SPORT

PAU students become umpires
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 24 — Three PAU students — Jagroop Singh Bal, Sukhdeepak Singh Gill and Navdeep Singh — have been selected as umpires by the Punjab State Hockey Umpires Association.

They had taken written test in the PAU past year and had also attended trials on August 16 this year in DAV College, Jalandhar.

Jagroop Singh Bal who stood first in the test, is an M.Sc (horticulture) student of the PAU. He has also led the All-India Combined University team in the Nehru Cup and the Ayur Gold Cup meets. He was also a member of the Guru Nanak Dev University team which won the All-India Inter-University Championship in the year 1996-97. He was the captain of the PAU for the All-India Inter-University Tournament in the year 1999-2000. He won a silver medal in the meet. He also played against the visiting Australian team visited past year. He is gives the credit for his achievements to his coach, H.S. Bhullar.

Sukhdeepak Singh Gill and Navdeep Singh have been representing the PAU for a long time. Both had participated in the All-India Inter-University Tournament this year.

Judoka dreams of Olympic win
From A Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Aug 24 — Meet Navjot, an upcoming judoka of the town. This teenager already has a number of championship victories in his kitty. These days, he trains for five hours daily in the Speed Fund Academy run by the Sports Department of the state near Guru Nanak Stadium here. He aims to win an Olympic gold one day. He was the junior national champion from 1997 to 1999.

His day begins at 5 am with a two-hour practice routine. In the evening, the practice is for three hours.

He says that a judoka should have a good coordination between the body and the mind. Besides physical routines, alertness and agility of the mind also have to be mastered. Lowering the guard for a fraction of a second can cost a player the match, besides resulting in injury.

He said, initially, he had found it difficult to adjust to the rigorous schedule, but enjoyed it now.

His father has always encouraged him. “My father has a dream to see me as a world champion and this keeps me going,” he said. His father also wanted to become a champion, but could not realise his dream. Navjot said his younger sister Sazida and brother Navdeep are also judokas. His sister recently participated in the Junior National Championship.

He gives the credit for his success to his coaches, Rakesh Singh and Surinder Singh Sodhi. “They not only take extra pains to train me, but also treat me as their son.”

Navjot, a student of Class XII, does not neglect his studies. He is dissatisfied with his performance in studies, but he is not depressed. He wants to be a perfect judoka.

Though he has many friends in the academy, he feels homesick at times. However, he cannot afford to miss his training here.