Short Corner 8212; Pune

Girish among ten selected
Girish Natu of Pune and Gursharan Singh of Punjab, are among ten international umpires who have been selected to umpire matches in the World Grand Prix badminton finals to be held at Brunei from February 24 to 28.

The top 16 players of the world in men8217;s and the first 12 players of the world in women8217;s are eligible to take part in the World Grand Prix. Gursharan Singh is working as senior badminton coach with the Punjab Sports Department. He is posted at Sangrur.

Ian McDowell Australia, Lkiu Xiaoafeng China, Bjorn Von Veh Finland, Cholid Magad Indonesia, Chan Chun Seng Malaysia, Rob Taconis Netherlands, Eddie Ang Singapore and Vachara Thailand are the other umpires selected by the International Badminton Federation.

Invitational school hockey
St Vincent8217;s High School will host an inter-school invitational hockey tournament for the U-13 and U-15 age groups at their home ground from February 18 to 26.

Ten teams will vye for the top honours in the U-15 section, while nine teams have confirmed their participants in the U-13 section tourney, which will be conducted on a league-cum-super-league basis. Officials from the Maharashtra Hockey Association will officiate at the matches. The meet is been jointly sponsored by S R Bhat of Kum Industries and Vincentian Old Boys Association.