The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Powerlifting Championship
Punjab win 6 gold medals
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, November 3
Punjab reigned supreme by winning six gold medals on the opening day of the 9th National Para Olympics Powerlifting Championship being held at the Punjab Agricultural University, here today.

More than 100 participants are taking part in the championship being organised by the Punjab Para Olympic Association.

Results: Senior men- 48 kg: 1 Farman Basha of Karnataka, 2 Randeep Singh of Punjab, and 3 G Shiv Kumar of Karnataka; 52 kg- 1 Heera Singh Sandhu of Punjab, 2 Gurdeep Lal of Punjab, and 3 Dharamveer Singh of Chhattisgarh; 56 kg- 1 Kuldeep Singh of Punjab, 2 P Kumar Swami of Karnataka and 3 Jagdish Marudkar.

Senior women- 40 kg: 1 Bharti Sokumar of Maharashtra and 2 Kamini Khapekar of Maharashtra; 44 kg- 1 Latika Mane of Maharashtra and 2 Varuna Wankhede of Maharashtra; 48 kg- 1 Deepa Kaleskar of Maharashtra and 2 Shahina of Karnataka; 52 kg- 1 Rajdeep Kaur of Punjab, 2 Kiran Tak of Rajasthan and 3 H P Uma of Karnataka.

Junior boys- 48 kg: 1 Randip Singh of Punjab, 2 Pankaj Gawande of Maharshtra and 3 Sanjeev Kumar of Punjab; 52 kg- 1 Kuldeep Singh Dhillon of Punjab and 2 Kumar Surinder of Punjab; 56 kg- 1 Baljeet Kumar of Punjab.

Namdhari academy win
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, November 3
Namdhari Academy of Bhaini Sahib and Sangrur Academy registered easy victories in boy’s hockey in the 53rd Punjab Schools Sports (hockey and handball) which started at the Punjab Agricultural University grounds, here today.

In the boy’s section, Bathinda managed to prevail upon Patiala 21-18 while Faridkot outplayed Muktsar 30-24.

Harish Rai Dhanda, chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab inaugurated the games in which around one thousand boys and girls from different districts and academies are taking part.

Admn fed up with VIP visits
Shivani Bhakoo
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 3
The district administration is fed up with increasing VIP visits in the industrial city. They feel that their daily work hampered because of the regular visits by the Chief Minister and other ministers of the state.

Ludhiana, they say, seems to be on the top of their priority list with VIPs missing no opportunity to attend every function here.

In the past 15 days, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visited the district to attend private functions for more than six times. "Obviously during the visits of the CM, we are on our toes giving VIP duties. The entire working at district administration office comes to a standstill in absence of officials. Not only on the visit of the CM, when other ministers come to the city, the officials are asked to accompany the ministers", said one of the district administrative officials.

Another official disclosed that yesterday, two ministers came to Ludhiana and he was on duty with them. He said, "I went for lunch at 4 pm and had to return to office within half an hour as there was so much of work pending. I wanted to clear as many files as I could because the offices remained closed on Saturdays and Sundays", he added.

In last few days ministers like Tikshan Sood, Chaudhry Swarna Ram, Bikramjit Singh Majithia and Sukhbir Singh Badal visited the city. Besides, Hira Singh Gabria and Harish Rai Dhanda, belonging to the city, can be seen in a majority of functions in Ludhiana.