LUCKNOW, Dec. 31 -- Spirited Hanu Verma defeated Om Yadav 9-8 (2) to win the men's singles title at the Uttar Pradesh State Tennis Tournament, at the Vijayantkhand Stadium here on Tuesday. The women's singles title went to Aairah, who defeated Sasa Katiyar 9-2 quite convincingly. Nirbhay Singh Soin won the men's 30+ singles title, defeating Raj Kumar 9-0, whereas the men's singles +40 title was won by Sunil Kumar, who defeated Ankur Kapoor 9-7 in a thriller. In the men's 50+ singles final, Manish Mehrotra favourite Alok Bhatnagar 9-7. Sports Hostel Lucknow and Sports Hostel Jhansi stormed into the final of the Junior Men's State Hockey Tournament, notching up contrasting wins, at the Padma Shri Mohammad Shahid Hockey Stadium here on Tuesday. Sports Hostel Lucknow defeated Varanasi 9-0, whereas Sports Hostel Jhansi beat Sports College Lucknow 3-1. As many as 500 cricketers will go under the hammer in the players auction of the Lucknow Premier League (LPL), scheduled to be held in January. The maiden edition of the LPL is expected to take place in March here in Lucknow. The LPL, which is being organised for the first time in Lucknow, is the brain child of the Cricket Association Lucknow and is being managed by Quad Sports, a professional sports event management company. I n all 1200 players took part in the five-day selection trials, which came to an end on Tuesday. It was done under the watchful guidance of former India cricketer and CAL's selection committee chairman, Gyanendra Pandey along with former Ranji Trophy players Arish Alam and Abhinav Dixit. The scouts of all six franchises were present on all five days of trials and watched and identified talents for their respective franchises. The six franchises are: Lucknow Challengers, Lucknow Panthers, Lucknow Aces, Lucknow Lions, Lucknow Nawabs and Lucknow Strikers. Gauransh Jaiswal emerged victorious in the 9th Shail Bala Memorial Open Chess Tournament on the basis of the toe-break score after being tied at five points each with International Master Pawan Batham here on Tuesday....