Paes moves into last eight
JAIPUR, Dec 8 — Indian ace Leander Paes volleyed with perfection in a fluent demolition of Briton Justin Layne 6-2, 6-4 to enter the quarterfinals while all other seeded players also joined him at the ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

England, Germany in same group
TOKYO, Dec 8 — England were drawn yesterday in the same group as their old rivals and three-times champions Germany in the qualifying round for the 2002 World Cup.

Salgaocar start favourites
NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — On a roll after winning three titles in a month, Salgaocar Football Club, Goa, hope to start their defence of the National Football League (NFL) title on a winning note when they take on strong contenders JCT, Phagwara, in the inaugural match here tomorrow.

Spate of thefts at NIS
PATIALA, Dec 8 — Several robberies, including the one in the room where several international boxers were staying today, have been committed at the NIS. National camps in various disciplines — volleyball, athletic, boxing and gymnastics — are currently in progress here.

Amol betters national mark
PHILLAUR, Dec 8 — Another national meet record tumbled when Amol Chauhan of Maharashtra shot 551 points in the rapid fire (jr men) on the fourth day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of Punjab Police Academy here today.

North take on Central today

China rout Kazakhs, finish 3rd

NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (PTI) — Hiroshima Asia Cup finalists China salvaged some pride beating neighbours Kazakhstan 5-0 to finish third at the end of league matches in the 4th Asia Cup Women’s Hockey Championship here today.

Striker Yu Yali struck twice in the first half as the Cup dark-horse China asserted their supremacy over the Kazakhs, who overcame fund crunch to be here and played spiritedly.

Despite a place in the final already slipping out after India defeated Korea yesterday, China left no chances open and played resolutely for a dignified finish in the continental championship.

The Kazakhs, who had nothing to lose in this inconsequential tie, surprised their rivals by forcing two penalty corners with a space of three minutes.

Kazakh stopper fumbled in doing the job as the central Asians wasted both the chances before China stepped up their game. After keeping cool for over 10 minutes, Yali and Hou Xiaolan made a foray into the Kazakh territory earning their first penalty corner.

Captain Yang Hongbin blasted the ball in after a clean stop to put China 1-0 ahead in the 12th minute.

Xiaolan was again making inroads into the rival half and hit a 50-yard shot and Yali deflected the long-ranger into the Kazakh post in the 18th minute. Xiaolan got her due in the 30th minute following a left-centre move with Yali.

Yali converted a penalty corner just on the stroke of the breather while Wang Jiuyan was the sole scorer in the second half for a 5-0 verdict.

Kazakhstan, whose biggest gain from this tournament should be the exposure they got by playing against top Asian teams, very briefly showed their brilliance.

Depending mainly on European style, Kazakh forwards Ainura Mutallyapova and Yelena Apeiganetz made some good moves from the left but their finishing was poor.

In the 33rd minute, Ainura made a solo run into the Chinese half but found no support from her fellow forwards who all watched her go all the way from the half line.

The Chinese, on the other hand, seized every opportunity to pierce the rival defence and it was goal-keeper Nadezhda Sumkina’s brilliant efforts through 70 minutes that saved Kazakhstan the blushes.

The final scoreline could have to in double digits had it not been for Sumkina’s daring saves under the bar who used both her pads and gloves to good effect.

On changing ends with 4-0 lead, China looked for more goals but despite earning 13 penalty corners in the match, they could convert only two.

The following is the table at the end of the league phase (read under: matches played - won - drawn - lost - points - goals for - goals against - goal difference):

England not written off yet

PORT ELIZABETH, Dec 8 (Reuters) — Surprisingly, even England’s harshest critics have not written the team off ahead of the second cricket Test against South Africa at St. George’s Park tomorrow.

The reason is simple: they were so badly outplayed during their innings defeat in the first Test at the Wanderers that supporters, management and the players themselves believe it to be irrelevant.

If they had competed, and lost, then a different story could be told. Instead, they were so ruthlessly dispatched as to make a judgement on their form impossible. They weren’t there long enough.

Even the notoriously merciless English Press admitted that pitch and weather conditions conspired against England and have refrained from predicting a similarly one-sided contest again, although headline writers have daggers poised should England be humiliated again.

South Africa, meanwhile, are working overtime to ensure that momentum is not only maintained but increased in a bid to emulate last season’s 5-0 whitewash of the touring West Indians.

“We must look at ourselves, our weaknesses, and concentrate on improving. Like (golfer) Ernie Els we must play the course and not be distracted by the opposition. We don’t want to shoot par, or enough to win by one shot, we want to win with a course record,’’ captain Hansie Cronje said today.

“Our fourth seamer was exposed a little in the first Test. You can’t expect Hansie Cronje to fill Jacques Kallis’s boots. We must work on that,’’ Cronje said.

If the hosts do make a change then either David Terbrugge, who played four Tests against the West Indies, or Port Elizabeth local boy Mornantau Hayward will play in place of a batsman, probably Jonty Rhodes, or World Cup hero Lance Klusener.

Allrounder Kallis, playing once again as a specialist batsman, is expected to be fit enough to bowl by the time the third Test begins on December 26.

England, too, are expected to make at least one change with the unfortunate Scotsman Gavin Hamilton in real danger of being tossed on to England’s record ‘one-Test-wonder’ scrap heap after his batting pair and 15 wicketless overs two weeks ago.

Paceman Chris Silverwood is the front runner for the number eight berth provided he passes a late fitness test on a troublesome heel.

Teams:

South Africa (from): Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (captain), Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Allan Donald, Paul Adams, Mornantau Hayward, David Terbrugge.

England (from): Mark Butcher, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain (captain), Michael Vaughan, Alec Stewart, Chris Adams, Andrew Flintoff, Chris Silverwood, Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Alan Mullally, Alex Tudor, Phil Tufnell.

Paes moves into last eight

JAIPUR, Dec 8 (PTI) — Indian ace Leander Paes volleyed with perfection in a fluent demolition of Briton Justin Layne 6-2, 6-4 to enter the quarterfinals while all other seeded players also joined him at the ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here today.

Coming here with the Lucknow title in his collection, Paes had been in fine touch, and today his sharp returns were too hot for Layne to handle.

The Briton, at times was also erratic and Paes broke him in the third game of the first set to race to a 4-1 lead. He forced another break in the seventh game with a delicate drop volley to lead 5-2 before Paes served out the set 6-2.

Layne got distracted at being called for foot fault in the second set. Paes took advantage of the Briton’s nervousness and broke him in the third game with a blistering on the run forehand winner.

Paes held his serve firing an ace on the opening point and then finished off the match with another ace, his seventh, to win 6-2, 6-4.

Second seed Mose Navarra of Italy was given a tough time by Dutchman Dennis Van Scheppingen before winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Navarra staged a remarkable rally after losing the first set meekly. Navarra now meets Barry Cowan of England in the quarters. Cowan rolled past Yuri Schukin of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

Despite being down with fever, youngster Vishal Uppal of India gave jitters to the Thai top seed Paradorn Srichapan. Uppal won the first set 6-4, and then took Srichapan to the distance before losing the second 5-7, but illness caught with him and he lost the decider 3-6.

Acid test for Tendulkar, Kapil Dev
By Abhijit Chatterjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH: In spite of winning the home series against New Zealand rather easily, the acid test for the duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev starts now with the three-Test series against Australia, starting with the first match at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. In any case, the New Zealanders are not exactly on top of the Test playing countries. That they did manage to pose some initial problems for the home team only goes to show that there are chinks in the Indian armour which might show up in Australia. In any case the odds are stacked against the visiting combination with India never having tasted a series win in Australia. In fact, even a Test match win in Australia has been a very rare phenomenon for India.

The task of the Sachin-Kapil combine has been rendered even more difficult by the inexperienced Indian squad. Barring a few players, none have played in Australia earlier, thus making the job of snatching victory in a Test match all the more difficult.

On the other hand Australia must be rearing to go against India, having lost back-to-back series against India in India. Since the 1992 tour of Australia by India under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin where the hosts won the five-match series 4-1, India won the one-off Test against the visitors at the Ferozeshah Kotla in 1996 while last year India wrapped up a three-match series by 2-1. Australia, however, in the recent past have beaten South Africa in South Africa, Pakistan in Pakistan, the West Indies in the West Indies and recently they whitewashed Pakistan at home. In between they wrapped up the World Cup in England. So it is but natural for the hosts to set their eyes on steamrolling India to become the undisputed world champions in Test cricket.

If the Australians could slaughter a team like Pakistan with bowlers of the calibre Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq what they will do to Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, T. Kumaran, Ajit Agarkar or Anil Kumble is anybody’s guess. Australian skipper Steve Waugh must have his tail up as he prepares to take on India who have yet to settle down to Australian conditions having lost to Queensland and also to a very experimental squad on Tuesday. The win against New South Wales must have been a very good tonic for the tourists but then every day is a new day as far as the Indians are concerned.

Many pundits believe that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are far better batsmen than the Pakistanis but then what? As already discussed on a number of occasions India have a very long tail though the joining of Nayan Mongia (who scored his personal best against the Australians at the Ferozeshah Kotla during the tour of 1996) may add to the batting depth of the visitors. But tackling Glen McGarth, Damien Fleming and Shane Warne in Australia is a different proposition than playing them in India. But then Shane Warne has to win his personal battle against Sachin if he hopes to make an impact on the Indians, the best players of spin in the world as certain critics say.

The Indians must get used to the bounce of Australian wickets as early as possible if they hope to make a dent in the Australian plan to wrap up the series. But then as former India opener Navjot Sidhu , who has toured Australia with Azharuddin’s squad in 1992, says the Indians are lucky to be playing at venues like Adelaide and Sydney where the bounce in not so much. He says it is at Melbourne that the Indians will have difficulty with the pace and bounce of the wicket.

India’s biggest disadvantage is the lack of experience. It is for this reason alone that the name of Mohammad Azharuddin kept cropping up time and again prior to the selection of the squad. It is he who had the requisite experience to guide the likes of VVS Laxman, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Devang Gandhi not to speak of Vijay Bhardwaj . True, there is Kapil. But can the former super star by himself motivate and guide the youngsters? A difficult question which probably only Kapil can answer.

The current Australian side has in all played a total of 542 Test matches, the Indians 288. Glen McGarth has 281 wickets from 56 Tests, Srinath 154 from 41; Fleming 62 from 16 Tests, Prasad 78 from 26; Warne 343 from 78, Kumble 259 from 56. As far as the support bowlers are concerned the situation is even worse. Harbhajan Singh (21 wickets from eight Tests), Debashish Mohanty (four from two), Ajit Agarkar (two from one) have less wickets together than Michael Kasprowicz (45 from 15), Mark Waugh (48 from 97) or Steve Waugh (89 from 122).

But what will finally determine the outcome of the series is the fighting abilities of the two teams. And it is in this department that Australia come on top. Otherwise how can one explain Australia’s win in the Hobart Test against Pakistan when down to 130 for five they managed to overhaul the 369 required for a win?

Mongia doubtful for Test

ADELAIDE, Dec 8 (PTI) — Nayan Mongia, sent to Australia as stand-by for wicketkeeper MSK Prasad, has joined the Indian cricket team here but it is not certain whether he would play in the first Test starting on Friday as Prasad may be declared fit by that time.

“M S K Prasad has undergone MRI check-up and reports are encouraging. He is likely to be fit in time for the Test,” said Dr Mahendra Bhargava, manager of the team today.

Prasad had hurt his knee by crashing into a suitcase at Kuala Lumpur airport when the team was in transit on the way to Australia.

The Andhra youngster was forced to miss the second four- day game against New South Wales, which prompted the team management to ask for a reinforcement. Mongia was chosen by the national selectors and he flew in here yesterday.

ESPN to telecast Test series

NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (PTI) — Sports channel ESPN will telecast live the three-Test cricket series between India and Australia beginning on December 10.

The first session of the first Test at Adelaide from December 10 to 14 will be telecast from 6.30 am. The second and third sessions will be shown from 9.40 am onwards.

The telecast of the Tests at Melbourne (Dec 26-30) and Sydney (Jan 2-6, 2000) will begin at 6.00 am. The second and third session will be shown from 9.10 am onwards.

The channel will also do a five-hour repeat telecast of the day’s play at prime time the same evening, a release said here today.

England, Germany in same group

TOKYO, Dec 8 (DPA) — England were drawn yesterday in the same group as their old rivals and three-times champions Germany in the qualifying round for the 2002 World Cup.

Germany were the last of a record 198 entries to be drawn and placed atop European group nine, which besides England also includes Greece, Finland and Albania.

Some 90 minutes earlier the Philippines were the first team drawn into group one of the Asian qualifying round for the 32-team finals in Japan and South Korea scheduled for June 1-30, 2002.

Automatically qualified are the two host nations plus France as title holders. Only five FIFA members will not take part: North Korea, Afghanistan, Burundi, Niger and Papua New Guinea.

Some 800 matches will be necessary to determine the finalists from FIFA’s six confederations, but the first ever qualifying meetings between Germany and England are certain to draw the most attention.

Both are rivals to host the 2006 World Cup. Germany beat England on penalties in the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships.

That was after England won the 1966 World Cup final 4-2 over West Germany with the help of Geoff Hurst’s controversial third goal which the Germans to this day claim never crossed the line.

England have not beaten Germany in their last five encounters since a 3-0 in 1985, but still lead the overall series 12-10 with four other matches resulting in a draw.

To add even more spice to the matches, only the group winners from Europe are assured of a place at the finals while eight of the nine second finishers meet in two-leg playoffs.

“This is a very interesting and tough group. Germany has an impressive record and they have never failed to qualify for a World Cup. But we can win this group. Personally I am very happy to play in Germany because I spent some great years there,’’ said England coach Kevin Keegan, who once played at SV Hamburg.

His German counterpart Erich Ribbeck said: “England are definitely our toughest opponents without wanting to say that the others will be any easier. Maybe it is good for us that we are in a group with five and not six teams.’’

There was another prominent non-seeded team besides England in the form of three-times winners Italy, who were slightly luckier because they were pitted against Romania, Lithuania, Hungary and Georgia in group eight.

Other interesting European duels are those between Belgium, Scotland and Croatia in group six. Group seven has Spain, Austria and Israel who also met in qualifying for the 2000 European Championships. Holland have to deal with Portugal and Ireland in group two.

Salgaocar start favourites

NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (PTI) — On a roll after winning three titles in a month, Salgaocar Football Club, Goa, hope to start their defence of the National Football League (NFL) title on a winning note when they take on strong contenders JCT, Phagwara, in the inaugural match here tomorrow.

Salgaocar, who won the Rovers and Durand Cups and the one-off Super Cup titles recently, have performed consistently during the entire year and will hope to continue from where they left in the NFL earlier in January.

The squad coached by former India star Shabbir Ali is in good form and start favourites against JCT, Phagwara, trained by national coach Sukhwinder Singh in the 132-match two-leg league.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will inaugurate the fourth edition of the NFL at the Ambedkar Stadium here tomorrow which will be followed by the Salgaocar-JCT clash, All-India Football Federation president Priyaranjan Dasmunshi told reporters today.

Twelve top teams including Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Tollygunge Aggragami (all Calcutta), Churchill Brothers, Dempo (both Goa), Border Security Force, Jalandhar (Punjab), FC Kochin, State Bank of Travancore (SBT) (both Kerala), Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bangalore, and Mahindra and Mahindra, Mumbai, will fight it out in round-robin format on home and away basis for the top prize of Rs 40 lakhs.

The runners-up will receive Rs 22 lakh and the third placed team Rs 16 lakh. The fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams will get Rs 9 lakh, Rs 6 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively while a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh will be awarded to the top scorer of the tournament, according to Mr Albert Colaco, chairman of the National Football League Committee (NFLC).

The fair play contest will be held under a new format approved by the world governing body FIFA and this year’s winner will pocket a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakhs, he said.

Besides, there will be prizes for best goalkeeper, best defender, midfielder and forward of the tournament, the amount for which will be decided later.

NFLC has, however, reduced the appearance money from Rs 5 lakhs in the first three editions to Rs 1 lakh for each team this year.

Mr Colaco said in all over 132 matches will be played at eight venues in six states besides the inaugural match at Delhi. Matches will be played at Kochi and Trivandrum in Kerala, Yuvabarthi Stadium and Ravindra Sarobar in Calcutta, Ludhiana (Punjab), Margao (Goa), Bangalore and Mumbai.

Each club will be asked to register 27 players, including five foreign players, before the start of the NFL. Not more than four foreign players will be allowed to play in one match, Mr Colaco said.

Of the 27 players registered, a team can include 20 in a match and no changes would be allowed in the list of players during the last two rounds.

The All-India Football Federation has entered into an agreement with Doordarshan for live telecast of at least 60 matches either on the national network or the regional channels.

Spate of thefts at NIS
From Our Sports Reporter

PATIALA, Dec 8 — Several robberies, including the one in the room where several international boxers were staying today, have been committed at the NIS. National camps in various disciplines — volleyball, athletic, boxing and gymnastics — are currently in progress here.

Today room No 7 of the Dhyan Chand Hostel occupied by boxer was burgled. The main lock of the room as well as the locks of the suitcases of 1994 Hiroshima bronze medalist Gurmeet Singh and international pugilist Harpreet Singh were found to be broken.

About 10 days ago the lock of boxer Mohammad Ali Qamar’s suitcase, who represented India in the world boxing championships, was broken but the suspected culprit was quickly nabbed by the boxer himself. The NIS authorities complained to the police after which the hawker was put behind the bars.

Ace boxer Dingko Singh, Bangkok Asian Games bronze medalist in discus throw Anil Kumar and Bangkok silver medalist Shakti Singh alleged that they had brought the thefts to the notice to the authorities. On numerous occasions no concrete steps had been taken by the authorities to check the menace of thefts in the NIS hostels. Another boxer Jitender Singh, who won a silver medal in the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, also said that even his room of Dhyan Chand Hostel was disclosed that he was left with his tracksuit and shoes after he came to know that all his belongings, included cash worth Rs. 5000 and two wrist watches, had been stolen.

When contacted the Executive Director of the NIS Col. B.S. Ahluwalia confirmed today’s robbery and said that after inquiring into the incident he had sent the Deputy Director (Administration) Mr S.S. Pahwa to lodge an FIR with the police.

Amol betters national mark
From Our Sports Reporter

PHILLAUR, Dec 8 — Another national meet record tumbled when Amol Chauhan of Maharashtra shot 551 points in the rapid fire (jr men) on the fourth day of the 43rd National Shooting Championship at the Ranjitgarh Rifle Club of Punjab Police Academy here today. Raunak Pandit and Perma Tamang of Army finished second and third, respectively.

In a keenly-contested rapid fire (open) contest India’s ace shooter Jaspal Rana of CISF was pushed to third spot, M. Kumar of Indian Navy grabbed gold while Poonam Kumar of the Indian Army won bronze.

On the conclusion of rapid fire event today, the hosts Punjab added one silver and one bronze to their kitty. In the rapid fire pistol (ISU) 25 mtrs (men), T.S. Dhillon won a silver behind Amol Chauhan of Maharashtra (gold) while bronze went to Shyam Bali also of Maharashtra.

Punjab team consisting of T.S. Dhillon, Santokh Singh and Darshpreet Singh won a bronze in rapid fire. Maharashtra’s trio of Shyam Bali, Gani Shaikh and Amol Chauhan clinched gold while the UP team of Ramendra Sharma, Anurag Yadav and Anshumali Diwedi lifted silver.

In the open team category, Dhyan Singh, Ajaib Rao and Bhanwar Lal helped Army team to win a gold. BSF team consisting of Poonam Kumar, Mohinder Singh and Manju Nath finished runners-up while CISF team comprising Jaspal Rana, Shubhas Rana and Amit Koslia came third.

In the 50 m, prone rifle (women) Kuheli Gangulee of CISF with a score of 591 had established lead over others. Suma Dixit of the Railways and Raj Kumari of Infantry with 581 scores each were following Gangulee.

In the junior women section, Raj Kumari of Infantry was leading with 581 points followed by M. Dhareenee and Vani Ravikrishnan both of Tamil Nadu.

In the junior men’s section (50 mtrs rifle prone), Neelu Kumar and Sudhir Paul of Army (568) were leading over Sudhanshu Goyal of Tamil Nadu (566). Both these events will conclude tomorrow.

North take on Central today

GUWAHATI, Dec 8 (UNI) — Strong contenders North Zone will take on holders Central Zone tomorrow in the semifinal of the Duleep Trophy at Maligaon Railway Stadium from tomorrow.

Buoyed by the strong batting displayed against South Zone, the North Zone are likely to start on a confident note with most of their top batsmen being in fine nick.

Today both the teams had a strenuous workout in the stadium.

DAVC, Khalsa College winners

Chandigarh Dec 8 (BOSR) — DAV College, Chandigarh, (men) and Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana emerged winners in the Panjab University Annual Athletic championship that concluded at PU campus here today Sharanjit Kaur of the GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, who created new records yesterday and today also in 400 metres was declared the best athlete in women while Devinder Singh of the GGS DAV Centenary College, Jalalabad best athlete among men. Later he was also awarded the Sondhi memorial gold medal to him.

In men the GGS DAV College, Jalalabad secured second position while the SGGS College, Chandigarh and the GNN College, Doraha finished third and fourth respectively.

Among women GGS College for Women, Chandigarh, Ramgarhia Girls College, Ludhiana and MCM DAV College for Women, Chandigarh secured second, third and fourth positions, respectively. Brigadier Labh Singh Olympian gave away the prizes

Results:

Men: 400 m hurdles:1 Manjit Singh (GNN, Doraha) Time- 1:0.24 sec; 2 Amrinder Singh (GHG KHG, Sudhar), 3 Sunil (SGGS, Chd).

110 m hurdles: 1 Gurvinder Singh (GGS DAV, Jalalabad) Time-17.51 sec; 2 Ramesh Kumar (DAVC, Chd), 3 Manjit Singh (GNNC Doraha).

10000 m: 1 Puran Chand (SGGSC, Chd) Time-32:53.52 sec; 2 Vikas Kumar (DAVC, Chd), 3 Ashok Kumar (GGS DAV, Jlbd) High Jump: Surjit Singh (GNNC, Doraha) Dist. 1.86 mtrs.

Triple Jump: 1 Ramandeep Singh(GGS DAV, Jlbd) Dist.13.85 mtrs; 2 Gurlabh Singh (GGSDAV, Jlbd), 3 Mayank Bhushan (DAVC Chd).

100 M: 1 Sukhjinderjit Singh (Govt College, Ludhiana) Dist. 11.41 sec; 2 Mohit Kumar (DAVC, Chd), 3 Sandeep Singh Rana (PUC, Chd).

Shot Put: 1 Hardev Singh (SGGS, Chd), 2 Itwant Singh (ASC, Khanna), 3 Shamsher Singh (DAVC, Chd).

400 M: 1 Kanwaljit Singh (SGGS, Chd) Time: 51.68 sec: 2 Balkar Singh (ASC, Khanna), 3 Satwinder Singh (DAVC, Hpr).

1500 Mtrs: 1 Sunil Yadav (DAVC, Chd) Time: 4:08. 25 sec: 2 Vipan Kumar (PUC, Chd), 3 Joginder Singh (JC DAV, Dasuya).

Women:

Shot Put: 1 Gurminder Kaur (PUC, Chd) Dist 10.32 mtrs; 2 Simerpal Kaur (Ramgarhia, Ldh), 3 Shinderpal Kaur (Ramgarhia, Ldh).

100 M Hurdles: 1 Sharanjit Kaur (GGSC, Chd) Time: 15.79 sec; 2 Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 3 Veerpal Kaur Mann (Ramgarhia, Ldh).

100 M: 1 Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh) Time- 12.26 sec; 2 Sagardeep Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 3 Sharanjit Kaur (GGSC, Chd).

400 M: 1 Sharanjit Kaur (GGSC, Chd) Time- 57.85 sec; 2 Maninder Kaur (KCW, Ldh), 3 Raj Rani (KCW, Ldh).

Discus throw: 1 Gurminder Kaur (PUC, Chd), Dist 3822 mtrs; 2 Poonam (GCG-11, Chd), 3 Jaswinder (KCW, Ldh)

1500 M: 1 Paramjeet Kaur (Ramgarhia, Ldh) Time: 4:4830, sec; 2 Manjit Kaur (Ramgarhia, Ldh), 3 Jaswinder Kaur (MCM DAV -36).

PSEB, EME triumph

NABHA, Dec 8 (FOSR) — Punjab State Electricity Board scraped past ASC, Jalandhar 2-0 and EME edged out a fighting DLW Varanasi via the tie-breaker in the 24th Liberals Hockey Tournament at the Ripudaman College grounds here today.

PSEB played a game of short passes. Inside right Charanjit Singh’s hit struck the horizontal but the ball rolled into the net. The ASC citadel fell again in the second half when Charanjit pounced on the ball. Seeing the rival custodian rushing out, he scooped the ball in to give PSEB a 2-0 victory.

In the second match DLW Varanasi lost the battle of strokes to EME Jalandhar. For EME, Karketta, A. Bhardwaj, M. Kindo and Kamlesh converted their strokes while for the Varanasi outfit only Arun and P. Khakha could covert their strokes.

In other matches, Postal XI sprung a surprise getting the better of Meerut XI 7-6 while RCF, Kapurthala beat Punjabi University 1-0.

Kila Raipur sportfest from Feb 2

CHANDIGARH, Dec 8 (TNS) — Asia’s biggest rural sports festival, popular as “Rural Olympics”, will be held at Kila Raipur in Ludhiana from February 2 to 6 next year after a gap of two years, Mr Paramjit Singh Grewal, Secretary, Grewal Sports Association, announced here yesterday.

The 66th edition of Kila Raipur Rural Olympics, he said, would feature both traditional and Olympic sports events. Sponsored by Coca Cola, the Games will witness competitions in cart races, bullock cart races, camel races, rehra race, horse riding and tent pegging by Nihang Sikhs, dog races, tug-of-war, suhaga race, sack lifting and kabaddi besides several other sports.

Mr Grewal further said top teams would participate in the Bhagwant Gold Cup Hockey Tournament.There will be a separate tournament for school teams in hockey. A new multi-purpose indoor hall, which has been completed, will be inaugurated by holding some sporting events there.

Another attraction of the festival this time will be an exhibition on various aspects of farming, farm equipment and farm inputs.

In addition there will be a cultural programme which will feature top folk singers and dancers of the state. The festival, Mr Grewal said, was being dedicated to the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa.

Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Tourism, has included Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival in its annual calendar of events. The Director-General of Tourism and Department of Tourism of the Union Government have worked out some plans and programmes to bring this festival on the tourist circuit of the country.