Chandigarh, December 16
A day after a 30-year-old man was murdered near his residence in Bapu Dham Colony (BDC), Sector 26, the police today arrested the perpetrator of the crime.

The accused, Shankar alias Judi, was arrested from near his house and the police have also recovered the weapon used in the crime.

It may be mentioned that the murder occurred at about 4:15 am on Sunday when Bhanwati was going out to attend nature’s call. She alleged that as she stepped out of her house Judi grabbed her and tried to outrage her modesty. She raised an alarm, following which her brother-in-law Pappu, a vegetable vendor, came out to rescue her. However, in a bid to save himself, the accused stabbed Pappu in his chest and managed to flee from the spot. Pappu was rushed to the PGI in a PCR van where he succumbed to his injuries.

Judi has a criminal background and was released on December 3 on regular bail in a robbery case. He is allegedly a drug addict and has several cases of robbery and snatching registered against him.

Chandigarh, December 16
A day after a dozen persons were injured in violence between two groups during gram panchayat poll, the police today booked members of both the parties.

The violence occurred during the elections to Kishangarh panchayat where the contest for the sarpanch’s post was between candidates backed by arch rivals, the Congress and the SAD-BJP. One of the candidates, Man Kaur is the wife of Bhajan Singh, a former chairman of zila parishad and is backed by SAD-BJP. Another candidate Gurvinder Kaur is the wife of Devinder Lubana, a Congress leader. Both the groups pelted each other with stones and vehicles were also damaged in the attack.

The police have registered a case against Manoj Lubana, Ram Pal, Preetam, Nirmal Singh, Bhajan Singh, Rattan Singh, Saurav, Girdhari, Dalbir, Manish Kumar, a woman and others under sections 148, 323 and 353 of the IPC of rioting, causing hurt, assaults and use of use of criminal force to any person being a public servant in the execution of his duty, at Manimajra. The case has been registered on a complaint of a Sub-Inspector.

Chandigarh, December 16
Officials from the sports branch of the Education Department have put themselves in the dock. They have sought services of the UT Sports Department’s cricket coach about whom they alleged of adopting favouritism in selecting players a month ago to shortlist players for a local U-17 boys’ cricket team for the upcoming nationals.

In November, the Education Department conducted retrials of boys (U-19) cricket team after a player alleged favouritism by the coach in selecting the team. In a hurry, the department marked an inquiry, headed by a commerce teacher, and the teacher in no time suggested retrials.

Raising question over the capability of the coach, the officials had approached Bhupinder Singh (senior), a former international player, to select the final team after the retrials.

Notably, the coach who was accused of favouritism, is coaching since 25 years and has played a vital role in training international players like Yuvraj Singh, Prashant Chopra and Harbhajan Singh.

And within a matter of a month, the Education Department has taken a U-turn and asked the Sports Department to again appoint a specialised coach to select boys (U-17) team tomorrow at the cricket stadium of Sector 16.

“We have received a request and the same coach has been appointed to help the Education Department. We have no doubts over his capability. Whatever happened, in the past, is the matter with the selection process of the Education Department. We are performing our duty,” said JPS Sidhu, Joint Director, Sports, Sports Department.

“Yes, he (the coach) has been appointed to select the team. We have requested the Sports Department to appoint a specialised coach and they have referred his name. We have no objections, on his name, and will follow the selection procedure,” said Amardeep Singh, state sports organiser, Education Department.

Meanwhile, the coach said: “My department has asked me to join the selection procedure and I will follow the instructions without keeping in mind about the past.”

Every year, the Education Department seeks help of the Sports Department in selecting various teams for participating in the National School Games. The latter appoints their specialised coaches to help the selection committee.

Chandigarh, December 16
The LIC Cricket Club 
won the finals of the Junior State Cricket Women Tournament (U-19) for Kedar Nath Memorial Trophy by defeating Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 56, here, today.

In the finals of the championship, the losing side after batting first posted a total of 80 runs in 20 overs. Rachna contributed an unbeaten 26 runs while Kajal added 11 to the total. For the bowling side, Rajni and Manisha claimed four wickets each. In reply, the winning side achieved the target in 16.2 overs with Divya and Manisha scoring 19 runs each.

Chandigarh, December 16
The badminton team of Panjab University, Chandigarh, lifted the trophy of the North Zone Inter-University Badminton Championship for Men, which concluded in Delhi today.

In the finals of the championship, the winning side blanked Delhi University 3-0.

In the individual events, Akshit defeated Harshvardhan, Rupinder beat Rishab Sahdev.

In doubles, the pair of Akshit and Anand Tewari defeated Rishab and Ravi of the host side.

The team won the title under the guidance of Surinder Mahajan, coach, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and his coordinator Narinder Singh.

Members of the PU team: Rupinder Singh, Kawaldeep Singh, Akshit Mahajan, Ajay Kaith, Gurbaksh Singh and Sumit Sharma.

Chandigarh, December 16
In the inaugural match of the Inter-School Basketball Tournament, PML SD Public School, Sector 32, will face Vivek High School, Sector 38, in the boys’ category, at the basketball courts of Sector 46, here, tomorrow.

In the girls’ group, Guru Nanak Public School, Sector 36, will lock horns with Gurukul World, Mohali.

In the other matches, Moti Ram Arya School, Sector 27, will clash with Doon International, Mohali (boys’ category), and Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, will take on the Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 20.

Boys' Pool ‘A’: PML SD Public School-32, Moti Ram Arya School-27, Vivek High School-38 and Doon International, Mohali.

Boys' Pool ‘B’: DAV Senior Secondary School-8, Sri Guru Harkishan Model School-38, Bhawan Vidyalaya-15, Panchkula, and Gurukul World, Mohali.

Girls' Pool ‘A’: Guru Nanak Public School-36, Carmel Convent School-9, Gurukul World, Mohali and GGMSSS-20.

Girls' Pool ‘B’: IS Dev Samaj-21, St Anne’s-32, Manav Mangal, Mohali, and Sacred Heart-26.

Chandigarh, December 16
Top seed Jahnavi Shivran defeated Princy Panchal (4-1, 4-1) while 3rd seed Tanya Batra trounced Ravita Rawat (4-0, 4-1) in a match of the ongoing CLTA-AITA Championship Series Tennis Tournament being held here today. In the same category, 8th seed Pious Mudgill moved to quarter finals with a straight set win over Deepshikha.

In the boys’ category, 2nd seed Vikrant Dahiya faced resistance from Karandeep Singh. Karandeep took the 1st set at 4-2. But Vikrant returned strongly to name the 2nd set. In the tiebreaker, Karandeep took a 3-1 lead but Vikrant finished the tiebreak without losing any other point at 7-3. Eight seed Krishna Rajput was upset by 15th seed Himanshu Mor. Himanshu won 4-5, 4-1 and 7-4.

Results: Boys’ Singles Pre-Quarter: Param Pun bt Gurjot Siddhu 4-1, 5-4 (4); Himanshu Mor bt Krishna Rajput 4- (4), 4-1(4); Mritunjay Badola bt Ishan Sethi 4-1, 4-0; Digvijay Pratap Singh bt Sagar Bains 4-0, 4-1; Nihit Rawal bt Aditya Vashist 5-3, 3-5 (3); Sourabh Kalkal bt Shashikant 4-2, 5-2; Eklavya Singh bt Rohit Kumar 3-5, 5-4 (3); Vikrant Dahiya bt Karandeep 2-4, 4-0(3).

Girls Singles Pre-Quarter: Baani SIngh bt Rubani Ahluwalia 4-1, 4-0; Muskan bt Alisha Menon 4-1, 4-2; Pious Mudgil bt Deepshikha 5-4(2), 4-0; Seerat Pannu bt Khushbeen Kaur 4-2, 4-1; Tanya Batra bt Ravita Rawat 4-0, 4-1; Arti Nayan bt Nandini 5-4 (1), 4-2; Gurneek Bhandal bt Abhilasha Mudgil 4-2, 2-4 (3); Jahnavi Shivran bt Princy Panchal 4-1, 4-1; Boys Doubles (U-16) 2nd Round: Nihit Rawal and Param Pun bt Gurjot and Mritunjay 6-4, 6-2; Eklavya and Rohit Kumar bt Prithvi and Siddharth 6-4, 6-1; Rishabh Sharda and Himashu bt Jagdeep and Krishna R. 6-4, 6-2; Vikrant D and Digvijay P bt Aditya Vashist and Ishant 6-1, 6-0; Girls Doubles (U-16) 2nd Round: Baani Singh and Seerat bt Yashi and Soumya 6-3, 6-2; Deepshikha and Reet bt Muskan and 
Nandini 6-4, 6-2; Gayatri and Pious bt Khushbeen and Rahat 7-5, 6-0.

Chandigarh, December 16
Shaurya Sharma with his quick-fire knock of 105 runs off 90 balls helped Millennium School, Mohali, to beat Satluj Public School, Panchkula, by 30 runs, in a match of 10th Molly Carver Inter-School Cricket tournament being played here today.

Opener Shaurya Sharma completed his century with three sixes and eight boundaries. The team achieved a respectable total of 190 runs. In reply, the losing side was bundled out on 161 runs. A fine 41-run contribution by Shubham and a 32- run innings by Abhishek went in vain.

Brief Scores:

Millennium School - 190 for 5 in 30 overs (Shaurya Sharma 105, Vishesh Bansal 24, Vishwajeet 17 not out. Shubham 2 for 32, Aryan 1 for 37.

Satluj Public School - 161 all out in 29.2 overs (Abhishek 32, Shubham 41, Harmanjeet 15, Aryan Verma 15, Shaurya Sharma 3 for 19).

Chandigarh, December 16
The Chandigarh Ball Badminton Association will organise the Pandit Mohan Lal Memorial Senior State Ball Badminton Championship for men and women on the grounds of SD College, Sector 32, from December 28 to 29.

Those interested can confirm their participation before December 26 with Manoj Kalia (9814057878) and Inderjeet Singh Puri (9888146702).