Cheers missing for Gebrselassie
MAEBASHI, Japan, March 5 — A deafening silence greeted Haile Gebrselassie’s triumph in the first half of his attempted double at the World Indoor Athletics Championships here today.

Aussie IOC member faces fresh charges
SYDNEY, March 5 — Australian IOC member Phil Coles, implicated in the Salt Lake City bribe scandal, was accused today of accepting valuable jewellery from a businessman linked to the failed Athens bid for the 1996 Games.

Delhi tighten grip over Railways
NEW DELHI, March 5 — Delhi consolidated their hold over Railways in their penultimate Ranji Trophy super-league match reaching 227 for two at stumps after restricting the visitors to 246 on the second day here.

Jeev sitting on the fence
NEW DELHI, March 5 — Jeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian in the European PGA Tour, was sitting on the fence as far as making the cut was concerned when he shot a one-over 73 in the first round of the Portugese Algav Open, being played at the Le Meridien, Penina.

Kannan to meet Nitin in final
CHENNAI, March 5 — Top seed Vijay Kannan (Del) carved out an impressive straight sets win over former Davis Cupper Sandeep Kirtane of Maharashtra to set up a title clash with Nitin Kirtane who downed second seed Vinod Sridhar (TN) in the semi-finals matches of the ATP Aces Tour Tennis Championship (second leg) here today.

FC Kochin held 1-1 by JCT
MARGAO, March 5 — Spirited FC Kochin were held to a 1-1 draw by JCT to split points in the first leg of the National Football Super League here today.

Veterans athletics meet results
CHANDIGARH, March 5 — The first North Zone Veterans Athletics Championship being organised by Veterans Amateur Athletic Association of Chandigarh (regd) started at Panjab University grounds here today.

Tara thrashes Punjab girl
KOCHI, March 5 — Top seeded S.K. Tara of Karnataka, true to her seedings, crushed Jasleen Randhawa of Punjab 6-0, 6-0 in the finals of the AITA-ranked All-India Women's Tennis Tournament here yesterday.

Punjab gain upper hand
BARODA, March 5 — Baroda were 27 runs short to avoid a follow-on as Punjab gained an upper hand by scalping six wickets of the hosts for 146 runs after posting a commanding first innings total of 372 all out on the second day in the group "A" Ranji Super League match here today.

Big victory for Punjab Police
JALANDHAR, March 5 — The visiting Gloucester Police team went down fighting 1-4 to Punjab Police in their fifth game of the tour at Surjit Memorial Hockey Stadium here today.The home team led 2-1 at the breather.

Sri Lanka set to upstage India

LAHORE, March 5 (PTI) — A depleted Sri Lanka cashed in on a carefree approach by Pakistan to grab five bonus points and looked set to upstage India for a place in the final of the Asian Test Championship after the second day of the last league tie of the series here today.

Young opener Russel Arnold was batting with a responsible 81 after he and debutant Avishka Gunawardene (43) rattled up an 84-run opening stand in just 14 overs as Sri Lanka were 189 for four wickets in their first innings after bowling out Pakistan, overnight 198 for three, for 398 soon after lunch.

Opener Wajahatullah Wasti struck his maiden Test century making 133 as Pakistan, having already sealed their place in the final at Dhaka from March 12 to 16, went after the Sri Lankan attack.

The islanders cashed in fully by raking in all the four bowling bonus points with paceman Pramodya Wickremasinghe returning a career-best haul of 103 for six wickets.

Sri Lanka, whose chances of gaining the seven points required to make the final at the cost of India (10 points from two matches) looked remote going into the match, added their first batting point when they reached 150.

With 48.2 overs sent down by Pakistan, Sri Lanka have to make 111 runs in 51.4 overs with six wickets in hand.

The Lankan innings looked set to nosedive as Saqlain Mushtaq took three for 45 to leave them struggling at 156 for four. But the star off-spinner went off reportedly indisposed and complaining of a muscle pull to ease Sri Lankan pressure.

Sri Lanka, needing three batting points to clinch the seven needed from the last league tie to make the final, got off to a rousing start with lefthander Gunewardene cutting loose against rookie paceman Fazle Akbar, who went for 41 runs in his first four overs and rarely gained any respect.

Gunewardene struck a delightful 43 before hooking Akbar to Shahid Nazir at deep fine leg. Mahela Jayawardene, whose 242 frustrated India at Colombo, fell to Saqlain for four and the crafty spinner also claimed Marvan Atapattu (23) and stand-in skipper Hashan Tillekeratne (9).

But wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana (20 not out) stayed put to raise Sri Lankan hopes for a final berth.

Earlier, Wasti came on top of the uninspired Sri Lankan attack to reach his maiden hundred. Wasti batted for over five and half hours, (218 b, 18x4, 2x6).

The consistent Youhana cracked his seventh Test fifty making 83 off 152 balls (11 x 4, 1x6) and wicketkeeper Moin Khan made a swashbuckling 57 (53 b, 7x4, 3x6) to push the hosts towards the 400-run mark.

Wickremasinghe, spearheading the attack in the absence of better known teammates, surpassed his previous best of five for 73 with his six wicket haul.

Sri Lanka can get their second batting point at 225 and the third if they make 300 in 100 overs. They can clinch the final spot even if they reach 293 in 100 overs as they enjoy a better run rate than India.

Pakistan (1st innings): (overnight 192-3)
Anwar b Wickremasinghe 0
Wasti run out 133
Nazir c de Silva b Wickremasinghe 64
Inzamam b Wickremasinghe 0
Yohanna c and Kalpage 83
Afridi c Gunawardene b Kalpage 0
Moin Khan lbw b Wickremasinghe 57
Saqlain c De Silva b Bandarathilake 15
Akram c Arnold b Wickremasinghe 4
Shahid Nazir c Atapattu
b Wickremasinghe 10
Fazle Akbar not out 15
Extras: (b-2 lb-11 nb-4) 17
Total: (all out in 102 overs) 398
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-105, 3-105, 4-283, 5-283, 6-302, 7-323, 8-339, 9-373
Bowling: Wickremasinghe 29-7-103-6, S. De Silva 14-0-88-0, Hathursingha 12-3-29-0, Bandarathilake 31-8-90-1, Kalpage 16-2-75-2.

Sri Lanka (Ist innings)
Arnold batting 81
Gunawardena c Shahid Nazir b Fazle Akbar 43
Jayawardene b Saqlain Mushtaq 4
Attaputtu c Yousaf Yohannab Saqlain Mushtaq 23
Tillekeratne b Saqlain 9
Kaluwitharana batting 20
Extras (lb-5 nb-4) 9
Total (for 4 wkts in 48.2 overs) 189
Fall of wicket: 1-84, 2-91, 3-146, 4-156
Bowling: Wasim Akram 7-2-21-0, Fazale Akbar 14-2-72-1, Shahid Nazir 8-1-30-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 13-2-45-3, Shahid Afridi 6.2-1-16-0.

Gambill stuns Sampras, Rosset upset

SCOTTSDALE, March 5 (Reuters) — Jan Michael Gambill shocked world number one Pete Sampras 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic last night.

"It’s obviously the biggest win of my life against, in my mind, the best player to ever play the game," said the 21-year-old Gambill after a one hour, 36 minute match. "I never thought I could really beat him. But I gave it my all and it came out my way tonight."

The 45th-ranked Gambill from Colbert, Washington, will face fellow American Justin Gimbelstob, who beat Spaniard Fernando Vicente 7-6, (7-5), 6-2 earlier in the day.

Gambill, who has been playing professional tennis since 1995, blended crisp ground strokes and effective second serves to post his first win in three career meetings with Sampras, who finished a sixth consecutive year as number one last December.

Sampras was playing only his second tournament since a self-imposed 10-week layoff. He gave all credit to Gambill, whose previous biggest win was over Andre Agassi last year at Indiana Wells.

"It sure is disappointing because I had my chances," said five-time Wimbledon champion Sampras, who blasted 12 aces. "I can’t be too hard on myself because I played aggressively the way I wanted to. He’s beaten good players and got this one tonight."

Gambill and Sampras, who has held the top ranking for a total of 261 weeks in his career, played brilliant tennis most of the match, splitting the first two sets.

In the third, Gambill got the decisive break to go up 5-4 in the ninth game. With Sampras serving at 15-40, Gambill hit a service return that clipped the top of the tape and dropped straight down at Sampras’s feet.

Gambill served for the match at 5-4 and saved two break points before ripping a cross-court forehand winner to seal the win.

With the defeats of Sampras and Australian Patrick Rafter the tournament has lost its top two seeds.

Fourth-seed Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and doubles expert Mark Woodforde of Australia will square off in a quaterfinal pairing.

Ivanisevic smashed seven aces and served eight double faults. A wild card entry in the tournament, he used service breaks in the fifth game of each set to edge out Argentine Hernan Gumy 6-4, 6-4.

Woodforde, meanwhile, defeated Spain’s Francisco Clavet 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

In other quarterfinal pairings, defending champion Agassi and sixth seed Cedric Pioline of France will play each other and Australian teenage sensation Lleyton Hewitt will meet Frenchman Jerome Golmard.

COPENHAGEN: Angry top-seed Marc Rosset broke three rackets and received a warning from the umpire before being edged out of the Copenhagen Open by unseeded Daniel Nestor, ranked 92nd in the world.

Aided by nine aces, the 26-year-old Canadian won their second-round match to move into the last eight at the expense of the tall Swiss, 26th in the world rankings.

Rosset served eight double-faults.

Frustrated at his own poor play and a number of near-misses, the former Olympic champion bowed out in 79 minutes and then refused to meet the press.

Both players held their serve in the first set, but Nestor won the tie-break 8-6 and never looked back, breaking his opponent’s serve to move 3-2 ahead in the second set.

Nestor, a doubles specialist, reached the third round in the Australian Open this year and also reached the the quarterfinals in Memphis two weeks ago.

Rosset was not the only seeded player to exit before the quarterfinals stage. Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, 48th in the world and seeded sixth, lost 6-7, 3-6 to Wayne Black of Zimbabwe, ranked 94th in the world.

Max Mirnyi of Belarus, ranked 290th, sent eight-seeded Italian veteran Gianluca Pozzi packing 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.

But defending champion Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, the third seed, balanced the form book, edging past Neville Godwin of South Africa 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. Second seed Byron Black of Zimbabwe beat Swede Nicklas Kulti 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.

NAPLES (Florida) (AP): Bjorn Borg played one of his best matches of the year to defeat Henri Leconte 6-4, 6-4 on the fourth day of competition at the $ 300,000 Nuveen Masters Tennis Championships.

Borg, who has qualified for the championship for the past four years but never won it, bettered his record yesterday in a round-robin competition to 2-0 with precision passing shots, clutch performances on the big points and rifled service returns that kept Leconte on the defensive. Leconte record dropped to 1-1.

"He returns so well," Leconte said. "It puts so much pressure on your serve, even your second serve. But he is Bjorn Borg, not just some guy."

In other matches on Thursday, 1996 Masters Champion Andres Gomez beat Yannick Noah 6-1, 6-1 and John Lloyd downed Mansour Bahrami 6-2, 7-6 (10-6).

This is the season-ending championship event on the worldwide senior tennis circuit.

Santosh Trophy from March 17

NEW DELHI, March 5 (PTI) — The National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy will get under way in Chennai and two other venues in Tamil Nadu from March 17.

Matches will be held in Coimbatore and Udhagamandalam in the preliminary stages alongwith Chennai which will be the venue for matches in two clusters and the final stages of the championship sponsored by the Bharat Petroleum, according to All-India Football Federation (AIFF) sources.

In all 31 teams, including holders Bengal, have confirmed participation in the championship slated to run till April 4. The teams have been split into four clusters of eight groups.

Last year’s semifinalists, Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Goa have been seeded directly to the quarterfinals.

The first and third cluster matches would be held in Udhagamandalam and Coimbatore while the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai will hold matches in the other two clusters.

Group B, C, D, E and F have three teams each in their pool, while four teams each will make up the other groups (A, G and H).

The Tamil Nadu Football Association will seek a sponsor to meet the expenditure estimated to be around Rs 14 lakh. AIFF would be giving about Rs 7 lakh to TFA.

Chennai will also be the venue for semifinals, to be held on April 1 and 2. The finals is scheduled for April 4.

Following are the groupings and fixtures: Cluster I Udhagamandalam: Group A: Services, Uttar Pradesh, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir, Group F: Manipur, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh. Mar 17: Mizoram vs Services; Mar 18: UP vs J and K; Mar 19: Services vs UP; Mar 20 J and K vs Mizoram; Mar 21: Manipur vs Haryana; Mar 22: Mizoram vs UP; Mar 23: AP vs Haryana; Mar 24: Services vs J and K; Mar 25: Manipur vs AP.

Quaterfinal league: Mar 26: Bengal vs winners of Group A; Mar 27: Group F winners vs Group A winners; Mar 28: Bengal vs Group F winners.

Cluster III: Coimbatore: Group B: Kerla, Bihar, Nagaland. Group G: Assam, Pondicherry, Sikkim, Daman and Diu. March 17: Assam vs Pondicherry. Mar 18: Sikkim vs Daman and Diu. Mar 19: Assam vs Daman and Diu. Mar 20: Sikkim vs Pondicherry. Mar 21: Kerla vs Bihar. mar 22: Pondicherry vs Daman and Diu. Mar 23: Bihar vs Nagaland. mar 24: Assam vs Sikkim. Mar 25: Kerala vs Nagaland.

Quarterfinal league: mar 26: Maharashtra vs Group G winners; mar 27: Group B winners vs vs Group G winners; mar 28: Maharashtra vs Group B winners.

CHENNAI: Cluster II: Group D: Karnataka, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Group H: Indian Railways, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar.

Cluster IV: Group C: Delhi, Gujarat, Meghalaya. Group E: Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura. Mar 17: TN vs Tripura. March 18: Railways vs Rajasthan; Chandigarh vs A and N. Mar 19: MP vs Tripura; Rajasthan vs Chandigarh. Mar 20 A and N vs Railways; MP vs TN. Mar 21: Delhi vs Gujarat; Orissa vs HP. Mar 22: Rajasthan vs A and N; Railways vs Chandigarh. Mar 23: Karnataka vs HP; Meghalaya vs Gujarat. Mar 24: Karnataka vs Orissa; Delhi vs Meghalaya.

Pre-quarterfinal league: Mar 25: Goa vs Group H winners; Mar 26: Punjab vs Group C winners; Mar 27: Group H winners; Mar 29: Goa vs Group D winners; Mar 30: Punjab vs Group E winners.

Semifinals: April 1: Cluster I winners vs Cluster III winners. April 2: Cluster II winners vs Cluster IV winners.

Final: April 4.

Symcox announces retirement

EAST LONDON, South Africa, March 5 (Reuters) — South African all-rounder Pat Symcox has quit international cricket, despite being included in a provisional World Cup squad.

Symcox (38) announced his retirement during a television interview last night and said he wanted to "devote more time to my family, and from now fishing, golf and gardening will take up all of my spare time".

However, he would continue to play at provincial level for Griqualand West.

Symcox, who is here as a television commentator at the Supersport Series final between Border and Western province, faces a United Cricket Board of South Africa disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.

While en route to South Africa from New Zealand last week, where he played in the first three one-day internationals on South Africa’s current tour, Symcox is alleged to have caused disturbance which involved other passengers and airline staff.

He did not list the incident as a reason for his retirement, but said he "apologised to anyone I may have offended" during the flight.

On Sunday, Symcox was included in South Africa’s squad of 19 — which is to be trimmed to 15 — for the World Cup in England starting in May.

Symcox played 20 Test matches, scoring 741 runs at an average of 28.50 with one century and taking 37 wickets at 43.32.

In 80 one-day internationals, he scored 694 runs at 16.92 and took 72 wickets at 38.36.

South African coach Bob Woolmer reacted with surprise and disappointment to the news.

"It came out of the blue and was a complete surprise to me and the rest of the squad," he said in Christchurch ahead of the second Test against New Zealand.

"It’s disappointing because he was in our provisional squad of 19 for the World Cup and there is every chance that he would have been selected in the final 15."

Cheers missing for Gebrselassie

MAEBASHI, Japan, March 5 (AFP) — A deafening silence greeted Haile Gebrselassie’s triumph in the first half of his attempted double at the World Indoor Athletics Championships here today.

The Ethiopian won the 3,000 metres in 7 min 53.57 sec, almost half a minute outside the indoor world record of Kenyan arch-rival Daniel Komen. He will also be in the 1,500 m this weekend.

But there was little shouting for the high class show and the Olympic 10,000 metre champion and multiple world record holder was clearly surprised at the empty seats in the 9,000 capacity Maebashi Green Dome.

"It was empty and I am astonished," said Gebrselassie. "The people told me it would be full, I have never run in an empty stadium.

"I cannot say that it stopped me running, it was not a problem, but these are the world championships."

Organisers insist all tickets for the three days of the championships are sold out but a lot of schoolchildren were used to fill seats on the first day.

Paul Bitok of Kenya, who took the silver, Gebrselassie and his compatriot Million Wolde, who won the bronze, made the early pace. But attempts by Akira Kiniwa of Japan and former champion Gennaro Di Napoli to up the speed had little impact on the split times.

Gebrselassie pulled away with two laps remaining and was comfortably ahead in the final straight where Bitok sneaked in front of Wolde to take the silver medal. His time of 7:53.79 was six hundredths of a second faster than Wolde’s.

Aussie IOC member faces fresh charges

SYDNEY, March 5 (AFP) — Australian IOC member Phil Coles, implicated in the Salt Lake City bribe scandal, was accused today of accepting valuable jewellery from a businessman linked to the failed Athens bid for the 1996 Games.

The allegations, published by the Australian Financial Review, follow disclosures Coles accepted $ 40,000 worth of travel and gifts from Salt Lake City before and after its successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

The paper quoted senior members of Melbourne’s failed bid for the 1996 Games saying Coles accepted a set of diamond and gold cufflinks and a gold necklace worth thousands of dollars from the businessman.

According to the sources, who insisted on anonymity, Coles’ former wife, Georgina, made no secret of the origin of the jewellery and had the cufflinks converted into earrings.

A member of the Melbourne bid committee told the paper the jewellery was said to be worth almost $ 10,000.

The review said its own investigations had established that Georgina Coles was seen wearing the jewellery to Olympic functions, including receptions in Tokyo in 1990 when Atlanta was announced as the host city for the 1996 Games.

Delhi tighten grip over Railways

NEW DELHI, March 5 (PTI) — Delhi consolidated their hold over Railways in their penultimate Ranji Trophy super-league match reaching 227 for two at stumps after restricting the visitors to 246 on the second day here.

Skipper Ajay Sharma (batting 55) and in-form Aakash Malhotra (batting 79) have added 122 runs for the third wicket and are looking good for big scores as Delhi were just 19 runs from taking the first innings lead to push for an outright win, at Ferozeshah Kotla stadium today.

Young Delhi paceman Amit Bhandari bowled a fiery spell in the morning to claim two more wickets and finish with a career-best haul of six for 70 runs as Railways, overnight 208 for seven, folded up in under an hour.

Bhandari, a member of the Indian under-19 World Cup squad last year, installed himself as the most consistent bowler for Delhi and has already claimed 51 Ranji wickets this season.

Delhi with eight points, badly need an outright victory to consolidate their position in group ‘B’ as Tamil Nadu (8 points) are in the driver’s seat against Orissa in Chennai. Maharashtra are group leaders with 15 points.

Delhi openers Ashu Dani (57 - 110b, 6x4) and Vijay Dahiya (14) put on 50-run first wicket partnership before Dahiya was bowled by left-arm spinner Murali Karthik. Dani played a good knock before being castled by leg spinner W.D. Balaji Rao.

But Ajay Sharma and Malhotra frustrated the bowlers taking easy ones and twos before dominating the attack.

Brief scores: Railways 246 all out (V. Sharma 69, D. Singh 64, M. Karthik 40 n.o; A. Bhandari 6/70) vs Delhi 227/2 (A. Dani 57, A. Malhotra batting 79, A. Sharma batting 55).

Scoreboard
Railways (1st innings)
Bangar c Dani b Bhandari 4, Zufri b Robin Singh Jr 7, Abhay Sharma c Dahiya b Bhandari 2, Yere Goud c Dahiya b Bhandari 13, Vishal Sharma lbw b Virender Sehwag 69, Devender Singh b Rahul Sanghvi 64, Murali Karthik not out 40, Dharmendra Mishra b Bhandari 7, WD Balaji Rao b Bhandari 5, Zakir Hussain c and b Bhandari 1, K Parida lbw b Nikhil Chopra 5, Extras (b-11, lb-10, nb-8) 29.

Total (all out in 102 overs) 246

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-12, 3-26, 4-37, 5-160, 6-183, 7-203, 8-227, 9-229.

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 16-8-26-0, Amit Bhandari 21-3-70-6, Robin Singh Jr 11-2-24-1, Nikhil Chopra 25-7-41-1, Rahul Sanghvi 16-7-34-1, Virender Sehwag 6-1-18-1, Ajay Sharma 5-1-7-0, Aakash Malhotra 2-0-5-0.
Delhi (1st innings)
Ashu Dani b Balaji Rao 57, Vijay Dahiya b Murli Karthik 14, Aakash Malhotra batting 79, Ajay Sharma batting 55, Extras (b-9, lb-6, nb-6, w-1) 22.
Total (for 2 wickets, 76 overs) 227
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-105.
Bowling: Zakir Hussain 13-3-43-0, Dharmender Mishra 3-0-16-0, Sanjay Bangar 17-2-38-0, Murali Karthik 15-4-26-1, D. Balaji Rao 17-1-49-1, K. Parida 8-2-25-0, Devender Singh 3-0-15-0.

Jeev sitting on the fence

NEW DELHI, March 5 (UNI) — Jeev Milkha Singh, the only Indian in the European PGA Tour, was sitting on the fence as far as making the cut was concerned when he shot a one-over 73 in the first round of the Portugese Algav Open, being played at the Le Meridien, Penina.

According to reports reaching here, Jeev was tied for joint 57th position with 18 others yesterday. The top 65 and ties will proceed to the third round.

Leading the pack in this seventh event of the European PGA Tour was Des Smyth of Ireland with a six-under 66, which included seven birdies and a solitary bogey. Konkan for his exceptional short game, two of Smyth’s birdies were results of chip-ins. This is Smyth’s 502nd European PGA Tour event.

Among the other well-known names in India, Daniel Chopra as tied for the 75th position, along with Gerry Norquist, winner of the Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open. Both shot two-over 74.

Jeev, who is currently ninth in the Volvo Order of Merit with earnings of 100,128 Euros, is looking for a strong finish here which will help him gain a direct entry into the British Open, one of the four ‘majors’ in the world. Last season, he had finished tied for 12th position, his second best performance in 1998.

Snooker star loses after threat

BANGKOK, March 5 (AFP) — The world number 16, Thailand’s James Wattana, was threatened with death if he beat Irishman Ken Doherty in the second round of the Thailand Masters, snooker officials claimed today.

Wattana lost the match played late last night at Bangkok’s Ambassador Hotel by two frames to five.

"A man called James on his mobile phone told him he would kill him if he beat Ken", Thai Snooker Association Vice-President Sakda Rattanasuban said.

The call was taken seriously by the authorities and Wattana provided with a plain clothes police escort at the request of the association.

"It was clearly an effort to disrupt his concentration, and increase the pressure on him. His mother did not want him to compete," Sakda said.

Wattana’s father had been earlier gunned down in the Thai capital in February, 1992, allegedly over a gambling dispute.

The police traced the call made to Wattana to a public telephone in downtown Bangkok. They said the caller was a Thai.

Wattana took the first frame in the match 67-9, before Doherty, the world number four, took the second 80-9 and the third 64-63. Wattana drew level taking the fourth frame 79-46, but lost the final three frames 52-37, 102-4 and 66-17. Wattana was ranked as high as number three in the world in 1993.

Kannan to meet Nitin in final

CHENNAI, March 5 (PTI) — Top seed Vijay Kannan (Del) carved out an impressive straight sets win over former Davis Cupper Sandeep Kirtane of Maharashtra to set up a title clash with Nitin Kirtane who downed second seed Vinod Sridhar (TN) in the semi-finals matches of the ATP Aces Tour Tennis Championship (second leg) here today.

While Kannan won 6-3, 7-5, fourth seed Nitin Kirtane (Maha) overcame Sridhar, a gold medallist at the Imphal National Games 6-3, 6-2.

Both Kannan and Sandeep also figure in the doubles final, though on opposite sides. Sandeep along with cousin Nitin Kirtane survived a tough semi-final against Praveen Kumar-Anand Radhakrishnan combination 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

On the other hand, the Kannan-Rishi Sridhar pair had it easy with the Vasudeva Reddy-Manoj Mahadevan duo conceding the match down 2-3. This was after Reddy complained of back pain and refused to continue.

For Kannan, a Davis Cup squad reserve, it was sweet revenge as he had lost in the semi-finals of the Madurai leg to eventual winner Sandeep Kirtane, seeded three here.

FC Kochin held 1-1 by JCT

MARGAO, March 5 (PTI) — Spirited FC Kochin were held to a 1-1 draw by JCT to split points in the first leg of the National Football Super League here today.

FC Kochin had themselves to blame for the draw as they missed chances galore. Kochin drew the first blood in the 30th minute through striker M. Najeeb, who beat defender Deepak Mandal and sent a right footer to the right of keeper Virender Singh, in the far end of the net.

JCT, who made occasional forays into the Kochin flanks, restored parity at the stroke of the interval. Dipankar Roy lobbed the ball on the right to striker Surjit Singh who beat the defence with sheer speed and sent the ball past the onrushing keeper Naseem Akthar.

With this draw, their fourth, JCT finished their first leg engagements with four points and are placed fifth. FC Kochin with their first draw collected the first point from five matches.

Referee Ravi Shanker showed yellow cards to Deepak Mandal and Daljit Singh of JCT and Noel Wilson of FC Kochin. JCT and FC Kochin move to Calcutta to play their first matches against Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar on March 9.

Kochin started on a promising note in the first half but faded away in the second half. They attacked the rival citadel working up with varied pattern that kept the rival defence on wrong foot.

Despite getting an opening they probed for, Kochin strikers indulged in poor shooting. They could have led by at least three goals at half time. Roque Baretto and Najeeb were the offender twice.

Kochin could have taken an early lead in the third minute but Roque Baretto, who got the ball via Najeeb inside the box, ballooned it over in haste with no one to challenge.

JCT’s Virender Singh with his agile reflexes came to his team’s rescue twice when he denied Baretto and Najeeb from close range.

JCT, who made occasional forays after their opponent lost the ball in possession, came near to scoring in 29th minute but defender Mahesh Gwali’s timely clearance denied Surjit Singh from scoring.

After this Kochin went into the lead next minute. Roy Baretto from left lobbed the ball to Najeeb into the box who got past defender Deepak Mandal and sent a low grounder past keeper Virender’s outstretched hands to the far end of net.

JCT went offensive five minutes before the interval and succeeded in finding the equaliser. Dipankar Roy from right sent a lob into the box to Surjit, who beat the defender and placed the ball past the keeper Akthar into the net.

Salgaocar win

Goan outfit Salgaocar downed Mohun Bagan 3-1 to top the table with 11 points at the end of the first leg of national super league here this evening.

Mohun Bagan who enjoyed edge in the initial stage shot into the lead in 18th minute through their mercurial striker I.M. Vijayan. Salgaocar fought back to restore parity three minutes later through Venkatesh.

Salgaocar scored their second goal in the 24th minute through Jules Alberto to take the lead 2-1 at half time.

Bruno Coutinho, who was the thorn in rival flesh, sealed the fate of Bagan with an angular shot that beat the keeper Dinesh all ends.

The absence of defender Samuel Omollo, Satyajit Chatterjee and Cheema Okeri was felt as the defence looked suspect when under pressure and there was no one to control midfield. Vijayan tried hard to find the target on two occasions but was denied by the rival defence who stood the ground well.

Bagan’s main folly was that they tried to play long overhead passes too deep into the rival box which were thwarted by the Salgaocar defence.

Churchill Bros and Salgaocar are tied on eleven points each at the end of the first leg and are far ahead of the Calcutta outfits East Bengal (6 pts) and Mohun Bagan (5 pts). JCT are fifth with four points while FC Kochi are last with one point.

Veterans athletics meet results
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, March 5 — The first North Zone Veterans Athletics Championship being organised by Veterans Amateur Athletic Association of Chandigarh (regd) started at Panjab University grounds here today. Mr G.S. Sandhu, MD, Markfed, Punjab, inaugurated the championship in which more than 600 athletes from seven states are participating.

The following are the results:

800 m (men):

40 plus: Dilbag Singh (Chd) 1; 2:09.5 sec, Om Parkash (Har) 2; Massa Singh (Pb) 3.

45 plus: Sada Ram (Chd) 1; 2:16.04 Sec; Basant Singh (Har) 2; Amrik Singh (Chd) 3;

50 plus: Rashpal Singh (Pb) 1; 1:28.7 Sec. Raghuvir Singh (Har) 2; S.R. Jaswal (HP) 3;

55 plus: Lal Singh (Pb) 1; 2:30.2 Sec. Ram Kishan Jat (Har) 2; Jagjit Singh (I.T.) (Chd) 3;

60 plus: Gurbachan Singh (Har) 1; 3.13.99 Sec.

65 plus: Teja Singh (Chd) 1; 2:44.0 Sec. Jatinder Marwaha (Chd) 2; H.S. Flora (Del) 3;

800 m (women):

35 plus: Rani Devi H. (Har) 1; 2.52.3 Sec;

40 plus: Asha Dutt (H.P.) 1; 3.46.7 Sec. Shashi Sharma (Har) 2;

45 plus: Kamini Chauhan (Del) 1 2: 53.3 Sec. Chander Lata (Del) 2.

50 plus: Sawatanter (Delhi) 1; 4:05.6 Sec.

55 plus: Prem Lata Dubey (H.P.) 1; 3.51.7 Sec.

Tara thrashes Punjab girl

KOCHI, March 5 (PTI) — Top seeded S.K. Tara of Karnataka, true to her seedings, crushed Jasleen Randhawa of Punjab 6-0, 6-0 in the finals of the AITA-ranked All-India Women's Tennis Tournament here yesterday.

In the 40-minute match, the 19-year-old outplayed Jasleen all through to collect Rs 6500 prize money.

Later in the doubles final, Tara partnering Sumitra Rao of Tamil Nadu had an easy time against Jasleen Randhawa and Nikhila Natarajan (TN) combination before winning with 6-1, 6-1.

Jasleen, Punjab champion for the four consecutive years, was far from her best. Her serves let her down repeatedly. Even her backhand drives, for which she is famous, lacked penetration. An off-colour Jasleen was seen struggling throughout to get back her form, but the Karnataka girl would not let Jasleen to make a recovery.

Tara started off very well by holding her service game with a forehand passing stroke and broke Jasleen in the next game with a backhand winner. She again broke her opponent in the fourth and sixth game to seal the set in her favour in 20 minutes.

In the second set, Tara broke Jasleen with a forehand down-the-line winner in the second game after holding on to her first service game to take a 2-0 lead. Tara went for creative placings forcing her opponent to drain out her energy.

Tara continued the same way and was consistent with her returns and broke Jasleen who had problem with her serve and forehand chips that sank into the net in the sixth game. Jasleen also served a double fault.

In the doubles match, Tara and Sumitra Rao who showed tremendous potential, served with power and Tara's forehand returns were sure winners against an unsettled opponent who could win only two points in the match that lasted 52 minutes.

An elated Tara said 'I am delighted to win both the titles. I was bit nervous initially in the singles match. But, once I started getting my strokes on target, I grew more confident, she said.

Punjab gain upper hand

BARODA, March 5 (PTI) — Baroda were 27 runs short to avoid a follow-on as Punjab gained an upper hand by scalping six wickets of the hosts for 146 runs after posting a commanding first innings total of 372 all out on the second day in the group "A" Ranji Super League match here today.

At stumps, Jacob Martin (69) and Darshan Mulherkar (17) were batting.

Earlier, Punjab lost the remaining four wickets after adding 63 runs. The main wicket-takers for Baroda were Mulherkar (four for 77) and R.A. Swaroop (three for 85).

Baroda began disastrously and were on the verge of being dismissed below 100 runs as they were reeling at 77 for six. However, Martin and Mulherkar did the repairing job and gave some respectability to Baroda by adding undefeated 69 runs.

Off-spinner Kailash Chandra was the wrecker-in-chief (four for 77) as he claimed three Baroda batsmen in one over.

Brief score: (Punjab Ist innings) 372 all out (V. Rathore 120, A. Sharma 61, N.S. Sidhu 35; D. Mulherkar 4 for 77, R.A. Swaroop 3 for 85). Baroda (Ist innings) 146 for six (J. Martin 69, D. Mulherkarr 17; K. Chandra 4 for 77).

Big victory for Punjab Police
Tribune News Service

JALANDHAR, March 5 — The visiting Gloucester Police team went down fighting 1-4 to Punjab Police in their fifth game of the tour at Surjit Memorial Hockey Stadium here today.The home team led 2-1 at the breather.

Yesterday, the visitors were beaten 3-4 by Aryans Club at Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana.

Skipper Sarabjit Singh scored first two goals for Punjab Police on openings created by Olympian Harpreet Singh within 10 minutes of the start of the match. The visitors, however, reduced the margin before the teams broke up for interval.

In the second half, Surjit Singh and Gursewak Singh increased the tally for the home team. The Additional DGP, Mr M.S. Bhullar, presided over the match while Olympian Harcharan Singh gave away the prizes.

OBC sports meet results

CHANDIGARH, March 5 (BOSR) — The 6th All India Oriental Bank of Commerce Inter State Sports Meet began here today with the inauguration ceremony performed by Mr Dalbir Singh, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium.

In Cricket, Northern Region defeated Rajasthan by 130 runs KK Gandhi scored brilliant 98 Jaswinder of NZ claimed 3 wickets for 14 runs. In another match, Delhi team outclassed West Bengal by 56 runs while in yet another match, Maharashtra team ousted Madhya Pradesh by 113 runs. In the last match of the day, UP team got the better of Gujarat by 39 runs.

In the first round of TT event, MP trounced Rajasthan by 3-1, North Zone beat Maharashtra by 3-0 while Southern Zone defeated Eastern Region by 3-1.

Athletic Club, 12 Wing AF in semis

CHANDIGARH, March 5 — The Athletic Club, Sector 7, and 12 Wing AF entered the semifinal of the Chandigarh State Basketball Championship in progress here at the Sector 7 Sports Complex, today. YCC Club is the other team who have made it to the last four and winner of PU campus versus SD Club, Sector 32 will play the other semifinal.

In the matches played today, Athletic Club made the short work of 107 Engg. Regmt. by 73-58 with the half time score of 45-35 in favour of Athletic Club. Pardeep Singh remained the top scorer with 26 points followed by Aman Kumar with 20 points. Sukhdeep Singh scored 22 while Satish Kumar 17 for the losers team.

In other match, SD Club went down fighting to YCC Club at 46-48. At half time YCC were trailing by 22-23. Harjot Singh scored 14 points and Amrish Kumar 10 for the winner while Nirpreet scored 13 and Harkanwar and Dinesh 10 each for the losers.

Earlier in the morning, 12 Wing AF defeated 107 Engg. Regmt. by 78-46 half time score being 43-21 in favour of 12 Wing.

Medical college sports meet

CHANDIGARH, March 5 — The VIth annual sports meet of the Government Medical College, Chandigarh, will be conducted on March 7 at the Sports Complex, Sector 46. ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh will be the chief guest.

Soccer players suspended

CHANDIGARH, March 5 — Haryana Football Association has suspended seven players of DFA Ambala and six players of DFA Yamunanagar for taking part in the football tournament organised in state other than Haryana as a member of the Union Football Club, Ambala, without seeking the permission of HFA.

The suspended players are: Deepak, Inderjeet Kaka, Rajeev Billa, Ram Kumar, Amrit Kumar, Gurpinder Singh and Sanjay Jha (all from Ambala) and Santosh, Ranvijay Singh, Sunil Pahari, Saxena and Githia (all from Yamunanagar).

The disciplinary committee has prohibited these players from playing in any tournament and for any affiliated club of Haryana till their suspension period.