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World Cup Kabaddi 2010
‘Selection process led to our fall’
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India hope to win title
Dy CM orders on residents’ plea
Construction of new block
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World Cup Kabaddi 2010
Bathinda, April 10 Beating the scorching sun, the passionate spectators, sporting towels and caps over their heads, started thronging the stadium about four hours before the first match of the two nail-biting semi-finals of the World Cup Kabaddi, Punjab-2010 played between Pakistan-Italy and India-Canada. Before the teams faced each other, a cultural event including rendering of foot tapping numbers by noted Punjabi singer Satwinder Kaur Bitti had the crowd up on its feet. To give the event a touch of royalty, immaculately attired men, representing the teams of all the nine countries, which participated in the World Cup, entered the stadium riding ponies and camels. Following them were youths displaying the martial art (Gatka). The mare dance also received a big round of applause. The euphoric crowd not only jam-packed the stadium but also happily received batons from the police for jumping across the barricades and rushing towards the fencing of the main ring. For once, they did not mind the police lathis and did not take to sloganeering. Many of them lost their turbans but still, the fervour of the event kept all of them glued to the ground, with their turbans in their lap. Despite the tight and at times rude security, it proved to be difficult to manage the affairs especially at the entry points as the media personnel and the VIPs, even the Spain team, had to struggle a lot. Least bothering about the risk of injuries and despite the repeated instruction from cops, dozens of spectators climbed the pipes meant for tents and enjoyed a bird's eye-view of the proceedings from vantage points across the stadium. Exhibiting their expertise, the commentators not only boosted the morale of the players but also made the whole event, which lasted till 6 pm, tasteful and spellbinding. Hardly any of the thousands gathered ventured to leave the stadium. Meanwhile, the humorous commentary of comedy star Bhagwant Mann, who kept entering the ground intermittently, tickled the funny bone of one and all. Setting an uncommon instance, the organizers had arranged for a langar (free food) for all those interested at the backside of the
stadium. The joy and enthusiasm of the spectators was to be seen to be believed as it was a major event that was being hosted by Bathinda. A large number of spectators were witnessed holding placard, bearing the pictures Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who was the chairman of the World Cup Kabaddi organizing committee. Moreover, commentators too did not let go any moment to shower praise on him, saying the whole event was the result of Sukhbir's initiative. Expressing satisfaction over the conduct of the event, Sukhbir Badal announced that eight stadiums conforming to international standards with floodlight facilities, including one in bathinda, would be completed within a year and next World Cup Kabaddi tournament would be held there. Sukhbir admitted that due to the "unexpectedly massive response" to the World Cup Kabaddi in all cities, facilities for the spectators were not to the desired standards and promised not to allow the shortcomings to get repeated in future. |
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‘Selection process led to our fall’
Bathinda, April 10 Immediately after losing the match, they started blaming each other for reasons like lack of coordination and forcible entry of the three "recommended" players from other Kabaddi federation. Speaking to this correspondent, the coach of the Italian team, Parwinder Singh Billa revealed that he was forced to take three players from the other federation, as one more team from Italy had "mischievously" landed in India to participate in the World Cup. "It was not only from Italy, there was also a lot of pressure from the organizers also due to which I had to alter my original team, replacing three well-trained players with weaker ones. The result of that forcible decision showed its consequence," claimed the coach of Italy. A stopper of the team, Jeet Bargadi termed the lack of judgement as well as lack of coordination among the players as a major cause for their loss. "We were not trained according to the strategy of the Pakistan raiders, who were so fast and hard in hitting, that we failed in our judgement and lost the event," lamented a stopper of Italy, Manpreet Singh. On the other hand, their rival Pakistani team claimed that it was their coordination that made Italy bite the dust. "It was a simple match for us. We played the game in a planned manner, pre-deciding the strategy to defeat the rival," said Imtiaz Alam, captain of the Pakistan team. However, the manager of the Pakistan team Mohammad Hussain was still not satisfied. Terming the win over Italy as not thrilling, he said, "Our stoppers were a bit weak. Had they played more efficiently, we could have won the match by a bigger margin." When questioned, almost every player of Pakistan claimed that they would grab the World Cup, defeating their traditional rival India at Ludhiana on April 12. |
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India hope to win title
Bathinda, April 10 The hero of today's match, Saravan expressed the hope that India will lift the cup and that he along with the entire team will play to its full potential for ensuring the victory in the finals. Coach of the team Balbir Singh Bittu and Harpreet Singh Baba termed the disciplined performance by the boys as the reason behind the victory. Captain of the team Mangat Singh Mangi thanked the players and said that there might be some changes in the plan against Pakistan. |
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Land acquisition: Displaced residents burn effigies, block traffic in protest
Bathinda, April 10 They also blocked main entrance and exit gates of the bus stand, which disrupted the vehicular traffic movement, and raised slogans against the government. The protest was held under the leadership of Suresh Goyal, the founder of the General Samaj Party. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by Malkiat Kaur, a resident of Mehna Basti, entered its 11th day today while the protest by the residents in the Ambedkar Park outside the Mini-secretariat here entered its 13th day. Malkiat Kaur has reportedly lost about 10 kg since she sat on hunger strike. Suresh Goyal said local SHO Gurjit Singh Romana today met the protesters and asked the protest leaders to hold talks with the authorities concerned and settle the issue. Goyal said the leaders met local Tehsildar and the SHO at the local Circuit House, who arranged their meeting with the deputy commissioner (DC) at the DC office tomorrow. He said both the officials assured them that the matter would be resolved at tomorrow’s meeting. Goyal announced that they would neither lift their protest dharna nor Malkiat Kaur would break her indefinite hunger strike till the demands of the residents were accepted. He also warned the administration and the state government not to test the patience of the protesting residents of the Mehna Basti and others for long. He said if the administration did not pay heed to their demands, they would be compelled to take their agitation to other parts of the city. |
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Art of impossible: Jakhar shares dais with Chawla
Abohar, April 10 When Chawla reached the civil hospital, Jakhar along with his supporters waved the bottles filled with dirty water in the air. The Congress activists also raised slogans in favour of Jakhar. Subsequently, Jakhar joined Chawla when she was unveiling the foundation stone. Jakhar also joined her on the stage and later he showered praises on Chawla when he delivered a speech at the function. Jakhar said that Chawla was one of those politicians, who always followed principles in their lives. Gurtej Singh Ghudiana, former SAD (B) MLA, while talking to TNS, said that showering of praise on Chawla by Jakhar proved that the SAD-BJP combine was doing a good job. “The Congressmen were compelled to praise due to overall development of the state under the rule of the SAD-BJP in the state. Punjab witnessed negligible development during the previous Congress government in the state,” he said Jakhar said that people were free to drive any meaning from his speech where he had praised Chawla for her good work. He said that he had also opposed certain actions of the state government as well. He never shied of taking the CM and Deputy CM head-on whenever there was a valid reason in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Jakhar said. Ghudiana too pointed out the same thing in his speech made today. The issue of dirty water was serious and hence as elected representative of the people, he raised it before Chawla. Chawla had assured him to take up the matter with the CM, Jakhar
said. (Additional reporting by Raj Sadosh) |
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Dy CM orders on residents’ plea Chander Parkash Tribune News Service
Fazilka, April 10 Badal directed a senior functionary of the Punjab police to complete the process of attaching Arniwala police station, now attached with Jalalabad sub-division, with Fazilka sub-division immediately. Shushil Gumber, president, Bar Association, said that though a few villages, which were detached from Fazilka sub-division were still with Abohar sub-division, the decision in connection with the fact that whether agitation, which was going on so far against it, must be continued or not, would be taken by the representatives of various organisations, who had formed a common platform to fight against the injustice done to Fazilka.
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Felling of trees opposed
Fazilka, April 10 Manoranjan Kalia, Punjab minister, said that the government plans to review FAR ratios and encourage vertical growth to discourage destruction of the green areas. Present construction activity in the BDPO office is against the basic stand taken by the state government,” he said. — TNS
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The semi-final match of the World Cup Kabaddi-2010 between Pakistan and Italy in progress at the Sports Stadium in Bathinda on Saturday. Pakistan defeated Italy to enter the final to be played at Ludhiana on Monday. India defeated Canada in the other semi-final setting the stage for a clash between the two arch-rivals.
Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma
