SPORTS

Isha Toor bags AITA title
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, July 5
As expected, Isha Toor, a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, showed her mettle in disposing off spirited Alipt Sandhu to walk away with the coveted under-18 girls singles title in the Fort Saint Soldiers Total Tennis AITA Junior Talent Series Championship, concluded today at Saint Soldiers Divine Public School, Sector 16, Panchkula.

In the boys singles final, top seed Nitish Raaj from Uttar Pradesh did not face any problem in beating his doubles partner Manish Gupta, also from Uttar Pradesh, with ease.

Nitish played some very good forehand winners and eliminated his opponent at 6-2 in the first set. In the second set, Manish tried his best to win few points but could not succeed against the powerful game of the top seed Nitish. Finally, Nitish won the match with the score being 6-2, 6-1. After winning the singles title, Nitish grouped with Manish to beat Manjeet Singh and Rajkanwar Singh from Chandigarh with ease at 6-1, 6-3.

The girls under-18 singles final between the top seed Isha Toor of Total Tennis Academy and the second seed Alipt Sandhu from the CLTA was a thrilling encounter.

Isha had an early lead at 5-2, but Alipt came back strongly to level the score at 5-5. Isha served out to wrap up the first set in her favour at 7-5. Then in the second set, Isha took an early lead of 3-1. Alipt played some very good baseline winners to level the score at 3-3, but Isha came alive again in the match. She played good forehand winners to win the next three games in a row to wrap the second set, match and the championship in her favour with the score at 7-5, 6-3. Mr Mohinder Singh Gill, Member, AICC, and former Agriculture Minister, Punjab, gave away the prizes to the winners.

Results (all finals): boys, u-18 singles — Nitish Raaj b Manish Gupta, 6-2, 6-1. Girls, u-18 singles — Isha Toor b Alipt Sandhu, 7-5, 6-3. Boys u-18 doubles — Nitish Raaj/Manish Gupta b Manjeet Singh/Rajkanwar Singh 6-1, 6-3.

Shooting meet

The Chandigarh Rifle Association will conduct the 28th Chandigarh State Shooting Championship-2003 at Patiali ki Rao Shooting Range, Sector 25, from July 17 to 20. Matches will be organised in rifle and pistol category in senior, junior and sub-junior section in both boys and girls section. This was stated by Mr Vijay Pal Singh, general secretary of the association.

Local boys win medals at Special Olympics
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, July 5
“Let me win but if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt.” This is the slogan of the Special Olympics organising committee. Two local children — Prabhjot Singh, a resident of Sector 11, Chandigarh, and Varun Singla, a resident of Sector 7, Panchkula — not only made a brave attempt to participate in the World Special Olympics but also won medals. These games concluded at Dublin, Ireland, on June 28. Prabhjot won the men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles in badminton.

He was trained by Wg-Cdr Satish Bhatia, himself a former Asian champion. Varun won the bronze medal in roller skating in speed events and did his training at the Sector 10 skating rink under Mr Sarabjit Singh.

Ms Neelu Sarin, cooordinator of the Special Olympics committee, Chandigarh region, expressed happiness about the achievement of these two children. She said the entire expenditure on their tour was borne by the national committee of the Special Olympics, but basically it was the regional committee which trained the children for these games.

Both Prabhjot and Varun reached here on Thursday evening. This reporter interacted with 23-year-old Varun at Panchkula.

Varun won the bronze medal in the 300-metre speed event. Talking about his experience at Dublin, he said, “One cannot even think how big these games were.” He said the hospitality, facilities and the playing arena were the best and asked, “Can we hope to give the same kind of treatment to visiting players in India?” But he was grateful to the Special Olymics committee, especially Ms Promila Chander Mohan and Ms Neelu Sarin, for being the real motivating force. He said the coach who accompanied them to Dublin, Mr Rajiv Tuli, was of great help.

Varun felt sad that he would not compete in the same event next time as per rules of the Special Olympics, which say that others should also be given a chance. He said it took almost three years for his turn to come for representing the Indian skating team in the Special Olympics.