DHAKA,Oct 28 :

Sachin Tendulkar hit up a dazzling 141 and followed it up with wily haul of four for 38 to lead India to an emphatic 44-run victory, against Australia and a place in the semifinals of the Wills International Cup Cricket tournament here tonight.

Chasing a huge victory target of 308, Australia were cruisingmerily at 145 for one when left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi struck two vital blows to break the momentum.

That set the stage for to get once again into the act, as he has done innumerable times before mostly with the bat, to send the Australians hurling from a comfortable 167 for two to a shocking 263 all out with 11 balls to spare.

Australia were looking set to upset the Indian applecart with Mark Waugh (74) and Ricky Ponting (41) putting on 94 runs for the second wicket before the Indian bowlers struck. Joshi (2/57) provided the breakthrough by castling Ponting in the 26th over and then got Waugh out, stumped by Nayan Mongia.

Two quick dismissals shook the Aussies as they crumbled to the pressure of mounting runrate and accurate bowling by the Indians especially Tendulkar and speedster Srinath (2/36).

Earlier, batting maestro Tendulkar continued with his dashing form against Australia compiling another century, third straight against the Kangaroos and 19th of his career.

Tendulkar, who saw his opening partner Saurav Ganguly (1) and Skipper Mohd Azharuddin (0) returning back to pavilion with score reading eight, combined well with Rahul Dravid (48) to put India back on the road to safety.

‘Man of the Match’ Tendulkar, was on song again as he resurrected the Indian innings with Dravid giving him responsible support.

It was his third straight century against Australia after hitting two in Sharjah - memorable 142 after desert storm had threatened to ruin India’s chances in the last league match of the Coca Cola Cup and followed by 134 in the final.

Today’s win was an apt gift from the Indians to their skipper Azharuddin, who was playing his career’s 30thone-day international, the first player in the world to do so.

Australia got off to a fine start with both Edam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh striking the ball well on a batsman-friendly pitch. They put on a 51-run opening stand in nine overs before Srinath dismissed Gilchrist (25).

Ponting and Waugh, however continued, with brisk scoring rate, making singles and occasionally going for fours. Mark Waugh was in his elegant form and looked set to lead Australia to a victory. But Ponting, going for a big one after hitting Joshi to the fence off the previous delivery, missed the line and saw his stumps shattered. Waugh followed in Joshi’s next over when Mongia brought off a fine catch behind the stumps.

This opened the floodgates and Australia lost wickets at regular intervals as the Indian bowlers tightened the noose.

Brendon Julian (20), promoted to accelerate the scoring rate hit a couple of lusty blows including a six off Joshi before being caught near the fence by Dravid off Srinath.

Darren Lehmann (27), Damien Martyn (24) and Brad Young (18) tried their best, but the mounting runrate and Tendulkar’s nagging slow medium bowling proved too much to handle.(PTI)

DHAKA, Oct 28: A beleaguered Pakistan, plagued with fitness worries, takes the field tomorrow against the West Indies, overburdened by the fact that its record against the Wills International Cup rivals is not encouraging.

Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail and coach Javed Miandad admitted that the fact that out of 83 internationals against West Indies, they had been beaten in 55 and had won in only 26 was self explanatory.

"On the paper you can put it this way that the figure is not morale boosting nor are we in a proper frame of mind to improve it," Sohail remarked.

"But this is the way Pakistan has played its cricket, winning by miles and the next day losing by yards. Never underestimate any team in one dayers."

"But no one can deny that for years it has been the most talented side," he added. "All it needs is to click as a team."

With all rounder Wasim Akram and Ijaz Ahmed, the man of the series against Australia, on the sick list, and Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq opting out, Pakistan was faced with an uphill task.

The irony of it is that Akram, whatever may be the extent of his sickness, will not want a Bangalore to be repeated. In the 1996 World Cup, he stepped down as captain on the day of the match against India and Sohail lost the quarterfinals.

This kickstarted the betting episode and is still raging.

Sohail was faced with that line of questioning today, but Miandad intervened and said, "please forget the past. Forget we lost to Australia. We have left it behind and are positive about the match."

About the team’s chances in the event, Miandad said, "we will try to win." He said he had taken up coaching because there was something still to achieve.

West Indies captain Brian Lara also fancied his chances. He said this was the best time to beat Pakistan, which had lost a test series. He felt that West Indies not playing any international in the last seven months could be an advantage as too much cricket could be a disadvantage for Pakistan.

About the pitch, he said there would be no problem playing the ball on the front or back foot. "Carl Hooper with his art of hitting rising balls will love it," he added.

Hooper, as a matter of fact, has to play a big role as he will surely try to fox the batsmen with his deadly off spin.

While Pakistan’s batting lineup has weakened, West Indies have two explosive batsmen taking first guard in Philo Wallace and Clayton Lambert. They also have the steadying influence of left-hander Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, besides the rich batting strength of skipper Lara.

Lara will have to decide whether he will like to have one-day all-rounder Phil Simmons or the more reliable batsman Stuart Williams.

The new ball, however, will be in the hands of the inexperienced Mervyn Dillon and N Maclean in the absence of evergreen pair -Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

The teams:

Pakistan: Aamir Sohail (capt), Moin Khan (wk), Saleem Malik, Shahid Afridi, Ijaz Ahmed, Yuosuf Yohana, W Akram, Azhar Mehmood, A Javed, S Mushtaq, Arshad Khan, S Akhtar and S Elahi.

West Indies: B Lara(capt), S Chanderpaul, C Lambert, P Wallace, C Hooper, S Williams, R Jacobs(wk), K Arthurton, P Simmons, R King, M Dillon, R Lewis, N Maclean and N McGarel.

Umpires: D Shepherd (Eng), D Orchard (SA). Third empire: P Willey.

Match referee: Subba Row. (UNI)

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 28: Government Gandhi Memorial Science College team (men) won all the three single matches played with M CKhalsa College, Jammu on the opening day of Inter-college Table Tennis competitions that began at Jammu University indoor halls, here today.

In the first opening match Imran Tantrey of GGM Science College beat Deepak Kumar of Khalsa College in two straight sets of 21-6, 21-10. The second match was played between Varinder Singh Salathia and Surinder Kumar of Khalsa College. Varinder won the match 10-21, 21-12, 21-14. In the third match Amit Mahajan of Science College beat Yograj in straight sets 21-16, 21-8.

As per the fixture eight teams in men section and six teams in women section was to report on the opening day today but only five teams in men and Women Collage Gandhi Nagar reported in women section.

However, Government Medical College and Women College, Gandhinagar have got bye and will play in the second round of the competitions.

In the men section Government Medical College Jammu has got walk over against Degree College Kathua. Degree College Kathua which earlier had sent their enteries in both men and women section failed to reach the venue.

Degree College Poonch also got walk over against Institute of Music and Fine Arts in men section.

In the girls section, Women College, Parade team got walk over against the Degree College, Doda, who did not turned up for the competitions.

While asked why women teams have not arrived even after sending their enteries, Mr H S Chib, Director Physical Education, Degree College Rajouri, said, "we don’t have any women team as yet", adding that it was because of lack of infrastructure in the college. The college having a strength of over 1500 students has a single room for playing all the indoor games where only boys used to play.

While representatives from other colleges were not available for comments.

Further more, the indoor hall, where the competitions are being conducted has poor lighting. "Most of the lights have gone out of order and no body bothered to repair them even during competitions", said one of the competitor.

No player was provided with kits by their respective colleges, which they were supposed to provide while they are charging sports fee from every student at the time of their admission, commented a veteran Table Tennis player. He expressed his concern, when he saw a boy playing wearing long shoes, jeans and full sleeve shirt.

The competitions are being conducted under the supervision of Ramesh Sharma, Table Tennis coach of Jammu University.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 28: Climbers from Jammu and Kashmir dominated the North Zone Sports Climbing competitions at Delhi winning three positions, while nine others have qualified for the National Championship in different categories.

The biggest upset was created by Shobha Rajput, who climbed in women open category was pitted against the reigning national champion, Janak Pingulia of Delhi. Three other, who qualified for national competitions are Saroj Lamba, Pallavi Khajuria and Charu Khanna.

It is for the first time in the history of sport climbing that North Zone will be represented by Jammu and Kashmir.

In under-16 years boys, Bhupesh Singh, Prince Batra, Pankaj Dogra, Ripu Daman, Sumit Verma and Munish Sharma stormed in the finals.

Eight years old Abhimanyu Sherpa also delighted the crowd with his clean climbing but could not reached the final. Amit Khajuria, Ajay Bharti Sharma, C K Khajuria and Vikram Singh Hansa performed creditably in the men open category.

Around 27 climbers of Mountaineering Association of J&K participated in the competition. Mr Ram Khajuria, general secretary of the Association was the manager of the team.

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Oct 28: Jammu District beat Kathua by 12 runs in the opening match of under-19 years age group in the Inter-district Cricket Tournament, here today.

Earlier, Jammu won the toss and decided to bat first. Jammu set a target of 81 runs in 15 overs for Kathua district which they could not catch. Vijay Kumar of Jammu was the main scorer, who scored 24 runs in just 19 balls.

Kathua team started their inning with confidence but could not resist the accurate bowling of Jammu and got out one by one. Kathua was all out on 69 runs. Mahinder Singh (12) was the only batsman, who reached the double figure.

The tournament is being organsied by the District Youth Services and Sports Officer, Udhampur.

Distt Udhampur bags 22 medals in Taekwon-Do

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Oct 28: District Udhampur bagged 22 medals including ten golds, four silver and eight bronze medals in the recently concluded 5th State Taekwon-Do Championship held at M A Stadium, here.

Udhampur Taekwon-Do Association has sent a team of 60 members including 35 girls to represent the district. The team was led by team manager, Mr Gurdeep Singh, Black belt and coach Kuldeep Raj.

Those got golds for the district includes best fighters Rakesh Kumar, Gurdeep Singh, Sapna, Kanav, Deepika, Gourav, Saguna, Naveen, Bisharat and Roopali.

Sharon, Sandeep, Arushi and Danish got silver, while Kuldeep Raj, Arjun, Sanjay, Kanika, Sourabh, Nisarab, Roopali and Ritika.

The team to first position in the medal tally with Gurdeep

Singh got best instructor trophy.

Madhavi, Avneesh emerge winners in Badminton

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 28: State women champion, Madhavi Jolly and Avneesh, junior boys champion emerged as winners in the club tournament organised by the Badminton Players Welfare Club at indoor hall, M A Stadium, here today.

In under 16 boys, Arunabh Gupta won the title beating Raj Kumar in one sided match in two straight sets of 15-6, 15-0. Arunabh beat Shiv Deep Singh 15-5, 14-17, 15-13 in under 13 years boys category.

In under 10 years Akhil Gupta beat Sameer in a close fight 15-5, 11-15, 15-13.

Women singles title was won by Madhvi Jolly defeating Samarika in straight sets of 15-11, 15-11.

In men singles, Avneesh beat Makrant in straight equal sets of 15-10, 15-10. Men doubles title bagged by the pair of Rahul and Gurvinder beating Avneesh and Pawanjeet Singh 15-11, 15-10.

Almost all senior players of the state participated in the tournament. Mr S P Sharma, System Administrator Computers JKBL was the chief guest and distributed trophies among the winners and runners up players.

The tournament was organised by players themselves under the aegis of their club.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 28: Kendriya Vidyalaya Miran Sahib stood first in both Kho-Kho and Kabaddi during the cluster meet of girls under 14 which concluded at KV Kaluchak, here today.

Nine Kendriya Vidyalayas with 175 girls participated in the meet and the host KV Kaluchak team was announced runner up in both the events, Kho-Kho and Kabaddi.

The winning team will participate in the regional level competition which would be held at Kendriya Vidyalaya Number 1, Pathankot.

Today, in the concluding function, Deputy Commander Col S P Sharma who was the chief guest, presented shields to the winner and runner-up teams. He also extended his good wished to all the participants.

Principal of KV Kaluchak Mr S P Puri presented a warm welcome to the chief guest. Mrs B B Thakur presented the vote of thanks on behalf of school Principal and other staff members.

Mr Joginder Singh PGT (Maths) read out the report of cluster meet.

The tournament was held under the supervision of Mr Rajesh Sharma, PET and 26 Arty Bde, 617 Sata Bty, 113 Fd Regt co-operated for the successful conclusion of the meet, said a press release issued here.

Punjab beat J&K by 66 runs

AMRITSAR, Oct 28: Punjab defeated Jammu and Kashmir by 66 runs in the one day Ranji Trophy encounter at the Gandhi grounds here today.

Punjab notched up 241 for nine in allotted 50 overs and then bowled out minnows J and K for 175 runs with 3.4 overs to spare.

Dinesh Mongia, who hammered 80 runs off 94 deliveries with eight fours, starred for Punjab. Mongia was associated in a 103-run fifth wicket partnership with Reetinder Sodhi (47) to pull his side out of shambles.

Hosts were four wickets down with just 46 runs on board -with skipper Vikram Rathore, Navjot Sidhu, Pankaj Dharmani and Sandeep Sharma all back in pavilion.

Mum pacer Vijay Sharma (4/33) was pick of Jammu and Kashmir bowling.

A no point, the side for the Valley looked to be in control of the match. Only Kawaljit Singh (32) and Ashwani Gupta (39) played some respectable knocks amidst four runouts.

Brief scores:

Punjab - 241 for nine in 50 overs (Inehmongia 80, Reetinder Sodhi 47, Harvinder Singh not out 33 Vijay Sharma 4/33, Sanjay Sharma 3/55)

Jammu and Kashmir - 175 all out in 46.2 overs (Kawaljit Singh 32, Ashwani Gupta 39, Vijay Sharma 24, Tajinder Singh 2/35). (PTI)

Former Indian cricket captain passes away

HYDERABAD, Oct 28: Former India cricket captain cricketer Ghulam Ahmed, 76, passed away after a prolonged illness here today.

He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Mr Ahmed, basically an off spinner, had captured 68 wickets in 22 tests. An able cricket administrator, he had served as secretary and vice-president of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI).

Mr Ahmed, a former chairman of the Hyderabad Race Club, also worked in the State Government and retired as joint secretary. (UNI)

Satellite Tennis Tourney
Sandeep enters quarters

BANGALORE, Oct 28: Second seed Federico Rovai of Sweden and eighth seed Sandeep Kirtane of India stormed into the quarterfinals, although in contrasting styles, in the third leg of the century club-the Wearhouse Satellite Tennis Tournament here today.

Other Indian contenders Harsh Mankad and Nitin Kirtane recorded easy victories to advance into the last eight along with Marian Leysek of Slovakia and fourth seed Johan Hede of Sweden.

Sandeep Kirtane was taken to the decider by Niko Karaginnis of Greece, who however lost his cool in crucial moments and used abusive language against the umpire in the final set. Sandeep won 6-7 (8-6), 6-2, 6-3.

The 100-minute duel saw Sandeep improving slowly as the match wore on. The Indian had only himself the became for squandering opportunities in the first set and losing on tie breaker. He made a couple of unforced errors in the tie breaker. However, he tightened his game thereafter and made the tall greek run all over the court with good placements and beautiful returns.

The Indian won the second set with the opponent managing to win just two games. In the decider, Sandeep shot into a 3-0 lead. But the greek made the score 5-3. With Sandeep serving in the ninth game, Niko disputed the umpire’s ruling that his second serve was good. The score at that time was 30-15 in favour of Sandeep. However, the Indian went on to win the match. Even after the match, the Greek was seen shouting and abusing the umpire.

After initial resistance, south paw Sanzaruz Zaman of India lost to Federico Rovai in just 78 minutes. The first set moved on an even keel till four all. But the swede managed to break the Indian in the ninth and held his serve to win the first set. The second set saw the Indian struggling and the second seed blasted to victory winning six in a row to clinch the issue at 6-4, 6-0.

Earlier, Harsh Mankad and Nitin Kirtane ended the good run of qualifiers S Praveen Kumar of India and Mike Boulding of Britain. While harsh defeated Praveen Kumar 7-5, 6-4, Nitin pipped boulding 6-3, 6-2. Marian Leysek of Slovakia, who had slammed the door on top seed Prahlad Srinath of India in the first round, continued his giant killing spree and shut out Gerard Fahlke of Germany 6-3, 6-4. On another match fourth seed johan conceded just three games to Ondrej Chvapil of Czechoslovakia to win 6-1, 6-2.

Praveen Kumar, who had surprised seventh seed Timo Nigri of Germany in the first round, battled bravely against his compatriot in the first set. Praveen broke Harsh in the seventh game. However, Harsh retauated back by braking Praveen’s service. In the 12th game, Harsh broke again after Praveen had survived a match point.

In the second game, Praveen broke Harsh in the first and fifth game, with Harsh breaking his rival’s service in the fourth and eighth game. Harsh then held his serve and broke Praveen in the 10th game after his opponent had saved two match points. In the 105-minute ding-dong battle, Harsh won 7-5, 6-4.

In the 75-minute match, Nitin Kirtane made short work of boulding at 6-3, 6-2. Nitin broke boulding in the third game of the first set. In the second, boulding was broken in the fifth and seventh games. (UNI)