Ludhiana, December 29
A 35-year-old assistant professor of Agronomy employed with Punjab Agricultural University drowned after the car he was driving in fell into Sidhwan canal here this evening.

Identity card of victim Devinder Singh.

The deceased has been identified as Devinder Singh Mand, a resident of Professor Colony in Aggar Nagar. He was posted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Fatehgarh Sahib. A university employee said that the deceased was pursuing in-service PHD from the PAU.

The incident took place near Raghunath Enclave when Devinder Singh was heading from Ferozepur Road towards South City.

The deceased's relatives said that Devinder had gone to visit his under-construction plot in the Rajgarh Estate to check the progress of construction.

According to the available information, Devinder lost control over his Maruti Suzuki-800 and the vehicle fell into the canal.

Commuters immediately rushed to rescue him. Some even entered the canal and pulled out Devinder. The victim was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Devinder's relatives said that his wife Harpreet Kaur and two sons had left for Amritsar this morning. Devinder had helped them board a bus and then returned home.

Sohan Lal, investigating officer (IO), said that the family was informed about the incident and the body of the deceased professor was kept at the mortuary of a private hospital. The IO added that proceeding under 174 of the CrPC was initiated in the case.

No lesson learnt

It was not the first incident when a precious life was lost by drowning of a vehicle, but the administration has not yet installed a railing alongside the road to prevent vehicles from entering the Sidhwan Canal. During winters, heavy fog poses more threat to commuters travelling on the stretch heading from Ferozepur road to South City.

Ludhiana, December 29
The Northern Railway authorities have announced the cancellation of three up and down trains on the Jalandhar-New Delhi-Jalandhar and the Amritsar-Ajmer-Amritsar sections from December 28, 2013, to February 15, 2014, due to bad weather and poor visibility.

Station Superintendent RK Sharma said 14681/14682, the Jalandhar-New Delhi Intercity Express, will remain cancelled till February 15, 2014. As the train has rake-sharing arrangement with 12459 the New Delhi-Amritsar Intercity Express, the timings of the train have been rescheduled. It will now depart from New Delhi railway station at 2.25 pm as against the earlier departure of 1.30 pm till the trains 14681/14682 remain suspended.

Two up and down trains 19611/19612 (bi-weekly) and 19613/19614 (bi-weekly) running between Amritsar and Ajmer have also been cancelled till February 15, 2014.

With the improvement in weather and fog clearing away, the rail traffic was limping back to normalcy. Barring a few trains originating from West Bengal, Bihar and Jammu, which were running late by a few hours, most of the long-route trains were arriving on time.

Railway officials said all the trains operating between Amritsar-New Delhi and Ludhiana-New Delhi, including the three up and down Shatabdi trains, Shane-Punjab and an intercity express were running on time.

Ludhiana, December 29
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation's Zone D office is without a Public Information Officer (PIO) since December 9, as the PIO is on medical leave. This is causing delay in providing information to residents under the RTI Act, but the MC has failed to act in this regard.

Even the hearings of first appeals have not been heard by the First Appellate Authority (FAA) this week, which caused further harassment to the residents. The first appeals related to the RTI Act are heard every Tuesday and Thursday of the week, but they were not heard this week.

When contacted Davinder Singh, MC Additional Commissioner-cum-First Appellate Authority, said that since the present PIO Tejinder Singh Panchhi was on medical leave, Superintendent Jasdev Singh Sekhon was the current PIO. "Besides I am also on leave and I have handed over the charge of the FAA to MC Joint Commissioner AS Sekhon. I can say that the work related to the RTI Act is not suffering," claimed Davinder Singh.

RTI activist Kuldeep Singh Khaira rued that the PIO of Zone D office was on medical leave since December 9. "There is literally no one to provide information to the residents related to the MC Zone D office. This week, there was no hearing by the FAA and even next week, the hearing has been scheduled for Thursday," he rued.

As per the RTI Act, it is the PIO who makes sure that the information is provided to those seeking information within a stipulated time of 30 days. And if any applicant fails to get information, he can appeal before the FAA, before approaching the State Information Commission.

Ludhiana, December 29
Amidst protest, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation today razed an illegal green belt located outside Omaxe Mall near Bhai Wala Chowk on Ferozepur Road, here.

The green belt was located in front of the mall ever since it came into existence a couple of years ago.

It was this morning that an MC team led by MC Additional Commissioner Isha Kalia and Tehbazaari (Zone D) Superintendent Jasdev Singh Sekhon reached the spot and razed the green belt. “The green belt was located on the MC land and that is why it was razed,” said Jasdev Singh Sekhon.

Later, Kalia took a round of all the parking lots located alongside the Ferozepur Road service lane. She also checked the parking lots of Hotel Friends, Hotel Nagpal and Embassy Palace. During the hearing of a case related to misuse of the service lane alongside Ferozepur Road in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the two local commissioners appointed by the court had observed that Embassy Palace had been operating without a parking, while these two hotels were not using their designated parkings and were allowing parking on the service lane illegally.

While speaking to The Tribune, Kalia said that both hotels had tried to make alternative arrangements.

“The court had ordered that both hotels as well as Embassy Palace should be served notices and should be asked to make appropriate parking arrangements within a week. The notices were served to them on December 23 and their deadline ends tomorrow. The hotels as well as the marriage palace have introduced the valet parking facility and have made arrangement for the parking of vehicles at some other places. We will again visit their premises and if we find any violation, their premises will be sealed,” informed Kalia.

Ludhiana, December 29
About 1,000 gram panchayats in Ludhiana district will soon be getting Wi-Fi connectivity under the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) National Optical Fibre Network programme.

Disclosing this here today, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari said this was a countrywide programme in which over 2 lakh gram panchayats would be provided Wi-Fi connectivity and Ludhiana had also been included in the first phase of the project.

The minister expressed gratitude to the Government of India for conceding to his request to include Ludhiana district in the first phase only. He said the project would provide immediate and fast Internet connectivity to the people living in the villages.

He said since private operators were not prepared to provide Internet services in the villages as it did not generate them much revenue, the Government of India took the initiative to provide this facility to the people there.

He said given our dependence on the Internet, which had become a necessity, it was one of his priorities to ensure that the gram panchayats were connected through the worldwide web (Internet) with the rest of the world.

Besides, he said it would be beneficial for the people whose relatives were living abroad as a large number of people from villages were settled in different countries across the world.

Tewari said while all villages had telephone connectivity as the ‘tele density’ in the district was among the highest in the country, people had been seeking Internet connectivity as well which they would be getting very soon.

Ludhiana December 29
One of the major organisations fighting for peace to prevail among all the countries of the world, World Punjabi Congress, Lahore, in its Lahore declaration during a two-day conference for peace at Lahore has proposed that the war memorials set up across the world should be renamed as the 'peace memorials'.

Proposing the same for establishing peace, president, Punjabi Sahit Akadami, Ludhiana, Gurbhajan Singh Gill, during Lahore Declaration at Lahore in Pakistan, stated that the war reflects the cruelty and prejudice, but peace would reflect that the man died for establishing peace.

Five members of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi, Ludhiana, attended the Lahore declaration which was organised last week.

Amidst the tension that prevails between India and Pakistan, the Lahore declaration proposed that the border should be opened from either side at Kartarpur, the birth place of Guru Nanak Sahib, and Hussainiwala, where Bhagat Singh and his two companions were cremated.

“Both the places are a common link for both Indians and Pakistanis,” said Gurbhajan Gill.

The convener of the Congress, Fakhar Zamal, proposed that Dulha Bhatti was the common legendary hero of both the west and the east Punjab and the statue of Dhulha Bhatti should be installed in the east Punjab.

Member of the Indian delegation and OSD of Punjab, PWD minister Sehajpreet Singh Mangat assured the Congress that he would do efforts to install the same.

The Punjabi Sahit Akademi demanded to relax the visa terms to make a comfortable environment on the border.

The members from delegations from various countries read as many as 25 papers, concentrated on installing of peace across the world, on the occasion.

The delegates from India, including Deepak Manmohan, Dr Sukhdev Singh Sirsa, Manjit Indira, Dr Gurminder Sidhu, Gurminder Kalsi, Tarsem Barnala, Ujjagar Singh Kanwal and Sehajpreet Singh Mangat demanded that Pakistan and India should issue SAARC visa for artistes and journalists.

Khanna, December 29
Resentment prevails among senior leaders of the Congress of Khanna regarding the names of some relatives figuring in the newly-released list by the Congress high command.

The president, Punjab Trade Union Federation, Dhram Pal Angrish, and secretary general of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and Shashi Wardhan, former state secretary, PPCC, expressed resentment over the issue of nepotism in the list of new PPCC Working Committee.

The leaders alleged that several new appointments in the Working Committee have been allotted to family members of the leaders without any working experience in the party. The party leaders have demanded that the deserving Congressmen should be given due respect by nominating them in the working committee list of the PPCC.

They threatened that if the high command does not roll back the list released of the newly-working committee, then they will be forced to come out from the party folder.

Dhram Pal Angrish alleged that in the absence of realising the worth of grassroot workers, the party will certainly lose its support in the near future. He further alleged that they will be forced to take next course of action if their voice goes unheard. Next course of action will be chalked out after consulting with other party workers.

Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Congress MLA from Khanna, said the list is balanced and all the sections have been given proper representation as per the seniority from rural as well as urban areas.

Ludhiana, December 29
The Anti-Corruption Federation of India held a meeting here today. National president, Anti-Corruption Federation of India, Neeraj Chawla, stated that unscrupulous elements in judiciary and woefully inadequate laws prevailing in our country are becoming a severe threat to the Indian democracy.

Expressing concern over the pity situation Chawla emphasised that such elements, who while sitting on pious seat of the judiciary, are trying to pollute the entire sanctity of the honorable courts.

“This is the moment when people of this country should know about this and raise their voice against this unfair and unjust situation growing rapidly in our nation. It is a high time now, when such elements prevalent on our judiciary system should be identified and act upon at the earliest, otherwise the whole justice system will collapse and people will loose faith in our judiciary soon,” said the national president, Anti-Corruption Federation of India, Neeraj Chawla.

The national vice-president of the Anti-Corruption Federation of India, Gagnish Singh Khurana, said there should be strict measures to check the applicability of Section197 of the CrPC.

Ludhiana, December 29
Ma Bhagwati Club solemnised marriages of six needy girls at Pindi Dayal Dharamshala, under the chairmaship of Ashok Marwaha and presidentship of Avinash Sikka, here today.

On the occasion, MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Akali leader Dimple Rana, district president of BJP Parveen Bansal and Ashok Arora etc were also present.

The newly-married couples were given all the household items.

President of the club Avinash Sikka said these marriages are solemnised with the help of donations given by people.

Davinder Kumar, Randhir Sharma, Rajinder Singh Bawa, and Pammi were also present on the occasion.

Doraha, December 29
Years have passed but unfortunately, the Council, it seems, has failed to find any alternative place to dump garbage. Due to the alleged failure of the Council, the College Road, on which students of schools, colleges, bank employees etc have to tread on, as a part of their daily routine, are bearing the brunt of the alleged failure of the Council to do the needful.

“The sweepers and their so-called cleaning is a mere eye wash. The open dumping stares the residents in the very face, thus making the situation all the more deplorable. Stray dogs, pigs and squirrels gather around the place, adding to the residents’ woes. As we park our vehicles outside, the garbage heap makes us nauseate early in the morning before we leave for our work. We are taught lessons of cleanliness and sanitation by our teachers inside the institution, but the situation immediately outside is entirely the opposite. The Council and its employees too need to be given lessons on hygiene so that they may realise that it is their duty to ensure cleanliness in the town,” complained a student of the college.

“The garbage is picked only to be dumped on the roads and streets,” alleged residents of the area. They alleged that the Council has practically no place for dumping the waste and residents, therefore, become the scapegoats for causing the chaotic condition. As the place, where the garbage is dumped, is Grain Market, it is again highly uncivilized to dump garbage at such a spot,” rued a localite.

“The Municipal Council is very well aware that a big heap of garbage, apart from giving a shabby look, is equally detrimental to health as well. Sadly, they seem to be least bothered. Although the garbage is lifted now and then but the place for throwing garbage is in no way a proper place. It is not as big a project that needs a prior sanction to be executed. It is a minor issue but carries grave consequences. If the Council spares a little thought, it can not only arrange for an alternative place but also make residents, staff and students of the institutions, banks etc, heave a sigh of relief, once and for all,” said a teacher.

The executive officer of Doraha said, “The garbage is dumped by residents and picked up by the sanitary employees every day. As A to Z company has to manage the affairs at present, it is their duty to arrange for garbage dumps. But as the problem is grave, I will look into the matter and make arrangements for the same at the earliest.”

Mandi Gobindgarh, December 29
The Steel Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mandi Gobindgarh, lauded the State Government on reducing the VAT on steel from 4.95 per cent to 2.75 per cent and 1 per cent on scrap which will be applicable with effect from February 1, 2014.

Speaker of Vidhan Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal, who was the chief guest, held the Centre Government responsible for the poor condition of industries in Punjab, by providing concessions to the industry in the neighbouring states as a result of which the industries in the state was forced to shift elsewhere.

The chief guest, Atwal, SAD general secretary Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and halqa in charge Jagdeep Singh Cheema were honoured at the function by the Steel Chamber president, Bharat Bhushan Jindal, for their efforts to arrange meetings of the industrialists with the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to sort out the problems of the industry.

Industry representatives, Chamber secretary Sushil Sharma, vice-president KK Jindal, former council president Bal Mukand Aggarwal, Bopar Mandal president Om Parkash Gupta, Parkash Chand Garg, Ved Diwan, Jagmail Singh Matharoo, Harmesh Jain, Ravinder Padam, Pargat Singh, Anil Garg, Amrinder Singh Khalsa, Malkiat Singh Matharo and circle president Harmeet Singh Khalsa also spoke on the occasion.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 29
Residents of the area have threatened to launch a coordinated struggle for getting their long-pending demand accepted by the authorities concerned. Having lost all hopes of seeing railway overbridges built at certain level crossings on the Ludhiana-Dhuri line, residents of the area have initiated this action to urge the authorities concerned to do the needful at the earliest. The earlier plea of residents to approach the Union Ministry for Railways had fallen on deaf ears.

The authorities in the Railway ministry have been urged to direct officials of the local railway station to rationalise the schedule for the closure of the level crossing situated on both sides of the station. Justifying stand of residents, the legislator of the segment, Iqbal Singh Jhoondan, said, he has already taken up the matter with the senior officials in the Administration and the needful would be done for getting at least one underbridge or overbridge constructed at one of the level crossings at the earliest.

Frequent and undue closure of level crossings at the Pohir and Jagera roads here has not only become a nightmarish experience for motorists but also for residents, shopkeepers and pedestrians who suffer due to traffic jams on both the roads.

Residents led by Pawan Garg and former councillor Bimal Sharma rued that the crossings often remain closed for long duration of time for multiple train passage and shuttling of engine and a few coaches, thus taxing their patience.

Residents alleged that officials cared a little for the rule governing operation of level crossings. They alleged that there have been frequent scuffles with the railway employee, manning the level crossing, over the issue of closure of gate for longer durations. All pleas to higher authorities in the Administration and the department of railways regarding the issue have fallen on deaf ears.

Owners of shops and workshops, located on both sides of the Pohir and Jagera roads, alleged that their business was affected adversely due to frequent closure of level crossings during the daytime. Finding it difficult to negotiate the traffic jams, clients have allegedly stopped coming to these shops.

Office-bearers and activists of certain social organisations, led by Patron Social Welfare Organisations, had earlier given representation to the then Divisional Commissioner of Patiala, S R Ladhar, to coordinate with the officials in state and union governments to expedite the process, but nothing has been heard in the connection so far. The Railway Ministry, which allegedly took more than a year to respond to letters written by Fatehgarh Sahib MP Sukhdev Singh Libra, had allegedly rejected the demand for constructing a railway overbridge at the level crossing B 25 on the Ludhiana-Dhuri line.

Ludhiana, December 29
The Offset Printers Association (OPA), having completed 25 years of its existence, celebrated its silver jubilee at the Guru Nanak Bhawan here today. Printers from across the state and other places like Lucknow, Karnal and Jammu attended the function.

All past presidents of the association were honoured and others were remembered for there efforts to make the association capable of being what it is today.

Extending a warm welcome to the members and other dignitaries, OPA president Parveen Aggarwal dwelt upon the activities of the association.

He said the body would keep up its good work for the betterment of printing industry as a whole across the country.

He also announced the dissolution of the current team of the OPA and said the new team would take over in the next few days.

Printing units, which are working with the same name and style for the past 25 years or more, were also honoured during the event.

Rakesh Gupta (PL Printers) shared the kind of difficulties they used to face during those days as each and every letter was to be composed by hand and printing process was very slow using letterpress. But nowadays with the newer technology, printing had become very fast and the quality had also improved tremendously. Other printers also shared their experiences.

Dr Rajinder Anayath, a world renowned printing teacher and the guest of honour, delivered a speech on the “significance of value in the modern media world.”

He also congratulated the members while lauding the systematic working and the variety of activities being undertaken by the association.

SS Dhillon, Director, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), asked other member associations to come forward and take the initiative to start the cluster programmes and take benefit of other available government schemes.

Senior industrial promotion officer SS Rekhi also addressed the function.

Speaking about the activities of the body, OPA general secretary Kamal Chopra said the association had an illustrious past due to the contributions of the first generation of printers.

He expressed hope that the field would continue to be enriched by the next generation of printers.

He said the OPA was currently working on various projects for the benefit of the printing industry, which include “Print Yatra”, “Print Chetna” and a printing and packaging cluster in the city.

A souvenir was also released during the programme. The highlight of the silver jubilee function was the performance of Rockstars Group (India's Got Talent Fame) and splendid fireworks sponsored by the All-India Federation of Master Printers president AMSG Ashokan.

Ludhiana, December 29
Swimmer Manav Bal brought laurels to the city by winning two medals in the National School Games.

He won one gold medal and one bronze medal in the games held in Pune from December 10 to December 15.

Manav participated in three events in these games and clinched medals in the 50m freestyle event and 200m individual medley (IM). He also participated in the 200m freestyle event, but missed the medal with 2 micro seconds.

With this achievement, Manav Bal has been selected for the World School Games.

According to his coach Visakha Singh, Manav would join the national training camp for the World School Games soon.

“I am happy with the recent achievement. I was expecting a gold medal in the 200m IM event, but I missed it this time,” said Manav.

Manav, a student of Class XI, has been learning swimming since Class II.

This is not the first achievement for Manav. In September, he won four gold medals in the CBSE North Zone Swimming Championship.

He clinched gold medals in the 50m freestyle event, 100m freestyle event, 50m butterfly and 200m individual event.

He also got a silver medal in the 200m freestyle event in same championship.

Last year, he won a bronze medal in the 56th National School Games held in Pune. In 2011, he won a bronze medal in the National School Games. He had also won several state-level competitions in the past five years.

“Now I will try to win medals in the World School Games,” said Manav.

Mandi Gobindgarh, December 29
The World Cup Kabaddi winner team’s player Sultan Shamashpur was honoured with a gold ring and a ‘siropa’ at the inaugural function of a blood donation camp organised by the Kuldeep Memorial Club, Amloh, at Majri Kishne Wali village.

The camp was jointly inaugurated by club patron Dr Karnail Singh and club chief Bhupinder Singh Sounti. As many as 52 volunteers donated blood during the camp.

Dr Karnail Singh lauded the performance of Sultan, a resident of the Amloh area, in the World Cup winner Kabaddi team of India.

Sultan Shamaspur gave a call to the younger generation to form clubs and utilise its service for the betterment of the humanity.

Sarpanch Gurbant Singh Virk thanked the volunteers and club members for the success of the camp.

Zila Parishad member Joginder Singh Naraingarh honoured the volunteers and prominent figures of the camp.

Ludhiana, December 29
Jarkhar, a small village in the district with a total population of 1,700, is all set to take the lead to install a staute of living legend Milkha Singh in the stadium here.

“Flying Sikh” as Milkha Singh is called, has been a source of inspiration to a number of players in the sub-continent. He will be the chief guest at the time of the inauguration of his own statue at Mata Sahib Kaur Stadium, Jarkhar, on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road.

The life size statues of Milkha Singh and hockey wizard late Dhyan Chand have been prepared by the Mata Sahib Kaur Sports Club, Jarkhar, which will be installed on both sides of the gate of the main stadium in the village, the venue of the annual sports festival.

This year’s edition of the annual festival (popularly known as the Mini Rural Modern Olympics) will begin from January 16 to 19. Ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh, son of Milkha Singh, along with former international hockey star Ashok Kumar, son of Dyan Chand, will unveil the statues on January 17 in the presence of Milkha Singh.

The annual sports festival started 27 years ago. Organisers have created excellent infrastructure besides establishing a hockey academy in 2003 where a large number of upcoming, talented players undergo training and have been selected to represent the state at national-level tournaments.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 29
Ghungrali Rajputan team emerged winner, while Guram Sports Club finished runners-up in the 8th Rajiv-Sanjiv Memorial Football Tournament organised by the RS Friends Sports Club at MGMN Senior Secondary School here today.

Amarjit Singh of Guram village was declared the best player of the tournament.

The three-day tournament was inaugurated by Anil Aggarwal, chief executive director of the Shreyans Group of Industries.

MP Sukhdev Singh Libra, Dr Sunit Hind, former president Ravinder Puri, Vikas Tandon, Harjinder Singh Nathumajra, president, Block Congress Committee, presided over various sessions on different days.

Ravinder Sharma Happy, former councillor Bimal Sharma, SHO city Mandhir Singh, Lions Club president Inder Pal Singh Walia and Rotary Club secretary Pardeep Sethi gave away prizes to the winning team and the outstanding players.

Davinder Sharma, chairman of the organisation, said at least 37 teams from the state participated in the tournament.

The organisers also distributed woollens among 300 poor students of the local schools.

Ludhiana, December 29
As many as 168 players from different schools, colleges and other institutions took part in the 4th DD Khosla Memorial Ludhiana District Chess Championship that started at BCM Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, here today.

Vikas Sharma, president of the Ludhiana District Chess Association, inaugurated the championship.

Arvinder Preet Singh, general secretary of the association, and Rashmi Saini, a national arbitrator, along with parents of participants, were present at the opening ceremony.

The following players wrapped up their matches to lead after two rounds. They include boys (U-13) Mumukshu Mittal of Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Raghav Bansal of Ryan International School and Tanish of Green Land School.

Boys (U-17) Kunal Aggarwal; girls (U-9) Niyoshka, Raavya Jain and Samaira; girls (U-17) Shubhamdeep Kaur of Ryan International School; girls (U-13) Meenakshi of Era Model School, Tamanna of Sat Paul Mittal School and Smridhi of BCM Senior Secondary School; boys (U-9) Madhav, Pratham, Paramrth and Mani of Era Model School; women (open) Himandeep Kaur of Ryan International School.

Ludhiana, December 29
The Education Department, Punjab, will be coming up with new experiments with a motive to yield effective results from players of the state.

The department has decided to constitute six zones in the state in which the district teams will participate to get entry into the state games.

The sports wing of the education department announced the decision during the recent State-Level Athletic Games, saying it would be implemented from the next year.

The Additional Education Officer (AEO), Ajit Pal Singh, and in charge, district sports, said after an approval from a senior official, the new set up will be implemented from next year during which zones will be constituted to conduct the school games.

The state will be divided in six zones and every district team has to perform well in zones to get an entry for the state games.

With this new set-up the player will first participate in block-level games and then the winners of blocks will participate in the district-level games. The winners of district games will further participate in zones and then the winners of zone will get the opportunity to participate in state games. The AEO said, “It’s a new experiment, we don’t know to what extent it will prove to be effective. The players will get more competition with the implementation of new system.”

Some of the coaches in the department, however, have criticised this new system. “Now, the player will not come to know that in which poll he will be playing. With the implementation of this set up he will face only those districts which are in their zones. So the competition will decrease,” said an athletic coach. “Earlier the sports wings of education department had this type of set-up,” said another coach.