Pan Americian Games for 2003 awarded to Santo Domingo

PANAMA CITY, Dec 7: Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, beat out Guadalajara, Mexico and Medellin, Colombia to be chosen as the host city for the 2003 Pan American Games.

Members of the General Assembly of the Pan American Sports Organisation yesterday selected Santo Domingo in a second round of voting after eliminating Medellin in the first round and Guadalajara in the second. The vote count was not released.

Delegates from the Dominican Republican, which lost the 1999 games to Winnipeg, Canada, wept with joy.

"This is a stimulus for Dominican sports," said the President of the Dominican Olympic Committee, Jose Puello Herrera, who jumped from his seat and threw his arms in the air when his capital city was announced the winner.

A group of children dressed in the country’s colours, red and blue, broke out in a Merengue dance to celebrate.

Puello Herrera said the Dominican Republic, which suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Georges in September, will be ready for 2003.

It already has repaired nearly 86 percent of the infrastructure needed for the games, which will cost nearly 100 million dlrs to organise. (AP)

India out cheaply in Ist tour match

NAPIER (NEW ZEALAND), Dec 7: Northern districts held the upper hand today on the opening day of a four-day cricket match after bowling out India for 103 at Mclean Park.

Northern districts were 121 for one at stumps with captain Craig Spearman unbeaten on 65 and Mathew Sinclair not out 28.

India made a disastrous start to the match when it crumbled to 20 for five, including the loss of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar for five.

Saurav Ganguly and wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia brought some respectability to the score with a sixth-wicket partnership of 46, but once they were dismissed the tourists folded quickly.

Ganguly top-scored with 37 in 138 minutes, with Mongia, who made 21, and Venkatesh Prasad, (14) the only other players to reach double figures.

Andrew Penn led Central’s bowling effort with 4-43 off 16 overs while fellow new-ball bowler David Blake claimed three wickets and Michael Mason two, including that of Tendulkar. (AP)

Birds, bugs bedeviling Asian Games

BANGKOK, Dec 7: First it was bugs, now it’s the birds. Assorted beasties seem bent on harassing athletes at the Asian Games.

The Chinese team has lodged a formal complaint that its weightlifters were being showered by insulation foam. The culprits: Sparrows trying to build nests in the rooftop of the indoor weightlifting arena.

Small pieces of foam have been falling on the exact spot where the lifters are to compete.

"The heaviest downpour is right at the Centre of the competition area and we have to sweep it up every 30 minutes," the Bangkok post quoted a Thai weightlifting official as saying.

Col. Jakrit Intharatat, Secretary-General of the Weightlifting Association of Thailand, said the falling foam could cause serious problems for competitors, and the international weightlifting confederation might not approve the venue.

As officials scurried to find a solution before the start of competition later Monday, anti-bug patrols fanned out to several other venues to control mosquitoes and other insects.

The first alarm was raised when an usual number of insects were discovered in the Asian Games swimming pool last week. Since then there have been complaints that mosquitoes infiltrate some indoor arenas as the sun sets.

Taiwan’s tenpins: With one world champion and three gold medalists from the last games, Taiwan’s bowling team is expected to victory at the 13th Asian Games.

The team includes Tseng Su-Fen, the former women’s world champion and gold winner at the Hiroshima Asian Games four years ago, as well as Giroshima gold medalists Lin Han-Cheng and Chou Miao-Lin.

Ten gold medals are at stake in the bowling competition, which begins on Wednesday. South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are also fielding strong squads.

Can’t miss bronze: Win some, lose some, say the Thais.

The hosts of the Asian Games got a guaranteed bronze medal after Siwaporn Mayer received a first-round bye in the Taekwondo competition.

But her three teammates will be facing tough competitors from South Korea, China and Taiwan when the Asian martial art event begins today.

Meanwhile, Thailand was guaranteed not to get any medals in the men’s 4-kilometer pursuit because most of the cyclists were declared unfit.

Only Panupong Maneepong and Thongchai Wankerdjai-Ngarm were able to complete the 12-lap race in training while the rest of the team could not keep up after the halfway point, ruining the team combination. (AP)

Changes could come for Davis Cup: ITF head

MILAN, Dec 7: The International Tennis Federation is studying ways to create more interest in the Davis Cup among players and fans, the governing body’s head has said.

Proposals include cutting matches in early rounds from best-of-5 sets to best-of-3, giving the returning finalist nations first-round byes, and trying to convince the ATP to award rankings points for Davis Cup matches.

"Does that get (Pete) Sampras or whoever to play? believe me, we are looking at the options," said ITF president Brian Tobin yesterday, in Milan for the Davis Cup final, in which Sweden defeated Italy 4-1.

It was the first final in the 99-year history of the event without any singles players from the ATP’s top 30.

Neither no. 1 Sampras or no. 6 Andre Agassi played in the semifinals, when Italy ousted the United States.

Citing personal goals, primarily his pursuit of Roy Emerson’s record 12 Grand Slam tournament titles, Sampras has played Davis Cup just once since leading the United States to the 1995 title.

"We absolutely congratulate (Sampras) on being no. 1 in the world for the sixth time," Tobin said, "but there’s also talk about him trying to match Roy Emerson’s record as a tennis player and a tennis champion.

"I’m not knocking Pete, but just sit back for a minute and have a look at the two records. Pete has 11 Grand Slams and two Davis Cups. Emerson has 12 Grand Slams and eight Davis Cup final wins on his record. So how would you compare the two?"

Tobin said he is concerned that matches may be taking too much time, and noted that a Swedish Television station cut off its broadcast of the five-hour opening singles match here Friday with the score 5-5 in the fifth set.

He added, though, that it is unlikely changes will be made before 2001. (AP)

India go down in women’s football

BANGKOK, Dec 7: Debutants India went down without a whimper in women’s football at the Asian Games losing 7-0 to the formidable South Koreans in a Group-B encounter here today.

Despite finishing seventh in the last Asian championship, the Indian women were all at sea against the Koreans and had a tough time defending their goal, let alone make gainful forays.

Though the first 25 minutes saw no goals, the Koreans struck at will once they got going. Striker Seong Mi son saw her header off a deflection from Indian custodian B Chintham Curl into the net. Before the lemon break the Koreans scored two more goals to take a three-zero lead.

The opening match proved disastrous for the Indians as they failed to put up even a semblance of a fight against the Koreans who took some time to settle down.

But once they found their rhythm, there was no stopping the Koreans.

A self goal in the fifth minute added to India’s misery when defender rebellow in an attempt to save a header from Sung Mi Cha, deflected the ball into the net past a hapless goalkeeper.

After the first goal, Sung Mi Cha netted two more goals before the breather. Soon after the break, the Koreans scored their fourth goal when Sung Mi Cha headed-in a corner.

After that, the Indians kept the Koreans at bay till the 30th minute when the eventful self-goal came.

The sixth goal came from Seong Mi son who struck past the onrushing Indian custodian to safely put the ball into the net.

The final goal was a brilliant long-ranger unleashed by Mi Yeon Lee. (UNI)

Macgill back in Australian side

MELBOURNE, Dec 7: Legspinner Stuart Macgill was recalled today to the Australian cricket side for the third test against England beginning in Adelaide on Friday.

Astralian selectors dropped paceman Michael Kasprowicz from the 12-man squad.

Macgill was absent from Australia’s second-test win in Perth after playing a key role in the drawn ashes opener in Brisbane.

The Australian squad:

Mark Taylor (captain), Steve Waugh, Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Ian Healy, Stuart Macgill, Damien Fleming, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie. (12th man to be named). (AP)

Indian challenge in women’s air rifle shooting falters

BANGKOK, Dec 7: The Indian challenge in the women’s individual and team 10-M air rifle event fell by the way side with the shooters failing to qualify for the finals at the Asian Games here today.

The team comprising Anju Tere, Suma Dixit and Anjali Vedpathak finished poorly in a field of 43 in the preliminary round.

In the individual category, Anju finished 16th scoring 388 out of a possible 400 while Suma shot a disappointing 384 to finish 26th and Anjali brought up the rear to finish 36th with 380.

Yinghui Zhao of China took the Gold while in the team event hosts Thailand, led by Thanyarat Pupiromchaikul, Nuanwan Kerdsumran and Jarintorn Dangpiam, finished at the top with a total of 1178 points. South Korea finished a distant second with 1170 points. China claimed the Bronze with 1116 points. (UNI)

India crushed by China in opener

BANGKOK, Dec 7: The Indian campaign to attain medal bracket in men’s volleyball at the Asian games after a gap of twelve years started on an off-key note when the team was crushed in straight sets by strong contenders China in their opening group ‘B’ clash today.

China trounced India 15-9, 15-7, 15-11 while in another group ‘A’ league tie South Korea swamped Qatar 153,15-7, 15-6 at the multi-purpose hall of the Muang Thong Thani complex.

India had won an unexpected bronze in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games before skipping the next two editions at Beijing and Hiroshima as the team was not considered good enough.

The spikers now have to face Japan (who took part in the recent World Cup), Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Iran to complete the league engagements.

India have come here after a lengthy preparatory camp under former international setter G E Sreedharan, one of the members of the team which won the bronze in 1986 at Seoul, with Egypt-born German Al-Wassimi providing expertise to the side on latest techniques. (PTI)

West Indies ‘A’ make a clean sweep

CHENNAI, Dec 7: West Indies ‘A’ clinched the two-test series 2-0 when they defeated India ‘A’ by six wickets on the fourth and final day of the second cricket ‘test’ here today.

Set a victory target of 201 in 72 overs, after the home side declared their second innings at 146 for 9, the visitors, who won the first test at Bangalore, scored 202 for four with 13.4 overs to spare.

Opener Adrian Griffth and south paw Wavel Hinds laid the foundation for the victory with a 109-run second-wicket stand. Griffth (67) and Hinds (60) made most of the weak Indian attack as the spinners failed to take advantage of a helpful pitch.

The trio of Rahul Sanghvi, Nikhil Chopra and Sanjay Raul lacked variety and bowled too many short-pitched deliveries. The Indian fielding was also not up to the mark.

Though Griffith and Hinds departed, Christopher Gayle and Richard Smith, first innings top scorer, guided their team to victory. Needing 25 runs in 20 overs, they reached the target without much problem. Gayle was unbeaten on 10 and Ram Naresh Sarwan on 7.

Griffith batted superbly and hit seven fours for his 67. He was caught at short leg by Raul off Sanghvi.

Earlier, India, who were 64 for two overnight, declared their innings for the addition of just 82 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Most of their batsmen getting out to indiscreet shots. (PTI)

Tough test for Indian men’s hockey team

BANGKOK, Dec 7: Can India pull off once again what it did 32 years ago in this very ‘city of angels’ for its lone Asian Games men’s hockey gold so far ?

With a poor track record in the immediate past and no new faces to inject fresh ideas, the Indian team has quite a job on its hands in the men’s hockey tournament at the 13th edition of the Asian Games starting here tomorrow.

Asian hockey is no longer an easy scene for one to dominate with the emergence of South Korea as a major power breaking the stranglehold enjoyed down the years by Pakistan and India, and, with its ability to spring a surprise or two, Malaysia is always there causing sleepless nights to the major players.

In the Utrecht World Cup in May this year, India went down 3-4 to Korea, with whom they are grouped here too, in a pool match and then crashed to a 1-4 defeat against Canada. India had lost to korea in the play-off match of Atlanta Olympics also two years ago.

The seemingly never-ending tale of Indian hockey reverses continued as India went down 2-5 against Australia in the opening match in the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games two months ago.

They then lost 0-1 to Malaysia in the semi-finals before yielding to England in the play-off for the bronze medal.

With no international exposure after that, the Indian Hockey Federation selectors had no recourse but to fall back on the tried and trusted players like Dhanraj Pillai, Mukesh Kumar in the forward line and Aashish Ballal and A B Subbaiah under the bar.

If India finish second in the tougher pool, where they are placed along with Korea, they are likely to run into Pakistan which has started getting its act together once again.

After finishing fifth in the World Cup, Pakistan failed to make it to the semi-finals in the Commonwealth Games because of its young and inexperienced team, but bounced back to finish runners up in the Champions Trophy last month.

The team, which is without Shahbaz Ahmed, Tahir Zaman and Mohd Shahbaz, has some fresh young blood like forwards Mohd Anees, Atif Bashir, Mohd Sanwar and Sohail Abbas and half back like Mohd Usman.

The Koreans, who finished seventh in both the Atlanta Olympics and the World Cup, recovered from the slump with some impressive performances in the Lahore Champions Trophy.

Coached by Paul Lissack, Malaysia stunned a profligate India 1-0 in the Commomwealth Games semi-finals and is not a team to be taken lightly.

Coming back to the Indian team, it had a harrowing time on arrival and its movement to the village and checking in took as long as six hours due to some communication messup.

It has also got over the worry about the fitness of Anil Aldrin who was suffering from herpes. (PTI)