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Wednesday,
April 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India
  
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Indians rue missed chances
Hooper defends
his tactics |
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A keen tussle for title on the cards CCI launches cricket academy
More funds for sports sought |
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Punjab cops lift trophy IWHF puts
off trials
Grand opening for C’wealth Games Sanawarians race to glory Gurbaaz in
joint lead Air Force
soccer Sania advances
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Indians rue missed chances Port of Spain, April 16 “We had a chance to gain the upper hand when we reduced the West Indies to 44-3 on the first morning but couldn’t capitalise on it,” said Ganguly. “One more wicket at that stage would have put the Test in a different perspective,” Ganguly said referring to the dropped chances of West Indian skipper Carl Hooper. “We dropped a crucial chance of Carl Hooper in the early part of his innings,” said Ganguly. “On such flat pitches, if you let such chances go, it becomes very difficult”. Hooper was dropped first ball off an inside edge by wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta off Javagal Srinath and again when a chance flew between Rahul Dravid and V.V.S Laxman at slips when the batsman was on 10. “It was a costly miss which was kind of strange because both Dravid and Laxman are usually very safe catchers,” said Wright referring to the second chance. “It is something we can’t afford in the series.” Hooper made the most of these chances and went on to score his career-best 233 which propelled West Indies to 501 in the first innings. Wright also made a pointed reference to Dasgupta and said the young Indian wicketkeeper would have to catch whatever comes his way. “He has to be reminded that in a close series, you just have to take every catch which is offered. It is going to be a tight series and I think catching is going to be very, very important.” Wright, however, softened the blow on Dasgupta suggesting the Bengal stumper had a far better game than he had against Zimbabwe in New Delhi last month. “But doing well behind the stumps is a priority,” Wright emphasised. Both Ganguly and Wright were happy their team had gone through the first Test unscathed. “I think we had a big opportunity in the first session of the match. Psychologically, we didn’t take it. But it is good the first Test is behind us. We lost the first Test both in Sri Lanka and South Africa. But here we had a good workout which would stand us in good stead for the rest of the series,” said Wright. Ganguly too said the proceedings of the Test were satisfying. “Considering it was the first Test of the series, which is always difficult because you are still trying to get used to the conditions, I think it was pretty satisfying.” Wright said he was bothered by the fact that there was no support for Srinath who bowled beautifully from one end. “Srinath bowled so manfully throughout the Test but was not given much support from the other end. This is an area where we need to improve. If someone takes three wickets from one end, you would like someone to chip in from the other. “However, Sanjay Bangar did a very good job. It was very good for us. He has given us an option of five bowlers,” said Wright. Wright said though a decision was still to be taken on the issue, Bangar had a good chance of opening the innings as did two other openers in the squad makeshft Deep Dasgupta and specialist Wasim Jaffer of Mumbai. Ganguly said there were a lot of openings for places in the series in the Indian team but stopped short of elaborating. Ganguly said he was “sure the pitches in the remaining Tests of the series would not be as flat as Bourda Oval’s was. Going by our experience last time, there would be something in the wicket for the bowlers”. “If you see around the world the Test pitches have generally something in them for the bowlers as well as batsmen,” the skipper said. Wright said there was a very strong self-belief in his side about the coming Test matches. “The belief within the team is very, very strong. It is early days yet but there is a good feeling among the boys for this trip.”
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Ganguly undeterred Port Of Spain (Trinidad), April 16 “I will bat at number three only,” said Ganguly, nodding his head in stubborn defiance as he arrived here this morning for the second Test. Ganguly was dismissed cheaply for five in India’s first and only innings during the first Test, mis-timing a hook to gift a catch to backward square leg after being hit at the back of his shoulder by a rising delivery from Mervyn Dillon. Palpably ill at ease, Ganguly was hopping or missing outside his off-stump for most of the 12 deliveries he faced in the rain-ruined first Test at Georgetown in Guyana. His dismissal led to media and public speculation about his ability to face short-rising deliveries and whether he would be able to stand up to the pace of West Indian fast bowlers. “This is only the first Test of the series,” said Ganguly “We will find out at the end of it.”
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Harbhajan should be ‘fit to play’ Port of Spain (Trinidad), April 16 “He should be okay for the second Test”, Ganguly said on Sunday, hoping he would not have to face a situation like the one he had in the first Test where he missed the services of the champion off-spinner. Harbhajan Singh, being regarded as India’s most potent weapon against a relatively young West Indian side, had to miss the first Test due to a last minute shoulder injury. Though it was not a serious one, a flare up to an old injury, physio Andrew Leipus suggested giving the offie rest for the first Test. Since then, he has undergone various exercises prescribed by Leipus as well as electrical massage treatment.
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Hooper defends his tactics Georgetown, April 16 “I think the criticism has no basis,” said Hooper when he was questioned over his tactics of keeping no short leg or close-in fielders or enough slips when India, facing the second new ball, were 275 for seven needing to reach 302 to avoid the follow-on. “There is no point in keeping a short leg when you feel there is not going to be a bat-pad chance. The same goes for the slips. You also have to look at the kind of bowling we were doing,” said Hooper. India, riding on the eighth wicket stand of 120 runs between Rahul Dravid (144) and Sarandeep Singh (39), not only avoided the follow-on but progressed to 395 for seven before rains forced the Test to end in a draw here yesterday. Coach Roger Harper said he was disappointed with his bowlers who bowled a lot of four-scoring balls. “That’s not the way to bowl in Test cricket,” he said. Hooper said despite his batsmen’s good showing in the Test, a lot of work still remained to be done. “We lost early wickets and then towards the close, we again lost quick wickets. We were 44 for three and it could have easily become 44 for four.” “Then it would have been a different ball game altogether. There are areas in batting where we can do better.” Hooper appreciated the efforts of Cameron Cuffy but said he expected more from Mervyn Dillon. “I think Cuffy bowled very well. Dillon has been short of work since coming back to the game through a knee
injury and that probably told on him,” said Hooper. Cuffy emerged as the most
succseful bowler in the rain-ruined first Test that ended in a draw yesterday finishing with 3 for 57 off 27 overs.
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A keen tussle for title on the cards Sharjah, April 16 The Asian giants ousted injury-hit New Zealand in the three-nation preliminary league to set up an exciting tussle worth $120,000 to the winners. Sri Lanka have the psychological edge after beating Pakistan both times in the league, but skipper Sanath Jayasuriya is wary of taking victory for granted. “You can never predict how a final goes, it all depend on how well the teams take the pressure of a crunch match,” Jayasuriya said. The Sri Lankan captain knows victory is never a certainty. Six months back, his team lost the Champions Trophy final here to Pakistan despite being the favoured team after the league stage. “We have not forgotten what happened here last October,” he said. “That defeat still hurts and we are determined to make up for it.” Despite both league matches going Sri Lanka’s way this time, there is little to separate the two teams, especially in the bowling. While Pakistan have a star-studded line-up of captain Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq, Sri Lanka are banking on seamers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa and versatile off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Little wonder then that the bowlers have dominated the proceedings in the two league matches between the finalists. In the first game, Jayasuriya hit 87 off 78 balls, but found no support at the other end and were restricted to 242-9 from 50 overs. Batting under lights, Pakistan were shot out for 201 with Muralitharan taking three for 27 from 10 overs. The second match was much closer, Pakistan losing by nine runs as Vaas and Zoysa conceded just nine runs in the last three overs. Five of the six league matches were won by sides batting first and both Jayasuriya and Waqar conceded winning the toss could be crucial. Waqar, whose team changed the trend yesterday when they thrashed New Zealand by eight wickets said he would prefer to bat first against Sri Lanka. “There is a lot of pressure chasing targets in a final and although we did that well against New Zealand, I think batting first is a better option,” he said. Sri Lanka will be hoping that Marvan Atapattu continue his good form after notching up three consecutive half-centuries in the league. But dashing Pakistani opener Shahid Afridi ended the bowlers’ domination over the last 10 days when he hammered the first century of the tournament yesterday. His spectacular 108 not out off 92 balls against the Kiwis, studded with seven boundaries and eight sixes, showed there was hope for batsmen willing to play their shots. “It’s not been a big-scoring tournament so far, but the final could provide some fireworks,” Waqar said. Likely teams: Pakistan: Waqar Younis (capt), Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul Haq, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq. Sri Lanka:
Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Russel Arnold, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Dharmasena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana.
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CCI launches cricket academy Mumbai, April 16 Speaking on the occasion at the Barbourne Stadium in the CCI complex in south Mumbai, Mr Dungarpur said that he was grateful for getting persons completely devoted to the game to run the academy. He said this year the academy would run for only two months but from next year (2003-04) it would be a full 12-month schedule with the boys’ schooling also done here. An otherwise affable Mr Dungarpur, however, did not miss a chance to lash out at his bete noire, the present BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said he was pained by the fact that not a single entry had been received from Kolkata. “I hope it is by accident and not design,’’ Mr Dungarpur remarked. “This academy is about cooperation, not confrontation and we want it to be an ancillary of the BCCI,’’ Mr Dungarpur said. He also rued the fact that for the first time a former board president had called up the present board chief and had not received any good response from the other side. Mr I.S. Bindra, another former president of the BCCI who also echoed Mr Dungarpur’s views said, “we do not want conflict with the BCCI and his experience has been that whatever the differences of opinion in the BCCI, when it comes to cricket matters the board has always been one and hoped it would continue to do so’’. Mr Dungarpur also spoke about about the plans to have an indoor cricket school at Sriram Mills here at a cost of Rs 2 crore, which would be completed by August or September. The governing body for the indoor school would comprise four former board presidents —Mr N.K.P. Salve, Dr A.C. Muttiah, Mr I.S. Bindra and Mr Raj Singh Dungarpur and four former Indian captains Bishen Singh Bedi, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Polly Umrigar and Nari Contractor. The academy will have 21 boys in the age-group of 14-16 years this year who would undergo training under the head coach Vasu Paranjpe and assistant coach Kiran More. A physical trainer Vijay Alva and a physiotherapist Kinjal Suratwala have also been appointed, while Nari Contractor, Polly Umrigar and Hanumant Singh will form the core of advisors for the academy. The boys have been selected after conducting a trial by a selection committee comprising Nari Contractor (chairman), Milind Rege, Hanumant Singh and Vasu Paranjpe. The academy’s programme had been chalked out by former Australian cricket captain and coach Bobby Simpson who would also be available to give guidance to the boys from May 15 to 21. It was also informed that the boys who would be selected would be the ones boys who failed to get into the national cricket academy and the zonal academies of the board. The boys would have one net session, while the other session would be devoted to fitness training, strategies by watching videos and motivational speeches of the former players. The academy will also appoint a nutrition specialist, dietician expert, yoga expert and a statistician to maintaining the data sheet and report on the trainees.
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More funds for sports sought New Delhi, April 16 Mr Kang, who called on Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Uma Bharti at her office here today, apprised the Minister that there was a lot of untapped sports potential in the villages of Punjab, and if the “sportsmen at the village, block, district and state level are organised and encouraged by providing them more incentives and facilities, then we can produce good sportsmen at every level”. Mr Kang told Ms Uma Bharti that during the sixth National Games hosted by Punjab, the Punjab sportspersons had made a record haul of 163 medals. Mr Kang stressed that to strengthen the sports and youth welfare
activites in Punjab, there was an urgent need to make available more sports equipments, kits and infrastructure in schools, colleges, sports clubs and other sports institutions in the State. He also sought an increase in the diet money provided to sportspersons to extract better performance from them. Mr Kang also suggested that government jobs should be reserved for sportspersons who excell at the district, state and national level. Mr Kang blamed the previous Prakash Singh Badal Government in the state of neglecting sports in Punjab as it had “neither shown any special interest in sports nor made any appropriate budget provision for promotion of sports in the state.” He pointed out that “due to the mismanagement in financial administration”, Punjab was passing through financial constraints and crisis now. He suggested that keeping this in view, the Central Government should provide more funds/grants under the Centrally-sponsored schemes to Punjab, especially to the Department of Sports and Youth Services. Mr Kang told Ms Bharti that under the Centrally sponsored schemes, for some schemes, the first instalment had been released by the Union Government to Punjab, but the remaining amount had not yet been released. He said there were some other schemes, for which the Government of India had not provided any financial assistance at all to Punjab. |
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Punjab cops lift trophy Bangalore, April 16 The IOCL failed to rise to the occasion and handed the trophy in a silver platter to Punjab Police, who scored thrice in each half. The scorers were Baljit Singh Dillon and Tejbir Singh before the half time and Daljit Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Gurjant Singh in the second. The two teams were involved in a murky encounter in the last league encounter of Pool A on April 14 and even received a warning for unfair play from Umpire K. Krishnamurthy besides the spectators wrath. On that day Punjab, who played below par and lost 0-3, scored twice as much effortlessly today. The winning team, besides the handsome trophy, took home a purse of Rs 3.5 lakhs, including Rs 2 lakhs for the title, Rs 1 lakh for reaching the semifinal and Rs 50,000 appearance money. The IOCL had to be content with Rs 2.5 lakhs, which besides the appearance money, included Rs 1 lakh for reaching the semifinal and Rs 1 lakh for finishing runner-up. The IOCl appeared promising and the initial forays saw skipper Deepak Thakur missing on a couple of occasions. But once they got going, Punjab Police never looked back. In the 14th minute Baljit Singh Dillon converted the team’s first penalty corner and 12 minutes later in a repeat
performance, he scored through the second penalty corner also. Two minutes before the half time Tejbir made no mistake in sounding the board with a Sarabjit Singh pass to make the score 3-0.
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IWHF puts off trials Patiala, April 16 The winners of the three match series will qualify for the main draw of the Women’s World Cup scheduled to be held at Perth from November 24 to December 8. The trials were to be held at the NIS today where all the 31 probables are undergoing a coaching camp under chief coach G.S Bhangu and his assistant S.K
Mohanty. The reason forwarded by the IWHF for deferring the trials was that the selection committee had selected some new faces after watching the girls in action during the senior national championship that concluded at Jalandhar on March 25. However, since those girls had yet to join the ongoing camp at Patiala, the IWHF thought it prudent to postpone the trials. Since the IWHF has also decided to shift the entire camp to New Delhi, the newly selected girls will be reporting directly at the National stadium where the final trials will be held on May 14 and 15. The Indians will be playing their first match against the USA on June 3, the second on June 4 and the third and final on June 6 at the National stadium. The IWHF decided to shift the camp to New Delhi since it felt that the probables may have a feel of the surface at the National Stadium before the Indian team took on the USA in the crucial play-off
series.
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Grand opening for C’wealth Games London, April 16 Jack Morton Worldwide, one of the world’s major events companies which has produced some of the world’s most significant live events, will stage the ceremonies that open and close the Commonwealth Games at the new showpiece city of Manchester Stadium in front of the Queen, on July 25 and August 4 respectively. Jack Morton Worldwide recently produced the highly acclaimed Opening and closing ceremonies for the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. Earlier it conducted the Opening and Closing ceremonies at the Special Olympics, World Summer Games in North Carolina USA in 1999 and the Hong Kong Handove Ceremony in 1997. The Jack Morton team will combine powerful performances with high technology production techniques to showcase British culture and talent in the ceremonies to a potential worldwide television audience of about 1 billion viewers. “The ceremonies will be different to any production ever staged before in the United Kingdom,” Lois Jacobs, chairman of Jack Morton Worldwide (UK), said on the eve of the 100-day countdown to the Opening Ceremony. Manchester’s innovative urban culture will be highlighted at the opening ceremony, which will also include student performers from all 23 city of Manchester state secondary schools. “Our challenge is to create an event that is uniquely Manchester but in a way that brings together and reflects the diversity of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth communities around the world,” Jacobs said. Following record ticket sales for competition events and the recent successful launch of the supporting Queen’s jubilee baton relay and the Spirit of Friendship Festival, the Commonwealth Games in Manchester are on track to be the biggest and most successful multi-sport event ever staged in the UK. “Over 6,000 performers, including student performers, will make their debut on one of the world’s biggest stages as we showcase to the world a galaxy of talented young artistes whose performances will thrill viewers around the world,” Julie Brooks, Executive producer of Jack Morton said.
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Sanawarians race to glory Sanawar, April 16 There were 10 races which saw intense inter house competition but Shivalik House won in the senior girls and senior boys categories. In the prep school for junior classes categories, Himalaya House topped the chart. The races are organised in memory of Mr Williams S.R. Hodson, one of Sir H. Lawrence’s trusted men involved in selecting the hillock on which The Lawrence school stands. Mr Hodson was entrusted with the task of constructing the original buildings. Almost the entire school gathered by the road sides along the track near the finish line shouting in support of their respective houses. The organisers read out the previous records in each race and the best timing ever recorded in each category. Euden Tenzing was the winner in the under-11 category of girls section. Ashi Dikky and Akshita Singh were second and third, respectively. In the girls section, Arushi Dhingra won the race in the Under-13 category. Amika Bawa was second while Manu Sharma was third. Jayati, Shriya Chauhan and Charu Rawat were the top three winners in the under-14 category. The under-16 category race in the girls section was won by Anugya Jain while Himani Rawat stood second. Dimple Jhangra stood third. In the open category of girls, Anchal Chandel won the race. Reet Sidhu was second while Guntas Dhingra finished third In the boys section of the under-11 category, Ashutosh Chandel won the first prize. Alekh Sangera was second while the third place went to Vikram Sikand. Likumri Changkiri stood first in the Under-14 category while Amarjit Nayan and Barkat Singh were second and third, respectively. The top three winners in the under-16 category of boys were Pavel Sharma, Sagar Singla and Veer Singh. Harzorawar Singh Gill won the contest in the open challenge which was the most applauded race. Devan Daniel and Satish Jhangra were second and third, respectively. The contests were followed by the prize distribution ceremony. Brig Rajendra Singh, the chief guest, commended the winners. Mr Andrew S Gray, Principal, proposed the vote of thanks. |
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Gurbaaz in joint lead Bangalore, April 16 Simarjeet Singh who finished second amateur at the Royal Challenge Indian was placed six with a two over par 74. Forty golfers would play the final rounds on Thursday and Friday after a cut off on the second round tomorrow. Following are the scores: Keshav Mishra, (New Delhi), Gagan Verma, (New Delhi) and Gurbaaz Mann, (Chandigarh) 71, Dinesh Kumar (Chandigarh), 72, Harinder Gupta (Chandigarh) and Simarjeet Singh, (Noida) 74, Manav Das, (Ambala) 75, Girish Virk (Chandigarh) 76, Arjun Ramesh (Bangalore) 76.
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Air Force soccer Chandigarh, April 16 The seven-day meet will be played on league-cum-knock-out basis. The teams have been divided into two pools and the top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals. Air Headquarters are the defending champions. Air Officer Commanding 3 BRD, Air Force, Air Commodre SB Prasher, will inaugurate the meet tomorrow at 10 am. |
Sania advances Hyderabad, April 16 In the first encounter, the 15-year-old Andhra Pradesh girl beat
Hsiao-San-Huang of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-0. Later in the afternoon, she teamed up with Lara Giltinan of Australia to defeat the local pair of Chan
Ye-Fon and Huang Hsiao San 6-2, 6-0 to enter the quarter-finals, according to information received from Taiwan.
UNI
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