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Pak cricketers turn footballers
G. S. Paul
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
Shrouded by a plethora of controversies and the absence of Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar and pacer Mohammad Asif, the challenge of the Champions Trophy appears gigantic for the Pakistan cricket team. The team had a football session at the Sector 42 stadium. Amidst tight security, they reached the ground at around 4 pm. The Pakistani players formed two teams among themselves and played football for about one and a half hours.
Younis Khan, who took off his shirt despite chill in the air, scored many goals. The high level of enthusiasm he showed on the field was proof enough for his passion for the sport. Shahid Afridi, too, seemed to be enjoying the game. He expressed disappointment on a couple of occasions when his teammates could not convert his passes into goals. Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer’s whistles for foul had little affect on the players. Woolmer, acting as a referee, enjoyed the match. Ranjit Bajaj, the team’s liaison officer, was goalkeeper for one side. Later, the players did stretching and running exercises. By opening their tour with a thrilling four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their opening Group-B tie, the Pakistani coach appeared quite confident today. “Of course, we are missing them and their absence makes a difference, but we have good package of fast bowlers like Iftekhar Anjum, Rana Naved-ul- Hasan and Abdul Razzak. So, we have many options. Naved’s confidence dwindled following his ‘not so good’ performance against England. However, on the whole, I must say, Younis Khan-led team is doing well. “The victory over the strong Lankan team has been a big morale booster for the team. We will maintain consistency and gradually we well get through” , said Waqar Younis, the bowling coach of the team. Bowled over by the hospitality extended to the team members, Wakar Younis could not resist himself to admit it: “It’s always been exciting to be here in India, especially Chandigarh. The weather here is quite cool and we hung around yesterday to have the feel of this most modern city. We watched Shah Rukh Khan’s “Don” last evening. Though, I couldn’t join the boys who went out to see Divali, the festival is just like Id for Pakistan.” The Pakistani team, which landed here yesterday, will play two matches against New Zealand and South Africa at Mohali on October 25 and 27. About the Mohali pitch, Wakar said they were quite familiar with the tendency of the pitch and he hoped this time too it would be a batting friendly pitch. Moreover, the weather conditions were also very refreshing.
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Dope fiasco will not be easily forgotten, says Woolmer
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
The Pakistan cricket team practised at the Sector 16 cricket stadium here on Saturday. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer helped the team do some fielding practice in the presence of bowling coach Waqar Younis.
Interacting with mediapersons, Woolmer said the doping controversy involving their two fast bowlers was not going to be forgotten. “It’s not going to be forgotten that easily, but I believe that every side learns to deal with it and would not allow it to affect their performance.” He also criticised Dr Tauseef Razzaq (Shoaib Akhtar’s doctor) for reportedly suggesting that there could be a conspiracy behind the dope fiasco. “Dr Razzaq has no right to say that there was a conspiracy,” he said. He said it was unfortunate that the two fast bowlers’ name had surfaced in a doping offence at a time when the team was to take part in the high-profile event, being touted as a mini-world cup. “We all have nandroline in our body. The thing to be determined is that if something has been taken to enhance its levels,” he said. Woolmer said the absence of key players like Inzaman-ul-Haq and Shoaib Akhtar had given the team an opportunity to stand up and show its mettle, which it did by winning against Sri Lanka. He praised the team for being “high on sporting intelligence”. They might not have great university degrees, but I must say their sporting intelligence was very high, he said. Asked about the Mohali wicket, he said the weather here was much cooler in comparison to Jaipur.
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Younis and party celebrate Divali
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
The love-hate relationship between India and Pakistan notwithstanding, Pakistan cricketers had a time of their life time as they celebrated Divali here last night.
The high-profile team members made the festival an unforgettable experience for the family of their liaison officer Ranjit Bajaj by celebrating Divali with them at his Sector 16 residence.
The cricketers, including skipper Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Rana
Naved-ul-Hassan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoab Malik and Kamran Akmal, jived to the latest Hindi and Punjabi numbers, as a DJ set the pulse for the night and belted out movie tunes as well as “dhol” beats. They were awed by the beautiful fire work, which lit up the night sky for more than two hours last night. Other than the four cricketers, including vice-captain Mohammad Yousuf and blaster Shahid
Afridi, everyone else in the team turned up and had a ball. “The glorious festival, lighting and fire work were all amazing and virtually had us de-stressed and rejuvenated”, said Younis Khan. “It was a real fun to celebrate Divali here as we have heard a lot about the festival back in our country. We all are feeling at home”, he added while thanking the hosts for providing them opportunity to celebrate the festival along with them. Before joining the party, the team watched the newly released Shah Rukh Khan’s “Don”. Praising the cricketers for their humility and down-to-earth attitude, Mr Bajaj said, “The stars were behaving like a family. They mingled easily with the other guests”.
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Kiwis arrive in city
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
The stage is set for another tie of ICC Champions Trophy with the arrival of New Zealand cricket team in the city this afternoon.
The team will take on Pakistan in a day-night one-day match at the PCA Stadium, Mohali, on October 25.
Unlike the Pakistan team, which landed here on October 19 amidst tight security and a large number of fans, the Kiwis had a quiet arrival. Only a handful of security men and mediapersons were present at a local hotel, where the teams are staying. Without talking to mediapersons, the Kiwis went to their rooms immediately and held a meeting in the evening. “The team will take to nets at 1.30 p m at the PCA Stadium tomorrow”, said Mr Vicky Banga, local manager of the team. For the New Zealand team, the coming match is going to be a must-win affair to remain in the fray. The team has to its credit one win against South Africa and one loss against Sri Lanka. So far, both teams have faced each other in 77 international ODIs. Pakistan won 47 times whereas New Zealand registered victory in 28 matches. Earlier, in ICC Champions Trophy, both teams met once in the semifinals at Nairobi (Kenya) in 2000 in which New Zealand defeated Pakistan by four wickets.
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CEC, Landran, reign supreme in weightlifting
Tribune News Service
Mohali, October 22
Chandigarh Engineering College,
Landran, reigned supreme in the three-day PTU weightlifting, powerlifting and best physique championship held on the CGC campus at Landran by bagging the overall best team trophy. The CEC teams won weightlifting and powerlifting competitions and bagged second position in best physique championship.
In all 35 weightlifters, 45 body-builders and 72 powerlifters representing various colleges in the state participated in the three-day championship. The CEC,
Landran, won 12 gold medals, six silver medals and two bronze medals in the championships followed by GNDE College, Ludhiana, which won four gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. The third position went to
RIET, Phagwara, which won two golds, six silvers and eight bronze medals. The gold medal winners from the CEC include Jagjit Singh in 77 kg, Amandeep Cheema in 105 kg and Harpreet Singh in plus-105 kg in weight lifting. Arun Dev in 52 kg category, Hardeep Singh in 56 kg, Pardeep Bhatia in 60 kg, Jagjeet Singh in 75 kg, Damandeep in 82.5 kg, Amandeep Cheema in 100 kg, Harpreet Singh in 110 kg and Vikas Bansal in 125 kg category won gold medals in
powerlifting. Pardeep Bhatia of the CEC won gold in 60 kg in best physique, for which the college also won the second best overall trophy. In weightlifting Hardeep Singh in 56 kg, Pradeep Bhatia in 62 kg, Jarnail Singh in 69 kg and Damandeep Samra in 85 kg, all from CEC, won silver. Gagandeep Singh, also of CEC, won silver medal in the best physique championship while Rahul Dahiya won the bronze medal. In powerlifting Jarnail Singh of the CEC won silver and Gagandeep Bajwa won bronze. Rajinder Pal Singh of
SSHIT, Jalandhar, won gold in 67.5 kg category and Harpreet Singh of
GNDEC, Ludhiana, won gold in 90 kg category whereas Lakhwinder Singh of
SUSCET, Tangori, won gold in 125 kg category in powerlifting.
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City girls 3rd in inter-state carrom
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
The Chandigarh girls’ team has stood third in the team championship in the 35th Junior National and Inter-State Carrom Championship held at Patna from October 5 to 10. The Chandigarh girls outclassed Tamil Nadu in a match for the 3rd place 2-1.
Earlier in the league matches, they won their ties against Vidharbha, Bengal, Kerela, Maharashtra. They thrashed Jharkhand 3-0 in the quarter final before losing to Bengal in the semi final 1-2. The following were the members of the team: Farheen (St. Stephen’s- Togan), Aakanksha (Captain), Harshpreet Goraya, Kudrat Baweja and Vishakha Pandit (Sacred Heart-26), Bhanu Sadana (St. Joseph - 44). Akanksha and Neeraj Bharti of Chandigarh were ranked 7th and 8th in the girls’ singles and boys’ singles categories, respectively. Akanksha entered into the quarter-final beating her opponents from Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. She lost to a UP girl in the quarter-final. Neeraj beat his opponents from Orissa and Bihar before losing in the quarter-final.
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Tennis player does city proud
G. S. Paul
Tribune News Service
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Vijayant Malik
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Chandigarh, October 22
Fifteen-year-old Vijayant Malik, a trainee of the Sector 10 Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Academy, has done the city proud by making his presence felt at the National Tennis Tournament held in New Delhi on
Thursday. Vijayant won the under-16 national title beating his Delhiite opponent Yuki Bhambri in the finals by an identical straight set margin of 6-3, 6-3.
Elated over his success, Vijayant said, "It is tough to explain in words how happy I am. I know I have to work very hard to come up to the expectations of my coaches and guardians and I am prepared to maintain the lead". Coach Lalit Tandon, who accompanied him to the tournament, was also proud of his protege. "He has been under my training for the past four years. It is the serve and volley which is his biggest asset. I am astonished to see the confindence he showed while playing with other big league of players and seldom found him buoyed by the crowd presence. It is his dedication and zeal which stands him tall in the crowd." A trainee under the Chandigarh Academy for Rural Tennis (CHART), a specially designed programme to uplift the upcoming tennis talents, he was picked up by the CLTA from a village in Haryana at the age of 11 years. The ITF ranking of Vijayant in the Under-18 age group has improved from No.1700 to 400.
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St Stephen’s eves lift football trophy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
Girls of St Stephen’s, Sector 45, won the Deepak Kapania trophy with an edge over Dev Samaj College, Sector 45, on the basis of better goal average after their match ended in a goalless draw in the Senior Chandigarh Women Football Championship at the Sector 17 football stadium here today.
In the four-team round robin league, both teams scored two wins and one draw each. Shikha Sharma of St Stephen’s and Kamlesh of Dev Samaj College were adjudged the best players of the tournament. Vijay Kapania, chairman of the Deepak Kapania Memorial Trust, distributed the prizes among the winners.
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St. John’s team in semifinal
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 22
The St. John’s team entered the semifinal of the 9th Blessed Edmund Rice Under-16 Cricket Tournament with topping Pool A by virtue of better net run rate compared to the St Kabir’s team.
The tournament is being held on the St John’s grounds here. Today’s match between St. John’s and St. Kabir’s was abandoned after only two over were bowled. The St. Kabir’s team was in trouble at 7 for 2 when the rain stopped the play. The points were equally shared by the two teams, leaving both teams at 6 points each. The other match between Satluj Public School and St. Anne’s couldn’t be played at all. The points were shared for that match too. Meanwhile, a match between YPS and St. John’s (B team) was also washed out.
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