Wednesday, December 22, 1999
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S P O R T | Wednesday, December 22, 1999 |
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Hockey title for BSF |
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Eves’ ITF circuit meet in UT BCCI
clarifies match dates Indian
hockey team produces mixed fare Punjab
cops pedal to glory Punjabi
varsity down PAU Indian
Airlines triumph Centre
court named after Rod Laver Rajan Gupta to lead Rest
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North Zone lift Duleep Trophy CALCUTTA, Dec 21 (UNI) — North Zone won the glittering Duleep Trophy for the 14th time by virtue of their 101-run first innings lead over strong contenders West Zone at Eden Gardens here today. There was some excitement when West Zone, aided by some fine bowling by medium pacers Zaheer Khan, Paras Mhambrey and spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, who bagged four, and three wickets each, respectively, bowled out North in their second innings for 248 runs, 73 minutes after lunch. Things would have been difficult for North but for Pankaj Dharamani of Punjab who survived three chances and scored 93 to force victory for North. Coming to bat for the second time, West needed to score 350 runs during rest of the time and 20 mandatory overs which was virtually impossible. West made 64 for five with Conor Williams and Amol Muzumdar remaining not out on seven and zero, respectively. After forcing a 101-run first innings lead, North Zone failed to live up to expectations and were all out adding 149 runs to their overnight score of 99 for 2. Besides medium pacer Zaheer Khan from Baroda who bagged four North Zone scalps for 76 runs during his 21 overs, Paras Mhambrey, who began the West attack, and spinner Nilesh Kulkarni, collected three wickets each to bring some life into the otherwise dead game. But North, after receiving an early blow when their opener Ashu Dani was out in the third over with their total reading only 13, stemmed the rot through opener Vikram Rathore and upcoming Reetinder Singh Sodhi who batted resolutely and added 60 runs in their partnership. Rathore scored 41 before being bowled by Kulkarni, and Sodhi made 447 before being caught by Muzumdar off Mhambrey in their 19th and 27th overs. After Rathore and Sodhi’s departure it was expected that West would be able to make a match of it. But that was not to be and they had to blame themselves as they dropped Pankaj Dharmani who held on to one end while wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end. Dharmani, the flambuoyant batsman from Punjab, was first dropped when he was on eight as Iqbal Siddique failed to take the catch off his own bowling in the second over of the day. Then he was dropped at slip by Amol Muzumdar off Paras Mhambrey when he was 14 and lastly he was let off the hook again and dropped by Muzumdar again off Zaheer Khan’s bowling when he reached 25 which virtually made sure North’s victory. Dharmani remained at the wicket for 244 minutes and faced 167 deliveries hitting 15 fours before he was caught by Zaheer Khan off Paras Mhambrey. West Zone in their second innings tried to hurry up the run rate and lost quick wickets in the process. As the match came to an end, West made 64 losing five wickets — the chief wrecker being young Delhi medium pacer Amit Bhandari who bagged three West Zone wickets for 23 runs off five overs. He was ably supported by Navdeep Singh who earned a couple of West Zone scalps for four runs off nine overs. SCOREBOARD North Zone (Ist innings): 468 West Zone (Ist innings): 367 North Zone (2nd innings): A. Dani lbw b Mhambrey 4, V. Rathore c and b Kulkarni 41, R.S. Sodhi c Muzumdar b Mhambrey 47, P. Dharmani c Khan b Mhambrey 93, V. Sehwag c Jaffer b Khan 9, R. Nayyar c Kulkarni b Khan 7, V Dahiya lbw b Kulkarni 14, N. Chopra c Patel b Khan 3, N Singh lbw b Khan 0, A. Bhandari b Kulkarni 5, R. Singh (jr) not out 9, Extras (B-4, LB-6, NB-6) 16, Total (all out in 73.5 overs) 248. Fall of wickets: 1/13, 2/73, 3/106, 4/133, 5/149, 6/170, 7/175, 8/177, 9/183 Bowling: Mhambrey 18.5-5-48-3, Zaheer Khan 21-2-76-4, Siddique 13-2-60-0, Kulkarni 20-7-42-3, Kambli 1-0-12-0. West Zone (2nd innings): I. Siddique c Dahiya b Bhandari 0, W Jaffer c Sodhi b Bhandari 7, A. Kale c sub (Minhas) b N. Singh 20, Z Khan c Dahiya b Bhandari 19, C. Williams not out 7, P. Patel c sub (Mongia) b N. Singh 9, A. Muzumdar not out 0, Extras (NB-2) 2, Total (for 5 wkts in 22 overs) 64. Fall of wickets: 1/0, 2/9, 3/47, 4/48, 5/60. Bowling: Bhandari
5-1-23-3, Sodhi 2-0-21-0, Navdip Singh 9-8-4-2, Sehwag
6-1-16-0. |
Big crowd expected for second Test MELBOURNE, Dec 21 (PTI) — Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and leg spinner Shane Warne have made the marketingmen’s job easy for the second cricket Test between India and Australia starting here on December 26. Warne being close to overhauling legendary fast bowler Dennis Lillee’s Australian record of highest Test dismissals and Tendulkar’s electric presence have raised hopes of a mammoth crowd for the Boxing Day Test. Victoria Cricket Association (VCA) Chief Executive Ken Jacobs said sale of tickets for the game indicated there was a strong chance of a bigger crowd than for the Test against South Africa two years ago. However, officials do not expect to match the 1,60,000 figure for last year’s Test against England. VCA is expecting between 110,000 and 120,000 given favourable weather and a full match, and upwards of 60,000 on Boxing Day. “We’re comparing with the South Africa match two years ago because an Ashes Test is a stand-alone situation,” said Jacobs. “With an England-Australia Test, you have all the tour groups, which has a big impact on the crowds,” Jacobs said. The crowd is eager to watch Tendulkar, who arrived with the team here this afternoon from Hobart after the four-day game against Tasmania. He was given out wrongly by Australian umpire Daryl Harper in both innings of the first Test. Tendulkar has played only one Test at the MCG, in 1991-92 when he scored 15 and 40. He has played only two one-day games at the ground, with a highest score of 30. Warne and Lillee are tenth and ninth on the all-time list for Test bowlers, with 349 and 355 wickets respectively, headed by Kapil Dev with 434 scalps. Warne has 32 wickets in six Tests at MCG, the ground where he announced himself as a major force with seven for 52 against the West Indies in 1992-93. He also took a hat-trick against England here in 1994-95. Meanwhile, the Australian selectors ended speculation on the immediate future of Mark Waugh picking him for the second Test along with tearaway speedster Brett Lee. Waugh, whose career was under threat after a recent string of low scores — he could manage to cross 13 in only three of his last 15 innings, got a respite, but only a brief one as the selectors would be closely watching him at Melbourne. The elegant number three
batsman has received support from all quarters. Australia make one change SYDNEY, Dec 21 (Reuters) Australia’s selectors today named a 12-man squad for the second cricket Test against India starting in Melbourne on Sunday. There was only one
change from the side that beat India by 285 runs in the
first Test in Adelaide with paceman Brett Lee replacing
Colin Miller. |
Kafelnikov may pair with Paes CHENNAI, Dec 21 (PTI) — World No.2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who is likely to pair with Indian ace Leander Paes, will be the first international sportsman to land in India in his own Cessna aircraft to compete in the prestigious Gold Flake ATP Tour Tennis Championship starting here on January 3. With less than two weeks to go, the Russian has set his eyes on a double to win both the singles and doubles, partnering Paes in the season’s opener under new the ranking and rules system brought about by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). In a telephonic interview to PTI arranged by IMG, London, Kafelnikov, who was world number one for the six weeks between May 3 and June 13 this year, confirmed he had not paired with anyone for the doubles in the Chennai event and would be too happy to join Paes, the current world number one class doubles player. “It is very sad for me and the fans in Chennai Mahesh Bhupathi had to undergo a shoulder operation. I hope he will recover fast and get on to the act of winning with Paes,” Kafelnikov said adding “I will surely play in doubles also”. Stating it would be a wonderful to pair with Paes in doubles before the knowledgeable and enthusiastic Indian fans, Kafelnikov said “we (himself and Paes) have to communicate with each other. I have not talked to him yet. I am undecided about my partner. If, Paes is available, I will definitely be his partner”. Asked why he chose to play in Chennai and not in Doha or Australia where the events start on the same date, Kafelnikov said “I always want to be a place that I have not seen and played. I have heard a lot about the fan support and the arrangements by the tournament committee in Chennai from my friend Carlos Moya. Moya, who played there in April last, has spoken high of the tournament including the environment, the superb stadium, court facilities, the people and everything. I am looking forward to be in Chennai soon”. Kafelnikov, who started the 1999 season strongly by capturing his second Grand Slam Open at the Australian Open beating Thomas Enquist of Sweden 4-6 6-0 6-3 7-6 (7-1), said he had dedicated himself completely to the game. Life on the tennis court cannot go on for ever. I will play for four more years in the professional circuit and then retire”. About the new changes in ranking and rules in the game by ATP, Kafelnikov was of the opinion it would do a lot of good to the players and the fans. “The new system is interesting. There will be great expectations from the players and the spotlight will be on the winners of the three tournaments in January. Year 2000 will be interesting to watch, as for the progression to the world champion spot, one has to wait for 52 weeks.” On his chances, Kafelnikov said. “It is important to me to win both singles and doubles at Chennai. It would be something special for me but the competition is going to be tough. In fact, the line up for the Chennai event this year is strong with most of the best players like Pioline, Moya, my country-man Marat Safin, defending champion Byron Black and the Indian master Leander Paes. All are tough players to negotiate”. About the Masters, Kafelnikov said “tennis these days is different with one getting into tough situations of winning matches. It is not easy to beat the likes of Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras”. Maintaining that if he
played well and prepared properly and correctly, he would
become No 1, Kafelnikov said “I am preparing well
for Chennai and I am not taking any chances. My goal is
to start 2000 season as strongly as I did during this
year and put in more efforts to make a mark in the
Masters and Grand Slams besides many other important
tournaments”. |
Rivaldo named European player of year PARIS, Dec 21 (AFP) — Barcelona’s Brazilian midfield magician Rivaldo has been elected European footballer of the year and wins this year’s golden ball award organised by French magazine France-Football, the magazine’s director Gerard Ernault revealed yesterday. Spanish media had earlier speculated that 27-year-old Rivaldo had pipped Manchester United and England star David Beckham and the Brazilian player confirmed he was aware he had won. “This trophy is very important to me. It is a goal which every professional footballer strives for,” Rivaldo was quoted as saying in L’Equipe magazine. Beckham, who played a key role in helping United to the treble last season, finished runner-up in the vote carried out by journalists from 51 UEFA-affiliated countries with 154 points to Rivaldo’s 219. Andrii Shevchenko of AC Milan polled third with 64. Rivaldo, full name Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, was born in the coastal city of Recife and has won 21 caps for Brazil. He began his career at Santa Cruz de Recife but rose to prominence with Palmeiras before moving to Barcelona three seasons ago since when he has led the Catalan club to two straight title wins. Earlier this year, Rivaldo was in the Brazil side which won the Copa America and top-scored at South America’s premier continental tournament with five goals. Rivaldo was
Barcelona’s top scorer last season with 24 as the
side romped to the Primera Liga title - speculation that
he might join Manchester United finally proved unfounded. |
Hockey title for BSF NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (PTI) — Border Security Force, Jalandhar won the National Police Hockey Championship with a 3-1 victory over statemates Punjab Police in a final capped by an ugly attack on an umpire here today. Punjab Police’s Manpreet Singh was suspended for three years after he hit umpire A.K. Sharma soon after the final whistle to sour a day for the cops on which they went down to the paramilitary men for the second successive time after the quarterfinal defeat in the Nehru Cup last month. Veteran Marinus Lakra put the Jalandhar outfit ahead in the 13th minute through a fine field effort. As Punjab Police went on the attack for an equaliser, BSF held them at bay till the 30th minute, when Harpreet Singh sounded the boards with a field goal. But BSF were one up again before half-time when they won a penalty stroke within the 35th minute and Sushil Kumar put the ball inside the box. The two teams were involved in goal-less play for most of the second half till Kuljinder Singh found the mark for the paramilitary men seven minutes before the whistle to seal their victory. In a playoff for the third spot, Central Reserve Police Force downed Indo-Tibetan Border Police 5-2, with S.K. Vashist scoring three goals (13th, 25th, 48th minutes). Jolen Topno (30th) and
Hem Ram (36th) also scored for CRPF, while Tiru (37th)
and Parveen (42nd) scored for ITBP. |
Eves’ ITF circuit meet in UT CHANDIGARH, Dec 21—Chandigarh is ready to host the $ 10,000 Bakeman’s ITF Women’s Circuit Tennis Tournament from December 27 where some of the top ranked tennis players drawn from nearly 11 countries will vie for top honours. The five-day meet will be played at the CLTA courts, Sector 10, according to Mr Rajan Kashyap, chairman Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association. The present tournament is the third leg. The seconds in progress at Lucknow. Countries whose players will take part include Yugoslavia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Germany and hosts India. Today a meeting of the organising committee with Ms Vineeta Rai, Adviser to the UT Administrator, in the chair, was held to review the preparations. As many as 25 players will be given direct entry based on WTA ranking points and four will be selected from the 32 playing in the qualifying tournaments to be played on December 25 and 26. Moreover, the organising committee will allow wild card entry to three players for the main draw of 32. In this meet, the world ranked players as high as 267 (up to 845) would be seen in action. It is for the first time that Chandigarh will host the international women’s tournament in tennis of this magnitude. Mr M. Ramsekhar a keen tennis player and secretary, CLTA, said the players expected to take part in this meet are, Katarina Daskovic (267-Yugoslavia), Benjamas-388 (Thailand), Manisha Malhotra-317 (India), Sai Jayalakshamy (443-India) and Ka Po Tong( Hong Kong) besides other Indian challengers, Rushmi Chakarvorthy, Archana, Arti, Shruti Dhawan, Sheethal Gautam, Geeta Manohar, Shalini Thakur and local women, Harsimran Kaur Bedi, Simmi Rani, Tarminder Grover among others. Mr Dushan Deo of the All
India Tennis Association will be the ITF observer for
this meet. Doordarshan will telecast live the matches on
December 28 besides the semifinals and finals.
Bakeman’s group of Industries will be the
mansponsors while the Oswal group will be the
co-sponsors. |
BCCI clarifies match dates MUMBAI, Dec 21 (PTI) — The second and final Test in the forthcoming home series against South Africa will be held at Bangalore between March 2 and 6 and not from March 1 to 5, it was clarified by the Board of Control for Cricket in India here yesterday. “We have written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to find out whether February has 29 or 30 days next year. There have been some newspaper reports that the month will have 30 days”, board secretary Lele explained to PTI here. The board has apparently gone by the reports of an extra day in the leap year while fixing the dates of the Test. The first Test of the series is to be held in Mumbai from February 24 to 28. The tourists will start their tour with a three-day match against the Cricket Board President’s XI to be hosted by the Cricket Club of India at the Brabourne Stadium here from February 19 to 21. The visitors will wind up the tour by playing against the hosts in a five-match limited overs series on March 9, 11, 14, 17 and 20. The venues of the
one-day internationals are Nagpur, Jamshedpur, Faridabad,
Baroda and either Goa or Kochi (to be decided by the
Board’s Pitches Committee headed by Krish
Srikkanth). |
Indian hockey team produces MUMBAI, Dec 21 (PTI) — The last year of the current millennium began turbulently for Indian hockey when six members of the Asian Games gold medal-winning men’s team, including skipper and spearhead Dhanraj Pillai, were sacked before the euphoria over the squad’s superb triumph in the Bangkok continental games was yet to die down. And at the end of the millennium, the squad was yet to show signs of striking the rhythm it exhibited at Bangkok in December last year when dethroning South Korea for its first gold medal in the event since 1966. A clear indication that the team was struggling to get back to the winning ways in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics next year came in the Asia Cup semifinal at Kuala Lumpur in November when it lost to South Korea by a last-minute goal. The 4-5 semi-final loss to the Koreans also robbed the Indian team, with Pillai back in its ranks at the fag end of the year, of a direct entry into the 2002 World Cup. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) bigwigs have to cop a large measure of the blame for the inconsistent show of the national men’s squad in 1999. Their inconsistent approach in team selection and in the appointment of a long-time coach told on the performance of the team after its brilliant show at Bangkok last year-end. The men’s team, which has earned a direct slot into the Sydney Olympics, will have to qualify for the 2002 World Cup along with the women’s outfit which was also denied a direct slot for their corresponding event in Buenos Aires by South Korea. Atlanta Olympic Games women’s hockey silver winners Korea got their act together in the all-important match, the final of the Asia Cup event in New Delhi, and edged out India 3-2 by the “golden goal” in extra time after catching the home team’s defence napping to draw level at 2-all with two minutes left for the long hooter in regulation time. So at the end of the year the writing on the wall was that women have to qualify for Sydney and Buenos Aires while the men have to prepare ardently to regain past Olympic glory in the Australian city and also strive to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. The women’s show was a bit more encouraging considering that they had beaten the Koreans, who along with Australia’s all-conquering “hockeroos” team of Ric Charlesworth are undoubtedly the best in the world, four times in 1999 before their narrow loss in the Asia Cup final. The Korean men are not in the same league as their women at the world level. As such a loss to them shows how much harder will be the task of the Indian men at the Sydney Olympics against opposition from Australia, Germany, Holland and Spain — not to speak of Pakistan, Korea, Britain and their nemesis Argentina. The men’s team had started the year on a discouraging note when they lost 3-5 in a nine-match Test series to Pakistan played on both sides of the border. They were, then, without the services of the Bangkok “super six” and dished out insipid fare to go down 3-4 (New Delhi), 1-4 (Bhopal), 2-5 (Hyderabad) in the first three Tests before tasting a 3-0 win in the last match of the Indian leg at Chennai. The Indians, led by full-back Anil Aldrin, lost 2-4 at Lahore and Karachi, won 2-1 at Peshawar before drawing the eighth match of the series 3-3 with Pakistan who won the ninth and final Test 3-2 at Lahore to sweep the series 5-3. IHF, which had replaced Asian Games coach M.K. Kaushik with Harcharan Singh made another turnaround late in the year by bringing back 1980 Moscow Olympics winning skipper Baskaran to take up the mantle. IHF boss K.P.S. Gill went on record to state that barring Pillai and Mukesh Kumar, the other four would not be considered for the Sydney Games and true enough both were recalled for national duty prior to the Asia Cup campaign after the team’s poor show in two four-nation tourneys in Australia. In the first four-nation event at Canberra, India were swamped 6-1 by Korea, suffered a shock 1-2 defeat against Canada and then were beaten 3-1 by the hosts. The team put up a better show in the second four-nation tournament at Sydney but still ended up losing to Australia 5-3 while holding Korea to a goalless draw and beating Canada 3-2. In the Asia Cup event, which was shifted from Pakistan to Malaysia following the army take-over of the government in the neighbouring nation, India ended up third behind winners Korea and runners-up Pakistan. India beat Japan 3-1, drew 1-1 with hosts Malaysia, drubbed Hong Kong 5-0 before losing 4-5 in the semi-final to Korea. They beat Malaysia 4-2 in the bronze medal play-off. The weak points of the Indians remained the same: poor goalkeeping, poor in defending and conversion of penalty corners, inability to hold on to the ball at crucial stages and lack of pace and stamina, especially in the closing stages of a match. India’s display
during the year showed in clear terms that the team will
be hard-pressed to finish at least in the top four at
Sydney unless the players overcome most of these
shortcomings. |
Punjab cops pedal to glory PATIALA, Dec 21 — Punjab Police cyclists pedalled their way to glory as they annexed the overall trophy for seniors in the men’s section while the Manipuri eves won the overall trophy for seniors in the women’s section in National Cycling Championships which concluded at the Punjab University velodrome here today. For the overall trophy in the men’s section there was just one point separating both Punjab Police and the Railways riders. With just the 4000 m team pursuit event left, tension was quite palpable. The tactical acumen of the Punjab quartet came into evidence as ace cyclist Kulbir Singh was preserved for this race. The cops’ quartet blended speed, skill and stamina in a superb manner and sped towards victory, clocking an admirable 4:59.50 seconds, while the railmen were far behind clocking 5:08.22 seconds. In the 3000 m team pursuit for women the Manipuri foursome of K. Bedamani Devi, G. Geetanjali Devi, C. Binda Kumari and Rameshwari Devi had packed enough firepower to let the Kerala eves never even have a sniff of victory. The Manipuri eaves rode on the resilience of G. Geetanjali Devi and C. Binda Kumari. With the track events coming to an end today, all eyes will now shift to road races scheduled to be held at Bikaner from December 26 to 29. The Chief Minister, Mr P.S. Badal, distributed the prizes and also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh to the Cycling Federation of India. Mr Badal, also announced that the state government would provide all expenses, including air fare, board and lodging facilities for the foreign coach the CFI was looking for. Results: Overall championship for men: Punjab Police (26 points), Railways (25 points) and Punjab (15 points). Overall championship for women: Manipur — 1. Kerala — 2. Railways — 3. 3000 m individual pursuit for subjunior boys: Manipur — 1, Punjab — 2, Haryana —3. 2000 m individual
pursuit for subjunior girls: Rajani V (Kerala) —1,
Gurpreet Kaur (Punjab) — 2, Padmani Devi (Manipur)
— 3. 2000 m individual pursuit for subjunior boys:
Harsimran Brar (Chandigarh) — 1, Narinderjit Singh
(Punjab) — 2, Th. Aimson (Manipur) — 3. 1000 m
sprint for senior men: Ramaninder Singh (Punjab Police)
— 1, Vishnu Chand (Kerala) — 2, Tejinderjit
Singh (Punjab) —3. 3000 m individual pursuit for
juniors: Nazar Singh (Punjab) — 1, Bachitar Singh
(Punjab) — 2, Amandeep (Delhi) — 3. |
Punjabi varsity down PAU LUDHIANA, Dec 21 — Punjabi University, Patiala, quelled a strong challenge before emerging victorious 1-0 against hosts Punjab Agricultural University in the inaugural match of the second Prithipal Singh Memorial Punjab State Inter-Varsity Hockey Tournament for men at the Astro Turf hockey stadium of PAU here today. Midway through the first half, the all-important goal was scored by outside-right Hardip Singh. PAU players tried their best to restore parity but failed to capitalise on opportunities which came their way. After changing ends, PAU mounted full pressure to score the equaliser but on each occasion their forwards fumbled near the goal mouth. They earned as many as seven penalty corners but could not score. In the last five minutes, PAU got four penalty corners which were of no avail. Earlier, Dr J.S. Kular, Director Extension Education, PAU, inaugurated this five-day tournament in which four university teams namely, PAU, Ludhiana, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Punjabi University, Patiala, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar are taking part. Tomorrow in the second
match of the tournament, Punjabi University, Patiala,
will take on Panjab University, Chandigarh, at 1 p.m. |
Indian Airlines triumph JALANDHAR, Dec 21 — Indian Airlines drubbed Karnataka-XI 4-1 in the All-India Romesh Chander Memorial Farmtrac Cup-99 Hockey Tournament here today. This was the first victory for Indian Airlines in their third league encounter. Punjab and Sind Bank in their last league match today, defeated SAIL by 3-2. Airlines took an early lead in the ninth minute through centre-forward Shakeel Ahmed who converted a penalty stroke. For Airlines the second goal was scored by Varinder Singh in the 51st minute while Ravinder scored the third goal. The only goal for Karnataka was scored by Arjun Allappa in the 54th minute off a penalty stroke. The fourth goal for Airlines was scored by Varinder Singh in 68th minute. Punjab and Sind Bank who
beat SAIL, took the lead in the second minute when
Rajinder Singh converted a penalty corner. In the second
half Sukhamrit Pal Singh equalised for SAIL but Rajinder
again increased the lead in the 43rd minute with a
powerful hit off a penalty stroke. SAIL restored parity
in the 48th minute when S. Sarkaria scored a brilliant
goal from the left flank. The winning goal for PSB was
scored by Tejbir Singh in the 51st minute. In the third
match Bengal-XI played a goal-less draw against the Uttar
Pradesh-XI. |
Centre court named after Rod Laver MELBOURNE, Dec 21 (AFP) — The centre court at the Australian Open will be known as the Rod Laver Arena in recognition of Australia’s tennis legend, Tennis Australia said today. Laver, (61) who has
recovered from a stroke, is the only player in the
history of tennis to have captured two Grand Slams (1962
and 1969, the first in the amateur era and the second in
open era) and won Wimbledon four times in the 1960s. |
Rajan Gupta to lead Rest MUMBAI, Dec 21 (PTI) — Delhi’s Rajan Gupta was yesterday chosen by the national junior selectors to lead the Rest of India under-19 team against Cooch Behar Trophy champions Punjab in the four-day cricket fixture for the M A Chidambaram Trophy to be organised by the latter from January 7 to 10. The team: Rajan Gupta
(Delhi, capt,) Uday Karvadara (Saurashta, vice-capt.)
Aniket Srivastava (MP, wk), MS Dhoni, Ratan Kumar (both
Bihar), Ashok Sharma (MP), Sujay Mohanty (Orissa), Mohd
Faque (Andhra), Suhail Sharma (Delhi), Vipul Patel
(Gujarat, Vishal) Kudwala (TN), Ashu Sharma, Alom Pandey
(both UP), Chetan Sharma and Dhruv Mohan (both Delhi). |
Doubles title for Shikha-Barkha CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 — Local women Shikha Sharma and Barkha KC bagged the women’s table tennis doubles title while Meeta Bhandari and Nazma Parveen of Punjab were able to clinch the women’s doubles title in badminton on the final day of the XXVth National Women’s Sports Festival here this evening. Chandigarh also cornered glory in women’s TT securing the runner-up position after losing to Bengal in the final. Isha Chopra of Haryana bagged the singles tennis title by overpowering Aditi of Madhya Pradesh in the final. The women’s singles title in badminton was clinched by Leena Padnekar of Goa who got the better of Poonam Tiwari of UP . Varsha Tare of MP became the singles TT champion. Ms Gurbinder Chahal a senior IAS officer of Punjab gave away the prizes. Results: Badminton — singles — Leena( Goa) b Poonam Tiwari ( UP) 11-2, 11-3; Doubles: Meeta & Nazma( Pb) b Poonam and Juhi Verma( UP) 15-7, 15-8. Tennis — singles — Isha Chopra(har) b Aditi( MP) 6-0, 6-1; Doubles — Anupma and Pooja(Ktk) b Aditi and Aparna Singh (MP) 6-3, 6-1. Third place — Pooja (Ktk) b Geetanjali Sharma (Pb) 6-1, 6-4. TT — Singles;
Varsha Tare( MP) b Pratima Syal (Del) 21-9, 21-7, 21-19. |
Punjab, Railways favourites NEW DELHI, Dec 21 (UNI) — Defending champions Punjab and Railways start favourite to retain their men’s and women’s team titles, respectively, in the 50th Senior National Basketball Championships to be held here from December 25 to January 1, 2000. Delhi, which hosted the silver jubilee of the National Basketball Champoinships way back in 1974,will now have the distinction of conducting the golden jubilee of the competition. Talking to newspersons here today, Organising Committee Secretary Harish Sharma said that the tournament would be played in the qualifying league/super league/knockout format. The teams had been divided into five pools. Mr Sharma said there would be 40 matches in the preliminary league and 32 in the super league.This would be followed by the knockout stage where 10 matches would be played in the men’s section and eight in the women’s section. He said the last two teams in the super league would be relegated to preliminary league matches for the next year’s championship,while the top two teams in the preliminary league would be promoted to the knockout stage of this championship. Twentyfive teams in the men’s section and 20 in the women’s section were expected to take part in the championship. Apart from the Talkatora Indoor stadium, the matches would also be played at two other venues, Master Prithvi Nath Stadium, Karol Bagh, and at the basketball court at the Talkotora swimming pool. Mr Sharma said the Delhi Basketball Association (BAI) was grateful to the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) for bestowing the rare honour of hosting the golden jubilee championship — `an event that would be the last of this century and the first of the next millennium . Holders and Federation Cup winner Punjab and women’s champion Railways had been placed in Group ‘A’in their respective sections. Runners-up Bihar (men) and Kerala (women) were in group ‘B’. The groups — (Men): Group A: Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh. Group B: Bihar, Services, Maharashtra, Railways, Uttar Pradesh. Group C: Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tripura. Group D: Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Himachal, Pondichery. Group E: Kerala, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa. (Women): Group A: Railways, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh. Group B: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Punjab. Group C: Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Bengal. Group D: Karnataka, Haryana, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh. Group E: Assam, Gujarat,
Pondicherry, Rajasthan. |
Goel emerges star performer CHANDIGARH, Dec 21— Deepak Goel was the star in today’s snooker matches in the Haryana state Open Billiards and Snooker Championship being played here at YMCA complex, Sector 11, today. Deepak beat Amit Swamy in a scintillating five frame sea-saw battle and won at 37-61, 42-28, 44-37, 43-45, 60-23. In the next match, Deepak got the better of Lalit in three frames at 42-25, 63-20, 60-18. Lalit won another match against Manan Nagpal at 42-25, 60-23, 49-29. In open billiards, Lalit
defeated Gaurav Setia at 472-342 while Anil Sharma
demolished B.K. Arora 433-202 |
H
Sarbrinder stars in DAV College win CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 (TNS) — Sarbrinder Singh of Speed Sports Academy of the Punjab Sports Department, swept DAV College, Chandigarh to the second title win in a row in the Panjab University Inter-College Tennis Championship which concluded on the university campus here on December 20. Sarbrinder won the singles and reverse singles, defeating Gagan Vasu and Birbal of Panjab University Campus 6-2, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-2 respectively. Robin of DAV College beat Birbal 6-2, 6-0 in the best of five series. Sarbrinder, son of hockey Olympian Surjit Singh, was the youngest player on the courts. Earlier, he won the bronze medal in the Asian School games at Jakarta (Indonesia). He is being sent abroad by the Punjab Sports Department for advanced training. CBSE kho-kho CHANDIGARH, Dec 21 (BOSR) —The local SD Public School, Sector 32, will play host to the second CBSE National Kho-Kho Tournament where nearly 400 players drawn from about 33 different schools affiliated to the CBSE will take part in the under-19 year section. This was stated by Mr LV Sehgal, Principal of the host school. The matches will be played on league-cum-knockout basis where both boys and girls teams have been placed in four different groups. Last year the first CBSE National Kho-Kho Meet was held at Gwalior. Free board and lodging facilities will be provided to the participants . At present 12 clusters have been formed on all-India basis depending on the number of schools. The winners and runners-up of each cluster will take part in this tournament. Till today 17 boys and
16 girls teams have confirmed their participation. |
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