HOCKEY ACADEMY IN THE ANVIL;

Madikeri February 10, 2007

Chairman of the Sports Authority, Appachu Ranjan told here yesterday that he proposes to start a Hockey Academy in the district.

Arriving in Kodagu after taking charge in Bangalore, Appachu Ranjan paid a visit to the district stadium which is in shambles, astro turf ground and addressed scribes in press club. He opined that the academy would be started to encourage sports persons in Kodagu. He said that The mini stadiums in Somwarpet and Virajpet, swimming pool at Madikeri, sports school at Kudige and district stadium at Madikeri would be repaired on priority.

He disclosed that the sports authority is allotted only rupees five crores from the government each year and he will urge the government to increase it to twenty five crores. The authority will start stadiums in all the districts and the existing stadiums will be re furnished, he said. He said that the deputy chief minister Yediyurappa has agreed to increase the grant in the line of other states which allocate more funds to sports.

Earlier he received warm welcome at Koppa gate and at Somwarpet by his party supporters. Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav and other officials were present during his visit to the grounds.

THIRTY INJURED INACCIDENT;

More than thirty persons were injured, six of them seriously when a bus and a lorry collided at Kushalnagar yesterday afternoon.

A private bus had a head on collision with a lorry on its way to Somwarpet near Kudige. More than thirty persons in the bus, most of them students received injuries. Six of them were seriously injured and immediately shifted to Mysore for further treatment.

The bus driver and conductor have also suffered fracture and shifted to Madikeri hospital.

BABY WITH NAILS DIES;

A two year old baby which had swallowed two nails has died in a Mangalore hospital.

Ameena, aged two years, daughter of Tanveer, a resident of Kushalnagar was ill last week. She was brought to Madikeri for check up. The doctors found two nails inside her body during x ray. The parents were unaware how the nails went in. One was locked near the nose and another in the chest region.

Though the doctors in Mangalore removed the nails, the baby died yesterday morning.