The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

HEALTH

‘Healthy diet key to fitness’
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1
For all those who have been keeping a healthy diet at bay for the fear of adding to their calorie count, here is a wonderful piece of advice: “Eat whatever you want. Try to love yourself the way you are. Fitness is not about draining your energy reserves. On the contrary, it is all about respecting whatever nature has given you and feeling high on the stamina scale.”

Coming from none other than the certified international Reebok aerobics expert Ritu Kotwal, this piece of advice has everything to do with the business of being fit and feeling good. And since it is stamped by Ritu Kotwal who, apart from being a revered figure in her field, is also a personal fitness trainer to bigwigs like Maneka Gandhi and the Munjals, it is worth being followed.

Talking to Ritu, who was in the city today to give lessons in body core balancing at the Arclights Academy of Modelling and Applied Arts, was like talking to someone who understood the whole concept of fitness inside out. Having herself tested and tried the natural strategy of free workout, Ritu talked about how she converted herself from a patient of rheumatoid arthritis to a renowned fitness expert. She is currently working with Park Royale Intercontinental in Delhi. Unlike many fitness instructors, she talked of the importance of eating well, working out without machines as far as possible and respecting oneself in the frame God has given. “You are the only one of your kind in the world. You must feel good about yourself, “she said”.

She talked about the significance of warming up by beginning with stretching of soft muscles and then graduating to larger ones. “Cardiovascular exercises are as important as body conditioning which covers the various body parts. Conditioning will prevent degeneration of body muscles. Gradually the range of exercises needs to be increased. This range will be heightened with free workouts. Machines always tend to restrict the flow of body. Hence the importance of aerobics.”

Ritu also said proper intake of food was absolutely essential. “It is a myth that by dieting you can secure a good body. A good body is not about being thin. It is about being fit and being able to do whatever you want to at any point of the day. If you feel weak after having worked out, you are not following the right fitness regime. Breathing is also very important. Whenever you exert during an exercise you must exhale. And you inhale while you fall back.”

Later, she took basic fitness class of students of Arclights.

Health awareness camp for women
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1
The Society for Development of Downtrodden, the Jan Kalyan Foundation and Council for Health and Family Welfare, organised a health awareness camp for women and children at Hallomajra village here today.

Dr Balbir Chand, secretary of the society, explained the cause of various diseases affecting women and children. He also stressed on the various steps to improve the physical and economic status of women.

Mr Anil Kumar, president, Jan Kalyan Foundation, and Mr Nek Ram, joint secretary of the society, informed women on the problem of population explosion, family planning, HIV/AIDS and STD infections. Literature on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse was also distributed on the occasion.

Mr Rajesh Kumar Sharma, adviser, Youth Welfare Club, Hallomajra, described the various needs of the people of the village and urged for a combined effort by various NGOs to improve the condition of the villagers.

‘Take more water for better health’
A Correspondent

Chandigarh, June 1
“Positive thinking, wise eating and pranayama are the three golden rules for preventing heart attack or any other disease, said Mr Jatinder Karamyogi, Director ‘Health Heritage’, at a press conference here yesterday. He also said yoga could held the heart remain young and a proper intake of water could rid a person of most diseases. Mr Karamyogi also talked about the importance of a balanced diet for leading a healthy life.

Regarding anaemia, loss of memory, loss of appetite, arthritis etc, he said these were self-created.

He said the five faults that led to common chronic problems were lack of breathing exercises, not drinking enough water, improper diet, ignoring simple yogic exercises and negative thinking. He said overeating prevented the excretion of already accumulated toxic residuals in the body.

A person should have about 15 glasses of water in a day to avoid chronic diseases. He said, in order to enjoy a healthy life, it was important to be free from physical and mental worries.

SPORTS

Simer, Gursher win tennis titles
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, June 1
Mr Satish Chandra, IAS and Chairman, Punjab Pollution Control Board, was the chief guest and gave away the prizes. The closing ceremony was presided over by Mr S.K. Monga, IAS, Managing Director, MD, HVGC.

Results — all finals: under-14 (girls): Sanjana Kapoor Delhi b Taskeen Bans Chandigarh 6-2, 6-2; (boys): Gursher Harika Chandigarh b Krishan Karsolia (UP) 6-3, 7-5. Under-16 (girls): Simer Chandigarh b Sanjana Kapoor Delhi 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2); boys: Sandeep Kumar Delhi b Vijit Sehgal Delhi 6-4, 7-5.

35 selected

The Netball Association of Chandigarh has selected 35 probables, including 18 girls, who will attend a coaching camp beginning June 3 at the Government Senior Secondary school, Sector 27. The players should report to Mr Jaswant Singh at the venue. The team will leave on June 18 to take part in the National Netball championships.

The probables are: girls — Kanchan, Harneet, Amandeep, Varsha, Monika, Sumeet, Amrit Pal Kaur, Rekha, Supriya, Swati, Pushpa, Rajita, Purnima, Neel A Punia, Anita, Navneet and Shivani and Deepika Sharda. boys — Sunny Sharma, Sandeep, Opinder Sharma, Anuj Bisht, Amit Kumar, Chandan Kant, Deepak, Sandeep Rana, Amit Walia, Vikram Rana, Amit Otam, Rahul, A Bhatia, S Sharma, Arvind, Amandeep Singh and AK Singh.

Coaching camp

Sixteen boys and equal number of girls have been selected by the Chandigarh Basketball Association for a coaching camp to be held at New Public school, Sector 18, from June 3. During this camp, a final UT team will be selected for the 29th National Sub-junior Basketball Championship to be held at Pondicherry from June 17 to 22.

The probables are — girls: Sanchi Sharma, Jaspreet, Kira, Meenakshi, Aditi Dahiya, Ashmita Billing, Malvika, Renu, Divya, Prabha, Nikita, Sonakshi, Suman, Lata, Priyanka and Preeti. boys: Raman Singla, Rinchu, Ramandeep Jakhar, Ivan, Jorawar, Sumit, Lalit, Shahib, Dharwinder Preet, Gagandeep, Saurav, Rohit, Vivek, Vikas, Arun and Ishaan.

Eyeballs desperate for World Cup live
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1
For the second consecutive day today, there was no live telecast here of the Football World Cup 2002, as the impasse between cable TV operators and the broadcaster over the payment issue continued.

Sources in the industry said only a few cable TV operators here had given their consent to Siti Cable to pay for the down link.

TEN Sports, that has telecast rights for South Asia for the event, wants more money for this direct telecast. Siti Cable, if it receives the signal from TEN Sports, will beam it to suboperators here, who will then reach it down to subscribers and pay on a per connection basis to Siti Cable.

Cricket more popular in North
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, June 1
Lack of interest continued to mark the World Cup-2002 matches for the second day today. After the first match played last evening, which followed the opening ceremony, people did not show much curiosity in soccer today. But for many ardent soccer fans, yesterday’s Senegal win was most astonishing. The second day saw matches between Denmark and Uruguay, Ireland and Cameroon and Germany and Saudi Arabia.

The Northern region, unlike Eastern region, has always shown liking for cricket. The sport lovers here have been asked to pay more to view the game telecast exclusively by Ten Sports. The domestic channel Doordarshan Sports also disappointed millions of viewers by not bringing the matches live.

General public, especially children, and those having love for the sport, were of unanimous view that this world cup had failed to evoke enthusiasm in this region.