Tag: Olympics

Olympic legend Usain Bolt backs West Indies to win T20 World Cup

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Two-time T20 World Cup champions West Indies are favorite to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 according to Olympic legend Usain Bolt.

Bolt, who is the brand ambassador of the T20 World Cup,  believes that West Indies can win the World Cup despite their struggles in other formats of the sport.

Last year, West Indies did not feature in the 50-over World Cup, a first in the tournament’s history.  But having lifted the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016, West Indies have a chance to become the first team to win the World Cup three times.

Also Read: Cricket is my blood, says T20 World Cup brand ambassador Usain Bolt

“I’m always going to go with my home team,” Bolt said on Wednesday at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, where tournament officials offered a glimpse of the newly constructed, 34,000 seat stadium.

“Because we have some big hitters, if we get it right, then definitely West Indies (can win).”

West Indies are pooled in Group C of the World Cup along with Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Uganda. The team open their campaign   on June 2 against  Papua New Guinea in Guyana.

While the United States appear to be unlikely hosts for a cricket competition, with the men’s “Big Four” leagues of MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL dominating the sporting landscape, Bolt said American fans will be treated to an experience unlike any other.

“The energy that the cricket brings and the vibes and the noise, it’s just wonderful,” he said. “It’s something different that you’ll never see.”

The world record holder in the 100 and 200 metres has shown before that he can wield both bat and ball and was ready to embrace the cricket spotlight again in New York as he hopped into selfies with elated attendees.

The venue at Eisenhower Park will host eight matches, beginning on June 3 with Sri Lanka facing South Africa.

“I finally get a chance to be a part of cricket again,” said Bolt. “I’m happy that I get the opportunity to be a part of (the tournament), to promote a sport that I love.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

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

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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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.

It was a sort of a surprise that the women’s 4x400m team qualified for the Olympics as the focus was more on the men’s 4x400m team which has broken Asian record in back-to-back global events — Tokyo Olympics and 2023 World Championships — as well as winning 2023 Asian Games gold.

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 leg runner Rajesh Ramesh pulled out midway due to cramps. Arokia Rajiv took the place of Ramesh in the team and he ran the third leg after Anas and Ajmal.

The Indian men’s 4x400m team was on third position when anchor-leg runner Jacob took the baton from Arokia but the Delhi boy ran a fantastic race to overtake his Mexican opponent and finish second.

It was not about the timing but more about Olympics qualification for the Indian men’s team which ran 3:00.25 at the Tokyo Olympics for the then Asian record before bettering it during the 2023 World Championships with yet another Asian record of 2:59.05. Monday’s timing was well below the team’s best.

India had even given a mighty scare to formidable USA during the heat race at the 2023 Budapest World Championships before settling for the second place.

Meanwhile, India pulled out of the mixed 4x400m relay second round heat races on Monday as Ramesh was not available after suffering muscle cramps while running the men’s 4x400m first round heat on Sunday.

Ramesh had run both the mixed 4x400m and men’s 4x400m races on Sunday.

India had featured in mixed 4x400m relay in the Tokyo Olympics where the event made its debut.

The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team will be returning to Olympics after missing out in Tokyo Games. The Paris participation will be the eighth time for the Indian women’s 4x400m team, the first being in 1984 Games.

For the men’s 4x400m, this will be the fourth time India will be taking part in the Olympics, the first being in the 2000 Sydney Games.

With this, India now have at least 19 Paris-bound track and field athletes and the list includes defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra among others.

The athletics events at the Games will begin on August 1.

A total of 70 teams have qualified for relay events at the Paris Olympics following two days of thrilling action at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas.

Fourteen teams in each of the five disciplines being contested in Nassau — the women’s and men’s 4x100m and 4x400m plus the mixed 4x400m — automatically qualified for Paris places.

The first 40 qualified teams — eight each in five relay events — were confirmed on Sunday and the final 30 on Monday, following a second Olympic qualifying round for teams that missed out on day one.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How Paris is gearing up for unprecedented cybersecurity threat during 2024 Olympics

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Paris 2024 is getting ready to face an unprecedented challenge in terms of cybersecurity, with organisers expecting a huge pressure on the Games this summer.

Organised crime, activists and states will be the main threats during the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympics.

Paris 2024, who have been working hand in hand with the French national agency for information security (ANSSI), and cybersecurity companies Cisco and Eviden are looking to limit the impact of cyber attacks.

“We can’t prevent all the attacks, there will not be Games without attacks but we have to limit their impacts on the Olympics,” Vincent Strubel, the director general of ANSSI, told reporters.

“There are 500 sites, competition venues and local collectives, and we’ve tested them all.”

Strubel is confident that Paris 2024, who will operate from a cybersecurity operation centre in a location that is being kept secret, will be ready.

“The Games are facing an unprecedented level of threat, but we’ve also done an unprecedented amount of preparation work so I think we’re a step ahead of the attackers,” he said.

To make sure they are in the game, Paris 2024 have been paying “ethical hackers” to stress test their systems and have been using artificial intelligence to help them do a triage of the threats.

“AI helps us make the difference between a nuisance and a catastrophe,” said Franz Regul, managing director for IT at Paris 2024.

“We’re expecting the number of cyber security event to be multiplied by 10 compared to Tokyo (in 2021).”

“In terms of cybersecurity, four years is the equivalent of a century,” Eric Greffier, head of partnerships at CISCO, explained.

In 2018, a computer virus dubbed “Olympic Destroyer” was used in an attack on the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

While Moscow denied any involvement, the U.S. Justice Department in 2020 said it has indicted six Russian intelligence agency hackers for a four-year long hacking spree that included attacks against the Pyeongchang Games.

“We would like to have one opponent but we’re looking into everything and everyone. Naming the potential attackers is not our role, it is the role of the state,” Strubel said.

Last month, French president Emmanuel Macron said he had no doubt Russia would malevolently target the Paris Olympics.

The Games will take place amid a complex global backdrop, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conflict with Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

All about the medals of Paris Olympics 2024

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Paris will become a no-fly zone during its wildly ambitious Olympic opening ceremony

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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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 Aéroports 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 watch for any potential airborne threats, the French AWACS squadron’s commander previously told The Associated Press. Other military aircraft can be scrambled to intercept any non-authorized flights that enter restricted Olympic airspace.

Separately, de Romanet said there’s still a “very, very high” probability that small electric-powered airborne taxis will be trialled with passengers over Paris during the July 26-Aug. 11 Games, which he said would be a world first.

But European air-certification authorities might initially only allow the taxis to fly passengers on an experimental basis, not commercially, he added.

“We have high hopes that we will be able to carry passengers experimentally which will pave the way, over Paris, for the first flight in the world of an electrical vertical take-off aircraft,” he said.

Multiple companies are developing electrically powered aircraft that take off and land vertically. Some have already flown demonstration flights, in a race to turn their promises of environmentally friendly air transport into a commercially viable reality.

De Romanet insisted that the aircraft are safe, saying: “I am ready to climb aboard.”

Critics worry that taxis zipping through the airs of Paris will be a noisy and potentially dangerous nuisance and affordable only by the wealthy. The Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is among opponents of proposals to trial them on a few Paris-region routes during the Games.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ahead of Olympics, Police clear out a migrant camp in central Paris

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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French police evicted migrants from a makeshift camp in Paris a few steps away from the River Seine on Tuesday, the latest operation in what aid groups call a campaign of ‘’social cleansing” ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Before dawn on an unusually cold April morning, around 30 teenage boys and young men from West Africa were awakened by police and urged to pack their tents and belongings. Most of them were underage and in the process of seeking residency papers.

“I was already scared but I am even more scared because I don’t know where to go,” said Boubacar Traoré, 16, who said he fled conflict in Burkina Faso, arriving in France two months ago.

The operation came days after police carried out a large-scale eviction at France’s biggest squatter camp in a suburb south of Paris.

Such evictions and evacuations of migrant tent camps happen every spring after the end of a winter ‘’truce” during which authorities put such actions on hold.

But aid groups working with migrants and other vulnerable people in the Paris region say these efforts are intensifying ahead of the Olympics. They note that people are being sent far away from the capital instead of being offered shelter in the Paris region, where many asylum-seekers have upcoming court dates.

“The authorities want to have a clean place for the Olympics Games. They don’t want the tourists to see Paris as a city full of migrants and asylum seekers,” Elias Hufnagel, a volunteer with a group serving refugees and immigrants, said at the Paris tent camp Tuesday.

Paris police said the operation was carried out for security reasons, notably because the tent camp was near schools.

In a nearby street stood two large buses heading to Besançon, 400 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Paris. Authorities proposed to relocate the young men there and offered them housing for three weeks. But most didn’t want to take up that offer, fearing being even more isolated and with no plan after the three weeks run out.

Traoré was among those who refused to travel because he is awaiting a court date in Paris in two days. It was unclear where he would sleep Tuesday night.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ethiopian distance runner and Olympic finalist Zerfe Wondemagegn banned 5 years for doping

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A runner from Ethiopia who reached the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the Tokyo Olympics, and narrowly missed the world championship podium last year, has been banned for five years after testing positive for two banned substances.

Zerfe Wondemagegn admitted breaking anti-doping rules after samples she gave flagged up traces of testosterone and another substance, EPO, which can help athletes’ blood transport more oxygen, the Athletics Integrity Unit said in a ruling published on Monday.

Wondemagegn was eighth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and fourth at the 2023 world championships in Budapest. Two of the three samples in her case were taken while she was in Hungary for the event and she has been disqualified from the competition.

The AIU ruling said it received e-mailed testimony from a doctor saying Wondemagegn had been given EPO as medicine to treat severe anemia and a kidney infection but that it “remained satisfied” she had broken anti-doping rules. The organization added that it had received a signed admission from the athlete last week.

Wondemagegn’s is the latest in a series of doping cases in distance running.

The 2022 world champion in women’s steeplechase, Norah Jeruto, is facing a doping hearing in June, five weeks before the Paris Olympics. World Athletics is appealing against an earlier decision to clear the runner, who was born in Kenya and competes for Kazakhstan. She has argued ulcers and a bout of COVID-19 can explain irregular blood test results.

Also Monday, the AIU reported a three-year ban for Kenyan road runner Celestine Chepchirchir, who tested positive for testosterone.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Indian walkers Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualify for Paris Olympics in mixed-relay event

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s mixed relay team comprising Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualified for Paris Olympics by virtue of their 18th place finish at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships here on Sunday. The top-22 teams automatically qualify for the quadrennial extravaganza and the Indian duo clocked a personal best time of 3:05.03 across the 42.195 km distance that they covered.

The format of mixed team relay walk warrants the man and woman to alternately cover the said distance.

The man first walks 12.195 km and then the woman covers 10km followed by another 10 km from the man and the final 10km by the woman. There is a 20 metre distance for the changeover before each leg starts.

The event was won by the Italian team represented by Francesco Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti, who won the gold medal with a timing of 2:56:45.

This is also the duo’s personal best timing. They were followed by Japan’s Koki Ikeda and Kumiko Okada, who clocked their personal best time of 2:57:04.

The bronze was taken by the Spanish duo of Alvaro Martin and Laura Garcia-Caro, who finished the race in 2:57:47.

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat qualifies for Paris Olympics in women’s 50kg category

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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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 difficult to wriggle out of Vinesh’s strong hold. The Indian employed gut wrench move thrice and mixed that with one ‘expose’ to finish the bout.

The next bout lasted a mere 67 seconds. Cambodia’s Smanang Dit was an easy prey. Vinesh pinned her in no time to move to the women’s 50kg semifinal. The celebrated Indian faced some resistance from 19-year-old Kazakh wrestler Laura Ganikyzy in the semifinals but she used all her experience to foil the attacks employed by her younger rival.

Twice Laura went for left-leg attacks but Vinesh scored on counter and led 4-0 by the end of the first period. This was the first time Vinesh was pushed to the second period in this tournament. Once Vinesh got hold of Laura, she had no problem in employing consecutive gut wrench moves to finish the bout. Vinesh was competing in the 50kg category after winning the selection trials. The finalists at this competition are being awarded quota places for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

India can secure three more quotas through Anshu Malik (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (62kg) and Reetika (76kg) as they have also reached the semifinals in their respective categories. The 2021 World Championship silver medallist Anshu had no problem while putting it across Kyrgyzstan’s Kalmira Bilimbekova in the quarterfinal, winning by technical superiority.

The U23 world champion Reetika did not have to break much sweat in outclassing Eunju Hwang. She won the first round by technical superiority as the Korean had no answer to Reetika’s class and got a similar win under her belt against Mongolia’s Davaanasan Enkh Amar. In the final group bout against China’s Juang Wang, Reetika raced to a 8-0 lead but the Chinese fought back and logged six straight points. She effected another move at the dying moments but much to the relief of the Indian camp, that point was not awarded because it came at the end of the stipulated time. Mansi also made it to last-four as she needed to win just one bout. Up against Kazakhstan’s Irina Kuznetsova, she emerged a 6-4 winner.

The only Indian wrestler who could not reach semifinals was Nisha Dahiya (68kg). Nisha had to work hard for her opening win against Sol Gum Pak from North Korea. The Indian had raced to a 5-0 lead and maintained that till the first period, but the Korean put the pressure back on her rival with a strong resistance. Immediately at the start of the second period, Pak successfully got a take-down move to get on to the scoreboard. However, Nisha kept pushing Pak out to extend her lead and eventually won 8-3. Already exhausted, Nisha was outclassed by local favourite Meerim Zhumanazarova in round 2, in which she suffered a heavy defeat. After falling behind 1-9, she was pinned by Meerim. Nisha could hardly employ any attacking move, and was mostly involved in standing wrestling.

In the must-win round 3, Nisha overpowered Kazakhstan’s Yelena Shalygina but with Meerim losing her final group bout, Nisha did not have enough points to stay in top-four. The last chance to win the Paris Games quota will be at the World Qualifiers in Turkey from May 9.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

World Anti Doping Agency confirms 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive before Tokyo Games

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed reports on Saturday that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned drug ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but it accepted the country’s findings it was due to substance contamination.

Multiple media reports said the swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), which is found in heart medication, months before the COVID-delayed Games began in the Japanese capital in July 2021.

CHINADA, China’s anti-doping agency, and the Chinese Swimming Association did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

WADA said it was notified in June 2021 of CHINADA’s decision to accept that the swimmers returned adverse analytical findings (AAF) after inadvertently being exposed to the drug through contamination.

The global anti-doping body, which has the authority to appeal the rulings of national doping agencies, said it reviewed the decision and consulted scientific experts and external legal counsel to test the contamination theory presented by CHINADA.

“WADA ultimately concluded that it was not in a position to disprove the possibility that contamination was the source of TMZ and it was compatible with the analytical data in the file,” the global anti-doping body said in a statement.

“WADA also concluded that … the athletes would be held to have no fault or negligence. As such, and based on the advice of external counsel, WADA considered an appeal was not warranted.”

China’s 30-member swimming team won six medals at the Tokyo Games, including three golds.

Without mitigating circumstances, athletes who fail doping tests are usually subject to bans of two to four years for a first offence and life for a second.

World Aquatics, the sport’s global body formerly known as FINA, said it was confident the positive tests were handled “diligently and professionally.”

“With regard to the AAFs … they were carefully considered by the FINA Doping Control Review Board,” it added. “Materials relating to the source of the AAFs were subject to independent expert scrutiny retained by FINA.

“World Aquatics is confident that these AAFs were handled diligently and professionally, and in accordance with applicable anti-doping regulations, including the WADA Code.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow