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Vermeulen stars in Zimbabwe’s win
Cricketers’ body opposes Kale’s suspension
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Delhi tottering at 194 for 8 Haryana toil against J&K Baroda in command against Punjab Sri Lanka ‘A’ 243 for 8 Geet Sethi falters at
last hurdle Punjab Police face BP in semis
Anjali eyeing Olympic gold Afghanistan’s first
soccer international in 25 years Punjab cyclists begin campaign in style
HP, Delhi wrestling
bodies recognised Prize money hiked in Harbhajan soccer Football tourney at Jalandhar from today Rajani wins bronze in wrestling Steffi wins
Haryana table tennis title
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Vermeulen
stars in Zimbabwe’s win
Bulawayo, November 23 Vermeulen stood firm against Vasbert Drakes, Ravi Rampaul and Corey Collymore while team-mates crumbled. He scored a match-winning 66 not out, including 18 fours, which enabled a home team lacking in confidence to scrape past the West Indies total of only 125 after winning the toss. Only Marlon Samuels contributed to that meagre total with an innings of any substance and he was undefeated on 36. The remainder of a much-vaunted long batting lineup collapsed, much as they did in their second innings of the second Test here last week. Wavell Hinds, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ricky Powell all failed to get going. And the tail was left to its own devices. Zimbabwe bowlers had a wonderful day. Andy Blignaut and Heath Streak made early breakthroughs. Ray Price took 2-16 in his 10 overs and Trevor Gripper took two maiden wickets in internationals. It was a day of reversals. On Saturday, during the first one-day international, Vermeulen was out first ball. Chris Gayle struck a personal best 157 not out and Brian Lara went to 113 with his 18th ODI century. West Indies took 347-6 off a ragged Zimbabwe attack at almost seven an over. In the second match today, Vermeulen steered his side to victory with his stubborn though sometimes streaky half century. — AFP Scoreboard West Indies: Hinds c Taibu b Ervine 17 Gayle c Taibu b Blignaut 8 Lara lbw b Blignaut 2 Sarwan run out (Blignaut) 13 Chanderpaul c Streak Samuels not out 36 Powell c Taibu b Price 6 Baugh b Gripper 2 Drakes c and b Gripper 2 Rampaul c Wishart b Price 1 Collymore b Streak 2 Extras
(lb-5 w-11) 16 Total (all out, 42.3 overs) 125 Fall of wickets:
1-18 2-26 3-41 4-71 5-71 6-85 7-91 8-97 9-110. Bowling: Streak 6.3-1-18-1, Blignaut 7-0-27-2, Brent 8-1-18-1, Ervine 5-0-13-1, Price 10-2-16-2, Gripper 6-1-28-2. Zimbabwe Sibanda c Baugh b Drakes 0 Gripper run out 6 Vermeulen not out 66 Wishart c Sarwan b Collymore 8 Matsikenyeri b Collymore 3 Streak not out 38 Extras (1lb, 4nb, 2w) 7 Total
(4 wkts, 29.4 overs) 128 FoW: 1-8, 2-8, 3-31, 4-54. Bowling:
Rampaul 10-2-47-0, Drakes 7-2-18-1, Collymore 7-1-27-2, Gayle 3-1-16-0, Samuels 2-0-10-0, Sarwan 0.4-0-9-0. |
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Cricketers’ body opposes Kale’s suspension
Kolkata, November 23 “In the matter pertaining to Abhijit Kale, the Indian Cricket Players Association feels that the player deserves a fair hearing and should be well represented,” ICPA secretary Arun Lal said in a statement here. Opposing the BCCI decision on Friday to suspend Kale from all cricket tournaments conducted by the board, Lal said “there should be no question of a suspension before the inquiry is completed”. “Only if allegations are proved conclusively, should a disciplinary committee, consisting of a representative of the players, deliberate over the matter,” he said. The cricket board meted out the punishment to Kale after two national selectors Kiran More and Pranab Roy alleged that the player had offered them Rs 10 lakh each for a place in the national side. The board appointed chairman of the Bar Council of India D.V. Subba Rao as the commissioner of inquiry and asked to submit his findings within 15 days. Meanwhile cricketing legend Kapil Dev today came out in defence of tainted batsman Abhijit Kale and rapped the Indian cricket board for slapping a suspension on the player before proving his guilt. “How can you ban a player when he is not proven guilty?” Kapil said when asked to comment on the charges levelled against Kale of offering bribe to two national selectors for a berth in the Indian senior team. Kapil, who himself had been in the eye of a controversy following team-mate Manoj Prabhakar’s allegation that he had offered Prabhakar money for match-fixing, said “I have also gone through this phase. So I have complete support for this person (Kale)”. Rapping the BCCI action to suspend the first class cricketer before any evidence was found against him, Kapil said “if it (the allegation) is not proven, I wonder how the Board will compensate him. Will the board officials levelling the charges be punished?” He, however, made it clear that “if the allegations are proven, I will hate him.” Kolkata:
Faced with growing criticism of its decision to suspend Maharashtra batsman Abhijit Kale, the Indian cricket board on Sunday summoned an emergent meeting of its working committee to discuss the whole issue pertaining to the bribery controversy. BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said here that the meeting would be held this Sunday in New Delhi. Since Kale is a cricketer of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, the authorised representative of the MCA would also be invited to attend the working committee meeting as a special invitee, he said. The cricket board on Friday decided to suspend Kale from playing any cricket conducted by the board after two national selectors — Kiran More and Pranab Roy — alleged that the player had offered them Rs 10 lakh each for a place in the national side.
— PTI
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Bribery charge against UP selectors
New Delhi, November 23 “They asked me to pay Rs 50,000. When I said I can’t, they said ‘Thank you. You may go,’” Ritesh Yadav said today. Yadav’s statement comes a couple of days after Maharashtra middle-order batsman Abhijit Kale was suspended by the cricket board from playing any cricket conducted by the board for allegedly offering Rs 10 lakh each to two national selectors — Kiran More and Pranob Roy — for a place in Indian team. Yadav said he had drawn the attention of the BCCI chief into the incident too. “When I gave this in writing to Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya, he assured me that he would look into the matter. But now it seems no action was taken,” Yadav said on a TV channel. — PTI
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Selectors demanded money, says Hyderabad cricketer
Hyderabad, November 23 “These things are common and everyone knows,” he said refusing to name either the person who approached him or the selector and also claiming that he was picked on merit. “Someone approached me on behalf of the selectors. I would not like to name the selector but everybody in Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) knows who he is,” Prathap said. Vanka also cited the example of Noel David, the Hyderabad off-spinner who was picked ahead of veteran Kanwaljit Singh in the Indian team for the 1996-97 tour of West Indies. “The selection of Noel raised eyebrows. Noel was not even sure of a place in the India ‘A’ team but he was picked for the Indian team,” Prathap said. “In the national team it is always happening. When performance is overlooked, belief sets in that something is wrong,” said the cricketer who has played 83 first-class matches scoring 3957 runs at an average of 36.30 with 136 being his highest score. — PTI
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Delhi tottering at 194 for 8 New Delhi, November 23 Railways, who won the toss and put Delhi into bat, tasted success early in the match when opener Salil Obrai snicked Harvinder into the hands of the wicket-keeper with the team score at 20. Salil Obrai spent an agonising 41 minutes at the wicket to make six runs off 29 balls. After the addition of 16 more runs to the total, the other opener, Puru Raj Singh, too was back in the pavilion. Puru Raj Singh, who has shifted turf from Karnataka to Delhi, was consolidating his position when one from J P Yadav kept low trapped him in front. He stayed put at the wicket for 82 minutes to score 19, off 48 balls, with three fours. Vijay Dahiya and Mithun Manhas then batted cautiously to take the score to 70 for 2, off 34 overs, at lunch with both the players on 20 runs each. Between lunch and tea, Dahiya, Pradeep Chawla and Varun Kumar too were back in the dressing room, with Delhi tottering at 135 for 5. Mithun Manhas, however, held his ground to slowly, but surely, graft runs. Unfortunately, he was run out when the team needed him the most. He made 62 off 157 balls with nine boundaries. When Manhas departed, Delhi were 165 for six, and two more wickets fell with the addition of just 20 more runs before close. Delhi, who suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Mumbai at the Jamia Milia ground in Delhi last week, crawled to 194 for 8 off 90 overs at the draw of stumps. Abhishek Sharma was batting on 8 and Kunal Lal, son of Madan Lal, was on an unbeaten one at close. Railways did enjoy some kind of ‘home’ advantage at the Karnail Singh stadium, but Delhi should have been equally at home, but did not show the necessary application to tackle the seasoned Railway bowlers. Railways had taken two points off Andhra Pradesh on the strength of their first innings lead at the same ground a fortnight back. Scores: Delhi (1st innings):
194 for 8 off 90 overs, (Salil Obrai 6, Puru Raj Singh 19, Vijay Dahiya 24, Mithun Manhas 62, Pradeep Chawla 8, Varun Kumar 15, N S Negi 28 (4x4), Sarandeep Singh 8, Harvinder Singh 2 for 52, J P Yadav 1 for 29, Sanjay Bangar 2 for 40 and Kulamani Parida 2 for 33). |
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Haryana toil against J&K Rohtak, November 23 Batting first after winning the toss, Haryana were in troubles as both the openers were dismissed cheaply. Skipper Jitender Singh left at individual score of one followed by the quick dismissal of his partner Chetan Sharma who could score only five runs. Both the batsmen were caught behind chasing the outgoing deliveries. The third wicket partnership between Sunny Singh and Ishan Ganda yielded 80 valuable runs scored in 109 minutes off 175 balls. Sunny, a member of India’s junior team which recently returned from Pakistan, made a memorable debut by hitting his maiden half century. He was aggressive in his approach scoring 66 runs facing in 116 balls. He hit eleven hits to the fence. At the other side, Ishan played a laborious knock to score 57 runs (176 balls, 213 mts, 5 fours) in a bid to rescue his team from the early blows it had suffered during the innings. Unbeaten knock of 59 runs by Shafiq Khan gave the hosts responsibility. Shafiq was associated in 58-run partnership for fourth wicket with Ishan Ganda. Shafiq’s half century came in 174 minutes after facing 132 balls and with the help of five boundaries. From Jammu and Kashmir side, off spinner Sameer Khajuria was the most successful bowler claiming three wickets for 85 runs. Shafiq Khan (59) and Pradeep Sahu (5) were batting when the stumps were drawn. Scoreboard Haryana (First innings):
Jitender Singh c Taggar b Bagal 1, Chetan Sharma c Taggar b Vijay 5, Sunny Singh lbw Jagtar 66, Ishan Ganda b Khajuria 57, Shafiq Khan batting 59, Sumeet Narwal c Kanwaljit b Khajuria 11, Joginder Sharma c Vijay b Khajuria 0, Pradeep Sahu batting 5. Extras (b-10, lb-2, nb-1, w-1) 14. Total for six wickets (in 91 overs, 360 minutes) 218. Fall of wickets: 1/8, 2/26, 3/106, 4/164, 5/191, 6/191 Bowling:
S. Bagal 13-3-39-1, Vijay Sharma 14-5-24-1, Kanwaljeet Singh 4-2-2-0, Ashwani Gupata 4-1-14-0, Jagtar Singh 23-11-36-1, Sameer Khajuria 29-5-85-3, Dhruv Mahajan 4-2-6-0. |
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Baroda in command against Punjab Vadodara, November 23 The 118-run unbeaten fourth wicket partnership between Martin (80 not out) and Mongia (38) helped Baroda, who won the toss and elected to bat, consolidate their position after losing three wickets for 115 runs. Martin was lucky as he got two chances in his unbeaten score of 80 runs. He was dropped by when he was on 45 by Gagan Singh. After the addition of five more runs to his total, he was again dropped by Rajesh Sharma. Rishikesh Parab, included in the squad after Connor Williams opted out due to health reason, did well and made 54 runs studded with eight fours. Rakesh Solanki failed to live upto the expectation and made only 20 runs. Mongia gave good support to his captain Martin in consolidating the position of the team. Rishikesh Parab, Rakesh Solanki and Yusuf Pathan were included in the eleven replacing Wiliams, Tushar Arothe and Irfan Pathan (Jr) who is a member of Indian team touring Australia. At the draw of stumps, Martin was batting on 80 and Mongia was on 38. — PTI
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Sri Lanka ‘A’ 243 for 8 Ahmedabad, November 23 The visitors were off to a shaky start but some fruitful middle order partnerships helped them cross the 200 run mark. A rapidfire 44 runs off 47 balls by T. Kandamane, some steady batting by A. Polonowitha making 33 runs of 63 balls and eight wicket support from O. Wijesiriwardane, batting on 49, helped the Lankans save face on the first day’s play.
— PTI
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Geet Sethi falters at
last hurdle Hyderabad, November 23 The young Englishman kept his nerves in the see-saw battle to win his maiden title 65-151, 21-152, 150-16, 151-59, 150-142, 152-12, 149-150, 151-21, 86-150, 62-150, 150-32. Sethi, who was runners-up in the last edition also, made an impressive start winning the first two frames with breaks of 89 and 123 respectively. But a silly mistake in the third by the Indian gave Lagan a chance to get back into the match which he grabbed splendidly with an unfinished break of 147. The Englishman then went on to win the next two frames the last with an unfinished 150 break after Sethi had notched up a break of 137 to go into the break with a 3-2 lead.
— PTI |
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Punjab Police face BP in semis
New Delhi, November 23 In the semifinals, the Jalandhar team will face Bharat Petroleum who defeated Punjab and Sind Bank 5-4, also through a golden goal. The Punjab Police team, which was on the defensive for the entire 14 minutes of the extra time, held its nerves to earn a penalty corner through its only substantial attack and Olympian Baljit Singh Dhillon made no mistake to take his team a step closer to the title. Punjab Police, led by forward Gagan Ajit Singh, grabbed the initiative from the outset with its attacking line not only keeping the Indian Oil custodian Devesh Chauhan busy but also earning two penalty corners. But it were the oilmen who nearly scored in the 24th minute through a penalty corner. However, the goal by Deepak Thakur was disallowed by refree H.S. Sodhi since the slap hit went into the net instead of sounding the board. The defending champions were lucky to go into the break with a solitary goal lead thanks to an opportunistic deflection by Gagan Ajit in the 29th minute off a free hit by Pardeep Singh. Indian Oil came back strongly in the second half and forced the Police team into the defensive. But the good work of its midfield was squandered by its forwards who failed to connect the passes or hit wide. The equaliser came for the oilmen in the 37th minute through a penalty corner when Prabhjot Singh took advantage of a rebound to place the ball into the net. A one-to-one between Gagan Ajit and Tejbir Singh saw the latter scoring a brilliant goal through reverse flick for the winners in the 48th minute but Bikramjit Singh restored parity with a direct penalty corner conversion in the 63rd to take the game into extra time. Earlier, Len Aiyappa of BP once again displayed his perfection in penalty conversion to send the high scoring PSB team packing. Aiyappa, who had converted all three penalty corners in his team’s last league match, made no mistake with the chance he received in the 8th minute of extra time to take his team into the last four. Bharat Petroleum, who went into the breather with a 1-2 deficit, went for the kill in the second half and were in the driver’s seat by the 54th minute leading the tie 4-2. — PTI
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Chennai, November 23 The sharp shooter started working towards achieving the self-set goals ever since she became the first Indian to earn the ‘Olympic quota’ last year, which has been the most productive in her career so far. The year also saw her being ranked top in the world in Air Rifle by the International Shooting Federation in June. Anjali’s credentials to sport the Olympic medals are enormous. The 34-year-old Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) employee has acquired her berth for the Athens Olympics, along with compatriots Abhinav Bindra (Air Rifle) and Maj R.S. Rathore, in trap events. In an intensely competitive world of shooting, Anjali expressed her confidence of going for a double crown, not wanting to miss out the opportunity in ‘three positions’. Like every champion, Anjali thrives on pressure during training sessions and competitions and has a clear idea about the benefits of being under pressure. “Pressure is a great thing. You can never have a top performance without any pressure and hard work. It is absolutely necessary. It has to be the right amount and too much is bad and too little is bad too,” Anjali said in an exclusive interview to PTI here. — PTI
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Afghanistan’s first soccer international in 25 years
Kabul, November 23 Neighbouring Turkmenistan won the game 2-0 but Afghanistan were the moral victors after being thrashed 11-0 on Wednesday in the away leg of the Asian World Cup preliminary round qualifier in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat. “This was a historic day for Afghanistan,” said Afghan coach Ali Askar Lali. Decades of occupation, war and Taliban rule sent Afghanistan into sporting oblivion, and it is likely to take years for the country to compete seriously in the international arena. The Afghan team rarely troubled Turkmenistan on Sunday on a poor playing surface, but it did not stop the crowd of around 2,500 Afghans enjoying the match. “I didn’t realise we had lost over there (in the first leg),” said turbaned and bearded Ali Shah, a 52-year-old shopkeeper. “I often come here to watch local games. Under the Taliban, the stands were always full as with no cinema and no music there was little else to do but watch football.” As well as banning films and music, it staged pre-game public executions and punishments including amputating the hands of convicted thieves and lashings for other offenders. — Reuters
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Punjab cyclists begin campaign in style Ludhiana, November 23 In the 1500m team time trial for boys (u-18 years), Punjab’s quartet of Randhir Singh, Abhishek Rana, Neeraj Sawhney and Akashvir Singh clocked 1.55.967 seconds to clinch the first medal of the championship. The Maharashtra team comprising Chander Kant, Prasad Gaikwad, Sanjay Khetre and Ravinder Pankade took 1.57.751 seconds and had to be content with the silver while the Rajasthan team comprising Laxman Vyas, Dayal Ramjat, S Ram Choudhary and Rajender Bhisnoi followed them closely with 1.58.321 seconds for the bronze medal. The Punjab contingent (boys u-16) comprising Raninder Singh, Sarpreet Singh, Munish Sawhney and Inderpreet Singh with timings of 1.55.010 seconds finished ahead of others to win the second gold medal for the hosts in the 1500m team time trial event. Maharashtra cyclists namely Amol Nalwade, Bappas A Dhumal, Prasad Khairnar and Rameshwar Munde clocked 1.59.657 seconds to finish runnersup. Rajasthan lads, Amit Ranga, Rajender Bishnoi, Ram Gopal Nayak and Shiv Dyal Choudhary took 2.00.791 seconds to claim the bronze medal. In 1500m team time trial (men), Punjab Police riders Sarbjeet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sukhjinder Singh and Pavittar Singh proved their mettle taking 1.45:020 seconds to secure the gold medal. RSPB riders Bhimjit Singh, Indra K Singh and Jafferson Singh battled hard (1.48:107 seconds) to earn the second spot while the host team of Abhishek Rana, Narinderjit Singh, Gurmit Singh and Amarinder Singh took 1.50:901 seconds and were relegated to the third spot. In the 1500m team time trial (girls u-18), Maharashtra clocked 2.13:703 seconds to lift the gold while Punjab with 2.18:928 seconds and Kerala with 2.19:513 seconds finished second and third respectively. The RSPB riders opened their account when in the 1500m team time trial for women, Ranjita Devi in association with veteran W Bemcha Devi, O Bina Kumar Devi and K K Walia (2.11:630 seconds) proved their supremacy to scrape past their immediate opponents from Maharashtra (2.12:050 seconds) and Kerala (2.16:732 seconds) for the gold medal. In the last event of the day, in a gruelling Devil Take the Hind Most event, Vishnu Chand of Kerala finished ahead of others to clinch the gold, followed by Jafferson Singh of RSPB and Sukhdev of Rajasthan who had to be content with the silver and a bronze medal respectively. Though the championship started in the morning, it was formally declared open in the evening by Mr Sukdhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, and president, Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and the Punjab Olympic Association. Mr Om Parkash Munjal, CMD, Hero Cycles Limited, main sponsors of this championship, Mr J S Grewal, secretary-general, CFI, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, president, Ludhiana District Cycling Association, Mr Teja Singh Dhaliwal, secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, Mr Sohan Lal Lotey, District Sports Officer, Mr Harinder Singh Bhullar, Director, Sports PAU were among those who attended the opening ceremony.
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HP, Delhi wrestling
bodies recognised Chandigarh, November 23 Giving details about the Bhawan, Mr Malik said the bhawan would have a multipurpose hall, laboratory, training centres, 25 air condition rooms and medical facilities besides facility for 50 wrestlers to stay. A representative of National Capital Region announced a contribution of Rs 1 lakh, Haryana Wrestling Federation, Arjun Award winner Sudesh Kumar and Delhi Wrestling Association Rs 51,000 each and Tamil Nadu Wrestling Association Rs 21,000 for the bhawan. Mr Malik disclosed that Surjeet Mann and Sushil Kumar had qualified for the Athens Olympics to be held in the year 2004. The membership of Mizoram, Nagaland and Chattisgarh wrestling associations who had not participated for the last three years in the meetings and the competitions organised by the association had been cancelled. While the wrestling association of Himachal Pradesh and Delhi State Amateur Wrestling Association had been given recognition. It was also decided in the meeting that the national wrestling competition for senior men would be held at Uttar Pradesh, junior boys at Himachal Pradesh, women at Jammu and Kashmir, sub-junior in Punjab and junior women in Tamil Nadu. Ankit, a wrestler, has been debarred for three years for
indiscipline in an international competition. Mr Malik disclosed that wrestling had been included in the Commonwealth Games, adding that Indian diet would be available to Indian wrestlers wherever they go out for participating in competitions.
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Prize money hiked in Harbhajan soccer Chandigarh, November 23 The meeting also decided to hike the prize money in both the club and college categories. According to Mr Ali
Hassan, secretary of the club, the prize money for winners in the club category has been increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000 while the runners-up will receive a cash prize of Rs 37,500. Earlier, the runners-up were awarded Rs 25,000. In the college category, the winners will pocket Rs 23,100 while the runners-up will receive Rs 15,100. Earlier the winners and runners-up were awarded Rs 15,000 and Rs 8,000, respectively, in this category. In addition, the best scorer of the tournament will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 1650 and the best player of the tournament will be given a cash prize of Rs 3300. The tournament, funded by NRIs and local football enthusiasts, attracts top Punjab outfits, including
JCT, Punjab Police, BSF, and PSEB, besides top college teams from Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar in addition to the Sri Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Mahilpur, team. |
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Football tourney at Jalandhar from today Jalandhar, November 23 Mr Inderjit Singh, president of the society, said here today that eight teams would participate in the tournament. They are JCT Phagwara, BSF, Jalandhar, Punjab Police, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Hoshiarpur, RCF Kapurthala, Keltron Football Club, Kerala, CRPF, Madhya Pradesh and SGGSFS, Jalandhar. He further said the winners would be given a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 51000 while the runners-up would get a cash prize of Rs 31000 alongwith a trophy. |
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Rajani wins bronze in wrestling Amritsar, November 23 She beat Taiwan’s player for the bronze medal in the free style. A member of Citizen Forum Sports’ Wing, Rajani Bhalla plays in 60 kg category. The Indian boys and girl’s team stood runners up in the championship.
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Steffi
wins Haryana table tennis title Ambala, November 23 In girl’s section, Steffi was the winner while Sidhi was the runner up. In boy’s section, Prashant was the winner. In women’s section, Monika was the winner while Anuradha was the runner up. In men’s section, Sunil Ahuja was the winner while Ganesh Ahuja was the runner up.
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