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Heena Sidhu wins pistol gold in World Cup shooting

November 11, 2013

Heena_SidhuMumbai, Nov 11: Woman shooter Heena Sidhu created history by becoming the first pistol exponent from India to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup finals in Munich, Germany.

Heena won the gold medal yesterday by beating double Olympic Champion Guo Wenjun from China, world champion Arunovic Zorana from Serbia and multiple Olympic medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine in a stiff competition.

The earlier gold medallists in this competition were Anjali Bhagwat [2002} and Gagan Narang [2008] in small bore rifle shooting, said a media release from Maharashtra Rifle Association.

The ISSF World Cup is held once a year and features only top 10 shooters of the world.

Heena shot 384 points in the qualification stage and was in third position behind Ukraine's Olena but ahead of China's Guo, who was placed ninth, and Serb Zorana, who was placed sixth after the qualification stage, the release said.

The Indian shooter mad a shaky start in the final. She shot a 9.3 followed by another 9.3 and slipped to eighth position after the first two shots.

But Heens picked up the gauntlet in right earnest and proceeded to execute 15 consecutive bulls eye to end the competition with a huge lead of 5.2 points.

So high was her level of commitment and determination, that even after having reached the top position midway through the finals, she did not relax even once and kept increasing her lead.

Heena married Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ronak Pandit, son of Arjuna awardee Ashok, earlier this year and shifted base from Patiala to Mumbai. She was accompanied by her husband-cum-coach Ronak in Munich.

She qualified for the finals in the World Cup in Korea and Germany in April and May.

However, Heena had not still got her grip on the new format of the finals, introduced by the International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) on January 1 due to which she slipped from second to eighth position in both these matches.

She had prepared for the event by training in Pune, under the guidance of her husband and coach Ronak and their foreign expert Anatolii Piddubnyi.

Anatolii trains Heena with her technique and Ronak works with her match strategy and tactics to handle pressure under crunch situations.

Heena's world rank was ninth before this competition which is bound to improve now, the release added.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Malabar, Jun 30: I-League club Gokulam Kerala's former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush on Monday died due to COVID-19. He was 44.

Alloush, who was with the football club in its inaugural season, was working as technical director at Egyptian club Tanta SC at the time of his demise.

Alloush's mother had also succumbed due to the deadly virus earlier.

"We're deeply saddened by the death of our former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush, aged 44, after contracting Covid_19. The thoughts of everybody at Gokulam Kerala Football Club are with Alloush's family and friends at this sad time. Rest in peace, Alloush," Gokulam Kerala FC tweeted.

Meanwhile, with a spike of 18,522 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stands at 5,66,840, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry, 418 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths in the country now stands at 16,893.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Shuttler HS Prannoy has hit out at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and has questioned the selection criteria for the Arjuna Award.

The shuttler has said that the players who have won nothing have been recommended, while the players who have medals to their credit have been snubbed.

His remarks come as BAI recommended doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men's singles player Sameer Verma for the Arjuna Award on Tuesday.

"Same old story. Guy who has Medals in CWG and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah #thiscountryisajoke," Prannoy tweeted.

Prannoy had been left out from the list last year as well and the shuttler had slammed the criteria then as well.

"If you ever want your name in the awards list, make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can't help it. Let go and just play until you can," Prannoy had tweeted last year.

Prannoy had won the mixed team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and he also has a men's singles bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships.

On Tuesday, the BAI has also recommended the renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches, S. Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu for the Dronacharya Award.

Murlidharan has been working relentlessly for the growth and development of the sport in Kerala, besides being an able administrator.

He has coached the likes of Vimal Kumar, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas amongst many other renowned former players.

He has also been a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award given by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in 1996.

For the Dhyanchand Award, BAI has recommended the names of Pradeep Gandhe and Manjusha Kanwar.

Gandhe is a two-time Asian Games bronze medallist while Manjusha is a South Asian Games silver medallist.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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