PU sportspersons honoured

Though the Punjab outfit is languishing at the bottom of the table,Irfan hopes they can turn the tide if they perform well in the upcoming matches. “In this season,things have not worked out as we had expected. We still have nine matches and if we manage to win six out of those then we can make it to the semis. We will make sure we do well in the next nine matches,” Irfan,one of the consistent performers for the Punjab team apart from Ravi Bopara,said.

Admitting that some of the matches were close,Irfan said that the team could do better with some improved fielding. “The first three matches could have gone anywhere as it went till the last over but yes we definitely need to perform better. There have been dropped catches and we need to work better on our fielding,” Pathan said on the eve of their match against Kolkata Knight Riders.

The annual sports prize distribution function of Panjab University for the session 2009-10 was held at PU gymnasium hall on Friday.

As many as 189 players who represented the university in international tournaments and secured top three spots in Senior National Championship and All-India Inter-University Championship were given cash awards during the function.

Olympian Charanjeet Singh,was the chief guest during the function and gave away cash prizes to the winners. Among those who were honoured were Hema KC,international level shooter,Garima Chaudhary,international level judo player,Gaurav Raheja,international level skater and Oscar Bansal,international levl badminton player.

“It feels good when we are honoured by our university. We all have been performing well in international tournaments over the last few months and we all are obliged to our university for this act. I will be aiming for the World University Championship to be held in Chinese Taipei in September later this year and I hope to make PU proud,” said Bansal.

Another awardee Hema KC was of the view that functions like these boost the morale of the players. “This means a lot for players like us. It is at par with the medals which we have won and it will always motivate us to do well. I hope to do well this year also and hope to do my university proud,” said Hema.

Cricket trials today
Trials will be held for the selection of players for the North Zone Under-16 cricket team on March 27 at 3 pm at Hansraj Public School Cricket Ground ,Sector 6,Panchkula. The short-listed probables will undergo a training camp at Hansraj Public School. The final 16-member team will be selected on the basis of their performances during the camp that take part in the All India Inter Zonal Under-16 National Championship to be held at Chennai April 26 to 28. Players born on or after 01-1-1994 are eligible to take part in the trials. Interested players may contact S Singh on 92178-85748 or report at Hansraj Public School cricket ground at 2:30 pm on that day along with their date of birth certificate.

Shivam bats MCA to win
Bolstered by Shivam Puri’s unbeaten half century (53),MCA crushed GNPS-CCA-36 by six wickets during the Second St Stephen’s Cricket Tournament for Under-16 being organised by Desh Prem Azad Cricket Academy on Friday. GNPS batted first and scored 157 in 45 overs. Kapil Punia top scored with 54 runs. Manish Srivastava bagged 4 for 20,while Jasinder Singh and Anmoljit Singh scalped two wickets each. In reply,MCA made 160 for 4 in 39.1 overs.

Boxing trials on March 29
The trials to select Chandigarh men’s boxing team for participation in the federation Cup Senior Men Boxing Championship to be held at Chennai from April 24 to April 28 will be held at SD Public School,Sector 32 on March 29 at 5 pm. All the boxers who have secured first three spots in the last Chandigarh Senior State Men’s Boxing Championship can appear for the trials in all the eleven weight categories and are required to bring IBF medical book with them.

UPS to sponsor Jeev
Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh will be sponsored by top package delivery firm UPS on the European Tour. Jeev is the third golfer to be signed up by the company after 2009 Race to Dubai champion Lee Westwood and 2008 European Tour Rookie of the Year,Pablo Larrazabal,a media release said today. Jeev will represent UPS during tournament play and at various customer and promotional events along with Westwood and Larrazabal. “I am absolutely delighted to have a global company like UPS as a sponsor. We share the same hopes,aspirations and values while performance is at the heart of everything we do. The only thing that’s different is our world ranking. They are No. 1,” said Jeev about the new partnership. “We are proud to welcome Jeev Milkha Singh as a UPS brand ambassador,” said Ron Rogowski,director of global sponsorships for UPS.