S P O R T

India in must-win situation
HOBART, Jan 20 — Tottering on the brink of an early exit following three straight defeats, India face a must-win situation when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a crucial one-day triangular cricket series tie here tomorrow.

MELBOURNE : Francesco Clavet of Spain celebrates winning his centre court match against Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia at the Australian Open Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday. — AP/PTI

Easy wins for Kafelnikov, Hewitt MELBOURNE, Jan 20 — A lone Moroccan flag flew proudly over Melbourne Park today after Younes El Aynaoui upset German power-hitter Tommy Haas in the second round of the Australian Open. Jaswinder fashions JCT win LUDHIANA, Jan 20 — Winners of the inaugural edition JCT Phagwara registered a morale-boosting solitary goal win over debutants Border Security Force, Jalandhar in the fourth National Football League at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

Indian colts storm into semis
COLOMBO, Jan 20 — India crushed defending champions England by nine wickets to storm into the semifinals of youth (under-19) cricket World Cup here today with their second straight super league victory.

India in must-win situation

HOBART, Jan 20 (PTI) — Tottering on the brink of an early exit following three straight defeats, India face a must-win situation when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a crucial one-day triangular cricket series tie here tomorrow.

India, with three players nursing injuries and their morale at its lowest ebb as the disastrous tour Down Under shows no signs of a turnaround, will have to win the day tie at the Bellerive Oval if they are to keep themselves in the race for a place in the best-of-three final.

India, yet to play five league ties, can make the final against Australia if they win all games from now on while Pakistan are better off having won two out of four.

With batting in a shambles and skipper Sachin Tendulkar yet to resolve his dilemma whether to open the innings or come at number four, injuries to paceman Ajit Agarkar and seasoned all-rounder Robin Singh have added to the Indian worries.

Agarkar, who suffered a hamstring strain on January 12 against Australia at Melbourne, is out for tomorrow and ignored seamer Debasish Mohanty might finally be included.

Mohanty’s exclusion proved costly on a lively wicket at the SCG where India lost by five wickets after they were skittled out for 100 runs, but only after their two-man pace attack had reduced the hosts to 59 for 5. The placid Oval pitch, however, is not expected to provide pace bowlers much assistance.

Robin Singh, who has remained a picture of consistency, needed two stitches after a rising ball from Australian paceman Brett Lee struck his left hand, but team management is confident he will play tomorrow.

India, looking for their first meaningful victory on the tour, will have to come up with a positive approach if they are to reverse the slump. Pakistan also were swept 0-3 in the Test series by the kangaroos, but have put up a spirited show to win two matches so far in the tri-series .

Skipper Tendulkar, who made only one run after reverting to his role as opener at Sydney, will have to weigh in with a big knock and Saurav Ganguly alongwith the woefully out of touch Rahul Dravid will have to click if India are to come up with a big score or chase effectively.

With VVS Laxman, drafted into the one-day side after his splendid 167 in the third Test at Sydney, proving a big failure and leg spinner Anil Kumble no where near his usual match-winning form, India will be the side under pressure.

Pakistan have also been struggling due to the poor run of their main batsmen, but their pace attack led by skipper Wasim Akram and the controversial Shoaib Akhtar has done fairly well and the team showed a refreshing approach by going after the Australian attack at Sydney yesterday before leg spinner Stuart MacGill did the star turn for the hosts.

India squandered all advantage in their opening clash to allow Pakistan to come back from nowhere to pull off a last ball win and will have to guard against any such let-off if they are to remain in the race.

Middle-order bat Jacob Martin has recovered from his shoulder injury suffered while fielding in India’s 28-run loss to Australia at the MCG on January 12. But the team management will decide whether to include off spinner Nikhil Chopra instead of a specialist batsman.

Easy wins for Kafelnikov, Hewitt

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) — A lone Moroccan flag flew proudly over Melbourne Park today after Younes El Aynaoui upset German power-hitter Tommy Haas in the second round of the Australian Open.

Haas, seeded 10th after reaching the semifinals in Melbourne last year, was expected to make good progress again this year but was shocked 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 by the little-known Moroccan.

Nicolas Lapentti later became the ninth seeded male to head for the exit in the first four days of the season-opening Grand Slam tournament when he withdrew ill from his match against Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

US Open champion Serena Williams, however, showed few signs of the back strain which troubled her in the opening round when she disposed of Australian Nicole Pratt 7-5, 6-1.

The women’s draw lost eighth seed Amanda Coetzer, but it was 28-year-old El Aynaoui’s triumph over one of the game’s bright young stars which captured the imagination.

El Aynaoui, sponsorless on a tennis tour awash with branding, blasted the normally powerful Haas off the court to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time.

“Maybe sometimes they have an easy life and I went through the tough way,’’ El Aynaoui said of his young opponents. “That gives me much more character and much more motivation.’’

El Aynaoui said he had never had a coach as a child and that he had dreamed of playing professional tennis, even though his parents had tried to talk him out of it.

“In Morocco nobody has played professional tennis before I did, so it was a little bit strange,’’ said El Aynaoui, who ended 1999 ranked a career-high 34th in the world.

“They were not very happy about that but now they understand that’s what I want to do.’’

The free-hitting Moroccan consistently out-served world No 11 Haas and refused to play conservatively even when he served for the match in the ninth game of the third set.

Haas racked up three break-points before El Aynaoui fought back to deuce and then took the match as he rushed the net on his first match-point.

He then turned and waved excitedly to a small band of supporters in the grandstand, where a lone Moroccan flag was waved proudly in salute.

Lapentti, from Ecuador, joined the exodus of seeds when he retired ill with Clement leading their match on show court No 3 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 4-1.

Defending champion and second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov in contrast crushed former doubles partner Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in a clinical display.

Kafelnikov only played one seed on the way to last year’s title and the loss of Haas and Lapentti now means he can reach the semifinals without facing another seed.

Coetzer was the only seeded casualty in women’s second round matches on Thursday, the diminutive South African trounced 6-1, 6-3 by American Kristina Brandi.

Baseliner Coetzer, a semifinalist in 1996 and 1997, self-destructed with 51 unforced errors and six double faults.

Williams has never made it past the third round in her two previous appearances at Melbourne Park but the muscular teenager showed she is steadily reaching her best after a long lay-off.

“If I want to stay the whole fortnight I definitely have to improve...Get my timing back and I know I can,’’ Williams said.

Sixth seed Barbara Schett of Austria downed Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4, while 13th seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat US player Lisa Raymond 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to move towards a fourth round meeting with Schett.

DPA adds: Martina Hingis rolled over Belgian challenger Justine Henin in rapid-fire order, winning 6-3, 6-3 to take her accustomed place in the third round of the $ 7.65 million Australian Open.

Hingis, the Swiss world No 1, is bidding for a fourth straight title at the Down Under Grand Slam. She has now won 23 straight matches at the event.

She was untroubled in her first career meeting with the up-and-coming Belgian, who earned a title in her tour debut event last year in Antwerp.

Henin, ranked 63rd, could not match the power of the Hingis game. An early break to start the second set was enough to put the top seed into permanent command.

Red-hot Australian Lleyton Hewitt continued his unbeaten run for the year, winning the first 16 games before outclassed Alex Corretja even got on the scoreboard.

The Adelaide teenager carved up the European 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 for his 12th victory this season without a defeat.

Hewitt leads the season points race on the ATP tour after back-to-back tournament titles at Adelaide and Sydney coming into the Grand Slam.

The Australian produced just 10 unforced errors to 44 for Corretja. Hewitt had 23 winners.

Jaswinder fashions JCT win
From Amardeep Bhattal
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, Jan 20 — Winners of the inaugural edition JCT Phagwara registered a morale-boosting solitary goal win over debutants Border Security Force, Jalandhar in the fourth National Football League at Guru Nanak Stadium here today. With today’s victory, JCT’s tally has gone up to 13 points from three wins and four draws while BSF’s tally remains unchanged at four points. Both teams have played nine matches in the first phase of the league so far.

Today’s encounter was more or less a scrappy affair with the two teams employing tough tactics. However, JCT maintained an edge over their rivals throughout, displaying superior ball control. BSF, on the other hand, adopted a defensive approach while carrying out occasional raids which, with a little more luck, could have fetched them at least one point. JCT, whose last victory was against Tollygunge at Calcutta 18 days ago, were in an attacking mood from the kick-off but the first serious attempt came in the 15th minute when medio Jaswant Singh unleashed a powerful long ranger from the left but the ball struck the horizontal and bounced back into play.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, JCT eventually took the lead in the 24th minute. Following a throw-in by wing back Daljit Singh, the promising Jaswinder, who displayed sharp reflexes, headed the ball into the net with the entire BSF defence caught off-guard. BSF, who initially started with Kameshwar Singh under the bar, later brought in regular goalkeeper Bibhas Saha to prevent further damage.

Thereafter, the mill men got a couple of more chances to consolidate the lead. First striker Hardip Gill, on receiving a pass on the left, turned around to shoot but he only managed to balloon the ball high over the bar. Later a piledriver by medio Hardip Sangha into the box saw Jaswinder making a valiant attempt but he failed to tap the ball home.

BSF who were mostly at the receiving end in the first half, had a good chance midway but striker DS Negi’s header following a cross from the right was off the mark.

In the second half BSF came back more forcefully and made a couple of good attempts. A flag kick taken by midfielder Sane Lama saw defender Pradip Gorai attempting a volley but the ball went over the goal-line. Later, the hard-working Gurjit Atwal, who scored the match winner against Dempo here on December 16, despatched a high lob towards the far corner of the goal-post but unluckily the ball struck the horizontal and went out of play.

Earlier, JCT’s medio Harinder initiated a move after snatching the ball from BSF defender Raghbir Singh and put striker Hardip Gill in possession but Jaswinder’s subsequent grounder missed the target by inches.

Midway through the second half, Hardip Gill’s powerful shot taken from a difficult angle brought out the best in BSF custodian Bibhas Saha who dived sideways to punch the ball away. Jaswinder’s subsequent attempt also proved futile.

Towards the end, BSF coach Shyam Kumar brought in Jasvir Singh who tried to make the attacks thrustful. In the 84th minute Jasvir back-heeled to Atwal inside the box but Atwal only managed to shoot straight at the goalkeeper.

The rough tactics adopted by the two sides forced the referee to show the yellow card to defender Satinder Singh of BSF and Hardip Sangha of JCT. In the dying minutes, wing back Daljit Singh of JCT had to be carried away on a stretcher after he sustained a nasty cut below the eye in a collision with a rival near the box. BSF will now travel to Thiruvananthapuram for their away match against State Bank of Travancore on January 23 while JCT will meet ITI in their away match at Bangalore two days later.

Indian colts storm into semis

COLOMBO, Jan 20 (PTI) — India crushed defending champions England by nine wickets to storm into the semifinals of youth (under-19) cricket World Cup here today with their second straight super league victory.

Openers Ravneet Rickey (68) and Manish Sharma (86 n.o.) cracked superb half centuries in an opening stand of 134 as India, after restricting England to 182 for 9 in 50 overs raced to 183 for one in just 42.3 overs.

Australia displayed their frailties against spin when they succumbed to a four-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Put in to bat, Australia were bundled out for a paltry 112 inside 48 overs, with right-arm leg-spinner Danish Kenaria taking five wickets for 17 runs off 10 overs.

Pakistan lost six wickets for 68, before their seventh-wicket pair Humayun Farhat and Yasir Arafat pulled them through by adding 45 runs off 41 deliveries.

Sri Lanka made short work of Nepal at the Moratuwa De Soysa stadium winning by nine wickets after dismissing their opponents for 89. Ian Daniel, their prolific opening batsman, was again left unbeaten on 44 taking his aggregate in the tournament to 228 runs for once out in five innings.

England: J Maunders st Ratra b Kaif 32,M. Wallace run out 2, I. Bell st Ratra b Sodhi 11, M. Carderr st Ratra b Dave 36, C. Prati c Sodhi b Shrivastav 56, T. Phillips st Ratra b A Dave 2, A. Loudon run out 3, D. Harrison b M. Tripathi 12, G. Bridge run out 15, N. Warren not out 0,

Extras (lb-4, w-9) 13.

Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 182.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-36, 3-74, 4-128, 5-136, 6-145, 7-167, 8-169, 9-182.

Bowling: Shrivastav 9-0-30-1, M. Tripathi 9-1-22-1, Dave 8-1-33-2, Sodhi 5-1-16-1, M. Kaif 10-0-38-1, V. Rao 7-0-26-0, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-13-0.

India: R. Ricky b T Murtagh 68, Manish Sharma not out 86, Mohd Kaif not out 24,

Extras (nb-1, w-4) 5

Total (for 1 wkt, 42.3 overs) 183.

Fall of wicket: 1/134.

Bowling: Harrison 8-0-35-0, Murtagh 9-1-33-1, Warren 6.3-0-37-0, Bridge 7-1-25-0, Phillips 7-1-28-0, Maunders 2-0-10-0, Loudon 3-0-15-0.

Kasparov survives scare

WIJK ANN ZEE (Holland), Jan 20 (PTI) — India’s Viswanathan Anand failed to capitalise on the advantage of playing with white and was held to a draw by Russian Vladimir Kramnik even as world No 1 Gary Kasparov survived a scare in the fourth round of the Corus Super Grandmasters Chess Tournament.

The Indian world No 2, however, maintained his joint second position on 2.5 points along with Alexander Morozevich of Russia and Hungarian Peter Leko, who defeated Sambat Lputian here last evening.

The three overnight leaders — Kasparov, Kramnik and Dutchman Jeroen Piket — also continue to share the lead with three points each as the day featured only two decisive games out of a possible seven.

The Anand-Kramnik game looked destined for a draw after the Indian opened with his favourite king pawn and Kramnik refuted with a classical Sicilian.

The players followed the routine opening moves of the Richer-Rauzer attack but Anand was forced to think for a long time on the 19th move after Kramnik delayed castling. The Indian also missed a promising continuation which would have helped him in the ensuing endgame.

Kramnik took advantage of the chances and castled on the queenside whereon his position became safe. Anand played an enterprising move and entered an endgame which was more dangerous than he thought but less promising than Kramnik figured. The peace treaty was signed on the 40th move.

Top seed Kasparov was lucky to salvage half point against England’s Michael Adams (1.5) with black pieces.

After an unusual move order in Sicilian defence, a position akin to the Maroczy bind, appeared on the board black had sufficient chances to equalise. However, Kasparov decided to complicate the matters with a dubious pawn sacrifice on his 19th move.

Adams gained a huge advantage with well crafted piece manoeuvres and looked on course to cause a major upset after the first time control. Resourceful as he is, Kasparov put up a stiff resistance before his opponent fumbled in the second time control to steer the game into a draw after 61 moves.

Leko survived some anxious moments before scoring his first win of the tournament against Lputian.

Indian challenge fizzles out

BANGALORE, Jan 20 (PTI) — The Indian challenge in the ITF Futures Tennis Tournament ended here today with Nitin Kirtane’s hopes of entering the semifinals being dashed by Russian Denis Golovanov.

Golovanov’s serve and volley game helped him overwhelm Kirtane 6-1 6-2 in just 52 minutes.

The Russian was too good for Kirtane, who made a lot of unforced errors to help Golovanov race to a 5-0 lead. After Kirtane won the sixth game, it was a mere formality for Golovanov to wrap up the first set.

The second went the same way, with the Russian, who sent down seven aces, maintaining the tempo to take a 4-0 lead. Kirtane made it 1-4, and though the set witnessed lot of deuces and Kirtane held the advantage on occasions, he failed to capitalise on them. He lost the set 2-6.

The match between seventh-seeded Cezch Zitko Radiu and Slovak Victor Bruthans generated interest as it went to the decider.

Radiu easily won the first set 6-2, but was a bundle of nerves in the second, which he lost 1-6. The third witnessed excellent tennis as Viktor, who was so far unable to come to grips with his baseline game, found his rhythm.

Mixing his backhand and forehand shots to good effect, he won six games in a row to go from 1-5 to 7-5. It was sweet revenge for Viktor, who was beaten by Radiu in a tournament in Latavia last year.

In the match between Andy Ram (Isr) and Borgula Boris (Svk), the latter progressed to the last four with a hard-fought 7-5 6-4 victory.

Ram matched Borgula’s powerpacked serves with his slice shots as the players fought for each point till the Slovak won the first set 7-5.

Ram looked tired in the second set which saw some good cross-court volleys by both players. Ram himself clapped in appreciation as his opponent moved superbly around the court scoring winners to settle rallies.

Srinivasa, Sanjit post fluent wins

TAEJEON CITY (South Korea), Jan 20 (PTI) — Flyweight Srinivasa Rao and Lightwelter Sanjit Singh entered the last eight stage but lightweight Narender Rana was ousted in the 5th Seoul Cup international and second Olympic qualifying boxing tournament for Asia here today.

On a mixed day for India which saw two out of three seen in the action post fluent victories to join four others in the quarterfinal, Srinivasa Rao defeated his Iranian rival Morteza 10:4 on points after forcing stoppage of the bout owing to a bleeding nose suffered by his opponent.

Narender Rana, the Services pugilist who was edged out by individual referee’s points in the first qualifying meet in Tashkent last October, left his best for too late to be edged out 6-10 on points by Mohammad Asher of Iran.

But Sanjit Kumar proved too good against his Indonesian rival Binalay to secure a convincing 9-4 points verdict.

All Indian boxers will be seen in action tomorrow in the last eight stage which commences tomorrow.

Srinivasa Rao, the Railway boxer hailing from Andhra Pradesh, made light of his rival’s height advantage as he breached Morteza’s defences from the word go with short punches to his body and face to go ahead 3-0.

The lanky Iranian came back strongly in the second round and unleashed a barrage of straight and cross punches on Rao, but the early lead paid off as the Indian, who led 6-3 after the second round, weaved in and out and landed a flurry of devastating punches.

Srinivasa Rao gained a unanimous decision leading 10-4 after the fourth round as the bout was stopped owing to a bleeding nose suffered by his Iranaian rival.

Lightwelter Sanjit Singh also put up an impressive show to prevail 9-4 over Binalay. The Indonesian opened a 2-0 lead in the first round, but the Indian Southpaw showed his determination and sheer power to gain a vital 5-2 lead in the third round before stretch it in the last two rounds.

Sanjit, the Manipur boxer from Assam Rifles, who lost to Bhushan Saini in the national championship but was brought in for this meet after the latter failed to impress in Tashkent.

A relative newcomer with only the SAF Games gold medal against his name, Sanjit Singh took a while to settle down, but used his muscle power to telling effect.

Binalay was warned in the third round for holding as the Indonesian tried to avoid the Indian’s power-packed punches. Fully dominating his rival, Sanjit delivered a couple of round houses and left-right combinations in the last two rounds.

However, the Indian camp was disappointed as promising Narender Rana went down 6-10 to Mohammad Asher. The Iranian built up a first round lead of 4-1 and though Rana bridged the gap somewhat in the later rounds, Asher’s lightning speed and quick counter punches saw him win by a clear margin.

Yesterday India’s brightest prospect and Asian Games gold medallist Ng Dingko Singh crashed out in the first round of the bantamweight competition while featherweight Ramanand made a good start to enter the second round.

Comments lead Tyson into more trouble

LONDON, Jan 20 (AP) — Former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has ran into more trouble with women’s rights groups when he reportedly called them “frustrated women who want to be men.” He also faces a fine for jogging in Hyde Park at 3 am.

Tyson’s reported comments about women’s rights groups came when a TV documentary team asked him about the campaign brought against him by ‘Justice For Women’, which wants the American barred from Britain because of his 1992 rape conviction.

“They are just a bunch of frustrated women who want to be men,” Tyson was reported as saying. He also made a crude comment about the women’s husbands.

Tyson, who fights Britain’s Julius Francis on January 29 in Manchester, also used a derogatory term for gays to describe those people in general who criticise him.

The comments brought a strong response yesterday from his critics, who are angry at the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, for allowing the fighter into Britain despite a rape conviction. He served three years of a six-year sentence on charges of raping a teenage beauty contestant.

Julie Bindel, of ‘Justice For Women’, described Tyson as “the scum of the earth.”

“This man (has) absolutely no respect for women,” she said. “He is a misogynist of the worst kind. We would have slightly more sympathy for him if he had ever apologised to his victim or donated any of his millions to rape charities.”

Jackie Ballard, a Member of Parliament, said Tyson’s reported comments proved that Mr Straw’s decision was wrong.

“Tyson is an odious man who does not know how to relate to men or women without thumping them,” she said.

While the critics continued to vent their anger, Tyson ran into trouble with the law over his early morning jogging.

For three days in a row, Tyson has gone running in Hyde Park at around 3 am to avoid the crowds of fans and media continually following him during the daytime.

Tyson is breaking the 1997 Royal Parks and Open Spaces Regulations. Entering the parks after midnight is a criminal offence carrying a fine of £ 200.

Sky Television reported that a policeman saw Tyson and his entourage in the park but chose not to arrest him. However, he will be served with a fine, the report said.

Tyson was also at the centre of controversy over his plans to visit London’s ethnically-mixed district of Brixton tomorrow. Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali toured the area last year and received a hero’s welcome.

“Muhammad Ali was welcomed here as an inspiration and role model to us all,” said Jim Dickson, leader of Lambeth Council, which covers Brixton. “Tyson is a pariah and definitely is not welcome here. He has been allowed into the country to train, fight and then leave as soon as possible. He has got no business here in Brixton.”

Gavaskar questions Centurion result

HOBART, Jan 20 (PTI) — The contrived result in the fifth and final Test between England and South Africa at Centurion Park on Tuesday would have evoked a totally different reaction had it been done by a team like Pakistan, according to Sunil Gavaskar.

The batting legend said declarations were designed to achieve a result, but expressed strong misgivings about the match won by England with five balls to spare after both teams agreed to forfeit an innings each as rain had washed out three days of play.

“If it had been Pakistan doing this, wouldn’t they have been accused of fixing the match?” Gavaskar said.

“Integrity seems to be the copyright of certain developed countries and it would appear some of the developing countries aren’t considered to have that integrity. That I’m not prepared to buy.”

Gavaskar felt the innings forfeits were in effect declarations made to achieve a result. “Whether these declarations come at 600-6 or 0-0, the purpose was to decide the match,” he said. But former Australian skipper Mark Taylor described the move by South African skipper Hansie Cronje and his England counterpart Nasser Hussain as bold.

Former Australian stars Dean Jones and Geoff Lawson also backed Cronje, but former England skipper Tony Greg was critical.

Test cricket had survived for 100 years “without this sort of thing happening and it seems to be doing pretty well,” he said.

Meanwhile, umpires Robin Bailhache of Victoria, with an experience of 27 Tests, and state umpiring director Len King (six Tests) said the laws of the game should have prevented England from forfeiting their first innings.

“It makes a farce of the game. It gives you a nice little finish, but it’s not much of a test of skill over four innings is it? if you are going to make it into a one-day match, then it’s a bit of a joke,” Bailhache said.

Technically, England should have been made to declare, at 0-0. This would have led to wastage of 10 minutes as changeover time which the captains did not want.

“You might say it is just wasting 12 minutes, but otherwise it just becomes a two innings game. It becomes a farce,” he said.

The Marylebourne Cricket Club based at the Lord’s, which frames rules governing the game, had done a re-draft that makes a first innings forfeiture legal. The new laws are scheduled for ratification later this year.

‘A great loss to sports fraternity’

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (PTI) — Sportsmen and sports officials were unanimous in their praise of the administrative abilities and financial management of M.A. Chidambaram which put bodies like the cricket board on a sound footing.

All India Tennis Association President R.K. Khanna described ‘MAC’, who died in Chennai late last night, as a “great champion of sports”.

As president of then All India Lawn Tennis Association from 1963 to 66, Chidambaram played a great role in making tennis a popular sport in the country.

Former India cricket captain Lala Amarnath, whose eyesight is failing due to old age, said MAC’s death was a great loss to cricket and cricketers.

“I bow my head in reverence to the departed soul,” Lala said.

Another former India captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi described Chidambaram as a very great administrator who was not involved in politics.

Bishen Singh Bedi said in his opinion Chidambaram was the first board President who realised the importance of keeping its financial health in proper condition. C.K.Khanna, vice-president of both the cricket board and the Delhi and District Cricket Association, said the contributions made by Chidambaram would forever remain etched in the annals of Indian Cricket.

Ranbir Singh, former board secretary, described Chidambaram as the elder statesman of Indian cricket.

The strong and effective administrative and financial steps he took long ago are standing the board in good stead even now, added Ranbir Singh, who is now secretary of the Haryana Cricket Association.

MUMBAI: Former Board President Raj Singh Dungarpur today said the board would forever be indebted to him.

Paying glowing tributes to MAC, Dungarpur - who knew him in several capacities, said: “Chidambaram’s contribution, particularly in matters relating to the financial health of the board, is unique”.

“He laid the foundation and gave direction to the board’s financial affairs, long before anyone else, during his long tenure (1962-63 to 1982-83 and 1985-86 to 1989-90) as its Treasurer,” Dungarpur said.

Former India captain Polly Umrigar, who also donned the cap of selector, national team manager and the board’s executive secretary (during Chidambaram’s second stint as treasurer) after his playing days, described the latter as “a thorough gentleman who cared a lot for the players”.

CHENNAI: Indian tennis legend Ramanathan Krishnan said Chidambaram was one of the finest sports administrators of the country. “As a leading businessman, he was a big philanthropist. He has helped lot of people for different causes. I am a recipient of his kindness. He will long be remembered and his death is a great loss to sports in India,” he added.

Former India cricket captain and current Test umpire S Venkataraghavan described Chidambaram’s death as a “great loss to Indian cricket”.

The Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists Association also condoled the death of Chidambaram. In a message, TNSJA President, S Thyagarajan, said “MAC’s death is a great loss to the sports fraternity. He redefined the role of sports administration in the country and introduced a sophisticated way of sports management. The sports fraternity has lost a great patron”.

Easy victories for Jalandhar, Moga
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR, Jan 20 — In the one-sided match of third day of the Punjab Junior Boy’s Hockey Championship currently underway at the Burlton Park astro turf hockey stadium here hosts Jalandhar recorded a 7-1 victory over Faridkot while Moga defeated Ludhiana by 12-1. With this victories Jalandhar and Moga reserved their berths in the semi-final.

Ropar will square off with Amritsar in the first semifinal and the Jalandhar will cross swords with Moga in the second semifinal, for a place in the final.

In the first match of the day Jalandhar had an upper hand right from the word ‘go’. They opened the goal account through Jugraj Singh in the 8th minute. Paviterjeet scored the second goal in the 15th minute, Ravinder Kumar scored the third goal in 19th minute and Paviterjeet again sounded the board in the 20th minute. For Faridkot Avtar Singh scored the only goal from their side in the 30th minute. The score was 5-1 in favour of Jalandhar till the half-time.

In the second half both the teams displayed defensive game. Some players of Jalandhar side exhibited some good moves which bore fruit. Manvinder Singh of Jalandhar found the target in the 49th minute with an angular hit, while in the dying minutes of the game Major Singh of Jalandhar score a beautiful ground goal and completed the score sheet with 7-1 in favour of Jalandhar.

In the second match of the day Moga outplayed Ludhiana in all departments and reserved their berth in semi-final.

Paes-Lareau duo crashes out

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (PTI) — World No 1 doubles player Leander Paes of India and his Canadian partner Sebastian Lareau crashed out of the Australian Open men’s doubles when they were shocked by Americans Geoff Grant and Jack Waite in the first round here today.

The top-seeded pair, coming together in the absence from the circuit of their regular partners Mahesh Bhupathi and Alex O’Brien, respectively, went down 6-7 (2/7), 6-2 5-7 on court two at the Melbourne Park.

With the ouster of Paes, who made a second round exit in men’s singles after top woman player Nirupama’s elimination in the final qualifying round, ended Indian challenge at the year’s first Grand Slam event.

Paes-Lareau came back strongly after losing the first set in the tie-breaker but could not maintain the same tempo in the decider against their determined rivals.

Paes, who reached the final of all four Grand Slams last year with Bhupathi, winning the French Open and Wimbledon, had lost a thriller against Australian Pat Rafter and Swede Jonas Bjorkman in last year’s summit clash.

The 26-year-old Indian Davis Cup star lost to Sweden’s Andreas Vinceiguerra 6-7 (3/7), 4-6, 3-6 in the men’s singles second round yesterday.

Bagan rally to hold Churchill

MARGAO, Jan 20 (PTI) — Down by an early goal, former champions Mohun Bagan fought back strongly to hold table toppers Churchill Brothers 1-1 in a National Football League match at Nehru Stadium here today.

Churchill took the lead as early as in the fifth minute. Rockey Baretto back-heeled the ball to the net after Bagan defenders Hussain Mustafi and Lolendro Singh failed to clear a Somatai Shaiza grounder off a flag kick.

The goal prompted Bagan to make counter moves and the last 20 minutes of the first half saw a wave of attacks on the Churchill goal area.

The tempo continued in the second session but the equaliser for the Calcutta team came only in the 79th minute when Igor Shkivrin climaxed a counter move.

2 national marks set in jr athletics

SALEM, Jan 20 (PTI) — Deepmala Devi of Manipur and Monica Joon of Delhi created national marks in the U-16 girls three km walk and discus throw events while Karnataka’s Renuka Hegde landed her second gold by winning the girls U-20 5,000 metres on the second day of the 15th junior inter-state athletics today.

Devi bettered her own record of 15:38.3 seconds, set in 1996, clocking 15:26.5 seconds to win the walk event comfortably, while Joon sent the discus to 37.72 metres to erase the old mark of 36.30 metres set by Seema in the inter-zonal meet in October 1997.

After poor tries in the first and second and a foul in the third, Joon came up with the record breaking effort in her fourth attempt.

Hegde, who bagged the first gold for her state in the 1500 metres last evening won the 5000 metres clocking 18:15.47 seconds, pipping Vaishali Chatare of Maharashtra after a close tussle in the last 10 metres. Chatare clocked 18:15.53 seconds, while Jaswinder Kaur of Punjab took the bronze at 18:23.56.

Ex-BCCI chief Chidambaram passes away

CHENNAI, Jan 20 (PTI) — M.A. Chidambaram, one of the leading industrialists of the country and a sports administrator, passed away at his residence here late last night, family sources said.

He was 81. He is survived by wife, son A.C. Muthiah, the BCCI President, and a daughter.

Chidambaram, chairman of the petrochemical giant SPIC, has been ailing for some time.

A former BCCI President, Chidambaram had also served as its treasurer for a long time.

Born on October 12, 1918, Chidambaram was the third son of late Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar of Chettinad.

He served as president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association for more than three decades and his services in building the cricket stadium here was duly recognised by the TNCA which unanimously named the stadium after him.