Bihar Police bow to Indian Navy

Patna, January 19, 2012:  Indian Navy, Mumbai, crushed Bihar Police FC 3-0 to move into the pre-quarterfinals of the All India football tournament for Bihar Cup at the Moinul Haq Stadium here on Thursday.

Navy got their first goal in the 22nd minute through B Thapa, who foxed his marker at the near post.

Bihar Police got an opportunity to equalise in the 43rd minute when Naik’s clearance at the goalmouth landed before Martin Lepcha, who headed wide off the mark. Suresh Babu scored the second goal for Navy in the 64th minute through his solo efforts. Navy increased their tally in the 82nd minute when Raman Rai placed the ball in safely off a rebound that fell before him.

Photo caption: Indian Navy and Bihar Police (red) players in action during their Bihar Cup match in Patna on January 19, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Senior IPS Mann gets lucky to win the match play in CNEB All India

Chandigarh, January 19, 2012:  The 58-year-old IPS Mann gets lucky at his home course to win the match from an Englishman Curtis Griffiths who was 1/3^rd of his age on the day one of CNEB All India Amateur Championship, match play at Chandigarh Golf Club, here. 

Mann, who recently won the bronze medal in the Asia Pacific senior’s team championship in Malaysia, missed birdies on 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 16^th and a couple of par putts but the game became interesting when Griffiths’s ball got stuck in the tree on 16^th and Mann was 2-up after making up and down. Griffiths, 18, then chipped out to win the 17^th and Mann became 1-up with one hole to play and remained one up to win after both of them halved the 18^th.  It was not an impressive day for both the English players as Jack Colegate also been beaten by Bangalore’s Trishul Chinappa who was 2 & 1. 

The leader of day two of stroke play event Raghav Bhandari won the match from Delhi’s Arshad Ali in a sudden death play-off after making a birdie on the 19^th. It was a melodramatic game for both the players as Bhandari was five-down after the front nine but started firing some good shots to win the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th to remain 1-down. Bhandari lost the 14^th to go 2-down and after halving 15^th, he won 16^th and 17^th and both of them were all squared after halving the 18^th. There was two more sudden-death play off won by Kolkata’s S. K. Pappu from Mohd Dulal Hossain and Bangladeshi Nijita Bandara from Kapurthala’s Ashbeer Singh Saini.

Delhi’s Shubhankar Sharma, who also plays on the junior circuit, beat experienced Udayan Mane 3 & 2 after playing very tricky shots from the very first hole. Sharma’s second shot on the first hole went into the right fence from where he hit the 8-iron to play a safe bogey while Mane also bogeyed to halve the hole. Sharma won the 2^nd after making par and 3^rd after making a double bogey to go 2-up but remained 1-up after Mane birdied the 4^th to win the hole. Mane won the 5^th as well and both became all squared. Both of them halved the 6^th while Sharma chipped in for a birdie on 7^th to go 1-up. After halving 8^th, 9^th and 10^th, Sharma won the 11^th, 13^th, 14^th to go 4-up while Mane won the 15^th and after the game ended on 16^th when both of them halved the hole. Other two players of Sharma’s age group Honey Baisoya (3 &1) and Sayed Saquib Ahmed (4 & 3) who is also the No. 1 Indian Junior won the matches from Chandigarh’s Sandeep Singh Sandhu and Kolkata’s Raja Sardar respectively.  

Bangladeshi Mohd Nazim showed some good golf as he beat Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja by 2 & 1. The No. 1 amateur of his country, Nazim was 3-down after loosing 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd but became one-down after halving 4^th and winning 5^th  and 6^th. Both of them equaled after the 8^th and then Nazim started coming in form when he won 9^th, 10^th to go 2-up. It has a great see saw throughout the round as both of them halved the 11^th they were all squared until the 13^th but Nazim became one-up after winning the 14^th   to go 1-up. Nazim, then won the 17^th after making par for 2 & 1 while Thangaraja bogeyed to loose.

The No. 1 amateur of the country, S. Chikkarangappa beat Delhi’s Siddharth Semwal 5&3 who has been giving a strong challenge from the beginning. Chikka won the 2^nd, 6^th, 8^th, 9^th, 13^th, 14^th and 15^th while lost only 5^th and 11^th. Other players who qualified for the pre-quarter finals were Local H. S. Kang (3 & 1) after beating his colleague Aman Guran. Angad Cheema beat Col. S. K. Lakra for 5 &3. Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi repeated his performance of the second day of Goodricke East India Amateur Golf Championship when he beat Jasjeet Singh again on the 18^th hole to remain 1-up for the day. Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk won by 2 & 1 from Man Simran Singh. Another local Simranjeet Singh beat Bangalore’s R. Marimuthu  for 5 & 4 while Delhi’s Gagan Verma was 1-up for the day after beating Captain Varun Parmar.

“It was a great match. I hit the ball good. I started 3 up after 3 and held the lead till 9. I then won the 10^th and 12^th to go 5-up. Jack made a couple of good birdies thereafter to hang in there till the 17^th   where it ended with me winning 2up with one to go,”said, Trishul Chinappa who finished fifth in Sothern India Amateur Championship at KGA this season. 

Grifiths and Colegate who packed their bags in the first round itself mentioned, “We are pretty happy with all the arrangements PAR sports leisure adventure management (SLAM G) has made especially the stay at the five-star and pick and drop facility. We hope to come back to India to perform better next time.” 

Mr. Fauja Singh, 100-year-old marathon runner who came to give blessings to the players today, said, “I am pretty happy to see the young players, officials and the referees working so hard to keep the game of golf alive in Chandigarh. It’s my suggestion to all the players to stay away from psychotropic drugs to stay fit like me even at my age. It’s also nice to see companies like SLAM G taking the amateur game to the next level.”

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Raj Milk post impressive win in Bihar Cup

Patna, January 18, 2012: Raj Milk FC of Patna outplayed Uttaranchal Police 5-0 and the Denzong Boys (Sikkim) edged out RK Steel (Siwan) 1-0 to advance into the pre-quarterfinals of the first All-India football tournament for Bihar Cup at the Moinul Haq Stadium here.

Denzong Boys took a bit time to settle themselves on the turf and then started playing cohesive and combined football. Denzong scored the first and the lone goal of the match in the 48^th minute when striker Michan Lucky unleashed a power-packed shot into the rival net from 30 yards.

The second match of the day saw Raj Milk FC mauling the Uttaranchal Police with array of attacks using both the flanks. Raj Milk shot into the lead in the 36th minute when Ibrahim shot home off a neat cross from Ola.  Raj Milk were leading 1-0 at the breather.

In the second half Raj Milk forwards toyed with rival defence. The Nigerian midfielders Saydee (1) and Ola (2) and Sujay Dutta (1) were the goal scorers for Patna team. 

Photo caption:

Top two: Raj Milk forwads Ola and Saydee celebrate their goal over Uttaranchal Police.

Pix 3: Denzong Boys Michan Lucky celebrates after scoring the match-winner against RK Steel.

Pix 4 and 5: Denzong Boys and RK Steel players in action during their Bihar Cup match in Patna on January 18, 2012.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui    

Budh Raj to lead Bijar junior football team

Patna, January 18, 2012: Bihar Football Association announced a 20-member state team under the leadership of Budh Raj Soran of Bihar Regimental Centre (BRC), Danapur, for the 48th junior National football championship in progress in Cuttack.

Team: Budh Raj Soran (captain), Sandip Kumar Tiwari, Vikas Pathak, Ajit Kumar Singh, Mirza Gulam Masum, Dilip Kumar Sharma, Sukhdeb Dutta, Akbar Ali, Gaurav Kumar, Bivision Ho, Somu Murmu, Gulshan Kumar, Samu, Hembram, Sajal Malik, Bablu Soran, Gopal Nathan Jiran Ali, Narendra Paswan, Upendra Kumar Tiwari and Monir Alam. Manager: Birender Singh. Coach: Naushad Alam.

Raghav Bhadari storms into the lead on day two of CNEB All India

Chandigarh, January 18, 2012: Local lad Raghav Bhadari seized the lead after hitting  one-under 70 for the total of 143 on the second day of CNEB All India Amateur Golf Championship at Chandigarh Golf Club here. Delhi’s Honey Baisoya remained on second position as he hit one-over 72 for the total of 143 while Bangalore’s Udayan Mane who was eighth yesterday, shot level-par 71 for the total of 144 to take the third position in a tie along with his colleague Khalin Joshi who finished fourth.

The day looked bright for Englishman Curtis Griffths who shot the best round of the day along with the leader of one-under 70 for the total of 145 in a tie along with Bangladeshi Mohd. Dulal Hossain, who shot two-over 73 for the total of 145 to take the sixth spot.

Yesterday’s leader Karan Taunk had a disappointing round as he hit 7-over 78 for the total of 148 to slip to the 12th position just behind S. Chikkaranppa who maintained his 11th position by hitting another three-over for the total of 148.

Bhandari, who moved to Delhi seven months ago started the day with a bogey on the opening hole, birdied the 4th, 13th and 15th and made a bogey on 17th. Bhandari said, “I played very easy shots on par-5 which I was missing yesterday. Since I have played at this course for 13 years and the confident actually helped me especially on the 12th hole where I hit the right rough and then chipped from there but managed to make good up and down for a good par.” 

Griffiths, 18, got a happy start as he sank a birdie on the very first hole, made a par on 2nd and birdied the 3rd which made him steady and strong for the rest of the round. Though, he made bogeys on 7th, 8th and 17th, two more birdies on 13th and 16th satisfied him as he shot the best score of the day. Griffiths, who represents The A Squad team in England said, “I was much more comfortable with the course conditions than yesterday. I drew a straight line on my ball and on every green; I was keeping it for the right alignment which really helped me today. Also, I am pretty excited about the match play because that’s all we play back home in England all the time.”

Chennai’s L. Selvadurai, Chandigarh’s Bismad Singh, Jammu’s Raghav Wahi and Bhutan’s duo Thiley Namgay and Captain Gyamba Dukpa couldn’t make a cut for the match play starting tomorrow.

In an international team championship played concurrently, the leading team was India “A” in which Honey Baisoya (71,72) and Angad Cheema (72, 75) played for the team total of 290 while India “B” became second which represented by S. Chikkarangappa (74,74) and Khalin Joshi (73,71) for the total of 292. Curtis Griffiths (75, 70) and Jack Colegate (75, 73) of England were one point behind at 293 while Sri Lankan team (N Thangaraja & Vijita Bandara) came fourth with 296 points. Bangladeshi team of Mohd Nazim (79,78) and Mohd Dulal Hossain (72,73) came fifth for the total of 302, India “C” (Gagan Verma & Siddharth Semwal) was 6th  for the team total of 306 while Bhutan (Capt. Gyamba Dukpa & Thinley Namgay) finished 7th with 364 who did not qualify for the match play. 

Photo caption: Raghav Bhadari in action at Chandigarh Golf Club on January 18, 2012.

Press Release

Prayag United down J&K Police in penalty shootouts

Patna, January 17, 2012: Prayag United, Kolkata prevailed over Jammu and Kashmir Police via tie-breaker 5-3 and moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the All India Football Tournament for Bihar Cup at the Moinul Haq Stadium here.

The inaugural match of the 16-team tournament saw both the teams taking control of the midfield rather making fruitful attacks on the rival box. Basically, it was a dull and drab encounter and first half ended without score.

The second half too ended goalless as penalty shootouts rule came into force. Both the teams frittered away a number of chances in the second half of the match.

In penalty shootouts, Prayag United converted all the five chances to three by their opponents. Bibhash Sarkar, Jagannath Oraon, Nababrata Ghosh, Babun Das and Bijay Chakroborty found the target for Prayag United while Fayaz Ahmed, Rakesh Verma and Ajay Kumar scored for the Jammu and Kashmir team.

Altogether 16 teams, including Army XI, Khidirpore Sporting Club (both Kolkata), Tata football Academy (Jamshedpur), Mohan Bagan- SAIL football Academy (Durgapur), Punjab Police (Jalandhar), ASC (Bangaluru), State Bank of Travancore and KSEB (both Trivandrum), Denzong boys (Sikkim) Indian Navy (Mumbai) and Uttaranchal Police (Uttarakhand), local teams Bihar Police, Raj Milk Football Club and RK Steel (Siwan) have been taking part in the 16-day long tournament that is organized to celebrate centenary year of Bihar.

Earlier, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi inaugurated the tournament in a grand opening ceremony. Bihar Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak and Art, Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Sukhda Pandey were present on the occasion.

Photo caption: 

From top : Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Food and Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Rajak, MLA Arun Kumar Sinha, former Indian  football team captain and Arjuna Award winner C Prasad jointly inaugurate the All India Football Tournament for Bihar Cup in Patna on January 17, 2012.

Prayag United ( violet jersey) and Jammu and Kashmir Police ( yellow jersey) play their opening match of the tournament. 

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui 

Karan Taunk takes one stroke lead on day one of CNEB amateur golf

Chandigarh, January 17, 2012: Jamshedupur’s Karan Taunk hit a bogey free round for the first time in his amateur career to take the lead in the opening round of stroke play of CNEB All India Amateur Golf Championship at Chandigarh Golf Club here on Tuesday.

Taunk shot one-under 70 at the par-71 course while the winner of Goodricke East India, Honey Baisoya played a level par round for the second position in a tie along with Sri  Lankan N Thangaraja.

Local boy Angad Cheema fired an amazing eagle on the 13th to come back with one-over 72 for the third place in a tie along with Delhi’s Gagan Verma and Bangladeshi Mohd. Dulal Hossain.   

S. Chikkarangappa, defending champion as well as the No.1 Amateur of the country, returned with a score card of 3-over 74 to take the 11th spot in a tie along with Sri Lankan Vijita Bandara.

Both the Englishmen Curtis Griffiths and Jack Colegate matched their scores of 4-under 75 for the 13th and 14th position respectively.

Karan Taunk, whose best finish was 7th in LIC Western India in Bombay and RCGC Cup, Kolkata this season, ran off a string of impressive shots throughout the round and the best was a birdie on 13th which made him take the lead of the day. Taunk didn’t go into much trouble even after missing the green on 5th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 17th for a bogey free round. Taunk who takes the coaching from Kel Llewllyn, said, “I am pretty happy with my round and want to give the credit to my coach Kel Lewlyn who also has been the coach of Jyoti Randhawa and Alan Singh who helps me in each aspect of the game.”

Delhi’s Baisoya, who finished fourth in All India Junior Championship early this month, sank four birdies on 6th, 7th, 16th and 17th while bogeyed the 9th, 15th and double bogeyed the 10th.  The trickiest hole for him was the 15th where he hit the tee shot on the left rough next to a tube well and played a provisional ball in confusion after taking a penalty shot. By the time he reached the original ball, he found that the ball was not out of the boundary wall; he then played a rescue on fairway for the 60 yards chip and used the lobe wedge from there to secure a double bogey. 

The day was not in favour of Bangalore’s duo Udayan Mane and Khalin Joshi as both of them hit two-over 73 for the eight and ninth position respectively. Mane, the winner of Mahrashtra Open was struggling to come back in the rhythm of playing the 18-holes after getting hospitalized last month while Joshi, who was three-under after front nine, lost his control on the ball after making a double bogey on 10th, 13th and bogeys on 15th and 18th.

In an international team championship played concurrently, the leading team was India “A” in which Honey Baisoya (71) and Angad Cheema (73) played for the team total of 143 while India “B” became second which represented by S. Chikkarangappa and Khalin Joshi for the total of 144. Sri Lankan team (N Thangaraja & Vijita Bandara) came third with 145 while England (Cutis Griffiths & Jack Colegate) was fourth with 150. Bangladeshi team was one point behind with 151 for the fifth place, India “C” (Gagan Verma & Siddharth Semwal) was at 155 at 6th while Bhutan (Capt. Gyamba Dukpa & Thinley Namgay) finished 7th with 186. 

Press release