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Thursday,
October 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Windies desperate to get into groove
CAB-KMC tussle over water tax England players under injury cloud Haryana take 1st innings lead
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SANTOSH TROPHY Sunita Rani claims innocence before panel
East German dope-tainted chief dead
Michael Owen hat-trick lifts Liverpool Sunil Kumar concedes tie to Kannan Hisar retain overall trophy Anand aims for FIDE world title
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Windies
desperate to get into groove
Pune, October 23 The West Indies have found their batting to be woefully inept and the match offers an excellent opportunity for them to set things right to avoid a whitewash in the Test series. With Railways boasting of quality spinners like Murali Kartik and Kulamani Parida, the West Indies can expect to get Test-class challenge from them. Kartik and Parida will themselves be trying hard to make an impression and stake their claims for the one-day series, the squad for which is still to be named. Railways have developed as a formidable outfit in the last couple of years, mainly on account of their well-balanced line-up which does not have any extra-ordinary talent but a number of utility players who are willing to work hard and play as a well-knit unit. Prolific scorers in the last season like Yere Goud, Raja Ali and J.P. Yadav make up for a solid batting line-up which has been further strengthened by the arrival of former Baroda captain Jacob Martin. However, the star of the Railways has been the unassuming Sanjay Bangar who has worked his way into the national team with sheer determination and hard work and is doing a commendable job as a Test opener. It was not yet clear whether Bangar would be playing in this match though he does figure in the 17-member squad. West Indies will be trying out a few options as they seek to get a right combination. Except for skipper Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, none of the other batsmen have been able to tackle the Indian spinners. Even these three have had only limited success, failing to convert their starts into big knocks. With wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs woefully out of form, the West Indies tail starts very early and the tourists would be determined to sort such things out in this match. They are likely to play Darren Ganga, replacement for the indisposed Brian Lara, and also Darren Powell and Marlon Samuels in tomorrow’s match. All the three have not been tried on this tour so far. The inclusion of both spinners — Mahendra Nagamootoo and Gareth Breese — is also a distinct possibility given the fact that the Kolkata track is also likely to be helpful to the slow bowlers. Apart from Mervyn Dillon, the West Indian bowling has also been a weak link with Cameron Cuffy and Pedro Collins looking far from their best. But Jermaine Lawson, who replaced Cuffy in the second Test, had looked good. For Railways, this would be the first match after a long break from cricket and they would be keen to start the season on a positive note. PTI
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CAB-KMC tussle over water tax Kolkata, October 23 Kolkata Mayor, Mr Subrata Mukherjee (Trinamool Congress), has threatened to stop water supply to Eden Gardens during the five-day Test match if nearly Rs 75 lakhs worth of arrears as water tax payable to the KMC is not paid before the starting of the Test. Mr Mukerjee alleged despite repeated reminders the CAB had been keeping silence and not made any payment to the KMC. Some CAB officials, however, do not want to give much importance to Mayor’s threat and treat it as a trick to get a large number of tickets at Club House for the KMC, which is not in the CAB list of invitees. They say as the dispute is pending with the state government, there is no question of making any payment to the KMC. Mr Dalmiya hopes that the Mayor who is a sport lover will not stand in the way in holding the international match on the plea of non-payment of water tax to the KMC. The Mayor denied they had demanded any extra Club House tickets. He said he had no intension whatsoever of posing any problem for holding the match smoothly. The CAB, however, should understand the acute financial problems the KMC had been facing. He wondered why CAB was not paying the water tax to the KMC when it had been earning crores of rupees by hosting cricket matches at Eden Gardens. He demanded that the CAB should pay the tax otherwise, the KMC would have no option but to stop water supply. Finding Mr Mukerjee stubborn, the CAB president has sought Chief Minister Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee’s intervention in resolving the dispute. State Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya had been also
approached to persuade the Mayor to refrain from stopping water supply to Eden Gardens during the match. Mr Dalmiya said since in the past CAB had not been charged for water supply why the question has been raised now. |
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England players under injury cloud Perth, October 23 With three key players under injury clouds, the touring side’s management was monitoring the situation closely and could make decisions over the next few days, Fletcher said. He was speaking after an announcement that England’s big allrounder Andrew Flintoff was to fly to Adelaide tomorrow for intensive treatment in a bid to be fit for the first Ashes Test starting in Brisbane two weeks later. “Tudor is at the English Cricket Board (ECB) Academy in Adelaide and other players are around in Australia, practising, and if the injuries don’t work out, we may have to make a decision to bring them in,” Fletcher said. He declined to name other players who could be on a replacement shortlist. Flintoff, (24), from Lancashire is still recovering from a hernia operation after the third Test against India in England last summer. Flintoff and Fletcher said they believed his chances of being ready for Brisbane would be improved by a few days at the ECB Academy in the South Australian capital. Flintoff, fast bowler Darren Gough and prolific opener Michael Vaughan are all fighting to be in peak condition for the ‘Gabba’ clash launching the five-Test Ashes series. Gough and Vaughan are both recovering from knee surgery. Other squad members, including fast bowler Simon Jones, have minor injuries which have been described as “niggles”. Fletcher said: “While Andrew’s recovery programme is running behind schedule, we remain confident he will be able to take part in the Ashes series. “However, our physiotherapist, Kirk Russell, has a heavy workload because of the number of injuries in the squad and we feel the medical team at the Academy are best placed to give Andrew the intensive one-on-one treatment he needs.” Flintoff said: “Hopefully, I will become fitter quicker by having intensive treatment. “I certainly still have aspirations and hopes for the first Test. I am definitely not ruling myself out.” Fletcher said Gough and Vaughan would also miss a two-day match against Western Australia, starting at the WACA Ground tomorrow, and were doubtful for a three-day clash against the same side from next Monday. “Vaughan has a very good chance of playing in the next three-day match against Queensland, starting in Brisbane on November 2,” Fletcher said. “Gough is pretty positive. He has bowled on each of the past two days and there has been no reaction. He is feeling pretty bullish at this stage.” Fletcher said he did not want to predict when Gough might be ready for a game or whether he would be fit for the opening Test. “We don’t want to push him too soon. We’ll just have to wait and see. We won’t know whether he is ready for the Test unless he is ready for the Brisbane three-day game. “We just want to see how things go in the next couple of days.” Fletcher defended the decision to bring to Australia players not fit for immediate action. “The medical advice was that they would be ready about the time of two three-day matches before the first Test,” he said. “This is why we have contingency plans. We have a player in South Australia we might be looking at (Tudor), we have some batters around Australia. We made sure they have arrived here and are playing some cricket. “We will make decisions over the next four or five days.” “It is not a 100 per cent situation, but it is the best we can do at this stage.”
AFP
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Haryana
take 1st innings lead Rohtak, October 23 A fiery spell of bowling by Punjab’s medium pacer V. Rajvir Singh consumed Haryana’s three second innings wickets in four balls. At the close of play today, Haryana were 55 for the loss of three wickets Earlier today, resuming their innings at overnight score of 33 for one in reply to Haryana’s first innings score of 302, Punjab were dismissed for 202. Bipul Sharma (43), Varun Gupta (32) and Vishwas Bhalla (31) were the main contributors. Haryana’s off spinner Manvinder Bisla took four for 25 in 18 overs. However, the most exciting moments of the match came in the 11th over bowled by Punjab’s bowler V. Rajvir Singh in Haryana’s second innings. He struck three vital blows in his sixth over, dismissing Mayank Sharma, Sunny and Pradeep Sahu the second, fourth and fifth deliveries, respectively. All the three wickets fell at Haryana’s total of 26. Rajvir batted and bowled despite suffering from fever last night. At close of play today, Manvinder Bisla and Vikram Dhaliwal were batting on 30 and 14 runs, respectively. Scoreboard Haryana
(Ist innings): 302 Punjab (Ist innings): Amardeep Sonkar c Aparajit b Sanjay Badhwar 12, Manik Kohli lbw Manvinder Bisla 11, Gautam Mandora c Sandeep b. Sanjay Badhwar 8, Vishwas Bhalla lbw Aparajit Singh 31, Varun Gupta c Sachin Rana b. Aparajit Singh 32, Bipul Sharma b Manvinder Bisla 43, Gaurav Gupta lbw Manvinder Bisla 16, Udai Kaul lbw Pradeep Sahu 5, Ankur Jund not out 5, Rajesh Sharma c Sandeep b. Manvinder Bisla 0, V. Rajvir Singh
st. Sandeep b. Aparajit Singh 9. Extras: 30. Total: 202 FoW: 1-17, 2-39, 3-40, 4-97, 5-127, 6-176, 7-182, 8-182, 9-182 Bowling: Sachin Rana 11-4-21-0, Sanjay Badhwar 8-1-23-2, Manvinder Bisla 18-11-25-4, Aparajit Singh 23.5-4-69-3, Pradeep Sahu 19-8-25-1, Vikram Dhaliwal 2-0-7-0, Mandeep Singh 2-1-5-0. Haryana (2nd
innings): Mayank Sharma lbw V. Rajvir singh 7, Manvinder Bisla batting 30, Pradeep Sahu b. V. Rajvir Singh 0, Vikram Dhaliwal batting 14. Extras 4. Total (for 3 wickets) 55.
FoW: 1-26, 2-26, 3-26. Bowling: V. Rajvir Singh 10-2-32-3, Amandeep Sonkar 4-2-7-0, Rajesh Sharma 5-1-15-0. |
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SANTOSH TROPHY
Imphal, October 23 Leading by striker S. Sunil’s goal in first half, Karnataka pumped in five more to oust Gujarat and set a clash with Punjab on October 26 and last year’s runners-up Goa on October 30 in the quarterfinal league. B.V. Pradeep and S.K. Dayananda scored twice each and substitute G. Kanikaraj made it 6-0 for the winners. Kanikaraj, who substituted S Sunil in the 70th minute, found the net after Dayananda sent him a floater. Sunil opened the door for Karnataka in the 30th minute and Pradeep followed it up in the second half with a precise header giving Gujarat custodian George Mathew no chance. Dayananda added to the tally seven minutes later to the joy of the motley crowd that had gathered to watch the game. Pradeep sent another header for his second goal in the 70 minute. Punjab had to toil hard to earn a quarterfinal berth and the all-important goal came through Sher Singh just three minutes before the end. A goal-less match would have sent rivals Mizoram to the next stage on a better goal average. Punjab coach Jasbir Singh’s instructions, pep talk and vociferous guidelines from the sidelines could not break the ice as the team with five former India internationals, including keeper Virender Singh, toiled to find the mark. When striker Gurjit Singh Atwal, who gave Punjab 1-0 win, from a penalty conversion against Madhya Pradesh in the first match was replaced by Sher Singh 20 minutes from time, the substitute made amends rightfooting the goal in the 87th minute. Punjab, however, will have problem in the quarter finals as three players had been cautioned today. Virender Singh had also his day with three brilliant saves. In the other match of the day in group VII Tripura defeated Haryana 2-1. UNI
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Sunita Rani claims innocence before panel New Delhi, October 23 “I am totally innocent. I have done nothing wrong,” Sunita said in a statement after a marathon two-and-a-half hour closed door meeting with Salwan here. “I will fight this battle to the last,” Sunita, who was stripped off her gold and bronze medals that she won in the Busan Asian Games, said. Sunita said the medals that she won in Busan were not only hers but “belonged to the country as well”. “I appeal to the government, media and the people to support me in this fight to get justice,” said Sunita, who was escorted by her brother and relatives as she waded her way through a stream of mediapersons at the Amateur Athletic Federation of India premises. Sunita also denied reports that said she was planning to “expose other athletes”. “The reports are totally false. Some people are conspiring against me.” Sangrur: Earlier Disgraced distance runner Sunita Rani has reportedly threatened to ‘expose’ other athletes taking recourse to banned drugs to enhance their performance in case she was punished, sources close to her family claimed. Maintaining that the dope-testing facilities in Busan were not ‘fool-proof’, Sunita, who was stripped of her two Asian Games medals following positive tests for nandrolone, is understood to have told her family that she had been given a “step-motherly” treatment by the Indian officials who failed to defend her properly, the sources said.
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Varsity
honours kabaddi hero
of Busan Patiala, October 23 The keys of the motorcycle were presented to the kabaddi player, a lad of Mirpur village, by the university Vice-Chancellor, Mr Swaran Singh Boparai. On the occasion, Mr Boparai said young players like Manna, still had a lot to learn and should constantly, strive for self-excellence instead of resting on their laurels. He urged sports officials and principals to work for winning the coveted Maulana Azad Trophy for university games.
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East German dope-tainted chief dead
Berlin, October 23 Ewald, the head of the East German sports confederation from 1963 to 1988, oversaw the programme of systematic doping of sportsmen and women which produced 197 Olympic gold medals for a country with a population of just 17 million. Two years ago, he was sentenced to a suspended jail term of 22 months for administering steroids and other drugs to athletes without their knowledge. A member of the Hitler Youth Organisation and then the National Socialist (Nazi) party under the Third Reich, after the war he rose rapidly in the ranks of the apparatus which ruled East Germany, the Socialist Unity (SED) party. He used his sporting career as a springboard to politics. Ewald was regarded as a devoted executive of the East German supreme leader Erich Honecker, and was a member of the East German Parliament until the very last days of the regime. He died on Monday at his home in Dahmsdorf near Potsdam, said Jochen Grunwald, the former secretary of the East German sports confederation. German pharmaceutical group Schering-Jenapharm, which produced doping products for athletes of the former East Germany, this week announced it would pay $25,000 into a fund to compensate victims, some of whom are now suffering from liver tumours, mental disorders, fertility problems and hormonal imbalances. AFP
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Michael
Owen hat-trick lifts Liverpool
Paris, October 23 It was a frustrating night for Real Madrid, who failed to clinch qualification when they squandered a two-goal lead and eventually drew 2-2 with AEK Athens as Ronaldo made his European debut in the all-white strip. Owen helped Liverpool come from behind to beat Spartak 3-1 and the English Premiership leaders moved to seven points, three behind Valencia in group B after the Spanish champions were held to a 2-2 draw by surprising Swiss side Basel. Lyon and Inter Milan fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw in group D and AS Roma and Genk of Belgium produced a goal-less stalemate in group C. An inconclusive night meant everything in Europe’s top club competition hinges on the remaining two rounds of matches. In Moscow, Owen banished memories of his early-season lack of goals by hitting his first goals in European competition this season and his second hat-trick in a month. Eighteen-year-old striker Alexander Danishevsky fired Spartak into a 23rd-minute lead but six minutes later Owen pulled the visitors level, beating Ukrainian international ‘keeper Maxim Levitsky with a downward header from Jamie Carragher’s precise cross. Owen grabbed his second in the 70th minute, sweeping in a rebound after Danny Murphy’s left-sided free kick. And as Spartak pushed up, Owen scored his third one minute into injury time, when he stroked home a cross from Murphy. “Michael deserves special credit for his hat-trick,” said Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier. “Remember only a month ago he was getting stick for not scoring.” Auxerre ruined Arsenal’s unbeaten record in the competition this season and spoiled Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s 53rd birthday with a 2-1 victory in London. First-half goals from Olivier Kapo and Khalilou Fadiga were enough to earn a precious three points on another miserable night for David Seaman. The disintegration of the England goalkeeper’s confidence was cruelly exposed by another hesitant display, his error contributing to Fadiga’s goal. Kapo created his own, picking up a throw-in on the edge of the area, he nutmegged Patrick Vieira on the turn and unleashed an unstoppable left foot drive into the far corner. Nigerian forward Nwankwo Kanu pulled a goal back for Arsenal six minutes after the break but it was not enough. “You have to give credit to Auxerre, they played very well,” Wenger said. “But we gave everything we had in the second half and there is no basic reason to be alarmed. “I believe this team is strong mentally and will recover from tonight.” Arsenal still lead group A with nine points and Borussia Dortmund have seven after they were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom-placed PSV Eindhoven. Defending champions Real Madrid went 2-0 up with two goals for English midfielder Steve McManaman but AEK stormed back to grab a point with two goals in the last 15 minutes. First, Konstantinos Katsouranis was allowed a free header from a corner after 74 minutes before substitute Walter Centeno slotted home a right-wing cross from Ilija Ivic with four minutes left. McManaman gave the Spanish giants a deserved lead in the 24th minute when he latched on to a cross from Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso. Ronaldo’s magic created Real’s second goal. He first of all released Guti before taking the return pass and his delightful shimmy and stepover drew the AEK defenders before he rolled the ball to McManaman who made no mistake but Real let it slip. They lead group C with eight points, AS Roma are second with five and AEK have four. With their next match away to reigning champions Real Madrid, Roma’s qualification could hinge on their final match at home to AEK. Lyon, meanwhile, maintained their two-point lead over Inter Milan in group D when veteran captain Sonny Anderson scored the goal which made it 3-3 at the Stade Gerland, his second of the game. AFP
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Sunil Kumar concedes tie to Kannan New Delhi, October 23 Chief referee Dushan Deo said Sunil Kumar conceded the match due to “tiredness” though he was back on the court in the afternoon to play in the doubles, partnering Jaco T Mathew. Sunil Kumar was nursing a sore throat, and had breathing problem when the contest entered the third set. He decided to thrown in the towell, instead of complicating his condition. Sunil Kumar’s exit was the only surprise in the men’s singles on day three of the tournament. Defending champion and third seed Vijay Kannan survived a second-set scare to bounce back and beat Rohan Gajjar 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 while seventh-seeded Ajay Ramaswami packed off veteran Vasudev Reddy at 6-4,4-6, 6-1. Second-seeded Nitin Kirtane made short work of the US-based Shantanu Dhaka, as he rushed to a 6-1, 6-0 victory while sixth-seeded Vinod Sridhar put paid to the hopes the young Amanjot Singh of Chandigarh at 6-3, 6-1. Amanjot tried to put up a game fight, but Sridhar proved too good, and simply over-ran the Chandigarh boy in the second set. Mustafa Ghouse, who had partnered Vishal Uppal to win the men’s doubles bronze in the Asian Games at Busan, overwhelmed Sandeep Kirtane after a battle of attrition at 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6). Kedar Tembe, who had upset fifth-seeded Manoj Mahadevan in the first round, waged a grim battle to pip Parantap Chaturvedi at 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-1). Tembe was serving for the match in the second set, when he was broken by Parantap. Tempe had to part with the set, but in the third, he called the shots during the tie-breaker shoot-out to emerge trumps. However, Parantap had the satisfaction of scalping top-seeded Somdev Verman of Tamil Nadu in the boys under-18 second round match. In the boys section, all the three youngsters from Chandigarh moved into the quarter-final. Chatwinder Singh beat V M Ranjit 6-2, 6-3, Tushar Liberhan beat Goutham Samrath 6-4, 6-3 and Amanjot Singh disposed of Shantanu Dhaka 6-1, 6-3. In other matches, Wrik Ganguly beat Dhruv Kumar 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, Sharan Divij beat G Arjun 6-2, 6-4 and Rupesh Roy beat J Jayanth 6-2, 6-3. There were no major upsets in the women’s singles, with matches progressing on expected lines, barring one when unseeded Isha Lakhani prevailed over eighth-seeded Archana Venkataraman 6-4, 6-2. Top-seeded Sheetal Goutham beat Isha Chopra of Haryana 6-3, 6-4 while second-seeded Radhika Tulpule downed Redhina Parekh 6-2, 6-0. In other matches, sixth-seeded Geetan Manohar beat T Yamini 6-1, 7-5, third-seeded Sonal Phadke beat Lata Assudani 6-2, 6-3, seventh-seeded Liza Perreira beat Sonia Shelar 6-3, 6-2 and Shruti Dhawan of Chandigarh accounted for Puman S Reddy of Andhra Pradesh 6-1, 6-2. Isha Lakhani also booked her berth in the girls under-18 quarter-final, blanking Parul Goswami 6-0, 6-0. Second-seeded Poonam Reddy beat Isha Toor 6-1, 6-0 while unseeded M Kamini scalped third-seeded Sandra Sashidharan of Kerala 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Eighth-seeded Swetha Devraj of Karnataka lost to M Rangnathan 4-6, 2-6, Sasha Abraham beat Jahan Afreen 6-3, 6-1, Lata Assudani beat Alice Joy 6-4, 6-1, Rai Iciri beat Preeti Rao 6-4, 7-5 and Priyanka Parekh beat Priya Pachkawde 6-1, 6-2. |
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Hisar retain overall trophy Hisar, October 23 Dharamveer of Gurgaon was declared the best athlete. He collected 15 points. Among women Sunita Dahiya of Sonepat was adjudged the best athlete with 20 points in her kitty. The overall athletic championship for men was bagged by Bhiwani. Hisar and Kurukshetra were placed second and third respectively. The athletics overall championship for women was won by Hisar. Sonepat and Ambala were placed second and third in this category. Faridabad won gold in three of the eight athletic events held today. The Sonepat women’s team created a new record for 4x400 metres relay clocking 4.09.68 min. Hisar and Jhajjar were placed second and third in this event, respectively. A new record was also created by the men’s 4x400 M relay race by the Bhiwani team clocking 3 min 16.8 sec. The star studded men’s volleyball team of the HSIDC defeated Kurukshetra 25-10, 25-16, 25-18 to win the gold. In the women’s category Hisar defeated Gurgaon to collect the gold. Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Governor Babu Parmanand exhorted youth to take part in sports as it helped them inculcate self discipline and a strong will. He said sports were as necessary as education. Lauding the new Haryana sports policy he said it had helped produce international quality athletes and sportspersons. He said the responsibility for maintaining the national integrity had fallen on the shoulders of the younger generation. He hoped the youth would fulfil this awesome responsibility. |
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Anand aims for FIDE world title
Chennai, October 23 “This year has been good to me. I have been performing so well that I will have to keep the momentum to cross the 2800 mark and win the FIDE world title.” ]On his future plans, he said “for a start, the 2800 mark, is something that I would like to go for. Since the reunification has been started out, the reunified title by the FIDE will be one of the moot point for me.” “Right now, I am hoping to pile up some points in the coming Linares tournament. I felt encouraged by the way I am playing and improving upon my game. I think I should do like this more often because it is in tournaments that I get lot of my work done. PTI
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CM lays stone Amritsar, October 23 |
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