 |
Wednesday,
December 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India
  
|
Warne denies rift with MacGill Ratra ‘Jr cricketer
of the year’ |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sunil Kumar in second round Sixth National Football League kicks off today AIFF ropes in Strata to boost soccer SA beat Belgium Hectic schedule for shooters BSF hockey champs KU meet results
|
|
Kumble restricts England
Ahmedabad, December 11 Leg spinner Anil Kumble bagged his second successive five-wicket haul to derail the England innings which had been given a solid start by openers Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher after skipper Nasser Hussain had elected to bat on a wicket that looked full of runs. Kumble grabbed the first five wickets, including that of Trescothick who missed his century by just one run. From 124 without loss, England were reduced to 239 for six, the sixth wicket being claimed by Sachin Tendulkar, before Craig White and wicketkeeper James Foster denied the Indians any further success in the day. At close, White was batting on 42 and Foster on 15, the two having added 38 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket partnership. Things finally started to happen for India in the 40th over when Kumble had Butcher caught by wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta for 51. Butcher, who faced 130 balls in 172 minutes and hit nine fours, went for a forward defensive shot but only managed a snick. A couple of overs later Kumble produced the big wicket of Hussain, adjudged leg before wicket by umpire Ian Robinson of Zimbabwe. The ball pitched in line and spun the other way hitting Hussain on his back leg. However, TV replays showed the ball could have missed the leg-stump. Hussain made just one run and England lost their second wicket at 144. Trescothick then added 28 runs for the third wicket with Michael Vaughan, who did not play the first Test at Mohali, before Kumble benefited from another doubtful decision from Robinson. Vaughan was given out, caught bat-pad by Virender Sehwag at silly point but once again TV replays showed that the umpire Robinson may have erred once again. Vaughan made 11. Meanwhile, Trescothick continued with his attractive stroke-play. The left-hander, who had scores of 65 and 46 in the first Test at Mohali, batted confidently and played some fine drives on both sides of the wicket. He took 10 runs, including two fours, from a particular over from Kumble to reach into his eighties. England took tea at 176 for three with Trescothick batting on 99 and Mark Ramprakash yet to open his account. Kumble struck with the fifth ball after tea inducing an outside edge off Trescothick’s bat to give Dasgupta his second catch. Trescothick batted for 244 minutes during which he faced 156 balls, hitting eleven fours and a six off Harbhajan Singh. Kumble then had new batsman Andrew Flintoff caught by V.V.C. Laxman at silly point to reduce England to 180 for five. Flintoff faced just two balls and failed to score. Flintoff’s dismissal completed Kumble’s 18th five-wicket haul of his Test career. Ramprakash and Craig White then defied the Indian attack for more than an hour in a 59-run sixth wicket stand which took the English score beyond the 200-run mark. The duo batted fluently and it seemed England were making a fine recovery from the quick strikes by Kumble. But Tendulkar broke their partnership with a beautiful googly that moved quickly after pitching and went through the bat and pad of Ramprakash to crash into the stumps. Ramprakash was out for 37 made off 49 balls including six fours and a six off Kumble. That was the last success of the day for the Indians as White and Foster batted cautiously after that. Kumble finished with figures of five for 80 from his 30 overs while Tendulkar’s one wicket cost him 23 runs from seven overs. Scoreboard England (1st innings): Butcher c Dasgupta b Kumble 51 Trescothick c D’gupta b Kumble 99 Hussain lbw b Kumble 1 Vaughan c Sehwag b Kumble 11 Ramprakash b Tendulkar 37 Flintoff c Laxman b Kumble 0 White batting 42 Foster batting 15 Extras: (b-4, lb-12, nb-4, w-1) 21 Total: (for 6 wkts) 277 Fall of wickets: 1-124, 2-144, 3-172, 4-176, 5-180, 6-239. Bowling: Srinath 17-2-71-0, Yohannan 12-2-33-0, Harbhajan Singh 23-5-54-0, Kumble 30-5-80-5, Tendulkar 7-0-23-1, Sehwag 1-1-0-0. PTI
|
|
West Indies beat Lanka Colombo, December 11 Earlier, Brian Lara showed West Indies the way again as he helped them to 250 for eight. The groundwork was laid by openers Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga, who put on 50 from the first 10 overs on a good batting track after Carl Hooper had won the toss. The in-form Lara, however, in such good form in the recently concluded Test series against Sri Lanka, added even further impetus. The left-hander scored at faster than a run-a-ball rate on the way to a top score of 60. West Indies: Gayle c Gunawardene Ganga run out 50 Lara lbw b Jayasuriya 60 Sarwan c Jayawardene Hooper c Dharmasena Samuels c Zoysa b Jayasuriya 2 Jacobs b Dharmasena 23 McGarrell not out 9 Collins b Dharmasena 0 Collymore not out 1 Extras: (b-4, lb-4, w-7, nb-2) 17 Total: (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 250 FOW: 1-50, 2-124, 3-151, 4-209, 5-216, 6-22 5, 7-247, 8-247 Bowling: Vaas 8-0-40-0, Zoysa 6-1-34-0, Bharmasena 10-0-50-3, Perera 1-0-11-0, Muralitharan 10-1-35-1, Arnold 5-0-22-0, Jayasuriya 10-0-50-3. Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya c Gayle b Gunawardena st Atapattu run out 11 Jayawardene c Jacobs Arnold lbw b Gayle 19 Sangakkara c Jacobs b Collymore 27 Perera c Jacobs b Collymore 4 Dharmasena c Jacobs Vaas c Jacobs b Collymore 4 Zoysa c Ganga b Collymore 5 Muralitharan not out 0 Extras (lb2, w4, nb2) 8 Total (all out in 43.2 overs) 201 FOW: 1-92, 2-119, 3-134, 4-138, 5-184, 6-192, 7-192, 8-192, 9-201. Bowling: Collins 8-0-34-1, Collymore 9.2-0-51-5, Lawson 4-0-29-0, Hooper 8-0-20-0, Gayle 7-1-32-1, McGarrell 7-0-33-2.
AFP
|
|
Warne denies rift with MacGill Adelaide, December 11 Warne said he and MacGill-who was recalled to the Australian squad for the first Test against South Africa starting in Adelaide on Friday-had always been friends. “Certain people seem to think there’s some big rift between myself and Stuey,” Warne told reporters after a fitness session at Adelaide Oval. “I don’t know where that has come from. We’ve always got along, we’ve toured together a few times and we’ve also been out to dinner a few times, shared a drink after a match,” he added. It’s not yet known whether MacGill will play in the first Test as the starting side is unlikely to be named until Friday morning However, Warne said he was confident the pair could bowl in tandem with success, despite figures from their five Tests together some two years ago indicating otherwise.
AP |
|
|
Ratra ‘Jr cricketer of the year’
Mumbai, December 11 Ratra’s excellent performance on either side of the stumps during the Castrol cricket year (October 1, 2000-September 30, 2001) enabled him to pip the four other finalists in the race for the award, according to a press note released here yesterday. Mumbai opener Vinayak Mane, Tamil Nadu spinner S Vidyut, Madhya Pradesh middle-order batsman Sachin Dholpure and Bihar’s medium-pacer Mihir Diwakar were among other contenders. As a captain of the Indian under-19 team for the three-Test series against England, Ratra’s sequence of scores in the series read 43, 94, 28 and 141. PTI
|
|
Sunil Kumar in second round New Delhi, December 11 Sunil, who was crowned the national hard court champion at the DLTA court two years ago, had won the Asian Junior Champion-ship at the very same venue three days back. He seems to be still suffering from the fatigue of one week of hard tennis in the Asian Junior Championship. Ritesh, who had nothing to lose, put up a stiff fight, and Sunil had to bring out some of his wonted shots to have the last laugh. He will be bumping into top seed Rohan Bopanna in the second round, and it will be the real test of his talent. Results on day two went on expected lines as the seeded players moved up without much of a struggle. Defending champion and third seed Nitin Kirtane swept aside qualifier Nihal Advani 6-3, 6-2 while fourth-seeded Vinod Sridhar breezed past qualifier Chandra-sekhar Mohanty 6-0, 6-1. In other men’s first round matches, Nipun Gupta of Maharashtra downed qualifier Sandeep Singh 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), Anand Sitaram of Andhra Pradesh beat Pratim Parekh 1-6, 6-0, 6-2, Shivang Mishra beat Ashutosh Singh 6-3, 6-4 and Vijay Kannan of Tamil Nadu beat Gursharan Singh 6-2, 6-1. In the women’s section, barring Anikta Bhambri and Lata Assudani, all others won their matches in straight sets. Ankita Bhambri of Delhi was stretched to full distance on a chilly day by Sai Swapna Ramakrishnan, though Ankita eventually prevailed over her tenacious opponent at 3-6,7-5,6-4. Assudani of Maharashtra found the going tough against qualifier Iciri Rai, but stayed put to win the tie at 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. But second-seeded Radhika Tulpule had an easy outing as she wasted no time in overpowering Isha Chopra at 6-2, 6-2. Fifth-seeded Archana Venkataraman of Karnataka beat Karishma Patel of Gujarat 6-3, 6-3, Tara Kanbar-gimath beat Sandra Sasidharan 6-3,6-3, Sai Jayalak-shmi beat Anupma Rajur 6-2, 6-1, Samrita Sekar beat Ragini Vimal 6-3,6-3 and Sheetal Goutham of Karnatak beat Preeti Shravan 6-1, 6-1. In the doubles, Shruti Dhawan of Chandigarh and Radhika Tulpule of Maharashtra trounced Nistha and Pragya Yadav at 6-0, 6-0. |
|
Sixth National Football League kicks off today Chandigarh, December 11 The league was scheduled to begin on December 8 but had to be deferred by four days due to unavoidable
reasons. In all 132 matches will be played, including 66 in the first leg which is likely to end by mid-February. The league will be played on home-and-away
basis. Like the previous years, winners of the inaugural edition JCT Phagwara have opted for Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Stadium as the venue for all their home
ties. However, debutants Punjab Police have preferred Jalandhar’s Guru Gobind Singh Stadium as the venue for their home matches. Many of the participating clubs will be depending on foreign talent in conformity with the AIFF
stipulations. Some outfits like FC Kochin have already recruited a couple of foreigners for the
NFL. Nigerian star Obinna Winners Onya, who was a member of the national team in his country, will be one of the players to watch in FC Kochin’s line-up.The other foreigners are Ghanian Ali Abubakar, who played for FC Kochin sometime back, Ukrainian midfielder Mikola Shevchenko, who earlier played for Churchill Brothers, and Liberian striker Josiah B.Seton.The club will also have Karel Stromsik, a former 1982 World Cup player who represented Czechoslovakia, as coach. Punjab’s premier outfit JCT Phagwara have once again roped in Nigerian star Stephan Abarowei, who incidentally was in the team when the mill men lifted the title in the inaugural edition. According to coach Sukhwinder Singh, Stephan’s presence will give a boost to the attack. However, Punjab Police will have to depend purely on local talent but the debutants are likely to requisition the services of at least two BSF players as per the AIFF rules which allow two players to be taken on loan from within the state.The players likely to figure in the line-up are goalkeeper Kameshwar Singh and forward Gurjit Atwal.The latter has already figured in the NFL previously having represented BSF, who incidentally were knocked out after having finished at the
bottom. Punjab Police, who recently won the Royal Gold Cup in Sikkim, and yesterday pocketed a prize of Rs 1 lakh after winning the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Trophy at Banga, will be depending on striker Sher Singh to spearhead the attack. The other notable players are defenders Balwinder Singh and Kuldip Singh, who along with Sher Singh, starred in Punjab’s gold medal victory during the National Games. East Bengal, who are clear favourites for tomorrow’s tie, are likely to rely on star Nigerian Omolaja Olalekan, who was the club’s highest scorer in the NFL last year. Deep defender Jackson, goalkeeper Sangram Muherjee and stopper back Deepak Mondal will play a major role in the club’s quest for the second title. According to AIFF sources, the winners will be richer by Rs 40 lakh while the prize for the team finishing second will be Rs 22 lakh.
The following are the teams who will be participating in the sixth National Football League: 1. East Bengal 2. Mohun Bagan 3. Churchill Brothers 4. FC Kochin 5. Vasco SC 6. Salgaocar SC 7. Mahindra United 8. Tollygunge Agragami 9. JCT Phagwara 10. ITI 11. HAL Bangalore 12. Punjab Police |
|
AIFF ropes in Strata to boost soccer
New Delhi, December 11 After going professional six years ago, the AIFF has finally roped in ‘Strata’ to sell the game in a cricket-crazy nation. Strata, in turn, has promised to get the sixth National Football League that kicks off tomorrow simultaneously in Jalandhar and Goa a sponsor before it is too late. As per the deal, which will come into force from April 2002, Strata will organise all the major tournaments like the NFL, Federation Cup, Santosh Trophy and pay the AIFF Rs 22 crore over a period of five years in unequal instalments. “Strata will keep a profit of 30 per cent and anything more will be shared with the AIFF,” the federation’s president Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters. He added that the AIFF would also share a percentage of that amount with the clubs. Regarding NFL, Mr Dasmunsi said the AIFF was unable to rope in sponsors due the September 11 terrorist strikes in USA and the subsequent military action against Afghanistan. The Managing Director of Strata, Mr Alamgir B. Kashmiri was confident that football would regain its lost glory, as in the 1960’s when India was a force to reckon with in Asia. “Can’t you find eleven footballers from a population of one billion. Our mission is to help India qualify for the 2010 World Cup,” Mr Kashmiri asked. “Right now there is only a semi-professional system in India. We want to make it fully professional. India can do it with the kind of infrastructure and passion for the game that it has,” Mr Kashmiri said. “We are ready to take a few Indian footballers abroad and make them millionaires overnight,” claimed Mr Kashmiri whose company had helped a few Chinese players make it big in the English Premier League. Asked about the stiff competition from cricket, Mr Kashmiri said “football is able to attract more spectators to domestic games. It’s a team game.” “Once a few Indian players make it big and their action is beamed live across the country it will attract more youngsters to the game.” Meanwhile, the bonanza for NFL winners was also announced. The winners of the sixth NFL will be richer by Rs 40 lakh and the team coming second will bag Rs 22 lakh. The prize money will be Rs 16 lakh for the third placed team and will taper down to nine, five and three lakh for teams finishing fourth to sixth. Besides, the winner of every match will get a cash prize of Rs 20,000 and the winner of the fair play award will take home Rs 2.5 lakh. The best defender of the league will get the Jarnail Singh prize and awards will also be given to the top scorer, best goal-keeper, best mid-fielder and the best forward. This year the National League Committee has been made more broadbased with representatives from eight participating clubs as its members. The NFL emergency committee will have Dr Dasgupta of King Fisher East Bengal as vice-chairman with Mr Henry Menezes of Mahindra United, Mohan Raj of Karnataka FA and Suvarna from Referee’s Board as members. PTI
|
|
SA beat Belgium
Kuala Lumpur, December 11 The winners scored through Bruce Jacobs in the 51st minute off a field attempt. The victory put South Africa in the second spot behind Malaysia with seven points from four matches. Argentina are in third place with six points while India are placed fourth on four points. For the Belgians, their run of defeats continued as they are now the only team without a point in the tournament. In the extremely humid conditions, it was a listless affair but for South African coach Rob Pullen the win was all important. “We had to win to stay in touch with the leaders. Hopefully the other teams will crumble under pressure and hand the advantage to us. If India beat Japan then we will be in the play-offs at the very least. Who knows with some luck we can make the final,” Pullen said. The final is to be played on Sunday. The winners of this tournament will qualify for the Champions Trophy 2002 in Cologne, Germany. Yesterday, India suffered a shock 1-2 defeat at the hands of hosts Malaysia in their third match. India, who were held to a 2-2 draw by South Africa on Saturday after barely managing to defeat Belgium in their opening game, remained on four points after this loss. India, even with such stalwarts in their ranks as Prabhjot Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon and Dhanraj Pillay, played defensively and lost despite leading 1-0 at half time. Malaysia found the equaliser in the second half and with score tied at 1-1, India missed a stroke when Jugraj Singh, who had a terrible match, rolled the ball towards the post. PTI
|
|
|
Hectic schedule for shooters Chandigarh, December 11 The shooters have a hectic schedule in the coming year with NRAI Golden Jubilee weapons meet at Ahmedabad from December 30 to January 5, followed by Ist all-India inter-varsity air weapons (rifle and pistol) shooting meet at Mumbai from January 5 and the 45th National Shooting championship in air weapons from January 7 to 16 at Indore. The month February will also have 11th G.V. Mavlankar shooting meet at Meerut followed by 45th national shooting meet again at Meerut in the same month. The NRAI will have two coaching camps in March and April. If Afro-Asian Games are held as planned from March 24, Indian shooters also have the chance to show their potential there. Suhl (Germany) will play host to the international junior competitions in all events from May 7 to 12. All-important world shooting championships will be held at Lahti (Finland) from July 2 to 16. The prestigious Commonwealth Games will also be conducted at Bisley (England) from July 21 to August 4 followed by World Cup finals in Rifle/Pistol at Munich (Germany) from August 20 to August 25.
|
|
|
BSF hockey champs Mandi, December 11 The first match played between SAIL and Himachal Pradesh was a spirited battle for the gold cup. Himachal’s inexperienced girls played a defensive game throughout but lost to SAIL girls who scored two goals. The lead for SAIL came in the 19th minute off a brilliant pass by Rajnish and Aruna netted the ball. Himachal girls became more active and defensive after this goal. The score remained 1-0 till half time. SAIL brought a technical change in the game after the break. This change sealed the fate of Himachal in the 41st minute of the match when Kadayana made an excellent move and Vandana banged it in the rival citadel (2-0).
|
|
KU meet results Kurukshetra, December 11 Forty men and 30 women teams drawn from affiliated colleges are participating in this three-day Meet. The detailed results are as
follows:- Men: 800m: 1 Sunil Kumar M.N. College (Fatehabad), 2 Vijay Kumar M.L.N. College, (Y’nagar), 3 Krishan Kumar (U.T.D.), KU. 5000m: 1 Harpreet Singh (G.N. Khalsa College, Y’nagar), 2 Rajesh, (G.N. Khalsa College, Y’nagar), 3 Anurodh Kumar (MLN College, Y’nagar). High Jump: 1 Pradeep Kumar (Govt P.G. College, Jind) 2 Jagpreet Singh (D.A.V. College), and 3 Pawan (Govt P.G. College, Karnal). Shotput: 1 Sukesh Sangwan (Govt P.G. College, Karnal), 2 Rajesh Kumar (D.N. College, Hissar), and 3 Sandeep (D.N. College, Hissar). Women: 800m: 1 Sarla (UTD, KU), 2 Suman Dalal (S.D.M.M.V., Hansi), 3 Soma (S.S.J., Sirsa). 200m: 1 Saroj Saini (M.L.N. College, Y’nagar), 2 Mukesh (S.S.J., Sirsa), and Suman Dalal (S.D.M.M.V., Hansi). Jevelin Throw: 1 Gurpreet (S.S.J., Sirsa), 2 Gurpreet (UTD, KU), and Rajendri (DMM, Kurukshetra). |
|
Meghalaya school win soccer title New Delhi, December 11 Striker Baistarred Majaw scored the winner for the Meghalaya school in the 29th minute in a match dominated by the north-east side against the Jharkhand school which played with just eight men, the rest debbared due to over-age. After coming close on a number of occassions, Majaw scored the all important goal off a pass from Kynsai Malngiang after captain Pyndap initiated the move. PTI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
