BODY&MIND
A day when the disabled make merry
Ravi Bhatia

Every year December 3 is observed as the World Disability Day. Endolite India Limited celebrated this day to encourage solidarity amongst people with disabilities and bring into focus the issue of disabilities amongst other social groups.

The World Disability Day is a day for celebrating the rights of disabled people; a day for bringing disability to the centrestage of the nation; and to make a lasting impression on people’s mind! Like a disability activist once said, “It is our Divali, Christmas, Id and Holi – all combined into one!” This is one day in the year when disabled people get out of their homes with families and friends to have fun! The colourful celebrations each year depict the dreams and aspirations of millions of disabled people in our country.

Celebrations this year were special and at a mega scale. Around 7,000 people gathered at India Gate to have fun and enjoy the event. The President of India, Dr A.P.J. Kalam, spent time with the children. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was the chief guest at the ‘Walk to Freedom’ at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate.

Really Special: In an attempt to promote a barrier-free environment for children with disabilities and make the world a more participative and inclusive place for them to live in, the President of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, released ‘Children with Special Needs - All that you wanted to know’, on December 2, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The book has been authored by Mrs Usha Ram, Principal, Laxman Public School, Hauz Khas.

Some special children of Laxman Public School, from different disability groups, had the privilege to meet the President for 35 minutes. He spoke to the children individually displaying curiosity and deep concern for their disabilities and strengths.

His humility and friendliness was an unbelievable acknowledgement of greater tolerance and sensitivity to create equal opportunities for them. The children exhibited immense affection for the President by presenting a handmade card saying, “You are the Best President”.

Mrs Usha Ram is of the belief “Universalisation of education is incomplete without inclusive education. I hope this manual offers adequate solutions related to the identification and management of special children.” This manual is intended to focus on identification of children with special needs, associates and organisations and parents can cater to the specific needs of every child. It also focuses on training and teaching techniques and methodologies to children with special needs, programme planning and curriculum outline.

The book is a result of her in-depth study of the minutest encumbrances encountered by the parents and professionals while dealing with such children. There is a need to formulate and set guidelines and strategies, which could cater to day-to-day needs of special children. The manual identifies and lays stress on legislation and constitutional provisions of special children and effective rehabilitation. The strategies and techniques for mainstreaming these children with minimal changes in the existing infrastructure have also been elucidated. These changes include provision of a writer, extra time during examinations, appearing through National Institute of Open Schooling, wider options of subjects, adaptation in the curriculum and vocational education at the +2 level. Some therapeutic activities are designed to provide practical inputs and to relate various skills to day-to-day living.

President of Orthopaedic Association of India, Prof O.N. Nagi.

Live surgery: Prof O.N. Nagi, president of Orthopaedic Association of India and Head of the Department Orthopaedic Surgery, PGIMER, Chandigarh, performed the “first-ever live” total hip replacement surgery at Rockland Hospital, New Delhi.

This significant surgery used V40 EXETER Hip implant, and was a part of the first ever two-day ‘EXETER Course’ organised in India - a platform for the orthopaedic surgeons to learn grafting techniques from arthroplasty surgeons. Prof Ross Crawford, Director, Orthopaedic Surgery, Master Adult Hospital, Brisbane, Australia; and Dr Hugh English (Australia), Dr S. J. Yim (Korea) and Dr W. Y. Shen (Hong Kong) were the other orthopaedic experts who were present during the surgery.

The two-day course, conducted under the chairmanship of Prof Ross Crawford, divided into eight sessions of live demonstration, imparting of techniques and discussions regarding the V40 EXETER, wherein Prof Crawford and Prof Nagi deliberated with the participants and introduced latest concepts. The hallmark of the course was the promising live telecast of surgery, from Rockland Hospital, New Delhi. Besides, lectures on the basic science behind EXETER, presentation of clinical results, orations on various surgical approaches and techniques of implanting EXETER followed by discussions on the same along with and a Primary Hip workshop.

Elaborating the course content, Dr Nagi, who has been accredited with 1800 THR surgeries, said: “EXETER TJR system has revolutionised THR Arthroplasty as it is privileged with the lowest revision rate of less than 0.5 per year, among such system.”

The other focus point was Total Hip Replacement (THR) using EXETER in special cases and Bone Impaction Grafting Techniques that prevents the acetabular bone stock loss, the outcome in primary and revision total hip arthroplasty, through introduction of a biological method with tightly impacted cancellous allografts in combination with a cemented polyethyline cup for acetabular reconstruction.

With Bone Impaction Grafting Techniques, it is possible to replace the loss of bone and to repair normal hip mechanics and hip function with a standard implant. This session was followed by a workshop on Bone Impaction Grafting and demonstration on the benefits of THR and Bone Impaction Grafting techniques.

Talking to the media after the surgery, Dr Nagi said: “Diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis of the hip, which either restrict the movement of the patient or cause such a severe pain that he cannot move, are the major demanding factors of the THR surgery. Factors like a fall, a major accident etc leading to severe fractures of the hip bone or that of the neck of the femur mainly contributes towards total immobilisation. In such cases THR surgery is the only solution.

Total hip replacement surgery, taking just an hour to be performed, can be done in any demanding patient above 18 years of age. Dr Ross Crawford has successfully performed the surgery in Australia, in a 101-year-old, who is still doing well. In over 85 percent of the case the EXETER system has been known to function without problem for well over 30 years.

Dr Nagi highlighted the recuperation in 3-4 days, after which the patient starts walking, as the major significance of the surgery. “In the beginning, the patient requires a regular follow-up after every three months for a period of one year. Later, depending on his response to the implant, he may come for the same once a year or even once in two years,” he added.

He also assured “There are no risks involved as this surgery has been tremendously successful even in patients of diabetes and heart diseases. Besides, there are no side effects and only a better life ahead.”

SPORTS

Bukit Jalil Sports record handsome victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 6
Bukit Jalil Sports School, Malaysia scored a facile six-wicket victory against Delhi Private School, Sharjah in the DPS World Cup Invitational Cricket Tournament for Schools at the SGTB Khalsa College ground.

Scores: Delhi Private School: 74 all out in 28 overs. (Pranav Arora 24, Shukri Abdul Rahim 4 for 8). Bukit Jalil School: 75 for 4 in 15.3 overs (Maxwell Stephen 23, Rosman Zakarid 18, Kartik M 2 for 6).

In another match played at the Guru Gobind Singh College ground at Pitampura, Razzak High School, Bangladesh defeated DPS, R K Puram by 27 runs.

Scores: Razzak School: 190 for 9 in 40 overs (Saidul Bashar 62, Monem Kaysar 33, Linkon Taluckdar 30, Anuj Prasad 3 for 36, Tejaswi Yadav 2 for 34).

DPS: 163 all out in 30 overs (Hossain Arif 2 for 25, Saifuddin 2 for 28).

Willes Little Flower, Salwan Boys, English Foundation, Bukit Jalil, Razzak School, Ravindra Public, DPS Mathura Road and DAV Chandigarh have entered the knock-out round.

Sunday’s fixtures: Willes Little Flower vs DPS Dharan (Nepal)—DDA Complex, Saket; Salwan Boys vs Sirajgonj Multilateral School—Guru Gobind College, Pitampura; English Foundation (Pakistan) vs Parzowar School, Bangladeshsh—SGTB Khalsa College.

National Ranking TT in Delhi

New Delhi, December 6
The National Ranking Table Tennis Championship (North Zone) will be held at the Talkatora indoor stadium in Delhi from December 8 to 11. Six hundred players from all over the country will participate in the championship.

The North Zone Championship will be a spring board for the players to gear up for the 65th Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championship to be held at the IMT Club at Manesar (Gurgaon) from December 13 to 19.

Chopra takes joint lead

Indian-born golf star Daniel Chopra fired a classy round of seven-under 65 to move back atop the leader board alongside overnight leader Mathias Gronberg at a tally of 13-under 203 after day three of the six-day Final Qualifying Stage of the US PGA Tour.

Arjun Atwal at tied-31st place, climbed within one stroke of the cut-off mark for a guaranteed USPGA Tour Card, courtesy a well-compiled four-under 68. Atwal's tournament tally stands at five-under 211. The top 30 golfers in the FSQ earn a direct entry into the US PGA tour, while the remaining earn full exemption or conditional entry into the nationwide tour. OSR

Geeta, Santosh win DU half marathon
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 6
Geeta of Daulat Ram College and Santosh Kumar of Ramjas College won the women’s and men’s race respectively in the Delhi University Inter-College Half Marathon (21km) on Saturday.

Geeta clocked 1.18:42.0 minutes to win the women’s race while her team-mate Deepa took the second position. Neetu of Aditi College and Rinki of Kalindi finished third and fourth, respectively.

In the men’s section, Santosh Kumar of Ramjas finished the race in 1.15:36.6 minutes to take the first position. Kailash Ruhil of PGDAV and Kapil Dev of Ambedkar College came second and third, in that order.

Police athletic meet
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 6
The 52nd All-India Police Athletic Championship will be held at the Dronacharya Stadium, BSF Campus, Chhawla, from December 9 to 12. Union Minister of State for Home I. D. Swamy will inaugurate the four-day meet. Border Security Force Director-General Ajay Raj Sharma, who is the patron of the meet, chairman A. K. Mitra (Additional DG) and organising secretary S. K. Dutta, IG (Training) will also be present.

Over 800 athletes, representing 23 teams of police units of the Centre and States, will participate in the championship. There will be 22 events in the men’s section and 17 in the women’s section. 

Ram Charan trounce PNB in DDCA League
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, December 6
Lala Ram Charan cricket team trounced Punjab National Bank (PNB) by ten wickets in an A-II Division match of the DDCA League at the RSC ground.

Scores: PNB: 136 for in 40 overs (H. S. Kohli 37 n o, Sukhvinder Singh 35, Mahdeep Singh 2 for 28, Parvinder Singh 2 for 15).

Lala Ram Charan: 139 for no loss in 24.4 overs (Satish Kumar 70 n o, Amarjeet Singh 56 n o).

In an A-I Division match, Times of India defeated Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) by 122 runs at the Yamuna Complex ground.

Scores: TOI: 203 for 8 in 40 overs (Rahul Nigam 68, Tarun Kumar 36, Pradeep Kumar 3 for 29, Bhuwan Chand 2 for 31).

DTC: 81 all out in 23 overs (Kulvinder Singh 25, Himanshu Chawla 4 for 27, Sandeep Angurala 3 for 16).

U.K World win

U K World defeated Ganga International School by six wickets in the third Kehar Singh Memorial Under-15 Cricket Tournament at the Vikas Puri School ground.

Scores: Ganga School: 108 for 9 in 30 overs (Shayand Kumar 34, Sachin Aggarwal 3 for 17, Shivam Sharma 3 for 4).

U K World: 112 for 4 in 21 overs (Shivam Sharma 42 n o, Tarun Yadav 36, Neeraj Kumar 3 for 24).

Airports Authority advance

Airports Authority of India (AAA) defeated Polyplex by 68 runs in the Luminous Cup Cricket Tournament.

Scores: AAA: 170 in 25 overs (Mahesh Chand 32, Raj Kumar 29, Sameer Kumar 4 for 48, Virender Kumar 2 for 22).

Polyplex: 102 all out in 18.3 overs (Saurav Bhatia 23, Kamaljeet 17, Mohinder 3 for 8 (hattrick), Vikram Chauhan 3 for 21).

Eventus Cricket

Reebok defeated SAR Group by six wickets in the third Eventus Cricket Tournament.

Scores: SAR Group: 179 for 9 in 25 overs (Mahesh Kumar 92, Amresh Pradhan 18, Abhilash Chopra 3 for 21, Kapil Kumar 2 for 33).

Reebok: 183 for 4 in 21.3 overs (Kunal Rekhi 67, Sunil Rawat 41, Abhilash Chopra 20 n o, Amresh Pradahn 1 for 24).

Focus Trophy Cricket

Trials to select the Metro Delhi Cricket team (under-22) to play in the All-India BDM Focus Trophy Cricket Tournament will be held at the Indira Gandhi stadium cricket ground on Monday from 10 am. Players born on and after August 25, 1982 are eligible to take part in the trials.