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Wednesday,
August 15, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Inclusion thrills
Tendulkar Federation Cup kicks off
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Ivanisevic, Roddick in 2nd
round Top shuttlers for
Samuel tourney Jones was the heroine; Yegorova the
villain Indian wrestlers
win 2 gold Cops invigorate PBA, strangle
PHA Haryana approves
new sports policy U-19 cricket tourney from Aug 26 2 Ranji matches at Rohtak Boxers return with rich haul
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India squander solid start Galle, August 14 A fine 79-run opening stand had given the tourists a good platform to consolidate but the Indians lost too many wickets towards the end of the day to squander the initiative. Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya did not have any hesitation in putting in India to bat on a lush green wicket that promised help to the seamers. It seemed the ideal situation for the Sri Lankans, who went into the match with four medium-pacers hoping to capitalise on the conditions. But Shiv Sunder Das and Sadgopan Ramesh batted with tremendous grit and determination and kept the Sri Lankan bowlers at bay till the middle of the second session. However, once Ramesh was out for 42 in the 41st over to Muralitharan, Indians lost wickets at regular intervals and did not have any partnership going. India lost four wickets in the final session of play after being in a comfortable position at 95 for one at tea. Muralitharan gave his side vital wickets of Ramesh and Rahul Dravid, out for 12, while Dilhara Fernando dismissed Kaif and Hemang Badani in successive overs at the fag end of the day to bring Sri Lanka back into the game. Captain Saurav Ganguly (10) and Sameer Dighe (2) were battling it out in the middle when the stumps were drawn for the day. Runs came in a trickle for the Indians as Sri Lanka set a very attacking field with three slips and two gullies. Chaminda Vaas bowled with four slips and at one time Sri Lanka had nine men in catching positions. All this did not bear them any fruit as the Indians denied the Lankans any breakthrough in the first session. Ramesh did survive a scare though when he edged an outgoing delivery from Ruchira Perera to wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, preferred over Romesh Kaluwitharana. However, there was only a half-hearted appeal from the fielders and umpire Asoka De Silva gave the benefit of doubt to the batsman. Ramesh, who made 42 before being out, had scored only three runs at that time with the total on six. India made 16 runs from the 20 overs bowled in the morning session after play was held up for about 40 minutes due to rain. So slow was the scoring that just one run had come off the first five overs. The first four came as late as in the 27th over when Ramesh flicked Vaas off his pads to run the ball down to square leg boundary. The Indians were more at ease in the second session with the scoring rate having improved and the running between the wickets also better than in the first session. Muralitharan started getting spin right from his first over and that was a slight indication that Jayasuriya’s calculations in putting the opposition in to bat might have slightly gone wrong. As the wicket wears down on the fourth and fifth days, it would be more difficult for the batsmen to tackle the spinners. Ramesh, who took 177 balls for his 42, was finally out when he tried to check his shot to a flighted delivery from Muralitharan, bowling round the wicket, but only managed to give a simple catch to Jayasuriya at point. He hit two fours. Scoreboard India (1st innings): Das c Jayasuriya b Vaas 40 Ramesh c Jayasuriya b Muralitharan 42 Kaif b Fernando 37 Dravid c Arnold b Muralitharan 12 Ganguly batting 10 Badani c Sangakkara b Fernando 6 Dighe batting 2 Extras (lb-2, nb-12): 14 Total (5 wkts, 85 overs): 163 Fall of wickets: 1-79, 2-105, 3-124, 4-155, 5-161. Bowling: Vaas 17-8-29-1, Fernando 20-7-32-2, R. Perera 12-4-25-0, Muralitharan 24-8-41-2, S. Perera 12-0-34-0.
PTI
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Inclusion thrills Tendulkar New Delhi, August 14 “It is a great honour. Greatest thing to happen. It is important when Sir Don speaks anything and especially when he selects me in his team, there cannot be a better thing than that,” a beaming Tendulkar said in his first reaction after receiving the news of his inclusion in the team envisioned by Bradman. In an interview to Star News, the batting maestro said, “I am very thrilled about it and very excited. There are some great names missing and to see my name in it, I am more than thrilled.” “After Sir Don bats and before Gary Sobers. What else can you ask for. All I can say is that it’s a great honour.” Tendulkar is the only cricketer still playing and the only one from the Indian sub-continent who has been able to find a place in Bradman’s World XI - the all-time ideal team to beat the rest, according to a book, ‘Bradman’s Best’, chronicled by Roland Perry. On his missing out on the current tour of Sri Lanka due to a foot injury, Tendulkar said “it has been very difficult because in last 12 years, I have not missed a single Test match and now to stay away like this. I never wanted this till the end of my career. It has been difficult.” “Probably I am physically here but I am very much there with the team and I have watched most of the games and my involvement was probably as much as others,” he said. On a query whether there is still scope for improvement after being preferred over so many greats, Tendulkar said “There is always room for improvement. It is not that you are going to develop 15 shots overnight but may be you have other avenues which could be used to reach your destination. I can only improve if I work hard.” “I am setting goals but it should not reach to the extent where you forget about your batting and just look it as what you want to do. If I go out there and play, I am sure I will reach there,” he said.
PTI |
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Federation Cup kicks off today Chennai, August 14 The line-up for the competition, last held in 1996 at Kannur as the Federation Cup and in Kolkata as the Kalyani Black Label Cup in 1998, includes Kingfisher East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting, Salgaocar Sports Club (Goa), Tollygunge Agragami, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Bangalore), Vasco (Goa), JCT (Phagwara), BSF, Dempo (Goa), FC Kochi, Zee Churchill (Goa), State Bank of Travancore, Punjab Police, Air India, Mahindra United (Mumbai), Indian Bank, ICF-Chennai and ITI (Bangalore). The Tata Football Academy, which was originally in the line-up, pulled out of the competition. The AIFF accommodated local senior division league team ICF in their place. The winner will carry home a purse of Rs 10 lakh, the runner-up Rs 6 lakh, the quarter-finals winner Rs 50,000, the pre-quarter final winner Rs 20,000 and the first round winner Rs 10,000. The competition will see a number of prominent Indian football players barring Baichung Bhutia, who is playing in English league. However, the participation of foreign Indian football players has not yet been confirmed, The AIFF is yet to get clearance from the players’ respective national associations, AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco, told newsmen here today. “We are likely to get the clearance by tomorrow”, he added. A four-member committee, headed by the legendary P.K. Banerjee which includes Sukhwinder Singh, Nayeemuddin and Gabriel Joseph, will select a list of probables for the Indian team which will participate in the coming SAF Games at Islamabad in Pakistan and later in the Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi, Mr Colaco said. The cup, which had a chequered profile, was inaugurated in 1977 and was held till 1996, with the AIFF switching its
format. UNI |
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Ivanisevic, Roddick in 2nd round Indianapolis (Indiana), August 14 Serving for the match at 6-4, 5-4, the 10th-seeded Ivanisevic raced to 40-15 but then struggled through the 12-point final game.
Not only did the Croat watch those two match points go by, but he then had to save one break point with a breathtaking backhand drop shot. Five points later on his fourth match point, Ivanisevic ended the 70-minute match with a service winner. “In the end, I always complicate life,” said Ivanisevic of the final game. “I just can’t do anything normal. I had those two match points. When I get to the U.S. Open I can’t do this type of thing to myself.’’ Ivanisevic, who had 15 aces and broke serve on three occasions, only had his own serve broken once, in the fourth game of the first set. He admits that having won the Wimbledon trophy, in his fourth final, has made his life more enjoyable. “That (winning Wimbledon) was all I wanted. Every time I step on the court, I want to win, but I take losses easier. “Five months ago I was afraid to go for my shots because I wanted to win so badly. I just was pushing the ball back. “I’m not as tight now and what ever happens, happens so I’m relaxed and just hit it back.” WASHINGTON: Andy Roddick of the USA outlasted Australian Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (4) to advance to the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. “Wayne’s the type of guy where he’s going to give anyone in the world a tough match on any surface, any day,” Roddick said on Monday. The tournament’s ninth seed traded 193-209 kph serves with Arthurs for the duration of the match, and in the tie-breaker it was Roddick’s serve that made the difference. Three of his six first serves in the tie-breaker were aces, including one at 208 kph that set up match point at 6-4. Roddick scored the only break of the opening set and Arthurs responded with a break to close out the second set at 6-5. Roddick had chances to take control of the match earlier, but failed to convert on triple-break-point at 2-1 in the second set and again at 2-2 in the third. “It’s frustrating, but both times he came up with two aces and hit two second serves about 177 kph into my body. I think it would have been worse if I had had a good look at a passing shot or if I felt I really had a chance at those points,” Roddick said. In an afternoon match, American Michael Chang fought off two set points in the first set and then broke serve three times in th second to advance to the second round with a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Byron Black of Zimbabwe. TORONTO: Yugoslav Jelena Dokic and France’s Sandrine Testud posted three-set victories here to reach the second round of the $1.2 million WTA Tour hardcourt event. Dokic and Testud, the 10th and 11th seeds, both rallied from a set down on Monday, as did Germany’s 14th-seeded Anke Huber. Testud defeated Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Huber beat fellow German Barbara Rittner for the eighth time in nine career meetings 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Dokic beat Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-1. The top eight seeds, led by No 1 Jennifer Capriati of the USA, Belgian second seed Justine Henin and third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France, all have byes into the second round. Capriati won the Australian and French Opens and looked to be on course to capture the third leg of tennis’ Grand Slam. But Henin rallied from a set down to beat the American at Wimbledon en route to her first Grand Slam final. Henin is competing in her first tournament since she lost to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final.
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Top shuttlers for
Samuel tourney Chandigarh, August 14 She said the tournament was for the session 2000-2001. The meet will have exciting matches as all the top ranked players of the region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Rajasthan, Delhi and the hosts Chandigarh are taking part. A souvenir will also be brought out on the final day. She said their association has been given excellent encouragement by various sponsors that included corporate sector, schools, banks among others. The events to be held are under 13, under 16, under 19 (both boys and girls) and men and women. However, in the under 13 men and women section, only singles event will be played. The qualifying rounds begin tomorrow at 9 am. Each state has been asked to send, three entries per event in singles and one entry per in doubles. The main draw for singles will have 32 players and doubles 16 player. Mr Parminder Singh Dhindsa, MLA and a keen sport lover, will inaugurate the meet on August 16 at 11.30 am while Ms P Banerjee, wife of late Samuel Banerjee will be the guest of honour. The final day will have Mr Sampat Singh, Finance Minister, Haryana, as chief guest and Mr MS Malik, Director General Police, Haryana will be the guest of honour. |
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Jones was the heroine; Yegorova the villain Edmonton, August 14 No world records fell in the nine-day championships which concluded on Sunday, although Maurice Greene would surely have broken his own world 100 m mark but for a muscle pull in the final metres. Even that statistic has a positive side. John Godina won the men’s shot put title with a heave of 21.87 metres, a metre and half down on fellow-American Randy Barnes’s 1990 world record. Barnes has been banned for life after two positive drugs test. “Knowing what we know about the past in the sport, maybe we are performing very, very well,’’ said Godina. Only one world record has fallen over the past three championships and none was broken in last year’s Sydney Olympics. Optimists believe this shows the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) anti-drugs policies are beginning to bite. Pessimists point to Russian 5,000 metres gold medallist Olga Yegorova. Yegorova tested positive for the stamina-boosting drug EPO (erythropoietin) before the championships began but was cleared to compete because the test did not conform to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) specifications. She passed an IOC-approved test in Edmonton before producing a startling burst of speed to win the 5,000 m final on Saturday. For her efforts she was booed by large sections of the crowd and slated by defending champion Gabriela Szabo, who faded to eighth in Saturday’s race. “I have no chances of competing against robots,’’ Szabo said. If Yegorova was the villain throughout the championships, Marion Jones proved a heroine who fought through adversity to emerge in triumph. Life has been difficult for the sunny American over the past 12 months. Her husband C.J. Hunter tested positive for nandrolone four times last year and she, herself, fell short of her ambitious plan to win five gold medals in Sydney. This year she parted company with Hunter and then lost Monday’s 100 metres final to Zhanna Pintusevich-Block in one of the biggest sporting upsets of the year. Suddenly vulnerable after her first 100 m defeat for four years, Jones refused to complain, graciously complimented the Ukrainian and came back to win the 200 m and anchor the US 4x100 m relay team to victory. “I’ve had the range of emotions,’’ she said. “The upset, the satisfaction, the celebrations.’’ Competition is the essence of the most elemental of sports, rather than world records, and in this respect the championships were an unquestioned success. The men’s and women’s marathon at each end of the championships were not resolved until the final kilometre. Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera won the men’s race by a second from Kenyan Simon Biwott and Lidia Simon won the major title that had so far eluded her on Sunday’s final day. Ethiopians and Kenyans shone as brightly as the late summer sun throughout the championships. Olympic champion Derartu Tulu led an Ethiopian medals sweep in the men’s 10,000 m, but for once the men’s race did not go to the peerless Haile Gebrselassie. Instead, the Kenyans used the team tactics they have employed with such success in the cross country over the past 10 years to propel Charles Kamathi and Richard Limo to victory in the 10,000 m and 5,000 m, respectively. German Lars Riedel claimed a fifth discus title and the stadium was graced on the final day by three great champions in Maria de Lourdes Mutola, who regained the women’s 800 m title, Jan Zelezny, who won his third men’s javelin title and the peerless Hicham El Guerrouj. The world record holder retained the 1,500 m title and then announced he would move up to the 5,000 m. American Stacy Dragila and Russian Svetlana Feofanova staged a four-hour pole vault duel which began in hot afternoon sunshine and finished at twilight.
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Indian wrestlers
win 2 gold Chandigarh, August 14 Mr M.S. Malik, president, Wrestling Federation of India, complimented the wrestlers for their spectacular victory and keeping the Indian flag flying high on top of the world. Mukesh (54 kg) had won a bronze medal in the Greco Roman style of wrestling a day earlier. Mr Malik hoped that the time is not far off when the game would regain its lost glory. He said that there was no dearth of talent in the country. |
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Cops invigorate PBA, strangle
PHA Patiala, August 14 Last week, the PBA successfully conducted its youth championships at Mandi Gobindgarh and when rain threatened to play spoilsport, the cops took no time in transporting man and material from Mandi Gobindgarh to Guru Nanak Indoor Stadium at Ludhiana. That the PBA, like the PHA, too is top heavy with senior IPS officers is reflected from the fact that an IPS officer, Mr Jasminder Singh, DIG, Border Range, is the senior vice-president. The list of vice-presidents makes for interesting reading with three out of five vice-presidents being police officers. They are Mr Arun Oaron and Ms V. Neerja, both of whom are IPS officers, and Mr Yurinder Singh, who is a senior PPS officer. Among the top office bearers of the PBA, only the secretary, Mr T.S. Dhaliwal, is a not a police officer and it is a well documented fact that it is the secretary who calls the shots in any association which may well explain the smooth running of the affairs of the PBA. The PHA, on the other hand, has not even drawn up its mandatory calendar of events. The constitution of the PHA has been amended in such a way that the DGP automatically becomes the president and all SSPs become presidents of their respective district hockey associations. Unlike the PBA, the secretary of the PHA is an IPS officer with Mr H.S. Dhillon, DIG , Ferozepore range being the present incumbent. |
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Haryana approves
new sports policy Chandigarh, August 14 The policy lays special emphasis on strengthening of school infrastructure, promotion of sports for all by upgrading infrastructure and improving access to sports facilities. The new policy has been framed to improve the standard of sports in different disciplines and make it a mass movement in the years to come. This policy would lay the foundation of planned development of sports besides coping with the increased sophisticated and diversified needs for sports in the state. Adequate funds will be allocated to the Sports Department which would be supplimented by financial support by boards and corporation. Efforts will also be made to motivate the industry to sponsor specific games and competitions. A special sports development fund would also be created for this purpose. Sports would be introduced in the daily time-table as a compulsory activity in both government and private schools, colleges and universities. Sport would be a subject for the middle-level schools. Services of coaches and all basic infrastructure for sports and games would be provided for training the youth. Steps would also be taken for encouraging evening sports activities for students and teachers besides encouraging the rural youth in sports participation. Teams would also be raised by various boards and corporations and non-government organisations (NGOs). The basic infrastructural facilities available in the districts would be improved by providing latest playing surfaces. Greater emphasis would be given to more popular games. Top priority would be given on laying astro-turfs for hockey, tartan tracks for athletics and other international standard services for games like judo and wrestling. |
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U-19 cricket tourney from Aug 26 Chandigarh, August 14 The PCA is taking due care to curb the menace of playing over-age players in the tournament and has drawn up a comprehensive plan to tackle it. All the district secretaries have been requested to get the x-ray of the players participating in the tournament of the particular bones and get these verified from the authorised radiologist on the prescribed proforma about the age of the player. |
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2 Ranji matches at Rohtak Rohtak, August 14 Haryana will start their Ranji campaign on November 1, taking on J&K at Rohtak. Haryana versus Services match will be held at Faridabad’s Nahar Singh Stadium from November 18 to 21. The match between Punjab and Haryana has been allotted to the District Cricket Association, Gurgaon, and it will be held from November 24 to 27. Rohtak will again host the
Haryana, HP match from November 30 to December 3. |
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Boxers return with rich haul New Delhi, August 14 Narinder Rana struck gold in the light welter, while Mohd Ali Qamar (light fly) and Suresh (fly) claimed a silver each. Ramanand (light weight) and Jitender (middle weight) completed the medal haul for India by winning a bronze each. This feat of the seniors came on the heels of a fine performance by the junior boxers in Germany recently. The team was accompanied by national coach G.S. Sandhu. The boxers were congratulated by Indian Amateur Boxing Federation president Abhey Singh Chautala while working president R.S. Dalal and honorary secretary Rajesh Bhandari accompanied by a large number of their associates welcomed the boxers at the Indira Gandhi airport here today. |
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