Bhupathi passes fitness testMUMBAI: Mahesh Bhupathi was put through stretching and running exercises at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association courts today by Dr Aijaz Ashai and Dr Hima Dalal. He came out of it unscathed. The four-time Grand Slam doubles champion, ailing from shoulder, groin and abdomen injuries, has been given another programme of exercises but will start hitting from Tuesday. The doctors gave him a clean chit and said he was ready to play now.Bhupathi, who is leaving for Bangalore Saturday evening, said he felt much better now and will chart out his programme for tournament participation at the end of this week. He is supposed to play in Paris in the first week of November but has not yet finalised his plans.Golden haul by Indian powerliftersNEW DELHI: Indian lifters powered their way to 16 medals including four golds and finished runners-up to United States, at the World Master Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa today.India, propelledby RB Jagtap's three gold and a silver, in all won four gold, four silver and eight bronze medals.RK Surati, Hiralal Jariwala, Arjun Padelkar and G Jayaraj Bobwere the other medal winners.Injury to Dingko weakens boxing squadTASHKENT: A weakened Indian team, after ace bantamweight pugilist Dingko Singh's last minute pull-out following recurring pain in his right fist, arrived here for the Oct 23-30 Asian Boxing Championships with hopes of clinching at least three to five qualifying spots in the next year's Sydney Olympic Games.``Dingko's injury is a minor one. After rest, he will be ready for the other two qualifying tournaments next year,'' Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) president Ashok Mattoo said. The event is the first of three qualifying tournaments for Asia for the 2000 Olympics.The team: Mohammed Ali Qamar (lightfly weight), S Suresh Singh (flyweight), Ramanand (feather weight), Narendra Rana (light weight), Bhushan Saini (lightwelter weight), Jitender Kumar(middle weight). Chief of delegation: Rajesh Bhandari. Coaches: Gurbax Singh Sandhu and TL Gupta. Manager: Ashok Kumar Choudhary. Doctor: Ashok Ahuja. Referee/judges: Lt Col PK Muralidharan and Tapan DasJockey Pandu Khade no morePUNE: Pandu Khade, one the greatest jockeys of yesteryear, died at Kolhapur on Friday. He was 76. He is survived by a son and daughter.The Maharaja of Kolhapur encouraged him to join the RWITC Jockey School in 1939 from where he graduated in 1941. He went on to complete his 1,000th winner on Mihir. Superb in judging the pace, Khade won Indian St Leger five times. He was the first Indian to win abroad. His extraordinary handling of Mukhtar-ul-Mulk, Paper King, Pimpernel and other prize horses are part of racing folklore. Khade was the founder member of the Jockey Association of India and served Hyderabad Race Club as chief of Jockey School.Nanda Jadhav commits suicidePUNE: International athlete Nanda Jadhav allegedly committed suicide today. Nanda's husbandDeepak Shamrao Ghanshyam, an Income Tax employee, and her in-laws were taken into custody after her father filed a complaint accusing them of harassment, police said.Nanda, hailing from Satara, doused herself with kerosene and set herself on fire. She suffered more than 70 per cent burn injuries and died at a hospital. She had participated in cross country races in several countries including Poland, France, Hong Kong.Jaitha sole leader after 54 holesPUNE: Amish Jaitha of Pune carded one over 72 today to emerge the sole leader with 217 points on the penultimate day of the Amateur Open golf championship fifth-leg at Poona Club Golf course here.Rahil Gangjee of Calcutta and Delhi's Simarjeet Singh, who lead the pack together with Jaitha after yesterday's play, are at the second and third positions with 222 and 224 points respectively.Round three results: Amish Jaitha 72, Sheeraz Kalra 74, Aman Bahl 75, Rajiv Datar 75, Gaurav Diwan 75, Rahul Ganapathy 75, Karan Sachdev 75, SimarjeetSingh 76, Manish Jaitha 76, Sandy Lehal 76.Steady Vishal has two-hole advantageFARIDABAD: Vishal Singh played steady golf to stay in lead, while Harmeet Kahlon played a superb round of four-under on the third day of the Shell-Aravalli Open Golf tournament. Vishal played a par round, while Kahlon repeated his 68 from the first day to come seven under for 54 holes. Young Delhi pro Samim Khan shot the day's best, a five-under 67, to join Kahlon in the second spot.Scores: 207 Vishal Singh; 209 Samim Khan, Harmeet Kahlon, Amit Dube; 211 Deroz Ali; 212 Mukesh Kumar, Rafiq Ali; 213 Digvijay Singh; 214 Shiv Prakash; 216 Basad Ali; 217 Rohtas Singh.Amatuers: 240 G S Parmar, Vijay Kumar; 243 Gaurav Kathuria; 249 JJ DesaramCricketing great Martin Donnelly deadWELLINGTON: Martin Donnelly, one of New Zealand's greatest cricketers, died yesterday in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 82. A left-handed batsmen, Donnelly played only seven Tests, all against England, scoring 582runs at an average of 52.8. He also represented the English Rugby Union team in the 1946-47 season in a Test against Ireland. He later became a major in the New Zealand army.Ronaldo gets fiancee to sign pactRIO DE JANEIRO: Football star Ronaldo, 22, has got his fiancee, Milene Domingues, 20, to sign a pre-marriage contract that would take effect if the marriage does not work out. The Brazilian star, who has assets valued at $ 80 million, and his wife-to-be, who is two months pregnant, are to establish a $ 16 million `fund' which would go to pay Ronaldo's advisors in case the marriage fails.
