Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 26: Presentation Convent Senior Secondary school, Gandhi Nagar organised Annual Nano Nagle Memorial debate sponsored by School Alumni under the patronage of Alumni president, Poonam Kotwal.
On the occasion, Dilbagh Singh, Inspector General of Police (IGP), was the chief guest while Arun K Gupta, Chairman, Institute of Public Opinion, was the guest of honour.
During the event, Prof Neelu Rohmetra, Director, The Business School (TBS), University of Jammu, Dr Monica Sethi, Assistant Prof, Department of English, University of Jammu and JS Johar, SP North, were the jury members, who adjudged the performance of the students.
The first position was bagged by Kasman Kour of the host school while Tanya Khajuria and Apporva Shekhar secured second and third positions respectively. The coveted Nano Nagle Rolling Trophy was lifted by the Presentation Convent Senior Secondary School.
Dilbagh Singh, IGP, while speaking, appreciated the views of all the participants and lauded their efforts in maintaining high standards of oratory.

J&K to host 4th North Zone Climbing C’ship: Chib
Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 26: Minister for Youth Services and Sports RS Chib today said that the J&K would host 4th North Zone Climbing Championship this year.
He stated this after inaugurating 2-day 12th Jammu District Sport Climbing (JDSC) championship organised by J&K Mountaineering Association in collaboration with Montessori Nargus Dutt Public School RS Pura.
Ashwani Kumar Sharma, MLA, Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, Kiran Wattal, SDM, RS Pura Suraj Parkash, besides sports lovers were also present.
As many as 200 climbers from across the district would participate in six categories of men, women, boys, girls, sub-junior boys and girls in Lead and Speed climbing.
Chib said that the adventure sports are gaining popularity among the youth, adding that it is proving helpful for generating employment avenues at large.
Underscoring the need for popularizing adventure sports in the State, Chib said, J&K is the choicest destination to the visitors world-over and promotion of adventure sports will also boost the State’s economy attracting more visitors from within and outside the country.
He asked the association for organizing similar championships in other districts to attract more youth towards the sports as these inculcate confidence, endurance and spirit of exploration.
Later, he honoured the best climbers who have brought laurels to the State representing at national levels.
During the championship, 9 climbers led by Ghar Singh and Rahul Kundan of Misra Shiksha Niketan High School, Arnia and Raghu Bai Hastir of St Xavier Higher Secondary School, Barnai entered the final round by topping the 40 ft high fibre glass wall in the Boys Category.
However, the Girls category was dominated by the host MNDP School, RS Pura with 6 climbers entering the final round of 12 climbers. Similarly, 5 climbers of MNDP School entered the final round in the Sub Junior Girls category along with 5 climbers from other schools. The competitions in the Sub Junior Boys category were in progress.
Suraj Singh, Anil Kumar, Puneet Sharma and Ashish Kapoor are the Route Setters cum Belayers, Shivani Raj Kaith, Princy Choudhry and Ria Gupta are the Judges. Sonam Sidharth and Mrigank Koushal are the organizing Secretaries.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: Government today appointed thirteen outstanding sports players in different departments under SRO 349/98.
Arjun Gandotra was appointed as JE in PDD while Renu Sharma, Neha Choudhary, Rohit Vadan and Geetanjali Aggarwal were appointed as teachers in School Education Department.
Gourav Sharma was appointed as technician in PDD, while Masrat Bashir, Meenakshi Bali, Vikas Sharma, Mandeepika Talwar, Shivani, Veena Kumari and Vishal Gondhi were appointed as laboratory assistants in School Education Department.
There is grant of relaxation in the upper age bar by 7 months and 13 days as on 1-1-12 in respect of Veena Kumari.
The appointees will be on probation for the period of two years and will report to their respective administrative departments/ HODs, within a period of 21 days from the date of time of this order.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 26: 5 Rashtriya Rifles Battalion under the aegis of 3 Sector Rashtriya Rifles, part of Victor Force organised Intra District T20 Cricket Tournament (Ganderbal Premier League) at District Ganderbal.
During the tournament, 32 matches had been played since today out of 76 matches at Shaheed Commando Shabeer Malik Stadium, Gadura and Qamaria Stadium, Ganderbal.
In the first match of the day New Star XI, Giraj, thrashed DCC, Kujjar, by 9 wickets. Ajaj Ahmad of New Star XI, Giraj, was declared Man of the match.
In the second match, Red Rock, Badampura, trounced Real Challengers, Gulshan Nagar, by 29 Runs. Nasir of Red Rock, Badampura, team was declared man of the match.
The third match was played between Blue Walls Barsoo and Young Star Tullamulla, in which latter emerged victorious by 4 wickets. Fayaz Ahmed of Young Star Tullamulla team was declared as man of the match.
In the last match of the day, Sheer Pathi Chandana trounced Sky Rangers, Gadoora by 6 wickets. Shahnawaz of Sheer Pathi Chandana team was declared Man of the match.
In tomorrow’s fixtures, Young Star, Gogjigund will take on Mir Mohalla Tiger and Mishra Cricket Club, Lar will clash with RCC Babsipora.

Inter Village Panchayat competitions concludes
Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, April 26: Inter Village Panchayat competitions of Zone Dansal in the discipline of Badminton, Kabbadi, Kho-Kho, Handball and Wrestling under 16 years age group, organised by Department of Physical Education and Sports, Dansal at Youth Hostel Nagrota, concluded today.
On the occasion, ZPEO Dansal, Jeet Singh, was the chief guest, who declared the championship closed.
While speaking, Jeet Singh informed that about 231 players from 28 panchayats participated in the various events organised during the competition.
During the championship, Nagrota Panchayat emerged overall winner while Dansal panchayat remained runner-up. The third position was conferred to Katal Batal panchayat.
In Badminton, Nagrota panchayat emerged winner in both boys and girls category while Dansal Panchayat was the runner-up in both categories.
In Kabbadi (Boys), Katal Batal panchayat registered win whereas Nagrota panchayat was runner-up.
In Kho-Kho (Boys), Jhajjar Kotli panchayat won while Dansal panchayat was the runner-up whereas in girls category, Nagrota panchayat emerged victorious whereas Jhajjar Kotli remained runner-up.
In Handball (Boys), Dansal panchayat won the title while Jhajjar Kotli secured second rank.
The matches were officiated by Rajesh Sambyal, Jasdev Singh, Narayan Singh, Kulbhushan, Anil Shan, Rattan, Karnail Singh, Vikram Jamwal and Kuldeep.
The competition was organised under the overall supervision of Tirth Ram, District Youth Services and Sport Officer (DYSSO).

Baisakhi Premier League Cricket Tourney

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: Shiva Cricket Club, RS Pura and Diamond A Cricket Club notched their respective matches and sailed into the next round of the ongoing Baisakhi Premier League Cricket Tournament organised by YWA, Simbal, in association with Diamond Cricket Club at Boys High School, Simbal.
In the first match of the day, Shiva Cricket Club drubbed Samar Cricket Club by 37 runs.
Batting first, after winning the toss, Shiva Club scored 122 runs for all out in 17.3 overs. Tajinder Singh scored 21 runs while Sachin, Deep and Kamal also chipped in 20, 18 and 12 runs respectively to the total.
For Samar Club side, Nipun was the chief wrecker who scalped 3 wickets in his 4 over spell while Tinku and Vishal pocketed 2 wickets each. Deepak also claimed one wicket.
In the second inning, Samar Club failed to resist the pace of the bowlers of Shiva Club and bundled out at 85 runs for the loss of all the wickets in 15.4 overs. Ravi Pandit was the highest scorer with 32 runs while Nipun, Raman Singh also made 16 and 12 runs respectively.
For Shiva Club, Atish was the wrecker-in-chief, who scalped 4 important wickets while Kamal also scalped 3 wickets.
In the second match of the day, Diamond A Cricket Club registered 6 wickets victory over its opponent Kings XI Jammu.
In the first inning, Kings XI Jammu, set a target of 115 runs for the loss of all wickets in 19.4 overs. Ripple scored 27 runs while Rathee chipped in 18 runs.
For Diamond A Club, Narinder scalped 4 wickets while Gurdev pocketed 3 wickets. Mahadeep and Parmmet claimed one wicket each.
While batting, Diamond A Club, chased the target easily in just 14.5 overs for the loss of just 4 wickets. Shanku was the highest scorer who chipped in some crispy shots in his 53 runs contribution while Nitu and Gurdev also scored 21 and 11 runs respectively.
For Kings XI side, Bunty scalped 2 wickets while Gagan and Panther claimed one wicket apiece.
Shanku of Diamond A Cricket Club was declared as man of the match for his superb batting performance.
The matches were officiated by Kulbir Singh Kail, PEM and Gurmeet Singh as umpires while Akshay Deep Singh was the scorer.
The tournament is going on under the supervision of GS Mickael, organizing secretary.

NEW DELHI, Apr 26:
Title-contender Saina Nehwal suffered a stunning straight-game defeat in the second round but P Kashyap and P V Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the India Open Super Series here today.
World number five Saina was not in her elements today as she suffered a 19-21 10-21 defeat to Korean Youn Joo Bae, ranked 12th in the world, in a 39-minute women’s singles match at the Siri Fort Complex here.
However, young prodigy Sindhu, ranked 27th in the world, stunned world number 11 and eighth seed Korean Ji Hyun Sung 21-17 22-20 to cruise into the quarterfinal.
In men’s singles, Kashyap kept his Olympic hopes alive by notching up a thrilling come-from-behind 15-21 21-14 22-20 win over Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana to reach the quarterfinals. The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist will have to win his quarterfinal battle against Chen Jin to qualify for the Olympics.
At the adjacent court, Jayaram played his heart out but could not avoid a 16-21 21-15 5-21 defeat to world number one Lee Chong Wei and crashed out of the tournament.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, meanwhile, avenged their loss at the ABC to Indonesian pair of Vita Marissa and Nadya Melati by seeing them off 16-21 21-15 21-17 in a 50-minute women’s doubles match.
Among other Indians, top Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas, who got a bye in the first round, also notched up a 21-18 18-21 21-19 victory over Korean pair of Ki Jung Kim and Sa Rang Kim in the men’s doubles competition. (PTI)

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: The results of the first-ever translation awards, launched by the Academy of Art, Culture and languages in 2010, were announced here today.
Rubaiyat-e-Iqbal in Pahari by Azeem Khan, Ranga Rajtrangini in Hindi by Gauri Shankar Raina, Do Gaz Zameen in Dogri by Dr Jitendra Udhampuri, Country of the Soul in English by AN Dhar and Zou As Peth Akh Raat in Kashmiri by Darakshan Andrabi are the translated works that have been recognised for excellence in the field of literary translation.
Aimed at honouring the best literature published in the State, the award is first of its kind in the State and expected to promote the culture of quality literary translations.
The awards were announced by Commissioner Secretary, Tourism and Secretary of the Academy, Atal Dulloo, who said the award is aimed at commending the efforts of the author and translator together. He also announced that the awards would be presented by the president of the Academy shortly.

Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 26: Zonal Level Painting and Symposium competitions were held at zone Bhalwal, in which students from various schools participated enthusiastically.
The topic for the painting competition was “Clean earth” and for symposium was “The Role of Teachers and Parents in Education”.
In the painting competition, Priya Dogra from GMS Gharota, Sumitra Prajapati from GPS Patta Khoo and Mandeep Singh from MS Mishriwala, stood first, second and third respectively.
In the symposium, Rekha Kumari of MS Kalakam, Khushboo Singh of MS Mishriwala and Neeru Rani from HS Batehra bagged first, second and third positions respectively.
On the occasion, Kuldeep Singh Langeh, ZEO, zone Bhalwal, presided over the function and distributed prizes among the winners.
He also gave away prizes to students who played important role in enrollment drive campaign, zonal level competition, etc. These students were Nisar Ahmed, Vishali Kumari, Ajaz Ahmed, Sukhum Kumar, Tania Bibi, Nancy Verma, etc.
While speaking, Kuldeep Singh Langeh, asked the parents to fully cooperate with teachers and send their wards to the school regularly. He impressed upon the teachers to impart good and quality education to the students, so that they can compete any situation in life.