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Sunday,
August 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Games put off to November Marion Jones, Felix Sanchez strike gold; Saidi-Sief beaten
Athlete’s tough ‘run’ to
Brisbane Rafter rallies to beat
Rusedski |
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Ranji Trophy format to change next
year IWF secretary withdraws case Table tennis meet Cricket tourney
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Games put off to November Ludhiana, August 11 The organising committee of the National Games has recommended to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the approval of holding the Games according to the fresh schedule. The schedule was drawn up at a high-level meeting of the committee here today, which was attended among others by the working chairman of the committee and the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the secretary-general Mr I.S. Bindra, the vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association Dr R.L. Anand, Minister of State for Sports, Punjab, Mr Nusrat Ali Khan, and the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Mr S.K. Sandhu. The Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who is the chairman of the committee and the President of the IOA Mr Suresh Kalmadi, were scheduled to attend the meeting, but remained absent. Making the announcement at a press conference after the meeting, Mr Bindra said although all the infrastructure for the Games was ready, it was due to the delay in the import of some equipment, which led to the postponement of the Games. The other two reasons, he attributed to the postponement, were the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games, being held in Islamabad in the month of October and the Afro-Asian Games stated be held in New Delhi in the first week of November. Mr Bindra claimed that the equipment could not be imported as the organising committee had not so far got the import duty exemption on the equipment from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He hoped the exemption letter would arrive within a week and orders would be placed immediately. According to him, it will take at least two months for the equipment to reach here, after the formal orders are placed. To a question about the lack of seriousness on part of the Punjab Government, Mr Bindra who is also Principal Secretary, Sports, claimed: “We are fully prepared even now, but for the equipment we needed to import”. And when it was pointed out as why did it take so long to place orders, he said, “Finance Ministry wanted us to exhaust all options first before going for the imports”. He disclosed that the state had applied for duty exemption about seven months back. However, the Games were first scheduled for November 2000 implying that the permission for exemption had been applied later than that. The Games were first scheduled to be held in November 2000. These were then postponed to March 2001. Again these were put off for September 2001 and now they are stated to be held in November this year. Now the organisers hope that the Games would be held in November and “will not be postponed again”. Mr Bindra clarified that there was no paucity of funds for organising the Games, which will cost about Rs 46 crore. Of this amount, the state had provided Rs 15 crore. A sum of Rs 18 crore had been sanctioned by the Planning Commission of India. The share of the Government of India was Rs 6 crore. He said about Rs 4 crore would be raised by way of sponsorship and sale of tickets. Dr Anand, who represented the IOA assured that full cooperation would be given from the
IOA. |
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Marion Jones, Felix Sanchez strike gold; Saidi-Sief beaten Edmonton, August 11 The heartbreak of four days ago when she failed to win the 100m was put aside last night as she was crowned 200m champion — the one world title that had eluded her. “It’s incredible,” said Jones. “This one really means a lot. I had something to prove after the 100. I wasn’t interested in the time. I just wanted to cross the line first. “I was a little emotional before the start because the 100 escaped me and I needed to win the 200. It was important to win today to prove to myself that I am still a champion. My competitors made me run but I knew I could up with the goods today,” she added. Jones finished ahead of Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas and fellow American Kelli White. As Jones powered round the curve Ferguson was on her left shoulder but the American Olympic champion stayed in front to win in 22.39 seconds. A tearful Felix Sanchez delivered the Dominican
Republic's first ever major gold medal at a world championships as he was crowned the men’s 400 metres hurdles champion. The 23-year-old lived up to his tattoo which bears the ‘S’ for superman by running 47.49 seconds, the 10th fastest time ever, to just see off reigning champion Fabrizio Mori of Italy. Japan’s Dai Tamesue edged out Olympic silver medallist Jadi Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia for third to give his country their first ever bronze in a male track event. Sanchez, whose first foray into athletics ended ignominiously when he was beaten over 400m flat by his schoolgirl team-mates, claimed he and not Olympic champion Angelo Taylor — who failed to qualify for the final- was the man to beat in the future. “This is mine and the Dominican Republic’s first title of many to come,” said Sanchez, who is American-born of Dominican parents. “I whopped Angelo in London and now I have run faster than he ever has so its pretty clear whose the boss now,” he added. Sanchez, who gave up baseball aged 15 because of a broken wrist, whacked the second hurdle but despite approaching the final obstacle in fourth he never had any worries about claiming the title. “I had all of them in my sights and I knew I had enough left in the tank to pass them,” he said. “I was not going to let the medal I came here to win slip from my fingers without a fight,” he added. Richard Limo won Kenya’s third distance running gold medal of the world championships in the 5,000 metres final, as a phenomenal burst of speed over the final lap left the favourite, Algeria’s Ali Saidi-Sief, prostrate on the ground afterwards in exhausted despair at having won another silver medal. “I wanted to show the world that the Kenyans are back, Limo said. Saidi-Sief, Olympic runner-up at 5,000m last year, managed this time to get ahead of Ethiopia’s Million Wolde, who pipped him to the title at the Sydney games. Wolde finished third. But the Saidi-Sief’s late gamble to switch from the 1,500m - where he is unbeaten this season - backfired when, despite driving for the finish from two laps out, 20-year-old Limo had more fuel left in the tank off the final bend, and was able to find another gear. After a 55.36 seconds last lap, Limo clocked 13 minutes 00.77 seconds as Saidi-Sief trailed in disconsolately in 13:02.16. Wolde’s 13:03.47 earned him the bronze. Afterwards, Limo admitted that Kenya’s team tactics had been used to good effect, just as they had been to help Charles Kamathi to the 10,000m title earlier in the week. This time, team-mate Sammy Kipketer went to the front to set a decent pace in the early stages. “Coming here to Canada, we decided that it was the time to get the Kenyans back to winning races,” said Limo. “So we sat down and planned how the race would be won. “We wanted the race to be fast, but Sammy was not the rabbit. The plan was to keep the speed up and check later how we were feeling,” Limo said. He said he had been feeling sick early in the race, but as Saidi-Sief picked up the pace in the final kilometre, “I knew the race was going to come down to a sprint”, and he moved on to the Algerian’s shoulder before delivering his withering finishing burst in the final 200 metres. Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia won the women’s triple jump title with a jump of 15.25 metres. Francoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon took the silver with 14.60m and Tereza Marinova of Bulgaria the bronze with 14.58m.
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Athlete’s tough ‘run’ to
Brisbane Chandigarh, August 11 However the nightmare began when the Federation asked her to shell out Rs 46,000. This amount-included the entry fee (Rs 3000), visa charges including airport tax (Rs 3000), blazer and sport kit (Rs 4000) and Rs 36000 as air fare. Interestingly, the complete sports kit minus the short and bottom of track suits was given to her on July 6 when her event was over. Ms Banta singh said the departure to Brisbane was also hanky panky. Instead of asking us to board the Delhi-Brisbane flight costing 30 per cent less, the federation officials planned the flight from Chennai to Brisbane. When she checked up at one of the local airline office, she was told that by Singapore airlines, the total fare would be Rs 30.130 and by Malaysian airlines Rs 30,080. Moreover she said there were 50 persons in a group, so every airline normally offers one ticket free for a 10-member group. She explained how the local coordinator of the national federation Mr Charanpreet Verma, deliberately delayed the things. She recalled how on June 30, she and two others from Punjab were told that since only four athletes had been granted visas by the Australian consulate, they would have to reach Mumbai to plead the case of the remaining athletes to the Embassy. After reaching Delhi at 5 am on July 1, they took the train for Mumbai having no reservation. She said further said the Secretary General of the VAAFI, Mr David Premnath, had asked us to be in Mumbai by July 2. But he himself arrived on July 3 from Bangalore. As a result visas were delayed for many athletes who finally could not go, through they had deposited the money with the federation. She said since they were having visas and ticket, they boarded the flight and finally reached Brisbane on July 5 a day after the official meet began. Ms Banta Singh said she was not allowed to take part in her original event., 100 metres, in which she had an Asian record. she was asked to compete in the 200 metres. though the hosts were apologetic but said they could not do any thing at that moment. She said even CP singh of Chandigarh did not make efforts and said that as he had come as a contestant, he could not lodge a protest. She said the majority of the contestants were interested in sight-seeing and paid less attention on their competition. Ms Banta Singh said all the above hurdles posed by the VAAFI was not good for athletics. At present the federation is headed by Mr Umrao Singh. |
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Rafter rallies to beat Rusedski Mason, Ohio, August 11 In a marathon match yesterday that lasted two hours 47 minutes, eighth seed Rafter failed to convert 14 break points but cashed in the 15th and went on to win. Rafter took advantage of the fourth break point in the ninth game of the third set by smacking a sizzling forehand return of a tired serve by Rusedski. The Wimbledon finalist then served out the match at love with an ace on the final point. Rafter did not so much squander his opportunities on the first 14 break points as Rusedski consistently saved himself with spectacular serving. Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten overhauled Andre Agassi atop the season points race thanks to a 6-4 3-6 6-4 quarter-final win over Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The 24-year-old top seed will snatch back the lead from the American — a two-time Cincinnati winner knocked out in the first round — on Monday as the US Open draws near. Kuerten had to work for his victory over Kafelnikov, his seventh out of 10 in their head-to-head series. “Guga” has now won three matches against the Russian since losing in the quarter-finals of the Sydney Olympics, where Kafelnikov went on to take the gold medal. Rafter will meet hard-charging 20-year-old Lleyton Hewitt in the semi-final. Fifth seed Hewitt, who has been taken the three-set distance in three of his four matches here, managed to outlast feisty Croatian qualifier Ivan
Ljubicic, winning 7-6 (7/3) 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 in two hours 52 minutes.
Los Angeles: Monica Seles survived six match points, triumphing in a third-set tiebreaker to end Serena Williams’ two-year reign at the WTA Tour’s Los Angeles hardcourt tournament. Seles, the sixth seed, defeated fourth-seeded Williams 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2) yesterday in front of a boisterous crowd of more than 5,000. Williams, titlist here the past two years, broke Seles in the eighth game of the final set to serve for the match, rolling to a 40-0 lead. But two backhand errors and a double fault let Seles back to Deuce, and the nine-time Grand Slam champion grabbed the break to get back on serve. Seles was in trouble again in the 12th, down 0-40 as she served to save the match. She dug herself out of the hole with a service winner, a backhand winner down the line and one more service winner en route to forcing the tiebreaker. One match point was all she needed as Williams netted a forehand. “I definitely should have closed it out, I guess I got a little tight,” said Williams, whose 12-match winning streak at this event was snapped. “I just made the wrong shots. I definitely should be in the semi-final right now. But I didn’t do the right things.” World number one Martina Hingis roared past Amy Frazier of the USA 6-2,6-3 to reach the semi-finals. But third-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium fared less well losing to French veteran Nathalie Tauziat 6-4, 6-2. “I didn’t think I played my best today, but it was good enough against Amy,” said Hingis after the 69-minute sweep yesterday. “She’s one of these players that you have to be ready because she’s dangerous on any occasion.” AFP, Reuters  |
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Ranji Trophy format to change next year Baroda, August 11 BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele told reporters that the recommendations of the technical committee will be discussed at the working committee meeting to be held on August 25 at Mumbai and then it would go to the general body which will take the final decision. “The technical committee also recommended changes in the point system for Ranji Trophy matches which will become effective from the current season after its approval by the various bodies of the BCCI,” Lele added. Lele said from next year onwards the teams would be divided into two groups. Two teams from each of the five zones will form group ‘A’. The 10 teams in group ‘A’ will play each other on a league basis. At present, three teams from each zone qualify for the knock-out stage. There will be no knock-out stage from next year, Lele said. Group ‘B’ will comprise 17 teams which fail to make it to the super league from their respective zones, Lele said. These 17 teams will be further divided into two groups of nine and eight each and they will play on round robin league basis. The top three teams from group ‘B’ every year will replace the bottom three in group ‘A’. Justifying changes in the format, committee Chairman Sunil Gavaskar, who presided over the meeting, told reporters that these changes were in the interest of the game and would make it more competitive. He said there are 27 teams in the country which participate in the domestic tournaments. “In the UK, the domestic matches are played on this format with 20 teams participating,” Gavaskar added. The technical committee had discussed this matter at its last meeting and after getting feedback from the top players and associations, decided to go for these changes. The teams will have one more year to qualify for two top positions in their respective zones. Lele said the committee recommended changes in the points system which would become effective from this year’s Ranji Trophy season after being ratified by the working committee and general body meeting. “Under the changed system, the team winning on first innings lead basis will get one point while an outright win will fetch two points. There will be no point if the match is abandoned or play is not possible for whatever reasons,” he said. “At present, the team winning on the basis of first innings lead gets five points while an outright victory brings eight points. The team losing the match on the basis of conceding a first innings lead gets three points,” Lele said. “Due to this, the team registering outright victory is in driver’s seat making it difficult for other teams to reach its point tally. Several teams take advantage of it and qualify for knock-out stage easily. The new point system will prevent it,” Lele added. Lele said changes in Duleep Trophy format have also been suggested which would be taken up for discussion at a later stage. Under the new format, Duleep Trophy will be played on knock-out stages and not on league basis as at present. Duleep Trophy matches will be played in centres hosting international events.
PTI |
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IWF secretary withdraws case Patiala July 11 The infighting among the IWF has already led to cancellation of several tours of Indian contingents by the Sports Ministry on the plea that the IWF should first set its house in order before sanction for tours could be granted. So much so, with the dates of both the SAF Games, slated to be held in Islamabad in September and the Afro-Asian Games drawing nearer, the IWF has yet to announce the probables for preparatory camps. It was in this sport that India won a solitary bronze in the Sydney Olympics. In the last SAF Games, India topped the medals table securing as many as eitht gold medals. At one time, even the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had denied permission to hold camps at the NIS here and at other centres, asking the IWF to bring about some order in its affairs before sanction could be accorded for holding of camps. Till yet, the plea taken by IOA president Suresh Kalmadi for not holding fresh elections was that Mr Khanra had filed a court case and till the case was decided or was withdrawn, elections to the body could not be held. Now that the case has been withdrawn, the onus is now on Mr Kalmadi to hold elections. Prior to the Sydney Olympics, the IOA had constituted a two-member ad-hoc committee, comprising Mr Balbir Singh and Mr R.R Singh to oversee the affairs of the sport. |
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Table tennis meet Chandigarh, August 11 The prominent players who will be taking part in the tournament include Vikram Aditya, Janak Raj, Pankaj
Sharma, Vikas Mahajan (all Punjab), Vikas Sharma (Delhi), Ajay Sharma (Jammu), in the men’s section. |
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Cricket tourney Chamba, August 11 According to district police chief, Mr Sanjay Kundu, any team can participate in this open tournament. Teams are required to deposit Rs 500 as entry fee. He announced that the winners would be awarded a trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and the runner-up a cash prize of Rs 5,000. The Man of the Match in the final would be given Rs 2000. |
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Verma leads RDFA Chandigarh, Aug 11 |
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