Daily Excelsior.........sports

India grab top honours in Asian Chess Championship

KOZHIKODE, Aug 25: Ending the Chinese domination, India’s Koneru Humpy and D Harika grabbed the gold and silver medals respectively in the 10th Asian Women’s Chess Championship which concluded here today. Grandmaster Humpy established her supremacy by claiming the . . . .........more

Hyped up Indians
shown their place

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: Champion Trophy proved if proof was indeed needed that Indian hockey has a long way to. ..........more

Two of the ‘missing’ cricketers rejoin team

JALANDHAR, Aug 25: Two of the five women cricketers, who had gone missing on a tour of England, joined their teammates in London today,.......more

Paes not suffering
from cancer

NEW YORK, Aug 25: Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Leander Paes is suffering from neurocysticercosishas, according to doctors attending to him at the M D Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando in Florida. . ........more

Ashutosh retains Men’s
‘On Sight Difficulty’ title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 25: Ashutosh Sharma retained the Men’s ‘On Sight Difficulty’ title in the 3rd State Sport Climbing Championship which concluded ......more

Victor Sports Club wins Distt Hockey Championship

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 25: Victor Sports Club, Pulwama defeated Ambali Sports Rahoo 3-1 in the final of the 5th District Hockey Championship in senior ...more

4-wkt win for Josh
Club in cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 25: Josh Cricket Club defeated Rishi Cricket Club (RCC) by four wickets to enter the ......more

Jammu Gold Cup Roller
Hockey Championship
from August 27

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 25: Indiana Roller Skating Club is....more

India grab top honours in Asian Chess Championship

Grandmaster Humpy established her supremacy by claiming the gold with 7 points. Tournament sensation Harika took the silver pushing back Vietnam’s Hoang Thanh Trang to the third spot on better average rating.

WGM Vijayalakshmi, who was in contention for the title until she drew her eighth round game with Zhang Jilin (Chn) yesterday, lost to Trang Xu Yuanyuan (Chn) who drew with compatriot Gu Xiaobing to move up to six points and finish fourth in the championship where the Chinese held sway for several years.

Defending champion Li Ruofan (Chn) finished a poor ninth after splitting points with Tania Sachdev.

Agreeing for a draw against Le Kieu Thien Kim (Vie), Humpy ensured the top position to justify her top billing in the tournament, although the Vijayawada girl had virtually won the title yesterday itself by virtue of her better average rating.

"I am very happy to win unopposed as the tournament is the toughest I have played so far," Humpy told PTI.

Harika, who created a few upsets in the initial rounds to hog the limelight, convincingly beat Wang Yu (Chn) to finish second with 6.5 points after recording a better average compared to trang.

With five players - Wang Yu, Huang Quian, Zhao Xue, Xu Yuanyuan (all Chn) and Nguyen Thi Thanh Anh (Vie) - besides the title winner Humpy, having already qualified for the World Chess Championship, the 12 other top-rankers earned an entry for the tournament.

The 12 players are — D Harika, S Vijayalakshmi, Bhagyashree Thipsay, Tania Sachdev, Aarthie Ramaswamy (all Ind), Hoang Thanh Trang, Le Kieu Thien Kim (both Vie), Shen Yang, Gu Xiaobing, Li Ruofan, Zhang Jilin and Tian Tian (all Chn).

Fide during its recent meeting at Nigeria had announced a prize money of 8,000 USD to be shared among the top 16 players. (PTI)

Hyped up Indians shown their place

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: Champion Trophy proved if proof was indeed needed that Indian hockey has a long way to go before it can hope for a podium place in a big international competition.

This is not the first time that Indian hockey raised such high expectations, the only difference in 1992 and 1996 and now is that there were no tv channels to blow the slightest Indian triumph out of proportion.

In 1992 just before Barcelona Olympics, Indian went on five-nation Euorpean tour and won 14 matches, drew one and lost one. The visitors won two Tests each against Belgium, England, Wales and Holland and drew Test series 1-1 against Germany.

India also figured in a Four-nation Tournament then and after winning all the matches in round robin league lost to spain in the final. But in Barcelona Olympics, Indians fared miserably.

Indians then won Azlan Shah Hockey in 1995 but in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics they finished way down the leaderboard. Same was the case in the Sydney Olympics. India just had to beat poland ,a very lowly team but muffed an open chance in the dying moments that cost them a place in semi finals.

So when it comes to real competitions like the Champions Trophy, World Cup or Olympics, Indians are always in the vicinity of sixth or seventh place given the number of the teams.

In the 25th edition of the Champions Trophy which concluded yesterday, India had little to show by way of their performance. India who scored less goals then argentina who finished fifth would have been in a worse position had world champion Germany fielded their full team.

The view that India lost the match against Holland that they should have won does not hold water because the defending champions were far superior to them in all departments of the game.

The character of the game has changed dramatically. There is no off side rule and no team is assured of victory till the last minute because chances to score or equalise are there till the end.

Holland conceded three goals but when they got chances they pumped in our and the way they were going if there had been few more minutes left the hosts would have won by much higher margin.

The Indians did not make it to the 3/4 play of on their own. It was the Australians who did a favour by routing Argentina 8-3 and due to better goal difference India’s hopes for a bronze were raised.

India, while winning two matches and losing four, scored 19 goals and conceded 23, and that speaks itself for their forward line and defence. In a tournament in which goals were scored seconds before the long whistle, Indians have no excuse to offer for their defeats at the hands of Holland, Australia, Argentina and Pakistan.

Indians struggled to beat Germany which was blasted by all the teams except Argentina.

Indians can not take a refuge under the garb of their stunning defeat against Holland for their demoralised show, barring against Pakistan in the league match, Australia also lost to the host in the league but made it to the final.

Indian defence was tentative, forwards lacked precision and mid-field was not consistent but all these were swept under carpet as they routed arch rival Pakistan 7-4 in a dramatic match.

Suddenly everybody from coach to goalkeeper to captain and to forwards were on tv screens. They talked endlessly about the sudden transformation in the team, little realising that they were out of the reckoning for the gold or silver and were not sure of 3/4 play off.

However, history repeated itself again, if it was a tragedy in the cologne edition last year, it became a farce for the indians who again lost to Pakistan after thrice taking the lead to finish fourth.

Coach Rajinder Singh who was hero on Friday became zero on Sunday and every body who is any body questioned his acumen and tactics.

Rajinder, however, defended his choice of players and also the substitutions. "Everything depends on the match situation, and I did not see the need to use my bench strength."

Champions Trophy is one of the two tournaments conducted by the world hockey body (FIH), the other being the World Cup.

The Indians must realise that there is difference between these two tournaments and the three-nation tournaments. Victory is important but after winning small tournament it is more important to keep one’s cool.

Indians were lucky that Germany sent a developmental team and there were no Spain or Korea in this tournament.

Indian hockey has to get out of its Pakistan-centric attitude. It is feel good factor when India beats Pakistan but some time it may be good for India to lose to Pakistan if that helps them to win the top slot.

There is a need for Indian selectors to be ruthless. Sentiments and emotions have no role while picking up the team for the country. Time and again many unfit players were selected just because of their reputations and the country had to pay the price.

Unnecessary hype before important tournaments has never helped any team. One knows what happened to South Africa in the cricket World Cup or France in the soccer World Cup.

Compare to them Indian hockey has miles to go before it could regain its lost glory.

Morale of the Champions Trophy is less hype and more substance will help Indian hockey. (UNI)

Two of the ‘missing’ cricketers rejoin team

JALANDHAR, Aug 25: Two of the five women cricketers, who had gone missing on a tour of England, joined their teammates in London today, according to tour organiser and manager of the cricket club, Ravi Sharma.

"Rajwant Kaur and Parvesh Rani came back to me and subsequently, I informed the police about their coming back so that they can complete their interrogation regarding the other three missing girls," Sharma told PTI over phone from London.

"The three other cricketers Mandeep Virk, Baljeet Kaur and Ekta Andotra are still missing and I have no contact with them ," Sharma said but claimed that two of these girls -Baljeet and Ekta - had contacted him two days back through their solicitor and even offered him an amount of 1600 Pounds for giving back their passport.

The two girls have just come to me and are in panic due to media reports and they revealed that they were under pressure from those who gave shelter to them to go back to the team to avoid legal action, he said.

When contacted, Paramjit Kaur, sister of Rajwant Kaur said she was unaware about her coming back but said that the family was happy to hear the news of her return.

Jaswinder Singh, brother of Baljeet Kaur, said he had received only a phone call from his sister a few days back and she had informed the family of her well being, he added. (PTI)

Paes not suffering from cancer

Paes, who was admitted to the hospital a week ago suffering from severe headaches, was not suffering from brain cancer, the doctors said in a statement.

"We are relieved that this is not a cancerous tumor. The blood tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a repeat MRI along with other tests, confirmed the diagnosis," the statement said.

A malignant tumour had initially not been ruled out but a series of tests revealed a tiny lesion on the left side of his brain.

The 30-year-old Paes, who won the mixed doubles with Martina Navratilova at the All England Club last month, went to a local hospital near his home in Florida after suffering the headaches.

He was transferred to the Anderson Center, where the lesion was found after a CT Scan and a MRI.

Paes will miss the U S Open starting in New York and has been ruled out of all tennis until the end of September, including India’s Davis Cup world group play-off tie against the Netherlands next month.

"Leander is deeply touched by the overwhelming support, he continues to receive from around the globe. From the honorable President of India, to the millions of fans offering puja which brought tears to his eyes, to the nuns at Mother Teresa’s home offering prayers to his family and friends, and to members of the sporting, business and medical fraternities," members of Paes family said in a statement. (UNI)

Ashutosh retains Men’s ‘On Sight Difficulty’ title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 25: Ashutosh Sharma retained the Men’s ‘On Sight Difficulty’ title in the 3rd State Sport Climbing Championship which concluded yesterday at the premises of Cybernetics Senior Secondary School, Kunjwani, near here.

In Speed Climbing, Men’s final was won by Riaz Ahmed Mir while in Women’s group, senior climber, Shoba Rajput bagged the title. Boys and girls Speed Climbing events were clinched by Hasrit Mehroof Khan and Shivati Koul respectively.

In Men’s section, Ashutosh, a tall and powerful national climber, topped the wall to retain the prestigious title. Abhimanyu Sherpa, who dominated in the junior group and had upset Ashutosh in the Jammu District Championship, failed at the last step to clip the final ‘Quick Draw’ and had to content with second position. Deepak Sharma of SRML Higher Secondary School finished third.

The Speed Climbing competition, wherein positions are determined by the time taken by the competitors to complete the route, presented lot of excitement among the competitors as well as the audience. Held for the first time in J&K, the competitions in all the categories were conducted one after the other on the same route.

Best performance came from Riyaz Ahmed Mir of Pulwama, who climbed the 36 ft high wall in just 15.59 seconds, Mohd Hussain Dar (16.13 seconds) also of Pulwama and Ashutosh Sharma (17.88 seconds) of Jammu bagged second and third positions respectively.

In Women’s section, Shoba Rajput, who had almost retired from the competitive climbing, after she won the North Zone title last year, showed that she was still a force to reckon with when she took just 21.72 seconds to complete the climb and clinched the first place. Bhavna Sharma (23.34 seconds) and Asha Choudhary (27.88 seconds) secured second and third place respectively.

A record number of 270 climbers from Jammu, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri, Pulwama, Kathua, Anantnag and Doda participated in this two-day championship which was earlier inaugurated by Manoj Pant, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council on August 23.

The chief guest on the concluding day of the championship, Rohit Kansal, Additional Chief Executive Officer Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board while praising the participants complimented the organisers, Mountaineering Association of J&K for providing an opportunity to the young and budding climbers to excel.

"I think organisers deserve the appreciation first than the winners because it is because of them (organisers) that a player gets a chance to excel", he opined.

While lauding the efforts of the Mountaineering Association of J&K in imbibing the spirit of adventure in youth by conducting for them various adventure activities, he appreciated the management of the Cybernetics Senior Secondary School for constructing first ever artificial climbing wall in J&K. He also promised all possible help from his organisation for the promotion of adventure activities in J&K.

H C Karthik, national champion for the last three years and a highly ranked international climber, who had especially been invited from Bangalore to oversee the conduct of the championship and evaluate the performance of the state climbers, was guest of honour.

Among others present on the valedictory function included S S Jamwal, president and Charu Nagar, vice-president of the Tawi Trekkers and office bearers of the Mountaineering Association of J&K and its affiliated clubs.

In this two-day championship, Dr C K Khajuria, a qualified sport climbing judge, was president of the jury whereas Rohit Chauhan and Paras Ram, representatives from North Zone Sport Climbing Committee, New Delhi acted as route setters. Another climber from Delhi, Piyush alongwith Mr Narinder Singh acted as belayer.

Amit Khajuria, Sanjeev Gupta, Yogeshwar Kumar, Sumit Khajuria, Virender Magotra and Ram Singh were officials. Dr Shyam Magotra was the medical officer of the championship.