Hingis, Davenport in title clash
NEW YORK, Nov 21 — Top seed and defending champion Martina Hingis defeated third seed Venus Williams yesterday to record her 300th career match win and claim a place in the year’s final, where she will face second seed Lindsay Davenport.

Uphill task for India in opener
DUBAI, Nov 21 — India face an uphill task in the opening clash against the hosts United Arab Emirates in the group 3 Asia Cup football qualifiers which kick off at the Al Qattara Stadium in the garden city of At Al Ain late tonight.

Yuvraj slams unbeaten ton
GURGAON, Nov 21 — An unbeaten maiden century by Yuvraj Singh and his 185-run first wicket partnership with Vikram Rathore enabled Punjab to reach a comfortable position at the end of second day’s play of Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana at Nehru Stadium here today.

Manhas puts Delhi in driver’s seat
NEW DELHI, Nov 21 — A fine century by middle-order batsman Mithun Manhas put Delhi in the driver’s seat on the second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy cricket match against Jammu and Kashmir here today.

India ‘A’ all out for 226
PORT OF SPAIN, Nov 21 — Sylvester Joseph hit an undefeated 56 to lead West Indies A to 131 for four in reply to India A’s 226 on the second day of the opening four-day A-team cricket Test in Port of Spain.

Yusuf Ali & team win Pro-Am title
CHANDIGARH, Nov 21 — Yusuf Ali, a Calcutta pro and his team of Lt-Col Gurdial Singh, G.S. Sandhu and S.K. Khaitan won the overall Pro-Am title of the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, which concluded at the Chandigarh Golf Club course here today.

Services score 355 against HP
UNA, Nov 21 — Himachal were 173 for four in the first innings on the second day of four day North Zone Ranji Trophy match here today against Services who were all out for 355.

Bengal continue winning spree
CHANDIGARH, Nov 21 — Bengal continued their winning spree and justified its top seed in both boys and girls section for the second day by making its entry into the last four stage of the team championship at the 61st Stroh’s Junior National Table Tennis Championship being held here at Sector 23 TT hall here today.

Kanetkar bows out
BANGALORE, Nov 21 — India number two Nikhil Kanetkar bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Spanish Open Badminton Tournament to Henrik Bengston of Sweden 10-15, 10-15 at Seville.

• BSF score 4-2 win over Punjab cops
• Double handball gold for Punjab
• Jadeja out for Test series
• Delhi 196 for 9

Pak in sight of victory

HOBART (Australia), Nov 21 (AFP) — Pakistan had Australia fighting for survival with predicted overnight rain threatening to deny Wasim Akram’s tourists victory in the second cricket Test at Bellerive Oval here today.

Australia had to defy history to prevent Pakistan from levelling the three-Test match series and were banking on a resolute stand between Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist to salvage the match.

Until they came together, Pakistan, displaying uncharacteristic patience, had unhinged the champion Australian batting lineup.

Pakistan left Australia to score 369 runs off a minimum 163 overs in the fourth innings on a batters’ pitch, but at stumps on the fourth day the odds favoured Pakistan — if forecast rain stayed away tomorrow.

At close, Australia were 188 for five — 181 runs away from what would be a famous win — with gritty No 3 Justin Langer on his 29th birthday unbeaten on 52 with his 10th Test half-century and fellow lefthander Adam Gilchrist not out 45.

Langer, on four, was struck a painful blow from a misdirected full toss by tearaway Shoaib Akhtar, forcing him to seek treatment before continuing.

Showing great powers of concentration, Langer was saddled with the responsibility of marshalling the remnants of Aussie second innings.

First innings destroyer Saqlain Mushtaq snared the key wicket of batting mainstay and Australian captain Steve Waugh midway through the final session to send Australia’s victory odds tumbling.

Saqlain, who claimed a Test-best 6-46 in the first innings, deceived the anchoring Waugh in flight and coaxed a false shot to have him caught and bowled for 28.

Upon Waugh’s departure, Australia were 125 for four and 244 runs adrift of beating Pakistan.

Pakistan (1st innings): 222

Australia (1st innings): 246

Pakistan: (2nd innings): 351 for 7 overnight

Saeed Anwar b Warne 78

Mohammad Wasim c McGrath b Muller 20

Saqlain Mushtaq lbw Warne 8

Ijaz Ahmed c S.Waugh b McGrath 82

Inzamam-ul-Haq c M.Waugh b Warne 118

Youhana c Ponting b Fleming 2

Azhar Mahmood lbw Warne 28

Moin Khan c Gilchrist b Fleming 6

Wasim Akram c Blewett b Warne 31

Waqar Younis run out (Gilchrist) 0

Shoaib Akhtar not out 5

Extras (lb6, w1, nb7) 14

Total (all out, 128.4 overs) 392

Fall of wkts: 1-50, 2-100, 3-122, 4-258, 5-263, 6-320, 7-345, 8-357, 9-358.

Bowling: McGrath 27-7-87-1, Fleming 29-5-89-2, Muller 17-3-63-1, Warne 45.4-11-110-5, S.Waugh 4-1-19-0, M.Waugh 2-0-6-0, Ponting 2-1-7-0, Blewett 2-0-5-0.

Australia (2nd innings):

Blewett c Moin b Mahmood 29

Slater c Mahmood b Akhtar 27

Langer batting 52

M. Waugh lbw Mahmood 0

S. Waugh c & b Saqlain 28

Ponting lbw Akram 0

Gilchrist batting 45

Extras (lb-3, nb-4) 7

Total (for 5 wkts, 70 overs) 188

Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-81, 3-81, 4-125, 5-126.

Bowling: Akram 10-1-28-1, Waqar 8-2-25-0, Akhtar 13-5-36-1, Saqlain 30-7-76-1, Mahmood 9-2-20-2.

Bhupathi-Paes duo enters final

HARTFORD (USA), Nov 21 (AP) — Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, the No 1-ranked doubles team in the world, beat Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde to advance to the finals of the Phoenix ATP Tour World Doubles Championship.

The Indian duo beat the second-ranked Australians, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 last night.

Bhupathi and Paes, the Wimbledon and French Open champions, will face American Alex O’Brien and Canadian Sebastien Lareau in the best-of-five final, a rematch of the 1999 US Open Championship match.

O’Brien and Lareau won that meeting and are 3-5 lifetime against Bhupathi and Paes.

O’Brien and Lareau, ranked No 4 in the world, defeated South African Wayne Black and Australian Sandon Stolle 6-3, 6-7, (7-4), 6-3 to reach the finals of the event.

Lareau and O’Brien blew three match points in the second set before regrouping to win the final set.

Bhupathi and Paes rallied after getting off to a sluggish start against Woodbridge and Woodforde. Bhupathi and Paes lost the first three games of the match, but began to take control of the match in the second set.

The Indian duo made it to the world doubles final in 1997, losing to Americans Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark.

Lareau and O’Brien lost in the finals to Woodbridge and Woodforde in 1996.

Woods powers USA to world title

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (AFP) — An ice-cool Tiger Woods fired a six-under par 65 to power the USA to victory in the World Cup of golf and extend his astonishing winning run.

The world number one had to be close to his unrivalled best to hold off a brave fightback from Spain, as partner Mark O’Meara struggled to a six-over 77 on the final day.

Woods also walked away with the International Trophy for the lowest individual score by a record margin to claim his tenth individual title of a year and take his season’s winnings through the seven million dollar mark. Woods’ four-round total of 263, 21 under par, was nine better than New Zealand’s Frank Nobilo, improving by one shot on Sam Snead’s eight-shot winning margin in Peurto Rico in 1961.

Spain’s Miguel Angel Martin (68) and Santiago Luna (72) lived up to their pledge to come out firing on all cylinders by picking up seven birdies between them in the first eight holes.

With O’Meara struggling badly, the run allowed the Spaniards, who had started the day seven behind, to move into a one stroke lead that must have severely tested the Americans’ nerve.

Woods’ response was swift and decisive. Four straight birdies from the turn piled the pressure back on to Spain and Luna duly cracked. The 36-year-old dropped four shots in three holes from the tenth to allow the Americans to re-establish their stranglehold on the title.

Hingis, Davenport in title clash

NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) — Top seed and defending champion Martina Hingis defeated third seed Venus Williams yesterday to record her 300th career match win and claim a place in the year’s final, where she will face second seed Lindsay Davenport.

The climax of the WTA Tour season features a clash of the world’s top two players in a rematch of last year’s Chase Championships final after Davenport stormed to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 victory over sixth seed Nathalie Tauziat.

“I can’t believe I’m back to this point again ... Back to the finals, giving myself another shot to win it the third time in the finals,” said a delighted Davenport, who was also runner- up in her Madison Square Garden debut in 1994.

Hingis played a brilliantly consistent match from the baseline, withstanding the awesome power of Williams’s strokes for one hour and 49 minutes, to post a 6-4 7-6 (7-2) victory and reach the final here for the third time in four years.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to go through three sets,” admitted the 19-year-old Swiss sensation. “We played only two sets but it was almost two hours and it was a pretty intense two hours.”

The world number one, who also reached Sunday’s doubles final with partner Anna Kournikova, is guaranteed of surpassing the $ 3 million mark in tournament earnings for the third consecutive year.

“This was one of my best matches. I’m very happy about being in the final again,” added Hingis, who will play in her 13th final of the year as she goes for her tour-best eighth title and the $ 500,000 top prize.

Davenport has six titles this year, including Wimbledon and last week’s Philadelphia tournament, where she beat Hingis in the final.

She should be fresh after Tauziat’s pitiful showing in the second set. After the first set, Davenport was pretty much out there by herself as the 32-year-old French woman won just four points — three of them on double faults by the 6-foot-3 (1.90 metres) American.

Tauziat, now 3-12 against Davenport, was up an early break in the first set and actually held a set point at 6-5 on the second seed’s serve.

But Davenport belted a service winner to save the set point and drilled a 99 mph (159 kph) ace to send the set into a tie-break. The second seed then raced out to a 6-1 lead in the breaker, and that was pretty much all she wrote.

“I think she was probably really disappointed not to win the first set at 6-5,” Davenport surmised. “Once I got the first break to go up 2-love, then it was pretty much over.”

The Hingis-Williams clash was their sixth meeting this year alone in what has become the hottest rivalry in women’s tennis. Strangely, Hingis has won all three meetings in the USA, including in the U.S. Open semis, while the American beat Hingis three times in Europe in 1999.

While Saturday’s contest was tight, Williams often struggled to find the range on her shots and reaped far fewer free points off her serve than she is accustomed to.

She blamed her difficulties on a recurring neck injury that she said especially hurt her serve — usually her most potent weapon — and her backhand.

Williams took an injury timeout for treatment after losing her serve in the first game of the second set and held an ice pack to the left side of her neck on subsequent changeovers.

“The last two times I played Martina I was healthy and I had some good results,” the 19-year-old American said of recent wins over Hingis at the Grand Slam Cup and in Zurich.

The match was filled with long, hard-hitting rallies, but the vast majority of the longer points seemed to end with Williams dumping a shot into the net.

“Unfortunately, I was unable to keep up with her today because of extenuating circumstances,” Williams said.

Uphill task for India in opener

DUBAI, Nov 21 (PTI) — India face an uphill task in the opening clash against the hosts United Arab Emirates in the group 3 Asia Cup football qualifiers which kick off at the Al Qattara Stadium in the garden city of At Al Ain late tonight.

India will sorely miss ace striker Baichung Bhutia, the first Indian ever to play professional football in England.

Striker I.M. Vijayan, who scored the fastest goal in the world in 12 seconds against Bhutan in the Kathmandu SAF games, will lead the Indian attack against UAE who start as the favourites in the opener.

Indian coach Sukhwinder Singh said he hoped to give the other teams a tough fight and that the final line up will be decided only at the last minute.

But UAE are not taking any chances against India as they warm up for their tough fight against Uzbekistan.

Only one team from the five nation qualifiers will make it to the Asia Cup in Beirut in October next year. Iraq are the only other team to have qualified so far from group 1.

India recently lost to Bangladesh in the SAF Games in Kathmandu and would do well to at least draw their opener.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, will hope to continue with their impressive performance they showed against India and Sri Lanka at the SAF Games.

The qualifiers, scheduled to commence yesterday, were postponed by a day to facilitate the formal opening of the 14th FIQ World Bowling Championship in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE have practised hard for the qualifier with several newcomers waiting to prove their mettle.

“We might be technically superior to a few teams here but unless (we) convert this aspect into goals, we cannot say we are better” UAE’s Croatian coach Jurcic Srecko told reporters.

India’s next encounter is against Uzbekistan on Thursday. The next day will witness India clashing with Sri Lanka.

India will take on Bangladesh in the last match on November 29.

The other encounter today is between SAF Games gold medallist Bangladesh and Uzbekistan and it promises to be an exciting contest. Their mercurial striker Alfaz Ahmed who had taken Bangladesh to 135 in the FIFA rankings may give the Uzbeks some moments of anxiety.

Uzbeks rated 79 on the FIFA rankings appear the strongest in the group though their best performance was in 1994 when they won the Hiroshima Asian Games gold medal with a surprise 4-2 win over China.

Yuvraj slams unbeaten ton
From Our Sports Reporter

GURGAON, Nov 21 — An unbeaten maiden century by Yuvraj Singh and his 185-run first wicket partnership with Vikram Rathore enabled Punjab to reach a comfortable position at the end of second day’s play of Ranji Trophy league match against Haryana at Nehru Stadium here today.

In reply to Haryana’s first innings total of 279, Punjab were 233 for 2 at draw of stumps today.

Resuming their innings at overnight score of 242 for 8, Haryana lost its remaining two wickets for an addition of only 37 runs. First to be dismissed was Vineet Jain. He was caught by Dinesh Mongia off Sandeep Sharma after having stayed at the wicket for 58 minutes. He was associated in a ninth-wicket partnership of 53 runs in 58 minutes (89 balls) with Pradeep Jain who made 38 runs before being dismissed by off spinner Sarandeep Singh.

The offie took his tally of wickets to six in this innings. Sonu Sharma remained not out on 8.

In reply Punjab openers Vikram Rathore and Yuvraj Singh gave a solid start to their team. Both stood firm against toothless bowling attack of Haryana. Both played aggressively. Left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh was more fluent with his shots. He hit the ball with immense power and perfect timing to find gaps through the off-side. Even positioning of seven fielders on the off side could not prevent the flow of runs.

In this essay, Yuvraj Singh son of former Test player Yograj Singh, completed his maiden century in 183 balls after 230 minutes of stay. His unbeaten knock of 131 runs studded with 18 hits to the fence and two huge sixes.

HARYANA (1st innings): Jitender c Jugnu b Sarandeep 102, Jasvir c Rathore b R.P. Singh 2. Parender c Sanjay b Sarandeep 36, Amarjeet Kaypee b Sarandeep 11, Rajesh Puri lbw Navdeep 23, S. Dalal lbw Sarandeep 8, Ajay Ratra c Sanjay b Navdeep 11, P. Thakur lbw Sarandeep 0, Pradeep Jain b Sarandeep 38, Vineet Jain c Mongia b Sandeep Sharma 25, Sonu Sharma not out 8.

Extra (NB-6, LB-1, B-8) 15.

Total (all out in 104.2 overs 279.

Fall of wickets: (1-2, 2-81, 3-107, 4-184, 5-188, 6-200, 7-200, 8-212 9-265

Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 13-5-30-1, R.P. Singh 11-0-35-1, Sarandeep 38.2-5-96-6, Navdeep 32-12-72-2. Sandeep Sawal 6-0-26-0, Yuvraj 4-1-9-0.

Punjab (Ist innings): Rathore c Ratra b Pradeep 80 Yuvraj batting 131 Dharmani c Ratra b Pradeep Jain 0 Mongia bating 14

Extra (B-2, NB-5, W-1) 8

Total (for 2 wickets in 79 overs) 233

Fall of wickets: 1-185, 2-187.

Bowling: Vineet Jain 7-2-29-0 Parinder 7-2-19-0 P. Thakur 25-3-72-0 Sonu Sharma 15.3-3-45-0 Pradeep Jain 17-2-48-2 Sanjai Dalal 7.3-0-18-0.

Manhas puts Delhi in driver’s seat

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (PTI) — A fine century by middle-order batsman Mithun Manhas put Delhi in the driver’s seat on the second day of their North Zone Ranji Trophy cricket match against Jammu and Kashmir here today.

After bundling out the visitors for a 113 yesterday, Delhi piled up runs thanks mainly to Manhas and Devender Sharma, who missed the three figure mark by nine runs, before declaring its first innings at 436 for nine.

The Delhi innings was also propped up by useful half centuries from skipper Vijay Dahiya (57 - 8x4) and Nikhil Chopra (54 - 2x6).

Faced with the daunting task of scoring 323 runs to make Delhi bat again, Jammu and Kashmir were 116 for two in their second essay at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground here.

At stumps, opener Amit Pal Singh was batting on 67 with Dhruv Mahajan unbeaten on 25.

Earlier, resuming at 165 for 3, Manhas and Sharma added 133 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was out caught by Ashwini Gupta off Surinder Singh (2/65).

Sharma was at the wicket for five hours and faced 209 deliveries of which he despatched 10 to the fence.

Manhas shared another century stand with Dahiya in the course of his 260-minute stay at the wicket. They added 123 runs before Manhas was out off Rajkumar. He faced 183 balls and struck 16 fours.

India ‘A’ all out for 226

PORT OF SPAIN, Nov 21 (AP) — Sylvester Joseph hit an undefeated 56 to lead West Indies A to 131 for four in reply to India A’s 226 on the second day of the opening four-day A-team cricket Test in Port of Spain.

Joseph, a 21-year-old from Antigua, batted just over three hours, and faced 132 balls. The compact right-hander struck six fours, most of them lofted drives over mid-off and mid-on against the spinners.

Joseph shared in a 64-run third wicket stand with his captain Jimmy Adams, who made 35. Adams batted 79 minutes and faced 75 balls before he appeared unlucky to be given out caught bat pad off the persevering left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.

Fast bowler Dodda Ganesh made the initial breakthrough for India by removing Trinidadian favourite Daren Ganga for eight, caught down the leg-side by wicket-keeper Samir Dighe.

Jamaican teenager Brenton Parchment made 15 on his first-class debut before he was well caught at short leg by Mohammad Kaif off left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi.

Yusuf Ali & team win Pro-Am title
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Nov 21 — Yusuf Ali, a Calcutta pro and his team of Lt-Col Gurdial Singh, G.S. Sandhu and S.K. Khaitan won the overall Pro-Am title of the Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, which concluded at the Chandigarh Golf Club course here today.

Yusuf and his team tallied 129 points, a creditable 15-under to quell the challenge of Mukesh Kumar and his team comprising C.S.R. Reddy, B.S. Thind and Jagdeep Chima, who aggregated 130 points and had to settle for the first runner-up spot.

There was a tie for the second runner-up place between Gast Ram and his team of J.S. Chadha, S.J.S. Panwar and Tarun Ghei and Chini Ali’s team of S.S. Sawhney, Sudhir Verma and K.S. Sibia. Both teams totalled 132 points, but on the application of the countback over last nine holes, Gast Ram’s team was adjudged the winner.

The day’s best card by a pro was by Mukesh Kumar, who played four-under par 68 which earned him a prize of Rs 5,000 for the Best Individual Pro Score.

In their fine effort for team’s triumph, Yusuf Ali won Rs 12,000 while Mukesh Kumar was richer by another Rs 8,000. Gast Ram and Chini Ali shared the Rs 5,000 cheque.

Prizes for the main event and the Pro-Am were distributed by Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Managing Director, Hero Cycles; Mr Pawan Kant Munjal, CEO, Hero Honda Motors Ltd and Mr Aashish Bhatia, Vice-President, Hero Puch.

Speaking at the prize distribution ceremony, Mr Pawan Kant Munjal reiterated his company’s support to golf and sports in general and praised the Chandigarh Golf Club and specially the parents who have given the city such amazing golfers like Amritinder Singh, Irina Brar, who recently won the Siel Northern India Ladies Championship, Chiranjeev Milkha Singh and Harmeet Kahlon.

During prize distribution function, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal as a token of appreciation, presented a Hero EZ Scooty to Ali Sher and a Hero Winner, an 18-gear latest model bicycle, to Harinder Kang, who scored holes-in-one on the eighth hole during the third round of the main event. He announced that the Hero Group will award a trophy for every hole-in-one scored by the members at the Chandigarh Golf Club in the future.

Services score 355 against HP

UNA, Nov 21 (PTI) — Himachal were 173 for four in the first innings on the second day of four day North Zone Ranji Trophy match here today against Services who were all out for 355.

Resuming the play at over night total of 229 for six, Services lost the seventh wicket after adding only five runs. Tailenders S K Kulkarni who remained not out at 29 and S V Ghag who was run out at 43, scored 78 runs for the last wicket and helped Services carry the score to 355.

Shakti Singh took four wickets for 89 runs while Ravinder Bir claimed two for 47.

Scoreboard

Services (1st innings): 355 all out

Harish Bhasker c and b Shakti Singh 51, Sarabjit Singh c Arun b Rahul 32, C D Thomson c Sandip b Shakti Singh, 26, Pankaj Maitrey b Nischal Gaur 27, Sanjay Verma b Ravinder Bir 68, S S Thapa c and b Anurag 8, Sapan Dutta c Ravinder b Shakti Singh 24, M V Rao c Rajiv Nayyar b Ravinder 3, Sayed Javed b Shakti Singh 17, S K Kulkarni (n.o.) 24, S V Ghag run out 43.

Extras: 27

Total all out in 118.3 overs 355.

Fall of wickets : 1/73,2/113, 3/114, 4/201, 5/229, 6/229, 7/234, 8/269, 9/277, 10/355.

Bowling: Shakti Singh 32-9-89-4, Ravinder 23.3-10-47-2,Rahul Panta 24-4-82-1, Anurag Verma 12 -2-41-1, Nischal Gaur 19-4-43-1, Asim Kumar 7-0-19-0, Sangram Singh1-0-12-0.

Himachal (Ist innings): 173 for four.

Nischal Gaur run out 4, Sandeep Moudgil c Sapan b M.V. Rao 22, Rajiv Nayyar (n.o.) 60, Satya Prakash b Pankaj 54, Sangram Singh st b Pankaj 16, Arun Verma (n.o.) 00.

Total (for four wickets in 70 overs) 173.

Fall of wickets: 1/8, 2/43, 3/150, 4/173.

Bowling: M.V. Rao 19-5-55-1. S.V. Ghag 22-5-24-0. S. Javed 6-0-28-0. S Kulkarni 19-1-33-0. Pankaj 10-3-16-2. C.D. Thomson 3-1-7-0.

Bengal continue winning spree
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Nov 21 — Bengal continued their winning spree and justified its top seed in both boys and girls section for the second day by making its entry into the last four stage of the team championship at the 61st Stroh’s Junior National Table Tennis Championship being held here at Sector 23 TT hall here today.

Earlier, Punjab, who braved to reach the quarterfinal in the girls section, went down fighting to last year’s runner up Assam 2-3 after putting a good fight in the match which went to more than two hours.

Bengal boys thwarted Maharashtra 3-0 while in girls section they showed their prowess by beating Karnataka again in straight sets at 3-0.

Results:

Girls: (quarterfinal): Bengal b Karnataka 3-0 (Poulami Ghatak b Smrith Prasad 21-8, 21-9; Mouma Das b Madhuri K.S. 21-18, 21-13; Sushmita Ray b B.M. Ashwini 21-17, 19-21, 21-16; Tamil Nadu b Delhi 3-0 (M. Aparna b Divya Jai Ram 21-13, 21-9; S. Prasanna b Pooja Malik 21-8, 21-15; K. Ramya b Anshu Sharma 21-11, 21-13) Assam b Punjab 3-2.

Boys: (quarterfinal): Tamil Nadu b UP 3-0 (G. Vinodh b S.S. Thakur 21-17, 21-18; V. Abhinav b Ankur Kappor 21-16, 21-19; M. Senthel b Sanjeev 21-17,21-17). Maharshtra A b Gujarat 3-0 (Aditya b Dhaniat Pandya 21-18, 21-11; Eric Fernandez b P. Mehta 21-15, 21-19; Ankur Mahajan b Kedar Dave 21-10, 21-9). PSCB (Academy) b Delhi 3-0 (Soumyadeep Roy b Nitin Mahajan 21-8, 21-14; Suvajit Saha b Abhishek Puri 21-11, 21-16; Anal Kashyap b Ansh Adhlakha 21-15, 21-16). Bengal b Maharashtra B 3-0 (Ranbir Das b Nimish P. 21-16, 21-13; Subham Chaudhary b Santosh 21-17, 21-9; Anirban Nandy b Manas 21-14, 21-14).

Girls: Punjab beat AP 3-1: Group A: (Rishu lost to P. Srilakshmi 12-21, 16-21; Gurvinder b H.S. Tanuja 21-19, 15-21, 21-12, Nancy b Niharika 21-12, 21-7; Gurvinder b P. Sri Lakshmi 21-18, 12-21, 21-91.) Punjab beat Goa: (Gurvinder b Samina 21-7, 21-5; Nancy b Nandini Velha 21-12,21-8; Rishu b Amrita Kubal 21-6, 21-9; AP beat Pondicherry (3-0): ( M.S. Tanuja b J. Niranjan Devi 21-15, 21-8; P. Srilakshmi b K. Hemlata 21-5, 21-15; I. Ninarika b R. Srinithi 21-16, 21-14).

Bengal beat Haryana 3-0: (Chanderpreet Kaur b Sumith Nair 21-13, 21-17; Bhawna Sharma b Shruti Ranjit 13-21, 21-14, 21-12; Rashmi anand b Pavathy 21-8, 21-15).

Assam B beat MP 3-0: (Annanya Gogoi b Neha Soveir 21-15, 21-10; Samitha Roi b Kaushiki 21-12, 21-16; Popri Bora b Urti 18-21, 21-13, 21-17).

Assam beat Kerala 3-0: (Anannya b Parvathy 21-5, 21-7; Sunita Roy b Sruthi 22-20, 21-18; Prerna b Sumitha 21-13, 21-15). Delhi beat MP 3-1: Pooja Malik b Kaushiki 21-10, 21-15; Divya b neha Seveer 21-10, 21-14; Anshu b Urfi Abbasi 21-23, 11-21; Pooja Malik b Neha Suveer 19-21, 21-13, 21-18).

Group ‘C’: Maharashtra beat Bihar 3-0: (Madhurika b S. Nithya 21-19, 21-6; Mamta Prabhu b Neha 21-18, 21-18; Kshipra b Neha Sharan 21-7, 21-12).

Karnataka beat Gujarat 3-1: (K.S. Madhuri lost to Varsha Sawant 14-21, 21-16, 16-21; B.M. Ashwini b Vishivashah 21-15, 21-13; S. Prashad b Panki Shah 21-11, 21-9; B.M. Ashwini b Varsha Solanki 21-11, 21-16).

Group ‘D’: UP beat Rajasthan 3-0: (Pooja Verma beat Pallano 21-18, 17-21, 22-20; Swati Sharma b A. Shruthi 21-16, 21-5; Divya Khanna b Neha 21-14, 21-14).

Maharashtra beat Chandigarh 3-0: (Shalmali Inamdar b Amarpreet 21-4, 21-7; Sherry Caawford b Nadia Saini 21-11, 21-13; Rujuta Rege b Ruchi Gautam 21-8, 21-8.

TN beat Chandigarh 3-0: S. Prasana b Nadia 21-12, 21-7; M. Aparna b Amarpreet 21-11; S. Sangeeta b Ruchia 21-10, 21-14.)

Maharashtra beat UP: (S. Imandar b Swati Sharma 17-21, 21-11, 21-10; Rujuta Rege b Divya 21-10, 21-19; Sherry Crowf b Vineeta 21-5, 21-7.)

Boys: Group ‘A’: Assam beat Meghalaya 3-0 (Aklesh Das b Ramanuj 21-15, 16-21, 21-19; A.S. Kaushik b Dipangkar 21-9, 21-15; Rajkumar b Tagging Singh 21-10, 21-10.)

Bengal beat Kerala 3-0: (Anirban Nandi b C.J. Balaji 21-13, 21-17; Subham Choudhary b P. Adarsh 21-11, 21-8; Sourav Chakraborty b A.O. Joseph 21-13, 21-14.)

UP beat Pondicherry 3-2: Ankar Kapoor b M. Elamaran 12-21, 21-12, 21-9; Swarna Singh Thakur lost S. Muthukumar 14-21, 8-21; Sanjiv Kumar b V.A. Praveen 21-12, 21-12; Ankar Kapoor lost S. Muthu Kumar 18-21, 14-21; Swarna Singh Thakur b M. Elamaran 21-9, 21-16.)

Group ‘B’- PSCB beat Haryana 3-0 (Somyadeep Roy b Neeraj Mani 21-11, 21-16; Anal Kashyap b Sunil 21-11, 21-12; S. Saha b Neeraj Kumar 21-13, 21-10.)

Maharashtra ‘B’ beat Mizoram 3-0: Santosh W b Lahremrvatia Rolte 21-8, 22-20; Nimir P. b Lal Thausiama 21-10, 21-14; Aditya T. b Lal Tanpoia 21-8, 21-10.

MP beat Bihar 3-0: Yashar Pasha b Neeraj 21-14, 21-19; Yogwasen b Ritesh Pandey 21-9, 21-18; Prashant b Varun Chandra 16-21, 21-13, 21-12.

Group ‘C’: Karnataka beat Rajasthan (3-0): Ashwin V. b Sujay Chaturvedi 18-21, 21-12, 26-24; Avinash b Davesh 21-16, 22-24, 21-19; Akash b Vaibhav 21-15, 21-19.

Tamil Nadu beat Goa: N. Senthil b Irwin Cando 21-12, 21-17; V. Abinav b Shahul Kazi 13-21, 21-13, 21-12; Vintu Jose b Sagar Chede 21-16, 21-9.

Gujarat beat Punjab 3-1: Dhivat lost to Disney 17-21, 21-23; Pathik b Sumit 21-13, 21-14; Hardik beat Kanish 21-16, 14-21, 22-20; Pathik b Disney 21-16, 20-22, 21-16.

Group ‘D’: Maharashtra beat HP 3-0: (Aditya M. b Ritesh 21-18, 21-17; Eric Fernandes b Ravi 21-13, 21-16; Ankur Mahajan b Manoj 21-17, 21-1).

AP beat J&K 3-0: (T.V. Ramakrishna b Nikhal 21-15, 16-21, 20-22; T. Arun Dhar b Anil Dutta 21-13, 21-14; A.N. Kumar b Nitin Kausary 21-11, 21-13).

Delhi beat Chandigarh 3-0: (Nitin Mahajan b Ranit 23-21, 21-14; Amit Jain b Varun Kassal 21-18, 21-14; Anush Adhlakha b Inderpreet 21-11, 21-13).

Boys: final League: UP b Kerala; Pondicherry b Meghalaya; Bengal b Assam; Maharashtra ‘B’ b Haryana; Rajasthan b Goa; Tamil Nadu b Punjab; Maharashtra ‘A’ b AP; Delhi b HP; Chandigarh b J&K; PSCB-A b Maharashtra ‘B’; Mizoram b Bihar; Karnataka b Goa; Gujarat b Rajasthan; Gujarat b Rajasthan; Maharashtra ‘A’ b Delhi; Himachal Pradesh b J&K.

Girls: Assam b Delhi; MP b J&K; Maharashtra ‘B’ b Karnataka; Chandigarh b Rajasthan; Bengal b AP; Pondy b Goa; Gujrat b HP; Tamil Nadu b Maharashtra ‘A’.

Double handball gold for Punjab

Moga, Nov 21 (UNI) — Punjab today bagged two gold medals for boys and girls in handball and overall championship trophy of the 45th National School Games which concluded at Guru Nanak Khalsa College Stadium here today.

In volleyball, Uttar Pradesh girls won gold defeating Haryana 25-14,18-25, 26-24, 25-19 while Haryana boys won gold in boys volleyball defeating Delhi 25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 25-11.

In handball boys, Punjab defeated Maharashtra 33-13 in the final. Score was 17-7 at half time. Pardeep (9), Kanwaljit (8) and Bhinder (6) were the main scorers for Punjab. In girls handball, Punjab beat Kerala 10-2 in the final. Savreet (4), Charanjit (2) Ranjit (2) and Paramjit and Amana (one) each were the main scorers for Punjab.

In kabaddi, Haryana boys beat Delhi 35-19 to win gold, while Maharashtra girls won the gold medal defeating Delhi 38-31 in a keenly-contested match. Both the teams were locked 28-28 in the stipulated time.

BSF score 4-2 win over Punjab cops

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (UNI) — BSF (Jalandhar) and IHF juniors came out victorious in their quarterfinal matches in the 35th Nehru-ONGC Hockey Tournament here today.

While BSF beat Punjab Police, Jalandhar 4-2, the IHF juniors thumped Sikh Regimental Centre, Ramgarh 3-0.

BSF took the lead through a 23rd-minute penalty corner goal by Christopher Ekka but Daljit Singh’s penalty stroke conversion three minutes later brought Punjab Police back into play.

BSF once again took the lead with Sushil Kumar pushing in a stroke in the 30th minute and once again the lead was short-lived as Sharanjit Singh banged in off a penalty corner to make it 2-2 for Punjab Police. But goals by Harbhajan Singh and Ekka from penalty corners gave BSF the much deserved win.

IHF juniors were far superior to their rivals from Ramgarh. They went on the offensive right from the beginning and won a penalty stroke in the second minute which Roshan Tata converted smoothly.

Tata made it 2-0 in the 52nd and Kamlesh Kumar enhanced the lead in the 58th minute.

Punjab and Sindh Bank will play Karnataka XI while Army XI meets PSEB, Patiala in the other two quarterfinal games tomorrow.

The organisers of the tournament have on the occasion arranged an umpires seminar tomorrow.

Jadeja out for Test series

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (PTI) — Injured batsman Ajay Jadeja has been ruled out of India’s upcoming Test series against Australia and the cricket board will announce the replacement tomorrow in the team leaving in the early hours of November 23.

Announcing this, cricket board secretary Jaywant Lele told PTI over phone from Baroda that a medical report has been received from Johannesburg-based shoulder injury specialist Dr Alex Ferguson who has advised three weeks rest for the player.

Kanetkar bows out

BANGALORE, Nov 21 (PTI) — India number two Nikhil Kanetkar bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Spanish Open Badminton Tournament to Henrik Bengston of Sweden 10-15, 10-15 at Seville.

Kanetkar got off to a fine 4-1 start in the first game but Bengston returned by playing some good fast drops and thrashing the Indian’s weak backhand defence, according to a Badminton Association of India press release issued here today. It was 10-10 in both the games but several unforced errors at this stage cost Kanetkar dearly.

National champion Gopichand, Kanetkar, Siddarth Jain and Meenakshi will play in the Scotttish Open next weekend at Edinburgh.

Delhi 196 for 9
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Nov 21 — At one stage Delhi were tottering at 130 for 8, but some shoddy ground fielding and a couple of dropped catches by the Punjab fielders let the visitors off the hook and at the draw of stumps on the first day of the three-day league match for the Vijay Merchant Trophy (U-16) they were 196 for 9 with middle order duo of Susheel Kumar (52) and Deepak Sharma (41) coming up with brave knocks. How erratic was the hosts’ ground fielding can be judged from the fact that extras (19) formed the third highest total.

Scores: (Delhi: 196 for 9 (Susheel Kumar 52, Deepak Sharma 41 n.o. Ishan Malhotra 3 for 50, Gautam Mandora 3 for 22, Gagandeep Singh 1 for 45, Amardeep 1 for 26).

Cricket tourney

LUDHIANA, Nov 21 (FOSR) — Reliance Club and Shiva Club recorded victories in the 7th Veera Devi Memorial Cricket Tournament at the focal point cricket ground, Chandigarh road, here today. Reliance Club defeated Double Deckker XI by nine runs. In reply to Reliance’s Club’s score of 134 for six, Double Deckker could make 125 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs.

Brief scores:

Reliance Club: 134 for 6

(Ashwani 28, Vaneet Thapar 29, Bhagmal 22, Joginder 3 for 21, Ajay 1 for 9). Double Deckker XI 125 for 7: (Manu 23, Ajay 39, Kailash 2 for 28, Parveen 1 for 17, Ashwani 1 for 14 Raj Kumar 2 for 26)

In the second match, Rinku (54) and Baldev (3 for 23) helped Shiva Club to score an authentic 106-run win over TPA Club. Batting first, Shiva Club scored 202 for eight and then restricted the TPA Club to 96 all out.

Brief scores: Shiva Club 202 for 8 (Rinku 54, Baldev 39, Vaneet 31, Vishal Mehta 2 for 39, Vijay Mehta 2 for 30, Tarun 1 for 43, Rakesh 1 for 37 Ashwani 2 for 32). TPA Club 96 all out (Sunny Chauhan 23 n.o. Vijay Mehta 15, Baldev 3 for 23, Lovely 2 for 13, Rajesh 3 for 13).