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| Thursday, May 25, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Prabhakar appears before CBI India
stand “good chance” |
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| Haessler
back to assist German team HAMBURG, May 24 — It is rare in football that a 33-year-old player returns into a national team after a two-year absence, but Coach Erich Ribbeck could simply not overlook Thomas Haessler when he nominated Germany’s 22-strong Euro 2000 squad. IBF may introduce yellow, red cards NEW DELHI, May 24 — Though shuttlers are not known for unruly behaviour on court like in some other sports, from next year they could also be booked like footballers for “venting their anger against umpires and linesmen”, as per a new rule mooted by the sport’s world governing body.
Waugh dismisses Mallett’s
claims
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NEW DELHI, May 24 (UNI) — Former allrounder Manoj Prabhakar, the epicentre of match-fixing scandal in the country, was today quizzed for more than one-and-a-half hour by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is inquiring into the widespread allegations of the malpractice. A CBI spokesman said: “He appeared before the CBI investigating team, headed by Joint Director R N Sawani, and was examined for about one-and-a-half-hours.’’ The spokesman did not provide any information about what transpired during the meeting. Talking to UNI, Prabhakar said he had just gone to the CBI for seeking an appointment. Prabhakar came to the bureau headquarters at around 3.30 p.m. and remained there till around 5 p.m. He, however, refused to provide any input about his discussion with the investigating team. Meanwhile the Delhi police is planning to despatch special teams to Britain and South Africa if they fail to get the requisite information regarding the match-fixing case from these countries in normal course, police chief Ajay Raj Sharma has said. The Police Commissioner told UNI that the investigation in the case involving now-sacked South African captain Hansie Cronje, three of his team-mates and some Indian bookies has been completed in India and now police require information from certain countries, including South Africa and Britain. “Information has been sought from them (the two countries), but till now there has been no response. If the information does not come in the normal process, we will send our officials to get it,’’ Mr Sharma said. The police has sought from the South African authorities the ‘voice samples’ of Cronje to facilitate them to match with the voice recorded in the tape seized by them regarding the ex-skipper’s alleged conversation with London-based Indian bookie Sanjeev Chawla alias Sanjay during the Pepsi one-day international series in India in March. The South African government has refused to accept the request and is in turn seeking the recordings of Cronje’s conversation with the bookie in return. However, the police has expressed its inability to provide the tape of the recorded conversation as it would have damaging impact during the trial stage. It had asked the British
Government through the Interpol to provide information
about the whereabouts of Sanjay Chawla and deport him to
India as his passport has been revoked. Interpol was
sounded about the bookie within hours of coming to know
about his involvement in the match-fixing scandal. |
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ISLAMABAD, May 24 (Reuters) — A life ban on former Pakistan captain Salim Malik was recommended today by an official report into allegations of match-fixing in Pakistani cricket. “Everyone seems to name him as the main culprit in match-fixing,’’ said the much-delayed report by investigating Judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum. The report found no proof of wrongdoing by another ex-captain, Wasim Akram, but recommended that he be kept under observation and that his bank accounts be checked. Mushtaq Ahmed, like Wasim, currently on tour in the West Indies, was censured for bringing the game into disrepute. The investigation found no evidence of corruption against Waqar Younis but fined him for failing to cooperate with the probe. Inzamam-ul-Haq, also in the West Indies, was fined for failing to cooperate with the investigation. The report said there was no proof of charges of corruption in the national game or that match-fixing or illegal betting had taken place. “However, doubts of various degrees have been cast on some members of the team,’’ said the report, which was made public at an Islamabad news conference by the Pakistan Cricket Board. According to PTI, the one-man judicial commission has also found former medium-pacer Ata-ur Rehman guilty of fixing cricket matches and has recommended a life ban on him. The commission also
recommended a one million Pakistani rupee (about Rs 7.95
lakh) fine on Malik, General Zia said adding the board
would accept all the recommendations made by the panel. |
Bacher likely to be first witness CAPE TOWN, May 24 (Reuters) — Dr Ali Bacher is likely to be the first witness called by the South African Inquiry into the Hansie Cronje affair, an official said today. “He used to open the batting in his playing days, so we may as well start with him here,” the secretary of the judicial commission running the inquiry, Mr John Bacon, said of Dr Bacher. “We plan to call Dr Bacher as our first witness, depending in his availability.” Now Managing Director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA), Dr Bacher played 12 Tests for South Africa in the 1960s. Mr Bacon said a date for the first hearing could be set at a meeting between the commission and legal representatives tomorrow. “We also need to
sort out procedures,” Mr Bacon said. “We
wouldn’t like to have to put up with too many
adjournments.” |
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CALCUTTA, May 24 (UNI) — Indian captain Saurav Ganguly has exuded confidence that India will put up a superlative performance in the coming Asia Cup Cricket Championship in Dhaka from May 28. Saurav, who returned here last night after attending the selection committee meeting at Pune, said: “If all of us can play to our potential, we will return victorious from Dhaka.” Saurav joined the Pune meeting straight from England after his stint at the county cricket. “The players chosen for the Asia Cup are the best in the country at the moment, and so the Asia Cup should not be a difficult proposition for us,” Saurav said. Asked whether current Indian bowling strength would be enough to tackle top teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the Indian skipper said “we have to do with whatever is available to us. This is the best Indian side at the moment.” Saurav felt “the wicket at Dhaka is a batting one and our batting line-up is quite good. In the match between Asia eleven and Rest of the World eleven held in Dhaka during last April, the score was three hundred plus. If the wicket remains the same, much would depend on batting, which would decide the fate of the match in Asia Cup. And in this respect, we are not behind Pakistan or Sri Lanka,” Saurav opined. Saurav said he did not subscribe to the view that the Indian team would be in distress if he or Sachin did not get runs. He said, “we have a very strong batting line-up with Rahul Dravid, Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. All of them were very experienced and quite capable of tackling difficult situations.” “I am quite hopeful that our batting will click in Dhaka,” the stylish southpaw added. Regarding the ongoing betting and match fixing controversy, Saurav said it would not affect Indian team’s performance in the Asia Cup. Saurav said “I don’t know about other teams, but our players won’t get affected by the unsubstantiated allegations.” “Whatever any person may say, I personally feel that the most important thing is to be honest to your ownself. If you are honest to your own conscience, no allegation would be able to touch you. In the field we should only concentrate on cricket,” he said. Saurav admitted that there could be allegations of match fixing if a player missed a vital catch or got run out at the crucial moment and said, “we can’t help it. The only way to tackle this is by performing one’s duties and not listening to allegations.” Until the allegations are proved, one can’t come to any conclusion. We cannot call anybody guilty unless the allegations are proved,” Saurav commented. Regarding his stint at
the county matches in England, Saurav said it would help
him to mature further as a batsman. “The standard of
county cricket in England is better than the first class
matches in India. It is indeed difficult to adjust to the
extreme cold there initially. I’m enjoying it now.
Moreover, the presence of former Australian Test star and
manager Bobby Simpson also helping me a lot. I would be
more experienced and matured at the end of the
season,” Saurav felt. |
Mallett’s doubts over Sydney Test SYDNEY, May 24 (AP) — Former Australian international Ashley Mallett, an adviser for South Africa on their 1997-98 tour of Australia, has raised more concern about match-fixing involving former Proteas skipper Hansie Cronje. Mallett had alerted South African cricket officials about his suspicions, saying “something wasn’t right” about team selections and match tactics during the second Test in Sydney, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today. “At the time I sensed that something was wrong,” Mallett said. “In the light of the recent revelations, lot’s of little thing began to add up.” South African cricket has been in turmoil since the admission last month by Cronje that he had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for match information. Mallett said he faxed details of his concerns to South African Cricket Board President Ali Bacher last week and, after speaking with him, was uncertain if authorities would investigate. Australia won the Test by an innings and 21 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Cronje scored 88 in South Africa’s first innings. “Officially Australia won the game but, really, South Africa folded so badly it was embarrassing,” said Mallett. “I believe that this match is one that needs investigation.” The former Test spinner said leg-side bowling to Mark Waugh was dubious and he believed fast bowlers took it easy on Australia tailender Glenn McGrath, who registered his highest Test score to that date. Reuters adds: The
Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said today the latest
match-fixing allegations surrounding the South African
tour of Australia in 1997-98 were for South Africa to
deal with, not the ACB. |
Rich haul
by Punjab in school games CHANDIGARH, May 24 — Punjab known for excellence in sports earned a rich haul of medals, which including 32 gold, 29 silver, and 32 bronze in different sport disciplines at various national school games in which the state took part in 1999-2000. This was stated by Mr PS Chhabra, state sports organiser (schools) here today. He said Punjab was proud to hold two editions of the 45th National School Games for boys and girls. The first was conducted at Moga and Patiala in November 1999 and the second in February 2000 at Sri Anandpur Sahib and Patiala. The events conducted included roller skating introduced for the first time in school games, volleyball, kabaddi, handball, cricket, swimming, fencing, hockey, baseball, boxing and gymnastics in various age groups. The disciplines in the National School Games in which Punjab secured gold medals were Handball (under 19 boys and girls), athletics (under 14, 17, 19 boys and girls), boxing (under-19 boys), judo (under-14, 17, 19 boys 7 girls ), kho kho (under-17 boys & girls), badminton (under-19 boys & girls), football (under-19 boys). Mr Chhabra said the
sports wing of the Education Department had provided best
of the facilities by organising these national school
games with a few lakh rupees only thereby catering to
more than 2000 sportspersons at each national games. At
Moga and Anandpur Sahib people themselves came forward to
donate diet and milk for these young sportspersons who
had come from different parts of India. |
Kapil for cricketers as administrators NEW DELHI, May 24 (UNI) — Indian coach Kapil Dev identifies absence of cricketers in the higher echelons of the cricket board as a major handicap affecting the administration of the game in the country. “The board should consist of 50-60 per cent players and rest could be bureaucrats and politicians. But at the moment, it is 99 per cent businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians. There are no sportsmen, no cricketers,’’ Kapil said during a conversation with former Indian captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, chairman of go4cricket.com, a cricket portal launched today. Asked to explain the downslide in India’s performance lately, Test cricket’s second highest wicket-taker said it was primarily due to lack of quality bowlers. “We have not produced enough bowlers. We are in a strange position — we are neither producing genuine fast bowlers nor spinners,’’ he said. Kapil also feels that too much of one-day cricket is affecting performance of the bowlers. “You cannot produce quality bowlers as an overdose of cricket does not allow to work on shortcomings ...one day cricket is not about taking wickets but stopping runs,’’ he explained. The former Indian captain favours more of Test matches. “Playing 15-20 one-dayers a year is understandable. But these days, the cricket season goes on for almost 10 months a year.’’ Elaborating his observations of the players as a coach, Kapil said the Indians lacked in fitness and stamina. “I think, the Australians beat our boys by their physical fitness. They can throw flat into the keeper’s gloves from the boundary. Our boys cannot throw like that even from inside the circle.’’ He said the Australians were the fittest players in the world. To a question whether he
wanted to be a part of cricket administration, Kapil
said: “It is up to them to decide whether they want
to bring professional and fresh thinking... If fresh
ideas do not come in, the game will suffer.’’
He, however, praised the board for doing a
“fantastic job” in commercialising cricket.
“They have done well on that side. But I think they
have to do a good job on the cricket ground
also.’’ |
Haessler back to assist German team HAMBURG, May 24 (DPA) — It is rare in football that a 33-year-old player returns into a national team after a two-year absence, but Coach Erich Ribbeck could simply not overlook Thomas Haessler when he nominated Germany’s 22-strong Euro 2000 squad. “I watched him in the match against Hertha BSC Berlin and he was involved in all key moments of the game. He played several deadly passes and won many tackles. It was a very impressive performance,’’ said Ribbeck of the 1860 Munich player. The return of the diminutive Haessler is the culmination of a two years with many ups and downs on and off the field. Haessler won the 1990
World Cup and 1996 European Championship titles for
Germany. |
Punjab to
host Asian school hockey CHANDIGARH, May 24 —Punjab has offered to host the Asian School (under-18) Hockey Championship this year. This was stated here today by Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, at a press conference. The tournament, to be played at Jalandhar and Ludhiana, will be conducted from October 11 to 17 under the aegis of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI). Mr Tota Singh said he expected about 10 to twelve teams, including title contenders Japan, to take part in the tournament and invitations to all affiliated units of the Asian School Federation would be sent by the SGFI. Mr Tota Singh disclosed that the inaugural match of the tournament would be conducted at Takhanbadh village in Moga district in memory of Mr Paramjit Singh who was instrumental in coaching a number of talented players. While all matches of the tournament would be played on Astroturf, the inaugural match would be played on grass, Mr Tota Singh added. The final of the tournament would be played at Jalandhar. Mr Tota Singh said he would request the SGFI to extend an invitation to Pakistan to field a team in the tournament in spite of the fact that Pakistan was not a member of the Asian School Federation. The Punjab Minister also released the sports calendar for the year 2000-2001 formulated by the Punjab Education Department. The various games for the age groups of under 11, 14, 17 and under 19 would commence on August 8. Prior to the state games district-level and zonal-level games would be conducted. The minister disclosed that once the state games concluded the probables for the National School Games would be selected and put under vigorous training. He was hopeful that Punjab would continue to perform well in the National School Games as in the past. These state-level games would be held in football, swimming, diving, water polo, basketball, table tennis, tennis, wrestling, roller skating, volleyball, handball, kho-kho, judo, fencing, hockey, badminton, cricket, kabaddi, softball, badminton and gymnastics. A separate tournament would also be conducted for selecting the team which would represent the state in the Subroto Mukherjee Football Tournament in Delhi. Mr Tota Singh said the department would deal strictly with those who tried to tamper with age certificates. Identity cards had been prepared for each player playing in inter-district tournaments to have a check on the age of the players. He warned that officials who were instrumental in fielding overage players would also face disciplinary action. Meanwhile, preparations
for conducting the summer coaching camp of the Punjab
Education Department have begun. The special coaching
camp would be conducted at Sundernagar/Pandoh in Himachal
Pradesh from June 2 to 22 and the trainees would be
selected by trials to be conduced by the District
Education Officers. After initial screening the final
screening would be conducted at Patiala . About 100 boys
and girls from primary schools and another 300 players
from the under-17 and under-19 age groups would undergo
training in athletics, badminton, basketball, gymnastics,
judo, handball, hockey kabaddi, kho-kho, table tennis and
volleyball. Mr Tota Singh said special attention would be
paid towards the diet of the players. |
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MADRID, May 24 (Reuters) — After a five and a half year “retirement’’ from top flight tennis, Martina Navratilova was back on the winning trail at the Madrid Open yesterday. Partnered by South Africa’s Mariaan De Swardt, the Czech-born American beat Japan’s Rita Hiraki and American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3, 7-5 in the women’s doubles. “I expected to have
more fun — I was much too nervous to have fun. But
from now on it will get easier,’’ the winner of
56 Grand Slam titles said. |
BAI
calendar released CHANDIGARH, May 20 — The prize money in badminton has increased manifold over the past few years, thanks to interest shown by the Badminton Association of India in promoting the game. This year five senior ranking tournaments offering a total prize money of Rs 20 lakh have been planned by the BAI in different parts of the country. According to the calendar released by the BAI, activities in the country will get the initial boost with the holding of the All-India Junior Ranking Tournament at Thane from June 25 to 30, followed by the Krishna Khaitan Junior Ranking Prize Money Tournament at Chennai. The camp for the junior players in preparation for the Asian Badminton Confederation Meet will be held from July 8 to 18 at Bangalore. Then at the international level, the Thailand open will be held at Bangkok from July 16, followed by Sanyo Indonesian Open for seniors at Jakarta, Gosen Asian Juniors, and the Kyoto Japan team and individual events at Kyoto (Japan) from July 21 to 27. The BAI, which during the past few years has provided maximum exposure to its players abroad will have a series of senior ranking tournaments at the domestic level. These will begin with the first such meet at Bangalore involving a prize money of Rs 4 lakh, another at Mumbai having an equal amount of prize money. From August 16 to 20, the Malaysian Open will be conducted at Kuala Lumpur and simultaneously the Junior Ranking Selection Tournament for the world junior team event will be held at Pune. The Singapore open for seniors will be organised from August 21 to 27 at Singapore. Back home, the third and fourth weeks of August have been reserved for respective state meets of affiliated units. The Olympic Games at Sydney from September 16 to 23 will witness the lone Indian contender Gopi Chand vying for top honours in the men’s section. The fourth week of September kept for Inter state zonal meets by all the zones. The All-India camp for under-13, under-16 and under-19 comprising a total 25 boys and, 15 girls will be held at Bangalore from October 1 for 25 days, which will also serve as the basis for selection of teams for the Norwegian and Toulouse Open. The German Open, Dutch Open, and Danish Open will also be held in October. On the last week of October the mini nationals will be held at Mandya (Karnataka) while the Junior World Championships will be in China in November, followed by Toulouse open, China Open and Hong Kong Open in the same month. Mumbai and Bareilly will
host the first Asian and second Asian Masters
Invitational Tournament in the first week of December.
Chandigarh, has been allotted the junior nationals for
the first time which will be held in the middle of
December. Lucknow will host the Rs 8 lakh Senior Ranking
Tournament from December 10 to 17. The fourth senior
ranking meet will be at Mumbai in January 2001 followed
by the fifth Senior Ranking meet at Indore in the second
week of the same month. January will witness the
veterans’ nationals to be held at Pondicherry in the
third week followed by the senior nationals in Rajasthan
in the first week of February next year. The prestigious
All England and French Open tournaments will be held in
March 2001. |
IBF may introduce yellow, red cards NEW DELHI, May 24 (PTI) — Though shuttlers are not known for unruly behaviour on court like in some other sports, from next year they could also be booked like footballers for “venting their anger against umpires and linesmen”, as per a new rule mooted by the sport’s world governing body. The International Badminton Federation is thinking of introducing yellow and red cards, just like in football, to check misbehaviour on courts. The proposal for introducing cards to penalise indiscipline by players on courts will come up for discussion at the next IBF council meeting in Lausanne in November this year. If implemented, it would
give umpires greater powers to deal with incidents of
indiscipline and waywardness, according to an IBF
announcement. |
Waugh dismisses Mallett’s claims SYDNEY, May 24 (AFP) — Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh called today for anyone making allegations of match-fixing and bribery to provide concrete proof or keep quiet. He was responding to claims made by former Australian Test spinner Ashley Mallett, that the Test match played between South Africa in Australia in Sydney in 1998 may have been fixed by the South Africans.
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Cricket
site NEW DELHI, May 24 — The official cricket site of Rahul Dravid, Sanath Jayasuriya, Moin Khan and Shahid Afridi, www.go4cricket.com, was launched by the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, here today. Netizens will be able to witness the action of the Asia Cup, download pictures of the game and see the scoreboard being updated every 60 seconds and fans get to ask questions and discuss the ongoing match with experts like M.A.K. Pataudi.
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