CHANDIGARH, Dec 30 — Sports in city and its nearby areas witnessed several players from the city reaching dizzy heights accompanied by certain good meets, while authorities concerned failed to implement certain schemes.
Yuvraj Singh played for the country at Nairobi (Kenya) which saw the fifth player from the city to have played Test cricket. Known as ‘Yuvi’ and son of former international cricketer Yograj Singh, he was a member of the Indian under-19 team. He was coached by Sukhwinder Singh who was also assistant coach of the Indian women cricket team. Abhinav Bindra, the ace shooter from Chandigarh, qualified for the Sydney Olympics. He also equalled the world record in the World Shooting meet in Germany. Sabeeha Dhillon a young international shooter, bagged gold medal in the All India Meet and bronze medal at the junior nationals.
Chiranjeev Milkha Singh, son of ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh and an ace golfer was given the Arjuna Award. Irina Brar was the other golfer who did well at the various meets and played at the international golf circuit also. The Chandigarh Golf Association deserved kudos for preparing the new range near Kishangarh village.
The Chandigarh Football Academy was formed at the Sector 42 sports complex, with the initiaive of the UT Administrator Lieut-Gen JFR Jacob. A promising rower from Chandigarh Gurpreet Kaur, bagged the bronze medal at the 6th Junior Asian rowing championship held at Sukhna Lake.
The Chandigarh Rowing Association headed by Mr TC Gupta, had a change in its set up when its secretary, Mr Kailash Nath, resigned due to ill health. Mr PS Gill was made the new secretary. Mr Kailash Nath was made life president of the association. The Chandigarh Rifle Association had a new president in Mr BC Gupta. The Chandigarh Kho-kho Association also got a new president in Mr Harjit Singh.
Chandigarh shuttlers also deserved a pat with the boys winning the North Zone inter-State meet, along with women team, which was runner-up. The Chandigarh Badminton Association, for the first time, held the Junior National Badminton Championship in Sector 42, which was a grand success. Mr DK Mukerjee, founder of the association, helped in getting direct affiliation of Chandigarh with the Badminton Association of India. Mr Gian Chand Gupta became its new president.
The basketball eves of IS Dev Samaj Girls Senior Secondary School, under the stewardship of Ms Sumati Kanwar, achieved great heights when it won many titles at various meets. Its players participated in national meets in big numbers. It hosted the Ishwar Shriman Memorial Basketball Meet.
In hockey, Sukhbir Singh Gill and Inderjit Chadha donned national colours, while Neha and Saba Anjum of Sports Authority of India Sports Training Centre, Sector 18, helped India in winning gold medal in the Junior Asian Meet in Singapore. Mr JPS Sidhu, Joint Director, Sports, UT, was made sports psychologist of the Indian men hockey team.
Tennis was given a fillip with the coming of two new decoturf synthetic courts at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association courts, Sector 10. Mr Rajan Kashyap got many ITF tournaments allotted to the city. A known name in tennis, Ramesh Krishnan, and Dr Vece Paes, a physical conditioning expert, were available to the trainees of Chandigarh.
Shruti Dhawan made it to the Indian team for the Asia Cup tennis and was among the top four women tennis players in the country. Harsimran Kaur, another city tennis player, performed well at the national level along with Neha Singh. Sunil Kumar played many international tournaments .
Amanjot Singh bagged the under- 16 ATF title. Tushar Liberhan another prodigy, was runner -up. He also won Asia Cup Tennis title in Pakistan. Dharam Singh was runner-up at the Junior national boxing Championship. Komal Saini won gold medal at the National School Games in judo. In volleyball, Sunil Kumar was among the probables for the Children of Asia Cup held in Russia. Shivalik Public School spikers won the CBSE National Volleyball Meet. The Chandigarh powerlifting team clinched the maximum number of medals at the Junior National Meet.
Tournaments like the ITF Tennis Tournament, Junior National Badminton, CBSE national skating meet and National School Games in skating were held in the city this year. The Chandigarh Football Association deserved kudos for its efforts to revive football in the city. It got formal approval by the All India Football Federation. Kalarjit Singh and Naresh represented Indian schools team in the Asian School Football meet.
On the side various schemes initiated by the sports Authority of India early this year flopped. The NSTC scheme allotted to DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 could not get started. The proposed centre of excellence in men hockey could not come up. The sports sciences centre, which was to be functional by August 15, remained a total failure.
Though Panjab University hosted various All India inter varsity meets in kho-kho, football and hockey it was criticised for favouring its own teams. The synthetic turf at the Sector 42 hockey stadium could not come up, as was promised by the end of December. The cash awards function of the Chandigarh Sports Council for 1998-99 could not be organised this year.
