 |
|
| Saturday,
September 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Weary Todd Martin reaches semis Doubles crown for Sanchez, Palmer Anand sails past
Ivanchuk Gopi Chand gets
a bye
India scared of losing: Akram |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
East Bengal rout JCT 3-0 Swati Ghate stuns Koneru Humpy
HP to formulate new
sports policy Manisha moves into final Punjab to encourage sports
|
|
Weary Todd Martin reaches semis NEW YORK,Sept 8 (AP) — Nothing comes easy for Todd Martin. Two sets down one night, two sets up another, Martin lurched into the us open semifinals last night with a ragged 6-4 6-4 3-6 7-5 victory over Thomas Johansson. There was no victory lap this time, no high-fives with fans, no reason to feel wonderful about a match that he almost let slip away. Martin, the runner-up last year, looked nearly as exhausted after this triumph as he did after a five-set win two nights earlier over Carlos Moya. Now he has to wonder if he will have anything left in the semis against young Marat Safin. “I’d like to walk off the court without holes in me,” he said, referring to Safin’s huge serves. Martin worried that he might not have any energy against Johansson after playing 4 hours, 17 minutes against Moya. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get going in the first place,” Martin said. “The energy from the crowd really helped. I made a couple of good plays at crucial times in the fourth and that raised my energy.” Down a break at 2-4 in the fourth set, Martin steadied himself and let Johansson spray errors to give up the lead. Martin broke back to 4-4, then broke again in the final game to close it out. It wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough to satisfy Martin. “I think the uglier the tennis, typically the better tennis player wins,” Martin said. Like the gangly young Pete Sampras who won his first us Open with raw power a decade ago, Safin is a player everyone in tennis has seen coming and has been waiting to see mature into a champion. That moment might be coming soon. Safin showed off his many-splendored talents — 135 mph serves, crushing groundstrokes, a wall-climbing retrieval of a overhead — during the afternoon to reach the semis in a performance reminiscent of Sampras at 19. Infamous already for breaking more rackets than anyone else, the 20-year-old Russian kept his temper in check and his errors down as he beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. In advancing to a Grand Slam semifinal for the first
time, the No 6 Safin gave the open crowd a glimpse of what all the excitement has been about among those who have watched him over the past few years. No one else among the new generation of players seeking to take over from the likes of Sampras and Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter possesses the combination of serving and groundstroke power, coupled with size and athleticism that the 6-foot-4 Safin has. Those were all on display against the 14th-seeded Kiefer, especially in key moments when the momentum the match shifted. Down 3-2 in the third-set tiebreaker, Safin drilled a pair of 130 mph service winners, then picked up the decisive minibreak with a two-fisted backhand that Kiefer netted. In the fourth set, Safin refused to yield to his frustration at missed opportunities on several break points and finally broke kiefer to 4-2 after five deuces. Then came the most spectacular shot of the match. Eager to break back, Kiefer hammered an overhead that bounced off the court and was headed to the usta president’s box. Safin leaped and nearly scaled the back wall to catch up to the ball, lobbed it back and watched in relief as Kiefer’s next overhead landed in the net. “I was just trying to fight,” Safin said. “I was going for everything. At least he knows that I’m going to fight until the end. Otherwise, he can get his confidence back and somehow he can make a break. I don’t want to play five sets, so I was running everywhere. I was lucky that I catch that ball.” The crowd gave Safin a long ovation and he went on to close out the match, dropping only one more point on serve the rest of the way. Safin hasn’t always fought for every ball. He was fined $ 2,000 for tanking the last set in a three-set loss to Grant Stafford in the first round of the Australian Open in January. Safin’s talent was never a question, but his ability to handle his emotions was. He busted 48 rackets last year and thinks he’s up to 35 or 36 this year. His fines, he said, have totaled nearly $ 10,000. But he’s been on good behaviour so far at the Open, breaking only one in the first round. “I’m a new man,” he said with a wry smile. |
|
Doubles crown for Sanchez, Palmer NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) — Arantxa
Sanchez Vicario and Jared Palmer lifted the first title of the 2000 US Open, capturing the mixed doubles crown with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Anna Kournikova and Max Mirnyi. That marked the last chance this year for fans at Flushing Meadows to get a glimpse of the wildly popular Kournikova, who leaves 0-for-3 after getting knocked out of the singles in the third round and the women’s doubles in the second round. Sanchez-Vicario and Palmer split 126,000 dollars for their efforts yesterday, a win that completes a US Open triple crown for the Spaniard. Sanchez-Vicario won the women’s singles title in 1994 and captured the women’s doubles crown in 1993 with Helena Sukova and ’94 with Jana Novotna. It was also her fourth Grand Slam mixed doubles title and 15th Grand Slam title overall. The Spaniard said the key to her victory with her American partner was her ability to handle the serve of big Belorussian Mirnyi. “I’m kind of used to it,” said Sanchez-Vicario, a mixed doubles veteran who grew up playing against older brothers Emilio and Javier, both former
ATP Tour players. “But I was afraid he was still going to hit me.” The win was a bit of sweet revenge for Palmer, who earlier in the day lost a men’s doubles semifinal to Mirnyi and Australian Lleyton Hewitt in a third-set tie-break. “It was difficult for a while,” said Palmer of having to come back and compete at a high level just over an hour after a tough loss. “But it’s a Grand Slam final.’’ Mirnyi, who split $ 63,000 with Kournikova, lost the match of the tournament in a heart-stopping fifth-set tiebreaker to third seed Magnus Norman in the third round. And he still has the doubles final with Hewitt upcoming. |
|
SHENYANG, Sept 8 (PTI) — Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand sailed past GM Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the first of their quarterfinal face-off to go one up in the two game mini match in the first FIDE World Cup Chess being played here. With white in the second and last classical game in the quarterfinals, Anand appears all set to advance to the semifinal stage. In the only other decisive encounter of the day, GM Evgeny Bareev suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of GM Azmaiparashvili of Ukraine with white pieces. It was a day for enterprising chess with black pieces for Anand who played a thematic game to outplay Ivanchuk from the black side of a Sicilian Scheveningen defence game. Ivanchuk uncorked a new idea in the ensuing middlegame that involved the advance of his king pawn to the fifth square but Anand came up with a fantastic pawn sacrifice and open long diagonals for his Bishops that spat fire around Ivanchuks’ king. As the pressure became increasingly difficult to handle, Ivanchuk returned the pawn, opting to play the endgame with his weak structure. In machine-like fashion Anand placed his Rook and Bishop on the correct squares and won a pawn. The rest was a matter of routine technique for him as he pocketed the full point in a mere 39 moves. The fierce battle between GMs Gilberto Milos of Brazil and Sergei Movsesian of Czech republic ended in truce after 39 moves of another Schveningen defence. |
|
Sydney countdown — 67 WIN or lose in Sydney, Australia’s legend Ric Charlesworth will end his career at the Sydney Olympic Games. And he will end it as one of the most unforgettable hockey figures in Olympic history. Together with Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Herb Elliot he is one of Western Australia’s great sporting heroes and role models. Now balding like Lillee, but still fit and with bulging calf muscles, Charlesworth would still give you a good run for your money on a hockey field. Charlesworth’s Olympic story began in Munich in 1972 and he has been to every Games since either as player or coach spanning four decades and almost 30 years. In his final appearance at an Olympic Games, he will star as the most successful coach in women’s hockey. Australia’s women’s hockey team, nicknamed the Hockeyroos, have turned almost everything they have touched to gold during his seven years as national coach, including two World Cups, the Commonwealth Games and Atlanta Olympics. Their only slip-up occurred at this year’s Champions Trophy in the Netherlands, winning bronze behind Olympic rivals the Netherlands and Germany. But there has been much speculation that Charlesworth engineered the loss to alert his players about the dangers of complacency. With an impeccable record in international competition, expectation is enormous for Charlesworth and his players to deliver gold in Sydney. Outspoken when necessary and low key when need be, Charlesworth has shunned the limelight during the team’s final phase of Olympic preparation. His players have also chosen a low key build-up for Sydney. In an interview, Charlesworth spoke about the pressure of coaching elite athletes, his plans for the future and the Olympic hockey competition. “All coaches are under pressure, the pressure is just different,” Charlesworth said. “I have only one crack at winning gold in Sydney while someone like Don Talbit has 40 swimmers who can deliver.” “The stresses are all different and you have to consider what is best for the group and the individuals.” Selected to play in five Olympics — Munich in 1972, Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 — Charlesworth said flexibility was crucial in Olympic hockey competition. “You have to take one step at a time-you have seven matches to play and all are a problem,” the man whom at one time had played more international hockey matches than anyone in the world, said. “Every day is a fresh challenge and a bunch of things can go wrong to disturb the balance.” He said the weather and injury were the greatest obstacles because no one could control either. The loss of one or two players could have a major impact because it affects the fluency of the team. He said the system of awarding three points for a win and one for a draw at the Olympics was another obstacle which could see one of the top teams miss out on a medal. A team with one win and two losses could advance to the semi-finals ahead of a team which had drawn three and not lost a match. “I have spoken about this anomaly before but it has falled on deaf ears,” Charlesworth said. “I hope some of the European teams miss out both in the men’s and women’s competitions, because that may force officials to review the scoring system. “Successful or not in Sydney, Charlesworth’s coaching career with the Australian women will end after the Games. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, I’ll just have to look for a job like everyone else,” he said. Taking on a new challenge will not be something he has not done before. He started his career as a doctor, switched to Federal politics for more than 10 years before taking on the job as Hockeyroos coach. In between he filled his time playing hockey for Australia for an amazing 16 years. He also played Sheffield Shield cricket for WA. Australian tax International Olympic Committee executives have criticised the Australian Taxation Office for its ruling that bonus money from Sydney Olympic Games performances will be subject to tax. Canadian IOC member Dick Pound, a taxation lawyer and one of the contenders for IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch’s job when he retires at the end of the year, said it would be nearly impossible for the Australian Government to enforce the ruling and hoped “cooler heads would prevail”. Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper, another person in the race for the IOC top job, said he wanted to examine the issue further, but said Australian taxpayers should be appreciative of the sports performances of the athletes. Tax officials have issued a ruling that income earned, including bonus payments paid by national Olympic committees for medal incentives, as well as any sponsorship bonuses, will be subject to tax. A taxation official said the ruling would apply to overseas as well as Australian athletes. Officials have explained that any income generated from a sport performance in Australia would be treated in the same manner as payments earned by professional tennis players and golfers in the Australian Open and the Australian Gold Open. The official said the only exception would be if overseas athletes were paid money by their national Olympic committee or government in their home country. So the Indian athletes can sleep easy not since the chances of their government paying them any incentives somewhere down the track. That’s if they manage to win any medals! — PMG |
|
Nigerian athlete
dies in mishap SYDNEY, Sept 8 (DPA) — A 400-metre runner in Nigeria’s Olympic team was knocked down by a car and killed here, organisers confirmed today. Hyginus Anugo (22) was killed while crossing the road near his Olympic billet in the suburb of Sefton. Anugo was due to run in the 400 metres and was also a reserve for the 400-metre relay team. |
|
Gopi Chand gets
a bye CHANDIGARH, Sept 8 —Aparna Popat among women and Pullela Gopi Chand among men, sole Indian badminton challengers in singles event of the Sydney Olympics, will spearhead their campaign on September 16 and 18, respectively. As per the draws released today on web site of International Badminton Federation (IBF), Aparna who qualified at the last moment for the Olympics, will have her first match with fancied Kelly Morgan of Great Britain and their winner will play against Chee Wai Koon of Hong Kong on September 17. In men’s section, Gopi Chand who at Malaysian Open held at Kuala Lumpur last fortnight where he gave tough fight to Sydney Olympic singles top seeded Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, has been given a bye in the first round. He will meet Druzchenko of Ukraine in next round on September 18. Badminton which made its maiden entry in Barcelona Olympics in 1992 had the first winner of men singles, Alan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia while his wife Susi Susanta remained the women singles winner. In 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Poul Erik Hoyer Larsen of Denmark won the title while Bang Soo Hyun of Korea was winner in women section. In the draws for men and women singles, Atlanta Gold medallist Poul Erik Hoyer of Denmark, among first eight seeded players, has been placed in bottom half of the men singles. Other seeded players in this half included second seeded Hendrawan of Indonesia, Xia Xuanze of China and Hann Choong Wong of Malaysia. The top half, has top seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia Xinpeng of China, Peter Gade of Denmark and Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia in their half. |
|
East Bengal rout JCT 3-0 CALCUTTA, Sept 8 (PTI) — Title aspirants East Bengal rode on the brilliance of striker Dipendu Biswas to thrash JCT Mills 3-0 in a group-A league match and romp into the semi-finals of the 106th IFA Shield Football Tournament here today. The flashy Dipendu Biswas struck twice in the opening session while captain Bijen Singh netted a goal to seal the fate of their opponents in what turned out to be a rather lop-sided contest at the Salt Lake Stadium. The local giants, who had pipped qualifier Bengal Nagpur Railways (BNR) by a solitary goal in their inaugural match, have assured a semi-final berth from group-A with two consecutive victories. East Bengal fired the first salvo as early as the eighth minute of the contest when Dipendu Biswas slammed in from inside the box, giving no chance at all to the JCT custodian Baljit Singh. The early goal served as a tonic for the home team as they kept up the pressure on the millmen with a flurry of raids from both the flanks and came dangerously close to the goalmouth on a number of occasions. Dipendu pumped in another goal just a minute before the interval as he brilliantly chested a Chandan Das corner kick, brought the ball under control and unleashed a crisp left footer to find the target. |
|
Swati Ghate stuns Koneru Humpy MUMBAI, Sept 8 (PTI) — Swati Ghate of India shocked second seed and compatriot Koneru Humpy in the ninth round to share the lead, with 6.5 points apiece, in the Asian Junior Chess Championship here today. International Women’s Master (IWM), Swati, playing superbly with white pieces, attacked with Caro Kann Flour variations but lost two pawns to set up a fiery attack and obtain a single pawn in return on the 23rd move. Humpy, also also IWM with an ELO rating of 2288, sacrificed her rook and tried for perpetual checks, but Swati, with an ELO rating of 2246, handled the situation cleverly and took the game in the 43rd move. Chinese lass Yu Ting, who was upset by Vietnam girl Chauthi Ngoc Giao, is on the second spot with six points to her credit while Nisha Mohota of India, who beat Beverly Mendoza of Philippines, and Elena Levushkina of Uzbekistan, the conqueror of India’s Anupama Konara are joint third with 5.5 points each. In the boys’ section, Surya Sekhar Ganguly beat John Paul Gomez of Philippines in a dull and drab encounter to share the lead with his compatriots and International Masters (IM) P Harikrishna and Tejas Bakre. All three have 6.5 points each to their credit. Harikrishna was held to a draw by Al Syed Mohammed of Qatar while Bakre drew with Iranian Ghaem Maghami. Mohammed, Maghami along with two Indians — S Satyapragyan and S Kidambi — are in the joint second positions with six points each. |
|
HP to formulate new
sports policy SHIMLA, Sept 8 — The Himachal Government will come out with a comprehensive policy for development of sports in the hill state shortly. Stating this at a meet-the-press organised by the Shimla Press Club, Mr Praveen Sharma, Youth Services and Sports Minister, said the policy would take care of every aspect ranging from development of infrastructure, training facilities and an assured career to outstanding sports person. He said although the conditions in high altitude areas were most suitable in athletics, volleyball, badminton, basketball and other sports which required stamina the state could not make its mark because of lack of requisite facilities. He lamented that previous governments did not pay much attention to sports and the state did not even have a proper sports policy. The present government had decided to build playgrounds in all the schools, wherever land available, in a phased manner. A blue print was being prepared for the purpose. As many as 40 coaches had been recruited to train talented players in school. The effort was to ensure one coach for a cluster of schools. At present, there were 28 stadia in the state, 18 were under construction and 11 new had been recommended for construction at a cost of Rs 16 crore. The emphasis would be on promoting games like volleyball, marathon and basketball which did not require much infractural facilities. Indoor stadia were proposed to be built at Una and Dharamsala. The government had submitted schemes for development of sports infrastructure involving an expenditure of Rs 7.67 crore to the Centre. An astro-turf was being laid for hockey at Una, while two more were planned. Besides reserving three per cent government jobs for sportspersons, the government had also initiated a scheme to honour players who excelled at the national and international level. The government provided Rs 32.90 lakh as grant to various sports associations and it also introduced rural sports to tap village talent. Manisha moves into final NEW DELHI, Sept 8 — Top-seeded Manisha Malhotra will meet unseeded Veronika Raimrova of Czechoslovakia in the final of the $10,000 ITF Women’s Tennis Circuit Second Leg Tournament at the Delhi Tennis Association court here tomorrow. In the semi-finals here today, Manisha Malhotra ousted fourth-seeded I-Ting Wang of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-2 while Raimrova shocked seventh-seeded Suchanan Viratprasert of Thailand 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1. In the doubles final, Sai Jayalakshmi and Rushmi Chakravarthi of India beat I-Ting and Orawan Wongkamalasai 6-3, 6-2. Though Manisha was broken in the very first game, she broke back in the fourth to make it 2-2 and then broke her Thai rival again in the 10th game to win the first set. In the second set, Manisha was broken in the third game, but she broke back in the fourth, and then in the sixth and eigth games to coast to victory. Serving and returning well, Manisha was always in control and gave very little chance for her opponent to chart out an escape route. In the second match, Raimrova almost lost from a winning position as she had led 4-1 in the first set, before losing it, and in the second set, she led 5-2, before it went to tie-breaker, saved a match point in the tie-breaker before getting the clinching point. |
|
India scared of losing: Akram KARACHI, Sept 8 (UNI) — Former Pakistani captain Wasim Akram has allaged that India was shying away from playing against “us, as they are scared of losing.” In an interview with Narad online, Akram said he was disappointed at the way Indians were approaching cricket relations with Pakistan. “I just get a feeling they don’t want to play against us. They are scared of losing, as we have defeated them everywhere in India, in Sharjah, Toronto and even in Australia in the last two years.” He felt that it was imperative for India to tour Pakistan next year, as this would help a lot in normalising relations between the two countries. “Last year we played in India despite a lot of pressure on us from extremists and other elements who even dug up the Feroze Shah Kotla pitch to warn us not to tour India. But in the end we enjoyed that tour immensely.” He said he was convinced India never wanted to play Pakistan in Toronto because if they intended to drop Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and others from the team, they would have done it then not waited for the ICC knockout competition. |
|
BCCI looking for
foreign coach DUBAI, Sept 8 (UNI) — Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president A.C. Muthia appears to have further compounded the confusion over the issue of Kapil Dev being retained as Indian team’s coach, by stating that the board was looking for a foreign coach. |
|
Punjab to encourage sports PATIALA This was stated by Capt. Kanwaljit Singh,
Finanance and Planning Minister, while addressing a
gathering, organised by the youth sports club in
collaboration with the Gugga Marri organising committee,
at Nainkala village near here, today. He said school
children, at a very early age, should adopt a particular
sports discipline in which they want to excel in future, adding that the government would provide all the
necessary inputs to achieve the desired results. Capt.
Kanwaljit Singh said the government had decided to
upgrade 1053 schools in the state. Under this plan, in
every vidhan sabha constituency, three primary schools
would be upgraded to the middle school level, three
middle schools to the high school level and three high
schools to the plus two level. He also emphasised that
the government was also encouraging more and more girls
in villages to take up education. The minister announced
a grant of Rs.50,000 for improving sanitary conditions in
the village and Rs.21,000 for the activities of the Youth
Sports Club. |
 |
| 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 | |
