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| Thursday, August 9, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Amy Thiam
gives Senegal first women’s gold
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 Fiona May of Italy flies through the air during the women's final long jump event at the 8th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Edmonton on Tuesday. — Reuters |
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Gopichand
wins opening tie Serena
Williams, Hingis post easy victories |
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Sachin
may miss series
Pappan
leads in Hindu Golf Baseball
team WFI to
host Asian cadet meet
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Amy Thiam gives Senegal
first women’s gold
Edmonton, August 8 The 24-year-old won a stunning victory in the women’s 400 metres, beating Lorraine Fenton of Jamaica by only two hundredths of a second clocking 49.86 seconds. Mexico’s Ana Guevara, one of the favourites, took the bronze in 49.97 sec. The event had been blown wide open when Olympic champion Cathy Freeman decided to take the year off and injuries forced out US champion La Tasha Colander-Richardson and world leader Katharine Merry. Thiam grabbed her chance and refused to wilt in a nail-biting final 30 metres as she and Fenton ran stride by stride. “It’s a fantastic feeling to know you are the best in the world,” she enthused. Amy had reached the finals with the best time of 50.21 sec when she won heat no.2 of the semi-finals in which India’s
K. M. Beenamol went out. Equally delighted was Switzerland’s Andre Bucher who finally laid to rest his bridesmaid’s tag by winning the men’s 800m world title. The 24-year-old six-time minor medallist came home alone watched by his mother to confirm the talent everyone knew he possessed but had yet to gild with gold. Long-time pacesetter Wilfred Bungei of kenya took the silver and Poland’s Pawel Szapiewski came with a late burst to deprive another Kenyan, William Yiampoy, of bronze. The Swiss admitted that when he crossed the line and put his head in his hands it was as much in sheer relief as pleasure. Six years after first winning the long jump world title, Italy’s Fiona May regained her crown and then announced she would take a year out of athletics in the hope of becoming a mother. May won, but only a single centimetre separated her 7.02 metres jump from Tatyana Kotova of Russia, who jumped 7.01m. Niurka Montalvo, Spain’s defending champion, had to settle for bronze this time, jumping 6.88m. British-born May said winning in Edmonton would allow her to consider life away from the track. Gabriela Szabo, Romania’s Olympic 5,000m gold medallist in Sydney, stepped down in distance to take the women’s 1,500m. In the 1,500m final, Szabo produced a devastating kick finish down the home straight to stop the clock at 4min 00.57sec, the fastest time of the year. The silver medal was won by her compatriot, Violeta Szekely, who clocked 4:01.70. Russia’s Natalya Gorelova, who had done much of the early pacemaking in the race, was rewarded with the bronze medal after clocking 4:02.40. Derartu Tulu, the double Olympic gold medallist, led an Ethiopian clean sweep of the medals in a thrilling women’s 10,000 metres, where a blanket could have covered the first four finishers at the end of 25 laps. Tulu clocked 31min 48.81sec, again showing the incredible finishing speed which had won her Olympic gold in Sydney as she just held off the determined challenge of Berhane Adere. Adere recorded 31:48.85. The bronze medal went to Gete Wami, the 1999 champion, who overtook Britain’s Paula Radcliffe in the final strides. Wami finished in 31:49.98, 0.08sec ahead of Radcliffe, who has now placed just outside the medals in Olympics and World Championships track events on five occasions. Youngsters look like taking over the newest event on the programme, after two 20-year-olds and an 18-year-old placed in the top four of the women’s hammer. Yipsi Moreno, of Cuba, in her first year out of the junior ranks, took the gold medal after throwing 70.65 metres. The silver medal went to the relative veteran on the podium, Russia’s Olga Kuzenkova, the 30-year-old former world record-holder and Olympic silver medallist, clearing 70.61m. Bronwyn Eagles, the 20-year-old from Australia, took the bronze, her 68.87m throw beating the best effort of the Olympic champion, 18-year-old Kamila Skolimowska of Poland. There was no surprise in the decathlon as 29-year-old Czech, Tomas Dvorak, winner of the decathlon world title in 1997 and 1999, once again took the title of the greatest all-round athlete. For two days, Dvorak had to fight off the challenges of the Olympic gold medallist, Estonia’s Erki Nool, and Britain’s Dean Macey.
AFP |
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India beat England 2-1 in hockey Kuala Lumpur, August 8 Daljeet Dhillon (12th) and Deepak Thakur (63rd) scored for India while Danny Hall (50th) was the lone scorer for England. The victory gave India three points and placed them fifth in the seven-team field with a total of four points. Germany lead the table with 12 points from four matches while Australia, Pakistan and South Korea are joint second with seven points apiece. The top two teams will play in the final on
Sunday. It seemed the Indians would have to settle for a draw when Malaysian umpire Mohd Faithal Hj Hassan awarded a penalty stroke to England in the 50th minute for a reverse tackle on an English forward inside the Indian circle. But the Indians fought back after the England equaliser and scored the match-winner in the 63rd minute off a penalty corner. Both the teams were tentative at the start of the match and for almost the first 10 minutes played a defensive game. In the fifth minute, India had a chance off their first penalty corner. Dilip Tirkey’s direct hit was taken on the pads by the English goalkeeper Jimi Lewis. India took the lead in the 12th minute when Sukhbir Singh dribbled past the midfield and passed the ball to Deepak Thakur who passed it to Baljit Singh Chandi. The Indian midfielder then cut past an English defender and shot towards the goal where Daljit Dhillon, running into the circle, deflected the shot past Jimi Lewis in the goal. Dilip Tirkey, Bikramjit Singh and Jugraj Singh gave brilliant display in the defence and restricted the English forwards from making any dangerous moves. India, who led 1-0 at the break, brought in Sabu Varkey in the second half but he again failed to put up his best performance. In keeping three forwards upfront, India yielded space to England which they utilised in the 50th minute charging inside the circle where a forward was reverse tackled by an Indian defender. To the shock of the Indians, the umpire blew for a stroke. Even the English, hoping for a free hit or a penalty corner, looked a little surprised. The entire Indian team protested but the umpire stood firm. Danny Hall got the equaliser with a perfect stroke to the right corner of Devesh Chauhan. It seemed that the game would be a repeat of what happened against Pakistan and Australia where the Indians conceded last minute match-winners to their rivals after putting up a spirited performance throughout. England kept up the attack after the equaliser twice closing in on the Indian goal with Chauhan having to rush out on one
occasion. With just seven minutes left, India earned their second penalty corner and Tirkey’s direct hit rebounded off the pads of the English goalkeeper. Thakur intercepted the rebound and tapped it inside but the ball hit the post. Thakur latched on to it again and this time made no mistake in pushing the ball past the goalkeeper. India play South Korea in their last league encounter on Friday. Yesterday, Germany maintained
their superiority with a 5-2 drubbing of South Korea to virtually assure themselves a berth in the final. Germany have won all their four games. With games against Pakistan and England left, Germany need only two more points to make it to the final on Sunday. South Korea took the lead in the 26th minute with Yeo Woon-Kon scoring a field goal. But Bjorn Michel, who had scored four goals, including a hat-trick, in the 5-1 rout of Malaysia, once again got going and scored in the 33rd and 38th minute to put Germany 2-1 ahead. Kyung-Seok reduced the margin in the 42nd minute but Florian Kunz (58th), Sascha Reinelt (64th) and Michel (70th) pumped in three more goals to put the match beyond the Koreans.
PTI |
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Brunei, August 8 Seeded fourth in this tournament and the favourite to make it to the semifinals from group C, Gopichand started slowly, taking his time in adjusting to the stiff breeze. Vaughan, ranked 17th in the world to Gopichand’s 7, came out with a plan and he executed that superbly as he forced the All-England champion to lift the shuttle while the Welshman lay in wait for the kill from the backcourt. With the Indian unable to get the correct length on his tosses, Vaughan had no difficulty in taking the opening game. In the second game though, Gopichand began much more strongly, even though he still had problems in getting the correct length and direction. But slowly, he began to settle
despite trailing 2-4 in the second game, the Indian kept his composure and a beautiful cross-court dribble at that point changed the direction of the match. From that point on, Vaughan, who had till then been reading the Indian’s usually deceptive netplay pretty well, began to step back a little, allowing Gopichand to take control at the net. Suddenly the match turned and a powerful down-the-line smash gave Gopichand the second. The world number seven played near flawless badminton as he reeled off 13 points in a row. The Welshman struggled desperately to find an answer to the Indian’s touch. En route, Gopichand took the third game 7-0 - no mean feat in a hall where the swirling breeze generated by the air-conditioning made the shuttle nearly impossible to control. Finally, despite appearing to relax a bit in the fourth game, Gopichand claimed it 7-3 to get him a well-deserved victory as he kept up his all-win head-to-head record against the Welshman intact.
PTI |
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Serena Williams, Hingis post easy victories Los Angeles, August 8 At the Manhattan Beach Country Club, the fourth-seeded Williams cruised to a 7-5 6-3 win over fellow American Jennifer Hopkins. Williams had not played since losing a heartbreaking three-set quarter-final to Jennifer Capriati at Wimbledon last month. A winner at Indian Wells in March, she improved to 13-1 lifetime at this event. Top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland, trying to end a 5 1/2-month title drought, defeated American Lilia Osterloh for the second straight week with a 6-2 7-5 win. Hingis improved to 3-0 lifetime against Osterloh, whom she beat in the second round of the Acura Classic in San Diego. The 20-year-old from Switzerland has not won a tournament since consecutive crowns in February at Doha and Dubai. She was runner-up here in 1998 and has appeared in the semi-finals three other times. In the evening session, sixth-seeded Monica Seles of the USA breezed past countrywoman Marissa Irvin, 6-3 6-2. Seles has won seven of her last nine matches, reaching the semi-finals at Stanford and the final in San Diego. Seles has appeared in the championship match here five times, winning three titles. Tenth seed Sandrine Testud of France, a quarter-finalist last week, dispatched Anne Kremer of Luxembourg, 6-2 6-3 in another night match. Also, fifth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 6-3 7-6 (7/1) No. 14 Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan was upset by Australian Nicole Pratt 6-4 6-1 and number 15 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia beat Evie Dominikovic of Australia 6-1 6-3. Lucky loser Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia failed to take advantage of her second opportunity, losing to Rita Grande of Italy, 7-6 (7/4) 6-2. Prakusya took the place in the draw of Anna Kournikova, who withdrew with a sore foot. Kournikova also pulled out of next week’s event in Canada, putting her appearance at the US Open in jeopardy.
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Sachin may miss series Mumbai, August 8 “The hairline fracture to his right toe is healing very slowly and with the second bone scan scheduled on August 10 it is unlikely that he will take part in the Test series starting on August 14”, the sources said. “However, we will get a clear picture only after the bone scan is done and if he is ruled out of the series then he might attend the BCCI’s working committee meeting at Baroda on August 11,” they added.
PTI |
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Ajeetesh back
with trophies Chandigarh, August 8 Ajeeetesh is just back from another triumphant trip to Canada where he participated in tournaments organised by the Canadian Junior Golf Association. He has a number of trophies . In the Junior Linkster Tour Canada, Ajeetesh clinched the Bear Cub Division titles at the Langley Golf Course and the Meridian Golf Course, returning two over cards of 56 each time. Finishing second in the two events were Canadian golfers, Darren Wallace and Johnny, respectively, finishing two strokes behind. And as if this was not enough, Ajeetesh clinched two more titles in the 12-13 age group returning scores of 81-79 (160) and 80-75 (156) at the Arbutus Ridge and
Ledgeview, respectively. Brady Johnson and Raffael Lee finished second by margins of three and five strokes, respectively. In the remaining two contests, Ajeetesh finished second with scores of 74-81(155) and 82-80 (162). A beeming Ajeetesh talked about his daily practice. He did two hours of practice everyday barring Wednesdays “when he prepares for his weekly school tests”. His father, who was sitting next to him, is his mentor and guide. Two months back Ajeetesh did the country proud when he finished ninth in the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Tournament held at
Kuching, Malaysia. He finished with a three-round card of 86-78-81 (245). So impressed were the officials of the Canadian Junior Golf Association with this young Indian lad that they have recommended him for Canadian citizenship. The letter addressed to the Canadian High Commissioner, says “Ajeetesh honours the spirit of the game by his impeccable conduct and friendly manners and has been an instant friend with the many fellow competitors he has met in his time here. Ajeetesh has a very good command of the English language and knows the rules of golf very well for a young man of 12” The letter adds : “His potential is unlimited, given a favourable arena to show his capability. And we would certainly like to have Ajeetesh play in Canada as a Canadian citizen and develop his skills to as high a level as possible. Our Canadian junior golf programmes will allow this, and particularly in British Columbia, where golfers may compete for 12 months of the year...” |
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Michael Vandort props up Lanka Board XI Colombo, August 8 Vandort hit 19 fours in his 159-ball knock, which gave the team a respectable total after they had been reduced to 45 for three within the first 10 overs. Fast bowler Javagal Srinath grabbed two of his three wickets in his first spell, while Venkatesh Prasad had Charama Silva caught by wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe for 11 before Vandort shared in a 58 run third-wicket stand with Hashan Tillakeratne. He also added 61 for the sixth wicket with captain Thilan Samaraweera, who chipped in with a fighting 76 that included nine fours and a six. Vandort raised his hundred by sweeping left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi to the fine leg fence for four. He was finally caught at gully by Sadagopan Ramesh off medium-pacer Harvinder Singh. Sanghvi staked his claim for a place in the test side with three wickets for 143 from his 32.5 overs. Earlier, the Board XI skipper Thilan Samaraweera won the toss and elected to bat. India rested Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh and left out Sairaj Bahatule. Captain Saurav Ganguly, who was also due to be rested, later decided to play. Sri Lanka Board XI (first innings): Vandort c Ramesh b Harvinder 116, Gunawardene c Dighe b Srinath 0, Sangakkara c Dighe b Srinath 4, Silva c Dighe b Prasad 11, Tillakeratne c Dighe b Sanghvi 26, Dilshan c Kaif b Srinath 6, Samaraweera c Srinath b Sanghvi 76, Perera b Prasad 27, Fernando c Kaif b Ganguly 24, Weerakoon c Prasad b Sanghvi 14, Perera not out 0. Extras: 22. Total: (86.5 overs) 326. Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-26 3-45 4-103 5-134 6-195 7-254 8-297 9-314. Bowling: Srinath 16-1-68-3, Prasad 16.2-5-41-2, Harvinder Singh 12-3-43-1, Sanghvi 32.5-5-143-3, Ganguly 6.4-2-15-1, Badani 3-1-5-0. India (first innings): Das not out 0, Ramesh not out 0, Extras: 0. Total: (for no
wicket, 0.1 overs) 0. Bowling: R. Perera 0.1-0-0-0. Reuters  |
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Pappan leads in
Hindu Golf New Delhi, August 8 Last year’s top-ranked golfer, Mukesh Kumar, was tied second, two strokes behind the leader at 68, along with Kolkata’s Bunty Randhawa. Randhawa’s city-mate Yusuf Ali was accompanied by Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh as the twosome tied at fourth position at three-under 69. Patna’s Mohd Islam was placed sixth at 70. Defending champion Vijay Kumar of Lucknow, veterans Rohtas Singh of Delhi, Shiv Prakash of Kanpur, ‘Rookie of the Year’ Rahul Ganapathy and Sheeraz Kalra of Lucknow were among the 11 golfers who tied 14th at level par 72. Rahil Gangjee, the top amateur of the country, who was making his debut in the pro circuit, did not do badly either, carding 74. |
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Baseball
team Chandigarh, August 8 According to Mr PC Bhardwaj, secretary general of the ABFI, the team is :Pitcher: Prem Ale, Balwant Singh (MP), Anil Kumar (Orissa), Surya Nath (Delhi). Catcher: Tilak Dev (MP), Sanjeev Kumar (Chandigarh), Ravi Gullia (Haryana). Ist base: Ram Khiladi (Del), Sanath Reddy (Ktk). 2nd base; Deepak Kumar (Ktk). 3rd base; Dilip Kumar. Short stop: Pranab Kishore. Left field: Sidharth (Ori), Abjet (Goa). Centre field: Jamal Nasir (WB), Susanth (Goa). Right field: Harmol Singh (Chd) and Varun Bansal (Del). Officials: Nagraj (Ktk), Arvind Kumar (Har) and Dalip Nayar (Goa). |
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WFI to
host Asian cadet meet Chandigarh, August 8 A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held under his chairmanship at New Delhi. Mr Alok Joshi, Central Sports Officer, HAP, Madhuban, Mr Apoorva Kumar Singh and Mr Davinder Singh, president, District Olympic associations, Gurgaon and Karnal, respectively, and Mr Sanjay Beniwal have been nominated as chairman, security, transport and accreditation, accommodation, finance and traffic committees, respectively. He said that tentatively the venue for wrestling championship would be Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi. He exhorted various committees to start working for the success of wrestling championship. Mr Malik disclosed that a long-term training policy had been formulated to give sufficient practice to Indian wrestlers for improving their performance at the international level. |
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KV
tournaments Shimla, August 8 The
schools participating in the tournaments are from Karnal. Patiala, Bathinda, Naleti, Nadaun, Suranasi,
Jalandhar, Jatogh and Shimla.
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