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20 Tuesday,July 8, 2003 TIMES SPORT The Times of , New Delhi

GRASSHOPPER Soccer brings Iraq, AFP Kuwait together Federer’s girl: Roger Fed- ‘Bhowmick’s the best’ erer’s girlfriend Miroslava Cairo: A goal from Brazilian By Nilanjan Datta He is the best Indian coach I have played Vavrinec, member of the striker Alessandro three min- TIMES NEWS NETWORK under.He can think of different strategies for Swiss Fed Cup team, was utes from time allowed Al- different games. And he is the mind behind choked up on Centre Court Kuwait to draw 2-2 with Baghdad New Delhi: Baichung Bhutia is fitter than Jackson’s arrival. Even the present club man- talking about the victory. ‘‘It’s Police (Al-Shurtah) Sunday in last season. Fresh from his derby success agement is the best I have seen in the country. a wonderful moment, unbe- the first game between teams where he scored two su- Unlike other teams, they don’t have vested in- lievable,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s hard from the two countries since Iraq perb goals in East Ben- terests. They look after the team really well. to even talk. We were shak- invaded Kuwait in 1990. ing. It was a dream coming gal’s 3-0 win over arch-ri- Like, the whole team was put up in a true for Roger and the most vals Mohun Bagan in five-star hotel for over a month to felicitate The incident-free game on the fantastic moment in my life — Kolkata on Saturday, the smooth practice in the nearby Salt Lake sta- opening day of the 10-team Arab ever. It was really, really nice ‘Sikkemese Sniper’ was dium. It’s payback time now. Club Championship, was dubbed and I’m so happy for Roger.’’ in the Capital to launch How do you rate your chances in the the “love and peace match” but ‘‘He wasn’t nervous last night, Kingfisher’s five-a-side ASEAN Cup? attracted only a small crowd. Al- not at all. Until this morning corporate football tour- Last year, we (India) won the LG Cup in Kuwait took the lead in the 13th he was pretty calm, then one nament. He spoke to Vietnam. This time too, we are not going minute through another Brazil- hour before the match he be- Times News Network on there to merely take part. We have excellent ian, Somalia, but the Iraqis hit gan to feel it a little bit. We his current stint with East Bengal and the bench strength and are co-ordinating well. back through Mazen Abdul Sat- just had a quiet dinner at club’s chances in the forthcoming LG tar in the 18th minute. AFP home last night and prepared The confidence is high. We are going to win ASEAN Championships. the championship. as usual - a little massage, What difference has the South stretching, and that was it.’’ Do you support players of Indian ori- African technical director Kevin Jack- gin donning national colours? Double sundae: Kim Cli- son made to the side? Why not? It’s done all over the world. But jsters and Ai Sugiyama A marked difference. The entire bunch is they should be good enough to impress the picked up the women’s dou- in good condition and can run for ninety coach. bles title defeating Paola minutes at the same pace. Hiring a physical How did you feel after scoring two Suarez and Virginia Ruano trainer has been a novel move. And it’s against your former team Mohun Pascual 6-4, 6-4. The pair high time the AIFF hires a trainer for the Bagan? won the French Open title national team. Then the coach (Stephen It was great to see around one lakh twen- last month, also beating The new Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer poses with the trophy along with his girl- friend Mirka Vavrinec at Wimbledon on Monday. Constantine) can devote more time on plan- ty thousand fans back at the Salt Lake Sta- Suarez and Ruano Pascual in ning the game. dium. Nowhere in the world, one sees so the championship match. It could happen. International are to be built. That’s 15 was 470,802, an increase of Olympic Committee Presi- miles (25 km) through some 1,288 over 2002. ...British What has been coach Subhash many spectators. And I would be lying if I was a sweet victory for the Bhowmick’s role in East Bengal? Belgian-Japanese duo on dent Jacques Rogge of the world’s most congest- bookmakers Ladbrokes has said I didn’t like them chanting my name. Centre Court. They lost the watched the men’s final from ed streets. Second, the All Federer at 5-2 to win the title Wimbledon doubles final two the Royal Box on Sunday and England Club is private and again next year. Andy Rod- years ago, and Sugiyama lost said Wimbledon would add closed to the public. dick is 4-1 and Lleyton He- I’m looking at international the Wimbledon doubles final ‘‘prestige to the Games’’ if it witt 6-1. They also have sev- in 2000 when she was play- became an Olympic venue. Tears of joy: Roger Feder- en-time champion Pete ing with Julie Halard-Decugis. London is bidding for the er’s coach Peter Lundgren Sampras at 16-1. ... Federer Clijsters and Sugiyama have 2012 Olympics and is among summed up the new Wimble- and Mark Philippoussis had glory: East Bengal coach now won four of five matches the early favorites with New don champion, who broke some support in the Royal against Suarez of Argentina York and Paris. London bid down crying during the Cen- Box. Australian High Com- By Raju Bhattacharjee placed teams will pocket and Ruano Pascual of Spain. organizers have suggested tre Court trophy presentation. missioner Michael L’Es- TIMES NEWS NETWORK US$30,000, US$20,000 and The loss was the second Wimbledon might be the site ‘‘He’s a very emotional per- trange and speaker of the US$10,000 respectively. for tennis. ‘‘It is a temple of son, and that’s nice for peo- Australian Parliament Neil New Delhi: East Bengal coach Subhas The National Fooball straight in the Wimbledon Bhowmick is looking for a final berth at the doubles final for the Argen- sport,’’ Rogge said. Despite ple to see,’’ Lundgren said. Andrew were in the box, as League champions of In- 1st ASEAN Club Championship. The team is tine-Spanish pair. Rogge’s optimism, there may ‘‘These guys are human.’’ were Swiss Ambassador dia has been specially in- be problems. Wimbledon is Bruno Spinner and Swiss leaving on Tuesday for Jakarta, where the Wanna bet: The total Wim- vited in this tournament Olympic on grass: across town from east Lon- Sports Minister Samuel 12-team tournament will be staged between bledon attendance for 2003 in which hosts Indonesia Olympic tennis on grass? It don, where the main venues Schmid. July 13-26. Is Bhowmick aiming a bit too Bhowmick are fielding two teams - high? We need to wait and watch. But it’s Petrokimia Putra and also true that in the last two decades no In- Persita Tangerang. dian side has looked as confident and fo- East Bengal Club have been drawn in cused before an international engagement Group D along with AFC Champions League NBA star Bryant accused of sexual assault as East Bengal have . finalists BEC-Tero Sasana from Thailand “Indian clubs can’t think beyond Durand Denver: Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe comment on Sunday. know,” Lakers general manager Mitch and the Philippines’ Air Force FC. East Ben- Cup, etc. But this time club Bryant has surrendered to police in Col- A judge has ordered Kupchak said in a statement. “For the gal will meet Tero Sasana on July 14, while officials were quite serious about this over- the case sealed. they face Air Force FC on July 16. orado after a woman accused him of sex- seven years he’s been with us, he has seas assignment.” said Bhowmick. East Bryant, who was Bhowmick, however, said he was not totally ually assaulting her at a mountain re- been one of the finest young men we’ve Bengal club has brought Kevin Jackson, a the NBA’s second- satisfied with the preparations. “The local sort, authorities said on Sunday. known and a wonderful asset to both physical trainer from South Africa and leading scorer last league hampered our preparation a lot. We Bryant, 24, was released after turning our team and our community.” have also kept the players together in a five season, had been stay- have played 5 matches so far in the Kolkata himself in and posting a $25,000 bond on “However, since this is a legal matter star hotel for last one month. “The serious- ing at a spa in Ed- league which has spoiled almost 15 days of Friday, a statement issued by the Eagle being handled by the authorities in Col- ness of the management has obviously left wards with five body- our preparations,” Bhowmick rued. County Sheriff ’s office said. orado, we must refrain from further an impression on the players,” felt guards while receiv- He, though, felt that the presence of The woman who accused Bryant of comment at this time.” Bhowmick. ing treatment for an Jackson has made the side fitter than ever. sexual misconduct went to deputies last Kobe Bryant Paired with All-Star center Shaquille “I made it very clear at the beginning of injured shoulder, Los He said a lot of credit for his side’s 3-0 win on Tuesday and told them that the al- O’Neal, Bryant led the Lakers to three the season that I wouldn’t mind if we failed Angeles television station KTLA report- over Mohun Bagan in the league game on leged incident had occurred in the consecutive NBA championships be- to win the local league or other knock-out ed. The station reported that the woman Saturday should go to Jackson. mountain town of Edwards the previous tween 2000 and 2002. tournaments. East Bengal has won all these who accused Bryant of the sexual mis- Squad: Sangram Mukherjee, Sandip Nandy, Deepak Mondal, Su- night. “Upon review of interviews and The team, which faltered last season titles on numerous occasion. I wanted the conduct was a 19-year-old employee of ley Musah, M Suresh, Mahesh Gawli, Douglas da Dilva, Surkumar physical evidence, investigators met and was knocked out of the playoffs by team to focus on international meets.”he Singh, Malswam Tulunga, Subhas Chakraborty, Chandan Das, De- the lodge near the ski resort of Vail with the District Attorney’s office and the eventual NBA-champion San Anto- said. bjit Ghosh, Sasthi Duley, Dipankar Roy,Alvito D’Cunha, Mike Oko- where he had been staying. ro, Bijen Singh, Baichung Bhutia. concluded they had enough evidence to nio Spurs, is in the process of rebuild- 12 top teams of South East Asia will par- The accusations stunned Laker fans Groupings: Group A: Petrokimia Putra (Indonesia), Finance & charge Kobe Bryant with felony sexual ing around its two best players. ticipate in the inaugural ASEAN meet. The and the team. Revenue (Myanmar), Smart United (Cambodia). Group B: Singa- assault,” the police statement said. Bryant, famed as a tough competitor, club championship is offering US$110,000 in pore Armed Forces FC (Singapore), Perak FC (Malaysia), DPMM (Brunei Darussalam). Group C: Persita (Indonesia), H.A. Gialia Prosecutors have not filed charges in “These allegations are completely out has been a favourite with corporate prize money. The winner will take home (Vietnam), MTTPC (Laos). Group D: BEC-Tero Sasana (Thailand), the case and could not be reached for of character of the Kobe Bryant we America. Reuters US$50,000 while the second, third and fourth East Bengal, Air Force FC (the Philippines). Ferrari has to get act together, warns Schumi Magny-Cours (France): Michael Schumacher has warned that Ferrari will face one of their tough- est ever bat- tles if they are to hang onto their world championship crown. After Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya secured a second successive one-two to win the French GP on Sunday, the five-time champion said that the set- back here, and last week’s Williams’ win at the Nurbur- gring, had shown that Ferrari now face genuine chal- lengers. “We need to be concerned about Williams,” said Schu- macher who finished 19.5secs behind his brother while teammate Rubens Barrichel- lo was back in seventh spot after a spin on the first lap had plunged him into last place. “We know what they do and we must get our act to- gether,” said Schumacher. “Looking at the weekend here, what we achieved was as well as we could have done. “But we have to improve the situation and we have a big test coming up. We will all have to try very hard.”AFP Williams are in front, says Todd Magny-Cours (France): Ferrari boss Jean Todt ad- mitted on Monday that rivals Williams have gained the up- per hand in the chase for the world championship. After watching Ralf Schu- macher and Juan Pablo Mon- toya run away with the French Grand Prix here on Sunday for a second succes- sive one-two finish this sea- son, the sporting director of the Italian giants said his drivers and engineers will now endure a whole week of testing at three different sites as they seek to regain the ad- vantage. “Undoubtedly, the balance of power in the last four races between ourselves and the BMW,Williams, Michelin package has shifted in their favour,” said Todt. AFP

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