Ludhiana, October 15
Minister for information and public relations, water supply and sanitation Bikram Singh Majithia has announced that the state government will suitably facilitate national and international players and excellent training facility will be provided to them for improving their games.

Majithia was addressing a gathering of sports persons during the prize distribution function of a three-day sports tournament organized by the Panchayati Raj Sports Club, Sahnewal, 15-km from here, yesterday evening.

The minister said the government had chalked out a comprehensive plan for promoting sports in rural areas and added that a sports stadium would be constructed in all blocks of the state. Rs 2 crore would as spent during the current fiscal, he added. He said budding players would be selected and trained by experienced coaches and excellent diet would also be provided to them.

Majithia said youth would be imparted short duration training and skilled development centers were being set up in all districts. More than Rs 50,000 crore investment had been approved for different projects, including revival of Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery at Bathinda worth Rs 18,919 crore with employment potential of 1 lakh.

Expressing concern over the fast increasing menace of drugs and intoxicants among youth, Majathia said the government was planning to launch an effective awareness campaign involving social, religious, sports and educational organizations to divert the youth towards developmental activities. He appealed the youth to take interest in sports and other developmental programs, so that they could contribute towards the nation building.

While appreciating the efforts of the club in promoting sports, he announced that sufficient grants would be given for completing the sports stadium at Shanewal.

On this occasion, the club honoured Yog Raj Singh, former international cricket player with a gold medal.

Among others present on the occasion were Swaran Singh, chairman of the club, Sukhwinder Singh Grewal, president, senior BJP leader, Rachpal Singh DSP, Hardeep Singh Kadian and Kishan Pal Singh Sandhu, vice-president, municipal council, Sahnewal. 

Ludhiana,October 15
Students of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, Model Town, Ludhiana,bagged top honours in the annual Punjab Technical University Inter-College Lawn Tennis Tournament for men held at BCET,Gurdaspur.

Teams from various engineering, technical colleges and institutes, affiliated with the PTU participated in the championship.

Paras Thakur, Gurtej Dhillon, Puneet Vadhera and Honey Sachdeva represented GNIMT and helped their institute to emerge champions.

Paras Thakur and Gurtej Dhillon won gold medals in individual events. Paras was declared the player of the tournament. They will now represent PTU in the All- India Inter-Varsity Lawn Tennis Championship.

Col H.S.Singha, director,GNIMT, congratulated the students as well as the faculty in charge Kuldeep Singh and Preeti Hiro on winning the title.