Bhaini Sahib to meet Model School in hockey final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 29
SGPS Academy, Sri Bhaini Sahib will meet Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar in the final of the 30th Nehru-Nestle Junior Hockey Tournament to be held at the Shivaji Stadium in the Capital on Wednesday.

In the semi-finals on Tuesday, SGPS Academy, Sri Bhaini Sahib trounced Army Boys Sports Company, BRC Danapur 6-1 while Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar edged past Birsamunda Vidyapitha, Rourkela 3-2.

The Jalandhar School had taken a comfortable 3-0 lead before they allowed Rourkela to get back and give them a close run with two goals coming in a three minutes blitz.

Parladh Singh had put Jalandhar in the lead when he converted a penalty corner in the 26th minute. Their second goal came only in the 47th minute when Yadwinder Singh converted a penalty stroke. Ten minutes later, Baltej Singh struck the third goal, this time a brilliant field effort.

As the Jalandhar boys were preparing for a 3-0 victory, Rourkela fought back like wounded lions to score two quick goals in the 62nd and 65th minutes through Roshan Minz and Theodore Samad to give the match a close finish.

In the second semi-final, Bhaini Sahib began a bit tentatively as after they opened the account in the very first minute through Gurdarshan Singh, Sashi Topno pulled back the equaliser in the very next minute. But thereafter, Bhaini Sahib consolidated their hold with goal after goals scored through Charanjit Singh, Gurdarshan Singh, Harinder Singh, Gurdarshan Singh and Charanjit Singh. Gurdarshan was the star of the show, scoring three goals (no hattrick) as Bhaini Sahib took a 4-1 lead at half time.

Wednesday’s fixtures: Birsamunda Vidyapitha (Rourkela) vs Army Boys Sports Company, BRC Danapur (12.30 p m); Government Model Senior Secondary School, Jalandhar vs SGPS Academy, Sri Bhaini Sahib (3 pm)— Shivaji Stadium.

DDCA officials do the vanishing trick
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 29
The top Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials were at it again. They simply vanished from the Ferozeshah Kotla ground to escape from the preying eyes of “pass seekers”, who descend like droves of flies on the eve of an international match at the Kotla ground.

No senior official, barring sports secretary Sunil Dev and joint secretary Dr S S Sareen, was available to answer the queries of the media personnel. Neither senior vice-president, C K Khanna, nor general secretaries, S P Bansal, were available at the ground. They were virtually incommunicado, as they had also switched off their bobiles. Amidst allegations flying thick and fast about the sale and distribution of tickets and passes, some of the under-14, under-16 and under-19 players complained that they had not been delivered their tickets at home as had been announced by the DDCA. Though tickets were supposed to be sold through the branches of Canara Bank, most ticket-seekers had to return home empty-handed as tickets had been “sold out” within minutes after the bank counters were opened.

The Sports Secretary, Sunil Dev had to ward off all the inconvenient questions in the absence of other senior officials, including DDCA president, Arun Jaitly, who is also the Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. Mr Sunil Dev, however, kept his cool to tackle the restive club members some of whom had also been reportedly denied tickets. A few members of the England team had a brief limbering up exercises at the Kotal, as security personnel from the UK kept a vigilant eye.

Anjali Vedpathak shoots gold and silver
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 29
Anjali Vedpathak shot a gold and silver medal in the first leg of the European Tour at Munich in the International Championship for Air Weapons, according to information made available here by the National Rifle Association of India.

In the first competition, Anjali shot 502.2 points in the “finals” to win the gold, after shooting 398 out of 400 in the semi-final. The second and third place went to Schneider, Alexandra of Germany and Galkina Lioubov of Russia who shot 502.2 and 501.7 in the “finals”.

There was a tie shoot at 502.2 for the first place and Anjali won the gold in the tie shoot. Two other Indian shooters, Pournima and Anuja Tere, shot 393/400 to finish 25th. In the second competition, Anjali claimed a silver with a score of 501.2. She missed the gold by a narrow margin of .7. In the semi-final, her score was again 398/400.

The gold was lifted by Simkova Tamara of the Czech Republic who had shot 400/400, which is one point more than the world record, in the semi-final. The third place was won by Galikana Lioubov of Russia with a total score of 499.6.

Anuja Tere, Suma Dixit and Pournima shot 396, 395 and 395 respectively. The second leg of the European tour started at The Hauge on Tuesday.

The National Rifle Association of India congratulated ace shooter Jaspal Rana for being chosen for the Padma Shree award. It said, “this will help Jaspal Rana and shooting to achieve new heights in the international sporting arena.”

Deepak Dhingra stars for Orient Craft
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 29
Deepak Dhingra scored a quick-fire 41 studded with four boundaries with Dayal Singh contributing an unbeaten 27 (2x4) and Mazid Khan cracking 26 (3x4, 1x6) to help Orient Craft beat Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance by six wickets in the ninth Teri Cup Cricket Tournament organised by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) at the Central Secretariat ground. Deepak Dhingra was adjudged the man of the match. Deepak mixed caution with aggression, and his shot selection was superb. Royal Sundaram later regretted their decision to bat first, as when the sun shone, it was ideal condition for stroke play, and Deepak revelled in the ideal condition.

Scores: Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance: 131 for 5 in 22 overs (Sangram Rawat 49, Chaitanya 34, Manu Mehta 31).

Orient Craft: 135 for 4 wickets in 18.3 overs (Deepak Dhingra 41, Dayal Singh 27 n o, Mazid Khan 26, Pankaj Verma 2/14, Manu Mehta 2/35).

Vandana Murali gets top billing
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 29
Vandana Murali of India has been given the top billing in the girls section in the ITF South Central Asian 14 and Under Tennis Championships beginning at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) courts in the Capital from Wednesday.

Sandri Gangothri, who has been seeded second, and Madura Ranganathan, seeded eighth, are the other Indians to figure among the seeds in the main draw of 32 in which there a total number of only five Indians in the fray. In the boys section, Emmanuel Franklin of Sri Lanka, has been given the top seeding in a 48-player field. Sanam Singh, Arnav Jain, Sumit Gupta and Tejaswi Rao are the four Indian players in the fray, with the Sumit and Samam getting billed as the fourth and sixth seed respectively.

Sonepat anti-power theft drive bears fruit
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, January 29
The anti-power theft campaign launched by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) in its Sonepat circle has been successful thanks to the concerted efforts made by the officials of the Nigam.

Stating this, Mr S. N. Roy, Deputy Commissioner, told mediapersons here today that the officials of the Nigam had checked 1,370 power connections and detected as many as 253 cases of theft during the current month. The officials, he said, imposed a fine of Rs 11.51 lakh on the erring consumers and recovered Rs 6.34 lakh on the spot from them.

The officials also lodged FIRs against 26 consumers who failed to deposit the penalty imposed on them. Only one case of overloading was detected and a penalty of Rs 1,000 was imposed on the consumer.

He also disclosed that the officials of the Nigam had checked as many as 545 power connections in the urban areas during the first 17 days of the current month and detected 87 cases of theft. The officials of the Nigam, he said, had also imposed a penalty of Rs 2.27 lakh on the erring consumers and recovered Rs 1.52 lakh on the spot.

According to the DC, the Nigam officials had checked 888 power connections in the rural areas and detected 135 cases of theft during the period under review. The officials, he said, had imposed a penalty of Rs 7.53 lakh on the erring consumers and a sum of Rs 82,000 had been recovered on the spot. The DC said that the officials of the Nigam had inspected 137 power connections in Gohana division of the district and detected 31 cases of theft. The officials imposed a penalty of Rs 1.71 lakh and recovered Rs 22,000 on the spot. The Nigam officials also lodged FIRs against 26 consumers who failed to pay the amount.

Mr Roy appealed to the consumers to extend their support in detecting the cases of power theft and to the Nigam authorities to curb the menace to ensure regular power supply to all the sectors.

350 jhuggis demolished

Faridabad, January 29
The authorities of the Municipal Corporation here demolished about 350 jhuggis and temporary structures near the Bhadkhal-Pali road on yesterday. However, no action could be taken against several other hutment here as residents produced a stay order from the court.