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Sania Mirza set to win Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

August 1, 2015

New Delhi, Aug 1: Tennis ace Sania Mirza is set to be conferred the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for the year 2014-15.

Even though her Wimbledon performance last month — she bagged her maiden Grand Slam women’s doubles title with Martina Hingis — will not be counted, her performance in other major events makes her the favourite.

saniaSania, recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2004 and Padma Shri in 2006, won gold in mixed doubles with Saketh Myneni and bronze in women’s doubles with Prarthana Thombare at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. She also won the US Open mixed doubles title with Bruno Soares last year.

HT has reliably learnt that the sports ministry took the decision to forward Sania’s name to the awards committee on Friday. The panel will meet shortly to decide on the list of awardees.

The ministry took the decision after the All India Tennis Association (AITA) missed the deadline for sending the application by over two months. As per the guidelines the last date “for the receipt of nominations will be 30th April or last working day of April.”

A ministry source said the decision to nominate Sania didn’t mean that she would get the award, “as it is up to the committee to decide”. “The ministry is only condoning the delay (on part of the tennis federation) in receipt and forwarding her application to the committee. That is all,” said the source.

The ministry has used clause 5.3 under the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award Scheme to nominate Sania. The rule says, “The government reserves the right to nominate up to two sportspersons in deserving cases where no such nominations have been received from the agencies mentioned under the Scheme.”

Sania’s entry skews the field for the 11 other applicants. Vikas Gowda (discus), Tintu Luka (800m), Dipika Pallikal (squash), Devendra Jhajhariya (paralympic javelin), Sardar Singh (hockey) and Abhishek Verma (archery) are some of the names in the fray.

The award has generated a lot of heat in the last two years with committees headed by Michael Ferreira and Kapil Dev drawing flak. Discus thrower Krishna Poonia had openly revolted in 2013 after double-trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi was recommended. It was widely reported that former Khel Ratna awardee, rifle shooter Anjali Vedpathak, reached the meeting late and impressed upon the members to vote again. Last year, the award wasn’t conferred to anyone.

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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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News Network
June 13,2020

Melbourne, Jun 13: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and current opener David Warner have expressed gratitude to two Indian students for helping people in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gilchrist thanked Sharon Varghese, an Indian student who did her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Wollongong.

Varghese has been was working on the frontline along with other health care workers to look after the residents of aged-care during the global health crisis.

"She gave up her time to work as an aged-care worker throughout that time. Sharon, I want to say congratulations on the selfless act and for wanting to thank people in Australia because you have enjoyed three and a half years living here. And that’s wonderful to hear," Gilchrist said in a video message.

"Just want to let you know, all of Australia, all of India and more importantly, your family will be so very proud of your efforts."

In another short video, Warner thanked Queensland-based Indian student, Shreyas Sheth.

"Namaste. I am here to say thank you to Shreyas Sheth who is doing selfless work to help others during the COVID crisis. Shreyas is doing his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Queensland and he has been part of University’s outreach program, preparing and delivering food packets to students in need right now," Warner said in the video.

"So I just want to say ‘good on ya’. I am sure your mum and dad and India are proud of you. Keep up the great work."

The videos were shared by Austrade India official twitter account, which have hit almost 10 thousand views in last one week.

Apart from the two cricketers, another Social Media Influencer Amy Aela also sent her thank you note to Liya, an Indian student from Griffith university for her work in providing mental health support to communities in Australia during the pandemic.

"Liya I just want to thank you...we definately need more people like you...just remember that Australia is so so proud of you, India is proud of you..please keep up the good work," Aela said.

Former Australian footballer Craig Foster also sent his thank you message to another Indian origin nurse Arushi from Deakin University. More than 100,000 Indian students are studying in Australia, currently making them one of the biggest cohorts of international students in the country.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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