Hosts India, Bangladesh and Kenya are the teams in the fray for the triangular series which is to be played as a day-night tournament in seven centres.

India clash with Bangladesh on May 14 at Mohali in the opener.The matches at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta (final) are to commence at 1600 hours while those scheduled at Mohali and Gwalior would begin at 1700 hours.

Award for Bagga
MUMBAI: Former National badminton champion and current men's doubles title holder, Rajiv Bagga of Hindustan Petroleum CorporationLimited, has been selected for the coveted Sahyog Foundation Sports Award for 1997.

Mumbai-based Bagga, who is also the world title holder of deaf badminton since 1989 and created a double hat-trick by winning gold medals in the men's singles and doubles during the silent Olympics at Copenhagen (Denmark) last year, would receive the award here on Wednesday, a release today said.

Bagga, who will get a purse of Rs. 11,000 for winning the annual sports award, had earlier won gold medals in the New Zealand silent Olympics in 1989 and also in 1993 at Bulgaria, the release added.

B'desh withdraw
MARGAO: The last minute withdrawal of Bangladesh in the Under-21 Rajiv Gandhi International Football Tournament, reduced the number of participants to three teams including Iraq, Uzbekistan and host India.

The secretary of the Goa Football Association (GFA) Alberto Colaco said on May 7 only one match will be played where Iraq will clash against Uzbekistan.

The Iraqi team has already arrived here whileUzbekistan will reach tomorrow, Colaco informed and added that the tournament will be played on a single league basis and the two teams emerging on top at the end of league will clash in the final.

Arjan's ranking
MUMBAI: Former National champion Arjan Singh has improved his ranking by two places (from 80 to 78) in the latest Dunlop-professional Squash Association world ranking announced here today.