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| Sunday, July 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Venus clinches Wimbledon title CBI asked to finish
probe ‘expeditiously’ |
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| Agassi never looked like winning Just like the Australian Open semifinal this year in January between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, the Wimbledon semifinal between Pat Rafter, the two time US Open champion and the world’s No 1 Andre Agassi lived up to expectations. Sampras ready for challenge LONDON, July 8 — A senior FIFA member yesterday dismissed as “an absolute hoax” claims that letters purporting to be from Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid team offered gifts in exchange for votes. Anand, Kramnik post wins PP body-builder set
for WWF debut SAI coaches honoured No T-shirts with religious messages at Olympics Hooligans ‘harmed’ England’s bid
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Venus clinches Wimbledon title LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) — Venus Williams eclipsed defending champion Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6 to win the Wimbledon women’s singles crown, her first Grand Slam title, today. The athletic 20-year-old out-hit and out-thought the number two seed in a superb performance to fulfil her childhood dream of winning at the All-England Club. Venus Williams went into orbit when Davenport could not return on the second matchpoint, jumping in the air like an excited child and dancing deliriously around the Centre Court. The fifth seed then climbed through the crowd towards the box where her father Richard and younger Sister Serena, beaten by Venus in the semifinals, were waiting to hug her and share her joy. Venus Williams is the first African-American to win the women’s singles title since Althea Gibson in 1958. She wins £ 430,000. “It’s really great and I’ve been working so hard all my life to be here,” said Williams. “When I go to bed at night I dream I have won a Grand Slam, but when I wake up it’s a nightmare. So now when I wake up it doesn’t have to be like that anymore.” “I can’t hold back and this is just how I am,” she said grinning broadly, holding the trophy — named the Venus rosewater dish. “I don’t like to miss out on celebrations or a good laugh.” Serena (18), had trumped her sister by winning the US Open last year and they are now the first sisters both to win Grand Slam titles. The Williams sisters will play in the women’s doubles finals tomorrow. The American pair exchanged breaks at the start of the match as early encounters were dominated by errors. Williams’s serve clicked in the third game and she held comfortably, finding a perfect length on her groundstrokes. Davenport’s delivery was still erratic, however, and she was broken to 30 when she fired a forehand long for 3-1. A series of powerful serves and firmly hit groundstrokes saw Williams stretch into a 4-1 lead. The fifth seed showed she was not a one-speed player when she threw in a perfectly weighted drop shot in the next game and followed it in to volley a winner. That, combined with Davenport’s second double fault, gave Williams two break points for a 5-1 lead, but Davenport dug her heels in and found some rhythm on her serve to hold for 2-4. That set-back for Williams was only temporary and, using Davenport’s pace, she thumped winners past the second seed for 5-2. Davenport, the second seed, looked short on ideas as she was sent scampering around court by Williams’s clever angles and blistering pace and she had to fight off a set-point to make it 3-5. Despite losing the first two points of her next service game, Williams imposed her game and clinched the set 6-3 in 32 minutes on her third set point. Davenport tightened her game, strengthened her resolve and held comfortably to start the second set. It was the best service game of the match for the champion and it seemed to boost her confidence. She pegged Williams back in the next game with some big hitting and made no mistake on her first break-point since the first game of the match to make it 2-0. Williams was stung into action and immediately broke back with a combination of drop shots, baseline winners and powerful smashes. The 20-year-old hit her first three double faults of the match as nerves again crept in and Davenport took full advantage breaking for 3-1. Davenport immediately returned the favour, however, throwing in a double fault of her own as Williams broke back for 2-3. She learnt her lesson from the previous service game and made sure she got her serves into play. One more double fault could not deviate her and she served out for 3-3 with an ace. Davenport cracked under the increasing pressure of Williams’s power play and was broken for 3-4 when she double faulted again. She refused to fold, though, and struck back with cleverly constructed rallies, wrong-footing Williams to level matters 4-4. Williams would not be denied and with both players playing superb tennis she again broke Davenport with a mixture of drive volleys and drop shots to leave her serving for the match. But with victory in sight her brittle serve collapsed and she threw in two more double faults to waste her chance. Having levelled at 5-5, Davenport pressed home her advantage and won her first service game since the opening game of the set to ease into the lead 6-5. Her serve still a little shaky, Williams managed to hold on for 6-6 and into a tiebreak. Williams grabbed the first mini break when Davenport hit the net with a backhand and she made it 4-1 when Davenport’s backhand flew long. She crashed a serve in for 5-1 and three point later fulfilled her dream by clinching the crown.
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CBI asked to finish
probe ‘expeditiously’ CHANDIGARH, July 8 — The Sports Authority of India has been negotiating with the Punjab Government for allotment of 25-30 acres of land at SAS Nagar for setting up a Centre of Excellence for the northern region. The overstaffed SAI has also been asked to reduce its staff strength by 400. The Union Ministry of Sports would present a draft of the new sports policy in the next session of Parliament and similarly a new national youth policy is being drafted soon. These are some of the points made by the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, at a Meet the Press programme at Chandigarh Press Club today. Mr Dhindsa said SAI had approached the Chandigarh Administration to allow it to run its Centre of Excellence for northern region at the Sector 42 Sports Complex without asking for title ownership of the complex. But since the Administration could not take a decision, SAI has decided to negotiate with the Punjab Government for allotment of a piece of land at the back side of the PCA Stadium at SAS Nagar for the development of this Centre of Excellence. He agreed SAI was overstaffed and its non-plan expenditure was on the rise and disclosed that SAI had been asked to declare 400 redundancies. What methods are adopted to say good bye to these employees would be decided soon, he said. Mr Dhindsa said in the new sports policy, various guidelines for national sports federations, institutions and other organisations involved in the development and promotion of sports are being incorporated. Talking about the “undemocratic constitution” of some of the sports bodies, including district Olympic associations in Punjab, Mr Dhindsa said POA would soon amend its constitution making it mandatory for all its affiliate units to have democratic constitution. Mr Dhindsa said the government had launched National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) as the existing rules limit government’s help to budding sportsmen and women. He said that at present, the government could not extend any financial help beyond the upper ceiling of Rs 40,000. But once the NSDF becomes operative, the government could help needy sportsmen in a much better way. Contributions to the fund are exempt from Income Tax. He was hopeful that big industrial houses, public sector undertakings and corporate sector would donate generously for the fund. The Sports Minister announced that the Union Cabinet had adopted a resolution supporting fully India’s bid for the 2006 Asian Games to be organised in New Delhi. Formal bid has been made to the Olympic Council of India. Mr Dhindsa said that efforts were being made to get 2010 Commonwealth Games allotted to India. Preparations are being made for holding the first Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi next year. Talking about preparation of Indian teams for the Sydney Olympic games, he said that soon after taking over the charge of the Sports Ministry he convened separate meetings of all the national sports federations and the sports disciplines in which India is competing in the Sydney Olympic games. “Whatever help they wanted from the government, we tried to provide to them, including arranging foreign coaches in some sports and sending Indian players abroad for training. By next year, we plan to start a new programme in which new trends in sports coaching would be taught to Indian coaches by inviting experts from abroad to conduct workshops and training sessions. This would benefit Indian coaches most and solve the problem of updating their knowledge and skills in coaching national teams, “ he added. Mr Dhindsa said that the country has given the highest award to Dhanraj Pillay in recognition of his contribution to hockey. He said that there was nothing wrong for a bureaucrat or a politician to head a sports federation provided he takes interest in the sport and its promotion. Under the new sports policy, he said, it would be ensured that no individual heads more than one sport body at the state and national level. Talking about cricket, he said that the ministry expected a report from the BCCI by July 26 as it had asked for three months to submit its report. When asked about his comment that worth of Indian cricketers was between Rs 10 crores and Rs 200 crores, he said that this was not his observation but a general comment made to him by people who come and visit him. The CBI has been asked to finish its investigation expeditiously. The match fixing was referred to the CBI after both Houses of Parliament, cricketers, past and present, and others wanted this premier agency to handle the investigation. He did not agree with the suggestion that the CBI investigations should be open. Investigations by CBI and hearing of a Commission (King Commission of S. Africa) are two different things and cannot be compared, he added. Talking about Justice Chandrachud report, Mr Dhindsa said that this commission was set up by the BCCI and government had nothing to do with it. Still, it was his initiative that report of the Justice Chandrachud was tabled in Parliament. Mr Dhindsa said that in case cricketers were involved, he wanted them to make a confession so that the government could take a lenient view. “Our intention is to cleanse the game so that in future no one dare do this,” he added. Earlier, Mr Dhindsa was presented a memento by the Club President, Mr Jagtar Singh Sidhu.
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Agassi never looked like winning Just like the Australian Open semifinal this year in January between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, the Wimbledon semifinal between Pat Rafter, the two time US Open champion and the world’s No 1 Andre Agassi lived up to expectations. Rafter won in a marvellous five set match, which he never looked like losing. It was a classic example of a good serve and volleyer playing a great baseliner. It would come down to how well Rafter served and if Agassi could maintain the quality of his return of serve. Though Agassi had a strong winning record against the Australian and having beaten him in the same round here last year, he could not get ahead at any stage in the match. From the first set on Rafter served ahead and stayed ahead. The chances that Agassi had he could not convert and serving behind put pressure on his serve. Strangely his double fault came at a wrong time and gave Rafter an early lead in the games that he broke serve. Unlike his match against Todd Martin, in the second round where Martin played great tennis till he got ahead 5-2 in the final set with two breaks of serve and completely fell apart, his match against Rafter was against a player who was much more mentally tough and a man who had won two Grand Slam titles. It always makes a huge difference if you have won a Grand Slam event against a player who might be in better form for the week. The size of the occasion generally comes into play and raises the level of some players and makes others extremely nervous. In his match with Martin, Agassi never looked like losing even at 5-2 down in the fifth. Strangely, against Rafter even after winning the fourth set Agassi never looked like winning. The early part of the final set Agassi was not at his best. He was still serving behind and again dropped his serve by starting of the game with a double fault. Rafter on the other hand could sense that this was his time. His serve was patchy, about 55 per cent first serve in, but his best serving came towards the end of the match. Even after he broke Agassi in the fifth, he still had to serve out two good games at 4-2 or 5-3 and his volleying was nothing short of superb. A remarkable victory that couldn’t happened to a nicer guy. Rafter won the tournament in Rossmalen in Holland before coming to Wimbledon, so he is on a 11-match winning streak, which should put him in the driver’s seat against Sampras in the final. The champion was tested only in the first set against the qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus. Once Voltchkov missed the easy backhand volley in the tie-break of the first set at 5-4, Sampras knew that the slight difficulty he would have had was not going to happen. The champion quickly put away the challenger and continued to nurse his injured ankle. He has not practiced on off days or warmed up before his matches but said later that he would warm up before his final. Rafter has beaten Sampras on several occasions and is quietly confident of doing it again. Rafter is going for his first Wimbledon and Sampras is going for history. Seven Wimbledon singles titles will equal William Renshaw’s seven in the late 1880s and pass Roy Emerson’s 12 Grand Slam titles should Sampras win on Sunday. Will Rafter feel the pressure of the occasion, I think not. Will Sampras’ injury be factor, I think not. As Pete said, “As long as I have my right arm, I am still a threat on grass. Adrenaline can get you through a lot. — PMG
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LONDON, July 8 (AFP) — When they come to write a definitive history of tennis they’d better leave a sizeable appendix to list all of Pete Sampras’ achievements, especially if he sees off Aussie crowd-pleaser Patrick Rafter in tomorrow’s Wimbledon singles final. Champions come and champions go but precious few have made the tournament their own the way that the 28-year-old from Washington DC has done with six wins to his credit in the past seven years — and a seventh within his grasp, as well as 62 career titles to date. But it’s not just about history in the making on a patch of turf that will be forever southwest London because Sampras will kill two historical birds with one stone if he can beat the 12th-seeded Queenslander, cast in the role of spoiler. Another trophy will do far more than merely bring him level with William Renshaw, star of the Victorian era in an age where challenge rounds easily enabled champions to walk off with more spoils. It will give Sampras a 13th Grand Slam title — leaving him out on his own in history as he currently shares the record on 12 with Australian great Roy Emerson. Sampras has been waiting for this moment with bated breath after enduring his annual — almost ritual — French Open humiliation on the slow clay of Roland Garros and that title seem set to elude him permanently. No matter, because even if US rival Andre Agassi completed the set last year in Paris, the shaven-headed Las Vegan will not get the chance to gain revenge for Sampras’ victory here 12 months ago because an inspired Rafter got in the way in a wonderful five-set semi-final. Sampras had it slightly easier as he followed Rafter and Agassi onto his ‘second home’ of the Centre Court to end the dreams of qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus in straight sets. Rafter, who turned the tables on Agassi after losing last year’s semis to the same player, will be playing only his third Grand Slam final — but he’s done alright so far with two successes in the US Open. And having shown Agassi the door, just as he did three years ago at Flushing Meadow, Rafter will be bidding to become the first Australian to win the crown here since Pat Cash 13 years ago. Sampras’ level of experience is, however, on a different plane to that of the 27-year-old Queenslander. The American will be playing in his 15th Grand Slam final and to date he has lost just two — the 1995 Australian Open final and the 1992 US Open. Despite his recent shin injury he is ready for the challenge. “I’m ecstatic to be in the final — but it won’t be easy. It’s been a struggle but I’m still here,” said Sampras alluding to his shin injury suffered in the second round on the way to defeating Karol Kucera. “At this stage of my career this is what I’m playing for. It means a lot. I just know this is my last match — mentally that feels good. “You just let it all hang out, just go out there and not think about it,” said Sampras, saying thoughts of the record had to be put to the back of his mind. “The adrenalin and the occasion can really get you through a lot of tough situations on court.” Rafter, like Sampras, has had his injury scares and has had a long road back after arthroscopic shoulder surgery last autumn. But against Agassi it looked as if that was all behind him. “It’s been a long road back — I think that’s the most satisfying part about it. I want to go ahead with the job and put in my best on Sunday,” he said. “Against Pete you’ve really got to take your chances — you’ve got to get his serve back somehow. “We’ve had some great battles and he’s won most of them. But I have had my couple of wins over him. I’ve just got to try to be relaxed.” Sampras has beaten Rafter in nine of 13 previous meetings — but they have never met on grass. The two finalists fell out for a while after the Aussie beat Sampras in Cincinnati two years ago and was then quoted as saying that: “It’s always nice to beat Pete. I get an incredible amount of enjoyment from being on top of him in a match and pretty well just annoying him.” But Sampras said that any problem between the two was history — that word again.
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FIFA man dismisses bribery claim LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) — A senior FIFA member yesterday dismissed as “an absolute hoax” claims that letters purporting to be from Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid team offered gifts in exchange for votes. Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, president of the Concacaf Federation, told BBC TV: “We are treating it with the contempt it deserves.” Media reports said the letters had been pushed under the hotel bedroom doors of at least 10 members of the 24-strong executive committee only hours before the tournament was awarded to Germany yesterday. The claims were also dismissed by England bid chief Alec McGivan who said the letters did not look authentic. But attention was increasingly focussed today on 73-year-old New Zealand delegate Charles Dempsey whose abstention gave the Germans a 12-11 victory. Dempsey, Oceania’s delegate on the FIFA executive committee, was flying home via Singapore as it emerged that he had defied instructions to support South Africa. “As Oceania’s representative Mr Dempsey was under instruction to support the South African bid, once England had dropped out of the ballot,” New Zealand Sports Minister Trevor Mallard said in a statement. “I’m shocked that one individual seems to have abused his voting right by disregarding instructions on voting requirements.” Soccer New Zealand (SNZ) chief executive Bill MacGowan confirmed Dempsey had been ordered to vote for South Africa if England went out of the running and said the SNZ wanted to distance itself from Dempsey’s decision. |
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Anand, Kramnik post
wins DORTMUND (Germany), July 8 (UNI) — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand started his campaign in style by outwitting FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman in the first round of Spartassen Chess meeting being played here today. On a bad day for the players with black pieces, top-seeded grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), grandmaster Michael Adams (England) and grandmaster Peter Leko (Hungary) whitewashed their opponents. Chess computer program “Junior 6”, however held grandmaster Evegeny Barrev (Russia), to a draw from the black pieces to register the only surprise result. Anand, a joint winner of the super tournament here in 1994, started his game with his favourite first move of pawn in front of king. The world champion from Russia, employed French defence — an opening with which he had lost to Anand at Linares, Spain in February this year. The game however took a sudden turn when Khalifman moved his bishop back on his fifth move instead of capturing Anand’s knight. Anand’s reply was very sharp as he went on a pawn grabbing spree on the kingside, neglecting his own development. The 500 spectators gathered in the Dortmund theatre witnessed a nerve-wrecking battle of attack and counter-attack. Anand finally emerged with a pair of lethal bishops against Khalifman’s knights. Anand, who is hot favourite ahead of top-seeded Vladimir Kramnik according to the expert predictions, finished the game by forcing the FIDE world champion to part away with his knight. Khalifman resigned after 47 moves. Vladimir Kramnik, who replaced Anand as No 2 in the FIDE rankings behind Garry Kasparov scored a
facile win over FIDE world championship runners-up grandmaster Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in Botwinnik variation of Slav defence. Kramnik sounded a warning to Garry Kasparov, with whom he will play a match in London in October this year with his powerful play. Akopian lost a pawn in the sharp battle. Kramnik suddenly changed the character of the game by entering an endgame and forcing Akopian to surrender in bishop ending. British grandmaster Michael Adams sacrificed a pawn early in the opening to defeat Dutchman Jeroen Piket in Petroff defence. The only local competitor grandmaster Robert Hubner (Germany) could not withstand teenager Peter Leko’s attacking play in French defence. Forty-year-old Hubner was forced to give up by Leko’s youthful and energetic game. Russian GM Evegeny Bareev was lucky to survive against computer program “Junior-6” in a highly tense battle. Bareev was forced to give up a pawn in knight ending but his active king saw him through the complications. The draw was agreed after 71 moves. Results of the Ist round: Anand (Ind) b Khalifman (Rus), Kramnik (Rus) b Akopian (Arm) , Leko (Hun) b Hubner (Ger), Adams (Eng) b Piket (Neth), Bareev (Rus) drew “Junior-6”. |
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PP body-builder set
for WWF debut NAINIDHAR (Sirmaur), July 8 — The man stands seven feet tall. Claiming to be Asia’s tallest body-builder, he is all set to represent his country in the WWF competition in the USA. A product of Nainidhar village in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Dalip Singh Rana, employed as a Sub-Inspector with the Punjab Police in Jalandhar says “I am proud to represent my great country and confident to do well there as I believe in God, though I know it is a tough job”. The 27-year-old son of the soil has won the Mr India title for three consecutive years besides bagging Mr Punjab in 1997 and Mr North in 1998. Weighing 175 kg, his chest measuring 65 inches and 23 inches biceps, this lad does his work-out for about 4 hours a day and follows a proper dietary chart. “It is a lot of hardwork that I have put in but it is the Almighty’s gift of course”, asserts Dalip. “My diet is rather simple and normal but naturally the body requirements are more. I take milk, eggs and bananas in break fast. Lunch is chicken, rice and salad”, reveals the body builder. “Adequate amount of sleep and rest is important too in my field,” he adds. Dalip worked as a gunman at a gun house in Shimla. Mr M.S. Bhullar, an Additional Director General of Police (Punjab), recognised his potential in 1994. “The Punjab Police ever has been very helpful and encouraged me at every step”, adds Dalip. “My parents too have been very supporting and cooperative”, he says. “I am very proud of my brother and I’m sure he will make his country proud also. Even I take his help and guidance for my work-out,” expresses Bhagat Singh, his younger brother. Dalip’s message to the young and upcoming body builders is: “Hard work and a good coach.” One needs the correct guidance in diet and work-out as the proper technique is needed to do well. However, one should always be down to earth and humble’’. Having travelled all over the country, Dalip is yet not satisfied with himself. “I still have a long way to go to achieve my goal and do my nation proud’’. |
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SAI coaches honoured CHANDIGARH, July 8 — As many as 131 SAI coaches of northern India were honoured with cash awards for services rendered to sports at the first-ever function of the Sports Authority of India at the skating rink hall, Sector 10, here today. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister of
Youth Affairs and Sports and Mines, who was the chief guest, exhorted the coaches to put in their best to improve the standard of sport in the country. “The coaches should be physically fit,” he said while emphasising that non-performers should not be encouraged. “A provision should be made so that coaches whose performance is not satisfactory are not retained in their jobs,” he said. Those who were honoured today came from different parts of north India, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh. Their trainees won gold medals in individual as well as team events in different state-level championships in the northern region. A booklet “Code of Ethics and Practice for Sports Excellence” was also released by Mr Dhindsa on the occasion. Dr P.C. Kashyap, Regional Director, SAI NSNC, Chandigarh, while welcoming Mr Dhindsa, said SAI had chalked out a plan to grant special increments to those coaches whose trainees would win gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympics and World Championship. Moreover, those coaches, whose trainees win gold, silver and bronze medals in the senior or junior nationals will be given cash incentives of Rs 5000, Rs 2000, and Rs 1000 respectively, he said. Among distinguished persons present on the occasion were Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, Minister of Sports, Punjab, Mr Parveen Sharma, Minister of Sports, HP, Padam Shri, Charanjit Singh (hockey), Padam Shri Kartar Singh (wrestling), J.S. Saini, Dr Ajmer Singh, Ms Ajinder Kaur (both Arjuna awardees) and a host of internationals. Prof Manjit Singh, Jathedar, Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, who was also present was also asked to give away the awards. The function witnessed a slight commotion at the fag end when an emotionally charged Arjuna Award winner, Bhim Singh, now posted at Faridabad, rushed towards Mr Dhindsa complaining of a deliberate attempt to sideline him. “How can they belittle my importance when I have represented my country in the Asian Games and the Olympics? At the Mexico Olympics I gave the best performance from the continent and today I was not considered fit to be called to the podium to give away awards while persons of lesser importance were called upon to do so”, he charged. |
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No T-shirts with religious messages at Olympics IF you are at an Olympic venue and you see a person without a shirt he may not be necessarily drunk or feeling hot. Chances are the person is a religious person. Why? Simply because the SOCOG has issued a ban on people wearing T-shirts and shirts which carry religious messages on them. So, the Jesus saves, the end is near’ slogans cannot be worn across the chest or back of shirts at Olympic venues. Gate officials will ask people wearing such garments to strip them off before entering the venue. One wonders what the rule will be on a priest entering a venue with his cloak and collar on for that could also be a religious statement. Would the image of a fish (a symbol of Christianity) or a crescent (the symbol of Islam) or an elephant (the Hindu God Ganesh) be hit by the ban as well? One predicts SOCOG will have a few problems with the ruling because it has probably only taken into consideration the Christian factor. Hockey’s Mount Everest: Since Melbourne in 1956, a succession of gifted Australian men’s hockey teams have played at 10 Olympic Games without winning gold, gaining a reputation as chokers. National coach Terry Walsh on Thursday spoke personally with the 16 players he has chosen for the Kookaburras as they seek the Olympic gold which has twice eluded him — and tried to explain to the eight national-squad discards why they would not be going to Sydney. Walsh and his players have been directed by the Australian Olympic Committee not to reveal the names until next Tuesday, when a ceremony will be held at Kings Park in Perth. Commenting on the competition Walsh simply said: “Make no mistake, we face one heck of a challenge.” Lucky landing: More than 1,000 people on domestic and international flights were forced to circle Sydney, their pilots unable to communicate with the air traffic controllers, who direct aircraft as they taxi, take off and land. The more frightening part for the Olympics is that officials could not explain the power loss, nor could they say if there was any infringement of the separation rules, which keep planes at a safe distance from each other. Host of problems: New claims of drug use by Australian athletes have emerged. Retired Australian sprinter Paul Greene has said he had refused to take drugs on offer while training in Perth six months before the 1996 Olympic Games. The Commonwealth and World Championship sprinter confirmed he finally quit training for the Olympics after becoming depressed and disillusioned about the extent to which drugs and money had corrupted his sport. Greene said he had refused to take drugs on offer while training six months before his friend, training mate and Australian sprinting golden boy Dean Capobianco tested positive to steroids. “It was like the money or the gun,” Greene said. “It was then I became known as ‘the clean one’ Greene said there was nothing to be gained by naming names just 10 weeks away from a home Olympics. Green is now a musician, and ironically, if you are headed to Sydney for the Games you’ll be able to see him performing at these Olympics. He’s in one of Sydney’s hot new bands, the Ghostwriters, designated as the in-house band for the Olympic village. He’ll be the one with the long legs on vocals, rhythm guitar, cello, mandolin and harmonica. Pinning down the cash: Since the beginning of the ‘Days to Go!’ pin releases at 1,000 days to go, the popularity of the countdown pins has been snowballing. And SOCOG’s marketing arm is working over time to hype up the $12 a pin (Rs 300) collection. At 100 days to go thousands of collectors around Australia queued for their countdown pins and stores sold out within minutes of opening. On sale for one day only and with just 17,000 pins available, the ’70 Days to Go!’ countdown pins have been a sell-out. But there is no rest for the pin collector with the release of the highly sought after ’69 Sleeps to Go!’ Sydney 2000 mascot novelty pins on Saturday. Australians count days by the number of nights remaining: ie sleeps. The official Sydney 2000 ‘Days to Go!’ countdown pin series began at 1,000 days to go marking every 100 days until the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Over the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games more than 63 million pins were sold. Weeks away from the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, 3,000 pin designs have been produced and over 5.5 million pins have already been sold. Olympic torch update: In fact, the enforcers of the law encouraged the temporary freedom as the inmates of the Prison in the port town near
Perth joined in the spirit of the Olympic Torch Relay. Clapping and cheering, they gave the runner high-fives as he passed the prison gates.
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PMG (The writer is a well-known sports journalist now settled in Australia.) |
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Hooligans ‘harmed’ England’s bid LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) — Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday that English hooliganism at Euro 2000 had harmed the country’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup. Asked to comment on England losing out to Germany in the race to host the finals, Mr Blair told BBC television: “Certainly the hooliganism business didn’t help. But it was always going to be tough for us.” Mr Blair added that the English fans had a bad name and attracted trouble. “Once the English fans get a bad name, then other (countries) fans come looking for trouble,” he said. The British premier said he was determined to clamp down on football and other types of hooliganism. “We’ve got to ask why there are certain groups of people who engage in
mob violence,” he said. While Mr Blair admitted there was a link with English fans’ violence and the decision not to award the 2006 tournament to England, his government’s World Cup envoy Tony Banks attacked “vicious, negative” coverage by the national media. |
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