‘manoj deserved arjuna award’
NEW DElHI: Government on Tuesday admitted that it was a mistake to deny Arjuna award to Commonwealth Games gold-medalist boxer Manoj Kumar initially and said it happened because of “mistaken identity”. “It was our mistake. It had happened due to mistaken identity. As soon as the error was detected, we have decide to confer the Arjuna award to Manoj Kumar,” Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told lok Sabha during Question Hour. After being snubbed for a second time, Manoj took the legal route and filed a case in the Delhi high Court. In the court, the Ministry had admitted that Manoj was initially not considered for the award by the committee as they mistakenly believed that he was involved in a doping case.
Fifa dismisses garcia’s appeal
GENEVA: The status of Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts seemed even more secure on Tuesday after FIFA dismissed ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia’s appeal against the handling of his investigation into the bidding process. FIFA said its appeals panel ruled the case “not admissible.” The former US Attorney had objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckert’s summary of the World Cup bid investigation, claiming “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations” of his work. Garcia filed his appeal last month only three hours after FIFA published Eckert’s report and welcomed “a degree of closure.” However, Eckert’s report “does not constitute a decision ... and as such is neither legally binding nor appealable,” FIFA said in a statement Tuesday. FIFA also provided further legal opinion in a background paper on its website. It was unclear if Garcia can take his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
India win 10 medals in Judo
New Delhi: Indian judokas put up an impressive performance and bagged a rich haul of 10 medals, including a gold, in the eight Asian Cadet and 15th Asian Junior Judo Championships held in Hong Kong from December 10-15. While the cadet team bagged seven medals, including one gold, one silver and five bronze, the judo picked up three bronze medals. The gold medal for India was won by Jasleen Singh Saini in the -66kg cadet category, while N Seema Devi bagged the lone silver medal -40kg cadet division. The bronze medal winners for India were Malaprabha Jadhav (-44kg cadet), Pincky Balhara (-52kg cadet), Devender Pawaria (-50kg cadet), Shamsher Singh (-81kg cadet), Sachin Maan (+90kg cadet), Dhanpriyari Devi (-44kg junior), l Sanatombi Devi (-48kg junior) and Harpreet Kaur (+78kg junior).
Jitu Rai claims 10m pistol gold
Pune: Incheon Asian Games gold medallist Jitu Rai broke his own record to claim the 10m pistol title for men in the 58th National Shooting Championship at the Balewadi shooting range here on Tuesday. The Army shooter, who has been consistent in leading the charts of different events in the nationals, scored 202.3 to claim the gold. He broke his own national mark of 199.4 which he had set in the Munich World Cup earlier this year. It was double delight for Jitu as his team from Army Marksmanship Unit swept the team competition as well. Jitu along with Gurpreet Singh and Sukhwinder Singh shot a combined total of 1725.
Dick Pound to lead WADA probe
Montreal: A panel headed by former World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound will investigate allegations of systematic doping in Russia. WADA announced Tuesday that Pound and veteran sports arbitrator Richard Mclaren will investigate the accusations of widespread doping, corruption and cover-ups in Russia made by the German television network ARD. A third member of the panel will be announced later. WADA says the commission will start its investigation next month. WADA President Craig Reedie says if the probe finds any violations of anti-doping rules, the agency “will ensure that any individuals or organizations concerns are dealt with in an appropriate fashion.
soldier breaks Guinness Record
Margao: Naib Subedar Azad Singh of 2 Signal Training Centre Goa broke the Guinness World Record for travelling the farthest distance balancing a football on the head, here on Tuesday. With the feat, Azad, as he is popularly known in Goa, has entered his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. As the Sun was set to rise in Goa after 6 AM, this son of Goa had already commenced his journey along the Panjim — Miramar — Dona Paula — Goa Medical College route and repeated the circuit twice covering a total distance of 45.64 Km and completing his passionate endeavour in eight hours. Previous record was by Abdul Halim of Bangladesh with a distance of 15.2 Km.