SPORTS

Delhi down Himachal in basketball
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 24
Delhi downed Himachal Pradesh 78-35 in a basketball match of the 49th National School Games, which began at the Chhatrasal Stadium, Model Town, in the Capital on Wednesday.

Sanjay (34), Satvinder (15) and Surender (14) were the leading scorers for Delhi. Gaurav basketed 10 points for Himachal.

Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the multi-sport games, in which around 3500 sportspersons from 22 States and three Union Territories are participating.

Delhi beat Goa by eight wickets in cricket. Jagriti Anand took four wickets for 14 runs and Jagat Dua took 3 wickets for 14 runs.

Solani sails to easy victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 24
Solani Chopra disposed of Aanchal 11-3 in the girls section of the third Indian Oil Badminton Talent Contest, organised by the Delhi Badminton Association, at the Ludlo Castle court.

Following are the results of the other matches and the winners have qualified for the quarter-finals:

Boys Class VII and VIII: Vidur Taneja beat Jatin Arora 15-11, Atul Chauhan b Rishab Sharma 15-3. Girls Class VII and VIII: Solani Chopra b Aanchal 11-3, Aanchal Singh b Sakshi Kapoor 11-0. Girls Class III and IV: Vishakha b Priya 11-4, Arushi b Ekta 11-0.

Boys classes III and IV: Altmash b Shaved 15-4, Wasim Akram b Himanshu 15-0, Ashish b Inderjit 15-1, Akshay b Vicky 15-8.

Jamia Millia record facile victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 24
A breezy half century by Prabhat Rai helped Jamia Millia Islamia defeat College of Vocational Studies (CVS) by six wickets in the Inter-College Shaheed Bhagat Singh Cricket Tournament at the Bhagat Singh College ground. Jamia Millia Islamia

Scores: CVS: 167 all out in 34.4 overs (Uddham Singh 44, Vikram 37, Bharat 2 for 11, Rashid Hossain 2 for 21). Jamia Millia Islamia: 168 for 4 in 30 overs (Prabhat Rai 55 n o, Sumeet Berry 39 n o).

Cross Country Equestrian at Amby Valley

Amby Valley at Sahara Lake City will play host to Cross Country Equestrian Events on December 27. The Maharashtra Equestrian Association under the aegis of the Equestrian Federation of India will conduct the events. Sahara has also formed an Equestrian Club.

Shashank hits century

New Delhi, December 24
A dashing century by Shashank Chopra (134) helped Dronacharya Academy draw with Delhi Gymkhana and earn 11 points in the two-day match of the Aviva Young Achiever Under-13 Cricket Tournament at the Yamuna Sports Complex ground. Gymkhana got five points.

Dronacharya (1st innings): 231 for 4 declared in 56 overs (Shashank Chopra 134, Kartik Abhi 56, Sahib Kalra 1 for 28). OSR

Cricket fiesta on ESPN Star Sports
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 24
ESPN Star Sports will show a fiesta of cricket matches during the year end week, including what promises to be a thriller of a third Test between India and Australia, live on ESPN and Star from Friday.

India meet Australia in the third Test at Melbourne on Boxing Day while in other Tests South Africa and West Indies clash at Durban and New Zealand and Pakistan meet at Basin Reserve in Wellingdon. But all eyes are focussed on the India-Australia match, and the question is will the Indians ‘box out’ the Aussies? The first session of the Test will begin at 5.30 am and the second session at 8.10 am.

Jyoti Randhawa emerges highest-ranked player
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 24
Jyoti Randhawa, who achieved the unique distinction of winning a title on his rookie year on the Japanese PGA Tour, added another feather to his cap when he became the highest-ranked Indian professional golfer ever in the history of the World Rankings, which is endorsed by the six leading Tours of the world.

According to the latest year-ending rankings released this week, Randhawa rose to 133rd position in the world, and was the third best Asian player (excluding the Japanese PGA Tour pros) after World No 2 Vijay Singh of Fiji and World No 21 Choi Kyung-ju of Korea.

The previous best position achieved by an Indian was 141 by Jeev Milkha Singh in early 1999 after he finished second and third in successive weeks in two South African tournaments on the European Tour.

Randhawa’s rise was aided by his Suntory Open victory on the Japanese PGA Tour, a runner-up finish at the Hero Honda Masters and his third place at the Volvo Masters of Asia.

The Gurgaon golfer had 1.09 average points over the last two years, the period taken into consideration while awarding points.

Among the other Indian golfers, Arjun Atwal, who recently became the first Indian to qualify for the US PGA Tour, was 229th. Arjun Singh was 544th, Jeev 553rd while Amandeep Johl was ranked 560th in the world.

Tiger Woods of the US continued to reign supreme, stretching his stay at the top of the World Rankings for a record 229 weeks. He is now 32 weeks short of Greg Norman’s record of 331 weeks as No 1 golfer of the world in 11 different periods between 1986 and 1998.

Malviya Club win

New Delhi, December 24
Deadly bowling by off-spinner Puru Singh (4 for 29) and a delightful knock of 60, with six fours and two sixes, by Oniel Wilson helped Malviya Club defeat South Delhi Club by seven wickets in the DDCA Super A Division League at the Mohan Meakin ground.

Malviya Club: 100 for 3 in 20.1 overs (Oniel Wilson 60 n o, T Anand 22, Adil Ahmad 3 for 19). OSR