Chandigarh, March 26
The City Beautiful is all set to receive the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) car rally, which arrives in the city tomorrow en route to the Wagah border.

Continuing its onward journey after an overnight stopover here, the rally will be flagged off by Punjab Governor and Union Territory Administrator Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd) for the border from open hand, Capitol Complex, on March 28.

In Chandigarh, the rally’s route has been chosen to cause minimal hindrance to traffic. No diversions or traffic blockades will be caused due to the rally.

The rallyists will visit Sukhna Lake in the evening.

The first-ever SAARC car rally, which was flagged off from Cox Bazaar, Bangladesh, on March 15, is being organised by the ministry of external affairs, confederation of Indian industry (CII) and member states of SAARC. It will culminate on April 14.

The rally is being held at the initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who at the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka, in November, 2005 had announced that India would hold the first South Asian Car Rally in the run-up to the next summit, to be held in New Delhi in April, 2007.

Symbolising vividly regional identity and also drawing attention to the urgent need for improving transport infrastructure in SAARC nations, the rally has participants from all SAARC countries travelling across Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

The rally has 30 vehicles with around 120 participants. It will cover a distance of over 8,200 km, traversing across varied terrain, over a 31-day period.

Chandigarh, March 26
Putting up marvellous show in the final match, Youngsters Football Club (YFC) lifted the Chandigarh State Football Championship for the Chaudhary Jarnail Singh Trophy thrashing Golden Football Club (GFC) 4-0 at Football Stadium, Sector 17, here today.

From the start, YFC players dominated proceedings and put pressure on their opponents through quick short passes.

YFC opened their account in the 13th minute through striker Johny who dodged GFC defenders with his fine move and netted the ball.

In 25th minute, the YFC earned a spot kick as GFC defender Dorji handled the ball in D-area. Varinder Kanwar did not make any mistake and extended while Dorji was shown a yellow card for his unfair means.

GFC got a chance to reduce the margin in 48th minute when they were awarded a penalty but Shammi's kick was easily blocked by YFC goalkeeper Sudhir Saini.

YFC striker Kamei scored the third goal in the 65th minute. One minute later, the team earned a spot kick which was converted by Suraj to seal a 4-0 victory.

With this win, YFC qualified to represent Chandigarh in the Third Division National Football Championship.

Akhil Sharma (Panjab University Campus Football Club), Prabhjot Singh (Uttarkhand FC), Mohit Raj (Chandigarh Football Club) and L. Kamei (Youngsters FC) were declared promising players of the tournament.