Eye flu spreading in Faridabad
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 12
Doctors and eye specialists here have sounded an alert about the fast-spreading eye flu.

The District Eye Surgeon and Head of the Eye Department of B K Civil Hospital here, Dr Ravinder Mathur, disclosed that there had been a steep increase in the incidence of conjunctivitis in the town.

Dr Mathur, who attends to about 40 to 50 patients of eye flu daily at the hospital, said that high humidity was congenial for the spread of the virus. He advised that people should keep washing their hands with soap at short intervals and clean their eyes with cold water to check the chances of infection. Also, one should avoid direct contact with affected persons and refrain from visiting congested places. The disease could affect both adults and children; in fact, the number of affected persons in the district could be in thousands.

“A large number of schoolchildren have been infected,” said Dr Tarun Kashyap, a physician who has a clinic in Sectors 7 market. He had been attending to 10 to 15 complaints daily. The infection lasts till seven days and the patients should take all precautions besides consulting a doctor. One should take antibiotic eye drops and avoid using steroid drops. “Wearing black goggles, not touching the eyes, washing the eyes with cold water and keeping the hands clean are some precautions one must take,” he added.

SPORTS

Manavsthali to meet Sachdeva in final
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 12
Manavsthali School will take on Sachdeva Public School in the final of the Inter-School Boys Team Championship on Wednesday.

In the semi-finals played at the Talkatora indoor stadium on Tuesday, Manavsthali defeated N K Bagrodia 3-1 while Sachdeva School scored an identical 3-1 victory against Delhi Public School, Mathura Road.

In the girls title clash, Manavsthali (Echa Monga, Neha Agarwal, Geelina Popli) will take on Hansraj Model School (Sanya Sehgal, Apana Bhalla and Aanchal Batra). Manavsthali beat Jaspal Kaur 3-1 and Hansraj trounced Sachdeva School 3-1 in the semi-finals.

In the sub-junior boys final, Hansraj Model School, well-served by Akash Verma, Kartik Kukreja and Kunal Kathuria, toppled Apeejay School, Sheikh Sarai 3-2. Dhruv Arora won both the matches for Apeejay School.

Results: Akash Verma b Sarthak Gandhi 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8; Kartik Kukreja lost to Dhruv Arora 6-11, 14-12, 7-11, 4-11; Kunal Kathuria lost to Bhanu Chaudhary 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-4; Akash Verma lost to Dhruv Arora 15-13, 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 3-11; Kartik Kukreja b Sarthak Gandhi 11-6, 11-6, 11-5.

Delhi Audit will meet Food Corporation of India (FCI) in the final of the Inter-Club Table Tennis League.

Laurels won by his trainees speak volumes
of this coach
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 12
Credit for bringing laurels in sports and games not only goes to the players but also to the persons behind the achievement. A coach is one such person who often remains in the background but definitely plays a crucial role that cannot be overlooked.

Neeraj Sharma, Director of Physical Education in Modern Vidya Niketan (MVN) here chose the career of a coach with the concept of making this field more creditable and noteworthy. While Mr Sharma loves many outdoor games, his chief passion is basketball.

Mr Sharma had been a university and national level basketball player in the late 80s and 90s. After these achievements, he decided to train young students by getting proper knowledge and training himself.

After graduation and masters in physical education, he took up the job of DPE in MVN in 1996. Since then, Mr Sharma has achieved a lot if the accomplishments of his students are anything to go by.

His school team had topped in the Haryana Zone CBSE Schools Championship from 1997 to 2001 and it qualified to participate in the National CBSE Trophy in that

period. It is pointed out that MVN was the only school to qualify five times in a row at the national level.

An assistant coach with the junior basketball team of Haryana, Neeraj Sharma has also been imparting training in netball. Recently, five of his players won medals at the national level. His trainee Prachee took part in the 32nd National

Games in Hyderabad in Netball (2002) and won a bronze. She also participated in International Basketball Tournament held in South Korea in July this year. Another student of Mr Sharma got 97 per cent marks in physical education in plus II examinations last year.

Chand Khanna club felicitates players
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 12
The Chand Khanna Cricket Club felicitated Indian players Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari, Gautam Gambhir, Sarandeep Singh and Amit Mishra at a function held at Pragati Maidan on Monday. Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma was the chief guest while Delhi Assembly speaker Subhash Chopra was the guest of honour.

Chand Khanna Club patron Mukesh Gupta, who is the managing director of Graphics Ads, got together the function.

A galaxy of former and present cricketers, cricket officials and the top brass of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) attended the function. Among those present were former Test cricketers Atul Wassan Gurusharan Singh, Sanjeev Sharma, Hari Gidwani, Rakesh Shukla, Ajay Jadeja, Rahul Sanghvi, DDCA vice-president C. K. Khanna, who is also the vice-chairman of the National Cricket Academy, DDCA vice-president Suresh Chopra, DDCA joint secretary Dr S. S. Sareen, Anil Jain, Anil Khanna, Sunil Khanna, Ravi Jain, Vinod Tihara, Brij Mohan Gupta, Vineet Kumar, Vivek Gupta, international umpire Hariharan and Chand Khanna Club coach Raju Tandon.

Former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation Joginder Singh, Dr R. K. Pachori of Teri, Punjabi singer Jasbir Jassi, Bhupinder Bhuppi, Sanjay Malik, Delhi chief fire officer R. C. Sharma, Subhash Goel, chief commissioner of customs Kansal and Sriram College of Commerce Alumni Association president Girish Ahuja also attended the function.

Cosmos take on Nav Jyoti Nepal
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 12
Cosmos club will take on Nav Jyoti Nepal in the preliminary league of the Delhi Soccer Association-SAIL A Division League Championship to decide relegation from A to B Division at the Ambedkar Stadium on Wednesday at 3.30 pm.

Youngmen will meet Garhwal Heroes in the second match at 4.30 pm to decide the first two positions from Group C for qualification for the Super League.

Mukesh to defend Cotton City Open
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, August 12
Mukesh Kumar, who emerged as the “Champion Golfer of the Year” for the fourth successive year on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, begins his hunt for trophy with the Cotton City Open, at the Coimbatore Golf Club course on Wednesday.

Ninety professionals will vie for a total prize money of Rs 8.5 lakh with the winner standing to gain Rs 13,7700 while the runner-up will pocket Rs 95,200. The Cotton City Open forms the second leg of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour and the first event of the Southern Swing.