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| Wednesday, September 13, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Italy start favourites
against Aussies
University lads make Indians struggle Thorpe impresses
Mark Spitz |
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Mixed reaction to
Kapil’s decision MUMBAI, Sept 12 — Former cricketers today agreed with Kapil Dev’s decision to step down as Indian cricket coach and said this step would save him and the cricket team a lot of heartburn. Burgers, condoms and Australian native flowers  SYDENY’S spring weather showed it’s best over the weekend and the Olympic spirit had well and truly taken over the city on the weekend before the Opening Ceremony. As the King of Greece tucked into a Big Mac, one of the world’s most famous swimmers whizzed by on a pushbike.
What will Muthiah do next? HOA offers to
host 2004 National Games Jayalakshmi survives a scare JCT waltz into
semifinals
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Football kick-off today SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AFP) — These might be Sydney’s Games but all eyes will be on Melbourne tomorrow as years of planning, preparation and practice finally give way to the first real Olympic action. Australia’s clash with Italy in front of a 90,000 sellout crowd in the huge Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is the pick of the four men’s and two women’s matches that will kick off the Olympic football tournament two days before the games are officially opened. On paper the Italians, one of the favourites for gold, look too good for an Australian side that has been deprived of its most influential players — Leeds United forward Harry Kewell and Middlesborough midfielder Paul Okon — due to injury. But coach Raul Blanco is hoping a combination of Olympic fever and home advantage will help to bridge the gulf in quality between the two sides. “The injuries have definitely upset our planning,” he
admitted. “But cometh the hour, cometh the man and I am confident that other players in this side will rise to the occasion.” Men’s football at the Olympics is an under-23 competition but coaches are allowed to call on three overage players. Italian coach Marco Tardelli has foregone that option, preferring instead to rely on the group of players he guided to the European under-21 title earlier this year. Inter Milan’s Andrea Pirlo, a playmaker in the Roberto Baggio mould, is seen as the pick of the bunch. Nigeria, the men’s gold medallists in Atlanta four years ago, have been drawn with Australia and Italy in group A and kick off their title defence in Adelaide against Honduras. The Super Eagles should prove too strong for the central Americans but their chances of retaining the Olympic title have been undermined by their failure to secure the release of many of their European-based players, including Arsenal forward Nwankwo Kanu. Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro and Lawal Garba, who plays for Dutch club Roda JC Kerkrade, are the only survivors from the squad that beat Argentina 3-2 in a memorable Olympic final four years ago. In the other men’s matches tomorrow, the USA face the Czech Republic in Canberra while Cameroon face a mainly amateur Kuwait side in Brisbane. Gold medal favourites Brazil open their campaign on Thursday against Slovenia in Brisbane. Australia’s women begin their campaign for a medal with a tough clash against Germany. The Matildas, whose efforts to promote soccer down under have included stripping off for a calendar, believe they can give the game another boost with their performances on the pitch. With the big three powers in women’s football — the USA, China and Norway — all drawn together in group B, the Australians have a realistic chance of a medal. Sweden take on Brazil in tomorrow’s other group A match. The Australia-Italy match in Melbourne is one of eight matches that are already sold out and the tournament organisers are confident that total attendances will come close to the record of 1.2 million set in Atlanta. |
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University lads make Indians struggle SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AP) — The 12-0 and 10-0 victories against local club teams reminded India of its glory-filled past. It also was a glimpse of field hockey’s history - on grass. For two weeks, India has enjoyed training on grass and confidence-boosting play in the town of Murwillambah in preparation for its Olympic opener against Argentina on Sunday. Too bad that since the mid 1970s, field hockey’s major tournaments have been played on artificial turf. And when India was forced back on to the plastic yesterday, it struggled against Sydney University before finally winning 3-2. The idea to train at Murwillambah, a New South Wales town with a substantial Indian, mostly Sikh community, apparently was to give the Indian side a sense of home. The town has a Sikh temple and recognizable food is abundant. But considering that there are only 10 artificial turf pitches in India, and their dearth has been blamed by some for the country’s fall from the top of field hockey’s elite, the decision to train in Murwillambah is now being questioned. Yesterday’s game against Sydney also exposed India midfield weakness, with strikers Baljit Singh Dhillon and Dhanraj Pillay constantly retreating to get the ball and build attacks. India scored two second-half goals to eventually prevail. “I was happy with the effort,” said coach Vasudevan Baskaran, who captained India’s last Olympic gold-medal winning side in 1980. “The boys cannot go all out for such a game.” “But the Sydney University boys were good and made us work extra today. It’s always the fear of an injury that scares the players into stretching too much when going into a tackle.” India is to play Canada tomorrow, its last practice match before Sunday’s clash with Argentina. Pillay said he was happy with the team’s efforts and called the match “good.” “I ran hard and the match helped in tuning up for the game. I think the team had a good session,” he said. Critics already are saying Sydney University gave the Indians a needed jolt. “Indian hockey has been at the crossroads ... Because we have never bothered to learn from our mistakes,” Bhaskaran said. “Another poor show could prove disastrous for Indian hockey’s future.” India has seen its prominence in hockey decline sharply over the last 20 years and especially since it won 30 straight matches from 1928 to 1960, claiming five gold medals and a silver. |
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Sydney countdown — 71 SYDENY’S spring weather showed it’s best over the weekend and the Olympic spirit had well and truly taken over the city on the weekend before the Opening Ceremony. As the King of Greece tucked into a Big Mac, one of the world’s most famous swimmers whizzed by on a pushbike. There is something not quite real about this small patch of Sydney; temporary home to 10,000 of the world’s best bodies and some of the heavyweights of international society. His Majesty King Constantine II of Greece, an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee, displayed the common touch in the early afternoon sunshine, wolfing down a Big Mac and a regular Coke. The 60-year-old King — who lives in exile in London — won gold in sailing at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Yesterday, he was taking a breather from trailing IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch around on the IOC’s handshaking tour of the village. “It’s just amazing how much McDonald’s the athletes eat. Bacon and Egg McMuffins especially,” said a staffer at the one outlet of the famous fast food chain. “The New Zealanders are in here the most. They come in and buy bags and bags, then take it back to their rooms.” Dutch swimming superstar Inge de Bruijn was flipping through a copy of glossy Australian magazine Black and White in the General Store, remarking out loud to her team-mates on the sexy nude pictures of Australian athletes. De Bruijn strode out of the shop and hopped aboard one of the bright blue pushbikes that the Dutch team has issued to its athletes to help them get around the village. Even other athletes nudged each other and pointed as the 50m freestyle world champion cycled down the hill, dispensing high-fives to onlookers. No dorky helmet hid de Bruijn’s blonde mane, however, unlike the safety-conscious police officers in blue riot gear who have been tootling around the village in the past week. Making little effort to conceal their boredom, the police on bicycle duty casually pedalled backwards and performed mini-wheelies as de Bruijn and her team-mates whizzed by. Cuban swimmer Imaday Nunez, 17, walked into the Village hairdresser clutching a picture of an underwear model with a chic blonde cut. “I tore it out of a magazine,” said Nunez, who is swimming in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, as her long dark-blonde locks fell to the floor. Several athletes have already called in to the salon, run by Ann Murphy, for one of the outrageously bright $19 colour jobs advertised in the window. The available colours include hot pink, bright yellow and electric blue but one Iranian athlete who opted for blue has already come back complaining the colour didn’t stand up to a dip in the chlorine training pool. “I think coming up to the Opening Ceremony we’ll have a lot of people getting national colours in their hair,” said Ms Murphy. At the village florist, Lynch Flowers, Fae Gill said athletes were sending bunches to each other for good luck or using them to brighten up their own spartan rooms. “It’s a funny thing, but some nationalities have been here more often than others. Those Austrian boys sure love their flowers.” To prove it, she brandished an Interflora poster bearing best wishes from Austrian shooting gold medallist Thomas Tash. By far the most popular choices have been Australian native flowers, which begin at $15 and come with a complimentary vase. Across the way at the Kodak film centre, manager Tina Baker said her staff were shifting dozens of disposable cameras each day and processing countless happy snaps of beaming athletes in front of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. “And the boys from the Trinidad and Tobago team seem to be spending a lot of time here, mainly flirting with the friendly Kodak girls,” she added. Staff at the Ansett travel office in the international zone said many athletes were using their spare time to organise post-Games holidays. A spokesman said the big three destinations were Cairns, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Melbourne. “But we have also been arranging day cruises around Sydney Harbour so athletes can take their minds off the coming weeks.” The Polyclinic, a 24-hour medical and dental centre, has had several hundred athletes through but none with any serious complaints — mostly the sniffles, said a staffer. Equally bizarre is the announcement about the condoms at the Olympic Village. One hundred thousand of them will be distributed for free in the village. That’s an allocation of 7 condoms per athlete. Sure these athletes are fast but that’s a bit ridiculous for athletes who are performing in the world’s greatest stage. Word has it that most of the athletes will be using the freebies in the last few days before the closing ceremony. Streakers will not be odd balls The bets are on and here are the odds. If you want to put money on the USA basketball Dream Team losing a game at the Sydney Games you will get attractive odds of 51 to 1 (Which means for every dollar you bet you will receive 51 in return if the USA losers a game). If you are a gambler and want to punt on say a non-African winning the marathon, you will get 21-1 odds, or 4 to 1 on Kieran Perkins winning the 1500m. And what are the odds on a streaker appearing at a Games venue. Betting agencies are not accepting any bets on that because knowing the Aussie public, streaking will be popular during this Games more than any other. What if Ian Thorpe drowns? Why would you have lifeguards around a pool hosting an Olympic swimming competition? Well in case some drowns or gets a cramp or whatever. Believe it or not life guards will be present to saves the likes of the best swimming talent in the world. During the swimming, diving and waterpolo competitions in Sydney, lifeguards will be around the pool and will also be situated in a special glass observation room underwater to keep a watchful eye out for any untoward happening during competition. It apparently got something to do with the rules of swimming in New South Wales. And knowing the shark menace in and around Sydney, we are waiting for the shark alarm to go off in the middle of a race.
— PMG |
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SYDNEY, Sept 12 (PTI) — The Indian Olympic contingent’s head Ashok Mattoo today rubbished recent media reports at home that some Indian boxers were not fully fit to take part in the Sydney Games. Chef-de-Mission Mattoo, who also heads the National Boxing Federation, took pains to stress that his four-member boxing squad was in fine fettle. “Even while sparring during practice sessions boxers can, and do, sustain injuries. But they are minor ones and these niggling injuries do not prevent them from getting into the ring,” he said. Reacting to the whole controversy about injuries to pugilists, Mr Mattoo said: “I just don’t know how all this started and how (boxing coach) G.S. Sandhu got involved in it.” Meanwhile, the doping tests extended to the Indian contingent too and, under the random testing procedure, one sportsperson was picked for it. No names are given out unless someone tests positive and Mattoo was confident that the Indian sports persons would come out clean. At the other end of the Olympic complex, the hockey team is going about its business quietly. The boys, who had beaten a Sydney XI 3-2 yesterday, will clash with Canada in a practice match tomorrow afternoon. Indian Hockey Federation chief K.P.S. Gill is expected to arrive here on Thursday and, reports indicate, he will be provided very heavy security, like in Atlanta four years ago. The security authorities are in touch with various Sikh organisations here to ensure nothing untoward happens, the ‘Daily Telegraph’ reported today. |
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Thorpe impresses
Mark Spitz SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AFP) — Swim legend Mark Spitz today predicted “a lot” of world records would fall at the Olympic pool. The seven-time gold medal winner lavished particular praise on Australian Ian Thorpe. “I think we’re going to see a lot of world records,” said 50-year-old Spitz, who created history by winning seven gold medals at Munich in 1972. “I think we’re going to see a lot of excited people winning gold medals and I’m sure that plenty of them are Australians.” He said he was particularly looking forward to watching Thorpe, who piled up 10 world records before his 18th birthday. “It’s going to be exciting to watch him swim, I watched him last year,” Spitz said. “And what’s amazing is that he has such a lead over the rest of the field that at any moment when he decides to win the race, it’s just question of how far he’s going to do it by and what the time will be.” The American nominated a handful of other swimmers he thought would be stand-out performers in the pool. |
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Stolen flag
returned after 80 years SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AFP) — Eighty years after stealing the Olympic flag at the end of the 1920 Olympics, American bronze medallist Hal Prieste confessed here yesterday and handed it back to the International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch. It was the final act of a dare that the now 103-year-old, Prieste had with friend Duke Kahanamoku during the Antwerp Games. The
California-born Prieste bet a fellow competitor that he would take the Olympic flag flying over the closing ceremony. True to his word, Prieste, who won a bronze medal in the high diving platform, managed to scale the pole and take the flag back with him to the USA. |
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Mixed reaction to Kapil’s decision MUMBAI, Sept 12 (UNI) — Former cricketers today agreed with Kapil Dev’s decision to step down as Indian cricket coach and said this step would save him and the cricket team a lot of heartburn. Former captain and coach Ajit Wadekar, however, expressed surprise and felt that Kapil Dev was strong enough to handle any pressure as he had done as a cricketer. Former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Raj Singh Dungarpur termed Kapil’s decision as a dignified one. Former captain Gulabrai Ramchand said Kapil Dev, by not accepting the BCCI’s invitation to take charge of Indian camp, had proved one-up on a dilly-dallying board. “Why wait and be crucified”, Ramchand asked and added that Kapil had now salvaged some of his lost pride. Polly Umrigar did not comment but said that Kapil’s replacement Anshuman Gaekwad was good. Wadekar said Kapil should have waited till the CBI report since nothing had been proved so far. Former BCCI chief I.S. Bindra, who had been very vocal in debates on the match-fixing issue, today refused to comment on the resignation of Kapil Dev as national cricket coach. “I have no comments,” Mr Bindra said after conveying that knew about Kapil Dev’s resignation. |
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What will Muthiah do next? CHANDIGARH, Sept 12 — By sending in his resignation as
coach just one day after Dr A.C. Muthiah, president of the Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had asked him to take charge of
the national squad’s conditioning camp at Chennai for the ICC
knockout tournament, scheduled to be held in Kenya from October 3 to
15, the former star allrounder has probably ended a very sad chapter
of Indian cricket. Kapil, who was appointed coach of the Indian team
for an unprecedented two-year term at the last annual general body
meeting of the BCCI held in Jaipur last year unlike other incumbents
to the post who were appointed on a year-to-year basis, still had a
year to go. With the BCCI scheduled to have its general body meeting
in Chennai later this month, the issue of Kapil’s resignation is
bound to have far-reaching consequences at the meeting. When the
former Indian allrounder was appointed to the post there were
expectations that he would help the national squad to pull up its game
by a notch or two. But that was not the case as the Indian team
suffered one humiliation after another so much so that after 14 long
years it lost a home Test series . However, what was more damaging was
the fact that senior members of the squad, including Kapil himself,
was embroiled in an unsavory match-fixing allegation. Ever since the
issue of betting and match-fixing first surfaced in April last there
has tremendous pressure on the board to drop the “tainted” players
as also the national coach, who, it was alleged, had offered money to
Manoj Prabhakar to play below par in a one-day tournament in Sri Lanka
in the mid-90s. For some time the board seemed to be standing besides
the players but once the national selection committee decided to drop
players like Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nikhil Chopra and Nayan
Mongia (players whose names had figured in the match-fixing issue)
from the list of probables for the ICC tournament, the chances of
Kapil facing the axe became a distinct possibility. Even when the
players were dropped the BCCI secretary, Mr J.Y. Lele, took pains to
explain that the players had been dropped not for their alleged role
in betting and match-fixing but because of cricketing reasons. But did
anybody believe him then ? It was at the last working committee
meeting of the board, held at Bangalore last month, when Dr Muthiah
was empowered by the most powerful sub-committee of the BCCI to decide
Kapil’s fate after meeting him. The two did meet in Delhi earlier
this month but at that time it seemed that a defiant Kapil was asking
the board to sack him and seemed in no mood to submit his resignation
from the hot seat. What prompted him to put in his papers on Tuesday
is yet not known. With allegations flying all round the issue of
match-fixing and betting was placed in the hands of the CBI, which is
expected to submit its report later this month. In the meanwhile the
CBI has questioned all the players named in the scandal while the
Income Tax Department has raided the homes and business premises of
these players and also of Kapil in an effort to ferret out the truth.
During this period the houses and business premises of certain BCCI
officials were also raided. And therein lies the catch for the board
! Now that the players and the national coach have been sidelined the
question is whether the BCCI treasurer, Mr Kishore Rungta, as also the
former president of the ICC, Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, who is a permanent
invitee to all meetings of the board, whose houses and business
premises were also raided by the Income Tax Department will also be
asked to step aside till the CBI files its report. It is probably this
question which is bugging Dr Muthiah at the moment. |
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Zimbabwe make slow progress BULAWAYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) — Zimbabwe made desperately slow progress on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand today. By tea they had ground their way to 105 for two with Stuart Carlisle on 25 and Alistair Campbell on 11. The hundred was not raised until the 65th over. Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori was mainly responsible for the go slow. His 20-over spell, broken only by lunch, cost 22 runs and earned the wicket of Grant Flower. He was caught behind for 24 by wicketkeeper Adam Parore 20 minutes before lunch. The second session’s only wicket came 35 minutes before tea when opener Gavin Rennie drove a delivery from off-spinner Paul Wiseman to Craig McMillan at short extra cover. Rennie spent 207 minutes over his 36. |
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HOA offers to
host 2004 National Games CHANDIGARH, Sept 12 — The Haryana Olympic Association has offered to host the 2004 National Games. This was disclosed by the President of Haryana Olympic Association (HOA), Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, while presiding over a meeting of the HOA convened today regarding the holding of Haryana Sports Festival at Rohtak from October 13 to 16. He said that efforts were being made to get the Haryana sports festival inaugurated by President of Olympic Committee of Asia, Sheikh Ahmed-ul-Frah-ul-Sadah. In all 21 sports events would be held during the sports festival. He said that the district Olympic association had been asked to send eight teams each and the entries of sportspersons should be sent by September 28. He announced that the diet money of the sportspersons had been raised from Rs 65 to Rs 100. The donations made to the HOA would be exempted from the income tax. |
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BANGALORE, Sept 12 (UNI) — Top seed Sai Jayalakshmi of India survived a scare while other ranked players advanced into the next round with comfortable victories in the $ 10,000 Khodays-ITF Women’s Tennis Tournament here today. In the over two-hour encounter, Sai was let off the hook by inexperienced but talented Jyotsna Vasisht, also of India, before the top seed recorded a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win. Third seed Rushmi Chakravarthi of India did not sweat out during her 6-1, 6-3 win against qualifier and compatriot Samrita Sekar, while fourth seed Sonal Phadke of India downed Shalini Thakur, also of India, 7-5, 7-5. Radhika Tulpule of India did not face resistance from wild card Priyanka Parekh, also of India, 6-2, 7-5. Second seed and first two legs semi-finalist I-Ting Wang of Chinese Taipei thrashed Ana Simundini of Spain 6-0, 6-3, while seventh seed Veronica Rimroba of Czech Republic rallied back brilliantly to oust Karishma Patel of India 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Sai, ranked 435 on the WTA ranking, and Jyotsna served badly. The first set saw six service games being lost. Sai who committed 11 double faults in the match, dropped her serves on the third, fifth, seventh and ninth games, and broke back Jyotsna in the fourth and sixth games. However, Sai made amends in the second set breaking Jyotsna in the first, fifth and seventh Games. Coming under pressure, inexperienced, Jyotsna committed crucial double faults in the set. The top seed levelled the set-score winning the eighth game. In the decider, Sai looked set for an easy win having established a comfortable 5-2 lead breaking the rival in the first and seventh games. Jyotsna fought back superbly levelling the scores five-all. Sai brought in her experience and broke the opponent and held her serve to advance into the second round. Rushmi Chakravarthi, unlike her doubles partner Sai, was impressive in despatching qualifier Samrita Shekhar in just 55 minutes. Serving well and winning points on her first serves, Rushmi made Samrita run around the court with her range of strokes. Rushmi won the first set dropping just one game as she broke Samrita in the fourth and sixth games. Samrita showed some
resistance in the second set and managed to take a service game off Rushmi, but breaks in the opening and fifth games gave Rushmi a 4-1 lead and another in the ninth allowed the third seed from Chennai easily win the set and the match. Sonal Phadke faced tough resistance from Shalini as the two fought for every point in the first game. Shalini led twice but found the double fisted shots from Sonal tough to contend with. After the two exchanged serves twice, Sonal won the first set with a crucial break in the 12th game. Shalini fought back after being 1-3 down in the second set and momentarily lead 5-4, but Sonal with her strong ground shots levelled the scores 5-5 and won the match in 1 hour 30 minutes with a crucial service break in the 12th game. Among the foreign players who played their matches today, I-Ting
continued to impress with her solid baseline game and dominated over the lanky Ana Sismundini. After winning the first set in a runaway fashion without conceding a game, I-Ting coasted to a comfortable win, despite losing her serve on the first game of the second set by breaking the Spaniard twice thereafter. |
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JCT waltz into
semifinals CALCUTTA, Sept 12 (UNI) — JCT Phagwara waltzed into the semis of the IFA Shield, defeating Calcutta Port Trust by a brace at the Ravindra Sarovar Stadium here today. In the semis, JCT will lock horns with Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan on September 14, while in another semis, East Bengal will vie with Tollygunje Agragami tomorrow. At the lemon break, the score sheet read goal-less. JCT surged ahead when Jaswinder Singh, after latching on to a pass from Jasbir Singh, fired the first salvo in the 12th minute of the second half (1-0). JCT buttressed the lead within two minutes through medio Ram Paul from a pass by Jaswinder Singh (2-0). While Mohun Bagan bagged seven points from three matches, JCT earned three points from as many outings. |
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