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Friday,
August 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Indian eves storm into final New Zealand’s keeper Helen Clarke is left on the ground as India’s Jyoti Kullu
(L 2) celebrates her goal with Pritam Siwach (R 2), Mamta Kharab (L) and Suman Bala Saini (R) during their
Commonwealth Games semi-final hockey match at the Belle Vue Complex in Manchester on Tuesday. Anjali, Rajyavardhan claim gold India’s Rajyavardhan Singh celebrates after winning gold medal in men’s Double Trap Singles shooting competition in 2002 Commonwealth Games in Bisley on Thursday.
— Reuters Sanamachu emulates Kunjarani Devi |
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Disappointing day for paddlers Manchester, August 1 Barring the duo of S Raman and Mantu Ghosh, all the other Indian pairs fell by the wayside in the second round of the table tennis mixed doubles event in the 17th Commonwealth Games here today.
Hockey: SA shatter England’s dream
Freeman bags gold after long-awaited return
Sampras rallies to down Korean
Indonesia start favourites Becker praises Indian duo
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Indian eves storm into final
Manchester, August 1 Fresh from a dramatic win against South Africa yesterday, the Indians scored once in each half in the semi-final after conceding a goal early in the first half. India’s saviour in the last match Jyoti Kullu (34) and Mamata Kharab (62) scored for the team after New Zealand took the lead through a fifth minute goal by Suzie Pierce. The victory, which assured the Indian women hockey team of a medal for the first time in the history of the Games, was more remarkable because they were robbed off a penalty stroke by the referee who ruled that Kullu was taking too much time to take the strike and asked play to be continued. India was awarded the stroke in the 58th minute when Pritam Siwach was brought down inside the circle by the Kiwi defenders. But it was soon disallowed by the umpire as Jyoti Kullu took a long time to take the stroke. India’s protest at the decision yielded no result as the umpire declined to revert the decision and instead showed a green card to the protesting Surajlata. The Indians did not let the two decisions affect their play and scored the match-winner soon after when Mamta Kharab put the ball in off the second rebound off a penalty corner.
PTI
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Anjali, Rajyavardhan claim gold
Manchester, August 1 Anjali was the star performer at the shooting ranges in Bisley as she picked up her third gold medal in the competitions to take India’s shooting tally to 10 gold, six silver and two bronze medals on yet another productive day which saw the shooters claim two of the six gold meals on offer. Rajyavardhan Singh also stole the limelight by collecting his second gold in the men’s double trap event. Rajyavardhan Singh took the coveted yellow metal with an aggregate of 191 points, just one point adrift of strong contender Russel Mark of Australia who had to be content with the silver. Displaying superb skill and concentration, Anjali bagged her third gold medal in the competitions to take India’s shooting tally to nine gold, five silver and two bronze medals. The Indian shooters, who failed to pick up a gold medal yesterday after dominating the ranges on the first four days of competitions, resumed their yellow metal-grabbing act with Anjali hogging the limelight with a creditable effort to reaffirm her supremacy in the rifle events. Anjali aggregated 500.8 points to pip compatriot Suma Shirur by 0.8 points. Shirur had to be content with the silver medal while England’s Louise Minett took home the bronze with a total of 494.8 points. The Indian marksmen have already improved upon their tally of four gold, three silver and two bronze medals collected in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Experienced Samaresh Jung brought more cheer for the shooting squad by picking up a silver medal in the men’s 50m pistol event, continuing his superb display in these games. Jung, who had partnered pistol king Jaspal Rana to win a gold medal on the first day of the shooting competitions, aggregated 652.8 points, falling well behind gold-winner Michael Gault of England, who logged 657.5 points. The bronze in the event went to South Africa’s Daniel Francois Van Tonder, who managed 644.3 points.
PTI
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Sanamachu
emulates Kunjarani Devi
Manchester, August 1 Chanu lifted 82.5kg in snatch and 100 kg in clean and jerk for a total of 182.5kg in the women’s upto 53kg (rpt 53kg) weight category to claim the gold medals in the three divisions. She beat two Australians — Natasha Barker and Seen Lee — who won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the three divisions. In the up to 58kg category, Sunaina Sunaina won bronze in all the three divisions lifting 85 kg in snatch and 107.5kg in clean and jerk for a total of 192.5kg. All the three gold medals in this category was won by Maryse Turcotte of Canada while Michaela Breeze took the silver medals. Earlier in the day, Chitradurga Kumar claimed a bronze medal in the snatch event of the men’s 69 kg category with a lift of 135 kg. However, Kumar could manage only 147.5kg in the clean and jerk event which gave him a low total of 282.5kg and only the sixth position overall. Cameroon’s Tientcheu Dabaya made a clean sweep of all the three gold medals in the event. After today’s events, India have six gold, nine silver and three bronze medals from weightlifting.
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Disappointing
day for paddlers
Manchester, August 1 Raman and Mantu were the only success story as they defeated the Lesotho pair of Monyooe Taole and Boteng Ntisane 11-6 11-2 11-2 to progress to the second round on a rather disappointing day for the Indians. The fancied pair of Chetan Baboor and N R Indu suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the English duo of Andrew Baggaley and Goergina Walker in straight sets 10-12 7-11 5-11 in what turned out to be a rather one-sided contest. Soumyadeep Roy and Mouma Das also bit the dust in the
second round going down to the Singapore pair of Tai Yong Zhang and Jun Hong Jing 8-11 4-11 5-11 while Sourav Chakraborty and Poulomi Ghatak also saw their challenge put to an end by another Singaporean team Xiao Li Cai and Xue Ling Zhang 8-11 3-11 7-11. However, the women paddlers put up a disciplined
performance in the doubles event with two teams cruising into the quarter finals. Mantu Ghosh and N R Indu had to struggle a little bit before overwhelming the Wales pair of Betham Daunton and Natasha Lake with a hard-fought 3-2 margin. Mantu and Indu conceded the first set but raised their game by several notches to eventually carve out a labourious 7-11 11-8 8-11 14-12 11-8 victory. Another Indian pair of Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak did not have to sweat much as they spanked the girls from Trinidad and Tobago with a 11-3 17-15 11-8 verdict in a contest which lasted hardly 40 minutes. In the men’s doubles event, the fancied pair of S Raman and Chetan Baboor moved into the quarterfinals by prevailing over A Gita and P Mutambuze of Uganda 11-8 11-3 11-3 in a match which lasted for half an hour. Sourav Chakraborty and Soumyadeep Roy also kept themselves on medal course by getting a walk over in the second round with the players from St Vincent and the Grenadines giving a walkover.
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Satish bags two
gold, one bronze Manchester, August 1 The seasoned Rai won the clean and jerk and overall titles in the men’s 77 kg category and bagged the bronze medal in the snatch to take India’s overall medals tally to eight gold, six silver and seven bronze from the weightlifting
arena. Rai lifted a total of 317.5 (snatch 142.4 kg, clean and jerk 175 kg) to get the better of Dave Morgan of Wales who had to be content with collecting three silver medals. The Indian medal collection had received a huge boost with the seasoned N. Kunjarani Devi and Sanamacha Chanu making a clean sweep of all the three gold medals in the women’s 48 kg and 53 kg categories respectively in the first two days of competitions.
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Easy victories for shuttlers Manchester, August 1 In the day’s only match featuring India in the men’s doubles event, Valiyaveetil Diju and Thomas Sanave cruised to the third round with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Neil Cottrill and Liam Ingram of Wales. The Indian pair won 7-3, 7-2, 7-5. In the women’s doubles’ event, Neelima Choudhary and Deepti Choudhary played superbly to beat the Seychells pair of Juliette Ah-Wan and Katherina Paulin 7-2, 7-0, 6-8, 7-0. After India comfortably winning the first two games, the Seychells duo made a spirited fightback to win the third game 6-8. But the Indians soon made amends to win the fourth game without dropping even a single point to clinch the issue.
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Rs 10 lakh prize for Anju George Chennai , August
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Hockey: SA shatter England’s dream
Manchester, August 1 Emile Smith scored the winner six minutes before half-time to lift South Africa into the semifinals where they take on defending champions Australia on Friday. Canada lost to New Zealand 2-3 and will meet Pakistan in the other semi-final. Pool champions Australia and Pakistan gained a direct entry into the semifinals, leaving the second and third-placed teams to play-off for the remaining two spots. The South African men made up for the disappointment of their women’s team, who lost the play-off to India earlier in after being 3-1 up eight minutes before the final whistle. England missed injured striker David Mathews, out for six weeks with a hamstring injury, as they fumbled repeatedly before the South African goal. A powerful hit by Duncan Woods in the second-half rebounded off the post, but Danny Hall had himself to blame for failing to score before an empty goal in the last five minutes. South Africa’s victory margin would have been bigger if Greg Nicol, their most successful striker, had not pushed a penalty stroke wide off the target. Rival goalkeepers Simon Mason of England and Chris Hibbert of South Africa effected brilliant saves as both sides made quick counter-moves in a fast, entertaining match. “We played very well and defended positively,” said South African coach Robert Pullen. “It will be a big game against Australia. They are the champions and will be favoured to win.” “But we can match them if we improve our penalty corners and finishing before the goal.” England, who were hoping to better their bronze medal performance at the last Commonwealth Games in Malaysia four years ago, were devastated by the defeat. “This is the worst result of my career,” said Mason of his 100th international appearance. “It’s not that we did not play well, but we missed goals by inches.” “Till the end I thought we will be able to draw level, but it was not to be.” England’s coach Malcolm Wood conceded the absence of Mathews proved costly. “We obviously missed him badly,” he said. “If he was there, things would have been different.” “We should have killed South Africa in the first 20 minutes. But there is this dreadful thing called sport which jumps and bites you some times.” “It was just a bad day in the office.” New Zealand joined Australia and Pakistan and South Africa in the men’s hockey semifinals. In the last match of the day, the Kiwis twice came from behind to oust Canada 3-2. Hayden Shaw was New Zealand’s hero, recording a hat-trick to emerge the highest scorer in the competition with 11 goals. South Africa will take on defending champions Australia on Friday. New Zealand face Pakistan in the other semifinal the same day. AFP
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Freeman bags gold after long-awaited return
Manchester, August 1 The high-profile performer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics picked up a gold medal in the women’s 4x400 metres relay yesterday after running the second leg. For a woman who has won every major title in the athletics world, a Commonwealth title in the relay hardly rates a mention on her staggering list of achievements. But Freeman, the first Aborigine to win an athletics gold for Australia at the Olympics, celebrated as if she were back in Sydney. “To come here and win a gold medal, I never dreamed that this could happen to me,” Freeman said. “I dreamed of Olympic gold but this is just an absolute bonus.” Freeman’s life has changed dramatically since she lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony in Sydney before winning the women’s 400m on an electric night at the athletics track. She almost did not make it to Manchester after her husband, Sandy Bodecker, was diagnosed two months ago with inoperable throat cancer. The 29-year-old Freeman wanted to miss the games to stay by his side during his radiation and chemotherapy treatment but Bodecker persuaded her to go to Manchester instead, where, among other things, she lunched with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. Because she had missed the national championships through injury, Freeman did not qualify for the 400m individual event, although Australian team selectors could have invoked a rarely-used clause giving her permission to run. But Freeman spared them from having to make any awkward decisions by opting to run the relay only. “The thought of a gold medal didn’t cross my mind when I landed here last week,” Freeman said. “I have more concerns with my own level of fitness, but the sense of occasion and pride when you’re part of a team gives you so much strength and we came through.” Freeman made her international debut at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the relay as a skinny teenager. Reuters
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Sampras rallies to down Korean
Toronto, August 1 It was a close call for the 13-time Grand Slam champion who has not won a title since Wimbledon two years ago. The American gained a date today with German third seed Tommy Haas, who is back in contention after taking two months off after his parents were seriously hurt in a Florida motorcycle accident. Haas showed Dutchman Sjeng Schalken the door 6-3 3-6 6-3, putting together back-to-back wins for the first time since the French Open. Sampras, now 19-14 on the season, dredged up memories from the US Open two years ago when he beat the South Korean qualifier in straight sets. Lee took the initiative in the ensuing decider, going ahead 4-1 before Sampras slowly reeled him in. The third set was more classic Sampras style, with the 30-year-old breaking in the third and fifth games. Sampras let a first match point go as he mis-judged a return, but came through with relief on his second chance, a stinging forehand volley winner. “He played a great match, it was tough,” said Sampras, a 1995 tournament finalist. “But I hung in there and had some luck in the breaker. “I found my game in the third and was glad to get the win.” Second seed Marat Safin also beat defending champion Andrei Pavel 6-3 7-6 (7/4). The Russian, back in contention after taking a one-month break following an early Wimbledon exit, said he never considered the fact that he and Pavel are the last two to win here. “That’s history,” said the 22-year-old, who claimed the 2000 trophy. “Two years ago, one year ago, it’s all in the past. You’re coming here to win the tournament again.” “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing.” Pavel, of Romania, is defending champion at an event which shifts between Toronto and Montreal. He has lost to Safin all four times they have played dating to 2000. Haas put together back-to-back wins for the first time since the French Open. Shortly after exiting in the fourth round in Paris to Pavel, Haas parents were hurt after crashing their son’s motorcycle. After his father Peter emerged from two and a half weeks in a coma, Haas ventured back into the game last week as top seed in Los Angeles, losing in the first round to an American qualifier. “I didn’t have a great match in LA after that long layover,” Haas said after his second-round victory. “I still have some problems with my shoulder, but I’ve played two solid matches now. “I’m happy with the way that it’s going but I’m still far away from where I want to be fitness-wise and confidence-wise. The more matches I play, the better I’ll become.” Briton Tim Henman, a 1998 semi-finalist, came up a winner in his first career meeting with James Blake, ousting the American 6-3 6-3 Fourth seed Henman broke once in the rapid-fire first set and twice in the second, finishing on the first of three match points. There was another victory for American veteran Todd Martin, who stopped Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, the ninth seed from Sweden, 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian put aside his post Grand Slam nerves to defeat Spain’s Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7/1) 6-3 and Argentine Guillermo Canas ousted Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan 6-2 6-1. AFP
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Hantuchova
loses
San Diego, August 1 Officials said it was the first time they could remember a match finishing with a point penalty being handed out on match point. WTA rules state that a player must start the next point 20 seconds after the previous point has been completed. However, unlike in code violations where a player is defaulted from a match after three infringements, a player can receive multiple point penalties for time wasting. Hantuchova received a warning for a time violation in the second game of the third set yesterday before being given a point penalty in the 11th game. Then, serving at 5-6 and match point down, umpire Denis Overberg gave the Slovak another point penalty to hand Sugiyama victory in the second round encounter at La Costa Resort and Spa. “Denis acted within the rules,” said WTA supervisor Clare Wood. “As long as I’ve been involved in the officiating side, I haven’t heard of that happening on a match point.” Referee Billie Lipp, who has been officiating since 1974, said: “I can’t recall a time violation ending a match. I know we’ve had a code violation end a match but the umpire isn’t thinking where they are. “He’s only thinking about what the rules are and, as the match progresses, what he’s telling the players and trying to be fair to both players. Unfortunately, that’s what occurred.” Reuters
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Indonesia start favourites
Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), August 1 India, placed in Group B, will meet an under-23 Singapore side tomorrow in its opening league fixture. The team, which had a month-long camp at Jamshedpur under chief coach Stephen Constantine, is expected to put up a good show here despite some odds. However, Constantine sought to downplay India’s chances saying, “I do not know anything about our rivals. Our goal will be to play one match at a time and of course we have to try to win the first match.” The coach said the key players in the team would be “captain Baichung Bhutia, the No.1 striker of India who has played in England and I am sure he will play well in this tournament. Besides we have some more very good players such as Jo Paul Ancheri, Debjit Ghosh, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal and Renedy Singh”. The final 21 selected to tour Vietnam make a fairly balanced team with the stress on youth. With the Asian Games norm allowing only three players above the age of 23, Bhutia along with the two central midfielders Jo Paul Ancheri and Devjit Ghosh fill up the three seniors’ slots while there are nine players who are yet to earn an international cap. Bhutia said the tournament offered a good chance for the team to test its skills in the international arena. Defending champions Indonesia start favourites and they have sent their strongest line-up to prepare for the Tiger Cup to be played in Jakarta later this year. The Indian squad: Goalkeepers: Sangram Mukherjee, Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Naseem Akhtar. Defenders: Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Deepak Mondal, Satish Bharti, Arun Malhotra, Monitomba Singh, Devjit Ghosh. Midfielders: Renedy Singh, Sasthi Duley, S. Venkatesh, Tomba Singh, K. Ajayan, Jo Paul Ancheri. Forwards: Alex Ambrose, Bijen Singh, Abhishek Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Bhaichung Bhutia (Captain). PTI
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Becker praises Indian duo
Jaipur, August 1 “They were very good in doubles but they could not concentrate in singles due to their doubles engagements. Otherwise they could have done well in singles too but they should not rue over it because they have achieved much together,” Becker said. Becker, who is in the city for a commercial shoot, ranked Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt as the best player among the current crop. “There are many exciting players on the tennis scene at present like Tommy Haas and Marat Safin who are tremendous players. But I think the current Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt is the best.” Becker will always be known as the youngest player to win at Wimbledon as a 17-year old in 1985. No wonder the mention of the venue, of which he once famously said “it is where I was born,” strikes a deep chord in him. The 34-year-old Becker said he did not approve the idea of retractable roof at Wimbledon’s historic Centre Court. “For the last five or six years I have been hearing about plans to cover the Centre Court, but I dont know when it will be done. “But if you ask me, I would like it to remain as it is. Wimbledon has its own atmosphere and covering the court with roof will affect it,” said Becker. He was full of praise for Bjorn Borg, the elegant Swede who held aloft the Wimbledon trophy for a record five times. Becker was happy in his new role as a model. Despite the hot weather, he enjoyed ‘the colourful and vibrant’ Rajasthan. PTI
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Play ruled
out due to wet outfield Worcester (England), August 1 With the opening day’s play also spoiled due to persistent rains, the game may be reduced to a two-day affair provided there are no further showers. The Indians, who wanted to field both their wicketkeepers — Ajay Ratra and Parthiv Patel — in this match before a final decision on them, will have to pray for some match to be possible at this picturesque Worcester County Cricket Ground.
PTI
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Manchester, August 1
