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| Monday,
January 15, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Millennium Cup Sanjeev Chawla
arrested BCCI to hold
elbow examination Waugh, Gilchrist crush
Windies |
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S. Africa
beat Sri Lanka North, West Zone settle for
draw Anand off to a sedate
start Ramesh holds
Valdes Tennis less attractive
now: Laver Ban on animal events hits rural sports
meets Indian Navy rout
SCR Kapil shines
in golf Patiala fencing results Second gold for
Abhinav Bindra Haryana to hold rural
sports meets SSCB, Haryana bag honours
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Millennium Cup MARGAO, Jan 14 (UNI) — A determined Romania today put up a dazzling display to trounce Hong Kong 4-2 in a group III league match to keep their quarterfinal hopes alive in the Sahara Millennium Cup Soccer Tournament being played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today. At half time, both teams were locked in a 2-2 draw. However, after the breather, Sanmantean Lucian (59th minute) and L Loan (61st minute) turned the tables as they scored a goal each to give Romania the match. For Romania, the scorers in the first half were Zahrive Liveu (fifth minute), Sasu Marius (25th minute) while for Hong Kong, both the goals were scored by Kwok Yue Hung in the 24th and 44th minute. In a fast-paced match, Romania played their hearts out and shot into the lead as early as in the fifth minute, thanks to Liveu, who after receiving a pass from the right flank from Ziati Aurelian, dribbled past a rival defender and shot into the net for 1-0. Stung by the reverse, Hong Kong rode back into the game and restored parity in the 24th minute through Yue Hung who nicely placed the ball of a pass from Chan Ho Man to take the score 1-1. The very next minute, Romania were awarded a penalty kick by Sri Lankan referee AM Yapa when Hong Kong defender Lee Chiho brought down dangerously the advancing Romanian Lician inside the box. Sasu Martus made no mistake to convert the spot kick into the goal for 2-1. Romania could have increased their lead in the 35th minute but Hong Kong goalkeeper Xiao Gyogi nicely saved a feeble shot from Liveu. Towards the closing stages of the first half, Hong Kong accelerated the pace of the game and attacked in waves and almost equalised in the 43rd minute as a Chan Homan header hit the goal post and rebounded. In his second attempt, his left footer hit the cross bar without making any damage to the goal. The Hong Kong equaliser came in the 44th minute through Kwok Yue Hung (his brace) who after receiving a pass from Yeung Ching Kwong, dangerously moved down with solo effort dodging past rival defenders and also beat the goalkeeper with his left footer to equalise the score 2-2 just before half time. After changing ends, Romania played with renewed vigour and consolidated their lead in the 11th minute of the second half through Lucian who, after receiving a pass from Sasu Marius, dribbled past a couple of defenders and with a cross foot shot into the net for 3-2. Romania sealed Hong Kong’s fate, scoring the fourth goal in the 61st minute through Luca Lon, who neatly headed in following a flag kick taken by Paul Greorth for 4-2. After this, Hong Kong made desperate efforts to reduce the margin but all their efforts went in vain as the major part of the second half was restricted to midfield. With today’s win, Romania and Jordan are leading with three points each. Romania have completed their league engagements with a win and a defeat. They had lost to Jordan in the opening match in Goa on Thursday. Hong Kong’s last league match will be against Jordan on January 16 at the same venue. |
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Sanjeev Chawla arrested LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) — British police have arrested a man as part of an investigation into the alleged fixing of international cricket matches, Scotland Yard said today. Police did not identify the man but the Observer newspaper today named him as London-based Indian bookmaker Sanjeev Chawla, 33. The paper said the investigation had been prompted by revelations from former England player Chris Lewis and focused on the drawn third Test match between England and New Zealand in August 1999. “Metropolitan Police officers investigating allegations of cricket match-fixing arrested a 33-year-old man on December 13 in north London,’’ a Scotland Yard spokeswoman told Reuters. “The Serious Organised Crime Group interviewed the man and released him on bail until January 31. “The investigation was launched after information was passed on by a player to the England and Wales Cricket Board who then passed it onto police. It follows a specific allegation of corruption.’’ The Observer said Lewis had been approached by Aushim Kheterpal — described as a close associate of Chawla — and was told that £ 300,000 was on offer if the England team performed in a certain way during the match. Kheterpal told Lewis to try and get fellow England players Alec Stewart and Alan Mullally on board, the paper said. But instead of approaching them, Lewis went to England team bosses and reported the matter. Last year disgraced former South African captain Hansie Cronje told a commission into match-fixing that Chawla had paid him between $ 10,000 and $ 15,000 for providing information and had pestered him with offers of bribes. BCCI to hold
elbow examination MUMBAI, Jan 14 (UNI) — The BCCI has decided to conduct elbow examination to determine the exact age of the cricket players to solve the problem of overage in the game. Earlier, the nails of the players used to be tested to detect the exact age of the players. In the recently concluded finals of the Cooch Behar tourney in Pune, both the finalists Madhya Pradesh and Punjab accused each other’s team of fielding as many as six to seven overage players. Those found to be overage after the finals of the Cooch Behar tournament in Pune recently were all cleared by the board after conducting tests on them before the selection of the team for the first under-19 test against England in Mumbai. The question how the players who were found to be overage a couple of weeks back, passed the medical test ahead of the first test against England remains unanswered. |
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Waugh, Gilchrist crush Windies BRISBANE, Jan 14 (Reuters) — Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist shared an opening stand of 206 to guide Australia to a nine-wicket victory with 38 balls to spare in their triangular series one-dayer against West Indies today. West Indies, who won the toss, scored 234 for eight, opener Wavell Hinds making 54, before Australia replied with 236 for one off 43.4 overs. Waugh made 112 not out off 128 balls, including seven fours, while stand-in captain Gilchrist fell to part-time spinner Ricardo Powell in the 39th over for 98 off 122 balls. He hit six fours and one six before he was caught at backward point by a diving Laurie Williams. Waugh hit the winning shot, stepping away to steer a short ball from Nixon McLean over the slips to the third-man boundary. Australia beat West Indies in the triangular series opener in Melbourne on Thursday and West Indies beat Zimbabwe by one wicket in Brisbane yesterday. Gilchrist’s dashing innings was painful to watch for West Indies after Hinds dropped a simple chance he offered to mid-on from the bowling of Nixon McLean in the first over. For Waugh and Gilchrist, heroes of Australia’s World Cup victory in 1999, it was their eighth century partnership in limited overs internationals and their second against West Indies. West Indies Campbell c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 Hinds c&b Warne 54 Lara c Gilchrist b Ponting 19 Samuels c Waugh b Warne 20 Adams c Martyn b Lee 44 Powell c Waugh b Warne 19 Jacobs not out 44 Williams run out 15 Nagamootoo c Symonds 0 b Bracken McLean not out 6 Extras: (b-0 lb-1 w-5 nb-7) 13 Total: (eight wickets, 50 overs) 234 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-36, 3-86, 4-103, 5-145, 6-174, 7-203, 8-207. Bowling: McGrath 10-2-42-1 Lee 7-0-40-1 (nb-5, w-1) Bracken 8-0-46-1 (nb-1) Ponting 5-0-28-1 (nb-1) Warne 10-0-41-3 (w-2) Symonds 10-0-36-0 (w-2). Australia: Gilchrist c Williams b Powell 98 Mark Waugh not out 112 Ricky Ponting not out 10 Extras: (b-4, lb-2, w-3, nb-7) 16 Total: (for one wicket, 43.4 overs) 236 Fall of wicket: 1-206. Bowling: Nixon McLean 9.4-0-38-0, Marlon Black 10-0-55-0, Laurie Williams 5-0-22-0, Marlon Samuels 5-0-38-0, Mahendra Nagamootoo 8-0-43-0, Jimmy Adams 3-0-19-0, Ricardo Powell 3-1-15-1. |
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S. Africa
beat Sri Lanka
BLOEMFONTEIN, Jan 14 (AFP) — Herschelle Gibbs showed the first real evidence of a return to form by guiding South Africa to their tenth consecutive one-day win with a fluent 79 in the fifth limited overs international against Sri Lanka at Springbok Park today. South Africa won by five wickets with eight overs to spare, taking them to within one victory of the world record of 11 successive wins set by the West Indies in 1984/85. Sri Lanka squandered a fast start when they were bowled out for 206 after being sent in. It proved an easy target for South Africa, inspired by Gibbs, who only returned to the side on January 2 after completing a six-month ban for conspiring in match fixing in the scandal which led to a life ban for former captain Hansie Cronje. The opening batsman started cautiously and was the junior partner in stands of 51 with Boeta Dippenaar and 61 with Nicky Boje. After reaching his half-century off 79 balls, Gibbs became more adventurous in his strokeplay and hit offspinner Russel Arnold for four and six off successive balls. Gibbs admitted that being out of international cricket since April had taken a toll on his form. Sri Lanka Jayasuriya c Boucher b Pollock 23 Kaluwitharana c Boje b Pollock 9 Atapattu b Ntini 20 De Silva c and b Kallis 20 Jayawardene c Boucher b Kallis 1 Arnold c Pollock b Boje 32 Sangakkara c Dippenaar b Pollock 33 Vaas c Kallis b Donald 7 Wickramasinghe c Boucher b Boje 32 Fernando not out 12 Muralitharan run out (Kemp) 6 Extras
(lb-1 w-9 nb-1) 11 Total (49.2 overs) 206 Fall of wickets:
1-24 2-35 3-67 4-78 5-80 6-142 7-152 8-160 9-194 Bowling: Pollock 10-2-44-3 (2w), Donald 7-0-42-1 (2w, 1nb), Kallis 8-0-33-2 (2w), Ntini 10-1-38-1 (1w), Kemp 5-0-15-0 (2w), Boje 9.2-0-33-2. South Africa: Dippenaar c Arnold b
Wickramasinghe 28 Gibbs run out (Atapattu) 79 Boje lbw b Muralitharan 40 Kallis lbw b Vaas 31 McKenzie c Dilshan b De Silva 0 Rhodes not out 11 Boucher not out 8 Extras (lb-1, nb-7, w-2) 10 Total
(for 5 wkts, 42 overs) 207 Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-112, 3-177, 4-180, 5-192. Bowling: Vaas 8-2-30-1, Fernando 4-0-38-0, De Silva 6-0-32-1, Wickramasinghe 3-0-23-1, Muralitharan 10-1-31-1, Jayasuriya 9-1-34-0, Arnold 2-0-18-0.
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North, West Zone settle for
draw SAS NAGAR, Jan 14 — Delhi middle order batsman Virender Sehwag slammed an authoritative unbeaten 162 as the four-day Duleep Trophy league match between North Zone and West Zone ended in a draw at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here today. Promising Sehwag, who has represented India in three one-day international matches, notched up his highest score in the championship and saw to it that North Zone gain the first innings lead and crucial five points. West Zone had to contend with three points. During the course of his innings young Sehwag, faced just 190 deliveries and struck 24 powerful fours and a six as North chasing West Zone’s first innings score of 284 were finally bundled out for 331. West Zone , in their second innings, were 50 for one. On a day when the weather again prevented the start of play on schedule the hard-hitting batsman and a compulsive stroke-maker Sehwag waged a lone battle. Regular tumbling of wickets at the other end had no effect on him and he went about his task unperturbed as the play began only after the lunch break again due to early morning fog. And, by the time, there were no partners at the other end to support him Sehwag had led North Zone to safety. True to his style Sehwag, starting from his overnight score of 88, began the proceedings on a positive note hammering left-arm fast medium bowler Zaheer Khan in his very first over to deep mid-wicket fence to enter into his nineties. In the next over of the same bowler he unleashed a scorching shot to long-off boundary to complete his century. Fall of wicketkeeper-batsman Pankaj Dharmani’s wicket who became medium pacer Iqbal Siddiqui’s fourth victim and the first of the day failed to affect his concentration. Sehwag was comfortable facing seamers and spinners alike. He paced his innings well and was rarely beaten throughout the day. Sarandeep Singh, who came in to bat next, had clear instructions from the skipper Vikram Rathore to just be there in the middle and give Sehwag much-needed company. The Amritsar off-spinner did well and occupied the crease a little over an hour and when Sarandeep fell to
Seamer Santosh Saxena North Zone were just four runs short of the target. And when Saxena struck again castling Gagandeep North had just taken the first-innings lead. After having led North Zone to safety Sehwag turned his attention to leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule, who was clobbered by Sehwag for four fours and a six in the same over. In fact, the spinners had little role to play in the match. Bahutule got to bowl just nine overs in the match which cost him 48 runs, while Sarandeep Singh bowled even less just five overs. Last batsman Surinder Singh Baggal, who earlier in the innings emerged the best seam bowler for North Zone, hit a couple lusty strokes before he was claimed by Siddiqui, completing a five-wicket haul. Once the North Zone had taken the first innings lead not much of interest had been left in the match. Vikram Rathore preferred to give match practice to part-time bowlers like Akash Chopra, Sehwag and Dinesh Mongia as also giving Reetinder Sodhi an opportunity to share the new ball along with Gagandeep. North Zone now travel to Guwahati for the next match against East Zone starting on January 18. Scoreboard West Zone (1st innings) : 284 North Zone (1st innings): A Chopra lbw Siddiqui 54, Rathore lbw Zaheer 16, Yuveraj c Mongia b Siddiqui 15, D Mongia b Siddiqui 2, Reetinder b Saxena 0, Sehwag not out 162, Dharmani lbw Siddiqui 28, Sarandeep lbw Saxena 17, Gagandeep b Saxena 3, Nehra lbw Bahutule 0, Surinder b Siddiqui 15. Extras
(b1, lb 9, nb 9): 19 Total (all out in 87 overs): 331 Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-63, 3- 67, 4-75, 5-112, 6-233, 7-281, 8-285, 9-292, 10-331 Bowling: Zaheer Khan 28-5-83-1, Iqbal Siddiqui 31-4-116-5, Santosh Saxena 19-3-74-3, Sairaj Bahutule 9-0-48-1 West Zone (IInd innings): Jaffer not out 29, Williams c Dharmani b Gagandeep 10, Patel not out 11 Total
(for one wicket in 18 overs) : 50 Fall of wicket: 1-19 Bowling:
Gagandeep Singh 6-0-28-1, Reetinder Sodhi 4-1-7-0, Akash Chopra 3-1-8-0, Virender Sehwag 3-1-7-0, Dinesh Mongia 2-2-0-0. |
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Anand off to a sedate start WIZK ANN ZEE (Netherlands), Jan 14 (PTI) — a sedate start for world champion Viswanathan Anand, excellent victory for former champion and highest rated player of the world gm gary Kasparov and a dull and lifeless draw by Braingames champion gm Vladimir Kramnik were the highpoints in the inaugural round of the Corus Grandmaster Group ‘A’ Championship here today. Playing black against his bete noire gm Michael Adams of England, Anand employed the Sicilian Taimanov and produced a new idea in the opening. By the 20th move, Adams got a slight advantage with his long diagonal light Bishop and a well-timed pawn sacrifice. Anand had to pull all his resources after the exchange of queens as his position became passive. On the 29th move, Adams took the bait by going for collecting Anand’s knight for his passed queen rook pawn. Anand, however, had forseen the continuation and a problem-like finish ensued wherein Anand, having just one pawn for the bishop, got a theoretically drawn position. The game lasted 48 moves. Russia’s Kasparov scored his first victory after a long draught in the Braingames match against compatriot Kramnik where he failed to win a single game. His opponent Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov opted for the Grand Prix attack against the Sicilian and never looked like a serious contender in the game. After the opening, Kasparov got the advantage of bishop pair and slowly built his position in classical fashion. In the middlegame, Kasparov initiated a dangerous kingside attack and Tiviakov had to part with his queen for rook and one minor piece. Kasparov gave no chances thereafter and finished the game in his usual powerful manner. Gm Alexei Shirov of Spain struck back with vengeance after a humiliating loss to Anand in the just-concluded World Championship. A connoisseur of Hungarian attack against the Sicilian Nazdorf, Shirov got his favourite position against Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria with the white pieces. Topalov came up with a novelty on his 19th turn that failed to impress Shirov. By the 21st move, Shirov was already cruising, bruising and squeezing the defensive resources of Topalov. The Latvia-born Spaniard won the game in just 24 moves. The oldest Grandmaster in the fray, Jan Timman of Netherlands, did not spark any magic in his draw with Kramnik. In the opinion of Grandmaster Alexei Shipov, Timman skillfully turned the fertile rain forest of chess into a desert! |
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Ramesh holds Valdes LINARES, Jan 14 (UNI) — Unfancied Zulfugarli of Azerbaijan stunned the over night leader Grandmaster Evgeny Najer of Russia to take the lead with 5.5 points at the end of the sixth round of the Linares Internation Open Chess Tournament here today. Grandmaster Motylev of Russian who also scored an upset victory over Chineses GM Zhang Zhong is in the joint second place with GM Najer, GM Sarunas Sulkis and GM Zarab Sturua, all on five points. International Master R.B. Ramesh of India continued with his steady run holding IM Valdes of Costa Rica from the Black side of an English opening game. Ramesh, who over looked the loss of a pawn in the early stage of the game, fought back resolutely to stay in the game. He utilised white’s mistake on the 14th move (14.Qc2) to obtain a lasting attack on the enemy King. He further sacrificed another pawn to drag the white King out of his den. However, he chose the wrong continuation on his 39th move to squander his winning chances and had to go for a draw though perpetual checks. The other Indian International Master Sandipan Chanda had no qualms in over powering Rodriguez Lopez of Spain in a brevity lasting just 21 moves. Chanda who faced the Sicilian defence with the white pieces, grabbed the initiative right from the start. He directed all his pieces on the Black’s castle which soon crumbled under the fire power of the whole white army. The Indian Airlines duo of IM-elect Rahul Shetty and double IM norm holder C.S. Gokhale had a bad day losing their games to IM Salmensuu and GM Tseitelin respectively. Shetty’s sicilian defence was with King’s Indian attack by white. Despite being in a good position, the Indian suddenly blundered a pawn and lost the game in 28 moves. For Gokhale, the loss came only after a lengthy struggle which commenced with his favourite Archangel variation of the Ruy-Lopez openeing. While both the players overlooked the forced loss of a pawn in the opening, the Grandmaster demostrated better technique to convert his one pawn advantage to victory in a Rook and Pawn endgame. Dinesh Kumar lost against Grandmaster Zilberman in a rather inexplicable manner. Exploiting the unorthodox handling of the Alekhine defence by Black, Sharma seized the reins of the game and and was in the verge of winning the game through a mating attack on the black king. However, to the surprise of the onlookers and his dismay he gifted away a whole Rook under the impression that it could not be accepted in view of checkmate. But only after the grandmaster gobbled the Rook, did he realise his folly and resigned on the 52 move. The encounter between the Indians, K Visweswaran and Sriram Jha ended in draw after a marathon battle lasting 79 moves. Jha who played the Paulsen varaition of the Sicilian defence emerged with the upper hand from the opening. |
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Tennis less attractive now: Laver MELBOURNE, Jan 14 (AP) — Rod Laver, the only two-time winner of the Grand Slam of tennis, says the sport is less attractive now. “There was more variety in the strokes and the rallies that we played,” Laver said today after hitting with Lleyton Hewitt to christen the Australian Open’s newest court, the 10,000-seat, retractable-roof Vodafone Arena. The 15,000-seat centre court at the Open’s site, Melbourne Park, was named Rod Laver Arena last year in honour of the Australian who won the four major tournaments of tennis in both 1962 and 1969. “Seems like the drop shot became very important because you just couldn’t do so much with the rackets,” which were wood when he started out, the 62-year-old Laver said. For recreational tennis players, he added, “it used to be when you had a tiny wooden racket it would come back and hit you in the eye. You’d say, I don’t like this game.” Aside from racket technology, “I get the feeling that the courts are quicker, maybe the ball is quicker,” he said. Laver, who has 11 titles from Grand Slam tournaments, said he did not expect today’s younger players to dominate tennis the way Pete Sampras has, winning a total of 13 titles at Wimbledon and the Australian, French and us Opens. There are “just so many young players out there that can rise up and play their best tennis,” he said. He mentioned us Open champion Marat Safin, a 20-year-old Russian who rose to No 2 in the rankings, and Hewitt, a 19-year-old Australian who won last week’s atp tournament in Sydney and is seeded seventh for the Australian Open. Laver, nicknamed the “Rocket,” might have won more Grand Slam tournaments, possibly surpassing
Sampras’ total, if they had been opened sooner to professionals. As a pro, he missed the six years up to 1968. |
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Ban on animal events hits rural sports
meets LUDHIANA, Jan 14 — The adverse impact of the blanket ban on animal events in rural sports festivals, typical of the Malwa belt, is apparent. A poor turnout coupled with lack of enthusiasm among villagers in general and those training animals, especially bullocks, for these annual competitions organised between the first week of January and the last week of March, in particular, are indicative of the “silent resentment” against the December 8 order of the Ludhiana district administration. The orders were issued at the instance of the local unit of the People for Animals and its national president, Mrs Maneka Gandhi, on the plea that animals participating in these rural sports festivals were “subjected to torture and pain”. The orders were, however, not made public. These were circulated among all Subdivisional Magistrates, Tehsildars and even Patwaris with clean instructions that organisers of all such sports festivals should be categorically told that such events would not be allowed. Most of the rural sports festivals, featuring animal events, are organised in Ludhiana district, mainly because big and affluent villages like Kila Raipur, Dhamot, Phalewal, Jharkhar, Raikot and others took the lead in this area. Some villagers raise a special species of bullocks for the annual races and do not use these for anything else. They raise the bullocks like their “wards” and make special provisions for their training and upkeep. In Doaba, besides soccer, volleyball and kabaddi, it is more of cultural events that bring villagers together on an annual basis while in the Majha belt, hockey, wrestling and kabaddi in addition to cultural events dominate. In some areas of Doaba, animal races have been introduced in rural sports festivals now. The organisers of rural festivals in Ludhiana, on the eve of their respective events, have now been informed of the order. One such rural sports festival, a four-day event, concluded at Phalewal, 18 km from here, today. On January 10, a day before the start of the festival, the organisers were informed by the district administration that bullock cart races and other events involving animals had been banned and should not be organised. “By that time”, says Mr Pal Singh Grewal, Sarpanch of Phalewal, “we had received more than 50 entries for the bullock cart races. We were forced to cancel these. It is for these races that we had taken on lease for a whole year five acres of land from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. This additional land, adjoining our venue, was used for the bullock cart races. It has been our 72nd year of competition. We are greatly disappointed at this ban.” The Punjab Technical Education Minister, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, was the guest of honour on the concluding day. The four-day event witnessed several international stars, including hockey Olympian Baljit Singh Saini and Sukhvir Singh Grewal. Yesterday, Asian Gamesh gold medallist Kartar Singh brought his trainee wrestlers. Besides some international and national level wrestlers from PAP and other places were also here. Competitions in track and field, kabaddi and volleyball were also organised. In the absence of bullock cart races, the turnout was affected. “We started this festival, probably even before the famous ‘rural Olympics’ of Kila Raipur. We also introduced bullock cart races and other animal events as they are primarily part of our life. We are more concerned with the welfare of our animals than anybody else”, says Mr Hardev Singh Grewal, organising secretary of the festival maintaining that every villager would oppose any “cruelty to any animal but at the same time, animals should not be denied participation”. When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sandhu, said that ban orders had been issued under Section 11 (a) (n) and (o) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. “We can get the Act examined in context of animal events of rural sports festivals from the Legal Remembrancer”, he added. Most of these rural sports festivals, including Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival, are due to be held later this month and next month. Those supporting animal events in rural festivals maintain that instead of banning these events, the authorities would do well to ensure that animals are not subjected to any cruelty. “Participation of animals in a fair manner should be rather encouraged. The world of sport has given animals their due by including equestrian sports and even polo in the Olympic family. Same is the case with use of animals in other areas, including defence forces and security forces”, they argue demanding that the administration must review its order. Half of Rajasthan tourism survives on camels alone. In fact chariot races, camel races and dog races have been traditional and were encouraged since times immemorial, they add maintaining that like farmers, special caretakers are employed to look after horses, camels and dogs in preparing them for competitions. The rural sports festival, they maintain, is a people’s movement. In Ludhiana district alone, for example, more than 50 such festivals are organised between first week of January and last week of March. On an average, each of such festival has a turnout of 50,000 to one million people. These festivals, they maintain, are symbolic of villagers comraderie. After a day of sporting events, the villagers relax at night when they sit around bonfires and listen to their favourite pop singers. As such, these festivals are more of socio-cultural festivals besides being sporting events. In the cover of prevention of cruelty to animals, these traditional events should not be allowed to die a sudden death, they add. |
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Indian Navy rout SCR MUMBAI, Jan 14 (PTI) — Indian Navy played an attacking game to trounce South Central Railway (SCR) 4-0 in the league match of the 39th All-India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at BHA Mahindra Stadium here today. It was in the sixth minute when the Navy men earned the penalty corner and H.S. Bisht received the push from captain P.L. Murugappan. Bisht gave a brilliant back pass to Robindro Singh Okram who hit a powerful hit directly into the goal. After taking the early lead, Manoj Lokhande extended it in the 23rd minute. Lokhande combined well with Amin-ul-Haq and gave a pass to Haq at the centre only to receive it back and hit the ball from right which completely dodged SCR goalkeeper Tagore Babu and dashed into the goal. The rail men did their level best to reduce the lead but failed in all their attempts and as a result were forced to take the break after trailing 0-2. In the second half also Navy men played with same aggression and increased the lead in the 38th minute. Murugappan gave pass to Lokhande who challenged the goalkeeper but the ball went to Amin-ul-Haq who promptly put the ball in. The fourth goal for Navy came in 45th minute when Murugappan converted Lokhande’s pass into a goal. With this win Indian Navy entered the pre-quarterfinlas where they will meet Border Security Force (BSF). Tomorrow, Western Railway take on Indian Air Force in the first match while central railway meet Sikh Regi- mental Centre in the second match. |
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Kapil shines
in golf NEW DELHI, Jan. 14 — Kapil Dev, donning a different cap, won the longest drive competition with a mighty effort when he carted the ball to a distance of 326 yards at the par-72 Bhatiary Golf and Country Club, in the pro am event of the Rs 10 lakh prize money Bhatiary Open Golf Championship at Chittagong, Bangladesh, according to information reaching here. Kapil’s herculean effort overshadowed the victory of Yusuf Ali and his team of Raiyan Rab, Brig Ilyas Rasul and Lt Col Inamul. The winning team tallied 14-under 130 which was three strokes better than the runners-up team of Rahul Ganapathy, Lt-Col Mustaba, golf captain of Bhatiary Club Zulfiquar Ali Khan and Lt-Col Nizam Ahmed. The tournament, which was the first-ever professional event held in Bangladesh, was a thumping success. Minister of Works, Civil Aviation, Tourism and Housing Musharraf Hossain gave away the prizes. |
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Patiala fencing results PATIALA, Jan 14 — Vikramjit Dhillon beat Sandeep Singh 5-3 to enter the last four stage in the boys foil individual event on the penultimate day of the Patiala District Fencing Championships held at the polo ground gymnasium here today. The other fencers who entered the semifinals were Harshpreet Singh who beat Mukesh Kumar 5-3, Kamalpreet Singh who downed Kuldeep Singh 5-3 and Deepak Saini who rallied to down Ishwinder Singh 5-3. On the distaff side, Sumeet Kaur clinched the title in the same event by beating Prabhjot Kaur 5-3. Earlier in the semifinals, Sumeet Kaur managed to down a fighting Aneet Kaur 5-4 while Prabhjot Kaur downed Rashmi (senior) 4-3. Rashmi (senior) was placed third while Aneet Kaur bagged the fourth position. Other results: (boys foil - all quarterfinals): Sandeep Singh beat Gaurav Garg 5-3, Harshpreet Singh beat Sandeep Mohindera 5-3, Kuldeep Singh beat Deepinder Singh 5-4, Ishwinder Singh beat Bikramdev Singh 5-4, Deepak Saini beat Amandeep Verma 5-3. (Girls foil - all quarterfinals): Sumeet Kaur beat Navjot Kaur 5-1, Aneet Kaur beat Ashwinder Kaur 5-1, Rashmi (senior) beat Rupinder Kaur 5-0, Prabhjot Kaur beat Shavinder Kaur 5-0. |
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Second gold for
Abhinav Bindra CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — Olympian Abhinav Bindra, world record holder, who is currently on the European shooting circuit, won laurels for India at Luxemborg today by winning the second gold medal in a row with a score of 692.5 beating Nikkelin Denny of the Netherlands (690.4) and Garat Xavier (687). Abhinav outclassed his rivals shooting 99, 100, 98, 98, 98, 99 and 100.5 Nikkel of Netherlands shot 590 + 100.4 and Xavier 586+101 from a possible 700. Abhinav was declared the best shooter of RIAC 2001 which is held in Luxemborg every year. Earlier, Abhinav won a silver on the first day with a score of 692.4. He shot a gold on the second day. CHANDIGARH, Jan 14 — The Haryana Government today decided that rural competitions would be held at the block level on February 10 and 11 and at the district level on February 17 and 18. A decision to this effect was taken at a state-level conference on rural sports organised by the Haryana Sports and Panchayat Departments at the site of the Haryana Olympic Bhavan, Panchkula, today. Earlier Khel Ratan Abhey Singh Chautala, who is president of the Haryana Olympic Association performed Bhoomi Pujan at the site where the Olympic Bhavan will be constructed over an area of three acres at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore in a period of two years. It will include facilities for swimming, sports club, fitness centre, media centre, cyber cafe, cafeteria and residential facilities for sportpersons. It will also have an R&D centre. He also released a sports calender of the HOA for the year 2001.The detailed activities of the year include, state coaching camps, Asian circle kabaddi meet in April at Hisar, International Olympic Day celebrations, talent search competitions, Major Dhyan Chand birthday celebrations, various district-level competitions and the Haryana Sports Festival. A tripartite agreement was signed between the Haryana Sports Department, Sports Authority of India and Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, for establishing a sports training centre for 200 sportspersons at HAU. Mr Abhey Singh also revealed that he would impress upon the Chief Minister to set up a regional SAI centre in Haryana. Mr Chautala while stressing the role of rural sports said the concept was being revived after 1990 when the then Chief Minister, Mr Devi Lal had initiated the same. Mr Chautala critcised the closing down of the sports college at CCSHAU but promised that it would prosper with many schemes. Mr Abhey singh also lamented that cricketers in India were always given ‘super star’ treatment while other disciplines suffered.
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SSCB, Haryana bag honours PUNE, Jan 14 (PTI) — Reigning champions Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) men and Haryana women stole honours in the 20 km National Walking Championship, 2001 organised by the Pune International Marathon Trust at Balewadi here today. National record holder Havildar Gurdarshan Singh clocked 1 hr 37 mins 48 secs to win the race by more than half a lap distance over his nearest rival and team mate Havaldar Sita Ram who clocked 1:39:44. The visibly exhausted K. Inecha Singh also of SSCB finished a distant third clocking 1:52:10 and helped SSCB make a clean sweep. In the women’s section, Ravina Antil and Meena Chhikara, the talented youngsters from Saint Thomas Academy, Bahadurgarh, Haryana slotted themselves into the first two positions. This was for the first time that women also had to walk 20 km instead of 10 km. While Ravina clocked the timing of 2:14:54, Meena took the second spot by clocking 2:21:24. |
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