Honour for Jaipur Foot man D. R. Mehta, the founder and chief patron of Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, the organisation known the world over for the affordable artificial Jaipur Foot, has been selected for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Puraskar. Dr. Mehta, now in the gallery of those like Mother Teresa, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Lata Mangeshkar, Sunil Dutt and Dilip Kumar, is a retired civil servant and former Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief and former Deputy Chairman of the Reserve Bank of India. The award, which carries a citation and a cash component of Rs.5 lakh, will be presented to Dr. Mehta in Delhi on August 10, the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.
Truman grandson visits Hiroshima memorial A grandson of ex-U.S. President Harry Truman, who ordered the atomic bombings of Japan during World War II, is in Hiroshima to attend a memorial service for the victims. Clifton Truman Daniel visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and laid a wreath for the 140,000 people killed by the August 6, 1945 bombing, authorised by his grandfather. Another atomic blast in Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000 more.
HPL board to study Swiss proposal The board of the cash-strapped Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) will consider at its meeting next week the proposal submitted by the Switzerland-based Kolmar for a conversion arrangement, HPL managing director Sumantra Choudhury said. The state government, which is now controlling the joint venture HPL, has also assured the lender and the rating agencies that a strategic partner or an investor will be inducted within six months. HPL is now producing at close to its capacity of 250 kilo tones per hour through a Rs. 200-crore letter of credit from its lenders. It needs around Rs. 600 crore to meet its full feedstock requirement. It now imports most of its naphtha with Indian Oil Corporation Haldia supplying the balance.
Samsung to launch new Galaxy Note on August 29 South Korean mobile maker Samsung is planning to unveil the new version of the Galaxy Note smartphone unveil the next Galaxy Note at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event in Berlin on August 29.
Serena routs Sharapova for gold Serena Williams became only the second woman to complete a career Golden Slam when she won her first Olympic singles gold medal by beating Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1. The career Golden Slam was first achieved by Steffi Graf, who did it when she won the Olympics in 1988 after sweeping all four major titles. Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the bronze by beating No. 14-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-3, 6-4. Americans Bob and Mike Bryan took the men’s doubles gold beating Michael Llodra and Jo- Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-6(2). The results: Men: Semifinals: Andy Murray (GBR) bt Novak Djokovic (Srb) 7-5, 7-5. Doubles: Bronze medal match: Julien Benneteau & Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt David Ferrer & Feliciano Lopez (Esp) 7-6(4) 6-2. Women: Final: Serena Williams (USA) bt Maria Sharapova (Rus) 6-0, 6-1. Bronze medal match: Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-3, 6-4. Semifinals: Serena bt Azarenka 6-1, 6-2.
Chen walks his way to 20km gold Chen Ding won China’s first ever men’s Olympic 20 kilometres walk title and first ever medal in the event coming home in a time of 1hr 18 min 46sec. The 19-year-old beat home Guatemalan Erick Barrondo, who gave his country its first ever Olympic medal in any sport, while another Chinese walker, Wang Zhen, was third. Defending champion Valeriy Borchin of Russia collapsed and lay distressed against a barrier within two kilometres of the finish Colombian world bronze medallist Luis Fernando Lopez’s dreams of another major medal were shattered as he received his third and final warning.
Mixed emotions as Saina is awarded bronze In an unexpected twist to the story, Saina won the badminton bronze in the women’s singles as Wang Xin of China retired with a painful knee while leading 21-18, 1-0. Saina became only the second Indian woman after weightlifter Karnam Malleswari in Sydney in 2000, to win an Olympic medal for India. She is the third Indian to win a medal in the London Games behind shooters Gagan Narang (bronze) and Vijay Kumar (silver). After a hesitant start, with the short-built Chinese making a clutch of errors, giving Saina a 5-2 lead, there was a dramatic change in the flow of the match as the Chinese won 12 points to one. Wang stepped up the pace and had such a good feel on the shuttle that she could drop it wherever she wished, giving no inkling to the Indian. Page 1 of 2 5th August 2012
Poonia finishes seventh in discus Krishna Poonia finished seventh in the women’s discus competition of the Olympic Games. The 35-year-old Indian threw to a distance of 63.62 metres in the final. This was Poonia’s best finish in the Olympics. She was 24th in the qualification round at the Beijing Games. She had become only the eighth Indian to make the final of an individual event in athletics at the Olympics. Croatian Sandra Perkovic won the gold with 69.11m.
Rossi wins with a record score Italy's Jessica Rossi won the gold medal in women's trap shooting at the London Olympics, missing just one of 100 shots to set a world record. Rossi was 75-for-75 in the qualifying rounds. Her lone miss came on the 18th shot of the 25-shot final. Rossi's overall 99 topped the former overall world mark of 96 by Zuzana Stefecekova of Slovakia in 2006, and her qualifying score of 75 was one better than the 74 by Victoria Chuyko of Ukraine in 1998. While three other competitors were preparing for a tie-breaker to decide the silver and bronze spots. Zuzana Stefecekova eventually won the silver medal, topping bronze-medallist Delphine Reau of France in the shoot-off. In the women’s 50 metre rifle three position, American Jamie Lynn Gray swept to gold with a score of 691.9, ahead of Serbia's Ivana Maksimovic (687.5) and Adela Sykorova of the Czech Republic (683.0). Gray, 28, had topped qualifying to take a two-point lead over Maksimovic.
Unrelenting Phelps snatches gold No. 17 The American, whose list of achievements in the Olympic pool are already beyond comparison, came from seventh place at the turn to overpower his rivals and win his 17th gold and 21 overall medals. Missy Franklin broke the world record in the 200 backstroke and her 15-year-old team mate Katie Ledecky pulled off a stunning upset in the 800 freestyle. Phelps and Franklin became the first triple gold medallists of the London Games and the pair looks certain to win one more each in the medley relays when the eight-day swimming competition ends. South African swimmer Chad Le Clos dead-heated with Russian swimmer Evgeny Korotyshkin to share silver medals in 51.44 seconds. Serbian Milorad Cavic, famously beaten by Phelps by one one-hundredth of a second in Beijing four years ago, went out hard in an effort to turn the tables. He led at the turn but faded to finish equal fourth with Germany's Steffen Deibler in 51.81sec. Franklin, who also won gold in the 100 backstroke and 4x200 freestyle relay, finished in 2:04.06. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva took the silver in a close race for second in 2:05.92, with Elizabeth Biesel of the U.S. claiming the bronze in 2:06.55.
Spirig wins triathlon in photo finish Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig won the closest Olympic women’s triathlon in history, pipping Sweden's Lisa Norden for gold after a dramatic photo finish. Spirig and Norden were neck-and-neck as they hit the finishing tape in 1hr 59min 48sec after a desperate sprint to the line following a gruelling 1.5km swim, 43km bike ride and 10km run. Australia's Erin Densham, two seconds behind, took bronze. British favourite Helen Jenkins dropped off the pace in the final lap and finished fifth, with America's Sarah Groff fourth. Spirig, 30, a former world junior champion, is Switzerland’s second Olympic triathlon gold-medallist after Brigitte McMahon won the inaugural event at Sydney 2000.
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