Sunita wins silver in women’s 5,000m

BANGKOK, Dec 18: India’s Sunita Rani narrowly failed to strike a gold in the women’s 5,000m and settled for the silver after a photo-finish with Indonesia’s Supriati Suon in the Asian Games Athletics Championship at the Thammasat University Stadium today.

Sunita, winner of the bronze medal in the 1,500m won by her compatriot Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, was cruising towards the gold on the final straight when the Indonesian runner came from nowhere to sprint past her with thirty metres to go.

But Sunita kept on the challenge even as sutono, who was clearly in front, slowed down and raised her arms prematurely in victory before managing to cross the line just two hundredths of a second ahead of the Indian girl who came up storming behind the Indonesian.

Sutono won the gold in 15 minutes, 54.45 second while the Indian clocked 15:54.47. The bronze was won by Japan’s Michiko Shimizu (15:55.36).

It was India’s 13th medal in athletics and the break-up reads: 2 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronze. (PTI)

Jyotirmoy’s village awaits return of golden girl

DEVAGRAM (WB), Dec 18: This tiny village in West Bengal’s Nadia district is eagerly waiting to felicitate the local girl, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, who ran to glory at the 13th Asian Games and ended India’s gold drought in Bangkok.

Jotirmoyees’ success in the games has eletrify the atmosphere in the village with people jamming the dusty roads in gay abandon.

Band parties, torch-run processions, and the cheer and chatter of people broke the early morning stillness as news spread of her bagging the second gold.

In a telephone call early this morning from the Asian Games venue, Sikdar told her father here that she was dying to meet her people and share the joy with them.

Her father, Gurudas Sikdar, said that in childhood Jyotirmoyee had burnt her left foot and rejoiced at the fact that the same foot now brought two athletic golds in India’s kitty. (PTI)

Kalmadi praises for Indians’ performance

BANGKOK, Dec 18: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi today hailed the performance of his country’s sportspersons at the 13th Asian Games, describing it as ‘fantastic’.

He lavishly praised boxer N G Dingko Singh for winning the gold in the event after a gap of 16 years. " He is an outstanding boxer and India is proud of him," he said.

All the Indian athletes here gave their best irrespective of the results, Kalmadi added.

Talking to UNI, the IOA chief stoutly defended the decision to take part in Volleyball and Football. "Unless you give these sports decent exposure, don’t expect medals."

"Though we lost in men’s football, we were not disgraced. The footballers played with lot of determination and same was the case with the spikers."

The IOA wants to popularise ‘neglected’ sports, he said adding " that is why we brought football and volleyball teams here."

Kalmadi said, " in the track and field events, our athletes have done much better than expectations. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar had done the country proud."

He said he alone was responsible for bringing such a big contingent for the games and added "you don’t win medals unless you participate."

The IOA chief said all the sportspersons, who had come here, were selected on merit. The women’s golf team had finished third in the srikit cup here early this year, the men golfers had performed well abroad and same was the case with several other disciplines.

"It is not necessary that every athlete should win a medal. This never happens. Look at Thailand, Japan and Korea, they have also suffered reverses,"he explained.

According to him, this year has been exceptionally good for the Indian sports. " In Commonwealth games we did very well and in the Asian games we are doing well."

He was full of praise for veteran P T Usha, saying " she is one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced. Just because she has not won any medal here, it does not mean that we should crucify her. She has served India to the best of her ability. Defeats here do not mean that we should start criticising her. Every sportsperson has his or her ups and downs in their careers."

Kalmadi said the IOA will have comprehensive review of the performance of the Indian contingent in the Asian games.

"It is very easy to criticise, but while blaming the sportspersons one should remember the situation and circumstances in which he or she has trained and performed. Even our swimming team did well though they did not win a medal,"he said.

"Overall I am very happy the way things have gone, and yesterday I think was a golden day for India as we bagged three golds," he added.(UNI)

Israel may return to Asian Games in 2002

BANGKOK, Dec 18: Excluded from the Asian Games for political reasons, Israel may return to the continental sporting fraternity at the next games in South Korea.

A games’ press release said a special invitation was being considered for Israel, which was excluded before the 1978 games under pressure from participating middle Eastern nations.

In its last games appearance, at Tehran in 1974, Israel won seven gold medals and finished sixth in the medals race.

Also banned from the games is Iraq, an action that followed its invasion of Kuwait prior to the 1990 gulf war.

The 2002 games will be staged in Pusan, South Korea’s second-largest city and major port. It is expected to attract 17,000 athletes, officials and media representatives, with competition planned in 32 sports.

The theme of the 2002 games will be "Asia is one," and the Mascot a sea gull displaying "dynamic power, purity and valiant spirit."

Taking if off, again: The departure of the last Asian Games athletes from Bangkok will signal for some that it’s time again to take it off.

So as not to tarnish Thailand’s image, police put a curb on the normally anything-goes nightlife scene during the December 6-20 games, including a ban on stripping.

Aware of Bangkok’s sex city reputation, some foreign visitors during the games were surprised at the relatively sedate activities along the city’s nightlife strips.

"The bad news when the Asian Games close is that the traffic jams will resume. The good news is that go-go dancers will be showing (read: stripping) again," Bernard Trink, the entertainment columnist of the Bangkok post, wrote today.

Authorities closed schools, opened new expressways and took other effective measures to combat Bangkok’s notoriety for massive traffic jams.

The next games: Taking hardly a breather after staging the asian games, bangkok will hold the 7th far East and South pacific games for the disabled next month.

The January 10-16 event will see 2,500 athletes from 42 countries and territories competing under the motto "equality in one world."

The fespic games will be held in some of the same modern stadiums built for the Asian Games, which end on Sunday.

The first fespic games were held in Oita, Japan, in 1975. The last were in Beijing four years ago.

Records galore: Eleven world and 48 continental records have been broken so far at the Asian Games, and more countries are on the medals chart than at the last games, officials say.

Weightlifting accounted for all the new world marks, with China breaking 10 and South Korea one.

Records in weightlifting been dropping like flies following a decision by the sport’s ruling body to wipe all records prior to 1998 off the books. The reason: Too much doping in the sport tainted previous records.

Of the 41 participating countries in Bangkok, 32 have been able to win medals while only 22 shared in the medals at the last games four years ago in Hiroshima, Japan.

Still noticeably missing from the medals chart are Yemen, Bhutan and the Maldives, which have never won medals at any games.

"The best way to promote sport (in Asia) is to let nations get medals at the Asian Games," says Wei Jizhong, a senior official of the Olympic Council of Asia. "When a sport developing country brings home a medal, their people will be happy. ... The Government will put more money into sport."

Fledgling fans: To inculcate a love of sports in kids, 4,000 tickets at rock-bottom prices are being reserved for them to watch Thailand’s soccer team take on China at the Asian Games Saturday.

Paying only 20 baht (55 US Cents), the children will get a chance to see the two teams battle for the soccer bronze medal in the Southern city of Songkhla. A capacity crowd is expected at the city’s main stadium. (AP)

Opening day’s play washed out

DUNEDIN, Dec 18: A heavy downpour washed out the opening day’s play of the first test between India and New Zealand at Carisrokhere today.

The cloud cover which hung over the Dunedin skyline and drenched the city with a couple of sharp showers yesterday burst open this morning ruling out any remote thoughts of play.

There was one brief moment when the sky had brightened and the sheets covering the pitch were on the verge of being rolled up, but the rain returned with force preventing a toss or team announcements and prompting umpires Steve Dunne and Edward Nicholls to call off play.

With met office reports suggesting threats of rain playing spoilsport in the coming days too, New Zealand coach Steve Rixon was unhappy at India’s rejection of three test saving proposals mooted at the team managements’ meeting last evening.

The proposals geeally concerning this test were to extend the game by a day to make up for any lost day, try to accommodate extra hours to cover the lost time on each day’s play and to use floodlights if bad light disrupts the game.

I am extremely disappointed to say India has declined all these proposals, Rixon said. We are looking forward to playing as much cricket as possible and this was the last thing we wanted.

Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad, however, said, an extra day’s play here would have meant a day less between the two tests (the second test starts at Wellington on December 26). It woud ave meant back to back tests.

With the amount of cricket we have played in recent times, there is no reason to saddle the team with extra work-load, for tests are pressure games, he said.

On playing under the lights, Gaekwad said, we did try with this experiment in a Ranji Trophy final (at Gwalior) a few seasons back. The reports were not too good. It was pointed out it became difficult to spot the ball, both for batsmen and fielders, once the ball lost its gloss.

So we could not agree to this proposal as well, he said.

It remains a fact that the Indians’ itinerary is a bit tight with three tests scheduled in 19 days. Even if it means similar conditions for the Kiwis, the home team has the adatage to call upon a replacement whenever required.

Compared to India’s tight tour programme, South Africa, the second team to visit New Zealand this summer, have a more spaced out itinerary with at least three days between the one-dayers and first class games interspersing the tests. (PTI)

Chinese rowers sweep five golds

BANGKOK, Dec 18: China’s rowers, fired up after a disappointing world championships, swept all five of today’s Asian Games races, winning by margins ranging from 2.5 to more than 11 seconds

Coach Gao Hongyin gave some of the credit to track coach Ma Junren, famous for "Ma’s Army" of women distance runners who set world records in the early 1990s. Because of a dispute with national officials, none of Ma’s runners are in the Asian Games, but Gao said Ma had helped with the rowers’ training.

"We suffered a severe defeat in the World Championship in Germany earlier this year. After that we held a training camp in Guangdong and that proved very helpful," he said.

Gao said Ma went to the Southern province camp to lecture about his experiences in training.

In today’s 2,000-metre races, singles sculls winner Cai Yukun had to come from behind against Indonesia’s Lasmin, but had a lead of more than three seconds after 1,500 metres. He won by nearly five seconds, finishing in 7 minutes, 1.92 seconds. Lasmin took silver in 7:06.86 and Pakistan’s Mohammad Akram took bronze in 7:10.63.

The lightweight men’s pair of Gao Bingrong and Liu Jian had the closest finish, beating Japan’s Kazuaki Mimoto and Daisaku Takeda by 2.5 seconds 6:24.04 to 6:26.55. The Japanese pair had narrowed the gap by almost three seconds over the last 500 metres. North Koreans Ri Chol Jin and Kim Song Chol won bronze in 6:36.82.

In lightweight coxless fours racing, China’s Liu Zewu, Mao Zhixing, Wang Xutao and Zhou Guoyang beat Japan’s four 5:56.32 to 6:00.13. India’s four won bronze in 6:11.48.

China’s Ou Shaoyan won by more than 11 seconds in lightweight women’s single sculls, finishing in 7:47.34 to 7:59.05 for Hong Kong’s Ng Ga-Loc. Thailand’s Phuttharaksa Nikree was third in 8:06.93.

The Chinese lightweight women’s coxed fours team, including three rowers from the boat that finished fourth in the World Championships, won their race by five seconds over Japan 6:39.74 to 6:44.74 with North Korea third in 657.70. Peng Ying joined the September race’s three Fan Ruihua, Liu Bili and Shen Senping.

"Now we are on the right track to clean sweep the Asiad rowing gold medals for the third time," said coach Gao.

In the last games in 1994, China won 11 of 12 rowing golds. They had swept all four in 1982 and all 12 in 1990. (AP)

Sethi-Shandilya claim gold

BANGKOK, Dec 18: World professional billiards champion Geet Sethi propelled India to their first gold medal from the green baize sport as he and Ashok Shandilaya won a nerve-wracking billiards doubles final against Thailand’s C Praprut and K Mongkon at the Asian Games tonight.

Sethi wielded his cue like a magic wand to notch up a scintillating break of 150 (unfinished) in the opening frame of the best-of-nine final before pulling India from the verge of a stunning upset by producing timely breaks of 79 and 76 in the fifth and sixth frames.

His fine cue touch helped India turn around a 1-3 deficit into a 4-3 lead only for the Thais draw level by winning the eighth.

But Sethi sewed up the gold by compiling a scintillating 141 in the decider to carry India to their first of two expected gold medals.

Sethi and Shandilya won 150-0, 51-150, 51-152, 139-151, 151-83, 152-23, 152-73, 46-151 and 151-34 to claim gold pushing the Thai pair to silver.

India also claimed the bronze medal when Devendra Joshi and Balachandra Bhaskar made up for their unexpected semifinal loss in the morning to swamp Reynaldo Grandea and his partner B Ancaja of the Philippines 151-144, 151-98, 150-137, 150-9.

Joshi’s break of 106 in the third of the best of seven affair stood out. (PTI)

Fog thickens over Pak-Zimbabwe 3rd test

FAISALABAD, Dec 18: Thick fog shrouded the Iqbal stadium for a second day today and seemed set to prevent the start of the third test between Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Visibility and light were even poorer than yesterday, when the first day’s play was abandoned without a ball being bowled in a test that Pakistan have to win to level the series.

Umpires did not even bother to inspect the pitch, which remained covered.

White sheets were hung from the VIP enclosure and the Pakistani dressing room, in sight of the wicket, was painted white to improve visibility.

Zimbabwe led the three-match series 1-0 after a seven-wicket victory in the first test at Peshawar. The second test ended in a fog-hit draw. (REUTERS)

Jaideep bags junior title
Kamal Rohmetra is new State Billiards Champion

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 18: Second seed Kamal Rohmetra has become Billiards State Champion trouncing Kamal Kant Khanna 409-382 in the seniors final of the 8th Billiards and Snooker Championship played at M A Stadium, here this evening.

Kamal maintained full control over the three balls game throughout, which lasted for two hours in the pin-drop silenced Billiards hall.

Khanna, who entered the finals beating top seed Gautam Lakra could not maintain cool and lost the match in the last minutes.

The last minutes crucial 55 points break in favour of Kamal put him in to a comfortable position and brought him ahead of Khanna, who was leading with eight points when score on board was 283-295.

Unrecoverable lead through highest break of the match was the turning point of the final, followed by another good break of 30 points by Kamal which helped him to consolidate his position which Khanna failed to cash.

No, doubt Khanna got more strikes in view of Kamal’s drops in the last 15 minutes game, but to of no avail and he lost the championship title with a difference of 27 points.

Earlier, soon after the beginning of the final, Khanna took around 51 points lead when score was 22-73 which Kamal covered after adding regular points. After the rest brake, Kamal took charge of the cue taking lead of 75 points. But, soon Khanna covered the gap and went ahead of Kamal 283-295.

The 55 points break in one go by Kamal turned turned the table against Khanna which enabled him to claim the 8th State Billiards title.

In the junior State Billiards Championship, Jaideep Manocha defeated Ankur Mahajan 346-210 in the final today to take home the junior title.

The Snooker finals in both senior and junior categories will be played tomorrow (Juniors at 12 noon and seniors at 3 pm), which will be followed by the prize distribution function.

The championship is being organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Billiards and Snooker Association.

The result: Kamal Rohmetra bt Kamal Kant Khanna 409-382; Jaideep Manocha bt Ankur Mahajan 346-210.

Sukhbir Memorial Hockey Tourney
Khalsa Club beat Richie Land 6-1 in league match

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 18: Khalsa Club defeated Richie Land Club 6-1 in a one sided league match of the 10th Sukhbir Memorial Memorial Hockey Tournament being played at Green Field Grounds, here today.

Khalsa Club struck five goals in the first half after regular intervals and the remaining sixth goal came after side changing. First goal came in the 7th minute, when left-in Davinder Singh converted a plenty stroke into goal. Second goal was again hit by Davinder Singh in the 14th minute of the match.

Now, it was the turn of left-out Rajinder Singh, who hit a goal in the 21st minute and brought the Khalsa Club score to 3-0. Center-forward Surinder Singh made fourth and fifth goal in the 30th and 24th minute of the match to take 5-0 first half lead.

Second half of the match comparatively slow and only two goal came in the 35 minutes game. Ist goal was struck by Davinder, who made his third goal and sixth for Khalsa Club in the 41st minute.

Richie Land, who missed plenty corner in the first half and secured their only goal of the match, when center-forward Omkar Singh converted a pass into goal to making it 6-1.

Messrs Kulbeer Singh and Situ were referees in the match.

In another match, 5 Grenadiers trounced Diamond Club 4-2. Diamond Club, who earlier played a better game in the first half and took 2-1 lead. But in the second half, they were over powered by Grenadiers, who gave them no chance to add more goals to their tally.

Diamond Club struck first two field goals in 10th and 14th minute through right-in Madan Singh and left-in Daljeet Singh respectively. Grenadiers made their first field goal in the 25th minute through right-in Vinod Kumar making it 2-1 before side changing.

In the second half, Grenadiers took one goal lead, when center-forward Kripal Singh struck second and third goal in the 38th and 48th minute. Grenadiers’ made their fourth goal through center-off Kulbeer Singh in the 44th minute and won the match 4-2.

Messrs Kulbeer Singh and Harmanan were referees in the match.

Tomorrow’s fixture: Guru Nanak Club will meet Richie Land.