SPORTS

NIIT move into Phadkar semis
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
NIIT beat Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) by eight wickets and entered the semi-final of the D G Phadkar Cup Cricket Tournament at the Teri Oval. NIIT will take on B L Kashyap in the semi-final match.

Scores: GAIL: 87 all out in 24 overs (Arshad 31, 4x4; Lalit Maurya 20, 2x4; Ritesh Kumar 4 for 10; Kapil Gupta 2 for 16, M Jagdish 2 for 11). NIIT: 88 for 2 in 18.5 overs (Rajesh Varsheny 54, 6x4, 2x6). Ritesh Kumar of NIIT was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Champions Trophy cricket

Xansa India beat Travel Sports by 23 runs in the third Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament at the Venkateshwara College ground at Dhaula Kuan.

Scores: Xansa India: 196 for 6 in 25 overs (Atul Gupta 77, 6x4, 2x6; Rajiv Khanna 48, 5x4; Arun 4 for 42, Arush 3 for 32).

Travel Sports: 173 all out in 24.1 overs (Ashish Handa 78, 7x4, 3x6; Tarik 4 for 16; P K Roy 3 for 28; Rajiv Khanna 2 for 18).

SPM Cricket Tourney

Nikhil Mahndirata hit 72 runs, studded with nine boundaries, and Piush produced a deadly spell of 3 for 38 as ASPM Cricket Academy beat Harey Cricket Academy by 26 runs in the SPM Under-17 Cricket Tournament at the SPM College ground, Punjabi Bagh.

SPM College principal Dr Surjeet Cour Dolly inaugurated the tournament.

Scores: ASPM Cricket Academy: 237 all out in 33.5 overs (Nikhil Mahndirata 72, Tanuj 41, Sunil 31, Sanam 2 for 22, Ajay Kumar 2 for 25).

Harey Coaching Centre: 211 all out in 34.3 overs (Vinod 59, Gaurav 51, Piush 3 for 38, Gaurav 2 for 26).

Surender stars for Inter Face

A fine all-round performance by Surender Dayma (2 for 45 and 88 off 70 balls) helped Inter Face Club beat Shri Aurobindo College by three wickets and entered the quarter-final of the second All-India Devender Cricket Tournament at the Government Senior Secondary School ground. Surender was declared the Man of the Match.

Scores: Aurobindo College: 216 all out in 35 overs (Vaibhav Kumar 34, Rambir Singh 32, Randhir Singh 30, Mohd Atiq 3 for 29, Surender Dayma 2 for 45).

Inter Face: 217 for 7 in 32 overs (Surender Dayma 88, Vikrant Yadav 34, Rambir Singh 3 for 29, Joginder Singh 3 for 46).

Hindustan, Tarun Sangha earn full points
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
Defending champions Hindustan Club and Tarun Sangha earned full points when they scored narrow victories in Group A preliminary league matches of the Delhi Soccer Association-SAIL Open Clubs Senior Division Football League Championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium East ground on Thursday. Hindustan Club edged past Mughals Club 1-0 while Tarun Sangha scored an identical 1-0 victory against former champions Simla Youngs.

Star-studded Hindustan Club played lack-lustre football, but managed to slot in the match-winner through inside-right Sanjeev Yadav off a rebound from Mughals’ custodian Vijay Singh in the 63rd minute. Hindustan’s C Andy and Mughals’ Nilesh were booked with yellow cards for unsporting behaviour on the field.

Hindustan Club completed their league engagements, earning 19 points from seven matches while Mughals have secured only ten points from seven matches.

Tarun Sangha prevailed over a fighting Simla Youngs in a fast-paced clash, with the match-winner materialising in the very second minute when defender Tajuddin Ali, who was later cautioned by referee Jai Kishore for rough play, zig-zagged his way into the rival area to find the mark.

Simla Youngs piled on pressure at the rival goal during the rest of the match, but without success as their forwards muffed easy scoring chances.

Friday’s fixures: Delhi Police vs Frontiers (1.30 pm); Moonlight vs Goans (3 pm)—Nehru Stadium East ground.

Veterans rout England college team
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
Veterans Club of India (VCI) defeated Hurstpierpoint College, Sussex (England) by seven wickets in a limited-over match, played at the Ganga School ground.

The England team, led by James Bayly, scored 109 in the stipulated 40 overs after they were put into bat by Veterans’ captain Chetan Chauhan. Jarvis (25) and Andrew (24) defied the Veterans’ bowlers to emerge as the leading scorers for the visitors.

Veterans, spearheaded by former India opener Chetan Chauhan, overhauled the visitors’ total in just 26 overs for the loss of just three wickets to record a comprehensive victory. Pawan Arora remained undefeated on 42 while Chauhan knocked in 37.

The England team manager, Chris Gray, was all praise for the Ganga School cricket ground. The visitors are slated to play matches in Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Kochi and Goa.

Ganga School principal Mrs H. Sraw, vice-chairman P. K. Chandla and manager Shushil Kumar Gupta, accorded a warm welcome to the visiting team.

Delhi crush Andhra, enter semis
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
Delhi trounced Andhra Pradesh by 154 runs and entered the semi-final of the 48th National School Games Under-16 Vinoo Mankad Cricket Tournament at the Bharat Nagar ground.

In other matches, Karnataka beat Maharashtra by five wickets at the Salwan School ground and Assam beat Gujarat by seven wickets at the University ground.

Delhi take on Karnataka in the first semi-final while Assam clash against Chandigarh in the second semi-final.

Electing to bat, Delhi made 203 for 3 in 30 overs. But Andhra was all out in 51 runs in 18.5 overs.

Scores: Delhi: 203 for 3 in 30 overs (Robin Bisth 82 n o, 8x4, 2x6; Soumik Chatterji 33, Priyank Tehlan 32).

Andhra Pradesh: 51 all out in 18.5 overs (Prabhu 10, Rohit Saini 2 for 6, Ashutosh Sharma 2 for 9, Abhishek Sakusa 2 for 11).

Pioneer down K G Colts
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
Pioneer Club downed K G Colts by three wickets in a B Division match of the DDCA League at the Kotla I ground.

Scores: K G Colts: 144 all out in 39.2 overs (Rajeev Mahajan 35, Umesh Sharma 2 for 23, Ashok Lamba 2 for 26).

Pioneer Club: 149 for 7 in 30.3 overs (Ashok Lamba 30, Vinay Sheel Baniwal 3 for 23, Anant Singh 3 for 29).

Ashoka Club beat Sonnex Club by three wickets in a B Division match at the Ferozeshah Kotla No 2 ground.

Scores: Sonnex Club: 206 all out in 36.1 overs (Mukesh Arora 55, Faizal Khan 41, Ravinder Bhola 3 for 29, Dalbir Rawat 3 for 39).

Ashoka Club: 210 for 7 in 32.3 overs (Jagpreet Singh 70, Vikas Katyal 58, Rajesh Suneja 4 for 17, Pankaj Arora 2 for 28).

ATP tennis live on ESPN
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
The Tata Open Tennis, India’s and South Asia’s only ATP international series event, and one of only seven in Asia, will be held at the Nungambakkam Stadium in Chenni From December 30 to January 5. Matches of the week-long event will be telecast live by ESPN.

In the last edition of the ATP event, defending champion Guillermo Canas had dropped only one set—during his semi-final clash against Karol Kucera — in the tournament.

He went on to beat Srichapan of Thailand in straight sets in the final to bag his second career ATP title.

Top players like Mark Philippoussis from Australia, Paradom Srichaphan, Thomas Johansson (Sweden), Fabrice Santoro (France), Andrei Pavel (Romania) and top doubles players like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, playing with different partners, the sons of legendary Indian players Vijay and Anand Amritraj—Prakash and Stephen—will be seen in action in the tournament.

The matches will be telecast live from December 30 at 5 pm.

Formula One Grand Prix in Malaysia
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 26
Formula One Grand Prix car race will be held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in March, 2003 on the world’s newest F-I track.

Voted as the “most challenging circuit” by the drivers and awarded the “Best Grand Prix 1999” by FOM, the Sepang International Circuit is an epitome of style.

Organisers of the Malaysian Grand Prix plan to dress up the hillside stands with a theme-park air to help draw one-lakh spectators.

In India, Tourism Malaysia, which has been aggressively propagating Malaysia as a dream destination through its various marketing and promotional activities, simultaneously announced that they would be launching a focused awareness campaign on Sepang Circuit, starting from January, 2003.