Nassir Wajih maintains good run in Open Chess
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 12
International Master Nassir Wajih maintained his good run when he took in his stride IM Rahul Shetty to remain in joint lead at the end of the fourth round of the second Parsvnath International Open Chess

Tournament at the Bapu Samaj Sewa Kendra at Panchkuian Road, New Delhi, on Friday.

Five players, GM Pavel Kostsur of Kazakhstan, GM Saidali Iuldachev of Uzbekistan, GM R B Ramesh, IM N Sudhakar Babu and Wajih emerged as leaders on four points each. They are followed by a pack of 15 players, including GM Georgy Timoshenko of Ukraine, who are all on 3.5 points each.

Seven more rounds are to be played in this Rs 4 lakh prize money tournament, being played under FIDE’s Swiss rules. Indian GMs Dibyendu Barua, Sandipan Chanda, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Koneru Humpy recorded victories over their rivals.

Koneru Humpy scored her third straight victory after a rather uncharacteristic loss at the hands of Harish Sharma of Delhi in the opening round.

Nassir Wajih, former National B champion, took off from where he had left off on Thursday when he defeated Barua.Rahul Shetty was also subjected to some fine tactics and slowly the tide turned in favour of Nassir, who wrapped up the match in 27 moves. Defending champion B R Ramesh defeated Suvrajit Saha, who played white. After the middle game, Ramesh was right on top, and gave little chance to Saha, who eventually succumbed to enormous pressure after 46 moves.

Pavel Kotsur scored his fourth convincing victory on the trot when he defeated IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra, who handled his white pieces badly in the opening. Kotsur wrapped a couple of pawns in the ensuing middle game, and showed the required technical display to romp home.

Iuldachev was also at his technical best against I M T S Ravi. Playing black, the Uzbek faced the Scotch opening and equalised without any trouble. In trying to force an equal endgame thereafter, Ravi missed a simple tactic and ended up losing a pawn. The game was over in 46 moves.

PMG sail past Ministry of Health
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 12
Professional Management Group (PMG) defeated Ministry of Health by eight wickets in an A-I Division match of the DDCA League at the Yamuna I ground. Scores: Ministry of Health: 159 all out in 29.4 overs (Surender Dagar 27, Naresh Kumar 22, Priyank Tehlan 3 for 15, Kapil Yadav 2 for 21).

PMG: 162 for 2 in 28.5 overs (Priyank Tehlan 78 n o, Jagdev Chouhan 24).

Young Association beat Ekta Club by seven wickets in an A-I Division match at the Yamuna II ground.

Scores: Ekta Club: 165 for 7 in 35 overs (Anand Kasana 35, Gopal Bisht 30, Gurjinder Singh 3 for 25, Gurbhajan Singh 3 for 20).

Young Association: 166 for 3 in 32.3 overs (Gurjinder Singh 50, Anuj Chopra 41). Rajender Nagar Colts beat Citizen Club by 77 runs in an A-II Division match at the RSC ground.

Scores: Rajender Nagar Colts: 225 for 7 in 40 overs (Sandeep Sharma 52, Gaurav Kumar 31, Dushyant Sharma 2 for 42, Satnam Singh 2 for 49). Citizen Club: 148 for 7 in 40 overs (Satnam Singh 40, Kashmir Singh 4 for 28).

Kranti Star beat Ajmal Khan Club by 32 runs in an A-II Division match at the University ground. Scores: Kranti Star: 115 all out in 32.5 overs (Yashpal 29, Sushil Rana 3 for 25).

Ajmal Khan Club: 83 all out in 26.3 overs (Saurabh Saddi 4 for 18, Chetan Sharma 3 for 20, Sahil Grover 2 for 28).

Delhi Kesri Wrestling

The Swabhiman Sports Trust will organise the Delhi Kesri Wrestling Championship on Marhc 14 and 15 at the MCD ground, near Sultnapuri main bus terminal. The winner will be awarded a cash purse of Rs 51,000 while the runner-up will be richer by Rs 31,000. The third place finisher will get Rs 15,000.

Delhi Veterans crush Punjab Veterans
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 12
Deadly bowling by left-arm spinner Tilak Raj Sharma (4 for 27 off seven overs) and a spitfire knock of 68 with two sixes and 12 fours off 43 balls by Gursharan Singh enabled Delhi Veterans XI defeat Punjab Veterans XI by seven wickets in the final of the North Zone Inter-State Veterans Cricket Championship at the Roshanara Club ground. Gursharan Singh was declared the man of the match while Bhupinder Singh Senior and Tilak Raj Sharma got the best batsman and best bowler respectively.

Scores: Punjab Veterans: 141 in 34.3 overs (Sapan Chopra 31, Bhupinder Singh 30, Arun Sharma 24, Tilak Raj 4 for 27).

Delhi Veterans XI: 144 for 3 in 17.4 overs (Gursharan Singh 68, Rajinder Singh 38, Bhaskar Pillai 26 n o, Arun Bedi 2 for 18).

Bal Mandir Dronacharya Cricket Academy

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev will inaugurate the Bal Mandir Dronacharya Cricket Academy at the Bal Mandir Senior Secondary School ground, Defence Enclave (opposite Preet Vihar petrol pump) on March 14 (Sunday) at 9 a m.

The academy would be run in collaboration with the Dronacharya Cricket Foundation, run by former Sports Authority of India coach Gurcharan Singh at the Yamuna Vihar Sports Complex.

Delhi beat Jharkhand
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 12
Fine batting display by Lalit (30 runs) and Kanwaljeet (33) and deadly bowling by Ashu Nayyar (3 for 14) and Nikhil (2 for 19) helped Delhi defeat Jharkhand by two wickets and won the second Youth National Super Seven Cricket Tournament in Nainital.

Rajat Mehta was adjudged the best batsman, Ashu Nayyar the best bowler and Shakti the best all-rounder.

Scores: Jharkhand: 81 for 9 in 6 overs (Prateek Singh 33, Ashu Nayyar 3 for 14, Nikhil 2 for 19).

Delhi: 82 for 4 in 5.5 overs (Lalit 30, Kawaljeet 33, Rashid 2 for 19).

Sanitation work on contract in Bhiwani
Our Correspondent

Bhiwani, March 12
The reason could be any, the impending Lok Sabha elections or the compromise that took place between the municipal council authorities and a petitioner outside the Consumer Forum recently. Work to clean the town has started with a flourish. Gangs of sweepers are now seen sweeping roads, collecting garbage and dust daily in several colonies of the council and Improvement Trust.

Under the new exercise the council has allocated contracts for sanitation for the first time. Earlier, employees of the council engaged in sanitation work while taking liberty of their regular service and delay in getting salaries had been misusing their task.

The authorities were left red-faced even in courts during hearing of complaints. It is learnt that the Zila Upbhokta Sangh, Bhiwani, had filed an application with the District Consumer Redressal Forum against the insanitation in the town under the Environment and Pollution Act through its president Din Dayal Soni. It had charged the president and secretary of the council by name. The sangh had included the Superintending Engineer of the Public Health Department as defendants. Later, the SE had to seek bail in this matter.

It is further learnt the president and secretary took steps and assured Mr Soni of working towards proper sanitation outside the court on hearing of the case two days back.

According to a report, the contractor has deputed as many as 50 sweepers in the four colonies of the Improvement Trust which include Vikas Nagar, Shiv Nagar, Adarsh Nagar and Kamla Nagar. The contract has been allocated by the council and the work will be done under the supervision of the council while the expenses will be borne by the trust. The contract period will be two months. The council took a one week trial before releasing the contract. The contract work includes the circular road area also.

On the contrary, regular employees of the council are worried over the new system, terming it as a warning bell to their service.