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Monday,
November 19, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Stage
set for sports extravaganza
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B’desh
in battle for survival
AI,
PSB in semis; PP lose Black Elephant Patiala win
golf tourney Basketball
meet from Nov 29 Socceroos
keen to end drought Hewitt clinches Masters Cup Pak
players to raise funds for Afghans
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Stage set
for sports extravaganza The massive Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana, venue of the opening ceremony, has been all decked up for Monday’s two-hour colourful bash, where besides groups of young artistes, a cream of Indian sports, including as many as 13 recipients of Padma Shri, several Arjuna awardees, and some members of the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympic champions Indian hockey team, would be a part of the festive ensemble. Giving official sanction to the proceedings will be the Union Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishan Advani, and the Union Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharati, the Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. The IOA , the apex body of sports in the country, would be represented by none other than its President, Mr Suresh Kalmadi, and the secretary-general, Mr Randhir Singh. The most sacred of the ceremonies — carrying of National Games torch to Guru Nanak Stadium, the last lap with the torch, lighting of the flame and taking of oath on behalf of all the participants — would feature sports stars, both past and present, of this once sports-arm of the country. Already in Ludhiana are most of these stalwarts — ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, shot putter Bahadur Singh, sprinter Kamaljit Kooner (nee Sandhu), wrestler Kartar Singh, centre-half Ajit Pal Singh, boxer Kaur Singh, body-builder Prem Chand; spinning maestro Bishen Bedi, captain of 1964 Tokyo Olympic champion hockey team Charanjit Singh, mountaineer M.S. Kohli; triple Olympic Games gold medallist Balbir Singh (hockey), veteran hockey stalwarts Dharam Singh, Tarlochan Singh Bawa, Raghbir Lal, Balkrishen Singh, Haripal Kaushik, Grehnandan Singh, Keshav Dutt, R.S. Bhola, Hardial Singh and Balbir Singh (Junior). The march-past will be led by Andhra Pradesh while hosts, Punjab, will be at the end. Attired in traditional Punjabi dress , the marching contingents will be led by the “youth of Punjab”. The Games torch, lit at Patiala on November 16, and which has been carried through all five venues of the Games by more than 600 outstanding sportsmen and women of the state, will be formally brought to Guru Nanak Stadium where it will be handed over to a team of Padam Shri awardees. The ceremonial flag ceremony will be left to the Olympic champion hockey players of 1948, 1952 and 1956 Games. And after all participants have trooped into the stadium, there will be a surprise champions squad comprising members of the 1960 Rome Olympics, 1964 Tokyo Olympics, 1968 Mexico Olympics, 1972 Munich Olympics, 1976 Montreal Olympics, 1980 Moscow Olympics, 1971 Barcelona World Cup, 1973 Amsterdam World Cup and 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cup hockey teams, besides gold medallists of the Asian and Commonwealth Games. Then there will be Arjuna awardees and also Dronacharya awardees. They all will march in tandem with participants and remind the 50,000-odd spectators of the glory of Indian sports. Ramandeep Singh, who was the captain of the 1998 Asian Games champion Indian hockey team, will lead the home contingent in the march past. He will be joined by thrower Neelam J. Singh to take oath on behalf of all the participants. While the organisers were still busy addressing last minute logistic problems of the arriving contingents and officials, members of various committees, including ceremonial and protocol committee, supervised the rehearsals to make sure things do not go haywire at the last moment. The actual competitions will get underway on November 20. |
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Flame reaches
Jalandhar Jalandhar, November 18 The torch was handed over to Mr K. Siva Prasad Deputy Commissioner, Mr Praveen Kumar, ADC, Mr
Farooqui, SP Headquarters, and Olympians Kartar Singh, Balbir Singh and Bahadur Singh at
Paragpur, near here. Many others like Mr Somnath, ADC, Kapurthala, M.S.
Thaiya, SP Detective, and others were present at Paragpur to welcome the flame. The torch was taken in an open jeep followed by boys of Sports School to Guru Gobind Singh Stadium. At the stadium, Gurdev Singh took a round of the football ground and it was carried on to Burlton Park. It stopped over at Hans Raj Stadium, venue for badminton events, then at the table tennis hall before reaching Punjab Armed Police Complex, where it will remain for the night. |
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Focus on Punjabi pageantry Ludhiana, November 18 Bhangra, giddha, jhumar, drum beating, tug-of-war, rural orchestra, gatka by Nihangs in their traditional attire, acrobatic feats by the bazigars, gymnastics, and finally a daredevil show by motorcyclists of Punjab Police would constitute the 45-minute show to be presented during the opening ceremony. The city around the venue has been decked up to welcome the 10,500 participants and officials who for the next 12 days, will vie for honours in 26 disciplines at various venues here and at Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Patiala, SAS Nagar and Anandpur Sahib. Sportspersons continued to pour into the city today. A total of 1365 participants from as many as 19 states reached here till afternoon. Giving details of the arrangements made for this sports extravaganza, Mr I.S. Bindra , Secretary-General, organising committee of the National Games, said a sufficient number of vehicles had been arranged to transport the participants from their places of stay to Guru Nanak Stadium. “Whatever the discrepencies, they will be sorted out by this evening”, he said. Mr Bindra appreciated the efforts made by officials who had been associated with the accommodation of the participants. He specially mentioned the name of the Principal of the local Govenment College of Women in this regard. “In addition to cash sponsorship of Rs 3.30 crore from the consortium of oil companies, a sponsorship in ‘kind’ of Rs 2 crore had materialised with sports goods manufacturing concerns”, Mr Bindra informed. He further said that for security reasons mobile phones and carry bags would not be allowed in Guru Nanak Stadium on the opening day and the concluding day. Mr L.K. Advani will declare the Games open at 5.30 pm tomorrow. Ms Uma Bharati, Union Minister for Sports, Mr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana will also grace the occasion. |
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Trap machines
for shooting
event Chandigarh, November 18 On a visit to the site this afternoon, where these machines were being given final touches, this reporter saw Kanwar Singh along with another aide from Delhi trying to correct faults. Punjab are expecting the maximum medals in shooting in clay pigeon event only. It will have services of international renowned trap and skeet shooters such as
Manavjit, Mansher among others . Regarding the trap machine and mode of operation, Kanwar Brij said at a time, five shooters would be allowed to take part who will be have 15 trap machines. Each trap machine will have an elevated status varying from 1.5 metres to 3.5 metres for each participant and rotated at an angle of 45
degress. The participants in trap event would not be knowing all these positions. The clay bird made of tar having a weight of about 115 grams will have a normal speed of 125 miles per hour. A machine can store 200 birds at a time. Kanwar, now aged 61years, has been associated with clay pigeon shooting ever since Raja Karni Singh, the doyen of shooting, and later with Raja Randhir Singh. On the present range at SAS Nagar, Kanwar said one should ignore the minor problems like mud, uneven surfaces, and instead appreciate the facility. |
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Surprise checks conducted Patiala, November 18 All the infrastructure is in place and the three boxing rings came up today in the Polo grounds. The Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of the Regional Committee, Mr J.S. Bir, conducted surprise checks at hostels where sportspersons were being lodged and found the arrangements to be satisfactory. The latest to arrive were contingents of Andhra Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir. Sportspersons and technical delegates will be transported to Ludhiana tomorrow morning for the opening ceremony. Fourty buses have been requisitioned from the PRTC for the purpose. A shuttle service has also been started to transport the participants from their hostels to the venues at the Polo Grounds, Rink Hall, YPS Stadium and the indoor gymnasium which is located in the Polo grounds. Secretaries of those state sports associations, whose disciplines are being held here, discussed plans of staging their respective events. Prominent among those who were present were Mr G.S. Sarao, Secretary of the Punjab Boxing Association, Mr P.S. Virk, Secretary of the Gymnastic Federation of India (GFI), Mr Upkar Singh Virk, Secretary of the Punjab Kho-Kho Association, Mr Gurdeep Singh Malhi, secretary of the Punjab Kabaddi Association and Mr K.D.S. Nagra, a representative of the Indian Weightlifting Federation. Mr Bir disclosed that some of the teams arriving early could not be provided assistance at the reception counters set up at the local bus stand and the railway station as they had no prior information about the arrival of the teams. Meanwhile, a team of NIS doctors left the city today morning to check the Dope Control Centres at all the 21 venues spread across the state. Sports medicine experts from the New Delhi based SAI lab have also reached the NIS where the samples collected from the all 21 venues will be brought. |
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Wrestling
events from Nov 20 Chandigarh, November 18 On November 22, the rounds for weight categories 54 kg,58 kg, 63 kg, 69kg, 75 kg, 97 kg, 130 kg (freestyle and Greco-Roman); 46 kg, 51 kg, 56 kg, 62kg, 68 kg,75kg for women (freestyle), will be held while on November 23, 58 kg, 69kg,85 kg, 130 kg (freestyle and Greco-Roman) and 51kg, 62 kg, 75kg(women) boths will be held. The finals of 54 kg, 63 kg,76 kg, 97 kg (freestyle Greco-Roman), and 46 kg, 56 kg, 68 kg (women) will be held. On November 24, the finals of 58 kg,69kg, 85 kg and 130 kg for freestyle Greco-Roman and 51 kg,62 kg and 75kg (women) are to be held. |
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Netball not a
medal game Jalandhar, November 18 A total of 29 events will be contested. Tug-of-war is another event which will be witnessed for demonstration in the games whereas swimming has been excluded for which Mr Bindra blamed the Swimming Federation of India. “It is totally arbitrary. The swimming pool at Patiala was updated and they knew that it didn’t have proper heating facility. It is only now that they have starting objecting to it,” he told reporters. For these National Games, three new states have their token representation of 40 to 42 players. Uttaranchal, Uttrakhand and Jharkhand will be having their first representation at the games, he said. |
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Badminton
squad Jalandhar, November 18 |
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Kallis steadies S. Africa Port Elizabeth, November 18 Kallis was 84 not out with Shaun Pollock on 38 as South Africa reached on 211 for five in their second innings, before bad light stopped play. South Africa scored 362 in their first innings, to which India replied with 201. Two balls after reaching his 50, Kallis survived a sharp chance when VVS Laxman at second slip dropped a one-handed catch off the bowling of fast bowler Ajit Agarkar. The visitors resumed on 182 for eight and were all out in the eighth over of the day with fast bowler Pollock taking five for 40. The South African captain took his fifth wicket when he trapped Laxman in front for 89, India’s top score. Laxman batted for three hours, faced 121 balls and hit 12 fours. He and Anil Kumble shared a partnership of 80 runs, surpassing the previous ninth-wicket record of 77 for India against South Africa held by Kapil Dev and Kumble and set at the same venue in 1992-93. The innings ended when Kumble slashed a delivery from fast bowler Mornantau Hayward to Gary Kirsten in the gully to be dismissed for 28. South Africa lost their first wicket in the fifth over when Kirsten, on 12, edged a ball from paceman Javagal Srinath towards the slip cordon, where second slip Laxman took the catch despite the distraction of third slip Virender Sehwag diving across him. SCOREBOARD South Africa (first innings) 362 (H. Gibbs 196, M. Boucher 68 not out; J. Srinath 6-76). India
(first innings): Das lbw b Pollock 1 Dasgupta b Ntini 13 Dravid b Pollock 2 Sachin c Klusener b Pollock 1 Ganguly b Pollock 42 Laxman lbw b Pollock 89 Sehwag c Kirsten b Kallis 13 Agarkar c Boucher b Kallis 1 H. Singh run out (Gibbs) 0 Kumble c Kirsten b Hayward 28 Srinath not out 0 Extras:
(lb-3 w-2 nb-6) 11 Total: 201 FOW: 1-5 2-13 3-15 4-47 5-69 6-111 7-119 8-119 9-199 Bowling:
Pollock 16-3-40-5 (nb-5), Hayward 17-5-45-1, Ntini 14-3-49-1, Kallis 10-2-50-2 (w-2 nb-1), Boje 4-2-8-0, Klusener 1-0-6-0. South Africa
(second innings) Gibbs b Agarkar 12 Kirsten c Laxman b Srinath 5 Kallis batting 84 McKenzie c Dasgupta b Srinath 2 Dippenaar c Sehwag b H. Singh 28 Klusener c Sehwag b H. Singh 29 Pollock batting 38 Extras
13 Total (for 5 in 71 over) 211 FOW: 1-14, 2-22, 3-26, 4-91, 5-139 Bowling: Srinath 15-8-20-2, Kumble 8-0-17-0, H. Singh 20-2-78-2, Agarkar 19-2-63-1, Ganguly 5-0-17-0, Tendulkar 4-0-10-0.
Reuters |
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Lennox Lewis is boxing champ
Las Vegas, Nevada, November 18 Briton Lewis, who labelled Rahman a one-punch wonder when the American took his crowns last April in South Africa, was never threatened in the rematch held yesterday. He dominated the first three rounds before dropping his opponent with a thundering right one minute 29 seconds into the fourth. Rahman lay motionless on the canvas before trying to stumble to his feet as referee Joe Cortez counted him out, while Lewis pounded his chest in jubilation at joining Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield as the only men to win the world heavyweight title three times. “I said in South Africa that my belts were on loan,” the 36-year-old Lewis said.” He’s had his moment of fame, now the belts are back with me. “I’ve changed him name to Has-Been Rahman, The Buster Douglas of the 21st century. “I told you that punch in South Africa was a lucky one.” Lewis (39-2-1) also became just the fourth boxer to regain the heavyweight championship from the same fighter he lost it to. The others were Floyd Patterson, Ali and Holyfield. So punishing was Lewis’s assault that Rahman was unable to attend the post-fight news conference, making a mandatory visit to hospital as required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission doctor. Rahman’s manager said later that the 29-year-old fighter was fine and was taken to the hospital only as a precaution. “I want to assure all of you the Rock is fine,” Steve Nelson said. “The Rock says he will be back.”
Reuters  |
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B’desh in battle for survival Chittagong (Bangladesh), November 18 The hosts, made to follow-on 291 runs behind, ended the fourth day’s play on 227 for 4 in their second knock at the Aziz Stadium. Omar held his end up for seven hours to take Bangladesh within 64 runs of making Zimbabwe bat again and possibly avert defeat in the short series. Zimbabwe have three sessions of play to clinch the series after rain robbed them of certain victory in the first Test at Dhaka when the last two days were washed out. The Bangladeshi top order took the score to 184 for 1 by tea, before they were pegged back by a three-wicket burst from left-arm spinner Grant Flower. Omar, who started the day on two, batted dourly to make 28 runs in the first session, 27 in the second and 23 in the third. He has so far batted for nearly seven hours, hitting nine of his 321 deliveries for boundaries. Omar and first-innings hero Habibul Bashar batted through the afternoon session to add 122 for the second wicket. Bashar followed his 108 in the first outing with a defiant 76 (12x4). Earlier, Omar had put on 73 for the first wicket with al Sahariar, who made 40 before being trapped leg before wicket by seamer Henry Olonga. Bangladesh slipped from 195 for one to 203 for four after tea as Grant Flower removed Bashar, Aminul Islam and former captain Akram Khan in quick succession. Flower, a part-time bowler, now has seven wickets in the match after taking four in the first innings. AFP Scoreboard Zimbabwe (1st innings):
542-for 7 declared Bangladesh (1st innings): 251 Bangladesh (2nd innings):
Omar batting 80 Al Sahariar lbw b Olonga 40 Bashar c sub b G. Flower 76 Islam c Gripper b G. Flower 1 Akram Khan b G. Flower 2 Ashraful batting 1 Extras:
(b-2, lb-16, w-1, nb-8) 27 Total: (for 4 wkts, 100 overs) 227 Fall of wickets: 1-73, 2-195, 3-201, 4-203. Bowling:
Friend 20-6-39-0, Brent 25-6-58-0, G. Flower 30-14-37-3, Olonga 15-5-31-1, Marillier 6-1-23-0, Gripper 4-2-21-0. |
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Kambli
slams century Mumbai, November 18 MCA President’s XI, put into bat by England skipper Nasser Hussain made 373 for five off 90 overs with another Test discard Sairaj Bahutule and wicketkeeper Abhijit Shetey batting on 52 and 10 respectively at the draw of stumps. Jaffer, who hit as many as 15 fours and faced 148 balls in his stay of 202 minutes at the wicket, was a picture of confidence and had two century partnerships with his opening partner Vinayak Mane (33 off 66 balls) and with Kambli (109 off 109 balls).
Scoreboard Mumbai (first innings): Mane run out 33 Jaffer c Dawson b White 99 Kambli c Usman Affzal (sub) b Dawson 109 Thakkar c Vaughan b Ramprakash 46 Muzumdar c Hussain b Dawson 04 Bahutule batting 52 Shetye batting 10 Extras: 20 (71b, 13nb) Total:
For five wickets 373 in 90 overs. Fall of wicket: 1-100, 2-226, 3-272, 4-276, 5-336 Bowling:
M Hoggard 14-4-54-0 (1nb) J Ormond 15-2-75-0 (3nb) C White 9-1-43-1 (6nb) R Dawson 24-4-81-2 M Vaughan 18-2-70-0 (3nb) M Butcher 3-0-17-0 M Ramprakash 7-0-26-1. |
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AI, PSB in semis; PP lose New Delhi, November 18 Punjab and Sind Bank registered their second consecutive wins in the tournament defeating IHF (Jr) 2-1 from Pool A. Playing in Pool D, Air-India held Rock Rovers, Chandigarh, to a 3-3 draw but moved ahead owing to better goal average. In another match, Corps of Signals advanced keeping their hopes alive for a semi-final berth thrashing Punjab Police 3-1 in Pool C. With the defeat, their second on the trot, Punjab Police bowed out of the tournament. PSB conceded the first goal as Somesh Kanta of the IHF sounded the board to give his team 1-0 lead in the 10th minute. However, PSB pulled their act together and earned as many as 10 penalty corners converting two of them for the win. Mandeep Singh scored the equaliser in the 27th minute when he converted scooping the ball from close off Parmeender Singh. In the second half, Parmeender Singh scored the winner off a penalty corner in the 56th minute. The match between Air India and Rock Rovers was well contested with both teams going all out for victory. Rovers scored the first goal through Partek off a penalty corner. Gurpreet Singh brought the ball down and Partek, who was close to the left bar of the goalpost, made no mistake as he flicked to score goal for his team in the 32nd minute. But Air-India scored the equaliser three minutes later when Hardeep Singh rushed with the ball from the left midfield and hit a reverse stick shot, landing the ball straight into the goalpost. In the second half, Rovers moved ahead in the 41st minute as captain Navdeep Singh scooped the ball into the goalpost from the left flank after getting a pass from Partek. Responding to the challenge, Air-India made it 2-2 in the 46th minute through Roshan Tete. Tete capitalised on a pass from DD’souza and found the target from outside the D circle. Rock Rovers were 3-2 up again when Rajpal Singh converted a penalty stroke in 58th minute. Air-India missed a golden opportunity in the 62nd minute when they muffed a penalty stroke as Surinder Singh was unable to convert. However, a minute later, Kishore Kumar scored a field goal to hold Rock Rovers to a 3-3 draw. Earlier, Punjab Police scored the first and the only goal through Kulbir Singh, while Ghanshyam Das, Lakra and Tarsem Singh scored one each for Corps of Signals.
PTI |
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Black Elephant Patiala win
golf tourney Ambala, November 18 Black Elephant Patiala, comprising J.S.
Dullat, Jaskirat Dullat, Aman Daliwal and Col Kuldev Nand, won the cup. The runner-up team was BSF, Jalandhar, comprising Vikram
Janjua, Balwidner Singh, Jasminder Singh and A.S. Cheema. The Best Gross award went to Sandeep Sandhu. Individual best net score (handicap nine and below) was Varun Parmar and runner-up (handicap 9 and below). Sgt Nawab Singh. Individual best net score (handicap 10 and above) Col Dilbagh Rai and runner-up (handicap 10 and above) was Col Gurdial Singh. Ladies (winner) Tarandeep Rekhi an runner-up Mrs Kanta
Mehra. Ladies putting (winner) Mrs P.D. Joshi and runner-up Mrs Gauri Singla. Seven-year-old Pranav Mehra was the youngest participant. This golf tournament was instituted by
H.K. Das in 1972 and since then it has been an annual feature. It was for the first time that this event was played on the extend golf course of the club, which now comprises 18 greens instead of the earlier nine greens. The
tournament organiser, Mr Y.P. Das, said the trophy was a running
trophy of hall-mark silver. The tournament was played as a medal round
stroke play over 18 holes.
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Basketball
meet from Nov 29 Gidderbaha, November 18 Mr Manpreet Singh Badal, president, Raja Poras Sports Club and Welfare Society, which is organising the tournament, said about Rs 12 lakh would be spent on the championship. Winning team of men and women would be given Rs 1 lakh each as cash prize while the runners-up in both categories would be given Rs 50,000 each. In men’s category Punjab Police, the Rest of Punjab, Services, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Bharati Bank, Chennai, South Central Railway, Western Railway, Central Railway and Tisco have confirmed participation. Among women South Central Railway, Central Railway, Southern Railway, Northern Railway, Western Railway and Punjab will participate. |
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Socceroos keen
to end drought Sydney, November 18 Australia’s Socceroos, hungry to break their 28-year drought, will stage the first leg in Melbourne on Tuesday against the South Americans, who have failed to qualify for the last two World Cups. The return leg is in Montevideo next Sunday (November 25). The Uruguayans, who get a second crack at qualifying having finished fifth in the Conmebol group, have never before had to go outside of South America to make a World Cup. This makes the two playoff games an intriguing match-up between a one-time World Cup power and a new world football team, whose entire line-up of players is based overseas.
AFP |
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Hewitt
clinches Masters Cup Sydney, November 18 Just two days after he became the youngest man in history to reach the top ranking, Hewitt put the icing on the cake by winning a cool $ 1.52 million for going through the season-ending tournament undefeated. The 20-year-old Australian showed no ill-effects from the groin strain that troubled him in Saturday’s semifinal win over Juan Carlos Ferrero as he demolished Grosjean in less than two hours. The Frenchman had only just sneaked into the elite eight-man field by winning the recent Paris Masters series and despite losing his first round-robin match to Hewitt, did not drop another set to reach the final.
Reuters |
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Pak players
to raise funds for Afghans Islamabad, November 18 The cricketers vowed to conduct a vigorous campaign for Afghan Muslims and appealed to their countrymen to take part in it, Pakistani newspaper ‘The Dawn’ reported, quoting the players speaking to journalists at the Gaddafi Stadium yesterday. The cricketers said special counters to receive donations would be set up in all cities. Wasim said that some matches might be held in small cities to raise funds. Inzamam-ul-Haq had donated Rs 1,00,000 while Azhar Mahmood donated $ 1,000, Saeed said. Other members of the team would also contribute.
UNI |
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Chandigarh, November 18
