BANGALORE, May 19: Their hopes of moving into the second round shattered, India take on Minnows Brunei in the last pre-World Cup qualifying football match here tomorrow, aiming for a six-goal margin victory to finish second in Asian Zone group 8........more

Scourge of
match-fixing still on

LONDON, May 19: Despite the life bans on prominent cricketers and stringent new constraints, the scourge of match-fixing in international cricket was still on and recent matches involving Pakistan are being investigated, media reported today........more

Anand jumps to sole
lead with short’s scalp

MERIDA (Mexico), May 19: World champion Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of Grandmaster Nigel Short of England to shoot into sole lead on 2.5 points after the third round of the Super Grandmasters’ Chess Tournament here last night........more

Bad light stops
play in first test

LONDON, May 19: Pakistan were 115 for four when bad light stopped play here at Lord’s today on ......more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, May 19: Rehmat Ali of Maller Kotla in Punjab has lifted the Roun-Domail Kesri 2001 title beating Dheeraj Sharma of Bajrangi Akhara.....more

Two Jr cricketers selected for North-zone women team

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 19: Two junior cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir have been selected for the......more

Ist Rajesh Memorial Cricket Tourney
Azad Club beats Raipur
Satwari by six wickets

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 19: Azad Cricket Club outplayed Raipur Satwari Cricket Club by six wickets in the ongoing Ist Rajesh Memorial Cricket Tournament.........more

Easy win for Vishal Club in Sher-e-Kashmir Cup Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, May 19: Vishal Cricket Club registered an easy eight wickets victory over Double-N Cricket Club to sail into the next.....more

Shiv Kumar Sharma(bearing turban), treasurer Indian Style Wrestling Association of India and president Indian Style Wrestling Association alongwith Naresh Gour (extreme left), Additional DIG, STC and Dushant Sharma, DySP giving away cash prize to Rehmat Ali of Maller-Kotla (Punjab).

India to strive for 6-goal margin win against Brunei

BANGALORE, May 19: Their hopes of moving into the second round shattered, India take on Minnows Brunei in the last pre-World Cup qualifying football match here tomorrow, aiming for a six-goal margin victory to finish second in Asian Zone group 8.

UAE, whom India beat in their first home engagement here 1-0, have already qualified for the second round from the four-nation group, after edging Yemen out 3-2 in an action-packed match last night.

UAE bagged 12 points compared to Yemen’s 11. India, who have eight points, need to beat the pointless Brunei, who have conceded 23 goals in their five matches without scoring any, by a margin of six goals at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium tomorrow to push Yemen to the third spot.

A confident Indian coach Sukhwinder Singh today said his team would go all out for the big-margin win. "We will do our best, and play the same level of game as we have been playing in the last five matches."

Sukhwinder singh described India’s pre-World Cup campaign so far as "satisfactory" but said there was still room for improvement in all areas.

He also hinted at one or two changes in the side that beat Brunei 1-0 in their away engagement last week.

"The present Indian side is a balanced one. We were very closely in contention for the second round. But India unfortunately drew with Yemen in the home match, which we should have won, and that proved out to be the turning point," the coach said.

All the players are fit and none on the injury list, Sukhwinder Singh said in response to a question.

For Brunei, ending the goal drought is on top of their minds. "We are doing our best. Our main problem is that we don’t have strikers to do the finishing. We have a 50:50 chance against India," Brunei coach Zainuddin Kassim said, adding, his side was going to play a defensive game.

Describing the Indian team as a "giant" compared to Brunei, Kassim, when asked if Brunei would score against India, said in a lighter vein: "we will score if we are given a chance."

Asked to evaluate UAE, Yemen and India, he said there was not much difference among them but added that in terms of aggression, professionalism and creativity, India was a notch above.

Kassim said Brunei gives top priority to the Malaysian football league rather than the pre-World Cup campaign which explains the presence of at least 10 inexperienced players below the age of 23 in the team. They field the main squad for the Malaysian Football League.

Brunei, where football is played more as a hobby, has not met with much success internationally, winning only two matches in its football history, against the Philippines and Indonesia. (PTI)

Scourge of match-fixing still on

LONDON, May 19: Despite the life bans on prominent cricketers and stringent new constraints, the scourge of match-fixing in international cricket was still on and recent matches involving Pakistan are being investigated, media reported today.

"Matches played by Pakistan and New Zealand in Sharjah and by Pakistan in New Zealand this year have been under particular scrutiny," `The Times’ newspaper said.

It stated that a report by Sir Paul Condon, chief of ICC’s anti-corruption unit "will say next week that cricket cannot be given a clean bill of health."

The report will suggest that, despite the life bans imposed on former captains Hansie Cronje of South Africa, Mohammad Azharuddin of India and Salim Malik of Pakistan, "attempts to manipulate results for money may not have been wiped out’’.

"Betting syndicates are known to have made large amounts not only out of the results of matches and series, many involving India and Pakistan, but also out of many different aspects of the game," the daily said. They have been known to bet on such things as who would bat first, who would open the bowling and whether certain batsmen would score more or less than a certain figure.

According to the report, Sir Paul who was recently made "people’s peer" has admitted that cricket will never be rid of dishonesty. But he has set himself the target of reducing the problem to an "irreducible minimum" before the next World Cup in South Africa in 2002-03.

Sir Paul disclosed in February that "sadly there are still things to come out" and his report next week, to be released on the internet, will indicate that there is still a long way to go before his objective can be met. No allegations against individuals will be made but ICC is expected to be extremely critical of its previous handling of cricketers suspected of bribery.

The Australian Cricket Board, whose former chairman Malcolm Gray, is ICC chairman, will share blame with the world’s governing body for failing to dig deeper when in 1995 they fined two Australian test cricketers Mark Waugh and Shane Warne for taking money from bookmakers in return for information about teams, pitches and weather.

Rumours of widespread corruption in international cricket came to light last year when Cronje was accidentally picked up discussing the manipulation of matches on a mobile telephone in India by Delhi Police, prompting icc to introduce stringent penalties for all cricketers found guilty of any involvement with betting interests.

Cronje, Azharuddin and Malik have been banned for life. Alec Stewart, who is playing for England in the current Lord’s test against Pakistan, was interviewed by Sir Paul during his investigation, providing information about the England tour of India in 1992-93 when he was vice-captain. (PTI)

Anand jumps to sole lead with short’s scalp

MERIDA (Mexico), May 19: World champion Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of Grandmaster Nigel Short of England to shoot into sole lead on 2.5 points after the third round of the Super Grandmasters’ Chess Tournament here last night.

Former champion GM Alexander Khalifman of Russia also had reasons to rejoice as he recorded his first victory in the tournament over dark-horse GM Gilberto Hernandez of Mexico and now shares the joint second spot with short on 1.5 points. Hernandez is a distant fourth on 0.5 point.

Short rushed in where even the best fear to tread against Anand. The Indian GM is widely regarded as one of the best players of the Ruy Lopez opening and short took the bait with the black pieces hoping for a miracle that did not happen.

The opening choice by short - a deviation of the Stenitz variation - pleasantly surprised Anand as he came out of the opening phase with a lasting positional advantage.

The nature of the position remained closed for a long time and Anand routinely exerted pressure along the queenside with timely manoeuvres of his pieces.

Sensing danger, short went for the king side attack but that did not yield a desirable position. Anand quickly accustomed himself to the fresh position on board and changed gears quickly to bring his heavy pieces on the king side to take advantage of the weaknesses in short’s camp.

Short’s king ran to safety in the middle of the board but there was no respite as Anand came up with a brilliant bishop sacrifice on his 36th move to open the position completely.

Short was soon pushed to the corner and was seen struggl-ing as he tried to cope with the menacingly-placed white’s forces. An exchange sacrifice by the Englishman only delayed the inevitable as on the 53rd move short found his queen trapped on the edge of the board and resigned immediately.

Khalifman did not have to exercise his Grey Cells much against Hernandez who appeared vulnerable after a disastrous loss against Anand on Thursday.

The king’s Indian defence from the black side met with the Fianchetto variation of Khalifman who had the white pieces.

The home-favourite appeared to wriggle out of opening problems but his light squared bishop remained a headache for the entire game. After the exchange of queens on the 25th move, Khalifman got an overwhelming advantage as he started opening up the king side to make room for his rooks to penetrate decisively.

Hernandez exchanged a few more pieces but weakness of the base rank proved to be fatal. Khalifman won a rook on the 38th move and romped home easily.

Today is a rest day. (PTI)

Bad light stops play in first test

LONDON, May 19: Pakistan were 115 for four when bad light stopped play here at Lord’s today on the third day of the first test.

Yousuf Youhana was 26 not out and Younis Khan 32 not out, the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 55 that had rescued their team from the perilous position of 60 for four in reply to England’s 391 all out. (AFP)

Rehmat Ali of Punjab lifts Roun-Domail Kesri title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, May 19: Rehmat Ali of Maller Kotla in Punjab has lifted the Roun-Domail Kesri 2001 title beating Dheeraj Sharma of Bajrangi Akhara, Jammu in a tough bout which lasted for six minutes in the Vishal Dangal held at Roun-Domail, 10 kilometers from here.

This Vishal Dangal was organised by the Thill Roun-Domail Dungal Committee under the aegis of the J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association.

Rehmat Ali was also adjudged as the best wrestler and was given a cash prize of Rs 4,000 and a ‘patta’ by the organisers, while runners-up Dheeraj got Rs 2500 as cash prize.

In the second main bout, Bhura of Pathankot defeated Onkar Singh of BSF (Kathua) in seven minutes long fight. The winner in this bout got Rs 200 as cash prize, while the runners-up was awarded Rs 1200. In the third main bout Onkar Singh of BSF overpowered Mohd Billa of J&K Police. Onkar was awarded with Rs 1000, while Rs 700 were given to Billa pahalwan as cash prizes.

In all, 30 bouts were played in the day-long dangal which was witnessed by a large number of people from the villages of Roun-Domail, Thill, Satani, Rathian, Duahmpur, Gudhar, Ritti, Sunal, Barta, Kagote, Ramnagar, Majalta, Jaganoo, Manwal, Kissanpur, Katra and Panthal.

Mr Naresh Gaur, Additional DIG, STC, BSF was the chief guest, while Mr Shiv Kumar Sharma was guest of honour, who distributed prizes among the winners and runners-up of the main bouts. Later, Mr Sharma presented a memento to Mr Naresh Gaur, Ali and Biju pahalwan.

Shiv Kumar Sharma, president J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association and treasurer of the Indian Style Wrestling Association of India was also honoured by the Thill Roun Domail Dangal Committee in the same function for his election as treasurer of the Indian Style Wrestling Association of India.

Prominent among those witnessed dangal included Messrs Dharam Singh (Lamberdar), Capt. Kour Singh (Sarpanch), Shanker Dass, Om Parkash, Biju pahalwan, R K Gupta, M L Gupta (Naib Tehsildar), Ashok padha, Kapoor Singh (Sarpanch), Raghbir Singh (Sarpanch), Balwant Singh (Sarpanch), Puran Chand (Sarpanch) and Dushant Singh, DySP and international wrestler.