The qualifying round of the baseball pitching contest that aims at spotting talented person with strong arm saw six youngsters from the Capital making it to the main round.

Among them was a 17-year-old Manoj Shukla, the youngest of the lot. The contest was held in the Capital on Saturday and Sunday.

Shukla, an aspiring youngster, whose pitching speed was 83 miles per hour (133 kmph), achieved the minimum standard to advance to the main round which is termed as the Million Dollar Arm Hunt.

The fastest of the search was, however, another teenager, Dinesh Kumar Patel. This 18-year-old had a pitching speed of 87 mph (139 kmph). He was the fastest among the six qualifiers who made it to the final round which will be held in Mumbai next month.

Another aspiring youngster, Sunny Rana was in second spot. The 22-year-old had a pitching speed of 86 mph (138 kmph). Eighteen-year-old Rinku Singh (84mph, 134 kmph), 20-year-old Pawan Kumar (83 mph, 133 kmph) and 23-year-old Satish Kumar (also 83 mph) were others who made the grade.

All is not lost for the sub-par performers, though.

Those who missed the Delhi round marginally will be allowed to participate in the next round of the contest, to be held in Chandigarh on February 9 and 10.

Chandigarh apart, qualifying rounds will also be held in Kolkata, Goa and Bangalore.

All the qualifiers will finally converge in Mumbai, which is the last leg of the qualifying round.

The Mumbai round will be tougher. The contestants will have three strikes in all of which they will have to attain 90mph (144 kmph) speeds.

There will be a final selection from that for the ultimate winner. That final winner, still, may not get the big purse, because he will have to satisfy a host of other criteria.