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Batra enters IHF poll fray
Six Indians for Pak hockey league
Chappell keen to put Sachin back on track
Some players abused Wright: Gavaskar
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Anand beats Adams
Atwal joint 16th after 3rd round
Arjun finishes tied 18th
Randhawa ends tied 35th
Milkha Singh to honour Binu
with cash award
Patiala swimming meet results
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Batra enters IHF poll fray
Kolkata, May 22 “I will put forth my nomination for the posts of both President and Secretary-General,” Batra told PTI on the phone today. Batra said he had decided to enter the fray as a show of protest against the way incumbent President Gill and Secretary K Jothikumaran had been continuing in office “term after term, flouting all rules”. “There will be a close contest, and they will face a tough challenge,” he said. Meanwhile, a source close to KPS Gill said the former Punjab Police Director-General would seek another term as President in tomorrow’s elections. “He will contest as a nominee of Himachal Pradesh,” the source said. Asked why had he thrown his hat in the ring for both top slots, Batra said, “On earlier occasions, I’ve been badly let down by people who initially agreed to the contest, but developed cold feet at the last moment. This time I do not want Gill and Jothikumaran to win by default. So I will myself stand against them. “Unlike what was done by some others in the past, I’m not going to opt out of the fray at the last minute,” said Batra, who will attend the AGM as a representative of Jammu and Kashmir. “I’ll review my decision to contest on the floor of the house only if there are suitable candidates ready to take on the current President and Secretary-General,” he said. Batra said he would be in a position to say whether candidates could be put up for the other posts — treasurer, eight vice-presidents and five joint secretaries — after consulting with his supporters. Meanwhile, it is learnt that Jothikumaran is likely to try his luck for the Secretary-General’s post again this time, though there has been no official confirmation. The Golden Park hotel, the venue of the AGM, has turned into a hotbed of activity with the Gill camp holding marathon strategy sessions since last night. A source in the pro-Gill camp, however, claimed that things would be “sorted out” before the AGM, which begins at 10 am tomorrow. “Elections are unlikely. Gill and Jothikumaran have done a lot for hockey. And all members have faith in them,” he said. Jalandhar: Former Olympian Pargat Singh on Sunday alleged that the Gill-Jothikumaran combine had ruined the game in the country. “If you have a look at the performance of the Indian hockey team in the past 11 years, the tenure of Gill as IHF President, the team has not won any big international event except the Asian Games in 1998,” Pargat told PTI here while claiming that both Gill and Jothikumaran have no moral right to continue in their posts. “Even after winning the Asian Games, the IHF dropped as many as six good players from the team without giving any valid reason,” he said.
— PTI |
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Six Indians for Pak hockey league
Lahore, May 22 “Last year, Pakistani players, including drag-flick expert Sohail Abbas and former captain Waseem Ahmad, had taken part in the inaugural Premier Hockey League
(PHL) in Hyderabad and this time the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) returned the compliment by agreeing to allow six of their players to play in the Super League,” the source said. Taking a cue from the
PHL, the federation here decided to introduce the league with six teams participating in the first edition. “The name of the six Indian players would later be conveyed by the
IHF,” the source added. The PHF Director, Marketing, Naveed Haidar Khan, recently toured India to negotiate with Indian TV channels to telecast the league live. The PHF is to launch the league on September 10.
— UNI |
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Chappell keen to put Sachin back on track
Sydney, May 22 “I don’t think he’s ever going to be the player he was. You change. You’re a different person in your 30s compared to when you’re an 18-year-old. You just have to learn to play accordingly,” said Chappell, who replaced New Zealander John Wright as India’s coach. Chappell, whose appointment came just two days ago, however, said that such a change was natural. “Everyone goes through different phases in their career. He’s been around for about 15 years and most of those 15 years have been extraordinary.” Considered as one of the world’s best players ever, Tendulkar, who has 10,134 runs in Tests and 13,642 in one-dayers, seemed to have changed his batting style in recent times. “He’s had some down periods recently. He’s had some injuries. He’s perhaps had a bit of a crisis about what his role is in the team,” the former Australian captain was quoted as saying in The Sun Herald. “I just need to sit down with him and work out where he’s at and where he wants to go, what expectations and goals he has. Hopefully I can motivate him and present him with some new challenges,” Chappell said. The Australian, whose first assignment will be guiding India in a tri-series in Sri Lanka, was not expecting a full resurrection from Tendulkar.
— PTI |
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Some players abused Wright: Gavaskar
Gavaskar mentioned this in the context of a debate whether the team should have an Indian or a foreign coach. He said he had written the column just before the selection of Chappell was made. “One thing is sure — however inefficient an Indian coach would be, there is little chance that he could be abused to his face by any player, however big the players may be,” Gavaskar wrote. He stated that this was not meant to take anything away from the former New Zealand captain, “who, during his playing days and even now, is one of the nicest of men and a real gentleman.” Wright had to do a difficult job, he added. — PTI
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Pakistan clinch series
Gros Islet (St Lucia), May 22 Pakistan won the opening match of the series last Wednesday at Arnos Vale by 59 runs. Runako Morton, playing in his fourth ODI, was the top scorer for the West Indies with 55 from 98 balls. Apart from Morton, Chris Gayle gave the innings the usual flourish at the top of the order with 43 from 45 balls, and Courtney Browne hit 35 from 29 balls, but no other batsman came to grips with the steady, if not menacing Pakistan bowling. Shahid Afridi picked up four wickets for 38 runs from his 10 overs with his leg-spin missiles to be the pick of the Pakistan bowlers. Half-centuries from Shoaib Malik, who was later named man of the match, and Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had helped the visitors post a competitive 258 for eight from their 50 overs. Shoaib, dropped by Gayle on one at first slip off Daren Powell in the ninth over, and Inzamam both hit three boundaries and both scored 51 from 91 and 58 balls respectively. The two added 55 for the fourth wicket to lead consistent batting right down the order from the Pakistanis, who also got 48 from Younis Khan. Corey Collymore snared three wickets for 40 runs from his 10 overs to be the most successful West Indies bowler. The West Indies had problems early when Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and first-slip fielder Younis Khan muffed a chance to remove teenaged opening batsman Xavier Marshall, clearly out of his depth, in the first over off Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Rana eventually got his man, when Marshall sliced a drive and was caught at gully for seven in the fifth over. Gayle continued to play his strokes freely, but Shabbir Ahmed bowled him in the 14th over and the West Indies innings continued to wobble. Morton and Wavell Hinds, who came together when the total was 114 for four in the 25th over, added 49 for the fifth wicket in the best partnership of the innings. They, however, were removed in a period when the West Indies lost three wickets for nine runs in the space of 14 balls to subside to 172 for seven in the 40th over. Scoreboard Pakistan Butt run out 16 Afridi c Hinds b Powell 12 Malik run out 51 Youhana c Browne b Hinds 21 Inzamam c Bravo b Gayle 51 Younis c Gayle b Collymore 48 Razzaq b Collymore 20 Akmal not out 24 Naved c & b Collymore 1 Anjum not out 1 Extras
(lb-1, w-11, nb-1) 13 Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 258 Fall of wickets:
1-27, 2-33, 3-81, 4-136, 5-186, 6-222, 7-255, 8-257. Bowling: Powell 7-1-27-1, Bradshaw 7-0-27-0, Collymore 10-1-40-3, Hinds 6-0-38-1, Gayle 10-0-50-1, Bravo 10-0-75-0. West Indies Gayle b Shabbir 43 Marshall c Butt b Hasan 7 Sarwan run out 17 Morton b Afridi 55 Chanderpaul run out 3 Hinds b Afridi 22 Bravo lbw b Afridi 0 Browne b Hasan 35 Bradshaw b Afridi 5 Powell b Iftikhar Anjum 3 Collymore not out 0 Extras
(b-2, lb-7, w-5, nb-14) 28 Total (all out in 48.2 overs) 218 Fall of wickets:
1-25, 2-67, 3-93, 4-114, 5-163, 6-163, 7-172, 8-192, 9-218. Bowling:
Rana Naved 6.2-0-20-2, Shabbir Ahmed 7-0-38-1, Rao Anjum 9-0-35-1, Razzaq 6-1-32-0, Afridi 10-1-38-4, Malik 10-1-46-0.
— AFP |
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Raikkonen cruises to victory
Monaco, May 22 Kimi Raikkonen extended his dominance to clinch his second successive win while Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber gave a two-three finish for Williams-BMW after a race filled with drama and excitement. The McLaren driver, who won the Spanish Grand Prix a fortnight ago, is now second in the overall championship table behind leader Fernando
Alonso, who finished fourth here. Michael Schumacher of Ferrari handled a tough race well to come seventh with team-mate Rubens Barrichello behind him eighth, first time both the Ferraris finishing with points in a race this season.
Karthikeyan, driving for the first time in Monaco, a venue where the car manufacturers get to showcase their product to their sponsors, made three pits stops before retiring due to brake problems. It was the second time that Karthikeyan’s Jordan Toyoto EJ15 car had failed to complete the race. He had retired in the Bahrain Grand Prix at Manama in April earlier.
Karthikeyan’s team-mate Tiago Monteiro came thirteenth, three laps behind the
winner. Raikkonen led the Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish for a commanding victory. The Finnish ‘Iceman’s’ second win in a row, and the fourth of his career, was a perfect present for engine partners Mercedes as they celebrated their 200th start in the world championship. The young Finn’s untroubled domination through the winding streets of the principality contrasted with the struggles of Renault’s overall leader Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s world champion Michael Schumacher.
Alonso, second for much of the race, was forced on the defensive and had to hang on grimly for fourth place with his rear tyres worn almost smooth and a queue of rivals stacked up behind the Spaniard.
Alonso now has 49 points to 27 for Raikkonen, who moved up to second place in the championship. While McLaren and Renault fought for supremacy, once-dominant champions Ferrari took their losing streak to seven races in a row with seven-time champion Schumacher taking a meagre two points in seventh place. The German, five times a winner in Monaco and triumphant 13 times in 18 races last year, had another afternoon to forget but he kept on fighting to the finish. His race was wrecked when he hit the back of David Coulthard’s Red Bull in a five-car jam caused by Minardi’s Christijan Albers skewing across the road at Mirabeau and blocking the track on lap 25.
Coulthard, twice a winner here for McLaren, retired at the end of the lap while Schumacher, his front wing ripped off, pitted for a replacement and rejoined a lap down with the safety car deployed. While Alonso and others refuelled during the safety car period, Raikkonen stayed out and pulled away before pitting after the half distance. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya made an amazing recovery from 16th place on the grid to finish fifth with Germany’s Ralf Schumacher sixth for Toyota. Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello took the final point in eighth place.
— PTI, Reuters |
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Mauresmo aims to break jinx
Paris, May 22 Mauresmo, who briefly rose to world No. 1 late last year, has been touted as a potential winner here since she burst on to the scene at the 1999 Australian Open.
But year after year she has failed to
deliver, let down by a fragile temperament that has buckled under the weight of expectations.
Thus Noah, the hugely-popular winner of the 1983 men’s singles title, has been brought in to sit down with Mauresmo and basically “get her head straight”. Now known more for his reggae-inspired rock concerts than his tennis skills, the
deadlocked Noah is seen as a master motivator, but Mauresmo insists that there is no quick fix to her shortcomings here. “There is no magic wand,” said Mauresmo, who is seeded three and faces Australia’s Evie Dominikovic in the first round. “It’s nothing extraordinary, it’s about little touches, little details. It’s his personality, his vision of things not just the mental plan but also the game and the physical approach”. The Mauresmo enigma is just one of many imponderables in what is gearing up to be one of the most open women’s tournaments for years at Roland Garros although the draw was stripped of one potential winner when 2003 champion Serena Williams pulled out with an ankle injury. Belgian pair Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, both of whom have clawed their way back from debilitating injuries in spectacular fashion this year, cannot be ruled out. Indeed Henin-Hardenne, winner here in 2003, has won her last three tournaments — all on clay — at Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin. “Everyone knows what happened to me in the past and I don’t want to make the same mistakes again,” said the 23-year-old Henin-Hardenne who is seeking her fourth Grand Slam title here. “After winning in Berlin, I think it was enough for me, I had to rest, that’s why I didn’t play in Rome. “It was a good decision. I want to play for a few more years so I have to think about my calendar and my schedule and the way I work and recover. “In the future, I am not going to play for more than three weeks in a row.” Clijsters shrugged off a wrist injury, which kept her out for the best part of year, returned to win back-to-back hardcourt events in the USA only to injure her right knee in Berlin two weeks ago. “The injury was no big deal,” said Clijsters who rates her game at around 80 per cent going into a tournament where she has twice been a runner-up. “It was just a case of bad timing. I will keep doing my splits on court because it’s part of my game and helps me.” Venus Williams comes into the French Open buoyed by winning the inaugural Istanbul tournament yesterday with a straight sets final victory over Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic. Williams, whose last title came in Warsaw in May 2004, beat the 16-year-old second seed 6-3, 6-2. World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport is another who scarcely conceals her dislike for the clay surface and she will head to Paris with no great ambitions in what could be her final appearance at the only Grand Slam event she has not won. That leaves the Russian armada who were the shock troopers of last year’s tournament when Anastasia Myskina defeated Elena Dementieva in an embarrassingly one-sided final. Myskina looks unlikely to repeat the dose this year as she has struggled with injuries and loss of form all year and only confirmed late that she would take part at all. Dementieva is also carrying an injury, while glamour girl Maria Sharapova admits she is still learning how to play on a surface which is not suited to her battering ram style of play. The best bet among them could be Svetlana Kuznetsova, last year’s US Open champion who has been based for years at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy in Barcelona — the best claycourt school in the world. Another outsider is Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder who gradually has honed an effective all-court game on clay that saw her come close to defeating Mauresmo in the final of the Rome Masters last Sunday.
— AFP |
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Anand beats Adams
Sofia, May 22 With his superlative effort, Anand jumped to the sole second spot after local star Veselin Topalov, who produced another gem to squeeze former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine. The other game of the day between Hungarian Judit Polgar and Russian Vladimir Kramnik ended in a draw. Topalov leads the tables solely with 5.5 points to his credit while Anand is half a point adrift of him. Ponomariov and Polgar are next in line on 4.5 points while Kramnik is another half point behind. Surprisingly enough, Adams, an early leader of this category 20 double round robin tournament, was pushed to the last spot after his third loss in four days. In the final round game Anand will have the advantage of playing with white pieces against Polgar while Topalov will have to play black against Kramnik. In short, an exciting finish is on the cards in this unique event that prohibits players from offering draws. The Petroff opening is known for its solid impact at all levels and Adams learned it the hard way. Playing white, Adams employed the main line and was outdone from an almost equal position in the middle game. Securing a passed pawn in the centre, Adams thought he was at least equal but Anand had other plans as he trapped white’s bishop on the edge of the board with his pawn mass and thereafter Adams fought a lost battle. Getting two pawns but no hope after losing the material, Adams later allowed Anand’s queen to penetrate the king side and it was all over. The game lasted 60 moves. For Anand this was the second victory in the tournament after he went down to Topalov in round 6. The Indian ace has also won both his games in the Petroff defence, the earlier one being against Kramnik in round 7 when he won in just 20 moves playing white.
— PTI |
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Atwal joint 16th after 3rd round
Fort Worth (Texas), May 22 Atwal, now six-under 204 after 54 holes, would be hoping for a better last round to make an attempt to log his third top-10 finish this year. Atwal was tied 12th after two days. Daniel Chopra shot a one-over 71 to be one-over 211 for three days and was tied 61st after being 52nd overnight. The 2003 winner and overnight leader Kenny Perry shot six-under 64 in the third round setting another Bank of America Colonial scoring record and took a seven-stroke lead over Billy Mayfair and Steve Stricker going into the final round. Perry broke his own 54-hole scoring record at 18-under 192, and has just one bogey — on No. 8, his 17th hole on the first day. He made 51-of-54 putts from 15 ft or less, including a five-footer after blasting from the sand to avoid a closing bogey in the third round. Perry started with a 36-hole scoring record of 12 under. Atwal, starting from the first, opened well with birdies on the first and second and moved into the top-10 at that stage. A bogey followed on the fourth but he quickly recovered from that with his birdie on the sixth. Then his knee started acting up and he was playing carefully.
— PTI |
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Arjun finishes tied 18th
Manila, May 22 Arjun, tied eighth at previous week’s Macau Open, carded an even par 71 and a total of one-over 285 following bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes. But for the two bogeys, he would have ended in a tie for sixth with five others. Meanwhile, Australian Adam Le Vesconte won his maiden Asian Tour title by a whopping four strokes. Vesconte, starting the final round two off the pace, fired a closing seven-under-par 64 for a winning total of 12-under-par 272 and grabbed the winner’s cheque of $ 31,500. Other Indians finished much lower as Digvijay Singh was tied 32nd after a final round of par 71, and Shiv Kapur was done in by a triple bogey on the course, and he turned in a card of three-over 74 and finished tied 49th, after seeming to be set for a much better finish. Firoze Ali was tied 54th and Vivek Bhandari was 72nd. Local hope Gerald Rosales, with his sister and LPGA Tour star Jennifer Rosales, rooting for him, finished a distant second after a 67, while overnight leader Jason Dawes of Australia was disappointed to finish third following a round of 72. Arjun Singh began well with birdies on the first two holes, before dropping one on the sixth. He recovered to get another birdie on the sixth and he turned in three-under. He dropped a shot on the tenth, but made up on the 14th. Just when he seemed to be settling in for a top-10 place in the close contest above, he bogeyed the 15th and 16th and fell down to tied 18th with a round of 71. Digvijay had a poor start with two bogeys in first four holes, but birdies on sixth and seventh saw him turn at even par. A birdie on 12th and bogey on 16th saw him stay there for his 71 and tied 32nd. Young Shiv Kapur was hit badly by the triple on the 17th, which cost him dearly. He had birdies on the first and fifth, but dropped shots on fourth, eighth and ninth. The triple on the 17th hurt, but he composed him to recover one shot on the 18th for his 74 and tied 49th. Firoze had two birdies and one bogey and a double on 16th in his 72 that saw him end at seven-over 291 and tied 54th. Vivek Bhandari, had two birdies, four bogeys and one double in his 76 that saw him end up 72nd out of the 75 who made the cut. Behind Vesconte, Rosales and Dawes, Americans Ron Won and Bryan Saltus shared fourth position on 282 while Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit, who was second overnight, slipped out of the title chase with a 76 to share sixth place with Malaysia’s Danny Chia, Filipino amateur Juvic Pagunsan, Canadian Darren Griff and first round leader Andrew Buckle of Australia. The 31-year-old Vesconte, who entered the week ranked a lowly 119th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, said, “I’m absolutely delighted. Last night, I had a feeling that I could win this championship and doing it today will give me the opportunity to play in the bigger events. The Asian Tour is growing so fast and I can now pick the events that I want to play in.” After an opening bogey, Vesconte turned on the style, making birdies on the fifth, seventh and eighth holes to turn in two-under. Vesconte’s victory parade started on the homeward stretch when he shot five birdies to ease his way to victory. Rosales, who lost his Asian Tour card last season, will benefit greatly from his runner-up’s cheque of $ 21,600. He had a 67 on the final day. Overnight leader Dawes, who shot a course record 62 yesterday, never got his game going and ended third with a one-over 72. The Asian Tour will head to Seoul, S. Korea, next week for the Maekyung Open.
— PTI |
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Randhawa ends tied 35th
Okayama, May 22 Randhawa carded five-under for the day after the first seven holes, including an eagle on the par-5 second hole, and then three straight birdies from fifth to seventh, but then the birdies dried up. He completed the week at an aggregate of four-under 284. He bogeyed the 11, 13th and the closing hole 18th to finish disappointingly. His four rounds were 71, 70, 73 and 70 and he improved from his overnight place of tied 46th. Overnight leader Hiroyuki Fujita, one of the most consistent players on the Japan Tour, won the title with a total of 18-under 270, and two clear of Steve Conran and Tadahiro Takayama, who tied for second.
The 35-year-old won his fifth title since the first he won in 1997. — PTI
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Milkha Singh to honour Binu
with cash award
Chandigarh, May 22 Milkha had promised that any athlete who bettered his 400m record, set at the 1960 Rome Olympics, would be awarded Rs 1 lakh. Milkha had fallen short by a whisker of winning a coveted medal for India as he had finished fourth in Rome. Binu had clocked 45.48 seconds at Athens, where he had qualified for the semifinals. The national record holder, who is practising at Patiala these days, said he was likely to get the cash award from Milkha Singh in July. |
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Patiala swimming meet results Patiala, May 22 Earlier, the meet was inaugurated by Mr S.K. Ahluwalia, Commissioner of the local Municipal Corporation. Results: 200m freestyle — boys (group-1): Manpreet Singh (Guru Tegh Bahadur School)-1, Jiwanjot Singh (Guru Nanak Foundation)-2, Jaideep (Civil Lines School)-3. 100m breast-stroke — boys (group-2): Nishu Kumar (Dhudial Khalsa School)-1, Jiwanjot Singh (Budha Dal Public School)-2, Rupinderjit Singh (Sri Guru Teg Bahadur School)-3. 100m back stroke — girls (group-2): Manjot Sidhu (Mahindera College pool club)-1, Amandeep Thakur (Teja Singh Kandhari School)-2, Kartika (Greenwell School)-3. 100m breast stroke — boys (group-3): Jiwanjot Singh (Akal Public School)-1, Swatanter Singh (Khalsa Model School)-2, Jashandeep Singh (Budha Dal Public School)-3. 200m free style — boys (group-3): Karan Walia (British Co-Ed School)-1, Shubham Walia (Budha Dal School)-2, Tapish Mittal (British Co-Ed)-3. 100m back-stroke — boys (group-2): Johny Bhatia (Dhudial Khalsa School)-1, Gurpreet Singh (Pheel Khana School )-2, Ripin Moudgill (Modi College)-3. 100m freestyle — boys (group-4): Karan Raj Sodhi (Teja Singh Kandhari)-1, Monish Walia (BDP School)-2, Jagwinder Singh (Pheel Khana School)-3. 50m butterfly — boys (group-1): Harshit (Yadvindera Public School)-1, Johny Bhatia (Dhudial Khalsa School)-2, Gagnish (Civil Lines School)-3. 100m breast-stroke — boys (group-1): Harshit Narang (YPS)-1, Mubarak Sandhu (BDP School)-2, Gurpreet Singh (Pheel Khana School)-3. 100m freestyle — boys (group-3): Karan Kalia (British Co-Ed School)-1, Tanveer Walia (BDP School)-2, Swatanter Singh (Khalsa Model School)-3. 50m breast stroke — boys (group-4): Karan Raj Singh (Teja Singh Kandhari School)-1, Jagwinder Singh (Pheel Khana School)-2, Anmol (British Co-Ed School)-3. 50m Butterfly — boys (group-4): Karan Raj (Teja Singh Kandhari School)-1, Monish Walia (BDP School)-2, Aftab Sethi (Our Lady of Fatima School)-3. 50m breast stroke — boys (group-2): Navdeep Singh (Pheel Khana School)-1, Javed Khan (New Era School)-2, Jiwanjot Singh (BDP School)-3. 50m butterfly — boys (group-2): Kanwarpreet Singh (Modern Senior Secondary School)-1, Paramvir Singh (DAV School)-2, Jiwandeep Singh (TSK School)-3.
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New Delhi, May 22
