The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

‘Smile Train’ brings smiles to children
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 3
Cleft lip and palate and other defects of the face are generally congenital i.e. present at or before birth. However, it is possible to get these defects removed by plastic surgery. It is estimated that in India approximately 30,000 children are born every year with cleft lip or palate and many of these children are born in poor families. They are, thus denied the facilities of treatment.

“Smile Train”, a US-based international agency, has come forward to fund and subsidise cost of the treatment for patients with cleft lip and palate. Acknowledging the work of Dr Abraham Thomas, Professor and Head of Plastic Surgery Department, CMCH, and winner of Dr B.C. Roy National Award in the field of microsurgery and reconstructive surgery, the agency has recognised the Plastic Surgery Department of the CMCH, Ludhiana, as one of the six centers in India to help these patients. The financial support, depending on the paying ability of the patient, is available from 50 per cent to 100 per cent.

Dr Shard Ramdas of Department of Plastic Surgery of Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, is the coordinator for this programme. Patients can contact him in the Plastic Surgery, OPD on Monday/Thursday or Wednesday/Saturday during morning hours.

SPORTS

District swimming meet from June 9
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 3
The Ludhiana District Sub-Junior and Junior Swimming Championship for both boys and girls in the age groups 15-17 13-14 11-12 9-10 and up to 8 will be held at the Municipal Corporation Swimming Pool in Rakh Bagh here on June 9 and 10, according to Mr Inder Mohan Singh Grewal, president, District Swimming Association, Ludhiana.

Players born in the years 1983, 1984 and 1985 for under-17, 1986 and 1987 for under-14, 1988 and 1989 for under-12, 1990 and 1991 for under-10 and those born on or after January 1, 1992, shall be eligible for group under-8 years. As per new SFI rules, a swimmer can participate in not more than four individual events in the junior section and not more than three individual events in the sub-junior age-group under-12 years. However, there will be no restriction in the lower level age groups. Entries close with the honorary general secretary of the association here on June 7.

District swimming teams of sub-junior and junior boys and girls will be selected during the championship for their participation in the 17th Sub-Junior and 26th Junior Punjab State Swimming Championship being held at Sangrur from June 15 to 17.

A promising powerlifter
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 3
Naresh Kumar Sharma of Kharora village in Fatehgarh Sahib district brought laurels not only to the state but also to the country by winning two silver medals in the Junior and senior groups of the World Strength Building Championship for Men held recently in Chennai. Naresh (20) had also won a silver medal in the Senior National Powerlifting Championship held in August last year at Bhubaneshwar (Orissa).

He was born in Alluan village near Sarai Banjara. After schooling, he tried for admission in Mohindra College, Patiala, for graduation in 1999, but he had to participate in State Powerlifting Championship in Orissa on the date of interview, hence he missed the admission. He later joined Khalsa College, Yamunanagar (Haryana).

He said whenever he went to southern states to participate in competitions he had to bear heavy expenses and this put extra burden on him and his family. He said he pursued his training from a coach, Swaran Singh of Patiala, who provided him free training. He is still a student of his ‘akhara’. Naresh Kumar said government should help him or provide him employment, only then he would be able to participate in Asian Games, South Federation Games and Olympics. He said for encouraging Sportsmen, the Punjab Government should provide employment to them so that they were able to devote time and energy to sports instead of thinking about their livelihood.

Softball teams for nationals
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, June 3
The Punjab Softball Association has finalised the boys, and girls teams which would participate in the 14th Sub-Junior National Softball Championship to be held in Indore from June 5 to 10, according to the association’s president, Mr Sanjeev Gupta.

The boys, team is: Manoj, Rahul, Manish, Abhinav, Jagjit, Ajay, Trijot, Bharat, Manavjit, Adarsh, Gagandeep, Reetinder, Harman, Manteshwar, Gurpartap, Bhupinder Sodhi, Pardeep Saini and Ajit.

And the girls team is: Gurpreet, Jasbir, Sarabjeet, Randeep, Bikram Jeet, Malkeet, Rajinder, Parampreet, Amrit Pal, Jyoti, Rajwinder, Manpreet, Kuljit and Amandeep. Mr Jugal Kishore and Mr Lalit Kumar would accompany the teams as coaches.