 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Asia review Pakistan shows promise in one-day series
Posted: Monday January 17, 2000 09:47 AM
NEW DELHI, India (Ticker) -- Asian golf continues its upward march, while cricket for India and Pakistan continued to be depressing on their current tour of Australia. The Indians have yet to win a match in the Triangular series while Pakistan, after stunning Australia in the opener, failed in its next match. But Pakistan did manage to beat India in between. So Australia and Pakistan have 2-1 records after three games, but India is still winless. As is always the case with a losing side, injuries, low morale and controversies continued to plague the Indian side. Skipper Sachin Tendulkar and coach Kapil Dev have been under fire following rumors that have been instrumental in keeping former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin out of the side. Tendulkar and Dev have maintained that selection is the "selector's" job, those in the know say the two superstars have had their way so far. But the current streak of losses could put both on the back foot and there could be a showdown when the team returns home next month. The stage is set for the Australian Open, where Andre Agassi is seeded No.1 and Pete Sampras third. The two, if they progress as planned, will meet each other not in the final but in the semis. For India, Leander Paes will be there but without his usual partner, Mahesh Bhupathi, who is nursing a shoulder injury. Paes, the world's No. 1 doubles player, will turn out with Canada's Sebastian Lareau in the doubles. In the singles, Paes made it to the main draw the hard way, coming through after winning three rounds of qualifying -- the last of his victories coming over South Africa's Marcus Ondruska, the man he beat in 1990 to win the junior Wimbledon.
Asian golf picks upProfessional Golf in Asia is going places. The Asian Golfer of the Year will be on the U.S. PGA Tour in 2000 and will become the first non-Japanese on the American Tour. Then there are quite a few others like Jeev Milkha Singh, who have done extremely well on the European PGA Tour. Singh, who made the Tour years back, has managed to retain his card.Add to these the fact that the 5-year-old Asian PGA has for the first time been included in the International Federation of PGA Tours as the sixth member. The Federation is the governing body of the world's leading professional golf tours and the sanctioning and organizing body of the World Golf Championships. The Tour already has as members the European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and the Southern Africa Tour. And now the APGA, which had been an associate member since 1998, joins as a full member. This also will make all APGA players eligible for Sony World Rankings Points. The U.S. Tour is still the dream of almost all players on the Asian PGA, or for that matter almost all other tours, but those on the Asian Tour have shown tremendous progress in the last five years.
Asian golfing season tees offGolfing activity moved into full swing in the new year with the Asian PGA season teeing off with the Qualifying School, which for the first time will be held over three stages, a sign of the sport growing rapidly in Asia. The first stage with 190 golfers from various parts of the world ended this week in Johor Baru, Malaysia, with the top 30 moving into next week's second stage. And finally, the top 60 will play a third stage among 141 players, including all those who are exempt from first two stages and allowed to enter the final stage straightaway. Besides playing for the US$30,000 prize money, there will be 40 cards for the Davidoff APGA Tour at stake in the final stage.This is the first time the APGA has introduced a multi-stage qualifying school. While players inside the top 60 on the 1999 Order of Merit kept their APGA cards, those in the 61-80 bracket were allowed straight into the third stage of Q-school and those in the 81-100 bracket were exempt from the first stage. The final stage will have players like Vijay Kumar of India, who has been winner of the Order of Merit on the Indian PGA Tour for the last two years with an equivalent of almost US$35,000-$40,000 a year. He also represented India at the Alfred Dunhill Cup. Other top names will include Philippines rising star Gerald Rosales, two-time winner in SEA Games and silver medallist in Asian Games as an amateur. Also in the fray is 24-year-old Australian Kim Felton, who tied for third as an amateur behind champion Craig Spence and Greg Norman. The Davidoff Tour had a total of US$5.5 million in prize money from 18 tournaments in 1999. Thirteen of the 18 events were National Opens of various Asian countries. Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar was the top finisher in the Order of Merit with pickings worth US$204,210 in 16 events.
Korean Choi is Asian Golfer of 1999Korea's Choi Kyung-ju was named Johnnie Walker Asian Golfer of the Year following three victories in 1999, a great run in the British Open and qualifying for the 2000 U.S. PGA Tour.Choi, winner of the Johnnie Walker Asian Golfer of the Month Awards, edged two other strong contenders for the award, Kyi Hla Han of Myanmar, the 1999 Davidoff Tour Order of Merit winner, and European Tour star Jeev Milkha Singh of India. The 29-year-old Choi, a weightlifter turned golfer, emulates fellow Korean Pak Se Ri as the Asian Golfer of the Year. "I am looking forward to the campaign on the U.S. Tour and started a physical training schedule in December. It's important to be extremely fit to play week after week at the highest level." Choi became the first non-Japanese Asian to make it through the tough six-round U.S. Tour qualifying tournament at Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Florida in November. He finished joint 35th, right on the cutoff line, with an 8-under-par total of 412 (66, 67, 74, 68, 70 and 67). It was a just reward for the chances he took by skipping several big money events on the Japanese PGA to practice at Doral. After good showings on the Asian PGA at the Malaysian Open and Macau Open, Choi won the Kirin Open, beating Jeev Milkha Singh in a playoff on the Japan Tour. Then came a victory in the Ube-Kosan Open. His win at the Kirin Open earned him an exemption for the British Open at Carnoustie in July, where he made the cut and finished 49th. The run of successes continued as he won his first Davidoff APGA Tour title taking the Kolon Korean Open in September, and topped it all by qualifying for the U.S. Tour in November.
Bora seeks to add Chinese soccerTo many, World Cup winning medals may mean a lot, but there is one man to whom taking teams into the World Cup means much more. Or at least it seems so, as Yugoslav Bora Milutinovic took over as the national coach of the Chinese football team.Milutinovic, who has guided Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Nigeria into the last stages of the World Cup, now bids to extend that record by taking over the Chinese team. He has signed a two-year deal for an undisclosed amount. Milutinovic quit the American Major League Soccer club MetroStars last October, despite having one more year to go. In recent months there has been some speculation on his going to Beijing, but it was only confirmed over the weekend. The Yugoslav takes over from Briton Bobby Houghton, who was sacked in December after China failed to make it to the Sydney Olympics.
Fairplay award for Asian clubEven as the world was focused on the Corinthians, who defeated fellow Brazilian side Vasco da Gama in the World Club finals at Rio de Janeiro, there was something for the Asian representatives, Al-Nassr, too. The Saudi Club was awarded the FIFA's Fair Play Award. A total of eight teams took part in the inaugural tournament.Points were awarded on the basis of the behavior of the players and other delegation on and off the field, as well as the team's contribution to positive, attacking football. The award is a trophy and diploma, medals and US$10,000 worth of sports equipment from adidas for the development of youth football.
Asian All Stars to play IranMeanwhile, the Asian Football Confederation has chosen a list of 18 players for an Asian All Star team that will play a match against the Iranian national side in Tehran on January 21. The match will be played at Azadi Stadium and is being held to mark the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran.The members of the team are Atsuhiro Miura (Japan), Jamal Taha (Lebanon), Kadhim Ali (United Arab Emirates), Ruslan Baltiev (Kazakhstan), Lee Dong-gook, Yoo Sang-chol, Hong Myung-bo (Korea Republic), Abbas Jassim, Esam Salem (Iraq), Shirshov Nikolay, Khvostunov Alexander, Evgene Safanov (Uzbekistan), Adel Oqleh (Kuwait), Badran Shaqran (Jordan), Dusit Chalermsan and Tawan Sripan (Thailand), Mohamed Anyas (Qatar), Tran Gong Minh (Vietnam). Evgene Safanov and Mohamed Anyas are the two goalkeepers in the side, which will be coached by Khalil Ibrahim R Al Zayani of Saudi Arabia. The team manager is AFC vice-president Asad Taqi of Kuwait.
Koreans, Malaysians agree to train together in badmintonThe Malaysians and the Koreans have amicably settled the discussion on mutually beneficial training stints. The Malaysians had wanted their doubles pairs to train with the Koreans, who are traditionally strong in the pairs' event.But the Koreans wanted the Malaysians to send in their strong singles players in return. Ultimately, the two sides have agreed and now the Malaysians, who are in preparation for the Thomas Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur from May 11-21, will send a squad of 13 that will include doubles pairs and some top singles players, too. The Koreans have the world No. 1 and No.3 pairs on their team, Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-Moon and Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung. Korean officials met Malaysian officials and Malaysia's Korean coach, Park Joo-bong -- himself a legendary doubles pair -- in Cheju Island during the course of the 6-Star Korean Open event currently in progress. The training stint has been finalised for the period March 23-April 1.
Malaysia rejects Pakistan's hockey schedule protestMalaysia, which is hosting a string of Asian and world events this year, has rejected Pakistan's protest about the schedule for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey fixtures. The defending champions Pakistan had complained about back-to-back matches on three occasions during the tournament. Another team that had a similar schedule is Germany.The Malaysians claimed the International Hockey Federation (FIH) already has cleared the schedule. And they also have claimed that since this is the first time the tournament, an annual feature, has been expanded to seven from six teams, there was bound to be a situation where some team might have to play matches on consecutive days.
Akebono looks goodAt the end of the first week of the New Year Hatsu Basho, Akebono, widely tipped to win the tournament, emerged as a clear favorite with an all-win record after eight days. He was 8-0 while two others, Musoyama and Kyotutenko, had surprise 7-1 records. Takanohana is 6-2 at the midway stage. The Hatsu Basho will end on January 23.Meanwhile Musashimaru, the most successful star of 1999 with six bashos, had to pull out after the third round. He was nursing an injury.
In BriefAt each of the two previous Olympic Games, Chinese won 16 gold medals. Now, with eight months to go for the Sydney Games, Chinese sports officials have again pegged their gold target at 16. The Chinese plan is to field 222 athletes in 19 disciplines and to try and keep the fourth spot they have had in the past.The Commonwealth Table tennis championships, which many countries will use as a tune-up to the World Championships, will be held from February 11-17. The World Championships will begin two days later in Kuala Lumpur and ends February 27. Malaysians, which is hosting the junior World Cup for hockey in Kuala Lumpur from May 3-14, is also planning a five-nation invitational event with India, Japan, Canada and South Korea as the other four teams. The event will be held from April 3-9 as a run-up for the junior Asia Cup. Australia and New Zealand are among the confirmed entries for the ninth Asian Shooting Championships, to be held at the Langkawi International Shooting Range here from January 22-31. These two countries have been accepted as invitational teams in the 10-day championship. The second SAARC golf tournament, which features the seven countries in the Indian sub-continent, will be held in the Bangladesh capital beginning January 20.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
