Patiala, February 6
The Punjab Pensioners’ Welfare Association, led by H.S. Sodhi, has sent a communication to the Patiala district administration claiming that some members of the association had committed fraud in connivance with A.K. Builders during the construction of the Punjab Pensioners’ Home.

Sodhi, in his letter to the DC, has asked him to book the culprits as soon as possible and at the same time, warned expelled members not to collect funds in the name of the association and the Punjab Pensioners’ Home which was to be built near State College of Education.

Sodhi has also claimed that when the issue of fraud was brought to his notice, he immediately expelled the members and dissolved the election process, a decision that was also upheld by the registrar of societies. He added that it was on his complaint to the DC that the district administration sealed the office of the Punjab Pensioners’ Welfare Association.

He also claimed that some members forcibly broke open the lock of the office and took away articles by misleading the watchman by telling him that they were doing it with the permission of the deputy commissioner. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, February 6
A team of educationists and professionals led by Dr G. Warren Smith, former president of south-eastern Louisian University and Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, visited Sanghol Educational Complex, here yesterday. The team that comprised of Prof Patricia Clark, human resource generalist Dina Sassaman, and Jolene Menold interacted with students of Cordia Institute of Business Management. Institute director Dr R.K. Sharma apprised the members of prevailing academic environment in the country and suggested methods for better interaction among students and teachers of both the countries. The team members had a detailed discussion on educational systems prevailing in the US and India and showed interest in the working of technical institutions in the country.

Mohali
QUIZ: A quiz competition ‘Brain Teasers’ was organised on NIIFT campus yesterday. Five teams from each department were invited. After a healthy competition, the team from the fashion department bagged the first position followed by KDT as first runners up.

CONFERENCE: Leading academicians, teachers and research scholars from IITs, CSIR, NITs, BITS, PEC, NITTR and engineers working in various premier industries, including IBM, Maruti, TCS, NTPC would ponder over issues at Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, during a national conference on ‘Trends in Mechanical Engineering’. The conference is being held on February 8 and 9. CSIO director Dr Pawan Kapur will inaugurate the conference as the chief guest.

ANIMATION SESSION: MBA students of Dr I.T. Business School, Banur, actively participated in the session on animation and gaming organised by CII as a part of the Chandigarh film festival. The students became aware about the scope of animation industry in India and future jobs prospects in the animation industry.

Ambala
POETRY CONTEST: A poetry recitation competition was organised in DAV College at Ambala city yesterday in memory of martyr Amit Ahuja. Around 12 teams from various districts took part in the competition. IG, Vigilance Bureau, M.S. Ahlawat was the chief guest. The first position in the competition was secured by Indu Verma, a student of the same college. Sandeep Kumar of Government College, Hisar, was declared second while Smriti, a student of DAV College, Ambala city, was adjudged third. Consolation prize was offered to Amrita and Komal. 

Patiala, February 4
Punjabi University riders once again led the charge on the last day of the All-India Inter-University Cycling Championship (track events) by winning the gold in the 50km team time trial event here today.

The foursome of Sarpreet Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Gursharandeep Singh and Sukhwinder Singh powered the hosts to the top slot.

The Bikaner University quartet of Ram Narayan Chowdhury, Sharwan Kumar, Suraj Ram Godara and Amit Ranga came second, while Pune University’s Rahul Borde, Sunil Prasad, Amit Jadhav and Sandeep Azabe finished third.

In the 25-km road mass start for women, Priyanka Desia of Pune University finished first, followed by K.R. Banaker of Karnataka University and Sukhpal Kaur of Punjabi University in second and third positions, respectively.

Dera Bassi, February 6
Thieves decamped with goods worth over Rs 5 lakh from a hardware shop on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway.

According to the police, owner of Paras Hardware shop Anup Bindal alleged that he opened his shop this morning and discovered that it had been ransacked.

The packing material of many items was lying strewn around and thieves seemed to have been inside the shop for at least an hour.

The grill of a window at the back of the shop had been cut through which the thieves had entered the shop.

The thieves took away most of the brass metal hardware items along with some cash. The police has registered a case in the matter.

Chandigarh, February 6
Six city pugilists have made it to the two teams from North India that have been selected to participate in the 2nd Super Cup Inter-Zonal National Boxing Championship being organised by the Maharashtra Boxing Association at Akola from February 10 to February 14.

The Indian team will be selected for the Asian Olympics qualifier to be held in Kazakhstan in March, from the championship.

Sanjay Kumar, a 23-year-old boxer, who won three consecutive gold medals at the Chandigarh Boxing Championship and Panjab University Championship, is hopeful of representing the country in future.

Suman Saurabh Negi has won the city championship for two consecutive years. The local boxer has also participated in the national games and in the North India Boxing Championship.

Mukesh Kumar, a student of SD College, has won silver medals during the senior national meet and also in the North India Boxing Championship.

Manoj Kumar is a state champion and has won a gold medal in the North India Boxing Championship.

Vikas Hudda has been the state and Panjab University champion for the past two years. He has also won the Federation Cup.

Baljit Singh is also a state champion and has won a gold in the North India Boxing Championship.

The teams: Team A: Sunil Kumar, Ravinder, Manoj Kumar, Manas Kumar, Amandeep Singh, Baghol Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Parminder Singh, Jagdeep Sngh, Baljit Singh.

Team B: Jadeep Singh, Mukesh, Anoop Guri, Dholajay, Sanjay Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Suman Saurabh Negi, Sanjay Kumar, Vikas Hudda, Naresh Kumar, Arun Kumar.

Chandigarh, February 6
Chandigarh has the potential to produce football players of international standards, feels chief coach Tom Stuckey, who has flown in from Germany for a two-week fitness training camp for players of the Chandigarh Football Academy, Sector 42.

Tom (25), who is a sports science student and working under the Edidius Brown Sports School, Germany, has signed an MOU with the Chandigarh sports department.

He has been given the licence by the Germany government to train and look for players here who have the potential to represent the country at the international level.

“I am concentrating on the basics and the technical aspects of players. Senior players have the potential to go a long way. Junior players, though talented, need some grooming,” says Tom.

Tom is confident that he can help players improve their skills during the camp.

“I will conduct a three-day selection trail for players. The players will be put through hard exercises as well as screening of their fundamental skills. I will look for talented players who can be taken to Germany for further training”.

“Indian football is traditionally different from our soccer. But this country can certainly produce good results. Though Goa is ahead in the game in comparison to North India, the region can certainly improve if a club is opened here, says Tom.

Tom asserts: “I wish to improve the defense aspect, both physical and technical, of players in coordination with local coaches. Players also lack shooting skills and I am looking to work in this direction as well,” he opines.

“These players have talent but they need grooming. India can produce world-class players with good guidance and expertise. I have already seen a lot of improvement in these players and am confidant that the camp will sharpen most of them,” Tom concludes.

Chandigarh, February 6
The Chandigarh sports department is pushing closer towards producing national and international football players.

The power of excellence project, which was started in 2000 by the department, has been providing a platform to players to hone their skills and make it big.

The city will soon bring out a number of talent players. Its efforts have already paid off as recently St Stephen’s School academy won Manchester United Premier Cup-2008 and seven local players made it to the India under-16 camp to be held in Goa.

Now, the sports department has brought in a German coach, Tom Stuckey, to train players with his expertise and bring them to international level.

According Inderjit Sandhu, director, sports department, said: “The Chandigarh Football Academy began in 2000 with the aim to promote and popularise the game. Over the years, the academy worked towards improving the quality of players and now we have a number of quality players. The UT administrator is taking keen interest and closely monitoring the progress at the academy. We want to improve further, and bringing a German coach is a step in that direction.

“Our aim is to build a platform for the players to improve and get recognised internationally.”

Also, the department will soon start a sports laboratory that will work on the physical, biological and physiological aspect of a sportsperson, he added. 

Chandigarh, February 6
Punjabi cinema got a step-motherly treatment during the first Chandigarh film festival as “non-entities” were invited to the event, feel actor-director duo Harbhajan Mann and Manmohan Singh.

Punjabis, who brought Punjabi cinema on a par with regional cinema, were not even invited to the four-day mega event, they told The Tribune at the launch of their film, “Mera Pind -- My Home”.

“We were not even invited for the event,” they said when told that their film “Mitti Waajan Maardi” was reportedly screened at the festival.

The duo that gave hits like “Asaan nu Mann Watnaan Da”, ‘Yaaran Naal Baharaan” and “Dil Apna Punjabi”, said the event could have been planned in a better way.

Saying that film festivals could be a powerful platform to promote regional cinema like Punjabi cinema, Manmohan Singh hoped that the administration would learn from its mistakes.

The festival had a long way to go before it could compete with other films festivals, including the Goa film festival, he added.

Harbhajan said: “For the past over six years, we have been working tirelessly to bring up the level of Punjabi films. It is frustrating to see it go unnoticed.”

While no good Punjabi films were screened at the festival, average films ruled the roost, he claimed, suggesting that the administration should have involved local artistes to give it a representative character.