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Tuesday,
February 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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No mercy for Bangladesh: Lara 13TH MAN
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Sachin, Sehwag must open against Zimbabwe
Wright hints at
batting reshuffle |
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Dravid pleads with fans to be
patient
Time for Saurav Ganguly to follow Stephen Fleming Two umpires pull out of Zimbabwe ties
Nothing could stop Fleming Lady luck refuses to smile on South Africa SA missing Cronje’s leadership skills
Churchill Bros
hold Vasco IOA shocked at SAF Games decision surprises
Five KU boxers in
semifinals Jagtar hockey results Tennis tourney for seniors Jr fencing
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No mercy for Bangladesh: Lara Benoni, February 17 After an impressive and nailbiting three-run win over South Africa in their first match of the tournament in Cape Town, the Windies came crashing back down when they were beaten by New Zealand in Port Elizabeth. “With all due respect to the minnows, we have to score emphatic wins against them, since we don’t want to face a situation like we did in 1999 when we went out because of run rate,” said Lara who was skipper at the last tournament in England and where the mathematics of the situation meant they were denied a place in the Super Sixes. Furthermore, Lara warned that the momentum that had been built up with their win over the hosts had been squandered against the Kiwis whose battling display in the field thwarted the West Indies run chase. “If we are going to win matches, it is necessary for one of our top three batsmen to take us into the last ten overs or so. Unfortunately, that did not happen against New Zealand. “So a score that was more than gettable, proved to be beyond our reach,” Lara wrote in his Trinidad newspaper column. “We usually approach our batting in four parts -aggression, accumulation, acceleration and finish. We were out of sync with all of them in Port Elizabeth and we lost our way between the tenth and 15th over.” Lara was full of praise for the batting of Ramnaresh Sarwan (75) and wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs (50) who featured in a stand of 98 for the seventh wicket against New Zealand and are being relied upon for valuable late runs. “Having to get eights runs per over in the last ten overs is not a problem if you have wickets in hand. But Sarwan and Jacobs had to take chances and preserve their wickets at the same time. “They did well and showed tremendous character, something which this team has in abundance. I think there is a general feeling of disappointment but we are not going to allow this game to change our focus, we have already flushed it out of our system and are putting things in place to move on.” By contrast, Bangladesh only have pride to play for having lost to Canada and Sri Lanka, defeats which extended their losing run to 27 out of 28 matches, the other being washed out.
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13TH MAN HARARE: There is intense speculation within the team about the batting combination for the Zimbabwe match. Captain Saurav Ganguly puts up a brave face by telling the world he wouldn’t step down from the opener’s slot. He cites his past record to justify his adamancy. Sachin Tendulkar, too, is unwilling to take a step back now that he has got the slot he loves occupying. Virender Sehwag keeps quiet about his likings but no one doubts he wants to open the innings. After all, Sehwag’s exploits at the top of the order have made headlines worldwide. Millions of cricket fans, too, want him restored at the top. In a team management meeting after the game against Australia, this issue once again reared its ugly head. Ganguly, one believes, was told to reshuffle the order now that India face early elimination. There have been no clear cut decisions but the pressure is being applied on the captain to look to be fair and put country and team before self. This uncertainty would carry till a few hours before the Wednesday game. Hardly an ideal situation for the team fighting to retain it’s focus on cricket. Rahul
Dravid, usually reticent, is being pushed forward by the team management, to keep Indian media in good humour on arrival to Harare. The vice-captain was refusing media even ordinary quotes about the opening ceremony and here he was looking to call each and every mediaperson to the briefing party. With feverish anger at home on the team’s poor show, the team management realizes a pampered media would carry positive news and balm the hurt back home. No sooner had the briefing begun, Dravid was asked about the uncertainty in the batting order. Dravid refused to open the window and let the world peep in at what’s happening within the team on this issue. “We do discuss changes in the batting order amongst ourselves. We discuss openly but it would not be right for me as the vice-captain to come out in the Press and say whatever happens between ourselves.” Dravid continued his banality which would have been impressive had he been a diplomat but he is an honourable sportsman. “We have a good relationship within the team and we are frank to each other. It’s not right to come and speak about these things in the open.” Such a state of mind would suit a unit hiding in a bunker. But these times demand transparency. A common goal must take precedence over personal agendas. Unfortunately, the seniors in the team are blocking a clear perspective. Coach John Wright, too, is failing on this count. He is well-intentioned but lacks the will to assert himself. He doesn’t realise keeping silence is another way of abetting crime. He has all the qualities of a second man but he lacks the leadership required in this hour. He would be the best assistant coach of the world — hard-working, honest and sweet-tempered — but not the type to give direction to a national team. There is a delicious irony to it all. It was Ganguly who promoted Virender Sehwag as an opener and it is he who is now blocking his way to it. But with swelling discontentment, he wouldn’t be able to stand up to the tide for long. The case of Tendulkar is puzzling. Ganguly was firm before the opening ceremony that the batting maestro would come at number three. There was little to doubt him since Tendulkar had come at number three in the two practice games. Suddenly, the equation changed and Tendulkar was opening against Holland in the first game. What happened? Watch out for this space for more on the subject! |
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Sachin, Sehwag must open against Zimbabwe Stubbornness and the ability to surprise have been the defining motifs of Saurav Ganguly’s life. Some people now seek to add the word ‘selfish’ to it and they are wrong. Every cricketer, like every manager, artist and editor, is selfish to a point and that is not such a bad thing as long as it does not interfere with the functioning of a unit. By opening the batting, is Ganguly jeopardising the efficiency of the unit? On current form, I think the answer is yes but not because he is putting self above the team. Ganguly is an aggressive one-day batsman and his record suggests he is the right man to open the batting. He has scored runs all around the world but even the greats, and he is one, need to effect tactical retreats at times. Bravado is a good quality but in his current form, someone else needs to display it. Going down the order occasionally is not a sign of defeat, merely replacing one missile with another. We sometimes assign too much importance to the batting number; it is not a mantra that must be recited in the right order. Given the substantial batting problems, and the worry in the dressing room, India must send out at the top of the order, two men with the least cluttered minds. That is why Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag must walk out together against Zimbabwe. Tendulkar has looked easily India’s best batsman and seems happy to go out first and Sehwag is still free of baggage in the mind, a disease that seems to afflict those more experienced. He also has this ability, sometimes infuriating but often effective, of putting his natural game above what the playing conditions dictate. The track will seam in Harare and the bowlers must not be allowed to settle. Tendulkar and Sehwag are the most equipped to do so. We often ask ourselves the question “what if” when Tendulkar opens the batting. It is a question that the opposition must ask itself. By posing it themselves, the batting side are giving away their state of mind. In a mind game like cricket, that is often all that the opposition needs to know. I don’t think Tendulkar asks himself “what if”. India are currently very low on confidence. You can see that in the cautious manner in which they approach a match. When you fear the worst your weapons lead you there and you can see that in the footwork, in the shot selection, in the running between the wickets. That is why you need two players who, in cricketing terms, are extroverts, to go in first. If they can produce the start and put Zimbabwe on the defensive, it will allow the likes of Dravid and Ganguly to rediscover runs, and form, in the more subdued middle overs. India are apprehensive, Zimbabwe have little to lose. By the time they walk out to bat, India’s openers must reverse that. They must carry confidence, they must make the opposition apprehensive. That is why Sehwag and Tendulkar need to open the batting at Harare. But remember in the end, it is not who bats, but how he bats that matters.
(TCM) |
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Wright hints at batting reshuffle Harare, February 17 “We are certainly looking at options. We have worked hard for this competition and we need to get starts,” said Wright as India prepare to take on Zimbabwe in a Pool-A match here on Wednesday. It implied captain Sourav Ganguly, in all probability, will come down the order and vacate the opener’s slot to Virender Sehwag. A storm has been brewing over the last few days over Ganguly’s reluctance to vacate the opener’s slot given his brilliant past record. But his failure in the first two games of the competition might have forced him to change his mind. Wright did not feel it right to comment on Ganguly’s failure or whether the Indian captain could be suffering from lack of self belief over his consistent failures. “It is not right to comment on individuals. But we do have private conversations.” Wright offered a leaf out of Sir Donald Bradman’s book on how batsmen failing for longer periods should approach their batting. “You only have to go to Sir Donald Bradman who had two beliefs - one was he believed he was good enough never to get out and the second was he believed every ball was his first ball.”
PTI |
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Dravid pleads with fans to be patient Harare, February 17 “We understand your disappointment but no one is more disappointed than us,” Dravid said as the team arrived here for its third league match against Zimbabwe on Wednesday. “The World Cup is not over and we urge you to keep showing the faith you have shown all these years,” he said. India’s nine-wicket thrashing by defending champions Australia has been received with frustration and anger in India with fans attacking the house of Mohammad Kaif in Allahabad and taking out a mock funeral procession of the team in Kolkata. “It was definitely a disappointing day’s performance and we understand we have let our fans down. We respect that,” Dravid said. “But all is not lost and there are four more games to go. There is lot of cricket left and our test of character would come when we pick ourselves out of the mat.” Dravid was at pains to emphasise that the cricketers were really working very hard at the nets but had no answer to what was going wrong with them.
PTI |
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Time for Saurav Ganguly to follow Stephen Fleming ONE of the finest vignettes out of the World Cup will be that of Chris Cairns running on the field, pads on, to hug Stephen Fleming. The bear hug of the two big men of New Zealand cricket was caught by the camera in a naturally emotional moment that movie directors would give their right hand for. Live sport makes compelling viewing because the suspense is natural, there is no script and the ending is not contrived. Athletes do work hard on the finale they desire to bring about even as they pursue diametrically opposite ends depending on the teams they represent. And what a moment for the Kiwi skipper as he guided the dark horses of the World Cup towards a place in the super six which seemed in such doubt after the early loss to Sri Lanka! Cricket has assiduously built up this romantic notion of captains which does, however, blossom into reality now and then as it did at the Wanderers last night. “I felt that as a captain I had to make a mark. I haven’t had great success in the World Cup before and I was determined to turn that around”. This is what Stephen Fleming said after his team’s victory over South Africa in what was a kind of Oscar acceptance speech. Fleming’s scores of 2003 had looked like, well, Saurav Ganguly’s. The comparison is apt not only because their sides kept meeting every other day in New Zealand. Both are left-handers, they open the batting and they have found recently that captaincy has not aided their personal form. Fleming’s problems were more of a burden because his team will forfeit points for the match against Kenya and hence he had to raise his team in a do-or-die situation in two successive matches. To get his men to focus on victory in such circumstances is probably the most difficult man management assignment that captains face. To lead from the front is not easy either, but probably a more effective way to raise team performance. To back yourself, especially when you are batting at the top of the order, is somehow easier than rousing someone else’s motivation, however high a member of the crew may hold his captain in estimation. Ganguly is the one who must now find his batting feet in order to raise the Indians from the morass in which they find themselves. Their plight is no worse than what the Kiwis faced after that seven-match series on seaming pitches which was like acclimatising to zero-gravity conditions on the moon before an under-water expedition. There is always a factor of luck that favours the brave. Fleming’s slice came in the catch that Boucher did not pouch. While that had a huge bearing on the result, let us not forget that the Kiwis won in a World Cup that has not quite suited the chasers. Of course, those modern cricket rain gods, Duckworth and Lewis, crunched the numbers that helped the Kiwis. Yet, again, only because the Kiwis had done so much so early in order to stay ahead of the complex equations that the deciders of cricketing fortunes have laid down that the English duo had to decide in their favour. The odds against Fleming succeeding thus were phenomenal. He had never scored a World Cup century. His side had never beaten the South Africans on their soil. The Kiwis had also never met a run chase against such a target. The pitch may have been near perfect and the light showers could not have been better timed. Still, Fleming had to transform himself from an uncertain prodder more prone to letting the new ball go these days into a firm striker who had to kick-start the innings and keep it pegged to the positive. Great batsmen have this ability to turn things around with just one innings. Ganguly should know that, too. Ganguly’s turn to answer the conundrum over whether captains are the deserving
demi-gods of cricket or are only as good as their sides is coming soon. Will he get his feet moving in time or will he continue to fail as Carl Hooper has predicted he will even on the best of wickets is a million Rupee question. Ganguly has been through the grind before. Huge question marks were building up against his team when it rolled through something like nine finals or series-deciding matches without victory. That streak began with the ICC Trophy that India lost to New Zealand in Nairobi in 2000 and just about ended in the Caribbean in 2002 and certainly soon in the NatWest tri-series triumph in England. The Bengal left-hander needs to look no further than at his New Zealand counterpart Fleming to derive inspiration. Prone as he is to grand gestures like celebrating with his shirt off and talking tough in the face of criticism of his form, Ganguly may not be as laidback as Fleming in his captaincy style. There can, however, be no argument against the one-day record book in which Ganguly enjoys an exalted place, particularly since he was promoted to the top of the order. His scores may read like a primary school student’s simple multiplication tables. Ganguly has to find a way out of the mess - for his sake and that of the team. The World Cup clock is ticking. Let us hope the camera will catch the Indians too in a vignette worth remembering as it did when Fleming and Cairns embraced in the arena.
UNI |
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Two umpires pull out of Zimbabwe ties Johannesburg, February 17 Last week, England refused to travel to Harare for their scheduled cup opener against Zimbabwe on February 13 because of both security and moral concerns. An ICC spokesman told Reuters: ‘’They did not feel comfortable after the England team had pulled out of their match in Harare and they confirmed that to us.’’ Willey was scheduled to stand in Zimbabwe’s Group A match against Australia in Bulawayo on February 24, with Mallender as third umpire. Willey was also due to officiate in Zimbabwe’s game against the Netherlands at the same venue four days later. ‘’They have been replaced by other umpires on the official panel and there is no change to the games,’’ the ICC spokesman added. Willey, like Mallender a former test player, said: ‘’I advised the ICC some time ago of my concerns and indicated that if my employer, the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), did not send its team to Zimbabwe, I would be unlikely to travel to the country.’’ Half of Zimbabwe’s 14 million people face food shortages while the leader of the main opposition party is facing a possible death sentence after being accused of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe. Willey has been replaced by Billy Bowden of New Zealand for the Australia match, and by Nadeem Ghouri of Pakistan for the Netherlands game. Mallender will be replaced by Brian Jerling of South Africa.
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Nothing could stop Fleming The Coliseum of South African cricket turned into a place of mourning within the space of just a few hours. The famed Wanderers Bullring has for many years, ensured that visiting teams are subjected to extreme pressure right from the first ball to the last. It was until the end of the New Zealand match, a venue that could be relied on to produce a favourable result to the home team. Sadly, this will never be the case for a long while to come. The match was rightly billed as a final for the Kiwis and a ticket to the Super Sixes for the Proteas. Nobody in their right mind would have even given the visitors an even shot at scoring in excess of 250, let alone winning the match! Pollock won the toss and had no hesitation in asking the Kiwis to go out and bowl in front of his faithful supporters. His batsmen strode out with confidence and right from the start, did what was expected of them. In fact, they did even more than that. Gibbs was in magnificent form and showed his class to all who dared to be there. He will seldom, if ever, play a match again wherein he scores 143 and then ends up lying in the change room after the game wondering how his team lost. Smith, Kallis, Boucher and Klusener all played their part and with a total of 306 on the board in a match of the stature, it would have relaxed the bowlers just enough for them to think they could afford to make a few mistakes and still have enough to recover a win comfortably. Stephen Fleming has been rock solid as a leader for New Zealand for some time now and his ability with the bat has not always been reflected in the number of games he has won for his team. His team were staring down a barrel and he had to deliver with everything he could muster. With McMillan, Astle, Cairns and Styris all being stroke makers, Fleming had to make sure he batted through the innings at a rate quick enough to not allow pressure to build. In other words, he had to pace not only his innings but also that of his batting partners to ensure a win. He did it to perfection. Africa is a place where nature is part of everyday life. The Wanderers Cricket Stadium is part of this great wonder and when Mother Nature decided it was time for rain, it didn’t help the Proteas at all. A wet ball and a slightly juiced up outfield and pitch was just the tonic that the Kiwi batters needed to force them to keep their composure and focus on the task at hand. It wasn’t the first time that a South African team felt the weather had gone against them at the wrong time. Who can forget the 1992 World Cup when rain changed a finely balanced match to the point of needing 22 runs of one delivery. Coupled to conditions changing to suite the batsmen, father time was also asking questions of the greatest fast bowler South Africa has ever produced. Allan Donald had to be a key backup to Pollock and Ntini. His role has always been to create pressure and then to take wickets when batsmen hear those “voices” talking to them. Unfortunately he could not deliver and the knock-on effect was a killer blow to everyone who came after him. Pollock tried every combination available to him and nothing could stop the resolve of the Kiwi skipper. With the Duckworth/Lewis show playing out its hand, the Proteas bled in front of their faithful supporters. The longest night in four years was about to begin. Leaving from the ground reminded me of a funeral I attended just a few months ago. The same hollow feeling existed and the urge to want to just get away from the place as quickly as possible was also there. No one spoke in the long rows at every exit. The reality only hits home a little while later—South Africa may not even make the next round of matches! This after thinking they had every chance of winning the coveted trophy. They now have to rely on the West Indies and must beat the Sri Lankans convincingly. Thinking back to the last World Cup when the Aussies went through, one can’t help but draw some inspiration from the fact that some of the players in the current Australian juggernaut will know exactly where the Proteas are right now. They were in the exact same position at one stage. They went on to win the trophy.
TCM |
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Lady luck refuses to smile on South Africa Luck is an important factor in one-day cricket. Even big sides need it to fuel their victory engines. Sadly, lady luck refuses to smile on South Africa and this has been the case for a decade now! From the time rain made mockery of their 92 World Cup dream, South Africa drew a full circle yesterday. Scoring 306 and still ending up on the losing side, that’s sheer bad luck. New Zealand too deserve a pat on the back for holding on to their nerves. The Kiwis needed to win this match, or else they would have cart-wheeled out of the competition and for the first part of the day, they seemed on course for a crash. But then there was rain, Stephan Fleming and Duckworth-Lewis method. Suddenly, Shaun Pollock was seen chewing his nails and the hosts’ World Cup hopes, or rather super-six qualification chances, were hanging dangerously in balance. I cannot feel more sorry for Gibbs, who played a majestic knock, enthralling the home crowd with hits all around the wicket in less than run a ball 143. Rhodes absence has, in fact, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for South Africa. Graeme Smith looks in good touch at the top of the order and his early aggression can not only take the fight to the opposition camp but also spur Gibbs on, like he did against New Zealand. I get the feeling that Smith’s addition have given extra depth to the Proteas batting card. The Kiwis had a only one mission when Fleming came out for a toss. They had to win and nothing short of this would have worked for them. Although the bowlers sprayed the ball in the first 15 overs, Kiwis did stage a comeback to stop the rampaging home team at 306. The batsmen, came good when it was needed. Craig McMillan and Stephan Fleming got New Zealand to a rousing start, their slam bang tactics working well to put them in a safe position in case of any eventuality. When play resumed after the second stop, the match was well and truly with the Black Caps. Thoughts of Group B being relatively easy were generally expressed but results have proved otherwise. The fight for qualification can not get any better than this. On the other hand, England would have been mighty relieved to get into action at last, though the final result would not put smiles on Nasser Hussain’s face. Their bowling lacked clinical precision to finish Holland’s innings after having them on ropes at 31 for five and later 100 for eight. Their batting, with the exception of Nick Knight and Michael Vaughan, was not worth mentioning and even Knight was guilty of throwing away his wicket. Surely, chasing a meagre total with half the side back in the pavilion would not have been England’s idea of setting their boat on sail. Peter Anderson’s feat was the only consolation and this would hopefully stir the English up for future campaigns. Pakistan’s victory may be impressive but in these inconsequential matches good teams will harp on minor faults and fine tune those before the big matches. In that context, Pakistan need a through inquiry in their now familiar batting lapses. They did spend time in the middle but against a feeble attack surely the Pakistan batting deserved to score more, and convincingly also. Wasim Akram had a memorable match, helping himself to a five-wicket haul and man-of-the-match award. The former Pakistan skipper became the most capped player with 34 appearances in the World Cup. Had he converted a possible hat-trick chance, then it would have been icing on the cake for this fabulous all-rounder. My heart goes for the hapless Namibian batsmen, who were used as tools for venting his anger by Shoaib
Akhtar. Well, the tournament is warming up at a rapid pace, some surprises coming our way, already. (Dronacharya Sports Promoters) |
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‘Long wait for career-best knock’ Johannesburg, February 17 “You wait a long time for an innings like that and it was a very important occasion for us,” Fleming said.
PTI |
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SA missing Cronje’s leadership skills Johannesburg, February 17 Gibbs was speaking today at the launch of his biography, a day after his century failed to prevent South Africa suffering a nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand in a rain-affected group B match. The South Africans’ second defeat in three matches left them almost certainly needing to win their three remaining pool games and hoping the West Indies beat Sri Lanka on February 28 to advance to the super sixes. “Hansie’s leadership skills made him an icon,” Gibbs said. “We do miss him. Jonty Rhodes and Allan Donald made no mistake in recognising that before the tournament. “He played the game with passion and always believed we could win from any situation. After two rain interruptions at the Wanderers on Sunday, New Zealand required a further 44 runs from 51 balls with nine wickets in hand. Although the New Zealanders were in a very strong position, South Africa captain Shaun Pollock persisted with only the regulation four men inside the circle, allowing Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle to knock off the runs with 13 balls to spare. “Shaun is new to the job and obviously still has a lot to learn but he was the guy who put his hand up when all that stuff happened,” Gibbs said, referring to the 2000 match-fixing scandal following which he received a six-month ban from cricket. Cronje was subsequently banned for life after admitting to accepting about $ 130,000 from bookmakers to influence the results of matches. He died in a plane crash in June last year.
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Churchill Bros hold Vasco Margao, February 17 For Churchill, medio Ratan Singh scored in the 18th minute, while Vasco’s Jules Alberto Dias equalised in the 40th minute. With this match, Vasco came on par with second-placed Salgaocar Sports Club with 24 points, but remained on the same third place, while Churchill Brothers took their tally to 21 and remained on the same sixth place. Churchill started on a positive note and shot into the lead as early as in the 14th minute through Ratan Singh, capitalising on a faulty clearance of Vasco defender Franky Barreto. Churchill could have increased their lead in the 18th minute, but Vasco’s goalkeeper Rogario Remos smartly saved a try from Rocky Barreto off a pass from Yakubu Yusif. In the 33rd minute, Churchill had one more chance when Noel Wilson after collecting a pass from Rocky Barreto unleashed a power-packed shot, but Vasco’s goalkeeper was quick to save diving to his right. Vasco restored parity in the 40th minute through Jules Alberto Dias.
UNI |
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IOA shocked at SAF Games decision surprises New Delhi, February 17 The IOA chief remarked that the Government decision was very strange, considering the fact that former Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Uma Bharti had cleared an Indian delegation, led by Kalmadi himself, to attend the executive committee meeting of the SAF at Islamabad in March, 2002, where the dates of the games were decided “unanimously”, and when the relation between the two countries was at the lowest ebb. Though Kalmadi admitted that the current state of bilateral relation is “strained”, he pointed out that the withdrawal of troops from the border has “eased tension to some extent, and in a situation like this, a little window must be kept open for people to people contact through sports”. Kalmadi saw no reason why the 350-strong Indian contingent for the SAF Games could not be cleared, considering the fact that the Government had allowed the junior squash team to play in the Asian championship in Islamabad a week back. The IOA chief warned that India’s sporting reputation would receive an irreparable dent if India backed out of the SAF Games, as “India are leaders of the region and the SAF Games are an international commitment, and not an India vs Pakistan contest, but a regional games with many countries participating”. Kalmadi said an IOA delegation, comprising the IOA chief himself, All-India Council of Sports President Vijay Kumar Malhotra and chairman of IOA’s Sports Commission K.P. Singh Deo, would call on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha tomorrow to impress upon him to “reconsider the Government decision and allow the Indian contingent to participate in the SAF Games”. Kalmadi warned that India’s non-participation in the games would adversely affect India’s bid to host the inaugural Afro-Asian Games in October-November this year, and India’s bid to bag the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in which now only Hamilton (Canada) and India are in the fray after Singapore pulled out. He said Pakistan had fully backed India’s bid for the Commonwealth Games, a final decision on which will be taken in November this year after the two countries submit their bids by May. |
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Five KU boxers in
semifinals Hisar, February 17 In the light flyweight category, Satyan Singh of Kurukshetra University defeated Sujit K. Gautam of Gorkhpur University. In the flyweight category, Rajesh Kumar reached the semifinals defeating Sharad S. Kumar of RS Raipur University. In the bantamweight category Shakti Singh of Kurukshetra University defeated Nagender K. Mourya of Lucknow University. While in the lightweight category, Jaspinder Singh entered the semifinals defeating Ravinder Kumar of Bangalore University. In the light welterweight category Rohtash Kumar defeated T. Solanki of the MDS University, Ajmer. The results: Light flyweight
category: Anurag (HP University, Shimla) b Randeep Singh (Punjabi University, Patiala), A. Malvia (Allahabad University b D.S. Negi (Delhi University), Sanjeev K.Puri (KU, Nanital) b R. Ramchander (Kaktiya University) Flyweight
category: R.S. Gore (Nagpur University) b Arvind Kumar (Garhwal University), P.K. Singh (Ranchi University) b Joginder Panwar (Delhi University), Vikas Kumar (MD University, Rohtak) b Anil Kumar (Punjabi University, Patiala). Bantamweight category: M. Aitesamuddan (Osmania University) b Mohd. R. Seikh (Amrawati University), V. Devender Singh (Punjabi University, Patiala) b Ram Khiladi Yadav (Delhi University), C.C. Baizoobabu (Madras University) b P. Shirodkar (Goa University). Featherweight category: M.D. Habib (Punjabi University, Patiala) b Arvind Kumar (Kurukshetra University) Vivek Pandey (Allahabad University) b V. Kumar (JN University, Jodhpur), Sunil Kumar (MD university, Rohtak) b Y. Goyal (Rohilkhand University), Ram Chand (GND University, Amritsar) b Gayakad (Pune University) Lightweight category: Anil Kumar (Amrawati University) b K. Pandidhar (Pune University), D.K. Singh (SS University, Varansi) b K.M.Krishna (Andhra Pradesh University), Sudhir (MD University, Rohtak) b Gagandeep Singh (Punjabi University, Patiala). Light welterweight category: V. Lenish (Madras University) b Rajbir Singh (GND University, Amritsar). |
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Jagtar hockey results Ludhiana, February 17 Surjit Academy lads were far superior than their opponents from Ropar who failed to match them. Jalandhar academy boys shot into the lead in the 10th minute through a penalty stroke conversion by Harjeet Singh and Gurwinder Singh added a goal in the 24th minute to enhance the lead. After changing ends, Lakhwinder Singh of Jalandhar pumped in two goals to help his side clinch the issue 4-0. In another match, favourites Kila Raipur Academy were made to toil hard by Sports School, Jalandhar. The encounter ended in a 2-2 draw. The two teams were tied 1-1 at half-time. Earlier, in the inaugural match, Faridkot XI outplayed Prithipal Singh Academy, Ludhiana, 2-1 after leading by one goal at the interval. For Faridkot, Navjosh Singh scored a brace while Varinder reduced the margin for Ludhiana. The fourth match, played between PAP, Jalandhar, and SAI, Kurukeshtra, ended in a 1-1 draw. Sukhjinder put Jalandhar ahead in the 21st minute and William of Kurukeshtra levelled the score in the 33rd minute. Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, MP, inaugurated the tournament in which nine teams are taking part. Mr Galib announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh for the installation of flood lights at the PAU hockey ground. He also promised to give Rs 1 lakh to the Jagtar Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament Committee. |
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Tennis tourney for seniors Chandigarh, February 17 According to Mr Devender Kapoor, tournament director, the matches will be played from February 28 to March 2 at the Total Tennis Academy’s YMCA centre. There are over 150 tournaments worldwide every year for seniors and Total Tennis Academy will be the pioneers in this field here. Total Tennis Academy has already organised over 20 tournaments, including AITA ranking tournaments, and is expecting a large number of participants for the new tournament. The matches will be played at the newly laid clay courts at YMCA. Entries close on February 27 at 6 p.m. with the Director, Mr Devender Kapoor. For further information contact 98142000030. |
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Jr fencing Chandigarh, February 17 Competitions will be held in epee, foil and sabre. In the last Junior nationals, the team championship honours were shared by Manipur and Punjab with Manipur winning the championship in epee and foil for boys and in foil for girls. Punjab wrested the titles in the remaining three events, sabre for boys and epee and sabre for girls. |
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