IAF, Mughals split points in DSA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 18
Former champions Mughals and Indian Air Force (New Delhi) were locked in a goalless draw in a Group B preliminary league match of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Senior Division Football League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Friday.

IAF have completed their league engagements to log 13 points from seven matches while Mughals have collected six points from as many matches with one match to go against Tarun Sangha on January 22.

In an evenly-contested match, no quarters were asked and none given as the teams utilised the flanks to fashion dangerous moves, though the forwards of both the teams were found wanting when it came to scoring.

The Airmen were well-served by their mid-fielders Prasenjit Mukherjee, Jayanta Das and Abadat Hoosen, but forwards Priya Darshan and Kalyan Pal failed to avail of the easy chances they got.

For Mughals, Manjeev Kumar and Ram Singh mounted pressure on the Air Force goal, but rival defenders P. B.Sangdinglian

Sant Kar and H. S. Minhas put up a stout defence to foil the Mughals designes. Custodian Arbindo Bandopadhyay also rose to the occasion admirably to deny Mughals a goal.

Mughals held the sway in the second half, and came by an easy scoring chance but D. K. Ghosh failed to beat on-rushing Bandopadhyay, though the goalie himself failed to gather the ball. Air Force captain Sanjay Singh made a goal-line clearance to save the situation.

There will be no match on Saturday as Youngsters have reportedly expressed their inability to field a team against Tarun Sangha.

Former Delhi captain Madhavanand passes away
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 18
Former Delhi State football captain and Punjab National Bank player Madhavanand died at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in the Capital on Thursday. He was undergoing treatment for blood cancer for the past few months. He leaves behind his wife and a five-year-old daughter.

Thirty six-year-old Madhavanand was an outstanding player of Delhi, and had played for leading clubs like Moonlight, Indian Nationals, Goans and Shastri. He began his football career with Goans in 1980 and signed off with South India Club in 1995.

Madhavanand represented Delhi in the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for five years continuously from 1991 to 1995. He led Delhi in the 1994 Nationals held at Sambalpur in Orissa.

The Delhi Soccer Association, the Delhi Football Players’ Welfare Association (DFPWA), the Delhi Veterans Football Club and the soccer fraternity of Delhi expressed their deep shock at the untimely demise of the seasoned player. A two-minute silence was observed before the start of the DSA-SAIL Senior Division match between Indian Air Force and Mughals at the Ambedkar Stadium on Friday.

Gyan Bharati win match in Australia
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 18
Good batting by Sebi Kukreja (37) and Gautam Bhirani (25 n.o)helped Gyan Bharati South Delhi Cricket Academy score a three-wicket victory against RWA XI on their Australian tour.

Gyan Bharati won the toss and opted to field. RWA XI Sydney were shot out for 181 for 9 in 45 overs. In reply, Gyan Bharati made 183 for 7 in 35.4 overs.

Scores: RWA XI Sydney: 181 (Karminder Singh 27, Manav Sinha 49, Aman Mankoo 40 n o, Himanshu Sabharwal 2/46, Shashikant 2/26). Gyan Bharati South Delhi Cricket Academy: 183/7 (Sanchit Jakhar 23, Sebi Kukreja 37, Mayank Sharma 21, Gautam Bhirani 25 n o, Amandeep Mankoo 2/31).

Ram Lal Anand shock PGDAV College
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 18
Last year’s runners-up Ram Lal Anand College (Morning and Evening) stunned PGDAV College 2-0 in the 15th Zakir Husain Memorial Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Friday.

The goals came once in each half. Nippy striker Vijay Kanti struck both the goals. SRCC are the third team in the group.

In the second match, defending champions Kirori Mal College were held to a goalless draw by Jamia Milia Islamia. Jamia were saved by their custodian Irshad Khan who brought off two spectacular saves to foil the attempts of Kirori Mal.

Saturday’s matches: PGDAV vs SRCC (11 a m); KMC vs Zakhir

Husain College (12.30 p m)– Ambedkar Stadium.

Inter-Bank Sports 

New Delhi, January 18
The Northern Region Inter-Bank Sports Meet will be held under the aegis of Banks Sports Board in the Capital. Competitions will be held in eight events—cricket, football, athletics, chess, badminton, table tennis, carrom and drama—from January 18 to 23.3.Entries close with organising secretary S. B. Verma at Oriental Bank of Commerce, 108, Mall Road, Kingsway Camp, Delhi-110009 on January 31. (Tel: 7115841. Fax: 7216798)

Arjun, Mukesh on top in golf

New Delhi, January 18
Arjun Singh and Mukesh Kumar were declared the winners of the Hero Honda ‘Golfer of the Month’ award for the months of November and December respectively for the consistent performance. The winners will earn a crystal trophy and a Hero Honda golf bag. Arjun Singh’s choice is credited to his excellent performance in the Honda-Siel PGA Championship while Mukesh has returned the most consistent performance.

Nehru Junior Hockey

New Delhi, January
The 30th Nehru Junior Boys Hockey Tournament will begin at the Shivaji Stadium in the Capital on Saturday with a match between Municipal School, Valsad (Gujarat) and Military School, Nasik at 12 noon. OC

Panchayats asked to support vikas samitis wholeheartedly
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 18
Mr Ashok Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chief Executive Officer of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) has called upon the gram panchayats to extend their full cooperation to the gram vikas samitis, constituted by the state government under the ‘Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar’ programme, launched by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala. The samitis have been formed to conceptualise and monitor the rural reconstruction and development works in the villages

Addressing a joint meeting of sarpanchs, panchs and members of the Gram Vikas Samiti at Ganaur, 16 km from here, yesterday, he announced that the state government would dissolve those samitis and remove sarpanches and panches from their respective posts if they were found indulging in corrupt practices in the utilisation of public funds meant for the execution of development works and rural reconstruction programme.

The state government, he said, had already empowered the district authorities to take stern action against the erring sarpanchs, panchs and members of the samitis.

He called upon the panchs and sarpanchs to take immediate and concrete steps to mobilise additional resources and increase the income of the gram panchayats.

He also asked them to lease out gram panchayat land at higher prices and take concrete steps for the removal of encroachments on the shamlat land in their villages.

The ADC also stressed the need for the immediate disposal of disputes on the panchayat land by putting pressure on the litigants to withdraw their cases from the courts.

Referring to the food for work programme launched by the state government, the ADC disclosed that under this scheme, the labourers would be given 7 kg wheat at the rate of Rs 6 per kg and Rs 38 in cash per head per day for digging 100 sq ft. of earth and filling works in playgrounds, veterinary hospitals, schools and digging of village ponds. The disbursement of the amount, he said, would be made in the presence of the Sub-Divisional Officer, or the Block Development Officer of the area concerned or the department.

He also announced that the state government would allot more funds to the gram vikas samitis for the execution of development works if they utilised the same honestly and successfully. He asked the gram panchayats to prepare and send the resolutions for the rural water drainage schemes immediately for taking quick action on the complaints of the rural people.

He disclosed that the state government had already issued instructions to the authorities concerned to build common paths with concrete blocks in the villages to avoid the accumulation of water on them. Such paths had already been constructed in the villages of Chirashmi, Kheri Gujjar, Moi, Pugthala, Pipli Khera, Bega, Patti Brahminan, Panchi and Purkhas. The problem of water stagnation would be removed with the construction of pucca roads in other villages of the constituency, he added.

Earlier, Mr Ved Singh Malik, a former Haryana minister and a senior INLD leader, distributed cheques amounting to Rs 1.48 crore among the 29 gram panchayats of the Kailana assembly constituency of the district for the execution of 48 development works under the `Sarkar Aap Ke Dwar’ programme and the food for work programme launched by the state government. This amount will be spent on the construction of roads, hospitals, veterinary institutions, village streets and digging of ponds.

The Chief Minister, it may be recalled, had announced the allocation of Rs 8.36 crore for the execution of development works in the Kailana assembly constituency. The state government has released the amount of Rs 1.48 crore as the first instalment for this purpose.