In Brief

In the men8217;s tournament Pakistan, S Korea, New Zealand, Britain, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Malaysia, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus and Japan will play the Pre-Olympic tournament.

In the women8217;s tournament, seven qualifiers will go to Sydney Asian Games silver medallists India are pitted against Germany, Spain, USA, New Zealand, China, Russia, Ireland, Japan and hosts Britain.

Indians golfers strike one-over par

CALCUTTA: Indian players improved their performance with Amish Jaitha and Shiv Kapur returning cards of one over 73 on the second day of the Singapore Open Amateur Golf Championship. Ashok Kumar was cruising at par till the 9th hole. But an injudicious club selection on the 10th tee saw him drive out of bounds. Rahul Ganapathy and Sheeraj Kalra also improved theirscores to score 77 each. However, Lakshman Singh had an indifferent 82. The team event saw India scoring 300 with Philippineswere in lead with 284.

Pamp;T honour for Arati Saha

CALCUTTA: The Posts amp; Telegraph Department will bring out a commemorative stamp on the late Channel swimmer Arati Saha on September 29. The Department would also release a first day cover on her on that day.

Besides, representing India at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic, Arati also became the first Asian woman to cross the English Channel in 1959. She was awarded Padmashree in recognition of her achievements in 1960.

Indian cricket team off to Kenya

MUMBAI: The Ajay Jadeja-led Indian team left by a Kenyan Airways flight for Nairobi to take part in the four-nation tournament to be held there from Sept 25-Oct 3. Two members of the 14-strong squad, Mohammed Kaif and Vijay Bharadwaj, will join the team in Nairobi from Los Angles. They were part of India A squad. The team goes without a manager who was supposed to be named inthe BCCI AGM on Wednesday.

Manoj Mishra is sole leader

BHOPAL: Manoj Mishra 5 shot into the lead in the Prabha Devi Memorial International Rating Chess Tournament here on Wednesday. Manoj defeated overnight joint leader Ravi Kumar in the 5th round and followed up with a win against Kapil Saxena in the 6th round. Raghunandan Gokhale 4 came back into reckoning with a win over second-seeded VS Negi 3.5. Gokhale was held to a draw by 13-year-old Yashpal Singh, the National Sub-junior runner-up in the 5th round.

Bagan beat Dhaka team to top group

HALDIA: Mohun Bagan emerged Group A champions beating Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting 1-0 in the All Airlines Gold Cup Football Tournament here on Wednesday. Abdul Khalique scored the winner off a James Singh pass.Both Bagan and Dhaka Mohammedan have already reached the semi-final after winning their earlier league encounters.

First win for Dempo in Goa league

MARGAO: Dempo edged past MPT by a solitary goal win to earn their first fullpoints in the second edition of the Director8217;s Special Professional League at Nehru Stadium on Wednesday. Dempo scored the winner in the 66th minute through defender Teotonio Fernandes.

Agencies