NEW DELHI: Striker Baichung Bhutia, who became the first Indian to sign for an European football club, has been selected for Arjuna Award for 1998.Bhutia, who hails from Sikkim, is to get the award, conferred by the government for excellence in sports, from president K R Narayanan at a special function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on September 1, All-India Football Federation secretary K N Mour said.

Chowhan elected

NEW DELHI: Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary Mool Chand Chowhan has been elected as a council member of the game's international body.

Des Raj Chowdhery was elected as a member technical committee, Dr N Rege as member medical commission and T D Rangaramujan as one of the adviser to the president ITTF.

Live telecast

MUMBAI: Sony Entertainment Television has bagged the exclusive rights for the live telecast of the August 22-31 and September 2-7 Triangular limited overs tournaments to be held in Sri Lanka and Singaporerespectively.Sony TV's chief executive officer Kunal Dasgupta told a press conference that the private TV network has signed a deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) for $ 7.75 million (Rs 32.50 crore) to telecast international cricket played in the emerald isles for 18 months in the 1999-2000 season.

Kanitkar slams ton

BANGALORE: KSCA XI took a 110-run lead against MRF XI in the semi-finals of the KSCA Diamond Jubilee cricket tournament for the Coromandel Trophy on the penultimate day at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Hemang Badani made the most of a rudderless attack. Kanitkar was batting on 106 (92m, 89b, 9x4, 3x6) while Badani was 15 runs short of the three-figure mark when the visitors finished the day on a satisfying note (235-3 in 36 overs). With the second innings restricted to 40 overs, MRF are ahead by 125 runs with four overs to go.

Brief scores: At KSCA: MRF XI 179 and 235-3 in 36 overs (Hemang Badani batting 85, Hrishikesh Kanitkarbatting 106) vs KSCA XI 289 in 85.2 overs (Vijay Bharadwaj 105; Aashish Kapoor 3-42, Hrishikesh Kanitkar 3-32)At RSI: ONGC 338 vs India Cements 342-7 in 90 overs (VB Chandrashekar 45, S Suresh 53, S Sharath 99, MSK Prasad 30, Sunil Oasis 70, Amit Bhandari 3-102)

ENS and Agencies