Punjab rout HP by 178 runs SAS Nagar, Oct 23 — The script unfolded along familiar lines as Himachal Pradesh, dishing out a mediocre fare, were handed a 178-run defeat by Punjab in the North Zone Ranji Trophy one-day match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

Vishal lords over the rest
FARIDABAD, Oct 23 — Vishal Singh played consistent golf to maintain his lead over the rest of the field with a fine nine-under 207 after the third-round of the Rs 6 lakh Shell Aravalli Open being played at the par-72, 6,945-yard Aravalli Golf Club course here today.

World team resigns against Kasparov
NEW YORK, Oct 23 — A worldwide team of Internet chess players resigned its game against world champion Garry Kasparov after a gripping, four-month battle on a Microsoft web site that broke new ground in chess theory.

Rohan, Salim enter final
CHANDIGARH, Oct 23 — Punjab champion Rohan Kapoor of Jalandhar and Punjab No 1 Mohammed Salim of Sangrur will clash in the final of the Punjab State Major Ranking Badminton Championships here. In the women’s singles Nazma Parveen of Ludhiana will take on Meeta Bhandari of Patiala.

Ghouse-Uppal duo wins doubles
MUMBAI, Oct 23 — The Indian pair of Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal scored a come-back-from-behind victory over the Indo-Greek pair of Syed Fazaluddin and Niko Karagiannis in the doubles final of the $ 25,000 prize money ITF Satellite Circuit (first leg) being played at the Dr G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre Courts here today.

Cong fails to repair cricket ground
LUDHIANA, Oct 23 — Strong resentment prevails among cricket players here as they have no playground to have the practice for inter-district tournaments currently being organised at different places in Punjab. The only available cricket ground at the SD Government College here was damaged during the two election rallies held here in August.

Australia beat Germany
DARWIN (Australia), Oct 23 — Australia defeated Germany 2-1 in the first tie of the five-match hockey test series here last night.

Governor’s Cup
GANGTOK, Oct 23 — Fourteen teams from the country and three from abroad will be in the fray for the top honours in the prestigious Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament starting here tomorrow.

City boys win
BANGALORE, Oct 23 — The 16th National Sub-junior Handball Championship for boys and girls began here on Thursday.

Gandhi, Ramesh put India in command

KANPUR, Oct 23 (PTI) — Devang Gandhi missed a richly deserved maiden Test hundred but Sadagopan Ramesh was poised for his second as the two openers laid a splendid foundation to place India in the driver’s seat against New Zealand on the second day of the second cricket Test here today.

Gandhi cracked a strokeful 88 and left-hander Ramesh was batting on 81 as their huge 162-run opening stand propelled the hosts to 212 for one wicket and left them in an ideal position to dictate the course of the match at the Green Park.

India, who bundled out the Kiwis without ado in the morning, for 256 runs an hour into the day, were just 44 runs adrift of clinching the first innings lead in search of victory to move ahead in the three-match Test series.

Gandhi (88-242m, 186b, 14x4, 1x6) struck punishing drives on either side of the wicket for his second straight Test half-century as he along with Ramesh (batting 81 - 309m, 213b, 11x4) followed upon their 137-run opening stand at Mohali in the first Test.

At close Rahul Dravid (batting 29) had raised exactly 50 runs for the second wicket with Ramesh.

Leg-spinner Anil Kumble fulfilled Indian aspirations by quickly ending the Kiwi innings, left at 217 for seven overnight, by striking twice as the last three wicket fell in the space of just one run.

Kumble finished with four for 67 to share the honours with paceman Javagal Srinath (3/62).

But it were newcomers Gandhi and Ramesh who dominated the Kiwi attack from the word go and made light of any terrors held by the bone-dry pitch full of cracks by playing glorious strokes, off off-spinner Paul Wiseman and left-armer Daniel Vettori in particular, to take the limelight.

With three full days left and the might of Indian batting at hand, India can fully hope to drive home the advantage after having demoralised the Kiwi bowlers in their five-hour effort thus far.

Gandhi and Ramesh approached the first priority of building up a solid base with aplomb in a highly fruitful partnership that lasted a shade over four hours and left India in a perfect position to exploit with three full days left to force a victory.

The 24-year-old Ramesh began with a few fours before Gandhi took over after lunch to attack the Kiwi bowling of Cairns and Dion Nash who toiled in vain on a track of low bounce and were promptly punished whenever they erred in line and length.

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand (Ist innings)

Horne c M.S.K. Prasad b Ganguly 5
Bell lbw b Srinath 15
Spearman c Ramesh b Kumble 12
Fleming b Srinath 2
Astle lbw b Srinath 39
McMillan c Ramesh b Joshi 34
Parore c Dravid b Kumble 35
Cairns c Tendulkar b Kumble 53
Nash not out 41
Vettori c Bharadwaj b Harbjahan 0
Wiseman c Bharadwaj b Kumble 0

Extras (B-7, NB-13) 20

Total (all out in 102.5 overs) 256

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-33, 3-40, 4-50, 5-112, 6-130, 7-172, 8-255, 9-255.

Bowling: Srinath 22-9-62-3, Ganguly 4-0-15-1, Kumble 32.5-12-67-4, Harbhajan 17-6-30-1, Joshi 25-7-63-1, Bhardwaj 2-0-12-0.

India (Ist innings):

Gandhi c Fleming b Astle 88
Ramesh batting 81
Rahul Dravid 29

Extras (B-5, LB-1, NB-8) 14

Total (for one in 75 overs) 212

Fall of wicket: 1/162.

Bowling: Cairns 8-3-31-0, Nash 13-5-33-0, Vettori 25-2-66-0, Viseman 19-6-67-0, Astle 10-5-9-1.

Aussies demolish Zimbabwe

HARARE, Oct 23 (AFP) — Australia coasted to a 2-0 victory in the three-match one-day international series against Zimbabwe here today.

They wrapped up the second match by destroying the Zimbabwe batsmen, who scored only 116 runs between them in a forlorn display. There were 12.3 overs unused.

Passing this total was a formality and the Aussies did so in comfort with nine wickets left and 21.3 overs to spare.

It was a dismal performance by Zimbabwe, whose one-day international record is in any case none too good now with 90 defeats and only 39 wins.

The home side were in desperate trouble early on when they lost three wickets for only 10 runs as Neil Johnson, scorer of a century in Bulawayo on Thursday, Alistair Campbell and Andy Flower were quickly back in the pavilion.

Trevor Madondo, playing in only his third international, was top scorer with 29 - and it took him 27 balls to get off the mark.

Damien Fleming was at the heart of the destruction with 3 for 14 in 10 overs, only 10 of them coming off the bat.

With Zimbabwe humiliated, captain Mark Waugh showed either his disdain or a sharp sense of fun by forming a ring of nine slips and gullies for the tail-enders, in particular Andy Whittall.

Scoreboard

Zimbabwe:

Johnson c Ponting b Fleming 2
Campbell c Waugh b Dale 5
Madondo c Warne b Moody 29
A. Flower b Dale 0
G. Flower c Gilchrist b Martyn 17
Goodwin c Gilchrist b Martyn 11
Rennie c Gilchrist b Moody 0
Blignaut not out 21
Rennie c Gilchrist b Fleming 5
Whittall c Ponting b Fleming 0
Mutendera b Symonds 10

Extras 16

Total (37.3 overs) 116

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-10, 3-10, 4-63, 5-71, 6-75, 7-75, 8-87, 9-98.

Bowling: Fleming 10-4-14-3, Dale 9-3-24-2, Moody 7-1-25-2, Martyn 8-1-21-2, Symonds 3.3-0-23-1.

Australia
A. Gilchrist c Johnson b Blignaut 18, M. Waugh not out 54, R. Ponting not out 31, Extras (LB-5, W-5, NB-4) 14.

Total (for 1 wkt, 28.3 overs) 117.

Fall of wicket: 1-31

Bowling: Rennie 8.3-2-31-0, Mutendera 10-2-40-0, Blignaut 6-0-24-1, Whittall 4-0-17-0.

Sanghvi steers Delhi to emphatic win

NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (PTI) — Rahul Sanghvi’s five-wicket haul led Delhi to an emphatic seven-wicket victory over Services in the first league tie of the North Zone Ranji Trophy one-day cricket match here today.

Sanghvi’s 5 for 16 and Ajay Sharma (3/22) helped Delhi dismiss Services for 114 in 46.4 overs after Services skipper Sanjay Verma won the toss and chose to bat first.

Chasing an easy target, Delhi mustered the required 115 runs in 23.5 overs losing just three wickets.

Services started cautiously with their openers putting on 55 runs before Sarabjeet Singh (15) became the first victim of Sanghvi who accepted a return catch. The other opener Narendra Singh (29) followed suit guiding a Sanghvi delivery to Nikhil Chopra at slips.

Sanghvi rocked Services by having Aba Eric (11) caught by Vijay Dahiya at forward shortleg. Ajay Sharma from the other end plucked Sanjay Verma (6) and Pankaj Maitry (0) quickly.

With the top batsmen back in pavilion it was a matter of time before Sanghvi and company wrapped up the innings.

Delhi began the run-chase disastrously losing Ashu Dani (9) with just 13 runs on board. Sohail Rauf (22) joined Dahiya (22) to steady the innings with a second wicket 45-run stand before Dahiya was caught by Sanjay Verma off Sudhakar Ghag.

Services

Narendra Singh c Nikhil Chopra b R. Sanghivi 29, Sarabjeet Singh c & b R. Sanghivi 15, Aba Eric c Dahiya b Sanghivi 11, Sanjay Verma c & b Ajay Sharma 6, Pankaj Maitry b Ajay Sharma 13, C.D. Thomson c Nikhil Chopra b Sanghivi 0, K.K. Dixit c Manhas b Chopra 7, M.V. Rao c Chopra b Sanghivi 6, Syed Javed b Sehway 6, Sudhakar Ghag not out 6, Sachin Kulkarni c Bhandari b Ajay Sharma 0. Extras (1B, 2LB, 5NB, 7W) 15. Total (all out in 46.4 overs) 114.

Fall of Wickets: 1/55, 2/58, 3/71, 4/73, 5/73, 6/95, 7/95 8/102, 9/113.

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 6-2-20-0, Amit Bhandari 6-1-13-0, Rajesh Gehlot 4-1-8-0, Nikhil Chopra 10-0-23-1, Rahul Sanghivi 10-2-16-5, Ajay Sharma 7.4-0-22-3, V. Sehway 3-0-9-1.

Delhi

Ashu Dani lbw Syed Javed 9,V. Dahiya c Sanjay Verma b Ghag 22, Sohail Rauf b Syed Javed 22, Ajay Sharma not out 27, Mithun Manhas not out 28, Extras (4NB, 3W) 7.

Total (for 3 wickets in 23.5 overs) 115.

Fall of wickets: 1/13, 2/58, 3/58

Bowling: M.V. Rao 5-0-29-0, Syed Javed 9-0-36-2, Sudhakar Ghag 4-0-21-1, Pankaj Maitry 3-0-13-0, Sachin Kulkarni 2.5-0-1-0.

Punjab rout HP by 178 runs
By Gopal Sharma
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, Oct 23 — The script unfolded along familiar lines as Himachal Pradesh, dishing out a mediocre fare, were handed a 178-run defeat by Punjab in the North Zone Ranji Trophy one-day match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today.

During the day’s play, players from the hilly state were found wanting in batting. Their bowling looked ordinary, while in fielding they were shoddy as they launched their campaign in the national cricket championship on a dismal note.

The architect of Punjab’s victory was skipper Vikram Rathore, who batted very well to score 88 runs off 100 deliveries. He was ably assisted by wicketkeeper batsman Pankaj Dharmani, who notched up impressive 54 off 61 balls and Reetinder Sodhi,who contributed 52,facing 77 balls.

In fact, it was 134-run partnership in 155 deliveries for the third wicket between Rathore and Reetinder Sodhi, which laid the foundation for the comprehensive victory.

Twin success early in the morning earned by their medium pacers Shakti Singh and Parveen Sharma in the shape of dismissals of all rounder Sandeep Sharma and former India opening batsman Navjot Sidhu in the first six overs was the only bright spot during the day’s play for the visitors.

The HP batsmen made a hash of the difficult target of 274 runs set by the hosts. They never looked in hunt and kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals as the side was bowled out with just 95 on the board.

Middle order batsman Ajay Mannu emerged the highest scorer from the side making 16, while Ajay Rai and Sangram Singh, who contributed 15 and 14 runs, respectively, were the next most successful batsmen.

Off-spinner Sarandeep Singh and left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh, who claimed three wickets each, were the best bowlers from the winning side.

Rahul Panta,opening batsman, gave his side a blazing start, slamming new ball bowler Sandeep Sharma for three successive scorching boundaries in the very first over. But Panta fell in the next over edging medium pacer Reetinder Sodhi’s rising delivery straight into the hands of Vikram Rathore at first slip.

Rathore took an excellent catch lunging to his right to send back the other opener Nischal Gaur.The misery of the visitors mounted when skipper Rajeev Nayyar tamely guided a Sandeep delivery into the hands of Sanjay Mahajan stationed at square leg.

Ajay Mannu and Sangram batted carefully to take the team to the 50-run mark.Left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh, introduced from the pavilion end, struck thrice, claiming the wickets of Mannu, Sangram and Shakti Singh to reduce the visitors to 72 for six.

Sarandeep and left-arm spinner Navdeep Singh then combined to polish off the tail as the visitors were bundled out for 95.

SCOREBOARD

Punjab: Rathore c Sangram b Mannu 88, Sandeep c Arun Verma b Shakti Singh 15, Sidhu c Arun Verma b Parveen 3, Sodhi c Arun Verma b Mannu 52, Dharmani b Shakti 54, Mongia c Arun Verma b Jaswant 3, Amit Sharma lbw Panta 27, Yuvraj not out 17, Sanjay not out 1. Extras: (nb 6, w 4, lb 1, b 2) 13. Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 273.

Fall of wickets:1-26, 2-32, 3-166, 4-187, 5-204, 6-249, 7-259.

Bowling: Shakti Singh 10-0-41-2, Parveen Sharma 10-0-54-1, Jaswant Rai 10-0-56-1,Rahul Panta 3-0-27-1, Nischal Gaur 10-0-44-0, Ajay Mannu 7-0-48-2.

Himachal Pradesh: Rahul Panta c Rathore b Sodhi 12, Nischal Gaur c Rathore b Sodhi 5, Rajeev c Mahajan b Sandeep 5, Mannu b Yuvraj 16, Sangram st Dharmani b Yuvraj 14, Ajay lbw Sarandeep 15, Shakti c Dharmani b Yuvraj 8, Yashwinder c Amit b Sarandeep 6, Arun c Amit b Sarandeep 0, Jaswant c Sarandeep b Navdeep 3, Parveen not out 0. Extras: (nb 5, w 4, lb 2) 11. Total: ( all out in 36.2 overs) 95.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-22, 3-27, 4-50, 5-59, 6-72, 7-89, 8-90, 9-95, 10-95.

Bowling: Sandeep 6-0-26-1, Reetinder 7-1-15-2,Sanjay 5-2-16-0, Yuvraj 6-1-22-3, Sarandeep 7.2-1-9-3, Navdeep 5-3-5-1.

Vishal lords over the rest
From Our Sports Reporter

FARIDABAD, Oct 23 — Vishal Singh played consistent golf to maintain his lead over the rest of the field with a fine nine-under 207 after the third-round of the Rs 6 lakh Shell Aravalli Open being played at the par-72, 6,945-yard Aravalli Golf Club course here today.

At joint second spot, were Harmeet Kahlon, Amit Dube and Samim Khan at seven-under 209 playing like a man possessed, Vishal Singh began by paring his first seven holes, missing in the process a birdie on the 6th, where not for the first time in the day, his ball stopped just one-inch short of the pin. Just one hole later on the 8th, Vishal’s superb chip from the bunker stopped. Once again, an inch from the pin, this time denying the golfer an eagle. Ending his front nine at one-under, Vishal pared the first hole of his back nine, before birdying the 11th and 12th. A sudden loss of touch saw him drop shots on the 14th and 15th, with him stuck in the bunker on both occasions and subsequently on the 18th, where he three-putted to finish the day at level-par 72. “My putting got bad in the second half. Anyway, my sponsors Samodh Palace have lent great support to me and I want to win this for them tomorrow,” said Vishal.

Young Delhi pro, Samim Khan played brilliant golf, posting birdies on the 3rd, 8th, a hat-trick of birdies on the 11th, 12th and 13th and two more on the 17, where he chipped-in from no less than 45 yards and 18th. Samim missed an eagle on the 11th where he two-putted from 8 feet. “My feel is good and I am confident of doing well tomorrow,” said Samim who had a double bogey on the 7th, disfiguring the day’s best card of five-under 67.

Rookie golfer Harmeet Kahlon, carding his second four-under 68 of the event, had birdies on the 8th,9th, 12th and 17th. “I would have been leading today. My ball lipped the cup on the 6th, 7th, 18th and 16th to deny me birdies and I missed easy two feet putts on the 2nd and 3rd said the dejected Arjuna Awardee, who works in Oil India and is being sponsored by India Cements.

Another rookie Amit Dube showcased a three-under 69. Dube birdied the 5th,7th,90th, 10th, 11th and 15th, bogeying the 2nd, 3rd and 18th.

Feroz Ali started with a double bogey on the 1st, where his tee shot went out of bounds. He then carded birdies on the 2nd, 7th and 8th, with the final birdie stopping half an inch short of the pin, denying the ‘98 Indian Open winner an eagle. A bogey on the 5th placed him at level-par before making the turn. His tee shot on the 11th, placing his ball in the right jungle, resulted in Feroz’s dropping a shot on the 11th.

Scores: 207 Vishal Singh (69,66,72); 209 Samim Khan (71,71,67), Harmeet Kahlon (68,73,68), Amit Dube (70,70,69); 211 Feroz Ali (65,73,73); 212 Mukesh Kumar (71,70,71), Rafiq Ali (69,69,74); 213 Digvijay Singh (69,76,68); 214 Shiv Prakash (72,71,71); 216 Basad Ali (69,73,74); 217 Rohtas Singh (75,73,69).

Amateurs: 240 G.S. Parmar (79,80,81), Vijay Kumar; 243 Gaurav Kathuria (83,79,81); 249 J.J. Desaram (86,78,85).

World team resigns against Kasparov

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) — A worldwide team of Internet chess players resigned its game against world champion Garry Kasparov after a gripping, four-month battle on a Microsoft web site that broke new ground in chess theory.

Kasparov, 36 considered by many experts to be the best player in the history of the ancient game, was about to promote his only remaining pawn to a second queen in a technically complex endgame while “the world” team ran out of opportunities yesterday to even force a draw.

The game, described by Kasparov and Microsoft as an experiment for chess playing on the Internet, was closely fought with a new move in chess theory played by “the world” in the Sicilian defence on its 10th turn that surprised the champion.

Kasparov opened with the white pieces on June 21 at a ceremony here and the contest lasted longer than many expected, ending yesterday on the 62nd move.

“Kasparov wins” the Microsoft web site announced. “Despite a valiant challenge from a resourceful world team, a superior position by Garry Kasparov at move 62 forced resignation by the opposition.”

Microsoft gaming zone production manager Eddie Ranchigoda said more than 50 per cent of the Internet voters opted for resignation, which under the rules conceded the contest to the Russian.

The company said that over the course of the game, the site hosted more than three million visitors from more than 75 countries.

Kasparov declined immediate comment on the outcome but he said by telephone from Moscow that next week he would discuss his analysis of the game.

On the web on Thursday, when it was already clear that he was heading for victory against the Internet all-comers, he issued a statement through game commentator Danny King, a grandmaster from England.

“At move 10, I congratulated the world on a great opening novelty, and to that I would like to add it was a phenomenal middlegame, a crazy human endgame,” the statement said. And now we have a computerised queen and pawn ending of mathematical precision.

“Within our game we have covered all the elements of modern chess. I thank the world for a great fight”

Kasparov also promised to address a minor controversy a week ago, when some fans on the site angrily accused Microsoft of mishandling a crucial move suggested by one of four strong teenagers advising the voters. The move 58...QF5 was sent in late by Irina Krush of the USA — the de facto leader of the team, which was also assisted by grandmasters — and the Internet audience voted instead for 58...QE4, considered weaker.

Rohan, Salim enter final
From Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 23 — Punjab champion Rohan Kapoor of Jalandhar and Punjab No 1 Mohammed Salim of Sangrur will clash in the final of the Punjab State Major Ranking Badminton Championships here. In the women’s singles Nazma Parveen of Ludhiana will take on Meeta Bhandari of Patiala.

Neeraj Bansal of Jalandhar displayed courage in the unforgettable semifinal against top seed Rohan Kapoor, which Rohan won 8-15, 15-10, 15-8. This was easily the best singles match of the tournament, lasting more than 80 minutes. In the first game Neeraj Bansal with some powerful down the line smashes and accurate drops, forced Rohan to make errors. Neeraj easily won the first game. But Rohan did not lie down without a fight. He fought back to win the second and third game. There was a brief fightback by Neeraj Bansal in the third game, but Rohan with wonderful attacking shorts, often caught him on the wrong foot.

The second semifinal between Mohammed Salim of Sangrur and Amandeep of Ludhiana was a tame affair. Salim thrashed Amandeep 15-1, 15-6 in just 15 minutes.

Women’s singles saw a big upset, when second seeded Yogita Sharma of Patiala was routed by giant killer Nazma Parveen of Ludhiana 7-11, 0-11 in the first semifinal. In the second semifinal favourite and top seed Meeta Bhandari of Patiala had a comfortable victory over Sonali of Amritsar, stamping her usual authority on the game, winning 11-1, 11-1 in just 10 minutes.

Second seed Manish and Navdeep of Patiala just managed to stop the spirited young pair of Rohan and Jaideep of Jalandhar in the first men’s double semifinal. The Patiala pair won 17-16, 5-15, 17-15. Rohan and Jaideep were not intimidated by the thought of playing the top doubles pair of Punjab, as they took the game to their opponents from the start.

The second semifinal was also closely fought where top seed Chanderdeep and Amandeep edged out another young pair of Touseef and Harinder 15-4, 17-15.

There was another upset in mixed doubles semifinal when Iqbal Singh and Nazma Parveen ousted second seeded pair of Manish and Meeta Bhandari in three games 9-15, 15-9, 15-8. The Patiala pair started off well, working together in tandem. While Manish did the smashing, Meeta was on hand to put the finishing touches to the weak returns. But the second game was a different story all together. Iqbal and Nazma played with a definite strategy.

In the final game the Ludhiana pair once again adopted the same strategy too and the Patiala pair lost their rhythm and lost the third game rather tamely.

In the women’s doubles final Nancy and Meeta of Patiala will take on Sapna and Nazma.

Ghouse-Uppal duo wins doubles

MUMBAI, Oct 23 (UNI) — The Indian pair of Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal scored a come-back-from-behind victory over the Indo-Greek pair of Syed Fazaluddin and Niko Karagiannis in the doubles final of the $ 25,000 prize money ITF Satellite Circuit (first leg) being played at the Dr G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre Courts here today.

Ghouse and Uppal beat the pair of Fazal and Karagiannis 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and two minutes.

Ghouse and Uppal started off with a bang breaking the serve of Fazaluddin in the very second game to go up 2-0. However, Uppal lost his serve in the very next game at deuce to get back on serve. Ghouse and Uppal then again broke the serve of Niko at 30 to lead 3-1. Ghouse then held serve with ease for them to take a four games to one lead.

At this stage it looked as if Ghouse-Uppal had things under control and they would wrap up the set in no time.

However, Fazal and Niko had different ideas and they increased the tempo of the game a bit to come roaring back into the match. Fazal and Niko got the break back in the seventh game easily breaking Vishal Uppal at love. From one-four down Niko and Fazal took five games on the trot to wrap up the set 6-4.

The second set went on serve till the fourth game, when Fazal was broken in the fifth at 15 for the Indian duo to take a 3-1 lead. After that it was Ghouse-Uppal all the way as they won five games in a row from one all, to wrap up the second set 6-1 and push the match into the deciding third set.

Both the pairs seemed to hold their serves with ease in the third set and seemed to be waiting for the other pair to make mistakes.

In the ninth game, Ghouse and Uppal got the all important break to go up 5-4 in this deciding set. The returns of serve of Uppal and Ghouse in this game were off top class and that made all the difference with Uppal’s searing return right at the foot of Fazaluddin getting them the break.

Cong fails to repair cricket ground
From Anil Datt

LUDHIANA, Oct 23 — Strong resentment prevails among cricket players here as they have no playground to have the practice for inter-district tournaments currently being organised at different places in Punjab. The only available cricket ground at the SD Government College here was damaged during the two election rallies held here in August.

The first rally was organised by the SAD-BJP alliance on August 7 where the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, addressed while the second rally was held by the Congress on August 25 where the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi was the chief guest. This was for the first time that the SD Government College ground was used for political purposes and “credit” for the same goes to the ruling SAD-BJP combine.

During these two rallies the ground was vandalised. The pitch located at the centre and two practice strips were damaged. The boundary wall of the ground was also demolished at four points to enable the people to participate in these rallies. Cricket lovers and the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) which maintain this ground for the past 19 years protested against the misuse of playgrounds as political venues.

The organisers of these rallies at that time promised to repair the boundary wall, pitch and the outfield as well. Immediately after the August 7 rally, the SAD-BJP combine got the boundary wall repaired and also started repair of the playground. But in the meantime, the organisers of the Congress rally got this venue sanctioned for Sonia Gandhi’s rally on August 25. The organisers gave an undertaking that they would get the damage caused to the boundary wall as well as the playfield repaired.

But to the dismay of the players and the authorities the Congress leadership had not bothered to take the necessary steps as promised. The Principal of Government College and the District Administration have sent reminders to the Congress MP from Ludhiana, Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, along with the estimated cost of repair of the boundary wall and the ground to the tune of Rs 1,38,800.

The details gathered by The Tribune reveal that the repair of the boundary wall would cost Rs 25800 and the repair of the pitch and ground Rs 1,13,000, respectively. The Tribune further learnt that the Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) of Ludhiana West Vidhan Sabha segment wrote a letter to the local Congress leaders reminding them of the repair of the ground on October 1. The second letter was sent to them on October 14. Besides, verbal reminders were also made to the Congress candidate but so far nothing has been done.

During a visit to the ground this correspondent found that the boundary wall had been demolished at four points and iron pipes had been erected to check the entry of stray animals into the ground. The pitch was in very bad shape and the outfield was full of holes and wild grass had grown there. The assurances given by the political parties to repair the ground has remained empty promises and even after two months have passed, nothing has been done in the direction.

Now the college authorities have prohibited the LDCA from using the ground and the groundsman employed with the association has been asked to vacate the room occupied by him near the ground.

Australia beat Germany

DARWIN (Australia), Oct 23 (AFP) — Australia defeated Germany 2-1 in the first tie of the five-match hockey test series here last night.

Veteran Olympian Davies in his 250th international was outstanding for the Australians, baffling the German defence with a series of interceptions.

Midfielder Michael Brennan put Australia ahead after nine minutes after Brent Livermore forced a penalty corner.

The Germans appeared to be disjointed by the Australians’ man-to-man tackling and they could not close down forwards Craig Victory and Michael Smith.

In the second half Jeremy Hiskins combined with captain Paul Gaudoin to score Australia’s second goal.

It took the youngest player on the field, Matthias Witthaus, 16, to spark a German revival.

Against the run of play, the Germans counter-attacked and Witthaus pushed past the diving Hickman in a goal-side scrap. The Germans attacked strongly in last six minutes but the Australian defence prevailed.

Governor’s Cup

GANGTOK, Oct 23 (PTI) — Fourteen teams from the country and three from abroad will be in the fray for the top honours in the prestigious Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament starting here tomorrow.

This year’s campaign in the Himalayan state is expected to add glamour to its reputation as two Calcutta teams, including the giants Mohammedan Sporting Club, have confirmed entries for the 21st edition of the tournament.

City boys win

BANGALORE, Oct 23 (PTI) — The 16th National Sub-junior Handball Championship for boys and girls began here on Thursday.

The event was inaugurated by S.S. Mallikarjuna, Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports.

The results of the opening day’s matches:

Boys: Chandigarh beat Karnataka 26-21 (half-time 15-10), Assam beat Haryana 22-17 (half-time 12-8), Orissa beat Rajasthan 25-9 (half-time 12-5).

Girls: Uttar Pradesh beat Rajasthan 23-6 (half-time 12-2).

Anand Kumar clinches gold
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 23 — Anand Kumar of Bhiwani clinched the gold in 1500m clocking 4.14:00 time in the opening athletics event of the Rural Invitational Sports Festival organised by the Haryana Sports Department at Sahib Ram Stadium here today. Vinod Kumar of Hisar got the second place while Ram Niwas of Jalandhar finished third with 4.27:00 time.

Rajpal of Bhiwani won the 400m race clocking 51.9 sec while Jasmer Singh of Kurukshetra finished second with 52.8 sec and Arun Rai of Gurgaon got the third place.

Haryana beat J&K

FARIDABAD, Oct 23 (PTI) — Haryana defeated Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets in their one-day match of the Ranji Trophy Cricket Tournament here today.

Jammu and Kashmir were bowled out for 178 in 46.4 overs after Haryana put them into bat after winning the toss.

Manish Sarhalkar with bowling figures of four for 32 was the main wrecker of Jammu and Kashmir batting line up. The visitors’ wickets fell at regular intervals. Kanwaljeet Singh (42), Ashwini Gupta (33) and Vikrant Taggar (26) were the main scorers.

The hosts scored 179 for the loss of two wickets in 42.4 overs to register the right-wicket win.

Jitender Singh remained not out with 81 which included five hits to the fence while Rajesh Puri scored 47 with the help of three hits to the fence and one six. Both the Haryana wickets were claimed by Sanjay Sharma (2 for 34).