Short Corner — Chandigarh

Disappointing day for IndiaFormer Asian amateur champion Yasin Merchant of India lost hopes of reaching the medal round when he went down...

Disappointing day for India
Former Asian amateur champion Yasin Merchant of India lost hopes of reaching the medal round when he went down to Sam Chong of Malaysia 4-5 in a thrilling snooker singles quarter-final at the Asian Games today. Merchant, who beat Pakistan’s Mohd Saleh with his last pot to begin with and then sailed past Pang Wei-Guo of China 5-1 in the morning looked well set to cruise into the last four before his seasoned rival fought back and eventually won.

India go down
India fought an equal battle in the first half and made a superb rally late in the second half when trailing 0-3 before going down 2-3 to title aspirants Turkmenistan in their opening group I second round men’s football clash in the 13th Asian Games today.

Kunjarani disappoints
Kunjarani Devi first brought women’s weightlifting into focus in India and that was almost 10 years ago. That she still continues to be a medal hope, while not many new faces have emerged, is a sad commentary. Yet, coach Pal Singh Sandhu was disappointed as Kunja Rani, one of the most bemedalled sportspersons from India, failed to give India it first medal at the 13th Asian Games, as she had on previous two occasions in 1990 and 1994.

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India slump
India began their New Zealand tour on a disastrous note as the formidable batting line-up crashed to a shocking 103 on a difficult pitch against the Central Districts on the opening day of the four-day match today. Put into bat by host captain Craig Spearman, the Indians, including star attraction Sachin Tendulkar, failed to adjust to the conditions made difficult by moisture due to recent rains.

WI A win
With an emphatic six-wicket victory over India A in the second and final `Test’ West Indies A wrapped up the series 2-0, after having won the first match at Bangalore by 89 runs. The Indian team, having obtained a 54-run lead on the first innings, declared their second innings at 146 for 9. This set the visitors a victory target of 201 runs in 72 overs and they cruised home in 58.2 overs.

Cooch Behar
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh moved into semi-finals of the Cooch Behar Trophy under-19 tournament by virtue of their first innings lead over Gujarat and Mumbai respectively today.