Month: March 2016

Indian Girl : World’s Youngest Girl to scale Mount Everest . May 2014

Malavath Poorna – a 13 year-old Indian Tribal school girl became the youngest girl in the world to climb Mount Everest, the World’s tallest mountain. She hoisted the National Flag and offerred a salute to B R Ambedkar. May 25th, 2014 .

A new Record of ‘New Age Scale’

Poorna climbed the mountain braving the minus 60 degrees celsium temperatures of Mount Everest from the Tibetan side which is a much more difficult climb. Most climbers attempt the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) Everest from the Nepalese* side which is easier of two.

At 13 years,11 months, Poorna is just a month older that the world’s youngest Everest climber – American Jordan Romero who scaled the peak in 2010, when he was 13 years,11 months.

She was accompanied on the 52-day-long journey by B. Shekhar Babu of Nalgonda, an experienced mountaineer, her friend 18 year-old boy Sadhanapalli Ananad Kumar – son of a cycle mechanic and a group of Sherpas.

Poorna and Anand were trained at the ‘Himalayan Mountaineering Institute’ in Darjeeling

Both parents of Malavath Poorna , mother Lakshmi and father Devidas work as agricultural labourers in a small tribal village ‘Pakala’, Srikonda mandal in Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), a state in Southern India.

 

*Nepal does not allow climbers under 16 years of age to scale the mountain

 

First Captain in the World to create a ‘World T20 Captaincy’ Record. March 2016

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (M S Dhoni), India’s National Cricket Team Captain created a World Record . He became the only Captain from any Nation to have led a team in all 6-editions of the ‘World T20’ championships. March 15th, 2016.

M S Dhoni was first appointed Skipper for the Indian Cricket Team in 2007. Subsequently 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and presently 2016 edition.

The 34-year Dhoni, is the only Captain in history to have won all 3 ICC Trophies (World T20 in 2007, Word Cup in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013.

First Indian to Receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1913 .

Rabindranath Tagore was the first Indian to receive the Nobel prize for Literature . He was also the first Asian and simultaneously the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel for Literature. December 19th, 1913.

He was awarded the prize for Gitanjali, a collection of songs and poems. Tagore himself had translated the poems into English in 1912 with an introduction by W.B.Yeats who won the Nobel for literature a decade after his Indian friend in 1923.

This year (2016) marks the 103rd anniversary of Tagore winning the Nobel prize in 1913.

 

More Info….Coming Up.

First Indian Cueist to win Gold at Snooker ‘ The World Games 2013 ‘ . July 2013 .

Aditya Mehta , Asian Snooker Champion and top ranked Indian became the first Indian cueist to become ‘The World Games 2013’ Champion in the Snooker Event on Tuesday – July 30th, 2013 in the quadrennial 5-day tournament held  in Cali, Columbia.

Aditya was in top form as he toppled the pre-tournament favourite Liang Wenbo of China in the final with a thumping 3-0 win to clinch the Gold medal.

This is India’a first World Games Gold medal since the legendary shuttler Prakash Padukhone’s Bronze in the inaugral edition of the ‘World Games’ in 1981 and only the second for India in the history of the World Games.

This is India’a first World Games Gold medal since the legendary shuttler Prakash Padukhone’s Bronze in the inaugral edition of the ‘World Games’ in 1981 and only the second for India in the history of the World Games.

The ‘World Games’ is an international multi-sport event for sports or disciplines not contested in the Olympic Games. International World Games Association (IWGA) – www.theworldgames.org, founded 1981.

[MRR]

British Mission in India, gets its First Indian-Origin Diplomat. July 2013 .

In a first Kumar Iyer, a Diplomat of Indian-origin is appointed as the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western Region. He will have responsibility of all aspects of diplomatic engagement in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

He will also simultaneously be Director General India for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI),for the whole of India – a new top-level post that has been created to reflect the increasing importance of the UK-India business ties.

He will be take up both positions based in Mumbai at the British Mission on August 05th, 2013.

Kumar Iyer has a MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a Bank of England scholar. He was an undergraduate tutor in Microeconomics. He was also a Kennedy Scholar and Teaching Fellow in International Capital Markets at Harvard University.

He joined the British Government in 2008 as Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. In 2010 he moved to the Treasury, first as Deputy Director, Strategy Plannig & Budget and then as Head of Financial Sector Intervention. Prior to that he was at the Boston Consulting Group where he worked mainly in the Financial Services Practice.

Kumar Iyer was born in London to parents of Indian origin. He spent his formative years in India, including time in Mumbai. He is married to Kathryn, a barrister practicing criminal law and they have 2 children a son and a daughter. He is a keen cricketer and chess player.

First American-Indian Crowned ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ at Staten Island, NY . July 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, a Syracuse, NY native was crowned as ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ making her the first Indian to be crowned ‘ Miss New York ‘.

The 24-year old winner Nina Davuluri was crowned by Miss America Mallory Hagan and her predecessor Miss New York Shannon Oliver during a specatular production at the stately St.George Theatre in Staten Island, New York on Saturday July 13th, 2013. Nina Davuluri was attired in a floor length evening gown of light yellow.

Davuluri embraced her culture performing a bollywood dance as her talent. In overcoming her obstacles Nina lost 60 pounds in the last 2 years and did it all with the help of her sponsor and trainer Tia Falcone. ” Just to be on that stage and show everyone how hard I’ve worked to achieve this, just meant the world to me ” says Davuluri. She plans to use the $10,000 she won in scholarship money to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor.

Nina is working closely with the ‘Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ to raise funds for the local children’s hospitals.

As Miss New York she will now represent the Empire State, at the forthcoming ‘ Miss America pageant ‘ at the Atlantic City. Th final night of the Pageant competition and the crowning of ‘ Miss America ‘ is scheduled for September 15th. The event will be broadcase at 9pm ET/PT on ABC television network.

www.missny.org/missny2013/ – Miss New York Organization., Inc.

First differently-abled Indian Athlete to win Gold at IPC Athletics World Championship, France . July 2013 .

Devendra Jhajhaira scripted history and became the first differently-abled Indian to win Gold as he bagged the first position in the Javelin event at the 6th IPC Athletics World Championship held at the Rhone Stadium in Venissieux near Lyons, France on Monday – July 22nd, 2013.

Jhajhaira also created the record of the event in France by hurling the Javelin to 57.04m in the F-46 category meant for one-armed athletes. He led the 11-athlete field from the very beginning.

India was represented by a 10-member contingent in this July 19-28 Championship. The Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) President, Sultan Ahmed congratulated Devendra Jhajhaira and the PCI announced an award of 5 lakhs.

The 2013 6th edition IPC Athletics World Championship featured over a 1000 athletes from 100 countries and is the biggest gathering of internationally disabled athletes since the 2012 London Olympics.

Devendra Jhajhaira, 32 year old, who lost his left hand in an accident is the son of a farmer Ram Singh hailing from the desert terrain Churu district of Rajasthan, the gateway to the Thar desert. He is a class IV employee of the Indian Railways and is thankful to the Railyways who allowed him to practice and train throughout the year.

It was in 1997, that Jhajhaira was spotted by his coach Ripudaman Singh Aulak, a Dronacharya Awardee in Javelin. He shifted to the nearby town of Kasab for better training facilities. Soon he was training at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala (Punjab).

Devendra Jhajhaira is the (1) 2nd gold medallist at the Paralympics after Murlikant Petkar (2) At Athens (Greece) he created a new world recored of 62.15m throw (3) He won a Gold medal at the 8th FESPIC Games in Korea.

Following his spectacular performance in the 2004 Paralympics Games, Jhajhaira was conferred the ‘ Arjuna Award ‘ in 2005. He is also the first Paralympian* to be awarded the ‘Padma Shree’ in March 2012. (* Paralympian…. Paralympic sports person).

Indian Girls Win Historic First-Ever Medal in Womens Hockey Junior World Cup . August 2013 .

The first Womens hockey team from India to win a Bronze medal in the Junior Womens World Cup history in Monchengladbach, Germany on Sunday – August 04th, 2013.

It was a thrilling match where the score remained tied 1-1 at full time after 70 minutes of play, leading to a penalty shootout. In a battle of nerves the Indian girls held their own, to beat a fancied England 3-2 in a shoot-out-victory on penalties to claim the bronze medal in the ‘Junior Womens’ World Cup’. The winning goal was scored by 17 year-old Navneet Kaur. 18-year old Rani was later named as ‘Player of the Tournament’.

This was the best finish by the Indian eves team in the event, having finished outside the top-eight in their earlier 3 attempts.

At the World level, across all age groups this was the maiden succes for the Indian Women’s Hockey team . The Indian eves best before was a 4th place finish at the 1974 World Cup and the 1980 Olympics.

Hockey India (HI) Secretary General Narinder Batra announced a cash reward of Rupees one lakh for each player of the team and Rupees fifty thousand for the support staff. The Chief Coach Neil Hawgood will also receive a cash reward of Rupees one lakh.

First Indian to be appointed Global CEO of Worldwide Italian Confectionery Giant . August 2013 .

Sameer Suneja has been promoted to the top job as global CEO of the 2,245 million Italian sugar confectionery making – Perfetti Group. He will take over the role on October 01st, thus making him the first ever Indian Global head and perhaps the first non-Italian global CEO of the privately held firm.

Perfetti Van Melle Spa (PVM)is the world’s 3rd largest confectionery group after Kraft-Cadbury and Mars-Wrigley. Perfetti makes Alpenliebe and Mentos candies, Chlormint toffee, Center Fresh, Hanny Dent and Big Babool gum.

Sameer Suneja will report to the Board of Directors of the Netherlands based holding of the Group.

His promotion comes barely a year after he was promoted as Executive Vice President (EVP), Innovation & Business Development based in the Netherlands reporting to the global CEO of Perfetti, Ubalto Traldi. Suneja’s mandate included exchanging successful experiences in marketing and commercial fields across the group.

Previous to moving to the global role based out of Netherlands, Suneja was the Managing Director, Perfetti Van Melle India for 4 years. In India Suneja also launched Alpenliebe candy, now the country’s single-largest confectionery. He has been with PVM India, a subsidiary of the global conglomerate for over 16 years. He joined Perfetti as brand manager in 1997 when it was only 3 years old in India.

Sameer Suneja, 41 years, an IIM-Bangalore alumnus 1994 batch, started his career at Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste maker as management trainee. He then moved on and became product manager handling Colgate toothbrush portfolio. Subsequently he joined Pepsico’s snacks arm Frito Lay as brand manager, handling both the chips and traditional snacks categories before joining Perfetti Van Melle India as brand manager in its early days in the country in 1997.

Note: There are other individuals who have made it to the top heading Global multi-nationals. You may use the ‘Search’ feature to access the information.