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| Sunday, October 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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India shock
Aussies, move into semis Davis Cup players
to miss nationals
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Amritinder retains Hero Golf title Hattestad, Taylor top standings Arantxa ousts Coetzer
Players may boycott talks Dearth of spectators
mars ICC meet PSEB
swamp DFA, JCT Academy win Hockey to be introduced
at Commonwealth Games Atwal finishes with
74, Kamps leads
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India shock Aussies, move into semis NAIROBI, Oct 7 (PTI) — India today shocked world champions Australia and surprised their critics in winning the quarter-finals of the ICC Knockout Tournament here after a tremendous allround display highlighted by exhilirating batting by new entrant Yuvraj Singh who made 84 in his very first innings for the country. Playing in their first international tournament following the betting and match-fixing scandal after which some their key players were left out, the new-look Indian team scored a sensational 20-run win over favourites Australia and await the winners of the England-South Africa clash to be played on Tuesday. ‘Man of the match’ Yuvraj Singh made 84, took a stunning catch and ran out a key batsman in his very second match, having not had a chance to bat against hosts Kenya in the tournament opener. Put in to bat, India spoiled the flying start given by Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Sourav Ganguly by suffering a middle order collapse. But the teenager from Punjab took charge of the situation to propel India to a fighting total of 265 for nine in the allotted 50 overs. With Australia set to score 266 for a win in 48 overs — they were docked two overs for slow bowling — the Indians bowled and fielded with a fiery determination to dismiss them for 245 in 46.4 overs. It was the day of the newcomers who weaved magic in India’s win. After Yuvraj’s scintillating 84, Zaheer Khan bowled good line and length to become the most successful of Indian bowlers claiming two wickets, including that of captain Steve Waugh, for 40 runs off his quota of 10 overs. He was also quite impressive in the field and along with Yuvraj breathed new life into what-used-to-be lacklusture Indian fielding. It was a pleasent sight watching Indians throwing themselves to save runs and take outstanding catches and it was their fielding which was highly instrumental in earning them a well-deserved win. Australia were off to a flying start with Adam Gilchrist (33) stroking away to glory in his characteristic manner. The cheap dismissal of Mark Waugh (7), who was caught by Anil Kumble off Ajit Agarkar, followed by the fall of Gilchrist — Zaheer Khan’s first victim — did not deter the Australian batsmen from going for their shots. Ricky Ponting, who came after the dismissal of Gilchrist, combined with Ian Harvey and later with Michael Bevan to resurrect the innings. Yuvraj took a brilliant catch off Venkatesh Prasad to dismiss Harvey, but Ponting and Bevan added 73 runs for the fourth wicket to take the Aussies to a position of strength. India: Ganguly c Gilchrist b Gillespie 24 Tendulkar c Martyn b Lee 38 Dravid c S. Lee b Gillespie 9 Kambli c Gilchrist b S. Waugh 29 Yuvraj Singh c B.S. Lee 84 Robin Singh b Harvey 19 Dahiya c Gilchrist b B. Lee 5 Agarkar c McGrath b S. Lee 3 Kumble run out 12 Zaheer not out 13 Prasad not out 6 Extras: 23 (b-1, lb-12, w-8, nb-2). Total: (for 9 wkts, in 50 overs) 265. Fall of wkts: 1 - 66, 2 - 76, 3 - 90, 4 - 130, 5 - 194, 6 - 215, 7 - 222, 8 - 239, 9 - 258. Bowling: McGrath 9-0-61-0, Brett Lee 10-0-39-2, Gillespie 8-0-39-2, Ian Harvey 9-1-54-1, Shane Lee 10-0-31-2, Steve Waugh 4-0-28-1. Australia: M. Waugh c Kumble b Agarkar 7 Gilchrist c Ganguly b Z. Khan 33 I. Harvey c Yuvraj b V. Prasad 25 R. Ponting c Robin Singh b Tendulkar 46 M. Bevan run out 42 S. Waugh b Z. Khan 23 D. Martyn b Robin Singh 1 S. Lee run out 4 B. Lee c Ganguly b Agarkar 31 J. Gillespie c Robin Singh b V. Prasad 14 G. McGrath not out 6 Extras: (lb-4, w-7, nb-2) 13 Total: (all out in 46.4 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-51, 3-86, 4-159, 5-163, 6-169, 7-189, 8-224, 9-225. Bowling: Z. Khan 10-0-40-2, A. Agarkar 8-0-59-2, V. Prasad 7.4-0-43-2, A. Kumble 8-0-42-0, S. Tendulkar 7-0-31-1, R. Singh 6-0-26-1.  |
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End of search for allrounder? CHANDIGARH, Oct 7 — Yograj Singh, former India fast bowler, could not have asked for more. Today, when the Indian team clashed with mighty Australians in the “mini World Cup” match in Nairobi, he must have felt tremendously relieved after the way his son Yuvraj Singh acquitted himself on the field. It, in fact, must have been the fulfilment of a dream for Yograj who had worked so assiduously for all these years to see that his son not only represents the country but plays with distinction. Going by the type of display the junior World Cup hero in Sri Lanka in January this year gave while facing the fearsome Australian bowling, including the likes of Glenn McGrath, arguably one of the best fast bowlers of the time; Brett Lee, perhaps the fastest bowler in the game after Shoaib Akhtar of Pakistan, and the redoubtable Jason Gillespie attack it would not be wrong to premise that, maybe, India has finally found an allrounder who can serve the country for long. Yuvraj, batting for the first time for the country in an international match, notched up a scintillating 84 off 80 deliveries — the highest score from the side — as India scored 265 for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. The next highest scorer from the side was batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who once again made McGrath feel the power of his willow, playing an entertaining came 38 runs (37 balls). It, indeed, is rare to see a young player make the type of beginning to international career the way the Chandigarh youngster did today. He was confidence personified the moment he reached the wicket after the fall of Rahul Dravid’s wicket. He played with a straight bat and was hardly beaten during the course of his invaluable innings. But for his efforts the Indian innings would have been in disarray as players like Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Robin Singh and Vinod Kambli failed to be among the runs. Yuvraj showed that he had a cool head over his young shoulders. Seeing Yuvraj bat one never got the feeling that he was batting for the first time for the country. He immediately conveyed that he meant business, straight driving and pulling medium fast bowler Ian Harvey for two boundries. But the stroke that won more applause was a leg-side flick which raced to the boundry off Gillespie. Such was the quality of his superlative batting that he won so many accolades from those who have earned themselves name in the game. “He can afford to kiss his helmet. Playing so well he stroked the ball all round the wicket,” observed Ravi Shastri after Yuvraj completed a well-deserved maiden half century with a scorching straight drive to the fence off McGrath. “Stroking either on the front foot or the back foot, he has shown the full face of the bat, “ Shastri added. “He puts it away cleanly and clearly,” gushed Geoff Boycott as the ball next stopped with a thud on the long-off boundary. The bowler to suffer was Gillespie. Kept quite for while, the southpaw was again in the thick of action hoisting Steve Waugh, Australian captain having 192 wickets under his belt, to long on and square leg boundaries in the same over. The stroke of the day played by him was copybook bowlers back drive for a four prompting Australian pace spearhead McGrath to stand bewildered as a wild round of applause emanated for the youngster, who had just completed his half century. “What Ajit Agarkar should do is to give Yuvraj as much strike as possible,” Sunil Gavaskar, India’s batting legend, was forced to say as the India new ball bowler, unable to rotate the strike, played four dot balls on the trot which kept Yuvraj away from batting when in full flow. “What is important to me is not the runs but the approach. The batsman looks very confident.... He is lovely timer of the ball.” had Ian Chappell to say as Yuvraj cut express fast bowler Brett bowler to fine leg boundary. The superlative batting display finally came to an end when kept away from strike by Anil Kumble he, eager to reach the three-figure mark, played an ambitious stroke in the 47th over being bowled by Shane Lee but ended up ballooning the ball for the bowler himself to complete the catch in his follow through. In the previous match against lowly Kenya Yuvraj gave a good account of himself as a fielder. While as a bowler, he bowled to the given field, allowing no liberty to the rival batsmen to go for runs. Yuvraj has come out triumphant in the most crucial part of his career. He has made it amply clear that he has the right temperament to succeed at the international level. The only thing he needs to do is to guard against any complacency that may creep in which could ruin a career which looks promising. |
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Yuvraj’s coach elated CHANDIGARH, Oct 7 — “It’s a dream start by Yuvraj Singh” said an elated Sukhwinder Bawa, coach of the promising youngster while commenting on the excellent knock of the Chandigarh boy which proved decisive in India’s victory over Australia in the ICC Knockout Trophy at Nairobi today. Bawa, who has been Yuvraj’s coach since childhood, was all praise for Yuvraj. “Had it been a century, it would have been even better”, he said, while adding that the ‘man-of-the-match’ award earned by him through his maiden knock was only the beginning of his glorious era. “Wait and watch. Yuvraj has the potential to rewrite records”, said Bawa, who is a SAI coach posted at the local DAV School, Sector 8. |
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Davis Cup players
to miss nationals NEW DELHI, Oct 7 — With the Indian Davis Cup players opting to give it the miss, the DSCL Open Senior National Tennis Championships to be played at the Delhi Tennis Association courts here from October 9 to 14, has lost some of its sheen, though reigning champion Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh has decided to defend his title, but almost as an after thought. Sunil Kumar was scheduled to play in a ITF junior tournament in Japan, but withdrew at the last moment as he felt that he was short of match practice. Sunil was away to Sydney to attend a youth camp, organised by the International Olympic Committee, to foster the Olympic spirit among the youth of the world, during the Olympic Games. But Sunil had nothing to do with tennis at the youth camp, though he was privileged to watch the Olympic tennis competitions, including the Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi matches. Since he did not wield a racket himself for a fortnight, he felt “rusted”, and pulled out of the ITF tourney, though he had not entered his name for the national championship. But Paes-En-Sports, the event management company floated by Leander Paes and his father Vece Paes, with which Sunil Kumar has been contracted, forwarded his entry to the organisers of the nationals here, fetching him a wild card to the main draw. But Sunil is not sure for whom he would be representing. The Delhi Tennis Association says Sunil would be representing Delhi “as we have given him a wild card entry”, while in the provisional main draw, he was shown as representing Chandigarh. But if he is in contract with Paes-En-Sports, he would be representing Bengal, though it does matter little, as it’s an open event. Still, Sunil himself was unsure about the association he would be representing. With Davis Cuppers Prahlad Srinath, Syed Fazaluddin and US-based Harsh Mankad preferring the foreign circuit to the nationals, in a bid to improve their world rankings, the nationals have been relegated to secondary status for the second rankers. However, the presence of Sunil Kumar and Vishal Uppal, and others like Vijay Kannan, Vinod Sridhar, Sandeep Kirtane, Nitin Kirtane, Saurav Panja, Rishi Sridhar, Manoj Mahadevan, Vasudev Reddy, Kamala Kannan, and promising juniors like Akshay Vishal Rao, Tushar Gautam and Shivang Mishra add some competitive edge to the whole thing. Last year’s runner-up Mustafa Ghouse, whom Sunil Kumar had beaten in four sets to wrest the crown to become one of the youngest national champions at the age of 16 years, too does not figure in the main draw, and it’s a sad commentary on the plummeting standard of the nationals that despite sponsors DSCL pumping in a lot of money into the championships, the top players invariably give it the short shrift. “I don’t consider this as the national championship”, fumed former national champion and Davis cupper Nandan Bal, who has brought a clutch of experienced and promising players from his pune-based Deccan Gymkhana for the nationals. He felt strongly that players like Srinath, Fazaluddin and Harsh Mankad should have spared a week from their schedule to play in the nationals. “It’s not fair on the sponsors, it’s not fair on the selectors, and it’s not fair on the AITA (All India Tennis Association) that the top players are not participating. They should come out and play in the nationals to prove their credentials”, Nandan Bal remarked. Bal said with the top players keeping away, the nationals had got only a devalued status and as a result, while selecting the team for the Davis Cup, the winner of the national title did not get his deserving recognition. Among his trainees, Bal hopes that Nitin Kirtane (men), Radhika Tulpule (women), Nipun Gupta (boys under-18), Sane Vikrant (boys under-16) and Samarth Gautham (under-14) would do well. Sunil Kumar said he would be playing only in the singles. After his title triumph last year here, Sunil had been concentrating on the ITF junior circuit, winning the group 4 titles in Delhi, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and finishing as runner-up in the Group 3 event in Hungary. Group 5 is the lowest event in the circuit, but considering his inexperience at the top level, Sunil has acquitted himself creditably in the ITF circuit. But he will have a lot at stake in the nationals, as a victory here would boost his morale considerably, and may bolster his case for a berth in the Davis Cup team next year.
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Injury forces Seles out of semis TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) — Top seed Monica Seles was forced out of her Princess Cup semifinal against France’s Julie Halard-Decugis by injury today. Second seed Serena Williams beat Czech qualifier Daja Bedanova 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal. Seles was forced to retire because of inflamed tendons in her feet when she trailed 3-4 in the second set. She had lost the first set 4-6. Seles said the problem had arisen through playing on different surfaces at the US Open, Sydney Olympics and in Tokyo. Seles, who had beaten fourth seed Halard-Decugis in their previous five encounters, made a host of errors and had to rely on her powerful serve to keep her in the match until she quit. Seles is scheduled to play in a tournament in Linz, Austria, starting on October 16. She will decide if she is fit enough to play after treatment. Halard-Decugis has found a new base of fan support in Japan after teaming with hometown favourite Ai Sugiyama in doubles. The pair won the US Open title. “I feel great here (in Japan) and it may be why I am playing so well,” Halard-Decugis said. “Tomorrow, like today, I have nothing to lose. I am just happy to be in the final of a big tournament again.” She has lost all three of her previous meetings with Williams. Williams ended the magical run of qualifier Bedanova by scoring numerous winners on her opponent’s forehand side and keeping her blistering groundstrokes deep. “She played a good match today. She probably played what was her best game,” Williams said. “I had real problems with my serve for the whole match. If I had served better it would have been a totally different outcome. I was just hanging in there with my
groundstrokes.” HONG KONG (AFP): Tim Henman’s quest to end his two-year title drought suffered another setback on Saturday when the British second seed went down 4-6, 2-6 to German Nicolas Kiefer in a semifinal of the $ 375,000 Hong Kong Open. Henman, without a trophy since he won at Basel, Switzerland, in 1998, got off to a poor start and never recovered against the third seed. The Briton, winless in his last seven finals, was hoping to reach the Sunday’s title match against either Patrick Rafter or Mark
Philippoussis. But Kiefer spoiled that optimistic scenario in 90 minutes as he pounced on Henman, forcing the Briton into errors and breaking him once in the first set and twice in the second. Henman knew he would have a tough job after beating Michael Chang in the quarterfinals. And his worst fears were confirmed. The Briton saved a break point in the first game as the match began in bright sunlight. It stayed on serve for the next five games but Henman got into trouble in the seventh. Henman found himself facing three break points. He saved the first with a well-played drop shot, but netted a return to give Kiefer a 4-3 advantage after little more than 20 minutes of play. Kiefer took a three-minute injury timeout at the start of the second as he took treatment on his foot. But the injury had little impact on his performance as he came back from 0-40 down to break Henman in the first game. Kiefer consolidated his lead with another break for 4-1 when a flustered Henman spewed an overhead well long. Kiefer finished the job three games later. |
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Amritinder retains Hero Golf title CHANDIGARH, Oct 7 — The glorious uncertainties of golf unravelled one by one as of the most exciting day’s play in the history of the Wills Sport Golf Tour, climaxed with Amritinder Singh’s third straight victory at the Hero Golf 2000 Chandigarh Open, being played at the Chandigarh Golf Club. Amritinder, who overcame a spirited fight-back from Gaurav Ghei and Vijay Kumar, finished with a tally of seven-under 281 and the winner’s cheque of Rs 1,62,000. ‘‘It is a great feeling winning at home’’, was what the champion had to say. One stroke behind the winner was Vijay Kumar with a tally of six-under 282. Gaurav Ghei and Mukesh Kumar were tied at the third spot at five-under 283 while Uttam Singh Mundy finished fifth at four-under 284. Jeev Milkha Singh recorded a joint 11th place finish, tied with Indrajit Bhalotia at two over 290. The saying ‘‘Slow and steady wins the race,’’ describes to the tee Amritinder Singh’s last round of golf. In a see-saw contest the 28 year old began with a bang, birdying the very first hole of the day, to take an immediate two-stroke lead over overnight joint leader Mukesh Kumar, who started the day with a dropped shot. A bogey on the 2nd put paid to the advantage gained by the former, with Ghei’s eagle on that hole tying him with Amritinder and Mukesh atop the leader-board. Mukesh carded a birdie on the 2nd. Thereafter, the defending champion was a mere spectator, as the Delhi-based Ghei, unravelled some scintillating golf, with a string of birdies on the 4th, 7th and 8th and bogeys on the 6th and 9th handing him a three-stroke lead at the half-way stage. Amritinder’s unfortunate double bogey on the 7th tied him after those many holes, with Mukesh Kumar, who was all out of sort slipping to two-over with dropped shots on the 3rd and 4th holes. The overall situation at the lemon-break stood at Ghei leading the field at seven-under for the tournament and Amritinder and Mukesh tied at five-under with Vijay Kumar. Vijay’s bogey on the 4th and birdies on the 7th and 8th pushed him up from his overnight score of four-under. Ghei continued his aggression on the back-nine sinking monster 25-feet putts on the 10th and 11th for birdie on these hole. Amritinder’s birdie on the 11th, prevented Ghei from taking a five-stroke lead. Vijay’s and Mukesh’s scores remained unchanged after 11 holes. Ghei dropped a shot on the 17th, but however, more than made up with an eagle on the 13th. This however, was to prove to be his final high of
the day. A hat-trick of bogeys on the 14th, 15th and 16th, topped by a double-bogey on the 17th, courtesy an out-of-bounds shot, sealed his fate for him. ‘‘The double-bogey was the turning point for me. It came too late in the day for me to do anything about it’’ said a dejected Ghei, who pared the final hole to take home the third-place cheque of Rs 57,000. Ghei posted a one-under 71 for the day. Mukesh Kumar’s birdie on the 17th meanwhile, negated his dropped shot on the 15th, with his day’s score of two-over 74 earning him an amount identical to Ghei’s Rs 57,000. ‘‘I putted too poorly today to even think of winning’’, said the top ranked golfer on last season’s Mahinder Rankings. Amritinder Singh experienced a trifle worry about Vijay Kumar, who recorded birdie on the 15th and 16th to tie with him at seven-under after 16 holes. Amritinder’s birdies on the 15th and 16th payed their part in the build-up to the close finish. With everything pointing to an exciting play-off, Vijay Kumar messed up a five feet par putt on the 17th. Amritinder was not about to let go of this golden opportunity and two pared holes handed him the championship. ‘‘I was aware of Vijay Kumar’s bogey on the 17th and knew that all I needed was a part on the final hole to win me the title,’’ said Amritinder. ‘‘Gaurav was leading by five strokes with five holes to play. Despite this I stuck to my game plan and won’’, he added. Vijay on his part was a dejected man. ‘‘Second is not good enough, especially when I could easily have won,’’ said the Lucknow-based golfer who earned Rs 1,08,640 for his effort. While Amritinder finished the day at a score of level-par 72, Vijay carded a two-under 70. Patwardhan wins amateur title: Scores: 28 — Amritinder Singh (71,69,69,72); 282 — Vijay Kumar (69,73,70,70); 283 — Gaurav Ghei (69,75,68,71); Mukesh Kumar (69,69,71,74); 284 — Uttam Singh Mundy (73,70,69,72); 285 — Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (73,68,72,72); 288 — Rafiq Ali (71,73,72,72); Feroz Ali (69,71,76,72); 289 — Digvijay Singh (71,76,73,69), Shiv Prakash (71,73,72,73); 290 — Jeev Milkha Singh (73,71,72,74); Indrajit Bhalotia (73,69,74,74). Amateurs: 297 — Jaideep Patwardhan (75,77,69,76); 304 — Girish Virk (73,75,74,82), H.S. Kang (79,73,77,75). |
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China emerge as heavyweight in Sydney SYDNEY, Oct 7 (AFP) — Thai boxer Wijan Ponlid brought the curtain down on a glittering Olympic campaign for Asia highlighted by the emergence of China as a medal table heavyweight. Wijan danced and jabbed his way to a brilliant gold medal against world champion flyweight Bulat Jumadilov to win Asia’s 43rd and final gold of the Olympics. The tally surpassed the continent’s previous best total of 37 golds from the Barcelona games eight years ago, with the top nations now eyeing an even better performance at Athens 2004. The gold rush got underway when Japanese judoka Ryoko Tamura won gold on the first Saturday of competition. Japan and South Korea eventually failed to dominate judo and taekwondo as expected although each chipped in with five and eight gold medals, respectively, across a range of sports. Spearheading Japan’s golds was marathon winner Naoko Takahashi, the first Japanese woman to win an athletics gold. But it was China who proved to be the principal Asian standard bearers, eventually winning 28 of the continent’s total gold haul. Two of China’s golds came from the peerless drive Fu Mingxia, who took her all time tally to four when she retained the women’s three-metre springboard title. Among the Chinese medals was an unprecedented second consecutive clean sweep of the golds in table tennis, with singles star Kong Linghui completing the feat with a dramatic victory. They nearly achieved a similar feat in badminton, only Indonesia’s doubles pair of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan denying them all five golds. But China did sweep the board in women’s weightlifting an Olympic sport for the first time in Sydney, with Ding Meiyuan being crowned world’s strongest woman. Women’s weightlifting saw Thailand’s Khassaraporn Suta finish in the medals with a bronze medals. Khassaraporn, an officer in the army, was promoted as a result. India’s Karnam Malleswari — “overweight, drinking beer and eating too much chicken and cheese” according to the press — left her critics shame-faced. She won weightlifting bronze to become her country’s first ever woman medalists. There was no joy for Taiwanese weightlifter Chen Po-pu, however, who earned the unwanted distinction of becoming the first athlete to be sent home from Sydney after failing a dope test. A more savoury first was found in taekwondo though, Vietnam’s Tran Hieu Ngan taking silver in the 57 kg division — her country’s first ever Olympic medal. On the track Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe rocketed back to form, taking a bronze in the 200 metres behind Marion Jones, her country’s first in 52 years. Elsewhere, the Sydney games witnessed a series of notable Asian milestones, both on and off the pitch. Athletes from South and North Korea scored a small sporting blow for reconciliation between the two political arch-rivals when they marched together at the opening and closing ceremonies. The two teams’ emotional appearance drew one of the largest cheers from the crowd on both nights. But the Olympics debut appearance of athletes from the impoverished former Indonesian territory of East Timor got a bigger cheer. Unsurprisingly, each of the four Timorese athletes were hopelessly outclassed in their respective events. “I have gone through a lot of difficulty at home — today I lifted not only weight but my country as well,” said Timor’s weightlifter Martinho De Araujo. The 25-year-old former schoolteacher finished a resounding last in his competition, but it mattered not. The broad smile across his face said it all: in the finest Olympic tradition it had been the taking part that mattered. |
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Hattestad, Taylor top standings DOHA, Oct 7 (AFP) — Olympic gold medallists Trine Hattestad of Norway and Angelo Taylor of the USA ran out the biggest winners here on Thursday night when $ 3.4 million prize money was being handed out. Hattestad, Norway’s Olympic javelin champion, and the 21-year-old American 400m hurdler, Angelo Taylor, finished top of the overall IAAF Grand Prix standings and walked away with major cash prizes. Taylor won his event here and so collected a total of $ 250,000 for the individual wins and for heading up the final standings. Hattestad, for once this season, was beaten, but only by 1 cm by Cuba’s Sonia Bisset, but it was still good enough to see the Oslo housewife win $ 230,000. Under the financial circumstances, Marion Jones, the triple Olympic gold medal winner in Sydney, was reduced to a Grand Prix also-ran, although she ensured that she finished her season with a victory, clocking 11.00 seconds in the 100m. In total, she will bank $ 150,000 prize money for her night’s work. It was the 16th staging of the annual IAAF Grand Prix final, but only the second time it has been held outside Europe. Britain’s Mark Richardson, deprived of the chance to shine in the Sydney Olympics due to a doping case hanging over his head, had the last laugh. Just 12 months after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid, Richardson left the Khalifa International Stadium with a cheque for $ 50,000 from the world governing body in his pocket. Richardson, who pulled out of his pre-Olympic arbitration hearing in order to get more evidence to assist him in clearing his name of doping charges, was nevertheless allowed to run at the International Amateur Athletic Federation’s Grand Prix final here. He duly won the 400 metres in 45.20 seconds, passing the fading Jerome Young down the home straight and outlasting Brazil’s Sanderlei Parrela and the American, Antonio Pettigrew. Both Richardson and Parrela have tested positive for the controversial steroid, nandrolone, in the past year, although Parrela was cleared to compete at the Olympics by his national federation. Richardson, too, was cleared of all charges by the UK Athletics, but had his case referred to the IAAF’s arbitration hearing. That case is still pending. But changes in the IAAF’s rules could mean that Richardson will still get to keep the whole $ 50,000 event winner’s prize from the Grand Prix final. Istvan Gyulai, the IAAF secretary, said, “Under our new rules, if after the hearing Richardson is banned, then the two-year suspension will begin from the date of the hearing. Until then, he can race. “He will be able to keep the money he wins here.” Richardson was buoyed by the outcome of his night’s work. “It’s good to get back on a track and prove that I don’t need help to run,” Richardson said. “It’s been quite a year and after missing Sydney, I just wanted to show what I could do. I think I did that today.” |
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Arantxa ousts Coetzer FILDERSTADT, Oct 7 (AFP) — Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario staged another of her famous fightbacks to deny Amanda Coetzer victory and advance into the semifinals of the $ 535,000 WTA Grand Prix here yesterday. The fourth-seeded Spaniard rallied from 1-3 down in the final set to win 6-2, 2-6, 6-3,and will next play Martina Hingis. The top seed eased past eighth-seeded Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, winning 6-2, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. The other semifinal will be between unseeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who swept the last five games to upset second seed Conchita Martinez of Spain 7-5, 7-5, and third seed Nathalie Tauziat, who beat Anne-Gaelle Sidot 7-5, 6-2 in an all-French clash. Fifth seeded Coetzer appeared to be heading for victory after recovering from an inconsistent opening set. Sanchez-Vicario had moved better and made less errors in the long baseline rallies, and often caught the South African with a succession of well-placed drop-shots. Even if Coetzer managed to reach and return them, it was a simple matter for the Spaniard to hit the ball back into the open court. But Coetzer eventually settled and reduced her errors, and by adding more pace to the ball in the third set she was able to force an error from Sanchez-Vicario to break for a 2-1 lead. But disaster struck in the sixth game when, after leading 40-0, Coetzer allowed Sanchez-Vicario to break back for 3-3. That was all the encouragement the Spaniard needed, and she went on to win the final five games of the match. “I started very well and controlled the match, and may be I wanted to win the point too fast in the second set and let her into the match,” said Sanchez-Vicario. “But I tried not to be frustrated because I knew what I did was wrong, and I knew I had to go into the net as much as I can. I did that and I mixed it up a little more.” And, even though she fell behind in the third set, Sanchez-Vicario remained confident that she could turn the match around. While Sanchez-Vicario struggled, Hingis sailed through against Van Roost, and even relaxed enough to try a little serve and volley. It was effective, and she won quite a few points at the net. “I practised it earlier this year, but it’s still hard to do it, especially outside,” said Hingis. “Indoors it’s a little quicker and gives you an advantage when you serve to come in. It really worked from the practice every now and then.” It took Hingis until her sixth break point to lead 2-0, but once she made that early breakthrough it was plain sailing. Van Roost often forced too much, and gave Hingis many free points. “Sometimes here you just have to go for the shot, and I felt she went for too much because she was under pressure and had to take a risk. It’s not easy to play somebody when you know you have to put everything in,” said Hingis. |
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Transfer system ZURICH, Oct 7 (AFP) — Players’ representative Gordon Taylor threatened to pull out of talks aimed at finding an alternative to the present transfer system. Taylor accused the UEFA, European football’s governing body, of stalling in a bid to maintain the status quo, but this claim was strongly rejected by the UEFA itself. If the existing transfer system is scrapped, its replacement could usher in free movement of players with those in the lower paying leagues inclined to move to higher paying clubs. Taylor, Chairman of the international players’ union FIFPro, is sceptical about agreement being reached by the October 31 deadline imposed by the European Commission. In a statement released following yesterday’s session chaired by FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the FIFPro threatened to quit the Transfer Task Force established to find consensus between clubs, associations, leagues and players. “After several working sessions and very long discussions, the FIFPro has come to the conclusion that the UEFA and the professional leagues have only one objective - namely gaining time and retaining the present system at any cost. “The FIFPro is the only body to propose a solution that could give an answer to the European Commission, but for unknown reasons, it has not been adopted until now,” said the statement. Taylor will highlight his concerns to Competitions’ Commissioner Mario Monti at a pre-arranged meeting in Brussels next week. However, he will travel to Zurich again before that “more in hope than expectation” of finding a solution. The latest development cast a huge cloud over the whole debate. Taylor’s major argument is that the players believe that the EC law is on their side, but rather than find common ground, the UEFA and the clubs have sought instead to bend the rules in their own favour. The UEFA was stunned by Taylor’s outburst and immediately launched a rebuttal which does not bode well for next week’s crucial talks. “We refute the suggestion that we have dragged our feet on this matter,” said UEFA director of communications Mike Lee. “We have only been fully involved since the beginning of September,” he added. “We have been trying to make progress, but other forces seem to be at play within the FIFPro which seem intent on stopping this from happening.” “We believe that there is still an opportunity for a positive solution that works for football and is considered to be within European law. But this is not an easy solution to find.” He added, “Gordon Taylor has been very helpful and constructive in all our discussions and therefore this statement has come as something of a surprise.” Blatter, who is not part of the Task Force, will however continue political lobbying with proposed meetings with Prime Minister Tony Blair and his French and German counterparts Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. |
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Dearth of spectators mars ICC meet NAIROBI, Oct 7 (AFP) — A dearth of spectators has marred the ongoing ICC Knockout Trophy tournament in the Kenyan capital. Only 2,000 fans, most of them schoolchildren, were on hand when Kenya’s President Daniel Arap Moi tossed the coin for the opening match between the hosts and India in the 7,000-capacity Nairobi Gymkhana grounds on Tuesday. The turn-out was even worse when the West Indies, making their first tournament appearance in Kenya, were thrashed all over the ground by Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Empty stands — it is either lack of cricketing knowledge exhorbitant gate charges or outright apathy. Save for football, Kenyans are not known for their enthusiasm of other sports. The Kenya Cricket Association (KCA), with financial support from the International Cricket Council (ICC), spent about $ 500,000 on a major rehabilitation of the tournament venue to bring it up to scratch. But this huge expenditure has forced the organisers to raise gate charges. The price of tickets range from $ 63 for the whole tournament to $ 8 per match which is still too high in a country where many people earn as little as $ 50 a month. This is too expensive for me. That’s enough money to keep me going for several weeks”, said John Kimani, one of several cricket enthusiasts who turned back at the gate to the venue after being told how much a ticket would cost. “I would rather spend that money to buy food for my family than throw it away at Nairobi Gymkhana,” said Kimani’s friend, Koseph Kioko. Money aside, many indigenous Kenyans have little knowledge of cricket, a sport they associate with members of the largely affluent Asian and European communities. “Cricket is a very difficult sport to understand,” former national athletics hurdles champion, Charles Osoti told AFP. “Many Kenyans find it hard to comprehend wickets, runs, stumps,” he added. But photo-journalist David Odhiambo differs: “It’s a very interesting sport. People still go and watch basketball which is not interesting any more. They should switch to cricket”. Organisers are hoping that attendance will improve during the weekend when quarterfinal matches get underway. |
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PSEB
swamp DFA, JCT Academy win NABHA, Oct 7 — Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB)
swamped DFA, Kapurthala 4-1 to enter the final of the 27th All-India
Gurdarshan Memorial Football Tournament played at the Government
Ripudaman College grounds here today. They will take on JCT Academy, who upset their seniors JCT Mills, Phagwara 5-3. Most of the moves the Kapurthala boys made fizzled out in the absence of an attacking the forward line this was exploited by the powermen, PSEB dominated the proceedings for most of the match and were clearly the superior side. Striker Parminder Singh, who scored a brace, stood out with a marked improvement up front. The
first goal for the powermen came in the 15th minute when skipper Dalip
Kumar’s powerful shot bounced back after hitting the post. The
captain was quick of the rebound and tapped the ball in. Parminder
slotted in the second goal, after catching the custodian on the wrong
foot. Medio Gurvinder scored the third with a header. Parminder scored
the fourth goal when he intercepted a cross and dodged his way past
two defenders to hoodwink the goalkeeper. The Kapurthala boys scored
towards the fag end when Sarbjit Singh finally opened their account
with a 30 yard shot. In the other match the first session confined
to unimaginative play. The match exploded into life in the second
session which was exciting football on display. JCT Academy lads gave
splendid account of themselves and managed to hold their seniors 1-1
in regulation period . In the tie-breaker JCT Academy slotted in four
goals while the millmen managed to score just two. |
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Hockey to be introduced at Commonwealth Games KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (UNI) — The Commonwealth Games Federation has announced introduction of hockey in the next edition of the games to be held in Manchester in 2002 from late July till early August. Hockey featured as a competitive sport in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur games and drew huge crowds. Eight teams, each in the men and women category, will sweat out at the Belle Vue complex for the top honours at the games. Being the hosts, England have already cornered a slot. Rest of the teams will be selected by the Commonwealth ranking list to be produced by the International Hockey Federation based upon Olympic Games, Olympic qualification tournaments and World Cup qualifiers. One team each from Commonwealth Games Federation region will get a ticket to the games. In both men’s and women’s competitions, participating teams will be split into two groups of four. The winners of one pool play the runners-up in the other in the semifinals with the successful teams competing in the final. |
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Atwal finishes with 74, Kamps leads SEOUL, Oct 7 (PTI) —Craig Kamps swept to the top of the leaderboard today after the third round of the $365,000 Kolon Cup Korean Open at Seoul Country Club, while India’s Arjun Atwal, the joint second round leader with Korea’s Yoo, finished with a 74 and is four off the lead. The South African, who also led this event after three rounds in 1998, fired a five-under-par 67 to lead on nine under par by a stroke from Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee. Thongchai carded a 69 and was a shot ahead of Koreans Kang Wook-soon and Yoo Jong-ku. Two years ago, a disappointing 78 in the final round saw Kamps finish joint eighth, so the in-form golfer will be looking for revenge tomorrow. |
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