Baboor, Raman for India Cup
MUMBAI, March 17 — National champion Chetan Baboor of Karnataka and southpaw and former national champion S. Raman of Tamil Nadu are among the 16 men players to be seen in action at the Rs 1.75 lakh prize money India Cup tournament, starting here on April 10.

Ambrose, Walsh real heroes: Lara
KINGSTON, March 17 — Brian Lara, with a supreme double century, and debutant Nehemiah Perry, restored West Indies pride with a magnificent 10-wicket victory over Australia in the second Test here yesterday.

Samaranch in control after sweeping win
LAUSANNE, March 17 — Beleaguered International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch firmly secured his position as head of the movement when he won a sweeping vote of confidence from IOC members here today.

Lara set to stay skipper
KINGSTON, March 17 — Brian Lara led West Indies to a 10-wicket triumph over Australia in the second Test yesterday and was set to be named captain for the rest of the four-Test series and the one-day World Cup.

400 m record within reach: Johnson
JOHANNESBURG, March 17— Butch Reynold’s world 400 metre record is firmly in the sights of American world 200 metre record holder Michael Johnson, who arrived in South Africa yesterday for two races.

Vijayalakshmi pips Thipsay for title
MUMBAI, March 76 — National champion S Vijayalakshmi won the women’s title defeating former champion Bhagyashree Thipsay in a tie-breaker in the women’s final round of the Datamatics Asian Zonal Chess Championship here yesterday.

Kabaddi team leaves for Pak
CHANDIGARH, March 17 — A national-level kabaddi team sponsored by Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India has left for Pakistan to participate in IIIrd Prime Minister of Pakistan International Kabaddi Tournament being held at Islamabad from March 19 to 23, 1999.

• Services upset runners-up Punjab
• Manjit clinches Mr India crown
• Punjab, Delhi in q-finals
• Selvi survives a scare
• AIR commentary

Chandigarh score 9-2 victory over Delhi

HYDERABAD, March 17 (UNI) — On a day when most of the matches were one-sided, Chandigarh recorded a 9-2 victory over Delhi while the 1992 champions Services blanked out Assam 19-0 in the PSB-SBI 59th Senior Nationals Hockey Championship played here this afternoon.

The Services-Assam league match in group 'H' was a tame affair as the Services team attacked their rivals at will and were leading 10-0 at half time.

The hero of Services fluent win was their winger Cyprian Aind who scored six goals while B. Horo accounted for four goals. S. Paramjit Singh, B. Bengra and Rajpal Singh scored two goals each while Kamal Horo, J. Kujur and S. Pradeep hit one goal each.

In group 'G' Chandigarh trounced Delhi after leading 4-1 at half time. The right winger of Chandigarh Navdeep Singh top scored with five goals to his credit as Balbir Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Surjit Singh and Baldev Singh scored a goal each.

Mahesh Dayal and Sonu reduced the margin for Delhi side.  

PTI: Star studded Air-India’s forward Deepak Thakur slammed home five goals, including a hat-trick as his team made mincemeat of Pondicherry 21-0 to register their first win from group-I.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) opened their league fixtures with a thumping 10-0 win over Kerala in a group-H tie.

Air-India, with a horde of internationals in its ranks, toyed with their opponents to register the highest goal scoring victory (21-0) of the championship so far.

Thakur got his hattrick when he slammed home three in a row in the 58th, 60th and 63rd minutes. Apart from Thakur, Rajesh Chouhan sounded the boards four times and Inder Salaria got three.

Air-India, in the course of their huge goal haul, converted three of the seven penalty corners which came their way. Inder Salaria also converted two penalty strokes in the 28th and 36th minutes.

Earlier, defender Cornelius D’Costa opened the account in the fourth minute through a field goal for Air-India. Thereafter, their forwards went berserk and scored at will.  

Others who scored for the airmen were Edward Arhana and Kishore Kumar (three goals each), while Davinder, skipper Anil Aldrin and Cornelious D’Costa scored a goal each.

Services playing their second league tie looked in total command and their rivals Assam just succumbed to the onslaught of the armymen meekly.

Centre forward Cyprian Aind was the highest goal scorer with six to his credit.

The tie between CRPF and Kerala was equally one-sided with the policemen dominating the proceedings.

Jolen Topono, Vincent Hemron and Toper Kujur combined well with their skipper Tanveer Jamal, who played a vital role in distributing the passes to his forwards, to register a 10-0 win.

Results (group-H): Services 19 (Paramjit Singh 2 (4th, 43rd), Pradeep 1 (1st), Cyprian Aind 6 (7th, 15th, 24th, 36th, 48th, 66th), K. Horo 1 (11th), B. Benghra 2 (13th, 47th), B. Horo 4 (22nd, 23rd, 34th and 45th). Rajpal Singh 2 (33rd, 50th), K. Kujur 1 (61st) beat Assam 0. (half time: 11-0)

CRPF 10 (Jolan Topono 4 (12th, 55th, 57th, 68th), Toper Kujur 4 (20th, 44th, 58th, 64th), Tanveer Jasmal 1 (6th), Vincent Hermon 1 (63rd), beat Kerala 0. (half time: 3-0).

Group-I: Air-India 21 (Deepak Thakar 5 (55th, 57th, 58th, 60th, 63rd), Edward Arhana 3 (8th, 30th, 53rd) Kishore Kumar 3 (18th, 23rd, 41st), Rajesh Chouhan 4 (47th, 48th, 56th, 68th) Inder Salaria 3 (20th, 28th, 36th), Davinder 1 (4th), Anil Aldrin 1 (65th), Cornelius D’Costa 1 (22nd) beat Pondicherry 0. (half time: 8-0).

Disastrous start by Anand

MONTE CARLO, March 17 (UNI) — India’s Vishwanathan Anand had a disastrous start losing the rapid play game to Ljubomir Ljubojevic of Yugoslavia and drawing the blindfold game with him to get onto the scoreboard at the eighth Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament at the Casino Square in Monaco. With half a point from the first set of games, he was behind in the overall standings.

Anatoly Karpov, who kept out of the Linares event earlier month opened in good form registering wins in both blindfold and rapidplay. Predrag Nikolic of Bosnia too has two points.

Ljubojevic played the Sicilian defence and won in 34 moves Anand attempted hard for a win and in the process was about to lose a piece when he resigned when threatened with mate. In the blindfold game Anand had black and in the slav defence the game ended in a draw in 44 moves.

Karpov scored a good win in semi-slav against Boris Gelfand in 56 moves in rapidplay and then in blindfold he again won, this time with black. The blindfold game was a Nimzo Indian.

Nikolic with black beat Vassily Ivanchuk in 34 moves of a Nimzo Indian in rapidplay and then won again with white in blindfold in just 23 moves of a semi slav. 

A total of 12 players are taking part in this annual event. The event which began on Tuesday will conclude on March 28.

Each day the players play one rapid game and one blindfold game with reversed colours against the same opponent. In the blindfold games each player is in front of a screen with an empty chessboard. He makes his moves by mouse click or keyboard. The opponent’s moves are announced on the screen. Checking legality of moves and time registration are automatic. Although the players always see an empty board, the arbiters and audience can follow the game on video screens not visible to the players.

There will be prizes for the rapid tournament, one for the blindfold and one for the combination and the total prize fund is $ 137,250.

Results of the rapid play (round 1):

Karpov (1) beat Gelfand (o):

Kramnik (1) beat Topalov (o).

Tendulkar likely to miss series

MUMBAI, March 17 (PTI) — Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar returned home early today after treatment in London and is likely to miss the entire home triangular series on medical advise to take a two-week break from cricket to rest his damaged lower back joint muscles.

Tendulkar, who returned early today from England after consultation with Dr Ken Kennedy for his back problem, will take a decision about his availability for the tri-series after talking to board president Raj Singh Dungarpur.

The triangular series involving India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka runs from March 19 to April 4.

Tendulkar told reporters on arrival here that there was still some mild stiffness in his back but the good news was he did not have to wear a strap to support it.

The maestro has already been rested for India’s first two games in the series, against Sri Lanka at Nagpur on March 22 and against Pakistan on March 24 at Jaipur, by the selectors.

India’s other two league fixtures are scheduled for March 30 at Pune against Sri Lanka and on April 1 at Mohali versus Pakistan. The day-night final is scheduled on April 4 at Bangalore.

"He (the doctor) has given me some stretching and strengthening exercises," Tendulkar said and added there was no time frame for them to be continued.

"I will have to continue these exercises and from now on have to take care of my back," said the ace bat on whom so much of India’s hopes rest in the May-June World Cup.

Asked why he had carried a bat to London along with his other baggage, Tendulkar said Kennedy, who was recommended to him by former Australian skipper Ian Chappell, wanted him to demonstrate a few of his shots and see which of these put more pressure on his back.

"He (Dr Kennedy) analysed my whole game," Tendulkar said.

Thanking Chappell, who himself had been treated by Kennedy during his playing days, Tendulkar said the treatment given to him was very thorough.

"The trip was good. The doctor had some knowledge of cricket, being a sportsman himself," Tendulkar said.

Kennedy had played Rugby for the British Lions.

Adding strength to the adage that bad things come in a heap is the news that Tendulkar’s father Ramesh, a retired college professor, is ill and in a hospital undergoing treatment.

But the champion batsman has taken this too in his stride as was evident when he said, "It’s part of life. One has to accept that and face it. You can’t do much," to a query about his father.

Tendulkar, however, refused to comment when asked about the statement by selector Shivlal Yadav that he had declined the Indian team’s vice-captaincy when it was offered to him at Calcutta.

Baboor, Raman for India Cup

MUMBAI, March 17 (PTI) — National champion Chetan Baboor of Karnataka and southpaw and former national champion S. Raman of Tamil Nadu are among the 16 men players to be seen in action at the Rs 1.75 lakh prize money India Cup tournament, starting here on April 10.

Baboor, who caused a major upset when he beat former world champion and the current Olympic champion Zin Guoliang of China in the Asian top-12 championship at Iran recently, will also be playing in a prize money event at Gandhinagar on April 14 and 15, according to the organisers here today.

The top ten men and women players in the country along with six talented youngsters (six each in men’s and women’s sections) from Maharashtra would be seen in action during the two-day India Cup where the men’s winner would be richer by Rs 50,000, the organisers added.

Bhushan Thakur of Railways, Arup Basak and Arjun Dutta (both from Bengal) are some of the other nationally ranked players who have confirmed their participation.

Talented youngster Mallika Parekh would spearhead the local challenge in the women’s section. Former national champions M.S. Mythili of Tamil Nadu, Montu Ghosh, Kasturi Chakravorthy and Mouma Das (all from Bengal), N.R. Indu and B. Bhuvaneshwari are some of the other ranked players to have confirmed their entries.

Ambrose, Walsh real heroes: Lara

KINGSTON, March 17 (AFP) — Brian Lara, with a supreme double century, and debutant Nehemiah Perry, restored West Indies pride with a magnificent 10-wicket victory over Australia in the second Test here yesterday.

It ended a five-match whitewash in South Africa, where a labour dispute threw the series into doubt until the last minute, and a humiliating first Test defeat in Trinidad where Australia bowled them out for 51 for their lowest Test score ever in a 312-run defeat.

"We had to put that 51 total behind us," said Lara who was under pressure after being named captain for only the first two Tests.

"We’ve gained the confidence that we needed. That was something that we were lacking for the last five or six months."

After bowling Australia out for 177, West Indies openers Sherwin Campbell and Suruj Ragoonath scored the three runs needed to seal the win off three balls of Glenn McGrath’s opening over.

Starting the fourth day on 157-8, Australia quickly lost the wicket of Jason Gillespie, caught by Ridley Jacobs off Courtney Walsh - the paceman’s 411th Test scalp.

Stuart MacGill and McGrath then put on 18 runs for the last wicket, forcing the West Indies to bat again, before MacGill fell to Perry, caught by Dave Joseph attempting a sweep shot. The off-spinner, making his Test debut at 30, finished with 5 for 70.

Australian skipper Steve Waugh paid tribute to the winners.

"It was a great performance by the West Indies. Brian Lara was superb while we missed a couple of half-chances on the second day and that cost us," he said.

But he refused to be overawed.

"We’re certainly not in a Lara daze, he’s played well in one innings," Waugh said.

"We all know he’s a great player when he’s switched on but he’s a chance of nicking a ball like anyone else and he’s proved that — we’ve just got to get the ball back in the corridor next Test and put the pressure back on him."

Lara’s magnificent first innings 213 laid the foundations for the victory after the West Indies had been staring another defeat in the face at 37-4 in reply to Australia’s 256.

The 29-year old hit three sixes and 29 fours in that knock and became one of the select band of cricketers to pass the 200 mark three times in Test cricket.

In 1993-94 he made the world record score of 375 against England and the year before he hit 277 against Australia in Sydney.

But Lara had gone 15 Tests and almost two years without a century.

"I think it can go down as the most important innings," Lara said. "That second day was very important for West Indies cricket. We’ve been through a disastrous time.

"The main thing is that I always learn — whatever happens to me I learn from it and I don’t get down and feel demoralised," he added.

But he warned there was a lot to do. "I would love this win to be the turning point, but I am not going to get carried away as we still have two Test matches left against one of the best attacks in the world," he said.

Lara, unanimous Man of the Match, said Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were the real heroes.

"I told Nehemiah ‘even though you got five wickets I really look at Curtly and Courtney and the sort of effort they gave in South Africa," Lara said.

"They put us in so many commanding positions and our batters just did not capitalise.

"This particular Test, as far as I’m concerned, has got to be for those guys who toiled for so long and so hard without success."

Ambrose took only 1-28 in the second innings but Lara said the big Antiguan was hungry again.

"There was this hunger on his face, he had a 10 or 11-over spell and he smelled victory," Lara said.

Lara made a point of thanking the Jamaican crowd for their support. With West Indies cricket at a low ebb, it had been feared Lara would be in for a rough reception in Jamaica, where he has met with criticism since replacing local hero Walsh as skipper last season.

Before the Kingston clash it had even been suggested that Guyanese batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul would replace Lara as captain for the third Test.

With the series levelled and after Lara’s major part in the second Test triumph a change of captaincy would now be unthinkable. Waugh admitted the Australians would have to redefine their approach and hinted he would field a full-strength line-up in the next tour match in Antigua.

Samaranch in control after sweeping win

LAUSANNE, March 17 (AFP) — Beleaguered International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch firmly secured his position as head of the movement when he won a sweeping vote of confidence from IOC members here today.

The 78-year-old had asked for a show of support in his leadership before the start of most dramatic meeting ever held by the IOC — one that will decide the fate of six members embroiled in the Salt Lake City scandal — amid rumours of top officials plotting to oust him.

Samaranch, who has ruled the Olympic movement for 18 years, decided to crush any opposition by deciding to put his support within the movement to the test with a secret vote.

It was a gamble that paid off with stunning success.

With 90 members voting, 88 backed the former Spanish diplomat. Only two voiced opposition. There was one abstention and one blank voting slip.

Samaranch left the hall while the vote was being taken and when it was over he swept back into the room to a standing ovation.

Belgian executive board member Jacques Rogge, tipped as a possible successor to Samaranch, said afterwards: "The outcome is good for the Olympic movement. The decision to conduct a secret ballot was a good one. It showed the true strength of the president’s support from the members.

Samaranch has repeatedly refused to stand down following the corruption scandal that has severely tarnished the once-golden image of the Olympics.

Today’s vote will now allow him to stay on until his retirement in 2001.

With doubts over the future of the leadership put to rest, the meeting began the job of trying the six members facing expulsion for their part in the Salt Lake City corruption scandal.

Immediately after the Salt Lake affair broke late last year, IOC vice-president Dick Pound was put in charge of a six-man inquiry team.

The Pound inquiry uncovered more than a score of cases where members were found to have broken the strict IOC code of ethics.

Six of them should be expelled, said the report and Samaranch made clear that he wanted the members to show no mercy.

"We must root out all forms of inappropriate or unethical behaviour among out membership and expel those members (as) recommended by the executive board," said Samaranch at the start of today’s hearing.

He accused the six of almost bringing the IOC to its knees. "No one though that certain of our members would act in a manner which would eventually bring the IOC into disrepute-in fact into a crisis which has nearly destroyed the reputation and credibility of all its members and the organisation itself," he told the session.

Pound earlier warned that if all six are not thrown out, he and the rest of the executive board will resign en masse.

The six IOC members recommended for expulsion are Agustin Arroyo of Ecuador, General Zein ul Abdin Ahmed of Sudan, Congo’s Jean Clauda Ganga, Mali’s Lamine Keita, Chile’s Sergio Santander Fantini and Paul Wallwork of Samoa.

Their expulsion will only be confirmed it two-thirds of the members vote against them.

Each of the accused will have 20 minutes to defend themselves before their future is put to the vote.

Samaranch said after the trial of six accused is over, the members had to take steps to ensure such a thing could never happen again and that public confidence in the movement is restored.

Samaranch put forward five several ideas that he wanted the session to support.

The key was the setting up of a special study group to investigate the workings of the IOC from top to bottom.

"This group would examine the IOC and all of its structures and procedures and recommend the changes we should make to our organisation so that we can move forward on a much stronger footing, in tune with society and its expectations for the leadership of the Olympic movement," said Samaranch.

He added that the group will be 20 to 24 strong with half of them coming from outside the IOC.

Holyfield-Lewis rematch likely in July/Aug

NEW YORK,, March 17 (AFP) — The Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield rematch will likely be conducted in July or August, according to the president of the group that broadcast their first heavyweight unification attempt.

Seth Abraham, president of TVKO parent company Time Warner Sports, said yesterday that he was examining dates in July and August after boxing’s major governing bodies ordered a rematch of the controversial draw by mid-September.

About 1.2 million pay-per-view purchases of the fight were made.

Abraham was uncertain the TVKO could raise the funding needed to pay both fighters for the rematch because Holyfield was unlikely to accept less than $20 million he was paid for Saturday’s bout and Lewis is certain to want more than $ 10 million he was paid.

No site has been chosen for the rematch, although Lewis’ camp is pushing hard for England despite time difference difficulties that might cause trouble with US networks trying to stage the bout late on a weekend night.

British fight fans watching the fight as it happened were forced to stay awake into the early hours of the morning.

Lara set to stay skipper

KINGSTON, March 17 (Reuters) — Brian Lara led West Indies to a 10-wicket triumph over Australia in the second Test yesterday and was set to be named captain for the rest of the four-Test series and the one-day World Cup.

Resuming at 157 for eight on the fourth day, Australia made another 20 runs to avoid an innings defeat. But West Indies needed to score just three runs to win which they hit off the first three balls of their second innings.

Lara’s role in charge had been in serious doubt following the 5-0 rout in South Africa and the 312-run thrashing by Australia in the opening Test last week.

Windies hit an all-time low in the Port-of-Spain debacle when they were dismissed for 51, their lowest Test score.

The West Indies selectors had put Lara on a two-match trial and a dejected Lara had said before the second Test: "I need to make a big innings."

The world’s top batsman did just that, steering his troubled team from 34 for four in their first innings to a total of 431 with a brilliant and long overdue 213.

From that base, the West Indies bowlers launched a second innings assault on the Australian batting. Debutant off-spinner Nehemiah Perry led the way with a five for 70 haul on his home Sabena Park turf.

400 m record within reach: Johnson

JOHANNESBURG, March 17 (AFP) — Butch Reynold’s world 400 metre record is firmly in the sights of American world 200 metre record holder Michael Johnson, who arrived in South Africa yesterday for two races.

The 31-year-old Texas sprinter, who has battled since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with a niggling hamstring problem, is well on the mend and will run in 200 metre races in Roodlpoort, near here on Friday, and in Cape Town on March 26.

"Now that I am back to full fitness, the world 400 metre record is within my reach," said Johnson, whose career best 200 and 400 metre times stand at 19.32 seconds and 43.39 secs.)

While Johnson’s 200 metre best is the world record in this discipline, Reynolds 400 metre record is 43.29 seconds.

"First up, though, is to win here in South Africa on Friday," said Johnson.

"No race is given to you on a plate."

With regard to retirement from the sport, Johnson said that he will hang up his spikes when the time is right.

"I have had eight great years in this sport and feel that I can go through to the Sydney Olympics," added Johnson.

Vijayalakshmi pips Thipsay for title

MUMBAI, March 76 (PTI) — National champion S Vijayalakshmi won the women’s title defeating former champion Bhagyashree Thipsay in a tie-breaker in the women’s final round of the Datamatics Asian Zonal Chess Championship here yesterday.

The tie-break which involved two 15-minutes games each and Bhagyashree was a bit slower responding to her younger opponent, which gave big advantage to Vijayalakshmi.

Bhagyashree with white chose kings gambit opening but was slow in the opening and came under timetrouble. Bhagyashree lost a pawn in the middle game and lost on time.

The second game was English opening where Vijaylakshmi was white. Bhagyashree made inaccurate moves in opening to land into trouble. Thereafter, black blundered exchange. Viji finished the match by giving perpetual checks to black king.

In the men’s section, GM Dibyendu Barua maintained his full point lead over the nearest rivals GM Praveen Thipsay and India’s GM prospect K Sasikiran.

Barua overcame the difficulties posed by Badri Nepali after hard work. In the philidor defence adopted by black Barua did not have any advantage still. In the end Barua’s experience prevailed and he netted the point.

Praveen was lucky to earn a full point against Pakistan’s M Waqar. Waqar obtained a good position in English opening and maintained upperhand. Praveen outwitted Waqar in sudden death where both got half an hour for remaining game.

GM norm holder K Sasikiran also is in the race for second place defeating Anup Deshmukh in 34 moves. Anup opened with queen pawn which was transferred into king’s Indian defence. Anup missed a chance to win a piece on 15th move after which Sasikiran gave not a chance and played on queen side. He gave exchange sacrifice on 32nd move. Facing loss of piece, Anup resigned.

IM Sarvanan defeated Enamul Hossain in close sicilian game. Sarvanan who lost yesterday was at his best today to crush Enamul in 40 moves. Enamul could not complete his 40th move as he was facing mate on that position.

GM norm holder Abhijit Kunte played badly against IM Ziaur Rahman. Abhijit chose closed variation in sicilian defence. He allowed to exchange the queen on 8th move and kept his king in the centre. Ziaur Rahman won two pawns and gave exchange to create passed pawn on king side.

Earlier, Bhagyashree defeated Swati Ghate while Viji crushed Nisha Mohota to set the stage for title clash.

Swati chose sicilian defence accelerated dragon variation against Bhagyashree’s K-pawn opening. Bhagyashree launched a strong kingside attack which was countered by Swati from Q-side. When apparently Swati had defended the position Bhagyashree gave up an exchange to continue attack and obtained a menacing passed pawn on F7 which was the crucial factor in the end.

On 46th and 47th move, Bhagyashree dealt a decisive blow by offering a rook to deflect defending queen and threatening to win a rook for the queening pawn.

Nisha Mohota was an exchange up against S Vijayalakshmi. In the opening Viji, playing black, chose nimzo Indian opening. On 27th move black gave up an exchange to slow white’s attack and obtain a control on the central squares.

Black could have regained the exchange but she chose to maintain pressure. After defending Nisha’s attack Viji pushed her "a" pawn to the queening square with help of double bishop to force white resign.

Results:

Men 10th round: Abdullah Al Rakib (4.5) lost to Mahmood Lodhi (6); Abhijit Kunte (5.5) lost to Ziaur Rahman (5.5); M Waqar (1.5) lost to Pravin Thipsay (7); Badri Nepali (1) lost to Dibyendu Barua (8); V Saravanan (6) b Enamul Hussain (3.5); Anup Deshmukh (4.5) lost to K Sasikiran (7).

Women 7th round: Pallavi Shah (1.5) lost to Shabana Parveen (4); Rani Hamid (2.5) lost to N Saritha Reddy (3); Nisha Mohota (3.5) lost to S Vijayalakshmi (5); Bhagyshree Thipsay (5) b Swati Ghate (3.5).

Punjab, Delhi in q-finals

MUMBAI, March 17 (PTI) — Holders Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh earned byes into the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy while Hyderabad, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Delhi qualified for the quarter-finals, according to the draw released by the Indian cricket board today at the conclusion of the super league.

In the knock-out rounds, champions Karnataka await the winners of the Tamil Nadu v Punjab quarter final (scheduled to be held in Punjab) in one semi final while MP would meet the winners of the other quarter-final between Delhi and Hyderabad (to be held in Hyderabad) in the second semi final.

The two quarter-finals are scheduled from March 30 to April 3. The semi-finals are to be held from April 9 to 13 and the final is scheduled from April 19 to 23.

Hyderabad (21 points) and Punjab (16) advanced from group "A" of the super league which ended yesterday, Tamil Nadu (21) and Delhi (19) made the grade from group "B" while Karnataka (29) and MP (22) moved up from group "C".

AIR commentary

NEW DELHI, March 17 (PTI) — All India Radio (AIR) will broadcast running commentary of the limited overs tri-nation cricket series on its national hook-up.

"AIR will broadcast live the commentary from 8.50 a.m. to 12.35 p.m. and 1.10 p.m. to 4.50 p.m. a Prasar Bharati release said here today.

The tri-nation series will begin on Friday, March 19 when Pakistan take on Sri anka at Jamshedpur. The other matches are on March 22, 24, 27, 30 and April 1. The final is slated for April 4 in Bangalore.

Services upset runners-up Punjab

JAIPUR, March 17 (PTI) — Services stunned last year’s runners-up Punjab in a thrilling group ‘B’ encounter in the men’s league of the 49th National Senior Basketball Championship here this morning.

Services were trailing 31-33 at the breather but rallied well to finish with a stunning 74-71 win over Punjab who were also runners-up in the just-concluded Manipur National Games.

Services checked the Punjab teams mainstay Parmindar Singh Senior who top scored (23) and other supporters like Gurusharan Jeet (12), S.N. Singh (11) and Gagnesh Kumar (10).

Services outclassed the opponents through Phool Singh (26), A.P. Singh (17) and S. Francis (19).

Indian Railways who upset Bihar last evening had an easy outing against West Bengal in Group ‘A’ (90-65).

International Ramkumar helped Railways by scoring 18 points while Sudhir Unda (14) and Mahendra Singh (9), did their best. In West Bengal line-up Amlendu Kumar (21) was the top scorer.

In a Group ‘B’ match Maharashtra got the better of Delhi 78-53 after trailing 36-37 at the break. Mahesh Naidu (26), Clare Kemend (21), Shibu George (17) and Satish Warrior (6) clicked for Maharashtra while for Delhi Dalbir Singh (21) Udaiveer Singh (11) and Sandeep (10) combined well.

Scores: (Women's section: Group 'A': Indian Railways 61 (Meena Latha 14, Jeena Jose 13) beat Kerala 25.

(Group 'B': Madhya Pradesh 52 (Savita 23, Neelam 13, J. Vlnu 11) beat Maharashtra 39 (Manisha 11, Arnika Gujar 10).

(Women's section (Group 'C'): Chandigarh- 30 (Amandeep Kaur 7, Savita 4, Jaspreet 10, Nivedita 5) beat Himachal Pradesh 10 (Sunita Devi 6, Shobha Devi 4).

Group 'E': Assam 31 (Salema Begum 9, Majani Boro 11, Mitali Das 6, Mayur Pankhi Saikia 3, Anjana Mazumdar 2) beat Rajasthan 22 (Bhawna Sharma 9, Nirmala 7, Neha Mishra 2, Deepti 2, Manisha 2).

Tamil Nadu 52 (Shymala 12, Vidhya 11, Jose Phena 6, Sinita 5) beat Gujrat 4 (Deepali 4). 

Group ‘D’: Rajasthan - 83 ( Mahipal Singh 17, Mangilal 14, Man Singh 7) beat J and K - 24 ( Bhanupratap 8, Amit 9 ) . Orissa - 50 (Amrish 13, Prakesh 13, Goutham 7 ) beat Goa - 34 (Sandeep 9, Roy Gaskar 8, R.B. Upadhyaya 9).

Group ‘C’: UP-76 (Abhinav Singh 10, Rajendra Singh 10, Sandeep Singh 14, Upendra 9) beat Pondicherry - 48 (Palani 14 Senthil 13, Ravi 9).

Haryana - 58 (Rajesh 26, Manoj 15, Krishna 13 ) beat Himachal Pradesh 40 (Brijmaohan 12, Praveen 8, Vinod Kumar 6).

Group ‘E’: Gujrat 61 (Hitendra 25, Vipin 12, Devraj Joshi 12) beat Chandigarh - 33 ( P. Aman 8, Vinu 8, Pradeep 7) HP -71 (V. Joshi 28, Riazuddin 14, S.T. Thomas 18 beat Kerala - 67 (S.J. Shenoy 23 , M. Ranjeet 18, I. Varghese 11).

Selvi survives a scare
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, March 17 — Young Bengal giant-killer Sushmita Roy (Dena Bank) gave a harrowing time to national player Arul Selvi of Indian Bank and top seed in this tournament before losing in the final of the women's singles of the All India Inter Bank Table Tennis tournament on the penultimate day at the Sector 23 TT hall here today. Arul will meet Rinku Acharya of Dena Bank (third seed) who too had to exert to beat second seed Seema Gargi of State Bank of India in the semifinal.

Deepak Thukral of Dena Bank, Rajdeep Sarkar also of Dena Bank, Souvik Dey of United Bank of India and Sunil Babras of Dena Bank have advanced into the last four of the men singles. Earlier in the pre-quarterfinals, 4th seed Vineet Chopra of State Bank of Patiala got the drubbing at the hands of Jignesh Jaswal of State Bank of Saurashtra but J. Jaswal's challenge was silenced by 5th seed Rajdeep Sarkar in the quarterfinals. Mukul Boro, sixth seed from Reserve Bank of India gave a tough fight to 3rd seed Sunil Babras of Dena Bank before the latter could win in four well extended games. The players from Dena Bank dominated the semifinal and final line up of the men and women singles respectively.

Kabaddi team leaves for Pak
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 17 — A national-level kabaddi team sponsored by Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India has left for Pakistan to participate in IIIrd Prime Minister of Pakistan International Kabaddi Tournament being held at Islamabad from March 19 to 23, 1999. The team was given a warm send off by Union Minister of State for Industries, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, at a simple ceremony here today.

The 22-member team will be captained by Bhupinder Singh, while Mr J.P. Sharma, general secretary of the federation will be manager. The other members of the team are Harjinder Kala, Jagjit Fauji, Rajwinder Raja, Balraj Baji, Lal Bataria, Sukhwant Gulu, Dilwar Khan, Darshan Bachi, Karmjit Karma, Jaswant, Pamma Badasiana, Sachin Parbhakar, Amarjit Karna, Jaggi, Hardev, Gulu Matoi and Billu Labheri.

The team will also play an exhibition match with Pakistan team in Gujrat near Lahore after the tournament in which England and Canada are also expected to participate.

Manjit clinches Mr India crown
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, March 17 — Manjit Singh of Punjab and working with Panjab police won Mr India title at the 37th Senior National Bodybuilding Championship which concluded at Mangalore (Karnataka) last Sunday, according to a press note of the Punjab Amateur Bodybuilding Association.

Twentyfour-year-old Manjit started his career in bodybuilding in 1992 and has won Mr Junior Punjab, Mr North India, Mr Senior Punjab, Mr Junior India titles.

In recognition of his achievements he had been promoted Assistant-Sub Inspector with Punjab Police.

Punjab won five gold medals in the nationals.

Cricket tourney

CHANDIGARH, March 17 (TNS) — The 12th open prize money cricket tournament being organised by Senior Cricket Club, Bhawanigarh, will be played from March 25 to 28. The winner team will be awarded Rs 15000, while runners up will be given Rs 11,000/-.

Entries close with Ravinder Sharma, lab incharge, ward No 1, Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, on March 20.

Baljeet to lead

JALANDHAR, March 17 (FOSR) — Asiad star Baljeet Singh Saini will lead the Punjab and Sind Bank team in the 59th Senior National Hockey Championship now in progress at Hyderabad. The bank team will play their first match against Combined University team on March 18, according to Olympian Rajinder Singh, coach-cum player of the team.

The other members of the team are:- Edward Alysis, Teja Singh, Rajinder Jr, Vikram Jit Singh, Sandeep Singh (Sr) Rajbir Singh, Ranjit Singh, Rajinder Singh (Sr) Bhupinder Singh, Baljeet Singh Chandi, Parminder Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Ram Sharan, Harpreet, Singh, and Sandeep Singh (Jr.).