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By Deepak Arora
GURUGRAM, Feb 4: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) $15k Tennis Tournament for Women is being held from February 7 at Joygaon Tennis Academy in Jhajjar. It would be followed by another $15K Tennis Tournament for Women from February 14 at the The Tennis Project in Gurugram. It would be followed by ITF Juniors on March 7 in Gurugram.
This was announced here by Suman Kapur, the Honorary Secretary of Haryana Tennis Association and Joint Secretary of All India Tennis Association.
Suman Kapur informed that seventy four tennis stars from nine countries, including India, would be participating in the two tournaments in Jhajjar and Gurugram. Out of these, there would be a draw of draw of 48 for Qualifying and 26 players are in Main Draw....more
Arif Khan, lone Indian athlete at Winter Olympics 2022, attends opening ceremony in Beijing
BEIJING, Feb 4: Lone Indian athlete, Arif Khan, carried the national flag as he represented the country at the Parade of Nations at the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. The dazzling opening ceremony was held at the iconic Bird's Nest Stadium which also hosted the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in 2008.
Arif Khan, sporting a red jacket, was carrying the Indian flag at the opening ceremony, accompanied by a couple of support staff.
Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra took to social media to laud Arif Khan for representing India at the Winter Games.
"From Kashmir to the Olympics! Really proud to see #ArifKhan, the only athlete representing India at #Beijing2022 carry the tricolor high!" he said.
India said it won't send its top diplomat in Beijing to the Winter Olympics after the honour of carrying the Olympic torch went to a Chinese soldier who was wounded in a deadly border clash between the countries two years ago.
Arif Khan, an Alpine skier from Kashmir, will contest in Slalom and Giant Slalom events on February 13 and 16 in Beijing.
Arif Khan, 31, was introduced to skiing at the age of 4 by his father and turned professional 14 years ago when he was 18 years old. He has represented India in 127 international events, competing mainly in Europe on a shoestring budget. Khan's career has been funded mainly by his family. His father has operated a tour company and ski equipment shop in Gulmarg, Kashmir since the 1980s.
In the build-up to the 2018 Games, unrest in Kashmir led to tourism drying up, forcing Khan to turn to crowd funding in a desperate, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to keep competing.
"There was no tourism. We had no support from anywhere," he had said.
"That was one of the reasons I needed to come up with crowdfunding, but ... it didn't turn out to be much. "Without funding, I couldn't reach my training, I couldn't catch up with the races.
"I managed four results (to qualify for the Games) and I needed five. The fifth one, I fell short. If there was time, money ... it could have been done."
This time around, Khan is supported by Indian conglomerate JSW Group's sports arm, JSW Sports, which is covering 40% of his costs. The Jammu and Kashmir government is covering 10%, he said, and he is paying the rest himself.
Khan sealed his Olympic berth in slalom in Dubai in November and qualified for giant slalom with a 14th-placed finish in Montenegro in December. His target is to qualify in the top 30 of both events in Beijing.
NEW DELHI, Feb 4: India has decided to boycott the opening and closing ceremony of Winter Olympics in Beijing, where China has chosen as torchbearer a soldier who fought in Ladakh's Galwan Valley against Indian troops in 2020.
China's move to distinguish a soldier from Galwan, where 20 Indian soldiers died, at the Games is considered provocative by many. The foreign ministry today called it "regrettable" while announcing the diplomat's decision.
NEW DELHI, Feb 4: India has decided to boycott the opening and closing ceremony of Winter Olympics in Beijing, where China has chosen as torchbearer a soldier who fought in Ladakh's Galwan Valley against Indian troops in 2020.
China's move to distinguish a soldier from Galwan, where 20 Indian soldiers died, at the Games is considered provocative by many. The foreign ministry today called it "regrettable" while announcing the diplomat's decision.
"We have seen the reports on this issue. It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicise an event like the Olympics," the foreign ministry said today.
"I wish to inform that our Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or the closing ceremony of the Beijing '22 Winter Olympics," the ministry added.
Qi Fabao, a regiment commander in the People's Liberation Army who sustained a serious head injury during the fighting, was among the 1,200 torchbearers in the Games. He was feted as a hero by the Chinese state media which reported his inclusion in the games.
Only one athlete from the country -- skier Arif Mohammad Khan --- is participating in the Winter Olympics which begin tomorrow.
Shortly after the foreign ministry's announcement, national broadcaster Doordarshan said it will not live telecast the opening or closing ceremony.
"Consequent to the announcement by @meaindia, @ddsportschannel will not telecast live the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing," tweeted Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the chief of Prasar Bharati.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the clash in Galwan in June 2020 -- a first in nearly six decades. The stand-off it created is yet to be resolved.
This week, an Australian daily reported that Beijing lost 42 soldiers in the clash -- at least nine times more than the four deaths it has acknowledged.
The report in "The Klaxon" by a group of social media researchers said at least 38 soldiers died while attempting to cross the fast-flowing Galwan River in the early stages of the clash. The soldiers were crossing the river in sub-zero temperatures and in darkness.
US Says Shameful After China Makes Galwan Soldier Olympics Torchbearer
WASHINGTON, Feb 4: A top lawmaker from the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has condemned China's decision to make an army officer, who was injured in a clash with Indian soldiers, the torchbearer for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"It's shameful that Beijing chose a torchbearer for the Olympics 2022 who's part of the military command that attacked India in 2020 and is implementing genocide against the Uyghurs. The US will continue to support Uyghur freedoms and the sovereignty of India," tweeted Jim Risch, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member.
Olympian Kim Meylemans allowed to leave Beijing Covid isolation after emotional plea
BEIJING, Feb 3: A Belgian Olympian has been released from isolation in Beijing, following an emotional plea for help about her treatment ahead of the Winter Games.
Kim Meylemans was forced into isolation after she had tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in the Chinese capital.
She thought she could leave the facility after three days of isolation and two consecutive negative tests, she said on Instagram Wednesday.
But instead of returning to the Olympic Village, the 25-year-old skeleton racer was taken to a separate government facility, she added.
Fighting through tears, she said she may never get to enter the Beijing Winter Olympics Village.
"We are not even sure I will ever be allowed... into the village," Meylemans said. "This is very hard for me. I ask you all to give me some time to consider my next steps because I am not sure I can handle 14 more days and the Olympic competition while being in this isolation."
Hours after her emotional plea for help, the athlete was released from the facility late Wednesday following an intervention from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), she said.
"I am now in a wing that is just isolation, but at least I am back in the village," Meylemans said on Instagram. "I feel safe and I'll be able to train a little better here."
Kim Meylemans pleaded in an Instagram post on Wednesday about her situation.
Meylemans' Winter Olympics journey is an example of some of the stringent measures taken by China, one of the few places continuing to adhere to a zero-Covid policy.
Meylemans had tested negative a dozen times prior to her departure for the Games and was shocked by her positive result in Beijing, she said.
To limit the spread of infection, Beijing is holding the entire Winter Games inside what authorities have called a "closed loop system" -- a bubble completely cut off from the rest of the city and its wider population.
Inside the bubble, anyone who tests positive will be immediately removed from the Games. Those who are symptomatic will be sent to a designated hospital for treatment, while asymptomatic cases will be taken to an isolation facility. They won't be allowed to return to the bubble until all symptoms disappear and they test negative twice in a row.
With Friday's Opening Ceremony just a day away, some athletes who tested positive have already given up hope of competing.
The Russian Olympic Committee's biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova said her Olympic ambitions were over after testing positive twice following her arrival in Beijing, one of three ROC positive tests reported Monday.
American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who flew to Beijing last week, was also forced into isolation after testing positive for the virus two days after her arrival.
"This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I'm remaining optimistic that I'll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete," she said.
They are among more than 280 Covid-19 cases -- 102 of which are athletes and team officials -- that have been identified in Beijing's "closed loop system" according to the Beijing Olympic Committee. |
