NEIGHBOURHOOD

Protesters block road
SAD (A) workers accuse Ropar police of inaction
Tribune News Service

Ropar, August 6
The SAD(A) workers today staged a dharna on the Ropar-Jalandhar highway following the alleged failure of the district police in taking strict action against those involved in assaulting Bhagowal village sarpanch’s brother-in-law.

Led by the party president, Simranjit Singh Mann, scores of workers raised slogans against the state government. Thousands of commuters had to face inconvenience as a result of the protest on the highway.

Mann alleged that supporters of SAD (B) attacked Ravinder Singh, brother-in-law of sarpanch Manmohan Kaur on July 27. Ravinder was critically injured in the assault, he said. “The police is showing leniency towards the accused. They are not registering a case,” Mann said.

“A memorandum was submitted to the Ropar Deputy Commissioner in this regard but in vain. The inaction on the part of the authorities concerned compelled the party workers to protest against the injustice,” said the party president.

The blockade was lifted, when the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Harbir Singh Atwal, agreed in writing that Section 452
of the IPC will be included.

Chandigarh, August 6
A person uploaded objectionable pictures of a married woman on the Internet. The morphed pictures of a

30-year-old married woman from Punjab were allegedly uploaded on porn sites by a Zirakpur resident.

Giving details, the police said 30-year-old Arvind Kumar of Zirakpur allegedly morphed the pictures of the woman before uploading them on the Internet. The incident came to light when a relative of the woman noticed the objectionable pictures.

Arvind had come in contact with the woman and her husband about two months ago. The couple was into immigration business.

Arvind approached them and insisted on going to any country abroad. The couple asked the accused to submit some documents for verification. But those were found to be fake. They refused to process his case.

Arvind was jobless and wanted to go abroad.

He became vindictive and to vent out his anger clicked the normal pictures of the woman and uploaded the morphed ones.. The police has registered a case under Section 66 (hacking with computer system), sending

Chandigarh, August 6
As if players facing a harrowing time at the inter-school taekwondo tourney was not enough, the inter-school softball competition for girls (U-17), being organised by the UT Education Department, is taking place under the supervision of only two umpires and a score umpire.

A batter faces the ball without wearing a helmet during a softball match on Tuesday.

As per rules, there must be at least four umpires. Moreover, in case there is no boundary wall to ascertain if the ball has bounced within or outside the arena for a home run, there needs to be extra umpires.

In the ongoing tourney, however, there are only two umpires (one plate umpire and a first base umpire) officiating the proceedings.

“There should be at least four umpires, one each at the three bases, one plate umpire, a score umpire and in case there is no boundary wall other umpires at the boundary to take a call on home runs. If the department is conducting the tournament, it should be conducted it in the right manner,” said an official of the local association.

The tourney is being played at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, on a cricket ground that was inaugurated last year.

Safety given a miss

In the ongoing tournament, the batters are forced to play without the basic safeguard equipment: helmet.

A 12" (30.5 cm) ball weighs 178 gms to 198.4 gms, while an 11" (27.9 cm) ball weighs around 166.5 gms to 173.6 gms. The authorities concerned, however, are least concerned about protecting the students from getting hurt from the ball.

The ongoing weather, moreover, has increased the risk of sustaining injuries.

A player said: “There is always the danger of getting hurt, but we have no choice.”

The government schoolchildren have to do without proper kits during inter-school tourneys. Those taking part in team games suffer the most as arranging kits for all the players is a costly affair.

GMSSS-10 rout St Anne's School 9-0

In the ongoing inter-school softball competition for girls (U-17), Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 10, beat St. Anne's School, Sector 32, 9-0 during a tie at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35. In another match, GMSSS-15 managed to pip GMHS-39, 15-14. In other matches, the hosts registered a narrow win (15-14) against Sacred Heart School, Sector 26; and GHS-11 routed Carmel Convent School, Sector 9, 18-8.

Chandigarh, August 6
Local golfer Aadil Bedi, who brought laurels by attaining the twenty-first position at the 14th Junior World Championship, returned to the city today. The 12-year-old also finished on the sixth spot at the World Junior Masters played in the USA.

In the three-day 18-hole tourney, Aadil shot brilliant 74, 74 and 70 (2-under par) with a total of 218, to secure the twenty-first position.

On the basis of his performance, Aadil secured a place in the Rest of the World team for the prestigious 4th Van Horn World Cup, but the team went down 3-5 against the hosts.

Pairing with Eric Berggren of Sweden, the local lad shot 69 (3 under) in team best ball stroke play against Ricky Castillo and Preston Topper of the USA.

“The world championship was a tough tournament, but on the basis of my performance in it I managed to book a place in the Rest of the World squad. Though we lost the tournament, I got a lot of exposure through it,” said Aadil.

Talking about his experienc at the tournaments, he said, “The American players were much more aggressive on the sloppy fast greens, and therefore they scored better than us. The tough training I received from Jesse Grewal and Irina Singh helped me a lot, but I need to work more on my putting and chipping.”

Earlier, Aadil took part in the World Junior Masters at Las Vegas. He shot 77, 73 band 73 and finished on the sixth position. The masters’ category starts with par 3 competition, but Aadil shot 4 under par to win the competition with a stroke margin of 3.8.