 |
|
| Friday, September 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Davenport ends poor run against Serena
Anand favourite to win crown |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pak ‘ready’ to play in India Humpy, Swati Ghate
register wins
China drops top gymnast Manisha storms into semis Ganguly scores
century Athletic records
close to human limit: scientists Zafar, Padukone
on DD
|
|
Davenport ends poor run against Serena NEW YORK, Sept 7 (AP) — First, her broad shoulders began to sag. Then, her head followed, Serena Williams’ body language spoke volumes as her quarterfinal match against Lindsay Davenport slipped away at the US Open. There were screams of anguish as her shots flew long and wide. On one point, she smashed her racket in frustration. Ultimately, though, there was nothing the defending champion could do about Davenport’s power game that resulted in a 6-4, 6-2 wipeout. It was much the same in the men’s quarterfinal with Pete Sampras and Richard Krajicek booming serves of up to 132 mph at each other. Eventually, Sampras prevailed, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-2. Krajicek has the best record of any active player against Sampras, winning six of nine previous meetings, and seemed to have the No. 4 seed cornered after winning the first set and leading the second set tiebreak 6-2. But Sampras reached into his reservoir of power tennis and won the next six points to take the tiebreak and tie the match. After that, he took charge, fighting off 23 aces by Krajicek with a demonstration of brilliant shotmaking. “I was getting outplayed,” Sampras said. “Richard puts a lot of pressure on my service game. I thought I was gone.” Instead, he stuck around, saved by that series of six straight tiebreak points. “Richard always plays me tough,” he said. “After I won the second set, Richard got a little down.” That was the opening he needed, and he seized it and the match. Davenport ended a five-match losing streak against Williams even though the defending champion had several statistical edges. Williams had more aces (8 to 5), fewer double faults (2 to 3), a better first-serve percentage (66 to 48), a faster serve (111 mph to 107) and more winners (31 to 18). So, how come she lost? The answer was that Davenport never was broken. On each of Williams’ five chances, Davenport survived the crisis. “The goal was to hold my serve, hang with her when she made some good shots,” she said. “You’ve got to hold serve. You’ve got to be able to do that.” “She had a lot of opportunities at the beginning of the first set. When I broke her at 4-all it seemed to deflate her. She had break points she didn’t take advantage of.” Davenport played steady tennis, trading booming shots with Williams until she found the openings she needed. When Williams fought off five match points in an extraordinary 20-point game Davenport simply won the match on her next service game. Next for Davenport is surprising Elena Dementieva, who continued her unseeded march through the tournament, ousting No. 10 Anke Huber 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the semifinals. Semifinals? Dementieva? Even she couldn’t believe it. “You know,” she said, “it is just amazing because two years ago, I just watched them on TV. I didn’t think that I can play like I play now.” There were signals, though, from the 18-year-old, who rallied from a 1-4 deficit to defeat Venus Williams for Russia’s only point against the USA in the Fed Cup final. She had other wins over Huber, Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario this season, all of them seeded at the Open. Huber viewed the defeat as a lost opportunity. But it was her loss to Dementieva at Indian Wells that thrust the teenager into the top 50. “I think she can hit the ball hard,” she said. “She has a good forehand. She moves very, very well. I think maybe she has to improve her serve, a few other things. Otherwise, she has a good game.” Krajicek’s ouster leaves Sampras as the only remaining player who has tasted Grand Slam glory. But in the semifinals he faces an opponent who seems destined to join the ranks of Grand Slam champions in Lleyton Hewitt. The 19-year-old Australian swept past Frenchman Arnaud Clement, the conqueror of Andre Agassi 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 earlier yesterday. “He’s the future of the game,” Sampras said of the lightning-fast Hewitt. “He’s really got a good mental attitude and it won’t be an easy match.” Since losing the first set of his first-round match, Hewitt has won 15 consecutive sets to become the youngest US Open semifinalist since Sampras in 1990 — the year he went on to capture the first of his record 13 Grand Slam titles. “I’ve definitely been hitting the ball a lot better with each match that I’ve played,” said Hewitt, winner of four title this year. |
|
SHENYANG (China), Sept 7 (PTI) — After clearing the first hurdle of qualifying for the quarter-finals rather comfortably Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand of India looks well-prepared for the greater challenges in the knock-out stage of the first FIDE World Cup chess championship being played here. Anand topped his group with 3.5 points after winning the first two games and drawing the rest three in the round-robin preliminary rounds. And though he moved to the knock-out stage only after gaining half-a-point from his drawn encounter against GM Vladimir Tkachiev of France in the final round, his qualification as such was never in doubt. Anand is the hot favourite to win this tournament. And not without reason. He has been in top form in the last few months after a not-so-rosy first half of the year. He won the Frankfurt Giants Rapid Chess Tournament ahead of Gary Kasparov of Russia and tied for the first place with Vladimir Kramnik, also of Russia, in the Dortmund chess meeting 2000. Flashes of his brilliance were also in evidence in this tournament when he scored fluent wins against Tissir Mohamed of Morocco and FIDE world champion Alexander Khalifman of Russia. He drew his other games but was never threatened. Anand takes on Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the quarter finals which is two game mini match. In case of a tie, shorter versions of the game will be applied where Anand would have a clear edge in keeping with his reputation of being the best player of rapid chess. Ivanchuk started slowly and just about managed to make it to the knock-out stage thanks to some unorganised play by Ukraininan prodigy GM Ruslan Ponomariov in his last match. But the Ukranian is known to be highly unpredictable and has a very good record against top players at the major tournaments. With Anand and Ivanchuk meeting in the quarter-finals itself, Boris Gelfand of Israel, who qualified after finishing second to Anand in Group D, has strong chances of reaching the finals. With immense experience behind him, Gelfand is a steady performer. His technical abilities are unquestioned and the opening repertoire is often fool-proof. Gelfand faces Chinese GM Ye Jiangchuan, who was a surprise winner from his group ahead of Ivanchuk and Nigel Short of England. GM Evgeny Bareev of Russia starts clear favourite in his quarter-final match against Zurab Azmaiparashvili of Georgia while Sergei Movsesian of Czech Republic faces Gilberto Milos of Brazil in the last quarter-final game. In the women’s section, chinese players have dominated the show thus far with five out of seven Chinese women advancing to the quarter-finals. Zhu Chen appears the favourite against GM Pia Cramling of Sweden while Wang Ping will have to battle it out against Natalia Zhokova of Ukraine. One Chinese berth is assured from an all-Chinese game between Wang Yu and Xu Yunhua while Qin Kanying will match her wits against International Master Hong Thang Trang of Vietnam. |
|
SHARJAH, Sept 7 (UNI) — Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia has sought to put the Indian cricket authorities in a dilemma by stating that he was ready to send the Pakistani team to India in case the Indian team is unable to tour Pakistan for whatever reason this winter to play three Tests and five one-day internationals. “We are ready to play in India if invited in case the Indian team is unable to undertake the tour of Pakistan”, he said in an informal chat with reporters here last night. When contacted, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief A.C. Muthiah, who is also here in connection with the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) meeting, said the Indian team’s tour of Pakistan was subject to clearance from the government. “If the government says ‘yes’, we will go ahead with the tour...the board has limited choice in the matter”, he added. General Zia was, however, confident that the Indian team would eventually be able to visit Pakistan for the three-month tour, which begins in December. The Indian tour of Pakistan is in limbo because of the ongoing tense political relations between the two countries. India had recently pulled out of the Sahara Cup in Toronto in the wake of the killings of some 100 people, including Amarnath pilgrims, in Kashmir. Sports Minister S.S. Dhindsa had stated that he was against continuing sporting links with Pakistan due to its support to militancy in Kashmir. General Zia said he had discussed the proposed tour during his talks with Mr Muthiah yesterday on the sidelines of the ACF meeting. He said the Indian board was quite keen to send the team to Pakistan but a final decision in the matter was in the hands of the Indian government. “My own feeling is that the Indians will come to Pakistan ... there is tremendous pressure on the Indian Government from the public for going ahead with the tour ... we have to go together as far as cricket is concerned”, he added. General Zia said he had assured Mr Muthiah that he would ensure adequate security for each player if the Indian team were to go ahead with the tour. Mr Muthiah, however, stated that the question of the Indian team’s tour of Pakistan did not figure during his discussions with General Zia. “We discussed the ACF agenda and various other issues and not the team’s tour of Pakistan”, he told uni. General Zia did not agree with a suggestion that it would be the end of the road as far as cricket links between India and Pakistan were concerned in case India were unable to undertake the tour. “These things are temporary”, he said. |
|
Humpy, Swati Ghate register wins MUMBAI, Sept 7 (PTI) — Indian second seed Koneru Humpy scored a timely win over Vietnam girl Chauthi Ngoc Giao while her compatriot Swati Ghate downed Chinese giant-killer Yu Ting to enable Humpy take a half-point lead over rest of the bunch in the Asian Junior Chess Championship here today. Humpy, who was trailing the Chinese sensation last evening, surged clear of the field at the end of the eighth round in the 11-round tournament with a tally of 6.5 points to her credit today, half a point ahead of Yu. International Woman Master (IWM) Humpy, with an ELO rating of 2288, defeated unrated Giao of Vietnam in 50 moves in a game of double Bishop Fianchitto opening while fourth seed Swati, also an IWM with 2246 rating points, took 50 moves to subdue unrated Yu in a game of Sicilian Paulsen variation. Humpy (6.5 points) and Yu (6 points) were followed by Swati (5.5) and another Indian girl, S Meenakshi (5), who surprisingly held top-seeded compatriot Aarthie Ramaswamy (4.5) to a draw. In the boys’ section, overnight Indian leaders P Harikrishna, the top seed, and ninth seed Tejas Bakre maintained their advantage after drawing their respective ties against compatriot S Satyapragyan and Qatar’s Al Sayed Mohammed, respectively. Hari and Bakre, both International Masters (IMs) with ELO ratings of 2500 and 2358, respectively, had 6 points each. In joint second spot, half a point behind the leading duo, were Satya, Al Sayed, S. Kidambi, second seed Surya Sekhar Ganguly (both from India) and Iran’s Ghaem Maghami. In the enthralling match between Swati and Yu on the top board, the former, playing with black pieces, got passed an ‘e’ pawn on the 31st move. The Chinese girl, who had scored upset wins over both world under-18 champion Aarthie and Humpy in earlier rounds, exchanged her knight on ‘c4’ on the 50th move and her pawns were doubled on ‘c’ file. But then she lost the pawn on ‘c4’. |
|
Sydney countdown — 66 PRIOR to leaving for Sydney, U.S. Olympic athletes converged in San Diego for “team processing. This included receiving credentials being photographed and fingerprinted. It also includes learning the do’s and don’ts of Olympic competition: no steroids, no wearing branded clothing of unauthorised sponsors when receiving medals, and this year, no web diaries. The ban is stated in Rule 59 of the Olympic Code of Conduct, an International Olympic Committee document that all athletes must sign before competing in the Games. Rule 59 states that an Olympic athlete is not permitted to record his thoughts of his Olympic experience and have it posted on the Internet. Doing so would be tantamount to an athlete acting as a journalist, the IOC has determined. And that is ground for being thrown out of the Games. Each athlete has signed the conduct code before boarding a plane for the Summer Games. The ban has athletes buzzing. Personal athlete web sites are becoming a common part of an Olympic athlete’s entourage, alongside strength and conditioning coaches and personal publicists. The sites come in all shapes and sizes, from crudely static pages adorned with a few photos to virtual athlete biographies filled with press archives and bulletin boards. Some athletes believe a personal web site is the best way of corresponding with well-wishers and friends back home. Other amateur athletes hope to parlay an entertaining web site, along with some Olympic victories, into endorsement deals down the line. Lacking a clear Internet policy, Olympics organisers have asked the athletes to refrain from posting their thoughts in a diary format. And for good measure, they’ve included this measure in the conduct code. However, word is that the IOC may let dot-coms cover the Games in … 2002: giving dot-com sports journalists media credentials to cover the winter games in 2002. The Internet media community has been fuming over the fact that it continues to be shut out of covering the Olympics. In Sydney, 21,000 media credentials will go out to a bevy of international journalists from the major wire services, TV and radio news operations, newspapers and magazines. But not one will go to a net journo. What happens if an Olympic athlete defies the conduct code and posts a web diary? The Toronto Star reported this week that the IOC has ordered Canadian swimmer Mark Johnston to stop posting e-mail messages on that newspaper’s web site; Johnson had been using the paper to discuss his chances for Olympic gold in Sydney. According to Olympics organisers, the purpose of the rule is to keep the athletes from using a web site to break news about their themselves or their fellow athletes. The organisers are taking every precaution they can to ensure that their broadcast partners, who have paid $1.32 billion for exclusive TV rights, don’t get scooped by the net. But such counselling has only caused more confusion. Does this mean Nike-endorsed athlete Michael Johnson cannot write something for
Nike.com? In theory, no. What about Johnson? If athletes are banned from having their own dot.coms, what then you may ask about Michael Johnson and his tie up with NBC Olympics.com? To the lead up to the Games, the three-time Olympic gold medallist “volunteered” to allow NBC Olympics.com to “wire” his body with two devices in an effort to electronically analyse his performances. The devices were affixed to each of his lower shins just above the ankles. The FitSense technology (www.fitsense.com) automatically tracks each stride, providing an accurate measure of stride length, cadence (step rate), instantaneous speed, acceleration and deceleration, cumulative distance, cumulative time and energy burn. “I’m interested in comparing the beginning of the race to the end of the race, one race to another,” Michael had said. “I’ll be able to understand the mechanics of what I’m doing out there.” The first time NBC Olympics.com wired Michael in April and Johnson has said the attachments did not make him feel uncomfortable: “It didn’t feel (like anything), so that’s good. I didn’t think I was gonna have any problem with the ankle units. I thought that the chest unit might feel a little funny, but actually, once I got out there. He says the gadget had helped him in his training for the Games: “I think the most important thing from the data will be the difference or the differential in stride frequency and stride length from the beginning of the race to the end of the race. So, to compare the first 100 meters to the second, and the third, and the fourth 100 meters, and see what the difference is, and to see how much I started to fatigue from, say, the third 100 to the fourth 100. Johnson was the first person to wear the gadget and the first to have his races broken up into data and graphs and placed on the worldwide Internet. “The most important thing is it’ll be good for fans, also, to see the data, and just kind of really gain an understanding of what we’re doing out there, and how it affects the body, and how the body actually performs when we’re out there running.” No mention of how much he might have charged for allowing his body be used as an experiment. Word is he charges $30,000 for media to attend his training sessions and for a few words after the session. And NBCOlympics.com has other secrets of Johnson’s too. For instance the birth of his first child in May this year: “I was in there videotaping and taking still shots and video and all of that ... basically of her, because she was pretty relaxed and she was going through some pain, and she wanted me to get video and everything of her. I didn’t video like the whole birth or anything like that — I’m not into that kind of thing. But when he arrived, it was amazing. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Or his music: I love music. I’m a collector of old ‘60s and ‘70s R&B, basically, kind of what’s known as the Motown era. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Al Green. And getting into the ‘70s and even some early ‘80, with, like, Earth, Wind and Fire. But I love Joe Cocker, all of that kind of stuff. So I’ve been collecting it now since I was in college.
— PMG |
|
BEIJING, Sept 7 (AFP) — Chinese gold medal hopeful Dong Zhen has been dropped from the Sydney Olympics and replaced by another gymnast for technical reasons, local media reported today. Dong, nicknamed “King of the rings,” was replaced in an effort to improve the team’s overall performance, the sina.Com website said. Sina.Com and the Beijing Morning Post, which also reported the story, did not mention doping as a reason. Sina.Com said the number of athletes on the team had to be reduced and after considering the chances of the other gymnasts in areas such as vaulting and parallel bars, Dong was picked as the best one to drop. The Post said Lu Yufu would replace Dong. “Lu Yufu is a complete gymnast. Dong Zhen was called ‘king of the rings,’ but Lu Yufu is more complete,” the Post said. China’s male gymnasts have clocked up four consecutive world titles since 1993, but the elusive Olympic gold has remained tantalisingly out of
reach. |
|
Manisha storms into semis NEW DELHI, Sept 7 — Manisha Malhotra lived upto her top seeding to sail into the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF Women’s Tennis Circuit (second leg) Tournament at the Delhi Tennis Association court here today. The US-based Manisha Malhotra cruised past eighth-seeded Sonal Phadke 6-3, 6-2 to set up a semifinal clash against fourth-seeded I-Ting Wang of Chinese Taipei. Wang made short work of Karishma Patel 6-1, 6-4, while in the other matches, seventh-seeded Suchana Viratprasert shocked compatriot and third seed Orawan Wongkamalasi 6-0, 6-3 and Veronika Raimrova of Czechoslovakia disposed of Shruti Dhawan of India with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Suchana meets Raimrova in the other semifinal. Raimrova played steady, attacking tennis to torment and tire out Shruti Dhawan in one hour and eight minutes. Shruti had raised great hopes when she scalped second-seeded Sai Jayalakshmi in the pre-quarter-final. But Raimrova proved to be a tough nut to crack, as she made Shruti run all over the court, with her clever and calculated placements, on a humid and hot forenoon, and expectedly, Shruti could not carry on for long, and muffed up the big points, to crack up earlier than expected. Shruti was broken in the fourth, sixth and seventh games of the first set as she committed many double faults, and other unforced errors. In the second set, she was broken in the very first game, but broke back in the next, though she could not capitalise on it, as Raimrova broke her again in the third and seventh games to lift the set and the match. Manisha Malhotra played percentage tennis to oust Sonal Phadke, and entered the last four for the second consecutive time. Manisha played his normal attacking game, but in her own pace, as Sonal could not offer much resistance in the face of sustained assault by the top seed. Karishma Patel only flattered to deceive as after breaking Wang in the first game of the first set, she failed to consolidate as the Thai girl bounced back with determintion to race to victory. In the second set, it was a close call, as Karishma led 3-1, but once again proved unequal to the task, and allowed the Thai girl to regain the lost ground, and post a straight sets victory in about 65 minutes. |
|
Ganguly scores
century LONDON, Sept 7 (PTI) — India captain Saurav Ganguly scored a brilliant century as Lancashire scored a 10-run victory over Somerset in the National League First Division match at Old Trafford last night. The win gave Lancashire, last season’s champions, slim hopes of avoiding the ignominy of relegation of Division II for next season. Without Michael Atherton, Andrew Flintoff and John Crawley, who withdrew because of stomach complaint, Ganguly and Neil Fairbrother shouldered a huge burden. Ganguly and Fairbrother responded with pivotal partnership adding 129 runs in 19 overs for the third wicket. In scoring his second century in four National League matches, Ganguly sailed past 500 runs for the season. He has now scored six half-centuries in 12 innings. Fairbrother’s cameo fifty came from 47 balls and included two sixes and five fours. In the process, he laid the foundation for a comfortable Lancashire success. But Somerset captain Jamie Cox, who scored a fine century in 98 balls, had different ideas. As long as he was there at the crease, Lancashire never felt secure. |
|
Athletic records
close to human limit: scientists PARIS, Sept 7 (AFP) — For the past century, athletes have consistently shattered records, but they are now close to the very limits of human potential, according to the bleak view of some scientists. Without help from illicit substances, the top athletes will make only tiny, gradual improvements on records over the next 50 years before beginning to hit the limits,. Robert Schutz, a statistician at the University of British Columbia, has made predictions based on past performances in seven track and field events and projected them for the future. By 2050, the marathon will be run in 2hr 2min 39sec, just three minutes faster than the current best time of 2:05:42, he says. Schutz has also estimated the “asymptotic value” for each sport — the point at which no further progress can be made. He predicts the ultimate time in the 100 metres will be 9.51sec, just under three-tenths of a second faster than the best today. |
|
Zafar, Padukone
on DD NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (PTI) — Former Indian hockey captain Zafar Iqbal and badminton champion Prakash Padukone are among the star commentators Doordarshan has invited to add colour to the live telecast of Sydney Olympics by the channel. A specially designed studio set has been constructed at the Doordarshan Kendra, Delhi for transmission and anchoring purposes. To make sure that no lacunae remain during the live telecast of the September 15-October 1 extravaganza, rehearsal sessions are slated to begin from September 10 onwards. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
