Singer Raghav performs at ICL match and cine star Shatrughan Sinha at ICL in Panchkula on Friday. — Tribune photo by Manoj Mahajan

Panchkula, December 7
The second Pinjore Heritage Festival got off to a colourful start with Indian Cricket League (ICL) players, led by its chairman Kapil Dev, participating in the ‘run for heritage’ event to mark the beginning of the three-day mega event here today. Braving chilly weather, hundreds of school and college students and people from all walks of life participated in the symbolic run from Government College to Red Bishop tourist complex.

State minister of tourism Kiran Chaudhary, who also took part in the event, claimed that Haryana was taking giant leaps on the tourism front with the Central government sanctioning an amount of Rs 50 crore for this sector.

Haryana, which pioneered the highway tourism under the guidance of then Chief Minister Bansi Lal, was making concerted efforts to get the Heritage Festival into the national calendar of festivals, she stated.

Saying that resources crunch would not come in the way of the Gita Jyanti celebrations at Kurukshetra from December 16 to 20, Chaudhary informed that the foundation stone of a 57-tonne chariot of Lord Krishna would be laid during the celebrations.

The high-profile minister had a special word of praise for the son-of-the-soil Kapil Dev for bringing the ICL Twenty20 championship to the township, which she said had brought Panchkula on the world sports map.

Commenting on the festival, she said it had been organised with a view to apprise the younger generation about our rich cultural heritage. The inclusion of the Kalka-Shimla railway line in the UNESCO heritage list would go a long way in bringing Haryana on the world tourist map, she added.

She said the Ministry of Tourism and the Railways were holding talks for the introduction of “Palace on wheels” in the state in a bid promote tourism.

Chandigarh, December 7
Nishchay Rawal gave a clear defeat to Davinder Singh 6-0, 6-1 in the Under-14 category, on the final day of the Fort Ramgarh YMCA Total Tennis Championship, held at the YMCA Academy, Sector 11 courts, here, today.

Raghav Singal, the second seed in the boys under 16-age category beat Nishchay Rawal in the straight sets by 6-0, 6-4.

The concluding day also saw Raghav Singal and Sonali Bansal emerging as winners in the respective age categories i.e. boys’ under-16, and girls’ under-16 age categories. The sub-junior champion boys’ under-10 title went to Ishaque Eqbal, boys’ under-12 title went to Ranjit Singh and the girls’ under-12 title went to Vanshika.

Results (final): Boys under 10: Sachin Kumar b Ishaque Eqbal 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Boys’ under-12: Ranjit Singh b Subham Vij 6-0, 4-6, 6-0; Boys’ under-14: Nishchay Rawal b Davinder Singh 6-0, 6-1; Boys’ under-16: Raghav Singal b Nishchay Rawal 6-0, 6-4; Girls’ under-12: Vanshika Sawhney b Nandini Sharma 7-3. Girls under-16: Sonali Bansal b Inayat 6-0, 6-1.

Chandigarh, December 7
Two local hockey players, Dharamvir and Rupinder Pal, have been selected in the probable list for Junior Men’s Nation (U-21) Invitational Tournament to be held at Kualalumpur (Malaysia) in January 17 to 27, 2008.

The right out Dharamvir and left full back and drag flicker Rupinder Pal Singh, players of the state-run Chandigarh Hockey Academy, Sector 42, got call from the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for joining preparatory camp starting at Shahbad Markanda, Distt Kurukshetra (Haryana), from December 10 to January 15, 2008.

This is not the first time that both the talented players made the city proud with their accomplishments in the arena. Putting up brilliant performance, Dharamvir was declared the best player of the six-nation International Challenge Tournament held at Singapore this year while Rupinder, too attracted attention by netting six goals in the tournament.

Rupinder, who represented Chandigarh in senior national tournaments held in different cities of Punjab in December 2006, also won the best player title there. Dharamvir was also part of the team.

Both the players also proved instrumental to win their team top honours in the school nationals in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Expecting that the players would secure berth in the final team for forthcoming Malaysia tournament, their coach Jasbir Bajwa said, “With so much exposure at national and international level in junior circuit, I know that both the players would get selected for the final team during the camp”.

Chandigarh, December 7
Fine bowling performance by Paras Singh and Akshit Kohal helped Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy beat Twenty 20 Cricket Association of Haryana by 9 wickets in the Triangular Twenty 20 Cricket Cup 2007. The tournament is being organised by Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy and Twenty 20 Cricket Federation of India at Vivek High School Sector 38-B, here.

Twenty 20 Cricket Association of Haryana won the toss and elected to bat first. Haryana lost wickets very cheaply and the whole team was bowled out for 26 runs only in just 8.1 overs. Paras Singh and Akshit Kohal claimed three wickets each for 7 and 8 runs, respectively. Manjit took two wickets conceding not even a single run. While replying, Vivek team achieved the target in just 5.5 overs.

Brief Scores: Twenty 20 Cricket Association of Haryana: 26 all out in 8.1 overs.

Samrat Singh: 6 runs, Paras Singh: 3 for 7, Akshit Kohal 3 for 8, Manjit Singh: 2 for 0, Sudesh Pandey: 2 for 3. Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy: 27 for 1 in 5.5 overs.

Akshit Kohal: 16 runs, Suraj Kumar Paswan: 6 runs n o. Man of the Match: Akshit Kohal (Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy).

Chandigarh, December 7
DAV College, Sector 10, made a mark as its two athletes Kahish Khanna (15.44 m) and Parwinder Singh (14.84 m) threw the shot put to win gold and silver medals, respectively, in the men section of Panjab University Inter-College Annual Athletic (men and women) Meet at PU grounds here today.

Harpinder Singh of PU Campus remained third with his throw to 14.22 m distance.

In the 100 m race of women section, Deepti Rana (12.59 sec) of Guru Nanak Girls Khalsa College, Ludhiana, emerged winner trailing Gurleen Kaur (13.81 sec) and Ruchi (13.91Sec) to second and third spots, respectively.

Other results: Men: 100 m race: 1 Baldev (DAV-10), 2 Gurpinder Singh (DAV-10), 3 Parveen Kumar (SGGS-26); 400 m race: 1 Amandeep (SGGS-26), 2 Gurpreet Singh (MRS College, Malout), 3 Amandeep (DAV College, Sector 10); 1500 m race: 1 Balvir Kumar (SGGS-26), Sukhdev Singh (DAV-10), 3 Balbir Kumar (SGGS-26); Long Jump: 1 Jaswinder Singh (DAV-10), 2 Narpinder Singh (DAV-10), 3 Gurpreet Singh (GKSM Govt College-Tanda); Pole Vault: 1 Gurmandar Singh (DAV-10), 2 Navneet Singh (SCD Govt College, Ludhiana), 3 Narpal Singh (DAV-10).

Women: 400 m race: 1 Akwinder Kaur (GGS College (W)-26), 2 Ramandeep Kaur (GGDSD College, Hariana), 3 Rajeev Kaur (GN Khalsa College (W), Ferozepore); 1500 m race: 1 Gurvir Kaur (Dashmesh Girls College, Badal), 2 Amandeep Kaur (Dev Samaj-Feorzepore), 3 Pumphe (Dev Samaj-Ferozepore); Javlin Throw: 1 Maninder Kaur (Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana), 2 Navdeep Sandhu (KCW, Sidhwan Khurd), 3 Daizy Rani (GGS College-26); Discuss Throw: 1 Hardeep Kaur (Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana), 2 Maninder Kaur (Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana), 3 Jasdeep Kaur (AS College for Women, Khanna).

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Majestic start to Pinjore heritage fest
S.D. Sharma

Ambala, December 7
Amanpreet Kaur, a Class X student of DAV Public School, Ambala City, was killed this morning when the two-wheeler she was pillion riding, was hit by a tractor trolley. The vehicle was being driven by her uncle.

Amanpreet died on the spot while her uncle sustained minor injuries.

The victim was rushed to the local civil hospital where she was declared “brought dead”. According to hospital sources, Amanpreet died of a head injury.

The police impounded the tractor trolley and registered a case of negligent driving against the driver. The body was handed over to the parents of the deceased after a postmortem.

It is pertinent to mention here that over 100 tractor trolleys are plying in the city. Most of these vehicles do not have the permit for carrying commercial goods and many drivers do not even hold valid driving licences.

Moreover, some of these vehicles do not even bear number plates which makes identification difficult in case of accidents.

Ambala SDM Mukesh Ahuja said the administration had received complaints about the misuse of tractor trolleys and a drive against vehicles running without proper registration would be launched soon.

Dera Bassi, December 7
SDM SL Bhumbak today ordered the exhumation of a body from its grave for a probe into the cause of the victim’s death. On November 26, the police had begun investigating the death of 19-year-old Akbar Ali who was found dead under mysterious circumstances on November 24.

According to the police, the victim was found dead by his family members who buried him the next day. However, members of Ali’s family alleged that they had discovered a suicide note from his clothes in his room that blamed some other residents of the town for his death.

Members of family had alleged that Ali was driven to kill himself by these persons. They had handed over the suicide note to the police and demanded justice.

The SDM ordered that the body would be exhumed in the presence of duty magistrate Gurmander Singh and SHO Dalbir Singh.

Banur, December 7
The 6th Annual Conference of Punjab Academy of Forensic Medicine was organised at Gian Sagar Medical College, Banur, yesterday during which ‘White Ribbon Campaign’ to end violence against women was launched in the country by Professor R.K. Gorea, organising secretary of the conference.

Dr Gurjeet Singh, vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, while inaugurating the conference, emphasised that there were misconceptions and undue fears in the mind of the doctors about law. "No law is going to harm an honest, competent, knowledgeable and honest doctor," Dr Singh said.

DIG Patiala range S.P. Gill emphasised the role of new technologies in investigating crime. A CME was held wherein experts in the field of medicine, law, police and social justice elaborated upon the issues of violence against women, medical negligence and legal aspects of medical practice.