Ludhiana, October 2
Shuttlers from hosts, BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, and those from Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, began their campaign with victories in the CBSE North Zone II Badminton Championship being held here today.

In the boys (u-14), Divyanshu and Surya Goyal of Kundan Vidya Mandir recorded easy wins over their respective opponents from Modern School, Rohtak.

Divyanshu outplayed Krish 21-12 and 21-0, while Surya outclassed Parath 21-11 and 21-4.

In the team event (boys u-16), Kundan Vidya Mandir blanked HM DAV Public Schhol, Ferozepur, 2-0, while Green Land Public School, Ludhiana, went down 0-2 against Senior Study School, Amritsar.

However, in the u-19 category, Green Land School romped home winners 2-0 against Blue Bells Public School, Gurgaon.

In the boys (u-19), BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, wrapped up both their matches easily. In the first match, they beat LADM DAV Public School, Budhlada, 2-0 and in their second encounter defeated Doaba Public School, Garhshankar, in similar fashion 2-0.

Earlier, Arun Dhand, a former world badminton champion, inaugurated the championship in which players from 75 schools, affiliated with the CBSE, are taking part.

Satyanand Munjal, president, BCM Arya Model Senior Seconary Schools management committee, and principal Paramjit Kaur along with faculty members were among others present at the inaugural function.

Results: boys (u-14): Gaurav of DAV Public School, Jagraon b Deepak Gupta of DAV Public School, Patiala; Jayant Kaushik of DAV Public School, Patiala, b Chetash of DAV Public School, Jagraon; Chetash and Gaurav of DAV Publci School, Jagraon, b Jayant and Ishan of DAV Public School, Patiala; Surya Goyal of KVM, Ludhiana, b Parath of Model School, Rohtak; Divyanshu of KVM School, Ludhiana, b Krish of Modern School, Rohtak; Kawaldeep Singh of Sohrab Public School, Malerkotala, b Aayush of Springdale Public School, Amritsar; Rohit of Little Angel School, Sonipat, b Varun of St Joseph School, Pathankot; Sumit of Little ngel School, Sonipat, b Karandeep of Ryan International School, Ludhiana; Adiyta Chopra of Apeejay School, Jalandhar, b Mehak Kapoor of Apeejay School, Jalandahr; Saurabh of Manav Vidya Mandir, Faridabad, b Varinder Pal of DAVC Public School, Jalalabad; Jagmandeep of DAVC Public School, Jalalabad, b Rikshil of Manav Vidya Mandir, Faridabad, and Rakshit and Saurav of Manav Vidya Mandir, Faridabad, b Jagman and Jashan of DAVC Public School, Jalalabad.

Team championship (boys u-19): DPS, Faridabad, b Dips School, Dhaliwal; GHG, Sidhwan Khurd, b Hindu Vidya Peeth, Sonepat; BCM Arya School, Ludhiana, b LADM DAV Publci School, Budhlada; Apeejay School, Jalandahr, b Spring Dale Public School, Amritsar; Sant Nishad School, Yamunanagar, b DAV Public School, Jagraon; Dayanand Public School, Jalandhar, b SD Vidya Mandir, Sonipat; Campus School, Hisar, b Spring Dale Public School, Yamunanagar, and BCM Arya School, Ludhiana, b Doaba Public School, Garhshankar.

Girls (u-19): Naina Gandhi of Sant Nishad Public School, Yamunanagar, b Neha Bharti of Indira Gandhi Public School, Kaithal, and Smriti Kalra of Snt Nishad Public School, Yamunanagar, b Anu Ratlewal of Indira Gandhi Public School, Kaithal.

Girls (u-14): Kajal of SD Vidya Mandir, Panipat, b Manbir of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana; Anishka of BCM School, Ludhiana, b Falak of SD Vidya Mandir, Panipat; Kajal and Falak of SD Vidya Mandir, Panipat, b Manbir and Anishka of BCM School, Ludhiana.

Girls (u-16): Steffi Kala of Sacred Heart Convent School, BRS Nagar, Ludhiana, b Vinati of University Campus School, Rohtak; Muskaan Sohi of Sohrab Public School, Malerkotla, b Arzoo of DAV Centenary School, Jalalabad, and Asthika of BCM School, Ludhiana, b Falak of SD Vidya Mandir, Panipat.

Ludhiana, October 2
Athletes from Uttarakhand bagged 21 gold medals to emerge overall champions in the three-day 4th National Athletics Meet for the Visually Impaired. The meet is being organised by the Punjab Sports Association for Blind with the help of Punjab Sports Department at Guru Nanak Stadium, here today. Punjab and Himachal Pradesh secured 11 gold medals each and shared the second spot.

Punjab cabinet minister Hira Singh Gabria gave away the prizes to the participants. He also announced a grant of Rs 50,000 for the organisers.

Ludhiana Municipal Corporation councillors Daljit Singh Grewal and Gurpreet Singh extended a financial assistance of Rs 5,100, while a matching assistance was given by Ram Singh, president, Sports Club, Sahnewal.

Ludhiana, October 2
Nearly 1,000 players (u-16) will be seen in action during the two-day Ludhiana District Rural Sports Meet that begins at Guru Nanak Sports Complex here tomorrow. Participants will be vying for top honours in 10 disciplines - athletics, basketball, kabaddi, volleyball, weightlifting, kho-kho and hockey for boys and girls; and football, tug-of-war and wrestling for boys. It is being organised by the Punjab Sports Department in association with the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Hira Singh Gabria, tourism minister, will inaugurate the meet at 9.30 am.

Performance during the meet will be taken into consideration while finalising the Ludhiana teams for the forthcoming Punjab State Rural Sports Championship for boys at Hoshiarpur from October 10 and the state championship for girls slated to be held from October 23 at Bhatinda, according to Gianinder Singh Sandhu, district sports officer, Ludhiana.

Ludhiana, October 2
Fine all-round performance by Manpreet (61 n.o. and 2 for 31) enabled hosts Government Institute of Textile and Knitting XI, Rishi Nagar, to register a comfortable win by six wickets against Lala Laj Pat Rai Memorial Polytechnic College XI, Ludhiana, in the second Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played here today.

Lala Laj Pat Rai College XI were all out for 164 runs in 18.5 overs. The main scorers were Parminder (30- 4x4), Amarjit (28- 2x4 and 2x6), Aman (26- 2x4 and 1x6) and Mandeep (22- 1x4 and 1x6).

For Government Institute of Textile and Knitting XI, Shiva, Manpreet, Vikas and Anil shared two wickets each conceding 31, 30, 32 and 27 run, respectively.

Target appeared to be a meagre for Government Institute XI as they surpassed the total after losing just four wicktes with 1.3 overs to spare.

Manpreet remained unbetean on 61 runs which included seven hits to the fence and three sixes. Other notable scorers were Navjeet and Ravi Sood. Navjeet made 39 runs with the help of four boundaries and one six while Ravi hit three boundaries and two sixes in his innings of 37 runs.

For the Lala Laj Pat Rai College XI, Gagan captured two wickets for 36 runs while Aman and Amarjit scalped one victim each for 36 and 11 runs, respectively.