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| Monday, March 20, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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India go down fighting by 10 runs |
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Anand blunders, loses to Shirov
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India go down fighting by 10 runs NAGPUR, March 19 (UNI) — India today went down with their guns blazing as they unsuccessfully chased a huge 321-run victory target, falling short by 10 runs to give South Africa a consolation victory in the fifth and final match of the five match series played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium here today. The hosts had already clinched the series, winning three matches in the best-of-five encounter. Chasing a huge 321 run victory target, India started off badly losing captain Saurav Ganguly (6), who had been in terrific form, early as he got out while trying a half pull half flick to give Elworthy an easy catch at short fine leg off Williams with the score at 13. Tendulkar and Dravid then set India on the victory trail with a scintillating partnership which put India in a commanding position. It was Dravid who went after the bowling in the beginning with some classic copy book shots. Tendulkar at the other end looked always dangerous, hitting Crookes for a huge six over long leg. The Indian fifty came up in just 8.1 overs. Sachin also joined the onslaught, hitting Elworthy over the mid-wicket fence for a boundary in the same over. The way Sachin and Dravid were playing, India seemed to be heading for a victory in 45 overs itself. The two batted with aggression, ripping the South African bowling apart. The two brought up the Indian 100 in just 12.4 overs. Sachin reached his fifty in just 37 balls with five fours and three sixes. He also reached another milestone, as he became only the second player in the world to reach 9000 runs in one day cricket after Mohammad Azharuddin, when he scored his 54th run. The 100-partnership for the two came in just 66 balls. Dravid also reached the half century mark off just 50 balls with seven hits to the fence. The two put on a record 180-run second wicket partnership against South Africa beating the previous one of Shastri and Manjrekar who had hit 175 runs in Delhi in 1991. However, disaster struck India after Dravid and Tendulkar were dismissed within minutes of each other. Tendulkar, just seven short of his hundred, top-edged a pull off Crookes to fine leg for Elworthy to take an easy catch. He smashed 93 in 89 balls with seven fours and four sixes. Two balls later, Dravid was run out by a direct throw from Strydom for a remarkable 79 off just 70 balls which included 11 hits to the boundary. This was the turning point in the match as the strong-going India lost momentum and the middle order could not keep the pressure up on the South African bowling. Srinath was sent up the order to keep up the momentum. However, India kept losing wickets at regular intervals to allow South Africa back into contention for the match. India lost newcomer S. Sriram as he edged a delivery from Elworthy to Boucher. He made 12 from 15 balls. Jadeja also could not control the downfall going down at 10, trying to pull Elworthy only to get an inside edge onto the stumps. However, Robin Singh and Srinath once again brought India into the match with a partnership of 38 runs in 5.5 overs before the latter departed for 20 which came in 17 balls with two fours. The next man in, Saba Karim, gave good company to crisis man Robin Singh as the hosts edged closer to victory. Karim striked a quickfire 22 of 17 balls with four hits to the fence. His dismissal, a tame return catch to Klusener, came with just four overs to go and 31 runs required for a win. The Indians, however, refused to give up, plundering 13 runs of the 47th over to bring up the 300 off the innings. The next over saw the back of Robin Singh, the wicket South Africa most wanted, as he gave a catch to Cronje, trying to hoist Klusener over midwicket. Kumble then came in and hit a four and with two overs to go, India needed 12 runs to win. But it was not to be India’s day as two run outs in the 49th over sealed India’s fate. Earlier, after being put into bat, South Africa riding on brilliant half centuries from Gibbs, Boucher and Klusener, posted an imposing 320 for seven in their allotted fifty overs. South Africa: Kirsten run out 1 Gibbs run out 74 Mckenzie c Karim b Kumble 13 Crookes b Kumble 14 Cronje c Dravid b Chopra 38 Boucher c Kumble b Prasad 68 Benkenstein b Tendulkar 24 Klusener not out 75 Strydom not out 0 Extras (lb-1, w-2, nb-10) 13 Total (for 7 wkts in 50 overs) 320 Fall of Wickets: 1-9, 2-42, 3-66, 4-126, 5-161, 6-205, 7-319. Bowling: Srinath 6-0-65-0, Prasad 6-1-46-1, Kumble 10-0-61-2, Chopra 10-0-57-1, Sriram 6-0-36-0, Robin Singh 1-0-6-0, Tendulkar 10-0-31-1, Ganguly 1-0-17-0. India: Ganguly c Elworthy b Williams 6 Tendulkar c Elworthy b Crookes 93 Dravid run out 79 Jadeja b Elworthy 10 Sriram c Boucher b Elworthy 12 Srinath c Strydom b Klusener 20 Robin c Cronje b Klusener 29 Karim c and b Klusener 22 Chopra run out 3 Kumble run out 5 Prasad not out 0 Extras (b-4, lb-8, w-14, nb-5) 31 Total (all out in 48.5 overs) 310 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-193, 3-193, 4-214, 5-221, 6-259, 7-290, 8-304, 9-310. Bowling: Williams
1.5-0-11-1, Crookes 10-1-69-1, McKenzie 0.1-0-0-0,
Elworthy 8-0-50-2, Cronje 9.5-0-62-0, Klusener 9-0-59-3,
Strydom 10-0-47-0. Dravid’s dismissal a ‘turning point’ NAGPUR, March 19 (UNI) — Indian Captain Saurav Ganguly termed the dismissal of Rahul Dravid as the turning point of the match since India lost the momentum they had built up with a great partnership between Sachin and Dravid. “To loose Sachin and Dravid in a space of two balls, especially when they were going on so well, was the real setback for us,” Saurav said. Ganguly defended his decision to play youngsters saying that this was the right opportunity to have them perform. “I am happy with the performance of Sriram,” he added. On the drawbacks of the Indian team, Ganguly said the main grey area of the Indian cricket is the fielding which they would have to improve. Lastly, he said he was looking forward to the tri-nation Sharjah series to be played against South Africa and Pakistan. The South African captain Hansie Cronje was all praises for Lance Klusener, saying that the latter showed his true potential today. Asked whether he had the
apprehension of losing the match even after putting up
320 runs, he candidly admitted that Sachin and Dravid
were intimidating as they were going great guns and
looked like they would turn the match away from them.
“However, after their dismissals, we kept up the
pressure on the Indian batsmen to notch up a creditable
win”, he said. |
Davenport rallies to down Hingis INDIAN WELLS, (California), March 19 (DPA) — Thomas Enqvist made life hard for himself as he spun a difficult 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (10-8) path to victory over holder Mark Philippoussis, winning on his seventh match point for a finals place at the $ 4.95-million Tennis Masters Series last night. The 10th-seeded Swede spent two hours, 31 minutes in taming his big-serving opponent, who notched 24 aces in his losing effort. Enqvist, who finished last year as fourth in the world, is now aiming to become the first Swede to win the title since Stefan Edberg in 1990. Enqvist will square off against Spain’s Alex Corretja, who dispatched eighth seed Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-4. In Saturday’s women’s singles final, Lindsay Davenport recovered from a set and a break down, turning the tables on Martina Hingis 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. The Californian engineered a recovery at mid-match while trailing to hand a stunned Hingis fifth consecutive loss in the pair’s series. Over their last 10 matches, Davenport stands 8-2. Hingis, the longtime Swiss world No 1 who is now in the danger of being overtaken in the rankings by Davenport, has not beaten her rival since the women’s season final in November 1998. “It’s very tough to beat her,” said Davenport, second in the world. “It’s gotten to the point where she doesn’t like to play me. I think the way to beat her is to overpower her. “I’m able to do that. She brings out the best in me, I get fired up when I play her. We only seem to play in the finals now.” Davenport won the last 10 games of the match to run her career record against Hingis to 11-7 after a struggle lasting one hour, 34 minutes. “She was playing a basic game, but very high level in the whole match, my level dropped at the end,” said Hingis. “I was up 4-2 in the second and it should have been 5-2. I made some easy mistakes, you can’t do that against Lindsay.” It was all hard work and slog for Enqvist as he struggled against Philippoussis to earn his second win from three matches in their rivalry. The Swede finally needed seven match points spread over two sets, advancing into the title match when his opponent netted a return. Philippoussis had two match points in the final-set tie-breaker. Enqvist won the opening set and missed a chance to close out the match early as he served for victory leading 5-4 in the second. But Philippoussis came back to break to love, squaring the contest and eventually forcing a tie-breaker. The Swede again looked like he was wrapping it up and getting back to his hotel for in time for dinner. But Philippoussis, seeded 12th had conflicting plans. The Australian warned for smashing a racket during the eighth game, saved five break points in the decider. His huge serve came in handy as he salvaged three of the five through aces and evened the match at a set apiece on his own first opportunity when Enqvist couldn’t touch a forehand winner. In the third set, the pair of seeds traded breaks, with little between them save multiple unforced errors. The unseeded Corretja came good in an Indian Wells semifinal on his sixth try and becomes the second Spaniard in a row after Carlos Moya in 1999 to reach the final here. The one-time world No 3 is completely over the virus which hampered his game in 1999 and now stands 10-3 this season. The Spaniard won his contest against Ecuador’s Lapentti on a thrilling match-point which featured changes of momentum with each strike of the ball as both men scrambled to make long-odds returns. “I don’t practice that kind of match-point every day,” joked Corretja. “It was an amazing point, I don’t know how I made that winning backhand — I must have closed my eyes.” The amiable Spaniard said he never would have thought to make such quick tennis progress again. “The transformation came last November when I had rested, had some time off and started practising again,” he said. “When I came to
Australia, I was in good shape, but I didn’t have
much confidence. I’ve been working day-by-day and
it’s going well.” |
Hard-fought
1-0 victory for BSF LUDHIANA, March 19 — Debutants Border Security Force, Jalandhar, kept alive their hopes of retaining their slot in the National Football League with a hard-fought 1-0 win over FC Kochin at Guru Nanak Stadium here today. Faced with the grim prospects of relegation, BSF fought gallantly to down their rivals through medio Harbinder’s opportunistic strike midway through the first half. The victory boosted BSF’s tally to 16 points and the Jalandhar outfit are only one point behind ITI, Bangalore. Hence both ITI and BSF are in a neck-and-neck race to stave off relegation to the second division. Dempo Sports Club, Goa, are already out for the next edition as they have accumulated only 10 points so far and are placed last on the table. Finding themselves in a must-win situation today, BSF mobilised all their resources to keep FC Kochin under sustained pressure. After a couple of close calls early on, including DS Negi’s unsuccessful attempt following a free kick in the opening minutes, the area-military outfit shot into the lead in the 18th minute when Negi, making amends for his earlier lapses, gave a back pass to medio Harbinder inside the box, Harbinder’s powerful piledriver sailed into the net with FC Kochin goalkeeper Sunday Seah watching helplessly. FC Kochin counter-attacked through Liberian recruit Eugene Gray and at least on one occasion Gray’s header missed the target narrowly. On commencement of the second half, FC Kochin in a planned strategy inducted goalkeeper Sunday Seah into the attack while bringing in Saji Joy to man the goal. Sunday had a good chance to equalise in the 54th minute when a powerful shot by Eguene Gray saw BSF goalie Bibhas Saha making a vain bid to collect but the ball came to Sunday, who, however, shot over in haste. Off a counter attack, BSF missed a golden chance when FC Kochin goalkeeper Saji Joy advanced out of charge to thwart a move and Sane Lama had all the time to put the ball into an empty goal but he fumbled. Seah had another chance shortly thereafter when he managed to dodge into the rival box before sending a chip goalwards but the alert Saha managed to punch the ball out at the cost of a corner. BSF earned a free kick late in the second half but full back Raghbir Singh’s attempt proved futile. Medio J. Oseph, the hero of BSF victory against Mahindras, followed it up with an artistic kick but Saji Joy effected a fine save. In the 80th minute, FC
Kochin were reduced to 10 men when Eugene Gray earned the
red card for punching MG Mandi from behind. Four minutes
later referee Krishanvtar was the target of FC
Kochin’s ire. A free kick by star midfielder Joe
Paul Ancheri curved in dangerously and Saha leapt high to
punch the ball away. However, several FC Kochin players,
who mobbed the referee, felt that the ball had crossed
the goal-line but the referee’s decision was
supported by the linesman who found no merit in their
protest. With time running out, FC Kochin’s
frustration knew no bounds but the sturdy BSF defence
kept the rival forwards in check to ensure full points to
their team. |
Thrilling win for Jyoti Randhawa GURGAON, March 19 (UNI) — Amidst nerve-wrecking tension and high drama local favourite Jyoti Randhawa stunned South Africa’s Sammy Daniels on the second play-off to win the $ 300,000 Wills Indian Open golf here today. At the Jack Nicklaus designed 7,114 yard, par -72 Classic Golf resort, the twice Hero Honda Masters champion doused what was an explosive finish by Daniels and almost repeated the story of last year’s Hero Honda Masters, where they finished in the same order. Randhawa shot a three under 69 on the final day to match Daniels’ 15 under 273 aggregate after the South African equalled the course record with a seven under 65. At the end Daniels went out of bounds with his tee shot on the second play-off. Randhawa, not the one to let go such an advantage, played safely to make a par on the par-five 18th hole of the course for a winner’s cheque of $ 50,010. The victory also took him to the second place in the Davidoff tour Order of Merit behind Yeh Wei Tze of Taiwan. There was a six-way tie for the third place at 14-under 274, an indication of how close things were. That included overnight leader Mike Cunning and Philippines’ Felix Casas, both searching for their first titles on the tour. Also moving in to tied third place was Gaurav Ghei, who shot a superb round of six-under 66. Among other Indians, Vivek Bhandari made a double bogey on the 16th hole from the bunker but managed to finish one-under 71 and in tied 17th place at 10-under 278 for the tournament. Defending champion Arjun Atwal continued to disappoint and a level-par round gave him a tied 21 finish at nine-under 279. Vijay Kumar and Amish Jaitha were the big movers of the day. Vijay shot a four-under 68 to finish tied for 38th place at four-under 284, while Jaitha made a 69 to finish joint 44th. Shiv Kapur of Delhi won the amateur title after shooting a two-under 70 on the final day. He was tied with Rahil Gangjee of Calcutta at one-under 287 but was declared winner on the basis of his last 18 hole score. Ashok Kumar had a disappointing finish with a seven-over 79. “This is without
doubt the greatest win of my career. I am an Indian and
winning my own national open makes me extremely proud. I
don’t think I will feel this elated even if I win
the British Open or the Augusta Masters,” said
Randhawa who broke into tears while hugging his father
after the victory. The senior Randhawa followed his son
throughout the four rounds despite having to walk with
the help of a stick due to a fractured knee. |
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CHENNAI, March 19 (UNI) — Sai Jayalakshmi of Tamil Nadu capped in a fine performance to annex the women’s singles title in the AITA ranking South India Tennis Championship here this evening. The victory was not that easy for Sai, who, down by a set, rallied back splendidly and put paid to the hopes of a fighting Archana Venkataraman of Karnataka in a gruelling three setter. Sai, with a vast experience having played in several ITF Tournaments, won 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3 in a match that lasted two-and-a-half hours. Up against an opponent,
who was known for her fighting qualities, Sai had to dug
deep from her resources, especially in the third set,
when Sai looked like losing control of the match after
gaining a 3-1 lead. The petite Archana posed a lot of
problems to Sai hitting hard from the baseline. |
Flower’s ton puts Zimbabwe ahead PORT-OF-SPAIN, March 19 (AFP) — Andy Flower ground his way to a seventh Test century to give Zimbabwe a useful first innings lead of 49 runs over the West Indies on the rain-hit third day of their historic first cricket Test at Queen’s Park Oval here. The 31-year-old Zimbabwe captain batted through a day when three hours of playing time was lost to rain to gather an unbeaten 113 that was the cornerstone of his side’s 236 all out, in reply to the West Indies first innings total of 187. “To be quite honest, it was the luckiest innings I have ever played,” Flower said afterwards. “I feel lucky that I have got a hundred and it was good enough to get us some sort of a lead.” That was in part a reference to his good fortune the previous day when umpire Steve Bucknor ruled him not out on a gloved catch to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs off Courtney Walsh, but Flower also had the West Indies slip fielders to thank for his good fortune. Third-slip fielder Shivnarine Chanderpaul put him down on 52 off the fourth ball of the day bowled by Walsh and, later, Chris Gayle muffed a “sitter” at first slip when Flower was 60 off the fifth ball following a near 90 minute break for rain. Through it all, Flower remained steadfast to bat for just over seven hours to hit a dozen boundaries from 289 balls and resist all attempts by the West Indies to prise him out. Zimbabwe’s progress was checked twice during the day by rain. First, in the morning period when they resumed from their overnight position of 109 for three and, later, in the afternoon period when just over 90 minutes were lost. Flower and Trevor Gripper shared a purposeful 117-run, fourth-wicket stand that endured the morning rains and the lunch interval when Zimbabwe were 137 for three. In a rain-shortened afternoon period, Curtly Ambrose bounded in to take three wickets to revive the West Indies hopes of limiting Zimbabwe to a modest first innings lead. Rain during lunch delayed the start by an hour and 40 minutes, but the 50 minutes available to the West Indies prior to a rescheduled tea break was all Ambrose needed to carry his tally of wickets on the ground to 63 and end with figures of four for 42 off 25 overs. Finding some bounce and movement from the hard, true pitch, he removed the leaden-footed pair of Gripper for 41 and Alistair Campbell for nought in the space of three balls to leave Zimbabwe 144 for five. Gripper, who batted for five hours and 20 minutes and hit six boundaries from the 220 balls he faced, edged a half-hearted drive low to give Gayle his second catch at first slip. Two balls later, Gripper saw in-form left-hander Alistair Campbell nibble at a ball angled across him to give wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs a simple catch. Stuart Carlisle appeared to be getting the measure of Ambrose when he played a lofted drive over cover for the last of his three fours in 17, but was bowled by a delivery from the Antiguan that moved back and kept low. It left Zimbabwe on 164 for six at tea. For more than two hours in the evening period, Flower and Heath Streak with little fanfare added 68 for the seventh wicket to carry Zimbabwe into the lead. It was during this time that Flower reached his century with a “chip” shot to mid-off for a single off Walsh, armed with the second new-ball. Most of Flower’s runs in his innings were gathered in the arc between third man and extra cover, where he hit the majority of his boundaries. Only one of his fours were on the leg-side. With dark clouds hovering over the ground bringing fading light, the West Indies captain called upon off-spin bowler Chris Gayle and fast bowler Franklyn Rose. They responded with the last four wicket for four runs in the space of 14 balls. Gayle had Streak caught at slip and proceeded to bowl down Henry Olonga and Pommie Mbangwa to end with figures of three for 25 off 15 overs. In between, Rose had Brian Murphy lbw. Scoreboard West Indies (1st innings): 187 Zimbabwe (1st innings): Johnson lbw b Ambrose 0 G. Flower c Campbell b Walsh 0 Gripper c Gayle b Ambrose 41 Goodwin c Gayle b Walsh 20 A. Flower not out 113 Campbell c Jacobs b Ambrose 0 Carlisle b Ambrose 17 Streak c Campbell b Gayle 20 Murphy lbw b Rose 1 Olonga b Gayle 2 Mbangwa b Gayle 0 Extras (b2, lb6, w1, nb13) 22 Total (all out) 236 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-27, 4-144, 5-144, 6-164, 7-232, 8-233, 9-236 Bowling: Ambrose
25-13-42-4, Walsh 28-9-49-2 Rose 19-6-41-1. |
Anand blunders, loses to Shirov MONTE CARLO, March 19 (UNI) — Viswanathan Anand for the second tournament in a row came crashing down against Alexi Shirov. In the third round of Amber Chess tournament here, the Indian grandmaster blundered after being in a winning position in the rapid games section. Anand, however, managed a draw in the blindfold, but this 0.5-1.05 result saw him slip down the standings to joint sixth place. Anand seemed well on his way to a victory in the rapid game, when suddenly he blundered his knight on the 39th move and allowed Shirov to walk out with a bonus victory. In the rapid game which was a French defence, Anand had white and he attacked with vigour. He castled on the queen side and the launched a king side attack. He had Shirov at his march following a bishop sacrifice, and then came a second bishop sacrifice which brought Anand to the doorstep of victory. He, however, missed a winning line on the 28th and even as Shirov struggled, Anand blundered his knight and lost. In the blindfold, Anand had black pieces and used the Caro-Kann defence. He played correctly and arrived at a draw after 50 moves. Last month at the Linares event also Anand had gone down to Shirov and after that never really recovered in the tournament, though a victory towards the end did salvage some reputation. The positive result against Anand put Shirov into the lead with 4.5 points. He shares the lead with Anatoly Karpov and Veselin Topalov after three rounds and six games. The star of the day was Karpov, who blanked Joel Lauter of France 2-0 in both games, blindfold and rapid. Karpov displayed great stamina while beating Lautier in his blindfold game which turned out to be a long 93-move affair. It was rook ending following a Tarrasch defence. In the rapid game Karpov won in 34 moves with black. In another shock result
in rapid games. Ivanchuk stunned Kramnik but the fighter
that Kramnik is, he got back the win in blindforld in
just 23 moves to even out the day’s score to 1-1. |
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LUCKNOW, March 19 (UNI) — Punjab and Sind Bank, won the 20th All-India K.D. Singh “Babu’’ prize money invitation hockey tournament defeating arch-rival and holders Border Security Force, 3-2 in an-all Jalandhar final here yesterday. The match started on a fast note with both teams going on the offensive. The bankmen made a good move in the very first minute of the game and forced a penalty corner. BSF’s goalkeeper Jasin Singh foiled the attempt of PSB’s Parabhdeep. In the sixth minute bank’s Ajitpal Singh made a good try but again the goalkeeper saved it. In the counter-attack, BSF took the lead in the eighth minute when S. Hezen scored the first goal off a rebound from Harbhajan Singh’s try. The bankmen’s equaliser came in the 12th minute when Sanjeev Kumar scored the goal from a free hit. They forged ahead in the 21st minute as Ajit Pal Singh converted the second penalty corner to make it 2-1. BSF were unlucky to lose the match. They made many good attacks and forced seven penalty corners within half an hour but failed to utilise any of them. On the other hand, in a counter-attack bank’s Sandeep Singh Ghuman received the ball from mid field and ran through to score a beautiful goal to make 3-1. BSF reduced the margin just before the final whistle when Habil Topno scored a field goal to make it 2-3. Governor Suraj Bhan gave
away the prizes. Punjab and Sind Bank received Rs 40,000
while Border Security Force had to be satisfied with Rs
25,000. |
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ATHENS, March 19 (AP) — Americans Neil Walker and Jenny Thompson and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar set world marks last evening, continuing the record-shattering week at swimming’s World Short Course Championships. It was the fourth world record in three days for Walker, who completed the 100 metres individual medley in 52.79 seconds to win his event and break the record of 53.10 held by Finland’s Jani Sievien since 1996. Sievien was second in 54.08 seconds, while Britain’s James Hickman was third in 54.38. Alshammar powered her way to a second world record at the championships, taking the 50-metre freestyle in 23.59 and cutting a half second off her previous record of 24.09 seconds, set in December. Germany’s Sandra Voelker was second in 24.77, and Britain’s Alison Sheppard was third in 24.80 seconds. Thompson powered past the competition in the semifinals of the women’s 100 metres butterfly to finish in 56.56 seconds, lowering her previous record of 56.80 set in February in Paris. “I felt a little tired and tense in the warm-up and I didn’t expect to break the world record,” Thompson said. “Why not break the world record again in the final.” The three records on Saturday brought to 12 the number of short-course marks that have fallen in three days. International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch said he was “impressed by the high level of the championships. Mr Samaranch is in Athens for meetings with local organisers of the 2004 Olympics in an effort to convince them to bring the games forward by two weeks from August to July. That would free many international soccer stars from obligations to their professional teams, and allow them to play in the Olympics. Walker twice broke the 50-metre backstroke on Thursday’s opening day, then helped set a third with the men’s 800 metres freestyle relay team on Friday. Along the way, the 23-year-old also broke seven American records and six event records. He was to try for another gold in the 100-metre backstroke today, the last day of the meet. Thompson, a five-time Olympic champion who had the second -fastest time in the 50-metre freestyle, withdrew from the 50 free where she was to face Alshammar to go for the 100 metres fly record. She then led off the American team in the 4 x 100 metres relay, but a very quick Alshammar gave Sweden an easy victory with a time of 3:35.54. Germany was second in 3:37.31 and Britain was third with 3:37.93. The American team was fourth in 3:37.97. In the women’s 100 metres individual medley, Slovakia’s Martina Morakova took the title in 59.71 seconds, Canada’s Marianne Limpert was second in 1:02.00, while Alenka Kejzar of Slovenia was third in 1:02.24. Russia’s Roman Sloudnov, who set a world record in Friday’s semifinals of the 100-metre breaststroke, easily won the final for his first world championship gold in 58.57, ahead of China’s Zhu Yi with 59.99 and another Russian, Roman Ivanovski, third in 1:00.05. Britain’s James Hickman, the world record holder in the 200-metre butterfly, easily took the race in 1:53.57. Canada’s Przemysla Pietucha was second in 1:54.27, while Anatoli Poliakov of Russia followed in 1:54.27.
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TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) — Brazilian veteran Bebeto said he was happy with his debut in Japanese soccer today despite being substituted after 72 minutes of Kashima Antlers 1-0 victory away to Kawasaki Frontale. The 36-year-old World Cup winning striker, who turned down English premier league Sunderland and clubs in Brazil and the USA to join Kashima, was handed his first start by New Antlers boss Toninho Cerezo after sitting out the opening weekend of the season the previous Saturday. Although he looked in good condition, he lacked match-fitness around the box and failed to have one shot at goal before giving way to Olympic team striker Tomoyuki Hirase with 18 minutes to go. By then, Antlers were ahead 1-0 thanks to a 20-metre right-foot drive from left-back Naoki Soma after 28 minutes, a lead they held to register a second successive victory and maximum six points. After the game, Bebeto told reporters: “I am happy to finish my debut with a win. “Before the game I was a bit concerned about my performance because I hadn’t played a competitive match since September or October, I feel I did okay.” Bebeto had been training on his own for two months before joining Antlers on March 7 following a dispute with his previous club Toros Neza of Mexico. “I was very impressed with the Antlers performance,” added Bebeto, a World Cup-winner alongside Romario in 1994. Elswhere on Saturday,
Ossie Ardiles got the better of his former Tottenham
team-mate and Managerial partner Steve Prerryman as the
Yokohama F Marindos won 2-1 away to Shimizu S-Pulse. |
Himachal
soccer squad CHAMBA, March 19 — The Himachal Pradesh football team will play their first match with Bihar on March 26 and second match with Manipur on March 28 in Cluster-II of the 56th National Football Championship being held at Trichur in Kerala. Announcing the team here today, Mr Naresh Khanna, honorary secretary, North Region of the Himachal Pradesh Football Association, said that the following players had been selected to represent the state. Vijay Singh Pathania,
Hitender Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Govind Thapa, Promod Kumar,
Chander Mohan, Pankaj Kumar, Ashwani Kumar, Sunil Kumar,
Bhuveneshwar Singh, Vijay Mankotia, Ramesh Khanna, Mohd
Passa, Dinesh Mehra, Avtar Singh, Neeraj Sharma,
Dharmender Sharma, Pawan Dhiman and Mohinder Handa. |
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