Thursday, September 10, 1999
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S P O R T | Thursday, September 10, 1999 |
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 NEW YORK : Mahesh Bhupathi, left, and Leander Paes, play in a doubles match against Andrei Olhovskiy, of Russia, and David Prinosil, of Germany, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York on Wednesday. — AP/PTI Paes-Bhupathi duo in final NEW YORK, Sept 9 — Top-seeded Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came close to winning the title by entering the final of the US Open tennis, while in the mixed doubles Bhupathi and his Japanese partner also won the semifinal clash.
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Aussies 188 all out KANDY (Sri Lanka), Sept 9 — Australia suffered a stunning early collapse to be skittled out for 188 in their first innings despite Ricky Ponting’s heroic 96 and Sri Lanka were 69 for two in reply on a dramatic opening day of the first cricket Test today. ‘One-dayers
taking their toll’ Amritinder
in lead Women
lifters lift title
Soccer camp at NIS Notices
to Prasar Bharati, BCCI on telecast deal Gloom
for England; Poland afloat McEnroe
named US Davis Cup captain Dilpreet,
Iqbal set up title clash Aparna
Popat crashes out Reddy re-elected CGA chief |
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Kafelnikov, Serena enter semis NEW YORK, Sept 9 (AFP) — Richard Krajicek’s 48 aces couldn’t stop Yevgeny Kafelnikov here, while Serena Williams needed just 15 to reach the semifinals of the US Open Tennis Championships. “I’d rather hit 15 and get into the semis,” 12th seed Krajicek said after he fell in five sets to third seed Kafelnikov. That’s just the number seventh-seeded Williams blasted past fourth seed Monica Sales in 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal triumph. “I was a little nervous when I came out,” admitted the 17-year-old, Williams, who was in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Williams joined her elder sister Venus, the third seed, in the semifinals, the first time in the history of the US Open that two sisters have made it to the final four. There she’ll face defending champion and second seed Lindsay Davenport, who survived two match points and a rain delay to defeat fifth seed Mary Pierce 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Kafelnikov ranked his 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 1-6, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Krajicek right up there with his triumphs in the 1999 Australian Open final and the 1996 French Open final. Agassi was made to sweat through three tense sets by 136th-ranked Nicolas Escude, the first qualifier to make to the US Open quarterfinals. Agassi needed nearly two hours to come up with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-4 victory. He had just one break point in the opening set, which he failed to convert, but gave himself some breathing room with the tie-brake win. “It took me a while to get the feel for his style,” Agassi said. “I was second guessing his swings, not reading his serve. I did what I needed to do today,” he added. “It’s going to take more than that to win a tournament of this magnitude. I’m going to have to step up.” Escude kept him working until the bitter end, Agassi saving a break point in the final game before Escude netted a forehand. Krajicek’s 48 aces were a record for the ATP tour and Grand Slams, topping the 46 fired by Goran Ivanisevic in a losing effort against Magnus Norman in the first round of Wimbledon in 1997. Kafelnikov broke Krajicek’s serve just once, as the Dutch player served for the first set at 5-4. But Kafelnikov dominated the tie-breakers. He took a 6-2 lead in the fifth-set decider and gave away his first match point with a forehand wide. Then Krajicek blasted aces number 47 and 48 by him before Kafelnikov closed it out with his own 10th ace. “I didn’t think I was going to make it when Richard came back to 6-5,” Kafelnikov said. “I was pretty nervous at that stage. I just took a deep breath, and I don’t know how I served that ace.” Serves proved crucial, too, in defending champion Davenport’s victory. “I should have been home when the rain came,” admitted Davenport, who had just saved two match points against Pierce and broken to level the third set at 5-5 when rain stopped play for 70 minutes. The 23-year-old world No 2, who claimed her second Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in July, came back and won the last two games, advancing when Pierce coughed up her seventh double-fault on match point. “I think my serve let me down today,” said Pierce, who was referring less to the fateful double than to her overall struggles putting her first serve in play. Pierce broke Davenport in the seventh game of the third set to serve for the set at 5-4. Up 40-30, Pierce was helpless against Davenport’s crosscourt backhand right on the line. She double-faulted to give Davenport a break point, saved it, then nailed a forehand winner to give herself another match point. Her own backhand crosscourt was in the alley by inches. Davenport went on to break and then the misty rain struck. On Sunday, Mary Joe Fernandez suffered a strained thigh muscle when she slipped on a rain-slick court. Pierce also had Fernandez in mind as the sprinkles began in the ninth game. But Pierce said a desire to finish the match off before a possible interruption wasn’t her problem in that game. “I’m human,” she said. “I got a little bit nervous, a little bit tight. Williams’ nerves came early and evaporated as she got Seles on the run in the second set. She took a 4-0 lead, and even though the nine-time Grand Slam singles champion narrowed the gap to 4-3, she couldn’t cope with Williams’ power. “I think probably
Serena raised her level in the third, and I dropped quite
a few levels,” Seles said. |
Paes-Bhupathi duo in final NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) — Top-seeded Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came close to winning the title by entering the final of the US Open tennis, while in the mixed doubles Bhupathi and his Japanese partner also won the semifinal clash. The semifinals of the doubles yesterday saw the Indian duo continuing their march to another Grand Slam title, defeating the Russo-German pair of Andre Olhovskiy and David Prisonil 6-4, 6-3. They now face 11th seeded pair of Sebastien Lareau of Canada and Alex O’Brien of USA in the final Lareau-O’Brien duo defeated seventh seed pair of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Byron Black of Zimbabwe 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to book a place in the finals. Mahesh Bhupathi also continued his advance in the mixed doubles event. Pairing with Al Sugiyama of Japan he beat American duo of Alexandra Stevenson and Brian MacPhie 6-4, 7-5. They will have now have to fight American pair of Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson for the title. Po and Johson beat third seed Australian pair of Rennae Stubbs and Todd Woodbridge 6-4, 6-4 for a place in the finals. The second-seeded Indo-Japanese pair, who teamed up for the first time here, have been having a fantastic outing despite Bhupathi’s busy schedule with men’s doubles event. Bhupathi, Sugiyama
needed just one break to clinch the first set 6-4 and
after both the teams held on their serves till the 10th
game of second set, a charged-up Bhupathi returned some
blistering winners to down Stevenson’s game. |
Aussies 188 all out KANDY (Sri Lanka), Sept 9 (PTI) — Australia suffered a stunning early collapse to be skittled out for 188 in their first innings despite Ricky Ponting’s heroic 96 and Sri Lanka were 69 for two in reply on a dramatic opening day of the first cricket Test today. Left-arm pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa struck telling blows claiming three wickets apiece before off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan took over to send the unofficial world Test champions hurtling to their lowest score against the islanders at the Asgiriya Stadium here. Young Ponting waged a lone battle before he was out the last man after rescuing Australia from a precarious 60 for seven with a fighting 107-run eighth wicket partnership with Jason Gillespie (41). Sri Lanka in reply were 119 runs adrift with eight wickets in hand after skipper Sanath Jayasuriya (18) and talented fellow left-hander Russel Arnold (19) both fell leg before victims on a track expected to fully aid bowlers. The day belonged to the hosts as both left-arm pacemen Vaas and Zoysa kept up a good length and gained enough movement. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (Ist
innings) |
‘One-dayers taking their toll’ SINGAPORE, Sept 9 (PTI) — West Indies manager Clive Lloyd has criticised the large number of one-day games played of late and blamed this for the number of injuries being suffered by Indian cricketers. “You don’t want to have too much one-day cricket. That can take a toll and if you notice, the players with India have a lot of injuries because they play too many one-day matches. There should be a better structured programme where people have more rest, “the former West Indian skipper told PTI during the ongoing Singapore Challenge Triangular Cricket Tournament here. India played as many as 40 one-dayers in 1998 and have already played 28 in 1999 with another 14 scheduled before the year is out which will raise the figure to 42, the most by any team in the world. Lloyd said it was not a problem to handle the situation for his own side as it was only some teams like India which figured in so many one dayers. “You can get away from it, because only certain teams are playing so much one day cricket,” the 55-year-old Guyanese star who led the West Indies in the “70’s and 80’s when they ruled the game, said. Lloyd denied the one day game was overshadowing Test cricket and pointed at the packed crowds in the Caribbeans as well as the global television audience for the West Indies-Australia Test series that ended in a thrilling 2-all draw earlier this year. “It was gripping stuff. It was played competitively. I don’t think Test cricket is dying at all,” the burly lefthander nicknamed “Super Cat” during a career spanning 18 years from 1966-67, said. Asked how his team proposed to pick themselves up after the dismal World Cup performance —West Indies were eliminated in the league stage with batting proving a major letdown — Lloyd said the West Indian board was now giving chance to lot of youngsters in an effort to build a team for the future. Batting has been letting his team down, but he hoped young players like the exciting 23 year-old Jamaican newcomer Ricardo Powell who has shown his big-hitting prowess here making an unbeaten 50 and 46 off 44 balls in two knocks and left-hander Wavell Hinds, who made his debut against India in the league tie here, will make it big. Despite cricket losing out players to soccer and basketball in the Caribbeans during the last few years, Lloyd was confident the programmes of the board would provide a steady stream of talent. In the fast bowling department, Lloyd, an advocate of all out pace attack which made West Indies the best side in the world under his captaincy, said though Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were on the verge of retirement, there were youngsters who can fill gap. “Walsh needs 14 more wickets to achieve the world record — Kapil Dev’s test bowling record of 434 wickets. We want him to achieve that as it will be a fitting end of his career. But thankfully, we have been getting fast bowlers despite competition from other sports,” he said. Lloyd, who hit 19 centuries with an aggregate of 7515 runs for an average of 46.47 and returned a decent average (39.54) from 87 one-day matches, including the match-winning 102 in the 1975 World Cup final, said though he was for pace as a prime weapon, West Indies still had spinners and said that approach would continue. “The idea is to
have an ideal spread. We also have slow bowlers like
Jimmy Adams, Nehemaiah Perry and even Chanderpaul can
bowl spin. We don’t put pressure on fast bowlers all
the time despite the number of one-dayers being
players,” he said. |
Amritinder in lead NEW DELHI, Sept 9 — On another topsy-turvy day of the Color Plus Open, Amritinder Singh of Chandigarh and veteran Basad Ali of Calcutta moved on top of the leaderboard after the third round of the Rs 7.5 lakh tournament, being played at the 6,667-yard, par-70 Madras Gymkhana Course today. Amritinder, winner of last year’s Hero Golf Chandigarh Open, shot the day’s best card of three-under 67, while Basad, winner of two events on the Wills Sport Golf Tour last season, shot a 68. Both aggregated five-under 205. In third place at four-under 206 was the twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher of Delhi, while overnight leader and winner of last week’s Hindu-Cosmo Open, Vijay Kumar slipped to the fourth place with a round of two-over 72. Rookie pro Digvijay Singh and Shiv Prakash were joint fifth at two-under 208. On a day when the winds were wreaking havoc on scorecards, it was a superb bogey-free round by Amritinder that pushed him into the limelight again. The 27-year-old Chandigarh pro played to pars on all holes on the front nine and then made birdies on the 10th, 12th and 16th holes to finish the day at three-under 67. Old warhorse Basad Ali, winner of 58 title since 1984-85, made a bogey on the 3rd hole, but back-to-back birdies on the 7th and 8th saw him finish the outward journey in one-under. He reeled off successive birdies on the 12th and 13th during the back nine, but a bogey on the 16th saw him finishing two-under 68. Scores (after 54 holes):
205 Amritinder Singh (67,71,67), Basad Ali (70,67,68);
206 Ali Sher (70,66,70); 207 Vijay Kumar (68,67,72); 208
Digvijay Singh (70,69,69), Shiv Prakash (70,67,71); 210
Feroz Ali (68,68,74); 211 Rohtas Singh (68,71,72); 212
Crispin Manson (72,71,69), Mukesh Kumar (71,72,69),
Manohar Dike (70k72,70), Rafiq Ali (70,72,70), Gursimran
Singh Sethi (67,70,75); Amateurs: 220 B Gurunath
(69,73,78); 233 S Radhakrishnan (74,78,81). |
Women lifters lift title NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (PTI) — India won the junior women’s team title in the recent Asian Weightlifting Championships in Wu Han, China, edging past the hosts by 13 points. The senior women, however, had to settle for third place in team positions behind China and Chinese Taipei. The five-member junior team of Sandhya Rani, Jyothi Lakshmi, Khoni Devi, Romi Devi and Geeta bagged 427 points to the hosts’ 414. Taiwan settled for third place with 374 points, according to information received from former weightlifting official P.K. Mahanand. CRPF’s Romi Devi put up a splendid show winning three gold medals in 75 kg while her teammates Sandhya Rani (Manipur - 48 kg, 3 bronze), Jyothi Lakshmi (AP - 53kg, 2 silver, 1 bronze), Khoni Devi (Manipur - 63, 3 bronze) and Geeta (75, fourth place) also contributed their lot. The five-member senior team of Sanamacha Chanu, Krishna Kumari, Nansita Devi, Ujjwala Mane and Bharti Singh — also performed well earning 342 points against China (568) and Taiwan (378). The standard was high in seniors, which was evident from a number of world records being bettered. Li Zhou of China, in 48 kg class, set three world records in snatch, jerk and total outlifting Sanamacha by 20 kgs. Despite the absence of
veterans Kunjarani Devi, world champion Karnam Malleswari
and Neelam Lakshmi, it was a good show. |
Volte face sees Nehra oust Manhas NEW DELHI, Sept 9 (PTI) — In a volte face, national cricket selectors included Delhi left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra for the India ‘A’ series against Australia ‘A’ at the USA later this month by dropping young all-rounder Mithun Manhas just two days after he was picked for the tour. The cricket board (BCCI) Secretary Jaywant Lele had on September 5 named Manhas, middle-order bat and off-spinner, in the ‘A’ team as replacement for another Delhi seamer Amit Bhandari, who was drafted into the national side for the three-match series against the West Indies in Toronto. Nehra, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in the Asian Test Championship earlier this year, was included this morning after it dawned on the selectors that the ‘A’ team was short on bowlers. Nehra’s inclusion came after coach K. Srikkanth and manager K.B. Pawar pointed out to Lele last night that the team had only one medium pacer, Karnataka speedster Dodda Ganesh. But apparently both Lele and selection committee chairman Ajit Wadekar were not aware that Manhas was a batsman and not a medium pacer when they named him in Singapore. Manhas had, in fact, joined the team at their four-day conditioning camp here and even moved into the team hotel, but had to leave after Srikkanth informed him this morning. The selectors had named Manhas and Madhya Pradesh opener J.P. Yadav for the five-match one-day series after Bhandari and Baroda left-hander Jacob Martin were drafted in for Sachin Tendulkar and the injured Ajay Jadeja in the squad for Toronto. Srikant refused to comment on the controversy and said he has been given a team and would like to do his best. “This is a very
good opportunity for the young players. The Australian
side is very good and with the series coming at the start
of the season, some of the players have good chance of
making it to the senior team if they perform well. |
Soccer camp at NIS PATIALA, Sept 9 — The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) after a gap of more than two decades has allotted national football camp to the National Institute of Sports (NIS) during which the Indian football squad scheduled to play in the SAF Games to be held at Kathmandu from September 26 to October 4 will be selected. Earlier the national camps for Indian squads slated to participate in international meets were either used to be held at Salt Lake Stadium, Calcutta, or at the SAI southern centre, Bangalore. However, this time senior SAI sports medicine experts seem to have been instrumental in NIS being chosen as venue for the camp. The experts feel that the hot and humid conditions prevailing at this time of the year in Patiala as compared to those in Bangalore or Calcutta will be more helpful in recovery from injuries or torn ligaments which the players are likely to suffer during the camp. The AIFF has selected 33 probables for the camp out of which three — B.Venkatesh (Goa) and Amit Dass and Rennedy Singh (both of Bengal) — may not report due to injury. On the first day ten players reported, while on the second day 11 more arrived at the camp. The rest among them being Virender Singh, Mahmmad Najeeb, Prasanta Dora, Falgani Dutta, Ranjan Dey, Basudeb Mondal, Dibendu Dass and mercurial striker Raman Vijayan are expected to report by today evening. The name of Baichung Bhutia figured in the initial list of probables, but it is learnt that he will not turn out for the country, at least for the SAF Games due to his prior engagements with English second division league club. Chief coach Sukhwinder Singh, when contacted, said that he had no information about the whereabouts of Bhutia. Sukhwinder Singh was also non-commital regarding the name of the skipper of the team, although indications are that it will be star striker I.M. Vijayan. The list of probables:
Robert Fernandez, Jules Robert, Roquee Bretto, Brunho
Countinho, Alvito D’ Cunha, Dhanesh K.V., Mahesh
Gawli, Neol Wilson, I.M. Vijayan. Joe Paul Ancheri,
Prabhjot Singh, Deepak Mondal, Daljit Singh, Hardip
Sangha, Surjit Singh, Kalyan Chobey, Sabir Pasha,
R.Mustafa, Murali, A .Vinod , R.C. Pukoh, Virender Singh,
Mohammad Najeeb, Prasanta Dora, Falgani Dutta, Ranjan
Dey, Basudeb Mondal, Dibendu Biswas and Raman Vijayan. |
Notices to Prasar Bharati, BCCI on telecast deal JAIPUR, Sept 9 (PTI) — The Rajasthan High Court today sought replies from Prasar Bharati and the cricket board (BCCI) on a petition challenging the recent granting of cricket telecast rights to Doordarshan. A division Bench comprising Justice P.P. Naolkar and Justice P.R. Tiwari while issuing notices to Prasar Bharati and the board granted them 10 days to submit replies to the petition filed by state Ranji cricketer Anil Sinha. Sinha in his petition filed through advocate Kamlakar Sharma contended that the BCCI had not acted fairly in awarding the five-year telecast contract to Prasar Bharti without inviting any tender. Kamlakar during arguments said the board would get a revenue of Rs 225 crore as per the contract and claimed it could have been as high as Rs 500 crore, had it (the board) gone for open bidding. He alleged that there was something “shady” in the deal especially when the elections of the board office-bearers were scheduled for September 21 and 22. Prasar Bharti was awarded the telecast rights for five years by the BCCI on August 20, ahead of competitors like Sony TV, Zee and ESPN-Star Sports. The decision to award
the terrestrial and satellite TV rights to Prasar Bharti
was taken by the board at its executive committee meeting
held in Mumbai. |
Gloom for England; Poland afloat HAMBURG, Sept 9 (DPA) — Victories by Norway, Sweden and Spain yesterday earned them places at next year’s football European Championships, while title-holders Germany looked well positioned after a four goal gala — but it was gloom for England who were unable to win in Poland. Meanwhile Italy, who were expected to confirm their place in the Euro 2000 finals in Belgium and Holland, slipped to a surprise 2-3 defeat at home to Denmark, leaving them with a job to do in Belarus. In the big night of European Championship qualification matches, Norway thrashed Slovenia 4-0 in Oslo to put them five points clear of Slovenia in group 2 with one match to play. Sweden also booked their ticket with a narrow 1-0 win away to Luxembourg to go six points clear at the top of group 5. Spain routed Cyprus 8-0 to go five points clear at the top of group 6. There were hat-tricks apiece for Urzait Aranda and Guerrero. It was a disappointing night for England who were unable to overcome Poland in a goal-less draw in their group 5 game in Warsaw. The result means Poland need only to draw their last match in Sweden on October 9 to go into the play-offs at the expense of England. Apart from the two host nations, who are automatic qualifiers, the Czech Republic, runaway group 9 leaders, had already made sure of qualification before Wednesday’s matches. In Teplice, they made it nine wins out of nine with a 3-0 defeat of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was a result that boosted Scotland despite the Scots scraping only a 0-0 draw in Estonia. In second place, they look best bets in the group to go into the play-offs. World champions France kept their hopes of qualifying with a 3-2 win in Armenia. But group 4 rivals Russia were also in the points thanks to a 2-1 victory at Andorra, while Ukraine defeated Iceland 1-0 in Reykjavik to stay top of the tight group. In group 3, European champions Germany did themselves a big favour by thrashing harmless Northern Ireland 4-0 in Dortmund, with Christian Ziege scoring a first-half hat-trick after Oliver Bierhoff had struck in the third minute. Four first-half goals put Yugoslavia on course for a 4-2 victory over Macedonia in Skopje to go top of group 8. Ireland moved to second spot in the group on 15 points thanks to a 3-2 win against Malta in Valletta. The Irish’s last match is in Macedonia. Italy’s defeat in
Naples to the Danes was their first in group 1. The
Italians were two goals up through Fuser in the ninth
minute and Vieri in the 35th before Joergensen (39),
Schjoenberg (58) and Dahl Tomasson (63) struck. |
Dilpreet, Iqbal set up title
clash SANGRUR, Sept 9 — Dilpreet Singh will face giant-killer Iqbal Singh in the boys singles final in the Punjab Junior Badminton Championship here. In the girls section Nazma Parveen and Sumit Kalra will clash for top honours. In one of the best match of the tournament, Iqbal Singh upset second-seeded Harinder Singh of Patiala 7-15, 15-12, 17-14 to reach the finals. Iqbal lost the first game rather tamely but fought back in the second to level it 1-1. The deciding game was a chiff-hanger. Both the players fought for every point. Iqbal was leading but Harinder levelled it at 14-all. Iqbal took the last three points in a row from a tired Harinder to clinch the game. In the second semifinal top seed Dilpreet Singh faced little resistance from his team-mate Ranbir Singh, Dilpreet won 15-9, 15-9. Both the semifinals in the girls section were one-sided. Top seed Nazma Parveen trounced Vindu 15-5, 15-0, while second seed Sumit Kalra faced no resistance from Shehnaz in the second semifinal. Sumit won 11-2, 11-2. Results: U-19 Semifinals boys singles: Delpreet Singh (Ldh) b Ranbir Singh (Ldh) 15-9, 15-8; Iqbal Singh (Ldh) b Harinder Singh (Ptl) 7-15, 15-12, 17-14 Girls singles: Nazma Parveen (Ldh) b Vindu Vatrana (Ptl) 11-5, 11-0; Sumit Kalra (Jld) b Sehnaz (Sgr) 11-2, 11-2. Boys doubles: Touseef & Harinder (Sgr/Ptl) b Jatinder & Ranbir (Ldh) 15-10, 15-10; Dilpreet & Iqbal (Ldh) b Varun & Varun (Asr) 15-6, 16-17, 15-6. Girls doubles: Nazma
& Sandhya (Ldh/Jld) b Jaspreet & Amrit (Ptl)
15-2, 15-5; Sumit & Vindu (Jld) b Shehnaz & Punit
(Sgr/Ptl) 15-7, 15-4. |
McEnroe named US Davis Cup captain NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) — John McEnroe, the one-time bad boy of the tennis scene, attained one of his most cherished goals yesterday when he was named captain of the US Davis Cup team. McEnroe replaced Tom Gullikson to become the 37th US captain since the competition began in 1900. “No one is more passionate about Davis Cup or about tennis,” said United States Tennis Association president Judy Levering in making the announcement at the US Open. McEnroe (40), compiled a 59-10 record as a Davis Cup player, including a 41-8 record in singles, and holds six US Davis Cup records. “This is one of the proudest moments in my life,” said McEnroe, who this summer was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame. “I especially want to thank this wonderful person, Judy Levering, for showing some guts. I appreciate that.” The fiery McEnroe, known
during his brilliant playing career for his explosive
temper, impatience with referees and stinging language,
has often stated his desire to lead the US Davis Cup
team, which has suffered in recent years from a lack of
commitment from some of the top American players. |
Aparna Popat crashes out BANGALORE, Sept 9 (PTI) — Top-seed Aparna Popat of India crashed out of the 1999 OCBC/Yonex US Open Badminton Championship, losing to China’s Huimin Wu 8-11, 9-11 in the first round. Popat, who was a little sluggish throughout the match, was leading 8-2 in the second game before the Chinese player restored parity and wrapped up the game, reports received at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) said here today. India’s Nikhil Kane reached the quarterfinals in the men’s singles, beating Steve Isaac of England in the first round 15-1 15-7 and Canada’s Mike Bercs, who is the world number 75, 15-6 15-13 in the prequarters. He meets England’s Michael Edge in the quarterfinals, according to the release. Meanwhile, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Sachin Ratti in men’s singles and Manjusha Kanwar and B R Meenakshi in the women’s, reached the semi-finals of the New Zealand International now on in Wellington. Gupta, seeded number
eight, upset fourth-seeded Stuart Brehaut of Australia
15-4 15-7, while Ratti defeated Germany’s Conrad
Hueckstaedt, seeded six, 12-15 15-10 15-10. |
Reddy re-elected CGA chief CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 — Mr Desh Prem Azad and the Chandigarh SSP Mr CSR Reddy, have been re-elected president and general secretary, respectively, of the Chandigarh Golf Association (CGA). A decision to this effect was taken at the annual general body meeting of the CGA here. The association has decided to organise the second state sub junior, junior and senior state golf championship for Strohs Cup from September 17 to 18 here, announced Mr Reddy. The championship is open for residents of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Entries close on
14.9.1999. The entry forms are available at the reception
of Chandigarh Golf Club. Handicap nine and below will be
eligible for senior category participation. |
H
Munish, Anil win in snooker CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 (BOSR) — Munish Srivastava and Anil Sharma had comfortable wins over their opponents Amar Banipal and Sunny Bhalla, respectively, in the open snooker semifinals in the YMCA Open Billiards and Snooker Championship here at the YMCA Hall, Sector 11, here today. Munish won his match in three straight frames 47-20, 50-24, 60-12 and did not allow his rival Banipal to gather momentum. The margin of victory could have been greater if Munish had not missed the big breaks. In the second match, Anil displayed better cue control, keeping Sunny Bhalla at bay. Anil won the first two frames easily at 60-14, 72-30, hitting mini-breaks of 17, 22 and 23 points. Sunny tried his best to come back and ultimately lost the frame on the last black ball at 44-53. In the handicap billiards match, Amar Banipal beat Rajeev Bhardwaj 259-230 and Anil Sharma edged out B. Khurana 316-276. Deepak Goel, however, kept his medal chase alive by downing Kakar 455-263. Patiala TT PATIALA, Sept 9 (FOSR) — The Patiala District Table Tennis Championships will be conducted by the Patiala District Table Tennis Association (PDTTA) from September 11 to 13 at the DCW sports complex, according to Press release issued by the association. The Patiala district table tennis team, which will take part in the Punjab State Table Tennis Championships, will be selected on the basis of this championship. Entries close with V.K. Gulati, SAI coach, on September 10. Vintage, classic car rally CHANDIGARH, Sept 9 (TNS) — A vintage and classic car rally will be held in Chandigarh in the last week of October. Giving this information to The Tribune, Mr B.S. Manco, General Secretary of the Vintage and Classic Car Club of Chandigarh, said car rallyists who own vintage cars (manufactured before 1939) or classic cars (after 1942) can take part in the rally. However if you have any other car you feel proud to show, you can participate said the press note. This will be the second
rally of its kind. The first was organised by the
Chandigarh U.T. Police during their traffic week in 1992.
More details may be had from the club president, Brig
J.S. Phoolka (741455) or the Club Secretary, Mr B.S.
Manco (746996). |
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