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Wednesday,
March 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Rathore flays East Zone attack West Zone wrest initiative on opening day ‘Zimbabwe tour under review’ Hewitt, Capriati scrape through
Tyson-Lewis fight set for June 8 One-sided bouts mark opening
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Bagan defeat Punjab Police Sunil Kumar ousts top seed Bopanna Top golfers for
Chandigarh Open Beckham dreams of lifting World Cup
Badminton coaches’ seminar in
Jalandhar
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Rathore flays East Zone attack New Delhi, March 26 North Zone, after winning the toss, opted to bat, and considering the weak bowling strength of East Zone, it was only natural that the North batsmen, led by Rathore, made merry on a wicket that held no terror for the batsmen. The East Zone bowlers toiled without much reward on a hot and sultry day, though East Zone captain Sanjay Raul used his bowling resources quite well, though the rewards were late in coming, that too in a trickle. Opening batsmen Akash Chopra and Vikram Rathore launched into a blistering attack on the East Zone bowling from the word go, and when the first-wicket partnership was broken, they had put on 140 runs. In fact, East Zone could get a couple of cheap wickets only after the tea break when Pankaj Dharmani and Mithun Minhas left in the space of 34 runs. But North Zone had been given a solid foundation by Chopra and Rathore with a sound batting display. Rathore played a composed, yet aggressive, innings to take the sting out of the East Zone bowling. Rathore carted the bowlers to all corners of the field, and at the end of the day, he had 23 boundaries, in his unbeaten knock of 149, which came off 265 balls after 360 minutes of batting. Chopra was going great guns when he played off-spinner Saurashish Lahiri into the hands of captain Sanjay Raul at square leg for 58 (185m, 161b, 8x4). North Zone were so comfortably placed that they were 84 for no loss at lunch and 186 for one by tea. After the exit of Chopra, Pankaj Dharmani gave solid support to Rathore, and they put on 68 runs for the second wicket, before Dharmani fell, with Lahiri enticing him to play into the hands of Devang Gandhi at cover for 29 (93m, 73b, 2x4, 1x6). Though captain Mithun Manhas could make only six runs, he helped Rathore put on 34 runs for the third wicket. Manhas was caught off Laxmi Rattan Shukla by Subhomoy Das at mid-wicket for six. Night-watchman Shafiq Khan saw through the the next four overs without making any score, as North Zone posted a satisfying total. The entire selection committee, led by its chief Chandu Borde, at hand to witness Vikram Rathore’s chanceless century knock, and it must have really impressed them to get him in the reckoning for the India team. Under the circumstances, East Zone captain Sanjay Raul did well to persist with off-spinner Lahiri, though he came in for a lot of punishment as his 29 overs cost 89 runs, but it was eventually he, who got a couple of important wickets to put some sort of shackles on North’s unbridled batting display. Scoreboard North Zone (Ist innings): Chopra c Rahul b Lahiri 58, Rathore batting 149, Dharmani c Gandhi b Lahiri 29, Manhas c Das b Shukla 6, Khan batting 0. Extras: (b-1, lb-1, nb-5) 8. Total: (for 3 wkts, 92 overs) 250. Fall of wickets: 1-140, 2-208, 3-242. Bowling: Ingty 10.2-2-31-0, Shukla 11-4-22-1, Chatterjee 31-10-69-0, Das 3-0-13-0, Lahiri 29-3-89-2, Rahul 7.4-1-23-0. |
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West Zone wrest initiative on opening day Chennai, March 26 Consistent opener S. Sriram made 82, while Hyderabad’s Vinay Kumar’s 37 and an unbeaten 41 by seasoned S. Sharath all contributed to the total after captain M S.K. Prasad won a good toss. But for a 67-run stand between Sriram and Vinay Kumar and another 47 by Sriram and Barrington, the home team would have been in dire straits. South made three changes, dropping Sadagopan Ramesh, Vijay Bhardwaj and Suresh Kumar for Barrington Rowland, M.R. Srinivas and H Watekar, while West-Zone brought in Kaushik Aphale, Sitanshu Kotak, Niranjan Godbole and Ajit Agarkar. Agarkar, opening with the new ball for West Zone, maintained a good line and length on a placid wicket in his three spells of 18 overs. He finished with figures of 2 for 36. Though Irfan Pathan (jr) bowled with variation to both right and left-handed batsmen, he went wicketless. Sairaj Bahutule claimed two for 40. Ramesh Powar (1/77) and Hrishikesh Kanitkar (1/12) were the other wicket-takers. After Prasad’s exit, Sriram and Vinay Kumar put up a good stand, with the former despatching loose deliveries to the ropes promptly. Kanitkar pinned hopes on leg spinner Bahutule at the road end and shuffled his bowlers at the pavilion end. But the pair thwarted the attack until Bahutule broke the partnership. Vinay Kumar tried to cut a sharp-turning delivery, only to see Ajit Bhoite effect a superb diving catch to his left. Vinay Kumar took 90 minutes for his 37 runs and faced 84 balls, which contained three hits to the fence and a six off Ramesh Powar over mid wicket fence. The pair had then added 67 runs of 26.1 overs for the second wicket. While most of the West bowlers were rather economical, the South batsmen scored freely against offie Ramesh Powar. Sriram reached his 50 in 209 minutes with eight fours. He did the bulk of the scoring in the company of Barrington (15), who was dismissed when he was caught by Powar off his own bowling. The third wicket stand yielded 47 runs in 15.1 overs. South Zone (1st innings): S. Sriram C Williams b Kanitkar 82, M.S.K. Prasad c Aphale B Bahutule 23, D. Vinay Kumar c Bhoite B Bahutule 37, B. Rowland c & b Powar 15, H. Badani c Mongia b Agarkar 17, S. Sharath batting 41, R.V. Ch. Prasad b Agarkar 10, K.S. Shabuddin batting 2. Extras: (b-2, lb-1, nb-3) 6. Total (for 6 wkts, 96 overs) 233. Fow: 1-42, 2-109, 3-156, 4-170, 5-201, 6-229. Bowling: Agarkar 18-8-36-2; Pathan (Jr) 15-7-26-0; Godbole 5-1-7-0; Powar 25-6-77-1; Bahutule 20-3-40-2; Bhoite 6-0-32-0; Kanitkar 7-2-12-1.
PTI |
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‘Zimbabwe tour under review’ Melbourne, March 26 “We review it on a daily basis,’’ ACB public affairs general manager Brendan McClements told Reuters today. “We’ll have no hesitation in pulling out if it becomes unsafe, at any stage during or before the tour. “In the ideal world, if it becomes clear that it is unsafe, that decision will be made sooner rather than later. I don’t think there’s a question of compromising player safety.’’ McClements said the ACB were expecting to name a squad of about 13 players later this week for the two Tests, to be played in April and May. Australia beat South Africa 2-1 in a three-Test series in South Africa and lead their seven-match one-day series 2-0. Australia Prime Minister John Howard’s high-profile role in Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Commonwealth in the wake of the presidential elections this month had added to the risk of violence, Australia foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer warned last week.
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Hewitt, Capriati scrape through
Key Biscayne (USA), March 26 The defending Grand Slam champions each needed to surpass a crisis to claim victory at Crandon Park. Hewitt had the easier time, producing his third consecutive win over Jan-Michael Gambill 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. “It was good,” said the 21-year-old Australian. “Jan-Michael always starts well. I haven’t had too many chances to break him early in past matches. He played incredible tennis for the whole first set”. “I actually thought I wasn’t playing that bad, I just hung in there like always. In the end it paid
off.” Capriati, who survived a close call 24 hours earlier when she needed three sets to get past Russian Anastasia
Myskina, found herself in similar strife yesterday against 15th seed Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan. The treble Grand Slam champion eventually pulled out a tortured 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 win, but not without plenty of drama -most of it supplied by the hard-hitting 21-year-old from Tashkent. American Pete Sampras suffered a 7-6, (7/1), 6-1 defeat to Chilean qualifier Fernando Gonzalez. The loss leaves the holder of 13 Grand Slam singles crowns still searching for his first title since Wimbledon 2000. I didn’t serve at all well,” said
Sampras. “I was giving him a lot of looks at some second serves. And the way he was returning and passing, it was tough to serve and volley out there”. “There’s no comfort in getting beat the way I did today. I need to get in good tennis shape and get back on the practise court. When you lose, it feels like taking a step back.” Sixth-seeded Russian Marat Safin battled hard for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, (7-3) third-round win over Peruvian Luis
Horna, playing in his first main draw event. Romania’s Andrei Pavel knocked out fourth seed Tommy Haas 7-6, (8/6), 6-7, (5/7), 7-6, (8/6) taking more than three hours. British fifth seed Tim Henman overcame a stiff neck which required a first-set injury time-out, coming back to produce a victory against Spain’s Felix Mantilla 7-5, 6-4. Roger
Federer, No 12 seed, defeated Spain’s Albert Portas 6-4 6-1 while American James Blake stopped Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-4, 6-3 to book himself into the round of 16. It was smooth sailing for the top women, with second seed Venus Williams and No 3 Martina Hingis collecting identical 6-2 6-0 results.
Hingis, who beat American Alexandra Stevenson, has lost only four games in four matches. Williams knocked out Amanda Coetzer to improve an impeccable career record against Coetzer to 8-1. “It was one of those days when nothing went wrong,” said Williams. “And it wasn’t her best day at all.” Other winners included fourth seed Kim
Clijsters, No 5 Mo-nica Seles, and No 8 Serena Williams. Spain’s Arantxa
Sanchez-Vicario lost to Russian Tatiana Panova 6-1, 7-6, (10-8). AFP |
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Tyson-Lewis fight set for June 8 Las Vegas, March 26 Lewis will defend his WBC and the IBF heavyweight titles against Tyson in one of the most anticipated fights in recent years, although one that might have lost some of its appeal as the two camps argued for years over whether they would actually fight. The scheduled 12-round bout will be held at the Pyramid arena, which will seat about 20,000 and where ringside seats will go for $2,500. It could be one of the richest fights ever, with revenues approaching $100 million and each fighter due at least $17.5 million. “We now have close to 11 weeks before fight and I believe everything is fine,” Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel said. “Mike is ready to fight.” The fight that was rejected by Nevada boxing officials after Tyson misbehaved at a January press conference ended up in Memphis after a road show in which it was shopped to various cities around the country. In some cities — including Washington, DC, and Detroit -it was welcomed. In others, politicians gave Tyson a chilly reception and suggested promoters look elsewhere. Memphis landed it with promises of a $12.5 million site fee - not to mention a willingness to overlook Tyson antics that included a brawl and outburst at the January news conference first announcing the fight. In return, the city hopes to gain a reputation as a major player in big-time sports. “It certainly will boost the tourism awareness for that city,” said John Wade, Tennessee’s tourism commissioner. Those close to the negotiations said Memphis promoters still had not come up with the $12.5 million letter of credit and may not be involved with the fight. The money obstacle reportedly was overcome when Tyson’s camp agreed to take its money only after the Lewis camp was paid. Promoters formally announced the fight last night, just before a deadline by the International Boxing Federation. The IBF had given Lewis until yesterday to make the fight or else fight No. 1 contender Chris Byrd. The much-shopped bout was in jeopardy as late as Friday when local promoters couldn’t come up with the site fee after a ban refused to issue a letter of credit because of “moral issues.” Production representatives of the HBO and Showtime networks were in Memphis yesterday to tour the Pyramid arena in advance of the pay-per-view telecast. The fight originally was going to be held on April 6 in Las Vegas, but Nevada boxing authorities refused to give Tyson a boxing licence after an outburst at a January press conference. Finkel said the delay will help sell the fight because considerable publicity has been generated while the fight was being shopped around and negotiated. “We’ve had a seven-week commercial basically since the press conference in New York,” Finkel said. Tyson and Lewis each are reportedly guaranteed $17.5 million to fight for the IBF and WBC titles Lewis holds, and could earn millions more if the fight grabs the attention of the public. Promoters also stand to make a bundle, with projections that the fight could gross $100 million from the site fee and pay-per-view sales. The fight not only had to be made yesterday to meet the IBF deadline, but it also faced other deadlines. Cable operators needed to keep the date open, and organisers need at least two months to properly promote the fight. Lewis (39-2-1, 30 KOs), last fought on November 17 when he stopped Hasim Rahman in the fourth round of their rematch. Tyson (49-3, 2 NC, 43 KOs) hasn’t fought since beating Brian Nielsen in the seventh round on October 13 in Copenhagen.
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One-sided bouts mark opening
day Patiala, March 26 Barring the light flyweight bout between Praful Lal of Kerala and S. K. Behra of Orissa, there was little for boxing enthusiasts who thronged the venue. Praful Lal ,who outwitted his opponent 15-13, began with a flurry of punches and the Kerala pugilist nearly knocked out his rival with a solid left-right combination in the third round. However, the Orissa lad came back strongly in the next round before finally wilting under pressure. In the only other bout that went the distance, M.Bains of Delhi overcome K. R. Naidu of Andhra Pradesh 12-9 in the light flyweight category. Bains opened with a barrage of right-handed hooks, as his opponent was devastated by the swiftness and speed of his rival and gave up the fight midway. All other bouts of the day were either decided by referee stops contest (RSC) verdicts or by clean knock-outs. Other results: Light flyweight:
Anil Khandwal (Uttaranchal) b Rahul Sonkar (MP) — RSC, Praful Lal (Kerala) b S. K. Behra (Orissa) 15-13, S.Kumar (Uttaranchal) b L.K.B Rane (Goa) 12-0, M.Bains (Delhi) b K.R Naidu (AP) 9-6, Robin Dev (Haryana) b G.S Nathan — RSC, A.L.H Mawia (Mizoram) b V. C. Rohit (Kerala) — RSC, Abhishek Shah (Delhi) b R.K. Dass (Chandigarh) 15-3, G. Singh (Punjab) b Sonu Kumar (Haryana) 14-8, Sunil Kumar (SPSCB) beat Bishnu Barik (Orissa) — RSC, L.Sanjay Kumar (SPSCB) b O. Babu (Punjab) — RSC. Bantamweight: Subodh Dhyani (Bengal) b H. S. Jamuwal (J&K) —RSC. |
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Bagan defeat Punjab Police Jalandhar, March 26 For Mohun Bagan the scores were J.R. Barretto, who got a brace, and A.L. Serrikki, while Parveen Kumar succeeded in reducing the margin of defeat for Punjab Police. The score was 2-1 at half time. Mohun Bagan went into the lead in the 18th minute when Basudev sent a through pass to J.R. Barretto, who shot into the goal on the run to put his side 1-0 up. However, two minutes later Parveen Kumar of Punjab Police shot from outside the penalty box, catching the rival custodian off guard and slid the ball past his outstretched hands to level the tally 1-1. In the 28th minute, Bagan again shot into lead when J.R. Barretto centered from the right flank and A.L. Serrikki slid the ball past on the rushing Punjab Police goalkeeper (2-1). In the second half, Punjab Police made a number of good moves but failed to score. In the 58th minute Barretto scored once again through a pass from A.L. Serrikki to make it 3-1 for the winners. With this win Mohun Bagan have 35 points from 18 matches while Punjab Police have 8 points. |
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Sunil Kumar ousts top seed Bopanna Kolkata, March 26 Bopanna, who had won the ITF Men’s Futures tournament in New Delhi last week, could not show the same form as he went down to a determined Sipaeya while former Davis cupper Vishal Uppal of Delhi knocked out fifth-seeded Rishi Sridhar of Tamil Nadu on an eventful day. All the other seeded players in the men’s section moved into the quarterfinals though second-seeded Nitin Kirtane of Maharashtra and seventh-seeded Kamala Kannan of Tamil Nadu found the going tough against their spirited opponents. Barring third seed Sai Jayalakshmy of Maharashtra, who was stretched to three sets, all the other seeded players in the women’s section were not really tested as they carved out straight set victories to keep their hopes alive. Displaying an aggressive brand of tennis, Sipaeya took one and half hours to send top seed Bopanna crashing out of the tournament with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 verdict.
PTI |
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Top golfers for Chandigarh
Open Chandigarh, march 26 The Chandigarh Open offers Rs 6 lakh in prize money with the winner getting richer to the tune of Rs 97,200. The tournament commences with the pro-am on March 27. The four-day professional tournament scheduled to be held from March 28 to 31 will witness the cut applied on the 29th with the top 50 players plus those tied at the 50th position progressing to the money-making rounds. The tournament, the final stroke-play event of the season, will mark the 22nd leg of the Hero Honda Golf Tour’s 2001-02 season. “I am looking forward to the HT-Pro Golf Chandigarh,” said Mukesh Kumar, top-ranked golfer on the tour. “I have an excellent record this season but I am yet to win one. I hope to change that statistic this week,” added the leader of this season’s money list. The field for the event looks formidable with the list of participants including the likes of twice Champion Golfer of the Year award winner Mukesh Kumar; 98 Indian Open winner Feroz Ali; winner of the HT-Pro Golf Lucknow and leading Rookie of the year Rahil Gangjee; HT Pro-Golf Kolkata winner Indrajit Bhalotia; two-time Honda-Siel PGA Golf Championship winner Uttam Singh Mundy; twice-Indian Open winner Ali Sher; thrice Hero Golf Chandigarh Open winner Amritinder Singh; joint runner-up at the 99 Indian Open, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia and other winners this season including Yusuf ali ( Cosmo-Hindu Open, Chennai), Zai Kipgen ( Hyundai-MGC Open, Chennai) and Rafiq Ali (Royal Challenge Grand Priz, Kolkata). The 7,052-yard, par-72 Chandigarh Golf Club course looks in prime condition for this prestigious event. “We have made seven sand-based Bermuda grass greens with more contours and they are playing very well. I think the course will play a little longer as the fairways are softer but the pros will love the conditions,” said Col Baidwan, Captain, Chandigarh Golf Club. The seventh hole is one of the longest par 5’s in th country measuring 613 yards. |
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Beckham dreams of
lifting World Cup
London, March 26 This time he is leading the team out as captain and is already dreaming of collecting the trophy. “You always dream of things. I personally have thought about the World Cup already, straight after the Greece game,” said Beckham, whose injury time free kick equaliser against the Greeks secured England’s qualification. “Leading the team to the World Cup finals is going to be a dream come true for me, especially being captain”. “Every youngster dreams of lifting FA Cups, European Cups and World Cups. I’ve lifted a few trophies so far and it would be nice to lift this one as well,” the Manchester United midfielder said during the buildup to tomorrow’s warmup game against Italy.
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Badminton coaches’ seminar in
Jalandhar Sangrur, March 26 Every year the BCWAI conducts a seminar for its member coaches to provide them knowledge about the latest developments in the game, including sports medicine, psychology and physiology. The unique feature of this year’s seminar is that certain experts from foreign countries have agreed to give lectures. The list includes Dr Gurcharan Guru from Malaysia, who is the FIFA instructor and member of the International Badminton Federation’s medical board (he is also Director, Post Graduate Sports Medicine Course in Malasyia) Dr Michek Gonge, a Canadian sports psychologist, Mr Dave Eddy, Chairman, Elite Play Board, Badminton of England, and Venu Parsad, Development Officer of the Asian Badminton Confederation. Besides these top experts from India will also share their expertise. Dr Guru has already confirmed participation, while from others it is expected any time. According to Mr TPS Puri, President of BCWAI, to conduct this seminar successfully, an organising committee has been formed under the patronage of Satish Chandra, Commissioner, Jalandhar Division, who himself is a keen badminton player. Mr K.Siva Prasad, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, will be the patron while Mr Parveen Kumar ADC, another badminton lover, will be the chairman of the organising committee. Dr Ashok Ahuja will be the chairman of the technical committee. Mr Rajinder Kalsi, Treasurer, Badminton Association of India, is actively involved in the smooth and successful conduct of the seminar. |
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