HEALTH

Karmapa examined again
By A Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Doctors examined Karmapa Trinley Dorjee again today. ECG, blood, eco-cardiograma and urine tests were conducted. According to sources, some traces of pus were detected following a urine test. Normally, the pus cell count is 1-2 but his pus count was 4-6. No serious problem has been detected.

According to sources, he is to leave for Dharamsala tomorrow.

According to Dr Behera, Karmapa has non-specific chest pain and is eating and sleeping well.

He was not allowed to move out of his room due to security reasons. Besides his own guards, UT security guards and the PGI Security guards are on duty. Trinley Dorjee is always surrounded by four persons.

Many students from Panjab University and people from Manali and other far-off cities had come, but nobody was allowed to meet him.

COURTS

Allow petitioner to take exam: court
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Issuing notice of motion to Panjab University, the Controller of Examination and the Principal of the Government College of Education for May 11, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the respondents to "allow the petitioner to appear in the examination".

In her petition, taken up by Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Amar Dutt of the High Court, Ms Milan Preet Bajwa had earlier alleged that the "Controller had written to the college Principal to withdraw the roll number since admission had been granted to her on wrong combination of subjects".

Today, pronouncing the orders, the judges observed: "We have heard the petition and perused the record. Her submission is that after having granted admission to her in September 99 and allowing her to complete the course and further allowing her to appear in three practical examinations, the controller of Examination, Panjab University, without any notice and opportunity of hearing cancelled her admission".

The judges also observed: "Notice of motion is ordered to be issued to the respondents for May 11. In the meantime, the respondents and their functionaries are directed to allow the petitioner to appear in the examination commencing from April 15.

CULTURE

Puran Shahkoti honoured
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Baisakhi spirit came alive at Tagore Theatre with a galaxy of noted Punjabi folk singers giving the audience a taste of their life. The show which featured vibrant Punjabi tones was further made attractive by the legendary performance coming from the great Puran Shahkoti, also known to us as the Guru of the emerging Punjabi pop star Hans Raj Hans.

Although the programme, organised by the Aashiana Cultural Club, took long to get under way, it picked up. The guests of honour, Puran Shahkoti and his son Master Saleem, kept the gathering waiting for about an hour. The zest was, meanwhile, kept alive by the many singers gathered to enliven the surroundings. Loud drum beats, the village backdrop and the bhangra tones — all reflected the 'springy' day.

Among the artists who presented Punjabi songs were Rajinder Moni, Gurmeet Sandhu, Balbir Sufi, Harminder Sandhu, Karnail Sabdalpuri, Baljinder Dhillon and Usha Kiran, Subhash Joshi, Ashu, Saru and Ragni. Some dances were also performed on the occasion.

The club later conferred honours on Puran and Master Saleem.

SPORT

Cricket is a punter's delight
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Cricketers have become products and the latest betting scandal proves it. Actually the nature of the game itself has made it susceptible to massive betting. Kerry Packer brought big money into the game in the early 70s.

Gradually cricket turned into a commercial with players promoted like products in the market. Sponsors chased them like madmen. Eventually, this led to the present scandal, involving Hanse Cronje, one of the most respected cricketers in world.

Puolo Rossi, Italian football star, was charged with bribery in the 80s and was banned from the game. Until now, such serious charges had never been proved in cricket.

City psychologists said the nature of the game made it lucrative for punters. Mr N.S. Mann is a physical education professor of Panjab University who has done research in sport psychology as well which has been mainly associated with football. He said match-fixing could be there only if betting was involved in it. He said ''In Delhi, during the Durand Cup matches, punters remain active. They even go to the extent of fixing players for entering the 'D', for effecting long corners or the other moves. Money becomes the prime object for players here, but, the possibility of match-fixing in the other sport is remote. In the National Football League, punters are active in metros only where they find many spectators. In places like Ludhiana, where only a handful of persons come to watch a football match, punters are inactive."

Prof Mann, however, said the nature of cricket also made it possible for batsmen to get out without anybody noticing whether the dismissals were genuine or not. He gave the example of the India-Pakistan hockey match in the 1982 Asian Games when India was trailing, 1-7, and the Indian goalkeeper was accused of deliberately allowing the goals to be scored. He said match-fixing and betting were old stories, but, big money in cricket had seen punters and bookies shifting their attention to it.

Mr J.P.S. Sidhu, Joint Director Sports of the UT, said, ''Cricket is a game of chance and it is difficult to make out whether any player has got out delibrately or not. So, the allegation of bribery cannot be levied on any player. He also said in individual sport except billiards, match-fixing was difficult. He said batsmen were more prone to committing such mischiefs. Moreover, big money has been channelised into cricket, making the players fall prey to bookies.

Mr S.N. Sharma, a former senior physical education professor of the PU, said due to the nature of the game, the crowds and too many matches in a year, the game was exposed to such vandalism. He said unless strict action was taken against defaulters, the gentleman's game would not survive.

Harsimran, a rare allrounder
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — Five-foot-eleven-inch tall Harsimran Singh Brar, a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, is a rare allrounder. He took up water sport at the age of four-and-a-half, before doing well in cycling, karate, rowing, triathlon and basketball as well.

The journey towards fame began in 1991 when he won three gold medals in the inter-school swimming meet and was declared the best swimmer. At the National School Games swimming meet in Goa in 1997, he got the fifth place. In 1998, he won a bronze medal in the 200 m backstroke and fourth place in the 100 m backstroke event. Past year, in the National School Games at Patiala, Harsimran won a silver medal for the city in the 100 m backstroke.

Harsimran said due to the city not being affiliated to the National Swimming Federation, he had to represent Punjab at national meets. He received coaching from Jasjit Kaur, a UT Sports Department coach, at the Yoga Centre swimming pool in Sector 23. He also gives the credit of his success to Bakshish Singh; Gurcharan Singh, an SAI coach; K. Dalal, coach at the Panjab University pool; and J.S. Negi, a senior swimming coach at the Sector 23 pool.

Harsimran passed his Class X examination from St John’s High School, Sector 26, where he actually began his career in sport. He holds a black-belt in karate which he achieved under the guidance of Mr Sensai.

Harsimran took up cycling in1996 and was coached by Piara Singh, an SAI coach. At national meets, he won gold medals in the 1,500 m individual pursuit, silver medal in the 500 m time trial, and two bronze medal in the team pursuit events. At the National Track Cycling Meet at Patiala, he won a gold medal in the 2,000 m individual pursuit event. Harsimran was coached in cycling by Acchru Pal Sharma and Kuldip Singh.

He said his elder brother Jeevandeep Brar who is studying for an M.Tech degree in the USA had had given him a bicycle which had helped him improve his timing. He said his sister, an MBBS student, was also a source of inspiration. Harsimran said he was practising hard for the National Track Cycling Meet to be held later this month.

In order to improve his muscle strength, he also took up rowing. According to him rowing is the best exercise. He won many medals at the Chandigarh State Rowing Meet in single-skull and double-skull events. He also took part in the National Rowing Championship at Mahoba.

Harsimran has also performed well enough in triathlon events. Being tall, he exploits the height advantage to the fullest in basketball matches.

He had received 76 per cent marks in the Class X examinations. Now, he wants to become an engineer, but, says he will never leave sport. He said his parents encouraged him a lot and accompanied him on tours.

Bisht helps PNB win
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — A superb all-round performance by Subodh Bisht who scored 44 runs and got six wickets for just 11 runs, helped Punjab National Bank beat Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation by two wickets today in the inaugural Salzer Cup Cricket Tournament being organised by the District Panchkula Cricket Association at the Sector 5 grounds in Panchkula.

In another match of the day, Punjab Tractors Limited beat Haryana Forest Development Corporation by six wickets.

Brief scores: HSIDC — 112 runs all out (Vijay Godara 23, Raj Kumar 18, Subodh Bisht 6 for 11, Krishan 2 for 22); PNB — 113 runs for eight wickets in 21.3 overs (Subodh Bisht 44, Krishan 23, Narinder Reen 2 for 12, Sanjeev 2 for 23, Narinder 2 for 26).

Second match: HFDC — 138 for six in 25 overs (Parveen 33, Pawan 19, Narinder 15, Suman 3 for 20, Ramesh 2 for 24); PTL — 139 runs for four in 19 overs (Suman 51 n.o., Satish 38, Gaurav 18, Narinder Singh 2 for 34).

Eagle XI win: In the Yuvsatta-NITT Goodwill Cricket Tournament for boys under the age of 15 being played here at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 23, Eagle XI beat Challengers XI by just one run to move into the last four of the tournament. Eagle XI made 70 runs in 6.1 overs with Romesh and Sahil scoring 22 and 19 runs, respectively. In reply, Challengers XI were bundled out for 69 runs in 10.5 overs. Kunal scored the maximum 25 runs.

Cricket tourney: Fine display by their batsmen helped Punjab Financial Corporation beat United India Insurance by 60 runs in the Raghbir Singh Dilawari Institutional Cricket Tournament at Gursagar cricket ground here today.

The highlight of the Punjab Financial Corporation innings was an unbeaten 62 by K.K. Madan. His knock was studded with 10 fours and a huge six. He was ably supported by Deepak (38) and Manoj (44). United India Insurance could not stand to the attack of the opposition bowlers and were reduced to 51 for eight before Subhash, with an unbeaten 80, stemmed the rot. However, his effort was not enough to take his team to safety.

Scores: Punjab Financial Corporation — 206 for 4 in 25 overs (K.K. Madan 62 n.o., Manoj 44, Deepak 38, Rakesh 2 for 41); United India Insurance — 146 all out (Subhash 80 n.o., N.K.Sidhu 20, Inderjit 4 for 9, Deepak 2 for 27).

City coach to train Maldives shuttlers
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 13 — T.P.S. Puri, who is now settled in Chandigarh and is an International Badminton Federation and Asian Badminton Confederation expert, has been asked by the two bodies to conduct an Olympic solidarity course for the Olympic Committee of Maldives from April 10 to 21. The course will be attended by 20 Asian coaches to impart training to players of Maldives.

Earlier also, Mr Puri who has been the coach of the Indian team for nearly 20 years, has conducted such courses in more than 20 countries, including the USA, Germany, Guatemala, Kenya, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cambodia, Syria, Bhutan and Malaysia to name a few. He also coached the teams of USA, Germany, Guatemala and Sri Lanka besides being a chief coach at the Patiala SAI National Institute of Sports before shifting to the city.

He will also attend a solidarity course in Mauritius later. He has also been invited for the 2000 International Conference on Sport, Physical Education and Sport Sciences in Hong Kong in July. The theme of the conference will be Innovation and Application in the Next Millennium — An Asia Pacific Perspective.