Keep blood pressure under control, say docs

Ludhiana, September 16
Sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits are the biggest culprit for increasing incidence of hypertension (high blood pressure) among Indians, particularly so in this part of the country.

In the wake of alarming rise in the cases of heart attack, heart failure, renal failure and stroke, there is a need to keep blood pressure under control, that too at the earliest to keep several life-threatening diseases at bay.

These observations were made by medical superintendent of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital Sandeep Puri while initiating his lecture in a seminar on hypertension organised by the local branch of the National Integrated medical Association (NIMA) here last evening.

He discussed in detail the role of diet, physical exercise and drugs in early management of hypertension. He said various medicines were now available at affordable prices for keeping the blood pressure under control but at the same time sounded a note of caution against side effects of these drugs.

He advised that all individuals above the age of 45 should be screened regularly by the primary care physicians for early detection of hypertension.

“This is more important in individuals whose parents or siblings suffer from hypertension, diabetes or heart disease,” he said. — OC

Cleft awareness meet held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 16
The Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), along with the Rotary Club of Ludhiana North organised an awareness meet on cleft lip and cleft palate treatment here today. As many as 90 participating Rotary Clubs in the meet vowed to work in close cooperation to create awareness about the condition.

Dr John Pramod, director, CMCH, was the chief guest and Dr S.P.S. Grover, district governor of Rotary, presided over this function.

The speakers on different aspects of the cleft deformity and its surgical treatment included Dr Vijay Obed, Dr Deepak Bhatti and Dr Jayanthimala.

Twenty20 World Cup
Betting touches all-time high in city
Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 16
The Twenty20 cricket series has added huge volumes to the “business” of betting in the city. Although the exact estimates are not possible to be made, reports from the betting circles reveal that the volumes have more than doubled with the onset of the world cup in South Africa.

Ludhiana has always been an important betting centre in the whole of northern region. There are quite a number of bookies who accept the bets. They have come here from various places as the city offers good business prospects. The onset of the world cup is learnt to have brought quite a number of more such bookies to Ludhiana.

There are no set places for the bookies to operate and they keep on moving from one place to another. Since the entire “business” is conducted on telephone only, the bookies do not need any big set up. They just have to maintain the record of bets which they do with the in-built recorders in the mobile handsets.

Cash transactions are done on the subsequent day. The cash is delivered and picked up, whatever the case may be, to and from the punters from their home only.

Despite the huge pressure from the police the bookies are doing the best “business”. A senior police officer disclosed that only specific intelligence can help in tracking the bookies and punters. Otherwise it is very difficult. Moreover the betting comes in the gambling act which is a bailable offence irrespective of the amount of money involved. He said as long as the Act is not amended, it would be difficult to discourage people and wean them away from it.

However, he added, effective policing can certainly help in curbing it to a great extent.

At the same time the betting has turn most unpredictable. Although cricket has always been an unpredictable game, still punters could rely on probabilities and possibilities. But with Twenty20 all calculations are too uncertain.

“It has no longer remained betting, it has become just gambling,” remarked a punter, while adding, in betting one can still play safe, in gambling it all blind play.

Since the Twenty20 matches finish within three hours, the results are always instant as compared to the one-day international matches when the punters have to wait for the full day. But this has also led to upset victories like that of Bangladesh over West Indies.

“No team can be underestimated,” said another punter, while pointing out that the Twenty20 game seems to have brought the teams almost on a par.

Sources disclosed that although the odds are decided according to the previous performance of the teams, but not many people take the odds seriously in these games. Like in a match between England and Kenya, England would be the favourites, but these can never be taken seriously as the Twenty20 game is “literally hit and run”, whosoever does it better takes away the game irrespective of whether the team is talented or not.

Ropar rout Khaira 8-2
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 16
A goal each by Ramandeep Singh and Pritpal Singh helped Ropar to defeat Khaira in the boy’s under-14 years section of the Punjab Hockey League Tournament being organised by the Punjab sports department.

Ropar went into an early lead when Ramandeep Singh opened the account in the ninth minute. Sanjay Kumar made it 2-0 in the twenty-fourth minute and two minutes later, Ramandeep Singh again found the target to increase the lead. Six minutes to go for the lemon break, Mohit Kumar scored another goal and made the lead 4-0.

Khaira boys scored their first goal in the thirty-ninth minute through Gurdeep Singh. Ropar consolidated the lead through Pritpal Singh who added two goals in quick succession to make it 6-1.

Gurdeep of Khaira was again scored for Khaira and the score then was 6-2. Balwinder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh of Ropar scored, respectively which enabled their team to reach the final score (8-2).

In a match (under-16 years), Amloh defeated Muktsar 3-1. Amloh surged ahead through Navneet Kumar Tirkey who scored a fine field goal in the thirty-fourth minute. Gurdeep Kumar scored the second goal. Shaminder Singh of Muktsar reduced the margin 1-2. Two minutes later, Sandeep Kumar of Amloh scored a field goal (3-1).

The third match of the day played between Bathinda and Faridkot turned out to be a mismatch as the former came out triumphant without being challenged (6-0). Amritpal Singh, Jagpal, Harmanpreet, Parteek and Mohanjeet excelled in Bathinda’s easy victory.

Rest of Punjab, BSF to battle for top honours
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 16
Rest of Punjab and BSF, Jalandhar, in the men’s section with three victories each, while Ludhiana and Jalandhar in the women’s section with four wins each have settled for top honours in the second leg of the Gurdial Singh Memorial Punjab Basketball Annual League being played at Guru Nanak Stadium and village Gure.

BSF beat Punjab juniors 46-14 at Gure. Though, Punjab juniors were all school sports wing boys, yet they fought well for each point and held their experienced opponents 10 each at the end of the first quarter.

In the next three quarters, BSF men gave no chance to the youngsters to settle down and wrapped up the match comfortably 46-14.

In another match (men), PSEB, Patiala, overcame stiff challenge from RCF, Kapurthala, before emerging winners 54-42.

Gurpreet (15), Manpreet (14) and Harpreet (13) played well for the winners while Rajinder and Sharanjit with 15 and 7 points, respectively were the main scorers for RCF, Kapurthala.

In the women’s section, Ludhiana recorded their fourth victory beating Amritsar 36-10, while Jalandhar also scored fourth win by outplaying Kapurthala 64-47.

In other matches (women), Kapurthala beat Rest of Punjab 57-48 and Amritsar defeated Gurdaspur 42-9.