Rehmat Ali lifts Chowadi Dangal title

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: Pahalwan Rehmat Ali of Doda was unanimously declared winner in the Vishal Dangal held at village Chowadi.

The Dangal was organised by Bawa Rani Dangal Committee in collaboration with J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association.

In all 60 bouts were played in different categories. In the second main bout, Zakir Hussain of Jammu got the better of Bhai pahalwan of Hoshiarpur (Punjab) followed by Benia who eased past Shah Mohd in a tough bout which lasted five minutes.

Member Parliament, Choudhary Lal Singh was the chief guest on the occasion while Choudhary Hamid, Congress leader was the guest of honour.

He (Lal Singh) gave away a cash prize of Rs 15,000 to pahalwan Rehmat Ali while Zakkir and Bhai pocketed Rs 7,000 and 5,000 respectively.

International wrestler and general secretary, J&K Wrestling Association, Dushyant Sharma was also honoured by the Dangal Committee.

Rakesh Khajuria, general secretary, J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association and Sanjeev Kumar, joint secretary presided over the function and distributed Certificates of Merit alongwith medals to the wrestlers.

The technical officials in the Dangal were Allaha Mai, Mohd Billa, Rehmat Ali, Shameem Ali and Faqar Din.

Yoga Championship concludes

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: The District Reasi Yoga Championship organised by J&K Yoga Association concluded at Durga Bhawan, Katra.

Mulkh Raj, Chairman, Katra Municipality was the chief guest on the occasion.

The championship was organised under the supervision of Anil Gupta, Surinder Kumar and Dayal Ram.

Results:

8-11 yrs (boys): Vishishat Kesar (1st), Dhanan Parmar (2nd) and Shubam Mahajan (3rd).

8-11 yrs (girls): Supriya Sharma (1st0, Dipti Sharma (2nd) and Nandika Khajuria (3rd).

11-14 yrs (boys): Anikate Goswami (1st), Mohd Hanif (2nd), Rishikesh Piyari and Abhishek Sadotra (3rd).

11-14 yrs (girls): Poonam Sharma (1st), Surbhi Darora (2nd) and Jyoti Devi (3rd).

Presentation Convent School excels in Martial Arts C’ship

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: Presentation Convent School, Gandhi Nagar emerged winners a total of 161 points as the 10th National Martial Arts Championship concluded at Rema International School, Pathankot.

Christ the King School, Punjab (110 points) and Sacred Heart, Sidpur, Dharamshala (102 points) finished second and third respectively.

Total 1657 players drawn from all over India participated in the championship.

The trophy for J&K was received by Fr Johnson Thomas.

Earlier, Bishop Dr Peter Celestine, Bishop of J&K declared open the championship.

Dr Pardeep Sharma, Director All India and Fr Johnson Thomas, Technical Advisor for India were the chief organisers of the sporting event.

The three-day long championship was organised by Budo Ryu Kempo Martial Arts, India.

JD Institute organises Rangoli competition

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: JD Institute of Fashion Technology organised rangoli competition to mark Diwali celebrations.

Neharika and Tany secured first position followed by trio of Palak, Ela and Jatin who had to be content with second place.

Yogita and Surjeet Sasan finished third. Maansi Gupta, Centre Director of the Institute also spoke on the occasion.

KC Gurukul Public Schools celebrate Diwali

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Oct 27: KC Gurukul Public Schools of Jammu and Udhampur celebrated Diwali with great fervour.

Various competitions were organised on the occasion which included rangoli competition, group dance and solo dance.

The highlight of the function was lectures by the teachers. Arvind Mahajan, Chairman, KC Gurukul Public School, Jammu presided over the function at Jammu while Tej Razdan, KC Gurukul Public School, Udhampur presided over.

Vijay Puri, Academic Director speaking on the occasion apprise the children about the rich and varied cultural heritage of India.

Later, sweets were distributed among the children after the Arti.

Rangoli competition held

Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Oct 27: Common Public Higher Secondary School organised Rangoli competition on the eve Diwali festival.

Four houses of school namely Jehlum, Ravi, Chenab and Vyas alongwith teachers participated in the competition.

Jehlum house comprising Arti, Dipti, Rahul and Rohit bagged top honours followed by Chenab house (Anita, Megali and Deepak).

Vyas house (Sushant, Rajinder, Neha and Shabnam) had to be content with third place.

Suman Shen, Principal of the school emphasized upon the need to use pollution free crackers to celebrate Diwali.

Bhupathi-Knowles pair clinches Swiss
indoors championship

BASEL (Switzerland), Oct 27: Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles clinched their third ATP title together this season, winning the Davidoff Swiss indoors championship with a straight-set triumph in the final here.

Bhupathi and Knowles defeated Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-3 in a 61-minute final yesterday. For the 34-year-old Indian, the title was his 44th overall.

"We really wanted to win this one. I’m glad we were able to do it as we have been playing well all week. We have two big tournaments at Paris and Shanghai left, so hopefully we’ll continue the form right through to the end of the year," said Bhupathi.

Knowles, meanwhile, became the 21st player in ATP history (since 1973) to capture 50 career doubles titles.

"I’m elated. It’s a big number and I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been thinking about it, as I’ve lost in a couple of finals lately. I’m really happy to win my 50th title and get past the milestone," the 36-year-old Knowles said.

Bhupathi, who reached the 2001 final with compatriot Leander Paes, and Knowles have amassed a 36-16 season record so far.

The pair had earlier clinched back-to-back silverware at Memphis and Dubai. Last week, the duo finished runners-up at ATP Masters series Madrid. They now have a 3-6 record in ATP finals this year.

Bhupathi and Knowles split 46,500 euros in prize money, while Kas and Kohlschreiber divided 27,300 euros. (PTI)

Waugh attends Oz nets; praises Indian pacers

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: After spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi lent his helping hand to Ricky Ponting and his men in yesterday’s practice session, former Australia skipper Steve Waugh attended the nets today as the visitors left no stone unturned in their preparation for the third test against India.

Waugh, who was here to attend the two-day MCC World Cricket Committee meeting that concluded yesterday, attended the entire net session, interacting mostly with Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and Matthew Hayden.

"I just came to have a look at their practice session," Waugh later said.

Asked what did he suggest to Ponting and his men who trail the four-match series 0-1, Waugh said he told them to relax and not think much about the result.

"I didn’t give any tips as such. I told them to relax and enjoy. Sometimes you tend to think too much about the outcome. They need to relax," said the former captain.

On whether he had any special piece of advice for out-of-form Hayden, Waugh said, "not really. He is a quality player and a world class batsman, he knows his game well. It’s all about spending some time in the middle and runs will come automatically."

"Australia is definitely under pressure to make a comeback in the series and judging by their practice session this morning, all of them looked intense," said Waugh, summing up his observation of the Aussies.

Waugh also seemed highly impressed by India’s performance in the series so far but believes it might prove to maintain the same standard.

Mishra to pave way for Kumble in Kotla, hints Kirsten

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: His sensational Mohali debut notwithstanding, Haryana leg-spinner Amit Mishra will pave way for fit-again skipper Anil Kumble in the third Test against Australia, India coach Gary Kirsten hinted today.

Kirsten said Kumble was recovering well from the shoulder injury that kept him out of the Mohali Test, handing Mishra his maiden Test cap.

Kirsten said there was no possibility of going into the match with three spinners at the cost of a middle-order batsman and chances are also slim that India would opt for two leg-spinners, Kumble and Mishra, dropping the in-form offie Harbhajan Singh.

"If Kumble is fit, he is the captain of the team, he’ll play the next match I expect," Kirsten said after India’s practice session at the Ferozeshah Kotla here today.

"He is looking good, so we are happy with the way things have progressed," he added.

Ruling out the prospect of fielding three spinners at the possible cost of VVS Laxman, Kirsten said, "No, there is not a possibility of that, as far as I’m concerned...I would like to go into a Test match with six batsmen."

Mishra’s slender hopes now hinge on the toe injury Harbhajan picked in the Mohali Test even though Kirsten said he expected the off-spinner to recover before the third Test.

"I’m not sure (about Harbhajan’s injury), to be honest. We’ll just wait and see tomorrow. Hopefully it’s not too serious.

"I think he picked it up towards the end of the last game, maybe it’s an over-use injury. We are hopeful that he would be ready for this Test," he said.

Kirsten was effusive in his praise for the pacers and also dismissed talks in the Australian media that Zaheer Khan could be emotionally vulnerable.

"I don’t think he is emotionally vulnerable. He is an exceptionally talented bowler, a great performer for India. He has certainly produced the goods," Kirsten said, insisting he was not focussing on what the visitors are saying about his wards.

Rather, he waxed eloquent on how Zaheer and Ishant Sharma have forged a lethal partnership in the series.

"They bowled exceptionally well. I mean it’s a very exciting time for Indian cricket with two fast bowlers having such an impact in a Test series. Certainly, we said in our planning that we need our fast bowlers to be the strikers and they have certainly done exceptionally well so far.

"With two more Test matches to go, we would like that trend to continue," said the South African.

"It was a great Test match, certainly a benchmark Test match in terms of dominating the play. But it’s a new day and new game and we’ll certainly use that Test match as a benchmark to what we would like to achieve in future."

Like any other Indo-Australian clashes, the Mohali Test also saw sparks flying and Zaheer was fined 80 per cent of his match fee for a prolonged celebration after Matthew Hayden was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh. (PTI)

India settles for fourth place

PUNE, Oct 27: India’s doubles woes continued and the hosts went down 2-3 to Malaysia to finish fourth in the World Junior Badminton Championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex here today.

India’s hopes of a third place finish went up in smoke after all the doubles pairs failed to win.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and Aditya Prakash did their bit, winning their respective singles matches but it was not enough.

Mixed doubles pair of Gurusaidutt and Prajakta Sawant was the first to disappoint as the duo received a 8-21 17-21 thrashing from Kok Siang Teo and Kah Mun Vivian Hoo in a 20-minute match.

However, Saina spanked Siew Fong Florah Ng 21-9 21-6 in the women’s single, while Aditya Prakash 21-12 20-22 26-24 staved off the challenge of Iskandar Zulkarnain Bin Zainuddin in a 55-minute gruelling battle to take the lead 2-1.

But Sai Praneeth B and Pranav Chopra squandered the chance as they failed to put up a fight against Hee Chun Mak and Kok Siang Teo and went down 21-14 21-13 in just 22 minutes in the men’s doubles category.

Though Sikki Reddy and Thulasi PC gave a scare to Kah Mun Vivian Hoo and Sannatasah Binti Saniru, the duo could not defy the inevitable and lost 14-21 21-13 9-21 to the Malaysian duo in 37-minutes. (PTI)

Atwal eyes Singapore Open

SENTOSA, Oct 27: The in-form Arjun Atwal, the winner of this year’s Malaysian Open, will be looking to complete a cross-straits double when he competes in the USD 5 million Barclays Singapore Open from November 13-16.

Although Atwal will be competing in the Barclays Singapore Open at Sentosa Golf Club for the first time, he has happy memories of the lion city having won the Singapore Masters a joint-sanctioned tournament with the European tour - in 2002.

"I know it’s a good field (including Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Adam Scott and Choi Kyung-Ju) there as well and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve not played previously at Sentosa. I would rather play the tough courses than the easy ones where everyone is shooting the lights out." (UNI)

Clarke wants to bounce back

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Ferozeshah Kotla has been India happy hunting ground but Michael Clarke has scant respect for such statistics and the Australia vice captain asserted the visitors would settle for nothing less than a victory in the third cricket test starting here Wednesday.

Finding themselves in an unfamiliar position where the side is trailing the four-match series 0-1 against the domineering hosts, Clarke said the only way out now was to win the match and draw parity in the series.

"See, we are one-nil down in the series. We have to win here and we have to play good cricket," Clarke told reporters after the team’s rigorous practice session at Kotla.

"We are taking the positives from the last two matches and looking forward to a great test match. We are not concerned about India’s record here," added the right-hander, who would have to play a key role with the bat if the visitors want to level the score at the venue where India has won last seven matches on the trot.

Clarke, who scored 23 and 69 in the pevious match at Mohali, admitted the task would not be easy but felt the Aussies were quite up to the challenge.

"Hopefully it would not get too difficult. India is playing very good at the moment but our preparation has been fantastic and we are looking forward to anotehr great test.

Stuart Clark’s absence, owing to an elbow injury, has depleted the Australian to a great extent. Clarke said the seamer would again be assessed tomorrow even though he is getting in the shape to play the third test.

"We all noticed that, I think it’s okay with us. It’s not much of a problem," he said. (PTI)