Thursday, April 8, 1999
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S P O R T | Thursday, April 8, 1999 |
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Losses 'due to experimentation' DUBAI, April 7 — Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin and coach Anshuman Gaekwad are upbeat about the team's chances against Pakistan and England in the Coca Cola Cup Triangular Cricket Series beginning in Sharjah today. Comprehensive 90-run win for Pak SHARJAH, April 7 — Pakistan maintained their recent winning form by riding on a sparkling 137 from Ijaz Ahmed to pile up a massive 323 for five before overwhelming England by 90 runs in the opening tie of the triangular cricket tournament here tonight.
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Venus Williams, Kafelnikov bow out |
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McGrath puts Aussies back in
contention Kucera
brushes aside Kohlmann Punjab
overcome Delhi Sasikiran outwits Deshmukh Thakran
skipper for 4-nation tourney PFA
to hold all-India tourney in Nov
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Losses 'due to experimentation' DUBAI, April 7 (UNI) — Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin and coach Anshuman Gaekwad are upbeat about the team's chances against Pakistan and England in the Coca Cola Cup Triangular Cricket Series beginning in Sharjah today. "Our morale is high. We are going into this tournament with a positive attitude and a strong will to win", Azharuddin told local journalists soon after arriving with the team here yesterday. He said the team was not going to be affected by its poor performance against Pakistan in the recent series at home and was determined to remain focussed on the World Cup in England later this year. "Our recent losses do not reflect the capabilities of our team. The defeats in the Test series and the triangular tournament do not affect a bit our World Cup preparations and we will continue to train hard for the big occasion in May and June", he said. Coach Gaekwad told UNI that all the players were aware that they had to "put themselves up" in the Sharjah tournament. "We are back with a full side, except for Sachin Tendulkar", Gaekwad said, preferring to the decision to rest the star batsman, who is nursing a problem with his back. "The absence of Sachin Tendulkar in Sharjah will definitely hurt us he is a cut above the rest", Azharuddin said. "But we have won a few matches without him as well", the skipper pointed out. He also said that his own form was not worrying him. "It will come back", he said. We have some very good batsmen and our bowlers are perfectly capable of defending totals. So I think with this line-up and a few good one-day bowlers we should win this tournament like me have won many times in Sharjah before", he said. India will play Pakistan in its opening engagement in the ten-day tournament tomorrow. Pakistan are playing England in the first match today. Gaekwad felt the poor showing by his team in recent matches in India could partly be explained by the continuous experimentation with several new faces in an effort to find the right combination for the World Cup. He felt things were more settled now. "It is now time to concentrate on the World Cup and this tournament is the best place to have the final squad playing", he said. Azharuddin said one-day cricket players needed to innovate continuously and avoid falling into any single pattern. He said this was important because, thanks to television, every batsman and bowler was being continuously analysed by rival camps. "The details are studied to find a pattern", he said. "The onus, therefore, is on the players to break that pattern, especially in one-day cricket. Players must innovate", he said. Azharuddin said he was satisfied with India's preparations for the World Cup and happy with the team selected for the event. "We are in a tough group (with Sri Lanka, South Africa, England, Zimbabwe and Kenya) and yes, I have more or less the players I want", he said. The captain reiterated the need for the team to improve on its fielding. "I can only say so much. The players have to respond", he added. Azharuddin told the Sharjah-based Gulf today that he had no plans to retire after the World Cup. "These are rumours and there is no truth in them... I do not seen any reason why I won't be playing competitive cricket for another three or four years", he said. "I have been physically fit, and except for the minor shoulder injury which I had, I am perfectly okay", he added.
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Comprehensive 90-run win for Pak SHARJAH, April 7 (PTI) — Pakistan maintained their recent winning form by riding on a sparkling 137 from Ijaz Ahmed to pile up a massive 323 for five before overwhelming England by 90 runs in the opening tie of the triangular cricket tournament here tonight. Ijaz Ahmed cracked his 10th one-day century in a clinical near run-a-ball effort and raised 145 runs with Inzamam-ul Haq for the third wicket after skipper Wasim Akram chose to bat first and then off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq struck two crucial blows in the same over as Pakistan dashed England’s ambitions and bowled them out for 233 in 45.5 overs. Graeme Hick (65 - 90 b, 6x4) and Andrew Flintoff, who struck an explosive 50 (51 b, 2 x 4, 4 x 6), built a rapidfire 94 runs for the fifth wicket stand to raise hopes of an improbable England win but Saqlain Mushtaq returned to dismiss both in quick succession as the innings quickly took a nosedive again. Young paceman Shoaib Akhtar rocked the England top order at the outset with three wickets and returned three for 42 in 10 overs in yet another fine display. Saqlain captured three for 23 and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi made up for some stick from Hick and Flintoff to finish with three for 53. ‘Man of the Match’ Ijaz Ahmed raised a breezy 86-run second wicket stand with Afridi and the century association with Haq as Pakistan set the Sharjah Stadium alight in the afternoon. Wasim Akram (22) and ‘keeper Moin Khan (29 n.o.) gave the charge into the slog overs against a flagging attack to push the Pakistan score well past the 300-run mark. England, playing their first match in close to two months, failed to raise their fielding and barring Goug, who finished with three for 55. None of the other six bowlers could really make any impression on the ruthless Ijaz Ahmed. Pakistan, fresh from their confidence-boosting win in the triangular tournament in India, but up an imposing batting display after Akram won a good toss. Ijaz scored his 137 runs off only 130 balls as Haq, fresh from a match-winning 91 against India in the April 4 final at Bangalore, nicely rotated the strike. The English fielders were made to toil under sweltering conditions after raising some hopes when Gough claimed Anwar. Afridi, who once again mixed his natural aggression with a responsible approach, fell nine short of his fifty when he skied a catch to Gough off Mark Ealham’s gentle seamers. But Ijaz blasted 12 runs off Ealham’s opening over and struck typically powerful shots either side of the wickets as Pakistan raced to 128 for two wickets at the halfway mark. Ijaz was followed into the pavilion by Haq, who also hoisted Gough into the safe hands of Hick at long on, but Akram promoted himself to good effect, making a breezy 22. Moin Khan who kept the score moving at a brisk pace with clever placements smashed the last two balls of the innings, sent down by the inexperienced Andrew Flintoff, and remained unbeaten on 29 as England was set a virtually impossible target. Flintoff conceded 62 runs in seven overs for the wicket of Akram. Pakistan included veteran Salim Malik after he made a return into the World Cup squad, but did not get to bat as all-out aggression was resorted to in the final few overs. Pakistan: England:
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Anand loses to Judit Polgar DOS HERMANAS (SPAIN) April 7 (PTI) — Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand made a poor start to his campaign in the 10th Dos Hermanas Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament last night, losing to Judit Polgar in the opening round of the 10-player event. Rarely has the world-number-two-ranked Indian lost a first round game, but this time he seemed to have been out-manoeuvred by Hungary’s Polgar, who has not been playing tournaments for almost a year now. In the only other result obtained on the first day, England’s Michael Adams scored a full point against Peter Svidler of Russia, while two other games ended in draws. There was some action even before the tournament began, as Alexander Morozevich, whose entry into this super-GM tournament was much eagerly awaited, had to pull out at the last minute. Fortunately, Boris Gelfand, a former champion here, was willing to be inducted. The scheduled first round for Gelfand will be against Viktor Korchnoi and that game will now be held on April 15, one of the rest days in the event. Till then both Gelfand and Korchnoi will be one round behind the field. Anand had black against Polgar and was generally expected to get a favourable result in the game. Anand employed the Siclian defence, Scheveningen variation. Polgar sacrificed a piece to gain momentum, but at one stage it seemed that it might not work. But she worked her way through and using her two bishops gained significant advantage. So much so Anand’s queen was pushed into a corner. With such a situation, Anand was put into a weak spot and he resigned on the 34th move as he realised he faced loss of major pieces. The result would be a blow to Anand’s aspirations of getting this year’s major title as Polgar is rated more than 100 ELO points below him. Miguel Illescas, the local challenger, who is rated 115 ELO points below Bulgarian Vaselin Topalov, was engaged in a 42-move draw for a good opening round result. Adams, who is a generally good starter at most events, made yet another good beginning. With white pieces he outplayed Svidler in 33 moves. That put Adams and Polgar in joint lead after the first round of the nine-round event. Kramnik and Karpov played the English opening and neither made significant inroads. Krammik had white and the game ended in a draw after 33 moves. Results (first round):
Adams (1) beat Svidler (0), Polgar (1) beat Anand (0),
Illescas (0.5) drew with Topalov, Kramnik (0.5) drew with
Karpov (0.5), Gelfand and Korchnoi yet to play. |
McGrath faces spitting charge ST JOHN'S (ANTIGUA), April 7 (AFP) — Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath was accused of spitting after the last ball of yesterday’s play in the fourth Test against the West Indies here. Match referee Raman Subba Rao said the West Indian captain Brian Lara complained that McGrath spat at Adrian Griffith but Subba Rao added he had not decided whether McGrath spat intentionally or not. He will announce today whether any action will be taken against the Australian. McGrath was fined 30 per cent of his match fee, about $ 2,500, after being found guilty of using abusive language against England tailender Alan Mullally during the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne last December. The fine was suspended for four months, meaning McGrath will have to pay it along with any further penalty if Subba Row finds the paceman spat intentionally in yesterday’s incident. New Zealander John Reid
was the match referee during the Ashes series, when he
found McGrath guilty under code five of the International
Cricket Council’s code of conduct. |
McGrath puts Aussies back in contention ST JOHN'S (Antigua), April 7 (Reuters) — Glenn McGrath won the final round of his intriguing duel with West Indies captain Brian Lara to set Australia on course for victory here in the final Test. Lara, whose spectacular batting exploits earned West Indies an unexpected 2-1 lead in the four-match series, fell leg before to the combative McGrath for just seven as his side chased a daunting victory target of 388. McGrath’s high quality pace bowling had earlier brought him the wicket of opener Sherwin Campbell. He also removed Adrian Griffith from the action after Griffith and fellow opener Sherwin Campbell had denied the Australians a breakthrough for the best part of an hour. Griffith was forced to retire hurt after being struck a painful blow on the point of the elbow by a lifting McGrath delivery. Lara’a dismissal left West Indies on 69 for three and occasional bowler Greg Blewett rubbed salt into the wound by trapping Carl Hooper lbw to leave West Indies in dire straits on 105 for four at the close. Lara and McGrath have been the two sides’ outstanding performers in an absorbing series. Despite the failure in his final innings, Lara averaged 91 with 546 runs. McGrath has 29 wickets and can become Australia’s leading wicket-taker in a series against West Indies with a good final day. Clarrie Grimmett and Alan Davidson hold the record with 33 wickets in a five-Test series. Earlier in the day , 36-year-old Courtney Walsh, West Indies’s most successful bowler with 26 wickets, had been at the sharp end again when Australia’s tail folded. He picked up three wickets as the touring team lost their last five wickets for 19 runs. They were all out for 306. Walsh’s overall haul in Tests is 423 — just 11 short of Kapil Dev’s world record. Curtly Ambrose, Walsh’s partner in pace, and Justin Langer who completed his third Test hundred, had shared the morning honours. Ambrose conceded just nine runs in a superb 10-over spell with the old ball during which he had both Waugh brothers caught by wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs, Mark for 65 and Steve for just four. Langer, 84 not out overnight, reached his third Test hundred from 252 balls. He was eventually bowled by a sharply turning Hooper delivery for 127 having batted for six hours and a half, having faced 307 deliveries and hitting eight fours and two sixes. SCOREBOARD West Indies (2nd
innings): |
Match-fixing
ISLAMABAD, April 7 (PTI) — The Judge heading the commission probing allegations of match-fixing and betting against leading Pakistani cricketers has said he has received some "concrete evidence" but added the report may not be finalised before next month’s World Cup. Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum of Lahore High Court was quoted by media here as saying he might have to delay his report until after the World Cup and added the delay in the finalisation of the report is not deliberate. "I am too busy with ehtesab (accountability) cases," the Judge said referring to the corruption cases involving former premier Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Zardari which he is hearing as part of a two-member Bench. But, Justice Qayyum said during the hearing, he had received "concrete evidence" on the involvement of some of the leading Pakistani cricketers including skipper Wasim Akram. On apprehensions in certain quarters that attempts were being made to delay the report till completion of the World Cup, Qayyum said he had completed his inquiry and would write his findings soon and send them to President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar. "I have no concern whether the President releases the report before or after the World Cup," Judge Qayyum said. Pakistan government asked Justice Qayyum to probe the match-fixing allegations in August last year. He was initially given only two months to complete his work. But it was delayed when Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne admitted taking money from an Indian bookie for providing "weather information" during a 1994 one-day tournament in Sri Lanka. The judicial commission later sent a team to Australia to record the statements of the two Australian cricketers, who had stirred an hornet’s nest by alleging that Pakistan batsman Salim Malik had tried to bribe them during the 1994-95 series in Pakistan. Pakistan cricket has
been rocked by match-fixing and betting controversy since
early last year. Later a three-member probe committee of
Pakistan Cricket Board, also headed by a Judge, had named
Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed as suspects. |
Court suspends Sri Lanka’s cricket board COLOMBO, April 7 (AP) — A Colombo court today suspended Sri Lanka’s Cricket Board, which was constituted last month after controversial election. "It is not a good time for Sri Lankan cricket," Thailanga Sumathipala, president of the suspended board told reporters after a local court passed the order suspending the board until April 19. Colombo District Judge A.A.A. Salim issued the order on an appeal from Clifford Ratwattean — the uncle of the nation’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga — who unsuccessfully contested the board’s presidential elections on March 28. The court order means that the board cannot take any decision other than routine administrative matters until the case is heard and verdict given. The order, however, allowed Sumathipala to continue as president until that time. After losing the elections, Ratwattean filed the case challenging the ballot which was held amidst scenes of violence. He refused to accept the official result in which he polled only 11 votes to 79 polled by Sumathipala. Ratwatte complained that some of the district cricket officials who came to vote were prevented from entering the board office where the election was held. He also said that unauthorised persons cast votes in the election. Sumathipala said the board would file objections within two weeks to the district court and seek removal of the stay order. Ratwatte and Sumathipala were each backed by highly influential groups within the country’s ruling people’s alliance. Kumaratunga’s
cabinet ministers were also divided in the battle for
control over the governing body of Sri Lanka’s most
popular sport. |
Venus Williams, Kafelnikov bow out AMELIA ISLAND, (Florida), April 7 (AFP) — Canadian Sonya Jevaseelan, aided by a slow clay court, brought Venus Williams’ winning streak to a screeching halt in the second round of the WTA tour event here yesterday. Williams, winner of two straight hardcourt tournaments at Oklahoma City and at the prestigious Lipton Championships at Key Biscayne, was stunned 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) by the Canadian qualifier. Williams, who entered her first clay court tournament of the year having lost just one of her previous 14 matches, saw her power neutralised on the slower surface. Last year, Williams played just two events on clay, losing to Martina Hingis in the final of the Italian Open and again in the quarterfinals of the French Open. Top-seeded American Lindsay Davenport showed no ill effects from an injured wrist, defeating Tina Pisnik of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3. Davenport’s strained left wrist forced her to default a quarterfinal match to Steffi Graf at the Lipton Championships and pull out of last week’s Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head, South Carolina. The 1997 champion here, Davenport has not reached a final since winning the Sydney International in January. In other second-round matches, sixth-seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland crushed South Africa’s Jessica Steck 6-1, 6-1, and eighth seed Barbara Schett of Austria dispatched Christina Papadaki of Greece 6-3, 6-3. In the night session, second seed Monica Seles of the USA met Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic and seventh-seeded Spaniard Comchita Martinez , last year’s runner-up, took on Tara Snyder of the USA. Seles, has lost in the third round in two of her last three tournaments and in the fourth round at the Lipton. Defending champion and fourth seed Mary Pierce of France will make her first appearance on clay this season when she faces Catalina Cristea of Romania in a second-round match. OETRAS (Portugal) April, 7 (AP) — Top-seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov crashed out of the Estoril Open in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 first-round decision to unseeded Romanian Andrei Paval. It was the fourth time the Russian hasn't made it past the first round in the Estoril Open. The traditional start of the European clay-court season. Kafelnikov, No 3 in the ATP tour rankings, needed to win the tournament to have a chance to take the No 1 spot from Pete Sampras of the USA. Sampras is taking the week off, while No 2 Carlos Moya of Spain is playing in the Gold Flake Open in Chennai, India. Meanwhile, second-seeded Todd Martin of the USA advanced to the second round, beating 1998 winner Alverto Berasategui of Spain 6-1, 7-6 (7-3). Sixth-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain routed Austrian clay-court specialist Thomas Muster 6-3, 6-2. Muster, a two-time champion in the tournament, appeared to be troubled by the high winds on the centre court. Chile's Marcelo Rios, seeded third, and Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, seeded fifth, were scheduled to open play on Wednesday. Germany's Anke Huber, the women's top seed, opened the day's play at the centre court with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Amanda Hopmans of the Netherlands. Second-seeded Sarah
Pitkowski of France also advanced, beating Kristie
Boogert of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-3. |
Kucera brushes aside Kohlmann CHENNAI, April 7 (PTI) — World no ten Karol Kucera of Slovakia stepped on the pedal at the right time to crush Germany’s Michael Kohlmann 7-5 6-1 in the first round of the ATP Gold Flake Open Tennis Tournament here today. Fresh from leading Slovakia to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by ousting Sweden in the first round, Kucera looked a bit rusty and Kohlmann, ranked 126th in the world, took full advantage, fighting it out with the Slovakian in the first set. Both players hammered away from the baseline and games went on serve till the fourth game of the first set. However, Kohlmann lost serve in the fifth after Kucera nosed ahead 30-40 with an amazing down the line winner, and secured the game when the German buried his backhand into the net. Kucera then opened up a 5-4 lead, but things started going wrong for the Slovakian when he was serving for the match. Two fine double-fisted backhand returns by the German saw him down 0-30. Kucera served an ace to make it 15-30, but an uncharacteristic backhand error saw him facing two breakpoints and the German converted when Kucera’s lob went over the baseline. The loss galvanised Kucera into action and he wrapped up the next two games for the loss of only three points to win the set. In the second set, Kucera was in full cry hitting some fantastic forehand winners. Besides, his return of serve was also impeccable. He broke Kohlmann in the third game and then held for a 3-1 lead. Kucera then turned on the power in the next game breaking Kohlmann’s serve, returning a 187 kmph serve past the stunned German. Kucera was unstoppable after that and he took the next two games losing only a point. In another match, Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black overcame a spirited resistence from Pail Goldstein of the USA, before winning 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 in the top half of the draw. Ranked 93 on the ATP computer, Black found journeyman Goldstein too hot to handle in the first set and some of his returns also went wide on crucial occasions as the first set went into the tie-breaker. The tie-breaker saw a sea-saw battle before Black won it 8-6 when Goldstein double faulted. The second set was a mere formality and the Zimbabwean cruised to an easy 6-1 win. In the doubles, third seeds Mikale Tillstrom (Sweden) and Jens Knippschild (Germany) faced a tough time against lowly-rated pair of Jeff Conetzee and Myles Wakefield of South Africa before prevailing 6-4 7-5 in just under two hours. Paes-Bhupathi duo sails through India’s crack doubles combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi thrilled a capacity crowd when they put it across the Italian pair of Vincenzo Santopadre-Massimo Ardinghi 6-4 6-3 in a first round match. The Indian pair, playing their first doubles after the Lipton championships in Key Biscayne, were rusty to begin with Bhupathi losing serve in the opening game. The Italian duo then built up a 3-1 lead before Bhupathi managed to hold serve after a titanic struggle in the fifth game. In fact deuce was called nine times before a kicking serve by Bhupathi gave the advantage to the Indians. Another good serve saw a brief rally, but it ended when Ardinghi’s volley sailed long. From then on, some exhilarating net play from Paes and good serves by Bhupathi saw the rivals crumble. The Indian pair broke
Santopadre in the sixth game and drew level 3-3. Both
pairs then held serve till the ninth with Paes-Bhupathi
leading 5-4. In the tenth, with Santopadre serving, Paes
was at his acrobatic best and set up some easy
‘kills’ for Bhupathi. Paes’ fine overhead
smash won the Indians the break and the set. |
Punjab overcome Delhi TRIPRAYAR (Kerala), April 7 (PTI) — Hosts Kerala defeated West Bengal 25-12 25-18 25-16 in the women’s section, while holders Punjab overcame Delhi 25-18 25-22 25-16 in the men’s section of the National Volleyball Super League Championship here today. Kerala women in their first encounter had defeated Tamil Nadu on Monday. For Punjab, today’s victory was the third one as in their earlier matches they had beaten Indian Railways and Karnataka. The women’s match was a one-sided affair, as national games champions Kerala, who showed their supremacy both in attack and defence, wrapped up the game in just 42 minutes. The men's clash was also a one-sided affair. Punjab faced some resistance from Delhi only in the second set. The first set ended in mere 15 minutes. In the second set Delhi made some efforts, mainly through Vishambar Mourya, Gopinath and captain Arun Sharma. But they could not maintain the tempo and lost the set at 25-22. This was the third loss
for Delhi. They had earlier lost to Karnataka and Kerala. |
Sasikiran outwits Deshmukh NAGPUR, April 7 (PTI) — International master K. Sasikiran maintained his lead by outwitting local star Anup Deshmukh in the 14th round of the 36th National "A" Chess Championship here today. With this win, Sasikiran (11) has stretched his lead to 1.5 points as his nearest rival IM Abhijit Kunte lost to IM Neelotpal Das. IM R.B. Ramesh (9.5) joined Kunte at the second spot after a quick draw with IM N.K. Mishra. Sasikiran employed kings Indian defence against Deshmukh but later transposed into the modern benoni. Deshmukh played the middle game in original style and gained space on queen side by advancing his "B" pawn. However, Sasikiran was able to free his pieces when Deshmukh started his attack without adequate prophylactic measures. Sasikiran advanced his passed "C" pawn and prevented Deshmukh from getting a free hand on the king side. Deshmukh lost a piece in tactical complications and Sasikiran pocketed the point after neutralising Deshmukh’s threats. Kunte fell behind in the race for the title by losing to Das from a winning position. Former champion Kunte played the exchange variation against Slav defence and outplayed Das to gain upper hand. He created an outpost for his knight on "E5"from where the knight dominated the proceedings. Das played superbly thereafter and Kunte resigned after 53 moves as he was unable to prevent Das’s queen-rook pawn from queening. IM elect G.B. Prakash gave a masterly display of endgame technique to score over S.K. Rathore’s king. There was an explosive tactical battle in the middle game and Prakash won this Skirmish by emerging a pawn-up in the rook and opposite colour bishop ending. Prakash joins grandmaster Pravin Thipsay at the fourth spot as the latter was held to a draw by Shankar Roy. Thipsay handled the black piece ambitiously against Roy’s Scotch opening and Roy was forced to go into an inferior endgame to prevent Thipsay’s initiative from becoming too dangerous. Thipsay won a pawn and appeared to have good winning chance in the rook ending. However, he missed the continuation and Roy was able to draw with stubborn defensive play. While the five leading players appear set to grab the five top spots, the battle for the sixth place remains wide open. IM D.V. Prasad appears to be the front runner in the race following his fighting victory over IM V. Koshy. However IM V. Saravanan and IM P. Konguvel are very much in the race as they are just half a point behind Prasad. Results of 14th round: A. Deshmukh (5) lost to
Sasikiran (11 ), A. Kunte (9.5) lost to Neelotpal Das
(7), N.K. Mishra (5.5) drew with R.B. Ramesh (9.5),
Shankar Roy (4.5) drew with Pravin Thipsay (9), G.B.
Prakash (9) b Rathore (4), P. Konguvel (7.5) lost to S.
Saha (6.5), D.V. Prasad (8) b V. Koshy (5), V. Saravanan
(7.5) b T.S. Ravi (6.5), R.G. Hegde drew with Tejas Bakre
(5.5). |
Thakran skipper for 4-nation
tourney PATIALA, April 7 — A new rule change effected by the FIH, the body governing the game of hockey the world over and the same which has become operational, will now give more leverage to the coaches and managers of various international teams, consequent to which more permutations and combinations can be tried out in the field during play. As per the new ruling, a team participating in the FIH-sponsored tournaments all over the world, like the World Cup and Asia Cup, can now have 18 players apart from a coach and manager. Earlier 16 members comprised the squad plus the coach and manager. This rule is applicable to both men's and women's tournaments. However, in tournaments played under the International Olympic Committee umbrella like Asian Games, European Games and Olympics, participating country can send a squad of only 16 players apart from a coach and a manager. Meanwhile, the India Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF) has announced a 17-member squad scheduled to play in the four-nation tournament to be held on a double leg league basis in Australia from April 28 to May 4. The team was announced yesterday after a strenuous 45-day camp held at the NIS here. Apart from India, the other teams taking part in the tournament, in which the first leg will be played at Canberra and the second leg which is scheduled to be played at Perth, are Australia, South Korea and South Africa. Incidentally all the three teams have already qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The confidence level of the girls is high after having pocketed a silver medal in the Bangkok Asian Games. Interestingly, the IWHF has recommended the name of NIS videographer Mr S N Batish to accompany the team. This, according to the chief coach Mr G S Bhangu, has been done to videofilm the way the other teams plan and execute the penalty corners apart from recording the manner in which the teams launch counter attacks. The inability to convert penalty corners remarks a problematic area and according to Mr Bhangu it was due to this reason the services of a videographer have been recommended by the federation to the Sports Ministry. From the Bangkok silver medal winning squad the IWHF selection committee, headed by the president of the IWHF, Mrs Vidya Stokes, has dropped right out Nidhi Khullar and centre forward Surinder Kaur. While Nidhi Khullar did not report at the camp citing personal reasons, Surinder Kaur has been reserved for the junior squad which will tour Canada. Full back Samurai Tete, who injured her knee at the Utretch World Cup and who missed the Bangkok Asian Games, has been re-inducted into the squad alongwith Neha Singh and Kanti, both of whom are set to make their debuts. The team: Pritam Thakran
(captain), Helen Mary, Tingolima Channu, Amandeep Kaur,
Marystilla Tirkey, Sunita Dalal, Sita Gossian, Saroj Lata
Devi, Manjinder Kaur, Neha Singh, Kamla Dalal, Jyoti
Kullu, Sandeep Kaur, Samurai Tete, Patki Devi, Laxmi
Shree, and Kanti. Coach Mr G S Bhango. Manager — Mrs
Leela Walia — (Mumbai) |
Digvijay maintains lead CHANDIGARH, April 7 — Digvijay Singh continued his fine form returning a level par round to maintain his lead on the second day of the Bharat Petroleum Samarvir Shai Chandigarh Open. While most of the players struggled with the hot and windy conditions the leaders showed their superior mettle putting some excellent golf on display at the Chandigarh Golf Club today. Harmeet Khalon, the local favourite, finally got into his stride returning the day's best card of 2 under par. Starting with a bogey he made a stupendous eagle on the par-5 second hole. Then he birdied the 4th and 7th to turn at 3 under par. But bogies on the 10th and 17th and missed birdies cost him dearly or he might have caught up with Digvijay Singh. Digvijay also had trouble with his putter today, three-putting the 8th, 11th and 16th to make the only bogies in his round. His birdies on the 2nd, 5th and 13th, however, enabled him to return an excellent level par card and still lead by 3 shots over Harmeet Kahlon. Sheeraz Kalra playing with the leaders had trouble hanging on the first half but rallied to play a level back nine to finish with a 3 over 75 and remain in serious contention for the prize. Sheeraz seems to have a jinx on the opening hole, double bogeying it on both days: of his total 5 over score so far 4 strokes belong to the opening hole. Anitya Chand, the young GAIL trainee executive, played a very steady round today making 9 straight pars in the first half. Two bogies and a birdie in the back nine saw him return the very creditable 1 over 75 card and he now lies joint third with Sheeraz Kalra. Saurabh Bahuguna also played a level front nine but he started to falter thereafter and a disastrous triple bogey on the last hole resulted in his dropping to 5th position. In another highlight of the day local lad Sandy Lehal had a fantastic hole-in one on the 3 par 8th hole despite the pin being in a difficult position. A cut will be applied at
166 and the qualifying 40 will play final two days of the
tournament. |
PFA to
hold
all-India tourney in Nov PATIALA, April 7 — The Punjab Fencing Association has decided to hold an all-India open tournament in November in which international participation will also be invited. A decision to this effect was taken at the annual general body meeting and executive committee of the association held under the presidentship of Mr Brahm Mohindra here yesterday. The meeting also finalised the annual calendar of the state level championships with the senior Punjab state fencing championship men and women being held at Mansa in the last week of August. The training camp for the state probables for the forthcoming senior fencing national will be held at Mansa in September. It decided that the junior and sub-junior state fencing championship would be held at Mukatsar in October, 1999 besides agreeing on the participation of Punjab state teams in the senior national fencing championships to be held at Cochin, junior fencing national championships to be held at Nasik (Maharashtra) and the inaugural sub-junior national fencing championships to be held at Jaipur this year. Training programme for the forthcoming National Games which are to be hosted by Punjab was also chalked out and in this respect it was resolved that the Punjab Sports Department and the Punjab Sports Council should be requested to recruit at least four coaches and provide training equipments, so that, the training of the Punjab fencing did not suffer. Reviewing the financial position of the association, the house resolved that the matter should be taken up immediately with the sports department for clearing the pending grants of the last few years. The treasurer informed that the grants for the state level championships as well as for participation in the various national championships had not been received from the state government since 1997 onwards. It was revealed that though the Punjab Sports Department honours outstanding fencers who win positions in the National Games and win gold medals in the national fencing championships by giving them cash incentives, the fencers of Punjab are denied the benefit of special scholarships as well as state level scholarships which are available to the sportsmen of the other games. It was resolved that the
PFA president should take up the matter with the Punjab
Sports Department for including the games of fencing in
their scholarship scheme as the Punjab fencers are giving
outstanding performance at the national level for the
last several years. |
Rashpal, Sushil hog limelight PATIALA, April 7 — Eight times national champion and recipient of the prestigious Maharaja Ranjit Singh award Rashpal Singh of PSEB stole the honours by winning four medals in the Asian Powerlifting Championships which concluded at New Delhi yesterday. Rashpal Singh, in the 110-kg category, created a new Asian record by lifting 316.5 kg in dead lift. Earlier the record stood in the name of Eddie Torres of the Philippines who had lifted 316 kgs in the same competition. Rashpal Singh won a bronze in squat event lifting 305 kgs, a silver in bench press lifting 180 kgs and again picked up a silver in dead lift, lifting 302.5 kgs. Another PSEB powerlifter Sushil Kumar bagged a gold and created a new Asian record by lifting 318.5 kgs in the dead lift category. Earlier the record in this category was held by Chen H. Chao of Chinese Taipie. In all, Sushil Kumar won four medals in the championships. Interestingly , Sushil Kumar who competed in the 125 plus weight category lifted 350 kg in squat, 230 kg in bench press and 300 kg in dead lift. His total (880 kgs) was the highest not only in this edition of the Asian powerlifting championship but also in the history of Indian powerlifting. Competing in the 125-kg class Ashok Kapoor, also of PSEB, won the overall silver medal. In the 100-kg category Balwinder Singh, also of PSEB, won a silver with an overall lift of 782.5 kgs. In the women's section in the 90-kg category, Narinder Kaur created a new Asian record lifting 200 kg in the dead lift downing the earlier record of 199 kg held by Lee She Hung of Chinese Taipei. In the women's junior section Mandeep Kaur, participating in the 52-kg category, bagged a silver. Ashok Kumar of PSEB, participating in the 67.5 kg class totalled 627.5 kgs to win the silver medal. Neeraj Giri, in the 75 kgs category, clinched the overall gold lifting 660 kgs. Gurmeet Singh, in the 100-kg weight category, clinched the overall gold, lifting 690 kgs. Two other Punjab lifters
who won gold medals were Kulwant Kumar (110 kgs) and J S
Cheema (125 plus) In the 125-kg class powerlifter Surjit
Singh Samra won a silver, totalling 750 kgs. |
Coaches' clinic from tomorrow CHANDIGARH, April 7 — The Badminton Coaches Welfare Association of India will hold fourth national coaches clinic from April 9 to 11 at Sector 42 Sports Complex in which nearly 100 coaches from all over India are likely to take part. The board and lodging arrangements have been made at the Sports Complex, Sector 42, said Mr T.P.S. Puri, president of BCWAI. Various subjects have been chosen keeping in view their relevance in the today's badminton which has become more of a power game accompanied by the skills involved. The Indian coaches have always been found wanting as for on the changing trends one concerned. Dr Ashok Ahuja, eminent sports medicine doctor at the NIS Patiala will speak about the injuries, their prevention and rehabilitation, nutrition, physical conditioning and training. Mr T.P.S. Puri, former national badminton coach, would dwell on the mental preparation for a player before, during and after the play, while Dr J.P.S. Sidhu, Joint Director, Sports, UT Administration, will tell the coaches about the stress management and fatigue recovery. There will be an open session where badminton players and their parents would be free to ask any question. As a goodwill gesture the BCWAI will donate Rs 50,000/- to the family of late coach S. Parikh of Gujarat. Earlier also the association had released grants after the death of Baldev Singh, Ashok Mathur and Hamid Hussain ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000 to their families. A holiday home is also on the anvil in Himachal Pradesh for the recreation facilities for the coaches. Mr Devender Singh,
vice-president of the BAI, will inaugurate the meet on
April 9 while Mr Rajinder Kalsi, treasurer, BAI, would
preside over the same. Col Raminder Singh, Director
Sports Punjab, will be the chief guest on the final day. |
H
S.D. College boys lift wrestling title CHANDIGARH, April 7 (BOSR) — SD College, Sector 32, bagged the overall boys championship in both the categories (greeco and roman style) while Wrestling Coaching Centre, Sector 30, secured the first position in the girls section of the Chandigarh Junior State Wrestling Championship, which concluded at the WCC Sector 30 last evening. More than 70 wrestlers in boys and 20 wrestlers in girls took part in the one day meet. Results: (Boys: Free style:_ Wt. 46-50: Balkar 1, Naresh 2. 54 Kg: Sajid Khan 1, Sanjeev Kumar 2. 58 Kg: Surinder 1, Parveen 2. 63 Kg: Bajender 1, Sohan Singh 2. 69 Kg: Charanjit Singh 1, Surinder 2 76 Kg: Chand 1, Om Prakash 2. 85 Kg: Jang Bahadur 1, Jai Pal 2. 97 Kg: Baljit Singh 1, Pritpal 2. Above 97 KG: Kulbir Singh 1, Vinod 2. Greeco roman: 46-50 Kg: Sunil 1, Devinder 2, 54 Kg: Sat Pal 1, Manbir 2. 58 Kg: Rajesh 1, Neetish Manocha 2. 63 Kg: Balbir 1, Anil 2. 69 Kg: Jasmer 1, Jasbir 2. 76 Kg: Dharambir 1, Surinder 2. 85 Kg: Naresh Kumar 1, Pawan Kumar 2. Girls: free style: 43
Kg: Dimple 1, Archna 2. 46 Kg: Chetna 1, Sumita 2. 50 Kg:
Kulwinder 1, Ambra 2. 54 Kg: Ekta Dhillon 1, Sarina 2. 58
Kg: Rajni 1, Vidya 2. 63 Kg: Anupam 1, Vidushi 2. 68 Kg:
Jaswinder 1, Taruna 2. Above 68 Kg: Tapasya 1, Neelam 2. |
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