G S Kochhar, chairman, Media and Publicity Committee and Mrs Madhu Brar, said that St Xavier's meet is a categorised tournament in the Indian Golf Union calendar. Besides Chandigarh, the other centres of the IGU categoried tournaments are Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta and the finals at New Delhi.

The new crop of golfers from Calcutta, Dehradun, Delhi, Indore, Jamshedpur and other parts of the country have staked their claim for the St Xavier's crystal trophies. Participants will be contesting in different categories -- below 18, below 15, below 13 and below 11. The prizes in all categories will be won on the basis of gross scores only.

The cut off will be applied after two days.

Boys defending champion Ashok Kumar has withdrawn from the meet as he has been selected to participate in the international tournament in China. Defending champion in the girls category Irina Brar is in top form having played a round of two under par in the Aman Nat Memorial to lift the trophy. She has also recently won Chandigarh Golf Association tournament. She is confident of winning the St Xavier's tournament to complete a rare hat-trick.

Ten golfers from St Xavier's are also in the competitions.

Ricky in final
Ricky Singh will take on Mohit Bajaj in the final of the junior section in the first Chandigarh State pool tournament at the Billirds Club in Sector 37.

Ricky beat Maneet 4-2 while Mohit Bajaj got the better of Akshay Sharma 4-2.In the senior section, Sameer beat Gurwinder Singh 5-0.