AIFF names probables
for Asian Games
CALCUTTA, Oct 11 — The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) today named 31 players for the preparatory camp for Bangkok Asian Games under the guidance of Syed Nayeemuddin.

Gaekwad blames bowlers
HARARE, Oct 11 — "I don’t mind losing,..... But it is the manner of losing which hurts", a dejected coach Anshuman Gaekwad said of the humiliating 61-run defeat India suffered at the hands of Zimbabwe yesterday.

Uzma aiming for
Asiad medal
NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — National champion Uzma Khan, who completed a grand double at the hardcourt nationals here, has set her sights on winning an Asian Games medal before leaving for the USA for studies and training.

Seeded players move into last 4
BHIWANI, Oct 11 — All seeded players in the men’s and women’s singles of the senior Indian Grand Prix Prize Money Badminton Tournament reached the semifinals on the third day here today.

CR eves, Punjab cops register wins
GIDDERBAHA, Oct 11 — Central Railway, Mumbai, defeated Punjab (Red) 60-40 in the women's section of the first Raja Porus All-India Basketball Tournament at Baba Ganga Ram Municipal Stadium here today.

DAV, GMSS School lads in semis
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — DAV Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, defeated Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 15, by three goals to nil in the first quarter-final of the Chandigarh State Junior Football Championship (under-19) for the S.D. Trophy at the Sector 17 football stadium today.

Germany shocked, England held
PARIS, Oct 11 — Germany and England suffered severe blows to their pride in yesterday’s European Championship qualifying matches — Germany crashing to a humiliating 1-0 defeat in Turkey and England being held to a bitterly disappointing 0-0 draw by Bulgaria at Wembley.

Gurpreet claims four titles
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Gurpreet Kaur claimed four titles in 100 metres freestyle, breast stroke, butterfly and 200 metres individual medley on the concluding day of the Chandigarh Open Swimming Championship for senior, junior and subjunior here on the Panjab University campus today.

Bishnoi CC enter final
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The honours of the day belonged to Ajay Sharma (65) and Mithun Minhas (57) who enabled Bishnoi Cricket Club to outclass Puncom XI by 137 runs and enter the final of the fifth J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament at the PCA Stadium, SAS Nagar today.

Rupa Saini on SAI panel
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Olympian Rupa Saini is the lone athlete from Punjab to be made a member of the general body of the Sports Authority of India. Rupa, who donned national colours in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, had represented India for 13 years in various international competitions, including World Cups.

Scheme revised for grants
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The revised scheme of grants for promotion of sports in Haryana will be introduced in the state’s colleges and principals of all colleges in the state have been asked by the Department of Higher Education to submit their proposals.

Shooting prodigy aiming at Olympic gold
CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Manavjit Singh Sandhu, the bright star of Indian shooting who recently won the gold in trap pair shooting event in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur is now aiming for the gold in Asian Games at Bangkok and gold in the Sydney Olympics.

Sangrur overall champions
SANGRUR, Oct 11 — Sangrur won the overall championship in boxing and badminton in the Punjab school Games, which have concluded here.

AIFF names probables for Asian Games

CALCUTTA, Oct 11 (PTI) — The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) today named 31 players for the preparatory camp for Bangkok Asian Games under the guidance of Syed Nayeemuddin.

The camp is scheduled to begin from October 16 at Sports Authority of India’s southern centre in Bangalore.

With 15 representatives, almost half of those selected to join the camp are from Bengal.

The AIFF secretary, Mr K.N. Mour, in a press note here, also announced the names of 40 women footballers who would join the preparatory camp for the Bangkok games at the SAI centre, Patiala.

The men selected for the camp are — I.M. Vijayan, Raman Vijayan, Baichung Bhutia, Joe Paul Ancheri, Tushar Rakshit, Amit Das, Carlton Chapman, Ranjan Dey, Franky Bareto, Dipendu Biswas, Sandip Ghosh, Hemanta Dora, Prasanta Dora, Hussain Mustafi, Debjit Ghose (all Bengal), Shabbir Pasha, M. Kamalas, J. Ananda Raja, Sebastian Netto (Tamil Nadu), R.C. Prakash (Karnataka), Najeeb, Md Shafiq, K.N. Anson, Firoze Sharif (Kerala), Satish Kumar, Roberto Fernandez, Juje Siddi, Lal Machwani (Services), Kasif Jamal, Khalid Jameel (Maharashtra), Appanna (Railways).

Syed Nayeemuddin (Bengal) will coach the Indian men’s football team. Gabriel Joseph (Kerala) would be the assistant coach.

The women selected for the camp are — Binashri, Robita Devi, Khambi Devi, Kumari Devi, Chaoba Devi, O. Bem Bem, S.H. Rani, Tababi, Lokeshori, S. Rani (Manipur), Ranjita Mohanty, Gitanjali, S. Samanta Rai (Orissa), Preena, Bentla D’Couth, Seema C.V. (Kerala), Chaitali Kar, Dulali Ghosh, Alpana Seal, Pampa Sarkar, Sujata Kar, Bandana Paul, Sayanti Nandi, Swapna Saha (Bengal), Malkit Kaur, Ranjit Kaur Jyoti, Devinder Kaur, Gurmeet, Karamjit Kaur (Punjab), Geeta Chowdhuri, Minu Solanki, Kalpana Singh (Rajasthan), Mamu V. Gogoi, G. Romani, Anjan Pegu (Assam), Nesa Kumari (Karnataka), Elzhila Rasi (Tamil Nadu), Angela Gomes, Graci Perara, Maria Rebello (Goa).

S. Arumoynaygam of Tamil Nadu will coach the women’s team.

Gaekwad blames bowlers

HARARE, Oct 11 (PTI) — "I don’t mind losing,..... But it is the manner of losing which hurts", a dejected coach Anshuman Gaekwad said of the humiliating 61-run defeat India suffered at the hands of Zimbabwe yesterday.
"I feel the third day’s play was crucial to our fortunes. Unfortunately, we bowled too short and gave them too many easy runs", continued Gaekwad. On this day, India had taken a 59-run lead but the bowlers were off target and allowed Zimbabwe to raise 138 runs for the first wicket.

"Instead of looking to contain them, we were trying to take wickets and that upset our plans", Gaekwad said.

A visibily upset skipper Mohammed Azharuddin said it was a "collective" failure adding "it does not augur well for the team for the coming months".

"They (Zimbabwe) were leading us by 160 runs and we went back to hotel and had an extended time among ourselves to sort out the problem", said Gaekwad. "It worked with the bowlers for we got them out for 293 but then our batsmen faltered".

"Our openers failed in this match and in second innings, most of our batsmen were irresponsible", he added.

Is it right to ask Nayan Mongia to open all the time, could not one of the middle order batsmen be asked to move up in front?"

"It is not right to unsettle your middle order and ask one of them to open the innings", said Gaekwad. "Anyway, Nayan (Mongia) has been opening on and off, and we decided to stick with the Sidhu-Mongia combination".

Could it be that India are depending too heavily on Sachin Tendulkar to win international matches?

"I don’t think so. If Tendulkar was weighing so heavily on our batsmen’s mind than Rahul (Dravid) and Saurav (Ganguly) would not have batted in such assured manner as they did on the final afternoon", Gaekwad said.

Gaekwad said there was nothing wrong with the pitch. "It was excellent for batting all through. Still, more than the batting in the second innings, I think we allowed Zimbabwe to make too many runs on the third afternoon".

Azhar agreed that the poor start did affect the rest of the innings.

"We did not get good start and it was critical. A good start, most of the times, makes the difference. Unfortunately, it was not the case", Azhar said.
"We kept losing wickets regularly and our batsmen did not play responsibly", said Azhar. "Our bowlers did the job but unfortunately our batsmen were not up to it".

"We were inconsistent in every department of the game", said Azhar, "on all the days, we did not play well".

On his own batting in the match, which saw him perish twice in slips playing strokes, Azhar said: "You play shots to score runs and that’s way I tried to do".

On umpiring, the Indians preferred to leave it to "your good judgement" instead of complaining in public about the inconsistency by the umpires, especially by Ian Robinson.

Neil Johnson, who made a memorable debut in the Test by claiming Sachin Tendulkar in both the innings, did not think Rahul Dravid was out. "I don’t think he touched the ball", said Johnson.

Dravid, India’s last hope and batting on 44, was given out when a Mpulemolo Mbangwa delivery brushed his pads and went to the wicketkeeper on the legside. Even as Dravid indicated his pads, umpire Robinson gave him out.

Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton agreed with Gaekwad’s assessment and said India had no business to give as many runs as they did on the third day.

"Imagine, we being one down for 200 on the third afternoon", he said. "It was poor bowling on the part of Indian bowlers".

"They kept bowling short and paid the penalty", said Houghton. "In contrast, the bowlers of both the teams pitched it up on the final day and reaped huge rewards".

Uzma aiming for Asiad medal

NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (PTI) — National champion Uzma Khan, who completed a grand double at the hardcourt nationals here, has set her sights on winning an Asian Games medal before leaving for the USA for studies and training.

"My aim is to represent India in the Bangkok Asian Games in December and win a medal for the country," an elated Uzma said.

"I would like to play along with Nirupama (Vaidyanathan) in the Bangkok games," she said after winning two titles — the women’s and girls’ (under-18) — in the DSCL National Open Tennis Championship at the DLTA courts yesterday.

Uzma, ranked 64th on the ITF junior women’s list, said though the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) was yet to forward any names to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), she hoped to be a part of the Bangkok-bound Indian contingent.

"There is tough competition in Asia itself. The Japanese, Chinese and Koreans are stronger players but we (India) can clinch a medal in the singles and doubles," she said.

The 18-year-old Andhra Pradesh girl who finished the season with a remarkable all-win record, is raring to attain further heights in the near future.

"I want to join the WTA tour and be among the top 100," she said. "It’s very tough competition out there but once I am in the USA with the kind of facilities available, I would like to improve my game, physique and style."

Uzma has been India’s number one in various age groups since 1992 and, with Vaidyanathan hardly playing any tennis here, she has undoubtedly claimed the women’s top spot.

Despite having won two senior national titles, Uzma has no sponsors yet to help boost her career. Playing without a coach and winning two national titles — both, on grass and hardcourt surface — Uzma’s rise to the top of women’s tennis is creditable.

After her hardcourt title win yesterday, national carrier Indian Airlines announced it would provide her free passage on domestic flights as long as she continued with her tennis career.

Meanwhile the 12th-standard student, who leaves for the USA in January 1999 to join the University of Arizona, is determined to excel at the international level.

Uzma has not had much international exposure. An outing with foreign players came during the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania Zone qualifying ties in which she helped India move up to group I from group II.

"I won all my matches against players from Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Pacific Islands and this has given me a lot of confidence," she said.

Uzma, who received a wild card for the US Open junior women’s tournament this year but lost in the first round, said while in the USA, she would play as much tennis as possible to improve her game.

"Here I don’t get a chance to play against stronger players," she said. In fact there is no one in India to challenge her at present with Vaidyanathan playing in the USA. and Europe.

This year she has won the South India Open and four ITF tournaments besides the two national titles yesterday.

Seeded players move into last 4
Tribune News Service

BHIWANI, Oct 11 — All seeded players in the men’s and women’s singles of the senior Indian Grand Prix Prize Money Badminton Tournament reached the semifinals on the third day here today.

Shrikant Bakshi had to struggle hard to over-power his opponent Thoman Kurian (Rly) in an extended game and won 10-15, 15-5 and 15-7.

Sushant Saxena (UP), Nikhil Kanetkar (Mah), Srikant Bakshi (Rly) and Abhin Shyam Gupta entered the semifinals in the men’s singles whereas Manjusha Kanwar (Mah), Sampada Shetty, P.V. Laxmi (AP) and C.H. Deepti entered the semifinals in the women’s section. The finals are slated for tomorrow.

Results: Women’s doubles: P.V.V. Laxmi and Madhumita b Partibha and Harsh Lat 15-2, 15-1; Manjusha and Archna Deodhar b Kanika and Karishna 15-5, 15-8; Glory Xavier and C.H. Deepti b Kirti Kadam and Vinya Shetty 15-11, 17-15; B.R. Meenakshi and Sampada Shetty b Navdeep Kaur and Yogita 15-13, 15-4.

Men’s singles (quarterfinals): Sushant Saxena (UP) b Joy T. Antony 15-12, 15-7; Nikhil Kanetkar (Mah) b Jaison Xavier 15-10, 15-3; Shrikant Bakshi (Rly) b Thomas Kurian (Rly) 10-15, 15-5, 15-7; Abhim Shyam Gupta b Devinder Dhillon 15-10, 15-1.

Women’s singles (quarterfinals): Manjusha Kanwar (Mah) b Parul Majithia (Dli) 11-1, 11-0; Sampada Shetty b B.R. Meenakshi 11-7, 11-3; P.V.V. Luxmi (AP) b Archna Deodhar (Mah) 11-1, 9-11, 11-1; C.H. Deepti b Glory Xavier 11-1, 11-5.

Mixed doubles (semifinals): Harishchander and B.R. Meenakshi b Vijaydeep and Madhumita; 15-13, 15-14; Kirti Kadam and M. Ghatneker Vincent Labo and P.V.V. Laxmi 4-15, 15-8, 15-12.

CR eves, Punjab cops register wins
Tribune News Service

GIDDERBAHA, Oct 11 — Central Railway, Mumbai, defeated Punjab (Red) 60-40 in the women's section of the first Raja Porus All-India Basketball Tournament at Baba Ganga Ram Municipal Stadium here today.

Though the Punjab (Red) women tried their best to take the initiative, Central Railway took advantage of their speed and shooting skill to force Punjab (Red) to surrender.

In the first half Central Railway collected 26 points while Punjab (Red) could collect only 18 points. After changing sides, Central Railway team added 34 more points to their kitty while Punjab (Red) could secure only 22 points in a one-sided match.

For Central Railway Meena Pandey scored 17 points alone while Shany Mol (12) and Vishali (10) were the other scores. For Punjab (Red) Prabhjot scored 18 points and Lavraj Kaur and Kiranjeet scored 10 and nine points respectively.

In an earlier match, Punjab Police defeated the mighty PSEB team 64-44 in the men's section. Though initially the fight was neck-and-neck, the PSEB players lacked stamina and could not match the speed of the Punjab Police shooters.

In another match TISCO (Bihar) men's team defeated Indian Youth 69-49. Shahid Quarashi of TISCO attacked time and again and he remained unstoppable. His team mates Nishant (22 points) and Ranjeet (13 points) lent full support. For Indian Youth Robinson performed well and collected nine points.

DAV, GMSS School lads in semis
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — DAV Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, defeated Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 15, by three goals to nil in the first quarter-final of the Chandigarh State Junior Football Championship (under-19) for the S.D. Trophy at the Sector 17 football stadium today.

The government school lads put up stiff resistance in the first half before conceding the first goal in the 20th minute when right striker Harish of DAV school headed the ball into the net on a cross from right-winger Ravinder. The half-time score was 1-0 in favour of DAV school. After the lemon break the DAV lads added two more goals through Ravinder and Kalarjit in the 40th and 48th minutes and qualified for the semifinals.

In the second quarterfinal, Government MSS School, Sector 20, beat Sanjay Public School, Sector 44, by 4-2 via the tie breaker.

In the third quarterfinal, Government MSS School, Sector 23 beat Government MSS School, Sector 22, by two goals to nil. Both the goals were scored by Kanav.

In the last quarterfinal, S.D. Public School, Sector 32, beat Shishu Niketan Model SS School, Sector 22, by four goals to nil in a well-contested match. The SD School boys were superior in all departments of the game and scored two quick goals through right-striker Avneet. After the lemon break SD School added two more goals through Satinder and Sandeep and qualified for the semifinals.

Germany shocked, England held

PARIS, Oct 11 (AFP) — Germany and England suffered severe blows to their pride in yesterday’s European Championship qualifying matches — Germany crashing to a humiliating 1-0 defeat in Turkey and England being held to a bitterly disappointing 0-0 draw by Bulgaria at Wembley.

But while the defending European champions and England struggled, France scored their first victory under new coach Roger Lemerre when they snatched a 3-2 away win over Russia, and Italy defeated Switzerland 2-0 in Udine.

Galatasaray striker Hakan Sukur, nicknamed "The bull of the Bosphorus", sent the Turkish crowd into delirium and left the Germans in despair when he headed his side clear in the 69th minute.

Sukur struck with 20 minutes left when German keeper Oliver Kahn punched away an effort from substitute Oktay Derelioglu.

Turkey’s immediate jubilation died down seconds later, however, when Tayfun Korkut was sent off for a second bookable offence. Even against 10 men and despite considerable late pressure, the Germans could not climb back into the match.

It was the first Turkish victory over Germany in 15 matches since 1951 and it was greeted by wild street celebrations all over the country.

Turkey now top group three with a maximum six points from two games while Germany, playing their first game under new manager Erich Ribbeck, will be hoping for better things when they travel to Moldova on Wednesday.

England’s dour stalemate against Bulgaria at Wembley in group five was almost as bad — and Glenn Hoddle’s future as England coach looks anything but rosy after he and his players were booed off the Wembley pitch.

After losing to Sweden in their opening match, England were expecting a win — especially against a side so comprehensively beaten at home by Poland only four weeks ago.

But it was not to be.

England, who travel to Luxembourg on Wednesday, managed to carve themselves too few chances. Their best efforts came when Michael Owen slammed one shot over the bar and Sol Campbell headed just wide.

Hoddle admitted that England now faced an uphill task to qualify for the finals. "We have to pick ourselves up for Wednesday’s match against Luxembourg and hope that the result of Sweden’s match against Poland goes our way.’’

Poland, meanwhile, went top of the group after squashing Luxembourg 3-0 in Warsaw.

France, desperate to forget the embarrassment of last month’s draw in Iceland, threw away a two-goal lead against a well-drilled Russian side in group four before Alain Boghossian finally netted the winner nine minutes from time.

However, Ukraine top group four with six points, having followed up their success against Russia last month by beating Andorra 2-0 away yesterday.

Italy lead the way in group one after Alessandro del Piero silenced his critics by scoring both goals in the win over Switzerland. It ended a five-month goal drought for the striker which wrecked the Italians’ World Cup campaign.

Gurpreet claims four titles
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Gurpreet Kaur claimed four titles in 100 metres freestyle, breast stroke, butterfly and 200 metres individual medley on the concluding day of the Chandigarh Open Swimming Championship for senior, junior and subjunior here on the Panjab University campus today.

Mr Sarabjeet Singh, IPS, Additional Director-General of Police, Punjab, gave away the prizes.

The detailed results:

Under-14 (girls) 100 m free style Kiran 1, Himanshu 2, Neerja 3.

Under-14 (boys) 100 m freestyle Arvind Sahdev 1, Harshit Narang 2, Gurbir singh Gill 3.

Under-17 (girls) 100 m free style Gurpreet Kaur1, Shilpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

Under-17 (boys), 100m freestyle Mandeep1, Atul 2, Surinder 3.

Under-19 years 100 m freestyle (girls) Ritu 1, Kriti 2, Tarun 3, (boys) Atul 1, Dinkar 2, Vitul 3.

Under-14 ys 100 m backstroke: (girls) Kirandeep Kaur 1, Himanshi 2, Puja 3. (boys) Arvind 1, Harshat Narang 2, Gurbir 3.

Under-17 years 100 m back stroke:

(Girls) Gurpreet Kaur 1, Shilpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

(Boys) Surinder Pal 1, Robin 2, Munish 3.

Under-19 100m back stroke: (Girls) Ritu Kashyap 1, Kriti Rana 2, Manmeet Gill 3.

Under-14 100m breast stroke: (Girls) Himanshi 1, Nirja Saini 2, Pooja 3.

(Boys) Gurbir Singh 1, Arvind 2, Harshit Narang 3.

Under-17 100m breast stroke: (Girls) Gurpreet Kaur 1, Tanya Aggarwal 2, Shilpa Narang 3.

Under-14 years (Girls) 100m butter fly: Himanshi 1, Kirandeep 2, Neerja Saini 3.

Under-17 years (Girls) 100m buttery fly: Gurpreet Kaur 1, Shilpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

Under-19 (boys) 100m butterfly: Vishavpratap 1, Dinkar 2, Vitul 3.

Under-17 (boys) 100m butterfly: Avinash 1, Harshat Narang 2, Pankaj Chauhan 3.

200m individual medley (girls under-14): Kirandeep 1, Himanshi 2, Nirja Saini 3.

200m individual medley (girls under-17): Gurpreet Kaur 1, Shikpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

200m individual medley (boys under-19): Vishavpartap 1, Dinkar 2, Atul 3.

200m individual medley (boys under-17): Arvind 1, Harshat Narang 2, Pankaj Chauhan 3.

100m butterfly (girls under-19): Kriti Rana 1, Ruhani 2, Gayatri 3.

100m freestyle (men): O.P. Narang 1, Rajiv Aggarwal 2, Devi Parshad 3.

Shilpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

Under-19 (boys) 100m butterfly: Vishavpratap 1, Dinkar 2, Vitul 3.

Under-17 (boys) 100m butterfly: Avinash 1, Harshat Narang 2, Pankaj Chauhan 3.

200m individual medley (girls under-14): Kirandeep 1, Himanshi 2, Nirja Saini 3.

200m individual medley (girls under-17): Gurpreet Kaur 1, Shikpa Narang 2, Tanya Aggarwal 3.

200m individual medley (boys under-19): Vishavpartap 1, Dinkar 2, Atul 3.

200m individual medley (boys under-17): Arvind 1, Harshat Narang 2, Pankaj Chauhan 3.

100m butterfly (girls under-19): Kriti Rana 1, Ruhani 2, Gayatri 3.

100m freestyle (men): O.P. Narang 1, Rajiv Aggarwal 2, Devi Parshad 3.

Bishnoi CC enter final
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The honours of the day belonged to Ajay Sharma (65) and Mithun Minhas (57) who enabled Bishnoi Cricket Club to outclass Puncom XI by 137 runs and enter the final of the fifth J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament at the PCA Stadium, SAS Nagar today.

Puncom XI skipper Krishan Mohan won the toss and invited Bishnoi Cricket Club to bat Delhi skipper Vijay Dahiya and Oneil Wilson opened the innings. Wilson was the first to go, caught behind off the bowling of Obaid Kamaal. Bishnoi Club further lost two wickets. Then followed a partnership of 90 runs between Ajay Sharma (65) and Mithun Minhas (57).

Anay Sharma's 50 came off 61 balls and included one six and five hits to the fence. He was bowled by Bharti Vij trying to cut a short ball which came in with the arm. Ajay scored 65 runs off 70 balls, which included one six and seven fours. Mithun Minhas played a gallant knock of 57 runs.

Bishnoi CC posted a huge total of 297 runs in the allotted 50 overs.

Chasing a target with an average of six runs an over, Puncom XI started off in a shaky manner as three of their frontline batsman were run out.

Skipper Krishan Mohan played a valiant knock of 50 runs and remained not out. This knock included a solitary six and a four. The tail waged a lone battle but it was a tall order for them as half their side was back in the pavillion with 57 runs on the board. Puncom XI were finally bundled out for a paltry 160 runs in the 43rd over.

Mithun Minhas was declared 'Man of the Match'.

In the final tomorrow, Bishnoi Cricket Club will take on Punjab Cricket Club.

Rupa Saini on SAI panel
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Olympian Rupa Saini is the lone athlete from Punjab to be made a member of the general body of the Sports Authority of India. Rupa, who donned national colours in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, had represented India for 13 years in various international competitions, including World Cups.

She accompanied the Indian team to the previous World Cup in Utrecht and the Commonwealth Games in Kaula Lumpur as manager. She is at present working at Government College of Physical Education, Patiala, and is an Arjuna awardee.

The Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Sports Authority of India while the Union Human Resource Minister is its Vice-Chairman. Mr KPS Gill, President, Indian Hockey Federation, is the only other person from the sports fraternity of Punjab on the general body of the SAI.

The next meeting of the SAI will be held at National Stadium, New Delhi, on October 16.

Scheme revised for grants
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — The revised scheme of grants for promotion of sports in Haryana will be introduced in the state’s colleges and principals of all colleges in the state have been asked by the Department of Higher Education to submit their proposals.

The Education Minister, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma said here today that these proposals would be submitted to the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, through the universities to which they were affiliated.

He said with the introduction of the revised scheme, the proposals received under the old scheme would not be considered as the revised scheme had already come into force.

He said the scheme aimed at promotion of sports among the students of universities and colleges, including professional colleges.

Cash prizes to winners of the top three positions under the Maulana Abul Kalm Azad Trophy had also been increased from Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.

Shooting prodigy aiming at Olympic gold
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 — Manavjit Singh Sandhu, the bright star of Indian shooting who recently won the gold in trap pair shooting event in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur is now aiming for the gold in Asian Games at Bangkok and gold in the Sydney Olympics.

"I am really determined to give India this vital gold", says Manavjit, a B.Com. graduate. He was in Chandigarh to spend some days with his maternal grandparents, and tomorrow he is leaving for Italy for a further training session. A former alumni of Lawrence School Sanawar and YPS Mohali, Manavjit became national subjunior shooting champion in 1990 at the age of 14. His father, Mr Gurbir Singh, himself a 1982 Asian Games silver medallist has always motivated him.

At the age of 15, Manavjit became the national junior (under-21) champion. His first major international exposure came in 1994 when he represented India in the Asian Clay Shooting Meet at Bangkok at the age of 18. In the same year, he participated in World Championship at Fagnano (Italy).

Born in Rattakhera village in Ferozepore district, Manavjit won the gold in trap team event in Asian Clay Target Shooting Championship in China with an Asian record of 357/375 birds. The same year Manavjit got the silver medal in trap team event in the Asian Shooting Championship in Indonesia. In 1996 he won a silver medal in individual junior trap event in Grand Prix of the UK, stood second, at SAF Games in Chennai where he won gold in the trap team event and silver in trap individual event.

Manavjit was anxious to explain how among a total of 21 teams he won the gold in the Commonwealth games where he alongwith Mansher Singh struck 192 out of 200 birds. As he says, the competition was too tough and even their Indian counterparts were not very hopeful. But they surprised Australian and European shooters. The Australians led by Michael Diamond, the Altanta Olympic gold medallists, could gather the silver only by scoring 190 out of 200.

The bronze medal went to England led by European champion Berkeley (World Cup winner) and they could make 189 out of 200. When it was the Indians' turn for hitting the birds, it was raining heavily but overcoming all hurdles, he along with Mansher managed to bring the gold for India. When asked, how he felt about Jaspal Rana, Manavjit said, "he is brilliant shooter". India must concentrate on skill oriented games like shooting, archery etc if the country wants to make a name in the international circuit, opines Manavjit.

This 6 feet tall Punjabi boy, practices at Dr Karni Singh's shooting range in Delhi but plays for Punjab, which is his first love. He has a lot of praise for Sports Authority of India and the National Rifle Shooting Association of India which provide funds for coaching, equipment etc. At present on Italian, Mr Dradi, is coaching him.

When asked about his chances in the forthcoming Asian Games, Manavjit talked about China and Kuwait as one of the best bets.

Manavjit is of the view that as shooting is one of the costliest games in the world, therefore it can prosper only through private sponsorship.

Manavjit's younger brother, Karanjit S. Sidhu at the age of 16 is the current subjunior national champion and he is also sure to follow Manavjit.

Sangrur overall champions
From Our Correspondent

SANGRUR, Oct 11 — Sangrur won the overall championship in boxing and badminton in the Punjab school Games, which have concluded here.

Following are the final results:

Badminton — boys (under-19): Ludhiana Patiala 2-0 — Dilpreet Singh b Harinder Singh 15-3, 5-15, 17-15, Dilpreet and Jatinder b Harinder and Iqbal 15-9, 15-13.

Girls (under-19). Hoshiarpur b Sangrur 2-1 Gurpreet lost to Shahnaaz 10-13, 8-11, Gorika and Gurpreet beat Shahnaaz and Farina 15-2, 15-3. Navpreet b Narinder 11-3, 11-0

Boys (under-17): Amritsar b Sangrur 2-0 Varun Gulati b Asim 15-3 15-3. Varun and Varun b Asim and Samir 15-5, 15-3. Girls (under-17): Patiala b Nawanshahr 2-0 Amritpal b Rajbir 11-3, 6-11, 11-2, Jaspreet and Amritpal b Rajbir and Rajni 15-10, 15-8.

Boys (under-14): Sangrur b Amritsar 2-0 — Kazim b Dineshwar 15-6, 15-5, b Kazim and Kleemulah b Dineshwar and sourab 15-13, 15-12.

Girls (under-14) — Patiala b Sangrur 2-0 — Punit b Kamaljit 11-5, 11-3 Punit and Gagandeep b Suprit and Kamaljit 15-3, 15-2.

Boxing — Idiht fly weight: Kamaldeep dutta (PTA) b Nainder Singh (Sang), fly weight — Amandeep (LDH) b Mandeep Singh (Sang), Bantan wt: Gopal Singh (PTA) b Ram (LDH), Feather wt: b Harminder Singh (IDH) Deepak (Sang) Iight Welter wt: Mandeep (sang) b Jaspal Singh (LDH), Welter wt: Sukhdeep Singh (Sang) b Didar Singh (Mansa).

Light Middle wt: Vishal Gaurav (HSP) b Gurinder Singh (Sang), Middle wt: Narinder (Sang) b Amandeep (PTA), Iight Heavy wt: Varinder Partap (HSP) b Balbir Singh (Sang), Heavy wt Navpreet Singh (HSP) Rajnish (Sang), Super heavy wt: Sukhdev Singh (Sang) Ravinderjit singh (Ropar).

The DEO has announced a holiday for all schools of the district on Monday.

Double ton by Munish

AMRITSAR, Oct 11 (FOSR) — Munish Sharma scored a double century against Gurdaspur in the pre-quarterfinals of the under-19 cricket tournament here today. Munish Sharma, who was not but at 114 yesterday, completed his double century today with 19 fours and five sixers. S.P. Singh who was unbeaten at 71 yesterday, was out for 78 today. Chinto remained not out on 67. Gurdaspur were all out for 71.

GHS-40 victorious

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 (BOSR) — Government High School, Sector-40, defeated Christ High School, Sector-9, by 10 wickets and Government Model School, Sector-23 beat Government Model School, Sector-20 by five wickets in the Shivalik Trophy Knockout Prize Money Cricket Tournament here.

PGI CC triumph

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 (BOSR) — PGI Cricket Club XI notched up a convincing 80-run victory over DYFI XI in the JAL Cup League Cricket Tournament here today. The main architect of the PGI CC victory was Rakesh Jolly who scored a quick 75 off 50 balls. He also claimed two wickets for 21 runs.

HPS lift title

PANCHKULA, Oct 11 (BOSR) — Hansraj Public School, Panchkula, won the junior roller hockey title downing Manav Mangal Club 7-5 on the concluding day of the Panchkula District Roller Skating Championship here. International, Meenakshi Kohli of HPS Club helped her team win the girls event in junior roller hockey by over powering MM Club by 6-0.

Ludhiana enter q-finals

LUDHIANA, Oct 11 (FOSR) — By virtue of their first innings lead of 254 runs, Ludhiana defeated Fatehgarh Sahib to enter the quarterfinals of the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (U-19) for the Dhruv Pandove Trophy at the S.D. Government College grounds here today. In reply to Ludhiana's first innings total of 394 for 7, the visitors were all out for 140 runs in 46.2 overs. For Ludhiana, Tarun Kanish captured four wickets for 16 runs while Gaurav Marwaha consumed 3 for 45 runs. Ludhiana in their second essay made 142 runs for the loss of two wickets after 33 overs. In the quarterfinal to be played at Hoshiarpur on October 13 and 14. Ludhiana will take on the winners of the match between Ropar and Hoshiarpur being played at Hoshiarpur.

St John's, NPS score wins

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11 (BOSR) — St John's High School, Sector 26, and New Public School, Sector 18 today won their respective matches in the under-16 Edmund Rice Cricket Tournament being played here.