HEALTH

Childless? It’s stress!
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Possible causes for infertility Stressful living due to professional demands and deadline pressures. Late marriages, especially among women, after the age of 30. Absence of egg formation in women who do not have their periods. Damage to fallopian tube and lining of uterus due to abortion, especially in unmarried women.

Chandigarh, January 18
Meeting professional demands and chasing targets can take a toll on your family life. According to studies, more and more couples in India, especially men, are seeking infertility treatment as stressful living is denying them the joy of parenthood.

Contrary to the general belief, 60 per cent of infertility patients are men. Traditionally, it is believed that it is women who are not able to bear children. About 15 per cent couples are suffering from infertility in India. The problem is pre-dominant amongst men who are reluctant to accept that it is because of their low sperm count that they are unable to have a child.

“More than half of the infertility patients are men and, in the absence of effective drugs to improve sperm count, it is relatively more difficult to treat male infertility,” Dr Himanshu Patel, an embryologist from Ahmedabad, said. He attributed low sperm count to factors like late marriage, stress and high career consciousness.

Dr Patel said invariably it was the woman who was taken from one doctor to another for treatment of infertility and it was only when they failed to get positive results that the man underwent tests. “The concept of sperm banks in India is catching up, but still there is little awareness about various infertility management techniques like in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) or the test tube baby facility,” he said.

“Surprisingly, childless couples are still averse to the IVF as they feel that it will not be accepted by their parents, family and other relatives,” Dr G.K. Bedi, a city-based gynaecologist and infertility specialist, said. She said about 20 new infertile couples came to her clinic every week.

Talking about sperm banks, Dr Patel said there were barely a handful of them in North India. The sharp increase in the number of infertile couples, he said, had necessitated the opening of more such banks. He was of the view that it was rather difficult to treat male infertility as the available drugs were not very effective. Doctors were being trained to prepare semen with the help of various techniques. “Since the sperm count falls below 20 million per unit, we retrieve the active sperms and put them inside the uterus of the woman,” she explained.

SPORTS

Chandigarh trounce Pondicherry in baseball meet
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 18
Chandigarh with two wins and one defeat and Madhya Pradesh having two triumphs in league matches have emerged as strong contenders for quarter-final berths in the boys section of the Junior National Baseball Championship being played on the Panjab University campus here.

Delhi with four victories and one draw against Punjab have qualified for the quarter-finals. Punjab, who have yet to play Rajasthan in their last league outing, have ensured their berth in the knockout stage with three wins and one draw in the five-team league contest.

Karnataka also rounded off their league fixture with three wins and one draw to stake claim for a spot in the quarter-final stage.

Orissa (two wins and one defeat), Andhra Pradesh (one win, one draw and one defeat), Jharkhand (one win, two defeats) and Gujarat (two defeats) are the other contenders for the second qualifiers. Chandigarh today defeated Pondicherry 8-0 and made their entry into quarter-final almost certain. Their last league match will be against lowly placed West Bengal.

Manipur with three wins and two defeats concluded their league programme and are likely to be the second team to qualify from group B. Holders Goa (two wins one loss) have already made the quarter-final grade from group A.

In the girls’ section, Punjab topped group D with an all-win record in the five-team league schedule. They defeated Chhattisgarh by 8-0, Himachal Pradesh by 11-3, and Uttar Pradesh and Haryana by 9-0. Himachal Pradesh became the second team to qualify for the quarter-final.

Delhi prevailed over Kerala by 12-4 in their third successive victory in group C and ensured their place in the quarter-final. One team among Orissa, West Bengal, Kerala and Uttaranchal will make the grade after the final league matches to be held tomorrow.

Results: Boys: Jharkhand b Gujarat 13-0, Manipur b West Bengal 7-4, Karnataka b Gujarat 10-0, Maharashtra b Uttar Pradesh 14-12, Chandigarh b Pondicherry 8-0, Delhi b Uttar Pradesh 15-0, Chhattisgarh b Rajasthan 4-3, Delhi b Maharashtra 14-0, Kerala b Manipur 6-4.

Girls: Goa b Jharkhand 6-0, Punjab b Chhattisgarh 8-3, Delhi b Kerala12-4, Madhya Pradesh b Andhra Pradesh 13-3, Punjab b Himachal Pradesh 11-4, Chandigarh b Andhra Pradesh 12-1and Goa b Karnataka 5-2.

Lawn tennis tourney

Roopsaran Rihal and Rakshita clinched the girls under-12 and under-16 section titles in the sub-junior and junior lawn tennis tournament which concluded at the lawn tennis courts here today.

Results: Girls (under-12): Roopsaran Rihal b Jaanesh 8-1; Under-16: Rakshita b Jaanesh 8-2; and Under-16 (doubles):Noor Paul and Roopsaran Rihal b Ramneek and Qudrat 8-4.

Boys (under-12): Amit Chauhan b Gurinder Singh 9-7; Under-16: Mandeep Yadav b Sidharth Baidwan 9-6; and Under-16 (doubles): Gurmohit and Mandeep Yadav b Pravesh and Sidharth 8-4.

New schools give importance to sports
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, January 18
The new schools which have mushroomed in and around city since the past one or two years have devoted much of their attention towards sports. Majority of the schools prefer to include sports in their curriculum but never thought of providing infrastructure in this disciplines.

Delhi Public School, Sector 40, which came into existence in 2003 has made sports an integral part of their curriculum. On a visit to the school, one finds, two clay tennis courts and one volleyball court. The swimming pool is under construction and so are the athletic track and the cricket pitch.

Ms Sunita Tanwar, Principal of the school, said since it was their first year, so they wanted to grow gradually and for sports they would like to be equipped with best of the facilities available. She said so beginning had been made with the completion of the two clay tennis courts. She said since it was difficult for children to commute to other centers within the city so they decided to provide facilities in the school so they could devote much of the time. She said coaches would be employed for each sports discipline. She said they would have a cricket academy from the next session.

Ms Tanwar said a 25 metre- long in house swimming pool with two filtration plant would soon be ready. She further disclosed that a state of the art gymnasium with latest equipment would go a long way in making students happy.

Ms Tanwar said from Class II onwards specialised training would be given in yoga, judo, aerobics and karate.

She said from next year, they would start the construction of squash courts. At least 6 acres of land had been kept for sports and extra-curricular activities.

Bon Sante win bodybuilding championship
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 18
The teams of bodybuilders from Bon Sante, Chandigarh, won the 10th sub-junior and 13th junior Mr Chandigarh bodybuilding championship held today at the DAV College auditorium, Sector 10.

Ajay Kumar was declared Mr Chandigarh in the sub-junior section and Pardeep Kumar in the junior section. At least 60 bodybuilders from Chandigarh took part in the championship.

Bon Sante got 73 points while Chander Fitness were runners-up with 68 points in the sub-junior section. Bon Sante also won the trophy in the junior section with 118 points while Chaudhary Fitness were runner-up with 64 points.

Results: (sub-juniors): below 55 kg: Mohammad Mushtaq 1, Sandeep 2, R.Pandey 3.

Below 60 kg: Ajay Kumar 1, Harjinder Singh 2, Narinder Singh 3.

Below 65 kg: Raj Kumar 1, R. Kumar 2, Sunil Chauhan 3.

Below 70 kg: Suresh Saini 1, Rupinder Chaudhary 2, Sukhchain 3.

Above 70 kg: Raghubir Singh 1, Harish Kumar 2, Neeraj 3.

The winners in the junior section were: below 55 kg — Subir Ali; below 60 kg — Ajay Kumar; below 65 kg — Raj Kumar; below 70 kg — Suraj Bhan; below 75 kg — Pardeep Kumar; above 75 kg — Anshul Arora.

25 women footballers selected for camp
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, January 18
Twentyfive women football players have been selected for a Chandigarh women senior team coaching camp to prepare for the 12th Senior Women National Football Championship. The meet will be held at Bhopal in the first week of February. Mr Rakesh Bakshi, the secretary of the association, said the probables include Vandana, Kamaljeet Kaur, Balwinder, Sudha, Deepa, Neetu, Puneeta, Anjana Dogra, Anju, Rekha, Pooja, Poonam, Rupinder, Gurjit, Rajandeep Kaur, Anjana Thakur, Noona, Pinky, Shruti, Rinki, Ayushi, Shelly, Sarabjeet, Simran and Jasdeep.

Nestle beat Education Deptt

Nestle India XI defeated Education Department XI by nine runs in the First Bharat Kumar Gupta Memorial Inter-Institutional Cup league cricket tournament played at the cricket stadium in Sector 3, Panchkula, today.

Brief scores: Nestle India: 110 for two ( Rakesh Purang 52, Arpinder Bedi 34, Ravinder 2 for15). Education Department: 101 for eight (Rajan 32, Harinder Singh 33, Ravinder 26 n.o., Arpinder Bedi 3 for 15, Sandeep Sandhu 3 for 25, Hitesh 2 for 9).

In the second match, JL Morison India defeated International Testing Centre by four wickets.

Brief scores: ITC: 106 for eight (Satish Chaudhary 34, Rajesh Arora 29, Narinder Walia 22, Vaneet Chawla 17 n.o., Manjit 3 for22, Mohinder 3 for12, Ankur 2 for 14). JL Morison India: 110 runs for six in 19.2 overs (Atul 41 n.o., Pawan Sharma 29, Mahinder 23, Kulwinder Rommi 3 for18, Sanjay Ahuja 2 for 10).

CA’s XI trounce Manjrekar Club

CA’s XI outplayed the Manjrekar Cricket Club by seven wickets in a cricket match played at St Stephen’s School, in Sector 45 here today. Batting first, Manjrekar club were all out for 188 runs. In reply, CA’s XI scored the required runs for the loss of three wickets.

Brief scores: Manjrekar club:188 all out (Rahul 45, Onkar 35, Sukhen Pal Babuta 3 for 24).

CA’s XI: 189 for three in 19.5 overs (Rajan 67, Bhupinder Hayer 41, Davinder 2 for 39).