Varun advancesVarun Taneja knocked out Anuj Uppal 119-0, 77-14, 63-43, 22-67, 48-71, 63-26 in the Sardar Meharban Singh Dhupia memorial billiard and snooker tournament at Chelmsford Club.In another encounter, Gaurav Anand also entered the last four beating Vijay Goel 29-84, 59-22, 53-74, 74-22, 101-35, 76-41 while Siddharth Anand outwitted Atul Agarwal 33-66, 70-24, 64-44, 63-31, 114-7.Haryana winFine knocks by Mukesh Arya (56) and Yashpal Sharma (44) helped Haryana State Veterans beat Indian Railways Veterans by eight runs in the semi-final of the Veteran Cricket Board National championship at Railway stadium.Brief scores: Haryana State Veterans: 201 for 9 (Yashpal Sharma 44, Mukesh Arya 56, Chetan Sharma 28) bt Indian Railways Veterans: 195 (Avash Pal 36, Vedraj 32, Devender Arora 29, Durga Prasad 20, Pravin Bhatnagar 21, Sanjay Bhardwaj 29).Prijit excelsAn all-round performance by Prijit Sashidharan (68 not out and 2 for 24) and useful 34 by Mohit Sharma enabled Media Trans Asia beat Bechtel by 55 runs to reach the final of the second Siemens Cup at Jamia ground.Brief scores: Media Trans Asia: 185 for 5 (Prijit Sashidharan 68 not out, Mohit Sharma 34, Sajit Sivanandan 30, AK Paul 3 for 34, Sunil Bhatt 2 for 36) bt Bechtel: 130 (Hiren 26, AK Paul 22, Ashok Kumar 22, Naresh Kumar 2 for 14, Hara Prasana 2 for 16, Prijit Sashidharan 2 for 24).John shinesA fine spell of bowling by Shyam Chadda (5 for 27) and equally breezy 124 by John Anthony powered MCD to a 76-run victory over Sainik Farm in the second Hari Singh Tyagi TYCA league at Mohan Meakin ground.John Anthony (124 not out) and Dharam Beer Baniwal (97) were the main scorers for the winners while Utkarsh Gautam and Asjit Jai Prakash contributed 51 runs each for the losers.Brief scores: MCD: 262 for 3 (John Anthony 124 not out, Dharam Beer Baniwal 97, Dileep TT 2 for 40) bt Sainik Farm: 186 (Utkarsh Gautam 51, Asjit Jai Prakash 51, Dileep TT 35 not out, Shyam Chadda 5 for 27, Narender Singh Negi 4 for 28).DTTA official deadThe tall personality of G D Tandon's presence at the time of draw and conduct of matches during tournaments conducted by the Delhi Table Tennis Association (DTTA) at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here will be missed in future. Tandon, one of the joint secretaries of DTTA passed away yesterday after a brief illness.Tandon had served the association in different capacities for over three decades and took active part at all local tournaments. Being a qualified umpire, he served as chief referee in several tournaments, including the Nationals held in the Capital. He also accompanied teams to several junior national championships in the capacity of manager and took keen interest in the improvement of the game and the players.The DTTA held a meeting to condole his death.Nirankari meetThe Sant Nirankari Mission (Nirankari Colony) will organise the cricket tournament from April 4 to 21 at Samagam Ground. The winners will receive Rs 10,000 and the runners-up will be richer by Rs 8,000. Entries close with Shamser Singh on March 31.
