HEALTH

First round of polio campaign today
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 9 — The Indian Medical Association ( IMA) has made an appeal to the people to take their children in the age group of zero to 59 months to the nearest dispensary or booth during the first round of the pulse polio immunisation campaign tomorrow.

According to the President of the IMA, Dr G.S Kochhar, irrespective of their immunisation status, all children falling in this age group, must be given oral polio drops as even fully immunised children could possibly harbour wild polio virus.

This time as many as 1,15,200 children in the age group of 0-59 months will be given OPV on December 10, 2000, and January 21, 2001.The UT has been divided into three zones, each of which will be monitored by senior officers of the PGI, GMCH-32 and GH-16.

There will be 461 booths which also include 15 mobile booths. Each booth will have four people manning, it including a doctor. In all, 1800 people are involved in the campaign in UT. A number of NGOs including Lions Club and Rotary Club, are also part of this campaign to eradicate polio.

SPORT

CLTA youngsters doing well: Krishnan
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 9 — “It was pleasant to revisit Chandigarh for training youngsters on the CLTA courts,” said Ramesh Krishnan. He told newspersons here today that the CLTA had now become one of the finest coaching centres in India. He said the centre had produced some good players like Sunil Kumar, Tushar Liberhan, Amanjot Singh and Shruti Dhawan.

Mr Rajan Kashyap, Chairman of the CLTA, recalled how about 25 years ago, 16-year-old Ramesh had beaten his father, Ramanathan Krishnan, in a national tournament here. He said it was nice of Ramesh to find some time for local youngsters, though he was the coach of the Indian Davis Cup team.

Mr Kashyap said yoga improved a player’s skills and provided him or her with a system of preventive maintenance of the body.

Regarding the good form of Sunil Kumar, Krishnan said, for another six months, Sunil should concentrate on winning juniors’ events because he had a long way to go on the men’s circuit. He said Sunil’s endurance and strength had impressed him, but he needed more exposure.

Regarding the performance of Tushar Liberhan, who is the national under-14 champion, Krishnan said it was improving steadily. Krishnan said, in this five-day programme, he had fully involved all the CLTA trainers, including the chief coach, Beant Singh. He said it would help them learn and follow his methods of training till he joined them again next year.

Krishnan said, “For an Indian youngster interested in sport, there are two critical stages — at the age of 14 and when he or she graduates. These are the times when he or she decides whether to continue to play or not.” Krishnan’s daughters, Nandita and Gayatri, aged 11 and nine, respectively, are also tennis players.

Regarding the new four-games-a-set scoring system for girls, Krishnan said it had not been criticised so far, but it had not changed the nature of the game much.

Mr Kashyap said, yoga exponent, Acharya Prem Bhatia, was helping some selected CLTA players improve their concentration. Krishnan is here till December 11.

Simranjeet, Sahil to clash in final
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Dec 9 — Simranjit of St Joseph’s, Sector 44, and Sahil Sharma of Sacred Dales School will meet in the below 21 kg section final of the Chandigarh Taekwondo championship being played here at the Skating Rink, Sector 10. The other finalists are:

21-23 kg — Gurpreet Singh and Diljot; 23-25 kg — Tushar Sharma and Rishab; 25-27 kg — Gaurav Rana and Sahil; Silus and Jagvir Singh; 29-32 kg — Navjot Singh and Ankit Mehta; 32-35 kg — Navjit Singh and Jabbar Singh; 35-38 kg — Surinder Kumar and Paramvir; 38-41 kg — Amarinder Singh and Arjun Kaushal; and 41-44 kg — Ram Rattan and Ashish.

Juniors: Up to 45 kg — Gaurav Saini and Sukhwinder Singh; 45-48 kg — Navjot Singh and Rravi; 48-51 kg — Sri Chand Yadav and Sameer Jain; 51-55 kg — Gurpreet Singh and Kamal Kant; 55-59 kg — Vir Devender and Pritpal; 59-63 kg — Jaininder Singh and Amardeep Singh; 63-68 kg —Yuv Raj Singh and Harvinder Singh.

Tennis tourney

Mr S.K. Monga, IAS, will lead Haryana in the All-India Civil Services Tennis Tournament to be held at Imphal (Manipur) from December 15 to 21. The other members of the team are, Mr O.P. Narang, Mr O.P. Kuthiala, Mr J.S. Dhanda, Mr Sunil Bajaj, Mr Umesh Mehta and Mr Virender Arora. Mr Amar Singh will accompany the team as coach.