Stone removal mela, a boon for many

Panipat
The ‘Free Stone Disease’ mela organised here by the Rotary Panipat has proved a boon for 35-year-old Inder Singh of Bapoli village who has been suffering from the disease for the last two years. He was not in a position to pay the normal operation expenses amounting up to Rs 9,000 to Rs 11,000. Inder Singh who hails from Bapoli works as a labourer and supports the family of eight members, including his widow sister and her children, expressed his gratitude to the organisers and admitted that it would have been very difficult for him to save that much amount. Similarly, Ishwar Singh of Binjhol, Ravinder of Noorwala, Darya Kaur of village Didwari and 65-year-old Roshan Lal of Chulkana have also been relieved of their pain free of cost. OC

SPORTS

Winds of change sweep Delhi soccer
M.S. Unnikrishnan

New Delhi, April 1
Soccer in Delhi is on the upswing. The game has been in the doghouse for quite some time. But moving with the changing times, the local clubs have effected meaningful changes in their set up, to bring in more money through sponsorship deals, and also injecting a semblance of order and professionalism in the running of the clubs to sustain in this competitive field.

And the rewards are coming, though slowly, but surely. The qualification of the Indian National Soccer Club for the final round of the Second Division National Football League, to be held in Pondicherry this month, has given a shot in the arm to soccer in Delhi.

The Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) Senior Division runners-up, Indian Nationals have pumped in a lot of money to refurbish their image, though they had to depend a lot on their Nigerian recruits to deliver the goals. That a local club could organise so much money to enrol quality outstation and foreign players is a welcome augury, as Delhi is certainly not flush with home-bred soccer talent.

The All-India Football Federation’s (AIFF) new rule of allowing the clubs to register five foreign players has been made full use of by clubs like Nationals to improve their image, and add fresh impetus to the game.

In the days of yore, football in Delhi was monopolised by boys from the lower and middle-income households, primarily to secure clerical jobs through the sports quota.

But now that institutions like the Delhi Transport Corporation, Delhi Audit, the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Vidyut Board (formerly known as the Delhi State Electricity Board) have stopped recruiting candidates on the sports quota, the job market has dried up and youngsters have lost the drive to take to sports, particularly a team sport like football.

But now that the local clubs are attracting sponsorships, talented players are earning enough by way of scholarships pursue their studies, and it’s a God-send in these days of job scarcity.

Some foreign players command fees up to Rs 2 lakh per season while good local and outstation players also attract handsome package. Top clubs like DSA league champions Hindustan and runners-up Indian Nationals spend between Rs 10 to 15 lakhs to run their clubs in a season. Alwyn has been sponsoring Hindustan while Nationals’ main sponsors are SAIL. The well-wishers of these clubs also help out with contributions to sustain the club, particularly a club like Nationals, who have a faithful following in the Walled City area.

Though there are not many grounds left to play and practice football, still these clubs manage to find grounds for their daily practice. Nationals, who had qualified for the final round of the Second Division National Football League in Goa last year, have played an encore, to make up for their defeat at the hands of Hindustan Club in the DSA Senior Division League title clash. And full credit should go to the driving force behind Nationals’ success, Mr Harshveer Chauhan.

It’s no child’s play to run a football club, particularly in a place like Delhi where cricket rules the roost.

Yet, these clubs have managed to survive by roping in some leading sponsors. The DSA can justifiably be proud of the turnaround of the game in the Capital. The competently run local league has given a new thrust to football activity in the Capital, otherwise starved of top grade football, ever since the AIFF put a spoke in the running of a popular tournament like DCM, and to some extent Durand. DCM has become extinct, while Durand is battling on, though it has been attracting a lot of money by way of sponsorships, for the past few years.

With the standard of the local clubs improving, the DSA is also pruning the number of teams participating in the A and B division leagues. This year, six teams have been demoted from the senior division league, to prune the number to 18 from 24.

“Our idea is to prune the number down to 12 in the coming years to provide quality competition at the Senior Division level”, said DSA joint secretary N K Bhatia. In the Sixties and Seventies, only a dozen teams participated in the local senior division league, to make the competition that much tougher. Now that players are getting a decent deal, and the clubs are changing their profiles for the better, Delhi soccer can look forward to better days ahead.

A top club need something to the tune of Rs 10 to 15 lakh to run its affairs. It’s a huge amount by Delhi standards as football is still a poor man’s game in the National Capital. But the fact that some clubs are able to manage such kind of money to run their affairs shows that there are takers for the game, provided the clubs deliver, even if marginally better.

Vijay Singh tunes up for ‘Bilt Skins Golf’ 
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 1
Vijay Singh, one of the biggest names in the world of golf, ranked number 8th, has won the Shell Houston Open PGA Tour title, just three weeks before he is scheduled to play in India.

Vijay Singh, in his first appearance in India, is going to participate in the exciting new event on the Indian Golf calendar, the unique “Bilt Skins Golf” at the DLF Golf and Country Club from April 19 and 20.

At the Shell Houston Open, Vijay Singh closed with a 4-under 68 for a six-stroke victory and tournament-record, 22-under 266 total on the Tournament Players Club at the Woodlands in Texas, USA, according to information available in Delhi.

He earned $ 7,20,000 for his 10th PGA Tour title. Vijay Singh’s six-stroke margin of victory matched the tournament record set by Jackie Burke in 1952. He had played 50 PGA TOUR events since his last victory. “It’s been almost two years, I was wondering when the next one would come”, said Singh at the Houston Open.

Singh has won two consecutive European Tour events last year. “It couldn’t be at a better time, two weeks before the Masters.”

Vijay Singh, a two-time Major winner, with total career earnings of over US $ 15 million, will travel to India immediately following the Augusta Masters, the year’s first major championship. In India, Vijay Singh will participate in the ‘Bilt Skins Golf’ with Harmeet Kahlon, Arjun Atwal and Kapil Dev. US $ 45,000 will be up for grabs as the foursome go head-to-head at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Saturday, April 20, 2002.

“We are delighted by Vijay Singh’s victory at the Shell Houston Open, so close to the Bilt Skins Golf and hope that he continues with the winning form at the Augusta Masters. His first appearance in India, on the heels of this victory, only adds to the excitement of the Bilt Skins event and the entire Golf fraternity in the country is waiting expectantly to watch him play” said Mr. Gautam Thapar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, BILT.

At no. 8, Vijay will be the highest ranked player ever to play on India soil since the rankings began some 15 years ago. Besides the much-awaited Bilt Skins Golf, Vijay Singh will also play a 9 hole Pro-Am event on Friday and conduct a junior clinic just before the Skins game tees off at the DLF Golf and Country Club on Saturday, April 20.

Vicky Shaw wins Greater Noida golf
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 1
The signature championship golf course at Greater Noida organised an invitational golf tournament on Sunday in association with Can Support, a non-profitable society that provides information and support to people with cancer and their families.

The tournament saw participants from diverse fields - arts, sports, defence, administration and business. C M Vasudev, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Ajay Raj Sharma, Police Commissioner of Delhi, Lala Bharatram, Chairman of Shree Ram Group, Ajay Jadeja and Madan Lal to name a few, participated in this tournament to demonstrate their support for the cause of caring for terminally ill cancer patients.

Results: Closest to the pin winner Vicky Shaw, Stable Ford for women, Usha Wasan, Stable Ford for men, Ajay Jadeja, Stable Ford for men first runner-up Jagdeesh Sharma, Stable Ford for men second runner-up Niraj Shekar, Gross Score winner, Simarjeet Singh and Ladies Putting winner, Mrs. Shankar Prasad.

Atwal, Mukesh get easy first round
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi April 1
Top seed Arjun Atwal and No 2 seed Mukesh Kumar drew relatively easy first-round opponents, but fifth seed Arjun Singh and No 6 Uttam Singh Mundy will have their task cut out when the Rs 10 lakh prize money SRF All-India Matchplay Championship starts at the Delhi Golf Club course on Tuesday.

Atwal is scheduled to play Suleman Ali, while Mukesh will face this season’s Qualifying School winner Sheeraz Kalra. However, Order of Merit leader Mukesh will meet the winner of the match between Amritinder Singh and Amandeep Johl, both from Chandigarh, in the second round. Feroz Ali and Vijay Kumar, Indian Open champions in 1998 and 2002 respectively, and seeded third and fourth, also drew easy opponents in Asgar Ali and KPS Sekhon. Atwal’s first big test should come in the quarter-finals, where he might bump into 16th seed Rahil Gangjee. The rookie player from Kolkata is known as a matchplay expert, having won many of his matches as an amateur on grit and guts alone. The feature match of Tuesday would be the last one starting at 11.46 am between Amandeep Johl and A. Singh. While Johl may not have played many events this season, he has proved extremely consistent on the Asian PGA tour. 

Chand Khanna beat Mohan Meakin in DDCA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 1
Chand Khanna beat Mohan Meakin by 42 runs in an A-I Division match of the DDCA League at the Yamuna Vihar Sports Complex ground.

Scores: Chand Khanna Club: 171 all out in 40 overs (Varun Kumar 44, Rajiv Uniyal 17, Salil Obrai 4 for 34, R Madan 2 for 25). Mohan Meakin: 129 all out in 35.3 overs (Salil Obrai 56, Gautam Bhalla 3 for 30, Tony Singh 2 for 13).

Golden Hawks beat Lal Bahadur Shastri Club by 55 runs in an A-I Division match at Kotla No I ground.

Scores: Golden Hawks: 243 for 3 in 40 overs (Vishal Sharma 82 n o, Kunal Sethi 40, Sanjay Kumar 34, Kuldeep Rawat 34 n o).

Lal Bahadur Shastri: 187 for 8 in 40 overs (Rohit Sharma 40, Sandeep Yadav 25, Maninder Singh 25, Rajesh Kumar 3 for 28).

Sonnet Club beat Ashirwad Club by nine wickets in a Super ‘A’ Division match at the Yamuna Sports Complex ground.

Scores: Ashirwad: 99 all out in 35 overs (Gautam 22, Karan Harit 3 for 20, Naman Sharma 2 for 19). Sonnet Club: 101 for 1 in 21.2 overs (Karan Harit 36 n o, Shikhar Dhawan 37).

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) beat Bara Hindu Rao Club by 72 runs in a B Division match to notch up their seventh victory in the league.

Scores: DTC: 248 all out in 39.4 overs (Kulwinder Singh 48, Mahesh Sharma 43, Rahul Gahlot 3 for 32, Vikas Dabas 3 for 51).

Bara Hindu Rao: 176 all out in 29.3 overs (Agnesh Surya 56, Udai Kaul 38, Haridas 3 for 31, Bhuwan Sharma 3 for 36).

Sports corner
Jagdish, Gaurav star in Daryaganj Gym’s win

New Delhi, April 1
A brilliant unbeaten 76 (7x4, 3x6) by Jagdish Singh and a deadly bowling spell of 3 for 16 by Gaurav Malhotra helped Daryaganj Gymkhana beat R P Academy by 37 runs in the first Krishna Verma Memorial League-cum-knockout Cricket Tournament at the Poorvi Delhi Sports Complex ground. Scores: Daryaganj Gymkhana: 175 for 8 in 35 overs (Jagdish Singh 76 n o, Vishal Tyagi 20, Surender Dayma 2 for 14, Rajesh Kumar 2 for 23). R P Academy: 137 all out in 31.3 overs (Surender Dayma 32, Hemant Kumar 25, Gaurav Malhotra 3 for 16, Raju Grewal 3 for 19, Vishal Tyagi 2 for 17).

B L Kashyap enter semi-final: Rajinder Krishali made a match-winning haul of 4 for 21 as B L Kashyap beat Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) by 67 runs to enter the semi-final of the ninth Teri Cup Cricket Tournament at the Teri Oval.

Scores: B L Kashyap: 176 for 4 wickets in 25 overs (Vikas 51, 5x4, 1x6; Deep 48, 6x4; R Joshi 2 for 30). GAIL: 109 all out in 18.5 overs (Akash 33, 4x4; Lalit 27, 4x4; Rajinder Krishali 4 for 21).

Mohit hits ton for Hans Raj School: Hans Raj Model School, Punjabi Bagh beat Ramjas School, Anand Parbat by 174 runs to enter the quarter-final of the Jivanjor Cricket Tournament at the Bal Bharti School, Pitampura. In the second match of Group B, Hans Raj Model School, batting first, made 301 for three wickets in the stipulated 35 overs. In reply, Ramjas School were all out for 127 runs in 33.2 overs. Mohit of Hans Raj Model School, who scored 111 off 93 balls, was declared the man of the match. Cambridge Foundation will take on Salwan Public School in the third match of Group B on Tuesday. Sixteen teams are participating in the tournament. OSR