Khanna wants Davis Cup ties in Lucknow
LUCKNOW : Asian Tennis Federation chief and a member of the International Tennis Federation, Anil Khanna on Wednesday said that he would try his best to bring Davis Cup matches to the state capital as soon as the city has the international standard infrastructure, especially at the Ekana Sports City.
Khanna, who visited the newly constructed Ekana International Cricket stadium and other sporting facilities at the Ekana Sports City on Wednesday morning, was felicitated by the UP Olympic Association in a ceremony here. In 1998, Lucknow had witnessed the conduct of the India-Lebanon Davis Cup tie at the grassy ground of the Avadh Gymkhana Club here.
“UP has a big role to play in Olympic Movement. I am hopeful to see UPOA hosting the firstever Youth National Games next year and the National Games in future also,” said Khanna, “The kind of sports infrastructure being developed in the state is good for the development of sports and the sportspersons.”
He, however, accepted that ITF would be discussing the newly proposed format of the Davis Cup at its meeting on March 21 at London. “There are many who are in favour of a change, but many are opposing it. So we need to discuss this first at the ITF meeting,” he said.
SEND OFF
Uttar Pradesh Handball Association as well as the Sports Authority of India officials here on Wednesday gave a warm sendoff to the Indian men’s team, which would be participating in the IHF Challenge Trophy scheduled to be held at Faisalabad in Pakistan from March 10 to 15. A 30-day camp of the team ended on Wednesday at the SAI Regional Centre here.
GOOD RUN
All three local outfits Sports Hostel, Sports College and Lucknow continued their winning streak in the state sub-junior boys hockey tournament, at the Padmshree Mohd Shahid stadium here on Wednesday. Lucknow Sports Hostel beat Basti 4-0, Lucknow Sports College beat Meerut 6-0, and Lucknow beat Azamgarh by 2-0. In other matches of the day, Rampur Hostel played a goalless draw with Mirzapur, Agra beat Saharanpur 2-0, Varanasi beat Moradabad 6-0, Saifai Hostel beat Sahranpur 8-1, Varanasi Hostel beat Bareilly 4-2, Saifai Hostel beat Agra 5-1, Mirzapur beat Faizabad 8-0 and Meerut and Kanpur split points after playing 2-2 draw.
THUMPING WIN
Abhijeet Sinha Cricket Academy scored a thumping 10-wicket win against Divine Cricket Club and collected full points in the 2nd Shivpal Sawariya Twenty20 Challenger Cup, at the Pt Raas Bihari Tewari stadium here. BRIEF SCORES
DCC 63 for 9 in 20 overs
(Krishna Chari 22, Vipul Rao 2 for 1, Sandeep Pandey 2 for 4, Dheeraj Yadav 2 for 9, Mohsin Siddiqui 2 for 11) lost to ASCA 66 for no loss in 4.3 overs
(Sandeep Pandey 43*, Vipul Rao 23*).
ZEESHAN EXCELS
Young Zeeshan Ansari’s allround show (3 wkts, 52* runs) helped LDA Coaching Centre score an easy six-wicket win against Rudransh Cricket Club in a league match of the 2nd Sagar Khayyami A division league, at the LDA stadium here. BRIEF SCORES RCC 139 in 44.3 overs (Kritagya Singh 53, Shivam Tewari 31, Zeeshan Ansari 3 for 19, Suraj Rawat 2 for 10) lost to LDACC 141 for 4 in 29.3 overs
(Zeeshan Ansari 52*, Manoj Singh 51*, Monu Paswan 2 for 22).
SARTHAK SHINES
Sarthak Dixit smashed an unbeaten 114 in 42 balls with the help of seven fours and 13 sixes as UP Timber Club stormed into the semi-finals of the 2nd NDBG Trophy, defeating REPL by 10 wickets, at the Multi Activity Centre. BRIEF SCORES REPL 144 in 35.4 overs
(Himanshu Singh 54, Gaurav Srivastava 25, Vipraj Nigam 4 for 32, Abhishek Singh 2 for 31) lost to UPTC 147 for no wicket in
11.5 overs (Sarthak Dixit 117*, Prabhnoor Singh 25*).
BIG WIN
Favourites Lucknow defeated Faizabad 9-0 in the state under-19 girls football championship at Barabanki on Wednesday. Sapna and Priya Singh scored three goals each, Priya Yadav scored a brace, and Mariya struck one goal.