The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Hepatitis B awareness
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, November 8
Shankar Vihar, a social service organisation, Hepatitis Eradication and you (HEY) run by Naryan Das Memorial Charitable Trust along with Lions Club Krishna Nagar and Pharma major Cipla Limited, organised a `Hepatitis B' vaccination and Asthma Camp' at Hargobind Enclave near Karkardooma on Thursday. The camp was inaugurated by Health Minister of Delhi, Dr A.K. Walia. According to the founder president of this organisation, Dr P.D. Garg, more than 200 adults and children were given Hepatitis B vaccination. Free Medicines were also given to Asthma patients.

SPORTS

Record number of teams for Nehru Hockey
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 8
A record number of 24 teams, including all the top outfits of the country, will take part in the 38th edition of the Nehru-ONGC Hockey Tournament to be held from November 10 to 21 at the newly-laid synthetic turf at the renovated Shivaji Stadium.

Nehru Hockey would be returning to the Shivaji Stadium, the ‘home’ of Delhi hockey, after a gap of four years. The tournament had to be shifted to the National Stadium due to the unplayable condition of the old worn-out turf at Shivaji.

Thanks to the move to hold the Afro-Asian Games, a new Astro-turf has been put in place at the Shivaji Stadium, and the opening match of the Nehru Hockey Tournament on Saturday will herald the inauguration of the turf as well as the renovated Shivaji Stadium.

The Nehru Tournament will be played in two phases this year—Phase I and Phase II, to be played on league basis. Eighteen teams, divided into six groups of three teams each, will play in Phase I. The winners of each group will qualify to join the six teams seeded directly into Phase II.

Phase II will have 12 teams, divided into four groups of three teams each. The winners of each group will play the semi-finals and final. The final is slated for November 21.

Organising secretary of the tournament Shiv Kumar Verma said here today that the prize money had been raised from Rs 2.50 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. The winners will pocket Rs 2 lakh while the runners-up will take home Rs 1 lakh.

The remaining Rs 1 lakh will be divided among the third and fourth placed teams, and five promising players of the tournament.

NDMC chairman Subhash Sharma will inaugurate the tournament on Saturday at 3.15 p m. Delhi XI will meet UP XI in the inaugural match.

Mr Verma said the tournament committee has requested the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to release the top players from the national camp, beginning in Delhi on November 16, to enable them to represent their club teams in the Nehru Hockey. He said a seminar on umpiring in collaboration with the IHF will also be held during the tournament.

Six of the 24 teams have been directly seeded into the main draw. They are: Bharat Petroleum, Punjab and Sind Bank, Indian Airlines, Air India (Mumbai), Railway XI and Tamilnadu XI.

Other teams in the fray are: Indian Oil XI, Border Security Force, Jalandhar, Punjab Police, Jalandhar, Central Reserve Police Force, Indian Universities, Bombay XI, Bengal XI, Jharkhand XI, Delhi XI, UP XI, Corps of Signals.

Tatas leave their signature on logo
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 8
The Tata Group today unveiled the logo for the Tata Open Tennis Championship, to be played in Chennai for the sixth consecutive year, from December 31 to January 6. Top tennis players like Andrei Pavel, Thomas Johansson, Fabrice Santoro and Dominik Hrbaty are expected to participate in the championship.

The Tata Open logo graphically depicts a tennis player about to unleash a powerful backhand stroke. Rendered in an equally powerful brush stroke style, the logo is a fluid composition of simple black strokes on a white base with the Tata corporate blue as the dominant colour.

The word ‘Open’ has been written in a warm, signature-like flourish. The Tata Group Composite Mark has been integrated into the graphic to symbolise the long-standing Tata commitment to sports. The backhand has been deliberately chosen to connote power. Executive director of Tata Sons Ltd R Gopalakrishnan said, “It is indeed a great pleasure and honour for the Tata Group to be associated with the Open tennis. Our sponsorship of the Open is yet another example of the Group’s long-standing relationship with sports in India.”

In fact, the Tata Group was the first industrial house to encourage sporting talent in India. This relationship has produced over a hundred sportsmen who have played for India in international events. These include Davis Cup players

Premjit Lal and Jaideep Mukherjea, four captains of the Indian cricket team—Saurav Ganguly, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and Nari Contractor..

The Group has also produced 41 Asian Games medal winners, 32 Olympians and 28 Arjuna Award winners. Mr Romit Chatterjee, vice-president of Corporate Affairs Department, Tata Services, said, “The Tata Open stands for the passion to win. This passion is exemplified by the hunger and energy of the players who will sweat it out in Chennai and is also mirrored by the focus of the Tata Group on excellence. The Tata Open is India’s and South Asia’s only ATP International series event, and India’s largest annual global sporting event.”

He said this championship would bring the best in world tennis to India. In May 2001, the Group had brought to India some of the world’s best-known names in tennis like Bjorn Borgm, Guillermo Vilas, Vijay Amritraj and Henri Leconte, to play in the Tata Tennis Legends Tournament in Mumbai.

Joint Managing director of IMG/TWI South Asia, international vice-president of IMG Ravi Krishnan, said, “It is especially satisfying to IMG that Tatas, a truly Indian business house, has chosen to sponsor the country’s annual sporting event. The Tata Open is the jewel in the crown of IMG’s Indian operations, and we are fortunate to have found a committed, knowledgeable and active sponsor in the Tatas.”

The Tata Open will kick off the run for the 2002 ATP Champions Race. In the past, the event had attracted some of the top international names in tennis, including Boris Becker, Patrick Rafter, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Richard Krajicek and Carlos Moya.

Jyoti eyes PGA final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 8
Jyoti Randhawa, one of India’s most successful players on the Asian PGA Tour with four titles and a second place on the Order of Merit last year, says his sights are now trained on getting into the US PGA Tour. “I have made it to the second stage and I look forward to making it further,” said Jyoti in an interview on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Show. The show will be telecast at 8 pm on Friday on Doordarshan Sports Channel.

On his experience in the first stage of the qualifiers, Jyoti revealed that he carried his own bag on the first day. “I reached the venue last on the previous night, and I had no time to get a caddie next morning so I carried my own bag. And I shot an eight-under.”

Jyoti has won four Asian PGA titles, including two Hero Honda Masters, one Indian Open and one Singapore Masters titles. This year, he is attempting to get into the US PGA tour.

The show also features the beautiful Royal Springs