Inter-Distt Swimming Competition concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 30: Inter-District Swimming Competition of Jammu Division organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports in the age groups of 14, 17 and 19 years at MA Stadium Swimming Pool concluded today.

Divisional Youth Services and Sports Officer Jammu Madan Lal was the chief guest on the occasion and he awarded medals to the first three top swimmers of different categories. The competition was conducted under the leadership of B N Bhat, District Youth Services and Sports Officer Jammu.

The concluding day function was also attended by Sports Officer Directorate P S Jasrotia, parents of the participants and other officers and officials of the Department. The selected probables will represent Jammu division in the Inter-Divisional Competitions prior to their participation in J&K State National School Games under the aegis of School Games Federation of India.

The results of the final day are:

Boys Swimming Under-14 years

50 mtrs free style

Rohit Bhandari of Jammu—first

Rohit Sharma of Kathua—second

Bablu of Jammu—Third

100 Mtrs Free Style

Raman Kumar of Kathua—first

Rohit Kapoor of Jammu—second

Bablu of Jammu—thrid

200 Free Style

Kanvya Ramal of Jammu—first

Jaspreet Singh of Jammu—second

Vimal Kumar of Kathua—third

50 mts track stroke

Manik Sharma of Jammu—first

Rohit Kapoor of Jammu-second

Brij Pal Singh of Kathua—third

50 mts breast stroke

Shiveesh Mattoo of Jammu—first

Raman Kumar of Kathua —second

Joginder Pal of Kathua—third

100 mtrs breast stroke

Kanvy, Kamal of Jammu—first

Swesh Matto of Jammu—second

Joginder Pal of Kathua—third

Swimming boys under-17 years final

Sandeep Singh of Jammu—first

Sunil Kumar of Kathua—second

Surinder Kumar of Kathua—third

100 Mts Free Style

Sandeep Singh of Jammu—first

Sunil Kumar of Kathua-second

Surjit Kumar of Kathua—third

50 mtrs back stroke

Sidhant Gupta of Jammu—first

Pawan Kumar of Kathua—second

Ishan Gupta of Jammu—third

100 mtrs back stroke

Pawan Kumar of Kathua—first

Gurpreet Singh of Jammu—second

Ishan Gupta of Jammu—third

50 mtrs breast stroke

Gurpreet Singh of Jammu—first

Surjeet Singh of Kathua-second

Sidhant Gupta of Jammu—third

100 mtrs breast stroke

Gurpreet Singh of Jammu—first

Sunil Kumar of Kathua—second

Sidhant Gupta of Jammu—third

Swimming U-19 boys

50 mtrs free-style

Abhishek Slathia of Jammu—first

Vikrant Singh—second

Lakhvinder SIngh—third

100 mtrs free-style

Abhishek Slathia—first

Rinku Kumar—second

Vishav Partap Singh—third

50 mts breast stroke

Gulrez Jasrotia—first

Rinku—second

Jasbir Kumar—third

50 mtrs back stroke

Dharamvir Singh—first

Rinku Kumar—second

Mandeep Singh—third

KV Sunjuwan celebrates annual sports day

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 30: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sunjuwan today celebrated Annual Sports Day of its primary wing. Deputy Commander Col Anil Gupta was the chief guest on the occasion. Col Gupta was also officiating as Chairman VMC.

The Principal of the School Mrs Sushma Thapar alongwith staff welcomed the chief guest while students of Vidyalaya gave guard of honour . Speaking on the occasion, the Principal highlighted the importance of the sports for allround development of students.

The chief guest declared the games open and various sports events like obstacle race of mini-group and the junior group, sac race for senior group, musical chairs and relay race for junior as well as senior group were held.

In the obstacle race (boys) junior group, Aman Kumar won the first prize, Vinayak, second prize and Johar Ali clinched third prize. Sona was adjudged best whileas Neha and Sonali clinched second and third positions respectively among the girls of the same group.

In the mini-group of the same event, Manpreet Singh stood first, Yishnu got second position and Prince clinched third position among boys whereas first position was bagged by Neeraj, second by Meeny and third by Sawhlain Khan among the girls.

Winner of the sac race (senior group) was Ravi. Jatinder won second position while Akash was declared third among boys. Aradhana, Sonali and Delava bagged first three positions among girls.

In relay race for senior group, Khuhi Kant clinched first position, Anshu and Shalinder secured second and third positions respectively among boys. Rajwinder came first, Aradhana got second position and Roshni clinched third position in girls.

In the junior group, the first three positions were bagged by Kamaljeet Singh, Vikram Singh and Akshay respectively while in girls, Sadana, Sapana and Jyoti got first three positions respectively.

The winners of the musical chairs remained Aman Kumar (boys) and Surbhi (girls).

The chief guest, in his address, said that participation in games bring healthy competition in life. He advised the students to play games and participate in competitive spirit without caring for results. Headmistress of the Primary Wing Mrs Rashmi Gauba presented the vote of thanks.

GDC Kathua enters semi-final of Inter-College Cricket

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 30: Government Degree College Kathua today entered the semi-final of Inter-College Cricket Tournament by defeating Degree College Rajouri by 129 runs.

Elected to bat first after winning the toss, Government Degree College Kathua made a total of 245 runs that too by losing just four wickets in stipulated 40 overs.

It was only due to marvellous batting by Nishant and Sandeep that Degree College Kathua could set a huge target as both the players continued to loft the ball near and wide to extract continuous runs.

Nishant made highest 113 runs by facing just 96 balls. His 113 runs included 15 hits to the fence. Sandeep contributed 65 runs with the help of 9 hits to the fence. Kanav was the third batsman who raised the total score by contributing 32 runs.

The bowlers of the Rajouri College lost their line and length upto such an extent that they gave 20 runs through extras.

For Rajouri College, Firdous clinched two wickets while Daljeet got a wicket.

In reply, Rajouri College managed to score 116 runs by losing all the wickets. Only three batsmen—Nazir, Irfan and Jagjeet were the maximum contributors. They made 39, 26 and 13 runs respectively. For Kathua College, Sandeep clinched three wickets, Deeraj and Neelkamal got two wickets each.

India collect four more golds to retain fourth position

HYDERABAD, Oct 30: Tennis sensation Sania Mirza and athlete Neelam J Singh took centrestage with their gold-grabbing feats as India added four more gold medals to their kitty to retain the fourth position on the medals table after the sixth day of competitions in the Afro-Asian Games here today.

The strong tennis players and athletes accounted for the four more gold medals as the hosts kept themselves on track for a few more yellow medals on a relatively satisfying day.

With just one more day for the inaugural edition of the games to end, India held on to the fourth position with 12 gold, 13 silver and 27 bronze medals while Asian giants China continued to perch themselves atop the table with a tally of 22-10-4. Japan managed to climb to the second position with 15-6-2, edging out South Africa to the third spot with 14-13-15.

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi pairng up with Rohan Bopanna won a gold each in the women’s singles and men’s doubles tennis events respectively while Indian players lived up to the expectations by storming into three more tennis finals of the Afro-Asian Games here today.

Bhupathi and Bopanna prevailed over comptatriots Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Vinod Sridhar 6-4 3-6 6-2 after Sania subdued Rushmi Chakravarthy 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 in the two all-Indian finals today to increase the host’s gold tally to four and silver to two in tennis events.

India had already won both the tennis team event golds.

India were in line for a clean sweep of all the seven gold medals on offer and another 1-2 finish as grand slam doubles champions Bhupathi and Sania booked their place in the mixed-doubles finals where they meet Vishal Uppal and Rushmi.

Sania, who completed a double gold with her singles win, kept herself in contention for the fourth gold by storming into the women’s doubles final along with Rushmi. The top seeded Indian pair breezed past Czarina Arevalo and Patricia Santos of Phillipines 6-4 6-0 in the semifinal.

Resuming their semifinal match, which was stopped last evening due to rain, the top seeded pair of Bhupathi and Sania completed the formality with an authoritative 6-2 6-2 thrashing of Adelo Abadia and Czarina of Phillipines before Uppal and Rushmi rallied from a set down to defeat Johnny Arcilla and Santos, also of Phillipines, 6-7 (7/5) 6-4 6-4. Earlier, Vijay Kannan moved into the final of the men’s singles with a hard fought 4-6 6-3 7-6 (6/4) win over Sunday Maku of Nigeria. The second seeded Indian will clash with unseeded Arcilla, who managed to defeat Sonny Kayombo of Congo 5-7 6 -4 6-1.

In the only jarring note for the hosts, second seeded Sonal Phadke and Megha Vakharia combine were shocked by Indonesia’s Stefanie Rosa Maya and Septi Mende 5-7 6-1 5-7 in the other women’s doubles semifinal and had to be contend with the bronze.

Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia and Czarina took the bronze medals in the women’s singles while the Nigerian pair of Abdul Babalola and Sunday Maku and Abadia and Arcilla of Phillipines did so in the men’s doubles.

Bhupathi and Sania, who led 5-2 yesterday when rain stopped play, took the first set with Sania holding her serve. Playing before a packed spectator galleries, the Indians entertained them by putting up a superb performance.

They both combined well and Sania, playing along side the grand slam champion, grew in confidence and sent down superb winners. They broke Czarina’s serve in the fifth and Abadia’s in the seventh to take the match with ease.

All the three finals will be played tomorrow starting with the women’s doubles at 10 am and followed by the men’s singles and mixed doubles.

Neelam J Singh and shotputter Shakti Singh bagged gold medals also.

The day also saw the Nigerians ruling the track events and India collecting one silver and a bronze through long distance runner Sita Ram and shotputter Navpreet Singh.

Both Neelam (women’s discus) and Shakti were the hot favourites to win today but the former did the country proud as she put aside her indisposition this morning.

Bahadur Singh, the Busan Asian Games gold medallist had to return home empty handed finishing fourth behind Navpreet Singh.

Shakthi was confidence personified amongst the eight competitors and started off with a throw of 18.72 metres. Though, Sakthi could not improve it in his next three attempts, his fifth throw of 18.77 metres pushed him to the top of the list. But it looked the big man had reserved his best for the final throw which fetched the gold measuring 19.05 metres. The effort was still far below his personal best of 20.42 metres set in Bangalore in 1994.

Neelam, was the favourite to grab the gold as her opponents were no where near her mark of 64.55 metres set in Busan Asian Games.

There were doubts about her taking to the event since she was not feeling well in the morning. However, Neelam steadily tested her capabilities against the two Chinese throwers, who competed with her in the Paris World Championship.

A beaming Neelam told PTI that she was indisposed in the morning and was happy having won the gold despite her bad health.

"I am happy about my gold medal win. Though I am not equally happy with the 61.94 metre mark, it gives me satisifaction since this is my season’s best. This win definitely gives me confidence since I had done much better than Song Aimin, who had defeated me in the World Championship," she said.

Song had finished seventh and Neelam eleventh in the Paris World Championship in August.

Sita Ram finished the energy sapping 10,000 metre walk in 45 minutes 09.4 seconds for the silver medal behind Aquanouk Moussa of Algeria (43:33.4 secs) and Thailand’s Samutho Sakghai (45:53.9) were the gold and bronze medal winners.

India represented the Asian zone in all the 17 finals and when both Shakti Singh and Neelam J Singh took to their events, India had not opened their gold win today and had to be satisifed with Sita Ram’s silver, obtained in the morning.

Star athlete K M Beenamol was conscipicuous by her absence, sitting out nursing a toe injury.

Nigerian Athletes Adetonunonbo Oloji and endurance Ojokolo became the fastest men and women of the games winning the men’s and women’s 100m title.

Both came up with a big surge in the last 30 metres and proved that they are cut above the rest accelerating well and drifting away from the others. (PTI)

JKCA announces teams for matches against
Haryana, DDCA, Himachal

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 30: Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association today announced for Under-19 for three matches against Haryana, DDCA and Himachal Pradesh on November 3 to 5, November 8 to 10 and 14th to 16th respectively.

The team for Under-19 included Asif Geelani—captain, Vimresh Kaw, Adil Showket, Mayank Goswami (vice-captain), Obaid Bashir, Ian Dev Singh, Abid Nabi, Sohan Lal, Sameer Ali, Sumeet Silwal, Zahoor Sofi, Vijay Dogra, Mudassar Mushtaq, Amit Biloria, Sajjad Nissar, Sarwar Ahmed and Umesh.

Surjit Singh of Jammu will be the Manager for the team for the said matches and Mushtaq Ahmed Rather will be the coach.

The team of Under-15 age group for matches of November first included Inder Dev Singh—captain, Maqsud Rasool—vice-captain, Ram Dayal, Adil Reshi, Obaid Ahmed, Amir Mehraj, Atif Nabi, Amir Aziz, Zian Azaz, Kanav Sathe, Ankin Bassen, Manik Gupta, Pratik Malhotra, Aditya Aima, Nitish Sharma and Haseeb.

Stand-by will be Farooq Ahmed, Sadiq Mehdi, Vishvadeep Singh and Ehsan Ali.

The manager of the team will be Kanya Lal and the coach will be Ravi Kant Puri.

Ganguly ruled out of Nov 6 match

KOLKATA, Oct 30: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, recovering after treatment of an abscess on his left thigh, was today ruled out of the November six tri-series match against New Zealand by the doctors.

Ganguly, who had to sit out the first three games of the triangular series after undergoing two mini surgical procedures in five days for the painful abscess, now has to sit out the fourth match at cuttack, surgeon Mrinmoy Nandy told PTI.

"He cannot play the november 6 match. The wound is healing. But since it is a big wound, it will take some time to heal," Nandy, who went to ganguly’s residence for a check up during the day, said.

Nandy said Ganguly, still on a course of anti-biotics, was recovering well. "But we don’t want to rush things."

The doctor said that he had removed one of the superficial stitches over the wound. "The remaining six stitches, including the two deep ones, would be removed in a phased manner."

Asked whether Ganguly would be fit before the November 12 outing against Australia at Bangalore, Nandy said "let’s see.."

The six-member medical board, set up to treat Ganguly, would review the condition of the ailing Indian skipper on Sunday, Nandy said.

"By Tuesday, we’ll be able to say whether he would be available for the Bangalore tie," he said.

Meanwhile, the Indian captain was taking walks in his palatial residence, though a limp was still there.

Ganguly, who underwent the second mini surgical procedure on October 18, was discharged from the private nursing home on Sunday.

Earlier, he had to sit out the second test against New Zealand after the abscess was removed through a mini surgical procedure on October 14. (PTI)

Dravid is Wisden Indian cricketer of the year

MUMBAI, Oct 30: Rahul Dravid was named the Wisden Indian cricketer of the year 2002-03 here today.

England captain Michael Vaughan and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, currently serving a one-year ban for failing a drug test, bagged the awards for the best performance of the year in batting and bowling respectively at a funtion here tonight.

Sachin Tendulkar received the special ESPN-star sports moment of the year award for his square cut six off Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar during the World Cup clash between India and Pakistan in South Africa early this year.

The wisden young cricketer of the year award went to South Africa’s youngest ever captain Graeme Smith. (PTI)

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