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Tuesday,
February 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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ICC
threatened with split Captains
told to tone down bad language Warne
disenchanted with selectors
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Elena Berezhnaya, second from
right, and Anton Sikharulidze, right, of Russia and Jamie Sale, left,
and David Pelletier of Canada pose with their gold medals at a special
awards ceremony for the figure skating pairs competition at the Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City, on Sunday. — AP/PTI photo Indian
eves finish third in hockey
Bush
visit not to affect World Cup countdown Two
killed in clash SERVICES HOCKEY Top
teams for eves’ hockey tourney 200 participate in sports meet
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ICC threatened with split
Dubai, February 18 The Asian Cricket Council (ACC), at its meeting in Sharjah on Sunday, served an ultimatum on the International Cricket Council (ICC) that no Asian nation would play in New Zealand if the Kiwis backed out of the Pakistan tour. ACC president Lieutenant-General Tauqir Zia announced the decision in Sharjah, where Pakistan and the West Indies are playing a one-day international series. Zia is also the president of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). In a rare display of unanimity, India has backed the move. “Whenever they like, they have threatened not to tour the Asian countries. Now we are only saying that if you do not tour our countries, we will not come to your place,” Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told a press conference on Sunday. Mr Dalmiya said Australia had refused to play in Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup on grounds of security. Those matches were later shifted to India. “We had to face a similar situation with England,” Mr Dalmiya pointed out. England had threatened to pull out of a Test and one-day international series in India in December-January citing poor security. The tour went through after Mr Dalmiya served a notice on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to decide one way or the other. New Zealand are scheduled to tour Pakistan in April, but there are fears that the Kiwis might cancel their trip citing security considerations in the wake of the US-led war against terrorism. India plan to tour New Zealand later in the year and that tour may come under a cloud if the ACC threat is carried out. With this, simmering differences between the ACC and ICC members have again come to the fore. If it comes to a vote on the New Zealand issue, India is sure to receive the support of the other three Asian test-playing nations — Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, these four votes are two short of the two-thirds majority that are required to carry any resolution in the 10-member ICC. Thus, the ACC is hoping that the West Indies and Zimbabwe, if not South Africa too, will vote with it. Australia, England and New Zealand are the other ICC members and they definitely will vote against any cancellation of the Indian tour. This is the second time in six months that the ICC is threatened with a split. The previous occasion related to the penalties imposed on six Indian cricketers for alleged unfair play during the second Test against South Africa in November. India’s objections to the penalties are to be heard by an ICC grievance commission at its meeting on February 23. India has objected to the composition of the commission but the ICC has summarily rejected the complaint. India then wanted to press for an appeal mechanism against a decision of the grievance commission if it found it necessary to do so but backed off when it realised that it could not muster the necessary two-thirds support. General Zia also served noticed that the Pakistan-West Indies series would be the first and the last Pakistan would be playing at a neutral venue. “The series will hopefully be the first and the last Pakistan has played,” General Zia said. The series was to have been played in Pakistan but the Windies cried off — on security considerations. The venue was then shifted to Sharjah to save the tour.
IANS |
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Democratise ICC: Dalmiya
Dubai, February 18 Dalmiya, who took on the apex cricket body on the controversial Denness episode, said ICC chief Malcolm Gray had not agreed to his request to place the issue for the consideration of its executive body. The request actually reflects the opinion of the members, he said “It is unfortunate that the ICC is taking decisions without consulting its members,” Dalmiya told PTI here. The BCCI President regretted that the ICC had also turned down a suggestion from South Africa to ask a panel of three distinguished people from the cricket world to deliberate on the issue on the ground that they had no legal background. “But then even the referees do not have any legal background, the ICC is being stubborn,” he said. Yesterday, the Asian Cricket Council had asked the ICC to put on hold the match referee commission appointed by the latter to sort out the Deness controversy. India had earlier rejected the ICC’s nominations to the commission and instead suggested a separate list of candidates ACC felt that in the larger interest of the game, the ICC should be asked to put on hold the working of the commission scheduled to meet on February 23 and that the matter should be taken up at the ICC meeting in South Africa on March 15. Referring to India’s stand in the Asian Cricket Council that it will not tour New Zealand if the Kiwis cancel their tour of Pakistan, Dalmiya said many Asian countries faced the same problem as faced by Pakistan. “We had to face a similar situation with England and the Australians did not come to Sri Lanka for the World Cup” he pointed out. “Whenever they like, they have threatened not to tour the Asian countries. Now we are only saying that if you do not tour our countries, we will not come to your place”. “No Asian country will tour New Zealand in case the Kiwis refuse to travel to Pakistan for their upcoming series,” ACC chief Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia, who is also the president of Pakistan Cricket Board, said here yesterday. The cricket chiefs from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will separately write to the ICC to convey their stand, in an unusual display of unity on the issue. Dalmiya said he stood by the Indian government’s decision whether to tour Pakistan or not. “That decision (to play Pakistan) is always heavily influenced by the government’s policy. That is a domestic issue while the others are not and needed a collective stand,” he said.
PTI |
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Captains
told to tone down bad language Wellington, February 18 Match referee Denis Lindsay has decided to make an appeal for calm to the hosts’ Stephen Fleming and England’s Nasser Hussain after claims by New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent. Vincent said he was sworn at and called a cheat by an unnamed England player in the opening match of the series in Christchurch, which New Zealand won by four wickets. Vincent had earlier brilliantly caught England’s Andy Flintoff in the covers. The batsman rightly stood his ground as he was not convinced the ball had carried to Vincent’s left hand, but the third umpire David Quested ruled that it had.
Reuters |
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Warne disenchanted
with selectors
Sydney, February 18 According to media reports here emanating from South Africa, Warne while congratulating Ponting on his appointment as skipper, was clearly disappointed again having been bypassed for a permanent Australian captaincy position. He was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: “I suppose from my point of view, why wouldn’t they have just appointed Ricky then? ‘That’s the future — we’ll just appoint him’. When I was appointed vice-captain this year when Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) wasn’t there I thought my chances [for future captaincy] were pretty good. I was pretty upbeat but in the end it didn’t happen.” The 32-year-old told the paper the selectors had unfoundedly raised his hopes of a future ascension to the captaincy by making him vice-captain in a one-day match against New Zealand last month in Adam Gilchrist’s absence. Warne started to believe that the selectors might have forgiven him for his off-field indiscretion — a
telephone sex scandal involving an English woman — that saw him being sacked as deputy skipper midway through 2000. His belief was strengthened when he was picked to fill in for Gilchrist ahead of Ponting. But Warne’s disenchantment is a point gained for South Africans. Steve Waugh has also admitted the whole issue has come as a distraction to his side’s preparation for the first Test in Johannesburg starting on Friday. Even coach John Buchanan has been shocked and peeved at not being consulted.
PTI |
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Bid to blackmail
ACB? Melbourne, February 18 Warne has denied the allegations from South Africa where he is on tour with the Australian cricket team. Victorian state police confirmed they were investigating an alleged blackmail attempt on the ACB. A police spokesman said a man had been arrested at Melbourne Airport last Friday over the matter. “It’s alleged a man from inter-state demanded cash from the ACB in January this year,” the spokesman said. “At this stage no one has been charged and the investigation is continuing.”
AP |
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Ponting
“not assured” of berth
Perth, February 18 “Ponting is a certainty in one-day cricket which is more forgiving on technical problems,” Hughes said. “But his footwork and technique have deteriorated in Test cricket.” Hughes said Ponting’s flaws against top-line bowling in the longer version of the game meant his future as a Test player was far from assured. This could mean that Australia might find themselves in the unusual situation of having a Test captain (Steve Waugh) who was no longer in the one-day side and a one-day leader who was not a member of the Test line-up. Waugh was axed from the captaincy of the limited-overs combination last week after the side failed to reach the finals of the tri-nations one-day series, in which South Africa beat New Zealand 2-0 in the showdown. Ponting (27) becomes Australia’s youngest captain since Hughes was appointed in 1979 at the age of 25. Hughes said he was astonished when Ponting was appointed to the one-day job ahead of vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and champion leg-spinner Shane Warne. But he predicted Ponting would be an astute leader. “Ricky has played enough cricket to know the game,” he said. “He has done it tough at times, he appears to have a good cricket brain and I am sure he will have the respect of his team-mates. “But I would have had my house on Gilchrist getting the job. “The situation now is that Steve Waugh will lead the Test team and not play one-day international cricket, but Ponting is not guaranteed to stay in the Test team if he cannot get his technique right.” Ponting has been exposed at No. 3 in Test ranks where he has been vulnerable against top quality pace bowling. He had a modest series in that position against South Africa in December and January, making 115 runs from five innings in three Tests at an average of 28.75.
AFP |
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Potchefstroom Waugh was on 91 not out, made off 134 balls with 19 fours. Earlier, Ponting took his overnight score of 93 to 120 before being caught behind off unorthodox left-arm spin bowler Goolam Bodi.
AFP |
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US medal haul reaches new heights
Salt Lake City, February 18 Witty, whose preparations for the games were disrupted by a debilitating bout with glandular fever, yesterday clocked 1 min 13.83 sec to snatch the record — and gold — from German Sabine Volker and improve on her silver-medal performance in Nagano. Jennifer Rodriguez took bronze to take the US medal tally to 18 — five ahead of their previous best showing of 13 in a Winter Olympics — at Lillehammer and Nagano — and well within reach of the 20 medals predicted by the US Olympic Committee. “I was trying to convince myself top 10 was OK,” said Witty, who lost training time and missed races to her illness. “Even this morning, I didn’t feel that good.” Even after she rewrote the record, Witty said, it was hard to watch the remaining skaters, who included Volker. The German, who had set the previous world record of 1:14.06 in a World Cup race at the Utah Olympic Oval in December, said it was no picnic to follow Witty. “It was so hard to skate after Witty broke the world record,” said Volker, whose own time of 1:13.96 was also inside the old mark. “Anyway, I skated an amazing time.” In the overall table Witty’s win boosted the USA into third place ahead of Russia with four gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals. But perennial Winter Games powerhouses Norway and Germany continued to stack up gold themselves. Norway nabbed the 4x10km men’s cross-country relay gold that their home fans have come to expect, but as in Nagano they had to edge Italy at the end to do it. “Everyone in Norway will be happy right now, but we could have lost it and it would have been a catastrophe,” said anchorman Thomas Alsgaard of the gold that took Norway’s total to eight. Italy, who beat Norway in the marquee men’s cross-country event at Lillehammer in 1994, settled for silver as they did in 1998, with Germany taking the bronze. Germany, who topped the medals table in Nagano, kept in touch with Norway in the gold rush thanks to veteran Christoph Langen’s long awaited triumph in the two-man bobsleigh. Langen, 39, had 25 Olympic world and European championship medals to his name but had never won Olympic gold in two-man. He and brakeman Markus Zimmerman snatched the gold from under the nose of Switzerland’s Christian Reich, who took silver with Steve Anderhub, and Martin Annen, who teamed up with Beat Hefti for the bronze. “That’s the only gold medal I’ve missed in my career — the two-man at the Olympics,” Langan beamed. “It was a superb performance.” Italy earned a complete set of medals on the day, Daniela Ceccarelli capturing gold in the women’s super-G ahead of Croatia’s newly crowned alpine combined champion Janica Kostelic and a second Italian Karen Putzer. Ceccarelli’s win returned the women’s super-G crown to Italy 10 years after Deborah Compagnoni won the event at Albertville, France. But with only two career World Cup podium finishes, Ceccarelli wasn’t even Italy’s best hope. That would have been Isolde Kostner and Putzer. Ceccarelli clocked 1 min 13.59 sec as yet again the World Cup’s dominant skiers — including Austrians Michaela Dorfmeister and Renate Gotschl, and Hilde Gerg of Germany — failed to produce their best. Finland won their first nordic combined team Olympic gold, improving on their silver-medal performance of four years ago. The Finns held on to the lead they established in the K90 ski jump through the deciding 4x5km cross-country relay, as Germany skied strongly to move up from fifth to second. Austria, second after the jump, were third. While five gold medals were won yesterday, one more was awarded: the famous, or infamous, second gold awarded to Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in the wake of the pairs judging scandal that exploded over their runner-up finish to Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia on Monday.
AFP |
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Indian eves finish
third in hockey
New Delhi, February 18 India were led by Tingonlima Chanu in the six-team competition which included last four finishers at Sydney Olympics and hosts South Africa, according to information received here today. India, who were scheduled to organise the event before it was shifted to South Africa following the September 11 attacks on the USA earned the right to participate by virtue of being the original hosts. India drew their first two matches, that with England 3-3 and USA 1-1 before beating South Africa and Russia in the first leg of the tournament. However, India lost to South Korea 2-3 and qualified to the play-off for the third-fourth place against South Africa. England beat South Korea in the title clash. Indian Women’s Hockey Federation secretary Amrit Bose said she was satisfied with the performance of the Indian team. “The girls have done very well... We tried three new faces in the team. I have yet to get a report on them and we will review their performance before the World Cup qualification matches against the USA.” A coaching camp in preparation of the upcoming matches against the USA , to be played in Belgium, will commence at National Institute of Sports, Patiala on March 1, Ms Bose said. The team is scheduled to return here tomorrow.
PTI |
Chandigarh, February 18 Belgium missed the third edition at Kuala Lumpur but at Buenos Aires in 1978, they finished last among 14 contestants. They missed the subsequent edition at Bombay in 1982, the sixth World Cup at London four years later, and the seventh edition at Lahore in 1990. In the eighth World Cup at Sydney, Belgium finished 11th in a field of 12 contestants. However, they were awarded the fairplay trophy for their neat and disciplined game. After missing the Utrecht World Cup in 1998, Belgium qualified for Kuala Lumpur 2002 by finishing fourth in the World Cup qualifiers at Edinburg last year. 13. Poland: However, the 1-4 defeat at the hands of Spain and the 1-3 defeat at the hands of Malaysia put paid to their aspirations. In the fourth edition at Buenos Aires, they crawled one step higher, finishing ninth. In the fifth edition at Bombay, there was further improvement and Poland were placed eighth. They beat Argentina 2-1 and Spain 1-0, but lost to West Germany, New Zealand and Pakistan. In the London edition, Poland’s position remained unchanged but they beat India 1-0, and Spain 5-2 before losing to West Germany, and Australia and drawing with Canada 0-0. Poland missed the seventh edition at Lahore and the eighth edition at Sydney, but returned for the ninth World Cup at Utrecht where they finished last among 12 contestants. In the qualifiers for the forthcoming edition at Kuala Lumpur, Poland finished third. (To be concluded)  |
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Bush visit not to affect World Cup countdown
Seoul, February 18 By coincidence, the American President arrives in South Korea late tomorrow from Japan, which is co-hosting the tournament, and will be in Seoul on Wednesday — exactly 100 days before the World Cup starts in Seoul on May 31. Mr Chung told reporters on Monday: “President Bush’s visit is important — so is the world cup.’’ Mr Chung, co-chairman of KOWOC, the Korean World Cup Organising Committee and also a FIFA vice-president and president of the Korean Football Association, said the Bush family appeared to have a liking for soccer. He sat next to Mr Bush’s father, a former President, when South Korea played Bolivia in the 1994 World Cup finals in Boston. “I assumed he did not know much about soccer. But he seemed to understand soccer rules better than I do,’’ joked Mr Chung, one of the most influential men in world soccer. “So I asked him about the secret, then he said he was a member of the soccer team of yale university.’’ It is not clear whether President Bush will have much time to talk about soccer in Seoul. But the USA qualified for the finals and will play their first games in South Korea. Mr Chung said he was not worried about what critics said was the subdued World Cup spirit so far in South Korea. “Some people are complaining we are not doing enough to boost the world cup atmosphere. But it will heat up by itself as the opening day of the World Cup is approaching,’’ said Mr Chung, who is a vice-president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. Earlier this month, South Korean President Kim Aae-Jung said some felt South Korea’s preparations for the World Cup were falling short of expectations. He urged his Cabinet to work harder to make the global event a success. Mr Kim is in the last year of his single five-year presidential term and has made the World Cup one of his top priorities. Mr Bush will hold talks with Mr Kim on Wednesday before flying to China on Thursday. Mr Bush’s visit is expected to attract extra attention after his comments last month lumping North Korea with Iran and Iraq as part of an ‘’axis of evil’’. Although all thoughts of any North Korean role in the World Cup have disappeared, Mr Chung said he would still like to visit North Korea to persuade some soccer officials and players to venture south.
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Two killed in clash
Buenos Aires, February 18 Among those treated at the Fiorito hospital outside the capital was “a 12-year-old boy who suffered a bullet wound in the thorax and had to undergo emergency treatment,” a spokesman said.
AFP |
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SERVICES
HOCKEY
Jalandhar, February 18 In the very second minute of the game, Satbir Singh put the defending champions ahead scoring off a penalty corner. However, the Navy men came back into the game and launched a number of attacks and in the dying minutes of the first half got the equaliser when their attacker A.C. Hague after beating two defenders rammed home the equaliser. Stung by the equaliser, the airmen raided the Navy citadel on a number of occasions but were held at bay by the strong Navy defence. It was only in the 60th minute of play that the air men broke through the naval defence for Manish Kumar to score the winning goal. In the second match, Army Red beat Army Green 5-4 in the tie breaker. Both the teams were level at 1-1 even after the extra time.
UNI |
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Top teams
for eves’ hockey tourney Ludhiana, February 18 According to press note issued here today, by Mr D.S. Grewal, working president of the Mohinder Partap Singh Grewal Memorial Charitable Trust, teams from Orissa, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Air India, Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala), Northern Railway (Delhi), North Eastern Railway (Gorakhpur), Western Railway Central Railway, both (Mumbai) and South Eastern Railway (Kolkata), have confirmed their participation. This tournament will be played on knock-out basis. The Indian Women’s Hockey Federation has posted Mr Satinder Walia, former international
hockey player and umpire as tournament director. Doordarshan will telecast live and the All India Radio will broadcast a running commentary of the final match on March 5. |
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200 participate
in sports meet Ambala, February 18 Nearly
200 sportspersons from Ambala, Naraingarh, Barara and Shahzadpur
participated in the championship. In 5000m, Sanjiv Kumar was first,
Jasbir Kumar was second and Gurdeep was third. In 1500m, Tushant was
first, Gurdeep was second and Madan and Sandeep were third. In long
jump, Rakesh was first, Arvindra was second and Ranbir was third. In
high jump, Jagpreet was first and Jitendera was second. In shot put,
Ramesh was first, Pushpinder was second and Kuldeep was third. In
circle kabaddi, Barara block first and Ambala was second. In tug of
war, Barara block was first and Ambala block was second. |
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Tug-of-war meet inaugurated Phillaur, February 18 |
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