SPORTS

Hockey legends to relive World Cup triumph
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 14
Vintage hockey players of India will don the colours and wield the sticks to produce the magic of yore when they take on the Indian Women’s Hockey team, led by Suraj Lata Devi, to commemorate India’s World Cup triumph at Kuala Lumpur in 1975, at the Shivaji Stadium on Monday at 3.30 p m.

On March 15, 1975, India realised a cherished and unfulfilled dream when the hockey team, led by Ajit Pal Singh, defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the final of the third World Cup, to annex the coveted cup for the first, and as it turned out, last time. Goals by the late Surjit Singh and Ashok Kumar helped India upset Pakistan, and win the title.

Ajitpal and some of the members of that vintage team will take the field against the women players. Leslie Fernandees, Ashok Dewan, Michael Kindo, Aslam Sher Khan, Virender Singh, V J Philips, Harcharn Singh, Ashok Kumar, B P Govinda, HJHS Chimni and Onkar Singh will be the other players who will be seen in action.

Former Olympian Balbir Singh will be the manager and coach, once again.

However, players like Surjit Singh, Mohinder Singh, S R Powar and G S Bedi, who are no more, will be missed.

The match will be organised by the Federation of Indian Games in a bid to display to the present lot of hockey players the kind of hockey played by the greats of the past.

The women’s team, led by Suraj Lata Devi, will include Mamta Kharab, Jasjeet Kaur, Helen Mary, Suman Bala, Sanghai Chanu, Surinder Kaur, Seeta Gosain, Neha Singh, Pritam Rani and Manjinder Kaur.

The Indian hockey team, who have qualified for the Athens Olympic Games, may also make their presence. Prominent among others who are likely to witness the match are former presidents of the Indian Hockey Federation Ashwani Kumar, MAM Ramaswamy, R Prasad and present president KPS Gill, former Olympians Zafar Iqbal, Mohammed Shahid, Harbinder Singh, Jagbir Singh, Vineet Kumar, Rajinder Singh, M P Ganesh, Inam-ur-Rehman, Mervin Fernandes, Nandi Singh and chief coach of the women’s team M K Kaushik.

The Federation of India Games has been organising the Dhyan Chand Sports Gala for the past four years in which children from over 500 schools of Delhi compete in 20 disciplines.

Inter-School Hockey

The first D P Joshi Memorial Inter-School Hockey Tournament for Under-19 will be held at the Shivaji Stadium from April 9 to 11. Top eight teams of Delhi are taking part in the tournament, who include Union Academy, Ganga School, Guru Harkrishan Public School (Shahdara), Modern School (Barakhamba Road), Mota Singh (Janakpuri), Mota Singh

(Paschim Vihar), Bal Bharati (Pitampura) and DAV (Rohini).

N S Negi slams century for Delhi Telecom
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 14
A brilliant century by N S Negi (123) enabled Delhi Telecom defeat Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by 82 runs in an A-II Division match of the DDCA League at the University polo ground.

Scores: Delhi Telecom: 261 for 8 in 35 overs (N S Negi 123, Rohit Mehra 39 n o, Rakesh Kumar 2 for 30, Baljit Singh 2 for 35).

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: 179 for 8 in 35 overs (Sushil Haldua 24, Rajender Ahir 3 for 33).

Bank of India defeated Yorks Club by three wickets in an A-II Division match at the RSC ground.

Scores: Yorks Club: 212 for 7 in 40 overs (Mohit Soni 48, R K Sharma 38, Pankaj Chopra 37).

Bank of India: 213 for 7 in 35.1 overs (Pradeep Kanojia 51, Amit Kumar 57, Dinesh Kumar 33, Narender Sood 36, Mohit Soni 2 for 29).

K G Colts defeated Paragon Club by eight wickets in an A-II Division match at the Mohan Meakins ground. Scores: Paragon: 190 for 9 in 40 overs (Laxman Singh Bisth 54, Sanjeev Malhotra 46, Ashok Virmani 42, Ansul Goel 4 for 29).

K G Colts: 194 for 2 in 36 overs (Prem Prateek 71, Siddarth Sharma 38).

CRPF School sets up cricket academy
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 14
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Public School, Rohini, has set up a cricket academy at the school premises to groom young cricket talent. The academy has six cricket nets, a full-sized playing field and a multi-gym. Coaching sessions, conducted by qualified coaches, will be held from Monday to Thursday between 4.30 p m and 6.30 p m. Players can register at the school reception or at phones 27567642, 9899143360.

Naman Khanna shines

An all-round display by Naman Khanna (73 and 5 for 11) and deadly bowling by Sunny Sehrawat (5 for 17) helped Gyan Bharati South Delhi Academy defeat Indian Public School by 202 runs in the first Mahender Kaushik Memorial Under-15 Cricket Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Naman Khanna was declared the man of the match.

Scores: Gyan Bharati: 255 all out in 40 overs (Naman Khanna 73, Hardeep Singh 48, Vidur Sethi 41, Gaurav Rawat 3 for 37).

Indian School: 55 all out in 12.2 overs (Gaurav Rawat 31, Naman Khanna 5 for 11, Sunny Sehrawat 5 for 17).

DAV Under-15 Cricket

The DAV (Dayanand Vihar) Under-15 Cricket Tournament will be held at the Yamuna Vihar Sports Complex ground from

April 1. The tournament will be played on a league-cum-knockout basis in which 12 top teams will participate. Entries close with Tarun Joshi at 9810776962 on March 25.

Pratap Mamik bags golf title
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 14
Pratap Mamik emerged victorious and earned a ticket to Netherlands in the Federation of Indo-Dutch Societies in India (FIDSI) Golf Tournament, held at the Golden Greens and Golf Resort at Gurgaon.

Over 75 players from various Dutch companies based in India, like ABN Amro Bank, Shell, KLM Airlines, Unilever, Rabo Bank and Phillips participated in the tournament.

Prominent among those who played were FIDSI president C J Beevers, chief chef of Hotel Imperial Cerdan, country head of KLM Frans Gruber and Nick H Haarman of Netherlands embassy.

The 18-hole Golden Greens is spread over 275 acres of lush green rolling land in Gurgaon.

Costly fire tender gathers dust
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, March 14
A new fire tender valued around Rs 10 lakh has been lying idle for the last one year in Ganaur Fire Station for want of staff. The Ganaur Municipal Committee has not made any effort to make it operational despite repeated demands of the villagers in Ganaur region.

The Ganaur Fire Station was set up in December 2001 by the government and a new fire tender costing around Rs 10 lakh was handed over to the committee by the Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala. Later with the financial aid from the NCR Planning Board, a new building of the fire station was constructed at a cost of Rs 13 lakh which was inaugurated by the MLA, Mr Abhai Singh Chautala, on January 10.

The new fire tender for want of staff has been left parked in the open on the premises of the committee exposed to rain, dust etc. The residents of the town informed that the committee has been recovering fire tax from the residents for the last three years, but has not bothered to appoint the fire-fighting staff. The residents also pointed out that there have been two incidents of fire in Ganaur region; but on both the occasions, the fire tenders were requisitioned from Sonepat Fire Station which is located nearly 25 km from the town.

They stressed that as summer is in and the harvesting season will be in full swing within next 20-25 days, there might be incidents of fire like in previous years.