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England humble India, clinch series
Shikha loses to Venus, Myskina bows out
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Paes avenges defeat
Sunil Dutt for sports on Concurrent List
Minister lends ears to students
Depleted France take on Israel
TT colts shine
Patiala district-inter school meet starts
Ludhiana eves beat Faridkot
Ahluwalia to head panel
Mukesh in sight of title
Imphal school rout Sirsa in Subroto Cup
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England humble India, clinch series
London, September 3 Flintoff lived up to his emerging reputation as the number one allrounder with a whirlwind 99 off 93 balls as England took control of the second of three-match series. The 26-year old Lancashire batsman hit four sixes and nine fours as he sent the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt. Providing able support to the burly right hander was Paul Collingwood, who made 79 from 85 balls with 11 fours. The
two added a record 174 runs for the fifth wicket, surpassing England’s
previous best against India of 110 between Mike Gatting and David Gower
at Jalandhar in 1981. Their partnership helped England overcome a brief slump early in the innings when they lost four wickets for 34 runs. Harbhajan Singh, coming in place of Anil Kumble, claimed two for 14 from his 10 overs on the trot to put the brakes on the England run flow. The Turbanator, in combination with part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag (2-51), had the England batsmen dancing to his tune after Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki had given them a rousing start. Rahul Dravid took sharp catches down the leg side standing up to the spinners and the wheels seemed to come off the England innings before Flintoff and Collingwood wrested the initiative back from the Indians. Ganguly might have tossed it away when he decided to bowl on a benign pitch. The decision smacked of decline in his confidence in his batsmen after a series of failures beginning with the Asia Cup final. Though the Oval track helped seam movement, its true bounce was perfect for strokemaking. And if there was any juice on the fresh pitch, the generous Indian seamers helped the England openers settle down quickly. The first 10 overs saw 65 runs, mainly through boundaries. Solanki, who had made a statement in the first one-dayer on Wednesday, drove and flicked with elegance for a sparkling 48 with eight fours. It was not until the introduction of the spinners in the 12th over that the Indian bowling showed any sign of stopping the run flow. Harbhajan struck with his very third ball when Trescothick (27), trying to take on the spinner, top-edged a sweep to Lakshmipathy Balaji at deep square leg. Dravid then brought up his first catch to dismiss rival skipper Michael Vaughan (4) off Harbhajan. Solanki’s
flourish gave way to edges and thuds on the pads. Trying to turn Sehwag
down the leg, he was brilliantly caught by Dravid who got the ball stuck
to the left webbing. Strauss was ill at ease from the outset and fell while trying to sweep Sehwag, as England slid from 71 for no loss to 105 for four. Then, as Harbhajan finished his quota, began the Flintoff assault. The makeshift bowlers Rohan Gavaskar and Yuvraj Singh proved to be mere pretenders and runs began to flow once again. The run rate picked up from 4.5 per over to 5 and above, and the fourth 50 came in 38 balls. Flintoff, having struck Sehwag for two huge sixes on the leg side, seemed to reserve his best for the seamers. A straight six into the stands off Balaji marked his top form and the misery for the 22-year old Indian touched the height when he dropped the batsman off Pathan the next over. But just one run short of his third one-day hundred, the big man edged Ajit Agarkar to give Dravid his third catch of the match. Scoreboard England T'cothick
c Balaji Solanki c Dravid Vaughan c Dravid Strauss c Ganguly Flintoff c Dravid Collingwood not out 79 G Jones not out 12 Extras
(b-1, lb-5, w-28, nb-2) 36 Total (5 wkts, 50 overs) 307 Fall
of wickets: 1-71, 2-93, 3-98, 4-105, 5-279 Bowling: Irfan
Pathan 10-1-58-0, Laxmipathy Balaji 8-0-77-0, Ajit Agarkar 6-0-60-1,
Harbhajan Singh 10-2-14-2, Virender Sehwag 10-0-51-2, Rohan Gavaskar
3-0-18-0, Yuvraj Singh 3-0-23-0. — PTI |
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Anju moves up to fifth place
New Delhi, September 3 Anju, who erased her national mark by nine cm leaping to 6.83m, got 180 points for her sixth place at Athens to move up with 1,247 points from her sixth position in the last list. Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia took over as the new world number one, dethroning compatriot Tatyana Kotova, bronze medal winner, who slipped to the second place. The third Russian on the podium in Athens, silver medallist Irina Simagina, retained her third place while Australian Bronwyn Thompson, who finished fourth, jumped up three spots to number six. American Marion Jones retained her fourth place.
— PTI |
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Shikha loses to Venus, Myskina bows out
New York, September 3 The 24-year-old Venus, who won the event in 2000 and 2001, took 81 minutes to advance to the next round, where she will play fellow American Chanda Rubin, who beat Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti, 7-5, 6-3. The 21-year-old Shikha, cousin of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, was making her Grand Slam debut. She was nervous about playing for the first time in the main stadium at the US Open but also excited about facing her “idol”. “I was just crying because this is like the biggest party I have ever been to in my life,” said Shikha, ranked 275th in the world. Taking the court before Venus, fifth seed Lindsay Davenport, the 1998 US Open champion, also advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja. After a sluggish start, the world No. 4 recovered over 62 minutes of play to extend her match-winning streak to 19-0. Lacking the consistency she showed in her opening round match, Davenport had more double faults (7-3) and unforced errors (23-12) than Parra Santonja. But Davenport fired seven aces and hit more winners (30-8). Davenport’s third round opponent will be Russian Elena Bovina, who beat Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-2, 7-5. Defending champion and number one seed Justine Henin-Hardenne survived a scare before beating unheralded Tzipora Obziler of Israel 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in a second round match. Drained from her gold medal run in Athens and still feeling the after effects of a virile virus, Henin-Hardenne hit 34 winners in the two-hour, 14-minute match. She struggled with her serve, making eight double faults. In a men’s second round match, Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan rolled past American Paul Goldstein 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0. Armenia’s Sargas Sargsian survived one of the longest matches in US Open history by beating double Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4. The match lasted five hours, nine minutes and is the second longest on record behind the 1992 men’s semifinal where Stefan Edberg beat Michael Chang in five hours and 26 minutes. Reigning French Open champions Gaston Gaudio and Myskina were both knocked out. Gaudio lost a second round match to 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Myskina was upset in straight sets 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 by 17-year-old Russian Anna Chakvetadze. Fourth seed Myskina, who was the first Russian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros, is now 8-6 all-time at the US Open. Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova produced a mixed bag of crunching winners and sloppy errors in her 6-0, 6-7, 6-1 victory over fellow Nick Bollettieri graduate Jelena Jankovic. “I don't think I am playing the best tennis but you don’t want to be playing your best in the first two rounds,” said Sharapova, who now faces Mary Pierce. The 14th seed, Nadia Petrova, continued the Russian charge with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Australian Samantha Stosur. Ninth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova became the eighth Russian woman into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australia's Nicole Pratt. Britain’s Tim Henman led a clutch of leading men through to the third round, the fifth seed shrugging off a back injury to beat Jerome Golmard in four sets. Third seed Carlos Moya beat American wildcard Amer Delic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a night match, while there was bad news for two other home players as Taylor Dent and Olympic silver medallist Mardy Fish both crashed out. Two-time champion Andre Agassi briefly looked in trouble against Germany’s Florian Mayer when he lost the second set 6-2, having edged a tight opener 7-5. Normal service was resumed when the 34-year-old sixth seed won the third 6-2 and Mayer retired early in the fourth with a leg injury to save Agassi further exertion. — AFP, Reuters |
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Paes avenges defeat
New Delhi, September 3 The 13th seed pair of Paes and Rikl had no problems to clear the opening hurdle against the Croats, as they coasted to a 6-4, 6-2 win last night, according to information received here today. Ancic and Ljubicic had won a marathon four-hour battle against the Indian pair of Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in Athens last month to shatter the hopes of over one billion countrymen. Paes and Rikl will now face the Swiss-German pair of Yves Allegro and Michael Kohlmann in the second round. Allegro and Kohlmann had to work hard to overcome the challenge of Hicham Arazi of Morocco and Tom Vandoudt of Belarus 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. In mixed doubles, Paes and Martina Navratilova of the USA, seeded eighth, defeated the pair of Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Mark Knowles of Bahamas 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) to move into the second round.
— PTI |
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Sunil Dutt for sports on Concurrent List
Chandigarh, September 3 Speaking to The Tribune exclusively here today, Sunil Dutt pointed out that out of the annual outlay of Rs 400 crore for his ministry, about 50 per cent (Rs 200 crore) was spent on salary and administrative expenses. The remaining money was spent not only on sports but also on youth welfare programmes. "So you can imagine what the allocation for sports is like," he said frankly. In contrast, the minister pointed out, China spent a whopping $1.2 billion annually on sports. The country had set up specialised academies for a number of sports disciplines and the results were there for all to see at Athens. China had already started getting ready for 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In India we were bogged down in doing post-mortem on our Athens performance, he pointed out. In this connection, the Union Sports Minister said, he had planned to convene a meeting of heads of sports federations, state Sports Ministers and others concerned in New Delhi. The date for the meeting was, however, yet Speaking about the drug problem which had plagued Indian lifters at Athens, the Sports Minister revealed that according to his information both Sanamacha Chanu and Pratima Kumari had reportedly taken banned substances only after reaching Athens. "Their test at the SAI lab prior to the team's departure had shown them as clean", he revealed. Asked why action was then taken only against the coaches, he said the coaches were under contract so they were removed. But he had no answer when asked if action would be taken against the Weightlifting Federation of India (which in the first instance had recommended the employment of the coaches) Declining to take the blame for India's dismal performance at Athens, he said his ministry only acted on the inputs of the federations and had no direct role to play. However, he was non-committal when asked whether he would like to pull up the federations for their misinformation. "The federations are autonomous and the ministry can do nothing about it. The Centre can only contribute in terms on money (of which there was not enough by his own admission)." When pointed out that he himself as the Sports Minister had no idea that the Indian Hockey Federation had dropped national coach Rajinder Singh just prior to the Athens Olympics even when the national team was training abroad, Sunil Dutt admitted that KPS Gill spoke to him only after the German coach Gerhard Rach had taken over the reins of the team. This was in spite of the fact that it was the government which was funding the hockey team's training abroad. In this connection, the Sports Minister remarked that the hockey federation was autonomous and the ministry could do nothing about it even if the federation had acted in haste. Sunil Dutt refused to comment on the fact that a large number of federations were headed by either IAS or IPS He also had nothing to say when pointed out that officials of federations had a tendency to cling to office flaunting the guidelines laid down by the government. |
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Minister lends ears to students
Chandigarh, September 3 This question was tossed to the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Dutt, by Gurjit Singh, a student of the Business School at Panjab University during an interactive session at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here today. Dutt replied that unlike other countries, where sportspersons who won medals became brand ambassadors and earned millions overnight, there was no such practice in India. “Medal winners have no future here. We have never sought to promote sports as a profession. The emphasis has always been on studies. I can understand how your parents must have debated when it came to your choosing between studies and sports,” he said. “This calls for inculcating sports culture right from the village panchayat or the school playground. We have a long way to go. India has 40 to 50 per cent school dropouts. We have to spot sports talent, set up sports training academies and build quality infrastructure. I sympathise with the likes of Gurjit. I assure you, we are taking steps. A review of the sports structure, in consultation with the states — since sports is a state subject — is on the anvil,” Dutt said. This first question set the pace for the question-answer “match” between Dutt and students of Chandigarh colleges. Many of them wanted to air their grievances and talk more about their unfulfilled aspirations and dreams in sports, but not all could do so due to paucity of time. Anita, a student of Punjab Engineering College and a swimmer, put forth the demand for an “all season” swimming pool. To the supplementary questions that Dutt raised to give a reply to Anita, he was told by the Panjab University Vice-Chancellor, Prof KN Pathak, that though the Sports Authority of India had some sports projects in Chandigarh, there was no “all season” swimming pool. Dutt asked the Vice-Chancellor to send him a project proposal in this regard. Dutt wanted the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh to take steps to provide a swimming pool of international standards. He quoted the example of Mumbai, where the corporation ran a sports complex. “Next time there are elections to the corporation, you must vote for the candidate who promises you a swimming pool,” he said. Gagan, an avid archer who studies in the Government College for Girls, Sector 11, told Dutt that state-of-the-art equipment for archery was not available in the country. It had to be imported from Korea. She stumped Dutt by claiming that it took over two years to import archery equipment! She said a representation sent to the archery federation when she was a first-year student had remained unacknowledged till date, now that she was in the final year. Dutt asked her to send him the representation. Though CRRID Director Rashpal Malhotra tried to facilitate the interaction of youths with the minister, many boys and girls were disappointed for not being able to air their views. It was left to CRRID governing body member and a Trustee of The Tribune Group of Newspapers, Mr RP Bambah, to placate them. He invited them and sportspersons to write about their problems and other sports-related issues to The Tribune. “Finding faults alone will not do. You must help find solutions as well,” he added. |
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Depleted France take on Israel
London, September 3 Zidane, Desailly, Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu announced their retirement from international soccer a month ago after France lost its European title just two years after meekly giving away its World Cup crown. New coach Raymond Domenech has to rebuild quickly if he is to get Les Bleus to Germany 2006. His team starts with a home game against Israel at the Stade de France. That sounds like three easy points after the French beat the Israelis home and away in Euro 2004 qualifying. But French fans with long memories will recall the last time they met Israel in a World Cup qualifying game. That was 11 years ago when their team needed just one point from two home games to reach the ‘1994 finals in the USA. A late Israel goal in Paris ended in a 3-2 French loss. France then lost at home to Bulgaria and never made it to the finals. Following the game against Israel, the French hope to capture three points in the second round of games on Wednesday when they go to the Faeroe Islands. If they win both, then French fans will hope for a repeat of their team’s European Championship qualifying streak, in which they won all eight matches. Italy, who now has Marcelo Lippi in charge, kick off with a home game against Norway at Palermo, Sicily, before travelling to Moldova on Wednesday. Parma’s young striker Alberto Gilardino, who scored four goals as Italy’s Olympic team won the bronze medal last Friday, will lead the attack. Francesco Totti is serving the last of a three-game ban imposed for spitting at an opponent during Euro 2004. After early elimination from the 2002 World Cup and the European Championship, the Italians need a boost. Luis Figo and Rui Costa have retired from the Portuguese team, which is looking to teenager Cristiano Ronaldo as its new hero. Coach Luis Felipe Scolari won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil and, having taken Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, wants to go one step further. He starts the journey to Germany 2006 with a visit to Latvia followed by a home game against another Baltic nation, Estonia.
— AP |
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Schumacher survives crash
Monza (Italy), September 3 Medics attended to Schumacher after he climbed out of the car, but he did not go to the track hospital for a precautionary exam, Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni said yesterday. The crash occurred at the end of the main straightaway, just before the Monza circuit’s parabolic curve, in a portion of the track where cars reach their highest speeds. Ferrari was testing for the next Formula One race, the Italian Grand Prix, which is scheduled for September 12 at Monza. Schumacher clinched his record seventh drivers’ title — and fifth consecutive — on Sunday at the Belgian Grand Prix.
—AP |
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TT colts shine
New Delhi, September 3 The team comprised Soumyajit Sarkar, Sanil Shankar Shetty, Shushovan Das and Shuvam Sharma, a Table Tennis Federation of India note said today. The cadet A paddlers won the gold medal in the team championship, beating Hong Kong 3-0. The India B cadet team won the bronze medal. In the cadet boys doubles, Soumyajit and Sanil bagged the gold medal, beating Sushovan and Shuvam Sharma. In the cadet boys singles, Soumyajit claimed the silver when he lost to Qiang Shen of Canada 9-11, 9-11, 9-11. In the cadet girls singles, Divya Deshpande won the bronze. In the cadet girls doubles, Pallabi Kundu and Soumi Mondal garnered the bronze. In the cadet girls team event, India also got the bronze.
— UNI |
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Patiala district-inter school meet starts
Patiala, September 3 The organisers, led by the District Education Officer (Secondary), held the ceremony in the afternoon The children sat in the hot afternoon sun. To add to their woes there was no drinking water available. The organisers, including the DEO, Mrs Pritpal Kaur Sidhu, the newly elected secretary of the Patiala district schools tournament committee, Mrs Surinder Kaur Verma, and officials of the Education Department sat comfortably under a shamiana, with fans and cold water adding to their comfort. Students of Shivalik Public School gave a lively display during the 90-minute opening ceremony. Basketball player Sukhjot Kaur of Punjabi University's Senior Modern Secondary School took the oath. |
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Ludhiana eves beat Faridkot
Ludhiana, September 3 Ludhiana cagers established the lead from the word go and managed to hang on to it till the hooter. The winners were leading 30-20 at the end of the second quarter. In the third quarter, Faridkot players re-organised themselves and narrowed the margin to 36-42. In the deciding quarter, Ludhiana eves maintained their cool and scored at crucial moments to clinch the match with a 12-point margin. In the men’s section, fancied Baba Lodhiana Academy scored an easy win over Amritsar. At the end of the first quarter, Lodhiana Academy trainees were enjoying a four-point lead (18-14). Afterwards, the academy boys gave no chance to their opponents to settle down and won 61-36. |
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Ahluwalia to head panel
New Delhi, September 3 While three-time world amateur billiards champion Ferreira would be heading the committee for Dronancharya Awards, Ahluwalia would chair the committee for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dhyan Chand Awards, an official press note said here. The awards, given away at a ceremony on August 29 every year, were postponed this year to September 21 in view of the Olympic Games.
Each committee would have 15 members —12 eminent sportspersons and three officials.
— PTI
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Mukesh in sight of title
New Delhi, September 3 Mukesh, who had shot 10-under 206, is all set to make a final day charge to take a shot at the first title of the Amby Valley PGAI Tour’s 2004-05 season opener. One stroke behind Mukesh at nine-under 207 was Rafiq Ali of Kolkata while Vijay Kumar of Lucknow shot a five-under 67 to move into the third spot at eight-under 208. |
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Imphal school rout Sirsa in Subroto Cup
New Delhi, September 3 Raju Mangar and H. Singh scored a brace each while Sanjay, Pilminchon, Rakesh Singh and Chitranjan Singh accounted for the other goals. Thakran Singh scored the consolation goal for Sirsa. |
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