Research key to growth in physiotherapy field: Speaker U.T. Khader
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Mangaluru: Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader said that continuous research is essential to achieve excellence in the field of physiotherapy.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the valedictory ceremony of the two-day international physiotherapy conference ‘Mangalore PhysioCon-2026’, organised by the South Canara Physiotherapy Teachers Association at TMA Pai Convention Centre in the city.
Khader said physiotherapy today offers wide opportunities and has seen growing demand not only in India but across the world. He noted that three decades ago, very few students opted for physiotherapy education, but now the course has gained significant global demand.
He also said that there were no government physiotherapy colleges in the state earlier, and that the first such college was started during his tenure as Health Minister. He added that the institution has now emerged as one of the best in the state.
Chairman of Tejaswini Hospital Group of Institutions, Prof M. Shantharam Shetty, said physiotherapists play an important role in reducing patients’ pain in the present healthcare system.
Awards presented
On the occasion, Dr Shantharam Shetty was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Best Academician awards were presented to Dr Lourduraj I (Principal, Yenepoya Physiotherapy College), Dr Prabhu (MEM College of Physiotherapy, Bengaluru) and Dr Prasanna Kumar (East Point College of Physiotherapy).
The Best Clinician awards were given to Sherin George (Sparsha Hospital, Bengaluru), Basavaraj Nanjanavar (Belagavi) and Dr Sumita Hemavathi (Bengaluru).
A special award was presented to Dr Shravan Poojari of Masood College of Physiotherapy.
Among those present were Dr U.K. Monu, president of Kanachur Islamic Education Trust; Vasanth Hegde, chairman of Oxford Group of Institutions; Dr Abdul Shakeel, chairman of Abdul Shakeel Charitable Trust; Dr Suresh Babu Reddy, vice-president of the Indian Association of Physiotherapists; Dr Sai Kumar N., Dean, Allied & Physiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi College of Physiotherapy; Dr V.R. Ayyappan, chairman of physiotherapy at RGUHS; and organising committee of Mangalore PhysioCon 2026 Dr U.T. Iftikhar Fareed.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
