Rio Paralympics 2016: PM Narendra Modi, Abhinav Bindra lead praise for India’s medal winners

September 10, 2016

New Delhi: From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to India's lone individual Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra, congratulatory messages poured in from all corners for Rio Paralympic Games' T-42 high-jump gold-medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu and bronze winner Varun Bhati.

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"India is elated! Congratulations to Mariyappan Thangavelu on winning a gold & Varun Singh Bhati for the bronze at the #Paralympics," Modi tweeted for the duo.

Under the Sports Ministry's Cash Award Scheme, Mariyappan will get Rs 75 lakh and Bhati will be presented Rs 30 lakh for their feat. The prize money is at par with the medal winners from last month's Olympic Games as was announced by the Ministry before the Games.

Thangavelu won the yellow metal with his best jump of 1.89 metres, while Bhati's best effort of 1.86m fetched him the bronze. The silver medal in this event went to USA's Sam Grewe who also registered the same mark of 1.86 metres.

Bindra welcomed Thangavelu to the gold medal club while congratulating the duo for their feat.

"Mariyappan joins the gold medal club, welcome! Kudos 2 @GoSportsVoices for aiding Varun Bhati who won bronze! Champs," he tweeted.

Sports Minister Vijay Goel also heaped praise on the duo.

"Congratulations to Mariyappan Thangavelu for winning #Gold & Varun Singh Bhati for winning #bronze in Men's high Jump at Rio," he said.

"It is a big achievement and I am very proud of our athletes," he added.

Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik said the two are an inspiration for other athletes.

"Indian sports mein prerna ki kami nahin hai (there is no dearth of inspiration in Indian sports). Congrats Mariyappan Thangavelu aur Varun Bhati aapke gold aur bronze ke liye. #Paralympics," she tweeted.

Filmstar Amitabh Bachchan also congratulated the duo.

"T2375 -#Paralympics joy for India .. Gold & Bronze for Thangavelu and Bhatti in high jump ! COME ON INDIA !!!," he tweeted.

"Never seen anything more inspirational than this. Congrats Mariyappan Thangavelu #Paralympics #gold," added former hockey captain Viren Rasquinha.

Beijing Olympics bronze-medallist boxer Vijender Singh hoped that the two athletes would be accorded the same honours that were bestowed on Olympic medallists P V Sindhu and Sakshi.

"Hope india give the same prize money and honour to Paralympic athletes ???? #Rio2016Paralympics," he said.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also congratulated Thangavelu and Bhati.

"Congratulations to Mariyappan Thangavelu on winning a gold & Varun Singh Bhati for the bronze at the #Paralympics," he said.

Olympic bronze-medallist boxer M C Mary Kom said it was a proud moment for the country.

"Congratulation. Both of you has make all Indians PROUD. #KheloIndia," she said.

The Indian Cricket Board was not to be left behind either and posted, "Congratulations Mariyappan Thangavelu & Varun Bhati on winning #Gold & #Bronze respectively at Rio #Paralympics."

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also lauded the duo, calling their achievement historic.

"...history has been created today. Outstanding lives and games of these athletes will inspire generations to come," the party's official twitter handle quoted her as saying.

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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Skipper Virat Kohli has become the first Indian to reach the 50M followers mark on social media platform Instagram. Kohli, who is breaking cricketing records with each passing match, has a great social media following.

The 31-year old has so far made 930 posts on the platform and his social media posts continue to enthrall fans worldwide. Overall, Instagram's official account has the most number of followers and it is followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 200M followers.

In terms of Indians with most number of followers, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra is on the second spot with 49.9 followers while Deepika Padukone is on the third place with 44.1 followers.

Last year, Kohli had become the most successful Indian Test captain, surpassing Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Currently, Kohli is in action against New Zealand and his side would take on the hosts in the two-match Test series, slated to commence from February 21.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Melbourne, Mar 6: Experienced middle-order batter Veda Krishnamurthy believes that "destiny" is in favour of first-time finalist India to win their maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup title provided they get a grip on their nerves in the summit clash against Australia on Sunday.

India will have a psychological advantage going into the final as they had stunned the defending champions by 17 runs in the tournament opener.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India reached the final on the basis of their unbeaten record in the tournament after their semifinal against England was washed out on Thursday.

Krishnamurthy, who was a part of the Indian team that finished runner-up to England in the 2017 Women's ODI World Cup, knows the pain of missing out on a world title.

"It's all about destiny, and I'm a big believer in destiny. I feel like this is the way it was meant to be. There is a joke going around that this World Cup is made in such a way that it's helping us, starting from the wickets to everything else," she was quoted as saying by the tournament's official website.

"Being in the final is just reward for the way we played in the group stages. There was an advantage to having won all our games with the weather not in our hands."

The team's first target of reaching the final having achieved, the 27-year-old player said the Indians now need to hold their nerves and remain focussed leading up to the big day on Sunday.

"We said the first aim was to get to the final and take it from there. We've crossed the first stage. We need to make sure we hold our nerves and we do what we need to do on the final day," she said.

India's recent rivalry with Australia has taken fascinating twists and turns, with Kaur's outfit chasing down 173 in their recent tri-series, then getting home by 17 runs in the T20 World Cup opener.

But all is not hunky-dory for Krishnamurthy on the personal front. Considered a great finisher, she has recovered from a series of single-digit scores in the tri-series to score 20 from 11 balls in a finishing role against Bangladesh.

Having amassed just 35 runs from four matches in the tournament so far, the Karnataka batter knows her role in the team.

"As an individual, the role given to me is very consistent in the last year. They've put the effort in the last year to keep me there and I've been supported by every individual, not just one or two. The entire team, with all the support staff, have shown faith in me," she said.

"I know coming into the World Cup, I would play a crucial role to finish the innings well, which I felt I was unable to do in the last World Cup in the West Indies," she added.

Krishnamurthy said specific roles have been set for every player of the squad and they all are trying to contribute as much as they can to help the team achieve its goal.

"I was very motivated to do my role and I've been working on that. It's not just me, all 15 players involved know what their role is," she said.

"I'm happy we're all putting in efforts and executing our role properly. Even if it's a smallish contribution of saving a couple of runs, it's all panned out really well."

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News Network
February 11,2020

Mt. Maunganui (New Zealand), Feb 11: KL Rahul struck a combative 112 but New Zealand completed a 3-0 whitewash of India by winning the third ODI by five wickets, here on Tuesday.

Rahul helped India recover from a shaky start to post a challenging 296 for 7 but the Kiwis overhauled the target with 17 balls to spare.

This is the first whitewash that India has suffered in an ODI series in more than a decade.

Sent in to bat, India were down 62 for 3 in the 13th over after the dismissals of Mayank Agarwal (1), captain Virat Kohli (9) and Prithvi Shaw (40) but Rahul got a useful ally in in-form Shreyas Iyer (62) to take India to a competitive total.

Rahul, who hit nine fours and two sixes during his 113-ball innings, and Iyer stitched exactly 100 runs from 18.2 overs for the fourth wicket to revive the Indian innings.

After the end of the promising innings of Iyer, Rahul shared another 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (42).

The Kiwis were off to a confident start in their chase with Martin Guptill (66) and Henry Nicholls (80) and putting on a 106-run stand. However, wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets to bring India back in the game.

Colin de Grandhomme (58) and Tom Latham (32), though, took their side past the finish line with an unbeaten 80-run partnership.

Brief Scores:

India: 296 for 7 in 50 overs (KL Rahul 112, Shreyas Iyer 62; Hamish Bennett 4/64).

New Zealand: 300 for 5 in 47.1 overs. (H Nicholls 80, M Guptill 66; Y Chahal 3/47).

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