SPORTS

Sonnet Club felicitates women’s cricket team
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
The presence of a number of former and current Indian men cricket players added a lot of glamour to a function got together by the famous Sonnet Club to felicitate the Indian women’s cricket team-bound for South Africa at the National Sports Club of India premises in the Capital on Tuesday.

Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sharandeep Singh, Virendra Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Vijay Dahiya, Kapil Dev, K.P. Bhaskar and Atul Wasson were some of the famous cricketers present as the Sonnet Club, in a rare gesture, honoured the women cricketers for their magnificent 5-0 whitewash of the England women cricketers in the recent home series.

Famed coach Tarak Singh, who is now the chief coach of the women’s cricket team, asserted that the women would repeat their feat in South Africa where they are scheduled to play one Test and four one-day internationals. The women’s team, currently training at the Teri Oval in Gurgaon, will leave for South Africa on March 4.

Tarak Singh has a formidable reputation as coach, at the Sonnet Club has produced a number of outstanding cricketers, including Manoj Prabhakar, the late Raman Lamba, Ajay Sharma, Bhaskar Pillai, Atul Wasson and the present women’s team captain Anjum Chopra.

Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev was the guest of honour at the function and wished the women’s cricket team the best for the South Africam tour.

Heath Streak to conduct coaching clinic
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
The Millennium AlcoBev Limited (MABL) will hold the Sandpiper Heath Streak Coaching Clinic at the Madan Lal Academy in New Delhi on March 5, to provide a “unique opportunity for the budding cricketing talent of India to derive information from one of the world’s leading all-rounders.”

In Delhi, the clinic will be held with the help of the Madan Lal Academy and the Delhi and District Cricket Association.

Those interested to participate in the Sandpiper Heath Streak Coaching Clinic in New Delhi can log on to Indiatimes.com, answer four easy questions and gain access to the Sandpiper Heath Streak Coaching Clinic. The online competition closes on March 3, 2002 for Delhi.

Cash awards to medal winners announced
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
The Haryana Government has announced handsome cash prizes for sportspersons from the State who win medals in Olympic, Asian and Commonwealth Games.

Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala announced in the Capital that the cash awards for gold, silver and bronze medal winners for the Commonwealth and Asian Games would be Rs ten lakh, Rs seven lakh and Rs five lakh and Rs seven lakh, Rs five lakh and Rs three lakh respectively.

Inaugurating the 63rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium, Mr Chautala said the Haryana Government was providing many incentives and every possible facility to the players for promoting sports in the State in a big way.

He said the Haryana Government’s announcement that the State would reward Olympic medal winners from the State with Rs one crore for gold, Rs 50 lakh for silver and Rs 25 lakh for bronze, had infused new inspiration to the players to excel in their chosen field.

He said the Haryana Government had honoured its ‘daughter-in-law’ Karnam Malleswari with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh after she returned from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games with a bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Table Tennis Federation of India president Ajay Singh Chautala, MP, said over 450 players, representing 29 States and two institutional organisations, were participating in the National Table Tennis Championship which began in the Capital on Sunday.

Deadly bowling by Raghvender Singh
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
A deadly 3 for 16 bowling spell by Raghvender Singh and a quickfire knock of 40 by Kshitij Rohtagi helped Jemini Club beat New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) by 22 runs and enter the quarter-final of the second Rajdhani Sports Trophy Cricket Tournament at the Mohan Meakin ground.

Scores: Jemini Club: 121 all out in 19.6 overs (Kshitij Rohtagi 40, Pankaj Malik 25, Dharam Veer Baniwal 25, Mohd. Javed 3/20, Sant Ram 2/23). NDMC: 99 all out in 18.3 overs (Sanjay Saini 30, Mohit Kaushal 21, Raghvender Singh 3/16, Gautam Sharma 2/14).

R R Gym. win

Rohtak Road Gymkhana beat Little Master Club by four wickets in the DDCA League Super ‘A’A Division at the RSC ground.

Scores: Little Master: 140 in 38.2 overs (Vikas Chandan 64, Vivek Khurana 4/25, Himanshu Chawla 4/25, Abhishek Sharma 2/24).

R.R.Gymkhana: 144 for 6 in 33.5 overs (Raja Gurmeet Singh 43, Abhishek Sharma 30 no, Vikas Chandan 2/25). Citizen beat Yorks Club by 52 runs in an A-II Division League.

Scores: Citizen: 281 for 9 in 40 overs (Sumeet Dogra 117, 12x4, 4x6; Manoj Singh 70, Antriksh Singh 30, Sudhir Jain 2/21, S.K Soni 2/54). Yorks Club: 229 for 8 in 40 overs (Parender Deshwal 51, Naresh Dhamija 50, Manoj Singh 6/34, Antriksh Singh 2/50).

Gillette XI win

Gillette XI beat Thomas Cook XI by 18 runs in the Jaswinder Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Jamia Millia University ground in the Capital. Scores: Gillette XI: 189 all out in 29.4 overs .Thomas Cook XI: 171 all out in 21.2 overs .

External Affairs beat British High Commission
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
A sparkling unbeaten century knock of 102 (2x6, 16x4, 88b) by Sanjeev Sachdeva enabled Ministry of External Affairs beat British High Commission by five wickets in a league match of the Raymond Trophy Commonwealth Cricket Tournament played at the National Stadium in the Capital. Sanjeev Sachdeva was adjudged the man of the match.

Mr Tom Macan, Deputy Commissioner of the British High Commission, and Mr Satish Chopra, director, Raymond Ltd. jointly inaugurated the tournament.

Scores: British High Commission: 170 in 33 overs (Ragav Malik 30, Nitish 26, M.S. Bisht 2/10, Anil 2/30, Sanjeev 2/40).Ministry of External Affairs: 172 for 5 in 24.1 overs (Sanjeev Sachdeva 102 no, M.S. Bisht 39, Prashant Lal 3/52).

Canadian HC win: A fine all-round performance by Jasdev Singh (40 runs, 6x4, 31b, 3 for 17) enabled Canadian High Commission beat Sri Lankan High Commission by 16 runs in a league match of the Raymond Trophy Commonwealth Cricket Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Jasdev Singh was declared the man of the match.

Scores: Canadian High Commission: 169 in 32 overs (Jasdev Singh 40, Neeraj Pant 24, Sanjaya 3/31, Shanka 2/11, Manjittha Mohan 2/25). Sri Lankan High Commission: 153 in 26.3 overs (Pathivan 40, Manjitha Mohan 21, Jasdev Singh 3/17, Raju Thapa 2/30).

Nationals enter DSA semi-final 
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 26
Indian Nationals recorded their fourth straight victory when they beat Tarun Sangha 1-0 in a Group B Super League match of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)-SAIL Senior Division Football League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Tuesday. Nigerian Cassious Owino scored the match-winner three minutes before half time when he made use of the mistake of the rival custodian to put the ball in (1-0).

In another match, Moonlight rallied to hold Frontiers Club to a 1-1 draw.

Frontiers took the lead through Ramesh Kumar in the 36th minute while Jaginder equalised for Moonlight.

Wednesday’s fixtures: Shahdara vs New Delhi Heroes (1.30 pm);

Delhi Police vs Hindustan (3 pm)—Ambedkar Stadium..

Special Olympic Games in Delhi

New Delhi, February 26
Over 1200 athletes from 31 special schools of Delhi are participating in 57 athletic events in the 13th Special Olympic Games—2002 Delhi Statee—being held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from February 25. Team competitions are being held in four events—Bocce,, cricket, soccer and basketball. Floor hockey and roller skating will be held as demonstration events. OSR