LONDON, Dec 23: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said it has no plans to invite Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who is also patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, to any of the six World Cup matches scheduled in that country but would not stand in his way if he chose to attend.............more

Indian superstars
under scanner after
humiliating defeats

AUCKLAND, Dec 23: The defeat at the hands of New Zealand in both the test matches has raised questions about the selection policies and put under scanner the professionalism of India’s top cricketers.......more

Defending champion
Abhinn Gupta qualifies
for finals

LUCKNOW, Dec 23: It will be an all Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) final in the men’s section when defending champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta will face National Games winner Chetan Anand here tomorrow.............more

South Africa, Bangladesh to tour Pakistan

KARACHI, Dec 23: Pakistan’s Cricket Board said today it had received written confirmation from both South Africa and Bangladesh that they would tour the country next year............more

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Dec 23:While the Jammuites were enjoying sleep tonight, their sports guests were going through..........more

One year Physical Education course in Jammu
Last date for JU’s BPEd
course on December 25

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 23: Just two days have been left to the last date for the submission of admission forms for the one year.....more

Nagrota Sr wins
cricket tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 23: Nagrota Senior Cricket Club won the Christmas Cup organised by the........more

J&K Police makes
winning start in
Football tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 23: Jammu and Kashmir Police made a winning start in the Baba Zorawar Singh Fateh Singh Shaheed.......more

Commerce College takes away Lawn Tennis trophy....

Sunil becomes president of Distt Football Association...

Shakeel Ahmad claims first place in District Baramulla Wrestling....

ICC defends decision to allow Zimbabwe to host matches

LONDON, Dec 23: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said it has no plans to invite Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who is also patron of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, to any of the six World Cup matches scheduled in that country but would not stand in his way if he chose to attend.

Defending its decision to allow Zimbabwe to host World Cup matches in February-March, ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said it was taken on sporting grounds alone.

"Wherever we play there are politicians who come to the cricket matches and take a political advantage out of their country hosting the events," Speed said on BBC’s radio 5 live channel.

"The ICC is a cricket organisation and we make decisions based on cricket issues. We are not a political organisation. We looked at the cricket issues, particularly safety and security of players and officials, and ultimately we are satisfied there is no good reason to transfer these matches away from Harare and Bulawayo," Speed said.

"There have been instances in the past where there have been sanctions or sporting boycotts imposed by Governments or groups of politicians, but there have been no such sanctions here," Speed said.

The game’s world governing body has been attacked by David Gower, the former England captain, and human rights activists critical of Mugabe’s regime, among others, for taking next year’s tournament to a country suffering from political problems and famine.

Gower, now a commentator for sky sports, has urged England and Australia to refuse to play their fixtures in Zimbabwe. "I don’t think it is right that England should be playing a match in Harare on February 13, 2003 or on any other day while the Mugabe regime remains in power," he said.

"Nor do I think the Australians, as the other main commonwealth nation involved in the same group, should honour their fixture in Bulawayo 11 days later." (PTI)

Indian superstars under scanner after humiliating defeats

AUCKLAND, Dec 23: The defeat at the hands of New Zealand in both the test matches has raised questions about the selection policies and put under scanner the professionalism of India’s top cricketers.

Granted that the wickets in the two test matches were tailor-made for the home side, the performance of the Indian batsmen, who are among the leading run-getters in the world, lacked commitment and the will to adjust to the conditions. The Indians folded up too easily.

Longtime observers of the Indian cricket scene see too much protectionism for the superstars. Consequently obvious points are ignored and decisions made which have proved costly.

No sooner had captain Sourav Ganguly arrived in New Zealand, he let it be known it was his primary concern to beat New Zealand in their own backyard for the first time in 26 years.

But the team was too much caught up in the old boys’ club routine to face the exacting standards in not-so-friendly weather and pitch conditions and the battery of hosts’ seamers.

Young Parthiv Patel’s promotion as an opener in the second innings of the Hamilton test came after several of the seniors reportedly declined to take up the challenge. The Gujarat youngster had done well to hang on for about 45 minutes in the first innings even though he managed only eight runs.

Within a few balls in the first test it was obvious Virender Sehwag would be completely out of place in these conditions. If india were to make history, they needed a technically better player - Shiv Sunder Das or Mohammad Kaif with Sanjay Bangar - than Sehwag at the start of the innings.

So was the case with V V S Laxman who bagged a pair in the first test. Yet the Hyderabad cricketer was persisted with in the second test at Hamilton and a thrashing was invited. Sehwag and Laxman are fine players but they are unconvincing in certain conditions and there is no insult if the team follows "horses for courses" policy. Again figures were thrown at the media to justify Sehwag and Laxman’s position in the team.

India may have been undone by batting first on juicy pitches but their collapse in the second innings of both the tests showed they were stricken by fear to bat on the green wickets. Any respectable batting line-up, leave alone arguably the best in the world, would not have collapsed before the likes of Jacob Oram and Daryl Tuffey in improved batting conditions in the second turns the way Indians did.

"The wicket wasn’t good for batting but I would have expected the top batsmen of the world to stand a few inches outside the crease to counter the swing and movement of oram and tuffey — surely these batsmen should have been prepared to take a few on their chest and ribs. After all this is what test cricket is," said Simon Doul, the New Zealand fast bowler who four years ago had destroyed the Indians in Wellington with a seven-wicket haul in the first innings.

Match referee Mike Procter was sympathetic and said perhaps in these conditions coming behind the line of a delivery is not such a sound thing after all.

"Sometimes in these conditions it’s not advisable to come too much behind the line of a delivery because it is moving all the time," said Procter.

There was an appeal from the team management to chairman of selectors Brijesh Patel to include Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble and Yuvraj Singh for the forthcoming one-day series against New Zealand. But not all are convinced about Srinath’s and Kumble’s viability in one-day cricket.

Srinath and Kumble are no longer good performers in one-day cricket. Their figures tell their own tale: Srinath has an economy rate of 6.87 and 5.49 in the last two one-day series he has been involved in this year.

Kumble’s economy rate in the last two series isn’t good either - 5.13 in the ICC Champions Trophy and 6.23 against the West Indies.

Such protectionism is the reason why men like L Balaji and J P Yadav are dropped after just one game in the middle and cricketers like Murali Kartik and Tinu Yohannan, who appear fine one-day prospects to everyone, to not find themselves a part of this series.

"Is it the seniors who are deciding who should play or is it the job of the selection committee to decide so?" a senior selector had wondered. (PTI)

Defending champion Abhinn Gupta qualifies for finals

LUCKNOW, Dec 23: It will be an all Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSCB) final in the men’s section when defending champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta will face National Games winner Chetan Anand here tomorrow.

In the women’s category PSCB’s Aparna Popat will clash with Trupti Murugunde of Maharashtra.

In the men’s semi finals, Abhinn beat Railways’ Sachin Ratti in 36 minutes encounter at 15-11,15-5 while Chetan took 38 minutes to down last year’s runners up Karnataka’s Arvind Bhatt at 15-9,15-7. In the women’s category popat beat her team mate B R Meenakshi at 7-11, 11-8,11-7 and Trupti Murugunde of Maharashtra won against PSCB’s G Jwala 13-10,11-7.

In the first semis, Abhinn started a slow game. Taking advantage Sachin, known for a powerful game took the lead in the early stage. But thereafter Abhinn came to his natural game, stoped the onslaught of Ratti at 6-10 increasing the point tally till 14-10. Ratti got only one chance to score one more point at this stage but it was his last point of the set and finally Sachin lost the set at 15-11.

In the second set, Ratti failed to come into the set lossing five points within a span of four minutes ultimately lost the set at 15-5. With this Abhinn won the match at 15-11,15-5.

In the second semi final Chetan played against Bhatt like a champion out classing him at 15-9,15-7. In the women’s singles semi finals, top seed Aparna Popat stormed into the final beating B R Meenakshi at 7-11,11-8 and 11-7 in a marathon 58 minutes game.

In the first set, Meenakshi started very aggressively, her smashes prooved to hard for experienced popat. Meenakshi won the set at 11-7. In the next two sets popat fought hard, neck and neck with Meenakshi for each point and equalised the game 1-1 by winning second set at 11-8 and in the decider set she beat Meenakshi at 11-7. Trupti Murugunde of Maharashtra won against G Jwala at 13-10,11-7.

In the first, both played equally well and the set remained tied till 10-10. Thereafter Trupti clinched three points in a row and won at 13-10 while in the second set she took only 10 minutes to overcome Jwala at 11-7.

Chetan Anand after winning the semis was quite confident of lifting the title. He said earlier he took on Arvind Bhatt five times and never lost to Bhatt adding it was his maiden entry into the finals of the Modi Badminton here.

Sachin Ratti, gave full credit to Abhinn saying that Abhinn played superbely here and he had a vast experience behind him in this tournament. (UNI)

South Africa, Bangladesh to tour Pakistan

KARACHI, Dec 23: Pakistan’s Cricket Board said today it had received written confirmation from both South Africa and Bangladesh that they would tour the country next year.

Home test series against the West Indies and Australia have been relocated to neutral venues this year after both teams refused to visit because of security concerns in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States last year.

New Zealand also returned home without completing their short tour in April-May after a bomb blast outside their hotel left 12 people dead.

But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said South Africa and Bangladesh had signalled their willingness to tour from September to November next year, when they are due to play three tests each and a triangular one-day tournament.

"It is positive news for Pakistan cricket, which has suffered a lot because of the refusal of teams to play here because of security concerns," PCB Chairman Lt. Gen Tauqir Zia told Reuters.

"The confirmation from these two teams shows that Pakistan’s effort to convince the cricket world that it is safe to play in Pakistan, in conjunction with the International Cricket Council (ICC), has paid off," Zia said.

"The visit by the ICC delegation to Pakistan earlier this month I think has played a major role in clearing doubts over the security situation in Pakistan. The ICC basically has cleared Pakistan of being a security hazard for touring teams."

ICC President Malcolm Gray visited Pakistan in December, meeting President Pervez Musharraf and calling upon international teams to resume playing in Pakistan.

"At the moment we don’t have any problems in hosting the scheduled series against Bangladesh and South Africa," Zia said.

"But it is the India’s scheduled tour in April which is bothering us. And the uncertainty surrounding it is more due to politics then security reasons."

India has not played Pakistan since May 2000 claiming the Pakistan Government sponsors cross border terrorism in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a charge Pakistan denies. (AGENCIES)

J&K Bank 69th senior, 27th junior and 11th Ladies Billiards and Snooker Championships
Lucky ‘black’ guides Vidya to first ever
national Snooker title

By Sanjeev Sharma

JAMMU, Dec 23: While the Jammuites were enjoying sleep tonight, their sports guests were going through the great hardships for becoming the National champion in 11th Ladies Billiards and Snooker Championships.

In a rare prize distribution function in the mid-night at the picturesque Hari Niwas Palace Hotel, Tamil Nadu’s Vidya Pillai was crowned with the new Ladies national Snooker title.

She defeated the top seed and experienced, R Uma Devi of Karnataka 3-2 (56-34, 64-53, 34-64, 41-50, 82-43) in a toughest final, which lasted full five hours, to take home her first ever national title.

Keeping the chief guest and other dignitaries waiting altogether for five hours to witness the prize distribution function of the 11th Ladies Billiards and Snooker Championship, the tough lady, R Uma Devi was not happy with losing for the second consecutive time in the final.

However, she had all praise for Vidya Pillai, whose black ball magic struck in the fifth and final frame guiding her to the victory.

In the fifth frame, Vidya got magic black ball (counting seven points) for seven times including twice in her very first attempt wherein she made a break of 23 points.

"It was due to her 23 points early lead which gave her advantage and a chance to build a good lead. Vidya made her opening with 48 points when my account was blank", were the words of Uma Devi, who was looking quite eagerly at Vidya being greeted by one and all.

After going two up and losing the following two frames to Uma, Vidya fired from all cylinders and managed an unbeatable lead in the very beginning of the fifth frame. But even then, experienced and defensive Uma recovered through snooks and added as many as 12 points through forced miss and foul.

"I cannot believe that I have made it. I was playing right from the morning. When I reached final, I was so tired after playing for nearly eight hours", were the first words spoken by new national Snooker champion, Vidya Pillai while giving her comments to EXCELSIOR.

In total, Vidya played continuously for 13 hours in a single day thereby showing great determination and stamina she posses.

"Today’s victory is my first ever achievement. Earlier, I had reached upto quarter-finals last year when I lost to M Chitra of Karnataka", recalled Vidya.

Meanwhile, the third place in Ladies Snooker went to M Chitra of Karnataka, who beat Neeta Sanghvi in the hard-liner. She also got special prize for being the highest break maker in Snooker.

However, the highest break prize in Billiards was secured by Manju Thakur of Maharashtra, the Billiards champion.

In the prize distribution function, which took place at 12 in the mid-night, Mr H S Anand, MD Asia Hotel, Jammu, was the chief guest. He gave away trophies to the winners, runners-up and third place holders in Ladies Billiards and Snooker.

Sheikh Fazal Ahmed, Secretary, State Sports Council, who also witnessed the final, gave away special gifts to the finalists.

Prominent among those witnessed the late night final were K K Khosa, patron JKBSA and Barjinder Sharma, executive member, JKBSA.

Earlier, in the well contested semi-finals which commenced this afternoon and continued till late in the evening, R Uma Devi and Vidhya Pillai emerged winners.

Uma Devi defeated M Chitra, again of Karnataka 3-2. In the first frame, Chitra played excellent game and made a brilliant 30 points break, taking away Pink and Black twice to get early lead winning the frame 62-36. But in the very second frame, Uma fought back with twice Black and Blue, making it a 28 point break, thus levelled the score 1-1.

In the third frame, again Uma Devi made 14 point break twice to go ahead of Chitra winning the frame 61-36. However, Chitra was not in a mood to give it easily and again equalised the frame score winning fourth game.

But in this best of five frames semi-final, Uma Devi showed her class and took away the deciding fifth frame 77-48, thereby repeating her last year’s feat of entering the final. The score: 36-62, 70-59, 61-36, 35-75, 77-48.

In the second longest semi-final, which lasted for four and a half hour, Vidhya Pillai of Tamil Nadu overpowered Neeta Sanghvi of Maharashtra again 3-2.

Vidhya had made quite a confident start winning the first frame 79-37, but could not hold her nerves in following two frames, losing it 40-68 60-62. With one frame up, that too under tough conditions, Neeta started looking as most probable finalist.

But quite contrary to the ideas and imaginations of the spectators, Vidhya fought back and won the remaining two frames and match also. The score: 79-37, 40-68, 60-62, 59-53, 62-24.

Earlier, in the quarter-finals, Uma Devi defeated Soumini of Tamil Nadu in straight frames 66-52, 72-18, 57-23; M Chitra downed Anuja Thakur of Maharashtra 82-53, 57-33, 56-38; Vidya Pillai outplayed Meena Thakur of Maharashtra 58-25, 61-48, 53-45, 64-36 and Neeta Sanghvi beat Heena Khandelwal of 60-52, 69-27, 48-27.

Meanwhile, in the junior Snooker qualifying round, Vishal Agarwal (AP), P R Shivkumar (Kar), Amandeep Singh (Del) and Younis Kuchey of J&K have reached the semi-finals stage.

In the quarter-finals, Younis of J&K beat Akshay Gohad (Mah) 75-45, 67-49, 64-49; Amandeep Singh beat Karan Sharda (Mah) 56-46, 65-16, 49-54,,54-5; P R Shivkumar beat Sunny Chaddha (Del) 57-38, 71-25, 73-19 and Vishal Agarwal beat Vaibhav Punvatkar (Mah) 84-16, 75-7, 42-45, 82-17.

In two remaining second round matches, Karan Sharda (Mah) beat Deep Singh (MP) 33-57, 36-71, 55-17, 56-19, 73-33 and Amandeep Singh (Del) beat Aparijit Mittal (Mah) 59-40, 32-62, 71-32, 79-15.