Winning four gold medals Jones’ goal
RALEIGH (North Carolina), March 12 — Memories of smiling faces and golden races are beckoning American sprint queen Marion Jones back to South Africa. "I want to go back and give back," Jones told Reuters following a recent workout at North Carolina state university.

Ambrose doubtful for second Test
KINGSTON, March 12 — Curtly Ambrose will have to pass a fitness test today before the West Indies team is named for the second Test against Australia starting tomorrow.

Complacency led to Windies' downfall
LONDON, March 12 — Complacency and lack of investment during the great years laid the seeds of West Indies calamitous fall from grace at Port-of-Spain on Tuesday.

Holyfield, Lewis gear up for classic bout
NEW YORK, March 12 — Like seven-year locusts, more than 20,000 fans will swarm over Madison Square Garden tomorrow for the biggest fight in years, the heavyweight unification battle between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

Double hat-trick by Habil Topno
HYDERABAD, March 12 — Title aspirants Indian Airlines and defending champions Railways won their respective league matches in contrasting styles as the former struggled to beat Jammu and Kashmir 3-0.

JCT, FC Kochin split points
CALCUTTA, March 12 — JCT Phagwara's title ambitions received a serious jolt as they were held to a goal-less draw by FC Kochin in a sedate second leg tie of the super division National Football League here today.

• Chandigarh rowers honoured
• Bengal have edge over Punjab
• Das to lead Orissa against Delhi

Arshad torments Sri Lanka

DHAKA, March 12 (PTI) — Off-spinner Arshad Khan claimed a mesmeric haul of five for 38 as Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka to 231 and began a confident reply making 33 without loss on the opening day of the Asian Test Championship final today.

Skipper Wasim Akram struck early blows with two wickets off successive deliveries after Sri Lanka chose to bat first on a Bangabandhu Stadium wicket expected to favour spinners before Arshad Khan produced his career-best effort.

Pakistan, favourites to claim the inaugural title as the best Asian Test team, claimed all four bowling points after dismissing Sri Lanka in 78 overs, soon after tea. Sri Lanka had to be content with two batting points.

Stand-in skipper Aravinda de Silva struck a valiant 72 and raised a crucial 65-run fourth wicket stand with the stylish Marvan Atapattu (36), but none of the other batsmen could offer any real resistance with 37 extras emerging the second biggest contribution.

Left-arm paceman Wasim Akram removed opener Aviska Gunawardena (4) and Mahela Jayawardene (0) to be on a hattrick from Sri Lanka, depleted in the absence of key players, never really recovered.

Arshad Khan, the tall 28-year-old hailing from Peshawar playing in only his third Test, ripped through the late order to easily surpass his previous best effort of three for 73 he claimed against Australia at Karachi late last year.

The first Test match hosted in Dhaka for 30 years — New Zealand played Pakistan here in 1969 in the erstwhile East Pakistan — began in a dramatic fashion before a crowd of around 15,000 that had made it to the ground despite the absence of India in the final.

Pakistan openers Saeed Anwar (batting 16) and Wajahtullah Wasti (batting 7) played out ten overs without taking any risks though Anwar survived confident leg before appeals by left-arm pace spearhead Chaminda Vaas.

Sri Lanka started with a flourish as 16 runs came off the first two overs, with young paceman Shoaib Akhtar being hit for 12 runs in his first over.

But Akram, who claimed a hattrick against Sri Lanka in the last league match at Lahore, forced Gunawardene to edge to Wasti at third slip and then beat and trapped Jayawardene leg before with an incoming delivery.

Talented left-hander Russel Arnold, coming from splendid knocks of 123 and unbeaten 56 in Lahore, was bowled by Akhtar to leave Sri Lanka at a precarious 3 for 19.

But De Silva, returning from groin injury to lead the side in Arjuna Ranatunga’s absence, struck his 19th Test fifty under pressure to stem the rot alongwith Atapattu.

Both played cautiously and Pakistan bowlers seeking extra pace also sent down a liberal dose of no balls. De Silva and Atapattu added 65 runs in only 108 balls, but even as Sri Lanka seemed to emerge out of troubled waters, Atapattu threw away his wicket as he needlessly tried to sweep a straighter ball from crafty off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq to fall leg before.

De Silva kept up the fight with useful partnerships with left-hander Hashan Tillekeratne (15) before the latter fell Arshad Khan’s first victim.

Wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana, who scored a century in Lahore, also perished for just nine to Arshad Khan before Upul Chandana (15) also fell, to Akhtar’s pace.

The tall Arshad Khan, who troubled the batsmen with his high delivery style on the slow wicket, then claimed the prize scalp of De Silva by trapping him leg before.

De Silva batted for more than four hours, totally uncharacteristic of the flamboyant batsman.

Akram finished with two for 45 and Akhtar returned two for 36.

Vaas remained unbeaten with 20, but Khan wiped out the tail as Pakistan looked set to further tighten their grip on the match with Sri Lanka depleted in both sections apart from the fact that points will be awarded only for efforts in the first innings.

(Scoreboard)
Sri Lanka (first innings):
Arnold b Aktar 10
Gunawardane c Wasti b Akram 4
Jayawardana lbw b Akram 0
Atapattu lbw b Saqlain 36
De Silva lbw b Arshad 72
Tilekaratne c Wasti b Arshad 15
Kaluwitharana c Youhana b Arshad 9
Chandana c Moin b Akhtar 15
Vaas not out 20
Wickremasinghe c Wasti b Arshad 2
S De Silva c Moin Khan b Arshad 11
Extras (b-12, lb-9, nb-16) 37
Total (all out in 78 overs) 231
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-19, 4-84, 5-119, 6-135, 7-177, 8-201, 9-208.
Bowling: Akram 14-2-45-2, Akhtar 13-3-36-2, Saqlain Mushtaq 29-6-76-1, Afridi 2-0-15-0, Arshad Khan 20-5-38-5.

Pakistan (1st innings):
Anwar batting 16
Wasti batting 7
Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-1) 10
Total (for no loss in 10 overs) 33
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 5-0-14-0, Pramodaya Wickremasinghe 3-0-9-0, Sajeeva De Silva 2-1-1-0.

Lanka's inability exposed
Geoff Boycott writes

SRI LANKA may still be the kings of one-day cricket but Pakistan easily exposed their inability to play Test mach cricket. Crash, bang, wallop one-day stuff may excite the public but the ability to do well in the Test arena is the yardstick all players are judged by and yesterday Sri Lanka batted poorly. Ill judged shots, poor footwork and the employment of the sweep, to balls pitched on the stumps, caused these downfall as much as the bowling. There is an art to batting in the longer game. Patients and choice of shot are vital. Technique is priceless and it cannot be overestimated how important that is. Only Aravinda de Silva batted with composed class until even he succumbed to an unnecessary cross bat shot.

If Sri Lanka are to become a force in Test cricket then they have to play a lot more Test matches against varied opposition on result surfaces. They also need to play a series of five, home and away, so that the players get mentally attuned to Tests. At the moment most countries are just fitting them in with an odd Test match. India do their best to compete against them as often as possible but that does not broaden their education or give them experience of different pitches in different countries. Pitches in Asia are very similar and most times they are a batsman's paradise. Batsmen in India and Sri Lanka get complacent because batting is so easy. They become lazy with footwork and shot selection. That is why India do so poorly away from India. The Indian batsmen do not travel well. Sri Lanka looks the same to me. So much of their run scoring depends on Jayasuriya giving them great starts and De Silva holding together the middle order. South African fast bowlers on bouncier quicker pitches did for Sri Lanka recently in two Tests just as they did for India two years ago. And it was the faster bowlers that put the skids under the Lankans.

Shoaib Akhtar bowled very fast making life uncomfortable for the early batsmen. Some of the deliveries were over 150 kmph. At the other end Wasim Akram swung the ball in the air.

Swing is a craft — an art form. Batsmen need to see it early but play it late. The reason you play late is to wait and wait for the swing and then play it under your nose; bat and pad together. Left-hander Gunawardena pushed out at the ball too early to nick it to the slip and Jayawardena made the cardinal error of using his pad as the first line of defence. The idea of batting is to hit the ball with the bat and use your pad as the second line of defence. He put his left leg on the line of the ball with the bat stuck behind the pad. When Arnold froze against Akhtar's pace the Lankans were doomed.

All credit to off-spinner Arshad Khan for taking his first five-wicket haul. A slow flight bowler than Saqlain, he was able to tease the opposition because the fast bowlers had the Lankans under the pressure from the state. — PMG

Winning four gold medals Jones’ goal

RALEIGH (North Carolina), March 12 (Reuters) — Memories of smiling faces and golden races are beckoning American sprint queen Marion Jones back to South Africa.

"I want to go back and give back," Jones told Reuters following a recent workout at North Carolina state university.

She will do both in the next two weeks, mixing clinics for young South Africans with a pair of sprint races.

A 200-metre competition in Roodepoort on March 19 will launch her return, with a 100-metre race to follow at Cape Town on March 26.

At least two clinics, one most likely in Soweto township, are also planned.

The races will be her first since an emotional visit to South Africa for last September’s World Cup in Johannesburg.

An IAAF-sponsored clinic in Soweto prior to the competition, where township children flocked to her side, left Jones deeply touched. She, in turn, touched South Africans with her blazing speed, clocking 10.65 and 21.62 in the World Cup to become the second-fastest woman ever at 100 and 200 metres.

Only a silver medal in the long jump tarnished her golden World Cup visit and an otherwise perfect season.

Now Jones heads back, ambitious and "psyched,"to begin a season that historically will be even more significant than a 1998 campaign that earned her a reported prize money, appearance fees and shoe contract income.

Four gold medals are her goal for August’s world championships in Seville, an unprecedented achievement in the competition, which began in 1983 as a quadrennial meeting and went biennial in 1991.

Her coach, Trevor Graham, boldly predicts Jones also will break Galina Chistyakova’s long jump world record of 7.52 metres (24 feet, 8 1/4 inches) and challenge Florence Griffith Joyner’s 100- and 200-metre world marks during another extended outdoor campaign. Jones prefers to focus on the four golds medals.

"Right now I’m not ready to run 21.34 and 10.49," Jones said of Griffith Joyner’s records. "I am ready to win four golds, with good performances."

Her three individual events — the 100, 200 and long jump — "are like second nature to me," Jones said. "I can close my eyes and do those I think. The 4x4 (4x400-metre relay) is going to be a little challenging."

She has chosen the longer relay, she said, to help U.S. Title aspirations at Seville and to prepare for Sydney’s 2000 Olympics, where her aim is to run both relays and leave with five gold medals.

"Our 4x1 team is really deep," Jones said. "We can go seven or eight deep on our list and still have a good chance to win the gold. That’s not to say our 400-metre runners can’t do the same, but I think I could help out a little more in the 400 because it’s not as deep, in my opinion, as the sprints.

America’s second-fastest woman at 400 metres last year with a 50.36 clocking, Jones plans to push that time even lower at next month’s mount SAC relays in her native California.

Statisticians should also keep an eye on her South African times, for she and Graham both have ambitious plans.

Conditions permitting, "I think I can come back with my 21.60 something," Jones said. Only Griffith Joyner’s fastest two times are superior — ever.

Gibbs’ maiden ton puts SA on top

CHRISTCHURCH, March 12 (Reuters) — Herschelle Gibbs battled through a severe dose of the nervous 90’s to score his maiden Test century as South Africa finished the second day of the second Test against New Zealand on a dominant 229 for one wicket.

Having dismissed New Zealand for just 168 on the first day, the tourists are now leading by 61 runs overall with nine wickets in hand.

Gibbs restricted himself to fewer scoring shots than ever before in his career and spent a total of 54 minutes in the 90’s before cover driving Geoff Allott to the boundary for his 11th four to add to a straight driven six off Daniel Vettori.

His century, in his 13th match, spanned six hours and 23 minutes and 268 balls and was completed just before the player left the field for bad light.

Although Gibbs, who turned 25 two weeks ago, did not offer a chance during his innings he did enjoy a couple of moments of good fortune, particularly against Allott who found the outside edge of the bat on three occasions without luck.

"It feels even better than I ever imagined it would," said Gibbs afterwards. "A lot of people said I was good enough to score a Test century, and maybe it took longer than they thought, but I’m absolutely delighted for all of them — and me".

Play was delayed for 35 minutes at the start of the day and South Africa were restricted to just 45 runs in 21 overs but the afternoon session was extended by half an hour in order to make up time and the tourists gathered another 96 runs in 38 overs.

Gary Kirsten was the only batsman to lose his wicket in a day which saw South Africa move, slowly but surely, into control of the match.

Having shared South Africa’s first century opening stand for 17 Tests with Gibbs, Kirsten untypically lashed out at Vettori and was caught at mid-wicket for 65 from 169 balls with 11 fours.

Jacques Kallis reached his eighth Test 50, also shortly before the close of play, with a streaky edge off the bowling of Chris Harris but also struck five more sweet fours and, like Gibbs, included a straight driven six off Vettori.

At close Kallis was unbeaten on 53 from 154 balls.

Gibbs, whose previous Test best was 54, scored against Australia in Sydney in 1998 and the West Indies in Durban at the end of last year, said it had been his intention to bat for a full day of Test cricket.

Having achieved it once he said: "I want to do it again — on day three."

New Zealand (first innings): 168
South Africa (first innings): (overnight 54-0)
G. Kirsten c Astle b Vettori 65
H. Gibbs not out 101
J. Kallis not out 53
Extras (lb-6, nb-4) 10
Total (for one wicket, 101 overs) 229
Fall of wickets: 1-127.
Bowling: Doull 19.5-7-26-0, Allott 25-7-70-0, Nash 17-5-38-0, Astle 5.1-1-12-0, Vettori 21-5-62-1, Stead 1-0-1-0, Harris 12-6-14-0.

Ambrose doubtful for second Test

KINGSTON, March 12 (Reuters) — Curtly Ambrose will have to pass a fitness test today before the West Indies team is named for the second Test against Australia starting tomorrow.

The veteran fast bowler had his first practice session on Thursday after a left knee injury forced him to visit a specialist in Port of Spain on Tuesday.

Ambrose did some sprints then bowled within himself as the team went through a leisurely workout at the Kensington Cricket Club.

West Indies fitness adviser Dennis Waight is happy with the progress Ambrose is making.

"The swelling has gone down," Mr Waight said. "We want him to have a full workout. We want him to bowl hard."

Coach Malcolm Marshall is convinced the injury will not prevent Ambrose from helping to try and level the series after the crushing first Test defeat in Trinidad.

"He’s got a little bit of soreness in one knee but he had good workout," Marshall said. Australian captain Steve Waugh believes that Ambrose will play.

Fellow fast bowler Courtney Walsh missed the training session, attending instead a special ceremony at which he was presented with the keys to Kingston in recognition of taking 400 Test wickets.

Fast bowler Reon King was another worry for West Indies with a shoulder injury although he had not been expected to be included in the final line-up.

Off-spinner Nehemiah Perry seems certain to make his Test debut when the final 11 is named and he will be much happier with the appearance of the Sabina Park pitch than West Indies fast bowlers.

It is flat, bare, and should offer considerable assistance to spinners, something which will also delight the Australians. Their leg-spinners Shane Warne and Stuart Macgill are certain to play but captain Steve Waugh has ruled out off-spinner and medium pacer Colin Miller also being included.

"We could bring him in but I doubt very much if we will change the side," Waugh said.

This will be the first Test at Sabina Park since the match against England in January last year which was abandoned after just 10.1 overs. The pitch was uneven, causing some balls to fly and others to shoot along the ground.
England were reduced to 17 for three and a number of batsmen were hit before play was halted.

The pitch was relaid last April and supervisor Patrick Gordon said he was delighted with the way it had played in regional matches this season.

"We haven’t had anything shooting off a good length or going down to the ankles," he said.

Waugh has ruled out any feelings of over-confidence by the Australians despite their 312-run win in the first Test where they tumbled out West Indies for a record low score of 51 in the second innings.

"There won’t be any complacency. We’ve already talked about that many times," Waugh said. "They played pretty good cricket in the first three days. They only fell apart on the last day.

"We had to play pretty well to win that Test. If we didn’t bat well on the first day we would have lost so it wasn’t as easy as everyone’s making out.

"They’ve still got quality bowlers who can bowl any team out if you’re not switched on."

Complacency led to Windies' downfall

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) — Complacency and lack of investment during the great years laid the seeds of West Indies calamitous fall from grace at Port-of-Spain on Tuesday.

West Indies, who ruled the cricketing world from 1980 to 1995, were dismissed for 51 in their second innings in the first Test against Australia, their lowest total in Test cricket.

It was their sixth Test loss in a row after a 5-0 defeat by South Africa and the prospects for the remainder of the four-Test series against Australia look bleak.

A players' strike before the South African tour, headed by captain Brian Lara and his deputy Carl Hooper, revealed the open divisions between the team and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Once in South Africa, Lara's slipshod approach to both the captaincy and his batting betrayed the arrogance developed by leading West Indies players over the years.

Finally, the results in South Africa showed that the stream of talent in the Caribbean has dried up, at least temporarily, partly through the counter-attractions of US sport and partly through the failure of the WICB to invest at the grass-roots level.

The despair on the faces of the spectators in Port-of-Spain as they watched Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie scythe through the feeble West Indies batting was eloquent testament to the grip cricket retains in the Caribbean.

There are no more passionate or knowledgeable cricket watchers in the world than the West Indians, Despite the predictably optimistic post-match soundbites from Lara they know their team are unlikely to match let alone defeat the upbeat Australians.

All in all, I think the team is going to gain something positive out of this, which is most important," Lara is reported to have said.

We can't dwell too much on negatives. We are one-nil down. I know it is easier said than done but if we get 300-350 on the board we are going to be competitive because the bowlers seem to be able to be doing their job".

In the first innings Lara batted with the determination and skill he singularly failed to show against South Africa.

But, in the absence of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Hooper, he was the only batsman likely to surmount for long the vagaries of the pitch and the skill of the four-pronged Australian attack.

"I think that it is important for myself and West Indies cricket that I try my best to solve my batting problems and see how best I can go out and get similar scores like I used to four years ago," Lara later said.

The problems with the bowling are less widespread but the West Indies attack is still carried by the ageing warriors Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, the only pair in the side to show consistently the impersonal pride which distinguished their side's play during the 1980s.

Lara, himself, is on probation as captain and his position will be reviewed after the first two Tests, although a likely replacement is not immediately apparent.

Tony Cozier, the respected Barbardian commentator and writer, said the positions of manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall were also in jeopardy.

"This is their sixth successive defeat and in any other international sport the coach and manager would feel compelled to hand in their resignations," he had said.

Cozier also criticised the West Indies Cricket Board decision to put Lara on probation.

"Either he was their man or he wasn't, "Cozier said. "If they were going to replace him they should have bitten the bullet".

Holyfield, Lewis gear up for classic bout

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) — Like seven-year locusts, more than 20,000 fans will swarm over Madison Square Garden tomorrow for the biggest fight in years, the heavyweight unification battle between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

Tomorrow’s boxing bonanza would be a big-time event for any of several reasons: there hasn’t been an undisputed heavyweight champion since Riddick Bowe seven years ago; the bout pits an American against a Briton; the careers of both men will be largely defined by the outcome, and it’s in New York’s legend-haunted garden, where Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier staged a classic battle in 1971.

But the main reason it has become a major happening in this happening-soaked city is that it is a legitimate match up.

One of the main points for Holyfield is that he has climbed so many heavyweight mountains before: "I'm a winner. Winning is what I do".

When he first moved up to the heavyweight division boxing experts dismissed him, saying he didn't punch hard enough, got hit too often and really wasn't all that fast. On top of that he liked to slug it out with much bigger men.

He lost two of three fights against the much bigger Bowe. But they were epic battles that established Holyfield as one of the all-time ring warriors.

In 1996, Holyfield was all but officially pronounced done after struggling for five rounds before finally stopping blown up cruiserweight Bobby Czyz.

It was that performance that encouraged Tyson to take on Holyfield. The rest is bizarre boxing history.

Holyfield pulled off a huge upset in knocking out Tyson in their first fight and so frustrated him in their second encounter that Tyson bit both of Holyfield’s ears and was disqualified.

Now there is Holyfield the born-again Christian who seems to believe he is invincible in the ring. In fact, he has even boldly - some say stupidly - predicted he will knock out the 34-1 Lewis in the third round.

That’s the same 33-year-old Lewis who outweighs Holyfield by 14 kg and has a 20 cm advantage in reach. And it’s the same Holyfield who hasn’t knocked anybody out in the third round since he starched an apathetic buster Douglas in 1990.

Somehow Holyfield (36-3) has to find a way to get inside Lewis’s powerful left jab if, of course, he deigns to bring it to the garden tomorrow.

His own trainer, Emanuel Steward, who says tomorrow will define Lewis’s entire career, also says, "you never know which Lennox is going to show up."

But, in the opinion of many, if Holyfield, 36, tries to fulfil his prediction he will be helping Lewis.

Predicting a third-round knockout "was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen with him in 12 years," said Lou Duva, who helped train Holyfield earlier in his career.

Duva and others take Holyfield at his word and think he will try for the knockout to join Muhammad Ali as the only three-time heavyweight champion.

If Holyfield presses for an early knockout, he won’t be boxing Lewis as Duva thinks he should, getting angles, flitting in and then out of range. If he doesn’t, Duva says, "it could be a one-punch deal. If he walks in, he’s liable to get hit" with Lewis’s very powerful right hand.

Lewis, of course, is far from a full-time juggernaut in the ring. He has had more than his share of safe fights, and his balance and stamina are suspect. Added to that he often just paws with his jab.

But he has been tutored for the last nine bouts by the highly-regarded Steward, who trained Holyfield before they fell out over money.

Lewis is awesome looking at 1.95 meters and 111.5 kg. At times he has been awesome in the ring. He first raised eyebrows with a 1992 destruction of razor Ruddock.

Lewis suffered the lone defeat of his career when Oliver McCall — trained by Steward — knocked out the Briton in the second round in 1994.

Lewis’s toughest fight was against Ray Mercer in 1996. He won on a controversial decision and gained respect for slugging it out with the very tough mercer.

But Lewis has turned in less-than awesome performances recently, and Holyfield, too, was shabby in his last fight in September.

Both men, however, have a history of fighting up to the level of their opponents. If they do that tomorrow, the fight could very well be worth the

Graf comes back to defeat Rubin

INDIAN WELLS, March 12 (AP) — Steffi Graf survived her first real Test of the tournament, coming back from a shaky start to defeat Chanda Rubin in the Evert Cup semifinal.

Graf needed less than an hour each to beat her first three opponents earlier in the week. But yesterday, she got her groundstrokes working late in the second set against Rubin and went on to take a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.

The fifth-seeded Graf, a two-time Evert Cup champion and a loser of just one of her 15 previous matches in the tournament, will face the winner of today’s Serena Williams-Sandrine Testud match in tomorrow’s final.

In the Newsweek Champions Cup, running concurrently with the women’s tournament at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Tim Henman defeated Greg Rusedski 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 Richard Krajicek defeated Jan Siemerink 6-4, 6-4 and Karol Kucera defeated Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

In another third-round match, Chris Woodruff beat Felix Mantilla, who had upset world number one Pete Sampras the night before 7-5, 7-5.

Graf’s victory ended a string of upsets by Rubin, who seemed early in their semifinal as if she were on her way to knocking off another ranked player. Ranked 26th in the world, she beat number 14 Conchita Martinez, number seven Amanda Coetzer and number one Martina Hingis on her way to the match against Graf.

The 29-year-old Graf, whose 106 career victories include 21 Grand Slam titles, showed her experience as she shook off a miserable start against Rubin.

Rubin, who had beaten Hingis a day earlier with hard groundstrokes down the lines, continued to pound the lines against Graf in their opening set. But Graf, kept off-balance in that set, turned the momentum late in the second, when her well-placed backhands began putting Rubin on the defensive.

"I just made so many mistakes early on," Graf said. "I didn’t have a good feeling at all. I did’t know where I was hitting them. I missed them by metres. It was just awful, honestly".

She said she was trying to hang on until she was able to hit some good shots.

"I was trying to put the ball in play somehow. My backhand was at least reasonable," Graf said. "I got into the points with my backhand. Then I was just trying to play it safer. That’s when I got her to play more points".

"Eventually, she would start making mistakes".

Rubin said she felt she was setting the pace early, but then made some key errors.

"It was a bit disappointing the way the match ended," said Rubin, 23. "I had control going into the second set it’s just disappointing not to take advantage of that opportunity.

"She started forcing a little more. I think she started keeping her slice really low. "I wasn’t able to move the ball enough and take control of some of those points".

Rubin is 0-7 lifetime against Graf.

"Her game is pretty much the same as it’s been," Rubin said. "she’s moving pretty well, striking the ball pretty solidly".

Graf won the Evert Cup in 1994 and 1996. Last year, she reached the semis against Lindsay Davenport before retiring because of a tight hamstring.

Double hat-trick by Habil Topno

HYDERABAD, March 12 (UNI) — Title aspirants Indian Airlines and defending champions Railways won their respective league matches in contrasting styles as the former struggled to beat Jammu and Kashmir 3-0, while the holders crushed Rajasthan 13-0, as challengers Border Security Force (BSF) proved too good for Vidarbha for a 12-0 win and Bihar shunted out Andhra with a 2-0 margin in the 59th Senior Nationals Hockey Championship here today.

The hero of the third play was the 24-year-old Habil Topno who became the first player to score a double hat-trick, and helped debutant BSF trounce Vidarbha 12-0.

Seven-time national champions Airlines played at a relaxed pace and struggled to beat a determined Jammu and Kashmir 3-0 after leading 2-0 at half time in group ‘D’.

In the 21st minute, airlines’ were awarded a penalty stroke as one of the deep defenders of Jammu and Kashmir was penalised for stick checking when international Mohammad Riaz was about to take a hit. Riaz made no mistake and put the airline team ahead by 1-0.

In a swift move, a minute before the break, international Brojen Singh scored the second goal by capitalising a cross pass from Altaf ur Rehman.

After the interval, Airlines played at half pace and in the 58th minute Dilip Trikey with a rasping drive sounded the board following a corner for the third goal of the match.

Nippy forward Habil Topno became the first player to score a double hat-trick as debutants BSF crushed Vidarbha 12-0 .

Twentyfour-year-old forward Habil Topno scored seven goals in all with the second, third and fourth for his first hattrick and the 10, 11, and 12th goals for his second hat-trick. He also scored the 8th goal. The goals came in the 9th, 12th, 20th, 59th, 64th, 67th and 41st minutes of the match.

Amrit Lakra pumped in three goals while Harbhajan Singh and Christopher accounted for the other two goals as BSF were leading 7-0 at lemon break in the group ‘C’ match.

It was a cakewalk for Railways who scored at will and posted their second successive win in group ‘A’ beating Rajasthan 13-0 after leading 8-0 at half time.

Railways’ fleet footed wingers Sunil Kumar and Brijnev Singh scored three goals each. While the agile Chanderpal and Anil Kumar scored two goals each.

Navsher Singh, Ajinderpal Singh and Anmole Aind scored a goal each to complete the tally.

In another match in group ‘A’, Bihar scored two quick goals to seal the fate of Andhra team. Victor Topno, in the second minute, made no mistake to put his team ahead when he tapped a ball from J Dung Dung.

Dung Dung consolidated his team’s position by scoring the second goal in the tenth minute.

Thereafter, both the teams kept the ball mostly confined to the midfield.

The following are the results: Indian Railways b Rajasthan 13-0, BSF b Vidarbha 12-0 , Bihar b Andhra 2-0.

JCT, FC Kochin split points

CALCUTTA, March 12 (PTI) — JCT Phagwara's title ambitions received a serious jolt as they were held to a goal-less draw by FC Kochin in a sedate second leg tie of the super division National Football League here today.

The Phagwara outfit, who had won the inaugural tournament two years ago pushing Churchill Brothers to the second spot on the home stretch, raised hopes of regaining the title by handing out a 5-0 drubbing to the Goa outfit on Tuesday.

But the mill men looked a pale shadow of themselves in today’s exchange and are virtually out of the title race. They are now fourth in the chart with eight points from seven ties. Wooden spooners FC Kochin have two from seven matches.

The 90-minute tardy encounter at the empty Rabindra Sarobar Stadium was mostly confined to the midfield with JCT enjoying domination, as the hardworking Rampal schemed well.

The promising Surjit Singh also had a good match, and created several moves from the left.

JCT, however, could have earned full points had they not missed the couple of rosy chances which came their way.

In the 30th minute, Surjit, receiving a long pass on the left flank, essayed a measured centre, but Hardip Saini shot straight to Kochin custodian Naseem Akhtar.

The millmen squandered away the easiest chance of the match in injury time as Hardip Gill, put in the clear by substitute Sukjit Singh, blew over from inside the box.  

Churchill hold Bagan

A rudderless Mohun Bagan failed to reverse their sliding fortunes as they were held to a goal less draw by Churchill Brothers in the ‘super six’ second leg match of the National Football League here today.

Both teams played their hearts out but failed to break the deadlock in the regulation time in a match which seldom rose to great heights at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Defending champions Mohun Bagan, who desperately needed a win to improve their position in the points table, were again a pale shadow of themselves as their forwards frittered away all the scoring opportunities that came their way.

With this draw, the local giants are virtually out of reckoning having picked up just six points from seven matches while Churchill Brothers kept themselves in the title hunt with 12 points from seven outings.

Weighed down heavily by the absence of star striker Chima Okerie, Mohun Bagan never really looked menacing inside the box while the performance of their midfielders also left much to be desired.

Both teams stepped up the pace of the game after the breather but the goal remained elusive till the very end much to the dismay of the Bagan supporters who were hoping for a more inspired show by the team.

Chandigarh rowers honoured
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 12 — Rowers of Chandigarh who won laurels at the recently-concluded National Games in Manipur, were honoured at a brief but impressive ceremony by the Chandigarh Rowing Association at Lake Club here this evening.

Presenting mementoes and gifts to members of the contingent, the president of the Chandigarh Olympic Association, Mr Rajan Kashyap, who was the chief guest, exhorted the winners to start training youngsters for future competitions.

The president of the Chandigarh Rowing Association, Mr TC Gupta, while welcoming the chief guest, lauded the achievement of the city rowers in winning as many as 15 medals, including seven gold, at the National Games.

Among those honoured today were constable Nardev Singh of the PAP who won the gold in double scull (1000 metres) single scull (500 metres) and double scull (500 metres) besides a silver in single scull (1000 metres).

The other awardees included Dalel Khan, Tajinder Singh, Dalip Kumar, Ganesh Kumar, Roop Chand, Jeetinder Kumar. While some of them were present to receive the awards, others including Dalel Khan and Tajinder Singh were honoured in absentia.

In the women’s section, Rajeshwari, Sowmya, Reena Biswas, Babita Sharma, Ranjna, Renu Sarkar, Manjula, Meera Devi and Salina were bestowed honours for the fine performance in the National Games. The coach of the Chandigarh contingent, Rajeev Sharma, was also honoured on the occasion.

Of the 27 medals which Chandigarh won in the Games, rowing alone accounted for 15 medals. The other disciplines included judo, boxing, and wrestling.

Bengal have edge over Punjab

CALCUTTA, March 12 (PTI) — Hosts Bengal would seek to capitalise on home advantage when they lock horns with Punjab in their last group-A Ranji Trophy super league match at the Eden Gardens here tomorrow.

Fresh from their resounding innings and 19 runs victory against Baroda in the last match, Punjab have a balanced team to counter Bengal at their own den in what promises to be a exciting battle.

Bengal have a clutch of talented youngsters who have been on selection fringe for some time now and they would all be keen to enhance their prospects by putting up a decent show in the match.

The availability of star batsman Sourav Ganguly and young all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla has lend solidity to the Bengal team which would be hoping for an outright victory to keep their hopes alive in the championship.

Bengal have secured 13 points from three matches while Punjab have 11 points to their credit from three outings.

The hosts would be relying on a substantial contribution from the elegant left hander Ganguly in a bid to pile up a big first innings total. The in-form Devang Gandhi, Nikhil Haldipur, Saba Karim, Rohan Gavaskar and Ajay Das were also capable of playing long innings.

Das to lead Orissa against Delhi

CUTTACK, March 12 (PTI) — Sanjay Raul stood down from captaincy to concentrate on his own form even as Orissa geared up for their last group B Ranji Trophy super league clash with Delhi beginning here tomorrow.

Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) sources said that young batsman Shiv Sundar Das would lead the team though all-rounder Raul, who played for the country in the Sahara Cup in Toronto last year, would play.

Delhi, who have 16 points from the three matches thus far, are viewing this engagement with all seriousness as its outcome would decide their future in the tournament.

The visitors need to ensure the first innings lead to go through to the knock-out round. But Orissa, who have so far earned eight points, are already out of the race and would be playing to salvage their pride.

The other tie between Maharashtra (15 points) and Tamil Nadu (16 points) starting at Pune tomorrow would decide the other qualifier from the group.

Delhi skipper Ajay Sharma said "we are not taking Orissa lightly and we will go for a win".

Delhi, stronger on paper with World Cup probables Nikhil Chopra and Virendra Sehwag on its ranks, were likely to play left arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra, who made his test debut against Sri Lanka recently.