Darjeeling: According to sources close to Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist Youth Front, the 22nd August closure called by the party has been withdrawn. While no specific reasons have been given and the information remains uncorroborated, sources suggest that the closure has been called off due to the lack of support from Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
Parents’ support is indispensible for a child to progress in its chosen path. And Indian star footballer Sunil Chhetri had that vital parental backing while he was growing up. Goal.com finds out more…..
FROM GOAL.COM
By Subhankar Mondal
COURTESY KAPIL CHETTRI (GOAL.COM)
Parents in India are always worried about their children’s future. While most of them are obsessed with the idea of their children studying at the best medical and engineering schools, others pipeline their kids into law and management courses. But football? And that too as a professional in India? Um…unusual to say the least.
But when Sunil Chhetri was growing up in Delhi, his parents did not indulge themselves in securing a berth in the IIT for their son. They did not think of forcing little Sunil out of his love for football and of binding him to a 10-5 job schedule. They did not think, like so many other parents, of choosing the future for their son rather than letting their son choose it.
And the entire nation now ought to be relieved that the Chhetri duo didn’t follow the crowd. When the young Sunil scored a scintillating hat-trick against Tajikistan in the AFC Challenge Cup’08 final in Delhi, people marked him as the Golden Boy and singled him out as the Savior of Indian football, tidily forgetting that this Messiah too has parents. Very, very supportive parents.
The Support
Not that Sunil’s parents want any credit for that. Speaking to his father, Mr. KB Chhetri, one comprehends the marked humility in the man. A retired army personnel, Mr. Chhetri is a soft spoken, nostalgic gentleman through and through, a father who always wanted his son to live the dream that he himself had fostered as a boy.
Born in the football mad Kolkata, Sunil’s dad studied in Darjeeling and was therefore thoroughly raised as a football man. He admits to Goal.com that he did dream of making it as a footballer himself but states that he has no regret now since his son has realized that dream.
The Gorkha” – Journal of the Gorkha Brigade 2006 issue.
ARTICLE SHARED BY AARDEE
Dorjee Lhatoo was born of sherpa parentage on 5th April 1945 at Yatung Chumbi Valley (Tibet). His father , late Sonam Thendup, was a farmer cum small time merchant and caretaker of the Himalayan Club Bungalows located at yatung , Gua and phari . Shri Tenzing Norgay was a family friend and used to stay with him whenever he visited yatung along with the expeditions. After thr demise of his father in 1949, Lhatoo’s family migrated to Darjeeling in 1952. [Inset: Dorjee Lhatoo. Beacon Online File]
He was recruited in the India Army at GRD Ghoom in October 1957. After recruit training , No 9404356 Rifleman Dorjee Lhatoo was posted to ‘A’ Company 3/11th Gorkha Rifles at Lucknow, then commanded by Capt LS Rawat, in August 1958.
Lt Col RD Hira was the CO and Bharat Singh Limbu was the Subedar Major. Lhatoo was good in Carpentry and proficient in making name plates , sing boards and formation signs . So he was re-mustered as carpenter , much against his wishes. This change from a Rifleman to a Carpenter completely disenchanted Lhatoo and compelled him seek discharge from the Army. After repeated request, he was finally discharged in 1962.
He was appointed as a Mountaineering Instructor at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) Darjeeling in 1962 by Lt Col BS Jaswal, the principal. His training and experiencre in 11th Gorkha Rifles helped him to be a popular instructor there, who could speak Hindi and English fluently. Students were always in awe of him and his demonstration of climbing techniques. Lahtoo attended some training courses in addition to the formal courses at the HMI, like PT instructors course at ASPT Pune, Winter Warfare (Skiing) Course HAWS Gulmarg and instructional Course at National Centre for Mountaineering in UK . Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, August 19: The Sports Division of the Pang Lhabsol Celebration Committee in coordination with the State Sports and Youth Affairs Department will be organizing a national level Volleyball Tournament to mark the 25th year of Pang Lhabsol celebration at Rabong.
As informed in a press release, leading teams from States like Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Maharashtra have already confirmed their participation in the national level tournament, which is scheduled to begin from September 10.
A state team of Sikkim will also be participating in the tournament. It is informed that the Sikkim team shall be constituted from among the best players participating in the intra state tournament which will commence from September 1 at Rabong as a part of the celebration. The Committee has also planned to give away handsome prizes to the winner and the runners up teams in both the categories.
The Sports Committee has already geared up for the tournament and has begun the preparatory works like laying of new synthetic turf at the newly renovated Amphitheatre at the Mani Chokerling Complex at Rabong.
The Committee is also expecting a large turnout of spectators and Volleyball lovers from all over Sikkim and the neighboring States. In the meantime, the State Government has declared Pang Lhabsol celebration as a State function with the Chief Minister as the chief patron of the celebration committee. The celebration committee has been planning to commemorate the occasion by organizing the festival in a grand scale. Various cultural programmes, sporting events, exhibitions, rural fair and the Pangtoed Chaam are lines up for the same.
DARJEELING, August 19: Same day, same occasion, same accusations and self-pity. Nothing has really changed in the past 15 years since Nepali language received national recognition and was included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution on August 20, 1992.
As the Nepali speaking community of India gears up to celebrate the historic achievement tomorrow, the failure of the government institutions, politicians and society to play a proactive role in further development of the language and allied responsibilities lay miserably exposed. “The desired level of achievements has been not attained after Nepali language was recognized. We are mere soldiers. There is another segment that should use this achievement but it is not ready”, rued CK Shrestha, one of the known faces in the language recognition movement.
The movement had been lighted by Anand Shingh Thapa from Dehradun in 1956 and over the years ignited a passionate community and its leaders to launch a successful national crusade for the language recognition.
Now 15 years post-recognition, Mr. Shrestha says that contributions from intellectual are sorely need. Even desired works from government departments have not happened, he said. It is here the heart for an own state starts to bleed.
“If we had our own state then Nepali language will have definitely developed. It is also because we don’t have any ground to stand on”, said Shrestha. He lauded the efforts of Sikkim towards promotion and preservation of Nepali language despite several political compulsions. Regarding the lack of use of Nepali language in government offices, GJM chief Bimal Gurung also expressed his regret. “We will hold talks with government departments on the use of Nepali language. We will also form a committee in the party in this regard”, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
NAMCHI, August 19: The budding talents of the State will soon be getting an opportunity to expose their talents through a digital Nepali film ‘Dosh Meri Priyasi ko Hoina’. This social film will be made under the banner of Temi Tarku Kala Sansthan and the shooting for the same will start from the first week of September 2008.
It will be directed by Bhaskar Pradhan from Darjeeling, a multifaceted personality who has many films to his credit as an actor, director and a script writer. To feature more local talents in the project so as to expose their talents, the audition will be held in two places in Sikkim for the selection of the artists. The first audition will be held at Singtam on August 23 for the artists and interested individuals of North and East districts, while the second audition will be held at Jorethang for the artists and interested individuals of South and West districts.
For further convenience, interested artists can contact in these numbers 9434357245, 9932996807 and 9832556770.
GANGTOK, August 19: The government employees of Sikkim today adopted a religious recourse to express its moral support and solidarity to their counterparts in Darjeeling in their struggle for the separate state of Gorkhaland.
This comes close on the heels of an all party consensus from the state on Gorkhaland demand on Sunday where all the political parties here including the ruling SDF party supported the demand. The two day Mahayaga commenced at Saraswati Mandir, Tadong from today morning and is jointly organized by All Sikkim Government Employees (Group C & D) Association (ASGEA) and All Sikkim Government Work Charge and Muster Roll Employees in support of the aspirations of the government employees brethren from the Darjeeling district.
The ceremony is being conducted for the fulfillment of the government employees of Darjeeling district and to impart moral support to the Janmukti Karmachari Morcha from their counterparts of Sikkim, said Nar Singh Rai, ASGEA president. They have our moral support and this Mahayagya is being conducted to seek blessings from God that their aspirations are fulfilled, he said.
Eight members of the Janmukti Karmachari Morcha led by its president Kharga Bikram Subba from Kalimpong participated in the first day puja proceedings. The body is a frontal unit of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) who is spearheading the Gorkhaland movement in Darjeeling. Read the rest of this entry »
A Hindu priest worships a girl dressed as the living goddess Kumari.
Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images
A centuries-old tradition in Nepal of worshipping a virgin girl-child in a palace as a “living goddess” has been scrapped after it was condemned as outdated by the country’s supreme court, which has ruled that the supposed deity must go to school.
Earlier this year, religious authorities started a search for a new Kumari, chosen from a handful of three-year-olds, after it was revealed the current living goddess is going to retire later this year.
However, that process looks as if it will be halted after the country’s highest court accepted the argument from a lawyer that keeping a young girl locked up in a medieval palace in Kathmandu was a violation of her fundamental rights.
The court ruled against the rights of the Kumari being “be violated in the name of culture”. Read the rest of this entry »
Kathmandu, Nepal, 01:01 PM IST: Miss Nepal, Nepal’s oldest and best-known beauty pageant, has become the first casualty of the new Maoist government, with the organisers mulling scrapping it after the former rebels announced a Kathmandu closure and a boycott of Indian ayurvedic giant Dabur, the main sponsor of the show.
The Hidden Treasure, the organiser of the pageant, said it was postponing the contest scheduled for Saturday, after the Maoist women’s wing, which has trained its sights on Miss Nepal, announced a Kathmandu Valley shutdown on the day to prevent the event.
The All Nepal Women’s Federation (Revolutionary) has also called for a boycott of all beauty products by Dabur Nepal, Dabur India’s wholly owned subsidiary in the Himalayan nation, which has been sponsoring the event for seven years to promote its Dabur Vatika range of cosmetics.
It is now doubtful if the pageant would be held at all, with Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the newly sworn-in prime minister of Nepal, heading the list of signatories who signed an anti-beauty contest petition drawn up by the Maoist women’s wing.
Dozens of MPs from different parties have also signed the petition while 39 more organisations joined forces with the protesters to stop the pageant.
The women have also been pressuring Kathmandu’s premier public programme venues not to allow the contest. Due to the mounting opposition, one of the media partners of the event, Nepali daily Annapurna Post, last week announced it was abandoning the show.
In the past, the event used to be telecast live by the state-owned Nepal Television with ad revenue pouring in. Read the rest of this entry »
Kathmandu, Nepal, 02:31 PM IST :Maoist chief and new Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’s visit to China Saturday is going to send a negative message to India, an Indian politician has warned the former guerrillas.
Sharad Yadav, leader of the Janata Dal-United party who headed a delegation of the Indo-Nepal Friendship Forum to Kathmandu Monday to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new Nepali premier, suggested to the Maoist party that Prachanda should defer his trip to Beijing.
Chandra Prakash Gajurel, a Maoist lawmaker and chief of the party’s foreign affairs cell, says he had two meetings with Yadav, who requested that Prachanda postpone his Beijing trip.
‘To go to China so soon after assuming office will send negative messages to India,’ Yadav reportedly told Gajurel. ‘Prachanda should defer his trip.’
Asked if it was the Janata Dal-United’s feeling or that of the Indian government, Gajurel told IANS: ‘Yadav met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before coming to Nepal. So his suggestion is likely to have greater implications.’
However, despite the Indian ’suggestion’, the Maoists said Prachanda will not cancel his Beijing trip.
‘It is not a political visit,’ Gajurel said. ‘China had also invited President Ram Baran Yadav to attend the inaugural ceremony of the Olympic Games. (He could not go) due to the political situation in Nepal. Now that they have asked the prime minister to attend the closing ceremony, we feel he should attend it.’
On Sunday, a day before Prachanda took oath of office, the Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Zheng Xianglin, called on the Maoist chief to offer his congratulations as well as convey his government’s invitation. Read the rest of this entry »
Kathmandu, Aug. 19: Women leaders and rights activists demanded for appropriate reservations for women in all state organs.
“The country should be ready to provide 50 per cent reservation to women,” said Subash Nemwang, Constituent Assembly Chairman inaugurating a two-day National Women’s Seminar: Women in Constitution organised by Women for Peace and Justice Tuesday.
He said that the women’s movement should not stop without ensuring their participation in every state organ. The issues raised by the women activists should include the voice of every woman living at every nook and corner of the country and it should include the voice of rural women too, he added.
“We have already achieved significant achievement in promoting women rights. The political leadership should take initiation to institutionalise peace and security seriously rising above personal benefits,” he said. “I hope the present political stalemate and puzzle would end immediately.”
At the programme, Nemwang lauded the diversity present in the CA. “The varied voices present in the form of inclusiveness in the CA is a marvellous example of unity in diversity and this is not a challenge, it should be taken as an opportunity to move ahead,” Nemwang said.
Similarly, Sahana Pradhan, a senior leader of Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) said that women should fight for equal participation in the leadership in political parties to push the women’s movement ahead.
She said no one could remain aloof from politics as everything is somehow related to politics. She further said that all the problems of women could be solved through political commitment. She also asked the government to bring every national and international conventions, covenants and resolutions into implementation.
Daman Nath Dhungana, Co-convenor of Peace and Conflict Management Committee, lauded that the present representation of women in the CA indicates a bright future of Nepali women.
He said that the reservation for women should be made in every organ of the state. “It should not be limited to 33 per cent in CA only but it should be in every sector of the government whether it be bureaucracy, political appointments, education etc, ” he added.
He mentioned the faulty policy of political parties and male chauvinism of the political leaders as the main obstacle to women movement. “The political parties are moving at snail’s pace and are rather conservative,” said Dhungana.
He further said that the present reservation has already become a constitutional right and the women should fight to ensure it and should not backtrack.
Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Co-convenor of Peace and Conflict Management Committee, said that this national seminar would lead the women movement towards a decisive end. Read the rest of this entry »
Tarun Vijay is director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, and a long-time Nepal observer.
After a persistent 12-year long guerilla insurgency that left more than 15,000 Nepalese dead, the leader of the Communist outfit fashioned and named after the Chinese Army as Peoples’ Liberation Army, Prachanda or Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been sworn in as prime minister.
There was no other choice. All the major changes Nepal had gone through in the last three years, occurred due to a single factor and that is the Maoist rebellion. Hence, Prachanda was the legitimate leader to lead the new birth of Nepal as the federal democratic republic. Any attempt to thwart it would have ended in more chaos and anarchy.
Madhav Nepal, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist, whom I had met in Delhi [Images] a couple of days ago while he was flying back home after the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meet in Colombo, said that with Prachanda’s Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist being the largest single party and with the mandate clearly favouring them, they won’t have any problem electing Prachanda prime minister. But he was sceptical about the Maoists having the defence portfolio, though Prachanda had agreed to give home to Madhav’s party.
Finally, Prachanda brushed aside everyone’s doubts and pressure and retained the best portfolios with him — defence, finance and foreign affairs.
Very soon, he will make every other party irrelevant and bereft of any credibility as he has shown during his militant days. Nepal’s political parties are on their knees to accept and adjust to the same Maoists whom they had been describing as murderers and terrorists. During the Maoist insurgency, Prachanda and his ilk spewed venom against India and swore to review all treaties with India.
Of late Nepal has seen an unprecedented anti-India atmosphere in the media and political arena and credible sources blame Chinese machinations for successfully sowing disaffection against us. But I must credit Delhi’s incompetent leaders and a complete absence of a Nepal policy also for this consequence.
Nepal was plunged into anarchy by indecisive and corrupt politicians who could neither deliver development to the people nor stand up to the shenanigans of King Gyanendra, who had a dubious character and almost no respect worth its name in the eyes of the subjects. The kings hardly had anything to do with the spiritual heights of Hindu dharma and the nation’s constitutional status as a Hindu nation was a complete eyewash. The royalty tried to live a totalitarian life taking liberties of the Middle Ages with the masses and almost always opposing or irritating Indian interests, using China and Pakistan as a lever to extract more from New Delhi. Read the rest of this entry »
More than 35,000 people who have been displaced after the Saptakoshi river damaged dams in Western Kusaha region of Sunsari district on Monday are now taking shelter in local schools in the area.
Local authorities say that the displaced have been put up at 12 government-run schools, government offices and private homes in Inaruwa, the district headquarter of Sunsari.
Dev Narayan Yadav of the Koshi Pidit Samak, an organization of people victimized by the annual floods in Koshi river, said that the displaced, many of whom are in a very bad-condition, are in desperate need of food, shelter and medicines.
A team of Nepal Army personnel and police force are continually engaged in rescue efforts along with distributing relief materials in the affected areas. They are said to be getting help from the locals in this matter.
As the swollen river started to erode the dams and inundate the nearby villages, tens of thousands of local people had started to flee their homes for safety from Monday night.
The raging river completely swept away more than 3,000 houses and destroyed huge tracts of paddy fields.
Reports just coming in say that 3 people have died of drowning in the swollen river and more than 12 people are feared to be missing. However, police said that they only have information about the missing people.
A section of East-West highway in Laukahi area has also been obstructed due to the flood, adversely affecting rescue efforts and transportation in the region. Hundreds of passengers traveling to far eastern Nepal have been stranded because of this as their buses remained park at the other end of the Koshi barrage.
The swollen river water has also damaged the optical fibre of Nepal Telecom in the district, because of which the mobile phone services in eastern Nepal has also been disrupted. According to Nepal Telecom, this has affected more than one hundred thousand mobile phone users in the region. NT officials said that the mobile service would only resume after repairs are carried on the damaged optical fibre and said that this is not possible until the river water recedes
Reports said Laukahi, Kusaha, Ghuski, Sripur, Haripur and Basantapur VDCs have been the most affected
The flood has affected the buffer region of Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. An army battalion located there for its safety, too, had to shift to safety. Read the rest of this entry »
Kalimpong Rotary Club office-bearers and the staff of SUMI at the foundation stone laying ceremony on Tuesday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha
Kalimpong, Aug. 19: The 500-odd primary students of Scottish University’s Mission Institution will soon have access to clean sanitation on the school premises through a rainwater harvesting system that will ensure uninterrupted supply of water.
The project, which entails a cost of Rs 10 lakh, is expected to be completed in six months. In all, 17 urinals and 10 toilets with modern amenities will be built. The rainwater harvesting units to be set up in the school compound as well as on the terrace of the nearby Disha building, which, like SUMI, is run by the Church of North India, will ensure uninterrupted supply of water.
The money for the project was raised by Rotary Club of Kelso in Scotland, Rotary Club of Kalimpong and Rotary Foundation.
The foundation stone for the construction of toilets, along with the rainwater harvesting system, was laid at a ceremony held in the institution here today.
Rajen Raghavan, the club’s public relations in-charge, said the club chose SUMI for the project in view of the school’s contribution in the field of education.
In its 117 years of existence, SUMI has been able to spread the light of education not only in Darjeeling and other parts of Bengal, but also in Northeast, Nepal and Bhutan. Read the rest of this entry »
Touring tea gardens in India’s famous Darjeeling hills and tasting several varieties of the gold-coloured brew has got Audrey Dreyer thinking about a career in the trade.
Dreyer, from France, is among a growing number of tourists wanting to experience life on the estates in the famous tea-growing region to learn about some of the world’s most coveted varieties.
As part of a new push to promote their brands worldwide and after having trained tourists for no charge in recent years, many estates are now offering specialised live-in training courses on the plantations for a fee.
The privately owned Lochan Tea Limited company is one of those, where students undertake a three-month course in international tea trading.
Spurred by the growing market for Darjeeling tea in her home country, Dreyer and two friends have just graduated from a course on the estate.
“In France, the market for tea has increased and Darjeeling is the most famous. Here we have learnt about manufacturing, marketing and visited tea gardens,” the 20-year-old student says.
Dreyer’s friend Marine Legastelois, also from France, agrees the experience has been beneficial.
“It was a good experience. It will be good for our future,” she says.
Eighty-seven Darjeeling gardens sport the Geographical Indication label that certifies that a product — like Champagne and Bordeaux in France — comes from a certain region and enjoys distinct characteristics of the area.
Located in the lower Himalayas, Darjeeling — with its cool climate, plenty of rainfall and slopes that ensure water runs off quickly — gives the black tea its unique aroma. Read the rest of this entry »
Kolkata, Aug 18: Tea garden workers in West Bengal will press for higher bonus this year. “The tea industry is making super normal profit this year and, therefore, should not have problems at paying bonus at an enhanced rate,” said a spokesman for the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, West Bengal, the body of 18 tea unions of tea garden workers in the State.
“With Durga Puja being due in October, the bonus payment has to be made in September”. The spokesman, however, declined to specify the demand.
“We’ve not decided on the bonus rate which will be firmed up after the finalisation of the wage revision”, he observes.
“But it has to be substantially higher than last year”.
Last year, the bonus agreement, finalised on September 15, provided for varying bonus rates, ranging from 11.9 per cent to 8.5 per cent, depending on the categories of the gardens.
The Category ‘A’ garden was supposed to pay bonus at 11.9 per cent, Category ‘B’ at 10.5 per cent, category ‘C’ at 9.5 per cent and Category ‘D’ at 8.5 per cent.
However, as it is pointed out, not every garden paid bonus despite the industry-level settlement.
A total of 162 gardens paid out of a total of 280.
Again, not all Category ‘A’ gardens paid at the stipulated rate.
NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20: As Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, the new Prime Minister of Nepal, prepares to undertake his maiden bilateral visit to Beijing for the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, India is getting ready to play host to the new incumbent soon. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hopes to seal some crucial agreements during the expected visit, the dates for which are still unknown, and has revived a 2004-05 bilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) to that end.
India and Nepal are planning passenger buses, car and taxi services along some 14 identified routes. While a similar proposal mooted in 2004 never took off with transporter bodies in Nepal alleging a bias towards India, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu has signalled that the political environment is currently more favourable for the agreement.
The proposed routes will not only connect Kathmandu to New Delhi but also help develop the Buddhist circuit in Bihar, provide access to the North-East as well as areas in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Darjeeling, Kalim-pong, Kolkata, Bareilly, Roorkee, Gaya, Varanasi, Rajgir, Lucknow, Patna and Delhi will be among the destinations connected to Nepali cities like Kathmandu, Pokhara, Janak-pur, Dharan and Dhangarhi.
India on its part will be ready with the complete agreement with the views and comments of the Nepal government incorporated in it so it can be signed and operationalised during the Nepal PM’s visit. Since this agreement pertains to passenger services only, a separate agreement will have to be drafted for trucks and other goods services, says the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways which is working on the MVA. Read the rest of this entry »
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Clash of dates with the local league has ruled out top Kolkata clubs for the second consecutive year taking some sheen off the Osian’s Durand Cup main round that starts tomorrow, two months in advance from earlier editions.
I-League champions Dempo are also not taking part as they are preparing for the AFC Cup starting next month and this has taken away much of the gloss from the tournament which had to be advanced from its October-November date with the I-League starting in mid-September.
“We have to advance the tournament in August because of AIFF directives. Because of the clash in schedule with their local league (that started last month and ends early next month) Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting will not take part in the tournament.
“As for Dempo, they don’t want any injury to their players before the AFC Cup, so, we can’t do anything,” Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) Secretary General Joginder Singh told reporters today.
The advancement in the dates also resulted in top Fijian side Ba Football Club not being able to make it to the tournament.
“They had earlier confirmed participation. The AIFF had cleared it and sent a request to AFC who in turn had to send it to FIFA and only after that it goes to the External Affairs Ministry. It takes a lot of time and as the tournament had been advanced by two months, the process could not completed,” he said.
The main round begins tomorrow with ONGC playing Tata Football Academy in the first Group B round-robin pre-quarterfinal league match tomorrow while BSF take on Salgaocar in the second match.
Assam Rifles, BSF, Army Service Corp and ONGC have qualified for pre-quarterfinals from August 8-19 qualifying round. Eight teams have been divided into two groups of four for the pre-quaterfinals. Group A has Army XI, New Delhi Heroes, Assam Rifles and ASC while Group B has Salgaocar, TFA, BSF and ONGC.
Defending champions Churchill Brothers, runners-up Mahindra United, JCT, Sporting Club de Goa, Air India and Mumbai FC have been seeded directly in the quarterfinals and the two remaining slots will be filled by two qualifiers from the pre-quarterfinals. Read the rest of this entry »
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) Sports Minister M S Gill congratulated wrestler Sushil Kumar for winning an Olympic bronze medal at the Beijing Games today.
Sushil won the medal after his excellent show in the three-round repechage match of 66kg men’s freestyle wrestling event.
“I am delighted as the whole country is. We won the wrestling bronze long ago in 1952 Helsinki Games when K D Jadhav from Maharashtra did it. I congratulate Sushil on his great win,” Gill said in a statement.
“His medal will encourage all the wrestlers and we will support al of them,” he added. PTI SKI SKI 08201555 DEL
* Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announces Rs 50 lakh reward for wrestler Sushil Kumar who won bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics. PTI MPB SJY BHA BHA 08201555 DEL
* Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announces Rs 55 lakh reward for Kumar; wrestler to be promoted from Railway Ticketing Inspector to Assistant Commercial Manager. PTI ARU SJY BHA 08201602 DEL
Beijing, Aug 20 (PTI) Grappler Sushil Kumar provided an unexpected boost to India’s Olympic campaign by clinching bronze medal after beating Kazakhstan’s Leonid Spiridonov in the repechage match of the men’s freestyle wrestling 66kg class here today.
Sushil also thwarted the challenge from American Doug Schwab and Belarrussian Albert Batyrov in the first two repechage rounds after losing his opening round bout earlier in the day.
Sushil is only the second Indian wrestler to win the wrestling bronze after Kashabha Jadhav had returned with the medal in 1952 Helsinki Games.
This will be after 56 years that an Indian contingent will return with more than one Olympic medal as shooter Abhinav Bindra has won first-ever Games gold medal for the country earlier at the Beijing Games.
Sushil had lost to far superior Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik in his first round bout. PTI
Bhram is an album done by two aspiring musicians Shadeo and Dawa from Darjeeling. Its an excellently done album with a mix of Rock, Pop, Blues and some jazz elements. Guitars are exclusively composed and arranged and the vocals has a superb throaty characteristic. An overall excellent Nepali album for the western influenced folks. Shadeo is of The Reincarnation fame and Dawa is an aspiring vocalist and lyricists. I found much earthiness in Dawa’s vocal and that is fantastic. The duo has courageous experimented with different genres and have been successful. The music composition is brilliant.
DARJEELING: “Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has been legally working towards the release of Chhatray Subba and his friends who have been under imprisonment for last eight years. Four to five eminent lawyers and legal experts have been pressed into service by the party.” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) Press and Publicity Secretary, Binay Tamang. He further added, “We are dedicated to the release of Chhatray Subba and his friends. We further believe that there is no need for pursuing agitational programmes when we are already pursuing on the matter legally. Yes, if we are not able to muster their release through legal means then we can think of pursuing agitational programmes specific to the issue.” [Inset: CPRM Youth Wing Spokesperson Sudhan Pradhan with posters of 22nd Closure. Photo by Himalaya Darpan]
When asked about the 22nd August Closure [bandh] declared by Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist Youth Wing and Women’s Wing for the release of Chhatray Subba and condemning the DGHC Accord signed on that very day, Tamang said, “We have already told that we will not declare any closure during this season time when the tourists will start to flow into Darjeeling Hills to witness the Puja Festivities. Since closures lead to great hardship amongst the tourists, we are not in favour of closures and hence will not support the 22nd August closure called by Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists Youth and Women’s Wing.” Read the rest of this entry »
