Hyderabad
in commanding position
VISAKHAPATNAM,
Dec 25:
Hyderabad were in commanding position reducing
Andhra to 178 for 8 after posting a comfortable
total of 270 on the second day of the four-day
South Zone Ranji Trophy league match at Steel
Plant Grounds here today.
Resuming at
overnight score of 250 for nine, Hyderabad added
2 more runs before Kanwaljeet Singh was out for
18. D Vinay Kumar remained unbeaten 77.
Andhra started
disastrously losing the first two wickets cheaply
for just nine runs. At one stage they were
struggling at 65 for five. But I Srinivas rescued
Andhra and was instrumental in his team avoiding
follow on.
He remained
unbeaten on 59 with H Ramkishen (8) giving him
company at draw of stumps. Andhra still need 93
runs to take vital first innings lead. (PTI)
Bengal
retains junior Gymnastics Champ
CALCUTTA,
Dec 25: Hosts Bengal retained the
team championship for girls in the 39th Junior
National Gymnastics meet at the Sports Authority
of India (SAI) Complex at Salt Lake here today.
With this, Bengal
emerged champion for the eleventh time in a row.
Bengal were
followed by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh while
fourth, fifth and sixth places went to Punjab,
Haryana and Manipur respectively.
Bengal’s
Tumpa Debnath (73 points), Subhra Sarkar (72
points) and Dona Das ( 72 points ) took Bengal to
a respectable total score of 359 points for the
championship.
Kulkarni Sharvar
(67 points) and Bhide Anuradha (65 points) were
the top scorers contributing to
Maharashtra’s total of 322 points.
Rima Yadav and
Anita Rathod of Uttar Pradesh with 64 and 63
points respectively of the total 313 points were
the top scorers for their state.(UNI)
1998
— a relatively better year for Indian sports
By Harpal Singh Bedi
NEW
DELHI, Dec 25 : An Asian games hockey triumph after
32 years, and gold medals in boxing and athletics
after a large yawning gap made 1998 a relatively
better year for Indian sports which was once
again dominated by a heavy cricket calendar that
saw the batting dynamite Sachin Tendulkar hog the
headlines.
The year witnessed
fall of sprint queen P.T. Usha and rise of new
golden girl Jyotirmoy Sikdar and erasing of
38-year-old 400 m metre of Milkha Singh by
Paramjit Singh in athletics, reinstating of Mohd.
Azharuddin as captain of the cricket team,
exclusion of off spinner Rajesh Chauhan on the
behest of the International Cricket Council and
later dropping of Harbhajan Singh from the team
again on the directive of the ICC.
The cricket
suffered a big blow when one of its most prolific
run getters Raman Lamba died after being struck
by bat on the head as he was fielding in the
Dhaka league.
Geet Sethi won the
World’s Billiards Championship and then
bagged an Asiad gold in the doubles event while
losing single gold to compatriot Ashok Shandilya.
Anand Vishwanathan
lost to A. Karpov in the play off of the World
Chess Championship in Lusanne but won the Holland
International title.
The year which
started poorly for the Indian hockey team that
lost 1-3 to Germany in the home test series and
then 3-4 against Pakistan in the eight test
series, had a disastrous World Cup where it
finished ninth however had the glorious ending as
the Indians won the Asian games gold for the only
second time defeating defending champion south
korea 5-3 in tie breaker.
The Indian women
hockey team, who had finished last in the World
Cup, also gave a very creditable performance,
taking the silver medal in the Asian games.
India’s tally
of 35 medals including seven golds was the best
in the just concluded Bangkok Asian Games after
the 1982 Delhi Asiad.
In September
Indians gave satisfactory performance in the 16th
Asian games in which they won 25 medals-seven
gold, ten silver and eight bronze-and it
overshadowed the sad saga of the cricket team
which had left trail of bitterness.
It looked as 1998
will end up as year of Sachin Tendulkar, but
Dhanraj Pillay and his boys rewrote the script at
the fag end of the year to corner the spotlight
on hockey.
But big drama
preceded the game. Dhanraj and other players were
involved in a bitter standoff with the Indian
Hockey Federation (IHF) over the issue of payment
and had even threatened to withdraw from the
series against Pakistan but at the last moment a
compromise formula was evolved and series was
saved. Then goalkeepers Ashish Ballal and
Subbaiah were axed from the World Cup squad.
Ballal openly
criticised the IHF while Subbaiah announced his
retirement. Both of them were recalled for the
Asian Games and Ballal emerged as the hero in the
final. And all’s well that ends well as
usual it was cricket and Sachin Tendulkar which
captured nation’s imagination for most of
the year.
India won five
tournaments and six titles including the one day
series against Zimbawe. The cricketers began the
year with a stunning win over Pakistan in Dhaka
where they chased a huge score of 314.They twice
won in Sharjah. And it was here that 25 year old
master blaster Sachin’s back to back hundred
against Australia were the innings whose
brilliance will never be matched in near future.
However what
happened in commonwealth games did no good to
cricket. For this was the one sports which Indian
Olympic Association will like to forget about.
After an intense
fight with the cricket board, the team went to
Kuala Lumpur with Sachin, Ajay Jadeja, Anil
Kumble and Robin Singh (SR) as the star
inclusions. All four,it was rumoured,already had
their tickets booked for Toronto even before the
semifinals of the competition in the games.
The Indians lost
to Australia in their last pool match after
sharing points with Antigua and beating
Canada.The same night nine cricketers including
the four stars left Kuala Lumpur,leaving behind a
fuming IOA. The Deputy Chef de mission made a
statement that the cricketers only play for money
and nor for their country .India lost to Pakistan
1-5 in the subsequent Sahara Cup in Toronto.
In athletics,
action started when in the 38th open national
championship at Calcutta,one of the most
celebrated record of Milkha Singh which he had
set up in the rome olympics in 400m clocking 45.6
secs (hand timing)was removed from the record
books by Paramjit Singh.
Milkha’s
timing was later converted into electronic time
at 45.73 and Paramjit clocked 45.70 to romp home
to set a new record in this event after 38 years.
However in the run
up to the 13th Asian Games not many had given the
athletic squad much of a chance to emerge as the
saviours cum stars of the Indian contingent.
It was the
athletes who brought the cheers for India on the
ninth day of the games when middle distance
runner Jyotirmoyee Sikdar ended the gold drought
through her run in the 1500.The Bengal girl added
another in her favourite 800m as the athletic
squad returned with 15 of the 35 medals won by
the country.
It was after 12
years that an Indian won athletics gold in the
Asian Games,last time it was P.T.Usha who had won
four golds in the 1986 Seoul Asiad.
But amidst all
these medals from the tracks,lay the sad saga of
P.T.Usha who was dropped from the 4x400 m relay
after she flopped in 200 m and 4x100 m relay.
Another Indian women athlete to make the mark was
young Sunita Rani who won a bronze 1500m and
silver in the 5000m.
20 year old Dingko
Singh defied all the odds to win a boxing gold
after 16 years and became only the fourth Indian
to achieve this distinction after Padam Bahadur
Mal,Hawa Singh(twice) and Kaur Singh.
India’s
chances in tennis suffered due to the non
availability of Leander Paes.The tennis team won
four bronze medals.
Billiards made its
debut in the games and India won two golds a
silver and a bronze.
Earlier this year
geet sethi regained the world title winning the
championship at Ahmedabad.
Controversy prone
Kabbadi team won the third gold in the row in the
games. But the shooters were a big
disappointment. Jaspal Rana lost his gold.
Women’s
football team brought disgrace to the
country,conceding 36 goals in three matches,while
men team lost all the matches except against
Nepal.
The huge Indian
contingent for the games got the reprieve as the
most prized gold medal which whole of the country
wanted desperately was claimed by the hockey team
thus pushing aside all the controversies under
the carpet. (UNI)
North-Zone
Ranji Trophy
Delhi’s 36 run victory
over J&K
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU,
Dec 25: Delhi registered 36 runs victory
over Jammu and Kashmir in the Ranji Trophy one
day match played at M A Stadium, here today.
Start of the
match, which was delayed by three hours because
of heavy fog in the ground was reduced to 34
overs by the umpires.
Earlier, after
winning the toss host Jammu and Kashmir decided
to field. Playing first, Delhi scored 169 runs in
33.4.
Low score by Delhi
was result of tight bowling by J&K bowlers,
who stalled the Delhi batsmen from hitting big
shots. J&K managed to create pressure after
getting two early wickets of Anshu Dani (10) and
Mithun Manhas (7), when score on board was only
19.
But Vijay Dhaiya,
who played captain’s inning 33 (51),
remained on the wicket for 83 minute alongwith
experienced Ajay Sharma (56) added valuable 46
runs for the third wicket partnership bringing
the total to 85. Ajay Sharma, whose 56 came in
just 49 deliveries, finished the job in style
hitting the ball to fence twice and once for a
huge six, when he was caught by Suresh Singh off
Shashi Kumar.
After the
dismissal of Ajay Sharma, other batsmen could not
face the left arm spinner, Sanjay Sharma and
right arm gentle medium pacer, Kanwaljeet Singh.
They lost wickets after regular intervals.
From J&K
Kanwaljeet Singh took three wickets, Ashwani
Gupta and Sanjay Sharma two each.
Chasing a run rate
of five runs per over, Jammu and Kashmir could
score 138 for 7 in complete 34 overs. Early
dismissal of opener Ashwani Gupta (4) followed by
a slow play by middle order batsmen put J&K
in difficult situation.
After the
completion of 19 overs, J&K was struggling at
mere 40 runs with Nissar Khan 15 (45) and
Kanwaljeet Singh 19 (40) at the crease. Skipper,
Sanjay Sharma 31 (34) and Dhruv Mahajan, who
remained not out scored 29 in just 22 deliveries,
made quick runs and brought the score to a
respectable total of 138 runs.
Dhruv, who got
little time to stay on the wicket, punished
senior Ranji player Ajay Sharma hitting a
boundary and a six in the 33rd over of the match.
Delhi
Ashu Dani c Vivek
Singh b Surinder Singh 10
Vijay Dhaiya b
Pradeep Bali 33
Mithun Manhas LBW
Shashi Kumar 7
Ajay Sharma c
Suresh Singh b Shashi Kumar 56
Virender Sehwag c
Shashi Kumar b Ashwani Gupta 16
Rajeev Rathore b
Ashwani Gupta 3
Nikhil Chopra b
Kanwaljeet Singh 1
Ashish Malhotra c
Guru Partap Singh b Kanwaljeet Singh 7
Sandeep Bhandari
st Vivek Singh b Sanjay Sharma 10
Amit Bhandari st
Vivek Singh b Sanjay Sharma 1
Manish Giri not
out 1
Extras: 24
Total: 169
all out in 33.4 overs.
Fall of
wickets: 1-19, 2-39, 3-85, 4-114, 5-142,
6-146, 7-152, 8-163, 9-166.
Bowlings:
Surinder Singh: 5-0-25-1, Shashi Kumar: 7-1-24-1,
Sanjay Sharma: 6.4-0-24-2, Ashwani Gupta:
7-0-37-2, Pradeep Bali: 4-0-22-3, Kanwaljeet
Singh: 4-0-22-3.
Jammu and
Kashmir
Ashwani Gupta b
Amit Bhandari 4
Nissar Khan v
Vijay Dhaiya b Sandeep Angurala 15
Kanwaljeet Singh b
Rajeev Rathore 19
Guru Partap Singh
b Ajay Sharma 20
Shashi Kumar b
Sandeep Angurala 0
Sanjay Sharma b
Ajay Sharma 31
Dhruv Mahajan not
out 29
Pradeep Bali c
Ashish Malhotra b Nikhil Chopra 11
Vivek Singh not
out 0
Extras: 10
Total: 139
for 7 in 34 overs.
Fall of
wickets: 1-6, 2-38, 3-48, 4-49, 5-86, 6-107,
7-138.
Bowlings:
Amit Bhandari: 4-0-7-1, Ashish Malhotra:
5-1-12-0, Munish Giri: 4-0-11-0, Sandeep
Angurala: 6-0-24-2, Rajiv Rathore: 5-1-16-1,
Nikhil Chopra: 6-0-40-1, Ajay Sharma: 4-0-28-2.
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