The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

SPORT

ONGC XI, AI enter semis
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — Rizwan Shamshad, who scored 84 runs and got three wickets for 24 runs, helped the Oil and Natural Gas Commission beat Bishnoi Club by 38 runs to enter the semi-finals of the VIIIth J.P. Attray Memorial Cricket Tournament. The match was played in PCA Stadium at SAS Nagar.

In another match played in the Sector 16 stadium, a fine century (119) by southpaw Tariq-ur-Rehman helped Air India beat the Central Revenue Sports Board XI by 65 runs to enter the semi-finals of the tournament.

In the match played in PCA stadium, ONGC batted first. Rizwan Shamshad scored 84 runs and Gagan Khoda made 39 runs. They were ably supported by Mohd Saif who scored 35 runs, Mithin Minhas who made 32 runs and Radhey Sham who made 22 runs. Manoj Mudgil remained unbeaten on 20. ONGC scored 267 for 9 in the stipulated 50 overs.

In reply, Bishnoi Club were 229 all out in 44.5 overs. Rizwan wrecked the Bishnoi Club innings by claiming three wickets. Gautam Gambhir made the highest 68 runs for the team, followed by Munish Arora who made 45 runs. J Arun Kumar made 35 runs and S.S. Das 31.

Mr Inder Raj Soni, Collector of the Central Excise and Customs (Chandigarh Region), gave away the man-of-the-match award to Rizwan.

In the match played in the Sector 16 stadium here, skipper Rakesh Jolly of CRSB XI, after winning the toss, asked Air India to bat first. Left-hander Tariq-ur-Rehman played confidently and scored 119 runs in 136 deliveries. His knock included 13 boundaries and two huge sixes. Sairaj Bahutule remained unbeaten on 51 that he made in just 47 deliveries. His knock included six powerful hits to the fence. AI scored 249 runs for 6 in 50 overs. In reply, CRSB XI were all out for 180 runs in 47.1 overs. Padamjit Sherawat scored 53 runs, while Sattarjit Lehri made 24 runs. Tariq-ur-Rehman was adjudged the man-of-the-match.

Brief scores: (First match) ONGC XI — 267 for 9 in 50 overs (Rizwan Shamshad 84, Gagan Khoda 39, Mohd Saif 35, Mithin Minhaz 32, Radhey Sham 22, Manoj 20 n.o., Laxmi Rattan Shukla 5 for 67, Tejinder Singh 2 for 41); Bishnoi Club 229 all out in 44.5 overs (Gautam Gambhir 68, Munish Arora 45, J. Arun Kumar 35, S.S. Das 31, Rizwan 3 for 24, Mithun Minhas 3 for 46).

Second match: Air India — 249 for 6 in 50 overs (Tariq-ur-Rehman 119, Sairaj Bahutule 51 n.o., Piyush Sonaji 34, Parveen Thapar 3 for 43); CRSB XI — 180 all out in 47.1 overs (Paamjit Shrawat 53, Sattarjit Lehri 24, Atul Ranade 21, Pritam Gandhe 4 for 38, Narinder Hirwani 2 for 26, Sairaj Bahutule 2 for 33).

Tomorrow, in the first semi-final, Punjab Cricket Club will meet Bishnoi Club, while in the second semi-final on September 30, ONGC XI will meet Air India. The matches will be played in PCA Stadium. The final will be played on October 1.

Abhinav ‘thrilled’ with performance
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — “I am thrilled and truly satisfied with my performance at Sydney,” said Abhinav Bindra on the phone from New Delhi where he reached on the night of September 26 from Sydney. Incidentally Abhinav completed 18 years today. In the presence of much experienced shooters from all over the globe Abhinav scored 590/600 on September 18. Abhinav was the youngest shooter and Hungarian coach Laszlo Szucsak, praising Abhinav him as one of the rising stars.

Abhinav said his ultimate goal was to win a gold medal for his country at the 2004 Athens Olympics. But since it was four years away, so his immediate task was to perform at the optimum level in the other international competitions. The real thrust now would be on training hard. As Abhinav has taken admission in a Delhi college, so regular training under the Hungarian coach Laszlo will be more of a possibility.

Abhinav was able to score ahead of Atlanta Olympic games silver medallist Wolfram Waibel of Austria, Frenchman Amat Jean Pierre and another shooter Tavarit Majcharcheep of Thailand. It may be recalled that Abhinav had equalled the world record few months back at a world meet in Munich, and was given a ‘hardship quota’ for the Sydney Olympics. Abhinav said his mental management training in the USA early this year had also helped him in increasing the concentration level required for this sport.

Back home, Dr A.S. Bindra, Abhinav’s father, when contacted at his Sector 34 office, said Abhinav’s performance at Sydney Olympics was a right step for a better performance in the next Olympics and Asian Games. Dr Bindra was happy to see Abhinav display amazing spirit competing with Olympians much older to him.

Dr Bindra was of the view that planning would have to be done in earnest if we expected medals from our sportpersons. He said individual sports like shooting, boxing, weightlifting should be more in focus. He will be writing soon to the Union Sports Minister, Mr S.S. Dhindsa, that if India wanted to train the sportpersons in right earnest for 2004 and 2008 Olympics, prudent planning, with an achievement graph was required and the player should not face any dearth of facilities. He said taking 2004 Olympics as the immediate goal comprehensive training, planned tournament exposure for four years was a necessity.

Chandigarh will surely miss Abhinav, who is to make a new beginning in Delhi. Further achievements of Abhinav will be a treat to watch.

Basketball tournament from Oct 4
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — The second Shriman Ishwar Singh Memorial Basketball Tournament will be held from October 4 to 6 on the premises of IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 21. Ms Sumati Kanwar, Principal of the school, told that the three-day tournament will be held for girls under 19 years age. Ms Kanwar, who herself remained a former basketball player of repute, said this was the second time that they were going to focus on girls’ basketball meets which would give exposure to the players of this part of India. She said the schools from nearby cities such as Panchkula and SAS Nagar were also invited to the tournament.

Ms Kanwar added that in all there would be four pools and the top team from each pool would qualify for the semifinals. She said that from next year this tournament will be given regional status.

She said that their society would also honour two international players of the city, Harminder Singh and Ankur Sharma, on this occasion. A souvenir will also be released on the same day to mark the occasion.

The teams taking part in the meet include: Carmel Convent School, Sector 9; Government Model Senior School, Sector 16; IS Dev Samaj Senior Secondary School, Sector 21; Bhawan Vidyalaya, Sector 27; Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 18; Shivalik Public School, Sector 41; YPS, SAS Nagar; Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Sector 8; Blue Bird School, Sector 16, Panchkula; DAV English Medium School, Panchkula; Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Chd; and Guru Teg Bahadur School, Sector 15, Chd.

Mr KAP Sinha, Joint Secretary, UT Administration, will inaugurate the meet at 9 a.m. on October 4. The final will be held on October 6 at 5 p.m. which will have Mr Bhim Sain Bassi, IPS and Inspector General Police, as the chief guest.

Shishu Niketan Trophy

St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, will take on Guru Teg Bahadur School, Sector 15, in the tomorrow’s final of the Ist Chandigarh Junior girls football championship for Shishu Niketan Trophy being played here at the Football Stadium, Sector 17.

Earlier in the semifinals, St Stephen’s-45 beat Shishu Niketan Senior Secondary School, Sector 22, by four goals and GTB School, Sector 15, defeated Coaching Centre, Sector 8, by one goal.

The final will be played tomorrow at 10 a.m.

Billiards tourney

The Chandigarh Billiards and Snooker Association will organise 2nd open Chandigarh state junior and senior pool tournament at BAMBI’s Shot Pot, SCO 224, Sector 37, from October 5 onwards. The age group will be below-21 years for junior section. The winner of the tournament will represent city in the forthcoming nationals. The prominent players of the region were expected to take part in the tournament. Entries close on October 3 with Mr R.K. Duggal, Secretary of the association, at SCF 15, IInd Floor, Sector 22, or Mr Rohit Sood Bambi, organising secretary, at Bambi’s Shot Pot.

CRPF move into last eight
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — It was an unlucky day for local outfits as Chandigarh Hockey Association XI and Shivalik School Academy bowed out of the 30th SN Vohra Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament which entered the sixth day at the Sector 18 hockey stadium here today.

While CHA XI went down fighting to Central Railway 1-2, Shivalik School Academy lost to former champions Central Reserve Police Force 1-3 in another keenly contested tie. By virtue of today’s victory, CRPF joined the four seeded teams in the quarter-final line-up.

In the first match Central Railway kept the Chandigarh lads in check before forging ahead in the 22nd minute through a penalty corner conversion by Rishi Patel. Two minutes later Gidian Gladwin converted another penalty corner to make it 2-0 for Central Railway.

CHA XI came back strongly after the interval and managed to pull one back in the 51st minute when Inderjeet Chadha found the target off a penalty stroke. Thereafter despite some brave attempts, the local team could not add on to the score and eventually bowed out of the tournament.

In the second match former champions CRPF snuffed out the challenge of Shivalik School Academy 3-1. CRPF took the lead in the ninth minute when Jolen Topno scored a field goal. Eight minutes later, V.Ram was on target for CRPF when he sounded the boards with a deft placement to make it 2-0. Mukesh Kumar made it 3-0 in the 35th minute when he converted a penalty corner.

Shivalik School Academy managed to score a consolation goal with only five minutes remaining for the final hooter when Harmeet converted a penalty corner to make it 1-3.

ADMINISTRATION

ISBT upgradation on
By Kiran Deep

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — The Sector 17 Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) is being upgraded.

One of the major works is to create a passage link between the local bus stand and the ISBT located at a distance of about 70 metres. The new building will have shops, underground parking lot and circulating area, say CTU officials. It is expected that the new building will solve the parking problem. The underground parking will accommodate more than 1,000 two-wheelers.

The Director, CTU, Mr Amar Pal Singh, says, ‘‘The need to build an all-weather corridor was felt as at present commuters have to walk from the local bus stand area to the main bus stand. Women and children are the worst-hit. This becomes a problem during rain and summer months.’’

The corridor would be completed in a month.

Mr R.K. Jain, Chief Engineer, informed, ‘‘The area to be covered under the new project is about 50, 000 square feet’’. ‘‘The space for parking in the new building is 14,000 sq. ft “.

Mr Maan Singh, site in charge of the Parmar Construction Company, New Delhi, said that the new building at the ISBT was expected to be inaugurated by mid-October.

A sum of Rs 1.93 crore has been sanctioned. The work includes improving and re-doing the toilets in the old block. The major work of concrete pavement of the circulating area is planned for the next 20 years.

The use of road and load has been kept in sight while planning the project, according to engineers associated with it.

But people compacted by a Tribune team at the ISBT alleged that the new building would not be of much help because it would have limited parking space and would not have adequate facilities required for the general public.

People coming to park vehicles complained that they were being exploited by the contractor and said a section of the parking lot at the bus stand must be free-of-cost for the general public. Somebody comes to the ISBT for only a few minutes just to drop a friend or a relative but the parking fee is charged from him.

At present there are three parking lots at the bus stand. One is a car parking, which till a few months ago was a free parking space for all types of vehicles, but this has suddenly become a paid one now. The rate list displayed at the entrance of the parking lot reads: “Two hours — Rs 5; six hours — Rs 10 and 24 hours — Rs 20.

The other two parking lots are meant for two-wheelers, including cycles. Here the rate list says: Helmet — Re 1; cycle — Rs 2 and motor cycle\scooters — Rs 3. The rates are for one day. The contractors at the parking claim that they will not be responsible for any damage to the parked vehicles.

MC demands share in taxes
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28 — The general house of the Municipal Corporation today demanded a higher share in the taxes collected by the Chandigarh Administration. The councillors pointed out that the levy on liquor and a fee for parking of buses in public places could not be levied despite resolutions passed to this effect.

Mr Prem Sagar Jain pointed out that the Finance Commission, at a meeting with MC authorities almost three years ago, had assured that the share of taxes of MC would be hiked. Nothing has happened since then, he claimed.

The MC also passed a resolution allowing use of its land and community centre by employees on half rates to hold the marriages of their children. The councillors also said that the issue of suspended employees be resolved soon. Already, the MC is paying 75 per cent of salaries to such employees and the need was to review the cases, as it was causing a financial loss to the Municipal Corporation, while the employees were not coming for work.

On the issue of public toilets, the house was informed that tenders have been floated to invite bids. Besides this, it was decided to have community centres in slum colonies. A resolution to this effect was passed. It was further decided to auction the nurseries under the MC.

Poor sanitary conditions
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, Sept 28 — The municipal councillor for Ward No. 1, Ms Daljit Kaur, has complained that Mohali and Shahi Majra villages, which fall in her ward, are being neglected in the matter of sanitation.

Ms Daljit Kaur said yesterday that she had complained to the Municipal Council Administrator in this connection. She said she had on several occasions rung up the private contractor, who had been assigned sanitation work in the town by the civic body, and urged him to ensure cleanliness in the villages but to no avail. The contractor, she said, sent only two safai sewaks once a week to the villages which was grossly inadequate.

The councillor sought action against the contractor. She also demanded a separate contractor for these villages, which needed urgent attention in view of the deteriorating sanitary conditions.