SPORTS

Smooth sailing for seeded players
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 25
Seeded players had a smooth sailing on the second day of the Hibird Cycles Ludhiana District Badminton Championship being held at Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. Pranav Chopra, Anand Tiwari, Gurrattanvir Singh and Makhak Singh in the boys’ singles (u-13) while in the doubles’ the pairs of Gurrattanvir Singh and Anand Tiwari and that of Guarish and Bhavya Dawar, Anatarpreet Singh and Ikagarjot Singh and Shubham and Saibi won the matches to enter the next rounds.

The following are the second day’s results:

Boys’ singles (u-13) Tushar Shouri b Lokesh 15-1, 15-3; Sahil Bajaj b Ankush 15-11, 15-10; Pranav Chopra b Manu Goel 15-2, 15-2; Mahak Singh b Bhavya Dawar 15-3, 15-5; Anand Tiwari b Simran Singh 15-4, 15-2; and Gurrattanvir Singh b Gorish Singla 15-5, 15-3.

Boys’ singles (u-16): Manu Goel b Aditya Ramdev 15-6, 15-11; Pranav Chopra b Sachin Jain 15-1, 15-3; and Harmanpreet b Aman Dhand 15-6, 15-12.

Boys singles (u-13): 2nd round— Pranav Chopra b Saibi Kalia 15-1, 15-0; Manu Goel b Divyang Jain 15-1, 15-1; Bhavya Dawar b Antarpreet Singh 15-10, 10-15, 15-5; Anand Tiwari b Tushar Shouri 15-0, 15-0; Gourish Singla b Surya Ramdev 15-1, 15-0; Simran Singh b Shubham 15-4, 15-1; and Mahak Singh b Sahil Bajaj 15-1, 15-5.

Boys’ doubles (u-13): Antarpreet Singh and Ikagarjot Singh b Vivek and Divyang 15-1, 15-0 and Shubham and Saibi Kalia b Satyam and Ankush 15-2 and 15-5.

Girls’ singles (u-10): Radhika b Deepika 11-1, 11-2; and Shavy b Manavi 11-5, 13-11.

Girls’ singles (u-13): Radhika b Shavy 11-6, 11-5; and Shubham b Mannat 11-0, 11-0.

Girls’ singles (u-16): Lovleen Kaur b Sherry 11-2,11-1; and Ritika Kaura b Parminder 11-0, 11-1.

Boys’ singles (u-10): Mohkamjot b Raghav Goel 15-9, 17-15; Shitij Bajaj b Punitinder 15-7, 11-15, 15-1; Antarpreet Singh b Salil 15-0, 15-0; Parth Gupta b Mohkamjot 15-7, 17-15; Jaspreet Singh b Shitij Bajaj 15-1, 15-2; and Amit Bhasin b Surya Goel 15-1, 15-1.

Boys’ doubles (u-10): Jaspreet Singh and Mohkamjot Singh b Shitij and Parth 15-10, 15-8; and Punitinder Singh and Salil b Surya and Raghav 15-8, 12-15 and 15-13.

Boys’doubles (u-13): Gurrattanvir Singh and Anand Tiwari b Antarpreet Singh and Ikagarjot Singh 15-9, 15-6 and Gourish and Bhavya Dawar b Arjun and Salil 15-2, 15-6.

Warm send-off for dist sports officers
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, January 25
A warm send-off was accorded to Mr Avtar Singh and Mr Harpal Singh, district sports officers of Fatehgarh Sahib and Bathinda, respectively, at a function organised here last evening at the Guru Nanak Stadium. Mr Kartar Singh, Director, Sports, Punjab, along with other present and former officials of the Directorate of Sports, Sports Council and representatives of various sports associations attended the function.

Various speakers appreciated the services rendered by both officers. Mr Avtar Singh joined the department in 1975 as a junior sports officer (hockey) at Ludhiana and served as a coach in different districts till 1994. He was promoted as District Sports Officer in 1995 and later served as Assistant Director at the headquarters. During his tenure, he trained a large number of hockey players, prominent among them being Olympians Hardeep Singh Grewal “Neeta” and Saroj Bala.

Mr Harpal Singh also joined as junior sports officer (athletics) in 1974 and worked as a coach till 1996. He was elevated to the post of DSO, Faridkot. Later, he was given the charge of Bathinda district. Among his trainees, Gurinder Singh won a gold medal in discus throw in the Junior Asian Championship.

He also got the opportunity to train athletes in national coaching camps from 1988 to 1994, organised by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India. The federation acknowledged his services by giving him an award of Rs 25,000.

Sport is the essence of her life
Lovleen Bains

Doraha, January 24
Dr Nirlep Kaur Sandhu, a lecturer in physical education at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, regards sports and games as the essence of her life. Indeed, she has endeavoured to imbibe the spirit of sports by dint of hard work, determination, strong willpower and lively outlook.

Dr Sandhu topped the Punjabi University postgraduation examinations in physical education in 1994. She cleared the National Eligibility Test conducted by University Grants Commission in 1999. She completed her PhD in 2000.

Dr Sandhu has always been making efforts to add to her achievements. She has attended various conferences and many of her papers related to physical education and sports have been published. Recently, she has written a book, “Physical education — health and sports”, whose theme is that a healthy mind can reside only in a healthy body.

She attended a national conference on “Healthy nation through physical education” at Goa last year, where she presented a paper on “Leadership through physical education”.

She also attended a national conference on “Advanced studies in human biology at the end of the millennium” in 1997. There she presented a paper titled “Motor abilities as a predictor of performance of volleyball players”. She also presented a paper at the Swaran Jayanti National Conference in 1997 on “Issues and challenges of physical education in the 21st century”.

Her papers on sports and games have been published in the Indian Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education, South Asian Review and the Souvenir-cum-Abstract of the 14th International Congress of Anthropological Sciences held at Virginia (USA) in 1998.

Dr Sandhu has various university medals and roll of honour in academics to her credit. She has also participated in debate, declamation, histrionics and poetical recitation competitions. She has also been an active NSS volunteer. She attended CATC as an NCC cadet.

She won two gold medals in the 400m relay race at the North Zone Inter-university Athletics Championship held at Pant Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, in 1990-91. She also won two gold medals in the 400m relay race at the North Zone Inter-university Athletics Championship at Etawah, Kanpur, in 1991-92. She won a gold medal in the cross-country race in the Punjabi University inter-college competition in 1992-93. She won silver medals in the 400m race at the Punjab State Championship for women at Ropar and the seventh Punjab State Athletics Championship at Hoshiarpur in 1990-91.

Besides, she was the best athlete of the college in 1991-92, excelling in 100m, 200m, 400m, long jump and relay races.

Dr Sandhu is at present training rural girl students by honing their skills in kho-kho, volleyball, badminton and various athletic events. She is not only encouraging participation in sports among students of Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, but also polishing their talent.

She feels that sports and games should become an integral part of our daily routine. “In this stressful life, where we feel over-burdened by work and other preoccupations, sports relieve us and make us lively again,” says Dr Sandhu.

This Steffi excels in badminton
Anil Datt

Ludhiana, January 25
Back in 1989, when Mr Sukhbir Singh Kala was watching Steffi Graf during the Wimbledon tournament in London, he wished that if he was blessed with a daughter, he would name her after the tennis star. His wish was fulfilled and he named her Steffi.

Today, his 10-year-old daughter is hogging the limelight, not in tennis, but badminton. Steffi Kala has already bagged three crowns. She is the state champion in three age categories — under-10 singles and doubles and under-13 doubles.

Steffi Kala, a student of Class IV at Sacred Heart Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, started playing badminton in 2000. She joined the coaching centre at Punjab Agricultural University, where Mr Charanjit Singh, a Sports Authority of India coach, imparts training to promising shuttlers.

In 2001, Steffi became the district champion and bagged the title in the Punjab State Badminton Tournament. Last year, Steffi finished runner-up in the All-India Junior Ranking Tournament held at Panchkula.

In 2003, she clinched three titles in the state championship held at the Raizada Hans Raj Stadium, Jalandhar, besides representing the state in the All-India Junior Ranking tournaments at Bangalore and Chennai.

During the ranking tournament at Bangalore, which was conducted by the Union Bank of India under the aegis of the Karnataka Badminton Association and coordinated by former All-England champion Prakash Padukone, Steffi impressed one and all. After seeing her game, Prakash said,”Steffi is the hope of India if she continues with such dedication.”

Steffi’s two brothers, Pranayveer Singh and Angadveer Singh, who are also studying in the same school, are good cricket players. They have represented the city in state-level tournaments.

Mr Gianinder Singh, senior sports officer, Punjab, under whose guidance Steffi undergoes training at the Shastri Hall of Guru Nanak Sports Complex, has great expectations from her.

He remarks that she is a very hard-working girl and has the potential of becoming the national champion.