MUMBAI, May 6: Indian football team captain Baichung Bhutia today said bad refereeing at UAE and Yemen prevented his team from winning. ..........more

Arjuna Ranatunga

Arjuna castigates
investigators for pursuing
bookies’ charges

COLOMBO, May 6: Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga has hit out at official ...........more

Weeping Wang’s comeback provides dramatic finale

OSAKA, May 6: China’s Wang Liqin wept tears of happiness today after staging a courageous comeback to defeat team-mate Kong Linghui 3-2 in ......more

Stadium roof caves in, injuring hundreds in Iran

TEHRAN, May 6: Several soccer fans were killed and hundreds others injured today when part of the roof of a stadium....more

Satrayan Club wins Ajay Memorial Cricket Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 6: Satrayan Cricket Club lifted the Ajay Memorial Cricket Cup beating Sharda Cricket Club by eight runs in the final which played at........more

Zion Club holds cycle race

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 6: Zion Club, Jammu organised two-day inter-school hurdle cycle race competition at DPS ground, here, wherein around 30 schools ....more

Vishal Club enters final of Mulkh Raj Memorial Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 6: Despite the brave fight by Mohan Singh, Luxmi Cricket Club lost to Vishal Cricket Club by 35 runs in the second semi-final to reach .....more

Ist Invitational Open North-Zone Badminton tourney begins today

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 6: Mala Gaba of Chandigarh among over 60 shuttlers of national repute are taking part in the three-day long Ist Justice I K Kotwal Invitational Open North-Zone Badminton Tourna......more

Former Minister, Mr R S Chib giving away winners cup to Satrayan Cricket Club at Satrayan in R S Pura on Sunday. Excelsior/Ashok

Bad refereeing at UAE and Yemen did us in: Bhutia

MUMBAI, May 6: Indian football team captain Baichung Bhutia today said bad refereeing at UAE and Yemen prevented his team from winning either of the games in the Asian Zone group-8 qualifying matches.

A tired-looking Bhutia told reporters after the team’s arrival here that it was very disappointing for him personally to see his team suffer in the middle as he watched from the sidelines after receiving two yellow cards against UAE which India lost 0-1.

‘The refereeing in the match against Yemen on Friday, where we were held to a 3-all draw was equally bad and at the same time I should say we failed to defend the 3-2 lead which we had got through acting captain I M Vijayan’, he added.

‘Now we have two games against Brunei and we will go all out to win as we still have an outside chance of making it to the next round’, Bhutia said.

When asked whether his presence could have made any difference to the outcome of the match, Bhutia said ‘it could have, as Vijayan and I had combined well at Bangalore and we had a very good understanding between us which was disturbed to a large extent when I had to sit out against Yemen’.

Indian coach Sukhwinder Singh said ‘the refereeing in yemen was better than what it was against UAE but the ground conditions at Yemen was very slippery due to rains and this created problems for our boys’.

‘Our forward line played their heart out and helped us take a 3-2 lead six minutes from half time but our defence was found wanting. If our defenders were more practical on the field then I think we could have had a win on our hand’, Sukhwinder added.

‘I also think Bhutia’s absence made a lot of difference to the outcome of the match and it must have been very disappointing for him to see his team’s performance from the sidelines’, Sukhwinder said and added that ‘I personally felt that quite a few decisions went against us but then we have to take it in our strides and hopefully do well in the next two games on hand’.

He said, ‘though it is very difficult to predict our chances of making it to the next round, with a little bit of luck and hard work i still think we can pull it off’.

‘The boys are very tired and we will rest today and start our practice session from tomorrow. It has been a little disappointing for the boys as well but they have to get over it and focus on the next two matches’, Sukhwinder added.

Sukhwinder’s real test starts now till the next seven months when India will play two matches in Brunei, the Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur, the tour of England, the Afro-Asian Games and then the SAF Cup. (PTI)

Arjuna castigates investigators for
pursuing bookies’ charges

COLOMBO, May 6: Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga has hit out at official investigators for probing "nonsensical allegations by a self-confessed rogue" even as investigator Desmond Fernando accused the cricketer of not co-operating with the match-fixing inquiry panel.

Ranatunga has expressed amazement that Fernando, an eminent lawyer conducting the Sri Lankan Cricket Board’s inquiry against Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta’s charges implicating him and another test star Aravinda De Silva, had thought it fit to call for his explanation.

"The very fact that I have been called upon to make observations on the allegations of Gupta is a grave insult to me, which I resent," Ranatunga said in a detailed reply published in a newspaper here.

Rejecting the charges as "uncorroborated, ridiculous and unworthy of consideration", Ranatunga has attributed malafides to the dissolved executive committee of the cricket board headed by Thilanga Sumathipala in pursuing the charges and ordering an inquiry.

Gupta had alleged that Ranatunga and De Silva had agreed to under-perform in the Lucknow cricket test against in India in 1994 and that he had paid $15,000 to De Silva.

The two cricketers were interviewed by Fernando in the presence of two investigators from the anti-corruption unit of the International Cricket Council on Wednesday as part of a global inquiry into match-fixing and illegal betting in cricket.

Fernando said Ranatunga did not co-operate with the investigators, and refused to answer during the two and a half hours of questioning on Wednesday.

"Ranatunga’s lawyers took up the position that he had not been given prior notice of the questions," Fernando said. "It is now up to the ICC’s anti-corruption panel to decide how they want to proceed."

However, in contrast, Fernando said De Silva co-operated with the officials and answered their questions.

Ranatunga seems to have his own reasons for the non-cooperating stand that he has adopted. He listed a number of infirmities in Gupta’s statement to the CBI.

"No book-maker would have offered bribes to a Sri Lankan cricketer to under-perform against India in India in 1994, as the team was going through a lean trot in 1994, having lost two consecutive test series against India and South Africa in 1993.

"We had never at any time, and have not to date, defeated India in a single test match on Indian soil. In these circumstances, is it even scarcely credible that any bookmaker would offer bribes to any Sri Lankan cricketer to under-perform in any match against India on Indian soil?", he argued.

Further, Ranatunga said, Gupta had claimed to have paid $15,000 to De Silva for doing the Lucknow test, but had made no mention of any price for his (Ranatunga’s own) help. Nor was there any mention of any negotiations.

Ranatunga said he could have made more money by legitimate means, if he had wished, by appearing on advertisements, but had never done so except for charitable purposes to collect funds for polio victims and for the purchase of an MRI scanner at the National Hospital here.

"I did not do so because I did not play cricket to amass wealth", he wrote.

Wondering how the board could spend the money earned by its cricketers on inquiries into "a self-confessed rogue’s nonsensical allegations, belated and uncorroborated and even contradicted by his self-confessed accomplice", Ranatunga asked if his case was to be a precedent for the future.

"If some unsavoury character made a scurrilous complaint in future against any cricketer in future, is it that the cricketer will be harassed and insulted by being asked for observations on such rubbish? I do believe that our cricketers deserve better treatment than this," he said. (PTI)

Weeping Wang’s comeback provides dramatic finale

OSAKA, May 6: China’s Wang Liqin wept tears of happiness today after staging a courageous comeback to defeat team-mate Kong Linghui 3-2 in the World Table Tennis Championship men’s singles final.

The usually reserved 22-year-old hugged his towel to his face after the final point, while a distraught Kong, who had let a 2-0 lead slip, stood glumly at the other side of the table.

It was a fitting finale to two weeks of sometimes stunning competition, in which China’s young stars proved themselves several levels above their rivals, winning all seven titles on offer.

But such was the Chinese dominance, the head of table tennis’s world governing body was forced to issue a blunt warning today that the sport could soon become "boring".

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) president Adham Sharara insisted the problem was not that the Chinese were too good, simply that players from other countries were not fit enough or well prepared.

And, he issued a challenge to the rest of the table tennis world to "take the sport more seriously and more professionally and be more prepared".

All this was of little consequence however to Wang, who although ranked number one in the world had not previously won a major title, unlike his opponent, the Sydney Olympic gold medallist and 1995 world champion.

The lankily athletic Wang had been dropped from the Chinese squad in the semi-final and final stages of their triumphant team title campaign here, amid whispered concerns about his temperament.

But Wang proved his doubters wrong, and said afterward he had been overjoyed at surmounting the "obstacles" he had faced.

"I could not help myself from crying as this is what I have been dreaming about for years," he said somewhat bashfully.

After slumping to a swift 0-2 deficit through a series of unforced errors, Wang had fought his way back into the match, gradually overcoming Kong with a mixture of guile, guts and sheer bloody-mindedness.

Kong admitted his "mind had wandered" during the match turning third game. "I did not take my opportunities," he reflected ruefully.

In the day’s other all-Chinese final, Wang Nan and Li Ju had easily taken the women’s doubles title, defeating Yang Yin and sun jin 3-0.

This gave Wang a third gold to go with her women’s singles and team ones, and provided some comfort to Li, who was surprisingly knocked out of the singles third round by an unseeded North Korean player.

With the endless victory celebrations for Chinese players, ittf head sharara had warned the gold medals could become less significant. (AFP)

Stadium roof caves in, injuring hundreds in Iran

TEHRAN, May 6: Several soccer fans were killed and hundreds others injured today when part of the roof of a stadium grand stand caved in during a game in Northeastern Iran, the official Islamic Republic News agency reported.

Angry fans clashed with police trying to make their way into the Mottaqi Stadium, where the accident occurred, Ali Ansarian, a player with persepolis, Iran’s most popular soccer team, told the associated press by phone. He said that fans had started fires on the field. "We are trapped in the locker room," Ansarian said.

"There is such a thick crowd outside that we can’t force open the door to the locker room. Through a small window, I can see fighting outside between fans and the police," he added. Ansarian said he had seen at least 30 people dead.

State-run Tehran television showed fans wielding metal poles locked in battle with anti-riot forces trying to control the crowds at the stadium in the city of Sari, 250 kilometers Northeast of Tehran.

One wall of the stadium had been completely torn down. Iron fences separating the grandstand from the field had been rooted out. The field was packed with fans and police forces.

"The security forces are trying to direct the people out of the stadium" the report said in its latest news broadcast.

Irna said that "hundreds" of fans had been injured and "several" killed. It did not give an exact number of casualties. It said 20,000 fans were at the game.

An operator at a hospital in Sari said that the injured were packed into the hallways and even in the courtyard of the Bu Ali hospital. The telephone operator, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said many of the injuries were critical.

Officials and witnesses at the stadium, too panic-stricken to give their names, also confirmed that several people had been killed.

One of the officials, reached by telephone at the scene, said that the stadium was old and so overcrowded that aid workers could not quickly reach some of the injured.

A city resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that ambulances were racing through the streets.

Tehran Television, which was showing the game live, suddenly cut off transmission after the accident.

Persepolis was playing another local team, Shemooshak of Nowshahr, when the accident happened during the second half. (AP)

Satrayan Club wins Ajay Memorial Cricket Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 6: Satrayan Cricket Club lifted the Ajay Memorial Cricket Cup beating Sharda Cricket Club by eight runs in the final which played at Satrayan in R S Pura, here today.

Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, Satrayan Club set a target of 150 runs in the 50 overs match. Skipper Tarsem Singh was the highest scorer with 34 runs.

In reply, Sharda Club fought well, but lost all the wickets nine runs short of their target of 151 runs.

This tournament is held every year at Satrayan, in memory of Ajay Singh Chib, who was a good cricketer and died in his teens.

In the final and prize distribution function, former Minister Mr R S Chib was the chief guest, who gave away prizes to the winners and runners-up teams.

Ex-captain Janak Singh, Sarpanch, Panchayat Badyal Qazian presented both the teams with one set of bats alongwith wickets and balls.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr R S Chib, congratulated the finalists and said that such tournaments provide good opportunity to those young boys who posses the talent, but gets little opportunity.