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Tuesday,
June 4, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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Lacklustre Croatia go down to Mexico
Vieri’s brace gives Italy winning start |
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Tough task ahead for Korea Japan look to score against Belgium Milutinovic’s boys ready to make debut What they are saying at the
World Cup Emerson in tears
Red cards galore Zidane resumes training
India clinch one-day series Expert comments — Michael Holding Agassi survives; Hewitt, Kuerten toppled
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Lacklustre Croatia go down to Mexico Niigata, Japan, June 3 Blanco converted the 59th-minute penalty after being felled in the area by Zivkovic, who was shown a straight red card for the bad tackle by Chinese referee Jun Lu. It was a timely breakthrough for Mexico, who are hoping to match their best finishes as hosts in 1970 and 1986 when they made the quarter-finals. But Croatia, criticised back home for their unadventurous approach under coach Mirko Jozic, showed none of the sparkle that helped them finish third in the competition four years ago. The triumvirate of Robert Prosinecki, 1998 Golden Boot winner Davor Suker and World Cup new boy Alen Boksic even suffered the ignominy of being substituted as Croatia struggled to make an impact. Both halves began promisingly enough for Jozic’s side, as Josip Simunic — after four minutes — and Zvonimir Soldo — a minute into the second period — saw their goalbound headers brilliantly saved by keeper Oscar Perez. But Mexico soon looked to Blanco’s probing and, after dropping deep to display some nice touches, he saw his goalbound header clutched by Pletikosa eight minutes before the break. By that stage, Blanco’s strike partner Jared Borgetti had wasted Mexico’s best opening as he sidefooted wide from close range after 32 minutes. But Blanco was a constant threat, even testing Pletikosa direct from an inswinging corner just before the interval. Thirteen minutes after halftime, he was alert to a loose ball as Croatia’s last line of defence — usually so strong — wavered. Blanco nudged the ball ahead of Zivkovic, who sent his opponent tumbling and, with Blanco through on goal, Lu had little option but to dismiss the Bayer Leverkusen player. Blanco sent Pletikosa the wrong way from the spot to claim his 17th international goal on his 76th appearance. Croatia saw Milan Rapaic’s shot fumbled late on by Perez, but they were disappointing and group G opponents Italy — who they face on Saturday — and Ecuador have little to fear on this evidence. The game featured brothers Robert and Niko Kovac in the Croatian line-up who became the first brothers to appear in a World Cup finals match together since Karl-Heinz and Bernd Foerster for West Germany in 1982. They are the also the sixth pairing to appear in the tournament’s history, after the Foersters, Rene and Wily Van de Kerkhof for the Netherlands in 1978, England’s World Cup winners Jack and Bobby Charlton in 1966, Fritz and Omar Walter for West Germany in 1954 and Mario and Juan Evaristo for Argentina in 1930.
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Croatia trio to show ‘true colours’ Niigata, June 3 The 30-something three, who shoulder their nation’s expectations in the red and white of Croatia, were all substituted as opponents Mexico capitalised on the dismissal of Boris Zivkovic to secure a 1-0 win in Niigata and a perfect start to the group G battle. Reuters Zagreb, June 3 "Catastrophe," muttered Marko Sres, an 18-year-old high-school graduate. For Croatian players, he only had one word: "Wretches." Sres and his friends, many of whom watched the game at a nearby cafe, had little sympathy for the Croatian players - or the coach, Mirko Jozic. "We expected them to defend the honour," of Croatia, said Kristijan Posavec, 18. "But they humiliated it."
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Brazil edge past Turkey Ulsan, June 3 Turkey defender Alpay Ozalan seemed to pull back substitute Luizao as he raced towards goal to concede the penalty on the edge of the 18-metre box and was sent off in the 86th minute. Turkey were incensed at the decision by South Korean referee Kim
Young-joo — the incident clearly started outside the penalty area — but Rivaldo coolly converted from the spot in the most entertaining of the 10 World Cup matches played so
far. Ronaldo had got Brazil back in the game from one-nil down at the break when he scored his first goal in a competitive international for nearly three years five minutes after half time to cancel out Hasan Sas’s goal just before the interval. Seconds before the final whistle Hakan Unsal was shown the red card — the third at the finals so far — for kicking the ball at Rivaldo as he prepared to take a corner. The Barcelona player collapsed theatrically clutching his head, but the ball had hit his legs. Turkish coach Senol Gunes said: “We came here with pride and we played the game with pride...we had a great effort but we couldn’t get what we deserved,” he told reporters. “There is an injustice in the result, I have to say that, an injustice,’’ he added. Turkey midfielder Emre Belozoglu said the offence that led to the penalty had happened outside the box. “Of course as far as we could see it was outside the box,’’ he said. “I thought we played well and fought hard, the important thing now is to win the coming games and qualify.’’ A relieved Rivaldo said: “When you start losing 1-0 it’s always difficult. I had a lot of faith in my team mates that we could turn the game around in the second half.’’ Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was delighted with the victory. “I’m sure that people in Brazil are glad. I may be able to transmit this happiness in Brazil to the players inside the dressing room and for the next matches,’’ he said. The injury-plagued
Ronaldo, determined to show that he had put behind him his last hapless outing at the final in France four years ago when Brazil were humbled 3-0, scored after latching on to a Rivaldo cross to force home from close
range. Ronaldo’s last competitive effort for Brazil had came in the 1999 Copa America final against Uruguay. Turkey, playing at their first World Cup for 48 years, had stunned the four-times world champions when Sas gave them the lead in first-half injury time as the Brazilians tended to over-elaborate and only occasionally produced flowing moves. But, with Ronaldo showing flashes of the play which made him twice World ‘Player of the Year’, Brazil still dominated the match only to be denied by Turkish goalkeeper Rustu
Recber. After a lively opening, the first half exploded in the last five minutes as Rustu produced three saves in a row to keep Brazil at bay and Turkey went up the other end and scored. The goalkeeper made two saves from Rivaldo — one a close range header when the Barcelona player seemed certain to score — and one from
Ronaldinho, after he had broken through the defence. Then, with the last move of the first half, Turkey went
upfield, Yildiray Basturk chipped the ball over the Brazil defence and the lively Sas sneaked behind Cafu and whacked the a left-footed volley past
Marcos. Rustu miraculously defied Rivaldo and Ronaldo four minutes into the second half, but in the next attack Rivaldo crossed from the left and Ronaldo got in front of three defenders by throwing himself forward feet first to steer the ball past
Rustu. Reuters |
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Vieri’s brace gives Italy winning start Sapporo (Japan), June 3 Italy, one of the pre-tournament favourites, settled the match in the first half an hour but the South Americans showed they will be a handful for their other Group G opponents Croatia and Mexico in their first appearance in the finals. Vieri was off the mark after just seven minutes. The golden boy of Italian football Francesco Totti crossed from the left for the Australian-raised forward to side-foot the ball beyond Ecuador goalkeeper Jose Cevallos’ despairing dive. The powerfully built Vieri was a constant menace and 20 minutes later a long pass was lofted over the Ecuadorean defence, allowing him to shrug off defender Ivan Hurtado, round the keeper and roll the ball home. Ecuador picked up their play in the second half and Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon had to react sharply to deny Agustin Delgado his nation’s first World Cup goal in the final minutes of the match. The forward who plays for English Premiership side Southampton smashed a shot from inside the penalty area that Buffon palmed round the post. Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni had drafted in an additional defender, adding A.S. Roma defender Christian Panucci to the established trio of Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta as he seeks the rock on which to build a charge to the finals. And that unit was tested as Ecuador made a good start to the second half with the lively Edison Mendez blasting a shot past the post. The minnows began to mount more attacks, and won a succession of corners but failed to convert them into goals. Italy struck back, Damiano Tomassi’s strong drive forcing a save from Cevallos, and Cristiano Doni hit the bar from the resulting corner. Cevallos also punched away a rasping drive from Vieri, who was looking for a hat-trick to match the one scored here by Germany’s Miroslav Klose against the hapless Saudis on Saturday. Alessandro Del Piero was introduced as a 74th-minute substitute, proving that a player who has fallen out of Trapattoni’s plans has a role to play in these finals. As the minutes ticked away, Italy had the majority of possession in the futuristic stadium where Argentina play England on Friday until Delgado’s late chance. With Mexico beating Croatia 1-0 earlier in the day, Italy go top of their group and face Croatia in Ibaraki, Japan, on Saturday.
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Tough task ahead for Korea Busan (South Korea), June 3 While no strangers to playing on the world stage, the winning feeling is something that has eluded them so far. In five previous World Cups they have yet to taste victory, let alone make it to the second round. They will never have a better chance to change that with massive home support behind them tomorrow and a run of encouraging warm-up results, including a 1-1 draw with England and a narrow 2-3 defeat to France. But Poland, who won their qualifying group at a canter and are considered one of the best Polish sides in years, have other ideas and believe they know where to hit Korea where it hurts. “What we think is that the host team’s defence is not their strongest point and we see our chances in it,” Polish coach Jerzy Engel told reporters. “Korea could let in a number of goals.” South Korea’s Dutch coach Guus Hiddink is well aware of this and will be praying his captain and defensive lynchpin Hong Myung-bo is fully recovered from a foot injury he picked up in the France game. Hong, who has played 126 times for his country, only resumed training late last week and there has been no word as yet from the Korean camp as to whether he will start. Without him, Korea will have their work cut out closing the door on Poland’s Panathinaikos striker Emmanuel Olisadebe, on whose shoulders so much rests. Fast-tracked into the set-up after an application for Polish citizenship was accepted in July 2000, the powerful Nigerian centre-forward has already achieved iconic status in his adopted homeland. His eight goals in qualifying helped Engel’s squad top their group ahead of the likes of Ukraine, Wales and Norway, securing Poland’s first World Cup appearance since 1986 — when it was a communist regime. The 23-year-old is the crucial figure for Poland as the East Europeans seek to emulate their successful campaigns of 1974 and 1982 when they finished third on each occasion. “I scored eight times in qualifying, so I guess it’s no wonder that fans believe in me and wish me luck,” Olisadebe said recently, but insists he doesn’t care about finding the net as long as the team does well. “I believe in myself but scoring is not the most important thing for me.”
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Japan look to score against Belgium Saitama (Japan), June 3 Since their winless World Cup debut in 1998, Philippe Troussier’s youthful side have spent four years plotting a successful course through the 2002 finals. Troussier, appointed soon after Japan flopped in France with three defeats, has steadily strengthened the team in the intervening period, guiding them to the 2000 Asian Cup and some good results against respectable opposition. Now Japan face the ultimate test, knowing that failure to qualify from Group H - which also includes Russia and Tunisia-will make them the first World Cup hosts not to reach the second round. So far fate appears to be doing all it can to help Japan get off to a winning start, as Belgium face a mounting injury toll. Schalke 04 defender Nico Van Kerckhoven reportedly hurt his groin in training over the weekend while four other players have been carrying knocks. Derby County striker Branko Strupar has been battling an ankle injury for several days, St Truiden midfielder Danny Boffin has a bruised right knee and defensive linchpin Glen De Boeck of Anderlecht has an ankle injury. Captain Marc Wilmots, dogged by fresh pains in his injured left knee, is expected to make the opening game in Group H which also includes unpredictable Russia and unfancied Tunisia. Wilmots, 33, who scored the last-minute winner in a shock 2-1 victory away over world and European champions France two weeks ago, dribbled fast and tackled hard in weekend training at Belgium base camp in remote Kumamoto. “The pain in his knee is not new. He is alright if he doesn’t work too hard,” a team doctor said. Wilmots’ experience apart, Gert Verheyen and Wesley Sonck lead an attack that will be without injured top striker Emile Mpenza. In defence Japan’s speedy attack are expected to opt for a series of low level lightning raids to nullify the physical superiority of Belgium’s defence. “Belgium have many tall players so we are aiming to hit them quickly in attack,” midfielder and Arsenal reserve Junichi Inamoto said. “We are working on getting in low, quick crosses. “With them playing away we are expecting them to be cautious. Crossing quickly will be effective,” he said. “Anyway it’s going to be difficult to pass long balls against a team that are taller than us,” added Inamoto, (22). Central to Japan’s plans will be Hidetoshi Nakata, their midfielder from Parma.
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Milutinovic’s boys ready to make debut Gwangju (South Korea), June 3 To add still further to the occasion, the game sees master take on pupil - China’s vastly experienced coach Bora Milutinovic will be pitting his wits against Alexander Guimaraes, a player when Milutinovic led Costa Rica through their first World Cup in 1990. As many as 700 million people could watch the group C game on television in China, according to estimates, cheering a side long on organisation but lacking global experience and stars of the sort who can turn a game. With a tough Turkish side and Brazil to follow in the first round, both coaches are painfully aware that victory is vital to maintain hope of a place in the latter stages. And although China - who first tried to qualify for the World Cup 44 years ago - have a virtually injury-free squad to choose from, at the back of their minds is certain to be the 8-0 humiliation of fellow Asian qualifiers Saudi Arabia at the hands of Germany. “If I was one of the Saudi Arabia players I would pack my bags and go home now,” admitted centre back Li Weifeng, one China’s top stars. “I think the Costa Rican team is very strong, they have very good players, but we feel confident in our team,” said Li, who will be keeping a close watch on Costa Rica’s star strikers Paulo Wanchope and Rolando Fonesca. China’s trump card is the fact that whatever happens, Milutinovic has seen it all before. The Chinese are the record fifth country the 57-year-old Yugoslav has led out at successive World Cups, and nothing has been left to chance with the squad. Li agreed the training was meticulous. “What I am thinking about now is what Bora has been teaching us,” he said when asked for his pre-match feelings. “It is like a film in my mind, I can recall every moment,” the 24-year-old Shenzhen player told reporters at the team’s training base on the island of Jeju. “Even in my dreams, football is on my mind.” Another bonus for China will be the hordes of fans making the short trip to Korea to cheer them on, up to 40,000 according to official estimates. “Because Korea is not so far from home we have a lot of support. It’s just like playing a game in Shenyang,” said Li, referring to his football-mad home city in northeast China. Against Costa Rica, China will be heavily reliant on their extremely well-drilled defence, including veterans of English football Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai alongside Li. They will also have to hope the sometimes inspired but erratic Wanchope will not have one of the games when the ball seems glued to the end of his gangling limbs. However at the other end, likely Chinese strikeforce Hao Haidong and Yang Chen will have to work hard to end China’s enduring goal drought in warm up games. Both Milutinovic and the players have tried to downplay public expectations at home amid a media-led football fervour, even releasing an open letter to supporters before they left China warning people not to expect miracles from their young and at times limited squad. However, the coach has throughout emphasised that, apart from careful preparation, confidence is the key and the players should not let the significance of the big day get to them. “The World Cup is a big party. We have never qualified before, so this time we should enjoy ourselves,” said right midfielder Li Xiaopeng, dubbed the “Chinese Beckham” for his crossing ability. “We should enjoy our football.”
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What they are saying at the
World Cup Seoul, June 3 “We were told that the unsold overseas tickets would be sent to us for sale in Japan, so we regret that they were not” — Spokeswoman for Japan’s World Cup organising committee on why stadiums have not been full. “I was really nervous about coming to the match because of the hooligan problem, but now I am here I can see real English fans and I feel so relieved” — Japanese housewife Maiko Ito after experiencing the hooligan-free atmosphere in Saitama. “If hooligans want to come, they’re going to come to Sapporo for Argentina” — English fan Bob Mills on his fears for the match on Friday. “The first obstacle was Nigeria and we have cleared that. Now it’s England. I think the match will be a classic” — Argentinian talisman Juan Sebastian Veron, looking forward to the match in Sapporo. “It’s down to me. One mistake can cost you and that’s what happened” — an apologetic Danny Mills after the England defender’s weak clearance gifted Sweden their equaliser. “It was too long” — Spain coach Jose Antonio Camacho after beating Slovenia to record his nation’s first opening-day victory in 52 years. “For me this is more of an icing on the cake sort of deal” — US defender Jeff Agoos on his return to the World Cup aged 34.
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Emerson in tears Ulsan (South Korea), June 3 “It is very difficult for me,” the Brazilian captain said at the team’s hotel here as he cradled his right arm in a sling. “It is very painful to not be part of team. We’re all very close and only if you are in my position can you understand how painful this really is.” The AS Roma midfielder dislocated his shoulder when diving to stop a shot while acting as goalkeeper in Brazil’s final training session yesterday before their opening Group C match against Turkey today. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he said he blamed no one but himself. “I went to see the coach and volunteered to play in goal,” he said. “It was I who decided. We are footballers and we are exposed to this type of thing.” The Brazilian delegation has called up Ricardinho of Sao Paulo-based club Corinthians as a replacement and he is expected to arrive in the next day or so.
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Red cards galore Seoul, June 3 But it couldn’t last — and sure enough the red rain descended this afternoon with red cards dished out to three players. Croatian defender Boris Zivkovic had the dubious distinction of becoming the first player to be sent off in this year’s finals after felling Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Mexico in the penalty area here today. Blanco scored from the resulting penalty to give Mexico a 1-0 win. Turkey then finished with nine men as they lost 1-2 to four-time champions Brazil with Alpay Ozalan and Hakan Unsal both red-carded in the final five minutes. The record number of dismissals for a single World Cup tournament is 22 at France 98.
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Zidane resumes training Seoul, June 3 Zidane, wearing strapping around his injured thigh, exchanged a few gentle passes with a French team physiotherapist after jogging around the training ground in the South Korean capital. The inspirational 29-year-old midfielder has been undergoing intensive treatment at a hospital here after missing France’s shock 0-1 defeat against Senegal in the tournament’s opening match.
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India clinch one-day series Port of Spain, June 3 Displaying a fine all-round performance, India scored a competitive 260 after electing to bat first with skipper Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar coming up with solid half- century knocks. They then bundled out West Indies for 191 in 36.2 overs after the home team had been set a revised target of 248 in 44 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis system following a brief rain interruption. The win gave India victory in the rain-truncated series that saw the first two matches in Jamaica being washed out. India won the third one-dayer at Bridgetown by a seven-wicket margin and West Indies replied with a seven-wicket win in the rain-shortened fourth one-dayer here on Saturday. India had lost the five-match Test series 1-2. It was India’s first one-day series triumph abroad after their 2-1 victory against West Indies in the DCM Cup in Toronto in 1999. In a remarkably mature performance by the Indians, useful contributions came from all the top-order batsmen. But while others threw it away when well set, Ganguly and Tendulkar laboured hard and consolidated the Indian innings. Tendulkar top-scored with a 70-ball 65 while Ganguly made 56 off 80 balls. The West Indian cause seemed all but lost when their first five wickets fell for just 88 runs. But Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had had a dream run in the Test series, played another magnificent knock of 51 off just 40 balls to keep the West Indian innings afloat. Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs added 71 runs in only 55 balls but could not stay long enough to carry their team through. With the asking rate climbing steadily, the pressure mounted on the batsmen and Chanderpaul, who hit Harbhajan Singh for an amazing six over long-on, scooped a high catch to Ganguly while attempting another big hit. Chanderpaul’s dismissal sounded the death knell of West Indian innings even though the rest of the batsmen tried their best to put up a fight. The most noticeable aspect of Indian batting yesterday was the willingness of the players to graft and work hard for their runs. Tendulkar’s knock contained just three fours and a six while Ganguly hit five fours. Only Virender Sehwag retained his usual flamboyance hitting six fours in his 32-run knock. India stuck to their new opening pair of Ganguly and Sehwag even after opting to bat first. The duo gave the team a sound start with Sehwag doing bulk of the scoring in the opening overs before becoming the first victim of Mervyn Dillon who claimed the second five-wicket haul of his career. India lost their first wicket at 43 in the ninth over. Ganguly and Mongia (28) added 62 for the second wicket. Mongia brought up the 100 of the Indian innings with a six over long-on off Corey Collymore but was out the very next ball giving a simple catch to Chris Gayle. India: Ganguly c Sarwan b Dillon 56 Sehwag c Gayle b Dillon 32 Mongia c Gayle b 28
Collymore Tendulkar b Dillon 65 Dravid c Sarwan b Hooper 20 Yuvraj Singh b Gayle 10 Kaif b Gayle 17 Agarkar c Hooper b Dillon 3 Harbhajan Singh not out 5 Zaheer Khan c Collins
b Dillon 4 A Nehra b Gayle 0 Extras: (lb-8, nb-4, w-8) 20 Total: (all out, 50 overs) 260 Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-105, 3-141, 4-187, 5-212, 6-239, 7-248, 8-248, 9-254. Bowling: Dillon 10-1-52-5, Cuffy 9-0-45-0, Collymore 8-0-42-1, Collins 10-1-46-0, Hooper 8-0-41-1, Gayle 5-0-26-3. West Indies: Gayle b Zaheer Khan 3 W Hinds c Sehwag b Nehra 2 Sarwan b Harbhajan 32 Lara c Mongia b Tendulkar 36 Hooper c Sehwag b Agarkar 1 Chanderpaul c Ganguly b
Harbhajan 51 Jacobs c Harbhajan b Agarkar 36 Dillon run out 0 Collins b Agarkar 9 Collymore not out 0 Cuffy c Agarkar b Nehra 7 Extras: (b-1, lb-4, w-9) 14 Total:
(all out, 36.2 overs) 191 FOw: 1-7, 2-12, 3-73, 4-76, 5-88, 6-159, 7-162, 8-184, 9-184. Bowling: Nehra 5.2-0-25-2, Zaheer Khan 7-1-32-1, Agarkar 8-0-33-3, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-55-2, Sehwag 4-0-21-0, Tendulkar 3-0-20-1.
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Expert comments
— Michael Holding India have a very poor record away from home, especially outside of the subcontinent but they should have had high hopes of a successful tour of the Caribbean when they arrived in March. The West Indies’ form in recent years had been very poor and although better at home, they still had not beaten anyone but Zimbabwe, in Zimbabwe, since 1999 in the Caribbean when they beat the same Zimbabwe and a luckless Pakistan. In the end they only ended up being victors in the rain shortened one-day series by two games to one while losing the Tests by the same margin. If India were to win the Test series, they needed to get into their stride very early as the venues for the first two Tests were surely going to be their best opportunities. Guyana as usual proved to be a batsman’s paradise and once the West Indies won the toss and piled up the runs in the first innings, it was only a matter of batting to save the Test for India. That they managed to do so after getting a pretty ordinary start was commendable and especially pleasing to all of India must have been the strength of character and will shown by Rahul Dravid after being hit in the face by a bouncer from Mervyn Dillon. The rains came as usual but by then it was accepted by most that the only result would have been a draw. India went on to win the next Test in Trinidad, the venue of their most recent previous victory in the Caribbean but not before a few hiccups. Of course, they now had the inclusion of their Turbanator, Harbhajan Singh, who missed the previous Test but he was not as effective as most people thought he would have been and in fact would have to be said to be a slight disappointment on the tour. It was here that the captain Saurav Ganguly was really tested and it is fair to say it was not his handling of the team that enabled them to win. Ganguly is a captain that is fairly new in the job and so should be given some time to develop but the first thing he has to learn is that while all hell may be breaking loose around him, he has to maintain some sort of calm and hopefully transfer that calm to his team around him. He certainly wasn’t helping his men and particularly his bowlers by constantly gesticulating and seemingly arguing with them each time they bowled a ball that wasn’t quite what he was hoping for. Fortunately for him and India, the West Indies capitulated once again on the last day chasing what should have been an achievable target. They say bad news is best forgotten quickly but India certainly doesn’t seem able to overcome the problems they have always had in Barbados the venue for the third Test. All visiting teams know the history of the Kensington Oval pitch. It’s usually the quickest pitch in the Caribbean, challenged only by the Sabina Park pitch in Jamaica but the fast bowling strengths of the Caribbean team is not what it used to be but that didn’t matter to India. They lost the toss, the West Indies played four fast bowlers, sent them in and that was basically that. Before the Test started, Ganguly stated that the previous poor record of India at Kensington didn’t matter and that they had just won the previous Test so were confident but it surely didn’t show in their first innings. Bundled out cheaply for 102, they could never recover and their poor record continues. The pitches around the Caribbean in the different islands are distinctly different in nature but it also depends a lot on the preparation that goes into each surface. There could not have been a greater contrast between the pitch in Antigua and the one for the last Test in Jamaica. While the batsmen had a ball in Antigua, with no team being dismissed throughout the entire Test and a boring draw being the outcome, it was quite obvious there would have been a result in Jamaica. The Antigua pitch was bereft of grass, the Jamaica playing surface was covered with the green stuff like a pitch in the UK at the beginning of the cricket season in early April. The team winning the toss was surely not going to bat first and should have a distinct advantage but India having won the toss, bowled poorly. The West Indies batted well, got over 400 in the first innings and although the Indian bowlers did better in the second, they left themselves too much to do, batting last on a deteriorating pitch and succumbed to some accurate West Indies bowling. They deserved to lose having been outplayed by the Windies but they must have been crying in their dinners that night for if the lower order batsmen had applied themselves a bit better and stayed another 15 minutes or so at the crease, the rains that came during the presentation ceremony would have saved the day and they would have gone back home with a drawn series instead of having lost. Considering their away record, that would have been a very good result. The consolation prize of the one-dayers would take away some of the pain of losing the Test series and I suppose with the World Cup not far away, all teams will be putting a great deal of effort into that form of the game but most teams, one would think, would swap a Test series win for a limited overs win any day.
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Agassi survives; Hewitt, Kuerten toppled Paris, June 2 In major upsets yesterday world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten crashed out of the French Open. Australian top seed Hewitt, the US Open champion who has never made it past the quarterfinals in Paris, cracked against Argentina's Guillermo Canas, after an epic 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 3-6 battle lasting four hours and 13 minutes. "Guga", seeded seventh, who won the tournament in 1997, 2000 and last year, came to Paris ill-prepared after a hip operation forced him out of action for four months, and he was clearly not fit enough against Spaniard Albert Costa, who won 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Canas, who now faces Costa in the quarterfinals, beat Hewitt at his own game from the baseline. Hewitt had the upper hand in the first tie-break, which he took 7-1, but he gradually lost ground against one of the leading figures in Argentina's up and coming generation. The country's current wave of success was also reflected in the 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory of Paola Suarez over French 10th seed Amelie Mauresmo while compatriot Clarisa Fernandez ousted 13th seeded Russian Elena Dementieva 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
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Bhupathi-Elena duo advances Paris, June 3 The third seeds Bhupathi and Likhovtseva beat Wynne Prakusya (Indonesia) and Cyril Suk (Czech Republic) 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in a three-setter to proceed to round two. On the other hand, fourth seeds Paes and the American Raymond could not maintain their winning streak, going down 3-6, 6-7 (2-7) to Bovina and Knowles.
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