STOCKHOLM : Thomas Enqvist of Sweden holds aloft the Stockholm Open trophy after winning the final against his compatriot Magnus Gustafsson on Sunday. — AP/PTI

Kafelnikov lifts Kremlin Cup MOSCOW, Nov 15 — Top-seeded local favourite Yevgeny Kafelnikov won his third consecutive Kremlin Cup ATP Tour title, beating Byron Black of Zimbabwe in straight sets here. STOCKHOLM — Thomas Enqvist became the first Swede to win the Stockholm Open three times when he beat compatriot Magnus Gustafsson 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 for the title. Enqvist took an early grip, breaking for a 3-0, and despite having trouble with his volley, won the first set 6-3 to set the tone of the match.

Kuwait claim final Olympic berth
HONG KONG, Nov 15 — Kuwait took the third and final Asian qualifying place at the 2000 Sydney Olympics soccer tournament with a 2-1 win over Qatar in Doha yesterday.

Tendulkar praises bowlers
GUWAHATI, Nov 15 — The loss of early wickets and pressure on the young middle order were responsible for India’s defeat in the fourth Pepsi one day international cricket match against New Zealand here yesterday, Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar said.

Haryana in command against HP
ROHTAK, Nov 15 — Haryana were in a commanding position against Himachal Pradesh at draw of stumps on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league encounter at Vishwakarma Stadium here today.

Punjab maintain winning spree
CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — Defending champions Pondicherry and hosts Punjab boys continued their winning spree in the 26th National Subjunior Basketball Championship on the second day at the Indoor Stadium, Sri Anandpur Sahib, today.

Durand Cup from November 25
NEW DELHI, Nov 15 — The soccer crazy denizens of the capital will rejoice when the country’s premier soccer tournament, the Durand Cup ‘99 begins here on November 25.

Ladies’ golf meet begins today
NEW DELHI, Nov 15 — Chandigarh’s Parnita Garewal will try to regain the title that she surrendered last year to Shruti Khanna when the Northern Indian Ladies Amateur Golf Championship tees-off at the Delhi Golf Club course from tomorrow.

BSF, PSB in final
JALANDHAR, Nov 15 — Last year’s champions Border Security Force Jalandhar and Punjab and Sind Bank entered the final of the Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, here today.

Pakistan notch up big victory
ADELAIDE, Nov 15 — Pakistan demolished South Australia by an innings and 26 runs on the final day of their four-day cricket match today in a confidence-boosting tune-up to this week’s second Test against Australia.

Slovenia may make history
LONDON, Nov 15 — Best known for producing Alpine skiers and basketball players, tiny Slovenia are now on the verge of making European soccer history.

Winter games put off
SHIMLA, Nov 15 — The failure of the state to provide requisite facilities for skiing and ice skating has forced the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to postpone the first South Asian Federation Winter Games which were scheduled to be held at Shimla and Manali in January and February next year.

Salgaocar lift Rovers Cup

MUMBAI, Nov 15 (PTI) — Brazilian Joao Pereira Santos climaxed Salgaocar’s domination with a 69th minute goal to help them lift the Rovers Cup beating Churchill Brothers 1-0 in an all-Goan final at the Cooperage ground here today.

The forward, playing only his third match for the National Football League champions, also helped his team to avenge their defeat to Churchill in the Goan professional league a couple of months back.

Santos’ brilliant performance, by creating a number of chances - he himself missed at least thrice - also helped him win the ‘player of the tournament’ trophy.

Churchill had lost to JCT Phagwara when they entered the final in 1997, while a year before, Salgaocar were the champions here with a lone goal win over Air-India.

Except for a few minutes early in the first half, when the post came to the rescue of Salgaocar once, the match was dominated by the eventual winners. In the second half, Churchill had not even made a single purposeful move.

Marcus Carvalho’s shot off fellow forward Francis Silveira in the 13th minute of play had the Salgaocar ‘keeper Juje Siddi beaten, but was a little wide as it hit the post and rebounded for Siddi to collect.

Twenty-five minutes later, Salgaocar’s Francis Coelho’s header hit the top of the left post at the other side of the ground following a corner kick.

UNI adds: It was in the 88th minute that Santos showed his Samba reflexes. He picked the ball from Denis Cabral on his left, tipped it over to his right without letting it run far and as Mathews and goalie Edward Ansah hesitated to challenge him, edging the ball home.

Santos again weaved circles around the defence but his goal-bound shot hit the goalie. In the dying minutes the Brazilian — an ordinary played in his Latin country full of soccer demigods — had the entire Churchill team gasping when goalie Ansah rushed out by 30 yards and kicked the ball. Santos just toed the ball from air and looped it towards the empty goal only to miss it by a whisker.

The picture was entirely the opposite in the first half as Churchill were on the brink of scoring at least thrice.

In the 13th minute Marcus Carvalho beat the off side trap but doubled back with agony when his grounder hit the bar and came back. Goalie Juje Siddi clutched the ball with his dear life. That was one of the two slices of cruel luck for Churchill.

Strong reply by Delhi
From Our Sports Reporter

LUDHIANA, Nov 15 — Delhi were 405 for six in their first innings against Punjab (530 for 7 declared) on the penultimate day of the four-day North Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Punjab Agricultural University ground here today.

Resuming their innings at the overnight score of 58 for no loss, Delhi lost their first wicket at the score of 83. Devinder Sharma (28) gave a return catch to Harbhajan Singh. One down batsman, Akash Malhotra (zero) departed immediately, caught by substitute Sandeep Sawal off Harbhajan Singh.

Delhi skipper and veteran of many battles along with Ashu Dani steadied the innings. The pair added 116 runs for the third wicket. Ashu Dani who was dropped by Dinesh Mongia off left-arm spinner, Navdeep Singh, scored 140 runs before being caught and bowled by Navdeep. Punjab players were less than sharp in their fielding and catching. Virender Sehwag (96 n.o.) and wicket-keeper-batsman Vijay Dahiya (92) also survived at their individual scores of 4 and 15 respectively.

Scoreboard

Punjab (Ist innings): 530 for 7 declared.

Delhi (Ist innings): Devinder Sharma c and b Harbhajan Singh 28, Ashu Dani c and b Navdeep Singh 140, Akash Malhotra c Sandeep Sawal (sub) b Harbhajan Singh 0, Ajay Sharma c Sandeep Sawal (sub) b Harbhajan Singh 36, Mithun Minhas c Vikram Rathore b Sarandeep 22, Vijay Dahiya c Sanjay Kumar b Navdeep Singh 42, Sehwag batting 96. H. Choudhary batting 21.

Extras 20: Total 405 for 6 wickets

Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-87, 3-203, 4-235, 5-241, 6-340.

Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 14-0-60-0, Reetinder 5-0-21-0, Harbhajan Singh 30-8-104-3, Navdeep Singh 39-7-100-2, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-11-0, Sarandeep Singh 16-0-98-1.

Beckenbauer German ‘footballer of century’

BERLIN, Nov 15 (Reuters) — Franz Beckenbauer, who captained Germany to victory in the 1974 World Cup and won again as coach in 1990, was voted the German footballer of the century today.

Beckenbauer came first in a vote by more than 2,500 members of the Association of German Sports Journalists organised by soccer magazine Kicker. The Bayern Munich libero, now the Bayern president and a vice-president of the German Football Federation (DFB), won 557 votes.

Fritz Walter, the captain of the 1954 World Cup-winning side, came a distant second with 135 votes. Former Bayern and Germany striker Gerd Mueller was third on 67.

The 1954 World Cup squad won the team of the century award and their coach, Sepp Herberger, was voted the best trainer.

Haryana in command against HP
From Our Sports Reporter

ROHTAK, Nov 15 — Haryana were in a commanding position against Himachal Pradesh at draw of stumps on the third day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league encounter at Vishwakarma Stadium here today. After setting a victory target of 432 runs to be scored in 117 overs, they succeeded in capturing five Himachal wickets after consuming only 98 runs at close of the play today.

Haryana resumed their second innings today enjoying an overall lead of 192 runs with 7 wickets in hand. Three of their batsmen completed half centuries today. The first to achieve the feat was overnight not out batsman Rajesh Puri who fell lbw to Shakti Singh for 56 scored in just 55 balls faced in 56 minutes. He despatched the ball to the boundary 10 times. Sajay Dalal was also trapped lbw by Shakti Singh but not before the batsman had completed his half century.Wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra top scored with an innings of 75 runs. He was associated in three partnerships worth half centuries today. He added 85 in 84 minutes for the 6th wicket with Sanjay Dalal, 67 runs in 78 minutes with Sanjay Balwan for the 7th wicket and 55 runs in 45 minutes with Pankaj Thakur for the 8th wicket. Haryana declared their innings closed at 361 for 9 after facing 94.5 overs.

Among Himachal bowlers medium pacer Shakti Singh, who had taken 6 wickets for 85 runs in the first innings, took 5 wickets today to take his tally of wickets to 11 in this match. Jaswant Rai took 2 wickets and one wicket each was claimed by Rahul Pania and Nischal Gaur.

Chasing a victory target of 432, Himachal batsmen appeared to bat under psychological pressure from the start of their second innings.

SCOREBOARD

Haryana (1st innings) : 222

Himachal (1st innings) : 152

Haryana (2nd innings) :

Jatinder Singh b Rahul Panta 15, Pradeep Jain b Shakti Singh 9, Parinder Sharma c Nischal Gaur b Shakti Singh 36, Amarjeet Kaypee lbw Shakti Singh 11, Rajesh Puri lbw Shakti Singh 56, Snjay Dalal lbw Shakti Singh 57, Ajay Ratra c Jaswant Rai b Nischal Gaur 75, Sanjay Balwan c Sangram Singh b Jaswant Rai 23, Pankaj Thakur c Sangram Singh b Jaswant Rai 27, Vineet Jain not out 4, Extras (b 32, lb 12, w-0, nb 3) 48

Total (for 9 wickets declared ) 361

FOW: 1-19, 2-43, 3-62, 4-147, 5-150, 6-235, 7-302, 8-357, 9-361.

Bowling: Shakti Singh 34-7-84-5, Praveen Sharma 11-2-40-0, Jaswant Rai 27-4-96-2, Rahul Panta 13-1-73-1, Nischal Gaur 8.5-2-19-1, Sangram Singh 1-0-4-0.

Himachal (2nd innings):

Rahul Panta c sub (Ishan Ganda) b Vinnet 4, Nischal Gaur b Feroze Ghayas 0, Rajeev Nayyar batting 25, Satya Prakash c Pankaj Thakur b Praddep Jain 37, Yashwinder st Ajay Ratra b Pradeep Jain 4, Jaswant Rai lbw Vineet Jain 4, Sangram Singh batting 12, Extras (b 8, lb 1, w-0, nb-3) 12

Total for 5 wickets 98

FOW: 1-4, 2-4, 3-76, 4-80, 5-86.

Bowling: Vineet Jain 9-1-40-2, Feroze Ghyas 9-1-33-1, Pankaj Thakur 4-1-12-0, Pradeep Jain 5-3-4-2.

Kafelnikov lifts Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (AFP) — Top-seeded local favourite Yevgeny Kafelnikov won his third consecutive Kremlin Cup ATP Tour title, beating Byron Black of Zimbabwe in straight sets here.

Kafelnikov (25), ranked second in the world, earned his 20th career title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win in 1 hour 31 minute yesterday.

Black (30), the clear underdog, made an early break but Kafelnikov bounced back to level the first set 5-5 under the watchful gaze of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, before clinching the tie-break 7-2.

In the seventh game of the second set, Kafelnikov broke serve after Black, ranked 80th in the world, missed several golden opportunities to seize the lead.

In contrast, Kafelnikov put in a precision display to clinch the winner’s purse of silver trophy.

Kafelnikov told his adoring public: “It would have been my inexcusable sin if I’d missed the victory tonight.”

Black said he was happy with his Moscow showing, saying the better man had won.

“I was playing against Yevgeny for the third or fourth time here in Moscow. And I would like to play with him somewhere else because it’s too tough to resist him with all those people behind him,” he said.

Czech Daniel Vacek and Justin Gimelstob of the USA trounced Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev and Russian Marat Safin 6-2, 6-1 in the doubles final.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters): Thomas Enqvist became the first Swede to win the Stockholm Open three times when he beat compatriot Magnus Gustafsson 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 for the title.

Enqvist took an early grip, breaking for a 3-0, and despite having trouble with his volley, won the first set 6-3 to set the tone of the match.

“I played good tennis today and hit the ball really well,” said Enqvist, who won back-to-back titles here in 1995 and 1996.

“I’m glad to be the first Swede to win here three times.”

In the second and third sets Enqvist pressed Gustafsson with his pummelling ground-strokes and held his serve throughout the match.

“I’ve served well the whole week only dropping it three times,” he noted afterwards.

Enqvist, ranked seventh in the world, improved his head-to-head record with Gustafsson to 6-2.

“Thomas hit the ball so well and he outplayed me today,” said Gustafsson.

The title was the 16th of Enqvist’s career and his third success in four 1999 finals. He recorded his first victory in Adelaide and then reached the Australian Open final a week later, only to lose to Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

He failed to reach another final until the Super-9 event in Stuttgart three weeks ago, when he beat Richard Krajicek in the final.

The Stuttgart title earned Enqvist a trip to the lucrative year-ending ATP World Championship in Hanover.

The round-robin tournament for the world’s elite eight players takes place from November 23 to 28.

PHILADELPHIA: Five weeks after suffering a wrist injury that had her contemplating sitting out the rest of the year, Lindsay Davenport won her final tuneup for this week’s season-ending Chase Championships with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over number one-ranked Martina Hingis in the title match of the $ 520,000 Advanta Championships.

The victory was the number two-ranked Davenport’s sixth tournament title of 1999. She had lost in the Advanta finals in the last two years, to Hingis in 1997 and Steffi Graf last year.

Davenport injured her left wrist in a match in Filderstadt, Germany, in a match against Silvia Farina in early October. The original diagnosis was torn cartilage, which would have required surgery, then was determined to be ligament damage, which is considered less serious. Davenport said she still considered taking the rest of the year off, but her coach, Robert Van’t Hof, talked her out of it.

“I had suggested that maybe I should take the rest of the year off, but he thought it would be good if I could finish the year strong,” she said. “It took about a week, but he talked me into it.”

Punjab maintain winning spree
Tribune News service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 15 — Defending champions Pondicherry and hosts Punjab boys continued their winning spree in the 26th National Subjunior Basketball Championship on the second day at the Indoor Stadium, Sri Anandpur Sahib, today.

Pondicherry overcame tough resistance from Tripura before emerging winners at 43-30 after leading 23-16 at the breather. Amit (19) and Joseph (12) were the main scorers for Pondicherry while the bulk of scoring for Tripura was done by Swapan Dev Nath (nine) and Niti Roy (eight).

In another group A match in boys section, Assam defeated Uttar Pradesh 39-35 after trailing 18-21 at the lemon break. Tapan (12) and jamal (10) masterminded the victory for Assam while Upendra (12) and Kapil (eight) played their hearts out for Uttar Pradesh in an absorbing game of fluctuating fortunes.

In group B, Rajasthan defeated Delhi 51-39. The winners led 37-36 at half time. In yet another match in the same group, Maharashra thrashed Karnataka 57-16 after piling up a comfortable 39-9 lead at the breather. In yet another one-sided match, MP thrashed Himachal Pradesh 51-10 after building up a massive 41-4 lead midway in the game.

In the girls section, UP defeated Rajasthan 18-5 in a low scoring game while MP girls scored at will to defeat Andhra 51-16. Pondicherry faced a tough time in defeating Chandigarh 16-12 in yet another low scoring game.

Kerala defeated Bihar 55-20 after leading 28-11 at the interval. Sreramya (16) and Rosemay (8) were the main scorers for Kerala.

Haryana defeated Karnataka 30-18 after taking 16-9 lead at the half time. Tamil Nadu routed Himachal Pradesh 66-2. The only basket for Himachal was potted by Veshali in the second half.

In the afternoon session, hosts Punjab boys defeated Bengal 71-17 in a one-sided affair. Punjab led 31-10 at the breather. Mandeep (12), Yadwinder (8) and Prabhjot (11) were the main scorers for the winners. With this win, Punjab qualified for the pre-quarterfinals from pool B.

Kuwait claim final Olympic berth

HONG KONG, Nov 15 (Reuters) — Kuwait took the third and final Asian qualifying place at the 2000 Sydney Olympics soccer tournament with a 2-1 win over Qatar in Doha yesterday.

Two goals by Hamad Al Tayyar saw the Kuwaitis qualify for the Games for the third time — they appeared in 1980 and 1992 — as they topped group A ahead of the Qataris and Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait joined World Cup 2002 co-hosts Japan and South Korea in reaching the Olympics, their qualification underlining the nation’s re-emergence as one of powers of Asian football.

Their full national team won the silver medal at the Asian Games in Thailand in December.

Qatar needed to defeat Kuwait by five goals to reach their first Olympics since 1984 but Al Tayyar made that mission impossible after just 18 minutes.

Adel Jodoua Ali pulled Qatar level but Al Tayyar scored again 19 minutes into the second half to put the issue beyond doubt.

Japan, who had already qualified after defeating Kazakhstan 3-1 in Tokyo last weekend, underlined their supremacy in group C with a 6-0 trouncing of Thailand in Bangkok to leave Philippe Troussier’s side with a 100 per cent qualifying record.

Tomoyuki Hirase scored twice.

South Korea, who like Japan had already qualified after group B rivals China lost to Bahrain, beat Bahrain 2-1 in Seoul with goals from Kim Eun-Jung and Park Jin-Sop. They finished the qualifying tournament unbeaten.

Durand Cup from November 25

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 (UNI) — The soccer crazy denizens of the capital will rejoice when the country’s premier soccer tournament, the Durand Cup ‘99 begins here on November 25.

Speaking to newspersons here last evening, Maj-Gen S K Awasthi, AVSM the ex-offico chairman of the standing working committee, said the Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia and second oldest tournament in the world, has become increasingly prestigious owing to the wholehearted support extended by fans of the game.

Organised by the defence services since its inception, the tournament this year has been slated from November 25 to December 4.

Maj-Gen Awasthi said as of now 11 teams have confirmed their participation. They are East Bengal Club (Calcutta), Mohun Bagan Athletic Club (Calcutta), Mahindra & Mahindra Footaball team (Mumbai), FC Cochin (Kerala), Salgaocar Sports Club (Goa), Tata Football Academy (Jamshedpur), Bhutan XI (Bhutan), Nepal National Youth Team, (Nepal), Border Security Force (Jalandhar), Army XI and JCT Mills (Phagwara)

All these teams have been directly seeded in to quarter-final league. In addition, the winning team of qualifying rounds will also join the league to make it 12, General Awasthi added.

This year the format for the quarterfinal matches has been changed. The teams have been divided in four groups of three teams each. The winner of each group will qualify for the semi-finals.

In group-A has Mahindra & Mahindra, JCT and Bhutan XI, In group-B are Salgaocar, FC Cochin and the qualifying team from the preliminary matches. In group-C are East Bengal, BSF and Nepal. In Group group-D are Mohun Bagan, Army-XI and Tata Football Academy.

Maj-Gen Awasthi said the Cup has been renamed as the Allwyn Durand Cup ‘99’ as Allwyn is the title sponsor, Pepsi and the Indian Oil Corporation are the co-sponsors of the tournament.

The Durand Football Tournament was started by Sir Mortimer Durand at Shimla in 1888. In 1940 the venue was shifted to New Delhi Chief of the Army Staff General V P Malik is the president of the Durand Football Tournament Society. The President of India is the patron-in-chief of the society.

Royal Scots Fusilier defeated Highland Light Infantry in the inaugural tournament in 1888. The event was dominated by British club and army teams in the first 50 years. The Mohammedan Sporting became the first team to win the Cup in 1940.

The semifinals will be held on December 1 and 2 and the final on December 4.

Tendulkar praises bowlers

GUWAHATI, Nov 15 (PTI) — The loss of early wickets and pressure on the young middle order were responsible for India’s defeat in the fourth Pepsi one day international cricket match against New Zealand here yesterday, Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar said.

“We lost early wickets including those of myself, Ganguly and Dravid who scored in the early matches and the pressure on the youngsters later in the day cost us the match,” Tendulkar told reporters at the end of the match.

Emphasising that the target set by the Kiwis was achievable the batting maestro said that the batsmen undid all the good work done by the bowlers.

Denying that the resting of key bowlers Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Kumble had left India a weak team, the skipper said that the young bowlers, including debutant T. Kumaran, delivered excellently particularly in the beginning of the match.

The defeat with failure of three top batsmen was not a case for worry, Tendulkar said adding he neither blamed the wicket nor his decision to bowl first after winning the toss for the disappointing result.

“At the end of the day now, I would still prefer to bowl with the initial dampness in the wicket”, he said.

“The wicket was sticky and some balls tended to stop which prompted us to bowl first taking advantage of the early morning dew and dampness on the Nehru stadium wicket,” Tendulkar said.

The Indian captain said that the target was chaseable and it was the law of average working when the side batting second won while it was not the case in the previous three matches of the series.

Complimenting Kiwi all rounder Chris Cairns for his batting, he said that today’s loss and the pressure on young players such as Bharadwaj, who went for a rash shot and got bowled, “was a good lesson for them”. This should serve as an example for them, Tendulkar said.

Pakistan ‘good enough’ to win Asia Cup

KARACHI, Nov 15 (UNI) — An 18-man Pakistan squad left for Kuala Lumpur for the 5th Asian Hockey Cup which commences from November 18.

experienced goalkeeper Ahmed Alam was back among four players making their return to the side after the conclusion of the two-day trials at Lahore.

The selectors decided against making too many changes to the side, retaining half back Mohammed Usman as captain and Mohammed Sarwar as his deputy. Manager Shahnaz Sheikh was happy with the team, terming it as a balanced one capable of winning the Asia Cup.

“It’s a very balanced team, perhaps the best possible side we can have at the moment. I think it is good enough to regain the Asia Cup,” Shahnaz commented at the time of departure. The former Olympian, one of the coopted members of the selection committee, said that the selectors had decided against making too many changes as they felt it was better to keep faith in the same boys who went to Europe.

Seasoned forward Shahbaz Junior was not considered for selection after he failed to attend the camp and trials.

The team:

Ahmed Alam, Mohammed Qasim (goalkeepers), Sohall Abbas, Tariq Imran, Ali Raza (full backs), Mohammed Usman (capt), Mohammed Saqtion, Imran Yousuf, Mohammed Wasim, Mubashir Mukhtar (half backs), Mohammed Nadeem, Mohammed Sarwar, Atif Bashir, Mohammed Khalid, Naveed Iqbal, Mohammed Mudassar, Kashif Javed, Anis Ahmed (forwards).

Ladies’ golf meet begins today
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 — Chandigarh’s Parnita Garewal will try to regain the title that she surrendered last year to Shruti Khanna when the Northern Indian Ladies Amateur Golf Championship tees-off at the Delhi Golf Club course from tomorrow.

“I am playing well” is what Parnita is reported to have said, while Shruti is determined to defend the title. Both are the country’s top golfers and one who plays steadily with coolness will be able to claim the prestigious crown.

The field of 94 competitors has many other known players. Among them are Anjali Chopra, Irina Brar, Vandana Agarwal, Lalitha Balasubramaniam, Priyanka Dey, Guneer Raikhy and Ayesha Kapur.

Sita Rawley, who won the title in inaugural year 1967, will also be seen in action. “I am not physically very fit but I should be able to play at least three rounds well”’ said Sita, adding: “With luck, I should perform well”.

Sponsored by Siel, more than 25 will be contesting for the top six positions in a 72-hole open stroke-play. Almost half the number of entries will be playing off single handicap.

Keen to improve women’s standard, the Indian Golf Union (IGU) has stipulated that the players, seeking selection in national team, should finish stroke average of not more than 12 over par for 72 holes.

The sponsors have once again announced presentation of Honda City car to one, who gets hole-in-one. The chosen hole is 5th, which is quite tough.

There are several other competitions which will be conducted simultaneously.

The championship is one of the six most important ‘categorised’ competitions.

BSF, PSB in final
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Nov 15 — Last year’s champions Border Security Force Jalandhar and Punjab and Sind Bank entered the final of the Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament at Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, here today.

In the first semifinal between PSB and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), the match began on a fast pace. The Mumbai outfit earned their first penalty corner in the fifth minute which went abegging. The bankmen got a penalty corner in the 12th minute which also went waste. In the second half, PSB demolished the rival citadel in the 36th minute when Olympian Sanjeev Kumar Dang sent a tailor-made cross to his inside-right Sandeep in the circle who sounded the board. In the 45th minute BPCL’s Ravi Nikaer gave a fine pass to centre forward S. Jilalani in the circle but the latter failed to trap the ball.

PSB added the second goal in the 62nd minute when Sanjeev Kumar with a solo effort dodged past two defenders and entered the striking circle. He gave a nice pass to centre-forward Parminder Singh who scored with a powerful shot.

The second semifinal between traditional rivals Punjab Police and defending champions Border Security Force, Jalandhar, saw both teams exhibiting Asian style hockey. The first 20 minutes belonged to the policemen. They earned two penalty corners but failed to score. They also missed at least two open chances.

In the 21st minute BSF earned their first penalty corner. Naman Kullu’s hit was nicely saved by the rival goalkeeper. Shinu Herenz of BSF controlled the ball but Olympian Jagdev Singh intentionally blocked his stick. Umpire Tony Golding awarded a penalty stroke in favour of BSF and Shinu Herenz made no mistake to put his side ahead by 1-0.

Daljit Dhillon found the equaliser soon after getting a pass from Jagdev ( 1-1).

In extra time, Peter Tirkey scored a fine field goal to give 2-1 victory to his team.

British media hails Lewis

LONDON, Nov 15 (AP) — British newspapers today paid tribute to Lennox Lewis, the first British undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world in more than 100 years, hailing him as as rare gentleman in the sport.

“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer Englishman, “ the Daily Mail said. The Daily Telegraph proposed the 34-year-old-Lewis, who earned the title on Saturday night by beating Evander Holyfield, could become a “rare gentleman ambassador” for the tainted sport.

Pakistan notch up big victory

ADELAIDE, Nov 15 (Reuters) — Pakistan demolished South Australia by an innings and 26 runs on the final day of their four-day cricket match today in a confidence-boosting tune-up to this week’s second Test against Australia.

South Australia, who resumed at 181-7, were dismissed for 250 in their second innings at the Adelaide Oval, the same score as they made in their opening innings.

Pakistan scored 526 in their first innings.

It was Pakistan’s first win of the tour, with the tourists beaten by 10 wickets in the first test last week.

But today’s victory will provide a welcome boost ahead of the second Test, starting in Hobart on Thursday.

Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed and off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq cleaned up the South Australia tail during the morning session on Monday, with Mustaq having Peter McIntyre (1) caught at slip by Ijaz Ahmed to finish with four for 74.

Saqlain then had Paul Wilson (20) caught by Ijaz and Mark Harrity (4) out stumped to seal the win.

Fast bowler Waqar Younis did not add to his overnight tally of wickets but finished with four for 61 to boost his claims for a Test spot.

South Australian opener David Fitzgerald defied the Pakistan bowling to finish on 111 not out after resuming from his overnight score of 67.

SCOREBOARD

South Australia (1st innings) 250

(D. Lehmann 136 not out).

Pakistan (1st innings) 526 (

Ijaz Ahmed 141, Yousuf Youhana 90).

South Australia (2nd innings) (overnight 181-7)

Harris lbw b Waqar 12

Fitzgerald not out 111

Lehmann c Moin b Waqar Younis 11

Vaughan c sub b Waqar 2

Davies b Ahmed 38

Johnson st Moin b Ahmed 32

Young c Ghulan b Ahmed 7

Manou lbw b Waqar 0

McIntyre c Ijaz b Mushtaq 1

Wilson c Ijaz b Saqlain 20

Harrity st Moin b Saqlain 4

Extras (b-2 lb-4 nb-6) 12

Total (all out in 84.4 overs) 250

Fall of Wickets: 1-22, 2-22, 3-44, 4-102, 5-164, 6-178, 7-179, 8-191, 9-238.

Bowling: Waqar Younis 20-5-61-4, Mohammad Akram 12-2-50-0 (nb-6), Mushtaq Ahmed 32-9-74-4, Saqlain Mushtaq 20.4-5-59-2.

Slovenia may make history

LONDON, Nov 15 (AP) — Best known for producing Alpine skiers and basketball players, tiny Slovenia are now on the verge of making European soccer history.

A miraculous, high-arching goal from 50 metres by substitute Mile Acimovic with seven minutes left lifted the tiny country to a 2-1 victory on Saturday over Ukraine in the first leg of their European 2000 playoff.

If the Slovenes survive the second leg on Wednesday in Kiev they will advance to their first major soccer championship since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Winter games put off
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 15 — The failure of the state to provide requisite facilities for skiing and ice skating has forced the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to postpone the first South Asian Federation Winter Games which were scheduled to be held at Shimla and Manali in January and February next year.

The IOA has informed the State Winter Games Association that the meet could not be held due to non-procurement of artificial ice-making machine for the Shimla ice skating rink and snow beaters and lift at the Manali ski slopes.

The ice skating events were to be held at the Shimla ice skating rink in January and the skiing championship at Manali in February.

However, the second national Winter Games will be held at the two venues as scheduled.

The executive committee of the State Winter Games Association, which met here yesterday, discussed the issue and decided to approach the Sports Minister, Mr Praveen Sharma, for assistance so that the SAF Winter Games which had been postponed for 2001 could be held in the state.

Haryana TT meet results

YAMUNANAGAR, Nov 15 (FOC) — Rohit Verma of Sirsa clinched the kids title on the opening day of the second Haryana State Table Tennis Tournament today at Thapar Industries Club here. The tournament was inaugurated by Mr Rajiv Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar.

As many as 150 players from 13 districts are participating in this championship. In this tournament Ganesh Ahuja from Sirsa, eight times Haryana champion and cadet boy national champion Neeraj Mani Babbar are also participating.

The results:-

Under 10: Rohit Verma (Sirsa) beat Vikas (Sonepat) 21-6, 21-7, Himanshu (Panchkula beat Sourabh (Sirsa) 21-10, 21-18, Rajat Kumar (Sirsa) beat Ashish (Sonepat) 21-6, 21-8, Pankaj (Karnal) beat Hitesh (Sirsa) 21-22, 21-11, 21-9; Pankaj (Karnal) beat Satish Kumar (Sirsa) 21-14, 21-15; Mohit Verma (Sirsa) beat Himanshu (Panchkula) 21-8, 21-7.

Semifinals:- Rohit Verma (Sirsa) beat Mohit Verma (Sirsa) 21-15, 21-18, Pankaj (Karnal) beat Rajat (Sirsa) 21-16, 21-10.

Final:- Rohit Verma (Sirsa) beat Pankaj (Karnal) 21-12, 21-16.

Patiala lift title

BATHINDA, Nov 15 (TNS) — Junior boys and girls of Patiala district today lifted the trophy in the Junior Punjab State Fencing Championship which concluded here.

In the boys section, Amritsar district stood second while Jalandhar came third.

In the girls section, the second position was shared by Bathinda and Fatehgarh Sahib while Gurdaspur came third.

Hockey meet concludes

Chandigarh, Nov 15 (BOSR) —The second junior Inter-school hockey tournament involving six schools concluded here last evening at Lawrence school, Sanawar. The schools which took part in this three-day tournament were Sherwood College, Nainital, Punjab Public School, Nabha, St Stephen’s School, Sector 45-Chandigarh, MNS-Rai (Sonepat), Pinegrove School Sanwara (Solan) and hosts Lawrence School, Sanawar.

The meet was inaugurated by officiating headmistress of the host school, Mrs R.A. Solomon.

T. Logkumar was adjudged as the best scorer, Gurveen Cheema of Lawrence School, Sanawar best goalkeeper and Sandeep Sahbaz of Pinegrove School, Sanwara, best player of the tournament.

The closing ceremony was presided over by Yog Raj Singh, former Test cricketer and Punjabi film actor.

Results; Lawrence School, Sanawar, b MNS, Rai, 3-1: Sherwood College, Nainital, b PPS, Nabha 1-0: Pinegrove, Sanwara, b St Stephen’s 5-1: MNS, Rai b SC, Nainital, 2-1: Lawrence Sanawar drew St Stephen’s 1-1: Pinegrove, Sanwara, drew PPS, Nabha, 1-1: SC, Nainital drew St Stephen’s 1-1: Pinegrove, Sanwara, b Lawrence, Sanawar, 3-2: PPS, Nabha b St Stephen’s 3-1: MNS, Rai b PPS, Nabha 3-2: Pinegrove, Sanwara, b SC, Nainital, 2-1: MNS, Rai, b St Stephen’s 6-0: Pinegrove, Sanwara drew PPS Nabha 0-0: Lawrence, Sanawar, b SC, Nainital 4-1.

Sharma, Saroya best sportsmen

LUDHIANA, Nov 15 (FOSR) — J P Sharma of Ludhiana Region and J P Saroya of Hoshiarpur Region secured 14 points each and were jointly adjudged “best sportsmen” in the 17th Punjab National Bank Inter-Region Sports Meet which concluded at the Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the women’s section, Alice of Jalandhar Region was declared the “best sportswoman”. Mr S K Chawla, General Manager, PNB, gave away prizes to the winners.

Una triumph

UNA, Nov 15 (FOC) — The Una district under-16 cricket team won the HP State (under-16) Championship by defeating Kangra on the basis of the first innings lead.

Brief scores: Una (first innings) 120 all out. Kangra (first innings) 105 all out. Una (second innings) 183 for 4 and Kangra (second innings ) 57 for 7.

Kurukshetra university on top

KURUKSHETRA, Nov 15 (FOC) — Host Kurukshetra University bagged the first position in the North-Zone Inter-University Volleyball (men’s) Tournament on the concluding day of the tournament defeating Punjabi University, Patiala, in three sets here last evening.

Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Panjab University, Chandigarh, seemed the second, third and fourth positions respectively.

As many as 29 universities from north-zone participated.

Hockey title for PSEB eves

PATIALA, Nov 15 (FOSR) — Favourites Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) carved out an authoritative 3-0 win over Moga XI to clinch the title in the Malvinder Memorial Pepsu Women’s Hockey Tournament which concluded at the Khalsa College ground here today.