Monday, October 4, 1999
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S P O R T | Monday, October 4, 1999 |
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India’s hopes vanish in smoke NAIROBI, Oct 3 — India once again lived up to their tag as poor chasers as lost their way in the late stages to crash to a 26-run defeat against South Africa in the final of the LG Cup quadrangular one-day cricket tournament today. |
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 NAIROBI : South African captain Hanjie Cronje, is clean bowled by Indian bowler Prasad for 41, during India vs South Africa final match in Nairobi on Sunday, in the four-nations one day LG Cup final in Nairobi, Kenya. — AP/PTI
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Gold continues to elude Indians Kotak
frustrates Karnataka Nitin
Kirtane to clash with Kannan Azharuddin
sends fitness certificate Lanka
slump to 61 for 4 Air-India, BSF in summit clash Chang
hopes to turn the tide |
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India’s hopes vanish in smoke NAIROBI, Oct 3 (PTI) — India once again lived up to their tag as poor chasers as lost their way in the late stages to crash to a 26-run defeat against South Africa in the final of the LG Cup quadrangular one-day cricket tournament today. Chasing 236 for victory on an easy paced track, young wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad top-scored with 63 braving cramps but both Rahul Dravid (30) and skipper Ajay Jadeja (30) failed to stay put as India lost wickets steadily in the later stages to be bowled out for 209 in 47.3 overs at the Nairobi Gymkhana. Indian chances looked quite high after they prised out early wickets once Jadeja had put in the opposition. But opener Herschelle Gibbs struck a brilliant, anchoring 84 — he was named man of the match — and a late charge that followed saw South Africa post a fighting 235 for nine wickets in 50 overs. Rahul Dravid (30 from 65 balls) and wicketkeeper Prasad (63 off 90 balls) added 65 runs for the third wicket, and Jadeja took up the challenge in his run-a-ball effort, but the lower order failed to complete the job under pressure against the disciplined South African attack backed by superb fielding, Jonty Rhodes leading the way as usual. The last six wickets fell for 46 runs as off-spinner Derek Crookes (3/4), pacemen Shaun Pollock (2/28) and Lance Klusener (2/33) inflicted most of the damage to enable South Africa avenge their loss in the league tie and send Indian hopes for their second successive one-day tournament title up in smoke. The asking rate began to mount as Dravid took his time to get going and also tried to shelter Prasad, who was intent on playing his shots after being pushed up the order. India held a game chance of pulling off a win after reaching 198 for seven wickets in 45 overs as Prasad, who retired hurt at his score of 56, returned to the crease with Dravid as the runner. But the panic that usually stands out in Indian batsmen whenever they are involved in a close chase once against undid them as Venkatesh Prasad forced Dravid into a needless second run in the 47th over, leaving Dravid well short and Prasad run out to seal India’s already fading chances. Prasad, who struck his maiden one-day fifty to display his value as a batsman, joined Jadeja to step up the run-rate to over five an over midway through the innings as India looked to be in a good chance to pull off a fine win to clinch the trophy in the absence of a few stars including star batsman and regular skipper Sachin Tendulkar. The Andhra wicketkeeper reached his maiden one-day fifty in the 31st over off 72 balls (6x4’s), but India suffered a blow when he was forced to retire hurt due to cramps in his right leg after batting with Dravid as runner for a while. With Robin Singh, Jadeja completed the 50-run stand for the third wicket. But the Indian skipper fell to a trap set by Cronje as he gave a simple catch to substitute Dippenaar at widish short midwicket, posted for the pull shot, off Pollock. Singh and Vijay Bharadwaj, who followed his three wicket haul by making a racy 24 off only 19 balls, put on 22 runs from 14 deliveries but Singh’s indiscreet attempt to sweep crookes saw his stumps disturbed and effectively crippled the innings. SCOREBOARD India |
Jadeja blames ‘poor opening’ NAIROBI, Oct 3 (PTI) — Indian skipper Ajay Jadeja put blame on ‘poor opening start and some extra runs conceded in the death overs of the South African innings’ as the reason for India’s loss to the Proteas in the final of the LG Cup four-nation cricket tournament here today. “We did not start off well and charged-up very late in the innings. The bowlers did a fine job but gave away few extra runs in the last five overs,” stand-in captain Jadeja said at the presentation ceremony. India, who were cruising towards victory target with a comfortable 182 for five after 42 overs before the wickets fell at regular intervals, lost the match by 26 runs. South African captain Hansie Cronje, who job as captain was on the line, said the win would give confidence to the team after the World Cup setback. “The team has gone into a major change after the World Cup with a change in the convenor and the coach and we needed to win the tournament. The boys will definitely feel good today,” he said. Cronje was all praise for the ‘man of the match’ Herschelle Gibbs, whose innings helped South Africa post a challenging total. Rookie Vijay Bhardwaj,
who was named the ‘man of the series’ for his
all-round performance, was disappointed for not winning
the match and modestly took the blame on himself. |
Gold continues to elude Indians SINGAPORE, Oct 3 (UNI) — A gold medal continued to elude the Indian teams as they added two silver to their two bronze medals . On the third day of the Asian Junior Championships at the National Stadium here. India took two silver and one bronze even as China continued its dominance of the biennial championships. China took five of the 10 gold available on the day and took their overall tally to 12 gold after three days. The final winnings for China may well come close to the 23 gold they had in November 1997 when the Asian junior meet was held in Bangkok. Japan and Qatar lie in the second spot with four gold medal each. India has bagged two silver and three bronze so far. Vineeta Tripathi, a member of the senior Indian athletics team, and who flew in from Kathmandu after the first day’s events were all but over, was expected to break the gold drought for India. Tripathi, who had clocked 23.59 seconds in the South Asian Federation Games in the Nepalese capital may well have done just that had she come close to that time. Travel and fatigue seemed to have taken a toll as she was sluggish at the start and conceded defeat to the Chinese sprint sensation Qin Wangping, who added the 200m gold to the 100m she won earlier in the meet. Qin clocked 23.80s for the gold, as Tripathi was timed in a slow 24.51s. Indonesia’s Irene Joseph took the bronze in 24.64. India had another entry in the final, Mandeep Kaur, who once again came sixth in 25.33s. India added another silver through women’s discuss thrower Harwant Kaur, whose best of the day 51.24m was exactly one-and-a-half metres behind the gold medallist China’s Shao Yang Xu, who achieved 52.74m. The third medal for India came from hammer thrower Vinod Kumar Singh, who threw the chained ball to 59.17m for a bronze medal behind Tajik Dilshod Nazarov and Yishen of China. Dilshod cleared 63.56m and Shen 63.10m. Apart from this, there
was disappointment for India as Saroj Sihad once again
ended fourth. In discuss, as she had in shot up. Jetty
Joseph ended sixth in a high quality long jump with a
best leap of 5.99m. Gold was won by China’s Wang
Zingtan with 6.20m. |
Rana emerges highest medal winner KATHMANDU, Oct 3 (UNI) — Ace marksman Jaspal Rana emerged as the highest medal winner bagging two more gold as India finished their campaign in the shooting events in style sweeping all the three gold at stake with record breaking performances on the final day in the eighth SAF Games here today. India finished with 21 of the total 26 gold, 10 silver and eight bronze in shooting. Jaspal, who was initially reluctant to participate in the 25m rapid free pistol event, won it with a total of 658.2 points, erasing the existing record of 651.4 set by his compatriot Bhanwarlal Dhaka in the last SAF Games. It was his fourth individual gold and eighth overall (including team championships). Incidentally Bhanwarlal (657.7), who improved upon his previous best, and Dhyan Singh (652.0) also bettered the record but had to finish behind their illustrious compatriot as India finished 1-2-3 in the event. India also won the team championship with a record score of 1689, bettering the existing score of 1648 achieved in Chennai edition. The other success came in the men’s free rifle three position when veteran A.P. Subbiah won his first SAF gold with a record score of 1224.6, bettering the record of 1222.4 set by Mohiudeen of Bangladesh last year. T.C. Palangappa, who had a two point lead at the end of elimination rounds, was not at his best in the final shoot and had to be content with a silver despite coming up with a record breaking effort of 1224.0. “Though I am happy winning the gold, I am not satisfied with final scores. I have to work hard for the Oceanic competition in Sydney followed by the Commonwealth Championship at Auckland next month, but I would concentrate more on air pistol in the Asian championship early next year to qualify for the Sydney Olympics,” Jaspal Rana said about his performance in the SAF Games. Coach Sunny Thomas said: “It’s a good thing that Jaspal won out of eight, though some scores are not good. Initially he was reluctant to participate in the rapid fire pistol, but I forced him to shoot in this event. I had no choice, because Jaspal has the experience to bear the extra burden instead of Ved Prakash, Ved is going up to a higher level and I did not want to put too much pressure on him,” he added. The day belonged to 33-year-old Subbiah, a JCO in the army. Subbiah had to bring off his best in the final 10 shots to edge out his compatriot Palangappa to win the gold. Just two points separated them when they took the range for the finals. It was a neck and neck affair and Subbiah managed to bridge the gap with a superb 10.2 in the seventh shot and marginally trailed Palangappa (1197 pts to 1197.6 pts). The latter stretched the lead with a 10.1 in the eighth shot as Subbaih nearly bungled with a poor 7.9. It was the last shot that tilted the scales in favour of Subbiah. showing enormous concentration and technique, Subbiah shot his best — 10.5 as against Palangappa’s 7.6 — to win the gold by a waferthin (0.6 point) margin. ‘‘I knew I could do it. In the seventh shot there was slight trouble in triggering operation and the score was just 7.9 had there been negative thinking I could not have taken the next shot and I could have been under pressure. I told myself not to repeat the same mistake. It aid off,’’ a jubilant Subbiah later said. His joy knew no bounds when the coach came and said ‘‘ Subbiah your’s is a new record.’’ Palangappa said ‘‘It’s bad luck. I am happy that the gold went to India.’’ In the rapid fire pistol, though Jaspal and Bhanwarlal were on level terms with 564 points when they took the range for the final ten shots, the experience of Jaspal has the final say. He led by 612 points as against Bhanwarlal’s 608.9 after the first round of five shots. In the next five shots he performed marginally lower than Bhanwarlal, who had three 10 plus scores. But the slender lead was good enough for him to win the gold despite a poor 7.5 in the last of the second round of shots. Results (mens): Free rifle three position (individual): A.P. Subbiah (Ind) 1224.6 T.C. Palangappa (Ind) 1224.0 Alam Saifal (BD) 1202.5. 25m rapid fire pistol (individual): Jaspal Rana (Ind) 658.2 points, Bhanwarlal Dhaka (Ind) 657.7 Dhyan Singh (Ind) 561. Team championship: Gold
— India )Jaspal Rana (564), Bhanwarlal Dhaka (564),
Dhyan Singh (561) 1689 points. Silver: Pakistan 1614 pts.
Bronze: Maldives 1126 pts. |
Spikers reaffirm supremacy KATHMANDU, Oct 3 (PTI) — Indian spikers reaffirmed their supremacy in style as they demolished their opponents to win both the men’s and women’s gold medal in the SAF Games volleyball championship here today. The Indians put up a sterling performances when it mattered most to drub Pakistan 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 to retain the men’s title they won in Chennai while the Indian eves recovered from a second set slump to carve out a 25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 25-15 victory over the spirited Sri Lankans to take the honour. The Indians, who had suffered a humiliating defeat against Pakistan in their last group ‘A’ league match, were a transformed lot as they excelled in all departments of the game to give no chance at all to their opponents to fight back in a tussle which lasted just about an hour. The Indian spikers, particularly captain Amir Singh, Josy Joseph, Tom Joseph and M.S. Rajesh, seemed to be in devastating form as they won one point after another with their power-packed spikes. Determined to erase the league debacle, the Indian men were all fired up today as they attacked and defended well to wrap up the first set 25-19 in just 20 minutes to take tight control of the proceedings. Both the teams went neck and neck for most part of the opening set but the Indians, having learnt from their mistakes in the last clash against Pakistan, did not leave too many gaps in the defence while the double blocks also proved to be quite effective. Both the teams were 14-14 at one stage but the Indians forged ahead with a series of smashes from Amir Singh and Tom Joseph, capitalising on some very imaginative setting by Thulasi Reddy. The Indians maintained
their tempo in the second set also as they raced to a 6-1
lead but the Pakistanis showed signs of staging a
recovery by bringing down the margin 13-11 before the
defending champions shot ahead to take the second 25-17
in about 22 minutes. |
Paddlers make a clean sweep KATHMANDU, Oct 3 (UNI) — National champion and top seed Chetan Baboor and Anindita Chakroborty won the men’s and women’s singles gold, as India made a clean sweep of the table tennis titles at the eighth SAF Games here today. In an all-Indian final, Baboor defeated his teammate S. Raman 18-21, 21-17, 21-13, 21-18, while Anindita, the National Games runner-up, lowered the colours of top seeded and national champion Poulomi Ghatak 21-19, 21-16, 21-19. India had already swept the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles, besides both the team championship golds. The men’s final turned out to be an absorbing one as both the players knew each other’s game by the back of their palm. Baboor, the only Indian to be ranked among the top 100 in world rankings, initially failed to cope up with the pace of Raman’s shots. The left-hander mixed his top spinners and unleashed flashy winners to unsettle his famed compatriot. With the fast balls skidding, Baboor committed errors to lose the opening game 18-21. But he was a transformed lot in the second. He quickly adjusted himself and thereafter never looked back. He led from the start to win the next three games in a row and bagged his first SAF gold, despite appearing in the 1991 and 1993 editions of the games. Baboor built an early lead in all the three games, and Raman only managed to narrow the leeway. On the other hand, the women’s final turned out to be a tame affair. However, Anindita justified the faith reposed on her by her coach Kamlesh Mehta in winning the gold. Anindita, who was included in the squad in the basis of her form and performance in the camp, steamrolled Poulomi to win the match rather easily. Anindita, who was in her second SAF Games, won 21-19, 21-16, 21-19 to bag her first gold. She did not participate in the singles in the 1995 games. Poulomi looked jaded and lost without any fight. Losing semifinalists
Pakistan’s Rahil Anjum and Ghazale Roohi won the
bronze in the men’s section while Indika Prasad (Sri
Lanka) and Asim Quereshi (Pak) bagged the bronze in the
women’s section. |
Kotak frustrates Karnataka BANGALORE, Oct 3 (PTI) — An unbeaten century by Sitanshu Kotak helped Rest of India reach 298 for six in reply to Karnataka’s first innings total of 170 all out at close on the third day of the Irani Trophy cricket match here today. The visitors ended the day with a vital 128-run first innings lead with Saurashtra’s Kotak batting on 116 and Harvinder Singh Sodhi on 50. The two have so far put on a valuable 108 runs for the unbroken seventh wicket. Despite boasting of world class bowlers in Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and Dodda Ganesh in their ranks and supported by up and coming spinners Anand Yalvigi and Anand Katti, Karnataka ended the day on a disappointing note as Rest of India batsmen dominated the proceedings. Rest of India added 205 runs off 79.5 overs today, losing just three wickets. The day, however, began well for the hosts with early dismissals of Hemang Badani (13) and skipper Nayan Mongia (1), placing the Rest of India at a precarious 110 for five. Overnight batsman Badani was first to go, snapped up by Sujith Somasundar off Srinath, which was followed by a splendid catch by the same fielder to dismiss Mongia off Ganesh after the Rest of India resumed at 93 for three. But Karnataka’s hopes of restricting their opponents soon evaporated as Kotak steaded the innings with an 80-run sixth wicket partnership with Reetinder Singh Sodhi, who made 39. After Sodhi’s dismissal, Kotak continued his good work in H.S. Sodhi’s company. SCOREBOARD |
Nitin Kirtane to clash with Kannan NEW DELHI, Oct 3 (PTI) — Defending champion Nitin Kirtane’s task of retaining the crown was made tougher when he drew double-junior national champion Kamala Kannan as his first round men’s singles opponent in the Hardcourt National Tennis Championships that get underway here tomorrow. Top seeded Kirtane faces wildcard Kamala Kannan — fresh from his triumphs at under-18 and u-16 grasscourt nationals in Chennai — in the opening round of the DSCL National Open Tennis at the Delhi Tennis Association complex. Seventh seed Mustafa Ghouse and fifth seeded former champion Vasudeva Reddy could also pose hurdles to the Pune left-hander as the experienced duo are also in the top half. Women’s top seed Sai Jayalakshmi of Tamil Nadu, however, may find little trouble in her quest for her maiden title with 1998 winner Uzma Khan, in the USA on a tennis scholarship, skipping the event after dominating the domestic scene for the past two years. With the capital experiencing showers off and on for the past two days, the qualifying events in all four sections-men, women, boys and girls under-18 sections — only tomorrow, the first day of main draw matches. The rain interruption has forced organisers to re-schedule the final two rounds of qualifiers for tomorrow. Kirtane’s main rival second seeded Vinod Sridhar seems to have a fairly easy route in the bottom half of the draw. The Tamil Nadu boy plays S.K. Shiv Shankar of Karnataka in the first round and is expected to meet Vijayendra Laad (Maha) in the second round. Fourth seed Saurav Panja and eighth seed Sanzaruz Zaman (both West Bengal) are also in the bottom half. Delhi’s third seed Vijay Kannan has an absorbing first round tie against rising junior star Manoj Mahadevan, tipped by Leander Paes as future of Indian tennis. Former national champion Vasudeva Reddy (AP) could have an easy time early on as he is drawn to meet wildcard Rajkumar Gopalan and could meet another wild card — Tushar Gautam — in the next. The women’s event looks headed for a showdown between Sai Jayalakshmi and second seed Rushmi Chakravarthy. Sai takes on Delhi wildcard Vishika Chhetri in the first round while Rushmi meets Simmi Rani of Chandigarh in the opening round tie. The new crop of players like Radhika Tulpule and Sonal Phadke of Maharashtra, both fresh from a highly successful African tour on the ITF Furtures Circuit, will pose any threat the seasoned top two seeds might face. In boy’s under-18 section, Akshay Vishal Rao (Chd) is top seeded with Maharashtra’s Kedar Tembe (second seed) leading the second half of the draw. Sheetal Gautham of Karnataka, fifth seed among women, heads the girls under-18 rankings, but could have Radhika Tulpule as her major rival in her attempt to clinch the title. Sonal Phadke, the second
seed, seems to have an easier passage and has also been
playing consistently of late. Third seed Tulpule has also
emerged a strong contender after her good showing on the
ITF circuit last season. |
Azharuddin sends fitness certificate MUMBAI, Oct 3 (PTI) — Deposed Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin has sent a fitness certificate to the cricket board that he has completely recovered from the shoulder operation which he underwent in London on June 20. Board secretary Jaywant Lele told PTI from Baroda today that Azhar, whose right shoulder was operated upon soon after India’s campaign ended in the World Cup, had faxed to him the certificate signed by the doctor who treated him in London. “The doctor’s certificate says Azharuddin is completely alright and he can throw the ball from anywhere on the field”. Lele added. Azhar had himself said before the selection of Indian team for the ongoing LG Cup tournament in Nairobi that he was fit to play. But the board’s
contention was that the former captain cannot be
considered then as he could not throw the ball from
outside the 30-yard circle in limited overs matches. |
Lanka slump to 61 for 4 COLOMBO, Oct 3 (AP) — Rain and bad light saved Sri Lanka from a possible first innings collapse in the three-Test series against Australia today, the fourth day of the final Test. Sri Lanka needs 82 runs to avoid the follow-on, and four of its top order batsmen were back in the pavilion when rain stopped play 32 minutes after lunch. Replying to Australia’s first innings total of 342 all out, Sri Lanka scored 61 for four when dark clouds gathered over Colombo and it started to rain. Only one hour and 32 minutes of play was possible today.After lunch, Mahela Jayawardena and Aravinda de Silva put up 50 runs in the fourth wicket partnership when Jayawardena (21) was out caught by Ian Healy off Fleming. Scoreboard |
Air-India, BSF in summit clash CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 — Battlelines have been drawn for the summit clash between star-studded Air-India, Mumbai, and Border Security Force, in the 29th All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament which concludes at the Sector 42 hockey stadium here tomorrow. In the semifinals played today,defending champions Punjab and Sind Bank and last year’s runners-up Punjab Police bowed out in identical fashion.While Punjab Police lost to Border Security Force 4-6 via the tie breaker after the two teams were level 1-1 at the end of regulation time, Punjab and Sind Bank went down fighting to Air-India by the same 4-6 margin in the tie breaker after being tied 1-1 in the stipulated period. Both Punjab Police and Punjab and Sind Bank sorely missed the services of experienced players.While Olympian Baljit Singh Dhillon of Punjab Police has been sidelined due to a nagging back injury, Punjab and Sind Bank also had to do without some of the old faces. Moreover, Olympian Sanjeev Kumar,who sustained a hand injury yesterday, took the field with a bandaged wrist due to which he was not in a position to take power-packed hits. Nevertheless,he did put up a brave front and like yesterday he was instrumental in setting up many intelligent moves. Border Security Force,winners of the Baba Farid Gold Cup at Faridkot recently, remained under pressure in the first quarter but later staged a remarkable rally to oust the cops from the tournament. Punjab and Sind Bank, on the other hand came from behind to hold their more experienced rivals in regulation time but the tie breaker spelt doom for them.Full back Rajinder Singh,who had scored the equaliser for the bank men,turned out to be the main culprit as he missed a crucial stroke in the test of nerves. It was certainly an unlucky day for Punjab Police. Despite having taken the lead in the opening stages,the cops surrendered the advantage within a short span. To add to their woes,Olympian Ramandeep Singh,the experienced left-half,who otherwise had a good game, missed a penalty stroke which in the long run proved rather costly. Punjab Police dominated the proceedings initially with Ramandeep feeding an accurate pass to Harinder on the left flank but the move fizzled out. Off a counter attack, BSF’s Shinu Hereng sent a cross for inside-left Marinus Lakra,who however, failed to intercept. After forcing a couple of penalty corners,Punjab Police finally succeeded in breaking the deadlock in the 14th minute when centre-forward Sarabjit Singh capitalised on a pass from Harinder,shot home (1-0). BSF could have restored parity in the very next minute when Peter Tirkey dodged a rival defender inside the ‘D’ but his measured pass to Marinus Lakra went abegging. However,BSF did not have to wait for long and in the 19th minute Shinu Hereng made full use of a misunderstanding in the Punjab Police defence and sounded the boards with a powerful hit (1-1). Thereafter,BSF could have added more goals to their tally but wayward hitting and failure to intercept crosses kept the score unchanged. Midway through the second half,Punjab Police had a golden chance to forge ahead when they were awarded a penalty stroke following an infringement by Iqbaljit of BSF following a short corner. But as luck would have it, Ramandeep’s stroke was off the mark.Thereafter, BSF also had a good chance when Kuljinder sent a cross into the ‘D’ but Marinus Lakra missed the line of the ball and hence let the opportunity go waste. With the issue remaining deadlocked, the tie-breaker rule was applied in which Shinu Hereng, Sushil Kumar, Amrit Lakra, Iqbaljit and Kuljinder scored for BSF. For Punjab Police Ramandeep, Harpreet and Baljit successfully converted their strokes while Manpreet was unlucky . In the second semifinal,Air-India,winners of the title in 1996,gave a good account of themselves. With several internationals in their ranks,Air-India’s attacks were more purposeful and Olympian Anil Aldrin lent valuable support to the half-line. The attack was spearheaded by Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajit, skipper Rajesh Chauhan and Edward Irhana.Local lad Davinder Kumar also had a hand in several Air-India moves. Air-India were off to a good start when in the 15th minute,Rajesh Chauhan got hold of the ball off a rebound following Edward Irhana’s attempt.With full confidence,he unleashed a powerful hit to which Teja Singh under the PSB bar had no answer. The equaliser for Punjab and Sind Bank came 10 minutes later when full back Rajinder Singh found the target with a direct hit following a penalty corner (1-1). Thereafter,the two teams had some more chances to settle the issue but the moves proved abortive. In the tie breaker that followed,Surinder Kundo,Inder Salaria, Harpreet Singh, Gavin Farreira,and Gagan Ajit were on target while Bhupinder, Baljit,and Sharanjit tasted success for Punjab and Sind Bank. The final will be played
at 3 p.m. tomorrow. |
Chang hopes to turn the tide SHANGHAI, Oct 3 (AFP) — Micheal Chang, now free-falling in the ATP tour rankings, is hoping for a turn in fortunes this week in China, the land of his ancestors. The world number 64, second behind Pete Sampras just a few years ago, claimed his last title at the $ 350,000 Heineken Open a year ago. And he will try again when the event starts tomorrow to reverse his run of hard luck on court. In the past 12 months, it has been a frustrating story of injury, setback and dogged determination from one of the game’s biggest fighters. Retirement is not part of the 27-years old vocabulary. “It would be easier to say, ‘Oh, if the going gets tough, let’s quit’,” said Chang. “But that’s just not a part of who I am.” The Asian-American is right at home in the People’s Republic, which is still winding down the weekend’s celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the state. Title holder Chang, who won his 12th career Asian title here last year, is seeded sixth behind Chile’s Marcelo Rios, Swede Magnus Norman, Holland’s Sjeng Schalken, American Jan-Michael Gambill and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden. He begins with a qualifier, while Rios plays his first match against Italy’s Laurence Tieleman. Chang has a lot to lose if he cannot finally fix what’s gone wrong with his game. He has won a singles
title on the ATP tour every year since 1998, the longest
streak of any active player and even dropped down to
enter a Challenger event in California this spring,
something he had not done since 1987. |
Asian schools hockey at
Patiala PATIALA, Oct 3 — The inaugural edition of the Asian schools hockey tournament for both boys and girls (U-18) will be held at the NIS here early next year. According to School Games Federation of India (SGFI) sources. The dates are yet to be finalised. The SGFI will organise
the national handball, roller skating and kabaddi
championships at Moga from November 16 to 21. All these
three disciplines will be held for both boys and girls. |
H
Amritsar drub Patiala PATIALA, Oct 3 (FOSR) — Bad batting and bowling display by the hosts enabled Amritsar to drub Patiala by nine wickets in the one day Katoch Shield cricket match here today. The hosts scored just 228 for 8, and barring Gaganinder Garry and skipper Pankaj Dharmani all batsmen played badly. In reply, Amritsar batsmen, led by Ravneet Rickey (100 n.o.), flayed the host bowling and reduced it to no contest. Scores: Patiala: 228 for 8 in 50 overs (R. Sharma 56, P. Dharmani 34, Lakhbir Singh 55 n.o., H. Kali 48, Harvinder Singh 2 for 43, Ranjit 2 for 31, Tejinder 2 for 39). Amritsar. 234 for 1 in 35.1 overs (R. Rickey 100 n.o., D. Matoo 74 n.o., Munish Sharma 50, A. Kakria 1 for 17). Sports department summons meeting CHANDIGARH, Oct 3 (TNS) — The Haryana Sports Department has convened a meeting of the Presidents and Secretaries of all the State Sports Associations and the Haryana Olympic Association on October 4 at 11.30 a.m. in Haryana Nivas, here to discuss the ways and means for raising the standard of sports in the state. The main agenda of the meeting will be a discussion on the new sports policy to be adopted in the state and setting up of a sports authority or a sports council. The popular games in the state would be identified besides reviewing the functioning of the State associations. The matter regarding holding of National Games in Haryana in 2002 would also be discussed. The Minister of State
for Sports, Mr Ram Kumar Saini, will preside over the
meeting. |
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