 |
|
Anand storms into LEON, June 4: Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand stormed into the final of the.....more
Police Games concludes DHARAMSHALA, June 4: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today .....more
Bacher bans mobile phones from dressing room JOHANNESBURG, June 4: Mobile phones have been banned from the South African team’s ...more |
 |
Second
batch of Excelsior Sports Correspondent UDHAMPUR, June 4: The Additional Commissioner, Udhampur, Mr J K Sawhney today flagged off the second batch of trekkers for national adventure expedition being organised by the Youth Hostel Association of India and Department of Youth Services and Sports, here.......more LONDON, June 4: Former England wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes watched his Worcestershire team-mate Vikram Solanki hit a half-century against the West Indies at Worcester yesterday and then promptly tipped him as a future star.............more. CBI counter checking
truthfulness of allegations NEW DELHI, June 4: As the cricketing action has shifted to Dhaka for the Asia Cup, the Central Bureau of Investigation is utilising the time to ascertain if the allegations made by former players and administrators about . .......more Bubka to hang up his TURIN, June 4: Six-time world Pole Vault champion Sergei Bubka announced here yesterday that he would call time on. ...more Hingis overcomes PARIS, June 4: Martina Hingis recovered from a bizarre mid-match slump to defeat Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir today. .......more |
 |
|
|
Anand storms into Advance Chess final LEON, June 4: Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand stormed into the final of the Advance Chess Tournament with a hard-fought 2.5-1.5 victory over world’s top woman Hudit Polgar of Hungary here last night. Bidding to revive his form which has touched a low this year, India’s anand drew both the rapid games and then defeated Polgar in the second blitz game to set up final against Spaniard Alexei Shirov. One of the best users of computers amongst competitive players, world number two Anand was stretched to 60 moves in the opening rapid game before the two agreed for a truce. Anand, with white pieces, started the game well opting for less used ‘5c3’ variation against the Sicilian Paulsen and gained space advantage in the middlegame. Judit’s counter-attack was repulsed by Anand when on the seventh move he put his knight enprise in the centre. What followed was a magnificent attack but with clock ticking away Anand squandered the advantage in the ensuing rook and pawn endgame despite a two-pawn advantage. With players allowed to refer to chess databases in rapid games, Anand quickly changed his gameplan and forced a draw in the next with black pieces. Anand employed the Sicilian Nazdorf but the game transposed into the main variation of the Sicilian Scheveningen. After the opening Anand equalised easily with a fine pawn sacrifice in the centre and steered the game to a draw in just 25 moves and take the match into tie-break where two blitz games were to be played. The first blitz game was drawn as Polgar could not make headaway in the Rubinstein variation of the French defence and settled for draw in an opposite colour Bishop endgame. Anand opened with the queen pawn and faced the kings Indian defence with white pieces in the decider. In the classical variation Polgar adopted the positional set up and allowed a slight advantage to anand. After routine manoeuvring polgar went for the queen exchange that left her ‘d’ pawn isolated in a copy book fashion. Anand won the pawn with precise piece manoeuvres and recorded a smooth victory after 68 moves. (PTI) |
|
Police
Games concludes DHARAMSHALA, June 4: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today blamed the previous Governments for low standard of Indian sports in the international arena and said this was due to "wrong policies" regarding sports in the past. Addressing the closing ceremony of the 49th All India Police Games here last evening, Mr Dhumal said the country with one hundred crore population could occasionally get silver medals in global meets whereas countries with little population win numerous gold medals. He said if sports persons were selected on the basis of their talent in the country they would also show their metal. He stressed on the need of selection of players on the basis of talent and not on recommendations. The Chief Minister was also critical of those international cricket players who earned a lot of money through matchfixing. Mr Dhumal described June three as a historic day for the state when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced construction of Rs 1000 crore tunnel to keep Lahaul accessible throughout the year and on the same day the 49th All India Police Games meet concluded successfully. Over 1,300 players comprising 76 teams from 27 States and Union Territories participated in the games. He said such meets helped in strengthening national integration, brotherhood and affection amongst one another and thanked the Police Control Board for organising this meet at Dharamshala. All India Police Sports Control Board secretary K P Jain said that 36 players of the police forces were honoured with Arjun award. He said that during 1999 World Police Sports meet, India bagged 52 medals which included 33 gold, 14 silver and four bronze. He announced that the Himachal Pradesh Government would take many steps to improve the standard of sports and encourage sportspersons. DGP T R Mahajan welcomed the Chief Minister and thanked the organisers for the successful completion of the sports meet. (UNI) |
|
Bacher bans mobile phones from dressing room JOHANNESBURG, June 4: Mobile phones have been banned from the South African team’s dressing room, United Cricket Board (UCB) managing director Ali Bacher confirmed today. The Johannesburg Sunday Times reported that Bacher had urged the move "as part of an effort to assure the public that members of the South African cricket team are ‘above board’." Hansie Cronje, sacked as South Africa captain after admitting taking money from bookmakers, allegedly communicated with bookies via a mobile phone given to him for that purpose. Bacher later confirmed the ban after reading the recently published report by judge Malik Mohammed Qayyum into allegations of corruption in Pakistan cricket. "It was an excellent recommendation that we saw in the qayyum report and we have decided to adopt it in South African cricket," Bacher said. South Africa coach Graham Ford said he did not believe phones had been a problem in the past. "You would be fined quite heavily if it rang in the dressing room because it would be a distraction but if you had it on vibrate then you could make and receive calls," Ford said. "But cellphones were effectively banned for most of the guys anyway because we would turn them off and give them to (team manager) Goolam Raja to be locked away with the rest of the valuables at the beginning of the day’s play." Cronje and three other South African cricketers Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom were implicated in match-fixing by the Delhi Police on April 7. All have denied the charges.(REUTERS) |
|
Hingis overcomes slump to reach last eight PARIS, June 4: Martina Hingis recovered from a bizarre mid-match slump to defeat Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir today and advance to the last eight of the French Open women’s singles. The top-seeded swiss teenager, determined to win the only Grand Slam title that has eluded her, downed Dragomir 6-3 0-6 6-1 and now plays Chanda Rubin in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. The unseeded American, whose career was almost ended by a hand injury, beat Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, a finalist here back in 1988, 6-4 7-5. Hingis cruised through the first set against Dragomir in 35min but lost the second in just 22 as the unseeded Romanian played solid tennis and the world number one made a series of inexplicable errors. Dragomir held for 1-0 in the third set - her seventh straight game - but Hingis then hit back with six straight games of her own to maintain her unbeaten record in their head-to-head clashes. "I lost concentration and in the third set I knew that I really had to fight," said Hingis. "At Roland Garros you have to fight through every round. You have to really want it." Dragomir, 27, made the quarter-finals here in 1997 and is a proven clay court performer who was playing in the fourth round here for the sixth time. Hingis was briefly booed for disputing a line call, but the Paris crowd appears to have largely forgiven her for her tantrums and tears during last year’s final - in which she was beaten by the now-retired Steffi Graf. Rubin took 38min to win the first set against Zvereva and the second went to 5-5 before the American broke for 6-5 and then served out for the victory. There were no fewer than 10 breaks of serve in the match. It was 24-year-old Rubin’s fourth win in five meetings with Zvereva as she equalled her best performance here. She also reached the last eight in 1995 before her career was disrupted by a hand injury that at one stage prevented her from even holding a racket. All eight fourth-round women’s singles were scheduled to be played today, along with four men’s fourth-round encounters. The remaining four men’s fourth-round matches are slated for tomorrow, including third-seeded Swede Magnus Norman against last year’s beaten finalist Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine and sixth-seeded Frenchman Cedric Pioline against 12-seeded Russian Marat Safin. (AFP) |
|
Second batch of trekkers flagged off Excelsior Sports Correspondent UDHAMPUR, June 4: The Additional Commissioner, Udhampur, Mr J K Sawhney today flagged off the second batch of trekkers for national adventure expedition being organised by the Youth Hostel Association of India and Department of Youth Services and Sports, here. The batch which included 24 boys and 24 girls will be exposed to nature, mountains and local culture of the places where they visit during the seven days tour. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ashok Kumar, District Youth Services and Sports Officer said that prior to this group, a batch of 47 trekkers is already on the mission. Prominent among those present on the occasion included Messrs Chuni Lal Sharma, Principal of the BBS Vidya Peeth, Udhampur, Mr Roshan Lal, M P Kailoo, Principal, HSS Boys, Vijay Mohan Raina, Principal, Raj Guru, Ashok Kumar Sharma, Jyoti Parkash, Bhushan Sethi, Champa Devi, Balwan Singh, Kishore Kumar. |
|
|
LONDON, June 4: Former England wicketkeeper Steve Rhodes watched his Worcestershire team-mate Vikram Solanki hit a half-century against the West Indies at Worcester yesterday and then promptly tipped him as a future star. Rhodes, captaining Worcestershire in the absence of England’s graeme hick, saw his team take a 68-run first-innings lead over the tourists in their first match of the summer in this country, before taking two more Windies wickets to leave them on 45 for two. He then declared about Solanki: "He’s definitely a test player for the future." Solanki, in England’s one-day side in South Africa and Zimbabwe last winter following his a tour exploits in Bangladesh and New Zealand, cracked 51 containing eight fours off 72 balls in the tour match. It took his aggregate tally in his last four first-class innings to 343. Rhodes said: "He’s in good form. If you look at the way the central contracts have gone they are going to look to play those guys first, so he’s got to keep getting his head down and getting runs. "He’s played well against the West Indies on an awkward wicket and against good bowling. That will give him a lot of encouragement. "He’s just got to keep doing the right things and get on a tour again if he doesn’t get selected this year. "Performances are what push you in, not anybody else talking about it. It’s actual weight of runs - and at the moment he’s starting to do that." (AFP) |
|
CBI counter checking truthfulness of allegations in match-fixing NEW DELHI, June 4: As the cricketing action has shifted to Dhaka for the Asia Cup, the Central Bureau of Investigation is utilising the time to ascertain if the allegations made by former players and administrators about match-fixing could be corroborated. CBI is understood to have sent its officials to various places in India to carry out the operation. As a number of cricketers and commentators, including Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, whom the bureau planned to examine were busy with the Dhaka Tournament, the bureau deferred their questioning till their return to India. Presently the CBI is making efforts to ascertain the truth behind the allegations. CBI sources told UNI that the agency was trying to verify the allegations by questioning various people linked to cricket or otherwise in the country. The bureau has sent its investigating officers to every nook and corner of the country for the purpose and also to collect all relevant information related to the case. The sources said, "we are getting the allegations (related to the match-fixing controversy) verified... Our teams have gone to various parts of the country to talk to a number of people on match-fixing." The CBI was asked by the Government in April-end to probe the match-fixing controversy shrouding Indian cricket and during its about one month of probe it has come across wide-ranging allegations made by players and cricket administrators. Mr Gupta had told a private tv channel recently that the Income Tax Department has a list of cricketers and specific information against them of amassing wealth, both movable and immovable, disproportionate to their known source of income. He had also favoured the match-fixing case be probed from it and FERA points of view saying that the CBI alone will not be able to reach the bottom of the scandal. The CBI is presently carrying out a preliminary inquiry into the match-fixing scandal in which the name of the country’s top cricketers and sports administrators have figured prominently. Some of them are Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and Manoj Prabhakar. The bureau is likely to take the assistance of the income tax to gather information about the financial dealings by these cricketers and many others connected with the game who are in the eye of suspicion. Though the income tax has maintained an official line that it would not be able to provide information about its role in the present case, sources in the department have suggested that its officials are on the trail of certain cricketers and their family members to find out commission of any financial illegullarity by them. A number of such cricketers are those who are being closely monitored by the CBI in view of the widespread allegations made against them by their co-players or ex-cricketing officials. The present phase of the match-fixing controversy in India is now two months old. The case came to the fore after the Delhi Police registered a case against South African captain Hansie Cronje and three of his teammates - Herschelle Gibbs, Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje - and two bookies on April seven. Later, Manoj Prabhakar came up with a shocking announcement that Kapil Dev had offered him Rs 25 lakh as bribe to underperform during a one-day cricket match against archrival Pakistan during the Singer Cup Tournament in Sri Lanka in 1994. Since then, allegations have been flying thick and more and more cricketers are getting trapped in the match-fixing web. It was Prabhakar who raked up this issue about three years ago. At that time he had not disclosed the name of the cricketer towards whom he had pointed his finger. (UNI)
|
|
Bubka to hang up his Pole after Olympics TURIN, June 4: Six-time world Pole Vault champion Sergei Bubka announced here yesterday that he would call time on his glittering career after a final stab at gold in the Sydney Olympics. The Ukrainian legend, speaking at a memorial service for former athletics’ chief Premio Nebiolo, said: "I’ve had a difficult time, undergoing a second Tendon operation after the one I had in 1996. I’ve had to really work hard these last three months to make sure I’m in the best condition for September (and the Olympics)." Bubka, who has towered over his discipline for years, refused to be drawn on his chances of striking gold in Australia to add to the Olympic title he gained in 1988. "It’s far too early to say, the season’s barely started and I’ll have to wait until the first competitions to have a better idea," he said. Bubka will be one of the big draws at the international meeting here on June 10 at the renamed Primo Nebiolo Stadium. (AFP)
|
|
| home | state | national | business | editorial | advertisement | sports |
