Ludhiana, November 12
Civil Surgeon Dr Sat Pal Sharma today released banners and other publicity material prepared by the local branch of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) to observe "World Diabetes Day" and "World COPD Day" here on November 14.

A NIMA delegation comprising Dr Rajesh Thaper, president, Dr Surendra Gupta, secretary, Dr K.K. Kharbanda, Dr Inder Sharma and Dr Ranbir Singh met the civil surgeon in his office and presented the educative publicity material meant to be distributed among the people to create awareness about diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Dr Sharma said a concerted effort by the entire medical fraternity and society could make a difference as far as these diseases were concerned. He said the ban on smoking in public places would surely yield good results. However, smoking at home was equally, or rather more, injurious due to passive exposure of smoke to other family members, including children. There ought to be ban on this as well, he stressed.

The NIMA secretary, Dr Gupta, maintained that both the diseases, diabetes and COPD, rendered the victims helpless and worn out. He said while in diabetes the body was unable to consume vital energy-releasing glucose due to deficient insulin production or utilisation, in COPD, the patients were unable to utilse oxygen from atmospheric air due to obstruction of lung-air pathways.

"Even though genetic factors play a major role in the development of diabetes, more or less, the lifestyle is the major culprit in both diseases. Sedentary life, obesity and dyslipidemia cause diabetes, which need to be controlled and rectified. On the other hand, smoking is the single major cause of COPD," he pointed out. 

Ludhiana, November 12
Bhawneet Singh of Guru Nanak Public School in the boys 10-12 years section while Apaar Kaur of Sacred Heart Convent School in the girls section came out triumphant in the track race of the 10th Ludhiana District Roller Skating Championship which started at the Leisure Valley Rink, Sarabha Nagar, here today.

In the boy’s 8 to 10 years section, Bhavjot Singh of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School and Jasmeet Kaur of Sacred Heart Convent School proved their mettle to win the top honours.

Results: Boys- track race: below 6 years- 1 Gurvir Singh of BCM School, 2 Anshul Chhabra of DAV School and 3 Sankalp Sharma of SHCS ; 6-8 years- 1 Kanwar B.P. Singh of SH School, 2 Watan Deep Singh of SHCS and 3 Narayan Sharma of DPS; 8-10 years- 1 Bhavjot Singh of SH School, 2 Shubneet Singh Singh of GNPS and 3 Vishwas Bhatia of KVM; 10-12 years- 1 Bhawneet Singh of GNPS, 2 Ramandeep Singh and 3 Sagar Arora of BCM School; 12-14 years- 1 Shiva Gupta of SH School, 2 Kanwardeep Singh of SHCS and 3 Preetraj Singh of GNPS; 14-16 years- 1 Sukhjinder Singh of SGHKPS, 2 Gulrej Singh of SHCS and 3 Dilip Singh Sagar of GNPS; above 16 years- 1 Varun Vaid, 2 Jagdeep Singh of GNPS and 3 Vicky of HKPS.

Girls- track race: below 6 years- 1 Saruchi Garg, 2 Tehdil Kaur Pannu and 3 Dilvir Kaur; 6-8 years- 1 Gurmehar Kaur of SPMS, 2 Varleen Kaur of BCM School and 3 Aanadita Gupta of SHCS; 8-10 years- 1 Jasmeet Kaur of SHCS, 2 Mehak Deep Kaur of GNPS and 3 Prasha Seth of SHCS; 10-12 years- 1 Apaar Kaur of SHCS, 2 Savleen Kaur of CFC School and 3 GurmanKaur Pannu of SHCS; 12-14 years- 1 Simran Kaur of GNIPS, 2 Tavleen Kaur of GNIPS and 3 Gursharan Kaur of GGPS.

Ludhiana, November 12
The Rest of Punjab, after trailing by 14 points at half time, made a fine comeback to outplay the BSF convincingly to register third win in a row and topped the table in the league phase in the men’s section of the third leg of Major Kuldeep Singh Memorial Punjab Annual Basketball League being played at Sujapur village, near here, today. They won the match 77-64.

BSF and Punjab Police with two victories and one loss each were at the second and third spot, respectively. The match slated to be played between the Rest of Punjab and the Punjab Police will decide the winner in the men’s section.

BSF men established a comfortable lead of 13 points at the end of the first quarter (25-12) and at half time increased it to 14 points (39-25).

However, BSF squandered away the advantage as they found themselves wanting at the end of the third quarter (45-51). The Rest of Punjab players seized the opportunity to further consolidate the lead and finally won it 77-64.

For the winners, Jagdeep and Sandeep netted 19 points each while Gagan contributed 15 points and Amritpal accounted for 16 points. The main scorers for the BSF were Vimal (17), Mod Singh (12) and Varinder (10).

In other matches (men), Punjab Police beat Punjab juniors (70-47) and Rest of punjab got the better of PSEB (68-61) while BSF prevailed over Punjab Police (76-73).

In the women’s section, Kapurthala beat Gurdaspur (26-10) and Ludhiana outplayed Amritsar (51-36).