Chandigarh, July 15
India required to upgrade the facilities in primary health centres (PHC) in the rural areas and district hospitals to bring down the mortality rate due to snake bites in the country. This was stated by Ian Simpson, a herpetologist from Oxford University, the UK, here today.

Simpson said though out of 100, only 30 snakes were poisonous and just 15 snakes injected venom into its prey in India, nearly 50,000 people died out of 2,50,000 people bitten by snake every year. Africa and Pakistan also lost 20,000 due to snake bite while Australia and America reported just six deaths in one year even as the top 10 venomous species of snakes were found in Australia, said Simpson.

At present, four species, including cobra, krait, viper and saw-scaled viper snakes had been identified as poisonous in the country, said the herpetologist.

Simpson of Kerala, who has been leading the WHO Snakebite Treatment Group for the past three years in India, was here to discuss the problem of poisonous snake bite and the resuscitation measures at a workshop organised by the Department of Internal Medicine, PGI.

The herpetologist has a large experience in identifying snakes and has described three new varieties of poisonous snakes in India . He discussed the National Snake Bite Protocol, the first of its kind in the world, developed with active collaboration among snake bite experts across the country.

The minister of health and family welfare is scheduled to convene a meeting of members of sanke bite experts to discuss the protocol next month, said Simpson.

Explaining about the protocol, Simpson said in addition to training the medicos in handling the snake bite victims, the new protocol dealt with the first-aid methods to be applied by victims. Just providing the equipment at hospitals would not help.

However, six states, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have already adopted the protocol while the results from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh were encouraging as doctors in PHCs have started treating snake bites with confidence there, claimed Simpson.

Cautioning against the conventional methods to provide first-aid to snake bite victims, Simpson said tying limbs, sucking and cutting were of no use. On the contrary as tying limbs could not stop the flow of venom in blood vessels, it could result in damage. The best way was to rush the victim to a hospital with immobile position so that the blood flow did not increase, resulting in delay in reaching venom towards heart”, he said.

Chandigarh, July 15
The CCA Punjab registered a thumping victory over Panchkula district by nine wickets in the match for the fifth S.N. Vohra Memorial Cricket Tournament at DAV Sector 8, here today.

After winning the toss, Panchkula elected to bat first. The decision went wrong and the team was packed for 89 in 36.1 overs. Varun was the highest scorer with 15 runs while Deepak and Gaurav chipped in 12 runs each.

For Punjab, Aman tore apart the batting line of the rivals finishing with figure 3 for 7. The other wicket takers were Veer Karan Goel and Naveen Dhiman.

Punjab reached the target by scoring 90 runs in 18 overs for the loss of one wicket.

The other match, between the CCA Haryana and Mohali district in C-Ground, PCA Stadium, Mohali, was won by the Mohali team by six wickets.

Batting first, Haryana scored 157 for 6 in 40 overs. Gaurav chipped in 49 runs. Himanshu and Azil Chabra made 36 and 32, respectively.

Paramdip and Anshul snapped two wickets each for 20 and 40 runs, respectively.

In reply, Mohali district won the match by scoring 160 runs in 33 overs for the loss of four wickets. Putting up good batting skills, Veer Kanwar made 61 runs. Navneet hit unbeaten 30 whereas Kunal Mahajan scored 26.

Tomorrow, the CCA Punjab will meet Mohali district at GNPS, Sector 36, while CCA Haryana will take on the Panchkula district at Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 19.

Brief scores

Panchkula: 89 all out in 36.1 overs (Varun 15, Deepak 12, Gaurav 12, Aman 3 for 7, Veer Karan Goel 2 for 14)

Punjab: 90 for 1 in 18 overs (Manan Vohra 40 n o, Naveen Dhiman 22 n o, Jaskaran 20, Gaurav 1 for 9).

CCA Haryana: 157 for 6 in 40 overs (Gaurav 49, Himanshu 36, Azil Chabra 32, Paramdip 2 for 20, Anshul 2 for 40)

Mohali: 160 for 4 in 33 overs (Veer Kanwar 61, Navneet 30 n o, Sohit Singh 2 for 19).

Chandigarh, July 15
Michael Vishal will lead the u-22 Chandigarh district cricket team at the Haryana state inter-district cricket tournament for the Rajinder Goel Trophy to be organised by the Haryana Cricket Association. Vipul Chadha has been deputed as vice-captain of the team.

The team, after having two byes on the basis of last year’s performance, will play its first match tomorrow at Ch Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium, Lahlli, Rohtak.

Other players of the team are: Arjun Puri, Amiya, Sandeep Bhattacharya (wicket-keeper), Chandan Kamal, Sumit Kundu, Amit Sonkar, Yuv Raj, Karan Kherwal, Angad Singh, Mansoor Ali, Shagun, Vikas Chauhan, Gurpreet Singh, Pawan, Mukesh Pandey and Vikrant Bansal.

Meanwhile, Haryana Kooch-Bihar player Sunny Sharma will lead the Panchkula team in the tournament. The team will take on Yamunanagar district in its first match tomorrow at the JR Institute of Cricket Technology, Naggal, here.

The other members of the team are: Pawan Jha, Mandeep Singla, Ashish Kukreti, Tejwinder Gill, Rajat Kumar, Himmat Singh, Vijay Kumar, Rajesh Verma, Kapil Pandey, Sachin Gehrotra, Malkit Singh, Jagmeet Singh, Kunal Sehdev and Harvinder Nain.

Stand byes: Deepak Gosain and Gaurav Sharma. 

Panchkula, July 15
Parsoon and Aishwarya of Manav Mangal, Panchkula, stole the show by winning titles in their respective categories during the Panchkula District Table Tennis Tournament. The tournament was held at DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur, near here, under the aegis of the Panchkula District Table Tennis Association.

Parsoon outclassed his opponents in the sub-junior boys’ u-17 and men’s singles. He was at his best in the men’s singles combining his stroke play and precise placings on the table.

Aishwarya from Manav Mangal made short work of her schoolmate Anu Saini in the girls’ singles u-17 and women’s singles defeating her by 3-0.

In the youth boys’ category, Sunil Lamba of Manav Mangal overcame Archit of Bhavan Vidyalaya. It was a do or die situation for Sunil as Archit made him sweat out completely for the title. Sunil won the match by 3-1.

In the men’s singles, Parsoon defeated Archit by a margin of 3-1.

In the end, Kalka tehsildar Naresh Kumar gave away the prizes to the players. Senior officials of the Panchkula District Table Tennis Association were also honoured.

President of the association Sandeep Sardana appreciated the organising committee of DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur, for making this championship a great success.

Chandigarh, July 15
Dev Saini proved his mettle by winning three different titles in the boys’ singles, young boys u-20 and men's singles in the Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Table Tennis Hall, Sector 23, here today.

Dev Saini, a trainee of DAV Public School Coaching Centre, Sector 8, beat Parteek Gupta of DAV College, Sector 10, in the young boys u-20 final.

In the boys’ u-17 category, Dev defeated Puneet Kumar of Delhi Public School-40 while during men’s singles’ final, he ousted Harish Kumar.

In the final of women’s singles, fifth-seed Kalyani of Manav Mangal-21 got the better of seventh-seed Meghna of Sacred Heart-26.

Nadia Saini won the young girls’ u-20 singles crown beating Meghna Kakaria of Sacred Heart-26.

Results: Men's singles: semi-finals: Harish Kumar (AG Haryana) bt Vikas Sharma (AG Punjab) 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8, Dev Saini (DAVCC-8) bt Puneet Kumar (DPD-40) 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11; final: Dev Saini (DAVCC-8) bt Harish Kumar (AG Haryana) 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11.

Women's singles: semi-finals: Kalyani (Manav Mangal-21) bt Sunanda Mahindra (NPS-18)14-16, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, Meghna Kakaria (Sacred Heart-26) bt Naina Suri (DAVPS-8) 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; final: Kalyani (Manav Mangal-21) bt Meghna Kakaria (Sacred Heart-26) 8-11, 5-11, 14-12, 12-14, 11-7, 12-10.

Young girls’ u-20 singles: semi-finals: Meghna (SH-26) bt Naini Suri (DAVPS-8) 11-8, 16-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, Nadia Sani (SGGS) bt Kalyani (MM-21) 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8; final: Nadia Sani (SGGS) 11-9, 14-12, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6.

Young boys’ u-20 singles: semi-finals: Dev Saini (DAVPSCC-8) bt Rajan Mahindra (DAVPS-8) 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, Parteek Gupta (DAVC-10) bt Puneet Kumar (DPS-40) 11-8, 12-10, 11-8, 11-9; final: Dev Saini (DAVPSCC-8) bt Parteek Gupta (DAVC-10) 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.

Girls’ singles (final): Sadhika Kaushal (GM-16) bt Garima Goyal (BV-27) 2-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7.Boys’ singles (final): Dev Saini DAVPSCC-8) bt Puneet Kumar (DPS-40) 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 15
Haryana lifted the overall trophy in the Fourth Sub-junior (u-14) and Fifth Junior (u-17) National Roll Ball Championship held at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, Sector 3, here, today. 
The hosts bagged five gold and one bronze medal in the six events in both categories.

In the boys’ u-14 final, Haryana outclassed Maharashtra in a one-sided contest (8-0). Vinil was the highest scorer for the winning side with three goals. Yudhvir Maan and Sourabh scored two goals each. Manpreet (1) was the other scorer for the side. Chandigarh won the bronze medal.

Haryana junior boys (u-17) retained their title by defeating Jammu and Kashmir by 6-0. Manuj, Rohit and Harpreet scored two goals each for the hosts.

In the u-17 mixed (boys and girls), Maharashtra registered win in all five games at the league stage for the gold medal. Jammu and Kashmir with four wins and one loss and Haryana with three wins and two losses grabbed the silver and bronze medal, respectively.

Results

Boys: u-14: Haryana 1, Maharashtra 2, Chandigarh 3; u-17: Haryana 1, Jammu and Kashmir 2, Maharashtra. Girls: u-14: Haryana 1, Chandigarh 2, Maharashtra 3; u-17: Haryana 1, Maharashtra 2, Jammu and Kashmir 3.

Mixed (boys and girls) u-14: Haryana 1, Maharshtra 2, Jammu and Kashmir 3; u-17: Maharashtra 1, Jammu and Kashmir 2, Haryana 3. 

Chandigarh, July 15
Varinder Kumar and Seema Thakur emerged winners in the boys’ and girls’ u-18 category during the archery competition organised at Lake Sports Complex on its premises, here, today.

More than 30 archers shot at target for 12 rounds; one round comprising three arrows from a distance of 40 metres, 30 metres and 20 metres.

Chandigarh sports director Inderjit Singh Sandhu, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes to the winners.

Results: Boys u-18: Varinder Kumar 1, Mandeep Singh 2, Gaurav Kumar 3; girls u-18: Seema Thakur 1, Sonia Bhandari 2, Gurmeet Kaur 3; boys u-15: Dalip Inder Singh Sandhu 1, Rajan Saini 2, Ramandeep 3; girls u-15: Priya 1, Neha Sharma 2, Shivangi 3.

Ambala, July 15
Twelve karatekas got belts in a ceremony held here on Thursday. Haryana chief instructor Hemant Sharma gave away the belts.

Harsh Tyagi got a yellow belt while Vinayak Jindal got an orange one. Junior green belts were given to Mukul Jindal, Shalini Singh, Aniruddh Jindal, Parul Jindal, Ketan Malhotra, Shefali Maheshwari and Divya Tyagi. Ashwin Tiwari was given the senior green belt.

A brown belt went to Utkarsh Das and Gurmail Singh. Five-year-old Utkarsh is Haryana’s youngest brown belt karateka. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 15
The Administration has incurred a loss of Rs 1.12 crore on account of not claiming its dues from the Central Government for the expenditure it incurred on the National Service Scheme(NSS).

The audit has said, "The action of the department to release the amount without any sanction from the government is irregular and has affected the UT budget as it has failed to get the amount reimbursed from the Centre".

It has been pointed out that as a UT without legislature, the entire expenditure made on NSS activities was to be borne by the Centre. "During the test check of the records of the director, Public Instructions of the Administration, it was noticed that the Centre had not released any grant since 2000-2001 onwards."

The Administration incurred Rs 1,11,70,755 during the period. The Administration suffered a loss of Rs 48.9 lakh from 2001 to 2004, Rs 20.9 lakh in 2005, Rs 22 lakh in 2006 and Rs 18.9 lakh in 2007.

Replying to the audit objection, the DPI replied that the sanctions were issued late by the Centre which could not be drawn and elapsed.

“The reply of the department is not tenable as the education department has failed to take up the matter with the Centre and no follow up action has also been taken”, the report read.

The audit has asked the DPI office to seek untilisation certificates of grant for the NSS activities from DAV College, Government College, Sector 11, GCG, Sectors 11 and 42, PGIMER, Chandigarh College of Engineering and District Education Officer.

The report has also pointed out that the UT needs to obtain sanction from the finance department for pay and allowances for temporary posts, however, the UT DPI has been drawing pay and allowances for five posts without obtaining sanction to the continuance of these posts.