Short Corner — Chandigarh

Tumultuous welcome to JyotirmoyeeAvtar Singh, the former national middle distance runner was the most excited among the thousands of peop...

Tumultuous welcome to Jyotirmoyee
Avtar Singh, the former national middle distance runner was the most excited among the thousands of people gathered at the Calcutta Airport on Tuesday afternoon. He was in demand, although he knew that soon he would be relegated to the periphery, with his wife grabbing the spotlight. His in-laws were there too, in their best attires and waiting together close to the exit gate. The wait had unexpectedly been prolonged as the Indian Airlines flight from Bangkok carrying the lady of the moment was delayed. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar finally landed almost three hours late and for a brief moment it appeared as if the enitire area would go mad.

Srinath advances
At the Bharat Petroleum ATP Challenger on AGETA courts in Ahmedabad, Bhupathi eclipsed and Srinath took the limelight. The superstar Bhupathi flopped, losing 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to Barry Cowan of Great Britain. Syed Fazaluddin too failed; Vijay Kannan went down fighting. And it was not for Prahlad Srinath’s cameo over Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia it would have been curtains for the Indian camp in the singles.

Dhanraj Pillay
Indian hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay’s career is likely to be in limbo following a decision by his employeers Mumbai Club, Mahindras, closing down hockey activities — a recent development that has seen international Gavin Fererria move to Tata Sports Club.

Darsha challenged
Ace Sri Lankan sprinter Damayanthi Darsha, who won two golds at the Asian Games, today rejected controversial arch rival Susanthika Jayasinghe’s challenge and accused her of putting herself before her country. Susanthika, who said an injury forced her to pull out of the Bangkok Asian Games 100 metres final where she was a strong candidate for the gold medal.