Swimming his way to success
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 19 — Hard work and persistence pays. This is evident in the case of 13-year-old Mridul Sunil, an upcoming city sportsman. Mridul brought laurels to the city by winning a gold and a bronze medal in 100 m and 200 m free style, swimming, in the 1st CBSE National Championship held at Jaipur, this year.

An eighth class student of Sacred heart Convent School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Mridul started his career at the age of nine years with a third position in the district swimming competition in 4x50 m free style relay.

His strenuous practice paid immediate dividends as he bagged three gold and three silver medals in the District Swimming Championship in 1997. He had to satisfy with two bronze medals in 43rd Punjab School Education Board Games held in September, 1997 at Sangrur. Although he tried his level best in the 44th Punjab School Education Board games held in September, 1998 at Jalandhar, yet he could manage a silver and two bronze medals. He did not demoralise with his performance. He kept on practising hard.

He came out with flying colours in the District Swimming Championship by winning four golds. After that he never looked back. In the District Swimming Championship, 1999, he stole the show by winning seven gold medals. He was crowned with the title of ‘Best Swimmer’.

After performing at the district-level, he started practising for the state-level events. He won his first gold in a state-level event in the Punjab Open Swimming Championship held in August, 1999, at Ropar. He also bagged one silver and two bronze medals there. He again won one gold and two silver medals in the Punjab State School Games held in September, 1999.

He had accomplished the target of becoming state champion. Then, he started preparing for the national-level events. He participated in the National Level School Games held at Patiala in 1999, but could not win the championship. He worked hard and his efforts bore fruit this year. In 2000, he won seven gold medals and clinched the title of ‘Best Swimmer’ in the Punjab Swimming Championship held at Ludhiana. He won three goldmedals each, in the Punjab Swimming Tournament held in January, at Ferozepore, district school games held in August at Ludhiana and Punjab school games held in September. 

Gagan Ajit Singh honoured
By Our Sports Reporter

JARKHAR (Ludhiana), Oct 19 — Gagan Ajit Singh, a member of the Indian hockey team which played in Sydney Olympics recently, was presented the annual Olympian Surjit Singh Memorial Award by Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Union Sports Minister, at the concluding function of the 15th Mata Sahib Kaur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament and Rural Sports Festival, organised by Mata Sahib Kaur Sports and Youth Welfare Club here, 28 kms from Ludhiana.

Mr Dhindsa, while speaking on the occasion, announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh for completing the construction of Mata Sahib Kaur stadium at the village. He also said that a hockey coach would be shortly appointed in the village for proper training and nurturing of sports talent. He promised that he would recommend to the Chief Minister the demand of the villagers about construction of a road from Jarkhar to Ghawaddi and Rania.

Earlier, Mr Jagroop Singh, President, Sports Club, Jarkhar, read out a memorandum of demands to the minister. He highlighted that the stadium was lying incomplete for the past several years even though the government had earlier announced that the stadium would be the one of the best in the district.

The Sports Minister also presented awards to the winners. Among the winners were the Haryana Eleven in the Girls hockey tournament. Diana Club Jalandhar got the second spot.

The tournament witnessed fierce competition in the kabaddi championships. Sixty three teams participated in the 52, 57 and 62 kg categories. The Kakralan Kalan team won the first position in the 52 kg category, by defeating a team from Billa. In the 57 kg category Dhulkot village defeated Sehjaad village team in the finals. Virk team won the 62 kg category by routing Dhaler village team comprehensively 11-1.

GHS bags 134 medals
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, Oct 19 — Government High School (GHS), Cemetery Road, created a history by winning 134 medals in the Ludhiana District School Games in the senior category, including 81 gold, 49 silver and four bronze medals. Ms Joginder Kaur, Principal, of the school, said in a press note issued here today, “the credit of this success goes to students and physical training instructors of the school.”

The school was at the top in the senior category in swimming (boys), water polo (boys), lawn tennis (boys and girls), diving (boys), table tennis (boys and girls) and fencing (boys and girls) events. In junior category (under-14), school bagged gold medals in lawn tennis (girls), badminton (girls and boys) and fencing (boys) competitions.