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The week in Indian sports

ATHLETICS
AAFI quartet sets national record
Chennai, August 1: The concluding day of the Inter-state championships acquired phases of monotony between events till the proceedings hit a climax when the women's quartet, led superbly by Kerala star K.M. Beenamol, touched a new high in the 4x400m relay, matching the continental level of achievement. Notwithstanding a poor confrontation by Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the AAFI's handpicked combination of Manjuma Kuriakose, Jincy Philip, Paramjit Kaur and Beenamol warmed the cockles of many a heart.

The time of 3:28.11 seconds is a memorable effort by any standards, far above the meet record of 3:42.56 seconds by the Kerala quartet and also the national mark of 3:31.55 seconds set in the 1987 World Championship in Rome. The Indian quartet then consisted of Vandana Rao, Vandana Shanbagh, Shiny Wilson and P T Usha. Incidentally, the time of 3:28.11 seconds reads better than the Asian Games record of 3:29.11 seconds by China, at Hiroshima, and the ATF best of 3:32.73 by China, at Jakarta in 1995.

Another milestone carved out was in the gruelling heptathlon which Soma Biswas of Bengal won in the final event, the 800 metres, after trailing G G Pramila of Karnataka by 14 points till the penultimate event. Clocking 2:11.67seconds in the 800 metres against Pramila's 2:18.42 seconds, Soma etched a new national mark of 6186 against the 6105 by Pramila. Both the stars crossed the magical 6000 mark, since the previous best of 5324 by B.N. Sumavathy of Karnataka. The national record was held by Pramila at 5705.

The double for Anil Kumar, Rachita Mistry and Gulab Chand, however, deserve a detailed review. Quite predictably, Anil Kumar, confirmed his stature as the best sprinter in the country at this point of time. His success in the 200 metres, after a fairly commendable challenge from Ajay Raj Singh till about 160 metres, was a highlight of the day's programme. Anil Kumar, who claimed the gold in the short sprint, hit a meet record with a time of 20.80 seconds, although his splendid effort of 20.73 seconds at Bangalore awaits ratification.

Rachita Mistry also proved her credentials as the sprinter of high calibre adding the 200 metres to the 100, which she won with a time of 11.48 seconds. Drawn on lane three, flanked by Vinita Tripathi and Samantakam, the Maharashtra sprinter exploded from the blocks, took the curve with grace and ease, warding off a close challenge from Vinita Tripathi to hit the tape at 23.10 seconds, clipping 0.15 seconds off P T Usha's meet record set last year at Lucknow.

Anil Kumar, the silver medallist at the last Asiad in Bangkok and ignored for the Arjuna award, showed yet again what an accomplished handler of the discus he is with a new mark. The record surfaced in the final throw, a powerful effort accompanied by a war cry, to a distance of 59.70 metres, that improved his meet mark by 0.66 metres established in 1998 in Calcutta. That he had to face the challenge from equally endowed throwers like Shakti Singh, Ajit Bahaduria and Hridyanand Singh must be mentioned while recording the effort of Anil Kumar.

BADMINTON
Gopichand wins sixth straight title
Bangalore, August 6: National champions Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat won their sixth and fourth straight titles respectively at the BPL badminton championships in Bangalore last week. The two singles finals proved to be lopsided as Nikhil Kanetkar, after early promise, fizzled out against the crafty Gopichand, who won 15-11, 15-6, in a tie lasting just over an hour, while Popat drubbed an off colour challenger B.R. Meenakshi of Karnataka 11-3, 11-4 in under 40 minutes. Gopichand claimed Rs. 50,000 in prize-money while Aparna's purse was worth Rs.30, 000.

Nikhil Kanetkar's display, after his spirited show against Sachin Ratti in the semi-finals, came as a disappointment. Kanetkar did play in his attacking mould, unleashing blistering half smashes and sharp flicks. But Gopichand was far more consistent with his retrievals and he later found his rhythm and began mixing his shots well to derail Kanetkar.

In the first game, Kanetkar ran up a 5-0 lead in blistering fashion, but Gopichand nudged his way back to level at 5-all and took a 11-6 lead. Kanetkar perhaps played his best game at this stage, with a relentless drive and had a defensive Gopichand on the mat. He tied at 11-all. But Gopichand found his confidence with two stinging on-the-line returns and that was enough to tilt the balance. With Gopichand at game point, Kanetkar staged another defiant stand, and the two rallied from back court at breakneck pace, before Kanetkar pushed into the net.

The second game belonged to Gopichand as he smashed past his rival's defences for a 10-2 lead. Kanetkar kept a brave front saving match-point thrice at 4-14 and took two more points in the bargain but the end came soon with Kanetkar flicking out a return.

Aparna Popat expected a tough match as the 20-year-old Meenakshi almost knocked her out of the tournament last year in the semi-finals. But Meenakshi, who was a runner-up to Aparna in the Nationals, was simply not in a mood for a fight as she tamely allowed Aparna to stomp all over her. Meenakshi made too many unforced errors, hitting her returns wide and netted quite often. She tried to push the pace too much early in the game. But for someone like Aparna who is pretty quick on feet, such tactics are counter productive.

CHESS
Kidambi becomes International Master
Biel, August 5: Sundararajan Kidambi became India's newest International Master with an emphatic win over Boris Panomariov in the final round of the Beil Open chess championship. Kidambi, having been denied his third and final IM norm by the arbiter on a technicality after his ninth round drawn game against GM Klovans, needed a win in this round for his IM title and went about his task with clinical precision. However, his compatriot R.B. Ramesh squandered an advantage to draw his game against Volokitin thereby missing an excellent opportunity to finish in the joint first place. IM V. Saravanan held highly rated GM Rashkovsky to finish in the third spot while T.S. Ravi defeated Ian Thompson of England.

Faced with the Dutch defence stonewall set-up from Panomariov, Kidambi obtained a solid advantage in the opening and found an excellent combination to win his opponent's exchange and two pawns. In return Ponomariov stepped up his attack but Kidambi kept his cool and returned the exchange on time and won the game in 39 moves. Kidambi made his first norm in the championship last year and the his second norm in the British championship the same year.

On the fourth board IM Ramesh obtained an attacking position from the black side of the Sicilian Classical variation. In the middle-game, he missed a promising continuation and allowed Volokitin to escape with a draw in a rook and pawn ending. Ramesh finished in the joint second spot with 7.5 points. Saravanan, playing black, faced the bayonet attack of Kings Indian variation and allowed his opponent to get a slightly better middlegame as Rashkovsky had good control over the light squares. Rashkovsky committed some errors and repeated the moves to settle for a draw in 29 moves.

Saravanan finished with seven points to be on the joint third spot. IM Konguvel faced the Sicilian Paulsen variation and could not get much advantage out of the opening. In an even position Pikula repeated the moves, signalling an intention for a draw. Konguvel rejected the offer and sacrificed two pawns for an initiative. But Pikula defended the position well and went on to win the game.

MOTORSPORT
Naren Kumar wins monsoon rally
Bombay, August 6: V R Naren Kumar and D Ramkumar (navigator) lived up to their reputations as reigning National rally champions when they won the overall title in the Bombay-Nashik-Bombay WIAA Monsoon Rally 2000. They led a clean sweep by the eight-strong MRF team, all driving Maruti Esteems, that won the top six places in the overall (Group A and N) standings.

Of the remaining two MRF entries, N.Leelakrishnan was a non-finisher pulling out of first stage on Saturday owing to gear-box problems, while Vijayant Choudhary and Shiva Shivappa had a mishap when their car rolled over the edge for nearly 300 metres in the second stage on Sunday. Choudhary was admitted to a nursing home in Bombay where the X-rays showed no damage to his chest or back. He only suffered a little shock. Co-driver Shivappa only suffered bruises.

In seventh place was a novice from Coimbatore, Vikram Shhram with Sujith Kumar, followed by another newcomer Bombay's Asif Nazir, sponsored by Roofit Industries.The terrain, all tarmac, came in for praise from every competitor and made for fast timings, average of about 85 mph for the 126 km. of stage section in the nearly 400 km. rally.

Naren Kumar, the winner had the least penalties, 86.53 penalties, followed by Arjun Balu-K.R.Kumar (88.16), Sagar Muthappa-Sandeep Rao (89.06), Karandip Singh-Jaidas Menon (91.42), Jagat and Anita Nanjappa (93.07) and the only all-woman team, Nawaz Bhathena and Sherin Balachandran (96.43). Those who fell by the wayside, apart from Leelakrishnan, who resumed the rally on Sunday and was third in the second leg, was Vikram Mathias, whose Esteem had suspension problems which ruled him out of the fourth stage after he was lying in third position around that stage.

TENNIS
Nirupama falls in semi-finals
United States, August 7: Nirupama Vaidyanathan made it to the semi-finals of the $50,000 Lexington Challenger in the US before falling to the 104th-ranked Jennifer Hopkins of the US 6-7 (3-7), 2-6. It was a fine run by the country's No. 1 woman tennis player, who had to come through three rounds in the qualifying event. Nirupama beat Eun-Ha Kim of Korea 6-0, 6-1, and Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-final and pre- quarterfinal respectively after struggling her way through with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 triumph over Nana Miyagi of Japan in the first round.

In the qualifying phase, Nirupama beat Ansley Cargill of the US 6-0, 6-2, Jennifer Langer of the US 6-2, 6-2 and Feriel Esseghir of Algeria 6-1, 6-3.

It was the second semi-final appearance in recent times for Nirupama, who had made it to the last four stage in the $50,000 Mahwah Challenger a fortnight earlier. She had lost 5-7, 6-7 (2- 7) to Tracy Alameda-Singian of the US in the semi-final, after beating Jill Craybas of the US 7-5, 6-3, Yoon-Jeong Cho of Korea 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 and Lindsay Lee Waters of the US 6-0, 6-0 in the first three rounds.

Nirupama and Evie Dominikovic of Australia had clinched the doubles title in the Mahwah Challenger, as the second seeds beat the top-seeded Irina Selyutina of Kazakhstan and Lisa McShea of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in the final. However, in the Lexington Challenger, Nirupama and Evie lost to Janet Lee and Wynne Prakusya 4-6, 2-6 in the first round itself. It has been a fruitful outing in the US for Nirupama who had made it to the quarter-final of the $25,000 Peachtree Challenger in Atlanta before the Mahwah event. Nirupama lost to Sandra Cacic of the US 6-7 (7-9), 4-6 after beating two other Americans, Alison Bradshaw 6-4, 6-0 and the third-seeded Jolene Watanabe 6-3, 6-2.