| Updated daily at 1200 hrs (IST) |
Saturday,
24 March 2001
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| Former
fighter pilot Tim Ellison never let the loss of a limb in a horrible air
crash stand in the way of his determination to continue flying, and his
resolve paid off on Thursday when he was named winner of the Karachi-Delhi
leg of the London-Sydney
Centenary Air Race 2001 at a colorful ceremony in New Delhi.
When the "Marking Time" team, comprising Ellison and his partner Mark Wilkinson, was announced winners of the Speed category of the Karachi-Delhi segment, all competitors and organizers stood up to give them a standing ovation. Ellison, who lost a limb when his Harrier jet's engine failed and he could not bail out, embodied the spirit of the pioneer aviators who had flown the Kangaroo route between London and Sydney in the early part of the last century. The route, at 22,000 km the world's longest international air route, first witnessed a race in 1919 when Australian brothers Ross and Keith Smith won the 10,000 pound prize offered by the Australian government to the first Australians to fly from London to Sydney. This year's event is a recreation of the historic race to commemorate the centenary of the Australian federation. Michael Longshaft, a spokesperson for the race organizers, said two of the 35 competitors that began from London had dropped out, one in Egypt because he did not want to go further and the other in Muscat because of illness. "The teams take off for Kolkata March 24 and fly out to Myanmar March 25," he said. The race touches down in Sydney, where it is scheduled to end April 7, after 28 days, a nod to the time taken by the Smith brothers to complete the 1919 race. The race has also been held in 1934 and 1969. "When the race took place in 1969, it was around the same time as when the Australian team won a test series in India. This time, however, while it is held in conjunction with a Australia-India Test series, I cannot say the same," Indian Culture Minister Ananth Kumar said, welcoming the "daring aviators."
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World Champion Viswanathan Anand remained in the lead with a 1.5 -0.5 overdict over - Ivanchuk of Ukraine at the end of Vth round of 10th Amber Blind Fold and Rapid Chess tournament being played in Monte Carlo on Friday. Brain game champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russa and GM Veselin Topalovof Hungary share the lead along with the Indian with 7 points. For Viswanathan Anand it was one of those routine wins. Ivanchuk was no match for the Indian.
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Due
to technical reasons the news sections of Bharat
Samachar could not be updated on Friday, 23 March 2001. For the
benefit of our viewers we are carrying the same today.
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| Updated daily at 1200 hrs (IST) |
Friday,
23 March 2001
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It was quite befitting that Harbhajan Singh scored the runs that won India the series over Australia. The Chidamaram Stadium in Chepauk in Chennai exploded as Harbhajan jabbed a Glenn McGrath delivery outside the off-stump to deep point. He already had his arms high as he turned for the second run, India's 155th of the second innings. Umpire AV Jayprakash wasn't sure it was the winning run, but that was just a minor distraction. It took the umpire a few more seconds to declare that the match and series were over. Harbhajan and Sameer Dighe went back to their celebrations as the rest of the team ran in to join. Chepauk had provided the second consecutive series win for the home side over Australia. Three years ago, India had won the second Test in Chennai to claim the series. This time, it was a little different as this was the third Test and till Harbhajan's confident jab, could have gone either way.
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