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Monday,
August 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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India go down to Pakistan 3-4
Holland retain Champions Trophy title Hameed inspires Pak win |
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England face Herculean task Missing cricket players ‘in touch with middleman’
Neelam storms
into final Capriati ends title drought
Mamta’s parents elated Shooting:
Sidhu,
Randhawa excel BSF defeat PSEB HP eves lose Renu, Pooja declared gymnastics champs
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India go down to Pakistan 3-4 Amstelveen, August 24 India muffed chances galore and paid the ultimate penalty. In a match, where conversion of even a half chance mattered, India missed virtual sitters in both halves, while Pakistan made the most of the chances that came their way. Jugraj Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur scored for India. Sohail Abbas scored a brace while Kashif Jawad and Rehan Butt sounded the board once each for Pakistan. In a repeat of last edition’s match at Cologne, where India led 3-1 before eventually losing by the same margin to their arch-rivals to finish fourth there, India again paid the price of having a mediocre defence and midfield and conceded the winning goal two minutes before the close that left them with no option of a counter-attack. Rehan Butt yet again proved to be the nemesis for India. He had scored the winning goal in Cologne last year, a feat he repeated this afternoon as well. This is the first time India has lost to Pakistan in Amsterdam. In 1982, India had beaten Pakistan to clinch the bronze with present coach Rajinder Singh scoring a hat-trick in the match that remains till now the best Indian showing in this tournament. As expected, both the teams started off under pressure. Pakistan were under pressure because of Friday’s shocking 4-7 defeat to India while the Indians played carefully in the midfield and defence. Rhythm was a problem with both teams but India had the edge as Bimal Lakra in the midfield, Jugraj Singh and Dilip Tirkey were having a good match. Even Viren Rasquinha was throwing himself all over the turf trying to stop the Pakistan forwards. Some of his runs upfront were also very impressive. Pakistan earned their first penalty corner in the 13th minute but Sohail Abbass was off target. Gagan Ajit Singh came midway into the first half and the attack suddenly had that extra bite. It was only because of some superb goalkeeping by Ahmed Alam that Gagan was prevented from scoring after picking up two consecutive rebounds of Alam’s pads. In the 25th minute, Jugraj started off a move that saw the ball move to Gagan and then Prabhjot was stopped in the circle with India being awarded a stroke by umpire Saladino Edmundo of Argentina. Jugraj beat Ahmed Alam by flicking high to give India the lead 1-0. Two minutes later, India would have increased the lead but a move started by Viren to Dhanraj and then Gagan was saved brilliantly by Ahmed Alam. Pakistan equalised in the 31st minute when Sohail Abbass flicked in superbly to beat Devesh Chauhan. But right on the clock with around seconds left for the break, India took the lead. Dhanraj raced into the centre, gave the ball to Deepak Thakur who flicked into the circle for Gagan Ajit who saw his shot rebounding off Alam’s pads but just as the umpire was turning to point for a penalty corner the ball rolled and Prabhjot lunged to tap the ball in past Alam. At the break, India led 2-1. Pakistan hit back with the equaliser in the 41st minute. Sohail Abbass saw his flick off Pakistan’s third penalty corner hit the cross-bar but the rebound was picked up by Kashif Jawad who shot in past Devesh Chauhan. Pakistan then had a period of five minutes where they exterted pressure and earned three penalty corners but India stood firm. It was another brilliant move that saw India regain the lead in the 48th minute. Bimal Lakra picked up the ball in the midfield and threw it up for Baljit Dhillon who sped into the circle and with a reverse-stick shot towards goal where Deepak Thakur was on the line to superbly deflect it into goal. Desperate for the equaliser, Pakistan again attacked and earned their seventh penalty corner but Dilip Tirkey was there to deflect it away. India had three sharp chances but couldn’t convert. Finally, Pakistan earned their eighth penalty corner and this time Sohail Abbas was on target as his low flick beat Devesh Chauhan who was expecting a rising ball. At three all, it was anybody’s game now. Prabhjot had the best chance of the game when he only had Alam to beat but his shot hit the post and came back but Prabhjot’s second shot also sailed over the cross-piece. But with just two minutes to go, Pakistan found the space and Rehan Butt who had given victory to Pakistan in the last Champions Trophy found the ball in the circle and drew Devesh out to flick the ball into the goal. Pakistan had the lead with just over a minute left. Salim Khalid earned a yellow as tackles became rougher and Pakistan with 10 men held together a last Indian charge. But Pakistan rallied and held for an important victory, for revenge and most importantly for the bronze medal, their second consecutive in the Champions Trophy.
— UNI |
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Team committed harakiri: coach Amstelveen, August 24 “The statistics say that we missed eight chances, and at this level, these are far too many,” a grim looking Rajinder Singh said after India’s hopes of even finishing with a bronze in the event were dashed by their arch-rivals. “This (missed chances) is something we need to work on urgently as we prepare for the 2004 Olympics,” the coach said. The coach also held the inexperience of the four-man half-line as one of the reasons for the setback. Today’s defeat was a repeat of the Cologne Champions Trophy last year when Pakistan lost to India in the league, but bounced back to avenge the defeat in the play-off match for 3-4 positions. “We need to improve on our midfield play and also finishing ability,” said Rajinder, while also pointing out that the absence of two key midfielders Baljit Singh Saini (fractured nose) and Dilip Tirkey (knee injury), also considerably weakened the half-line. The fact that India could not force even a single penalty corner during the 70 minutes of play was a cause for concern, the coach said. “I thought that the Pakistani defenders played well, but again, it was a reflection of the inability of our forwards to make use of the chances inside the circle,” he said. An elated Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman said his players had become “too emotional” in the league match when they lost to India but today the boys did not lose their focus. “We learnt from our mistakes on Friday when we became too emotional and lost focus. But today, our players were calm and focused. I am especially happy with our deep defence which did not concede a single penalty corner,” the coach said. Defending his decision to continue with goalkeeper Ahmed Alam who let in seven goals on Friday, Zaman said: “He is also human and is prone to make errors. But today, our deep defenders played well and lessened the pressure on him.” The coach admitted that there was a severe backlash at home after their heavy defeat to India. “Today’s win should make our fans happy. In fact, last year, at Cologne, we lost in the league, but won the bronze medal when we played India again. So, I told this to my boys before today’s game and I am extremely happy that we came through.” Rajinder Singh said the team would now try to put behind its Champions Trophy disappointment and look ahead at the Olympics. And the coach felt that the boys could take heart from some positives. “Our goalkeeping has certainly improved with Devesh Chauhan playing extremely well. “But then, we need to work on our man-to-man marking. Our target is the Olympics next year and we are trying to develop a team for Athens. Before that we have the Asia Cup next month and the qualifying tournament at Madrid next year. So, we are now in the process of developing the team.”
— PTI |
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Indian colts win
hockey title New Delhi, August 24 The u-21 team, which needed just a draw in their last league fixture, rode on a brilliant performance by Sandeep Kumar to take the title with a clean sweep, Secretary-General of Indian Hockey Federation K Jothikumaran told PTI from
Amstleveen, Holland. Kumar sounded the board four times after Prabodh Tirkey opened the account. India won all its league fixture in impressive style to top the table recording maximum points
posible. In earlier matches, Indian colts had defeated Malaysia 3-0, Germany 3-0, Poland 9-1 and France 10-1.It is great news for Indian hockey on a day when we lost to Pakistan here in the Champions Trophy,” Jyothikumaran said, after the senior team lost 3-4 to its neighbours for the 3-4 place play-off.
— PTI |
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Holland retain Champions Trophy title Amstelveen, August 24 It was the seventh Champions Trophy success for the Dutch and deservingly so for having played consistently well through out the week-long tournament, especially after escaping a certain defeat against India in their opening match when they came back from 0-3 to 4-3 in the last seven minutes. For the Aussies, who had lost 3-5 to the Dutch in the league, a second place finish was some consolation for their lacklustre show at the Cologne edition last year where they had finished a poor fifth. Matthijs Brouwer (20th), Ronald Brouwer (29th), Teun de Nooijer (62nd) and Karel Klaver (66th) ensured a Dutch triumph, while Craig Victory (29th) and Troy Elder (60th) kept the Aussies in the hunt. The teams sizzled with pace and power in the first-half that had plenty of goalmouth action to keep the 8,000 capacity crowd on the edge of their seats. Both the sides opted for an open play that facilitated flowing attacks and counters. The Dutch looked distinctly the better organised with Teun de Nooijer, as always, prompting the home team attacks with some shrewd scheming. The home team though enjoyed a slight edge, they had to keep a sharp eye on the Aussies who were quick to pounce on the smallest of openings. The Australians had to contend with tight marking and a solid deep defence which gave little away. Thus, they were required to work hard as the Dutch seemed to read their setplays. So much so that the first-half witnessed quality tactical play with each team trying to outwit the other. The Dutch seized the initiative when skipper Jeroen Delmee found Mattijs Brouwer deep in the Aussie circle. Brouwer cleverly flick the ball in, triggering massive celebrations in the stands. Just before half-time, the pace was stepped up, and two goals materialised in the same minute. First, Victory scored off a rebound from a penalty corner, and the Dutch swiftly retaliated through Ronald Brouwer who was set up by de Nooijer at the top of the circle. The Aussies pressed hard in the second-half, forcing several penalty corners, but success eluded them, until Elder flicked home from a penalty corner to put Australia back in the game at 2-2. However, the genius of de Nooijer came into play as the Dutch forward went in on a solo run, along the goal-line and flicked past the goalkeeper from a near-impossible angle for what could be rated as one of the best goals of the tournament. As if to make sure of the success, de Nooijer put through Klaver, who capped a superlative run with a delightful flick past the goalkeeper to give the Dutch a virtually unbeatable lead. Final positions of teams: 1 Netherlands, 2 Australia, 3 Pakistan, 4 India, 5 Argentina, 6 Germany.
— PTI
Amstelveen, August 24 The Pan-American champions, who have already qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympics, were held to a nil all scoreline by a second string German side till the breather. The second half saw some action early on with Argentine Mario Almada sounding the board in the 37th minute to put his team into the lead. Matais Vila then converted from a penalty corner in the 61st minute to make it 2-0. Benjamin Kopp pulled one back for Germany in the 64th minute to make the final scoreline 2-1. Germany, who reserved their best team for the continental championship next month, may face sanctions from the International Hockey Federation for sending a second string development
squad to the tournament. Germany lost all of their six games here. — UNI |
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Aussie eves pull off revenge win Amsterdam, August 24 |
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Hameed inspires Pak win
Karachi, August 24 The 25-year-old from Peshawar became only the second batsman in Test cricket’s 128-year history to hit two hundreds in his first Test, following West Indian Lawrence Rowe’s 214 and 100 not out against New Zealand at Kingston in 1971-72. Hameed, who reached 170 in the first innings, batted imperiously to lead Pakistan’s successful chase of a 217-run target and inflict yet another defeat on Bangladesh. With the win, Pakistan also celebrated international cricket’s return to the country where foreign teams’ refusal to play over security fears caused a 15-month cricket drought. After steering left-armer Mohammad Rafique for two runs, Hameed became the fourth Pakistani to score a century in each innings of a Test match — the 53rd time the feat has been achieved in all Test cricket. But the promising one-drop batsman missed an armer from Rafique in the next over and was bowled for 105 after 229 minutes at the crease after consuming 161 balls with 15 boundaries, leaving Pakistan needing another 47 runs to carry the day. Inzamam-ul Haq, unbeaten on 35, and Yousuf Youhana, 15 not out, ran an over throw on the last ball before lunch for the winning run to leave Bangladesh, Test cricket’s latest entrants, with their 21st defeat in 22 Tests since they gained Test status three years ago. Bangladesh 1st innings: 288 Pakistan 1st innings: 346 Bangladesh 2nd innings: 274 Pakistan 2nd innings: Hafeez b Rafique 50 Umer c Saleh b Baisya 4 Hameed b Rafique 105 Haq not out 35 Younana not out 15 Extras:
(lb-7, w-1) 8 Total: (3 wkts, 70 overs) 217 FoW:
1-10, 2-144, 3-170 Bowling: Mashrafe 18-4-62-0, Baisya 11-1-34-1, Mahmud 6-3-8-0, Rafique 26-6-61-2, Kapali 2-0-10-0, Saleh 2-0-12-0, Sanwar 5-1-23-0.
— AFP |
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England face
Herculean task
Leeds, England, August 24 The fourth morning was hard enough for England to stomach as Andrew Hall, a useful all rounder batting at nine, clattered 99 not out off 87 balls with no regard for the track’s uneven bounce and sideways movement. The match had looked interestingly poised at the start but South Africa’s second innings of 365 appeared to make a South African win, and a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, inevitable. The writing was already on the wall by lunch, the morning session producing 129 runs, 23 boundaries and a run rate of five an over. Worse was to come, though, as Herschelle Gibbs pulled off an extraordinary catch to dismiss Marcus Trescothick cheaply as England replied. Scoreboard South Africa (Ist innings): 342 England (Ist innings): 307 South Africa (IInd innings): Smith lbw b Bicknell 14 Gibbs lbw b Kirtley 2 Kirsten lbw b Ali 60 Kallis c Stewart b Kirtley 41 McKenzie c Bicknell b Flintoff 38 Rudolph c Smith b Anderson 10 Boucher c Stewart b Flintoff 39 Hall not out 99 Zondeki b Bicknell 7 Ntini lbw b Ali 8 Pretorius b Kirtley 8 Extras: (b-7 lb-24 nb-8) 39 Total: (all out, 100.5 overs) 365 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-31, 3-128, 4-139, 5-160, 6-219, 7-232, 8-281, 9-311. Bowling: Kirtley 21.5-7-71-3, Bicknell 22-3-75-2, Flintoff 22-5-63-2, Anderson 16-4-56-1, Kabir Ali 14-2-56-2, Vaughan 5-1-13-0. England (IInd innings): Trescothick c Gibbs b Ntini 4 Vaughan not out 20 Butcher not out 7 Extras: (lb-5 w-1 nb-2) 8 Total: (1 wicket, 12 overs) 39 Fall of wicket: 1-11 Bowling: Ntini 6-2-21-1, Hall 6-0-13-0 — Reuters |
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Missing cricket players ‘in touch with middleman’ Jalandhar, August 24 Ironically, the financial position of all the five families is not so healthy that they can spare a huge amount of Rs 2 lakh each just to fulfil the desires of their wards to play cricket in England as most of them had reportedly borrowed money to ensure a seat for their kin in the cricket contingent. “The Evening Standard” reported on Wednesday that British Police believed the players might have been in contact with a “middleman” in England, who enabled them the sneak out of their rented accommodation. According to independent immigration consultants here, it was assured to the players that after paying the requisite amount, they would get six months British visa and then the team would fly to England, complete their scheduled tour and fly back home as a group. Contrarily, the British Embassy here granted 21-day visa to the club members, which probably forced the five women to take drastic step of disappearing in London as a part of pre-arranged affair with their relatives living there,” an immigration consultant maintained. Meanwhile, the silence on the part of the family members over sudden disappearance of their wards has raised many an eye-brows. They did not disclose the exact place, where the women were putting up in England to the authorities concerned though they were in constant touch with them over phone. On the other hand, the police authorities have started investigating the role of family members. “We came to know that it was a pre-planned move on the part of the players with their families to go missing there in London as families here had already sounded their relatives to make necessary arrangements for the same,” a senior police official revealed. |
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A pre-planned act, says club organiser Jalandhar, August 24 Talking to The Tribune over phone from London, Mr Sharma revealed, “I informed the British police after nine hours of incident on August 12 even as the police waited for whole day presuming that girls might have gone to some adventure and will return soon before demanding the photographs of the absconding girls for publication in local media here.” He termed the report published in a section of media in India about his arrest by the British police as baseless and claimed that the police had instead appreciated his role for co-operating in the ongoing investigation and it was he, who informed the police about sudden disappearnce immediately. He revealed that two of the missing girls, Rajwant Kaur and Parvesh Rani, had agreed, after long pursuation, this afternoon to come to the team within two or three days. “On the other hand, Ekta and Baljeet Kaur, contacted me through their solicitor, Jaspal Singh Sandhu of South Hall, who offered me 1500 pounds each in lieu of their passport, which I had already submitted to the British police,” he said. Mr Sharma said some of the team members had seen the girls going away along with two Indian looking men in a car and even father of Rajwant Kaur has already admitted in front of camera of a private TV channel that girls had plan to flee away after reaching London. Regarding the allegations of family members here in India that he had taken Rs 2 lakh each from the girls for their tour and even promised a multiple visa of six months, Sharma said that he had taken only Rs 90,000 each for 21 days tour of London. “The parents had submitted affidavits declaring that their wards would come back or face legal action according to law of the land,” he added. Minakshi, member of Lynex Cricket Club, who collected passports of the team members said “As soon as, we came out of immigration office at London, I was told by Ravi Sharma to collect passports of all the members and when I was doing the same, these five girls resisted the move and later acceded to hand over travel documents a bit reluctantly.” Sonia
Handa, a member of the sports club, said that the activities of the five girls, who fled away, were suspicious from the very beginning of tour. Terming the allegations made by the parents of absconding girls as ‘false’ she claimed that the girls acted as per their pre-plan and ruled out that Sharma had even asked for money from any of the team member. On the allegations that the girls had fight with
Rashmi, daughter of Ravi Sharma over some issue, Minakshi said “We reached London on August 9 and played matches on 10th and 11th at a venue, which was at the distance of three hours journey. We hardly got time even to talk to each other during these two days and on the subsequent day the girls fled away”. |
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Neelam
storms into final New Delhi, August 24 Neelam achieved the feat in the Worlds at Paris when the 32-year-old Indian’s third and last throw of 60.33m, her best this season, surpassed the automatic qualifying mark of 60m and earned her a spot in tomorrow’s final. Neelam, competing in Group B, began with a throw of 57.70m and came very close to the qualification mark with her second effort which measured 59.48m, according to information received here. Neelam was placed 11th among the 12 finalists which was headed by Russian world champion Natalya Sadova who cleared a distance of 63.47m. Neelam’s effort surpassed the feats of P T Usha (400m hurdles) and K M Beenamol (400m), who had reached the semifinals of the World Athletic Championships.
— PTI |
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Mikhnevich wins shot put gold
Paris, August 24 Mikhnevich, who began competing again on August 4 after a positive test for hormones, chalked up a personal best of 21.69 metres on his second attempt on Saturday. Adam Nelson of the USA was second with 21.26 to add to the silver he won two years ago in Edmonton, while Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine was third with 21.10. Mikhnevich had five puts over 21 metres. His other attempt was a foul. Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere produced an astonishing run to clock the third-fastest women’s 10,000 metres ever and win the first track gold at the world athletics championships today. The 2001 world silver medallist clocked an unofficial 30 minutes 04.18 seconds, a time bettered only by China’s Wang Junxia, the world record holder, and Briton Paula Radcliffe. Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia was second in 30:07.15 and Yingjie Sun of China finished third in 30:07.20. Defending champion Derartu Tulu, also of Ethiopia, became detached from the leading group just after halfway before dropping out shortly after. Russia’s Yelena Nikolayeva set a championship best time as she comfortably won the women’s 20 km walk world title today. The smiling 37-year-old entered the Stade de France to an appreciative roar from the crowd and punched the air in triumph as she approached the finish. Nikolayeva, a world 10 km bronze medallist in 1995, finished in one hour 26 minutes and 52 seconds, the second fastest time this year. Ireland’s Gillian O’Sullivan took the silver medal as she finished 42 seconds behind the Russian, while Valentina Tsybulskaya of Belarus won the bronze in 1:28.10. Carolina Kluft survived a scare in the world championships’ heptathlon today to remain firmly on course for the gold medal. The 20-year-old Swede fouled at her first two attempts in the long jump before leaping 6.68 metres at her last try to consolidate her lead. The European champion, who had set four personal bests yesterday, missed a fifth but still jumped further than the rest of the field. ‘’The wind was a bit strange, the track very fast and that made it difficult,’’ she said. ‘’I was quite calm actually. There was only one way I could go and that was to get a jump in.’’ With two events remaining, the javelin and the 800 metres, the European champion topped the table with 5,209 points, 217 more than second-placed Frenchwoman Eunice Barber. Barber, the 1999 world champion and a long jump expert, managed the second best jump of 6.61 metres. Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas and American Kelli White both broke 11 seconds to win their heats in the second round of the women’s 100 metres at the world championships today. White looked impressive as she raced to an easy victory in 10.96 seconds, having seen Sturrup, the fastest woman this year, record 10.98 in an earlier heat.
— Reuters |
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Capriati ends title drought
New Haven, August 24 The third-seeded Capriati was leading 6-2, 4-0 when Davenport, who was limping, ended the match. Seeded No 1, Davenport has been bothered by a painful nerve problem in her left foot, a condition called Morton’s Neuroma. “It’s been bothering me all week,” she said. “But today even when I woke up, it was just a little bit more sore. While I was getting it taped before the match, the symptoms were coming on just while (the trainer) was taping. Just walking around, it was more sore.
— AFP  |
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AICS move to reward former sportspersons New Delhi, August 24 When the Arjuna Award was instituted in 1961, it carried a modest cash prize of Rs 5,000. Over the years, the prize money went up by manifold, and now, an Arjuna Award winner takes home a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. There are a large number of sportspersons still around who have won medals in the Asian Games, Commonweath Games and the World Championships but whose achievements have gone unrewarded as those were the days when playing for the country was considered a very big honour but there was no cash incentives. Many of them now lead indigent lives, having fallen on bad days, but there is no scheme to reward them. The AICS wants to rectify this anomaly as its president Vijay Kumar Malhotra believes that “it’s better late than never”, never mind it may be a few years too late. Prof. Malhotra has had detailed discussions with the Union Finance Minister and the Railway Minister to formulate a scheme for rewarding these “golden oldies” of yesteryears who received no cash awards, nor any concessional Railway passes, when they brought laurels to the country. The Ministers are learnt to have warmed up to the proposal and have agreed to consider it “sympathetically”. With considerable hike in the prize money, there is a mad rush to win the Arjuna, Khel Ratna and Dronacharya awards, and there has been severe criticism of the selection methods adopted in picking the awardees. Prof Malhotra said the AICS was also seized of the matter and was in the process of drawing up a fool-proof method of picking the awardees to ensure that the selection is made on merit, and by strictly following the guidelines. Meanwhile, the stage is set for the one-day All India Sports Congress, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on August 26 at 11 am. The Prime Minister is expected to make some far reaching announcements for “resource mobilisation, broad basing of sports and creating infrastructure at the grass-root level.” The Sports Congress, to be attended by over 500 delegates from all over the country, including Chief Ministers, sports ministers of various states, Arjuna and Dronacharya awardees, will deliberate on the “implementation of the National Sports Policy, resource generation for promotion of sports and excellence in national and international championships and implementation of the Prime Minister’s 10-point suggestion for development of sports in the country”. A sports congress of this magnitude is being held in the country for the first time in 40 years. And the congregation of those with a ringside view of Indian sports is expected to throw lights into the many problem areas and suggest remedies to solve them. A major complaint about the present sports structure is that it’s not sports person-friendly as the existing setup only help line the pockets of a few select sports officials, who control the reigns. Though the Union Cabinet has cleared the inaugural Afro-Asian Games, to be held in Hyderabad from October 24 to November 1 this year, some contentious issues have not yet been sorted out. The Cabinet has approved a budget of Rs 103 crores, but no provision has been made to underwrite the travel expenses of the foreign athletes which is expected to touch a staggering figure of Rs 19 crore. The games were allotted to India when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) made a firm commitment of footing the travel expenses of the foreign athletes from Asia and Africa. The Andra Pradesh Government had initially sought Rs 136 crores to host the games, which has be whittled down to Rs 103 crores by the Union Cabinet. Rs 55 crore will be sanctioned as part of the budgetary allocation and Rs 8 crore will be sanctioned by the Sports Ministry. The remaining Rs 40 crore will have to be raised by hosts Andhra Pradesh and the IOA. The IOA is expected to contribute Rs 10 crore from sponsorship arrangements while Andhra will have to raise Rs 30 crore. Now the million dollar question is who will foot the travel bills of the foreign participants? No answer yet. Meanwhile, Prof Malhotra wished the speedy recovery of tennis ace Leander Paes, who is under medical observation in the USA for a suspected “brain lesion”. He hoped that Leander would recover from his illness quickly to shoulder India’s forthcoming Davis Cup campaign. |
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Mamta’s parents elated Rohtak, August 24 The ‘golden girl’ of Indian hockey had netted the match-winner in the semifinal against New Zealand and had scored the golden goal in the final against England on August 13 last year. Mamta’s mother Kamla, Devi and father master Haripal told `The Tribune’ that they came to know about the award from a TV channel and immediately conveyed it to Mamta who is at Patiala attending a fitness camp following a surgery. The proud parents said that it was the most joyful moment of their life as Mamta by that time had not come to know about it. As the news spread, people gathered at the residence of Haripal who is a primary school teacher with the Haryana Government. On being asked about the atmosphere prevailing at their house, Haripal said
— badhiya mahool se, apne chahne wale aur bhai chare wale badhayeean devan laagre sain
(There is a good atmosphere and messages of congratulations are pouring in from the well wishers). Mamta’s mother Kamla however, conceded that none from the government, including district administration, has so far lauded Mamta’s glittering achievement. Mamta, who will turn 21 this year, represents Indian Railways in the national championship. Born at Giwan village in Sonepat district, Mamta learnt the basics of the game at Rohtak. Her two other sisters — Sushma and Poonam — have also played hockey at the national level. Sushma also represents Railways. According to the family sources, Mamta picked up the game at an early age. She had helped Indian juniors to clinch the title in the four-nation tourney in the USA in 1998. She was declared the best player in the junior World Cup hockey tournament where India won the bronze. She also played a key role in India’s victory in Test series against New Zealand and Australia. The family is now eagerly awaiting her arrival at home on August 27 before she will proceed to Delhi for getting the coveted award. |
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Shooting: Sidhu, Randhawa excel Chennai, August 24 Patnaik, who leads in the women’s and junior events of 10m rifle, had a 380 in the senior women. She scored a 383 in the junior category, to be on top. In the trap final, the first in the championship, Tamil Nadu’s N. Bakthavatchalam (37/50) and R Ravikrishnan (35/50) won the gold and silver medals respectively. G S Singh of Uttar Pradesh took the bronze with 34 points. Randhawa, representing Chandigarh, finished sixth with 28 points. “Shooting is akin to golf, where you need to relax mentally. I am greatly relieved that I was among the top 10 as a debutant. With a little more training, I am confident I can be bracketed for medals,” Randhawa said on his performance. He said he had taken lessons from internationals Zorawar and Mansher Singh only on three occasions in the last six months.
— PTI |
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BSF defeat PSEB Chandigarh, August 24 After PSEB took the lead through Sukhbir Singh, BSF managed to restore parity in the 77th minute through a spot kick converted by Raghubir Singh. In the 80th minute Gurjit Atwal of BSF found the match winner with a powerful shot making it 2-1. Tomorrow JCT will meet RCF at Kapurthala at 4.30 p.m. |
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HP eves lose Lucknow, August 24 The Railways team, which led 6-0 at half time, dominated the proceedings from the word go and sounded the board at regular intervals. Gurpreet Kaur also scored two goals for the winners. In another high scoring match, Orissa defeated Bundelkhand 24-0 in a one sided affair in which Bahamani scored a double hat-trick while her team mate Basanti scored four goals. Aided by a hat-trick by Sangeeta, Delhi outclassed Bihar 5-0 while Manipur beat Andhra Pradesh 6-1 to move up in their respective pools. In other matches Air India defeated Himachal Pradesh 6-0 while Combined Universities team defeated Tamil Nadu 4-0.
— PTI |
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Renu, Pooja declared gymnastics champs
Ambala, August 24 The senior girls team championship was won by Ambala. While Rohtak team stood second and Rai team was third. Renu of Bhiwani was declared the all-round champion while Rekha of Ambala was second and Jyoti of Ambala was in third spot. In apparatus championship, floor exercise, Renu of Bhiwani was first, Rekha of Ambala was second while Amrita of Ambala was third. In beam, Renu of Bhiwani was first, Jyoti of Ambala was second while Renu of Ambala was third. In uneven bars, Renu of Bhiwani was first, Rekha of Ambala was second while Amrita of Ambala was third. In vault, Rekha of Ambala was first, Renu of Bhiwani was second and Jyoti of Ambala was third. In rhythmic gymnastics (senior) championship, all-round champion was Pooja Chawan of Ambala while Surekha Rana of Ambala was in second position and Lalita of Ambala stood third. In apparatus, rope, Pooja of Ambala was first, Surekha of Ambala stood second while Lalita of Ambala was third. In ribbon, Pooja of Ambala stood first, Lalita of Ambala was second while Apoorva of Ambala was third. In ball, Pooja of Ambala stood first, Surekha of Ambala stood second while Lalita of Ambala was third. In Hoops, Surekha of Ambala stood first, Pooja Rani of Kurukshetra stood second while Kusum of MNSS Rai was in third spot. In aerobics, single and mix, Men singles winner was Gaurav of Ambala followed by Sandeep of Ambala in second spot while Sunil of Rai stood third. The women single winner was Preety of Ambala while Priyanka of Ambala was second and Sapna of Kurukshetra was third. In mix pair, the team of Priyanka and Sandeep was first and the team comprising Preety and Gaurav was second while the team comprising Parvinder and Nishant stood third. The prizes were given by president of the Gymnastics Federation of India, Mr BS Ojha. Mr Ojha suggested that a gymnastics academy could be set up in Ambala as international equipment has been set up here. Among others, the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr D.D. Gautam, the SDM, Mr Narsingh Dhull, Haryana gymnastics association secretary, Mr V.M. Datta, Deputy Director Sports Sunita Sharma and DSO Anita Sehgal were present. Solidarity coursePATIALA: Three Patiala-based fencing technical officials have successfully completed a seven-day long IOC sponsored solidarity course. The officials who underwent the course at the NIS here are Ms Jaskirat Kaur, Ms Charanjit Kaur and Mr Hardip Singh Sodhi. The International Fencing Federation had appointed Mr Giorgio Guerrine to oversee the week-long course which was also supervised among others by Mr Sanjay Pradhan, Fencing Association of India (FAI) referee, and Mr Arun Kumar Vij, chairman of the Technical Commission of the FAI. The diplomas were awarded by Dr B.K Sinha, senior vice-president of the FAI, while Mr G.S Anand, Regional Director of the NIS, was the guest of honour on the occasion. |
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Karachi, August 24
