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Sunday,
June 3, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Record sponsorship for
Indian cricket team Das, Laxman flay academy attack
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Pakistan rekindle victory hopes Capriati, Serena march on;
Safin falls to Santoro Punjab and National Games —
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UAE, Saudis to vie for berths China down Denmark to
enter final IFA lifts ban on Chima
Okerie Fencing body flays Punjab Govt Patiala on top
in cricket
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Record sponsorship for Indian cricket team Mumbai, June 2 The deal would be biggest of its kind in the world, eclipsing the one between Vodafone and the English cricket board or the new multi-million dollar Ansett team sponsorship deal with Aussie board, cricket board officials said. At a press conference here, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President A.C.Muthiah said Sahara India would be replacing the previous two sponsors ITC and Pepsi following the contract given to International Management Group (IMG)-TWI. Board officials and representatives of Sahara India and IMG, however, refused to acknowledge reports that the deal was worth over Rs 100 crores. Sahara’s sponsorship, for all international engagements of India for a period of three years also includes the logo on the sleeves of the players to ensure that there would be a single corporate sponsor for the team. Dr Muthiah said: “We were happy Sahara India were interested in sponsoring the Indian cricket team after ITC pulled out”. “We (BCCI) have had a long association with both Sahara India and IMG in the past and we hope to continue this good relationship with them,” he said. BCCI secretary J.Y.Lele, who too spoke at the press meet which started an hour late, said: “Our team has been doing very well in the recent past and with Sahara sponsoring it in India and abroad, I am sure we will do much better and perhaps win the next World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2003”. Dr Muthiah immediately cut in saying “Whatever Lele predicts comes true and I hope he is right this time as well”. The board chief was obviously referring to Lele’s “infamous” prediction of a whitewash ahead of the Indian team’s tour of Australia in 1999-2000. Pallav Agarwal of Sahara India gave an account of his group’s long association with sports in India. Queried about India playing the Asian Test Championship match, Dr Muthiah said: “We agreed to play in Pakistan as the tournament is on reciprocal basis.” “The Indian Government had clearly said we should not play Pakistan at non-regular venues and in bi-lateral series but could play them when more than two countries are in the fray. We agreed to play in the ATC as two other teams - Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - are taking part apart from India and Pakistan. “If the government decides to send the team to Pakistan then preference would be given to ATC and we will not play the indoor one-day three-match series in Australia as the dates of the above tournaments are clashing”, Dr Muthiah said. Headquarters shift A decision on whether to shift the present headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India will be taken in the first week of July. The headquarters committee which met here today examined a few proposals, but a final decision will only be taken in the first week of July, Jaywant Lele said here. There have been a few proposals, the most significant being the one from the Cricket Club of India (CCI) offering the BCCI place in the north stand of the Brabourne Stadium. The present office is also situated in the north stand, but the new proposal by the CCI is offering a much bigger space. Meanwhile, the controversy over the washing allowance given to the Indian cricketers in Zimbabwe has been sorted out, with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union agreeing to foot the bills, Mr Lele informed. PTI, UNI |
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Das, Laxman flay academy
attack
Harare, June 2 India, who lost the toss and were put into bat, had reached 370 for three at stumps, with Das hitting 110 and Laxman 100. The pair added 162 runs for the second wicket and both retired out after reaching their centuries. Das faced 186 balls and hit 13 fours, while Laxman hit 15 boundaries in his 132 ball knock. Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh put on 86 for the first wicket before Ramesh was caught behind down the leg side for 42 by wicketkeeper Wisdom Siziba off the bowling of Leon Soma. Das retired at tea followed 11 overs later by Laxman. Hemang Badani was undefeated on 69 at the close, having added 83 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket with captain Saurav Ganguly, who was 26 not out. Scoreboard India (Ist innings): Das retired out 110 Ramesh c Siziba b Soma 42 Laxman retired out 100 Badani not out 69 Ganguly not out 26 Extras (b-4 lb-6 nb-4 w-9) 23 Total (for three wickets) 370 Fall of wickets: 1-86, 2-248, 3-287 Bowling (to date):
MacMillan 17-3-52-0 (w-2), Nkala 13-0-67-0 (nb-2 w-2), Soma 10-0-38-1 (nb-2 w-2), Brent 20-5-56-0 (w-2), Coulson 11-1-70-0, Ervine 15-2-46-0 (w-1), Rogers 11-2-31-0.
Reuters Mumbai |
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Pakistan rekindle victory hopes Manchester (England), June 2 The touring team scythed through the England order after centuries by Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan, and then forged 133 runs ahead with seven second innings wickets remaining before bad light ended play early. Waqar Younis’s side, needing to win to level the two-match series, turned the game on its head by reducing England from 282 for two to 357 all out for a 46-run first innings lead. Then, after starting their second innings by hitting 41 runs off six overs for the loss of two wickets, they adopted a more cautious approach to close on 87 for three. There was no hint of a collapse as Thorpe and Vaughan shared a record partnership by England for any wicket against Pakistan of 267. Thorpe equalled his test best of 138 while Vaughan recorded his maiden test century with 120 in a display mixing fine strokeplay with aggressive running after England had been tottering on 15 for two on Friday. Alec Stewart, who ended the innings stranded on 39 not out, and Nick Knight appeared to have brought some stability by adding 40 before there was another flurry of wickets. All-rounder Abdur Razzaq was the chief architect as he had Knight, in the team for injured England captain Nasser Hussain, caught behind off a hesitant forward stroke for 15. The morning had been dominated by Thorpe and Vaughan, who mixed classical strokeplay with aggressive, disruptive running when the resumed at 204 for two. The left-handed Thorpe, 98 overnight, had needed only four balls before he hit Waqar for a back-foot boundary past point to reach three figures. Vaughan, after driving fluently off back and front foot throughout his innings, arrived at his maiden Test hundred in more bizarre fashion. A cover-driven four off Saqlain Mushtaq and a back-foot boundary past point off Akram took him to 94. The Yorkshireman then risked a second run after a top-edged cut to third man where Akram slung in a wild return which went for four overthrows. A cover drive and a pull off all-rounder Abdur Razzaq brought up the 250 stand and surpassed England’s previous record for any wicket against Pakistan, 248 by Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter at the Oval in 1962. Thorpe, meanwhile, prolonged a prolific run of form which has seen him hit three hundreds in his last eight Tests. In all, he batted for five-and-a-half hours and hit 17 fours — the majority of them savage square cuts — and one six from 261 balls. Vaughan hit 16 fours off 223 deliveries, batting a quarter-of-an-hour longer. Scoreboard Pakistan (Ist innings): 403 England (Ist innings): (overnight 204-2) Atherton c Latif b Waqar 5 Trescothick b Akram 10 Vaughan c Latif b Waqar 120 Thorpe run out (Akram) 138 Stewart not out 39 Ward run out (Mahmood) 12 Knight c Latif b Razzaq 15 Cork c Anwar b Razzaq 2 Caddick c Latif b Saqlain 1 Gough b Razzaq 0 Hoggard b Saqlain 0 Extras (lb-5 w-2 nb-8) 15 Total 357 Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-15, 3-282, 4-283, 5-308, 6-348, 7-353, 8-354, 9-356. Bowling: Akram 30-7-89-1, Waqar 24-3-87-2, Mahmood 8-0-35-0, Saqlain 30.2-7-80-2, Razzaq 19-2-61-3. Pakistan (2nd innings): Anwar c Thorpe b Gough 12 Razzaq c Cork b Hoggard 22 Iqbal c Stewart b Caddick 14 Inzamam not out 25 Youhana not out 3 Extras (lb-1 nb-10) 11 Total (three wickets) 87 Fall of wickets:
1-24, 2-41, 3-63. Bowling (to date): Gough 8.5-0-33-1, Caddick 10-3-32-1, Hoggard 5-0-11-1, Cork 9-4-10-0.
Reuters
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Lamb, Butcher, Shepherd — cricket has it all New Delhi, June 2 No, this is not about a visit to the animal kingdom. These are among the amusing names that have graced international cricket over the years. Cricket, the passionate game that it is, abounds in such ticklish names sure to stir the funny bone of even a prude. What does a cricket lover make of a name like ‘Sidebottom’? The Englishman played against Pakistan at Lord’s two weeks ago. In the same England line-up is ‘Cork’, the fast bowler. The country of the ‘stiff upper lip’ heads the list with a (Robert Williams) ‘Barber’ who can nevertheless (Harry Alfred) ‘Bakewell’ the (George) Bean with (Robert) ‘Berry’. But the (Harry Rigden) ‘Butt’ of jokes is often the (James) ‘Butler’, (Alan Raymond) ‘Butcher’, (Geoffrey) ‘Cook’, (Arthur) ‘Dolphin’, and (Graeme) ‘Fowler’ who played the game for England in early part of this century. By ‘Grace’ of God indeed for there were the famous three siblings — Edward Mills Grace, George Frederick Grace and William Gibert Grace — who won many a game for their country in the period 1841-1915. Don’t (William) ‘Gunn’ the (Charles) ‘Fry’ or the whole (Charles) ‘Coventry’ could be after you! If this were not enough in this (John) ‘Young’ country of (David) ‘Browns’, and (David) ‘White’ there are (Wilfred) ‘Flowers’, (James) ‘Parks’, (Barry) ‘Wood’, (Leonard) ‘Moon’ and (Brian) ‘Rose’ too. A matter of (Michael) ‘Gatting’ it (Charles) ‘Wright’?. If Australia, who have earned the (Hammy) ‘Love’ of fans to become a (Warrick) ‘Darling’ of the game, were not the top team in the world, they probably would be the best ‘Taylors’ ever for there have been John Taylor and Mark Taylor in their ranks. A tale goes thus: Once an (Ken) ‘Archer’ chopped off the (Graeme) ‘Beard’ of his (Colin) ‘Guest’ and hit in a (Graeme) ‘Hole’ in a (Lindsay) Park under the (Clement) ‘Hills’ which was found later by an (Herbert) ‘Ironmonger’ who handed it to a (Barrie) ‘Shepherd’. The matter was reported to (Ronald) Pope finally. Just tryin’ to be (Williams) ‘Whitty’ do not lose your (Peter) ‘Sleep’ over the (James) ‘Slight’ incident. If you are looking for (Ashley John) ‘Woodcock’, do not go to the (Samuel James) ‘Woods’, for you will find a (Bill) ‘Woodfull’ in the Aussie ranks of yore. In the West Indies (Wes) ‘Hall’ of fame, one will find not only a (Malcolm) ‘Marshall’ but also a gritty (Seymour) ‘Nurse’ who attended to Kings — Frank, Lester and Collis - as well as a (John) ‘Shepherd’. No (Joseph) ‘Small’ task was it for the (Cyril Arthur) ‘Merry’ little ‘Nurse’. The South Africans are a (Charles) ‘Frank’ lot — remember how Hansie Cronje admitted to having received loads of money and is even planning to write a frank memoir of his exploits! Any guesses where the disgraced cricketer gets his impeccably suits stiched from? Of course from the three ‘Taylors’ — Alistair, Daniel and Herbert. Did the piece of information send any (Alexander) ‘Bell’ ringing? Here, in this African country also, the (Frederick) ‘Cook’ and ‘Smiths’ — Charlie, Frederick, and Vivian — share a special (Gerald) ‘Bond’ with cricket. It sounds incredulous but the (Donald) ‘Beard’ed (Henry) ‘Cave’man had his home once in New Zealand cricket side. For non-believers, there is a (Frederick) ‘Fischer’man’s (Martin) ‘Crowe’ to vouch for it. Our very own India has given to the world some serious cricketers — hardly any funny names for them. It is a (Ghulam) ‘Guard’ed secret though why the (Farokh) Engineer and the (Nariman) Contractor took to cricket in this serious country. The not-so-friendly neighbour Pakistan is not (Duncan) ‘Sharpe’ enough to come up with a nomenclature which could be written about. But then as Shakespeare rightly said ‘What’s in a name’?
PTI |
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Capriati, Serena march on; Safin falls to Santoro Paris, June 2
The US Open champion became the highest seed to tumble in the men’s singles, going down in three hours and 12 minutes to the unseeded Santoro, who has now beaten him in six of their seven meetings. Safin committed a string of unforced errors on a chilly, blustery Centre court in the opening tow sets. He won 11 straight games from 2-4 down in set three, though, only to lose his serve and his nerve in the fourth game of the final set as the match slipped from his grasp. Santro, cheered on by chants of “Fabrice, Fabrice” from the home crowd, will face Alex Corretja of Spain, seeded 13th, in the last 16 after securing his first victory over a seed at a Grand Slam. Meanwhile, in the women’s section American seeds Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Meghann Shaugnessy marched into the last 16 as the Spanish challenge ended in the third round for the first time in 15 years. Australian Open championship Capriati, seeded fourth, and Williams, No 6, blasted their way into round four with straight forward victories on a cold and blustery day at Roland Garros. Shaugnessy, seeded 16th, joined her compatriots by beating Slovak Janette Husarova, 7-5, 6-4, but Spanish eighth seed Conchita Martinez lost 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 to Zimbabwe’s Cara Black. It is the first time since 1986 that neither Martinez, last year’s runner-up, nor her compatriot Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who lost in the second round, have reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Martinez had never previously gone out before the fourth round since making her French Open debut in 1988. The 29-year-old, runner-up to Mary Pierce last year, appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory as she dominated the first set. After Black had squared the match. Martinez also took a 3-0 lead in the third set before losing five successive games to slip to the brink of defeat. She saved two match points but the Zambabwean clinched victory with a wide, swinging serve and will next face Italian Francesca Schiavone, who knocked out 10th-seeded South African Amanda Coetzer 7-5, 6-4. Capriati overpowered Croatian Lucic 6-3, 6-1 before warning her rivals that she was playing better than when she won her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia earlier this year. Williams cruised through 6-1, 6-2 against Hungarian qualifier Zsofia Gubacsi on Court Suzanne Lenglen, matching her best French Open performance. Williams will next meet Russian Nadia Petrova, who overcame American Amy Frazier 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Top seed Martina Hingis reached the fourth round with an unimpressive 7-5, 6-1 victory over Australian Rachel McQuillan. The Swiss players, seeking her first Grand Slam title since the 1999 Australian Open, struggled in an error-strewn first set featuring nine breaks of serve which she took control of only after a brief break for rain. Hingis, who has never won the French Open, will face Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud in the last 16. Testud beat Elena Bovina of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Paris, June 2 The former world No 1 pair easily defeated the Americans 7-6 (4), 6-1 in a tame affair, though not without some opposition in the first set which was stretched to a tie-breaker. The Indians now face the winners of the second round match between the third-seeded Czech pair of Jiri Novak and David Rikl and Juan Ignacio Carrasco of Spain and Ota Fukarek of the Czech Republic. In the first round, they had registered a hard-fought victory over the pair of Jaime Oncins of Brazil and Daniel Orsanic of Argentina, staging a come-from-behind victory to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Earlier on Friday, Paes and Lisa Raymond moved into the second round of the mixed doubles, defeating the eighth-seeded pair of Nathalie Tauziat of France and David Adams of South Africa 6-4, 7-5. They now face Sandrine Testud of France and Andrew Florent of Australia.
UNI |
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Punjab and National Games —
Three Chandigarh, June 2 Take for example the Education Department. No final decision could be taken so far about the shooting range which was originally planned to be completed at Government College, SAS Nagar. As of now the issue is yet to be resolved between the Education Department and the Sports Department. In case the Education Department does not change its stance, the organising committee of the National Games will have no choice but to shift the event to Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy at Phillaur which recently organised a national event in shooting. The mute point is that when the state is organising this prestigious national event, should not all departments of the government cooperate and put their best foot
forward to make the event a success. Instead, everyone has been trying to put spokes in the way of the conduct of the games. Holding of meetings at various levels notwithstanding, the games have mostly remained a low priority for the Punjab Government for one reason or the other. The seriousness of the government can be judged from the fact that it changed six Principal Secretaries, Department of Sports, since allotment of the Games to the state. Mr
J.S. Kesar, Mr B.R. Bajaj, Ms Harsimrat, Mrs Gurbinder Chahal, Mr R.N. Gupta and now Mr Inderjit Singh Bindra have held the fort since then. As such there has been little or no continuity in any area as far as conduct of the games is concerned. Not only that, in between the Punjab Government also divested the Director, Col Raminder Singh, of all powers and appointed Mr Vishavjeet Khanna as Special Secretary to look after the National Games work. The Colonel knocked the doors of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and got the impugned order stayed. Ultimately the Punjab Government had to withdraw the order. Even the Joint Director of Sports, Mrs Chanchal Surjit Singh, was not left untouched. She, too, had to move court. It is not only administrative
wranglings. The problems are galore. It is still not clear what role the Minister of Sports has to play in the organisation as well as conduct of the National Games. The Sports Department has been acting as a facilitator in providing the infrastructure which hopefully would be ready well in time for the games. But as far as the technical and general conduct of the games is concerned, the things are not satisfactory. (To be concluded) |
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UAE, Saudis to vie for berths Bangkok, June 2 The two middle eastern teams were drawn together in the same Asian zone group A in Bangkok yesterday, along with Thailand, Iraq and footballing minnows Bahrain. Group B brought together United Arab Emirates, China, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Oman. Teams in both groups play each other at home and away, with the two group winners automatically qualifying for the World Cup finals. Both group runners-up will play off on a home-and-away basis to progress to a final play-off with a runner-up from the European qualifying competition. FIFA president Sepp
Blatter, speaking at the draw, apologised for the small number of World Cup places reserved for Asian teams. FIFA gave Asia the chance of an extra place — through a play-off with a European team — only after strong protests from the Asian Football Confederation. “When I see that you play in two groups of five, and the best qualify and one has to play for half a place, now I realise it should be one full place...But we cannot change it now,” Mr Blatter said. Saudi Arabia and Iran have the highest FIFA rankings of the teams left in the Asian qualifying contest. The Asian Football Confederation’s seeding method for the draw, however, put the United Arab Emirates, ranked 68 by FIFA, above Iran, who are ranked 48. Saudi Arabia, currently ranked 28 in the world, go into group A as strong favourites. Former Aston Villa player Peter Withe said Saudi Arabia and Iran posed a formidable challenge for the Thailand team which he manages. “Two of the teams in our group have gone to the World Cup and are very tough,” he said. “Both are powerhouses in Asia, but you’ve got to be positive. If you aren’t, you’ve got no chance.” China, bidding to qualify for their first World Cup finals, will hope to upset the United Arab Emirates in group B, seen by most observers as the weaker group. China’s Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic said he was confident his team could do well and has called for the Chinese public to get behind his squad. “My job is to teach players how to win the game, not to educate the public,” he said. “But I hope they (the public) know what they need to do to help the team. If you don’t support the team, how will you win?” China were booed off the pitch after their recent uninspiring 3-1 victory over Cambodia by fans desperate to go to a World Cup being played on their doorstep. Japan and South Korea, the first ever co-hosts of the world cup finals, have qualified for 2002 automatically.
Reuters |
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China down Denmark to
enter final Seville (Spain), June 2 In a thrilling semifinal at the San Pablo Stadium here late last night, the three-time champions overcame the last surviving European team. Indonesia had earlier defeated South Korea 3-1 to book the final berth. It took just over four hours of generally sublime and sometimes ridiculously one-sided badminton before the winners could be spotted and in the end, it boiled down to the final match, the men’s doubles where the world No 1 pairing of Jens Erikssen and Jesper Larsen was expected to fetch them a famous victory over the powerful Chinese. The Danes led the Chinese pairing of Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun 2-0 in head to head matches and it would have come as no surprise is they would have given their side victory. In the end though, it was the powerful Chinese duo who had clinched a comfortable 15-8, 15-9 victory to end Denmark’s dreams of winning their first-ever Sudirman Cup. Armed with the raw power of the left-handed Zhang Jun and the calming influence of Zhang Wei, the Chinese duo looked in total command against the steady, if somewhat unspectacular Danes. With Jun powering his way past the Danish defence from the back and Wei adequate at the net, the Chinese never allowed Erikssen and Larsen to settle down. Though the Danes did try to hang on gamely, in the end, mere perseverance was not enough to hold back the marauding Chinese and coach Li Yongbo’s side will now start huge favourites against Indonesia in the final. Earlier in the day though, it was Denmark who received the first blow, when their mixed doubles pair of Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen played a brilliant match to stop Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling in straight games 15-11, 15-7. In a fascinating match, full of enthralling rallies, the Danes, ranked No 1 in the world, played superbly, mixing up the pace well and dictating terms right from the start against the powerful, though erratic Chinese combination. In fact, Michael Sogaard probably played the match of his life, firing away on all cylinders from the backcourt even as his partner, the tall and elegant Rikke Olsen made some great interceptions at the net.
PTI |
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IFA lifts ban on Chima Okerie Kolkata, June 2 The governing body discussed the issue before taking the unanimous decision to lift the ban on the player who had appealed to the decision-making body to put an end to his suspension. “We discussed the matter and the members felt the ban could be lifted since he was repentant about what he had done. It was a unanimous decision,” IFA joint secretary Ranjit Gupta said. The ageing Mohun Bagan striker, whose suspension was due to end on September 30 this year, has, however, been warned not to repeat the mistake in the future. Okerie had appealed to the IFA authorities through a letter to lift the ban so that he could return to football which was his main profession. His letter was the main agenda of the meeting. Okerie had even volunteered to appear before the IFA governing body members to impress upon the decision-making body to put an end to the suspension. The Bagan striker was slapped with a two-year ban and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh for manhandling a referee during a Super Division League match against East Bengal two years ago. The lifting of the ban paves the way for the burly Nigerian to return to mainstream football ahead of the ensuing Super Division League. “He is now eligible to play for any club, anywhere in the country or abroad. It is for him to decide where he wants to play,” Gupta said. But with age catching up with him, signing for a big club could be a difficult task for Okerie who has plans of setting up a football academy in the city. Mohun Bagan were no longer keen to retain the services of the Nigerian while Tollygunge Aggragami, after showing interest in the initial stages, seemed to have backed out considering his huge fees.
PTI |
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Fencing body flays Punjab Govt Patiala, June 2 In a strongly worded statement, Mr Mohindera, a former minister, said although the National Games were drawing near, the government was deliberately withholding grants meant for various sports associations. He said till now the government was yet to give a grant of Rs 4 lakh to the Punjab Fencing Association. Due to the non-availability of the grant and other funds, the PFA was unable to hold coaching camps and various junior and senior state level fencing competitions. Mr Mohindera claimed that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had selelected 35 young fencers for advanced training at the Dashmesh Academy Anandpur Sahib. However, he said that the academy had still not become functional.
Patiala on top in cricket Patiala, June 2 Earlier, in its first innings Mukatsar caved in for a paltry 84 against some fiery pace bowling by Lakhbir Singh ( 3 for 16) and Rajeev Sirhindi (3 for 15). Brief scores: Mukatsar:
Ist Innings — 84 all out (Mandeep Singh 35, Lakhbir Singh 3 for 16, Rajeev Sirhindi 3 for 15, Gautam Mandora 2 for 14 and Amit Kakria 2 for 16). Patiala: Ist Innings — 192 for 1 ( Rakesh Raini 102 n.o, Binwant Singh 52 and Pankaj Dharmani 26 n.o) Under-16 cricket |
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