Mohali, July 9
The local court today acquitted the owner of Chattwal Haveli at Phase XI, Manjit Singh Chhatwal, in an alleged suicide case of Mohali resident Pooja Gogia.

According to information, Pooja Gogia had allegedly committed suicide on June 30 last year. The police had booked Chattwal and then arrested him on December 11, last year. Chattwal was known to the victim. The court of Mohali ADJ Tarsem Mangla acquitted Chattwal in the case today. The counsel of the acquitted, Navin Saini, said the police could not present any evidence against his client in this connection. The victim was under depression for not having a son and so she ended her life, he added.— TNS 

Chandigarh, July 9
The Mohali police have issued look out circulars (LOC) against a Delhi-based businessman, Raman Uppal, and a former IAS officer Gurnihal Singh Pirzada for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore fraud case.

The scam involves transfer of funds to the tune of Rs 231 crore from the accounts of the International Customer Related Management Service Ltd (ICRM).

The notice was issued after the Additional District and Session’s Judge, Mohali, PP Singh, refused the pre-arrest bail to the accused last month.

Both the accused are absconding. The complainant in the case, Narinder Singh, claimed that the former IAS officer was also involved, but his name was not included among the names of the accused. The name of the officer emerged only after a detailed investigation in the case.

Gurnihal Singh Perzada termed the FIR as motivated and false. In a representation to the SSP, Mohali, Perzada said he had already requested the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, to get the entire case investigated by a senior official.

On June 10, the Mohali police had lodged an FIR against Raman Uppal, under cheating and criminal breach of trust. The case was registered based on the complaint lodged by Ludhiana resident Narinder Singh. Earlier, one of the accused in the case, Raman Uppal, had registered an FIR against former Congress MLA-turned-Akali leader Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and others.

It was alleged that Uppal had taken this step to grab the property of the International Customer Related Management Service Ltd 

Chandigarh, July 9
A store attendant with the Central Government Press, Industrial area, Phase 1, Chandigarh, was killed after the shutter of the warehouse reportedly fell on him while he was unloading goods from a truck.

The victim, identified as Burma Nand Pant, in his forties and a resident of government quarters, Setcor 29, was the bread earner of the house. He is survived by his wife and three children.

DD Pant, brother of the victim said the impact of the accident was so huge, that the shutter pierced through the brain of the victim hitting his chest.

Chandigarh, July 9
The UT Education Department, after postponing the annual athletics meet in 2013 citing various reason has finally decided to drop the event. Moving ahead with new plans, the department has now announced the sports calendar for the current session.

Notably, the athletics meet had been postponed by the concerned authorities thrice before they finally called it quits. Due to this, interested athletes of local government local government and private schools had to suffer inconvenience.

The alleged lethargic approach of the sports organisers left the pass-outs in the lurch, as they wanted to participate in the event before finally moving out of the school to continue their further studies in colleges.

The decision by the department has certainly dashed the hopes of the various athletes who were waiting to take part in the event.

Officials remained unavailable to comment on the proceedings.

According to sources, the event could not be organised the previous year due to the non-seriousness of officials and higher authorities.

“The file containing the data was sent to the DPI office for an approval however, no development was witnessed in this regard. Even at the lower level, officials maintained their interest in other aspects to adjust their duties at their own discretion. The athletics meet is an important part of organising sports and despite having an ample number of athletes, adequate grounds and officials, the department has failed miserably to organise the meet. They have moved ahead without organising the event and that is very unprofessional on their part,” said a source.

As per the sports calendar of the UT Sports Department, released in May 2013, the meet was scheduled to be held in January 2014. However, due to extended winter holidays and parade rehearsals for January 26, the meet was postponed till February 15. Later it was again postponed till April due to the annual examinations of the players. The department was then all set to organise the meet from February 18 to 21, however, due to the non-availability of the Sports Complex, Sector 7, the meet could not be held. Later in April, the step to relieve officials of sports branch to their respective parent school affected the new dates of the annual athletics meet.

Consequently, the event had to be dropped.

Chandigarh, July 9
The UT Sports Department has decided to start a sports talent scholarship for the outstanding players, who have represented Chandigarh during the year 2013-14 and attained the top three positions in the recognized games.

The local players achieving laurels in archery, athletic, aquatics, badminton, basketball, billiards/snookers, boxing, baseball, cricket, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, handball, judo, kabaddi, kho-kho, lawn tennis, rifle shooting, rowing, sailing/yatching, skating, skiing, swimming, softball, squash, table tennis, tae-kwon-do, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling can submit their applications to claim the scholarship. The elegible players can collect the applications forms from the office of the District Sports Officer at Sports Complex, Sector 42 (between 9am to 5pm) and submit the applications forms before July 31 at the same venue. KS Bharti, district sports officer, said the form is also available with the secretaries of state sports associations in Chandigarh, the Directorate of Sports, Panjab University and on the Chandigarh Administration website (http://www.chandigarh.nic.in/). Incomplete applications and the application received after the due date will not be entertained. 

UT/State championship for Seniors, Inter-College, Inter School Tournament (U-19) years

First- Rs 4,000 PA

Second- Rs 2,400 PA

Third- Rs 1,500 PA

UT/State championship for Juniors, Inter-School Tournament (U-14 & U-17) years

First- Rs 3,000 PA

Second- Rs 1,800 PA

Third- Rs 1,000 PA

Chandigarh, July 9
Bangalore’s Chikkarangappa shot a blistering seven-under-65 at the Royal Springs Golf Course to take the first round lead during the PGTI Kashmir Masters, today.

The golfer dropped a bogey early on the 11th but landed it close for birdies on the 14th and 17th and making the turn at one-under. He made 12 to 15 feet putts on the fourth, fifth and seventh.

Sri Lankan K Prabagaran clinched second position while, Noida’s Amardip Malik, Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi and Vinod Kumar of Delhi finished third at five-under-67.

Chandigarh’s golfers Harmeet Kahlon and Ajeetesh Sandhu claimed eighth place at three-under-69 along with Jyoti Randhawa, Delhi’s duo Karan Vasudeva and Gulfam, Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh and Gurgaon-based Arshdeep Tiwana.

Chandigarh, July 9
Chandigarh golfer Saaniya Sharma finished tenth after the first round of the first day’s play during the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at Bengaluru’s flagship KGA Golf Course. The tournament will finish on July 11.

Playing down under, Saaniya with a score of 4 over 76 lagged behind. While taking the lead, Pune’s Shweta Galande carded day’s lowest total of one under 71 and Jaipur’s Pallavi Jain claimed second position after round one with a level par score after 18 holes. Sharmila Nicollet, along with her fellow city amateur golfers Nikita Arjun and Anisha and Pune’s Raksha were tied for the third place.

Chandigarh, July 9
Unseeded Rajbir Kaur upset third seed Rimpledeep Kaur in a closely-contested women’s (singles) main draw quarterfinal during the ongoing CLTA-AITA Men’s and Women’s Rs 1 Lakh Tennis Tournament. The tournament is being held at the CLTA Tennis Courts, Sector 10.

Rajbir started her day on a good note and maintained the serve, however Rimpledeep reverted back with equal pressure. Rajbir claimed the first set 7-5. In the second set, Rajbir forwarded her leap to claim the second set 6-4.

In the men’s (singles) main draw quarterfinal, second seed Elwin Antony and Rubal Shadilya moved to semifinal after defeating CHART trainees Vikrant Dahiya and Ranjeet Singh. In the first match, Elwin made point against Vikrant with conceding only one game and registered a 6-1, 6-0 victory.

In second match, third seed Rubal Shandilya defeated sixth seed Ranjeet Singh 6-4, 7-5.

Ranjeet took a 3-1 lead and was 40-15 on his serve however, Rubal bounced back with using variation to break set 6-4. In the second set, he again took an early break and was leading 5-4 however Ranjeet reverted and disturbed the leader’s serve to make it 5-5. In the 11th game, Rubal halted Ranjeet’s serve after three deuces and then held his serve in the 12th game to take the match and set 7-5. Qualifier Param Pun defeated Aditya Tiwari in three sets. Param lost the first set 3-6 and then he won next two sets 6-3, 6-4.

Finals of the singles’ semifinals and doubles will be played tomorrow from 9 am onwards.

Results

Women’s main draw quarterfinals (Singles)-Anjali Thakur bt Aastha Balasaheb 7-5, 6-1, Rajbir Kaur bt [3] Rimpledeep Kaur 7-5, 6-4, Nida Kamal bt Megha Sehrawat 6-1, 6-2, Baani Singh bt Anukriti Chaudhary 6-2, 6-1

Men’s main draw quarterfinals (Singles)-Param Pun bt Aditya Tiwari 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, [7] Brahmjot bt Tarun Nath 6-7, 6-0, 6-0, [3] Rubal Shandilya bt [6] Ranjeet Singh 6-4, 7-5, [2] Elwin Anthony bt Vikrant Dahiya 6-1, 6-0

Men’s main draw quarterfinals (Doubles)- [1] Bhavesh Gaur and Aditya Tiwari bt Elwin Antony and Ramakrishnan 6-3, 7-5, Basil Khuma and Rakshit Rishi bt Parmveer Bajwa and Param Pun 6-2, 6-4, Rubal Shandilya and Vikrant Dahiya bt Rohit Ranglani and Nasir Malik 6-3, 6-3, Vidit Vaghela and Kunal Vajiranit bt Rahul Seth and Manjot Singh 6-0, 6-2.

Women’s main draw quarterfinals (Doubles)-Aarushi Kakkar and Baani Singh bt Charvi Saxena and Saumya Saxena 6-1, 6-3, [3] Gayatri Kumaraiah and Vineeta Singh bt Anupreet Bedi and Stuti Tomar 2-6, 6-0, 10-7, Aarushi Basin and Nida Kamal bt [4] M Arthi and Abhilasha Vishwanath 6-0, 6-3, [2] Ranbir Kaur and Rimpledeep Kaur bt Diksha and Smriti 6-0, 6-1.

Panchkula, July 9
The Panchkula District Cricket Association will conduct trials to shortlist the Panchkula cricket team for Pataudi trophy.

The trials will be conducted on July 11 (3:30 pm) at the cricket ground of St Soldier School, Sector16, here.

The selected team will participate in the Haryana State Inter-District Cricket Championship for Pataudi Trophy which is scheduled to begin from July 17.

The secretary of the Panchkula District Cricket Association, Sandeep Moudgil, said players should report to Youvraj Kaushik with a registered payment of Rs 500.

Panchkula will face Chandigarh in its first match of the tournament.

Chandigarh, July 9
Taking an inspiration from his elder brother and making tennis his passion, 11-year-old Sarvjot Singh has been shortlisted for the Punjab Scholarship Scheme, initiated to enroll players to the CHART (Chandigarh Academy for Rural Tennis) training programme of the CLTA (Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association). The scheme has been sponsored by the state government.

The budding player’s life was limited to watching cartoons only, till he started idolising his elder brother, who remained on the tennis courts most of the time. It is then that he thought of taking this sport and worked on his skills. Sarvjot took three long years to achieve what players usually think of achieving during the beginning of their long careers.

Three players have been shortlisted by the Punjab government through a selection process held in Ludhiana. The government has released Rs 28,000 (per month), under the CHART programme, for nurturing Sarvjot’s career in tennis. The funds for the first six months have already been released by the government.

He is currently playing in the boys’ (U-12) category and stands on the 79th spot in the AITA’s ranking list. He has also played in the Sub-Junior National Level Championship in Lucknow.

A student of Smart Wonder School, Mohali, Sarvjot has represented state in as many as two nationals besides, playing over 16 AITA-level tournaments in boys’ under-10 and under-12 categories.

A regular trainee of the CLTA and Tennis Centre of Sector 42 Sports Complex, Sarvjot is excited to join the programme at his home ground.

“I will practice hard. I am glad that I have got an opportunity to learn under the guidance of experienced coaches,” said Sarvjot Singh.

Mohali, July 9
Chandigarh-based international golfer Harmeet Singh Kahlon has been appointed as expert consultant for Mohali Golf Range, which will start functioning within two months.

The range at Sector 65 has affiliation with Chandigarh Golf Range. “It is on the finishing stage and its formal inauguration would take place in mid September,” said a senior official of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), which would manage all the affairs of the range.

“We are going to open enrolment for membership very soon. International golfer Kahlon has been appointed to teach the nuances of the game to the beginners and polish the skills of budding golfers,” said the official.

The range, spread over around 10.5 acres land, would house a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, clubhouse, gymnasium, health club, tennis court, coffee shop and pro shop for selling golf paraphernalia.

A person should be at least a graduate and income tax payee to become a member, said the official.

“In first go, we would enroll 500 members. After that the number of members will be increased annually,” said the official adding that the governing body and management committee of the range have been formed.