15 May 2004	Saturday	24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

NEW DELHI, May 14: Asian Games double gold-medallist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar won a seat in India's parliament but the country's passion for cricket did not translate into votes for two former internationals.

Sikdar, who won golds in the 800m and 1,500m track events at the Bangkok Asiad in 1998, contested as a communist in her home state of West Bengal and defeated her rival from the Bharatiya Janata party by 20,389 votes. But former Test cricketers Kirti Azad and Chetan Chauhan succumbed to the wave that swept the ruling BJP from power on Thursday.

Kirti Azad, a member of India's World Cup winning squad in 1983 who joined the BJP six years ago, was trounced in the Darbhanga constituency of Bihar by a margin of 143,000 votes.

Chetan Chauhan, better known as Sunil Gavaskar's opening partner in the late 1970s and a former BJP lawmaker, finished a poor fourth in the northern hill district of Amroha in a seat won by an independent candidate.

There was, however, good news for former Test batsman-turned commentator Navjot Sidhu, who made a spectacular entry into politics by winning from Amritsar on the BJP ticket.

Sidhu defeated former junior foreign minister Raghunandan Lal Bhatia by 98,248 votes.

"I am ready to take guard in the most important innings of my life," said Sidhu.

Three leading sports administrators enjoyed mixed fortunes.

While junior sports minister Vijay Goel lost the election, there were victories for Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and All-India Council of Sports chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra.-AFP