Chandigarh, April 7
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today assured doctors of accepting their genuine demands as state government was committed to the propagation of the profession.

He said this while inaugurating a two-day all-India homoeopathic seminar at Haryana Panchayat Bhavan here.

Health minister Kartar Devi, while exhorting doctors to participate in government health programmes, expressed her anguish at the falling sex ratio of females in Haryana.

While announcing the opening of a government homeopathic dispensary at Jat Dharamsala in Kurukshetra, the health minister expressed agreement with the demand of government homoeopathic doctors for providing gazetted status to them.

On the opening a world-class national institute of homoeopathy in the state, she assured doctors of making concerted efforts to get it started at the earliest.

Chandigarh, April 7
“Both nasal and lung allergies are manifestations of inflammation of the respiratory system, which is a common tract from nose to lungs. While different patients may show different symptoms belonging to either nose (rhinitis) or lungs (asthma), the mechanisms are similar,” said Dr Ruby Pawankar, professor of allergy and rhinology at Tokyo University, Japan, here today.

Dr Pawankar, who has done extensive work on allergic mechanisms in asthma, was delivering the 7th Dr S.K. Malik Memorial Oration at the PGI.

She quoted her work and the evidence available in the literature on the role of inflammatory and allergy-producing cells in causing asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Dr Pawankar is an Indian medical graduate who obtained her PhD from Tokyo University and finally occupied the prestigious position of a professor.

She is also engaged in promotion of research in respiratory allergy through the Asian Asthma and Allergy Foundation.

“Asthma is a chronic but reversible form of airway obstruction in which the flow of the air in and out of lungs gets impeded,” said Dr Pawankar.

In a group of individuals, such as those whose control of asthma was poor or were smokers and exposed to repeated infections or air pollution, airway obstruction became partially or completely irreversible, she said, adding that this resulted from what was now labelled as remodelling of the airways.

Dr Pawankar added that remodelling generally resulted from the persistence of trigger mechanisms responsible for airway inflammation and finally ended with fixed and permanent obstruction in the respiratory tract.

It was responsible for severe and progressive breathlessness, cough and other respiratory disabilities, finally culminating in respiratory failure,” she added.

Chandigarh, April 7
The World Health Day was celebrated by the School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, at the Urban Health Training Centre, Indira Colony, Mani Majra. The theme of the World Health Day 2007 is " International Health Security".

Prof Rajesh Kumar, head of the department of community medicine, stressed on the need to control rapidly spreading diseases, which are threatening regional, national and global security. He emphasised the importance of environmental sanitation measures to prevent most of water and vector-borne diseases.

Priority health issues such as HIV/AIDS, vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and malnutrition were highlighted by Mayor Harjinder Kaur, who inaugurated the function.

The event was marked by poster competition for school students on the theme “ Heart diseases and risk factors.” The event culminated with the flagging off of a rally by school students for generating awareness on environmental sanitation.

Similarly, the Citizen Awareness Group, in collaboration with the Chandigarh Social Welfare Board, organised health awareness camp at Government Model Primary School, Palsora.

Surinder Verma, chairman of the group, urged the participants to take preventive measures to stay away from diseases.

Social Care and Development Society also organised a health-cum-medical camp, along with the State AIDS Control Society, UT, at Badheri village.

A camp was organised to spread awareness about HIV, AIDS and STDs.

Chandigarh, April 7
Third seed Akshit Joshi of CLTA beat second seed Mandeep Gill 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the boys’ under-16 category on the opening day of the YMCA Total Tennis Masters Championship at Total Tennis Academy, Sector 11, here today.

In the boys’ u-12 category, Nihit Rawal of Total Tennis, Chandigarh, and Karanbir Singh of Total Tennis, Ludhiana, were locked in a fierce battle right from the outset.

Nihit played a controlled game to wrap up the first set 7-4 in a tie-breaker. Karan came back strongly by winning the second set 6-1.

In the third and final set, Karan gave away 4-1 advantage to Nihit, who won five games in a row to take the match.

The match lasted two hours. The final score read 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 in Nihit’s favour.

In the boys’ under-12 category, top seed Nishchay Rawal of Total Tennis, Chandigarh, proved too good for Himanshu Gupta of Chandigarh Club, as Nishchay thrashed him 6-0, 6-0.

Second seed Fatehdeep Singh of Total Tennis, Ludhiana, beat Utkarsh Khosla 6-4, 7-6 (3).

In the boys’ under-14 category, Nishchay Rawal beat Ravisher Singh 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Jaivardhan Gupta beat Harmeet Singh 6-4, 6-2.

The results: Boys u-12: Fatehdeep Singh b Utkarsh Khosla 6-4, 7-6 (3); Harmeet Singh b Himanshu Gupta 6-1, 6-2; Nihit Rawal b Karanveer Singh 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4; Fatehdeep Singh b Himanshu Gupta 6-1, 6-1; Nishchay Rawal b Himanshu Gupta 6-0, 6-0.

Boys u-14: Nishchay Rawal b Ravisher Singh 6-4, 6-4; Jaivardhan Gupta b Harmeet Singh 6-4, 6-2; Jaivardhan Gupta b Ravisher Singh 6-4, 7-5.

Boys u-16: Digvijay Mehta b Karanveer Singh 6-0, 6-0; Mandeep Gill b Gauravinder Toor 6-3, 6-1; Tejvansh Singh b Vaibhav Gupta 6-1, 6-4; Raghav Singal b Shobit Phutela 6-1, 6-3; Akshat Joshi b Karanveer Singh 6-0, 6-0; Raghav Singal b Vaibhav Gupta 6-2, 6-0; Gauravinder Toor b Shobit Phutela 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Digvijay Mehta b Tejvansh Singh 6-1, 4-6, 6-0; Akshat Joshi b Mandeep Gill 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

Girls: Prabhamrit Kaur b Sonali Bansal 6-2, 6-2; Navjot Kaur b Shrishti Sardana 6-4, 6-2.

Chandigarh, April 7
Harmeet Singh of Chandigarh (15.25 points) is among 11 local boys who figure in the u-12 singles main draw of the AITA Talent Series being conducted by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association at the CLTA complex in Sector 10 here.

The qualifying matches began today while the main draw will be on April 9.

Nischay Rawal, is ranked 27th with 15 points, Jatinder Singh (43rd, 8 pts), Srijal Uppal (55th, 5.75 pts), Dheer Anush Singh Bhatti ( 95th, 3 pts), Rohin Vinayak (95th, 3 pts), Ravinder Singh (119th, 2.75 pts), Ranjeet (183rd, 1 pt) and unseeded Sachin are the other Chandigarh players who are in the main draw on the basis of their ranking and points in AITA.

Bhavika Wadhawan of Chandigarh is the top-ranked player in the girls under-12 singles category. She is among five local girls to get into the main draw. She is ranked 16th with 33.5 points.

Charvi Sexena (46th, 10 pts), Harkirat Kaur (124th, 1 pt), Vibhuti Khullar, Sabrina Gill and Saumya Choudhary are the other Chandigarh girls who are vying for the top honours.

Local girl Iktesh Chahal (49th, 54.25 pts) is the highest ranked player in the under-14 singles competition. Eight more Chandigarh boys are in the main draw. Locals Parminder Kaur ( 60th), Harnoor Kaur Mann (95th, 19.5 pts), Bhavika Wadhawan (152nd 8.5 pts), Charvi Sexena (222th, 3 pts), Ravnoor Kaur, Harkirat Kaur, Ganeev and Saumya Choudhary are also in the main draw.

Meanwhile, the two-day qualifying round matches began today.

The results are:

Boys u-14 (singles)

Round I: Anirudh Jaindhan bt Aditya Swami 5-3, 2-4, 5-4 (5); Dalwinder Singh bt Akash Dhingra 2-4, 4-0, 4-0; Hardeep S. Sandhu bt Dipanshu Garg 5-4 (4), 4-0; Amit Bzad bt Raghuvendra Sahdev 4-0, 4-0; Jajbir Singh bt Sidharth Sahdev 4-2, 5-4 (4); Dheer Anush Bhatti bt Raghav Talwar 4-2, 1-4, 5-4 (2); Sahil Kahlon bt Arvinder Singh 4-2, 4-0; Shrey Gupta bt Inderbir S. Bains 4-2, 5-3; Jagdeep Singh bt Taranbir Singh 4-0, 4-0; Manish Drall bt Vittal Bhardwaj 4-0, 4-0; and Ajay Singh Thakur bt Rahul Poria 4-2, 4-2.

Round II: Jajbir Singh bt Harsha De Silva 4-5 (4), 4-2, 4-1; Sachin bt Sahej Abrol 4-0, 4-2; Manoj bt Ranjodh Singh 4-1, 4-1; Utkarsh bt Bhavya Jain 5-3, 4-1; Manish Drall bt Vishu Prasad 4-1, 4-1; Rajvir Singh bt Ravinder 4-2, 4-1; Jagdeep bt Yashbir Singh 4-0, 4-1; Sahil Kahlon bt Dhruv Walia 4-2, 5-3; Pragun Vinayak bt Dheer Anush Bhatti 5-3, 4-1; Aiman bt Ajay S. Thakur 2-4, 4-1, 4-0; Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Jotpal Singh 4-1, 4-0; Ishan Gupta bt Shrey Gupta 4-0, 3-5, 4-1; Amit Bzad bt Zian 4-2, 4-0; Ranjeet Singh bt Dalwinder Singh 4-0, 4-0; Suraj Beniwal bt Anirudh Jaindhan 4-1, 4-0; Mandeep Singh bt Manoj 5-3, 4-2; and Bikramjeet Singh bt Shailendra Rathore 4-2, 5-3.

Boys u-12 singles:

Round I: Rahul Poria bt Jagtar Singh 4-2,5-3; Yeshbir Grewal bt Akhil Bansal 5-4 (4), 1-4, 4-1; Dalwinder Singh bt Indervir S. Bains 4-2, 5-3; Arvinder Singh bt Lovedeep Benipal 4-2, 4-0; Jotpal Singh bt Himanshu Gupta 2-4, 5-4 (5), 4-2; Ravinder Singh bt Paramvir S. Bajwa by 4-1, 4-2; Amit Bzad bt Shrey Gupta 4-0, 4-1; Nikhil Rawal bt Bhanwarpreet by 4-0, 4-2; Manish Drall bt Summit Pal Singh 4-0, 4-2; and Arjun Pandey bt Sunny Singh 4-2, 4-0.