanderley Luxemburgo.

WASHINGTON : President Clinton holds up a U.S. Women's World Cup soccer jersey that was given to him by co-captain Julie Foudy (right) during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday. Clinton marked "a moment of celebration and a moment of sadness" Monday, welcoming the World Cup-winning U.S. women's soccer team to the White House and pausing to remember John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister. — AP/PTI

Newcombe eyes title BROOKLINE (Mass), July 20 — Australian Davis Cup captain John Newcombe took special satisfaction in vanquishing the USA in their centennial celebration quarter-final tie on Sunday. AIFF to consult govt NEW DELHI, July 20 — All-India Football Federation’s stand in the current stand-off between the world and Asian bodies over allocation of berths for the 2002 World Cup will be decided only after consultation with the government, AIFF President P.R. Dasmunshi, said yesterday.

Commonwealth Games: cricket excluded
WELLINGTON, July 20 — Organisers of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester plan to drop one-day cricket but rugby sevens, hockey and netball will remain, the New Zealand Olympic Committee today said.

Sohail ready to stage comeback
ISLAMABAD, July 20 — The suspension of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the constitution of an ad hoc committee has raised hopes for a couple of former captains, who have been at loggerheads with top cricket officials, to stage a comeback.

Barlow may be B’desh coach
DHAKA, July 20 — Former South African Test player Edger Barlow is likely to be appointed new coach of Bangladesh cricket team to replace sacked West Indian Gordon Greenidge.

Kournikova out
MOSCOW, July 20 — Anna Kournikova will again be missing from Russia’s squad when they take on Slovakia in the Fed Cup semifinals this weekend, the Russian captain said yesterday.

Punjab eves lose to Bihar

TIRUPATI, July 20 (PTI) — Bihar got the better of a fighting Punjab to register a 1-0 win in their crucial group A league match in the sixth women’s Federation Cup hockey here this morning.

Adeline Kerketta sounded the board for the winners in the 25th minute through a field goal, which eventually enabled Bihar to garner three points.

With title favourite Indian Railways expected to face no problems in defeating all other three teams, including Andhra Pradesh in group A, an outright win was vital for Punjab, and Bihar (who are favoured over AP) to keep their hopes alive for second place and enter the knockout phase.

The low scoring match, coming after yesterday’s identical 1-0 win for Bombay over Uttar Pradesh, gave another indication of the difficulty players have in playing on the uneven clay surface.

The experienced Bihar, boasting of four players who did duty for the country, winning the under-21 four-nation tournament at New Jersey last month, began on a positive note and often kept attacking the rival defence.

The frontline, led by Kerketta, Masira Surin and Amita Ekka worked out some good moves but lacked finish. The Punjab defenders did well in containing them for about 25 minutes.

Bihar broke the ice off an initiative from Asa P. Dang, who gave a nice pass to Jasmani in the centre. Kerketta, who finally got the ball, effected a slow push into the netting.

The winners, who had nine penalty corners, took their first shot at the goal in the 12th minute, after a combined move by Surin and Kerketta, but it was saved by Punjab custodian Amandeep Kaur (jr). Ten minutes later, another attempt by Anita Ekka, saw the ball going just wide off the mark.

Punjab too had their chances. Following a counter attack two minutes after Bihar scored, Punjab’s Harmanpreet Kaur took a shot at the goal with just the goalkeeper Nouri Mundu in front, but the latter cleared it to safety.

Punjab put up an improved performance in the second half, dominating the first 10 minutes and the later stages. In the 42nd minute, they missed an easy chance when Rajwinder Kaur drove her shot wayward with the goal at her mercy.

Their desperate attempts to find the equaliser went in vain, as Bihar girls held their act together.

Punjab take on Andhra Pradesh in their second tie, while Bihar will play Railways.

UNI adds: Challengers Haryana and Mumbai split points sharing two goals each, while Orissa beat Uttar Pradesh 2-1 later in the evening.

Haryana, packed with seven internationals rallied from 1-2 deficit at half time and a made a fine comeback to hold on the fighting Mumbai.

Haryana were far superior but they were not used to playing on a gravel ground and took time to adjust to the new playing surface.

In the first half, Haryana played with Ritu Rani as the goalkeeper, but changed to international Suman Deswai in the second session.

Haryana did most of the attacking but the defence, especially rival skipper Manorama Goswami and goalkeeper Seema Lakra, foiled many of their moves.

Thipsay, Saravanan start on high note

BEIL (Switzerland), July 20 (PTI) — Indian grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, international masters V. Saravanan, D.V. Prasad and young S. Kidambi scored fluent victories in the opening round of the Biel International Chess Tournament to start their campaign on a high note here.

GM Thipsay, after being blown away in the rapid chess event, chose the advance variation with white against French defence of Hindermann of Switzerland.

Thipsay played flawlessly to earn a full point after taking advantage of his opponent’s weak moves.

IM Saravanan adopted his pet closed Sicilian variation and steadily built up a strong initiative on the king side against Saud Mohammed of the UAE.

In the ensuing struggle for supremacy, Saravanan won his enemy’s queen by ripping open the G and L file to score a convincing victory.

A total of 21 GMs and 15 IMs are vying for top honours in this 94-player field.

GM norm holder Prasad accounted for Fran Reinemer of Germany. The Indian played the Nimzo Indian defence with black pieces and saddled Reinemer with a weak C. Pawn. Prasad won the pawn with precise play and the resultant bishop ending.

National junior champion S. Kidambi conducted the minority attack in the Caro Kann defence with perfection to score a well deserved victory over Roger Lueber of Switzerland.

Kidambi weakened his enemy’s pawn-chain and later won the C. Pawn and converted the material advantage in his favour.

IM Abhijit Kunte was held to a draw by Thorste Heedt of Germany.

Kunte played the Sicilian Paulsen and got an overwhelming advantage in the opening but let his opponent off the hook after committing a couple of errors.

Results:

GM Vadim Milov (1) beat Schmidt (0); Boris Gutkin (.5) drew Sturva (.5); Thipsay (1) beat Hindermann (0); Reinemer (0) lost to D.V. Prasad (1); V. Saravanan (1) beat Saud Mohammed (0); Roger Lueber (0) lost to S. Kidambi (1); Heedt (.5) drew Abhijit Kunte (.5); Anupama Gokhale (0) lost to Peptan (1); Ermeni (0) lost to Sasikiran (1).

Newcombe eyes title

BROOKLINE (Mass), July 20 (Reuters) — Australian Davis Cup captain John Newcombe took special satisfaction in vanquishing the USA in their centennial celebration quarter-final tie on Sunday.

First, the 4-1 decision avenged a defeat two years ago in the semifinals in Washington and was Australia’s first win over the Americans on US soil since 1973 when Newcombe and Rod Laver posted a 5-0 shutout in the Davis Cup final in Cleveland.

Victory also took away the sour taste from having been made to play the tie in the USA despite it being Australia’s turn to host a tie between the two grandest Davis Cup rivals.

That turn of events came down to the luck of the draw after it was decided two years ago to mark the 100th anniversary of the first Cup matches between the USA and Britain at the Longwood Cricket Club in 1900 by returning to the club in the sweltering summer in 1999.

Then came the odd intrigue surrounding Pete Sampras.

Sampras, the world’s best player six years running, declared he would play only doubles against Australia but lurked in the shadows as a possible singles saviour up until half an hour before matches as US captain Tom Gullikson tried to substitute him for an ailing Martin.

Australia overcame all this and did so on the big centennial occasion, which drew 51 former US Davis Cup players, including Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Vice Seixas, Tony Trabert and Gardnar Mulloy.

Thirteen Australian Davis Cup greats on hand included Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Fred Stolle, Tony Roche, Newcombe and Neale Fraser.

The sweetest of all was the light at the end of the tunnel seen by Newcombe, who believed Australia was on track to add to their haul of 26 Davis Cup titles, second only to the 31 won by the USA states.

“We were stung in the semis two years ago in Washington and now I think two years later we are a stronger team, a better team, a more experienced team”, he said. It is satisfying for Tony (Roche) and myself.

“I think we have got an excellent chance to win the Cup this year. This is our sixth year, we would really love to win it for the boys,” Newcombe said of his and assistant Roche’s time in charge of the Davis Cup team

The next step in the Davis Cup campaign will be semifinal match at home against Russia, which Newcombe said would probably be played on grass. Belgium and France will play the other semifinal.

“Pat (Rafter) played his first Davis Cup match with us and Mark Philippoussis did and Lleyton (Hewitt) did and we have sort of grown pretty close to all these guys,” Newcombe said.

“So it will be just an enormous thrill for Tony and myself if we can so a little bit to help them get their names on the Cup. It will be a big thrill.”

US Open champion Rafter, the world number two, beat Jim Courier in straight sets on Friday and overcame a two-set deficit yesterday against Martin, who needed intravenous fluids before the match after suffering from heat exhaustion following his morning warm-up.

While Rafter yet again revealed his special qualities, 18-year-old Hewitt, the slight, nimble-footed son of an Australian rules football player, was a revelation in his Davis Cup debut.

Hewitt got Australia off to a flying start with his four-set defeat of Martin in the opening match, which ended on a 6-0 note.

Give Ronaldo, me a chance: Vieri

MILAN, July 20 (AFP) — Inter Milan’s new star Christian Vieri today called on the club’s fans to give Ronaldo and himself time to build a winning combination.

Inter splashed out nearly 50 million dollars to buy Vieri from Lazio with club president Massimo Moratto pairing the world’s expensive footballer with probably its most gifted striker — Ronaldo.

But Vieri sent the San Siro faithful a warning about the new season, as the team started their pre-season training this week — don’t expect instant success.

“With Ronaldo next to me, I’ll avoid at least 50 per cent of the kicks that I usually get from defenders,” he quipped.

The Brazilian star was held back by tendon trouble through out last season, but has recently shown signs of being back to his dazzling best.

“I’ve seen him in action in the Copa America - he scored goals, broke forward and was always looking for the ball,” said Vieri.

“I’m not the sort who goes around making predictions, but if the pair of us are able to stay fit, then we are going to have fun, that’s for sure. This is a team of champions”.

Vieri, who has been with eight different teams in eight years, also said he had no regrets about giving up the chance of playing in the European Champions League with Lazio to join a club who won’t be playing in Europe for at least a year.

AIFF to consult govt

NEW DELHI, July 20 (PTI) — All-India Football Federation’s (AIFF) stand in the current stand-off between the world and Asian bodies over allocation of berths for the 2002 World Cup will be decided only after consultation with the government, AIFF President P.R. Dasmunshi, said yesterday.

The Japanese and South Korean federations will also be consulted before going to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) extraordinary meeting that will debate whether Asian countries should boycott the World Cup.

The AFC had threatened to boycott the World Cup, to be co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, after its demand that three full berths — apart from the two automatic spots for the hosts — be given was not conceded by FIFA.

The FIFA move to grant only 4-1/2 berths — four automatic spots and a play-off with a European side finishing 14th in the qualifiers — evoked strong protests and the entire Asian delegation walked out of FIFA extraordinary Congress held at Los Angeles on July 9.

Mr Dasmunshi, who was a delegate at the FIFA session, said here that the AFC wanted a decision taken at the FIFA meet on the issue, but national federations prevailed to defer any decision till the AFC meeting, expected to be held sometime in October. The groupings for the preliminary qualifiers will be done in December.

Mr Dasmunshi, who is also an AFC technical committee member, said any decision on non-participation in the World Cup will have to be taken after due consideration.

“It is a major decision. We will have to consult the government before going to the AFC session,” he said.

There were several countries which advised the AFC Secretary, Mr Peter Velappan, to tread cautiously at Los Angeles, showing not all federations supported the walkout or threat to boycott.

Japan and South Korea, who have earned the distinction as the countries to host the first World Cup to be held in Asia, have already been exempted by the AFC from any boycott.

Hopes of an early settlement to the row were dashed as the South American federation has refused to cede a berth to Asia in exchange for a play-off with a European side.

Asked about India’s 0-2 defeat to Thailand in the first leg of the Olympic qualifiers which has virtually ended hopes of qualifying to the second stage, Mr Dasmunshi said a trip to Kazakhstan to play three warm-up matches was cancelled to leave the Indian team at a disadvantage.

The home leg is scheduled at Calcutta on July 24.

The AIFF President said the season-opening Super Cup tie between national league champions Salgaocar and Federation Cup winners Mohun Bagan will be held at Ambedkar Stadium here on August 31.

The entire proceeds from the match will be donated by the AIFF to the Army Welfare Fund to support the jawans who were killed or wounded in the Kargil operations, he added.

Ruthless approach won Brazil
Copa America

ASUNCION, July 20 (Reuters) — Brazil’s Copa America win yesterday, their sixth in the history of the tournament, rewarded a ruthless approach imposed by coach Wanderley Luxemburgo.

Throughout the tournament, their game was based on tireless marking and hassling of the opposition in midfield and systematic fouling when necessary to halt their opponents’ attacks.

The Brazilians committed 13 fouls in the first half of Sunday’s 3-0 final win over Uruguay and nearly twice as many as Mexico in last Wednesday’s semifinal win.

Having won the war of attrition in midfield, Brazil were able to kill off their opponents with the brilliance of players such as Ronaldo and Rivaldo, who finished as joint topscorers with five goals each.

“There are four keys words. Unity, discipline, work and professionalism,” said Luxemburgo, who took less than a year in charge of the team to win his first major title.

Ronaldo, who will be rested for the Confederations’ cup which starts in one week’s time in Mexico, was also able to celebrate the end of an injury-plagued year.

“After a year of suffering, indecision, uncertainty and treatment, this is a very important moment and I’m very happy,” he said.

“It has been a very difficult year and to be able to run and not feel any pain has been wonderful, this has been one of the most important moments of my career.”

Despite winning all six of their matches, Brazil were rarely a pleasure to watch except for the second half of the final, when they finally began to play without inhibition.

For a few moments, they even appeared to by enjoying themselves.

Opponents Uruguay saw their luck run out at the end of a Copa America which began brightly but faded with two dismal semifinals and an embarrassingly one-sided final.

Uruguay arrived without top players Paolo Montero, Alvaro Recoba and Gustavo Poyet, and their young side won only one game in normal time en route to the final.

Having qualified from the first round as one of the best first-placed teams, they drew both their quarter-final and semifinal matches before going on to win on penalties.

The Copa America seemed to have used up its drama ration the previous Sunday.

The biggest talking point remained Argentine striker Martin Palermo, who remarkably missed three penalties in a 3-0 first round defeat by Colombia.

The Boca Juniors marksman left Paraguay with three goals but is unlikely to keep his place once the likes of Gabriel Batistuta and Hernan Crespo, who like the Uruguayan stars were rested for the tournament after a long season in Europe, return for the World Cup qualifiers which start in march.

Colombia, coached by former chemical engineer Javier Alvarez, played brilliantly until the quarter-finals when they fell victims to Chile’s only inspiring performance of the competition in a 3-2 defeat.

The Colombians unveiled a new generation of talented players, including 16-year-old Jhonnier Montano, but once again doubts were raised over their ability to win when it mattered.

Alvarez was a story apart, repeatedly warning that Colombia would thrash opponents who defended badly and claiming that he helped goalkeeper Miguel Calero save one of Palermo’s penalties by transmitting “positive thoughts” from the bench.

Chile, like Uruguay, scraped through the first round as one of the best third-placed teams. Striker Ivan Zamorano scored three goals and then hinted he might not play for his country again.

His partner Marcelo Salas had a nightmare tournament, failing to score and missing two matches after being sent off against Venezuela.

Local interest died with Paraguay’s quarter-final exit at the hands of Uruguay’s penalty shootout specialists and off the field the hosts were left with a row between the government’s sports council, who threatened to investigate why so many match tickets ended up in the hands of touts, and the football association.

The latter warned that any government interference could result in Paraguay being suspended by FIFA.

World Cup captain and goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, meanwhile, refused to play in protest at the amount of money his country spent on organising the competition.

Mexico, who like Japan were invited to take part as guests, were also left with scores to settle. After Raul Lara and Paulo Cesar Chavez were banned for six months for failing a doping test, the entire squad threatened to boycott the Confederations’ Cup, which their country is hosting, in protest.

For minnows Venezuela, it was the same old story, however.

An unprecedented five-match unbeaten run in friendlies prompted striker Daniel Noriega to claim: “Venezuela are no longer the ugly ducklings of South America football.”

They were hammered 7-0 by brazil in their opening match and returned to Caracas with three straight defeats and a goals against tally of 13.

Commonwealth Games: cricket excluded

WELLINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) — Organisers of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester plan to drop one-day cricket but rugby sevens, hockey and netball will remain, the New Zealand Olympic Committee today said.

Organisers have finalised a list of 14 individual sports and three team sports they planned to host, New Zealand Olympic Committee Chief Executive Michael Hooper said in a statement on his return from a fact-finding mission to Manchester.

Formal decisions on the sports to be included in the Games are not due to be made by the general assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation until October.

“One-day cricket has been excluded from the programme...But judo, table tennis, triathlon and wrestling have been added,” said the committee, which also handles commonwealth Games matters in New Zealand.

The team sports made their debut at last year’s Kuala Lumpur games, although netball had been a demonstration sport at the Auckland Games in 1990.

South Africa took the cricket gold medal but the matches were not officially recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The ICC has suggested an eight-a-side short version of the one-day game be played in Manchester.

At one stage, the Manchester organisers had suggested only one team sport be hosted there — netball.

Sohail ready to stage comeback

ISLAMABAD, July 20 (PTI) — The suspension of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the constitution of an ad hoc committee has raised hopes for a couple of former captains, who have been at loggerheads with top cricket officials, to stage a comeback.

Opening batsman and former skipper Aamir Sohail has already declared that he is ready to stage a comeback if he gets justice from the new PCB team.

“It is upto the new administrators to provide justice,” Sohail, who walked out of the team during the home series against Zimbabwe late last year amidst serious differences with the PCB top brass, said.

“I continue to practice my game and will be available to serve my country whenever needed,” he said.

Wicketkeeper and former captain Rashid Latif has also welcomed the suspension of the PCB by President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar and hoped the Mujibur Rehman-led interim panel would do justice to players discriminated against by the previous team.

Latif said players who have been given a raw deal by the previous management held high hopes from the ad hoc committee and mentioned the names of Sohail, stylish batsman Basit Ali, paceman Aaqib Javed and coach Javed Miandad.

Sohail and Latif have earlier lodged complaints with the PCB saying some of the team members were involved in betting and match-fixing.

Barlow may be B’desh coach

DHAKA, July 20 (PTI) — Former South African Test player Edger Barlow is likely to be appointed new coach of Bangladesh cricket team to replace sacked West Indian Gordon Greenidge.

The Pretoria-born all-rounder, selected by United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) after a series of discussions between the UCBSA managing director Dr Ali Bacher and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Saber Hossain Chowdhury, met the BCB president here yesterday.

Barlow, who celebrates his 59th birthday next month, called on Chowdhury — also a deputy minister in the Bangladesh Government — at his secretariat office here.

National Games to open at Ludhiana
By Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, July 20 — Like the Olympics and the Asian Games the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) allots the National Games — held every four years — to only one city. But for the convenience of the organisers the IOA does permit the host association to conduct the events in different cities in the state. Therefore, when the games were held at Bangalore some of the events were held in Mysore. Similarly, when the games were officially allotted to Pune the IOA permitted some of the events to be conducted at Mumbai. It was only at Imphal where all the events were held at Imphal, probably because the state of Manipur wanted all the new sporting structures to come up in the sate capital.

The National Games in 2000 have been allotted to Punjab to coincide with the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa and for the first time in the history of the IOA the events were initially allowed to be spread over three cities — Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Chandigarh. A fourth city, Patiala, was added later to the list. While Ludhiana will host nine disciplines, Jalandhar will host seven games.

The Punjab Olympic Association requested the IOA to permit the state body to host a few events at Patiala where the concept of National Games took birth shortly after Independence. The IOA conceded to the request and now Patiala will host six games. The POA has to per force hold the water sport events in Chandigarh in the absence of any facility in Punjab. The state capital will also host the shooting and the golf competitions.

The IOA has always held that facilities created for the National Games should be put to good use even after the event is over. It has learnt from experience that putting up huge structures just for one event hardly serves to promote sport.

The best example of this is the huge indoor stadium built in New Delhi for the 1982 Asian Games. The Indraprastha Stadium (popularly known as the Indira Gandhi Stadium) has been put to little use after the conclusion of the Asiad. It is so big that only fun events like star nites can be held there as the daily rent is out of the reach of most sports associations. Now the structure is in a state of utter neglect so much so that the dome of the stadium leaks whenever it rains.

Therefore, the IOA has told the authorities in Punjab that sporting venues created for the 1989 National Games — which could not be held due to militancy in the state at that time — should be put to the best possible use and new structures should be built only when absolutely necessary.

In this context it is worth referring to the report of the “joint survey team” of the Punjab Sports Department and the Punjab Olympic Association.The committee has suggested certain changes of venues for better conduct of the games. The swimming events should be conducted at the Municipal Corporation swimming pool, Ludhiana, while the football competitions should also be held at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium and the PAU complex at Jalandhar with the semi-finals and final being played at the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium at Ludhiana, where the opening and closing ceremonies will also be conducted. Similarly, the team has suggested certain changes in the venues for handball, shooting, weightlifting and wrestling.These changes will eliminate the necessity of building new structures in the sate.

Meanwhile, the IOA, it is learnt, has shot down a proposal to construct exclusive stadiums for weightlifting and wrestling and instead has suggested that the events can be held in multipurpose halls so that the venues can be used for the promotion of sports once the games conclude.

The association, instead, has proposed that the Guru Govind Singh Stadium at Ludhiana should be floodlit so that it could be put to full use. While the athletic events can be conducted in the day the stadium can be used for football in the evenings.

For the 1989 National Games Punjab had purchased a lot of equipment but most of it still remains packed in crates. In what condition they are is anybody’s guess. Sources in the POA indicate that the state will have to procure new equipment for next year’s games.

Kournikova out

MOSCOW, July 20 (Reuters) — Anna Kournikova will again be missing from Russia’s squad when they take on Slovakia in the Fed Cup semifinals this weekend, the Russian captain said yesterday.

“I didn’t even bother to send her an invitation”, captain Konstantin Bogorodetsky told Reuters. “It’s simply not worth the effort.”

PAAA yet to appoint coach

PATIALA, July 20 (FOSR) — Overlooking the directive of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), the Punjab Amateur Athletic Association (PAAA) seems to be dragging its feet and has failed to announce the name of the state chief coach.AAFI sources say that by deferring the announcement, the PAAA may have to pay a heavy price in the 2000 National Games which are being hosted in the state itself. Recently the AAFI had instructed its state units to appoint chief coaches immediately. This was in pursuance of the new provisions incorporated in the AAFI constitution.

The AAFI has also come down heavily on the functioning of the majority of the state units and has made it clear that if any state unit does not abide by the AAFI police of holding at least three meets — senior state meet, junior state meet and the cross country race apart from holding an off season camp for juniors — in a year the erring unit will face immediate disaffiliation from the AAFI.