Graeme Smith tops Ceat cricket rating
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 8
Graeme Smith’s back-to-back scores of 277, 85 and 259 in two Test matches against England made him only the fourth batsman in Test history after Don Bradman, Hammond and Kambli to score double hundreds in consecutive matches.

The three innings also yielded him an astonishing 42 points and the top spot in the Ceat batting rating. Smith’s present tally of 47 batting points is six more than that of Brian Lara, another flamboyant left-hander who, like the South African, believes in leading by example.

Lara, who had a fabulous series against the Australians and followed it up with some rousing performances against the Sri Lankans, however, retains his place at the top of the overall Ceat cricket rating, with 51 points. Smith is only three points behind.

Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill made the most out of the opportunity to bowl to the lowly Bangladesh in a Test and one-day series. He currently tops the bowling ratings with 35 points, three ahead of Muttiah Muralitharan, who topped the overall Ceat rating in 2000 and 20001-02.

Australia lead the team rating with 39 points. India is not represented either in the individual or the team rating as the Indian team has not played any international cricket in the Ceat year that commenced on May 1, 2003.

The Indian players will enter the scheme of things on October 8, when they take the field for the first Test against New Zealand in Ahmedabad later this year.

Instituted in 1995, the annual Ceat cricket rating takes into account performances in Tests and one-day internationals from May 1 to April 30. The individual and team rating was topped last season by Ricky Ponting and Team Australia respectively.

Siddharth to meet Vijit in under-18 final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 8
Top-seeded Siddharth Gulati of Modern School, Barakhamba Road, will take on second-seeded Vijit Sehgal of St Columba’s School in the final of the boys under-18 event in the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Inter-School Tennis Tournament at the DLTA court on Saturday.

In the semi-finals played on Friday, Siddharth outplayed third-seeded Abhinav Grover 6-3, 6-1 of Modern School, Vasant Vihar while Vijit Sehgal disposed of fourth-seeded Rahul Belwal of Delhi Public School 7-5, 6-2.

In the girls under-18 title contest, top-seeded Parul Goswami, also of Modern School, will take on third-seeded Neha Rana of Cambridge School. Parul toyed with Yajini Baluja of Jesus and Mary 6-0, 6-1 while Neha Rana stunned second-seeded Anukriti Prasad of DPS, Mathura Road 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 in the semi-final matches.

In the boys under-14 title contest, top-seeded Akshay Kohli of Amity will cross swords with second-seeded Yuki Bhambri of DPS, Mathura Road. Akshay beat fourth-seeded Karunuday Singh 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 while Yuki Bhambri beat Dhruv Gupta of DPS, Mathura Road 6-4, 6-0 in the semi-final clashes.

Third-seeded Vishakha Sheoran of DPS shocked top-seeded Sanjana Kapoor 6-4, 6-3, also from DPS, to set up a title clash against second seeded Karina Ahuja of Modern School. Karina beat fourth-seeded Monika Menon of DPS in the second semi-final at 6-2, 6-4.

Hans Raj College struggle to win in Inter-Club TT
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 8
Hans Raj College, a well-knit team consisting of Ansh Adlakha, Sameer Sahni and Mrinal Mondal, had to struggle to overcome Sachdeva School, assisted by Kunal Puri, Varun Jindal and Harjeet Singh, 3-2 in the Inter-Club Table Tennis League Tournament at the Talkatora indoor stadium on Friday.

For the winners, all players contributed one match each while for the losers, Varun Jindal accounted for two wins, but could not save his team from defeat.

In another match, Copper Field, comprising Tejeshwar Parmar, Ashmeet Thukral and Undit Vashisht defeated Intab Club, consisting of Nandit Passy, Dhruv Arora and Hanslas.

Results: Hansraj beat Sachdeva 3-2 — Sameer Sahni b Kunal Puri 5-11, 11-1, 11-2, 11-9; Mrinal Mondal lost to Varun Jindal 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 6-11, 5-11; Ansh Adlakha b Harjeet Singh 11-9, 11-6, 11-8; Sameer Sahni lost to Varun Jindall

11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 9-11; Mrinal Mondal b Kunal Puri 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3.

Copper Field beat Intab Club 3-1 — Ashmeet Thukral lost to Nandit Passy 11-6, 8-11, 14-12, 4-11, 2-11; Tejeshwar Parwar b Dhruv Arora 11-6, 11-9, 11-13, 12-14, 11-5; Udit Vashist b S. Hanslas 11-3, 11-5, 11-7; Tejeshawar b Nandit Passy 11-7, 8-11, 11-8. 7-11, 11-8..

In other matches, Khalsa College beat BHEL 3-1, Engineers India Ltd (EIL) beat All India Radio 3-2, Food Corporation of India beat Indian Airlines 3-0, EIL beat Central Revenue 3-0, Reserve Bank of India beat Mount St Mary’s 3-0.

Brett Lee to be in India for ad shoot
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 8
Australian cricket star Brett Lee has been roped in to endorse Timex watches both in India and Australia. The agreement, initially for one year, will see Lee visiting India in September this year to shoot for advertisement films and make select appearances.

Brett Lee, one of the truly express bowlers in the game, has electrified audiences around the cricket-watching world with his combination of athleticism, power, good looks and skill. His superb bowling in the 2003 World Cup was one of the high points of the tournament and played no small part in Australia’s title triumph in the World Cup. Lee has lately been ‘the enforcer’ in the Australian team, and his strike rate of 125 wickets in 33 Tests and 133 wickets in 71 One-Day Internationals speaks for itself. Additionally, he has notched up two Test half centuries. But it is more in his role as a “game turner” that Lee is best known: his ability to turn a match on its head with a short, devastating spell.

Sachdeva School cadets advance

New Delhi: The cadet boys of Sachdeva Public School, Pitampura, comprising Pranshu Gupta, Rajat Kumar and Nikhil Gupta trounced Manavsthali 3-0 in the Inter-School Table Tennis Tournament at the Talkatora indoor stadium on Friday. Hansraj Model School defeated Mount Abu 3-1 in another cadet match. In the sub-junior girls section, Sachdeva School A beat Convent of Jesus and Mary 3-0 and Sachdeva B beat N K Bagrodia 3-2. OSR

Rain plays spoilsport in DSA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 8
Rain played spoilsport as both the matches scheduled to be played in the Delhi Soccer Association-SAIL A Division Football League Championship on Friday were washed out due to water-logging at the Ambedkar Stadium. Indian Air Force (Palam) were slated to meet Glorious at 3.30 p m followed by a match between Youngmen and Garhwal Heroes in Group C.

The match between Air Force and Glorious will be played on Sunday while Youngmen will take on Garhwal Heroes on Monday at 4 p m.

ADMINISTRATION

Police personnel violating traffic rules not to be spared
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, August 8
Taking a serious note of complaints regarding police personnel not wearing the helmets and violating other traffic rules, and not being challaned, the Superintendent of Police, Sonepat, Paramjit

Singh Ahlawat, has issued directions in all the police stations in the district not to be lenient to such police personnel.

He has also warned that strict action will be taken against the police personnel not challaning their fellow colleagues found violating the traffic rules or not wearing helmets.

According to information, as many as 3,800 two-wheeler drivers were challaned during the last six months for not wearing helmet.

However, not a single police personnel was challaned during this period. This, despite, several traffic police personnel themselves being found not wearing helmet.

When this was brought to the notice of the SP, he took a serious notice of this and issued directions that no leniency with police personnel violating traffic rules would be observed.

“The police should set an example for the public to abide by the rules and regulations”, he said.