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Sunday,
May 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Openers give Windies a flying start
England
forced to follow on Scintillating
ton by Gambhir |
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Baljit
Dhillon, Pillay among probables AI down
Punjab cops, win Aga Khan title 18-member
eves team announced
Surjit Academy post 4-0 win Passionate
Roy Keane is Ireland’s inspiration Setback
for Germany as Woerns is unfit Desailly
itching to begin title defence Tenacious
Recoba joins star league Japan
name squad for World Cup Coach
Maldini sticks to winning team Bahadur
Singh, Sivanand win gold
Guangzhou, May 18 The International Badminton Federation (IBF) said today it would end its experiment with a radical new scoring system and revert to its former best-of-three up to 15-points format.
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Openers give Windies a flying start
Kingston (Jamaica), May 18 With the pitch sporting a lot of grass, Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly had no hesitation in sending the opposition in to bat after he won his first toss of the series. But his three medium-pacers were unable to take advantage of the helpful conditions and after a watchful start the West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds scored at a brisk rate as the hosts reached 88 without loss by lunch. Gayle was batting on 55 with 11 boundaries while Hinds was on 32. The Indian bowlers failed to find the correct line and length on a pitch that promised much for them and were thus rendered ineffective. The West Indian openers, both hailing from Jamaica, also did the sensible thing and spent the first hour just gauging the pace and bounce of the pitch. Scoring picked up only in the latter half of the morning session, especially in the last half an hour when runs came freely for the home team. Gayle was the more aggressive of the two as he unleashed a series of well-timed shots, mostly between long-on and long-off. Gayle pulled Zaheer Khan to the mid-wicket boundary and then cover drove him in the same over for another four. In a subsequent over from the left-arm seamer, Gayle hit him for two consecutive boundaries to the long-on. He reached his half-century in the last over before lunch from Harbhajan Singh. Gayle cut the bowler through point for his tenth boundary which brought him on 49 and swept the next delivery to take two runs and raise his half-century. Another sweep off the next ball ran to the third man fence. Hinds’ innings was punctuated by some streaky shots through the slips, taking a boundary each off the new ball bowlers Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra. Both Srinath and Nehra were erratic in their first spells and were unable to trouble the batsmen much. Seeing his plans getting upset, Ganguly brought himself into the attack in the 20th over but failed to make much impression. He also received his first warning from umpire Russel Tiffin for running on the pitch in his follow-through. West Indies (1st innings): Gayle not out 55 Hinds not out 32 Extras (1b 1) 1 Total (0 wickets, 27 overs) 88 Bowling:
Srinath 7-3-15-0, Nehra 8-3-23-0, Khan 6-1-33-0, Ganguly 4-2-5-0, Harbhajan 2-0-11-0.
PTI  |
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England
forced to follow on London, May 18 Unheralded seamers Ruchira Perera, with two wickets in two balls, and Buddika Fernando, with two in three, engineered a collapse around the tea break. Batting again 280 runs behind, Marcus Trescothick (31 not out) and Michael Vaughan, undefeated on 20 after top-scoring in the first innings with 64, picked their way through just over 16 overs without major incident before bad light forced an early close. Sri Lanka without leading bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, looked to be labouring on a perfect batting strip until Perera’s double strike. First he induced Michael Vaughan, the top-scorer with 64 after four hours of defiance, to top-edge a lazy hook to fine leg, where Nuwan Zoysa brushed off a collision with a team mate to take the catch. Graham Thorpe fell next ball lbw for 27, shuffling across his stumps. England, who had dropped three straightforward catches during the Sri Lankan innings, then compounded their problems as Crawley called for an impossible single to point and substitute fielder Upul Chandana threw down the stumps with Stewart well short of his ground. He was replaced by giant all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who opened his innings with three fours before edging a short delivery from Fernando to the wicketkeeper. Dominic Cork followed immediately in similar fashion to make it 237 for eight as the collapse continued. Caddick was also caught by Sangakkara off Perera for 13 and Crawley was the last man out for 31 when he edged Chaminda Vaas to give the keeper his fifth catch of the innings. Fernando, in his sixth Test, and Perera, in his seventh, took three wickets each.
Scoreboard Sri Lanka (Ist innings):555-8 declared England (1st innings): Trescothick c Jayasuriya b Zoysa 13 Vaughan c Zoysa b Perera 64 Butcher c Jayawardene
b Fernando 17 Hussain c Sangakkar
b Zoysa 57 Thorpe lbw b Perera 27 Crawley c Sangakkara b Vaas 31 Stewart run out 7 Flintoff c Sangakkara
b Fernando 12 Cork c Sangakkara b Fernando 0 Caddick c Sangakkara
b Perera 13 Hoggard not out 0 Extras
(b-4 lb-7 w-9 nb-14) 34 Total (73.1 overs) 275 Fall of wickets:
1-17, 2-43, 3-149, 4-203, 5-203, 6-214, 7-237, 8-237, 9-267. Bowling:
Vaas 21.1-4-51-1, Zoysa 19-3-82-2, Fernando22-5-83-3, Perera 11-0-48-3. England 2nd innings: Trescothick not out 31 Vaughan not out 20 Extras:
(lb-1 nb-1) 2 Total: (for no wicket) 53 Bowling:
Vaas 6-1-20-0, Zoysa 3-1-12-0, Perera 4.5-0-15-0, A.de Silva 3-1-5-0.
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Scintillating
ton by Gambhir
Colombo, May 18 Having reached 302 for four at close on the third day for an overall lead of 417 runs, the visitors were eyeing a possible outright victory tomorrow at the SSC Stadium here. The visitors today sent the bowlers on a leather-hunt, with Gambhir and Akash Chopra coming good off their
bats. Gambhir’s 120, studded with 15 boundaries, Chopra’s 51 and an aggressive unbeaten 46 by Jai Prakash Yadav in the last hour of the day, gave India ‘A’ bowlers a chance to win the first of the three-match series. It was once again Gambhir’s day, after he had made 79 in the first innings following up his 105 in a three-day warm-up game. He treated the seamers and the spinners alike dispatching the not infrequent loose deliveries with disdain to the ropes. He was particularly strong square of the wicket on the off-side. Chopra and Gambhir gave just the start the visitors were looking for, after their bowlers had given them a 115-run first innings lead by bowling out the hosts for 200 yesterday. Gambhir raced to his 50 in just 51 balls with eight fours. They added 138 for the first wicket before Chopra fell to off-spinner Muthumudalige
Pushpakumara, playing a shade too early into the hands of skipper T M Dilshan at
mid-wicket. Gambhir stepped out to drive Pushpakumara to the sight-screen to reach his hundred in 142
balls. Sridharan Sriram, somewhat tentative against the ball seaming away from him, played a subdued knock, contributing a mere 16 to the second wicket stand of 58 with
Gambhir, who fell to a delivery sliding down the leg and taking a faint inside edge on its way to wicketkeeper Malinda
Perera. Skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar played across a well-tossed up straighter one from Pushpakumara to be out for 7 while Sriram cut third seamer Chamila Gamage into the hands of N. Nawaz at backward point. Scoreboard India ‘A’ (1st innings):
315 Sri Lanka ‘A’ (1st innings): 200 India ‘A’ (2nd innings): Chopra c Dilshan b
Pushpakumara 51 Gambhir c Perera b Gunaratne 120 Sriram c Nawaz b Gamage 45 Kanitkar b Pushpakumara
7 Gavaskar batting 22 J.P. Yadav batting 46 Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-3, w-2) 11 Total
(for 4
wkts, 77 overs) 302 Fall of wickets: 1-138, 2-196, 3-217, 4-231. Bowling:
D Liyanage 11-3-30-0, P. Gunaratne 12-1-54-1, C. Gamage 10-2-53-1, M. Pushpakumara 23-5-94-2, R. Herath 13-0-42-0, T.M. Dilshan 5-1-10-0, C. Silva 3-0-13-0.
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Baljit Dhillon, Pillay among probables New Delhi, May 18 Both Baljit and Pillay were among the nine players from the 18-member World Cup squad who were excluded from the coaching camp in Delhi in preparation of the senior team for a four-nation tournament to be held in Australia next month. But the IHF has compensated some of the senior players, who do not find places in the team for Australia, by accommodating them in the coaching camp for the German tour. The 32 players called for the coaching camp include four goalkeepers, seven full backs, eight midfielders and 13 forwards. The probables are: Goalkeepers:
Kamaldeep Singh (Punjab), Shanmugasundaram (Tamil Nadu), Sandeep Singh (Mumbai) and Jagadish Ponnappa (Indian Airlines). Full backs:
Kanwalpreet Singh (Punjab), Rama Rao (Karnataka), Xalco (Services), K P Roy (Centre of Excellence), Bikramjit Singh (Indian Oil Corporation), Anuragh Raghuvanshi (Oil and Natural Gas Commission) and Len Aiyyappa (Centre of Excellence). Midfielders:
Vinay Kumar and Irshad Ali (both Indian Airlines), Gursewak Singh (Railways), A E Kevin (Karnataka), Bipin Thimmaiah and Sundeep Michael (both Centre of Excellence), Sunil Yadav (Indian Oil Corporation) and Thirumalvalavan (Tamil Nadu). Forwards:
Rajpal Singh and Inderjit Singh Chadda ( both Indian Oil Corporation), Girish Pimphle (Indian Airlines), Baljit Singh Dhillon (Punjab), Dhanraj Pillay (Mumbai), Anup Anthony (Karnataka), Cyril Ekka (Central Industrial Security Force), Senthil (Tamil Nadu), Amarjeet Pratap (Oil and Natural Gas Commission), Stanley Fernandez (Mumbai), P T Ayyappa (Karnataka), Vivek Gupta (Oil and Natural Gas Commission) and Gabbar Singh (Punjab). Ramesh Parameswaran of Karnataka will be the chief coach and Baldev Singh of Haryana the assistant coach. Gunasekaran of Services will be the trainer. |
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AI down Punjab cops, win Aga Khan title Mumbai, May 18 Air-India had won the gold cup title last month here on Astro Turf. In the hardline fight Indian Airlines beat Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) 4-2. Air-India ambushed the rival citadel in the very third minute when Davinder Kumar missed an easy chance. Then came two goals in rapid succession. Anil Aldrin, still possessing a powerful physique, cracked a lightning free hit a few yards away from the circle. Roshan Tete trapped and swung in for the goal in the seventh minute. Punjab Police, whose forte was their strong defence, again cracked in the very next minute. Kishore Kumar, taking over the role of leading rampaging man, smacked a neat short cross to Davinder. The latter was unmarked as he was standing far from an easy scoring angle. But he twisted and smashed an angular shot for the second goal. The winners would have put the issue beyond doubt had Kishore not muffed an easy chance in the 17th minute. Gavin Fereira dazzled for the first time and his intricate run fooled goal-keeper Ashok Kumar who went sprawling. The ball trickled near Kishore standing a foot away from the goal but to his team- mates’ astonishment he edged out. Punjab Police started the second half on the right track of revival and in the 49th minute Jaskaran, who had scored the golden goal against Indian Airlines yesterday, banged in his side’s second of the three short corners. Air-India today did not look as razor sharp as they have been earlier and managed only one short corner. It was the first Aga Khan triumph for Air-India since it started the hockey team few years ago along with a cash prize of Rs 1.25 lakh. The Punjab outfit won the title in 1949 as East Punjab Police and then for four years in a row from 1964 onwards.
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18-member eves team announced New Delhi, May 18 IWHF president Vidya Stokes announced here today the World Cup qualifier against the USA would be played at the National Stadium on June 3, 4 and 6. The matches will begin at 5 pm every day to beat the heat. The winners would qualify for the 10th World Cup to be held in Perth, Australia, from November 25 to December 8. The US team will arrive in Delhi late on May 21 evening. The qualifying matches were to be held in September last year, but were postponed following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Goalkeepers: Tingongleima Chanu and Helen Mary; Full-backs:
Amandeep Kaur, Suman Bala and Pushpa Pradhan Half-backs: Sita Gussain, SumraiTete, Suraj Lata Devi, Gurpreet Kaur and Masira Surin Forwards:
Pritam Siwach, Manjinder Kaur, Sanggai Ibemhal Chanu, Mamta Kharb, Jyoti Sunita Kullu, Nidhi Nandanoori, Pakpi Devi and Surinder Kaur or Adline Kerketta. Stand-byes:
Deepika Murthy (goalkeeper), Kanti Baa (full back), Manju (half back) and Saba Anjum (forward). |
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Surjit
Academy post 4-0 win
Amritsar, May 18 The Surjit Academy blanked Sansarpur Academy 4-0,while Ramesh Academy got the better of Sarinh Academy by the same margin. However Sports School from Jalandhar suffered a shocking 1-4 defeat at the hands of Meerut-XI. In other matches of the day, local outfit the District Hockey Association (DHA) defeated Ropar-XI 3-0, while strong contenders Namdhari-XI beat Jammu-XI 3-0. In the last match of the day Punjab Armed Police (PAP), Jalandhar edged out Faridkot-XI by a solitary second half
goal. UNI |
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Passionate Roy Keane is Ireland’s inspiration Paris, May 18 “Getting to major finals is what it is all about,” said Keane. “It has been a bloody long time since my last one in America in 1994 and it is time for us to deliver again,” said the Manchester United enforcer, who knows that injuries and controversy have often combined to prevent him from adding to his 57 caps. Proof came in 1996 when he skippered Ireland for the first time against Russia and marked the occasion by getting sent off. And if anyone was in any doubt at all about his commitment they would only have to remember his remarks after scoring twice in a 4-0 World Cup qualifying win in Cyprus which helped propel them on their way to Korea and Japan in a match which represented his 50th cap. Upset by the team’s woeful training facilities on the Mediterranean island, he warned the Football Association of Ireland that he would quit if the treatment of the players did not improve. Keane made his mark on the national team when he was an ever-present in Jack Charlton’s side that reached the second round of the 1994 World Cup, while his contribution to the cause during the 2002 qualifying campaign was mighty, weighing in with man-of-the-match performances against Portugal and Holland. “He has been immense,” drooled national coach Mick McCarthy. “I would not change him for any player in the world and losing him would be a body-blow because he is our inspiration.” The Cork-born, 30-year-old Manchester United skipper, who has nine international goals to his name, started his career at Cobh Ramblers before moving on to Nottingham Forest in 1990 for £ 30,000 before making his debut for Ireland against Chile in Dublin in 1991. From there he moved to Old Trafford for a then British record fee of £ 3.75 million and the list of honours has been awesome — six Premiership titles and three FA Cups. Keane also played a major role in Manchester United’s staggering Champions League triumph of 1999, but he was suspended for the final and Manchester United’s defeat in the semifinal against Bayer Leverkusen this season meant that another chance at the big one went begging. Success at club level has not stopped him from hitting out at team-mates and fans when he believes the occasion merits it. When Manchester United were facing the prospect of finishing their first season without a trophy for four years this season, he told fellow players it was time to “stand up and be counted.” He applies the same philosophy to sections of the crowd at Old Trafford where over 65,000 people regularly watch Premiership and European matches. Those numbers don’t always equate to atmosphere and Keane once accused some fans of being more interested in their prawn sandwiches than their appetite for the fare on view on the pitch. Ireland, who are in group E with Germany, Cameroon and Saudi Arabia at the finals, would no doubt prefer to have injury-plagued Keane wrapped up in cotton wool. True to form, he sparked an injury scare when he did not play in Niall Quinn’s testimonial at Sunderland on May 14, with rumours he had suffered a recurrence of a recent hamstring injury. “I know what would happen with the hype that surrounds Roy,” said McCarthy when he played down the injury. “People would have been chasing around to see he had done something to his cruciate or whether he had broken his back, his neck, or his skull! “But the reality is he is undergoing treatment, and if he plays against Cameroon on June 1 then I am not bothered.”
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Setback
for Germany as Woerns is unfit Dortmund, May 18 Woerns told Voeller he would not recover in time for soccer’s mega event after undergoing a knee operation several weeks ago. Bremen defender Frank Baumann, 26, was called up. “The frustration is huge,” said
Woerns, a 28-year-old who plays for Borussia Dortmund and is an experienced
player. “I couldn’t sleep the entire night because I had looked forward to the World Cup so
much.” Voeller, whose squad will play its last warm-up today against Austria, now has lost three first-choice players to injuries for the World Cup, including central defender Jens Nowotny and midfielder Mehmet Scholl. Germany’s defence has been hurt hard by injuries, with only Marko Rehmer left of the projected three starters. The Hertha Berlin player, however, hasn’t been in a match for two months because of an ankle injury, although his comeback is expected against
Austria. Woerns said he was disappointed because he wanted to wipe away the memories of the 1998 World Cup, when he became the scapegoat for Germany’s quarterfinal ousting by Croatia. Woerns was slapped with the red card after a foul on Croatian forward Davor Suker at the half, and the short-handed Germans went on to lose what had been a close match 3-0.
Voeller will have his full World Cup squad together for the first time against Austria, although the four Leverkusen starters will not be on the pitch after the club’s 2-1 loss to Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League. Forward Oliver Neuville has been playing with a toe fracture for weeks and Michael Ballack has been taking pain- killing shots for an ankle injury for a month. But Voeller is more worried about the spirits of the Leverkusen players, which lost all three titles it was chasing in the last three weeks. They have been his rebuilt team’s backbone, with
Ballack, Neuville and midfielders Bernd Schneider and Carsten Ramelow playing key roles. Many in Germany feel the Leverkusen players, now branded as losers in the country, will have trouble shaking off the psychological impact of losing three title chances, hurting their performance at the World Cup. “We will do everything possible to see they don’t fall into a hole,” vowed
Voeller. “We have until June 1, our first match against Saudi Arabia -that should be enough.” The Leverkusen trauma isn’t just theoretical, but raises the memory in the country of the 2000 Euro, probably Germany’s worst performance ever at a major tournament. The national team players from Bayern Munich said they just couldn’t snap out of deep psychological bitterness they felt at losing the Champions League final 2-1 to Manchester United on a pair of injury-time goals a month earlier. “That definitely hurt us. We didn’t overcome that loss for two years,” said Jens
Jeremies, one of Bayern’s players on the Euro squad. AP |
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Desailly itching
to begin title defence Clairefontaine, May 18 Desailly played down the importance of France’s match against Belgium today — their last before jetting to the Far East — and said he had fixed his sights on the World Cup curtain-raiser against Senegal in Seoul on May 31. “Club loyalties have been put aside and now it’s all go for the French team,” Desailly said yesterday at France’s training base south of Paris. “I can’t wait to get back into competition. Everything that goes before has to be done but sometimes it becomes wearing. We’ve been at Clairefontaine for four days already and it seems a long time. “We’ve been shut up here for a good reason but once the competitive stuff starts the time flies.” The Chelsea defender said France’s participation in the Confederations Cup in Asia last year had given them a head start over other nations. “There will be things to get adapted to, such as the time difference and the climate, but the Confederations Cup gave us a head start over the others. “Thanks to that we know what to expect from the climate and we’ve already played in the World Cup stadiums.” Desailly said France’s preparations for the World Cup had greatly differed from their win on home soil in 1998 — mainly because of the toll of gruelling club seasons. “We’ve done less physical training this year, we’ve taken it easy for many players turned up with knocks. “We’ve put more emphasis on rest and speed work. In 1998, the preparation phase was longer. “The work will continue in Japan (May 20-25) and we play South Korea in a friendly (on May 26),” he added. “And in psychological terms, it’s different from 1998 because then we didn’t think at first we could win it. Now our main worry is preserving our status, which puts extra pressure on us.” French coach Roger Lemerre meanwhile was taking a more cautious approach. “We’re not impatient... the opening match against Senegal is still very far off. We can’t miss out any stages in our preparation. “If we fix our sights on Senegal too much, we’ll forget to have a good look at ourselves. “Personally, I’m still in a state of preparation. The World Cup hasn’t begun for me yet.” Lemerre also played down the absence of Zinedine Zidane for today’s match. His exertions for Real Madrid in the European Cup final and the fact that his wife is expecting the couple’s third child have seen the midfield playmaker excused from the encounter at the Stade de France. “There is a bit of fixation on Zidane. We’ve already played without him and we’ve got some idea of how it works,” added the coach. With Arsenal star Thierry Henry likely to sit out the encounter after twisting a knee, the way is clear for exciting young prospect Djibril Cisse to earn his first cap for France.
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Tenacious
Recoba joins star league Paris, May 18 He made an instant impact on his Inter Milan debut five seasons ago when as a virtual unknown he handed three points to Inter with two goals from two sensational strikes against
Brescia. At 26 he can now rub shoulders with the likes of Brazil’s Ronaldo and Italy’s Christian Vieri on equal terms. In fact, recent reports suggest Ronaldo’s agents are unhappy with his salary while Recoba is believed to be the highest paid player in the Italian football league, reputedly earning eight million euros a season. Inter signed Recoba in full knowledge of his prolific strike rate at Nacional de
Montivideo, where he banged in 57 goals in 51 games. And in his first season at Inter he amassed a remarkable 15-goal haul in just 19 matches, despite coming on as a substitute in many of the games, earning himself reputation as a saviour. But it has not all been plain sailing for this deeply religious man known as ‘El Chino’ because of his oriental looks. In 1999 Recoba was loaned out to Inter’s league rivals Venezia after they signed Christian Vieri for a world record £30 million.
Recoba responded with 11 goals in 19 games for Venezia, almost certainly saving them from relegation, a feat that saw him return to Milan to sign a lucrative contract.
Recoba then hit hard times in November 2000 when he was caught up in the false passports scandal that swept through the European game after the Italian heritage stated on his passport was called into question. A trial saw him banned for the entire 2001-02 season and the striker, desperate to continue playing, was on the verge of a move to Spain before a fresh court decision reduced the ban to a less severe four months. Two goals from Recoba in a 3-1 win over AS Roma sent Inter Milan three points clear in Italy in late March but the title once more eluded them. So Recoba can only boast a UEFA Cup, won in 1998, as the sole prize during his time in Europe. He can
operate as an out-and-out striker or in attacking midfield. He has a blistering free-kick, exquisite skill and, because of his stocky frame, is
desperately hard to knock off the ball. It’s no surprise then that Uruguayan fans see him as the natural
successor to former goal king Daniel Fonseca or the gifted left-footer Enzo
Francescoli. He made his international debut at 19, just two years after turning professional. On his third appearance, against China on July 17, 1996, he notched the first of his eight goals from 42 games for his country.
Recoba is a superstitious player and aside from wearing a crucifix around his neck and bracelet bought in the French pilgrim centre Lourdes, the striker is never without his representations of four saints to whom he prays before each game.
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Japan name squad for World Cup Tokyo, May 18 Jubilo Iwata striker Nakayama and Kashima Antlers defender Akita were two of eight surviving players from the 1998 France World Cup squad to be selected by the French man, who did not attend the Press conference in Tokyo. But while Nakayama and Akita were celebrating their surprise inclusions, there was no place for Yokohama playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura, whose claims were ignored in preference to Kashima midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara. “I have chosen a squad of players I think is best equipped for our World Cup mission. There is no reason to be surprised at any of the selections,’’ Troussier said in a statement. “This squad is the result of a four-year process and I have complete faith in this group of players. The 34-year-old Nakayama, recalled at the expense of Hiroshima striker Tatsuhiko Kubo, scored Japan’s only goal in their World Cup debut in 1998, when they lost to Argentina (1-0), Croatia (1-0) and Jamaica (2-1) in the first round. Akita, meanwhile, has been Japan’s forgotten man since winning the last of his 38 caps in a 1-1 draw with Iran in September 1999. It was a miserable day for Yokohama players with Yasuhiro Hato and Daisuke Oku also left out in the cold in addition to Nakazawa and Nakamura. The exclusion of Nakamura, however, is bound to lead to an inquisition when Troussier holds a press conference in Shizuoka on Tuesday. Goalkeepers:
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Portsmouth), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya), Hitoshi Sogahata (Kashima). Defenders:
Yutaka Akita (Kashima), Ryuzo Morioka (Shimizu), Toshihiro Hattori (Iwata), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
(Gamba Osaka), Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama), Koji Nakata (Kashima). Midfielders:
Hiroaki Morishima
(Cerezo Osaka), Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma), Takashi Fukunishi (Iwata), Alessandro Santos (Shimizu), Kazuyuki Toda (Shimizu), Tomokazu Myojin
(Kashiwa), Mituso Ogasawara (Kashima), Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal), Shinji Ono
(Feyenoord), Daisuke Ichikawa (Shimizu). Forwards: Takayuki Suzuki (Kashima), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima), Akinori Nishizawa
(Cerezo Osaka), Masashi Nakayama (Iwata). Reuters |
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Coach Maldini sticks to winning team Asuncion, May 18 Maldini silenced his critics in Solna, near Stockholm, yesterday after the South Americans scored an impressive 2-1 win over fellow World Cup qualifiers Sweden. And the Italian coach stuck with the same squad as selected for Paraguay’s first friendly against Bolivia which ended in a 2-2 draw last February. The only changes from the side which qualified for the World Cup are Olimpia defender Julio Caesar Caceres and midfielder Carlos Bonet of Libertad, who was capped for the second time against Sweden. Paraguay will be up against Spain, Slovenia and South Africa in their group B tie in Japan. The team: Goalkeepers:
Jose Luis Chilavert (Strasbourg/Fra), Ricardo Tavarelli (Olimpia), Justo Villar (Libertad). Defenders:
Francisco Arce (Palmeiras/Bra), Celso Ayala (River Plate/Arg), Carlos Gamarra (AEK Athens/Gre), Denis Caniza (Santos Laguna/Mex), Pedro Sarabia (River Plate/Arg), Daniel Sanabria (Libertad), Julio Caceres (Olimpia). Midfielders:
Roberto Acuna (Real Zaragosa/Spa), Estanislao Struway (Libertad), Carlos Paredes (Porto/Por), Gustavo Morinigo (Libetad/Par), Diego Gavilan (Los Tecos/Mex), Juan Carlos Franco (Olimpia), Carlos Bonet (Libertad), Guido Alvarenga (Leon/Mex). Strikers:
Jose Cardozo (Toluca/Mex), Roque Santacruz (Bayern Munich/Ger), Nelson Cuevas (River Plate/Arg), Richart Baez (Olimpia), Jorge Campos (U. Catolica/Chi).
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March to DD
Kendra at Kochi Kochi, May 18 A large number of soccer lovers, including Mr Saju Paul, MLA, football players and coaches took part in the march, which was inaugurated by Mr Mani, noted footballer.
UNI |
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Bahadur
Singh, Sivanand win gold
Hyderabad, May 18 But,
for India’s top women athletes, it was a disappointing outing.
Olympic semi-finalist K. M. Beenamol was outsmarted by Sri Lanka’s
Damyanti Darsha in the 400m race while K. M. Binu was beaten at the
post by Korean Lee Jae-Hoon. In the absence of record holder Shakti Singh, Bahadur Singh made most of a weak field as he hurled a distance of 19.32 metres ahead of compatriots Navpreet Singh (19.05) and Kuldeep Mann
(18.05). Sivanand clocked 8:16:83 in 3000m marathon and finished
ahead of Eduardo Buenavista of the Philippines (8:19.62) and
compatriot Arun D’Souza (8:32.79). In the women’s 400m race,
Damyanti overtook Beenamol early on and sustained the lead till the
last lap to clock 51.87 sec. Beenamol clocked 51.96. The third spot
was taken by Alena Petrova of Turkemenistan. In the
closely-contested 800m men’s race, K.M. Binu (1:47.52) was pipped at
the post by Lee Jae-Hoon (1:47.40). The bronze was taken by Kim Soon
Hyung of Korea (1:47.91). T.M. Sanjeev set the pace initially in the race. Binu overtook him to surge into the lead but at the bend, Hoon raced ahead. It was neck and neck thereafter but Hoon finally prevailed to finish
first. Fawzy Shemmeri of Kuwait overtook Bhupender Singh for an
early control in the 400m race. Sri Lanka’s Sugath Tilakratne tried
to pose a challenge but failed as Fawzy touched the tape first in
45.42 sec followed by Tilakratne (45.73) and Rohan Pradeep of Sri
Lanka (46.06). In the 400m hurdles, Yvegeny Meleshenko of Kazakhstan took the lead but was brushed aside in the last lap by Al Fulazi of Kuwait who clocked 49.13. Meleshenko took the silver (49.66) while Chen Tein Wen of Taipei claimed the bronze with 51.72 sec. Wang Yuan Ping of China clocked 2:04.13 to win the gold in 800m race leaving behind Tayana Borisova of Kazakhstan (2:04.21) and Madhuri Singh
(Ind) 2:04.63. Results (all finals) Men: Shot Put: 1 Bahadur
Singh (Ind) 19.32 m, 2 Navpreet Singh (Ind) 19.02, 3 Kuldeep Mann
(Ind) 18.05. 3000m: 1 Sivananda (Ind) 8:16.83, 2 Eduardo
Duenavista (Phil) 8:19.62, 3 Arun D’Souza (Ind) 8:32.79. 400m
hurdles: 1 Al Fulazi (Kuwait) 49.13, Y Meleshenko (Kaz) 49.66, 3
Chen Tein Wen (Tpe) 51.72. 400m: 1 Fawzy Shemmeri (Kuwait)
45.42, 2 Sugath Tilakratne (Sri Lanka) 45.73, 3 Rohan Pradeep (Sri
Lanka) 46.05. 800m: 1 Lee Jae Hoon (Korea) 1:47.40, 2 K M Binu
(India) 1.47.40, 3 Kim Soon (Korea) 1.47.91. Women: 400m: 1 KVD
Darsa (Sri Lanka) 51.87, 2 K M Beenamol (India) 51.96, 3 Alena
Petroval (TKM) 53.81. 800m: 1 Yuan Pint (China) 2:04.13, 2
Tatana Borisovat (Kaz) 2.04.21, 3 Madhuri Singh (India) 2:04.63.
PTI |
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IBF to
revert to old scoring system Guangzhou, May 18 Badminton has been experimenting with a change in scoring at Grand Prix events and major tournaments since 2001. Under the new system, matches were played under a best-of-five up to seven point format or “5x7” for both men and women. However, following an IBF council meeting to consider a total of five possible options to transform badminton’s scoring system, a majority of the 20 attending members had voted in favour of ending the experiment, said IBF President Corn Dabbaransi at a press conference. Dabbaransi said 12 of the 20 members who attended the meeting had voted by secret ballot in favour of reverting to the old system of best-of three up to 15 points for men and men’s doubles and up to 11 points for women singles matches. However, women’s doubles and mixed doubles matches will now be best-of-three up to 11 instead of 15 as it was before the IBF introduced the current new scoring format at the Swiss Open last year. As a result, the new changes “will be put into effect on August 1 this year,” said Dabbaransi. The 5x7 system was introduced as part of efforts to make badminton more attractive to television. The new scoring was seen as a way to produce more critical points and make for more exciting matches and reduce match lengths. AFP |
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Kirtane wins
title Visakhapatnam, May 18 The winner trounced his rival in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 that lasted for 105 minutes. Kirtane pocketed the prize money of $ 812.5 while the runner-up got $ 562.5.
UNI |
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