New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) North Zone claimed the JK Bose Inter-Zonal T20 Cricket Trophy without losing a single game throughout the tournament, while the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai (SJAM-1) won the AC Bali Table Tennis Tournament team title at the Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) National Convention’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in New Delhi on Monday.

North Zone sealed the cricket title with a crushing 10-wicket victory over East Zone at the Roshanara Cricket Ground, with opener Rishabh Singh blazing an unbeaten 87 off 40 balls and captain Akash Rawal finishing unbeaten on 31 as they overhauled East Zone’s 135/6 in just 9.5 overs.

Rishabh Singh finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 289 runs in the competition. East Zone had posted a competitive total on the back of Pranab Shil’s explosive 47 not out off 23 balls and an unbeaten 39 from captain Abhishek, but North’s batters made light work of the chase.

In the other cricket fixture at the Delhi Police Ground, West Zone dismissed South Zone for 97 in 18.5 overs, with Deep Sudhakar taking 4-13 and Taus Rizvi claiming 3-13. West Zone then cruised to victory without loss in 13 overs, with Rizvi contributing an unbeaten 53 and Devendra Pandey remaining not out on 36.

In the table tennis event at the Roshanara Club, SJAM-1’s Amol Karhadkar and Ashwin Ferro defeated the Delhi Sports Journalists Association’s (DSJA-1) trio of Bharat Sharma, Kushan Sarkar, and Norris Pritam to claim the team championship title.

Karhadkar also dominated the individual events, winning the men’s singles title ahead of Keerthi of the Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists Association, before combining with Ferro to win the men’s doubles, with the DSJA pair of Sarkar and Sharma finishing runners-up.

Meanwhile, Bengaluru emerged champions in the basketball competition with Indore finishing runners-up, while in the futsal (freekick) event, the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai-2 (SJAM-2) were crowned champions, and the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai-1 (SJAM-1) finished runners-up.

Brief scores:

South Zone 97 all out in 18.5 overs (VL Sashank 34; Deep Sudhakar 4-13, Taus Rizvi 3-13) lost to West Zone 98 for no loss in 13 overs (Taus Rizvi 53 not out, Devendra Pandey 36 not out) by 10 wickets.

East Zone 135/6 in 20 overs (Pranab Shil 47 not out, Abhishek 39 not out) lost to North Zone 136/0 in 9.5 overs (Rishabh Singh 87 not out, Akash Rawal 31 not out) by 10 wickets and won the title.

–IANS

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