HEALTH

New ICU at General Hospital
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, October 1
A five-bed intensive care unit (ICU) with state-of-the-art technology will shortly be made operational at the General Hospital, Sector 6.

Aimed at reducing referral cases and dealing with patients who slip into coma, the ICU has been set up on the third floor of the hospital.

Doctors associated with the setting up of the ICU said it would be equipped with a monitor, an ECG machine, a pulse-rating machine and a central monitor.

Set up at a cost of Rs 65 lakh, the ICU will also have a radiographer and a doctor on duty round-the-clock.

Sources add that the expansion of the hospital from 150 beds to double the capacity has also got the nod of the government. A sum of Rs 10 crore has already been deposited with the PWD.

Command dental centre gets specialist block
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1
A new specialist block has been set up at the command military dental centre, Chandimandir. The block consists of four surgery clinics, waiting rooms, recovery room, lecture demonstration room and dental officers’ rooms, besides being equipped with facilities to cater to patients referred from the peripheral dental centres.

Inaugurating the block today, GOC-in-chief, Western Command, Lt Gen Daljeet Singh, said long queues and high noise levels at the centre earlier had necessitated the establishment of a specialist block.

According to the centre commandant, Brig K. Ravishankar, the block would go a long way in catering to the specialist requirements of a large number of patients who came to the centre from not only the Western Command, but also from South Western Command and Northern Command.

The centre would soon be adding more state-of-the-art equipment, including a maxillofacial CT scan unit, he added. At present, the dental centre is one of the most advanced dental centres of the armed forces and has the highest attendance of patients.

SPORTS

Friendship Cup
Facile victory for Vivek academy
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1
Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy (VHACA) beat Twenty20 Cricket Association of Delhi by seven wickets in a match of the Friendship Cup played at Vivek High School, Sector 38, here today.

Twenty20 Cricket Association of Delhi won the toss and elected to bat. The team was bundled out for 85 runs in 18.3 overs. A.P. Singh proved to be the wrecker-in-chief for Vivek, finishing five-wicket haul for 13 runs. He was well-supported by Paras Singh, who took three wickets.

Sunil made 21 runs.

In reply, VHACA achieved the target in just 6.1 overs. Karan Kherwal played a fine knock of 33 runs. The other main contributors were Sanjay Tomar (26) and Sutixen (16 n o).

A.P. Singh won the man of the match title.

In the second match, an all-round performance by Rocky Ratta helped Twenty20 Cricket Association of Punjab to beat National Cricket Academy by 19 runs.

Batting first, Punjab piled up 169 runs, losing eight wickets in alloted 20 overs.

Rockey Ratta and Dhanpreet Singh steered the team to reach the respectable total. Shangar chipped in useful 24 runs. Parveen and Shanky took three and two wickets, respectively, for NCA.

In reply, NCA were bundled out for 150 runs in 19.1 overs. Abhishek played a fine knock of 40 runs but in vain. Sunil made 22 runs. Rocky Ratta took five wickets for Punjab.

Brief scores

Twenty20 Cricket Association of Delhi: 85 runs 18.3 overs (Sunil 21, Ankur Sharma 17, A.P. Singh 5 for 13, Paras Singh 3 for 14, Sanjay Tomar 2 for 9).

Vivek High Asian Cricket Academy: 90 runs for 3 in 6.1 overs (Karan Kherwal 33, Sanjay Tomar 26, Sutixen Mehta 16 n o).

Twenty20 Cricket Association, Punjab: 169 for 8 in 20 overs (Rocky Ratta 36, Dhanpreet Singh 35, Shangar 24 n o, Parveen 3 for 27, Shanky 2 for 29).

NCA: 150 all out in 9 in 19.1 overs (Abhishek 40, Sunil 22, Rocky Ratta 5 for 23).

Athletics Meet
Elderly defy age
Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 1
Grit, willpower, stamina and self-discipline seemed defying the age when senior citizens displayed their athletics skills during the 10th Annual Veteran Athletics Meet at Dasehra Grounds, Phase VIII, here today.

A total of 123 men and 23 women participated in the meet organised by the Senior Citizens (Pensioners) Council to mark the birth centenary of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh.

Veteran sportspersons took part in various events like brisk walk, cycle race, shot put and musical chair.

Pritam Singh Kochar won the top honours in the brisk walk (750m) competition in the above 80-year category.

A.N. Sharma secured the second position while Amrik Singh Bedi won the third spot in the event.

The council also honoured five senior citizens namely Amrik Singh Bedi, Hardyal Singh Mangat, Ram Sarup Jain, Piara Singh Yogi and Amrik Singh Bhatti.

Junior golfers ready for action
Rahul Bakshi all set to defend title
Donald Banerjee

Chandigarh, October 1
One hundred and fifteen golfers from all over the country have converged on the par-72 greens of the Chandigarh Golf Club for the Indian Oil Chandigarh Open Junior/Sub-junior Golf Championship starting tomorrow.

Among the favourites is last year's winner 17-year-old Rahul Bakshi of Chandigarh, who will face challenge from Rashid Khan of Delhi.

Sponsored by the Indian Oil Corporation, the IGU-categorised tournament has been hosted by the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC) for the last 10 years and has been attracting top junior/sub-junior talent.

Ashbir Saini of Kapurthala will head the challenge in the B category (13 to 15 years) with Tejinder Chadha and Ankur Chadha giving him good competition.

With quite a number of competitors coming from the under-10 category, a number of doting mothers could be seen at the press conference called by the Chandigarh Golf Club.

Seated on the dais were Indian Golf Union (IGU) secretary-general Wg Cdr S. Aparajit, Indian Oil general manager H.S. Bedi, Chandigarh course captain Sukhjeet Singh Lehal, CGC honorary secretary K.S. Brar and the tournament committee chairman Harjinder Singh Kang.

Bedi said the IOC had been identifying young talent and nurturing them to become top sportspersons. The corporation has on its rolls such talented sportspersons 10 of whom have been decorated with the Arjuna Award, the highest sports award of the country.

IGU secretary-general said Chandigarh was a nursery for golf talent. He went to the extent of saying that 60 per cent of the nation's golf talent came from Chandigarh.

But now, the IGU had started tapping golf talent in South India, where golf had not picked up that much. Parents had an important role to play in moulding their wards to become good sportspersons, he added.

Captain of the course Sukhjeet S. Lehal said the course had just got back to shape after the heavy monsoon showers. He said the bunkers had a new variety of sand and the fairways had been slightly reshaped.

Tournament chairman H.S. Kang, an amateur golfer, said competitions in the A, B and C categories would be four-round affairs, while the D-category competitions for 10-year olds would start on Wednesday.

NPS, SD school set up summit clash
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1
Hosts New Public School (NPS)-18 set up title clash with SD Public School-32 in the CBSE North Zone Cluster Basketball Tournament on the school premises today.

NPS defeated DAV Public School in the first semifinal match 78-22. Evraj of NPS scored the maximum 19 points followed by Amanjot 15 while Sparsh from DAV scored 9 points. SD showed the doors to DAV School, Sector 15, (57-13) to secure the berth in the final.

In girls’ semifinals, NPS got the better of SD Public School 38-12.

In the other semifinal match between IS Dev Samaj, Sector 18, and Carmel Convent School, Sector 26, the former stormed into final by 41-29.

The final match (boys) will start at 7.30 am while the girls’ match will commence at 9 am at the same venue.

Rajasthan paddlers on top

Chandigarh, October 1
Rajasthan remained on the top in the boys’ u-14 table tennis while Dakshin Kshetra and Paschim UP secured the second and third position, respectively, in the 20th Vidya Bharti National Games at Sharda Sarvhitkari Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 40-D, today.

In the u-14 girls’ category, Madhya Kshetra secured the top position while Paschim UP and Uttar Kshetra got the second and third positions, respectively.

Other results: Table tennis: Boys u-17: 1 Uttar Kshetra, 2 Dakhsin Kshetra, 3 Paschim Kshetra; u-19: 1 Uttar Kshetra, 2 Purvi UP, 3 Rajasthan; girls: U-17: 1 Uttar Kshetra; u-19: 1 Madhya Kshetra, 2 Uttar Kshetra, 3 Purvi UP; Badminton: Boys u-14: 1 Purvi UP, 2 Uttar Kshetra, 3 Paschim UP; u-17: 1 Purvi UP, 2 Madhya Kshetra, 3 Uttar Kshetra. — TNS