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| SPORTS & WELLNESS |
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Kings run out of luck & pluck
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara has been fined for his team’s slow overrate
Fitness mantra
Game for greens
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The performance of Kings XI Punjab this IPL season has been absolutely dismal.
Vaibhav Sharma takes a look at what ails the team
Sports is like life. When things go bad, the smallest problem looks like the biggest. A stroke that would have gone for six, becomes a top edge and you are caught out, literally. Unfortunately, for Kings XI Punjab, the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been all about the top edges. With almost half the games played out, languishing at the bottom, Kings XI is a side in serious need of miracles. For starters, when they have got the runs, they have not been able to defend it (the +200 score chased down by Royal Challengers). A team laden with T20 specialists, arguably the hardest hitters of a cricket ball, has failed to live up to any of the adjectives. Apart from the dismal form of Yuvraj and Kaif, the Sri Lankan duo of captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have been all at sea. This has, in turn, put pressure on the openers and Ravi Bopara, after a flying start, is going through the occasional blips. Then there is Manvinder Bisla, who, according to Sangakkara, has been a revelation. Though Bisla has got the runs, his prowess against genuine pace remains questionable, as was exposed by Dale Steyn. Even the bowlers have struggled to cope with the heat. S. Sreesanth, who missed out on a spot in the T20 World Cup squad as well, has been spraying the ball around and it looks there’s no immediate remedy to his woes. Salabh Srivastava impressed in the game against the Knight Riders, but then he will have a lot to prove against more accomplished batting line-ups. Brett Lee has joined the squad but he has been out of competitive cricket for too long. Even So, in this atmosphere of gloom, where is the silver lining? The solution lies within the team. These are the very players who have been performing over the course of the last two seasons. They have done it before and they obviously can do it again. Forger the net run rates or semifinal slots. It has to be one game at a time. Working the combinations around might just be the magic potion they were looking for. Playing someone like Karan Goel at number seven is pretty absurd. With a team hit with a batting and bowling crisis, utility players are the answer. In Bipul Sharma they have a spinner-batsman. He can sail through the middle overs and get useful with the bat as well. Then there is the obvious choice of former India player Reetinder Sodhi. A medium pace-bowling option, clubbed with his powerful hitting, sounds too good to be out of a T20 side. While the fascination with foreign names is obvious, even among them, trying out someone like Adrian Barath is not unimaginable. Even Shaun Marsh has missed a big chunk of the tournament and the team can do with the solid start the southpaw is more than capable of providing. Eventually, as is the case with all sportsmen, the answer is always within. If you believe you can make the difference, and you can rise to the occasion, most often than not, you will. The players have to believe they can turn it around, even from here. For, not making it to the semis is hard to take, but the blemish of a season where the ifs and buts have dominated, is much more agonising. Time to live the King-size talk
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Fitness mantra The nutritional needs during pregnancy include the normal requirements of the mother, those of the developing foetus and a building up of reserves in preparation for labour and lactation. During this period, the mother has to meet her own needs and that of the growing
foetus.
A pregnant woman is always advised to eat what she wants, in amounts she desires.
Energy: Approximately only 300 K cals are required in addition to the normal calorie requirement during the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. The maximum amount of energy should be derived from wholegrain cereals rather than from fats and sugar. One should eat 6 or more servings of whole cereals. Thirty grams of uncooked rice, 2 medium-sized rotis, half a cup cooked cereal and two slices of bread provide one serving. Proteins: Fifteen grams of additional proteins are required in two to three servings. Non-vegetarians can get protein from meat, poultry and eggs. Vegetarians can derive good quality protein from a combination of cereals, legumes, pulses and nuts. The intake of sprouted pulses is desirable. One serving of protein foods equals 100 gm of cooked meat, fish or poultry, 2 eggs or 1 cup of cooked pulses along with a cereal. Vitamins and minerals: Six or more servings of fruits and vegetables should be included in the diet to meet the vitamin and mineral requirements. Fruits should be eaten with the peel. There should be one rich source of Vitamin C which we can get from citrus fruits like amla, lemon, orange, kinnow and guava and one rich source of beta carotene or Vitamin A (papaya, carrots, egg yolk, liver, yellow pumpkin, sweet potato etc). One cup of raw fruits or vegetables, half cup cooked vegetable, fresh fruit, 1 cup green salad, 1/4 cup dried fruit and 1 glass fruit juice provides one serving. Vitamin C-rich foods such as citrus fruits will also help in the absorption of iron. Milk and milk products: These should also be included in the diet to prevent calcium deficiency. 3-4 servings of high calcium foods are needed. One serving equals 1 cup of milk, 1 cup curd or yogurt, ½ cup cottage cheese or paneer. A pregnant mother may also require calcium, iron and vitamin B12 supplements. Vitamin supplements for women who do not consume an adequate diet are not helpful. Fluids: Drink plenty of fluids in the form of water and juices which help to prevent constipation and increase the volume of breast milk. Drink at least 10-12 glasses of fluid per day. Fats: A combination of PUFA (refined oils), MUFA (mustard oil) and SFA (butter, ghee etc.) as a source of energy in a ratio of 1:1:1 is preferable. Four to six servings of fat are usually recommended unless the person is under-nourished or obese. One serving is equivalent to 5 ml (1 tsp). Fried foods should be avoided as these may give heart burn also. Many mistaken beliefs should not prevent pregnant mothers from consuming very useful stuffs like pumpkin, jack fruit, jaggery, meat, fish, eggs, mangoes etc. These are tabooed as hot foods. Such non-specific beliefs should be discarded. DHA: It is very critical for brain, eye and central nervous system development and functioning. It is found in every cell in our bodies. Adequate levels of DHA may help to increase baby’s brain development and reduce the risk of post-partum depression. Pregnant and lactating women supplement their normal diet with 300mg of DHA per day. For non-vegetarians, fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, eggs and marine algae, fish oil supplements are rich in DHA. For vegetarians, DHA is found in nuts, seeds, oils like sunflower oil, soyabean oil, rapeseed oil, linseed oil, flaxseed oil are rich in DHA. Excessive cooking of these foods may destroy DHA. A strong building stands on a strong foundation. The writer is Chief Dietician, Department of Dietetics, PGI
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Game for greens
Purple cabbage and pesticide-free broccoli on the Commonwealth Games menu
Leading agricultural scientists in Delhi are currently working on a number of vegetables, which are not only safe and pesticide-free but also fancy and colourful. These vegetables will be served to over 7,000 athletes, delegates from over 70 countries and other tourists who will be here for the mega sporting event October 3-14. "We are getting ready for the Commonwealth Games. They will get safe and colourful vegetables to eat," Baljit Singh, a principal scientist with the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi, said recently. "It is our job to provide them good food. We know October is an off season but we will cultivate vegetables in protected environments," he said. "We have cultivated them under a protected environment and are now training farmers, living in a 80-km radius of the national Capital, to grow these vegetables," said Singh, who is the head of the Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology at IARI. He said several farmers in and around Delhi are interested in cultivating these vegetables. For example, farmers in Najafgarh are likely to cultivate pesticide-free cauliflowers while those in Alipur will produce seedless cucumber. Special sweet corns are likely to be sourced from Sonepat in Haryana. Several farmers in the Bilaspur region of Himachal Pradesh are likely to provide red, yellow and green peppers. The scientist explained that protected cultivation meant that all these vegetables would be grown in "greenhouses under a controlled environment". Water, fertiliser and temperature will be controlled.
— IANS |
Sports is like life. When things go bad, the smallest problem looks like the biggest. A stroke that would have gone for six, becomes a top edge and you are caught out, literally. Unfortunately, for Kings XI Punjab, the third season of the Indian Premier League
(IPL) has been all about the top edges.
Pregnancy is a very special moment in a woman’s life. It entails the joys and challenges of motherhood. Everyone should have the right to begin life with a healthy well-formed body free of defects and to receive the advantages of his/her mother’s milk.
A world-class infrastructure and fool-proof security are not the only things in the offing for the Commonwealth Games. The organisers are also fixing up delightful menus prepared with select ingredients ranging from purple cabbage and seedless cucumber to multi-coloured pepper.
"Vegetables like purple cabbage, special broccoli, multi-coloured peppers, cherry tomato with at least seven per cent sweetness, French radish and seedless cucumber are some of our focus areas now.