Chandigarh, April 8
Chandigarh players, led by Neha Singh in girls section and Vijayant Malik in boys section, made their way to the last four of the girls under 18 and boys under 14 sections respectively on the second day of the AITA Super Series Tennis tournament played here today at the CLTA Stadium, Sector 10.

While Vijayant got the better of Wild Card entrant Venkat Iyer of Delhi who resides in the USA, in straight sets 6-2,7-6(3) and Neha Singh defeated third seed Vishaka Sheron of Delhi also in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. The tournament witnessed keen contests in both the categories of Under 14 and Under 18 boys and girls thereby throwing the time schedule in disarray.

The singles matches were played till as late as 12:15 midnight. Morning showers wasted 1½ hour. Organisers were left with no alternative but to cancel the doubles event in all categories in a bid to finish the tournament in scheduled time by Saturday. Mr Kawaljeet Singh, Tournament Director, got in touch with the All-India Tennis Association, New Delhi, and decided to cancel the scheduled doubles events in all categories.

All semifinal matches will be played tomorrow for boys and girls under 14 at 9 am and for boys and girls under 18 at 3 pm.

Today’s results are: Boys Under 14 (pre-quarters): Yuki Bhambri (DLI) b V. Barani (AP) 7-6(4), 6-4; Karanuday Singh (DLI) b Uday K. Singh Puniha (CHD) 6-4, 7-5; Vijayant Malik (CHD) b Gurmohit Singh (CHD) 6-2, 6-1; Venkat Iyer (DLI) b A. Daniel Raj (AP) 6-1, 6-4; Nikhil Kumar Reddy (AP) b Lakshit Sood (DLI) 6-0, 6-3; V. Sudarshan (TN) b Prateek Bhambri (DLI) 6-2, 6-2; Ankit Sachdeva (DLI) b Abhijeet Tiwari (CHG) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; N. Sri Ram Balaji (TN) b Shiva Sangwan (CHD) 6-3, 6-4.

Boys under 18 (pre-quarters): Vivek Shokeen (DLI) b Harmanbir Singh (PB) 6-1, 6-1; S. Balaji (TN) b Izreek Singh Randhawa (CHD) 6-0, 2-6, 7-5; Alan Moses (MAH) b Navinder Pal Singh (CHD) 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-5; Ankit Sudhir (MAH) b Yogesh Phogat (HAR) 6-3, 6-3; Gursher Singh Harika (CHD) b Vijayant Malik (CHD) 6-2, 6-3; Rahil Makharia (MAH) b Satvir Singh (PB) 6-1, 6-2; Jitin Bishnoi (HAR) b Rajkanwar Singh (CHD) 6-4, 6-2;

Girls under 14 (pre-quarters): Prerna Mythri (AP) b Anushka Kapoor (DLI) 6-2, 6-4; Inayat Khosla (CHD) b Nandita Krishnan (TN) 6-0, 6-2; Prachi Nandkarni (MAH) b Navjot Saini (PB) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0; Kelsey Sundram (TN) b Unnati Purshotam (AP) 6-4, 3-1 (retd.), Tanya Kapoor (DLI) b Shahin Ansari (TN) 0-6, 6-2, 6-1; Danielle Jones (DLI) b Amrita Seth (DLI) 6-2, 7-5; Sweta K. Solanki (DLI) b Garima Vatwani (DLI) 6-3, 6-1; Janani Suresh (TN) b Prerna Bhambri (DLI) 3-0 (retd.).

Girls under 18 (pre-quarters): Vishakha Sheoran (DLI) b Amrita Seth (DLI) 3-0 (retd.), Neha Singh (CHD) b Shahin Ansari (TN) 1-0 (retd.); Shalini Sahoo (DLI) b Shilpi Jaswal (BHR) 6-2, 6-1; Anukriti Prasad (DLI) b Alipt Sandhu (CHD) 6-2, 6-1.

Boys under 14 (quarters): Yuki Bhambri (DLI) b Karanuday Singh (DLI) 6-4, 6-3; Vijayant Malik (CHD) b Venkat Iyer (DLI) 6-2, 7-6(3); V. Sudarshan (TN) b Nikhil Kumar Reddy (AP) 6-0, 6-1.

Girls under 14 (quarters): Prerna Mythri (AP) b Inayat Khosla (CHD) 6-1, 6-4; Tanya Kapoor (DLI) b Danielle Jones (DLI) 6-0, 6-0.

Chandigarh, April 8
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Rajesh Kumar, today briefed all Deputy Superintendent of Police, Station House Officers, Inspectors, Police Control Room (PCR) staff and around 450 personnel of the PCR vehicles at Tagore Theatre about their duties during the ensuing elections.

This special briefing was undertaken to ensure better use of the PCR staff during the poll. For this purpose, the IGP also took feedback from officers and the staff.

The PCR staff has come into focus as normally the staff is the first to get information about an incident and is expected to respond first.

The IG urged the staff to be more alert but at the same time more intelligent while handling suspicious people. The IG said that the staff had to make its presence felt while patrolling.

He asked the officers to ensure better coordination between Police Control Room, PCR vehicles, communication staff and police stations.