India’s first Olympian swimmer Mehboob Khan no more

News Network
October 16, 2017

Guntur, Oct 16: Mehboob Shamsher Khan, India’s first Olympian swimmer, passed away due to cardiac arrest at his native village of Kaithepalle in Repalle Mandal of Guntur district on Sunday at the age of 92 years.

He was national hero in the year 1956 when he became first Indian swimmer to finish fifth at the Melbourne Olympics. He is survived by two sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Shamsher Khan ironically lived in utter poverty till his death despite serving in the Indian army for nearly 24 years and retiring in the rank of Subedar.

Shamsher Khan had joined the Army in 1946 and served in two crucial wars — against China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1973. He was inducted into the Madras Engineer Group in Bengaluru.

In interviews he explained his swimming training as totally “local” and “rural.” He said that he initially learnt to swim with buffaloes at the village pond and got the chance to get trained after joining the Army. He set a national record in the 200 metres butterfly in 1954 and broke all records at the national meet in 1955.

Khan got place on the Olympic swimming team with sheer performance which he repeated in Melbourne. Recalling his experience, he had said that the Indian government arranged only air fare to Melbourne and that he got a loan of Rs 300 from the Army to meet his costs during the Olympics. He further explained in interviews that his salary was only Rs 56 per month and that the loan amount was deducted without any subsidy, rebate or reduction.

Shamsher Khan’s elder son Sajid Vali Khan is serving the Indian army and he was living with his younger son Ali Khan in his native place. Family members stated that Shamsher Khan suffered a heart attack few years ago and was on medication.

A.P. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress president Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy expressed grief and sorrow over Shamsher Khan’s demise and praised his services.

Comments

Rahim
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.

Ibrahim
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

well wisher
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Why and for what reason the history of such great swimmers was kept under carpet.

Abdul
 - 
Monday, 16 Oct 2017

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna ilahi Rajihoon.......

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News Network
May 4,2020

Mangaluru, May 4: An engineering student has claimed to have received 600 threat calls in the past few days from unidentified people for starting fish business during the lockdown in Kavoor. 

According to Sakshath Shetty, resident of Kavoor, he started receiving threat calls from various people after he started selling fish during the lockdown. 

Police said they have been able to identify some of the numbers from where the threat calls were made and investigation is under way.

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News Network
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: The long-awaited discussions on cabinet expansion finally took place between BJP national president Amit Shah and the state party unit on Saturday, but they produced no result.

Latest indications are that new members will be appointed only after CM BS Yediyurappa returns from Davos, Switzerland, on January 25.

The party held a close-door party meeting at a top hotel in Hubballi. The subject of expanding the cabinet, which currently has 16 vacancies, featured in the talks.

Earlier, Yediyurappa reportedly had a one-on-one with Shah during their 45-minute flight from Bengaluru to Hubballi. He is said to have insisted on accommodating all 11 newly MLAs in the cabinet. These legislators were earlier a part of Congress and JD(S); they contested the December byelections on BJP tickets and won.

This apart, BJP sources said, Yediyurappa and Shah had a brief chat at a private event at Palace Grounds . Separately, Shah, who is the Union home minister, held meetings with Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi and Prahlad Joshi, seeking their views on cabinet expansion.

Shah also wanted to get an idea of what people think about the Yediyurappa government’s performance.

Newly elected MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil and Srimanth Patil greeted Shah. “We only met him to wish him; we didn’t discuss the cabinet issue. That’s something state BJP members will do,” said Hirekerur legislator BC Patil.

Saturday’s deliberations fail to break the stalemate over the cabinet appointments. There are clear differences in the camp about whether all Congress-JD(S) defectors should be made cabinet members, according to a senior minister attended one such meeting.

Shah reportedly wants only seven to eight newly elected MLAs to be made ministers; the rest of the spots should go to BJP loyalists. Yediyurappa disagrees with this position as he had promised all 13 turncoats places in the cabinet. Two lost in the bypolls.

Shah has now asked Yediyurappa to visit Delhi after returning from Davos to finalise the composition of the cabinet, according to the sources.

Yediyurappa will leave for Davos early on Sunday, while Shah will fly directly to Delhi from Hubballi.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 13,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 12: Karnataka on Saturday reported 209 discharges, as the state confirmed 308 new cases of COVID-19 and three related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 6,824 and the death toll to 81.

With the 14 new cases, the total number of covid cases in Udupi district alone today reached 1005. Dakshina Kannada today reported 30 cases and the tally mounted to 263. 

Today highest cases were reported from Kalaburgi (67), followed by Yadgir (52), Bidar (42) and Bengaluru Urban (31). More details to follow.

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