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Anju to carry flag at Athens Aim it like Arjuna,
Dutt asks archers
Wrestlers keen to emulate Jadhav Judoka hopes for memorable Olympics |
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Thorpe chases his own destiny ‘Tainted’ Ukrainian doc cleared for games HC not to restrain Prasar Bharti
from sending team Punjab announces incentives for
medal winners Dravid will keep wickets, says Ganguly
Murali recaptures record
Paes-Bhupathi reach last 8 Deepank, Anita win TT titles
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New Delhi, August 6 Anju is the first Indian to win a bronze medal at the World Athletics Meet in Paris and considered the brightest medal prospect for the country at Athens. Tennis star Leander Paes, the winner of bronze medal at Atlanta edition of the Games in 1996, was India’s flag-bearer at Sydney in 2000. India is sending a 75-strong contingent to the four-yearly games.
“The Sports Ministry has agreed to hike the pocket allowance to $ 50 each per day but it is awaiting clearance from the Finance Ministry,” Kalmadi said. He said the IOC provided Rs 1.5 crore to the IOA for the preparation of the Indian contingent under the Olympic solidarity programme. “The beneficiaries include the national hockey team (Rs70 lakh), Abhinav Bindra (Rs 22 lakh), Karnam Malleswari and Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat (Rs 8.5 lakh each) and Anju Bobby George (Rs 6 lakh),” Kalmadi said. The IOA president hoped for a best performance from the Indian contingent saying “this is best team ever to leave the Indian shores.” “We have hopes in men’s hockey, tennis (from Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes), athletics, weightlifting and wrestling,” he said. Kalmadi also recalled with pride that India came up with their best ever performance in the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 and in the Busan Asian Games. “In Busan we were second to China in athletics,” he said. But Kalmadi added a note of caution that “in the last 50 years we have not won more than one medal in any Olympics. But this time we have strong chance to win more medals”.
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Aim it like Arjuna, Dutt asks archers
New Delhi, August 6 “Remember we are from the country where Arjuna hit the fish’s eye by just seeing the reflection. Maybe the game has become more technical these days but do not let other things affect your concentration,” he said, citing that archery had been one of the primitive sports practised in India. “I will be there at the airport to receive you when you come back with a medal,” he said, exhorting the players to put up a good show at Athens. The Indian archers include Tarundeep Rai, Satyadev Prasad and Majhi Sawaiyan in the men’s team while Dola Banerjee, Reena Kumari and Sumangala form the women’s team. PN Mukherjee is the team captain while Evan Evanov Lotov (Bulgaria) and Chea Hong Gi (Korea) are the two coaches attached to the team. The president of the Archery Association of India, VK Malhotra, pointed out that the players had done well in the Asian Grand Prix and three European Grand Prix this year. “We have organised 12 national ranking prize-money tournaments in the past 18 months and the improvement in their performance is evident,” he said. The team also received a huge boost with Dola Banerjee and Reena Kumari being offered jobs by the Railways today. Sumangala was also promised a Railways job in the near future. “We had approached the Railways for jobs to eight boys and as many girls and the authorities have assured us to provide it,” he said. India was one of the three countries that secured Olympic berths for both the men and women teams at the 42nd World Championships in New York last year. — UNI
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Wrestlers keen to emulate Jadhav
New Delhi, August 6 The Athens bound seven-member Indian wrestling team includes six in freestyle— Yogeshwar Dutt(55kg), Sushil Kumar(60), Ramesh Kumar(66), Sujeet Mann(74), Anuj Kumar (84) and Palwinder Singh Cheema(120) while Mukesh Khatri(55) is the lone Indian grappler in the Greco-Roman category. Talking to UNI before flying to Bulgaria, seniormost member of the side Sujeet Mann said: “We had rigorous 25-day training first at Shilaru in Himachal Pradesh and then we slugged it out for nearly a month at the NIS, Patiala. I also underwent a three-month training in Canada. Now we are going to Sofia, Bulgaria, for the last leg of our training and I hope we can pull off a surprise or two at Athens.” Talking about his performance, the grappler who, along with Sushil Kumar, qualified in September last year during the World Wrestling Championship in New York said: “I think I’m in good form. I’ve won the silver at the Senior Asia Championship in Iran early this year and there too I missed the gold by a whisker.” The World Championship saw him finishing eighth while in the Asian Championship he stood seventh. The wrestler, currently ranked eigth, had also won bronze at the Asian Championship last year and was declared the best grappler at the Commonwealth Championship in Canada where he bagged gold. He also won the silver at the Canada Cup. “If I get a favourable draw, I think I can finish among the top two wrestlers at Athens,” asserted the Arjuna awardee. Fellow wrestler Sushil Kumar also seemed confident of a good show at Athens. “We’ve toiled hard under our Georgian coach Vladimir Mesvirishvill and we won’t disappoint there at Athens,” he said. Sushil won the gold at the Commonwealth Championship last year and followed it up with a bronze in the Asian Championship. He also stood fourth in the World Championship in the USA. Meanwhile, for Yogeshwar, Athens means a rare chance to represent the country at the highest level and his aim is to give it his best, without bothering about medals. Palwinder Singh Cheema remains another wrestler to look out for. Son of two-time Asian Games bronze medallist Sukchain Singh, Cheema won the bronze at Busan Asian Games. Earlier he had won the World Junior Wrestling Championship in 2001. Ramesh Kumar will lead the Indian challenge in the 66kg category. — UNI
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Judoka hopes
for memorable Olympics New Delhi, August 6 Akram had qualified for the event in the 60 kg category at Athens during the Asian Judo Championships held at
Almaty, Kazakhstan, in May this year. Though he lost his second round bout, the points he accumulated there were enough to book a berth for Athens. Akram fetched India’s first ever judo silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and finished seventh in the Busan Asian Games. He also bagged the bronze at the Asian Championship in
Jeju, South Korea, last year. Under a one-month programme, the judoka went to train for two weeks in Japan and then in Uzbekistan this year. “I learnt a lot abroad during the training, especially because both the countries are judo super powers. Unfortunately back home, you don’t get to know about the latest changes in techniques and I was amazed by their technical prowess,” said an awe-struck Akram.
— UNI |
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Sydney, August 6 When Thorpe won three gold and two silver medals as a 17-year-old at the Sydney Olympics, his destiny seemed assured. The Australian took the bait and started to prepare himself for a crack at the magnificent seven. The early signs were promising. He won six gold medals at the 2001 world championships in Japan but the events of September 11 suddenly reshaped his thinking. Thorpe was holidaying in New York that day and was on his way to the World Trade Center when the first hijacked plane struck the twin towers. The harrowing experience made him reassess his priorities and he vowed not to waste another day of his life. After finishing with six golds at the Commonwealth Games a year later, Thorpe abandoned his quest of pursuing Spitz. “It’s not me,” Thorpe said. “I’m not doing something to have accolades or the recognition.” Thorpe’s success in Sydney had already made him rich beyond his dreams but it came at a high price. He is a national hero in Australia but cannot lead a normal life. He is mobbed by fans every time he walks down the street and his every move is scrutinized by the media and public. Earlier this year, he was moved to address rumours about his sexuality after Sydney’s gay community adopted him as an icon. For the record, he said he was not homosexual but was flattered by the description. — Reuters
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‘Tainted’ Ukrainian doc cleared for games Patiala, August 6 Interestingly, AAFI officials pulled the wool over the eyes of ministry officials by referring to Dr Volodymyr as a “coach” when the federation recommended the Ukrainian’s name. An SAI official revealed that this was done because the ministry would have refused to give the green signal to the AAFI’s recommendation had they forwarded the name of Dr Volodymyr as a doctor to go with the squad because of his “dope tainted” reputation. Sources said Dr Volodymyr was a “recovery expert” and had been a regular at all domestic circuit meets organised by the
AAFI. Even at the circuit meet held at Patiala early this year, he was allegedly seen in the company of Ukrainian masseur Inna
Zveryev, providing prohibited substances to athletes on the sly. The latter’s name has also been cleared by the ministry as a masseur to accompany the squad along with her Ukrainian compatriots Ogorodnik Yuriy (throwing coach) and Minakov Yuriy (sprint coach). A top SAI official has revealed that it was only on the recommendations of Dr Volodymyr that the AAFI charted out a comprehensive programme to make the Athens-bound athletes train in Ukraine. Intriguingly, there is no IOC-accredited laboratory in Ukraine which can keep a check on the misuse of dope among athletes. At present, barring long jumper Anju Bobby George and discus thrower Anil Kumar, all athletes are training in Ukraine from where they are scheduled to fly directly to Athens. Interestingly, this is in complete contrast to the ministry’s ruling which says that “the IOA is requested to ensure medical fitness and dope testing in IOC-accredited laboratories or the SAI laboratory in New Delhi”. Apart from the three Ukrainian “coaches” and masseur, the others whose names have been cleared by the ministry to go as coaches with the athletes are Gurmeet Singh, Robert Bobby George, Sanjay Kumar Garnaik and Jaswant Singh Dogra. The name of Lt-Col Dr A.K Mehta, who is slated to go to the Olympics as doctor with the athletes, has also raised eyebrows. Lt-Col Mehta has been associated not with the athletics contingent, but with the Indian boxing squad. He has accompanied boxing squads to all three pre-qualifying tournaments held abroad. He was also with the boxers when the team took part in the SAF Games held in Islamabad in March this year.
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HC not to restrain Prasar Bharti from sending team
New Delhi, August 6 “The stage has reached that no order can be passed in public and national interest,” Mr Justice Manmohan Sarin said, adding that “the selection was done keeping in mind the requirement of the programme”. However, the court said there should be guidelines for the selection of personnel for foreign visits and observed that “there should be efforts to see that eligible and qualified persons having expertise are considered for foreign trips”. The court said no interim order could be granted at this stage when the mega event was to start within a week and the preparations for which had started in March this year. Prasar Bharti’s counsel informed the court that the accreditation cards, which will be treated as visa in Greece, had already been issued to the members of the team, some of whom have already left for Athens. Meanwhile, the court said it would hear the petition of the Programme Staff Welfare Association of AIR and Doordarshan alleging arbitrary selection of Doordarshan/AIR team for the coverage of Athens Olympics and sought replies from Prasar Bharti and others on their contentions. The court fixed October 15 as the next date of hearing. The association, through its president Pramod Mehta, has alleged “irregularities and discrimination in the selection of programme personnel for various foreign and national assignments”. — PTI
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Punjab announces
incentives for medal winners Chandigarh, August 6 Rana Sodhi was speaking to mediapersons during a function organised to honour him at the CGA golf range on
He said any sportsperson from Punjab winning the silver would be given Rs 50 lakh while a bronze medallist would get Rs 25 lakh. Rana Sodhi, a former international clay pigeon shooter, said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was keen to give fillip to sports in the state and had asked him to go to Athens to encourage sportspersons from Punjab. |
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Dravid will keep wickets, says Ganguly New Delhi, August 6 Dinesh Karthik, who had a good Ranji Trophy season for Tamil Nadu last year, and also did well for the Indian under-19 team in the Junior World Cup in Bangladesh and the India A team, has replaced Parthiv Patel in the Indian squad for the Holland, NatWest and ICC Champions Trophy series. Sourav said a lot of deliberation was done before Karthik was preferred over Parthiv. Sourav said India A team coach Sandeep Patil was also consulted before picking Karthik, as the young keeper has been doing well, both with the bat and behind the wicket, in the ongoing tour of the India A team to Kenya. On the merit of Rohan Gavaskar getting the nod over Dinesh Mongia’s claim, Sourav explained that the former’s “all-round” talent clinched him the berth. “Rohan had also done well in Australia in the limited opportunities he got there (last year). Batting at the No 7 slot is not that easy”, Sourav said. The captain said seven batsmen selected themselves, and though Dinesh Mongia’s name was considered, he could not be fitted in. “The selectors felt that Mongia got enough opportunities and did not perform well. He was not part of the India A team either”. Former Indian opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth said the team for the ICC Champions Trophy was a “very well-balanced one”. “It’s an ideal side, considering the conditions in England”, observed Srikkanth. Srikkanth exhorted the Indian boys to bring home the ICC Trophy in September, at a function to unveil the ICC Champions Trophy here today, in which Sourav, Yuvraj and Ravi Shastri were also present. The ICC Trophy will embark on an 11-city “Live the Game” tour of the country. Sourav hoped that the dashing Yuvraj Singh, who made his India debut at the ICC Trophy in Kenya two years ago, will come good in the Champions Trophy this time around too. India cannot afford to lose a match in the knock-out ICC Champions Trophy as they have been clubbed with Pakitan and Kenya. One defeat will force the exit of the losers. Dwelling on the Indian team’s performance in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, and the preceding few months, Sourav said it was very unfair to put the tag of “chokers” on the team considering the fact they have won 17 of their 20 matches in the last two years.
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Galle, August 6 Muralitharan had opener Martin van Jaarsveld caught at slip in the first session for his 528th wicket to pull one ahead of Australian leg spinner Shane Warne and then combined with Sanath Jayasuriya to peg down the South Africans' scoring rate. South Africa started the day on 82 without loss in reply to the hosts' 486. Just 14 runs were added in the first hour with the loss of Boeta Dippenaar, before Jacques Kallis scored a commanding 59, adding 72 runs for the third wicket with Rudolph. Kallis pushed Sri Lanka onto the back foot with his aggressive approach, especially against Muralitharan, whom he slog-swept for several boundaries before the off spinner tempted him into another that he mistimed and skied a catch to Kumar Sangakkara at mid wicket. Captain Graeme Smith, pushed down the order after suffering from a virus, added 45 runs with Rudolph for the fourth wicket before being trapped lbw for 23 by left-arm spinner Jayasuriya. Wicketkeeper Mark Boucher was also snared by Jayasuriya, one of four spinners to be used by the hosts on the dry and cracked pitch, to reduce South Africa to 225 for five. Sri Lanka took their second new ball but struggled to break a 62-run stand between Shaun Pollock (25) and Rudolph that carried South Africa past the follow-on mark of 287. Eventually, left-armer Chaminda Vaas produced a delivery that kicked off a length to catch the shoulder of Pollock's bat and fly to gully, where Sangakkara took the catch. Lance Klusener, playing his first Test innings since 2002, lasted just 16 balls before popping up a catch in close. Scoreboard Sri Lanka (1st innings) 486 South Africa (1st innings) Dippenaar run out 46
Van Jaarsveld c Samaraweera b Murali 37 Rudolph not out 85 Kallis c Sangakkara
Smith lbw Jayasuriya 23 Boucher c Kaluwitharana
Pollock c Sangakkara
Klusener b Jayawardene
Boje not out 31
Extras
(b-14 lb-8 nb-10 w-1) 33 Total (7 wkts, 124 overs) 347 Fall of wickets:
1-84, 2-96, 3-168, 4-213, 5-225, 6-287, 7-295 Bowling: Vaas 22-9-45-1, Maharoof 19-9-42-0, Muralitharan 39-8-112-2, Chandana 18-0-68-0, Jayasuriya 20-9-34-2, Dilshan 6-0-24-1.
— Reuters |
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Paes-Bhupathi reach last 8 New Delhi, August 6 The more than two-and-a-half hour see-saw match saw the first set being grabbed by the Czech duo through tie-breaker while Leander and Bhupathi seemed basking in the glory of their recent Toronto Masters triumph at Canada. However, the subsequent two sets in the second round match at court No. 2 saw a remarkable comeback by the Indian duo who kept their cool and won both to reach the last eight stage with a 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 win. In the quarterfinal, the eighth seeded Indian pair will take on Canada’s Daniel Nestor and his partner from Bahama Mark Knowles whom they had beaten last week in the semifinal of the Toronto Masters.
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Giantkiller Sonu in semis Hisar, August 6 Sonu started his fight cautiously and was defensive in the beginning. Still, he maintained a lead of 4-0 after the first round. The fight gained momentum gradually and by the third round, it became quite exciting. Though the Goan pugilist improved a lot in the final round, Sonu won 12-10 and entered the semifinal. H.K. Beliwal of Services seemed confident from the beginning of his quarterfinal bout in the flyweight category and outscored his opponent, Sundi Raju of the Railways, in the second round. The gold medallist in the last championship, Robin Dev of Steel Plants, booked his place in the semifinal by winning a bout that stretched to the final round. He defeated Ashwani Singh of Chandigarh 25-20 in the flyweight category. Bijender Singh of Haryana established his superiority in the first round of his bout in the bantamweight category over Bipin Pying Rope of Services. Bijender won a tough bout 31-31 (74-59) and ensured his berth in the semifinals. In another quarterfinal bout in the featherweight category, Naveen Dev of Haryana furiously attacked his opponent, Mujtfa Kamal of Services, who adopted the strategy of defence. Thanks to his cautious approach, Kamal won the bout 17-13. Winning other quarterfinal bouts, Mohammad Ali Qamar of the Railways, Jonathan of Services, Balbir of Delhi and Raj Kumar of Karnataka also entered the semifinals in the light flyweight category. In the flyweight category, Pawan Singh of Sikkim and Abhishek Shah of Delhi also entered the semifinal round. Dharamvir Singh of the Railways and Sumi Khukiye of Nagaland also entered the semis in the bantamweight category.
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Deepank, Anita win TT titles Amritsar, August 6 Anita lost the first, third and fourth sets but came back strongly to win the last three sets. She defeated Mamta 4-3. Vijeta Virayani secured the third place by defeating Nirmala Ajbani 3-2. Favourite Deepank Das did not face much difficulty in beating Satnam Singh 4-1. Ram Singh Sengar secured the third place after defeating S. K. Jain 3-0. Earlier, in the men’s semifinals, third seed Satnam Singh outplayed second seed Ram Singh Sengar 4-0. Deepank Dass beat S. K. Jain 4-0 to enter the final. In the women’s semifinals, Mamta Mukhi outclassed Nirmala Ajbani 4-0 and Anita Agnihotri crushed Vijeta Virayani 4-1.
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New Delhi, August 6
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