SJFI award for Age staffer

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi

June 9: The Asian Age’s Deputy Sports Editor Harpreet Kaur Lamba bagged the award for the best off-beat story at the third Sports Journalists’ Federation of India’s Indian Sports Journalism Awards for Excellence in Mumbai on Saturday.

She had also been nominated for the prestigious award in 2006.

Vipin Pawar of DNA and Nirmal Shekar of the Hindu were adjudged the Indian Photographer of the Year and Indian Sports Writer of the Year for 2007 respectively.

Former All-England champion and current national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand and Board of Control for Cricket in India’s national selector Dilip Vengsarkar presented trophies and certificates to the winners and shortlisted candidates.

The judges for the awards were cue sport legend Geet Sethi, former India cricketer Madhav Apte, Arko Datta of Reuters and former India hockey goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi.

Meanwhile, West Zone won the J K Bose Trophy All-India Twenty20 cricket tournament for sports journalists by virtue of superior run rate after finishing level on points with North Zone on Sunday.

Both teams earned four points after the third and final round of matches, scheduled at the D Y Patil Ground in Navi Mumbai, were washed out by heavy rains. Sports scribes from around the country had converged here to play a Twenty20 tournament, other events and take part in the annual convention of the Sports Journalists Federation of India.

The five-day congregation, which began on June 4, also saw them participating in table tennis (AC Bali Trophy), badminton (women), golf (putting) and football (penalty kicks), a symposium on Beijing Olympics and a quiz competition on the forthcoming Euro Soccer.