Hospital stays without power for three hours
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, December 20
Inpatients and their relatives of the local 100-bed civil hospital had a harrowing time yesterday evening as the hospital remained without power for almost three hours. At least one of the inpatients got hurt as he fell down from the bed in the darkness. Some patients and relatives bumped into walls and staircases in their bid to find their way. According to a report, the power breakdown occurred around 5 pm and the supply was restored only after 8 pm.

Not only patients and relatives, doctors and paramedical staff of the emergency ward also had a tough time to reach service to the bedridden people. Some people and staff tried to wriggle out of the sudden darkness by lighting candles.

All these happened when the hospital had a diesel generator. However, the employee on duty was absent during the crisis. The staff had sent a series of messages to his house but he did not turn up.

The Sonepat Residents Welfare Association today demanded stern action against the employee entrusted with the job of running the diesel generator in the absence of power supply in the hospital.

SPORTS

Sherborne take on National Sports today
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 20
Sherborne School First XI of England will take on National Sports Cricket Club in a limited-over cricket match at the National Stadium ground in Delhi on Friday.

The 17-member Sherborne School team are on their maiden tour of India. The match against National Sports Cricket Club will be their last engagement in Delhi. They have already played matches against Delhi Public School, Modern School, St. Columb’s School, and Gyan Bharati School.

The English team’s visit to India is to have a new cricketing experience on the flat pitches.

The team, led by 21-year-old fast bowler and top order batsman Will Fegen, include Alexander Budge, Tom Chamberlain, Tom Cracknell, Will Dawson, Charlie Dupont, James Harding, Chris Hart, Robert Jordan, Henry Lamb, Tom Mackay-James, Freddy Mead, Will Russel, Varun Singh and Leo Thom. Mike Nurton is the coach and Alan Willows the manager.

The National Sports Cricket Club team members, drawn from the Sports Authority of India’s coaching centres, are: Rohit Sharma, Rohit Gupta, Sourav Tiwari, Puneet Bist, Ankit Kaistha, Mujtaba, Owaisa, Rohan Tuteja, Rahul Diwan, Rameez Niyamat, Bhupinder Asri, Senem Trikha and Mohamad Javed. Mr K Narsimha, IAS, secretary, Sports Authority of India, will be the chief guest.

The English school teams have found the Indian conditions tough on their arrival but go back with a rich bag of experience as the varied Indian conditions offer them lots of opportunities to tune up their cricket skills, particularly on flat and turning tracks.

“Such occasions do not present themselves very during a life time. I know the Sherborne visitors will be conscious of the honour and the responsibility they take with them in prepresenting the name and reputation of Sherborne School, all the more so, because they are guests in a great country like India.

May the cricket flourish, and may new friendships be formed”, advised the principal of the school Sir John Weston, before the boys set for the tour of India.

Delhi to host National Women’s Boxing Championship
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 20
The second senior National Women’s Boxing Championship will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi in the last week of December. More than 150 women boxers from all over India are expected to participate in the event.

Lt. Col (retd) P Padmakaran, Co-ordinator of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), said that the silver-medal winning feat of Marrykom of Manipur in the 48kg weight category in the first-ever Women’s World Boxing Championship held at Scrabton, Pennsylvania (US) from November 27 to December 2, has given a shot in the arm to women’s boxing in India.

Lt.Col. Padmakaran said, “India could have won another medal, but Lekha K C of Kerala narrowly lost to her Canadian opponent at 21-23 in the title bout.”

The boxing calendar is packed with so many events in the coming months that Delhi itself is slated to hold four major competitions.

The Sub-Junior National Championship, which began in Jamshedpur on December 17, will conclude on December 23.

The Junior Nationals will be held in Noida from January 13 to 18, 2002 while the All-India A K Mishra meet will be held in Chandigarh in January. Lt. Col Padmakaran said that the New Delhi YMCA Junior International Championship, to be held from February 1 to 4 at the YMCA ring in Delhi, will witness the participation of many good boxers from abroad.

The Junior International will be followed by the Senior Nationals, which will be organised in Delhi from February 6 to 10, by the Railway Sports Control Board. Delhi will also play host to the P.L Roy International Invitation Tournament in the third week of March, to be organised by the IAB.

Though the fate of the South Asian Federation Games, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in Pakistan from March 30 to April 8, hangs in balance, the IABF has put this event too in its calendar, and also the inaugural Afro Asian Games, whose fate too is undecided, though the tentative dates are from March 24 to April 2.

Delhi beat J and K by three wickets
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 20
Delhi pulled themselves back from the brink to turn the tables on Jammu and Kashmir and score a three-wicket victory in the North Zone Under-22 Cricket League at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi on Thursday.

Delhi, who had been shot out for 135 in their first innings in reply to Jammu and Kashmir’s first innings knock of 192, regained the initiative when they bundled out J and K for 291 in their second innings, thanks to deadly spells of 5 for 80 by Vivek Khurana and 2/62 by Yogesh Sachdeva.

Chasing a formidable target of 348 runs for victory, Delhi compiled runs at a fast pace in which Sonu Vaid and Dilip T T stood out. Sonu and Dilip put on 107 runs for the fifth wicket to set-up Delhi’s victory. Sonu Vaid made 98 with eleven fours and one six while Dilip scored 92 with nine fours and one six. Sandeep Rana and Dhruv Mohan slammed 46 and 34 respectively.

Scores: J and K: 192 and 291 (Sanjay Sharma 86, Parnav Mahajan 48, Vivek Khurana 5/80, Yogesh Sachdeva 2/62).

Delhi: 135 and 349 for 7 in 56 overs (Sonu Vaid 98, Dilip 92, Sandeep Rana 46, Dhruv Mohan 34, Inderjit 2/110).

Eighteen teams for DSA-SAIL League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 20
Eighteen teams, divided into two groups of nine teams each, will take part in the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA)- SAIL Senior Division Soccer League Championship starting at three venues on December 24.

DSA joint-secretary N K Bhatia said in Delhi on Thursday that the matches will be played at the Ambedkar Stadium and the two warm-up grounds of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The league was to start from Thursday, but had to be rescheduled as the club secretaries requested for a week’s break after the Id celebrations. The first phase of the 72 preliminary league matches will be completed by January 25 as the pre-qualifying round of the Durand Cup Soccer Tournament will begin at the Ambedkar Stadium on January 26.

Two top teams of each of the two preliminary groups will qualify for the Durand Cup. And top six teams each of both the groups will qualify for the Super League to be held after the completion of the Durand Tournament. The DSA has constituted a league sub-committee with Mr Leo Rodrigues as chairman, N K Bhatia and Syed Shaheen as convenors. The other members in the committee are Devraj Katyal, Hem Chand, Jagdish Malhotra, Abdul Aziz, D K Bose, Mohammad Khalil and Shankar Lal.

DSA trials to select Under-16
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 20
The Delhi Soccer Association will conduct an open selection trial-cum-coaching camp at the Ambedkar Stadium to select the Delhi State Under-16 team for the Sub-Junior National Football Championship for the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy to be held at Shillong from January 8.

The players should report to DSA secretary Nasir Ali or vice-president B S Chauhan at the DSA Office, Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi Gate on Saturday (December 22) between 2 and 4 p m, along with their original date of birth certificates to get their names registered for selection trials.

Delhi are in the process of rebuilding their junior team on the eye of the title, and care is therefore being taken to pick the best talent available in the Capital.

Kapil Dev inaugurates basketball court
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, December 20
Former Cricket Player Kapil Dev inaugurated the newly constructed basketball court at I.P. Extention in National Victor Public School.

Speaking on the occasion, he said, “Schools can play a vital role in exploring the natural talent of students in the field of sports.”

The tree plantation ceremony was also held on the occasion. The famous Golf player Jyoti Randhawa and the principal of National Victor Public School, Mrs. Krishna was also present on the occasion.