SPORT

Cricket losing popularity
By Arvind Katyal

CHANDIGARH, June 6 — The recent reported involvement of cricketers in match-fixing has put a question mark on their locus standi and the popularity of the game has dwindled as the general public feels cheated.

The manufacturers preferred to ask advertising agencies to look for cricketers — so-called super heroes with much-hyped personalities — in big campaigns. The recent levelling of charges of taking money to fix matches has led manufacturers to look for replacements, especially in the electronic media.

Pepsi has signed Shah Rukh Khan and Coca Cola has Hrithik Roshan with a child. Some months back, Mohammad Azharuddin and Saurav Ganguly used to endorse these.

Another cause for concern in cricketing circles is the low viewing interest in the ongoing Asia Cup matches in Bangaladesh. A few young city enthusiasts echoed dislike for these cricketers. Laghu Sharma said he and his father used to sit late at night to watch cricket matches on TV, but not now.

A sportsman himself, Udit Narula, who had just passed Class X, was critical of Indian cricketers. He said it was astonishing that these persons were allowed to go on minting money like this for past many years and they had betrayed young fans. He further said they would love to watch hockey, football and tennis but not cricket. Somanyu Talwar was of the view that WWF live shows might be better to be viewed than a cricket match as the mind would always ponder about their malafide intentions on the field. He has lost half of the interest in opening Internet sites on cricket, except to know about any new case of match-fixing.

A table tennis player, Sajal Kaushal said cricketers had always enjoyed much publicity. He added that the national TT player was not known to the people but a cricketer got celebrity status. He asked why advertisers did not go in for other sport players. Parul Malik, a web designer, expressed total lack of faith in today's cricketers. She felt that sport was played for a noble cause, which these players had commercialised. She said in her school days, it was taught that one developed leadership quality, agility, confidence, honesty and teamwork through sport, but these cricketers had changed the entire definition. They should not be called sporspersons as they were basically businessmen, she opined.

Skating carnival in school
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, June 6 — Blue Bird High School, Sector 16, Panchkula, today organised a one-day skating carnival to promote the sport in the town. Panchkula, in the past few years, has become the hub of skating activities and rinks are being built here almost every year. The rink in the school was inaugurated past year only by members of the Indian roller hockey team.

Today, in the carnival, nearly 100 children, both students of the school and members of the club, participated in various events like rink races I and II (200 m, 300 m and 400 m).

This was followed by musical chairs and a races for children. An exhibition hockey match was also played between boys and girls. Parents also enjoyed the efforts of their wards. Mr Jogi Ram of HUDA was the chief guest and gave away medals to the winners of today's events. Ms R. Bhatnagar, Principal of the school, said skaters would take the school to great heights in the sport. Mr K. Bhatnagar, Director of the school, said next month, inter-school skating tournaments would also be organised.

The winners of rink races in various sections include Nupur, Karan, Nourin, Shubham, Naman, Ankit, Mayank, Vijjat, Rajni, Pallavi, Karan, Shamit and Gitika.

League cricket: SAS Nagar beat Fatehgarh Sahib by an innings and 88 runs in the opening match of the Inter-District Under-16 Summer League Tournament organised by the Punjab Cricket Association here at SAS Nagar.

Resuming the innings at 103 runs for two wickets, SAS Nagar scored 318 for five wickets in the allotted 75 overs. Manpreet scored a century studded with 12 boundaries. Gaurav scored 53 runs, Harpreet 29 and Tej Govind 55. Yadvinder remained unbeaten on the score of 29.

In their second innings, Fatehgarh Sahib were all out for 122 runs. Manpreet was the highest wicket taker as he claimed six wickets for 27 runs. Now SAS Nagar will play against Jalandhar on June 8 and 9.

ADMINISTRATION

Defective water meters to go in 2 months
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 6 — The Water Supply and Sewerage Disposal Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) today resolved to get replaced within two months the defective water meters in the city.

While urging the officials to do away with the average billing of the water consumed, the committee was assured that the work on cleaning of all road gullies was in progress and would be completed before the onset of the rainy season.

The committee was assured by the officials that the work on the laying of the storm drainage pipes from Press Chowk, Sector 18, to N. Choe near SAS Nagar would be completed this month.

Keeping in view the inconvenience faced by the visitors and patients coming to the PGI, it was decided to construct a public toilet opposite the gate of the institute in Sector 14. The committee also okayed Rs 10 lakh for laying tiles on the roofs of Sectors 20 and 26 houses of the Public Health Wing.

The proposal relating to the laying of the PVC pipeline for the supply of the tertiary treated water to the newly-proposed complex of the Chandigarh Golf Association, near Kishangarh village, was also cleared.

Gender sensitisation course for cops
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 6 — To create greater awareness about the problems being faced by women, the Chandigarh Police organised a gender senitisation course at the Regional Institute of Correctional Administration in Sector 26 here today.

The five-day course, was inaugurated by the UT IGP, Mr S.K. Singh. It aims to sensitise field officers of the rank of Inspectors, DSPs, SDPOs and SSPs on the core issues relating to crime against women and social aspects of gender sensitisation. The staff of the Crime Against Women cell is also attending the course, in addition to the DSP, Crime.

The issues to be addressed include gender disparities, violence against women, role of police in disposing of cases of marital discord and sexual harassment at the workplace, eve-teasing — coping strategies, problems of women cops, women’s right in law, gender biases of police and female offenders in police custody.

Vacant plot owners to get notices
From A Correspondent

PANCHKULA, June 6 — The Estate Office of the Haryana Urban Development Authority will issue notices to the owners of the vacant plots for the removal of congress grass and other wild growth, according to members of the Panchkula Welfare Federation.

In a press note issued today, federation President J.S. Sangari stated that the decision was taken after the matter was discussed in detail between the Estate Officer and the Superintending Engineer of HUDA’s Horticulture Wing, Mr Jogi Ram.

Mr Sangari added that non-removal of the wild growth would result in necessary action by HUDA.