IndiaFile

IndiaFile

Dhyan Chand, Usha best
NEW DELHI: Hockey player Dhyan Chand and sprinter P T Usha have been selected as Indian Sportspersons of the Century by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said this decision was taken after consultations with office bearers and leading sports personalties.

India stun Cuba
DUBAI: India shocked Cuba 3-0 in their opening encounter of the fifth Rashid International volleyball tournament. The Indians took a little over one hour to beat Cuba 25-15, 25-16, 25-18.

Cuba did not have the services of many of players who served the country in the 1999 World Cup where they were runner-up. Only two from that side played here.

Hockey Nationals
NEW DELHI: The 50th Senior Women's National hockey championship will be held at Jabalpur from January 10-19.

Manisha advances
CHANDIGARH: Manisha Malhotra brushed aside Shalini Thakur 7-5 6-1 to lead the Indian challenge into the quarter-finals. National champion Sai Jayalakshmylost to unseeded Croatian Antonia Matic in the $ 10,000 ITF Women's Circuit tennis tournament.

Results (pre-quarterfinals): Rushmi Chakravarthy bt Radhika Tulpule 6-1 6-1, Antonia Matic (Cro) bt Sai Jayalakshmy 4-6 6-1 2-6, Masa Vesenjak (Slo) bt Archana Venkatraman 6-2 4-6 6-1, Urska Vesenjak (Slo) bt Isha Chopra 6-0 6-2.

Kirtane in semis
CHENNAI: Top-seeded Nitin Kirtane and third seed Vijay Kannan entered the semi-finals of the Indian Oil Servo Millennium tennis tournament. Kirtane breezed past R Arun Prakash 6-2, 6-2 while Kannan won 6-1, 6-1 over Vijayendra Laad.

South beat West
CHENNAI: South Zone registered their second successive win, defeating West Zone by four wickets in the limited overs under-19 cricket championship for the C K Nayudu Trophy. In the other match, North defeated Central by 26 runs.

Brief scores: West Zone 206-9 in 43 overs (Prasant Joshi 76, Niraj Patel 35, Pallav Vora 41; Y Venugopala Rao 3-33) lost to South Zone 215-6 in 42.3 (Arjun Yadav46, Amit Kumar 42).