Saturday, March 27, 1999
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S P O R T | Saturday, March 27, 1999 |
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Rangaswamy Cup for Airlines HYDERABAD, March 26 — Centre-forward Sameer Dad’s hat-trick helped Indian Airlines beat last year’s runners-up Tamil Nadu 4-1 in the final and regain the Rangaswamy Cup in the 59th men’s National Hockey Championship here today. British captain slams Sampras LONDON, March 26 — British Davis Cup captain David Lloyd hit back at Pete Sampras on Wednesday over the world number one’s jibe about the "the half-British, half-Canadian team."
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Krajicek outsmarts Enqvist
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Basad shoots into lead Muhammad
Usman axed, Shahbaz Jr recalled South
Africa win with last-ball six Santosh
Trophy:Chandigarh go down to Karnataka IHF
picks up 73 probables |
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Rangaswamy Cup for Airlines HYDERABAD, March 26 (PTI) — Centre-forward Sameer Dad’s hat-trick helped Indian Airlines beat last year’s runners-up Tamil Nadu 4-1 in the final and regain the Rangaswamy Cup in the 59th men’s National Hockey Championship here today. Indian Airlines, who led 1-0 at half time, had last won the title in 1993 at Mumbai. This is the ninth time the airmen have won the cup while Tamil Nadu finished runners-up for the second time in a row. They were joint winners in 1977. Speedy Dad, who was in his elements today, along with international Mukesh Kumar and Shakeel Ahmed functioned like a well oiled machine. Dad opened the account for his team in the 30th minute, with a superb reverse flick off a Mukesh Kumar pass from the left flank. He increased the margin, in the 44th minute, when his push on the second attempt found the mark off an Altaf pass. Right back Mohammed Riaz had earlier initiated the move. Two minutes later Tamil Nadu opened their account through forward Vinod Kumar’s field goal. Sameer Dad got his hat-trick when he sounded the board in the 52nd minute off Riaz’s indirect pass following a penalty corner push taken by Shakeel Ahmed. Riaz himself was in the limelight four minutes later when he converted a penalty stroke awarded by umpire Shakil Qureshi. Tamil Nadu’s Dinesh Nayak had obstructed Mukesh Kumar when the later was poised to score resulting in the stroke. Airlines forced as many as four penalty corners but managed to score off just one while their rivals fared even worse wasting all the four they managed to get. The star-studded Airlines played to their potential always putting their opponent's citadel under pressure with repeated raids. The champions did not feel the absence of their star forward Brojen Singh, who was given a one-match suspension by tournament director Mohammed Ghouse for his 'unsportsman like behaviour' in the semifinals against Railways yesterday. The aggressive approach by the airmen pushed the Tamil Nadu team to go on the defensive in the early part of the match from which they never recovered. Tamil Nadu's defensive approach in fact helped the speedy Airlines forwards to move upfront at will and the danger of conceding goals must have weighed heavily as the Tamil Nadu defence was in shambles. In fact, the Tamil Nadu defenders found it very difficult to mark the agile dad and speedy Mukesh Kumar. Though Tamil Nadu fought back to reduce the margin in the 46th minute they could not stop their rivals from winning 4-1. The teams: Indian Airlines: Jagdish Ponnappa (Rajneesh), Dilip Tirkey, Sanjay Bist (Shakeel Ahmed), Lazrus Barla, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Riaz, Altaf-ur-Rehman, Sameer Dad, R.S. Rawat, R.P. Singh and Ashish Ballal. Tamil Nadu: Natarajan,
Shashikaran, Dinesh Nayak, Sunder (Tirumalavalavan), C.
Dixon, Senthil, Radhakrishnan, Prabhakaran, Vinod Kumar
(Felex), Ramesh Babu and Satish Kumar. |
Krajicek outsmarts Enqvist KEY BISCAYNE (USA), March 26 (AP) — Venus Williams and Serena Williams are one victory apiece away from a sibling showdown in Sunday’s final in the Lipton Championships. Venus joined her younger sister in the semifinals yesterday, rallying past Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. The American sisters face big obstacles to a family-feud final. Venus, Lipton’s defending champion, will play Germany’s Steffi Graf while Serena, who beat South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer in the quarterfinals Wednesday night, will meet top-ranked Martina Hingis of Switzerland. Graf advanced when second-ranked Lindsay Davenport of the USA withdrew because of a sprained wrist. Dutchman Richard Krajicek, seeking his first U.S. title since 1993, advanced to tomorrow’s men’s final by beating Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist 6-4, 6-2. Krajicek, who earlier eliminated American Pete Sampras, will play the winner of Thursday night’s match between France’s Sebastien Grosjean and Spain’s Francisco Clavet. Venus (18) and Serena (17) have rarely entered the same tournament recently because their father prefers that they do not face each other. They last met in the Italian Open in May 1998, and their only other matchup came in the Australian Open last year. Venus won each time in straight sets. Serena is the hottest player on the women’s tour, winning 15 consecutive matches and her last two tournaments. On February 28, Serena earned her first title at Paris and Venus won the Oklahoma City final, making the first sisters to win WTA tour events on the same day. With a showdown looming, their doubles partnership has been suspended. Following Venus’ victory over Notovna, the sisters withdrew from doubles, in which they had reached the quarterfinals. Novotna appeared intent on preventing an all-Williams final until she hurt herself reaching for an overhead in the second game of the second set. She lost five consecutive games, then regained her form after receiving treatment from a trainer. Davenport’s withdrawal was a surprise. She played several matches despite a sore left wrist after hurting it in practice last Saturday, but pulled out of her match against Graf about two hours before it was to begin. Davenport is right-handed but uses a two-handed backhand. Her status is questionable for next week’s tournament at Hilton Head. Martina Hingis, the Swiss star had plenty of margin for error, when she won the match point to beat Austria’s Barbara Schett 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Lipton championships. The world’s top-ranked player has looked first-rate in Key Biscayne, losing just 11 games in four matches. Hingis’ latest victory took just 43 minutes. I love it," she said. "You can go, do something else if you know you played a great match. I’m going to have a massage." Williams has won 15 consecutive matches and is bidding for her third tournament title in a row, but she is 0-2 against Hingis. "I have some business to take care of," Williams said. In the men’s quarterfinals, Spain’s Francisco Clavet beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 7-5, 6-3, and France’s Sebastien Grosjean won a battle of unseeded players by beating Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. For the first time in the Lipton’s 15-year history, there will be no Americans in the men’s semifinals. At 18, the Swiss is no longer the freshest face on the WTA tour, and teen-agers Amelie Mauresmo of France and the Williams sisters are among those challenging her reign. But Hingis, who leads all players with 21 victories this year, returned to No. 1 last month. She beat Mauresmo in the Australian Open final for her fifth grand slam title and her first in a year. Last year Hingis lost in the semifinals of the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, then lost the No. 1 ranking to Davenport. Chastened, she prepared for 1999 by training with Nick Bollettieri in Bradenton, Florida. "That was the first time after a long time that I really worked for two weeks, day after day, three or four hours of tennis," she said. "I lost some weight, and that was like the best thing I could do. You stop growing, and you start growing to the side." Fit and trim again, Hingis has regained her remarkable sense of anticipation. Her serve and forehand, meanwhile, are more powerful than before. "You can see it," she said. "I mean, I’m back to No. 1. The scores tell it." Results against Schett
suggest considerable recent improvement. Hingis needed a
third-set tiebreaker to beat the Austrian in Sydney,
Australia, in January. Yesterday’s match was a rout. |
British captain slams Sampras LONDON, March 26 (AFP) — British Davis Cup captain David Lloyd hit back at Pete Sampras on Wednesday over the world number one’s jibe about the "the half-British, half-Canadian team." Sampras, who made the comment in a post-match press conference following his defeat to Dutchman Richard Krajicek at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, was referring to Canadian-born Greg Rusedski. Lloyd said: "All I can say is half of America is Italian, and we don’t query that. "He’s (Sampras) not playing for his country and I think that’s sad. He should look in the mirror and ask himself why he’s not playing." Sampras reiterated on Tuesday that a busy tour schedule is the reason why he has elected not to play in the Davis Cup. The USA face Britain in a first round match in Birmingham, England, next month. Lloyd defended Rusedski, saying: "Greg has a British passport, it’s as simple as that. I don’t understand what Sampras is saying. Greg was brought up in Canada and has a Canadian accent, but he’s played for me for four years, and he’s never let his country down." Lloyd suggested that Sampras, the reigning Wimbledon champion, should look back at the historical make-up of the USA’s Davis Cup teams. "Charlie Pasarell, he’s Puerto Rican but played for the US team and nobody queried that," Lloyd said, "(John) McEnroe comes from Irish stock. "A man being so good as number one as Sampras, why does he have to say something like this?" Lloyd said Sampars might be reacting to comments by Rusedski at Indian wells. "I think Greg in Indian wells said he can’t understand why Sampras doesn’t want to play for his country," Lloyd said. "No one can understand that. They’re both players. I’m sad he’s not playing because it would be better to beat a full team." Rusedski’s former coach, Tony Pickard, played down Sampras’s comments. "He proved he wanted to be British when he took up his passport, so I don’t think he has to prove anything to anyone any more," Pickard said. "If you ask me this
appears to be a storm in a tea cup. Reading between the
lines somebody more than likely asked Sampras a sneaky
question and he came back with a sneaky answer." |
Crucial tie for Lanka today VISHAKAPATNAM, March 26 (PTI) — Stung by two successive defeats, a beleaguered Sri Lanka are struggling to tide over the current slump to keep themselves in the reckoning when they meet a Pakistan team riding the crest of a success wave in the Pepsi Cup triangular cricket tie here tomorrow. Plagued by injuries to some key players, nothing seems to be going right for the islanders and Arjuna Ranatunga and his men need to drastically tone up their game to make an impact in the crucial tie. Pakistan have almost made it to the final with two straight wins placing them at the top of the table but another defeat would almost mean curtains for Sri Lanka and inflict demoralisation too close to their World Cup title defence at May-June in England. The Lankans will be keen to avenge their slender nine-run defeat to Pakistan in the inaugural tie at Jamshedpur and show that the team, missing explosive opener Sanath Jayasuriya and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan badly, was capable of countering any fancied team. Fresh from the two wins, Pakistan captain Wasim Akram would be hoping his team maintains the winning streak which would further boost their confidence before the World Cup. The comprehensive 143-run win against India in their last match has served as a morale-booster for a team that has shown a lot of determination and consistency to shrug off defeats and controversies that plagued it last year. The injury to opener Marvan Atapattu has been a worrying factor for Sri Lanka and it remains to be seen whether he would play. Atapattu injured his finger while trying to fend off a short-pitched ball from fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in Jamshedpur and had to skip the Nagpur tie against India. Sri Lanka have a clutch of talented youngsters in their ranks, but they have not shown the desired consistency while their inexperienced bowling department has compounded their problems. The World Cup champions would be heavily depending on the battle-scarred Aravinda De Silva to come up with a big knock as he has done so often. De Silva struck a brilliant 81 before being tragically run out at Jamshedpur, a dismissal that triggered a collapse and undid their chase. Pakistan, on the other hand, have come out of the slump with their recent triumphs in both the Test and one-day matches and Akram has set his sights higher and aims to make his team as consistent as South Africa and Australia. Pakistan opener Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi have given a rollicking start to the innings in both the matches and the middle order batsmen have only capitalised on the solid foundation laid by the two free-stroking batsmen. Both teams had a light
workout at the nets this morning to get acclimatised to
conditions in this coastal city hosting an international
tie after a fairly long gap. The Corporation Stadium
track promises to favour the batsmen. |
Deschamps set to win 83rd cap PARIS, March 26 (Reuters) — World Cup captain Didier Deschamps, already France’s most successful player, will reach another milestone tomorrow when he becomes its most capped international. Deschamps is set to win his 83rd cap in the Euro 2000 qualifier against Ukraine at Stade De France, overtaking former Marseille defender Manuel Amoros, a member of France’s 1984 European Championship-winning side. Since making his debut in a 0-0 draw against Yugoslavia in April 1989, Deschamps has been a regular for 10 years — the central defensive midfield ball-winner, unspectacular but totally dependable. "His remarkable performance at Wembley last month shows to what extent his presence is still vital for the team," France’s coach Roger Lemerre said. That friendly was yet another milestone for Deschamps, a first French victory over England at Wembley. He won the European Cup with Olympique Marseille and Juventus before lifting the World Cup as France captain in July. "In his options, he’s always very discerning, he is measured in everything and, really, I’ve never seen him make a mistake," Lemerre said. In his 82 internationals, Deschamps has been on the winning side 53 times. He has lost 10, only four in competitive matches. Deschamps’ career has
been marked by timing and good sense, starting when he
joined Marseille from Nantes and later moved on to
Juventus. |
Platini for World Cup every two
years MICHEL Platini, France’s most influential football star and best-loved captain, on Tuesday backed plans to increase the frequency of the World Cup from every four years, to every two. Platini, aged 44, who played in three world cups in the 1980s, has just taken up his post as the FIFA special sporting adviser to the Swiss chairman, Mr Sepp Blatter, following his success as the co-chairman of the organising committee for France ’98. At present, the World Cup is held once every four years but six months ago Mr Blatter said he wanted more frequent competitions. Platini is backing those wishes. Speaking at his Paris office near the Comedie Francaise theatre, the former top-scoring forward said he was in favour of the introduction of an 11-month international calendar (from February to December) - leaving players and fans only a month’s rest - with each summer devoted to at least one multinational competition. Every two summers, he said, would see the staging of the World Cup competition. The permanent calendar could be established by 2009. Platini also announced that a special World Cup would probably be held to mark FIFA’s centenary in 2004. The seven teams that have won the trophy since 1930, including England, will be invited, along with the winner of the Japan-Korea World Cup tournament in 2002. Proving that soccer is no longer a question of just kicking a ball between two posts, Platini said he intended drawing politicians into the planning of the game’s future. An official link would be established between European leagues and the European Commission as part of an overhaul of regulation and inspection. Apart from helping to plan the future of the World Cup, the French star is also taking part in the football federation’s clean-up of a sport recently muddied by accusations of corruption and rigged results. Platini’s reputation as one of the last of the old-school sportsmen is crucial in changing the game’s image. Referring to recent rows over treatment of players, he said that new world-wide rules were needed on training, contracts, transfers and agents which could be worked out with the European Union. He said he also wanted to see an end to big business domination to avoid international competition, in particular the World Cup, being subject to the whims of sponsors, advertisers and television companies. Platini said he was already worried about the "uncertainty over match results" when soccer fell into the hands of rich owners. "Football news must continue to be read in the sporting pages and not in the city columns alongside stock prices,’’ he added. — The Guardian, London
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Basad shoots into lead MEERUT, March 26 — Calcutta veteran Basad Ali, after missing out on all the fun yesterday, made up on the second day of the Rs 5 lakh AGC-Wills Meerut Open as he shot into the lead with a stunning round of six-under 66. Basad, winner of the Navy Pro-am and Cyanamid Open this year, caught up with twice Honda-Siel PGA champion and his city mate Uttam Singh Mundy on top of the leaderboard with an aggregate of seven-under 137 after two rounds. Mundy, who shot four-under 68 yesterday, was a picture of consistency and played three-under 69 today. In joint third place were overnight joint leader Akbar Ali, Color Plus Open winner Sanjay Kumar, Vivek Bhandari and veteran Rohtas Singh at three-under 141. The cut was applied at seven-over 151 and 44 pros made it to the third round. Basad played a bogey-fire round. One-under after eight holes thanks to a birdie on the 4th, the 42-year-old caught fire after that. A birdie on the 9th was followed by an excellent 18-footer putt on the 12th for another. He then made birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, before climaxed in thrilling fashion by sinking a 30-footer for his final birdie on the 18th after a 0-iron approach shot left him on the edge of the green. "My putting was pretty satisfactory. I think the fact that I teed off in the morning, helped. There was much less wind in the morning which assisted me. If I can repeat another round like this, I am sure I will be able to add another title this year," he said. Two bogies, including a missed four-footer par putt on the 3rd, ruined what could have been a much better card for Mundy. The twice winner this year in the Wills Sport golf Tour (Honda-Siel PGA Championship and BPGC Open), nevertheless seemed pleased with his performance as he made five birdies. The second-best card of the day, four-under 68 was produced by ‘Guruji’ Rohtas Singh and twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher, both from Delhi. The ageless Rohtas fired five birdies as against a single bogey to leapfrog to joint third place at three-under 141, while Ali Sher made three birdies and a bogey in each half of his round to finish the halfway stage at joint seventh spot along with Amritinder Singh, Vijay Kumar, Balbir Verma and Mukesh Kumar. Gaurav Ghei, after shooting four-under 68 yesterday, played an inconsistent round of four-over 76, while Jyoti Randhawa also finished level-par after two rounds following a two-over 74 round today. Overnight leader Rajesh
Rawat suffered badly as his short game collapsed to shoot
10-over 82 and slid to joint 32nd position. Scores (after
36 holes): 137 Basad Ali (66,71), Uttam Singh Mundy
(68,69); 141 Rohtas Singh (73,68), Akbar Ali (67,74),
Sanjay Kumar (71,70), Vivek Bhandari (70,71); 142 Ali
Sher (74,68), Amritinder Singh (68,73), Vijay Kumar
(70,72), Balbir Verma (70,72), Mukesh Kumar (71,71); 144
Gaurav Ghei (68, 76), Jyoti Randhawa (70,74); 145 Feroz
Ali (71,74), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (73,72),
Rezwan Ali (72,73), Amandeep Johl (71,74), Mohammed
Maqbool (70,75); Amateurs: 155 Abhijit Sethi (79,76); 160
Deep Binder (77,83); 161 Abhishek Ahlawat (76,85); 165
Rohit Chaudhry (85,80). |
Muhammad Usman axed, Shahbaz Jr recalled KARACHI, March 26 (ANI) — The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday omitted Olympian right-half Muhammad Usman and recalled Muhammad Shahbaz Jr in its team for the Azlan Shah Cup being held in Kuala Lumpur next month. The decision to omit Usman, who captained Pakistan before fracturing his ankle last December, was taken after he failed a fitness trial during the one-day trials at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Stadium here on Monday evening. The fact that the team doctor also certified that he would not recommend Usman for selection as he was still only 70 per cent fit, only made the selectors' task easier. However, Muhammad Shahbaz Jr, the fleet footed and experienced inside-left, who has played most of his hockey in the shadow of the great Shahbaz Ahmed, won the selectors approval to make a comeback to the Pakistan team after last playing in the 1998 World Cup in Utrecht, before he suffered a knee injury. The selectors did not make any unexpected changes in the team which last played the home series against India and only decided to introduce two promising youngsters, utility midfielder Mubashir and right-out Haider Hussain in the first sixteen, although they were in the 18 for the series against India. The rest of the side remains the same. The selectors have retained goalkeepers Ahmed Alam and Muhammad Qasim, full-backs Sohail Abbas, Danish Kaleem and Aamir Saleem in the deep defence, while in the midfield right-half Irfan Yousuf, centre-half Saqlain, Mubashir and left-half Wasim Ahmed were also retained. The forward line comprises of Haider, Muhammad Sarwar, Atif Bashir (once again selected as a centre-forward), Muhammad Shahbaz, Naveed Asim, N.D. Nadeem and Muhammad Anis. Shahnaz saying the last two would be used as utility forwards in the Azlan Shah, in which Germany, Malaysia, Canada, New Zealand and South Korea are the other participating teams. Akhtar Rasool later said
at the press briefing that a victory in Azlan Shah Cup
was important for Pakistan as it will give them boost for
the Champion’s Trophy being held in Brisbane in
June. He also announced that Dr Atif Bashir had been
retained as captain, with Sarwar as his deputy. |
South Africa win with last-ball six NAPIER, March 26 (Reuters) — South Africa’s Lance Klusener hit the last ball of the match for a six to win the replayed fourth one-day international against New Zealand today. The result ties the six-match series at two-all with two matches remaining, although South Africa have certainly claimed the psychological upper hand. Roger Twose held New Zealand’s innings together with an unbeaten 79 out of a disappointing total of 191 all out in 38.4 overs, eight balls short of their allocated 40 overs after a wet outfield delayed the start of play by an hour and 45 minutes. South Africa made 194 for eight in 40 overs. In a day that ended in high drama at McLean Park with over 10 hairline decisions made by third umpire Steve Dunne, Klusener faced the final ball from Dion Nash needing to hit a boundary to win the match. He struck a waist-high full toss straight over the bowler’s head for an enormous six and was immediately engulfed by his team-mates who ran onto the field to congratulate him after finishing on 35 not out from just 20 balls with four fours and the final six. South Africa appeared to be cruising to victory during a third wicket stand of 87 between Herschelle Gibbs and Daryll Cullinan but disciplined bowling and two important run outs dragged the home side back into the match. Gibbs’ innings of 52 from 66 balls ended when confusion over a second run resulted in Matt Horne’s throw from the boundary running him out. Cullinan was bowled by Nathan Astle while attempting to launch his third six in an innings of 61 from 77 deliveries. Hansie Cronje (6) was run out by Dion Nash’s diving throw and the turning point came when Dale Benkenstein (5) was stumped by Adam Parore off the bowling of Daniel Vettori. But Klusener’s ability for power-hitting won the game from an unlikely position where 19 runs were needed from the final two overs with only three wickets in hand. Twose earlier survived during a clatter of six wickets in the final five overs as the home side slumped from 161 for four to 191 all out. Only three players offered Twose the support he needed, with opener Nathan Astle making 18, captain Stephen Fleming 23 and Adam Parore an attractive 37 during a potentially decisive stand of 93 for the fifth wicket with Twose. Twose, who batted at number five after the failed experiment of sending Vettori in as pinch hitter at number three, paced his innings perfectly and reached his seventh one day half century from just 51 balls with four boundaries. The chunky lefthander finished with 79 from 77 balls but was left stranded by the tailend collapse that saw the last four wickets tumble in the space of just 10 balls. Both teams were forced to dash to Napier airport where a chartered plane was standing by to take them to Auckland, where the fifth match will be played tomorrow. New Zealand: South Africa: |
Santosh Trophy CHENNAI, March 26 (PTI) — Former champions Karnataka thrashed Chandigarh 5-1 in a group II quarterfinal league match of the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship here today. Initially, the two sides played some lively football, before Karnataka went into the lead in the 15th minute through K.C. Ramesh. Vijaykumar netted the second (33rd minute) and Ramesh again struck in 44th to take his individual tally to five in three matches. The winners led 3-0 at half time. Chandigarh could have reduced the margin in 25th minute when Viney Kanwar collected a pass from Suraj, moved to the right and lobbed the ball from about 30 yards. However, it hit the corner of the cross piece and bounced back to play. Crossing over, Chandigarh were rarely in the picture, except once when they scored a simple goal off a defensive lapse in the 62nd minute. Varinder Kanwar collected a pass from Viney and booted it home, leaving the defenders and goalkeepers stranded. Karnataka made it 4-0 when Murali scored off a penalty, awarded when Sunil Kumar elbowed Karnataka’s wily forward Satish Kumar on the face inside the box. Substitute George (for
Xavier Vijaykumar) completed the tally for Karnataka,
chipping in the ball from close range. |
IHF picks up 73 probables HYDERABAD, March 26 (UNI) — The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) today shortlisted 73 probables for the coaching camps in preparation for the coming international tournaments and next year’s Olympic Games. Six players, including Dhanraj Pillay, Ashish Balal, A.B. Subbaiah and Mukesh Kumar, who were dropped after the Asian Games, have not been included in this list. The probables were picked up on the basis of their performance in the national championship which concluded here today. There are 11 goalkeepers,15 backs,19 half backs and 28 forwards in the list released by the IHF. The probables: Goalkeepers: Devesh Chauhan (UP),Y. Ravindro (CRPF), A.P. Girish (Tatas), J. Ponappa, (IA) Jude Menezes, Sudhir Singh (Mumbai) Murli Krishna (Hyd), Narender Uppadhya (MB) W. Basanta Singh (Manipur) B.C. Poonacha (Custom), Natrajan (TN). Backs: Dilip Tirkey, Lazurus Barla (IA), Anurag Raguvanshi, Jasbir Singh (UP), Rajinder Singh (Customs), Kuljit Singh (Rlys), Rajinder Singh, Bikramjit Singh (PSB), Dinesh Naik (TN), John Minz (Ser), Sridhar Murthy (Tatas) Ch eops D'Costa (Tatas) Sasi Karan (TN), Sharanjit Singh (Univ) Manoj Singh (Hyd). Half backs: Nausher Singh, Anwar Khan (Rly) Bimal Lakra, Arjun Halappa (Kar) Baljit Saini (PSB), Mohammad Riaz (IA) S.S. Gill, Shan D'Costa (Mumbai) Ramandeep (Pun), Adolf Colaco, Errol D’ Silva (Customs), Thirumavalan, Radhakrishnan (TN), Sonu (Dli) Paramjit Singh (Ser) Shamshul Zuha, Sunil Yadav (UP) Krishna Reddy (AI), Christopher Thomas (Ben). Forwards: Baljit S.
Dhillon, Daljit S. Dhillon, Sarabjit Singh, Gursewak
(Pun) Gagan Ajit, Deepak Thakur (AI), Ajinder Pal Singh
(Rly) Samir Dad, Ravinder Singh (IA), Prabhakran, Senthil
(TN) K. Horo, Cyprian Aind, Rajpal Singh (Ser) Navbhir
Singh (FCI) Amar Ayamma (Mumbai) Suresh Pereira
(Customs), Navdeep Singh (Chd), Prabhjot Singh, Ajitpal
Singh (Univ) Cyril Ekka, Iqbal Singh (Ben) Bipin
Fernandes (Kar), Palwinder Singh (J and K) Arshad Amarjit
Pratap (UP) Sanjay Borade (Guj) and Parminder Singh
(PSB). |
City to
host
Amateur Golf Championship CHANDIGARH, March 26 — The greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club will play host for the first time to the Amateur Golf Championship of India from March 29 to April 4. This will be preceded by the international team championship on March 28 and 29. Local boy Harmeet Kahlon, winner of the title last year at Bangalore, is the hot favourite. But then he will face tough competition from last year's runner-up, Amit Dublex from Delhi, Digvijay Singh, Amish Jaitha and Amit Luthra. The Amateur Championship is open to golfers having a handicap of seven or under. The championship enjoys the same status as the national championship in any other sport or game and the winner is termed as the national amateur champion of India. Although the championship was started in Calcutta in 1892, it came under the charge of the Indian Golf Union in 1958. The Indian Golf Union is affiliated to the Royal and Ancient Golf of St Andrews, Scotland, which along with the US Golf Association forms the two governing bodies for amateur golf throughout the world. In the team competition each side will consist of two players and the total gross score of the team will decide the winner of the Dr Bharat Ram Trophy. The championship will commence on March 29 and will be played by match play. Each match will consist of one round of 18 holes, except that the final will be played over 36 holes on April 4. The Pakistan Golf Federation and the Sri Lanka Golf Union have been invited to send a four-member team and a manager to take part in the championship. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India are expected to take part in the international team match to be played on March 28 and 29. The details of the championship were given to the Press by Dr. G.K. Kochhar, Chairman, Media and Publicity, Chandigarh Golf Club. The Amateur Golf
Championship was first played at the Royal Calcutta Golf
Club in 1892. This event will therefore be 107 years old
when it is played at the Chandigarh Golf Club. This will
be the 98th championship as it was not played during the
first and second world wars. The championship was played
in Calcutta up to 1958 when the venue was shifted to
Delhi, and then to Mumbai in 1964 and to Bangalore in
1997. The venue has this year been allotted to
Chandigarh. |
Federation Cup kabaddi in April MANGALORE, March 26 (PTI) — The 18th Federation Cup Kabaddi Tournament will be held here from April 22. Eight teams each in the men's and women's sections would take part in the four-day tournament to be conducted under floodlights, secretary of Mangalore District Kabaddi Association Rathnakara Puthran told reporters yesterday. The teams are: Men's section: Indian Railways, Banks Sports Board, Haryana, Karnataka, Hyderabad, Services, Maharashtra and Punjab. Women's section: Railways,
Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh,
Hyderabad and Vidarbha. |
Philip Mensah NFL's highest scorer PANAJI, March 26 (UNI) — Philip Mensah of Churchil Brothers topped the goals scorers list in the third edition of the National Football League which concluded last Monday in Calcutta. Mensah has 11 goals to his credit. Salgaocar's Brund Countinho and East Bengal's Raman Vijayan with 10 goals each are placed second. In all 205 goals were scored in 90 matches at an average rate of 2.27. Goa's Salgaocar Sports Club emerged national champions with 23 points. They were followed by East Bengal 19 points, Churchil Brothers 15, Mohan Bagan 10, JCT nine and FC Kochi three points. In the first and second leg on the home and away matches , 146 goals were scored in 60 matches of these 61 goals were registered in group A and 85 goals in group B. In the super league stage 59 goals were scored in 30 matches and 30 goals were scored in the first leg super league in Goa and 29 goals in the final stage in Calcutta. In the entire championship
only one hat-trick was registered by Mahindra's Manjit
Singh against Indian Bank (Mumbai) and only one self goal
by KV Dhanesh of FC Kochi against Churchill Brothers. |
H
B'minton tourney PATIALA, March 26 (FOSR) — The Patiala District Bestavision Inter-Club Badminton Tournament will be held on April 4 at the NIS badminton hall. Players desirous of participating in the tournament should send their entries to Mr P.K. Bhandari, NIS coach or Mr Anterpal Singh, Amar Traders Dharampura Bazar by April 2. Punjab kabaddi from April 2 FATEHGARH SAHIB, March 26 (FOC) — The Punjab State Senior Kabaddi Championship for boys and girls will be organised by the District Kabaddi Association at Kheri Naudh Singh village from April 2 to 4, according to Mr Dalbir Singh Mangat, adviser of the association. The state teams for the Federation Cup and the National Championship will also be selected during the match. Mr T.R. Sarangal, Deputy Commissioner, will inaugurate the championship, while Mr Parmraj Singh Dhaliwal, SSP will give away the prizes. Best athletes FATEHGARH SAHIB, March 26 (FOC) — Livharleen Kaur, and Jagbir Singh were adjudged best athletes among girls and boys respectively on the concluding day of the annual athletic meet of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College here today. Mr Paramraj Singh Dhaliwal, SSP, inaugurated the meet. PSEB in semis PATIALA, March 26 (FOSR) — PSEB entered the semifinals of the 12th annual cricket tournament played at Bhawanigarh, near here, today beating ICC Cricket Club by 26 runs. Scores: PSEB 204 for 7 in 25 overs (A. Kakria 68, Chandershekar 51, Kiran 3 for 29, Sonpreet 2 for 6) ICC Cricket Club: 175 all out in 24 overs (Harikrishan Kali 100, Sonpreet 25, Lakhvir Singh 3 for 31, Kakria 2 for 26). The other team to enter the semifinals was MES Cricket Club who scored a convincing 92-run win over Godrej Cricket Club, Chandigarh. Scores: MES Cricket Club 207 for 6 in 25 overs (Brijmohan 72, Sanjeev Saini 62, Rinku Sharma 28) Godrej Cricket Club: 115
all out (Gurinder Saini 30, Sandeep 16, Arun Atul 16,
Gopal 3 for 22, Ravinder Thakur 3 for 14). |
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