Sport Events in 1999

Jan. 3

Tamil Nadu's Sundararajan Kidambi won the 28th junior National chess championship for boys in Jalandhar.

Jan. 4

Karnataka's Farah Khan made it three-in-a-row in the National ladies billiards championship in Delhi.

Jan. 5

Australian captain Mark Taylor broke his predecessor Allan Border's world record for catches in Tests by a non- wicketkeeper when he held his 157th - Mark Ramprakash off Glenn McGrath - on the fourth day of the fifth and final Test against England in Sydney.

Jan. 6

Shiv Sena activists dug up the Kotla pitch in Delhi with the view to preventing the Indo-Pakistan first Test which was to commence from Jan. 28.

Jan. 8

Farah Khan made it a double, adding the National ladies snooker title in Delhi.

Jan. 9

PSCB men, Railways women won the team events in National table tennis championship in Chennai.

Jan. 11

Maharashtra retained the inter-State squash championship in Calcutta.

Jan. 13

Chetan Baboor (PSCB) and Poulomi Ghatak (WB) won the men's and women's titles respectively in the National table tennis championship in Chennai.

Jan. 14

Punjab's Zoravar Singh and Biren Deep Sodhi emerged champions in the men's and junior boys' sections respectively in the clay pigeon trap (ISU) event of the National shotgun shooting championship in Chennai.

Jan. 16

Ritwick Bhattacharya (Delhi) and Mekhala Subedar (Maharashtra) won the men's and women's titles in the National squash championship in Calcutta.

Delhi's Moraad Ali Khan set two National marks and won the men's gold while Punjab's Ronjan Sodhi bagged the junior crown in the clay pigeon double trap event of the National shotgun shooting championship in Chennai.

Jan. 17

Madhya Pradesh won its maiden Wills Trophy championship, defeating Bengal in the final of the limited overs cricket championship in Calcutta.

Jan. 19

Rahul Rai of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh's Mairaj Ahmad Khan won the men's and junior clay pigeon skeet titles respectively in the National shotgun shooting championship in Chennai. Karnataka won the team gold.

Ashok Shandilya of Railways won his maiden National snooker crown in Delhi.

Jan. 27

Former Indian wicketkeeper P. Krishnamurthy passed away in Hyderabad following a cardiac arrest.

Jan. 28

Central Zone won the Deodhar Trophy, defeating South in their final in Agartala.

Jan. 30

Swiss Miss Martina Hingis won the Australian Open; Paes-Bhupathi stumbled in the doubles final, losing to Patrick Rafter-Jonas Bjorkman.

Punjab's Alok Kumar won the National billiards championship in Delhi.

Jan. 31

Yevgeny Kafelnikov claimed the Australian Open singles crown.

Feb. 1

Jaspal Rana equalled the Asian Games record and his own National record in the centre fire pistol (25m) event of the National shooting championship in Bangalore.

Feb. 2

Roopa Unnikrishnan set National mark in the sport rifle three-position event of the National shooting championship in Bangalore.

Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor called it a day in Sydney.

Feb. 5

Maharashtra men, Andhra Pradesh women won team titles in the National badminton championship in Delhi.

Feb. 7

Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble became only the second bowler in Test history after J.C. Laker (England) to take all ten wickets in an innings - against Pakistan in the second Test in Delhi.

Feb. 10

P. Gopi Chand (A.P.) and Aparna Popat (Karnataka) won the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the National badminton championship in Delhi.

Feb. 14

Fifth National Games inaugurated at Imphal.

Feb. 18

Jaspal Rana bettered the world record in centre-fire pistol with a score of 591 at the National Games shooting competition at Imphal.

Feb. 21

South Korea edged out India 3-2 in the Asia Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie in Seogwipo City.

Feb. 25

The curtain came down on the fifth National Games. Manipur won the overall championship while swimmers Nisha Millet of Karnataka and Sebastian Xavier of Kerala were adjudged the best sportswoman and sportsman respectively.

Feb. 28

Bill Talbert, a star tennis player who later became tournament director of the U.S. Open passed away in Manhattan.

Mar. 2

Goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli, who earned a world record 143 caps for Sweden, announced in Stockholm his retirement from professional soccer.

Mar. 4

South African all-rounder Pat Symcox announced in East London (S.A.) his retirement from international cricket.

Mar. 5

Geet Sethi won the 1999 World matchplay billiards championship in Midsomer Norton.

Mar. 11

Indian Davis Cup player and Asian Games gold medallist Gaurav Natekar announced in Mumbai his retirement from competitive tennis.

Mar. 14

Arjun Atwal won the Indian Open golf in Calcutta.

Mar. 15

Pakistan won the inaugural Asian Test Championship, defeating Sri Lanka by an innings and 175 runs in the final at Dhaka.

Mar. 16

Haryana's Amarjeet Kaypee, during an innings of 148 against Madhya Pradesh in the super-league match at Rajnandgaon, overtook Ashok Malhotra's 7,274 runs and became the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy.

Mar. 17

GM Dibyendu Barua and IWM S. Vijayalakshmi (both India) won the men's and women's titles respectively in the Asian Zonal chess championship in Mumbai.

Mar. 19

Salgaocar emerged National Football League champion in Calcutta with a match to spare.

Mar. 20

Marcus Hilpert and Manisha Malhotra won the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the National grasscourt tennis championship in Calcutta.

Mar. 22

Punjab men, Railway women emerged National basketball champions in Jaipur.

Mar. 25

Former National tennis champion Arathi Ponnappa called it quits from competitive tennis in Bangalore.

Mar. 26

Indian Airlines regained the National hockey men's title in Hyderabad.

Mar. 27

World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand won the title with a round to spare in the rapid section of the Amber rapid and blindfold chess tournaments in Monte Carlo.

Mar. 30

Services regained team title in the National boxing championship in Visakhapatnam.

Apr. 4

Bengal retained the Santosh Trophy in the National football championship in Chennai.

India routed China 5-0 in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I second round play-off in Calcutta.

Apr. 9

K. Sasikiran won the National `A' chess title with a round to spare in Nagpur.

Apr. 11

Tamil Nadu men, Railways women emerged National Volleyball League champions in Triprayar.

Byron Black won the singles, Paes-Bhupathi the doubles in the in the ATP-Gold Flake Open in Chennai.

Chetan Baboor and Poulomi Ghatak won the men's and women's titles in the India Cup table tennis in Mumbai.

Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters at the Augusta golf course.

Apr. 23

Karnataka retained the Ranji Trophy, defeating Madhya Pradesh in the final at Bangalore.

Apr. 25

West Indian all-rounder Carl Hooper announced in Barbados his retirement from international cricket.

Lord Killanin, who presided over the International Olympic Committee during one of its most turbulent periods, passed away in Dublin.

Apr. 26

India's Atanu Lahiri and Bhagyashree Thipsay won the men's and women's titles respectively in the Commonwealth chess championship in Bikaner.

Apr. 28

Sir Alf Ramsey, the former international who managed England to a World Cup soccer triumph in 1966, passed away in London.

Apr. 30

Former England opening batsman Cyril Washbrook passed away, it was announced in London.

South African opening batsman Andrew Hudson announced in Durban his retirement from international cricket.

May 1

India retained the SAFF Coca-Cola football title in Margao, beating Bangladesh in the final.

May 3

Former England wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans passed away in London.

Cochin Port Trust men, Southern Railway women won the 21st Federation Cup volleyball titles in Pathanamthitta.

Stephen Hendry claimed a record seventh world snooker title in Sheffield, England.

May 14

British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair inaugurated the World Cup '99 cricket at Lord's.

May 17

Chess GM Lembit Oll, ranked No. 42 in the world, committed suicide in Tallinn, Estonia.

May 18

R. B. Sapre, India's first National chess champion, passed away in Mumbai.

May 22

Manipur won the National women's football championship in Shillong, beating Bengal in the final.

May 23

Sun Jun (China) and Camilla Martin (Denmark) won the men's and women's titles in the World badminton championships in Copenhagen.

May 24

Noted wrestling coach, Dronacharya awardee Guru Hanuman, died in a road accident near Meerut.

Jun. 5

Steffi Graf regains French Open title.

Jun. 6

Agassi won the French Open tennis crown, the only Grand Slam event missing from collection. Paes-Bhupathi bagged their maiden Grand Slam doubles crown, defeating Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff Tarango in the final.

Jun. 8

ATP announced Paes-Bhupathi as No. 1 ranked doubles team. In individual doubles ranking, Bhupathi and Paes were No. 1 and 2.

Jun. 13

Anand handed FIDE world champion Anatoly Karpov a 5-1 defeat in the Advanced chess match in Leon.

Jun. 15

Czech tennis star Petr Korda announced his retirement from the pro tour after a shock defeat in the qualifying for the Wimbledon championship.

Jun. 16

American Maurice Greene set a new 100m World record, timing 9.79 in the Tsikliteria International in Athens.

Jun. 20

Australia regained cricket World Cup at Lord's.

Australia won Champions Trophy men's hockey in Brisbane.

Jun. 25

PSCB emerged men's and women's champions in the inter-institutional table tennis in Gandhidham.

Jun. 27

Chetan Baboor (PSCB) and Anindita Chakraborty (Rly) won the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the inter- institutional table tennis in Gandhidham.

India won the four-nation under-21 women's hockey title, defeating England in the final at the Kean University, New Jersey.

Jul. 2

Sahara India, sponsor of the Sahara Cup annual cricket series between India and Pakistan in Canada, withdrew sponsorship in view of the Kargil conflict.

Anand finished runner-up behind Garry Kasparov in the Siemens Giants rapid chess tournament in Frankfurt.

Jul. 4

S. Vijayalakshmi won the National women's `A' chess championship with a round to spare in Kozhikode.

Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport won the men's and women's singles at Wimbledon; Paes and Bhupathi bagged doubles title, beating Paul Haarhuis and Jared Palmer in the final. Paes also won the mixed doubles crown in the company of Lisa Raymond.

Jul. 7

Former Indian Test cricketer M.L. Jaisimha passed away in Hyderabad.

Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj broke the men's mile world record, clocking 3m, 43.13s in a dramatic race at the Golden Gala athletics meet in Rome.

Jul. 12

Services' Anil Kumar clocked 21.06 seconds to win the 200m in the third leg of the AAFI international meet in Bangalore. The AAFI technical committee clipped .59 seconds to acknowledge the difference between manual and electronic timings and thus ensured that Anil had equalled Milkha Singh's long-standing National record (20.7s, 1960, Lahore).

Jul. 22

Australian fast bowler Paul Reiffel announced in Melbourne his retirement from international cricket.

Jul. 26

Haryana shocked defending champion Railways in the final of the Federation Cup women's hockey in Tirupati.

Aug. 5

Nisha Millet became the first Indian swimmer to receive the International Olympic Committee's Solidarity Scholarship, given to sportspersons with outstanding track record and possessing Olympic potential.

Aug. 6

Sri Lankan batsman Roshan Mahanama announced in Colombo his retirement from international cricket.

Aug. 8

In the Federation Cup athletics in Bangalore, Sanjay Kumar Rai (U.P.) became the second Indian after T.C. Yohannan in 25 years to touch the eight-metre mark in long jump.

Liu Guoliang and Wang Nan (both China) won the men's and women's singles titles respectively in the World table tennis championship in Eindhoven.

England's Mike Russell won the World professional billiards title in Chennai.

Aug. 9

India's Manisha Malhotra won the $10,000 ITF women's circuit tournament at Harrisonburg, Virginia for her maiden Tour title.

Aug. 11

A.G. Ram Singh, doyen of Tamil Nadu cricket, passed away in Chennai.

Former Indian opening batsman Ramnath Parkar passed away in Mumbai.

Aug. 13

German tennis legend Steffi Graf announced her retirement at a press conference in Hiedelberg, Germany.

Aug. 14

Former Indian left-hander W. V. Raman announced in Chennai his retirement from first class cricket.

Aug. 22

Maurice Greene and Marion Jones (both U.S.) emerged sprint champions in the World Track & Field championship in Seville, Spain.

Aug. 25

Former Indian Davis Cup captain Narendra Nath passed away in Delhi.

Aug. 26

Michael Johnson (U.S.) set a new world record time of 43.18s in the men's 400m at the World Track & Field championships in Seville.

Aug. 29

Russian Alexander Khalifman emerged the FIDE World chess champion in Las Vegas.

Aug. 31

Surya Sekhar Ganguly won the National `B' chess championship in Mumbai.

Sep. 1

Ace athlete Jyotirmoyee Sikdar is awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna; coaches Bahadur Singh, Hargobind Singh (athletics) and Gurbax Singh Sandhu (boxing) the Dronacharya awards during the Arjuna awards function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.

Sep. 2

Long distance swimmer Bula Choudhary became the first Asian woman to cross the English channel twice.

Sep. 4

Vijay Kumar, the professional from Lucknow, won The Hindu Open golf in Chennai.

Sep. 6

Tennis star Jana Novotna announced at the U.S. Open that she'd retire at the end of the year.

Sep. 9

Mahesh Bhupathi and Ai Sugiyama won the mixed doubles title in the U.S. Open.

Sep. 10

Top seed Bhupathi and Paes finished runner-up in the U.S. Open doubles, losing to Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien in the final.

Sep. 11

India's Sachin Ratti won the men's singles title in the New Zealand international badminton championship, defeating top seed and world No. 23 Rio Suryana of Australia in the final.

American teenager Serena Williams bagged the women's singles at the U.S. Open.

Sep. 12

Andre Agassi won the U.S. Open men's singles.

Sep. 21

Mr. A. C. Muthiah was elected president and Kapil Dev the senior coach at the BCCI's AGM in Jaipur.

Sep. 22

Former Test all-rounder Chandu Borde was re-appointed chairman of National selection committee on Day Two of the BCCI AGM in Jaipur.

Sep. 24

India's Krishnan Sasikiran and China's Wang Yu bagged the boys' and girl's titles respectively in the Asian junior chess championship in Vung Tau City, Vietnam.

Sep. 25

VIII SAF Games was inaugurated in Kathmandu.

Oct. 3

India finished with seven silver and four bronze medals in the Asian junior athletic championship which concluded in Singapore.

Oct. 4

Curtain rung down on the VIII SAF Games in Kathmandu. India topped the medals tally.

Rest of India won the Zal Irani Trophy in Bangalore.

Oct. 7

Long-jumper Sanjay Kumar Rai became the first Indian man to go over the eight-metre twice when he leapt to a personal best of 8.02m at the National athletic Circuit meet in Mumbai and sound a fresh threat to T. C. Yohannan's two-decade old National record of 8.07m.

Oct. 9

Sunil Kumar and Sai Jayalakshmy won the men's and women's titles respectively in the National tennis championship in Delhi. Akshay Vishal Rao emerged boys' under-18 champion.

Oct. 12

New Zealand Test bowler Gavin Larsen announced in Wellington his retirement from first class cricket.

NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain passed away in Bel Air, L.A..

Oct. 16

Geet Sethi bagged the Fred Davis award as the ``Billiards Player of the Year 1998-99''.

Indian women claimed bronze in the Asian team chess championship in Shenyang.

Oct. 17

Indian men bagged bronze in the Asian team chess championship in Shenyang.

Dingko Singh won the bantam weight gold while Services' Ramanand was adjudged the best boxer in the National boxing championship which concluded in Shimla.

Chiranjeev Milkha Singh won the Lexus international golf tournament in Bangkok.

Oct. 22

Australian tennis great John Bromwich, winner of two Australian singles and finalist at Wimbledon in 1948, died in Geelong, near Melbourne.

Martin Donnelly, one of New Zealand's greatest cricketers, passed away in Sydney.

Oct. 23

At 13 years, 10 months and 13 days, China's Xiangzhi Bu became the youngest to qualify for the chess Grandmaster title when he completed his third GM norm by jointly winning the Qingdao Daily Cup at Qingdao in China.

Oct. 25

Renowned golfer Payne Stewart was killed in plane crash in South Dakota.

Oct. 28

Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy announced his retirement in Melbourne.

Nov. 4

Australia's three-time World squash champion Michelle Martin announced her retirement in Sydney.

Nov. 5

Legendary West Indian fast bowler Malcom Marshall passed away at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after battling colon cancer for over six months.

India's Aarthie Ramaswamy won the girl's under-18 crown in the World Youth Chess Festival in Oropesa, Spain. Koneru Humpy bagged the silver in girls' under-12.

Nov. 6

International Amateur Athletic Federation President Primo Nebiolo died of a heart attack in Rome.

Nov. 13

Punjab Police men, Railways women emerged Federation Cup basketball champions in Jalandhar.

Nov. 15

National champion P. Gopi Chand won the Open badminton championship in Toulouse.

Salgaocar won the Rovers Cup, beating Churchill 1-0 in the final in Mumbai.

Nov. 16

Cuba beat hot favourite Russia to win the World Cup women's volleyball tournament for the fourth time in a row in Nagoya.

Nov. 17

India beats New Zealand by seven wickets to win the one-day cricket series in New Delhi. Saurav Ganguly, `man of the match' and `man of the series'.

Nov. 20

World sports award of the century given away in Vienna. The jury included IOC chief Samaranch, FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, Prince Albert of Monaco, motor racing chief Max Mosley. Award winners

Contact sports

Muhammad Ali; Soccer-Pele; athletics-Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci; water sport

Dawn Fraser, Mark Spitz; motor sport

Alain Prost; tennis-Steffi Graf; basketball-Michael Jordan; winter sports (skiing)

Annemarie Moser-Proell and Jean-Claude Killy.

Jaspal Rana and Ved Prakash pair win gold in centre fire and air pistol events at Commonwealth shooting championship in Auckland.

Nov. 21

China retained its Asian women's football title beating Chinese Taipei 3-0 in final in Bacolod (Philippines)

Nov. 22

Carl Lewis and Fanny Blankers-Koen named `best male' and `best female' athletes of the century by the track and field's world governing body.

Nov. 24

India finish with 10 gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals in the Commonwealth shooting championship which ended in Auckland.

Nov. 26

Sri Lankan seam bowler, Nuwan Zoysa earns a hat-trick in the second Test against Zimbabwe at Harare.

Nov. 27

Holder India finish third in the Asia Cup tennis championship in New Delhi. Uzbekistan is the winner and Japan the runner up.

Nov. 28

South Korea retains Asia cup hockey championship beating Pakistan in the final 5-4 in Kuala Lumpur. India bag the bronze beating Malaysia 4-2.

Nov. 30

Manchester United became the first English side to be crowned `world football club champion' with a 1-0 win over Brazil's Palmeiras in Tokyo. Skipper Roy Keane scored the match winner (35th minute).

Dec. 2

Former India opening batsman, Navjot Singh Sidhu announced his decision to retire from International and domestic cricket at a press meet in Chandigarh.

Dec. 4

Leander Paes won the ATP Challenger tennis title in Lucknow.

Former West Indian opening batsman, Conrad Hunte (67) passed away in Sydney.

Salgaocar Club defeated East Bengal 3-2 via tie breaker to win the Durand Cup football tournament in New Delhi.

Dec. 5

Former West Indian fast bowler Sylvester Clarke died in Bridgetown.

Dec. 6

Australia regained the Davis Cup after a gap of 13 years beating France 3-2 in the final in Nice.

Steffi Graf, winner of 22 Grand Slam titles and 1988 Olympic gold medal received the Olympic movement's highest honour. IOC chief Juan Samaranch presented her with the `Olympic order' in Lausane.

Dec. 11

Leander Paes capped a brilliant year with his successive Challenger title, this time in Jaipur, beating Barry Cowan in the final.

Dec. 14

India lost to Australia by 285 runs in Adelaide in the first cricket Test.

Dec. 16

Michael Johnson's 400m world record (43.18s) set up in the Seville World championship was ratified by IAAF. Other records also ratified were

Kenyan Noah Ngeny's 1000m mark (2

11.96, Reiti, Italy) and Moroccan Hicham el Guerrouj's 2000m (4

44.79, Berlin)

Dec. 18

Indian tennis duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhuapathi were named The Sportstar's Sportpersons of the Year-1999. Sunil Kumar, the teenaged National hardcourt tennis champion and Aarthie Ramaswamy, the world under-18 girls chess champion are to receive the `Young Achiever award' while hockey wizard Leslie Claudius will be honoured with the Legend of Indian Sport award.

Dec. 21

Diego Maradona was voted Argentina's Sportsperson of Century by that country's sports journalists in Buenos Aires.

North Zone won the Duleep Trophy, defeating West on first innings lead in Calcutta.

Dec. 24

Mohammed Azharuddin was presented with The Sportstar's Sportsperson of the Year-1998 award in Chennai. Billiards legend Wilson Jones (The Sportstar's Legend of Indian Sport awardee) and chess prodigy Koneru Humpy (The Sportstar's Young Achiever awardee) were honoured in absentia.

Koneru Humpy won the under-12 boys' title and P. Harikrishna, the Under-14 boys' title, in the Asian Youth Chess Championship in Ahmedabad.

Dec. 26

Former Indian Davis Cup star Ramesh Krishnan was appointed non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team.

Dec. 27

The National equestrian championship concluded in Chennai with OTA's Rohit Dagar finishing with six medals.

PSCB's Prathima Kumari shattered the National clean and jerk mark twice in the women's 58-kg class on the second day of the senior National weightlifting championship in Kalyan.

Dec. 28

Khonidevi (Police Sports Board) created a new mark in the women's 69-kg clean and jerk event at the senior National weightlifting championship in Kalyan.

Events 1999