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Saturday,
March 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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India’s lacklustre display continues
WORLD CUP DIARY Ganguly holds Indian innings |
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Anand holds Ivanchuk
Stunning acts at Kila
Raipur
Revenue sports meet from March
7
Vasco defeat
Punjab cops Tollygunge earn full
points Pay or stay out of
squad Impressive display by Central
Rly
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India’s lacklustre display continues Kuala Lumpur, March 1 As on earlier occasions, India conceded an early goal and the attacking line remained under pressure to wipe out the deficit. When Dilip Tirkey did manage to bring the team back into the game off a penalty corner early in the second half, the defence wielded under pressure yet again and conceded the second goal, again by Danny Hall. England’s lead was buttressed by Tom Bertram before Indian skipper Baljit Dhillon pulled one back in the 56th minute which was all that they could achieve. This was the third consecutive defeat for India after they had drawn the opener against Japan. Coach Cedric D’Souza later admitted that the team gave away too many soft goals. “We have been fighting every game from behind and today was no exception,” he said. Disaster struck India rather early. Having successfully warded off rival attacks in the opening minutes, England forced a penalty corner in the 11th minute after an earlier attempt by Tom Bertram had proved abortive. The push by Jon Wyatt was followed up by Danny Hall whose indirect flick caught custodian Jude Menezes on the wrong foot (1-0). India did go on the offensive thereafter with Baljit Dhillon and Baljit Saini initiating a move on the left. However, Baljit Saini was a bit slow and let the opportunity slip out of India’s grasp. Another move by India also failed as Sukhbir Gill shot wide. In the 23rd minute, a penalty corner for India though executed intelligently proved abortive as Daljit was wide off the mark. Shortly before half time, another chance went abegging as Baljit Dhillon just failed to tap the ball in following a cross from the left. The second half commenced with India missing another sitter as Prabhjot failed to connect a cross from the right with an open goal in front. Another good attempt by Daljit Dhillon was successfully thwarted by England custodian Simon Mason, who in fact had a major role in England’s win today. In the 46th minute, the mercurial Dhanraj Pillay moved into the ‘D’ swiftly but was obstructed which fetched India a penalty corner. The push by Daljit saw deep defender Dilip Tirkey taking a hard hit and the ball sailed in giving Simon no chance (1-1). But England hit back immediately and off a counter attack in the very next minute, Danny Hall made full use of a gaping hole in the Indian defence to despatch a powerful hit from the ‘D’ top which brooked no resistance as Jude Menezes lay sprawled on the ground (2-1). India fought back through skipper Baljit Dhillon who made some intelligent forays but the resolute England defence was impregnable. Thereafter, England’s lead
increased to 3-1 as Tom Bertram sounded the boards off a penalty corner. It was at this stage that the Indian team management decided to replace goalkeeper Jude Menezes whose place was taken by Devesh Chauhan. Three minutes later, India succeeded in reducing the margin as the hard working skipper Baljit Dhillon pushed the ball home off a rebound following a short corner (2-3). In the closing minutes, England goalkeeper Simon Mason warded off several attacks and following the long hooter, he was mobbed by his team-mates for putting up a gallant show. Earlier, Australia, with a brace from Craig Victory, notched up a massive 6-0 win over minnows Cuba after leading by two goals at half time. The rout began rather early, as Jamie Dwyer converted a penalty corner in the third minute and thereafter Craig Victory excelled with a brace, converting short corners in the 15th and 39th minutes. Skipper Paul Gaudoin made it 4-0 through a penalty corner in the 41st minute while Miichael McCann and Matthew Smith added two more in the 66th and 70th minutes, respectively, to complete the rout. Australia’s domination can be gauged from the fact that they had as many as 18 shots at the goal while Cuba had none. The Australians also earned 10 penalty corners with Cuba managing just two. In pool ‘B’ Japan shocked Poland 2-1 despite going into arrears in the second half. Poland took the lead in the 45th minute through Artur Mikula’s field goal. However, Japan came back firing on all cylinders. First the Japanese equalised as Naohiko Tobita converted a penalty stroke in the 63rd minute and then Kenichi Katayama provided the icing on the cake with the match winner which came in the last minute. In the last match, a packed stadium witnessed a gallant fightback by Malaysia, who went down to South Korea 2-3 in pool ‘B’. Korea scored two quick goals in the 15th and 21st minutes through skipper Keon-Wook Kang and Jung-Seon Lee but Malaysia pulled one back through Kuhan Shanmuganathan who converted a penalty corner amidst thunderous applause. However, Korea consolidated the lead in the 28th minute when Woon-Kon Yeo converted a short corner (3-1). As Malaysia’s Kuhan Shanmuganathan made it 2-3 through a short corner in the 54th minute, the crowd was on its feet. But that was all they could achieve despite massive support. Malaysia had three shots at the goal while Korea had four. Saturday’s fixtures: Germany v New Zealand; Spain v South Africa; Japan v Australia; Belgium v Argentina; Cuba v India; Korea v Poland;Pakistan v Netherlands; England v Malaysia. |
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‘We gave too many soft goals’ Kuala Lumpur, March 1 “We gave too many soft goals in this tournament. We have been fighting every game from behind and today was no exception,” said the Indian coach while commenting on the team’s performance. Cedric also said that the crowding tactics adopted by England coupled with custodian Simon Mason’s fine showing frustrated India’s plans. “Nevertheless,we did have our chances,” said Cedric adding that while India had more penetration, England enjoyed more possession. “While leaving India I had said that I don’t believe in luck. Now I say I do believe in it,” he said. Cedric refused to comment on the umpiring saying that no umpire was expected to be biased. |
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WORLD
CUP DIARY Malaysian coach Paul Lissek is a man of few but meaningful words. The other day, prior to the match against India, he had said: “India know us well. Still we must have something for them.” And indeed they had! Yesterday he said after two victories, his team would be naturally excited “but I will make sure that they enter the field with a level head against Korea.” And the Malaysians displayed the same level of confidence against the Koreans in the World Cup today as against India the other day. The 2-3 defeat nothwithstanding, the Malaysians gave Korea a run for their money as the jam-packed stadium erupted to cheer every Malaysian move.
*** Embarrassed over the low turnout at the hockey World Cup over the past few days, the Malaysian Hockey Federation has reduced the prices of tickets. Accordingly, a ticket for three matches will now cost RM 10. “We admit that the ticket prices were too steep. After getting the feedback from fans and the media, we have decided to reduce the prices,” said Mr S.
Satgunam, secretary of the Malaysian Hockey Federation. “It will be fruitless to host the World Cup if Malaysians don’t get a chance to sit on the terraces to cheer their team,” he added.
*** Let’s bring the roof down, fans! This message in a local daily provided just the right inspiration to thousands of Malaysians, who thronged the National Hockey Stadium to watch the epic battle of the home team against Korea today. The thunderous applause and drum beats made the atmosphere truly electrifying and at one stage it did seem as if the roof would indeed come down. After all, Malaysia were on the threshold of history but that was not to be.
*** Prolific goal scorer Jorge Lombi of Argentina is feeling miserable. Known to be an expert in penalty corners, Lombi, now 30, has so far scored only one goal off short corners in the ongoing World Cup. In the World Cup qualifiers at Edinburg last year where Argentina had finished on top, Lombi had emerged as the highest scorer with 19 goals to his credit. In the Champions Challenge Trophy at Kuala Lumpur, Lombi was again the highest scorer with seven goals. “Altough I have fully recovered from my hamstring injury, I am a bit unlucky perhaps due to improved defence tactics of rival teams. Nevertheless I will have my day,” he says with confidence. |
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Ganguly holds Indian innings New Delhi, March 1 Replying to Zimbabwe’s first innings knock of 329 all out, India still need 158 runs to wipe out their first innings deficit. The unimaginably slow batting by India saw runs coming in a trickle, that too when Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were together, and the early run out of Rahul Dravid did not help the run flow either. The scoring picked up only in the last session when local boy Virender Sehwag joined Saurav Ganguly at the crease. At the draw of stumps, Saurav Ganguly was batting on 78 (1x4, 1x6, 169b. 236m) while Virender Sehwag was unbeaten on 16 (3x4, 24b, 23b). The painfully slow 84-run third-wicket partnership between Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, which came off 37.1 overs in 134 minutes, was the salient feature of the Indian innings. This slow batting may prove costly for India as the Zimbabwean bowlers did quite well to contain the run flow with their restrictive bowling, and fine fielding. India’s hopes of an early end to the Zimbabwe first innings had come to a nought in the morning when the visitors put on 69 runs to their overnight total, before being all out 25 minutes before lunch. Zimbabwe had begun their innings with Dion Ebrahim unbeaten on 82 and Travis Friend batting on seven. Though Ebrahim could add only 12 runs to his overnight total before falling lbw to Javagal Srinath for 94 (10x4), Travis Friend stayed put at one end with resilience and determination to put on 43 valuable runs (3x4, 1x6, 123m, 105b). Only a brilliant catch by Sachin Tendulkar, who ran from midwicket to deep square leg when the batsman tried to loft Harbhajan Singh, could terminate Friends’ reign. It was a sweet revenge for Harbhajan as Friend had earlier lofted him for a huge six. Then Kumble took two wickets off successive balls in the 111th over to dismiss Zimbabwe for 329 all out in 110.5 overs off 470 minutes. Kumble, who had come in for some heavy punishment, eventually had a satisfying haul of 3 for 88, with Srinath having the best spell of three for 27 and Harbhajan 2 for 70. Though Shiv Sunder Das and Deep Das Gupta got off to a confident and patient start, they did not seem very comfortable in the face of the sustained hostile spells by Heath Streak and Brighton Watamba. Both bowlers in the end had very economical spells, as Streak conceded only 30 runs in his 10 over spell, and Streak gave away just 34 runs for a fantastic 16-5-34-1 figures. Shiv Sundar Das could not survive long as he edged one from Heath Streak into the gloves of Tatendu Taibu. He made just 13 runs, and India lost their first wicket for 24 runs. Wicket keeper opener Deep Das Gutpa was shaping up well in the company of skipper Saurav Ganguly when he too perished. Ganguly, who has been struggling to get runs in Test cricket as he had not scored a half century after the Kandy Test in Sri Lanka last year promoted himself ahead of Rahul Dravid, to join Deep Das at the crease. But Ganguly was joined by Sachin Tendulkar and the spectators expected a batting pyrotechnique. However, Sachin Tendulkar, who hit Friend to three boundaries in the 22nd over to loosen up, surprisingly got stuck on 24 from the 28th over to the 43rd over, to remain a strokeless wonder. His next run came when he scored a single off Flower. A reluctant Sachin eventually fell lbw to spinner Price for 36 to a ball that kept low. Sachin’s 36 contained five fours, which came off 119 balls and 134 minutes. Zimbabwe (Ist innings): Carlisle b Srinath 00 Gripper c Dravid b Zaheer 08 Campbell c Dravid b Zaheer 16 A Flower c Das b Harbhajan 92 Ebrahim lbw Srinath 94 G Flower run out 30 Streak b Kumble 00 Friend c Tendulkar b
Harbhajan 43 Taibu lbw Kumble 13 Price b Kumble 00 Watambwa not out 03 Extras: (lb-16, nb-9, b-5) 30 Total: 329 all out in 110.5 overs (470 minutes). Fall of wickets: 1/0, 2/11, 3/65, 4/181, 5/246, 6/246, 7/289, 8/310, 9/310, 10/329. Bowling: Javagal Srinath 18-4-37-2 (4 nb), Zaheer Khan 22-4-76-2 (5 nb), Sanjay Bangar 7-1-25-0, Anil Kumble 34-13-88-3, Harbhajan Singh 27.5-5-70-2, Virender Sehwag 1-0-6-0, Sachin Tendulkar 1-0-6-0, India (Ist innings): Das c Taibu b Streak 13 Dasgupta lbw Friend 19 Ganguly batting 78 Tendulkar lbw Price 36 Dravid run out 01 Sehwag batting 16 Extra: (b-4, nb-4) 08 Total: 171 for 4 (67 overs, 285 minutes) FOW: 1/24, 2/58, 3/142, 4/144. Bowling: Heath Streak 16-5-34-1 (3 nb), Brighton Watambwa 10-3-30-0 (1 nb), Travis Friend 10-2-39-1, Raymond Price 26-10-47-1, Grant Flower 5-0-17-0. |
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Anand holds Ivanchuk Linares, March 1 World’s highest rated player GM Gary Kasparov of Russia broke the of his shackles of draws and defeated overnight leader GM Michael Adams of England to shoot in to lead with 2.5 points from four games. Young Spanish sensation GM Francisco Pons Vallejo is also on 2.5 points but his points have come from five games that have all ended in draws. Anand is on 2 points having drawn all his four games so far and is in joint third position along with Adams, world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and GM Alexei Shirov of Spain. Ivanchuk is at the bottom with 2 points from five games. It was a tough day for Anand as he had to defend a slight-ly inferior endgame against Ivanchuk. Having lost world
championship semifinal to Ivanchuk, Anand would have certainly liked to settle scores but his form betrayed him yet again. |
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Stunning acts at Kila
Raipur Kila Raipur (Ludhiana), March 1 It was not just an act of bravery but the delicate act of balancing oneself on two sharp-paced horses. And interestingly the Nihang, as the Guru’s soldiers are called, did not have any reins. All the control was maintained with the pair of feet. The tent pegging events performed by several other Nihangs were equally brilliant. None of the Nihangs missed the target while coming running at a very fast speed and picking up their target with incredible accuracy. Sukhminder Singh, a physically challenged youth of 17 supported by a walking stick, surprised thousands of people by pulling a Maruti car with his teeth. As he struggled hard with his teeth to pull the vehicle, he received thunderous applause from the crowds. Equally remarkable performance was that of Balbir Mirza who did breathtaking aerobic while riding a bicycle with a burning tyre in his hand. Not just that, he passed through the burning tyre several times, while riding his bicycle. At no point of time did he lose balance much to the cheer and delight of the cheering spectators. And the performances were acknowledged well by the people with some cash prizes offered to all the performers. |
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Revenue sports meet from March
7 Chandigarh, March 1 Apart from Chandigarh, where 13 disciplines will be held with hold athletics and football. The events to be held in Chandigarh are: hockey (Panjab University), cricket (Sector 16 cricket stadium and DAV College, Sector 10), chess (Shivalik Public School-41), lawn tennis (PU), table tennis (Sector 23 TT hall), badminton (Sector 42 indoor hall), basketball, volleyball and body building (PU), carrom (SPS-41), bridge (coaching centre-42), billiards (Lake Club-6). The meet will be inaugurated at Panjab University campus on March 7 at 10.30 a.m., where the chief guest will be Lt-General JFR Jacob (retd) Governor, Punjab. The highlight of the ceremony will be an tent pegging display by Chandigarh Police. The closing ceremony will be held on March 9 at 9.30 a.m. at PU campus, and the highlight of the day will be a show by dare devils from the Punjab Police. |
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Vasco defeat
Punjab cops Jalandhar, March 1 Punjab Police started the match with enthusiasm, and dominated the field initially with regular strikes in the rival territory but the defenders of Vasco were too good for them. Vasco drew first blood in the 36th minute through Agnelo Gomes. Vasco led by 1-0 at half time. Earlier certain moves by the forwards of Punjab Police proved aborted with some beautiful saves by custodian Brazilian Rogerio Ramos. Harish Sharma of Punjab Police wasted a fine chance as he could not flick the ball in the goalpost. Vasco Sports Club got down to business in the second half as their Brazilian striker, Rui Wanderley standing at a well-positioned slot on the left of the box dispatched the ball into the net from a fine pass by Peter Rodrigues consolidating the lead to 2-0. The last 10 minutes of the game was played in pouring rain and some frail attempts were made by Punjab Police. A golden chance for the unfortunate Punjab Police went again wasted when the pass by Harnek Singh from the left, given in front of the goal post, could not be translated into a goal in spite of the goalie Rogerio Ramos coming out of his post. Kishore Palkar of Vasco saved Naresh Kumar’s pathetic kick. In the closing minutes of the match, Punjab Police were awarded a penalty stroke when striker Kuldip Singh was physically tripped over by Rhola Dey. Gurinder Pal Singh made no mistake and fired in a ball. Vasco with three points and a total of 24 points are now at the second place in the latest standing. Mr Derrick Pereira, coach for the Vasco Sports said: “We were playing in the absence of our five regular players but still we fared well”, he said. |
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Tollygunge earn full points Kolkata, March 1 Akeem, displaying fine opportunism and marksmanship, scored in the 4th, 43rd and 67th minute to earn the hat-trick while HAL’s forwards Sunil Kumar and Danair Abdyraimiv reduced the margin in the 19th and 47th minutes, respectively. This was third hat-trick in the current edition of NFL. With this victory, Tollygunge propped up their position in the league table collecting 15 points from 13 matches while HAL remained almost at the same spot with 21 points after same number of outings. Zee Chrichill Brothers from Goa are now leading the league table with 25 points after 13 engagements. Taking full advantage of the home conditions Tollygunge went full blast right from the kick off and took the lead early when striker Akeem, collecting a long cross from right, shot home neatly (1-0). The lead was, however, shortlived as HAL, who had earlier defeated soccer giants Mohun Bagan and held champions East Bengal to a draw in the first half of the league, drew level 15 minutes later with their ebulient medio Sunil Kumar heading home a Jimmy Mulisa cross (1-1). After scoring a goal each both teams displayed a fine brand of soccer with Tollygunge having a little edge. Their medios, Sasthi Duley and Satish Bharatai, moved in tandem to spearhead their attacks and fed Akeem with good passes.
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Pay or stay out of
squad Patiala, March 1 This is what has happened to the judokas who have been asked to either pay the money if they are to tour Europe for a training stint or if they are unable to pay then stay home. On February 20, the Judo Federation of India (JFI) conducted trials at the NIS here and selected a team of 10 judokas, to tour several countries of Europe, from March 13. The judokas were selected for the forthcoming Manchester Commonwealth Games and the Pusan Asian Games, scheduled to be held later this year. The selected players are Akram Shah (60 kgs), Bhupinder Singh (66kg), Sandeep Kumar (73 Kg), Yashpal Solanki and Vinod Solanki ( both in 81 Kg) in mens section and Sapna Chouhan and Sangeeta Chouhan (both in 48 kg), Anshu Dalal and Bharti Dogra (both in 52 kg) in the women’s section. When the national camp concluded on February 26, the selected judokas were asked to remit the payment to the JFI within the next few days. Those players who work in various government departments like the CRPF, Punjab Police and BSF may not feel the pinch as these departments normally come forward to their rescue.However, the other judokas who are not working anywhere are feeling the sting as they have to collect the money on their own. At present, many of the selected judokas are finding the going tough and may even opt out of the tour. |
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Impressive display by Central
Rly Ludhiana, March 1 Though the Central Railway team held a clear edge right through the 70-minute contest, they failed to convert the chances that came their way. They earned their first penalty corner in the fourth minute but could not capitalise on this chance. Five minutes later, their left half Elena managed to pierce through NE Railway’s defence and neatly placed the ball into the net 1-0. Central Railway eves forced three more penalty corners in the first half ( 17th, 26th and 34th minute) but could not translate these chances into goal. NE Railway too wasted a penalty corner in the 28th minute. In the second session, North Eastern Railway, after surviving some anxious moments, got a fine chance to restore the parity in the 45th minute but the hit taken by left back Francisca Kujur off a penalty corner was padded off by Central Railway’s goalkeeper Rebika. In the 58th minute, Helen Mary of Central Railway ran down the flank to score a superb field goal to increase the lead 2-0. Trailing by two goals to nil, NE Railway women made some relentless assaults over their rival’s citadel but failed to beat an agile goalkeeper Rebika. Earlier, Mr Jaswant Singh, a marathon runner who represented Great Britain in Los Angeles Olympics (1984), inaugurated the five-day tournament. He gave Rs 1 lakh to the organisers of this tournament, MPS Grewal Memorial Charitable Trust for uplifting the women’s hockey in this part of the region. |
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Disposal of Jadeja’s plea
on April 17 New Delhi, March 1 Saying the prime years of a cricketer were limited, Justice Manmohan Sarin felt there was a need for early hearing and disposal of the petition and fixed the matter for April 17 after the Chief Justice’s bench decided the question of maintainability of the petition clearing doubts raised about the status of the board, whether or not it was performing the functions of a state body. The judge said the BCCI would be given no further extensions in the matter and asked the board to file its reply if any on the merits of the case within two weeks. He also told both parties to file short synopsis on their respective stands.
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Linares, March 1
