FOOTBALL

Timely intervention by the police saw things under control. The resultant penalty was converted by Junior beating Felex to his left with a high shot. Junior scored again fifteen minutes after the interval when he tapped across from Malsawmtlunga from the left to score his 15th goal to become the highest scorer this season. Haywards who fought back in the second half reduced the margin in the 84th minute through a penalty.

East Bengal, who have now finished their league engagements, garnered 49 points from 22 matches to top the heap while Haywards remained on the eighth place with 27 points from 22 matches. With the top six teams spotted, champions East Bengal have pocketed Rs.40 lakhs while second place Dempo and third placed Mumbai outfit Mahindra United have got Rs.22 lakh and Rs.16 lakh respectively. Goan outfit Churchill Brothers, JCT Phagwara and Vasco Goa, had to be content with Rs.9 lakh, Rs.5 lakh and Rs.3 lakh respectively.

Mohamedan Sporting and Indian Bank relegated to IInd Division NFL
Mohd. Sporting who were runners-up to Mahindra United in the Federation Cup and made their debut in the NFL this year have now been relegated after having lost to Dempo SC 2-3 in their final match. It was a cliff hanger all the way for Mohd. Sporting, as they had to win this match in order to displace Tollygunge who simultaneously lost 3-2 to Mahindra United at the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai.

How They Finished

Fortunato Franco (1960 Olympian and gold medallist at 1962 Jakarta Asian Games):
It is a time for drastic changes. If decisions are to be made, they need to be harsh and swift. The AIFF should keep foreign players out for a couple of years and encourage home grown talent. 

Give the Indian national team frequent exposures through cultural exchange matches across the sub-continent or even Europe. The Junior teams should also get frequent international exposure. This will only hasten the progress of the sport in the country. This move may affect spectator viewership and sponsorship too but there cannot be progress without sacrifice. But if teams have contracted foreign players for more then a year, then the AIFF will have to delay adopting such a stand, by a year.

Baichung Bhutia (India captain):
We need to increase our pool of players. The absence of IM Vijayan has left a void in the team and put some extra pressure on me that I am marked more heavily and that makes things more difficult for the team. While playing for East Bengal I had Junior around and that helped when you have a quality striker alongside you. It eases the pressure; I feel Vijayan's absence when playing for the national team. And we don't have players with Jo Paul Ancheri's athletic body. He is tough and a quality player.

The idea of reducing the number of foreign players (from 4 and 3 to play to 3 and 2 to play) should encourage home grown talent but phasing them out completely will not be good for the game as it will reduce spectator turnout. The foreign players add some flavour and excitement and gives the tournament that extra competitive edge. Also our players need to be encouraged with better monetary benefits. Look at East Bengal's achievements this season. Phenomenal.

Spanish League: Newly crowned champions
Valencia won the Spanish football championship for the second time in three years and the sixth time in their 75-year history, when they eased past Sevilla 2-0. Valencia's second Primara Liga title proved to be a victory for the traditional values of good coaching, careful planning, team work and old-fashioned hard graft. The triumph not only confirmed the club's status as the best all-round team in Spain but also that of Rafa Benitex as one of the top coaches on the continent. An early piece of individual brilliance from Vicente Rodriguez and a late goal from fellow Spanish international Ruben Baraja were enough to give Valencia the vital win.

Footballer of the Year
Thierry Henry became the first player to win England's Footballer of the Year award in successive seasons when he swept almost 90% of the votes cast in the annual poll.

Since the award was introduced in the 1947-48 season - no player had previously won it in successive seasons and only six men had won it twice Sir Stanley Matthews (1948 and 1963); Sir Tom Finney (1954 and 1957); Danny Blachflower (1958 and 1961); Kenny Dalglish (1979 and 1983); John Barnes (1988 and 1990) and Gary Lineker (1986 and 1992). Henry joined that select band and made history of his own just after he was voted Players' Player of the Year for the second successive season by his peers. The striker scored 37 goals this season, including 29 in the premier league, and created countless others to inspire Arsenal to the title.

EURO 2004
16 teams battle it out in Portugal for European Football's top prize. The Euro 2004 Championship is one of the world's top sporting events yet it lives probably inevitably in the shadow of Big Daddy, the World Cup itself. It is the gap - the two years that separates the Euro Championship from the World Cup that has allowed the smaller tournament to develop a personality of its own. Moreover, it gives a chance for countries who cannot stage the World Cup to come forward and stage the magnificent tournament.

France are the holders and will make a strong comeback to retain the Cup. The other top contenders are Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain and England. The dark horses of the tournament are most likely to be Czech Republic and Croatia. Euro 2004 will be held from 12th June to 4th July. The 16 teams are divided into 4 groups as given below:

TENNIS

India clinch Asia-Oceania Jr. Davis Cup

Sania eyes doubles at big Wimbledon
After her stupendous success in the junior circuit of Wimbledon last year, India's teen tennis sensation Sania Mirza is now making a determined bid to enter the senior league and go for the senior doubles title in the prestigious tournament this year which begins on June 24.

BADMINTON:

China top Denmark to emerge victorious

Chinese shuttlers demonstrated their superiority in men's badminton, bearing Denmark 3-1 to win the prestigious Thomas Cup. The victory by China was their fifth in the Thomas Cup but their first since 1990. The Chinese women's team also won the Uber Cup, defeating South Korea. Playing at Jakarta's Bung Karno Senayan Sports Palace, the world's top shuttler Lin Dan opened the contest by overcoming Peter Gade in a 75-minute match 15-8, 15-13.
The fifth ranked Gade took the lead in the second set 13-9 before Lin took control with the help of a series of unforced errors. The left-handed Lin scored five points in a row for match point, winning after Gade's smash hit the net. The loss for Denmark, which advanced to the finals by beating defending champion Indonesia, marked the seventh time it failed to lift the coveted trophy.

Popat only shuttler to qualify for Athens
National women's champion Aparna Popat would be the lone Indian challenger in the badminton event of the Athens Olympics. Popat, ranked 23rd in the world, is the only Indian to find a place in the final qualifying list declared by the International Badminton Federation after the deadline for qualification expired. The Indian hope in the men's second rested on former national champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Nikhil Kanetkar but the duo was unable to make the cut.

Abhinn, ranked 44th, and Kanetkar, ranked 48th, however, have an outside chance to participate in the four-yearly extravaganza provided some players withdraw at the last moment as they find themselves in the 2nd and 5th position in the list of players identified for the reallocation process.

ATHLETICS:

Olympic Torch to reach Delhi on June 10

The Olympic Games flame, lit at Olympia in Greece on March 25 for its onward journey to all five continents symbolized by the Olympic rings, will reach Delhi on June 10. Two decorated elephants, with three baby elephants in tow, are to carry the Olympic torch bearers across Vijay Chowk in the capital when the flame reaches Delhi. Then it will be taken across other monuments like the Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb and Red Fort, according to a release by the organizers. The Olympic Games torch relay will see the sacred flame pass through 34 cities in 26 countries in 35 days before returning to Greece on July 9 in time for the commencement of the 2004 Games on August 13 at Athens. The first city on the torch relay route was Sydney, which hosted the last edition of the Games in 2000, followed by Melbourne, where the Games were held in 1956.