SPORTS

City gears up for badminton meet
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, August 18
The allotting of the North Zone Inter-State Badminton Championships to the Chandigarh Badminton Association has enabled the Administration to speed up the renovation of an indoor badminton hall in Sector 42, Chandigarh.

This year the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had allotted the championship involving six states — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Himachal — and Chandigarh. The championship is scheduled for September 7 to 9 and will be held simultaneously in other zones also. The winners are eligible for the National Inter-State Championships, which will be held along with junior and senior nationals.

A few years back, Chandigarh has played host to the North Zone Inter-State Championships and as per the roster planned by the BAI, this year again the turn of Chandigarh came. In 2000, city has organised the Junior National Badminton Championships at the initiative of the CBA. This year the UT Engineering Department, on the suggestion of the UT Sports Department, has begun the repair of wooden floors of the two courts on war footing.

According to the Joint Director, Sports, UT, the indoor hall will be ready by August 31. But for marking and doing the gum paints, they require another seven days.

According to sources, the CBA has also taken the note of the progress going on and is trying to convince the BAI to postpone the championship by at least 10 days.

Gurjit, Girish win I-Day Golf Cup
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 18
Gurjit Singh Lehal (Laly) and Girish Virk of Indian Oil Corporation won the Independence Day Cup in which 74 players took part at the Chandigarh Golf Club yesterday.

In this competition each team comprised two players. To win the final, a team had to win six matches on knock-out basis.

In the finals, the winning team of Gurjit Singh Lehal (Laly) and Girish Virk won on the 20th hole with a birdie by Girish Virk as the match remained draw till the 18th hole.

Nitin Mittal and Nawab Singh Matharu were the runners-up.

This tournament is a regular feature marking Independence Day.

Basketball meet

The Chandigarh Youth Basketball Meet will begin here from Monday at the courts of Shivalik Public School, Sector 41.

According to Mr K.S. Bharti, general secretary of the association, this four-day meet has attracted 18 boys and eight girls’ teams. The inaugural girls match will be played between hosts SPS-41 and Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, at 4 p.m. The matches will be played on knock-out basis and the first four boys’ teams in knock-out system will then play each other on league basis to attain top place.