S P O R T

Badani, Robin flay Mumbai attack
MUMBAI, April 11 — Unbeaten centuries by Hemang Badani (162 batting) and captain Robin Singh (142 batting) put the Mumbai attack to the sword as Tamil Nadu took the first days honours making 397 for four after being put into bat at close of play on the first day of the five-day Ranji Trophy semifinal being played at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

Laxman, Azhar slam centuries
BANGALORE, April 11 — Skipper Mohd Azharuddin (103 batting) and V V S Laxman (163 batting) slammed unbeaten centuries and added a record 253 runs for the unseparated third wicket to propel Hyderabad to a strong position at 344 for two against defending champions Karnataka on the opening day of the five-day Ranji Trophy cricket semi-finals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here today.

(FILES) Picture shows South African skipper Hansie Cronje posing with the trophy after South Africa beat India in the second test by an inning and 71 runs to take the Pepsi series 2-0 and end India's 13 year unbeaten home record. New Delhi police have registered charges against skipper Gronje and other members of his team for match fixing during the recent one-day series with India, a highly placed police source said — AFP photo

Cronje’s tale of fall from grace NEW DELHI, April 11 — Regarded as an uncompromising leader who took South African cricket to dizzy heights in the post-apartheid era, skipper Hansie Cronje’s stunning admission to accepting bribe to fix games in his team’s recent Indian tour has left the entire sporting world speechless. Cronje fact file DURBAN, April 11 — Factfile on South African captain Hansie Cronje, who was sacked today from a one-day series against Australia in the wake of a match-fixing controversy. Moment of shame for sports: Kapil

Badani, Robin flay Mumbai attack

MUMBAI, April 11 (UNI) — Unbeaten centuries by Hemang Badani (162 batting) and captain Robin Singh (142 batting) put the Mumbai attack to the sword as Tamil Nadu took the first days honours making 397 for four after being put into bat at close of play on the first day of the five-day Ranji Trophy semifinal being played at the Wankhede Stadium here today.

Badani and Robin Singh came together in the 40th over with Tamil Nadu at 149 for four. After that what followed was total annihilation of the Mumbai attack by the two on a perfect batting wicket.

Both of them started sedately in the beginning, but opened out as they saw no dangers in the wicket to tear apart the Mumbai bowling to shreds, making them pay for what seemed on hindsight as a massive error by the Mumbai thinktank to put the opposition into bat after winning the toss. The Mumbai wicket, which has had some juice in it this season with good movement and bounce available for the bowlers, however, played extremely easy with no movement whatsoever on a track devoid of any grass.

Robin Singh and Badani were also helped with some sloppy ground fielding. Robin Singh started off with a cover driven four off spinner Ramesh Powar to bring up the Tamil Nadu 150. Badani then joined in flicking Saxena for four to five leg boundary and then hit a scorching cover drive of Agarkar for another boundary.

Badani, who had come in to bat in the third over mastered the weather conditions, which were hot and humid, along with the Mumbai bowlers playing shots on all the sides of the wickets. His driving and cut was a treat to watch for the few handful of spectators who had turned up for the match.

Robin Singh wanting to prove a point to the selectors that he is also a good longer version player seemed to be in an aggressive mood hitting straight sixes of Powar as well as the left arm spinner Pawar.

Badani brought up his hundred with a single to short cover which came in 276 minutes after having faced 163 balls with 17 hits to the fence. He opened up after reaching his hundred with a huge six over midwicket of Ramesh Powar. He then executed a scorching cover drive in the same over for a four.

Robin Singh, meanwhile, went from strength to strength as he tore the Mumbai attack apart. He reached his fifty of just 75 balls with six boundary hits and two sixes. He reached his hundred also in style straight driving Kuruvilla to the fence. His hundred came in just 129 balls with 11 boundaries and three sixes.

The Mumbai skipper took the new ball in the 81st over. However, this also did not have any effect on the two as Robin Singh hooked Kuruvilla for a six, with Badani hitting two fours in the same over off Agarkar.

The Mumbai captain Sameer Dighe tried to give sport spells to his bowlers due to the heat and humidity, but they just could not make any dents into the defence of the two as they ended the day having put on 248 undefeated runs for the fifth wicket.

Earlier, the Mumbai captain Dighe decided to put the opposition in after winning the toss. The decision seemed to pay dividends as S. Sriram was dismissed by Agarkar in only the third over for just two runs as he tried to pull half-cock only to get an outside edge to keeper Dighe.

S. Ramesh, who is trying to show the selectors that he has regained full fitness after his thumb injury, seemed in good knock and along with Badani took the Tamil Nadu score to 97 when he was run out after responding to Badani’s call for a short single only to be found short of his ground by a direct throw from Amol Mujumdar. He made 44 runs with six boundaries and was looking set for a big score before his innings was cut short.

Mumbai then came back strongly capturing two more wickets that of J. Madanagopal and S. Sharath cheaply to leave Tamil Nadu at 149 for four just after lunch.

For Mumbai Agarkar, Saxena and Powar captured a wicket each. Mumbai will be now looking at their strong batting line up to bail them out of the trouble they have found themselves in after the end of the first day.

Scoreboard

Tamil Nadu (first innings):

Sriram c Dighe b Agarkar 2

Ramesh run out 44

Badani batting 162

Madangopal c Dighe b Saxena 4

Sharath c Muzumdar b Powar 12

Robin Singh batting 142

Extras (b 10, lb 12, nb 7, wb 2) 31

Total (for 4 wkts, in 90 overs) 397

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-97, 3-108, 4 -149.

Bowling: Agarkar 19-3-60-1, Saxena 14-1-65-1, Kuruvilla 19-4-77-0, Tendulkar 10-0-46-0, Powar 17-2-74-1, Pawar 11-2-53-0.

Laxman, Azhar slam centuries

BANGALORE, April 11 (UNI) — Skipper Mohd Azharuddin (103 batting) and V V S Laxman (163 batting) slammed unbeaten centuries and added a record 253 runs for the unseparated third wicket to propel Hyderabad to a strong position at 344 for two against defending champions Karnataka on the opening day of the five-day Ranji Trophy cricket semi-finals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here today.

Sending Hyderabad in to bat, only skipper B K Venkatesh Prasad made use of the green top wicket and he claimed both the wickets that fell, conceding 53 runs. The other two pace bowlers, Doda Ganesh and Mansoor Ali Khan, failed to get purchase from the strip.

Azharuddin and Laxman, who enjoyed lives, bettered the record of Vijay Mohan Raj and Narasimha Rao of 208 runs for the second wicket against Karnataka made in 1979-80.

Laxman, who was dropped when he was on 30 by Rowland Barrington in the bowling of Sunil Joshi, went on to score his 17th century and seventh this season, including three in a row, and his 358-minute undefeated knock is studded with 25 boundaries and a massive six off Sunil Joshi. Azharuddin, playing his first Ranji semi-finals in 19 years, struck his 10th century and has 14 boundaries.

Karnataka solely missed speedster Javagal Srinath, who cried out because of a groin injury, against the strong batting line-up of Hyderabad.

The visitors lost the wickets of both the openers with Daniel Manohar making 39 and Nanda Kishore contributing 11.

Venkatesh Prasad, who is leading the side for only second time, bowled well in the opening spell and troubled the batsmen. He drew first blood when Nanda Kishore chased an outside the off stump delivery into the hands of Vijay R Bharadwaj in the second slip for just 11 runs.

Karnataka could not achieve the breakthrough for a long time thereafter. Laxman, who had scored centuries in both the innings against Uttar Pradesh in the quarter-finals, played some superb shots and appeared to be set for another big knock.

However, when his individual score was on 30 with the side being on 89, Laxman was lucky as young Rowland Barrington dropped an easy chance offered by the stylish Hyderabad player. As Laxman went for a drive, he could not keep the ball down and Barrington failed to hold on to it.

Two runs later, Daniel Manohar attempting to drive Venkatesh Prasad was taken by Thilak Naidu for 39, which included three boundaries. Thereafter, two of the Hyderabad’s top batsmen sent Karnataka bowlers on a leather hunt. Venkatesh Prasad made frequent changes but could not achieve the breakthrough. Azharuddin was lucky three times as slip fielders failed to catch on to the chances.

Mohd Azharuddin, who recently made a grand comeback into the Indian team by scoring a century against South Africa in the Test on the same venue, was in his elements from the beginning and handled the attack well.

However, Akhil failed to hold on to a chance in the slip in the bowling of Venkatesh Prasad and Azharuddin was on just 16 and Hyderabad were 139 for two.

In one over of Mansoor Ali Khan, Azharuddin got two lives. First Vijay Bharadwaj was late in reacting to the edge when Azharuddin was on 41. Again, the ball sailed over tall Akhil’s head for four. Otherwise, Azharuddin struck some beautiful boundaries during his 10th century.

Hyderabad went into tea at 203 for two. On return, Laxman scored his seventh century of the season driving Akhil to mid on. He had 17 boundaries in his century. Laxman also crossed a personal milestone of 1000 runs in a season when he was on 114.

He welcomed to return of Sunil Joshi into the attack by hitting for a huge straight six.

Venkatesh Prasad summoned the second new ball with the hope of breaking the prospering partnership. But Doda Ganesh conceded 14 runs in the first over.

Azharuddin reached his century by pushing the ball to covers. Venkatesh Prasad brought in Akhil and Vijay Bharadwaj but the two could not not provide the success.

Scoreboard

Hyderabad (Ist innings)

Manohar c Naidu b Prasad 39

Kishore c Bhardwaj b Prasad 11

Laxman batting 163

Azhar batting 103

Extras (NB-22, W-3, LB-3) 28

Total (for 2 wkts) 344

Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-91.

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 21-6-53-2, Doda Ganesh 21-0-89-0, Mansoor Ali Khan 14-2-66-0, Sunil Joshi 23-5-83-0, B Akhil 4-0-26-0, Vijay R Bhardwaj 7-0-24-0.

Cronje’s tale of fall from grace

NEW DELHI, April 11 (PTI) — Regarded as an uncompromising leader who took South African cricket to dizzy heights in the post-apartheid era, skipper Hansie Cronje’s stunning admission to accepting bribe to fix games in his team’s recent Indian tour has left the entire sporting world speechless.

Hailed as the all-conquering South African hero, Cronje has turned a disgraced man after falling to the lure of the lucre that has left cricket, regarded the “gentleman’s game”, with its credibility shattered and its future in question.

The 30-year-old Cronje, whose grim face and perennial scowl was given as the indicator to the hard way he approached the game, today virtually confessed to his role in the betting and match-fixing case registered by Delhi Police.

Cronje seemed to have justified the outrage of South Africa over the allegations when he flatly denied the charges raised in the case on Sunday, but with the investigators turning on the heat by coming out with more details, chose to admit his dubious role in the scandal.

Betting and match-fixing allegations have dogged the game for the last five years, but had not been proved in the absence of any concrete evidence, but the tapping of a conversation purportedly between Cronje and an Indian bookie and subsequent investigations point to the involvement of a multi-million dollar racket that has tarnished the image of the game.

The embarrassed UCB has sacked Cronje for the three-game one-day series against Australia starting tomorrow, but the future of the man regarded as a sporting icon in his country looks doomed.

Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje, Pieter Strydom and Henry Williams have been named by Delhi police besides two Indian bookies Rajesh Kalra, who has already been arrested, and London-based NRI, Sanjiv Chawla.

The developments have resulted in a fall from grace for a man destined to lead South Africa, readmitted to world cricket only in 1991-92. Ever since he led free state in the domestic competition as a 21-year-old Cronje was the chosen one.

Cronje first led his country aged only 24 years when he stood in for an injured Kepler Wessels, but has been at the helm of affairs since he was officially named the very next year.

The all-rounder, who has remained a major star since making his debut in 1991-92 — playing his first Test against the West Indies at Bridgetown and the inaugural one-day tie at Sydney against the Aussies , stood one short of posting 100 wins as captain when the match-fixing case exploded on Friday.

Cronje has installed himself as a major force in both forms of the game, playing 68 Tests and scoring 3714 runs at 36.41 with six centuries besides claiming 43 wickets at 29.95 apiece.

His one-day record is much more impressive, having made 5565 runs from 188 games and 175 innings with two hundreds and 39 fifties. His 114 wickets in the shorter version of the game have come at 34.78 with a best of 5 for 32.

Moment of shame for sports: Kapil

NEW DELHI, April 11 (UNI) — Indian cricket coach and former captain Kapil Dev today said Hansie Cronje’s admission of taking money from a bookmaker was a moment of shame for sports .

“I feel ashamed to be a sportsman”, Kapil told UNI, commenting on Cronje’s sensational disclosure in Durban.

Kapil said he felt very bad that a sportsman of Cronje’s calibre had to stoop so low. “ It is shocking news. I am upset that a sportsman has to do this”.

The world’s second highest Test wicket taker said he had heard of such things happening in other professions but “I am hurt that this has happened in cricket”.

This was Kapil’s first comment on the controversy, which erupted last week after the arrest of a bookie in the capital.

Former Test player Atul Wasson told UNI that it was a good decision by the South African board to remove Cronje from the side after he had admitted that he had taken money.

Cronje fact file

DURBAN, April 11 (Reuters) — Factfile on South African captain Hansie Cronje, who was sacked today from a one-day series against Australia in the wake of a match-fixing controversy.

1969: born Sept 25, Bloemfontein

1987: makes first-class debut for Orange Free State against Transvaal in Johannesburg.

1992: plays his first one-day international, against Australia in Sydney during World Cup.

1992: makes Test debut, against West Indies in Bridgetown.

1994: appointed South Africa captain, taking over from Kepler Wessels for home series against New Zealand.

1994: loses his first Test as captain, against New Zealand, but then leads his country to five successive Test victories, a South African record

1995: plays for Leicestershire, scoring 1,301 runs at 52.04 in 15 county championship matches

1996: leads South Africa to 1-0 home victory against England in their first five-Test rubber since returning to world cricket after apartheid.

1999: his dream of winning World Cup for South Africa is shattered when they are knocked out of the tournament in England after a semifinal tie with Australia.

2000: charged on April 7 with match-fixing by Indian Police after one-day series in March.

2000: sacked on April 11 from one-day series against Australia after admitting he had not been “entirely honest’’ in his denials of match-fixing.

SA face a huge task, says Pollock

DURBAN, April 11 (AFP) — Shaun Pollock, thrown in at the deep end as South African captain today following the firing of Hansie Cronje, said his team would be underdogs when they play against World Cup champions Australia at Kingsmead tomorrow.

But he took heart from South Africa’s triumph in the 1998 Commonwealth Games final in Malaysia when he led a young South African team to victory over a full-strength Australian side.

“It’s similar. We go in as underdogs and it’s a nice situation to be in,” said Pollock.

Pollock acknowledged, though, that South Africa faced a huge task with the loss of Cronje, adding to the absence of fast bowler Allan Donald, who is unavailable, and batsman Daryll Cullinan, who has retired from one-day cricket.

“If you take those three players together it’s over 300 games worth of experience that we have lost,” said Pollock.

But he said he expected his players would be motivated to rise to the challenge.

“We have had a chat in the changing room and tried to refocus on cricket issues. We have three very important one-dayers ahead of us and hopefully we can get the support of everyone when we go out to play.”

Squads:

South Africa: Shaun Pollock (capt), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil Mckenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher (wkt), Nicky Boje, Mornantau Hayward, Roger Telemachus, Makhaya Ntini, Andrew Hall and Dave Callaghan.

Australia: Steve Waugh (capt), Shane Warne, Michael Bevan, Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist (wkt), Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Shane Lee, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Mark Waugh.

Reopen Prabhakar charges: MCA

MUMBAI, April 11 (PTI) — The Mumbai Cricket Association today called for the cricket board to hand over the match-fixing allegations in Indian cricket levelled by former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar to the official investigating authorities.

“Now is time for the cricket board to take a firm decision to hand over the allegations levelled often by Prabhakar and Sunil Dev (Delhi and Districts Cricket Association secretary) to the official investigating agencies,” MCA joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty told reporters here today.

“This should be done to clear the doubts in the minds of our cricket fans,” he added.

Shetty was reacting to the decision of the United Cricket Board of South Africa in sacking their captain Hansie Cronje following the latter’s admission of “dishonesty” during their last one-day series against hosts India.

Vijay Singh does it his way

AUGUSTA (Georgia), April 11 — (Reuters) It takes all kinds to win the Masters.

For all the talk of change at Augusta National last week, the Masters simply remained one of the world’s ultimate tests of golf — and winner Vijay Singh showed exquisite timing in taking top honours.

Acres of new rough, the shrinking of Augusta’s vast fairways and the irresistible force of Tiger Woods dominated discussion ahead of the season’s first major championship.

But in the playing, that all became beside the point as honours in the 64th edition of the Masters went to Singh, who lived up to the Hindi meaning of his given name — victory.

Half a world away from the rainforest in Borneo where he once toiled as a teaching pro, Singh demonstrated the beauty of the Masters.

Winners are not cut from the same cloth. Putters and power-hitters rub elbows every year at the champions dinner. Tiger Woods and Fred Couples share the champions’ clubhouse with Ben Crenshaw and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Singh soared with his own specific formula for success: hit greens and talk yourself into believing your dodgy putting stroke will be good enough. It was.

He led the weekend’s 57 players in greens in regulation and tied for 45th in putting, taking more putts (124) than any Masters winner in the last 20 years.

Defeat had to be explained by the long-hitting likes of Woods, David Duval and Ernie Els — and Loren Roberts, who tied for third with Duval, one shot behind Els and one ahead of Woods.

Roberts, “the boss of the moss’’, took the fewest putts (108), while finishing 54th in driving distance, 50 yards behind the average of 300 logged by Woods.

Singh rose to the occasion and had a sense of occasion.

When the 37-year-old needed to scramble, he got up and down. When David Duval was throwing birdies at him, he matched him three times in a row. Duval fell from the fight when he failed to reach the par-5 13th and splashed in the creek.

When his pursuers were unable to take a giant step toward him by eagling any of the par-5s, Singh virtually closed the deal by drilling his second shot into prime position on the green at the par-5 15th to set up a two-putt birdie.

Singh’s victory, the second by a man of colour in the Masters following Woods’s runaway win in 1997, came on the 25th anniversary of Lee Elder’s becoming the first black man to play in the Masters in 1975.

Masters 2000 was also graced by another rousing showing by the wondrous Jack Nicklaus.

The 60-year-old Nicklaus, who missed last year’s Masters after having a hip replaced, opened with 74-70 to stand tied for 18th to the delight of the massive galleries.

Saturday’s wicked winds crushed the golden bear’s hopes for more weekend glory at Augusta, but Nicklaus revelled in providing another lesson about the game’s appeal.

“Golf is a young man’s sport, a middle-age man’s sport and an old man’s sport,’’ said six-time champion Nicklaus.

Fast starters and slow starters alike made impressive gains in the tournament.

Masters warrior Greg Norman, battered by disappointment so many times in the past, posted a startling 80 in the first round but finished 68-70-70 to tie for 11th place at even par.

Carlos Franco of Paraguay made it all the way to a tie for seventh place after starting with a 79.

Surprise first-round leader Dennis Paulson faded after his opening 68 but did not disappear.

The former long-drive champion shot a final-round 72 to finish tied for 14th and guaranteed himself a return to the Masters as one of the top 16 finishers.

Baskaran confident of team doing well

PERTH, April 11 (UNI) — After his team’s loss to Australia in Sydney in the four-nation hockey tournament on Sunday, German coach Paul Lissek paid tribute to the home side, describing them as a medal certainty in the Olympics.

Lissek was probably being humble because in fact Australia and Germany must both be considered to be front runners for an Olympic medal.

Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran also said in Sydney that he was confident his team would fight for the top places in the Olympics in September.

The four-nation tournament in Perth this week might provide a better indication of whether the coach’s pessimism is justified or not.

Baskaran’s more immediate prediction is that this “constantly improving team will do better in here if they learn from the mistakes made in Sydney”.

Asked what those lessons were, he said the players would have to sharpen their game in order to make fewer mistakes and convert opportunities into goals.

Speaking prior to a team practice at the hockey stadium in Curtin University here this afternoon he said India was a trifle unlucky in their 2-3 defeat at the hands of Germany last week.

However, the coach remains impressed by the commitment shown by the players in the training over the past four months.

Listing the plus points of his team Baskaran said: “I think the boys are in the right frame of mind and have vastly improved on their man-to-man marking. “We have improved in penalty corner conversion, the functioning of the midfield is now much smoother, the boys are fit, and goalkeeper Jude Menezes’s consistency and confidence has been a huge plus point.’’

While he refused to single out any other individual (saying it was a team game), he praised the forward line for the understanding shown against South Africa and hopes they can repeat that performance against the two superior teams.

Baskaran was adamant in refuting that teams such as Germany and Australia normally do not allow opposition the luxury of space or the opportunity to dominate like South Africa allowed India to do in their 3-2 win last Sunday in Sydney.

“I think anyone seeing the games can say that our team can on any given day beat any team. I firmly believe that it is a game by game thing.’’ Indeed it is.

While the Indian team delighted the Sydney crowd with moments of wizardry in the game against South Africa, these glimpses of genius dribbling and magical stickwork did not seem easy to come by against opposition like Australia and Germany.

But the coach was pessimistic that his players were growing in confidence with every game. He refused to predict what would be a satisfying result for him and his team in the remaining games in Perth.

“Our aim is the Olympics and these are only build-up matches, so if we can learn from them then that will serve us in good stead,’’ he said.

The coach agreed that the performance of the Indian team is being jeopardised by the absence of forward Baljit Singh Dhillon and halfback Baljit Singh Saini, both out of action due to health reasons. Saini will not take part in the remainder of the matches here having gone home, but there are desperate efforts to get Dhillon fit for tomorrow’s game against the hosts.

“If he is not fit tomorrow we will try for the game on Thursday against South Africa,’’ Baskaran said.

On paper though India has only their win over South Africa to show so far, even though admittedly that scoreline flattered South Africa.

For the South Africans, the losses to India and Germany in Sydney negated the good will they won from the draw with Australia.

Another fourth place finish in Perth will put a definite dent to any hopes of the South Africa hockey team being allowed to return for the Olympic Games.

There is to be a meeting between South Africa’s Minister of Sport, Mr Balfour, and National Committee of South Africa President, Sam Ramsamy, on April 17 to resolve the issue of whether the men’s hockey team will participate in the Olympic competition in Sydney.

This means the team gets another lifeline in Perth where a better show might just stop the rug being pulled off from under their feet.

Australia seem to be riding high and despite it being used as a buildup for the Olympics coach Terry Walsh will not settle for anything less than a total blitzkrieg of the opposition in all the remaining games.

After their 1-1 draw with South Africa described by Walsh as an unacceptable and unhappy performance by a national side Australia played a level above Germany to win 4-2-described by Walsh as “pleasing’’ and win the Sydney section of the series.

In a bid to give maximum exposure to their Olympic squad selectors had announced not one, but two teams for the four nation series, a luxury not many other countries can afford.

So Australia will be playing with a different team here in Perth to what they played with in Sydney and if they can repeat their title winning performance here then it will only prove the great depth of talent there is in Australian hockey.

POA organising panel meeting on April 21
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 11 — The first meeting of the Organising Committee for the National Games, to be held in Punjab later this year, will be held on April 21 (Friday) at 12 noon, according to Mr Arvind Khanna, Secretary-General of the Punjab Olympic Association. The meeting to be held at Kisan Bhavan, Chandigarh will be presided over by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab and Chairman of the Organising Committee.

A significant feature of the composition of the committee is the inclusion of all gold medallists of the Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games and Arjuna Awardees residing in Punjab and presidents of all state sports associations concerned. All members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha as well as the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities in Punjab, are also members of the committee of which Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, President, POA, is the the Working Chairman .

The main items on the agenda for the meeting relate to apprising the members of the Organising Committee the progress made by the POA/State Government for hosting the games, obtaining formal approval for constitution of various sub-committees and budget estimates for the games.

Mr Dhindsa has also decided to hold the executive and general body meeting of the Punjab Olympic Association on May 14 at Chandigarh. The main agenda relates to review of the progress made for hosting the National Games, selection of office-bearers of the POA for the next term and certain amendments to the constitution.

National athletic camp shifted
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, April 11 — The ongoing senior national athletic camp is being shifted to the Sports Authority of India’s high altitude centre at Shillaroo (HP) from April 16.

The campers who will train for a month at Shillaroo include middle distance, long distance runners and walkers, while the others will train at the NIS here.

Ever since the Shillaroo centre has come directly under the NIS, certain changes have been effected which include increasing the capacity of hostels and upgradation of other facilities. Earlier the centre was under the control of the Chandigarh-based Sai North Zone centre.

The campers who will be moving to Shillaroo on April 16 are:

Middle distance 800m: (men) Anil Mathews, Baiju Mairandi, K.M. Binu, Ram Murthy, Manju Nath and Abdul Wahid, (women): Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, C. Latha, Ramla Devi and Sunita Dahiya.

1500m, 5000m, 10000m and 3000m steeple chase (men): Bahadur Prasad, Gulab Chand, N. Gojen Singh, Aman Saini, Shashi Prakash, Arun D’Souza, Jospeh Baxla, Bahadur Singh and P.K. Misra. (women): Sunita Rani, Madhuri A. Singh, Geeta Manral, Rupinder Kaur, Aruna Devi and Rani Saini.

Walkers (men): Amrik Singh, Sita Ram, Gurdev Singh and Vijay Gehlot, (women): Paramjit Kaur, Roni Bala and Jasmine Kaur.

Coaches: Bahadur Singh (chief coach), J.S. Bhatia, J.S. Saini, Hargovind Singh, Gurphool Singh, S.K. Prasad, P.R. Purshottam, Ms Renu Kohli, Ranjit Singh and Harmana Ram

Ganguly receives CSJC award

CALCUTTA, April 11 (PTI) — Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly received the “CSJC Best Sportsperson of the Country 1999” award at the annual award function of the Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club here yesterday.

Former Test cricketer Pankaj Roy presented the glittering trophy to Ganguly in the presence of a host of dignitaries.

The award for the “Best junior sportsperson of the country” was presented to the Table Tennis player Mouma Das by legendary hockey player of yesteryears Leslie Claudius.

Ganguly also inaugurated the “Souvenir” brought out by the CSJC on the occasion.

The following are the other award winners: Chandan Das (football), Utpal Chatterjee (cricket), Christopher Thomas (hockey), Syed Fazaluddin (tennis), S.K. Samsher (athletics men), Mukti Saha (athletics women), Ranjana Ghosh (volleyball), Vikash Agarwal (basketball), Tumpa Debnath (gymnastics), Purabi Das (kabaddi), Ranabir Das (table tennis) and Atanu Lahiri (chess).

Rare hole-in-one spree
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, April 11 — In a rare happening as many as five different players scored a hole-in-one in the last six rounds of Wills Sport Indian Golf Tour. According to Tiger Sports, the last two rounds of the Rs 5.5 lakh BPGC Open at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club saw two holes in one, while the four rounds of the just-concluded Rs 8.5 lakh SRF Open at the Delhi Golf Club witnessed three pros holing their tee shots.

The hole-in-one spree started on March 31 during the third round of the BPGC Open when amateur Rajiv Datar of Pune ‘holed’ a perfect six-iron shot on the second hole. The next day, rookie pro Harmeet Kahlon used his three-iron to amazing effect as he aced the eighth hole.

And on the opening day of the SRF Open, Minky Barbora, got a perfect hole in one on the tricky 154-yard par-3 17th hole of the Delhi Golf Club course. Rafiq Ali, younger brother of eventual champion Feroz, had a hole in one on the 183-yard fifth hole. The cycle was completed on the final day when another Delhi pro, Shyam Lal, holed his tee shot on the par-3 fifth hole.

Patna-based professional Mohammad Islam also etched a place in the record books by hitting as many as three holes-in-one on the Wills Sport Tour this season at the Hindu Open at the Cosmopolitan Golf Club, Chennai, the Hero Honda Masters at the Delhi Golf Club, and Sir Padampat Singhania Open at Noida Golf Club, near Delhi

Special camp for tennis players

NEW DELHI, April 11 (UNI) — Nine players, including Davis Cupper Syed Fazaluddin, Prahlad Srinath,Vishal Uppal and Vijay Kannan, have been selected by the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) to undergo a special coaching-cum-training camp at Jaidip Mukherjee Centre in Calcutta.

The camp will be conducted by Christopher Paul Kachel,who is the head coach of the Australian Institute of Sport and a former coach of Mark Phillippous and Patrick Rafter.

Other players selected for the camp are Mustafa Ghouse, Saurav Panja,Vinod Sridhar, Rohan Bopanna and Vinod Sewa.

After the camp these players will take part in the satellite circuit as prepration for the next Davis Cup tie.

Alfa Laval/AI golf meet tomorrow
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 11 — Leading professional golfers like Harmeet Kahlon and Amandeep Johl will rub shoulders with the top civil and defence brass, chairman, managing directors and executives from the corporate world and public sector undertakings in the first Alfa Laval/Air India Golf Tournament to be played at the Chandigarh Golf Club here on April 13.

This will be the first time that two companies will be mixing business with pleasure when 120 golfers tee off for the attractive prizes at stake.

The event will be teed off by Mr R.S. Verma, Chief Secretary, Haryana. Among the participants will be the Managing Director of ALIL, Mr Satish Tandon, and the Air India Commercial Manager (NI), Mr C.R. Bakshi.

There are a number of prizes in the form of return tickets to New York, London and Singapore for the winners. There are also prizes for the longest drive, hitting the maximum number of bridies, nearest to the pin, etc.