Page 33 - Olympics

Paris Olympics 2024: Stories of India's Olympic-bound relay teams

Redemption, fulfilment of a father's dream, a big step in a nascent career and justification of choices made early in life -- Olympic qualification meant different things to the different members of the 4x400m Indian men's and women's relay teams who booked their Paris berths on Monday. PTI gives a low-down on the eight runners -- four men and four women -- who finished second in their respective qualifying heats at the World Athletics Relay in Nassau, Bahamas to make the Olympic cut. THE WOMEN'S TEAM: ----------------------- MR Poovamma: ========== For Olympian Poovamma, it's a redemption of sorts after she faced the ignominy of a two-year ban for a doping offence in 2021 before getting a favourable decision after the intervention of Kerala High Court. The 33-year-old, a multiple medallist in the individual 400m and 4x400m relay race in the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games, returned to action during the Goa National Games last year after serving a two-year ban. "Finally, I can return

Indian women's and men's 4x400m relay teams qualify for Paris Olympics 2024

The Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay teams qualified for Paris Olympics after finishing second in their respective second-round heats at the World Athletics Relays here on Monday. In the women's competition, the quartet of Rupal Chaudhary, M R Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3 minutes and 29.35 seconds to finish second behind Jamaica (3:28.54) in heat number one to book a Paris Games ticket. Later, the men's squad of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob finished with a collective timing of 3 minutes and 3.23 seconds to also finish second in their heat, behind USA (2:59.95). The top two teams in each of the three heats in the second round were to qualify for the Olympics to be held from July 26 to August 11. The Indian women's team had finished fifth in the first-round qualifying heat on Sunday with a time of 3 minutes and 29.74 seconds. The men's team had failed to finish in the first-round qualifying heat after second le

Olympics 2024: Big blow for India medal hopes! Nada suspends Bajrang Punia

According to reports, Punia failed to provide his urine sample for the selection trials at Sonepat on March 10, prompting NADA to issue the order suspending him from participation in any future events

Paris Olympics: Policing to include checks for some of city's residents

Special anti-terrorism measures being put in place to safeguard the unprecedented opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on the River Seine will also apply to all buildings along the route, meaning people who work and live there and their guests will be subjected to background security checks, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Thursday. Those affected will be cross-checked against security services' databases, to see whether they have previously been flagged as suspected Islamist extremists or for other radicalism, Nunez said. The wildly ambitious July 26 ceremony is proving to be a gargantuan security challenge. Athletes will be paraded through the heart of the French capital on 94 boats along a six-kilometre (nearly four-mile) stretch of the Seine, from east to west. They will be accompanied by 87 other boats for security, media and other people. All of the parade route will be inside a high-security zone that Nunez described as an "anti-terrorism perimeter". He said it wi

Paris will become no-fly zone to safeguard 2024 Olympic opening ceremony

Skies over the Paris region will be closed for six hours as part of the massive security operation for the July 26 opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Paris airports operator said Wednesday. Augustin de Romanet, chairman of Aroports de Paris, said airlines are being warned in advance about the closure and told they will have to fly around the restricted airspace. For six hours, there won't be any aircraft over the Paris region," he said on France Info radio. The no-fly zone will extend for a radius of 150 kilometers (93 miles) around Paris, the civil aviation authority and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin have said. The unprecedented waterborne ceremony on the River Seine running through the French capital is the stiffest single security challenge for Paris Games organizers, with crowds of more than 320,000 people expected to line the waterway. At least one French military AWACS surveillance aircraft will police the skies during the Olympics, using its powerful radar to wa

Vinesh Phogat secures women's 50kg category Paris Olympics quota for India

Looking as dominant as ever, Vinesh Phogat on Saturday locked Paris Olympics quota in women's 50kg category, reaching the final at the Asian Olympic Qualifier without conceding a single point, here Saturday. It is India's second quota place for the Paris Games as Antim Panghal had earned a quota in the 53kg category with her bronze medal winning show at the World Championships last year. The 29-year-old Vinesh has now secured her third straight Olympic quota, having featured in Rio Games (2016) and in Tokyo (2020) earlier. Vinesh, who was a prominent face of protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, dished out a strong performance, demolishing her opponents one by one. As is her wont, Vinesh looked for that one opportunity to subdue Miran Cheon in her opening bout and grabbed it after measuring her Korean rival for about 30 seconds. Once she grabbed Cheon and pushed her down for a take down, the bout ended in a jiffy, in one minute and 39 seconds. It was difficu

Indian wrestlers to miss Asian Olympics qualifiers due to Dubai rains

In a huge setback for the Indian wrestling contingent at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, two of the country's best wrestlers, Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal, will miss the continental event as they could not report for the weigh-in on time as their flight arrived late in the Kyrgyzstan capital owing to bad weather in Dubai. While both Punia and Kalkal eventually managed to reach Bishkek after being stranded at the Dubai international airport due to incessant rain and flooding, they could not report for the mandatory weigh-in on time, according to sources. The sources added that the organisers did not allow late weigh-in despite request from the Indian coaches. Punia (86kg), who had come close to winning a medal at the Tokyo Games, and Sujeet (65kg), were on their way to Bishkek to participate in the Asia Olympic qualifiers the second-last qualifying event for Paris Olympics when a majority of the flights leaving Dubai got cancelled or delayed because of the flooding of th

Paris Olympics opening ceremony on river Seine will last nearly 4 hours

With sunset and moonlight gleaming on the river, the grandiose opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics will last nearly four hours. A total of 205 delegations will parade on more than 80 boats on the Seine. The ceremony will drift slowly from east to west, bridge to bridge, snaking six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Pont d'Austerlitz to Pont d'Ina. Proceedings begin at 3:45 p.m. and finish at 11:15 p.m. local time with artistic performances preceding the athletes' parade. The athletes will motor past about 320,000 fans wedged in behind security cordons on upper and lower tiers on the embankments. Others will gaze at giant screens beaming images of the ambitious ceremony. For one evening, the Seine will be transformed into a giant open-air ceremony, Paris Games director of ceremonies Marie-Catherine Ettori said during a media briefing on Thursday. Once the 10,500 athletes have disembarked from their boats, the final part of the ceremony takes place at the Trocadro plaza overlooking th

Olympics 2024: Uncertainty stares Russian athletes despite qualifying

With 100 days to go until the Paris Olympics, it's still not clear whether any athletes from Russia who are expected to qualify will actually go. The question is whether Moscow will accept the conditions that the International Olympic Committee set for Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, it could be up to individual athletes to decide whether to participate. The IOC expects that 36 Russian athletes and possibly as many as 54 will do well enough at qualifying events to compete in Paris. The IOC will let them compete as neutral athletes, meaning they can't use their country's flag or anthem or participate in team sports such as soccer and basketball. Athletes with links to the military or who have expressed support for the war will be banned. The same restrictions apply to Russian ally Belarus. Athletes from Russia and Belarus also aren't allowed to take part in the opening ceremony on July 26. Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the rules and as

Paris 2024: Things to know about the flame-lighting ceremony in Greece

A priestess prays to a dead sun god in front of a fallen Greek temple. If the sky is clear, a flame spurts that will burn in Paris throughout the world's top sporting event. Speeches ensue. On Tuesday, the flame for this summer's Paris Olympics will be lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games in southern Greece in a meticulously choreographed ceremony. It will then be carried through Greece for more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) before being handed over to French organizers at the Athens venue used for the first modern Olympics in 1896. Here's a look at the workings and meaning of the elaborate ceremony held among the ruins of Ancient Olympia ahead of each modern Olympiad. COULDN'T THE FRENCH JUST LIGHT IT IN PARIS? Couldn't the Academy Awards just be announced in a conference call? The pageantry at Olympia has been an essential part of every Olympics for nearly 90 years since the Games in Berlin. It's meant to provide an ineluctable link between the modern event a

Paris Olympics 2024: Injuries are mentally challenging - Mirabai Chanu

She heaved her lowest weight in years at the World Cup recently but Olympic silver-medallist Mirabai Chanu is actually quite chuffed about her performance as she managed it on the back of just one month's training after enduring a challenging injury breakdown. With only four months to go for the Paris Olympics, Chanu, who was competing in her first tournament since her Asian Games breakdown, finished 12th at the IWF World Cup with a total effort of 184kg (81kg+103kg), a whopping 33kg behind China's Hou Zhihui, who will look to defend her Olympic title. "I was delighted to be back in competition. Everything is okay now, recovery is good. I'm training at 70 per cent," Chanu told PTI. After watching her opponents raise the bar by breaking records in the 49kg weight class, Chanu's confidence received a significant boost when she heaved the barbell after just a month of training. "It felt very good. After the injury (at Asian Games), I lifted weights after 4-5 months and I got a lot of

Paris Olympics: 'It's Nikhat's time, Lovlina needs to be more proactive'

Former Indian men's boxing coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez has backed world champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg) to bag a medal at this year's Paris Olympics but feels that Tokyo Games bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain's (75kg) chances will boil down to her level of aggression in the ring. The 68-year-old Cuban, who served for over two decades as the men's coach and also became the first and only overseas Dronacharya awardee, has been appointed by the Sports Authority of India as High Performance Coach for a two-year period. Fernandez is stationed at the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak, Haryana. Speaking recently on the sidelines of the multi-nation camp for junior boxers at the National Centre of Excellence in Rohtak, Fernandez evaluated India's chances at the upcoming Summer Games. "I love the boxing (style) of Nikhat. She is very intelligent. She has good ring tactics. She knows when she is winning and when she is losing," Fernandez told SAI Media. "This is Nikhat's time to prove ...

Olympics 2024: Nikhat, Manika, Sreeshankar's abroad training plea cleared

Several top athletes, including the Olympic-bound trio of boxer Nikhat Zareen, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, and table tennis player Manika Batra's request for financial assistance to train abroad was on Wednesday cleared by the Sports Ministry following a meeting here. Boxers Nikhat, Preeti Pawar, Parveen Hooda and Lovlina Borgohain will travel to Turkey for a foreign training camp along with their coaches and a physio, the ministry said in a statement. Wrestlers Sujeet (65kg), Deepak Punia (86kg) and Naveen (74kg) will head to Russia along with their sparring partners, a coach and physiotherapists to train ahead of the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament later this month. All the assistance is being provided under the ministry's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Shotgun shooter Bhowneesh Mendiratta's Mendiratta, who has secured a Paris quota place for the country, will travel to Italy to train with personal coach Daniele Di Spigno for the ISSF World Cup in Baku. Asian Ga

49-kg category: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu qualifies for Paris Olympic 2024

Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist Mirabai Chanu all but qualified for the 2024 Paris Games after she finished third in the women's 49kg Group B event of the IWF World Cup here on Monday. Returning from a six-month injury lay off, Chanu lifted a total of 184kg (81kg+103kg) at the tournament, which is the final and a mandatory qualifier for the Paris Olympics. With the completion of her event, Chanu has fulfilled the criteria for the Paris Olympics, which is participating in two compulsory events and three other qualifiers. The 2017 world champion is currently ranked second in the women's 49kg Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR) behind China's Jian HuiHua. The official announcement for the qualification will come after the conclusion of the World Cup when the OQR will be updated. The top 10 lifters from each weight class will qualify for the Paris Olympics. Chanu, who last competed at the Asian Games in September where she suffered a hip tendonitis injury, was not at her best, but was

Olympic officials, local organisers move to present games in positive light

After weeks of uncertainty about billion-dollar stadium projects for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, the IOC and local organizers moved Wednesday to present the games more positively. Plans for a $2 billion rebuild of the storied Gabba cricket stadium as an Olympics centerpiece were dropped this month after the expected price spiraled. Australia's most influential Olympic official, John Coates, had called the stadium issues in Brisbane's home state Queensland damaging to the Olympics brand. Queensland Premier Steven Miles, who faces state elections in October, had asked for a review of Olympic venue construction and prefers renovating an existing rugby stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies. Reports that Queensland had explored getting out of its commitment to host the Olympics was dismissed as fake news last week by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. It led to IOC and local organizing officials being asked Wednesday after their annual review of preparation

Next few years will be crucial, by 2036 we'll be at top: Anju Bobby George

Panel discusses challenges and road map ahead for India to become a global sporting powerhouse

India's solar waste could reach 600 kilotonnes by 2030, shows study

India's solar waste could reach a staggering 600 kilotonnes by 2030 equivalent to filling up 720 Olympic-size swimming pools according to a new study released on Wednesday. The study by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and independent think tank Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) said around 67 per cent of this waste will come from five states: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. India's current installed 66.7 GW capacity (as of FY23) has already generated about 100 kilotonnes of waste, which will increase to 340 kilotonnes by 2030. This will include about 10 kilotonnes of silicon, 12-18 tonnes of silver, and 16 tonnes of cadmium and tellurium the majority of which are critical minerals for India, the study titled "Enabling a Circular Economy in India's Solar Industry: Assessing the Solar Waste Quantum" said. Recycling solar waste to recover these materials will reduce import dependency and enhance India's mineral security. The stu

Brisbane Olympics organisers reject plan to demolish, build cricket stadium

Brisbane Olympics organizers have scrapped plans to demolish and rebuild an iconic cricket ground as the centerpiece of the 2032 Games while also rejecting a review panel's recommendation for a new stadium in city parklands. Queensland state's Premier Steven Miles instead announced Monday he'd prefer to upgrade an existing rugby stadium close to downtown Brisbane to host the opening and closing ceremonies. Miles called for an independent review of Olympic planning in January as backlash intensified against the tripling of the cost to redevelop the so-called Gabba stadium. Brisbane's former mayor Graham Quirk led a 60-day review which handed its findings to the Miles' state government on Monday, two days after council elections across the state. The review delivered 30 recommendations, the central feature being construction of a new 55,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park at a cost of 3.4 billion Australian dollars ($2.23 billion) instead of redeveloping the Gabba. I know that I said

YES Bank partners with Indian Olympic Association for Paris Olympics 2024

The bank also unveiled the 'YES Glory' savings account proposition, extending benefits to athletes and their immediate family members

Boxer Nishant Dev one win away from securing Paris Olympics 2024 quota

World Championships medallist Nishant Dev moved within touching distance of a Paris Olympic quota after he registered a dominant victory over Christos Karaitis of Greece to enter the 71kg quarterfinals of the first World Olympic Boxing Qualifier here. The 23-year-old, who won the featherweight bronze at the World Championships last year, continued his rich vein of form, as he out-punched Karaitis by a 5-0 unanimous decision in the pre-quarterfinals late on Sunday. With the qualifying tournament offering four quota places in the men's 71kg weight class, Dev needs to win his quarterfinal on Monday to seal his passage for Paris Games and earn the fifth 2024 Olympic quota for India and the first in the men's category in boxing. However, Dev, who is vying to compete in his debut Olympic, will have his task cut out as he faces a tough opponent in 2021 World Championship silver medallist Omari Jones of the USA in the last eight round on Monday. The Haryana boxer is the only Indian boxer o