HEALTH

Panel to select PGI chief on Feb 9
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 5
The Select Selection Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, will meet on February 9 to decide on the new PGI Director, as Prof S.K. Sharma, the incumbent, is due to retire on March 31. Sources in the Ministry said the eight-member committee would decide on the next director of the institute. “The committee will make the recommendation to the Institute Body, which will forward it to the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet for final approval,” informed a Ministry official.

Apart from the Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, the other members are the Health Secretary, Mr J.V.R. Prasada Rao; Director General Health Services, Dr S.P. Aggarwal; Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Prof N.K. Ganguly; Director General of CSIR, Dr R.A. Mashelkar; Director NIMHANS, Bangalore, Dr Nagrajan; former Director, AIIMS, Dr P.K. Dave; and Lieut-Gen B.N. Shahi. With the date for the meeting of the committee being finalised, it is expected that the new director shall be appointed before the superannuation of Prof Sharma.

The PGI has already sent the applications of 10 senior most PGI doctors, whose name would be considered for the post. Prof K.K. Talwar, Head of Cardiology at AIIMS, Prof Kartar Singh, Director Sanjay Gandhi PGI, Lucknow, and Prof Sudha Suri, Dean and Head of Radiodiagnosis at the PGI, are emerging as top contenders for the post.

SPORTS

Blue Bird School holds rink race competition
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, February 5
The Old Students Association of Blue Bird School, Sector 16, Panchkula, today organised a rink race competition on the school premises for Class I to Class VIII students. Skaters put up a brilliant display of speed, balance and stamina. Prizes were given away to the outstanding skaters by members of the association. Ms R Bhatnagar, Principal of the school, said the skating rink in their school had played host to various national, state and district-level meets.

Results: Classes I and II; boys: Shubham 1, Achal 2, Tarun Kumar 3; girls: Pooja1, Saparna 2, Ankita 3.

Classes II and IV; Ankush 1, Prabjot 2, Ravi 3; girls: Jaspreet 1, Shipra 2, Nitika 3. Classes V and VI: Himanshu 1, Sahil 2, Aman 3; girls: Rajshree 1, Kashish 2, Bhanvi 3. Classes VII and VIII: Ashish 1, Saurabh 2, Nishant 3; girls: Karanpreet 1, Bhavna 2, Urvashi 3.

Tae kwon do meet

Panchkula tae kwon do team won a rich haul of medals in the just concluded JN Memorial Tae Kwon Do championship held at Ambala. The team won five medals. Monika Chauhan won the gold medal and Nikita, the silver medal, both in the Junior-weight category. Gaurav Goyal won the silver medal in the heavy-weight category. Kashish Kathri secured the bronze medal in welter weight. Raksha won the bronze medal in the junior category.

Meanwhile, Mr SK Sabharwal, president of the Haryana State Tae Kwon Do Association, said Monika and Nikita, both of Satluj Public School, Sector 4, Panchkula, had been selected for the 24th Junior National Tae Kwon Do championship to be held in Chennai from February 22 to 24. Mr Satish Kuhaar would be the manager of the team.

Basketball camp

Nikhil Kumar Chopra, a basketball player of Shivalik Public School, Sector 41, here has been selected for the National Junior Basketball Camp to be held at Ludhiana. It is for the first time that Shivalik Public School has been included in the camp. Mr DS Bedi, Director-Principal of the school, said the Indian junior team would take part in the Junior Asian Basketball Championship to be held in Tehran (Iran). Nikhil was being trained by Mr KS Cheema, basketball coach.

Kabaddi tourney

The Chandigarh Amateur Circle Kabaddi Association will hold a three-day 16th Senior National Circle Kabaddi Championship for men and women at Football Stadium, Sector 17, here. According to Mr JP Sharma, general secretary of the association, teams from various states have confirmed their participation in the meet.

22 players listed for main draw
Arvind Katyal

Chandigarh, February 5
With barely two days to go for the ITF Junior Tennis Tournament at Tennis Stadium, Sector 10, the stadium is abuzz with activity. On the first day of the tournament, Ramesh Krishnan, the former non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup team, will be in the city.

Ramesh will mainly focus on the performance of his daughter Gayatri Krishnan. Gayatri had earlier taken part in a tennis tournament held in the city. This year, she has improved her ranking and will play in the main draw. She is ranked 459.

In the CLTA’s latest acceptance list, a total of 22 players have qualified for the main draw, including 12 Indian girls and six boys. Madura Ranganathan of India is the top seed and is placed 131, followed by another Indian Kritiki Bhat who is ranked 140. S. Punam Reddy of India is ranked 141, followed by Vandana Murali (183), Ashmitha Easwaramurthi (203), Sandri Gangotri (250), Shweta Kakhandki (317), Parul Goswami (368), Sandhya Nagaraj (438), Parija Maloo (459), Gayatri Krishnan (459) and Poojashree Venkatesh (567).

Two more players are to be included in the main draw, while four players from the qualifying rounds and four wild card entries in both boys and girls singles section will make up the draw of 32. The girls who would compete in the qualifying rounds are: Oorrmila Ram, Tejaswini Datla, Shivika Burman, Karina Ahuja, Sagarika Phadke, Kanisha Mehta, Anukriti Prasad, Vishaka, Jilke Nelord, Sanjana Kapur, Shalini Saho, Ravya, Akshita, Sanchi, Surabhi, Alipt, Amrita, Inayat Khosla, Bahar Paul, Hina Valecha and Varsha Meena.

In boys’ section, Navdeep Singh who is playing in the ongoing ITF Junior meet at Delhi has been placed at the top with a rank of 115. He is followed by Rupesh Roy who is ranked 129. Sumit P. Gupta, ranked 182, is third and is followed by Vivek Shokeen (315) and Rohan Gide (406).

Combined XI humble Uganda lads
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, February 5
Combined XI team comprising players from DAV School Coaching Centre and BCCI Academy, Sector 16 cricket stadium, beat Uganda lads by four wickets in the second practice match at the Sector 16 cricket stadium here yesterday.

Uganda youngsters are here to play four warm-up matches before their participation in the ICC World Cup Under-19 Championship, to be played in Bangladesh from February 9.

Batting first, they lost four quick wickets for 16 runs before rallying to post 133 in 49.5 overs.

They were helped by some good performance by R. Otim (36) and Ruyange Jr. (27 not out). Arinaitwe Davis and Mabiike contributed with 15 and 11 runs, respectively.

Narinder Khokhar (2 for 12), Sunil Mehra (2 for 10), Karanveer (2 for 32) and Gaurav Ghambir (2 for 19) were the pick of the bowlers for Combined XI.

In reply, Combined XI reached the target in 33 overs, losing 6 wickets.

They will play a match against BCCI Academy at the Sector 16 cricket stadium on February 6.

Brief scores: Uganda XI: 133 in 49.5 overs (R. Otim 36, Ruyange Jr. 27, Arinaitwe Davis 15, Mabiike 11; Narinder Khokhar 2 for 12, Sunil Mehra 2 for 10, Karanveer 2 for 32, Gaurav Gambhir 2 for 19, Naresh 1 for 13).

Combined XI: 135 for 6 in 33 overs (Gaurav Gupta 14, Vipul 45, Deepak 34, Vishal not out 11; Ruyange 3 for 16).