HEALTH

Fortis docs’ tips to journalists to keep fit
Tribune News Service

Mohali, June 26
Fortis today conducted a special workshop for journalists and photo-journalists during which doctors discussed various health-related problems faced by journalists in their work environment and personal life. More than 100 journalists participated in the workshop, which was held at the Fortis auditorium at Fortis Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital here.

Dr Hardeep Singh, Consultant Psychiatry, MD (Psychiatry), spoke on stress management, giving tips to journalists how to distress themselves to combat the stress of deadlines and balance their personal and professional life. Dr. Singh also suggested relaxation tips like deep breathing, yoga and take up gardening. He also advised journalists to delegate work and focus on what they are really good at, to ease the workload and pressure on them. Dr Jagmohan S. Varma, Director, Catherisation and Interventional Cardiology, spoke on sedentary lifestyles and heart diseases.

Dr K.P. Singh, Senior Consultant, Endocrinology, spoke about the harmful effects of Diabetes. He also gave tips on how to prevent and control diabetes. Dr. Arvind Sharma, Consultant, Ophthalmology, spoke on eyecare and how eyes are affected by working on a computer. Dr Arvind Sharma gave advice on how to protect the eyes against eye infections and foreign bodies. Dr. Sharma also demonstrated some eye exercises.

Dr Mohinish Chhabra, Consultant, Gastroenterology, highlighted various problems that a journalist could face when he was on the move and didn’t have time to go home and had to depend on junk food. Dietician Ms Sonia Gandhi, explained the importance of proper diet. Doctors also gave special tips on exercises that could be done while working in the office itself.

Earlier, Mr Daljit Singh, CEO, Fortis Hospital, said the workshop was part of Fortis Outreach Programme aimed at creating awareness among the masses about good health through preventive healthcare.

Thalassaemics take to wheatgrass wonder
Neelam Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 26
For many thalassaemic patients, who require units of blood after every few weeks, wheatgrass tablets are proving nothing less than a panacea. However, doctors insist that in the absence of any thorough research, it will be too early to commit on their efficacy.

On the one hand, patients taking wheatgrass juice, and now the wheatgrass tablets, say regular intake of these ensures that the time for going for a blood transfusion, which is normally required after every fortnight, is prolonged to about 55 days. Since the frequency of blood transfusion goes down, the iron dose, which goes along with the blood transfusion, is also reduced.

“My son used to have more than 17 transfusions a year before I started with wheatgrass. Now the number has come down to just about six to seven transfusions a year,” says the president of the Thalassaemic Children Welfare Association, Chandigarh, Mr S.P. Ajmani. He has been giving his 30-year-old thalassaemic son wheatgrass dosages for the past five years.

Parents of thalassaemic children describe wheatgrass as a “diet drink” which enhances haemoglobin and red blood cells. It increases energy levels of those consuming it regularly, they say.

However, at the PGI, where nearly 340 thalassaemic patients are on regular transfusion, the Rs 2 wheatgrass tablet is prescribed by doctors themselves, but they say that a thorough research still needs to be done to find out how effective these tablets are or the wheatgrass juice is.

Doctors say before the tablets came into picture, the patients were dropping out in large number from the wheatgrass juice dosage because of the cumbersome process involved. The process required growing wheat in seven pots on different days, then cutting wheatgrass from the first pot on the eighth day and extracting its juice for consumption. The tablets, however, have largely removed those complications.

“We have been prescribing wheatgrass tablets to our patients in different age groups. But the effectiveness of the these tablets is still to be researched into. It will be early to say whether they are actually a miracle,” says Prof R.K. Marwaha, who works at the Advanced Paediatrics Centre (APC) at the PGI.

He is conducting a study on patients consuming wheatgrass tablets, procured from a firm based in Pune. The findings of the study will pinpoint how much these “miraculous tablets” have benefited the patients.

Abhairaj, Sidharth win under-14 tennis title
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh June 26
Abhairaj Singh and Sidharth Singh clinched the boys under-14 doubles title on the penultimate day of the ongoing The Fort Ramgarh Total Tennis Championship played here at the Total Tennis, YMCA, Sector 11, Chandigarh.

Abhairaj Singh and Sidharth Singh, who were the top seed in the boys under-14 doubles section, played against the second seed pair of Akshat Joshi and Akshay Chopra. Latter played a game of deception, angles and curved volleys to win the first set, at 6-4. There was just one service break in the ninth game of the set. But the second set belonged to the top seed pair that won it, 6-3. In the third and the final set, Akshat and Akshay played aggressive tennis to lead, 5-2. But they lost control of the match and lost, 5-6.

In the next game, they held their nerves to take the final set to the tie breaker. In the tie breaker, Abhairaj and Sidharth played good tennis and clinched the match and the boys under-14 (doubles) title. The final score was 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).

In the girls’ category, Prabhamrit Kaur reached into the finals of the girls under-12 and under-14 categories. In the first semifinal, she beat Ashima Bhatia, 6-2, 6-1, in the girls under-12 category. In another semifinal of the same category, Shilpa Naruka beat Shivangi Bansal,6-3, 7-5, in a tough match that lasted for over two hours.

In the girls under-14 semifinals, Prabhamrit Kaur beat Divya Rangray, 6-3, 6-2. In the final, she will face her practice partner Purna, who defeated Pallak Grewal, 6-0, 6-1.

The girls under-12 finals will be played tomorrow at 7 am, whereas the boys under-14 and girls under-14 finals will be played at 4 pm.

Results: boys (under-14, doubles) final: Abhairaj Singh and Sidharth Singh beat Akshat Joshi and Akshay Chopra 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).

Girls (under-12) semifinal: Shilpa Naruka b Shivangi Bansal, 6-3, 7-5; Prabhamrit Kaur b Ashima Bhatia 6-2, 6-1.

Girls (under-14) semifinals: Purna b Pallak Grewal, 6-0, 6-1; Prabhamrit Kaur b Divya Rangray, 6-3, 6-2.

Cricket tourney

Satluj Cricket Coaching Centre, Panchkula, defeated Ramjas Sports Club, New Delhi, by 17 runs in the under-15 final of the Satluj Hot Weather Cricket Tournament played here today at the Satluj Public School grounds, Panchkula.

Earlier, Satluj Cricket Centre won the toss and elected to bat first. Satluj openers Nitish Bhardwaj and Sukhvinder Singh began well by having a 67-run partnership for the first wicket in 10 overs. Then it was the turn of skipper Ashutosh Walia who continued with his good work by scoring 59 runs. Satluj Cricket Centre made 187 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 30 overs. Rajiv Gupta and Kaushal of the Ramjas Sports Club, New Delhi, captured three wickets for 21 runs and two wickets for 27 runs, respectively.

In reply, the Ramjas Sport Club team was all out for 170 runs in 29th over. Rohit bagged three wickets followed by Simarpreet and Vipul Chadha, who took two wickets each.

Brief scores; Satluj CC — Ashutosh Walia 59, Nitin 38, Sukhvinder 33, Rajiv 3 for 21, Kaushal 2 for 27. Ramjas Club: Hitesh Rai 42, Rajiv 33, Aditya 28, Rohit 3 for 20, Simarpreet 2 for 26, Vipul 2 for 29.

Tennis tournament

The second day of the ongoing Lake Club Open Tennis Tournament being played here at the Lake Club courts saw sisters Neha Singh and Simer making it to the semifinal in the girls’ under-18 section.

In the boys’ under-18 section, Deepinder Bains and Sandeep sailed into the last four.

In the girls’ under-14 section, Noor Paul, Poorna and Mehak entered the last four.

Results (quarter-finals): girls under-14: Noor Paul b Prabhamrit Kaur, 8-3; Poorna b Sunita, 8-0; Mehak b Priya Dahiya, 8-4. (under-18): Neha Singh b Jaanesh Kaur, 8-1; Simer b Mehak, 8-2.

Boys (under-18): Deepinder Bains b Gursimran Brar, 8-5; Sandeep R Chaudhary b N. Hooda, 8-2; Rupinder Singh b Ravneet Singh, 8-7(3); Abhairaj b Anmol Ladhar, 8-6.

Roller hockey

St Stephen’s Skating Club, Sector 45, stole the limelight in roller hockey on the opening day of the Roller Bones Skating Carnival here on Saturday at the Sector 10 skating rink. After winning the junior girls roller hockey title, St Stephen’s Club made it to the final of the sub-junior girls section also. They also secured the third place in the sub-junior boys roller hockey.

Wrestler aims high for Athens
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, June 26
It takes years of hard work and management in the making of a sportsperson of world stature. This can be aptly said about Palwinder Singh Cheema, gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and silver medallist at Busan Asiad-2002, who is now working hard in wrestling (120 kg plus category) for Athens Olympics.

Arjuna awardee Palwinder belongs to a family of renowned wrestlers, with grandfather Kesar Singh remaining Rustam-e-Hind and his father-cum-coach Sukhchain Singh Cheema supporting him all through. Palwinder says he learnt the real fundamentals of wrestling from his father and the polishing of his game was done by foreign coaches.

On his chances in Athens, he says a lot depends on the kind of draw and the opponent wrestler in his round. Palwinder said in Busan Asian Games-2002, he was in a tough section, so he had to fight hard to get silver medal. In the Manchester Commonwealth Games-2002, he had a smooth sailing, so he did not face any hurdle till the final, when he got a gold medal.

Palwinder had won a gold in the Canada Cup, where he was also declared the best International male wrestler. Palwinder won two gold medals in the World Police and Fire Games held in Barcelona.

Sukhchain Singh said the high-altitude camp in Shilaru last month was of great help to wrestlers and now after few days, Palwinder along with other qualifiers will train in Bulgaria till the Olympics (wrestling) event, beginning on August 22.

City girls begin with win in gateball meet
Tribune News Service

The Punjab Finance Minister, Mr Lal Singh, takes a stroke during the opening ceremony of the National Gateball Championship at Panjab University, Chandigarh, on Saturday. — A Tribune photograph