Panchkula, December 2
A fervent appeal was made by various speakers to wage a war against female foeticide at a seminar on the PNDT Act, organised by the health department here today.

Addressing the seminar, Asha Hooda, vice-chairperson of the Haryana Child Welfare Council, stated that empowerment of women would go a long way in checking female foeticide.

She called upon the government agencies and NGOs to enlist the support of religious preachers against female foeticide as India was essentially a religious country.

Pleading for social security for the old couples having no male child, Hooda claimed that the Haryana government was implementing various schemes for the uplift of the girlchild.

Chairman of the Haryana Housing Board Parsanni Devi exhorted the doctors to pledge against performing sex-determination tests. Navraj Sandhu, commissioner and secretary of the health department, while detailing the steps taken by the department to enforce the Act, called for a change in the mindset of the people to improve the sex ratio.

Seminar convener Sanjeev Trehan called for changing the mindset of society so that there was no discrimination between the boy and the girl.

Prominent among those who spoke included Parveen Kumar, Panchkula ADC, Avinash Sharma, director of the health department, Sabu George, social activist, and Kamla Singh, Panchkula civil surgeon.

Panchkula, December 2
“With so many restrictions being put up by the BCCI on the selection panel, Dilip Vengsarkar, chief selector of the BCCI, should not continue with the job,” said former selection committee chairman Kiran More.

Talking to TNS at Tau Devi Lal Cricket Stadium, Sector 3, here, More, former wicketkeeper of the Indian team, said it was not possible for a chief selector to work under such circumstances.

From writing columns to foreign tours and restrictions on holding press conferences and entry into players’ dressing rooms, the board had put just too many constraints on its selection panel.

“In my view, he should resign from his post," said More, maintaining that things had been moving in the wrong direction to late.

“If the selectors are not to be allowed to travel with the teams, on what basis will they then select the team,” he asked. However, he favoured the board's decision on restricting Vengsarkar from writing columns during his tenure of chief selector.

He also flayed the board for having several spokesmen. This created unnecessary controversies with the spokesmen issuing contradictory statements every now and then.

On appointment of Gary Kirsten as Team India coach, he said though the team had been performing well without a coach, yet the need for a coach couldn’t be ignored.

Chandigarh, December 2
A fine display by Arun Madan (63 runs, 5 for 26) and Rohin (20 runs off 23 balls, 2 for 14) enabled HFCL Connect team to beat Infosys by six wickets during the league matches of the 8th CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge Tournament.

The match was held at DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8-C, here today. The HFCL team won the toss and elected to field first. Infosys team set a target of 136 runs in 24.2 overs (all-out). In response to the target, the HFCL team achieved the target in 23.4 overs with 6 wickets in hand.

The second league match was played between the teams of SIGMA and Birla Sunlife Insurance Company Limited at the same venue. Sanjay Jain fashioned an emphatic 80-run victory for Birla team by scoring 45 runs in 24 balls and claiming four wickets for 26 runs.

Brief Scores: Infosys: 135 all out in 24.2 overs. Bhuvesh (23 runs off 30 balls), Akshat (21runs off 21 balls), Arun (4.2-0-26-5), Azad (5-0-32-2) and Rohin (5-1-14-2).

HFCL Connect: 136 in 23.4 overs. Arun (63 runs off 68 balls), Rohin (20 runs off 23 balls), Satmeet (4-0-24-2) and Amit (5-0-17-2).

Man of the match: Arun Madan of HFCL Connect.

SIGMA: 198 runs off 25 overs. Sanjay Jain (45 runs off 24 balls), Aman (29 runs in 26 balls), Lalit (5-0-36-4) and Vineet Gandhi (4-0-28-3).

Birla: 119 in 21 overs. Naranjan (37 runs off 28 balls), Hardeep (18 runs off 13 balls), Parminder (4 -1-17-3) and Sanjay (4 -0-26-4).

Man of the match: Sanjay Jain of SIGMA.

Chandigarh, December 2
St Kabir, Sector 26, will take on IS Dev Samaj School, Sector 21, in the final of the St Kabir Basketball Championship tomorrow at the St Kabir School in Sector 26 premises here.

St Kabir School defeated New Public School, Sector 18, by 35-26. Roopan was the highest scorer with 12 points.

Prakriti (8) and Tanvi (7) were the other noted scorers. For NPS, Varsha and Samiti gave good performance by contributing 13 and 8 points, respectively.

In another league played today, St Kabir-26 team defeated St Stephen’s-45 team (18-10) where Vanya was instrumental in leading the Kabir team.

She found home 12 times. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyala-25 team beat Little flower team (9-8).

St Xavier’s eked out a narrow one-point (17-16) victory over Little Flower Convent School, Panchkula. Harneet was the star performer for Xavier’s by scoring 11 points.

The last match was all St Kabir’s affair. St Kabir team beat St Kabir-26 team (52-17). Sunanda and Surbhi contributed 12 goals each for St Kabir team.

Results: St Xavier’s-44 (Harneet 11, Sukhmaneet 2, Sonia 2, Hareet 2) b Little Flower Convent, Panchkula, (Meenu 6, Richa 6, Vaishali 6, Subhangi 2) by 17-16.

St Kabir-26 (Vanya 12, Rupinder 4, Kirti 2) b St Stephen’s-45 (Lovepreet 4, Shabnam 3, Harleen 2) by 18-10.

JNV-25 (Suman 6, Neetu 3) b Little Flower, Panchkula, (Vasudha 6, Meenu 2) by 9-8.

St Kabir (Sunanda 12, Surbhi 12, Manju 10, Mehak 8, Hardeep 8) b St Kabir-26 (Rupandeep 8, Tanvi 5, Rupika 2, Kriti 2) by 52-17.

Chandigarh, December 2
Top seed Ranjeet Singh conceded just two games to move to the second round by defeating Pukhraaj Singh (5-2) in the boys’ under-12 category and Rohin Vinayak beat Shonit (5-0) to book his berth in the second round of The Fort Ramgarh YMCA Total Tennis Championship.

The championship is being played at the YMCA Total Tennis Academy’s Sector 11 courts here. Kunwar Amitabh Singh Chandel, president, Fort Foundations, opened the championship.

On the first day of the championship, the youngest age category i.e. boys’ under-10 and boys’ under-12 matches were played. Sachin Kumar of CLTA got bye to reach to the second round.

Second seed Ishaque Eqbal defeated his opponent Bhavesh Nibber (5-0). Third seed Param Punn too beat his opponent Amarsh Dudga with an identical score (5-0) to reach the next round.

Results: Boys’ under-10 first round: Aadish Bansal b Chetnya Mittal, Akhil Nibber b Japjot Singh, Himank Chawla b Karanveer Hooda, Jaskirat Saini b Vaibhav, Arshmeet S. Aulakh b Arvind Sethi, Abhijeet Singh b Ishaan Puri, Ishaque Eqbal b Bhavesh Nibber, Ketan Sood b Karan, Hargun Singh b Vicky.

Boys’ under-12 first round: Ranjeet Singh b Pukhraj Singh, Abhijeet Singh b Nishant Gupta, Prabhsimran S Bal b Rohan Markanda, Jaskirat Saini b Abhijeet, Paramveer Bajwa b Harnoor Inder, Jitesh Bajwa b Kashish Sehgal, Abhinav Bansal b Sukhain Saini, Divyaansh Pandey b Sourav, Karan Kapoor b Digvijay Singh, Adityajeet Singh b Kashish, Kanwaljot Singh w/o Vaibhav Rattan, Sanwalpreet Singh w/o Rajsumer,

Kunal Kapoor b Inderjeet Singh, Sarthak Bhardwaj b Rishav Gupta, Yogesh Kumar b Bhavesh Nibber, Ishaque Eqbal b Himanshu Gupta, Rohin Vinayak b Shonit,

Ashwinder Singh w/o Dhruv Chawla, Sumitpal Singh w/o Bhagat Singh, Sanjog Singh b Ketan Sood, Andrew Pradeep b Sidharth Khanna, Uday Chetan b Shreshth,

Aayush Nijhawan b Archam Jain, Shubham Vij b Sushant Sethi, Akhil Nibber b Harnoor, Utkarsh Khosla b Sahil Rana, Sameer Vats b Mannat Satija, Lakshay Sofat w/o Dhruv Singh, Param Punn b Rishav, Nikhil Deora b Manik Joshi, Nishal Eqbal b Birguman, Ankush Parocha b Nihit Rawal.

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Villagers rescue sambar calf
Tribune News Service

Kharar, December 2
Villagers of Sahora rescued a sambar calf from the outskirts of their village. The villagers found a group of migrants running behind the calf trying to hunt it down.

Area residents were trying to catch the animal, but the sambar gave them a tough time as they could not net it. Sarpanch Kirpal Singh repeatedly called up the district forest office but to no avail.

The police control room was then informed about the incident and at 4:15 pm, a PCR team reached the spot. The cops, too, repeatedly called various forest officials at their mobile numbers but got no response.

They handed over the animal to Kirpal Singh and directed him to hand it over to the forest officials.

Irked over this, the villagers then informed Punjab forest minister Tikshan Sud. The local forest department team reached the spot after four hours of the incident.

Patiala, December 2
Two youths with covered faces made an attempt to rob Anu Jain, owner of an iron shop on the Patiala-Rajpura road, at gunpoint while he was about to close the shop on Saturday.

The accused demanded money from Anu Jain and his brother Ashu Jain and fired a shot at Ashu Jain when he refused to give money and resisted the attempt to rob them.

He caught hold of one of the accused Nirmal Singh. In the ensuing scuffle, Ashu Jain received a gun shot in the chest. He succumbed to his injuries later.

Some shopkeepers of the nearby area came after they heard the gun shots and caught hold of one of the accused, Nirmal Singh, and informed the police.

A case has been registered under various sections of the Arms Act at the Sadar police station.

Fatehgarh Sahib, December 2
After having launched a cricket academy in Chandigarh, Dronacharya Awardee Desh Prem Azad is all set to open a cricket academy in the historical town of Fatehgarh Sahib, in collaboration with the Canadian Institute of International Studies (CIIS).

Speaking to mediapersons on the premises of the CIIS, where he is to open the cricket academy, Azad said he would train the players from the institute and district free of cost.

He said it was a matter of concern that the district had till date not produced even a single player who had played for Punjab in any age group.

He said it was beyond acceptance that there was no talent available in the district, but due to the absence of an academy here, the players had been unable to achieve much.

Lt Col B.S. Sandhu, president of the CIIS education society, said the much-needed cricket academy would lay more stress on imparting training in basics at the grassroots level.

He said CIIS would host cricket tournaments to provide quality exposure to the cricketers.

He said the institute would also ensure that deserving players were selected among state teams and played on a higher platform.

He said the institute was already imparting education free of cost to girl students from the rural areas of the district in computers and English, for which they had even offered to start bus service to pick up and drop the students.

He said the institute would continue to work towards the uplift of people of the region.