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| Thursday, July 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Wimbledon belongs to
Williams family |
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| Navratilova enters quarters LONDON, July 5 — Nine-times women’s singles champion Martina Navratilova won the chance to bridge the generation gap after she and Mariaan de Swardt reached the women’s doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon yesterday. Olympic route to illegal immigration BATHINDA, July 5 — Even as the Sydney Olympic Games are more than two months away, unscrupulous travel agents have started using this mega sport event to send hundreds of residents of Punjab to foreign countries through illegal means. Blind man has Olympic web in sight A blind man’s battle with the SOCOG to make its official website more userfriendly has moved to the Federal Court. Bruce Maguire launched the action in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in June last year, claiming the SOCOG had unlawfully discriminated against blind people by not providing Braille copies of the ticket order book and souvenir programme, and failed to make its website accessible.
FIFA rankings: France jump to 2nd
spot
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Agassi, Rafter move into semis LONDON, July 5 (DPA) — Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter powered into a semifinal battle at the $ 12.6-million Wimbledon Championships as both took easy straight-set wins today. Second seed Agassi kept up the pressure on a tiring Mark Philippoussis, earning a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4 result against a man who came into the match having been on court for nearly 13 hours over four matches, the last two five-setters. Rafter, his 1999 shoulder injury now just a distant memory, booked his spot as he shut down the big game of German Alexander Popp 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1). Agassi and Rafter, both multiple Grand Slam Winners, will play on Friday. The berths in the other semi-final were still to be decided, with top seed Pete Sampras due to face fellow American Jan-Michael Gambill and Zimbabwe’s Byron Black and Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus playing the remaining quarter-final on a grey, chilly day which began 45 minutes late due to drizzle. Agassi used his world-class return to blunt the serving barrage of Philippoussis, who had fired down 132 aces coming into the contest, 45 more than anyone else in the event. But the 23-year-old Aussie ran out of gas against the relatively fresh legs of the 30-year-old Agassi, who has now won his last three matches in straight sets. Agassi’s girlfriend Steffi Graf passed a quick comment on her man’s performance: “He played extremely well and without many mistakes,” said the now-retired 1999 runner-up to Lindsay Davenport. The Agassi win was his 150th at a Grand Slam and his 35th at Wimbledon against eight defeats. The American now owns a 4-1 record against the Australian. It was the winner’s fifth victory without a loss against Aussies here. Rafter, who has been nothing if not consistent at Wimbledon — he’s reached at least the fourth round every year since 1996 — got into early command against the German who is coveted by the British for his UK passport. Popp was playing in only his second Grand Slam, losing in the first round at Paris last month against eventual semi-finalist Franco Squillari. Rafter has managed to begin enjoying the game again after shoulder surgery last October and a long road back to fitness which did not re-commence on court until late February. The 27-year-old Queenslander won a grass event in Holland the week before the start of Wimbledon for the third straight year. The Aussie wrapped up the first two sets and settled into the third confident of winning in straight sets over the albatross-like tallest man in tennis. Popp got his only break
of the 12th seed in the 10th game of the third, coming
good for a 6-5 scoreline which eventually forced a
tiebreaker. But Rafter became all business on the grass
once again, rolling to 6-1 and winning through on his
first chance when the 22-year-old German put a return
wide. |
Serena ready to ‘smash’ Venus LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) — She desperately tried to pretend otherwise, but Serena Williams cannot wait for her clash with sister Venus in the semifinals at Wimbledon on Thursday. ‘‘There is no sibling rivalry between us,’’ she announced, tongue firmly in cheek after her 6-2, 6-0 destruction of Lisa Raymond in the quarterfinals yesterday. ‘‘I don’t want to ruin something that lasts for life for something that lasts just a few years.’’ But underneath, the US Open champion’s enthusiasm was clear for all to see. ‘‘She’s an ace and I’m a smash,’’ said the 18-year-old, who beat her 20 year-old sister the last time they played but lost three times to her before that. And she has vowed to make up for those times when she used to play her older sister when they were kids. Admitting she used to cheat on occasions, Serena said: ‘‘I love to win and she was bigger and stronger and she had an unfair advantage. ‘‘Venus has always been so calm whereas me, I’m the other end of the stick — I’m really excited and going crazy. I did have a problem with cheating when I was younger.’’ Referring to her win in the Grand Slam Cup final last autumn she said: ‘‘I played the way I did today. I was focused and I really played well. ‘‘We’re really even when we play and we know at least one of us is gonna be in the next round.’’ AFP adds: The proud father of Venus and Serena Williams on Tuesday revealed he will miss their semifinal clash at Wimbledon to go to a funeral. Richard Williams said he was keeping a promise to a Royal Air Force (RAF) steward he met this week at Wimbledon. And the biggest match in his brilliant young daughter’s lives could not make him break his pledge. ‘‘I will not be able to come to their next match,’’ he said. ‘‘I promised one of the Royal Air Force people who works here that I would attend the funeral of one of their friends. I have to go.’’ The senior Williams, who
coaches his daughters and bought them their first tennis
rackets, has been seen sporting an RAF cap throughout the
tournament. |
Navratilova enters quarters LONDON, July 5 (AFP) — Nine-times women’s singles champion Martina Navratilova won the chance to bridge the generation gap after she and Mariaan de Swardt reached the women’s doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon yesterday. The 43-year-old Navratilova, bidding for a 20th overall title here which would equal Billie Jean King’s record haul, will next meet the Williams sisters Venus and Serena, both of whom earlier reached the singles semifinals — where they play each other. Navratilova and South African partner De Swardt were in fine form as they ousted Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain and Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-1, 6-1 in just 41 minutes on court one in their third round encounter. The Williams sisters
beat Irina Spirlea of Romania and Caroline Vis of the
Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 in their doubles match. |
by Vijay Amritraj Wimbledon belongs to Williams family The match did live up to all expectations. Very rarely does that happen when both players give it their all and play 95% of their ability and finally leave it to nerves and to God to do the rest. The pace and power of Venus Williams against the tenacity and shrewdness of Martina Hingis. The first two sets provided great tennis as the big, tall and athletic Venus Williams seeded no. 5, crushed the ball from all corners of the court. Hingis desperately chased balls from side to side and often waited patiently in the rally for her opponent to provide the errors. The aces and the double faults came from Venus, so did the winners and the errors. In both sets Venus had her chances. The first set saw her a bit more relaxed she was able to convert it into winning it. As the second set began, the rallies got longer and it was going to be a question of whether Venus was able to convert the big points. Hingis dug in and very slowly the second set slipped away from the American. At the end of the second set Hingis left the Centre Court to change her shirt and freshen up and took a good five to six minutes which was certainly out of order. Williams waited and looked very down as she tried to forget the chances she had in the second set. In the end, the break seemed to have helped compose her thoughts and she started well in the final set. Hingis never looked like winning but it was all going to boil down to whether Venus was going to be able to hold herself together. She was exactly in the same situation at the US Open semifinal last year when her serve and her nerve let her down badly and eventually watched as her sister Serena destroyed Hingis in the final. But this year, even though she had only played only four tournaments due to a wrist injury, Venus showed exactly what her father had taught both sisters when they were growing up in Compton, a tough suburb of Los Angeles where living itself was a major challenge. She finally served for the match at 5/4 and with Serena watching and cheering from the players’ box Venus accomplished what her father had been saying all along, that both would meet in a Grand Slam final or semifinal — he had predicted that they would both win their quarterfinal matches. Venus was overjoyed and rightly so. Strange, that both at the US Open last year and Wimbledon this year it was left to her to take out the world’s No. 1 player while her sister had the better draw. Serena Williams, seeded No. 8, absolutely destroyed Lisa Raymond in 41 minutes and quickly ran off to watch her sister on Centre Court. The one person I admired most was the father Richard Williams who hugged me everytime he saw me. He was walking on air, so wonderfully pleased that his predictions had come through. He told me in the morning before the matches, that both girls would win and he would not be there for the semifinals. A truly magnificent effort by the family who had much more than their share of tough times to get the glory that their father had always dreamed of. Jelena Dokic coming
through in straight sets against Magui Serna of Spain was
completely overlooked on Court No. 1. Dokic, a former
world junior champion, came into the limelight last year
taking out Hingis in the first round but since then has
made steady progress but nothing spectacular. Another
consistent performance has put her in the semifinal
again. Monica Seles had a last chance to take out the
defending champion, Lindsay Davenport, especially after
squeezing the first set 7/6. She gave it everything in
the second and Davenport barely held on, playing at 70%
as she is not quite 100% fit. She is certainly not
playing as well as last year and the feeling is that
should Serena beat Venus in the semifinal she would beat
Lindsay in the final. Should Venus win the battle of the
sisters, Davenport could squeeze it out as Venus feels
the pressure more than her sister. At the end of the day
whoever wins the Ladies Championships at Wimbledon,
belongs to the Williams family. — PMG |
Shastri’s deposition on cards NEW DELHI, July 5 (PTI) — CBI will soon be calling former Indian captain Ravi Shastri to depose before the agency in the cricket match-fixing case, agency sources said here today. They said though no summons had been issued to Shastri, the CBI would record his statement as he had corroborated Manoj Prabhakar’s claim that he had been briefed about cricketing icon Kapil Dev’s alleged offer of a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to Prabhakar to underform in a one-dayer against Pakistan during a 1994 triangular in Sri Lanka. Kapil Dev has denied Prabhakar’s allegations. Shastri had reportedly told a website immediately after Prabhakar went public with his allegation that he was approached by Prabhakar and was briefed about the alleged offer for underperforming in the match. The sources said the CBI was awaiting Shastri’s return from Sri Lanka where he was presently on an assignment. They said Shastri is the only player so far who had corroborated Prabhakar’s charge and it would be interesting to see his statement before the Special Crime Branch of the agency, which is probing the alleged scandal. Meanwhile, Prabhakar was re-examined by the CBI last evening in the wake of some players and board officials denying secret conversations claimed to have been shot on a video by him as corroboration of his charge. He was asked about the authenticity of the video tapes as some people, who have been interviewed in the tapes, have denied having talked anything about the matter, the agency sources said. Prabhakar, who was grilled by the CBI sleuths for over two and a half hours, had reportedly stated that all the players mentioned by him were back-tracking. Among the people Prabhakar had secretly shot his conversation with, the CBI examined Nayan Mongia, Navjot Sidhu, Prashant Vaidya, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Dev and Ali Irani. All of them have denied that they were in anyway witness to any such offer by Kapil Dev to Prabhakar or had knowledge about it. When contacted for his reaction, Prabhakar told PTI that he was summoned as the agency needed some more evidence and had to cross-check some earlier statements. Asked about the authenticity of the video tapes, Prabhakar said “this question should be put to the website which is displaying them.” Prabhakar refused to comment about his statement recorded before the agency yesterday and said: “I have promised them (CBI) to be present whenever needed.” In a related development, the Income Tax department has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to furnish details of payments made to all players who represented the country in one dayers and Test matches in the last one decade. IT sources said they
would examine details pertaining to the payments made to
the players as it would throw more light on the
allegations about the match-fixing issue. |
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GALLE, July 5 (AFP) — Marvan Atapattu hit 62 as hosts Sri Lanka broke free from Pakistan’s shackles to score a five-wicket victory in the opening match of the Singer Cup tri-series here today. Sanath Jayasuriya’s men, handed an embarrassing 2-0 defeat by Pakistan in the recent Test series after losing both one-dayers to them in last month’s Asia Cup in Bangladesh, fought back splendidly to make amends. Left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa set up the win with a career-best 4-34 as Pakistan, sent to bat in overcast conditions, crashed to 53 for 6 before ending with 164 for 8 from 45 overs. Scoreboard Pakistan: Anwar c and b Zoysa 20 Imran run out 0 Afridi c Dharmasena b Vaas 5 Youhanna c Sangakkara 0 b Zoysa Inzamam not out 83 Razzaq lbw b Zoysa 0 Moin c Jayawardena 6 b Upashantha Azhar c Arnold b Murlitharan 14 Waqar b Zoysa 22 Arshad not out 1 Extras: (lb5, nb3, w5) 13 Total (for eight wickets in 45 overs) 164 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-20, 3-22, 4-38, 5-43, 6-53, 7-84, 8-153. Bowling: Vaas 9-0-38-1, Zoysa 9-2-34-4, Upashantha 9-0-29-1, Murlitharan 9-1-27-1, Dharmasena 4-0-12-0, Jayasuriya 5-1-19-0. Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya c Moin b Waqar 11 Gunawardena lbw b Waqar 0 Atapattu lbw b Razaq 62 Jayawardena c Youhanna 14 b Razzaq Sangakkara run out 35 Arnold not out 22 Dharmasena not out 5 Extras: (lb-4, nb-1, w-12) 17 Total (for five wickets, 37.3 overs) 166. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-19, 3-65, 4-131, 5-146. Bowling: Waqar 5-2-11-2,
M. Akram 8-0-42-0, Razzaq 9-0-45-2, Mahmood 6.3-0-30-0,
Arshad 6-1-23-0, Afridi 3-0-11-0. |
Shakti sets Asian mark BANGALORE, July 5 (UNI) — Shotputter Shakti Singh, the strongman of Indian athletics, blazed to a new Asian mark, while four more national records were set in the second AAFI circuit meet here today. The star performer of the day, Shakti, heaved the iron ball to a new Asian distance of 20.60 metres bettering Kazhakstan’s Rubtchov Sergei’s four-year-old record of 20.45 metres (made in Kazhakstan). In the process, he also improved upon his own national mark of 19.72 metres in Calcutta in 1998. After the record, Shakti said he was at his peak in the season’s preparations and was confident of doing better at the Asian track and field event at Jakarta next month. The other athletes who gave new national records were Anil Kumar of Services in 100 m dash for men, Rachita Mistry of Railways in 100 m women, K Jebeshori Devi of Railways in hammer throw for women and Vineta Tripathi of Life Insurance Corporation in 200 m for women. AAFI Vice President said Shakti’s new Asian record will have to be ratified by the AAFI technical committee which would meet during the inter-state meet at Chennai in the first week of August. Bahadur Singh of Punjab, who has been the main rival of Shakti for the last few years, could not match the Haryana star today as he disappointed him with an effort of 18.80 metres for the second place. Jaiveer Singh of Services finished third with a distance of 18.39 metres. Anil Kumar now based in Bangalore again won the short sprint with authority stopping the clock at 10.21 secs bettering his own old national record of 10.33 achieved in the inter state meet at Chennai last year. Better resistance from Rajiv Balakrishnan was expected but the Tamil Nadu sprinter finished second with 10.40 secs and Sandeep of Punjab with 10.50 secs took third spot. Rachita Mistry would
never forget her day today as she won the sprint with
gusto and an astounding timing of 10.26 secs. She smashed
the 15-year-old record of 11.26 secs which stood in the
name of Indian sprint queen P T Usha. |
Olympic
route
to illegal immigration BATHINDA, July 5 — Even as the Sydney Olympic Games are more than two months away, unscrupulous travel agents have started using this mega sport event to send hundreds of residents of Punjab to foreign countries through illegal means. The travel agents having links in the USA and other European countries have started the exercise to take those persons abroad, who are aspiring to go to foreign countries to earn a ‘fortune’. Informed sources said travel agents get tourist visas for aspirants for watching the Olympic Games at Sydney. From Australia, these agents have planned to send the aspirants to the countries of their choice. Sources added that a US citizen, who originally belonged to Bathinda and had been sending Punjabi youths abroad for the past many years through illegal means, had recently undertaken a tour of Punjab to create his ‘clientele’. During the Atlanta Olympics, he managed to take more than 50 persons from Punjab to the USA on visitors’ visas procured on the pretext of watching the games. Even some residents of Punjab who were history sheeters and were involved in militancy-related crime had gone abroad through this method. The travel agents used to book rooms in big hotels and procure tickets for matches in the name of their prospective customers. They used to arrange fake documents of sponsorship for their customers to ensure that they did not face any inconvenience in getting visas. Sources said the deals which had been struck by the travel agents with their customers involved money ranging from Rs 7 lakh per person. The agents were taking half the amount as advance payment. Sources added that a woman living in a satellite town of Chandigarh and who was acting as a travel agent had started engaging the services of prominent persons of the villages to fetch customers. Her husband, who assisted her in this operation, had started dealing with urban customers. All the customers were being promised that they would be taken to Australia in the second week of September just before the games. On the other hand, the
state as well as central intelligence agencies have
become active to check the menace. The agencies had also
been contacting the Australian Embassy for urging it to
make visa conditions, strict to check the illegal
business of the unscrupulous travel agents. |
FIFA rankings: France jump to 2nd spot PARIS, July 5 (AFP) — Newly-crowned European champions France nearly ended Brazil’s reign at the top of FIFA’s world rankings published today, with Italy and Portugal also making significant climbs. Lagging 70 points behind only a month ago, France nearly polevaulted to the top with their dramatic extra-time golden-goal win over Italy in Euro 2000 final on Sunday at Rotterdam. The Czech Republic, who played some impressive football at Euro despite their first-round exit, remain in the third while quarter-finalists Spain hold joint fourth with Argentina, who are unbeaten in South American World Cup qualifiers. Rankings (points in parenthesis): 1. Brazil (825) 2.
France (808) 3. Czech Republic (753) 4. Spain (744),
Argentina (744) 6. Italy (732) 7. Portugal (717) 8.
Netherlands (713) 9. Germany (711) 10. Norway (708) 11.
Yugoslavia (705) 12. Romania (701) 13. Mexico (698) 14.
Croatia (694) 15. England (691) 16. Denmark (653) 17.
Colombia (650) 18. Sweden (645) 19. Paraguay (642) 20.
USA (639). |
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Blind
man has Olympic web in sight A blind man’s battle with the SOCOG to make its official website more userfriendly has moved to the Federal Court. Bruce Maguire launched the action in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in June last year, claiming the SOCOG had unlawfully discriminated against blind people by not providing Braille copies of the ticket order book and souvenir programme, and failed to make its website accessible. Maguire, who claims he only wants the chance to enjoy the Olympic Games like other Australians, won the first two battles last year when the commission ordered the SOCOG to produce Braille copies of the ticket order book, and the SOCOG promised to produce Braille copies of the souvenir programme. Under the amended Australian Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 discrimination complaints are now heard in the Federal Court. Take the family along One of the most daunting aspects of participating in the Olympic Games is leaving behind loved ones. But tearful goodbyes at the airport could become a thing of the past, thanks to a programme developed by the SOCOG to keep athletes and their families together at games-time. The Samsung Athletes’ Family Host 2000 programme provides athletes’ relatives from all competing nations with accommodation in homes across Sydney, free of charge. Many families love to travel with the athletes, but costs and cultural differences can be limiting. Sydney’s diverse ethnic communities add service organisations have been consulted on the programme to ensure hosts and guests will be well-matched. A significant objective of the programme is to place athletes’ families in housing near the relevant Olympic venue. Because the venues range from Bondi in the eastern suburbs to Penrith in the west, organisers plan to gather hosts from across the city. Other factors such as language, diet, culture and religious observances may play a role in placements. Indian athletes can hitch their relatives up with ex-patriate Indian families in Sydney by filling in the Samsung Athletes’ Family Host 2000 form at the web site:http:/ / www.olympics.com/eng/ Each athlete will be limited to two relatives who will provide them with important support during exciting but sometimes stressful competition. Hosts will be required to provide bed and breakfast for their guests for a minimum of eight days, which could be the most rewarding eight days of their lives. Beware, the last day ! There was a “last day of Saigon” look about Sydney International Airport on Saturday when tempers flared following Saturday’s breakdown of the new $43 million baggage handling system. The real fear, according to airport workers, is the possibility of the system breaking down on the final day of the Olympics, with images of the “last day of the Sydney Games” flashed around the world. Michael Chakoush, Qantas’s occupational health and safety officer, said: “If Saturday’s scenes recur, we might as well pack up and go home and lose any goodwill we built up over the Olympics.” About 6,500 international passengers were delayed, 21 Qantas flights and another 40 international flights were delayed for up to five hours and more than 2,000 pieces of luggage missed flights as a result of a software failure. The combination of a Saturday and the first day of the school winter holidays created conditions similar to the final day of the Olympics when athletes, officials and visitors usually try to leave immediately after the closing ceremony. The new automated system has repeatedly failed over the past three months, with baggage handled four times as it is moved manually onto trolleys, wheeled to a footpath, loaded onto trucks and transported to containers near the aircraft. Late yesterday, more than 150 bags, which missed flights on Saturday were still at Sydney Airport. Because many travellers’ destinations are served only every three days, they will not receive their clothes for almost a week. So if you’re making a trip for the games, make sure you have some sort of a wardrobe to return to ! A degree in the Olympics Over the past few months, 750 people have been packing up every week and, getting themselves to Sydney at their own expense, and training so they can be know-it-alls for the 199 national organising committees coming to the games from throughout the world. Between them, these 750 have had to learn the rudimentaries of some 50 languages in order to be able to assist the visiting officials and athletes for their five-week stay in Sydney. The officially titled NOC assistants have been in training for 15 months, studying for what organisers say is a degree in the Olympics with honours in how to find anything in the Olympic village. During the games, they will all be assigned to work a particular country and will be based in their respective offices in the village, where they will help athletes and officials to settle into Olympic village life. Part of the NOC assistants’ training includes a crash course in the preferred language of their country, whether that is India, France or Senegal. Their tasks would involve anything from photocopying competition schedules to acting as tour guides of Sydney. The number of assistants each country gets depends on the size of its delegation. Small countries will probably have three people to help them out, while a middle-sized contingent such as India might get five or six aides, and a county with a large contingent up to 10. The organisers had to comb universities and language centres to find enough Russian and Arabie speakers. Since the Soviet Union broke up, there are at least 10 countries who list Russian or a variant of it as their first language, so organisers had to look harder for those people than did for French or even Hindi speakers. One woman was originally told she was going to be working with the Spanish NOC, only to be reassigned to Mexico, then yet another change and a crash course in Russian. — PMG (The writer is a
well-known sports journalist now settled in Australia.) |
NCC
athletics NEW DELHI, July 5 — The National Cadet Corps (NCC) Athletic Championships, as part of the NCC Games-2000, will be held at Jalandhar from July 25 to August 5. For the first time the NCC games would be moving out of Delhi, to “promote greater national integration”. Ever since the introduction of the NCC Games in 1997, Delhi has been the permanent venue. While athletics will be held at Jalandhar, volleyball will be conducted at Secunderabad from July 7 to 18 and football at Pune from August 12 to 23. According to NCC spokesman Hawa Singh, promising athletes and players will be shortlisted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), for admission into its centres. He said in 1977, 20 cadets were recruited by the SAI, and the number went upto 30 in 1998. He said following the
introduction of the NCC Games, NCC has also started
taking part in the Subroto Cup football tournament for
schools. Cadet Asim Aich of West Bengal Directorate was
part of the Subroto Cup team, that visited Nepal two
years ago. |
End of the road for top players, coaches ROTTERDAM, July 5 (AFP) — Euro 2000 brought the end of the road for several top players and coaches, some going out with all guns blazing, others with their tails between their legs. The coaches who opted out of guiding their countries into the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup included Germany’s Erich Ribbeck, Holland’s Frank Rijkaard, Portugal’s Humberto Coelho and Turkey’s Mustafa Denizli. Ribbeck and Rijkaard did not live up to the expectations of their respective nations though Coelho and Denizli both had a good tournament. Co-hosts Holland reached the semifinals but then fell apart against Italy, missing two penalties in open play and three in the shoot-out, to bow out ungloriously. Coelho took his side to the semifinals where they lost to France, as they did in 1984 when France won on home soil. Turkey lost to Portugal 2-0 in the quarter-finals to a Nuno Gomes double, but they had the satisfaction of reaching the quarter-finals of a major championships for the first time. Rijkaard, whose team failed to beat in Italy side who were down to 10 men for almost 90 minutes, said his decision to resign was final and that it was due to the result rather than the way his team played. He also denied he was going to take over the coaching reins at AC Milan where he had such a glorious time at the end of the 80’s and start of the 90’s. Bo Johansson of Sweden has parted company with Denmark but the decision had already been made that former Ajax stalwart Morten Olsen would take over for the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The 63-year-old German coach Ribbeck was the one to really suffer during these championships. He even learnt after the tournament that players tried to get rid of him before the finals and make Lothar Matthaus coach. The German press ridiculed him incessantly while Ribbeck himself always appeared dignified despite the poor performance of the team which came bottom of group A, losing to both England and Portugal and getting an unimpressive draw against Romania. The German Football Federation, under pressure to make top-to-bottom changes, have appointed two men — former international striker Rudi Voller and Bayern Leverkusen coach Christoph Daum — to take over. Coelho chose to go but he hardly had a bad tournament. The semifinal with France was moments away from the penalties where they could have qualified for their first ever major final. He had taken over from Artur Jorge in December 1997. Denizli did well at the helm for Turkey but the nation’s highly critical press looked to have played a major part in ousting him. Quarter-final elimination sealed his fate. The 51-year-old Denizli, in the post since October, 10 1996, has already been replaced by Senol Gunes. And Denizli has a new job for next season as a technical advisor for top Turkish club Fenerbahce. Players to retire from international football included Lothar Matthaus of Germany, who won his 150th cap which is a record world-wide. Laurent Blanc, who had to miss the 1998 World Cup final through suspension, Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi. England’s Alan Shearer and Holland’s Dennis Bergkamp. Matthaus had a poor first match against Romania to spark off a debate among the German camp about whether he should continue, Ribbeck reportedly backed his inclusion though the player himself said he would step aside of that was the best thing for Germany. It was ironic that Matthaus, who skippered the 1990 World Cup winning team, would bow out so ungloriously as the German were booed and whistled while being thrashed 3-0 by a hat-trick from Portugal’s reserve Sergio Conseicao. Hagi earned his 125th cap marching orders in the quarter-final against Italy for two yellow cards. The 29-year-old Shearer scored his 30th goal in 63 matches in the 3-2 loss to Romania and he also scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Germany in the high-risk match in Charleroi. His contribution was not enough, however, to put England into the quarter-finals from group A. The 31-year-old Arsenal striker Bergkamp’s international record reads 37 goals in 79 appearances for Holland but not winning on home soil must have been a major disappointment. His fear of flying means he will not be at the next World Cup in Japan and South Korea. But perhaps the biggest loss of all will be felt by France with the retirement of talismanic defender Laurent Blanc. “The president” as he is known, was at his imperial best in the final against Italy, which more than made up for his missing the 1998 World Cup final through suspension. The French skipper
Didier Deschamps, who earned a national record 101st cap
in the 2-1 win over Italy, has also indicated he has
played his last game on the international level. But
calls are growing for him to stay on. |
Australia recall Ponting, Gillespie MELBOURNE, July 5 (Reuters) — Ricky Ponting and Jason Gillespie have been recalled to Australia’s limited overs squad for next month’s series against South Africa. Ponting has not played for Australia since injuring his ankle in a one-day match against Pakistan in February while Gillespie has been sidelined since September last year when he fractured his leg and wrist in a collision with Steve Waugh. Ponting returns at the expense of top-order batsman Matthew Hayden while Gillespie won back his place ahead of injured paceman Damien Fleming. The world champions will play South Africa in a world-first indoor series at Melbourne’s colonial stadium. The three matches, on August 16, 18 and 20, will be played with the stadium’s retractable roof closed. Squad: Michael Bevan,
Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Brett Lee,
Shane Lee, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting,
Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh. |
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