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| Sunday, February
4, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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3-nation Sharjah
series
Unbeaten
300 by Khoda |
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West Zone win PUNE, Feb 3 — Mumbai leggie Sairaj Bahutule mesmerised the East batting and claimed a rich haul of 6 for 49, including a hat-trick, to help West Zone post a resounding innings-and-363-run victory in the final of the four-day Duleep Trophy league tie.
Ghouse, Malhotra champs India looking for 5-0 sweep East Bengal held CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — Olympian and world record holder Abhinav Bindra bagged his sixth successive gold in the Inter-Shoot Den Haag 2001 European Circuit Shooting Championship last night with a total score of 694.8. Going in the final shootout with an initial score of 592 he shot 102.8.
India, Lanka
in title clash Beenamol’s
threat to quit athletics Adventure festival:
19 states to participate Nishad moves up Handball nationals
from Feb 13 BSF lift trophy
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3-nation
Sharjah series MADURAI, Feb 3 (PTI) — Sports Minister Uma Bharati today rejected the cricket board's proposal for the Indian team’s participation in a triangular series involving Pakistan and Bangladesh in Sharjah from February 8 to 11 to mobilise funds for the Gujarat earthquake victims. However, she welcomed the board’s intention which was to collect aid for the quake victims. “I am happy with the BCCI’s suggestion that Rs 20 crore can be raised through the Sharjah matches. But, Rs 200 crore can be raised if our team plays matches with the film stars in the country,” she told PTI here. Ms Bharati’s stand in line with the government’s decision not to have any sporting links with Pakistan in the aftermath of Kargil assumes significance in the context Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, making a telephone call to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to convey sympathy for the loss of life and devastation in Gujarat. Board secretary Jaywant Lele had yesterday announced that the government had given the ‘go ahead’ for the tour and said the official communication from the concerned ministry would be received on February 5. The idea to play in Sharjah was first mooted by the finance committee of the Asian Cricket Council at its meeting in Lahore on February 1. Later, she told reporters in Chennai that this was her view and she had conveyed it to the External Affairs Ministry from which she was yet to get a reply. “If they want to organise matches in aid of the Gujarat earthquake victims, they can do it in other ways in India itself. There is no need to play a match against Pakistan in Sharjah or anywhere in the world,” Ms Bharati, who was in Madurai en route to Delhi after a visit to Rameswaram, said. Ms Bharati said she had conveyed her views to the BCCI through the secretary of the Youth Affairs and Sports Department. She said her ministry could act as a nodal agency to help BCCI organise matches between the cricket players like Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar with film stars, including Hrithik Roshan, and suggested that aid-matches could be held at four venues in the country. They could be staged at a venue each in Punjab, Bhopal, the north-east and the south. The Indians were more generous and the BCCI could collect much more than what they could mobilise outside the country. People would know that they were going to help the quake victims, she added. Asked why the government had not reviewed its stand vis-a-vis cricket ties between India and Pakistan, she said it was a bilateral issue and only the External Affairs Ministry could decide. |
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Lanka win by 3 wickets WELLINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) — Russel Arnold hit a flawless unbeaten 78 today to lead Sri Lanka to a three-wicket victory over New Zealand with three balls to spare. It put the tourists 2-0 up in the one-day series. Arnold shared a fifth wicket stand of 53 with Aravinda De Silva (37) which looked to have set Sri Lanka on the path to an easy victory. But de Silva’s dismissal by Daniel Vettori gave Sri Lanka the jitters and when Kumar Dharmasena became the second run out victim for four they were left with a run-a-ball to win at 164 for six after 43.2 overs. Eric Upashantha was the third Sri Lankan to be run out, a side-on hit from Chris Harris, with the score at 191 leaving them with 15 runs to make from 12 balls. But Arnold stood firm and in the penultimate over lofted Chris Martin over the mid-wicket boundary for six leaving just five runs needed off eight balls which they made relatively comfortably.
Fall of wickets: 1-34 2-41 3-48 4-125 5-184 6-193 7-195 8-205. Bowling: Zoysa 9-2-28-4 (nb1), Upashantha 5-0-30-0 (w3 nb1), Muralitharan 10-1-40-0 (w1), Dharmasena 8-0-25-1, Fernando 6-0-34-2 (w4 nb6), de Silva 3-0-14-0, Jayasuriya 9-0-32-1 (w1).
Fall of wickets: 1-23 2-56 3-63 4-82 5-145 6-164 7-191 Bowling: Martin 7-0-35-1 (w1 nb1), Franklin 8-1-36-1 (nb1), Oram 5-0-20-2, Vettori 10-1-30-1 (nb1), Harris 10-0-38-0, Astle 2-0-10-0, McMillan 6.3-0-27-0. |
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Unbeaten 300 by Khoda PANAJI, Feb 3 (PTI) — Faced with a daunting task to wipe out the 409 runs first innings deficit and avoid an innings defeat, South Zone were 204 for four in their second innings at close of play on the third day of their four-day Duleep Trophy league match against Central Zone here today. Earlier, Central Zone declared their first innings at 550 for seven after adding another 81 runs to their overnight score of 469 shortly after the play resumed today. The overnight not out batsman Gagan Khoda (246) scored his career-best unbeaten 300 runs while his partner Yere Goud (75) added 10 runs to his individual score before being caught by Hemang Badani of left arm spinner Venkatapathi Raju. Khoda’s earlier highest score was 238 runs in a first class match. South Zone, who had made runs in their first innings, fought back well with their opener S. Sriram scoring an unbeaten century. Sriram (batting 102) added 128 runs for the third wicket along with Vijay
Bharadwaj (40) to lead South’s fight back after South lost their first two wickets with the total on 28. At draw of stumps, Sunil Joshi (batting 18) was giving company to Sriram whose 102 contained 13 hits to the boundary. He has faced 232 ball in 299 minutes so far. South Zone (first innings): 141. Central Zone (first innings): (overnight 469 for 3). Gagan Khoda not out 300, Yere Goud c Badani b Venkapathy Raju 85, Devendra Bundela run out 00, Rahul Kanwat b V. Raju 7, Tohit Jalani c Tilak Naidu b V. Raju 7. Extras: 23 (b-4, lb-6, nb-13). Total: 550 for 7 declared in 152 overs. Fall of wickets: 3/282, 4/499, 5/499, 6/516,7/550. Bowling: J. Srinath 14-3-47-0, V. Prasad 27-9-71-0, A. Kapoor 31-5-121-2, S. Joshi 25-9-84-0, V. Raju 35-3 133-3, V. Bharadwaj 11-1-37-0, H. Badani 6-0/-0-0, V.V.S. Laximan 3-0-17-0. South Zone: (2nd innings): Nanda Kashor c Jalani b D. Bundela 7, S. Sriram not out 102, V.V.S. Laximan b J.P. Yadav 12, Vijay Bharadwaj b R. Kanwat 40, Tilak Naidu c R. Jalani b R. Rawat 5, Sunil Joshi not out 18. Extras: 20 (b-2, nb-18). Total: 204 for 4 in 71 overs. Fall of wickets: 1/11, 2/28, 3/156, 4/180. Bowling: Devendra Bundela 12-5-11-1, S. Srivastava 10-1-40-0, J.P. Yadav 7-2-15-1, Murali Kartik 12-2-33-0, Narendra Hirwani 15-3-63-0, Rahul Kanwat 15-2-40-2. |
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West Zone win PUNE, Feb 3 (UNI) — Mumbai leggie Sairaj Bahutule mesmerised the East batting and claimed a rich haul of 6 for 49, including a hat-trick, to help West Zone post a resounding innings-and-363-run victory in the final of the four-day Duleep Trophy league tie. It was indeed a spineless batting display by the East. Having shot out for a paltry 132-runs in their first essay, they resumed at the overnight score of 50 for no loss and were sent back to the pavilion on a score of 161. West Zone (1st innings): 656 for seven declared. East Zone (1st innings): S.S Das c Martin b Agarkar 38, Z. Zuffri c Mongia b Agarkar 27, R.R. Parida b Agarkar 0, S. Raul c Powar b Zaheer Khan 4, R. Gavaskar b Zaheer Khan 0, D. Dasgupta lbw b Agarkar 2, P.J. Chandra lbw b Bahutule 2, S. Singh b Agarkar 0, U. Chatterjee not out 18, D. Mohanty run out 12, J. Zaman st Mongia b Powar 1. Extras: (b-22, lb1, nb5) 28 Total: (allout, 45 overs) 132 Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-56, 3-65, 4-69, 5-73, 6-88, 7-88, 8-88, 9-105. Bowling: Agarkar 14-4-22-5, Zaheer Khan 12-5-30-2, Powar 6-1-16-1, Siddiqui 7-2-17-0, Bahutule 6-2-24-1. East Zone (2nd innings): S.S Das lbw b Siddiqui 15, Z. Zufferi c and b Powar 7, R. Gavaskar lbw b Bahutule 18, D. Dasgupta c Tendulkar b Zaheer Khan 0, R.R. Parida lbw b Zaheer Khan 41, S. Raul c Kambli b Bahutule 19, P. Jay Chandra lbw b Bahutule 5, S. Singh b Bahutule 0, U. Chatterjee not out 17, D. Mohanty c Martin b Bahutule 17, J. Zaman c Martin b Bahutule 10. Extras: (b-2, lb-4, nb-6) 12. Total: (allout, 47.5 overs) 161. Fall of wickets:
1-23, 2-25, 3-33, 4-63, 5-98, 6-110, 7-110, 8-110, 9-145. Bowling: Agarkar 7-1-25-0, Zaheer Khan 10-2-34-2, Siddiqui 6-3-4-1, Powar 10-3-34-1, Bahutule 12.5-2-49-6, Tendulkar 2-0-9-0. |
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Rusedski, Kafelnikov in last four MILAN, Feb 3 (Reuters) — Britain’s Greg Rusedski has beaten top seed and US Open champion Marat Safin 6-0, 7-6 to reach the semifinals of the Milan indoor tournament. Safin’s team mate and second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov also swept into the last four, beating Wimbledon semifinalist Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 6-4 6-3. Rusedski faces unheralded Julien Boutter in Saturday’s semifinals after the Frenchman beat American Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4 6-4. Kafelnikov will face Switzerland’s seventh seed Roger Federer, who overcame Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic 6-4 6-4. Safin was unable to cope with Rusedski’s serve in the opening set of their afternoon match but began the second set well, taking a 3-1 lead. But just as the Russian’s confidence appeared to be returning, Rusedski, who also beat Safin in Stuttgart in their last meeting in 2000, rallied to take the set into a tie-break which he won 7-5. Rudeski was well pleased with his showing. “In the first set I played very, very well and basically I didn’t miss a ball,’’ he said. “Safin was playing average and I was doing well but I knew the second set was going to be tough and he played well then. I had to just stick in there because Marat gets better and better with each game and each ball played.’’ Safin had struggled in the second round against Belgian Xavier Malisse on Thursday, particularly in the early stages when he lost the first set. Rusedski said he had learned from how Malisse had kept the Russian under pressure. “My strategy was to use slice more than top spin on a quick low court like this one. You want to bring the ball up against baseliners like Safin and it worked well for Malisse yesterday (Thursday),’’ he said. After a nightmare season last year, when he was hampered by a number of injuries and slumped in the world rankings, Rusedski now appears to be getting back on track. This win came after his victory over top seed Gustavo Kuerten at the Australian open. Hingis-Davenport showdown TOKYO (Reuters): Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport each suffered second-set slips in their semi-finals at the Pan Pacific Open today but advanced to set up a showdown between the world’s top two women players. Hingis received a wake-up call after a miserable second set and defeated Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva in the semi-final 6-3 1-6 6-0 of the $ 1.2 million indoor tournament. Davenport weathered a storm from Russian number three seed Anna Kournikova to book a spot in the finals with a 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 victory. The Hingis-Davenport match will mark the 16th time the two have met in a final. Davenport has won nine of those contests but Hingis has won three of the last four, including a three-set thriller in a warm-up event in Sydney last month for the Australian Open. Hingis and Davenport are both looking to rebound from losses at the Australian Open as the tall American fell to Jennifer Capriati in the semi-finals and Hingis tumbled against the same player in the final. Swiss number one seed Hingis had a rough start against Maleeva as she battled for nearly every point in the first set and lost her precision and focus in the second. “After the second set, I guess I woke up again,’’ Hingis said. “The second was when I let (myself) down and maggie played some unbelievable shots,’’ Hingis said. The wake-up alarm rang loudly in the third, as Hingis blitzed the Bulgarian veteran to take it to love and completed her victory with an ace on match point. Hingis is aiming to claim an unprecedented third straight Pan Pac title. “I played a lot of tennis in the last month so I am confident going into the finals,’’ Hingis said. |
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Ghouse, Malhotra champs KOLKATA, Feb 3 (PTI) — Maharashtra’s Mustafa Ghouse won his maiden men’s singles crown while statemate Manisha Malhotra regained the ladies’ title by prevailing over their opponents in fiercly fought final encounters at the Senior National Grasscourt Tennis Championships here today. The seventh ranked Ghouse tasted triumph in his first ever entry into the tournament’s final edging past third seed Vishal Uppal of Delhi 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at the Calcutta South Club. Top seed Malhotra, who won the title in 1999 but had to skip last year due to an injury, rode on her experience and powerful backhand volleys to pip third seed Rushmi Chakravarti of Tamil Nadu 6-1 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-2) in the nail-biting 110 minute women’s final. The big serving Ghouse fired on all cylinders to break his rival in the eighth game to pocket the opening set 6-3, but seemed to lose way as the in form Uppal displayed strong nerves to stage a comeback by winning the second set. Ghouse suddenly looked slow and dropped his serve in the eighth game and the 24-year-old Delhi boy retained service in the ninth to bag the set. Uppal continued his fine run in the decider putting pressure on Ghouse’s serve in the first game, but the latter held serve after saving a break point. The games went with serves till the ninth, when Uppal again got two break points but Ghouse rallied back to take the game to make the scoreline 5-4. The all-important tenth game, however, saw a complete reversal of fortunes as Uppal suddenly became a bundle of nerves and, going for the big serves, made two double faults to concede three matchpoints to his opponent. Uppal then messed up an easy volley putting the ball into the net instead to gift the title to Ghouse after a 112-minute struggle. The women’s final saw Malhotra run away with the first set in 25 minutes breaking Chakravarti in the fourth and sixth games. The Tamil Nadu lass seemed tentative making a number of unforced errors and had difficulty negotiating Malhotra’s low returns to lose the set virtually without a fight. Chakravarti, however, did not lose heart. She improved her serve and broke her rival in the fourth game to lead 3-1. Malhotra, however, fought back demolishing Chakravarti’s serve in the ninth game. The set finally rolled into the tie break where Chakravarti grabbed the first two points and then raced to 4-1 before winning 7-3 to close the set. The deciding set saw both players serving well, but Malhotra hit some fine winners to break Chakravarti in the fourth game and held her serve in the fourth to lead 4-1. But the top seed suddenly
seemed to lose concentration making a series of unforced errors to lost her serve in the seventh game. As the rivals held serve in the next five games the tie breaker was resorted to. Malhotra won five points on the trot after losing the first
point to lead 5-1 and then clinched the issue 7-2 with Chakravarti’s shot finding the net. |
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India looking for 5-0 sweep NEW DELHI, Feb 3 — The addition of an “extra” player, left-handed national hard court champion Nitin Kirtane, has injected a lot of “flexibility” into the Indian Davis Cup squad, who take on China in the Asia-Ocenia Group I tie in Beijing from February 9 to 11. With the induction of former Davis Cupper Nandan Bal as the coach, a lot of load has been taken off the shoulders of non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan, who can now devote enough time for strategic planning, as Bal is capable of efficiently handling the coaching part of the team’s preparation. But, who is still match-fit, worked out with the Davis Cup players as an equal partner at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association courts here today for long hours, before the team, comprising Ramesh, Bal, Prahlad Srinath, Syed Fazaluddin and Nitin Kirtane, packed up to leave for Beijing via Bangkok in the evening. Star players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be joining them in Beijing from the USA and Italy, respectively. India take on China at the East University City Sports Centre indoor deco-turf courts in Lang Fang City, Behei, at the outskirts, about 50 kms away from Beijing, with temperatures there reportedly hovering around 7 to 8 degrees centigrade. Ramesh, who joined the Davis Cup team as non-playing captain exactly one year ago, on the eve of India’s Asia-Ocenia Group I match against Lebanon at Lucknow, is looking forward to a victory against China, now that India are in full strength, with Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi all set to play in the Davis Cup together, after a gap of more than one and a half years. Ramesh was confident of India pulling off a victory against China, though the match venue would be too cold for India’s comfort. The winners of this tie meet the winners of the match between Japan and Thailand in Group II, and Ramesh’s goal then is to put India back in the elite World Group. Ramesh told The Tribune here today that the addition of Nitin Kirtane as an “extra” player in the team was to mainly give the other players a chance to fine-tune themselves with a left-hander in practice sessions, as the Chinese team comprise a couple of left-handers. “It’s good to have an additional player in the team”, remarked Ramesh, though being a trainee of Nandan Bal also helped Nitin’s induction in the Davis Cup squad as an “extra” player. Mahesh Bhupathi’s shoulder surgery was also one of the reasons for Nitin’s inclusion as Bhupathi may not be able to withstand the workload if the tie goes the full distance, as it would be too much of a pressure on his shoulder. Though Ramesh was confident of India’s chances, he didn’t want to sound too cocky. “We think we have a chance, but we don’t want to belittle the
opposition”. Ramesh hopes that China would field the same squad they had fielded in the Asia Cup here in December, unless they have some dark horses in the stable, to spring a surprise on the Indians. According to present indications, China would have to choose their players from among Zhang Yu, Wangi Yu, Wu Bin and Sung Peng, as their top player, Zhu Ben-Qiang, who had broken his hand in the opening match of the Asia Cup, is reportedly not yet fully fit. The hard deco-turf court, and the Dunlop Fort DTB balls, to be used for the match, may also come in handy for India, who are looking for a clean 5-0 sweep. Nandan Bal said his brief was not only to assist Ramesh in Davis Cup, but also to tour with the top ten players in the Satellite, Challenger and other tournaments to coach them, train them and provide them with other necessary guidance, so that India build up a strong second string, soon. Bal was associated with the Davis Cup team in 1996-97 when Jaideep Mukherjea was the non-playing captain, when India played against Hong Kong, Netherlands, Chile and Croatia. |
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East Bengal held MARGAO, Feb 3 (PTI) — In a fast paced keenly contested match, East Bengal came from behind to hold Zee Churchill Brothers to a one all draw in the fifth National Football League here today. Churchill, who took time to settle down, drew first blood in the 36th minute through defender Rajesh Meetei. Medio Andre Requena, from the right, sent a diagonal pass to unmarked Rajesh Meetei who controlled the ball and, seeing the keeper Akhtar guarding the right post, took a 20-yard shot to far end of the net to his left, to have Churchill Brothers leading 1-0 at half time. East Bengal, who missed two close chances in the first half, restored parity soon after resumption through striker Omolaja Olalekan in the 51st minute. Following a flag kick on the right, Isiaka Awoyemi floated the ball into the goal mouth for substitute Sreekanta Dutta whose bicycle kick deflected keeper Edward Ansah and the ball came to Omolaja who made no mistake in slotting home from close. With this draw, East Bengal now have seven points from four matches. Churchill, who are yet to win, have two points from as many matches. Referee Dinesh Nair of Gujarat showed yellow cards to Churchill’s Mahesh Gowali and Andre Requena and East Bengal’s Awoyemi. Tomorrow, Salgaocar take on Manaksia Tollygunge Agragami. |
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Asim
to lead NEW DELHI, Feb 3 — Mid-fielder Asim Ali Khan will lead a 21-member Delhi state team in the Junior National Football Championship for the B.C. Roy Trophy, to be held in Bangalore. Defender Subhash Majumdar will be the vice-captain, according to DSA joint-secretary N.K. Bhatia here today. Delhi play their first match against Nagaland on February 6. |
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Another gold for
Abhinav Bindra CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — Olympian and world record holder Abhinav Bindra bagged his sixth successive gold in the Inter-Shoot Den Haag 2001 European Circuit Shooting Championship last night with a total score of 694.8. Going in the final shootout with an initial score of 592 he shot 102.8. Interestingly the first three shooters had identical scores of the eight finalists with a score of 592. Abhinav had a series of 98, 98, 98, 98, 100 with a final of 102.8. C Sannvoll of Norway won the silver with a score of 691.1 and C. Legon of Sweden with a score of 689.1. The chairman of the Inter-Shoot 'Schigndel' remarked that Abhinav as the golden shooter of India had bagged six gold medals in a row with an unprecedented performance on the European Circuit. |
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India, Lanka
in title clash NEW DELHI, Feb 3 — Sri Lanka played with conviction to aggregate a two-day stroke play tally of five-over 293 and assured themselves of a berth in the final against hosts India in the third SAARC Golf Championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here today. India tallied one-over 289 to top the heap in the stroke play contest. Bangladesh occupied the third spot with a tally of 326, while Bhutan at 333 and Nepal at 334 were placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Ashok Kumar emerged the individual stroke play winner with a two-day tally of two under-142. Ashok carded a level par 72. Tomorrow’s match play will be preceded by the Friendship Trophy, involving 120 amateur participants, including some of the corporate heads. Sri Lanka’s remarkable performance today was mainly due to the form shown by Tissa Chandradasa and Anura Rohana, as the former returned the best score of the day, with a two-under 70, which included birdies on the eighth, 14th, 15th and 18th holes and bogeys on the sixth and ninth. Anura Rohana, the top-ranked Sri Lankan player, had a brilliant run in the first half with a birdie start to his round followed by two more birdies on the fourth and eighth holes. A series of paired holes followed and just as it looked like Rohana would end the day with a five of six-under, he muffed up his tee shot on the 14th, which resulted in his ball finding the right bushes. The resultant bogey broke his confidence. Ashok Kumar played percentage golf to finish with a level par 72. Rahil Gangjee had a terrible day, yet managed to finish with a three-over 75. |
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Vijay, Mukesh
in lead NEW DELHI, Feb 3 — Vijay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar finished on top of the leaderboard at the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club course in the Rs 6 lakh BPGC Open Golf Championship, according to information available here. Both Vijay and Mukesh played rounds of level par 70 to be at six under 204 after 54 holes. In tied third place one stroke behind were Shiv Prakash and Asgar Ali. Asgar’s nephew, Yusuf Ali, shot the day’s best card of three-under 67 to climb up to the fifth place at four under 206, while veteran Rohtas Singh and Indrajit Bhalotia were sixth and seventh at 207 and 208. |
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Beenamol’s
threat to quit athletics PATIALA, Feb 2 — One of India’s top athletes and two-time Olympian, K.M. Beenamol, has threatened to quit competative athletics if her national record in the 400m is not ratified by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI). At present, quartermiler K.M. Beenamol is attending the senior national athletic camp being held at the NIS here. The Indian Railway star had shattered the long standing record in the 400 metres held by P.T. Usha at an international meet at Kiev last year by clocking 51.21seconds. P.T. Usha had clocked 51.61 seconds to set up the national record at the Seoul Asian Games and the mark stood the test of time for 14 long years before K.M. Beenamol clipped an amazing .40 seconds off Usha’s record during the Kiev meet. In fact, K.M. Beenamol provided the only silver lining to an otherwise pathetic performance by Indian athletes at the Sydney Olympics where Indian athletics stood bare and could no longer run for cover. K.M Beenamol is the only Indian woman athlete after Shiny Abraham to have reached the semifinal stage in the Olympics in the gruelling 400 metres event. All of P.T. Usha’s National records set in the 100m, 200m and 400m now stand obliterated. Prior to the Sydney Olympics, Rachita Mistry lowered her 100m record, Vinita Triphati shattered the 200m record and K.M. Beenamol put to shade the 400m national record not once but thrice. After her Kiev effort where she bagged the Gold medal, Beenamol won the silver in the Jakarta Asian Track and Field meet clocking 51.41 seconds and at Sydney she had a timing of 51.51seconds. AAFI sources say that this deluge of records was spectacular but at the same time suspicious and which forced the icon of Indian athletics, P.T.Usha, to urge the AAFI to go through the proper procedure, including dope testing of athletes at an International Olympic Committee accredited laboratory abroad, before ratification. However, K.M. Beenamol maintains that all her three records were set on foreign soil and that she had undergone proper dope tests at both Jakarata and Sydney although no dope test was carried out at Kiev. She added that she could understand Usha’s anxiety but again underlined her Jakarta and Sydney efforts where she twice lowered Usha’s record and where on both occassions she was tested for dope at IOC accredited labs as asked for by Usha. Even as she held out the threat to quit, at the same time she exuded confidence over ratification of her record by AAFI by saying that “the chief coach, Bahadur Singh, has assured me that my record will be ratified shortly.” But as a source attached with the national athletics camp in progress here said “competetive athletics in India is a mixture of conflicts, controversies and confusions.” It is under these circumstances that one of India’s most promising athletes , K.M. Beenamol , is keeping her fingers crossed and is awaiting the AAFI’s nod of ratifying her efforts. |
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Adventure festival:
19 states to participate CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — About 450 participants from 19 states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, MP, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, UP, and West Bengal are likely to take part in the seventh National Adventure Festival scheduled to start at Tagore Theatre from tomorrow. Giving this information here today, Mr R.S. Varma, president, National Adventure Club, revealed that the festival continuing up to February 11 would have events in river rafting, snow skiing, kayaking, canoeing, para-sailing, trekking, rock climbing, water sports and aero sports. The participants, who would be divided into six groups, will be sent to different venues in Himalayas such as Narkanda for snow skiing and trekking, Rishikesh for river rafting, Pong Dam for water sports, Pinjore Aviation Club for aero sports, Nahan for trekking, rock climbing and scuba diving and Manali for skiing. The unique feature of the festival is the introduction of micro light flying, slithering and para jumping by an Indian Air Force team. The National Adventure Club (I) will organise the second Servo Chandigarh Marathon on February 11, the last day of the festival. The marathon, which will be flagged off from the Sector 16 cricket stadium, will be conducted in three sections — full marathon (42. 195 km), half marathon (21 km) and mini marathon ( for under 17 boys and girls — 5 km), Mr Varma said adding that the event was in its infancy and efforts would be made to involve foreign participants from next year. The club, he said provided an ideal platform to the youth of the country to get exposure in adventure activities. Mr H.S. Bhadu, Director, Haryana Olympic Association, has been appointed chief coordinator of the marathon races. Mr Varma said that the club, keeping in view the devastation that had taken place in the Gujarat areas due to earthquake, had donated Rs 1 lakh for undertaking relief and rehabilitation work. The event will be bereft of all festivities and will be a low key affair due to the quake. The festival, an annual event and being organised by the National Adventure Club (I), a voluntary oganisation, has been sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resourse Development, Depatment of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. |
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Nishad moves up JAIPUR, Feb 3 (PTI) — Junior national champion Nishad Dravid overcame a poor start to beat Palav Deka of Assam in straight games and reach the second round of mens’s singles of the Senior National Badminton Championships here today. Nishad won 15-7, 15-7. V. Diju of Kerala, who makes a formidable doubles pair with Sanave Thomas, also sailed into the second round with a 15-6 15-8 win over Shafaq Nawab of Bihar. The seeded players had a rest day today all of them having first round byes. In the women’s singles, last year’s junior national runner-up Puja Patil of Karnataka defeated qualifier Sudipta Roy of West Bengal 11-2, 11-2 while another qualifier Kranti Sane of Maharashtra overcame Gauri Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh 11-5, 11-6 in first round matches. Isha Sharma of Chandigarh came from behind to beat Poonam Patil of Himachal Pradesh 7-11, 13-11, 11-5 in a tough match. Susan Rajan of Kerala also moved into the next round with a hard fought victory over Parul Rawat of Delhi. Susan won 12-13, 13-12, 11-4.
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Handball nationals
from Feb 13 CHANDIGARH, Feb 3 — The 29th Senior National Women’s Handball Championship to be held at Chandigarh from February 13 to 18 will give a boost to the game here, according to Mr Ravinder Talwar, vice-president of the Handball Federation of India. Mr Talwar, who has been associated with the HFI for many years said the federation wanted Chandigarh to organise this meet which will be held at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, here. The total budget is likely to be Rs 4 lakh. The Chandigarh Handball Association under the presidentship of Mr R.P. Garg is keen to make the event a memorable one. The HFI organisers the sub-junior, junior and senior nationals for boys and girls. In the forthcoming nationals, all affiliated units comprising more than 25 states, including three Unior Territories, will converge on Chandigarh and more than 300 players will take part. A maximum of 16 players, besides two officials, will be provided free board and lodging facilities by the CHA. Mr Talwar said players would be lodged at Hari Ram hostel in the vicinity of the school and two grounds will be used for the event. The sprinkler system for watering the grounds was in operation. To finalise the Chandigarh team, a camp is already in progress. City’s roller hockey prodigyBy Our Sports Reporter CHANDIGARH Feb 3 — Go to Hansraj Skating Club any day, and you will find 11-year old Chandita Kamboj practicing roller hockey. A student of St. Stephan’s School, Chandita spends nearly six hours every day sharpening her skills and taking tips from her seniors and coach Balwinder
Johal. Chandita took to roller hockey in September last year, and her game and ball control was such that the selectors included her in the Haryana state under-14 team, and she helped her state win the gold medal. She was also part of the Haryana schools under-14 skating team which won the gold medal at the National Schools Games held at Panchkula. She also won the gold medal in the Haryana State meet as member of the Panchkula under-14 team. She has now set her sights on finding a berth in the Indian seniors roller hockey team. She hopes to make it to this year’s Asian Roller. Skating meet to be held in Taipei in September-October. Her dream is to help India win the gold medal in this event. In 1999, India had won the bronze medal. The 11-year-old girl was asked if she would be able to make it to the senior team. She replied with confidence. “Why not? I am working hard and getting guidance from international roller hockey players and an experienced coach. At that time she was discussing ways to improve her style with her senior colleagues, Meenakshi Kohli and Amrita Singh. Her father, Mr I.D. Kamboj, maintains that it was her own decision to take to skating seriously after she had watched a skating event at Chandigarh. Now she had become so devoted to skating that she would prefer to miss a wedding or other family functions if these would interfere with her skating practice. |
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BSF lift trophy GARHSHANKAR, Feb 3 — On the final day of the Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Tournament, today at SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, BSF defeated RCF Kapurthala by a solitary goal and
lifted the coveted Harbhajan Singh Memorial Trophy and a cash award of Rs 30,000. In the first half BSF dictated terms. In the 20th minute Harvinder gave a pass to Tapan Kumar who kicked an angulan ball into the nets. The RCF goalie, Gurpinder, was caught unawares and the ball crashed into the net to give BSF the lead. |
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Cherry on cake:
Navratilova Marat Safin Randhawa fifth Moin skipper |
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