 |
Friday,
March 30, 2001, Chandigarh, India
  
|
Warne may
be axed for Ashes series Jadeja case |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sharjah: ICC rules
out intervention Anand draws with Kramnik World Cup
qualifiers Punjab to host eves’ football nationals Thorpe achieves
a rare feat Tollygunge down
SBT in NFL
Judo title Friends Club
in semis TT crown
|
|
Richardson, Bell hit centuries Hamilton, March 29 After dismissing Pakistan for 104 on the first day, New Zealand — inspired by a 181-run opening stand — reached 260 for two at stumps on a rain interrupted third day. Despite 122 overs lost to rain and a soggy outfield over four sessions — including a full day’s play yesterday — New Zealand were well placed to secure a series-levelling with a 156-run lead and eight wickets in hand. Craig McMillan, promoted in the order, was unbeaten on seven when bad light stopped play 16 overs short today. Skipper Stephen Fleming will have to time his declaration over the six sessions to give the New Zealand bowling attack enough overs to bowl Pakistan out on a sporting wicket. It was some reckless and insensible batting that led to Pakistan’s first innings capitulation inside 27 overs on Tuesday. Pakistan have a 1-0 series lead after winning the opener in Auckland by 299 runs. Resuming today on 160 without loss after yesterday’s washout and a frustrating wait before and after lunch for the outfield to dry out, Richardson and Bell added 21 runs before medium pacer Waqar Younis struck. Bell was pinned on the crease 10 balls later by a Waqar Yorker to give Pakistan a long awaited breakthrough. Bell, the dominant partner in the fifth highest opening stand for New Zealand, cracked 17 fours off 163 balls in his 4½-hour innings. With his sixth century, Bell also completed 1000 first-class runs for the 2000-01 season. New Zealand made slow progress in 24 overs before the tea break as Pakistan adopted a defensive approach to check it’s runaway innings. Richardson came out unscathed in his dull against off spinner Saqlain when the Surrey professional had the left-hander in all sorts of trouble. If Richardson had come out trumps on the first day against Saqlain, today definitely belonged to the Pakistani who bowled a teasing spell. Richardson, playing in his ninth Test, reached his century with his 14th four — a cover drive off Waqar — and also hit a six in a seven-hour innings facing 277 balls. Mathew Sinclair contributed 277 runs in nearly two hours as he helped Richardson put on 58 off the second wicket before top edging a hook to Waqar off swing bowler Fazl-e-Akbar. Scoreboard Pakistan (1st innings): 104 New Zealand (1st innings): Richardson batting 106 Bell lbw b Younis 105 Sinclair c Younis b Akbar 27 McMillan batting 7 Extras (lb9, nb6) 15 Total (for 2 wkts, 88.1 overs) 260 Fall of wickets: 1-181, 2-239. Bowling: Waqar Younis 25-1-81-1, Fazl-e-Akbar 20.1-5-47-1, Mohammad Akram 18-1-71-0, Saqlain Mushtaq 25-5-52-0.
AP |
|
Warne may be axed for Ashes series Sydney, March 29 If some Australian media commentators are to be taken seriously, Warne, a former vice-captain and leading wicket-taker, may be asked to put his head on the chopping block when the team returns from India. Perhaps as a sign of things to come, Australia dropped Warne for the second one-day international match against India being played at Pune on Wednesday. Even if Warne manages to retain a spot in the Australian team, he may have to sit out as a reserve spinner during the Ashes tour as second spinner Colin Miller is tipped to replace him as the slow bowler for the Australians. Warne’s long and very productive stint of 376 wickets at 26.62 apiece in 87 Tests has led to quashing of a number of Australian spinners’ careers. But now with speculation that Miller may be included in the final 11, Warne may well be warming the benches. In the worst scenario for the highest wicket-taker in the Australian team, Warne may have to give way to the other prominent Australian leggie Stuart MacGill. While selecting the team for India, selectors had pushed MacGill’s claim aside and selected Warne in spite of a fine performance put in by the former against the visiting West Indians. As Warne has an enviable Test cricket record, the mercurial leg spinner may still manage to retain his place in the team but he is not likely to be assured of a place in the final 11 for the Tests against arch rivals England. Warne’s dismal performance in the Test series against India, which Australia lost narrowly 1-2, has put a question mark against his name. He got 10 wickets at an astronomical average of more than 50 runs for each wicket in three Tests. But then Warne had failed to deliver even in previous forays in, according to Steve Waugh, the “last frontier,” that is India. He had taken 19 wickets at a “batting” average of 58 runs each in India. Australian coach John Buchanan’s public statements before the Chennai Test that Warne’s fitness levels caused a significant problem for the team has also given impetus to rumors that the Victorian cricketer had lost his guaranteed place in the Australian Test eleven. The Indian tour may also lead to a change in the Australian selectors’ attitude towards the selection process. In the past, Australians have been selecting their teams purely on previous records and have not given much thought to the current form of players. Warne got into the team for the Indian tour on the basis of his previous performances. The fact that Warne had just returned from his injury was ignored by the selectors. Besides Warne, four batsmen Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer and even Mark Waugh may be sidelined when the Ashes team is selected on April 10 as they had failed to perform well in the Test series.
IANS |
|
Jadeja case New Delhi, March 29 Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the
BCCI said the board president A.C. Muthaiah and its Special Commissioner K. Madhavan had filed their replies in their personal capacities but the board needed some more time to submit its affidavit. Central Government counsel Maninder Singh also said the Sports Ministry, which had given the notice to Jadeja for return of the award after his indictment by a
CBI report on betting and match-fixing, required further time to file its reply. After their submissions, Justice Vijendra Jain directed the Centre and the
BCCI to file their affidavits within three weeks and adjourned the matter for further hearing to May 9. The court also directed Jadeja to file his response within two weeks of the filing of counter affidavits by the board and the Centre. The
CBI report on match-fixing and betting had indicted four players, including Jadeja, for their alleged links with bookies. On the basis of the
CBI report, the Madhavan Committee had heard the cricketer and later endorsed the view expressed by the agency. After the Madhavan Committee report, the Sports Ministry had issued notices to three cricketers, including Jadeja, asking them to show cause why their Arjuna Awards be not withdrawn as they had brought the game to disrepute. Countering Jadeja’s claim that he was not given any opportunity by Madhavan to cross-examine witnesses, who had deposed against him before the CBI, the BCCI investigator said when Jadeja appeared before him on November 12 last year, he neither requested for cross-examination of any person nor did he “tender any evidence”. “Jadeja handed over to me written submissions and a chart of phone calls made and received from phone No. 9810034882, details of certain matches in which he participated and a letter written to the CBI,” Madhavan said adding all these materials were examined by him and proceedings in the matter were conducted in accordance with the principle of natural justice. Refuting Jadeja’s allegation that information against him was gathered behind his back by Madhavan, who was purportedly in touch with the CBI, Law Ministry and Muthiah while probing the match-fixing cases, the BCCI investigator said “the claim is totally false”. Madhavan said he had not taken a CBI report against certain players as “gospel truth” as alleged by Jadeja and contended that his report to the BCCI was “independent and objective”. The CBI report on match-fixing and betting had indicted former captain Azharuddin, Manoj Prabhakar, Jadeja and Ajay Sharma and the BCCI had consequently appointed Madhavan to probe the matter before it imposed a ban on them. While Azharuddin and Sharma were banned for life, Jadeja and Prabhakar were banned from playing cricket for five years. After Madhavan’s report, the Sports Ministry had issued notices to Azharuddin, Prabhakar and Jadeja asking them why Arjuna awards, given to them, be not taken back.
PTI |
|
Sharjah: ICC rules out intervention London, March 29 “Sharjah is a tournament that falls outside of the ICC’s international tours programme. Countries are invited to compete by the organisers and as a private matter it is a matter for them, rather than the ICC, to deal with this particular issue,” ICC president Malcolm Gray said in a statement here today. “This would be a case of the government saying it does not want its national cricket team to play in the tournament, rather than a decision reached by the Board for Control of Cricket in India. We would not take disciplinary action against any member in cases of force majeure,” the statement said. India, which has refused to play Pakistan in recent times citing its neighbour’s support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, is yet to take a final decision on its team’s participation in the tournament which features Sri Lanka as the third country. An ICC spokesperson told PTI that India’s decision was likely to be due to political compulsions and the ICC respected its members’ right to take such decisions. “If it is a foreign policy decision, then we respect the sovereignty of the country,” he said. Meanwhile, Asif Iqbal, Coordinator of the Sharjah organisers CBFS, said though the tournament did not form part of ICC’s calendar, it was recognised by the world body which also approves the umpires and match-referees for the series. Iqbal, however, denied that the CBFS was trying to rope in a replacement for India, saying they were still awaiting India’s final decision. “We are still waiting to hear from India. Unless we get a no from India how can we approach a third team,” he said.
PTI |
|
Anand draws with Kramnik Monte Carlo, March 29 Veselin Topalov gave yet another excellent display and defeated Peter Leko of Hungary 1.5-0.5 to join Kramnik in the lead on 14 points. Topalov has a distinct advantage going into the last round as he takes on Ljubomir Ljubojevic of Yugoslavia while Kramnik faces a potentially tough match with Leko. Anand seems assured of a third place though he too has a tough opposition in defending champion Alexei Shirov of Spain. Playing black, Anand surprised Kramnik by opting for the queen’s gambit accepted in the rapid game. Kramnik, who had used a very safe set up in the variation to beat Kasparov last year, did not get his desirable position as Anand was obviously not content with defending an inferior endgame. However as it turned out, the Indian ace had to defend a worse endgame. In the classical isolated queen pawn structure, Kramnik came up with a thematic breakthrough in the centre and Anand was saddled with a weak pawn. As Kramnik began to exert pressure after the exchange of queens, Anand decided to part with a pawn and entered a rook and pawn endgame where he had reasonable drawing chances. Kramnik kept trying hard and probably missed a win in the opinion of experts. After 76 moves of a grueling battle the players agreed to a draw. The blindfold was not as well fought, as Anand did not get much from the white side of a queen’s gambit declined this time. Kramnik, who has had enough experience with the set up did not have an iota of suspicion about his piece play and exchanged the minor pieces one after the other. Soon a heavy pieces endgame was on board with neither player having a chance. The draw was a natural result. Topalov has shown terrific strength in this event. He is the only player to have beaten both Anand and Kramnik in this tournament. The Bulgarian mesmerised Leko in the 10th round with his superior technique and won the battle 1.5-0.5. In the rapid game that witnessed the established manoeuvres of a Petroff defence, Topalov, playing white, got a miniscule advantage after the opening. Leko put up a stiff resistance and the game carried on till the endgame when the draw was agreed to in 28 moves. In the blindfold, Topalov outclassed Leko in the technical phase of the game. With a variety of opening repertoire, Topalov started with the arkhengelsk variation of the ruy lopez with black pieces and the game transposed into and endgame with roughly equally chances. With excellent king advance at the right juncture, Topalov seized the initiative and won a pawn. Leko lost control of the proceedings very soon and called it a day after 64 moves. Shirov lost to Ljubojevic in the only other decisive encounter of the day. Shirov’s loss was quite
uncharacteristic as he enjoyed a better position for the major part in the rapid game. Ljubojevic employed the
Sicilian taimanov with black pieces and Shirov got a miniscule advantage out of the opening. The pieces got exchanged in tandem and in the queen and minor piece endgame Shirov could have easily drawn by repetition. Ljubojevic, who was waiting for the chance, cashed in on the
opportunity and created a mating web to force Shirov’s resignation. In the blindfold, Ljubojevic played it safe and drew comfortably with the white pieces. Boris Gelfand of Israel and former world champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia drew both their games against Zoltan Almasi of Hungary and Loek Van Wely of Netherlands respectively for an identical 1-1 result. Standings after round 10: 1-2. Vladimir Kramnik (Rus), Veselin Topalov (Bul) 14 points; 3. Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 12.5; 4. Alexei Shirov (Esp) 10.5; 5. Peter Leko (Hun) 10; 6. Jeroen Piket (Ned) 9.5; 7. Boris Gelfand (Isr) 9; 8-9. Zoltan Almasi (Hun), Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yug) 8.5; 10-11. Anatoly Karpov (Rus), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 8; 12. Loek Van Wely (Ned) 7.5 points.
PTI |
|
World Cup qualifiers London, March 29 Meanwhile, Andy Cole finally ended his scoring drought for England in a third win in a row for Sven-Goran Eriksson and a last minute Luis Figo penalty salvaged a 2-2 tie for Portugal against the Netherlands. Away from the 21 World Cup games, Spain ended the 10-game unbeaten streak of world and European champions France with a 2-1 victory in Valencia. In South American qualifying, Ecuador upset Brazil 1-0 in Quito, Ecuador; Argentina downed Venezuela 5-0 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Paraguay topped Uruguay 1-0 in Montevideo, Uruguay. In North America, the USA beat Honduras 2-1 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Costa Rica topped Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Two goals each from Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero powered Italy to a 4-0 crushing of Lithuania in Triesteas Gio vanni Trapattoni’s team moved seven points clear at the top of group 8 with 13 points from five games. Goals by Dorinel Munteanu and Cosmin Contra revived Romania’s qualifying chances with a 2-0 at Georgia after its loss at home to Italy on Saturday. That victory moved the team above idle Hungary. The Germans had Sebastian Deisler sent off but still overpowered Greece 4-2 in Athens where newcomer Miroslav Klose was again a hero. Scorer of Germany’s late winner in Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Albania on his debut, Klose netted again with his team down to 10 men and the game finely poised at 2-2. Marco Bode then netted fourth as the Germans made it four wins out of four and could well clinch a finals place with three games to spare by beating Finland in early June. Earlier, Germany twice went ahead through Marko Rehmer and a Michael Ballack penalty only for each time the last place Greeks to reply through Angelos Charisteas and Georgios. England, who had just one point and no goals before Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Finland, strengthened their hold on second place with a win in Tirana although they didn’t hit the target until 17 minutes from the end. After Michael Owen and Paul Scholes had finally broken the Albanian resistance, substitute Altin Rraklli replied for the home team and had another disallowed for offside, a decision greeted by a hail of bottles from the crowd. Cole, who came under fire from the critics for not scoring in an England shirt in 12 appearances going back six seasons, finally hit the target for a 3-1 victory and Eriksson’s team remains five points behind the Germans. Seemingly sliding out of contention before the latest rounds of games, the Dutch romped into a 2-0 lead in Oporto through a Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink penalty and Patrick Kluivert strike early in the second half. The Dutch led until five minutes from the end when Pauleta replied and Luis Figo made it 2-2 with his last minute spot kick. Ireland scored a comfortable 3-0 victory at Andorra to move to the top of group 2 on goal difference. Ian Harte netted a penalty in the 33rd minute and Kevin Kilbane and Matt Holland scored late goals at Barcelona while fourth place Cyprus squandered a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes to go and was held 2-2 at home by Estonia. In a hard-fought game in Valencia, Ivan Helguera and Fernando Morientes became the first players to score against France in almost 500 minutes of soccer as Spain ended a 20-year winless run against the French. David Trezeguet replied late for the World Cup and European Championship holder. Group 1 leader Russia laboured to a 1-0 victory over the Faeroe Islands, the only goal coming from Celta Vigo’s Alexander Mostovoi in the 19th minute. But the result means that Russia have 10 points from four games and lead by three. Alexander Frei scored three times as Switzerland outplayed last placed Luxembourg 5-0. Johann Lonfat and veteran striker Stephane Chapuisat netted the others as the Swiss moved into second place above Slovenia, who netted a last minute winner through Zlatko Zahovic to cancel out a Savo Milosevic goal for Yugoslavia. Michalis Constantinou and Yiannakis Okkas put the Cypriots in charge but Marko Kristal and Raio Piiroga replied and the Estonians, who also have seven points from five games, remain in contention. Ukraine needed a second half leveler from AC Milan star Andrily Shevchenko to salvage a 1-1 tie with Wales at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff after John Hartson had given the home team a 12th minute lead. But the dropped points meant Ukraine slipped to third and have five to make up on the Poles. Scotland expectedly moved three points clear in group 6 after beating San Marino 4-0 in Glasgow helped by two rare strikes by veteran centre back Colin Hendry. The Scots hold a three point lead over the Belgians who thrashed San Marino 10-1 and have a game in hand. With Spain enjoying victory over France, Austria cut their group 7 lead to two points with a 2-1 victory over Israel to leap over their rival into second place. Michael Baur made up for his sixth minute own goal by equalizing three minutes later. After Israel missed a penalty, Andreas Herzog showed them how it was done with a spot kick three minutes before half time.
AP |
|
Punjab to host eves’ football nationals Chandigarh, March 29 Spotters of the women’s football committee of All-India Football Federation will also select 45 probables for the four national coaching camps to be organised by the federation with the help of the Sports Authority of India in the preparation for the Indian women’s football team which will participate in the Asian Women’s Football Championship to be held in Taiwan in December this year. FIFA is planning to promote and organise women’s football in the junior section and the junior under-19 National Women’s Football Championship in July 2001. The Federation will also organise four national coaching camps to prepare the Indian junior women’s football team for the Junior Asian Women’s Football Championship. The Asian Football Confederation has requested the All-India Football Federation to organise this championship in India. The women’s football committee of the federation will discuss this proposal in the next meeting of the committee and if approved the championship will be organised in February 2002, according to Mr Surinder Bhambri, convener, women’s football committee of the AIFF. |
|
Thorpe achieves a rare feat Hobart, March 29 Thorpe, who broke the 200m and 800m world records at the Australian championships here this week, clocked a personal best 49.05 second to beat his Olympic 100m relay gold medal teammates, Ashley Callus (49.46) and Michael Klin (49.53). He sliced half a second off his previous best time in his semi-final and lowered it a further 0.16 sec to add Australian 100m title to the 200m, 400m and 800m gold medals he has already collected this week. The last man to win every Australian freestyle event from 100m to 800m at the one championships was John Konrads in 1959 when he also collected the 1,500m title. Thorpe, who also holds the world 400m freestyle record, was 1.21sec outside Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband’s world mark of 47.84sec he set taking Sydney Olympic gold last year. “I had a really bad start tonight,” Thorpe said. “In a spring race, you can’t afford to do anything wrong. I just really concentrated on the turn and brought it home strongly.” Of repeating Konrads’ swag of titles over 40 years ago, Thorpe said: “It’s something you don’t expect to do. I’ve never swum really well in the 100. I’ve been lucky here, very lucky to get back to where I was before the Olympics”. Thorpe’s victory qualified him for his first individual 100m freestyle swim at the world championships in Japan in July. But as Thorpe’s star continued to shine at the meet, former world record-holder Klim’s faded at he failed to qualify for one of his signature events at the world championships. Klim, who won four gold medals at the last 1998 world championships in Perth, had been aiming for a fifth straight Australian 100m freestyle title. He had also taken the silver in the 100m in Perth and was looking forward to going one better in Japan. But his time was well outside the former world record of 48.18s he set during the Sydney Games. Klim qualified for the 100m butterfly after finishing second to Geoff Huegill last night but his third place today means he will miss out on a swim in the individual 100m freestyle.
AFP |
|
Tollygunge down SBT in NFL Thiruvananthapuram, March 29 This win has given Tollygunge 17 points from 16 matches while SBT languishing eleventh in the NFL table, remained on 12 points. The day’s match failed to attain the expected heights. SBT as usual played an attacking game throughout and dominated the exchanges. They forced as many as 11 corners to Tollygunge’s four. But the defensive strategy adopted by the winners foiled the SBT raids. Goalkeeper Hemanta Dora came to Tollygunge’s rescue time and again. Sereki netted what turned out to be the match winner thanks to a defensive lapse. Defender Debasis Pal Choudhary intercepted a lob by steering a long header to the SBT area. The ball bounced harmlessly inside the SBT goalmouth. With SBT centre back Jiju Jacob failing to clear, Sereki strode into the box and found the net giving no chance to an advancing Rajeev Kumar under the bar. Nearing half time, SBT had a giltedged chance to restore parity but frontliner Abdul Naushad, who replaced C.V. Sunny in the 30th minute of the game, balloned the ball from hand shaking distance, off a left wing cross from Ignatius.
UNI |
|
Indumati overtakes Madhu Brar Chandigarh, March 29 Thus the final day’s play should be a grand affair with just three strokes separating the top three. The latter part of the morning was challenging when the rain came down, but that did not deter the enthusiastic lady golfers from completing 18 holes. The best nett score of the day came from Mrs Dalbir Sahi, who despite the inclement weather carded a nett 71,. She is also the winner of the super senior category. The bronze divisioners had poor luck with the weather and look forward to sunshine tomorrow. The results after the second day’s play: Garewal Salver (gross): P. Indumati 178, Madhu Brar 180, Dimple Minocha 179 Chandigarh Challenge (nett): Kanika Minocha 141, Madhu Brar 142 Bawa Gill Trophy (gross 0-24): P. Indumati 178, Madhu Brar 180. Meters and Instruments Trophy (gross 25-36): Mina Johl 193, Kanika Minocha 193. Rani Jagdish Kaur Trophy (nett 0-24):Madhu Brar 142, P. Indumati 148 Ell Ess Tropohy (nett 25-36): Kanika Minocha 141, Mina Johl 143. Lady Governor’s Cup (senior ladies above 50): Deepu Dhanoa 185 Senior Nett: Dalbir Sahi 148 Super Senior: Dalbir Sahi 148 Juniors: Kanika Minocha 193, Mina Johl 193. Junior Nett: Kanika Minocha 141, Mina Johl 143. Subjunior Nett (below 14 years): Kanika Minocha 141. SRF Open Golf New Delhi, March 29 |
|
Judo title Hoshiarpur, March 29 In the boys’ section, Jalandhar secured the first, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur joint second and Amritsar third positions. In the girls’ section, Ludhiana secured the first Amritsar second and Hoshiarpur third positions by obtaining 25, 19 and 16 points, respectively, in this championship. Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, gave away the prizes to the winners. Mr T.C. Gupta, vice-president of the Judo Federation of India and president of the Punjab Judo Association, was also present on the occasion.
PTI |
|
Friends Club
in semis New Delhi, March 29 A fine of knock of 59 by Manoj Goel, and deadly bowling by medium pacer Krishan Thapa (3 for 24) and Rajasthan Ranji Trophy player Parmod Yadav (3 for 24) helped Friends Club (132) edge past Trans Yamuna Cricket Association (TYCA), Delhi by two runs. Krishan Thapa and Manoj Goel shared the ‘man of the match award’. In the other semifinal, a stroke-filled 70 by Delhi under-22 player Chetan Sharma, 45 by Sidharth Verma and devastating bowling by left-arm spinner Tony Singh (4 for 44) powered Delhi Vidyut Board (190 for 3) to a mammoth 80-run victory over local Friends Club ‘B’ team. Friends were all out for 110. Chetan Sharma was adjudged ‘man of the match’. |
|
TT crown Shimla, March 29 Shikha Sharma of AG (Haryana) clinched the women’s singles title by outplaying Barkha of AG (Punjab) 21-18, 18-21, 21-18, 21-19. In veteran singles Patanjali Kumar of AG (Haryana) beat Somnath Pramanik of AG (Himachal Pradesh) 17-21, 21-13, 21-13. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
