CHANDIGARH, Dec 1: Mohammad Saleem (Punjab State Electricity Board) beat teammate Ram Lakhan 15-6, 17-14 to win the men's singles title in the All-India Inter-Electricity Boards badminton championship here today. The doubles crown also went to the PSEB pair of Chanderdeep and Ram Lakhan who beat the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam twin-brothers-duo of Surinder and Varinder 7-15, 15-5, 15-4 in the final.Saleem justified his top-billing in the singles category. He raced to a comfortable lead over Ram Lakhan and consolidated his position. He won the first set at 15-6 but the second set was a cliffhanger. Ram Lakhan started well and was 11-9 up at one stage before Saleem pulled up his socks to tie it at 14-each. Eventually, his experience and agility helped him wrap up the set (17-149) and the match as well.The third place went to HVPN's Surinder, who got a walkover from teammate Narinder.In the doubles title-match, the HVPN pair of Surinder-Varinder, who were instrumental in their side winning the team championshp, won the first set convincingly. In fact, their opponents were in a spot of bother but they showed a remarkable comeback, winning the second set at 15-5 and then completely outclassing Surinder-Varinder in the decider.Raghav Bhosle and Vijay Nair (Bihar State Electricity Board) clinched the third place beating Sridharan and T R Rao (Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board) 15-7, 15-3 in the third-place playoff.Minister of State for Power, Haryana Attar Singh Saini distributed the prizes.UT handball meetsThe Chandigarh Handball Association is organising the 19th Men and Women Nationall Handball Championships and 13th Sub-Junior State Championships for boys and girls in DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 from December 9 to 11. Players born on or after Janaury 2, 1983 are eligible for the sub-junior meets.According to CHA general secretary Ravinder Talwar, the Chandigarh would be selected for the forthcoming Nationals during the state meets. The National Handball Championships for men will be held at Vijayawada in the last week December and the Sub-Junior National Handball Championship will be conducted at Jammu.Entry closes with handball coach Ravinder Singh, DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 on December 8 at 3 p.m.
