NEIGHBOURHOOD

Ambala girl shines in CBSE-PMT
Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 7
Rubina Pandit, a student of Murlidhar DAV School, Ambala city, has been ranked 30 in the All-India CBSE-PMT 2008. She has also ranked four in the Chandigarh CET and cleared medical entrance test of Manipal University and AFMC, Pune.

Rubina topped the region in the recently declared Class XII CBSE examoinations by securing 95.8 per cent marks. A resident of Shastri Colony, Ambala Cantt, Rubina is now aiming to join Lady Harding or Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi.

Her parents Pradeep Sharda and Namarata Sharda, thrilled with her success, said they always knew their daughter would score well. She had also topped Ambala Cantt in Class X by securing 96 per cent marks. “She is a topper all through,” stated her father Pradeep who works in a priavet company. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 7
Twenty-seven persons were injured, five of them seriously, when a speeding bus rammed into a tree here today. The bus was on its way from Ludhiana to Rajpura. The injured travelers said the bus - New Fatehgarh Sahib Transport - was driven at a breakneck speed by its driver.

The incident took place today morning near village Bhatmajra on the G.T. Road. Most of the passengers traveling in the bus were from nearby areas and a family from Delhi.

After hitting the tree, the bus halted immediately and the injured came out in panic. After some time the police and nearby villagers came to the spot and provided them with first aid. The police officials helped in shifting the seriously injured to hospital. Five of the injured were admitted in PGI, Chandigarh. The bus driver, Raju, also sustained injuries.

The other injured were identified as Bira, Jaswinder, Rohit and Mohinder, who were shifted from local civil hospital to Chandigarh.

Police officials said a case in this connection had been registered against the driver under Sections 279, 337 of the IPC.

Patiala, June 7
In the last league match of the 10th Hot Weather Cricket Tournament for under-13 boys played here today, Mohali Cricket Association (MCA) got better of VSS, Rohtak, by 18 runs to make the semi-final cut. 

The decks are cleared for the last-four stage with MCA, DMW, APJS and Black Elephant Cricket Club making the grade.

Mohali, June 7
Devender Arora, coach of Harbhajan Singh, has been imparting training to South African budding spinners in a camp, being held at PCA Stadium here.

A total of seven promising foreign spinners are learning the art of bowling from Arora in the hope that one day they will be able to represent their national team.

The participants were selected by United Cricket Board of South Africa for the 10-day stint which started from June 5.

“The main problem most of these foreign players have been facing is with their action.

Though they are spinners, they have the same action as that of a fast bowler," says Arora, who himself played in the Ranji representing Punjab and Railways in 1980s and has earlier held similar camps here for the English U-17 and Kiwi's U-15 boys.

For 22-year-old off-spinner Thandi Tshabalala, it was an exciting experience. “We are learning many new things which no one knows back in our country.

It is absolutely amazing to take the tips from the man who has coached Harbhajan Singh,” he said.

Darren, who plays for South Africa first-class team, Dolphins, is also learning the art of leg spinning from former Indian leg spinner Narender Hirwani at this camp.

Chandigarh, June 7
CCA-GNPS Academy beat APJ School Academy, Kurali, by eight wickets in the Chandigarh Inter-Academy Under-15 Cricket Tournament being organised by Desh Prem Azad Cricket Association at St Stephen's School grounds here today.

Putting up a disappointing show, APJ were skittled out for a total of 77. Only Balwinder and Ravi Saini played defiant innings with an identical score of 20. Mayank Sood contributed 11 runs.

Shitij and Naveen were the most economical bowlers for CCA-GNPS as they got two wickets each for 15 and 8 runs, respectively.

CCA-GNPS’s Jaskaran Singh chipped in 50 not out to steer the team to victory. His half-century was studded with nine fours. Azil remained not out at 10.

Ravi Saini took two wickets for 14 runs.

Tomorrow, Bhavan Vidalaya, Panchkula, will face DAV Public School, Sector 15.

Brief scores:

APJ School Academy: 77 (Balwinder 20, Ravi Saini 20, Mayank Sood 11, Shitij 2 for 15, Naveen 2 
for 8, Shubham 1 for 4, Karan 1 for 12).

CCA-GNPS Academy: 80 for 2 (Jaskaran 50 n.o., Azil 10n.o., Ravi Saini 2 for 14).

Chandigarh, June 7
Couples in dance attire jived and ramboed their hearts out as Sector 10 Skating Rink reverberated with Elvis Presley rock numbers in the first Chandigarh Dance Sport Championship conducted by the Chandigarh Dance Sport Association here today.

Dancing duo from Mumbai, Priti Gupta and Shanon Benjamin, gave a stellar performance after the competition.

Mayank Kaushal and Nupur Aggarwal danced away with the gold medal in grade B competition. They stood out in all the three dance forms - Cha Cha, Jive and Rambo.

Saurabh Sharma and Divya Maheshwari had to satisfy themselves with silver medal. Mayank Maurya and Harsat Randev had to be content with the bronze medal.

In grade C competitions, Nidhi Satya and Munish emerged triumphant. Bandeep Rakhi and Alisha captured silver medal. Michael and Devanshu Mishra were awarded bronze medal.

In under-14 category, the spectators loudly cheered Mohak Meet and Neeti Sharma. Sanjana and Madhav Ginoria bagged silver and Kanav Jain and Tanya Ginoria got bronze medals.

Tejinder Kaur, principal secretary, technical education, was the chief guest.

The winners will represent Chandigarh in the National Dance Sport Championship.

Results:

Grade B (Cha Cha, Jive, Rambo dances): 1 Mayank Kaushal and Nupur Aggarwal; 2 Saurabh Sharma and Divya Meheshwari; 3 Mayank Maurya and Hasrat Randev.

Grade C (Cha Cha and Jive): 1 Nidhi Satya and Munish; 2 Bandeep Rakhi and Alisha; 3 Michael and Devanshu Mishra.

Under-14: Mohak Meet and Neeti Sharma; 2 Sanjana and Madhav Ginoria; 3 Kanav Jain and Tanya Ginoria. 

Chandigarh, June 7
Shamim Khan, the lilttle master from Delhi, pocketed the winner's cheque of Nepalese Rs 3,24,000 as he clinched the Surya Nepal Masters Open, firing a three under par 69 for a tournament tally of 23 under par 265 on the par 72 greens of the Gokarna Forest Golf Resort in Kathmandu today.

"I cannot express my happiness. It is terrific to win," was all that the champion could utter as he received the prize-money cheque.

Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana fired the best card of the day, a six under par 66, to replace Vijay Kumar at the second spot at 276. Trailing him by two strokes was Vijay.

Chandigarh's Sujjan Singh continued to play a steady game (71, 68, 69, 72) to occupy the fourth spot at 280. Caddie-turned-pro from Chandigarh Harinder Gupta could not repeat his Chandigarh performance where he won the PGTI Players Championship. He also finished with a par round after repeating two under par scores on the first three days to finish fifth at 282.

Chandigarh hard-hitter Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann just could not maintain the momentum of the opening two days, when he carded 65 and 68. In his attempt to attack, he fumbled and paid the price playing rounds of two-over 74 and four-over 76. But his good beginning helped him finish sixth at 283. This was one stroke better than Vinod Kumar who occupied the seventh slot.

Shamim Khan, who reduced the event to a one-man battle while forcing others to fight for the second place, said,"In my last appearance here, I had lost from a winning position. And hence I was careful not to repeat the same mistakes and that was the key."

In the International Amateur Event, Bangladesh, emerged victorious steamrolling past the opposition by a huge margin of 26 strokes. The duo of Shekawat Hussain and Shahid aggregated 579 to lead Bangladesh to victory. The duo of Rupak Acharya and Tashi Ghale helped Nepal A finish second while India finished third.

Top scores after 72 holes (All Indians except mentioned): 265 Shamim Khan (62, 64, 70, 69); 276 Anura Rohana, Sri Lanka (68, 69, 73, 66); 278 Vijay Kumar (69, 65, 70, 74); 280 Sujjan Singh (71, 68, 69, 72); 282 Harinder Gupta (70, 70, 70, 72); 283 Gurbaaz Pratap Singh Mann (65, 68, 74, 76); 284 Vinod Kumar (68, 70, 73, 73), Sanjay Kumar (73, 70, 73, 68), Deepak Neupane, Nepal (77, 75, 64, 68); 286 Amardip Malik (72, 67, 77, 70), Shiv Ram Shrestha, Nepal (71, 72, 73, 70); 288 Ramesh Kumar (77, 69, 72, 70), Siddikur Rahman, Bangladesh (71, 70, 75, 72), Vishal Singh (75, 74, 69, 70); 289 Ranjit Singh ( 71, 72, 74, 72).

Chandigarh, June 7
The 48th Raising Day celebrations of the Western Command Hospital at Chandi Mandir began today with the hospital conducting a lifestyle diseases awareness camp on its premises.

A large number of serving and retired army personnel underwent a complete health check-up at the camp. Trained counsellors, dietitians and specialist doctors of the hospital conducted the camp.

The camp was inaugurated by hospital commandant Maj Gen Shamsher Singh. He highlighted the increasing incidence of lifestyle diseases like obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart ailments due to faulty food habits, lack of exercise and stress and strain of the present-day life. He stressed upon the importance of modification in lifestyle, including diet, exercise and meditation, in order to reduce the incidence of these “silent killers”.

General Shamsher said the hospital planned to hold a series of such awareness camps in the coming months. As part of the Raising Day celebrations, a camp for cancer screening and awareness in women will be held tomorrow followed by a blood donation camp on Monday. A first-aid course for schoolchildren will also be held from June 9-18.

The commandant added that a state-of-the-art mammography machine had been installed in the radiology department that would be inaugurated next week. Future projects included construction of a burns ward and centre and setting up of a radiation therapy unit in the cancer centre.

Efforts were also on to set up a cardiac cath lab so as to facilitate angiography and stenting at the hospital and to install a digital radiography unit. A drive was also being launched to improve IT services within the hospital. The hospital will take students for postgraduate studies in nine subjects. 

Chandigarh, June 7
Consumption of low-calorie food is the panacea for preventing ageing and maintaining young looks for longer period. Dr R Kumar, medical tourism adviser, Chandigarh, has focused on this issue in his recent book on anti-ageing and how to prevent looking older.

He stated that research in nutrition and medicine over the past few decades had increasingly validated this truth. “You age how you eat”, he added. He said in his book special stress had been laid on how to prevent old-age looks without modern treatments.

He has suggested in his book that the easiest way to look younger is to add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet. As most of these carry no fats, cholesterol and are low in calories. He said lots of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, and vitamins should be taken as they play an important part in keeping your body functioning at the optimum level.

Minerals from calcium-rich dairy foods and green vegetables can strengthen your bones. Fiber from whole grains helps to keep bowel movements regular.

Kumar revealed that ageing denoted certain signs like sagging skin, graying hair, loss of muscle power, increasing fat around the waist, faulty memory, slow thinking and decreased libido. Anti-ageing means preventing all these and other symptoms that gave a feeling of being old, weak and inefficient. He remarked that people, especially women, these days were spending huge money for treatment to look young, but the treatment was in their food chart.

Kumar further stated that this aspect would help in the promotion of medical tourism in our country since anti-ageing treatments were very expensive abroad and these could be provided here at lesser cost. He remarked that India could emerge as an attractive destination for this technique. 

Chandigarh, June 7
Amritsar-based travel agent Vicky, alias Gurinder, kingpin in the stolen passport scam, has denied his involvement in the case.

According to the sources in the crime branch, Vicky refused to join the investigation when the officials contacted him over telephone.

Quoting Vicky, a police officer said, he claimed that he was not involved in the matter and plainly refused to join the investigation let alone surrendering before the police.

A couple of teams from the Crime Branch will conduct raids in Delhi in order to trace the whereabouts of the accused.

The police is also trying to track the location of Vicky through the mobile tower.

Meanwhile, during the interrogation, Vicky’s wife Neeru arrested yesterday from her residence, maintained that her husband never discussed anything related to his work with her. All business dealings were made outside the premises of the house. Neeru was today produced before a local court, which remanded her in police custody till June 9.

Vicky had taken Rs 8 lakh from two youths, Sukhwant Singh of Bassi village and Raj Kumar of Kharabgarh village in Patiala, on the pretext of sending them abroad.

Sukhwant and Raj Kumar were arrested by the Punjab Police from Amritsar after they were deported from Singapore, where they had reached on the passports stolen from the regional passport office.

A complaint in this regard was made by the regional passport office on October 31, 2006, alleging that 49 printed passports, along with relevant files, were found missing from the office. A day later, 44 files were found in the basement without a passport, the complaint said.

Chandigarh, June 7
Delhi resident Satya Parkash reported to the police that a diamond, PAN card and cash was stolen from his pocket after two unknown persons gave him toxic water at the Chandigarh ISBT on March 13.

According to the police, on reaching the Delhi bus stand, Satya Parkash went unconscious. He later informed the police that two youths gave him water at the Chandigarh bus stand.

Panchkula, June 7
For the third consecutive day, huge quantity of liquor being smuggled to other parts of the country from Chandigarh was seized at Raipur Rani near here today. The confiscated contraband consists of 832 bottles of premium brands of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL).

The local police checked a truck bound for Rajasthan at 6 am at Mouli crossing and seized the contraband. The police also detained four people who were traveling in the truck. The IMFL included the brands like Signature, Royal Challenge, Royal Stag, and Derby Special.

Earlier a truck carrying 394 cases of IMFL was impounded by the Excise Department on Thursday at Panchkula while the consignment was being sent to Jaipur. Twenty-five cases of liquor were confiscated yesterday also.

Lalru, June 7
Two motorcycle-borne youths robbed Rs 50,000 cash from a petrol station on the Ambala- Naraingarh road here this morning. According to the police, two unidentified youths came to the station at about 7 am when there was no other customer. One of the youths was wielding a knife and asked the employee to bring all the cash to them. The employee gathered the cash lying at the station and handed it over to them.

Later, the employees called the police and revealed that the boys seemed to be in their twenties and were speaking in Punjabi and Hindi. Their faces were not covered.

The police has registered a case.