JK Tyre kicks off National Karting Championship

Excelsior Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Nov 19: For all keen aspirants, obsessed with speed and harboring dreams about a racing career in the exhilarating world of motor sports, the 4th JK Tyre National Karting Championship has been kicked off in Hyderabad. The Championship is being presented by Corsa-SAIL and co-sponsored by Tourism Malaysia, India and Speed—Bharat Petroleum.

The Championship is aimed to re-create the aura of speeding thrills and nail biting non-stop karting action throughout the nation. Kicking off with the first regional round at Hyderabad, the Championship will take the pulsating fervor of speed across seven cities before its grand finale in February 2004.

Announcing the launch of the fourth National Karting Championship, president JK Tyre Mr A K Bajoria said "it took us a while in 1997 at JK Tyre to set up the infrastructure in the country to support and promote karting. Judging by the response we have got in the past we have been more successful than we had ever anticipated".

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Amit Dutta, Vice-President—Marketting, Sales and After-Sales of GM and Mr P Manoharan, Director Tourism Malaysia said the Championship would see the competitors in five different classes unlike the previous championships—right from 5-year old children to 16 years and above.

With an aim to discover and encourage young motor sport talent, children participating in Cadet and Junior classes would also get the opportunity to travel to Delhi for the grand National Finale in February 2004.

All the winners from the regional rounds in the senior category would get a round trip to Malaysia. At the end of the final round, the newly crowned National Karting Champion would drive home in a brand new sleek Open Corsa-SAIL. The national champion would also get a fully sponsored drive in the Formula Maruti Class at the JK Tyre National Racing Championship-2004, for the full season. The most rewarding motor sport event would see cash prizes worth more than Rs 10 lakh for various category winners at various cities.

Inter-colelge Basketball
Science, MAM, PG win ties

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 19: Government MAM College, GGM Science College, Post Graduate Departments and ASCOMS won their respective matches today to advance into the next round of the inter-college Basketball tournament being played at University grounds, here today.

In the first match, Science College defeated MIET 42-36 (17-15). Amit Gupta was highest scorer with 18 points while Rakesh Anand made nine for the winners. Jatin Sharma reduced the margin for MIET contributing maximum 12 points.

MAM College outplayed Government Medical College by a narrow margin 39-34 (15-19). Amit Gupta and Sandeep contributed highest 12 and 10 points respectively while Siddharth and Varun added 15 and 12 points respectively for Medical College.

In another scheduled match, ASCOMS down Degree College, Udhampur 55-36 (17-12). Abhinav and Umair Zahoor made 16 each points for the winners. Gurpal Singh and Dharminder Singh added 12 and 20 points respectively for Udhampur College.

Post Graduate Departments down Degree College, Kathua in another scheduled match.

Today’s matches were officiated by Mohd Shafi, Aman Sharma, Manoj, Solanki and Sohan Singh.

Inter-school athletic meet of Udhampur from Nov 22

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Nov 18: Department of Youth Services and Sports, Udhampur is holding annual athletic meet in both boys and girls sections from November 22 at sports stadium, Udhampur.

Events to be held in this meet include Track (100 mts, 200 mts, 400 mts, 800 mts, 1500 mts, 3000 mts and relay races) and Field (long jump, high jump and triple jump, shot-put, discuss and Javelin), a handout issued here today said.

Poor cricket all round by Indians

By Ravi Shastri

India squandered their best chance in recent years to beat Australia in a one-day final. Apart from the toss which Ricky Ponting won again, almost everything else was in the home team’s favour, but it all came to naught essentially because of poor cricket all round by the Indian team.

The wicket was slow, it had turn, and the dew did not make it easy for the Australian bowlers under floodlights who did not have a formidable total to defend. But India appeared to have become victims of their own anxiousness and played like novices. There were far too many fundamental mistakes made in batting, bowling and fielding, which I must confess surprised me.

To beat teams like Australia, you have to take all the catches that come your way, the ground fielding has to be exceptional, the bowlers must be able to sustain the pressure, and the batsmen must steel their nerve to chase a gettable target.

India muffed some sitters, the main culprit being Laxman, who was chased by the ball wherever he went. He took a stinger in the slips later to get rid of Ponting after dropping him on a blob, but by that time, the Australian captain had succeeded in steadying the ship.

I think the partnership between Ponting and Martyn was crucial. Through a counterattack, they seized the initiative from the Indian bowlers, and set up the platform for a total in excess of 200. The flourish towards the end from Michael Clarke pushed the score to 235 which was always going to be tough in the prevailing conditions. With better fielding and catching, Australia could have been restricted to 215-220, which would have been psychologically less daunting.

When they fielded, Australia gave an object lesson on how to perform under pressure. The new ball bowlers were bang on target and brilliantly supported by the others. There was enough juice in the wicket for the fast bowlers, and as the shine wore off, the spinners were able to make their mark too.

Australia had played a risk by excluding Brad Hogg, their frontline spinner, and Bevan was injured wile batting which severely restricted Ponting’s options. But Symonds and especially Clarke rose splendidly to the occasion.

Batting in these conditions was not going to be easy and it needed either Tendulkar or Sehwag to bat out 40 overs or so for India to make a game of it. Tendulkar, after some moments of uncertainty, looked like he had the measure of the track and the attack, but fell at a crucial time. Once Dravid and Badani fell in quick succession, India’s hopes slumped too.(TCM)

Poor fielding put India paid

By Javagal Srinath

India suffered badly because of their fielding. I would rather say fielding prowess of the Australians alone helped the world champions to turn back Indians’ advance.

I think both India and Australia performed at par in both batting and bowling areas but in the end it was the hosts’ fielding which sealed their fate in the game. No team can enjoy the luxury of dropping five catches which virtually means allowing the opposition to play with that many extra batsmen.

The one man most disappointed with it would be Indian coach John Wright. He doesn’t expect any excuses for poor fielding from the players as he is the one who really puts his heart and soul into the fielding drills. A lot of time is spent on strategies with respect to the batting and bowling but somehow fielding is one thing which slips away from the main focus at times.

Australians fielding, in terms of runs saved, is like an extra player contributing. By the same token, Indians when they slip up are minus one contribution. I am sure we would have crossed the target if not for the fielding lapses.

The Kangaroos reiterated their supremacy as the world champions played their cards well to beat India in the finals. Sourav Ganguly missing out on the finals was a cruel blow. It wasn’t a great start with Ganguly sitting out on fitness count. He is such a big influence on the team and the stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid has always kept well behind the stumps when he has not many things in his head.

Born-again all-rounder Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan gave a wonderful start to the Indians, probably the best in the entire tournament, and got rid of the dreaded openers who for the first time failed in the series. It wasn’t easy for inexperienced Avishkar Salvi to come and play the only game of the tournament and that too the finals. I felt the Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble could have played a bigger role. The Indian bowling on the whole was fantastic and Harbhajan, back into the side, tormented the Australians. Ever-improving Murali Kartik once again made inroads into the Australian batting.

Ponting rode on his luck and made useful contribution but it was once again Damien Martyn, a very good player of spin bowling, who salvaged the sinking Australian ship. He has been magnificent on the tour and has countered our spinners extremely well.

The man-of-the-match Michael Clarke certainly gained momentum during the series and peaked at the right time. Nothing can be a bigger asset to a team than to see a youngster make an impression so huge that he is adjudged man of the final.

Indian batsmen must be a disappointed lot. Virender Sehwag departed early which never made things easy. Nathan bracken, who I thought was a strong contender for the man-of-the-series, made good use of the evening dew on the wicket, along with bustling Brad Williams. The new ball really darted all over and it hampered the Indian batsmen.

Had it been one regular batsman at the wicket till the completion of 50 overs, the game would have been ours. Sachin Tendulkar got into his groove along with VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid and India appeared to be taking complete control.

Indeed, at the time of Tendulkar’s dismissal, Indians were pretty much in the driver’s seat. Yuvraj failed and Badani didn’t capitalise on his good start.

Dravid must be extremely dejected with the end result. He did most of the things right like the bowling changes and batted sensibly until his unfortunate dismissal. His exit signalled the end with Agarkar left stranded at the other end and watching his partners come and go in a procession.

Dravid, doing a three-in-one job, wouldn’t hesitate to take the responsibility of defeat all by himself. It just means he is painstakingly honest. (PTI)

Saina, Anand win Czech Jr titles

CHENNAI, Nov 19: Talented Saina Nehwal and Anand Pawar did India proud by winning the junior singles titles in the Orlova Czech Junior International Badminton Championships, which concluded on November 16.

Fourteen-year-old Saina, the most promising player in the national circuit, won her first international title defeating Uana Vorotnykova of Ukraine 11-3, 11-6 in the final. Saina also became the first Indian junior to win an international title, chief national coach for juniors Sanjiv Sachdeva said in a release here today.

In the quarter finals, Saina beat M Benasova of Poland 11-7, 11-6 while in the semi finals she trounced Pavia Janosova of Czech Republic 11-2, 11-5 in straight games.

Seventeen-year-old Anand, ranked no 2 in the national circuit, also won his first international title defeating Adam Cwalins of Poland 15-1, 15-3 in the final. In the semi finals, he beat Kumelj Luka of Slovakia 15-4, 15-3 and Nejc Boljka of Slovakia 15-4, 15-3 in the quarter finals.

India’s duo of T Sowmya and Deepthi Shalini finished runners up to England in the doubles event losing to Olver Heather and Jennifer Wallwork 11-15, 12-15 in the final.

The boys pair of T Dinesh and Anshuman Hazarika reached the semifinals. They lost to the eventual title winners Adam Cwalina and Wojciech Szkudlarczyk.

The Indian team was to participate in the Slovakian junior international also, but had to return home due to visa problems. (UNI)

Geet Sethi shows his class

HYDERABAD, Nov 19: Top seed Geet Sethi showed his class to score an emphatic win against Huang Chol Ho (South Korea) while forth seed Dhruv Sitwala was humbled by unsung Loon Hong Moh (Malaysia) in the World Billiard Championship being played here today.

The other seeded players edged out their opponents in the league phase of the championship being played for the first time in 150-up format.

Three-time world title holder geet sethi, who was very prolific with huge breaks in the time play format, was at ease in the shorter version as well and outplayed his korean opponent 150-6 150-2 150-26.

Winning the first frame in just two visits, geet sethi enthralled the morning session spectators with an unfinished break of 150 in the second frame after the korean ended his first visit after scoring only two points.

In the third game, geet look a bit shaky in the initial stages but was back in his elements to stop the flow of his opponent and settle the issue 150-26.

Dhruv lost to loon in a pitched battle where fortunes swung from one end to the other. Dhruv lost his concentration in the final frame before finally going down 65-150 67-151 151-121 151-68 110-150 in the gruelling match. (PTI)

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