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| Wednesday,
August 8, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
WORLD ATHLETICS
India lose to Aussies 2-3 |
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Commonwealth Games hockey: India
excluded Saurav Ganguly writes ACB clears Waugh National Games ‘as per schedule’ |
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Gaudio shocks Agassi Boxers can turn pro:
IABF Impressive haul by junior boxers
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WORLD ATHLETICS Edmonton, August 7 The former world 200m champion flashed across the line in 10.82 seconds, Jones was second in 10.85 seconds and Greece’s Ekaterini Thanou came home third in 10.91 seconds. It was a brilliant performance by the Ukrainian and wiped out the bitter memory of the 1997 world championships in Athens when she thought she had beaten the American. After that race, Pintusevich-Block was mobbed by photographers as she waved to the crowd but before she could go on her victory lap the loudspeaker announced that Jones had won. There was no heartbreak here for the 29-year-old who started her athletic career as a middle distance runner. “I have been dreaming of this since 1997,” said a beaming Pintusevich-Block. “I really thought I could beat her and now my dream has come true. I knew that if I was to beat Marion I must not make any mistakes and tonight I didn’t make any mistakes.” Jones was the first to go over and congratulate the Ukrainian, who lay prostrate on the track. “I am not a sore loser, so all credit to Zhanna. She ran a great race. She was the better sprinter today,” said 25-year-old Jones. There were no such upsets in the triple jump as world record holder Jonathan Edwards of Britain added the world championship title to his Sydney Olympic gold. Edwards jumped 17.92 metres in the third round, the 35-year-old’s best performance for three years, to give Britain their first gold medal of the championships. Sweden’s 21-year-old Christian Olsson won silver with 17.47m and Russia’s Igor Spasovkhodskiy took bronze with 17.44m, a lifetime best. Edwards last won the world title in 1995, when he set the world record of 18.29m. A retired Michael Johnson saw his 400m crown go to Avard Moncur of the Bahamas. Moncur, who claimed he knew he had it won with 200m to go, beat off part-time athlete Ingo Schultz of Germany for gold while Greg Haughton of Jamaica had to be satisfied with bronze. While the 22-year-old Moncur became the new kid on the block in the one-lap event it looked like the end of the road for 33-year-old American veteran Antonio Pettigrew. Pettigrew, competing in his fourth world final, admitted he had blown it after he was left trailing by pacesetter Haughton and had 15 metres to make up for a medal going down the final straight. Stacy Dragila of the USA retained her women’s pole vault title with a vault of 4.75 metres. Svetlana Feofanova of Russia won silver after also vaulting 4.75m, breaking her own European record, but she lost to Dragila on countback. Monika Pyrek of Poland won bronze with 4.55m. Dragila won the first ever women’s pole vault events at the 1999 world championships in Seville and at last year’s Sydney Olympics. Osleidys Menendez of Cuba threw 69.53 metres to win the women’s javelin, while Mirela Manjani-Tzelili of Greece took silver with a throw of 65.78m and another Cuban, Sonia Bisset, took bronze with 64.69m. Britain’s Dean Macey stormed into a halfway lead in the decathlon less than 15 minutes after fearing he would have to pull out of the event. Instead, the 23-year-old ran a lifetime best of 46.21 seconds and leapfrogged over Tomas Dvorak, the defending champion, to seize an overnight lead by a single point. Macey’s five-event total of 4,638 points was also boosted by his best ever performance in the high jump, where he cleared 2.15m. But there was almost as most action off the track when former world champion Ato Boldon of Trinidad became the latest top sprinter to withdraw from the 200m.
AFP |
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India lose to Aussies 2-3 Kuala Lumpur, August 7
A few seconds before the final whistle, Australia earned their seventh penalty corner and Troy Elder flicked home the goal which dashed India’s hopes and chances. India took the lead in the 14th minute but failed to hold on to it for more than two minutes. Both teams were level 1-1 at half time. With this defeat, India crashed out of contention with only one point to their credit after four matches. The Indians had opened the campaign with a 2-2 draw against Malaysia, but after that they lost to Germany 0-2, to Pakistan 3-4 and this afternoon to Australia. After playing a superb game against Pakistan on Sunday, the Indians looked drained out today. Troy elder (2) and Jamie Dwyer (1) scored for the winners while Deepak Thakur scored both the goals for India. With this win Australia now have seven points from four outings, They have won two, against Pakistan (5-3) and India (3-2), lost to Germany (4-6) and drew with England 1-1. India last played Australia in Sydney Olympics and held them to a 2-2 draw there and it looked that this match was going to be the repeat of Sydney but that was not to be. Australia played an attacking game and India had a tough time keeping them at bay. They forced two penalty corners in first 12 minutes. In the 9th minute, the Aussies earned their first penalty corner but Troy Elder’s flick was cleared by Jugraj Singh. The Indians counter attacked but Deepak Thakur fumbled near the circle and the move was foiled. Australia’s counter fetched them their second penalty corner but this too was wasted. The Indians unleashed a flurry of moves and in the 14th minute earned their first penalty corner. Jugraj Singh faked a dummy as Deepak Thakur deflected the ball home to give his side the lead. (1-0). The lead lasted barely two minutes as Australia countered and the Indian defence came under pressure. A lapse in defence gave the Aussies a chance to equalise as unmarked Jammie Dwyer latched on to a loose ball but his scoop was cleared by goal keeper Devesh Chauhan but on the rebound Dwyer again intercepted the ball without being challanged by any defender and slammed the ball home to give his side the equaliser (1-1). The equaliser spurred the Australians who launched massive assaults on the Indian citadel and forced the third penalty corner, which went abegging. The Indians found it hard to put pressure and were stranded in the midfield but a sudden burst by Mukesh Kumar in the 25th minute rattled the Aussie defence. The Indian skipper had a good chance to score but he held on to a ball for very long and though he had only goalkeeper Mark Hickman to beat he shot wide. Australia earned five penalty corners in this session but failed to convert any while India had two and converted one.
UNI  |
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Commonwealth Games hockey: India
excluded Chandigarh, August 7 Last month India had just managed to qualify for the men’s World Cup hockey tournament to be held at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in February/March next year. India finished fifth among seven qualifiers in the tournament. India will, however, participate in the women’s hockey section in the Commonwealth Games. Hockey was introduced at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998, where Australia won a “double”. In the men’s section, Australia had trounced hosts Malaysia, 4-0 while in the women’s section, they had crushed England 8-1 for the top position. India had lost in penalty shootout to England in the play-off match for the bronze medal in the men’s section while in the women’s section India had lost to New Zealand. The Manchester Commonwealth Games will be the first major recognised tournament, where India, once considered a major force in men’s hockey, would be missing from the participants’ list. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Games Federation
(CGF)has decided to adopt the International Hockey Federation’s policy for qualification to the men’s and women’s hockey tournaments at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. At a meeting in Manchester on Friday, the CGF assembly accepted the FIH qualification procedure for worldwide tournaments. Under this procedure the eight qualifying nations are the host, the defending champions, plus the highest ranked nation from each of the six Commonwealth regions. If the highest ranked nation from a region is already qualified as host or defending champion, then the next highest ranked nation of that region shall qualify. Should any team withdraw, the vacancy would be filled by the next highest world ranking Commonwealth nation, regardless of region. The teams qualifying for the 2002 Commonwealth Games are as follows: Women’s section: Host nation: England Previous winner: Australia Europe: Scotland - highest ranked excluding England (pre-qualified); 5th European Nations Cup, August 1999 Africa: South Africa-winner of All-Africa Games 1999 Asia: India - highest ranked nation from 4th Asia Cup, December 1999 America: Canada-highest ranked nation from 1st Americas Cup 2001 Caribbean: Jamaica-highest ranked nation from 1st Americas Cup 2001 Oceania: New Zealand - highest ranked excluding Australia (pre-qualified) Men’s section: Host nation: England Previous winner: Australia Europe: Wales-highest ranked excluding England (pre-qualified); 10th Men`s World Cup qualifier, July 2001. Wales had beaten Chile 3-2 while Scotland had lost to France 4-5 in the World Cup qualifying
tournament in Edinburgh last month. Africa: South Africa-winner of All-Africa Games 1999 (qualifier for Olympic Games) Asia: Pakistan-highest ranked on basis of 4th placing 2000 Olympics America: Canada - highest ranked from 1st Americas Cup 2000 Caribbean: Barbados - highest ranked from 1st Americas Cup 2000 Oceania: New Zealand - highest ranked excluding Australia (pre-qualified). |
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Saurav Ganguly writes IT
was another loss in the finals. It is really becoming disappointing and frustrating to qualify for the finals in all of our last few tournaments, and then lose. We played some good cricket to qualify, but were totally outplayed by the Sri Lankans on Sunday. The hosts are a very strong side at home and this is their third victory at home in a triangular. On the other two occasions, the casualties were Australia and South Africa. The wicket at the Premadasa Stadium suits the Sri Lankans well. They won an important toss and with no hesitation opted to bat. Sanath Jayasuriya has a very good track record against India and he once again played a very good knock. There were quite a few balls landing in the no man's area, but then some luck is required to win in a final. On our part, our bowlers were guilty of bowling on both sides of the wicket. The Sri Lankans capitalised and got off to a flier and we knew we had to pick wickets to get back into the game. We did get Aviska and Attapatu out but we dropped a crucial catch of Jayasuriya when the score was at 130. He played a good knock because he knows that the other
batsmen play well round him and he did not give his wicket away till the 35th over. We tried to pull it back once he got out but gave too many runs in the last five overs. Chasing 296 was always a big ask and we lost wickets at regular intervals. We needed to get off to a good start but lost two wickets at the score of five and never looked like coming back into the game after that. We did not have a partnership and that cost us the final. I know it's frustrating to lose the fourth final of the year, but one has to remember we had a very young and inexperienced side, leaving aside Rahul and myself. None of the others had played more than 30 one-dayers each and that showed when they were put under pressure. There have been a lot of positives on the tour. Harbhajan Singh was fantastic throughout the series while Yuvraj and Sehwag also shaped up well. The latter two performed well with the bat as well as the ball and are players of the future. I know plenty of people might differ, but we have been a side hit by injuries to key players in the last one year, but have still managed to qualify for the finals in all the tournaments we have played . I have not had the honour of leading a full-strength Indian side on to the cricket field for the better part of 12 months. The one-day version of the tour is over and we have Test matches to play in Galle, Candy and Colombo. It promises to be a well-fought series, with the Sri Lankans not having won a Test series either home or away for quite some time. On the other hand, we have won six out of eight Test matches since last August and we hope to continue this good form. The wickets might be spinner-friendly considering Muttiah Muralitharan is their bowling strength. It's going to be an engrossing battle between Harbhajan and Murali. The people here will love to see Harbhajan bowl, and they are going to see some class spin bowling for these two are the best off-spinners in the world at present. I hope we play good cricket and make up for our loss in the one-day final.
Gameplan |
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ACB clears Waugh Melbourne, August 7 The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) special investigator Greg Melick said he could find no evidence to support Indian bookie Mukesh Gupta’s claims. The illegal bookie had alleged to the Indian police he paid Waugh $ 20,000 seven years ago for information about pitches, team, strategy and other matters when ever Australia played. Melick said he had not discovered any evidence that would allow Waugh to be charged under the ACB’s code of behaviour. "The investigation has been unable to unearth any credible evidence to support Mr Gupta or any evidence to contradict Mark Waugh," said Melick. "There was no single thing that tipped it in Mark’s favour," he added. "Even if Mr Gupta hadn’t come forward there may have been a basis to lay charges with the supporting evidence. "Often in an investigation, somebody makes an allegation, such as an informant who doesn’t want to be named which then leads to a successful investigation. In this case there was just nothing."
PTI |
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National Games ‘as per schedule’ Chandigarh, August 7 Mr Badal disclosed that he would be having a meeting with the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Mr Suresh Kalmadi, at Ludhiana on August 11 where various aspects of the games would be examined. The meeting had been fixed at 11 a.m. on that day. The office of the Director, Technical, of the National Games, Dr Darshan Tandon, is located in Ludhiana and it is he who is coordinating all aspects of the National Games. Mr Kalmadi had said recently in Delhi that the sixth edition of the National Games would have to be held on schedule or cancelled altogether. ‘‘If Punjab cannot hold the games on schedule, the games can only be cancelled as next year Andhra Pradesh would be hosting the seventh edition of the games,’’ Mr Kalmadi was quoted as saying. Mr Kalmadi's stand was supported by the secretary-general of the IOA, Mr Randhir Singh. Of late there have been reports that the sixth edition of the National Games would have to be held at a later date since Indian sportsmen would be busy preparing first for the SAF Games, to be held in Pakistan in October, and the first Afro-Asian Games to be conducted in New Delhi in early November. It was argued that since the top sportsmen would not like to peak for the National Games in September it would be better if the games were held some time towards the end of November. But those who argued in favour of a postponement of the National Games forget that it would be near impossible to conduct the swimming events in November given the weather conditions in the state at that time of year. In the absence of a heated swimming pool it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to conduct the swimming events, scheduled to be conducted at the swimming pool of the National Institute of Sports at Patiala. Another problem which could have cropped up if the Games were pushed back to November was the question of accommodation for all the participants. As per the original plan of the National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) all participants would be housed in various university and colleges hostels and universities in Punjab have already announced their autumn vacation to coincide with the original dates of the National Games that is in September. But in case the games were pushed back to November then the organising committee of the games would have to look for alternate accommodation,. And it is not easy to find accommodation for the over 5,000 sportspersons expected to take part in the games at the drop of a hat. Besides Patiala, the other centres where events of the sixth National Games are scheduled to be held are Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Anandpur Sahib, SAS Nagar and Chandigarh. |
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Gaudio shocks Agassi Cincinnati, August 7 The 22-year-old Argentine sprang his second career surprise on seven-time Grand Slam champion Agassi after beating the 31-year-old in the second round last year at Rome on clay.
DPA, Reuters |
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Boxers can turn pro:
IABF Chandigarh, August 7 Mr Chautala expressed happiness at the remarkable show by Indian boxers in Germany, where they bagged nine medals. More exposure will be provided to both male and female Indian boxers with participation abroad in more tournaments. The policy of sending office-bearers of the federation to accompany boxers at international meets is being discouraged and only technical personnel would be encouraged to travel along with the boxers, he said. He complimented the Indian Olympic Association for their work. After hosting of the first Asian Games in 1951 at Delhi, India will host of the first ever Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi, he said. He said the Haryana Sports Department had got Rs 25 crore out of total Rs 100 crore for all the states, from the Government of India for promotion of sports. Mr Chautala said like Harbhajan Singh, who was given plum post in Punjab Police, boxer Gurcharan Singh, who was unlucky to finish fourth in Sydney Olympics, should have been given such post. |
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Impressive haul by junior boxers New Delhi, August 7 An Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) spokesman said here today that the Indian junior team, comprising 12 boxers, and led by coach in charge Ravinder Singh Rana, underwent 15 days’ training in Germany prior to the competition, and the exposure did a world of good when the juniors took the ring for the competition, to return with nine medals-a feat no other junior team has achieved in the past. Robin Dev struck gold in the light fly, while Divakar Prasad (bantam), Kulwant Singh (light weight), Gurmail Singh (middle weight) won the silver medals. The bronze winners were Ashwani Sharma (light fly), A L Lakara (feather), Harwinder Singh (light welter, Hardeep Singh (light middle), Sandeep Dagar (light heavy). Working president of the IABF R.S. Dalal accorded a warm welcome to the boxers when he returned from Frankfurt here today. |
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