Category Archives: Women/Girls (since October 30-2023

GLOBAL: SPORTS: India Ends Paris Paralympics 2024 With 29 Medals. Pakistan, China Got…

India finishes the Paris Paralympics 2024 campaign with a total of 29 medals – seven golds, nine silvers and 13 bronze.

The Paris Paralympic Games 2024 concluded for India on Sunday, with Pooja Ojha the final athlete in action. Ojha failed to qualify for the women’s kayak 200m final and bowed out of the competition. As a result, India’s medals tally at the Paris Paralympics ended at 29 — seven golds, nine silvers and 13 bronze, making it the most rewarded campaign for the country. Courtesy of the 29 medals, India stood at the 18th position in the points table. Pakistan, who were also competing win the event, ended the campaign joint-bottom at the 79th position, with just a solitary bronze to its name.

India did very well in the 2024 campaign, beating top nations like Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea, Turkey, Argentina, etc. to finish the Paris Para Games among the top 20 countries in the world.

In comparison to India, the traditional heavyweights at the Paralympic Games — China, Great Britain, USA, Italy, etc. did very well gain, finishing among the top 10 nations. India, having shown significant progression in Paris, would be keen to produce an even better show in the 2028 LA Para Games. 

On Saturday, India earned its 29th and final medal of the Paris Paralympic Games through Navdeep Singh who clinched gold medal in men’s javelin throw F41 classification.

Navdeep, who competes in the classification meant for athletes of short stature, originally ended with a silver after he upstaged world record holder Sun Pengxiang of China with a 47.32m throw.

However, that was upgraded to an unprecedented gold after Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah was disqualified for repeatedly displaying an objectionable flag. Pengxiang (44.72m) finished with a silver.

Sayah had managed to nose ahead of the field with a new Paralympic record of 47.64m in his penultimate throw but lost the medal owing to his antics.

The International Paralympic Committee rules bar athletes from making any political gestures at the event and Sayah was thrown out of the final results for unsporting/improper conduct.

At the same venue, Simran, accompanied by her guide Abhay Singh, clocked an impressive personal best of 24.75sec to finish with a bronze in the women’s 200m (T12) event.

The 24-year-old from Delhi, who was found to be visually impaired at the time of her premature birth, is the reigning world champion in this event. She had finished fourth in the 100m competition of the ongoing Games and Saturday’s medal helped her redeem her campaign.

Track-and-field has contributed 17 medals to this tally, four of them gold. The country is placed 15th in the overall standings, led by China with a whopping 208 medals, including 90 gold.

For Navdeep, the gold makes up for the fourth-place heartbreak he endured in the Tokyo Games.

An inspector in the Income Tax Department, Navdeep has medalled five times at the national level since taking to the sport in 2017. He won a bronze in the para-world championships earlier this year.

Simran, on the other hand, won two silver medals at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou last year and secured three gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and long jump at the inaugural Khelo India Para Games last December.

She is coached by her husband Naik Gajendra Singh.

With PTI Inputs

source/content: sports.ndtv.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICINE: CANCER RESEARCH: President Murmu launches India’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer -‘CAR-T cell therapy’

President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday launched India’s first home-grown gene therapy for cancer at IIT Bombay.

Describing the newly-launched treatment, named “CAR-T cell therapy,” as a beacon of hope, President Murmu expressed confidence that the therapy will provide a new lease of life to countless cancer patients.

CAR-T cell therapy, considered a groundbreaking advancement in medical science, has long been available in developed nations. However, its prohibitive costs have rendered it beyond the reach of many.

President Murmu said that the therapy is not only accessible but also the world’s most affordable CAR-T cell therapy.

She applauded the collaborative efforts between the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Tata Memorial Hospital, and industry partner ImmunoACT, highlighting the indigenous therapy as an example of the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives.

source/content: ddnews.gov.in (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: ASIA : SPORT – BADMINTON : Tanvi Patri wins Badminton U-15 Girls singles Asia title, beats Nguyen Thi Thu Huygen in final

Tanvi Patri’s victory is a testament to her talent and hard work. Her success at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships bodes well for her future in the sport.

Indian badminton sensation Tanvi Patri has clinched the U-15 girls singles title at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Junior Championships. This remarkable achievement solidifies Patri’s position as one of the rising stars in the sport.

Dominant Performance: Tanvi Patri

The top-seeded Tanvi Patri showcased exceptional skill and determination throughout the tournament, remaining undefeated in her quest for the title. In the final, she faced a tough challenge from second-seeded Nguyen Thi Thu Huygen of Vietnam but emerged victorious in straight sets.

Joining the Elite List

Tanvi Patri’s triumph adds her name to an illustrious list of Indian champions who have won the U-15 girls singles title at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships. Previous winners include Samiya Imad Farooqui (2017) and Tasnim Mir (2019).

Semifinal Battle

In the semifinals, Patri faced a stern test against Kakanik of Thailand, the sixth seed in the tournament. Despite a closely contested first game, Patri ultimately prevailed, winning 21-19, 21-10.

Nguyen Thi Thu Huygen of Vietnam, got the better of China’s Liu Yu Tong 21-18, 17-21, 21-19 in the other semifinal.

Bright Future

Tanvi Patri’s victory is a testament to her talent and hard work. Her success at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships bodes well for her future in the sport. As she continues to develop her skills, she has the potential to become a major force in international badminton.

source/content: insidesport.in (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: Indian American Deblina Sarkar. The girl who flew away on the wings of her mind. Boss of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek research lab at MIT, Boston, and harvester of a dozen awards in the past year alone

Boss of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek research lab at MIT, Boston, and harvester of a dozen awards in the past year alone. And yet, bet you didn’t know that she comes inspired from a bereft corner of Bengal.

Deblina Sarkar is not keen to tell her story. She is not disinterested either. Over a Zoom call from Boston, US, she comes across as matter of fact, pleasant and rooted in her work — she cannot wait to be done with this interview and return to the lab.

The story of her journey from rural Bengal to Boston is full of silences — studied, not awkward — and shorn of specifics as if she has already measured the distance she wants to maintain between her story and audience.

But when she does talk, she doesn’t do platitudes. When I ask her what it is she wanted to do as a girl, she replies, “I wanted to create knowledge, add to the production of knowledge rather than just implement what already exists.” She says it simply, self-assuredly and in a non-self-important tone. If I slip into Bangla, she too replies in her mother tongue, but switches to English whenever she is discussing her work and the specifics of it.

And, yes, the only time she shows emotion and smiles a wide smile that rises to her eyes is when she talks about her parents, Barid Baran and Asima, and nephews Qubit and Quitron.

Barid Baran and Asima are far more animated when it comes to telling the story of Deblina’s journeying. Which is why, Deblina’s story is best told with them in the role of chief narrators.

“When she was only three, she threw a tantrum because she wanted to go to school,” says Barid Baran. Indulging her would mean quite the long commute. It meant walking two kilometres to the Nangi train station and then getting off at Tollygunge and walking some more to reach the school itself.

It was not very different from Barid Baran’s own story from his student days. In 1960s Bengal, there was no school in his village. So he trekked two miles on foot to go to the nearest school. He wanted to be a scientist, so when the time came to go to college he shifted to the nearest town with one.

Deblina was happy — no, delighted — to go to school. “I am lucky, my parents never treated me and my brother differently,” she tells me. As Asima tells it, if there was anything that made Deblina unhappy as a child, it was the teacher’s red pen. “She couldn’t bear to have anything in her notebook stricken off with a red pen.” Asima narrates a fond tale about the time Deblina was learning her English alphabet. Something about her mother saying “P” should be written in a certain way, and the little girl insisting her way was also correct.

In 1972, Barid Baran took the entrance test for the IITs and could not clear it. But the scientist in him continued to be, dabbling in inventions of his own. Deblina recalls watching her father build a washing machine that ran without electricity, a pulley that could lift heavy objects to the roof of the house.

Do dreams come coded with the DNA or does one contract them from close contact? Who can say? When she was in Class IX, Deblina started preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination. “Even the day before her Class X history exam, she was sitting with her physics texts,” says Asima. “I had to tell her, how will you go to IIT if you don’t pass your boards,” adds Barid Baran.

In 2004, Deblina joined what is today known as IIT Dhanbad. When news got around, the neighbours said, “Now she will be able to pay for her own dowry.” Deblina laughs at the memory. Thereafter, Deblina left for the US — a PhD in nanoelectronics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

One might think it was a big leap, a big deal, and yet neither Deblina nor her parents make it sound that way. Instead they talk about how she comes home every year and behaves as if she never left, wears her old clothes, enjoys her mother’s maan kochu bata and machher jhol. And how they join her every time she has a conference in a new country — “She sends us tickets,” says Asima.

All three of them are more eloquent when it comes to holding forth on the nuts and bolts of life. Deblina talks about nanoelectronics like she is chatting about the weather. “Nanoelectronic devices consume a large amount of energy etc. etc.” So she started exploring other low-powered computational systems. She says, “If you think about it, the human brain is the most energy-efficient computational system.”

I am not sure if I am following the science talk, when she provides the answer herself. It was this line of inquiry that brought her to a territory she had vowed to never enter. Biology.

There were risks in making a transition this steep, but her mind was made up. To the question of what it feels like to be a woman in STEM, she just shrugs. “If I was ever discriminated against, I would not know,” is her answer.

What she and her team are doing today is this — trying to come up with a non-invasive, wireless nanoelectronic device that can coexist within the brain. They aim to treat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even brain cancer using this method. She says with a smile and a nod, “We are hoping to start the clinical trial within the next two years.”

And yes, she is thinking of starting a scholarship for girl-students who need it back home to encourage them to be able to study science in high school.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

INDIA @ PARIS OLYMPICS 2024: Shooting, Hockey, Wrestling, Athletics – India’s Total Medal Tally At Olympics

A contingent of 117 Indian athletes has been competing for medals and sporting glory at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024, which concludes this Sunday. India secured a total of six medals at the marquee event, including one silver and five bronze, according to Olympics.com.

Manu Bhaker earned India’s first medal at these Games, clinching bronze and becoming the first Indian woman to medal in Olympic shooting. She made history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single Olympic edition, adding a mixed team 10m air pistol bronze with Sarabjot Singh to her tally.

Swapnil Kusale contributed a third medal in shooting, marking India’s largest haul in this sport at a single Olympics.

The Indian men’s hockey team replicated their Tokyo 2020 success by securing bronze in Paris. Neeraj Chopra further enhanced his Olympic legacy by claiming silver in the javelin throw, making him the most successful individual Olympian from India. Aman Sehrawat also added to the tally, becoming India’s youngest Olympic medallist with a bronze in wrestling.

Despite these achievements, India faced significant disappointments in Paris 2024. The nation narrowly missed out on six potential medals, with athletes finishing fourth in their events, including Lakshya Sen, Mirabai Chanu, and Manu Bhaker, who came close to securing a third medal.

Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification just before a historic final also added to the nation’s woes. Indian athletes participated in 69 medal events across 16 sports, including archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and tennis.

The Indian contingent featured returning Olympic medallists such as Neeraj Chopra, badminton star PV Sindhu, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, and select members of the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian men’s hockey team.

To date, India has won a total of 41 Olympic medals. The nation’s Olympic journey began with Norman Pritchard’s two silver medals at Paris 1900. KD Jadhav earned India’s first individual medal as an independent nation with a wrestling bronze at Helsinki 1952. Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal with her weightlifting bronze at Sydney 2000. Abhinav Bindra was the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal with his shooting triumph at Beijing 2008, a feat that remained unmatched until Neeraj Chopra’s javelin gold at Tokyo 2020.

Men’s hockey has been the most successful sport for India, with 13 medals, including eight golds, followed by wrestling with eight medals. India’s best-ever Olympic performance came at Tokyo 2020, where the nation won seven medals, including one gold.

source/content: ddnews.gov.in (headline edited)

NATIONAL: INDIAN ARMY – FIRSTS: Lt-Gen Sadhna Saxena Nair takes charge as Army’s first woman DG of medical services

Military doctors, once inducted into the Army Medical Corps, can be seconded to any service.

 Lt Gen Sadhna Saxena Nair has become the first woman to be appointed as the Director General Medical Services (Army). She has other firsts to her name: she was the first woman to hold the post of DG Hospital Services (Armed Forces) on promotion to the rank of Air Marshal.

Nair began her journey in the forces in December 1985 after graduating from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, with a distinguished academic record and was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps.

Her other academic and professional qualifications include a postgraduate degree in family medicine and diplomas in maternal & child health and healthcare management. She has undergone a two-year training in medical informatics at AIIMS, New Delhi.

She was trained in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare with the Israeli defence forces and in military medical ethics with the Swiss Armed Forces in Spiez. She is also the first woman Principal Medical Officer of Western Air Command, and Training Command, Indian Air Force.

Military doctors, once inducted into the Army Medical Corps, can be seconded to any service. They wear the rank and uniform of the service they are with.

Lt Gen Nair was nominated as an expert member of Dr Kasturirangan Committee for drafting a part of the medical education component of the National Education Policy.

For her meritorious service, she has been awarded the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command and Chief of the Air Staff Commendations as well as Vishisht Seva Medal by the President.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: ARTS & CULTURE / INDIAN AMERICAN : Maya Neelakantan: I’m representing all of India on America’s Got Talent stage

Guitarist Maya Neelakantan, who has gone viral for her America’s Got Talent audition, opens up about her dreams, representing India and friendship with legends.

For Maya Neelakantan, who is being dubbed the ‘rock goddess’ after her America’s Got Talent (season 19) audition clip went viral, fame is incidental. “I had never expected all this,” she gushes.

The young guitarist, who hails from Chennai (Tamil Nadu), feels the fusion of Indian classical music with rock and metal is “exciting and hasn’t been explored much”. “These genres are so underrated together! I want to create my own music, which is more like the AGT performance,” she shares.

The 11-year-old went on the reality show stage dressed in an embellished lehenga-kurta set, complete with traditional jewellery, and played Papa Roach’s Last Resort infused with notes of classical Carnatic music, creating an audio-visual juxtaposition. “I was representing all of India and wanted to make a place for traditional music, too. My amma helped me organise the outfit, with the earrings and everything,” says the school student.

Neelakantan, who fell in love with Carnatic music at the age of two, learns it online with Prasanna Ramaswamy (Guitar Prasanna).

Speaking about business tycoon Anand Mahindra sharing her video, she said, “I did not expect that at all. It was very nice of him to do this… I have received love and support from guitar lengends, many of whom are close friends. But for him to discover me in this way was very unexpected, and got me love from the entire country!”

Support Matters

Counting her blessings, Neelakantan says that she’s grateful for all the support she gets from her parents (Indian dad and Australian mum) and others: “I’ve received so much support from legends like Gary Holt (American guitarist), who flew all the way from Sacramento to Los Angeles to watch my AGT audition.” She enjoys good following on the internet with 15.8K followers on YouTube and 49.2K on Instagram.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPACE : Indian-Origin Shawna Pandya on Virgin Galactic’s New Space Research Flight

Shawna Pandya, an Indian-origin physician and bioastronautics researcher, will be part of Virgin Galactic’s upcoming space research mission. This mission, a collaboration between Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), will be conducted aboard the Delta Class spaceship.

Pandya, a prominent figure in space medicine and Director of IIAS’ Space Medicine Group, joins a distinguished crew for this second research mission. The team includes Kellie Gerardi, Director of Human Spaceflight Operations at IIAS, and Norah Patten, an aeronautical engineer from Ireland. The mission follows the success of the ‘Galactic 05’ mission in November 2023, which tested novel healthcare technologies and analyzed fluid dynamics in microgravity to aid the design of future medical technologies and life-support systems.

Pandya, who has extensive experience in space research, was part of the first crew to test a commercial spacesuit in zero gravity in 2015. Her impressive record includes flying in 10 parabolic flight campaigns, amassing over 160 parabolas in micro- and reduced gravity conditions.

“We were thrilled with the results from our fluid cell experiment on ‘Galactic 05’, which demonstrated our ability to accurately predict fluid behavior in a weightless environment”, said Gerardi, reflecting on the mission’s success.

Sirisha Bandla, Virgin Galactic’s Vice President of Government Affairs and Research, emphasized the ongoing collaboration with IIAS. “We’re excited to continue our partnership with IIAS in an expanded capacity”, said Bandla, who flew on the ‘Unity 22’ spaceflight, becoming the second Indian-born woman to travel to space.

This mission highlights the growing role of Indian-origin researchers in advancing space science and technology, further solidifying international collaborations in space exploration.

source/content: siliconindia.com (headline edited)

WORLD RECORD: SPORTS: Haryana’s 8 year old weightlifter Arshiya Goswami creates world record

At the age of 8, Arshiya Goswami already has her name in the India Book of Records and the Asia Book by her weightlifting feat. Now, she has managed to break the world records in India’s Got Talent television show.

Eight-year-old Arshiya Goswami from Haryana’s Panchkula district has set a new record by breaking world records in India’s Got Talent show. She achieved the feat of 17 clean-and-jerk movements in 30 seconds by lifting 6 kg ball.

Haryana Assembly Speaker Gyanchand Gupta congratulated Arshia and felicitated her on Friday. Arshiya, a resident of Sector 29 of Panchkula, studies in Bright School in Sector 26.

Arshiya met the Speaker along with her parents and Panchkula district convenor of BJP panchayati cell, Deshraj Poshwal yesterday. The India’s Got Talent show was aired on a private television channel last Sunday. Arshiya broke the previous world record of 16 clean-and jerk movements in 30 seconds. She lifted 62 kg in dead lift, lifted 32 kg in clean-and-jerk, 26 kg in snatch, 47 kg in Scott and 32 in bench press.

The shooting of the show was held in Mumbai on July 5. Arshiya’s father Avnish Kumar Goswami runs a gym in Sector 25 and her mother Hanni Goswami is a homemaker. Arshiya said she wants to make her career in weightlifting and aims to break all the records that have been made so far in this field.

Arshiya has received weightlifting training from her father. At the age of 6, she entered her name in the India Book of Records by lifting a weight of 45 kg. In 2022, she got enlisted in the Asia Book by lifting 35.8 kg.

She said that currently she is getting trained by international weightlifter Gurmel Singh. During training, she lifts deadlift weight of 47 kg, bench press 32 kg and clean-and-jerk 32 and 26 kg.

source/content: etvbharat.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPORTS / FIRST INDIAN: Find out about Puja ‘The Cyclone’ Tomar , the MMA Fighter who became the ‘First Indian to win a UFC bout’

The 28-year-old MMA fighter has been an advocate for women in sports.

The MMA contest between Puja Tomar of India and Rayanne Amanda dos Santos of Brazil at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on Sunday morning was all about jabs, crosses and kicks. Tomar made history, becoming the first Indian to win a UFC match.

Fans tuned in to see Tomar, who has earned herself the title of “Cyclone”, compete in her debut UFC match at 2.30am India time.

While it did seem like the 28-year-old from Budhana, Uttar Pradesh, was being cornered, her adrenaline got the better of her as she went into the last round screaming, “Come on, come on!” and throwing kicks at her opponent. The nerve-wracking three rounds and 15 minutes ended in a split-decision win for Tomar. The scorecard: 30-27, 27-30, 29-28.

My Kolkata lists a few milestones in Cyclone Tomar’s path to the UFC win:

National Wushu Champion

Puja began her combat sports career with wushu, where she excelled and won five national titles. Her success in wushu provided a strong foundation in striking and agility — skills she now uses in her MMA career.

Transition to MM

In 2012, Puja switched to mixed martial arts, debuting with the now-defunct Super Fight League (SFL) in India. She made an impactful start, securing a victory in her first fight, which marked the beginning of her successful career in MMA. She participated in other championships, including Matrix Fight Night and ONE Championship.

Matrix Fight Night Success

After facing four consecutive losses in ONE Championship, Puja joined Matrix Fight Night (MFN) in 2021. She won four bouts in MFN, including a title defence against Russia’s Anastasia Feofanova in July. Her resilience and performance in MFN revitalised her career.

First Indian Woman in UFC

In 2023, Puja became the first Indian woman to land a contract with UFC, the biggest MMA promotion in the world. Her win makes her the first Indian to win a UFC fight, marking a significant achievement for Indian MMA.

Advocate for women in sports

Beyond her achievements in the octagon, Tomar is a vocal advocate for women in sports. She uses her platform to inspire and encourage young girls in India to pursue their dreams in martial arts. She also takes a stand for Indians in martial arts. “I want to show the world that Indian fighters are not losers. We are going all the way up. We are not going to stop. We’ll become UFC Champion soon,” she had said in the Octagon interview.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)