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Sunday,
June 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Zimbabwe frustrate India
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Santoro upsets
Rafter |
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Kuerten pulls out
of Wimbledon Setback for
Karthikeyan Chance for Woods to redeem
himself Taiwan runners back Beijing’s bid Sangrur, Patiala
lift titles Hostels for sportsmen, hotels for
officials Ancheri skipper for Merdeka Cup Michael Jordan fractures ribs Bhutia shines Punjab Police in last
four Archana lifts ITF crown
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Zimbabwe frustrate India Harare, June 16 The Indians looked to have gained an upper hand at lunch having dismissed both Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim within a space of seven balls but Zimbabwe batsmen fought back with captain Heath Streak coming up with a brilliant performance with the bat. Streak, who came when Zimbabwe were struggling at 110 for five in reply to India’s 237, played a fine innings of 40 and was engaged in a 65-run partnership with Grant Flower who once again frustrated the Indians with his defiant knock. Sachin Tendulkar finally got rid of Streak but that was hardly a consolation for the Indians as Andy Blignaut launched a blistering attack in the company of Grant Flower. At tea, Blignaut was batting on 23 off 21 deliveries that included three fours and a six off Tendulkar while Grant Flower had compiled a patient 38 from 108 balls. Earlier, Harbhajan Singh effected two vital breakthroughs when he dismissed Andy Flower and Dion Ebrahim half an hour before the lunch break. The duo added 87 runs for the fourth wicket and looked to negate the efforts of Ashish Nehra who had reduced Zimbabwe to 18 for three yesterday. Zimbabwe added 101 runs from 31 overs in the post-lunch session losing just one wicket. It was the fourth wicket stand between Andy Flower and Ebrahim which set the tone for the day. Though the two survived some confident leg before wicket appeals, they looked more or less in command as they went about the task of consolidating the innings. Nehra and Ajit Agarkar bowled to a tight length but failed to get a wicket. It was only when Harbhajan Singh was introduced, the Indians had the breakthrough. Harbhajan was hit 14 runs off his first four balls with Andy Flower hitting three fours, two off reverse sweep and one off a sweep. But the off-spinner got his revenge when he had Andy Flower caught by Shiv Sunder Das at forward shot leg for 45. Flower faced 65 balls and hit five boundaries. Harbhajan struck again with the first ball of his third over by trapping Ebrahim leg before wicket. Ebrahim was unfortunate to miss his first Test half-century by just one run, his 49 coming off 108 balls and containing eight fours. Streak and Grant Flower were unperturbed by the loss of two quick wickets and frustrated the Indians with some confident batting. The two added 65 runs for the sixth wicket to bring their team back into the game before Tendulkar struck. Blignaut hit Srinath for two boundaries in an over and lifted Tendulkar for a six over the mid-wicket in his aggressive knock. Grant Flower too opened up and accelerated his scoring after the dismissal of Streak. SCOREBOARD India (1st innings): 237 Zimbabwe (1st innings): Whittall c Dravid b Nehra 0 Ebrahim lbw b Harbhajan 49 Carlisle c Badani b Nehra 3 Campbell b Nehra 8 A Flower c Das b Harbhajan 45 G Flower batting 80 Streak b Tendulkar 40 Blignaut st Dighe b Harbhajan 35 Friend b Nehra 15 Murphy batting 17 Extras: (lb-5, w-2, nb-2) 9 Total: (8 wickets, 101 overs) 301 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-9, 3-18, 4-105, 5-110, 6-175, 7-242, 8-271 Bowling: Srinath 26-6-76-0, Nehra 24-6-72-4, Agarkar 24-7-62-0, Harbhajan 23-5-67-3, Tendulkar 4-0-19-1.
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Australia-Pak tie washed out Chester-Le-Street, June 16 Both teams have already qualified for Saturday’s final at Lord’s after England tumbled out of the 10-match series without a single victory after four matches. The pitch remained covered all day and the two umpires, David Shepherd and Allan Jones, abandoned the match at 6.25 p.m. IST. As more rain settled in for the day, the Australians spent the morning watching the British Lions Rugby Union thrash Queensland 42-8 in their tour Down Under. It was only the third complete wash out in 198 one-day internationals in England and the first in seven years since May 1994 when rain abandoned the game between England and New Zealand at Lord’s. It was also the 27th washout in the 1,723-match limited-overs international history and the first since February last year when the game between England and Zimbabwe was rained out in Harare. It was a major disappointment for the 12,000 sellout crowd, who will get a full refund. It was only the fifth one-day international to be staged here after two World Cup matches in 1999 and two Tri-Nations internationals last year. Pakistan, who beat England twice and lost to Australia, will travel to Headingley tomorrow to take on home side England in what is now a meaningless match.
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Santoro upsets Rafter Halle, June 16 The unseeded Santoro, not known for his grass play, beat last year’s Wimbledon finalist 7-5 6-4 at the $ 1 million event, then jumped up and down in joy. “Truthfully, after the match point, I thought, what’s going on here? I just beat Pat Rafter on grass,” said Santoro, who reached both his first final and semifinal of the year at the event. The Frenchman, ranked 29th in the champions race, will face the winner between top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sweden’s seventh-seeded Thomas Johansson. While Rafter struggled with his passing shots, Santoro put in 73 per cent of his first serves and made just six unforced errors in the 1 hour, 21 minute match. “He made a lot of errors, I hardly made any, that was the key,” said Santoro, 28, who also knocked Russia’s Marat Safin out of the French Open two weeks ago. Santoro constantly frustrated the hard-hitting Australian by chasing down his slams and volleys, putting back winners from every corner of the court. He also traded volleys at the net with the two-time US Open champion and often won the exchange. “Everybody thinks I can’t play at the net, but that’s false,” said Santoro. “I play doubles regularly and I’ve been in nine finals in my career - eight of them have been on fast surfaces.” The match began as expected, with Rafter dropping just one point in his first three service games while Santoro had to struggle to avoid a break. But Santoro suddenly broke the serve of Rafter to take a 4-3 lead. The Australian immediately broke back, but was broken again on his next service game to lose the first set.
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Kuerten pulls out of Wimbledon London, June 16 French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten officially pulled out of Wimbledon yesterday, citing an injury. The Brazilian, who won his third French Open title Sunday, had already announced that he planned to skip Wimbledon. He said he had a sore groin and needed a rest. But Kuerten has also complained about the seeding system at Wimbledon, saying it penalizes clay-court experts like himself. Alex Corretja, losing finalist at the French Open, and other Spanish clay-court specialists have threatened to boycott Wimbledon if they are unhappy with the seedings when they are announced on Monday. Wimbledon has announced it will seed 32 players, instead of 16, but the order of the men’s seedings will take into account grass-court records. The tournament begins on June 25. Germany’s Alexander Popp, a surprise quarterfinalist last year, also withdrew, citing a virus. Frenchman Arnaud di Pasquale pulled out with a back injury. Already out with injuries are former French Open champion Mary Pierce, 1996 Wimbledon winner Richard Kracijek and Mark Philippoussis. Russian star Anna Kournikova is also doubtful for Wimbledon. She pulled out of next week’s grass-court event at Eastbourne and hasn’t played since sustaining a stress fracture in her left foot in March.
AP
“But she will be playing in Wimbledon.” The withdrawal will leave Capriati short of grasscourt practice for Wimbledon, beginning on June 25. She is attempting to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete a Grand Slam of the four major singles titles. Belgian Kim Clijsters, beaten by Capriati in the Roland Garros final on Saturday, will replace her as the top seed in Den Bosch. Jelena Dokic and Justine
Henin, who withdrew from the Edgbaston Open with an ankle injury, are also in the draw.
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Setback for Karthikeyan London, June 16 Despite Karthikeyan’s impressive performance at the Silverstone racetrack in Britain, Jaguar say they have no vacancies that Karthikeyan can fill. A spokeswoman for Jaguar UK told IANS: “Basically, we’re obviously pleased with his performance, but we’re not looking for another driver.” “Narain’s F3 contract with Jaguar last year offered him an opportunity for an F1 test. The team does not currently have any plans to recruit a full time test driver to work along with Eddy Irvine and Pedro De La Rosa.” Karthikeyan cleared an average of 1 minute 26 seconds per lap on the Silverstone racetrack on Thursday and said he was “extremely pleased” at his performance in his multi-million pound Jaguar Formula One machine. The only Indian and non-Japanese Asian who has ever come so close to Formula One status, Karthikeyan said in his eight laps test he outperformed last year’s Jaguar test driver Thomas Schekter by 1.3 seconds, reaching a top speed of 320 kph. He also came close to matching Jaguar’s current No 2 race driver, Pedro De La Rosa, who has reached 1 minute 25 seconds on the Silverstone Formula One circuit. Karthikeyan says his Indian sponsors, Ford India, Kingfisher Beer, JK Tyres, Amaron and Triad clothing were all extremely delighted and will continue to support him. Karthikeyan sent them a “big thanks.” Among those who watched Karthikeyan on Thursday was racing legend and former world champion Austrian Nikii Lauda. Also present was another world champion Scotsman Jackie Stewart, for whom Karthikeyan has raced in the Formula 3 championships two years ago. Despite the “no current vacancies” reaction from Jaguar, Chennai-born Karthikeyan was optimistic about his future. He told IANS: “Basically, it went off very, very well. So I hope I will get many more chances this year and next year I will become the first Indian full time driver in Formula One.” “Basically, you become a test driver first and then you become a Formula One driver for whoever wants you. Basically everyone was watching, all the Schumachers, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, all the teams were there. So I think it should be good.”
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Chance for Woods to redeem himself Tulsa (USA), June 16 Mark Brooks posted the best round of the tournament yesterday, grabbing five of his six birdies on the front nine en route to a six-under-par 64. The second-round effort, combined with the first-round 72 he completed earlier in the day, gave him a four-under total of 136, tied for the lead with South African Retief Goosen and American J.L. Lewis. For a while Woods’ faltering first two rounds briefly raised the spectre of the unthinkable: that he would miss the cut. The world number one, seeking a remarkable fifth straight Major championship, struggled to a first-round 74, and looked little better in his second-round 71. As Goosen and Lewis flirted with five-under, with several potential low-scorers yet to start their second rounds, it appeared that Woods’ five-over 145 might not be good enough to make the cut, which includes the top 60 and ties and anyone within 10 shots of the leader. Now Woods has a chance to redeem himself at the weekend and still pull off a historic fifth straight Major and he pointed to Brooks’ round as proof that it could be done. “You go out there and play, if I play a round tomorrow like Brooksie.... I’ll get myself right back in the golf game,” Woods said. The 25-year-old, who has missed just one cut on the US PGA Tour since turning professional, said he tried to tune out all thoughts of the weekend during his round. “That’s the last thing in my mind,” he said. “I’m trying one shot at a time. That’s all I can do. I can’t control what the cut is going to be, all I can control is my own shots, and that’s all I focused on all day long.” While Woods put some of his woes down to bad luck — a solid shot on 11 that ended up in a divot and left him scrambling to get up and down for instance — Brooks put his success down to getting it on the green, and putting well when he got there. “I kept it in play and I lag putted pretty good,” said Brooks, who sank birdie putts ranging from one foot to 30 feet I hit a handful of kind of weak iron shots, but generally they found pretty good places. And I only had two really difficult up-and-downs. “The one at 18 there was a real bad bunker shot and nine I hit a bad iron and had a hard bunker shot.” Brooks, who won the 1996 PGA Championship in a playoff for his only Major title, saved par at both holes. “Whoever wins this tournament is going to have to get the ball up and down a lot.... that’s part of US Open Golf.” Goosen shot to the top of the leaderboard when he completed a four-under 66 first round, then turned around and fired an even par 70. Goosen ground out 12 pars before his first birdie of the second round, at the par-five 13th. He gave back the stroke at the next hole, birdied the par-four 17th to regain sole possession of the lead, then bogeyed the infamous 18th - the toughest hole on the par-70, 6,973-yard Southern Hills Country Club course. “I hit a really bad three-wood on the 13th, and got a very good up-and-down for birdie,” he said. “I hit a bad five-iron on the next that plugged in the bunker, then I had really good iron shots into the next two holes, but just couldn’t make the putts.” “On 18 I pulled a four-iron into the green, didn’t find a good lie off the green and couldn’t get it up and down.” Lewis, who put himself among the leaders as he finished off a first-round 68, twice went as low as five-under for the tournament before before completing a second 68 for 136.
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Taiwan runners back Beijing’s bid Taipei, June 16 Gathering early morning outside the Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, about 4,000 people ran with the 19 Chinese and Taiwanese athletes who took part in the Taipei leg of the 10-city run, which will move to the southern city of Kaohsiung before hopping to mainland China and ending in Beijing on June 30. Other Chinese cities involved are Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing and Qingdao. Sun, founder of modern China who led the revolution to topple the imperial Qing dynasty in 1911, is revered as a national hero by both China and Taiwan. Young and old participants from various sports and traditional martial arts groups ran the behind the athletes. In a carnival atmosphere, hundreds of supporters lined the streets, chanting “Go for it!” Some young supporters roller-skated along, while others threw colourful frisbees on the richly decorated grounds.
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Sangrur, Patiala
lift titles Sangrur, June 16 In the boys section, Ludhiana, securing 58 points, were runners-up while Ropar with 24 points finished third. In the girls section, Hoshiarpur with 32 points were runners-up. Ropar with 29 points finished third. Mr S.M. Sharma, DIG, PAP, Jalandhar, gave away the prizes at the concluding ceremony. Mr Sharma also honoured Mr Sukhpal Singh Sandhu, an international waterpolo player from Sangrur, on the occasion. The results: Boys (group-III): 100 mt free style — Gagan Matta (Ferozepure) 1, Amit Singh (Ludhiana)2, 100 mt butterfly stroke — Amandeep Sharma (Sangrur) 1, Preet Apinder Singh (Ldh) 2, Sandeep Dhir (Amritsar) 3. 50 mt breast stroke — Azad Singh (Sng) 1, Varun Sharma (Fzr) 2, Lovy Grewal (Ropar) 3. 200 mt individual medley — Pankaj (Sgr) 1, Amandeep (Hoshiarpur) 2, Harshit Narang (Patiala) 3. Girls (Group III): 100 mt freestyle — Gurbinder Kaur (Hsr) 1, Lajdeep Kaur (Pta) 2, Poonam (Gurdaspur) 3. 50 mt breast-stroke — Sukhman Ghuman (Rpr) 1, Radha (Gds) 2, Amanjeet Kaur (Pta) 3. 200 mt individual medley — Gurbinder Kaur (Hsr) 1, Lajdeep Kaur (Pta) 2, Vasudha Sharma (Fzr) 3. Boys (group-IV): 50 mt breast stroke — Bikramjit (Rpr) 1, Jashandeep (Rpr) 2, Nikhil Sunil (Ldh) 3. 100 mt free style — Bikramjit Singh (Rpr) 1, Harman Singh (Ldh) 2, Nikhil Sunil (Ldh) 3. 50 mt back stroke — Harman Singh (Ldh) 1, Harinderjeet Saini (Sgr) 2, Vipin Kumar (Jalandhar) 3. Girls (group IV): 50 mt breast-stroke — Komal Avtar (Amritsar) 1, Ranbir Kaur (Hsr) 2, Sumati Mehta (Hsr) 3. 100 mt free style — Komal Avtar (Asr) 1, Amandeep (Pta) 2, Amanjot Kaur (Pta) 3. 50 mt back stroke — Prabhjot (Rpr) 1, Komal Avtar (Asr) 2, Amanjot (Pta) 3. |
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Hostels for sportsmen, hotels for
officials Patiala, June 16 This decision, which has come under fire from various quarters, was taken recently by the National Games Organising Committee
(NGOC). In Patiala, which is hosting the maximum number of disciplines (seven) and where the maximum number of participants are expected (3074), the organisers have shortlisted 16 top hotels and 15 government guest houses for accommodating technical officials. For sportspersons, seven men and nine women’s hostels of educational institutions including eight of Punjabi University, have been selected for accommodating them. The disciplines to be held here are aquatics, archery, boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, kabaddi and
kho-kho. As many as 1397 male and 700 women competitors are expected to be in the city for the games and they will be accompanied by 482 team officials. National sports federations associated with these seven disciplines means that 495 technical officials will be in the city to supervise the conduct of the games. The organisers will be doling out a fortune on the stay of technical officials who will be lodged in hotels whose tariff is as high as Rs 1400 per room per day. The district administration has booked 15 guest houses which include the four of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) scattered at various places in the city. The other posh guest houses booked for the mega event belong to the Punjab Languages Department, National Institute of Sports
(NIS), PWD, Diesel Component Works (DCW), Panchayat Bhavan, Youth hostel, Public Health and Government Polytechnic. Sources reveal that hotel owners have turned down repeated requests from the organisers to provide rooms at a discount. Moreover, the government guest houses will also be charging rent with the NIS topping the list as the authorities will be charging Rs 350 per room per day from their guest house which has 12 rooms. The organisers have booked three boys and four women’s hostels of Punjabi University for sportspersons, coaches and managers. Other hostels finalised for women are those of State College of Education, Physical College, women’s college and the Working Women’s Hostel. Men competitors will be lodged in hostels of Ayurvedic college, Mohindera College, Physical College and the State College of Education. The maximum number of sportspersons (1157) will be lodged in Punjabi University hostels while the Ayurvedic College hostel will house the minimum number of sportspersons (90). A total number of 349 technical delegates will be accommodated in hotels while 15 government guest houses will house 195 officials. Earlier the NIS authorities had agreed to provide their hostels for accommodating sportspersons but now they have declined keeping in view the fact that the Afro-Asian Games are scheduled to be held in November this year and several national camps would be on at the NIS during the period when the National Games will be held. |
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Ancheri skipper for Merdeka Cup Bangalore, June 16 Ancheri’s elevation comes as Baichung Bhutia opted out of the tournament citing personal reasons. India has been invited for the tournament after more than a decade. The other countries expected to take part in the tournament include Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE and the Malaysian under-23 team. The team was announced here today by All-India Football Federation Treasurer A.R. Khaleel. Sukhwinder Singh will be the chief coach and S. Krishnaji Rao, the technical director. Team:
Verender Singh, Sangram Mukerji, Sur Kumar, Mahesh Gowli, K.V. Danesh, Daljit Singh, Jules Alberto, Khalid Jamil, Jo Paul Ancheri (captain), Renedy Singh, Basudev Mandal, Hardip Sangha, Deepankar Roy, I.M. Vijayan, Alvito D’cunha, Abdul Hakeem, R.P. Singh, Najeeb, Hardip Gill, and Suresh.
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Michael Jordan fractures ribs Philadelphia, June 16 Analyst Doug Collins said he knew of the injury. He has been appointed coach of the Washington Wizards, the team of which Jordan is part-owner and president of basketball operations. Collins said that Jordan had told him that he was not discouraged by the injury and that it had only put back his decision on whether to play again. He said Jordan would get back to training as soon as possible and considered it as a setback rather than the end of the comeback road. Collins said it was a freak accident that broke Jordan’s ribs. He said it would take the the 38-year-old Jordan between six and eight weeks to recover and resume his workout program. Apparently, Jordan broke the ribs when he was grabbed by an opponent in a play under the basket.
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Bhutia shines Gangtok, June 16 Despite Baichung’s solo effort, his team trailed 1-2 at half time in the rain-soaked Tashi Namgyal Academy ground here. For the State XI, Nima Bhutia put his team into the lead in the 24th minute and Kiran Tamang increased the tally (2-0) a minute later. Baichung netted his first goal in the 32nd with a spectacular flying header off a Milan Lepcha centre. Then, Baichung provided Ram Rai, a player from Dempo Sports Club, with a perfect cross to equalise (2-2) 12 minutes into the second session. The Indian soccer captain Bhutia put the team ahead (3-2) in the 83rd minute only to find State XI’s Nima Bhutia levelling the score 3-3 Bhutia again unleashed a right-footer from the top of the penalty box to make it 4-3. But the lead was shortlived when Tashi Rapden of State XI netted the ball (4-4) atop the TNA goalkeeper to bring the equaliser just a couple of minutes before the long whistle. The proceeds of the match would be given to former soccer player Pem Dorji who is undergoing treatment.
PTI |
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Punjab Police in last
four Mandi, June 16 Punjab Police will face Oriental Bank of Commerce, Delhi, while DFA Mandi will take on
Electronic and Radar Development Establishment Bangalore (LRDE) in the other semifinal. Earlier, LRDE Bangalore defeated Bhillai Steel Plant by four goals to two in the tie-breaker in the quarter-final after the two teams had been involved in the goal-less game during regulation time. Punjab Police dominated the game throughout but forced tough resistance from Himachal Police restricting the holders who could score a solitary goal in the 35th minute through stopper Harjit Singh who volleyed home from inside the area following a flag kick. Himachal Police earlier missed two scoring opportunities when Thakur and Pankaj failed to grab the chance. The spectators applauded the valiant display by Rajesh of Himachal Police, Naresh, the goalkeeper, also prevented Punjab Police from scoring more goals. In the second match the Bangalore team launched vigorous attacks, but the alert goal-keeper, Anil was a hard nut to crack. In the tie-breaker LRDE converted four spot kicks through Anadurai, S. Raj, Narendran and Lokesh while the Chennai team converted two kicks through Ansari and Gaffer. |
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Archana lifts ITF crown Indore, June 16 In the final match which was played on the decoturf courts of Emerald Heights School at Rau, near here, Archana dominated the game from the beginning and took an early 5-0 lead by breaking Sheetal’s service twice. But Sheetal fought back and broke Archana twice. She went on to win four consecutive games and took the set score to 4-5. However, Archana won the tenth game and also the set at 6-4. The second set was a one-sided affair as Archana played intelligently. She went on to win the second set at 6-1 and thereby claimed the ITF title for the second time.
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