Venues
for Indo-Pak series finalised
NEW
DELHI, Dec 16: The venues for the forthcoming
India-Pakistan full series, comprising three
tests and five one-day internationals, were
finalised here last night by the cricket boards
of the two countries.
We (Indian and Pak
Cricket Boards) have finalised the venues for the
tour which are to be cleared by the Government
before they can be released, Indian Board (BCCI)
secretary Jaywant Lele told today.
The process will
be over in a couple of days, he added.
Lele and Raj Singh
Dungarpur, the Indian Board president, finalised
details of the tour with Pakistan Board’s
(PCB) chairman Khalid Mahmood and chief executive
Majid Khan.
Pakistan are
scheduled to visit India to play tests for the
first time since 1986-87. The two arch-rivals
have not clashed in a test match since
India’s Pak tour in 1989-90.
The PCB
representatives were here to discuss the venues
during the series scheduled to begin mid-January,
security measures and other aspects of the tour
with their BCCI counterparts.
The decision to
send the two top officials to New Delhi was taken
at the PCB Executive Council meeting held in
Rawalpindi last week after the Pakistani
Government had cleared the tour.
The tour details
were chalked out in the face of the threat given
by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray that Pakistani
cricket team would not be allowed to play in
India.
However, Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has assured full
security to the Pakistani team and said that the
tour was on. (PTI)
India
back in women’s hockey final after 16 years
BANGKOK,
Dec 16:
Staying on course despite numerous hurdles India
entered the final of the Asian Games Women’s
Hockey Tournament after a gap of 16 years when
they settled for a 1-1 draw with Japan in the
last league match here today.
The only time they
were in the final earlier was in the 1982 New
Delhi games where Indian women bagged the gold on
the discipline’s debut.
They ended up with
the bronze four years later at Seoul and finished
fourth at Hiroshima in 1994. Indian women did not
make the trip to Beijing Asian Games in 1990.
All India needed
in the last round-robin match today with Japan
was a draw, which earned them the right to
challenge defending champions South Korea on
Friday.
India did what was
needed, thanks to a fourth-minute goal by Kamla
Dalal. The equaliser by Japan’s Keiko Muira
two minutes from the end only put them on par
with India but the former champions prevailed
because of their better goal difference.
India had scored
24 goals and conceded nine for tally of plus 15
against Japan’s plus eight from 16 for and
eight against.
The Indian girls
could easily have won by a big margin due to
their superiority, but the girls, who did not
hesitate to take on physically much stronger
teams like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, were a
strangely subdued lot today.
Added to that was
the problem of some seemingly harsh decision
against them by Chinese umpire Zhang Jun which
increased pressure on them and forced Indian
girls to crack under it. (PTI)
India
clinch Kabaddi Gold
BANGKOK,
Dec 16:
The script was no different for the third time in
a row at the medal ceremony for Kabaddi in the
Asian Games with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
today receiving the Gold, Silver and Bronze
respectively in the event.
India retained the
Gold with an all win-record in six matches. They
defeated Sri Lanka 76-13 and Japan 59-25 in their
last two matches yesterday.
Pakistan settled
behind the reigning champions defeating Japan
24-7 while Bangladesh drew with Sri Lanka 24-24
to finish third.
Led by Viswajit
Palit, the ten-member Indian team shouted
"Bharat mata ki jai" as they received
the Gold, the second in the current edition of
the games, to the tune of the national anthem at
the medal ceremony.
India won all
their matches with convincing margins and had
completed their league assignments yesterday.
Middle distance
runner Jyotirmoyee Sikdar had fetched the first
Gold for the country in the 13th Asian Games in
the women’s 1500 metres.
The effort of the
Kabaddi team pushed India further ahead in the
medal table. (UNI)
Wellington
victory vaults India’s spirits for Ist test
DUNEDIN,
Dec 16:
Until the second innings of their match against
Wellington, which they won emphatically by eight
wickets, India, who begin a three-test series
against New Zealand here on Friday, looked a pale
shadow of the team, which won a rubber against
mighty Australia only nine months ago.
In losing the
opening match of their tour to central districts
in less than three full days and then falling 49
runs behind on the first innings against
Wellington, the visitors bore a greater
resemblance to the team which last month
succumbed in the one-off test to Zimbabwe, the
minnows of test cricket.
But for a
spectacular 154 by master-blaster Sachin
Tendulkar in the second innings, India would have
lost to central districts in less than two days.
However, the
resilience with which they came back to dismiss
Wellington in their second innings for 124 and
win by eight wickets showed India’s
prospects in the opening test in much brighter
light.
Yet, India do not
look as ready as desirable for the big day. Where
their batting is concerned, there are doubts
about the form of veteran Navjot Singh Sidhu and
captain Mohammed Azharuddin.
In three innings
so far, Sidhu has made 2, 15 and 6.
Azharuddin’s scores at Napier were 2 and 7.
In these circumstances, the skipper might have
been unwise to have chosen to rest from the match
at Wellington.
Coach Anshuman
Gaekwad, however, said: "I am not too
bothered by Azhar and Sidhu, who did not bat in
Wellington because of an injured toe, being short
of run. They are both experienced players and
I’m sure they will come right."
One of the batting
places that fell vacant against Wellington from
Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar taking the match
off was given to Hyderabad boy V V S Lakshman
who, in theory, was competing with vice-captain
Ajay Jadeja for the position of Sidhu’s
opening partner in the Dunedin test.
Nevertheless,
Jadeja’s place seemed already booked and if
there was any doubt, it was eliminated by the
chirpy chap scoring 39 in Napier and 46 in the
first innings at Wellington.
But it was
reassuring to see Laxman, when he opened the
second innings at Wellington, bat with discipline
and confidence when conditions were in favour of
the bowlers, who were on top during the evening
of the third day.
If India are to
realise the full potential of their immense
strength in the middle of their batting order, it
is imperative that the openers give them a good
start.
One of the factors
that contributed to the Indian batting coming to
a rich bloom against the kangaroos earlier this
year was the consistency and tremendous authority
with which Sidhu batted right through the series.
The Australian attack was already softened up
before Tendulkar came in to bat.
Comparisons
between the immortal Don Bradman and Tendulkar
are being made with increasing frequency by
leading contemporary players and those of the
recent past. In fact, the Don himself has seen in
Tendulkar a reflection of himself in his salad
days.
If the visitors
are to win this series in New Zealand, the Indian
batting must come into its own straight away. If
it fails, as it did in Harare, India might be
doomed to losing the battle because history
reveals that it is hard to stage a comeback in a
three-match rubber.
Carisbrook, the
venue of the Dunedin test, has a special place in
India’s cricket history because it was there
that they scored their first-ever test on foreign
soil, in 1967-68. This is the first test on this
ground since.
Not one of New
Zealand’s major cricket venues, it has
staged only 10 test matches hitherto and it is
noteworthy that most of them have finished
decisively. The forecast is that Friday’s
pitch will be hard and lively.
India must
therefore approach the test with the assumption
that it will follow the trend, which means that
they must play to win, and victory entails
bowling out the opposition twice. (AP)
Asian
doubles tennis
India loses to S Korea
BANGKOK,
Dec 16: A
visibly tired Mahesh Bhupathi and tentative
Nirupama Vaidyanathan bowed out of gold medal
contention, losing 4-6, 3-6 to South Korea’s
Kim Dong Hyun and Choi Ju Yeon in the semifinals
of Asian Games mixed doubles tennis here today.
Billed the
‘golden pair’, the top-seeded Indian
pair now has to be content with the bronze medal
given to losing semifinalists.
Earlier, in the
first semifinal, the Japaneses pair of Satoshi
Iwabuchi and Nana Miyagi overpowered China’s
Chn Li and Chn Li Feng 6-1, 7-5.
Bhupathi, who beat
the top-seeded Oleg Ogorodov 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a
gruelling singles quarterfinal in the morning,
did not look fully fit against the Koreans who
had beaten the third seeds Chen Chi Jung and Wang
Shi Tang of Chinese Taipei 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-3
on their way to the semis.
The Indians
started on a facile note and took a commanding
4-1 lead in the first set but suddenly slumped
and conceded 11 games on a trot.
The way the match
started, it looked as if Mahesh and Nirupama
would emerge easy winners because Kim and Choi
struggled to get their act together.
However, the
physically fit Kim took advantage of
Mahesh’s fatigue and took control of the
game. He was ably supported by Choi.
Nirupama was not
very steady and looked tentative throughout the
62-minute match.
The gruelling
singles encounter affected Bhupathi’s
performance in the second match. After leading
4-1 he lost concentration and could not control
the proceedings on the court.
The spirited
unseeded Koreans, who had nothing to lose, made a
charge and broke their rivals’ service at
will.
Leading 4-1,
Bhupathi and Nirupama looked helpless as the
Koreans took the first set after taking five
straight games to win the set, which at one
staged looked out of their reach, 6-4.
Bhupathi committed
many unforced errors and Nirupama confounded his
woes by being very erratic. She found her returns
either in the net or wide.
Kim Dong Hyun
served well and covered the court superbly. He
was very agile and charged to the net on several
occasions to earn points.
He had a good
partner in Choi Yu Yeon, who when compared to
Nirupama, was much faster and returned the ball
well.
Down 0-5, the
Indians made the last charge, but the rally came
too late to alter the course of the match.
Mahesh held his
sixth service game to make it 1-5 and then the
Indians broke their rival (2-5). Nirupama held
her eighth service (3-5) and the Indian pair led
40-30 on the rivals’ service in the crucial
nineth game. (UNI)
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