LAS VEGAS : Boxers Mike Tyson (left) and Orlin Norris pose for photographers after a news conference in Las Vegas on Thursday to announce their heavyweight fight which is scheduled for October 23. — AP/PTI

India ‘A’ win, level series NEW YORK, Sep 17 — India ‘A’ bounced back in superb fashion by putting up a sterling all-round display to drub Australia ‘A’ by five wickets with 11.5 overs to spare in the second clash of the five-match America challenge series and levelled the score 1-1 at the Woodley cricket field in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, yesterday.

Kang clings to top spot
CHENNAI, Sept 17 — Harinder Singh Kang of Chandigarh, who was the sole overnight leader, was joined at the top by Amish Jaitha of Pune after the third round today.

Top seeds tumble out
PATIALA, Sept 17 — Top seeds in both the men’s and women’s singles events tumbled out of the Punjab State Senior Badminton Championships on the penultimate day of the competition at the NIS courts here this evening.

Ropar swimmers dominate
ROPAR, Sept 17 — Swimmers from Ropar and Patiala today dominated the proceedings by winning six events each while Sangrur and Ludhiana also proved their worth by securing top positions in five events each on the penultimate day of the Punjab State Swimming Championship for boys and girls at the Nehru Stadium swimming pool here.

Raid De Himalaya from Oct 6
CHANDIGARH, Sept 17 — Raid de Himalaya, a long distance cross country rally will be held from October 6 to 11.

Jeev placed 62nd
NEW DELHI, Sept 17 — Top Indian pro Jeev Milkha Singh returned a one-over-par 72 but was placed way down the leaderboard at joint 62nd after the first round of the Lancome Trophy Golf Championship at Paris.

• Kapil, Jadeja for golf meet

India go down to Canada 1-2

CANBERRA, Sept 17 (PTI) — India conceded a late controversial penalty stroke as they suffered their second straight defeat by going down 1-2 against Canada in the Australia Cup Four-Nation Hockey Tournament here today.

India looked vastly different to the team thumped 6-1 by South Korea yesterday and the midfield duo of Baljit Singh Saini and Baljit Singh Dhillon constantly troubled the Canadian defence, reports Australian Association Press (AAP).

After a barren first half, Canada went ahead through a 43rd minute rebound conversion by Andrew Griffiths following a penalty corner but India drew parity 10 minutes later when forward Samir Dad deflected in a long hit into the circle.

However, the Pan American Games Champions who had stunned Champions Trophy winners Australia 4-0 in the opening tie of the double-leg tournament, sealed the match when 236-game veteran and skipper Peter Milkovich converted a stroke awarded by Korean umpire Lee Won Seok three minutes from the final hooter.

Indian chief coach Vasudevan Baskaran said he was pleased with the way his inexperienced team had lifted since yesterday but they still needed to do a lot of work to emerge a serious contender in next year’s Sydney Olympics.

India, who had gone down by a lone goal to the Canadians in last year’s World Cup at Utrecht, the Netherlands when the two last met, paid for a string of unforced errors that let their rivals back into the match after being locked 1-all for most part of the second half.

India began the game aggressively, but on their few forays upfield the Canadians showed enterprise and were unlucky not to score from three penalty corners, one of which was stopped and cleared on the line by an Indian defender.

Towards the end of the first half, Canada gained confidence from a string of unforced Indian mistakes and marshalled by Milkovich, launched a series of unsuccessful raids. But India’s frantic defence held firm till the break.

Canada finally broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second half when a penalty corner allowed half back Andrew Griffiths to pick up a rebound and chip over Menezes.

India hit back soon after when the powerful Baljeet Singh Dhillon fired a thundering shot at goal from outside the 25-yard line and forward Samir Dad moved in to deflect home.

But Canada sealed the match when Lee Won Seok signalled “stroke” following what appeared to a deliberate stick-check.

Milkovich coolly steered his shot past Menezes to hand Canada the victory.

“We had made some changes in the midfield and they kept going forward throughout the game,” Baskaran said after the match.

“We didn’t have too many long passes like yesterday and the game was pretty fast. I think the boys played with a lot of energy, a lot of strength today and the forwards played well and were unlucky with a few misses,” he said.

Pakistan begin on winning note

TORONTO, Sept 17 (PTI) — Pakistan made a winning start in their campaign to lift the DMC trophy and reclaim the faith of their fans by beating the West Indies by 15 runs in the first match of the three-match series here yesterday.

Still smarting under the drubbing by Australia in the World Cup final, Pakistan overcame the rustiness of a long layoff to restrict the Caribbean side to 215 for nine after they had posted a respectable 230 for the loss of six wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.

“It’s a nice way to begin a season. Our aim now is to take the trophy home,” skipper Wasim Akram said after the match.

Sherwin Campbell (69) anchored the Caribbean reply but three run-outs and tight bowling by Abdur Razzak (1/26) and Saqlain Mushtaq (1/30) in the middle overs balked his effort.

The match, 1500th in one-day history, played for most part in cold and overcast conditions at the cricket, skating and curling club, fluctuated between mediocrity and brilliance.

Pakistan elected to bat, and helped by some erratic bowling and poor catching recorded their highest opening partnership against the West Indies as Anwar (63) and Wajahatullah Wasti (40) put on 131 runs in 29 overs.

Man-of-the-match Anwar displayed a deft touch, hitting nine boundaries.

Pakistan, however, frittered away the advantage as three quick wickets fell to some stingy bowling by Jimmy Adams and Hendy Bryan in the middle overs.

Pakistan:
Anwar b Dillon 63
Wasti c Chanderpaul b Adams 40
Sohail c and b Adams 8
Haq c Hinds b Dillon 24
Youhana c Jacobs b Walsh 25
Moin Khan run out 1
Azhar Mahmood not out 25
Razzak not out 1
Extras(lb-10, w-23, nb-10) 43
Total (for 6 wickets, 50 overs) 230
Fall of wickets: 1-131, 2-141, 3-147, 4-187, 5-209, 6-230
Bowling: Walsh 10-0-44-1; King 10-2-38-0; Bryan 10-1-32-0; Dillon 10-0-65-2; Hinds 3-0-22-0; Adams 7-1-19-2;

West Indies:
Campbell run out 69
Jacobs lbw b Younis 4
Powell b Razzaq 12
Hinds run out 16
Lara c sub b Akram 20
Chanderpaul c Younis b Sohail 29
Adams not out 35
Bryan run out 4
Dillon b Mahmood 7
King st Moin b Mushtaq 1
Walsh not out 0
Extras (LB-5, W-12, NB-1) 18
Total (for 9 wkts in 50 overs) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-31, 3-99, 4-133, 5-137, 6-177, 7-189, 8-211, 9-215
Bowling: Younis 8-0-44-1; Akram 10-1-41-1,; Razzaq 10-2-26-1; Mahmood 10-1-55-1; Mushtaq 10-2-30-1; Sohail 2-0-14-1.

Top seeds tumble out
From Harbans Singh Virdi
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Sept 17 — Top seeds in both the men’s and women’s singles events tumbled out of the Punjab State Senior Badminton Championships on the penultimate day of the competition at the NIS courts here this evening.

Both the top seeds made their exit in the semifinal encounters. In the first semifinal, third seed Yogita Kaushal of Patiala toppled former international player and top seed Nancy Tandon, also of Patiala, in three gruelling games. Though Yogita lost the first game 4-11 to her more illustrious opponent, yet she reorganised herself to prevail upon Nancy in the remaining two games. While Yogita gave away only five points in the second game, in the last she drubbed Nancy 11-0, who looked tired in the last two games.

In the second semifinal of the women’s singles event, reigning champion and fourth seed Meeta Bhandari, also of Patiala, made short work of Nazma Parveen of Ludhiana in straight games. Meeta almost had a cake walk, without exerting herself too much, Nazma looked totally off-colour.

In the first semifinal of the men’s singles, Rohan Kapoor of Jalandhar upset top seed Mohammed Salim of Sangrur in three sets. He lost the first game 11-15 but came back in the last two sets. Slowly and steadily he started dictating terms to his rival and the strategy paid. Playing brilliantly, Rohan won the next two games 15-6, 15-3, to move into the final.

In the second semifinal, the reigning champion and second seed Jaideep Singh Kohli of Jalandhar upset Dilpreet Singh of Ludhiana in two sets to move into the final with a 15-2, 15-3 victory.

Contrary to the scoreline it was not an easy win for Jaideep, Jaideep took an 8-6 lead in the first set but at one stage it looked Dilpreet might even upset Jaideep as the Ludhiana boy narrowed the gap to 12-13. But Jaideep controlled his nerves to take the first set 15-12.

Dilpreet appeared out of sports in the second set and Jaideep played to a plan. He often hit the shots high and deep and forced Dilpreet to the baseline. He executed drop shots to pocket point after point. Dilpraeet’s lack of movements on the court proved his undoing.

While the women’s singles final will be an all-Patiala affair, with third seed Yogita taking on fourth seed and reigning champion Meeta Bhandari, the men’s singles final will be an all-Jalandhar affair, with third seed Rohan taking on second seed and reigning champion Jaideep Kohli for the ultimate honours.

In both the men’s and women’s singles semifinals, the third players upset the top seeds.

Results:

Men’s singles (quarterfinal):

MD. Saleem (Sang) Ram Lakhan (Jal) 15-10, 15-6; Rohan Kapoor (Jal) Amandeep Sekhri 15-7, 15-3; Dilpreet Gagndeep Ratti 15-5, 15-10; Jaideep Kohli (Jal) Touseef Ahmed (Sang) 7-15, 15-10, 15-8.

Women’s singles (quarterfinals):

Nancy Tandon (Pta) Shehnaz (Sang) 11-3, 11-13; Yogita Kaushal (Pta) Sapna (Jal) 11-4, 11-1; Meeta Bhandari (Pta) Arti Verma (Rqr) 11-1, 11-0; Nazma Parveen (Ludh) Sumit Kalia (Jal) 11-2, 13-10;

Men’s doubles (quarterfinals):

Navdeep Manish (Pta) Diplreet Iqbal (Ldh) 15-1, 15-1; Chanderdeep Amandeep (Pta, Ldh) Narinder Gurminder 15-2, 15-1; Jaideep Rohan (Jal) Touseef Harinder (Pta) 15-13, 17-14:

Women’s doubles (quarterfinals): Nancy Meeta (Pta) Rupjit Balreet (Ldh) 15-4, 15-3; Kashmir Kamaljit (Hsp) Nimrata Salmi (Jal, Asr) 17-14, 17-16; Sapna Nazma (Jal, Ldh) Navneet Indrmeet (Hsp) 15-2, 15-9; Yogita Sumit (Jal, Pta) Shehnaz Rupinder 15-1, 15-5.

Kang clings to top spot

CHENNAI, Sept 17 (PTI) — Harinder Singh Kang of Chandigarh, who was the sole overnight leader, was joined at the top by Amish Jaitha of Pune after the third round today.

Both aggregated 200 at the end of the penultimate round of AV Thomas Gold Cup Golf Tournament here.

Local amateur Sandeep Syal, who remained the lone golfer to card a sub-par score, was in third spot along with Raghul Ganapathy (Mysore) and Rahil Ganjee of Calcutta at 221 each.

Delhi’s Ashok Kumar, winner of the Karnataka Open last week in a play off, was totally inconsistent, returning a card off over par to tally 224, while L Selva Durai, Delhi’s Shiv Kapur and Simarjeet Singh were joint sixth with identical totals of 225 each. With the greens made faster than the last two days, Amish Jaitha had a bridie on the second and dropped a stroke each on the 4th, 11th and 17th for a two over 74 today.

Kang had two birdies (11th and 13th), but played badly on four holes, losing a stroke each on the 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 14th which meant a two over par 74, but was still in contention for his maiden little.

The 16-year-old city school boy, Sandeep Syal, had a maximum of four birdies (2nd, 6th, 11th, 18th, ). But for his one over on the 9th and double bogey on the easy 15th, Sandep could have finished on a higher note.

Raghul Ganapaty, a member of the team to play in the Numera Cup in Lahore (Pakistan) from October 7 to 10 along with Amish Jaitha, Shiv Kapur and Ashok Kumar, had a par 72, while Rahil Ganjee, who started off with a birdie on the first hole, had a triple bogey on the 8th and one over on the 12th besides birdies on 5th, 6th and 14th in his two over 74.

Ajay Jadeja named skipper for Nairobi

BARODA, Sept 17 (PTI) — The national cricket selectors today named Haryana stalwart Ajay Jadeja to lead the 14-member Indian team in the four-nation event commencing at Nairobi on September 25,including youngsters Mohammed Kaif and Vijay Bharadwaj in the list at the meeting held here.

The 19-year-old Kaif of Uttar Pradesh and the 24-year-old Bharadwaj of Karnataka are members of the India “A” team now in Los Angeles playing against Australia “A”.

The selectors also ignored the claims of World Cup stumper Nayan Mongia after he had submitted his fitness certificate to the board and retained Andhra Pradesh’s M.S.K. Prasad following his good showing in the three-match Toronto Cricket Festival series against the West Indies.

Axed from the 15-member team which took part in the Toronto series, were three southpaws — Vinod Kambli, Amay Khurasia and Hrishikesh Kanitkar, apart from Delhi seamer Amit Bhandari, who did not play a match.

Jadeja had submitted a fitness certificate to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) this morning, the Secretary Mr Jaywant Lele, said after announcing the team.

The team:

Ajay Jadeja (capt), Saurav Ganguly (vice-capt), S. Ramesh, R. Fravid, Jacob Martin, Robin Singh, Mohammed Kaif, M.S.K. Prasad (wk), B.K. Venkatesh Prasad, L.R. Shukla, D. Mohanty, N. Chopra, Sunil Joshi and V. Bharadwaj.

Jadeja did not take part in the Toronto series along with regular skipper Sachin Tendulkar and the team was led by Ganguly, who has been named his deputy for Nairobi.

Tendulkar returned home from Singapore and then flew to Australia to consult doctors at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide about his recurring back pain. They advised him three to four weeks’ rest, which ruled him out of the Nairobi event.

Jadeja was injured at Singapore after tearing a calf muscle and submitted a medical certificate today that he had recovered fully from the injury.

Mr Lele, who addressed the Press conference with selection committee Chairman Ajit Wadekar, said deposed skipper Mohammed Azharuddin has not yet submitted a fitness certificate to the effect that he had fully recovered from the after-effects of his shoulder surgery in London at the end of the World Cup, where he led the country.

According to Mr Lele, Azharuddin was having no pain while throwing the ball from inside the 30-yard circle in limited overs cricket but still experienced discomfort while throwing from outside the field restricting area.

Asked why Mongia, till recently the first-choice stumper, was not selected despite having recovered from his wrist fracture, Wadekar said it was felt Prasad had done well at Toronto and deserved to be retained in the squad.

Kaif and Bharadwaj apparently got the nod following their impressive show in yesterday’s America challenge series match against Australia “A” at Los Angeles.

The duo got together at a difficult stage of the India “A” team’s run-chase on a bowler-friendly pitch to pilot the squad to a resounding five-wicket win, which levelled the five-match series 1-1.

Besides, the Karnataka middle-order batsman was also the leading run-getter in the last domestic season - notching up 1,280 runs in 10 Ranji ties, with three centuries and a double century to boot which gave him a superb average of 106.67.

Discards Kambli and Khurasia have themselves to blame for doing little of note when getting the chance to make the final 11.

In fact the Mumbai left-hander was lucky to even make the trip to Toronto after being axed in the originally named squad but was reinstated once Tendulkar decided to skip the tour.

Kanitkar, who like Kambli missed the bus for the World Cup, looked rusty in his comeback essay at Toronto.

The elevation of Ganguly as Jadeja’s deputy was also on the cards following his astute handling of the depleted team which upset all odds and won the series 2-1 against the same opponents who beat them the title at Singapore earlier.

The team comprises six batsmen, three medium-pacers, as many spinners, all-rounder Robin Singh and wicket-keeper Prasad. The meeting lasted more than two hours.

Leg spin ace Anil Kumble, who was axed after his poor show in Sri Lanka late last month in the tri-nation event, and other out-of-form players would get their chances to earn a recall in the season-opening Irani Cup tie at Bangalore and in the tour matches against New Zealand, Wadekar said.

Justifying their omission, the selection committee Chairman said they were out of rhythm at present.

Speedster Javagal Srinath had been rested by the selectors for the Singapore event itself in order to give him sufficient time to replenish his batteries for the subsequent engagements in the packed calendar.

Baroda’s Jacob Martin, a late replacement for Ajay Jadeja for Toronto, has retained his spot with some impressive batting in the Canadian city.

On Kambli’s omission his one-time mentor Wadekar said, “He failed to fulfil expectations”. Justifying the southpaw’s inclusion earlier in the team for Toronto despite poor performance in Sri Lanka and Singapore, he said in the absence of senior players it was necessary to include an experienced player like Kambli.

India ‘A’ win, level series

NEW YORK, Sep 17 (PTI) — India ‘A’ bounced back in superb fashion by putting up a sterling all-round display to drub Australia ‘A’ by five wickets with 11.5 overs to spare in the second clash of the five-match America challenge series and levelled the score 1-1 at the Woodley cricket field in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, yesterday.

The Indians, led astutely by V.V.S. Laxman for the second day running, bowled out the Australians for a measly 129 in only 35 overs in the match reduced to 42 overs per side because of weather condition and then hit up 133 for 5 in reply off 30.1 overs to emerge victorious.

Man-of-the-match Mohammed Kaif, the talented UP batsman, led the Indian victory charge with a well-compiled 38 off 64 balls with 3 fours in adverse conditions.

He was well-supported by Karnataka’s Vijay Bharadwaj, last season’s leading run-getter in domestic cricket, who cracked an unbeaten 28 off 31 balls with two fours and a straight-field six off left-arm spinner Brad Young.

Earlier, the Australians chose to bat first after winning the toss for the second day running on an underprepared and moist pitch and straightaway walked into disaster against the seam and spin attack of the Indians to fold up cheaply.

Seamers Dodda Ganesh made early inroads to bag two for 12 and was well-supported by his left-arm pace partner Ashish Nehra, who picked up two wickets in his second spell to finish with figures of two for 30 in 9 overs.

AUSTRALIA ‘A’
Campbell c and b Ganesh 0
Gilchrist c Laxman b Ganesh 6
Di Venuto c Ganesh b
Harbhajan Singh 20
Richards c Dighe b Sriram 22
Hodge st Dighe b Sriram 2
Martyn lbw Nehra 21
S. Lee c Dighe b Nehra 12
Young b Sriram 6
Creevey b Harbhajan Singh 6
B. Lee b Sriram 5
Denton not out 1
Extras (B-6, LB-4, W-17, NB-1) 28
Total (all out in 35 overs) 129
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-13, 3-52, 4-57, 5-74, 6-97, 7-111, 8-118, 9-126
Bowling: Ganesh 5-0-12-2; Nehra 9-0-30-2; Bundela 2-0-13-0; Harbhajan Singh 8-0-14-2; Bharadwaj 2-0-14-0; Sriram 6-0-23-4; Sehwag 3-0-13-0.

INDIA “A”
Gandhi c Gilchrist b Denton 5
Sriram run out 0
Laxman c Martyn b Denton 3
Kaif lbw b Brett Lee 38
Dighe c Young b Creevey 10
Bharadwaj not out 28
Sehwag not out 12
Extras (LB-11, W-18, NB-8) 37
Total (for 5 wkts, in 30 overs) 133
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-19, 3-38, 4-63, 5-115
Bowling: B. Lee 9-2-26-1; Denton 7-0-30-2; Creevey 6-1-15-1; S. Lee 4.1-0-17-0; Young 4-0-34-0.

Ropar swimmers dominate
Tribune News Service

ROPAR, Sept 17 — Swimmers from Ropar and Patiala today dominated the proceedings by winning six events each while Sangrur and Ludhiana also proved their worth by securing top positions in five events each on the penultimate day of the Punjab State Swimming Championship for boys and girls at the Nehru Stadium swimming pool here.

Results:

Under-19 (boys): 100 metres butter fly — Sikanderpal Singh (Patiala), Sanat Gupta (Ludhiana) 2, Gurinderpal Singh (Ldh) 3. 100 metres breast stroke — Sham Singh Gogi (Sangrur) 1, Mastan Singh (Ropar) 2, Pankaj Rajoria (Pta) 3. 300 metres back stroke — Vikram Singh (Jalandhar) 1, Anupam Gupta (Ldh) 2, Bikramjit Singh (Amritsar) 3. 400 metres individual medley — Sikanderpal Singh (Pta) 1, Sukhwant Singh (Asr) 2, Harmilap (Sng) 3.

Under-19 (girls): 100 metres butter fly — Puneet Chechi (Rpr) 1, Jasdeep (Sng) 2, Prabhdeep (Rpr) 3. 100 metres breast stroke — Rita (Gurdaspur) 1, Jasdeep (Sng) 2, Deep Shikha (Pta) 3. 200 metres back stroke — Sukriti Khanna (Ldh) 1, Maninder Kaur (Asr) 2, Anju Bala (Asr) 3. 400 metres individual medley — Jasdeep (Sng) 1, Deep Shikha (Pta) 2, Rupam Thakur (Hoshiarpur ) 3.

Under-17 (boys): 100 metres butter fly — Devinder Pal Singh (Rpr) 1, Pavneet Singh (Asr) 2, Gurpreet Singh (Sng) 3. 100 metres breast stroke — Arvind Puri (Ldh) 1, Rajbir Singh (Faridkot) 2, Amrinder Singh (Sng) 3. 200 metres back stroke — Dalbir Singh (Sng) 1, Sunit Pal Singh (Ldh) 2, Gurjant Singh (Pta) 3. 400 metres individual medley- Manraj Singh (Sng) 1, Pavneet Singh (Asr) 2, Rajwinder Singh (Sng) 3.

Under-17 (girls): 100 metres butter fly — Neha Bector (Pta) 1, Monika Vaid (Ldh) 2, Mridhu Bhatia (Jalandhar) 3. 100 metres breast stroke — Puja (Gds) 1, Navneet (Sng) 2, Mridu Bhatia (Jal) 3. 200 metres back stroke — Jasreet Kaur (Ldh) 1, Jayoti Sterna (Pta) 2, Joshan Jot Kaur (Faridkot) 3. 400 metres individual medley — Neha Bector (Pta) 1.

UNDER-14 (boys): 100 metres butter fly-Navpreet Sidhu (Pta) 1, Inderveer Singh (Rpr) 2, Gagan Mata (Ferozepore 3. 100 metres breast stroke-Harpreet Singh (Sng) 1, Pritpal Singh (Hsr) 2, Amaninder Singh (Pta) 3. 200 metres back stroke-Gagan Matta ( Fzr) 1, Preet Kanwar (Fdk) 2, Inderveer Singh (Rpr) 3.

UNDER-14 (girls)- 100 metres butter-fly — Jazbat Kaur (Hsr) 1, Isha Sood (Ldh) 2, Sonam (Ldh) 3. 100 metres breast stroke —Vibha Babbar (Ldh) 1, Reeti Parmar (Hsr) 2. Kanwal Preet (Hsr) 3. 200 metres back stroke — Harpreet Kaur (Hsr 1, Shilpa Narang (Pta) 2, Manu (Gds) 3.

UNDER-11 (boys)- 50 metres butter-fly — Preet Apinder Singh Grewal (Ldh) 1, Nikhil Sunil (Ldh) 2, Mayank Batish (Pta) 3. 50 metres breast stroke — Bikramjit Singh (Rpr) 1, Vibbor (Ldh) 2, Surinderjit Saini (Sng) 3. 50 metres back stroke — Harshit Narang (Pta) 1, Harman Singh (Ldh) 2, Lovy Grewal (Ropar) 3.

UNDER-11 (girls): 50 metres butter-fly — Navjot Kaur (Rpr)1, Lajdeep (Pta) 2, Komal Avtar (Asr) 3. 50 metres breast stroke — Navjot (Rpr) 1, Amanjot (Pta) 2, Komal Avtar (Asr) 3. 50 metres back stroke — Prabhjot (Rpr) 1, Lajdeep (Pta) 2, Ravneet (Pta) 3.

Raid De Himalaya from Oct 6
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Sept 17 — Raid de Himalaya, a long distance cross country rally will be held from October 6 to 11.

The event will be flagged off on October 7 from Shilon Bagh Resorts. Manali, 280 km away, will be the overnight stop on the first day. The rallysts will have to cross Rohtang Pass, Kunzam and Kaza, district headquarters of Spiti.

The event is being organised by the Himachal Pradesh Government, the Himalayan Motorsport Association and Siti Cable Network.

Raid de Himalaya, the only event of its kind in India, will run over terrain that is mix of gravel, tarmac, sand and snow. It will have three stages in a day. It has the longest competitive stages. The competitive stages on days two and three are 135 km long.

On day two the event will cover the 250 km Mandi-Kaza route. On days three and four the event will run back on the same route with post-event security and prize distribution on October 11, at Shilon Bagh Resorts.

Jeev placed 62nd

NEW DELHI, Sept 17 (PTI) — Top Indian pro Jeev Milkha Singh returned a one-over-par 72 but was placed way down the leaderboard at joint 62nd after the first round of the Lancome Trophy Golf Championship at Paris.

The 27-year-old Chandigarh pro, the lone Indian on the highly-competitive European PGA Tour, was sharing the 62nd spot with 20 players at the Saint-Nom-La-Breteche Golf Club course yesterday.

Jeev, who had a superb start to the season but went through indifferent form midway — narrowly failing to make it to the main draw in the US Open and British Open — completed the forward journey one-under but lost two strokes in the back nine to tally 38.

Kapil, Jadeja for golf meet
From Our Sports Reporter

GURGAON, Sept 17 — Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja and Madan Lal are among 100 players who will be seen in action in the tournament sponsored by Austrian Airlines at Classic Golf Resort tomorrow.

Similar tournaments will be held at Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad and Calcutta on September 29. The best two will participate in Vienna for the final round. There will be prizes for closest to pin, longest drive, best first nine and best back nine.

Ropar beat Muktsar

NAWANSHAHR, Sept 17 (FOC) — In a keenly contested match today Ropar defeated Muktsar in the boys volleyball semifinals in the 45th (Under-14) Punjab State School Games currently underway at the local JSFH Khalsa High School playgrounds.

In volleyball (girls) semifinals Ludhiana beat Patiala while Jalandhar defeated Nawanshahr to enter the final to be held tomorrow.

In table tennis (boys) Patiala will clash with Amritsar while in table tennis (girls) Amritsar and Ropar will vie for the top slots.

Cricket tourney

CHANDIGARH, Sept 17 (TNS) — The sixth J.P. Atray Memorial Cricket Tournament is being held at the PCA Stadium, Mohali, from September 23 to 28, according to Mr Sunil Sharma, joint organising secretary of the tournament committee.

The tournament, which is one of the more prestigious of its kind in the country, shall be held on a 50-over basis and Wills Trophy rules will be followed.

The tournament is held annually in the memory of the late J.P.Atray, IPS, former Additional DGP, Haryana.

This year all the top cricketers of north India will participate in the tournament. Indian Airlines, Punjab Cricket Club, Punjab Colts,BCC,Puncom, State Bank of Patiala and one team from Chandigarh will vie for honours in the tournament.

Attractive cash prize will also be given to the teams and to the star performers.

PSEB humble BSF

GARHSHANKAR, Sept 17 (FOC) — Punjab State Electricity Board thrashed BSF Jalandhar 6-0 in the Punjab Football Super League, which is being played at SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur, today.

In the first half Kuldeep Singh of PSEB scored the first goal through a pass given by Harvinder.

The second and the third goals were scored by the captain of the team, Kanwaljit Kakkoo off a move by Harjinder and Gurvinder. The fourth goal was scored off a powerful shot by Gurdish Singh. He was helped in scoring this goal by Kanwaljit Singh.

In the last five minutes of the match, two goals were scored in quick succession by Paramjit and Kanwaljit, respectively.

Kanwaljit Kakkoo scored a hat-trick in this match which incidentally was the second hat-trick of the tournament.

Coach bereaved

PHAGWARA, Sept 17 (FOC) — Various sports bodies, including the wrestling association, today condoled the death of Bibi Dhanti, mother of former national wrestling coach and conveyed their sympathies to P.R. Sondhi, the bereaved coach. She was cremated at her native village, Raipur Dabba, yesterday.