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Henin crushes Pierce,
lifts French Open title
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India have gaps to plug
Ganguly out for a duck
Younis Khan hits century
Bangladesh delay
England win
Vijay Kumar wins golf title
Sports Dept to generate funds
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Henin crushes Pierce,
lifts French Open title
Paris, June 4 Playing near-perfect tennis, the Belgian dynamo overwhelmed her dazed opponent, smacking winners to all corners of centre court, as Pierce’s game imploded. Victory for the former world number one extended her winning sequence to 24 and meant that she was the undisputed queen of clay this year, having won every match she had played on the surface. What had been an eagerly awaited clash between the two French-speaking women turned out to be the most one-sided final since Steffi Graf beat Belarussian Natasha Zvereva in 1988. “There is no words to describe this magic moment. It is a great victory for myself. The public was fantastic, even although they were obviously for Mary,” said Henin-Hardenne. “Mary is somebody I like very much and respect a lot. It was very difficult for her,” she added. French 21st seed Pierce, looking for an unlikely second title at the age of 30, began confidently enough, holding her opening service game with the aid of one crunching backhand. But her early optimism quickly evaporated as Henin-Hardenne, timing the ball beautifully, launched a fierce onslaught to leave Pierce reeling. The 23-year-old Belgian won the next 14 points with a mixture of stunning winners and wayward play from her opponent, breaking twice as she accelerated into a 4-1 lead. Pierce, winner here five years ago, simply had no answer. Serving at 1-5 down, she looked a forlorn figure as Henin-Hardenne moved ahead 15-40. She saved one set point with an ace, but followed that with a double fault to hand the 2003 champion the opening set in 24 one-sided minutes. It got even worse for Pierce early in the second set as raindrops fell lightly from the grey Parisian sky. She comically dumped a routine smash into the bottom of the net as Henin-Hardenne grabbed an early break to lead 3-0. Pierce finally stopped the rot in the next game, Henin-Hardenne for once off target with her destructive backhand. But it was only a brief respite. In her next service game, Pierce lamely double-faulted to give Henin-Hardenne a chance to serve for victory. A double-fault on her first match point merely delayed the inevitable as another Pierce backhand found its way into the net to end an embarrassingly one-sided contest after 62 minutes. — Reuters
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Destiny beckons Rafael Nadal
Paris, June 4 The 19-year-old is looking to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Mats Wilander by winning the title here at his first attempt, but the muscular fourth seed believes that the showpiece is lacking a special ingredient — Roger Federer. Nadal celebrated his 19th birthday in style yesterday by knocking the world number one out in the semifinals 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first-ever Grand Slam final. “Federer for me is the best player,” said Nadal. “He is an amazing player. When he played well in the semifinal, he made it very difficult for me, and only when I escaped his game, did I manage to score points.” In the meantime, Nadal is seizing his opportunity to hammer home his credentials as the Swiss star’s heir apparent. Two years of injury misery prevented Nadal from making his debut at Roland Garros, but he goes into the title showdown as overwhelming favourite, having clinched five clay-court titles already this year. If he wins, Nadal will become the first player since Wilander in 1982 to lift the Roland Garros crown on his debut; it will also make him the fourth youngest champion at the Grand Slam tournament, considered the toughest to win. Nadal also has the advantage of comfortably beating Puerta, the world number 37, on the only two occasions they have played, in Acapulco earlier this year and in Umag, Croatia, in 2003. Both wins were also on clay. Nadal will go into the final the fresher of the two men, with Puerta having had to battle through five-set matches in the quarter-finals and the semifinals to see off Guillermo Canas and Nikolay Davydenko. But the 26-year-old Puerta, like Nadal a left-hander, is fired up for the match by the sense of injustice he still feels at a nine-month drugs ban he served last year after testing positive for clenbuterol. When he returned to the tour, he had to compete in far-flung Challenger events to get his ranking back up. “When I came back, I was prepared for very tough moments, prepared to be able to play anywhere. This is what I wanted,” he said. “I was ready to sacrifice a lot, to give a lot. If it meant going to play in Iran, I went.
— AFP |
India have gaps to plug
Kuala Lumpur, June 4 In the league phase, Malaysia had beaten India 4-1 and for coach Rajinder Singh Jr, it is important that the result is not repeated. India have come with a few inexperienced players, but also have been let down by the indifferent showing of senior players. ‘’The performance here has shown us where we need to plug in the gaps,’’ said Rajinder. ‘’I think we need to make a beginning against Malaysia itself and try and finish fifth in the tournament,’’ Rajinder added. The final will be a repeat of the 1996 edition featuring Korea and Australia, which was won by the former to lift their maiden Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. This time, both teams have shown tremendous form and also moments of lapses in concentration, making it difficult for anyone to hazard a guess as to whether it will be the Korean skipper or the Australian captain who will have the last laugh. Olympic champions Australia have played well in patches to accumulate 14 points in six matches, winning four and drawing two for an unbeaten record. Asian Games champions South Korea have 13 points, with four wins, a draw and one loss. The loss had come against Pakistan, whom they ultimately edged out on goal difference to enter their fourth final here. Coaches of both sides maintain that the teams are rebuilding for the Champions Trophy in December and the World Cup in 2006. But Australia have almost retained their Olympic team except for the absence of Troy Elder, who decided to play the Dutch league. South Korea, who were only 15 seconds away from a semifinal finish at the Athens Olympics, but then slid to eighth position, now have a younger set of players and a new coach in Cho Myung Jun. Olympic silver medallists in the 2000 Olympics, Korea have shown enough class in this edition to worry Australian coach Barry Dancer. ‘’It is not that we underestimate Korea,’’ said Dancer and added, ‘’But as a team, we will have to play 70 minutes of consistent hockey.’’ In their last league match against India, Australia squeezed through with a narrow 1-0 victory, the match-winner coming in the 65th minute. Cho Myung Jun will probably have a look at that match again and understand how a young Indian defence tackled the Australian forwards effectively. If Australia rely on sudden bursts of speed in the rival half, Korea have, over the years, tried to play consistent hockey for large periods of the match. With a speedy midfield never missing out on an opportunity to build moves, the Asian nation has always used sustained pressure on the opponents’ defence. Dancer was, however, happy with the narrow 1-0 result against India. ‘’The result makes me happy as now I have almost two days to prepare for the final. We will like to make some changes that can help us retain the title.’’ A lot will also depend on the form of skipper Brent Livermore, Australia’s mastermind in the midfield. Against India, his own form dipped a bit and the attack lost that cutting edge. For Korea, the man in form is Seong Jung Kang. Though a bit temperamental, Kang has the skills to turn a match around and combined with his penalty corner flicks, Korea have a potential match-winner. ‘’The Aussies are Olympic champions and if we are able to beat them, it will be a terrific shot in the arm for Korean hockey,’’ said coach Cho Myung Jun. In the other matches on Sunday, Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman will definitely like to win the bronze medal at least after the bitter disappointment of losing to hosts Malaysia, their only defeat in the tournament, that prevented them from entering the final. — UNI
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Ganguly out for a duck
Coming in at the fall of Australian opener Matthew Elliott, Ganguly was bowled by left-arm fast-medium bowler Jason Lewry on the third day of the four-day match yesterday. Sussex had declared their first innings at 497 for five after the first day was washed out by rain. Ganguly’s fall triggered a middle-order collapse as Glamorgan slided from 209 for two to 289 for seven at stumps, with Lewry claiming five for 76. At Croydon, Harbhajan Singh made a useful 15 not out as Surrey declared at 310 for seven in the second innings to set Warwickshire a target of 442. Warwickshire, who were all out for 209 in reply to Surrey’s 340 in the first innings, were 18 for one at stumps.
— PTI |
Kingston, June 4 Younis cracked 14 boundaries in his ninth Test century. He got solid middle-order support from captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (50) and Asim Kamal (51) as the visitors threatened to dominate. But seamer Corey Collymore claimed four for 55, including three wickets in the final session, to leave the first-day honors shared. Scoreboard Pakistan (Ist innings): Malik c Browne b Collymore 13 Hameed c Gayle b Powell 14 Younis c Hinds b Collymore 106 Inzamam c Smith b Gayle 50 Kamal b Collymore 51 Afridi c Browne b Collymore 33 Razzaq not out 19 Akmal not out 24 Extras: (b-4, lb-3, w-2, nb-17) 26 Total: (for 6 wickets) 336 Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-43, 3-130, 4-247, 5-260, 6-298. Bowling: Powell 16-2-54-1, Best 12-1-59-0, Collymore 22-4-55-4, King 13-1-65-0, Gayle 25-1-85-1, Sarwan 2-0-11-0. — AP
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Chester-le-Street, June 4 Earlier, Ian Bell confirmed his growing reputation with a maiden Test century today as England declared at 447 for three at lunch. The 23-year-old Bell, who made 70 and 65 not out in his previous two Test innings, made 162 not out. He faced 168 balls, hitting a six and 25 fours. He and Graham Thorpe, who made 66 not out in his 100th Test, put on 187 at almost a run a ball. They batted correctly until a message from the captain reached them, along with a spare pair of gloves, half an hour before the break, leading to a flurry of attacking strokes and 63 runs in six overs. England, who also dominated the first Test, had resumed on 269 for three, 165 in credit. After the pyrotechnics of the previous evening, when England had carved 223 runs in 35 overs during the final session, Saturday began less spectacularly. — Agencies
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Sunam gets swimming pool
Sangrur, June 4 The Rs 34 lakh pool is the brain child of Sangrur’s former Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sarvjit Singh, who himself was a national level swimmer. He had set the ball rolling for the pool in Sunam. And his successor, Mr Hussan Lal, took parsonal interest to get the pool completed. With the Sunam pool ready, Sangrur has emerged as the only city in northern India to have four swimming pools — three indoor and one open. With so many swimming pools coming up the district has started showing results in the swimming championships. At the recently concluded junior and subjunior state championship, the Sangrur team clinched the overall championship. Surprisingly the Sangrur swimmers have made this achievement although the district does not have a regular qualified swimming coach. The District Sports Officer, Mr Gursharan Singh, is doing his best to belp the budding swimmers. But he also admits that a qualified swimming coach would take the swimmers to even bigger heights in national swimming meets. He also mentioned the name of Mr Ravinder Singh, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sunam, who had also put in his best to see the completion of the Sunam pool. |
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Vijay Kumar wins golf title
Mumbai, June 4 Vijay held himself together at the crucial stages to walk away with a well-deserved two-shot victory on the last day, when things were still in the balance till the final few holes. With Vijay winning the year’s final title, and Mukesh winning the Money List, the veterans managed to steal a march over the younger Shiv Kapur and Ashok Kumar. Vijay’s purse of Rs, 7,29,000 saw him vault past Kapur and Ashok Kumar on the money list and finish second behind Mukesh, who amassed over Rs 26 lakh for a new landmark in Indian golf. Vijay, with just over Rs 17 lakh, was second, while Kapur was third with Rs 16.32 lakh and Ashok Kumar fourth with Rs 15.78 lakh. Gaurav Ghei, brought in the day’s best of 68 to jump to fifth, while Mukesh, carded a one-under 71, his third such card in four days, for the sixth place. Jaideep Patwardhan was the best amateur with a total of 306 after a final round of 81.
— PTI |
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Sports Dept to generate funds
Jalandhar, June 4 “Though the state government is yet to release funds for recruitment of 140 budding players in different sports disciplines at Government College, situated on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala road, during the current academic session, we have decided to generate funds to the tune of Rs 3 lakh per annum through contributions by NRIs and national and multinational companies,” Mr. Kartar Singh, Director, Sports Department, Punjab, said. The Tribune highlighted the plight of the college, formerly known as the State College of Sports, in these columns on June 4. The authorities concerned were criticised by several quarters for not doing enough to restore it to its former glory. The Director said it had been decided to support and groom the budding players through public-private participation. “The only condition to grant funds to this sports nursery is that the institution should be re christened as the Government Arts and Sports College to make it easy for the department to encourage NRIs and private companies to come forward with financial assistance to save this sports nursery,” he said. |
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London, June 4
