Chandigarh, September 20
To promote ‘cycling culture’ among students, exciting cycling competitions were held by the members of cycle club of the KB DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, here today.

The Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Ms Anu Chatrath, inaugurated the intra-school cycling competitions. She appreciated the efforts made by the Principal, Ms Madhu Bahl, in promoting cycling among the students.

The Mayor gave away the prizes to the winner cyclists in the slow cycling, zigzag cycling, ball-picking events. The results of the cycling events category wise are mentioned below:

Slow Cycling (Senior Boys): Ashish XI-B (1), Slow Cycling (Senior Girls): Sonam VIII-B (1), Slow Cycling (Junior Girls): Ashweet V-B (1), Slow Cycling (Junior Boys): Gagan VI-B (1). Ball Picking (Senior Boys): Ankit & Eshaan (XI-C & X-A) (1), Ball Picking (Senior Girls): Mehak VIII-B (1); Ball Exchange (Senior Girls) Sonam & Mehak (VIII-B) (1); Ball Catching (Senior Boys): Anshul & Sumit (X-A & X-B) (1), Zigzag Cycling (Senior Boys): Deepak VIII-B (1), Zigzag Cycling (Senior Girls): Mehak VIII-B (1). 

Chandigarh, September 20
“There is no sportsperson without an ego and people of the stature of Saurav Ganguly and Greg Chappel are no exception. Their differences, if any, should have been restricted to the four walls of their dressing room and not made public for people to interpret,” stated Ajay Jadeja, former Indian cricketer and now coach-cum-captain of the Rajasthan cricket team. Jadeja is in the city for the J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament scheduled to be held here.

Talking to The Tribune he further stated that such kind of differences are normal, but should be usually restricted to team members. “It’s obvious that everything is not fine with the team if it has turned into such a national debate.” He further added that the statements issued by Ganguly and Chappel were short-term truce building measures and won’t help much.

“Chappel is an outright and straight-forward man, unlike John Wright, and won’t hesitate to call a spade a spade,” he further said.

Talking about India’s dismal performance he blamed the batsmen for it. Jadeja asserted that the batsmen have been the same since the last World Cup and only the bowlers have changed. “But see the performance. It has been dipping with each passing month. We are more of a participating nation than a winning nation.”

Hinting on the continual selection of the captain and few others despite their form, he stated that “Individuals have become bigger than the game and it’s hard to replace the so-called big names irrespective of their performance,”. He also felt that there could be no better coach than Chappel at present and the future of the Indian team will depend on the authority the cricket board gives to the coach.

Having been banned from international cricket, Jadeja is contesting it. He has not let it affect his good demure and has now shifted to acting apart from playing domestic cricket.

The latest feather in his cap is as coach-cum-captain of the Rajasthan team. “It wasn’t a planned move. I got an offer from the Rajasthan Cricket Association and was thrilled about the new challenges in building up a new team, I love challenges and thus here I am,” he added.

Chandigarh, September 20
MCM DAV College for Women, Sector 36, clinched the Panjab University Inter-College Badminton (women) Championship, which concluded here this evening at the PU gymnasium hall, Sector 14. They downed PU campus 2-0. It was Isha Sharma who carried the forte by winning her singles and doubles matches. Third place in this section went in favour of Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, when they defeated GNG College, Ludhiana, 2-0.

Results: MCMDAV-36 b PUC 2-0(Isha Sharma and Mala Gaba 11-5,11-2, Isha and Gauri Sharma b Mala and Harleen 3-15,15-5,15-8.

For third place KCW, Ludhiana, b GNG, Ludhiana, 2-0 (Sandeep Kaur b Harmeet Kaur 11-5,11-4; Sandeep and Mandeep b Painy Sharma and Harmeet 15-3,15-6.

Inter-college hockey: Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, Chandigarh, went down fighting to LLR Government College, Dhudike, 1-3 in the PU Inter-College Hockey ‘A’ Division (men) Tournament played here on the campus grounds. In another match, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sudhar, and SCD Government College, Ludhiana, played a goalless draw.

Mohali, September 20
Recording a new high, the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) here earned over Rs 32 Crore from the auction of 26 commercial sites in Mohali held today.

A built-up shop-cum-flat in Phase I reserved for Rs 98 lakh fetched a price of Rs 2.5 crore. Another built-up site fetched another Rs 2.25 crore. Four storeyed SCFs with basement of 16’6”x66’ for general use in Phase X proved to be the biggest earners for PUDA. There were five such sites each reserved at Rs 73.4 lakh but was auctioned for Rs 2.16 crore, Rs 2.10 crore, Rs 1.93 crore, Rs 1.91 crore and Rs 2.01 crore.

An SCF for semi-industrial use in Phase IX reserved for Rs 1.7 crore was auctioned for Rs 2.07 crore. Two single storey shops in Phase VII reserved at Rs 75 lakh and Rs 71 lakh were auctioned for Rs 1.63 crore and Rs 1.61 crore. Five similar shops in Phase IX reserved at Rs 35 lakh each were auctioned for Rs 57 lakh, Rs 57.5 lakh, Rs 46 lakh, Rs 45 lakh and Rs 54 lakh.

The sites for booths also fetched more than double the reserve price. The booths in phase X, which were reserved for Rs 26 lakh, two of these fetched Rs 57 lakh and Rs 36 lakh while another reserved at Rs 13 lakh was sold for Rs 35 lakh.

Four SCFs in Sector 56 reserved for Rs 39 lakh each fetched about a crore each.

Of the 40 sites listed for auctioning today, 14 had to be withdrawn due to lack of buyers. All five sites put up for auctions in the bulk material market were also withdrawn.