 |
|
| Saturday, January 6, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
West Indies grab early wickets
Warne presses recall claim South Zone off to disastrous start Cairns to miss final one-dayer |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chess round-up-2000
Rovers Cup North Zone thrash South Zone Haryana XI win hockey title Gurlal, Manjit best raiders D’Souza’s brace in Air-India win Unseeded players to the fore NIS Web site
|
| West Indies grab early wickets SYDNEY, Jan 5 (AFP) — Mahendra Nagamootoo and Ridley Jacobs gave the maligned West Indies hope of preventing Australia claiming an unprecedented 5-0 series clean sweep with a spirited display in the fifth and final Test today. Nagamootoo, hidden from the previous four Test thrashings as the tourists pursued an all-out pace attack, and wicketkeeper Jacobs cracked half-centuries to leave Australia with a testing 173 runs to chase for victory. At the close, Australia, after their 15th straight win, had reduced the target to 129 runs at 44 for two with Michael Slater not out 18 and Mark Waugh on three. The nerves were jangling in the Australian camp when Matthew Hayden was out in the second over, shouldering arms and trapped lbw for five by one that came back from Colin Stuart. Justin Langer followed him back to the pavilion when Courtney Walsh got him lbw for 10 in the seventh over to take his 494th Test wicket and leave the home side a shaky 38 for two. Earlier, Nagamootoo cracked 68 off 99 balls in only his second Test, while in-form Jacobs slammed a pugnacious 62 to spark the revival. Nagamootoo was the surprise packet. The 23-year-old Guyanese legspinner topscored and for a time had visions of an unheralded century such was his command of the Australian attack. But after smashing Colin Miller over the top for four he went for the same shot on the next delivery only to slice to Hayden at deep mid-off to end a fabulous innings and standing ovation from the appreciative Australian crowd. Jacobs, who was left stranded on 96 in the second Perth Test, put on 78 runs for the seventh wicket with Nagamootoo after adding 85 for the sixth wicket with the rejuvenated Ramnaresh Sarwan. The muscular Antiguan, one of the few success stories of the Caribbean tourists’ wretched campaign Down Under, crashed nine boundaries in his 128-ball stay before he was lbw to part-time offspinner Mark Waugh playing across the line. Sarwan, who had scored just three in five previous innings, gave a glimpse of what he was capable of with some fine shot-making until he was beaten by movement off the pitch to edge Glenn McGrath to Adam Gilchrist. His 51 came off 114 balls in 143 minutes with six fours. It was with some relief for the anxious Australians that their ‘blue-rinse’ offspinner miller polished off the West Indies resistance with 3 for one off six balls, with the scalps of Nagamootoo, Nixon McLean (15) and Stuart (4). Miller finished with four for 102 for six wickets in the match. World record wicket-taker Courtney Walsh, playing in his final Test in Australia, was given an emotional ovation as he came out to bat and be greeted by a respectful guard of honour from his applauding Australian opponents. Walsh, who will be trying to extend his wicket tally in Australia’s second innings, remained one not out. The West Indies’ rousing afternoon was in sharp contrast to the morning session. ScoreBOARD Australia (1st innings): 452 West Indies (2nd innings): Campbell c Gilchrist b Gillespie 54 Hinds b McGrath 46 Adams lbw b McGrath 5 Lara c Gilchrist b Miller 28 Samuels lbw b Gillespie 0 Sarwan c Gilchrist b McGrath 51 Jacobs lbw b M.Waugh 62 Nagamootoo c Hayden b Mclean c M.Waugh b Miller 15 Stuart lbw b Miller 4 Walsh not out 1 Extras (b5, lb10, nb3) 18 Total (all out, 116.5 overs) 352 Fall of Wkts: 1-98, 2-112, 3-112, 4-112, 5-154, 6-239, 7-317, 8-347, 9-351. Bowling: McGrath 24-4-80-3, Miller 32.5-3-102-4, MacGill 30-7-88-0, Gillespie 21-5-57-2, M. Waugh 9-3-10-1. Australia (2nd innings): Hayden lbw b Stuart 5 Langer lbw b Walsh 10 M.Waugh batting 3 Extras (lb4, w1, nb3) 8 Total (2 wkts, 10 overs) 44 Fall of wkts: 1-5, 2-38. Bowling: Walsh 5-0-20-1, Stuart 3-0-18-1, McLean 2-1-2-0. |
| Aussies’ guard of honour for Walsh SYDNEY, Jan 5 (AFP) — The Australian cricket team formed an impromptu guard of honour to show their respect for West Indies fast bowling icon Courtney Walsh when he came out to bat for the last time in Australia here today. Walsh, 38, only six short of taking 500 Test wickets, walked out onto the Sydney Cricket Ground in his customary No. 11 spot to adoring acclaim from the crowd. With the fans on their feet, cheering, the Australian players formed a guard of honour as Walsh approached the wicket. Australian offspinner Colin Miller said the idea of saluting Walsh was something captain Steve Waugh had devised on the spur of the moment. “We hadn't planned it,” Miller said. As he came out Steve said I think we should do something here — it’s going to be Courtney Walsh’s last time on the ground as a batsman. |
| Warne presses recall claim SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) — Shane Warne pressed his claims for an Australian recall with a four for 53 haul in his comeback first-class match in Perth today. The leg-spinner, out of action since breaking a finger in October, was playing for Victoria in their inter-state match against Western Australia. Warne, hoping to return for Australia in the forthcoming limited-overs series against West Indies and Zimbabwe, swung the match Victoria’s way after Western Australia appeared to be gaining the upper hand. His four wickets helped Victoria dismiss the hosts for 235. Victoria were 146 for three in their second innings at the close, 165 ahead with two days remaining. Title-holders Queensland extended their lead at the top of the championship by completing a massive victory over Tasmania in Hobart. |
| South Zone off to disastrous start VIJAYAWADA, Jan 5 (UNI) — South Zone were off to a disastrous start losing openers S Sriram (11) and Sadagopan Ramesh (8) with just 41 runs on board, in reply to defending champions North Zone’s mammoth first-innings total of 708 for 8 declared, on the second day of the four-day Duleep Trophy league tie today. At the I.G. Municipal Stadium here, South Zone, after being on the field for 652 minutes, were left with 50 minutes of batting time, after North Zone resuming at 336 for three amassed the tall score before declaring their innings. In a very poor start, South Zone first lost Ramesh who was caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper Vikram Rathore mis-timing a hook off mediumpacer Sudhakar Ghag. Rathore had to keep wickets as Vikay Dhaiya did not take to the field due to a stiff neck. South Zone received another jolt, on the last ball of the day, when Sriram attempted a glance off the other mediumpacer Surinder Singh, only to pop a catch to Rathore. Nightwatchman T Kumaran, who was batting on 21 runs at end of the day’s play, struck four boundaries in his brief stay. North Zone: Total (for 8 wkts decl) 708. Fall of wickets: 1/237, 2/241, 3/329, 4/507, 5/611, 6/631, 7/669, 8/683. Bowling: D. Ganesh 22-3-95-1, T. Kumaran 12-3-60-0, Venkatapathi Raju 44-4-164-2, Robin Singh 12-3-41-0, Sunil Joshi 42-3-167-3, Asish Kapoor 20-1-94-0, S. Sriram 8-1-48-1, V V S Laxman 7-0-26-1. South Zone: Extras: (nb-1) 1. Total: 41 Bowling: S Ghat 5-0-15-1, Surendra Singh 6-2-26-1. Fall of wickets: 1/18, 2/41. |
| Cairns to miss final one-dayer WELLINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) Recurring knee injuries mean New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns will miss the third and deciding one-day international against Zimbabwe in Auckland on Sunday. "I’m uncertain what is next for me," Cairns said in a statement. "I’ll be seeing the full medical panel early next week and they will assess what is required to deal with the knee injuries, both the bursitis which flared up earlier in the week and the longer-term tendon problem I have." Cairns missed the second one-day match which New Zealand won by eight wickets here yesterday. The three-match series is level 1-1. Chairman of selectors Richard Hadlee said the squad for the deciding one-dayer would remain unchanged, with both all-rounder Jacob Oram and off-spinner Paul Wiseman, who were called up two days ago, staying with the party. |
| Wadekar, Kapil to be quizzed next week NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (UNI) — Former Indian captains Ajit Wadekar and Kapil Dev will appear before the BCCI’s anti-corruption investigator K. Madhavan here on January 8 and 10 respectively. A former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Joint Director, Mr Madhavan told UNI here today that though Kapil was scheduled to meet him tomorrow, the meeting had been deferred for five days. | |
Mongia may stage ‘comeback’ VIJAYAWADA, Jan 5 (UNI) — Nayan Mongia has a “good chance’’ of making it to the national team as he has been cleared by the BCCI on the match-fixing issue, National Selection Committee Chairman Chandu Borde today said. “The selectors have an open mind to pick any player who performs well in the Duleep Trophy or Ranji Trophy matches,’’ the former Test player told newspersons here.
| |
| Chess round-up-2000 THE year 2000 started off really well. I participated in the World Blitz Cup in Warsaw. Winning the event with 17.5 points in 22 games with just one loss made me feel really confident about my next tournament, the prestigious Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee. I became world blitz champion ahead of Karpov, Gelfand, Adams, and Svidler. In Wijk aan Zee, I chose No. 13 in the drawing of lots. I had picked Kasparov’s lucky number , honestly I didn’t know what to make of it. The field had all the big names. I defeated Viktor Korchnoi and Predrag Nikolic in smooth games. The most important game was against Kasparov in the 7th round. Two boards down the line Short and Van Wely were playing the same moves . It looked like they were just waiting for us to make the moves and repeat it!! After a hard battle, I got a draw and the valuable half point from a difficult ending. The last round I had to register a win against Lputian to finish joint second along with Kramnik and Leko. Mildly satisfied with my result I headed to Haifa in Israel where I played a rapid event. I lost a game with white against Svidler, but recovered in the later stages of the tournament to win it. Soon after Haifa I prepared for Linares. The tournament follows the format of a double round robin amongst the top six players. My tournament took a turn for the worse when I lost a winning position to Shirov. At this moment I blundered and lost the game. After brooding over this loss for a whole rest day, I played way below par against Garry and lost. With minus two the tournament was effectively ruined. In the penultimate round I beat then world champion Alexander Khalifman with a nice bishop move and salvaged a tie for 3-6th place. My next tournament was Monaco, the rapid and blind chess event which is one of my favourite events. Due to a bad performance last year in the event , I wanted to just focus on my play and enjoy the event. I started quite o.k. and then lost against Shirov, surprisingly again in a winning position. Horribly enough I lost my next game against Van Wely. The coincidence with Linares was eerie! This time, I resolved to fight back. After much inward persuasion I beat Topalov , who was in joint lead of the tournament. I then went on to beat Lautier and Piket to pull back to 3rd place and lead the blind event. At this point Kasparov had sent some of his organisers down to Monaco to negotiate a match. Honestly, I hate mixing business with chess during a tournament. I turned down the match as they did not negotiate correctly and there were many clauses that I was not happy with. I felt a match should be played on equal terms. By this time I lost against Chucky and Vladi. I was relieved the tournament was over. I was sick of chess, but I had one more rapid tournament in Iceland. My wife and myself always wanted to go there. We decided to take a break there and not to worry too much of the result. I played well in the qualifications and defeated many strong players to reach the finals against Kasparov. We drew the regular 25 minute games and I lost the two ten-minute games. I played aggressively and inspite of the result I felt happy because I enjoyed the game. We enjoyed a tour of the beautiful island while looking forward to a two-month long break. The break was really timely, I did everything except chess. I tried gardening, cooking and many other things. Slowly, I started yearning to play chess. This was already a good sign. My first tournament was the Advanced Chess tournament in Leon, Spain. I went to the tiebreaks with Judith Polgar and qualified to play Shirov in the finals. I defeated him with white and drew with black and won the tournament. It felt good to win and I was delighted to see that my form had returned. June — July is usually the German chess festival. We started in the Frankfurt Chess Classic with computers. Having a good record against computers I was quite confident against the Primergy servers. Unfortunately, my opening with White was a fiasco and I wasn’t able to break through with black. We had three days before the start of the main tournament. I decided to stop working much. I had worked enough that year. I wanted to play freely and happily. Three days of gym training and pleasant walks in the woods helped calm me down. So I decided to play my natural way, taking risks , defending and going all out. This had the desired effect. I won the tournament 1.5 points ahead of Kasparov. Thus ending the Russian’s tournament winning spree. I was acknowledged the “world rapid chess champion”. After Frankfurt, is the Dortmund Classical chess event. A traditional event featuring most of the top chess players. I played a very nice game against Adams and used a novelty to win the game effortlessly. I had dominated the event so far. The next day I played Kramnik. I lost this pivotal game with an incredible blunder, but still recovered to share joint first. I was now looking forward to the first FIDE World Cup in Shenyang, China. This was in many ways a training ground for the World Championships in Delhi in November since the format was similar. I was put in a very tough group , but managed to win my group and qualify for the knock out stages of the tournament. I beat Ivanchuk with the black pieces . My semi-final match was against Gelfand. In my game with the black pieces , the game see sawed but was a draw eventually. We played a long and intense session of tie break games where I ultimately cut the guardian knot in the 4th game! In the final I played Bareev and beat him comfortably1.5-.5 and won the event. In the meantime, chess was booming in India. Harikrishna became the youngest IM. Sasikiran played excellently at a GM tournament in Madras. Kunte became a GM. Viji became our first women’s GM. In the Olympiad the Indian team finished eight in the medal tally. Playing in India was really special. The crowd support and the media coverage was very positive and gave me a lot of motivation. I decided to focus on the games and keep media interaction to a professional minimum. I started well with a nice win with white against Bologan. I followed this with wins against Lputian and Macieja. It kind of became a winning formula to draw with black and win with white. My quarterfinal pairing was with Khalifman. Our regular games ended in a draw. So we moved to the tie break. Khalifman was my most dangerous opponent in Groningen 97. I had beaten him thrice already in 2000 (Linares, Dortmund and Shenyang), but in a knockout format, I had the feeling he was going to be a tough cookie. The first game I equalised easily with the black pieces. In the second game I was clearly worse with the white pieces and had some point was just counting the moves towards my elimination. Instead of playing rook a1, he pushed his pawns and suddenly I got a new lease of life. I drew the game. Khalifman was quite shaken at losing a great opportunity in qualifying for the semis and my morale improved. I won the 15-minute game with white and eventually moved to the semi-finals. My opponent was Michael Adams, a very solid and positional player. It was a four game match. In game two I beat Mickey in what turned out to be the decisive game. In game three Mickey tried very hard to beat me. He came close, but I just survived using the drawing qualities of opposite colored bishops. With just a draw to qualify , the fourth game ended smoothly ensuring me a berth in the finals. My opponent for the finals , Alexei Shirov had a bumpy semifinal counter with the new Russian whiz kid Alexander Grischuk. He won the first game , lost the second , won the third and nearly lost the fourth. The first game was a tough struggle. He played a known pawn sacrifice in the opening and developed a strong attack which I managed to neutralize by returning the pawn at the right moment. The second game was the key game. It wasn’t beautiful, but it was the kind of tough battle you need to win to bend the match your way and in a long rook endgame I managed to do just that. In the third game, he went for the kill probably influenced by his loss in round 2. I was able to defend and then counter-attack with my material superiority. Had he not lost the second game, he might have been more circumspect. There was a rest day before the fourth round. With a two point lead I just didn’t want to sit back and feel happy. Euphoria can go against you. Also game four and five , Shirov could take all the risks and come at me. I decided with a two pint cushioning I could just go and play the game and forget about results. The fourth game was a French Defence, an opening which we have played five games this year! We both stubbornly repeated our earlier moves as if challenging the other to show an improvement. He managed to improve on our game in Frankfurt, but followed it up with a premature pawn grab. This resulted in my winning a second piece and the end became a formality. Nonetheless, when you are so close to the title, you don’t want anything to go wrong and I took my own sweet time hauling in the point! The moment I was crowned world champion was magical. I can’t really remember how I felt. I remember there was a huge applause. When we reached our hotel room , I realised, yes I was World Champion and I had done it. My family was ecstatic. There were calls from friends and family that have stood by me and believed in me. I received letters of congratulations from many distinguished people. I was truly happy. I was really touched to see so many Indians wishing me well and turning up to thank me. I feel 2000 was special in many ways. I started off very shakily and went on to win the World Championship. I learnt one thing , it is important to enjoy the game and play it happily. As for goals , I have been asked “What next”. Remaining World Champion for as long as I want to will be nice. After all , I guess I am really having a good time being the World Champion of this ancient Indian sport that I really love. — PMG |
| Haas frustrates Hewitt ADELAIDE, Jan 5 (AFP) — German Tommy Haas crashed Lleyton Hewitt’s homecoming party here today sending the Australian No1 tumbling out of the Australian Hardcourt Tennis Championship. Top-seeded Hewitt was eliminated before his home town fans, dashing hopes of a successful title defence. Haas, the tournament’s fifth seed, triumphed 6-4 0-6 6-1 in the quarter-final. While overcoming one Australian another — Jason Stoltenberg — stands in Haas’ path to Sunday’s final. In tomorrow’s other semifinal, British second seed Tim Henman confronts unseeded Chilean Nicolas Massu. Henman advanced with a tenacious victory in searing heat against seventh seed Thomas Johansson from Sweden, 7-6 (7/2) 6-7 (4/7) 6-3. Hewitt entered his quarterfinal a firm favourite but was unable to counter a devastating Haas in the final set. After taking the first set, Haas was outgunned in the second as Hewitt struck a succession of groundstroke winners on the way to sweeping the set. Hewitt had seemingly turned the tide, but it swiftly reversed again in the decider when Haas exploded a barrage of winners, the majority from a destructive backhand. Hewitt, the world No 7, could offer only lame resistance in the face of the onslaught in his first tournament since returning from Australia’s ill-fated Davis Cup final in Spain last month. Henman was grateful for the solid hit-out against Johansson. “He’s a class opponent, he’s been on a bit of a roll and his style of play is very awkward for me,” he said of the Swede’s heavy hitting baseline game. “Early on in the season, it’s a really good one to come through. “It’s early days but if you have got three wins under your belt you can’t complain.” Earlier, Stoltenberg secured his semifinal berth by trouncing Spain’s Alberto Martin 6-3 6-4. Massu outlasted Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 in two hours and 38 minutes. |
| Judge turns down Becker’s plea MIAMI, Jan 5 (AP) — A family court judge has denied Boris Becker’s request to have his wife’s alimony and child support case conducted in private. Judge Maynard Gross yesterday said he did not find “even competent substantial evidence” of any threats of kidnapping or harm to Becker’s two young children — a fear expressed by the tennis star in arguing to keep the proceedings closed. Judge Gross suggested that any court records concerning trade secrets and security issues should be sealed and that Becker continue providing 24-hour security for his family. “No one can be more sensitive to children’s issues as I am, but we have this balancing test” between the public’s right to information and Becker’s request for privacy, Judge Gross said. Samuel Burstyn, an attorney for Becker’s wife, Barbara, said after the hearing that there was no basis for Becker’s request to seal court records and any hearings. “It’s very disappointing that they were raising the kidnapping issue,” he said. “It’s destructive. It’s not good for the kids.” Becker’s attorney, Robert Kohlman, said he was satisfied that the judge took steps to protect the children’s safety as much as possible. He said he would argue at Monday’s jurisdiction hearing that the case involves “German citizens and their children and it should be tried in Germany.” Boris Becker left the courthouse through a back entrance and was not accessible to the media. Earlier in the day, Becker told the judge he was concerned that the release of financial and other personal information about himself could give “criminal types” such as kidnappers information they could use to put his family in danger. “I’m afraid for the lives of my children and of my wife,” he said. He also said confidentiality clauses in his business contracts forbid him from disclosing his financial information and that some documents he has been ordered to produce contain trade secrets. The three-time Wimbledon champion owns a sports marketing agency and is an advertising partner with several German companies. Barbara Becker’s attorneys argued privacy considerations should be judged on document to document basis. Her lawyers also challenged Becker’s claim that the children would be at greater risk of injury or harm with open proceedings. Becker said he has received threats against his family since 1985, when he first won Wimbledon. He said he received a kidnapping threat seeking ransom money during the Lipton Championships at Key Biscayne two years ago. Boris Becker (33) filed for divorce and custody in Germany last month. Barbara Becker (34) has not filed for a divorce, but has obtained a court order requiring the children to stay in South Florida. |
| Basudev to lead India MARGAO, Jan 5 (UNI) — Mohun Bagan’s mercurial medio Basudev Mondal has been named captain of the Indian team for the Sahara Millennium Cup Football Championship which will get underway from January 10 to 25 at three different venues in Goa, Kochi and Kolkata. The secretary of the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) Mr Alberto Colaco, who announced the names of the 22-member team and five officials here today, said the Indian team which is currently in Goa, is placed in group II along with Uruguay, Iceland and Indonesia and will play their first match against Indonesia on January 11 at Kochi. The Indian team is as follows:-Goalkeepers-Virendra Singh (Mahindra), Sandeep Nandy (Mohun Bagan), Balaji (ITI) Defenders-Suresh Kumar (Bagan), Mahesh Gawali (Churchill), Deepak Mondal (East Bengal), Ratan Singh (East Bengal). Midfielders-Jules Alberto (Salgoacar), Jo Paul Anchery (FC Kochi), Hardeep Singh Sangha (JCT), Rennedy Singh (East Bengal), Basudev Mondal (Bagan) captain, Venkatesh (Mahindra), Noel Wilson (Churchill), James Singh (Bagan), Carlton Chapman (East Bengal). Forwards-I M Vijayan (Kochi), Bijen Singh (East Bengal), RC Prakash (Bagan), Sabir Pasha (Indian Bank), Bruno Coutinho (Salgaocar) Alvito D’Cunha (Salgaocar). Two goalkeepers Francise Fernandes (Dempo) and Rajat Ghose (Bagan), one defender Mustafi Hussain (Bagan) and a forward R.P. Singh (East Bengal) were dropped from 26 probables announced on December 31. |
| Eves’ football CHANDIGARH, Jan 5 — The women’s wing of the Bihar Football Association will organise the All-India Women’s Football Championship at Baruni from January 8 to 15, according to Mr Surinder Bhambri, secretary of the women’s wing of the AIFF. Eight top football clubs will participate. |
| Rovers Cup MUMBAI, Jan 5 (UNI) — Will Mohun Bagan manage to go into the semifinals of the Rovers Cup sans three super stars — Jose Santos, Jayant Sen and Amar Ganguly? The 13- time winners of Rovers Cup will have to wait till Sunday morning to know whether the three players will be fit to play in the semifinals. Santos pulled his hamstring muscle during the crucial match against Iran yesterday. Ganguly and Sen received injuries due to the foul tactics of the opposition. Bagan, who came second in group B, will meet East Bengal, 10 times winners, on Sunday. The first semifinal match is between the Iran youth team and Churchill Brothers Bagan, as the legend goes, were initially a team for high society and during the decades of their feud with East Bengal had an edge over the latter. But lately East Bengal, believed to be a symbol of lower middle class, have caught up with the big brother. In the past two decades both the teams have started importing talent and now rely heavily on them for their success. Bagan without their two Brazilian forwards Santos and Jose Barretto will be like Hilsa fish without mustard oil. Despite their presence Bagan have so far scored only one goal which eventually brought them in the semis. Similarly the fortunes of East Bengal rise and fall with the form of two Uzbekistan players — Ilhom Sharipov and Olim Talliaev. Both are not as flashy as Brazilians but equally effective. The advantage they have is that both have such great lung power that they keep falling back to consolidate the midfield whenever there is pressure. Both teams have top grade shooters in Depankar Roy for East and Amar Ganguly for Bagan, who if given half a peek at the goal are prepared to unleash terror. Bengal were on rampage scoring five against Churchill but conceded four in the same match. It will be interesting to see how rival custodians Bivash Ghosh (Bagan) and Sangram Mukherjee (Bengal) keep their nerves against the foreign scoring talents. Both teams have reasonably good bench strength. |
| North Zone thrash South Zone LUDHIANA, Jan 5 — Holders North Zone thrashed South Zone The defending champion North Zone played an offensive game. The winners got six penalty corners before the breather, but could convert only one, in the 20th minute by A.S. Nagi. After the interval, winners did not give any chance to their opponents. In the 41st minute Nagi again converted a penalty corner. Rajeev Panchal struck a field goal in the 50th minute. Soon after Rajeev made use of penalty corner and made the tally 4-0 in the 53rd minute. In the 58th minute, Rajeev struck a field goal. Ten minute before the final hooter, Gajinder scored a field goal and took the North Zone tally to six goals. In the second match, the game was very slow in the first half. G.Singh of the East Zone scored a field goal in the 14th minute. After the lemon break M. Alma of HQ restored parity in the 41st minute by a field goal. Soon after, J.Surian made the tally 2-1 in the 42nd minute by a field goal. In the 47th minute N.Aind took the tally to 3-1 by capitalising on a penalty corner. N. Nag, on the winners side, converted an penalty corner in the 60th minute and made the defeat inevitable for their opponents. | |
| Haryana XI win hockey title JALANDHAR, Jan 5 — A brace by inside-right Nutan late in the second half helped reigning champions Haryana-XI to win the women’s title in the Surjit Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament here today. After a barren first half, Haryana-XI defeated SAIL 2-0. In the men’s section Punjab and Sind Bank were declared joint winners with Punjab Police as the match ended in a 1-1 draw. The final between Haryana-XI and SAIL began on a brisk pace. In the first half Haryana wasted eight penalty corners while SAIL wasted two. The first goal came in the 48th minute when Haryana-XI scored through Nutan. The second goal for Haryana-XI came in the 64th minute through Nutan again who found the target with a powerful hit. Nutan was adjudged the best woman ‘player of the tournament’ and was awarded a prize of Rs 5000. Haryana-XI bagged a cash award of Rs 21,000. The men’s final began on a fast pace with the former making initials forays. Punjab Police opened their account in the 26th minute when Kulbir Singh swerved to his left and hammered the ball past the bewildered goalkeeper. The equaliser came in the 48th minute when Kanwalpreet Singh converted the sixth penalty corner. With the score being tied at 1-1 both the teams were declared joint winners. |
| Gurlal, Manjit best raiders MANDI KALAN (Bathinda), Jan 5 — The 47th Punjab State Kabaddi Championship concluded here this evening, which had some real fireworks in store. Gurlal Singh, raider of the Patiala team, dominated and remained unconquered throughout the three-day tournament. He was declared the best male raider and Manjit Kaur of Kapurthala was also declared the best female raider. They were given cash prizes of Rs 5000 each. Jaggi of Moga and Parminder of Kapurthala were declared the best male and best female stoppers, respectively. The results: Circle style (boys): Patiala (1), Moga (2), Muktsar (3). National style (boys): Sangrur (1), Muktsar (2), Patiala (3). Circle style (girls): Kapurthala (1), Faridkot (2), Amritsar (3). National style (girls): Amritsar (1), Faridkot (2), Kapurthala (3). The teams of Patiala and Moga in the boys section and Kapurthala and Faridkot in the (girls section), who played their final matches this evening in circle style event were awarded cash prizes of Rs 10,000. | |
| D’Souza’s brace in Air-India win NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (PTI) — Star-studded Air-India beat Integral Coach Factory 3-1 even as defending champions BPCL were held to a 1-1 draw by Sikh Regimental Centre in the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament here today. Alex D’Souza struck a brace for Air-India after the two teams went into the half-time goal-less to put the international carriers 2-0 ahead in a pool B match. D’Souza capitalised on a pass from Gavin Ferreira and sounded the boards in the 41st minute of the game. He was at it again when he converted a penalty corner in 60th minute on a push from Kishore Kumar. | |
| Unseeded players to the fore CHENNAI, Jan 5 (PTI) — An unseeded player or a qualifier will emerge champion on Sunday in the ATP Gold Flake Open as four unheralded players made it to the semifinals of the championship here for the first time. In quarter-final matches today, qualifier Kristian Pless of Denmark defeated Romanian Adrian Voinea 6-1, 7-5 while Andrei Stoliarov quelled Peter Wessels of the Netherlands 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Pless has set up a semifinal clash with unseeded Michel Tabara of the Czech Republic while Stoliarov will meet Tommy Robredo of Spain. Tabara defeated the last seeded player on view, third seed Cedric Pioline, 6-4, 6-1 in 59 minutes in the first quarterfinal on centre court. Robredo disposed of qualifier Cyril Sauliner (Fra) 6-2, 6-1 in another quarterfinal. | |
| NIS Web site PATIALA, Jan 5 — The National Institute of Sports (NIS) was connected globally with the official launching of its website www.nsnisindia.org today. The website will provide elaborate information regarding scholarship schemes which can be availed by sportspersons living in far-flung areas and information relating to rural festivals and national women’s sports festivals can also be downloaded from the site. The site which has been designed by Dr.Munish Chander of the Department of Sports Medicine, NIS, has a special page for sports medicine. |
 | | Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Vishwanathan Anand
