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Sunday,
April 14, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Pak fined for slow over-rate |
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Vijay Singh grabs four-stroke lead at Masters
India to take on Dutch in opener |
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Britain prays for Beckham recovery
Hockey: IOCL beat Air-India, storm into last four Sai wins ITF title
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India receive early shocks
Georgetown, April 13 Losing two wickets early in their innings, the visitors staged a slight recovery with Sachin Tendulkar putting up two useful partnerships with Shiv Sunder Das and Rahul Dravid. But West Indies, who posted an imposing 501 in their first innings, struck at crucial times to send back Das (33) and Tendulkar (79) to have the Indians struggling. India had a poor start with opener Deep Dasgupta being trapped leg before wicket by Cameron Cuffy in the second over of the innings without even opening his account. Then came a bigger jolt with skipper Saurav Ganguly, who came on to bat at number three, getting out to a clumsy hook shot against Mervyn Dillon. Ganguly managed only five runs and India were reduced to 21 for two in the seventh over. But Tendulkar batted confidently and took the fight to the opposition camp in the company of Das who looked solid in his defence. The duo added 78 for the third wicket before Das played on to his stumps to give debutant speedster Adam Sanford his first Test wicket. Tendulkar, who hit 14 fours in his 194 minute knock, played some fluent strokes, particularly after reaching his fifty, before being out off the penultimate ball before tea. Earlier, West Indies could add just seven runs to their overnight total of 494 for seven before the Indian bowlers dismissed the remaining three wickets in the morning. All-rounder Sanjay Bangar, who claimed his first Test wicket, and leg-spinner Anil Kumble hastened the end of West Indian first innings with quick blows after the home team resumed at their overnight 494 for seven. West Indies could add just seven runs this morning before being bowled out for 501. To compensate for the time lost to rains yesterday, play was to begin half an hour early today but it was not possible due to overcast conditions in the morning. Bangar, who had to stop midway through his 25th over yesterday, struck with his third ball of the morning when he came to complete that over. He hit overnight batsman Mervyn Dillon (0) on the pads and umpire Asoka de Silva had no hesitation in raising his finger. Kumble then picked his second wicket when he trapped Adam Sanford leg before wicket five runs later. Cameron Cuffy was run out to a brilliant pick and throw by Tendulkar to bring the curtains down on the West Indian innings. The Indian innings started much like the home team with Dasgupta falling prey to Cuffy in the second over. Dasgupta, who had a poor innings behind the stumps, failed with the bat too and was out for nought. PTI Scoreboard West Indies (1st innings): Gayle c Dasgupta b Srinath 12 Williams lbw b Srinath 13 Sarwan c Zaheer b Sarandeep 53 Lara c Dasgupta b Srinath 0 Hooper c Sarandeep b Kumble 233 Chanderpaul lbw b Zaheer 140 Murray lbw b Zaheer 0 Nagamootoo not out 15 Dillon lbw b Bangar 0 Sanford lbw b Kumble 1 Cuffy run out (Tendulkar) 0 Extras: (w-3, nb-25, b-6, lb-0): 34. Total: (all out) 501 Bowling: S Ganguly 2.0-1-1-0, Tendulkar 3.0-1-18-0, S. Singh 21.0-5-75-1, Srinath 33.0-9-86-3, Bangar 27.0-5-61-1, Kumble 45.1-6-142-2, Z. Khan 32-8-86-2. India (1st innings): Das b Sanford 33 Dasgupta lbw b Cuffy 0 Ganguly c Nagamootoo b Dillon 5 Tendulkar lbw b Nagamootoo 79 Dravid batting 11 Extras: (b-4, lb-8, w-2, nb-1) 16 Total: (for 4 wkts, 53.5 overs) 144 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-21, 3-99, 4-144. Bowling: Dillon 14-3-42-1, Cuffy 13-4-23-1, Sanford 10-3-31-1, Nagamootoo 13.5-5-33-1, Hooper 3-1-3-0.
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Hooper hops to new heights Georgetown (Guyana), April 13 “Hooper owes West Indies cricket 10,000 runs,” said his fans as he ended up with an unsatisfactory average of 33.76 in 80 Tests betraying the faith reposed in him by the cricket-mad public in the Caribbean islands and the selectors. And yesterday, in the 13th Test of his ‘second innnigs’ after coming out of retirement last year to save West Indies, 35-year-old Hooper achieved his forgotten dream of a double ton scoring 233 eclipsing his 178 against Pakistan in the Antigua Test in 1992-93. As West Indies plunged to new lows under the stewardship of Brian Lara and then Jimmy Adams, Hooper was again hearing the call of international cricket and he showed his form with a record 954 runs at an average of 95.4 in the 2001 Busta Series. Coming out of retirement for his second stint, Hooper had a difficult task of keeping the team focussed and motivated which was lengthening its string of failures with each series. “We seem to be putting our tails between our legs and running for cover,” Hooper said in December after his team lost to Sri Lanka. “I have racked my head but what do you do? Do you change the batting order or pick different players!” he wondered. But captain Hooper didn’t let the Caribbeans down a second time and he was a consistent performer in the last 12 Tests along with Chris Gayle even as West Indies lost seven of the last 12 Tests with just two wins to show. These days he is batting with a responsibility nobody thought he was capable of during his ‘first innings’ in West Indies cricket and yesterday he completed 1000 runs as skipper in only his 13th Test. He is now the only West Indian with the treble of 1000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in both forms of the game. A far cry from the time when Hooper complained to skipper Richie Richardson of frustration and mental and physical tiredness on the tour of England in 1995. He even pleaded to be dropped, before a session was arranged with psychologist Mike Brearley, a former England captain, which made him stay. A few months later, he withdrew from the World Cup in the Indian sub-continent without any proper explanation. He also refused to play in the Hong Kong Sixes Tournament for which he had been named West Indies captain for the first time. Now that his tenure is guaranteed for a longer period all that remains to be seen is whether Hooper would inspire his team to an upset win over India in the coming weeks. PTI |
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Chanderpaul wants more hundreds
Georgetown (Guyana), April 13 “I have more fifties than hundreds and I want to improve on that,” Chanderpaul said after scoring only his third century here after a gap of four years. “It is always good to get a hundred especially if you have only two before.” Chanderpaul whose career was plagued by injuries said he was hurt by the plunge in his career in recent years. “From an average of 50 plus it came down to 30 and it bothered me. I have no hesitation in saying that I am a stats person,” he said. “I have been going through a lean phase but it is largely because I was injured and out of the game. It is never easy to come back from injury and strike form. It takes time to get back into the nick,” said Chanderpaul, who shared a record 293-run fifth wicket stand with skipper Carl Hooper.
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Pak fined for slow over-rate Sharjah, April 13 International Cricket Council match referee Gundappa Vishwanath of India handed down the fines after watching the pace-dominated Pakistani attack take their time to bowl their overs. According to ICC rules, teams should bowl their stipulated quota of 50 overs in the available three-and-a-half hours for an innings in one-day internationals. Pakistan fell short by one over in their first match against Sri Lanka on Monday and were three overs short against New Zealand on Thursday. Vishwanath deducted five per cent from each player’s match fees for every over not completed in time, thereby making it 20 percent in the two matches so far. AFP |
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Vijay Singh grabs four-stroke lead at Masters Augusta (USA), April 13 The 39-year-old Fiji native, calmed after snapping a two-year US win drought two weeks ago, fired a stunning seven-under par 65 here yesterday to seize a four-stroke lead at the 66th Masters. “I wasn’t really expecting to shoot what I did,” Singh said. “I was just going out to play a solid round of golf. I’m surprised. But I’m thrilled about it too.” A lengthened Augusta National Golf Club proved no match for Singh, who fired four birdies and an eagle over the last seven holes to match his best round at a major and stand on nine-under par 135 midway through the year’s first major tournament. Singh captured the 2000 Masters title but was winless in 50 US PGA starts since donning the green jacket until taking last month’s Houston Open. That victory brought relief his 2001 Malaysian Open and Singapore Masters triumphs could not. “It eases a lot of anxiety in my mind,” Singh said. “Any time you don’t win for that long, it plays in your mind a lot. It did play in my mind. This year started off the same way. I was in position to win and I didn’t . “So I had to have a talk with myself and say, ‘Listen, just go out and play your game and if the win comes, it will be great.’ Houston was a good week. I played good, I started well and it just eased the pressure in my mind. Coming over here, I didn’t have any pressure on me.” Adding to his peace of mind was the 63 he fired a few weeks earlier in a practice round over the renovated Masters layout. “You shoot a low number like that on a practice day and you say, ‘Wow, that wasn’t that difficult,’” Singh said. “But you’ve got to remember that was a practice day. It wasn’t tournament conditions. Greens weren’t as fast and it was much easier to play with nothing around you. Yeah I was happy. It kind of eased my mind.” After four runner-up showings and 24 top-10 efforts, he has found greater reason for confidence than his 2000 Augusta victory. “The way I’m playing the last few weeks, that’s going to give me a lot more confidence than knowing I won over here,” he said. “I feel like I’m playing a lot better now than I did two years ago. That should carry me through if I’m playing the same way.” Singh, whose other 65 in a major came in round two of the 1993 PGA Championship, sank a four-foot birdie at the eighth hole and fired a 30 on the back nine to equal the low Masters back nine by a non-US player . His fantastic finish featured a 9-iron to eight feet at the par-3 12th, a birdie at the par-5 13th, a 7-iron to 25 feet for the eagle at the 15th and birdies from 15 feet at the 17th and eight feet at the 18th. “I just haven’t made many mistakes so far,” Singh said. “Hopefully I’m going to keep it down as much as I can. I’m going to play a lot more conservatively when I’m not in position to take the flag, play to the flat part of the greens, take my two putts and get out of there.” The biggest change for Singh since his Masters triumph has been his putter. He adopted a long belly putt about 18 months ago, resting the club on his lower chest to help with putting rhythm. “To me it’s the easiest way to putt. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to any other way of putting.” AFP |
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India to take on Dutch in opener New Delhi, April 13 After the dismal show in the recently held World Cup in Malaysia, which witnessed the sacking of chief coach Cedric D’Souza midway through the tournament, India’s stock has been rather low. In fact, the Indian Hockey Federation is right now busy hunting for a new chief coach as C.R. Kumar, who stepped into the shoes of D’Souza, has expressed his non-availability. IHF sources indicated that the probables for the Champions Trophy and the Busan Asian Games, would be picked a day after the coach is appointed when IHF officials meet in Bangalore next week. An extended camp for Champions Trophy (venue to be decided) would be held before the final team is announced. According to a press release from the International Hockey Federation’s marketing and communications manager Steven Morris, India play their tournament opener with the Dutch after world champions Germany clash with Pakistan, on August 31. The third match on the opening day will be between Australia and Korea. Australia, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Korea and Pakistan are the nations in the fray in the prestigious tournament. The schedule: Aug 31: Germany vs Pakistan, India vs Netherlands, Australia vs Korea; Sep 1: India vs Germany, Korea vs Pakistan, Netherlands vs Australia; Sep 2: rest day; Sep 3: Australia vs India, Pakistan vs Netherlands; Sep 4: Germany vs Korea, India vs Pakistan; Sep 5: Germany vs Australia, Korea vs Netherlands; Sep 6: Pakistan vs Australia, Netherlands vs Germany, Korea vs India; Sep 7: rest day; Sep 8: 5th and 6th positions; 3rd and 4th positions; final. PTI |
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Britain prays for Beckham recovery London, April 13 From the tabloid newspapers to the Financial Times, pundits worried about the possible implications of his foot injury for England’s prospects in the World Cup finals. A series of doctors have been wheeled out to give their prognosis and even Prime Minister Tony Blair has voiced his concern. After the Queen Mother’s lavish funeral earlier this week drew more than a million people, Britain suddenly has a new cause around which to unite. Because as well as being a national sporting hero, Beckham is also an icon off the pitch with celebrity status, profile praised by the government as a role model and endorsement contracts worth millions of dollars. The fear is that England’s inspirational captain may not be fit in time for the finals in South Korea and Japan in June. The tabloid Sun printed a picture of his foot on its front page and called the nation to join in collective prayer. “Lay your hands on David’s foot at noon and make it better,” it urged. “A nation holds its breath — will his left foot mend in time?” worried the Guardian. The Mirror said it was “the most important foot in British sporting history.” Last week the Queen Mother’s death at 101 had the nation on a rollercoaster of emotion, commented Deborah Orr in the Independent. “Then, just as we were wondering what could possibly fill the abyss, along comes international football. Hurrah!” The consensus is that Beckham’s injury in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Spain’s Deportivo la Coruna will keep him out of action for six to eight weeks. England’s first World Cup tie is against Sweden on June 2, seven-and-a-half weeks away. Spoon-bending psychic Yuri Geller tried his best today, telling viewers on the GMTV television to touch the screen and pass on healing powers. Afterwards he said he could feel a tremendous surge of energy. “Why do we worship at the feet of Beckham?” asked the Daily Mail on one of its nine pages devoted to the subject.
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Duscher apologises to Beckham Buenos Aires, April 13 Manchester United midfielder Beckham’s participation in the World Cup finals is in doubt after breaking the second metatarsal bone in his left foot when Deportivo La Coruna player Duscher lunged at him with a two-footed tackle in the Champions League quarterfinal match on Wednesday. Duscher said Beckham had accepted his apology and told him that injuries were part and parcel of football. “I spoke to him on the telephone on Friday. I called because I wanted to put my mind at rest,” Duscher told Argentine national radio yesterday. “I apologised to him and told him that I didn’t intend to injure him, that I just wanted to win the ball. “He understood perfectly and said it was just part of the game and nothing more,” he added. Some English newspapers suggested Duscher’s challenge as deliberate as England must face Argentina in a first-phase World Cup match on June 7. Duscher said he had been horrified at the number of English journalists who had followed his every step since he had returned to Spain following the incident at Old Trafford. “Suddenly a whole load of English journalists appeared at my door, shouting at me. “They are treating me like an assassin, but I didn’t kill anyone,” he said. Duscher said in their telephone conversation, Beckham had “shown he was a great person, because he understood without any problems what had happened and that it was all part of the game.” “Now I just hope that he makes it to the World Cup and that all this finishes soon,” he added. Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa said yesterday he hoped Beckham recovers in time to play against Argentina in the World Cup, saying it would be a better match if the 26-year-old midfielder was on the field. “I am against getting any sporting advantage from the misfortune of others. I’d rather not have it,” said Bielsa shortly before flying to Stuttgart for Argentina’s World Cup warm-up match against Germany on Wednesday. “He’s a great player, I’d be sorry if he couldn’t play. “Rivalry is good and it is even better if your opponents are as strong as you. That’s what we’re looking for. It would be better with Beckham than without him. I hope’s he’s there.”
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Royal couple Tokyo, April 13 The royal couple will also cheer Japan’s national team at their pre-tournament friendly against Sweden on May 25, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper and Kyodo News said. The match will give Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko a chance to interact with Japan’s squad on a more informal basis, Kyodo News said, citing government sources.
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Hockey: IOCL beat Air-India, storm into last four Bangalore, April 13 Punjab Police with four consecutive wins have already stormed into the last four stage. In today’s battle for supremacy, IOC men called the tune going into the lead in the 12th minute when Bikramjeeth Singh converted a penalty corner. Air-India found the equaliser converting a
penalty corner in the 19th minute when Vikram Pillay succeeded. But the gritty IOC took the lead in the 25th minute. Lakwinder Singh fired a goal as IOC led 2-1 at the break. Air-India men, who initially displayed consistency, brought parity striking in the 50th minute when Kishore Kumar produced a splendid goal off a pass from Tushar Khandekar. The penalty corner converted by Bikramjeet Singh, the second for IOC, virtually ensured the team’s passage to the semi-final with 10 points — three wins and a draw. In the other pool “A” match, Tamil Nadu forced a controversial three-all draw on CISF, but had to bow out of the tournament, as it could muster only seven points from five engagements. Thanks to a hat-trick by Prabhakar, including a controversial dying minute goal, Tamil Nadu earned a draw amidst sharp protest by CISF men who led 3-2 till 68th minute. Manager of the CISF team Ajay Singh, not only lodged a protest against Ripudaman Sharma’s decision but even threatened to call off the match and directed his team members to come out of the field. Sharma, however defended his decision maintaining that the ball was “on the line” and none of the CISF players called it as out. The CISF men, however, resumed play, as their withdrawal midway, would have handed them a 5-0 defeat as per the rules of the tournament. Cyril Ekka scored two goals and Partek Kumar another for the CISF. In a pool “B” inconseqential tie between IHF XI and BPCL, Mumbai, both teams palyed one-all draw. While BPCL has lost all the five matches it played, IHF has only two points so far.
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Sai wins ITF title Nagpur, April 13 After losing the first set easily to Lakhani 1-6, Sai came back to take the remaining two sets, 6-3 6-1, in a marathon two and half hour match. Scorching heat affected Sai’s play, who claimed the doubles title pairing Radhika Tulpule yesterday, and she took a medical break after losing the first set. Giant-killer of championship Isha raced to a first set lead against Sai who made some unforced errors and lost her concentration. However, after the break Sai regained her composure to break Lakhani’s serve in the second set. Playing some fine forehand down the line shots, the champion eventually gained control. She broke Isha’s serve twice in a row to lead 4-1 and later ended up taking it 6-3. Isha failed to pull up her game in the decider and mistimed her forehand and played into the hands of experienced Sai.
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