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Saturday,
June 9, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Fan chaos mars Pakistan
victory |
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Kuerten to clash with Alex Corretja in final
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Capriati ready to seize elusive
trophy Gopi limps out
of world meet India rout Korea, enter final Crucial AIFF meeting
today Bhutia not to play for Indian
club Athletic meet from June 24 Mizoram, Chhattisgarh
win
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Harbhajan
puts India on top
Bulawayo (Zimbawe) June 8 Replying to Zimbabwe’s first innings score of 173, the visitors notched up 318 thanks to some brilliant knocks by Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh who excelled both with the bat and the ball. Javagal Srinath struck twice early in the Zimbabwe second innings to have the hosts in deep trouble at 34 for two before Stuart Carlise, unbeaten on 27, and Alistair Campbell came up a defiant partnership. However, Harbhajan got the vital breakthrough minutes before the close of play when he had Campbell caught by Shiv Sunder Das at forward shot leg for 16. But it was Harbhajans’s heroics with the bat that was the highlight of the day. The young off-spinner played like an accomplished batsman to notch up his maiden Test half-century and ended second highest scorer for India at 66 runs which came off just 71 balls with 10 fours and a six. Tendulkar had set the tone for the day with a fiery knock of 74 that included 12 hits to the fence before getting out to an indiscreet shot with Carlisle coming up with a brilliant catch at the second slip off Andy Blignaut. Rahul Dravid and Samir Dighe too chipped in with very useful scores as the indian batsmen overcame the loss of two early wickets in the day to dominate the bowling thereafter. India lost night watchman Srinath with the second ball of the day and captain Saurav Ganguly’s nightmare with the bat continued when he was declared caught by wicketkeeper andy Flower off Heath Streak for just five runs. Ganguly did not look happy with the decision and India were five down for 98. Tendulkar and Dravid were engaged in the most fruitful partnership of the day adding 80-runs for the sixth wicket. They started cautiously, aware that India were still 75 runs short of the Zimbabwe score and the first hour of the day saw runs being scored at a very slow pace. Not to be kept subdued for very long, Tendulkar shifted gears in the latter half of the first session and unleashed a flurry of boundaries. He bettered his previous best score of 34 in Zimbabwe and then with the help of a couple of more fours quickly reached his half-century after which he broke free. He played some delightful drives and pull shots and was looking well on course of a century when a casual looking shot became his nemesis. Seeing his partner go for the shots, Dravid too opened up and played some attractive square cuts and pulls. He hit Andy Blignaut for two fours in one over before an attempted pull in the bowler’s next over took the top edge of his bat and landed in the safe hands of Andy Glower. Dravid made 44. That brought Samir Dighe and Harbhajan Singh together in the innings’ most entertaining stand that saw the duo better the Indian record for the eighth wicket against Zimbabwe. Scoreboard Zimbabwe (Ist innings): 173 India (Ist innings): Das c Ebrahim b Murphy 30 Ramesh c Whittall b Watambwa 2 Laxman c Carlisle b Olonga 28 Tendulkar c Whittall b Blignaut 74 Srinath c A. Flower b Watambwa 1 Ganguly c A. Flower b Streak 5 Dravid c A. Flower b Blignaut 44 Dighe c Whittall b Streak 47 Harbhajan not out 66 Z. Khan b Watambwa 0 Nehra b Streak 9 Extras:
(1b 4, w 1, nb 7): 12 Total: (all out, 89.5 overs): 318 FOW:
1-2, 2-54, 3-81, 4-83, 5-98, 6-178, 7-208, 8-280, 9-280, 10-318. Bowling:
Streak 24-7-63-3, Watambwa 25.5-6-94-3, Blignaut 16-2-68-2, Olonga 8-1-35-1, Murphy 16-3-54 -1. Zimbabwe (2nd innings) Whittall c Ramesh b Srinath 20 Ebrahim c Dravid b Srinath 0 Carlisle batting 27 Campbell c Dravid b Singh 16 Murphy batting 10 Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-1, nb-2) 6 Total (for 3 wkts, 27 overs) 79 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-34, 3-63 Bowling:
Srinath 8-3-18-2, Nehra 9-1-31-0, Harbhajan Singh 6-2-12-1, z Khan 3-0-8-0, Tendulkar 1-0-7-0.
PTI |
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Fan chaos mars Pakistan
victory
Birmingham, June 8 England, chasing Pakistan’s 273 for six, were on 159 for nine in the 44th over when hundreds of fans, the vast majority wearing Pakistan colours, ran onto the ground, forcing the players off and stealing the stumps as they swarmed all over the playing surface. Pakistan captain Waqar Younis and team manager Yawar Saeed made appeals to the team’s fans, warning them the match would be abandoned unless they moved back behind the boundary boards. The pleas followed a meeting between match referee Brian Hastings, the umpires and the two team captains. Play resumed after 31 minutes, with Nick Knight and last man Alan Mullally eventually returning to the crease. A further interruption then followed after one ball from spinner Shahid Afridi when fans moved in front of the sidescreen. Right-arm wrist spinner Afridi wrapped up the game in the 48th over as Mullally was caught behind, with England all out for 165. Number three Knight was not out 59 while Afridi ended with three wickets for 15.Pakistan’s victory was set up by opener Saeed Anwar’s 77, his 40th half-century in one-day internationals, and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 79, his 60th, after the touring team had won the toss and opted to bat. The pair put on 150 for the third wicket, scoring at almost a run a ball as Pakistan closed on 273 for six. Inzamam’s innings took him past 8,000 one-day runs, as he and Anwar tore England’s back-up bowlers to shreds, with all-rounder Ben Hollioake’s six overs going for 53 runs. England were in the hunt at 47 for one in the 10th over before their collapse began. Left-handed opener Marcus Trescothick’s departure for 28 off 30 balls began a procession which saw five top-order wickets fall for 62 as Pakistan caught a string of fine catches. Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq took a wicket with his fifth ball, a caught-and-bowled to remove Hollioake, to make it 108 for six, and Afridi bowled Dominic Cork with his first, giving England no way back. The second game sees Pakistan take on Australia in Cardiff on Saturday. Yesterday’s incidents were reminiscent of similar crowd invasions during the 1999 World Cup, with extra security and army personnel drafted in after several crowd invasions. Australian captain Steve Waugh was particularly outspoken in criticising the authorities for failing to secure player safety at the end of matches. SCOREBOARD Pakistan: 273 England: Trescothick c Y. Khan b Waqar 28 Brown c Latif b Waqar 8 N. Knight not out 59 Stewart c sub b Mahmood 10 Vaughan c Anwar b Mahmood 5 Collingwood lbw b Razzaq 2 Hollioake c & b Saqlain 6 Cork b Afridi 18 Ealham b Saqlain 4 Gough lbw b Afridi 1 Mullally c Latif b Afridi 3 Extras: (lb-9 w-11 nb-1) 21 Total: (47.2 overs) 165 Fall of wickets: 1-28 2-46 3-69 4-86 5-92 6-108 7-135 8-144 9-147 Bowling:
Akram 7-2-20-0, Waqar 6-0-31-2, Mahmood 10-0-46-2, Razzaq 7-0-24-1, Saqlain 10-0-20-2, Afridi 7.2-2-15-3.
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Knight hit during pitch invasion Birmingham, June 8 According to England captain Alec Stewart the Warwickshire left-hander took a blow as he sprinted from the pitch after Pakistan had won by 108 runs. “He told me he was struck,” said Stewart.”
It was a complete shambles. You don’t want to see that thing in England or anywhere else. It ruined what was a good performance by Pakistan.” A forthright Stewart added: “I wasn’t letting the team out there again until their safety had been
guaranteed.” Waqar Younis men’ had reduced England to 159 for nine in the 44th over, victory almost assured after they had made 273 for six. Knight and last man Alan Mullally were doing their best to stave off the inevitable when fans spilled onto the outfield. Fireworks had already been let off in the crowd and the stumps disappeared in a sea of bodies. Players were off the field for 31 minutes before order was restored, although it needed Pakistan captain Waqar Younis to walk round the boundary to restore
calm. Waqar also told fans that they had to get back or their team could lose the match, although in truth such an outcome was not provided for in the rules. “I couldn’t reason with them, so I told them the match could have been abandoned. They (the officials) were thinking of abandoning it. “This crowd was mostly Asian so it was necessary for me to calm them down. “No-one asked me but it was the right thing to do. I would say to people ‘please stay off the field’. They should enjoy the game not disrupt it.” “This is nothing new for me,” Waqar added. “When you play in Pakistan and India this is quite common. It’s a shame but we do really need some more security.”
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Kuerten to clash with Alex Corretja in final Paris, June 8 In the other semifinal Alex Corretja ended Sebastien Grosjean’s dreams of winning the French Open, beating the Frenchman 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. The Spanish 13th seed will on Sunday face Brazilian defending champion Gustavo Kuerten, who defeated Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets in the first semifinal. Tenth seed Grosjean had been hoping to become only the second Frenchman to lift the Roland Garros title in the last 50 years after Yannick Noah’s triumph over Sweden’s Mats Wilander in 1983. But Corretja’s relentless, looping groundstrokes undid the Marseille baseliner’s game on Centre Court. The sizzling forehand which helped an inspired Grosjean stun Andre Agassi 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals deserted him in the first set tie-break and a series of errors handed the Spaniard the set. Corretja, who beat another Frenchman Cedric Pioline in the French Open semifinals three years ago, allowed Grosjean a 3-0 lead in the second set but then reeled off five straight games before sealing it 6-4 when a Grosjean backhand drifted wide. Ferrero made the first break in game seven but Kuerten then reeled off five successive games to take the first set 6-4 and move 2-0 ahead in the second. The Spaniard showed great resolve to break back immediately but Kuerten was forcing his opponent back all the time with his scorching groundstrokes. A withering crosscourt forehand wrong-footed Ferrero to set up two break points as the Spaniard served at 4-5, and Kuerten took the first of them with a perfectly placed approach shot that forced the error. Ferrero fought hard in the third set but Kuerten’s greater consistency proved too good, and the Brazilian clinched victory on his second match point. Kuerten and Ferrero went into the match level at 1-1 in terms of head-to-heads, with the Spaniard gaining some revenge for his French Open defeat 12 months ago with a 3-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the Rome Masters final. Friday’s clash between the game’s two outstanding claycourt players, each with three titles on the surface already this season, was perhaps too one-sided to be regarded as a classic. But the standard of the tennis was extremely high as the two men traded booming groundstrokes from the back of the court. The match turned in game eight of the first set when Ferrero, a break up and serving with new balls, failed to consolidate his advantage. Kuerten held serve confidently in the next game and as the crowd chanted “Guga! Guga!” Ferrero failed to hold his, the Brazilian coming up with a wrong-footing backhand on set point. After the exchange of breaks early in the second set, Ferrero was again forced to serve to stay in the set at 4-5, with the same outcome. Ferrero gave it everything in the third set, Kuerten struggling on his serve throughout as the Spaniard attacked every short ball. Kuerten showed the resolve of a champion, however, saving two break points in the first game, three in the third and three more in the seventh to hold serve on each occasion. With Ferrero serving at 3-4, Kuerten effectively won the match when he powered two successive backhands across to the Spaniard’s backhand court, forcing him further and further into the corner before a third proved unreturnable. The Brazilian then confirmed his place in the final with a second serve out wide that Ferrero could not keep in the court.
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Paes-Bhupathi set to rekindle magic Paris, June 8 For it was here in 1998 that Mahesh became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam title when he clinched the mixed doubles partnering Rika Hiraki of Japan. He did it again the following year, this time winning the men’s doubles with Leander which started the duo’s dream run in that magical year which fetched them two Grand Slam titles and the year-end number one ranking. Thus it was only fitting that after their reunion following the heart-breaking separation last year, the duo regain their lost glory at the French Open. The duo, who stormed into the final of the French Open men’s doubles with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 victory over 11th seed pair of Michael Hill of Australia and Jeff Tarango of the USA, are determined to rework their magic of 1999. It was almost as if they knew they would be able to do it here. Both of them recently said that French Open had been their favourite hunting ground and they were looking forward to returning to the big league here. The title is still a match away but Leander and Mahesh have sounded an alert to their rivals that their hunger for Grand Slams is far from over. They are to play the winners of the rain-interrupted semi-final match between French Pair Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Escude and Czech tandem Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner in the final tomorrow.
PTI |
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Capriati ready to seize elusive trophy Paris, June 8 Jennifer Capriati came to Paris as a 14-year-old schoolgirl in 1990 and sent a tremor through the tennis world by promptly skating into the last four as the youngest ever Grand Slam semi-finalist. Monica Seles, a comparative veteran at 16 and a half, proved too wily for her on that occasion — but it wasn’t long before Capriati triggered another even bigger shock by winning Olympic gold in Barcelona, knocking aside hot favourite Steffi Graf. Well-publicised symptoms of teenage burnout followed and that appeared to be that. But Capriati rolled up her sleeves and decided she would come back. That came at 1996 Roland Garros, where she slumped out in the first round and three more blank years would follow until she headed for Strasbourg in 1999 and promptly won her first title since 1993 in Sydney. There had been no Damascene conversion — just a realisation that tennis was what she loved and what she was good at and that all that talent had been going to waste. An Australian Open semi-final in 2000 followed as the hardwork began gradually to pay off and then came the breakthough with her first Slam singles crown five months ago in Melbourne, the victim not just any victim — but world number one Martina Hingis. In April, there she was again winning Charleston — again at Hingis’ expense, and sure enough, who was on the other side of the net as Capriati finally made her date with destiny by reaching a Roland Garros final but the Swiss miss. Having seen Hingis off 6-4 6-3, as she had done in Australia, Capriati is now on the verge of a second Slam title in half a year — with Hingis’ own words ringing in her ears that she, the American, is the real number one. Belgian teen Kim Clijsters stands in her way in tomorrow’s showdown — but Capriati looks ready to seize the moment and take the trophy which was so nearly her’s 11 years ago. “I guess it’s been a long time. I never knew since the semi-finals when I got here when I was 14 if it would ever come again. It wasn’t looking that way a few years ago. I guess that makes it sweetest,” the 25-year-old Capriati mark two acknowledged after outlasting Hingis on centre court. “It’s one thing to think about it, sit there and dream about it in bed,” she noted, having had so many years to do just that. As she said of her first comeback attempts: “My goals back then were just to win a match really. That was the most difficult task,” she reflected. Capriati, who said a bout of knee tendinitis suffered early in the match with Hingis would clear up in time for Saturday, explained that her attitude had evolved completely since her teens.
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Gopi limps out of world meet Seville, June 8 Right from the start, Gopi was plagued by pain in the leg, and at one stage he noticed that one of his shoes was torn. After changing the shoe, Gopi was still in considerable agony. He said in the changing room after the match, in a very emotional voice, “I had the problem after that long match against Kevin Han (in the 2nd round) and from yesterday I have this pain. But last night the blister swelled and today I was uncomfortable.” National chief coach S.M. Arif also said the blister was the main reason Gopi played slow, as, when ever he would put pressure on the foot, he felt uneasy. “We tried to use ice last night and today the doctor here bandaged the area tightly but the problem persisted.” The encounter began with Gopi leading 6-1, but that was it. At that stage itself he asked the Indian players to send in an other pair of shoe. Chen, playing superbly at the net, kept Gopi guessing all the time, equalled at 6-6 and then went ahead to 11-7 and never looked back. Gopi did try to change tactics in the second game, playing more to the baseline, but when ever the Chinese star caught him on deep backhand area, Gopi was left stranded. Chen led from the start in the second game, barring the 2-0 lead that Gopi had in the beginning. This was a sad end to Gopi’s dream to become India’s first-ever singles world champion. Only Prakash Padukone, in 1983, reached the semifinals at Copenhagen. Gopi was trailing all the way through in the second game. He was down 3-6 and 5-8 before Chen, taking to the net early, kept up immense pressure on the slow-moving Indian ace. At 14-8, Chen served three times and Gopi could get in two more points but the fightback was too little, too late.
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India rout Korea, enter final Ipoh, June 8 India await the winner of Uzbekistan and Malaysia match. It was a total team effort and the Indians were a transformed lot with a good mixture of attack and defence throughout the match. India, who led 3-0 at the break, began the match with confidence and were not overawaed by the situation. They dominated throughout against the speedy Koreans. Their game plan was superb and they used both flanks to great effect. The Koreans, at times, counter-attacked well but they could not get past the stout Indian defence headed by Jugraj Singh. India went into the lead in the ninth minute through Raju. Nine minutes later, Jugraj converted a penalty corner and the very next minute,
K.P. Dinesh made it 3-0. Crossing over, the Koreans reduced the margin following a penalty corner conversion by Shin Yong Cheol in the 38th minute. Then on, the Indians ruled supreme and often put the Korean defence in
disaary. In a span of 10 minutes, India scored four more goals. Imtiaz Ahmed netted twice (55th and 61st) and Raju (57th min) and Rajpal Singh (66th min) scored the fifth and seventh goals for India.
PTI |
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Crucial AIFF meeting
today
New Delhi June 8 The AIFF will open some of the sealed bids received for sponsorships following the advertisements put out by it in newspapers, after the withdrawal of the earlier sponsors from the fray. The lack of sponsors had prevented the AIFF from hosting the Santosh Trophy and the Federation Cup, and tomorrow’s meeting is crucial in many sense, as a lot of important items have been listed in the agenda for approval. After Alberto Colaco became the secretary of the AIFF, there has been some positive developments on the soccer front, but the inability to rope in a sponsor for the National League, and other major tournaments, has been a vexing problem haunting the federation for quite some time. It is learnt that industrialist Vijay Mallaya is playing a leading role in roping in lucrative sponsorship deal for the federation. Santosh Trophy has been without a sponsor after BPCL pulled following the National Championship at Trichur last year. Coca-Cola were the sponsors of the National League till last year, but they too called it quits, following the mismanagement of the entire show by the federation. The Tata Football Academy is learnt to have given a proposal to start a Youth Cup for under-19, which will also be considered in tomorrow’s meeting. |
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Bhutia not to play for Indian club Gangtok, June 8 “At the moment, I am only thinking of playing for a foreign team as it will help me to improve my standard,” Bhutia, who is holidaying here, told PTI in an interview. The Indian captain, who still has one more year of contract with English second division outfit Bury FC, however, refused to divulge his future plans. “I don’t want to comment on my future plans as it has already landed me in controversy”. The 25-year-old striker, the first Indian to play for a professional club abroad, said playing for a professional club outside the country had some obvious advantages and a footballer had to gain from the experience. “The standard is better there. They teach harder, the game is more physical and you get less space. A footballer will definitely improve his standard if he plays for an outside team”, Bhutia remarked. Asked about his much-publicised trip to Singapore, the star footballer claimed he had been there only for a holiday though some clubs officials did speak to him. “I was in Singapore for holidaying. Some club officials spoke to me but nothing concrete came out” he said, refusing to elaborate on negotiations. The diminutive Bhutia plans to be in his home state till the end of June and then proceed to a “secret place” which he did not wish to disclose. Bhutia does not feel that he was under-utilised by Bury FC during the second division league in England. “Every player has to sit out a few matches. Very few can play in all the matches. There are no regrets for that”, he said. The ace footballer rated india’s performance in the recent pre-World Cup Asian Zone qualifying matches as the “best” in the last 30 to 40 years. “We played very well in that tournament”, the captain observed. India failed to claim the second position in the Asian Zone group-8 pre- World Cup qualifiers by a narrow margin despite finishing with 11 points same as Yemen, who scraped through by virtue of a better goal difference. United Arab Emirates was the lone qualifier from the group with 12 points. The Indian captain was not in favour of appointing a foreign coach to train players as Indian coaches had the capability of delivering the goods. “Why talk of a foreign coach now when the present chief coach Sukhwinder Singh is doing well with the boys”, he said. Bhutia declined to comment on whether the All-India Football Federation (AIFF), the game’s governing body in the country, had taken any intiative to raise the standard. As a footballer who rose to the pinnacle of success after beginning his journey to stardom from a small village in Sikkim, Bhutia said developing infrastructure at the grassroot level was imperative to raise the standard of the game. After having scored a number of goals for his country and for his respective clubs, Bhutia still believes that his most memorable goal has not yet come. “It’s very difficult to say which one is my best goal. I believe the memorable goal is yet to come in my life”, he said. Standing on the ground of the Tashi Namgyal Academy here, the school which contributed a lot to make him what he is today, Bhutia said he made it a point to visit Sikkim once every year and meet the teachers whenever he stepped into the school. But did he ever think when he was a student 10 years back, to represent India one day or for that matter to be the first Indian to play for a professional club abroad? “I didn’t, but I feel great today when I look back,”, he admitted. Bhutia, however, has no such ‘special moments’ to cherish in mind except a ‘few silly’ ones. In Sikkim, Bhutia will take part in an exhibition charity match for an ailing Prem Dorjee, another Sikkimese footballer who played for Kolkata clubs for years. All former and present footballers of Sikkim will play in the match because he was a “great player”, he added.
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Athletic meet from June 24 Chandigarh, June 8 Stating this here today, Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, president Haryana Amateur Athletic Association, said it had been decided to conduct dope tests on the athletes. Any athlete found guilty or even overage would be debarred for one year from participation in the competitions organised by the association. The entries should reach athletic coach in Nehru Stadium, Gurgaon, by June 18. Giving details of the various events, Mr HS Bhadu, Secretary, HAAA, said that the events for under-20 and under 18 boys and and girls would be held in 100 M., 200 M., 400 M, 800 M., 1500 M., 5000M., 10000M., (only for boys), 100M., hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discuss throw, javelin, hammer, 4x100M. relay, 5 km walk (girls), 10 kw walk (boys). The competition would be conducted as per the new rules of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India. |
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Mizoram, Chhattisgarh
win Kapurthala, June 8 In a thrilling encounter in the final in the boys section, Mizoram defeated the hosts Punjab by 50-47 in extra time. Mizoram boys dominated the proceedings right from the start of the game and led their team to three-point lead in the first quarter 16-13. In the second quarter they increased the score to 29-21. In the third quarter, Punjab boys did make a come back and levelled the score in the dying minutes of play at 44-44, but failed to cash in on the opportunities in the extra time. Lal Ren (11), Lal Rin Kime (10) and Jackson (11) were the main scorer for the winners, while Sukhpreet Singh (16) was the top scorer for the losers. In the girls final, Chhattisgarh best Madhya Pradesh by 40-32. Chhattisgarh girls played defensive game that kept Madhya Pradesh attackers at boy in the first quarter 15-9. Chhattisgarh girls increased the lead to 34-21 at the end of second quarter. MP girls made some efforts in the third and fourth quarter but failed to penetrate the strong defence of their rivals. Pushpa and Rakhi scored 11 and 8 points respectively for the winners while Neeta with 12 points was the main scorer for the losers.
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