Thursday, January 27, 2000,
Chandigarh, India






THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS
50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
S P O R T

Indians succumb meekly once again to mighty Aussies
ADELAIDE, Jan 26 — Mark Waugh roared into form with a majestic century as Australia left India on the brink of elimination in the tri-series with a commanding 152-run win here today.

Kafelnikov, Hingis enter semis
MELBOURNE, January 26 — Defending champions Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Martina Hingis produced almost flawless tennis to reach the Australian Open semi-finals today.

Gurcharan clinches gold; India finish third
JAEJEON CITY (South Korea), Jan 26 — Indian pugilist Gurcharan Singh came up with a brilliant performance to clinch the light heavyweight gold in the Fifth Seoul International Boxing Tournament here today.

Anand slips to third position
WIJK AAN ZEE, Jan 26 — World No 2 Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand slipped to third position after he drew his ninth round game against England's Michael Adams even as Gary Kasparov seized clear lead with a dramatic win over Dutchman Jan Timman in the Corus chess tournament.

Tyson sparks row with `kill' remark
LONDON, Jan 26 — Mike Tyson made banner headlines in Britain again today - this time with his prediction that he will "kill" Julius Francis in their heavyweight bout in Manchester this weekend.

Maradona smashes scribe’s car window
HAVANA, January 26 — Diego Maradona, apparently angered by constant media coverage during his stay for cocaine rehabilitation, punched and broke a journalist's car window yesterday.

 

Irvine writes off 2000 World Championship hopes
LONDON, Jan 26 — Less than six months after fighting for the Formula One driver's title, Eddie Irvine wrote off his chances for the next two years when Jaguar unveiled their first ever Grand Prix car here yesterday.

Navratilova, Anderson, Kelleher honoured
NEW YORK, Jan 26 — Martina Navratilova, the most winning player in women's tennis history, was among three people elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame here. Top



Indians succumb meekly once again to mighty Aussies

ADELAIDE, Jan 26 (AFP) — Mark Waugh roared into form with a majestic century as Australia left India on the brink of elimination in the tri-series with a commanding 152-run win here today.

Steve Waugh's men delighted a sell-out Australia Day crowd of 29,506 with a flawless display, piling up 329 for five from 50 overs before bowling India out for 177.

Mark Waugh laid to rest any doubts of his immediate future in the game with a sparkling 116 off 131 balls which set up the highest one-day score on Australian soil.

Adam Gilchrist smashed 92 in a 163-run opening stand with Waugh as Australia fell just three runs short of their best one-day total of 332 for three against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1989-90.

Shell-shocked India slipped to 39 for three in reply before Rahul Dravid prevented a total collapse with a defiant 63.

Young pace sensation Brett Lee was the pick of the bowlers with five for 27, while brother Shane chipped in with two for 35.

The Indians, with just one win from six games, face the near-impossible task of beating both Pakistan and Australia by huge margins in their last two matches at Perth later this week to qualify for the finals.

Australia are assured of a place in the finals with six wins from seven games, while Pakistan appear certain to join the hosts after garnering three wins.

"This is as good as it gets," Steve Waugh said later.

"The best thing was Mark's return to form, but I was very impressed at the way we continued to push the Indians throughout the match."

Indian coach Kapil Dev conceded his team was outplayed by Australia.

"There is little one can do when your rivals are playing so well," Kapil said.

"It was a great lesson on how one-day cricket should be played.

"The task ahead is very difficult, but I want the boys to go out fighting. They must give their best at all times."

Mark Waugh, who struck his 14th one-day century, and Gilchrist batted till the 30th over in the best opening stand of the series.

Gilchrist holed out to mid-wicket against Anil Kumble eight short of his sixth hundred, but there was little respite for the Indians.

Ricky Ponting helped Waugh add 100 for the second wicket from 80 deliveries, himself making 43 off 33 balls before falling to the same Dravid-Kumble combination.

Waugh, who hit five fours and a six, was stumped off Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar in the 45th over with Australia on 279-3 and well-placed for a late charge.

Andrew Symonds smashed 26 off 15 balls, before Dravid removed him with his third catch in the innings.

Ian Harvey was run out without scoring, but Australia still scored 50 runs in the last five overs.

The Indians made a disastrous start when Sourav Ganguly, who made 141 against Pakistan on Tuesday, was snapped up in the slips off Glenn McGrath for five.

Tendulkar scored 18 when Stuart MacGill held a brilliant running catch at third man off Brett Lee to get rid off the Indian captain.

Hrishkesh Kanitkar was trapped leg-before next ball, but Lee denied himself a hat-trick by bowling outside the off-stump to new batsman Jacob Martin.

India's feeble resistance ended when Dravid was caught behind off Shane Lee in the 27th over.

Scoreboard

Australia:

Mark Waugh st Dighe b Tendulkar 116

Adam Gilchrist c Dravid b Kumble 92

Ricky Ponting c Dravid b Kumble 43

Andrew Symonds c Dravid b Srinath 26

Shane Lee not out 27

Ian Harvey run out 0

Michael Bevan not out 11

Extras ( lb-8, nb-4, w-2): 14

Total: 329 for five in 50 overs.

Fall of wkts: 1-163, 2-263, 3-279, 4-305, 5-306.

Bowling: Javagal Srinath 10-0-55-1, Debasish Mohanty 6-0-39-0, Anil Kumble 10-0-71-2, Venkatesh Prasad 9-0-50-0, Sourav Ganguly 2-0-19-0, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 5-0-29-0, Sachin Tendulkar 7-0-48-1, Robin Singh 1-0-10-0.

India

Sachin Tendulkar c MacGill b Brett Lee 18

Sourav Ganguly c Shane Lee b McGrath 5

Rahul Dravid c Gilchrist b Shane Lee 63

Hrishikesh Kanitkar lbw b Brett Lee 0

Jacob Martin lbw b Symonds 17

Robin Singh b Shane Lee 1

Samir Dighe c McGrath b MacGill 25

Anil Kumble b Brett Lee 26

Javagal Srinath c Gilchrist b Brett Lee 0

Venkatesh Prasad not out 5

Debasish Mohanty b Brett Lee 1

Extras ( b-1, lb-1, nb-7, w-7): 16.

Total: 177 in 46.5 overs.

Fall of wkts: 1-12, 2-39, 3-39, 4-107, 5-111, 6-111, 7-163, 8-166, 9-174.

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 5-1-13-1, Ian Harvey 8-0-39-0, Shane Lee 7-0-35-2, Brett Lee 8.5-1-27-5, Stuart MacGill 10-1-38-1, Andrew Symonds 6-0-18-1, Steve Waugh 2-0-5-0.
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Tendulkar wants more time for his team

ADELAIDE, January 26 (PTI) Despite his team slumping to its third one-day defeat to Australia, skipper Sachin Tendulkar wanted more time to be given to the team on the brink of elimination from the triangular limited overs series.

“It is frustrating to keep losing but you will have to consider that we were playing the world champions. This is a young team and many of the players are inexperienced. You will have to give us more time to start winning,” a disappointed Tendulkar said tonight after the crushing defeat from Australia at the Adelaide Oval.

This was India's fifth defeat in six matches, their lone win coming against arch-rivals Pakistan here last night and leaves them needing to win their next two matches or pack their bags home.

Asked whether he felt jealous of the talent available with Steve Waugh, Tendulkar said: “I have to look at whatever I have got. The boys are young and talented. I have to do my best with whatever talent I have got.

“I think they (Australia) are playing like world champions. They outclassed us in all departments of the game,” he said of the domineering performance by the Aussies.

Steve Waugh praised his twin Mark for his chanceless 116 and Adam Gilchrist, who missed the three-figure mark by just eight runs, and said the stand between them and brilliant fielding in the first 15 overs of the Indian knock proved decisive.

Shane Lee and Stuart MacGill came up with outstanding catches of Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar during this period to snuff out any hopes the Indians harboured.

“This is as good as it gets. I thought 230-240 would have been a good total but it was outstanding batting by Mark and Adam (Gilchrist) at the top.

“The best thing was Mark's return to form, but I was very impressed at the way we continued to push the Indians throughout the match.”

Waugh rated Macgill's blinder of a catch in the deep to dismiss his counterpart Tendulkar as the best.

“Probably it was the best catch of the season, it was an outstanding effort at a vital stage and as it dismissed their best batsman so it was also very crucial,” Waugh said.

Mark Waugh said it was very good to return to form.

The elegant batsman whose woeful form during the season had put his place in the team under a cloud, said he was not under pressure despite questions raised by the media. “I just kept on playing my game. I was not concerned by what was written in the papers and am happy with the way I batted today.
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"Frivolous" charges upset Sachin

ADELAIDE, Jan 26 (PTI) — Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar, accused of ball tampering by Pakistan after last night's defeat in the tri-series, tonight said he was extremely upset by the charges, which have, however, been dismissed as "frivolous" and "without foundation" by match-referee Cammie Smith.

"I will only say I am very, very upset at it. After so many years, we have built up a certain reputation of playing cleanly and without controversy.

"And then to hear something like this is extremely upsetting," Tendulkar said of the charges made by Pakistani speedster Abdur Razzaq after India's comprehensive win in a crucial clash.

The referee also dismissed alleged breaches of code of conduct charges against seamer Venkatesh Prasad, who was accused of calling Azhar Mahmood names and swearing at Yousuf Youhana, for lack of proper evidence, an Australian Cricket Board press release said today.

However, the referee warned speedster Debashish Mohanty, found to be rushing in from outside the 30-yard circle in the the 15 overs, to be "more careful", in the future, the release added.

An angry Indian coach Kapil Dev said he was shocked to hear about them.

"We have never tampered with the ball and to accuse a guy like Tendulkar of doing it is absolutely ridiculous. It just goes to show to what extent teams go to find excuses for their defeat," Kapil Dev said.

"I am very upset because they have made accusation against a person who has played 10 years of top class cricket and has never been involved in any controversy whatsoever," said the former Indian captain.

He wondered why the Pakistanis did not complain about it to the umpires on the field, a view supported by former Australian stumper and now a TV commentator, Ian Healy.

"The umpires do have a look at the ball all the time. I think Pakistan's complaint is out of order," Healy said.

"Before making any accusation, you must look at the stature and track record of the man," said Kapil Dev.

The Indian coach also made a veiled reference to Pakistan's record in this regard. Pakistan has been accused many times by various Test playing countries of ball tampering. Their former captain Imran Khan had even admitted in his autobiography of working on the ball with a bottle-top.

"A ball tampering charge coming from Pakistan? Pakistan talking about ball-tampering, I should not be saying anything more," the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket said.

He also wondered whether any action could be taken against the team which has levelled unsubstantiated charges.

"I would not say any action be taken against them (Pakistan) but surely someone should be answerable (for making such a charge)," he said.
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Kafelnikov, Hingis enter semis

Melbourne, January 26 (AFP) — Defending champions Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Martina Hingis produced almost flawless tennis to reach the Australian Open semi-finals today.

The Russian men's second seed swept past unseeded Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui 6-0, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and now plays Swedish 12th seed Magnus Norman in Friday's semi-final.

Norman fought back from losing the opening set to oust German No.1 and tournament fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) in two hours 56 minutes in the night quarter-final match.

The Swede's previous best showing at a Grand Slam was to reach the quarter-finals at the 1997 French Open. He had failed to get past the second round in four previous attempts here.

After running through El Aynaoui, Kafelnikov said he was finally satisfied with his form after five matches.

"This is the first time in the tournament I have liked the way I played, especially the first two sets," he said.

"But the next two matches aren't going to be easy."

He said Norman would be hard to beat in Friday's semi-final and he rated both Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi from the other semi-final above him.

"Basically, these two guys are one and two," said the world No 2. "Pete is a legend."

Hingis may have to change her lucky number this Saturday if she continues to fend off rivals to the title she has held since 1997.

The Swiss teenager scored her 13th straight win over Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario with an embarrassingly lopsided 6-1, 6-1.

In one of her finest performances, Hingis made only seven unforced errors throughout the 65 minutes it took to crush the former French and US Open winner.

Hingis is aiming to become the first player since the great Margaret Smith in the 1960s to win more than three Open titles in succession.

"This tournament has always been lucky for me," she said today.

"It was my first (Grand Slam) one and I was able to defend it.

"Three has always been my lucky number, I don't know why -- but four would be even better."

Hingis will face Spanish veteran and former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez in the semi-finals after Martinez scraped through an error-strewn match against Russian Elena Likhovtseva.

The Spaniard squandered two match points, dragging the encounter into a series of moon-ball returns in the drawn-out third set before finally sealing it 6-3, 4-6, 9-7.

In 1998 Hingis faced Martinez in the Australian Open final and won effortlessly, 6-3, 6-3.

The other semi-final will be fought out between Wimbledon champion and No.2 seed Lindsay Davenport and fellow American Jennifer Capriati, who has continued an inspirational rise this fortnight, reaching her first Grand Slam semi-final in nine years.

Hingis agreed she had strengthened herself in a bid to match the power players such as Serena and Venus Williams and Davenport and had found all-round improvement in her game.

"I've moved much better in the last half year and I'm hitting the ball harder from both sides. You just have to otherwise you would be around 40 or 50 in the world — especially with my body, the way I'm built," she said.

Martinez admitted her match had drained her physically.

"It took a lot," she said. "I was never comfortable from the beginning. I was a little bit tired today and so it was very tough to play so long."
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Phadke crashes out of Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 26 (PTI) — India's number two junior Sonal Phadke crashed out of the Australian Open girls tournament when she lost her second round clash against third seed Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia here today.

Sonal, a rising star on the Indian women's circuit, went down tamely 1-6, 1-6 to Lubomira in a girl's singles.

The Indian had progressed to the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Australian wildcard Linda Fallon yesterday.

Another Indian girl in the fray, Radhika Tulpule, however, exited in the first round itself losing 2-6 1-6 to Australia's eighth seed Melissa Dowse.

Junior national champion Radhika and Sonal had received direct entries into the junior event of the year's first Grand Slam tournament.
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Gurcharan clinches gold; India finish third

JAEJEON CITY (South Korea), Jan 26 (PTI) — Indian pugilist Gurcharan Singh came up with a brilliant performance to clinch the light heavyweight gold in the Fifth Seoul International Boxing Tournament here today.

The Bangkok Asian Games bronze medallist outpunched Korea's Ki Soo Choi in the final to win 6-5 on points after middleweight Jitender Kumar and light flyweight s Suresh Singh lost to their Korean rivals to win silver medals.

However, all the three qualified for Sydney Olympics by virtue of reaching the final as the Seoul cup was also the second qualifying event for the Olympic Games.

India finished third in the overall championships with one gold and two silver medals behind hosts South Korea (5-1-0) and Thailand (1-2-1). Total 24 teams participated in the championships which concluded today.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jitnender Singh came up with another gutsy display against Korean Jeong Binlim in the 75 kg final and tied with his rival at 4-4 after the final round of the low-scoring bout but was unlucky to finish second behind his rival, 23-21 on scores by individual judges.

Suresh Singh, however, could not come up to his best against local pugilist Ki Seok Kim in 48 kg category and lost 9-2 on points. Kim was later adjudged the best boxer of the championship.

Thailand's Olympic and Asian Games gold medallist Kamsin Somluck won the only gold medal for his country by defeating Iranian Bijan Batmani in the 57 kg class.

Cheered by a big home crowd, the Koreans swept all the finals they reached barring the 81 kg class in which Ki Soo Chol could not surpass the Indian challenge.

Gurcharan gave an excellent performance, moving in and out appropriately and always kept away from his rival.

Both the boxers started cautiously and were not willing to take any risks and thus the score was tied 2-2 at the end of the second round. But Gurcharan Singh broke away in the third round with some purposeful long range punches and unsettled his rival to take a 5-1 lead which was good enough for the heavier weight category.

Though the Korean came out charging in the final round, Gurcharan avoided him by moving away swiftly.

In the 75 kg class, Jitender Kumar was involved in a low scoring bout with his Korean rival Joeng Binlim. He managed to get a slender lead in the opening round but the Korean caught up with him at the end of the second round.

In the third round the Korean guarded himself well and did not allow the Indian any chances. Both boxers traded punches cautiously and were tied at 4-4 after the final round. Judges' individual scores were taken into account to break the tie and the decision went in favour of the Korean.

Ki Seok kim used his height and long reach effectively to keep Suresh Singh away in the 48kg summit clash. Suresh desperately tried to break his opponent's defence but failed. The Indian came up with a number of tactics to move in but his efforts were thwarted by the Korean with effective left-right-left combinations.
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Anand slips to third position

WIJK AAN ZEE, Jan 26 (PTI) — World No 2 Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand slipped to third position after he drew his ninth round game against England's Michael Adams even as Gary Kasparov seized clear lead with a dramatic win over Dutchman Jan Timman in the Corus chess tournament.

Anand (5.5 points) faced the Italian game of Adams and achieved equality in the middlegame.

The Indian traded a bishop and a knight pair to enthuse life in a dull game on the 16th move before Adams pushed his Queen-pawn in the centre.

Anand came under pressure and sacrificed a pawn on the 22nd move to gain control in the middle. After exchanging rooks, a Queen and knight endgame was reached where Anand had compensation for the lost pawn.

Adams, with the time trouble approaching, decided against pressing hard and the truce was signed on the 34th move.

Chess wizard and world No.1 Russian Kasparov shot into sole lead with 6.5 points with a thumping victory over Timman in a scotch opening game. Kasparov is now half a point clear of compatriot Vladimir Kramnik, who was held to a draw by Dutch GM Jeroen Piket.

Timman deviated from popular variations in the system on his ninth turn and was saddled with a weak pawn structure in the endgame arising after 20 moves.

By manoeuvring his rook to the Queen’s wing, Kasparov playing white, obtained outside passed pawns and was threatening to push them to glory when Timman fell in a tactical trap and lost his rook in a picturesque finale on the 36th move.

The last three rounds of this 13-round event have become draw-bound with just one other decisive result last night.

Dutch Open champion Pedrag Nikolic of Bosnia won with black over veteran Victor Korchnoi.

Nikolic improved his tournament standing when the Swiss player blundered on his 19th move to lose rather tamely from an unclear position arising out of a Queen pawn opening.

Kramnik, in his game against Piket, got into a slightly inferior position in the middlegame when the Dutchman employed the King’s Indian defence with black pieces.

Sensing danger despite his superior pawn structure Kramnik exchanged rooks and then made a fortress in his portion to wriggle out with a draw after 39 moves.

GM Peter Leko played the Sicilian Sveshnikov against his Hungarian compatriot GM Judit Polar after he achieved dynamic equality in the middlegame.

The pieces got exchanged at regular intervals and the game was drawn after 34 moves.

The duels between Loek van Wely and Sambat Lputian, and a Morozevich and Nigel Short also ended in draws after 43 and 39 moves, respectively.

The results: Gary Kasparov (6.5) b Jan Timman (4); Vladimir Kramnik (6) drew Jeroen Piket (5); Michael Adams (5) drew Viswanathan Anand (5.5); Judit Polgar (3) drew Peter Leko (5.5); Amorozevich (5) drew Nigel Short (4); Victor Korchnoi (3) lost to Pedrag Nikolic (4.5); Loek van Wely (2.5) drew Sambat Lputian (3.5).
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Tyson sparks row with `kill' remark

LONDON, Jan 26 (AP) — Mike Tyson made banner headlines in britain again today - this time with his prediction that he will "kill" Julius Francis in their heavyweight bout in Manchester this weekend.

In a television interview aired last night, Tyson said: "I think that I'm going to kill Julius Francis. I'm just ready for this fight. I want it bad."

But the former undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion then backtracked, saying he didn't mean it literally. "I hope he gets up if he is knocked out, but this is just the motivation I have," he said.

Asked if he was worried about his suggestion that he would kill Francis, Tyson shrugged it off.

"That's OK," he said. "Can I tell you something? It doesn't faze me what anyone says about me. It doesn't matter."

Predictably, Tyson's remarks made prime fodder for the British tabloids.

"I'm going to kill Francis" was the backpage headline in the Daily Mirror.

The Express blared: "I'll kill Julius".

The coverage further boosted the publicity for Saturday night's fight in Manchester. The fight is already a 21,000-seat sell-out at the men arena, but the bout is also being shown on pay-per-vie television here.

Training yesterday in front of 300 reporters and photographers before moving camp to Manchester, Tyson continued to show another side of his personality.

Since arriving 10 days ago Tyson has mounted a public relations campaign to soften his image. Yesterday he told how he'd been humiliated recently in California.

"My wife (Monica) and I were in Hollywood and we went to a wax museum," he said. "We went into the chamber of horrors and there was a wax dummy of me in a cage. It devastated my wife. They humiliated and degraded me in front of my wife. All my life I have been humiliated."

Tyson is a 16-1 favourite to beat Britain's Francis, so the talk yesterday was about post-Francis fights.

Francis (21-7), a former kickboxer, is undergoing hypnosis and has also sold the sole and heel of his boxing shoes to The Mirror. The London newspaper expects such a purchase to come in handy when Francis lands flat on his back from a Tyson punch.

Tyson's boxing adviser Shelly Finkel said a March 25 bout in The Meadowlands, New Jersey - or Europe - against either Lou Savarese or Shannon Briggs was next. Finkel wants a subsequent June or July bout to keep Tyson sharp and hone him on a fight every three or four months.

"He'd like to come back here, but it's up in the air," said Finked. Mentioned as possible British sites for a summer fight are the new millennium stadium in Cardiff and Wembley outside London.
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Maradona smashes scribe’s car window

HAVANA, January 26 (AP) — Diego Maradona, apparently angered by constant media coverage during his stay for cocaine rehabilitation, punched and broke a journalist's car window yesterday.

Photographers and cameramen say they were trailing Maradona outside a Havana supermarket when he got out of the black Mercedes Benz loaned to him by the Cuban government.

He confronted a TV cameraman and photographer of Reuters and struck the vehicle's window with his hand, shattering the glass. Photographer Heriberto Rodriguez sustained a slight injury to his eye from the broken glass.

Maradona, 39, arrived in Cuba on Jan 18 to undergo treatment for drug addiction at a medical-oriented hotel on the outskirts of Havana.

Maradona, who has dyed his dark hair a light shade of orange while in Cuba, is accompanied by a large entourage of friends, family and trainers. President Fidel Castro visited him on Saturday.

Maradona has had troubles obtaining a visa to travel to the US since testing positive for stimulants during the 1994 World Cup, which led to a 15-month suspension by FIFA, soccer's governing body.

US State Department officials earlier said they were not aware of any visa application by Maradona prior to his medical trip.
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Irvine writes off 2000 World Championship hopes

LONDON, Jan 26 (AFP) — Less than six months after fighting for the Formula One driver's title, Eddie Irvine wrote off his chances for the next two years when Jaguar unveiled their first ever Grand Prix car here yesterday.

The 34-year-old, who lost out in the title race to Mika Hakkinen in the last race of the 1999 season, switched from Ferrari to Jaguar for the 2000 season, warned that it would be too much to expect Jaguar to win in their first season.

"Of course I want to win the driver's title but it is not going to happen this year and I don't really expect to win it next year, but after that we will see," said Irvine.

"A new team can't just catch up the Ferrari and McLarens first time out. I am looking for third, fourth or fifth spot. But if Ferrai or McLaren have a problem I expect us to be there to cash in.

"I want to achieve something with Jaguar. That's what you are racing for. To leave Ferrari for Jaguar is something special," he added.

Irvine stressed that he was pleased with the car after early testing in Spain, but admitted there were problems that still had to be sorted out.

However, he was upbeat about the upcoming season which begins in Melbourne next month.

"This car is the cleanest designed car I have ever seen. I think it is going to do us proud," said Irvine. "It is a lot more comfortable than the Ferrari and there are somethings better than the Ferrari and some things that are not but I am not going to say."

Jaguar chairman Wolfgang Reitzle admitted that apart from the Irishman's driving skills, he had also been brought in to modernise the Jaguar image of wood and leather.

Irvine is as well known for his nightclubing as for his ability behind the wheel.

Asked about the ever growing number of stories about his night life, Irvine joked: "You can't believe everything you read. And sometimes you cannot even believe what you see."

But Irvine insists that his taste of the good life, which includes a luxury yacht and private plane, makes him a better driver.

"Sitting in front of the television is not my style. I need something more exciting than that. If I arrive at the track in a happy mood I will do a better job than if I arrive feeling I have missed out on something," he explained.

Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, who stood down as chairman of the new Jaguar team which for the last three seasons carried his name, said he had no doubt that Irvine was a valuable asset.

"With Eddie and Johnny Herbert we have two enormously talented drivers. Eddie has come of age in Formula One and is the ideal man for us. I know he is going to be committed," said the Scot.
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Navratilova, Anderson, Kelleher honoured

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (AFP) — Martina Navratilova, the most winning player in women's tennis history, was among three people elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame here.

Australian Davis cup star Malcolm Anderson and Robert Kelleher, former president of the United States Tennis Association, also will be inducted at July 15 ceremonies at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode island yesterday.

Navratilova set a professional tennis record with 167 tournament titles and 1,438 match wins in a career that began in 1973 and spanned more than two decades.

A native of the former Czechoslovakia, Navratilova arrived in the United States as an overweight teen. But she soon became one of the best-conditioned players on the WTA Tour, bringing a power game to women's tennis and taking it to new heights.

Navratilova won nine Wimbledon singles titles, including six in a row starting in 1982, as well as three Australian Opens, two French Opens and four US Opens.

The lefthander, who became a United States citizen in 1981, was ranked number one in the world in singles for a total of 331 weeks. She also captured 165 doubles titles and has won a record 1,111 doubles matches.

Anderson was a member of four Davis Cup teams for Australia, taking home titles in 1957 and 1973. In 1957, he became the first unseeded player to win the US National Singles Championship.

Anderson had a career high singles rank of second in 1957-58 and captured the 1973 Australian Open doubles title in 1973.
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