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Monday,
July 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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USA beat El Salvador 2-0 in football
Spikers’ winning run ends
Hockey coach Rajinder stresses on traditional game
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India, Pak may clash in Hong Kong Air-India advance Bangladesh snatch victory Benz controversy haunts Kapil Cricket academies a new fad Federation Cup soccer from July 26
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USA beat El Salvador 2-0 in football
Foxboro, July 13 The USA controlled much of the lacklustre game yesterday and were unlucky not to have scored twice inside the opening 10 minutes when goalkeeper Juan Gomez saved from Earnie Stewart before Pablo Mastroeni crashed a shot off the crossbar. Lewis broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when the midfielder’s right-footed shot from 14 metres beat Gomez. He nearly added a second a minute before the interval, but his chip went just over the bar. The US then silenced the mostly El Salvador supporting crowd of 33,652 when McBride added an insurance goal 14 minutes from time when he headed in a cross from substitute Steve Ralston. It was McBride’s 21st goal in his 69th appearance and moved him into third on the all-time scoring list for the U.S. Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna, who missed eight months through a knee injury, made his first international start since the World Cup and impressed during his 60-minute stint before being replaced by Clint Mathis. “It was a good win,” said USA coach Bruce Arena. “We made it more difficult then we had to.” “We had some good chances in the first half, but I think El Salvador is much improved from the team we saw a year ago. It was a good team effort.” In the earlier game, a second-half strike by Paul Stalteri gave Canada a shock 1-0 victory over Costa Rica. Costa Rica, ranked joint 18th in the world — compared to Canada’s 78, dominated most of the Group D match but failed to take their scoring chances, especially in the second half. They paid the price when a composed Canada side snatched victory with Stalteri’s 59th minute strike on the break. Midfielder Jason Bent made a run down the right flank, Costa Rica defender Luis Marin failed to control his cross and Stalteri surged through to beat Ricardo Gonzalez from 16 metres. “We truly got off to a good start today,” said Stalteri.
“This takes a lot of pressure off of us.”
“Hopefully we can wrap our group up and avoid the US in the quarter-finals.” The goal followed a series of missed chances by Costa Rica. Walter Centeno, put through by Leonardo Gonzalez, could only graze the right post, while striker Winston Parks broke through on the right side, only for his angled shot to be parried by goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld. Parks then failed to beat Hirschfeld again from just seven metres after collecting the ball from Rolando Fonseca, while the ensuing counter-attack led to Stalteri’s goal. “Obviously it was a very frustrating day for us,” said Costa Rica coach Steve Sampson. ‘’I thought we created enough chances to win the game. “Unfortunately when you lack precision in front of goal, you give the opponent the opportunity to win the game.” The seventh edition of the 12-nation tournament also features Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica, Honduras, Mexico, Martinique and South American invitees Brazil and Columbia.
— Reuters |
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Spikers’ winning run ends
Chennai, July 13 Brazil beat India 25-22, 26-24, 25-19 in the 71-minute encounter. They have now won the title for the sixth time. Indian coach G.E. Sridharan told PTI from Thailand that he was happy with the team’s performance in the championship. “We were rated as underdogs, but the boys proved otherwise with their performance. We lost to a better team, ranked much higher than India.” Sridharan said better offensive and defensive tactics helped Brazil retain the title. Brazilian coach Percy Oncken praised India for their performance and said: “Indian players surprised all. After we lost in the league phase, we wanted to return the compliment. It was better cohesion by my team which helped us win the title.” “We have been working hard for this result since April and are happy to have annexed the youth world title,” he said. Brazil are the reigning world senior and junior champions. Earlier, in the play off for third and fourth places, Russia defeated Thailand 25-27, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21 in 83 minutes. India put up a spirited show, matching Brazil in every department of the game. But it was not enough to upset their rivals, for whom it was sweet revenge after the 21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 20-25 loss in the league phase of the championship. India failed to raise their game at vital moments in all three sets and looked a jaded lot after playing tough matches against Puerto Rico and Iran in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. However, India did not yield any advantage to the Brazilians and matched them point for point. The scoreline in the first two sets was indicative of the stiff fight put up by India. Brazil could not take more than a two point lead throughout the first two sets, which they won. India also paid dearly for not holding onto their service games, a weakness that had surfaced in their earlier matches. In the third, the Brazilians coordinated better and their court coverage was excellent. The teams were level on 8-8, 11-11 and 17-17. Brazil then raised their level of play and reeled off four points in a row. Alvesthiag Soares and Carvalho Danilo combined well to block Sanjay and Srikanth for points. Once they went in to a 21-18 lead, the match was almost as good as over, though India managed to collect two more points. — PTI
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Hockey
coach Rajinder stresses on traditional game Dagshai, July 13 Rajinder Singh, who is here on a four-day tour with the Indian team, said the team’s morale had received a boost after the recent victories and the team was now fit to compete in the forthcoming Champions Trophy. The Indian hockey team which has taken some time off to relax in the cool climate of Barog after a busy hockey session, visited Dagshai today. The chief coach while elaborating on his idea behind this trip stated that far from the hustle and bustle of the busy city life, it is time for introspection and exploring one’s weaknesses and strengths, including video analysis and psychological and motivational exercises. Nestling in the beauty of the evergreen pines the team had a warm-up session on the Army Public School ground here. The team is slated to spend the next three days re-energizing themselves in the hill station. Expressing satisfaction over improvement in the conversion rate of short corners by the team he said players like Dileep Tirkey, Jugraj Singh and Baljeet Dhillon had shown marked improvement in variations and were an asset to the team. Referring to international umpiring, he said it was not that the European umpires were unjust but it was a matter of understanding. Asians faced difficulty in understanding European rules and hence the problem of umpiring arose. The fact that the Indian players were used to domestic umpiring also made them feel that the European umpires were harsh, he added. Asserting that the team’s performance was improving with each victory he felt optimistic of showing better results in major tournaments like the World Cup and Champions Trophy. But he added that improvements in the areas like penalty corner conversion, and field coordination needed to be strengthened especially with the framing of the new rules. Heavy downpour in the evening forced Indian hockey team players to restrict themselves to indoor gym practice. The 23 players along with the chief coach Rajinder Singh reached Army Public School playground at 4 pm for the practice. The rain kept players inside the school gym where they had a session of exercises. The team arrived at Hotel Pine Wood, Barog, last evening for a four-day camp. Mercurial striker and captain Dhanraj Pillay was scheduled to join the camp in the evening. Rajinder Singh said the main aim of holding the camp in the hills was to keep hockey out of the minds of the players. On the question of present shortcomings, he said there was an urgent need to improve the conversion rate of short corners. More emphasis has been laid on increasing the stamina of players so that they could match the fitness level of European players, he said. Replying on a question about improvement in the team’s performance in tournaments in Australia and Germany recently, he said inclusion of senior players in the team had done the trick. It was a joint effort of senior players like Pillay and Dhillon along with a blend of youth. The team will leave Barog on July 17.
He said, the recent sponsorship by Sahara group had given a shot in the arm to hockey and had provided motivational support to the players. Baldev Singh, who is also assisting Rajinder Singh in the camp, said the IHF had given them a free hand to select the team. He said the team was now mentally tough and physically fit. Mr Sampath Kumar, physical trainer, said in the two tournaments recently, none of the players got any injury.
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India, Pak may clash in Hong Kong
Lahore, July 12 According to reports, Hong Kong Hockey Association is planning to hold the tournament in November and have decided to invite some of leading teams to participate in the event. The event title suggests it will be bigger than the Asia Cup that is to be played in Kuala Lumpur in September. Hong Kong hopes to bring together hockey superpowers India and Pakistan along with England and China. The event is to be known as (first annual) Asia Super Cup, which will form a part of Hong Kong government’s one billion dollar ‘We love Hong Kong’ post-SARS events campaign. But the proposed five-nation tournament has already run into rough weather. The event was not in the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) calendar. “The meet comes into the calendar, out of the blue,’’ ‘The News’ quoted a AHF official as saying. “Is Hong Kong a hockey power in Asia? Its joke if this happens,’’ the official added. Reports say Hong Kong hockey approached their government last month in an aim to attract funding for annual tournament, in a similar format to soccer’s Carlsberg Cup played at Hong Kong Stadium each year. A separate women’s event featuring Champions Trophy winners China, up against former Olympic champions Korea is also being planned. — UNI
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Air-India advance
Chennai, July 13 While Tamil Nadu XI, with a win and a draw, tallied four points, Bhopal XI with three points became the second team to make it to the last eight from pool A. MEG Bangalore, with one loss and one draw to tally one point, bowed out. Only one of the three Karnataka teams in the fray entered the knock-out stage. Earlier, IHF Juniors, putting up a pathetic show, went down tamely to Air-India 0-1. Air India topped pool-C with two wins and IHF became the second team, with one win against ONGC, to enter the quarters from this pool. Tamil Nadu, propelled by the dazzling stickwork of playmaker international S. Thirumavalavan and forwards Adam Sinclair, Sarat Babu and L. Prabhakar, forced a 1-0 lead in the first session when Sinclair sounded the board with a rasping drive after a solo run on right flank in the 12th minute. But, the MEG defence held on for the rest of the session. Into the second session, Tamil Nadu continued to dominate the exchanges but whenever MEG forced counter attacks, their defence seemed vulnerable. The Bangalore team levelled 1-1 in the 40th minute, forcing a penalty corner which Ranjit Bhengra converted.
— UNI |
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Bangladesh snatch victory
Darwin (Australia), July 13 Bangladesh held on for the tense victory over the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI, after being set a second innings target of 187. The win followed a narrow victory over the Australian Cricket Academy team in Brisbane the previous week as they prepare to take on Steve Waugh’s top-ranked side on Friday. After a first innings score of 139 — 50 lower than the local invitational team’s tally — the Bangladesh bowlers restricted the Territory to just 136 in their second innings yesterday. Starting the fourth and final day at 90 for four, the Bangladeshis were equal to the challenge, despite the loss of three quick wickets for eight runs late in the game. Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said the win would help the team’s confidence. “I attribute the victory to our second innings bowling,” Whatmore said. “We had a deficit of 50 runs and real desire. “To get the opposition out again for that total was very exemplary, very pleasing — the effort was fantastic. “That was what brought us into the game.” Whatmore said the team had improved across the board during their three warm-up matches. “Even with the batting I think there’s clear evidence in this innings that we weren’t presenting our wickets, gifting them. “There weren’t too many bad shots at all. That’s the way we have got to go. We have got to work hard and do the hard things rather than go for that easy option of trying to hit your way out of trouble.” Javed Omar topscored with 44 before falling lbw to Adrian McAdam. Middle-order batsman Al-Sahariar contributed 41 and tail-enders Khaled Mahmud (12 not out) and Mashrafe Mortaza (4 not out) took their side to victory. — AFP
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India ‘A’ score win
London, July 12 Scoreboard Lancashire: Loye c Badani b Balaji 12 Chilton c Gambhir b Salvi 2 Currie b Pathan 11 Swann c Gambhir b Balaji 0 Rees c Gambhir b Balaji 0 Schofield not out 69 Haynes b Pathan 6 Mahmood lbw b Pathan 0 Wood b Pathan 0 Maiden b Salvi 62 Newby lbw b Salvi 0 Extras:
Total: (all out, 47 overs)
191 FoW: 1-4, 2-26, 3-30, 4-30, 5-37, 6-54, 7-54, 8-61, 9-191. Bowling:
Salvi 10-2-38-3, Pathan 10-1-19-4, Balaji 9-2-37-3, Kartik 9-0-42-0, Bhardwaj 4-0-21-0, Sriram 5-0-28-0. India
‘A’ Sriram lbw b Newby 1 Gambhir c Haynes b Newby 8 Parab c & b Maiden
17 Rayudu c Chilton b Wood 21 Badani b Maiden 20 Gavaskar b Mahmood
3 Bharadwaj c Chilton
Kartik c Haynes b Wood 12 Balaji c Rees b Mahmood
18 Pathan not out 19 Salvi not out 20 Extras: (lb-10, w-13, nb-7) 30 Total: (9
wkts, 44.4 overs) 192 FoW: 1-4, 2-14, 3-45, 4-70, 5-82, 6-88, 7-115, 8-133, 9-155. Bowling: Wood 10-2-34-2, Newby 10-1-60-2, Mahmood 10-1-28-3, Chilton 2-0-12-0, Maiden 10-0-36-2, Schofield 2.4-0-12-0.
— PTI |
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Benz
controversy haunts Kapil
Chennai, July 13 When Pentamedia Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr V Chandrasekaran rose to hand over a memento to him soon after he inaugurated ‘The Champ Sports Village’ at Mayajaal, about 30 km from here, Kapil in a rhetoric tone posed a question to the media: “Should I accept it or not?’’ The car gifted by the businessman, who was later involved in an alleged financial misdemeanour, stirred a hornet’s nest with a section demanding that it should also be probed. Flanked by Mr Chandrasekaran and former dashing opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the Wisden Indian Cricketer award winner, rose, picked a mike, and asked: “Now you (the media) tell me whether I should accept it or not?’’ The Champ Sports Village, the brainchild of Mr Srikkanth and Mr Chandrasekaran, was a natural extension of the Mayajaal Entertainment Centre, offering a wide range of stimulating sporting activities under one roof. The village, being constructed in a sprawling 18-acre area at a cost of Rs 7 crore, consists of a cricket stadium with a professionally-laid pitch, indoor cricket, mini golf course, tennis court, swimming pool, health club, indoor games and multi-cuisine restaurants.
— UNI |
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Cricket
academies a new fad Patiala, July 13 Despite the fact that the coaching centre run by the Patiala Cricket Association (PCA) has equally good, if not better, facilities, for some unknown reason young cricketers of the town are willing to spend money and practice their wares at the academy. A visit to the place reveals that confidence is a commodity that is in abundance among the 50 odd cricketers who turn up at the centre. Come rain, sunshine or sleet, the academy is always teeming with cricketers in the 10-17 age group and the indoor facilities that are available act as a catalyst for the doting parents to send their wards to train at the centre. Incidentally, these days former India medium pacer Mr Rajinder Pal is acting as the chief coach for 27 cricketers who have come to the centre from various far off places like Aligarh, Delhi, Bulandshahar and Dehra Dun to attend a 10-day coaching clinic meant only for bowlers. The youngsters could be seen listening with rapt attention to words of wisdom being uttered by Rajinder Pal. Stressing the significance of a fluent run-up, Mr Rajinder Pal said " It has a big influence in good or bad technique. The run-up should be efficient and balanced." At the same time he warned the dangers of a mixed action, which could be caused by a faulty run up. He added that " while the natural attributes in a paceman, if they are working, should not be tampered with, he should be put on a path that would enable him to stay clear of injuries." The academy offers a variety of facilities which include proper lighting in the indoor hall where there are three cemented pitches. The players, while practising, are videographed which enable the coaches to analyse and iron out the flaws that creep in their technique. |
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Federation
Cup soccer from July 26 Panaji, July 12 Mr Colaco also released fixture of the tournament to be continued till August 8. The other teams featuring in the championship are Mohun Began, State Bank of Travancore, Churchill Bros, JCT, East Bengal, HAL, DTDC Tollygunge, Vasco SC, H Sporting Clube, Mohindra United, Air-India and Dempo SC, Mr Colaco added.
— PTI |
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Best
hits the bottle again London, July 13 His wife Alex, 30, told The Mail on Sunday: “No one wants to be an alcoholic and I’m sure George didn’t want to start drinking again. But he has said he has been finding it so difficult.” She added: “The last week has been hell. He seems to be on a mission to self-destruct and it’s getting worse.”
— Reuters |
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