 |
|
Thursday,
September 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Dent, rain fail to stop Agassi Bashar leads the way for
Bangladesh Sledging fired up India No entertainment tax on Mohali Test |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JCT justify favourites tag, win Punjab league Indian challenge in junior TT ends
Kewal to head
swimming body
|
|
Dent, rain fail to stop Agassi
New York, September 3 Eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi led 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 7-5 when Dent retired here yesterday with a right hamstring injury, ending the match barely five minutes before showers halted play at the year’s final Grand Slam event. “I was surprised how frustrating he was making it for me,” Agassi said. “I was having a hard time being offensive. He’s a guy that can take you out of your rhythm. I was hoping everything would fall my way at the end and it did.” Agassi’s start was delayed seven hours by rain and his match was halted twice but he overcame to book a date against the winner of a rain-halted match between Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Argentina’s fifth-seeded Guillermo Coria. “These conditions affect everybody,” Agassi said. “It’s just a question of trying to get the most out of yourself. A lot of years of experience but it’s still difficult to do.” Twelve matches were scheduled but just six were played and only Agassi’s was completed. Only three matches have been finished in two downpour-dominated days. With men’s and women’s fourth rounds incomplete and rain predicted through Thursday, players were faced with possibly playing twice in a day at flooded Flushing Meadows. “We are confident we will finish all the events on time,” US Open referee Brian Earley said. “Would players play every day as opposed to every other day? The answer is yes. The players understand that. “The rule of thumb is that you don’t play more than one singles match in a day. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t. We’ve played pieces of matches and then gone on to play a second match in a day. “The rule of thumb is one thing. What really happens is another. I don’t really think we can go there yet. Hard for me to imagine that but I have never been in this situation.” Japan’s Ai Sugiyama led Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7/5) 5-4 and Russian seventh seed Anastasia Myskina led France’s Mary Pierce 7-6 (7/2) 2-0 in women’s fourth-round matches that began Monday and might not end today. Thai 11th seed Paradorn Srichaphan led Australian sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt 4-3 in the first set of their fourth-round match, which started late after con1cerns about an oil-slickened spot on the Grandstand court. Coria led Bjorkman 6-2 2-0 and Spanish third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero led Todd Martin 6-2 when rains came, too late to help Dent. The 22-year-old son of former Australian great Phil Dent, a finalist here 30 years ago, settled for his best Slam showing. Dent lost to Agassi in a similar fashion in their first meeting, a Wimbledon first-round match in 2000. Dent, having lost 11 games in a row, retired in the fourth set with a torn right knee tendon. He had Agassi in trouble again here. “I was really giving the number one player in the world all he could handle,” Dent said. “I felt confident. The best returner in the world had a tough time breaking me. I felt I had a really good chance to do some damage.” Dent damaged himself, pulling his hamstring in the fourth game of the second set to weaken his trademark huge serves. He hoped to win the third set and keep pressuring Agassi, but his aching leg would not allow it. “If I could have won that third set I would have stayed out there for a fourth,” Dent said. “But it was getting worse. If I had stayed out there for a fifth set, I would have been kneeling to hit my serve. “It was just killing my serve. I couldn’t get a lift at all. My body wasn’t used to the pounding and it broke down. Losing that set, there was no chance my leg was going to hold up for two more.” It was not the way Agassi, the field’s eldest player at 33, wanted to capture his 200th career Grand Slam triumph. — AFP
|
|
Bashar leads the way for
Bangladesh Multan (Pakistan), September 3 The partnership came to an unlucky end when a drive by Mashud ricocheted off Test debutant Yasir Ali’s foot and struck the stumps at the non-striker’s end leaving Saleh just short of the crease. Bangladesh 1st innings: Hannan c Rashid b Gul 13 Omar c Younis b Gul 38 Bashar c Rashid b Yasir 72 Ashraful lbw Saqlain 12 Saleh run out 49 Kapali b Gul 11 Mashud not out 29 Mahmud not out 1 Extras: (lb-7 b-4 nb-12) 23 Total: (6 wickets, 90 overs) 248 Fall of wickets:
1-28 2-102 3-136 4-166 5-179 6-241 Bowling: Shabbir Ahmed 21-3-55-0, Umar Gul 27-6-71-3, Yasir Ali 14-4-43-1, Saqlain Mushtaq 25-5-61-1, Mohammad Hafeez 3-1-7-0.
— Reuters |
|
Sledging fired up India
Kolkata, September 3 The interesting episode involving Waugh and the Indian cricketers has been revealed by Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly in a yet to be released book “Ground Rules”. The incident occurred during the second cricket Test in Kolkata when India were already 1-0 down in the three-Test series and struggling to stage a comeback. “Sometimes sledging can work against you and, on this occasion, it had the effect of geeing up the Indians,” Ganguly says. Australia, required to make 384 to win after India had scored a huge 657 after being asked to follow on, “got off to a solid start with Michael Slater and (Matthew) Hayden putting on 74 in 23 overs. “But once Slater went, we were in with a chance,” recalls Ganguly. “Just before tea, when they were only three wickets down, I dropped a sharp chance off Steve Waugh at backward short leg. May be if he had said nothing, the game would have drifted to a draw, the result that appeared to be its natural conclusion. “But he (Waugh) could not resist the chirp — ‘You just dropped the Test, mate’”, Ganguly says according to the excerpts from the book in The Telegraph here today. The Indians, Ganguly adds, gave a befitting reply. “Immediately after tea, Harbhajan got Waugh out and Dravid gave him a send-off from slip asking who had given away the Test match now”. — PTI
|
|
|
No entertainment tax on Mohali Test Chandigarh, September 3 Mr Amarinder Singh, who is also chairman of the organising committee for the Test match, earlier visited the ground, the long room as well as the dressing room for players, and evinced keen interest in the sporting facilities available at the PCA. He said better arrangements would be in place for the Test this time. He said sportspersons from Punjab were doing exceedingly well at the national as well as international level mentioning in this regard that so many players from Punjab were part of the national hockey squad. The state government was giving huge financial incentives to the players to do well. The state hockey players who played in the recent Champions Trophy would also be suitably rewarded. He also assured all help to promising hockey player Jugraj Singh, who sustained multiple fractures in a car accident near Jalandhar last night. Mr I.S. Bindra, President of the association, disclosed that two new facilities—a video replay screen and a gymnasium and health club—would be added to the stadium before the beginning of the Test. Video replay screen would be installed in place of the existing electronic scoreboard, while gymnasium and health club will have the facilities comparable with the best in the world. An expenditure of Rs 1 crore would be incurred on setting up the gymnasium and health club. “The existing facilities at the PCA Stadium are already among the best in the world. We want to improve on these further,” Mr Bindra stated.
|
|
Anju No 6 in world rankings
New Delhi, September 3 Anju, who won the bronze with a season best effort of 6.70m behind France’s Eunice Barber and Russia’s Tatyana Kotova, has 1224 points. Kotova, in the meantime, took over the top spot from Brazilian Maureen Higa Maggi, who missed the world meet in Paris, with 1322 points. Maggi is placed second with 1291 points, according to the rankings released by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The upward climb for the 25-year-old Anju from her No. 8 position in the last list a fortnight back also ensured the Asian Games gold medallist an automatic place in the world athletics final in Monaco on September 13 and 14.
|
|
JCT justify favourites tag, win Punjab league Phagwara, September 3 The packed JCT Stadium was witness to an action- packed encounter in which Punjab Police displaying strong motivation provided the
first shock in the fifth minute. International Parveen Kumar, who represented India in the Busan Asian Games and was also a member of the Indian team that won the LG Cup in Vietnam, cut in from the left on receiving a well-measured cross and with a deft placement and beat JCT goalie Arvind Kumar hands down. JCT hit back with intelligent counter attacks mainly orchestrated by international IM Vijayan and Nigerian striker Stephen Abarowei. A power-packed shot from the right by Vijayan in the 13th minute struck the upright. Again a well taken curling right-footer by JCT's Jaswant Singh from the left hit the pole much to the dismay of the home crowd. The equaliser finally came in the 25th minute when Jaswant centred for Stephen Abarowei, who leapt high to head the ball home (1-1). A few minutes before the breather, Punjab Police missed an open chance when Parveen Kumar failed to shoot into an empty goal after Arvind had fumbled in collecting. Two minutes after half time, a powerful grounder by Parveen again hit the upright. JCT brought in international Joe Paul Ancheri soon after to bolster the attack. The move was well timed as JCT's attacks became sharper. A powerful long ranger by JCT's Charanjit Kumar brought out the best in Sunil Kumar under the Punjab Police bar who tipped the ball over for a flag kick. Parveen Kumar's frustration multiplied as he again shot wide despite having an open goal in front. In the end, the day belonged to JCT as a beaming Jaswinder Singh and Joe Paul Ancheri walked up to receive the trophy from the chief guest, Mr Rajmohan Singh, Director Operations, JCT. Stephen Abarowei was declared the league's highest scorer with a tally of six goals. Talking to The Tribune later, JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh said he did not want to put his boys under undue pressure since they were already assured of the title. "I would like to see them peak during the NFL which is hardly three months away," he said. Among those present were Mr JC Sodhi,GM, JCT and senior vice-president of the Punjab Football Association, Mr Shivtar Singh Bajwa, vice-president, and Arjuna awardees Inder Singh, Gurdev Singh, and Ajmer Singh besides internationals Parminder Singh and Deepak Kumar.
|
|
|
Indian challenge in junior TT ends Hyderabad, September 3 Indian boys were humbled by Chinese Taipei in a rather one-sided match with only Saurav Chakraborthy winning the match against Huang Wei Chin while Wu Chih Chi’s lethal serves settled the issue in the reverse singles against Saurav. Chinese Taipei will now clash in the semifinals with champions China who tamed Indonesia 3-0 while Japan and Korea will sort it out in the last four stage. Japan blanked Iran 3-0 while Korea scored an identical win against Hong Kong in the quarterfinals. Indian girls were no match to the high profile Japanese paddlers and surrendered meekly in the quarterfinal. Japan will take on power house China in the semifinals to be played tomorrow while Korea defeated Malaysia 3-0.
— PTI
|
|
Kewal to head
swimming body Chandigarh, September 3 Dhillon said the 15th Chandigarh Open Swimming Championships for men, women, boys and girls would be organised on September 20 and 21 at the Panjab University swimming pool.
— OSR |
|
Una cricket meet from Sept 6 Chandigarh, September 3 The Una district team for the state championship will be selected on the basis of performance of players during the seven-day meet. |
 |
| 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 | |
New York, September 3
Multan (Pakistan), September 3
Video
