Bond among Americans grows stronger
WIMBLEDON, June 25 — Jim Courier is rooting for Andre Agassi. Agassi is rooting for Courier. Pete Sampras is on his own. The top American men at Wimbledon say the bond among them has grown stronger because of maturity and recent results.

Paes-Bhupathi duo in third round
LONDON, June 25 — Top-seeded Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India sailed into Wimbledon men’s doubles third round with a straight-set victory against Bobby Kokavev of Canada and Gabriel Trifu of Romania here today.

Hadlee backs Kiwis to win series
LONDON, June 25 — Sir Richard Hadlee is backing New Zealand to build on their World Cup achievements and beat England in the forthcoming four-Test series.

Jeev shoots four under-68
NEW DELHI, June 25 — Jeev Milkha Singh made up for some of his frustrations of narrowly missing a US Open spot when he made a superb return to the European PGA Tour by shooting four-under 68 on the opening day of the 1.4 million Euro Compaq European Grand Prix Tournament which began at the De Vere Slaley hall course in Hexham, England.

Bevan gets back memorabilia
SYDNEY, June 25 — Australian cricketer Michael Bevan had a sports bag containing souvenirs from his triumphant World Cup campaign returned today just 24 hours after it was stolen from outside his Sydney home.

India win inaugural match
CHANDIGARH,June 25 — India and the Philippines won their respective matches on the inaugural day of the Third Asian Cup Baseball Championship which got under way at the Panjab University grounds here today.

Amanjot loses in final
NEW DELHI, June 25 — In the Adidas Junior Masters Tennis Tournament played at the DTA complex, Sania Mirza from Andhra Pradesh made it a double by winning both the under-14 and under-16 girls titles.

Abhinav leaves for Atlanta
Chandigarh, June 25 — Chandigarh-based Abhinav Bindra, a student of St Stephens School, yesterday left for Atlanta (USA) along with a 13-member Indian shooting team to take part in the World Cup , scheduled to be held from June 26 to July 4, according to information available here.

Kournikova, Sampras in fourth round

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) — Anna Kournikova reached the fourth round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon today when injury forced Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina to retire with the Russian 17th seed leading 7-5 3-1.

She was joined in the last 16 by last year’s beaten finalist Nathalie Tauziat of France who had far too much experience for Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands, winning 6-1 6-1.

But another French woman, 13th seed Sandrine Testud, was knocked out by Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-2 1-6 6-3 to leave 12 of the 16 seeds still in the tournament.

Kournikova, seeded after the withdrawal of 10th seed Serena Williams and a semifinalist here in 1997, took the first set at the second time of asking on her own serve after a tough battle.

Gorrochategui won the opening game of the second set but took an injury time-out of three minutes at the break to undergo treatment on a shoulder problem and to put on a knee support.

The Argentinian, who was having problems with her toss on service, has undergone knee surgery in the last year.

She initially continued but after Kournikova, who began finding her length the longer the match went on, had secured another break and won the first point of the fifth game, Gorrochategui retired to sympathetic applause.

The unseeded Tanasugarn reached the fourth round here last year — before falling to Martina Hingis — as did Testud.

In an error-ridden game played in blazing sun, Testud and Tanasugarn struggled to keep the ball in play during the court four clash played under scorching sunshine.

Tanasugarn was marginally the more consistent of the pair in the opening set and reeled off the last four games to take it 6-2.

But then her game fell apart and world number 16 Testud took advantage, winning the final four games of that set to level matters. She could not keep it up, though, and sprayed a series of errors around the court allowing the 22-year-old Tanasugarn to take control.

Tanasugarn is likely to meet fourth seed Monica Seles in the next round.

Top seed and defending champion Pete Sampras breezed past British part-timer Danny Sapsford 6-3 6-4 7-5 today to book his fourth round place.

On paper the world number one against the world number 595 looked no contest and that was how it turned out. Although Sapsford battled gamely the outcome was never in any doubt.

Sapsford, who retires after Wimbledon, never came close to breaking the Sampras service whereas the American, five times champion here, threatened each time the Briton stepped up to serve.

A partisan and patriotic court one crowd could do nothing to prevent Sampras getting the single break he needed in each set to wrap up victory in one hour 42 minutes.

Sampras now meets Daniel Nestor of Canada or Paul Goldstein of the USA in the last 16.

Tim Henman of Britain, seeded sixth, beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-1 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 6-2 in the third round of the men’s singles.

Fourth-seeded Agassi stayed on course for a French Open and Wimbledon double in reaching the third round of the men’s singles here yesterday, cruising past Argentina’s Guillermo Canas in straight sets.

Agassi triumphed 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 on court one to book a match with Spain’s Alberto Martin, a four-set winner over Morocco’s Younes-el-Aynaoui.

Australian second seed Pat Rafter, who has never shone at Wimbledon despite his serve and volley talents, defeated Swedish doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (7/9), 6-2. The US Open champion now faces another Swede, Thomas Enqvist.

Eighth-seeded American Todd Martin, meanwhile enjoyed a routine straight sets win over Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.

Agassi was joined by British sixth seed Tim Henman, who completed his match held over from Wednesday evening to march past American Chris Woodruff 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on centre court in 2hr 23min.

The decibel count went even higher, however, when three-time champion and crowd favourite Becker, on his last appearance at the tournament in his "garden" ousted Kiefer 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Jelena Dokic isn't one-match wonder

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) — Jelena Dokic was every inch the gauche 16-year-old looking for daddy’s approval yesterday.

Barely a game passed in the Australian’s second round clash with Katarina Studenikova without an anxious glance to the stands of court 13 where an impassive Damir Dokic watched his daughter’s laboured 6-0 4-6 8-6 victory.

Whether it was one of the many break points squandered or the disputed line-calls that almost drove her to tears, 16-year-old Dokic wanted to see her father’s reaction.

"When you’re on court there’s no-one that can help you, it’s just you out there playing. But it’s good having people there supporting you," said the Serbian-born Dokic, who was catapulted into the limelight when she sent top seed Martina Hingis packing 6-2 6-0 in the first round.

"(There were) no signs, he didn’t tell me how to play but it just feels different to have someone there."

Burly Dokic senior is almost as famous as his daughter, but for slightly less noble reasons.

In a recent tournament in Birmingham, he was banned from attending due to unruly behaviour after he hurled abuse at both spectators and officials.

But there were no such fireworks yesterday. The banks of cameras, trained on Dokic senior when they weren’t on his daughter, had to settle for a fist punched in the air just once. The rest of the time he was a picture of calm.

The Australian teenager had a number of nervous moments in a match that lasted over an hour and three-quarters.

Dokic won the first set in 23 minutes, meaning she had won 17 games in a row in her two matches, and seemed to be heading for another crushing victory.

But a loss of concentration midway through the second set meant she came dangerously close to being branded a one-match wonder, losing the set and then going down 2-4 in the third.

Both players came frustratingly close to victory a number of times but shied away at the last moment. They traded breaks three times in the last set as the advantage see-sawed from the Slovak to the Australian and back again.

A couple of close line calls clearly rattled the Australian at crucial points - and didn’t impress the crowd either.

An over-rule from the umpire against Dokic when she was 3-4 down sparked booing from the stands where all afternoon there had been triumphant shouts of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie".

Eventually Dokic’s aggressive, deep groundstrokes proved too much and she broke Studenikova at 6-6 then went on to hold her serve and clinch the match.

She now faces Anne Kremer from Luxembourg, ranked 35th in the world.

Bond among Americans grows stronger

WIMBLEDON, June 25 (AP) — Jim Courier is rooting for Andre Agassi.

Agassi is rooting for Courier.

Pete Sampras is on his own.

The top American men at Wimbledon say the bond among them has grown stronger because of maturity and recent results. The latest victory was by Agassi, who swept Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 yesterday to reach the third round.

As a show of support, Courier was in the stands at the start of the match, just as Agassi watched Courier’s five-set victory on Wednesday over Carlos Moya.

So will Agassi return to the stands to cheer for five-time Wimbledon champion Sampras?

Let’s not get carried away.

"Pete hasn’t really needed a whole lot of support here in the past," Agassi said. "I felt inspired to be out there pulling for Jim. Not that I don’t pull for Pete. I’d love to see him accomplish six Wimbledons — if I happen to lose here."

An all-American final between Agassi and Sampras in England on the fourth of July is a tantalising prospect. Courier and fellow American Todd Martin could also be factors.

Martin, seeded eighth, joined his countrymen in the third round yesterday. Also advancing were second-seeded Patrick Rafter, No. 5 Richard Krajicek, No. 6 Tim Henman and No. 10 Goran Ivanisevic.

Another winner was three-time champion Boris Becker, who played his first match on centre court since 1997 and beat fellow German Nicolas Kiefer 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

The star-studded session drew a crowd of 40,312, largest in Wimbledon’s 113-year history.

Agassi, Courier, Sampras and Michael Chang have known each other since they were teen-agers playing junior tennis. They’ve been foes rather than friends, but the relationships began to change in recent months.

Courier’s thrilling performance in April to help the U.S. Davis Cup beat England inspired Sampras to rejoin the team. And when Agassi won the French Open earlier this month, he was surprised to receive a congratulatory phone call from Sampras.

"At this stage of the ballgame, it’s really hard not to have strong feelings toward your fellow Americans,’’ said Agassi, 29.

"Our generation is at the tail end, and we’re old enough now to realise that there are a lot of great memories that we’ve given to each other."

The reasons for keeping their distance from each other have been nothing personal, Agassi said.

"We’ve got a lot of Grand Slams between us,’’ he said. "If Jim or Pete or Michael didn’t exist, I would have more Grand Slams. They’ve always been serious obstacles in my path, and I know I’ve presented my problems to them in theirs ... and so going out to dinner or having a beer together wasn’t always a top priority.’’

Their rivalry could resurface at Wimbledon. The fourth-seeded Agassi, still riding momentum from his French Open title, wants to become the first man to win at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980. The top-seeded Sampras wants to match Roy Emerson’s record of 12 Grand Slam titles.

The unseeded Courier remains a long shot, even though he has advanced beyond the second round at Wimbledon for the first time since reaching the 1993 final, when he lost to Sampras. But a potential fourth-round match between Courier and British hopeful Tim Henman would produce plenty of fireworks.

Agassi and Sampras might both show up for that one.

PCB chief stands by World Cup squad

ISLAMABAD, June 25 (PTI) — Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Khalid Mahmood yesterday stood by the beleaguered World Cup squad saying he would "ensure no injustice is done to the players" and debunked the match-fixing allegations as "usual reactions of an emotional nation."

Mahmood, who is also being criticised for Pakistan's humiliating defeat against Australia in the World Cup final, told a Pakistani daily in London that he would fight on behalf of the players and "ensure no injustice is done to them"

"This is a time when their morale has to be boosted up and they must be encouraged to carry on improving their game," he said even as the government entrusted the ehtesab (accountability) bureau to look into the "objectionable activities" of the players and top board officials.

Incidentally Mahmood was instrumental in bringing back Akram as skipper last year after the speedster vowed never to lead the team following accusations of match-fixing and betting and had also insisted on the inclusion of Salim Malik and Ijaz Ahmed in the World Cup team.

Mahmood brushed aside the betting allegations against the team members as "usual reaction from an emotional nation" and told the paper "everyone now seems to forget that this team has been winning consistently for the last six months. And now they are being called criminals. It is indeed shameful. It is time we matured as a nation."

The board chief listed the success of the team in the last six months as winning the first Asian Test championship, a triangular tournament in India and another in Sharjah besides reaching the World Cup final.

He called Pakistan's poor show in the final was due to injuries to several players. Saeed Anwar and Abdul Razzaq had to take steroid injections because of their groin and ruptured muscle problems, respectively, while Inzamam-ul-Haq, Moin Khan and Ijaz Ahmed played with either swollen or fractured fingers, he told the paper.

Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq were also complaining of knee problems, Mahmood said. "It was painful for me also to see our team capitulating in the final against Australia, but these things happens. And I know the boys tried hard and wanted to win. It was not just their day."

He expressed happiness over Akram's decision to continue playing for another year and lauded him and Moin Khan for their performances and efforts to bring the team together.

Hadlee backs Kiwis to win series

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) — Sir Richard Hadlee is backing New Zealand to build on their World Cup achievements and beat England in the forthcoming four-Test series.

"New Zealand have only won two Tests in England in our cricket history. But I think the timing is absolutely perfect for us to make it three, four, five and six, in all seriousness," Hadlee said.

Hadlee, who played in the Test-winning sides at Headingley in 1983 and at Trent Bridge in 1986, where New Zealand clinched their only series victory in England, explained his thinking at a reception at the New Zealand High Commission.

"England have got problems. They are going to have a new coach after David Lloyd (stepped down). It appeared they are going to have a new captain. One or two new players will probably be tried or experimented with," Hadlee said.

"If we (New Zealand) can just hold it together, get our act together, then there's no reason why we can't be very, very competitive in this series and perhaps go on and win another Test series in this country."

Hadlee, the second highest wicket-taker in Test history, said New Zealand reaching the World Cup semifinals had given the team a huge boost.

"I always felt we would struggle to make it to the Super Six (second) stage. But beating the Australian in Cardiff was a tremendous result. To get into the semifinals was a fine effort in a tough competition," Hadlee said.

The former all-rounder insisted he was not worried about the negative press New Zealand had received for being a "boring" side, since they arrived in England.

"We have basically some good hard-working players. We haven't got any stars. We go about doing our job in a fairly mechanical role if you like," he said.

Hadlee said left-arm swing bowler Geoff Allott, who took a record-breaking 20 wickets in the World Cup, was crucial to New Zealand's chances.

"Allott had an outstanding World Cup. He's arrived on the international scene. It's important he continues that form in the Tests.

"We need (paceman) Simon Doull back in the side. With Doull/Allott going well, (all-rounder) Chris Cairns and (left-arm spinner) Daniel Vettori, the bowling looks good.

"But you would have to be concerned about our batting. The top-order has been pretty disappointing. We have got to get some starts, get some partnerships going. Otherwise it puts too much pressure on the middle order."

According to Hadlee, England need to follow the example of World Cup winners Australia if they are to get back to the top in the world game.

"They (Australia) showed a quality most teams desperately wanted: that is the mental toughness, the inner strength to dig deep and pull out the big results when it mattered most. That's what England need now."

Jeev shoots four under-68
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, June 25 — Jeev Milkha Singh made up for some of his frustrations of narrowly missing a US Open spot when he made a superb return to the European PGA Tour by shooting four-under 68 on the opening day of the 1.4 million Euro Compaq European Grand Prix Tournament which began at the De Vere Slaley hall course in Hexham, England.

According to information reaching here, the Hero Honda-sponsored Jeev shot five birdies as against a single bogey to be placed tied for sixth place with five others after Thursday’s round at the par-72, 7,088-yard course.

Jeev, who lost in a playoff for the final US Open spot during the sectional qualifiers and was one of the alternates during the championship, began with a birdie on the 429-yard par-4 first hole, but promptly boogied the second hole of same yardage. Thereafter, he made successive birdies on the 7th and 8th (both par-4s), and again on the par-3 14th and par-4 15th to end the day at four-under 68.

The 27-year-old Chandigarh pro continued to be erratic off the tee as he missed six fairways, but his immaculate iron-play saw him wriggle out of the situation and reach 16 greens in regulation. Jeev required 30 putts to compete the round.

Jeev is currently ranked 22nd in the European Tour Order of Merit and if he manages to be in top 20 at the end of the season, he would get direct entries into all the major championships of the world.

Leading the tournament was a familiar name for Indian fans, David Carter of England, winner of the 1996 Honda-Siel PGA Championship at AGC, Dhaula Kuan course. Carter made eight birdies before making a bogey on his final hole to finish the day at seven-under 65. In second place and one stroke behind Carter at 66 was Peter O’Malley of Australia.

Among the major names, South African Retief Goosen, currently second in the Volvo Order of Merit, was tied for the 20th place at two-under 70, while Northern Ireland’s English Open winner Darren Clarke was at joint 37th place at level-par 72, while Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra and the legendary Spaniard Seve Ballesteros were among those in joint 78th place at one-over 73.

Scores (after 18 holes): Ist 65 David Carter (Eng); 2nd 66 — Peter O’Malley (Aus); T-3rd 67 — Paul McGinley (Ire), David Lynn (Eng), David Park (Wal); T-6th, 68 — Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Darren Lee (Eng), Stephen Bennett (Eng), Gary Emerson (Eng), Jamie Spence (Eng), Ignacio Garrido (Esp).

Other important Scores: T-20: 70 — Retief Goosen (SAf); T-37: 71 — Darren Clarke (NIre); T-57: 72 — Lee Westwood (Eng); T-78: 73 — Daniel Chopra (Swe), Seve Ballesteros (Esp).

Bevan gets back memorabilia

SYDNEY, June 25 (Reuters) — Australian cricketer Michael Bevan had a sports bag containing souvenirs from his triumphant World Cup campaign returned today just 24 hours after it was stolen from outside his Sydney home.

A spokesman for the public relations company which manages Bevan said an unidentified man handed over the bag after Bevan announced reward for the safe return of the memorabilia.

The bag, which contained shirts, pads, caps and cricket bats signed by the entire Australian team, was taken from outside Bevan’s flat on Sydney’s northern beaches while he was visiting a friend.

Bevan, who hit 264 runs at an average of 52.80 during the World Cup, said he had left the bag outside his beachside unit after returning home from a Melbourne street parade honouring the team.

Bevan’s spokesman said the bag was returned after an anonymous man called them to arrange the handover. He said the man was not asked whether or not he was the thief.

"The police didn’t particularly like the way it was handled but Michael wanted the bag back and we got the bag back," the spokesman said.

"Michael’s whole thing was no questions asked and that’s the way we handled it."

Bevan said most of the items in the bag would be donated to charity, apart from a few souvenirs he planned to keep for himself and his family.

India win inaugural match
By Our Sports reporter

CHANDIGARH,June 25 — India and the Philippines won their respective matches on the inaugural day of the Third Asian Cup Baseball Championship which got under way at the Panjab University grounds here today.India humbled Iran 16-1 while the Philippines downed Malaysia by 18-3.

In the India-Iran match, the captain of the home side, Vijay Patrodh, gave an outstanding performance. The scores were: India-16 runs; (Gopinath and Vijay Patrodh three each) Neeraj, Ashwani, Naresh (two each) Rajesh, Girish and Sanjeev Tandon (one each) Iran- Shabin (one run).

The Indian team was represented by Gopinath, Neeraj, Vijay, Ashwani, Rajesh, Naresh, Hemansh, Giresh and Ajay. The substitutes were Sashi, Rakesh, Amith, Vishwa Bandhu, Abhey Pratap, Shailender Singh. Iran fielded Amir Heydari, Siamak, Mehran, Amir Hossein, Reza Ahmedi, Abdolerza, Keyvan Safaian, Shahbin,Yahya, Ahmed Reza.

Later Philippines stole the show against Malaysia winning 18-3 at the end of five innings. Scores; Philippines-18 runs Angeles Ruben, Ieben Lorenzo — three runs each; Velasquez Andy, Ramos, Jimenez Ricardo, Bennabe Ricky, Jimenes Cris — two runs each; Mariquina, Victor, Recto Fernandez — one run each. Malaysia — 3 runs (Edward, Faizai, Adrian — one run each).

Tomorrow India will play Malaysia while Iran will take on the Philippines.

Paes-Bhupathi duo in third round

LONDON, June 25 (PTI) — Top-seeded Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India sailed into Wimbledon men’s doubles third round with a straight-set victory against Bobby Kokavev of Canada and Gabriel Trifu of Romania here today.

The world number one duo, who made tennis history by becoming the first Indian pair to win a Grand Slam title at the French Open early this month, faced a tough second-set challenge from their rivals in the second round clash before advancing 7-5 7-6 (7/3) 6-3.

They had beaten Tom Kempers of the Netherlands and Germany’s Michael Kohlmann in straight sets in the first round.

Paes-Bhupathi, who started the year on a rousing note reaching the Australian Open final but topped it by clinching their maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in Paris, were beaten in the second round here last year.

Also making it to the third round were fifth seeded French duo Olivier Delaitre and Fabrice Santoro. The Frenchmen beat Peter Tramacchi of Australia and Pavel Vizner of the Czech Republic in five tough sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Amanjot loses in final
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, June 25 — In the Adidas Junior Masters Tennis Tournament played at the DTA complex, Sania Mirza from Andhra Pradesh made it a double by winning both the under-14 and under-16 girls titles. While she easily beat Delhi girl Ankita Bhambri in the under-14 finals. She was staring at a match point against C.Nandita of Tamil Nadu. Nandita had won the first set and was serving for the match when Sania came from behind to win the second set 7-5 and then easily romped home in the final set.

In the boys under-14 finals, unseeded Vikrant Sane of Maharashtra easily won his match against a tentative second seed R. Arun Prakash from Tamil Nadu. In the boys under-16 finals, top seed Amanjot Singh from Chandigarh was looking comfortable at 5-2 in the first set against third seed Vinod Sewa from West Bengal when some loose shots from Amanjot allowed Vinod Sewa to claw back in the set to take it to a tie-breaker. Vinod then won the tie-breaker and swamped Amanjot in the second set to win the match.

Results:

Boys-under 16 (final): Vinod K Sewa (3) (WB) bt Amanjot Singh (1) (Chandigarh) 7-6 (5), 6-0.

Boys-under 14 (final): Vikrant Sane (Mah) bt R. Arun Prakash (2) (TN) 7-5, 6-3.

Girls-under 16 (final): Sania Mirza (4) (AP) bt C. Nandita (2) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Girls-under 14 (finals): Sania Mirza (1) (AP) bt Ankita Bhambri (6) (Delhi) 6-4, 6-2.

ends ends

Abhinav leaves for Atlanta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 25 — Chandigarh-based Abhinav Bindra, a student of St Stephens School, yesterday left for Atlanta (USA) along with a 13-member Indian shooting team to take part in the World Cup , scheduled to be held from June 26 to July 4, according to information available here.

Abhinav recently participated in the World Cup held at Munich, Germany, and the World Cup in Milan, Italy, where he achieved the minimum qualifying score for the Sydney Olympics, scheduled to be held next year. At Munich he had a score of 578 while at Milan he achieved a score of 574.

Abhinav had also participated in the World Shooting Championships at Barcelona where he attained a score of 575.

The following is the Indian squad for the World Cup at Atlanta :

Men: Jaspal Rana, Vivek Singh, Ved Parkash, Satinder Kumar, T.C. Pallangappa and Abhinav Bindra.

Women : Deepti Sirsat, Roopa Unni Krishan, Anjali Vedpathak, Anyja Tule, Suma Dixit, Samata Ghosh and Sushma Rana.

Mr Rajiv Bhatia is the manager of the team while Sunny Thomas and Laszlo Suzcsak of Hungary will be the coaches of the team.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will hold the ISSF World Cup in shotgun events early next year. India hosted the first World Cup in February, 1997, and Mansher Singh bagged a bronze then.

Women’s football academy planned

JALANDHAR, June 25 (FOSR) — The Punjab Women’s Football Association has decided to form an academy for the development of women’s football in state. The association has decided to start this academy from this year.

Twenty young girls will be selected in the first phase and the association will provide full kit, playing equipment and free education to them at Jalandhar.

The association has also decided to select promising players for a monthly scholarship according to their performance. This will be the first football academy in the region for the promotion of women’s football.

For the first batch, the association will conduct selection trials for 20 girls at HMV College, Jalandhar, on July 2. Player who have passed Class 10 or above are eligible for the trials.

Sports centre at Ludhiana

LUDHIANA, June 25 (FOSR) — The Sports Department, Punjab, has set up a centre for sports excellence for outstanding sportspersons at Ludhiana. At present this scheme covers only male sportspersons in individual games. To start with 28 boys have been selected this year on the basis of trials conducted by an expert committee of the department. These boys, who are below 18 years of age and excelled at the national level, have been housed in the newly built hostel in the Guru Nanak Sports Complex. The boys are being provided free education, transport, medical facilities, sports kit and diet allowance of Rs 100 per day. They have been put under the watchful eyes of the best available coaches of the Sports Department. For the session 1999-2000 the gamewise break up is athletics 10 badminton 3, cycling 4, gymnastics 2, judo 3, lawn tennis 1, table tennis 4 and weightlifting 1.

Kabaddi meet inaugurated

CHANDIGARH,June 25 (BOSR) — The second Punjab Circle Kabaddi Championship for men and women began here today at the Sector 17 Football grounds. On the first day an exhibition match between Gurdaspur and Nawanshahr girls was played before the packed audience.

It was won by Nawanshahr by 37-25. Kulwinder Kaur scored 10 points, Inderjit Kaur and Jaswinder Kaur seven each, and Nachhatar Kaur five points.

Gurdaspur scored through Pavinder Kaur and Amandeep (seven and five points respectively). Earlier the three day tournament was inaugurated by Mr Sucha Singh Langah, Minister for Industries, Punjab. Tomorrow the matches will start at 7.30 am.