The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

SPORT

Shotokan kicks interest in students
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, April 17 — It was a day to learn some finer points of the shotokan style of karate from Sensei Anil Garodia, President of the Japan Karate Association of India, for students of Hansraj Public School, Sector 6, Panchkula. Mr Garodia came all the way from Mumbai to have a date with young trainees who for the past one year, are learning the skills in this style from a national champion in this art, Yashpal Kaur.

Anil said at present, the association had 22 affiliated units under it which participate in the various international meets. This is done after obtaining permission from the All-India Karate Do Federation which is recognised by the Government of India.

He said the association had been established in 1936 in Japan as its name suggests. However, the first time the JKAI organised the All-India Karate Tournament was in 1981. From January 29 to 31 this year, 17th such tournament was organised.

The two events, kumite and kata, form the shotokan style of karate. The kumite events are held for boys and girls below the ages of nine, 11, 13, 15, 18, besides 18 and above. Kata events are for men and women only. Anil who is 5 dan in karate, said the weight categories in the men's events are below 50 kg, 55 kg, 60 kg, 65 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg and below 80 kg. The women's events include below 45 kg, below 50 kg, below 55 kg, below 60 kg and open weight categories. In national events, individual scores add up to the team score.

Anil said though the national meet witnessed participation of 300 players from all over the country, sponsorships were low, perhaps because the sport was new in India. The last time India sent a karate team for any international tournament was in the 1999 SAF Games in Nepal. The other styles in practice include gojuryo, shitoryo and wadoryu.

Punjab boys and Maharashtra women were champions in the last national meet. Anil Garodia said it was good that Hansraj Public School, now, had the expertise of Yashpal Kaur. He gave the credit to Ms Rajni Thareja, Principal of the school, for showing keen interest in the sport. He said finding a good instructor was the basic problem everywhere. He said with the 3-dan black-belt Yashpal Kaur coaching the trainees, more results could be expected soon.

Ms Thareja, when asked about the future programme for these 30 youngsters who train regularly at the school centre, said, "By January 2001, we hope to have some sort of results from these youngsters. The school has already produced many international and national-level skaters."

The regular trainees include Anshul Arora, Naina Singh, Varun Garg, Dhruv Walia, Pratik Kanda, Gaurav Chatra, Sharanya Sharma, Geetika Narula, Avantika Jakati, Alisha Sudh, Kriti Trehan, Achal Bhatnagar, Karan Sachdeva, Akshata Sahni, Dushyant Sharma, Ujjwal Sharma, Poonam Garg, Shruti Kaushik, Bharat Jakati and Prakul Gupta.

Ground beneath STC's feet is small
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 17 — The Sector 18 training centre of the Sports Authority of India, where girl trainees get coaching in athletics, volleyball, hockey and basketball, surprisingly, has managed to carry on all these years since 1989 with insufficient ground.

It was good to see this small centre producing outstanding players like Sita Gussain, Sandeep Kaur, Pritam Thakran, Manjinder Kaur, Kamla Dalal and Sunita Dalal, Mamta Kharab and Nishi Chauhan (all hockey players) and Jaspreet Bajwa (athletics), to name a few. The hockey ground is almost half the regular length and it is not even a practice ground. Trainees have to use either the Sector 18 Hockey Stadium or the Astroturf in Sector 42 on a "pay and play" basis.

Athletes do not even have a regular 400 m track and all these years, trainees just pulled on with such meagre facilities. The SAI had established this centre in equal partnership with the UT Sports Department. However, the UT Sports Department did not undertake proper creating or upgrading of the infrastructure in all these years.

A few days ago, just before the start of the session, four coaches posted at the centre — Jasbir Singh (athletics), Shiv Bedi (volleyball), M.M. Malhan (basketball) and Manjit Kaur (hockey) — finally decided to mark the 400 m track themselves, after clearing the bushes on a vacant land in the area. They, then, used light rollers to make it smooth for running. The determination in these coaches was awesome as they worked under the guidance of Ms Ritu Pathik, an energetic Assisstant Director of the STC.

A visit to the centre on Monday revealed the efforts put in by the coaches for marking the track under trees for shade in cruel summers. "This can be modified into a cinder or any type of synthetic track," said an athletics coach.

The STC caters to only girl trainees which come from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. "Providing adequate facilities for regular training is the prime duty of the authorities concerned," said one of the senior coaches.

Cricket tourney: The second Samsung Cash Prize Cricket Tournament will be held from April 30. This tournament is to be organised in the memory of late Samuel Banerjee by the Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to the Haryana Cricket Association. Entries close on April 24 with Kamal Mehra at SCO 48, Sector 17-E.

DAV looks beyond cricket now
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, April 17 — The school with maximum sport achievements in the city is, surely, none other than DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8. The school has produced cricketers like Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma and Ashok Malhotra among others.

It has also made a significant contribution in training students in tennis, handball, volleyball and athletics. Recently, the Sports Authority of India had allotted athletics, handball, volleyball, football, gymnastics and rowing training centres under various schemes to the school which proves its worth.

Mr Ravinder Talwar, Principal of the school, said during the Rowing Federation of India trials in March, the President of the body, Mr K.P.S. Deo, visited the school and was impressed by the infrastructure he saw here. He, later, sent a letter, asking the school to go ahead with selecting rowing trainees.

Sunil Kumar, a Class X student of the school, became the natiopnal hardcourt tennis champion and was also chosen in the Indian Davis Cup team in the rubber against Lebanon. "Sunil has won various ITF tournaments and is a bright boy of the school," Mr Talwar said.

The school which has always done well in cricket, saw seven of its players take part in the under-19 C.K. Naydu Tournament in New Delhi in December past year. Eight players of team took part in under-16 National Schools Games in Calcutta in December last.

Five players of the school were also took part in the under-14 National School Games at Datia (Jhansi) in November 1999.

Mr Talwar said nine handball players of school participated in National School Games at Moga in November 1999. Another nine players were part of the UT team which took part in the National School Games at Anandpur Sahib in February. The school also sent ten members for the city sub-junior team which took part in the National Sub-Junior Handball Meet in Bangalore past year.

In volleyball, five boys of the school took part in the National School Games at Moga past year. Four boys of the school took part in the under-14 National School Games at Dewas (MP) past year.

Mr Talwar is also head of various sport associations of the city. He said earlier the school used to have good cricket players only. "However, we decided to promote other sport as well which helped in making us the most sport-oriented school in the city. As education is our priority, players are helped in making up for the study hours lost when they are away for tournaments."

He also said in athletics, the school had won the overall position in the UT inter-school meet past year. It won 19 gold, five silver and four bronze medals. The prominent athletes of the school include, Sarvebhaum Malik, Rajesh, Jatinder Vir Singh, Lakhbir Singh, Dapinder Singh, Sumit Kumar, Manmohan Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sanjay Kumar, Manoj and Pranav.

Mr Talwar said the trials for trainees under the SAI schemes were conducted in the first week of April, but, due to closure of other schools, these would again be held on April 24 and 25. He also said school had hosted many tournaments, including the All-India Mahatma Hansraj Aryan Tournament in September 1999, where 1,000 player of 11 DAV-aided schools from all over the country took part. Mr G.D. Jindal, Director of Public Schools, DAV College Managing Committee, and Mr Mohan Lal, Secretary of the Arya Vidya Sabha of New Delhi, also witnessed the tournament. The school was runners-up in volleyball, lawn tennis and handball. It was also was the venue for the CBSE Inter-School (cluster XI) Athletics and Football Meet past year.

ADMINISTRATION

Watering lawns in mornings banned
Tribune News Service

SAS NAGAR, April 17 — The local Public Health authorities have banned watering of lawns and washing of vehicles during the morning supply hours from 4 a.m to 10 a.m with immediate effect. The use of online booster pumps has also been banned.

A public notice issued by the department said with the advent of summers, the demand for water had increased substantially, causing shortage of water to the residents living on upper floors.

To maintain appropriate pressure, the residents have been urged to cooperate in this regard. Any violation of the restrictions would attract disconnection of connection and impounding of the online booster pumps.

Voters’ list made public
From Our Correspondent

SAS NAGAR, April 17 — The fresh list of voters for the local municipal elections scheduled to be held on May 28 was made public today for inviting claims and objections.

The Municipal Administrator, Mr O.P. Popli, said claims and objections would be permitted till April 24. Thereafter, these would be looked into and disposed of by May 3 and the final voters’ list published on May 5.

He said the exercise to make new votes had started on March 29 and ended on April 10. A five-member team was set up for every ward for the purpose. So far, around one lakh votes had been made against about 80,000 in the first poll to the civic body in 1995.

Mr Sham Bansal, President of the Kiryana Merchants Association and prospective candidate, said in Phase I, votes had not been made in certain pockets.

Let Kundras stay: UT
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 17 — The Chandigarh Administration has urged the Union Home Ministry to allow the Kundras — Mr Asish and his wife, Geetanjali — to continue here till they get their senior grade.

According to sources, the Administration has told the Union Home Ministry that since there was shortage of officers here, the Kundras’ transfer to Mizoram may be deferred till they get their senior scale.

There are a couple of positions lying vacant at the intermediary level. The Administration is expecting a panel of names from Haryana to fill these positions. In case the Kundras are transferred, two of the three positions of Subdivisional Magistrates will also fall vacant.

Sources reveal that a formal request to this effect is being made by the Administration to the Union Home Ministry.

Plea to withdraw sack orders
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, April 17 — A deputation of the Information and Public Relations Officers Welfare Association led by its president, Ms Uma Sharma, called on Punjab Public Relations Minister Natha Singh Dalam, seeking the withdrawal of orders terminating the services of Mr Krishan Lal Rattu, a Public Relations Officer (PRO), and putting Mr Naginder Singh, another PRO, under suspension.

The deputationists informed the minister that the government action in both cases was purely arbitrary. Ms Sharma said a proper inquiry should have been ordered to ascertain facts before taking action. Action had been taken on the basis of a “baseless complaint”. The association has also decided to wear black badges for two days to register their protest against the government orders issued against Mr Rattu and Mr Naginder Singh.