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Monday,
May 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India  |
Full-strength India face Zimbabwe A Malpractices ‘can’t be
totally eliminated’ |
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Gopichand
out to repeat England feat Sasikiran
draws first game Korea
lift title; India ninth Jules
Alberto signs for Mahindras |
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Inculcate sports spirit, says Governor Punjab, UP eves enter final
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Full-strength India face Zimbabwe A Mutare (Zimbabwe), May 27 This being the only match before the first Test starting in Bulawayo on June 7, the Indians left nothing to chance and
fielded a full strength Test eleven against an equally strong Zimbabwean side which boasts of nine past and present Test players. A measure of their seriousness was evident in the way the Indians took to practice within hours of arriving in Harare on Friday and captain Saurav Ganguly today took the unusual step of announcing the final eleven a day in advance. The team included three medium pacers to exploit the windy and bouncy conditions prevailing here. “These pitches suit the seamers. So we will go in with three fast bowlers,” he said. Harbhajan Singh is the only spinner included in the team to bowl alongside Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. There was no experimentation in the batting order with the normal Test line of Shiv Sunder Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, V.V.S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and Samir Dighe being fielded. On the other hand the Zimbabweans baffled the Indians by including two schoolboys — Tetindu Taibu and H. Masakadza — in their final eleven. Taibu is a wicket-keeper who toured England recently with a Zimbabwe A side recently and is widely tipped to take over from Andy Flower once the former captain retires. Masakadza is an opener who caught the eye of the selectors by becoming the youngest century maker in the domestic national competition. Led by Gavin Rennie, the side includes the likes of Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Dirk Viljoen, Travis Friend, Bryan Strang, Brian Murphy, D. Mutendera and Dion Ebrahim all of whom have represented Zimbabwe one time or the other. However, only Rennie and Strang stand some chance of making it to the Test side in this series. Rennie, who was in the team that toured India last year, scored 93 and 37 against New Zealand earlier this year but was strangly not selected to play in the home series against Bangladesh. Strang, who too was not considered against the Bangladeshis, looks set to return to the national side as his fellow pacemen were found wanting in bowling within the stumps. Strang has the knack to make the batsmen play all the time and will be closely watched by the selectors. Friend missed the series against Bangladesh due to an injury sustained on the tour to Australia and if he performs well and is fully fit, he too can be picked up for the Test. The venue, surrounded by hills and overhead trees, has a lovely setting but the pitch is flat and should help the batsmen, according to Mr Kish Gokal, manager of the home side. Teams: India: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sunder Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Samir Dighe, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Debasis Mohanty (12th man). Zimbabwe A: Gavin Rennie (captain), H. Masakadza, Dion Ebrahim, Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Dirk Viljoen, T. Taibu, Travis Friend, Bryan Strang, D. Mutender, Brian Murphy and S. Matsikenyeri (12th man). Umpires: Graham Gilmour and Kevin Barbour.
PTI |
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Malpractices ‘can’t be totally eliminated’ Lahore, May 27 “We are working on firm lines and will ensure a clean 2003 World Cup,” he said. “Complete elimination of malpractices in the game is not possible but I hope that by the 2003 World Cup it would be reduced considerably,” he remarked. Condon claimed that investigative journalism and disclosure by some courageous cricketers helped in uncovering the malpractices in cricket. He said that the recommendations of his report would be discussed next month by the Executive Board of ICC and its implementation will help eradicate corruption. He said that match-fixing at small level was still rife in some parts the world but its intensity has been reduced. “Match-fixing is still taking place at small scale as the people involved in it have taken the preventive measures,” he said. Condon said that apart from the Justice Qayyum report, South African cricket, criminal investigations in India and England helped him complete his report. Visibly calm and composed, he faced barrage of questions and answered with great confidence without being perplexed. He was of the view that it was not possible for him to reveal the identities of the suspected match-fixers at this stage as it could hamper the investigation process and it could also lead to court defamation. “We don’t want to nominate individuals directly as it could create disturbance between the players and the boards,” he remarked. Moreover, he said the ICC was totally dependant on information provided by the boards of cricketing countries. He said the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit was supporting two criminal investigations in India concerning the links into organised crimes and match-fixing and allegations involving the ICC knock-out tournament in Dhaka in 1998.
ANI |
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Gopichand out to repeat England feat Seville, May 27 Gopichand left the badminton world abuzz in March when he defeated Denmark’s world number one Peter Gade and China’s Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng in a rollercoaster ride to the coveted All-England Championships. The 27-year-old’s triumph in the prestigious tournament was the first by an Indian in 21 years and marked the late blossoming of Gopichand as a force in the men’s game. But whether ‘Gopi’ can conjure up another magical run at the San Pablo Stadium remains to be seen, and he has not played a competitive match since the All-Englands through fear of injury. Despite acknowledging some ring rust, Gopichand remains optimistic of his chances in Seville, where he will also take part with India in the Sudirman Cup mixed team world championships which start tomorrow. “I have not had any bad losses for the last one year and I hope to carry this form into the championships,” said Gopichand. Lying in wait for him are a trio of vanquished opponents out to make a point. Foremost among them is Gade. The silky-smooth blonde star is desperate to atone for defeat at the All-Englands, and is still smarting after losing his world number one ranking to Malaysia’s Roslin Hashim, the top seed here. As well as seeking revenge from Gopichand, gade will also be looking to dump his tag as a choker. He wilted in front of his home crowd at the 1999 World Championships in Copenhagen, and collapsed in the semifinals of the Olympics last year when he had been tipped to take the gold medal. “Sure, I’ve had disappointments in the past couple of seasons, but they are behind me now,” Gade said. “There is no point dwelling on them. All I am focussed on is this tournament,” he added. The man who pipped Gade to gold glory in Sydney, Ji Xinpeng, is seeded 11 for the men’s singles. Ji has been a patchy performer since the Olympics and became another of Gopichand’s All-England conquests in March along with Chen Hong, the Indian’s victim in the final in Birmingham. Another threat to Gopichand’s world title ambitions is likely to come from Indonesia’s youthful star, Taufik ‘babyface’ Hidayat. The sublimely gifted third-seeded shuttler beat Gopichand in straight games in their last meeting at the Asian Championships in November last year. In the women’s singles Gade’s girlfriend and reigning world champion Camilla Martin will start as favourite amid a phalanx of Chinese pretenders led by Zhou Mi. Second-seed Zhou has beaten Martin on the last two occasions they have met and will be confident of making it a hat-trick here. Former world junior champion Gong Ruina is seeded three with Olympic gold medallist Gong Zhichao, seeded five, completing China’s formidable array of talent. Denmark’s Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen are top seeds in the men’s doubles while compatriots Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen are favoured in the mixed event. China’s Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei are favourites in the women’s doubles. The World Championships start tomorrow with the mixed team Sudirman Cup event, where defending champions China will be favourites to win their fourth crown in a row. The Chinese are in group 1A with South Korea and Sweden, while group 1B comprise Denmark, Indonesia and new arrivals England. The winners of the two groups playoff for the title. The individual World Championships start on June 4.
AFP |
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Sasikiran draws first game Lausanne (Switzerland), May 27 In the fight for the coveted title, the first game between GM Etienne Bacrot of France and GM Bruzon Lazarov of Cuba also ended in a draw after a tense struggle. Double GM-norm holder IM P Harikrishna, already smarting under defeat at the hands of L Aronian in tie-break game of the previous round, failed yet again as he lost to Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in the first game playoff for the 7-8 place. After losing in the semi-final to Bacrot, Sasikiran employed the Sicilian Nazdorf variation with black pieces and faced the classical structure. Volokitin, who has had a tremendous run in the first half of the tournament, ventured into wild complications in the middlegame by going for a kingside attack. Sasikiran’s counter-attack came in the form of tremendous piece play on both flanks. A strike in the centre by Volokitin transformed the game into a rook and pawn ending wherein Sasikiran had a better placed rook and an extra pawn but Volokitin’s passed queen knight pawn compensated for the minor material deficit. Sasikiran then readied himself to give back the pawn at the cost of the passer but with a result not in sight, the draw was soon agreed to. In the return match tomorrow, Sasikiran will have the advantage of white pieces. Harikrishna wanted to get into the intricacies of the Semislav defence with black pieces but Xiangzhi was obviously not game for a tactical battle. The transposition to the Exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined was a natural choice and Xiangzhi got a slight advantage in the middlegame. Harikrishna traded on thin ice once he allowed white pawns to roll on the king side and his counterplay bid on either flank of the board did not get the desired position. Xiangzhi, on the contrary, played imaginatively and continued exerting pressure on the vulnerable king side with all his pieces. Harikrishna confined himself to the uphill defensive task but consistent attack on the king side cost him a pawn. The Queens got traded but Xiangzhi managed to penetrate the seventh rank with his Rook and as his king made a foray along the king rook file to force checkmate, Harikrishna called it a day. GM Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine drew with GM Levon Aronian of Armenia in the first game for the 5th place. The off-beat opening choice in the Ruy Lopez apparently surprised Ponomariov and the pieces got exchanged at regular intervals and truce was the natural result. Playing white, Bacrot did not get much against the solid play of Lazaro in the Queens Gambit Declined. The opposite side castling by Bacrot did not enthuse life in the game as a couple of minor pieces got exchanged early in the middlegame. Bacrot had to contend himself with a draw after 73 moves.
PTI |
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Korea lift title; India ninth Buenos Aires, May 27 Meanwhile, India finished ninth beating Spain 5-1 and Australia defeated defending champions Netherlands 2-0 to clinch the third place. Argentina seemed to have settled the match yesterday night with two goals in the first 10 minutes. Soledad Garcia, who had been used sparingly earlier in the 12-day tournament while awaiting a ligament operation, passed deep to Maria Del Carril. Del Carril, alone in the circle, swiftly dribbled around goalkeeper Ju Young Lin to score after six minutes. She also netted the second goal in the 10th minute, following a combined attack. South Korea only got their first penalty corner after 29 minutes, and from this, Argentine goalkeeper Angela Cattaneo twice had to stop hardshots from tournament top scorer Yun Mi Kim. Then Korea went on the attack for the rest of the half. The Koreans ratcheted up the pressure in the second half as their crisp passing game forced several well-executed penalty corners. One of the penalty corners was stopped by Argentine defender Maria Baetti on the goal-line with her stick above her head, allowing Ma Young Kang Lee to reduce the lead with the resulting penalty stroke after 48 minutes. Yun Mi Kim scored her 12th goal of the tournament to tie it up at 2-2 in the 58th minute of regulation play. Cattaneo, the Argentine goalkeeper, had to make two excellent saves from Hyun Are Kim in the last minutes of regular time. Moving into overtime, South Korea came close to the sudden death goal with a penalty corner after two minutes, but Yun Mi Kim narrowly missed the shot. But the Koreans pressed on for the winner. Baetti excelled on defence for Argentina, but the Argentines couldn’t muster any scoring in overtime, leaving the match to penalty strokes. Korea won in penalty strokes 4-3 as its goal-keeper, Ju Young Kim, saved two of them. A sellout crowd of 6,000 people watched the championship match of the tournament at the National Hockey Stadium in southern Buenos Aires. Cattaneo was chosen best goalkeeper of the tournament, while best player named was Marine Russo, also of Argentina. Fifteen teams from around the world competed in games featuring some of the best under-21 women’s players. In the match for the third place, Australia took the lead with a 15th-minute strike by Sian Smithson, but only after the Dutch had gone close when Ki Lammers fired just wide after a rapid Dutch build-up. A minute after Australia’s opener, the Dutch were unlucky again, hitting the post and in the 26th minute Lammers missed another good chance — again placing her shot just wide. The teams continued to go back and forth until Smithson scored her second goal of the afternoon in the 49th minute. Five minutes from the end, the Australians should have grabbed a third when Australian defender Angie Skirving — the only member of the side to have played in Australia’s Olympic gold medal winning side — flicked a penalty over the bar.
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Jules Alberto signs for Mahindras Margao, may 27 Mahindra’s former international goalkeeper Henry Menezes and manager Harish Rao, who arrived here, told PTI “We are happy to have Alberto playing for us this season and wish him all the best”. Alberto, who played for Salgaocar for the last three seasons, got his first nod in the Indian team in the SAF tournament held in Goa. Later, he represented India in the SAF Games at Kathmandu, Asia Cup, England tour, Millennium Cup and pre-World Cup qualfying tournament. Alberto also had offers from East Bengal and Mahindras, but he finally decided to join Mahindras. He is the second player from the Goan team after Jeevan Moras of Dempo to join Mahindras this season. Others who have joined Mahindras are M. Suresh, Naushad Pari (Bagan), Sabir Ali Mondal, Khalid Jamil (Air-India) and Sur Kumar Singh (East Bengal). Salgaocar did well to snatch FC Kochin’s Liberian duo of Sunday Seah, who is goalkeeper as well as striker, and Eugene Gray. They have also signed Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) midfielder Muralidharan and East Bengal’s Kalyan Choubey and Akshay Das. Similarly, Mahindras’ Shamsi Raza and Manjit Singh along with Trijit Das of East Bengal have signed for Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bangalore.
PTI |
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Australia bag hockey crown Osaka, May 27 China triumphed in their own martial art of wushu and grabbed two women’s judo golds to finish, for the third time in as many games, on top of the gold-medal standings with 85 out of a possible 204. But the Japanese stole the show today when they won the men’s football and volleyball titles and proved too strong in the men’s premier heavyweight and open judo events. Nevertheless, Japan finished in the runner-up spot to China for the third consecutive time with 61 golds, while South Korea found themselves again in third spot with 34. Australia completed a hat trick of wins today, with their men and women doing the double over South Korea while their male basketballers fended off China. All told, the eclectic mix of raw and experienced Australian athletes swept all before them in 20 events, but their feats did not turn into medals or podium positions due to their “guest” status. If not for the restrictions, they would have finished fourth on the gold-medal table. Their presence, however, certainly added extra spice to the nine-day games, in particular in the pool, on the basketball court and the hockey pitch. It also enabled them to improve their skills in such additional Asian sports as judo and taekwondo. Australia provided a spirited finale to the football competition with their young socceroos conceding the winner off Tatsuya Ishikawa eight minutes from time to give Japan a 2-1 in the under-23 event. And their basketballers knew it wasn’t going to be quite as easy as their opening 105-77 win against China. However, in the end the boomers were able to squeeze enough shots past the “Walking Great Wall” trio of Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Menk Batere to eke out a 105-93 victory. Australian basketball coach Philip Smyth said he considered the tournament a “trial” for the World Championships next year and the 2004 Athens Olympics. “This is a very young team but most important for us is that the team plays well together,” said Smyth, who said their participation in Osaka would help Australia move up the rankings ladder after finishing fifth at the Sydney Olympics last year. Australia were also made to fight all the way by South Korea to lift the men’s hockey title with a 4-2 victory, but their female counter parts had an easier time of it against Korea’s women, comfortably winning 7- 1. Despite the poor crowds, technical hitches and translation problems, the response from the 10 participating countries and territories at the games has been positive. As Liu Guangchun, a spokesman for the Chinese Olympic Committee, said, the existence of the East Asian Games gives “emerging athletes a valuable chance to compete on the international stage against world class opponents.” “The purpose for China, like most of the delegations, is sending our young athletes to get meaningful experience in a comprehensive multi- sports event and help them get better results over the next four years,” he said.
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Wushu meet opens Chandigarh, May 27 According to Mr G.R. Tripathi, chief coach of the Wushu Association of India, the present meet will help give more exposure to players. In this meet, all weight categories have been included such as below 48 kg, 52 kg, 56 kg, 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 80kg, 85 kg, 90 kg, 95 kg and above 95 kg. The best-of-three system has been adopted for various rounds with a minute’s rest inbetween. Today, the demonstration events were also conducted in long range boxing, broad sword, southern style boxing, taiji boxing, short sword and stick play. The results of today’s competition are: below 65 kg: Sanshou — Varinder Singh (Chd ‘A’) b Parithvi Singh (Har) Knock out — 2nd round; Jagjeevan Kumar (Del) b Amar Kota (Chd ‘B’) on points (five). |
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PSWA honours Olympians, others Patiala, May 27 Prominent among those honoured on the occasion were three-time hockey Olympian and Padam Shri Pargat Singh whose genius with the stick is still remembered by oldtimers with awe. Olympian and quarter miler Paramjit Singh achievement of putting to shade the four decade old 400m record of Milkha Singh was recalled and so were the achievements of other Olympians like discus thrower Neelam J. Singh, shot putter Bahadur Singh, skipper of the Indian hockey team in Sydney olympics Ramandeep Singh, 1982 Asian games gold medallist in boxing Kaur Singh, weightlifters Tara Singh and Dalbir Singh and hurdler G.S. Randhawa. Others who were honoured were Hardeep Singh, brother of boxer Gurcharan Singh, bodybuilder Prem Chand Dogra, footballer of the decade in the eighties Parminder Singh, basketballer Sajjan Singh, spiker Sukhpal Singh, kabaddi player Balwinder Singh Fidda and Rustom-e-Hind Palwinder Singh Cheema. Among the veterans who were honoured were Asian champ Makhan Singh — one of India’s greatest athletes along with Milkha Singh but who was forgotten by an
ungrateful nation in whose name he ran till the government finally awoke from its slumber last year and awarded him the Arjuna Award. Also honoured were another Asian champ discus thrower Parduman Singh, again whose achievements were consigned to the backburner for 36 years till the Arjuna Award came his way last year. Also present was one of India’s oldest athletes the 110-year-old Baba Joginder Singh — who despite winning hundreds of medals in numerous veteran international meets, lives in a state of penury in a one room tenement. All this despite the fact that his name has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Dronacharya awardees G.S. Sandhu and K.O Bosen were also honoured. All the players and coaches were given Rs 21,000 each. Those who were conspicuous by their absence were hockey Olympian Baljit Dhillon, Padam Shri Kartar Singh and international cager Parminder Singh Happy. The prizes were distributed by Mr R.S Gill, Inspector General of Police and the Deputy Commissioner Mr
J.S. Bir presided over the function. Also present were Mr H.S. Sidhu, SSP and President of the Patiala District Amateur Boxing Association and a galaxy of former and present national and international level sportspersons. |
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Madrid claim Spanish crown Madrid, May 27 The win over Alaves gives Real 76 points and a nine-point lead with two weekends left to go but last year’s champions Deportivo La Coruna, who lie comfortably in second place and play Valladolid today, are the only challenger capable of matching their tally and they have an inferior head-to-head record. Two goals from Raul, and strikes from Jose Maria ‘Guti’ Gutierrez, captain Fernando Hierro and Ivan Helguera wrapped up the title. Real’s victory sparked wild celebrations, not only at their famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium where they were awarded the trophy after the game, but also by the Cibeles fountain in the centre of the Spanish capital, the traditional location where Real fans go to salute their heroes after a major triumph. In anticipation of the victory, police had erected extensive scaffolding and barriers around the fountain yesterday, but there were no early reports of violent confrontations with the police and damage, unlike after Real Madrid’s Champions League wins in 1998 and 2000. Fireworks had been exploding into the night above Madrid since Real’s first goal and just 40 minutes after the game had finished, Spanish police estimated that 500,000 people had made their way to the Plaza de Cibeles.
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Chamba defeat Hamirpur Bilaspur, May 27 Chamba, winning the toss and batting first were all out on 170 runs in 38.3 overs. Their openers scored 102 runs for the loss of four wickets but four wicket fell one after another. Munish and Yagya batted well and the team score 170 runs. Chamba’s Sushant made 21, Balbir 34, Deepak 26, Yagya 19 and Munish 24 n.o. Hamirpur’s Suchandan took four wickets in seven overs giving 23 runs while Gaurava Dogra, Rajiv, Rohit and Digvijay took one wicket each. Chasing Wictory target of 171 runs, Hamirpur were all out for 131 runs Rohit made 20 runs, Rajiv 18, Gaurva Soni 29 and Suchandan 15 runs only. Chamba’s Ashok took three wickets in 8 overs conceding 15 runs Balbir took two wickets in six overs at 25 runs while Kapoor Singh also took two wickets. |
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Lars Ubel gets top billing Chandigarh, May 27 James Auckland of Great Britain, has been seeded second. Third seed in this meet is Or Dekel of Israel. Tomorrow four singles and three doubles ties will be held. The men singles seeding is: Lars Ubel (Ger) 1, James Auckland (GBR) 2, Or Dekel (Isr) 3, John Doran (Irl) 4, Anton Kokurin (Uzb) 5, Mustafa Ghouse (Ind) 6, Nitin Kirtane (Ind) 7, Philip Harboe(Chile) 8. |
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Inculcate sports spirit, says Governor Chandigarh, May 27 Addressing the prize distribution function of Giani Zail Singh Institute of Adventure and Water Sports here, he said that the traditional, modern and adventure sports had become a part and parcel of our life. The Governor also gave away prizes to children of various age groups who had excelled in different adventure and water sports. |
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Punjab, UP eves enter final Amritsar, May 27 In the women’s semifinals Punjab beat Madhya Pradesh 41-14 in a one-sided game. In another match UP barely managed to beat Delhi by 27-23. |
Century by
Shiv
Karan Patiala, May 27 Shiv Karan played good shots on both sides of the wicket to come up with his second successive century in the tournament. He was involved in a 131-run partnership for the first wicket with Navjot Matharu who scored 41. Brief scores: Patiala : 240 all out (Shiv Karan 108, Navjot Matharu 41,Kamalpreet 22, Hardevinder 17, Rahul Gandhi 4 for 64, Rahul Rajput 3 for 60, Sarvjeet 1 for 51); Bathinda : 14 for no loss
(Kuldeep Sajwan 4 n.o, Balwinder Singh 4 n.o). |
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Chandigarh score 296 Amritsar, May 27 |
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