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July 11, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Ivanisevic a glorious eccentric champion
50th consecutive win for Jones in 100 m |
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India, Japan in hockey final Milton Keynes, July 10 An inspired India and a fighting Japan yesterday beat Scotland and France respectively to book a final date in the hockey festival here. It was a great day for hockey as India dominated the proceedings to notch up a 4-2 win against Scotland, outclassing them in all departments.
Kumble writes |
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‘Marsh, Healy helped me’ Three-way race for Samaranch’s successor Fencing probables for National Games School games from August 24
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Ivanisevic a glorious eccentric champion London, July 10 But if the All-England Club had expected the status quo to continue then the old world order was in for a shock in the shape of a man who’d never-quite — managed to gatecrash the establishment party. Three times Goran Ivanisevic had reached the final and three times he’d headed back to Croatia with an anguished look on his face and the scant consolation of the loser’s plate in his luggage. Goran doesn’t care too much for the old order, however, and this year he decided it would all turn out different. Yes, he was a wildcard ranked 125 in the world without a title since a success on — modest — home ground at Split in 1998. And no, a wildcard had never won a Grand Slam singles in the Open era. But not any more, because the 29-year-old from Split — with the split personality to match — Broke Australian third seed Pat Rafter’s heart to write a new page of Wimbledon history in winning their pulsating final 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7. Rafter had come here full of beans, but threatening that retirement was his next career move, having lost out to
Pete Sampras in last year’s rain-interrupted final. This time the rain kept off at the death — but only after it had forced the tournament to go into a third week after the opening 10 days passed off in hot sunshine. Rafter ended up with two days off after beating 1992 champion Andre Agassi in a five-set semi-final every bit as much a classic as their meeting at the same stage 12 months ago. Ivanisevic was, meanwhile, taking three days to oust Henman as bad light and rain did for the Briton and let the Croatian off the hook. The champion said the title was his destiny. He was dead right - though he still had time to double fault twice on Championship point, provoking heart palpitations among his flag-waving fans enjoying ‘People’s Monday’ on the Centre Court along with thousands of Australians whose sporting desire had not been sated by cricket Test success. Ivanisevic served up a record 213 aces through the tournament and yet proved he could do so much more - including keeping his head - just when it really mattered. “This is what I was waiting for all my life. I was always second. Second place is not good enough. Finally I am a champion” said Ivanisevic. “This is everything for me. Whatever I do in my life I will always be Wimbledon champion. “I don’t even care now if I win a match in my life again. This is the end of the road!” said the man who only eight months ago defaulted from an event at Brighton down on the British south coast for lack of appropriate equipment” after smashing all his racquets. In fact it is not, because he is already bursting for the opening day of next year’s tournament to be welcomed on to Centre Court as the defending champion. If Ivanisevic was a gloriously eccentric champion, so Pat Rafter was the most gracious of losers — though he would not be drawn on whether he will return to the scene of two straight final losses having been gunned down by ‘Pistol Pete’ Sampras last year. “This time it hurts a little bit more than last time that’s for sure. “But it was an amazing atmosphere and a Lot of fun.” Would that he himself provides another year of it at least. So what of the other nearly men? Two springing immediately to mind were seven-time champion Sampras, a fourth-round loser to Swiss teen Roger Federer, beaten in turn by Henman in a marvellous quarter-final. Sampras, winner of a record 13 Grand Slams, thus failed to become the first man ever to lift a Slam singles crown eight times and failed to move ahead of William Renshaw, with whom he shares the all-time Wimbledon record. “It’s unfortunate it’s over. It wasn’t going to last forever,” was Sampras’ reaction which could now equally apply to his future assaults as Federer and company look to step into the vaccum shortly to be left by the veterans. Henman was the biggest loser of all as the rain and the fading light contrived to wreck his semi against Ivanisevic and let the Croat out of jail when he had lost the third set 0-6 to move to within millimetres of the exit door. Sixth seed Henman’s defeat took 44 hours as his meeting with Ivanisevic, who he had beaten four times in as many previous meetings, began on Friday, was delayed by rain, delayed by more rain Saturday and finally finished in misery as the rain held off Sunday. The host nation now remains winless since Fred Perry’s 1936 hat-trick triumph. “I did my best but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough this year,” Henman sighed. There should now be a changing of the guard as Sampras and Andre Agassi, beaten by rafter in another brilliant semi, age still further, Henman remains a nearly man, and Rafter himself heads towards the beaches of retirement as compatriot Lleyton Hewitt bids to take his place in Aussie affections. Ivanisevic has had his day and the future is up for grabs. Messrs Federer and Hewitt take note.
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50th consecutive win for Jones in 100 m Nice, July 10 Jones yesterday looked unbeatable at the distance but had to be happy with a modest time of 11.25 seconds, almost half a second down on the 10.84 she clocked in Paris last week, her best run of the year. “All wins are good to me and they help me to prepare for the world championships’’, she said. “I don’t keep any track but it’s always great to win. “My race was not perfect today because we had to struggle with the wind but I had a pretty good start, at least much better than the other day’’, Jones said. “Now I’m going to take a few days off on the French Riviera and then I will go to the Oslo and London meetings.’’ Jones, who said she was confident of beating the 10.49-second world record of her late compatriot Florence Griffith-Joyner, outsprinted Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas and Nigeria’s Mercy Ku, who finished second and third respectively. In the men’s 100m, victory went to American Tim Montgomery in a moderate 10.18 seconds, ahead of Abdul Aziz Zakari of Ghana and Jamaica’s Llewellyn Bredwood. “I’m happy with my performance even if it was not great today’’, Montgomery said. “At least I did much better than last year.’’ Latvian Stanislav Olijars was fastest in the 110 metres hurdles, coming home in 13.30 ahead of Americans Dawane Wallace and Terrance Trammel. Allen Johnson of the USA was a disappointing fifth in 13.50. In an otherwise lacklustre meeting, Kenya’s Wilson Boit Kipketer set the best time of the year in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, clocking eight minutes 5.78 seconds.
Reuters |
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India, Japan in hockey final Milton Keynes, July 10 It was a great day for hockey as India dominated the proceedings to notch up a 4-2 win against Scotland, outclassing them in all departments. India, who had a disappointing opening match draw against France a day earlier, opened the scoring in the 28th minute through a Gagan Ajit Singh field goal and followed it up with a Prabhojot Singh goal in the 33rd minute. India led 2-0 at half time. Scotland came back strongly after the break and in the 58th minute, Richard Forsyth converted a penalty corner. India struck back with a field goal from Baljit Singh Dhillon in the 61st minute and immediately scored in the next minute through Daljit Dhillon. Six minutes later, Richard Forsyth grabbed a consolation second goal for himself and Scotland with a slight deflection from a free hit outside the circle to cap the final score at 4-2. Unlike yesterday, India kept possession better with accurate passing and carefully built their attack. Scotland did not seem to have an answer to the tight game and were only able to make a few break throughs that were swiftly dealt with by a fired up Indian team. Japan with two wins and India with a win and a draw will play the final today. Coach Cedric D’Souza said he was happy with the team’s performance but added there was “still room for improvement”. “The team came up well after their disappointing draw against France yesterday and it certainly showed today with far more cohesion in their play,” he said. In the first game today, Japan beat France 3-2. The Japanese dominated the game throughout although France took the lead in the 16th minute through a field goal by Gerome Branquart. Kenji Asaj of Japan immediately struck back to level a minute later. Three minutes after the break, Kenji was again on target to extend Japan’s lead and Takahiko Yamabori nabbed the third field goal for his team. A contested penalty stroke decision in favour of France in the 61st minute saw the umpire unmoved and Frederic Soyez gratefully accepted another goal for his team.
PTI |
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Dependence on Sachin Tendulkar must go THE forced absence, due to injury, of Sachin Tendulkar from the first few matches of the three-nation one-day tournament to be played in Sri Lanka later this month might well prove to be a blessing in disguise for Indian cricket. For too long has Indian batting depended totally on Sachin. And every time he fails, as he did in the final of the recently concluded tournament in Zimbabwe against the West Indies, the rest of the Indian batting goes to pieces. At Harare the moment Sachin was out to a loose shot early in the innings the remaining Indian batsmen simply gave up the fight, although the target set by the West Indians was attainable. And this was proved by the fight waged by Reetinder Sodhi and Sameer Dighe later in the innings. And this over-dependence of the Indian squad on Sachin has often put too much pressure on him. There are enough indications that in the final at Harare Sachin was not one hundred per cent fit but in the interest of the squad he agreed to play. And once he was out cheaply, the result was there for all to see. What Sachin could have done was to opt out of the match. By doing so he could have served Indian cricket better in which case the other batsmen would have played a different ball game. If Indian cricket is to look up, and given the current form and performance of the squad there are enough indication that the Indian squad is again getting back its wanton form, then too much dependence on Sachin must go. The Indian team must learn to win matches without Sachin contributing much either with the bat or the ball because after all cricket is a team game played by eleven players. Of course there is no denying the fact that cricketers of Sachin’s calibre and temperament are difficult to find in contemporary cricket. His very presence on the field helps to improve the performance of the Indian team by a couple of notches. But then he is only human and one must be willing to accept that injury and an occasional lack of concentration are part and parcel of the game. The forced absence of Sachin has given yet another opportunity to Amey Khuresia to prove that he can hold his own at the highest level of the game. An attacking batsman, at least on the domestic circuit, Khuresia has been ignored by the national selectors since playing the last of his 10 one-day games almost two years ago. In fact he was a mere passenger during India’s campaign in the 1999 World Cup in England. This is the time for the left hander to make best use of the confidence reposed in him by his captain. He made his last appearance for India in the tri-series in Singapore where he made just five against Zimbabwe and three against the West Indies. So far he has scored 137 runs for an average of 15.22. He can only improve from where he stands in international cricket. The national selectors could have examined the inclusion of Sadagoppan Ramesh as an opener since in any case this is a temporary arrangement till such time Sachin rejoins the team in Sri Lanka. But the other change in the Indian team, Yuvraj coming in place of Dinesh Mongia, makes even less cricketing sense. True, the Indian captain is a great fan of the 20-year-old left hander who made a blazing start to his international career in the ICC knockout tournament in Nairobi in 1999. Since then Yuvraj’s form fell so badly that he was not even considered for the tour of Zimbabwe. Not that he has done anything of note in the intervening period but there is every possibility that the forced rest from the Indian team might have done some good to a player whose ego seemed to overtake his cricketing form. But by making a place for him the selectors have been less than fair to Dinesh Mongia. Dinesh has made his place at the top by dint of hard work and diligence and by sacking him now the selectors have probably harmed the confidence of a good and hardworking cricketer. But the presence of players like Dinesh Mongia and Harvinder Singh, who also had to make place for a spinner in the team for Sri Lanka, will do a lot of good to Indian cricket. This is because the players who constitute the touring team will have to remember that one slip and there is somebody to step into their place. Indian cricket can only thrive better with such competition for every place in the squad. |
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Kumble writes ALBEIT India lost by 16 runs in the Coca Cola Cup final we played excellent cricket right throughout the tournament. There are a lot of positives from this Zimbabwe tour although sans any reward in the form of a trophy/award. The Test series saw the emergence of Shiv Sunder Das as a reliable opener. Ashish Nehra who bowled superbly is easily the find of the tour. In the one-day competition there was an excellent display by young Sodhi; Sameer Dighe exhibited a lot of pluck both in the Test series as well as the one-dayers. In today’s international schedule, teams do not get much time to regroup: With only a week’s time India will be embarking on a tour to neighbouring Sri Lanka. I am happy for young Yuvraj Singh and I do hope he performs well in the competition. He is extremely talented and should grab this chance with both hands. Sachin will be missed, but the good news is that he should be available towards the later stages of the tournament. Sri Lanka is always a tough tour, especially for the bowlers, as the wickets there is full of runs. The triseries along with New Zealand promises to be an exciting one. There is always one thing that is highly unpredictable this time of the year in Sri Lanka: Rain. Let us hope it does not play spoilsport this time. Coming back to the final at Harare, the victory should give West Indies cricket a new fillip and also give the youngsters the confidence to perform better under their skipper Carl Hooper. Unpredictable as ever, the Caribbeans, did well when it mattered most. Ganga and Gayle took the Indian bowlers by surprise and the former played some attacking cricket. In the final, it was unlike Ganga apparently was given instructions upset the Indian bowling attack. Harbhajan and Reetinder put the brakes on but the experience of Hooper and Chanderpaul in the middle overs prevailed. The Indians — perhaps eager to get off to a good start — played too many shots too early in their innings and perished. Colin Collymore was the deserving Man of the Match, because it is he who polished off the cream of the Indian batting. It was very important for the big guns Sachin, Sourav, Rahul, and Laxman to score in an important final but we lost the top five wickets for 80 odd runs. After Reetinder was dropped early on by Ganga, the partnership between him and Sameer Dighe had a lot of fight had Reetinder stayed on till end India might have pulled off an impossible victory. Credit should be given to the way Reetinder Sodhi and Sameer Dighe went about their batting. This pair proved that in one-day cricket there is always a glimmer of hope till the very end, if the batting team do not panic and hangs in there till the last overs. Only time will tell whether this lesson has been learnt by the Indian team.
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‘Marsh, Healy helped me’ Mumbai, July 10 A beaming Dighe said here today that the legendary Aussie wicketkeeper Marsh had passed on a few tips during the conditioning camp in Bangalore which helped him a lot. “As if that was not enough, Healy spent some time with me during the Harare Test match. I was delighted when he made the first move and wanted to help me out,” he said. “Healy, who was in Harare to participate in the benefit tie for former Zimbabwe Test star Eddo Brandes, is a remarkable man and can spot any flaws by just watching others behind the stumps. I soaked in all the knowledge when he gave some important tips in the lobby of our hotel,” Dighe said. “In fact, I was really touched when Healy told me that I can call him up for help even if it is two in the morning and the most important tip he gave was to move with the ball. He also told me to maintain a diary and note down the good and bad things every day,” Dighe added. When asked about his unbeaten 94 in the tri-series final against the West Indies on Saturday, the Mumbai star said, “I used Sachin’s (Tendulkar) bat which was much heavier than the one I normally use.” “In fact, it was Sachin who advised me to do so as I would get more power in my strokes. However, I feel very sad that we fell short by 16 runs,” Dighe said. Even the chairman of the selection committee Chandu Borde had said yesterday that Dighe was a very improved wicketkeeper now.
PTI |
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Three-way race for Samaranch’s successor Moscow, July 10 However, the main barrier to Pound, known as ‘Mr Money’ for his commercial ability, and Rogge, a surgeon, to the most powerful position in sport is 70-year-old Korean Kim Un Yong, a man who only two years ago was issued with a severe warning following Pounds’ investigation into Salt Lake City. The other two candidates to succeed the former Spanish Ambassador to Russia, are former American Olympic oarswoman Anita de Frantz and Hungarian diplomat Pal Schmidt. Kim, the first Asian to contest the presidency, presents the members with a chance to snub Pound as his probe resulted in 10 of their group being forced out while they lost one of the main attractions for being an IOC member as they were barred from travelling to the bidding cities. The South Korean, who became an IOC member in 1986, has always insisted that he did nothing wrong and when the charges were first made against him he wrote to various members refuting the claims.
Asked to comment on whether the charges would hamper his IOC bid, Kim replied curtly: “You keep bringing up the same old story. You can check my records and I stand by them.” Kim has offered the carrot in his bid to be elected that IOC members would once again be able to travel to view the candidate cities for the Olympics — something which both Pound and Rogge have ruled out. Kim denies that his age would hinder his prospects and places more store in what he has achieved as a sports administrator and what he may be able to achieve in bringing the pariah state of North Korea back into the sporting fold. “President Samaranch is 81 and I have just reached 70. The age limit is 80 and as you can see I am very healthy. Maybe more healthy than the others,” he said. “My strength will be what I have done in the last 30 years in sport. My career has been spent trying to help others in helping humanitarian causes. That is my strength,” he said. While the IOC members would obviously relish getting back on the old air miles bonus schemes both Rogge and Pound have been more open of how they see the Olympic movement going forward and have offered up ideas that would present real change — the question is whether the members are up for it. Outlining his vision for the future of the Olympic movement, 59-year-old Rogge said it was clear at Sydney the games had become too big and too expensive, making it impossible for an African or South American city attempt to host the world’s biggest sporting event. “We will have to review the budget,” he said. The urbane surgeon, who is a former Olympic yachtsman and said he would give up being a surgeon if he was elected because he couldn’t have his beeper going off during operations, made it clear he would not be cowtowing to governments putting pressure on the movement. “I am fiercely independent when it comes to government recommendations. Please governments, keep out of giving instructions to sports bodies. We do not need advisors from governments,” he stressed.
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Fencing probables for National Games Patiala, July 10 The probables are: (Men): Preet Mohinder Singh, Vikramjit Singh, Manmeet Singh, Deepak Saini, Amarinder Singh, Vikasjot Singh, Navdeep Singh Sidhu, Kamalreet Bhangu, Yuvraj Singh and Gaurav Singla (all Patiala), Hardeep Singh Sodhi, Parambir Singh, Rishipal Singh and Manpreet Singh (all Punjab Police), Nirmal Singh, Lakhbir Singh, Sudeep Singh and Beant Singh (all Amritsar), Sarav Raj and Naveen Kumar (Jalandhar), Bhupinder Singh and Rajwinder Singh (Fatehgarh Sahib), Kehar Singh, Yogesh Kumar, Parvinder Singh (Gurdaspur). Women: Sarabjit Kaur, Prabhjot Kaur, Rashmi (senior), Aneet Kaur Walia, Amandeep Kaur, Shavinder Kaur, Manjot Kaur, Shibhu Dhillon, Harshpreet, Sukhleen Kaur and Navjot Kaur (all Patiala), Harpreet Kaur Gill, Jobanjit Kaur and Amandeep Kaur (all Amritsar), Gurdeep Kaur, Kuljeet Kaur, Karamjit Kaur and Lakhbir Kaur (Fatehgarh Sahib), Anupreet Kaur, Suman Devi and Jasneet Kaur (Jalandhar), Reeta, Jiwan Jyoti, Priya Sharma and Sonia (all Gurdaspur). The coaches for men will be Mr Heemjit Meetai, Mr Ashwani Mohit and Mr H.S. Sodhi. |
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School games from August 24 Chandigarh, July 10 Giving details of the meeting held between Regional Director SAI and senior officers of Haryana Sports Department, Dr B.K. Sinha, Director Sports, Haryana said that emphasis would be on athletics (men & women) in middle distance running events in Mohindergarh, Gurgaon and Rewari districts and on discuss, hammer, shot put and javelin events in Sonepat, Bhiwani and Hisar districts. Boxing (men & women) would be strengthened at Bhiwani, Hisar, Rohtak and Sonepat, badminton (men & women) at Panchkula, Bhiwani, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Rewari, cycling (men & women) at Karnal and Kurukshetra, Gymnastic (men & women) at Ambala and Bhiwani and hockey (men & women) at
Kurukshetra, Sonepat and Gurgaon. |
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