Women / Girls – Page 4 – Global Records India

National Film Awards: Actors Ajay, Suriya and Apa

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday conferred National Film Awards for the year 2020 under various categories at a ceremony held in the national capital. The prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award was conferred on veteran actor Asha Parekh.

Congratulating Parekh for her special contribution to the field of cinema, Murmu said that our sisters of that generation made their mark in various fields despite many constraints and the award given to the actor is also an honour for the indomitable female power.

Speaking on the occasion, the President further said that the film industry plays a major role in building a better society and nation. “Being an audio-visual medium, the influence of films is wider than other mediums of art. Cinema is not only an industry but also a medium of artistic expression of our culture and values. It is also a medium for connecting our society and for nation-building.”

Present on the occasion were Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for I&B Dr L Murugan, and secretary Apurva Chandra. Murmu presented more than 100 awards under the features and non-features film categories including most film-friendly state award which was jointly given to UP and Uttarakhand for their support of film shooting.

Hindu film Actor Ajay Devgn and Tamil actor Suriya Shivakumar shared the Best Actor Award while Aparna Balamurali was conferred the award for Best Actress. Sachidanandan KR was given the Best Director award for Malayalam movie AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior received the Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Thakur said that cinema is poetry in pictures mirroring the magic, marvel and madness of all that which makes us feel alive and human. “Cinema has captured and carved the conscience, community and culture of our country,” said the minister on the occasion.

nie

World Cadets Chess: India’s Shubi Gupta, Charvi emerge champs in U-12 and U-8 section

India’s Shubi Gupta and A Charvi emerged winners in the girls under-12 and under-8 sections respectively in the FIDE World Cadets Chess Championship here on Tuesday

Shubhi Gupta, who hails from Ghaziabad, scored 8.5 points from 11 rounds to claim the top prize in the under-12 event. In the girls under-8 section, Charvi finished first with 9.5 points from 11 rounds.

Charvi was trailing Bodhana Sivanandan (England), who finished second for the last three rounds, but managed to catch and overtake her, thanks to a better tie-break score after both ended up with 9.5 points. Samhita Pungavanam finished 10th with 7.5 points.

In the under-10 category, India’s Hanya Shah took the eighth spot with 7.5 points while compatriots Aadya Ranganath (7 points) and V Tirupurambika (7 points) finished 14th and 19th respectively.

In the open events, India’s Ethan Vaz scored eight points to take the sixth spot in the under-12 category while the next best was Arjun Adireddy (7 points) in 20th place.

In the under-10 section, Vivaan Vishal Shah (8 points) settled for 9th place while France’s Lacan Rus David took the first prize scoring nine points.

India’s Safin Safarullakhan claimed a bronze medal in the under-8 category with nine points. The Kerala boy ended up half a point behind France’s Marc Llari and Russian Sav Shogdzhiev Roman, who finished first and second respectively after the tie-breaks.

nie

National Games 2022: Bhavani Devi wins hat-trick of gold medals

Tokyo Olympic fencer Bhavani Devi won the women’s sabre competition at the National Games 2022 in Gandhinagar’s Mahatma Mandir on Friday, earning her the third consecutive gold medal.

Tamil Nadu’s Bhavani Devi beat Jagmeet Kaur of Punjab 15-3 in the final. She also won gold medals in the 2011 and 2015 editions. Kerala’s Christy Jose Josna and Manipuri Laishram Abi Devi won the bronze medals.

Fellow Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won the gold medal in the women’s rifle shooting, edging out Karnataka’s Tillotama Sen 16-10. West Bengal’s Mehuli Ghosh took the bronze.

Gujarat’s star Elavanil Valarivan began the final rather slowly and moved to the top spot after the second series. The leader board kept changing till the last shot in the fifth series and Elavenil managed to pip Mehuli Ghosh by 0.3 points to set up a gold medal match with top-ranked Tilottama Sen.

In the final, Elavenil Valarivan took an early 4-0 lead. Tilottama tried to keep pace by winning a couple of points at regular intervals but lost nevertheless.

In athletics at IIT, Gandhinagar, nine National Games records fell during the day.

Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh), daughter of a construction labourer, and 17-year-old Parvej Khan (Services) took centre stage. Munita set the first record of this edition in the women’s 20km walk, clocking a commendable 1:38.20.

Parvej Khan then broke the renowned Bahadur Prasad’s 28-year-old National Games record in the men’s 1500m to the delight of the fraternity. He slashed nearly two seconds off his personal best time to win the metric mile gold in 3:40.89.

Asian Games 2018 decathlon champion Swapna Barman, competing in Madhya Pradesh colours, claimed the women’s high jump record with a clearance of 1.83m while Praveen Chithravel (Tamil Nadu) made light of a depleted triple jump field to win gold with a Games record effort of 16.68m.

Damneet Singh (Punjab) in the men’s hammer throw and Kiran Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh) in women’s shot put also entered the record books.

In the men’s 100m semi-finals, yet-to-be-ratified Amlan Borgohain (Assam) also broke the National Games record, set at 10.45 seconds by Haryana’s Dharambir Singh in Thiruvananthapuram in 2015.

Amlan Borgohain, who has been in good form this season, stopped the clock at 10.28 seconds, two-hundredths of a second outside the National Record held by Amiya Kumar Mallick since 2016.

Elsewhere, powered by Ankita Raina, Gujarat women booked their final berth with an easy win over Karnataka. They will start favourites in the gold medal match against Maharashtra at the Riverside Sports Complex on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Divya Kakran (Uttar Pradesh) stopped a Haryana sweep of all six gold medals at stake on the opening day of wrestling. She won the women’s 76kg class title, beating Haryana’s Reetika in the quarter-finals and Rohini Satya Shivani (Telangana) and Rani (Himachal Pradesh) with a measure of comfort in the subsequent bouts.

Haryana men and Odisha women claimed the Rugby 7s gold medals respectively with victories over the Maharashtra teams.

Haryana men played a better second half to sprint away from 7-7 at the break to a 19-7 win. Odisha women, who stunned national champions Bihar in the semi-finals, dominated their title clash, opening up a 15-0 lead in the first half in a 22-0 win.

Haryana scored a golden double in netball, their men’s team defeated Telangana 75-73 in a thriller that went to the wire and their women quelled Punjab’s challenge 53-49.

nie

Dubai’s Kay Godkhindi creates history in all-female chair umpire team at Sofia Open

In a first, supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires are all women who have been assigned to an ATP tour event.

There’s a strong Dubai connection to the ongoing Sofia Open in Bulgaria run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits.

This is for the first time, an all-female chair umpire team, including the ATP supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires, was assigned to an ATP Tour event.

Tournament Director Kay Godkhindi, who is of Indian origin and holds an Australian passport, grew up in Dubai and went to college in the USA.

She told Khaleej Times from Sofia about the exciting aspect of the event.

“Truth be told, we had no clue about history being made in front of our eyes. At the end of the day, it’s a sport where gender is of little consequence. Besides, gender doesn’t define an individual’s capabilities. However, it’s a wonderful concept to have equal opportunity in both the ATP and the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and empowering women as and when possible is a step towards the right direction,” she said while lavishing praise on ATP for championing the gender cause.

Tennis has had several prominent female officials, including those officiating in men’s matches, for several decades.

Anne Lasserre, who is the ATP Supervisor for the ATP 250 in Sofia, is the gender-bender pioneer.

“I think it’s an honour as well to be the first female. I worked as a chair umpire for the ATP a long time ago,” Lasserre said.

“I think things and the situation are evolving, which I think is a good thing. It’s an honour, I’m proud of it…

“It’s good to think about the future and being able to break this glass ceiling and give this opportunity to other females to do the same job as we do in every sport,” she told atptour.com.

ATP Senior Director of Officiating Administration Ali Nili told atptour.com: “The ATP Officiating Department prioritises high performance and a diverse officiating team. The tournament in Sofia is an example of our successful efforts in that direction. While the road to progress is long, we are proud of the direction we are heading, and the future seems bright.

khaleejtimes.com

IIT-Guwahati develops chemo strategy for cancer patients that ‘reduces side effects’

Researchers at IIT-Guwahati have developed a new strategy to deliver chemotherapeutic drugs directly to the infected cells of a cancer patient, thereby significantly reducing side effects.

Explaining it, professor Debasis Manna of the Department of Chemistry said the researchers had two needs in the development of chemotherapy drugs — it must be targeted at the cancer cells and must be released by an external trigger whenever it is required.

“The problem with existing chemotherapeutic drugs is that they kill healthy cells of the body in addition to cancerous cells, leading to numerous undesirable side effects,” IIT-Guwahati said in a statement on Monday.

In fact, it is believed that cancer deaths are as much due to the side effects of chemotherapy as the disease itself, it added.

“There is worldwide research to overcome the drawbacks of secondary toxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs. Some strategies that are being explored include target-specific delivery of the drugs and on-demand delivery of appropriate drug doses to cancerous cells and tissues,” it said.

The molecules developed by the IIT-Guwahati researchers self-assemble as capsules to hold the drug, which then attaches only to cancer cells, the statement said.

“When infrared light is shone on it, the shell breaks and releases the encapsulated drug into the cancerous cell. The IIT-G scientists rightly believe that their approach would allow the development of drug carriers for chemotherapy with enhanced efficacy and negligible side effects,” it added.

The research papers have been co-authored by Manna, along with his research scholars Subhasis Dey, Anjali Patel, and Biswa Mohan Prusty among others.

Anti-cancer activities were carried out in collaboration with professors Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh and Plaboni Sen of IIT-Guwahati, and professors Arindam Bhattacharyya and Soumya Chatterjee of Calcutta University.

“The path-breaking results of this research have been published in prestigious journals of The Royal Society of Chemistry, including ‘Chemical Communications’ and ‘Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry’,” the statement said.

The premier technical institute said that the societal impacts of this work cannot be overstated given the number of cancer patients in India anticipated to be 30 million by 2025.

nie

Fearless woman warrior of Telangana Peasants’ Armed Struggle remembered

Rich tributes were paid to Chakali Ilamma, the brave warrior of the historic Telangana Peasants’ Armed Struggle (1946-51) on the occasion of her 127th birth anniversary at various places in the old undivided Karimnagar district on Monday.

Karimnagar Zilla Parishad chairperson K. Vijaya, Collector R. V. Karnan and a host of elected representatives of the local bodies and officials garlanded the statue of Ilamma on the Collectorate Road in Karimnagar.

People from various walks of life paid floral tributes to the fearless warrior, who spearheaded a valiant armed struggle against feudal oppression and exploitation in the erstwhile Hyderabad State during the autocratic Nizam rule.

They praised the inspiring leadership of Ilamma, who led the peasants’ armed struggle against the cruel feudal oppression with remarkable courage and grit.

In Hanamkonda, Panchayat Raj Minister E. Dayakar Rao, Government Chief Whip D. Vinay Bhaskar and others garlanded the statue of Ilamma at Hunter Road in the city.

Similar programmes were held in the old undivided Warangal, Khammam, Adilabad and other districts in honour of the legendary woman warrior.

Five GenNext Winners

Five winners of the INIFD presents GenNext talent discovery programme have been named, and they will display their collections at the upcoming FDCI X Lakme Fashion Week, which will take place in Mumbai from October 12-16.

One of the most well-known and reliable platforms in the market for aspiring designers, GenNext has already established more than 200 designers. Aseem Kapoor and Pooja Haldar (Aseem Kapoor), Ateev Anand (Re-), Somya Goyal (Somya Goyal), Arshna Raj (Stoique), and Ankur Verma have been named the champions for its 34th batch (TIL).

For the GenNext programme, entries were requested as in every season. An experienced panel comprised of Mehernaaz Dhondy (Editor-Grazia), Aparna Badlani (Creative Director-AZA), Sumati Mattu Head of Innovations, Lakme, Sabina Chopra GenNext Mentor, and Jaspreet Chandok Head of RISE Fashion & Lifestyle reviewed the collections of the shortlisted designers.

The INIFD presents GenNext programme has won praise for spotting and giving budding designers a chance to develop their abilities and gain prominence in the fashion business.

Announcing the latest batch of GenNext designers, Sumati Mattu, Head of Innovations, Lakme said, “Discovery of new Talent has been a key pillar of Lakme Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI. The Gen Next program is a testament to the platform’s longstanding commitment towards identifying, nurturing and promoting young designers who will define the face of tomorrow’s fashion. As we come back to Mumbai for the first time in two years & since the pandemic, we can’t wait to bring alive what the young GenNext designers showcase this season. As Lakme celebrates an iconic seven decades of reinventing beauty this year, we look forward to seeing the GenNext winners elevate and reimagine contemporary beauty looks inspired by Lakme’s trend-setting product statements.”

The INIFD presents GenNext programme has won praise for spotting and giving budding designers a chance to develop their abilities and gain prominence in the fashion business.

Author-poet Meena Kandasamy wins the German PEN award

Born in 1984 in Chennai, Kandasamy is a feminist and anti-caste activist who has been vocal about the arrest of fellow writers like Varavara Rao and former Delhi University professor G.N Saibaba.

Indian author and poet Meena Kandasamy has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Hermann Kesten Prize by the PEN Centre in Germany’s Darmstadt. The Hermann Kesten Prize honours personalities who, in the spirit of the charter of the PEN association, stand up for the rights of persecuted authors and journalists.

Cornelia Zetzsche, Vice President of the German PEN Center, described Kandasamy as “a fearless fighter for democracy and human rights, for the free word and against the oppression of landless, minorities and Dalit in India; not a ‘Ms. Pleasant’, rather a ‘Ms. Militancy’,” referring to Kandasamy’s 2011 book of poems titled Ms Militancy.

Born in 1984 in Chennai, Kandasamy is a feminist and anti-caste activist whose work revolves around the issue of gender, caste, sexuality, patriarchy, and oppression by the Brahmanical system. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Hindu Lit Prize.

Kandasamy has been a vocal critic of the arrest of fellow writers like Varavara Rao and former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba.

Ind vs Eng 2nd WODI | Harmanpreet powers India to first series win in England in 23 years

Harmanpreet Kaur scored a magnificent 143 not out (111 balls) as India put on board a mammoth 333 for 5 against England in the 2nd ODI. India won by 88 runs

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a scintillating unbeaten ton to power India to a comprehensive 88-run win in the second ODI, that sealed country’s first series win against England since 1999.

A vintage Harmanpreet rekindled the memories of 2017 World Cup with a magnificent 143 not out which came off just 111 balls as India put on board a mammoth 333 for 5.

India bundled out England for 245 in 44.5 overs with medium pacer Renuka Singh (4/57) claiming four wickets on Wednesday night.

Danni Wyatt’s 58-ball 65 was the lone bright spot, in an otherwise, dismal show by England batters.

The last time Indian women won an ODI series in England was in 1999 when they triumphed 2-1.

Indian bowlers come good

Chasing the imposing total, what England needed was a brisk start, but Renuka denied them by dismissing two top-order batter in Emma Lamb (15) and Sophia Dunkley (1).

Tammy Beaumont (6) was run out as the hosts were reduced to 47 for 3 by the end of the eighth over.

Alice Capsey (39) and Wyatt stitched 55 runs for the fourth wicket and then Wyatt shared another 65 runs with skipper Amy Jones (39) before the England’s chase fell apart with Renuka cleaning up Wyatt in the 30th over.

Towards the end, Charlie Dean (37) and Kate Cross (14) tried their best but the asking was too tall as India recorded a magnificent win.

18 fours, 4 sixes for Harmanpreet

Sent into bat, Harmanpreet smashed 18 fours and four sixes en route her 111-ball knock and also enjoyed a fine 112-run stand for the fourth wicket with Harleen Deol (58 off 72 balls).

She also added 50 with Pooja Vastrakar (18) and another 71 runs in four overs with Deepti Sharma (15 not out) for the unbroken sixth wicket stand.

However, it was in the last three overs in which Harmanpreet literally took the game away from England’s grasp as the 334-run target in a WODI always looked improbable even though the pitch being a batting belter.

In the last three overs, the Indian team scored 62 runs, courtesy its skipper, who was in imperious touch while reaching her fifth hundred in WODIs.

The innings had Harmanpreet’s trademark slog sweeps over cow corner which fetched him a couple of sixes while there were disdainful sixes over cover region.

With the pitch offering little help for bowlers, hitting through the line was very easy and England’s bowling attack did suffer a bit with only off-spinner Charlie Dean (1/39) ending with respectable figures.

The worst sufferer was debutant left-arm seamer Freya Kemp, who did decently till the end of her seventh over in which she had conceded only 28 runs.

Such was Harmanpreet’s dominance that Deepti Sharma, who still holds the individual record (188) by an Indian batter in WODIs, was more of a spectator during their sixth wicket stand.

Brief Scores

India Women 333/5 in 50 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 143 not out, Harleen Deol 58, Freya Kemp 1/82).

England: 245 all out in 44.2 overs (Danni Wyatt 65; Renuka Singh 4/57). PTI SSC SSC AT AT

Wrestling Worlds: Vinesh gets a bronze high

She became the first Indian female wrestler to win two medals at the event.

Grappling with injuries and self-doubt, Vinesh Phogat has endured a difficult 12 months. After her shocking loss at the Tokyo Olympics, there were even thoughts about retirement that clouded her mind and the eventual fallout with the federation left her emotionally drained.

But the fighter that she is, Vinesh decided to give herself another chance at the world stage.

On Wednesday, she got the rewards of her perseverance — winning her second bronze medal at the wrestling world championships.

After losing to Khulan Batkhuyag of Mongolia in her first bout on Tuesday, Vinesh came back with vengeance in the repechage round of the 53kg category. Competing against Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan – a multiple times Asian Championships medallist – Vinesh was at her attacking best and pinning her opponent in the first period. Vinesh brought Eshimova down with a front head snap and swirled around her quickly to take control. Eshimova tried to defend but Vinesh locked her up and turned her sideways for the pin.

Vinesh got a walkover in her next match against Leyla Gurbanova of Ajerbaijain who was injured in her semi-final bout on Tuesday.

In the bronze medal bout, it was Vinesh’s defence that came to the fore initially. Emma Jonna Malmgren of Sweden kept launching quick attacks but she was first denied by Vinesh’s defence and then forced on the back foot by the counter-attacks as the experienced Indian eased to a comfortable 8-0 win.

Malmgren, a junior world champion, was quick to pounce on Vinesh’s legs at the start but the Indian countered for two points. She seemed to have hurt her ankle in the process. The entire bout played out in the same fashion. Malmgren — quick and attack-minded — swooping low to take hold of Vinesh’s legs and the latter using all her experience and skill to turn the move in her favour, eventually making it a lopsided contest.

It was Vinesh’s second international medal this season, having won her third successive Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham last month. The competition in CWG was not of highest quality and if there was any flicker of doubt about whether Vinesh was looking for to continue in the path of Paris Olympics, she erased that in Belgrade. She became the only Indian woman wrestler to win two world championships medal, having won her first in 2019. The 53kg gold was won by USA’s Dominique Olivia Parrish who defeated Khulan Batkhuyag.