New Delhi, June 29: The Indian women's hockey team, sans coach, finished last at the four-nations tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands after they were thrashed 1-5 by South Africa in the third and fourth place play-off match.

Hosts Netherlands won the tournament after crushing Great Britain 5-0 in the final on Saturday. South Africa, who were earlier beaten by the Indian eves 0-1 in the league stages, took sweet revenge, finding the Indian net twice in the first half (Marsh Marescia 11, Kathleen Taylor 12) and thrice after the breather (Vida Ryan 50, 69 and Jenny Wilson 68). For India, skipper Surinder Kaur was the lone goal scorer in the 16th minute of the match on Saturday. The Indian team, who is on a 22-day Europe tour, is missing the services of their chief coach M K Kaushik as his employer Harayan Sports Department has not cleared his leave. To add to the woes, the Indian Women's Hockey Federation also did not send a manager with the team on the Europe sojourn which is seen as a preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Jeev improves; Kapur, Randhawa slip

Paris, June 29: Shiv Kapur brought home his worst card of the tournament so far, a five-over 76, to slump to tied 43rd after the penultimate round of the Open de France ALSTOM here. Kapur has a total of one-over 214.

Among the other Indians in fray, Jeev Milkha Singh (212) moved up one rung to tied 27th after returning a one-under 70, while Jyoti Randhawa (225) continued his downward curve, tumbling further down to tied 68th after carding a 10-over 81. Kapur, who carded a sensational eight-under 63 in the second round, had a nightmarish third round as he bogeyed the fifth and ninth before stumbling to a double bogey at the par-four 12th, which saw him slip from his overnight tied eighth position.

However, Jeev continued to hold steady, sinking birdies at the third, fourth, 10th and 14th against bogeys at the eighth, 12th and 18th. Randhawa, on the other hand, found the going tough on day three as well and the Delhi pro managed only three birdies against five bogeys and a couple of double bogeys. At the top, Pablo Larrazabal (202) blasted a four-under 67 to take the lead with Soren Hansen (205) and Colin Montgomerie (205) tied for the second spot.

FIBA officials to visit India to discuss tie-ups

New Delhi, June 29: FIBA officials will be here on July 3 to discuss tie-ups with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) as part of its 'Basketball Without Borders' initiative in the country. President and secretary general of FIBA, Bob Elphinston and Patrick Bauman, and the secretary General of FIBA Asia, Dat'o Yeoh Choo Hock, who would be visiting India for the first time, will meet top officials including Sports Minister MS Gill, Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and Secretary General Randhir Singh, a release stated.

BFI secretary-general Harish Sharma said the arrival of officials could lift the game and expects FIBA to pitch in with its might to take the game to a different level.

"Our boys and girls have the potential, but what they lack is the nuances of the making it big. If FIBA helps our cagers in whatever way it can, it would help us grow," he said. Sharma also feels that this visit will help them introduce a professional league. "In BFI, we see the visit of these officials as a golden opportunity to create a good base for launching the professional league," said Sharma.

Anaka bags gold at Asian Junior Squash

New Delhi, June 29: Anaka Alankamony bagged India's lone gold medal at the Asian Junior Squash championship, while both Dipika Pallikal and Mahesh Mangaonkar settled for silver after losing their respective finals in the tournament which concluded in Busan, Korea. Anaka, the top seeded Indian, beat Hong Kong's Ho Ka Po 9-6 9-6 9-5 in the girls under-15 category final to clinch her eighth international title. "Down 1-6 in the first two games, Anaka hit some brilliant hard drives and delicate drops. She was made to move to all corners by Po but prevailed in the end," national coach Cyrus Poncha said from Busan. However, Pallikal and Mangaonkar had to be content with runner-up finishes.

Nafe Singh is HSAA president

Chandigarh, June 29: Former MLA from Bahadurgarh, Nafe Singh Rathi was today unanimously elected president of Haryana State Athletic Association (HSAA). He was elected in the annual general body meeting of the association held at Jat Bhawan here.

Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, President HSAA, was unanimously elevated to the post of life president.

H S Bhadu was unanimously re-elected Secretary of the HSAA for the sixth time in succession. The other office bearers who were also unanimously elected for the next term of four years were: Gokal Chand(Sr vice president), I D Kamboj, Jagmal Singh,Dharamvir Dagar, Dilbagh Singh, Rajinder Malik, Devender Kadyan (Vice Presidents), Raj Kumar Mittan (Sr Joint Secretary), Vinesh Mahlan and Chander Pal Chauhan (Joint Secretaries) and S S Bura (Treasurer).Duli Chand, Ajmer Singh, Satpal Singh, Shish Pal Guladi, Ved Prakash, G S Bawa, Sanjay Singh, Azad Singh Rathi,Sumer Singh, Rajiv Khatri and Parveen Kumar were elected the members of the Executive Committee.