While athletic and volleyball trials were held at the Sector 7 Sports Complex, the selection for hockey was organised at the Sector 18 Hockey Stadium and football at Sector 17 Football Stadium.

The organisers admitted that the response for the trials, being conducted under the SAI National Search Talent Contest Scheme was not `so encouraging as the boys are appearing in their annual examinations'.

There were `general trials' in the age group of 8 to 12 while `specific' selection trials were conducted in the age group of 12-14 years. Elaborating the `specific' trials, a spokesman of the SAI, explained that various tests were conducted to know the specific interest of the players while the general test in the age group of 8 to 12 is to determine the physical fitness of the players.

The selected players would be admitted in various schools of Chandigarh and would be given scientific training under qualified coaches. Their performance would be monitored from time to time. Those showing improvement would be retained and the others dropped. A seniority list will be prepared to after the trials.

Badminton meet
The All-India Civil Services Badminton Championship being organised Haryana will begin on February 25 at 10 a.m. at the War Heroes Memorial Stadium, Ambala Cantonment.

According to a press release issued by the Haryana Sports Department seven teams (men and women) from Regional Sports Boards and Civil Secretariats have already reported at the venue.

The first round matches will be played between Assam and Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra vs Kerala, Bhuvneshwar (RSB) and Hyderabad (RSB), Haryana vs Vadodara (RSB), Delhi (Central Sectt) and MP, Himachal vs Delhi, Bangalore (RSD) and Chandigarh, Mumbai (RSB) vs Rajasthan, Faridabad (RSB) vs Goa.

Chennai (RSB), Calcutta (RSB) and Kanpur (RSB) have been given bye into the second round on the basis of their last year's performance.