Students donate blood 
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 14
The Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) organised a blood donation camp in association with the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT) for the thalassemic patients in which 45 students of the institute donated blood. The camp was organised under the supervision of Dr Amarjit Kaur, Head of Department of Transfusion Medicine of the DMCH at the GNIMT campus.

“Our major concern is to arrange adequate blood for the thalassemic children as their number is increasing day by day. Currently, 140 patients are getting treatment at the DMCH and about 160 units of blood are required every month to carry out their blood transfusion. Their lives entirely depend upon the availability of blood.

This is only possible if people, specially youngsters, come forward for the voluntary blood donation,” observed Dr Amarjit Kaur while speaking at the occasion.

She further noted that thalassemia was the commonest inherited disorder of the world and Punjab was one of the worst affected states. Something like 3 to 15 per cent of Punjabi population had a thalassemia trait but unfortunately people were less aware about the disease. “The most painful fact is that many of these patients die because of the unavailability of blood as they require one to two units of blood after every 15 to 20 days all through their life.”

The DMCH has also appealed to the masses to donate blood for the thalassemic children and make some contribution to the noble cause of saving precious lives.

SPORTS

Physically challenged cricketers feel ignored
Anil Datt

Ludhiana, October 14
Our nation is crazy about cricket with people ready to go to any extent to watch a match in the playground as well as on TVs at their homes and other places, it is unfortunate that we only adore cricket stars as demi gods but don’t encourage those who make an effort to play the game.

This bitter aspect was witnessed during the third edition of the Punjab State Cricket Championship for the Deaf and Dumb organised by the Punjab Deaf and Dumb Association in Ludhiana from October 10 to 12 at the Punjab Agricultural University ground.

Four teams — Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala, participated in the tournament and nobody was there to cheer them up. Moreover, the organisers felt it bad that they had to struggle hard to make it a success as far as the holding of the tournament was concerned.

Mr Rinku Sharma, honorary general secretary of the organising association, who alone among its office-bearers can speak and hear, expressed resentment over the people’s approach towards them. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, he said neither local administration, nor any association or individual came forward to help them in organising the tournament. He went from pillar to post to collect the money for the tournament but received no sponsorship or any other financial assistance from any quarter. Everyone expressed helplessness in arranging the money for the tournament, lamented Mr Rinku.

He further said that he had to collect the donation by issuing slips from Rs 5 to Rs 100 denomination. He was critical of the exorbitant ground charges (Rs 5000 per day) at the PAU. “When I urged the university authorities to give the ground free of cost, since they had no funds for the purpose, they expressed their inability in doing so. However they agreed to reduce the charges to Rs 2000 per day apart from hostel facilities and meals”, Mr Sharma said.

On the concluding day, when Rinku was asked why there was no chief guest to encourage and distribute the prizes among the participants, he said they approached a number of local officers and even prominent industrialists to preside over the prize distribution function but nobody deemed it appropriate to be the chief guest at the ‘physically challenged players’ function, Rinku said.

Sports festival at Mundian Kalan
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, October 14
Teams from Rakba and Joraran won kabaddi titles in the 57 kg and 62 kg category, respectively in the annual sports festival organised jointly by the Sports Club of Mundian Kalan village in association with the villagers of the area at Mundian village situated on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road near here. In the final, Rakba beat Dhatt while Joraran defeated Janda village. In the open category, Jalaldiwal overcame Ghaloti to bag the title.

In football (55 kg), Bhutta prevailed over KCF, Raikot, 4-3 to lay their hands on the trophy. In the senior category, Sarabha beat Mundian Kalan to lift the cup while Nangal Khurd finished third.

In chess, Talwinder Singh of Mundian Kalan got the better of Gagandeep Singh of Urban Estate, Phase A, Ludhiana, to clinch the title. In volleyball, Chak Kalan defeated Jagraon to emerge as champion while team from Gill village got third spot.

Mr Malkit Singh Birmi, Minister for Jails and Urban Development, presided over the concluding function. He also announced a grant of Rs 21,000 for the organising club. Lala Lajpat Rai, Member of the Rajya Sabha, and Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor, Ludhiana who visited the village during the course of festival announced grant of 6 lakh for the construction of the stadium in the village. Mr Jagrrop Singh Jarkhar, journalist, was also felicitated on this occasion.

Zonal Athletics Meet
Our Correspondent

Khanna, October 14
Lala Sarkaru Mal Sarvhitkari Mandir, Khanna, won gold medal in ‘kishore varg’ and silver medal in ‘bal varg’ at the Zonal Athletics Meet organised by the Sarv Hitkari Education Society, Punjab, held at Dhura-Dhuri in Sangrur district yesterday.

In ‘kishore varg’, Master Sandeep Gupta won the gold in 800-metre race while Vinay Bhatia clinched gold medals in 400 and 200 metres race. Aditya Shori won the gold medal in 1,500 metre and Vinay Bhatia also won a silver in 100-metre race.

In ‘bal varg’ Abhisek Verma got silver medal in 200-metres and high jump. Rajeev Singh got silver medal in 4,000 metres. He also bagged a gold in 80-metre hurdle race Ravinder Singh won silver medal in 600 metres. In discus throw and shot put, Harish Kamal got the bronze. Shivani Aggarwal, Sahil Aggarwal and Varun Jambh won silver medals in table tennis.

Ipsa Virmani won silver medals in 10-metre race while in 200 and 4,000 metre races, Shabnam and Matania got silver and gold medals, respectively.

Natasha Syal bagged a silver medal in high jump and also in 800 metre hurdle race. Urvashi Bhardwaj won the gold in shot put and discus throw.

In ‘shishu varg’ Gurkirpal Singh won the gold in shot put. Yogesh Jassal got silver medal in 100 metres.