Indian news round-up

Robin injured during practice

India allrounder Robin Singh on Tuesday got injured on his forehead when he collided with his Tamil Nadu team mate S Sriram. The injury occurred during a football game before the start of the net practice session on the second day of on-going ten-day long conditioning camp for Asia Cup probables.

Speaking to the press in Pune, the Maharashtra Cricket Association Joint Secretary AN Mate said that Robin Singh needed five stitches on his fore-head while Sriram had only minor bruises. Robin Singh is expected to be fit by Wednesday.

Meanwhile the Indian team physio Andrew Liepus said ``My first priority is to see that the players are mentally and physically fit for the Asia Cup and I think they are shaping up well so far.''

Imran surprised over Kapil Dev's behavior

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan expressed surprise over Kapil Dev's break down on television and said that he was at loss of words to explain such a behavior.

Speaking to a news agency in Karachi, Imran said ``I would never cry. I can understand somebody becoming angry but I cannot understand Kapil's crying.'' On the allegations flung on Kapil Dev, he said that after the Cronje scandal it is very hard to conclude ``who is involved and who is not.''

Imran was referring to the Indian coach who sobbed during the course of an interview to a TV channel when asked about the allegations made IS Bindra. Bindra had alleged that it was Kapil Dev who had offered money to Manoj Prabhakar to under perform in a match in 1994.

Borde to be honored with `Punya Bhushan'

The chairman of the National Selection Committee, Chandu Borde, is to be honored with the `Punya Bhushan' award on May 21 at the Nehru Stadium in Pune. The Award is to be presented by the former Indian all-rounder and present team coach Kapil Dev.

The Pune-based social organization Tridal, in a press release on Tuesday said that some of the Indian cricketers, who are undergoing a conditioning camp for the forth coming Asia Cup, would be present on the occasion. It also said that the chief guests for the function would be Maharashtra State Sports Minister Prof Ramkrishna More and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president and MP, Suresh Kalmadi.

the release added that the award winners in the previous years include wellknown Hindustani vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, late industrialist Shantanurao Kirloskar, Marathi litterateur Pu La Deshpande and astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar.

PCA draws up fixtures for 2000-2001 season

The Punjab Cricket Association's (PCA) Tournament and Fixture Committee which met in Patiala on May 13 has drawn up the programme for their 2000-2001 domestic season. The programme includes off-season and in-season summer coaching camps and regular inter-district cricket starting from September.

The committee has also decided to commence three new tournaments an inter-state under-22 tournament for North Zone, an Inter-university tournament and an inter-school tournament.

The association will hold the minor districts state championships from May 21 to 31. The senior inter-district league tournament is to be played from June 2 to 20. The U-16 inter-district summer championship will be from June 14 to 25. It also plans to hold the inter-state under-22 tournament for North Zone from September 1 to 10. The Katoch Shield will be held from September 10 to 24, The Dhruv Pandove Trophy from October 4 to 15 and JP Attray Memorial Tournament from September 22 to October 2. The ML Markan Trophy will be from November 3 to 15.