SPORTS

St Stephen’s soccer team to tour England, Italy
Tribune Reporters

Chandigarh, April 25
It was a proud moment for 16 young soccer players of the St Stephen’s Soccer Academy, Sector 45, when they got a pat on their back from none other than the Sports Minister, Punjab, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, for being selected for a tour of England and Italy beginning May 3. Mr Kang also announced a grant of Rs 21,000 for the academy.

The boys aged between 11 and 13 years have been rigorously trained in the academy which had been the brain child of school Director-Principal Harold Carver. Mr Kang met the academy boys and later visited the school campus.

The Director-Principal of the school praised the efforts made by football coach Bhupinder Singh in training these boys.

The boys will leave on May 1 and will play there first match against JFK Coventry on May 4. On May 5, they will play against Sporting Club. They will take on Coventry and Distt FL on May 6 and Whitley Junior’s on May 8. They will also play at other places in that country before leaving for Italy. Scuola Meida Statale, Prata, had also extended invitation to the boys to play there.

The captain of the academy team, Aita Ram (12), a native of Garhwal, said they were anxious to play with foreign teams. Goalkeeper Amit Kumar Gulia said he was lucky to have joined this school since it gave him the opportunity to come up in sport.

Amit said his uncle also played volleyball for India and he, too, was determined to don international colours. Equally happy was a ruralite boy, Jashanpreet Singh, from Goslan (District Ropar), who said from village to one of the best schools in the city and now this tour to Europe, he said, he wished he would have asked for more. Sahil Behl, who is yet to complete 12, said it was his father, a former international basketball player, who infused confidence in him to do well in this sport. Sahil said his dream came true only after joining this academy. Sukhman Singh, the youngest in this group, said they would certainly perform well to bring laurels to our school and the country.

The three officials who will accompany the children are Malik Singh Kang (manager), Bhupinder Singh (chief coach) and Surinder Singh (assistant coach).

UT girls win bronze medal

Chandigarh schools’ girl shuttlers brought laurels to the city when they secured bronze medal in the under-19 section in the just concluded 47th National School Games at Kolkata on April 21. UT team outplayed West Bengal, 2-0, in its tie for the third place. Results: Mala Gaba b Sonika, 7-1, 7-2, 8-6; Mala and Harleen b Sonika and Neha, 7-3, 7-3, 7-5. The team comprised of Mala Gaba (SD Public School-32), Isha Sharma (Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16) Harleen Kaur (Carmel Convent-9), Kanika (GMSSS-16) and Tanvir Kaur (St Joseph-44).

In under-14 section, UT girls bagged the fourth place. The team comprised Seema, Purnika, Aastha, Priyakanksha and Aakriti. Ms Sarla Gaba, Mr Naresh and Mr Rajiv Tuli accompanied the teams as officials.

9 skaters debarred

The Chandigarh Roller Skating Association has debarred nine skaters of the city from taking part in any recognised skating meet for a period of three years. This was stated in a press note by Mr Jagpal Singh, secretary of the association. According to press note, the ban has been imposed on these skaters for violating rules and regulations of the State Skating Championship 2001.

Chess championship

Rishu Rathi and Anmol Razdan emerged winners in the girls (under-12) and boys (under-12) sections, respectively, of the Chandigarh Chess Championship held today at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44. In under-14 section, Jaya Bhatia and Karan Sharma secured the first place in the girls’ and boys’ sections, respectively. The Principal of the hosts school, Mr Mervin West, gave away the prizes.

Meanwhile, according to Mr Vipnesh Bhardwaj, Secretary of the Chandigarh Chess Association, the following players have been selected for participating in the XVth National Chess Championship to be held in Chennai from May 15 to 23. Under-12 (girls) section — Rishu Rathi and Shivani Kathuria. (boys) — Anmol Razdan and Mohit Arora. under-14 (girls) — Jaya Bhatia and Kanika Gupta. (boys) — Karan Sharma and Jaskaranjit Singh.

Hockey meet

Patiala
A goal glut by YPS, Patiala, enabled the hosts to wallop RIMC, Dehradun, 8-2 while Doon School, Dehradun, downed Sainik School, Kapurthala 3-2 in the league matches of the 16th All-India Inter-Public School Hockey Tournament played at the YPS Stadium here today.

For the hosts, Sandip Tiwana chipped in three goals while Amandeep Tiwana scored a brace.

Doon School, Dehradun, scrapped past Sainik School, Kapurthala, 3-2 in an enthralling match. For the winners, Nalin Syal scored a brace while Syed rounded of the tally by scoring of a penalty corner. Harpreet Singh scored both the goals for the opponents.

Dashmesh Academy scored a facile 3-1 win against Welham’s Boys School, Dehradun. Kamaljit Singh scored two and Amandeep Singh scored one goal for the winners. For the Dehradun lads, Sunny Sarta slotted in the only goal for his team.

In another league match, PPS, Nabha, went down fighting to RIMC 1-2. Chetan Ahlawar scored both the goals for the RIMC while Gurpinder Singh reduced the margain for the PPS when he found the target towards the fag end of the match.

Captain's Day golf
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25
As many as 227 members will take part in the golf competitions to celebrate Captain’s Day on April 28, according to Dr G.S. Kochhar, Chairman, Media and Publicity.

The following competitions will be held:

— Stableford competition over 18 holes against 3/4 handicap in the following categories — members (gentlemen and ladies) above 75 years (9 holes); members (gentlemen and ladies) above 70 years and below 75 years (9 holes); members (gentlemen and ladies) above 65 but below 70 years (9 holes); members (gentlemen and ladies) from 50 to 65 years; members (gentlemen and ladies) below 50 years; members professionals; juniors (boys and girls); sub-juniors (boys and girls); Under-10 (boys and girls).

— Longest drive

— Chip by gentlemen and putt by lady partner

— Ladies putting (non-golfing ladies)

— Bunker play

—Nearest to pin

Prize distribution will be held at the club lawns at 7.30 pm the same day. For stableford tournament an individual can claim only one prize. There is no restriction for other miscellaneous competitions. Prizes will also be given to the winners and runners-up of the medal round.

ADMINISTRATION

e-beat monitoring launched
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 25
The ambitious electronic beat monitoring (e-beat) system was launched in the city by the Director General of Police, Haryana, Mr M.S. Malik here today. The project, which has been started here after its successful use by police in Chennai and Bangalore, will also be extended to senior citizens staying alone in the township.

This is for the first time in North India that e- beat, a technology-based patrol system, is being introduced on an experimental basis. The aim is to ensure that the patrolling in Panchkula area by the beat patrolling staff and Police Control Room vehicles (PCR) is regular.

It has also been decided to introduce e- beat points at the residences of senior citizens living alone.

According to the Superintendent of Police, Ms Charu Bali, “It is a cost-effective solution to monitor the police beat system. It uses radio frequency technology.”

During the first phase, the system is being introduced in 20 sectors of the township. In each sector, e-beat points at five different locations will be set up. Tags, electronic cards of the size of a visiting card and having an electronic circuit, will be implanted in the walls of houses at five specially selected points in each sector.

The patrolling staff will be given another palm-size gizmo (called reader), which they will be required to be swiped near the card in the sector each time they cross the point. The timing and date will automatically get recorded in the reader. This information will then be read out using a computer.

The scheme has been introduced in Sectors 2 to 11, 12-A, 14 to 19, 21, 25, Mansa Devi area, Industrial Area (Phase I and II). The project cost is about Rs 4.63 lakh, This amount has been spent on buying a computer, 24 readers and 100 tags.

The computer will be installed near the Crime Against Women Cell, Sector 10.

Among others present on the occasion were Mr Alok Joshi, IG, Ambala Range, Mr Manoj Yadav, SP, Ambala, Bharti Arora, ASP and Jag Parvesh Dahiya, DSP.

Govt plans action against illegal colonisers
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25
The Housing and Urban Development Minister, Mr Ragunath Sahai Puri, said today that the government would simplify and strengthen the single-window service to provide licences to private colonisers and work out a strategy to take action against illegal colonisers.

The minister said builders had been seeking amendment to the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995. The builders had also been demanding reduction of the external development charges and exemption of bank guarantee for external development. The issue was raised at a recent meeting of senior officials of PUDA and representatives of the Punjab Colonisers and Builders Association. Meanwhile, a spokesman for PUDA said the present policy being followed for allotting land to religious institutions would be reviewed in the context of the existing policy adopted in Chandigarh and Panchkula. No decision to revise the rates of land had been taken so far, he said.