Mystery over Bovelander tripNEW DELHI: Cancellation of Dutch penalty corner expert Floris Bovelander's trip to India at the last minute might have more to it than meets the eye. Bovelander's trip to hold a clinic here from April 25 to 30 during the ongoing camp for the World Cup hockey probables had resulted in an expenditure of over Rs 1.36 lakh for the firm entrusted with handling the trip.And the firm has wondered, in a communication to the Indian Hockey Federation secretary, K Jothikumaran, whether the trip was sabotaged owing to politics among the officials ahead of the coming ihf elections slated for May 10 at Hyderabad.Tampering caseCHENNAI: The BCCI has reopened the issue of alleged tampering of the pitch in the Ranji Trophy (knock-out stage) cricket match here between Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The Board has set May 22 as the deadline for the four-member committee.Cup timingsMUMBAI: All the matches in the May 14-31 triangular series, except those scheduled atMohali and Gwalior, would commence at 1600 hours, as per the playing conditions chalked out for the tournament. The matches at Mohali and Gwalior would commence at 1700 hours.Barua in leadMUZAFFARPUR: Top seed GM Dibyendu Barua kept his lead intact with a score of 3.5 point at the end of the fourth round of the 35th Men's National `A' Chess Championship here today. GM Pravin Thipsay, seeded second, is in the second spot with three points.Barua enjoyed the advantage of white in his Gauci Piano opening against Devaki Prasad. Barua had outside passer pawns which were too much for Prasad in the rook and pawn ending. Prasad resigned after 37 moves.Indian duo No 3NEW DELHI: While Leander Paes stays at No 103 in the latest ATP singles rankings, he and Bhupahti fell from No 2 to No 3 in the doubles team rankings with a total of 1198 points.Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, who won the Monte Carlo title last week, replace the Indian duo at No 2. In the doubles individualrankings, Bhupathi is at No 6 with a total of 3233 points while Paes is one rung below with 3220 points.
