Dhoni, Pankaj Advani receive Padma Bhushan at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Agencies
April 3, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 2: Former India cricket captain M S Dhoni, ace cueist Pankaj Advani and actor Manoj Joshi were among several noted personalities who received the Padma awards from President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony here today.

Dressed in an Army uniform, Dhoni marched to the dais to receive Padma Bhushan from the president amid a huge round of applause from the audience. Dhoni was conferred with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the Indian territorial Army in 2011.

Besides Dhoni and Advani, folk artist Sharda Sinha, contemporary Indian artist Laxman Pai and former Ambassador of Russia to India, Alexander Kadakin (posthumously), were also presented with the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan, by Kovind.

The president presented five Padma Bhushan and 38 Padma Shri awards at the civil investiture ceremony held at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan were among several dignitaries present at the function.

People from different walks of life were awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, during the ceremony.

Veteran actor Joshi, Dasmodar Ganesh Bapat, who is working towards eradication of leprosy, and L Subadani Devi, Manipur-based weaver, were among those presented with Padma Shri.

Karnataka-based Sufi bhajan singer Ibrahim Nabisaheb Sutar, wildlife conservationist Romulus Whitaker and Mizoram's educationist A Zakia were also conferred Padma Shri.

The award was conferred to foreigners also.

Phillipines' Jose Ma Joey Concepcion was awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution in trade and industry.

Malaysia's Datuk Ramli Ibrahim (Art-dance), Bounlap Keokangna of Laos (for architecture), Cambodia's Hun Many (public affairs), Japan's Prof Tomio Mizokami (literature and education), Myanmar's Thant Myint -U (public affairs) and Indonesia's Bapak Nyoman Nuarta (art-sculpture) were also conferred Padma Shri.

Brunei Darussalam's Malai Haji Abdullah Bin Haji Malai (for social work), Tajikistan's Prof Habibullo Rajabov (literature and education), Nepal's Sanduk Ruit (medicine-oncology) and Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Thien (for spiritualism) were among those awarded Padma Shri.

Prof Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi (for literature and education), Vikram Chandra Thakur (science and engineering), Pankaj Manubhai Shah (medicine-oncology), Prof Chandra Sekhar Rath (posthumous) for contribution in literature and education, M R Rajagopal (medicine-pallative care), Bhabani Charan Pattanaik (public affairs) and Keshavrao Sadashiv Shastri Musalgaonkar (literature and education) were also given Padma Shri.

Among others, Gujarat's Zaverilal Dalpatram Mehta (journalism), Vijaylakshmi Navneet Krishnan (folk music) and Prafulla Govinda Baruah (journalism) were also conferred with the Padma Shri.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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Agencies
May 23,2020

New Delhi, May 23: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said India will not host any international event in immediate future and fans will have to learn to live with the new normal of sporting activities happening behind closed doors in the post-COVID-19 world.

Rijiju's statement gain greater significance in the context of the suspended IPL, which the BCCI wants to host in October-November in case of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia is postponed.

"We have been working for quite some time now to resume sporting activities but before that, we have to think about practice and training. We are not going to have a tournament kind of situation immediately," Rijiju was quoted as saying by India Today.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

"We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues," he added.

Talking specifically about the 13th edition of IPL, which has been put on hold for an indefinite period due to the pandemic, Rijiju said it is the government's prerogative to take a call on conducting any tournament in the country.

"In India, the government has to take a call and it will take a call depending on the situation. We cannot put health at risk just because we want to have a sporting event.

"Our focus is fighting Covid-19 and at the same time, we will have to work a mechanism to get back to normalcy. It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year," he said.

Rijiju's statement came close on the heels of Sports Authority of India (SAI) laying out a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for the resumption of sporting activities across the country in a phased manner.

"In the background, their (athletes) fitness and everything has been tracked. They are in touch with the coaches, the fitness experts, the high-performance directors. We are monitoring each and every athlete who are of the higher stature, who played for India and higher clubs," he said.

"Now it has been laid out. SAI has prepared a detailed SOP. These are prepared by experts from different fields. This SOP has already been issued to all sports federations and other sports bodies including govt stakeholders. So, based on this SOP training will start."

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 23

The Sports Minister, however, reiterated that resumption of sporting activities will entirely depend on guidelines of respective states and local administrations.

"We have been clearly advising that health and safety are top priorities. Besides that we have to keep in mind two other things, one is the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, second, is the guidelines issued by the administrations of the respective localities or states. So, these are to be taken into account," he said.

"But we have clearly stated that sports complexes and stadiums are open, other than that there should not be any activities till the lockdown is there or we come up with a renewed kind of advice."

Asked about the prospect of the Tokyo Games that were scheduled for this year but were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Sports Minister said he is hopeful of the quadrennial event taking place on the revised dates.

"Olympics is still far away and we have full confidence in the Japanese government and IOC and every country will support that the conduct of Tokyo 2021 will not be postponed. There are too many stakes in Olympics, so it is difficult to even foresee that the Olympics can be postponed," he said.

"As far as India's preparation goes, we are at the best stage of our preparation of any Olympics so far in history. This is going to be India's biggest contingent so far and have medal-winning prospects. But I am not saying we are so prepared to finish in the top 10 or 5 but our long term target is that India will be in the top 10 in 2028.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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