Dehradun, October 22
Col Kishan Singh Mall (retd) has been devoting his time to the welfare of people and grooming budding sportspersons, sharing his vast experience and expertise with them.

After retiring from the Army in 1991, Mall has been associated with sports colleges, camps, associations and NGOs providing free coaching and guidance to budding players.

He has also been helping talented players get jobs in the Army by nurturing their talent. He was the first in Uttarakhand to qualify the referee and judge examination in boxing in 1986.

When one speaks of sports, the name of the 73-year-old always comes to mind. He started off with wrestling at the tender age of eight years and never looked back. After joining the Army while studying in the 12th standard, he continued playing sports. Mall played in nationals in both boxing and football.

He also tried his hand at shooting in which he did wonders, setting a new national record at that time. “I was inclined towards sports since my childhood. I had a good physique and it helped me in sports,” Mall says.

Mall has also been conducting adventure activities since 1987 in parasailing, rock climbing, high-altitude trekking, white water rafting and jungle trekking besides yoga camps. Other than this, he was the golf champion in Nepal.

“With my NGO, I go from village to village and to far-off places to make locals learn adventure activities so that they can make a living by becoming guides or coaches,” Mall says, adding he does not charge anything for this.

He also had an illustrious career in the Army. A resident of Mohakampur, he joined the “fauj” as a jawan and rose to become a Colonel through sheer hard work and dedication.

The officer killed five enemy soldiers on three different occasions with his khukri. The khukri is kept in the Motivation Hall of 11 GRRC, Lucknow. His outstanding contribution to the Army was recognised and he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 1985.

Mall’s operational experience includes the India-China conflict in 1962, the Indo-Pak War in 1965 and the Indo-Pak War in 1971.

However, his family life has not been smooth. Mall lost his father, a doctor, and mother, a housewife, and two brothers early in his life. He had a tough life, bringing up and marrying off his six sisters. However, ill-luck did not leave him, as he lost his young son to cancer.

He is now living with his wife at his home at Mohakampur. His wife is running a school named after their son. His only daughter is married.

Dehradun, October 22
The “Elite Football Circuit”, a football clinic for under-10 boys concluded at the Forest Research Institute here today. Uttarakhand Governor Margaret Alva was the chief guest of the concluding function. She presented certificates to the participants and souvenirs to coaches/referees who helped in organising the event.

Over 300 young footballers attended the free-of-cost football coaching programme conducted by chief coach Yogesh Mauriya, a former New Jersey elite circuit player, and former India football team manager Eric Benny.

The clinic presented the budding footballers an opportunity to get training under experienced coaches from Delhi, who used to visit the city on every Saturday to nurture the grassroots talents.

The international-level clinic began on October 1 and the overwhelming response of the young footballers have again proved the mass popularity of the game in the Doon valley, which has produced over 12 international footballers.

Chief coach Yogesh Mauriya said, “The boys came from the far-flung areas like Bhanyawala, Premnagar, Lacchhiwala, etc, located in the outskirts of the city. We were impressed with the young talent in Dehradun. We will be coming here again to help the development of football at the grassroots level.” This was the first-ever soccer clinic of its type to be organised in the state capital. The under-14 and under-12 clinic that had already concluded attracted the biggest participation, with 108 boys taking part in it. Seventytwo kids attended the under-12 coaching programme and 25 kids attended the under-10 clinic.

The coaching team included Yogesh Mauriya, Eric Benny, Stanford, Bhanu, Alwin and Augustin.

Dehradun, October 22
In a major success, the Uttarakhand Congress has managed to induct a Dehradun Samajwadi Party leader into the party.

Former Dehradun District Panchayat president and Samajwadi Party leader Devendra Butola today joined the Congress along with his supporters.

Welcoming Butola into the party fold at a function held at Miyanwala Chowk in Dehradun, leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat said the Congress was a party that belonged to all cross-sections of society and stood committed to development.

He said the BJP rule in Uttarakhand had been full of scams with little emphasis on development. He said while unemployment was on the rise in the state, minorities, farmers and other sections of society were the sufferers.

Harak Singh Rawat on the occasion revealed his wish to contest from the Doiwala Assembly seat. He said the Doiwala region had not been represented by the Congress for the past 19 years which was the main reason behind prevailing backwardness in the region.

Rawat also exhorted Congress workers to stand united and ensure a success to the party in the forthcoming poll.

Former Deputy Mayor Umesh Sharma, former Congress spokesman Surendra Kumar and Dehradun District Panchayat member Hema Purohit were present on the occasion.

Mussoorie, October 22
The 14th Inter-school Invitational Athletics Meet held at the Wynberg School grounds in Mussoorie in which more than 200 athletes from five schools participated today.

Several new records were also set in the meet. Kartikeya Pratap Singh, Abdul Razzak, Chandrashekhar Mishra and Jason Birch from Wynberg-Allen School set new records in javelin, pole vault, long jump and 100m, respectively. Avi Tandon from St George’s College also set a new record in pole vault in the senior division.

Pronatti Wylie, Jason Birch and Diya Maitra, Sumona Colvin and Anmol Lal of Wynberg-Allen, Sourabh Kumar, Nikhil Raj and Ranjan Kumar of Oak Grove School, Maneenut Sachdev of Waverly Convent were given awards in the individual championships in their respective divisions.

Wynberg-Allen School won the overall championship for boys and girls.

Chief guest on the occasion Brig Gurcharan Singh Bath (retd) commended the athletes on the display of their talent in the track and field events and distributed the citations and awards to the winners in the end.

The principal of Wynberg-Allen, Oak Grove, St George’s School were also present on the occasion. Coach Anil Chaudhry and others from Wynberg-Allen were the coordinators of the athletics meet.

Dehradun, October 22
Congress MLA from Lakshman Chowk Dinesh Agarwal has accused BJP leaders of defaming him to spoil his electoral prospects in the run-up to the state Assembly elections. Addressing a press conference here, the MLA said he had been working for the betterment of his constituency for the past five years. He alleged that the state government always meted out a step-motherly treatment to his constituency and was now trying to defame him on development initiatives taken by him. He also termed land grab allegation against his son by BJP leaders baseless. He said if the leaders did not seek an apology from him, he would move court. Yesterday, senior BJP leader Prakash Suman Dhyani had accused the MLA’s son of grabbing gram sabha land in the Lakshman Chowk constituency. — TNS