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Wednesday,
May 2, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Veterans dumped out of singles in world
TT Harbhajan
inaugurates academy It’s time for a combined
UTCA NZ Cricket Academy gets off the
block CBFS probe
panel to quiz Bindra World Cup ticket seekers jam Internet
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Akhtar’s action legal:
PCB Noffke, Love Australian
stars in the making Arjuna Award: BAI backs Popat Indonesia favourites
for Asia Cup Afro-Asian Games will be
‘successful’ National shooting camp from today
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Veterans dumped out of singles in world TT Osaka, May 1 The day proved a particularly grim one for Sweden, usually Europe’s premier team, beginning when veteran Peter Karlsson was eliminated from the men’s singles by the latest youngster to roll off China’s ping pong production line. Zhan Jian, only 17 and a surprise inclusion in the Chinese squad with a world ranking of 167, used his aggressive style to good effect to batter the 31-year-old reigning European champion and 16th seed into a 3-1 loss. “I don’t really know what to say,” admitted a slightly shell-shocked Karlsson afterwards. “I did not play to my normal standards, I think I am a better player than him. But he is a young player with nothing to lose.” To compound Sweden’s misery, young star Fredrik Hakansson, the world No 36, was defeated by Li Ching of Hong Kong, ranked more than 100 places below him. Karlsson and Hakansson’s bad day at the office was then completed in the afternoon when lower-ranked Russians Maksin Chmyrev and Fedor Kouzmine knocked them out of the men’s doubles second round. Also out of the men’s singles draw in the first round was France’s top player Christophe Legout, defeated by Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, a country not noted for its table tennis pedigree. Monteiro, only 287 in the world, was understandably ecstatic about his 3-2 defeat of a player a full 271 ranking places above him. “I have never played better in my life,” said the 20-year-old. Legout said the Brazilian “kept coming at me like a boxer,” forcing him back from the table with attacking shots. Other seeds in the men’s draw such as China’s Wang Liqin and Kong Linghui progressed safely, as did veteran Swedish stars Jan-Ove Waldner and Jorgen Persson, the 35-year-olds salvaging some pride for the battered Scandinavians. In contrast the women’s singles first round proceeded predictably, with China’s seeds number one, two and three, Wang Nan, Li Ju and Zhang Yining, all winning their first two matches 3-0 with minimum effort and zero fuss. It was difficult to believe that only 90 minutes previously, Wang and team-mate Wang Liquin, the women’s and men’s world singles number ones, had been sensationally bundled out of the mixed doubles by an unfancied pair from Hong Kong. Unseeded Ko Lai Chak and Wong Ching overcame their illustrious mainland opponents 2-1 in the third round tie.
AFP Das, Baboor lose Osaka, May 1 Unseeded Das went down to 10th seed Jing Jun Hong of Singapore 16-21, 13-21, 12-21. Baboor seized the initiative against Roko Tosic of Croatia by winning the first game but failed to sustain the momentum to lose 21-18, 18-21, 18-21. National champion Soumyadeep Roy crashed out of competition yesterday when he lost to Italian Chen Yu Wei in straight sets 12-21, 13-21 in the final qualifying round.
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Harbhajan
inaugurates academy Una, May 1 He said that this is probably the first state association, which on its own has taken the initiative to start a state-level coaching centre. He appealed to the PHCA to catch cricketers at primary class level and provide them with financial, educational and cricket coaching facilities to them so that they could be groomed properly. Mr Anurag Thakur, president, HP Cricket Association, said the association would provide Rs 35 lakhs for cricket pavillion to be constructed at Indira Ground, which will be constructed within the next three months. For the state cricket academy Una, best possible coaches would be arranged. Joginder Puri from NIS Patiala, who provides training to cricket coaches, has been requested to head the academy. He said to improve the standard of cricket in Himachal Pradesh and to provide proper coaching to young players, state association has directed district associations to prepare turf crickets for which the HPCA would provide Rs 10,000 to each district association. Mr Devinder Arora, coach who trained Harbhajan Singh, made the plea that the district-level coaching centres should be strengthened. Only then standard of cricket was likely to improve. He also agreed to provide coaching at the academy. Mr Kirpal Parmar, member to Rajya Sabha, laid the foundation stone of the academy. While addressing the gathering, he said that Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh; Mr Anurag Thakur, and he himself had met Mr Jaswant Singh, Defence Minister of India for handing over of Anandale ground at Shimla to the state government. The ground which at present is the property of Ministry of Defence. He said that Mr Lele, secretary of cricket board of India, during his visit to the state also met Mr Dhumal and informed him that if planned properly the Anandale ground could be developed as a very good cricket ground. He also announced grant of Rs 10 lakhs for the academy at Una which is slated to be constructed at a cost of Rs 35 lakhs and said if invited for inauguration of the academy, he would provide Rs 25 lakh from the MP development fund for the same. |
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It’s time for a combined
UTCA Chandigarh, May 1 Bedi in the first instance does not belong to Chandigarh and has never been in good terms with the members of the BCCI whether in the majority group or otherwise. His outburst in the past has raised more enemies than friends. The time has come for the
U.T. Cricket Association to reorganise itself by co-opting the two Chandigarh Cricket Associations of Punjab and Haryana, respectively, to put up a combined face before the BCCI. So far the UT Cricket Association is going all alone and if these two associations ask their players not to participate in tournaments organised by the
U.T. Cricket Association it will add to the problems. Initially it did come as a surprise to many when the BCCI decided to consider the case of the UT Cricket Association along with the other newly formed states like Jharkhand and Uttaranchal in the last
AGM. A few years back, Chandigarh case was rejected for two consecutive years. And in the third year the matter was not even put up in the agenda. The reasons given by the BCCI was that the formula of one state one association did not apply to UT. Most of the members who attended the working committee meeting were of the view that the case of affiliation to the UT Chandigarh Association had no chance. Chandigarh’s case was apparently put up to show down the PCA. It is now an open secret that the majority group of the BCCI is not happy with the style of functioning of the Punjab Cricket Association headed by Mr
I.S. Bindra, who has been directed by the BCCI not to attend any meeting or give any statement which was against the interest of the BCCI. Again to show down Punjab, the BCCI is taking a keen interest to motivate the Himachal Cricket Association to build an international stadium in Shimla so that with the rotation system of allotting international matches, the turn of Punjab is further delayed. The UT Chandigarh Association case has been further weakened by the other two associations who are operating from Chandigarh. UT Players have to represent either of these associations to play either for the State of Punjab or Haryana. The associations allege that the UT Cricket Association is misguiding the UT Administration officers on the affiliation issue for the past few years and taking undue advantage in the form of grants and allotment of a room in the cricket stadium and free facility for the matches and practice. |
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NZ Cricket Academy gets off the
block New Delhi, May 1 The absentees were Mohinder Sharma of Himachal Pradesh, and Gursharan Singh, Ankur Jund and Bhupinder Singh of Punjab. Yashpal Sharma said he would be “finding out facts” about the missing players from their respective cricket associations — Himachal and PCA (Punjab Cricket Association) — before chalking out his course of action. The Zonal Cricket Academy concept is an extension of the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy (NCA), to spread the net far and wide, to unearth potential talent, who would have otherwise got buried in a heap, due to lack of opportunity to show their prowess as the NCA can accommodate only a very limited number of trainees at its centre. But the launch of the north zone academy had its share of controversy as chief coach Yashpal Sharma asserted that he had no knowledge of the appointment of former Test player Gursharan Singh as one of the four coaches to assist the chief coach (the other three being Chetan Sharma, Surinder Khanna and Rajinder Amarnath), while vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) C K Khanna, who is also the senior vice-president of the DDCA, said NCA chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur had given his “consent for the appointment of Gursharan Singh as coach for the North Zone NCA”. But Yashpal Sharma asserted that Gursharan’s name was not there in the original list supplied to him by the NCA, signed by chairman Raj Singh and director Brijesh Patel, nor was his name mentioned when a two-day meeting of the zonal academy coaches were held in Bangalore on April 29 and 30. Yashpal, however, clarified that it was a matter to be settled between the NCA and the DDCA, and Mr Khanna assured a crestfallen Gursharan that he would be very much part of the academy. Mr Khanna said when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) working committee meeting was held in Delhi on April 24, Gursharan’s name was very much there in the list forwarded to the NCA for approval, which was “supported by Mr M.P. Pandov (of the PCA). “We are not here to humiliate ex-internationals”, pointed out Mr Khanna. The DDCA has appointed veteran physical conditioning expert Capt K.B. Dogra, Dr D.K. Chauhan, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Anmol Maria, dietician Charu Jain, yoga teacher Sunil Kumar Chawla and psychiatrist Dr A.D. Nayyar, to help the coaches to keep the boys in peak condition, both physically and mentally. The DDCA has also constituted an organising committee, consisting of former Test opener Chetan Chauhan, C K Khanna, DDCA sports secretary Sunil Dev and general-secretary S.P. Bansal, to ensure the smooth functioning of the academy. The trainees, who were selected by an expert panel, comprising Rajinder Goel (Haryana, chairman), Sunil Saggi (Punjab), Anurag Mathur (Himachal), Yashpal Sharma, Madan Lal (nationl selector) and Sunil Dev (DDCA, convenor), are an excellent mix of allrounders and specialists as the 16 who made the bow today included five medium-pacers, three right-arm leg spinners, three left-arm spinners, two wicket-keepers and three all-rounders. “All of them are, in fact, all rounders, who can bat and bowl well”, informed the chief coach. Yashpal said the main idea of the zonal academy is to chisel out talent for selection into the Indian team for the mini World Cup (under-19) to be held in January-February, 2002 by September this year, so that the boys could be trained properly, to make them stronger “physically and mentally” when the World Cup comes around. “Such a thing had never happened in our time, as the team, even for the senior World Cup, was at best finalised just two months before the competition”, Yashpal explained. Yashpal said four to five players would be selected from each of the five zonal academies (the others are: Central at Kanpur, South at Chennai, East at Kolkata and West at Mumbai) after the two-month training stint (May 1 to June 30), to be included in the NCA at Bangalore, for selection to the junior World Cup squad. Yashpal clarified that it was not a “camp, but an academy, and the thrust would be not only to develop the cricketing skills of the players, but also to make them disciplined, on and off the field”. The boys are being put up at a star hotel — Broadway — and it is learnt that the whole venture would cost about Rs 15 lakh. Yashpal said yoga would be an essential part of the training programme “to make the players stronger mentally”. The training timings would be 7.30 to 10.30 am and 4 to 6.30 p m. After the completion of the two-month training programme, consultant of the NCA, Geoff Marsh of Australia, who would be in Delhi on May 9, and the DDCA, will submit separate reports to the NCA, for evaluation and approval, which will make or mar the fate of the zonal academy. The 20 trainees who have been selected are: Nitin Aggarwal, Amit Mishra, Deepak Joon and Sumit Sharma (Haryana), Kuldeep Rawat, Kunal Lal, Abhishek Sharma, Vivek Khurana, Abhinav Bali, Himanshu Khullar, Shikhar Dhawan and Sushil Kumar (DDCA), Gursharan Singh, Ankur Jund, Bhupinder Singh, Rahul Arora and Gaurav Gupta (Punjab), Mohinder Sharma and Paras Dogra (Himachal Pradesh) and S. Selwal (Jammu and Kashmir). Standbyes: Deepak Soni (Himachal), Gaurav Malhotra (DDCA), Vipul Sharma (Punjab), Salil Oberoi and Deepak Sharma (DDCA). |
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CBFS probe
panel to quiz Bindra Dubai, May 1 Gulf News said the commission, which comprises former West Indian skipper Clive Lloyd, George Staple, former Director of the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Officer and Brig Mohammed K Al Mualla, General Director for Criminal Security of the UAE, has already prepared an interim report and submitted it to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in London. Controversial former Pakistani pace bowler Sarfraz Nawaz would be the next to appear before the commission. He would travel to London next week in this connection.
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World Cup ticket seekers jam Internet site Seoul, May 1 Eight million Internet users beseiged www.fifaworldcup.com site on Sunday alone in a bid to register before applications were ended at 1500 GMT (8.30 p.m. IST) yesterday, FIFA, football’s international governing body, said. In the final hours, it was nearly impossible to register for tickets, users in several countries said. “I tried several times an hour for eight hours yesterday, but nothing. I guess I left it too late,” said Sydney-based soccer fan David Burton. A FIFA spokesman in Zurich said “the servers were quite simply unable to process more than 20,000 inquiries per hour.” “Many ticket series have been over subscribed and many applicants will be unsuccessful,” the official site warned readers after it stopped taking orders. Applications by post had to be received by the same deadline. The World Cup ticket marketing has been one of the biggest international sales ever conducted by Internet. The FIFA spokesman said demand reached “incredible heights.” The spokesman said most inquiries have come from Japan and South Korea, the USA, Britain, France, Germany and Hong Kong. But there were applications from more than 120 countries. A random computerised draw for the first release of tickets will be held on May 15 and the results announced the following day. The World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan start with an opening match in Seoul on May 31 next year and end with the final in Yokohama, Japan, on June 30, 2002. But only a fraction of the total 31.79 lakh tickets for the 64 matches were involved in the first general international sale. Jaime Byrom, of FIFA ticketing agent Byrom Plc, said 29 lakh of the tickets would be sold at various times. Some 14.5 lakh would be sold in South Korea and Japan, 5,80,000 through national associations, about 2,50,000 on general international sale and the rest to commercial affiliates and partners. He said if all tickets are sold $ 44.14 crore would be raised in revenue. This would be “significantly higher” than the 1998 finals in France, Byrom said. Following an international controversy over the way the bulk of tickets for France ’98 tournament went to the French market, FIFA appointed Byrom as special ticket agents for this tournament. FIFA has said this new system used was the fairest ever. Through the online applications, fans could apply for tickets for one match, or to follow one country throughout the tournament or for all the matches at one venue.
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Akhtar’s action legal: PCB
Lahore, May 1 The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that Akhtar, who has twice been reported for throwing, had agreed to change his action. But it said the main reason was because he wanted to cut down the risk of injury, not because his action was faulty. The board published a report by a panel of experts at the University of Western Australia on its official website which concluded that Akhtar “does not throw based on the biomechanical assessment of his bowling action’’. The report said that Akhtar’s problems with umpires — he was reported in 1999 and again this year, leading to concerns that he could be banned from the game — were due to a “hypermobile elbow joint’’. “Unfortunately, the abnormalities of his bowling limb give the impression of a semi-throwing motion,’’ it said. “Mr Akhtar is unable to avoid hypermobility of his bowling action...and therefore should not be regarded as throwing due to his abnormal anatomical characteristics.’’ The experts from the university’s Department of Human Movement and Exercise Science, however, convinced Akhtar to remodel his action, principally to reduce the chance of injury. The 25-year-old, dubbed the “Rawalpindi Express’’ and a leading contender for the title of the world’s fastest bowler, has been plagued by injuries during his short career. He has taken 45 wickets in 15 Tests and is in the 17-man party to tour England. The report, which followed three weeks of tests with Akhtar who was filmed bowling at speeds of around 150 kph, said the changes should help Akhtar “increase his longevity in the game’’. It added that he would be able to bowl just as fast while “his accuracy would increase and he would be in a better position to swing the ball’’. Reuters
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Noffke, Love Australian stars in the making Sydney, May
1 The 24-year-old Noffke was among 25 players awarded the contracts along with other additions paceman Nathan Bracken and batsman Martin Love. While they were celebrating their national recognition, Andrew Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz, Matthew Elliott and Michael Hussey were not offered new deals. New South Wales quick Bracken was handed the contract after making his international debut last season. Noffke has played just six first-class matches but his man-of-the-match performance in the Sheffield Shield cricket final in March helped him bump out team mates Kasprowicz and Bichel. Noffke, who has been likened to Australian spearhead Glenn McGrath for his bowling rhythm and build, had even figured in discussions for this year’s Ashes tour to England. While he missed Ashes selection, Noffke and 27-year-old Love have been placed in the queue of players waiting to replace Australia’s ageing Test team. “It’s a view to the future,” chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said today. “Ashley certainly has age on his side and when you look around the ranks of players across the states, there is not too many players under 25 “, he said. “He performed very well in the inter-state final and that helped him secure a ranking. Martin Love’s form has been very good over a period of years and he is a player we think can bat nearly anywhere in the order if required.” Australian selectors know Noffke isn’t even guaranteed selection for Queensland because of the Bulls’ powerful list of quick bowlers, including Kasprowicz, Bichel, Adam Dale and Joe Dawes. But his star rose five weeks ago when he avoided 12th man duties at the last minute to help steer Queensland to another domestic title. His figures of 5-41 and 2-79, along with a marathon knock of 43 as nightwatchman secured him an ACB deal. “I was thinking I would be 12th man for the final but I got the nod and from that day everything has fallen into place,” he said. Love appears to have edged ahead of Brad Hodge and Jimmy Maher in the race for national selection after he was rewarded for his consistent batting for
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Arjuna Award: BAI backs Popat Chandigarh, May 1 This year’s calendar of tournaments in all age groups was also finalised, which included the National, mini and sub-junior (under-13 and under-16) badminton championships at Ooty (Tamil Nadu) in last week of October, junior national badminton meet (under-19) at Bhopal (MP ) in November, senior nationals at Lucknow in December-January and veterans nationals at Jammu in January 2002. The BAI will also hold major ranking tournaments for juniors, Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial Tournament at Chennai in July, and the Junior major ranking meet at Shillong (Meghalaya — date to be notified). In the senior section, BPL Grand Prix tournament will be held at Bangalore from September 4 to 7, all- India meet at Madurai (Rs 4 lakh prize money) and another all-India meet will be held in Gujarat at the end of the year. The issue of allowing sub-junior and junior players to take part in tournaments irrespective of their class with reference to respective High Court
judgments was also discussed. It was, however, decided to go by original age groups certificates issued by a responsible authority. Two years back, players had moved High Court whereby it was argued that they were not being allowed to play in nationals when they were still below the age
limit. The BAI had insisted that the class in which they were studying was above and not in accordance with their rules. But the High Court had allowed the players to take part notwithstanding the class in which they studied. At the AGM, it was also decided to grant Rs 2 lakh to P. Gopichand for winning the coveted All-England title. The BAI witnessed maximum strength in the meeting but Prakash Padukone and S.S. Mani, general secretary, abstained from the meeting. Padukone had submitted his resignation from the post of BAI Executive President last year but BAI had not accepted it. Mr Mani was removed from the post of secretary, Karnataka Badminton Association, recently after his suggestion to delink the inter-state meets from the national individual championships. He wanted the national team championships to have attractive prize money. Since Mr Mani did not attend the meeting, the suggestions put forth by him were kept pending by the house, the sources said. Chandigarh was allotted the North Zone national camp for under-13 and under-16 boys and girls beginning on May 20. |
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Indonesia favourites for Asia Cup Singapore, May 1 China is the only possible challenge, said world No 11 H.Hendrawan as eight teams lined up for the richest prize money in world badminton, which offers $80,000 to the winners. “The Chinese are very deceptive. You never know what they will come up with. And after losing the All-England final, Chen Hong will be like a wounded tiger,” said Hendrawan. But Indonesia have to avoid being sidetracked by the row between Hidayat and Indonesian officials, with the world No 3 ready to walk out on his country if Malyuo Hadoyo is not retained as coach after next months’ world championships. The Badminton Association of Indonesia has backed down once to the 19-year-old when Hadoyo was dropped at the start of the year, reappointing the singles coach on a short-term contract. “He is like a father to me. But his contract is only up to the world championships so I don’t know what will happen after that,” said Hidayat. “If he leaves and if my back is up against the wall, I will consider leaving,” he said. Indonesia, the top seeds in Singapore, should have no difficulty qualifying at the head of group A for the semifinals, although it will be a close call for the second berth between South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
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Afro-Asian Games will be
‘successful’ New Delhi, May 1 Presiding over the first meeting of the Games’s
steering committee, Ms Bharti said the government was keen to see that all the infra-structure required for the event was ready well in time. The meeting which lasted over 90 minutes was attended by all the members except Vijay Kumar Malhotra. It decided to form a co-ordination committee under Lt
Governor of Delhi Vijai Kapoor to speed up the work on the infra-structure. The meeting also decided to form the games organising committee as soon as possible. The organising committee will then constitute various sub-committees required for the games.
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National shooting camp from today Chandigarh, May 1 It was on the shooters demand that the camp was being held here. It was earlier planned to the held in Bangalore but was later shifted to Phillaur. The camp will be till May 20 under the supervision T.S. Dhillon, Prof Sunny Thomas, Sanjay Chakarvorty, and D. Lingam. The trials to select the team for the Commmonwealth shooting meet and other international shooting competitions will be held from May 13 to 20, during the camp. |
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Religious functions damaging Patiala, May 1 A glaring example of the apathy of the authorities towards sports is reflected from the manner in which permission has been granted to a religious preacher to hold a ‘sangat darshan’ at the Polo Ground which is one of the venues for the National Games and is one of the biggest grounds in the state. For the last two days, thousands of people from all over the state and even adjoining states have been converging at the grounds to listen to the religious discourse of the preacher, unmindful of the damage caused to the ground. The ground falls under the jurisdiction of the Punjab Sports Department but no official of the department is willing to make any comment due to the fear of inviting the wrath of high-ups. Under normal circumstances permission for the use of ground by private parties is given by the Sports Department. However, sources reveal that this time permission has been granted directly by the state Sports Minister, Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, due to which Sports Department officials were left with little option, but to give a green signal to the proceedings. Sports activity has come to a grinding halt for the past one week and is expected to resume only after a few days after the area is cleared of the litter and after the wooden structures and huge shamianas are brought down. A few months ago, the ground was made inaccessible to sportspersons for nearly two weeks when a religious preacher held the centre stage at the ground attracting tens of thousands of people.The disciplines in which this ground will play host during the National Games are archery, boxing and gymnastics while training is imparted daily in the disciplines of hockey, athletics, kho-kho, weightlifting, badminton, volleyball, judo, boxing and football. With the National Games round the corner, the Sports Department officials have to get the ground in top shape by the end of June. However, going by the frequency with which non-sporting events are being held, it would indeed be a herculean task for the authorities to make the ground ready for the mega sports event. |
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GOPI TO LEAD CHALLENGE AFGHAN TEAM HOOGENBAND WINS PAK COACH TRIALS PUNJAB POLICE
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Una,
May
1
