HONG KONG DEFEATS MALDIVES CRICKET UPDATE Kathmandu, 29 March: Hong Kong defeated the Maldives by 153 runs in the third match of ACC T-20 Elite Cup Cricket played at the ground of Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, under group A, on Friday, RSS reports. Hong Kong had collected 198 runs losing four wickets in all 20 overs.In reply, the Maldives made only 45 runs losing all wickets just in 10 overs. Waqash Barkat made one six and 14 fours contributing maximum of 109 runs to Hong Kong while Irfan Ahmad contributed two fours with total 16 runs, Atkinson made 19 runs with two fours, Nijakat Khan made 18 runs with two fours. Likewise, CG Kruger made 20 runs for Hong Kong but Tanbir Afjal returned to pavilion with no runs. Afjal and Irfan Ahmad took three wickets each, KC Shah took two wickets and Nadeem Ahamad took one wicket. With the victory over the Maldives, Hong Kong registered two more marks in its table. Nnnn INDIAN PM RAISES BRAHMAPUTR ISSUE WITH CHINESE PRESIDENT XI Kathamandu, 29 March: In the first-high level contact after the leadership changes in China, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Chinese President Xi Jinping and pledged to take the ties on a ‘higher growth trajectory’ while raising the issue of Beijing’s plans to build three dams on the Brahmaputra river. Singh called on Xi, who took over as President earlier this month as part of the once-in-a-decade change of guard in China, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. This is the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders at the highest level, agencies report from Durban. “The bilateral relationship with China is of great importance. As the prime minister of India, it has been my great privilege to interact regularly with the Chinese leadership over the last decade,” Singh said. “I Hope to intensify such dialogue and communications with you and the new leadership of China to put our relationship on an even higher growth trajectory,” he added. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao and ex-Premier Wen Jiabao met Singh more than 14 times in the last few years on the sidelines of BRICS and other international conferences. On his part, Xi hailed Singh as a statesman and noted that he had contributed a lot for bettering China-India ties. He said he would like to continue to build on that relationship with India. “Water was discussed,” official sources said tersely following the 25-minute meeting late last night. Singh is understood to have conveyed to Xi concerns in India over the Chinese proposal to construct three dams across Brahmaputra. India has said the proposal would affect water flow to India while China says it was just run-of-the mill project that would not hold water. China is currently building dams at Dagu, Jiacha and Jiexu in addition to a 510 MW water project at Zangmu. India and China have a deal on sharing the data of the Brahmaputra waters but do not have any treaty on sharing the river waters. The entire expanse of the bilateral relationship was discussed and the meeting was very positive, the sources said. nnnn