Lekh Raj bags a double in Bihar TT

Patna, December 11
The mantle of Bihar table tennis is in the hands of junior players. The RI Singh memorial Bihar State table tennis championships, concluded on Wednesday showed the ample evidences of teen powers. Lekh Raj a teen-age sensation at least in the context of Bihar, won the men’s singles title defeating another teenager Annie Raj in a seven-set thriller 8-11, 10-12, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 and 11-4.

Lekh Raj also clinched the youth singles final outplaying Fransis Das 17-15, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 14-12 to make it a grand double for him.

Junaid-ur Rahman was the other lad, who caught the eyes most. Junaid captured the junior boys’ singles crown defeating men’s singles champion Lekh Raj 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 10-12, 14-12. Then partnering with Annie Raj, he claimed the men’s doubles title defeating the pairs of Sameer Chakraborty and Fransis Das 21-19, 17-19, 13-11, 14-12 and 11-9.

Patna Central School A team won the school team championships title defeating Patna Central School B 3-1. Junaid, who was representing Patna Central School A played a significant role in his team’s title victory.

Sub-junior boys’ singles crown went in favour of Ankit Kumar who battled past Anmol Basant 11-9, 11-4, 3-11, 9-11 and 11-7 in the final. Amit Kumar earned the cadet boys’ singles title beating Saurav Kumar 12-14, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7 and 14-12.

Priya Kumari of Patna bagged the women’s singles title getting the better of her teammate Deepali Sarkar 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 12-14, and 11-6. Payal Kumari of Madhepura stamped her authority in the junior girls’ singles final taming the challenge from Shubha Sabbal (Patna) 11-9, 11-9 and 11-6.

Jharkhand Olympic Association vice-president Jai Kumar Sinha, who was the chief guest at closing function, gave away the prizes.

Photo caption: Winners of Bihar State table tennis championships display their trophies and certificates in Patna on Wednesday.

Chaturbhuj Ram soccer: Jallandhar team in final

Patna, December 11, 2008
Sikh Regimental Centre, Jallandhar will vie for the top honours with Indian Air Force, New Delhi in the 18th All-India Chaturbhuj Ram memorial soccer tournament at Khudiram Bose Stadium in Muzaffarpur. In the second semi-finals played on Tuesday, Sikh Regimental Centre, Jallandhar edged past Bihar Police 5-3 via tie-breaker.

Both the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of stipulated time.

Navin Thapa put Bihar Police in the lead in the third minute of the game off a pass from Ajay Kumar Sharma. Bihar Police were leading 1-0 at the end of first half play.

Saroj Gurung brought the equalizer for Jallandhar team in the 88th minute of the match. In the tie-breaker, Manindar Singh, Jitendra Pal Singh, Ramesh Rai and goalkeeper Yogendra Pal hit the target while Suraj and Monu scored for Bihar Police.

Bihar Teeni-koit: Puja takes on Soni for crown

Patna, December 11, 2008
Puja of Dayanand Kanya High School will take on Soni of Government Girls School, Bankipore in the under-12 singles final of the Star India state-level tenni-koit championships at Bankipore Girls School courts here on Thursday.

In the semi-finals played on Wednesday, Soni Kumar beat Ruby Kumari 2-0 while Puja Kumari drubbed Lovely Kumari by an identical margin.

In the other matches of the day, Ruby Kumari, Sadhvi, Priya Bharati and Sugandha got the third positions in their respective groups. In women’s double final, Sakshi and Khusbu of Dayanand Girls High School will face Priyanka and Akansha of Arya Kanya Vidyalaya.

Results
Third place matches: Rubey beat Lovely 2-0; Sadhvi beat Nisha Bharati 2-0; Priya Bharati Gupta beat Sarita Singh 2-0; Sugandga beat Jasmin 2-0.

Photo Caption: A girl in action during State-level tenni-koit championships in Patna on Wednesday.

Dony Polo Public School clinch Sukhdeo Trophy

Patna, December 10, 2008
Kislay Kanan and Satish Roy scripted Dony Polo Public School’s impressive 7-wicket victory over Dev Public School in the final match of the 24th All-India Sukhdeo Narain memorial inter-school cricket tournament at the DAV Public School (BSEB Colony) ground here on Tuesday. It was Dony Polo’s first title win in the tournament.

Speedster Kislay Kanan, who had a good going in the tournament thus far, got two wickets for 35 runs and made 35 runs. Later, he was declared man of the match. Satish Roy with his slow spinners captured four wickets for 24 runs.

Dev Public School won the toss and decided to bat first. After losing the first wicket at 29 runs, Dev Public School batsmen never looked comfortable against Dony Polo Public School attack and were bowled out for a modest 146 runs off 29.2 overs. However, at one stage when opener Kumar Aditya and Kumar Saket were at the crease for the third wicket stand, it looked Dev Public would pile up a decent total on the board. Dony Polo’s medium pace bowler Anand Priya enacted the breakthrough sending Kumar Saket (15) back to the pavilion with a gem of a delivery.

Dev Public lost their third wicket for 85 runs. After that wickets fell at regular intervals. Satish Roy, who was pressed into service midway of the innings cast a magic spell with his spin bowling. Opener Kumar Aditya emerged as the top scorer for Dev Public School. He made 47 runs off 61 balls with six hits to the fence. Devbrat Prince scored 21 runs with three boundaries.

In reply, Kislay Kanan and Aman Kumar put on 64 runs partnership for the first wicket giving a perfect foundation stone for his team’s deserving victory. Kanan scored 35 runs off 33 balls with five boundaries and one six. Other opening Aman Kumar too batted well to score 34 runs off 50 balls with 2 boundaries.

Deepak Kumar’s 38 not out runs in as many balls with six boundaries and Manish Kumar’s 22 not out off 35 balls sealed Dev Public School’s fate. Deepak and Manish together brought in unbeaten winning partnership of 59 runs for the fourth wicket. Nishant Kumar and Devbrat Prince took one wicket each for the losers.

Earlier, Patna Central MLA Arun Kumar Sinha inaugurated the match. Patna District Cricket Association office-bearers, Amarnath Singh, Ajay Narain Sharma, AP Jittu, Vijay Kumar Narain Chunnu and other dignitaries including HL Gulati, Ajay Kumar Sinha and Mritunjay Tiwari and SN Lal Karn were present in the morning session.

Pratya Amrit, IAS, distributed the prizes at the closing function.

Brief scores:

Dev Public School: 146 all out off 29.2 overs (Kumar Aditya 47, Devbrat Prince 21, Kumar Saket 15, Nishant Kumar 13, Kumar Uttam 13, Satish Roy 4 for 24, Kislay Kanan 2 for 35,Anand Priya 2 for 20).

Dony Polo Public School: 149 for 3 off 25 overs (Kslay Kanan 35, Aman Kumar 34, Deepak 38 not out, Manish Kumar 22 not out, Nishant Kumar Gonu 1 for 33, Devbrat Prince 1 for 23).

Photo Caption: Jubilant Dony Polo Public School team members hold aloft Sukhdeo Trophy after winning the final in Patna on Tuesday.