India File

Batting key to success, says AzharMUMBAI: Batting will be the key to our success against Australia, particularly in the Tests,'' said Indi...

Batting key to success, says Azhar

MUMBAI: 8220;Batting will be the key to our success against Australia, particularly in the Tests,8221; said Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin.8220;The Aussies are always a hard team to beat on any surface and I expect a very close series,8221; Azhar predicted.

8220;I think the Australians have a young and very talented new ball attack and the absense of their main bowlers Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie due to injuries will not show in the performance of their team. Ine Shane Warne they have the world8217;s best leg-spinner.8221;

ISP squash

MUMBAI: In the absence of newly crowned National champion Akhil Behl, Manish Choitrani has been seeded first in the men8217;s section of the Rs 1.25 lakhs ISP Satellite Squash tournament sponsored by Mukesh Babu Group which starts at the Otters Club from Wednesday. National champion Mekhala Subedar leads the women8217;s seedings.

The winner here takes home Rs 15,000.

Seedings: Men: 1 Manish Choitrani, 2 Paul Ferreira, 3 Awish Jaiswal, 4.Gaurav Juneja. Women: 1 Mekhala Subedear, 2. Deepali Anvekar, 3. Karishma Juneja, 4. Pareenita Chowdhari. Professionals: 1 Rajesh Verma, 2 Chandrakant Pawar, 3 Anant More, 4 Gopi Mohite. Boys u-19: 1 Awish Jaiswal, 2 Rohan Juneja, 3 Amitpal Kohli, 4 Gaurav Juneja.

Karnataka win

PATNA: For the 12th consecutive time, Karnataka bagged the 13th All- India Telecom Football championship, defeating West Bengal by a solitary first half goal at the Moin-ul-Haque Stadium yesterday.

The all important goal came in the 18th minute of the match when Rajan Murthy making a move from the right flank dogged past two defenders and chiped the ball into the net. Earlier, Kerala defeated hosts Bihar, 1-0 for the third spot.

DDCA inquiry

Story continues below this ad

NEW DELHI: Taking a serious view of the unsavoury8217; incident in which two officials of the under-16 North Zone were involved in Mumbai, the BCCI has asked the Delhi and District Cricket Association DDCA to conduct an inquiry into the whole affair.

In a letter to DDCA,Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI secretary J Y Lele said, 8220;It is surprising, annoying and distrubing to come across the behaviour of the managers of the team which should be the ideals for the under-16 players.8221;

Hockey coaching

NEW DELHI: Sixty promising players will be picked up for one year coaching- cum-training programme at the end of the Rs 2.20 lakh Sixth Nehru Sail Champion colleges hockey tournament starting here tomorrow.

These 60 players, to be coached at NIS, Patiala will receive Rs 500 each per month during their stay in the camp.

Story continues below this ad

For the first time, a foreign team 8212; a university team from Australia 8212; will be seen in action. 8212; ENS and Agencies