The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

‘Heart diseases linked to lifestyle’
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, November 16
Dr Rakesh Jaswal, a well-known name among intervention cardiologists in North India, has achieved the distinction of having performed the maximum number of intervention cardiac procedures at the Fortis Heart Institute here. But one could safely state that he is also one of the most sought-after cardiologists by all the Himachalis who land up in Fortis, all wanting to meet Dr Jaswal only.

And the concern is mutual. Dr Jaswal has identified a large number of causes that lead to coronary heart diseases specific to hilly areas. “Basically, its lifestyle everywhere but then among the Himachalis obesity is obviously not such a major cause as it is in Punjab. There people have heart problems due to excessive smoking. Then unclean habits due to excessive cold small dingy rooms are some of the other reasons responsible for rheumatic heart disease. The risk factors are different as hence the way the treatment has to be done also differs. But women in these areas are at a comparative less risk as they are both hard working and non-smokers.” he states.

Dr Jaswal has also been through various forums trying to create awareness among the urban women about the benefits of HRT and its impact on the incidence of cardiac problems in post menopausal women. “HRT is thought to be helpful in reducing cardiac diseases risks among women. But it is not so. Till now no particular benefits have been seen from HRT as far as reduction of incidence of heart disease in post menopausal women who are undergoing HRT is concerned,” he points out.

SPORTS

Face guards can save sports careers
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 16
Wearing a gum sheet while playing can save you from the pain of having to give up your favourite sport. About 50 per cent of the city sportspersons had to quit sport after suffering serious facial injuries.

Dentists said, in India, only boxers wore gum sheets and face guards , that too, ill-fitting ones. Dentists found 82.3 per cent of oro-facial injuries in sportspersons to be results of not using protective gear. Experts attending the fifth Congress of the Asian Academy of Preventive Dentistry in the PGI stressed the need for creating awareness among coaches and sportspersons regarding the need for using protective gear like gum sheet, face guard and helmet.

“I am in touch with officials of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the National Institute of Sport at Patiala to organise an awareness campaign for promoting the use of protective gear,” said Dr Gurvanit K. Lehl of Government Medical College and Hospital here. She interviewed 40 city coaches to evaluate their knowledge, attitude and experience regarding oro-facial injuries in sportspersons. Dr Lehl said the coaches had seen about 50 per cent of the city sportspersons discontinue playing after injuries. Most of the injuries had been due to hockey-stick hits, cricket-ball hits, falls and collisions.

“In India, the use of good custom-made face guards and gum sheets should be encouraged, as dental-facial trauma can be serious. The trauma includes orbital fractures, facial asymmetry, fracture of the temporo mandibular jaw and the blocking of facial growth,” said Dr Monty S. Duggal, Professor in the Leeds Dental School of the UK. He said dental-facial trauma could dent a child’s behaviour and personality.

“Though broken teeth can be replaced with implants and bridges, a child has to keep visiting his or her dentist lifelong,” he said. While, in Europe, only 25 per cent of the children suffered dental trauma. “In India, this number is bound to be higher due to a higher number of road accidents and sportspersons not being in the habit of wearing protective gear,” he said.

Dr Duggal said, in all schools, gymnasiums and sports clubs, the use of gum sheets and face guards during play should be made mandatory. “In India, gum sheets and face guards are not custom-made; these are bought over the counter, so, these turn out to be ill-fitting and don’t give full protection,” says Prof Ashok Utreja of the PGI Department of Oral Sciences. He said a PVC gum sheet made on order barely cost Rs 200 and the facility was available in the PGI, but there were hardly any takers.

Sportspersons should know that broken teeth can be reimplanted, provided these are preserved in cold milk, no damage is done to the roots and a dental surgeon is consulted within an hour of the injury.

Yachting championships begin on colourful note
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 16
The first Punjab State Open Yachting Championships organised by the Punjab Amateur Yachting Association (PAYA) started on a colourful note at the Sukhna Lake here today.

In all 12 teams, both of men and women, are participating in the championship in which competitions will be held in the Enterprise class. Three heats were held in the beautiful laid course. With excellent wind conditions, the sailors enjoyed every moment of the competition.

Mr S.M. Sharma, president of PAYA, while talking to newsmen said that the Punjab team for the National Games to be held next month at Hyderabad would be selected on the basis of the performances in this competition. A training camp for the selected sailors will be held from November 20 to 30 at Pong Dam followed by a camp at Vishakapatnam to acclimatise the sailors with sailing in sea.

In today’s championship international rafter Narinder Kumar along with Sudhir Kumar stood first.

The following are the results —

Race-1: Narinder Kumar and Sudhir Kumar (32.02 sec) 1; Darshan Lal and Daljit Singh (32.50 sec) 2; Manpool Singh and Jatinder Kumar (33.14) 3.

Race-2: Ranvir Singh and Gurjit Singh (32.15) 1; Nidhan Singh and Hans Raj (36.40 sec) 2; A.K.Pandey and Reena Vishwas (38.40) 3.

Race-3: Raju Chauhan and Gurinder Singh ( 38.15) 1; Ganesh Kumar and Kapildeep Kaushal (36.30) 2; A Kohandivel and Ajay Kumar (40.30) 3.

The final race will be held at 2.45 p.m. tomorrow.

TT titles for Coaching Centre
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, November 16
Coaching Centre, Sector 23, bagged both junior boys and junior girls team championship titles in the 15th Stag Chandigarh State Table Tennis Championship played here at Sector 23 TT hall. In the boys event, Coaching Centre-23 had to toil hard to beat Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, (3-2), while the girls team final was won by Coaching Centre-23 that outplayed Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, 3-00. Earlier, DAV Public School, Sector 8, managed to win sub-junior boys title by defeating Manav Mangal School, Sector 21, 3-2.

Cricket tourney: A superb bowling performance by Harinder Dhaka (7 for 30 ) helped DAV `B’ cricket team beat Government College, Sector 46, by 123 runs in the inaugural match of ‘Kapil Dev Trophy’ being played at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here today. The meet is being organised by the UT Cricket Association.

Put to bat, DAV `B’ started off well as the openers added 42 runs in the first eight overs. Ankur Sharma played well, making 33 runs to help his team reach 177 runs all out in allotted 40.4 overs. He was supported by Mandeep Singh (30), Umesh Kaw (32) and Amit Sharma (22). Ashutosh was the most successful bowler capturing four wickets for 46 runs.

Chasing the target, Government college were never in a comfortable position as wickets tumbled regularly. Harinder Dhaka, right arm medium pacer, sent seven batsmen back to the pavilion as Government College were bundled out for 54 runs.

Brief scores: DAV `B’ 177 all out in 40.4 overs (Ankur Sharma 33 n.o., Umesh Kaw 32, Mandeep Singh 30, Amit Sharma 22; Ashutosh 4 for 46, Gourav Sharma 3 for 21, Gagan 2 for 18). Government College-46: 54 all out in 16.5 overs (Parvesh Thakur 16, Khalid Raza 15; Harinder Dhaka 7 for 30 , Anil Kumar 3 for 1).

Rich harvest for Kalpana: Kalpana of Gian Jyoti Public School, Phase II, SAS Nagar, clinched seven gold medals and one silver medal in the CBSE cluster-level Athletics meet played here at Vivek High school, Sector 38. Kalpana and Supreet Singh secured gold medals in 100 metres in below-14 section for boys and girls, while in the below-16 age group, Gurvinder Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Rajat won a gold medal each in 4x100 metre event.

Roller skating meet: The Roller Skating Association of Panchkula will hold the eighth District Roller Skating Championship at Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula, on November 23 and 24. According to Mr KP Singh, Chairman of the association, the events will be held in roller hockey and speed events. More than 200 skaters from the district are expected to take part in the event. The selected skaters will then participate in the Haryana State Skating Championship to be held in the last week of November. Entry forms are available with the school office between 10 am and 4 pm from November 18 onwards, while the last date of submission of entries is November 21.

Yoga trials: Yoga trials will be held to select the Chandigarh team on November 23 at Divine Life Society, plot no 2, Sector 29 at 3 pm. According to the secretary , Chandigarh Yoga Association, Mr O.P. Malick, the trials will be held in the age group of 8-11, 11-14, 14-17, 17-21 and 21-25 years, both in the men’s and women’s sections.

Selected players will participate in the 27th National Yoga Championship to be held from November 25 to 28 at Patiala.

TT meet: Prashant and Shreshth entered the semifinals beating Rommel and Mayank, respectively, in the under-14 (boys) category on the first day of the second Satluj Open Tennis Tournament at Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula. The tournament was inaugurated by the Principal, Satluj Public School, Mr Krit Serai. More than 50 students from various schools of Panchkula and Chandigarh are participating in the tournament.

The under-16 boys and girls will be played tomorrow. The prize distribution ceremony will be held on Sunday.

Football meet for women: Soccertech, in its campaign to promote football, will organise a six-a-side one-day football tournament for women on November 24, 2002 at Government College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh, according to a press note of the organisation.

Tournament winners will be awarded attractive prizes and no entry fee will be charged from the teams. Entries close on November 22 and tournament fixture will be notified on November 23. The tournament will be played on league knock-out format with modified rules.

Carrom meet: Hosts Saupin’s School, Sector 9, Panchkula, players performed well in the second Saupin’s Inter-school Carrom Tournament, which began at Panchkula on Saturday. Earlier, Father Francis Xavier Peris, Priest of Panchkula, inaugurated the meet. The winners are: Boys’ team (Class IX and above): DAV Senior Secondary School, Panchkula, Saupin’s School and DAV School, Sector 8. Class VIII: St Stephen’s School, Panchkula, and Saupin’s School. In the girls’ section for class IX and above, the winners are: Bhawan Vidyalya, Sector 15, and Saupins School. In events for class up to VIII: St Stephen’s School, Panchkula, and Saupin’s School remained the winners.

Sports meet: The week-long sports activities of Sri Guru Harkishan Model School, Sector 38, concluded on Saturday with tiny tots presenting a show. The cultural bonanza in the form of field show was held which was presided over by Justice M.S. Liberhan (retd), Chief Justice, who later gave away prizes.

LKG tiny tots took part in the balloon race, while students of Class II participated in the lemon and spoon race. Students from Class III to Class V displayed their prowess in yoga by performing various ‘asanas’. A slow cycling competition was also held where students of Class X participated.

ADMINISTRATION

HUDA resumes demolition drive
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 16
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) today resumed its anti-encroachment drive in the Devi Nagar area by removing more than 100 structures here and around 300 in Sector 3 this afternoon.

This slum colony on the Zirakpur-Kalka highway, opposite Sector 4, had been come up around two decades ago.

This 48-acre piece of land belongs to HUDA. While there is a stay order in different khasras spread over 16 acres, the rest of the area is not under litigation.

It may be recalled that HUDA had earlier demolished around 100 structures here on November 12. The HUDA demolition squad returned today to resume the anti-encroachment drive. The slum-dwellers were given sufficient time to gather their belongings and vacate the jhuggis before the demolition began.

The Enforcement Wing carried out demolition on structures in khasra numbers 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 146, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 163, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176 at Devi Nagar and khasra numbers 11/ 9 and 12/ 2 at Majri Chowk.

The HUDA tehsildar and his staff had a tough time guiding the demolition squad after identifying the khasra numbers which were free from litigation. By the evening, at least 25 acres of land had been reclaimed.

The HUDA staff was led by the Estate Officer, Ms Monica Mallik and Assistant Estate Officer, Mr Vijay Bhardwaj, and accompanied by a large number of police personnel led by Mr Rajesh Duggal, DSP. Officials of the district administration, were also present on the occasion.