Youth’s body found
Our correspondent

Ambala, January 22
The body of a youth, missing from his house since the last 17 days, was found in a sugarcane field near village Tohba on Ambala-Jagadhri road, 15 kms from here today morning. The deceased was identified as Ravi Kumar, a resident of village Tohba.

A farmer of the village, who reported the matter to police, noticed the body first. Since the face was badly smashed, identification was made through Ravi’s cloths. 

SPORTS

Chandigarh beat Zone-A by 5 wickets
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22
In the first match of Punjab state inter-district one-day cricket tournament for the S.C. Mittal trophy being played at the Sector 16 Stadium here, Chandigarh defeated Zone -A by 5 wickets and logged 5 points, including a bonus. Winning the toss, Zone - A were all out for 219 in 49.4 overs.

Their opening pair of Nakul Chopra (36) and Arjun Wadhawan put on 52 runs for the first wicket before Nakul Chopra was bowled by left arm spinner Rahul Chara for 36 off 30 balls inclusive of 6x4s.

Maninder Singh 45 of 59 balls and Ranjit Singh 46 off 41 balls were the other main run getters for Zone - A. Gurkirat Singh 3 for 40, Gaurav Ghambhir 2 for 28, Rahul Chara 2 for 25 were the main wicket takers for Chandigarh.

In reply, Chandigarh lost their opener and skipper Viswas Bhalla with the score reading one.

Thereafter, Amit Prasher 62 of 60 balls with 9x4s and Uday Kaul 20 of 23 balls with 3x4s stitched a 72 run partnership for the second wicket before Uday Kaul was run out by Ranjit Singh.

Gurkirat Singh 67 of 67 balls with 5x4s and Siddharth Sharma 41 of 42 balls 2x4s and 1x6s were involved in a 108 runs partnership for the fourth wicket. Ranjit Singh 2 for 45 was the main wicket taker. Chandigarh scored 225 for 5 in 34.2 overs.

With this win Chandigarh finished the league table with 7 points while Mohali was also on 7 points.

However, they piped Mohali on net run rate. Chandigarh would now meet Amritsar in the semi-finals to be played at PCA Stadium, Mohali on January, 24.

In the second match played at Patiala, Patiala defeated Mohali by 8 wickets but could not get the bonus point. Chasing Mohali’s modest total of 138, Patiala were sitting pretty at 130 for 2 in 30 overs. They over hauled the Mohali total of 138 in 42.4 overs.

In the third match played at Ludhiana between Ludhiana and Zone B, Ludhiana defeated Zone B by 94 runs. Batting first Ludhiana were all out 272 in 50 overs. In reply Zone B were all out for 178 runs.

In the fourth match played between Amritsar and Jalandhar played at Jalandhar, Amritsar defeated Jalandhar by 148 runs. Batting first, Amritsar scored 255 for 5 in allotted 50 overs. Jalandhar in reply was all out for 107 in 34.4 overs.

PU judokas emerge champs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22
Punjab University, Chandigarh, won the All India Inter University Judo (Men) championship for the session 2007-08, garnering a total of 15.5 points. The meet concluded at PU gymnasium hall, here today.

Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, bagged the second place with 9 points. Kurukshetra University and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, secured the third and fourth positions with 8.5 and 6.5 points respectively.

PU vice-chancellor Prof RC Sobti, who was the chief guest on the concluding day, gave away the prizes.

Results:

56 kg: 1 Sagar Diwan 2 Parveen Kumar 3 Vijay Kumar and Raman Kumar

Open weight: 1 Vikender Singh 2 Rajnish Sharma 3 Khart Dhangi and Sandeep.

Murder accused gets 3-day police remand
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, January 22
Snehlata, wife of Padam who was found murdered at a farm house near here last week, was remanded in three-day police custody by additional chief judicial magistrate Ritu Garg at the local court here today. She was arrested on charges of murdering her husband yesterday.

According to police, Snehlata had strained relations with her husband and he used to beat her up frequently. She had illicit relations with a nephew of Padam and when the latter came to know about this, he became more brutally. The police said Snehlata attacked Padam with sharp-edged weapons while he was sleeping on the night of January 13, killing him on the spot.

However, Snehlata has said her husband was murdered by a trespasser on that night.

Woman’s suicide
Husband held
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22
A day after a woman committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in Sector 22, the police today arrested her husband and brother-in-law on charges of abetting suicide.

Gajraj Singh, husband of Anu, and his brother Charanjit Singh were arrested under Section 306, IPC, after the police gathered circumstantial evidence against him.

The police has also booked the sister-in-law of Anu, Pushpa, and her husband Balbir Singh for abetment. They were yet to be arrested.

Stars in their eyes
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22
Working for a serial that means ‘the better half’, these two young stars promise a fresh lead in their serials. As Sudeepa Singh and Ajay Krish, leading actors of Zee TV’s ongoing soap ‘Ardhangani’ were in the city today, it was the lure to play something different that brought them in the soap, they said.

Born and brought up in Amritsar, Sudeepa is purely inclined to her cultural Punjabi roots and acting to her happened by chance. “I went for an audition for Zee TV’s antakshari two years back and got selected. After that, there was no looking back and after a stint in a serial by Sony titled ‘Kabhi toh nazar milao’, Ardhangani for Zee finally happened,” she said. Well, participation in college youth festivals from Guru Nanak Dev University had always been her interests and she always came out with flying colours, she added.

For Mumbai based Ajay Krish, acting was the sole motto of his life and he was trained enough for it. His acting stint in an American feature film ‘Dreams’ was screened at Cannes Film festival and he learnt the nuances of acting from New York University.

“It’s a complete mixture of all emotions in the character I play. The person relates closely to every individual’s life,” he said.

Having acted in serial ‘Mamta’, Ajay feels a serial dies a natural death when it is stretched beyond a certain limit. “Creativity is like a rubber band, if you stretch it more, it will break at a point,” he said adding that this was the reason why his serial ‘Mamta’ had to be stopped on Zee.

A story of a Bengali girl Kangana, played by Sudeepa Singh, ‘Ardhangani’ showcases a romantic saga with all the ingredients of a daily soap. The time slot of 11pm also suits them well, as the serial is catching up, they said.

Will Bollywood happen for this fresh acting couple? “We are waiting and watching if movies finally happen,” echoed the duo.

9th annual art exhibition of fine arts opens
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, January 22
“Art is impression and expression on one side and representation and communication on the other” but for Panchkula-based Ram Kumar Sharma, in charge of Bama Academy of Fine Arts, it is more of a promotion and propagation among the masses.

This concept truly finds a testimony as the Academy’s ninth annual exhibition organised in collaboration with the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademy featured the works of 60 artists of different age groups, students and artists both amateurs and professionals.

The exhibited works included mostly in oil painting and a few in water colour and the venture is aimed at encouraging the budding artists, says Ram Kumar Sharma.

The works that vied for spontaneous attention includes ‘Musical Man’ by R.K. Biswas for creating a human figure from musical instruments.

Earlier, Prof Ravinder Sharma welcomed the chief guest Pradeep Chhabra, City Mayor, who while inaugurating the exhibition complimented the artists especially the Lalit Kala Akademy for showcasing the talent of accomplished painters from Panchkula, Mohali , Chandimandir and Ambala.

The exhibition will be open for art lovers till January 25 at the Art Gallery, Chandigarh, Lalit Kala Akademy.