SPORTS

Coach pins high hopes on VRV
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24
Local cricketer Vikram Rajvir Singh has again won the faith of selection panel to reserve berth in the Indian test team for West Indies tour.

Earlier, he was selected for the first test against England during the India-England series held in February-March this year. But he could not get chance to play and was left out for the next matches of the series to vacate place for Munaf Patel.

VRV’s one-day debut against England at Jamshedpur in the series also proved lackluster, where he faced Kevin Pieterson’s onslaught and conceded 33 runs in just five overs with an average of 6.60 runs per over without any wicket.

Pinning hopes on his fast bowling, which ranges between 130 kmph and 140 kmph, as well as the potential of this 21-year-old speedster, the selection panel has again called him to join the squad for the coming test series against West Indies.

Thanking cricket authorities for showing confidence in VRV’s talent, his coach Sukhwinder Bawa said, “VRV would show his worth on Carribean pitches if given chance. We worked a lot to overcome the weaknesses and our main stress was on line and length”.

Talking about the blitzkrieg of Pieterson against the rookie bowler during his debut, Bawa was of the view: “At that moment, playing fast was the need of the hour. It was just the bad luck that he had to encounter fiery Pieterson. I exhorted him to forget that day and start afresh”.

VRV, a product of DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, has been given preference ahead of in-form bowler Ajit Agarkar.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the Chandigarh Cricket Association, affiliated to the Haryana Cricket Association, Mr Surinder Singh, said the inclusion of VRV in the Indian team was a proud moment for all city cricketers.

City, Punjab teams named for twenty20 meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24
The Chandigarh (UT) Twenty20 Cricket Association and the Punjab State Twenty20 Cricket Association today announced their teams for the Super Zone National Twenty20 Cricket Championship being organised by the Panchkula District Twenty20 Cricket Association at the Chaudhary Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula.

Punjab, Chandigarh and West Bengal have been placed in tough Group D and Punjab face Chandigarh in their opening fixture tomorrow at 1.30 pm.

The Chandigarh team was announced by CTCA president I.D. Kamboj, while Vinay Chhatwal, Chief Executive Officer of the PSTCA made the names of his players public.

The West Bengal players arrived today and will open their campaign against Punjab at 7 am tomorrow.

Chandigarh team: Ranjit Bajaj (captain), Sanjay Mahajan, Saida Khan, Harikrishan Kali, Prabhjot Singh, Ravi Dhaliwal, Sunny Behl, Abhinav, Farman Ahmed, Pradeep Chawla, Sumit Rana, Rahat Elahi, Sunil Panya, Karan Kherwal, Rocky Ratta and Sandeep Kohli.

Punjab team: Amit Sharma (captain, Jalandhar), Vinod Manas (Jalandhar), Ranjeet Singh Sandhu (Amritsar), Manpreet Singh (wicketkeeper, Jalandhar), Jaswinder Singh (Amritsar), Ankur Bassi (vice-captain, Amritsar), Manpreet Singh (Jalandhar), Kanwar Daljinder Singh (Gurdaspur), Navneet Singh (Amritsar), Deepak Sharma (Mohali), Vikram Thakur (Patiala), Bharat Sharma (Muktsar), Amrinder Singh Brar (Ludhiana), Sakun Verma (Ludhiana) and Sujit (Chandigarh).

Chandigarh defeat Ludhiana in U-19 cricket tourney
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24
The Chandigarh team won the match against Ludhiana on the basis of first innings' lead during the Punjab Inter-district U-19 Cricket Tournament for Dhruv Pandove Trophy held at DAV, Sector 8 grounds, here today.

Resuming its innings today, Chandigarh scored 394 for seven in reply to Ludhiana's total of 233 runs. Superb centuries scored by Gurkirat (142) and Sarul Kanwar (105 n.o.) and ably supported by Simrat Bawa who scored 64, Chandigarh won the match on first innings lead.

Brief score:

Ludhiana first innings: 233 all out in 87 overs

Chandigarh first innings: 394 for seven

Gurkirat (142), Sarul Kanwar (105 not out) Simrat Bawa (64) and Amit (25).

G.Dhand two for 119 and Mukul two for 60.

In the second match played at PCA Stadium, Mohali, the Mohali team crushed Amritsar by six wickets, thus scoring outright victory.

Mohali batsman played sensibly and scored 298 in its first innings riding on the 124 not out from Kunal Rajdhan.

Amritsar in their second innings scored 201 runs, thus giving a target of 52 runs to Mohali. At one stage, Charanjit gave minor hiccups to Mohali by claiming two wickets and Mohali was 32 for 4.

Nikhil Diwedi and Navneet played cautiously and scored winning runs without losing any further wicket. 

Satluj school enter cricket final
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 24
Satluj Public School ‘B’ team beat Saupin’s School, Chandigarh, by 7 wickets and entered the finals of Satluj under 14 Hot weather Invitational cricket tournament for school teams being played at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, here.

Rishi Raj of Satluj team played a superb knock of 90 n.o. in just 45 balls with the help of 13 fours and 2 sixes. In another semifinals, St. Stephen’s High School, Sector 45, Chandigarh defeated Little Flower Convent School by 94 runs.

Brief scores:

First semifinals:

Saupin’s School, Chd: 145/4 in 25 overs. Ashish Rathore 62 n.o., Anupam 25. Satluj Public School ‘B’, Panchkula: 151/3 in 23 overs. Rishi Raj Sharma 90 n.o., Abhishek 30, Jasraj 2/30.

Second semifinal:

St. Stephen’s, Chd: 185/6 in 25 overs. Ankush 55, Harman 34, Anurag 42, Sanjit 29, Rohan 2/36. Little Flower, Panchkula: 91 all out. Harman 3/10.

City rowers shine in Kolkata regatta

Chandigarh, May 24
Chandigarh rowers clinched gold in the BRC International School Regatta-2006 held at Rabindra Sarobar Lake, Kolkata, from May 14 to 20. They beat South Point A, Kolkata, team. The city rowers had appeared for the first time in the seniors’ category in which 43 teams from different schools participated.

Chandigarh rowers won the event and pocketed a cash award of Rs 3000. The team members comprised Kanav Dosanjh, Shokinder Tomar, Angrej Singh, Manjit Singh and Jarmanjit Singh (coxswain). TNS

Parul wins tennis title

Chandigarh, May 24
Local tennis player Parul Verma, a trainee of the Harvest Tennis Academy, Jassowal (Kular, Ludhiana), won U-16 (Boys) AITA National Series held in Mumbai from May 13 to 20.

Parul, a student of class XI in DAV Model School, Sector 15, won the doubles event pairing with Karan Udey of Delhi beating Ankit Sachdeva of Delhi and Shiva Sangwan of Chandigarh 2-6, 6-4, 12-5. TNS

Vivek academy beat ICL in U-13 cricket
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24
The Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy beat ICL Eleven in a league match of the first Hot Weather St. John's U-13 Cricket Trophy being played at St. John's High School, Sector 26, here.

In the afternoon match, a keen contest was witnessed between St. Anne's High School and Guru Nanak Public School (GNPS) teams.