CHANDIGARH: The 38th All India North Zone Police Games ended in a blaze of glory for Punjab who claimed hockey, football, basketball, volleyball, and kabaddi titles here on Wednesday. The Gymnastics title was claimed by Uttar Pradesh while Haryana emerged winners in wrestling and judo.
‘Though in their final league fixture Uttar Pradesh lost to star packed Punjab 2-4 they played an inspiring game, Punjab remained ‘unbeaten in the six-team round robin league and got 10 points to occupy the top spot. Delhi with three wins, one draw and one defeat, piled up seven points for the runners up position. Haryana with two wins, two draws and one loss finished third with six points.
In Hockey, Punjab spearheaded by Olympian Surinder Singh Sodhi scored through Lakhwinder Singh (6th and 17th minutes) Swinder Singh (8th minute) and Gurmail Singh (32nd minute). Rajinder Singh and Davinder Singh scored one each for Delhi.
VOLLEYBALL: Giving a consistent display Punjab spikes demolished Chandigarh in the crucial last league encounter, Chandigarh were expected to put up a spirited fight against Punjab but the match turned out to be a tame affair. Punjab won 15-13, 15-13, 15-9, With this win Punjab remained undefeated in the seven team Teague, Chandigarh with five creditable wins and one defeat finished runners up.
BASKETBALL: The mighty and alert agers from Punjab scored a runaway 8385 win for their sixth straight triumph in the seven-team league competitions, The main scorers for Punjab were Jaswinder Singh (25), Kulwant Singh (14), Ram Chand (12), and Paramdeep Singh (10). Attar Singh was top scorer for Haryana with ten points.
FOOTBALL: With Punjab winning the football title, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh had to fight it out for the second time to fourth positions. A balanced Jammu and Kashmir team fought the battle in the rival territory for most part of the game. Their short passes were eye pleasing while the hosts played without any plan. Jammu and Kashmir made their intentions clear from the word “go”. The match was hardly two minutes old when they forced ahead with a spot kick conversion by Khurshid Ahmed. Chandigarh were able {o restore parity in the 36th minute through Amritpal Singh, However, on crossing over Jammu and Kashmir scored two more goals, Mohd Hussain (68th) and Khurshid Ahmed (74th) were the marksmen.
Uttar Pradesh blanked Haryana by 5-2 to pip Chandigarh for the third position; Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh were tied with seven points each. However, Uttar Pradesh got the third spot on the basis of goal difference. UP had nine goals in favor and two against while Chandigarh had nine ‘goals in favor and three against.
KABADDE: Punjab claimed the kabadde title with an all-win record in the seven team league. Haryana beat Himachal Pradesh 60-17 and got runners-up position ‘They had lost one match and had won five for ten points. Delhi with eight points finished third. In another match Chandigarh beat Jammu and Kashmir 45-32,
Article extracted from this publication >> December 2, 1988
