SPORTS

Army team scales Annapurna 1
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, May 7
The Indian Army Annapurna - 1 expedition team, which was flagged off on March 15 by the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen S. Padmanabhan, successfully scaled the Annapurna peak, having a height of 8,091 meters, on Monday at 7.20 am.

This was disclosed by the deputy leader of the team, Maj S. P. Malik, from its base camp through an e-mail. Incidentally, Major Malik hails from Rabara village of Sonepat district and has a number of daredevil expeditions to his credit.

According to Mr Malik, the Annapurana-1 peak is one of the 14 peaks of the world situated at an altitude of over 8,000 meters. The trekking to this peak is so arduous and the area is so avalanche-prone that only two teams had earlier dared to set foot on it.

Mr Malik further disclosed that the team had to fix about 4,000 meters of rope on this arduous mountain. At times, the 17-member team faced all odds, including high velocity wind of 70 km per hour and avalanches from all directions.

In the attempt, one member of the team and one sherpa suffered frostbite whereas another sherpa suffered chilblain. This particular expedition was headed by Lt-Col S. C. Sharma.

England-Lanka series live on Star Sports
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 7
The enthralling England-Sri Lanka Test cricket series, starting on May 16, will be telecast live on ESPN and Star Sports.

The first of the three-Test series will be telecast on ESPN and both the following Tests will be telecast on Star Sports live and exclusive. Spinner Muthiah Muralitharaan’s injury has certainly put the Sri Lankans on the backfoot. But he has been ruled out only for the first Test. Once Muralitharan gets back into action, the contest will hot up as the Englishmen will find Murali more than a handful to tackle.

But experts believe that even if Murali recovers on time, it will be very difficult for the spinner to grip the ball in the first half of the English season, which is wet and cold.

Sri Lanka have been performing exceptionally well over the recent past, be it on home turf or overseas. Their success can only flourish with the experienced Aravinda De Silva joining the Sri Lankan ranks. The others like Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara and Chaminda Vaas are rallying around captain Sanath Jayasuriya.

For Nasser Hussain’s England team though, compliments would probably be somewhat difficult to come by. On the India tour, their team put up a promising performance. But in the New Zealand tour that followed, the Englishmen floundered. England managed to square the one-day series at 2-2 but caved in the deciding fifth tie.

In the Test series, England won the first Test, and then allowed the Kiwis to get back and draw the series.

The first Test between England and Sri Lanka will be played at Lord’s from May 16 to 20. The second Test will be played at Birmingham from May 30 to June 3 and the third Test at Manchester from June 13 to 17.

Tyagi Cricket from May 12: The Tyagi (Under-14) Cricket Tournament will be held from May 12 at the Tyagi Public School ground. Entries close on May 10 with organising secretary Ashok Gupta at school ground, or at phones: 3537842, 5037991.

Sonnet Club rout Winsom in DDCA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 7
Sonnet Club beat Winsom Club by five wickets in a Super A Division match of the DDCA League at the University ground in the Capital. Scores: Winsom Club: 159 for 7 in 40 overs (Naveen Asrani 56, Vaibhav Dua 32, Gaurav Tyagi 2 for 32, Deepak Joon 2 for 22).

Sonnet Club: 160 for 5 in 38.2 overs (Devender Sharma 61 n o, Sumit Sharma 53, Vaibhav Dua 2 for 28, Sandeep Rana 2 for 33).

Golden Hawks beat Inborn Club by 36 runs in an A-I Division at the DAV College ground. Scores: Golden Hawks: 244 for 9 in 40 overs (Sailender Singh 106, Vishal Sharma 44, Sonu Vaid 3 for 52, Suresh Tanwar 2 for 24).

Inborn Club:208 all out in 39.4 overs (Shawej Khan 46, Vishal Sharma 4 for 18, Inderjit Singh 2 for 20). National Stadium Coaching Centre (NSCC) beat Rajanigandha by 46 runs in a Super A Division match at the National Stadium ground.

Scores: National Statidum: 241 for 4 in 35 overs (Sanjeev Mishra 79 n o, 4x4, 1x6; Maninder Singh 90, Manoj Bhatia 2 for 31).

Rajanigandha: 195 all out in 35 overs (Rakeshbal 50, Kamal Kumar 38, Jaswinder Singh 30, Angad Singh 3 for 24, Arun Pandey 2 for 50). Food Corporation of India (FCI) beat Indian Airlines by 23 runs in a Super A Division match at the Ramjas Sports Complex ground.

Scores: FCI: 260 for 5 in 35 overs (Rajender Bisth 70, Pankaj Thakur 50, Naveen Negi 108, Shankar Saini 2 for 38, Sonu Sharma 2 for 43).

Indian Airlines: 237 for 8 in 35 overs (Shafiq Khan 64.

UEFA Cup to come home ‘live’ 
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 7
The UEFA Football Cup has grown in stature since it absorbed the Cup Winners’ Cup three seasons ago. And Star Sports will beam the action live from Rotterdam as Feyenoord take on Borussia Dortmund at midnight on May 8 and 9.

In last year’s final, Liverpool beat Alaves 5-4 with an extra-time golden goal in one of the most thrilling matches.

It would be asking a lot for this year to match that but it could prove to be an absorbing final.

The UEFA Cup’s field has been strengthened by the admission of second chance teams who dropped out of the Champions’ League first group phase. There are a couple of interesting factors that make this an engrossing match up.

UEFA pre-determines its venues for the two major club finals before the season begins. That’s why Feyenoord find themselves playing with a literal home advantage as this match will be played on their own De Kuip Stadium.

Even though the allocation of tickets should be equal, the comfort of home environs could help the Dutch club. The other interesting element is the long-standing hostility between the Dutch and German sides at both club and international level.

It has its roots in European history and especially World War II, but has been played out in World Cups since the 1974 final, which West Germany won.

Both Feyenoord and Borussia have claimed some highly impressive scalps on their way to the final, most notably in the semis when they ended the dream of an all-Milan showdown as Borussia annihilated AC Milan 4-0 at home in their first leg, thanks to a Marcio Amoroso hattrick in the first leg. Milan fought back bravely for a 3-1 win in their home leg, but the damage was done.

Young Friends scrape past TYCA in Goswami Cricket
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, May 7
Young Friends Club beat Trans Yamuna Cricket Association (TYCA) by three wickets to move into the pre-quarter-final of the Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Sant Harchand Singh Longowal Sports Complex, Khalsa College ground, in the Capital on Tuesday.

Young Friends skipper Rajeev Verma won the toss and asked TYCA to bat. TYCA ran up a handsome total of 247 for 7 in the stipulated 40 overs with the help of fine batting performances by Anil Rana (53) and an unbeaten 48 by Sunil Kashyap.

In reply, though Young Friends lost their first wicket with the scoreboard showing only 12 runs, they batted with patience, and then accelerated at the finish line to upstage TYCA.

TYCA had a better scoring rate compared to Young Friends till the 20 overs mark. But at the 25 overs point, Young Friends changed strategy to speed up scoring and were 155 for 3 compared to TYCA’s 147 for 6.

Young Friends were helped by the responsible batting of Yoginder, K Rohtagi and Wilkinson Victor. Left-arm spinner Kundan Mehra bowled well for TYCA and took three wickets.

Bipin Sharma took two wickets. Wilkinson Victor was adjudged the man of the match for his unbeaten knock of 43 off 40 balls with three fours.

Young Friends will take on Food Corporation of India in their next match on May 15. There will be no match on Wednesday.

Scores: Trans Yamuna Cricket Association: 247 for 7 in 40 overs (Tarun Gupta 19, 3x4, 14b; Anil Rana 53, 4x4, 3x6, 43b; Gaurav Malhotra 24, 3x4, 39b; Sanjay Sharma 17, 1x4, 24b; Sunil Kashyap 48 n o, 3x4, 1x6, 49b; Jagdish 26, 3x4, 30b; Kundan Mehra 25 n o, 3x4, 19b; Puru Singh 2 for 42, Tarun Dutta 2 for 45, Raajiv Verma 1 for 24, Ashwani Kapoor 1 for 24).

Young Friends Club: 251 for 7 in 39.4 overs (Ashok Maurya 13, 16b; Yoginder Nair 53, 5x4, 2x6, 64b; K Rohtagi 53, 6x4, 1x6, 40b; Ashwani Kapoor 13; Wilkinson Victor 43 n o, 3x4, 40b; Tarun Gupta 10; Rajeev Verma 12, Puru Singh 18 n o, 2x4, 15b; Kundan Mehra 3 for 41. Thursday’s fixture: Goswami Ganesh Dutt Club vs Lal Bahadur Shastri Club.

U-19 Cricket League from May 10

New Delhi, May 7
Twenty teams will participate in the Delhi-Haryana Under-19 Cricket League, to be organised by the Maharaja Agarsen Sports Club, at the Captain Dharam Pal Sports Complex from May 10. Entries close with Mr Tajender Malhotra and organising secretary Anand Indoria on May 9. Ph: 7056199, 01262-59373.

Panipat
Off-season camp: The District Sports and Welfare Department has decided to organised off-season training camps for various sports disciplines for the schoolchildren during the summer vacations starting May 20. According to the sources, the camps will be organised for athletics, basketball, hockey, football, cricket, bosing, wrestling, table tennis and gymnastics at the Shivaji Stadium here. A press note appealed to the headmasters and principals to sent maximum students to the camps. TNS

Rohtak sports meet

Rohtak, May 7
The Rohtak district schools sports competitions will be held at Chottu Ram Stadium here on May 10 and 11. According to the Deputy Commissioner Mr Anil Malik, these competitions are being organized as per the policy of the Indian Government. Competitons in the events for Athletics, Volleyball, Kabaddi, Hockey and Wrestling in the 42, 45, 48,52,56,60,65 and 70 kg weight categories will be held for boys and girls. OSR