Ludhiana, October 1
A series of lectures and interactive sessions on prevention of cardio-vascular diseases, healthy diet and regimen of physical exercise marked the World Heart Day at Hero DMC Heart Institute here yesterday. The motive behind this was to make people aware of the risk factors, management of cardiac problems and the desired lifestyle changes to keep diseases at bay.

Stressing on the need for the “right diet”, Harsimrat, dietician at the hospital, pointed out that among other causes, there were factors like smoking, high LDL (bad cholesterol), low HDL (good cholesterol), uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes and physical inactivity for cardiac diseases which needs to be checked.

“With some will power and self-discipline, one can lessen the harmful effects of these factors to a large extent. All one needs to do is to adopt the right lifestyle and the right food habits,” she added.

Elaborating on the dietary part, Harsimrat added that one should choose veggies, fruits, dried beans, legumes and limit processed or canned foods. The coloured fruits (green, yellow, red, orange) were high in anti-oxidants and therefore good for overall health. “It is good to select foods which are high in complex carbohydrates. These are starchy foods with fiber such as wholegrain cereals, wheat, corn, root crops, and legumes,” she added.

Speaking on the correct exercise regimen, Dr Som Gupta, a physiotherapist, observed,” Patient should lay emphasis on exercises like regular walking and cycling. Exercise should include a warm-up session followed by proper exercise routine and then a cool down session at the end. Before starting the exercise one should do proper stretching of all muscle as it helps in toning up the muscles to work from their resting position. This also prevents muscle injury and soreness. Exercises should be performed at a steady pace and sudden changes should be avoided.”

He cautioned that there should be at least one-and-a-half hour gap between taking meals and starting exercises. If there was a feeling of heaviness, chest pain, excessive fatigue, or breathlessness, exercise should be stopped immediately and expert medical advice sought.

A poster competition was also organised for the hospital nursing staff on the occasion. Besides this, a drawing competition was held for children up to 12 years.

Ludhiana, October 1
Players from Uttrakhand and those from Punjab continued their dominance on the second day of the 4th National Athletics Meet for the visually challanged being organised by the Punjab Sports Association for Blind with the help of the Punjab Sports Department at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

Uttrakhand bagged six gold medals, besides three silver and one bronze medal, while hosts Punjab followed them with three gold medals, six silver and three bronze medals. Delhi clinched three gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Athletes from Chandigarh too faired well by winning two gold medals and three silver medals.

Jathedar Avtar Singh Makkar, president, SGPC, was the chief guest today. He gave financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh for organisers.

Results: Senior women B-II- 200 m: Deepika of Uttrakhand 1, Ram Devi of Chandigarh 2 and Alka Gutpa of Chandigarh 3; u-18 B-I: 200 m- Mamta Sharma of Chandigarh 1, Karamjit Kaur of Chandigarh 2 and Deepa of Uttrakhand 3.

Girls u-18 B-III: 200 m- Gulshan of Uttrakhand 1, Indu of Delhi 2 and Sumit of Chandigarh 3; senior women B-III: shot put- Neha Sharma of Punjab 1, Reetu Singh of Delhi 2 and Jyoti Devi of Punjab 3.

Girls u-18 B-II: 400 m- Deepika of Uttrakhand 1, Ram Devi of Chandigarh 2; girls u-18 B-I: shot- Haleema Begum of Chandigarh 1, Guddy of Uttrakhand 2 and Kanchan of Delhi 3; junior girls B-II: long jump- Madhu of Uttrakhand 1, Manpreet Kaur of Punjab 2 and Reena of Delhi 3.

Boys u-18: B-III: 400 m- Ram Karan of Delhi 1, Vinay Gupta of Delhi 2 and Dharminder Singh of Himachal Pradesh 3; shot put- Sunil Kumar of Punjab 1, Kulwinder Singh of Punjab 2 and Gurmeet Singh of Punjab 3.

Ludhiana, October 1
Ludhiana Badminton Academy players Raj Kumar and Pranav Chopra have created history by enabling Punjab to clinch doubles title in the senior as well as junior sections of the North Zone Inter State Badminton Tournament which concluded at Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi, yesterday. Punjab emerged champions in the tournament after a gap of one decade. In the senior section, Punjab team comprising Mayank Bahl, Lakhwinder Singh, Raj Kumar, Pranav Chopra and Opinderpal Singh overpowered Delhi in the finals to bag the title while in the junior section, Punjab outplayed Chandigarh to emerge champions.

Mohinder Kumar Chopra and Anupam Kumaria, president and general secretary, respectively, of Ludhiana Badminton Academy have congratulated the team and the coach, Mangat Rai Sharma on this excellent performance.

Ludhiana, October 1
A blistering batting display by Inderjeet Singh, who hammered 64 runs with the help of six boundaries and three sixes, helped Salil XI to a comfortable win by 81 runs over Diamond Criket Club in the third match of the second Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played at the Government Institute of Textile and Knitting, Rishi Nagar here today.

Batting first, Salit XI were all out for 187 runs in 19.3 overs. Their innings revolved around Inderjeet Singh and Gautam who contributed 64 and 45 runs, respectively. Kulwinder Singh scored 28 runs.

For Diamond Cricket Club, Aman, Shivam and Lakhwinder were the successful bowlers. Aman bowled two overs, conceded 21 runs and took three wickets. Shivam and Lakhwinder scalped two victims each for 26 and 32 runs, respectively.

Chasing the target, Diamond Cricket Club made 106 runs in 18.3 overs. Udhay and Lakhbir made 15 runs each while Akash and Sagar scored 14 and 13 runs, respectively. For Salil XI, their skipper, Salil consumed three wickets for 16 runs in his quota of four overs while Rajesh captured two wickets for 16 runs.