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Wednesday,
July 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Railways athletes dominate track
Bad opening for Indian shuttlers UNDER-14
HOCKEY Right time to quit, says Hussain |
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Pepsi to be Indian cricket sponsor Latif retained
captain of
Pakistan team Ex-cricketer struggling for life
Gandhi ground falls on bad days
Kolkata, July 29 Vasco Sports Club custodian Saji Joy saved a crucial spot kick to propel his side to the quarter-finals with a 7-6 victory over Tollygunge Agragami via sudden death tie-breaker in the Tata Federation Cup Football Tournament today.
Haryana athletics trials
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Railways
athletes dominate track
Hyderabad, July 29 Manoj Lal had little difficulty in winning in the men’s category while S. Geetha emerged victorious in the women’s section after a tough battle with Mukti Saha of Bengal at the GMC Balayogi Stadium. Manoj Lal got off to a great start and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the long sprint, which featured six athletes, to take the top place in 46.84 seconds leaving a photo finish for the next two slots. Satbir Singh and Anil Kumar
Rohil, both of Army, took the second and third place, respectively. Though it was an easy win for the Railway man, his timing today was much slower than his personal best of
46.01. Geetha, a former junior Asian gold medallist, entered the big league winning her race in a fascinating finish, relegating the Bengali girl to the second spot. Though Saha took an early lead and was surging ahead, Geetha overtook her at the halfway stage to snatch the gold at the post. “I had put in all my effort to overtake Saha in the last 60
mtrs. I am happy with the result and the first gold in the senior level,” the Andhra lass who works for South Central Railway said. The bronze medal in the event went to Sagardeep Kaur of Punjab Police.
K.N. Priya, an MBA student from Tamil Nadu, announced her arrival in the senior league in style by winning the yellow metal in the 100m hurdles. She clocked 14.56 for her first gold at a senior meet ahead of Deepti Vaidya of ONGC and Rajwinder Kaur of Punjab Police. “Though I failed to get a good start and knocked a few hurdles, I could make it at the final mark and win my maiden gold at senior level,” an elated Priya said after her event. The men’s 110 mtrs hurdles saw BSF Inspector Naunidh Singh setting the tracks on fire with lively pace, clearing the finish line at a personal best of 14.21 seconds, ahead of P. Muthuswami
(TN) and Krishnamohan (Army). Naunidh had won a bronze medal in the first edition of the Asian Grand Prix held here in June and a gold in the Hyderabad National Games. Shot putter Archana Mondal of West Bengal cleared a distance of 11.50 mtrs in her third attempt to win the gold leaving silver and bronze to Narinder Kaur and Manjit Kaur, both of Punjab Police. In the morning session, Army men walked their way to glory winning gold and silver medals in the 20,000m walk. Gurdev Singh clocked 1hr 31min 33.9 secs to take the gold followed by Sita Ram and Gurmeet Singh of Punjab Police.
— PTI |
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Bad opening for Indian shuttlers
New Delhi, July 29 In the men’s singles, national champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta was trounced by third seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 15-7, 15-5 while another top player Nikhil Kanetkar went down fighting to 1997 world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark 4-15, 15-9, 5-15 yesterday, according to information received here. The women’s pair of Jwalla Gutta and Shruti Kurian gave the Indian contingent something to cheer about as they defeated the Swedish pair of Johanna Persson and Elin Bergblom 17-16 15-6 in just over an hour. They now face 16th seeds Wen-Hsing Cheng and Yu-Chin Chien of Chinese Taipei. After losing the first game tamely, Kanetkar switched to a more attacking style in the second game as he overpowered the Dane to win the game 15-9. But in the decider, the Indian south-paw seemed to have run out of steam as he could not match Rasmussen’s speed losing the match in an hour’s time. — PTI
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UNDER-14
HOCKEY Jalandhar, July 29 Similarly, Ropar Hawks, entered the semifinals from pool ‘B’ after drawing with Namdhari Academy, Bhaini Sahib, 1-1. In a one-sided affair, Surjit Academy opened their account in the 6th minute when Sukhdeep Singh converted a penalty corner. The score stood at 1-0 till half-time. Randhir Academy when in 37th minute Jagroop Singh made no mistake in converting a penalty corner (2-0). The lead was further consolidated when dashing forward Ranjoth Singh struck a beautiful field goal making it 3-0. Taking advantage of the mounting pressure on the rivals Gurjinder Singh increased the lead further through a field goal making the final score 4-0. During the game Surjit Academy were awarded nine penalty corners while Randhir Academy managed none. With this victory Surjit Academy entered the semifinals with 12 points after winning all the four matches. In an equally good fight between PAP Academy and Ferozepore Academy, the game was disrupted in the beginning when Deepak of Ferozepore Academy got a yellow card. However, PAP Academy opened the account in the fifth minute when Harjinder Singh tactfully converted a penalty corner 1-0. In the 47th minute Ferozepore lead struck a field goal through Vijay. Baba Farid Academy, Faridkot, and Divine Public School Academy, Batala, settled for a 1-1. In the last match Ropar Hawks, and Namdhari Academy wee locked goal less. |
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Right time to quit, says Hussain
Birmingham, July 29 “I just feel it’s the right time. I felt I was a bit tired and stale. Four years is a long time in this job,” Hussain said after the drawn first Test against South Africa at Edgbaston. “It can become very repetitive,” Hussain (35) added. “I needed to see how far I could dig and I just wasn’t good enough.” Hussain, who retains his place in what is an unchanged team, added: “I feel it is coming to a slight change in era. “I think Michael Vaughan has shown in the last few months that he is a very capable leader and that’s what I have been waiting for. There are some good lads playing under him and the last thing they want is a tired leader.” England’s new Test skipper, who led England to one-day triumphs over Pakistan and victory in the triangular series final against South Africa earlier this season, expressed shock at the timing of Hussain’s decision. “Like everyone else in the dressing room, I’m surprised by Nasser’s decision to resign. “He has been a hugely inspirational captain and no-one cares more about England than him.” “I had not expected the Test captaincy to come my way this summer but I feel ready for the challenge and I will be more than happy to have him (Hussain) in the dressing room alongside me as a senior player,” the 28-year-old added. Meanwhile Hussain insisted he had not taken his decision lightly. “It’s not the sort of job where you just take the cash and plod on and stand at mid-off. “I’ve always felt it’s the sort of job where you have to give it everything. It’s time for change. “After last winter the stuff that went on off the field and on the field in Australia there were a lot of difficult times,” said a tearful Hussain, referring to the drawn out wrangle over whether England should play a World Cup match in Zimbabwe. Asked to explain the timing of his decision, Hussain, a veteran of 84 Tests, added: “I have been thinking about this since the end of the World Cup. “No one then knew who the real successor was - now we have seen Vaughan.” Hussain, who replaced wicketkeeper Alec Stewart as captain after England’s first round World Cup exit on home soil four years ago, led England in 45 Tests, winning 17, losing 15 and drawing 13. His record compares favourably with that of Peter May, England’s most successful skipper, who won 20 of his 41 Tests in charge. Hussain led England to four successive Test series wins starting at home against Zimbabwe in 2000. In the same season he followed that up with England’s first Test series win over the West Indies in 31 years, before leading the team to Test triumphs in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But he was frustrated by England’s inability to even compete with arch-rivals Australia, whom they have not defeated since 1986-87. Under Hussain’s leadership they were thrashed 1-4 at home in 2001, although he missed two games through injury. England lost by the same scoreline in Australia in 2002-03. Nevertheless, Hussain had forged a reputation as England’s best tactical skipper since Mike Brearley in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But he was guilty of a public relations blunder in the build-up to the first Test, saying there were splits in the South African camp and that the Proteas were “ripe for the taking”.
— AFP |
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Pepsi to be Indian cricket sponsor
New Delhi, July 29 “A three-year extension to Pepsi as India’s main domestic sponsor is virtually assured, and the contract is expected to be signed on August 1,” an official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told India Abroad News Service. At the same time, the sources said, Pepsi could withdraw as one of the global partners of ICC and might instead use the money allotted for advertisements on the extended Indian cricket season. The sponsors believe, the sources said, that this would give them more mileage than sponsoring ICC-organised events. If BCCI’s deal with Pepsi, which has the first right of refusal by virtue of being the previous sponsor, comes through, it will put to rest all speculation about domestic sponsorship. “This issue was thoroughly discussed by the BCCI marketing committee on July 23 in Mumbai,” said one source. “Although the deal is to be signed on August 1, the working committee will put the final seal of approval later that month.”
— IANS |
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Latif retained
captain of Pakistan team Karachi, July 29 “Rashid is our captain until the tour of New Zealand in December-January 2004 and we have no intention of dropping our rebuilding policy after the World Cup,’’ Zia said. “We have decided to give the captain, coach and players a run of three to four series against Bangladesh, South Africa and New Zealand in the rebuilding process,’’ he added. Latif was appointed captain in place of Waqar Younis after Pakistan failed to qualify for the Super Sixes of the World Cup. Meanwhile, fast bowler Muhammad Sami has been ruled out of the home series against Bangladesh with an ankle injury.
— Reuters |
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Ex-cricketer struggling for life At 64, former Ranji Trophy player from Punjab , Swami Talwar, is struggling for life. He has been suffering from chronic bronchitis and emphysema (a condition of lungs marked by distention and progressive loss of elasticity accompanied by laboured breathing and impairment of heart) for the past three years. He survives on bottled oxygen and needs a supply of approximately 18 cylinders of oxygen every month. Swami has two sons, Diwakar and Tarun. Diwakar is currently jobless while Tarun is in Australia. It is Swami’s strong discipline and will power that has him battling against this delibitating disease. Cricket is in Swami’s blood. Despite the physical hardships he still takes a keen interest in the game. He regularly talks to his cricket friends — Sushil Kapoor, DP Azad and Arun Sharma . He doesn’t miss any cricket match on television, besides watching other sports. Swami started playing in the late 1950s and had the honour of playing with the legendary Lala Amarnath, who represented Punjab Golden Swami was then playing for Panjab University. In 1963-64 he did a diploma course in cricket from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala and worked as a cricket coach with the Punjab Sports Department. In 1996-97 a benefit match of Deodhar trophy was held for him. Today Swami survives on his pension and his son sometimes sends him money from abroad. He is being treated by Dr VK Maini, a chest specialist. Swami could, in the earlier stages of his disease, could walk around and sit in a wheelchair. His condition has worsened during the past six months and his lungs are currently working at only 30 per cent of their capacity. |
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Gandhi ground falls on bad days Amritsar, July 29 It used to be the best ground of north India. However groupism marred the progress of not only the stadium but has also started adversely affecting the sport. The AGA stopped practice as one group thinks it is wise to charge Rs 250 per month from each player while the other group is opposed to it. However, a senior member remarked that the reason behind the present situation was the tussle to gain control of the management. The deplorable condition of the stadium can be gauged from the fact that the commentary box is in bad shape. The camera stand has no stairs. Interestingly, even the approach to a spectator gallery is missing. The drainage system around the ground has also broken down. At several places concrete stairs are broken and grass has grown in between. Incidentally the ground was the venue for many international matches like India versus Sri Lanka in 1983 and India versus World XI and India versus New Zealand in 1995. The member pointed out that the constitution of the AGA explicitly states that election of the association must take place after three years. However since 1995, no election has taken place. The AGA’s annual income is about Rs 7.5 lakh and one third of it comes from ground rent from private schools who organise net practice. The rest comes from rent from 26 shops and from a club running on its territory. Significantly, about 300 square yards around the ground is still lying vacant where staircases are yet to be constructed. If completed, it would increase the present capacity of stadium to 40,000. The Deputy Commissioner, who is president of AGA, could not be contacted, despite repeated attempts. The honorary secretary, Mr J.P. Shoor, said the stadium was badly in need of repair. |
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Cricket
probables’ selection put off Mumbai, July 29 The camp is scheduled to start in Bangalore from August 14.
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Football: Vasco in last 8
Kolkata, July 29 Joy successfully punched Kajal Bhattacharjee’s high shot to send local outfit Tollygunge crashing out of the tournament after a see-saw pre-quarter final battle at the Salt Lake stadium here. The match rolled into tie-break after the two teams finished 1-1 in regulation time and failed to break the deadlock during half an hour of extra time. In the penalty shootout, Menino Fernandes, Denis Cabral, Kamal Thapa, John Dias, Vinoo Jose and Levy Coelho found the target for the Goans while Amit Das, Akeem Abolanle, Isiaka Aboyemi, Goutam Debnath and Suman Dutta were successful for Tollygunge. Earlier, Amit Das put Tollygunge ahead in the 42nd minute before substitute Anthony Fernandes restored parity for the Goans two minutes before the final whistle. — PTI
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Love, marriage make Henry better player London, July 29 Henry had a reputation for being one of the English Premiership’s most fiery characters but the 26-year-old says his life has been transformed on and off the pitch since meeting his English model wife. “Getting married is part of the evolution of my career,” says Henry, who signed a new contract in May that keeps him at Arsenal until 2007. “Before on the pitch I was a bit crazy. Now I’ve calmed down. It’s the same in my private life,” he said in interview in the August edition of Sky magazine to launch the new Premiership season.
— AFP
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Haryana
athletics trials Panchkula, July 28 The selection of the senior athletics team (men and women) will also be held on August 5 at Bhim Stadium, Bhiwani at 9 am. |
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Birmingham, July 29
KUNMING (CHINA):
WOODS’
DRIVER