HEALTH

Time-bound phasing out of asbestos sought
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 21
Leading occupational health experts today demanded a timebound phasing out of the usage of cancer-causing asbestos in the country.

Talking to a select group of newspersons, president of the Institute of Public Health Engineers Prof K. J. Nath said that while over 20 countries had banned asbestos, India was still to do so.

Though India had banned the import of asbestos wastes (dust and fibres) since 1998, the import data showed 500 tonnes of asbestos had been imported between 1998 and 1999, Prof Nath pointed out.

In India, 1,25.000 tonnes of Chrysotile Asbestos were used annually of which 10,00,000 tonnes were imported and the rest 25,000 tonnes mined in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, Head and Director of Centre for Occupational and

Environmental Health at LNJP Hospital Dr T. K. Joshi said.

Import duty was reduced in 1998-99, which had stepped up the use of the material and along with it, cases of lung cancer among the working population exposed to the cancer-causing mineral had also gone up, Dr Joshi said.

SPORTS

Uttarakhand toy with Young Boys
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
Uttrakhand scored a crushing 6-0 victory against Young Boys in a Group III match of A Division in the Delhi Soccer Association-SAIL Football League Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday.

After leading by one goal at the interval, Uttrakhand went on a scoring spree on resumption, to slot in five more goals.

Dilip Bhandari opened the account while Deepak Giri struck two quick goals in the 33rd and 39th minutes on resumption. Giri completed his hat-trick in the 56th minute.

Jiten Dev scored the fifth goal while Giri completed the tally, when he scored his fourth and the team’s sixth, in the 56th minute.

Ningthounganba missed a penalty kick awarded to Young Boys in the 58th minute. In a B Division Super Six match, Goodwill defeated South India 2-1. Manoj Kumar scored the first goal in the 11th minute while Abilash equalised for South India in the 19th minute. Kamal scored the match-winner for Goodwill in the 32nd minute.

Nivia beat Shakti Club by a lone goal at the Nehru Stadium East ground. Striker H S Bisht netted the match-winner in the 16th minute. In an A Division match at the Nehru Stadium, Bangadarshan and Navjyoti Nepal were locked in a 1-1 draw. Bangadarshan forged ahead through Ustav Guha in the 29th minute while Ishwar Singh equalised six minutes into the second half.

Tuesday’s fixtures: Frontier vs Ahbab (3.45 p m); Hans vs Panchkuian (5 p m)—Ambedkar Stadium. Royal Rangers vs SBII (3.45 p m); Delhi Cantt vs Garhwal Diamond (5 p m)—Nehru Stadium.

Kartik, Kunal and Piyush advance in TT
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
Kartik Sharma, Kunal Kathuria and Piyush Dwivedi moved into the quarter-finals of the cadet boys singles in the Chandravati Bhatnagar Manav Sthali Open Table Tennis Tournament at the Talkatora indoor stadium on Monday.

Kartik beat Hardik Sethi 11-1, 11-9, 13-15, 11-6 while Kunal beat Vinayak Soni 11-5, 11-8, 12-10. Piyush disposed of Mohit Kapoor 11-5, 11-8, 11-2.

Muskan Gupta of Nav Manav School, Pusa Road annexed the blossoms category singles title beating school-mate Ashma Naswa 11-5, 11-4. In the semi-finals, Muskan beat Prateek Wadhwan 13-11, 11-3 while Ashma Naswa accounted for Vatsal Makhija 11-10, 10-11, 11-8. Vatsal beat Parteek 11-7, 11-9 to take the third place.

Following are the other results: Midgets quarter-finals: Abhishek Srivastava b Saksham Tyagi 10-12, 11-8, 11-9; Bharat Kumar b Siddhani Gupta 7-11, 11-9, 11-8; Matreiyee Mahajan b Shwang Bansal 11-1, 11-2; Harsh Gupta b Kartikye Malhotra 11-4, 11-5.

Tiny tots (girls) quarter-finals: Devgani Dhingra b Sugandha Sabharwal 11-3, 11-1, Mehar Malhotra b Palak Khanna 11-9, 8-11, 11-3; Aashna Sachdeva b Sakshi 11-5, 11-4, Kindra b Anukriti 11-3, 11-1.

Tiny tots (boys) quarter-finals: Raghav Pangasa b Kartiky Aggarwal 11-4, 11-2; Sahil Sachdeva b Aditya Tyagi 11-5, 11-3; Priyank Sood b Abhishek Madan 11-6, 11-8; Anmol Kumar b Parth Kapoor 11-7, 11-8.

Cadet boys pre-quarter-finals: Kartik Sharma b Hardik Sethi 11-1, 11-9, 13-15, 11-6; Kunal Kathuria b Vinayak Soni 11-5, 11-8, 12-10; Piyush Dwivedi b Mohit Kapoor 11-5, 11-8, 11-2; Sajal Khandelwal b Lovekesh Chawla 11-3, 11-5, 11-3; Dhruv Shorey b Ayush Dwivedi 11-7, 12-10, 11-7; Sarthak Gandhi b Anant Narula 11-3, 11-4, 11-6; Dipesh Teckchandani b Mohit Chugh 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7; Kartik Kukreja b Sanchit Jain 11-2, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6.

Cadet girls (second round): Sanya Sehgal b Kriti Chawla 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; Harshipa Uppal b Sanah Gupta 11-5, 11-7, 11-4; Vidushu Vats b Latika Grover 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; Sona Malhotra b Sunakshi 11-8, 11-4, 11-6; Akansha Solanki b Akshita Gupta 11-9, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9; Nishtha Garg b Drishti Modi 11-8, 11-4, 11-2; Tina Khurana b Palak Suri 11-6, 11-2, 11-3; Sonali Arora b Shefali Gupta 11-2, 11-5, 11-6; Mehak Jain b Tweesha Mehra 11-2, 11-5, 11-5.

BSF team set off for mountaineering expedition
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
Border Security Force (BSF) director-general Ajay Raj Sharma on Monday flagged off the BSF Mountaineering expedition to Mount Mana, situated at an altitude of 23,859 feet, 16kms north of the Badrinath Shrine in the Garhwal Himalayas, from the CGO Complex in New Delhi.

The 30-member team include medical, communication and support staff, led by N S Satish Chandran Nair, assistant commandant and an ace mountaineer with international experience. Additional director general A K Mitra and IG, training S K Dutta were also present when the team was flagged off.

Mr Ajay Raj Sharma said the BSF soldiers have established a tradition of bravery and vigil on the borders of the country, and many bordermen have sacrificed their lives defending the border.

He said the BSF soldiers have excelled, besides mountaineering, in river rafting, camel safari, car rally and skiing. The BSF has produced one Padma Shri and 17 Arjuna Award winners and one national adventure award winner.

Mr Ajay Raj Sharma exhorted the border cops to inculcate qualities like ingenuity, courage, comradeship and endurance, besides accepting the challenges of the unknown.

He advised the mountaineers to proceed in their expedition with caution to achieve success. Mr S K Dutta said the BSF has been undertaking mountaineering expedition since 1978, and has so far climbed 26 peaks. He said the present team were put to a two-month training at Lahol Spiti in Himachal Pradesh.

The expedition to Mt. Mana is expected to take about 60 days. The team will also be conducting medical camps at remote villages like Nitti, Ghamshali Bampa and Tapovan. The BSF team scaled Kamet (25447ft) and Abi Gamin (24130ft) last year.

The present exercise is intended to prepare the BSF team to climb Mount Everest in 2004. 

Gian Singh’s death condoled
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
Veteran hockey umpire, and chronicler of the game Gian Singh, who died at his residence at Safdarjung Enclave on Sunday, was cremated here today.

Gian Singh was a popular hockey and football umpire from 1940 to 1960. He had the unique honour of wielding the whistle in the 1956 Melbourne and 1960 Rome Olympic Games.

Gian Singh, a popular figure in the hockey circles of Delhi, had authored several books on hockey umpiring and coaching techniques. His son Kuku Walia is an international hockey umpire. Gian Singh, who was ailing for some time, was 94 years old.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament Society condoled the death of Gian Singh. Gian Singh had played a vital role in the running of the Nehru Hockey Tournament, especially at the junior level. “The society will miss his guidance and patronage”, said the condolence message.

The Delhi Soccer Association also condoled the death of Gian Singh. He was a founder-member of the Delhi Soccer Association and a former national soccer referee. His son Kuku Walia was also a national-level football referee.

Saket boy wins sports contest
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
A boy from Saket, Vikram Singh, emerged the Delhi zone winner of the Samsung Britain Sportzyatra contest.

He has won a fully-paid trip, for two, to England where he will get an opportunity for a reception at Wimbledon, a tour of the Lord’s cricket ground, a tour of the Manchester United Football Club and a visit to the Silverstone circuit, which hosts the British F-I Grand Prix.

ESPN India managing director R C Ventakesh, country manager ‘Visit Britain’ Prem Subramaniam and former India player Kirti Azad announced the winners of the contest launched last month by ESPN Star Sports and ‘Visit India’ during a special live screening of the British Grand Prix, at the Ashoka Hotel.

K T Paulose from Gurgaon won a colour television set as second prize while Abhijit Ghosh from Patpargang won a microwave oven as the third prize. Cricketers Atul Wassan, Sharandeep Singh, Vijay Dahiya and Ajay Ratra were also present.

The Sportzyatra contest revolves around four spectacular sporting events to be shown live on ESPN Star Sports, including Wimbledon, the NatWest Series, the Formula-I race at Silverstone and the FA Premier League Asia Cup. This was the second round of the contest, after the first round winners were announced in Mumbai on July 12.

Karthikeyan gains position
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, July 21
Narain Karthikeyan consolidated his overall second position in the Superund World Series Championship at Lausitz in Germany.

He finished fourth in the race to cement his second position. In the Driver’s Championship, Narain now stands second with 80 points while the leader, Franck Montagny, is placed way ahead at the first position with a tally of 168 points.

The next race for Narain is scheduled to be held at A-I Ring, Austria, on September 21. Tata Carlin Motorsport team driver Narain Karthikeyan, amidst utter confusion and tough competition, garnered sufficient points with his super performance.