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off with Benz title LOS ANGELES, July 29: Andre Agassi successfully defended his Mercedes-Benz Cup title crushing .......more PALO ALTO (California), July 29: After two years of dominating her sport during the summer ........more Agarkar
wins some LONDON, July 29: A surprising but refreshing defiance from late order batsmen substantially reduced India’s degree of humiliation as the ........more Investigation
launched LONDON, July 29: An embarrassed cricket establishment at the Lord’s today launched an.......more |
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State
Open Badminton Championship Abhishekh, Vipul, Arunav reach Junior boys semis Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: Abhishekh, Vipul and Arunav have reached the semi-finals of the Junior boys group in the ongoing.......more Veteran
footballer’s widow Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: The Veteran Football Players Welfare Association, in a function held here, provided full-year ration.............more Stadium
XI, RCC win Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: Stadium XI and Reliance Cricket Club (RCC) won their respective ties on the opening day of the Ist Kapoor........more |
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Agassi drives off with Benz title LOS ANGELES, July 29: Andre Agassi successfully defended his Mercedes-Benz Cup title crushing American compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill 6-2 6-4. It was another blistering start yesterday to the hardcourt season for Agassi who has now lifted the Benz Cup three of the last five years and gives the 32-year-old veteran four titles this season while improving his record to a sparkling 34-5. "I got better with each match and just feel great about my game right now," said Agassi after collecting his 53rd career title. "I couldn’t be happier with the way the summer started." In a dominating performance, the second seeded Agassi needed just 75 minutes to brush aside Gambill, who was playing in his first final since March 2000 when he also loss to Agassi in straight sets at the Tennis Masters series event in Miami. With the victory Agassi becomes the 10th player in the 75-year-history of the event to capture three crowns, joining an illustrious group that includes Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors. "Andre was too tough," said Gambill said. "He didn’t make any errors". "He ran me from side to side. ... I felt like a rag doll out there." (AGENCIES) |
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PALO ALTO (California), July 29: After two years of dominating her sport during the summer months, Venus Williams concedes that her sister Serena came into the French Open and Wimbledon with more fire in her belly than she had. "I was once in the position that she was and you fight as if you are wild," Venus told after beating Kim Clijsters for the 585,000 dollar back of the West Classic title yesterday. "I was still cruising on two great years and she was clawing her way through. She had much more fight. I was a little tired because it had been a couple of long seasons for me. "There are a lot of factors that go into winning Grand Slams and I wasn’t the best player in the last two. It’s been a lot of everything for me." However, Venus — who lost her number one ranking to Serena at Wimbledon and stands nearly 1,000 points behind her younger sibling — aims to change the current state of affairs. During the Bank of the West Classic and for the remaining weeks leading up to the U S Open, the four-time Grand Slam winner is making technical changes to her game that she believes may give her the edge of Serena again. Despite reaching both finals, her famed booming serve let her down in Paris and London and she wasn’t returning or cracking her groundstrokes with her normal verve. Serena ate up Venus’s second serves on both occasions, putting her older sister on the defensive. "My techniques were weak and its obviously hurt me a lot, " Venus said. "It’s hard to change that when it happens. I tried really hard against Serena at Wimbledon". "My serve was really great until the final and then I couldn’t make it do what I wanted to". "With my second serve, sometimes I’ll go for it and sometimes I’ll put more spin on it, but what I really need to do is be clearer in my mind what I want to do with it when I get out on court. "It’s hard to change your mind once your already in the match," she added. Venus’s technical problems have led to a loss of confidence against Serena, an unusual position for the two-time Wimbledon ad U S Open champion to be in. "If you aren’t doing everything right, it gives you much less confidence in all your shots, especially at the slams," Williams said. "I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted to against Serena as I did against other players". "Someone like Serena goes for every shot." While Venus concedes that regaining her confidence against Serena will be a big factor in determining who will win the U S Open should they meet, she said that a more ambitious style of play may be the key to her success. "I have to start coming into net a little bit more," she said. "I play a lot better when i come in. It makes it a lot easier on me." Given that she has to defend titles in San Diego, new haven and at flushing meadows and that Serena only has to defend her Canadian Open title and reach the final in New York, it is highly unlikely that Venus can regain her number one ranking until the autumn. But Venus has plans to end the year as the world’s number one ranked player. "I hope it’s me," Venus said. "I’m a competitor, too." (AGENCIES) |
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Agarkar wins some pride in India’s loss LONDON, July 29: A surprising but refreshing defiance from late order batsmen substantially reduced India’s degree of humiliation as the tourists made England toil for three hours on the fifth and final day here today before bowing to a 170-run defeat in the first cricket test. Ajit Agarkar led the rare resistance from the lower order batsmen with a fine maiden test hundred as the last four wickets added 227 runs to the Indian total. India were finally bowled out for 397 in their second innings when Ashish Nehra, who defied the English attack for more than an hour, was caught in the slips for his best test score of 19. Neither the unbeaten 109 by Agarkar nor the fact that India were able to post the highest fourth innings total at Lord’s cricket ground was enough to change the course of the match but it was certainly a minor consolation for the team which had collapsed to 170 for six yesterday while chasing a mammoth target of 568. It was the 126-run seventh wicket partnership between Agarkar and V V S Laxman, the two overnight batsmen, which set the momentum for the dogged resistance by the Indians. Laxman, who made an impressive 74, was dismissed nearly half an hour before lunch but the defiance had become infectious and Anil Kumble (15), Zaheer Khan (7) and Nehra hung in long enough to enable Agarkar reach his century. Agarkar himself showed immense character for a man who had been ridiculed for a long time as the ‘Bombay duck’ for his world record sequence of no-scores against Australia in the 2000-01 series. Today Agarkar played like an accomplished batsman, doing full justice to the potential he was always said to have possessed but never really displayed. He matched the stylish Laxman stroke for stroke and participated like an equal partner in a stand that produced maximum runs for the Indians in either innings. When India closed out day four yesterday at 232 for six, nobody had expected them to last more than the first hour this morning. But the Indians did not just do that, they scored at a very healthy rate with some delightful strokes on both sides of the wicket. Laxman, who was not out on 38 yesterday, began the day by playing out a maiden from Simon Jones but was soon driving and pulling and picked the gaps with ease. He reached his half-century with a pulled boundary, his fifth, to midwicket against Ashley Giles. Agarkar also hit a couple of fours, all with perfect cricketing shots, to quickly move from his overnight 28 into the forties and improve upon his previous best test score of 41 which came against South Africa in Mumbai two years ago. England took the new ball as soon as it was due but the Indian duo negotiated that also quite well. Laxman lofted giles straight over the head for his sixth four that brought up the 100-run partnership and soon Agarkar reached his fifty with a four against Mathew Hoggard, the most successful of English bowlers with a four-wicket haul. Laxman, who was batting serenly, was finally out when he drove Jones Uppishly to give a simple catch to Michael Vaughan at point. Laxman’s three-hour knock was studded with seven fours. The dismissal of Laxman had the Englishmen thinking that it was all over and they would not have to look beyond lunch for their victory. But they were sadly mistaken. Kumble and Zaheer Khan also showed fighting abilities and when both were out, about ten minutes before lunch, Nehra went out to compensate for his dismal show in the first innings when he failed in his job as a night-watchman. It said a lot about Nehra’s character that without being shielded, he was able to hang in long enough for Agarkar to move from 67 to 109. The last wicket partnership yielded 63 runs for India. Lunch was taken with India tottering at 353 for nine with Agarkar stranded on 80. Agarkar hit a couple of fours to quickly move into the nineties and then reached his moment of glory in an over from Jones. He slashed Jones over point for a four to move to 99 and then hit another shot in the same area to run two and complete his century. Agarkar, who got a standing ovation from his teammates in the pavilion, thrashed the next ball through the covers for another boundary to celebrate the occasion. At the other end, Nehra did not want to miss on making his own impression and pulled a short delivery from Andrew Flintoff for a mighty six over mid-wicket. The end came about five minutes before the drinks interval of the second session, when Nehra played forward to Craig White, coming round the wicket, only to edge the delivery to give Graham Thorpe a low catch at second slip. The next test begins at Trent Bridge from August 8 but before that India have a four-day fixture against a county side beginning July 31. (PTI) England 1st innings: 487 India 1st innings: 221 England 2nd innings: 301-6 decl. India 2nd innings: W Jaffer c Hussain b Vaughan 53 V Sehwag b Jones 27 R Dravid b Giles 63 S Tendulkar b Hoggard 12 S Ganguly LBW b Hoggard 0 V V S Laxman c Vaughan b Jones 74 S Ratra c Butcher b Hoggard 1 A Agarkar not out 109 A Kumble c and b Hoggard 15 Zaheer Khan c Stewart b White 7 A Nehra c Thorpe b White 19 Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-2, nb-8) 17 Total (all out, 109.4 overs) 397 Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-110, 3-140, 4-140, 5-165, 6-170, 7-296, 8-320, 9-334. Bowling: Hoggard 24-7-87-4, Flintoff 17-2-87-0, White 16.4-2-61-2, Jones 17-1-68-2, Giles 29-7-75-1, Vaughan 6-2-12-1. (PTI) |
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Investigation launched into breach of security at Lord’s LONDON, July 29: An embarrassed cricket establishment at the Lord’s today launched an investigation into the security breach that enabled an Australian to accost star batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the playing area here yesterday, the penultimate day of the first cricket test between India and England. After an angry Indian team manager Ranga Reddy had protested over the incident, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tendered a deep apology for the breach of security. The intruder, who accosted Tendulkar, patting and exchanging words as he walked alongside the maestro all the way to the pavilion, was arrested thereafter. Tendulkar himself appeared unperturbed saying the man was neither Harsh nor rude to him but had only encouraging words to say. Tendulkar even urged the authorities not to punish the man harshly, Reddy said. The incident, nevertheless created a major storm with British media playing it up and some wondering what could have happened if the intruder was carrying a knife or any other weapon. Although at least 500 securitymen are deployed at the ground with 75 alone on guard near the playing area, there is no security check or frisking at the entrances of what is considered the Mecca of cricket. MCC secretary Roger Knight said he had already spoken to Reddy and Indian coach John Wright and also intended to meet Tendulkar. "It sounds like we were a bit slow in reacting... I gather the man was just trying to say `well done’, but it was potentially very serious," Knight said. An outraged reddy minced no words though saying "security was very tight when England came to India and we expect it to be the same here. We were surprised and shocked when we saw a man run out on the pitch. The man could have been a terrorist ... It could have been a complete disaster." No action has been taken against the intruder yet and police are looking into the case, ECB sources said here today. If police take no action against the intruder, whose name both the ECB and police refused to reveal, MCC will launch civil action against him, the sources said. (PTI) |
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State Open Badminton
Championship Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: Abhishekh, Vipul and Arunav have reached the semi-finals of the Junior boys group in the ongoing State Open Badminton Championship being organised by Young’s Badminton Club at Indoor Complex, M A Stadium, here today. In the quarter-finals, Abhishekh beat Vikram Jolly in a tough contest 15-10, 6-15, 17-15, while Vipul Saini outplayed Puneet in straight sets 15-11, 15-8. Arunav Gupta beat Sahil Kandhri in third quarter-final. Semi-finals position has been cleared in the Men’s doubles group. In the quarter-finals played this afternoon, the pair of Pawanjit Singh and Vikram Saini beat Vineet and Vipul 15-6, 15-9, while Vivek and Rajesh Gupta defeated Amit and Anurag in equal straight sets 15-7, 15-7. Ashok Bamba and Raju Chawla reach semi-finals beating the pair of Vikas and Mohit 15-11, 15-10 and in the fourth quarter-final Gurvinder and Vipin defeated Dheeraj and Abhishekh 15-6, 17-14. Mini-girls too have reached the semi-finals stage. In the quarter-finals played today, Sonikshi beat Manisha 11-1, 11-6; Kanika beat Harleen 11-6, 11-13, 11-3; Shefali beat Parul 11-2, 11-0 and Bandhana beat Sonikshi 11-3, 11-1. In the Mini-boys group, Lokesh and Ishan have occupied berth in the semi-finals. Lokesh beat Gurjot 15-2, 15-3 and Ishan beat Aditya Manhas 15-0, 15-3 in their respective quarter-finals. Other two quarter-finals between Varun Saini and Sahil and Neeraj and Abhik were in progress when the last reports came in. The pair of Som Raj Gupta and Dr P D Gupta has reached the final stage beating Balbir Singh and Balbir Sayal in the Veteran’s above 45 years group. In the same group, Raghubir Gupta and Harjeet Sethi beat P D Singh and Darshan Chowdhary 11-15, 15-8, 15-7 to reach the semi-finals. Two pairs have reached the semi-finals position in the Lucky Men’s doubles 35 and above category. Introduced for the first time to create interest in the game, the pair in this group have been decided through a lucky draw. In the first quarter-final, S P Singh and Raju Chawla beat Rajesh Gupta and D D Magotra 15-5, 15-6, while Surinder Gupta and Darshan got walkover Ashok Khajuria and Raghubir Gupta in another match. Other detailed results Mini-boys singles second round: Varun Saini bet Sutiqshen Bargotra; Sahil beat Rohit 15-0, 15-1; Abhik beat Hitesh 15-8, 15-6; Lokesh beat Abhijit 15-4, 15-2; Gurjot Singh beat Raghav Bal 15-13, 15-4 and Ishan Sharma beat Samik. Master’s 35 yrs and above doubles: Ramesh Sharma and Ashish Sharma beat Vivek Slathia and Sanjeev Goel 15-1, 15-10 and S P Singh and Surinder Gupta beat Anil Gorkha and Kamal 15-5, 15-6. . |
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Veteran footballer’s widow provided full year ration Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: The Veteran Football Players Welfare Association, in a function held here, provided full-year ration besides financial help to the widow of veteran footballer, Chuni Lal, who expired last year after prolonged illness. In the same function, the association honoured the other veteran football players, besides the outstanding and veteran players of Gymnastics and Badminton for excelling in sports. Before, the function started, a two minutes silence was observed to pay respect to the departed soul of Chuni Lal. In this function, Mr H S Sahni, was the chief guest, who gave away prizes to the distinguished sports persons and handed over financial help and ration for the one year to the widow of Chuni Lal. A number of veteran footballers were also honoured, on behalf of the association, by Mr R V S Bhullar, chief executive, Coca Cola, Jammu, who was accompanied by Mr Vijay Juneja. The honoured players, who were given lucrative gifts, included Govind Ram, Manohar Singh, Sat Dev Sharma, Puran Chand Malik, Raghubir chand, Piran Ditta, Mastar Om Parkash, Bansi Lal, Brij Lal Sharma, Mukh Raj, Harbans Lal, Sham Lal, Pritam Chand, Chaman Lal Dullu, Atman Singh Slathia. Gifts were sponsored by Moog Products (through Kullar brothers), Ford Jammu, Natraj Agencies, Chinar Packers, Personal Point, Diwan Chand Bansal and Dewan Breweries. Others, who were honoured on the occasion were Mr Kiran Wattal, Vijay Dewan and Pt Durga Dass, veteran Badminton players for their key role in organising various sports events. The list of honoured players also included Raghav Wahi (golfer), Sonia Sharma(Gymnast) and Arjuna awardee coach Kurpali Singh. Prominent among those present on the occasion were Messrs Z A Zaffri, T S Manocha, Paul Sawhney, K K Khosa, Rattan Deep Singh Anand, Deepu Anand, Gian Chand, G S Oberoi, Dinesh Gupta, Raman Gupta, Dewan Chand Bansal and Sukhdev Chowdhary. Later, a mushara was held wherein noted Urdu poet Harsh Sahbai, besides a comedian skit by Mouzi. Earlier, the organising secretary of the association, Iqbal Singh, extended a warm welcome to the gathering. He later extended his thanks to all those who helped in making the function a grand success. |
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Stadium XI, RCC win
inaugural ties in Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, July 29: Stadium XI and Reliance Cricket Club (RCC) won their respective ties on the opening day of the Ist Kapoor Singh Charak Memorial Cricket Tournament, organised by the Azad Cricket Club, at Government Model School, Satwari, here. In the first match, Stadium XI defeated Raj Cricket Club (RCC) by six wickets. Earlier, after winning the toss and decided to bat first, RCC set a target of 176 runs for four in the stipulated 20 overs, which, in reply, Stadium XI chased in 17 overs for four. Raj played a brilliant 83 runs innings off 61 balls with one six and six fours for RCC. For Stadium XI, Munish and Balbir shared one wicket each. Batting second, Stadium XI reached the required total in 17 overs for the loss of four wickets. Neeraj led the Stadium XI to victory with his unbeaten innings of 61 runs off 41 balls. Balbir contributed 49 runs. For RCC, Anu took two wickets, while Parvin and Ajay shared one each. Balbir Singh was adjudged as man of the match for his all-round performance. In the second match, Reliance Cricket Club defeated Bharat Cricket Club by 73 runs. Batting first, RCC made 232 runs in the allotted 20 overs for seven. In reply, Bharat Club could not chase the target and completed their quota of 20 overs on 159 runs for nine wickets. Earlier, the tournament was declared open by Thakur Hari Singh. New Zealand prevail over India 3-1 Indian women’s hockey team jeopardised their chances of securing a semi-final slot when they went down 1-3 to title aspirants New Zealand in a Pool-B league match of the Commonwealth Games here today The Indian eves, desperately trying to win their first ever medal in the Commonwealth Games, failed to counter their much faster opponents in what turned out to be a rather one-sided contest. The Indians fired the first salvo in the early stages of the proceedings through Jyoti Kullu but failed to keep the momentum going as they conceded three goals, paying a heavy price for their defensive lapses. The hard-working Jyoti Kullu raised hopes of a dream Indian victory by putting her team in the lead as early as the 16th minute of the contest but the euphoria was shortlived as the Kiwis staged a brilliant comeback to take the game away from the Indians with Suzie Pearce (25th), Colleen Gubb-Suddaby (40th) and Moira Senior (70th) scoring for their team. The Indians, who had won their opening encounter against Canada by a solitary goal, have no option but to win their last league match against England tomorrow to keep their semi-final hopes alive. New Zealand, who had held England to a 2-2 draw in their opening league match, are now in a strong position to make it to the semi-finals as the champion team from Pool-B. Both teams played a little defensively in the initial stages of the contest before Jyoti Kullu displayed superb stickwork to produce a gem of a goal. Kullu outwitted as many as five defenders to break through the Kiwis’ defence to find the target, giving no chance at all to the rival goalkeeper. But midfielder Suzio Suzie pearce restored parity within nine minutes with a brilliant field goal capitalising on a defensive lapse. With the score tied 1-1 at the interval, the Kiwis stepped up the pace of the game in the second session and kept the Indian defenders on tenterhooks with a flurry of attacks from both the flanks. Colleen Gubb Suddaby and Moira senior converted penalty corners in the second session to seal India’s fate in this crucial match. A victory today would have assured a semi-final berth for the team. The Indians squandered all the seven penalty corners that came their way, again exposing their weakness in this department of the game. (PTI) Ramanand falls in second round The experienced Ramanand’s medal hopes were shattered when he lost to England’s Andrew Morris in the second round of the boxing event today. Ramanand, who had moved into the second round after defeating Jules De Gannes of Trinidad yesterday, could not counter his stronger English rival to go down 16-25 on points in the upto 60 kg weight category. With Ramanand’s second round exit, four of the seven Indian pugilists have already bowed out of the competitions. The Indians, who had clinched a silver medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, have not really made much of an impact in the first three days of the competitions while two of the Glovesmen Dingko Singh and Harpal Singh lost against their first round opponents by slender point margins, Dalvir Singh failed to live upto expectation as he went down by a huge margin to bow out of the championship on the first day itself. (PTI) Have I finished yet? Naali asks after marathon Tanzania’s Francis Naali ran for two hours, 11 minutes and 58 seconds to win the men’s marathon at the Commonwealth Games today — and then completed an extra lap of the track just to make sure. After a race through the streets of Central Manchester, Naali crossed the finishing line in the city of Manchester Stadium ahead of Kenya’s Joshua Chelanga and Australian bronze medallist Andrew Letherby. Letherby snatched the bronze after sprinting past Kenya’s Olympic silver medallist Eric Wainaina in the last 70 metres of the race. (Agencies) |
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Ganguly feels two spinners should have been played LONDON, July 29: Skipper Sourav Ganguly today confessed that he probably should have gone into the Lord’s test with two spinners. "When you have two great spinners (Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh), it is always difficult to pick one," Ganguly said and added "probably, we should have gone in with two spinners". India opted for three seamers and one spinner here. Conceding that England deserved to win this first test on the basis of their performance on the first three days, the Indian skipper sounded defiant saying "a lot of cricket is still left in the series". Explaining the batting collapses in both innings, Ganguly said "such things happen early in a series" England captain Nasser Hussain, who also bagged the man of the match award, said "we didn’t expect the match to go into the fifth day. The Indian batting today was something special". "The way the Indians batted today, we have some hard work ahead (in the series)," said Hussain trying to explain that his team was not going to take things easy after today’s 170-run victory. He refused to identify any particular player for praise saying it was team work. (PTI) |
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India has a good chance to win World Cup: Srinath BANGALORE, July 29: India has a "good chance" to lift the 2003 cricket World Cup to be played in South Africa, medium pacer Javagal Srinath, who recently announced retirement from test cricket to concentrate on one-dayers, predicted today. Batsmen were doing well and the bowling attack was stable now, he said during a chat with newsmen when asked about the country’s chances in the next edition of the World Cup. "Our batsmen are doing well. It is good to see that. Bowling also is pretty stable and we have a good chance", the 32-year-old cricketer, hopeful of returning to the Indian squad for the World Cup, added. He said that he was sure that the team management would evolve a suitable strategy in view of the bouncy and fast tracks in South Africa. However, Srinath declined to comment on whether he would reconsider his decision on not playing the test cricket. Many a cricketers have said that the "Mysore Express" had at least a couple of years of test cricket left in him. (UNI) |
Indian shooters continue gold-grabbing acts MANCHESTER, July 29: The strong Indian shooters continued their gold grabbing acts as Mukesh Kumar and Bhanwar Lal Dhaka picked the fifth gold medal for the contingent in the shooting event of the 17th Commonwealth Games here today. The Indian duo displayed superb skill and concentration to clinch the coveted gold medal in the men’s 25 m rapid fire pistol pairs event with an aggregate of 1141 points to boost India’s overall medal tally to five golds and two silver medals. The marksmen, who have traditionally been the main medal suppliers in multi-discipline events, have accounted for all the seven medals India have collected in the competitions so far. The India duo broke Australia’s stranglehold in the event with the Aussie pair of bruce favell and bruce quick failing to live upto expectation and were pushed to the third position with a total of 1127 points. The South African duo of Allan McDonald and Frederick Van Tonder took the silver medal with an effort of 1131 points. The talented duo of Abhinav Bindra and Sameer Ambekar had provided India with the first gold medal in the games with a record-shattering effort in the men’s 10 m air rifle pairs event on the opening day of the shooting event. While the Indian marskmen bagged a gold and silver medal on the first day, the second day proved more productive as they set the ranges ablaze by picking up three gold and one silver medal. The star duo of Anjali (Ved Pathak) and Suma Shirur set the gold-conquering tempo yesterday by winning the women’s 10 m air rifle pairs event and setting a new games record in the process while Rajyavardhan Singh and Moraad Ali Khan clinched the gold in the men’s double trap pairs event. Not to be outdone, the seasoned pair of Samaresh Jung and Vivek Singh then claimed the gold in the men’s 50 m air pistol pairs event while Shweta Chaudhary and Sheila Kanungo took the silver in the women’s 10 m air pistol pairs event. (PTI) Radcliffe finally enjoys life on the track Paula Radcliffe’s brave front-running finally earned her gold rather than grief when the Englishwoman won her first track title in the 5,000 metres on a buzzing night of athletics at the Commonwealth Games. Radcliffe, whose failure to get on the podium at last year’s World Championships ended in tears and a trackside tiff with her coach and husband, set a fierce pace to threaten the world record as she clocked 14 minutes 31.42 to take the title. After the host country failed to win the high-profile men’s 100 metres on saturday, radcliffe’s run sparked wild celebrations in the capacity 38,000 crowd, who have created the best atmosphere at a games outside the Olympics for nearly a decade. The London marathon winner, who has so often been photographed looking disappointed — notably at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when she lost out on a medal after an astonishing front run — beamed on the podium as the crowd sang "land of hope and glory". Athletics has not seen such enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowds at a major event since the 1993 World Championships in the German city of Stuttgart which enjoyed several world records. The home athletes are revelling in it in Manchester. At one point radcliffe looked capable of recording the most spectacular run of her life as she threatened the world record of 14:28.09 set by Jiang Bo of China in Shanghai in 1997. "Maybe if I had run a more even pace I might have got closer to the world record," she said yesterday. "But the time is irrelevant. I had to win this race. It was amazing just to run in this stadium." England’s world record holder Jonathan Edwards won the triple jump after a battle with compatriot Phillips Idowu to complete a quintet of major titles, adding to the two world golds and Olympic and European titles already in his possession. Mick Jones completed a golden night for the hosts when he won the hammer with a throw of 72.55 metres. The consequences of Saturday’s dramatic 100 final which ended with British favourites dwain chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis in agony dominated talk off the track. Both sprinters face a race against time to be fit for the start of the European Championships in nine days after pulling up with leg injuries in the second half of the final won by Kim Collins of the Caribbean Islands of St Kitts and Nevis. Chambers, who has beaten Olympic champion Maurice Greene twice this year, returned to London for treatment on a calf. But teenager lewis-francis, who collapsed on the track after the race, had a more serious hamstring injury and is doubtful for the munich event starting on August 6. "If I’m ready for the Europeans I’m ready but if I’m not, I won’t go. I’m still young and I’ve got a lot of Europeans in front of me," Lewis-Francis, 19, told reporters. Saturday’s final at the games, which bring together 72 nations and territories from mostly former British colonies, was billed as a showdown between the two Englishmen but it was Collins who put St Kitts and Nevis on the sporting map. Collins decided not to compete in the 200 which started with heats on Sunday and said he was wary of being centre stage. James Donaldson made a grand, late entrance into the stadium for Tiny Norfolk island despite finishing last in the race, more than an hour and quarter behind naali. One of the men’s 200 heats was held up to allow Donaldson to finish his race an hour after the penultimate finisher. Kerryn McCann led an Australian sweep of the medals in the women’s marathon before Jane Saville and Nathan Deakes completed an Australian double in the walks. Australia’s Jana Pittman, dubbed "the next cathy freeman" won a drama-charged 400 hurdles final in 54.40. The hosts did not have everything their own way, however. Australia’s Kerrie Meares also caused a surprise when she defeated Canada’s World Championship silver medallist Lori-Ann Muenzer to win the inaugural women’s 500 metres time trial. Muenzer was third behind England’s Jules Paulding. (AGENICES) Pandey fails to make an impact in Gymastics The Indian gymnasts making their maiden appearance in the Commonwealth Games failed to make much of an impact with Vikas Pandey finishing sixth in the pommel horse event in gymnastics competitions here today. But Pandey did reasonably well considering his lack of experience as he managed a score of 8.312 as the Indian gymnasts continued their miserable run at the gymnasium. Australia’s Phillip Rizzo claimed the gold medal in the event with an effort of 9.162 while England’s Kanukai Jackson took home the silver medal with 9.087. The bronze went to Malaysia’s Yik Siang Loke (9.062). Vikas Pandey and Mayank Srivastava had finished 11th and 14th respectively among 24 finalists in the men’s team event yesterday. While Pandey did quite well by managing 50.300 points, Srivastava could secure 49.00 points. (PTI) |
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