SPORTS

Nationals lead in DSA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 11
Reigning champions Indian Nationals Club took a 2-0 lead against former league champions Nivia-Mughals Club in the first leg semi-final match of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Senior Division Football League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Monday.

Both the teams will meet in the second leg semi-final on March 13 at 3.30 pm. In the second semi-final, Hindustan Club and City Club were involved in a goalless draw in the first leg clash.

They will meet in the second leg on March 13 at 1.30 pm.

Mughals failed to live upto the strength of their team, despite fielding four outstation players on the All-India Football Federation’s loan scheme. Mughals thus had in their line-up Subash Negi of Churchill Brothers of Goa, Sunil Rawat of Bengal-Mumbai Club and Rahul Sharma of Himalayan Tigers of Himachal Pradesh. But these players made no difference in the fortune of Mughals as Nationals played to their strength to call the shots throughout.

Mughals’ mid-field was non-functional, and as a result, the forwards were starved of meaningful passes. But their custodian Vinay Singh effected some amazing saves to restrict Nationals to a 2-0 victory in the first leg.

Vinay Singh’s alert keeping baulked the efforts of Nationals’ strikers Cassious Owino, J.P.Yadav, Manjit Singh and Arjinder Singh.

After a goalless first half, Nationals effected two crucial substitutions, bringing in Gurjit and J.P.Yadav in place of Sachin and Aurjinder, respectively. These changes brought them instant reward as striker Cassious Owino, who had looked dangerous most of the time, eventually hit the bull’s eye in the 49th minute to put Nationals ahead (1-0).

Substitute J.P.Yadav enhanced the lead (2-0) in the 76th minute with a fine shot. Mughals’ mid-fielder Subash Negi and captain Rajesh Arya muffed easy chances, as they failed to put it past rival custodian Bishwa Nath Dev, time and again.

In the second semi-final, Hindustan Club and City were engaged in a well-contested match, and both the teams got a number of opportunities to score, but the defenders and the goalkeepers foiled the forwards’ bid to strike it rich.

City were well-served by their mid-fielders Irfan Khan, Vivek Sharma and Vimal Thapa, who mounted pressure on the Hindustan goal. But Hindustan defender Ravinder Singh guarded his goal like a one-man army to foil City strikers Bhupinder Sharma, Nageshwar Rao and Sunil Chetri.

Hindustan’s experienced players, A.Kunle, Felix and Saidi, created a number of scoring opportunities, but forward Parveen Arora failed to cash in on the opportunities.

Though both the teams made substitutions in the second half in a bid to revitalise their attacks, a goal still proved to be an elusive one. Felix and Mahipal Singh of Hindustan Club and Bijender Kumar of City were shown the yellow card by referee Ramesh Rehani for rough play.

RC India vs Rest of Asia golf match today 
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 11
Indian players will match their golfing skills against Rest of Asia on Tuesday as an interesting build up to the Royal Challenge Indian Open Golf Championship to be held at the Delhi Golf Club course from March 14 to 17.

The Royal Challenge Pro Am will be held on March 13. The Indian Open has a 156-strong field.

The RC Indian Open will mark the beginning of what promises to be a long relationship between India’s flagship golf tournament and Royal Challenge. International Management Group (IMG) will manage the tournament.

The RC International Match is a unique clash, which gets two teams of two players each to pit their golfing skills against each other in an interesting fashion.

The Indian team will comprise Vijay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, the top two overall leaders of the Royal Challenge Grand Prix Money list.

The Indian duo will go against Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand and Anthony Kang of Korea, who will represent “Rest of Asia”.

The format of the match is unique in that it will have five components: 1. Longest drive, 2. 150 yard shot, 3. Pitch shot over the bunker, 4. Bunker shot, 5. Putting.

Each player will be required to showcase his skills in these five areas. Each player will hit three golf balls for every component and the best shot shall be recorded.

After all the players have finished with their three shots, the points will be tabulated.

The player with the best shot in each skills section will get 10 points, while the second best will get six points. The third best will get four points and the fourth placed gains two points.

The points of both players will constitute the team score. They will compete in all five skill areas after which their points will be totalled.

The team with the most points will win the Royal Challenge International Match taking home US$ 8,000 to be shared between the two players while the other team gets to share US$4,000.

Speaking on the Skills Match, Rishi Narain, Director (Golf), IMG, said, “This is a great initiative and is designed to create awareness on various aspects of the game.

Skills in these areas separate good golfers from great ones. And the Delhi fans will love this Match, which we hope will become a regular feature in the future.” Wiratchant and Kang, both highly consistent on the Asian PGA Tour this year, are currently placed fifth and eighth on the APGA Order of Merit. They are the top ranked Asian golfers in the RC Indian Open field.

Vijay Kumar, winner of the inaugural RC Grand Prix tournament in NOIDA during the Christmas week, finished tied for 15th at the RCGP in Mumbai and then finished behind Rafiq Ali in the third and final RCGP event in Kolkata. Mukesh Kumar, meanwhile, tied for fourth in the first RCGP and then won the second in Mumbai tying for tenth in Kolkata.

‘Testing’ time for England and NZ
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 11
After the sizzling five-match One-Day International series between England and New Zealand, the two teams will now fight it out in the longer version of the game, and Star Sports will bring live the action beginning with the first Test in Christchurch from March 13 to 17.

Following the 3-2 win in the One-Day International series, Stephan Fleming’s New Zealand team are brimming with confidence.

No wonder, New Zealand fancy their chances of beating England in the three-Test series too. The New Zealand success had come on the strength of the performances put up by newcomers who rallied round senior players such as Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns and Chris Harris, admirably.

Star Sports will bring the action live of all the three Test matches. The second Test will be held at Wellington from March 21 to 25 and the third Test at Auckland from March 30 to April 3.

The first session of the first Test will begin at 2.55 pm and the second session at 5.30 pm.

The Test series is likely to generate a lot of interest as captain Stephan Fleming and his team have been performing splendidly without a noteworthy and convincing Test-series triumph for far too long. Home advantage, familiar wickets and crowd support will also favour a Kiwi triumph in the Test series.

For England captain Nasser Hussain, the reasons for his anxiety and excitement are different. In the none-too-familiar conditions in India recently, his team did reasonably well. However, in more acquainted New Zealand, his team faltered for starters. They lost the first two one-day internationals, then regained ground by winning the next two one-dayers to square the series with the last game generating a lot of interest. 

Khanna hails Yashpal’s appointment
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 11
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice-president C.K.Khanna, who is also the senior vice-president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), hailed the appointment of former Test player Yashpal Sharma as the coach of the India ‘A’ team’s tour of South Africa.

Mr Khanna said “it is a matter of great pride that BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmia has appointed former Test cricketer and head coach of the National Cricket Academy (North Zone) as coach of the India A team”.

Yashpal was the head coach of the NCA (North Zone) when a two-month camp was held at the DDCA during the summer vacation last year. Many of his trainees were then shortlisted to be admitted to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Yashpal Sharma has been a solid and dependable batsman during his Test playing days. He was also a key member of the Indian team when they lifted the 1983 World Cup in England, under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. Yashpal has always been associated with Delhi cricket in one capacity or another even after he quit playing competitive cricket. The due recognition given by the BCCI in appointing Yashpal as the coach of the India A team, is an acknowledgement of his coaching skills.

DSA to hold open trials for Under-21 team
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 11
The Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) will hold open trials-cum-training camp from March 14 at 3 pm at the Ambedkar Stadium, to select the Delhi Under-21

Football team for the National Championship to be held in Jammu in the last week of March.

DSA joint-secretary N.K.Bhatia said in the Capital on Monday that the managing committee has constituted a selection committee with Mr D.K. Bose as convenor and Mr O.P.Malhotra as chairman-cum-chief coach.

Mr Jagdish Malhotra and Mr Hakikat Singh will be the assistant coaches and will assist in the selection of the team.

Interested players may report to Mr D.K.Bose or Mr O.P.Malhotra on March 14 at the Ambedkar Stadium, along with their original date of birth certificates.

Gautam stars in Chand’s victory

New Delhi, March 11
Gautam Gambir played a swashbuckling knock of 78 with eight crackling boundaries and off-spinner Siddarth Verma claimed 4 for 38 to power Chand Khanna to a five-wicket victory against Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and enter the semi-final of the SAIL Trophy Cricket Tournament at Mohan Nagar. Gautam Gambir was declared the man of the match.

Muskan Singh helps HDFC win

New Delhi, March 11
Muskan Singh struck a strokeful unbeaten 63, studded with 12 boundaries, to help HDFC Bank beat American Express by eight wickets in the ninth Teri Cup Cricket Tournament organised by Teri at the Teri Oval. American Express won the toss and opted to bat.

Scores: American Express: 130 all out in 22.4 overs (Ritesh Soin 58, 5x4, 3x6; Nitin 2/21, Girish 2/23). HDFC Bank: 133 for 2 wickets in 13.2 overs (Muskan Singh 63 n.o, 12x4; Vinay K 14 n.o, 1x4).OSR

Police campaign against gambling pays off

Gurgaon, March 11
The police have launched a special drive to check the sale of unauthorised lotteries (noting numbers on plain paper) and gambling with cards in the district. According to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr Kuldeep Singh Siag, all Station House Officers (SHOs) have been directed to ensure that no playing of cards for the purpose of gambling should be allowed in their respective jurisdictions. The result of the campaign, started in the beginning of the calendar year, was very encouraging as the police had been able to arrest not only several gamblers but also a number of hardcore criminals who used to visit these spots, said the SSP.