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Friday,
November 23, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Punjab
cyclists hit the jackpot Punjab
start with win; Chandigarh held GAMES DIARY |
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Vying for medals without specialised training Punjab
edge out Tamil Nadu 2-1 Sabeeha
shoots bronze for Punjab Dullar
upsets favourite Gurmeet New record Punjab
eves declared winners Punjab spikers enter semis Bengal
continue to dominate Maharashtra held
by Delhi Services
riders take gold Jharkhand
cagers rout Kerala
ICC
attitude “biased” Ganguly
tells Waugh to shut up Nehra,
Connor likely to play Langer
flays Kiwis attack WI grab
3 wkts on rain-hit day Ramprakash
hits ton Dhanraj
Pillay back in squad
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Punjab cyclists hit the
jackpot Ludhiana, November 22 Punjab cyclists won 4000 m team pursuit (men), 30 km point race for men, 15 km point race for women besides winning silver medals in 15 km point race for women, 1000 metres sprint for women and 3000 m team pursuit for women. Bronze came in 30 km point race for men and 1000 m sprint for women. After making a golden start, the home team athletes appear to be slackening their pace for picking medals in the Games here. But for the memorable performance by Hardeep Kaur, in hammer throw, the home team athletes hit a silver steak yesterday. Their performance slumped further today as they were relegated to the bronze line in decathlon, hammer throw and pole vault — all in men’s section. The field stars of the day were M. Lorans (Services) and Anju B. George of Tamil Nadu. Anju not only set a new national record in hop, step and jump by clearing 13.61 metres, 34 cms more than her own previous record but also beat Bobby Aloysuis of Kerala to third position. The second position went to M. Krishna Priya, also of Tamil Nadu, who cleared 13.04 metres, six cms more than Bobby.
M. Lorans kept Services in the run for team championship in track and field with a new meet record in high jump. He leapt to a height of 2.13 metres, 0.02 metres more than the existing record. He cleared this height in his second attempt. In fact re-emergence of Services in track and field is a welcome sign for Indian athletics. Yesterday, sprinters from the defence forces not only cornered glory in 100 metres sprint but also won second and third positions in steeplechase making it clear that they are no more mere pushovers. Besides M. Lorans gold medal performance, Randhir Singh got a silver in pole vault. Gurdev Singh and Sita Ram had given them a head start on the first day with a gold and a bronze in 20 km walk.
The much-delayed decathlon, which was completed last night after a softer pit specially requisitioned from Jalandhar arrived late, saw Delhi hogging the limelight by running away with the first two positions through Mandeep Kumar (6904 points) and Zora Singh (6850 points). Punjab’s Dharampal Singh was a close third with 6799 points. The second bronze for Punjab came in pole vault where Geesh Kumar of Kerala skimmed over the crosspiece at a height of 4.90 metres to win the gold. Sher Singh (Punjab) was able to clear only 4.60 metres. The silver went to Randhir Singh of Services (4.70 metres). There was no competition for Parmod Tewari of Uttar Pradesh in men’s hammer throw event. His fifth throw of 64.13 metres, though much below the meet record of 65.61 metres, was good enough to fetch him the gold as Nirbhay Singh of Services, placed second, could clear only 63.20 metres. Punjab’s Harpal Singh was a poor third with a best throw of 59.93 metres. |
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Punjab start
with win; Chandigarh held Jalandhar, November 22 However, it was only after conceding one goal through Jammu and Kashmir’s Mandeep Singh in the 22nd minute that Punjab got cracking. The equaliser came two minutes after resumption through Sandeep
Ghuman, a key member of the Punjab and Sind Bank team. Ten minutes later, Rajinder Singh utilised his rich experience to sound the board making it 2-1 in favour of Punjab. L. Lakra made it 3-1 but with hardly three minutes to go for the long hooter Mandeep struck once again for Jammu and Kashmir to make it 2-3. For Chandigarh, it was yet another frustrating day. After drawing with Maharashtra in their opening tie, Chandigarh once again split points with Services after playing a 2-2 draw. The two teams were level 1-1 at half time. Services were the first to strike in the fifth minute when Kamal Horo scored off a penalty corner. Chandigarh hit back in similar fashion, with Gurpreet Singh converting a short corner in the 16th minute. In the second half, Services once again forged ahead when off a combined move, Kamal Horo scored a field goal making it 2-1. Chandigarh were lucky to snatch a point two minutes from close when Saurab Bishnoi converted the last penalty corner to restore parity(2-2). In the last match, Karnataka prevailed over Maharashtra by a solitary goal scored by Rawat which was the result of a penalty stroke awarded in the 16th minute. Tomorrow four matches will be played. The fixtures are Tamil Nadu v Jammu & Kashmir; Chandigarh v Andhra Pradesh; Punjab v Bengal; and Services v Karnataka. |
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GAMES DIARY “Basketball, handball and wrestling teams from Rajasthan should not be allowed to compete in the National Games as they are not authorised by the State Olympic Association,” says a letter by Mr J.S. Gehlot, President of the Rajasthan Olympic Association to the Chief Technical Director of the Games, Dr D.K. Tandon. It is not Rajasthan alone which is plagued by sports politics but other state Olympic associations, too, who are letting their home politics in sports to spill over to the Organising Committee of the National Games. Politics, undoubtedly, have been the bane of our sports. Sportsmen and women, because of whom games are being held, are unfortunately not the deciding factor for their own show. They are playing second fiddle to the officials for whom it is not the sports but sports politics which is of prime importance. The hitches and glitches of the organisation apart, it is sports politics which is responsible to a great extent for delays, last-minute change in schedules, and some of the problems facing the athletes here. The state contingents from Rajasthan, Kerala , Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir and a few other states have brought more than one teams in one or more disciplines leaving it to the OCNG to decide which one to recognise and allow participation. “It is not our job. We are going strictly by either the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) guidelines or the court orders, if any,” remarked a senior official of the OCNG on the condition of anonymity. Basketball, handball and wrestling teams of Rajasthan are not being allowed to participate as they have not been entered by the state Olympic association recognised by the IOA, admits Dr Tandon . There are two SOAs in Rajasthan, it appears. And the one trying to get recognition is led by basketball officials. Since Mr Gehlot is close to the ruling group in the IOA, the booting out of basketball, handball and wrestling teams from Rajasthan was but natural. But denial of permission to a team like Rajasthan in basketball may have deprived the sport of its charm. Rajasthan has always been known to be a strong base of the sport. The IOA in its wisdom had decided sometime ago that only top eight teams in a team discipline would qualify for the national games. Rajasthan qualified. While the Basketball Federation of India supported and favoured its participation, Rajasthan Olympic Association and IOA did not approve of it. Same has been the case with the Karnataka from where only that boxing team which was cleared by the state Olympic association was allowed to compete here while the one selected by the Karnataka State Boxing Association was shown the door. In yet another case, some boxers from Jammu and Kashmir , who were not selected by their state boxing association, moved a Jammu court and came here with the court orders making the OCNG a party. Since the next hearing of the case was fixed for November 19, no one knows the latest and the fate of J&K boxers. Kerala has sent two wrestling squads. Wrestlers from both the contingents were allowed to participate in weighing-in prior to competitions. One of the teams is armed with court orders. Similar problems were witnessed in badminton also. Leave aside the outstation participants, the Punjab Taekwondo Association , too, is into litigation. Besides litigation, which is primarily because of vote politics, inclusion of certain sports in the competitions also smacks of politics. Take for example, tug of war, which was initially included as a demonstration sport. But then there were eight entries. As such it has been dropped altogether both as a competitive sport as well as a demonstration sport . A suggestion was also made to hold demonstration of tug of war at a Nakodar college which, however, failed to meet the approval of the OCNG on the argument that Nakodar was not in the list of 21 approved venues of the Games. |
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Vying for medals without specialised training Patiala, November 22 Women gymnasts are taking part in the discipline in which five gold medals are at stake without being imparted specialized coaching in rhythmic gymnastics. The judges who are going to adjudge the winners also have no grounding in the discipline. That is not all. Four of the five international events – hoop, rope, ball and ribbons – are being organized with the fifth – clubs – not being held as most of the state gymnastics associations still do not have access to them. Some of the gymnasts have also trained on sub-standard equipment before taking part in the event with some coaches saying their wards had to train on volleyballs instead of the specialized ball used in discipline. Similarly the ropes used at the international level are not available to everyone. That is not all. Even though the sport is being introduced for the first time at the national level, no effort has been made by the various associations to train girls specially for the discipline as is done at the international level. Coaches disclosed that many of the girls participating in the discipline were those who were out of the reckoning in artistic gymnastics and wanted to go in for rhythmic gymnastics as it was perceived to be less strenuous. Senior SAI coach Kalpana Debnath, who has been awarded the Arjuna award for lifetime achievement in the discipline admitted that many of the girls who had left artistic gymnastics were going in for rhythmic gymnastics saying they felt it would be easy to attempt because it involved gymnastic oriented dance with very few acrobatic elements. Top coach Gurdial Singh Bawa said this was a misconception as rhythmic gymnastics needed extreme strength, explosiveness and coordination. Debnath said artistic gymnastics coaches like her were training girls in rhythmic gymnastics in the interest of the sport as there was no other option if the sport was to be introduced in the country. She said, however, specialized coaches were needed if the country was to compete in the event at the international level. “They can also send our coaches abroad to learn the techniques of the discipline’’, she said adding presently coaches were teaching the sport by looking at videos or reading matter on the sport. However, other coaches feel more could be done for the sport which has been introduced in India since 1988 when the first national meet in the sport was organised at Kottayam. They said training and cultural aspects were most important to emerge as a force in the sport. They said along with extensive flexibility training, knowledge of dance movements was most essential and that Indian gymnasts pursuing the sport were weak in both. |
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Punjab edge
out Tamil Nadu 2-1 Jalandhar, November 22 In the women’s section, the Kerala eves also tasted defeat at the hands of Manipur, losing 0-3, while Bihar overcame stiff resistance from Maharashtra before winning 1-0. The Punjab-Tamil Nadu match was easily the best today with the hosts calling the shots for long durations. In fact Tamil Nadu remained at the receiving end in the first half and would have lost by a bigger margin had it not been for some wayward shooting by the Punjab forwards. Boasting of a formidable line-up which included eight players from JCT, four from BSF, three from Punjab Police, two from RCF, and one from PSEB, Punjab were clearly the superior side. Tamil Nadu did come back strongly in the second half and even managed to pull one back, but that was all that they could achieve as the Punjab defence rallied to thwart their designs thereafter. Punjab went into the attack from the kick-off with star striker Hardip Gill cutting past the entire defence only to shoot wide. Manjinder also failed to do the needful when Hardip Gill sent him a measured pass after trapping the ball in rival territory. Later promising medio Hardip Saini also tested the Tamil Nadu custodian with a long-ranger
which he managed to parry away at the cost of a flag kick. Punjab’s sustained pressure bore fruit in the 25th minute. A power-packed shot by Gurjit Atwal which kept low caught the Tamil Nadu custodian off guard and the ball sailed in much to the delight of the Punjab camp. The second goal followed three minutes later when Hardip Gill’s overhead pass for Manjinder was intelligently utilised by the RCF forward and Punjab were up 2-0. The second half witnessed a strong comeback by Tamil Nadu and their only goal came soon after resumption following a solo effort by P. Muthu. Punjab goalie Arvind Kumar did try to thwart the attempt but Muthu pounced on the rebound to shoot home(1-2). Punjab’s attack became sharper following the induction of Jaswinder Singh, who mesmerised the crowds during the National Football League last year as member of the JCT team. At least two moves set up by Jaswinder went waste as Hardip Gill was first ruled off side and then skipper Ram Pal failed to tap the ball home. In the dying minutes, striker Sher Singh, who plays for Punjab Police, aimed a weak header off a Sukhjit cross which the goalkeeper collected with ease. Sher Singh tried to make amends for his earlier lapse by outpacing a couple of Tamil Nadu defenders but with only Felix Edward to beat under the Tamil Nadu bar, he shot wide and the hosts had to remain content with the 2-1 victory. In the second match between Kerala and Goa, the former seemed to be in control of the proceedings in the first half although the Goans tried to match them move for move. In fact it was sweet revenge for Goa, who lost to Kerala by the golden goal in the Santosh Trophy final at Mumbai on November 17. The Kerala outfit included several top-notch players like internationals Abdul Hakim, who was the hero in the Santosh Trophy final having scored three goals, and Ignatius. Others like Vinu Jose, Sabeer Ali, and Asif Saheer have also featured in the National Football League as members of the State Bank of Travancore team. Suresh Kumar and international Sunil Kumar are currently members of FC Kochin. The first half hardly witnessed any worthwhile move. It was in the 73rd minute that Goa stunned the Kerala camp following a counter-attack. In the process, Goa’s Menino Fernandes fell down causing some distraction and Sukhdev who was lurking nearby aimed a piledriver from the top of the box which sailed past Purushotaman under the Kerala bar. Goa could have added another goal at the fag end when Lazarus Fernandes put Sebestiao Endro in possession who only managed to shoot wide. |
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Sabeeha shoots
bronze for Punjab SAS Nagar, November 22 The local MCM DAV College, Sector 36, student, in the presence of ‘giants’ of of shooting Anjali Ved Pathak, then Anuja Tere, Poornima Gawhane, Meena Kumari, Kuheli Ganguly, Raj Kumari, first made to last eight round from 26 participants. She shot an impressive 393. In the earlier rounds for final stage, Anjali’s shot 98,100,99 and 99 totalling 396 points. Anuja tied with Anjali at 396 with scores of 100, 99, 98, 99. Sabeeha Dhillon’s 393 had 100, 97, 99 and 97; Raj Kumari at fourth place had 98, 96, 98, 99 in her 390; Poornima Gawhane shot 390 with 97, 97, 99 and 97; Meena Kumari at sixth place had 97, 98, 96, 98 in her total score of 389. The final scores: Anjali Ved Pathak 499.5, Anuja 498.9, Sabeeha 495.5, Poornima 492.4, Raj Kumari 492.0, Kuheli 488.9, Meena Kumari 488.3 and T Arundevi 488.2. Earlier in the team championship Maharashtra team comprising Anjali, Poornima and Anuja won gold medal with total of 1182. Punjab were able to secure silver medal with Sabeeha Dhillon, Navdeep Dhillon and Jasmeen Brar scoring total 1158, Bronze medal went to Madhya Pradesh. Later in the 50 metre rifle in the men’s section, Joydeep Banerjee of West Bengal was first at 586, followed by Satguru Dass of SSCB with 585 while bronze medal went to A. Subbiah of SSCB who shot
585. In the team championship of this event, SSCB won gold, West Bengal silver while Rajasthan took bronze medal. |
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Dullar upsets
favourite Gurmeet Patiala, November 22 It turned out to be splendid afternoon for the Services pugilists as four of them, including internationals B.Ramanand and Narendar Rana, moved into the second round of their respective weight categories. In the Gurmeet-Dullar Singh bout, the most memorable one of the event till now, both the pugilists were in full flow. By the third round the scoreline read 9-9. B. Ramanand had no problem in dispatching off a listless Karan Sunkur of Chandigarh in the light weight category. The results: (Ist round-light weight): Kuliwan Bhartwal (Jharkhand) b K.Mangal Wedhekar (Maharashtra)-K.O; Shivshankar Nayak (Orissa) b Virender Singh (UP) 31-5; B. Ramanand (Services) b Karan Sunkur (Chandigarh)-RSC; (Ist round- welterweight); Dullar Singh (Ser) b Gurmeet Singh (Pb) 11-10; Chander Parkash (MP) b S. Saifu Alam (Ben) 6-4; Rahul Dev (UP) b M.Chakraborty (Tripura)- RSC; S.Mohamad Rashed (TN) b H.Deven Singh (Assam) 12-7; Duni Chand (HP) b A.K Bahuguna 11-2; ( Ist round- Lt welterweight): D.Tamang (Megh) b Narinder Kumar (HP) 26-11; Sultan Alam (Bengal) b Devinder Negi (Chd) 8-7; Narender Rana (Services) b S.B. Tamang (Assam) 8-6. |
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Punjab eves
declared winners Ludhiana, November 22 In an earlier match Haryana beat Chandigarh 5-1. It was a thrilling match in the beginning with both the teams making strong moves to score a goal. In fact Chandigarh took a lead when Prakash scored a field goal in the 11th minute. In the 21st minute Kiran Bala converted a penalty corner into a goal. The second goal which was scored in the 32nd minute by Seeta, also came from a penalty corner. At half time Haryana were leading by 2-1. The Haryana girls dominated in the second half also scoring three more girls. Seeta scored another gal in 44th minute, followed by Pritam, who cored two goals in 48th and 69th minute. The Haryana girls were so dominating all through they got 15 penalty corners against only one, granted to Chandigarh. For Chandigarh the solitary goal was scored by Parkash. |
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Punjab spikers enter semis Ludhiana, November 22 In the women’s section, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu from pool A and Karnataka, and Kerala from pool B confirmed their place in the semifinals. Kerala defeated Karnataka 17-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 18-16 in a tough. Putting behind their shocking defeat at the hands of Andhra Pradesh last night, the Punjab boys today did not gave any chance to Kerala to settle down. Punjab won in straight sets 25-23, 25-17, 25-17. In the women’s matches, Tamil Nadu beat Andhra Pradesh 25-16, 25-15, 25-13, Chandigarh beat Punjab; Kerala beat Karnataka and West Bengal defeated Delhi. |
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Bengal continue
to dominate Jalandhar, November 22 Arup Basak and Mouma Das beat the pair of Tamil Nadu’s R. Rajesh and Bhuvaneshwari 7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-8. S. Raman and Indu of Tamil Nadu defeated Vinit Chopra and Kuldeep of Punjab 11-4, 11-8, 11-7. Shivaji Dutta and Mousmi Paul had a close contest with Soumyadeep and Vishaka Vijoy of Rajasthan. Bengal pair entered the semifinals weaning 11-2, 2-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8. Sharath Kamal and T. Pradeepa of Tamil Nadu beat S. Chakraborty and P. Ghatak of Bengal 11-6, 11-7, 4-11, 12-10. In the women’s doubles, Mouma Das and P. Ghatak of Bengal beat Sanyubta and M. Bordoloi of Assam 11-6, 11-1, 11-5. Arul Selvi and B. Bhuvneshwari (Tamil Nadu) defeated Bindu and Supriya of Kerala in straight games 12-10, 11-3, 11-8. Susmita Roy and Mousmi Paul of Bengal, in a close game, entered the semifinals defeating Ekta and Ishani Barua of Delhi 15-17, 11-5, 11-9, 7-11, 11-2. N.R. Indu and T. Pradeepa paired to beat Kanchan and Shikha Ghai of Punjab 11-6, 11-5, 11-3. In the men’s doubles event, Bengal dominated as both its pairs entered the semifinals. Ranabir Das and S. Chakroborty defeated R. Rohit and Bhushan Thakur of Maharashtra 12-10, 13-11, 11-9. Deepak Thukral and Vinit Chopra of Punjab lost to Tamil Nadu’s S. Raman and Sharath 11-7, 11-5, 11-8. Bengal’s second pair of Arup Basak and S. Saha beat Maharashtra’s N. Chawathe and N. Kulkarni 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10. Soumyadeep Roy and Anal Kashyap of Rajasthan defeated Vivek Kohli and K.D. Sarkar 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. Poonam Sharma of Rajasthan had a neck and neck fight against Ishami Barua Delhi in the first round of the women’s singles. Poonam won 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6. Vikas Mahajan of Punjab defeated Parag Aggarwal of Uttar Pradesh to enter the second round of the men’s singles event, winning 11-8, 4-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-9. |
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Maharashtra held
by Delhi Patiala, November 22 In the yet another close encounter, Karnataka managed to pip to the past Rajasthan 42-40. The Karnataka men led 24-10. Rajasthan boys proved to be a tough nuts to crack and leveled the scores at 40-40. However, a blunder by the Rajasthan team towards the fag end of the contest cost the team dearly as Karnataka won the match by a two point encounter. On the distaff side, Maharashtra beat Karnataka 45-39 and Haryana had a comparatively easy outing by completely outclassing a hapless Bihar 55-20. In circle style, in the women’s section Haryana beat Uttar Pradesh 48-19 while Madhya Pradesh beat Bihar 60-16. In the men’s section, Chandigarh had an easy outing against J and K thrashing them 63-22, while Delhi had the least of problems in disposing off Rajasthan 53-10. |
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Services riders
take gold Jalandhar, November 22 Lt-Col S.S. Ahlawat riding on Touqade displayed beautiful jumps with minor penalties. Second Services’ rider Maj Ajay Duggal was also not far behind. His coordination with Chenab, his horse was quite good. The Delhi team had 36 penalties. Punjab had 40 penalties. Gulabo, ridden by Inspector Jagdish Singh, gave a wonderful performance with only some of the hurdles going down. |
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Jharkhand cagers rout Kerala Ludhiana, November 22 Savitha L.S. and Swetha chipped in 10 points each. In the second match (men) , Jharkhand cagers scored an easy win over Kerala 94-55 after leading 41-31 at half time. During the first two quarters, Kerala players put up some fight but failed to match up the speed and skill of their superior opponents. Jaideep Dhaliwal (30) and Des Raj (24) were the star performers for Jharkhand. Riazudin also contributed 16 points. Subhash Shenoy (20) and Santosh John (10) fought the losing battle for Kerala. In the match played late last night in the men’s section, Andhra Pradesh had to fight to outscore Services 69-66. In this well-contested match, both the teams played an aggressive game and fought a pitched battle for each point. Andhra Pradesh’ cagers established a two-point slender lead at half-time (30-28). S.V.K Yadhav, P.B. Srinath and J. Pankaj were the main architects of AP’s hard-fought victory. They contributed 20, 16, 13 points,
respectively. For the losers, Sweeto (22), Phool Singh (14) and Gagandeep Singh (6) were the main scorers. |
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Players tickled over cuisine,
crafts Patiala, November 22 Saag and makki di
roti, juttis and embroidered suits are among top favourities of atheletes from central and southern India. “We had heard a lot about saag and makki
roti,” said players belonging to the Karnataka team. “But we had not been able to taste the genuine stuff till now” they added. The players seemed to be pleased with the food being provided at their various lodging venues. Typical Punjabi fare, including non-vegetarian items coupled with south Indian sambar is being served daily to the players, organising committee chairman Jasbir Singh Bir said that separate messes had been created in all hostels and officers had been deputed to ensure quality service as well as conduct surprise checks. Players especially girls from various parts of the country were busy touring Adalat Bazaar market which is famous for enthic juttis, parandis, phulkari work, embroidered suits and dupattas. A computerised information kiosk, introduced for the first time in these games, has proved to be a hit with the players. Information regarding places to visit, teen hangouts and cinemas in the city besides hardcore details about competition venues and schedules is available here. Meanwhile, the city has been decked up for the occasion. Three main cinema halls on Mall Road, the PSEB building and the PWD headquarters have been lighted up, the Polo Ground has also been decorated with lights and flowers as well as traditional phulkari drapes. A well equipped media centre complete with computers and the latest telecommunication facilities besides deputing PCS officers at each centre to look after the needs of the players and coaches has been well appreciated by them.
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ICC attitude
“biased” Islamabad, November 22 While the Pakistan Cricket Board declined to officially react to the controversy, PCB chief, Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia said he had a lengthy telephonic talk with President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Jagmohan Dalmiya yesterday. “Yes, Dalmiya rang me up and we had a very positive conversation,” General Zia was quoted as saying by the daily ‘The News’ here today. Though he did not disclose details, the newspaper said during the talk Dalmiya sought the help of General Zia in dealing with the “biased attitude” of match referees towards sub-continent players. The PCB chief reportedly promised all help to the BCCI in their efforts to seek justice from the ICC.
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Ganguly tells
Waugh to shut up Pretoria, November 22 “Steve Waugh needs to shut up and concentrate on Australia,” an angry Ganguly said today. Waugh backed the International Cricket Council
(ICC) yesterday after the governing body handed Tendulkar the ban for altering the state of the ball during the second Test against South Africa. “If he’s picked the seam, then he’s got to pay the penalty like everyone else,” Waugh told a news conference in Hobart ahead of today’s second Test against New Zealand. “There shouldn’t be any favours just because of your reputation or the way you play the game. I think it’s been going on too long, the ball tampering, affecting the state of the
ball.” Tendulkar, widely regarded as the world’s leading batsman and revered in India, was also fined 75 per cent of his match fee by match referee Mike
Denness. Former England captain Denness ruled Tendulkar had brought the game into disrepute by “acting on the ball” on the third day of the test. Indian coach John Wright was also unhappy with Waugh’s comments. “It does seem unusual that players involved here are not allowed to comment,” Wright said.
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Nehra, Connor likely to play Centurion Park, November 22 India had gone into the first two Tests without any match practice as the lead-up games on both the ocassions were washed out by rains. And now on the eve of the third Test, they have the harsh punishments on six of their players, including skipper Sourav Ganguly and star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, weighing down their minds. With the Indian cricket board still to take a decision on whether to continue with the tour following the rejection of its demand for the removal of match-referee Mike Denness by International Cricket Council, the Indian team was trying to concentrate on the task ahead. And the foremost thing on their minds was to get the right balance in the team in congruence with conditions, something which the Indians lacked in both the earlier Tests and repented later. Once again the issue that is giving maximum headaches to the Indian think tank is whether or not to play both the spin bowlers in their armoury. India had left out off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in the first Test and played leg-spinner Anil Kumble who took three wickets in the first innings and the only one to fall in the second. But with the two left-arm seamers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra not performing upto expectations, there was criticism over the decision to leave out Harbhajan who remains a mystery to the South Africans. In the second Test, after several brainstorming sessions, the Indians decided to play both their spinners with Ganguly saying Harbhajan and Kumble were India’s best bowlers and he could not have afforded to leave out either. But that decision came in for much flak since the pitch at Port Elizabeth was perfect for seam bowlers which was fully used by Javagal Srinath who claimed a match-haul of eight wickets while Harbhajan and Kumble could manage only four between them. Teams (from): South Africa:
Shaun Pollock (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques
Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Lance
Klusener, Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini Nicky Boje, Mornantau Hayward. PTI |
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Langer flays Kiwis attack Hobart, November 22 Langer, who survived a strident lbw appeal in the first over of the opening Brisbane Test before going on to score a century, profited from a spilt catch off his sixth ball today to compile 123, his 10th Test hundred. Langer was put down by Matthew Bell in the gully off Daryl Tuffey’s first ball of the Test when on one. “You always have a bit of luck batting in the top order, but if he (Bell) had taken that catch it would have been sensational because I absolutely smoked it,” said Langer. Australia suffered another mid-afternoon flutter of wickets, similar to the first day in Brisbane, but by stumps had scorched along to 411 for 6 at a blistering scoring rate of 4.5 runs per over. Tasmanian Ricky Ponting was delighting his home state supporters to be on the verge of his ninth Test century on 92 not out with Shane Warne on 31. But the first day’s play belonged to the breezy batting of Langer, who posted his third consecutive Test hundred after his 102 against England in the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval in August and 104 in Brisbane. At one stage Langer was on target to join a select group of players to score a century before lunch on the first day, being 59 after the first hour before his scoring rate moderated in the hour to lunch. “The first hour was a bit surreal to me, I didn’t deliberately go out there thinking I was going to be super-aggressive, but they probably gave me a few loose balls than they should have in the first hour of the Test match,” said Langer. Australia (1st innings): Langer c Vettori b Cairns 123 Hayden c Bond b Vettori 91 Ponting batting 92 M. Waugh b Vettori 12 S. Waugh lbw b Bond 0 Martyn lbw b Vettori 0 Gilchrist b Vettori 39 Warne batting 31 Extras: (b-3, lb-3, w-2, nb-15) 23 Total: (6 wkts, 90 overs) 411 Fall of wkts: 1-223, 2-238, 3-253, 4-266, 5-267, 6-336. Bowling: Cairns 24-3-102-1, Tuffey 11-0-58-0, Bond 21-0-95-1, Vettori 26-4-99-4, McMillan 8-0-51-0.
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WI grab
3 wkts on rain-hit day Kandy, November 22 No play was possible after lunch due to bad weather, with the rival teams trying hard to seize the initiative. Rain had also washed out the last session yesterday. Sri Lanka scored 80 runs off 34 overs on the second morning, but also lost three wickets to the West Indian pace attack. Niroshan Bandaratilleke was unbeaten on nine and Nuwan Zoysa was on 15. Collins struck in his first over with the second new ball, taken after 80 overs, when he bowled a well-set Hashan Tillakaratne for 87. The left-handed batsman, who scored a century in the first Test won by Sri Lanka last week, hit nine fours and one six in his 176-ball knock. Tillakaratne, who added 27 to his overnight score, was involved in an 80-run stand for the sixth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera. SCOREBOARD Sri Lanka (1st innings): Atapattu lbw b Dillon 0 Jayasuriya c Gayle b Collins 16 Sangakkara b Ramnarine 15 Jayawardene c and b
Ramnarine 88 Arnold b Ramnarine 4 Tillakaratne b Collins 87 Samaraweera c Jacobs b
Dillon 29 Vaas c Hooper b Collins 0 Bandaratilleke batting 9 Zoysa batting 15 Extras:
(lb-6, nb-4) 10 Total (for 8 wkts, 93) 273 Fall of wickets:
1-1, 2-27, 3-49, 4-53, 5-169, 6-249, 7-249, 8-249. Bowling: Dillon 18.2-4-51-2, Collins 26-7-73-3, Stuart 0.1-0-2-0, Gayle 0.3-0-4-0, Hooper 21-6-44-0, Ramnarine 24-6-75-3, Samuels 3-0-18-0.
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Ramprakash hits ton Hyderbad, November 22 While the first session was dominated by England, which opted to bat, spinners Murali Kartik (3 for 77) and Sharandeep Singh excelled in the post lunch session. The final session belonged to Ramprakash whose brilliant effort took his team to a formidable 297 for 9 at close. England Ist (innings): Butcher c Surender b Sarandeep 41 Vaughan c Mongia b Bangar 22 Hussain c Rohan b Kartik 46 Thorpe lbw b Kartik 13 Ramprakash b Kartik 105 White b Sarandeep 0 Foster c Jacob b Sarandeep 9 Ball c Rohan b Sarandeep 28 Ormand lbw b Sarandeep 5 Dawson batting 9 Hoggard batting 0 Extras (b-4, lb1, w-1, nb-13) 19 Total (for 9 wkts) 297 FOW: 1/51, 2/104, 3 /122, 4 139, 5 /149, 6/187, 7/239, 8/265, 9/292. Bowling:
Surender Singh 13-4-37-0, T Yohanan 9-1-46-0, Sanjay Bangar 15-3-29-1, Sarandeep Singh 24-0-98-5, Murali Kartik 28-7-77-3, Rohan Gavaskar 1-0-5-0.
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Dhanraj Pillay
back in squad New Delhi, November 22 Coach Rajinder Singh, whose Indian style of hockey had paid rich dividends at Hobart, culminating in India’s cup triumph, will be the chief coach in the absence of Cedric. He will be assisted by Narinder Singh Sodhi. The junior World Cup players who have found places in the team for the Champions Challenge Trophy are: Devesh Chauhan, Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay, Bipin Fernandez, Arjun Halappa, junior India captain Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh. Though Baljit Singh Dhillon, who captained the senior team in the World Cup qualifying tournament at Edinburgh (Scotland) and former captain Dhanraj Pillay figure in the team, no captain has been named. The team: Goalkeepers: Jude Menezes, Devesh Chauhan.
Full backs: Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh and Lazrus Barla. Half backs: S S Gill, Thirumanavalan, Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay, Bipin Fernandez and Arjun Halappa.
Forwards: Baljit Singh Dhillon, Sabu Varkey, Dhanraj Pillay, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Daljit Singh. Stand-byes: Bharath Chetri (GK), Kushmeet Singh (FB), Viren Rasquinha (HB), Tejbir Singh and Anoop Anthony (FW).
Chief coach: Rajinder Singh. Coach: Narinder Singh Sodhi.
Manager: Chandrasekhar of Chandigarh. Doctor/physio: B.M. Parthasarthy.
Psychologist: Dr J.P.S. Sidhu. Trainer/video technician: Saju Joseph. Six
teams: Argentina, Belgium, India, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa — are in the fray for the Champions Challenge Trophy. India play their first match against Belgium on December 7. In other matches, India take on South Africa (Dec. 8), Malaysia (Dec. 10), Japan (Dec.12) and Argentina (Dec.13). December 14 is the rest day, and the final and placement matches will be played on December
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