August 2022 – Page 4 – Global Records India

Kerala woman aims to join league of Indian-origin women astronauts

Canada-based space entrepreneur Aathira Preetharani, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, has been selected for an astronaut training programme of the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) in the US.

After completing the programme, Aathira hopes to join the league of Indian-origin women astronauts like Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.

But the 24-year-old’s eventual flight to space would be special as she would be proudly sporting the Indian tricolour on her space suit. “Though I am based in Canada, I applied for the astronaut training programme as an Indian citizen. So I will be training as an Indian national there, with the tricolour on my training suit,” Aathira told TNIE in an online interaction from Ottawa, Canada. Aathira was selected under Project PoSSUM, an aeronomy research programme, offered by IIAS.

“PoSSUM trains people to become citizen astronauts so that you do not remain a mere passenger when you go out to space but can also carry out valuable research activities,” said Aathira. In the run-up to joining the astronaut training programme at Florida Tech in the US, she is busy honing her skills as a fighter pilot. “Scuba diving and fighter pilot experience would stand an astronaut trainee in good stead for the mission ahead,” she added.

Aathira had to wait for two years to be fully cleared to fly a fighter jet and her training sessions are slated to begin this month. An alumnus of St Thomas Central School in Thiruvananthapuram, Aathira was fascinated by space right from an early age. Her interest in space was further nurtured by the sessions held by Aastro, an amateur astronomers’ society in Thiruvananthapuram. She met her future husband Gokul at Aastro and their common interest in space made the bond stronger.

At the age of 18, Aathira moved out of her home to live on her own, with the earnings from computer programming assignments. “A year later, I moved to Canada to pursue a course in robotics. However, I changed track and began efforts to launch my own company that specialises in building space tugs to help interplanetary explorations, service satellites, and resolve the space debris problem in the earth’s orbit,” she said. Gokul, who was previously with Isro and later moved to Canada to join Aathira, is also part of the startup named Exo-Geo Aerospace Inc.

nie

Assam Swimmer Creates Record by Covering 200 km of Indo-Arabian Gateway in 53 Hours

A swimming champion from Assam recently became the first swimmer from North East India to cover 200 km of the Indo Arabian Gateway Mumbai Circle in 53 hours. Elvis Ali Hazarika achieved the feat with the help of his relay team. Union minister of Ports and Shipping, Sarbananda Sonowal, tweeted about Elvis’ achievement and congratulated him.

“Congrats Elvis! 200 Km in 53 Hrs. Yet another feat by ace swimmer Elvis Ali Hazarika to cover the Indo Arabian Gateway Mumbai Circle swim with his relay team, becoming the first from the North East to do so. Keep it up, champ.”

news18.com

Golf | Bhullar registers 10th career win IN Mandiri Indonesia Open; ends four-year Indian title drought in Asia

Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a superb 7-under 65 to be 20-under and win the $5,00,000 Mandiri Indonesia Open.

Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar produced one of the best rounds of his career when he needed it most to end India’s four-year long title drought on the Asian Tour.

Bhullar shot a superb 7-under 65 to be 20-under and win the $5,00,000 Mandiri Indonesia Open.

He won the tournament by two shots over countryman Rashid Khan (68) and Steve Lewton (64).

The last Indian win had come at the Panasonic Open by Khalin Joshi in 2018.

It was his 10th Asian Tour win, the most by an Indian as he extended his own record. He also became the first player to win the event three times, following his wins in 2013 and 2016.

Chennai boomerang champ set to represent India on global stage

Chennai-based Philip Sathyaraj is part of a three-member team representing the country in the World Boomerang Championships

As a child, Philip Sathyaraj was always interested in flying objects. When a friend went to Australia 15 years ago and gifted him a boomerang, he was thrilled. He opened the wrapper, and tried throwing it.

Only, it did not come back.

Several years later, when another friend informed him that a new toy store in the city had boomerangs in stock, Philip rushed to buy one. Back home, he threw it with the same excitement he had when he first did.

It still did not come back.

Cut to 2022. Chennai-based Philip, currently ranked the best Indian thrower, will be part of a three-member team representing the country in the World Boomerang Championships (WBC), to be held in France from August 15. An event that will have over hundred participants from 14 countries, this is the first time an Indian team is taking part in the WBC.

We’re looking forward to doing well, and also looking at this as an opportunity to interact with boomerang enthusiasts across the world,” says Philip, who teams up with Jay Singh Yadav and Sunil Uikey for the WBC.

Chennai Chess Olympiad 2022 : India 2 clinches bronze; Uzbekistan takes gold ahead of Armenia

India 1 holds top-seeded USA to finish fifth; individual golds for Gukesh, Nihal, silver for Erigiasi; bronze for Praggs

Putting aside the disappointment of missing a chance to have a go at the gold medal, India 2 climbed the podium with a resounding 3-1 victory over Germany in the 11th and final round of the Chess Olympiad on Tuesday.

With Nihal Sarin and Raunak Sadhwani striking with white and D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa gaining a draw with black, India 2 emerged as the only team on 18 points, one behind champion Uzbekistan and runner-up Armenia.

The young combination of Uzbekistan defeated Netherlands 2.5-1.5 while joint-overnight leader Armenia scored an identical victory over Spain.

For India, this was the second medal in the Open section of the Olympiad, to go with the one from the 2014 edition.

India 1 also came up with a fine performance to hold top seed USA 2-2. But this result left the teams on 17 points and away from the podium. India 1 finished fourth and USA, fifth. India 3, seeded 16, drew with Kazakhstan to finish a distant 31st.

Reward for brilliance

Individual gold medals for D. Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, silver to Arjun Erigiasi and bronze to R. Praggnanandhaa underlined the phenomenal display of this teen-quartet in the premier competition.

Important results (11th round, with match-points):

Open:Germany (15) lost to India 2 (18) 1-3 (Vincent Keymer drew with D. Gukesh; Matthias Bluebaum lost to Nihal Sarin; Rasmus Svane drew with R. Praggnanandhaa; Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu lost to Raunak Sadhwani).

India 1 (17) drew with USA (17) 2-2 (P. Harikrishna drew with Caruana Fabiano; Vidit Gujrathi drew with Wesley So; Arjun Erigaisi bt Leinier Dominguez Perez; S.L. Narayanan lost to Sam Shankland).

Kazakhstan (15) drew with India 3 (14) 2-2 (Rinat Jumabayev bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly; Alisher Sulemenov drew with S.P. Sethuraman; Arystanbek Urzayev lost to M. Karthikeyan; Kazybek Norgerbek drew with Abhimanyu Puranik).

Armenia (19) bt Spain (15) 2.5-1.5; Uzbekistan (19) bt Netherlands (15) 2.5-1.5; Moldova (17) bt England (15) 2.5-1.5; Azerbaijan (16) bt Serbia (15) 2.5-1.5.

The standings: 1-2. Uzbekistan, Armenia; 3. India 2; 4-6. India 1, USA and Moldova; 31. India 3.

Individual prizes: Board 1: 1. D. Gukesh (Ind 2), 2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb), Magnus Carlsen (Nor).

Board 2: 1. Nihal Sarin (Ind 2), 2. Nikolaos Theodorou (Gre), 3. Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb);

Board 3: 1. David Howell (Eng), 2. Arjun Erigaisi (Ind 1), 3. R. Praggnanandhaa (Ind 2).

Board 4: 1. Jakhongir Vakhidov (Uzb), 2. Paulius Pultinevicius (Ltu), 3. Jaime Santos Latasa (Esp).

Reserve: 1. Mateusz Bartel (Pol), 2. Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm), 3. Volodymyr Onyshchuk (Ukr).

Justice U.U. Lalit appointed 49th Chief Justice of India

He will have a brief tenure as he will demit office on November 8

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was appointed the 49th Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday after President Droupadi Murmu signed his warrant of appointment.

Justice Lalit will assume charge on August 27, a day after Justice N.V. Ramana demits office as the CJI. Justice Lalit will have a brief tenure as he will demit office on November 8 after holding the charge as the CJI for a little under three months.

Justice Lalit will be the second CJI who was directly elevated to the apex court Bench from the Bar.

Justice S.M. Sikri was the first lawyer to be elevated directly to the top court Bench in March 1964 and went on to become the 13th CJI in January 1971.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of Article 124 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, judge of the Supreme Court, to be the Chief Justice of India with effect from 27 August, 2022,” a Law Ministry notification said.

While Supreme Court judges retire on attaining the age of 65, judges of the 25 High Courts superannuate at the age of 62.

In a first, indigenous ATAGS to be part of 21-gun salute on Independence Day

It will stand as a testament to India’s growing capacity of developing arms and ammunition, says Defence Secretary

In a first, an indigenous artillery gun, the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), will be used along with the usual 25-Pounders for the 21-gun salute during the Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort this year.

“The initiative to use this indigenously developed gun will stand as a testament to India’s growing capacity of developing arms and ammunition indigenously. The gun has been specifically customised both in terms of blank firing and sound attributes so that it will be useful for ceremonial purposes,” Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said, briefing the media on this year’s celebrations.

Since Independence, the ceremonial 21-gun salute is accorded by seven vintage Quick Fire 25 Pounder guns which fire blank rounds as the National Anthem is played after the hoisting of the National Flag by the Prime Minister.

This year, in addition to the 25-Pounders, as they are popularly known, one ATAGS will be used, Mr. Kumar said.

The ATAGS is a 155 mm, 52 calibre heavy artillery gun jointly developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), the Pune-based laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in partnership with Bharat Forge and Tata Group. In May, the gun successfully completed validation trails towards meeting the specifications of the Army and is now ready for induction.

ICAR develops vaccine for Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle

As of August 8, the disease has spread to Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Uttarakhand

In a major breakthrough, two institutes of Agri research body ICAR have developed an indigenous vaccine for Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle which has spread across many States in the last few months.

The Centre plans to commercialise this vaccine, developed by the two institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), at the earliest in order to control the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), which has led to the death of cattle in six States.

As of August 8, Rajasthan has reported 2,111 deaths of cattle, followed by Gujarat at 1,679, Punjab at 672, Himachal Pradesh at 38, Andaman & Nicobar at 29 and Uttarakhand at 26.

ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE), Hisar (Haryana), in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh has developed a homologous live-attenuated LSD vaccine “Lumpi-ProVacInd”.

The new technology was released by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala at an event held in the national capital.

CorbeVax cleared as precaution dose vaccine, awaits WHO’s emergency use listing

This the first time that a booster dose that is different from the one used for primary vaccination has been allowed in the country

Still awaiting World Health Organisation’s emergency use listing (EUL) the Central Government on August 10 approved Biological E’s CorbeVax as a precaution dose for those above 18 years fully vaccinated with either Covishield or Covaxin.

EUL is a risk-based procedure for assessing and listing unlicensed vaccines, therapeutics and in-vitro diagnostics with the ultimate aim of expediting the availability of products to people affected by a public health emergency. Also international travel in many countries requires people to get a vaccine that’s on the WHO’s approved list.

That pending, the latest approval by the Central Government makes this the first time that a booster dose that is different from the one used for primary vaccination has been allowed in the country.

This will be in addition to the existing guidelines for homologous precaution dose administration of Covaxin and Covishield vaccine. Also all necessary changes in regard to the administration of precaution dose of CorbeVax vaccine are being made on the Co-WIN portal.

The approval is based on the recommendations made recently by the Covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). CorbeVax is to be considered as a precaution dose after completion of six months or 26 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose of either Covaxin or Covishield vaccines for those aged above 18 years enabling use of CorbeVax as a heterologous Covid-19 vaccine for precaution dose administration in this age group.

Sunil Chhetri, Manisha Kalyan named men’s and women’s AIFF Footballer of Year

Sunil Chhetri, the third highest goal scorer among active international players, was first named for the award in 2007

National captain Sunil Chhetri was on Tuesday named the AIFF Men’s Footballer of the Year for the seventh time while Manisha Kalyan was picked for her maiden honour in the women’s category for the 2021-22 season.

Chhetri and Kalyan were nominated as the winners by their respective national team coaches Igor Stimac and Thomas Dennerby.

Chhetri, the third highest goal scorer among active international players, was first named for the award in 2007. He then went on to win it in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018–19 seasons.

“Sunil was our highest goal-scorer, scoring 5 goals, and also the Player of the Tournament in the SAFF Cup,” Stimac said.

“Furthermore, he led from the front scoring 4 goals in 3 games in the 3rd round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Kolkata. His commitment, leadership, discipline and hard work were impressive throughout bad, and good times.”

For Kalyan, it was her first Women’s Footballer of the Year award. She won the Women’s Emerging Footballer of the Year in the 2020-21 season.

“Manisha has come up with some outstanding performances for the National Team, and also her club. She has scored goals, and also assisted on a regular basis,” Dennerby said.

“Blessed with excellent speed and being a good dribbler, she has the potential to play in bigger leagues in the future. She’s young, and still developing but has been our best player.”

Kalyan recently signed a multi-year contract with Cypriot top division winners Apollon Ladies, which has earned a place in the qualifying rounds of the 2022-23 UEFA Women’s Champions League.

In other awards, Martina Thokchom was named the 2021-22 Women’s Emerging Footballer of the Year, and Vikram Partap Singh was picked as the 2021-22 Men’s Emerging Footballer of the Year by the two national team coaches.

AIFF Awards (2021-22):

Women’s Footballer of the Year: Manisha Kalyan

Men’s Footballer of the Year: Sunil Chhetri

Women’s Emerging Footballer of the Year: Martina Thokchom

Men’s Emerging Footballer of the Year: Vikram Partap Singh

Best Referee of the Year: Crystal John

Best Assistant Referee of the Year: Ujjal Halder