Spice, Sigma register win in Twenty-20
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
Spice Telecom registered a thrilling 14-run victory in their opening match in Pool B of the Inter-Media/Government/Corporate/Institutions Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament held today at the Sector 10 DAV College ground here. Pitted against Tata Indicom, Spice XI were dismissed for 118 in 16.4 overs.

A 42-run partnership for the third wicket between Manan Dogra and Naveen Kumar was instrumental in Spice’s win.

Manan Dogra contributed 35 runs in 23 balls and hit seven fours. Naveen made 23 before being run out. With the exit of these batsmen, Spice Telecom innings collapsed.

Vikas captured three wickets for 16 runs. Luxmi and Mukesh Rana were the other prominent bowlers of Tata Indicom.

Needing 119 runs for victory, Tata Indicom could have achieved their target as at one stage they were placed at 72 for 2. The turning point came when Luxmi was bowled out by Rohan at 92 for 7. The remaining four batsmen could contribute only 12 runs.

Tata Indicom had the consolation as their player, Vikas Malhotra, was declared the man of the match.

In Pool C match, ICICI bank batted first after winning the toss and made 112 before being dismissed in 17 overs. Opener Geetesh Dua and Sumit Gakhar gave them a confident start by putting on 35 runs. Required to score 113 runs for win, Sigma achieved the target in 12.4 overs with seven wickets to spare. Parminder Singh was the most successful bowler for Sigma. He was adjudged the man of the match.

Brief scores: Spice XI: 118 in 16.4 overs (Manan Dogra 35, Naveen Kumar 23, Hemant Sharma 6, Nitin Verma 8, Vikas 3 for 16, Mukesh Rana 2 for 6, Luxmi 2 for 25, Azad 1 for 20, Manjit 1 for 22) ; Tata Indicom XI: 104 in 19 overs (Manvir not out 22, Azad 22, Luxmi 11, Rohan 3 for 17, Nitin Verma 2 for 13, Himanshu 1 for 20, Manan Dogra 1 for 16) by 14 runs; ICICI Bank XI: 112 in 17 overs (Geetesh Dua 46, Sumit Gakhar 20, Pankaj Uppal 11, Sandeep Bhardwaj 10, Parminder 6 for 18, Sandeep 3 for 13, Ranjit 1 for 20); Sigma Mohali: 113 for 3 in 12.4 overs (Sachin Batra 18, Parminder Singh 32, Ranjeet 40, Abhishek not out 13, Sumit Gakhar 2 for 9, Akul Juneja 1 for 33).

Cricket: Stadium XI thrash St John’s
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
In the first semifinal, marred by overage allegations which were followed by protests, Stadium XI beat St John’s Cricket Academy by a huge margin of 152 runs in the Ist Jal Champions Trophy at the MCM DAV College grounds, Sector 36, here today.

Batting first, Stadium XI scored huge 189 runs for the loss of six wickets in allotted 30 overs. Kuljinder made 42 followed by Pranav, who remained unbeaten on 29. Asalan claimed 2 for 41.

Chasing the target, St John’s never looked comfortable in the game and were bundled out for meagre 37 runs. Daksh ripped the batting line apart and finished with 4 for 7 whereas Arpit claimed 3 for 4.

The match was played under protest by St John’s Cricket Academy. They alleged that Stadium XI fielded some overage players in the team. Though Stadium XI won the first semifinal match, the decision on the team reaching the final will be taken by the organisers after verifying the documents.

Brief Scores: Stadium XI: 189 for 6 in 30 overs (Kuljinder 42, Pranav 29, Sanjog 23, Arpit 23, Asalan 2 for 41) ; St. John’s: 37 all out in 13.1 overs (Vardaan 10, Daksh 4 for 7, Arpit 3 for 4, Pranav 2 for 20).

The second semifinal will be played on January 19 between MCM Blue Caps Cricket Academy and Greenfield Cricket Academy.

Shahnawaz steers DAV to victory
Tribune News Service

Mohali, January 14
A fine knock of 66 runs studded with seven fours by Shahnawaz enabled DAV Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, team to beat Hindu Sabha Senior Secondary School, Amritsar, in the last match of the PCA Parle Inter-School Tournament held at the PCA Cricket Stadium, Mohali, here today.

The DAV won the toss and elected to bat. The Hindu Sabha bowlers took the advantage of the morning dew and Chandigarh school lost their four wickets early in the innings.

The DAV finished setting up a modest target of 219.

In reply, Hindu Sabha scored at pace but as the middle order could not spark, it could score only 123 for 9 in allotted 50 overs.

In the second match, KVM Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, beat Green Field School, Mohali, by six wickets.

Green Field won the toss and elected to bat first. It scored 170 all out in 35.4 overs.

In reply, KVM achieved the target in 38 overs.

Brief scores: DAV, Chandigarh: 218 all out (Shahnawaz 66, Vishal 40, Davish Anand 3 for 44); Hindu Sabha School, Jalandhar: 123 for 9 in 50 overs (Loven 22, Vikramjeet 20, Rahul 3 for 16).

Green Field School, Mohali: 170 all out in 35.4 overs (Rupinder 55, Nitin 25, Abhijit 2 for 22); KVM, Ludhiana: 172 for 4 in 38 overs (Nikhil 68 n.o., Dittesh 55, Rupinder 2 for 45).

Jaspreet wins 100 m race
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
Jaspreet Singh of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, won top honours in the 100 metre race (men) in the Chandigarh State Athletic Championship, 2006-07 Sub juniors (boys and girls) and seniors (men and women) which started at Athletic Complex, Sector 7, here today.

Baldev Singh of DAV College, Sector 10, secured the second position while Gurmeet Singh of Sports Complex, Sector 7, finished third in the race.

In the shot put event, former inter-university champion Manjeet Kaur of MCM DAV College, Sector-36, won the gold medal.

The results:

(Men) 400 m: Vikram Chaudhary 1, Maneet Singh 2, Sachin 3;

5000 m: Anil Kumar 1, Rajinder Kumar 2, Bikram Singh 3.

City girls second best in carrom
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
The city girls’ team emerged runner-up in the 34th Sub-Junior National & Inter-State Carrom Championship held at Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) recently.

Farheen, the captain of the team, remained unbeaten in all her matches in the team championship up to semifinal, while Anjali and Tuba won all their ties in doubles event up to the semifinal.

In the girls’ singles event, Farheen clinched fifth rank in India.

She defeated her rivals from Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Hyderabad, Maharashtra before losing to Bihar girl in the quarterfinal.

The girls team comprised Farheen (captain), Surbhi Hemdan, Simridhi, Anjali Taneja, Tuba, Gulshan.