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March 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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India look to increase lead Chandigarh Open Ladies Golf Thorpe’s 2nd record in 24
hrs Kiwis send Pakistan
reeling Lanka humiliate England |
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Windies call up Cuffy, Mohammed
Agassi in fourth
round Second straight win for Tiger Woods Bukhatir on fire-fighting
mission
Churchill Bros down ITI 2-1 East Bengal, JCT to clash today Soccer title for Delhi
Audit Adviser (Sports) for
cash-starved PSEB Germany drop
Bierhoff
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India look to increase lead Pune, March 27 The hosts will be without the services of the star of the first match Virendra Sehwag, who has been ruled out for the series due to a finger injury sustained in the first match at Bangalore, but with confidence sky-high, the Indians enjoy a psychological edge and start favorites for the first time in the series. The Kolkata performance has done wonders for India and suddenly there is a certain discipline in the way they have batted, bowled and fielded. The Australians have shown that they too are susceptible to pressure and they would certainly like to put the record straight here. To be fair to the visitors, they are not playing a bad game at all. It is only that the masters of the mind game have been outplayed on their own turf by the Indians. And the two men who played a major role in giving the Aussies a dose of their own medicine V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid have carried their terrific form into the one-dayers. India’s batting line-up, undoubtedly its main strength, has gained a bit more solidity with these two men performing consistently though captain Saurav Ganguly’s vulnerability outside the off-stump continues to be a major worry. Ganguly has not played a single substantial innings in the series so far and he would desperately like to come good here. India have recalled Yuvraj Singh from Dhaka, where he had gone to play in an exhibition match, to replace Sehwag though it is doubtful whether the Punjab youngster would be included in the final eleven. It is to be seen who gets the nod, Sunil Joshi or Robin Singh, both of whom sat out in Bangalore. However, it would be maestro Sachin Tendulkar, as usual, around whose performance India’s fortunes would revovle. Tendulkar was in a punishing mood in his little explosive innings in Bangalore and the Indians would be hoping a repeat performance from him tomorrow. Tendulkar’s aggression not only sent the bowlers scurrying for cover but also made it a lot easier for the later batsmen to play their natural game against some of the most feared bowlers as was evident in the way Sehwag and Vijay Dahiya handled the likes of Glenn McGrath, Damien Fleming and Shane Warne. The hero of the Test series Harbhajan Singh was unable to take a single wicket in Bangalore but the wily off-spinner is still the most potent weapon in the Indian bowling line-up. It is still unclear whether India will once again go into the match with three seamers or replace one with an all-rounder. Bowling has not been a problem for the Aussies even though they allowed the Indians to score a huge total in Bangalore. Their batsmen have been choking under pressure and the visitors are likely to effect a few changes in their batting line-up, as captain Steve Waugh had hinted at the post-match press conference in Bangalore. All-rounder Shane Lee, who was called from Australia to replace Jason Gillespie, has joined the team and is likely to play tomorrow along with left-hander Darren Lehmann. Out-of-form batsmen Ricky Ponting and Mark Waugh are most likely to be left out of the final eleven which would be announced only tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, Indian manager Chetan Chauhan said Yuveraj Singh will be able to join the team only before the third match in Indore on Saturday and thus was unavailable for selection tomorrow. Teams (from): India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Dinesh Mongia, Robin Singh, Vijay Dahiya, Hemang Badani, Sunil Joshi, Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh and Ajit Agarkar. Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Nathan Bracken, Damien Fleming, Ian Harvey, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Lee. Umpires: I. Sivaram and R.C. Gupta. Third umpire: C.R. Mohite Match referee: Cammie Smith.
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Mongia may replace Sehwag Pune, March 26 Coach John Wright told reporters after nets that Mongia stood a very good chance of playing tomorrow as Sehwag’s replacement Yuveraj Singh would join the team only ahead of the third match at Indore on Saturday. “We have Mongia, Sunil Joshi and Robin Singh to choose from for this match and Yuveraj Singh is expected to join the team only in Indore,” Wright said. Sehwag has been ruled out for the series due to a finger injury he sustained while fielding in the Bangalore match. Vice-captain Rahul Dravid, talking to reporters in the absence of Saurav Ganguly, who did not participate in the nets due to an upset stomach, also said Mongia may be played tomorrow. “With Sehwag injured both Mongia and Robin Singh come into the picture,” he said. “It is always a fine feeling to go one-up in the series and we are looking forward to the rest of the matches, though it is a pity Sehwag, who performed wonderfully both with the bat and the ball, is injured,” Dravid said. Both Wright and team manager Chetan Chauhan said Ganguly’s stomach problem was not serious and he would definitely play tomorrow. Wright said the wicket at the Nehru Stadium looked as good as the one in Bangalore but the final eleven would be announced only tomorrow morning after taking one final look at it. The coach said Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly would be used as the fifth bowlers in the absence of Sehwag who took three wickets in Bangalore with his gentle off-spinners. “Sachin did not bowl at all in Bangalore and we may use him and Ganguly as fifth bowlers with each sending down five overs,” he said.
PTI |
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Chandigarh Open Ladies Golf Chandigarh, March 27 Jaskirat Matharu and Ashwini Sharma were the first runner-up and Kanika Minocha and P.P. S. Sahi finished the second runner-up Mr C.S.R. Reddy, DIG, Punjab, inaugurated the lucky doubles event. The main Ladies Open begins tomorrow without the local stars Irina Brar and Parneeta Garewal. The two along with Vandana Aggarwal are away to to participate in the Sri Lanka Ladies Open. With the stars absent the local golfers will have a field day. Mrs Dimple Minocha plays with a handicap of 11, probably the best for this tournament.
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Thorpe’s 2nd record in 24 hrs Hobart, (Australia), March 27 Thorpe set his 13th world record of the last 2-1/2 years when he stopped the clock at one minute 44.69 seconds to slice two-thirds of a second off the previous world record of 1:45.35 set by Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband at the 2000 Sydney Olympics last September. “I just wanted to do a personal best, so of course I’m thrilled to break the world record,” Thorpe said. “I just took it easy after last night and tried to rest as much as possible and convince myself I could swim well tonight.” “People are saying I’m a distance swimmer after last night but I like to think I can sprint as well.” Thorpe won three gold medals at last year’s Olympics but had to settle for silver in the 200 metres after Van den Hoogenband broke the Australian’s world record in the semifinals then equaled the new mark in the final to win the gold. But Thorpe has emerged from his post-Olympic break fitter and more motivated than ever. He missed his 400 metres freestyle world record by just 0.17 seconds on Saturday then slashed 4.41 seconds off Kieren Perkins’s seven-year-old world record in his first attempt at 800 metres yesterday. Thorpe had qualified only second-fastest for the 200 metres final after saving his energy during yesterday’s semifinals before the 800 metres final. But he started the final in lane four after the fastest qualifier Michael Klim, the reigning 200 metres freestyle world champion, pulled out to concentrate on the 100 metres butterfly semifinals. Klim later qualified fastest for the 100m butterfly final with a time of 52.43 seconds, 0.62 seconds outside his world record. With no serious rivals, Thorpe was quickly out on his own in the 200 metres freestyle racing against the clock. He went through the first half of the race more than three quarters of a second outside Van den Hoogenband’s pace before powering home over the final two laps with his giant flipper-sized feet. The Australian championships are doubling as the country’s trials for the July 16 to 29 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Thorpe has already qualified for the 200m 400m and 800m freestyle and is hoping to qualify for the 100 metres freestyle as well. Sarah Ryan, meanwhile, took out the women’s 100 metres freestyle final today to book her place in the team for Fukuoka. Ryan won the final in a time of 55.66 seconds, with Petria Thomas second in 56.13 and Lori Munz third in 56.19.
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Kiwis send Pakistan reeling Hamilton, March 27 After Daryl Tuffey (4-39) and Chris Martin (4-52) had combined to skittle the tourists for 104 in just 26.5 overs, New Zealand took a stranglehold of the game and closed the first day on 160 without loss. When bad light stopped play with 16 overs still to be bowled, Richardson was 64 not out and Bell was on a career-best 89 not out in his 11th Test. On a pitch that suited the Kiwi seamers, a combination of good bowling and rash shots damaged Pakistan after they had been sent in to bat on a surface with a lush grass cover. Trouble for Pakistan started just 22 minutes into the morning when Ijaz Ahmed edged an attempted hook and became the first of Martin’s four wickets. Martin, hammered for 17 runs in his first over by Imran Farhat (24) and Ijaz, took four wickets without conceding a run in 14 balls as the Pakistan innings plunged from 28 without loss to 38 for five in five overs for just 10 runs. Pakistan’s vulnerability on seaming surfaces, twice exposed in tour matches in Lincoln and Wellington, was exploited by New Zealand for the first time in this series after the first two Tests had been played on unresponsive pitches. “It was quite exhilarating,” New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said of his team’s quick work against the opposing batsmen. “I don’t think we had a better day on the field in recent memory. It was a complete day.” Fleming felt there was some “recklessness” in the Pakistan batting and said it would take some good bowling to win the Test. SCOREBOARD Pakistan (Ist innings): I Farhat c Astle b Martin 24 Ijaz c Parore b Martin 5 F Iqbal c Bell b Martin 0 Inzamam lbw b Martin 5 Youhana c Parore b Tuffey 0 Y. Khan c Richardson b Tuffey 36 H. Farhat c Parore b Tuffey 28 Saqlain run out 0 Waqar c Fleming b Franklin 0 Akbar not ou 0 M. Akram 1 Extras: (lb3, nb2) 5 Total: all out in 26.5 overs 104 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-28, 3-29, 4-34, 5-38, 6-89, 7-89, 8-91, 9-103, 10-104. Bowling: Tuffey 10.5-2-39-4, Martin 10-3-52-4 (2nb), Franklin 6-2-10-1. New Zealand (1st innings): Richardson batting 64 Bell batting 89 Extras: (lb-5, nb-2) 7 Total: (without loss, 45 overs) 160 Bowling: Waqar 14-0-53-0, Akbar 12-5-32-0, M. Akram 10-1-46-0, Saqlain 9-2-24-0.
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Lanka humiliate England Colombo, March 27 Needing 166 to win, Sri Lanka cruised home with 16.1 of their 50 overs to spare in the third and final match of a series they have dominated. Kaluwitharana scored his runs from 117 balls, hitting 20 fours, and Marvan Atapattu, leading the side in the absence of the injured Sanath Jayasuriya, made 53 not out as they condemned England to one of their heaviest defeats in limited overs cricket. Sri Lanka had restricted England to 165 for nine in their 50 overs after an early four-wicket burst from left-arm pacemen Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa. On a pitch with some uneven bounce, Vaas and Zoysa struck the telling blows by dispatching four of the top five batsmen cheaply -Alec Stewart (14) and fellow opener Marcus Trescothick (16), Nick Knight (7) and captain Graham Thorpe (0). England were always struggling after that in the last match of their tour of the island nation, which reached its peak when they came from 0-1 down to win the three-Test series 2-1. Sri Lanka have gained a measure of compensation by bouncing back emphatically in the one-day games, with Kaluwitharana and Atapattu sealing success in stroke-filled style. The pair carried the attack to the bowlers from the outset, plundering 24 off left-arm paceman Alan Mullally’s first three overs and 19 from Darren Gough’s first four. Kaluwitharana played crisply off his legs, stroked the ball handsomely through the off side and thrillingly lifted it over the top, while Atapattu showed beautiful timing off front and back foot. England must examine several aspects of their limited overs game, not least the batting. They were bowled out for 143 in the first match and 160 in the second, and followed with another disappointing total in the third. This time England plunged to 39 for four in the 14th over against Vaas and Zoysa after Atapattu won the toss and put his opponents in to bat. Stewart, trying to force the pace after England made a slow start, chopped a delivery from Vaas into the stumps off the inside edge, and Trescothick, missed at first slip on three, also played on to Vaas. Knight, in his first appearance of the series, became the third batsman to play the ball onto his stumps, the first of two wickets for Zoysa in consecutive overs. Zoysa got the second when Thorpe cut fiercely at the first delivery he faced, only to see Kumar Sangakkara cling on to a magnificent, one-handed diving catch at backward point. When left-armer Vaas finished his opening spell he had the marvellous figures of 7-5-5-2, worthy reward for his immaculate length and line. The touring team were subsequently shackled by Sri Lanka’s four spinners, with top scorer Graeme Hick taking 114 balls for his 46. He eventually fell to Kumar Dharmasena’s off-spin as he tried to cut loose towards the end of his innings but skied a catch to deep square leg. There were brief contributions from Andrew Flintoff (24) and Mark Ealham (28), before Vaas returned to dispatch Robert Croft for four and finish with three for 13 off eight overs. Scoreboard England: Trescothick b Vaas 16 Stewart b Vaas 14 Knight b Zoysa 7 Hick c de Saram b Dharmasena 46 Thorpe c Sangakkara b Zoysa 0 Flintoff c Dharmasena b 24 Samaraweera White b Arnold 4 Ealham c sub (Dilshan) b 28 Dharmasena Croft c Jayawardene b Vaas 4 Gough not out 0 Mullally not out 8 Extras: (lb-4 w-10) 14 Total: (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 165 Fall of wickets: 1/21, 2/36, 3/39, 4/39, 5/88, 6/105, 7/152, 8/156, 9/157. Bowling: Vaas 8-5-13-3; Zoysa 7-1-39-2; Dharmasena 10-0-35-2; Muralitharan 10-0-29-0; Sarmaraweera 7-0-26-1; Arnold 8-1-19-1. Sri Lanka: Atapattu not out 53 Kaluwitharana not out 102 Extras: (lb-2 w-3 nb-6) 11 Total: (for no wicket, 33.5 overs) 166 Bowling: Gough 7-0-30-0; Mullallly 8-0-51-0; White 4-0-18-0; Croft 8-0-39-0; Ealham 6.5-1-26-0.
Reuters Windies call up Cuffy, Mohammed Bridgetown, March 27 West Indies squad: Carl Hooper (capt), Ridley Jacobs (vice-captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dinanath Ramnarine, Mervyn Dillon, Courtney Walsh, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Cameron Cuffy and Dave Mohammed.
AFP
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Kramnik, Topalov await Anand Monte Carlo, March 27 He has an acid test in the last three rounds when he takes on Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, the three best players in this tournament. Anand, Kramnik and Topalov share the lead on 11 points and Peter Leko is a distant fourth on 9 points in this event that features one blindfold and one rapid game in every round. It is clear that the top honours will be split between the three, but it remains to be seen who comes good in the final dash after a long marathon. The stakes are high — there is a total of $193250 to be won! Anand has a psychological edge going into the second and final rest day. His reputation of being world’s best in the rapid chess puts his opponents under pressure. Anand leads the rapid play section with Kramnik on 5.5 points and shares the joint second spot in the blindfold that is lead by Topalov. Anand has been in good form in this tournament and except for one debacle — when he lost blindfold game against Ljubomir Ljubojevic in the second round — he has kept his slate clean. The Indian ace has won six out of the eight matches with an identical 1.5-0.5 margin and the rest two — against Ljubojevic and Zoltan Almasi of Hungary in the seventh round — ended in 1-1 draws. Kramnik and Topalov have a relatively easier opposition to face in the remaining matches. Of the two, Kramnik has been his usual positional self after a subdued start and has been slicing the opponents with his natural brilliance and ever growing understanding of the game. Topalov has been lucky a few times but still his form too has served him well. The surprise has been the failure of Latvian turned Spaniard Shirov, who is the defending champion. Shirov is undoubtedly a force to reckon with in all varieties of the game. But he has struggled right from the start and though, some excellent and lucky results have put him on fifth spot, the magic obviously is missing. Blindfold standings after round 8: 1. V.Topalov 6 points; 2-3, V.Anand, V.Kramnik 5.5; 4-6, P.Leko, L.Ljubojevic, A.Shirov 5; 7 J.Piket 4; 8. V.Ivanchuk 3.5; 9. Zoltan Almasi 3; 10-11. A.Karpov, Boris Gelfand 2.5; 12. Loek Van Wely 1.5 points. Rapid standings after round 8: 1-2. V.Anand, V.Kramnik 5.5 points; 3-4. V.Topalov, B.Gelfand 5; 5-7. P.Leko, Loek Van Wely, J.Piket 4; 8-10. A.Shirov, Z.Almasi, A.Karpov 3.5; 11. V.Ivanchuk 2.5; 12. L.Ljubojevic 2. Overall standings after round 8: 1-3 V.Anand (Ind), V.Kramnik (Rus), V.Topalov (Bul) 11 points; 4. P.Leko (Hun) 9; A.Shirov (Esp) 8.5; 6. J.Piket (Ned) 8; L.Ljubojevic (Yug) 7; 8-9. Z.Almasi (Hun), B.Gelfand (Isr) 6.5; 10-11 V.Ivanchuk (Ukr), A.Karpov (Rus) 6; 12. L.Van Wely (Ned) 5.5 points. PTI |
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Agassi in fourth round Miami, March 27 Agassi, the current leader in the ATP Champions Race and the third seed, beat an error-prone David Prinosil 6-1, 6-4 dictating the rallies from the baseline and taking few risks. Prinosil rallied from 1-4 down to narrow the gap to 3-4 in the second set, but when Agassi sensed danger he accelerated the pace and won the next two games. “He was missing a lot,” Agassi said. “He really wasn’t forcing me to do a whole lot in the first set. Down 1-4 in the second, he started playing better, loosened up on a few returns, got a break back. I felt I was asked to start playing better. I knew the quality of the match was picking up I played a really good game to break him and then just served it out.” Agassi next faces another German, Tommy Haas, who defeated Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty 6-7 (4/7), 6-0, 6-3. Kuerten, who finished last year ranked No 1 in the world and finalist here last year, fell to Sweden’s Thomas Johansson 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 . Johansson, seeded 25th, used four crisp forehands to break Kuerten for the fourth time in the final game of the match, sealing the victory after two hours. Johansson next faces red-hot young Swiss Roger Federer, who rallied to beat Australian Mark Philippoussis 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Eighth-seeded Australian Patrick Rafter advanced, giving up a set before subduing Spain’s Francosci Clavet 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. “I played well in patches,” said Rafter, a two-time US Open champion. “I went to sleep a little bit, but was pretty relaxed the whole match.” While Johansson posted the major upset of the day, his compatriot Magnus Norman was victim of another, losing to Croatian lucky loser Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/5), 6-2. Ljubicic, who made it into the main draw only after Richard Krajicek withdrew, earned a fourth-round clash with former world No 1 Carlos Moya of Spain, a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 winner over France’s Arnaud Clement. Switzerland’s Martina Hingis led the way into the women’s quarterfinals, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Magui Serna. Second-seeded American Lindsay Davenport downed France’s Sandrine Testud 6-3, 6-1 to advance, while third-seeded Venus Williams resumed her bid for a third title in four years here with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Tathiana Garbin. She needed more than two hours to subdue the feisty Italian, who suffered a left ankle sprain during the match. Fifth-seeded American Serena Williams, winner of the first Masters Series event of the year, needed just 43 minutes to brush aside Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-2 in a repeat of the Indian Wells final.
AFP Ponte Vedra Beach, March 27 Woods lost a duel with Hal Sutton in a similar Monday finish a year ago. This time, Woods didn’t need much fight to finish a shot ahead of Masters winner Vijay Singh to take one of the few golf prizes he didn’t already own. “The victory means my slump’s over,” said Woods, the unquestioned favourite at the Masters in two weeks. “I feel as if I’m headed in the right direction,” he said. “It’s nice to see the changes I made in my game pay off.” There wasn’t much magic in Woods’ round, certainly none to match his twisting 60-footer for birdie on No 17’s island green on Saturday or the 90-foot eagle chip on the second hole.
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Bukhatir on fire-fighting
mission New Delhi, March 27 Mr Bukhatir rushed to Delhi to reason things out with officials of the Government of India, so as to enable India’s participation in the tri-series in Sharjah, though his efforts seemed to have borne little fruit, by way of any categorical assurance from the Indian side. Mr Bukhatir is learnt to have met officials in the Sports Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs, though very little was known about the actual outcome of his unscheduled visit to Delhi. The CBFS chairman is apprehensive about India pulling out of the Sharjah series, though “we have a contract with India, and we cannot break it till India itself asks us to do”. PCB chairman Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia had said in Karachi yesterday that “Pakistan will not play India anywhere in any event in the future, and that’s it”. There were unconfirmed reports that India will not field a team for the Sharjah tournament, due to the alleged involvement of the mafia in cricket matches there. But Bukhatir got no such news from the Indian officials during his day-long parleys, though he did not get any assurance of India’s participation, either. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in its report on “Cricket Match Fixing and Related Malpractices”, submitted to the government on October 2 last year, had named Asif Iqbal, the brain behind the CBFS show, as somebody known to the bookies. The report said: “Anil Steel, the bookie from Mumbai, has stated that he is on very friendly terms with Asif Iqbal, the former Pakistan captain. He has also stated that he has sought ‘information’ from Asif Iqbal about international matches and has also given him ‘gifts’ of jewellery items, etc. Anil Steel has disclosed that he introduced MK to Asif Iqbal during the World Cup inaugural ceremony at Caclutta in 1996. MK has stated that Asif Iqbal had introduced him to Jaisurya (of Sri Lanka) at Sharjah, sometime in 1996”.
Bangalore, March 27 After a barren first half, ITI, who were without their key players, shot into the lead in the 11th minute through a fine goal from Gyana Prakash. Fifteen minutes later, Francis Silvera scored the equaliser. The winner for Zee Churchill, who had defeated ITI by a similar margin in Goa, came through Igor. With this victory, Zee Churchill have 25 points from 16 encounters having won seven matches and drawn four others. However, ITI will remain at 15 with three wins, all on the home ground, and six draws. ITI, without George Ikeh, K.V.Dhanesh and custodian R.Balaji, should blame themselves for allowing the Goan team to earn full points. A costly lapse on the part of goalkeeper Mark Mascaranhas and defender Harvinder Pal allowed Igor to score the winner.
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East Bengal, JCT to clash today Kolkata, March 27 The local outfit will be hoping to maintain their winning run against a team which has been far from impressive in the league so far and a victory will help East Bengal consolidate their position atop the points table. The local giants will no doubt rely on an attacking game to unsettle their weak opponents who have to put up a much more inspired performance to counter their formidable rivals. East Bengal, who have never won the coveted title, were on top of the points table having secured 34 points from 15 outings while JCT are languishing at the bottom having managed just 10 points from as many matches. The home team will be depending on their star striker Omolaja Olalekan to deliver the goods along with striker Dipendu
Biswas. The duo have produced some brilliant goals in the league so far and coach Manoranjan Bhattacharya will be hoping that the two strikers work in tandem to score more. The hard-working Dipankar Roy, who has often played a key role both in the attacking zone and the midfield, will have to shoulder the responsibility to keep the strikers busy with passes. JCT have no big names in their ranks but Hardeep Singh Gill, Jaswinder Singh and Harinder Singh are capable of surprising their opponents.
PTI |
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Soccer title for Delhi
Audit New Delhi, March 27 In one-sided final, Audit took some time to warm up, leaving the field for OBC to dominate for the first 10 minutes. But the bankmen failed to cash in on the chances that came their way, and it was a no-go for them, once Audit came charging. Striker Sameer Jung opened the flood-gates for Audit in the 12th minute when he found the mark by capitalising on a fine centre from midfielder Daljeet Singh. Daljit Bisht himself did the scoring in the 28th minute for the second goal, while Sameer Jung made it 3-0 six minutes later, to give Audit a comfortable 3-0 lead by half time. In the second half, Hitender Rawat scored a brace to complete Audit’s goal-rush. |
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Adviser (Sports) for
cash-starved PSEB Patiala, March 27 Informed sources reveal that the appointment of Mr Baldev Singh, who represented the country in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, was cleared at the full board meeting of PSEB held at Chandigarh last week, apparently, due to political compulsions. Trade union leaders and a section of the employees have questioned the wisdom of the board management as the newly appointed ‘Advisor’, on whom the Board will dole out a heavy amount per month for the next one year, will have little or no work to do as due to a ban on recruitment of sportspersons, sports activity has virtually come to a standstill in PSEB. Moreover, for the past couple of years promotional channels have been blocked as a result of which top sportspersons are leaving PSEB in quest of greener pastures. Sources reveal that despite the financial crunch, the appointment was on the cards as a particular lobby in the board was putting intense political pressure on the powers-that-be to adjust the hockey Olympian as Director (Sports) but due to the recruitment ban, the case could not be pursued. However, in order to circumvent the ban, the management has decided to appoint Baldev Singh as Advisor on contractual basis,
notwithstanding the financial implications. Interestingly, the same person had applied for the post a couple of times in the recent past, but his case was put on the backburner. At one time, a former member (finance and accounts) of PSEB, Ms Ajanta Dayalan, had even noted on the file pertaining to the case that there was no need for the creation of such a post. However, this did not deter the top brass of the board from finding a way out and adjusting their blue eyed boy as ‘Adviser’, unmindful of the huge financial loss the Board is likely to occur. The board has already on its rolls four other ‘Advisers’, all of whom are being paid anything between Rs 12,000 to Rs.15,000 per month for various periods, apart from the normal TA and DA being paid to them which is equivalent to what is being paid by the Board to its first class officers. However, in the present case the amount to be paid to the Adviser (Sports) has not been mentioned in the office order circulated by the board today. Sources reveal that the amount to be paid will be substantial and will be on the lines of what the other ‘Advisers’ are getting. Athens, March 27 Voeller said at a news conference: “The only certainty is that our attacking line will be lead by Carsten Jancker who has recovered from an injury and is ready to take over from Oliver Bierhoff.” After watching his side labour past Albania 2-1 on Saturday, Voeller is expected to name Kaiserslautern youngster Miroslav Klose, who headed the late winner against Albania on his debut, in a new-look attack alongside Jancker. He admitted he was expecting a less tense performance from his team this time, explaining: “The game with Greece will be difficult but I would say it will be easier than the Albania match last week.
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