S P O R T S

Kiwis stun Pakistan, enter final
NAIROBI, Oct 11 — Underdogs New Zealand carved out a memorable four-wicket win over hot favourites Pakistan in the first semifinal of the $ 1 million ICC Knock-out Trophy, powered home by an unbeaten 68-run seventh wicket partnership between Craig McMillan and Scott Styris that effectively tilted a see-saw battle towards the Kiwis.

New Zealand's cricketers celebrate the end of Pakistan's innings during their ICC knockout tournament clash on Wednesday. — Reuters photo

Pollock captained intelligently
After the series win over the West Indies, England must have had high hopes of performing well in the ICC Knockout Tournament. Unlike the last time when some of their top players opted out and went to Australia this time they had their best team.

Kramnik stuns Kasparov
LONDON, Oct 11 —Vladimir Kramnik of Russia posted a stunning 40-move win over defending champion Gary Kasparov in the second round of their 16-round Braingames World Chess Championship match here.

Kuerten moves into 3rd round; Chang crashes out
TOKYO, Oct 11 — Top seed Gustavo Kuerten won his opening match at the $ 800,000 Japan Open today, then promised himself a visit to one of Tokyo’s top modern tourist attractions.

Depleted US squad to face Costa Rica
COLUMBUS (Ohio), Oct 11 — With two top players injured and three European-based starters and the coach out through suspensions, the USA go into a vital World Cup qualifying match with Costa Rica tonight fully intent on taking maximum points.

Sunil Kumar storms into quarterfinals
NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Defending champion Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh got some tough match practice against his sparring partner Akshay Vishal Rao of Delhi, before he coasted to a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory to setup a quarter- final clash against another close friend, Davis Cupper Vishal Uppal of Delhi, in the men’s singles action of the DSCL Senior National Open Tennis Championship at the Delhi Tennis Association deco-turf court here today.

Irina Brar widens lead
NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Promising teenager Irina Brar widening her lead with a flawless round of 73, sank an eight-foot putt for birdie on the 340 yard sixth hole on the second day at the 33rd SIEL Northern India Ladies Open Golf Championship here today.

Thrilling win for Indian Bank
GIDDERBAHA, Oct 11 — Three points scored by Suriasekar of Indian Bank, Chennai, in the last second sealed the fate of Punjab Police cagers in the men’s section of the All-India Invitation Prize Money Basketball Tournament on the second day here today.

Haryana gain upper hand against Delhi
ROHTAK, October 11 — Haryana again had an upper hand against Delhi on the second day of their Cooch-Behar (U-19) match at Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium here today.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

• Punjab take lead

• Baseball, judo events at Patiala
  
  
  
  
  

Kiwis stun Pakistan, enter final

NAIROBI, Oct 11 (UNI, PTI) — Underdogs New Zealand carved out a memorable four-wicket win over hot favourites Pakistan in the first semifinal of the $ 1 million ICC Knock-out Trophy, powered home by an unbeaten 68-run seventh wicket partnership between Craig McMillan and Scott Styris that effectively tilted a see-saw battle towards the Kiwis.

Shayne O’ Connor (5 for 46) and Saeed Anwar (104) shared the morning’s honours after Moin Khan had won the toss and opted to bat first, but all the drama and tension was reserved for the New Zealand innings, which ended amidst failing light and growing tension.

Roger Twose and Nathan Astle put on a mammoth 135 runs for the third wicket, the highest partnership of this tournament but fell in quick succession to allow Pakistan back into the game. From 150 for three, New Zealand slipped to 187 for six before McMillan and Styris batted the Black Caps home.

In the morning, Saeed Anwar’s 19th one-day international century had helped Pakistan post 252 on the board this morning after Moin Khan had won the toss and decided to bat.

Shayne O’ Connor was the hero for New Zealand, and his five for 46, with four of the overs coming in a late blitz, and it was good enough to win him the man of the match award.

For a long period during the New Zealand chase, the game appeared to be swinging either way. Twose (87) and Astle (49) put on a long partnership, having come together with the Black Caps tottering at 15 for the loss of Spearman and Fleming. The 135 they added was vital, but one wicket was to almost change the scenario.

Astle (81 balls 5 fours) was the one to fall first, driving at a wide Mahmood delivery. The edge carried to through to Moin behind the wickets and Pakistan was back in the match. Saqlain Mushtaq was suddenly more penetrative than he had been earlier the his hard work was to pay off with Twose lifting a sweep into Akram’s hands behind square.

Astle, who missed his half-century by a single run, and Twose took the New Zealand innings to a point of strength at 150 for two before Astle was caught by Moin Khan to become Mahmood’s third victim. Astle hit four boundaries in his 49.

The fall of Astle led to a by now familiar middle-order collapse as the Kiwis lost three quick wickets including Twose to find themselves reeling at 187 for six in the 37th over.

Then came the revival from McMillan and Styris who braved the Pakistani attack and tremendous pressure to keep the scoreboard ticking.

They kept their cool under strenuous circumstances and ran quick singles. The fortuitous last over from Saqlain Mushtaq did their confidence a lot of good, when New Zealand earned a boundary each from an over-throw and a bye to collect 11 runs from the over.

Styris then went down the wicket to hoist Arshad Khan for a huge straight six in the 48th over to put his side well in sight of a historic win.

That unnerved even the master of slog overs Wasim Akram who sent down two successive wides in the next over before Styris lofted him over his head to complete the formalities in style and end Akram’s agony.

McMillan remained not out on 51 made off 56 balls that had just one four in it while Styris’ unbeaten 31 ball knock was studded with two fours and a six.

Earlier opener Saeed Anwar notched up his second century on trot as Pakistan overcame a middle order slump to reach a respectable total of 252 before being all out in 49.1 overs. in the ICC knock-out cricket semifinal against New Zealand here today.

Even that total seemed a distant possibility at one stage, despite Anwar’s 104, as Pakistan reeled at 178 for six in the 37th over.

It was at this stage that old warhorse Wasim Akram (34), in the company of colt Abdur Razzaq (48), fired his team past the 250 mark.

The 253 victory target must test the New Zealand batting to the full in the afternoon though they have an inspiration in left-arm paceman Shayne O’Connor who took five for 46 from 9.2 overs. His final speall read 3-0-23-4.

Akram concentrated on repairing the innings with Razzaq with some sensible batting. They looked to have their quota of four to five runs per over.

Razzaq exited to a catch at long off off O’Connor for 48 from 47 balls in the 46th over but Pakistan, at 237 for seven, were breathing easy.

Akram and Razzaq produced 59 runs for the seventh wicket off just 53 balls and the critical phase for Pakistan was over. New man Azhar Mahmood holed out a catch at deep mid wicket in the 48th over as Pakistan neared the 250-run mark. But Akram too fell in that over, hitting it to midwicket after making 34 off 34 balls with just one four.

Bowling: Akram 10-0-47-0, Mahmood 10-0-65-4, Razzaq 10-0-41-0, Saqlain 10-0-40-1, Khan 9-0-55-0. 

Experts comments
Pollock captained intelligently
by Sunil Gavaskar

After the series win over the West Indies, England must have had high hopes of performing well in the ICC Knockout Tournament. Unlike the last time when some of their top players opted out and went to Australia this time they had their best team. Their emphatic victory over minnows Bangladesh gave them not only time out in the middle in the African sun but also allowed their captain Nasser Hussain to get back into some form after a not-too-impressive performance against the Windies. Their discovery of that series was Trescothick, the big left-handed opening batsman, but he was made to look very ordinary by the South African new ball bowlers Pollock and Telemachus and even the experienced Stewart wasn’t able to up the going rate and at the end of eight overs their score read a pathetic five for no loss. They never seemed to recover from that slow start and the South Africans are just a whit behind in not relaxing the pressure.

Pollock not only bowled well but also captained intelligently and his bowling changes and field placing were spot on. To have a bowler of Allan Donald’s ability to come in first change is South Africa’s good fortune for he kept the pressure up. The English batsmen frustrated by getting very little easy deliveries like they got from Bangladesh found themselves in deeper trouble because the South African’s fielding was also top class. Jonty Rhodes effected one of his spectacular run-outs and it was only the partnership between Graeme Hick and Flintoff that gave some respectability to their total. Both players have had lots of trouble against the short ball in Tests but with that apprehension not at the back of their minds in the limited overs game they could get on to the front foot and play comfortably on this pitch where the ball was not coming on as it was the second day the pitch was being used.

Gough and Caddick have given England breakthroughs against the West Indies openers regularly and here too, Hall was consumed early but Kirsten who likes to bide his time was the one who attacked the bowling and made sure there were no early alarms. His dismissal to a blinder of a catch by Hick allowed young Dippenaar to come in and play a composed innings that will have done his chances of establishing himself in the side no harm at all. Kallis at the other end has good experience and knows a good pitch when he sees it. He too grabbed the chance to play himself in and get ready for the Indians in the semi-finals on Friday.

The Indians, who were at the ground to practice, would have seen the clinical way the South Africans went about their business. They would have seen how the new ball bowlers bowled and the magnificent South African fielding. They would also have seen how there is a gap in the South African batting that can be exposed by the early fall of wickets. If they take home these lessons and work on them they will give themselves a great chance of being in the finals. It was the South African team that beat them in the finals here an year ago and the Indians should be looking to avenge that and get to the finals. — PMG

Kramnik stuns Kasparov

LONDON, Oct 11 (PTI) —Vladimir Kramnik of Russia posted a stunning 40-move win over defending champion Gary Kasparov in the second round of their 16-round Braingames World Chess Championship match here.

Challenger Kramnik chose a sharp opening and won a pawn and Kasparov counterplayed well to keep trouble at bay.

The chess wizard, however, fell behind on the clock, played a couple of panicky moves and suddenly collapsed as Kramnik enjoyed serving the first blow to the defending champion yesterday.

Kramnik now leads the race 1.5-0.5 with next round scheduled for tomorrow.

Playing white, Kramnik opened with a pawn in ‘d’ flank allowing Kasparov to choose his favourite Grunfeld defence though this opening has never been successful in the world championships.

Kramnik immediately wrested the opportunity with a dominating pawn centre forcing black to strugle under flank pressure.

Startled with his countryman’s tactics, Kasparov offered a gambit, which no white player ever previously had courage to accept. Kramnik used his rook to kill Kasparov’s pawn rxb7 and Kasparov answered with an exchange bxf3, using his bishop.

This exchange gave Kasparov a good chance to defuse white’s fury as the two grandmasters got locked in a critical decision of whether to exchange queens or not.

Kramnik had the luxury of owning a pair of bishop and charted out another kill.

Kasparov avoided the trap laid down by Kramnik playing a good move to exchange off white’s active rook.

Further frenzied queen moves let Kasparov into belief that this liquidation should lead to an easy draw but he confessed to having overlooked Kramnik’s next move, which retained his pawn advantage.

Despite the presence of opposite-coloured bishops, Kasparov headed into an endgame certain to lose the ‘a’ pawn and white was very active.

Riding on the pawn advantage, Kramnik made Kasparov’s life miserable and the defending champion’s frantic efforts to get his bishop to e3, his rook on the fifth rank and his ‘h’ pawn to h5 remained a dream.

Had Kasparov achieved the position, he would have effectively denied white king’s access to g4, but in the process black’s pieces got entangled.

Kasparov intended to force exchange of rooks, but Kramnik played 36.Bc6 to make his stay on the board further strong.

On a rook advance by Kramnik on the 39th move, Kasparov answered with knight - a final blunder by the champion which allowed white a sudden winning coup.

Sensing victory, Kramnik moved his bishop bd5 to ‘d’ flank with black sitting hopelessly. Kasparov had no go and resigned on the 40th move. 

Kuerten moves into 3rd round; Chang crashes out

TOKYO, Oct 11 (DPA) — Top seed Gustavo Kuerten won his opening match at the $ 800,000 Japan Open today, then promised himself a visit to one of Tokyo’s top modern tourist attractions.

“I came here because it fit in with my schedule after the Olympics,’’ said the Brazilian. “and, I wanted to go to Disneyland.’’

That dream should not be too difficult to fulfill, with the amusement park lying not far away from the tournament hotel.

Kuerten moved into the third round at the Ariake Colosseum after a bye given to the top eight seeds, whipping Nicolas Massu of Chile in the second round 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

AFP: Crowd-favourite Michael Chang became the biggest seed to fall when he crashed to fellow American Cecil Mamitt in the second round. The 1989 French Open champion, the fifth seed who was also knocked out in the second round last year here, found the going tough from the start and his 130th-ranked compatriot ran out a 7-5, 6-4 winner.

“I felt like I was in very good control in the first set. I had a couple of chances, actually more than a couple of chances, but I wasn’t able to close up the first set,” said Chang after the 112-minute match.

Asian Games dual gold medallist Yoon Yong-il of South Korea saved four match points on his way to eliminating 14th seed David Prinosi of Germany 4-6 7-5 6-1 in 118 minutes.

“It was tough, but I just feel great that I saved four match points,” said a jubilant Yoon, who staged a remarkable come back to take eight games in a row from 2-5 down in the second set.

“At 2-5 down, I just tried to play my tennis, not worrying about winning. I had my chances earlier and I was upset because I couldn’t take those chances. But after 2-5, I started to play better,” added Yoon.

Twelfth seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands and 15th seed Levy Harel of Israel went through safely, as did 13th seed Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, who had to come back from behind to beat Japan’s Takao Suzuki 2-6 6-1 6-1.

Schalken downed two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera of Spain 6-4, 6-2, while Levy breezed past Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea 6-2, 6-4.

On the women’s side, defending champion Amy Frazier edged past fellow American Corina Morariu 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), while Thai ace Tamarine Tanasugarn brushed aside American Lilia Osterloh 6-3, 6-1.

Tamarine said: “I changed the pace, changed the game all the time, and I tried to concentrate to finish a point quickly, because it’s better than staying back.

“I think maybe her concentration was off. That’s maybe the key for her,” added Tamarine.

Third seed Kristina Brandi was trailing by a set and 5-6 down in the second when she had to abandon her match against fellow American Tara Snyder because of dehydration following a stomach upset.

Joannette Kruger of South Africa created a surprise by dumping seventh seed Paula Suarez of Argentina out of the tournament 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/0).

VIENNA (Reuters): Uninspired Olympic champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov was sent crashing out of the CA Trophy on Tuesday by Britain’s defending champion Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

A weary second seed Magnus Norman made a similarly early exit, losing his first round tie 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Switzerland’s Roger Federer.

Fifth seeded Spaniard Alex Corretja was also bundled out 6-1, 6-0 match to Germany’s Olympic silver medallist Tommy Haas, leaving the hardcourt tournament with only three remaining seeds.

On Monday, top seeded Russian and U.S. Open champion Marat Safin lost to unfancied Frenchman Nicolas Escude and seventh-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero bowed to Richard Krajicek.

“So many of the top guys are losing their first round matches this week. This goes to show that the rankings mean nothing at all at the moment,” said Kafelnikov.

The Russian went on the slam Vienna organisers after his defeat which he blamed on a slow surface.

“It was a pretty ridiculous surface. We are playing indoors and the surface should be reasonably fast. It was unfortunate as I was hoping to do well this week and I’m very disappointed,” he said.

Norman, the second seed after withdrawals from Pete Sampars and Australia’s Lleyton Newitt, said his exit was due to mental fatigue.

“I have been struggling a lot lately with my confidence. I’m mentally tired as I have been playing too much tennis,” said the Swede whose hopes of completing the season as world number one were also dented.

Rusedski, who beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer for the title here last year, delivered one of his best displays of the year after having been sidelined with a series of injuries.

The Briton needed a single break for 6-4 before his form wavered slightly in the second set which he lost 3-7 in a tiebreak. In the decider he broke twice, for 3-2 and then for 6-3, profiting from Kafelnikov’s double faults on both occasions.

Norman had a slow start but came back from 4-1 down to break twice in the seventh and ninth games and claim the first set.

He looked likely to triumph after breaking for 2-1 and was serving for the match before Federer stepped up a gear, broke to level at 5-5 and took the tiebreak which followed 7-4.

In the final set Federer, a semifinalist here last year, broke decisively for 4-3 before clinching victory.

ZURICH (AP): World No 1 Martina Hingis crused past Dokic in straight sets in the second round of the Swisscom Challenge on Tuesday avenging a Wimbledon loss to the Australian in thier previous meeting.

Hingis took 51 minutes to dispatch the Australian 6-3, 6-2 erasing unpleasant memories of her 1999 first-round Wimbledon defeat to Dokic, then ranked 129th in the world, in what was considered the biggest upset in Open era history.

Hingis broke the Australian early in the opening set to go 3-1, with Dokic unable to regain her serve.

The two traded breaks early in the second set, but Hingis broke again to take a 3-2 lead and once more to go 5-2.

Dokic, who lost the Olympic bronze medal match in Sydney to American Monica Seles and reached the quarterfinals in Tokyo last week before being beaten by Serena Williams, was no match for Hingis, whose scorching serve resulted in six aces.

“I don’t think I attacked enough, that was the difference this time,” said Dokic. “I let her stay in the points and you can’t do that with her.”

Depleted US squad to face Costa Rica

COLUMBUS (Ohio), Oct 11 (Reuters) — With two top players injured and three European-based starters and the coach out through suspensions, the USA go into a vital World Cup qualifying match with Costa Rica tonight fully intent on taking maximum points.

“Three points is the only thing that matters right now,” said US and Everton forward Joe-Max Moore on Tuesday. “Anything else is worthless.”

The Americans are currently second in Concacaf region group D with seven points and can secure a berth in the final round of regional qualification with a victory, as can Costa Rica, which sits atop the standings on nine points. Guatemala is third at seven with Barbados last (3).

The top two countries in the group will advance and a draw or loss by the USA on Wednesday will leave them vulnerable to being overtaken by Guatemala.

Costa Rica bring a full-strength squad into the match with only West Ham United striker Paulo Wanchope nursing a slight muscle pull in his right leg.

The hosts will be without midfielders Eddie Lewis and Earnie Steward, sitting out one-match bans, while Glasgow Rangers midfielder-defender Claudio Reyna is serving a two-game suspension for unsporting conduct during a 2-1 loss at Costa Rica in July.

US coach Bruce Arena is serving the first of a three-match FIFA ban for unsporting conduct in that same Costa Rica game.

Compounding US problems is the loss of forward Brian McBride, who has a blood clot under his right arm following an injury he received playing with Preston North End earlier this month. And Ajax midfielder John O’ Brien, just off an impressive Olympic performance, is sidelined with a strained achilles tendon.

“It’s not a big issue,” insisted US forward Ante Razov of the missing players. “We have the depth and experience to deal with it and whoever the 11 starters are, that’s where the game will be won or lost. They know the system and how we play.”

The Costa Ricans have not defeated the Americans in a cup qualifier on US soil in more than 15 years, a streak coach Nestor Gomes aims to end.

“This is a big game, there’s no question about that,” Gomes said. “Both teams can qualify with a victory. We’re not going to hang back, we’re going to try to go for the result.”

Sunil Kumar storms into quarterfinals
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — Defending champion Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh got some tough match practice against his sparring partner Akshay Vishal Rao of Delhi, before he coasted to a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory to setup a quarter- final clash against another close friend, Davis Cupper Vishal Uppal of Delhi, in the men’s singles action of the DSCL Senior National Open Tennis Championship at the Delhi Tennis Association deco-turf court here today.

The sixth-seeded Sunil Kumar played it steady and safe against Akshay Vishal Rao as both know each other’s game rather too well, having trained together in Chandigarh. But after winning the national title here last year, Sunil Kumar has emerged as a very mature player, and this was clearly evident here today, as he maintained a cool countenance after being broken in the seventh game, as Akshay led 4-3, but fought back to break back in the 10th game, and then played it steady to wrest the set in tie-breaker.

In the second set, Sunil was in command as he broke a tiring Akshay in the third and seventh games to lead 5-2. Serving for the set and the match, Sunil, however, played too erratically to be broken, and delayed the inevitable. He eventually won at 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to meet Vishal Uppal in the quarterfinal.

The third-seeded Uppal played with confidence to oust veteran Jagdish Tanwar of Rajasthan 6-2,6-3 while all the other seeded players had easy outings, except fourth-seeded Nitin Kirtane, who was given a hard push by fellow-Maharashtrian Vijendra Laad, before prevailing 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-3. The left-handed and experienced Nitin, a former Davis Cupper, had to bring out all his experience after he trailed 1-4 in the first set. He fought back to take the first set into tie-breaker, but could not win it, though in the second and third sets, he brooked no resistance to sail to victory.

Top-seeded Vijay Kannan of Tamil Nadu crushed Kedar Shah of Maharashtra 6-3,6-3 while fellow-Tamils and brothers, Rishi Sridhar and Vinod Sridhar, also posted straight sets wins. Second-seeded Vinod Sridhar beat Punna Vishal of Andhra 6-3,6-1 while eighth-seeded Rishi Sridhar outplayed Rohan Bopanna of Maharashtra 6-4,6-1.

Fourth-seeded Sandeep Kirtane disposed of Benjamin Xavier of Maharashtra 6-3,6-1 while seventh seeded Saurav Panja of Bengal took the measure of qualifier Arun Prakash of Andhra Pradesh 6-3, 6-2.

In the women’s section, Shalini Thakur of Delhi knocked out fifth -seeded Arathi Venkataraman after a huge struggle at 1-4, 4-0, 2-4, 4-2, 4-1 while Shruti Dhawan of Chandigarh eased out wild card, Jyotshna Vashisht of Delhi 1-4, 0-4, 4-2, 4-0, 5-3. Another Chandigarh girl, Harsimran Bedi, was not that lucky as she was beaten by seventh seeded Radhika Tulpule of Maharashtra in straight sets at 5-4,5-3,4-0.

Top-seeded Sai Jayalakshmi had yet another easy outing, beating Rati Kumar of Tamil Nadu 4-1,4-2,4-0; sixth-seeded Megha Vakharia of Maharashtra blanked Geeta Manohar of Andhra 4-1, 4-1,4-1 while second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi of Indian Oil Corporation toyed with Sania Mirza, another Andhra lass, at 4-2, 5-3, 4-2. Liza Perreira of Maharashtra had a hard time taming Yamini Thukkaindi of Tamil Nadu 4-1, 1-4, 4-2, 3-5, 4-0 while fourth-seeded Sonal Phadke of Maharashtra beat Samrita Sekar of Tamil Nadu 4-0,2-5, 5-3, 5-4.

Thrilling win for Indian Bank
Tribune News Service

GIDDERBAHA, Oct 11 — Three points scored by Suriasekar of Indian Bank, Chennai, in the last second sealed the fate of Punjab Police cagers in the men’s section of the All-India Invitation Prize Money Basketball Tournament on the second day here today.

The mighty Punjab Police team came out of the court disappointed as they lost the match to Indian Bank, Chennai, by one point in the neck-and-neck fight. The match remained a cliff hanger till the final second.

Both the teams played a good game displaying good skills. The Punjab Police cagers who had tasted victory over Indian Bank a number of times in the past today played without tactical planning and lost the match.

The teams exchanged a legal number of times and kept the spectators on tenterhooks. At half time Punjab Police had a slender lead of four points. Though more physically fit than the cagers of Indian Bank, Punjab Police players could not make fast attacks.

Indian Bank, Chennai, in another match defeated Punjab Juniors by 59-43 though the Punjab Juniors played aggressively. However, they could not match the speed and skill of Indian Bank.

The Punjab Junior team also tasted defeat at the hands of BSF by 52-92. From the very beginning, the BSF men kept the game in their hands and took a lead of 22 points by half time. With their exceptional shooting skill and complete domination, BSF managed to register an emphatic win. The Punjab Juniors, who had recently won the National Championship, could not find their rhythm in offense and could not manage to stop the attacks of lanky players of BSF.

In another match, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) men defeated the Andhra Pradesh team by 55-30. At half-time, the score was 36-11. Displaying their skill on the court, the PSEB added one victory to their kitty.

In the women’s section, Northern Railway defeated Hoshiarpur 29-7 in a one-sided match while Ludhiana girls defeated Muktsar by 55-45. The match was in favour of Muktsar from the very beginning and they managed to take a lead of four points by half time. However, in the second half, three consecutive points shot by Rajni changed the entire scene.

In another match, Kapurthala girls defeated Amritsar 48-33. At half-time, the Kapurthala girls were leading by 26-17.

Irina Brar widens lead

NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (UNI) — Promising teenager Irina Brar widening her lead with a flawless round of 73, sank an eight-foot putt for birdie on the 340 yard sixth hole on the second day at the 33rd SIEL Northern India Ladies Open Golf Championship here today.

On the 10th hole a seven wood approach shot left her five feet from the pin, which she deftly put away for her second birdie of the day.

An inadvertent infringement of rules on the eighth hole cost her a two-stroke penalty, pushing her total score to one over par. But resilient sports woman that she is. Irina took the punishment bravely on the chin.

Following four strokes behind Shalini Malik with a very creditable 77. Birdies in the sixth, 15th and 17th boosted her morale, only to be checked by double bogeys on second, 13th and 14th hole. “All because of getting stuck in the rough” exclaimed Shalini. However, with a total gross of 155 over two days, she is five strokes behind the leader.

Parnita Garewal overcame her disastrous round on the first day to post a much-improved card of 73 with birdies on fourth, ninth and 17th hole.

Haryana gain upper hand against Delhi
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, October 11 — Haryana again had an upper hand against Delhi on the second day of their Cooch-Behar (U-19) match at Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium here today.

After gaining a valuable lead of 153 runs in the first innings, Haryana bowlers succeeded in capturing four wickets for 99 runs in Delhi’s second innings.

Resuming the innings at the overnight score of 159 for three Haryana team lost the remaining wickets to be 237 all out. Manvinder Bisla could add only four runs to his overnight individual total to miss his century by 16 runs. However, his partner Deepak Joon went on to make 43. Yogesh Sachdeva and Yogesh Khurana captured two wickets each.

In the second essay Delhi again lost quick wickets. Opener Dhruv Mohan and Gautam Gambhir contributed 29 and 27, respectively.

Nitin Aggarwal who had captured five wickets in the first innings, took another two wickets today. Delhi were still 53 runs behind Haryana’s first innings lead with wickets in hand.

REGIONAL SPORT BRIEFS

Punjab take lead
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Oct 11 — A superb double hundred by S.P. Singh enabled Punjab to be in comfortable position against Jammu and Kashmir in the North Zone Cooch Behar Cricket tournament league match being played at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium here today. At the draw of stumps on the penultimate day Jammu and Kashmir were in a hopeless position, needing another 289 runs to win the match with just four wickets intact.

Brief scores: J and K (Ist innings): 126 all out, Punjab (Ist innings): 415 for 6 declared (S.P. Singh 200 n.o. Vikramjit Sodhi 111, Binwant Singh 41; Anoop Mangotra 4 for 104), J and K (IInd innings): 68 for 6 (Anuraj Thakur 26; Sandeep Sanwal 3 for 30, S.P. Singh 2 for 10). 

Baseball, judo events at Patiala
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The events in baseball and judo in the Punjab School Games will be held at Patiala from October 18 to 21, according to Mr P.S. Chhabra, State Sports Organiser.

Baseball will make its debut into the state school sports calendar. Baseball events will be conducted in the under-19 section both for boys and girls while judo events will be in under-14, 17 and under-19 for boys and girls. Judo was earlier scheduled to be held from October 28.