Crunch ties for France, England
PARIS, Sept 3 — France and England welcome their respective 1998 World Cup heroes back tomorrow for crunch fixtures which could leave them on the edge of the European Championship abyss.

Aussie hopes rest on Hewitt
NEW YORK, Sept 3 — Injuries to Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis have left Australian hopes here at the US Open and at the Davis Cup on the tender left ankle of Lleyton Hewitt.

Surrey beat Notts, earn county title
LONDON, Sept 3 — Surrey were crowned English county champions for the first time in 28 years after beating Nottinghamshire by 10 wickets yesterday.

O’ Neill, Klim break more records
CANBERRA, Sept 3 — Australians Susie O’ Neill and Michael Klim broke world short course swimming records yesterday, continuing an amazing run after 12 longcourse records fell at the Pan Pacific championships last week.

South Africa to play 5 one-dayers
MUMBAI, Sept 3 — The cricket board has persuaded its South African counterparts to agree to play five limited overs internationals in addition to the Test series against India during their forthcoming tour to this country, scheduled for February-March 2000.

Erratic Amanjot loses in semis
CHENNAI, Sept 3 — West Bengal’s Vinod K. Sewa powered past second seed Amanjot Singh of Chandigarh 6-1, 7-5 to set up a final clash with top seed C.S. Mohanty of Delhi in the boys under 16 singles of the National Sub-Junior Hardcourt Tennis Championship here.

HP to host three Ranji ties
SHIMLA, Sept 3 — Himachal Pradesh will host three Ranji Trophy matches during the ensuing cricket season.

Nansita, Khoni lift 3 bronze each
NEW DELHI, Sept 3 — Nansita Devi and Khoni Devi won three bronze medals each to take Indian medal tally to 17— 4 silver, 13 bronze — in the ongoing Asian Weightlifting Championship at Wu Han China.

Bangladesh to host Asia Cup

Spotlight on Agassi as Moya retires

NEW YORK, Sept 3 (AFP) — Andre Agassi’s supporting cast continued to dwindle at the US Open Tennis Championships here last night as eighth-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya retired injured in the second round.

Agassi inherited star billing in the $ 14.5 million Grand Slam with the injury-hastened withdrawals of Pete Sampras and Pat Rafter.

When Moya bowed out in the third set against France’s Nicolas Escude with a strained lower back muscle, it robbed the tournament of the last of last year’s semi-finalists.

Mark Philippoussis, who finished runner-up to Rafter last year, withdrew before the tournament even started with a knee injury. Sampras departed without hitting a ball with a herniated disc and Rafter retired in the first round against Cedric Pioline with a torn rotator cuff.

“These days were the moment in the past two months that I was feeling really well, hitting the ball and moving well. But it happens, and you just have to accept it.”

Moya, who briefly rose to world number one earlier this year, won the opening game of the third set before calling it quits with Escude leading 6-1, 6-4, 0-1.

Moya said he had injections before the match to stay off pain that started first at the ATP Tour event in Commack last week. He thought he was well until the stiffness returned after his first-round victory here over Dominik Hrbaty.

Two other seeds remained in second seed Agassi’s quarter.

Number 10 Marcelo Rios of Chile advanced to the third round with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over. Swiss qualifier George Bastl, and 15th-seeded German Nicolas Kiefer defeated compatriot Micheal Kohlmann 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Agassi created all the drama in his 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 second-round victory over supporting player Axel Pretzsch.

Agassi met more resistence from the line judges than the German qualifier in the 1 hr 34-minute match.

Serena Williams, the seventh seed, reached the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Croatian Jelena Kostanic.

Women’s defending champion Lindsay Davenport reached the third round with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 victory over 23rd-ranked Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania.

Women’s fourth seed Monica Seles, whose nine Grand Slam singles titles include two US Open crowns, survived a late-match hiccup to defeat Italian Silvia Farina 6-2, 6-3.

Paes, Bhupathi march on

NEW YORK, Sept 3 (PTI) — Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi overcame an early laxness to power themselves into the men’s doubles third round before winning their respective opening mixed doubles matches at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships here last night.

The world No 1 doubles combination from India faced a tough challenge from the all-American pair of Jan-Michael Gambill and Adam Peterson but quelled it 7-6 (7/4) 7-5 in just over two hours.

Later in the day, number two seeds in mixed event — Mahesh Bhupathi and Ai Sugiyama of Japan — stormed into the second round with a confident 6-2 7-5 win over Czech-French pair of Martin Damm and Alexandra Fusai.

Top seeds Paes and his American partner Lisa Raymond defeated an African team of Liezel Horn and Kevin Ullyett 7-5 7-5 to continue with their excellent tandem that won them Wimbledon title early July.

Playing in the last Grand Slam tournament of this millennium, the Indian duo, top-seeded for third straight time at the mega events following French Open and Wimbledon championships, took a little longer than required to prevail over their second round opponents — the Gambill/Peterson pair.

World No 1 doubles individual Paes looked out of sorts throughout the match while Bhupathi was immaculate in his execution of returns and power services.

Bhupathi withstood the American pairs’ attack and also covered his partners’ slackness with his dominating serve and volley game that helped the twice Grand Slam winners come out unscathed despite Paes losing his service game once in each of the two sets.

After Paes lost his serve in the first set, Bhupathi came up with thundering returns to earn the break back before taking the set into the tiebreaker. A perfect combination at the net enabled the Indian duo to clinch the tiebreaker 7-4.

The determined Americans again stepped up the steam in the second taking advantage of Paes’ out-of-sorts form. The top Indian unshackled himself from his sloppy game after being 3-5 down in the second.

The Indians, who have made it to the semifinals here for last two years, reeled off four games in a row to book their place in the round of 32.

US Open loses sizzle after withdrawals
by Vijay Amritraj

SOMETHING always happens at the last Grand Slam event of the year and this year it came early. Within the first two days of the 1999 US Open, top seed and world’s No 1 Pete Sampras withdrew with a herniated disc in the back and the same night defending champion Pat Rafter withdrew at the start of the final set against Frenchman Cedric Pioline. With Jim Courier and Tim Henman also out in the first round the men’s event has lost a lot of sizzle. The USTA is certainly hoping that their star player Andre Agassi manages to stay till the very end to keep the American interest alive. But with the exit of Sampras and Rafter, both from the top half of the draw, anyone can really get to the final. Agassi, seeded No 2 and the Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov seeded No 3 are both in the bottom half of the draw. With Krajicek and Carlos Moya also in the bottom half it makes it so much stronger now.

The women’s event has great interest even without the legend Steffi Graf and the teenager Anna Kournikova, one has retired and the other is injured. But Martina Hingis, having had that terrible first round loss at Wimbledon this year, is looking to win the last Grand Slam of the year and keep her No 1 ranking. The defending champion Lindsay Davenport can take that No 1 away from her again if she can win here. But the women to really watch are the Williams sisters, Venus seeded No 3 and Serena seeded No 7 who are both hitting the ball extremely hard with a great deal of accuracy. A magnificent effort by the Williams girls to be seeded in the top 8 of the women’s singles. They have both made a million dollars in prize money alone not to mention all their endorsements. It has been an incredible effort by the two of them and their parents to get them to this stage in their careers.

The US Open is unique in its own way and just as tough to win as the French Open which can be pretty brutal on the clay. But here you first have to deal with New York, a fascinating city with a lot of negatives. Most of the top players have generally chosen to stay outside the city in Long Island which is an easy drive into Flushing Meadows. But even when you get to the National Tennis Centre, you still have to tune out the planes from neighbouring La Guardia airport that tend to fly right over the Tennis Centre and the trains that rumble on one side and the people who are some of the noisiest, courtside as opposed to any other event. Even a player like Pat Rafter was booed off the court when he retired in the final set against Cedric Pioline of France in a night match. So the winner of this event has to have an incredible focus on the job at hand and cannot afford to be bothered by outside interference.

There are certain players who are made for this city and thrive on the electric atmosphere that the stadium court can generate. The master of that, of course, was the feisty American Jimmy Connors, who turned 47 on September 2 and kept the US Open alive for so many years. John McEnroe joined Connors to ride the wave of the New Yorkers. In their own way Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert did the same. Then came Boris Becker, who brought class and charisma to New York and today, it is left to the showman from Las Vegas, Andre Agassi. The Williams sisters add their own style to this year’s US Open which is in great danger of losing interest with the withdrawal of Sampras and Rafter. Men’s tennis will create some new starts at this year’s Open, but Andre Agassi needs to stay around till the end to keep the event alive in the men’s event. After this event, the focus will return to the Davis Cup semifinal and whether Pat Rafter will be fit enough to lead Australia’s challenge. — PMG

India keen to stem the rot

SINGAPORE, Sept 3 (PTI) — Low on morale and fitness with skipper Sachin Tendulkar’s suspect back a major cause for worry. Indian will be under tremendous pressure when they take on a spirited Zimbabwe in their opening match of the Singapore Challenge Triangular One-Day Tournament here tomorrow.

After an embarrassing performance in the just-concluded tri-series in Sri Lanka where where they were knocked out before the final and had only an inconsequential win over the hosts to show, nothing but a sound win over the Africans will stem the rot in a team that is in danger of coming apart at the hinge.

Tendulkar, whose second stint as skipper has began in identical fashion to his first when India failed to reach the final of four-nation event in Sri Lanka, faces a big test in his glorious career as his team also looks to avenge a shock defeat in the World Cup league stage by Zimbabwe at the Kallang ground, weather permitting.

The Indian team went through a rigorous four-hour fielding session yesterday clearly determined to work on their weakest link, but heavy showers in morning once again ruled out their nets today, as poor weather that undermined practice in Sri Lanka continued to dog them.

The sky remained thickly overcast with threat of more rain.

The performance in Sri Lanka has led to the national selectors swiftly reacting by ‘resting’ pace spearhead Javagal Srinath, but leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who looked listless there and has been axed for the upcoming three-match series against West Indies, the third team here, will be struggling to retain his focus to further undermine the team’s cause.

Apart from inexplicable batting failure back to the last tie where the skipper braved a painful back top crack his 23rd one-day century and left-hander Saurav Ganguly hit up a fine half-century against Sri Lanka, it was abysmal fielding and equally ordinary bowling that stood out.

India will have to bat to their full strength as the small ground, tailor-made for big score as seen in the comprehensive six-wicket win by the Caribbeans over Zimbabwe that saw sixes fly to all parts of the ground yesterday.

Team composition looks likely to emerge a tricky affair with several options having to be considered.

With Srinath out, the choice for the second seamer to partner Venkatesh Prasad will be between Debashish Mohanty and teenage allrounder Laxmi Rattan Shukla.

Mohanty, who gave a good account of himself in England, did not get to play in Sri Lanka, and has not been a big success in the placed pitches of the subcontinent.

With the Indian tail among the weakest in international cricket, the team management could go in for Shukla considering his potential for big-hitting.

India will also be determined to notch up a big win over Zimbabwe to avenge their loss in the World Cup, where paceman Henry Olonga’s three-wicket burst in an over saw them suddenly slump to three-run defeat after looking to be on the verge of victory.

With the Caribbeans looking in ominous batting touch after knocking off 247 in the 44th over chasing 245 for a win — their pace quartet did a steady job on the sporting pitch laid out in the new ground here, only a win tomorrow will ensure India a place in the final ahead of their second league tie on September 5.

Zimbabwe, despite their defeat, batted extremely well as skipper Alistair Campbell and fellow lift-handed Andy Flower hit up 80 and 89 respectively and looked good for their tons.

India have played 25 times against Zimbabwe, winning 18, but the five wins by the Africans have come in the last two years.

The teams:

India (from) — S. Tendulkar (capt), S. Ramesh, R. Dravid, S. Gangully, A. Jadeja, A. Khurasiya, R Singh, M.S.k Prasad, A. Kumble, N. Chopra, S. Joshi, L.R. Shukla, V. Prasad, D. Mohanty, V. Kambli.

Zimbabwe (from) — A. Campbell (capt), N. Johnson, G. Flower, M. Goodwin, S. Carlise, P. Strang. A. Flower, C. Evans, C. Wishart, A. Whittall, D. Virljoen, A. Blignaut, M. Mbangwa, H. Olonga.

Umpires: Rudy Koertzen (SA) and Darrel Hair (Aus).

Crunch ties for France, England

PARIS, Sept 3 (AFP) — France and England welcome their respective 1998 World Cup heroes back tomorrow for crunch fixtures which could leave them on the edge of the European Championship abyss.

France welcome back playmaker Zinedine Zidane, whose absence through injury for six months has coincided with an alarming slump in form for the world champions.

Struggling England are boosted by return of Liverpool’s Michael Owen, who made such an impression in France 98.

Some other big names in European football are in better shape, however, and Italy, Spain and Germany all look likely to be going to next year’s finals in Holland and Belgium going into the weekend.

World champions France know only a win will do away in Ukraine if they are to entertain realistic hopes of the automatic qualification spot in group four.

Just over a year after their World Cup win on home soil, France know that defeat by the group leaders would see the second-placed French slip to fourth if Russia and Iceland win their respective home fixtures with Armenia and Andorra.

France coach Roger Lemerre’s relief at the return of Juventus star Zidane, whose two goals in the 3-0 World Cup final win over Brazil made him a national hero, is understandable.

The Marseille-born mid-fielder of Algerian ancestry was at his imperious best in his last outing in a French shirt, the 2-0 friendly win over England in February.

But his absence has seen France’s qualifying campaign nosedive. First France were lucky to escape with a 0-0 home draw with Ukraine — goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and unusually poor finished from Ukraine golden boy Andriy Shevchenko saved the French.

Next they beat Armenia at home 2-0 before their hopes plummeted with their first defeat as world champions — 3-2 by Russia — it was also their first reverse at Stade de France.

But Zidane’s return is counterpoised by the fact that Emmanuel Petit is ruled out through injury and Christophe Dugarry through suspension. Alain Boghossian is very unlikely to play with Frederic Dehu added to the squad.

Aussie hopes rest on Hewitt

NEW YORK, Sept 3 (AFP) — Injuries to Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis have left Australian hopes here at the US Open and at the Davis Cup on the tender left ankle of Lleyton Hewitt.

The 33rd-ranked Adelaide native ousted compatriot Wayne Arthurs 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 in two hours and 40 minutes here on Thursday to reach the third round of the $ 14.5 million Grand Slam tennis tournament.

Hewitt came here after sitting out a month with an ankle injury suffered in a July quarterfinal against Andre Agassi at Los Angeles. Two Australian doctors told him he had no chance to play at the US Open.

But Hewitt bucked the odds and recovered in time, only to watch reigning US Open champion Rafter retire from his opening match with a shoulder injury and 11th seed Philippoussis withdraw with a knee injury.

Now both are doubtful for Australia’s Davis Cup semifinal tie against Russia on home grass in three weeks, meaning Hewitt could leap from bench warmer to number one singles player.

“It’s unbelievable isn’t it? Everyone is getting injured”, Hewitt said. “My timing could have been good. There’s still a cloud over those two and possibly a little bit of a cloud over myself, even though I’ve passed the first two matches”.

Hewitt was the hero of Australia’s Davis Cup quarterfinal tie triumph over the USA with a crucial opening victory over Todd Martin. A decision on who else will be called upon will come in a few days, with Arthurs or Jason Stoltenberg topping the list.

“The good thing is we’ve got a lot of depth”, Hewitt said. “Whether me call on Wayne Arthurs or Jason Stoltenberg to play second singles, we’ve got so many combinations”.

Arthurs won III consecutive service game at Wimbledon from qualifying to the third set of a fourth-round match with Agassi. But the 91st-rated 28-year-old expects Stoltenberg or a recovered Philipoussis to play.

“Depends what Mark is doing, how his injury is going”, Arthurs said. “I’m sure they will go with experience before someone like me. Hopefully Pat is ready. It would be unbelievable if I actually got picked, a great honour”.

The Russians will feature world No 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov and 31st-rated Marat Safin.

Surrey beat Notts, earn county title

LONDON, Sept 3 (AFP) — Surrey were crowned English county champions for the first time in 28 years after beating Nottinghamshire by 10 wickets yesterday.

Surrey’s 12th triumph from their 15th championship match of the season ensured that Leicestershire, title-winners for two of the last three years, could not catch them at the summit.

England opener Mark Butcher (81 not out) rushed the county to victory with two days and two matches to spare to underline their summer-long supremacy.

Set to make 150 in a maximum of 27 overs to complete the win by the halfway point of the match, Surrey got the job done by 10 wickets with embarrassing ease in 95 minutes.

To celebrate the achievement, Surrey announced they will serve drinks in the members pavilion at The Oval at 1971 prices for their concluding match against Yorkshire — the year of their last title victory.

Surrey’s last title came under the captaincy of club President Mickey Stewart, the former England coach and father of Surrey’s former Test captain Alec.

Last summer Adam Hollioake’s side could have won the title in the final match but were thrashed by eventual champions Leicestershire and finished fifth.

Crucial to Surrey’s triumph was Pakistan’s off spin master Saqlain Mushtaq, whose four for 100 on Thursday took his tally to 58 wickets in the last eight matches.

Leicestershire coach Jack Birkinshaw hailed what he called Sureey’s “magnificent achievement”.

Scores and results:

At the Oval: Surrey (16 pts) Nottinghamshire ( 4 pts) by 10 wkts. Nottinghamshire 115 and 233 (U. Afzaal 104; I. Salisbury 4-66, Saqlain Mushtaq 4-100) v Surrey 199 (V. Drakes 4-53) and 153-0 (M. Butcher n.o., I. Ward 55 n.o.

Wasim, Malik cleared of charges

ISLAMABAD, Sept 3 (PTI) — Suspended Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram and his team mates were cleared of match-fixing and betting charges during the World Cup by the country’s accountability bureau here yesterday.

A confidential report prepared by the Ehtesab (accountability) Bureau, on the performance of the team during the World Cup in England, says “it found no evidence to suggest that any match of the Cup was fixed or that the allegations of match-fixing were true,” according to a source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

According to AFP, the main accuser withdrew match-fixing allegations against Wasim Akram before a judicial cricket inquiry commission here today, officials said.

Discarded pacer Ata-ur Rehman told the commission headed by Lahore High Court Judge Malik Mohammad Qayyam that no match fixing and bribery had ever taken place, they said.

The Judge ordered a show-cause notice be issued to Rehman over perjury and banned him from leaving the country without the commission’s permission.

O’ Neill, Klim break more records

CANBERRA, Sept 3 (AP) — Australians Susie O’ Neill and Michael Klim broke world short course swimming records yesterday, continuing an amazing run after 12 longcourse records fell at the Pan Pacific championships last week.

Klim broke Englishman James Hickman’s world record for the shortcourse 100-metres butterfly event with a swim of 50.99 seconds. Hickman set the previous mark at 51.07 in Sheffield, England, in December last year.

O’Neill, who narrowly missed Mary T. Meagher’s 200 metres butterfly longcourse record at the Pan Pacific championships improved her own world record during the national shortcourse championships. She clocked 2 minutes, 04.43 seconds, shattering the 2:05.37 she set in Malmo, Sweden, earlier this year. On that occasion O’Neill broke swimming’s oldest record, Meagher’s shortcourse standard of 2:05.65 from January 1981.

Klim was a member of the Australian 800-metres freestyle relay team which broke one of the 12 longcourse world records during the Pan Pacific Championships. He was also on the Australian Institute of Sport team which broke the shortcourse record in the same relay yesterday.

Shortcourse events are swum in a 25-metres pool while longcourse records are considered more important because they are set in the Olympic-sized 50-metres pool.

South Africa to play 5 one-dayers

MUMBAI, Sept 3 (PTI) — The cricket board has persuaded its South African counterparts to agree to play five limited overs internationals in addition to the Test series against India during their forthcoming tour to this country, scheduled for February-March 2000.

“The United Cricket Board of South Africa has agreed to play two Tests and five one-day internationals during their tour instead of only three-Tests. The detailed calendar will be released by the board Secretary board’s Executive Secretary Sharad Diwadkar told PTI here today.

Meanwhile, the board has decided that junior India coach Krishnamachari Srikkanth would accompany the India ‘A’ team on its forthcoming tour of the USA to take on the ‘A’ squad of Australia in a five-match one-day series in Los Angeles from September 15 to 21.

Erratic Amanjot loses in semis

CHENNAI, Sept 3 (PTI) — West Bengal’s Vinod K. Sewa powered past second seed Amanjot Singh of Chandigarh 6-1, 7-5 to set up a final clash with top seed C.S. Mohanty of Delhi in the boys under 16 singles of the National Sub-Junior Hardcourt Tennis Championship here.

An erratic Amanjot Singh could hardly get his first serves in and made a lot of unforced errors to make third-seeded Sewa’s job easy.

In the other semifinal, Mohanty, an AITA trainee, breezed past sixth seed Roan Gajjar of Maharashtra 6-1, 6-2. Gajjar found Mohanty’s fine court coverage and net play hard to crack and succumbed tamely.

In the girls U-16 semifinal between two left-handed Maharashtra players, top seed Megha Vakaris beat sixth seed Isha Lakhani 6-4, 6-2.

In the final, Vakaria will take on second seed Nandita Chandrasekhar of Tamil Nadu, who quelled seventh seed Sania Mirza of Andhra Pradesh 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Mirza,who imparts lot of spin to her shots, was done in by the Tamil Nadu girl’s powerful groundstrokes.

Second-seeded Amanjot Singh could hardly get his serves working. Sewa quickly ran up a 5-0 lead in the first set before the Chandigarh player held the sixth game only to find the third-seeded rival serving out the seventh game and the set.

To Amanjot’s credit, he did come back in the second set to take a 4-1 lead but the chair umpire’s decision to overrule the second seed’s serve in the sixth game, called good by the linesman, saw him throwing a tantrum, and lose focus. He dropped serve in the sixth and allowed Sewa to come back. The third seed took three games in a row to draw level 4-4.

Games then went on serve, before Sewa secured the break in the 11th game to go up 6-5. Serving for the match, Sewa was 15-40 down, double-faulting in the process. He fought back to deuce before a Amanjot Singh backhand error gave him a matchpoint, and he secured it when Amanjot buried his forehand into the net.

Semifinals: (Boys U-16): Vinod K. Sewa (WB) b Amanjot Singh (Chd) 6-1, 7-5; C.S. Mohanty (Del) b Rohan Gajjar (Mah) 6-1, 6-2.

Girls U-16: Megha Vakaria (Mah) b Isha Lakhani (Mah) 6-4, 6-2; Nandita C. (TN) b Sania Mirza (AP) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

HP to host three Ranji ties
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Sept 3 — Himachal Pradesh will host three Ranji Trophy matches during the ensuing cricket season.

As per the cricket calendar finalised at the state cricket association at its meeting held at Manali, yesterday, the hosts will play their first match against Jammu and Kashmir from October 30 to November 3 at Chamba. The next match will be against Delhi from November 5 to 9 at Mandi and in the third encounter Himachal will take on Services from November 19 to 23 at Una.

Besides, it will host four North Zone under 19 matches. The match against Delhi will be held from October 25 to 27 at Mandi, against Punjab from November 4 to 6 at Nauni (Solan), against Haryana from November 9 to 11 at Chamba and against Jammu and Kashmir from November 13 to 15 at Chamba.

The under-16 matches HP vs Punjab from November 30 to December 2 at Una, HP Vs Haryana from December 4 to 6 (to be hosted by Haryana), HP Vs Delhi from December 9 to 11 at Delhi and HP Vs Jammu and Kashmir from December 13 to 15 at Bilaspur.

According to Major S.C. Nayar, secretary of the state cricket association, the Padamshri Kailash Mahajan Inter-District Championship will be held in four zones from September 27. The matches up to the quarterfinal stage will be of one-day’s duration and will be played on league basis. The semifinals will be of two days. The three-day final will be played at Chamba from October 12 to 14.

Trials for the selection of state team will be held at Chamba on October 15 and the coaching camp will be organised at Chamba from October 16.

The state under-19 inter-district cricket championship will be held in two zones from the first week of October.

The state under-16 Inter District Cricket Championship will also be held in two zones from first week of November. The final selection trial and coaching camp will be held at Una.

Besides, off season camp for both senior and junior players of Himachal Pradesh will be held in May and June.

Nansita, Khoni lift 3 bronze each

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (UNI) — Nansita Devi and Khoni Devi won three bronze medals each to take Indian medal tally to 17— 4 silver, 13 bronze — in the ongoing Asian Weightlifting Championship at Wu Han China.

The performance of Nansita Devi of the CRPF, making her international debut, was very creditable because she has just recovered from knee operation.

In the 63 kg category Nansita, who is the training partner of Kunjurani Devi, won bronze in jerk, snatch and over-all total.

She lifted 80 kg for snatch and 105 for jerk to total 185 kg for three medals.

In the junior women section, Khoni Devi of Manipur also bagged three bronze in 63 kg event.

Khoni, like Nansita Devi also totalled identical 185 kg, with 80 kg in snatch and 105 kg in jerk.

Khoni Devi, an experienced lifter, has represented the country in the 1997 world championship, 1998 Commonwealth championship and recently in the junior world championship held in the USA.

According to information received here today by former national selector P.K. Mahanand, of 17 medals won by India so far, only three bronze medals have been claimed by the men lifters. T. Muthu of the Railways won three medals in the 56 kg class on the opening day.

Bangladesh to host Asia Cup

DHAKA, Sept 3 (Reuters) — Bangladesh will stage the Asia Cup cricket tournament next April, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President, Mr Saber Hossain Chowdhury said today.

The 16-day competition, which also involves India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will begin on April 2. The top two from a round-robin league will contest the final.

Anil downs Bhalla

CHANDIGARH, Sept 3 (TNS) — Anil Sharma today outclassed Honey Bhalla in three straight frames in the quarterfinals of the open snooker event of the YMCA Open Billiards and Snooker Championship being held at the YMCA Hall, Sector-11, here.

The first frame was evenly matched as both players took time to get into their rhythm but Anil being more consistent won it with a slender 44-35 margin. In the next two frames Anil potted with clinical accuracy and displayed fine cue-ball control and never let his opponent get any easy opening. Honey succumbed to pressure and lost the next two frames cheaply 61-28, 67-22. In handicap snooker match Ajay Chandel survived a scare from Gurvinder to enter the semifinals 46-50, 40-32, 69-24.

In a thrilling open billiards match Sameer Bhalla scraped passed A.D. Singh in the dying moments 309-294. The game was evenly matched and could have gone either way. Sanjay Kaushal was off colour when he easily gave in to Gaurav Setia in handicap billiards. The final score was 342-245 in Gaurav’s favour.