Opinion July 27, Forty Years Ago: Sriram’s Record

For the first time since India won the honours in the Olympic Hockey Tournament on their debut at Amsterdam in 1928, the holders of the World Cup and the Rene Prank Gold Cup have drawn blank. Australia, who beat India to a place in the final with a 2-1 victory at the Mexico Olympics eight years ago, beat India by five goals to four in the tie-breaker that was resorted to after 10 minutes of extra-time and the three periods of sudden-death play failed to settle the issue between the two teams, who were deadlocked 1-1 at the end of the regulation time.

Viking Recovers

Commands relayed to Mars from scientists on the earth apparently straightened out a hitch in Viking’s soil-sampling arm. But another key experiment, the seismology probe, appeared to be beyond the reach of earthbound repairmen. Scientists said the telescoping arm will be ordered out of its casing and on to the Martian surface, where its clawlike hand will scoop up a bit of Mars and drop it into miniature laboratories to be analysed for signs of life.

White House Killing

The police shot dead a man who scaled the White House fence and headed towards the presidential mansion wielding a long metal pipe. It was the first time an intruder had been shot in the grounds of White House, officials said. The man, a 30-year-old black named Chester Plummer, was shot with a single bullet about 10 metres inside the ground. President Gerald Ford had been the target of two assassination attempts since taking office two years ago.