 |
|
Saturday,
September 6, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Nalbandian tames Federer Bhupathi-Mirnyi duo moves into quarter-finals
Seles sidelined due to injury
Pollock puts S. Africa on top |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Inzamam to
Pak’s rescue Slots are up for grabs, says skipper Saurav Ganguly
Jugraj responding to treatment
Ghosh, Poonam win sprints Golfers finish seventh Ritwik continues to
dominate
|
|
Nalbandian
tames Federer
New York, September 5 Federer, seeded second here on the back of his grasscourt grand slam triumph, fell once again to Argentine David Nalbandian, this time 3-6 7-6 6-4 6-3 in the fourth round. The stocky 21-year-old from Cordoba has now beaten Federer all five times they have met on the Tour — three times this year and twice in 2002. Thirteenth seed Nalbandian, himself a finalist at Wimbledon last year, was also at a loss to explain his hold over the stylish Swiss player. Clijsters reached her first US Open semi-final with a comprehensive 6-1 6-4 victory over France’s Amelie Mauresmo. The Belgian top seed will face former champion and third seed Lindsay Davenport for a place in Saturday’s final after the American ousted Argentine Paola Suarez 6-4 6-0. “It’s definitely a great feeling,” Clijsters grinned. Her fellow Belgian and second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne was also feeling great having booked her spot in the last four with a 6-2 6-3 win over Anastasia Myskina. Myskina had earlier in the day completed her fourth round victory against Mary Pierce. The Russian seventh seed won that contest, which spanned four days, 7-6 6-1 but was no match for Henin-Hardenne under the floodlights. French Open champion Henin-Hardenne will face Jennifer Capriati in the last four after the American also beat a “second-hand” opponent. Italy’s Francesca Schiavone had also played earlier on yesterday, completing a 6-7 7-5 6-2 win over seed Ai Sugiyama. Like Myskina, Schiavone could not duplicate that form later in the day and sixth seeded Capriati won 6-1 6-3 in straightforward fashion. Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt underlined his revival in form, beating Thai Paradorn Srichaphan 4-6 6-2 6-4 6-2 in a fourth round clash. The 2001 US Open champion has endured a poor grand slam year and this result gave him his best run at a major in 2003. He next meets third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero after the Spaniard beat American Todd Martin 6-2 6-4 3-6 5-7 6-3. Federer, who also lost to Nalbandian in the final of the junior event here in 1998, slowly lost his way on a dank centre court, bowing out in two hours 50 minutes. Nalbandian allowed his opponent to punch himself out before thrashing the heavy tennis balls all over the court to reach his first US Open quarter-final. In the last eight he will face crowd favourite Younes El Aynaoui. The Moroccan, who is developing a cult following in New York, reached his second straight US Open quarter-final by beating former world number one Carlos Moya 7-6 7-6 4-6 6-4. The 31-year-old cradled his racket and rocked it like a baby after striking a winning backhand on match point — a reference to the birth of his third son earlier this month. Guillermo Coria fought off Jonas Bjorkman to win his fourth round match 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-2 and earn a quarter-final against top seed Andre Agassi. America’s other hope for silverware, Andy Roddick, will meet Sjeng Schalken, a 6-1 4-6 6-3 6-4 winner over German Rainer Schuettler. Agassi and Roddick advanced on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Grim conditions had once again greeted players and tennis fans when they arrived at a water-logged National Tennis Center. But the rains finally cleared and gave organisers a glimmer of hope of finishing the tournament this weekend on schedule. Before Federer and Nalbandian took to court, only five singles matches had been completed since Monday because of severe rain delays, forcing officials to seriously consider holding the men’s final early next week. But the action was thick and fast on Thursday evening. Matches were sprawled on to far-flung courts as organisers caught up on the schedule to put a Sunday finish back on track. — Reuters
|
|
Bhupathi-Mirnyi duo moves into quarter-finals
New York, September 5 The Indo-Belarus pair needed exactly 100 minutes to outplay their Argentine opponents to fix a date with sixth seed French pair of Michael Lodra and Fabrice Santora in the last eight. But it was a disappointing day for the Indians in the junior section with only Sania Mirza managing to move into the second round. While Mirza, the Wimbledon junior doubles champion, defeated Lara Giltinan of Australia 6-3 6-2 other Indian girl Tara Iyer was thrashed by top seed Bethanie Mattek of the USA 6-0 6-4. In the boys section, Divij Sharan went down fighting to 16th seed Suk Hyun-joon of South Korea 6-4 4-6 4-6. Mirza now plays 10th seed Emma Laine of Finland. Meanwhile, the organisers yesterday cancelled the entire junior doubles events due to the problems in handling the draws following the disruption due to rains. — PTI
|
|
Seles sidelined due to injury
New York, September 5 Attending the US Open for a sponsor event on Thursday, Seles said she is still unable to run and practise and that her foot needs another two-and-a-half months to heal. “Playing the Australian Open is my goal but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll probably return in Miami (in-mid March),’’ the 29-year-old Seles told tennisreporters.net. The nine-time grand slam champion, who has been out of action since losing in the first round of the French Open in May, added she was not planning to retire. “I don’t want to go out this way,’’ she said. — Reuters
|
|
Pollock
puts S. Africa on top London, September 5 South Africa (Ist innings): overnight 362-4 Smith run out 18 Gibbs b Giles 183 Kirsten lbw b Giles 90 Kallis run out 66 McKenzie c Stewart b Rudolph lbw b Bicknell 0 Boucher c Stewart b Bicknell 8 Pollock not out 66 Hall lbw b flintoff 1 Adams run out 1 Ntini b Anderson 11 Extras:
(b-12, lb-10, w-4, nb-5) 31 Total: all out 128 overs) 484 Fall of wickets:
1-63, 2-290, 3-345, 4-362, 5-365, 6-385, 7-419, 8-421, 9-432. Bowling:
Bicknell 20-3-71-2, Anderson 25-6-86-2 (w-1), Harmison 28-9-73-0 (nb-4), Giles 28-2-102-2, Flintoff 19-4-88-1 (w-2). Vaughan 5-0-24-0 (nb-1), Butcher 3-0-18-0 (w-1) England (1st innings): Trescothick batting 64 Vaughan c Gibbs Butcher lbw b Hall 32 Thorpe batting 28 Extras:
18 Total: (for 2 wkt, 46 overs) 165 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-78. Bowling:
Pollock 12-3-38-1, Ntini 8-0-29-0, Hall 12-5-39-1, Kallis 9-1-35-0, Adams 5-0-18-0.
— AFP
|
|
Inzamam
to
Pak’s rescue Multan, September 5 Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq fought a lone battle in his hometown before bad light stopped the day’s play 8.3 overs before scheduled close. Needing 113 runs to deal Test-match minnows Bangladesh a whitewash in the three-match series, Inzamam ended play with an unbeaten 53, while Saqlain Mushtaq was batting on three. Inzamam brought up his half century off 101 balls when he hit seventh boundary just before the close. Earlier, pacemen Umer Gul (4-58) and Shabbir Ahmad (4-68) captured four wickets each after Bangladesh added another 77 runs to its overnight score of 77 for four before being dismissed for 154 in its second innings after lunch. It gave the visitors an overall lead of 260 runs.
— AP
|
|
Slots are up for grabs, says skipper Saurav Ganguly
Bangalore, September 5 Ganguly’s comments, which comes a day before the training camp for the 36 probables winds up here, are sure to renew hopes of many of the fringe players hoping to break into the Test squad by their performance in the lead-up games. “Slots are up for grabs. No one can take his place for granted,” the Indian skipper told PTI in an exclusive interview here. “Whoever does well is open for selection,” Ganguly said to underline the emphasis on actual performance rather than records on paper. Ganguly, who had earlier hinted that a couple of slots were up for grabs, said the team management had not yet taken a decision on who would don the wicketkeeping gloves during the series. But he did single out young Parthiv Patel and hinted that he might be given the slot. “Parthiv has done well. He has got very good hands behind the wicket. We want him to contribute a little bit more with the bat. He knows that and is working hard. I am sure he will.” The Indian captain, however, evaded a question on whether Rahul Dravid, who has hinted that he wanted to be relieved of the
responsibility, will continue to double up as wicketkeeper in one-dayers. “We have to wait and see. It is a decision to be taken by the selectors and the team management,” he said. The 30-year-old Ganguly said the long break from international cricket will not affect the team’s performance or motivation in the new season ahead. “Definitely we want to do well. We had a long break. We just need to get back into our system and do well. We have been working hard in the camps and are confident of doing well,” said the elegant left-hander. Ganguly said his young team was determined to make amends for its dismal performance when it toured New Zealand late last year. The skipper was not too bothered about reports that the Kiwis were resorting to unconventional methods of training to counter the Indian conditions and break their jinx of not winning a series in India for a long time. “Well I don’t know what kind of preparations they are undergoing. It’s up to them how hard they work and how quickly they adjust to the condition here. We will have to wait and see,” said Ganguly whose team had struggled on green-top wickets in New Zealand. Ganguly also said injured speedster Shane Bond’s absence from the New Zealand squad would not affect India’s chances though it was a blow for the Kiwis. “He is a good bowler. There is no doubt that he is a quality bowler. Obviously New Zealand will miss him. But we have beaten them with Shane Bond in their ranks. So it does not really affect out chances.” Ganguly said the team was just concentrating on the task at hand and not thinking about meeting their World Cup nemesis Australia whom they run into in the triseries and then take them on in a full-fledged series Down Under later this year. “At the moment we are looking forward to the series against New Zealand. That’s coming first and then we will think about Australia.” And Ganguly did not think a tour of Australia was the biggest challenge. “Every tour is a challenge. But obviously the World Cup is the biggest tournament in cricket. It was a huge challenge for me. We did outstandingly well but we were disappointed. We played so well but lost in the final. I would take the positives out if it — we were the second best side in the world — and go ahead with it.” Ganguly conceded that whenever India meet Australia on the cricket field it was as much a
mind game as skills. “Australia are a good side and they are playing well. Cricket is a game of mind and body and application in the middle.” The Indian skipper said he had not set any personal goals as such for the season ahead though he was keen to perform well. “You don’t set personal goals. You want to do well just like any other cricketer and you want the team to do well being the captain... so these are the two goals.” Ganguly refused to be drawn into the debate on sledging, triggered off by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar in his Colin Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s recently. “I just don’t want to comment on that (sledging). It is a part and parcel of modern day cricket. We have got to go ahead with it.” But the Indian skipper has been getting a few lessons on
mind games from none other than the former Australian skipper Greg Chappell. “I spent a couple of hours with him at Sydney. I kept asking him about mindset and
mind games,” the captain said but did not elaborate. Ganguly also brushed aside criticism by Bishen Singh Bedi that he was taking batting tips from Chappell although the team was being coached by John Wright, a specialist left-hand batsman. “I just spent a little bit of time with him (Chappell). When you meet a great player you always talk about the game and you keep on learning like when you meet any other great cricketer.” Having carved a niche for himself both as a captain and a player, is Ganguly giving a thought to retirement? “I am just 30 (laughs). I think I can play for another six to seven years.”
— PTI |
|
Sachin way ahead
in charity also Bangalore, September 5 At a press conference relating to September 12 auction of cricket memorabilia here, a reporter asked a panel of cricketers comprising Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and Tendulkar if they had any plans of making personal contribution besides the items on the auction. This apparently prompted Tendulkar to take the mike. “I will take the opportunity (to answer)”, he said. The prolific batsman said he has been sponsoring 200 students for their schooling, tuition and travelling.
— PTI
|
|
Jugraj responding to treatment
Ludhiana, September 5 “Since it is case of multi trauma, the player’s condition is being constantly monitored. A team of specialist doctors has been set up,” Dr J.L. Bassi, Head of the Orthopaedic Department of the hospital, said. The player was examined by eye specialists today, he said adding that Jugraj was fully conscious. “His medical parameters are perfectly fine. His blood pressure and pulse is normal. Besides he is passing urine normally,” Dr Bassi said. Dr Bassi said visitors entry had been restricted as Jugraj ran the risk of catching infection, the possibility of which is high given the humid weather conditions. The doctor said it would take at least four to six months for Jugraj, who suffered multiple fractures in a car crash at Dakoha in Jalaldhar district on Tuesday, to recover. “But that would also depend on how much physical exercise and physiotherapy the player can take.” Former cricket captain and staunch hockey supporter Bishen Singh Bedi paid a visit to the player last night. — PTI
|
|
|
Ghosh, Poonam win sprints
Jamshedupur, September 5 The 26-year old Sanjay Ghosh, now attached to an army unit in Jabbalpore, clocked 10.50 seconds to push reigning champions Amit Saha of West Bengal to second place. Saha finished the race in 10.54 seconds while Kerala’s Anil Kumar took 10.56 seconds to win the bronze at the JRD Tata Sports complex here. In the women’s 100m, Delhi lass Poonam Tomar retained the yellow metal with a 12 second finish, leaving behind Vinitha Tripathy of UP and Kerala’s Greeshma K. who had to remain satisfied with the silver and bronze medals respectively. While Vinitha finsihed the race in 12.10 seconds, Greesham had a timing of 12.15 seconds. V.S. Surekha of Tamil Nadu not only retained the gold in pole vault, but in the process also improved upon her meet record by lunging a distance of 3.20 metres in women’s pole vault. She had also set the previous record 3.18 m in the last edition of the meet in Bangalore. Deepa Chowdhury of Delhi and UP’s Sahil Tewary both covered three metres but the former was given the silver due to a better progressive score. The much awaited duel of the strong men between Shakti Singh of Haryana and Punjab’S Bahadur Singh in shot put ended in the triumph of the former, who threw the metallic ball to a distance of 18.70 metres to win the gold by a whisker. It was a revenge of sorts for Shakti who had seen Bahadur bag the gold in the Busan Asiad last year, having to remain content with the bronze himself. “This was my maiden meet of the season. So, I was a bit rusty,” a smiling Shakti said after his victory. Bahadur Singh’s throw of 18.69 fell one millimetre short of Shakti’s. Jaivir Singh of Rajasthan got the bronze covering a distance of 18.29 m. The meet, which has already lost much of its sheen due to the absence of a number of stars, including Anju Bobby Gerorge, K.M. Beenamol, and Bobby Aloysius, saw a further depleted field with female sprinter Saraswati Saha failing to make it following a heel injury while Sunita Rani did not participate in the 1 500m despite reaching the steel city. — PTI
|
|
Golfers
finish seventh
Chennai, September 5 According to information received by UNI here, Vikrant Chopra, came up with a superb two-under 69 and Simaranjit shot a level par 71 in the final round to help India finish with a four round gross of 890 in the 15-nation tournament, which was won by hosts Australia with a cumulative score of 852. It was indeed a creditable performance by India under difficult conditions with wind speeds touching 25 miles per hour. Vikrant’s performance, which was the best card by an Indian over the last four days, helped the team recover and improve their position by two places. He had a memorable first round when he came up with a level par score. But he lost ground midway, before hitting form when it mattered most. He had six over 77 in the second and did not count in the third as he shot a poor 81. Putting behind his woeful display, Vikrant looked a transformed person. He was confidence personified, the moment he entered the course and showed marked improvement in his putting and driving skills. Due credit should also be given to Simarajit Singh and other Indian team members Shiv Kapur and Keshav Misra, who returned with a decent cards of 75 and 77, respectively and contributed to India’s improvement in the final position. — UNI
|
|
Ritwik
continues to dominate Jaipur, September 5 The world No 72 has had a roller-coaster ride so far conceding only four points on his way to last four. Meanwhile, top seed in women’s section Mekhala Subedar, second seed Sohani Kumari and men’s second seed Gaurav Nandrajog won their respective quarterfinal ties. Subedar blanked Bhawini Singh 9-0 9-0 9-0, Kumari beat Surabhi Jain 9-0 9-0 9-0, Raghvi Kharel defeated Mayri Mathur 9-5 9-3 9-1 and local girl Surabhi Mishra trounced Sadia Ahmad 9-0 9-0 9-0 to complete the semifinal line-up. In the men’s section, Nandrajog thrashed Amjad Khan 9-1 9-0 9-0 while Gajendra Singh beat Supreet Singh 6-9 9-5 9-5 9-2 and Dhiraj Singh defeated Shakti Singh 7-9 9-6 9-3 9-4 to join Ritwik in the last four.
— PTI |
 |
| 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 5
