SPORTS

Record entries for MRF Championship
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 31
More than 150 drivers have entered for the Mumbai round of the MRF-MAI Formule Mondiale Rally Championship, to be held at The Acres Club, Chembur, Mumbai. Adding to the competition will be the second AZNKC (Asian Zone National Karting Championship) round. The best of international talent will compete with six of the fastest Indians in what promises to be a clash of the Titans. The 40-lap (20km) finals will be run on Formule Mondiale Karts shod with MRF Tyres, which are approved by CIK-FIA.

The Mumbai leg will consist of the AZNKC, the INKC, the IKC (senior) and the IKC (intermediate) events. These championships are made up of eight rounds and the cities that will run these championships include Chennai, Coimbatore, Baroda, Mumbai, Kolhapur, Pune, Goa and Bangalore. The MRF-MAI Asian Zone National Karting Championship, however, will be run only at Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Preetham Muniappa is the hot favourite coming into the Mumbai round, having won the AZNKC Chennai round and the Baroda leg of the INKC. In the INKC, the competition is fierce with no clear winner in sight over the past three rounds. At present, Jagdish Patel of Bangalore and Rajeev Patel of Baroda share the lead.

In an effort to provide fair competition, promoters MRF Limited will be supplying imported ZIP carts for the qualifying sessions and the finals of the MRF-MAI Indian Karting Cup category.

Karan Harit probable for U-15 Asia Cup
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 31
Delhi Under-15 skipper Karan Harit has been selected as one of the seven probables from North Zone for the forthcoming Under-15 Asia Cup, to be held in the United States of America. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) sports secretary Sunil Dev said the other members selected from North are I D Singh (J and K), Sarabjit Singh (Punjab), Sidhartha Sharma (Punjab), Ishan Dogra (Punjab), Monty Sharma (Himachal Pradesh) and Prem Prateek (Haryana).

Dev said the players had been asked to report at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore by November 5 evening with their passports and date of birth certificates.

Oriental Craft beat Kashyap

Oriental Craft beat B L Kashyap by seven wickets in the sixth D G Phadkar Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Teri Oval. Mahinder Bhatia of Orient Craft was adjudged the man of the match. Scores: B L Kashyap: 125 for 9 in 25 overs (Vikram 38, 3x4; Rohit 3 for 23). Orient Craft: 126 for 3 in 21.3 overs (Rajiv 27, 4x4; Mahinder Bhatia 35 n o, 2x4; Rohit 27 n o, 4x4, Sonu 2 for 17).

Satyawati College beat SRCC

Satyawati College beat Shri Ram College of Commerce by six runs in the opening match of the Delhi University Inter-College Cricket Tournament (men) at the Guru Gobind Singh College ground, Pitampura. 

‘Gold Order’ for Randhir Singh
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 31
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary-general Randhir Singh has been conferred the “Gold Order” by the Asian Weightlifting Federation for his “meritorious services to the sports fraternity in Asia.”

Randhir Singh, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and secretary-general of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), has to his credit the first shooting gold for India in the Asian Games. He represented the country in shooting for 31 years, from 1963 to 1994—including six Olympic Games, at Tokyo, Mexico, Munich, Montreal, Moscow and Los Angeles..

Mr Balbir Singh and Mr R. R. Singh, the two ad hoc committee members of the Weightlifting Federation of India, have been awarded the “Bronze Order” for their “contribution in the development of weightlifting in Asia”.

Mr R. R. Singh has also been elected as an Executive Board member and Mr Balbir Singh as secretary, Technical Commission, of the Asian Weightlifting Federation Congress, in the elections held in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Bimental beat Shivalic in Dhampur Cup
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 31
A fine all-round performance by Gurmeet Singh (87 no and 6 for 21) helped Bimental Control beat Shivalic Bimental by 66 runs in the second Dhampur Cup Cricket Tournament at the Gargi College ground.

Scores: 244 for 6 in 25 overs (Gurmeet Singh 87, Rahul 46, Sandeep Pathania 35, Ashish Malhotra 2 for 15).

Shivalic Bimental: 178 all out in 24.4 overs (Kanav 66, Anoup 34, Gurmeet 6 for 21, Angad 2 for 11).

Batra observer for one-day tie

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) joint-secretary Narendra Batra as observer for the only day-night one-day international match to be played between India and the West Indies for the TVS Cup at Ahmedabad on November 15.

Carmel Delhi dump Ahmedabad in basketball
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 31
Carmel Delhi scored a facile 58-38 victory in the Mother Veronica Inter-Carmel Basketball Tournament held at the Carmel Convent School court. Carmel Delhi: 58 (Nadisha Bhatia 17, Kimberly 22). Ahmedabad: 38 (Kanika 14, Deepika 9). Carmel Chandigarh beat Carmel Gandhinagar 24-13. Chandigarh: 24 (Gauirnat 12, Divya 4). Gandhinagar: 13 (Jasmine 4, Vaishali 5).

Carmel Bhopal beat Carmel Gandhidham 18-12. Bhopal: 18 (Neelima 12). Gandhidham: 12 (Veena Menon 7). Carmel Lucknow beat Carmel Gorakhpur 36-15. Lucknow: 36 (Cheena Bensal 13, Shubham 9). Gorakhpur: 15 (Neelame 7, Ruby 7).

Carmel Chandigarh beat Carmel Gandhidam 29-12. Chandigarh: 29 (Neha Kohli 12, Jasmine 6). Gandhidam: 12 (Bhavishya 7). Carmel Gandhinagar beat Carmel Bhopal 14-7. Gandhinagar: 14 (Priya 5, Jasmine 5). Bhopal: 7 (Neelime 5).

Himansh Kala outplays Abhishek Puri

New Delhi, October 31
Himansh P Kala outplayed Abhishek Puri in a men’s singles semi-final match at 11-4,17-15, 11-9, 11-4 in the 13th Surjit Kaur Memorial All-India Prize Money Table Tennis Tournament at the Talkatora indoor stadium on Thursday.

Sameer Prabhu of PSPB Academy, Ajmer, struggled to beat Zubin Kumar 11-9, 11-13, 12-10, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7 in the other semi-final to set up a title clash against Himansh. Pratima Sayal of SRCC will take on Esha Bhambri of DPS, Mathura Road, in the women’s singles final. In the semi-finals, Pratima Sayal beat Neha Aggarwal 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 12-14, 11-1, 15-13 while Esha Bhambri outplayed Chitra Gupta 11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4. Chitra Gupta had earlier shocked fourth-seeded Divya Jairam in the quarter-final. Neha Aggarwal of Manav Sthali School won a double crown when she beat Shikha Sharma in the sub-junior girls singles final and Esha Bhambri in the girls singles final. OSR