Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: Pinto Club Jammu retained the district volleyball championship outplaying Volleyball Club Pallanwala in straight sets of 15-12, 15-8, 15-6 in the final which played at GGM Science College grounds, here today. The championship was organised by the Jammu District Volleyball Association.

Last year same clubs were entered into the final of the district championship and had a tough contest similar to one which witnessed today.

Pinto Club performed excellent spikes giving no chance to their opponents of defence. Pallanwala Club had weak defence and poor blocking because of lesser height of the players.

Sham Lal of Volleyball Club Pallanwala and Neelam Singh of Pinto Club Jammu were declared as best player of the championship and were given cash award of Rs 500 each by the president of the Jammu Kashmir Volleyball Association, Mr Raj Daluja. He also gave Rs 1000 cash to the Pallanwala Club for the welfare of the players and promotion of the game.

Mr R L Bharti (IFS), Chief Conservator of Forest, Jammu was the chief guest on the occasion and distributed prizes among the winners and runners up teams.

Principal, GGM Science College, Prof Vijay Prakash Gupta and Bashir Ahmed, Sports Officer, J&K State Sports Council were also present on the occasion.

The three day championship which became possible due the active cooperation extended by the Management of Government Gandhi Memorial Science College, Jammu had few spectators. The College had provided the organisers with infrastructure facilities in their grounds.

Mr H S Gill, general secretary of the association presented vote of thanks.

TEAMS

Pinto Club Jammu: Suresh Singh (Captain), Surinder Singh, Neelam Singh, Sudhir Singh, Nirmal Singh, Naresh Sharma, Naresh Kumar, Rakesh Singh and Gautam Raina.

Mr H S Singh, Manager.

Volleyball Club Pallanwala: Jagdish Raj, Raj Kumar, Gagan Singh (Captain), Pushan Kumar, Sham Lal, Jatinder Singh, Madan lal, Sanjeev Singh and Bikram Singh.

Mr Puran Singh, Manager.

Refrees: Karan Singh, (VFI qualified) and Rajeev Dogra.

Scorer: Subash Shastri.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: MAM College Jammu won the overall championship in the Inter-College Wrestling competitions held at indoor halls at Jammu University, here today.

MAM College lifted the trophy after getting 24 points against 15 by Degree College Kathua. Degree College Rajouri finished third getting six points, while Science College and MIER College of Education got fourth and fifth places respectively with five and three points each.

Mr Mulkh Raj Sharma, Mr Bansi Lal Tidyal and Mr Kulbeer Singh were the official for the competitions organised by the Director Physical Education, University of Jammu.

Final results:

In the 95kg weight category, Dheeraj Sharma of MAM College won gold and Sandeep Dadwal of Degree College Kathua got silver medals.

Raju of MAM College won gold, while Sindhu Sharma of Degree College, Kathua and Amit Anand of GGM Science College got silver and bronze medals respectively in the 76 kg weight category.

In the 69 kg Jameel Ahmed of Degree College Rajouri clinched gold, while

Nameet Sarangal of GGM Science College got silver and Mohd Farayed of MAM College won bronze medals.

Ram Ditta of MAM College won gold, while Pritam Singh of Degree College, Kathua and Tarlochan Singh of GGM Science College got silver and bronze medals respectively in the 63 kg weight category.

In the 58 kg Vivek Sharma of MAM College bagged gold, while Tarun of MIER College of Education got silver and Tirath Ram of Degree College, Kathua got silver medal.

Rajinder Singh of Degree College Kathua won the gold medal, while Bopinder Singh of MAM College and Mohsin Kaifi got silver and bronze medals in 54 kg weight category.

Excelsior Correspondent

KATHUA, Oct, 27: The Youth Club, Amala was awarded district level youth award for outstanding contribution in Kathua district during the last financial year. This was disclosed at District Advisory Committee meeting on youth programme held at Hiranagar today.

The District Development Commissioner, Kathua, Mr Chaman Lal presided and took stock of the activities of Nehru Yuva Kendra in the district. Among others, Regional Coordinator, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Mr K K Gandotra also attended.

The meeting was apprised that as many as 349 youth clubs are functioning in the district. These include 31 clubs registered under Societies Act. The total membership of these clubs including 1157 female is 9,430. 1375 schedueld caste, 1037 scheduled tribe and 415 youth from other backward classes and minorities are also members of these clubs. Forty-two youth club members are post-graduates and 570 graduates. Three Youth Development Centres and 22 youth clubs were set up during the last financial year alone.

It was also apprised that during this fiscal year, five training programmes, 10 awareness campaigns, five work camps, 8 sports promotion meets and 8 vocational training programmes are being organised. Besides, 21 awareness, training and other programmes are also being organised in coordination with various Government departments and agencies.

SANASAR, (JAMMU) Oct 27:

It was their dream to fly like a bird in the sky.

The paragliding trainees selected from colleges through National Cadet Corps (NCC) by the states Tourism Department, are enjoying here the unique experience of flying in the open sky with command of fly in their own hands. This opportunity of taking a drive in the open sky has been provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department as the Department is running basic courses in paragliding in Sanasar, 130 km from Jammu.

"This basic training courses is running from 10th of this month and will continue till November 4". Mr Surjeet Singh Bhalla, the Tourism Director said. He added that forty students has got training and another two batches of 40 students will be trained till 4th of next month". The four days basic training of paragliding is being given to the students as well as tourists absolutely free of cost. The total expenses are borne by the Tourism Department, Mr Bhalla told.

Mr Bhalla said that this year particularly female students were encouraged to participate in this training course of paragliding, an aerosport, originated in 1980. The activity was first taken up in the state in 1993 when a paraglider from New Zealand, Simon Naughty. Kayed this site for paragliding after conducting a survey, he informed.

The students trainers here are enjoining this adventure. Eighteen years old Urja says "we often see the butterfly and we also wish to fly on paragliding here our dream has been fullfilled."

Anju 17 Haj an ambition to be pilot. Paragliding is the first step in the way fulfilling her dream. "The real experience of flying cannot taken in aeroplane or helicopter" said Shubhra Deepti adding that paragliding is a unique experience as in this flight the total command remains in y our hands and you can fly as you want just like a bird in the open sky.

Mr Bhalla said that the Tourism Department has been holding paragliding at Sanasar twice a year. While the basic training course was conducted in October, November for students, locals and tourists, and in summers the department conducted joy flights for visiting tourists in a two seater paraglide called tandem.

Mr Bhalla said that against Rs.1600 charged earlier from every trainee for the paragliding course, it has been made free from 1996 with a view to promote tourism in the area and to attract more tourists from across the country as well as abroad.

The trainees were required only to bear the cost of insurance which was a pre-requisite for joining the training course, he said.

Mr Bhalla is as happy in conducting this paragliding course as the trainees . He said it gives the students an opportunity of taking a dive in the sky by their own. And I am very happy to see that girls are doing it and enjoying it also, he added.

Mr Bhalla said that even during the peak time of militancy in Valley there was no militancy related incidents reported in Patnitop and Sanasar areas. Moreover, these areas were more safer for the visiting tourists in comparison to the Valley. So the tourists from several parts of the country as well as abroad have been visiting these areas in a large number , he added.

"Sanasar is a very beautiful, calm and quiet place, we are feeling very nice to be here and we come here at least twice in a year", said Mr Naresh Kumar, Mr Kumar from Jaipur came this time along with his friend Brij Mohan, Mr Mohan said "I have been perivilged to visit the different areas in the country as well as abroad, but the natural beauty of Sanasar is just out of words".

Mr Mohan complained that the road leading to Sanasar from Patnitop is too rough this road is damaged at many spots and is a story of negligence by the Government.

Sanasar is 130 km far from Jammu and 20 km from Patnitop, Patnitop falls on national highway leading to Srinagar at a distance of 110 km from Jammu.

Another problem, the tourists are facing is the lack of cheap transport the commercial taxis charge a very high rate, Mr Bhalla said if the roads are smooth the Tourism Department will take initiative to ply the vehicles on cheaper rates. (UNI)

DHAKA, Oct 27: India will look forward to a concerted team effort, with master blaster Sachin Tendulkar showing the way as they take on the mighty Australians, in the Wills World Cup cricket here tomorrow.

The Aussies, on the other hand, have a score to settle— to avenge their defeat at the hands of the Indians in the Sharjah Cup.

Sachin will have a chance to prove a point after his dismal performance in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and the series against Zimbabwe, where he had just one century knock.

On his day Sachin with 220 matches, 193 innings, 18 hundreds with 143 as the highest and aggregate of 7,305 runs is fully equipped to tear apart any bowling attack and put a match beyond the rivals single-handedly.

He will have another chance here tomorrow on the slow batting pitch of the Bangabandhu stadium.

India may be lacking the steely nerves and the outright aggression of the Aussies but can take comfort from the fact that a majority of the 21 wins from 53 contests between the two countries have been on the sub-continent.

If India wins tomorrow, they will still have their task cut out as they will take on arc rivals Pakistan which has fielded a depleted side.

The pollution, the heat and the humidity have made fast bowlers gasp for air here.

India is better placed in that there are three spinners on the side — leg spinner Anil Kumble, the comeback leg spinner Sunil Joshi and raw off spinner Nikhil Chopra of Delhi.

Australia has only one recognised spinner in Gavin Robertson, and then Rookie slow left arm spinner Brad Young. Their main bowling strength is a rejuvenated Glen McGrath besides Damien Fleming, Bernard Julien and Micheal Kasprowicz to spear the fast ball attack.

The Australians are likely to test Indian opener Saurav Ganguly who has a problem or two on the leg side. But the Southpaw has five hundreds and a healthy average of 41.14 from 78 internationals.

On the Australian side, Southpaw Michael Bevan is currently the only player with a fifty plus average (57.53). However, he has often failed against fast bowlers and Javagal Srinath should be bowling more at him than at anyone else.

DHAKA, Oct 27: Cricket rivalries erupted into fighting that injured at least 20 people as fans watched New Zealand and Sri Lanka in their Wills International Cup clash, a newspaper reported today.

The English daily the independent, reporting from the Western Bangladeshi town of Rajshahi, said the hour-long clashes erupted yesterday after a Sri Lanka supporter was thrown out of a local youth club by those who were cheering on New Zealand. Sri Lanka won yesterday’s televised match.

Police in Rajshahi, 192 km Northwest of the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, where the Wills Tournament is being played, said the cricket fans threw firecrackers at each other and used other weapons. Police said a number of shops were damaged in the melee.

Six of the injured were hospitalized and reported in stable condition today. (AP)

East Bengal meets Bagan in Durand semis

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 : East Bengal sailed past Mahindra and Mahindra in the last quarter-final league match, to set up a semifinal clash with Mohun Bagan in the Kelvinator-Durand Cup Football Tournament at Ambedkar Stadium here today.

In the first semifinal tomorrow, Mahindras will take on Group A’ winners Air India in an all-Mumbai affair.

Mahindras finished second in group S’ with six points from two wins and one loss. East Bengal topped the table with seven points.

In the East bengal-Mahindra match, Ghanaian striker Sulley Musah scored the all-important goal in the 25th minute for the Calcutta league champions to grab full points for his side to make the second semifinals on thursday an all-Bengal engagement.

Musah scored off a Renedy Singh’s flag kick as he sprinted from the edge of the box to beat the rival custodian with a diving header to bulge the net.

Earlier in the other group B’ quarterfinal encounter a spirited Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), hoping for a semifinal berth, edged out a rather depleted Army XI 2-1 to finish third with four points.

Sukhbir Singh opened the account for Punjab men in the 38th minute off a Kuldip cross while the latter consolidated the lead, three minutes into the second half.

Irudayaraj scored a consolation goal for the Army men in the 65th minute. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: Seventeen member Ranji squad of Jammu and Kashmir has left this afternoon for their one-day tie against Punjab. The match will be played at Gandhi grounds in Amritsar tomorrow. The one day will be followed by a four-day match against Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir team which left Jammu for Amritsar today was supposed to leave for the venue yesterday a day before for net practice there.

The delay caused due some controversy over the selection of the squad for the Ranji matches.

The 17-member Ranji team for the four-day and one-day match against Punjab announced late last night includes Sanjay Sharma, captain, Abdul Qayoom, vice-captain, Idrees Gandroo, Ashwani Gupta, Rajesh Gill, Vivek Sharma, Kanwal Jit Singh, Pradeep Bali, Vijay Sharma, Ajay Bhatti, Mohammad Aslam Qureshi, wicket keeper, Irshad Hassan, Surinder Singh Bagal, Manzoor Dar, Asif Peerzada, Raj Kumar and Vivek Singh.

Jammu and Kashmir will also play a three day Cooch Behar under-19 match against Punjab at Patiala beginning on Wednesday. The team includes Vikran Takkar, captain, Sohail, Ankit Khajuria, Abhijit Singh, Sanjay Sharma, Varinder Kumar, Kapil Dev Singh, Ejaz Mir, Pranab, Inder Jit Singh, Abid Salam Rather, Tanvir Khan, Irfan Shah and Abid Hussain was also announced yesterday. Varinder Sharma has accompany the team as manager-cum-coach.

The reasons behind the J&K teams which left Jammu today in the afternoon was due to some controversy over the selection of the squad for the Ranji matches. According to sources, dispute surfaced over the names of some players from both the regions which halted the proceedings and culminated in the Valley players walking out of the venue.

The sources added that it was only late in the previous night when JKCA chairman Romesh Mahajan and joint secretary Ashok Singh pacified the Valley players and consensus was reached and the teams subsequently announced.

The players, who preferred anonymity while talking to reporters previous day said, "the teams should have been announced much earlier as a player has to prepare himself mentally for the game".

PTI adds: An element of uncertainty looms over the Punjab-Jammu and Kashmir one-day Ranji trophy match as J&K team not reached the venue till this evening.

While the Punjab team led by Vikram Rathore had a net practice at the grounds, their opponents had not arrived till late this evening.

In fact, the organisers have so far received no intimation about the participation of the Jammu and Kashmir side in tomorrow’s tie.

According to the organisers, some differences have cropped-up in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association over the selection of the team.

Punjab will avail of the services of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was dropped from the national team for suspect bowling action. The Jalandhar lad, who missed the first match against Himachal Pradesh, had some vigorous net practice under the watchful eyes of team manager Bhupinder Singh (senior) and coach Manjit Singh.

The hosts have a formidable batting line-up in Vikram Rathore, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Retinder Sodhi and Pankaj Dharmani. They had lost their opening limited overs encounter against Himachal Pradesh though they won the four-day match.

Jammu and Kashmir lost both the one-day as well as four-day match against the Services.

The umpires for the match are C R Mohite and R Y Deshmukh (both from Baroda). The match referee will be major (Retd) Gupte from Mumbai.