œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ K œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ M œ ND ‰ ‰ † ‰ C

20 SUNDAY TIMES OF , January 5, 2003 SPORT

TIMES IN QUEENSTOWN Depleted E. Bengal too strong for AI Dreaming of an Indian flown in from Wellington to Kiwis so successful? Temper- All at sea: With so much summer: A fairly large con- support the Indian team. ing the rugged individualism coastline, it is little wonder By Nilankur Das Kamaljeet Singh tingent of Indian fans has ‘‘They only come out here of New Zealanders is a strong that the Kiwis love the water. TIMES NEWS NETWORK been following the cricket once in a blue moon so it is egalitarian streak and a sense Since Kupe, the first explorer team across this scenic coun- worth it,’’ Gulati said.Lucky of fair play and teamwork. to reach New Zealand, made New Delhi: The start was effective, not try. Rajinder Singh and Gur- Singh has not come quite as This may be partly due to the landfall in the far north of the impressive. But one has to give due mukh Singh, with their Black far as some of the other Indi- co-operative ‘whanau (ex- country a thousand years credit to coach Subhas Bhowmick for turbans and flowing beards, ans — there are quiet a few tended family) structure of the ago, the Kiwis have had a the optimal use of the available re- stood out in the mainly white who have come down from Maori society as well as the passion for ocean-going craft. sources. Even with six players off for crowd in Christchurch. Heck- the US and India. He hails make-up of early Pakeha (Eu- New Zealanders were at the the National camp and Dipankar Roy led by locals, they still dared from Addington but is just as ropean) society. This is the forefront of yacht design and and Anit Ghosh injured, East Bengal be- to wave the Indian Tricolour. fervent in his support for the trait that is so apparent in racing during the 20th century gan their campaign with a They had driven all the way team. ‘‘There’s no doubt India their cricket. Shorn of stars — and have continued their facile 4-0 win over . In the oth- from Te Puke for the match. will win even without Sachin the only one, Chris Cairns, dominance into this century er match, Salgaocar too made light of ‘‘We love India and we love Tendulkar,’’ he boasted. That being injured — the Black by winning the prestigious PSEB, winning 2-0. Punjab,’’ they chorused, rat- was the famous Indian opti- Caps have still managed to Americas Cup. Now, if only Mike Okoro scored a brace, a self-goal tling out the names of Punjab mism. But it was no where humble one of the most star- they would pass off some of da Puttars Harbhajan Singh studded sides in the world. their craft to the Indians. For, and Shasti Duley featured among the near reality. and Yuvraj Singh. Ashish Gu- What does that tell you? they seem all at sea on this East Bengal scorers, while Sunday Seah lati and Ajay Sharma had Fair go, mate: Why are the Read between the lines. tour. Ahmed Abbas Rizvi and Ryan D’Souza scored for the Goans. A Brazilian, a Liberian and a boy AFP from Mizoram could have fought for the day’s honours if there was one. Of them, the Liberian has been here for some time, first with FC Kochin and now with Salgoacar. Sunday Seah has established himself as a pain-where-it- hurts for defenders. On Saturday too, he was in his elements. Switching flanks, falling back to initiate moves, precise passes and of course the first goal for Salgaocar spoke for his brilliance. PSEB coach Darshan Singh Goga had deputed Narinder to keep the wily Liberian at bay.But a couple of runs off Mike Okoro of East Bengal jumps for a header during his team’s opening match of the ball, falling back as deep as his own the Durand Cup against Air India at the Ambedkar Stadium on Saturday. half and then switching the flanks a few East Bengal won the match 4-0. times and Punjab da puttar gave up hope. Not that out of the world shadow- n’t score, nor did he show the class of a ga. God has gifted him with an untiring ing and counter thinking were expected Jose Ramirez Barreto, but if he plays pair of legs to chase every ball and slip from the PSEB team, who looked an out- the way he did and adds a few more past the rivals’ off-side traps. fit going through the motions in both strides to his movements, East Bengal He is still learning and needs to add their matches. might get another Sudip Chatterjee. He the art of feeding in his repertoire. But considering the fact that they was omnipresent on the field. Where can he expect a better guide than have replaced last-moment drop-outs Immaculate ball control and distribu- Bhowmick? Another prod- Mahindra in the group, some of the tion were his forte and by combining uct from Mizoram looks on track to group league matches have become re- well with Chandan Das he was instru- make it big, of course if he doesn’t lose dundant. Even the contingency reshuf- mental in keeping the East Bengal mid- himself like most of his fellow state- fling of the teams and groups couldn’t field a well-knit and cohesive unit. mates. make much of a difference. Sunday’s matches: ITI vs Vasco SC (12 noon); Mohd New Zealand cricket fans cheer during the fourth One-dayer at Queenstown on Saturday. The Brazilian, Douglas D’Souza, did- The third was S Malsawma Tuluan- Sporting vs JCT (3pm). Bhupathi-Woodbridge Kucera played amazing Hari in contention Hastings (): Grand- with black pieces and Flear master P Harikrishna scored with white. Nielsen has a shocked in semifinals shots to down Canas a brilliant victory over GM tough customer in last round Alexei Barsov of Uzbekistan in the form of Arkell who has Chennai: Slova- tisek Cermak and Leos Fried who By Narain Karthikeyan true professionals and I knew we had to emerge as joint leader af- to play the “wounded” kia’s Karol Kucera won 6-2, 6-2. In the other semifinal, an exciting match on hand. I must ter the seventh round of the Barsov in the next round. extended a run of Julian Knowle (Austria) and Michael urprises were in store for ten- say that Srichapan did everything Premier event of 65th Hast- Sasikiran, who has failed upsets on Saturday Kohlmann (Germany) beat a nother nis lovers at the Tata Open on right from the start and was very ings International Chess. to live up to his expectations as he downed Juan Czech pair of Tomas Cibulek and Ota S Friday.Top seed and defending confident with his shots. Harikrishna (4.5 points) in this tournament so far, champion Guillermo Canas made an Ignacio Chela of Fukarek 6-4, 7-5. It was a shame that Leander Paes shares the lead with GM Kei- was held to a draw by Flear unceremonious exit from the tour- Argentina 6-3, 7-5 This will be the second consecutive and partner David Rikl lost to the th Arkell of England and GM in the seventh round. This nament after losing his quarterfinal to storm into the fi- finals appearance here for Czech duo Thomas Cibulek and Ota Peter Heine Nielsen of Den- was the sixth draw from sev- match against Karol Kucera. nal of the Tata Srichaphan, 23, who last year Fukarek. Leander played very well mark. In joint fourth place en matches for the Indian There was a lot of expectation Open tennis tour- launched his remarkable rise in the and tried hard to save the match. The are GM K Sasikiran, who who registered his lone win from Canas this time, after his in- nament, making ATP rankings by making the title match went down to the wire and I drew with English GM Glenn of the competition in the pre- Bhupathi credible performance in the tourna- his first appear- round in the Tata Open. Lisnard, think Leander and Rikl were un- Flear, and Barsov with 4 vious round against Nielsen. ment last year. Unusually, Canas ance in the title round of an ATP 132nd in the ATP’s 2002 rankings, was lucky to a certain extent as they had points apiece while GM Luke made a lot of un- Despite the modest show, Tour after three years. A former top- no match for the 16th-ranked won the first set but McShane of England and GM forced errors and it however,Sasi is still in with a 10 player,Kucera built on a victory on Srichaphan who breezed into the fi- failed to capitalize. Sergey Karjakin follow them seemed that he was chance to catch up with the Friday over defending champion and nal with ease. The 23rd-ranked There was good on 3.5 points each. unable to find his leaders as he will meet top seed Guillermo Canas as he over- Chela, 23, had not dropped a set going news though for Ma- With just two more rounds rhythm in the first McShane and lowly placed came Chela in their first-ever en- into the semifinal against Kucera, hesh Bhupathi and to go, Harikrishna looks set GM Vitaly Tseshko-vsky. PTI counter. Kucera, 28, moved into his who was a semifinalist in this event set. In spite of this, Todd Woodbridge, full credit should go to retain his first place in the first final on Sunday since winning last year but was ranked 84th in the who had an easy vic- tournament he won jointly the last of his five titles at Basel in final standings for 2002. to Kucera, who re- tory over Kra-sten turned well and kept last year along with Barsov October 1999. Plagued by wrist Braasch and Rainer and Sasikiran. But the 16- Kucera now faces and knee injuries the ball in court. Schuettler from Ger- Though Canas tried year old Indian might find it second-seeded Thai over the past two many.I hope both Ma- difficult to get to the score of Paradorn years, Kucera said he to claw back into the hesh and Todd keep match in the second 6.5 points which he achieved Srichaphan, who hoped to return to the playing good tennis quite comfortably in the pre- trounced Jean-Rene heady days of 1998, set, Kucera played and there is a strong some amazing shots vious edition. In the next Lisnard 6-2, 6-1 to when he was ranked possibility of them rounds Hari will face Nielsen clinch the quickest sixth in the world. to close the match 6- winning the title. victory of the tourna- ‘‘I’m a different per- 1, 7-5. I think the On a lighter note, ment in 50 minutes. son now,but my game court was a bit slow, which was pos- Leander and myself took to the ten- Meanwhile, the top is more or less the ing a problem for the hard-hitting nis court on Friday afternoon and seeded pair of Ma- same,’’ he said. ‘‘I Canas. He was made to run around had a good session of tennis. We got hesh Bhupathi and think the difference the court and looked tired in the end. on well together and it was nice of Todd Woodbridge is in the head and the Paradorn Srichapan’s match him to coach me and provide impor- was upset in the dou- soul, and those things against Armenian Sargis Sargsian tant tips on good shot making. Later bles semi-final by the seem to be OK right was also a good one to watch. Both on, we even got together for some ra- Czech duo of Fran- now.’’ Agencies Srichapan and Sargsian play like dio-controlled car racing. Gameplan Alok,Yasin right on the cue Vaughan hits ton, By Indraneel Das as the runner-up from Group from a throat infection, did TIMES NEWS NETWORK B. He plays Jeet Das next. not let his shoulders drop England nose ahead Starting off slowly with and soon found his rhythm Jammu: As chilly wind blew safe shots, Merchant was at and displayed his uncanny across the mountains and Sydney: Michael Vaughan lead of 217 with eight wickets his vintage best in the third ability to pocket balls from visibility dropped to zero, the took over as the Ashes series intact and two days to play. and fourth frame against Fa- any angle. Though secluded Hari Niwas banquet leading run-getter to put Eng- The fluent Yorkshire open- rooq Ibrahim of Andhra Loganathan did manage to hall presented a sombre look. land well on the road to beat- er, who ended 2002 as Test Pradesh. After winning the win two frames midway cricket’s most prolific scorer But within the confines of ing Australia for the first first two frames with low through the contest, a cool with 1,481 runs, turned up the hall, it was all warmth time this summer in the final breaks, Merchant rounded Pankaj played a calculated the heat on the Australians, and excitement as the coun- Test on Saturday. off the third with a fine 56 game to wrest the final frame Vaughan followed up his earlier in the day took a one try’s top cueists went for the and the match. break in his 97-29 win. masterpiece centuries in run lead.AFP kill in the 69th senior Nation- Though lacking flamboy- Eighth seed Davender England, 1st Innings: 362 Adelaide (177) and Mel- al snooker championship. ance, Alok Kumar is a cham- Joshi’s jinxed Jammu Australia, 1st Innings (overnight 237-5): S bourne (145) with another Waugh c Butcher b Hoggard 102; A Gilchrist Three corners of the hall pion still. His geometric pre- trip continued to flounder. unbeaten hundred as the c Stewart b Harmison 133, A Bichel c Craw- had three champions — one cision in potting the ball is Joshi was stunned by Rajat ley b Hoggard 4, B Lee c Stewart b Hoggard defending, one former and well known. Abhijoy Ghosh Taneja of Delhi in straight tourists revelled in the unfa- 0, J Gillespie not out 31, S MacGill c Hussain miliar position of turning b Hoggard 1 Extras: (lb-6, b-2, w-2, nb-9) 19 the other junior. Each trad- of Himachal did not have to frames and he is now out of Total: (all out, 80.3 overs) 363 Fall of wick- ing his skill for a place in the take to the table too many the meet. the screws on Steve Waugh’s ets: 6-241, 7-267, 8-267, 9-349, 10-363 last 16 of the meet. Two of times, as Alok went on his de- Results: Group A: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt team, bidding for only the Bowling: Hoggard 21.3-4-92-4 (5nb), Cad- Abhijoy Ghosh (HP) 4-0, Alok Kumar bt. Mun- second 5-0 Ashes clean sweep dick 23-3-121-3 (2nb), Harmison 20-4-70-3 the three, Alok Kumar and molishing spree with breaks ish Behl (Bh) 4-1, Manish Behl bt Abhimanyu (2nb, 2w), Dawson 16-0-72-0 Yasin Merchant, duly of 64 in the first, 56 in third Arora (J&K) 4-1. Group B: Dharmender Lilly in history. At the close of the England, 2nd innings: M Vaughan batting marched into the next round and 69 in the fourth frame. (Pun) bt Jeet Das (Ori) 4-0, Pankaj Advani third day, Vaughan was un- 113, M Trescothick b Lee 22, M Butcher c (Kar) bt J Singh (Raj) 4-0, Pankaj Advani (Kar) Hayden b MacGill 34, N Hussain batting 34 while junior champion Pankaj, in a must-win situ- bt R Loganathan (TN) 4-3, J Singh bt Jeet Das conquered on 113 with skip- Extras: (lb-7, b-5, w-1, nb-2) 15 Total: (for 2 Pankaj Advani, after losing ation, began disastrously los- 4-0; Group C: Yasin Merchant bt Farooq per Nasser Hussain provid- wkts, 58 overs) 218 Fall of wickets: 1-37, to Dharmender Lilly, needs ing the first frame against R Ibrahim (AP) 4-0; Group D: Aman Bhasin ing stout support not out 34 2-124 Bowling: Gillespie 8-2-36-0, Lee 10- (Har) bt Deepak Kamra (UP) 4-3; Group E: 1-45-1 (1nb), MacGill 23-2-76-1, Bichel 10- another victory to cement his Loganathan (TN) 46-59. The Rafat Habib (Rly) bt ST Bhutia (WB) 4-0; and England were having few 0-32-0 (1w, 1nb), Martyn 3-1-14-0, Waugh place in the pre-quarterfinals youngster, who is recovering Group F: Anuj Uppal bt V Abrol (J&K) 4-1. problems at 218 for two — a 4-2-3-0. These youngsters run fast, and dream high By Nilanjan Datta Premier League action, of jyada hai ents. In year in the Academy and a TIMES NEWS NETWORK course on the Telly. unlogo ke. the Acade- year still remains for them to New Delhi: These kids care “I like soccer more than Humlog my, we get out and find a suitable a damn about dadas and the any other game,” TFA striker pakda have good opening in the mainstream. reputation of their famed ri- Malswama informed. “After gaya tha,” facilities. “I want to be like Baichung. Zehry Ranjan Sir vals. But they do know the the Subroto Cup, both of us He had come for the national apologised (coach basics of football and, more attended trials in Jamshed- camp and I saw him from as if the Ranjan importantly,they run fast. pur and got selected for close. He plays so well,” Mal- Indians Chowd- Seventeen-year-olds Zehry TFA,” medio Zehry said. Inci- sawma, a Marc Overmars had com- hury) Jirsangha and Malsawma, dentally,both came into lime- fan, said. mitted takes spe- both from Mizoram, were se- light playing in the Subroto Malsawna Zehry “I dream of playing some of- cial care of lected for the Asian All-Star Cup — Malswama in 1999 and abroad. The grounds are so fence. “But we enjoyed play- all of us,” Malsawma said. U-17 squad after Indian lost Zehry a year later. good. I like Manchester Unit- ing them. We should play to Korea in the Asian cham- “Koreans bahut fast khelte ed,” Zehry added. more against such oppo- “The two are short of pionship quarters in Doha. hai. Sab ek saath attack pe Never dare to dream. But nents,” Malsawma felt. height, but high on talent. Apart from sharing a room at jate hai, ek saath defend karte They remind me of the footballing setup in this the Tata Football Academy hai,” Malsawma uttered Malsawma is the lone child Maradona,” Chowdhury,who country still is a nightmare (TFA) in Jamshedpur, they about India’s loss to Korea in in the family while Zehry is fears the boys may fall easy for youngsters. It’s high time, have other things in com- the Asian juniors. “Wohlog the youngest among three prey to the vices of the socie- the TFA opens a club of its mon. Both love to play the match ko slow kar dete hai, off-springs. “We’ve adjusted ty,after leaving the TFA. own. The youngsters would guitar and passionate about phir fast karte hai. Stamina to staying away from our par- The boys are in the third at least have some future.

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