India swimmer Masudur Rahman Baidya, the only man with amputated legs to cross the English Channel in 1997, died on Sunday morning after a heart attack, according to family sources
Masudur Rahman Baidya
Kolkata:
India swimmer Masudur Rahman Baidya, the only man with amputated legs to cross the English Channel in 1997, died on Sunday morning after a heart attack, according to family sources.
The 46-year-old was not keeping well for a couple of days. His family in Topsia rushed him to a nearby hospital.
“He had a major heart attack and doctors put him in ventilator. Doctors tried their best but he passed away within one hour,” said his sister Monira Rahman.
Masudur is survived by his mother, wife, and two daughters.
source: http://www.mid-day.com / mid-day.com / Home> Sports News> Other Sports News / pTI / April 27th, 2015
Six skaters from Anhdra Pradesh have been selected to represent India in the ensuing Asian and World Skating Championship to be held in China and Italy.
They include Arun Kumar, R Farheen Shaik, T Visweswara Rao, Priyam Tated, Riya Saboo and Bharadwaj Sahitha.
National Coach in Skating, Satyam, said that Arun Kumar, Visweswara Rao, Farheen Shaik and Sahitha will participate in Asian Championship while Priyam Tated and Riya Saboo will participate in World Skating Championship and Asian Championship.
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> Andhra Pradesh / by The Hans India / August 02nd, 2016
Syeda Falak with the trophy won at 4th International Karate Championship held in Kathmandu, Nepal.By Arrangement
Syeda Falak of Hyderabad won gold in the fourth International Karate Championship in the senior female category in Kathmandu (Nepal).
In a championship featuring competitors from Nepal, India, Srilanka, Bhutan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the girl from Old City cleared the first three rounds with ease and got the better of the rival from the host’s nation in the finals. Falak was also awarded the ‘Best Female Fighter’ too. “This is a huge morale-booster as I prepare for the major championships ahead,” says the 23-year-old Hyderabadi.
Some of her earlier major achievements include gold medal in the International Open Championship in Kolkata late last year, besides finishing third in the WKF Series in Istanbul, Turkey, and being three-time gold medallist in the nationals in 68-plus category (kumite).
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – May 14th, 2018
Jayaram, Mohammad Iqbal previously bagged medals in Thailand
City’s veteran paddlers – K. Jayaram and Iqbal Mohammad – are all set to take part in the world veterans’ table tennis championship be held at Las Vegas (USA) from June 18 to June 24.
They are among the nine players from the State vying for the honours in different age groups.
The annual event will be held for players above 50 years in both men and women categories.
Jayaram, a former State men’s ls champion for several years, had already represented India in Germany, Sweden, New Zealand editions and won the first international medal by bagging a bronze team medal in the Asian veteran championship in Thailand in 2011.
He also won two bronze medals in the veteran nationals and was all India civil services champion for six consecutive times.
Jayaram, who is working as Section Officer at Railway Audit, was selected for India based on his performance in the Pune Nationals.
“I am playing for the past 37 years without a break and has so far played more than 180 tournament finals. I am the current 50-plus AP State champion,” he said.
Fifty five-year -old Mohammad Iqbal, a State government employee who was given a wild card, will be accompanying Jayaram. Mr. Iqbal had represented India in Brazil, Sweden and New Zealand editions as well. He was also a member of the Indian team that won the bronze medal at the Asian Veteran championship in Thailand in 2011.
Both the players are fine-tuning their skills at VijayawadaClub.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – May 12th, 2018
Bengaluru’s girls basketball team, who will represent India at the Jr. NBA World Championship in Orlando, Florida in August
Bengaluru :
Several weeks of preparation and hard-fought wins over some of the country’s best teams has finally paid off for a bunch of talented young women basketball players from Bengaluru, who will now represent India at the Jr. NBA World Championship to be held near Orlando, Florida, in August.
After a gruelling three-day league phase, the city girls overcame favourites Kerala 47-41 in the semifinals and then sealed a 41-38 comeback win over Chennai in the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA National Finals at the NBA Academy in Greater Noida on Wednesday. Among the boys, Delhi defeated Kolkata 81-71.
Both Bengaluru and Delhi teams, along with international teams from Africa and West Asia, Europe, Mexico, Canada, Asia Pacific, China and South America will take part in the first-of-a-kind global youth tournament for U-14 cagers which will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando from August 7-12.
The National Finals featured the country’s top eight boys and girls’ teams from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Kerala, Mumbai and Punjab, based on their performance during the Reliance Foundation Jr. NBA Programme held in January. The programme consisted of several individual skills contests and 5v5 competitions and following the city finals in March, each city picked its 10-member All-Star teams (boys & girls) for the National Final.
“The competition was tough, we were facing some of the best in the country. But the girls were confident. We had a good preparatory camp in the run-up to the tournament,” coach Prasanna Venkatesh told TOI on Wednesday. “In the league phase, we finished second behind Chennai and therefore faced Kerala in the semifinals. Kerala, with their tall players, were tough but we still beat them in the end by six points.”
In the final, however, facing old nemesis Chennai was not going to be easy. “There were some nerves because we had lost to them earlier in the league phase and at the 2017 Sub-Junior Nationals,” Sunishka Kartik, one of the team’s top performers, said.
Trailing 2-17 after the first quarter, the Bengaluru girls never lost hope and pushed hard to surge ahead at the break and then defend the lead for the win. “Seven of us have played together before for Karnataka so we rallied together as a team, fought hard and defended well. It was a victory to cherish forever,” said the Baldwin Girls’ High School student.
Asked if they had received any cash award for their achievement, Sunishka quipped, “It doesn’t matter. There is no award bigger than representing India.”
Bilquis Mir, the first water sports coach from the Valley, is the only Indian among 20 Asians to get the position.
New Delhi:
Kashmir’s kayaking star Bilquis Mir has been selected as a water sports judge for the Asian Games to be held in Indonesia later this year.
“I will be one of the judges for the water tournaments in the games. This is a very important post,” 32-year-old Mir told ThePrint.
Mir, the first water sports coach from the Valley, is the only Indian among 20 Asians picked up by the Asian Canoe Federation team for this post.
However, her journey has been one of overcoming serious obstacles. From practising water sports in the world-famous Dal Lake in Srinagar to rowing through the wild waters of Europe, Mir has overcome every challenge to bust the myth that “girls can’t play sports”.
“There was a time when I had no one to support. We are three sisters and people here prefer boys to girls. From day one, I wanted to prove them wrong,” she said.
“They also said girls can’t play sports, it is not their thing…I struggled more because water sports were not even recognised in India,” Mir added.
The 18th Asian Games will be held from 18 August to 2 September.
Mir was the coach of the Indian kayaking and canoeing team from 2010 to 2015. She also went to Japan with her team but could not qualify for the Olympics. She is determined to reach the Olympics stage soon.
“People would tell my parents that their kids are pursuing civil services with pride. When my parents would say, I am a coach, I was looked down upon,” she said.
“People said it was a waste of time. Not many understood sports, mainly water sports but I did not give up…I was the only girl to take up this sport in the Valley,” Mir added.
Mir, who has a coaching diploma from Budapest, Hungary, started kayaking and canoeing in 1996. She has represented Jammu and Kashmir for 10 years in the national water sports games.
In 2009, she became the first woman participant from India in “MOL ICF Sprint Racing World Cup” in kayaking and canoeing in Hungary.
Mir said that the popularity of water sports, particularly kayaking and canoeing, is growing in India. “They were introduced a few years ago. They have a huge scope in the country, especially in Kashmir,” she said.
Mir is currently training 300 students, half of them girls from Kashmir Valley. “I started from Dal Lake…we have natural water resources and children have natural talent. Our team has got 56 medals in national level tournaments,” she said.
Her dream is to see maximum representation of players (paddlers) from the Valley in international tournaments. She says the state government is promoting the sports and has provided world-class equipment in schools.
source: http://www.theprint.in / The Print / Home> Governanace / by Rahiba R. Parveen / April 26th, 2018
Passion and dedication is the key towards success. Whatever you choose to do, you must do it wholeheartedly. Winning or losing is secondary, what matters is participation.
Bengaluru :
Passion and dedication is the key towards success. Whatever you choose to do, you must do it wholeheartedly. Winning or losing is secondary, what matters is participation. This is what gaming has taught me,” says the 21-year-old Habeeb Ullah Khan from Hyderabad.
He started gaming full-time in 2014. He had to cope with studies, career and gaming simultaneously. He says, “I was part of a boot camp in Delhi without any kind of financial support. I’m glad I have made it so far.”
After he finished his B.Com, he realised that it was time to follow his passion. “My cousin used to play national tournaments. I always had a competitive spirit within me, but didn’t know how to nurture it. With help from my cousin, I ventured into professional gaming,” says Habeeb.
He started playing Counter Strike Global Offensive initially, but later chose DOTA-2.
Over the past three years he developed a team — Wipeout, which includes four other members.
He has participated in 30-40 national tournaments. He won six tournaments last year, such as Taiwan Excellence Gaming and The Indian E-Sports Championship.
He is known as ‘CLown (K)’ in the virtual world and practices 14 hours a day. Team Wipeout also practices every day whenever they are free. They maintain separate schedules for gaming and other activities.
He says, “Gaming is similar to outdoor sports. The more you practice, the more skilled you become. It involves coordination and quick thinking. E- Sports (electronic sports) is a great community where you grow as a person. There is no hectic schedule, unlike other professions.” He has learned patience, focus and anger management.
He suggests that the aspiring gamers should not get de-motivated by failures. He cites his own example and says, “My journey in the gaming world has been a roller coaster ride. I have failed numerous times, but I never stopped learning. I’m successful today because of my failures.”
Talking about the gaming field in India he says that gaming is still not considered as a career. He says, “The youth should be encouraged to take up gaming as a profession. One should not think about losing. Winning and losing is a part of life. You will always gain valuable experience. Although E-Sports does not have adequate resources right now, over the next few years it will gain momentum. It has wide scope and rewards well.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Tech / by Ivy Chatterjee / Express News Service / April 13th, 2018
Himanshu Sharma bagged the other gold medal in the 49 kg.
Twitter/Nikhat Zareen
Returning to action after a long injury-lay off, Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Nikhat Zareen (51kg) were among the three gold-medallists in India’s stupendous campaign at the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament in Serbia.
India ended the tournament with three gold, five silver and five bronze medals in all.
Continuing his fine comeback from a wrist injury, Sumit, an Asian silver-medallist, defeated Ecuador’s Castillo Torres in a unanimous 5-0 verdict to claim the top honours on Saturday night.
Former junior world champion Nikhat, also returning to action after recovering from a shoulder injury, notched up a 5-0 win over Greece’s Koutsoeorgopoulou Aikaterini to pick up a morale-boosting gold.
Also claiming a gold was Himanshu Sharma (49kg), who defeated Algeria’s Mohammed Touareg 5-0 in his final bout.
Signing off with silver medals among women were Jamuna Boro (54kg) and Ralte Lalfakmawii (+81kg). While Jamuna lost to local favourite Andjela Brankovic 1-4, Lalfakmawii went down 2-3 to Turkey’s Demir Sennur.
In the men’s draw, Laldinmawia (52kg), Varinder Singh (56kg) and Pawan Kumar (69kg) had to be content with silver medals.
Laldinmawia was beaten 0-5 by Korea’s Kim Inkyn, Varinder lost 2-3 to Brazillian Arilson Goncalves.
Pawan was also defeated in a split verdict, going down 1-4 to Croatia’s Petar Cetinic.
Earlier, Narender (+91kg) had fetched a bronze in the men’s competition. In the women’s competition, Rajesh Narwal (48kg), Priyanka Thakur (60kg), Rumi Gogoi (75kg) and Nirmala Rawat (81kg) had settled for bronze medals.
source: http://www.scroll.in / Scroll.in / Home> The Field> Indian Sport / Press Trust of India / April 29th, 2018
Shahzar Rizvi bagged the silver medal in the intriguing contest, scoring 239.8. Image courtesy: Twitter @IndiaSports
Changwon (South Korea) :
Shahzar Rizvi on Tuesday clinched India’s first medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup, winning a silver in the 10m air pistol event.
Rizvi, who had won the gold medal in his first appearance in the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March, fell short by just 0.2 points this time. He bagged the silver medal in the intriguing contest, scoring 239.8.
Russia’s Artem Chernousov clinched the gold medal with a final score of 240 while the bronze went to Bulgaria’s Samuil Donkov who shot a total score of 217.1.
After Indian shooters drew a blank on the first two days, the onus was on Rizvi and Commonwealth Games medallists Jitu Rai and Om Prakash Mitharval to end the country’s medal drought.
Rizvi qualified for the final as the sixth best shooter with a score of 582.
However, it was disappointment for both Mitharval and Rai as both of them failed to make it to the final round.
While Mitharval finished 11th with a score of 581, Rai was further behind on the 38th spot with a disappointing score of 575.
National record holder Yahiya becomes the first since Milkha Singh to qualify for the 400m finals
What’s the story?
Indian athlete Mohammad Anas Yahiya, made an entry into the record books, as he became only the second Indian after legendary Milkha Singh, to qualify for the finals of any track event in the Commonwealth Games 2018.
He finished the 400 meters semi-finals in 45.44 seconds, which is less than what the legend had clocked up in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 1958. The ‘Flying Sikh’ had finished his race with a time of 46.6 seconds, which makes Yahiya’s feats a historical one indeed.
In case you didn’t know…
Legendary track and field player Milkha Singh won a gold medal in the 400 meters (which was called 440 yards in 1958) with a time of 46.6 seconds, which made him the first gold medallist from independent India at the CWG.
Up until discus thrower, Vikas Gowda won the gold in 2014, Milkha Singh remained the only male athlete from India to have won an individual gold in athletics for the country.
Since 1958, no runner has managed to reach the final stage of the Games, though Yahiya, the national record holder with a time of 45.32 promised much before the Games in Gold Coast began.
The heart of the matter
Anas was the fourth-fastest amongst all the qualifiers in the semi-finals, with Botswana’s Isaac Makwala qualifying as the fastest runner. The Indian was trailing in fourth position, with around 150 meters left to go but, then gained pace to leave the others behind.
He won his heat by a margin of 0.33 seconds, with Jamaica’s Rusheen McDonald coming second.
What’s next?
Yahiya is scheduled to take part in the finals on 10th April (Tuesday), at 5:20 pm IST, and he would be hoping to break the shackles and return home with a medal.
Author’s take
The good show continues from the Indian contingent at the CWG, and Yahiya’s brilliant run only shows the great performances that the athletes have been pitching in with.
In an event, where not much was expected, Yahiya emerged to topple Milkha Singh’s CWG records and script his name in history. The show is not only a result of his dedication and hard work, it is also a thumbs up to the Athletics Federation of India who has been supporting the Indian athletes with funds, training, and support.
If Yahiya can indeed come home with a gold, it will only end a rather long wait in the track and field event.
source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda / Home> Athletics> News / by Sarah Waris, Contributor / April 10th, 2018
