Short Corner — Chandigarh

Early Christmas gift for Srinath
Santa Claus couldn’t wait until Christmas as Prahlad Srinath got an early delivery. He kept up the good work today to record a 6-4, 6-3 win over Goichi Motomora of Japan that got him a quarter-final spot in the Bharat Petroleum ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament.

`Cold welcome’
It was meant to be a triumphant homecoming for the gold-medal winning Indian hockey team at the Bangkok Asiad. Instead the heroes got a cold — literally and figuratively — and ungrateful welcome on stepping into home soil late on Tuesday night. The athletes fumed at the callousness of IA, who did not even deem it fit deploy their staff to greet and guide the tired sports persons.

Kaushik unhappy
India may well have to look out for a new hockey coach — yet again. Maharaj Kishan Kaushik, the who guided India to its first Asiad hockey gold medal in 32 years, is fed up with the officialdom.

Punjab cops in final
Punjab and Sind Bank will clash with Punjab Police in the title match of the second All-India Ramesh Chander Memorial hockey tournament.