GENEVA, Aug 31: Ten fearless men and women are planning to go to the Himalayas at the end of September in order to recover a legend, one which makes the hearts of all mountain climbers and recreational pilots beat faster........more

CHESS Asian Junior Tourney
Tania shocks Swati
to share top spot

MUMBAI, Aug 31: Eighth seed Tania Sachdev pulled off a major surprise in the girls section defeating fourth seed compatriot Swati Ghate to share the lead with two others after the second round of the Asian Junior (under-20) Chess Tournament here today..........more

13th Asian Track and Field Athletic Champ
Anil and relay quartet
strike gold as India
finishes second

JAKARTA, Aug 31: Asian Games silver medallist Anil Kumar struck a discus gold though the field was shorn of star throwers, after the women’s relay quartet blazed away to glory in one of India’s best showings at the 13th Asian Track and Field Athletic Championships here today.........more

Orissa beat Bihar
via tie-breaker
to retain title

CHENNAI, Aug 31: Orissa retained the Junior National Women’s Hockey Championship title here this evening, beating Bihar 3-2 in the tie-breaker. The tie-breaker was .........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Aug 31: Colourful cultural programmes marked the end of the two-day Rural Sports Festival at the premises of Higher Secondary School, Pouni, today. The Festival was organised by the District Youth............more

J&K bags seven
medals in National
Karate Champ

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 31: The Jammu and Kashmir won seven medals in the National Karate and Muay Thai Championship organised by the Punjab Karate and Muay Thai Association under the aegis of All India Karate Federation...........more

Rajinder Tickoo Memorial day-night Cricket
Karan Nagar(Jr)
win by 5 wkts

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 31: Karan Nagar Cricket Club (Junior) defeated Eleven Star Club, Ustad Mohalla by five wickets to advance in the ongoing Rajinder Tickoo Memorial.....more

Inter-school competitions
Double win for
HSS Gandhi Nagar

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 31: Higher Secondary School, Gandhi Nagar registered double win in the finals of the Inter-school competitions of Jammu zone.....more

Mr J K Sawhney, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur being introduced with the finalists of Tug of War by Mr Ashok Kumar, DYSSO. Below: Kabaddi final in progress. -Excelsior/Pawan

Himalaya expedition to recover wreckage
of legendary plane

GENEVA, Aug 31: Ten fearless men and women are planning to go to the Himalayas at the end of September in order to recover a legend, one which makes the hearts of all mountain climbers and recreational pilots beat faster.

The wreckage of the famous "Yeti" plane has been lying around for more than 40 years now up in Nepal’s snowy heights of 5,200 metres. "The only difference now is that the plane has a turbine engine, instead of a piston motor," he notes.

Assuelli’s Club has now set itself an ambitious goal. The remains of the "Yeti", which has lost some of its parts to souvenir hunters and locals over the decades, are now to be recovered in a 16-day expedition. Via Kathmandu, the plane is to be brought back to Switzerland.

The expedition is to leave from Munich on September 28. If "Yeti" fans have their way, then the multi-purpose plane which now enjoys a cult following will then be fully restored and made fit for flying excursions again.

Since the entire project is a costly one - the initiators calculate total expenses of 400,000 francs (240,000 dollars) - they are hoping for support from the Pilatus company.

In addition, expedition leader Leo Caminada, 55, hopes to gain support from the German alpine association on grounds of supporting the mountain environment.

"We are going by the principle that the rubbish left behind by earlier expeditions should vanish from the Himalaya mountains," he said.

Caminada is mountain climber, engineer and pilot in one person and knows his way in the region. For years he served as advisor to the king of Bhutan in the construction of mountain railways. His main hope now is that his nine fellow expedition members will not get worn out up on the Dhaulagiri mountain.

"Given the thin air at more than 5,000 metres altitude, cutting apart an airplane is not as easy as many people might imagine," he said.

His expedition members are between 28 and 57 years old and all are mountain climbers. "Actually, there should have been 12 of us, but unfortunately two have had to drop out due to an accident and illness," Caminada reports.

The porter vintage association is therefore looking for further mountaineers to join the expedition, with Caminada saying "we would also like to have some Germans along".

The expedition is now chiefly seeking supporters and sponsors for their project, in which the "Yeti" wreckage will even have to be carried by foot back down the mountain, via their internet site. (DPA)

CHESS Asian Junior Tourney
Tania shocks Swati to share top spot

MUMBAI, Aug 31: Eighth seed Tania Sachdev pulled off a major surprise in the girls section defeating fourth seed compatriot Swati Ghate to share the lead with two others after the second round of the Asian Junior (under-20) Chess Tournament here today.

Tania, second seed Koneru Humpy, who got the better of fifth seeded compatriot and national women’s runner-up S Meenakshi, and ninth seed Elena Levushkina of Uzebekistan, who had shocked top seed Aarthie Ramaswamy in the first round yesterday, led the girls field with 2 points each.

In the boys section, top seed P Harikrishna got the better of Du Shan of China to score his second successive win and share the top spot with four others including compatriots S Satyapragyan and Valay Parikh. All of them had 2 points from as many rounds.

Second seed Surya Sekhar Ganguly of India drew with fellow countryman Tejas Bakre to lie in the joint second spot with 1.5 points to his credit.

In another boys’ clash C J Arvind, seeded a lowly 14th, surprisingly held fifth-seeded compatriot Neelotpal Das to a draw in 33 moves.

International Woman Master (IWM) and player with the best elo rating in the girls section, aarthie, put behind her surprise loss to elena today to score over Madina Duisenova of Kazakhstan and earn her first point in two days.

In other interesting girls’ matches, India’s IWM Nisha Mohta drew with China’s Yu Ting while Y Pratibha defeated Feroza Haque Chowdhary of Bangladesh to coast to her first win. (PTI)

13th Asian Track and Field Athletic Champ
Anil and relay quartet strike gold as India finishes second

JAKARTA, Aug 31: Asian Games silver medallist Anil Kumar struck a discus gold though the field was shorn of star throwers, after the women’s relay quartet blazed away to glory in one of India’s best showings at the 13th Asian Track and Field Athletic Championships here today.

Anil Kumar heaved the discus to 58.47 metres, well short of Shakti Singh’s national record of 61.72, to grab the sixth gold medal for his country as India claimed second overall position behind the athletic powerhouse China.

Quartermiler K M Beenamol, who yesterday settled for a silver in the women’s one-lap race, anchored the Indian 4x400 metres relay team to a golden finish in 3 minutes 31.54 seconds.

Paramjeet Kaur started the race, Jincy Philips added to Paramjeet’s fine run before handing the baton to seasoned Rosa Kutty who virtually gave beenamol the edge to run for gold.

India earned two gold, three silver and three bronze medals on the final day the championships to end up with an impressive haul of of six gold, 10 silver and five bronze.

China with nine gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals emerged as the top Asian country while Gulf nation Qatar made exemplary improvement grabbing third position with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

Japan (4-8-5) were lying at fourth position, though that should not worry them as their top athletes stayed away from the competition.

India’s other medals came from long jumper Sanjay Kumar Ray (silver), discus thrower Hridayanand Singh (bronze), men’s 4x400 relay team (silver), sprinter Vineeta Tripathi (bronze), Rosa Kutty (bronze) and women’s sprint relay team (silver).

A late gold by Anil Kumar provided cheer to the Indian camp and it capped a fine day for the athletic team. His performance, though modest, should get him place in the Indian athletic team for the Sydney Olympic Games.

Anil’s gold was an expected one considering the field lacked star performers. Nevertheless, he kept his focus and his mark of 58.47m was a good .20m ahead of Iran’s Abbas Samimi.

Hridayanand earned a small bonus in the form of bronze by throwing the discus to a distance of 56.96m.

In the men’s 4x400 relay, India team of P Ramachandran, Manoj Lal, Lijo David and Paramjit Singh, missed the gold by a whisker and settled for silver.

Anchorman Paramjit Singh failed to keep a good five-yard lead after the final bend and was pipped at the post by the Lankan Rohan Pradeep Kumar in an exciting finish.

Ramachandran had set the tone for India with Manoj and David maintaining the lead throughout before Paramjit was overwhelmed.

The men’s sprint relay team earlier failed to finish in the medals bracket coming a poor fourth.

Long jumper Sanjay Kumar Ray leapt to a distance of 8.03 metres in the men’s event which saw Saudi Arabia’s Husain Alsabea setting a new meet record with 8.33m effort. A Rahman Nubi of Qatar (8.01) took bronze medal.

While men’s relay team let slip the gold from their grasp, their women counterparts excelled and for a good measure bettered the championship record.

A perfect start from Paramjit laid the base and no way was beenamol going to let slip the advantage. Their timing of 3:31.54 erased the existing meet record of 3:32.73 set by China four years ago.

Relay events seem to be good hunting grounds for the Indians as women’s 4x100 metre team of Anuradha Biswal, Vineeta Tripathi, Saraswati Dey and Rachita Mistry struck silver with a timing of 44.48 seconds.

The formidable Sri Lankan quartet of Tamara Saman Deepi, Pradeepa Herath, Nimmi De Soysa and Damayanti Darsha, clocked 44.23 seconds to clinch the gold medal. The Chinese team settled for bronze completing the race in 44.80 seconds.

Anuradha gave a good start while Vineeta consolidated the position and Saraswati did just what is expected from the third runner. Anchor Rachita was at her aggressive best after missing a medal in 200 metres sprint earlier in the day and ensured silver medal for India.

India sorely missed sprinter Anil Kumar, who was recovering from a muscle pull after winning silver in the 100 metre dash.

As the Indian team finished fourth, Thailand set a new championship record of 38.80 seconds shadowing the earlier mark of 39.03 set by china in the previous meet.

Lankan wonder athlete Damayanti Darsha completed a double with a 200 metre gold with consummate ease. She had yesterday won 400m race.

Darsha’s timing of 22.84 seconds obliterated the record of 23.00 held by controversial countrymate Susanthika Jayasinghe four years ago. She, however, fell short of Asian Games record of 22.01 in the name of China’s Li Xuemei.

India’s Vineeta Tripathi (23.39sec) did well to earn a bronze behind Perepelova Lyubov (23.30) of Uzbekistan. Vineeta just managed to nose ahead of the bunch, but Rachita’s disqualification for foul start came as a sour note.

"I was hoping to make good for the 100m setback. My hopes were on silver and the regret is in missing the opportunity in competing with the likes of Darsha and Lyubov," a tearful Rachita said.

The other bronze came from Rosa Kutty in the women’s 800 metres. Rosa completed the race in 2 minutes 04.97 seconds which was won by China’s Lin Na (2:03.46) while compatriot Wang Yuan Ping (2:04.11) took silver.

Japan’s Masahiko Fukunaga’s sustained aggression was the decisive factor in winning the men’s 200 metres gold. His 20.78 seconds, however, did not threaten the Asian records.

The day’s most impressive winner was Mehdi Jeloodar Zadeh of Iran, who reserved his best in the last 30 metres of the 800 metres race to outwit the experienced Koreans Kim Soon-Hyung and Lee Jae-Hun.

The Koreans seemed to secure the first two places running parallel for the best part, but totally overlooked Mehdi’s surge from behind. The Iranian won in 1:49.80. (PTI)

Orissa beat Bihar via tie-breaker to retain title

CHENNAI, Aug 31: Orissa retained the Junior National Women’s Hockey Championship title here this evening, beating Bihar 3-2 in the tie-breaker.

The tie-breaker was resorted to after neither teams scored in regulation time and 15 minutes of extra time.

Orissa’s Mukta Prabha Barla, Sarita Ekka and Sunita Ekka were successful, while Guddi Kumari and Fulmani Soy scored for Bihar. Subhadra Pradan and Bahamani Tirkey (Orissa) and Asunta Lakra, Sushila Lakra and Amrita Minz (Bihar) muffed their chances.

Orissa raied the Bihar goal a number of times but were themselves to blame for the missed chances. Early in the first half, Basumati Lakra was unable to find the target with just the goalkeeper to beat.

In the play off for third and fourth places, Karnataka defeated Uttar Pradesh 4-3. Sindhu Koppa (two), Shruti and Kumari scored for Karnataka, while Priya Singh, Poonam Singh and Moni Sonkar were the scorers for up. (PTI)

Colourful cultural progs mark end of Rural
Sports Festival at Pouni

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Aug 31: Colourful cultural programmes marked the end of the two-day Rural Sports Festival at the premises of Higher Secondary School, Pouni, today. The Festival was organised by the District Youth Services and Sports Department, Udhampur.

The festival which also marked the birth anniversary of Hockey wizard, Major Dhyan Chand witnessed tough competitions in the events of Volleyball, Kabaddi and Wrestling between various local clubs and school teams.

During the two-day festival, the locals, besides the students drawn from all the educational institutions falling in the Block enjoyed a lot, especially the final day event of Tug of War.

In Tug-of-War, Higher Secondary School, Pouni emerged winner after having a tough fight with High School Bharkh. In addition to this event, girls students from High School, Pouni, MS Ransoo, MS Khairalar, New Light Academy, MS Dadoa, HSS Pouni, HS Bharkh, PS Kanna, MS Pouni, Shastri Memorial Academy and HS Laiter.

On the final day, Mr J K Sawhney, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur was the chief guest. He also gave away prizes to the winners of various sports and cultural items.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Messrs Shakti, K Pathak, DySP Reasi; Sita Ram, Tehsildar Reasi, Ajit Kumar, ZEO Pouni and Principal HSS Pouni.

Results of sports events:

Volleyball school boys: HSS Pouni beat HS Bharkh 2-1 (8-25, 25-23, 15-11.

Volleyball Clubs: Bharkh Club outplayed Ransoo Club 3-1 (25-13, 21-25, 15-4.

Kabaddi school girls: High School, Pouni beat Higher Secondary School, Pouni 23-16.

Kabaddi school boys: HSS Pouni beat HS Laiter 41-29.

Kabaddi Clubs: Lehar Club defeated Beloian Club 33-29.

Kabaddi Middle School boys: MS Khairlar beat MS Ransoo 25-23.

Wrestling: Balbir Singh win in 35 to 40 kg; Vipin Kumar of MS Ransoo win in 41 to 49 kg group; Yashpal Singh of MS Bharkh remained winner in 50 to 55 kg and Sohan Singh of HSS Pouni emerged winner in 56 to 60 kg category.