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Rural Sports Festival of Udhampur concludes....

WTA, ATP planning four joint showcase events by 2009

ZURICH, Oct 19: The WTA and ATP tennis tours want to have four major mixed tournaments beside the grand slams from 2009.

For now, both tours come together at six stops outside the grand slams - Sydney, Memphis, Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, New Haven, Tokyo - but the tours want to showcase their talent better.

"The four grand slams are the pillars of tennis. But after that I think there’s room for four additional combined mandatory events around which we have this common vision," WTA Tour Chief Executive Larry Scott said yesterday.

"I think we should be able to put most of the pieces in place by 2009.

"One of the best things that could happen in tennis from my perspective is for the ATP and WTA hours to work more closely together. Both tours are excellent on their own but they’re better together at the appropriate times."

The purpose of showcasing four non-slams is to create more big stages with the best of men’s and women’s tennis "because that’s what creates stars and excitement," Scott added, "and that hopefully translates to the other weeks on the tour when people want to see the stars come to town."

Key Biscayne in Florida, long considered the "fifth grand slam," was one certainty for 2009, as it offered equal prize money which will characterise all four events, Scott said.

Another could be Indian Wells in California, also already a multi-week combined event but currently only a mandatory event on the men’s tour and not the women’s.

"So we’d have two in America in march," Scott said.

Those will be followed by a clay event before the French Open.

European tournaments which have expressed interest include Madrid, host of one of the men’s masters and 2006 season-ending WTA championships; Rome, which hosts the men and women in successive weeks; and Monte Carlo, which also features a men’s masters.

The fourth will likely be in Asia, indoors or outdoors, late in the season.

"China would be the most logical market given the development of tennis, in particular the women’s game," Scott said.

Scott said he and ATP Chairman Etienne De Villiers hoped to eventually stage their year-end championships together but that will have to wait until both tours can coordinate their calendars.

The WTA is planning to finish its season two weeks earlier to give players a longer offseason in an effort to reduce the number of injuries and withdrawals on the tour.

"Etienne and I would love to see that happen, together at a joint event ending the season," Scott said.

"It would be a nice end to the story of the season, where the circuits come together with a big bang.

"But it’s unlikely to be part of the initial roll out of the new order in 2009. The men so far cannot streamline their calendar and end it as early as we do, and I’m not sure I want to sacrifice that. So it could take a few more years but it’s certainly desired eventually."

Scott also cited commercial complications, with the WTA and ATP each having different sponsors, and television broadcasters partners.

There’s been a lot of talk about it even before I left in 2003," said Martina Hingis. "I enjoy the big events like Miami and Indian Wells and the grand slams. It makes things interesting for fans to see both sides and the difference between the two, men and women. It makes it more attractive." (AGENCIES)

Sri Lanka face injury-hit New Zealand in must-win tie

MUMBAI, Oct 19: Sri Lanka face an early elimination from the ICC Champions Trophy unless they beat an inspired but injury-hit New Zealand in a crucial Group B match at the Brabourne Stadium here tomorrow.

The Lankans, who came through to the main round with an all-win record in the qualifying phase of the ten-team event, lost to Pakistan in the league opener at Jaipur on Tuesday, to find themselves in a must-win situation against the Kiwis.

New Zealand, on the other hand, started with a shock victory over the fancied South Africa here on Monday and a roll over the Lankans would ensure them a berth in the semi finals ahead of their last league encounter against Pakistan at Mohali on October 25.

But the Kiwis would struggle to field eleven fit players as three of their players — fast bowler Shane Bond (stiff back), all rounder Scott Styris (hamstring twinge) and medium pacer Mark Gillespie (viral infection — are on the Indisposed list.

However, team sources have said Bond and Gillespie were expected to be available for selection.

But even in the likely absence of Bond and Styris, New Zealand will still be a fighting unit and a keen tussle can be predicted, especially now that the newly dug-up square at the Cricket Club of India has started to behave better, as was seen in yesterday’s nail-biting clash between title-holders West Indies and world champions Australia.

The wicket is still expected to aid the slow bowlers and, with both the teams possessing quality spinners, the contest might very well be decided by who wins the toss.

The team that bats first seems to hold a big advantage as the wicket becomes difficult and batting against the sharply spinning ball and the ones that jag back from the pace bowlers become challenging as the match progresses.

The Lankans seem to hold a slight edge because they are the better players of the turning ball although the Kiwis have a good pace attack, even without the three players under the fitness cloud.

A good start is what both the teams would be hoping for and Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, has shown in ample measure how to bat on these surfaces by playing late with soft hands and mostly square and behind the wicket.

The comprehensive 87-run victory over South Africa, fashioned mainly by Fleming’s fine 89 on a difficult wicket, would be an enormous morale-booster for New Zealand who are playing cricket after a seven-month hiatus.

But the Kiwis depend a little too much on Fleming and their most successful one-day player Nathan Astle in batting, which could be turn out to be a handicap.

But they do have a good pace attack with Kyle Mills who chopped off the South Arican top order with an incisive 3 for 18 in six overs, left-armer James Franklin, and all rounder Jacob Oram all looking good.

In Daniel Vettori, arguably the world’s best left-arm spinner at present, and new comer Jeetan Patel, an off spinner, the Kiwis have the players to take advantage of the spin-friendly surface especially in the latter half of the match.

The South Asians have also a fine recent record in ODIs including a ten-match winning streak that was halted by Pakistan after having lost 1-4 in the five-match series in New Zealand spread in two phases because of the 2004 December Tsunami.

The lone win, by 20 runs, was in the last ODI played between the two rivals in January this year at Napier.

Teams (from):

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Brendon McCullum (WK), Hamish Marshall, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Upul Tharanga, Tillkaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Perera, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Muttiah Muralitharan. (PTI)

All set for 62nd Sr National Hockey Championship

CHANDIGARH, Oct 19: Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) has made elaborate arrangements to organize 62nd Senior National Hockey Championship in a big way at Jalandhar from october 20 to november 3.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh would inaugurate this championship tomorrow at Burlton Park (Hockey Stadium), Jalandhar.

A spokesman of the PHA said today that this championship was being organised in Punjab after a long gap of 25 years and hoped that it might prove to be an appropriate platform for young and budding players to exhibit their talent for catching the attention of selectors of national team.

He informed that 37 affiliated state units would participate in the Championship, which would be divided into eight groups.

Matches would be played on a league basis. Two teams from each stage would qualify for the knockout stage.

Sixteen teams would then play knockout matches and eight teams would thus qualify for the super league. There matches would be played at Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bhaini Sahib simultaneously.

He further said that there would also be a qualifier for associate members at New Delhi from October 20 to 24, 2006. Fourteen associate teams would participate in the championship. These teams would be divided into four groups and the matches would be played on league basis. One top team form each group would further qualify for the super league.

Thus four teams from qualifier and eighty teams from preliminary phase would contest in super league. These twelve teams would again be divided into four groups for the super league.

Super league would start at Jalandhar from October 28 to 31. Both the semifinals will be played on November 2, and the final on November 3, he added. (PTI)

DD. PTV to telecast live Indo-Pak tennis series

CHANDIGARH, Sept 19: The four-test home-and- away Indo-Pak Tennis Challenge Series to be played from November 6 to 12 will be telecast live in India and Pakistan.

This was disclosed by steering committee (Indian leg) Chairman Rajan Kashyap here today.

Pakistan will conduct matches at Islamabad on November 6 and at Lahore on November 8 before the teams cross over to India for the third and fourth tests at Chandigarh on November 10 and Delhi on November 12, respectively.

Mr Kashyap and All India Tennis Association secretary Anil Khanna met Information and Broadcasting Secretary S K Arora and Delhi Doordarshan Director Leela Dhar Mandloi to chalk out details of live coverage of the series in both the countries.

Pakistan Television (PTV) will provide feed of the Islamabad and Lahore matches to Doordarshan (DD) for live telecast in India. On the reciprocal basis, Doordarshan will generate pictures of the Chandigarh and New Delhi matches for the Pakistani television viewers.

Two singles and one doubles matches will be played to determine the winners in a test match. Mr Kashyap said "draw of lots will decide who will play whom. As both countries are fielding their best ranked players, firework is expected in all four test matches."

A 19-member team from Pakistan, including four top players, will visit India for the series. Pakistan Tennis Federation president and secretary will be part of the Pakistan team. A few senior players will also accompany the Pakistan team.

Besides the test matches, separate competitions are being organised at the CLTA complex for the senior players of both countries.

The AITA will also be sending a 19-member Indian squad on the Pakistani leg. Among the Indian officials will be AITA secretary Anil Khanna and Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) Chairman Rajan Kashyap.

Mr Kashyap said that "a lot of interest has already been generated for the India-Pakistan tennis duel in both countries. He said a steering committee for the Indian leg had been formed for the smooth conduct of the Indo-Pak Tennis Challenge Series. Besides, the CLTA and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association have also formed their separate organizing committees.

AITA secretary Anil Khanna, DLTA secretary Kapil Dutta, CLTA secretary Rameshekhar and AITA Director Operations Col Amarbir Singh are other important members of the steering committee. Gajender Singh has been made convener of the technical committee. (UNI)

JU team leaves for NZ Inter-Varsity Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 19: Jammu University Cricket Men team today left for Aligarh for participation in the North Zone Inter-University Cricket (Men) Competition started at Aligarh Muslim University.

Jammu University team comprises of 16 players from different colleges of Jammu region and Post-Graduate Departments of University. They will play their fixture on October 21 against Lucknow University.

Dr Brij Baloria, Incharge Director Physical education and Incharge BPEd Course, University of Jammu interacted with the University Cricket players and Pradeep Singh as well as Surinder Singh Baghal, Manager and Coach respectively before the departure of the team to Aligarh.

Prior to participation, the Department of Physical Education conducted coaching-cum-selection camp of the players in the University of Jammu grounds.

The team comprises of Anoop Magotra, Ajit Pal Singh, Vikram Singh, Ishan Sharma, Rakesh Kumar, Amit Sharma, Anil Raina, Gourav Kumar, Mohd Farooq, Raj Kumar, Ashwani Kotwal, Suhail Ahmed Dar, Atul Sharma, Anil Kumar, Ankit Bakshi, Mohd Irfan Khan.

Final phase of Rural, Women Sports
Competitions organised

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

POONCH, Oct 19: Final phase of Block Level Rural and Women Sports Competitions of Surankote block held at Boys Middle School Surankote.

The competitions were organised by District Coaching Centre, Poonch in close collaboration of Department of Youth Services and Sports under the supervision of Nirdosh Kumar Sharma, Incharge district Coaching Centre Poonch and Harbans Singh, Department of Youth Services and Sports Poonch.

Ten clubs participated in Rural Sports and five teams in Women Sports Competitions. Bhim Sain Raina, ZEO Surankote was the chief guest, who distributed prizes among the winner and runner-up teams.

Sham Lal Sharma, senior most hockey coach and Chanchal Kour, PEM Government Girls Higher Secondary School Surankote were the guests of honour.

In Kabaddi, United Club lifted winner’s trophy while Middle School Surankote clinched runner-up trophy. In Tug of War, United Club emerged as winner while Friends Club Surankote as runner-up.

In Women Sports Kho-Kho, Girls Middle School Surankote emerged as winner while Local Club Surankote runner-up. In Volleyball, Government Girls Higher Secondary School Surankote bagged winner’s trophy while Middle School Samote lifted runner-up trophy.

In Athletics, Yasmin Kouser of Seri-Kwaja bagged first position, Aftab Sahine of Local Club Draba clinched second position while Rasmeet Kour of GHHS Surankote bagged third prize in Shot-Put.

In Discuss Throw, Rajinder Kour of MS Surankote, Shagufta of Local Club Surankote and Mehnaz Akhter of GHSS Surankote clinched first three positions respectively.

Ankush, Ishuk among several cueists enter 3rd round

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 19: Seeded players Ankush Gupta and Ishuk Choudhary entered into third round of the Junior Snooker in the 16th Jammu District Open Billiards and Snooker Championship at Billiards Hall of MA Stadium, here.

Ankush Gupta secured berth in the third round by defeating Gurdev Singh by 3-1 while Ishuk Choudhary entered third round by thrashing Aditya Beri by 3-1.

In other matches of the second round, Ishan Sharma beat Rohit Kapoor by 3-0 while Atul Tandon defeated Amanveer Singh by 3-0. Vidit Gauri defeated Vishal Raina by 3-0 and Rajesh Slathia beat Aditya Mahajan by 3-2 in a close contest.

Vikran Sehgal beat Abhishek Pathania by 3-0 while Abhishek Goswami defeated Anshul by 3-2 in another close contest. Sahil Arora defeated Lucky by 3-1.

Women Sports Competitions of Jammu conclude

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 19: Women Sports Competitions of Jammu District organised at Rehian Block in Samba, R S Pura, Akhnoor and Jammu concluded at MA Stadium today.

The competitions were held under District Sports Advisory Board in collaboration with J&K State Sports Council. Ten teams and clubs of Jammu block participated in the today’s competitions.

In Kabaddi final, Chib Club Domana defeated Girls High School Gandhi Nagar Jammu while in Kho-Kho final, Girls High School Gandhi Nagar defeated Girls Higher Secondary School Mubarak Mandi Jammu. In Basketball final, Shastri Club defeated MA Stadium Club Jammu. District Youth Services and Sports Officer Jammu B N Bhat, who is also Secretary District Sports Advisory Board Jammu and Bishamber Singh, Manager MA Stadium Jammu were among others who attended the concluding ceremony.

Rural Sports Festival of Udhampur concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 19: Two days Rural Sports Festival for Boys and Girls of Udhampur Zone concluded at Government Higher Secondary School Jaganoo.

A total of 225 225 boys and girls drawn from Udhampur Zone participated in the Kabaddi, Kho-Kho and Athletic events. Romesh Kant, Principal HSS Jaganoo was the chief guest on the concluding function.

In Women Kabaddi, HSS Jaganoo bagged first position while HS Jaganoo clinched second position. In Women Kho-Kho, HSS Jaganoo bagged first position while Red Club Jaganoo clinched second position.

In Athletics, Kanchan Bala of MS Jaganoo bagged first position in Shot-Put while Reshma Kumari and Gulshan Ara bagged second and third positions. In Women Long Jump, Sunita Devi of HSS Jaganoo bagged first position, Radha Devi of same school clinched second and Sunita of Women Degree College Udhampur bagged third position.

In Boys Kabaddi, HSS Jaganoo emerged as winner while MS Jaganoo as runner-up. In Boys Kho-Kho, MS Jaganoo emerged as winner while HSS Jaganoo bagged runner-up trophy.