The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

SPORTS

Ravneet emerges fastest in PNB meet
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 9
Ravneet Singh of Punjab clocked 25.0 secs to win the 200m gold to emerge the fastest athlete in the men’s section in the athletics event of the 20th All-India Punjab National Bank Inter-Zone Sports Meet at the Karnail Singh Stadium on Thursday.

J. P. Sharma of Punjab and Parmod of Northern finished second and third. J. P. Sharma, however, made up in the long jump, when he cleared 5.45 metres to lift the gold while the silver and bronze medals were claimed by D. K. Bhatti of Delhi and R. S. Gosain of Uttaranchal respectively.

Ravneet Singh of Punjab bagged the 400-m hurdles gold with a time of 1:08.8 minutes. J. P. Sharma and Narender of Northern Zone accounted for the silver and bronze.

Sudha of MP Zone walked away with the women’s 3-km gold when she posted a time of 22:14.7 secs. Prem Lata of Delhi Zone and Anita of Northern Zone claimed the silver and bronze respectively.

Punjab Zone won the men’s 4x100m relay gold with Northern and Central finishing at the second and third position while in the women’s short relay, Delhi Zone emerged winners. Northern Zone and Punjab Zone took the silver and bronze respectively.

Punjab Zone defeated Rajasthan Zone by seven wickets in cricket.

Scores: Rajasthan Zone: 110 for 8 in 25 overs (Dharmendra 52, Nirmal 18, H. P. Singh 3 for 26, Rakesh Malhotra 3 for 11).

Punjab Zone: 111 for 3 in 22 overs (Ravi 32, Sandeep Khullar 37 n o, Ajay 1 for 16).

Delhi Zone trounced Jharkhand Zone 4-0 to enter football final. Govind, Pramod, Biren Mitai and Bhupinder Thakur were the goal-scorers. East Zone, who defeated Punjab 3-0, will meet Delhi in the final. P. K. Mohanty scored a hattrick for Eastern Zone.

West UP Zone beat Himachal 45-15 while Rajasthan beat Western 38-19 to set up the title clash in kabaddi. In kho-kho, Rajasthan beat Bihar by an innings and three points while Northern Zone beat Southern Zone by one turn and four points.

East UP beat Bihar 25-9, 25-13, 25-18 and Punjab beat MP Zone 25-14, 25-22, 25-1 in volleyball semi-final matches.

Punjab Zone defeated Northern Zone 3-0 to enter the men’s badminton final. Uttaranchal beat Delhi 3-2 to enter the semi-final. Neeru Chauhan played a star role in Delhi’s 2-0 victory over Punjab, and entered the final. Western Zone beat Northern 2-0 in the other semi-final. Neeru Chauhan bagged the women’s individual title, beating Vaidehi Patil of Western Zone 11-1, 11-0. Bimal Jass of Northern beat Leena of Western 11-9, 11-5 for the third place.

Western beat MP Zone 3-0 to enter the men’s table tennis final. Western Zone won the women’s title, beating Bihar Zone 2-0. Sudharkar Sharma of Punjab beat Praveen Madan of Northern 15-4, 15-9 and entered the badminton final. He will meet Deepak Sharma of Rajasthan, who disposed of Rajiv Verma of Uttaranchal 15-9, 15-4 in the other semi-final. Northern Zone beat Rajasthan Zone 3-2, MP Zone defeated Eastern Zone 3-1, and Uttaranchal beat Central UP 3-0 in table tennis. Western beat Gujarat 4-1 and Delhi beat East Up 3-2 in carrom.

Rishi scores ton in SPM Cricket
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 9
A strokeful century by Rishi (107, 15x4, 4x6) and deadly bowling by Puneet Mehra (5 for 24) helped Ram Pal Cricket Academy beat SPM Coaching Centre by 50 runs and entered the semi-final of the SPM Under-17 Cricket Tournament at the SPM College ground, Punjabi Bagh.

Scores: Ram Pal Academy: 284 for 8 in 35 overs (Rishi 107, Ashish 48, Parnav 40, Tanut 4 for 52). SPM Coaching Centre: 234 for 9 in 35 overs (Sunny 62, Digan Chouhan 51, Kartik 24, Puneet Mehra 5 for 24, Sharad 2 for 32).

GAIL beat Alitalia

Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) defeated Alitalia Airlines by 55 runs in the Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament at the Siri Fort ground.

Scores: GAIL India: 174 for 7 in 25 overs (Akash 62, Gautam 43, Danvir 2 for 20, Vidhur 2 for 36). Alitalia Airlines: 119 all out in 21.2 overs (Tandon 46, Shiv 2 for 26, Arshad 4 for 15).

Hansraj Model School win

Defending champions Hansraj Model School beat Ramjas Day Boarding by eight wickets in the sixth Reebok R. R. Gymkhana Inter-School Cricket Tournament for the R. P. Jain Trophy at the Ramjas Day Boarding School ground.

Scores: Ramjas: 40 all out in 21.3 overs (Kumar Abhishek 4 for 10, Manish Pawa 3 for 3).

Hansraj Model School: 43 for 2 in 8.3 overs (Chirag Mehta 30, Shubhankar 2 for 25).

In another match, DAV Shalimar Bagh beat Vikaspuri by ten wickets.

Scores: Vikas Puri: 14 all out in 15.1 overs (Jaladh Dua 5 for 18, Vishu Tomar 3 for 5). DAV: 18 for no loss in 3.1 overs.

Chand Khanna Club fetes Arun Jaitley
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 9
The Chand Khanna Club felicitated former Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley, who is the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, at an impressive function in the Capital.

The function, organised by DDCA vice-president C. K. Khanna, who is also the vice-chairman of the National Cricket Academy, was attended by people from all walks of life, including Lt-Governor Vijai Kapoor, Delhi BJP president Madan Lal Khurana, Police Commissioner R. S. Gupta, SRCC alumini association president Girish Ahuja, former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi, Test players Prakas Bhandari, Kirti Azad, Madan Lal, Vijay Dahiya, Ranji Trophy players Bhaskar Pillai, Vijay Mehra, DDCA vice-president Suresh Chopra, DDCA club secretary Anil Khanna, joint-secretary (club) Dr S. S. Sareen, joint secretary (sports) Sunil Khanna, Mr Brij Mohan Gupta and Chand Khanna Club president N. K. Khanna.

Mohd Kaif cracks century for R P Academy

New Delhi, January 9
Mohd Kaif cracked 145, studded with 19 fours and 5 sixes, as R P Academy beat Guru Harkishan Public School, Vasant Vihar, by 154 runs in a league match of the fourth R G Williams Memorial Under-14 Cricket Tournament at the Frank Anthony Public School ground.

Scores: R P Academy: 266 for 4 in 35 overs (Mohd Kaif 145, Mukul Dangar 68, Harpreet Singh 3 for 42). Guru Harkrishan Public School: 112 all out in 31 overs (Gurnam Singh 39, Prateek Sikh 3 for 19).

Pahari beat Sonnet

Pahari Dhiraj defeated Sonnet Club by 19 runs and entered the semi-final of the third Shakuntala Devi Memorial Under-19 Cricket Tournament at the East Point School ground, Vasundhara.

Scores: Pahari Dhiraj: 205 for 7 in 40 overs (Akash Chauhan 62, Mohit Sharma 57, Harsh Sharma 2 for 22, Karan Harit 2 for 47).

Sonnet Club: 186 all out in 39.3 overs (Vartik Tihara 55, Ashish Pandey 37, Karan Harit 33, Bhupender Lingwal 2 for 26, Arun Dhankar 2 for 36).

Shanti U-14 cricket

Sonnet Club defeated Ramjas School No 2 by nine wickets in the first Shanti Memorial Under-14 Cricket Tournament at the Najafgarh Sports Club ground.

Scores: Ramjas No 2: 98 all out in 29.1 overs (Wasim Raja 53, Manan Sharma 3 for 14, Prateek Kapoor 2 for 11). Sonnet: 102 for one in 12.1 overs (Karan Rai 40 n o, Karan Khanna 32, Wasim Raja 1 for 29).

Delphi in final

Delhi Automotive defeated NTPC by 27 runs and entered the final of the Luminous Cup Cricket Tournament at the CSG-I ground. Delhphi Automotive: 166 for 8 in 25 overs NTPC: 139 all out in 23.1 overs. OSR

ADMINISTRATION

Beautified chowks, parks change the face of town
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, January 9
The re-modelling of chowks and widening of roads have given a new look to the town. The widened roads have decongested traffic while the floodlights installed in the middle of various crossings have reduced considerably the number of eve-teasing incidents.

The Ambedkar chowk, the Sonepat stand chowk and the Jhajjar chungi chowk are the roundabouts, which have been re-modelled by the district administration so far. Besides, the ‘D’ park, renamed as Bapu Park, has become the focus of attraction of the residents. The park was recently given a facelift and developed in line with Rajghat in Delhi. Now, it is known as mini Rajghat.

Earlier, there were heaps of garbage scattered in and around the park. Moreover, the shoppers could not stand beside the park due to the stench emitting from a toilet there. Now the area has been cleared from garbage and the toilet removed. A thirteen-feet-high statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been erected on a mound of sand. Strangely, the entire area of the park was converted into a grassy lawn by transplanting grass from other areas within two days.

The residents of the adjoining areas claimed that the land value of the area had increased after the re-modelling of the park. The shopkeepers of the area hoped that the beautification of the park and the surrounding area would give a boost to the fortunes. Moreover, the residents said the installation of statues of freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose would inculcate a sense of patriotism among the new generation.

However, some people alleged that the busiest Bhiwani stand chowk was still a bottleneck and traffic jams, especially during evening, were a common sight. They also alleged that the structures and memorials including Vijay Dwar and Shaheed Smarak erected during the tenure of previous Deputy Commissioners were in a neglected state.