The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Poor patient gets artificial limbs

Chandigarh, December 6
Nidhi Gupta, aged 13 years, suffering from bilateral congenital loss (both arms by birth), has been fitted with right prosthesis with electronic hand and with mechanical left hand at the Nevedac Prosthetic Centre, near Airport, here, today.

Dr V.J.S. Vohra, CMD of the centre, said, “Though the case was very difficult and in spite of her very severe disability, we succeeded in the fitment of the artificial arms to her.”

Nidhi’s father Santosh Kumar of Mukan Gobargaun village, in Narsinghpur district (MP), belongs to poor family. Her aunt, Sushila Devi, adopted her. Nidhi is now studying in class VIII. With the help of the electronic hand, she can eat, drink and even write.

Nidhi was full of smiles and said she would use her hands to become a doctor. Mr S.K. Parthani, CMD, Brahmputra Consortium New Delhi bore all expenses of the treatment. — TNS

SPORTS

Disability no bar for this young achiever
G. S. Paul
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6
Welcome to the world of cricket for the deaf and the dumb where the sign language is at its best, facial expressions most intense and silent laughter is the loudest.

India defeated England in the finals of the 2nd World Cup Cricket for Deaf. The tournament, held in Lucknow from November 17 to 27, was organised by the Deaf Cricket International Federation (DCIF) in which teams from as many as nine countries participated.

From the tournament emerged a new hero — Vinay Singhal — who was amongst the "special" elevens. "This match gave me a chance to prove myself to the people around me and helped me discover my real potential. After the net practice before the match, though I was confident of delivering on the D-day, I saw the real match as the acid test. I am glad I came out with flying colours," an ecstatic Vinay maintains.

Coming straight from the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Sector 26, where he was honoured for the achievement along with other special children on occasion of the International Day for the Disabled, this 27 year-old captain of the Chandigarh deaf cricket team, has been on an all-time high since then, enjoying thoroughly his newly attained star status.

Before going to play the World Cup, he also played for India in five-ODI series held in Pakistan in March this year. A member of the Punjab Deaf and Dumb Sports Association, Vinay also represents the Punjab deaf cricket team and has many honours to his credit. He pocketed the best batsman title, best fielder and man of the series award in the third Punjab State Level Cricket Tournament for the deaf held in 2004 in Ludhiana besides number of times being adjudged the man of the match in various tournaments held in Patiala, Jalandhar and Chandigarh.

Amidst all this happiness is a tinge of underlying sorrow as well. The 43-odd awards he has been conferred upon in his glorious career in sports are not enough to wipe this sorrow away.

Coming from a humble family, his father Devender Prakash Singhal is an assistant with the Haryana Urban Development Authority and his mother, a housewife. They are dejected at the indifferent attitude of the government for the special children like him.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Mr Singhal said, "Vinay used to get Rs 300 as handicapped pension from the Haryana Government, but the government stopped it about six months back for reasons best known to them".

"When I enquired about it, they said Vinay is not a deserving candidate. Unmindful of the fact that he represented nation in various tournaments and has brought laurels, the government is not helping us. All his expenses are borne by us", said Mr Singhal with tears in his eyes.

Vinay might not be hearing you normally, but he understands the lip reading. Seeing his father's emotions he also broke down and could express his emotions with hands making signs as fast as one can talk.

Vinay has also done a course in tailoring and garment technology from the engineering college under special scheme for persons with disabilities. After that, he had undergone three-month photostat and lamination course from the same institute.

PDDSA general secretary, Rinku Singhal said, “We at PDDSA are trying our level best to give sportspersons like him adequate exposure at the national and international levels, but our resources are limited and we are helpless in providing every thing without the support of the government agencies".

"We put in so much effort to make it to the state or national team, but we fail to get any sponsors. We have been collecting money from all those who could donate for the cause", he said.

Kaushal tops in taekwondo meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6
Rahul Kaushal of Government Senior Secondary School, Phase 3 B 2, Mohali, bagged the first position in the 48-51 kg category by the 1st inter-School Taekwondo Championship held at Swami Ram Tirath Public School, Phase 4, here, today. Shivalik Public School, Mohali, stood first in the overall championship. SRTPS, Phase 4, Mohali and Sentinal Public School, Sohana, got second position.

The brief results:
Male Sub Junior:
up to 21 kg: Inder Bir Singh 1; Abhishek Kumar 2; Amanjot Singh 3 23to 25 kg: Ajay Kumar 1; Ravinder Singh 2; Yogesh 3. 25 to 27 kg: Amrinder Brar 1; Param Veer Singh 2; Jasbir Singh 3. 27 to 29 kg: Simranjit Singh 1; Ramandeep Singh 2; Tejveer Singh 3.

Male Junior:
up to 45 kg: Saman Deep Singh 1; Daljit Singh 2 ; Maninder Singh 3. 45 to 48 kg: Gurpreet Singh 1; Lakhwinder Singh 2; Navneet Singh 3. 48 to 51 kg: Rahul Kaushal 1; Niranjan Mukhia 2 ; Harinder Singh 3. 51 to 55 kg: Jagdeep Singh 1 and Ivneet Singh Bains 2. 55 to 59 kg: Sunil Sharma 1; Ravi Pal 2 ; Navneet Singh 3. 59 to 63 kg: Manish Sharma 1; Harleen Singh 2; Amit Sharma 3. 63 to 68 kg: Janindra Khuman 1 and Amninderjit Singh 2.

Female Sub Junior:
24 to 26 kg: Kamal Preet Kaur 1 ; Simrat Kaur 2 32 to 35 kg: Parampreet Kaur 1; Ramandeep Kaur 2; Harmeet Kaur 3. 35 to 38 kg: Gurjot Kaur 1; Priyanka 2. 38 to 42 kg: Tajinder Kaur 1 ; Sangeeta Ravat 2.

FCI HQ beat West Zone in hockey tourney
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6
On the second day of five-day 35 th All-India Inter Zonal Hockey Tournament, FCI headquarter got the better of West Zone by 2-1 at Hockey Stadium, Sector 42 here today.

Mukesh Kaushik and Amit Kumar scored one goal each for the headquarters whereas the lone goal for West Zone came though Vinod Kumar.

In the second league match, North Zone drubbed East Zone by 6-1. The scorers for the winning team were Satwinder Singh, Parnam Singh, Lakhvir Singh and Gurinder Singh. East Zone reduced the margin with the field goal by Sudhir Minz.

Tomorrow East Zone will meet NEF Zone at 12 noon while the South Zone will face the West Zone at 2 pm at the same venue.

Table soccer chief to visit India
Our Sports Reporter

Chandigarh, December 6
The president of the International Table Soccer Federation, Mr Farid Lunas, will be visiting India next month to review the progress of the new sport in the country. This was revealed by Mr Ravinder Talwar, Chairman of the Table Soccer Federation of India (TSFI).

He confirmed that Mr Lunas, based in France, wanted to promote the sport in a big way in Asia and was eager to help the Asian Table Soccer Federation and the TSFI to penetrate deeper in the masses to carry out activities in the game.

Mr Balwinder Johal, president of the TSFI, said during the past one year the game got immense boost in the region. Impressed by the efforts made by the TSFI, Mr Lunas decided to interact and personally visit various coaching centres where Table soccer is being played.

Sumeer, Arpit triumphant in snooker tourney
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6
Summer Singh Chandi defeated Dr Harika Sethi 55-44, 60-50, 59-40 in the senior snooker tie at the 21st Chandigarh State Billiards and Snooker Championship being held at the Chandigarh Billiards Coaching Centre in Sector 22 here today.

In the second match, Arpit Seith was too good for Sachin and won the match 3-0. The scores were 57-40, 39-25 and 50-36 in favour of Seith. In the third match, Dr Canon beat Ashu Duggal 3-0. The scores were 70-25, 64-20 and 53-25.

It was a close fight in the senior billiards section. Surender Singh beat Manav Dhawan 210-173 and Ashu Duggal beat Rajat Khaneja 253-233. In the third billiards match, Parmod Kumar defeated Arpit Seith 228-147 in a one-sided affair.

In the junior snooker section, Sagar Narula defeated Gagandeep Singh in a well-contested match. Both juniors showed excellent potting. Sagar won by 2-1. The score stood at 49-44, 18-60 and 58-15.

Probe ordered against 2 docs
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, December 6
The Director-General, Health Services, Haryana, Dr Sushma Madan, today asked the Chief Medical Officer, Panchkula, Dr G.P. Saluja, to conduct an inquiry against the two doctors of General Hospital, Sector 6, who had been accused of demanding and accepting money from relatives of patients.

The inquiry was ordered against a surgeon and an anaesthetist after allegations were levelled against them by relatives of two patients at the hospital yesterday.

Dr Saluja asked the District Malaria Officer, Dr Shail Gupta, to conduct the inquiry and submit the report within a day.

Relatives of two patients alleged that they gave the money to the doctors thinking that their kin would be properly operated upon.

One of them alleged that the surgeon demanded Rs 2,000 and the other accused the surgeon of demanding Rs 2,500.