Warne shelves plans to retire
MELBOURNE, July 9 — Spin wizard Shane Warne has shelved plans to retire, telling the Australian Cricket Board today he is available for international selection.

Junior pugilists for Germany
NEW DELHI, July 9 — A 28-member junior and subjunior squad, including 10 boxers in either section, will take part in a training-cum-competition programme in Germany from July 12 to August 1.

Tough job ahead, says Sanath Jayasuriya
COLOMBO, July 9 — Newly appointed Sri Lankan cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya said he had a tough job ahead of him in restoring the country’s fallen cricket image and would need the support of everyone.

Juventus keen to sign Anelka
ROME, July 9 — Juventus have joined the race to sign unsettled French striker Nicolas Anelka from English premier league Arsenal, Italian newspapers reported yesterday.

IABF plan to raise boxing levels
CHANDIGARH, July 9 — To maintain adequate boxing standards at the national level, entries for national championships would be limited, said Mr Rajesh Bhandari, Secretary-General, Indian, Amateur Boxing Federation.

Aparna loses; Indian challenge ends
NEW DELHI, July 9 — National champion Aparna Popat’s fine run in the Thailand Open Badminton Championship came to an end today when she lost to higher rated opponent in the women’s singles quarter-finals in Bangkok.

Geet Sethi to meet Gilchrist in final
MUMBAI, July 9 — World No 2 Geet Sethi of India will face England’s world No 3 Peter Gilchrist on Saturday in the final of the fifth Alpic Om Agrawal Billiards and Snooker Tournament being held at the Garware Club House here.

• No security ‘sought’ for Ranatunga

Paes shocks Ferreira, enters 3rd round

NEWPORT (Rhode Island), July 9 (AP) — Defending champion Leander Paes of India beat top-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the Hall of Fame Championships here.

Paes was able to extend the streak with the help of the wind and Ferreira’s increasing level of frustration.

“Wayne’s a fantastic player, but he had a rough day,” said Paes, a doubles specialist. “The elements are difficult here, and whoever handles them better is going to win.”

The elements were most apparent on serves. Paes, who uses a low toss, lost only 11 points on his serve and wasn’t broken. Ferreira’s high tosses got caught in the wind, leading to unpredictable results.

The South African had no aces and five double faults. When the ball was in play, he dumped his drop shots into the net and failed at overhand volleys.

Moreover, the only player in this tournament ranked in the top 50 threw his racket three times and received a code violation for slamming a ball into the stands. He also injured a ball girl when he accidentally struck a shot into her neck.

Paes, the Wimbledon doubles and mixed doubles champion, played the same solid game he used to win last year, converting delicate drop shots, firm volleys and compact ground strokes.

In a fitting conclusion, Ferreira double faulted on match point.

“It was tough with the wind. I didn’t get any rhythm with my serve. And it was tough being behind all day,” Ferreira said. “It was one of those days when I wish I just got the hell out of here.”

The only remaining seed is fourth-seeded Australian Andrew Ilie, the world’s 59th-ranked player. He defeated Christian Vinck of Germany 6-4, 7-5.

Fifth-seeded Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, the 1997 champion, lost to grass-court specialist Laurence Tieleman of Italy 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

In the other singles match, Australia’s Wayne Arthurs outlasted seventh-seeded Daniel Nestor of Canada 6-7 ( 6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

BASTAD (Sweden): Nicklas Kulti continued his surprising run in the Swedish Open on Thursday, defeating his close friend Thomas Johansson 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.

With the third-seeded Johansson eliminated, only two seeded players remain in Scandinavia’s oldest clay court championship

A longtime member of Sweden’s powerful Davis Cup team as a doubles player, Kulti prefers fast surfaces and has only won two ATP tour matches on clay since May 1996.

“I haven’t played on clay in such a long time that I almost forgot how to do it,” Kulti said. “But playing so well in hall helped my confidence.”

Last month, Kulti reached the final of the German grass court tournament as a “lucky loser”. A week later, he reached the quarterfinals in another grass court tournament in Rosmalen, Netherlands. That moved him to 124th on the ATP list and much closer to a direct entry into the bigger tournaments.

Next up for Kulti, who received a wild card by the organisers, is German Puentes, who overcame Julian Alonso 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Spanish second-round match.

Galo Blanco, another Spaniard, beat Jeff Tarango of the USA 6-2, 7-5.

GSTAAD, Switzerland, (AFP): Former world No 1 Marcelo Rios appealed to officials to apply the brakes to the lightning-fast mountain conditions at the $550,000 Swiss Open after going out in an upset to Younes Al Aynaoui here on Thursday.

The Chilean ace issued a plea to slow the frenetic pace on the alpine clay following his 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) second-round defeat by the big-hitting Moroccan.

“This is one of the best tournaments on the tour,” the third seed said in the wake of his defeat. “But the balls fly too fast.”

‘Speed, power key to success’

BANGALORE, July 9 (PTI) — Indian tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi today said the combination of Leander Paes’ speed and his own power-serves helped them win Wimbledon men’s doubles title on the famous lawns of the All England Club.

“Its the combination of speed and power that scripted our success.

“Leander has a lot of speed (quick reflex action and ability to move around the court) and I have power, and that put together we make such a good doubles pair,” Bhupathi said at a function to felicitate him here.

Bhupathi, who returned home skipping his European tournaments following minor hamstring trouble, said they were emotionally drained after the French Open success — Paes and Bhupathi’s first Grand Slam title together — and had little preparation going into Wimbledon Championships.

“We had no preparation to the big Wimbledon event and we were pretty emotionally drained after the French Open. Thanks, to the few good rounds in the initial stages which helped us to rebuild our confidence,” he said.

Bhupathi said playing doubles on the gruelling ATP tour week after week was not easy.

“We go through a lot of physical, emotional and mental stress but we pep each other up and recharge ourselves and keep going,” India No. 2 Bhupathi said.

The Karnataka youngster, who won his first Grand Slam — a French Open mixed doubles with Japan’s Rika Hiraki two years ago — said he foresaw another six years of tennis for himself and his partner Paes.

“We will try to win the remaining two Grand Slams (US Open and Australian Open),” he said to a question whether they would be able to complete Grand Slam of men’s doubles.

He said in the first week at Wimbledon their rhythm was quite right and ball also bounced well.

“We returned the shots too at the same pace but in the second week (following rain) ball kept low and bounced awkwardly making it tough for any team to return shots,” Bhupathi said.

“Our trump cards were serves and volleys. We waited for chances and played a neat game to wind up in flying colours.”

Bhupathi said their quarterfinal tie (against ninth-seeds Sebastien Lareau and Alex O’Brien) was the toughest match. The duo, after being two sets to love down, rallied to beat the American pair.

“In the semifinals, we played against the French guys (Olivier Delaitre and Fabrice Santoro) and they dominated the entire match, but as luck would have it, we emerged the winners.

To his low singles ranking, Bhupathi said he has been neglecting singles play lately but with Grand Slam success in doubles, “It was worth it.”

China out to avenge past defeats

LOS ANGELES, July 9 (AFP) — It’s a blockbuster finish to the surprise hit of the year: the women’s World Cup final between the USA and China tomorrow couldn’t have been scripted better by Hollywood.

The Chinese, who dismantled reigning champions Norway 5-0 in the semi-finals, now have a chance to avenge past defeats in a rivalry that stretches back to the inaugural women’s World Cup in 1991.

The USA captured the championship with hosts China on the sidelines after a quarter-final defeat so humiliating that the women’s national team programme was virtually abandoned for two years.

The USA beat China for the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and rubbed it in with a victory over the Chinese for the Goodwill Games football gold last year.

Now the US team, whose explosive scoring and savvy advertising have made them stars on the summer sports stage, have a chance to do it again — in front of President Bill Clinton and more than 85,000 spectators at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Fans at the stadium that staged the 1994 World Cup final will this time get a long-awaited chance to cheer the host team, but the US women are not expecting it to be easy.

“They’re playing the best soccer in their history,” US coach Tony Dicicco said of the Chinese. “They are technical, athletic, they have no weaknesses. Every player is a contributor.”

Most dangerous is Chinese striker Sun Wen, whose seven goals put her at the top of the tournament scoring list alongside Brazil’s Sissi.

“Sun Wen has a lot of touches on the ball, but it always seems she has the right touch,” said US Striker Mia Hamm. “You don’t see her for a while, then all of a sudden a cross is made, and she scores.”

China, a team once known as plodding and unimaginative, have developed a game based on speed and technical precision, much like the US team’s style.

Sun, always a danger in the penalty area, is equally adept at creating plays from midfield.

The Chinese have scored 19 goals, but — perhaps more problematical for the USA — they have conceded only two in the tournament.

“Their defence is so strong,” said Norway manager Per-Mathias Hogmo, whose team were held without a shot on the goal of Gao Hong in the first 63 minutes of their semi-final defeat.

While the USA has the psychological edge in terms of major tournament success, China won two of the three pre-cup friendlies the teams played this year.

Warne shelves plans to retire

MELBOURNE, July 9 (AFP) — Spin wizard Shane Warne has shelved plans to retire, telling the Australian Cricket Board today he is available for international selection.

ACB Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said the decision followed several days of talks.

“Shane’s decision to make himself available for selection is very welcome,” said Speed. “He is a proven match winner and a world class bowler.

Warne said he was considering quitting international cricket shortly after Australia won the one-day World Cup, wanting to spend more time with his family.

He said he would sit down with his wife and close friends and consider his future before making a definite decision.

Today he said he had realised he would miss the sport too much if he gave it up.

“In the end, I’m sure I would have missed the game too much if I had retired,” he said in a statement.

“I’m only 29 and I think I have plenty to give to cricket as a senior player before retiring.

“I don’t usually set myself goals. But I have now... in in Test cricket and I am determined to achieve them”.

Warne added that he was now looking forward to taking on Sri Lanka next month and said the World Cup victory over Pakistan had lifted his spirits.

Junior pugilists for Germany

NEW DELHI, July 9 (PTI) — A 28-member junior and subjunior squad, including 10 boxers in either section, will take part in a training-cum-competition programme in Germany from July 12 to August 1.

The team, which will leave here on July 11, will take part in a joint training programme with the German junior team to be held at Cottbus from July 12 to 28. The Government of India has cleared the team for the German programme.

The juniors will then travel to on order, Frankfurt to take part in the Brendenburg Cup from July 29, Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) sources said.

The IABF has lined up a series of international meets to fine tune the senior squad for next year’s Sydney Olympics.

The Asian Championships, slated to be held in Tashkent from October 23 to 31 will be the first Olympic qualifier for the Asian zone. The tournament in Seoul (January 25 to February 1) will be the second qualifier and the third will be the King’s Cup at Bangkok from June 1 to 7.

India will also participate in the World Championship to be held at Houston from August 20 to 27.

While the IABF is planning to invite the Ukrainian national team for a joint training session in December, India have been invited by the Czech Republic for a similar session next year, on the basis of their impressive performance during their Cuban training-cum-competition trip that ended recently.

Juniors: Akhil Kumar, J. Sandeep Kumar, Lal Din Sanga, Mangesh Kamble, L. Bikramjit Singh, Praveen Kumar, Dilbag Singh, D. Bhagya Rajan, Ankit Kumar, Ravinder Kumar.

Coaches: Swatantra Raj Singh, Jagdish Singh.

Referee/jury: B. Seshu. Doctor: Rajiv Ahuja.

Sub-juniors: Diwakar Prasad, A.L. Lakra, M. Kamal, Dharam Singh, Elvis Besterwitch, Manoj Shah, Khimanand Belwal, Arun Singh, Md Z. Rehman, Man Bahadur Thapa.

Coaches: Shiv Singh, Bansi Seal.

Referee/jury: Madan Sharma. Manager: Jayarama Reddy.

Countdown to a Serbian miracle
From Rory Carroll in Belgrade

THE motivation for Jelena Dokic’s route to the threshold of a Wimbledon semi-final started eight years ago when her family fled war-torn Croatia and used tennis to claw out of refugee penury, her first coach revealed on Thursday.

The hard-hitting relentlessness that has felled the top seed and taken 16 year old Dokic into the history books, was rooted in the fighting that engulfed the town of Osijek and forced her family to seek safety in Serbia, said Nead Trifunovic.

“It must have been a very big motivation because they had nothing. It will have driven her on, she was always very strong and tough. When some of the boys on court taunted her and called her small and fat, she didn’t reply, she just picked up a ball and hit it so hard into one of their backs that the boy fell to the ground.”

Since beating the world number one, Martina Hingis, in the opening round, unprecedented for an unseeded player, Belgrade’s Press has hailed the progress of the naturalised Australian as “the Serbian miracle”.

Osijek was devastated in 1991 when the break-up of Yugoslavia sparked fighting between Croat and Serb forces. The Dokic family joined the hundreds of thousands of Serbs who fled Croatia.

They moved to the town of Sombor, 120 miles north of Belgrade, and lived above a cinema. Damir Dokic, a truck-driver, became inspired by the tennis success of the Serb-born Monica Seles and took his daughter to the Olympia Tennis Club.

She was barely able to see over the top of the net, said Mr Trifunovic.

“But even then she was very unusual because she had a maturity of someone twice her age. She would say: ‘I am going to be somebody’ and her father pushed her, he recognised the potential of her tennis.

“She was never afraid to stand up for herself and be prepared to lose a point on court to score a psychological point that would help her during the course of the game.”

At the age of seven, Dokic could beat her father. He took her to Josip Molnar, Seles’ coach. Molnar coached her for two years at the Jacques Club until she moved to Australia in July 1994.

After moving to Sydney with her parents and younger brother, Sava, Dokic impressed coaches with her ability to train without a break. Escorted by her father, she was the first to turn up for practice and the last to leave.

Ivan Brixi, who has managed her since 1996, said the family regarded her career as a long-term investment and would not jump at every promotion offer. — Guardian News Service

Tough job ahead, says Sanath Jayasuriya

COLOMBO, July 9 (UNI) — Newly appointed Sri Lankan cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya said he had a tough job ahead of him in restoring the country’s fallen cricket image and would need the support of everyone.

“To captain Sri Lanka is a great honour, but at the moment we are down and we have a job ahead of us. I need 100 per cent support from everyone to make us what we were three years ago. It is a big challenge’’ said Jayasuriya in his first press interview.

He takes over the reins from long-standing captain Arjuna Ranatunga for the one-day and Test series against India and Australia.

“Arjuna is one of the best captain we have produced and I will need to lot of his experience and that of Aravinda De Silva and the rest of the team members if we are to give Australia a good run”, Jayasuriya said.

“It is not going to be easy with Australia they are coming here as the world one-day and Test champions with a lot of confidence. Our confidence is a bit low, but if we focus ourselves and play very hard, the results will come”, the 30-year old master blaster said.

Jayasuriya welcomed the return of Dave Whatmore as coach and said he was looking forward to having a long talks and plan out strategies for the coming one-day and test series.

“Dave’s return gives me a lot of confidence. I know what he did for us three years ago. His presence in the dressing room is going to be very encouraging”.

Jayasuriya said: “Our batsmen have to get their confidence back. One of the reasons why we fared too badly in the World Cup was because our experienced batsmen failed to click”, he said.

PTI adds: The Sri Lankan Cricket Board yesterday formally announced that their 1996 World Cup winning coach Deve Whatmore will start his second tenure with the national team following the axing of Arjuna Ranatunga as skipper.

Sri Lanka would also terminate the services of former Australian player Trevor Chappell and two local coaches, D. Somachandra De Silva and Roy Dias. Their contract ends in September and it would not be extended, a board official said.

The Sri Lankan board announced that Whatmore, the Sri Lanka-born former Australian batsman, who guided them to a surprise World Cup victory in 1996, had been relieved as coach of English country side Lancashire and would arrive on July 30 to take over as coach.

“Sri Lankan players had felt there were too many coaches and there had been serious overlapping causing great inconvenience to the team,” member of the interim BCCSL panel, S. Skandakumar said.

Many feel Whatmore’s return spelled the end for Ranatunga, because the two were known to have crossed swords in the past.

Whatmore, whose demand that he should be given a free hand was accepted by cricket officials desperate to get the team back on the rails after the World Cup debacle, will be paid £ 50,000 a year.

There will be no interference and Whatmore will also be allowed to speak to reporters freely, unlike in the past.

The 45-year-old, who played seven Tests for Australia in 1978 and 1979, guided Sri Lanka to World Cup victory before joining Lancashire two years later.

The new selection committee Chairman and former player, Siddath Wettimuny said the board’s plan was to groom Mahela Jayawardene, the 22-year-old picked as deputy to Sanath Jayasuriya, as long-team captain.

“We will work in blocks of World Cup and train for the next World Cup. In the short term, there will be a lot of pain”, Wettimuny said.

He said the decision to axe Ranatunga as captain was taken because of the team’s decline in the past eight months.

“The team saw a sharp rise and then a decline... We felt it was the right time to make changes”, Wettimuny said, adding “Even if Ranatunga had won the World Cup for Sri Lanka, we would have changed him”.

Wettimuny, however, softened the blow by describing Ranatunga and his deputy Aravinda De Silva as the greatest players produced by the country.

Ranatunga and De Silva are both in a 30-member pool short-listed for selecting the team for the one-day tri-series against Australia and India, which starts on August 22.

When asked about Ranatunga’s position, Wettimuny would only say: “He is training hard for selection”.

Juventus keen to sign Anelka

ROME, July 9 (Reuters) — Juventus have joined the race to sign unsettled French striker Nicolas Anelka from English premier league Arsenal, Italian newspapers reported yesterday.

They said the Turin side had offered a fee of between 60 billion lire (32 million dollars) and 100 billion lire (53 million dollars) plus Anelka’s compatriot and fellow striker Thierry Henry in part exchange.

However, Gazzetta Dello Sport suggested Juventus were simply bluffing and were trying to push Serie A rivals Lazio out of the market for the 20-year-old French international.

Lazio have been in talks with Arsenal for several days but the two clubs have failed to agree a price. Lazio have said they were prepared to give Croat striker Alen Boksic to the London side as part exchange.

Anelka has said he would like to join Real Madrid but would consider a move to Lazio as an alternative.

Paes dedicates title to soldiers

CALCUTTA, July 9 (PTI) — Tennis star Leander Paes has dedicated his recent Wimbledon doubles triumph to valiant Indian soldiers fighting Pakistani intruders in Kargil.

“I have heard about the soldiers fighting for our motherland in Kargil. I dedicate the Wimbledon title to the brave soldiers,” Paes said from Newport in a teleconference with reporters here. The Davis cupper is defending his title in the Hall of Fame Championship, Newport.

The 26-year-old said he had dedicated his French Open title to his doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi but his second Grand Slam title was for the soldiers.

IABF plan to raise boxing levels
From Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, July 9 — To maintain adequate boxing standards at the national level, entries for national championships would be limited, said Mr Rajesh Bhandari, Secretary-General, Indian, Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF). He said the performance criteria would be taken into consideration and now instead of usual five rounds, all the meets would have four rounds. The weight categories in sub-juniors (age group 12 to 17 had been lowered from 50 kg to 30 kg.

When asked about the injuries suffered by boxers the Secretary-General informed that the process of having medical insurance was on the anvil. He said that computerised scoring had been introduced from this year which was an improvement over the earlier manual system. An indigenous computer had been devised which would be made available to all the affiliated states and units through the IABF. Earlier the computer cost nearly Rs 120,000 but now it would cost around Rs 75,000.

Mr Bhandari said more emphasis had been laid on improving the performance of the sub-juniors. The association had also started the process of selecting potential boxers, who could be champions, through scientific methods, such as punch, power arms length, footwork and normal endurance test.

As for women’s boxing, Mr Bhandari said it would be promoted by holding the first national championships, which would be organised by the existing federation. In women’s boxing, the first judge would be a woman, and rest, including the referee would be the men.

At the last national games in Manipur, women’s boxing exhibition matches were held. In Finland, world boxing for women had been organised, where nearly 20 women participated. When asked about the Olympics qualifiers in boxing, Mr Bhandari disclosed they would be judged on the basis of Asian Boxing Championship, to be held at Taskhent from October 16 to 24. The other qualifying competitions are King’s Cup in Bangkok and the Seoul Cup in South Korea.

The potential boxers for the Olympics are S. Suresh of Manipur in fly-weight, Jatinder of Railways in middle-weight, Ramanand (Services), Gursharan Singh (Services) and Shivram Choudhery of Himachal Pradesh, who also won the Adjania Cup held recently in New Delhi. Mr Bhandari said at present the Indian boxers were training under the supervision of a Cuban coach. He further said a 20n-member sub-junior boxing team would leave for Germany shortly for training cum competitions.

Aparna loses; Indian challenge ends

NEW DELHI, July 9 (PTI) — National champion Aparna Popat’s fine run in the Thailand Open Badminton Championship came to an end today when she lost to higher rated opponent in the women’s singles quarter-finals in Bangkok.

Popat, a former world junior runner-up, lost 1-11, 1-11 to Zhou Mi of China in the Thai capital.

Earlier, the top Indian woman player beat unseeded Nucharin Teekhatrakul 11-9 13-10 to reach the last eight yesterday. She bowed out in the second round of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur last week.

The Indian challenge in the men’s section ended yesterday when Pullela Gopichand crashed out in the pre-quarter finals. Nikhil Kanetkar lost on the opening day itself.

National champion Gopichand fought well before going down to Hong. After losing the first game meekly, Gopichand rallied strongly to stretch his better rated opponent and won the second 17-15.

The decider was again keenly contested, but Gopichand missed a few points at crucial stages to hand the initiative to the Chinese shuttler.

The Chinese men were on the rampage as they booked as many as seven quarterfinal berths leaving only one for Malaysia’s veteran Rashid Sidek. The Barcelona Olympics gold medalist. Sidek, who beat Thia Sirachai Panpatchara 15-3, 15-4 and will have a huge task of preventing the semifinals from being an all-Chinese affair.

In the day’s other action, unseeded Xia Xuanze defeated second seed Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei 15-5, 15-8 for a virtual Chinese domination. Permadi was runner-up in the men’s singles at the Copenhagen World Champion-ships in May.

Geet Sethi to meet Gilchrist in final

MUMBAI, July 9 (UNI) World No 2 Geet Sethi of India will face England’s world No 3 Peter Gilchrist on Saturday in the final of the fifth Alpic Om Agrawal Billiards and Snooker Tournament being held at the Garware Club House here.

In the three-hour semifinals yesterday, Sethi trounced Nalin Patel 1466-539, while Gilchrist routed Asian Games double gold medalist Ashok Shandilya 1483-495.

The huge difference in the Shandilya -Gilchrist tie reflected the fluency with which the Englishman played, coming up with some delectable shots and helping himself to the big breaks to maintain a huge lead throughout. Amongst the most significant breaks by Gilchrist was a stunning 289 on the 37th visit, which ended when he missed a white in-off, 13 short of overhauling his and the tournament’s best of 301, which was recorded in the league phase.

While, Gilchrist got into grove after taking some time to settle down, Shandilya was never able to touch upon the form which earned him the golds at the Asian Games.

On the other hand Geet Sethi seemed to be on roll, building big breaks to remain ahead of the formidable Nalin Patel. With about an hour remaining and around 650 points in arrears Patel had a chance, though difficult, of coming back into the match.

Results: Peter Gilchrist 1483 (76, 70, 85, 101, 84, 73, 98, 289, 92, 117) beat Ashok Shandilya 495 (70).

Geet Sethi 1466 (95, 93,106, 94, 203, 98, 129) beat Nalin Patel 539 (81).

No security ‘sought’ for Ranatunga

COLOMBO, July 9 (UNI) — A family spokesman of Arjuna Ranatunga has denied that the former cricket captain had sought police protection on his return to Sri Lanka after the country’s debacle at the World Cup.

“There had been widespread reports locally as well as in the international Press that Arjuna had asked for protection. It is all rubbish. He never asked for any protection,’’ the spokesman said.

Sargodha school enters semis

LUDHIANA, July 9 (FOSR) — Sargodha National Public School and Desraj Coaching Centre ‘A’ joined the Ludhiana Club and the Sethi Club in the semifinals of the fourth Chamanlal Malhotra Cricket Cup Tournament (U-16) being organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) here at S. D. Government College.

In the last league encounter today, Sargodha National Public School outplayed Desraj Coaching Centre ‘A’ by 29 runs. Despite this loss Coaching Centre qualified for the semifinals ahead of the SDP Coaching Centre on the basis of better run-rate since both the teams had won one match each.

Sargodha school were 173 all out in 30 overs. Ravi top-scored with 59 runs followed by Rajan Singh, who contributed 56 runs.

In reply, Desraj centre made 144 for seven in 30 overs. In the first semifinal to be played tomorrow, the Ludhiana Club will take on Sargodha National Public School while the second semifinal will be played on Sunday between the Sethi Club and the Desraj Coaching Centre ‘A’.

Brief scores: Sargodha National Public School: 173 all out in 30 overs (Ravi 59, Rajan Singh 56; Deepak Dhir 3 for 21, Pranay 1 for 9, Varun Gupta 1 for 33).

Desraj Coaching Centre ‘A’: 144 for 7 in 30 overs (Varun Gupta 51, Deepak Dhir 27, Sandeep 18; Bhupinder Singh 2 for 27, Rajan Singh 2 for 18, Prashant Moong 1 for 14).