HEALTH

Free cataract surgery at govt hospitals
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 23
Anybody aged 40 or above can visit a hospital or dispensary and avail themselves of a screening for cataract between 9 am and 2 pm tomorrow. Speaking after the launch of the two-day Motiabind Mukti Abhiyan (freedom from cataract campaign), Health Minister Ashok K. Walia today said those found to be suffering from cataract would be eligible for an all-expense paid surgery at any of the 40 designated hospitals that are managed either by the Government of NCT of Delhi or the Government of India or the non-government organisations (NGOs.).

He said intra-ocular lens implant would be carried out by experts. The minister informed over 2.5 lakh persons had been screened and 13,000 surgeries performed during the first five phases of this campaign. Ninety per cent of those surgical cases, he said, had been administered with intra-ocular lens implants free of cost. The Director of Guru Nanak Eye Centre, Dr D. K. Mehta, is the chief co-ordinator of this campaign.

SPORTS

Rajasthan Colts enter Sood cricket semi-final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 23
Rajasthan Colts crushed Trans Yamuna Cricket Association (TYCA) by eight wickets to sail into the semi-final of the 12th All-India Om Nath Sood Memorial Cricket Tournament at the Khalsa College ground in the Capital on Monday.

Rajasthan Colts, who won the toss and opted to field, shot out the Trans Yamuna Cricket Association for 146 in 36.5 overs. Left-arm spinners Anoop Dave and Kudeep Singh bowled in tandem to pluck wicket after TYCA wicket with their flight and guile.

After medium pacer Anshu Jain scalped opener Gaurav Malhotra for 2, Anoop Dave and Kuldeep struck.

Dave removed opener Ajit Chandela for 19, Sanjay Sharma for 3 and Kapil Mehta for 7, for the fantastic haul of 3 for 11.

Pankaj Gupta accounted for the important wickets of Chetan Sharma for 29 and Ashish Sharma for 43.

But for Ashish Sharma’s rollicking knock of 43, which came off 49 balls with two fours, TYCA would have been in a worse plight.

But it was to the credit of the TYCA batsmen that after the loss of the first wicket for nine runs, Ajit Chandela and Chetan Sharma put up a determined fight to add 55 runs for the second wicket. Then four wickets tumbled for the addition of just 20 runs, and later it was a steady procession back into the pavilion.

Rajasthan Colts easily reached the victory target with Anshu Jain and Nikhil Doru scoring unbeaten 52 and 41 runs respectively.

After the early exit of opener Kunal Kucchal for 8, with just nine runs on the board, Rajasthan Colts batted with caution as Rohit Jalani and Anshu Jain repaired the damaged before Jain and Doru speeded up the scoring to reach 147 for two wickets in 28.3 overs. Jain’s 52 came of 72 balls with six fours and one six while Doru’s 41 off 56 balls had six boundaries. Anoop Dave was declared the man of the match.

Scores: TYCA: 146 all out in 36.5 overs (Ajit Chandela 19, Chetan Sharma 29, Harinder Chaudhary 14, Ashish Sharma 43, Anshu Jain 1 for 18, Pankaj Gupta 2 for 25, Anoop Dave 3 for 11 and Kuldeep Singh 4 for 24).

Rajasthan Colts: 147 for 2 in 28.3 overs (Rohit Jalani 31, Anshu Jain 52, Nikhil Doru 41, Dinesh Yadav 1 for 18, Kapil Mehta 1 for 44).

Tuesday’s fixture: Indian Airlines vs Sonnet (quarter-final); from 8 am—Khalsa College ground.

FIFA World Cup to come calling to Delhi
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 23
The famed FIFA World Cup champions trophy will come calling to Delhi when it will be unveiled for the first time ever in India, at the Taj Palace hotel on April 25 (Thursday) at 11 am.

Gillette, the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup to be costed by Korea and Japan from May 31 to June 30, is bringing the Cup to India. The World Cup will be on display in major cities of India, as part of its world-wide promotional tour. The World Cup matches will be held in 10 cities each of Korea and Japan, with 32 teams, representing the globe, battling it out for supremacy. Out of the 64 matches in the final round, Korea and Japan will hold 32 each.

It was on October 28, 1993 in Doha (Qatar) that Chung Mong-Joon, the president of the Korean Football Association, confirmed his country’s intention to bid for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The announcement came at a press conference just two hours after Korea qualified for the 1994 World Cup finals. Chung had first made Korea’s intentions in June of the same year during a visit to FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.

However, at that time, it appeared that Japan was the firm favourites for the bid to host the 2002 World Cup. Japan had started the race for the bidding much earlier than Korea and officially announcing their intention to bid for the World Cup in 1989.

The Japanese World Cup Bid Committee was established in June 1991 and by January the next year, ten cities were selected for hosting the Cup.

Although Japan had never played in the World Cup finals, Japan seemed a good choice to host the cup with its strong economic, diplomatic, and domestic infrastructure. And it also had the support of incumbent FIFA president Jao Havelange.

But a series of well-calculated strategies turned things around for Korea. The first was the election of Mong-Joon the FIFA vice-president from Asia. A FIFA vice-president is included in the 21-member Executive Committee that selects the host country for World Cups and has the authority to conduct the draw concerning bids. The 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan is the first to be jointly hosted by two countries, and the first time in Asia, and outside of either Europe or the Americas.

Sonnet lift S P Jain cricket title
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 23
Deadly bowling by Ankit Mathur (3 for 37) and Sumeet Kapoor (3 for 39) enabled Sonnet Club beat Chand Khanna Club by four wickets to lift the third Sheetal Prasad Jain Memorial Cricket Tournament title at the Mohan Meakin ground. Chand Khanna, batting first, got a good start but once Ankit Mathur got his rhythm right, wickets started tumbling one after another, and at this stage Chand slowed down the scoring pace to be restricted to 200 in 40 overs. Sonnet were well-served by Akash Chopra, Devender Sharm and Sumeet Sharma when they chased the target. They displayed an all-round performances.

Scores: Chand Khanna Club: 200 for 7 in 40 overs (Siddarth Verma 55, Vikram Dhariwal 30, Sandeep Rana 30, Ankit Mathur 3 for 37, Sumeet Kapoor 3 for 39, Naresh Jain 2 for 24). Sonnet Club: 197 for 3 in 39.5 overs (Akash Chopra 34, Devender Sharma 33, Sumeet Sharma 32 n o, Pankaj Joshi 2 for 37).

Vishal hits century: Delhi Ranji Trophy player Vishal Sharma hit a strokeful century and Mridul Gupta struck 62 to help last year’s runners-up Brighto Club beat Rajdhani Sports by seven wickets to enter the semi-final of the third ARBDM Cricket Tournament at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad. 

Dawood, Sahil bowl Madan Lal Academy to victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, April 23
Devastating bowling performances by Delhi Under-14 player Mohd. Dawood (4 for 28) and Sahil Chugh (4 for 17) helped Madan Lal Cricket Academy post an impressive eight-wicket victory against West Delhi Academy to enter the semi-final of the first Gyan Prakash Memorial Under-17 Cricket Tournament at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in the Capital.

Mohd Dawood and Atrey Raj Gopal shared the man of the match award. Atrey Raj Gopal hit an unbeaten 68 and Hemant Chugh blasted 50 not out to take Madan Lal Academy to an easy victory after West Delhi Cricket Academy had been shot out for 145. A defiant knock of 68 by Varun Sood was the highlight of West Delhi Academy’s modest score.

Scores: West Delhi Cricket Academy: 145 all out in 39.2 overs (Varun Sood 68, Chetan Kumar 21, Sahil Chugh 4 for 17, Mohd. Dawood 4 for 28). Madan Lal Academy (Junior): 146 for 2 in 28.3 overs (Atrey Raj Gopal 68 n o, Hemant Chugh 50 n o).

DDCA League: S B Youth downed Pelican by four wickets in a low-scoring match in the DDCA League at the Ramjas Sports Complex.

The destructive 5 for 25 bowling spell by Sangram Singh was responsible for Pelican’s rout.

Scores: Pelican: 49 all out in 14.4 overs (Ashwan Tyagi 17, Sangram Singh 5 for 25, Subodh Badola 3 for 21).

S.B.Youth: 50 for 6 in 12.1 overs (Sandeep Pathania 14, Ashwani Tyagi 4 for 23, Deepak Yadav 2 for 16). Little Master beat Gush Club by 107 runs in a Super A Division match at the University ground.

Scores: Little Master: 266 for 8 in 40 overs (Vikas Chandan 80, Rajender Singh 67, Utkarsh Gautam 3 for 51, Manav Sharma 2 for 55, Aprajit Singh 2 for 49). Gush Club: 159 for 8 in 40 overs (Sunny Grover 50, Mayank Kapila 2 for 23, Rahul Khanna 2 for 25).

Malviya Club beat Youngsters by 58 runs in a Super A Division match on Monday.

Scores: Malviya Club: 179 for 8 in 30 overs (Subodh Yadav 60, Pitamber Dutt 46 n o., Padamjeet Sherawat 3 for 20, Sachin Rana 3 for 30). Yongsters 121 all out in 30 overs.

Bank of India beat City Gymkhana by five wickets in a B Division match at kotla No 2 Ground. Scores: City Gymkhana: 199 all out in 40 overs (Paramveer 58, Sanjeev Tandon 3 for 19). Bank of India: 201for 5 in 31.3 overs (Bikker Bahadur 48, Pradeep Kanojia 45, Ramesh Sharma 24, Mukesh Sehgal 24 n o., Rakesh Joshi 1 for 20).

ADMINISTRATION

Liquor vends’ auction fetches  Rs 119.34 cr

Panipat, April 23
The auctioning of liquor vends of three districts have fetched an excise revenue of over Rs 119.34 crore this year, which is around Rs 17.70 crore more than the last year auction of Rs 101.65 crore. The liquor vends of Panipat district, numbering 63, were auctioned for Rs 37.20 crore, whereas the auction for Karnal and Kurukshetra districts were finalised at Rs 41.78 crore and Rs 30.36 crore respectively. The liquor vends of Bhuna in Fatehabad district were auctioned for Rs 3.15 crore. The number of liquor vends in Panipat district had increased from 57 last year to 63 this year. Under the auction order, no liquor vend will be allowed to be opened within a radius of 150 meters from any educational institutions, religious places and Harijan bastis. OC