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Hockey team embarks on pre-Olympic odyssey Dhanraj Pillay eager to
serve nation
Kuerten triumphs as Argentines advance
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Mixed luck for India Euro finals to mark end of French golden era Women lifters likely to train in Belarus Gayle lifts Windies Humpy storms into semis Junior golf meet from today Chandigarh boys lift trophy Khushboo excels Patiala bowlers restrict
Ludhiana DAV win MES cricket tourney
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Hockey team embarks on pre-Olympic odyssey
New Delhi, May 31 ‘’We are making an all-out preparation for the Olympics. We are a serious contender for the gold, which has eluded India for over two decades. All depends on how the players shape up during the two months training,’’ Rajinder told newspersons here today. The Indian team is leaving for the USA tomorrow for a three-week fitness-cum-training camp. Playing down the controversy surrounding the late inclusion of ace striker Dhanraj Pillay, Rajinder expressed satisfaction with the current team of 26 probables. ‘’All the player are being given full chance to show their skills, endurance and consistency during the camp and anyone can qualify for the Olympics. I am satisfied with the present team. The players will be selected after going through rigorous training and everyone has to pass through it,’’ he added. The coach said, ‘’The preparation has to be very aggressive and scientific. Too much of stress on one aspect of the game will harm the team’s chances. Indian team has always been one of the best in terms of individual skill and ball control. The present team is a blend of experience and youth. The boys just need to peak at the right time and deliver when it matters the most.’’ On his specific target and strategy, Rajinder said, ‘’we have some definite plans and would like to go for change of strategy during the game itself. Nowadays, the strategies change every 10 to 15 minutes during the match. We will try to play attacking game but pay due attention in the defence. We are also paying attention to the penalty corner convertibilty and blocking the opponent’s short corners,’’ he observed. When asked how the induction of former German international Oliver Kurtz and coach Gerhard Rach would help the team, Rajinder said the two would help the team develop new strategies to be adopted while playing in European conditions.
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UNI |
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Dhanraj Pillay eager to
serve nation Athens Olympics 2004 may not be the swan song for Dhanraj Pillay. He has no plans to call it quits from international hockey. “I will serve my country as long as my limbs permit me”, he asserted, after a practice session at the National Stadium here today. Dhanraj Pillay, whose exclusion from the earlier hockey camps had kicked up a major row, said the present team was the best, “and with this team, we can beat the best in the world”. “We should do well in the Olympics”, he opened up, after a lot of coaxing by the media manager. The Indian Hockey Federation allowed a free interaction with the players and coaches on the eve of the Olympic probables’ departure for Arizona in the USA for a 21-day training-cum-conditioning camp. Dhanraj said it has been his cherished dream to play in one more Olympics, which would be his fourth. “God has given me another chance to play in the Olympics”, he noted. He welcomed the offer to some Indian players to play in the Dutch Hockey League as he felt that it would enable the players to improve their skills, stamina and fitness. Citing his own case, Dhanraj said the secret of his longevity was that his fitness level had gone up after playing in various foreign hockey leagues. “There is a lot of benefit in playing in the foreign league”, he opined. However, former Indian captain Dilip Tirkey, who is one of the players reported to have received the Dutch offer, said he would consider it only after the Athens Olympics. Pillay also welcomed the IHF decision to bring in German experts to provide scientific training to the players, which he felt was a step in the right direction. He said the method of coaching has changed so drastically that even Indian chief coach Rajinder Singh has been able to adapt to the changing scientific methods. Dhanraj said the trip to Arizona, followed by two four-nation tournaments and training stints in Germany, would enable the players to finetune for the Olympic Games, and peak at the right time. India will train in Arizona for 21 days before leaving for Amsterdam to play a four-nation tournament from June 24 to July 4. The probables will return home on July 5, and then a 20-member squad would be selected to play a four-nation tournament in Germany, followed by a training camp there. The squad would then leave for Athens in a bid to alter their Olympic destiny. Ace forward Gagan Ajit Singh said the emergence of new talents like William Xalco, Sandeep Singh and Adrian D’Souza was a good augury for Indian hockey. Gagan said he, along with Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur, have been trying to perfect ‘off the ball running’, a grey area of the team, to create more gaps for manoeuvre. Gagan said he was also doing a lot of work on his “chip, reverse flick and reflexes” to perfect them as attempting the reverse flick is a very big risk, “but we have to take such risks inside the dee to get goals”. Gagan said that during the last one and a half years, he had not seen anyone scoring from a direct hit. Therefore, it was essential to perfect other method of scoring to catch the opponents off guard. “We are working towards an Olympic medal”, Gagan asserted. |
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Penalty corner specialist Jugraj Singh, who suffered a fatal injury that kept him out of the game for almost an year, believes he will attain full fitness level soon and peak just in time for the Athens Olympics. ‘’I am recovering very fast and able to run and receive the ball well. I have to acquire full-fitness level and hit shots on stretch and while bending. I think I can reach my peak in 3 or 4 weeks time,’’ Jugraj, who had a light practice session at the National Stadium, told newspersons here. ‘’I am regularly doing the prescribed exercises and practicing for almost an hour. Moreover, I am also following certain CD’s which gives me tips on how to attain full match fitness,’’ he said. When asked whether he was risking his career in playing for the country at the Olympics, Jugraj said he would do anything for the country and it was his dream to play and do well at the Olympics.
— UNI |
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Kuerten triumphs as Argentines advance
Paris, May 31 The Brazilian's lasting romance with Paris and the Roland Garros centre court crowd enjoyed another twist on Monday when he meandered into the quarterfinals of the claycourt Grand Slam. His 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez thrilled the Parisian crowd and was a triumph of determination over pain, the Brazilian shrugging off a hip injury to progress. "I have such feelings for this place," the former three-times champion said. "I always surprise myself here." Kuerten will face eighth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian in the last eight after the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up beat Marat Safin 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. Nalbandian's victory means there are four Argentines in the quarterfinals of the men's singles at a grand slam event for the first time. Third seed Guillermo Coria, Juan Ignacio Chela and Gaston Gaudio are the three others. Safin struck a forlorn figure as clouds gathered above Roland Garros. The mighty Russian, suffering from severe blisters on his hands, was powerless to prevent Nalbandian advancing. "My hands are bleeding... I couldn't play at the end," he said, holding up his palms as he sloped off court." Lleyton Hewitt joined Kuerten and Nalbandian in the quarters. His 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 win over Belgium's Xavier Malisse wasn testament to his fitness and dogged determination against a gifted but indisciplined opponent. The Australian — a former US Open and Wimbledon champion — will face Gaudio next after the Argentine ended Russian Igor Andreev's run 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. "Yeah, I felt confident out there," Hewitt said. Bringing that confidence into the latter stages of the tournament, he added: "I've been there and done it before. "I've been in a few second weeks of grand slams and come through them on a couple occasions." Champion here in 1997, 2000 and 2001, Kuerten endeared himself to the Paris crowd long ago, and every time he takes to the Roland Garros centre court, the stands ring with fans chanting his name. On Saturday that support helped him to beat world number one Roger Federer in the third round. On Monday it helped him block out the pain of a persistent hip injury. "After my surgery (in 2002) my hip is not able to work as before," the 27-year-old said. "It's sometimes very painful and frustrating on court. If I am out there trying hard for one hour I start to get some pain in my leg. "But when you are playing tournaments like this, in the quarter-finals, with your adrenalin high, you can bear a lot more than in practice or in the early rounds. In 2001, Kuerten entered folklore when he etched a giant love-heart in the centre court clay with the edge of his racket.
— Reuters |
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New Delhi: Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova crashed out in the second round of the mixed doubles while Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi progressed to the men's doubles semifinal here today. The sixth-seeded Indo-US pair lost to unseeded Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia and Lucas Arnold of Argentina in straight sets 5-7, 5-7. Earlier today, third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus scored a clinical 6-3, 6-4 win over Karsten Braasch of Germany and Sargis Sargsian of Armenia. The Indo-Belarussian pair was never in trouble as they clinched crucial breaks in the first and second sets to breeze past their unseeded opponents. In the boy’s singles, Tushar Liberhan rallied superbly to upset 10th seed Woong-Sun Jun of Korea 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the third round.
— PTI |
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Euro finals to mark end of French golden era
La Grande Motte, France, May 31 In the space of 10 years, the team, arguably the best France has ever produced, wrote the brightest and the darkest pages of French soccer’s story under Jacquet and his successor Roger Lemerre. They became the first side to clinch the World Cup and the European Cup in succession before they experienced one of the biggest failures in World Cup history. The generation emerged when Jacquet was named to replace the sacked Gerard Houllier after France were eliminated by Bulgaria in their last qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup finals. Jacquet comprehensively reshuffled the team and imposed a very defensive tone, convinced that avoiding conceding goals was just as important as finding the way to the net. The story of the generation began with a 1-0 victory over Italy in Naples 10 years ago and it will end in Portugal next month, under Lemerre’s successor Jacques Santini. There is little doubt that captain Marcel Desailly, who will turn 36 in September, is leading the last campaign of his international career. France’s most capped player has made it clear he will not be in Germany in 2006, should France qualify. He could be followed by defenders Bixente Lizarazu, 34, and Lilian Thuram, 32, as well as goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who is 32. The four players, among many others, owe a lot to Jacquet. The former coach made Desailly a first-choice libero in place of Alain Roche and paired him up with Laurent Blanc to create a central duo envied by many countries. Jacquet brought in Thuram to replace Jocelyn Angloma, he fielded Lizarazu instead of Eric Di Meco and named Barthez as number one goalkeeper, forcing Bernard Lama into retirement. He was also the first to exploit the talents of Zinedine Zidane. He put Zidane in the number 10 jersey and ruled out Eric Cantona at a time when the former Manchester United player was considered a living god in the premier league. Zidane, who will be 32 on June 23, is not certain to carry on until the World Cup finals even though he has extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2007. For “Zizou”, too, the European Championship could be the last major event of his international years. Teaching France to exist without their inspirational playmaker is something Santini has been working on since he was appointed in July 2002, after France’s humiliating first-round exit from the World Cup. “There will be life after Zidane,” Santini said. “And we must be ready for it. Now, I think we know we can play without him.” For other players, such as strikers Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet and midfielder Patrick Vieira, there is time left on the international stage. The former Monaco pair were only teenagers when they made their debuts during the victorious world campaign in 1998, while the Arsenal midfielder will be 30 in Germany. They can certainly aim at two or three more major tournaments. But despite the uncertainties of who will leave and who will stay, France go into next month’s European Championship confident that they are no longer outsiders, as they were for many years. A French fan at the seaside resort of La Grande Motte, where France have been preparing for the trip to Portugal, said: “We were the world champions once and we will be forever. There are not 10 countries in the world who were. That is something you can’t wipe from the record books.”
— Reuters |
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Women lifters likely to train in Belarus
Bangalore, May 31 Sources in Indian Weighlifting Federation disclosed that the selection committee of the federation, meeting here on June 5, is likely to take a decision on shifting the final phase of the ongoing camp at the Sports Authority of India, South centre here, to Belarus. A federation official said the Athens-bound woman lifters are likely to leave for Belarus in June second week. Chief coach Pal Singh Sandhu and foreign coach Leonid Taranenko, an Olympic medal winner from Belarus, as well as lifters themselves have made no secret of their keenness to have the final phase of training in Belarus. "The foreign coach and myself have given our views to the federation that we would like to have the final phase of training in Belarus, which is far more developed than us in the game of weightlifting and have produced a number of Olympic champions and world champions," Sandhu said today. "We think it (to have final phase of training in Belarus) will be better. If we go there, our chances of winning a medal might go up." Based on the performance in the world championship last year, India has secured the maximum four berths for woman lifters at the Olympics. All the four lifters -- N Kunjarani Devi, Karnam Malleswari, Sanamacha Chanu and Prathima Kumari -- are training here in the camp. Sources said the federation may select two more lifters for the Belarus camp. On India's medal prospects, Sandhu said: "We are hopeful of getting at least two medals", he said. Asked if Kunjarani Devi and Malleswari have a realistic chance of clinching a podium finish at Athens, the coach said: "Yes, they have". Malleswari also supported the idea of a brief-training stint in Belarus. "If you compare the weather and training facilities, it would be better if we go to Belarus. Athens is very near... just one-and-half hour flight from Belarus. Weather is almost same in both the places so naturally it will benefit us to some extent", the 28-year-old lifter Malleswari
said. — PTI |
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Castries (St. Lucia), May 31 The home team closed on 262 for five yesterday in reply to Bangladesh’s record first innings total of 416. Gayle survived three dropped chances, one of six floored by the visitors, on the way to his fifth Test century in his 43rd match. The 24-year-old counted 14 fours off 246 balls in six hours. Ramnaresh Sarwan (40), Brian Lara (53) and Dwayne Smith (42) all chipped in as they shared useful partnerships with Gayle in the middle order. Pedro Collins finished off the Bangladesh innings inside 15 minutes as they resumed on 406 for nine. The left-armer bowled Rafique off the inside edge to finish with four for 83. The West Indies reply got off to a disastrous start when Devon Smith was run out after a mix-up with Gayle in the second over at two for one. Smith, returning to the team after missing the final two Tests against England with injury, was dismissed without scoring. The left-hander was sent back too late on Gayle’s push to backward point and Foysal Hossain and bowler Tareq Aziz completed the dismissal. Scoreboard Bangladesh (Ist Innings): 416 West Indies (Ist Innings): Smith run out 0 Gayle not out 110 Sarwan c Rafique b Baisya 40 Lara c Mashud b Mushfiqur 53 Chanderpaul c Mashud
Smith c Aziz b Rafique 42 Jacobs not out 1 Extras:
(1 lb, 8nb) 9 Total: (for five wickets, in 86 overs) 262 Fall of wickets:
1-2, 2-89, 3-162, 4-183, 5-253. Bowling: Tapash Baisya 16-3-51-1, Tareq Aziz 17-3-78-0, Mushfiqur Rahman 17-6-39-1, Mohammad Rafique 30-9-81-2, Rajin Saleh 6-0-12-0.
— AP |
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Humpy storms
into semis Elista (Russia), May 31 Playing with black yesterday, Humpy outplayed her opponent by displaying excellent use of the pieces. However, some quick exchanges of pieces in the middle of the game handed some advantage to Xu Yuhua which created some difficulties for Humpy’s king. The Indian, however, kept her cool and lured Xu Yuhua to take her rook in a bid to regain an upper hand in the game. Xu fell to her clever bargain and followed with a flurry of checks to Humpy’s king for 30 moves in a row. Humpy tackled the situation well and in the end game trapped Xu in a position where the Chinese had to surrender. Later Humpy said ‘’We were equal in the middle game... but I had some advantages. Xu Yuhua kept on pressing but since I was in a better position I went all out for a win.’’ On being asked if this was revenge of her World Cup defeat, Humpy replied ‘’Every sportsperson wants to avenge his or her defeat if and when one gets the chance. It is also apllicable to Chess.’’
— UNI |
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Junior golf meet from today New Delhi, May 31 A record number of 174 entries, including nine from women, have been received for the tournament, which will be played on a stroke-play format. Some of the juniors like Ajeetesh Sandhu, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Fatehbir Dhaliwal, Raghav
Wahi, Amanjyot Singh, and Virat Badhwar are all set to follow the path taken by Jyoti
Randhawa, Jeev Milkha Singh and others who had progressed via the junior route to graduate to the bigger league. Chandigarh lad Ajeetesh is the top junior in the country and has moved from category B to A, while Gaganjeet Bhullar, from Kapurthala, is ranked second on the IGU Merit List. Yet another product of the Chandigarh Golf Course,
Fatehbir, has turned out consistent performances, to help him progress in the Merit List. |
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Chandigarh boys lift trophy Nahan, May 31 Till half time no team could score any goal but in the 68th minute Ramkaran scored first goal for the Coaching Centre. Second goal was scored by Jagmohan of Chandigarh in the 88th minute. Jagmohan of Coaching Centre, who played exemplary game in this tournament, was adjudged the Best Player of the tournament while goalkeeper of Chandigarh team, Raj Kumar was adjudged the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament. Mr Kush Parmar, Ex-MLA, distributed the prizes to the players. |
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Khushboo excels Faridabad, May 31 She broke her own national record set in year 2000. she clinched three gold medals and was declared overall national speed champion along with Versha of Karnataka. Saini, clocked 31.84 seconds in the 300 metres event, bettering the old record of 32.83 seconds held by her earlier. She has been holding the title of ‘fastest’ Indian women skator since year 2000, says her coach John David. This year she won gold in 500 metres, 1000 metres and 300 metre events. Patiala bowlers restrict
Ludhiana Chandigarh, May 31 Earlier Patiala were all out for 255 runs. In the second innings, Patiala were 96 runs for the lost of three wickets in19 overs. Brief scores: Ludhiana: Ist inings:244 runs all out (Vishwajeet 40, Gitansh79, Sushant 53, Bhavnish Goyal 3 for 63, Mohit Mohindra 2 for 37). Patiala: IInd Innings: 98 runs for three in 19 overs (Kuwar Raina 46, Jeevanjot 35, Mohit nine n.o., Aman one not out ,Vishwajeet 2 for six).
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DAV win MES cricket tourney Patiala, May 31 Brief scores: DAV, Sector-10, Chandigarh 212 for 5 (Kunal Mahajan 68, Saurav Chopra 36, Akshit Kumar 33, Ankit 20, Lovish Bansal 18, Rajat 1 for 34, Ved Parkash 1 for 32, Kunal 1 for 23) Kanpur CC: 204 all out (Aditya 93, Kunal Pandey 41, Manvendra Singh 40, Akshit Kumar 5 for 34, Gurjit Singh 2 for 23) In another league match, Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, Chandigarh, beat Ghaziabad XI by 164 runs. Brief scores: Sector 16, Chandigarh: 209 all out (Gurinder 46, Shoaib 33, Rozal 32, Lakhan 28, Saurabh 4 for 33) Ghaziabad XI: Rozal 3 for 4, Gaurav 2 for 11, Ashish Kumar 2 for 8. |
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Athens Olympics 2004 may not be the swan song for Dhanraj
Pillay. He has no plans to call it quits from international hockey. “I will serve my country as long as my limbs permit me”, he asserted, after a practice session at the National Stadium here today.
In video (
