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Saturday,
February 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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IHF announces squad for World Cup
South Africa beat New Zealand by 67 runs Youhana,
Latif hit centuries |
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Martina Hingis books berth in semifinals Saurabh romps home with title Poll fallout obvious on sport activities BSF, Punjab cops in title clash Punjab cagers rout Uttaranchal WFI releases wrestling calendar Gopi doubtful for Thomas Cup Abhinav, Ronak hog limelight Punjab gymnastics Chaman Vatika athletics meet Rural
sports championship
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IHF announces squad for World Cup New Delhi, February 1 Mr Gill, fresh from his victory in the IHF elections held at Guwahati (Assam), securing for himself and his trusted lieutenants another four-year term — Mr Gill’s third successive term as the IHF chief — said the Indian team will leave for Ipoh (Malaysia) much ahead of the World Cup to get acclimatised to the humid and hot conditions in Kuala Lumpur. He said the final 18 for the World Cup would be named after the coaching-cum-competition outing in Ipoh. The squad is: Standbys: Kamaldeep Singh (goalkeeper), Dinesh Nayak (defender) and Viren Rasquina (mid-fielder). Officials: Cedric D’Souza (national coach), C.R. Kumar (assistant coach), Saju Joseph (trainer-cum-video technician), Dr Kannan Pughazhendi (doctor/physiotherapist), Dr Sidhu (psychiatrist), N K Batra (manager). India have been placed in Pool B along with Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Cuba, Poland, England, and Australia. India play their first match against Japan on February 24 and in other matches meet Korea on February 26, Malaysia on February 27, England on March 1, Cuba on March 2, Poland on March 4 and Australia on March 5. The Indian team will assemble in New Delhi on February 7, and leave for Ipoh on February 8. Chief coach Cedric D’Souza was happy about the composition of the team, which, he felt, was a “fine blend of youth and experience”. India were to leave for Singapore for an acclimatisation camp before proceeding to Kuala Lumpur, but changed the venue to Ipoh, which, according to Cedric, was much more suitable to the needs of the Indian squad. India will be playing friendly matches against Holland, Belgium and New Zealand as a warm-up exercise. “We want to practise on the heavier System 5 synthetic turf before the World Cup, as we have all along been practising on the System 90 turf. Moreover, the hockey ground is just a walking distance away from the team hotel”, Cedric explained. Cedric said he opted out of training at the actual World Cup venue as all the teams would be crowding Kuala Lumpur prior to the World Cup. “Moreover, the hockey stadium in Kuala Lumpur is about 45 minutes drive from the team hotel, and we did not want to waste so much time in commuting”, Cedric noted. Mr Gill was happy with the progress of the Indian team as the “boys had been put through an intensive training camp in Chennai and we are confident that they would bring back the World Cup to India”. Cedric refused to make any guesses about India’s prospects as he felt that every team had an equal chance. Mr Gill, however, said he would be happy if India could at least make it to the semi-final round. |
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South Africa beat New Zealand by 67 runs
Perth, February 1 The Proteas, after being sent in by New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, smacked 270 for five wickets — the highest total of the series — at the WACA ground before limiting the Kiwis to 203 for eight wickets as they crashed to their third defeat in a row. South Africa snatched a priceless bonus point, as well as the four standard points for winning, because of the big margin of their win and moved to the top of the ladder with 18 points — one ahead of New Zealand. In Sunday’s last qualifying match of the series, Australia, currently on 13 points, must win here and capture a bonus point to earn a place in the final ahead of New Zealand. If Australia win but fail to get a bonus point, they will finish level with New Zealand, who would qualify for the final because of their 3-1 head-to-head winning record against the hosts in this competition. Scorecard South Africa: Gibbs c Fleming b Nash 8 Kirsten c Vincent b Franklin 0 Kallis b Nash 11 McKenzie b Nash 3 Rhodes not out 107 Boucher c Astle b Harris 58 Pollock not out 69 Extras: (lb5, w4, nb5) 14 Total: (for 5 wkts, 50 overs) 270 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-14, 3-23, 4-35, 5-173. Bowling: Franklin 10-0-65-1, Nash 10-0-37-3, Adams 10-0-57-0, Styris 8-0-43-0, Vettori 4-0-21-0, McMillan 3-0-15-0, Harris 5-0-27-1. New Zealand: Vincent c Boucher b Donald 22 Astle c Kallis b Ntini 0 Adams c Boucher b Ntini 10 Fleming c Boucher b Kallis 27 McMillan c Kirsten b Pollock 46 Styris c Kemp b Pollock 12 Harris lbw Boje 0 Nash c Gibbs b Donald 12 Parore not out 36 Vettori not out 20 Extras: (lb-9 w-5 nb-4) 18 Total: (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 203 Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-22 3-61 4-72 5-129 6-130 7-130 8-156. Bowling: Pollock 10-1-55-2 (nb-4), Ntini 10-1-23-2, Kallis 10-1-44-1 (w-3), Donald 10-2-35-2, Kemp 2-0-18-0 (w-2), Boje 8-0-19-1. Reuters
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Youhana, Latif hit centuries
Sharjah, February 1 Earlier, Rashid Latif scored a magnificent 150 as Pakistan continued to flay the West Indian attack. The flamboyant wicket-keeper hit his maiden Test century as Pakistan lifted their lunch score of 378-5 to 438-7 by tea on the second day. The key wicket to fall in the afternoon session was of Yousuf Youhana, who played on to Cameron Cuffy after making 146, his ninth Test hundred and the third against the West Indies in four matches. Youhana and Latif put on 204 for the sixth wicket after coming together yesterday afternoon when Pakistan were struggling at 178-5. Scoreboard Pakistan (first innings) (overnight 230-5) Umar b Hooper 24 Latif lbw b Dillon 0 Younis c Gayle b Hooper 53 Inzamam c Jacobs b Dillon 10 Youhana b Cuffy 146 Razzaq c Jacobs b W.Hinds 34 Rashid Latif b Gayle 150 Mushtaq c & b Dillon 17 Waqar Younis not out 25 Shoaib Akhtar b Gayle 20 Danish Kaneria c & b Gayle 0 Extras (b-6 lb-7 w-1) 14 Total (all out) 493 Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-45 3-80 4-94 5-178 6-382 7-438 8-457 9-493 Bowling: Dillon 42-10-140-3, Collins 33-3-96-0, Cuffy 35-10-75-1, Hooper 32-7-85-2, R.Hinds 4-0-31-0, W. Hinds 8-1-26-1, Gayle 7.5-0-27-3 (w-1) West Indies (first innings): D. Ganga not out 11 C. Gayle not out 41 Extras (nb-2) 2 Total (for no wicket) 54 Bowling (to date): Waqar Younis 7-2-27-0, Shoaib Akhtar 5-0-21-0 (nb-1), Abdur Razzaq 3-0-4-0, Danish Kaneria 2-0-2-0 (nb-1), Saqlain Mushtaq 1-1-0-0. Reuters, AFP
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Martina Hingis books berth in semifinals
Tokyo, February 1 Meanwhile, third seed Monica Seles saved three set points in the first set and eight in the second as she defeated fellow American Alexandra Stevenson 7-6, 7-6 in the match of the tournament so far at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Hingis dropped two of her first three service games and only discovered her touch after she was rattled by two line calls that went against her when serving at 3-3 in the first set. The Swiss world number four responded with three of her seven aces and began to increase the tempo of the match from the baseline, closing out the first set with a wonderful serve-volley point. Hingis came to the net more in the second set and raced to a 5-1 lead before Tanasugarn held serve to take the match past the hour mark. It proved just a temporary delay, however, as Hingis forced her 26th-ranked opponent into a backhand error on her first match point to wrap up the quarter-final in 64 minutes. “At 3-3 I knew I needed to do something because I was all over the place mentally. That was the turn-around point,” said Hingis, who lost the Australian Open final to Jennifer Capriati last Saturday. “Maybe I thought I could walk through the match, but she was better than I expected. I really had to work for the points.” The 21-year-old, winner of the Pan Pacific Open in 1997, 1999 and 2000 and twice runner-up, will play fifth seed Silvia Farina Elia tomorrow after the Italian ousted fourth-seeded Sandrine Testud of France 6-4, 6-3. Seles needed all her experience to overcome the big-serving Stevenson, who powered in 17 aces but was let down by nine double faults in a hard-hitting baseline duel. Amazingly, there were no breaks of serve, with both players squandering 15 break points between them. But the 28-year-old Seles showed greater nerve on the big points and snatched the first-set tiebreak 11-9 at her third attempt after both players had traded set points. The world number 10 saved two more set points at 4-5 and another at 5-6 in the second set but a third set loomed when Stevenson executed a remarkable drop volley off a full-blooded Seles forehand to go up 5-3 in the tiebreak. Reuters
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Saurabh romps home with title Chandigarh, February 1 The girls singles title was claimed by Chiong Chen Yan who beat her compatriot Rui Du in straight sets in 71 minutes. However, in boys doubles final, the Indian pair of Jaco T Mathew and Somdev Verman played a fine game to down Amanjot Singh and Saurabh Singh in three thrilling sets, thus denying Saurabh a chance to win a double crown. Later, Mr Rajan Kashyap, chairman, Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, said they had a good cream of youngsters and the latest additions were Saurabh, Chhatwinder, Amanjot and Tushar Liberhan. In the boys singles final, Saurabh’s neat game and down the line slices proved detrimental for the less experienced Chhatwinder who only last week had lost to Saurabh in the ITF Delhi meet. With five aces in the set, Saurabh gained an initial lead of 5-0 and finally wrapped the first set at 6-1 in just 25 minutes. The second set saw some resistance from Chhatwinder on various ocassions, like the deep volleys and parallel shots, which displaced Saurabh at one juncture. After taking a 2-0 lead, Saurabh surged ahead 3-1 but Chhatwinder managed to reduce the margin at 4-5. An ace in the crucial game proved to be a lucky point for Saurabh who finished the game and the set at 6-4 in 35 minutes to garner 40 points. Chhatwinder could get 30 points. Now they will move to Kolkata for the third leg of the ITF meet to begin on February 4. Saurabh said he worked hard during the past six months on his physical workouts but still needed match exposure to collect more WTA points, to improve his ranking. He said his aim was to achieve 50 in the next few months. He plans to visit Kolkata, Bangladesh, Asian circuit, with tournaments at Malaysia and Indonesia. He was all praise for his coaching at CLTA which helped him in achieving the present distinction. The girls final was an all
Chinese affair with Chen-Rui going neck and neck in the first set. Interestingly, the points rose as 1-1, 2-2, 4-4 and 4-5. Ultimately, it was the turn of Chen to grab the set at 6-4 in 44 minutes. In the second set, Rui was completely dominated by Chong who raced ahead at 4-1. Finally, Chong in command of the game proved much better for Rui and the match finished with 6-2 win of Chong in 29 minutes. Results:
all finals: (boys) — Saurabh Singh (Ind) b Chhatwinder Singh (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; doubles: Jaco T. Mathew and Somdev Verman (Ind) b Amanjot Singh and Saurabh Singh (Ind) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Girls: Chong Chen Yan (Chi) b Rui Du (Chi) 6-4, 6-2. |
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Poll fallout obvious on sport activities Ludhiana, February 1 While a number of prestigious rural festivals, including the Rural Olympics of Kila Raipur have been rescheduled to be held later, a number of events have been advanced to facilitate
participation of visitors from abroad. A number of kabaddi enthusiasts, including players, officials and ardent followers of the game, from North America, Europe and even Down Under are here for the “rural sports season”, which normally starts from the second half of December and continues until end of March, well in time before the harvesting of wheat crop starts. Besides kabaddi, a basketball team of expatriate Indians is also here in Punjab to play in tournaments besides a series of exhibition matches. The visiting teams have several professional cagers in its ranks. They are playing in an invitation prize money tournament at Kotkapura besides taking measure of Punjab Seniors, Punjab Juniors and Punjab Police basketball teams. The visitors will play Punjab Police at Jalandhar on February 1 before travelling to Ludhiana on February 2 for a game against select Punjab team. Unlike previous years, no hockey team from Canada has come this time. But the organisers of the Lodhi Cup International Kabaddi Tournament , who were here, conducted the fifth edition of the tournament at Guru Nanak Stadium today. The stadium was nearly filled and the turnout was perhaps more than it won during the National Games. The Organising Secretary of the event, Mr Beant Singh Dhaliwal, also happens to be the president of the Canadian unit of the Youth Wing of Shiromani Akali Dal. The purpose of his visit, as usual, is two-fold — to work for the party candidates and organise the tournament. “Everytime I come here there are some elections in Punjab. In 1998 and 1999, these were Lok Sabha elections. Last two years there were some byelections and this year are the assembly elections, “he says, maintaining that he has actively participated in elections in Punjab regularly since 1997. While organisers of some of the rural sports festivals want to keep their events free from “political influence”, not all could do it. “We are organising a kabaddi tournament at Bajja Khanna in Faridkot to commemorate the memory of Harjit Singh, an outstanding player, from February 1 to 3,” says Mr Jasmail Singh, Sarpanch of the village, promising to keep it an “absolutely sporting event”. “We do not want our tribute to this great kaabaddi player to be lost in the din of electioneering,” he concludes. Some of the top kabaddi players would participate. On the other hand, the organisers of Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival have decided to postpone the event till the first week of March as holding of event on the scheduled dates would have been difficult because of involvement of people,
including officials, players and some sponsors, in the elections,’’ says Mr Paramjit Singh Grewal, Organising Secretary. The organisers of another important rural festival at Ghungrali Jattan, too, have decided to defer the conduct till first week of March. Some of the organisers did not allow elections to upset their schedule. For example, the Rural Festival at Hakimpur, near here, has been in progress and would conclude tomorrow. The festivals at Jharkhar, Kamalpura and a few other places were advanced because of elections. |
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BSF, Punjab cops in title clash Garhshankar, February 1 In the first semifinal, both teams initiated a number of moves but the defence and rival goalkeepers gave a good account of themselves. In the 32nd minute, Parminder Singh and Daleep Kumar initiated good moves but the BSF defenders foiled the move. Hence both the teams were locked goal-less in the stipulated period. Even the golden goal rule failed to break the dead lock as neither team was able to score a goal. Hence the match was decided via the tie-breaker in which BSF won 5-3. For BSF Bobi, Nirmaljit Singh Sarabit Singh, Munish and Jasbir Singh were the scorers while for PSEB Harvinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh, and Madan successfully converted the spot kicks. In the second semifinal, Punjab Police beat last year’s runners-up Rail Coach Factory 1-0 and thus reserved their berth in the final. The winning goal was scored by Punjab Police striker Parveen Kumar in the 20th minute of the first half. RCF tried their best to restore parity but the determined defence of Punjab Police foiled all attempts. The finals will be played tomorrow. In the first match in the college category, SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, will meet SN College Banga, while in the club category BSF will lock horns with Punjab Police. Wrestler Kartar Singh will give away the prizes. |
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Punjab cagers rout Uttaranchal Patiala, February 1 In the girls (u-19) section, the hosts routed Uttaranchal 53-22. The diminutive girls of Uttaranchal were no match for the tall Punjab girls as the hosts led from the start to the finish to emerge victorious in their first league match. In of volleyball, the Gujarat boys carved an emphatic 25-18, 25-17, 25-23 victory against debutants Chattisgarh in the u-19 age group while in the girls section Haryana humbled Karnataka 25-15, 25-6, 25-8 to move into the next round. In handball, in the girls (u-19) section, Chattisgarh eves had a tough time against Kerala before beating them 10-7 in a close match. On the other hand the Delhi girls had an easier outing against a hapless Navodya Vidyalya Schools (NVS) beating them 23-5. In kabaddi, Gujarat boys handed out a 62-26 drubbing to NVS in the u-19 age category while the Haryana boys had a tough time downing a fighting Maharashtra 41-38. In the girls section, Maharashtra eves fared much better than their men counterparts as they downed Karnataka 69-42. In a complete mismatch, the Punjab boys downed NVS 99-12 in the kabaddi event in the u-19 age section. Meanwhile, Mr P.S. Chabbra, Secretary of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), clarified that more than 5000 participants were taking part in nine disciplines and not 2500 as reported in a section of the media today. Results: Volleyball (u-19, boys): UP beat Chandigarh 25-16, 25-9, 25-14. Rajasthan beat NVS 25-16, 25-9,25-14. AP beat Maharashtra 25-16, 25-17, 25-22. Haryana beat J&K 25-9, 25-7, 25-9. Kerala beat Uttaranchal 25-20, 25-12, 23-25, 25-21. Handball (u-19, all boys): Chattisgarh beat AP 20-18. Haryana beat W.Bengal 82-19. Kabaddi (u-19, girls): MP beat Gujarat 81-19. Delhi beat NVS 58-15, W. Bengal beat AP 65-29. W.Bengal beat Chattisgarh 54-14. Kabaddi (u-19, boys): Punjab beat J&K 75-10. Kerala beat Gujarat 34-32, Uttaranchal beat Chattisgarh 52-46. Athletics (boys-17, 3000m): Ravinder Raj (UP)-1, Devinder Singh (Haryana)-2, Loknath Lamani (Karnataka)-3. (u-17, girls): Devika (Karnataka)-1, Manpreet Kaur (Punjab)-2, Rajshree Patel (Karnataka)-3. (5000m, u-19, boys): Mukesh Kumar (UP)-1, Sunil Kumar (Haryana)-2, Sunil Goud (MP)-3. girls: Kamlesh (UP)-1, Bindu (Kerala)-2, Govindi Vishat (Uttaranchal)-3. |
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WFI releases wrestling calendar Chandigarh, February 1 His step he said has been initiated to tap the young wrestling talent in the country. Camps would be organised to prepare them for various of wrestling to be held during the year he added. Mr Malik said that the India would be hosting free style Asian Cadet Championship from July 11 to 14. The WFI has taken up the case with FILA (federation internationale des luttes associees international federation of associated wrestling styles) for change of venue from New Delhi to Jalandhar. He said that 32-day
preparation camps for international Nauri Cup would be organised for FS at Patiala and GR at Jalandhar from February 20 to March 23, 2002. As many as 36 junior wrestlers five coaches and one massaur each would be participating in these camps. Preparation camps for international FS and GR junior tournament would be held at Patiala and Jalandhar from April 15 to May 30. Teams will be sent to Targui-Jui (Rom) for junior international tournament FS-GR to be held there from May 31 to June 2. Preparation camps for Asian Junior Wrestling Championships would be held at Patiala and Jalandhar from June 5 to 18. As many as 20+3+1 wrestlers would be participating in each camp. Team comprising 9+2+1 each style would be sent to Mashhad (IRI) for Asian Junior wrestling championship to be held from
June 19 to 21. He said that the all-India inter-university board would forward the names of 20 wrestlers for coaching on the basis of performance in the all-India inter university wrestling championship. They would be participating in the world university wrestling championship to be held at Edmonton (Can) from June 22 to 25.
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Gopi doubtful for Thomas Cup Vijayawada, February 1 “Gopi is nursing an ankle injury. He will join the Indian side for the Thomas Cup events if his doctor permits”, Badminton Association of India Joint Secretary Punnaiah Chowdary told newspersons here today. “However, Gopi will cent per cent fit to defend All-England title at Birmingham in March”, he added. Last year, Gopi became the second Indian to win the coveted All-England title after Prakash Padukone after a gap over two decades. India had preferred European zone instead of Asian as it provided them more chances of making it to the main round.
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Abhinav, Ronak hog limelight New Delhi, February 1 According to information received here, apart from individual gold by Abhinav and Ronak Pandit, two more gold medals came India’s way the team events of air rifle and jr pistol. Samresh Jung (air pistol) and Anjali Vedpathak (women air rifle) claimed a silver each while Ashok Shahi, and women team won a bronze each in air rifle events each. In rifle event, former junior world record holder Abhinav Bindra shot 696.4 for gold. Silver was bagged by Idar Vedul (Norway) who had a score of 695.2 and Ashok Kumar Shahi took bronze with 693.4 points. Abhinav and Ashok shot 596 and 591 in the semifinals, respectively.
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Punjab gymnastics Chandigarh, February 1 Mr PS Virk, secretary, Punjab Gymnastics Association said the state gymnastics team for the 43rd Junior National Gymnastics meet to be held at Ajmer from February 9 to 13 will also be selected during this meet. At close of the compulsory exercises, gymnasts from Gurdaspur were dominating in their respective groups. A cash award of Rs 11,000 for the gold medal winners was also announced by a keen sport lover, Mr Gopal Bhushan Gupta. |
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Chaman Vatika athletics meet Ambala, February 1 In 3,000 m races (senior boys), Akshay Beniwal stood first, Rohit Mahendru was second and Gurmeet Chadha was third. In sub-junior girls section (100m),Navneet was first, Konika was second and Sonam Rajora was third. In sub-junior boys section (100m), Satnam Singh was first, Pranav was second and Vishwas was third. In discus throw (junior boys) Hitesh Jain was first, Akarshit Kumar was second and Arshdeep was third. In long jump (senior girls), Maninder was first, Rashmi was second and Megha Kalra was third. In discus throw (senior boys), Ajit Pal was first, Varun Kalra was second and Amit Nagar was third. Shot put (junior girls), Neha was first, Sunatha was second and Shivani was third. In 400 m race (junior girls), Itee Shree was first, Sarah Mann was second and Harminder was third. In 400 m race (junior boys), Arshdeep was first, Gundeep was second and Hitesh Jain was third. In shot put (junior boys), Vikas was first, Akarshit Kumar was second and Karan Murgai was third. In 400 m race (sub-junior boys), Gursahib Lamba was first, Puneet was second and Anuj Bhatia was third. In 400 m race (sub-junior), Navneet was first, Konika was second and Neelima Rana was third. In discus throw (senior girls), Trishanjali was first, Megha Kalra was second and Maninder was third. KALKA Giving this information, the block panchayat officer, Mr Roshan Lal, said inauguration of the sports competition would be done by the block panchayat samiti chairman, Mr Kuldeep Kaur. The SDM, Kalka, Mr Sushil Sarwan, would preside over the concluding function and give away prizes to the winners.
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Rural
sports championship Ambala, February 1 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Mahinder Kumar said that sports had an important role to play in a person life. He said that besides different programmes for rural development, a new sports policy had been prepared. He added that the sportspersons who did well in the block-level games would be able to participate in the district and state-level games. The championship is being held from February 1 to 3 and the games will include volleyball, circle style kabaddi, shot put, discus throw, wrestling, bullock-cart race and high and long jumps.
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