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KT Irfan first Indian athlete to qualify for Tokyo 2020

Agencies
March 17, 2019

New Delhi, Mar 17: National record holder KT Irfan Sunday became the first Indian from athletics to qualify for the next year's Olympics while finishing fourth in the 20 km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.

The 29-year-old Irfan clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds to better the Tokyo Olympics qualification standard of 1 hour 21 minutes.

The Olympics qualification period for race walk events and marathon race has begun from January 1 this year and will run till May 31, 2020. The Olympics qualification period for all other athletics events will start from May 1 this year and will run till June 29, 2020.

No other Indian from athletics has so far qualified for Tokyo Olympics.

Irfan, who has a personal best as well as national record of 1:20:21 which he did during his 10th place finish in 2012 Olympics, also qualified for this year's World Championships (September 27-October 6) in Doha, Qatar as he bettered the qualifying mark of 1:22:30.

The Kerala race walker had won the 20 km event in the National Open Race Walk Championships in Chennai last month with a time of 1:26:18.

He was one of the two Indian athletes who were expelled from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games for not adhering to the 'no needle policy' of the Games. He was disqualified in the 20 km race walk event of the 2018 Asian Games after receiving his third warning for "loss of contact".

Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi won the 20 km race walk event with an impressive time of 1:17:15 while Kazakhstan's Georgiy Sheiko and Korea's Byeongkwang Choe were second and third in 1:20:21 and 1:20:40 respectively.

The Asian and World record in men's 20 km race walk stands in the name of Japanese Yusuke Suzuki who clocked 1:16:36 in the 2015 edition of the same championships in Nomi.

Two other Indians, Devinder Singh and Ganapathi Krishnan also qualified for the World Championships as they clocked 1:21:22 and 1:22:12 respectively. They had finished second and fifth in the Chennai National Race Walk Championships with timings of 1:26:19 and 1:26:43.

In the women's 20 km race walk event, Soumya Baby finished fourth with a timing of 1:36:08, well outside Olympics qualifying standard of 1:31:00 and World Championships qualifying standard of 1:33:30.

Comments

kumar
 - 
Monday, 18 Mar 2019

All the best dear Irfan.  May God bless u iwth victory in the olympic game.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had "unconstitutionally" merged six MLAs of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with the Congress in Rajasthan, he did the same in his earlier tenure too, for which we wanted to teach him and his party a lesson, said BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday.

The BSP chief added that her party could have gone to courts earlier but decided to wait for the "right opportunity".

"In Rajasthan, after elections results, BSP gave unconditional support of all its 6 MLAs to Congress. Unfortunately, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, out of his malicious intent and to damage BSP, merged them with Congress unconstitutionally. He did the same even during his earlier tenure," Mayawati said here.

"BSP could have gone to the court earlier too but we were looking for the time to teach Congress party and CM Ashok Gehlot a lesson. Now we have decided to go to the Court. We will not let this matter alone. We will go even to the Supreme Court," she added.

The BSP chief further reiterated that the party has asked the six MLAs to vote against the Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot if a trust vote takes place on the floor of the Rajasthan Assembly, failing which "their party membership will be cancelled".
She further said that the merger of BSP MLAs with Congress was immoral and went against the mandate given by voters in Rajasthan.
"Ulta-chor kotwal ko daante (the thief accuses the cop of wrongs) they (Congress) themselves indulge in wrongdoing and then accuse us," she further said.
On Sunday, the BSP issued a whip to six MLAs, asking them to vote against Congress in case of a no-confidence motion or any proceedings to be held during the Rajasthan Assembly session.

National General Secretary of BSP Satish Chandra Mishra, while speaking to news agecncy said, "Notices have been issued to the six MLAs separately as well as collectively, pointing out that since BSP is a National Party, there cannot be any merger at the state level at the instance of six MLAs unless there is a merger of BSP at the national level. If they violate it, they will be disqualified.

Notices have been issued to all six MLAs- - R Gudha, Lakhan Singh, Deep Chand, JS Awana, Sandeep Kumar and Wajib Ali, who are elected to the Rajasthan Assembly."
However, later on Monday, Lakhan Singh, hit back saying he and the five others had already joined the Congress.

"We six MLAs have already joined the Congress. BSP remembered us after nine months. They have issued this whip, after a message from the BJP. On this basis they are going to court", said Karauli MLA Lakhan Singh.

Rajasthan government is in turmoil after simmering differences between Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and Gehlot came out in the open. Pilot was removed as the Deputy Chief Minister and the state unit chief of Congress.

The Congress has accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading to bring down the Gehlot government. The BJP has rejected the allegations.

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News Network
January 27,2020

New Delhi, Jan 27: The government on Monday issued the preliminary information memorandum for 100 per cent stake sale in national carrier Air India. As part of the strategic disinvestment, Air India would also sell 100 per cent stake in low cost airline Air India Express and 50 per cent shareholding in joint venture AISATS, as per the bid document issued on Monday.

Management control of the airline would also be transferred to the successful bidder.

The government has set March 17 as the deadline for submitting the Expression of Interest (EoI).

EY is the transaction adviser for Air India disinvestment process.

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News Network
March 19,2020

Rome, Mar 19: Italy on Wednesday reported 475 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, the highest one-day official toll of any nation since the first case was detected in China late last year.

The total number of deaths in Italy has reached 2,978, more than half of all the cases recorded outside China, while the number of infections stood at 35,713.

The previous record high of 368 deaths was also recorded in Italy, on Sunday. The nation of 60 million has now recorded 34.2 percent of all the deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 across the world.

With the death rate still climbing despite the Mediterranean country entering a second week under an effective lockdown, officials urged Italians to have faith and to stay strong.

"They main thing is, do not give up," Italian National Institute of Health chief Silvio Brusaferro said in a nationally televised press conference.

"It will take a few days before we see the benefits" of containment measures, said Brusaferro. "We must maintain these measures to see their effect, and above all to protect the most vulnerable."

Imposed nationally on March 12, the shutdown of most Italian businesses and a ban on public gatherings are due to expire on March 25.

But school closures and other measures, such as a ban fan attendance at sporting events, are due to run on until April 3.

A top government minister hinted Wednesday that the school closure would be extended well into next month, if not longer.

The rates within Italy itself remained stable, with two-thirds of the deaths -- 1,959 in all -- reported in the northern Lombardy region around Milan, the Italian financial and fashion capital.

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