Ranchi, Sept. 1: Starved of celebrity faces, the surfacing of two national-level cricketers Nikhil Chopra and Vijay Dahiya at a talent search quiz contest organised by Arena Multimedia today, turned out to be crowd puller with students making a beeline to get close to the players.

The programme, slated to begin at 12 noon, finally took off at 4:30 pm, but the wait was its worth. School and college students in teams of two from all over the capital participated in the preliminary round based on general awareness questions and current affairs. The winner of the contest was declared “Mastermind Jharkhand”.

The quiz master was Terry O’Brien, whose questions ranged from “which sportsperson is nick-named ‘Honey’?” to “Which product’s name was a translation of ‘eating lime’ into Hindi?”. Eight teams were selected for the quarter finals while three made it to the semis. The winner would get a Pentium 4 computer while the others would go home with video CD.

Students from colleges and schools shared the same platform to display their talents. Students from DAV, DPS, BIT-Mesra, Marwari College and Bishop Westcott participated in groups of two.

Land reclamation: The Central Fuel Research Institute (CFRI) has set a unique record in the field of land reclamation using bio-technological means, reports our correspondent. They have been successful in growing Aromatic and medicinal plants like citronella, lemon grass, Khas grass, muskadana (latakasturi), senna, abroma, and palma rose on the reclaimed land.

The research and development wing of the Institute, at the behest of state government’s science and technology department last year, took up the reclamation job of 50 acres of barren land in Chandankiyari block.