Pakistan on road to title victory
DHAKA, March 13 — Seasoned Ijaz Ahmed cracked his 11th Test century with an unbeaten 118 as Pakistan took a firm grip on the title by reaching a strong 299 for two wickets against Sri Lanka on the second day of the Asian Test Championship final here today.

• Sohail’s omission: Pak President intervenes

Rain thwarts SA's Gibbs, Kallis
CHRISTCHURCH, March 13 — Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis, unbeaten by New Zealand’s bowlers, were defeated by the country’s weather when just 40 balls were possible on the third day of the second Test at Lancaster Park today.

Thipsay joins Barua at the top
MUMBAI, March 13 — Grandmaster Praveen Thipsay downed Bangladesh champion Ziaur Rehaman to join overnight leader Dibyendu Barua, who was held by Pakistan’s Mahmood Lodhi, at the top with 5.5 points after the seventh round of the Asian Zonal Chess Championship here today

UP, Orissa sail through
HYDERABAD, March 13 — Talented Uttar Pradesh team scored a 3-1 victory over Gujarat and Orissa scored their second successive victory defeating Jammu and Kashmir 2-0 in the 59th Senior Natioal Hockey Championship here today.

IOC exonerates Ashwini
LAUSANNE, March 13 — International Olympic Committee ad hoc commission investigating conduct of its certain members, has exonerated India’s Ashwini Kumar from the Salt Lake City corruption scandal.

New route for SJOBA Rally
CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The 1999 SJOBA Rally, to be conducted on March 21, will be held on a completely new route, according to the organisers of the rally.

Orissa in command against Delhi
CUTTACK, March 13 — Riding on fine centuries by skipper Shiv Sundar Das and Prabhanjan Mallick, Orissa piled up 278 for three wickets on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match against Delhi here today.

2002 World Cup to begin 10 days early
SEOUL, March 13 — The 2002 soccer World Cup is expected to start on June 1 for a 30-day run, about 10 days earlier than usual, South Korea’s top soccer official said on television yesterday.

Pakistan on road to title victory

DHAKA, March 13 (PTI) — Seasoned Ijaz Ahmed cracked his 11th Test century with an unbeaten 118 as Pakistan took a firm grip on the title by reaching a strong 299 for two wickets against Sri Lanka on the second day of the Asian Test Championship final here today.

Ijaz Ahmed and the burly Inzamam-ul-Haq, batting with a majestic 77, put on an entertaining 182 runs for the unbroken third wicket as Pakistan, overnight 33 for none in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 231, led by 67 runs with eight wickets intact at the Bangabandhu Stadium here.

Pakistan were sitting pretty with six bonus points, after taking two batting points today as Sri Lanka, having gained just two batting bonus points, can hope to claim the inaugural title only if they score an outright win, which looks remote.

Pakistan, in fact, fell just one run short of claiming their third batting point — awarded for reaching 300 runs in 100 overs — but had reached a position from where they can push for outright victory.

Sri Lanka, guilty of loose fielding and catching, gained modest rewards as openers, young Wajahatullah Wasti (22) who struck a century in either innings of the final league tie in Lahore, and left-hander Saeed Anwar (57) fell either side of lunch, taken at 112.

They also suffered a setback when regular ‘keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana fell ill during lunch and Hashan Tillekeratne had to don the gloves after the break.

Ijaz Ahmed, playing his 54th Test, reached his century in style as he cracked left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas for three consecutive fours, the third a superb shot through extra cover which brought up his century in 175 balls, after 270 minutes and studded with 14 well-hit fours.

Ahmed’s (118 - 208 b, 314 m) onslaught saw Vaas concede 17 runs in that over and at close Inzamam-ul-Haq (77 - 200 b, 260 m), who reached his 23rd fifty, looked well set to complete his hundred tomorrow.

Going into the final over, Pakistan needed just one run to gain their third batting and seventh bonus point overall, but Mahela Jayawardene bowled a maiden over to Ijaz Ahmed, who was also dropped by skipper Aravinda de Silva.

Sri Lankan hopes of making further inroads came to naught as their toothless bowling was accentuated by sloppy fielding.

Haq was dropped by Avisha Gunawardena at shortleg off Russel Arnold when he was yet to open his account and Ahmed saw Tillekeratne let his edge off Vaas bounce off his gloves with the batsman on 59.

With Sri Lankans squandering whatever little chance they had to dent the Pakistan innings, both Ijaz Ahmed and Haq hit typically powerful shots to dominate the bowling.

Wasti and Anwar added 75 runs when left arm seamer Sajeewa de Silva forced Wasti to edge an away swinger for Mahela Jayawardene at second slip to take a low catch.

Anwar (57-113 b, 172 m, 6x4), who also was dropped twice, had added just five runs to his lunch score of 52 before offering a tame return catch to Russel Arnold.

Ijaz, who was dropped for the Lahore Test for his poor performance during the Indian tour, raced away to his 50 in only 96 balls which contained six fours as Pakistan were 182 for two at tea.

Pakistan gained their second bowling point passing the 225-run mark when skipper Aravinda de Silva, who was forced to try out seven bowlers and sent down four overs himself, had to take the new ball in the 82nd over after leg-spinner Upul Chandana was hit for 13 runs by the wellset batsmen.

Inzamam-ul-Haq reached his fifty (50 - 169 b, 211 m, 3x4) in a relatively quiet way, but Pakistan who reached 250 in the 90th over, added another 49 runs in the last 10 overs.

Sohail’s omission: Pak President intervenes

KARACHI, March 13 (ANI) — Officials in the Pakistan President ’s secretariat have reportedly asked the three-member Pakistan cricket selection committee headed by former wicketkeeper Wasim Bari to explain why they have omitted opener Aamir Sohail from the World Cup squad.

According to informed sources, the query was forwarded after Sohail lodged a complaint with the secretariat.

Bari has reportedly already sent a reply explaining why the selectors had not picked Sohail for the team, which is to play two one-day competitions in India and Sharjah and then will go for the World Cup.

Sohail approached President Mohammed Rafique Tarar, patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), through a written complaint. He pointed out that the Board and selectors had been ignoring him for selection without assigning any justification.

Sohail’s contention was that he was being victimised despite his excellent record since he had spoken before the Judicial Commission against some players accusing them of being involved in fixing matches.

The President’s secretariat got in touch with the board and the selection committee and asked the latter to submit a written explanation. Wasim Bari is said to have explained that since Sohail had not made himself available either for the national camp before the Indian tour or the Asian Test Championship match against Sri Lanka, he could not be considered for selection. Bari also stated that since last December, Sohail has assigned no reason for not attending the national camps and has also not played regularly at the domestic level.

However, Sohail did play one match of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and scored a hundred. Bari has claimed that Sohail had also not been considered for selection since his performance in the series against Australia and Zimbabwe was not upto the mark.

The interesting thing according to the sources is that even the board has been asked to explain whether Sohail was being victimised because of his role in the judicial inquiry looking into the match-fixing and betting allegations.

Sohail walked out of the Pakistan team after the first test defeat to Zimbabwe, due to differences with the selectors, who did not support him in dropping some senior players, who Sohail claimed were not cooperating with him and sabotaging his efforts.

Sohail has now even parted ways with the board Chairman, Khalid Mehmood, who supported him strongly for the captaincy over Rashid Latif. Even though Latif had done a fair job on the difficult tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, it is no secret that Mehmood went out of his way to convince the council members to support Sohail for the captaincy.

Rain thwarts SA's Gibbs, Kallis

CHRISTCHURCH, March 13 (Reuters) — Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis, unbeaten by New Zealand’s bowlers, were defeated by the country’s weather when just 40 balls were possible on the third day of the second Test at Lancaster Park today.

South Africa’s young batting stars advanced their second wicket partnership from their overnight 102 to 120 before the grey, clinging drizzle that prevented play from starting until 3.15 p.m. returned and drove the players from the field after just 29 minutes.

Gibbs, who resumed on 101 not out from 286 balls in six hours and 52 minutes, immediately tried to raise the tempo in the short time available adding two boundaries to reach 113 with a total of 13 fours and one six.

Kallis, who resumed on 53, square drove Vettori through point and added a single to move his score on to 58.

Having bowled their hosts out for 168 on the first day, South Africa’s lead stands at 79 runs with nine wickets in hand.

An extra hour will be added to the fourth and fifth day's play in an attempt to make up lost time although a total of seven hours and 35 minutes, equating to 116 overs, has been lost already.

"There are still around 210 overs left in the match and, although it’s been badly frustrating, we believe there’s still enough time left in the match to produce a result," Hansie Cronje said when play was finally abandoned at 4.55 p.m local time.

South African coach Bob Woolmer confirmed that Allan Donald, who left the field prematurely on the first day, would almost certainly not bowl again in the match.

"Allan has a torn stomach muscle and that usually takes 12 to 14 days to heal. It means he will almost certainly miss the third Test in Wellington but we hope he’ll be fit for the final three one-day internationals at the end of the tour," Woolmer said.

The South Africans will not send for a replacement: "We have Steven Elworthy on tour, and he is bowling well. Allan will stay on tour and be treated here," Woolmer said.

Thipsay joins Barua at the top

MUMBAI, March 13 (PTI) — Grandmaster Praveen Thipsay downed Bangladesh champion Ziaur Rehaman to join overnight leader Dibyendu Barua, who was held by Pakistan’s Mahmood Lodhi, at the top with 5.5 points after the seventh round of the Asian Zonal Chess Championship here today

In the women’s section, Bhagyashree Thipsay maintained her lead with four points from five rounds.

Lodhi did not allow Barua, the reigning national champion, any opportunity to gain upper hand from the guico piano opening. The Pakistan national champion, playing black, transferred his queen to kingside and opened k-side with f5 on 13th move for initiative.

White apparently neutralised all black threats except the one which allowed Lodhi to sacrifice knight on 24th move followed by rook sacrifice to draw the game with perpetual checks.

Thipsay made full use of the opportunity that came his way when he defeated Ziaur Rahaman in a good game. The Indian chose a quite line against sicilian dragon set-up adopted by his opponent. Zia took his queen to K-side for attack which proved very costly.

When black attempted to open the position on move 17th with e5, white had seen a clever trap for black’s misplaced queen by forcing him to grab a knight on g3 followed by 21st move r-f3. Thereafter Thipsay had winning position which he converted into a win with precise play after 48 moves.

Abhijit Kunte and V. Saravanan are on second spot, a full point behind the leaders.

Abhijit Kunte, playing black, adopted sicilian paulsen variation against Bangladesh youngster Enamul Hossain. In the middle game Kunte cleverly grabbed the advanced via isolated white pawn on e5 square. After fall of important e5 pawn whites’ position worsened slowly and Hossain resigned on 32nd move facing mate.

Saravanan’s winning spree was halted by Abdullah-al Rakib of Bangladesh. Saravanan, playing white, had won a pawn from caro kann (panno-botwinnik) game. However black defended tenaciously to salvage a half point.

Anup Deshmukh and S. Sasikiran posted easy victories.

Nisha Mohota (white) came well prepared against Bhagyashree’s favourite Dutch defence. Nisha sacrificed a pawn in the opening to gain initiative. Black’s inaccurate queen move game white opportunity to launch a dangerous attack with queen, rook and white colour bishop. Mohota had an opportunity to checkmate her opponent on 31st move but had to settle for a draw after 54 moves.

Swati Ghate reduced the gap between her and the leader to half point when she outwitted the experienced Rani Hamid of Bangladesh. Swati, playing black, adopted sicilian paulsen defence. White sacrificed exchange for attack on black king but Swati successfully repelled the attack to win full point after 34 moves.

Women’s national champion S. Vijayalakshmi avoided the usual fireworks of evans gambit and entered into quiet position against Pallavi Shah of Maharashtra.

Pallavi’s decision to exchange the white knight for f6 bishop proved fatal and it gave Vijayalakshmi an opportunity to shatter white’s castle. After exchange of major pieces the resultant bishop and knight ending was hopelessly lost for Pallavi.

UP, Orissa sail through

HYDERABAD, March 13 (UNI) — Talented Uttar Pradesh team scored a 3-1 victory over Gujarat and Orissa scored their second successive victory defeating Jammu and Kashmir 2-0 in the 59th Senior Natioal Hockey Championship here today.

Uttar Pradesh, who drew with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the opening day, played like champions as Avinash Sarena converted two penalty strokes into goals while Arshad scored the third goal. At half time both the teams were 1-1.

In the 25th minute of first half, one of the Gujarat defenders stick checked Arshad's hit which resulted in a penalty stroke, which was easily converted by Avinash. A minute later, Gujarat equalised through Nissar Ahmed following a cross pass from Sandip Rathod (1-1).

Ten minutes after the break Arshad with a short pass from Avinash romped home for the second goal as Uttar Pradesh was leading 2-1.

At three minutes before the close, a shot taken by Arshad was stopped by Birender Singh of Gujarat who stopped a goal bound ball with his foot and consequently a penalty stroke was awarded. Avinash put his team beyond reach by scoring the third goal.

Orissa the most underrated team here carved out a 2-0 victory over J and K, who lost gallantly yesterday to title aspirants Indian Airlines 0-3. The J and K team found the going though as Orissa with their short passes tore open their defence. the first half went goalless. Five minutes after the break Abhay Kumar Samantharay scored the first goal. Five minutes before the end of play, Abhay Kumar sqaure passed to unmarked Linus Tirkey who just had to push the ball into the open goal of J and K for the second goal.

PTI: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) held Hyderabad to a 2-2 draw in group-A while Bihar prevailed over Rajasthan 4-1.

CSIF had held Uttar Pradesh and then defeated Gujarat by a solitary goal in their previous league matches will play Nagaland and Indian Postal and Telegraph before completing their league engagements while Uttar Pradesh, who had earlier defeated Nagaland 4-0 and drew with CISF, will play Indian Postal and Hyderabad in their next two league matches.

Rajasthan and Gujarat are virtually out of contention losing all their earlier matches while Bihar, who defeated Rajasthan 4-1 today, take on a strong Punjab in their last league encounter tomorrow.

In the CSIF-Hyderabad tie, the hosts held the whip for most part of the first half. However, they went on the defensive in the second half and their rivals quickly capitalised by scoring two goals in quick succession.

Hyderabad drew the first blood in the 21st minute through a fine solo effort by centre forward Z.A. Dara.

The equaliser for CISF came in the 48th minute through a field goal scored by Jai Paul who capitalised on a pass from g V. Xaxa. CISF kept up the pressure on the Hyderabad defence to surge ahead through an unmarked G.V. Xaxa, who scooped the ball into the cage in the 67th minute.

IOC exonerates Ashwini

LAUSANNE, March 13 (PTI) — International Olympic Committee (IOC) ad hoc commission investigating conduct of its certain members, has exonerated India’s Ashwini Kumar from the Salt Lake City corruption scandal.

Ashwini Kumar, India’s representative at the IOC, was last month charged by 2002 Salt Lake organising committee with accepting travel expenses from the bidding committee to fly an unknown relative to Budapest in 1995.

The IOC ad hoc commission investigators, however, found Ashwini Kumar not involved in the scandal and recommended his exoneration here last night.

Two other members, Ram Ruhee of Mauritius and Henry Edmund Olefemi Adefope of Nigeria, were also cleared of the charges but IOC investigators recommended expulsion of Paul Wallwork of Samoa, who became the sixth member to be charged. All six face expulsion at an extra-ordinary IOC session here next week.

In a letter to Ashwini Kumar, who flew in here from New Delhi early this morning, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said Kumar did not violate the IOC guidelines related to candidate cities and "you are exonerated of all allegations made against you by the Salt Lake ethics committee".

Samaranch said IOC executive board has approved the report by its ad hoc commission and fully accepted its findings concerning allegations made by Salt Lake board of ethics.

New route for SJOBA Rally
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, March 13 — The 1999 SJOBA Rally, to be conducted on March 21, will be held on a completely new route, according to the organisers of the rally. Scheduled to be flagged off at seven in the morning from St John's High School in Sector 26, the rally will travel through the Madhya Marg, the PGI, Jayanto Majri to Karondia. The first competition leg of the rally will be from Karondia to Kona. The rally will reach Dharampur via Mandona, Masul Khana and Garkhal before joining the national highway en route Chail.

At the end of leg one all the participants will be served lunch at Chail. The first leg of the rally will be flagged off from Chandigarh by the SSP of Chandigarh, Mr C.S.R. Reddy. The total distance of leg one of the rally will be 154.5 km out of which the competitive section will be 42.8 km.

The second leg of the rally will be flagged off from Chail at about 12 noon by Mr O.C.Mahajan, DGP, Himachal. The rally will pass through Gaura, Johadjee, Bhojnagar, Mullah and Pinjore before finishing at St John's School at about 3.30 p.m. The distance to be covered by the rally in leg two will be 134.4 km out of which the competitive section will be 54.5 km.

Competition in the rally will be held in the following sections: cars made and assembled in India; jeeps\gypsies\MUV like Sierra, Sumo, Mahindra etc; Indian motorcycles less than 300 cc; and Indian made scooters.

The first prizes in the categories of scooters and motorcycles will be Rs 8,000 while the first prizes in the categories of cars and jeeps will be Rs 15,000. While the second prize in the first and second categories is Rs 5000 each it is Rs 10,000 in the categories of cars and jeeps. The third prize in the categories of scooters and motorcycles is Rs 3000 each while, in the case of cars and jeeps it will be Rs 5000 each. Besides a special prize of Rs 4000 will be given to the best all-women's crew and a couple team in the four-wheeler category. Also, prizes of Rs 2000 each will be given for the best all women's crew and best couple in the two-wheeler category.

The organisers of the rally have said that the rally will follow all the safety rules required for such events. Safety helmets and seat belts will be compulsory. Roll bars are mandatory for all soft top vehicles. Also, participants have to observe all traffic rules and speed limits during the rally. Also, the organisers have taken adequate measures and have provided for ambulances and medical teams to be present all along the route. However, the organisers hasten to add that the safety record of the SJOBA rally is tremendous.

The organisers expect about 100 participants for the rally. Already, enquires have been received from far off places like Delhi, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Rohtak, Shimla and other places. Entries close on March 18 .

The SJOBA rally over the years has been a nursery and training ground for national rally champions. Noted rallyists who have honed their skill at the SJOBA rally include Hari Singh, Bittu Mann, Manik Raikhy, Sandeep Sidhu, M P. S.Reen, Rai Sodhi and Randeep Singh.

Orissa in command against Delhi

CUTTACK, March 13 (PTI) — Riding on fine centuries by skipper Shiv Sundar Das and Prabhanjan Mallick, Orissa piled up 278 for three wickets on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match against Delhi here today.

Electing to bat, the hosts dominated the proceedings with Das, unbeaten on 123, and Mallick (113) displaying fine batsmanship at the Barabati Stadium here.

The technically correct Das, who opened the batting with P. Jayachandra, was still going strong after a 365 minute knock (12 x4), with Rashmi Ranjan Parida, yet to score, keeping him company at stumps.

Mallick, who came at the fall of Jayachandra (9), got a life on zero when he edged Arun Singh behind, wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya diving in vain to catch the ball.

The miss proved dear for Delhi as Mallick piled up 113 (223m, 12x4) runs before he was dismissed just before tea when he tried to hoist off-spinner Nikhil Chopra out of the ground. Verender Sehwag took the catch.

Delhi, who must secure a first innings lead to ensure a place in the knock-out round, had an early success when medium-pacer Arun Singh found the edge of Jayachandra’s bat and skipper Ajay Sharma took the catch at second slip.

Singh was the most successful Delhi bowler claiming two wickets spending just 36 runs.

2002 World Cup to begin 10 days early

SEOUL, March 13 (AP) — The 2002 soccer World Cup is expected to start on June 1 for a 30-day run, about 10 days earlier than usual, South Korea’s top soccer official said on television yesterday.

Mr Chung Mong-Joon, head of the South Korean Football Association, reported the expected adjustment after a meeting with FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, in Zurich.

The one-day meeting was called by FIFA to review arrangements for the 2002 World Cup with co-hosts Japan and South Korea.

"All agreed to avoid the peak rainy season in July,’’ Chung said in an interview with YTN, an all-news cable television network.

Japan and South Korea have proposed rescheduling the 2002 World Cup to start in May to avoid the rainy season in North-East Asia.

The quadrennial, month-long World Cup traditionally starts around June 10, after the professional soccer season in Europe and South America ends in April.

But that period the rainy season in both Japan and South Korea. At the meting with overlaps FIFA, South Japan proposed launching the 2002 World Cup on May 24 or 25 but Korea and FIFA and the agreed to make a one-week adjustment to launch it on June 1, Mr co-hosts Chung said.

A endorsement of the decision will be made by a FIFA executive meeting in formal Los Angeles he said.

Inter-bank TT from today

CHANDIGARH, March 13 (TNS) — The stage is set for the All-India Inter-Bank Table Tennis Tournament being jointly hosted by Dena Bank and Banks' Sports Board at the table tennis hall, Sector 23, here from March 14 to 18. This is the most prestigious tournament of the banking and financial institutions and the performance here is taken into account for promotions and increments to players. Fourteen teams in men's and four in women's sections will be vying for honours and the competition will be keen as all the banks have in their ranks state and national level players. In the men's section, Dena Bank, who have won the championship for 15 years in a row, will be well represented by Arjuna Awardee and eight times national champion Kamlesh Mehta who will be assisted by international Deepak Thukral and Sunil Babras. In the women's section international Arul Selvi, Arjuna awardee Indu Puri along with Rinku Acharya will spearhead the challenge. Mr Rajesh Chhabra, Principal Secretary, Punjab, will inaugurate the tournament at 10 a.m tomorrow while Mr M.R. Umarji, General Manager, Dena Bank will preside over the function. The prize distribution ceremony will be held on March 18, 1999 and the Minister for Health, Mr Manoranjan Kalia, will distribute the prizes. Addressing a press conference here last night, Mr Rusi Crawford, an official of Dena Bank and Mr R.B.L. Mathur, joint organising secretary, revealed that as many as 70 players in the men's section and 20 in the women's section would take part in the competitions. The teams who have confirmed their participation in the men's section are Dena Bank, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of Saurashtra, Canara Bank, Union Bank, Syndicate Bank, Reserve Bank of India, United Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, and Bank of India. Three slots have been kept vacant for late comers.

Nirmal Singh heads HABA

CHANDIGARH, March 13 (TNS) — Mr Nirmal Singh and Mr Ashwani Sharma have been unanimously elected president and hony secretary of the Haryana Amateur Boxing Associaition at a meeting held at War Heroes Memorial Stadium, Ambala Cant, yesterday. The other office-bearers are: Advisor — Mr R.R. Jowel; Sr. Vice-presidents — Mr Alok Mittal, Mr Vimarsh Kant Verma, and Mr Mohinder Singh; vice-presidents — Mr L.P. Tomar and Mr Subhash Sharma; technical directors — Capt. Hawa Singh and Capt Mehtab Singh; hony joint secretaries — Mr Surinder Singh Dangi, Mr Rajinder Tanwar, Mr Ramesh Verma, Mr Hari Pal Kajal and Mr Anil Kumar; hony treasurer — Mr Joginder Singh and Executive members — Mr Rajinder Singh, Mr K.S. Thakur, Mr Manoj Kumar, and Mr Vishnu Bhagwan. The association also decided to hold the selection trials of Haryana team for participation in the 45th Senior National Boxing Championship to be held at Vishakhapatanam from March 25 to 30 at War Heroes Memorial Stadium, Ambala Cantt., at 11 a.m. on March 18.

Rahul to lead Customs team

CHANDIGARH, March 13 (TNS) — Rahul Singh of Mumbai Customs will lead Customs and Central Excise in the National Hockey Championship in progress at Hyderabad, Mr Gurdishpal Singh, Sports Officer, Customs and Central Excise, announced here today. The other members of the team are: BC Poonacha, Charles D'Souza and Mahesh Kumar (Bangalore), Maslamani, Karuppiaha and Ibrahim (Chennai), Jarnail Singh (New Delhi), Rajinder (Calcutta), Ajaz Ahmad (Calcutta), Adolf, Rahul Singh, Errol and Suresh (Mumbai), Baljit Singh, Munish Sharma, Vijay Kumar and Tarlochan Singh (Chandigarh). Sukhvir Singh Grewal and Gurdishpal Singh will accompany the team as coach and manager, respectively.

EME, RCF move into semis

JALANDHAR, March 13 (FOSR) — Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Jalandhar and Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala from pool A and Punjab and Sindh Bank Academy and Wonderland XI from pool B ensured their berth in the semifinals of the fourth Major GPS Bindra Memorial Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at Dushehra Ground, Jalandhar Cantonment, today. RCF will clash with Punjab and Sind Bank Academy and Wonderland XI will play against EME in the semifinals. In pool A RCF topped the table with 8 points while with six points EME managed to get the semis berth. In pool B Wonderland XI and Punjab and Sind Bank Academy have earned five points each from their all three outings. Put on better goal average Wonderland got the first place in the pool. In the last encounter of pool A and league phase RCF defeated Thapar Hockey Academy, Sansarpur, by 2-0 from the very start, RCF played an attacking game. In the 7th minute inside left Walter Lakra made it 1-0 in favour of RCF. Walter Lakra increased the lead to 2-0 in the 35th minute. After the breather, Thapar Academy tried their best to reduce the margin but RCF defenders were cautious enough to keep their side away from the damage. RCF had an opportunity to further increase the lead in the dying minutes but centre half could not avail of the chance.

Coaching Centre, Riat XI in final

LUDHIANA, March 13 (FOSR) — Coaching Centre scored an eight-wicket victory over Shastri Club and Riat XI outplayed Double Decker Club by 44 runs to enter the final of the 6th Veera Devi Memorial Cricket Tournament at the SD Government College grounds here today. In the first semi-final, Riat XI, batting first, made 146 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. The main contributors were Jatin and Tony Lamba who scored 51 and 47 runs, respectively. In reply, Double Decker Club's innings ended at 102 in 14.3 overs Tony Lamba captured 4 wickets conceeding just 17 runs. Brief scores: Riat XI 146 for 5 (Jatin 51, Tony Lamba 47, Sanjeev Pandey 4 for 20. Double Decker 102 all out (Ghanshyam 22, Balwinder 29, Tony Lamba 4 for 17, Kuldeep 3 for 24). In the second semifinal, a fine all round performance by Ankur Kakkar (64 runs and 3 for 23) and an equally useful batting by Manav Dhuppar 65 not out helped Coaching Centre to crush Shastri Club by 8 wickets. Requiring 153 runs for an outright victory, Coaching Centre made 155 after losing only two wickets in 16.1 overs. Ankur and Manav gave a flying start to Coaching Centre as they scored 124 runs for the opening wicket. Brief scores: Shastri Club 152 for 9 (Joginder Bhandari 64 n.o Rajinder Pursharthy 3 for 26. Ankur Kakkar 3 for 23). Coaching Centre 155 for 2 (Ankur Kakkar 64, Manav Dhuppar 65 n.o. The final match will be played tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Golf meet

CHANDIGARH, March 13 (TNS) — For the first time, defence officers who are members of the Chandigarh Golf Club, are holding a golf tournament on March 16. The tournament is being jointly organised by the Chandigarh Golf Association and the Defence Services Brotherhood. About 150 officers of the three services will contest in two categories of 65 years below and above 65 years age each, over a stroke play competition for 18 and nine holes, respectively. The tournament will commence at 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. for the 18-holes and nine holes respectively. The prize distribution will be held at 4 p.m. followed by tea.