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| Thursday, August 17, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Waugh, Bevan fashion big Aussie win NEW DELHI, Aug 16 — The Indian hockey team, bound for the Sydney Olympics, was accorded a warm felicitation on the eve of their departure for Brisbane at the National Stadium here today. Manan records 4th win |
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Chile upset Brazil Aerial TV footage of Olympics in jeopardy CHANDIGARH, Aug 16 — Four Indians have gained direct entry into the World Cup shooting finals following their good performances through the season in the World Cups in Sydney, Milan, Munich, Atlanta and New Delhi, according to information available here. The World Cup shooting finals will be held after the completion of the Sydney Olympics. Gurdaspur gymnast corners glory Agassi breezes into 3rd round England likely to play 7 batsmen Dravid guides Kent to victory CBI scrutinising documents
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Waugh, Bevan fashion big Aussie win MELBOURNE, Aug 16 (Reuters) — A record 222-run stand between Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan helped Australia to a comprehensive 94-run victory over South Africa at Melbourne’s multi-purpose Docklands Stadium on Wednesday. Waugh and Michael Bevan marked the first official one-day international played indoors with centuries to steer the world champions to a daunting total of 295 for five. In reply, South Africa strung together a series of handy partnerships but were always well behind Australia’s impressive run rate, finishing on 201 for seven. The match was as good as over after Waugh and Bevan rescued Australia from a shaky start with their record fourth-wicket partnership. Waugh blasted an unbeaten 114 from just 103 deliveries while Bevan crafted 106 off 125 balls after Australia had slumped to 37 for three. They had been asked to bat first on a flat wicket tailor-made for heavy scoring. South Africa captain Shaun Pollock looked to have made a wise decision after Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting all lost their wickets cheaply. Gilchrist departed for one when he was run out in the third over by a direct hit from Jonty Rhodes. Rhodes also dismissed Ponting for 16 when he skied a simple catch off paceman Roger Telemachus with the total on 32. Mark Waugh fell to Telemachus, mistiming an attempted pull to Mornantau Hayward at backward square leg in the 12th over before Bevan and Steve Waugh quickly set about rebuilding the innings with a brilliant display of controlled power hitting. The left-handed Bevan brought up his fifth limited-overs international century off 120 balls when he hit Andrew Hall through midwicket for three in the 45th over. Waugh, who scored an unbeaten 120 against South Africa to save Australia from an early exit at last year’s World Cup, reached his third international century off just 91 deliveries when he took a single off the next ball. Their 222-run partnership was the highest fourth wicket stand by an Australian pair and just two shy of the all-time Australian mark of 224 by Dean Jones and Allan Border against Sri Lanka in Adelaide in 1985. Bevan finally departed when he holed out to Jacques Kallis before Shane Lee added a brisk 28, including successive sixes off Pollock, from 15 balls as the Australians posted their highest score against the South Africans. The visitors began their run-chase cautiously but were forced to lift the tempo in their pursuit of Australia’s impressive total. Five of their batsmen made at least 20 but none went on to make a half century. Opener Gary Kirsten top-scored with 43 off 69 balls before he surrendered his wicket by dancing down the pitch to Warne and presenting Gilchrist with the simplest of stumpings. Kallis made 42 off 66 balls. He also sacrificed his wicket, falling lbw to all-rounder Ian Harvey who returned figures of three for 41. The second match of the series is on Friday and the third and final game on Sunday. SCOREBOARD
Australia Gilchrist run out 1 M. Waugh c Hayward Ponting c Rhodes b Telemachus 16 Bevan c Kallis b Pollock 106 S. Waugh not out 114 S. Lee c Cullinan b Kallis 28 Harvey not out 1 Extras (lb-2 w-3 nb-5 b-2) 12 Total (for five wkts, 50 overs) 295 Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-32 3-37 4-259 5-289. Bowling: Pollock 10-0-46-1, Telemachus 10-1-54-2 (nb-3), Kallis 10-0-74-1 (w-2), Hayward 6-0-45-0 (w-1), Klusener 8-0-43-0 (nb-1), Hall 6-0-29-0 (nb-1) South Africa Kirsten st Gilchrist b Warne 43 Hall c Gilchrist b Harvey 11 Kallis lbw b Harvey 42 Cullinan b Harvey 29 Rhodes c Martyn b Warne 16 Klusener not out 25 McKenzie b Lee 22 Boucher c Bevan b Lee 6 Pollock not out 4 Extras (lb-2 w-1) 3 Total (for 7 wkts, 50 overs) 201 Fall of wickets: 1-37 2-70 3-124 4-137 5-148 6-179 7-189. Bowling: McGrath 10-2-28-0, B. Lee 10-0-51-0 (w-1), Harvey 10-0-41-3, S. Lee 10-0-41-2 Warne 10-0-38-2. |
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Hockey team promised Rs 50 lakh for gold NEW DELHI, Aug 16 — The Indian hockey team, bound for the Sydney Olympics, was accorded a warm felicitation on the eve of their departure for Brisbane at the National Stadium here today. The function got off by sponsors Samsung and Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), in association with the Indian Hockey Federation, the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Authority of India, wished the team “golden success” at Sydney. Samsung announced a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh to the Indian hockey team and Rs 25 lakh to the coaches if they won the gold at the Sydney Games. India last won an Olympic hockey gold — their eighth — at the depleted games in Moscow in 1980. Ever since, India had been struggling to win a medal, of any hue, without success. “We have been working hard for the last two years. The boys are well set. We will do our best”, said Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran. Baskaran, who was the captain of the Indian team when they won the gold at Moscow, however, refused to predict the medal prospects of the team. “Which country can predict about their medal prospects? Can you? We will do our best. We are in peak condition”, he added. However, captain Ramandeep Singh was a lot more realistic in his assessment of the medal prospects of India. He said the first priority of the team would be to make it to the semifinals. He said it did not matter in which pool the team were placed. “We would take each match on merit, and we have already worked out some plans, to get round some tough teams”, Ramandeep elaborated. He said the team had been playing in all the permutations and combinations, like the 5-3-2-1, 4-4-2-1 and 3-3-3-1 formations, plus a secret formation, which he refused to divulge, to face any eventuality. He said the team had worked hard on all departments of the game, and the boys were prepared to tackle all situations. The team will leave for Brisbane tomorrow, and practice there till they check into the Games village in Sydney on September 7. IHF president KPS Gill said the players had been working very hard for the past two years, and with the strong support of SAI, the Sports Ministry and the ONGC “we have been able to stick to our schedule, and provide the best of facilities to the players, and the players are all very focused, and keen to do well in the Olympics”. The ONGC, which has reportedly incurred an expenditure of Rs 1 crore on preparation of the hockey team, the SAI and the ministry have all spared no effort to give the best training facilities to the hockey team. Samsung, the official sponsors of the Indian Olympic contingent, too have reportedly committed a substantial sum to the IHF, besides announcing the cash awards. Samsung has also paid Rs 15 lakh to the IOA “to support the preparation of the Indian contingent for the Sydney Olympics”. Samsung India marketing vice-president J.H. Park said the announcement of the hefty cash awards was to “provide good encouragement and motivation to the hockey team to excel in their performance and come back with the gold medal”. Samsung have been lucky to the Indian hockey team, as their first sponsorship deal with the IOA before the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998, had resulted in the Indian hockey team regaining the gold. Former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi waited patiently to wish the hockey team his “heart-felt good luck” though he was miffed at the sarcastic comment made by a busy-body that “there will be no match-fixing in hockey”. “Does one need someone’s permission to wish the Indian team good luck?”, Bedi asked in a pained tone. IOA secretary-general Randhir Singh expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for wishing the Indian contingent all success at Sydney in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort. SAI Executive Director (team wing) Maj O.P. Bhatia, on whom Mr KPS Gill had showered praise for extending all the facilities to the hockey team at his command, and Hardeep Singh Kangra, director, Ministry of Sports, and Wrestling Federation of India president G.S. Mander, were among those who wished the hockey team success. |
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Manan records 4th win BANGALORE, Aug 16 (UNI) — Extending their winning streak, India’s title hopes Manan Chandra, S. Wiwatarangkoon of Thailand, Chris Batchelor of Wales and Johan D’Hondt of Belgium assured themselves of knockout berths recording the fourth successive victories in the kheladi.com 12th World Under-21 Snooker Championship here today. Manan Chandra, the last edition’s semi-finalist, was not at his best as he dropped a frame against Wayne Belmont of New Zealand before winning 32-58, 55-31, 57-20, 64-29, 68-19. Manan, who had played superbly yesterday, scored the highest break of 39 in the fourth frame and followed it up with 34 in the fifth. However, this victory in eight-cueist group “A” is sure to put him in the knock out as four from each group make the round of 32. In the same group, Scot Farnworth of New Zealand whipped Tavinne de Croos of Sri Lanka 77-33, 67-23, 64-33, 58-49 for his third win from four matches. He is in contention for the knockout berth. However, Sri Lankan is sure to be out of the championship as he has not won a single frame in the four encounters. In group “D”, the encounter between Johan D’Hondt of Belgium and Sean Neill of Northern Ireland was well contested and went full distance in which some fine scores were made. Johan rattled 106 in the fourth visit of the second frame to go 2-0 up. Sean bounced back and won the next. He fired 82 in the fourth and maintaining the tempo notched up 66 in the next frame to go up. Biut Johan pulled up his sleeves and won the next playing a safe game for his fourth win. The day’s honours went to S. Wiwatarangkoon as he fired the tournament’s highest break of 117 so far in the encounter against Tat Sion Khor of Malaysia. The Thai clawed back brilliantly after being down by three frames and won 24-70, 48-81, 70-46, 121-0, 60-10, 56-57, 60-38. The Thai sunk 15 reds, black nine times and four times blue and once yellow and cleared upto blue. The third century break of the day and sixth of the championship was accounted for by seventh seed David John of Wales during his hard fought win over Rene Van Rijsbergen of the Netherlands 108-9, 102-0, 48-71, 41-64, 0-77, 103-23, 71-1 in group “G”. National champion and sixth seed Rishab Thukral scored a cakewalk straight frame victory over Choon Min Ngoh of Malaysia for his second win in seven-member group “F”. Rishab was consistent and had breaks of 41 in the first 33 in the second and 53 in the third. Thoun the Malaysian had a score of 45 in the fourth frame, Rishab recorded a straight frame win. Ritesh Shah and Jaswinder Singh of India won their league matches to keep their chances alive while their compatriot Sohail Jairaj lost the encounter. The fifth seed Serge Das of Belgium scored a 55-53, 35-54, 85-33, 87-29, 71-21 win over Stephen Wellesby of England. |
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European teams for Millennium Cup CALCUTTA, Aug 16 (UNI) — All-India Football Federation (AIFF) president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi on Sunday said India’s prestigious soccer event Millennium Cup to be kicked off on January 10, 2001 is like to have many top European, African and Asian countries vying for honours. He told a press conference here that the final, semifinals and quarterfinal matches would be played in Calcutta and preliminary rounds of the tourney in other of the country. He said the tournament’s cost would be borne by a sponsor and it would be a great leap forward for professional football in the country. Referring to a controversy on proposed Indian Football Association’s India Cup tournament’s timing clashing with the Millennium Cup, Mr Dasmunshi said things would be resolved amicably in the next meeting with officials and IFA. “I personally would not come in the way of IFA’s proposed India Cup tournament but at the same time I believe some amicable settlement will be arrived at”, he said. He said: “I had a talk with IFA joint secretary Ranjit Gupta regarding the tournament and again will talk to him to settle the issue.” The AIFF chief said India would soon appoint a foreign coach either from Brazil, England or France to train the senior national squad for the pre-World Cup matches. He said for this he had a discussion with chairman of the technical committee of FIFA Mohammed Bin Hamman in Zurich recently and the latter assured the former to look after a coach. Mr Dasmunshi also said the federation, India’s top football body, also decided to go for evolution of the players before selecting a player’s real fitness of endurance as well as positional fitness of the play. He said Russia had evolved a system in which a player could be gauged by his quality and endurance. He said the federation had proposed a five-member panel committee to study the system before adoption. He said former internationals Arun Ghosh. Sukhwinder Singh, Syed Nayeemuddin, Amal Dutta and P.K. Banerjee had been entrusted with the job of studying the system before adopting it for Indian players. Under this system initially 60 players between 16 to 22 years of age will be taken after screening and an expected 40 will go under evolution system, he added. PTI adds: India will kick off their campaign for the next FIFA World Cup when they take on United Arab Emirates in the Asian preliminary round in a home match on April 4, 2001. Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said India, placed in group VIII for the preliminary round along with Yemen, Brunei Darussalam and UAE, would play six matches on home-and-away basis. The Indian, team, would get international exposure before the World Cup qualifiers in the Millennium Cup. The AIFF was also trying to arrange a tour for the national squad to either Brazil or France in March. The Millennium Cup would be proceeded by the National Football League to start in mid-October, he said. Lauding the performances of the Indian team touring had recent good will tour to UK, Mr Dasmunshi said the AIFF had received offers from a US-based company for a sponsored visit matches against local sides there. The Singapore Professional Football League authorities have evinced interest in three footballers — Mahesh Gawli, Prabhjoyt Singh and Hardip Saini — and have approached the AIFF for details of these players. Mr Dasmunshi said after “a dry period” of one-and-a-half-year, Zee TV, General Motors India, Gillette and Sahara Group have some forward with offers of sponsorship for the NFL. However, the federation is yet to receive of Rs 3.75 crore from Doordarshan outstanding for last year’s NFL and therefore, was unable to clear the prize money and other dues, he claimed. |
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Biggest-ever win for Ramesh AMSTERDAM, Aug 16 (UNI) — International master R.B. Ramesh of India has scored his biggest win ever, scalping former world championship finalist Grandmaster Jan Timman in the fifth round of the ‘Lost Boys’ International Open Chess Tournament here as GMS Vadim Milov and Paul Van Der Sterren lead the table with 4.5 points. Ramesh is in second spot, with seven other players, on four points. He obtained a clear advantage from the opening with white pieces in ruy lopez open variation, exploiting a minor error of early castling by the GM. Timman had to play some unnatural moves to reduce the pressure, but Ramesh played powerfully and won a couple of pawns. His opponent finally resigned in a hopeless position when Ramesh threatened to win the third pawn. IM elect S. Kidambi (three points) suffered a frustrating draw against Berthole of Holland, having to play a completely equal opposite coloured bishop’s endgame for several moves as his opponent annoyingly refused to accept the draw. Finally the arbiter had to declare the game drawn in 60 moves. IM P. Konguvel (2.5) lost to Dutch FM M. Peek in a thrilling game arising out of the sharp sicilian sozin variation. Gunning for each other’s kings, the players had to make several forced moves to maintain the tempo. In mutual time scramble, Konguvel was the first to go wrong and lost a piece to lose in 35 moves. T.S. Ravi (three) defeated Michels of Belgium with white pieces in
French defence. Ravi enjoyed a good edge throughout the game and slowly increased pressure to win a piece and eventually the game in 51 moves. V. Saravanan (three) scored over Egeli of Holland in an interesting game arising out of caro kann defence. Saravanan sacrificed two pawns in the opening to gain the initiative. |
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DURBAN, Aug 16 (PTI) — South African cricket captain Shaun Pollock said he felt betrayed by the match-fixing scandal that has rocked the game.
Pollock, who is currently leading his team in a one-day series against Australia Down Under, said in Melbourne before the first match in the indoor Colonial cricket stadium, “the game has definitely been tarnished by the whole episode and people can talk all they like but the process needs good cricket and that is what we must produce”. “I felt cheated by the team members who put their personal interests before that of the game,” he said adding that the match-fixing sags and the King Commission had been difficult to come to terms with it. “It did not sit well in the stomach”. “It is difficult to imagine there were times you went out there and gave your all when there might have been others not giving 100 per cent, especially after being involved for so long. It makes you wonder what else was going on that you didn’t know about,” he said, according to media reports here today. “We must bury the past by producing competitive and sparkling cricket”, Pollock said. |
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Chile upset Brazil SANTIAGO, Aug 16 (AP) — Chile revived its scoring pair of Ivan Zamorana and Marcela Sales for a 3-0 upset of Brazil in a World Cup qualifying soccer match. Fabian Estay scored for Chile at minute 26 and Ivan Zamarano made it 2-0 at minute 44. Sales made it 3-0 at 75 minutes. The victory left Chile with 10 points in the South American series. Brazil remained at 10 points. Chile took control by stopping Brazil’s midfield and marking Roberto Carlos and Evanilson. Chile’s Ricardo Rojas repeatedly controlled Rivaldo, Brazil’s star striker of Barcelona of Spain and twice voted FIFA’s world player. Sales, the star scorer of Italian league champion Lazio, scored Chile’s third goal on a precise assist by David Pizarro, the talented midfielder of the Italian first-division club Barz. In Alajuela, Costa Rica defeated Guatemala 2-1, putting the team at the top of four-team World Cup qualilfying group. Paulo Wanchope scored for Costa Rica in the 33rd and 58the minutes yesterday, while Dwight Pezzarossi gave Guatemala its only point. Wanchope scored the first goal off a head shot by Gustavo Cabrera. Later, Rodrigo Cordero stole the ball in the middle of the field, allowing Wanchope to score again. But in the 66th minute, Pezzarossi jumped between two central defenders and scored with a head shot. The USA face Barbados today in the four-team group. Costa Rica are at the top with six points. Gualtemala are next with four,
Barbados have three and the USA one. In Mexico City, Mexico defeated an overwhelmed Canadian team 2-0 yesterday in the second round of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup. |
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Aerial TV footage of Olympics in jeopardy THE two athletes and four officials who make up the tiny West African republic’s team have not shown up for pre-Games training in Adelaide and the Australian Olympic Committee has spent the past fortnight trying in vain to get through to Togo by phone, fax or email. “It’s a distinct possibility the Togo team won’t make it,” said the AOC’s Olympic training co-ordinator for Adelaide, Mr Clive Lee. “Communications are absolutely diabolical with some of these smaller countries in Africa – we have been trying for a fortnight to get through to Togo,” Mr Lee said. More than 200 African athletes have arrived in Adelaide, where Olympic officials and the state government have provided training facilities and accommodation. Teams from Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mali and Uganda are using local swimming pools and running tracks to prepare for the Games. They will move to Sydney early next month. The athletes had settled in “marvellously”, Mr Lee said. “The only problem is the cold, but they’re turning up the heating. One of our drivers went into one of their hotel rooms and couldn’t get past the door, it was so hot. “The other thing they’re all doing is buying mobile phones because they’re so cheap here. They just ring each other all day.” The 40-strong Cameroon team and Swaziland’s 12 athletes had also not arrived, but had confirmed they were coming, Mr Lee said. The Nigerian judo squad had its first training session last night at Adelaide University, sparring with the university’s rather nervous local squad. Live aerial shots unlikely A severe gust of wind has grounded the Goodyear blimp, sparking fears the airship will be unable to provide aerial television footage of the Olympics. The blimp was badly damaged last week when it was tossed on to its side while moored to a mast at Sydney’s airport. It had been contracted to provide footage of Olympic events, including the opening ceremony, for the official Olympic broadcaster Australia’s Seven Network and America’s NBC. The accident occurred three days after it was unveiled displaying the new messages “G’Day” and “GOOD LUCK” instead of the usual Goodyear signage. The messages were displayed to comply with International Olympic Committee regulations prohibiting commercial signage at Olympic venues. The Seven network said they planned to use helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, as well as any footage shot from the blimp to provide live aerial shots of Olympic venues during the Games. The blimp costs around $3 million a year to run. Sponsors ‘ambushed’ In advertising circles they call it “ambush marketing” but in the boardrooms of Qantas and Adidas it’s all about being smarter. Much to the annoyance of official sponsors Ansett and Nike, shrewd marketing by competitors Qantas and Adidas has resulted in the average Australian incorrectly naming the companies as official supporters of the Games. A survey of 1,000 people living in capital cities found that Adidas ranked seventh and Qantas eighth among the top 10 most-recognised Olympic sponsors. Official sponsor Ansett ranked third and Nike sixth, while communications giant Telstra topped the list ahead of equal second-place getters McDonald’s. Westpac Bank came in fourth, Coca-Cola fifth, Visa ninth and Channel 7 10th. Both Ansett and Qantas are enjoying the benefits of being associated with the Olympics but only Ansett had to pay the huge sum to be a sponsor. Qantas is always going to do one better than Ansett’s because the company is a natural ambusher. They have the right positioning, being the Australian airline . . . even their tagline, the Spirit of Australia, is in line with the Games’ share the spirit.” Qantas, which had sponsored the Olympics for 40 years but ended its association after the Atlanta Games, has spent the interim signing up high-profile Olympic athletes, including Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe. In recent weeks, giant billboards featuring the likes of Freeman under the Qantas logo and Spirit of Australia slogan have been going up around Sydney. Similarly, Adidas has successfully aligned itself with the Games through sponsorship of Ian Thorpe and the controversial swimsuit that created headlines earlier in the year. International Olympic Committee rules prohibit non-sponsors associating themselves with Olympics and Olympians during the Games. Qantas has assured the Australian Olympic Committee that its billboards will come down before the Sydney opening ceremony. Ansett says they have met objectives from the estimated $50 million Olympic sponsorship, which its claims did not include public awareness. The ultimate fans Hundreds of Japanese tourists are coming to Australia for the Olympic Games on Wednesday, September 20. They’ll finish work on Tuesday night, fly overnight to Australia, take in a Japan v Brazil soccer qualifier and fly home in time for work on Thursday morning. The trip will cost the equivalent of about $3,000. Japan’s biggest travel agency has sold out its tickets for the trip. Another operator has a similar package tour half sold. Passengers will spend nine hours flying between Japan and Brisbane - eating and sleeping on the plane - take a bus to the game and return to the airport for the flight home. —
PMG |
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Four shooters
gain direct entry CHANDIGARH, Aug 16 — Four Indians have gained direct entry into the World Cup shooting finals following their good performances through the season in the World Cups in Sydney, Milan, Munich, Atlanta and New Delhi, according to information available here. The World Cup shooting finals will be held after the completion of the Sydney Olympics. The season-ending World Cup finals will be held for shotgun events in Nicosia, Cyprus, from October 18 to 23 while the World Cup finals for rifle, pistol and running target will be hosted in Munich, Germany from November 14 to 19. Anjali Vedpathak who made the finals of the World Cups in Sydney, Milan and Munich had qualified for the women air rifle event, gathering 13 points from the three meets. Another ace air rifle shooter, Abhinav Bindra of Chandigarh, who equalled the world junior record with a 596 out of 600 in the Munich World Cup and missed a medal by 0.1 point, has qualified for the finals with 16 points. Bindra has topped the list by displaying the best performance internationally for the year 1999-2000, which has also earned him a berth for the Sydney Olympics. He holds one of the top world rankings in air rifle .177 calibre category. Trap shooter Manavjit Singh has made the grade with eight points and double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has also grabbed a spot in the World Cup with seven points. |
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Gurdaspur
gymnast corners glory GURDASPUR, Aug 16 — Rohika (12), daughter of a daily wage worker, has done the city proud by winning the gold medal in gymnastics in the subjunior category of the second international sports meet at Yakat SK in Russia from August 4 to 13. Rohika won the gold in vaulting horse. Another girl, Meenakshi, also from the city represented India in the same meet and got the fifth position. Rohika was adjudged the best gymnast in the subjunior category during the National Games at Patiala in January 1999. Earlier in the open subjunior gymnastics meet at the national level she won five gold medals, which is a record, and was declared the best gymnast among subjuniors. Rohika joined national gymnastic team in the subjuniors category four years ago and represented India in December, 1998 for the first time in England. In the National Games held at Jabalpur, Rohika represented Punjab in the juniors and won two medals each of gold and silver and one bronze. Rohika laments that she has no access to the latest apparatus for her game at Gurdaspur which is a remote city. Rohika is the daughter of a daily wage worker who cannot even afford proper diet for his daughter. Mr Jagtar Singh, gymnastics coach, who has worked hard to train Rohika, said that he was making efforts to get admission for her in a private school where she could be provided the latest apparatus for practice and adequate diet. Meanwhile, both the gymnasts, who reached here last night, along with their coach, were given a warm reception by the District Gymnastic Association. Mr Rakesh Jyoti, president local Nagar Palika and Mr Prem Babbar, District Gymnastics Association, were among those present. |
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Agassi breezes into 3rd round WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (AFP) — Two-time defending champion Andre Agassi breezed into the third round of the $ 800,000 ATP Washington Classic, defeating Brazil’s Fernando Meligeni 6-2 6-1 here yesterday. The reigning US Open champion needed only 52 minutes to win his 11th match in a row here without dropping a set. Agassi, 29-6 lifetime here, seeks his sixth Washington crown in 11 years despite struggling with back spasms. Agassi pulled out of a Davis Cup semi-final tie and an ATP event in Los Angeles last month after back spasms following a car accident. He lost in the first round at Toronto two weeks ago and retired in round two last week. |
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England likely to play 7 batsmen LONDON, Aug 16 (AFP) — England go into the fourth Test against the West Indies at Headingley tomorrow with the series level at one apiece and all to play for. That has not stopped the old selectorial disease of an over-cautious batting line-up infecting the Test squad again. “We are more than likely to play seven batsmen,” said chairman of selectors David Graveney last week. Extra insurance
against the pace threat of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh may seem sensible but it sends a negative message to the opposition, especially when the tourists “back-up” bowlers have been unimpressive. “If six batsmen can’t do the job, one more isn’t likely to make any difference,” runs the old maxim and the West Indies will not be overawed by the fact that the man chosen to bolster the England line-up is Graeme Hick. Hick has had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra and like him has an army of adoring fans for whom he can do no wrong. This will be his 10th recall and to have him batting at seven, when he normally bats at number three for his county, is saddening for both the player and England. There is some justice in Hick’s claim that he is often the last in and first out when it comes to the England team. It is also fair to say that he never had a decent Test run in a settled spot. Perhaps Duncan Fletcher, once Hick’s captain when they played for Zimbabwe and now England’s coach, feels he can succeed where others have failed. However, despite his 111 first-class hundreds, Hick has rarely scored runs under pressure in any of his 58 Tests. He owes this latest reappearance to the poor form of England captain Nasser Hussain. In each of his last 10 Test innings the Essex batsman has not passed 25 and this season has made a mere 144 first-class runs from 13 innings at an average of 12. |
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Dravid guides Kent to victory LONDON, Aug 16 (PTI) — India’s dependable batsman Rahul Dravid guided Kent spitfires to a seven-wicket victory over Lancashire lightning in their national league at Old Trafford last night.
Chasing 137 off 21 overs in a rain-restricted match, Kent were indebted to Dravid who batted beautifully to make 60 not out, and got home with 13 balls spare, a big margin in a short game. Scores: Lancashire 136 for 7 wkts in 21 overs (S. Ganguly 52, J. Crawely 32, Patel 2/13) lost to Kent 141 for 3 wkts in 18.5 overs (R. Dravid 60 n.o., M.J. McCague 31 n.o.). |
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CBI scrutinising documents NEW DELHI, Aug 16 (PTI) — The CBI has begun scrutinising the documents seized by the Income Tax (IT) authorities from the premises of cricket players, board officials and bookies during a country-wide search last month, agency sources said here today.
The sources said sleuths of Special Crime Branch were scrutinising “some sensitive” documents recovered and the IT officials were providing necessary assistance to them to verify whether they had any relevance to the match-fixing
controversy. |
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THE two athletes and four officials who make up the tiny West African republic’s team have not shown up for pre-Games training in Adelaide and the Australian Olympic Committee has spent the past fortnight trying in vain to get through to Togo by phone, fax or email.
