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Tuesday,
September 10, 2002,
Chandigarh, India   |
Series
level as play washed out
CHETAN
SHARMA WRITES |
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Pete Sampras kisses the men's singles championship trophy after defeating Andre
Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at the US Open in New York
on Sunday. — AP/PTI photo
Virk, 3
others to beat bribery Efforts
on to revive cricketers’ body: Arun Saraswati Saha, K. Manoj Lal best athletes Uzbekistan
to play soccer matches Anup,
Monica claim titles Fatehbir
is U-12 golf champ Modern
School girls lift crown Handball body office-bearers
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Series level as play washed out
London, September 9 Not a single ball could be bowled on the final day today due to persistent showers and the four-match series ended in a 1-1 deadlock. England were 114 without loss in their second innings at close of play yesterday after India were all out for 508 to concede a narrow seven run first innings lead. England had won the first Test at the Lord’s by 170 runs while India registered their biggest away victory in the third Test at Headingley when they defeated England by an innings and 46 runs. The 1-1 draw meant India’s long wait for their first series victory outside the subcontinent had been prolonged. India’s previous victory came way back in 1986 in England when Kapil Dev’s team won the series 2-0. After their sterling performance at Headingley, the Indians had raised hopes of ending the long drought with a win here. However, even without rain, a draw looked the most plausible result after the first innings had consumed more than three and a half days with just a seven-run advantage in favour of England. Rahul Dravid was declared the man of the match as well as India’s man of the series for his consistent performance. Dravid, who capped his dream run in this series with a career-best 217 in this Test, aggregated 602 runs from six innings at an average of 100.33. Michael Vaughan, who like Dravid completed 600 runs in this series and 1,000 runs this year, was named England’s man of the series. But despite his batting exploits, which include four centuries this summer, Vaughan said the most memorable moment for him in this series came when he clean bowled Sachin Tendulkar in the third Test. “I think getting Sachin out was pretty special,” he said. Vaughan had dislodged the off the off-stump of Tendulkar with a brilliant delivery that deceived the batsman in flight and spun in sharply to go between the bat and pads. Indian captain Saurav Ganguly said his team had “moved up a few steps” during this series. “But we still have to improve. We are still looking for a series victory. “We batted pretty well throughout this tour. I think we should have bowled a bit better. But then it is a very inexperienced attack. England were a very tough side and I think we fought well,” Ganguly said. England captain Nasser Hussain said his team could have attacked a bit more in the fourth Test but “with a batting line-up as awesome as the Indians have, it was a bit threatening”. SCOREBOARD England (Ist innings): 515 India (Ist innings): 508 England (2nd innings): Trescothick not out 58 Vaughan not out 47 Extras (b-4 nb-5) 9 Total (for no loss, 28 overs) 114 Bowling: Zaheer Khan 5-0-37-0, Bangar 2-0-6-0, Kumble 10-2-28-0, Harbhajan Singh 7-1-24-0, Agarkar 4-0-15-0.
PTI
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CHETAN
SHARMA WRITES Some people will say India should have won the series but for them I would like to spell out the gains for India this summer in England. As if winning the one-day Tri-series was not enough, the Indian battinghas finally shown it can excel on overseas pitches too. I have rarely seen an Indian batting order relishing an away series as this side has done. Don’t just go by their averages, you must see how they scored their runs. Each of the batsmen had big knocks under his belt, showing little respect for the English bowling on their pitches. It was the summer of Indian strokeplayers and almost all of the fans who turned out at the cricket grounds, must have got the worth of their money. Rahul Dravid was the pick of the show. He was rightly given a joint men of the series award with Micheal Vaughan as both the batsmen had hit three centuries in the four Tests. What a remarkable achievement from the two! India’s golden moment was the victory at Headingley against all odds and I am inclined to say that with a better luck and thought, India could have come up with a miracle here at the Oval. I wish Saurav Ganguly had declared the Indian innings as soon as Dravid got run out yesterday and even if India were about 50 runs behind England at that stage, it would have given our bowlers an extra 30-40 minutes to have a go at the English batsmen. But in the end it meant nothing because the final day’s play was a complete washout today. The bowling of the two teams though left a lot to be desired. In each of the Tests, teams had been piling up scores of in excess of 500, with India even getting more than 600 once, and that is not a good showing by the bowlers. I agree the pitches too were beautiful for batting but good bowlers know how to bowl on batting wickets and the only Indian fast bowler who enhanced his reputation was Zaheer Khan. Both Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra would want to forget the series as soon as possible, though Agarkar would carry home the memories of his century at Lord’s. The Indian spinners won their side a Test but they could have done a lot better. In future I would love to see Harbhajan Singh bowling wider of the off-stump so that batsmen fall for cover drives and lose their wickets. This way he would also give away lesser runs than he has been when the ball turns from middle stump to the leg stump. I am happy the ICC contracts issue has finally been resolved and the best Indian team will go for the Champions Trophy to Sri Lanka. I can tell you this team has the potential to win the tournament. |
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Sampras
wins fifth US Open title
New York, September 9 Winless since Wimbledon 2000, Sampras ended a 33 tournament drought in storybook fashion. Looking like the Pete Sampras of old rather than an old Pete Sampras, the 31-year-old American served with power and volleyed to perfection adding a fifth US Open title to his seven Wimbledon crowns and two Australian Open victories. With the September 11 anniversary just three days off and the “Heros flag’’ recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center fluttering overhead, Sampras’s win followed a victory by Serena Williams in Saturday’s women’s final capping off a patriotic feel good weekend for Americans. Sampras won the toss and chose to serve, firing in two aces as he held to love in the opening game. Agassi’s serve is a fearsome weapon too, though, and he also held comfortably. It was not until the fifth game, and 18 consecutive points with serve, that the receiver — Agassi — won a point against serve. Sixth seed Agassi forced Sampras to deuce in that fifth game but the holder of a record 13 grand slam titles fought him off to edge ahead 3-2 as a shadow crept across the Arthur Ashe stadium court. Agassi’s third ace enabled him to level at 3-3 but Sampras unleashed his fastest serve of the championship in the next game, a 132 miles per hour ace. Two sloppy forehand volley errors allowed Agassi a glimpse of hope, but Sampras slammed the door in his face with his eighth ace in four service games. Three huge forehands from Sampras rocked Agassi onto his heels in the eighth game and a deft chip and charge on the Agassi serve gave the 17th seed a break for 5-3. The most accomplished server in the sport needed just that one opportunity. He missed two set points and saved a break point with a second serve ace before punching a backhand volley into open space to clinch the set 6-3 in 29 minutes. Sampras carried the momentum into the second set breaking Agassi at the first opportunity when the Las Vegan’s backhand return sailed wide. The 13-time grand slam winner then held serve to love, reeling off 10 straight points before Agassi could finally get on the board struggling to keep from going down two breaks. Serving with power and volleying to near perfection, Sampras went three service games without dropping a single point while Agassi continued to wobble. The relentless pressure resulted in another break opportunity for Sampras in the seventh game and he would not squander the chance, surging ahead 5-2 when Agassi’s normally deadly forehand return drifted long. With Sampras serving for the set, Agassi went on the attack clawing back one break and holding to cut the deficit to 5-4. After serving up 12 aces in the opening set, Sampras had just four in the second but two of those came while serving for the set, taking him to a 2-0 lead. The third set saw both players settle into a rhythm easily holding serve until Agassi would take the initiative getting the first break opportunities with Sampras leading 3-2. Sampras, though, would save two of Agassi’s three break chances with thundering aces, his 21 and 22nd of the match, then holding serve with yet another unreturnable rocket. Looking weary from a four-set semi-final clash with world number one Lleyton Hewitt, Agassi dug into his reserves finally breaking Sampras to take the third set. With the set headed towards a tie-break, the two tennis legends traded winners to the delight of the 23,000 spectators who errupted in a roar when Sampras forehand return caught the net giving Agassi a 7-5 victory and new life. Playing his fifth match in seven days, fatigue also began to show on Sampras’s face as the fourth set started. The sun now setting behind the Manhattan skyline and Sampras’s shoulders drooping, the 17th seed survived two break chances and needed 12 minutes and 20 points in the fourth game to stay on serve 2-2.
Reuters |
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Sampras soars 20 places LONDON: Pete Sampras rose 20 places to 12th in the ATP Champions Race after winning the US Open, his 14th grand slam title. Fellow American Andre Agassi, beaten in four sets in Sunday’s final by Sampras, rose one place to second behind Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Agassi beat Hewitt in the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows. It was Sampras’s fifth US Open title at the age of 31 and his first tournament win of any kind since Wimbledon 2000. He has won more grand slams than any other player.
Reuters |
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Virk, 3 others to beat bribery
Colombo, September 9 Not much, except they all know how to use a gun, bust a racket — and will be turning their talents to beating bribery in cricket. The International Cricket Council, stung by a series of scandals, has selected the four officers to ensure no match-fixing and corruption occurs during its 12-nation Champions Trophy which this small tropical island is hosting from Thursday in the run-up to next year’s World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The four men picked by cricket’s governing body are N.S. Virk of Central Bureau of Investigation, John Rhodes, an inspector in the South Wales Police Force, Bob Smalley of the London Metropolitan Police and Lt Col Nuruddin Khawaja of the Pakistani army. The four security men are to prevent “contact between layers and bookmakers or gamblers,” the ICC said. “They are of the utmost importance in breaking the links between cricketers and unlawful gamblers.” The ICC is also trying to rope in journalists for information on illegal bookmakers, whose alleged influence on cricketers has smeared the game’s reputation. “The media is requested to report anything of a suspicious nature they may become aware of during the Champions Trophy,” the ICC said in a statement today. Among other graft-busting measures to be applied during the Colombo tournament, only one cell phone will be allowed in each team’s dressing room and it will remain with the manager to take emergency calls, said Mark Harrison, the world body’s spokesman. There will be a billboard in front of a team’s dressing room that will carry pictures of all players and officials concerned so that security guards are not tricked by forged identity cards. The measures were drawn up by the ICC anti-corruption Unit, which was established in June 2000 as a response to the match-fixing and betting crisis that followed revelations by Hansie Cronje, the former South African test captain, two months earlier. Paul Condon, former Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, was appointed by the ICC to head cricket’s first international anti-corruption operation for mounting a powerful response to the damaging allegations. The alleged involvement of the illegal betting industry in the 1980s and 90s started after televised cricket stimulated an enormous increase in gambling on cricket matches.
AP |
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Efforts on to revive cricketers’ body: Arun Kolkata, September 9 A move has been initiated to revive the Association of Indian Cricketers (AIC), formed in 1989, to address the plethora of issues facing the game and the players now, former Test cricketer Arun Lal, one of the brains behind the floating of the body, told PTI today. “The players now have huge responsibilities to the game, as also to society. They need a body of their own to take care of their various needs and take up matters at the right places for them,” Lal, who was the founder-secretary of AIC and still continues in the post, said. Lal said that he wanted to hold face-to-face talks with the present Indian players once they were free from cricketing engagements before relaunching the AIC. “At present our cricketers have such a hectic schedule that I can’t sit immediately with them. But may be, within a couple of months, things will start taking shape,” he said. He had already had several rounds of discussions with former all rounder Ravi Shastri, who has been selected by the players in England as their spokesman on the sponsorship issue. Apparently the need for a formal players’ representative body was realised after the Indian board refused to recognise Shastri as players’ spokesman and insisted on dealing directly with the players during the current controversy. Incidentally, the AIC had been launched in the wake of an earlier tussle between the senior players and the BCCI over some cricketer’s visit to the US at the end of the official tour of West Indies in 1989. The association, which has now become virtually defunct with the players losing interest in its affairs, is currently housed at Lal’s residence. On whether he was willing to take over as secretary of the revived AIC along with Ravi Shastri, the former opener said: “Officially, I am still the secretary. Once we decide to revive it, fresh elections will be held. But till then, I consider myself as a custodian of sorts”. Asked how he foresaw the association’s role vis-a-vis the Indian cricket board, Lal said: “Both the board and the players are responsible partners in insuring smooth running of the game”. Commenting on BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya’s refusal to talk to Shastri during the ongoing controversy, Lal said: “I don’t understand the board’s problem in holding discussions with someone who has been appointed spokesman by the players”. Asked whether the board would be positively inclined in accepting a players’ association, he said “let’s hope for the best. The board has not said anything negative about the association till now”. He said the association would work towards joining the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA). “Joining the FICA is an island in the present world”. Other than providing a platform to the cricketers, Lal said, the players’ association could also help them in fulfilling their responsibilities to the society. “A player should find some time for charity work. The players’ association can be of immense help to them in this regard,” he said. Lal said considering the immense popularity of the game in the country, the players’ association could organise matches and raise substantial amounts to help the needy. “We can hold benefit matches for former cricketers who have fallen on hard times. The association can even have a charitable trust,” he said.
PTI |
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Saraswati Saha, K. Manoj Lal best athletes
New Delhi, September 9 Saraswati Saha and K Manoj Lal were declared best woman and man athletes of the meet which was won by Railways. Anju managed to equal her national record of 6.74m set in Thiruvananthapuram last year in her third attempt. She broke the meet record of 6.43m set by G.G. Pramila in Chennai last year. J.J. Shoba of Railways (6.34m) and Jetty Joseph of LIC (6.17m) won silver and bronze respectively. Harminder won the gold and broke the previous meet record of 76.96m set by O.P. Dudi of RSPB. Fazal Ansari of SSCB (72.60m) and Sunil Goswami of LIC (72.03m) finished second and third respectively. Punjab’s Amarjeet Singh claimed the gold in triple jump with an effort of 15.90 m which he achieved in his second effort. However, he was way behind the national record of 16.79m set by Mohinder Gill way back in 1971. Amarjeet was also fell well short of meet
record of 16.23m. Policeman Prithipal Singh took the silver (15.70m) and Services’ K.C. Saintteson finished third with 15.64. Andhra Pradesh’s V.V. Geesh Kumar earned a gold for his state in pole vault. He vaulted to a height of 4.90m. Railways’ Parveen Kumar came second with an
effort of 4.80 m while policeman Jitender Kumar finished third for bronze in 4.70m. National record holder K.M. Beenamol of RSCB, who will be the Indian torch bearer at the Asian Games in Busan later this month, made a valiant attempt to get near the meet record of Rosa Kutty and took the gold in women’s 800m clocking 2:02,18s. Madhuri Singh of AISEB bagged the silver with a timing of 2:02.80s and C. Latha of Tamil Nadu got bronze with an effort of 2:03.61s. Sarita Patil earned a gold for Maharashtra in women’s high jump with a leap of 1.72m, Sahanana Kumari (police) was runners up with 1:69m while Jaicy Thomas of Railways was third in 1:66m. N. Latha swelled the gold kitty of Railways wining the women shot put event. Her team mate Chaitali with a throw of 14.27 was second and Karnataka’s Rina Rodrigues took bronze with a throw of 13.22. Much was expected from Railways’ Gulab Chand in men’s 5000 m race but he disappointed his fans and finished poor fourth. Railways’ Shiva Nanda won the race clocking 14:26.28s, Himachal Pradesh’s Aman Saini timed 14:26.79 for silver and Agan Nath Lakade ran away with bronze in 14:27.76s while Gulab Chand clocked 14:34.74s. In the men’s 800m, K.M. Binu of RSCB won the gold clocking 1:48.69s while P.S. Primesh of LIC (1:49.28s) bagged the silver and K.A. Jaya Kumar of police (1:49.32s) got the bronze. Rose Lian Arok Mary of RSCB won the gold in the women’s 400m hurdles with a timing of 59.02s leaving behind her colleague S. Oram (59.72s) and Babita of Uttar Pradesh (1:00.14). Shebin Joseph of Steel Plants won the gold in 400m men’s final clocking 51.80s while Joseph G of police came second with a
timing of 51.90s and Prasad Reddy of SSCB finished third with 51.91s. P.S. Bindu of Railways won the women’s heptathlon event with 4718 points way ahead of Rose Mery Anthony of Kerala (4543 points) who had contend with silver with Sharda Patil of Maharashtra (3522 points) got the bronze.
UNI |
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Uzbekistan
to play soccer matches New Delhi, September 9 According to Mr N.K. Bhatia, honorary secretary of the DSA, the Indian players, at present attending the Asian Games training camp at Jamshedpur, will arrive here on September 13. He said several top players, including skipper Baichung Bhutia, custodian Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Bijen Singh, Ancheri Paul, Renedy Singh, Venkatesh and Mahesh Gowali will be seen in action in the two matches. He said the DSA has made elaborate arrangements for conducting the matches, which start at 3.30 p.m.
UNI |
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Anup, Monica claim titles New Delhi, September 9 Anup of Railways outplayed Sunil Ahuja of Sirsa 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 and 12-10 to win the men’s singles title while in the women’s final, Monica Singhal beat her team-mate Nadia Saini 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7. Other results: Boys’ singles final: Manuj Sharma b Manikant 10-12, 2-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8; girls’ singles: Nadia Saini b Monica Singhal 11-8, 11-8, 14-12, 12-14, 9-11, 18-16; sub-junior boys: Satish b Pradeep 11-2, 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8; sub-junior girls: Nadia Saini b Sidhi 11-8, 6-11, 12-10, 2-11, 11-5; cadet boys: Satish b Rajat 11-7, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6; cadet girls: Neha b Rashu 11-5, 13-11, 13-11. |
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Fatehbir
is U-12 golf champ Chandigarh, September 9 According to Dr G.S. Kochher, Chairman, Media Publicity, Chandigarh Golf Club, about 140 players from all over the country took part in the four-day tournament in all categories. His total score for four days (72 par course) was 298 with scores of 72 on day one, 74 on day two, 77 on day three and 75 on the final day. As per IGU officials this is the best score by any junior golfer in an IGU categorised junior/sub-junior golf tournament in category ‘C’. Fatehbir Dhaliwal is a Class VII student of St John’s High School, Chandigarh. He picked up the game of golf in the year 2000 at the age of 11 under regular coaching from Mr Jessie Grewal, who has been instrumental in moulding him into a junior champion. |
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Modern School girls lift crown Patiala, September 9 Delhi Public School (DPS), Mathura road, took the second spot while May College, Ajmer were placed third. Other results: 800m freestyle (Jr boys): Rushil Malhotra (DPS)-1, Rishab Batra (Modern School)-2, Sharwat Sharma (Modern School)-3. 400m freestyle (sr boys): Kartikeya (Modern School)-1, Suraj Sareen (DPS)-2, Amitinder Sidhu (YPS, Patiala)-3. 400m freestyle (sr girls): Kiran Tokas (DPS)-1, Chandana (Daly College, Indore)-2, Jazbat Kaur (Mayo College, Ajmer)-3. 400m freestyle (jr boys): Shantanu Tokas (DPS)-1, Rushil (DPS)-2, Shaswat Sharma (Modern School)-3. 4 x 400m freestyle relay (sr boys): DPS, Mathura road-1, YPS, Patiala-2, RIMC, Dehra Dun-3. 4 x 400m freestyle relay (sr girls): DPS, Mathura road-1, Mayo College-2, Modern School, New Delhi-3. 4 x 400 freestyle relay (jr boys): DPS, Mathura road-1, Modern School, New Delhi-2, YPS, Patiala-3. 50m butterfly (Sr boys): Navpreet Sidhu (YPS, Patiala)-1, Vidyut Singh (Mayo college)-2, Uttam Mukherjee (Doon School)-3. 50m butterfly (sr girls): Mohini Dutta (DPS)-1, Ankita Dheer (DPS)-2, Jazbaat Kaur (May college)-3. 50m butterfly (jr boys): Vishwarath (Modern School)-1, Chirag Jain (Mayo College)-2, Prateek (DPS)-3. 200m breast stroke (sr boys): Shekhar Tokas (DPS)-1, Kartikeya (DPS)-2, Prateek Sahoo (Mayo College)-3. 200m breast stroke (sr girls): Shruti Gupta (DPS)-1, Chavi Asrani (Modern School)-2, Suneeva (Mayo College)-3. 200m butterfly (sr boys): Suraj Sareen (DPS)-1, Rajneesh (Modern School)-2, Sudhir Grover (Doon School)-3. |
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Handball body
office-bearers Patiala, September 9 Mr Paramjit Singh Grewal has been elected patron while Mr Paramjit Singh Sarao has been elected president of the association. Mr Ajinderpal Singh is the chairman and Mr Sher Singh Bath has been re-elected secretary. The organising secretaries are Mr Puran Singh Bhangu and Mr Gurdip Chand and the joint secretaries are Mr Gurcharan Dass, Mr Amrik Singh and Mr Satwinder Pal Singh. Meanwhile, at the general body meeting of the associations held under the presidentship of Mr P.S Sarao, it was decided to hold the junior Punjab state handball championship for boys and girls at Patiala from September 18 to 20. |
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