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| Friday, May 5, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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(Match-fixing scandal) |
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Poor day for Indians in chess
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CBI to question suspects NEW DELHI, May 4 (PTI) — The CBI, which has taken over investigations into the cricket match-fixing scandal, has prepared a list of persons to be questioned and may send teams to different places in the country and abroad, agency sources said today. The agency, which registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the scandal after receiving a formal letter from the Sports Ministry on May 2, will also send teams to various cities in the country and some foreign nations in this connection, agency sources said here today. The premier investigating agency has prepared the list of suspects in match-fixing scandal, who would be questioned, the sources said. They also hinted that help of some foreign investigating agencies would be sought wherever the need arose. The match-fixing inquiry by the special crime branch of the agency will cover all the allegations levelled by some cricketers and members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the past. The government has also empowered the CBI to probe any other scandal or allegations concerning the game. A CBI inquiry was ordered by the government following mounting pressure by various quarters to hand over the case to the investigating agency. Delhi police had alleged that South African cricketer Hansie Cronje, four of his team-mates and a London-based NRI Sanjeev Chawla had fixed the matches during a cricket series with India. Investigations into the alleged involvement of Cronje in match-fixing during his team’s tour to India would be conducted by the Delhi police. In a bid to bring the probe to its logical conclusion, Sports Minister S.S Dhindsa has assured full protection to anybody coming out with fresh evidence. Cronje and his
team-mates and Chawla have denied all the charges
levelled against them. |
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LONDON, May 4 (AFP) — Surrey struggled as Simon Katich helped Durham build up a commanding position against the county champions at Chester-le-Street. The Western Australia left-hander batted 187 minutes for 43 not out when bad light ended play on day two yesterday with Durham on 121 for seven in their second innings and leading by 251. Against excellent bowling from Simon Brown and Neil Killeen, Surrey were all out for 104. Martin Bicknell bowled superbly for Surrey. But the home side recovered from 14 for four with first-innings hero Nicky Peng putting on 47 with Katich - before Bicknell had him caught at the wicket for 23. Leicestershire fought back with a defiant unbroken last-wicket stand between James Ormond and Anil Kumble to spoil one of Lancashire seamer Peter Martin’s best displays on day one at Old Trafford. Martin bowled superbly to earn figures of 31-9-65-6, including a spell of 12-3-18-4 after tea. But when he was pulled out of the attack late in the day Ormond and Kumble responded with growing confidence, putting on 45 to haul Leicestershire to 263 for nine in the Division One fixture. Yorkshire ended the first day in a strong position at Headingley as David Byas and Michael Vaughan batted solidly in an unbroken opening stand of 74 in reply to Derbyshire’s 239 all out. But it could have been even better for the home side, who failed to make the most of winning the toss on a testing pitch after reducing the visitors to 79 for five. Matthew Hoggard did the early damage with three wickets in a fine opening burst, but Australian Michael Di Venuto took advantage of some loose bowling from Darren Gough, hitting 70 before he was caught by Yorkshire captain Byas in the slips off Ryan Sidebottom. Australian star Shane Warne marked his first-class debut for Hampshire with a third-ball duck on the opening day of the clash with Somerset at Southampton. Warne was trapped lbw by England paceman Andrew Caddick, who finished with five for 62. But Derek Kenway hit an unbeaten 93 to rescue Hampshire from the perils of 123 for eight to 232 all out. By the close Somerset had subsided to 14 for two, with Shaun Udal claiming the wickets of Marcus Trescothick and nightwatchman Caddick. In Division Two, a second-wicket stand of 196 between Justin Langer and Mark Ramprakash saw Middlesex take control on the first day against Northamptonshire at Lord’s. Captain Langer made 120, and Ramprakash — the man the Australian has replaced in charge at Middlesex — contributed 93 towards a total of 282 for three. Langer reached his half-century off just 43 deliveries and quickly notched his century before finally falling to Darren Cousins, beaten by a quicker delivery which clipped the top of his leg stump. Ramprakash succumbed just seven runs short of his century when dragging a wide delivery from Richard Logan on to his middle stump. At Edgbaston, Nick Knight underlined his determination to reopen a second phase in his England career as Warwickshire reached 252 for two against Glamorgan. The 30-year-old
left-hander batted faultlessly for an unbeaten 127 in
nearly five hours and shared in an opening partnership of
172 in 47 overs with Michael Powell (73). |
Bindra’s
charge ‘shocking’ CHANDIGARH, May 4 — People close to Kapil Dev living in Chandigarh have reacted with shock and dismay to the charge levelled against the former India star and current coach of the national squad by a former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mr Inderjit Singh Bindra, that he (Kapil Dev) was the player who had offered money to Manoj Prabhakar to play below par while the Indian team was touring Sri Lanka in the 90s. Mr Bindra was speaking at a question and answer session on an international television channel. Kapil Dev is originally from Chandigarh and learnt the fundamentals of the game at the Sector 16 cricket stadium here. It is only after quitting cricket did Kapil Dev shift to Delhi, where he now resides. Former Haryana captain and national selector Ravinder Chadha, under whom Kapil has played a large number of first class matches in the formative years of his career, was shocked to learn about the allegations levelled against the star Indian cricketer by Mr Bindra. “I can’t believe it,” is how Dr Chadha reacted when told that Mr Bindra had named Kapil as the cricketer who had offered a huge sum of money ($25,000) to Manoj Prabhakar to play below par. “The news came as a shock to me. It cannot be true. How can a person who has won so many matches for the country do such a thing,” Dr Chadha wondered. Dr Chadha raised a very pertinent point. “Match-fixing was indulged by players who play to lose a match. But in Kapil’s case he has always played for a win,” the former national selector and physio of the national squad remarked. Dr Chadha added that when Manoj Prabhakar was not willing to disclose the name of the player who had offered him money to play below par he (Manoj) had said that he felt threatened. “How can a person like Kapil, who has done so much for fellow cricketers and sportspersons, threaten any cricketer,” he asked. Similar reaction was expressed by Dronacharya awardee and Kapil Dev’s coach Desh Prem Azad. “This is not possible. I do not believe this,”Azad said while reacting to Mr Bindra’s statement. “I have been knowing the player (Kapil) for the past many years. He could never do this. Kapil was an easy going happy young lad during his salad days and he is the same today.”Azad remarked and added that Mr Bindra would have to prove the allegation levelled by him against the former Indian star. Desh Prem was among the persons who had attended the April 27 meeting convened by the Union Sports Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, in New Delhi to discuss the issue of match-fixing in cricket. Mr Surinder Singh, secretary of the Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to the Haryana Cricket Association (the association for which Kapil played in the national cricket championship) has in a similar vein said that the charges made by Mr Bindra could not be true. “It is a conspiracy to defame a great player who has done so much for Indian cricket,” he added. Rakesh Jolly, a former
Haryana player who has not only played with Kapil Dev but
is also a very close friend, was shocked by Mr
Bindra’s allegation against Kapil. “Kapil is a
gentleman cricketer right from the beginning and it is
impossible for such a player to even think of indulging
in match-fixing,” Jolly remarked. |
Anelka leads Real Madrid to victory MADRID, May 4 (Reuters) — Real Madrid avenged two group phase defeats by Bayern Munich when they beat the Germans 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal tie at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium yesterday. Goals from Nicolas Anelka after four minutes and a Jens Jeremies own goal after 33 minutes, gave Real Madrid victory and the upper hand in the battle to make the Champions League final an all-Spanish affair — against Valencia or Barcelona — in Paris on May 24. Real are within sight of their second European Cup final in three seasons — but the tie is still finely balanced with the second leg to come in Munich next Tuesday. Real’s Brazilian midfielder Savio said afterwards: “This tie is still very open. Now we’ve got the most difficult part to do. We can’t go to Munich and play eight men at the back because Bayern are a good side and would surely punish us if we played like that.” Anelka scored when he rifled an angled shot into the roof of the net, after Raul had found the French international with a cross deep out of the midfield. Real then had a goal disallowed for offside after Raul put the ball in from close range after a superb build-up but they only had to wait 13 minutes to go 2-0 up and defensive disarray in the Bayern defence enabled Real to double their lead. Spanish international defender Salgado waltzed past several Bayern players before Jens Jeremies turned the ball into his own net under pressure from Salgado who carried on with his forward movement through the defence. The victory gave Real a measure of revenge after Bayern defeated them 4-2 and 4-1 in the second group phase of the competition in March. Their revenge will be complete if they finish the job in the second leg next Wednesday following Bayern’s victories over Real in the European Cup semifinals of 1976 and 1987. Real Madrid started out determined to obliterate the memories of those beatings — throwing everything into attack from the outset. After Anelka’s goal — with the Frenchman finally showing the skill that prompted Real to pay Arsenal more than 35 million for his services — the assault on Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn did not die down for the first 45 minutes. Bayern desperately missed the influential presence of their playmaker Stefan Effenberg and the midfield was controlled by Real’s midfielder pairing of Fernando Redondo and Steve McManaman. The visitors had a better second half as they tried to get a vital away goal. Elber went close on several occasions but squandered all his opportunities, heading over the bar twice. One negative note for the home side was the bookings of central defender Aitor Karanka and his right-sided accomplice, Salgado and the pair will miss the return leg. Karanka was lucky to stay on the field after the scythed down Bayern’s Brazilian striker Paolo Sergio in the 28th minute. The absence of the two men will cause problems for Real coach Vicente Del Bosque, who has little cover at the back. Bayern’s defeat though will leave them much to ponder as well in the intervening six days during which time they face Werder Bremen in the German Cup final on Saturday. They beat Real Madrid 4-1 in front of their home fans in March and a similar score would see them through to the final. However, Bayern
President Franz Beckenbauer had warned his side that Real
were a different team to that which they faced a few
months ago and, as Bayern found out on Wednesday, the
Spaniards are not likely to be so easily overcome as they
were before. |
Asia Cup probables to be named today MUMBAI, May 4 (PTI) —The national cricket selectors meet here tomorrow to pick the Indian captain and 19 probables for the May 28 to June 7 Asia Cup tournament in Dhaka amidst the raging match-fixing scandal which has taken away attention from all on-field cricket activity. The meeting is being held close on the heels of former board President Inderjit Singh Bindra’s allegation on CNN last night that the current coach Kapil Dev was the team-mate who allegedly offered former-India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar Rs 25 lakh to underperform in the 1994 Singer Cup tie against Pakistan in Sri Lanka. The shocker, claimed by Mr Bindra to have been revealed to him by Prabhakar himself when the two met at Chandigarh last week before the former’s departure for London, could not have come at a worse time for Indian cricket already reeling under the impact of a spate of allegations and counter-allegations in the wake of the Hansie Cronje scandal. Normally, the meeting to choose the captain, who is unanimously expected to be Sourav Ganguly, and 19 other players for the preparatory camp to be held in Pune prior to the Dhaka event should not take too long as there are not too many claimants apart from those who represented India at home against South Africa and in the subsequent Sharjah tri-series. But the selectors are bound to discuss the current controversy too when they sit down to choose the players. Mumbai’s Vinod Kambli is one player who is widely expected to be named in the probables list from which the final team is to be chosen during the latter part of the 10-day camp. Another interesting question is whether the selectors will include Karnataka stalwarts Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid in the preparatory camp. The two players were not available for their state’s Ranji Trophy semifinal at Bangalore against Hyderabad because of their English county cricket commitments. Their non-availability for the semifinal came in for severe criticism from former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who wrote in his weekly column in a sports magazine that they should be punished for letting down their team and ignoring domestic cricket. It remains to be seen whether the cricket board comes down on these two batsmen for skipping the semifinal, which their team lost to Hyderabad, and tells the selectors to keep them out of the probables list for the Asia Cup. The board may not be in
a position to do so as it did not pull up champion
batsman Sachin Tendulkar when he chose to skip the
Challenger Series, termed mandatory for all players, on
his return from Australia to take some rest after the
long and exhausting tour. |
Malleswari finishes overall third OSAKA (Japan), May 4 (AFP) — India’s former world record holder Karnam Malleswari clinched gold in the women’s 63 kg snatch but had to settle for overall third position in the Asian Weightlifting Championships here today. Bangkok Asian Games silver medallist Malleswari, daughter of an Andhra Pradesh policeman, hoisted 105.0 kg in snatch to claim the gold on the third day of the competitions here. But the Indian, ranked fifth in the world in her weight category, could manage only 125 kg in clean and jerk for an overall bronze medal with a combined mark of 227.5 kg. In the men’s 85 kg, India’s Tejinder Singh finished a disappointing eighth with a total lift of 325.0 kg. Tejinder managed 147.5 kg in snatch and 177.5 kg in clean and jerk in the event in which Mital Gharipov won the first gold for Kirghizstan with 350.0 kg (155.0 + 195.0 kg), beating Pavel Samoilov of Kazakhstan into second with 227.5 kg (102.5 + 125). Japan’s Kazumi Suzuki finished third with 340.0 kg (150.0 + 190.0). Another Asian Games gold medallist Zhan Zugang clinched another gold for China in the men’s 77 kg. Zhan, the Atlanta Olympics 70 kg gold medallist, also moved up to the 77kg class, had it easy as he lifted 165.0 kg and 200.0 kg for 365.0 kg without making his third attempt in both snatch and clean and jerk. Sergey Filimonov of
Kazakhstan was second with a combined mark of 362.5 kg
(165.0 + 197.5), followed by Badr Salam Nayef of Qatar,
who finished third with 357.5 kg (162.5 + 195.0). |
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MUMBAI, May 4 (PTI) — Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) took a 2-0 lead before finally vanquishing Air-India (AI) 8-7 via the tie-breaker in an all-Mumbai clash to enter the final of the 6th Guru Tegh Bahadur All-India Gold Cup Hockey Tournament here today. The winners were sitting pretty with a 2-0 half-time lead before Air- India, also with a clutch of present and former internationals in their ranks, hit back strongly to pump in three goals in the space of seven minutes to take a 3-2 lead eleven minutes into the second session. BPCL managed to draw level six minutes from regulation time through right winger Deepak Sharma, who had scored their opening goal, before clinching the tie-break duel 5-4 after a goal-less 15 minutes extra-time was played in the semi-final tie. Half-back Madan Vishwanathan pushed wide AI’s third “stroke”, their only miss which proved decisive. BPCL’s second goal in regular time was notched up by international half-back Anurag Raghuvanshi in the 26th minute after Sharma had made it 1-0 five minutes earlier. AI’s goal-getters
in regular time in the 39th, 43rd and 46th minutes of
play were frontliner Devinder Kumar, who got their first
two goals, and ex-India full-back Cornelius D’Costa.
BPCL, for whom custodian P.A. Bopanna once again did the
star turn with some fine saves, will take on Border
Security force in the final scheduled for tomorrow. |
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DUBAI, May 4 (UNI) — It was an unlucky day for India at the Dubai Open Chess Championship as both Chandrasekar Gokhale and Visweswaran Kameswaran went down to Elmer Magerrmov of Azerbaijan and Grandmaster Sergey Dolmatov of Russia in their respective matches late last night. Both the Indians had poor run as they were unable to take any advantage from the opening phase. Visweswaran went for a tactical battle against Dolmatov. The Russian Grandmaster, recovering from a dismal start, crushed Viswesh with a novel idea. Dolmatov advanced his pawn to sixth rank, that put a wedge in black’s forces. Viswesh had to give up the bishop pair and despite his active counter in the centre, Dolmatov played brilliantly to pocket the point in 28 moves. Viswesh made a positional blunder when he allowed his opponent to advance his pawn to the sixth rank. A blockade of that square by his bishop would have kept dynamic balance in the complex middle game. Gokhale was unable to complete the regular development of his pieces in a bogo in Indian defence against Magerrmov. The Azerbaijan Grandmaster, resident coach of the hosts, excelled in simple positions. Gokhale played into his opponent’s strong points and was outmanoeuvred. Gokhale lost a pawn in queen side and his efforts to drum up counter play went in vain against deft defence. Magerrmov was delighted with his positional victory. He mishandled the opening and his queen side got stuck. Magerrmov was, however, all praise for Gokhale, the youngster from Pune. “Both Indian players (Gokhale and Visweswaran) are talented and need more experience in such unique events”, he said. Grandmasters Alexander Nenashev of Uzbekistan and Andrei Kharlov of Russia emerged as joint leaders at the top of the table with 4.5 points at the end of the fifth round of the championship. Nenashev defeated
Grandmaster Arkhipov Sergey of Russia in a close match
while Kharlov outpaced grandmaster Alexey Kuzmin also of
Russia. Defeated champion Vladimir Akopian, Evegny
Ermenkov (Bulgaria), Anastasian Ashot (Armenia) and Pavel
Kostur (Russia) are trailing the leaders by half a point. |
Olympic flame gets flying permit SYDNEY, May 4 (AFP) — The Australian Civil Aviation Authority granted permission today for the Olympic flame to be flown from Greece to Sydney. A specially-designed cradle, fitted to aircraft seats, will carry the flame on its 23 flights during the torch relay. The flame will fly business class, under the constant supervision of a Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee representative and with at least one fire extinguisher within reach, next Wednesday. After a 10-day relay in Greece, the flame will be handed over to Australia. It will fly business class in a chartered 767 from Athens to Guam where it will begin a 13-day trip through Oceania, including the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Zealand. On June 8, the flame
will be flown from Auckland to Uluru where Atlanta hockey
gold medallist Nova Peris-Kneebone will begin the
Australian torch relay, which ends at the opening
ceremony on September 15. |
Neha,
Yuvraj in final CHANDIGARH, May 4 — Neha Singh and Yuvraj Choudhary both of Chandigarh in the under-14 section sailed into the final of the AITA Tennis Tournament in girls and boys sections respectively, here on the penultimate day at CLTA courts, Sector 10. Former city boy and now playing for Britannia Amritraj Academy, Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Chhatwinder Singh, too reached the final of the under-16 boys section and tomorrow he will meet Rahul Verma of Delhi. Neha will take on Tara Iyer of Delhi while Yuvraj will face Jitin Bishnoi of Haryana in the final. Results (all
semifinals): Boys under 14-Jitin Bishnoi(Har) b Ardaman
Sidhu (Chd) 6-2, 7-5; Yuvraj Choudhary (Chd) b Sidharth
Gulati (Dli) 6-1,7-5. Girls under-14: Tara Iyer (Dli) b
Bhavna V (AP) 6-1, 6-2; Neha Singh (Chd) b Parul Goswami
(Dli) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Girls doubles: Manasi Modi &
Bhavna V (AP) b Bahaar Paul & Alipt Sandhu (Chd) 6-1,
6-2. Girls under-16: Manasi Modi (AP) b Parul Goswami
(AP) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Tara Iyer (Dli) b Neha Singh (Chd)
6-3, 7-6(5). Boys under-16: Chhatwinder Singh (TN) b
Mahanandan Tyagi (Dli) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4); Rahul Verma
(Dli) b Varun Giri (Dli)1-6, 6-4, 6-1. Boys doubles:
Anoop Anand & Gurneet Singh (Chd) b Harneet &
Yuvraj Singh (Chd) 6-4, 6-1. |
Haryana
judo calendar HISAR, May 4 — The Haryana State Judo Association has finalised the sports calendar for the year 2000-2001, according to the general secretary of the association here today. The cash prize judo championship for men and women in two groups in each section will be held at Maharana Pratap Stadium, Sirsa, on August 29 and 30. The winners will get Rs 11,000 and runners-up Rs 5,100. The district judo championships will be held from September 3 to 12 and the state sub-junior, junior and senior championship for both men and women will be organised at Sonepat from September 20 to 23. The association will conduct the NDIG and black belt coaching camp at Mahabir Stadium, Hisar, from September 27 to October 3 with the help of the Judo Federation of India. Before the National
Games the association will conduct a one month coaching
camp from October 4 to November 3. To update knowledge of
the coaches and experts, the association will organise a
seminar in the third week of January. The Haryana judo
team for boys and girls will participate in sub-junior,
junior and senior Federation Cup championships. |
Players ‘welcomed’ code of conduct MUMBAI, May 4 (UNI) — Former Indian cricket team manager Ajit Wadekar today said the players were very happy with the code of conduct that was introduced during his tenure. The code, which was not favoured by the International Cricket Council in its London meeting, “was not something which we have in schools. These were grown up boys and they knew what was right and wrong”. “The only thing in the code of conduct was coming on time for practice, being properly dressed, avoiding attending private functions unless it was absolutely necessary and that too with my permission,” Wadekar told UNI. “The players were very happy with the code of conduct. When I wanted to relax it after we started winning, they did not want the code to be relaxed”. Wadekar was the manager
on the tour of Sri Lanka during which Manoj Prabhaker had
alleged that certain players offered him huge sums of
money to play below par. The code ended with the
completion of Wadekar’s tenure |
Neeraj
Thapa helps Faridabad win KANGRA, May 4 — Faridabad won the final of the 12th All-India Durga Mal Dal Bhadur Thapa Memorial Gold Cup football tournament, defeating Jalandhar Police 1-0 in a well contesting match at Dharamsala yesterday. Faridabad scored the winning goal in the first half through Neeraj Thapa, who was the highest scorer of the tournament. Deepak was adjudged as the best player of the tournament. Earlier an exhibition
match was played between Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur
women’s team, which Jalandhar won 2-1. Randeet and
Manjeet scored for Jalandhar and Rajwant scored for
Hoshiarpur. |
Edwin King to probe Cronje affair JOHANNESBURG, May 4 (Reuters) — South African judge, Justice Edwin King, is to head the inquiry into the Hansie Cronje corruption affair, a spokeswoman for the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) said today. South Africa cricket
chief Ali Bacher and UCBSA chairman Percy Sonn were due
to hold a media conference to make the official
announcement. |
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