HEALTH

Meeting to review revised TB control programme
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 29
A meeting of civil surgeons and district TB officers to review the revised national TB control programme was held at Red Bishop, here today, under the chairpersonship of Ms Urvashi Gulati, Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary Health, Government of Haryana.

Ms Gulati, in her keynote address, directed the participants to strengthen the referral mechanism, involvement of the private sector health facilities and enhancing awareness as well as registering more DOT providers in every village.

Ms Gulati stressed the need for strengthening the supervision and monitoring policy. She directed District TB officers to tour their areas extensively alongwith the supervisory staff so that initial defaulters were reduced which would improve cure rate and quality of sputum microscopy.

She further added that special efforts be made to seek the involvement of pediatric specialists in hospitals and medical colleges to follow up the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP)- Indian Association of Paediatrics (IAP) Guidelines because pediatric patient account for 6 per cent of the all new TB cases.

Dr N.K.Sharma, Director General Health Services, Haryana, stressed the need for re-training the staff under RNTCP for the improvement of quality and directed participants for the implementation of 100 per cent DOTS.

Candlelight march on AIDS
Our Correspondent

Mohali, November 29
A candlelight march was organised to create awareness about AIDS here this evening .

The march , organised by the local unit of the Family Planning Association of India, was flagged off from Udham Singh Bhawan in Phase III-A by Mr K.B.S.Sidhu, Project Director, Punjab AIDS Control Society, who is also. The Secretary, Health Department, Punjab.

The awareness march , which was organised on the directions of the Punjab AIDS Control Society, passed through Madanpur Chowk, and culimated at Chawla Chowk in Phase VII. Slogans to fight AIDS were also raised.

SPORTS

AG Punjab enter semifinal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29
Hosts AG, Punjab, thrashed AG, Nagpur, 3-0 in the last league match of the All-India Inter-Zonal league- cum-knockout Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) Hockey Tournament being held at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, here today.

AG, Punjab, opened their account in the 18th minute through Ravinder Singh. Vikram Saini then increased his team’s tally when he sounded the board in the 26th minute. After the break, Manjit Singh struck in the 40th minute to complete his team’s tally.

Earlier, AG Orissa won a well-fought match against Delhi Audit by 3-2. AG Orissa took the initial lead when Rajeshwar Ekka scored a field goal in the sixth minute. Abhay Samantaray of AG, Orissa, further increased his team’s tally when he scored another field goal in the 17th minute. A.K. Siwan of AG, Orissa, scored the third goal for his team in the 24th minute. At half time, AG, Orissa, were leading 3-0.

After the break, Delhi Audit bounced back into the game through Sanjiv Sharma when he found the target in the 31st minute. Amit Sharma further shortened the lead of the Orissa team when he netted the ball in the 41st minute. In the end, AG, Orissa, won the match by 3-2 and moved into the semifinal.

In another match, AG, Andhra Pradesh, riding high on Habib Mohammad’s skill, outclassed AG, Rajasthan, 4-1 and ensured a berth in the semifinal.

AG, Rajasthan, opened their account in the 10th minute when Abhiraj Singh beat two Andhra defenders to put the ball into the goal. Habib Mohammad of Andhra struck twice in the 14th and 21st minute and gave his team the lead. At drinks, Andhra was leading 2-1.

After the interval, Ilyas Ahmed further increased the lead when he converted a penalty corner in the 40th minute. In the last minute of the game, Habib once again dodged the defence line of AG Rajasthan scored the final goal of the match.

AG, Bihar, had a 7-1 win over AG, Karnataka. AG Bihar, scored the first goal in the sixth minute when Xavier Gidh made no mistake in converting a penalty stroke into a goal. AG, Karnataka, scored the equaliser through Robert Kennedy in the 28th minute. At drinks both the teams were at 1-1.

AG, Bihar, who dominated the game after the interval, scored goals at will. Perejan Barla scored in the 36th minute, Aiois Bhengra scored in the 37th minute, Yogesh Kumar scored in 39th minute, Aiois Bhengra again scored in the 44th minute, while Joseph Soreng struck twice in the 47th and the 52nd minute and helped their team to win the match by 7-1

Tomorrow, in the first semifinal, AG, Punjab, will take on Delhi Audit at 1 pm while AG Bihar will clash with AG, Andhra Pradesh, in the second semifinal at 2.30 pm.

Old is gold, prove veterans
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service

Jatinder Marwaha G.S. Sidhu

Chandigarh, November 29
Defying all adversities of ripe age, two city-based 74- plus sportspersons — G.S. Sidhu and Jatinder Marwaha — can serve as an inspiration to youngsters.

Advocate G.S. Sidhu and Jatinder Marwaha are not only making their families and well-wishers proud but are also bringing glory to the city and the country with their achievements in sports.

In the 14th Asia Masters Athletic Championship, which concluded recently at Bangalore, Sidhu clinched top honours for the country in shot put (men 70 plus) by putting the shot at 10.73m. He also won the bronze medal in hammer throw (25.84m) in the same age group.

Jatinder Marwaha brought laurels to the country by winning two silver medals in the meet in the 800 m and 5000 m walk events.

This is not the first time that these veterans have won titles in athletics. While Jatinder Marwaha, who took to the track at the age of 64 years, has so far accumulated over 30 medals including gold, silver and bronze in a span of 10 years, G.S. Sidhu has remained the national shot put champion (veteran) since 2004. He also bagged the bronze medal in the 13th Asia Masters Athletics Championship 2005 at Bangkok.

“It was my dream to win gold in the Asia Masters, which has come true,” said Sidhu, who has been practicing law at the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Jatinder Marwaha, who won one gold and two silver medals in the All-India Masters Athletics Championship in June in Pondicherry was a Provident Fund and ESI clerk in the Campa Cola factory.

The administration or any government agency has never lend any financial help to these veterans and hasn’t recognised their achievements. Most times, these players have had to dish out money from their own pocket to participate in the events.

“Many states provide financial support to veteran players to encourage them but here nobody cares for sportspersons like us,” said Sidhu.

Chandigarh restricted to 141 in u-15 tourney
Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 29
With his six-wicket haul for 54 runs, Robin Thapar of Jalandhar restricted Chandigarh to 141 in 49 overs at the Punjab State (under-15) Super League Cricket Tournament, being played at Yadvindra Public School, here today.

Batting first, Chandigarh scored 141 runs in their first innings. Shah Nawaj (60) and Akhil Aggarwal (33) were the main scorers. Besides Rohan, Kamal Passi took the remaining four wickets for 16 runs.

In reply, Jalandhar made 78 for 4 in 42 overs at the end of today’s play. Karanpreet and Pargat were batting on 26 and 21, respectively. For Chandigarh, Rahul Chara claimed three wickets, conceding 11 runs.

Brief score

Chandigarh: 141 all out in 49 overs (Shah Nawaj 60, Akhil Aggarwal 33, Rohan 6 for 54, Kamal Passi 4 for 16).

Jalandhar: 78 for 4 in 42 overs (Karanpreet 26 n o, Pargat 21 n o, Rahul Chara 3 for 11).

DAV college enter final
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29
An unbeaten knock of 200 runs off 160 balls by Sumit Dhiman with 21 fours and one six enabled DAV-10 to beat the SD College-32 team by 91 runs in the first semifinal of the Inter- College Cricket Tournament for the Administrator’s Cup at Cricket Stadium, Sector 16 here, today.

DAV - 10 won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 333 runs in the allotted 50 overs. Sumit Dhiman scored 200 runs not out and Sidharth Sharma scored a valuable 77 runs with the help of six fours.

For SD College, Sandeep Bhatacharya took two wickets for 63 runs and Munish took one wicket for 47 runs.

SD College was all out for 242 runs in 49.5 overs. Rahul Arora scored 75 runs with the help of nine fours. Sandeep Bhatacharya scored 76 runs with four boundaries and Sumit Ohri scored 34 runs. Karan Kherwal of DAV College took two wickets for 43 runs. Sumit took one wicket for 29 runs. Vishal took one wicket for four runs.

Health benefits of choikwangdo highlighted
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29
A seminar on optimum health, self-defence and personal development was organised by the Choi Kwang Do Martial Art International, India, at YWCA, Sector 11 here.

Mr Bikram S. Thapa, an international instructor and examiner of the martial art with a fourth degree black belt, spoke about the benefits of martial art exercises.

“As choikwangdo exercises are based on yoga, the practice of these not only helps improve the skills of self-defence but also helps in improving the health and the immune system,” he said.