MUMBAI, March 10: The tricolour has rarely fluttered so proudly on the global sporting arena as Indian sport whizkids Vishwanathan Anand, Sachin Tendulkar, Rupali Repale and Leander Paes were awash with glory.While Paes, Anand and Rupali covered themselves with individual glory, Tendulkar's 155 not out came in a team cause which helped India win the first Test against Australia at Chennai by 179 runs today -- a day when the India `A' team beat Pakistan `A' at Karachi to win the `Test' series.
On Monday, Anand underlined the point that he is the man who will be the king of world chess. The Indian world No 3, who had finished on top in the Hoogovens Grandmasters' Chess in Holland recently, won his second straight tournament. A draw in a crucial match against Vladimir Kramnik helped him clinch the category-21 Super Grandmasters title with 7.5 points out of 12 in Linares last night.
Both Anand and Alexie Shirov needed victories in their crucial 12th round matches. But with the two GMs drawing theirrespective matches, the Indian surged ahead of Spaniard Shirov by half a point to notch up a memorable victory.
Anand, it may be recollected, in a rare outburst after losing to Anatoly Karpov in the FIDE World Championship title clash had said: ``I think I still believe I won the tournament. I cannot believe that a man who just has to play six games can be credited with winning anything. The rules of the championship were ridiculous. I basically had to run a marathon of 42 km and then asked to run a 100 m dash against a guy who did not run at all.'' His back-to-back wins in a world class field proved his point.
Even as Indians savoured Anand's title triumph, news trickled in from Wellington that 16-year-old Mumbai girl Rupali Repale had successfully swam New Zealand's arduous Cook Strait. Rupali left the South Island early morning and came ashore in the North Island at around 1830 IST (2 am, Tuesday in New Zealand) suffering from mild hypothermia to be taken immediately to hospital.
The Strait, 19 kmwide at its narrowest point, is swept by fierce tides and strong winds. Swimmers can take all day and swim much further than the straight line distance.
At age 12, Rupali swam the 56 km treacherous English Channel in 16 hours and seven minutes. She has also conquered the Straits of Gibraltar and Australia's Bass Strait.
Around the same time as Rupali was completing her feat, the Indian cricket team was giving finishing touches to humble Australia, the unofficial world champions of cricket, in the first Test.
Victory in the Test arena came after a long gap and one of the architects of the win was Sachin Tendulkar. The young man, who is widely acknowledged as the finest batsman in contemporary cricket, scored one of the best innings on a spinner-friendly wicket and against the wizardry of Shane Warne.
Tendulkar's mastery was acknowledged by the International Cricket Council match referee, who named him the man of the match.
Meanwhile, Tendulkar's Mumbai team-mates, Sairaj Bahutule and Ajit Agarkar,led India `A' to a memorable 58-run win over a strong Pakistan `A' at Karachi today to clinch the four-match series.
Chasing a target of 229 for win, Pakistan `A' -- resuming at the overnight score of 8-1 -- were skittled out for 170 by leg-spinner Bahutule (4-36), medium-pacer Agarkar (3-63) and off-spinner Noel David (3-48). Agarkar had a match haul of 9-132 while Bahutule took the man of the match award.
The string of India's sporting success began on Saturday when the Indian hockey team finished their four-match series 2-2 with back-to-back wins in the last two encounters. And on Sunday, Leander Paes ended a singles title drought on the professional circuit since November 1996 by winning the $ 50,000 Bangkok Challenger.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
