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Wednesday,
August 13, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Prabodh Tirkey skipper for Poland hockey meet Indians jittery about
“5-minute zone”
Defeated Chang bids adieu
Chinese football fans go on the rampage
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Alok, Merchant move into semis
ITF lifetime award for Mukherjea Sudhir Mohan Director Sports Simarjeet shoots six under 66 to emerge leader Judokas return with medals
from Vietnam Chandigarh girl in next round Punjab cops win Punjab youth basketball
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Prabodh
Tirkey skipper for Poland hockey meet New Delhi, August 12 Eight teams, divided into two groups, will participate in the tournament. The Indian junior team, who would be making their maiden appearance in the tournament, have been placed in Group B along with Egypt, France and the hosts Poland while Group A comprises Germany, local team Genizno, Malaysia and Pakistan. The 16-member squad will be led by experienced Prabodh Tirkey, who is the only player left in the junior ranks from the Indian team who won the Junior World Cup at Hobart in Australia. The team, announced by Indian Hockey Federation secretary-general K Jyotikumaran here today, is: Adrian D’Souza, Kuttappa, William Xalxo, Sandeep Singh, Hamza Mujtaba, Gurbaj Singh, Jagat Juthl, Vivek Gupta, Prabodh Tirkey (captain), Nitin Kumar, Vikas Topo, Birendra Lakra, Girish Pimpale, Adam Sinclair, Tushar Khandekar and Hari Prasad. The officials are: Harender Singh (chief coach), Clarence Lobo (coach), Saju Joseph (physical trainer) and J N Tyagi (treasurer). Two umpires, N Javed Shaikh and Virendra Bahadur Singh, will also accompany the team. There are two players in the team whose brothers are members of the senior squad-Prabodh Tirkey’s brother Ignace Tirkey and Birendra Lakra’s brother Bimal Lakra-which is a unique record for Indian hockey, though another illustrious brother-duo, Dhyan Chand and Roop Singh, had also played for India simultaneously, but both for the senior team. The team attended a 21-day coaching camp in Bangalore before arriving in Delhi. Chief coach Harendra Singh admitted that there were many grey areas which needed to be ironed out. But he said the team’s midfield was its strength, marshalled efficiently by skipper Prabodh Tirkey, with able support from Vivek Gupta and Jagat Juthal. The attack consists of experienced players like Tushar Khandekar, Birendra Lakra and Vikas Topo while Girish Pimpale and Adam Sinclair will get a fine opportunity to display their skills and learn a lot. Harendra Singh said the tournament will be an ideal platform for the youngsters to finetune their skills as it will provide an interesting mix of European and Asian style of hockey. Harendra Singh said the ultimate target of the team was the Junior World Cup in 2005. The team has enough time on its hand to prepare for the mega event two years hence. “The Poland tournament will be an excellent exposure trip for the juniors”, Harendra Singh noted. The team will leave for Poland on August 16. India play their matches against Egypt on August 18, against France on August 20 and against Poland on August 21. The final is slated for August 24. Mr Jyotikumaran, thanking Sahara for coming forward to sponsor hockey when IHF president KPS Gill approached Sahara boss Subrata Roy, said “Sahara’s association with hockey is a landmark in the history of the game in the country, and hockey is now making rapid strides to retrieve its golden past”. |
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Indians jittery about “5-minute zone” Amstelveen, August 12 The “five-minute zone’’ is the last five minutes of the match and if one were to peep into history, examples of India losing matches that could easily have been won are in plenty. “I know and understand that we have been losing matches that could easily have been won or at least drawn. And what worries me is that these goals have been coming in the last five minutes of the match,’’ coach Rajinder Singh told UNI. “We have learnt from Cologne and I really hope the boys will be closing out the match this time,’’ he added. Even in 2002, Pakistan had edged out India in the third-place play-off in the last five minutes of the match and Rajinder, who is going to the Champions Trophy as the coach for the second time, will surely be hoping that his think tank can come up with some successful tactics. Almost all the top coaches in the world know that India loses focus in the dying moments of the match. The defenders, tired from all the running and the midfielders playing loosely in their area contribute to this losing of matches in the “five-minute zone.’’ The team, in fact, has missed some easy chances to grab podium finishes in the recent past owing to lapses in this zone. In the semifinals of the 1999 Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur, India were down 0-2 to Korea before fighting back to equalise at 2-2 and then taking a 3-2 lead. Korea, however, pulled back at 3-3. India went ahead again at 4-3 but Korea pulled back to 4-4 and with just seconds to go snatched the match-winner for a superb 5-4 win. Even in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, India were leading 1-0 with just about a minute to go in the match against Poland but the defence huddled together and let in a loose ball with Poland smashing in the equaliser. The result, India were out of the semis. But the two recent tournament wins in Australia and Germany would certainly have taught the team to hold their nerves in the last minutes of the game. Mercurial striker and skipper Dhanraj Pillay, while admitting that the team sometimes does lose focus, said, “I think we have worked on this aspect and the defence and also the midfield will see that no loose balls are played to the opponents.’’ But with the top five teams in the fray, the coach certainly does not want to take any chances. “If I see any player slacking off, I will pull him off as the last minutes are always crucial against European opponents,’’ Rajinder said. — UNI
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Alon denies blackmailing Warne
Sydney, August 12 The woman has offered to give the entire story exclusively to ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ for $ 250,000 but the paper said today it had declined to accept it. Ms Cohen Alon, a 45-year-old divorcee, however, insisted she had no intention of blackmailing the leg-spinner and told the paper from Johannesburg that Warne had harassed many women, including few in South Africa and “the truth must come out”. “Why would I want to blackmail Shane Warne when he is a friend of mine? Why doesn’t he just come out with the truth that he did harass me. “....I really liked him and I still do. He is a fantastic guy. There’s nothing wrong with him. It’s just that you cannot get away with things that you try and do to a woman all the time. “I am not the only woman he has harassed. There’s quite a few women and there are a few women in South Africa — in my own country — that he’s done that to. “And I am the one that’s sitting with the truth. The truth will come out,” she was quoted as saying. Ms Alon has claimed that Warne had been pestering her with salacious telephone calls and messages. She also claimed that the cricketer, currently serving a 12-month ban from international cricket, called her up “40 times” in a day and sent lewd and erotic messages. Warne’s camp is silent since the statement made by his managing company that the bowler was being set up for someone’s “personal gains”. Meanwhile, the paper quoted her New York-based laywer Donald Levine as saying: “She doesn’t want to give the story away unless she is walking out of it with something in her hand... unless she gets $ 250,000, or we can negotiate on that.” This is not the first time that Warne has been accused of such a charge. In August 2000 the spin bowler had admitted to having made lewd calls to a British nurse while playing county cricket in England. He subsequently lost the Australian Test team’s vice-captaincy over the incident. Ms Alon has claimed that she was offered $ 28,000 by an associate of Warne to keep quiet about their relationship. Insisting that her life was under threat, the woman said, “I am going to go to the police because I’ve been receiving calls... when nobody speaks on the other side, and it comes through on an anonymous number. So what is that? It’s harassment. It’s somebody that’s trying to scare me.” Ms Alon told the ‘Daily Telegraph’ that she would sue Victoria coach David Hookes for his “disparaging” remarks about her to the Australian media. Hookes had referred to her as “some dopey, hairy-backed Sheila who has dobbed him (Warne) in across the other side of the world. If that’s what she wants to do to earn some cash that’s her decision. Let’s find out the facts before we hang Warney on this one”. One of the newspapers quoted Ms Alon as saying, “One of our cricket captains Hansie Cronje died in a plane crash, but it’s now been found that he was murdered to keep him quiet about certain things that he was going to expose.” “I want the world to know the truth. I want somebody to get exclusive rights on this... and then I’m going to walk away from it all, leave this country and go and live in another country for a while and get my life back together again.” “It’s because of Shane Warne that my life is in the crap that it’s in at the moment, and he’s not going to get away with it... but I need to get the truth out before anything happens to me. That’s all I’m prepared to say.” While the fans and sponsors are used to claims of misbehaviour against Warne, officials and players were “frustrated” by the latest scandal as was evident from various feedbacks to papers and news channels. — PTI
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Defeated Chang bids adieu Cincinnati, August 12 Chang let a first-round match get away yesterday in one of his favourite tournaments, losing to a qualifier in three sets at the Cincinnati Masters. A few hours later, he was honoured in his final appearance at centre court. Fans stood and applauded Chang, 31, who will retire after the US Open. Tournament organisers gave him a collage of photos from previous appearances. They had planned to give it to him, win or lose. “It’s a little more fun when you win than when you lose, but it’s important to have a good perspective, a good attitude out there,” said Chang, a two-time champion in Cincinnati. “The last thing you want to do is walk away from your career and not feel good about being out there.” Chang’s 6-4 6-7 (7/9) 0-6 loss to Morocco’s Hicham Arazi left the $2.45 million tournament without its top draw, its defending champion and its sentimental favourite. Chang knew what he had to do to finish his career on an upbeat note. He passed up Wimbledon to concentrate on getting ready for the hard courts. He decided to play Cincinnati because it’s good preparation for the US Open and it’s always been a personal favourite. His scrappy style played well with fans, and his 41-14 career mark in Cincinnati was his best anywhere. “You always want to go back to places where you know you’re welcome,” Chang said. “Generally speaking, you play some of your best tennis there. Cincinnati has definitely been that for me.” “I can recall many times where I’ve been down in matches and the crowd really got behind me and I was able to pull out some great wins here.” He looked like he was on the verge of another when he got ahead of Arazi 6-5 in the second set, needing just one more game to close it out. He got nervous and lost his serving touch, letting Arazi back in it. Chang pumped his fists after getting to match point in the tiebreaker, but let that slip away, too. He appeared crestfallen after Arazi broke his serve to start the third set. “It’s a little bit discouraging,” Chang said. “Then for some reason, the old energy level kind of went down. The third set went pretty quick.” Chang wants to get in some more matches before the Open, which is one of his other favourite tournaments. He was only 15 years old when he won a match there in 1987, and his 43-16 career mark is second only to his record in Cincinnati. Chang hasn’t made it past the second round in the last five US Opens. “It’s a little bittersweet, but I’m excited about playing the Open,” Chang said. “I started my career there as an amateur in 1987. It’s a pretty fitting place to finish up.”
— AP |
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Chinese football fans go on the rampage
Shanghai, August 12 Following Shanghai Shenhua’s 1-2 loss to Jianli Bao of Shenzhen on Saturday, hundreds of fans attacked the visiting team’s bus, smashing windows with rocks and the trunks of uprooted trees, the Oriental Morning Post said. “All the windows on the bus were broken,” Mr Zhang Jian, general manager of Shenzhen told AFP. “A couple of fans also boarded the bus, kicking players before police grabbed them and dragged them away.” “Some of the players suffered very minor injuries from those kicks before moving to the back of the bus,” he said. An official from the Shanghai Football Association denied that fans had become violent or abusive. “Media reports were exaggerated,” an official surnnamed Wu said. “After the match Shanghai fans got a little over excited because their team lost.” According to the newspaper, the fans yelled “black referee”, a term used to describe corrupt referees in China, tore down a fence and placed it in front of the Shenzhen bus to prevent it from leaving. “The fans didn’t allow the Shenzhen team bus to leave,” acknowledged Mr Wu. The police made several arrests and dispersed the crowd 30 minutes later. The police were not immediately available for comment today. Mr Zhang said that Chinese football’s governing body, the China Football Association, had already promised to deal with the problem and that security at matches would be tightened. “We feel it was a basic problem of security,” Mr Zhang said. — AFP
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Alok, Merchant move into semis
New Delhi, August 12 In group ‘A’ match Alok Kumar defeated Dharminder Lilly 4-2 while in group ‘B’ Yasin Merchant overpowered Manan Chandra 4-3. Both Pankaj Advani and Alok Kumar have won two matches each in the four player group and will clash with each other tomorrow to decide the first/second placing. In four player group ‘B’ Manan Chandra finished his league fixtures with two wins and a defeat while Yasin has won both his matches and will play last league match tomorrow. Alok, who beat Rafat Habib yesterday had to fight hard to put it across Dharminder Lilly 53-72, 56-9, 23-53, 54-44, 64-20, 60-21. Yasin Merchant overcame a stiff challenge from Manan Chandra to win 48-83, 66-19, 54-64, 65-4, 34-70, 104-14, 67-14. Later Manan Chandra beat Varun Taneja 4-2 for his second win to make it to the last four. Chandra emerged winner by 83-8, 79-25, 97-17, 35-62, 33-52, 79-9. In an inconsequential match, Varun Taneja beat Siddharth Parikh 4-2 to end the league with a single win. Parikh lost all his three ties. Taneja won 29-68, 10-67, 75-35, 87-16, 69-23, 78-08. Merchant had beaten Varun Chandra in the opener and will now play Siddharth Parikh. Manan Chandra has beaten Siddharth Chandra and Varun Chandra. The winner and the runners-up in this tournament will represent the country in the World Cup to be played in China in October. Results: Group A: Alok Kumar b Dharminder Lily 4-2 (53-72 56-9 23-53 54-44 64-20 60-21) Group B: Yasin Merchant b Manan Chandra 4-3 (48-83 66-29 54-64 65-4 34-70 104-14 67-16); Varun Taneja b Siddharth Parikh 4-2 (29-68 10-67 74-25 87-16 69-23 78-8) but lost to Manan Chandra (8-83 25-79 15-92 62-35 52-33 9-79). — UNI, PTI
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ITF lifetime award for Mukherjea
Kolkata, August 12 He would be felicitated by the world tennis governing body at its annual general meeting at Rio de Janeiro this September. The award will be handed over by the Davis Cup Committee of the ITF. Confirming this here today, AITA vice-president Manik Goswami told UNI, “I have come to know that for his tremendous achievement in the Davis Cup he is going to be given the lifetime award by the ITF. Jaidip is going to receive a citation and a certificate from the ITF.” “Jaidip deserves this recognition as he has been phenomenal in India’s Davis Cup success,” he said, adding he has played the highest number of Davis Cup matches followed by Leander Paes now and then Ramanathan Krishnan. “I guess perhaps his greatest achievement was defeating Australian doubles pair of Tony Ross and Newcombe partnering with Ramanathan Krishnan in the final doubles match after India lost all the singles ties in the 1969 Davis Cup tie,” he said. Mukherjea is one of the top eight Davis Cuppers in the world and with 84 triumphs in singles matches he is way ahead of other Indian tennis players. — UNI
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Sudhir Mohan Director Sports Chandigarh, August 12 Describing doping as the biggest curse in modern-day sport, Mr Mohan said that sports officers and coaches would be instructed to keep players away from the performance-enhancing drugs. Besides, a campaign would be launched against the menace of doping by educating sportspersons and coaches about the ill effects of dope. Mr Sudhir Mohan, a senior IPS officer of the Haryana police, revealed that he would ensure the implementation of the scheme regarding setting up of sports stadiums at each block in the state to ensure mass involvement of people in sports. Mr Mohan, who has been an outstanding athlete, stated that sports nurseries and wings were important component of the state sports policy. Special stress would be laid on implementing the scheme most effectively by reviewing their progress periodically. Sports training at the grassroots level had suffered due to poor quality as well as high cost of sports equipment. Making available quality equipment at cheaper rates would also be his area of concern so that budding sportspersons do not suffer, he said. About his plan to tap young talent, he revealed that better coordination would be ensured with the Education Department and universities. The Education Department would be requested to organise training camps where coaches of the Haryana Sports Department would be deputed to impart training to youngsters. |
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Simarjeet
shoots six under 66 to emerge leader Bangalore, August 12 Vikram Rana (Army Golf Club) shot a five under 67 along with Manav Das (Kharga Golf Club) who came back from a three stroke penalty in the 18th hole yesterday to keep his hopes alive in the tournament. The young Jaskirat Singh Dullet (Black Elephant Golf Club, Patiala) had a three under 69 and played a very steady game to come to the third spot. The “unpredictable” Gagan Varma (Delhi Golf Club) played to level par today after struggling in the front nine.
— PTI |
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Judokas
return with medals from Vietnam Patiala, August 12 Bittu of the centre won a gold medal in the 78 kg weight category for women while Arvind Kumar and Ram Asrey won silver medals in the 60 kg and 66 kg categories, respectively, for men. An SAI coach, Jiwan Sharma, who is from the centre, accompanied the Indian team as coach. Elected: Mr Sunil Kumar was elected as the president of the Patiala District Body Building Association at a meeting held here on Tuesday. Other office-bearers are: senior vice-president — Mr Gopal Kaushal; honorary secretary — Mr Ram Nath; joint secretaries — Pankaj Sharma and Bhupinder Singh; treasurer — Narinder Kumar, and vice-presidents — Satish Kumar, Mohan Singh, Bhagwat Singh, J.S. Mann, Kala ram, Ashok Kumar and Sham Lal. Chandigarh AITA Junior Tour Championship: The following matches were played on Tuesday in the qualifying round of the AITA Junior Tour Championship in Chandigarh. Boys under-14 (final round): Shikar Kapoor (Delhi) b Mandeep Gill (Chd) 6-3, 6-2; Varun Gunaseelan (TN) b Abhiaj Singh (Chd) 6-1, 6-1; Mandeep Yadav (Chd) b Anmol Ladhar (Chd) 6-2, 6-2; Vikrant Sobti (Chd) b Saneesh Mani (UP) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5; Navdeep Singh Uppal (Chd) b Amrinder Singh (Chd) 6-2, 6-0; Yuvresh Bansal (Chd) b Nishant Kumar (Chd) 6-0, 6-1; Amit Chauhan (Chd) b Chetanya Verma (Chd) 7-6 (5), 6-2; Sidharth Singh Baidwan (Chd) b Inderjot Singh (Pb) 6-2, 6-4. On Wednesday, first round matches of the boys under-14 singles will begin at 8 am while matches in the girls under 14 (first round) will commence at 10 am. Cricket meet postponed: The Inter-school cricket tournament for the Shivalik Trophy to be organised by U.T. Cricket Association, Chandigarh, from August 16 has been postponed due to the relaying of pitches in the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, Chandigarh. About 24 school teams have confirmed their participation in the tournament. The tournament will now be held in the last week of September or the first week of October. The exact date will be intimated in due course. |
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Chandigarh
girl in next round Chennai, August 12 Isha disposed of Tanya Phuja of Bengal 6-3 6-4, while Karsolia defeated Sanjana Prabhakar of Tamil Nadu 6-4 6-3. Overnight heavy rain, which rendered the courts slushy, delayed commencement of the day’s proceedings and the boys’ matches have been postponed to the morrow. Three players from Karnataka — V Pooja Shree, G K Swetha and Anushree Thamanna — also progressed to the next stage. Other results:
P V Rajarajeswari (TN) b L Kanimozhi (TN) 6-4 4-6 6-3; V Poojashree (Kar) b Parthana Pattabi (TN) 6-1 6-1; G K Swetha (Karna) b Kelsy Sundaram (TN) 6-2 6-0; Anushree Thamanna (Karna) b P Swathi (TN) 6-1 6-3; Shranya Pattabi (TN) b K Sumana (TN) 6-3 7-6 (6).
— PTI |
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Punjab
cops win Chandigarh, August 12 PSEB tried to come back into the game but the Punjab Police defence proved unbeatable. It was in the 38th minute that Punjab Police consolidated the lead through Vijay Pal who capitalised on a pass from
Sangha. |
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Punjab
youth basketball Ludhiana, August 12 Players born on or after January 1, 1987 are eligible to take part. Entries close on August 25. Performance during this championship will be taken into consideration while selecting the Punjab players for the National Youth Basketball Championship to be held from October 14 to 20 at Kangra. |
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Olympics torch NEW DELHI: For the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896, the Games’ torch relay would pass through India before finishing at Athens, Greece in August. The Olympics flame will arrive in Delhi on June 10 and cover a distance of 40 km through the city, a Press note from the Lieutenant-Governor’s secretariat said here on Tuesday.
— PTI |
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Sahil, Navita win Jalandhar, August 12 The pair of Sahil and Kamal thrashed Parminder and Varun 9-15, 15-8, 15-6 to clinch the boys’ doubles under-19 title. Sumit-Navita defeated Navneet and Heena 15-5, 15-5 to take women’s doubles title.
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