SPORTS

Ganguly keeps Indian hopes alive
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 17
Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly renewed the hopes of an Indian triumph when he defeated GM R B Ramesh in the tenth and penultimate round of the second Parsvnath International Open Chess Tournament at the Bapu Samaj Sewa Kendra in New Delhi on Wednesday. With just one round remaining in the Rs 4 lakh prize money tournament, Ganguly and international master G S Gokhale joined overnight leaders Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan and the Kazakh duo of Pavel Kotsur and Serik Temirvaev atop the table on eight points.

As many as six players, including former Commonwealth champion GM Dibyendu Barua, are just half-a-point adrift of the leaders with 7.5 points each in their kitty.

The addition in IM-norm achievers continued with Balasubramanian achieving the result today, despite going down to GM Georgy Timoshenko of Ukraine and R. R. Laxman had achieved their norms. The top board activity was yet again a short affair with Temirbaev and Iuldachev calling truce early. Pavel Kotsur followed suit when he drew with Koneru Humpy.

Ganguly knew his chances at a shot in the title will brighten if he could get the better of Ramesh, and he did precisely that in the favourite Arkhengelsk variation with black pieces. Ramesh, who had lot to Ganguly twice in the same opening in previous enccounters, went for adventurous variation and allowed Ganguly to gain the upper hand, once the game took a tactical shape.

Sacrificing a piece, Ganguly opened up the king side for an attack and regained the piece to leave Ramesh in dire straits. Even a transposition to the end game did not help Ramesh.

Barua missed out on an opportunity to join the top table when he failed to convert a better position against IM Sriram Jha.

Local lad to play in Australia
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, March 17
Virender Singh, an upcoming and international hockey player from the district, has been selected to play professional hockey in Australia, this year.

Twenty-five-year-old Virender is perhaps the first such player from Haryana to get this honour. He has been called by the Harlequin Wanneroo Hockey Club, Perth, Australia, to play for them for a period of about seven months ending in September next.

A resident of nearby Sihi village, Virender has already played for the senior and junior Indian hockey team at various occasions. He got his first big break in 1996, when he got selected in the Indian team, which took part in the International Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

He represented the country in the Panasonic Masters four nation tournament in 1998 and was a member of the Indian Junior team, which won silver medal in the Junior World Cup in 1997. Besides playing for his home team of Indian Airlines in the national level tournaments, Virender had also been a standby player for the 1998 World Cup.

Baljinder Singh to lead disabled cricket team
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 17
Baljinder Singh will lead a 13-member Delhi team in the 15th Inter-State Cricket Tournament for the Disabled, to be held in Bhopal, from April 6 to 8.

Other members of the team are: Rajinder Sharma, Madan Lal, Gynander Dayal, Vijay Sharma, Satish Chaudhary, Pramod Kumar, Harjeet Singh, Raju Kumar, Mahesh Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Surjeet and Dhanesh Ram. P S Chauhan will be the coach and Nisar Ahmed the manager.

Sonnet Club advance

Sonnet Club defeated Abhay Ram Gymkhana by 73 runs in the Mahender Kaushik Memorial Under-15 Cricket Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Scores: Sonnet Club: 222 for 8 in 40 overs (Deep Luthra 66, Manan Sharma 57, Jaspreet Singh 34, Chiragjeet Singh 3 for 34).

A R Gymkhana: 149 all out in 38.2 overs (Hitesh Tyagi 57, Surender Bansal 37, Manan Sharma 5 for 26, Gaurav Singh 3 for 14).

Sandeep shines

An all-round display by Sandeep Kaushik (33 and 6 for 20) helped Ramakant Achrekar Cricket Foundation beat Mohali Cricket Coaching Centre by two runs and entered the final of the Aresson Under-15 Cricket Tournament at the Paschim Vihar complex. Ramakant Foundation scored 138 in 30 overs.

Scores: Ramakant Foundation: 138 in 30 overs (Abhishek 37, Tushar Gupta 39, Sandeep Kaushik 33, Abhilash 3 for 33).

Mohali Coaching Centre: 136 all out in 29 overs (Rahul Mankutia 75, Manprit Singh 22, Sandeep Kaushik 6 for 20, Akhil Goel 2 for 26, Pratik Kaushik 2 for 31).

South West Air Command score facile victory

New Delhi, March 17
South West Air Command defeated Southern Air Command by ten wickets in the Inter-Command Air Force Cricket Tournament at the Air Force ground, Palam.

Scores: Southern Air Command: 66 all out in 18 overs (H Singh 23, Dheer 2 for 28, A P Singh 2 for 15, Verma 3 for 15, Asit Khan 2 for 4). South West Air Command: 70 for no loss in 10 overs (G Vishal 39 n o, Nagpal 25).

New Zealand HC win

New Zealand High Commission defeated Trinidad and Tobago High Commission by five wickets in the third Raymond Commonwealth High Commission Cricket Tournament.

Scores: Trinidad and Tobago HC: 206 for 9 in 30 overs (Jaid Khan 83, Rajeev Bal 29, Gaurav Bakshi 24, Manjeet 4 for 44, Manoj 2 for 33). New Zealand HC: 209 for 5 in 26.5 overs (Monto 53, Manish 44 n o, Sanjeev 35).

HDFC Bank beat Hero Honda

HDFC Bank defeated Hero Honda by 139 runs in the 11th Teri Cup Cricket Tournament at the Shri Venkateshwara College ground. Scores: HDFC Bank: 195 for 6 in 25 overs (Deepak Sharma 65 n o, Sandeep Thakur 53). Hero Honda: 56 all out in 14 overs (Sanjeev Sharma 11, Tanku 12, Girish Sharma 5 for 18. OSR

Manish Chawla hits ton
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 17
Manish Chawla cracked a spitfire century with the aid of 11 boundaries and four sixes to help Lion Kanishka defeat Bank of India by 191 runs in an A-II match of the DDCA League at the Yamuna complex ground.

Scores: Lion Kanishka: 339 for 7 in 40 overs (Manish Chawla 100, Raj Kapoor 53, Mudassir 51, Amanjeet Singh 47, Puneet Kaul 4 for 59).

Bank of India: 148 all out in 28.3 overs (Narender Sood 81, Hunny Mehra 3 for 35, Faiz Beg 2 for 16, Nalin Nanda 2 for 34).

Delhi Telecom defeated Friends Club by ten wickets in an A-II Division match at the University ground.

Scores: Friends Club: 118 all out in 32.5 overs (Anshul Garg 59, Mohit Vishnoi 4 for 7, Rohit Mehra 3 for 15). Delhi Telecom: 119 for no loss in 16.5 overs (Rajender Ahir 52 n o, N S Negi 45 n o).

Rehman beat T N Colts by two wickets in an A-I Division match at the Mohan Meakins ground.

Scores: T N Colts: 191 for 9 in 35 overs (Gurjot Obrai 47, Mahesh Kumar 34, Girish Sharma 41, Mohd Furqan 2 for 25).

Rehman Club: 192 for 8 in 32.2 overs (Mohd Adnan Ali 71, Mohd Raguib 26, Som Nath 3 for 57).

Syndicate Bank defeated Chandni Chowk Gymkhana by 79 runs in an A-II Division match at the polo ground.

Scores: Syndicate Bank: 253 for 7 in 40 overs (Raj Kishan Sharma 79 n o, Bhola Shankar 47, Prabhkar Jha 39, Geoff Jonathan 33, Gaurav Chaudhary 2 for 16).

Chandni Chowk: 174 all out in 31 overs (Tarun Astha 62, Vikram Kumar 3 for 18, Rajeev Kumar 2 for 28).