SPORTS

City developing into tennis centre
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, December 8
The city has gradually developed into a fine tennis centre of the northern region. No doubt, the Sania Mirza craze has given a new direction to tennis in the country as a whole, but it is the number of international tennis tournaments in the city which has actually given a fillip to tennis.

The ongoing ITF Men’s Futures Tennis Meet, which will conclude tomorrow at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Stadium, Sector 10, has drawn many top-ranked tennis players in men’s section from all over the world, but it has actually given a lot of hope for the Indian players to play, get exposure and garner points.

The past six days of tennis in Sector 10 has failed to draw crowds as city buffs do not show much interest in sports tournaments in various disciplines except cricket.

When discussed, Sheetal Iyer, the silver badge referee from Pune, was of the view that had women tennis players been in action, or if at all, Sania was playing, then the response would have been much more. She said tennis was catching fast and a day would come when people would throng stadiums to watch tennis. She said as compared to this region, places like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune witnessed good crowds.

The school students who had come to watch big-time tennis were elated to witness world-class tennis on Thursday and that too, when the live coverage of the matches was in progress by DD Sports.

As Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chairman, CLTA said, “We are constantly trying to provide exposure to our junior and upcoming players and the infrastructure here will further provide our players a chance to play and improve”.

Chandigarh too, had so many talented tennis players who were on the threshold of attaining top rank in the international tennis scene in times to come. They were, current national hardcourt champion Sunil Kumar, also a former Davis Cupper, Kinshuk Sharma, Sanam Krishan Singh, Tushar Liberhan, Vijayant Malik, to name a few.

Next month, the CLTA would witness the ITF Tennis Meet for junior boys and girls section, which would once again provide the desired exposure to the local tennis players, added Mr Kashyap.

The All-India Tennis Association (AITA) had, a few days back, announced that more than 20 weeks would be utilised for international tennis matches to be played on Indian tennis courts, that would give enough opportunities for domestic players to play and earn points to increase rankings. This would also help in minimising on travelling expenses.

Guru Harkrishan school athletics meet opens
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8
Vinay won the 100 m heats (boys) in the three-day Annual Athletics Meet of Sri Guru Harkrishan Model School, Sector 38-D, which got underway at the Sports Complex, Sector 46, here today.

Mr Harcharan Singh president of the school managing society, declared the meet open. The day started with the heats of track events of Class I to V Fun events like Ball Relay, Frog Race, Three Leg Race, Wear and Run and Tunnel Race amused the gathering.

The track and field events for senior classes are scheduled for tomorrow and on Saturday. Dr JPS Sidhu, Joint Director Sports, will be the chief Guest on the closing day.

Results

Category-I

100 mts (Boys): Vinay (Rose House) I Shivam

(Rose House, II Satnam (Jasmine House III); (Girls) Naveli (Rose House) I, Sargam (Jasmine House) II Kavita (Rose House) III.

Category-II

100 mts (Boys) Charanjit (Lotus House) I, Simran (Lily House) II, Deepak (Lily House) III; (Girls): Arshia (Lotus House) I, Kavita (Jasmine House) II, Ankita (Loutus House) III. 200 mts (Boys) Neeraj (Lily House) I, Gagandeep (Jasmine House) II, Rajbir (Rose House) III; (Girls): Mandeep (Rose House), Kritika (Lotus House II, Jaspreet (Rose House) III.

Category-III

100 mts (Boys): Sahil (Jasmine House) 1; Ranjot (Lily House) II, Sachin (Rose House) III; (Girls): Sahiba (Jasmine House 1, Manaya (Rose House) II, Anmol (Rose House) III. 400 mts (Boys): Varampreet (Lotus House) 1, Gulshan (Rose House)II, Ranjot (Rasmine House) III; (Girls): Sahiba (Jasmine House) I, Manpreet (Lotus House) II, Harshani (Rose House) III.

School observes sports day

Chandigarh, December 8
Neelam of Class VIII-A got the first position in the 100 m race (sub-junior) at the annual sports day of Kendriya Vidayalaya, Sector 31, at the school grounds here today.

Frog race, skipping race, tug-of-war and tunnel race, along with athletics events like 100m, 200m and 4x100m races in different categories were the attractions of the day.

The school Principal, Dr S.P. Shergill, encouraged the students to participate in sports.

The other results are as follows: 100m race (sr boys): Dharminder 1, Munish 2, Praveen 3; 200m (jr girls) Himani 1, Geetika 2, Gayatri 3; 200m (sr girls) Anjana 1, Prema 2, Renu 3; 200m (sub-jr boys) Bipin 1, Manu 2, Pushpendra 3; 100m (sub-jr girls) Neelam 1, Renu 2, Ritu 3; 400m (jr boys) Ajay 1, Manjot 2, Sandeep 3; 4x100m relay (U-19) Sushil, Munish, Deepak and Sunny 1, Dharminder, Naveen, Naveen and Kishan 2, Ashoka, Sanjeev, Parveen and Pankaj 3; 4x100m relay (U-17) Naveen, Piraiya, Manjot and Amandeep 1, Ashwini, Pankaj, Sanjeev and Arun 2, Ajay, Sandeep, Arvind and Bhuwan 3. TNS

St Stephen’s lads win cricket tourney
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 8
St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, won the Molly Carver Memorial Cricket Tournament in which total 11 schools of the region took part.

The tournament was held in Togan branch of the St Stephen’s School. In the final, St Stephen’s got the better of St Anne’s School, Sector 32 by 43 runs. Akshay Sharma of St Stephen’s School was adjudged the best player of the tournament.

Brief scores: St Stephens’ School, Sector 45:175 runs for four in allotted 25 overs (Anurag Singh 77 n.o., Akshay Sharma 39; St Anne’s school, Sector 32:132 runs for seven in 25 overs.

Captain’s knock by Sunil
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8
Karnataka’s Sunil Jain played the captain’s knock of (146) to consolidate the team’s position against Uttar Pradesh on the first day of the three-day Kooch Behar Trophy Under 19 that started at the Cricket Stadium, Sector 16, here today.

Batting first, after winning the toss, Karnataka put on 309 for 3 at the end of today’s play. Displaying a tremendous performance, Jain slammed 21 boundaries during his marathon innings. Gaurav Dhiman made 48 runs.

For Uttar Pradesh, Ali Murtaza, Bharat Awasthi and Sunil Tripathi claimed one wicket each.

Brief score: Karnataka 309 for 3 (S. Jain 146, G. Dhiman 48).