The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Six teams for Durand Cup qualifying round
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
Three local teams and three teams from Services will battle it out in the knock-out qualifying round of the 114th edition of the Allwyn Durand Cup Football Tournament, starting with a match between City Club and EME Centre at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Monday.

The tournament will be held in three stages—qualifying round, pre-quarter-final league round and quarter-final league.

The winners of the City-EME match will take on Delhi Police, who have been given a bye, on January 30. Indian Air Force (IAF) XI will take on Tarun Sangha (Delhi) on January 29 and the winners of this match will clash against No 2 Signals Training Centre on January 31.

Two teams will qualify from the preliminary round into the pre-quarter-final round. There will be six teams, divided into two groups, in the pre-quarter-final league and winners of each group will join the quarter-final league.

Nine teams from the National League will feature in the quarter-final round. Ten teams have been directly seeded into the quarter-final league, out of which, nine are from the National League.

With two teams qualifying from the pre-quarter-final league, there will be 12 teams in the quarter-final round.

Prominent teams who have confirmed their participation are Mohun Bagan and East Bengal (Kolkata), FC Kochin (Kerala), Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar Sports Club (Goa), JCT Mills (Phagwara), Punjab Police (Jalandhar), Mahindra United (Mumbai), ITI (Bangalore), AIFF Under-19, Army XI, Indian Navy XI, EME, IAF XI, No 2 Sig Trg. Centre and four teams from Delhi Soccer Association.

Delhi Spring Polo Season to begin on Feb. 5
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
The Annual Delhi Spring Polo Season will begin on February 5 with the Junior IPA Championship at the Army Equestrian Centre, Delhi Cantonment and Jaipur Polo ground. The final of the event will be held on February 8.

The season will conclude with the HT Trophy on March 3. In between, the SMS Gold Vase (eight goals) trophy will be held from February 5 to 9, the Sanawar Polo Trophy on February 9, the Swiss Polo Trophy on February 10, the General Thimmya Cup on February 9/10, Raymond Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia Gold Cup (12 goals) from February 12 to 17, Additional DG RVS Cup (two goals) from February 19 to 23, Chivas Regal Polo Championship Northern India (Open) from February 19 to 24 and the Rao Raja Hanut Singh Cup (Open with handicap) from February 26 to March 2.

The matches will be played at the Army Equestrian Centre, Delhi from 10.30 am and the Jaipur Polo Ground (inside Delhi Race Course) from 2 pm.

CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
Child Relief and You (CRY), a non-profit organisation working for child rights in India, and Cadence have partnered to organise the second CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge.

The opening match was played between Amex and McKinsey at the Bhagat Singh College ground in the Capital on Sunday.

The other matches will be played on Saturdays and Sundays

at the PGDAV College ground, Modern School ground and Bhagat Singh College ground.

The corporate teams participating in the tournament are GE Capital, McKinsey, Arthur Andersen, British Telecom, Motorola, KPMG, ABN Amro, HCL, Hindustan Times, HP, Business Standard, Amex, Alstom, net4India, Hughes Software Systems, Cannon, Oberoi, Star TV, Nestle and Cadence.

Punjab, Manipur win tug-of-war titles
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
Punjab annexed the overall championship trophy for boys while Manipur lifted the girls overall title in the third National Sub-Junior Tug-of-War Championship held at Police Lines, Kingsway Camp, in the Capital on Sunday.

In the 480kg finals (boys), Delhi defeated Punjab by 2-0, and in the 400kg girls finals, Manipur defeated Punjab 2-0.In the 440kg boys event, Punjab defeated Manipur 2-0.

Teams from ten States-Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Manipur—took part in the championship. Delhi Punjab and Manipur made it into the finals.

Delhi Minister for Development Haroon Yusuf gave away the prizes. President of the Tug-of-War Federation of India, Mr Gautam Kaul, presided over the closing ceremony. The Minister promised all help in solving the problems of sportspersons of Delhi.

Feroz Ali wins ProGolf crown
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
Feroz Ali withstood an early charge from Gaurav Ghei to win the HT ProGolf 2002 title—his third in five starts on the Hero Honda Golf Tour 2002 and third in five starts on the Hero Honda Golf Tour—by a comfortable margin of four strokes at the par-72 Jaypee Green Golf Resort..

Feroz tallied seven-under 281 after a final round score of two-under 70, and walked home with the winner’s cheque of Rs 1,29,600. This was Feroz’s third title of the season on the Hero Honda Golf Tour and the second in the month of January after the Honda Open in Pune.

His other win was in December in the Surya Nepal Masters.

Ghei, despite a scintillating start, finished second with a tally of three-under 285.

Lucknow’s Vijay Kumar finished third at one-under 287, while Mukesh Kumar and S.S.P. Chowrasia tied for the fourth spot at two-over 290. Rahil Gangjee and Digvijay Singh were tied sixth at three-over 291.

Australian Garry Chatfield won the amateur title with a tally of 20 over 308. Arjun Singh finished second with a tally of 319 after playing to 81.

Nehru Hockey fixtures
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 27
SGPS Academy, Sri Bhaini Sahib will meet V.S. Agricultural Senior Secondary School, Khera Garhi (Delhi) in a Group B match of the 30th Nehru-Nestle Junior Hockey Tournament at the Shivaji Stadium in the Capital on Sunday at 12 noon. In other matches, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar will meet Chottu Ram Zamindar Senior Secondary School, Sonepat (1.30 pm) while St. Ignatius High School, Gumla will clash against Army Boys Sports Company, BRC Danapur (3 pm).