Ludhiana: Inter-district school games begin, 1,100 players to compete for top honours

Ludhiana: The 69th Punjab Inter-District School Games, organized by the Punjab Education Department, began on Monday. Competitions are being held in five sports: handball (boys and girls under-19), taekwondo (boys and girls under-14), football (girls under-14 and 17), weightlifting (boys and girls under-17), and squash (all groups) at various venues across the district, with approximately 1,100 students participating. In the boys’ category of taekwondo, held at the Multipurpose Indoor Hall in Ludhiana, Karanveer Singh (Patiala) won the under-21 kg weight category. Jaswant Kumar of Ferozepur and Babban Kamboj of Fazilka secured the second and third positions, respectively. In the under-23 kg category, the first three positions were secured by Hargam Singh of Patiala, Ekam of Fazilka, and Sahil Goyal of Ludhiana. While Parv Rajpur of Ludhiana emerged victorious in the under 25 kg weight category, Aryan Singh of Pathankot and Rohit Giri of Patiala finished second and third respectively. In Football (Girls) at the Government School Ground in Dakha, Bathinda defeated Mohali 3-1, Patiala defeated Fatehgarh Sahib 9-0, Pathankot defeated Barnala 2-0, Amritsar defeated Kapurthala 7-0 and Ludhiana defeated Mansa 12-0. In the boys’ handball category at the PAU Government School ground, Barnala defeated Mansa 14-11, Gurdaspur defeated Hoshiarpur 14-5, PIS Mohali defeated Tarn Taran 12-2, Patiala defeated Fazilka 16-1, Jalandhar defeated Bathinda 16-10, Sangrur defeated Ferozepur 14-13, Moga defeated Fatehgarh Sahib 8-3 and Ludhiana defeated Hoshiarpur 17-7. In the weightlifting competition at Naresh Chand Sports Stadium, Khanna, in the girls’ category, Khushi topped the under 40 kg weight category. Chanchal Preet Kaur of Ropar was the runner-up and Khushman of Mohali secured the third position. In the under 48 kg weight category, Bindu of Barnala Wing defeated her rivals to claim the top spot, while Khushi of PIS Mohali and Simranjot Kaur of Gurdaspur were the first and second runners-up respectively. In the under 53 kg weight category, Sania of Mohali, Harsirat Kaur Gill of Ludhiana and Khushpreet Kaur of Ropar secured the top three positions, while in the under 58 kg weight category, Mandeep Kaur of Barnala defeated her nearest rivals to claim the top spot. Sehajpreet Kaur of Ropar secured the second position, while Jaspreet Kaur of Ludhiana secured the third position.