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November 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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Indira Awards
presented New Delhi, November 19 The Chief Minister’s running trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for the best school went to Government Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Sector 1, Avantika, Rohini. The school was presented with the Chief Minister’s Medal, a memento and a citation. Eleven other schools were chosen for the Education Minister’s running trophies which carry a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each. Also distributed were 28 zonal-level trophies to the best school from each of the 28 zones of the Department of Education. These carried a cash prize of Rs 21,000 each. Cash award worth Rs 11,000 each and mementos were also given to 28 teachers. Four students each studying in secondary classes from the 28 zones were also selected for cash award worth Rs 2,100 for performing well in science, commerce, humanities and vocational studies. In all, 382 awards were given away that included 308 students, 46 heads of schools and 28 teachers. The award was started two years ago in memory of the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Meanwhile, Education Minister Narendra Nath informed students about the Rajiv Gandhi computer rooms started in government schools. |
FACE TO FACE Raja Randhir Singh is to a manor born. The grandson of ‘Maharajadhiraj’ Bhupendra Singh of Patiala, and son of Raja Bhalendra Singh, could not have been anything else, but a sportsman and a sports administrator. The Patiala royal family’s contribution to Indian sports dates back to many centuries. "His Highness Maharajdhiraj" Rajendra Singh was a great patron of cricket, polo and wrestling. He himself was a 9-handicap polo player. Bhupendra Singh was president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) from 1928 to 1938 after the IOA was founded in 1927. Randhir Singh’s uncle "Maharajadhiraj" Yadavendra Singh was the president of the IOA from 1938 to 1960, and was the founder-president of the Asian Game Federation (1951). He was also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and captain of the Indian cricket team. Randhir Singh’s father Raja Bhalendra Singh was the president of the IOA from 1960 to 1976, and from 1980 to 1984. He was also the president of the Asian Games Federation and life president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) till his death in 1992. Bhalendra Singh was also a member of the International Olympic Council (IOC) for a record 45 years, from 1947 to 1992. A scion of such an illustrious family has to be one among them, though Randhir Singh had to slug it out like a ‘commoner’ to earn his sporting spurs. At 56 years, Randhir Singh has a lot to be proud of his sporting achievements. He wears his age well. His youthful zest and dynamism have injected a lot of verve into the Olympic movement in the country, otherwise packed with weather-beaten veterans. Raja Randhir Singh, D.lit, represented India in shooting for 31 years, from 1963 to 1994, which is the longest representation by any sportsman for India in international competitions. Even now, he’s game for a ‘shoot’ but the heavy responsibility of sports administration has left him with little spare time to pursue his passion for shooting. Yet, it was not as a shooter that he started his sporting career. He was a cricket fan, and got admission to the prestigious St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University, on the strength of his cricketing prowess, having had the experience of leading the prestigious Yadavindra Singh Public School in Patiala. Shooting "just happened", and Randhir Singh never looked back. He represented India in six Olympic Games—Tokyo (1964), Mexico (‘68), Munich (‘72), Montreal (‘76), Moscow (‘80) and Los Angeles (‘84)—and three Asian Games—Bangkok (‘78), New Delhi (‘82) and Seoul (‘86). He was the first gold medallist for India in shooting in the Asian Games (Bangkok). He also represented the country in the Edmonton Commonwealth Games. Randhir Singh won the Arjuna Award in 1979 when this award had a lot of sheen on it, and received the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award from the Punjab Government the same year. After hanging up his gun, Randhir Singh followed the footsteps of his great forefathers and father, to enter the fascinating world of sports administration. He soon left his distinctive footmark here too, to become the secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association, the secretary-general of the Olympic Council of Asia, and now a member of the coveted International Olympic Council—post his father Raja Bhalendra had held with distinction for over four decades. Randhir Singh holds many other posts in various national and international sports bodies, but it is in fostering the Olympic Movement that Randhir has charted a distinctive path of his own. He spoke to The NCR Tribune about his achievements and objectives. How do you look at your sporting years? I enjoyed myself because I had grown up in an atmosphere where we had close interaction with top sportsmen at dinner time in Patiala. The Patiala family had a hoary sporting tradition, and this motivated one to get into competitive sports and wear India colours. We would often have as guests sportsmen like Lala Amarnath, Gen. Joginder Singh and Gen. Jawant Singh, both 9 handicap polo players, Brig. Dalip Singh, father of hockey Olympian Balkishan Singh, and Maj. Reith Mohinder Singh, the Asia-Pacific diving champion. How do you compare facilities then and now? The facilities are much better now than during our time. In shooting, we have world class ranges now. We have the best of equipment, and competent coaches. We did not have any coaches in our time. Are you satisfied with your accomplishments as a sportsman? Had I been shooting now, I would have definitely done better, because the facilities available in India are of world class. Sportsmen now get a lot more exposure than we got. India missed out on a lot of medals in our time, as we refused to participate in competitions where South Africa figured, due to the latter’s apartheid policies. How have you assimilated yourself as sports administrator? It’s a difficult job. But I have tried my best to see that Indian sportsmen get better facilities than before. You have now stepped into the shoes of your late father, Raja Bhalendra Singh, as a member of the IOC. What do you intend to achieve? My interest is to see that India profit greatly from the Olympic movement. India needs the help of world-class coaches, and proper scientific back-up. We have to have a very professional approach to producing medal winners. Can you tell us something about the contribution of the Patiala Royal family to Indian sports? The Patiala family have been very closely involved in sports for the last four-five generations. We donated the Moti Bagh palace to set up the National Institute of Sports (NIS). NIS Patiala has been recognised by the IOC as a "High Level Training Centre". This is one of the three or four such centres in Asia. Unfortunately, nothing has been done to elevate the standard of NIS Patiala. What do you think should be done to improve the standard of Indian sportspersons? We need to strengthen the back-up support and coaching. Do you think the politician-bureaucrat nexus is harming Indian sports? My opinion is that those who have a sporting background should get involved in sports administration, like Suresh Kalmadi and K P Singh Deo. What do you think about our prestigious sports awards like the Arjuna, Dronacharya and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards? I have recommended to the Government that a seven-member panel should select the award winners. The panel should comprise the Union Sports Minister, one representative each of the IOA Athletes’ Commission and the Arjuna Awardees Association, and four former great international sportspersons. Do you think sports is getting its due in India? Sports does not have the priority it should have. The people in authority do not really understand the benefit of sports or the Olympic Charter. We have to have the youth of the country involved for the better promotion and management of sports. I also feel that every sports federation should be independent of the Government, as the Government has its own limitations in doling out grants. The federations should hold their own coaching camps and send teams abroad on their own. They should generate their own funds. How did you become a shooter? My mother’s sister, Kusum Sandhu,
who was a national champion, asked me to shoot in the national
championship in January 1963, just out of the blue, at the Army
Ranges. I shot 25 out of 25, using my grandfather Bhupinder Singh’s
shot gun. And I won the national title. Then I participated in the
Indian rule national championship and got selected for the Pre-Olympic
Games the same year. And I was selected for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The rest is history. |
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Narender Singh
shocks Lalit Mann New Delhi, November 19 Top-seeded Chatwinder Singh of Chandigarh, a wild card entry, fought back from a setdown to overwhelm Rahul Verma of Delhi 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Second-seeded Divij Sharan posted the quickest victory when he blanked Amit Raaj of Uttar Pradesh 6-0, 6-0 while third-seeded Vivek Bhakuni of Delhi had to pull out all his aces to beat another Delhi boy, Siddharth Gulati, 6-4,6-7 (7-6), 6-4. Fourth-seeded Parantap Chaturvedi was stretched a bit by Vivek Shokeen before winning at 6-3, 6-2. In other matches figuring seeded players,
fifth-seeded Wrik Ganguly toyed with Nakul Badopalia 6-1,6-4, seventh-seeded Viraj Bhargava beat Yanick Neloru 6-2,6-4 and eighth-seeded Varun Giri disposed of Sandeep Kumar 6-3,6-3. In other matches, wild card Nakul Yadev beat Ragav Nanda 6-4,6-1, Tushar Garg beat Jitender Mehlda 4-6,6-4,6-3, Jitin Bishnoi beat Pundreek Sharma 6-0, 6-0, Mayank Tyagi beat Rajiv Yadav 6-3,6-1, Rathindra Kakati beat Prikshit Pandey 6-0, 6-4, Prateek Kumar beat Amit Garg 7-5,6-2, Anish Narang b Pankaj Sharma 6-2,6-2 and Honey Rana beat Sumeet Choudhary 6-3,6-1. The zonal meet in Delhi has been robbed of much of the charm as top player Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh has opted to play in the East Zone leg at Kolkata while Vinod Sewa and Amanjot Singh are playing in Mumbai. |
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NCC, Sanjay
School enter Subroto quarter-finals New Delhi, November 19 Vishav Nath and Chetan Thakur scored the goals for Sanjay Public School. Former champions Rangadih High School, Purulia beat Mahatma Gandhi Inter-College, Nainital 4-0 in another match. Asim Thiru, Rajiv Ghosh, Surjit and Tapas Mudi were the goal-getters. Government Boys High School, Shillong beat Mount Fort High Schook, Salem 2-0. Jerrymaia Lyting and Kharwbok Lyngwa were the scorers for the Shillong school. Due to the rehearsal of the Bal Diwas function of the MCD at the Ambedkar Stadium tomorrow, all the four matches scheduled for the day will be held in the morning. Tuesday’s fixtures: Army Boys ASC College, Bangalore vs GV Raja Sports School, Thiruvanathapuram(Kerala) (9 am), MPLL Adarsh Inter-College, Faisabad vs Air Force School, Subroto Park (10.20 am), Don Bosco School, Panjim vs St. Xavier’s, Chattisgarh (12.30 p m), Govt School, Carnicobar vs Sainik School, Imphal (1.45 p m)–Ambedkar Stadium. |
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Top players
for Northern India Amateur Golf New Delhi, November 19 It is being conducted under the auspices of the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the governing body for golf in India. The IGU is affiliated to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St.Andrews, Scotland, which, along with the United States Golf Association, forms the two governing bodies for amateur golf throughout the world. The northern India is one of the oldest championship played in India and it was the doyen of Indian golf, the late H S Malik, who broke the British stranglehold to become the first Indian to win the title immediately after Independence. The championship is open to amateurs with a handicap of nine or better. The championship will be played as a stroke play event over four rounds of 18 holes each. The player with the lowest aggregate score over four rounds will be declared a winner. In the event of a tie or ties for the first place, there will be a sudden death play-off to decide the winner. In view of the size of the field being limited to 102, a pre-qualifying round was played today. Some of the leading players taking part in the championship are Ashok Kumar, Gurbaz Mann, Gaurav Diwan, Keshav Mishra, Amit Luthra, Saurabh Bahuguna, Raghav Jaggi, Simarjit Singh. |
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BP, Rly XI enter Nehru Hockey
semis New Delhi, November 19 In a Pool C match, Bharat Petroleum, down by a sixth-minute goal scored by N S Salaria for Signals, hit back to equalise through Amar in the 23rd minute when he converted a penalty corner, and ten minutes later, took the lead through Ravi Naikar, who scooped in a penalty stroke. After taking a 2-1 lead at the breather, the Petroleum team enhanced their lead when junior India captain Gagan Ajit Singh struck two quick goals to make it 4-1. N Lakra reduced the margin for Signals (2-4), but Bharat Petroleum scored one more goal, in the 65th minute, through Deepak Sharma, who converted a penalty stroke, to run up a huge tally. Two minutes before the final hooter, Signals got their third goal through Tarsem Singh (3-5) to reduce the impact of their defeat. In a Pool B match, Railway XI steamrolled past Bombay XI to record an authoritative victory. Iqbal Singh scored the first goal for Railways in the fourth minute, and Anup Tirkey converted a penalty corner to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute. Bombay XI pulled one back a minute before the half time break (1-2) through Asad Khan. In the second half, Railways virtually camped at the Bombay goal area, and rattled home three goals through D Suleman, Jhonson Ekka and Chander Pal. This year, the Nehru Hockey had to be preponed by four days as its dates were clashing with the National Games which began in Punjab today. Therefore, the semi-finals and finals will be played on successive days tomorrow and Wednesday, without giving ay rest to the players. Tuesday’s fixtures (semi-finals): Bharat Petroleum vs Air India (1 p m), Punjab and Sind Bank vs Railway XI (3 p m)—Shivaji Stadium |
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