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Shooters bag two silver, one
bronze
Indian eves take on S. Korea
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India lift tennis teams gold
Zimbabwe hold Uzbekistan They didn't have the
courtesy to reply....
Full-strength squad for athletics Hyderabad
jottings Egypt win
SA set challenging target for Pak
Tendulkar, Laxman were splendid Neelam moves High Court
Vijay Singh wins Disney Classic Fiji’s Vijay Singh won the Disney Classic by four strokes here yesterday, seizing the US PGA Tour money lead from Tiger Woods and putting himself in position to clinch the crown next weekend.
Punjab gymnastics at Kapurthala Amritsar beat Sangrur
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Shooters bag two silver, one bronze Hyderabad, October 27 No representative of the ISSF was present, nor was anyone invited for the shooting event, and Dovogun’s achievement may remain a cosmetic feat. The officially-recognised world record of 597 stands against the name of Marina Bobkova of Russia which was created at Barcelona in 1998 while Olga herself held the earlier record of 597, shot at Lahti and Busan, both in 2002. For hosts India, day two in shooting provided a mixed fare as favourite Jaspal Rana slumped to the sixth position in the 25m centre fire pistol, which is considered as a favourite event of his. Jaspal Rana had won the gold in the event with a score of 588 at the 1994 Asian Games at Hiroshima and silver at Bangkok in 1998, which he won with a new Asian record. The ace shooter missed the mark this day to churn out a disappointing performance. Jaspal also holds the national record at 590, but he could shoot only 575, which contained just two perfect scores of 50. Nguyen Wanh Tuong of Vietnam, with a score of 584, bagged the gold while Park Byung Tack and Lee Sang Hak of Korea claimed the silver and bronze. Deepali Deshpande provided the silver lining in the 50m rifle prone with a total score of 588 (she had a sequence of 96,99, 98,98,99 and 98). Hyun Ah Kong of Korea shot just a point less to take the bronze. India gathered the silver and bronze medals in the men’s trap event with Manavjit Singh Sandhu scoring 141 to claim the silver and Anwer Sultan hitting the bronze. Hui Li of China cantered away with the gold. In a heart-stopping contest, all the top four shooters hit 117 each out of 125 in the qualifying rounds, including three Indians — Manavjit, Anwar and Zoravar Singh Sandhu—besides Li. But in the final round, Zoravar Singh misfired by shooting only 21 out of 25 while the other three shot 24 each to tie the scores at 141, resulting in tie-shoot. Anwer missed the bird and went out of the gold round. But Manavjit and Li hit the target to tie the score yet again. In the second round of tie-shoot, Manavjit flunked while Li hit the bird to lift the gold. Manavjit and Anwar settled for the silver and bronze. Baba Bedi finished fourth in the skeet event. |
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Hyderabad, October 27 Though Indian chief coach M K Kaushik said his girls would have the “slight upper-hand” in the match, the hosts could ill-afford to take lightly the Koreans, who reached the semifinals after topping the Pool B. “We have a good forward line. Sanggai Chanu and Jyoti Sunita Kullu are playing very well at the moment. I think we have the slight edge over the South Koreans,” Kaushik told PTI here but admitted that his side was wary of the nippy Koreans. “They are a very good side. And we have to play really hard for a win against them tomorrow.” The other semifinal would be played between Pool A toppers South Africa and World Cup winners China. The win would also give India a golden chance to earn a medal at an international event, which Kaushik said would do “world of good to the morale of the new members of the side.” India started the tournament on a high note, drubbing Ghana 8-0 in their opening encounter before losing to South Africa 1-3 in the next game, which the coach believed they should have won. After the demoralising loss, India managed to salvage some pride when they blanked Kazakhstan 9-0 under lights yesterday. The win was enough to send warning signals to the South Korean camp with captain Kim Kyoung asking the players to play their best game in the semifinals. “We have to pull our socks and play really good hockey. we will be putting in extra effort,” said Kim, who watched the India-Kazakhstan match at the Gachibowli stadium last night. For India, their victory will largely depend on the utilisation of opportunities, said Kaushik. “We got 10 penalty corners each against South Africa and Kazakhstan. But we could score only one and two goals respectively,” he said. India had the distinction of winning the inaugural Asian Games gold medal in the 1982 at New Delhi. The two other medals that India got was a bronze in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and a silver in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. In recent times, the only silver lining for the team was the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Manchester last year. South Korea has been the dominant nation in the region, winning four consecutive gold medals in the Asian Games — 1986 (Seoul), 1990 (Beijing), 1994 (Hiroshima) and 1998 (Bangkok). The winning streak of the South Korean team was broken by China, who won the gold medal in the Busan Asian Games. China, coached by a South Korean, also won the 2002 Women’s Champions Trophy and the World Cup early this year. The World Cup winners, keen to add another feather in their cap by clinching the gold medal in the first ever inter-continental meet, are expected to face a tough fight from the South Africans, whose all-win record in the competition so far makes them a formidable contender for a place in the final. — PTI
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India lift tennis teams gold Hyderabad, October 27 Rohan Bopanna set the ball rolling in the morning, when he did a quick pasting job by crushing Rotini Jegede of Nigeria 6-2, 6-2 in one hour. The Nigerian was allowed to hold serve in the third and seventh games of the first set and fifth and seventh games of the second set. Prakash Amritraj was jolted out of his wits in the second singles when he was broken in the third game of the first set to trail 1-2 against Maku Sunday. Prakash hit back to break back in the eighth game to tie the score at 4-4, and then broke his rival again in the tenth game to win the set. In the second set, Prakash broke Sunday in the second and fourth games to race to a 6-4, 6-1 victory, also in an hour’s time. In the dead doubles rubber, Vishal Uppal and Vijay Kannan made short work of Abdul Babalola and Sunday Maku at 6-1, 6-4. But the women’s contests were not cake-walks as both Rushmi Chakravarthi and Sania Mirza had to go the whole hog before prevailing over their Indonesian opponents. Rushmi was forced to draw out her latent talent to beat Septi Mende 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) while Sania Mirza beat Sandy Gumulya 6-1, 5-7, 7-6. India have ensured the gold irrespective of the outcome of the doubles tie. |
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Zimbabwe hold Uzbekistan Hyderabad, October 27 In the semifinals to be played on October 29, India will take on Zimbabwe while Rwanda will meet Uzbekistan to decide the finalists of the championship. Burkina Faso took some time to settle down and took the lead at the stroke of half time when Diallo Abdoul Moctar's header off a cross from Ouattara Amed Amara sailed into the net. The second goal for Burkina Faso came five minutes into the second session when Bationo Germain found the target off a flag kick by Sanou A. Sibiri Roland. Nine minutes from the end, the young Iranians drew some consolation when a powerful shot by Hassan Shokourigazafrod saw Burkina Faso skipper Tall Mamadou deflect the ball into his own goal (1-2). The match was marred by frayed tempers and Traore Lassina of Burkina Faso was shown the red card. In the other match, Zimbabwe took the lead through Leonard Tsida who managed to hoodwink the Uzbekistan custodian before placing the ball in the net. However, Uzbekistan managed to restore parity when a free kick by Suyunov Ihomjon in the 57th minute landed in the net giving a valuable point and the top spot in pool.
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They didn't have the
courtesy to reply.... Hyderabad, October 27 "Ghana's entry was almost confirmed when we learnt that their arrival had been put off. After the team failed to arrive with the rest of the contingent by the chartered flight, we made desperate attempts to contact them and were later informed that they could come only if they were given a free passage through tickets to be purchased by the organisers, which by any means would have incurred heavy expenditure. Nevertheless the request was immediately acceded to and the Ghanian team management informed accordingly. But shockingly, they didn't have the courtesy to inform us that they would not be coming. As a result, plans went haywire affecting the schedule after the draw had been finalised," Mr Colaco said. Three matches in pool 'A' scheduled for October 22, 24 and 26 featuring Ghana were thus cancelled enabling India and Rwanda to romp into the semifinals. Ghana's absence also made the competition lopsided as teams in the other pool had a tougher passage into the last four. He, nevertheless, expressed satisfaction over the level of the competition, adding that since many of the participants were better than the host team, the exposure gained by the Indians would hold them in good stead in future. |
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Ordinary outing for swimmers
Hyderabad, October 27 The medals were won by the relay teams on the third day of the competition which saw one-legged South African Natalie Dutoit hogging limelight with her silver medal winning effort in the 800m freestyle. Natalie, whose leg was amputated from the knee following an accident in 2000, got a standing ovation when she finished her race in 9 min 17.92 seconds. The event was dominated by Africans with Shrone Austine of Seychelles claiming the gold with a timing of 9:16.46 and South Africa’s Velia Janse Van R took the bronze (9:19.74). The bronze medals came in the two 4x100m relay free style events of the day. The quartet of Shikha Tondon, Lisa Mahanta, Remya V and Ambica Iyenger finished at 4:16.53, well behind gold medal winners Korea’s Cho A Ra, Park Kyung Hwa, Shin Bo Mi Kim Mi Ryung (4:00.07) and Christine Zwiegers, Jackie Wellman, Ellen Hight, (4:04.02). The second bronze medal winning team — Senthil Kumar, Gairik Bardhan, Rajeev K and Benoy Sebastian — were quite slow in covering the distance but still got the medal as there were only teams in fray. They completed the race in 4:7.89 seconds, almost 20 seconds slower than Japanese swimmers, who claimed the gold medal. South Africa won the silver medal. Barring the two bronze medals, it was a disappointing day for the Indians in the pool with not even a single swimmer winning a medal in the individual races. Ambica Iyenger was the first failure for the home side today when she finished sixth in a seven-field competition with a poor timing of 9:55.59. In other events, V. Sivaranjani despite getting a very fine start failed to win a medal while Mandar Divse and Mir Akbar Ali had a very ordinary outing. Algeria’s Mahrez Mebarekwas finished top in the 400m freestyle for men while the 200m individual medley gold went to Ouying Kunpeng of China. Korea’s Lee Sun A won the women’s 200m individual medley gold. The day also turned out to be disappointing for Pakistani swimmers who failed to grab even a medal from the pool events. Kiran Khan came last in the women’s 200m individual medley while the Pakistani women’s free style relay team took the last position.
— PTI
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Full-strength squad for athletics Hyderabad, October 27 The opening day’s programme features 11 events in which India have high stakes in high jump (women), 400m races for both men and women. Bobby Alloysious would be vying for a medal in high jump in she has a best of 1.90 metres set at Bangalore in the Open nationals two weeks ago, but in the 400m men’s and women’s events, Manoj K Lal and Jincy Phillips would find the going tough as they would be competing against the unknown talent from Africa and Asia. Indians’ hope of striking it rich rests mostly on the field events as the throwers and jumpers like Neelam J Singh, Bahadur Singh, Shakti Singh and Anju Bobby George are expected to come up with medal-winning shows. Anju is on a high after her bronze medal winning feat in the world championship at Paris, and she would be striving to give off her best in front of her home fans in long jump, which is scheduled for Wednesday. India have assembled here their best athletics talent, and even if the hosts do not pluck too many medals from track and field, the experience gained from competing against far superior athletes from Asia and Africa would stand them in good stead.
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Hyderabad
jottings Hockey has turned out to be a crowd-puller in the ongoing Afro-Asian Games. Hordes of spectators descend on the stadium on everyday to watch the men’s and women’s matches. India’s match against Kazakhstan witnessed a large turnout on Sunday. Cashing in on the game’s popularity, the organisers decided to have tickets for Monday’s match against Pakistan. Vociferous support from the stands is a motivating factor, though ignorance of rules sometimes makes some spectators the object of ridicule. Thus when the odd ball lands in the goalmouth even after a hit from the centreline, the crowd goes into raptures. Some of the more enthusiastic even run across with the Tricolour only to realise later that it was not a goal. An over-enthusiastic crowd indeed! * * * The Indian football team along with coach Stephen Constantine made a quiet entry into the Goshamahal football stadium here on Monday afternoon where Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan were locked in a grim battle for supremacy. While IM Vijayan sat with the rest of the players at the rear, planning his strategy for the semifinals, Baichung Bhutia was engaged in serious discussions in the front row. Picking up valuable tips? * * * Andhra Pradesh is proud of its sportspersons’ achievements. A plaque carrying names of Arjuna Award winners from the state is proudly displayed in the lobby of the Lal Bahadur Football Stadium. They include Olympians T. Balaram (football 1962), Peter Thangaraj (football 1967), Syed Nayeemuddin (football 1970), Mohammed Habeeb (football 1984), Mohammed Azharuddin (cricket 1987), Olympian Mukesh Kumar (hockey 1995), P. Gopichand (badminton 1999) and VVS Laxman (cricket 2001). Incidentally Thangaraj and Habeeb were present at the football stadium where Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan drew their last league match. * * * Foreign journalists continue to pour in for the first Afro-Asian Games here and among those who arrived today was Roy Luarca of the Inquirer, a daily published in the Philippines. Mr Sriniwasulu, Supervisor in the Information and Public Relations Department, who has been deputed to receive them, revealed that the newsmen were happy with the arrangements. The well-equipped media centres provide ideal working conditions to journalists. Amardeep Bhattal
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Egypt win Hyderabad: In men’s hockey, Egypt beat Nigeria 4-2 after leading 3-2 at half time.
Satheesha misses gold Injuries continue to haunt the Indians in the weightlifting arena, as Satheesha Rai missed the gold medal by a whisker in a body weight decision after he pulled out of the third round of the 77kg men competition. Alabi Dare of Nigeria and Rai were tied at a tally of 322.5 when Rai had to pull out as his knee injury aggravated and the African, whose body weighed 75.25kg against 76kg of the host, claimed gold while Ali Eshtiwi Mohamed of Libya claimed bronze with a total lift of 302kg. The Nigerian aggregated the total with 137.5kg in snatch and 185kg in clean and jerk while Rai’s tally was a result of 145kg in snatch and 177.5kg in clean and jerk. Sateesha Rai stood ahead in the bunch of five lifters in the snatch with 145kg and was very fluent in lifting 172kg in the first round of the clean and jerk. After a flawless effort of 177.5kg in the second round, Rai coiled in pain and was taken away by attending medicos into the retiring rooms. Though a weight revision of 185kg was announced he did not make it as the coach Jaswinder Singh later said, “we did not want to risk him. He already had a knee injury and it would aggravate further. So we kept him out knowing fully well that we have to settle for a silver and the decision would swing in favour of the Nigerian on the body weight count.”
— PTI
Security Three days after the official inauguration of the first Afro-Asian Games, an unprecedented security cover was thrown over the G M C Balayogi Stadium — the venue of the India-Pakistan hockey match.
— UNI
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— UNI  |
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Advani sets eyes on world billiards title
Mumbai, October 27 Nineteen-year-old Karnataka star told PTI on his return from China here today it was a thrilling moment to lift the world snooker title after beating a seasoned Saleh Mohammed of Pakistan 11-6 in the final on Saturday.
“However, I don’t want to rest on my laurels and my next target would be to win the world professional billiards title in Hyderabad from November 17 to 23”, he said. Speaking about the experience on way to the title, Advani said “I was a bit nervous when I lost the first two frames but just hung on and tried to fight back. I knew it would be a tough match against the more experienced Pakistani but I fought on gamely which ultimately helped to turn the tables on the Pakistan cueist”. Advani, who became the youngest Asian and the second youngest in the world after John White to win the coveted title, said “this was a very special win for him as the title came back to India after a lapse of 19 years”. O.P. Agarwal was the only other Indian to have won the coveted title in 1984. Asked whether there was any pressure on him playing Pakistan in the final, Advani said “a India-Pakistan encounter in any sport, be it a team sport or an individual sport, always has its share of pressure but I tried to control myself and totally concentrated on the job on hand and was very happy to win in the end”. Speaking about the final encounter, Advani said “I was quite confident about putting up a good show even before the final and the considerable experience at the international level recently had made me a much better player”. “I went into the final against an opponent who had not lost a single match in the round-robin league and when he won the first two frames, I was really nervous but I kept fighting and turned the 0-2 deficit to a 5-3 lead but my opponent came back strongly to square the frame scores 5-all”, he added.
— PTI
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SA set challenging target for Pak Faisalabad, October 27 South Africa had declared their second innings after tea on 371 for eight, Kirsten’s sparkling 118 runs from 232 balls and in 316 minutes (11 fours and one six) bringing them back into the match. Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat, who have posted three successive century stands for Pakistan in the series, held firm before bad light forced play to end four overs early and left the match intriguingly poised. South Africa, who won a Test in Pakistan at the same ground in 1997 by bowling out the home side for 92 runs, will be spurred on by the knowledge that Pakistan’s highest successful victory chase at the venue was just 188 for seven against Sri Lanka in 1991-92. Pakistan lost here to the Sri Lankans in 1995-96 after being bowled out for 209 runs while chasing a victory target of 252. It was Kirsten’s second century on this ground and allowed South Africa to dictate terms on a sluggish day of cricket. Pakistan did not take the second new ball and bowled 127.3 overs with the same ball. South Africa (1st innings): 278 Pakistan (1st innings):348 South Africa (2nd innings): Smith lbw b Shabbir 65 Gibbs lbw b Kaneria 20 Dippenaar lbw b Shoaib 21 Kirsten c Taufeeq b Razzaq 118 McKenzie c Taufeeq
Kallis lbw b Razzaq 43 Boucher b Razzaq 0 Pollock not out 30 Peterson c Inzamam b Shabbir 17 Adams not out 9 Extras:
(b-1, lb-7, w-2,nb-3) 13 Total (8 wkts decl
FoW: 1-42, 2-93, 3-128, 4-213, 5-303, 6-303, 7-325, 8-358. Bowling:
Shabbir Ahmad 34.3-10-70-2, Abdul Razzaq 18-3-70-3, Danish Kaneria 37-6-100-2, Shoaib Malik 26-5-70-1, Mushtaq Ahmad 12-3-53-0. Pakistan (2nd innings): Umer not out 6 Farhat not out 1 Extras
(lb-1) 1 Total (0 wkt, six overs) 8 Bowling:
Shaun Pollock 3-2-2-0, Makhaya Ntini 3-2-5-0. — AP |
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Tendulkar, Laxman were splendid Frustrated and disappointed. That’s how I felt having to watch Australia take the field at Gwalior while I was sitting at home in front of the television yesterday. I had come to India a few weeks ago for some commercial work, and at that time I had made some discreet inquiries about the venues we would play on. I had even checked out Wankhede Stadium, where we will be playing our next match against India. But the best laid plans often go awry and I developed a tear in my lower abdomen during the Zimbabwe series. There are many in India who think fast bowlers shirk tours to the subcontinent. My response is absolutely not. India is one of the most exciting cricket destinations in modern cricket, and there is not a single country in the world that can promise such large crowds and adulation. Besides, after playing Tests in the middle of the desert in Sharjah, where the conditions were far more exacting, I hardly think I would have problems playing what basically amounts to seven days of cricket in India. I have loved everything I have heard about playing international cricket in India. The cuisine, the culture and of course, Hindi, are abiding passions with me, since I’ve grown up with many Indians as friends. I hope my fans in India will understand how much I miss being part of the Australian team that is playing there. I hope they wish me a jaldi-jaldi recovery so that I’m ready for the opening Test when India come to Australia. The tear in my abdomen is 1 cm by 1 cm, and has been operated upon. I also underwent an ankle surgery on Friday, and signs are that I am on the mend. I have stopped using crutches before schedule, and I am focused at being ready for the first Test against India since I have been advised six weeks rest. The worrying factor is that my mates Dizzy (Jason Gillespie) and Pidge (Glenn McGrath) have also been laid low by injury. The three of us look after each other, and chat as much as we can, exchanging notes and encouraging each other along the road to recovery. I spoke to Dizzy yesterday, and he is also aiming to get back in time for the Test series against India. I am also worried about Glenn’s ankle surgery, but when I spoke to him last week he was hopeful of getting fit in December. I also had a word with the fast bowlers who went to India this time round. I told them they were in the team because they deserved the Baggy Green, and that they should just go out there and enjoy the cricket. I have always felt that one of the crucial ingredients in Australia’s success has been the bond we all share. We look after each other, and stay in contact especially when the chips are down, so I’m sure the team that’s in India will regroup after this initial setback to come back strongly. We have really had a hectic time since we flew out a day after the Test, and played against a top quality team at home, within three days of landing. I would not for a minute make excuses for our defeat yesterday, but the schedule has been hard on the guys. This is not to take anything away from the Indians. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman are two players who invariably reserve their best for Australia, and they were splendid yesterday. As a bowler, I was impressed with the way the Indians held their nerve when Gilly and Haydos got off to a flier. It was their confidence even when things were not going their way, that eventually saw them through. Australia will be much stronger in their next game, against New Zealand, because they have now got some match practice. They will have a better measure of the conditions and the bounce, so things will only get better from now on. I look forward to the match against our trans-Tasman neighbours because it will be a crucial one for both teams since India has raced ahead on the points table. I will sign off by wishing everybody in India a Happy Divali, and a great festive season.
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Neelam moves High Court Chandigarh, October 27 Taking a serious note of the petition, a Division Bench of the high court, comprising Mr Justice S.S. Nijjar and Mr Justice S.S. Grewal, today ruled: “If what is stated in the petition is correct, it would reflect rather sadly on the way the athletes are treated in the state of Punjab”. The Judges also issued notice of motion to the state and other respondents. The case will now come up for further hearing before the Division Bench on November 13. In her petition, Neelam J. Singh had earlier contended that she was entitled to receive the award money as stipulated in a scheme of special awards for winners of international sports events on the basis of her achievements. Giving details, she had stated that the scheme had been introduced way back in 1986 for sportspersons and their coaches. The athlete had added that she had created a new Asian record of 64.55 metres in discus throw. Her achievements were duly recognised by the state with the inclusion of her name in the roll of honour. She was also invited for the state-level felicitation ceremony held on November 6 last year Arguing on the petitioner’s behalf, her counsel had added that the Chief Minister too had promised to give her the reward at a separate ceremony to be held in his office, but the same was not handed over. A number of representations were also addressed, but to no effect, he had claimed. Going into the background of the case, counsel asserted that the petitioner had won 35 gold medals for the state and had sets of 16 national records in different sports meets. |
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Vijay Singh wins Disney Classic Lake Buena Vista (Florida), October 27 Woods has won the money title the past four years and five of his six full tour seasons, but Singh has taken advantage of eight more starts than Woods to be in position to dethrone the world’s top-ranked player. Singh, who began the final round in a four-way share of the lead, fired a five-under par 67 to finish the four million-dollar event at 23-under 265. His 15th career victory and fourth of the year brought $ 720,000. Woods charged back after an opening bogey with six birdies and an eagle to fire a 65 but settled for a share of second with fellow Americans Stewart Cink and Scott Verplank, who shared the lead but each mustered only a 71.
— AFP |
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Punjab gymnastics at Kapurthala Chandigarh, October 27
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Amritsar beat
Sangrur Amritsar, October 27 In another match in the men's section, Bahtinda beat Ropar 37-29. However, till the first half Ropar were leading by one goal (20-21). In the women's category, Sangrur routed Faridkot 20-4. In another match Hoshiarpur outclassed Muktsar 10-7. |
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