Vishwanathan Anand

Anand into winning mode

WIJK AAN ZEE (THE NETHERLANDS), Jan 15: Vishwanathan Anand got into the winning mode with a fine win in the second round of the Corus ....more

Andre Agassi

Australian Open
Agassi joins Russian
royals on cruise into
second round

MELBOURNE, Jan 15: Andre Agassi, the reigning king of Melbourne park....more

CBI terms Azhar’s
allegations ‘rubbish’

NEW DELHI, Jan 15: In a strong rebuttal of former Indian captain .....more

Seles, Kournikova kick
off Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Jan 15: Anna Kournikova and Monica Seles drew contrasting pictures.....more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 15: Tawi Trekkers organised its 18th Annual prize distribution function wherein its chairman and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Anil Goswami was chief guest..........more

Ambedkar school
student to take part
in National Softball

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 15: Navneet Kour, a student of class 9th of Dr Ambedkar Memorial Convent School, has been selected to represent J&K in the National Softball Championship......more

Nagrota Club beat
Jandrah in Cricket
Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 15: Nagrota Cricket Club defeated Jandrah Cricket Club in the final of a cricket tournament organised by the Jandrah Welfare Committee in memory of Krishan Singh and.....more

Culture cum sports
meet organised by
Nehru Yuva Kendra

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

POONCH, Jan 15: Nehru Yuva Kendra, Poonch organised cultural cum sports meet on the eve of National Youth Day (Swami Vivekanand Jayanti), wherein a number of youth clubs and mahila mandals took part.......more

Anand into winning mode

WIJK AAN ZEE (THE NETHERLANDS), Jan 15: Vishwanathan Anand got into the winning mode with a fine win in the second round of the Corus Grandmasters Internationals 2001 over Sergei Tiviakov.

Anand’s 46-move win over Tiviakov last evening followed his first round draw against Michael Adams. The victory puts anand at 1.5 points after two rounds, while Garry Kasparov notched up another win to end his first two days with a perfect record.

Today will be a rest day and tomorrow, the first major clash of the tournament will take place with Anand playing Kasparov.

But on a yet another cold and freezing day, which is expected to be a feature of this tournament, Garry Kasaparov, ensured he was not giving away any draws to weak opponents when he crushed a Fedorov in another match.

That was the Russian’s second win in as many matches and put him on top of the table. He is the only player to have won both rounds so far and has started evoking memories of his domineering win here last year.

There were two other results in the day, as Vladimir Kramnik saw to it he was not lagging with a win over local Loek Van Wely, who recently entered the 2700 class in terms of ELO rating.

Veselin Topalov, who lost to Shirov on the opening day, made up with a good win over Jeroen Piket as the local players took a beating.

Earlier on a freezing cold Friday, the first round opened in a fairly explosive manner, but for Anand there was an element of luck, as Michael Adams having white peices was unable to win, even when in an advantageous position against the Indian.

Anand managed to keep Michael Adams at Bay and started with a half point. Adams could have created problems for Anand, who has beaten him in the World Championships twice, but allowed him to slip away later.

Garry Kasparov outplayed Sergei Tiviakov and won the spectators’ prize - a speciality in this tournament - while Alexei Shirov outwitted Veselin Topalov and Alexander Morozevich scored a lucky win over Jeroen Piket.

Playing with black pieces, Kasparov played extremely focussed on the game which was a grand grix attack (the Vinken variation), in which black had to be careful about not letting in too many weaknesses.

However by the 15th move, Kasparov was clearly better. He had all the central control and hit out with multiple threats. This was Kasparov at his creative best. Tiviakov was just not able to take the pressure.

Shirov played in the very sharp Perenyi variation (named after the young hungarian grandmaster Bela Perenyi, who died in a tragic car accident in 1988). Played brilliantly, Sherov won in just 24 moves.

Alexander Morozevich, who picked up four spectator prizes in the 2000 event, was down and out and losing when Jeroen Piket committed an awful blunder and virtually gifted away the game.

The game had the Chigorin defence, to which the teenaged Morozevich seems to take a liking. Midway through Piket was definitely the one with the edge.

Kramnik played out a dull draw in 15 moves against dutch grandmaster Jan Timman. In the other matches, Peter Leko drew with a Fedorov, Loek Van Wely and Vassily Ivanchuk also drew. (UNI)

Ambedkar school student to take part in National Softball

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 15: Navneet Kour, a student of class 9th of Dr Ambedkar Memorial Convent School, has been selected to represent J&K in the National Softball Championship.

The championship which will be held at Indore from January 18-23, is being organised by teh Softball Association of India. She has been named in the State’s team for the fifth consecutive time, a handout issued by the School said here today.

CBI terms Azhar’s allegations ‘rubbish’

NEW DELHI, Jan 15: In a strong rebuttal of former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin allegations that the Central Bureau of Investigation did not probe the wrongdoings by certain mumbai cricketers, the agency today termed the charges ‘rubbish’, saying that all these aspects were considered before submission of the report.

Special CBI Director G Achari said the agency made inquiries about all aspects of the scandal before submitting the report. "Only after a thorough inquiry we came to the conclusion and filed the report to the Government," he told a press conference where CBI Director R K Raghavan was also present.

Asked to react specifically on Azhar’s charges, Mr Achari said, "that’s all wrong. We have probed this aspect as well." The match-fixing report was submitted only after a proper investigation, including the examination of the Mumbai cricketers whose names had figured in the controversy.

Without naming Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Vinod Kambli, the senior CBI official said the allegations against all these Mumbai cricketers were probed, but nothing substantial was found in them.

In an interview to a weekly recently, the stylish Hyderabad batsman, who has been banned for life by the BCCI, described CBI’s match fixing report as "blackmailing tactics" and flayed the agency for not properly probing the ‘Mumbai lobby."

"Nobody talks of the Rs 70 lakh cash found in Sunil Gavaskar’s Mumbai Gymkhana locker, what about Ravi Shastri’s Ali Bagh farm house and other costly properties and how did Vinod Kambli lose his money from a locker," the former captain asked.

"I think people are jealous of me. I have had a successful career and have played for long" Azhar said.

Azhar had questioned Sachin Tendulkar’s statement to the CBI that he (Azhar) did not give 100 per cent while being part of the team, and added "that is completely untrue. Under his (Sachin’s) captaincy, I scored more runs than he had. I find it difficult to understand why he had made such a statement."

Azhar had claimed that a "malicious campaign was launched against me when I was made captain of the team." He claimed that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President A C Muthiah was ‘opposed to my candidature’.

Azhar said, "I have given my best years to cricket. I have really worked hard and never been restricted playing cricket."

On his decision to move the court challenging the life ban, Azhar said, "I am emphatic about my success in court, I am any way moving to a court of law and I believe that justice will be done. It is important here to state that I am a law -abiding citizen."

Azhar said he will never let down Indian cricket and the fans who are hoping that ‘I will tide over this’. (UNI)

Seles, Kournikova kick off Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Jan 15: Anna Kournikova and Monica Seles drew contrasting pictures on the first day of the Australian Open today, Kournikova making a colourful start while seles was on court for the blink of an eye.

Seles, four times a winner in Melbourne, was handed a walkover into the second round while Kournikova was made to work a little harder as she began her quest for a first professional singles title.

Former world number one Seles had hardly broken a sweat before her match against fellow American Brie Rippner was over.

Fourth-seeded Seles comfortably won the opening game of their match on Melbourne Park’s new showcourt one and had played just two points in the second game when Rippner twisted her ankle as she ran across the backcourt.

The unseeded Rippner fell painfully, with onlookers wincing in sympathy.

Rippner was treated on court, her left ankle visibly swollen and bruised, before the 20-year-old announced she could not continue.

Seles offered Rippner her commiserations and will meet Frenchwoman Anne-Gaelle sidot or Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland in the second round.

Fizz and Colour

While Seles’s match may have been a letdown, Kournikova was all fizz and colour as she took on unseeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova on court one.

Parading a new yellow and black outfit which she had designed herself, eighth seeded Kournikova seemed on course for an easy win after she raced through the first set against Hantuchova.

Hantuchova, at 17 playing her first grand slam event, hit back in the second set to lead 3-0 and then 4-2 before Kournikova stamped her authority to win 6-2 7-5.

"Sometimes with this kind of player you never know what’s coming," Kournikova said of her second-set lapse against the unheralded Hantuchova.

"In the second set I think that I relaxed a little bit and started to make mistakes. I was too defensive but then I found my rhythm again," she said.

Kournikova will now meet Hungarian Rita Kuti Kis in the second round after Kuti Kis beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-6 1-6 6-4.

Seles and Kournikova were among the first matches in the season-opening grand slam event, with world number two and US Open champion Marat Safin of Russia to play Spaniard Galo Blanco on centre court.

Defending women’s champion Lindsay Davenport is to kick off the evening session of play against troubled teenager Jelena Dokic.

Dokic has said she will play under a Yugoslav flag instead of for her adopted home of Australia after her family raised concerns over the tournament draw and over her treatment by the Australian media.

That match will be followed by third-seeded Pete Sampras of the United States against Karol Kucera of Slovakia. (REUTERS)

Tawi Trekkers hold annual prize distribution function

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 15: Tawi Trekkers organised its 18th Annual prize distribution function wherein its chairman and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr Anil Goswami was chief guest.

On the occasion, the Tawi Trekkers honoured Abhimanyu Sherpa, a 10th standard student for creating history by becoming the All India sport climbing champion in U-12 year group. He was given a cash prize of Rs 5000 alongwith trophy.

Shobha Rajput, a seasoned climber of the State, was honoured with a cash prize of Rs 5000 for winning three silver medals and one bronze during the North-zonal and national competitions. Another climber given the cash award was Bhawana Sharma, a class 9th student. She was given Rs 4000 and a trophy for her outstanding performance during the year.

Besides these three outstanding climbers, Shurba Chopra, Megha Khajuria of Happy Model Higher Secondary School, Udhampur; Rooprashi, Neha Khajuria, Radhika Jandial, Nikhil Kudyar and Ashish Bhagat of National Academy, Udhampur; Sudhanshu Abrol and Ankush Uppal of New Modern High School, Jammu and Sushil Singh of GGM Science College, Jammu, besides Ashwami Sharma and Angrez Singh were also felicitated in the annual function.

The Trekker of the millennium award was conferred on Ram Khajuria, who is general secretary of the Tawi Trekkers. While, Rajiv Sharma, Everester and national adventure awardee was presented with Pride of J&K trophy. Dedication awards were presented to Shamsher Singh and Rajesh Mukhi for distinguished service.

Vishal Gupta of Poonch was given ‘Trekker of the year award’ for successfully undertaking a trek to Kailash Mansarovar in China.

Maximum participation award was bagged by Model Institute of Education and Research, Jammu.

Master Rajat Kapoor, a class 3rd student of Delhi Public School who enthralled the audience with his melodious songs was given a special cash prize of Rs 1100 by the chief guest. Students of New Era Environment School were also given equal prize for Rajasthani dance.

Later, the chief guest, Anil Goswami said that there was a vast potential for membership in the Northern and Eastern parts of the country which the Tawi Trekkers is trying to tap. He thanked the Secretary, State Sports Council, Sheikh Fazal Ahmed, who was also present, for sponsoring various activities of the Club.

Earlier, Sumant Singh Jamwal, presidnet of the Club welcomed the guests, followed by the brief account of the activities by the general secretary, Ram Khajuria.

Sports Officer of the State Sports Council, Ajit Singh Wazir and Som Raj Gupta, member Sports Council were also present.