SPORTS

Harikrishna joins the top spot
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna moved into the top spot when he beat S. S. Ganguly in the ninth round of the Parsvnath International Rating Chess Tournament at the Bapu Sewa Samaj on Wednesday. Harikrishna joined Ramesh and Fominyh at the top of the table, with 7.5 points.

The leaders are followed by Svetushkin, Neelotpal Das, Lanka Ravi, Jonathan Rowson, Marat Dzhumaev, Tahir Vakhidov, Niaz Murshed, S Iuldachev, Deep Sengupta and Sergei Ovsejevitsch at 7 points.

Ramesh was on course for his Grandmaster Norm with a quick draw against Fominyh in the top board. Playing a foreign player in the next round would be suffice for him to attain his third and final Grandmaster Norm.

Harikrishna faced the Queens Gambit Accepted on the second board against Ganguly, and after an equal opening phase, black erred, ceding a small advantage to white. Hari returned the technical plus for a surprisingly easy victory over Ganguly.

Rahul Shetty, who is having an up and down in the tourney, crashed to the Sicilian Najdorf of Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson of Scotland.

Undermining Rowson’s pawn sacrifice in the centre and in the flank, Shetty found himself facing a battery of attack on the queenside. Unable to save the loss of material, Shetty gave up on the 26th move. 

Gurbax Singh is no more
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
Veteran volleyball coach Gurbax Singh Dhingra died in Delhi after a prolonged illness. He was 82. Gurbax Singh was a former international and played for Delhi and Railways. He was a member of the Delhi team who won the National Championship in 1958. After his playing days, Gurbax Singh took up coaching and joined the National Institute of Sports, and later the Sports Authority of India. His coaching centres at the National Stadium and the Indira Gandhi Stadium had produced countless players who went on to represent Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Railways and Uttar Pradesh.

A committed coach, Gurbax had devoted his entire life for the promotion of volleyball, though the rewards he got in return were very negligible. He always lived a hands-to-mouth existence, but never complained. He put up with all sorts of inconvenience to carry on with his business of coaching in missionary zeal. He was an institution himself, totally devoted to volleyball, though unsung and unrewarded.

Inter-School Roller Skating from Oct 10
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
The Roller Skating School of India will organise the 12th Inter-School Roller Skating Championship at the Talkatora Skating Rink from October 10 to 12. Organising secretary Naresh Sharma said the championship will comprise of artistic skating, speed skating and roller hockey. Entries close with Naresh Sharma and Pritti Singh at 23643052, 9818011664.

Ganga win title

Ganga School, Hiran Kudna won the Zonal Raceling Championship played at the Don Bosco School. Krishan Kumar and Dharambir won the gold medals in the 65kg and 60kg respectively while Yashpal Malik struck a silver. In the junior category, Rohit Deshwal lifted the gold while Ankit Garg and Nidan won a silver and bronze respectively.

In the sub-junior section, Joginder Singh, Sandip Kumar and Sahil Dhanker lifted the gold medals while Gourav and Mohit bagged silver medals. Coach Santosh Rajput and school chairman Sushil Kumar Gupta congratulated the team for their fine medal haul.

Mukesh Yadav shines

A fine all-round performance by Mukesh Yadav (101 and 3 for 19) helped Delta Rahat beat Reliable Eleven by 50 runs in the ACCD Cricket Tournament at the Venkateswara College ground. Mukesh Yadav was named the man of the match.

Scores: Delta Rahat: 210 for 6 in 25 overs (Mukesh Yadav 101, Deepak Beary 37, Jetender Singh 3 for 29). Reliable Eleven: 160 all out in 24 overs (Jetender Singh 43, Ajay 24, Mukesh Yadav 3 for 19, Deepak Beary 2 for 14, Vikram 2 for 27).

Jaspal Kaur TT

The 16th Jaspal Kaur Memorial Open Table Tennis Tournament will be held from October 11 to 15 at the Jaspal Kaur Public School. Entries close on October 8 with organising secretary Hukam Singh, 6/2543, Beadon Pura, Karol Bagh, New Delhi.

Chauhan on BCCI panel

Former Test opener and vice-president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association Chetan Chauhan has been appointed on the technical committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, according to vice-chairman of the National Cricket Academy C K Khanna.

Don Bosco down Lovely School
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
Don Bosco defeated Lovely Public School by eight wickets in a Group B match of the first Invitational Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV) Under-15 Cricket Tournament for the M L Sharma Cup at the SPV ground.

Scores: Lovely Public School: 118 all out in 34 overs (Sandeep Shrivastava 47, Udit Makhija 27, Manhav Vats 25, Naman Khanna 5 for 21, Karan Grover 3 for 32, Rohan Chand 2 for 36).

Don Bosco: 119 for 2 in 35.3 overs (Mukul Aggarwal 39, Nipun Anand 36, Karan Grover 36). In a Group A match, Delhi Public School (DPS), Mathura Road defeated Springdales School by eight wickets. Scores: Springdales: 141 (Vikram Tomar 51, Ankit Singh 15, Tanvir Nayar 2 for 28). DPS: 142 for 2 (Shiram Sharma 84 n o, Puneet Walia 26, Pranav Kumar 26).

St. Columba’s beat Cambridge

St. Columba’s School defeated Cambridge School 4-0 in the Nivia Football Tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium on Wednesday. Nivia Academy beat Frank Anthony School 3-0. Sandeep, Pradee and Sanjay Dahiya were the scorers.

Govt. School, Panipat defeated Zakir Hussain School, Zafarbad 4-0. Arun, Jitender and Pradeep (2) were the goal-scorers. Navyug School trounced Crescent School 7-0.

AIIMS enter semis

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) defeated Sumit Dogra Academy by eight wickets and entered the semi-final of the Saheed Bhagat Singh Cricket Tournament for the Utkarsh Cup at the Nehru Stadium.

Ravindra School annex title
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
Ravindra Public School, Pitampura defeated Delhi Public School (DPS), R K Puram by seven wickets and annexed the 14th Radha Kishan Cricket Tournament at the Cambridge Foundation School ground. Former Indian Test star Salim Durrani gave away the prizes.

DPS won the toss and opted to bat. They began well, putting on 108 for no loss, and then lost wickets at regular intervals to be all out for 169.

Scores: DPS: 169 all out in 32.2 overs (Bharat Suri 56, 4x4, 2x6; Abir Lavasa 52, 7x4, 1x6; Sidharth Minas 4 for 28, Ranchal Choudhary 4 for 31).

Ravindra School: 174 for 3 in 32.1 overs (Pankaj Sethi 52 n o, 8x4; Sandeep Singh 50 n o, 7x4, 2x6; Hemant Singh 37).

Nikhil Iyer of DPS was adjudged the best bowler, Pankaj Sethi of Ravindra School the best batsman, Robin Bist of

Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan the best all-rounder and Sawej Khan of Ravindra the best fielder.

Yogesh, Rohit star for Salwan School
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
A fine knock of 76 by Yogesh Nagar and deadly bowling of 5 for 26 by Rohit Saini helped defending champions Salwan Boys defeat Meera Model School by 131 runs in a league match of the Parle Cup Inter-School Cricket Tournament at the Bharat Nagar ground.

Scores: Salwan Boys: 191 for 2 in 35 overs (Yogesh Nagar 76, Rajeev Sharma 53, Rohit Saini 24 n o, Tarun Choudhary 21 n o).

Meera Model: 60 all out in 17.2 overs (Saurabh Kalra 14, Rohit Saini 5 for 26, Deepak Rai 3 for 17).

IG Stadium enter semi-final

Indira Gandhi Stadium beat MMH College, Ghaziabad by six wickets and entered the semi-final of the 13th Shaheed Bhagat Singh Cricket Tournament for the Utkarsh Cup at the Nehru Stadium.

Scores: MMH College: 160 for 9 in 35 overs (Praveen Kumar 31, Jagat Pal Singh 27, Tony Singh 3 for 28, K S Rana 2 for 25, Saurav Saxena 2 for 26). IG Stadium: 161 for 4 in 33.2 overs (Siddarth Verma 56, Jaspreet Narula 40, Someshwar Singh 3 for 29).

Chess tourney from Oct 10

Sonepat, October 8
The District Chess Association is organising a three-day district level tournament commencing form October 10 on the premises of the Hindu College in the city.

Jinwani Academy win
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, October 8
Jinwani Academy defeated MRV Academy by nine runs in the Under-15 Invitational Cricket Tournament at the Gyan Bharati School ground. Scores: Jinwani Academy: 109 all out in 24.1 overs (Mahaveer Tokas 33 n o, Kunal Kumar 28, Sheezad Alam 3 for 19, Ashu Sharma 3 for 24). MRV Academy: 100 all out in 25.2 overs (Aftab Alam 25, Ashish Yadav 4 for 17, Amit Kumar 3 for 25).

ADMINISTRATION

Shilly-shallying on shifting cracker godowns
Our Correspondent

Ghaziabad, October 8
With Diwali roughly a fortnight away, the Ghaziabad administration seems to be dragging its feet in shifting the cracker godowns from the thickly populated residential areas to outside the city limits.

Every year a number of fire mishaps occur in the city between Dasehra and Divali due to negligence on the part of the owners and laxity on the part of the police and enforcement officials at a number of cracker godowns in congested residential areas. Three months ago the decision of the district administration to shift these cracker godowns outside the city periphery was surprisingly stayed by the then

Divisional Commissioner, Mr N. S. Ravi, under tremendous political pressure on the administration against this move brought about by the trading community.

The authorities have, however, resumed the inspection of cracker godowns in the city but the pace of work is too sluggish for a timely decision and action.

There are some 40 crackers godowns in the thickly populated areas and in case of fire the fire engines find it impossible to reach narrow streets and lanes.

Last year, traders had taken up the matter to the court of the Divisional Commissioner, pleading that it was their hereditary business, they had fire fighting facilities and enough space was not available for all the cracker manufacturers and sellers outside the city limits.

Mr Ravi is understood to have given a decision in favour of the cracker traders, which had come as a big jolt for the district administration. But now the Divisional Commissioner had been approached by the district administration for reconsidering his decisions. The ADM (City), Mr Raj Kumar Sachan, said the administration was inspecting the cracker godowns located on wide roads, which fire engines can easily access but those in narrow lanes and bylanes will be affected.

In any case, the final decision will be taken by the committee set up by DM Santosh Yadav in this connection which may take its own time.