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| Friday, March 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Azhar
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Slater feels he’ll end dismal
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SHARJAH, March 23 (PTI) — Mohammad Azharuddin struck a world record 58th half-century as the Indian batsmen endured a fiery pace attack chasing a low target to score a comprehensive five-wicket victory over Pakistan in their second tie of the Coca Cola Cup one-day cricket triseries here tonight. The Indian bowlers gave a magnificent display to bundle out Pakistan for a paltry 146 in 45.2 overs and then survived some hiccups before inching their way to 149 for five wickets in 43.3 overs at the Sharjah Stadium. The 37-year-old Azharuddin, adjudged Man of the Match, top-scored with 54 (89 balls, 7x4’s) and raised 70 runs for the third wicket with a cautious Rahul Dravid (26 - 70 b, 3x4) after skipper Saurav Ganguly (25 - 32 b, 4x4) and a subdued Sachin Tendulkar (11 - 28 b, 1x4) fell for the addition of just two runs to put India in trouble at 41 for two. Azhar, who notched up a world record 58th fifty to surpass West Indian Desmond Haynes’s 57, and Dravid negotiated the fired up pace trio of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar before stepping up scoring as India overhauled the target with much to spare. India bounced back nicely for their first win in two outings after their chastising 10-wicket loss to South Africa in the lung opener yesterday. India threatened to mess up an easy chase, but Azhar and Dravid showed their tenacity and though India lost a couple of wickets at the end, the target was near. Akram forced a fluent Ganguly to edge an away swinger to wicketkeeper Moin Khan and Tendulkar was adjudged leg before to Akhtar by Sri Lankan umpire Peter Manuel two runs later though TV replays indicated an inside edge. But Azharuddin, who struck a match-winning half-century when he last played against Pakistan in the World Cup Super League tie at Old Trafford last year, emerged the architect of the win. The artistic batsman, playing his 329th one-dayer surpassed Haynes (237 matches) for number of fifties as he alongwith an extremely watchful Dravid authored the recovery. Azhar showed vintage touch as he punished any loose delivery and picked out the off-colour paceman Abdur Razzaq for severe punishment to guide India towards the target. Dravid fell tamely hitting a widish Razzaq ball to short cover, but victory was only 15 runs away when Azhar was out to off-spinner Arshad Khan in the 38th over. The victory was really set up by the bowlers who struck early blows and then effected a sensational middle and lower order capitulation after Inzamam-ul Haq (41) put on 57 runs for the third wicket with 18-year-old opener Imran Nazir (43 - 51 b, 5x4, 1x6) and 46 more with Yousuf Youhana (17) steadied the innings. Scoreboard Pakistan (1st innings): Imran Nazir b Joshi 43 Shahid Afridi c Azhar b Prasad 0 Razzaq c Jadeja b Agarkar 2 Inzamam c Karim b Singh 41 Youhana run out 17 Younis Khan b Kumble 0 Moin Khan lbw b Joshi 14 Akram b Prasad 10 Younis run out 0 Arshad Khan b Kumble 1 Shoaib not out 9 Extras (lb-4, nb-1, w-4) 9 Total (all out in 45.3 overs) 146 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-5, 3-62, 4-108, 5-108, 6-110, 7-128, 8-128, 9-131. Bowling: Agarakar 8-1-31-1, Prasad 10-0-29-2, Kumble 10-4-26-2, Joshi 9.3-1-29-2, Tendulkar 4-0-21-0, Singh 4-0-6-1. India: Ganguly c Moin b Akram 25 Tendulkar lbw b Akhtar 11 Dravid c sub (Malik) b Razzak 26 Azharuddin c Younis b Arshad 54 Jedeja not out 11 Robin run out 7 Karim not out 0 Extras (1b-4, nb-4, w-7) 15 Total (for 5 wickets, 43.3 overs) 149 Fall of wickets: 1/39, 2/42, 3/111, 4/132, 5/145. Bowling: Wasim Akram
8-1-33-1, Waqar Younis 7-2-15-0, Shoaib Akhtar 8-3-19-1,
Abdur Razzak 8-1-42-1, Arshad Khan 7.3-3-21-1, Shahid
Afridi 5-1-15-0. |
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SHARJAH, March 22 (PTI) — They have different backgrounds. They took separate routes. But Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are on their way to becoming the most celebrated opening pair in the history of the one-day game. One short and stocky. The other lean and seemingly fragile. Together, their avalanches of fours and sixes have raised over 3,500 runs for the first wicket. The current benchmark of 4,638 runs by West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes is in imminent danger. They have nine century stands between them, six short of the 15 by the legendary Caribbean openers. Between them, they keep it simple. “We don’t try to ape each other. He plays his game and I my own style and we click,” says Ganguly, who has taken over the responsibility of captaincy from his illustrious opening partner.” Tendulkar (26) is a genius recognised from the school level. Since his debut in 1989 at the age of 15, his stock has only kept soaring. Ganguly began his international career in the 1991-92 tour of Australia as a teenager only to be banished for four years, fuelling the impression he owed his break to his family’s position rather than talent. The backgrounds were dissimilar. Tendulkar, son of a Marathi professor and an LIC agent. Ganguly, a progeny of a printing press tycoon who enjoyed rare position in the Cricket Association of Bengal. The styles are different too. Tendulkar, a product of the hard school of Mumbai cricket, looks to manipulate the field, mixing his imperious strokeplay with a heavy bat with hard running between the wickets and extremely comfortable playing all strokes in the book of the game. Ganguly, in contrast had no appreciation for hard work, hated taking quick singles and hardly scored a run on the onside. But he more than made up with his graceful off-side play, caressing the ball to the fence in the region between square third man to extra cover with panache. But ever since the destinies of one of the hardest hitters of the game and the lazily elegant left-hander converged, they have thrived. Ganguly made a roaring comeback to the Indian team on the tour of England in 1996, scoring a Test hundred on debut at no less a venue than the Lord’s — a year when Tendulkar was on his way to becoming the Indian captain. Ganguly and Tendulkar were back as teammates, but not in one-dayers. The former’s introduction as an opener in the limited overs game was perhaps the most significant — and far-reaching — decision made by the batting maestro as skipper. But the antipathy against Ganguly would not go away so easily. In the opening Sahara Cup in Toronto in 1996, he was ignored in a couple of games. Then in the West Indies, he was not considered for the first one-dayer against the Caribbeans in 1997. Then luck intervened. The match was washed out. Replayed the next day, Ganguly found himself included and put on a century stand facing Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose on a sticky wicket. Tendulkar still rates his 50-odd runs in the one-day game as his most satisfying. There was no looking back. Their attacking style jelled perfectly with the fielding restrictions providing the ideal platform. South African skipper Hansie Cronje, who is fresh from the mauling at the hands of the two in India, said: “They don’t need to run hard together — they simply hit so many boundaries.” Pakistan skipper Moin Khan concurs. “They are bowlers’ nightmare. The right-left combination doesn’t allow the attack to settle down.” The two are fond of exchanging notes before the start of an innings and then in the middle. Both are cordial and respectful of each other’s ability. While they complement each other, they don’t try to outdo each other. They are not competitive against each other at the crease. They have their own space to work out and this liberty of theirs leaves bowlers with no room at all! “I would say there is no magic formula behind our success,” says Ganguly. “We just have a common goal and that is to score runs and give the team a good, solid start.” Such common sense approach has produced nine century opening partnerships between them, including the highest of 251 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1997-98. Ganguly has 12 hundreds to Tendulkar’s world record 25 and their respective tallies of 5346 and 9043 at 43.81 and 42.45 at the start of the Sharjah Cup Tournament promises many more glorious moments for Indian cricket. Is it time to take this success to the Test arena? Cronje thinks so. “It will be very, very interesting to see if they can produce the same magic in Tests.” Ganguly is not so sure.
“I am not so sure. I have batted at different orders
in Test cricket. Tendulkar has always been a number four
player. Then Tests are different. But what can you tell
about tomorrow?” |
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MONTE CARLO, March 23 (UNI) — Vishwanathan Anand has moved into top gear with a superb blindfold win over co-leader Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and wrested the sole lead in the blindfold section of the Amber Chess Tournament. The Indian Grandmaster who went through a bad patch in the rapid section, usually seen as his forte and strength, has been in excellent form in the blindfold section, where he has won four of his six games. He now leads the section with five points out of a maximum of six. But in six games in rapid, he has only 2.5 points and is lying joint seventh with Vladimir Kramnik. Anand also drew his rapid game with Topalov earlier and with it had a 1.5-0.5 result against Topalov, who slipped from the overall first position. Anand with some pleasing chess has climbed to the overall joint third position with Anatoly Karpov, both of whom now have 7.5 points. The overall top position changed hands and Alexi Shirov, who had a 1.5-0.5 result against Predrag Nikolic in the sixth round now has nine points, while Topalov is second at 8.5 points. While Anand leads the blindfold section, Alexi Shirov with five leads the rapid section. Anand was highly impressive in the win against Topalov in the blindfold game. When the first rapid game between them ended in a draw after a long fight, the two were back for the blindfold. Anand got a much better game, but he seemed to have lost it for a while by playing too eagerly for a win. Topalov got some counterplay, but then Anand came up with a beautiful plan, which was followed by a mating attack. The plan was excellent considering it was a blindfold game, where the players only have a blank board to look at. Shirov drew the first game, the rapid, with black against Nikolic. It was an exchange variation of the Slav in which Nikolic sacrificed a piece for two pawns and the attack, but it was not enough for a win. In blindfold Shirov with white did not get any special advantage against the PIRC defence from his rival. But Nikolic did not come up with the correct follow up and lost in the endgame. Results of the sixth round: Rapid play: Topalov drew with Anand; Gelfand drew with Lautier Nikolic drew with Shirov. Blindfold: Shirov beat Nikolic Anand beat Topalov; Karpov drew with Piket Van Wely lost to Kramnik; Ljubojevic beat Ivanchuk Lautier drew with Gelfand. Standings: Rapid play standings: 1. Shirov 5.0 2. Topalov 4.5 3. Ivanchuk 4.0 4. Van Wely and Karpov 3.5 6. Gelfand 3.0 7. Anand and Kramnik 2.5 9. Piket, Lautier and Nikolic 2.0 12 Ljubojevic 1.5. Blindfold standings: 1. Anand 5.0 2. Karpov, Kramnik, Shirov and Topalov 4.0 6. Piket 3.5 7 Ljubojevic and Gelfand 2.5 9. Van Wely 2.0 10. Nikolic, Ivanchuk and Lautier 1.5. Combined standings: 1.
Shirov 9.0 2. Topalov 8.5 3. Anand and Karpov 7.5 5.
Kramnik 6.5 6. Piket, Van Wely, Ivanchuk and Gelfand 5.5
10. Ljubojevic 4.0 11. Nikolic and Lautier 3.5. |
30-plus brigade finds going tough SHARJAH, March 23 (PTI) — Under the new dispensation of captain Sourav Ganguly, Javagal Srinath was dropped from the team for the second match of the tri-series against Pakistan here this afternoon even though for public posturing the reason stated was a groin injury. India’s premier fast bowler of the last decade, Srinath has missed matches in the past because of injury or when he was given a break from the rigours of international cricket. But never was he considered a liability on the team. Ganguly’s message is clear: shape up or ship out. This is a signal which has hotted up the stakes for the two other major Indian bowlers of the 90s — Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad. The three enjoy a rare position in the history of one-day internationals. Kumble (260 wickets from 197 matches), Srinath (252 — 187m) and Prasad (170 — 143m) are third, fifth and 18th best performers ever. That they have picked up 276 (Kumble, 61 matches), 168 (Srinath, 46 matches) and 85 (Prasad, 29 matches) Test wickets in their illustrious careers make them inarguably the main bowling arsenal of India in the international arena in the last decade. But signs of poor form, brought about by age and the relentless grind of one-day cricket, are forcing a reassessment of their future. Srinath, Kumble and Prasad all are 30-plus bowlers who have borne the brunt of more than their fair share of burden because younger, newer bowlers have not come forward and staked their claims. Ajit Agarkar burst on the international scene with 50 wickets in his first season but since then injury and indisciplined bowling methods have restricted his overall figures to 80 wickets from 50 matches. Indeed, the 22-year-old Mumbaikar has conceded over 50 runs in 18 of his 50 one-day internationals. “What can you do,” lamented the Indian coach Kapil Dev. “This is the best talent we have in the country.” Ganguly, like his predecessors, is aghast at the line his bowlers have stuck to in recent times. “The line is not good, not good at all. There are far too many loose deliveries,” said the Indian captain. The recent series have been a pointer to their diminishing abilities. On dead home pitches, Srinath was rested in the first three games and played in the last two one-dayers. His figures of just one wicket from two matches for 125 runs — an average of 8.33 per over — were embarrassing. Kumble went for 216 runs from five games at 36.50 average and six wickets while Prasad conceded 46 in his six overs for one wicket at 7.66 runs per over. Agarkar, who played four of the five games, went for 186 runs and picked up just three wickets for 62.00 bowling average. No wonder the marauding South African batsmen had a field day and scored 300 runs in practically every outing in India. Only a rare batting flight allowed the Indians to prevail 3-2. Yesterday, Srinath went for 25 from four overs, Agarkar 29 from five and Kumble 37 from seven against South Africa in the series opener. Srinath redeemed himself in batting by making 30 but he had been nearly dropped even in yesterday’s game before he was given one more opportunity. Clearly, Ganguly believes cricketers should earn their places in the side and not take their positions for granted or the fact there are no other alternatives in sight. The message is: it is better to try out untried and unknown talent rather than pamper the tested yet failing heroes. If it creates vacuum, so
be it. |
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MHOW, March 23 (UNI) — On a day highlighted by poor putting, Binod Pandey posted a fine one-under 68, to lead the field at the Eicher Central India Open 2000, Golf here today. Placed joint second at level-par 69 were Mukesh Kumar Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Kumar and Rajiv Kumar. Defending champion Ali Sher was joint 11th at two-over 71. Binod Pandey found form early on with a string of birdies on the 4th, 5th and 7th. But for an unfortunate hat-trick of bogeys, on the 9th, 10th and 11th where he two-putted from three, four and two feet, respectively, the stocky pro would have turned a far better card than the one-under 68 that he returned with. His best finish this season has been a 7th place finish at the Wills Southern Open, Bangalore. Local lad Mukesh Kumar began by parring all the holes of his outward journey. A birdie on the 10th, on his return journey, bogeys on the 11th, 13th and 15th and an excellent eagle on the par-4 16th, set up by a well hit 3-wood saw him card a level-par 69 for the day. Mukesh has victories at the Wills Northern Open, the Tiger Sports Marketing Open and the Sir Padampat Singhania Open to his credit this season. He had grossed Rs 7,58,863 in prize money. Vijay Kumar began in poor style, two-putting from 8-inches for bogey on the very fist hole. A hat-trick of bogeys on the 4th, 5th and 6th, further worsened things for him as he slipped to four-under, with 12 holes left to play. However, steeling up from thereon, like only he can, the two time ‘’Mahidra Golfer of the year’’ award winner, birdied the 8th, 13th, 16 and 18th to end the day at level-par 69. Scores: 68 Binod Pandey, 69 Mukesh Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, Shiv Prakash, Rajiv Kumar, 70 D. Raghuvanshi, Jumman, Raju Ali, Ranjit Singh, 71 Ali Sher, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, Ravi Yadav, Mohd. Maqbool, Gast Ram. Amateurs: 77 P.K.S.
Bedi, 82 Ajay Singh, 83 K.M.S. Shergill, N.P. Singh, Sher
Amir. |
Johnson to try for third world record JOHANNESBURG, March 23 (Reuters) — Michael Johnson will attempt to add the record in the rarely contested 300 metres to the world marks he holds in 200 and 400 metres at the biggest meet on the South African calendar tomorrow. Johnson, who clocked the fourth-fastest 200 metres time in history - 19.71 seconds - in Pietersburg on Saturday, announced yesterday he would deviate from his original programme and run the 300 metres instead of the 200 in Pretoria. “I think it’s a great opportunity to perhaps break the world record in the 300. It would be great to be able to do it here in South Africa. The support has been great,” he said. “I feel very good after my race last week. I feel like I’m in great shape at this point, so if it’s there, I’m going to go for it and I hope I can be successful. The world record is 31.48 seconds set by American Danny Everett and Cuban Roberto Hernandez in Spain in September 1990. “I was at 31.66 at the 300 metre mark in my 400 world record last year. I think that it’s possible, I know that I’m capable of doing it, but it’s a very difficult record to break,” Johnson said. “A lot of people have tried. I’ve come close. I ran 31.56 back in 1994, which was the last time I ran the distance”. “But based on my performance the other day and the shape that I’m in, I feel very confident.” Referring to the question of his race strategy, Johnson said it was a little like ‘’shooting in the dark’’. “The difficulty in running the 300 metres is that you can’t take what you did in the last race and apply it to the next race, because (in my case) the last race was 1994, so it’s difficult to gain some consistency and work out the mistakes”. “I have to just go out there based on what I know about what kind of shape I’m in right now, and based on my race last week, and develop a strategy”. “I’ll talk to my coach and get his perspective, but I think that basically the smart approach is when in doubt, take it out, which means go out there, run hard and see what I come up with and try not to hold back too much ”. “It would probably be smart to lean more towards a 200 metre strategy than a 400 metres strategy.’’ Fellow American Kevin Braunskill, who last ran the distance in 1998 and has a best time of 31.79 seconds, will also be in the field. “He’s right.
When in doubt, you’ve got to take it out.
That’s the way Hernandez and Everett did it,”
Braunskill said. |
Williams pulls out of masters series MIAMI, March 23 (AFP) — It has a new name, a new designation and, supposedly, a new home. So it’s only appropriate the Tennis Masters Series event which begins here has a new women’s champion as well. Third-ranked Venus Williams withdrew from the 5.725 million-dollar WTA and ATP event here yesterday because of tendinitis in both wrists that has kept her sidelined all season has not improved enough for her to defend her crown. “I’m feeling much better and have practised lightly a few times in the past weeks, but am still in pain,” Williams said in a statement released by the WTA. “I have been advised by my doctors not to play. My wrists are still not 100 per cent and my main goal right now is getting back to playing tennis again.” The event, which has a new sponsor after 15 years, will continue to be played in Key Biscayne. But the new backers wanted a complete break from the past and have changed the official site designation of the event to Miami. First prize for the men’s champion is $ 410,000, $ 60,000 more than that for the new women’s champion. Williams, who also missed the Australian Open due to sore wrists, intends to return on May 1 at the Hamburg Cup with an eye toward the French Open later that month. The American’s absence helps clear the stage for the marquis battle for women’s world number one between top-ranked Swiss teen Martina Hingis and second-ranked American Lindsay Davenport, the Australian Open champion. Davenport is 191 points behind Hingis but has beaten her five times in a row, most recently last Saturday at the Masters Series event in Indian Wells, California. Hingis has been atop the rankings since August 9. Davenport has got off to the best start of her career with a 19-1 record and has reached six consecutive finals, going back to last season. If she can advance farther than Hingis in the 96-woman field, Davenport can take the top spot. France’s Mary Pierce, a semi-finalist in her past two events, is seeded third. Pierce snapped out of a slump after some training sessions with her father Jim in Florida. His antics at past events and in her younger training days have made Pierce require the WTA to be notified whenever her father intends to attend a match of hers. Serena Williams, the fifth seed, returns to the site where she lost to sister Venus, 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, in last year’s highly-anticipated final. Serena is 13-3 this year with a victory at Hannover. She lost to Pierce in a quarter-final last week. Questions surround world number one Andre Agassi and second ranked Pete Sampras as Americans set the pace. Agassi wants to rebound from consecutive losses after a 10-0 start to 2000 that included the Australian Open title. A champion here in 1990, 1995 and 1996, Agassi hopes to have a longer stay in Florida than he did last year, when he lost in the second round to Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia. He was ousted in his first matches earlier this month at Scottsdale, Arizona, and Indian Wells. Sampras hopes to bounce back from his quarter-final loss at Indian Wells. The American struggled in his return from a back injury last week, needing three sets to pull out second and third-round victories before losing to eventual runner-up Thomas Enqvist of Sweden. Sampras, a two-time champion, also was hampered by a strained hip flexor suffered in a semi-final loss to Agassi at the Australian Open which forced him out of the first round of the Davis Cup. Overall, the 12-time Grand Slam champion has compiled a 9-2 record this season. Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, a second-round loser at Indian Wells, is seeded third, followed by Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and Magnus Norman of Sweden. Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, Enqvist and Marcelo Rios of Chile round out the top eight seeds. Defending champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands is not playing due to injury. Krajicek defeated France’s Sebastien Grosjean, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5, in last year’s final. The top 32 seeds in both
the men’s and women’s draw receive byes into
the second round. |
Slater feels he’ll end dismal run WELLINGTON, March 23 (AFP) — Opener Michael Slater believes he can end his frustrating run for Australia as they chase a record-breaking win against New Zealand here tomorrow. If Australia win the second Test to clinch the series they also eclipse the national record of eight straight Test wins. And captain Steve Waugh has called on the batsmen to deliver. The bowlers dragged Australia to a 62-run win in the first Test in Auckland last week after the batsmen failed to adjust to a turning wicket in their first hit-out since breaking a stack of records during the one-day season. “I don’t think we played Test match cricket in the last two innings at Eden Park and we’ve talked about being more responsible and protecting our wicket a bit more,” Waugh said. The Basin Reserve wicket will be more suitable for the batsman, even though it almost glowed yellow today when ground staff peeled off the covers for the first time in 36 hours. It is expected to flatten out after the first morning, which could test Slater’s promise that his scoring drought is about to end. The explosive opener failed to reach double figures in his last four Test innings after surging through one of his best years. “It’s got to be put into perspective. The game goes in cycles and at the moment I’ve had a few Tests without big performances but it will happen and it will happen soon,” Slater said. “My feet are moving well and I’m seeing the ball early. Because of that it’s only a matter of time and it’s all about feeling good about yourself.
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HOA
releases sport calendar Chandigarh, March 23 —The Haryana Olympic Association (HOA) has given a new dimension to the promotion and development of sport in the state by introducing an annual sport calendar. Sport activities to be carried out during the year are highlighted in the calendar. The calendar which commences with the month of May, 2000, ends on April, 2001. While no state-level sport activities have been billed for May, in June the state will celebrate Olympic Day on June 23. In July and August again no state-level activities have been planned. District-level championships in all games will be held in Haryana from September 3 to 12. District sport festivals will be organised by the district Olympic associations from September 17 to 22. State championships in all games for seniors will be conducted from September 27 to October 5 by all affiliated state associations. This will be followed by the XVIth Haryana State Sports Festival at Rohtak from October 13 to 16. The month of November has been kept blank so that the state contingent can take part in the National Games scheduled to be conducted by the neighbouring state of Punjab. State championships for
junior and subjuniors will be conducted by the respective
state sport associations from December 5 to 20 while
sport clinics and seminars are scheduled to be held in
the third week of January, 2001. The annual calendar will
end with the state-level cash award function scheduled to
be held in the second week of February next year. |
32
grapplers for coaching camp HISAR, March 23 — The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has selected 32 grapplers for the national coaching camp for selecting the Indian team for Asian free style wrestling championship to be held in China from April 26 to 28 this year, according to Mr V.M. Dutta, Secretary-General of the WFI. A 30-day camp will be held at NIS Patiala from March 25 to April 25. Six grapplers each from Delhi and the RSPB, five, from Punjab and four from Haryana are among the 32 grapplers who have been selected on their performance in the previous national wrestling championships. The following have been invited: 54kg: Manoj Kumar (RSPB), Bijender Singh (Haryana), Rakesh Kumar (Delhi), Sushil Kumar (Delhi-junior). 58kg: Kirpa Shanker (RSPB), Raj Kumar (MP), Surender Singh (Pb), Sanjay Kumar (SSCB). 63kg: Mukesh Kumar (Pb), Sheokinder Tomar (RSPB-junior), Ombir (HP-junior), Pawan Kumar (Manipur). 69kg: Bijender Singh (Haryana), Chand Ram (Chandigarh), Ram Phal (Pb), Sandeep (HP), Ramesh (Delhi-junior). 76kg: Sujeet Mann (Haryana), Ashok Kumar (AIU-junior), Joginder Singh (Delhi), one wres- tler from RSPB. 97kg; Amandeep Sondhi (AIU-junior), Bhagat Singh (UP) and Anil Mann (Delhi-junior). Plus 97 kg: Rajiv Tomar (RSPB), Sarwar Singh (Pb), Surender Nad (Haryana), Palwinder Cheema (Punjab-junior). Reserve wrestlers: 54kg:
Dharmender (SSCB), 69kg, Devinder (Raj), Harwinder Singh
(Pb) and Parminder Singh (Chandigarh). |
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NEW DELHI, March 23 (PTI) — Indian women put up a splendid performance to outclass Germany and clinch 2-0 the three-Test junior hockey (u-21) series which ended in Hanover on March 16. India defeated Germany 3-1 in the first Test on March 14 with Sanggai Chanu, Suman Bala and Kiran Bala sounding the boards for India, according to an Indian Women’s Hockey Federation release here today. The girls then edged out their German rivals 3-2 on the next day to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series, organised to give the girls international exposure and match practice ahead of the 3rd Junior Women’s Asian Cup to be held at Kuala Lumpur from May 3 to 14. Chanu once again starred
for India, slamming in a brace while Meenakshi struck the
third goal. The third game ended in a 1-1 draw with
Simarjeet Kaur scoring for India. |
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THRISSUR, March 23 (UNI) — FC Kochin recorded a facile four-zero victory over Dempo Sports Club, Goa in the second leg of the National Football League Tournament here today at the Municipal Stadium. Isacc Tondo (2), Tejinder Kumar and Sunday Seah scored for the winners. With this win, FC Kochin climbed to the fourth position in the NFL table with 34 points from 21 matches. Dempo remained wooden spoonists with 10 points from 21 matches. The match began on a slow pace with both teams failing to settle down. FC Kochin however, got into an attacking mood with the induction of medio Tejinder Kumar in place of Mohammed Shafeeq. They took the lead in the 26th minute through liberian striker Isacc Tondo who gave finishing touches to a fine move down the middle involving AS Feroz, Noel Wilson and Tejinder. Towards the interval,
Tondo came within an ace of scoring off a pass from
co-striker Ram Rai, but his header was foiled by the
cross bar. |
Boxing
title for Bilaspur BILASPUR, March 23 — Bilaspur won the three-day Nalwaadi Fair North Zone Boxing Championship here last evening while Punjab were declared runners-up. In this championship Bilaspur “A” team excelled in pin weight and Bilaspur “B” were second while in light fly weight Chandigarh stood first and Haryana finished second. In fly weight Delhi stood first and Bilaspur were second. In bantam weight Punjab stood first and Bilaspur finished second. In light weight Punjab stood first and Bilaspur second and in light welter weight Punjab finished on top and Chandigarh were second. The other results : Welterweight — Delhi (first) ,Chandigarh (second); Middleweight — Haryana (first), Punjab (second); and Heavyweight — Bilaspur (first). Mr Krishan Kumar
Kaushal, Chairman, HP State Cooperative Bank , presided
over the prize distribution function. As many as 55
boxers from five states participated. |
National
kabaddi meet from today CHANDIGARH, March 23 —The 13th Senior National Circle Kabaddi Championship will be held on March 24 at Dhariwal (Gurdaspur), according to Mr JP Sharma, secretary, Amateur Circle Kabaddi Federation of India. Teams from 15 states have so far confirmed their participation in this three-day meet which will be inaugurated by Mr Natha Singh Dalam. Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister Punjab, will be the chief guest on the closing day. The matches will be played on league-cum- knockout basis. According to Mr SK
Sandhu, Chairman organising committee, the cultural
programmes during these days will also be held and
prominent artistes like Dara Singh, Mehar Mittal and
other Punjabi artistes will stage their shows. |
Cup ticket price almost double TOKYO, March 23 (AP) — The average ticket price for the 2002 football World Cup to be played in Japan will be almost twice as much as tickets sold for the 1998 games in France, a major Japanese newspaper said today. Japan will co-host the 2002 World Cup with South Korea. Japan has the right to stage 32 matches, half of the total. The average price of
about 1.5 million tickets, allotted for sale in Japan,
will be around $ 160 per ticket, the Yomiuri newspaper
said, quoting unidentified sources. |
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