S P O R T S

Agassi, Ferrero enter semis

New York, September 6 Top-ranked Andre Agassi and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to a US Open semi-final showdown here while Andy Roddick won his 17th match in a row to set a date with David Nalbandian. Andre Agassi of the US celebrates his 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win against Guillermo Coria of Argentina at the US Open in New York on Friday. — AP/PTI photo

Bhupati-Mirnyi duo bows out
New York, September 6
The Indian challenge came to an end at the US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi crashing out in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to the French pair of Micheal Llorda and Fabrice Santoro in the quarterfinals.

Trescothick, Thorpe hit tons

London, September 6 Graham Thorpe made a century on his comeback while Marcus Trescothick scored 219 as England reached 502 for seven at stumps on the third day of the fifth and final Test against South Africa. England batsman Marcus Trescothick (R) celebrates his double century as Alec Stewart (L) applauds on the third day of the fifth Test match against South Africa at the Oval on Saturday. — Reuters photo

Paul Eales from Great Britain (L) and Henrik Bjornstad from Norway pick up their golf balls next to the 7th hole at the European Masters in Crans Montana, Switzerland, on Friday.
— AP/PTI

	Nalbandian tames Federer September 6, 2003
	Roddick beats rain, Xavier Malisse September 5, 2003
	Dent, rain fail to stop Agassi September 4, 2003
	Capriati moves into quarter-finals September 3, 2003
	Nalbandian, Agassi march on in US Open September 2, 2003
	Anju makes history in world athletics September 1, 2003
	Philippoussis, Nalbandian advance  August 31, 2003
	Agassi, Kafelnikov to meet in third round August 30, 2003
	Federer advances in US Open August 29, 2003
	Roddick ousts Henman; Agassi triumphs August 28, 2003

Inzamam shatters B’desh hopes Multan, Pakistan, September 6 Inzamam-ul-Haq broke Bangladeshi hearts with a memorable 138 not out to steer Pakistan to a one-wicket win in the third Test in Multan today and a 3-0 sweep of the series. Bangladesh were left waiting for their first Test win after Inzamam chose his hometown for a dramatic return to form and his 18th Test hundred. Pakistani batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq hits a straight drive against Bangladesh in Multan on Saturday. — Reuters photo

Latif faces suspension
Multan, September 6
Pakistan captain Rashid Latif faces a possible two to three match suspension after Bangladesh officially complained that he knowingly claimed a dropped catch on the third day of their third cricket Test at Multan Cricket Stadium.

Sachin Tendulkar plays cricket with a group of slum children in a programme organised by an NGO in Bangalore on Friday. From left to right: Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly, Murali Karthik, Ajit Agarkar and Parthiv Patel serve dinner to slum children in a programme organised by an NGO in Bangalore on Friday. — PTI photos

Kang calls on Jugraj Singh
Ludhiana, September 6
As the condition of hockey star Jugraj Singh, who is recuperating here at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident near Jalandhar on September 2, has started improving, representatives of different political parties, office bearers of sports associations and sports promoters continue to call on the patient to wish him a speedy recovery.

Indian challenge ends in TT
Hyderabad, September 6
Indian challenge came to end without much ado with Saurav Chakraborty and Nandita Saha crashing out in the quarterfinals of the 9th Asian Table Tennis Championship here today.

Punjab on top
Jamshedpur, September 6
Haryana’s Kulwinder Singh won the decatholon gold even as rain played spoilsport with athletes putting up a dull show on the slushy track and field at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on the second day of the National Senior Inter-State Athletic Meet here today.

Youth b’ball results
Ludhiana, September 6
Gurdaspur in the girls section and Amritsar in the boys section emerged champions in the 4th Punjab State Youth Basketball Championship held from September 2 to 5 at Jalalabad, Ferozepore.

Rajiv skips UK league cricket due to injury
Chandigarh, September 6
A knee injury has prevented prolific domestic scorer and former Himachal skipper Rajiv Nayyar from playing in the highly competitive Birminghim league in England this season.

Navpreet makes waves in the pool
Patiala, September 6
Young Navpreet Sidhu of Yadvindera Public School, Patiala, created a flutter by setting a new record in the final of the 50m butterfly event for senior boys on day two of the 20th All-India Public School Aquatic Championship held at the NIS pool here today.

Video

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed inaugurated the 49th National school Games in Srinagar. (28k, 56k)

Agassi, Ferrero enter semis

India's Sania Mirza makes a backhand return against Laine Emma of Finland at the US Open Girls' singles on Friday. Mirza lost the match to Laine Emma. — PTI Kim Clijsters of Belgium celebrates her win over Lindsay Davenport of the US at the semifinal of the US Open. Clijsters defeated Davenport 6-2, 6-3.  Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium celebrates after winning her semifinal match against Jennifer Capriati of the US. Henin-Hardenne defeated Capriati 4-6, 7-5, 7-6. — Reuters photos

New York, September 6
Top-ranked Andre Agassi and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to a US Open semi-final showdown here while Andy Roddick won his 17th match in a row to set a date with David Nalbandian.

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi beat Argentine fifth-seeded Guillermo Coria 6-4 6-3 7-5 and Spanish third seed Ferrero won eight of the last nine games to oust six- seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 yesterday.

US fourth seed Roddick fired 15 aces to down Dutch 12th seed Sjeng Schalken 6-4 6-2 6-3 while Argentina’s 13th seed Nalbandian outdueled 21st-ranked Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 3-6 7-5.

Agassi, who at 33 is the oldest man in the field and oldest to be ranked number one, could become the oldest US Open champion since 1970 when Australian Ken Rosewall won at age 35. Agassi advanced to his ninth US Open semi-final.

Ferrero agrees. He would overtake Agassi for the world number one ranking with a victory. Ferrero is 2-1 against Agassi, winning a 2002 French Open quarter-final and at last year’s ATP Masters Cup while losing last year at Madrid. Roddick is 2-0 against Nalbandian, including a win in last month’s Montreal final.

Roddick reached his third Slam semi-final of the year but first at the US Open, where he lost quarter-finals to eventual champions the past two years. A first Grand Slam title is within his reach, but he has work yet to grasp it.

Roddick’s win streak is the ATP’s longest of the year and includes titles at Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Montreal. Since pairing with former Agassi coach Brad Gilbert in early June, Roddick has lost only twice.

Blocking his path will be Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up who beat Swiss second seed Roger Federer in the fourth round. Nalbandian is the first man from his land so deep here since Guillermo Vilas won the 1977 US Open.

Nalbandian, who took nearly three hours to win, and Ferrero will play their third matches in as many days, an unprecedented Slam test.

Agassi and Roddick rested Thursday after sneaking in triumphs between raindrops earlier this week.

Reigning Australian Open champion Agassi won the US Open title in 1994 and 1999, but lost last year’s final to Pete Sampras. Not since Mats Wilander in 1988 has an Australian Open champion won the US Open title in the same year.

Coria had a sore left hamstring and cut right thumb, helping Agassi in making fast work of the South American to aid his chances against Ferrero in an event where rain wiped out rest days on the path to tomorrow’s final.

Coria battled through but could not conquer Agassi on key points.

Hewitt squandered two set points in the third set and when a left hip injury flared, he was unable to challenge Ferrero.

Henin and Clijsters shatter American dreams

Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne crashed the American party yesterday, beating home favourites to reach the final of the US Open. Second seed Henin-Hardenne diced with defeat before coming back to sabotage Jennifer Capriati’s Flushing Meadows dreams, in a 4-6 7-5 7-6 semi-final victory full of quality and tension.

It was in stark contrast to Clijsters’s calculated 6-2 6-3 demolition of Lindsay Davenport in their last four pairing, as the rain-hit Open staged an impromptu Friday evening session to catch up on chaotic schedules.

“I am so tired, I just gave everything I could even though I could have lost,” said Henin-Hardenne, who overcame cramping in the final set to clinch the tiebreak 7-4. — Reuters , AFP

Bhupati-Mirnyi duo bows out

New York, September 6
The Indian challenge came to an end at the US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi crashing out in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to the French pair of Micheal Llorda and Fabrice Santoro in the quarterfinals.

In another match, Sania Mirza lost 2-6, 4-6 to Finland’s Emma Laine in the second round of the girls’ singles and now the responsibilty of restoring some Indian pride yet again rests on the shoulders of the Amritraj brothers.

Former India Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj, partnering Mary Lou Piatek of the USA, beat the all-American pair of Tom Gullikson and Lori Mcneil 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 in the first round match of the mixed doubles masters here yesterday.

The more illustrious of the two brothers, Vijay Amritraj, who is pairing with Peter Fleming in the men’s 45 doubles masters is yet to play his first match at the Open.

But it was in the men’s doubles quarter final yesterday that provided the biggest upset of the event.

In the 45-minute encounter, the Indo-Belarrusian top seeds were taken by surprise by the sixth seeded Frenchmen, when they twice broke. — UNI

Trescothick, Thorpe hit tons

Graham Thorpe (R) hugs teammate Marcus Trescothick after scoring a century on his return to Test cricket. — Reuters photo

London, September 6
Graham Thorpe made a century on his comeback while Marcus Trescothick scored 219 as England reached 502 for seven at stumps on the third day of the fifth and final Test against South Africa.

Thorpe, who last played 13 months ago before being beset by personal problems, was bowled by Jacques Kallis at The Oval shortly before rain prompted an early tea.

England were then 133 behind in reply to South Africa’s first innings of 484.

The home supporters had celebrated Trescothick’s century shortly before lunch. He was on 137 not out at the break, his first Test hundred for a year, with Ed Smith four not out at the other end.

Thorpe ruled himself out of all cricket last year during his marriage break-up and then further angered England’s selectors by ruling himself out of the Ashes tour at the last minute.

South Africa lead the series 2-1. They have not won a series in England since 1965.

SCOREBOARD

South Africa (first innings): 484

England (first innings):

Trescothick c Rudolph b Ntini 219

Vaughan c Gibbs b Pollock 23

Butcher lbw b Hall 32

Thorpe b Kallis 124

Smith lbw b Hall 16

Stewart lbw b Pollock 38

Flintoff batting 10

Giles c Hall b Kallis 2

Bicknell batting 0

Extras (b-6 lb-14 w-8 nb-10) 38

Total (7 wkts, 140 overs) 502

Fall of wickets: 1-28 2-78 3-346, 4-379, 5-480, 6-489, 7- 502.

Bowling: Pollock 33-8-103-2, Ntini 27-4-97-1, Hall 30-5-101-2, Kallis 29-4-90-2, Adams 15-2-63-0, Rudolph 6-1-28-0. — Reuters

Inzamam shatters B’desh hopes

Multan, Pakistan, September 6
Inzamam-ul-Haq broke Bangladeshi hearts with a memorable 138 not out to steer Pakistan to a one-wicket win in the third Test in Multan today and a 3-0 sweep of the series.

Bowling: Manjural Islam 21-2-64-2, Tapash Baisya 12-0-46-0, Khaled Mahmud 28-9-68-3, Mohammad Rafique 30-6-80-2. — Reuters

Latif faces suspension

Multan, September 6
Pakistan captain Rashid Latif faces a possible two to three match suspension after Bangladesh officially complained that he knowingly claimed a dropped catch on the third day of their third cricket Test at Multan Cricket Stadium.

The five match one-day series against Bangladesh starts in Multan from September 9. — AP

Kang calls on Jugraj Singh
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 6
As the condition of hockey star Jugraj Singh, who is recuperating here at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident near Jalandhar on September 2, has started improving, representatives of different political parties, office bearers of sports associations and sports promoters continue to call on the patient to wish him a speedy recovery.

Today, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister for Youth Services and Sports, visited Jugraj and inquired about his well-being. The minister also discussed with Dr J.L. Bassi, Professor and Head of the Orthopaedics Department and his team of doctors who had operated upon the player on Wednesday the condition of Jugraj Singh.

Later talking to mediapersons, Mr Kang said he had seen Jugraj playing during the Busan Asian Games and was immensely impressed by his style and game. He said on behalf of the state government, he had assured Jugraj’s family all possible help and medical assistance.

A delegation of the Punjab Youth Congress, led by its general secretary Mr Gagandeep Singh Wasu along with Mr Amitabh Singh Chandel, president of the Ambala Lawn Tennis Association and an international player, and a number of other office bearers of the association visited the hospital. They handed over a letter sent by Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, Political Secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab and president, Chandigarh Olympic Association, assuring all possible help by the Punjab Government and wishing the hockey star an early recovery.

Meanwhile, according to the medical bulletin issued by Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent of the Dayanand Hospital today, Jugraj Singh is responding well to the treatment and his condition is stable.

Dr J.L. Bassi, orthopaedic surgeon, and Dr P.L. Gautam, anaesthesiologist, who performed the surgery on Jugraj, are keeping a strict vigil on the post operative condition of the patient. His haemoglobin is improving and he is being given active and passive physiotherapy. The medical board has reviewed Jugraj’s condition and his progress is satisfactory, Dr Puri added.

Indian challenge ends in TT

Hyderabad, September 6
Indian challenge came to end without much ado with Saurav Chakraborty and Nandita Saha crashing out in the quarterfinals of the 9th Asian Table Tennis Championship here today.

Saurav pitted against fancied Chinese Li Hu put up a stiff resistance but that was not enough to see him trough to the last four stage.

The Indian battled it out but Li Hu proved far superior. The Chinese covered the table well and smashed out for points when he needed them. — UNI

Punjab on top

Jamshedpur, September 6
Haryana’s Kulwinder Singh won the decatholon gold even as rain played spoilsport with athletes putting up a dull show on the slushy track and field at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on the second day of the National Senior Inter-State Athletic Meet here today.

With intermittent drizzles causing frequent interruptions, most of the medal winners blamed the climate for not being able to live up to pre-championships expectations.

The day’s other gold medal winners included Gurpreet Singh of Punjab in the 110m hurdles and Tamil Nadu’s K.N. Priya who won the 100m hurdles.

Karnataka enjoyed a good day winning three more gold to take their gold tally to four to go level with Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Punjab were leading the points table with 65 points among men while West Bengal women remained in the lead with 44 points.

Kerala picked up the women’s 4x100m relay gold clocking 47.0 seconds to leave behind the quartets of Andhra Pradesh (47.24) and Tamil Nadu (48.05).

Earlier, 25-year-old Manoj Lal gave Kerala its first gold medal winning the men’s 400m dethroning meet record holder Satbir Singh of Haryana.

The Railways employee clocked 46.44 seconds while Satbir finished in 47 seconds. P. Shankar of Andhra Pradesh bagged the bronze in 47.23 seconds.

Kulwinder passed the two-day gruelling endurance test with flying colours to claim the decathlon gold accumulating 7218 points.

Earlier, there was high drama in the first event of the day — 20 km walk — when title holder Gurdev Singh of Punjab was disqualified on technical grounds almost at the halfway mark.

The opportunity was grabbed by Rajasthan’s Sita Ram who turned his silver won in the last edition to gold. Punjab still grabbed the silver through Gurmeet Singh. — PTI

Youth b’ball results
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 6
Gurdaspur in the girls section and Amritsar in the boys section emerged champions in the 4th Punjab State Youth Basketball Championship held from September 2 to 5 at Jalalabad, Ferozepore.

In the last league match (boys), Faridkot scored an easy 74-43 victory over Ludhiana. For Amritsar, Gurbhaj netted 29 points, followed by Manpreet (17), Pardeep and Supreet (11 points each). Ludhiana’s main scorer was Taranjeet Cheema who contributed 21 points.

The placing was decided by quotient system as the teams were tied with equal number of points. Amritsar with three wins and one loss finished first. The other three teams, namely Ludhiana, Faridkot and Mansa, were tied with two wins and two losses each. Points scored for and against these three teams were considered. Faridkot with 1.1 quotient point finished second while Mansa with 0.956 points came third while Ludhiana with 0.955 quotient points finished fourth. The Baba Lodhiana Academy with one victory and three defeats finished fifth.

In the girls section, in the last league fixture, Faridkot eves registered a hard fought win (42-25) over Ludhiana. Faridkot cagers, using their speed and skill proved too good for Ludhiana players. Ludhiana’s tall girl, Kirjeet was out with five personal fouls and another six feet plus tall Harjeet Kaur alone could not steer her team to victory.

Faridkot girls outscored their opponents in all four quarters. For Faridkot, Nampreet top scored with 24 points. Other notable scorers were Mehak (8) and Jyoti (10). For the losers, Gagandeep and Harjeet Kaur scored eight and 6 points.

Gurdaspur, with 1.5 quotient points emerged champions and Faridkot with 1.1 points finished runners-up. The third and fourth positions were won by Ludhiana (0.91 points) and Hoshiarpur respectively.

Mr Rajdeep Singh Gill, ADGP, Punjab, and president, Punjab Basketball Association gave away the prizes to the participants.

Rajiv skips UK league cricket due to injury
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 6
A knee injury has prevented prolific domestic scorer and former Himachal skipper Rajiv Nayyar from playing in the highly competitive Birminghim league in England this season.

Rajiv, a regular to the Birminghim league for a couple of years, had damaged his cartilage in his left knee towards the fag-end of the season in England. A minor surgery was one of the options which he did not opt for. The mainstay of Himachal batting for so many years, Rajiv decided to skip the grind of the England club cricket this season, choosing instead to rest and recuperate. Partly due to this problem, Rajiv could not perform to his optimum level in the last edition of the Ranji Trophy Championship.

He was advised certain exercises by Dr Ananth Joshi, a renowned orthopaedics surgeon in Mumbai last year, when Rajiv was there for Himachal’s Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai.

Currently undergoing treatment by experienced orthopaedics surgeon Dr Nagi at the PGI, Chandigarh for the past one-and-a-half months, the world record holder for the longest stay at the wicket in a first class game, Rajiv said he was feeling much better and getting ready for the domestic season ahead.

Navpreet makes waves in the pool
Our Sports Reporter

The YPS swimmer was followed by Sameer Sarin of DPS, Mathura road and Vishwarath Tomar of Modern School, New Delhi, in that order. Other results:800m freestyle (junior boys): Rushil Malhotra (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Anirudh (RIMC, Dehra Dun)-2, Shaaswat Sharma (Modern School)-3. 400m freestyle (senior boys): Anirudh GV (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Abhishek Vaishya (DPS, Mathura road)-2, Ankit Jindal (Modern School)-3. (senior girls): Chandana Bhargava (Daly College, Ajmer)-1, Apeksha Jain (Modern School)-2, Isha Chawla (DPS, Mathura road)-3. 400m freestyle (junior boys): Rushil Malhotra (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Anirudh GV (RIMC, Dehra Dun)-2, Shaaswat Sharma (Modern School)-3. 4x100m medley (senior girls): DPS, Mathura road-1, Mayo College, Ajmer-2, Modern School-3. 50m butterfly (junior boys): S.M Adil (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Nischay Pradhan (Modern School)-2, Rajneesh Kukreti (Modern School)-3. 200m breaststroke (senior girls)-Shruti Gupta (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Rashi Kapur (Modern School)-2, Garima Jain (DPS, Mathura road)-3. 200m breaststroke (senior boys): Kartikeya Rawat (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Rajesh Khanna (Modern School)-2, Shatruntap Singh (DPS, Modern School)-3. 50m back stroke (senior girls): Shruti Gupta (DPS, Modern School)-1, Rashi Kapur (Modern School)-2, Garima Jain (DPS, R.K Puram)-3. 50m butterfly (senior girls): Mohini Dutta (DPS, Mathura road)-1, Anuradha (DPS, Mathura road)-2, Minla Lachungpa (Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok)-3. 200m butterfly (senior boys): Vishwarath Tomar (Modern School)-1, Harshit Narang (YPS, Patiala)-2, Ravindra (Doon School, Dehra Dun)-3. 50m butterfly (junior girls): Shloka Joshi (Modern School)-1, Rini (DPS, R.K Puram)-2, Prerna Chabra (DPS, Mathura road)-3.

BRIEFLY

Gold medal winners in men's and women 100 metres, Sanjay Ghosh of West Bengal and Poonam Tomar of Delhi, pose for photographers at the 43rd Senior National Atheletics championship in Jamshedpur on Friday. — PTI

INDIAN SPIKERS STUN KOREA
BEJING: Indian spikers caused the biggest upset on the opening day of the 12th Asian men’s volleyball championship defeating holders South Korea in a thrilling encounter. India, who lost the first game, rallied strongly to register a memorable 23-25 25-22 20-25 25-22 17-15 win in the match played at the north Chinese city Tianjin on Friday. — PTI

BCCI SIGNS DEAL
KOLKATA: The cricket board on Saturday broke new ground in sports sponsorship in India by signing a three-year contract with a consortium of sponsors comprising Pepsi, Videocon International and TVS Motor Company. Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya told newspersons that the agreement, which renewed the three-year contract with Pepsi and brought in two other companies, would be valid till May 31, 2006. — PTI

GANGULY BACKS DRAVID
BANGALORE: The Indian cricket team management may not experiment with a new wicketkeeper for the upcoming triangular series with captain Saurav Ganguly today indicating that Rahul Dravid could be persisted with the dual role of keeping wickets. Although Dravid had recently hinted that he wanted to be relieved of the responsibility, Ganguly virtually gave a vote of confidence to the vice-captain saying he had done a good job behind the stumps in the shorter version of the game. — PTI

MUKESH CHAMP
CHENNAI: Enjoying the luxury of a seven-stroke lead at the end of the third round, reigning champion Mukesh Kumar of Mhow bagged the first title of the current season by winning the Hyundai Open Golf tournament at the Madras Gymkhana Club golf links on Saturday. The Mhow-based pro dropped only one stroke for a card of one-over 71 for a four-round total of nine-under 271 to grab the winner’s cheque of Rs 1,13,400. — UNI