Tyson stops Denmark’s Nielsen in seventh round

COPENHAGEN, Oct 14: Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was given a tougher bout than expected before he stopped Denmark’s Brian ...........more

Indians stay alive
in Davis Cup tie

WINSTON-SALEM (North Carolina), Oct 14: Leander Paes issued a warning to American Andy Roddick after the Indian and his partner Mahesh Bhupathi foiled U S plans for a Davis Cup sweep with a 6-4 1-6 6-3 7-6 (8-6) .................more

1999 World Cup final comes under cloud

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: After allegations of fixing matches against India and Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup in England, former Pakistan Cricket .........more

Rajasthan trounced
UP by 44 runs

JAIPUR, Oct 14: Devastating bowling by left arm spinner Naresh Gehlot, who took 4 for 26 helped the hosts Rajasthan trounce Uttar Pradesh by 44 runs in their opening Central Zone one day Cooch Behar Trophy cricket match at the K L Saini Stadium here today. ......more

Ramesh Mahajan, Ashutosh, Mehboob Iqbal shown way out
Farooq is new president of JKCA

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 14: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was today unanimously elected president......more

Divisional level Inter-district Volleyball Tourney
Jammu beat Doda in inaugural tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 14: Jammu District boys won its inaugural tie in the Divisional level Inter-district Volleyball Tournament.....more

Jammu Distt Open TT Champ from October 17

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 14: The Jammu and Kashmir Table Tennis Association is holding Jammu District Open Table Tennis ......more

Sanjeev to attend basic Karate course

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 14: On the invitation of Sports Karate Federation of India (Chandigarh)......more

Students of the National Public High School, Nowshera, who were honoured for distinguished performance in different competitions and academic. Prizes were distributed by the District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Rajouri, Mohd Din and Zonal Education Officer, Nowshera.

Tyson stops Denmark’s Nielsen in seventh round

COPENHAGEN, Oct 14: Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was given a tougher bout than expected before he stopped Denmark’s Brian Nielsen at the start of the seventh round in a non-title fight at the Parken National Stadium.

The official verdict was technical knockout after one second of the seventh round yesterday, when referee Steve Smoger was called over to Nielsen’s corner and was informed that the Danish Boxer could not see out of his left eye.

"My eye kept swelling and after the last few punches I could not see," Nielsen said immediately after the contest.

Tyson began the bout in his usual aggressive style hoping to finish it early with some brutal hooks. But Nielsen soaked up a lot of punishment and even managed to land a few telling blows of his own.

Despite appearing to have weathered the storm, Nielsen —who was cut in the second round and floored at the end of the third — had no complaints when Smoger called an end to the bout.(REUTERS)

Indians stay alive in Davis Cup tie

WINSTON-SALEM (North Carolina), Oct 14: Leander Paes issued a warning to American Andy Roddick after the Indian and his partner Mahesh Bhupathi foiled U S plans for a Davis Cup sweep with a 6-4 1-6 6-3 7-6 (8-6) doubles win.

"He (Roddick) is going to have to come up with the goods," said Paes of his singles opponent today after India pulled the qualifying round tie back to 2-1.

"There’s no doubt he’s got talent and he is a very good player but I am going to work some strategy out tonight and take it to him."

Paes was overflowing with confidence after he and Bhupathi defeated Jared Palmer and Don Johnson in front of a crowd of 5,914 at the Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum yesterday.

The U S need to win only one of the two reverse singles matches to clinch victory and remain in the world group next year.

World no. 15 Roddick faces no. 232 Paes in the first match on Sunday. If paes pulled off a win, Indian captain Ramesh Krishnan would be faced with a difficult decision.

Krishnan could elect to go with Harsh Mankad, who lost to Roddick on Friday, or choose a different player to take on James Blake.

"We really haven’t thought about that yet," Krishnan said. "I would rather sleep on that decision. We’d like to savour this win for now."

Paes and Bhupathi, this year’s French Open champions, played brilliantly with some flashy volleyed winners and steady service games.

Even when Palmer and Johnson broke serve to tie the fourth set at 5-5, the Indians held on to set up a tiebreaker during which they survived a set point before taking the match. It was their eighth straight victory in Davis Cup play.

"The Indians are obviously a great team," said U S captain Patrick McEnroe. "Leander is very quick and athletic and Mahesh hit some unbelievable returns.

"They both hit some great reflex volleys and they cover the net well. And they work together well as a team."

Palmer and Johnson, the reigning Wimbledon champions, are now 0-2 against the Indian team, having lost to them earlier this year at Monte Carlo.

"Mahesh and Leander are great players," said Johnson. "They do everything really well and they have super chemistry. Jared and I have great chemistry as well but they put the right ingredients into the chemistry today."

Despite dropping the doubles, the Americans may take comfort from the sizeable lead they had after winning both singles on friday. They have only lost three Davis Cup ties (in 1939, 1960 and 1994) after taking a 2-0 lead.

The biggest factor on Sunday may be Paes’ stamina as the 28-year-old takes on the 19-year-old Roddick in the Indian’s third match in three days.

Paes, though, has all the Davis Cup experience, having played in 80 rubbers to Roddick’s two.

"For Davis Cup, I have brand new legs," Paes said. "I really look forward to fourth matches and I have done it a few times when we were 2-1 down, giving the team the opportunity for a fifth."

McEnroe has no intention of trying to play chess with Krishnan about which player he will choose for the fifth match.

"I think Roddick’s going to play better tomorrow than he did the other day," McEnroe said. "He has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time." (REUTERS)

1999 World Cup final comes under cloud

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: After allegations of fixing matches against India and Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup in England, former Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive (PCB) Majid Khan has revealed that the final between his country and Australia was a fishy affair and called for a threadbare investigation.

Deposing before the Justice Karamat Bhandari Commission probing into the match-fixing allegations, Majid expressed doubts over the nitty-gritty of the World Cup final, saying when the wicket was covered and it had rained, it made no sense at all to bat first in view of Pakistan’s suspect batting against Australia.

He felt that something had gone on in the final and needed to be investigated.

Pakistan lost the final of the World Cup by eight wickets.

After recording statements of former Pakistani skippers Majid Khan, Javed Miandad and officials Khalid Mehmood, Zafar Altaf and Riaz Sami yesterday, the Commission called six Pakistani players and a former coach for the next hearing scheduled on October 20.

The World Cup inquiry commission summoned Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Inzamamul Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Moin Khan and former coach Mushtaq Muhammed for the hearing, the news, quoting a court official, said today.

Majid had asked the Commission to summon some journalists who reported the World Cup and had knowledge on the suspicious matches and the final.

The official said Majid told the Commission that he did not want to appear before it as he knew nothing would be done about the match-fixing menace.

He pointed out that in the past also there were clear signals of something fishy going on in some of the matches played by Pakistan, but the players suspected of match-fixing were provided protection by some officials and no concrete action was taken against them. Majid said everyone suspected something was going on but the players got-off because some people had not come forward to make honest statements.

He noted that Miandad had resigned as coach before the World Cup as he suspected some players had fixed a game in Sharjah but did not say so publicly.

According to Majid, Miandad said something outside the courtroom and something else inside it, but he had also expressed his suspicions about match-fixing taking place before the Justice Qayyum Commission.

He than went on to point out that his suspicions about players being involved in match-fixing even in the World Cup were strong as he watched the matches Pakistan played against Bangladesh and India and then the final and could see some senseless cricketing decisions being taken.

Besides the final, he also gave the example of the Bangladesh match, pointing out that Pakistan lost and could not chase a comfortable target because some of the top order batted very slowly against an innocuous attack. A perfect batsman like Inzamamul Haq scored only 40 runs but took a lot of deliveries to gather it and this made no sense to him given the quality of the Bangladesh attack, he added.

Majid reiterated his suspicions that some Pakistani players had something to do with match-fixing. Interestingly, he recorded his statement after Javed Miandad who had showed complete ignorance of the match-fixing issue before the Commission and told it since he was not involved in the World Cup, he could not say if the two matches were fixed.

Miandad, however, said he was present at the England versus South Africa test at Headingley in 1998 and admitted that umpire Javed Akhtar had given some wrong decisions, but this did not confirm he did it on purpose for monetary gain or he was linked with some bookmakers.

Khalid mehmood in his turn stuck to his oft-repeated stand and dismissed all match-fixing rumours. "It was all rumours and nothing else and he does not believe the two matches were fixed," he added.

"Several inquiries had been held in Pakistan and abroad and nothing concrete or substantial had come from them to convict any player of match-fixing," the court official, quoting Khaild, said.

The official said Khalid lost his temper when Commission advisor Abdul Qadir asked him that one could understand Pakistan losing to India as whenever they played it was a high-tension match and players were nervous, but how could he defend the shocking loss to Bangladesh.

Further probing by Qadir led to Mehmood losing his temper and thereafter his answers were short, making it obvious he did not like being asked questions by someone like the former leg-spinner.

Zafar Altaf, who was team manager in the World Cup, also denied the allegations and claimed that the match against Bangladesh was lost because of a sub-standard wicket. Bangladesh had taken advantage of the wicket and there was no truth in rumours that the match was fixed to support Bangladesh’s cause for test status, he added.

However, Zafar found himself in an embarrassing position when he said Bangladesh won the toss and batted first and was then reminded by PCB legal advisor who had a scoresheet of the match with him that in fact it was Pakistan which won the toss and elected to field first.

When asked whose decision it was to field first, Altaf said it was taken by captain Wasim Akram.

Reserving his comments for former test fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz, former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Riaz Sami told the Commission that Sarfraz had told a lot of lies in his statement before it at the last hearing. "There was no truth in Nawaz’s statement," he added. (UNI)

Rajasthan trounced UP by 44 runs

JAIPUR, Oct 14: Devastating bowling by left arm spinner Naresh Gehlot, who took 4 for 26 helped the hosts Rajasthan trounce Uttar Pradesh by 44 runs in their opening Central Zone one day Cooch Behar Trophy cricket match at the K L Saini Stadium here today.

Asked to bat first, Rajasthan were all out for 169 in 48 overs, but the visitors performed badly as they were bundled out for a paltry 125. More than half of their batsmen failed to reach even the double figure before devastating bowling by Gehlot who had taken ninteen wickets in last years season.

Brief scores :-

Rajasthan :169 in 48 overs (Arvind Maan 19, Mohd. Ashraf 24, Abhijit Sharma 30, Mohd. Akram 30, Dishant Yagynik not out 23, Ranjan Jaiswal 3 for 38, Pravin Gupta 3 for 25)

Uttar Pradesh :125 in 44 overs (Ravikant Shukla 17, Shivakant Shukla 15, Mohd. Amir 24, Sunil Upadhyay not out 29, Naresh Gerhlot 4 for 26. Arvind Maan 2 for 21)

The two teams will play their three day tie at the same venuefrom tomorrow. (UNI)

Ramesh Mahajan, Ashutosh, Mehboob Iqbal shown way out
Farooq is new president of JKCA

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Oct 14: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was today unanimously elected president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). The outgoing president Mr Ajatshatru Singh proposed his name and Mr Farooq was elected uncontested.

However, Ajatshatru, who is Minister for Information and Transport, himself got promotion and has been made chairman of the prestigious cricket association. He has replaced Ramesh Mahajan. Mansoor Gazanfer has been made treasurer of the association in place of Ashutosh Sharma.

To give the association a new look, a number of new faces have been inducted into the list of office bearers by the Chief Minister. For the important post of general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, senior member and veteran cricketer Abdul Rouf was selected by the Chief Minister.

Surprisingly, almost all the new faces were elected at the wing level too. Shyam Saroop was made new vice-chairman of Jammu wing, while, Maqbool elected vice-chairman of Kashmir wing. Mazoor Wazir has been made joint secretary of the Kashmir wing and Hardev Singh was elected as joint secretary for Jammu wing.

It was a major jolt for the ‘high profile’ treasure of the JKCA Ashutosh Sharma, who has been replaced by Manzoor Gazanfer. Ashutosh, who is presently going through a bad time, was earlier shown way out of the Jammu and Kashmir State Sports Council.

Others, who got the similar treatment from the Chief Minister were Mehboob Iqbal, general secretary, Ashok Singh, joint secretary and Shambu Nath, vice-president of the Jammu wing of JKCA.

According to the insiders, Ashutosh Sharma, who was apprehending such treatment, had already taken a stay order from the court of law regarding the proposed amendments scheduled to be discussed in the general council meeting a day prior to the elections. However, no amendment took place in view of the stay order and the Chief Minister, who chaired the yesterday’s meeting decided to frame the new body at his own, the sources equipped.

With the election of Dr Farooq Abdullah as the head of the cricket association in the State, he has become the first sitting Chief Minister and fifth politician to become the president of the State cricket association in Northern India.

Others occupying the top seat in the financially rich cricket associations are former Bihar Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Assam, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, former Union Minister, Sharad Pawar (Maharashtra) and Union Minister for Law, Arun Jaitley (Delhi).

Earlier, in his presidential address, the Chief Minister sought whole hearted support of veteran cricketers to promote the game in the state, saying, "we have abundant talent that needs encouragement and avenues of exposure at national events". He said he would take up with the Union Sports Minister the matter regarding setting up of an international standard cricket stadium in the state. The new president called for a collective effort to promote cricket in a big way. He said a duty has cast upon all the cricketers to strive for steering Jammu and kashmir to new vistas of the game.

Earlier, the working committee of the JKCA adopted a resolution expressing profound grief over the tragic demise of Mr Madhavrao Scindia, the former president, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). A two minute silence was observed in his memory.