S P O R T

Zinedine Zidane of France slots home the golden goal winner from the penalty spot past Portugal's Vitor Baia during the EURO 2000 Soccer Championship semifinal match between Portugal and France at the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels on Wednesday — AP/PTI
Zidane engineers France’s win BRUSSELS, June 29 — Zinedine Zidane fired a golden goal penalty a minute before the end of extra-time here to send France into Sunday’s Euro 2000 final with a 2-1 victory over Portugal.
Zidane confirms hero status	‘A lucky star is shining on us’

Kuerten, Rafter, Davenport win; Safin crashes out
LONDON, June 29 — Fourth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil beat South African qualifier Justin Bower 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round at Wimbledon today. The third day of the 114th Wimbledon Championships produced a shoal of thrills and spills here, along with four major upsets.

Navratilova turns clock back
LONDON, June 29 — Martina Navratilova has turned back the clock with a victory at Wimbledon. Yesterday’s win was only in a first-round women’s doubles match on an outside court late in the evening but Navratilova was happy to be back after a five-year absence.

Chopra appears before CBI
NEW DELHI, June 29 — Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra was today grilled by the CBI investigators over last minute inclusion in the Indian team for two one-dayers in Sharjah allegedly at the behest of bookmakers.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

• Patiala win Katoch trophy
  
  
  
  
  
  

Zidane engineers France’s win

BRUSSELS, June 29 (AFP) — Zinedine Zidane fired a golden goal penalty a minute before the end of extra-time here to send France into Sunday’s Euro 2000 final with a 2-1 victory over Portugal.

Zidane converted the spotkick after Austrian referee Gunter Benko penalised Portugal’s Abel Xavier for handling Sylvain Wiltord’s shot after consulting Belgian assistant referee Roland van Nylen at the King Baudouin stadium yesterday.

The award of the penalty sparked furious scenes and it took several minutes for order to be restored so Zidane could take the kick.

After Zidane converted for the world champions Portuguese striker Nuno Gomes was sent off while the jubilant French players celebrated.

Thierry Henry’s 51st minute equaliser for the world champions had earlier forced the match into extra-time after a spectacular Nuno Gomes volley had given outsiders Portugal a 19th-minute lead.

France now play the winner of Thursday’s Amsterdam semi-final between Italy and Holland in Sunday’s final at Rotterdam’s De Kuip Stadium.

Portugal coach Humberto Coelho announced his resignation after the match and rued the penalty decision that proved decisive.

His French counterpart Roger Lemerre said “It was a very difficult victory but when you choose a game-plan you have to stick to it and winning is all important.

Zidane, a national hero in France since scoring two goals in France’s 3-0 World Cup final win over Brazil in 1998, reflected on his match-winning moment.

“For the penalty I just put down the ball and I said to myself I must hit it as hard as possible,” said Zidane. “It went in OK so much the better for us.

“Our objective has always been victory in the final. It will be even harder on Sunday.”

The vital moment of an enthralling encounter came after 115 minutes - although with the subsequent pandemonium it took another four minutes for Zidane to take the penalty.

With five minutes of extra time left, substitute David Trezeguet ran into the box and was challenged by Portugal keeper Vitor Baia. The ball spun to Wiltord who fired from an acute angle on the right and Xavier deflected the ball behind the goal with his hand.

It continued a recent tradition of important golden goals.

Laurent Blanc also scored a golden goal winner for France against Paraguay in the World Cup second round and Oliver Bierhoff hit one for Germany to win Euro 96.

France had made two changes with Nicolas Anelka came in for Christophe Dugarry up front and Emmanuel Petit replaced Youri Djorkaeff in the only changes from their quarter-final victory over Spain.

Coelho brought in Vidigal into midfield instead of Paulo Bento and Abel Xavier in at right back in changes from their last game. Joao Pinto did not feature in the starting line-up leaving Nuno Gomes as a lone striker.

But Gomes opened the scoring with an unstoppable left foot shot from the edge of the area after 19 minutes.

Xavier fed Sergio Conceicao on the right who cut inside with both Petit and Didier Deschamps, winning his 100th cap and 51st as skipper, failing to get in a telling challenge.

The ball then fell to Gomes who, with his back to goal, turned and shot in one movement a curling ball into the top left hand corner for his fourth goal of the tournament with French keeper Fabien Barthez rooted to the spot.

Until then France’s ball-winning midfielders Petit, Deschamps and Patrick Vieira had spiked the guns of Portugal’s playmakers.

Apart from the goal there were no really great chances for either side in the first half.

During the first period Vieira, who fouled Figo on the left wing, and Marcel Desailly earned yellow cards for France. Portugal’s Vidigal also earned a caution in the 44th minute.

France came out with a new attacking approach after the break which had the Portuguese players rattled. It was not a surprise when the more aggressive tactics paid off after 51 minutes.

Lilian Thuram on the right flank hit a right foot pass into the right hand side of the box. Anelka, Lurking near the by-line, cut the ball back into the centre of the box and Henry Swivelled and hit a diagonal shot into Baia’s right-hand corner.

Portugal, clearly feeling the pressure, earned yellow cards in quick succession for Figo, Jorge Costa and Dimas.

Coelho brought on Bento on for Vidigal in midfield moments before Zidane fed Henry who raced into the area but his left foot shot was blocked at point blank range by Fernando Couto.

Sylvain Wiltord came on for Anelka and Joao Pinto was introduced in place of Rui Costa as both coaches looked for the right formula in attack.

In injury time, Barthez made a vital save from Xavier’s header after a Luis Figo freekick.

At the start of extra time Rui Jorge was brought on in place of Dimas moments before Zidane headed over a Wiltord cross from the left.

Zidane, fouled by Xavier on the left of Portugal’s box, hit a freekick into the area but it was headed away.

Lemerre brought on Trezeguet for Henry to yet again change the attacking duo and Wiltord might have won the match with a good shot, deflected off Xavier, but well caught low down by Baia on the goalline.

Then came the penalty incident which propelled the world champions into the final to keep them on course to add the European title to their global crown.

For Portugal it was the third time they have bowed out at the semi-final stage of a major senior tournament after the 1966 World Cup and 1984 European Championships. They have never reached a final.

Zidane confirms hero status

BRUSSELS, June 29 (AFP) — World Cup star Zinedine Zidane has confirmed his hero status for France after scoring a golden goal penalty winner to propel France into the Euro 2000 final in a dramatic 2-1 win over Portugal.

Zidane, who scored two goals in France’s 3-0 World Cup final win over Brazil in 1998, struck in the last minute of extra-time yesterday with a spot kick after taking over penalty duties from Youri Djorkaeff.

“For the penalty I just put down the ball and I said to myself I must hit it as hard as possible. It went in ok so much the better for us,” said Zidane.

“Our objective has always been victory in the final”, he said.

The Portuguese players reacted with fury and it was not until the 119th minute that Zidane was able to take the kick but he proved up to the task.

Earlier, Nuno Gomes had scored with a great curling left foot shot in the 19th minute and Thierry Henry equalised six minutes after the break.

Zidane is used to high acclaim and in January 1999 was given the European and ‘world player of the year’ awards following his World Cup exploits in 1998.

Born on June 23, 1972 in Marseille as one of five children to Algerian parents Zinedine supported Marseille football club - his first footballing hero was Marseille’s Uruguayan star Enzo Francescoli after whom Zidane later named his first son.

He began his career at Cannes, more famous for launching cinema stars than footballing talent, but it was after moving to Bordeaux in 1992 that Zidane first started to make name for himself outside of France. He was part of the team which qualified through the Intertoto Cup before losing to Bayern Munich in the final of the 1996 UEFA Cup.

That same year Zidane went with Aime Jacquet’s team to Euro 96 in England but a persistent thigh injury meant that he did not impress even though France reached the semi-finals.

He had, meanwhile, agreed to move to Italian giants Juventus and later that year lifted the Intercontinental Cup (World Club Championship) and European Super Cup with the Turin side.

In 1997 and 1998 he pocketed the Italian Serie A title but in both those years he had to settle for runners-up spot in the Champions League, to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively.

‘A lucky star is shining on us’

BRUSSELS, June 29 (Reuters) — Zinedine Zidane, whose controversial golden-goal penalty propelled France into the Euro 2000 final, has admitted the world champions had needed a bit of fortune to oust Portugal 2-1.

“A lucky star is shining on us,” the great playmaker said yesterday. “Let’s hope it will continue.”

Zidane shot home after furious protests from the Portuguese, angry at referee Guenter Benko for judging that Abel Xavier had handled a Sylvain Wiltord effort.

“It lasted for several minutes and it was very difficult for me to concentrate,” added France’s number 10, who decided a tense, close battle in the 117th minute.

“We had played for two hours or so and my legs were a bit sore but I knew I had to hit it hard. It was a great responsibility.”

Benko awarded the penalty only after consulting Slovakian linesman Igor Sramka, in what French coach Roger Lemerre called “a great moment for refereeing.”

Zidane simply called the decision “logical” and said he felt sorry for the Portuguese, who fell on their knees after he sealed their fate. “You can’t say that Portugal did not deserve to be in the final as much as we did,” he said.

But central defender Marcel Desailly had a different opinion. “We were not lucky,” he said. “We did enough to show that we were the better team.”

France survived a scare in the quarterfinal as well, Spain missing a penalty and a great chance in stoppage time before bowing out 2-1.

Kuerten, Rafter, Davenport win; Safin crashes out

LONDON, June 29 (AFP, Reuters) — Fourth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil beat South African qualifier Justin Bower 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round at Wimbledon today.

The third day of the 114th Wimbledon Championships produced a shoal of thrills and spills here, along with four major upsets.

In the men’s singles, third seed Magnus Norman, former winner Richard Krajicek and 1997 finalist Cedric Pioline made premature exits yesterday, while Conchita Martinez of Spain, women’s champion in 1994, also crashed out.

But rising above them all was six-time men’s champion Pete Sampras, who in fading light on Centre Court saw off Karol Kucera of Slovakia 7-6 (11/9), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in just short of three hours.

Kucera, who wanted to come off as the light got gradually worse, resisted long enough to save three match points but the defending champion, who needed treatment for an ankle injury late in the third set, recovered his poise to finish the job.

He next faces fellow American Justin Gimelstob, who ousted Michael Llodra of France, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-4.

Photographers’ darling Anna Kournikova packed her bags as the glamorous Russian sank without trace, beaten 3-6, 4-6 by 20-year-old French starlet Anne-Gaelle Sidot.

French Open finalist Norman, suffered the biggest humiliation of all as he slid out to unknown Belgian teenage qualifier Olivier Rochus in an extraordinary five-setter.

The 19-year-old Rochus, playing in his first ever Grand Slam event, won 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7, (4/7), 6-1 in three hours, 14 minutes. He now takes on Italy’s Gianluca Pozzi, who beat Alex O’Brien of the USA 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-4.

Seven men’s seeds have now bitten the dust and seven seeded women have likewise gone home early.

It looked as if Rochus might have shot his bolt after Norman, (24) came back from 2-4 down in the fourth-set tie-break to rattle off five straight points after being outhit in the first and third sets.

Norman, who moves so well on clay, looked hugely uncomfortable and has never been past the third round in four attempts at Wimbledon.

Dutchman Krajicek, champion here four years ago and the 11th seed, had no answer to the controlled groundstrokes and pummelling returns of South African star Wayne Ferreira, who won an entertaining second-round tussle on Centre Court 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6, (7/3) in 2 hours 27 minutes.

Ferreira now plays Romania’s Andrei Pavel, who shot down Daniel Nestor of Canada 7-6, (8/6), 7-5, 4-6, 6-0.

Ferreira only just kept his campaign on the rails after a line call went against him with Krajicek on set point in the first set, prompting him to smash his racket and aim some choice language in the umpire’s direction.

World No 16 Jennifer Capriati swept aside fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy 7-6, 6-2 to move into the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday.

But the 24-year-old’s performance on court 18 will have done little to boost her confidence going into the next round.

The pair exchanged two breaks early in the match — Capriati winning hers with brute force, Shaughnessy hers with guile and by moving her opponent around the court — but Capriati’s experience told in the tie-break, and she won it 7-1 after 44 minutes.

US Maverick Jeff Tarango walked off court without shaking hands after a five-set Wimbledon defeat on Wednesday by Paul Goldstein and accused his fellow American of faking injury.

Navratilova turns clock back

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) — Martina Navratilova has turned back the clock with a victory at Wimbledon. Yesterday’s win was only in a first-round women’s doubles match on an outside court late in the evening but Navratilova was happy to be back after a five-year absence.

“It is fantastic to be out there again. That is what I have been waiting for,” said the nine-times singles champion.

The former world number one and Mariaan de Swardt defeated Dutchwoman Amanda Hopmans and Bulgarian Lubomira Bacheva 6-3 6-7 6-3.

Apart from being slightly out of breath by the end, the 43-year-old American looked like the athletic champion of old.

“It is great to be back with the fans,” said Navratilova after getting a warm reception on court 18. “The fans have been great, very enthusiastic.

“Once you get out there you bask in the applause for about 30 seconds and then you have to play.”

Neither Hopmans nor Bacheva was born when Navratilova made her Wimbledon debut in 1973, reaching the third round. But though she looked tentative at the start yesterday, she was soon chasing around the court like a teenager, to the delight of the crowd and of her partner.

“It is great to play with her because I know people have so much respect for her. She’s given them so much pleasure and they’re going to be on our side.”

The South African has an impressive pedigree of her own, having reached the Wimbledon doubles final with Elena Tatarkova of Ukraine last year, but said she was still nervous about teaming up with Navratilova.

Chopra appears before CBI

NEW DELHI, June 29 (PTI) — Indian cricketer Nikhil Chopra was today grilled by the CBI investigators over last minute inclusion in the Indian team for two one-dayers in Sharjah allegedly at the behest of bookmakers.

Chopra, accompanied by his brother, came to the CBI headquarters here and was questioned by the agency sleuths for over 90 minutes.

Chopra later told reporters that he was asked certain sensitive questions about cricket and whether he had any knowledge of match-fixing.

“I have replied and denied any role in the match-fixing or links with bookies,” Chopra said.

He was also questioned about his intimacy with Sanjeev Chawla, the prime accused in the match-fixing case relating to matches between India and South Africa, but he said he denied having any links with Chawla.

Chopra was also asked whether he knew Mukesh Gupta, who lives just opposite his house in a posh South Delhi area.

Chopra is believed to be close to cricketing icon Kapil Dev, whom former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar has charged with having offered him a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to underperform against Pakistan in a one-dayer at Sri Lanka.

The agency also plans to summon some more cricketers including three former cricket captains before the CBI after which it will chalk out further course of action.

Chopra is the sixth person connected to cricketing world to be examined by the agency since it filed a Preliminary Enquiry on May 2 to probe the match-fixing allegations.

The CBI was examining the statement of Indian bookie Mukesh Gupta, named by disgraced South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje as having allegedly bribed him to throw a match.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has requested South African authorities to provide it with tapes of the statements made by sacked cricket captain Hansie Cronje relating to the match-fixing scandal before the King Inquiry Commission even as it awaited deportation of prime accused Sanjeev Chawla from London.

“We have made a request three to four days back to the South African authorities to provide us the tapes of the submissions made by Cronje before the King Commission,” Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma told PTI today.

“Though it will have to be seen how relevant they (tapes) are under the Indian laws, it is good to have them in records for whatever evidential value they have,” he said.

Asked about the slow progress in the case and failure of the police to file the chargesheet in the court, the Commissioner said “there is a likelihood of the investigation going on for two to three months may be even more as the investigators are awaiting deportation of London-based Indian businessman Sanjeev Chawla.”

“Chawla’s passports stand cancelled for over a month now and the government has written to the UK for his deportation. We are awaiting his deportation to India so that we can take him into custody and interrogate him and ask him to join the investigation.”

In the meantime, Mr Sharma said the Crime Branch officials are investigating whatever little information they got about some other people involved in the sensational case.

“We are verifying those names and trying to assess whether they have any role to play in the case,” . He, however, refused to name those people.

Mankad selected for Davis Cup, Sunil misses out
From M S Unnikrishnan

NEW DELHI, June 29 — Harsh Mankad, the 21-year-old USA-based Mumbai youngster, a student of University of Minnassota, finds a place in the Indian Davis Cup team, sans Leander Paes, to face Sweden in the World Group play-off tie, to be held in Bastaad (Sweden) from July 21 to 23.

All-India Tennis Association selection committee Chairman Shyam Minotra said here today that Harsh Mankad’s fine performance in the ongoing ITF Men’s Satellite Tennis Circuit tilted the scales in his favour. Chandigarh boy Sunil Kumar, the reigning national hard court champion, who missed out a place in the Davis Cup squad, has, however, been included in the millennium team.

Sunil Kumar, currently playing in the ITF junior circuit, has reportedly been doing very well, reaching the final in Hungary, but the selectors felt that he was not ripe for Davis Cup play (Sunil was in the Indian squad when they played Lebanon at Lucknow early this year).

The selection committee meeting, chaired by Shyam Minotra, and attended by other selectors Nandan Bal and S.P. Mishra, AITA secretary Ramesh Desai and Treasurer Prof T.D. Francis, discussed for more than two hours before picking players for the Davis Cup team and the Millennium Commonwealth Youth (Under-18) Championships, to be held in Edinburgh from August 10 to 14.

The teams: Davis Cup: Mahesh Bhupathi, Prahlad Srinath, Syed Fazaluddin, Harsh Mankad and Vishal Uppal. Ramesh Krishnan will be the non-playing captain.

Millennium Commonwealth Championships: (boys): Sunil Kumar, Parantap Chaturvedi and Shivang Mishra. Reserve: Vinod Sevak; girls: Radhika Tulpule, Sonal Phadke and Megha Vakharia. reserve: Isha Lakhani.

Harsh Mankad comes into the Davis Cup team in place of Leander Paes, who has been rendered out of action, due to a wrist injury suffered at the French Open a few weeks ago. Vijay Kannan, who was the fifth player in the Indian squad when India played South Korea in Delhi in April this year, does not find a place this time, as the “fifth player” slot has been given to Vishal Uppal, who had made a magnificent debut against Korea, teaming up with Leander Paes to record a crucial doubles victory. But Uppal’s form dipped to the depth in the Satellite series, but his “past record” has ensured him a place in the squad, albeit as the “fifth player”.

Mr Shyam Minotra said non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan will decide about the playing combination, as the present Davis Cup rules allow the teams to change a player 24 hours before the tie. He said the induction of the fifth player was necessitated, though it was an away tie, as “(Mahesh) Bhupathi is carrying off an injury, and just in case a difficult situation arises, the captain should have a choice to select the players from”.

Regarding the reported statement made by Mahesh Bhupathi that he would like to team up with Syed Fazaluddin in the doubles, instead of Vishal Uppal, despite the request made by Ramesh Krishnan, Mr Minotra said “being the No 1 player (in the absence of Leander), we will have to take his (Bhupathi’s) views seriously”.

Mr Minotra, however, hastened to add that “personally speaking, Mahesh’s statement is bit immature and silly one, because if either of them is unable to play, then what happens?”

The selection committee chairman said the 26-year-old Syed Fazaluddin’s selection was also due to the fact that “we could not find a better player to replace him”. He said the names of Sandeep Kirtane, Sunil Kumar, Ajay Ramaswamy and Rishi Sridhar were considered “but Kirtane is 27 years old, and does suffer from injury problems while Sunil Kumar has a little more time to go”.

“Sunil’s a major future prospect”, he observed. “Harsh is the pick of the youngsters, and he has also done well in the Satellite circuit, to merit selection.”

“Vishal has done well when it mattered most, though his performance in the Satellite circuit has not been satisfactory”, Mr Minotra admitted, adding that “given a choice, he would prefer Vishal to Fazaluddin in the doubles as Vishal is a better doubles player”.

But the only hitch is that since both Mahesh and Vishal are left court players, getting adjusted to the right court would be a problematic task.

“But this issue Ramesh and Mahesh will have to sort out in Sweden”, he said. Ramesh is currently in England and the players are likely to assemble in Sweden as Mahesh, Srinath and Fazaluddin are all playing abroad now. Mr Minotra did confirm that Mahesh had indicated his preference to team up with Fazaluddin in the doubles when he had a chat with Ramesh.

Mr Minotra said “since we are not expecting great things on the clay courts in Sweden, it would be a good idea to blood Harsh, if Mahesh is not fit for doubles (Srinath is the other singles player). Harsh is younger too, as Fazaluddin is 26 years old”.

Interestingly, three of the members in the Davis Cup squad (Bhupathi, Fazaluddin and now Mankad) have made the grade after honing their skills in the USA Call it lack of facilities, or the faulty training methods in India, the youngsters who migrate to the USA and “focus” on their tennis, return home vastly improved players.

Harsh left for the USA last July to study on a tennis scholarship, and in seven months “I played 50 singles and 45 doubles matches”. Harsh left for the USA after struggling to make his mark in India. He was the junior national champion at Patna in 1995, but lost in the quarterfinals to Srinath in the Sriram Senior National Championships in Delhi two years ago. The fact that both his parents are former international sports persons — Test cricketer Ashok Mankad and tennis star Nirupama Mankad — helped Harsh concentrate on his tennis without facing any other nagging problems, and his stint in the USA sharpened his game as never before.

Jayasurya, Atapattu cracks tons

KANDY, (Sri Lanka), June 29 (Reuters) — Sri Lanka were 449-5 in their first innings at the close on the second day of the third and final Test against Pakistan today.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka (1st innings):

Atapattu batting 199

Jayasuriya c Khan b Razzaq 188

Arnold c Moin b Razzaq 24

De Silva c Khan b Arshad 0

Jayewardene b Arshad 2

Ranatunga c Mushtaq b Arshad 6

Dharmasena batting 4

Extras (b-14, lb-7, w-1, nb-4) 26

Total (for five wickets) 449

Fall of wicket: 1-335, 2-401, 3-402, 4-412, 5-434.

Bowling: Akram 25-6-41-0 Waqar 18-0-80-0, Arshad 51-7-134-3, Razzaq 33-10-65-2, Mushtaq 26-2-108-0.

Mankad in final; Kirtane loses
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, June 29 — Harsh Mankad will get his last chance to avenge his defeats in the second and third legs when he takes on Danai Udomchoke in the final of the ITF Men’s Satellite Tennis Circuit Masters at the Delhi Tennis Association court here tomorrow. In the semifinals here today, second-seeded Harsh Mankad outlasted fourth-seeded Thornadtsson Per of Sweden 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 while top-seeded Udomchoke made short work of third-seeded Sandeep Kirtane 6-1, 6-4.

Harsh Mankad, who played steady tennis, however, found a tough customer in the Swede, who gained a break in the eighth game to lead 5-3 in the first set. But he failed to hold his own serve in the very next game, and after the issue went into tie-breaker, Mankad sacrificed a comfortable lead to be at six-all, but then forged ahead, and finished off the set with an ace.

In the second set, the Swede wilted under the heat, and was broken in the fourth, sixth and eighth games, while Mankad’s own dropping of serve in the seventh game did not prove costly. The victory earned him an instant reward, a place in the Davis Cup team.

Sandeep Kirtane was a reluctant customer, all through the match, though he did come up with some stunning shots, but they were not enough to give him a place in the final. He was not allowed to hold serve in the first set, and the only game he salvaged was when Udomchoke dropped his serve in the fifth game.

In the second set, the players traded breaks to be four-all, and Kirtane was broken again in the ninth, and the Thai held serve firing two aces to make his fourth straight final in the circuit. Udomchoke had six aces and three double faults while Kirtane committed three double faults.

Guilty to be brought to book: Dhindsa

NEW DELHI, June 29 (PTI) — Not a single cricket player questioned by the CBI so far has confessed of any involvement in the match-fixing scandal, Sports Minister S.S. Dhindsa said today adding “everybody knows that not all players are clean”.

“Till date not a single person has come forward to confess his involvement in the scandal,” he told PTI.

Reminded about his earlier stand that the government would take a lenient view if players, who might be involved, confessed to the crime, the minister said he still stood by the same but added “it appears nobody will come forward to confess.”

However, he asserted that the government was determined to go to the root of the controversy and bring to book the players and others guilty of bringing the game to disrepute.

“Come what may, we will go to the root of the scandal by conducting a thorough probe,” Mr Dhindsa said and complimented the CBI for doing an excellent job of the task entrusted to it.

When told that Law Minister Ram Jethmalani had said that nothing much would come out of the probe and that the players should be forgiven, he said “this is his personal opinion.”

Bhupathi, Prinosil win

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) — Indian Mahesh Bhupathi, pairing with David Prinosil of Germany, yesterday beat the Argentine duo of Mariano Hood and Sebastian Prieto in straight sets to advance into the men’s doubles second round of the $ 12.6 million Wimbledon Championships.

Bhupathi had earlier on Tuesday bowed out of the singles championship when he lost to Stephane Huet of France 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-7 (4-7) 1-6.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

Patiala win Katoch trophy

PATIALA June 29 (FOSR) — A rejuvenated Patiala team rode on the resilience of southpaw Rakesh Raini (110 n.o.) and Ranjeev Sharma (81) to enable the hosts inflict an eight wicket defeat over Jalandhar and lift the Katoch Shield cricket trophy, which concluded at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium here today.

The knack of winning matched application as the overnight pair of Rakesh Raini and Ranjeev Sharma held their nerves and batted with grit and determination to put on 196 runs for the second wicket. Batting on a fourth innings wicket against the spinners was indeed a scary task,but both batsmen showed flawless technique and big temperament.

For Jalandhar Test off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had been in the news for all the wrong reasons, having been sacked by the NCA authorities recently, proved to be a big let-down. Despite bowling on a pitch on which the spinners were turning the ball square from day two of the four-day final, Harbhajan inexplicably failed to get any purchase from the wicket, even as Jalandhar were banking on him to deliver the goods.

Indisputably, the stylish left-handed opener Rakesh Raini was the cynosure of all eyes, and it was not merely the runs he scored, but the manner in which he scored, that showed him in good light. Each shot was as good as the other, demonstrating the batsman’s panache and technique.What really stood out was the manner in which he handled the off-spinners of Harbhajan, using his feet to smother the spin on the ball.

At the other end, Ranjeev Sharma was a picture of confidence and judiciously mixed drives, with the lofted shots to upset the opposition. When Ranjeev was finally out, the experience of skipper Pankaj Dharmani was enough to see the hosts through.

Brief scores: Jalandhar: first innings-308 all out; Patiala: first innings-218 all out; Jalandhar: second innings-155 all out; Patiala second innings — 247 for 2 (Rakesh Raini 110 n.o. Ranjeev Sharma 81, Pankaj Dharmani 31 n.o. Sandeep Sharma 1 for 31).