Dharmani cracks unbeaten ton
CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Pankaj Dharmani (106 not out) scored an unbeaten century as Punjab piled up a big total of 334 for the loss of four wickets against Services on the first day of their second Ranji Trophy league match being played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium today.

Indian boxers put up dismal show
TASHKENT, Oct 31 — Host Uzbekistan underlined their superiority as the regional superpower by claiming the overall honours winning seven gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championships which concluded here last night.

Randhawa retains Hero Honda Masters title
NEW DELHI, Oct 31— Maintaining a cool head over his shoulders, Jyoti Randhawa emerged out of occasional hiccups to retain the prestigious Hero Honda Masters at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course here today.

Delhi restrict Haryana
NEW DELHI, Oct 31 — Despite an unbeaten defiant knock by Jasvir Singh (81), Haryana could not put up a fighting total as Delhi bowlers, led by Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari, dismissed the visitors for 166 in the first innings on the opening day of the four-day cricket match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.

Haryana yoga meet results
CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Rakesh Jakhar of Faridabad excelled in subjunior (boy) section, pushing back defending champion, Ramesh of Faridabad in the 15th Haryana State Yoga Championship being conducted at Mata Mansa Devi Complex, near here. Dinesh of Jhajhar finished third.

Five-wicket haul by Dale
BRISBANE, Oct 31 — Queensland seam bowler Adam Dale grabbed five wickets on the second day of the four-day match against Pakistan today.

Indians finish fourth
CHANDIGARH, Oct 31— India bagged fourth position in the overall ranking by securing 10 points in the eighth Asian Roller Skating Championships which concluded at Shanghai (China) on October 23.

Haryana in sight of victory
ROHTAK, Oct 31 — Haryana were in sight of an outright victory against Jammu and Kashmir at the close of second day’s play in the Cooch Behar cricket match at Vishwakarma Stadium here today.

Susi, Budikasuma retire
JAKARTA, Oct 31 — Indonesian badminton Olympic medallists Susi Susanti and Alan Budikasuma have officially withdrawn from the sport, reports said today.

Police games conclude J&K all out for 249

Uphill task for New Zealand

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31 (PTI) — Nathan Astle struck a stubborn, unbeaten 68 as New Zealand were battling hard to avoid a follow on by reaching 211 for six wickets in their first innings despite losing three quick wickets in the morning on the third day of the third and final cricket Test against India here today.

The Kiwis, all victory hopes to square the series dashed by India’s massive first innings total of 583 for seven declared yesterday, waged a grim battle against the Indian attack throughout the day to finish 173 runs adrift of avoiding the follow on at stumps at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

The unbeaten batsmen at close were Astle, who was batting confidently after a 287 minute vigil (68 - 6x4, 1x6), and all-rounder Chris Cairns (18 batting), who had held out for 106 minutes.

The pair frustrated the Indian attack as the tourists were 372 runs behind the Indian total with two days left.

Leg spinner Anil Kumble, with 14 wickets to his credit in the first two Tests that enabled India go 1-0 up in the series, once again was the dangerman as he picked up three of the five wickets that fell today and had a haul of 4 for 55.

Kumble, the spin ace in the Indian pack sent back both overnight not out batsmen Gary Stead (17) and nightwatchman Daniel Vettori (3) in the space of nine balls in the sixth and eighth overs of the day after the Kiwis resumed at their overnight score of 18 for one.

The visitors made a slight recovery from 33 for three to 65 when paceman Venkatesh Prasad struck in his second spell of the morning by sending back Craig Spearman (17) close to the lunch break, taken at 73 for four.

But the Kiwis showed lot of resilience as they stuck to their task of defending throughout the last two session mainly owing to diligent batting from their most consistent batsman, skipper Stephen Fleming (48 - 8x4) and Astle, who put on 70 runs for the fifth wicket.

Fleming, after notching up his third 40-plus score of the series with 73 at Mohali in the first Test as his best effort so far from his ranks, fell edging pace spearhead Javagal Srinath behind the wicket, a quarter of an hour before tea.

The Kiwis, 145 for five at tea also lost Adam Parore who was trapped leg before by Kumble for his fourth wicket of the innings in the first hour of the last session.

But Astle, who survived a sharp chance at silly point off Harbhajan Singh when Ajay Jadeja could not latch on to the low catch, and Chris Cairns showed tremendous determination to deny the Indians any more success till close, after surviving the second new ball taken with seven overs left for end of play.

But the task of saving the match looked very difficult on a pitch where the odd ball has started to keep low.

The day began very productively when Kumble drew first blood in the sixth over by having Vettori caught bat-pad at short leg by Vijay Bharadwaj, substituting for Rahul Dravid.

Kumble then induced opener Stead — who looked confident playing his first match after arriving as replacement for the injured Craig McMillan — into unwisely playing against the turn. The leading edge was well taken with a forward dive by Saurav Ganguly at short extra cover and the Kiwis slid from 29 for one to 33 for three in just 15 balls.

India (1st innings) 583 for 7 decl.

New Zealand (1st innings) G. Stead c Ganguly b Kumble 17M. Horne c Dravid b Kumble 2D. Vettori c sub (Bhardwaj) b Kumble 3C. Spearman c Ramesh b Prasad 17S. Fleming c MSK Prasad b Srinath 48N. Astle batting 68A. Parore lbw b Kumble 11C. Cairns batting 18

Extras (b-8, lb-9, nb-10) 27

Total (for 6 wkts, 101 overs) 211

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-29, 3-33, 4-65, 5-135, 6-166.Bowling: Srinath 22-7-42-1, Prasad 20-7-39-1, Kumble 33-15-55-4, Harbhajan Singh 24-7-56-0, Ganguly 2-1-2-0.

SA build lead of 225 runs

BLOEMFONTEIN (South Africa), Oct 31 (Reuters) — A half century last-wicket stand boosted South Africa’s first innings lead to 225 in the first of two home and away Tests against Zimbabwe today.

South Africa, resuming at 253 for four, were bowled out for 417 20 minutes before tea on the third day. Tea was taken before the start of Zimbabwe’s second innings.

Boucher and Adams made Zimbabwe’s task even more difficult by putting on 54 off 107 balls for the last wicket.

Zimbabwe: (first innings) 192 (G.Whittall 85 S.Pollock 5-39)

South Africa: (first innings) (overnight 253-9)

B. Dippenaar lbw b Olonga 20

A. Bacher c Goodwin b Mbangwa 42

J. Kallis lbw b Whittall 64

D. Cullinan c G. Flower b Whittall 27

H.Cronje c A. Flower b Mbangwa 64

J. Rhodes lbw b Olonga 70

S. Pollock c Campbell b Strang 8

L. Klusener lbw b G.Flower 19

M. Boucher not out 55

A. Donald b Olonga 2

P. Adams c Gripper b Olonga 20

Extras (lb-3 w-1 nb-22) 26

Total 417

Fall of wickets: 1-43 2-72 3-128 4-218 5-266 6-278 7-310 8-342 9-363.

Bowling: Olonga 33.1-7-93-4 (nb-7), Strang 27-6-99-1 (nb-9), Johnson 2-0-8-0, G. Flower 23-5-44-1, Mbangwa 35-9-75-2 (nb-1), Whittall 30-9-95-2 (w-1 nb-5).

Dharmani cracks unbeaten ton
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Pankaj Dharmani (106 not out) scored an unbeaten century as Punjab piled up a big total of 334 for the loss of four wickets against Services on the first day of their second Ranji Trophy league match being played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium today.

Vikram Rathore once again proved lucky with the coin for Punjab and opted to bat on a batsmen friendly wicket. Rathore and Sodhi opened the innings and gave their team a solid start as both added 66 runs before Rathore (47) was caught at first slip by Thapa off Javed while playing a casual shot outside the off stump. His knock of 52 balls was studded with six boundaries and one six. Reetinder Sodhi (32) was the next to depart at the team total of 91 in 19.3 overs. He unnecessarily jumped out to left-arm spinner Pankaj Maitrey and was stumped by Sarabjeet Singh.

Pankaj Dharmani played a gallant knock of 106 not out as he hit the Services bowlers to all part of the ground. He was lucky to be dropped by Thapa at second slip off Syed Javed at his individual score of zero. After this he never looked back. He smashed 12 power-packed hits to the fence and a mighty six at long on. Amit Sharma (35) and Dharmani added 45 runs in 67 balls for the third wicket. Amit was clean bowled by right-arm leg spinner Kulkarni as he missed a juicy drive.

At the fall of the third wicket seasoned campaigner Dinesh Mongia joined Dharmani. Mongia was looking very confident from the first ball he faced. He scored a splendid 79 runs which included six boundaries and two sixes. This pair added 155 runs for the fourth wicket. Playing a two minded drive Mongia gave a simple caught to Thapa at slips of Maitrey.

Sanjay Kumar (22 not out) and Dharmani have contributed 43 runs so far for the unbeaten fifth wicket.

Pankaj Maitrey was the pick of the bowlers today as he captured two wickets giving away just 79 runs during his marathon bowling spell of 32 overs. Sachin Kulkarni and Syed Javed shared a wicket each giving away 86 and 67 runs, respectively.

Scoreboard

Punjab (Ist innings)

Vikram Rathore c Thapa b Javed 47, Reetinder Sodhi st Sarabjeet b Maitrey 32, Amit Sharma b Kulkarni 35, Pankaj Dharmani batting 106, Dinesh Mongia c Thapa b Maitrey 79, Sanjay Kumar batting 22, Extras 13, Total (for 4 wickets, 90 overs) 334.

Fall of wkts: 1-66, 2-91, 3-136, 4-291.

Bowling: M V Rao 13-4- 57-0, Syed Javed 16-0-67-1, Pankaj Maitrey 32-3-79-2, Sachin Kulkarni 19-1-86-1, C.D.Thomson 10-0-42-0.

Indian boxers put up dismal show

TASHKENT, Oct 31 (PTI) — Host Uzbekistan underlined their superiority as the regional superpower by claiming the overall honours winning seven gold medals at the Asian Boxing Championships which concluded here last night.

Neighbours Kazakhstan finished runners-up managing two gold medals while Thailand followed with one gold and a few silver medals as the curtains fell on the prestigious event on the boxing calendar of Asia.

These championships, the first qualifying tournament for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, however, turned out to be dismal one for India as they had to settle with just one bronze medal.

Narendra Rana lost his 60 kg lightweight semifinal bout, a close 22-23 decision after he tied 3-3 with Filipino Larry Semillano. Further, Indian chances were crippled with several decisions going against their boxers.

The Uzbek boxers were in remarkable form on the final day winning all the seven finals they featured in, while Kazakhstan won two gold medals.

Thailand, Korea and China took home one gold each while other former Soviet Bloc republic Kyrgystan were unable to take the gold and had to be content with three silver medals.

In front of a capacity crowd of over 5,000 taking up every available seat in the arena, the finals began on an exciting note.

In the lightflyweight division, Dilshod Yuldashev won for the hosts their first gold when he defeated Asian Games champion Suban Punnon of Thailand 14-9 in a highly entertaining contest.

Backed by a highly vociferous crowd, the Uzbek kept the Thai pinned on the backfoot virtually throughout the contest, using his superior range to pull-off the win.

In the 51 kg flyweight category Kim Tae Kue of Korea, who had beaten world champion Bultat Jumadilov in the semifinals, defeated Arlan Lerio of the Philippines.

In the only encounter not involving a boxer from the former Soviet Bloc, the Korean pugilist confidently subdued Leiro 7-5. The bout was won by the Korean primarily due to his superior speed around the ring and his ability to score with his combinations.

The hosts landed their second gold in the 54 kg bantamweight category. Alisher Rahimov continued his awesome form in the tournament to defeat Talaibek Kadyaleev of Kyrgystan 12-2.

Tulkunbay Turgunov of Uzbekistan won the featherweight category by defeating Bekzat Sattarkhanov of Kazakhstan.

Turgunov, who is the Asian Games silver medallist overcame a spirited Bekzat 8-1 in a contest which was much closer than the final scoreline suggested.

Kazakhstan’s first gold came in the 60 kg lightweight category. In an extremely close encounter Nurzhan Karimzanov overcame Semillano on the basis of individual points of the judges after the bout had finished at 6-6.

Randhawa retains Hero Honda Masters title
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Oct 31— Maintaining a cool head over his shoulders, Jyoti Randhawa emerged out of occasional hiccups to retain the prestigious Hero Honda Masters at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC) course here today.

Motivated by his ailing Dad, who warmly embraced and hugged him for his stupendous victory, and pinning his faith in concentration and patience, Randhawa played in an adventurous vein to fire two under 70 (aggregate 11 under). The total of 27th was one inside Sammy Daniels’ 278. While Randhawa was presented a cheque for 32,300 dollars, Daniels earned 22,260 dollars. Ashok Kumar, an amateur, was presented Hero Honda motor-cycle for his outstanding performance. His total score was 289, one over par total.

It was a fight between Randhawa and Daniels as the final round started. They were placed in two different concluding groups. Randhawa, 27, was following Daniels, 22. Both were involved in a see-saw battle in which fortunes did swing to and fro initially. But Randhawa wanted to play his strokes in a spirit of devil-may-care. The turning point came about on the 17th. Daniels, parred instead of achieving a birdie and this swung the final in favour of Randhawa who quietly birdied the hole.

Randhawa forfeited his three-stroke lead as he bogeyed on 3rd and fifth while Daniels, playing unblemished game, birdied the first two to forge ahead by a solitary stroke. Randhawa had birdies on the 7th and the 8th and so did Daniels on the 8th and the 9th. To Randhawa’s 36 in first nine, Daniels was out in 32 keeping the one-stroke lead mid-way through.

Daniels advanced to two strokes lead on the 10th. But he bogeyed the next and the lead was reduced to one. The one-stroke lead remained until the 16th. Daniels now parred the 17th while Randhawa birdied it for two to stand a level.

In the final hole, Daniels again parred it, while Randhawa birdied it with a superb putting. This gave Randhawa a one-stroke win amidst deafening cheers. He raised his club in jubilation. Enthusiastic spectators rushed to applaud him while his father, who was suffering from flu, briskly walked across to tell him: “Well done, son. You deserved to win it”.

Randhawa said that he was hitting the ball well and he was pretty sanguine that he would win the title if he played with his rapt concentration. He attributed his bogeying on the 3rd to lack of concentration. “I don’t know what happened to me as I started wandering in my thoughts”, said Randhawa, adding: “I struck my true form in the back nine and that made a vital difference.

According to Randhawa, his last year’s win was because of luck befriending him then. “I feel I have put in a lot of sincere work since then and sharpened my mental make-up through yoga and rigorous work-out”, added Randhawa who, even after winning the title, was extremely modest and unassuming.

Daniels did not brief the press but he seemed unhappy at crowd behaviour. Referees and others who saw him play, said that there was no crowd disturbance at all at any hole and he lost his concentration because of his own wavering temperament.

There was time when Daniels raised visions of winning the title. Had he bagged it, he would have been the youngest to have claimed the title at the age of 22.

The best card of the day and the championship came from Jeev Milkha Singh. He fired six under 66. This was a great going. In the fantastic round, he had only one bogey, while he had as many as seven birdies. They were on 6th, 8th, 9th, 13th,14th,16th and 18th.

Jeev was unlucky to have missed an eagle on the 14th. He reached the green with a driver and 5-iron. He missed a 12-footer birdie put on the 5th. He on the 6th, he drained a 18-footer following a 2-iron off the tee and an 8-iron approach shot.

Expressing tremendous satisfaction at his final day’s play, he said that he would have been fared much better if he had not had a problem with his club on the first day and a two-stroke penalty that he suffered on the second day.

Mr Pawan Kant Munjal, the ‘brain’ behind this competition, said that he was fully satisfied with ‘Jeev’s doings and he was extending his sponsorship contract for another two years. Jeev expressed his happiness at the extension and said that Hero Honda’s sponsorship had helped a lot in progressing immensely.

Patna’s Mohammed Islam scored a first hole-in-one on the 183-yard par-3 fifth hole. The 35-year-old golfer pocketed $ 3000 for his stupendous feet.

Leading Scores: 277-Jyoti Randhawa (69,69,69,70), 278 Sammy Daniels (RSA) (70,69,71,68), 283 Rafael Ponce (Ecu) (69,70,76,68); Chris Williams (Eng) (68,70,74,71), 284 Arjun Atwal (70,72,68,74), 285 Mukesh Kumar (69,72,74,70); Arjun Singh (71,69,72,73); Jeev Milkha Singh (74,76,69,66).

Young Harmeet Kahlon finished 11th along other five, while amateur Ashok Kumar was clubbed with Basad Ali, Feroz Ali and Amritinder Singh.

Delhi restrict Haryana

NEW DELHI, Oct 31 (UNI) — Despite an unbeaten defiant knock by Jasvir Singh (81), Haryana could not put up a fighting total as Delhi bowlers, led by Ashish Nehra and Amit Bhandari, dismissed the visitors for 166 in the first innings on the opening day of the four-day cricket match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here today.

At close, Delhi were 17 for no loss with Devender Sharma (9) and Ashu Dani (6) remaining unbeaten.

Earlier, Haryana won the toss and elected to bat, but they lost four quick wickets in the space of 38 runs.

Ashish Nehra struck the first wicket for his team when he rattled the stumps of skipper Parinder Sharma (3) in a total of eight. Sixteen runs later, Amit Bhandari claimed Jitender(12) in the same fashion.

Though Jasvir Singh tried to undo further damage with his dogged approach, Amarjeet Kaypee (8) and Rajesh Puri (0) could not help the cause with purpose and both fell to Nehra with the team score 38.

However, Jasvir and Sanjay Dalal added 31 runs for the fifth wicket before Dalal (18) was caught by wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya off Nikhil Chopra.

New batsman Ajay Ratra and Jasvir kept the scoreboard ticking with frequent strokes.

Scoreboard

Haryana (first innings): Jitender Singh b Bhandari 12, Parinder Sharma b Nehra 3, Jasbir Singh not out 81, Amarjeet Kapyee b Nehra 8, Rajesh Puri c Malhotra b Nehra 0, Sanjay Dalal c Dahiya b Chopra 18, Ajay Ratra c Malhotra b Sharma 25, Vineet Jain lbw Sharma 1, Feroz Ghyas c Shewag b Sanghvi 0, Sanjay Jakhar b Bhandari 8, Surender Kataria b Bhandari 5. Extras: 5

Total 166 all out in 75 overs

Fall of wickets: 1/8, 2/24, 3/38, 4/38, 5/69, 6/119, 7/123, 8/124, 9/160, 10/166

Bowling: Amit Bhandari 21-9-39-3, Ashish Nehra 16-4-50-3, Ashish Malhotra 1-0-6-0, Rahul Sanghvi 17-4-29-1, Nikhil Chopra 11-2-26-1, Ajay Sharma 9-4-15-2.

Delhi (first innings): Devender Sharma batting 9, Ashu Dani batting 6. Extras: 2 Total: 17 for no loss in 13 overs

Bowling: Vineet Jain 4-3-4-0, Feroz Ghyas 4-3-3-0, Surender Kataria 3-0-7-0, Sanjay Jakhar 2-1-3-0.

Lele-Kapil verbal duel continues

AHMEDABAD, Oct 31 (UNI) — Continuing a spell of verbal duel Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary Jaywant Lele yesterday claimed team coach Kapil Dev had not spoken to BCCI President A.C. Muthiah about calling Ajit Agarkar for the nets.

Reacting to Kapil’s remark that he sought the BCCI President’s permission before Agarkar was summoned for the net practice, Lele claimed at a press conference that Muthiah had refuted this.

Kapil on Friday said he summoned Agarkar since he wanted more bowlers at nets. “I had spoken to Muthiah and then called Agarkar to bowl here, but I do not know why such statements have been made in the media,’’ he said.

The former India skipper was responding to Lele questioning Kapil’s authority to call Agarkar to Ahmedabad without the board’s permission.

Haryana yoga meet results
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 — Rakesh Jakhar of Faridabad excelled in subjunior (boy) section, pushing back defending champion, Ramesh of Faridabad in the 15th Haryana State Yoga Championship being conducted at Mata Mansa Devi Complex, near here. Dinesh of Jhajhar finished third.

In the girls’ subjunior group, Ruchi Godara of Fatehabad clinched the title scoring 38.5 points while Neha of Yamunanagar finished second with 38 points. Nisha of Narnaul got the third place with 37.5 points.

In the girls’ junior age group, Yashoda of Jind emerged on top with 44.5 points, Sarika of Bhiwani and Meenu of Jind (both 38.5 points) came second while Manu of Panipat finished third.

Results: Subjunior (8-12 yrs) Girls — Ruchi Godara (38.5) Fatehabad 1, Neha (38.0) Yamunanagar 2. Nisha (37.5) Narnaul 3. Sub-junior (8-14 yrs) Boys: Rakesh Jakhar (40) Faridabad 1, Ramesh (39.5) Faridabad 2, Dinesh (39) Jhajhar 3. Junior (12-18 yrs) Girls: Yashoda (44.5) Jind 1, Sarika (38.5) Bhiwani and Meenu (38.5) Jind 2, Manu (34.5) Panipat 3.

Women (25-40 yrs) — Shalini (40) Yamunanagar 1, Inderjeet Kaur (37) Yamunanagar 2, Sulochana Batra (36.5) Kurukshetra 3, Men (30-40 yrs) — Ramjeet (41.5) Faridabad 1, Rajnath (36) Bhiwani 2, Ravinder (30.5) Jind 3.

Five-wicket haul by Dale

BRISBANE, Oct 31 (Reuters) Queensland seam bowler Adam Dale grabbed five wickets on the second day of the four-day match against Pakistan today.

Dale staked his Test claims by capturing five for 58 as Pakistan, who resumed at 50 for two, made 276 in their first innings in reply to the home side’s 274.

Queensland were 0-0 in their second innings when bad light forced an early close, paceman Shoaib Akhtar having bowled just three balls.

Dale, who took three wickets in his final 12 deliveries completed the ninth five-wicket haul of his career and his fifth for Queensland.

He trapped Yousuf Youhana lbw for nought and had Inzamam-ul-Haq (37) caught at slip. His other victims were Saeed Anwar (29), Mushtaq Ahmed, bowled for nought, and Shoaib Akhtar who was brilliantly caught at slip by Matthew Hayden, also for nought.

Despite Dale’s heroics Pakistan mounted a fine recovery from 95 for five midway through the first session, thanks to a 130-run partnership off 187 balls between Azhar Mahmood (83) and wicketkeeper Moin Khan (70).

They eventually fell to successive deliveries.

Azhar, who blasted 11 fours and two sixes in his 150-ball stay, was first to go when he edged Andy Bichel to wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe.

SCOREBOARD

Queensland: (Ist innings) 274

Pakistan: (Ist innings) (overnight 50-2). Ijiz c Love b Muller 3, Wasim c Seccombe b Bichel 0, Razzaq st Seccombe b Anderson 30, Inzamam c Law b Dale 37, Youhana lbw Dale 0, Azhar c Seccombe b Bichel 83, Moin c Dale b Symonds 70, Saeed c Seccombe b Dale 29, Akram not out 21, Mushtaq b Dale 0, Shoaib c Hayden b Dale 0.

Extras: (b-1 nb-2) 3

Total: (all out, 97.1 overs) 276

Fall of wickets: 1-2 2-4 3-60 4-60 5-95 6-225 7-225 8-263 9-264.

Bowling: Bichel 25-7-52-2 (nb-1), Muller 22-7-84-1, Dale 29.1-10-58-5, Anderson 13-4-56-1 (nb-1), Symonds 7-2-21-1, Law 1-0-4-0.

Note: Scorers amended overnight score for Ijaz Ahmed to three.

Queensland: (2nd innings): Maher not out 0, Hayden not out 0.

Total: (no wicket, 0.3 overs) 0

Bowling: Shoaib 0.3-0-0-0.

Indians finish fourth
By Our Sports reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 31— India bagged fourth position in the overall ranking by securing 10 points in the eighth Asian Roller Skating Championships which concluded at Shanghai (China) on October 23.

In all, 12 teams from Asia took part. These included Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Korea, DPR Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia and New Zealand. The first place went to hosts China , second position to Chinese Taipei and third to Japan.

In artistic skating, Nikhil Parikh and the pair of Mihir Jhaveri and Natasha Shah clinched bronze medals and Aarohi Desai won the fourth position. India won the third position in this event.

Indian women’s roller hockey players made a repeat of the last year’s performance when they bagged the bronze with top honours going to Japan followed by China. Meenakshi Kohli, a student of Hansraj Public school,sector 6, Panchkula was awarded the best prize as the woman roller hockey player with ‘best fighting spirit’. The boys team in hockey got the fourth place. In speed skating, India finished fifth.

McEnroe enjoys veterans’ tennis

TOKYO, Oct 31 (AFP) — New US Davis Cup team captain John McEnroe proved he was still a star player at the $ 150,000 Champions Tennis Tournament here and said he would continue to play both roles in future.

“I like both, but the Davis Cup is obviously more important, but both are something that I’d like to continue,” said McEnroe after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mansour Bahrami of Iran in the first round.

“I just started with the Davis Cup, but I’m not going to give up the seniors’ tour, because I love the competition and I’d like to keep myself in shape. In my opinion, both can be good for tennis,” he added.

Haryana in sight of victory
From Our Sports Reporter

ROHTAK, Oct 31 — Haryana were in sight of an outright victory against Jammu and Kashmir at the close of second day’s play in the Cooch Behar cricket match at Vishwakarma Stadium here today.

Resuming their innings at an overnight score of 120 for one, Haryana raised their total to 312 for 4 in 108 overs before declaring the innings closed.

The highlight of the Haryana innings was an unbeaten century by Ishan Ganda. He scored 101 in 242 minutes after facing 170 balls.

In reply Jammu and Kashmir started their second innings on a disastrous note. They lost Vasu Jasrotia for 4 and Hardeep Singh for a duck. At close, Jammu and Kashmir were struggling at 53 for 6 in 25 overs.

SCOREBOARD

Jammu and Kashmir (first innings): 114

Haryana (first innings):

Praveen Sharma lbw Rajinder Saini 8, Satish Ohlan c Anoop Sharma b Inderjeet Singh 64, Maninder Bola c Hardeep Singh b Maqsood Khan 53, Anuj Sharma st Hardeep Singh b Kunal Tikoo 37, Ishan Ganda not out 101, Sumeet Sharma not out 39.

Extras (B-2, LB-6, W-1, N-1): 10

Total: (for 4 wickets in 108 overs): 312

FOW: 1-13, 2-131, 3-133, 4-250

Bowling:

Rajinder Saini 9-3-36-1, Maqsood Khan 19-6-45-1, Inderjeet Singh 39-13-72-1, Kunal Tikoo 14-1-69-1, Anoop Sharma 22-5-58, 0, Ankit Khajuria 4-0-19-0, Charanjeet Singh 1-0-5-0.

J&K (2nd innings):

Vasu Jasrotia c Praveen Sharma b Rahul Rathee 4, Ankit Khajuria batting 27, Hardeep Singh lbw Sandeep Mor 0, Inderjeet Singh b Sandeep Mor 1, Charanjeet Singh c Someet Sharma b Sandeep Mor 6, Rajinder Saini lbw Ishan Ganda 0, Anoop Sharma run out 0, Muzaffar Iqbal batting 0

Extras (B-8, LB-3, NB-4): 15

Total: For 6 wickets in 25 overs: 53

FOW: 1-7, 2-12, 3-23, 4-31, 5-36, 6-52.

Bowling:

Sandeep Mor 12-4-22-3, Rahul Rathee 5-3-6-1, Deepak Sain 3-0-4-0, Ishan Ganda 4-1-9-1, Vivek Gupta 1-0-1-0.

Police games conclude
From Our Sports Reporter

JALANDHAR,Oct 31 — Hosts Punjab Police proved their supremacy in the 48th All-India Police Games which concluded at Punjab Armed Police headquarters in Jalandhar cantonment near here yesterday. They won boxing, weightlifting, judo, wrestling and gymnastic titles.

Punjab Police’s gymnasts secured 593.55 points to bag the top position in the team event. Border Security Force and CRPF with 574.35 and 543.40 were second and third, respectively.

In boxing Punjab Police’s Pawan Kumar was declared the best boxer and M.Suranjit Singh of Assam Riefles the best loser of the championship. Punjab Police won the overall boxing championship by earning 56 points. Assam Riefles and CISF finished second and third with 31 and 18 points.

In judo Pankaj Sharma, Yashpal Solanki, Rakesh Kumar and Kapil Kaushal won gold medals in 66 kg, 81 kg, 73 kg and open weight categories, respectively. Punjab Police won the team championship by securing 24 points. BSF were second and the CISF third with 15 and eight points, respectively.

Pankaj Sharma of Punjab Police was declared the best judoka of the championship.

J&K all out for 249
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Oct 31 — In the four-day Ranji match between Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir played at the local sports stadium, J&K were 249 all out at close today.

J&K won the toss and elected to bat. J&K were comfortably placed at one stage when were 115 for one but as soon as Rajat Bali, who scored 80 runs, was out no other batsman stood on the wicket and they were all out for 249 in 88 overs. Jaswant Rai of Himachal got 3 wickets.

SCORE: J&K: Rajesh Gill bowled Parveen 2, Rajat Bali b Nishal Gaur 80, Kamaljeet Singh c Arun b Panta 38, Ashvani Gupta run out 25, Amit Pal Singh c Yashvinder b Shakti 0, Sanjay Sharma not out 19, Dhruv Mahajan b Nishchal 22, Vijay Sharma c Yashvinder b Jaswant 28, Pardeep Bali c Yashvinder b Jaswant 11, Raj Kumar b Shakti Singh 0, Surinder Singh lbw Jaswant 0, Extras-24, Total-249.

BOWLING: Shakti Singh 27-5-42-2. Parveen 7-0-25-1. Rahul Panta 14-1-48-1. Jaswant 22-4-60-3. Nischal Gaur 18-4-42-2.

Fall of wickets: 1/2, 2/119, 3/144, 4/146, 5/185, 6/187, 7/224, 8/241, 9/248, 10/249.

Susi, Budikasuma retire

JAKARTA, Oct 31 (AFP) — Indonesian badminton Olympic medallists Susi Susanti and Alan Budikasuma have officially withdrawn from the sport, reports said today.

The married couple announced their retirement after a farewell match against fellow former stars Hermawan Susanto and Sarwendah Kusumawardhani, also a married couple, at the Senayan Indoor Stadium here yesterday, the Media Indonesia newspaper said.

“I will devote myself to taking care of my family,” Susanti, 29, said after the tied 1-1 match.

Hundreds of fans mobbed Susanti and Budikasuma for autographs and photographs during the emotional farewell party.

“Susi is a phenomenon. It’s hard to find a player as outstanding as her,” Ciputra, a businessman, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Susanti’s gold medal trove includes a Barcelona Olympic gold and four from the prestigious All England tournament, three of them clinched consecutively in 1990, 1991, and 1992 and the last one in 1994.

She also clinched the top titles in the World Championship, the Grand Prix and the World Cup in 1993, and retained the latter the following year.

Chandigarh cops down Muslim FC

NABHA (PATIALA) Oct 31 (FOSR) — Chandigarh Police managed to down Muslim FC, Malerkotla, 3-1 via the tie breaker in the All-India Gurdarshan Memorial Football Championships at the Ripudaman College here today.

Deep defender Satnam Singh of Chandigarh Police was a pillar of strength. In the attack, Kuldeep stood out even though some of his rasping shots hit the horizontal. Initially Muslim FC showed promise with defender Mehtab Singh repulsing most of the rival attacks. But they failed to initiate purposeful moves. In the tie-breaker, Ajay, Satnam and Kuldeep found the net for the cops, while only Mehtab of the Malerkotla outfit found the target. In the second match, Nivia Club, Jalandhar, managed to beat Lions Club, Ambala, through the tie breaker. The match was bereft thrills with most part of it being confined to the midfield. Interestingly, Nivia Club had no bench strength as they found themselves playing with just 10 players after their medio Lally was injured midway in the second half. After playing a goalless draw Vinod, Manoj and Kirpal found the netting for Nivia Club while for Lions Club only forward Rajesh managed to slot the ball home.

Sunil to lead

BATALA, Oct 31 (FOC) — Sunil Kumar of Qadian will lead Gurdaspur in the Punjab state inter-district (under 16) Cricket Championship for the M.L. Markan Trophy to be held at Ludhiana from November 3. They play against Ludhiana in the first match.

Other members of the team are: Muneet Chan Preet Singh, Kanwaljit Singh, Manpreet Singh, Samer Sharma, Karan Singh Maan, Abhinav Kumar, Rakshit Sharma, Shoib A. Asif, Jitender Singh, Tuskar Joshi and Nandan Jeet Singh.

Ferozepore Division hockey champs

FEROZEPORE, Oct 30 (FOC) — Ferozepore Division beat Lucknow Division to win the Northern Railway Inter-Divisional Hockey Championship which concluded at the Railway Stadium here yesterday.

A superb field goal scored in the 34th minute of the first half by Pershan Singh of Ferozepore Division sealed the fate of Lucknow Division, who gave a tough fight right from the beginning.

Lucknow Division got five penalty corners and Ferozepore Division earned three.

Mr S.A.A. Zaidi, Additional General Manager, Northern Railway, New Delhi, gave a cash prize of Rs 2,500 and Rs 2,000 to the winners and runners-up.

Badminton meet from Nov 18

CHANDIGARH, Oct 31 (BOSR) — The Vth Tara Chand Memorial Cash Prize North Zone Invitational Badminton Championship will be conducted from November 18 to 21 at Community Centre, Sector 7, Panchkula in which players from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, HP, Delhi and Chandigarh would take part.

According to Mr T.R. Tuli, secretary of the District Badminton Association, Panchkula, the events to be hosted include, under 10, under 13, under 16, under 19, seniors and masters (above 35 years) in both male and female categories.

It has been decided to give direct entries in the main draws for the finalists in each category of the respective states. The qualifying rounds will be held on November 17 and 18 for other players. Entries close on November 14 with the Secretary, 483, Sector 8, Panchkula

Kho-kho title for Punjabi varsity

PATIALA, Oct 31 (FOSR) — Punjabi University annexed the title in the North-East Zone Inter-University Kho-Kho Championships which concluded here today.

GND University, Amritsar, were placed second while the third spot was clinched by Panjab University, Chandigarh. Delhi University had to rest content with the fourth spot. Soma Devi of the host university was declared the best allround player.

BSF, CRPF in semis

JALANDHAR, Oct 31 (FOSR) — Border Security Force, Jalandhar, and Central Reserve Police Force entered the semifinals of the third All-India Dr Sadhu Singh Hamdard Memorial Hockey Tournament being played at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium here today.

In the first quarterfinal, BSF defeated Corps of Signals, Jalandhar, 1-0. In the second quarterfinal CRPF beat RCF 6-4.