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April 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Commonwealth TT crown eludes India
Media wanted me out
of Australia: Dokic |
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Ferrero thrashes
Bruguera Hingis maintains top ranking Phadke, Andrea Nathan bow out Report on Shoaib’s action likely by April 21 Zia to continue as PCB head West Indies cricket hits a new nadir Face-saving win for Kiwis Ex-Deputy CM seeks anticipatory bail Mediocre show by Indians IOA dissolves IWF Shooting title for Manavjit Govt defers inaugural
Afro-Asian Games Churchill, Tollygunge
split points Ex-Fulham manager Stock dead
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Commonwealth TT crown eludes India New Delhi, April 17 India have often developed the knack of striking when the chips are down. So many times in this tournament they have hit back furiously, not only levelling the score but also winning in the end. India seemed to follow the same pattern today when they lost the opening two singles matches to their Nigerian counterparts. First Soumyadeep Roy of India lost to Toriola Segun of Nigeria in three games. The Nigerian though relatively unknown in the world, gave a lesson to Roy in offensive play. He turned the heat so much on Roy that the latter was wondering what had struck him. Playing close to the table, Toriola unleashed shots with such blistering pace, that Roy was left stunned. After losing the first game 13-21, Roy won the second 21-18 but lost the third cheaply 13-21. Chetan next lost to Merotohun Monday, also in three games, 21-13, 20-22, 20-22. With two losses staring them in the face, India made a mild recovery when playing the third singles, S.Raman beat Ayemojuba Sau 21-18, 21-13 to make the match score 1-2. India slumped further when the strong pair of Chetan and Raman lost the doubles match to Toriola and Merotohun 21-18, 17-21, 13-21. Though Chetan came to India’s rescue by winning the fifth match against Toriola (23-21, 17-21, 21-17), yet India were in a precarious
positon. With 2-3 down, Raman took on Merotohun Monday in the sixth match. Though this Nigerian seemed the weakest of their players, yet Raman failed to cope up with the pressure. He won the first game 21-16. When he led 19-16 in the second, India had visions of the seventh match. But Nigerians had other plans. From 16-19 down in the second game and having lost the first already, Merotohun made the most brilliant recovery of his career by not only catching up with Raman (20-20) but also winning the game at 26-24. Sitting on the edge of victory, when Raman lost this game, this broke his heart so much that no matter how he tried, he failed to recover from the shock. With Nigerian’s tail up, Merotohun led 5-0 first and then increased the lead to 9-1 as Raman sprayed shots aimlessly. The Nigerian went 16-4 up before he ended Raman’s ordeal (21-9) as well as India’s campaign. Though in the end, India should be satisfied for having won the silver medal at this year’s Commonwealth for, last time they had finished fourth. At the same time, full credit to the Nigerians. This African nation was so far known for its soccer prowess but the way the Nigerians have improved, the day is not far off when they will be challenging both Asia(China and Koreas) as well as the Europeans (like Sweden). Singapore girls won the women’s team title when they beat Malaysia 4-1 in the final here tonight. Thus they have retained the title as they were also the 2000 Commonwealth winners. In the men’s team championships, last time England were the winners who this time lost to India, who won the silver while Nigeria emerged as the new Commonwealth champions. |
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Baboor seeded second New Delhi, April 17 In the late evening match today, India are taking on Nigeria in the men’s team championships final to decide the ultimate winners of this Commonwealth championships. Such schedule was necessary as the entire Indira Gandhi Stadium was handed over to the Haryana Government to hold the condolence meeting for the late Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal today. The women’s team final is also slated for this evening. England’s top player and a returning machine Syed Matthew has been top seeded. Like Baboor, he is also in top form and is expected to do very well because he is playing an exceptionally different game altogether. The third seed is Nigeria’s Toriola Segun. But England have two more seeded players in the men’s draws- fifth seed Yong Terry and seventh seed Alex Perry. The other seeded players are fourth seed Duan Yong of Singapore and eighth seed Jackson Peter of New Zealand. No Indian woman has found pride of place in the women’s individual seedings. Here Wei Lijia of Singapore has been top seeded while Li Chwnli of New Zealand has been second seeded. The third seed is also a girl from Singapore, she is Ling Xue Zhang. The third Singapore girl is P.T. Fern, who is seeded seventh. In the men’s doubles event Chetan Baboor and S.Raman of India have been seeded second while Singapore’s pair, Y.J. Duan and Y.T. Zhand has been top seeded.. Similarly, in the women’s doubles, P. Ghatak and Mouma Das of India have been seeded eighth. The top seeding in this event has been given to Li and Jing of Singapore. The second seeded pair is P.F.Tand and X.L. Zhang. The third seed pair Li and Li Karen are from New Zealand. In the mixed doubles, Chetan Baboor and P. Ghatak have been seeded seventh while the two top seeds are from Singapore. Y.J.Duan and Wei Li Jia are top seeded while Cai and X.L. Zhang are second seeded. |
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Media wanted me out of Australia: Dokic Melbourne, April 17 This week’s edition of New Idea quoted Dokic (18) as saying Australians were hypocritical to attack her for leaving her adopted country while they embraced Russian-born pole-vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, who won an Olympic silver medal for Australia at the Sydney Games last year. “I was pushed out of Australia by the media and Tennis Australia,” Dokic was quoted as saying. “I felt they really wanted me out ... It got to the point where it was unbearable.” Dokic stunned the Australian tennis community when she announced on the eve of this year’s Australian Open in January that she wanted to play under the Yugoslav flag. She told New Idea: “I know now that I made the right decision (to move to Florida). It’s a relaxing environment here. Nobody bothers me. I know everybody, I’m not getting hassled and nobody cares what I do.” Dokic said media reports of her father Damir’s antics had strongly influenced her decision to leave Australia. The former boxer and truck driver has had several run-ins with authorities and was suspended from the women’s tour in August last year after being forcibly removed from the US Open for verbally abusing staff in the players’ lounge. The dispute was sparked by the price of a plate of salmon. “People only believe what they read. They have no idea what a good man he is,” she said. The magazine said Damir would tour with his daughter again when the ban expired later this month. Dokic turned down a plea from Tennis Australia officials in March to play for her adopted country in the Federation Cup first-round tie against Austria from April 28 to 29. She said she would not represent Australia or Yugoslavia in Federation Cup matches, but would nominate Yugoslavia as her country when she entered tournaments. Dokic said she now considered a tennis and golf resort in Florida to be her home. Australian Open winner Jennifer Capriati and world No 1 Martina Hingis are neighbours while golfing great Tiger Woods hits balls on a nearby fairway. “I’m over that part of my life in Australia,” she said. The Herald Sun newspaper said of Dokic’s reported comments: “Australians never had a problem with the extravagantly talented teenager.” In an editorial published today, the newspaper added: “It was her overbearing father they objected to, and if the price of dispatching Damir was the loss of her daughter, so be it.” Dokic was born in Yugoslavia but moved to Australia with her family in 1994. She received a Yugoslav passport in Belgrade last November. Tennis Australia were unavailable for comment today.
Reuters
Charleston, (South Carolina), April 17 American Amy Frazier and Gala Leon Garcia of Spain, the only other seeded players in opening day action, fared better than Dokic to advance to the second round. The 10th-seeded Frazier breezed past compatriot Jill Craybas 6-4, 6-1, while Garcia split a pair of tie-breaks before overcoming Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (8-6), 6-2. In a meeting of unseeded players, former Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson of the USA rebounded from a miserable start to eliminate Catalina Castano of Colombia 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. The top eight seeds, including world No 1 Martina Hingis and second seed Jennifer Capriati, received first-round byes in this clay court event featuring six of the top 10 players in the world as well as defending champion Mary Pierce of France, now ranked 14th. Majoli, who defeated Hingis in the 1997 French Open final but has been hampered by injuries in recent years, received a welcome confidence boost with her victory over Dokic yesterday. “I haven’t been playing and I really need some confidence back,” Majoli said. “I think she played really well in the second set,” Majoli said of the see-saw struggle. “She didn’t make any mistakes and at 3-0 or 4-0 I was just like, okay, maybe I should just concentrate on the third set. “The beginning of the third set was very important and I played pretty smart tennis,” added the 42nd-ranked Majoli. In the first official match played on the new 10,000-seat stadium court, 20-year-old wild card entry Marissa Irvin held off fellow American Kristina Brandi 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. “It’s a very nice stadium,” said Irvin. “It feels small in the sense that you feel like the crowd is close to you, which I think makes it fun. “It was nice to be in the inaugural match.” Frazier, the 10th seed in the event, won 6-4, 6-1. Craybas had won five of their past six matches and was hoping to continue the trend over Frazier, who is listed 24th in the WTA rankings. Frazier’s most recent defeat came in the second round in Florida last week, but yesterday she was in control throughout the contest. Argentina’s Maria Emilia Salerni cruised by Sweden’s Asa Carlsson, 6-3, 6-2, and China’s Jing-Qian Yi went out quickly by losing 4-6, 5-7 to Italy’s Adriana Serra Zanetti.
Reuters/ AFP |
Monte Carlo, April 17 Twenty-one-year-old Ferrero, fresh from his victory in the Estoril final at the weekend, played with too much venom against Bruguera who is recovering from shoulder surgery. The nine-year age-gap was apparent from the off as Ferrero, who entered the world’s top 10 for the first time yesterday, ran his opponent ragged on a sun-baked court two. Seventh seed Ferrero was just 11 years old when Bruguera won the title here for the first time and he made his compatriot’s game look dated at the Mediterranean Masters event. Hitting with more power, more accuracy and more top spin, the blond baseliner bludgeoned a series of winners past Bruguera immediately, and broke twice to streak into a 3-0 lead. Bruguera drew on all his experience to manage one break back and then hold, but it was a temporary blip for Ferrero who upped a gear and served out the set 6-2 in 31 minutes. Bruguera’s groundstrokes lacked any real penetration and he was constantly on the back foot against an opponent who attacked relentlessly with a heavy arsenal of weapons. Nicknamed the ‘mosquito’ for his ability to buzz around the court, Ferrero chased everything down and charged into a 4-0 lead in the second set before Bruguera could get on the scoresheet. The youngster would not be denied, though, and two games later ripped a double-fisted backhand down the line and beyond Bruguera for a 63-minute victory. Ferrero’s victory sets him up with a second round clash against another Spaniard, qualifier Galo Blanco. Blanco won his first round match against Nicolas Lapentti yesterday when the Ecuadorian pulled out with an ankle injury. Ferrero was joined in the second round by Tommy Haas. The German won his opener in even more devastating fashion, destroying Belarussian Max Mirnyi 6-0, 6-1 in just 62 minutes. Haas will face either Swiss wildcard Marc Rosset or former French Open champion and former world No 1 Carlos Moya who plays later today. Top-seeded Russian Marat Safin tackles Olympic bronze medallist Arnaud Di Pasquale, second seed Gustavo Kuerten, of Brazil, meets wily Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui and third seed Magnus Norman, of Sweden, clashes with French Davis Cup hero Nicolas Escude.
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Hingis maintains top ranking Hamburg, April 17 The Swiss Hingis remained first with 5,763 points ahead of Americans Venus Williams (4,824) and Lindsay Davenport (4,378). WTA Tour top 10 as of April 16 (previous week in parenthesis): 1. (1) Martina
Hingis, Switzerland, 5,763 points; 2. (2) Venus Williams, USA, 4,824; 3. (3) Lindsay Davenport, USA 4,378; 4. (4) Monica
Seles, USA, 2,912; 5. (5) Jennifer Capriati, USA, 2,646; 6. (6) Serena Williams, USA, 2,319; 7. (10) Amanda
Coetzer, South Africa, 2,095; 8. (7) Conchita Martinez, Spain, 2,080; 9. (15) Amelie
Mauresmo, France, 2,053; 10. (11) Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 2,051.
DPA
Phadke, Andrea Nathan bow out Chandigarh, April 17 The overnight heavy rain did not disturb the morning schedule but the afternoon doubles matches were delayed due to intermittent rain. The opening matches of the day were stretched to three sets with top seed Sai Jayalakshamy and second seed Sonal Phadke in fray. Jayalakshamy ranked 358 was pitted against 819 ranked Megha Vakharia. Vakharia wrapped the first set with ease at 6-4, Jayalakshamy was at her best in the second set and demolished her rival at 6-0. Finally the experience of Jayalakshany prevailed upon Megha Vakharia who, lost at 4-6. Radhika Tulpule, ranked 670 and a trainee of national coach Nandan Bal, came from behind to dispose of Sonal Phadke, also of India and ranked 426 in world. Sonal who played a versatile game yesterday when she outmaneoeverd Veronica of Czech republic in three sets, today won the first set at 6-4. Tulpule playing powerful game finally emerged winner in the next two sets conceding only one game. Jyotsna Vashisht, eighth seed and a trainee of ITF coach Kawaljeet Singh was better in all the departments of the game as compared to Ankita Bhambri who got a wild card entry. But young Bhambri troubled Vashisht at times with her net placings. Baseline volleys of Jyotsna, however, came to her rescue and she won the match in two sets at 6-4, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Radhika. Dea Sumantri of Indonesia and ranked 779 upset third seed Andrea Nathan of the USA ranked 444, in straight sets at 6-3, 6-4. In an interesting match of the day 14-year-old Sania Mirza of India gave a harrowing time to Karen Paterson of Great Britain who had upset fifth seed Shruti Dhawan of India. Mirza went down at 3-6, 4-6. In the quarterfinal tomorrow, Sai Jayalakshmy will face Karen Paterson, D. Sumantri will take on Sheethal Goutham, Rushmi Chakarvorthy will clash with Nicola Payne and Sonal will compete against Jyotsna Vashisht. Results: singles (pre-quarterfinal): Sai Jayalakshamy (Ind) b Megha Vakharia (Ind) 4-6, 6-0, 6-4; Karen Paterson b Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Dea Sumantri (INA) b Andrea Nathan (USA) 6-3,6-4;Sheethal Goutham (Ind) b M. Mileta (Slo) 6-4, 2-1 (conceded); Nicola Payne(GBR) b Samrita Sekar (Ind) 7-6 (5), 6-3; Rushmi Chakarvorthy (Ind) b Archna Venkataraman (Ind) 6-4, 6-0; Jyotsna Vashisht (Ind) b Ankita Bhambri (Ind) 6-4, 7-5. Doubles (Ist round): Sonal Phadke and Megha Vakharia
(Ind) lost to S. Goutham and Shalini Thakur 6-7 (2), 4-6; N. Chandersekhar and Yamini lost to Medini Sharma and Archna 6-7 (3), 0-6; M Milte and S Bozioinic
(Slo) gave walk over to Marutha Devi and Jasleen Randhwa; D Calvert and D Carr (Aus) b Dimi A and Kamini
(Ind) 6-1, 6-3; D Sumantri (Ina) and R Tulpule (Ind) b L Assudani and R. Kumar
(Ind) 6-2, 6-2.  |
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Report on Shoaib’s action likely by April 21 Karachi, April 17 Shoaib who underwent 3-D tests on his bowling action in Perth, Australia, last forthnight, would be returning home on April 17 to play in the national one-day tournament to test his fitness and qualify for the England tour. Shoaib was sent to Perth by the PCB to have medical examination on his bowling action, which was reported last month in New Zealand by umpires Steve Dunne and Doug Cowie during the fifth one-day international in Dunedin. While the Australian experts, including former fast bowling great Dennis Lillee who worked with Shoaib in Perth, has cleared his bowling action, a final report and clearance would be made available to the PCB on April 21. The PCB will then send its report to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the speedster would be ready to tour England. According to details, in the 3-D tests experts take some 200 frames in a minute and see the action frame by frame. The Western Australian bio-mechanics department under the supervision of Daryl Foster carried out the tests on Shoaib’s action. The same medical committee had cleared Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in 1996.
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Zia to continue as PCB head Islamabad, April 17 “Tauqir has handled the cricketing affairs very well and he will continue to be chief of the PCB,” General Musharraf told reporters at the Rawalpindi Golf Club last night. The clarification by General Musharraf followed speculation in local media that Lt Gen Zia would be replaced due to the team’s loss of one-day series in New Zealand and the subsequent bickering among the players leading to the sacking of coach Javed Miandad and skipper Moin Khan. Lt Gen Zia, a serving General, has already been transferred from a key Corps commander’s post to head a relatively less important Pakistan army training institute. The official explanation was that he was too much tied up with cricket affairs. Dispelling speculations about Lt-Gen
Zia’s replacement, General Musharraf said “if there is any such rumour it is not true. He will continue to be the head of the cricket board”.
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West Indies cricket hits a new nadir London, April 17 Failure to win the fifth and final Test against South Africa in Jamaica starting on Thursday — the series is already lost — will see the once-mighty men from the Caribbean end their 2000-01 season without a single Test win. Defeat would condemn them to the pitiful record of: played 10, lost eight, drawn two, won not a jot. Only two other sides have failed to win during the same period and the comparison will double the pain — they were Zimbabwe, who gained Test status in 1992, and Bangladesh, who joined the fold last year and lost their solitary maiden Test against India in November. The West Indian decline since the glorious 1970s and 1980s has been slow but steady, masked only by occasional flashes of brilliance from the likes of Brian Lara and the evergreen Courtney Walsh. The 1997 tour to Pakistan under Walsh may have been abysmal 0-3 whitewashes in both Tests and one-dayers — and the 1998-99 tour to South Africa, previewed by a players’ rebellion over pay, may have been a horror show — 0-5 in the Tests, 1-6 in the one-dayers. But there were always such jewels as Lara’s world record 375 against England in 1994 or the 2-2 home Test series draw with Australia in 1999, again courtesy of Lara who had innings of 213, 153 not out and 100 in consecutive matches. Lara, however, is no longer the batsman he was while the 37-year -old Walsh’s 500th Test wicket last month, in the second Test in Port of Spain, raised smiles only fleetingly before speculation began again over his retirement date. Carl Hooper, the West Indies’ third captain in 14 months who was appointed after the 0-5 whitewash in Australia under Jimmy Adams, concedes that the team face “a very slow and painful process’’ in coming seasons. Many — Lara included — would argue that the team have been painful to watch for years. Lara quit as skipper in February last year, citing the “devastating failures that have engulfed the West Indies cricket’’. Former great fast bowler Michael Holding, meanwhile, has washed his hands of the team altogether, refusing to commentate on their games. The West Indians, who will have lost 11 out of 14 Tests if they succumb in Kingston, do not even have the consolation of one-day success, a discipline which gave them World Cup trophies in 1975 and 1979. This season, they have won three times in 11 appearances. Their three wins all came against Zimbabwe. It is bad enough that South Africa, their final opponents of the season, are in contrast challenging Australia for the title of the world’s best side. South Africa have already won two Test series and drawn a third on the way to winning seven and losing just one of 13 Tests. Shaun Pollock’s side have also won 16 of their 23 one-dayers. Perhaps it would not be so bad if the West Indians were still serving up that unique brand of Calypso cricket which defined the sides of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards. But they are not. In Bridgetown, tailender Dinanth Ramnarine saved the third Test against South Africa by blatant time-wasting, wandering around 20 metres away from his crease between deliveries and then collapsing in apparent agony. The West Indies trainer bent over the player’s prone body, then sprayed pain-killer on to his boot. As images go, it does not get more pathetic than that.
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Face-saving win for Kiwis Sharjah, April 17 With victory in the last league match, New Zealand drew level at 2 points each with their opponent but Sri Lanka earned the right to challenge Pakistan, who have won all their four league matches, on account of a better run rate -0.08 as against -0.99 of the Kiwis. The final would be played here on Friday. Put into bat, New Zealand hit up 248 for 6 in their alloted 50 overs and in reply Sri Lankans could manage just 169 for 8 when they ran out of overs. Thanks mainly to a fine spell of eight overs in which he took 3/21, paceman Kyle Mills got rid of the top three Sri Lankan batsmen, including skipper Sanath Jayasuriya who made a listless 25 with as many as four ‘lives’. That broke the back of Sri Lankan batting and after some resistance from Mahela Jayawardhane who scored a fluent 41 off 55 balls, the tail in the form of Chaminda Vaas (24 off 53 balls) and Nuwan Zoysa (19 off 14 balls) found the task tough against the accuracy of Kiwi bowling. Mathew Sinclair struck a solid, unbeaten 118 to lift New Zealand to 248 for six. Opener Sinclair made his runs from 136 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes, and shared a 141-run stand for the second wicket with Mathew Bell, who weighed in with 66 off 96 balls, with six fours. Sinclair and Bell batted with authority and determination to repair the early damage.
SCOREBOARD New zealand Nevin c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 0 Sinclair not out 118 Bell st Kaluwitharana b Arnold 66 McMillan c Samaraweera
b Jayasuriya 17 Oram c Samaraweera
b Muralitharan 2 Harris c and b Jayasuriya 16 Vincent c Jayawardene b Zoysa 8 Adams not out 13 Extras: (lb-2, w-3, nb-3) 8 Total: (for six, 50 overs) 248 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-141, 3-167, 4-176, 5-200, 6-227. Bowling: Vaas 9-1-57-1 (nb-1), Zoysa 8-0-42-1 (nb-2), Muralitharan 10-0-38-1, Samaraweera 8-0-37-0 (w-2), Jayasuriya 10-0-47-2 (w-1), Arnold 5-0-25-1. Sri Lanka Jayasuriya c sub (Walker) b Mills 25 Kaluwitharana b Mills 0 Atapattu c Nevin b Mills 5 Jayawardena c and b Bradburn 41 De Saram c Mills b Bradburn 11 Sangakkara lbw b Harris 6 Arnold run out 1 Vaas not out 24 Samaraweera run out 27 Zoysa not out 19 Extras: (lb3, w4, nb3) 10 Total (for 8 wkts off 50 overs) 169 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-23, 3-37, 4-78, 5-87, 6-91, 7-97, 8-138. Bowling: Tuffey 8-0-25-0, Mills 10-2-30-3, Oram 5-0-20-0, Bradburn 10-1-22-2, Harris 10-0-27-1, Adams 3-0-12-0, McMillan 4-0-30-0.
AFP
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Ex-Deputy CM seeks anticipatory bail Margao, April 17 In his application for anticipatory bail, the GCA president submitted that his influential political and other opponents were trying to implicate him in the case to dilute the role and responsibility for the misconducts during the match. In his application, he also pointed out that GCA secretary had made a complaint in writing to the police authorities much before the match but no action appeared to have been taken.
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Mediocre show by Indians Dubai, April 17 Dinesh held his own in a marathon duel lasting 8 hours to attain a draw in 88 moves in a complex ending. Rahul Shetty drew his game from a slightly better position against GM Stura Zurab of Russia. Chandra Sekhar Gokhale attained a creditable draw against Kuzmin in 42 moves from a kings Indian defense. Grandmaster Kuzmin a resident coach for Qatar said. “He played very well and despite my slight edge in the ending he had excellent technique to split the point”. The opening A irregular queen pawn opening gave Kuzmin the bishop pair advantage and space advantage. Kuzmin employed the kings Indian defence and struck at the centre to create counter play. Kuzmin went for the bishop pair by exposing his castled position. Gokhale was unable to exploit the weakness around black queen as the position transposed into a minor piece ending. Kuzmin had the better position and the edge. Gokhale handled the defence in exemplary manner to liquidate the pawns in kingside and attain a draw. Dinesh
Kumar Sharma playing on the top board against a grandmaster rated above 2600 ELO points played positively right from the start. He adopted king pawn opening,
Ruy Lopez exchange variation. The early exchange of queens were exchanged by the 8th move. Kharlov won a rook and 2 pawns against 2 minor pieces and was hoping to wrap up the issue quickly. Sharma’s pieces lacked coordination. However, he initiated tactical complications by sacrificing a pawn and activating his minor pieces. His passed pawn in king side fetched him a whole rook. Despite the significant material deficit Kahrlov was able to attain a draw with his dangerous advanced pawns on sixth rank in queen side, the players reached a theoretical draw position and split the point. Dinesh Kumar was relieved after the marathon game. “It was a complicated and difficult game. I thought I was winning with two extra pieces but the passed pawns advanced and I had to settle for a draw.”
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IOA dissolves IWF Patiala, April 17 Sources reveal after prolonged negotiations failed to break the impasse between former national champion Balbir Singh and
R. R Singh — members of the two member ad-hoc committee — IOA president Suresh Kalamadi was left with no option except to ask both the members to appear before the Disputes Settlement and Affiliation Commission
(DSFA) last week. However, since one of the members, Mr R.R. Singh, absented himself from appearing before the commission, the IOA decided to dissolve the
IWF. It has convened a general body meeting of the IWF where the decision to hold fresh elections to the federation will be ratified. The DSFA has recommended to the IOA to hold these elections soon and under its direct supervision. This decision of the DSFA has been prompted by the fact that elections were held earlier also, but since there was no IOA observer present the results had to be withheld, forcing the IOA to constitute the ad-hoc committee. No bar has been put on either Balbir Singh or R.R. Singh to contest the forthcoming elections. However, sources disclose that the former Secretary-General of the
IWF. Gopal Khanra, will be barred from fighting the elections as a criminal case pertaining to misappropriation of funds of the federation has been registered against him. It may be recalled that the Sports Authority of India
(SAI) had asked the IWF to set its house in order before it could accord sanction camps at the NIS here or at any other SAI
centre. The decision had seriously jeopardised the training of top Indian weightlifters who had to sit idle for the past four months. However, keeping in view the fact that the Indians are scheduled to compete in at least seven International competitions in the coming months,
SAI, in a recent decision, decided to accord sanction to camps.
Shooting title for Manavjit Chandigarh, April 17 Manavjit will now represent India at the World Championships in clay target shooting event to be held at Cairo (Egypt) from April 24. Mr Sidhu said after Abhinav Bindra of Punjab who was already in Atlanta (USA) for the World Cup in Rifle shooting, it was now the turn of Manavjit to don Punjab colours. He said the doyen of Indian clay pigeon shooting, the Late Raja Karni Singh of Bikaner, had shot a score of 295/300. |
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Govt defers inaugural Afro-Asian Games New Delhi, April 17 “Keeping in view the current status for holding of the first Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi in November, 2001, the government has decided that it would be appropriate to defer the Games. Accordingly, the Indian Olympic Association has been advised to suggest new dates for the games,” a brief official statement said. The Executive Committee of the IOA is meeting here tomorrow to discuss the issue. IOA President Suresh Kalmadi refrained from making any comment on the issue. “We will come out with our views only after the Executive Committee meeting tomorrow,” he told UNI. An IOA official, however, said the meeting to discuss preparations for the Games had been fixed much before the announcement of the government’s decision. This would have been the first major multi-sport event to be held in India after the 1982 Asian Games. It has been very clear for some time that neither the infrastructure nor the organisational set-up were in place for holding the first edition of the games in New Delhi in November this year. Till a few days ago, Sports Minister Uma Bharti was quite optimistic that the games, bringing the cream of sporting talent of Africa and Asia in one sporting arena, would be held in November. But a terse official Press note this evening said “Keeping in view the current status for holding of the 1st Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi in November, 2001, the government has decided that it will be appropriate to defer the games”.
PTI/UNI
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Churchill, Tollygunge
split points Margao, April 17 With this drawn match, Churchill Brothers maintained their fourth place with 32 points with nine wins, five draws and five defeats from 19 matches, while Tollygunge took their tally to 23 points with four wins, 11 draws and five defeats from 20 outings one more than Churchill. In a fast paced game with both the teams having equal share of exchanges Zee Churchill made the first good move in the fifth minute but Tollygunge’s goalkeeper Hemant Dora made a fine save off a free kick taken by Somatai
Shaiza. |
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Ex-Fulham manager Stock dead London, April 17 The death of Stock, (84) on the day Fulham drew 1-1 with Sheffield on Wednesday at Craven Cottage muted celebrations at the club, who will return to the top flight of English soccer next season after a 33-year wait. A statement from Fulham said: “It is with deep regret that we report the death of former manager Alec Stock, the man who led the Cottagers to their only FA Cup final appearance in 1975.” “The club sends its deepest sympathy to Mr Stock’s family and friends at this difficult time.’’
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