Mixed luck for Delhi teams in Sub-Junior Hockey
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
Delhi teams had mixed luck in the 19th Nehru-ONGC Sub-Junior Hockey Tournament with Government Boys School, Nagloi (Delhi) recording a convincing 4-2 victory against Loyola School, Nagaland and Union Academy caving in tamely to Shah Satnamji School, Sirsa 1-3 (Haryana) at the Shivaji Stadium in the Capital on Friday.

In other matches, Mahatma Gandhi Inter-College, Rai Bareilly made mincemeat of SGGS Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh 17-0 while Gijubhai Shukla Kumar Vidyalaya, Limbdi (Gujarat) beat St. Joseph’s Boys High School, Pune (Maharashtra) 3-0.

Govt Boys School, Nangloi played better hockey to take a comfortable 3-1 lead by the 36th minute of the match, but the Nagaland boys made things difficult for Nangloi when they scored their second goal to make the score line pretty close at 2-3. But the Delhi boys struck their fourth goal five minutes before close to make it a comfortable victory in the end. Ashok Kumar scored Nangloi’s first goal in the 23rd minute while Jmkong

Jamir equalised for Nagaland five minutes later. Vikas regained the lead for Nangloi three minutes before half time, and Mukesh Kumar made it 3-1 a minute after resumption. Jmkong Jamir once again played the star role for Nagaland when he completed his brace. But Vikas too completed a brace for the Delhi school to widen their victory margin to 4-2.

Union Academy, Delhi flattered to deceive when they hit home an early goal, in the second minute, to forge ahead.

But Shah Satnamji School, Sirsa (Haryana) quickly regained their wits to equalise through Jagwant in the 11th minute while Amit gave them the lead in the 14th minute. Jagwant struck again in the 59th minute to complete Union Academy’s rout.

Three goals each by Arun Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Mohd Shaju and Shashikant Bhardwaj were the shining features of Mahatma Gandhi Inter-College’s (Rai Bareilly) runaway 17-0 victory against SGGS School, Chandigarh. The Chandigarh citadel got no respite after Arun Kumar opened the flood-gate for Rai Bareilly with a goal in the third minute. The other goals were scored by Manok Kumar Verma (two), Danish Mustafa (two) and Vinod Kumar Singh (one).

Gijubhai Shukla Kumar Vidyalaya, Limbdi (Gujarat) powered to a 3-0 victory against St. Joseph’s Boys on the strength of a fine hattrick by Chauhan Parth, who scored the goals in the 24th, 45th and 52nd minutes.

Twelve teams, divided into three pools, are playing in the preliminary league Phase I. One team from each pool will qualify for the knock out phase II in which eight teams have been directly seeded.

The tournament has been co-sponsored by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. The tournament carries prize money of Rs 2.31 lakh. The title winners will be awarded Rs one lakh while the runners-up will be given Rs 60,000, and the third position winners Rs 40,000.

The remaining amount will be distributed among the four best players and the coaches of the winning teams.

In addition, the teams scoring the maximum number of goals through penalty corners will be awarded Rs 10,000, sponsored by Pepsi Foods.

Saturday’s fixtures: SGGS School, Chandigarh vs Govt Boys School, Chhatisgarh (10.30 am), Union Academy, New Delhi vs Fr. Agnel School, Pilar (Goa) (12 noon), Baba Farid School, Faridkot vs Loyola School, Jakhama (Nagaland) (1.30 pm); S S High School, Khunti vs G S Kumar Vidyalaya, Limbdi (Gujarat) (3 pm)—Shivaji Stadium.

ND Heroes, Garhwal Heroes earn full points in DSA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
New Delhi (ND) Heroes and Garhwal Heroes recorded identical 1-0 victories in Group A and B respectively in the preliminary league of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Senior Division League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Friday.

ND Heroes sneaked past Frontiers Club 1-0 to collect three points while Garhwal Heroes got past Youngsters Club 1-0.

In a dull and drab Group A match, ND Heroes scored the match winner through veteran Biren Metai, whose powerful long-range shot sailed into the goal, in the 67th minute, to stun rival custodian Rahul.

After a lack-lustre first half, Biren Metai enlivened the proceedings on resumption, when he fashioned three good moves from the flanks. After scoring the lone goal of the match, Metai threatened to score again a couple of times more, but goalie Rahul kept an alert vigil after his first mistake, to restrict Heroes to a lone-goal victory.

Delhi Heroes have collected four points from three matches while Frontiers have earned only four points from five matches.

Referee Deepak Bisht booked three Frontier players - Vijay Pal Yadav, who was given the marching orders after receiving two yellow cards, Jitender Kumar and Devender Sharma - for their rough and tough tactics. In the second match, Garhwal Heroes too had to struggle to score their wafter-thin 1-0 victory against Youngsters. Inside-left Arun Toppo scored the match-winner in the 64th minute. Garhwal Heroes have logged eight points from six matches while Youngsters have got only one point from four matches. Before the start of the matches, a two-minute silence was observed to mourn the untimely demise of veteran sports official, Arvind Khanna of SAIL.

Saturday's fixtures: City Club vs Moonlight (1.30 pm); Shahdara vs Tarun Sangha (3 p m)--Ambedkar Stadium.

Delhi, Tamil Nadu record wins in Postal Cricket
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
Delhi Circle beat Uttar Pradesh Circle by 13 runs and Tamil Nadu beat Andhra Pradesh Circle by 39 runs in the semi-finals of the 15th All-India Postal Cricket Tournament, organised by the Delhi Postal Sports Board, at the Delhi University ground and Khalsa College ground respectively in the Capital.

Delhi meet Tamilnadu in the title clash .Sanjeev Sharma played a brilliant all-round role (62 and 4/40) to help Delhi post a narrow victory.

Scores: Delhi: 228 (Sanjeev Sharma 62, Raj Kumar 32, Kripal Singh 26, Mohd Javed 3/43, Vinod Singh 2/51). UP Circle: 215 (Vinod Singh 97, Mohd Javed 25, Sanjeev Sharma 4/40, Vinod Sehrawat 2/42, Rajeev 2/30).

Tamilnadu: 135 for 9 wickets (Shakti Velu Murgan 53, P T Venugopal 21 n o, Leslie Wilfred 4/29, Mohd. Khedeer 3/20). 

AP Circle: 96 (Mohd Khedeer 24, Leslie 13, Vijay 12, C Shaktivelu 3/21, Elango 2/13.

Sutanshu Saxena stars for Dronacharya Foundation
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
Sutanshu Saxena hit an unbeaten 51 with seven boundaries to help Dronacharya Cricket Foundation score a facile eight-wicket victory against Roshanara Cricket Club in the Roshanara Cup Tournament at the Roshanara ground in the Capital. Dronacharya Cricket Foundation won the toss and put Roshanara into bat. Despite a defiant 46 with six boundaries by Ankit Maini, Roshanara could not cope with the hostile bowling of Karandeep Singh and Mayank Sethi to fold up for 132 in 37 overs. The Dronacharya Foundation knocked off the required runs for the loss of two wickets in 35 overs. Sutanshu and Lakshay shared an unbroken partnership to guide Dronacharya to a comfortable victory.

Scores: Roshanara Club: 132 in 37 overs (Ankit Maini 46, Aditya Chatwini 23, Karandeep Singh 3/24, Mayank Sethi 2/46, Shrey Gupta 1/15).

Dronacharya Cricket Foundation: 134/2 in 35 (Sutanshu 51 n o, Lakshay Mohan 36 n o (4x3), Gaurav Upadhaya 21 (4x4) and Sahib Karan 2/18).

Feroz Ali takes three-stroke lead in Hero Honda Open
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
Defending champion Feroz Ali of Kolkata took a three-stroke lead on the penultimate round of the Rs 10 lakh Hero Honda Golf Open on Friday. Feroz carded a level-par 72 to take his tally to five-under 208 for the tournament.

Another Kolkatan, SSP Chowrasia, was followed by one of the senior most golfers on the Tour, Balbir Verma, whose aggregate stood at level-par 213. Overnight joint-leader Jaiveer Virk, opening round leader Ali Sher (both from Delhi) and Vijay Kumar (Lucknow) were tied for the fourth spot at one-over 214.

Arjun Singh (Delhi) and Sanjay Kumar (Lucknow) occupied the seventh position at two-over 215 while Mhow's Mukesh Kumar was tied with a host of others at ninth spot at a tally of three-over 216.

Aditya Kanitkar nudged Sachin Nigade out of the lead with a third round score of five-over 76. Kanitkar's tally now stands at ten-over 223, one stroke less than the second-placed Nigade who aggregated 224. Rajiv Dhar was placed third at 16-over 229. “I enjoyed my finest moment on this course when I became the Millennium Winner at this very event last year”, said Feroz Ali. He is also eyeing yet another title on his favourite Pune course.

Ashok Khanna passes away
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 11
Veteran sports official Ashok Khanna of the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) died at the Noida Medi-care Centre, after a brief illness. The 56-year-old Khanna is survived by his wife and two daughters.

A former Joint Director (Sports) with SAIL, Mr Khanna had taken premature retirement. Mr Khanna was instrumental in getting SAIL’s sponsorship for the Delhi Soccer Association League, which enabled the rejuvenation of the Capital’s soccer set up, for the last six years. The DSA, the Delhi Football Players’ Welfare Association, Delhi Veteran Football Club and Indian Nationals Club, deeply mourned the death of Mr Khanna, and expressed their heart-felt sympathy to the bereaved family. Mr Khanna was cremated at the Kalindhi Kunj cremation ground. A large number of soccer lovers and sports officials, including DSA president Umesh Sood, vice-presidents.

Uma hails women cricket team

New Delhi, January 11
Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Uma Bharti congratulated the Indian Women’s Cricket team for winning the one-day series against the England women’s team.

Complimenting Indian captain Anjum Chopra, who has won the Woman of the Series award, the Minister said that the team had done the nation proud with their third consecutive victory in the five-match series. Ms Bharti said Indian women were taking the lead and winning laurels for the country in sports. TNS