Date:07/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120755392200.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Double for Nirmala High School paddlers

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Kalpetta’s Nirmala High School, which had many players who had helped Wynad lift the under-17 boys’ trophy in the State School Games in Kottayam last week, swept the boys’ and girls’ table tennis titles in the State Mini-Games which began here on Thursday.

Nirmala HS defeated Ernakulam’s Kendriya Vidyalaya 3-0 in the boys’ final and Kozhikode’s Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 in the girls’ section in the Games which are open to all the schools in the State.

Strange rush

The Mini-Games are spread over two days, but strangely the local table tennis organisers rushed through the event at the Regional Sports Centre here, finishing it in just about five hours, forcing many players to sweat through three matches during this period.

A few players, including those from Thiruvananthapuram who arrived at the venue at 10 a.m. in the morning after Wednesday evening’s State table tennis championship in the Kerala capital, found to their dismay that walk-overs had been given against their teams.

“We started at 8.30 a.m. and now it’s all over,” said Jacob Joseph, who conducted the table tennis events here, around 1.30 p.m. Incidentally, Jacob is also the secretary of the Wynad District Table Tennis Association.

The results: Table tennis: Boys final: Nirmala HS, Thariode, Kalpetta, Wynad bt Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ernakulam 3-0 (V.O. Melvin bt Ahlad Ajay 8-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7; Joel Jose Paul bt Akhilesh Viswanath 11-9, 11-5, 11-8; Jobinson James bt B. Anil 11-4, 11-8, 11-3). Third place: MMHS, New Mahe, Kannur bt Sacred EMHSS, Moolamattom, Idukki 3-1.

Girls final: Nirmala HS, Thariode, Wynad bt Kendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Kozhikode 3-0 (Agnes Joseph bt C.H. Remya 11-4, 11-5, 11-7; U. Ibtisaam bt S. Sangeetha 11-1, 11-5, 11-2; Sindhu Sebastian bt S. Shabnam 11-9, 11-9, 11-5). Third place: Sacred Heart EMHSS, Moolamattom bt GHS, Kunissery, Palakkad 3-1.

Inter-collegiate athletics

The Mahatma Gandhi University inter-collegiate athletic championship will be held at the Maharaja’s College ground here from December 12 to 14.

Only the half-marathon events will be held on the opening day, said Binu George Varghese, Assistant Director of MGU’s Physical Education Department. The next two days will have a packed schedule.

Kerala Sports Minister, M. Vijayakumar, will inaugurate .