W Rly win in Shantha fashion

In another Super League tie, Maharashtra State Police, who were trailing 1-3 at the breather, rallied splendidly to hold Sports Authority of India (SAI) 3-3 in a tussle to stave off relegation.

The Western-Customs match was played at a leisurely pace with Western being generally on top in the proceedings. Customs, who were without their strikers Suresh Pereira and Vijay Alphonso, were handicapped in attack and had to defend their citadel almost right through.

The two had last met in the final of the Bombay Championship this season and Western had then prevailed via the sudden-death in a nail-biting match. Today’s game was a far cry from the exciting fare witnessed in that final.

Shantha Kumar gave Western the lead in the 28th minute. He deflected home a Mukhtiar Singh goalbound reverse hit from close quarters.

In the 43rd minute, Shantha once again neatly deflected home a through pass by Deepak Gupta and then Shantha rounded-off the tally in grand fashion with a top-of-the-circle reverse hit in the dying minute following another Deepak pass.

SAI came a cropper in the second-half against the State cops in an interesting duel. SAI took the lead through a Rahul Bhatkar penalty-corner conversion in the 11th minute, but MSP neutralised the lead a minute later through Abdul Shahid who also made the most of a penalty-corner.

SAI then struck twice in the 27th and 31st minutes. Shavinder Singh made it 2-1 and Prem Singh consolidated SAI’s position with a field goal each.

In the second-half, MSP fought for all they were worth and their efforts bore fruit when Deepak Diwar and Wajid Shaikh came up with a field goal each in the 50th and 55th minutes to earn the cops a deserving point.

Postponed
The second Junior State Selection Badminton Tournament, which was supposed to be held from August 8 to 13, will now be conducted at the MIG Cricket Club, Bandra, from August 9 to 13.

The Senior Inter-District and Open State Championships, which were supposed to be held from August 26 at Aurangabad, will now be played from August 22 to 26.

State Ranking carrom
The Jalgaon District Carrom Association will conduct the second Rs 50,000 Maharashtra State Ranking Carrom Tournament from August 12 to 15 at the Mahesh Pragati Mandal, Ring Road, Jalgaon.

The Maharashtra men’s and women’s teams taking part in the 30th Senior National and Inter-State Championship at Jalandhar, Punjab, from September 2 to 7, will be selected from this tournament performance.

Entries should reach through their respective district secretaries till August 8, upto 9 pm, at the following address: JV Sangam, acting Hon. Gen. Secretary, Maharashtra Carrom Association, 1/29 Doodh Wala Chawl, KS Gadgil Marg, Mumbai 400 025.

Chhugani wrests lead
Girish Chhugani scored a substantial figure of 566 to wrest the lead at the ColorPlus Bowling Championship qualifiers round on the third day at the Superdome, Tardeo, on Monday.

Badminton tourney
The Vanita Samaj State Ranking Open Badminton Tournament will be held at their premises from September 17 to 23.

Entries, which close on September 10, should be filled at the Vanita Samaj from 9 am to 1pm and 3 pm to 7 pm. For details contact Tel 446 3621 or 445 1592, Mrudula Bandekar 445 3092, Trisha Mankodi 422 5439 or Supriya Gupte 445 7742.