NEIGHBOURHOOD

Goods train derails near Rajpura
Tribune News Service

Kharar, August 31
Family members of a youth, who died under mysterious circumstances on August 23 after being admitted to a drug de-addiction centre in Balongi, today thronged the Balongi sales tax barrier and demanded immediate action against the centre owner.

The centre was run in a rented accommodation for about past five years. Following the complaint of the deceased’s mother Daljit Kaur, the police booked centre’s owner and staff for death due to negligence.

Randhir Singh, brother-in-law of the deceased, alleged that the police was trying to hush up the case by not arresting the owner of the centre.

The area residents who accompanied Daljit Kaur threatened to launch a stir against the police if they fail to act accordingly.

“We will gherao the police station and also block the traffic if the accused was not arrested,” said Randhir.

Meanwhile, police officials tried to pacify the irate residents and family members of the deceased and said the accused would soon be arrested.

“We are conducting raids at various possible hideouts and the accused would be arrested soon,” said DSP Raj Balwinder Singh.

The deceased, Surinder Singh (20), was a resident of Phase 3 B II, Mohali.

Patiala, August 31
Punjabi University, Patiala, has managed to become the ‘best sports university’ in the country by winning the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy for 2006-07.

The university proved its supremacy by dethroning the reigning champions, Guru Nanak Dev University, with a huge margin of 1,050 points.

A special function was organised today on the university campus that wore a festive look to receive the trophy brought by the vice-chancellor, Dr Jaspal Singh.

A splash of colour and performance of Bhangra awaited with enthusiasm the arrival of the trophy.

This was the first time in university’s history of 46 years that they won the trophy.

President Pratibha Patil awarded the trophy to its vice-chancellor yesterday in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan in the presence of outstanding sports personalities and sportspersons of India.

While giving the entire credit for this splendid victory to director sports, Punjabi University, Dr Rajkumar Sharma, coaches and players of the university, Dr Jaspal Singh said now they were saddled with added responsibility to further the cause of sports so as to continue there winning spree in future.

Long-term plans would be chalked out to expand the frontiers of sports not only on the campus but in the affiliated colleges too, he added.

He said special attention would be paid to sports and to promote the hidden talent in regional centres and neighbourhood campuses of the university, established in the backward belts of Malwa region comprising Bathinda, Mansa and Sangrur districts.

Dr Jaspal also announced that the university would honour the three medal winners of Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, Vijender and Sushil Kumar, at a special function in the near future.

Special awards would also be instituted on their names, which would act as a catalyst to inspire the future generation of sportspersons, he added.

The university has already decided to spend over Rs 70 lakh to create new infrastructure and upgrade the present one.

Vice-chancellor said the winning teams and individual players would also be honoured by the university.

He announced Rs 10 lakh for medal winners, who contributed in winning the trophy.

Dr Raj Kumar Sharma assured the players that with their cooperation, they would
win by even better margin next year and would not let the trophy skip from their
hands now.

He also requested the vice-chancellor to increase the grades of coaches, which was readily accepted by the VC.

Also the coach whose team would be champion for five consecutive years would be awarded Rs 51,000 and for 10 years Rs 1 lakh. Earlier, the best coach of the year was given Rs 21,000 award.

Panchkula, August 31
The accused arrested by the district police for honour killing were remanded in judicial custody here today.

The accused, including father Ram Mehar and maternal uncle Raj Kumar of Sheenu, the victim, along with Ishwar Singh, Ram Bhagat, Jai Bhagwan, and Ravi Dutt had been in police custody since they were arrested from Jind on August 26.

The police has registered a case of kidnapping and murder against Ram Mehar and Raj Kumar.

Sheenu, a resident of Lohchab village in Jind district, was allegedly killed by her father and uncle on August 8 after she married Tejpal of the same village.

The accused had earlier allegedly kidnapped her from Panchkula on August 5 where she was living alone after her husband had left for Australia.

Chandigarh, August 31
Attending a late-night party just a day before the last ODI in Sri Lanka by all-rounder Yuvraj Singh might have raised many eyebrows, but the BCCI members chose to evade comment on the cricketer’s reckless behaviour.

“Actually, I am not aware of the facts. So, it would not be appropriate to comment on the issue,” said BCCI’s joint secretary M.P. Pandove when asked whether the board was contemplating any action against the cricketer.

A controversy had erupted when clippings of Yuvraj Singh attending a late night party on August 28, a day before the final match of the One-Day Series against Sri Lanka, were flashed on a TV channel.

In the match, India suffered a humiliating defeat of 117 runs at the hands of the hosts. Yuvraj, who has been passing through bad form of late, again failed to deliver in the match. He put on 17 runs there.

Though Pandove refused to make a direct comment on the controversy, he maintained that the cricketers must respect the highest traditions of the game.

“As all eyes are on them (the cricketers), they should not do anything which raises the eyebrows, especially during the cricketing tours. The players must abide by the BCCI’s rule book,” said the office-bearer.

Chandigarh, August 31
The team led by Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh won the pro-am event of the Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championship which concluded on the greens of the Madras Gymkhana Club at Guindy in Chennai today.

The three amateurs, who made up Harendra Gupta's team were Shivaraj, P. Mukherjee and Radhakrishnan.

The winning team logged 115 points in the pro-am event which was played on a fourball team stableford format.

The professional scores was compulsory along with the two best amateur scores out of three amateurs on a hole by hole basis.

The competition gave the amateur golfers from Chennai an opportunity to tee off along with some of the top professional golfers of the country.

PGTI member Rahul Ganapathy's team comprising amateurs Abhinav Suresh, S. Suryakumar and J.R.K. Rao, finished first runners-up with 113 points.

Another three points behind at 110 was the foursome led by Feroze Ali Mollah. The amateurs in the team were D. Nagaraj, Muthu Kumaran and P.S. Jagdish.

The prize for the closest shot to the pin on the second hole was won by S. Ramamirtham as his tee shot landed just 2 metres and 13 cm short of the pin.

The prize for the longest drive on the seventh hole was bagged by Vinayak Krishna, who came up with a 326-yard drive.

R. Shivaraj won the contest for the straightest drive on the 10th hole. His drive was just 1 foot away from the centre of the fairway.

Chandigarh, August 31
A.S. Lehal of Chandigarh fired a one under par 69 on the final day to finish tied eighth and pocketed Rs 48,800 in the Rs 20-lakh Tamil Nadu Open PGTI prize-money event on the par 70 greens of Madras Gymkhana Club at Guindy in Chennai today.

Ranjit Singh, another Chandigarh contender, who had played an under par game in the first three rounds, committed a quadruple bogey on the fifth to return a miserable five over 75 card to slump to tied 23rd spot .

But it was Mukesh Kumar, who created a record when he clinched an 11-stroke win with a tournament total of 21 under 259, which is a course record.

Mukesh broke the previous course record of 18 under set by Digvijay Singh. This
was Mukesh's fourth title of the 2007-08 PGTI season. He won the cash prize of
Rs 3,23,300.

Chandigarh, August 31
Manav Mangal School, Sector 11, Panchkula, shone in both boys’ and girls’ under-17 categories in the District School Gymnastics Championship, organised by the district school education department, yesterday at Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Panchkula.

In under-17 boys’ category, Mahesh of Manav Mangal has been adjudged all-round best gymnast by securing 36.70 points. He won three gold medals while performing on six apparatus.

In the same category, four gymnasts of Manav Mangal have been selected for the state championship.

In under-17 girls’ category, Manav Mangal bagged team championship title and, second position went to Bhavan Vidyalaya.

In the same category, out of seven, five gymnasts of Manav Mangal have been selected for state championship.

In under-14 boys, first position has been bagged by Bhavan Vidalaya whereas second position went to Manav Mangal.

In the same category, Purujit of Manav Mangal has been declared all-round best gymnast with 28.20 points. He has won six gold medals in all the six apparatus.

In the same category, out of seven, four gymnasts of Manav Mangal have been selected for state championship.

In table tennis matches too, Manav Mangal School, Sector 11, Panchkula, dominated the proceedings of Panchkula District Table Tennis Championship 2008 held here today at Manav Mangal School.

They lifted the trophy of under-17 girls team championship and under-17 boys team championship by beating Bhavan Vidalaya, 3-0 and 3-1 in both the events.

Chaman Lal DAV School lost to both Manav Mangal school and Bhavan Vidalaya in the league matches in team championships.

In sub-junior boys under-14, Manav Mangal was the winner whereas in sub junior girls under-14, Manav Mangal were the winners.

In boys’ under-10 category, Bhavan Vidalaya beat Manav Mangal in the finals whereas in girls’ under-10 category, Chanda of Manav Mangal was the winner.

Chandigarh, August 31
Ranjeet Singh, Sachin Kumar and Vishu Prasad helped DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8, to bag a gold medal during the inter-school tournament organised by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA).

Nischay Rawal and Utkarsh of St Anne’s School won a silver medal for their school while DAV Public School, Sector 8, bagged the bronze.

In the boys u-17 match, DAV-15 got the gold medal, DAV Public School, Sector 8 clinched silver medal while St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, bagged bronze.

In the boys u-19 match, Harry Amor and Mandeep Gill of DAV-15 won the gold medal for their school. Ajay Yadav, Ashwani Kumar and Manoj Kumar helped DAV Senior Secondary School-8 clinch silver medal. Whereas, bronze medal was bagged by DAV Public School-8.

Other results: Girls u-14: Gold medal - Sacred Heart (Bhavika Wadhawan CLTA and Bhavya Wadhawan CLTA)
Silver medal - Carmel Convent (Vibhutti Khullar CLTA and Sonali Bansal)
Girls u 17: Gold medal - Carmel Convent (Iktesh Chahal CLTA and Deepali
Verma CLTA)
Silver medal - St Stephen’s School-45
(Madhusani Rajendra CLTA, Moumita Jannat CLTA)
Bronze medal - Sacred Heart (Harnoor Kaur CLTA and Ravnoor Kaur CLTA).

Chandigarh, August 31
Eighteen volleyball school teams and 12 boxing school teams participated in regional sports meet which commenced at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 31, here today.

Principal of the school Anubhuti Mehta declared the meet open after the oath-taking ceremony. The tournament was conducted on the knock-out-cum-league basis.

Four teams KV Panipat, KV-47, KV Yole, Cantonment, and KV, Kapurthala, qualified for the league matches.

In boxing, 20 teams qualified for the final matches. In the final match under the 48 Kg category, Anil Joshi of KV-47 will face Kuldeep Singh of KV3-Ambala.

In the 48 Kg category, Pawan Kumar of KV-1, Ambala Cantonment, will play with Sushant Tokas of KV-29.

Mandeep Singh of KV-ITBP will face Rohit Kumar of KV-1 A/Cantt in the 51 Kg category. While in the 57 Kg category, Rahul Yadav of KV-1 A/Cantt will face Amar Singh of KV-31.

In the 64 Kg category, Arun Kumar of KV-H. Ground will face Nirbho Singh of KV-1 A/Cantt. Jaydeep Mishra of KV-A/Cantt will play with Manoj Arya of KV-47 in the 69 Kg category.

Similarly, two chess players in each age group and two tae kwan do players in each age group/weight category will be selected for the coaching camp. The selected teams will participate in the 39th KVS national meet to be held in Hyderabad.

Chandigarh, August 31
Happy (25), a resident of Palsora, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a fan at his residence here today.

According to police station-39 SHO Rajesh Shukla, the victim hanged himself
around 6.30 am.

The victim was found hanging by his family members who informed the police. He was taken to the General Hospital, Sector 16, where he was declared brought dead.

Happy was married six months ago. As no suicide note was found from the scene, the cause behind the suicide could not be ascertained, said the SHO.