Bhopal, Feb 24: Bhopal cueist Kamal Chawla has been appointed skipper of the Indian snooker team for the Indo-Pak series to be played in Karachi from March 7.
Confirming the development, Kamal said it was an honour to captain the national team, and he was waiting for visa.
The team has four members.
Indo-Pak series in snooker has been a regular feature for the last many years. (PTI)

Chennai, Feb 24: Captain M S Dhoni’s brilliant kmock demolished the Aussie bowlers, and swung the game strongly in India’s favours with the score being at 515 for 8 in 141 overs Dhoni shared an unbroken stand of 109 runs in 25.4 overs with Bhuvaneswar Kumar (16 batting) after a sparkling century by Virat Kohli (107) at stumps on the third day of the first test at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here today.
Dhoni was batting on 206 off 243 balls with the help of 15 fours and five sixes.
As the Aussie bowlers struggled, explosive pacer James Pattinson(4-89), who began on an explosive note reducing India to 12-2 when India began their reply yesterday and off spinner Nathan Lyon (3-182) turned out to be the most successive bowlers for them.
The skipper who also passed the 4,000 run mark in Tests, the first Indian wicketkeeper batsman to do so, also put on 128 for the fifth wicket with Virat Kohli in 26.1 overs and carried on merrily after Kohli and R Ashwin’s fall. With Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvaneswar Kumar keeping the hapless Aussies under the energy sapping heat, the Chennai Super Kings skipper surpassed his previous highest Test score of 148 against Pakistan in 2006.
India went in for lunch at 263-4 after Sachin fell for 81 to Aussie off spinner Nathan Lyon and for tea at 371 for 6, nine runs behind the visitors’ score.
Dhoni was in his elements in the post tea session in which he took India past the Aussies’s score batting brilliantly uleashing cover drives and pulls on what appeared to be a placid pitch. He first struck an eighth wicket stand with Harbhajan Singh of 41 runs in 13.4 overs and then with tailender Bhuvaneswar Kumar for the ninth. He belted two sixes in tandem in the 132nd over and raced to 160 and double century well within reach.
Post tea, the Aussies had immediate success. Their second most successful bowler, off spinner till then after pacer James Pattinson (four wickets) Nathan Lyon picked up his third when he castled India’s off spinner R Ashwin, the hero for India when the visitors batted first. Ashwin got three runs off the six balls he faced.
But there was joy in the Indian camp as skipper Dhoni registered his sixth century in Test match cricket as Siddle was brought on in place of Pattinson.
Dhoni sent the first ball of Siddle’s 19th over to the fence to reach 101 off 119 balls with the help of 13 fours and a six. He could still rely on his new partner, off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was playing in his 100th Test match for India, to give the team a good lead. Bhajji has two hundreds in Tests.
India overtook Austrlalia’s score of 380 in the 109th over. Dhoni was also eight runs short of achieving 4000 runs in Tests, a feat which no other Indian stumper had accomplished.
Dhoni also posted the 400 run mark for India in the fifth ball of the 112th over, in 505 minutes. But the Indian innings was at the threshold of ending when after a fruitful 34 run stand for the eighth wicket, Harbhajan, who hit a six in his score of 11, was castled by medium pscer Henriques, who picked up his first wicket in his Test match debut.
With Bhuvanewar Kumar holding on his guard, Dhoni pushed the score along to 438 for 8 in 120 overs of the innings. He posted his 150 with a superb cover drive of Peter Siddle.
The stand Dhoni posted with Bhuvneswar Kumar swelled to 42, with the latter scoring just two runs. The team’s 450 came in 128 overs then. He also posted the 500 score in 608 minutes.
With five more overs remaining before stumps for the day, India were 505 for 8 after Dhoni’s first Test double century. Dhoni got it with a single to point off Lyon. He got it off in 231 balls batting for 326 minutes. He hit 21 fours and five sixes.
(UNI)

Chennai, Feb 24: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who received brickbats just a few months ago after the England series disaster, was today showered with accolades from former players after his career-best knock of unbeaten 206 in the first cricket Test against Australia here.
Dhoni today found an admirer for his cool batting approach in former England captain Michael Vaughan.
“The coolest man in world cricket, MS Dhoni delivers when it most matters… Incredible innings against the Aussies…,” Vaughan wrote on his twitter account.
Legendary spinner Shane Warne, among the television commentary team in the series, was also impressed by Dhoni’s knock.
“WOW, M S Dhoni is going off here in Chennai, amazing batting,” tweeted Warne.
Another Australian legend Glenn McGrath, who is heading the MRF Pace Foundation here, wrote on his Twitter page, “Great innings by MS Dhoni 206*. India in a strong position against the Aussies.”
India’s World Cup Yuvraj Singh tweeted, “Congratulations ! To @imVkohli and @msdhoni on there spectacular knocks specially ms a double ton in test cricket is a memory.”
“What an innings @msdhoni truly inspirational stuff. One of the best innings i have seen,” Dhoni’s Indian team-mate Ajinkya Rahane said.
Former West Indies batsman Darren Ganga said, “Magnificent accomplishment from Dhoni. Proven the critics wrong. Clearly one of India’s finest captains and wicket keeper-batsmen. Brilliant counter attack innings.” (PTI)

Zurich (Switzerland), Feb 24: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with Fabiano Caruana of Italy in the first round of the Zurich Chess Challenge that got underway here.
Playing black in the opener of his third super tournament of the year, Anand was seen pushing for an advantage as black and Caruana had to defend precisely from a difficult position but the Italian held fort to force the split of the point.
The other game of the four-player double round-robin tournament between Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Boris Gelfand of Israel also ended in a draw leaving the four participants as equals after the first round with half a point each.
With nothing to separate the four contestants after the first round, Anand has every reasons to be pleased with his effort in the opener. The Indian ace had black against a formidable Caruana but gave him no chance whatsoever in a Sicilian Najdorf game as black.
For some reasons, Caruana — after scaling the top five world ranking — has become a sought after player and Anand yet again proved that the youngster has to prove himself over and over again.
At the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk Aan Zee at Holland, Anand had beaten Caruana as black and then two draws had prevailed at Grenke Chess Classic that Anand won in style ahead of the Italian. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, Feb 24: Himalayan Degree College Rajouri celebrated its 9th Annual Day with traditional fervor, here today.
The celebration was attended by a myriad of people belonging to cross section of society including students, parents, academicians, bureaucrats and socio educational activists.
The programme was chaired by Dinesh Rana, DIG Rajouri Poonch Range, while Mohd Matloob Khan, Dy Commisioner Rajouri presided over the event.
The students of Degree classes presented spectacular stage performances including skit, song and thought provoking messages, which invited huge applause from the jubilant audience.
Umpteen awards in both academic and extra scholastic areas were presented to the students, who had exhibited outstanding performances during the last academic session at district, State and National level competitions.
The highest ranked award included Himalayan Lad and Lass of the year in male and female categories respectively, which were clinched by Sultan Sikander, Zaffer Iqbal, Heena Kosser and Navjyoti Gupta respectively besides many other brighter students bagged medals, Citations and Mementoes.
In his presidential address DIG lauded the pioneering role of the Himalayan Education Mission in this backward, border hilly region and declared it as a true leader in education sector.
The annual report was presented by Mohd Saleem Wani where as Shikha Khajuria, Samiksha Sharma, Preeti Sharma and Yaseen Malik conducted the proceedings of the programme.
Prominent among others present on the occasion were Nisar Hussain Rahi, Kuldeep Raj Gupta, Sukdev Mehta, Azam Shah, Talib Malik, Rasheed Qammer, Haji Gafoor Bhat, Molvi Lalu Din, Shafqat Mir, Shazad Khan, Tazeem Dar, Vivek Gupta and Bharat Bushan among others.
Later on, MM Wani presented vote of thanks.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: The match between University of Jammu and GNDU Amritsar will decide the winner of the gold in the ongoing All India Inter-University Korfball Championship, being organized by the Directorate of Sports and Physical Education at University Grounds, here.
Earlier, in the matches played between top four teams today, MDU Rohtak defeated GNDU Amritsar by eleven goals to eight (11:8), while Jammu University thrashed MDU Rohtak by ten goals to three (10:3) in another contest.
Meanwhile, in another match, GNDU Amritsar got better of Punjab University Chandigarh by seven goals to four (7:4) and MDU Rohtak trounced Punjab University Chandigarh by fifteen goals to eleven (15:11).
In the last match of the day, Jammu University defeated Punjab University Chandigarh by sixteen goals to five (16:5).
Dr HS Randawa, Director Sports , GNDU Armritsar was the special invitee in today’s proceedings, while prominent among others present on the occasion were Prof Dhian S Bhau, Director Sports and Physical Education, University of Jammu, Dr Priyanka Katoch, Manjeet Singh, General Secrtary, J&K Korfball Association, Ram Kumar, treasurer JKKA , Dr Brij Baloria, Romesh Sharma, Romesh Magotra , Jai Bharat, Sanjeev Jamwal, Nisha Kumar and Raj Kumar Bakshi.
The matches were officiated by Tarandeep Singh, Deepak Dutta, Amit, Ashok, Gagandeep Singh, Ashwani Sharma, Amandeep Singh, VP Sharma and Irfan Chowdhary.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: DRS Talab Tilloo Jammu celebrated Annual Day with great enthusiasm at General Zorawar Singh Auditorium, University of Jammu, here today.
Raman Bhalla, Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture was the chief guest on the occasion, while Arun Kumar Tikku, chairman/member secretary of the DRS was the guest of honour.
The programme began with the lighting of lamp by the chief guest and other dignitaries present on the occasion, which was followed by Ganesh Vandana by little angels of the School.
Various cultural items presented by the students on the occasion.
Harmeet Kaur, Chairperson gave away mementoes to the dignitaries on the occasion, while Principal Ekta Syal presented vote of thanks.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU Feb 24: Riding on a superb batting display by Deepak Dogra and Shashi Kumar, Ishar Cricket Club defeated Atman Sports Club by 4 wickets in a tough contest of the 3rd Parmodh Memorial T20 Cricket Tournament, which concluded at Playfield Mandal, here.
Minister for Planning, Labour & Employment, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra was the chief guest on the valedictory function, while Ankush Abrol, former selector and Working Committee Member JKCA and Subhash Chander were the guests of honour.
Mr Sadhotra urged youth to participate in sports in a big way alongside academics saying that physical growth is imperative for agile mind.
The Minister said that the Government has taken various initiatives to promote sports and was providing best possible support to the talented sports persons, adding that the State possesses immense sports talent and the only need is to provide opportunity to sportspersons to hone their skill on a larger canvass.
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Atman Club scored a decent total of 150 runs in 20 overs. Sandeep Singh top scored with 57 runs, while Chetan contributed 27 runs to the total. Deepu and Sahil Bhalwal chipped in with 15 and 11 runs respectively. For Ishar Club, Dhruv Mahajan and Sahil Sharma scalped 2 wickets each, while youngster Pavit Singh Ishar and Sourab Chopra claimed one wicket each.
Ishar Club, in reply chased the target in 19.4 overs by losing 6 wickets in a close contest, thus won the match by 4 wickets. Shashi contributed 41 runs, while Deepak Dogra scored quick-fire 16-ball 33 runs. Sahil Sharma (11) and Jaswinder (10) were the other contributors. For Atman Club, Vishwajeet scalped 3 wickets, while Sahil Bhalwal claimed 2 and Chetan one. Deepak Dogra was adjudged man of the match and man of the tournament for his all-round display. Pavit Singh Ishar was declared best bowler of the tournament, while Chetan Singh Chib as best batsman.
The winners were presented a cash prize of Rs 30,000 and a trophy by the chief guest and other dignitaries, while the runners up team got Rs 10,000 and trophy from the chief guest.

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: Ambedkar Public High School Vijaypur celebrated its Annual Day with pomp and show in its premises, here today.
Deputy Commissioner, Samba Mubarak Singh was the chief guest on the occasion.
All the parents of the students of the School and prominent personalities of Vijaypur attended the function.
The function started with Ganesh Vandhana displayed and Dipesh Badgal and 10th class students of the school.
Students also displayed various heart touching items during the programme.
Kamal Kumar read the annual report of the school on the behalf of the Principal of the school. Deputy Commissioner Samba also addressed the gathering during the programme and lauded the participants for presenting a very colorful function.