HEALTH

Response to pulse polio drive overwhelming
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, November 9
A large number of children aged between 0-5 years were administered anti-polio drops by the employees of the Health Department and the volunteers of various social and voluntary organisations at different booths created specially for the purpose in this city and elsewhere in the district today.

According to reports, the response to the campaign was overwhelming as the parents and guardians of small children were seen waiting for their turn at several posts. The Health Department has set a target of two lakh children for administering them anti-polio drops in the district.

As many as 682 booths were set up in the district and the department has put as many as 2,852 employees on duty for this purpose. Special pulse polio immunisation posts were set up at strategic points like bus stands, railway stations, urban slums, and labour colonies in the industrial areas to provide coverage to transit population and migrant labour.

The employees of the Health Department also went round the brick kilns and administered polio drops to the children of the brick-kiln workers.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Balwan Singh, said that this time special emphasis would be on the areas with low routine coverage, urban slums, areas having confirmed polio cases and the areas having large influx of migrant, population. For covering all children in these areas, mobile teams had been pressed into service and supervision of these areas had also been strengthened. The members of the static posts and the supervisors would go from house to house in the afternoon to find out whether the polio drops had been given to all the children below five years.

SPORTS

AADI to hold cricket matches for the disabled from Nov 14
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 9
The society for Action for Ability, Development and Inclusion (AADI), formerly known as the Spastics Society of Northern India, will hold cricket matches “to celebrate the spirit of Inclusion of Saath Saath Khel 2003”. The matches will be held from November 14 to 16 in which five schools, including mainstream and special, will participate. This is the first time that inclusive cricket matches will be played in India.

Executive director of AADI G. Shyamala said the Spastics Society of Northern India was set up in 1978 and the association has completed glorious 25 years in the service of the society, particularly in nursing children with disability to give them a place in mainstream life.

She said the society had worked with over 5000 people with disability and their families, trained over 500 professionals in the field, initiated policy changes to suit the needs of the people with disabilities and are currently focussing on and promoting a “barrier free environment for people with disability.”

Ms Shyamala said today “our vision is of a world in which people with disability are an integral part of society with equitable access to services and opportunities, enabling them to live life to the fullest”. She said the new name AADI “was reflective of our vision — it means ‘the beginning’.”"

“It carries our conviction that people with disability can contribute as much to the society as they receive from it. It promotes an integrated service delivery approach, which is based on the principle that all community services should be accessible and relevant to the people with disability”.

Bhutia and boys take to water
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 9
Baichung Bhutia and boys found an excellent way of soothening their taught nerves and soiled bodies by taking a splash at the National Stadium swimming pool as the Durand Football Tournament entered the title contest stage.

Having qualified for the cup clash, Bhutia and other members of the East Bengal team could indulge themselves in the azure waters of the National Stadium. In this time of the year, the pool is virtually action-free, and the Kolkata players had a free run, with nothing much to bother about.

Perhaps, a few years ago, football players could not even think of such a luxury—taking a dip in a swimming pool in Delhi, between matches. But times are a-changing and Bhutia’s star status was one of the factors for the pool to be thrown open to the East Bengal players. 

Delhi State soccer player dead
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 9
Former Delhi State soccer player Mohd. Yaqub died in New Delhi on Saturday after a prolonged illness. He was 63 years old, and is survived by his wife, five daughters and two sons. Yaqub joined the City Club in 1963 and was a registered player of the club till the very end.

A senior officer with Central Revenue and Customs before his retirement, he had played for all major reputed tournaments in the country—DCM, Rovers, Durand etc. He represented Delhi in various national championships in the sixties, and was an active member of the Delhi Soccer Association.

A large number of soccer officials, including DSA president Nawabuddin Zaheer, attended Yaqub’s funeral at the Delhi Gate graveyard. The DSA condoled his death and termed it as an “irreparable loss to football in the Capital”.

Rani Bagh romp home
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 9
A fine knock of 85 by Sanjay Kumar helped Rani Bagh Club beat Sonnex Club by 34 runs in the DDCA League A-II Division at the RSKP ground.

Scores: Rani Bagh: 187 for 9 in 40 overs (Sanjay Kumar 85, Sunil Kumar 32, Mukesh Marwah 2 for 36, Rajesh Suneja 2 for 40).

Sonnex: 153 all out in 38.1 overs (Mohd Fazil 30, Mohd. Abir 66 n o, Geet Vats 2 for 26, Maninder Singh 2 for 28).

S B Youth beat Delhi Audit by 42 runs in an A-I Division at the YSC I ground.

Scores: S B Youth: 166 all out in 31.1 overs (Vijay Arya 36, Ravinder Rawat 32, Ayub Ali 4 for 30, Pankaj Joshi 2 for 6, K S Rana 2 for 42).

Delhi Audit: 124 all out in 31.5 overs (Pankaj Joshi 33, Satish Salwan 32, R Unmal 7 for 26, Vijay Arya 2 for 19).

Spectators give Ranji match the skip
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, November 9
Cricket is considered a crowd-puller. Stands are packed to the brim for one-day international matches.

Even the Test matches between India and New Zealand attracted a sizeable number of spectators. But the buck, it seems, stops with international matches as there seems to be no takers for domestic cricket.

The first three days of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match between Railways and Andhra Pradesh were played with bare stands staring at the players at the Karnail Singh Stadium. There was even a volleyball match in progress at the sidelines. But nobody seems to bother. Not that Railways and Andhra Pradesh are bereft of stars. The Andhra team were led by M S K Prasad, who is trying to stage a comeback into the Indian team as the wicket-keeper while Railways were also captained by a wicket-keeper—Abhay Sharma. Railways boast of many an international, and Sanjay Bangar, who scored a century in their first innings, is yet another India discard who is striving hard to get back into the national team. But the bottomline is that nobody is interested in domestic cricket, whatever may be the quality of competition. The stands are packed only when international matches are held. The cricket fans know their priority, for sure, not necessarily their cricket!

No wonder, there is a constant craving for upgradation of domestic cricket, to make it more spectator-friendly, But how to go about the task, nobody seems to know. Least of all the Board of Control for Cricket in India. And that seems to be the bane of domestic cricket.

Sistani Inter-School Cricket

New Delhi, November 9
The seventh H S Sistani Inter-School Cricket Tournament, organised by the S S Khalsa School (Lajpat Nagar), will begin on November 10.

Hosts S. S. Khalsa School will take on Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar in the opening match. The tournament will be inaugurated by chairman of the school S. S. Sistani. The 12 teams who are vyeing for honours are: defending champions Salwan Boys, runners-up S S Khalsa, Hansraj Model School, GHPS, India Gate, Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Lajpat Nagar and Chinmoy Vidyalaya. OSR