Gaurav Dalal scores a double

Chennai: Chennai lad Gaurav Dalal stamped his authority, winning both races he competed in and enhancing his chances of defending his title in the 12th JK Tyre National Road Racing Championship at suburban Irungattukotytai here today. On a day of clean racing in all events, Ajay Kini of Wallace Sports in the Formula Swift class and K Rajinii in the Superbikes experts category hogged the limelight, while it was Sailesh Bolisetti`s day out in the Super Saloons Class. In the Formula Rolon event Dalal, who was on pole, was in total command, perhaps knowing the circuit well enough having competed in different class for over a decade. His strategy of building up a huge lead from others to remain in front helped him as there was strong competition for other placings. Delhi`s Karthik Shankar, who has taken the place of championship leader Aswin Sundar (who is away in Germany) for Speed NK Racing, did well to finish second while Kolkata`s Amitrajit Ghosh of Team Red Rooster was third. The Formula Swift class race saw Chennai lad Ajay Kini from Wallace Sports register his maiden victory this season, warding of challenges from three others. Kini on pole got off to a good start but those behind soon caught up and he was quite often pushed to second spot. Kini found his line to ward off challenges from Sudharshan Rao of Bangalore and Deepak, who were behind him. Kini forged ahead about a kilometre from the finish and won. Bureau Report Padmini gets Ekalabya award Bhubaneswar: International chess player Padmini Rout bagged the prestigious Ekalabya Award for 2008. The annual award carrying a cash prize of Rs one lakh and a citation given in recognition of outstanding performance in sports had been instituted by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPACT). There are two runners-up awards carrying cash prizes of Rs 10,000 each and citations. Padmini has a brilliant track record during last two years winning second position in the Asian Junior Girls` Chess Championship in December 2007 and 3rd position in u-14 Commonwealth Chess championship the same year. She has excelled in many national and international events during this period, bagging second position in National Chess Championship in May 2006 and securing second position in the same championship next year. For the second consecutive year, two of the three awards have gone to women. Runners-up awards were bagged by international woman athlete Shrabani Nanda and young rower Rohit Kumar who would be given a citation and Rs 10,000 each for remarkable performance in international and national level championships in their respective fields between 2006 and 2008. Bureau Report