Chandigarh, April 9
There was need to create awareness among college students about thalassaemia as it could help in a big way towards the solution of the disease. This was stated by Ram K. Marwaha, professor of paediatric hematology-oncology at the PGI, here, today.

Professor Marwaha has been elected to the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the objective of the college last week. Professor Marwaha is one of the two medicos from North India who have been elected to this fellowship till now. Earlier, Dr B.N.S. Walia, his counterpart in the PGI, was elected to the fellowship last year. An outstanding researcher with over 250 peer-reviewed articles, Professor Marwaha held several offices of national and international scientific organisations.

About 240 million people around the world have the thalassemia trait while among the Punjabis and North Indians more than 3 per cent were the carriers of the thalassaemia gene, informed Professor Marwaha adding that it was estimated that over 8000 children with thalassemia major were born every year in India. Thalassemia major patients require blood transfusion every three to four weeks to sustain life.

It was a hereditary disorder wherein an adequate amount of haemoglobin was not being made resulting in the fall of haemoglobin in the body gradually and blood transfusion was required to maintain the haemoglobin at optimum level, added Professor Marwaha while talking to The Tribune.

However, thalassaemia major in a child can occur only, if both parents were carriers of the gene. And in case only one parent was a carrier, none of the children would have thalassaemia major, said Prof Marwaha. If both parents were carrier there was a 25 per cent chance that their child would be thalassaemia major. Hence, marriages between two thalassaemic carriers must be avoided, cautioned Professor Marwaha. 

Chandigarh, April 9
It was easy going for Ravinder Singh Sandhu as he clinched the presidentship of the Chandigarh Golf Club defeating his rivals - S.K. Sharma and Lt-Gen B.S. Randhawa - by a big margin after counting ended at 10 am today.

While Ravinder Singh Sandhu polled 538 votes, S.K. Sharma and Lt-Gen Randhawa got 280 and 273 votes, respectively.

The counting of votes for the 10-member managing committee continued late in the evening.

Champagne corks opened soon after the result was announced. While thanking his supporters he had a special word of praise for his two sons - Gundeep and Annudeep - who stood by him during the poll campaign.

A surprise visitor at the champagne binge was Parnita Garewal, who was just back after making the cut in a men’s professional tournament. Parnita created a record of sorts when she made the cut after two rounds in the Surya Nepal Masters 2007.

Sandhu said the road dividing the 18-hole golf course had become a traffic hazard on the Kishangarh side. He promised to provide an underpass or an overbridge at each of these locations and was hopeful of planning this facility and getting it completed within a year.

He was all for generating more revenue by arranging golf tournaments at night by involving sponsors and corporate entities. He said the lighting of the nine holes was the biggest achievement of the previous team which served two terms of one year each.

Although Sandhu skirted the question on extension of the term to two years, a number of golfers present felt a two-year term was needed to have continuity in the development of the course. But this could only be achieved if the general body votes for it, they said.

Chandigarh, April 9
Continuing his winning spree, Haryana boxer Vijender has moved into the semifinal of the 29th King’s Cup Boxing Championships being held at Bangkok.

Giving this information, Dr C.K. Jairath, vice-president of Indian Amateur Boxing Federation said, “Vijender registered a stunning 23-10 victory over Athens Olympics bronze medalist Suriya Prasarthinphimai of Thailand in the quarterfinal of the 75 kg weight category at the championship”. Vijender had earlier won the silver medal in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Another Haryana’s pugilist Jitender also reached the semifinal stage where he lost to Kim Dae Sung of South Korea. He had earlier defeated Thailand’s Naratip Juntraporn 23-16 during the preliminaries. Jitender had won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.

“The King’s Cup is a testing ground for participating countries to gauge the strength of their boxers prior to fielding them in pre-Olympic qualification tournaments for the Beijing Olympics,” said Jairath, who is also the general secretary of the Chandigarh Amateur Boxing Association.

Chandigarh, April 9
Davinder Singh registered a hard-fought victory over Bikaramjeet (first round) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 in the boys under-14 singles match on the opening day of the AITA Talent Series being played at the CLTA Stadium in Sector 10, here today.

Top seed Gurinder Singh of Chandigarh outplayed Nisat Eqbal 6-0, 6-0. Qualifier Sachin Kumar, a trainee of Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association, ousted wild card Srijan Uppal of Chandigarh 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the second round.

Harkirat Kaur Bains and Charvi struggled to prevail over their respective rivals in the girls singles under-14 first-round matches. After splitting the first two sets, Harkirat just managed to beat her opponent 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Results

Boys u-12 singles (first round): Digvijay S. Naruka (Chd) b Dheer Anush Bhatti (Chd) 6-1, 6-0; Indeer Singh Bains b Arjun Pandey (UP) 6-1, 6-0; Rohin Vinayak (Chd) b Anirudh Jaindhan (Ker) 6-4, 6-0; Jatinder Singh (Chd) b Jajbir Singh (Pb) 6-0, 6-4; Ranjeet Singh (Chd) b Ravinder 6-3, 6-1; Srijjan Uppal (Chd) b Dalwinder 6-2, 6-2; Nishat Eqbal (WB) b Ankush Arora (Pb) 6-3, 6-4; Ishaque Eqbal (WB) b Raghav Talwar (Chd) 6-4, 6-0; Suraj Hasranz (Ker) b Amit Bzad (Har) 6-2, 6-4; Manish Drall (Dli) b Sachin (Chd) 6-4, 6-4; Jotpal Singh (Pb) bt Sarthak Dash (Chd) 6-4, 6-1; Harmeet Singh (Chd) b Yashbir Singh 6-2, 6-0; Vishnu Prasad b Hardeep Singh 6-1, 7-5; Barun Gill (Chd) b Harpreet 6-1, 6-1; Vikas Beriwal (Har) b Akash Chauhan (Chd) 6-1, 6-0; Nischay Rawal (Chd) b Nihit Rawal (Chd) 6-0, 6-0.

Boys u-14 singles (first round): Gurinder Singh (Chd) b Nisat Eqbal (WB) 6-0, 6-0; Sachin Kumar (Chd) b Srijan Uppal (Chd) 6-0, 6-2, Aiman b Amit Bzad (Har) 6-3, 6-4; Pankaj Kumar (Chd) b Ankush Arora (Pb) 6-3, 6-1; Digvijay S. Naruka (Chd) b Jaivardhan Gupta (Chd) 6-2, 6-1; Rishab Dev (Pb) b Hardeep Singh (Pb) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3; Manish Drall (Dli) b Arsh Bulland (Chd) 6-2, 6-2; Suraj Beriwal (Har) b Sahil (Har) 7-5, 6-2; Davinder Singh (Chd) b Bikaramjeet (Chd) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3; Resham Singh (Har) b Harmeet Singh (Chd) 6-0, 6-2; Nischay Rawal (Chd) b Suraj Hasranz (Ker) 6-3, 6-0, Rajanvir (Mah) b Uday Singh Mann (Chd) 6-4, 7-5.

Girls u-14 singles (first round): Saumya Chaudhary (Chd) b Anjali Jaindhan (Ker) 6-3, 6-1; Ravnoor Kaur Paul (Chd) b Raida (Mah) 6-0, 6-0; Vibhuti Khullar (Chd) b Samiksha (Pb) 6-1, 6-2; Harkirat Kaur Bains (Chd) b Parinita Arya (Dli) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Rajvir Kaur (Pb) b Mumitiz (Ban) 6-1, 6-2; Madhushani (SL) b Kodali Srijja (AP) 6-0, 6-1; Siman Sethi (Dli) b Abhishekta Pandey (UP) 6-1, 6-0; Charvi (Chd) b Ganeev (Chd) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Girls u-12 singles (first round): Nikita b Saumya Chaudhary (Chd) 6-2, 7-5; Mumitu Jannat (Ban) b Kodali Srija (AP) 6-3, 6-4; Rajvir Kaur (Pb) b Samiksha Sohal (Pb) 6-1, 6-4; Sheshana Kehi (Chd) b Anjali Jain (Ker) 6-3, 6-1; Narmat Aulaka (Chd) b Ayna Arora (Chd) 7-6 (8), 6-4; Harkirat Bains (Chd) b Varnika Thakur (Pb) 6-3, 6-0; Vibhuti Khullar (Chd) b Parinita Apra (Dli) 6-1, 6-0; Nimrat Walia (Chd) b Mohini (Pb) 6-1, 7-5. 

ADMINISTRATION

Policy Planning
MC panel heads to meet Administrator
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 9
A delegation of chairpersons of various committees of the municipal corporation will meet the Administrator, Chandigarh administration, on policy planning of the corporation and the administration.

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of chairpersons of various committees held here today.

They also set up a review committee for faster execution of development works in the city. They decided to focus on policy planning and fix up time-bound development works of the corporation.

They expressed their desire to hold the meetings of chairpersons of various committees on last Mondays and Tuesdays of every month.

Mayor Harjinder Kaur, who chaired the meeting, discussed the progress report of ward development funds and appreciated the efforts being made by the chief engineer and his team toward the completion of works in time.

She assured them of reviewing the observations of area councillors on various issues on priority so that the development of the areas was carried out in time.She said ward committee meetings would be held every day from 11 am to 12 pm in the committee room of the corporation office.

The mayor had met the adviser, Chandigarh administration, last week and discussed various important development agendas of the city. The adviser had sought the constituting of a coordination committee on development projects to help carry out development works faster.