The Hindu : Sports Digest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

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Sport - Sports : General

Sports Digest

CRICKET: BRISBANE: Queensland rallied to beat Victoria by five wickets on Friday and guarantee hosting rights to a fourth consecutive final in Australia's domestic first-class cricket competition. The two-time defending champion will face either Tasmania or Western Australia in the five-day final, which starts on March 22 at the Gabba ground in Brisbane. Tasmania can make the decider with an outright win over New South Wales in a match underway in Hobart, while Western Australia must beat South Australia in its last match to have a chance. Tasmania has never won Australia's premier cricket trophy, the former Sheffield Shield now known as the Pura Cup. Western Australia has won the title 15 times, including back-to-back wins in 1997-98 and '98- 99. Queensland, which broke one of Australia's longest sporting droughts to clinch its maiden Sheffield Shield title in 1994-95, now has four titles.

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand, in the midst of a series-opening Test against England, on Friday called for the controversial bonus points system to be dumped from the next year's cricket World Cup in South Africa. The bonus points system, adopted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for limited-overs tournaments involving three teams or more, was highly criticized during the tri-series in Australia in February. Tournament winner South Africa and finalist New Zealand manipulated group matches to shut world champion and host Australia out of the best-of-three finals series, sparking calls from all three national captains to reconsider the system.

KARACHI: Pakistan fast bowler and former captain Wasim Akram said on Thursday (March 14) that he was still hungry for success, despite being dropped for last week's Asian Test championship final against Sri Lanka. The 35-year-old insisted his fitness was not an issue and that Pakistan's performances against New Zealand and Australia later this year will act as a gauge for their chances in the 2003 World Cup.

FOOTBALL: NICOSIA: Hapoel Tel-Aviv continued its amazing run in the UEFA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Italian powerhouse AC Milan in their quarterfinal first-leg clash on Thursday. Striker Sergei Clescenko scored the only goal of the match in the 32nd minute on a volley from six metres after latching on to a cross by Yossi Abukasis. The game was switched to the Cypriot capital, a neutral venue of Hapoel's choice, amid safety concerns following intensified violence in Israel, but with around 3,000 noisy fans banging drums and chanting ``Hapoel,'' it almost seemed like a home game for the Tel-Aviv club.

Results: quarterfinals: first leg: At Nicosia, Cyprus: Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Israel) 1, AC Milan (Italy) 0; at Prague, Czech Republic: Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic) 0, Borussia Dortmund (Germany) 0; at Eindhoven, Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1, Feyenoord Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1; at Milan, Italy: Inter Milan (Italy) 1, Valencia (Spain) 1.

TORSBY, Sweden: A statue of England coach Sven- Goran Eriksson will be unveiled in his hometown on Monday, and the trainer plans to check it out after the World Cup. ``I first heard about this a week ago and naturally I feel very honoured,'' the Swede told the local newspaper, Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. ``I'll be coming home in the summer and it will be fun to see what I look like.'' The 1.7-metre statue was carved out by local artist Gunnar Lundkvist, who lives in nearby Karlstad. It will be placed outside the tourist information center in Torsby, a small town in western Sweden where Eriksson started playing soccer. The former Benfica, Lazio and Sampdoria coach will make his first World Cup appearance in Japan this summer.

GOLF: ORLANDO, Florida: Fans didn't have to wander around Bay Hill to find the action - Tiger Woods working magic with his short game in one group, John Daly right behind, booming big drives and avoiding big numbers. Woods and Daly, two of the biggest attractions on the PGA Tour, wound up in a six-way share of the lead at 5-under 67 after one round of the Bay Hill Invitational on Thursday. Woods, the two-time defending champion at Bay Hill, is trying to become the first player to win three separate tournaments three times in a row. He already has the hat-trick at Firestone and the Memorial.

MOTOR RACING: SEPANG, Malaysia: McLaren's duo of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard surprised the usually-dominant Ferraris on Friday posting the fastest times in the first free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Raikkonen, replacing another Finn Mika Hakkinen in a McLaren-Mercedes, covered the 5.54-kilometre (3.45-mile) Sepang International Circuit in 1 minute, 37.399 seconds averaging 204.88 kph (127.33 mph). Coulthard was next fastest in 1:38.038 after the two one- hour practice sessions. Michael Schumacher, the four-time world Formula One champion and winner of the last two races here was third with his 2001-edition Ferrari just ahead of his brother Ralf, in a Williams-BMW. Mika Salo for the new team Toyota was fifth ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams-BMW.

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