SPORTS

Ravnoor, Rajveer in final
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30
Top seed Akshat Joshi made it to the final after defeating the fourth seed Vishal Suri in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the boys under-14 category in The Fort Ramgarh YMCA Total Tennis Championship being played at YMCA total Tennis Academy, Sector 11, here today.

Second seed Raghav Singal failed to secure a berth in the final when he lost to the third seed Shobhit Phutella in a tough battle which lasted over two hours. In the first set Raghav played good tennis from the baseline and served well to win the first set with a solitary break at 6-3. But in the second set Shobhit displayed a good game and took the second set 6-1. In the third and final set Raghav started very well to take an early lead of 3-1. Then Shobhit came back strongly to win the next five games in a row to clinch the match and berth in the finals. The final score read 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in favour of Shobhit.

In the girls under-16 category Ravnoor Kaur and Rajveer Kaur, both top seeds, made it to the final with ease by defeating their respective opponents in straight sets. Ravnoor Kaur beat Sheshna Sekhari 6-2, 6-1, whereas the second seed Rajveer Kaur was too good for her opponent Shivangi Bansal as she won the match in her favour at 6-1, 6-0.

The finals will be played tomorrow at 10 a.m.

The following are the results:-

Boys (under-14) semifinals: Akshat Joshi beat Vishal Suri 6-3, 7-5; Shobhit Phutella beat Raghav Singal 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Girls (under 16) semifinals: Ravnoor Kaur beat Sheshna Sekhari 6-2, 6-1; Rajveer Kaur beat Shivangi Bansal 6-1, 6-0.

Malwinder Singh chief of Patiala hockey body
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 30
Mr Malwinder Singh and Dr Manmohan Singh were unanimously elected president and secretary general of the Patiala Union Hockey Association for a term of four years.

In a meeting held today at Patiala, Raja Randhir Singh, the past president, was made life president of the PEPSU. It may be recalled that this association was formed by the Late Raja Bhalindra Singh.

It became the first unit to be affiliated to the Indian Hockey Federation. Prof Dr Manmohan Singh highlighted the progress made by PUHA during the past four years.

The other office-bearers are, life president; Raja Randhir Singh; president- Raja Malwinder Singh; vice- presidents; Mr Gurdial Singh, Mr Hari Budh Singh Baba, Mr Daljit Singh, Prof P S Sodhi, secretary-general Prof Man Mohan Singh; joint-secretaries — Mr Sanjeev Garg, Mr Jagdish Chopra and Prof Amarjit Singh; treasurer — Mr Mohan Singh Bedi.

Executive members: Mr Manjit Singh, Mr Ravinder Kaushal, Mr Roopinder Singh, Mr Tejinder Singh Gik, Mr Balwinder Singh and Mr Kuldip Singh.

Hockey trials
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30
Trials, to select probables for the 36th Junior National Hockey Championship to be held at Jabalpur from January 6 to 15, shall be held at the hockey stadium, Sector 18 on January 2 at 4 p m. Interested players have to report to hockey coach S.K. Goswami.

ITF meet: wild cards for local players
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30
Local players Vijayant Malik and Shiv Sangwan along with Arnav Jain and Yukti Bhambri have been given wild cards in the boys’ singles main draw of 32 in the Sunny Enclave ITF Junior (G-3) Tennis Tournament to be held at CLTA courts, Sector 10, here from January 2 to 6, 2006.

Inayat Khosla, Noor Paul, Prerna Mythri and Prerna Bhambri got the wild card entry into the girls’ singles main draw.

Announcing this here today, Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association chairman Rajan Kashyap said the qualifying matches would be played on December 31 and January 1.

Barring Italian Antonio Seidita, all other five boys who got wild cards in the qualifying draw are Chandigarh Rural Tennis Academy trainee Chandam Shaolin, Anmolk S Ladhar, Parul Verma, Ravneet Singh Saini and Sidharth Kaushik.

Ankita Singh and Tejesvi Narayna got wild cards in the girls’ singles qualifying draw. Mr Rajan Kashyap disclosed that boys and girls from Korea, China, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ukraine, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Turkey, the USA and hosts India would compete in the tournament to garner maximum number of points. Meanwhile, the tournament director, Mr S.M. Sharma, said all preparations had been completed and qualifying matches would start tomorrow in eight courts.

Wild cards for main draw: boys singles: Vijayant Malik, Shiva Sangwan, Arnav Jain, Yuki Bhambri.

Girls: Inayat Khosla, Noor Paul, Prerna Mythri, Prerna Bhambri.

Qualifying draw: Boys: Chandam Shaolin, Anmol S Ladhar, Parul Verma, Antonio Seidita (Italy), Ravneet S Saini and Sidharth Kaushik.

Girls: Ankita Singh and Tejesvi Narayna.

Young Star CC win
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30
A fine knock of 70 runs by Amit Juneja helped Young Star Cricket Club, Delhi beat Shiv Cricket Academy (Haryana) by five wickets in the Bank of India Cricket Cup (U-17) at Government SS School grounds, Sector 19, here today.

Batting first, Shiv Academy made 198 in 31 overs. The Delhi club achieved the target in 37.4 overs.

Brief scores: SCA (Hry): 198 all out in 31 overs (Rohit Singh 82, Puneet Sharma 30).

YSCC (Delhi) 202 for 5 in 37.4 overs (Amit Juneja 70, Deepak Khandodna 46, Puneet Sharma 2 for 21).