 |
|
Friday,
August 8, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Dronacharya Award race hots up Invincible Felix Sanchez delights fans at Pan American Games
Pankaj, Yasin chalk out easy victories
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
BCCI’s 75th year to be a grand affair Ehsaan Mani to
visit India Mohali Test from Oct 16 Anthrax scare for SA team Anand beats Leko
Padukone unhappy over removal Haryana badminton results
|
|
Dronacharya
Award race hots up New Delhi, August 7 When Sunita Rani tested positive for the banned substance, the role played by her “coach” Renu Kohli and team doctor Jawaharlal Jain had come in for strict scrutiny. When Sunita Rani was banned and stripped of her medals, the SAI suspended Renu Kohli. Sunita Rani was subsequently cleared of the doping offence and her medals won at the Asian Games were returned to her at a grand function organised jointly by the SAI and the Amateur Athletic Federation of India at the Nehru Stadium lawns. Interestingly, there was no mention of Renu Kohli’s name at the function, though the SAI had rescinded her suspension. There were lingering doubts among some of the top guns of the SAI of the role played by Renu Kohli at Busan. But the SAI, interestingly, is now learnt to be pushing hard her name for the Dronacharya Award, though the SAI representatives in the Dronacharya Award selection panel kept a “studious” silence when the names of some of the other SAI coaches came up for discussion. It is learnt that the discussion in the meeting was dominated by a few vociferous members, giving no opportunity for others to speak out. Even Dronacharya cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar reportedly did not get much of a chance to voice his opinion on the cricket coaches who were in the fray for the award. It is learnt that the names of three cricket coaches — Sunita Sharma, Tarik Sinha and Railway Ranji coach Vinod Sharma — have been recommended for the award, though Achrekar did not actively participate in the deliberation, and mostly kept to himself. Even the chairman of the selection panel, tennis ace Ramesh Krishnan, reportedly took part in the deliberations just for half an hour at the fag end as he reached the meeting venue around 4.30 p m, though the deliberations had begun at 11 a m. Some of the members in the panel also complained of the ‘shoddy treatment’ meted out to them as they were provided with just “two bananas, one sandwich and a few potato chips” for lunch. Like the Arjuna Award, the Dronachara Award may also kick up a lot of dust if the government does not strictly
adhere to the selection criterion, which says that “the Dronacharya Award, instituted in 1985, honours eminent coaches who have successfully trained sportspersons or teams and enabled them to achieve outstanding results in international competitions”. The awardee is given a statuette of Guru Dronacharya, a scroll of honour, ceremonial dress and a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. Last year, the Government bestowed the Dronacharya award on just two coaches — cuest Michael Ferreira and shooter Prof Sunny Thomas. And this year, some of the coaches who have been recommended for the award, do not quite fit the bill. |
|
Invincible
Felix Sanchez delights fans at Pan American Games
Santo Domingo, August 7 “I knew people wanted this medal,” Sanchez said. “I was warming up and heard the stadium roar. I knew if I didn’t do it I’d have to wait for Brazil 2007.” Some fans were disappointed a few hours later when Brazil beat the hosts 89-62 to win the gold medal, but the day belonged to Sanchez. The defending world champion and world No 1, who was born in the USA but took on his parents’ nationality, is using this event to prepare for the world championships, where he will try to defend his title later this month in Paris. The previous Pan American Games record, held by Eronilde Nunez de Araujo of Brazil, was 48.23. The world record, set by American Kevin Young at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, is 46.78. “I was very hyper. I tried to calm myself but I couldn’t, so I came out too hard and after the seventh hurdle I was very tired,” he said. “I had to keep my technique to get through the last three hurdles.” The Olympic Stadium was overcrowded and fans crashed gates trying to get in, causing security officers to use dogs to try to hold people back. Stadium capacity is 35,000. The full house - many holding up flags with the Superman symbol — cheered wildly as Sanchez blazed down the track, beating Eric Thomas of the USA, who finished second in 48.74 seconds. The celebrations rolled over to the basketball stadium, where fans filled the stadium during the bronze medal game, which Puerto Rico won after beating the USA 76-70. But halfway thorough the fourth quarter, with Brazil leading by about 30 points, the crowd started to dwindle. For the USA, it was the first time in 32 years that they failed to win medal. The USA won five gold medals yesterday to take their tally to 27 and 62 overall. Cuba, who won four gold medals, now has a total of 22 gold models and 43 overall. Canada are third with five gold medals and 19 total. American sprinters took the two glamour events, winning both the men’s and women’s 100 metres, while four-time world champion Ivan Pedroso of Cuba jumped 8.23 metres to win the men’s long jump. Mickey Grimes won the men’s sprint in 10.10 seconds while countrywoman Lauryn Williams took the women’s gold in 11.12. “It’s not Olympic gold or world championship gold, but it’s my first big championship, so I’m happy,” Grimes said. “This is fine with me right now.” Grimes edged Michael Frater of Jamaica and American Marcelle Scales. Williams topped countrywoman Angela Williams and bronze medallist Liliana Allen of Mexico. It was the first time that the USA swept the 100 metres dashes in the Pan American Games since 1987 in Indianapolis. Pedroso beat Cuban Luis Meliz and Victor Castillo of Venezuela, who took bronze. “I jumped 8.23, which doesn’t really satisfy me because I think I can jump more than 8.30,” Pedroso said. — AP
|
|
Pankaj, Yasin chalk out easy victories New Delhi, August 7 What was expected to be a battle royale between Pankaj Advani and Devender Joshi turned out to be a misnomer as the former outplayed his experienced rival 4-1. Yasin Merchant continued with his awesome form as he decimated Ashok Shandilya while former National champion Alok Kumar overpowered qualifier Anuj Uppal. Yasin and Alok won their matches by identical 4-0 margin. In group”A”, Pankaj Advani was just unstoppable as he thrashed Joshi on the green baize 77-10, 105-11, 68-16, 54-65, 64-28. Pankaj started with a flourish making a break of 60 on the trot to claim the first frame. He followed it up with a masterly run of 56 to completely smother Joshi’s game to pieces. Joshi never recovered after that and caved in meekly to finish second in the group which enabled him to enter the last eight. The lone frame which went in Joshi’s favour was a tantalising one with lead changing hands quickly. Joshi had an easy pink to claim the frame but he muffed it up in the centre pocket. Pankaj got pink straight in the top pocket and could not pull back for black. A couple of astute safety shots followed between the two and it was on the last ball that Joshi could claim the black. Pankaj, however, was in no mood to give any more chances to his rival and won the next frame and the match without much ado. Earlier Yasin Merchant went on to win his third match in a row without dropping a frame. Though Yasin defeated Ashok Shandilya 4-0 the loser did put up a good fight the scoreline notwithstanding. It was an engrossing encounter in which Shandilya missed some sitters to allow Yasin to dictate terms. Though Yasin won the first frame rather easily he had to fight in the next three. A dream clearance by Yasin in the third suddenly halted on the black ball. The ball was in the cushion near the pink spot. The former Asian champion pondered over the black for a while than played a superb pot in the pocket. Shandilya fought well in the fourth but could not stop Yasin from winning 69-17, 60-55, 65-51, 49-34. Earlier veteran Alok Kumar taught young Anju Uppal the rudiments of snooker. The former national champion raced to a magnificent break in the first frame and after that he never gave Anuj any respite. In a one-sided tie, Alok emerged winner 83-1, 72-22, 64-28, 66-21 to finish at the top of group ‘C’. — UNI
|
|
BCCI’s 75th year to be a grand affair
New Delhi, August 7 Delhi will have a special place in the celebrations as it was here in the historic Roshnara Club that the first meeting of the BCCI was held. The working committee of the BCCI which is scheduled to meet in Chennai on August 21 and 22 will discuss the plans and programmes conceived for the celebrations. The BCCI’s annual general body meeting to be held next month will ratify these plans. According to BCCI officials, there is going to be several high voltage on and off the field programmes for the celebrations. On the field plans include holding cricket matches and off the field will comprise of conducting seminars, workshops, clinics and other activities related to the game. The officials told UNI that the BCCI had set up a “heritage” committee comprising of former Indian captains G S Ramchand, Polly Umrigar, Ajit Wadekar, journalist K.N. Prabhu and sports administrator Sharad Diwadkar. The committee headed by Mr G.S. Ramchand will go into the various aspect of the development of the game in the country. It has already zeroed in and identified the various projects which will be taken up. — UNI
|
|
Ehsaan Mani to
visit India
Mumbai, August 7 The fact that Mr Mani hails from the neighbouring country has put a whole new spin to an ICC chief’s otherwise “routine” visit as many in the cricketing world expect him to kickstart the sporting relations between the two traditional rivals. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources here, though, feel that he would not be able to do much about the India-Pakistan cricket ties, which have been in a limbo since the Kargil war of 2001. Board officials feel that Mr Mani having taking over as the ICC chief, a couple of months back, put the blame on India as the only country which had failed to honour the sponsorship contract for the 2003 World Cup.
— UNI |
|
|
Mohali Test from Oct 16
Kolkata, August 7 Announcing this here today, cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya said David Shepherd of England and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa would officiate as the umpires in the two Test matches. Shephered, along with campatriot Neil Mallender, would officiate as umpires in the triseries with a panel of Indian umpires. He also said the dates of the first two Test matches between India and New Zealand have now been finalised after the venue of one of the matches was shifted to Ahmedabad from Kanpur due to poor ground conditions. The first Test would be played at Ahmedabad from October 8 to 12 and the second at Mohali from October 16 to 20. Before the Test matches, New Zealand would also play two three-day matches against Board President eleven and India-A and these matches would be played at Vizag (Sept 26 to 28) and Rajkot (Oct 2 to 4). The triangular series would be played from October 23 and the teams would play against each other three times to decide the two qualifiers for the final to be held at Eden Gardens here on November 18. The following is the complete itinerary of the India-New Zealand Test series and tri-series with names the of two umpires of the match and third and fourth umpires in brackets: Oct 8 to 12 — India-New Zealand first test at Ahmedabad, David Shepherd/R. Koertzen (I. Shivaram/ S.K. Patel). Oct 16 to 20 — India-New Zealand second test at Mohali, David Shepherd/R. Koertzen (K. Hariharan/N. Menon). Tri-series: Oct 23 — India vs New Zeland at Chennai, David Shepherd/A.V. Jayaprakash (I. Shivaram/F. Gomes). Oct 26 — India vs Australia at Gwalior, N. Mallender/K. Hariharan (A.V. Jayaprakash/V.K. Ramasw-amy). Oct 29 — Australia vs New Zealand at Faridabad, D. Shepherd/K. Hariharan (I. Shivaram/Devendra Sharma). Nov 1 — India vs Australia at Mumbai, N. Mallender/A.V. Jayaprakash (K. Hariharan/Umesh Kumar). Nov 3 — Australia vs New Zealand at Pune, D. Shepherd/K. Hariharan (A.V. Jayaprakash/T.R. Kasyappan). Nov 6 — India vs New Zealand at Cuttack, N. Mallender/A.V. Jayaprakash (I. Shivaram/M.S. Mahal). Nov 9 — Australia vs New Zealand at Guwahati, D. Shepherd/K. Hariharan (I. Shivaram/C.R. Mohite). Nov 12 — India vs Australia at Bangalore, N Mallender/A.V. Jayaprakash (K. Hariharan/A.M. Sahiba). Nov 15 — India vs New Zealand at Hydrabad, D. Shepherd/K. Hariharan (I. Shivaram/S.N. Bandekar). Nov 18 — Final at Kolkata, D. Shepherd/A.V. Jayaprakash, (K. Hariharan/K.G. Lakhminarayanan). — PTI
|
|
|
Anthrax scare for SA team
London, August 7 Graeme Smith and his men, currently playing a five-Test series against England, were preparing to leave for a charity match when a suspicious looking white powder was spotted in the commercial mall adjoing their Buckinghamshire Hotel here. The players had to stay put in their rooms as the security personnel laid seige of the entire area. The scare, however, turned out to be hoax. “The entire area was cordoned off and there were police and sirens all over,” Mr Omar Henry, the convener of South Africa’s national panel of selectors, was quoted as saying by CricInfo. “Within minutes, the fire brigade was on the scene and people were running in every direction. I locked myself in my room and did not want to move around in the hotel.” The players were late in leaving for their match before being eventually given permission to leave the hotel through a side door. — PTI
|
|
|
Anand beats Leko
Dortmund, August 7 GM Viktor Bologan of Moldova stretched his lead to an incredible 1.5 points after beating German hope GM Arkadi Naditisch. Bologan has amassed 5 points out of a possible six and is trailed by Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia on 3.5 points. Anand moved to sole third position after his much-needed victory while GM Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan is in fourth spot tallying 2.5 points. Leko and Naiditsch have an identical score of 2 points and are at the bottom of the tables. The next round will be crucial from Anand’s perspective as he plays against Bologan with white pieces. So far the Indian stalwart has scored only with his black pieces, his earlier win being against Naiditsch in the fifth round. Anand now has two wins, two draws and two losses. Having lost to Leko in their last classical chess encounter at Linares earlier this year, this victory was a sweet revenge for Aannd. The Indian ace opened with the sicilian nazdorf and faced the sharp English attack. The Hungarian did get some positional advantage in the early stages of the middle game but blew it up with some over- ambitious manoeuvres that cost him dearly. — PTI
|
|
Agassi, Roddick win, Hewitt bows out Montreal, August 7 Those reaching the third round included Americans Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland and French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. Andre Agassi waited through a 1 1/2-hour rain delay, then made quick work of Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko
7-6 (7/3), 6-2 yesterday to reach the third round of the Canada Masters. The top-seeded Agassi is trying for his fourth title at this hard-court tuneup for the US Open.
— AP |
|
Padukone unhappy over removal
Bangalore, August 7 He said when he was appointed as the chairman, he was not informed about the tenure. “I am not for the post. Last year also when I was appointed I was not willing to accept the post, but the then Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti persuaded me,” he added.
— UNI |
|
Haryana
badminton results Yamunanagar, August 7 Girls: U-10 Kumari Jisha (Panchkula) b Kumari Vrinda (Sonepat) 11-3, 11-7 Indu (Sonepat) walk over from Palak (Panchkula). Girls U-13. Mohini (Panchkula) b Pratibha (Yamunanagar 11-1, 11-0, Surbhi (Panchkula) b Kumud (Yamunanagar) 11-1, 11-1, Manju (Sirsa) b Naiha (Yamunanagar) 11-3, 2-11, 11-5, Titikha (Faridabad) b Jyoti (Sirsa) 11-0, 11-1, Ambika (Sonepat) b Sonu Rani (Sirsa)11-2, 11-0, Deepali (Faridabad) b Jyoti (Yamunanagar 11-2, 11-6, Swati (Sonipat b Sapna (Sirsa) 11-6, 11-0, Kumari Parul (Panchkula) b Manju (Sirsa) 11-0, 11-3, Surbhi (Panchkula) b Deepa (Yamunanagar) 11-2, 11-1 and Kumari Anuradha (Bhiwani) b Kumari Muskan (Panchkula) 13-12, 13-4. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
