 |
|
| Saturday, February 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
|
India
take crucial 2-0 lead
ICC explanation on Akhtar ‘a
joke’ |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cart races steal the show ITF
ranking meet from Feb 7
|
India take crucial 2-0 lead LUCKNOW, Feb 4 (PTI) — Fighting wins from tennis ace Leander Paes and Syed Fazaluddin gave Asian powerhouse India a crucial 2-0 lead over Lebanon on the first day of the Asia-Oceania Zone Group I Davis Cup rubber here today. After Paes won the opening singles 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) against Ali Hamadeh, lanky Fazaluddin quelled a spirited challenge from top-ranked Lebanese player Hicham Zaatini for a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) victory in two hours and 25 minutes. Interestingly, both the matches lasted for exactly the same duration, with similar scores for the winners, except that Zaatini took one set off Fazaluddin. Non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan’s warning that the rubber would not be a cakewalk for favourites India came true, but the hosts came out unscathed much to the relief of the scarce and unresponsive crowd at the Oudh Gymkhana Club grass courts. Fazaluddin, playing his first singles match in the Davis Cup, displayed excellent placing and employed his backhand returns to good effect against Zaatini. The India No 2, who will team up with Paes tomorrow in the doubles tie against the Zaatini/Hamadeh duo, won the first set 6-4 before a break of serve in the fourth game cost him the second set. Fazaluddin used lobs much to his advantage to open up a 4-2 lead in the third set. But he struggled against Zaatini’s forehand returns and the Lebanese reduced the margin to 5-4. In the 12th game, Fazaluddin set up three set-points on Zaatini’s serve and won with a forehand passing winner. Zaatini was upset by some dubious line calls and tried to argue with the chair umpire. After both players held their serve till the fifth game in the fourth set, Fazaluddin broke Zaatini at love in the sixth to make it 4-2. After being broken in the next game, Fazaluddin was serving for the match when he became nervous. Zaatini made the most of the Indian’s edginess and broke him at love with perfect returns. Just when the match looked set to go into a fifth set, Fazaluddin regained his cool. He served well, and with the net-cord favouring him once, scraped past Zaatini to force the tie-breaker, which he easily won 7-3. Earlier, Paes survived some blistering returns that caught him on the wrong foot many a time to score a hard-fought win over Hamadeh. Paes, who makes up the world’s top doubles pair with Mahesh Bhupathi, was caught napping in the second set after winning the first easily. Paes raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set, breaking Hamadeh twice. Hamadeh seemed to be clueless on the alien grass surface as Paes combined his serves and volleys to perfection and hit his returns wide. But the US-based Lebanese raised his game in the sixth game and broke Paes at love after the Indian disputed some line calls, forcing intervention by tournament referee Hiro Yahata of Japan. But Hamadeh’s resistance came too late and Paes rolled on easily to win the first set after being taken to a deuce in the 10th game. Having read Paes’ game Hamadeh adjusted his game accordingly in the second set and was level with the Indian at 5-5. India, hoping to win the tie and go into the second round against either South Korea or Japan, received a boost when Paes sent down a blistering forehand winner to break Hamadeh in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead and then held his serve at love in the next before winning the set with an ace. When the going looked easy for Paes after he stretched Hamadeh to two deuces before breaking him thanks to two successive double faults by the Lebanese, the tourist gave some shivers to India. Hamadeh had two set-points on Paes’ serve but the Indian recovered his composure, fired an ace and held on to his serve to level the scores at 5-5. Both players held their serve in the next two games to go into the tie-breaker. Paes unsettled Hamadeh
from the start to win the set 7-6 (7/3). |
Rampaging Aussies win series SYDNEY, Feb 4 (PTI) — Australia confirmed their world champion status by winning the Carlton and United one-day triangular cricket series with a 152-run victory over Pakistan to top a summer of triumphs here today. The hosts scored their biggest ever one-day total of 337 for seven with quick half centuries from Mark Waugh (53), Adam Gilchrist (51) and Ricky Ponting (78) and then bowled out Pakistan for 185 in 36.3 overs courtesy Glenn McGrath (5/49) and Brett Lee (3/51) to post their second successive win in the best-of-three finals and win the series. After skipper Steve Waugh elected to bat, the Australian top order made the most of a good batting track against a toothless bowling attack and pathetic fielding to put the match beyond Pakistan, who lost the first final in Melbourne by six wickets. The total surpassed Australia’s 332 for three against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 1989-90. It also eclipsed the highest score at the Sydney Cricket Ground — the hosts’ 292 for six against India in 1985-86. Openers Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist laid the foundation for the win with a quickfire 74 off 10.4 overs, to which Waugh added a breezy 96 in the company of Ponting, who made 78 off 80 balls. A rare failure of one-day specialist Michael Bevan did not stop Australia as the fifth-wicket pair of Andrew Symonds (45) and Steve Waugh (37 — 30 b) smashed 66 runs off 54 balls and Shane Lee (12 — 10 b) and Damien Martyn (23 n.o.) produced a late charge to boost the total. McGrath and Brett Lee then inflicted early damage to reduce Pakistan to 43 for four by the sixth over. SCOREBOARD Australia: M. Waugh run out 53 Gilchrist c Moin b Azhar 51 Ponting c Moin b Afridi 78 Symonds st Moin Khan b Saqlain 45 Bevan b Akram 3 S. Waugh run out 37 S. Lee c Youhana b Saqlain 12 Martyn not out 23 Warne not out 4 Extras (lb-14 w-12 nb-5) 31 Total (for seven wickets) 337 Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-170, 3-220, 4-224, 5-290, 6-297, 7-308. Bowling: Wasim Akram 10-1-65-1 (w-1), Shoaib Akhtar 9-0-61-0 (nb-4 w-2), Waqar Younis 4-0-38-0, Azhar Mahmood 7-0-51-1 (nb-1 w-3), Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-54-2 (w-1), Shahid Afridi 10-0-54-1 (w-5). Pakistan: Anwar c Gilchrist b McGrath 16 Afridi c Bevan b B. Lee 18 Ijaz c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 Youhana c Warne b S. Lee 41 Wasim lbw b B. Lee 0 Azhar c S. Lee b b. Lee 27 Moin b McGrath 33 Akram c S. Waugh b McGrath 18 Saqlain c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 Waqar run out 15 Akhtar not out 1 Extras (lb-7 w-3 nb-6) 16 Total (36.3 overs) 185 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-21, 3-42, 4-43, 5-80, 6-131, 7-149, 8-153, 9-177. Bowling: McGrath
9.3-2-49-5 (nb-1), B. Lee 9-0-51-3 (nb-4 w-1), Warne
7-2-28-0 (w-1), S. Lee 6-0-20-1 (w-1 nb-1), Symonds
5-0-30-0. |
ICC explanation on Akhtar ‘a joke’ PERTH, Feb 4 (AGP) — Umpires must be given back the power to call bowlers for throwing, legendary Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee argued today. In a strong attack on the International Cricket Council (ICC) for reinstating Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar, Lillee said umpires should have the authority to no-ball bowlers they are convinced are delivering the ball illegally. Akhtar, one of the world’s fastest bowlers and nicknamed the Rawalpindi Express, was banned by the ICC after a three-Test Pakistan-Australia series here late last year. But when Pakistan appealed, he was cleared by the same body and allowed to play in the tri-nations one-day series against Australia and India. “After being completely hoodwinked by Pakistan, the ICC have no alternative but to hand umpires back the power to call bowlers for throwing,” Lillee wrote in The West Australian newspaper today. “That surely must be the first item on the agenda of the ICC who get together in Singapore for their annual meeting next week. “The ICC have got themselves into a terrible bind over their handling of Akhtar, and the way things are structured at the moment the Rawalpindi Express could chuck to his heart’s content without recrimination — that is, of course, if he does throw.” Lillee described Pakistan’s appeal against the original ICC decision as a “masterstroke,” because they knew there was no avenue of appeal. “The ICC were totally dumbfounded by such a brazen tactic, and their explanation — that because Akhtar allegedly threw only his bouncer it was OK to play in limited-overs internationals because bouncers were outlawed anyway — was a joke. “So Akhtar ... turned up again as large as life to bowl in front of Australian umpires who virtually had their hands tied behind their backs.” Lillee said it was
little wonder Australian Cricket Board chairman Denis
Rogers admitted his concern over statements that Test
captain Steve Waugh and other Australian players had lost
confidence in the ICC over the Akhtar affair.” |
Cart races steal the show KILARAIPUR, Feb 4 — The much awaited Kilaraipur Sports Festival — the Rural Olympics — commenced at the Grewal Sports Stadium here today. On day one the spotlight was on the heats in the event of bullock cart racing (group of four) and the final of the individual time event of the bullock cart racing, which was undoubtedly the star attraction. In the group of four event of bullock cart racing, 18 heats were conducted and out of 135 bullock carts, 36 made it to the second round heats, slated for tomorrow. In the bullock cart race (individual events) final, there was an upset of sorts as unfancied Hakam Singh of village Sadowal beat his more fancied opponents. He displayed complete control ensuring that favourites Karnail Singh of village Jassard and Sukhbir Singh of village Bhudhan were relegated to the second and third spot, respectively. During one of the heat a mild tragedy was averted when three out of the four bullock carts rammed into each other on the finishing line. In another incident, in heat number four, Jugraj Singh fell down from his cart, but held on to the rear of the cart. He finished last in his heat but despite a hairline fracture, he got up and the crowd rose gave him a thunderous ovation. Only one match the Bhagwant Memorial Gold Cup could be held. ASC, Jalandhar, aided by left in S. Ikka’s brilliant effort, managed to overcome Grewal Sports Academy, Kilaraipur 1-0. The other match between Rajwinder XI, Amritsar, and Border Hawks was stopped mid-way due to rain. Meanwhile the organisers
confirmed that even if rain disrupts tomorrow’s
schedule, the sports meet will not be cancelled and only
be postponed by a day. The three-day meet was inaugurated
by Union Cabinet Minister Mr S.S. Dhindsa, who on the
occasion said that the Punjab Government would adopt the
Kilaraipur Hockey Academy. |
A national coach needed: Ramesh LUCKNOW, Feb 4 (UNI) — Newly-appointed captain of the Indian Davis Cup team Ramesh Krishnan feels the country should have a national tennis coach who can assist budding players the year through. “It is very important to have a national coach who can accompany players in not only the Davis Cup ties, but also in other tournaments like the Gold Flake Open and other Challengers,” Ramesh told UNI. The hero of yesteryears, who played many a memorable ties for India, said a coach can play a very crucial role in grooming up promising youngsters. However, he hastily added that the issue remains to be decided by the All Indian Tennis Association (AITA). “Well, this is something which AITA has to decide and they are probably working on it,” he said. Asked about the current Davis Cup team comprising Leander Paes, Prahlad Srinath, Sunil Kumar and Syed Fazaluddin, Ramesh said it was a well-balanced one. “We have good communication with each other. Apart from the serious practice sessions, we also share jokes.” About Mahesh Bhupathi’s absence due to an injury, he said it was definitely a handicap. “This will affect our strength in doubles, and even in singles we will miss Mahesh.” For Ramesh, the current tie against Lebanon is his first official task as a captain. Asked how much importance he gave to this tie or whether he was under any pressure, he said: “I am enjoying the responsibility and hope to go smoothly.” Asked whether he would effect any changes in the team’s strategy and its approach, he replied in the negative. “I feel at the moment no changes are required. Playing to individual preferences, we have to move together as a team.” About his understanding with team members, including youngster Sunil Kumar, he said they understood each other well and had no difficulties so far. Asked if the success of Paes and Bhupathi on the professional circuit had helped make the game more popular, he said it had definitely contributed. “Yes, it has helped make the game more popular and more and more youngsters are coming to the game.” But he added that for them to benefit by that success, they had to produce results. “Paes and Bhupathi’s success has given an impetus. But to strike it successful, the youngsters have to produce results so that they get noticed not only by tennis authorities but also by corporate sponsors who can help them financially.” On his aim which he had
set for himself as captain, he remarked, currently it was
“to enter the Davis Cup world group.” |
BSF seek to avenge defeat LUDHIANA, Feb 4 — Debutants Border Security Force, Jalandhar, will seek to avenge the earlier humiliation when they take on State Bank of Travancore in their second home match of the concluding phase in the National Football League here tomorrow. Although the para-military outfit have nothing much to cheer about so far, yet the draw against title aspirants Churchill Brothers here two days back has given Shyam Kumar’s team new confidence. The security men will strive to keep the South Indian outfit under check, as another point gained tomorrow may prove to be beneficial and help them retain their spot in the league. The two teams without any foreigners in their ranks had earlier clashed at Thiruvananthapuram in the first phase on January 23 where SBT had beaten BSF by a solitary goal. SBT finished eighth in the first phase accumulating 14 points, but in the second phase they notched up a shocking 1-0 victory over Mahindra and Mahindra in a home match at Thiruvananthapuram on February 1. With this victory SBT now have 17 points from five wins and two draws. In the first phase, SBT beat ITI 1-0, Churchill Brothers 3-1, BSF 1-0 and Dempo 1-0. The bank men drew with JCT 0-0 and East Bengal 2-2. The team, however, suffered setbacks against Salgaocar (0-1), Tollygunge (0-1), Mohun Bagan (1-2), FC Kochin (0-1) and Mahindras (0-3). Coached by Mohammed Najib, SBT qualified for the NFL after finishing on top in the second division last year. Previously, the team had well known faces like Joe Paul Ancheri but now it banks on former internationals like goalkeeper Feroz Shariff and defender Jiju Jacob. The team also has promising players like Ignatius, who incidentally scored the matchwinner against Dempo at Margao on January 28, in the drawn tie against East Bengal, Ignatius had scored two goals on January 20. SBT’s defence is manned by Shiva Kumar, D. Krishnan, Sunil Kumar and Jacob while Suresh Babu, Shabir Ali and Lanel Thomas constitute the midfield. The attack is spearheaded by Ignatius, Asif Sahir and Hakim. BSF, on the other hand, have only been able to gather six points from one victory and three draws in 12 outings so far. The only success was achieved against Dempo (1-0) in a home match here on December 16. The team drew with FC Kochin (0-0) at Kochi and Churchill Brothers (1-1) here. The remaining nine matches ended in defeats. A major drawback of BSF has been the poor scoring rate. In 12 matches played so far, the security men have been able to score only three goals, including a penalty. The team does have a reliable defence which includes Raghubir Singh, Satinder Singh, Pradip Gorai and Souvik Ganguli. Sane Lama, Prasanta Das and J. Oseph assist the team in the midfield while strikers DS Negi and Gurjit Atwal spearhead the attack. However, it remains to be seen whether the BSF medios and forwards can capitalise on the home advantage and improve upon the scoring rate which alone holds the key to the team’s progress in the high-profile National Football League. Meanwhile, SBT had a light practice session at the stadium this morning under an overcast sky in preparation for the crucial tie tomorrow. The kick-off is at 2.30
pm. |
Indu bags another gold for Haryana THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Feb 4 (PTI) — Indu Bala and Dalbir Singh did their state proud winning gold medals as Haryana continued to lead the medals tally on the fourth day of the 45th National School Games here today. Indu Bala, an eighth standard student of Government Higher Secondary School, Bhiwani, won the shot put (girls under-14) event clearing a distance of 8.16 metres to claim her second gold. She had won the discus throw event yesterday. Haryana’s second gold was claimed by Dalbir Singh who jumped 1.82 metres to win the high jump (boys under-17) event. Haryana lead the medals tally with nine golds, three silvers and five bronzes. Varinder Singh of Punjab, cleared a distance of 43.65metres to bag the discus gold in boys (U-17). In the girls (U-14) long jump, Bedana Santra of West Bengal leaped to 5.21 metres to claim gold. In football, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Assam, Karnataka,
Meghalaya and Goa moved to last eight stage. |
ITF ranking meet from Feb 7 CALCUTTA, Feb 4 (PTI) — Promising youngsters from 12 countries will vie for honours in the ITF Junior World Ranking Tennis Tournament scheduled to be held at the DKS Sports Complex here from February 7 to 12. The prestigious tournament, sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation, has received 64 entries in the boys’ category and 32 in the girls’ from Britain, Romania, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, Kyrghyzstan, Malaysia and Uzbekistan and hosts India. In the boys’ singles, 32 players will participate in the main tournament, of whom 24 will be direct entries and four others will come from the qualifiers slated for tomorrow and Sunday. Four Indian boys — Benjamin Xavier, Nipun Gupta, P Ravishankar and Arun Prakash —have been given wild cards. All the 32 players in the girls’ section will play directly in the main singles. The doubles events will have draws of 16 each, tournament director Hiranmoy Chatterjee told newsmen here today. Omar Beheroozian of the United Arab Emirates has been given the pride of place in the boys’ singles, while India’s Radhika Tulpule gets the honour in the eves’ section. India’s P Ravi Krishnan will be the second seed, followed by Sunil Kumar and Armenian Sofyan Harutyun in the boys’ singles. Defending champion Vinod Sewa is the eighth seed. Among the girls, Shuai Peng of China has been seeded second, Aibika Kalasarieva of Kyrghyzstan third, Uzbek Anna Shupak fourth. Of the Indians, Gita Manohar is ranked fifth, Nicola Reddy sixth and Nandita Chandrasekhar eighth. In the singles, the winner will be awarded 30 points and the runners up 20. Each of the semifinalists will get 15 points, the quarterfinalists 10 and pre-quarter finalists five. In the doubles, each of
the winning duo will corner 20 points and the losing
finalists 15. Each of the players in the semifinal will
get 10 points and those reaching the quarters finals
five. |
Rain threat to Ranji tie SAS Nagar, Feb 4– Rains look hell-bent on keeping date with the super league matches slated to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here. Earlier this season many matches have been disrupted by the inclement weather. The situation looks no different this time for the Punjab versus Hyderabad Ranji Trophy super league match scheduled to be played from tomorrow. It has been drizzling here since the afternoon forcing the organisers to cover the wicket with tarpaulin at around noon when the clouds overhead became thicker. In fact, both teams had fairly decent nets this morning. But by the time the teams were about to wind up the practice session the weather started to take a turn for the worse. The spotlight will undoubtedly be on former Indian skipper Mohd Azharuddin, keen to stage a comeback in the national squad. Azhar is a fitness maniac and at present is in the best possible shape. Failure by the likes of Vijay Bhardwaj, Jacob Martin and Hrishikesh Kanitkar in the just-concluded Australia tour has only helped his cause. Solid batting seems to be the strength of the hosts. Seasoned opening batsman and skipper Vikram Rathore will only be too keen to prove a point or two to the selectors having ignored him for the Challenger Trophy — the competition on the basis of which the team for the forthcoming matches against South Africa will be selected — in their quest to promote promising youngsters. Besides Rathore, the hosts have tried and trusted batsmen like Pankaj Dharmani and Dinesh Mongia. Presence of talented youngsters like Reetinder Sodhi, Ravneet Ricky and Yuvraj Singh, who were instrumental in India lifting the junior World Cup held in Sri Lanka recently, is good news for the hosts. Punjab will, however, miss the presence of Navjot Sidhu, one of the finest opening batsman to have played for the country, who recently announced his retirement from the game. Bhupinder Singh Senior, manager of the team, disclosed that Gagandeep Singh, another promising young pace bowler, was set to make his debut to bolster the pace attack which of late has shown a palpable lack of bite, adding that young off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, replacing Sarandeep Singh, was ready to have a go at the rival batsmen along with left-arm spinner Navdeep Singh. Hyderabad, as stated by Arshad Ayub, former India off-spinner and the team coach, appears a fairly balanced side with likes of Azharuddin, V.V.S. Laxman, who played for India in the disastrous Australia tour, and left-arm spinner Venkaatpathi Raju, who has played for the country with a fair degree of success, in its ranks. Bhupinder Singh Sr said
that the wicket had a little grass on it which was likely
to help the seamers initially. Later, it was expected to
ease out and help the batsmen. It is the same track on
which the last Test match was played. |
Haryana-UP Ranji tie from today ROHTAK, Feb 4 — Bad weather threatens to mar proceedings on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League cricket tie between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh starting at Vishwakarma Stadium her tomorrow. It rained in the afternoon today and dark clouds continued to cover the sky till late in the evening making the organisers’ task a bit difficult. It will be the first Super League tie for both the teams this season. Haryana had qualified for the Super League after finishing third in the North Zone league with 27 points. Punjab had topped the zone with 34 points followed by Delhi with 32 points. Haryana had gained outright victories against services at Gurgaon and Himachal Pradesh at Rohtak. They took first innings lead against Jammu and Kashmir. Teams (from):- Haryana:- Parinder Sharma (captain), Amarjeet Kaypee, Rajesh Puri, Pradeep Jain, Sonu Sharma, Ajay Ratra, Feroze Ghyas, Sanjay Dalal, Pankaj Thakur, Manish Shakhalkar, Vineet Jain, Satish Ohlan, Jasbir Singh and Jitender Singh. Uttar Pradesh: Gyanendra Pandey, Rizwan Shamshad, Manoj Mudgil, Mohammad Kaif, Saurav Shukla, Mohammad Saif, A.W. Zaidi, Salabh Srivastva, Mrutunjay Tripathi, Moosi Raza, Pankaj Tewari, Ratnesh Mishra, Akhil Tyagi, Shivadhar Bajpai, Parvinder Singh and Jyoti Yadav.
|
Air India, BSF register victories NEW DELHI, Feb 4 (UNI) — Strong contenders Air India (Mumbai) and BSF, Jalandhar, opened their campaign with contrasting wins over their rivals in the 10th Shastri Hockey Tournament here today. Earlier Sikh Regimental Centre (SRC) suffered their second sucessive defeat as they lost to Punjab and Sind Bank Academy 2-3. Air India overwhelmed Army Services Corps (ASC), Jalandhar, 3-0 after leading 1-0 at half time. International Edward Aranha put Air India ahead in the 12th minute but the winners had to wait for another 40 minutes to increase their lead. Gavin Ferreira made it 2-0 in the 52nd minute and two minutes before the final whistle Olympian Anil Aldrin completed the tally when he converted the seventh penalty corner. This was ASC’s first defeat in two outings. BSF overcame BPCL 4-2 after being ahead 2-1 at Lemon Break. M. Lakra gave the security men the lead in the 19th minute and H. Topno scored the second goal for the winners in the 17th minute. International Ravi Nayakar reduced the lead for BPCL in the 24th minute. BPCL drew parity in the 46th minute when K.T. Mohan scored off a penalty corner (2-2). Topno again put BSF in the lead scoring his second and team’s third goal in the 58th minute and Lakra made it 4-2 in the 61st minute. PSB Academy led 2-0 at half time against SRC. For the Academy Prabhdeep Singh, Sharanjit Singh and Sandeep Singh scored a goal each. For SRC M. Minz and Baljit Singh were the scorers.
|
England captain quits after defeat LONDON, Feb 4 (AFP) — The captain of the English women’s cricket team Karen Smithies has quit her post just hours after her side’s crushing 220-run defeat by Australia, team manager Paul Farbrace has announced. The move came after Australia recorded 299 for two — their highest-ever score against England, who were in turn bowled for a record low 79 in Newcastle, New South Wales. I don’t feel I can in all honesty carry on after a defeat like that, especially as it comes on top of poor performances in the first three games, “said Smithies, who had scored only 47 runs in her four innings, including a duck in Newcastle, yesterday. The 30-year-old Smithies had been England’s captain since 1993, when she led them to victory in the World Cup, for which she was awarded the OBE. Smithies, who works for Leicestershire County Cricket Club, had been named to lead England in the next World Cup in New Zealand later this year. Before the current Tour
— on which England have lost heavily four times to
world champions Australia — Smithies had played in
15 Tests and 63 limited-overs internationals, the
fourth-highest total in the world. |
Nigeria, Tunisia advance in Nations Cup LAGOS, Feb 4 (AFP) — Nigeria confirmed their status as favourites to win the African Nations Cup with an impressive 2-0 triumph over Morocco last evening that sealed first place in Group D. Defeat proved particularly costly for Morocco as they were pipped for the second place in the knockout stages by Tunisia, who had a similar goal difference to the Atlas Lions but scored more goals. Tunisia defeated Congo 1-0 in the northern city of Kano through a Radhi Jaidi goal after 15 minutes and stay there for a North African showdown against defending champions Egypt on Monday. The Super Eagles will face surprise packets Senegal in Lagos the same day after a much-improved performance from a side jeered when held goalless by Congo last week. Finidi George put the country that has won the cup twice ahead after 28 minutes and substitute Julius Aghahowa grabbed the second 10 minutes before the end of a match between two African football giants. Nigeria began with a lot more purpose than shown in the drab deadlock with Congo and Tijani Babangida burst though after three minutes only to foiled by advancing goalkeeper Khalid Fouhami. Morocco had a let off when Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha floated a free kick from just outside the penalty area over the red-shirted defensive wall and it beat Fouhami only to strike the crossbar and fly over. It came as no surprise when the Super Eagles moved ahead with a superb goal from Spain-based midfielder George, who made little impact in first two rounds of mini-league action. A low pass across the field found George unmarked about 25 metres from goal. He controlled the ball, pushed it forward with his right foot and unleashed a left-foot drive that flew over the diving Fouhami. Morocco coach Henri Michel, who guided his native France to third place behind Argentina and Germany at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, immediately exposed his anxiety by reaching for a packet of cigarettes. Taribo west rescued the home team 10 minutes before half-time with a timely intercept off Salaheddine Bassir after the Atlas Lions had penetrated deep into Nigerian territory with swift, short passes. Bassir, who came on as a substitute to snatch the late winner against Congo in the opening round, later found himself with plenty of space near the penalty area and his shot was saved by Ike Shorunmu at the foot of the post. The Moroccan was replaced by Mohammed al-Badraoui just before half-time and Nigeria introduced Gbenga Okunowo and Aghahowa for Furo Iyenemi and Benedict Akwuegba at the break. There was no change to
the pattern in the second half with Nigeria pressing
forward and Morocco soaking up the pressure in front of
an increasingly vocal home crowd. |
Radhika loses to Shuai in final CHANDIGARH, Feb 4 — Shuai Peng of China justified her Delhi ITF title last week, when she defeated top seed Radhika Tulpule, ranked 82nd in junior section in world, to capture her second title here in the ITF junior tennis tournament which concluded here at the CLTA courts, Sector 10, today. Tall and lanky Harut Sophyan of Armenia won the boys singles title when he outplayed Riaian Luchic of Romania in straight sets. The next leg of the ITF junior tennis tournament will begin at Calcutta from February 7. The girls singles final, as expected, was a clash of titans between Radhika Tulpule of India and Shuai Peng of China which lasted for 89 minutes extending to three sets. First set was rather a warming up exercise for Peng, who garnered an early 4-0 lead, then Radhika took one game to make it 1-4. But Peng finished the set at 6-1. Radhika succeeded in the second set when she intelligently variated the game to go for cross court rallies winning the set. In the decider Peng, who in the presence of her country coach started playing in a more graceful manner with less negative points, took a 4-0 lead. Radhika seemed exhausted and surrendered 2-6 to Peng. The boys singles final, an all-foreign affair, lasted 55 minutes. In the first set, Luchic could not match Sophyan, who had come to city after taking part in nine ITF torunaments elsewhere in the country and abroad. Finally, Armenian won
6-2 in 33 minutes. Second set began with Sophyan
maintaining the lead right from the beginning, though at
3-2, he was closely chased by the Romanian. Sophyan
repeatedly used his top spin to win 6-3 and the tittle. |
Winter Games start at Solang MANALI, Feb 4 — The second National Winter Games being organised by the Directorate of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali, in collaboration with the Indian Olympic Association and the Winter Games Federation of India started at Solang ski slopes 13 km from here today. As many as 200 skiers from all over the country, including ski teams from the Army and the ITBP, are participating in the championship. The skiing competitions would have alpine skiing-slalom and giant slalom events for both men and women, including Nordic skiing 15 km free style and 4x10 km relay for men only. The participants presented a colourful and impressive march past after lighting of the Winter Games flame by Ran Singh, a senior ski instructor of the mountaineering institute Manali. A cultural programme was presented by the local school children. Teams from the
Directorate of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali,
BSF, ITBPF, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Delhi School Ski
Association, Jammu and Kashmir Winter Association, High
Altitude Warfare Ski School, Gulmarg, Winter Games and
Adventure Association of UP, Ski team from Rajasthan, HP
Winter Games Association Snow Avalanche and Study
Establishment, Manali, are participating in the second
National Winter Games competitions, which would conclude
on February 10. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | In Spotlight | 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 119 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
