IFFCO Announces cash award for Wrestling, Boxing Medalists Sushil Kumar, Mary Kom, Yogeshwar Dutt

NEW DELHI, Aug 13: Indian farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) proudly salutes the Indian Olympic contingent and announces the cash award of Rs 10 lakh for Silver Medalist Sushil Kumar, Rs 7 lakh for Yogeshwar Dutt and Lady Boxer Mary Kom who both are Bronze medalist in London 2012. IFFCO as country's largest organisation of cooperatives who represents rural India salutes the rural sports.

IFFCO also announces cash award of Rs 2 lakh for Indian wrestling players who participated in London 2012. Cash award of Rs 5 lakh for Sushil Kumar's coach & Rs 2 lakh for Mary Kom's Coach also.

IFFCO Managing Director Dr. U S Awasthi said that “IFFCO as farmers organisation supports all kind of rural sports and it feels great to honor these players who have made name for India in Olympics”.

The award will be presented to players after getting a common date on which all of them can come. The function will be held at IFFCO’s corporate office at IFFCO Sadan, Saket, New Delhi.

Sports Minister felicitates London Olympics medal winner

NEW DELHI, Aug 16: Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports Ajay Maken today felicitates and present the cash awards to the medal winners of London Olympics 2012 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.

Wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, shooters Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang, shuttler Saina Nehwal and boxer M C Mary Kom were handed cash awards by the government for winning medals in the just-concluded London Olympics in a function held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Hundreds of fans, mainly school children, turned up to have a glimpse of their heroes.

Ajay Maken said that the government would start planning so that India can win 25 medals in 2020 Olympics.

"We will start planning from now. We are aiming 25 medals in 2020 Olympics. The government is ready to provide the best infrastructure, best coaches and foreign training," he said.

The medal winners were later taken to the nearby historic India Gate to pay floral tributes to the Amar Jawan Jyoti.

Govt felicitates Mary Kom; Tribal Affairs Ministry honours

NEW DELHI, Aug 14: MC Mary Kom, the first Indian woman boxer to win an Olympic medal, was on Tuesday morning accorded a rousing reception on arrival at the IGI Airport in New Delhi.

Mary Kom flew in from London with the entire boxing contingent, including the men's team.

"It is very special to win an Olympic medal. The road to it was a tough one. I am overwhelmed with the support that I have got. I am excited and scared as well with the huge amount of people here. Everyone knows me now. I might not look like an Indian but I surely feel like one," an emotional Mary Kom told reporters about her bronze winning feat in the London Olympics.

The 29-year-old Manipuri was accompanied by her husband Onler Kom and mother Akham Kom.

"The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is very much into accomplishing this task. Steps in this direction are already on, and we are determined to chalk out more measures to reap in benefits for the country’s tribal communities and the sports people among them," he told a function organised to facilitate boxer Mary Kom on her winning a medal at the just-concluded Olympics.

The ministry rewarded the Manipuri tribal sportswoman with Rs 10 lakh, within hours of her touchdown in the national capital from London.

Kom’s latest professional achievement -the 29-year-old won the bronze in the 51-kg flyweight category at the Games 2012 exemplifies the victory of individual efforts rather than that of an institutional set-up, the Minister noted.

"We have to alter this equation,"he added.

Of the six medals India won at the London Olympics, it is a tribal who has pocketed one, Deo pointed out.

"This can be a matter of major inspiration for our tribal fraternity," he said.

"We have already declared her as the recipient of the Tribal Award for 2012."

Kom, in her brief speech after receiving the purse from the minister, expressed joy that the whole nation stood behind her as she battled it out at London.

"My target was a gold medal; I’ll now try for that that at Rio (de Janeiro that is hosting the 2016 Olympics)," she said, amid cheers from the gathering.

Sushil and Yogeshwar returned home late Monday night to a hero's welcome as hordes of supporters, including young Sushil and Yogeshwar returned home late Monday night to a hero's welcome as hordes of supporters, including young grapplers from nearby akhadas, turned up at the airport.

As soon as the duo walked out of the arrival lounge, celebrations broke out with drums beating and fireworks lighting up the sky.

Sushil and Yogeshwar were surprised to see their life-size cut-outs, and within moments they were carried on the shoulders of their supporters.

With garlands around their neck, Sushil and Yogeshwar were dazed with the grand reception.

Shouts of "Sushil, Yogeshwar ki jay" reverberated in the air.

The duo were taken on a well-decorated open truck to the Palam temple.

Rapplers from nearby akhadas, turned up at the airport.

Even before the flight from London landed, a huge crowd had gathered at the arrival terminus, reminiscent of scenes four years ago when Sushil arrived from Beijing with a bronze medal.

But this time, exploits of Sushil and Yogeshwar in London called for special celebrations.

Sushil, who won the silver, became India's only individual back-to-back Olympic medallist while his friend of 15 years, Yogeshwar, bagged a bronze.

It seemed as if the whole of Chattarsal and Baprola village, from where Sushil hails, was at the international airport to celebrate Indian wrestling's success.

Sushil's wife Savi, his father-in-law Satpal Singh, former Asian Games gold medallist, his coach Yashvir Singh, national coach Vinod Kumar and Raj Singh, general secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), also arrived with the champion duo.

Air India awarded Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar-2012

NEW DELHI, Aug 29: Air India has been awarded the “Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar-2012” for its outstanding contribution in the field of Sports in the category of “Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent”. The award was given by the President of India Mr Pranab Mukherjee and was received by Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, Mr Rohit Nandan at a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

Air India has been a patron to sportspersons for the last several decades. It has provided jobs to sportspersons who have gone ahead to bring glory for the country in different national and international competitions. In fact, Air India can claim that a large part of the sporting talent we have today, is due to the patronage of Air India.

In the recently concluded Summer Olypics 2012 held at London, Gagan Narang an Air Indian made the nation proud by bringing India its first medal - Bronze Medal in the 10 metre air rifle event. Three more Air Indians who were part of the Olympics 2012 representing the Indian contingent are - Mohammed Riaz (coach) and Shivendra Singh in Hockey, and Ms Annu Raj Singh in Air Pistol.

The honour for Air Indians excelling in sports continues with Yuvraj Singh and Ms. Annu Raj Singh being chosen for the Arjuna Award this year for their excellence in Cricket and Shooting respectively. Harendra Singh has been chosen for the Dronacharya Award for his excellent coaching skills in Hockey.

In his message to the sportspersons, CMD Rohit Nandan said that Air India’s support to sports and sports person will continue, as a commitment.

Last year the Indian cricket team that won the World Cup 2011 was led by an Air Indian Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Besides Dhoni, the other members of the Indian squad who are with Air India include Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina.

Air India has also extended jobs to young sports talents pursuing careers in table tennis, football, badminton, kabbadi and carrom among other sports disciplines. Its employees have represented the country in events like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships to name a few. Several of them have been felicitated with national honours like the Arjuna awards, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the Padmashree and the Padma Vibhusan. The glory they have won has made Air India proud.

Air Indians, till date, have won 9 Padamshree, 3 Rajev Khel Ratna, 1 Dronacharya Award and 35 Arjuna Awards.

Air India, has over the years, played a stellar role in the promotion of sports and sports talents in the country by recruiting and supporting budding sportsmen and women who have matured into professionals in their respective fields of sports.

Mary Kom bags Bronze at Olympics

LONDON, Aug 8: India's Mary Kom lost to Great Britain's Nicola Adams 6-11 in the Women's Flyweight (51kg) semi-final on Wednesday, settling for a bronze medal at the London Olympics. She lost a closely fought bout against World number 2 Nicola Adams.

Mary lost the four-round bout 6 points to 11. The score in each round, 1-3, 1-2, 2-3, 2-3.

As former boxer Poonam Beniwal, a friend of Mary's said, "Mary fought and lost like a champion."

Nadal wins record seventh French Open

PARIS, June 11: Rafael Nadal clinched a record seventh French Open title on Monday, defeating world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and shattering the Serb's dream of Grand Slam history.

In a fractious final pushed into a third week for only the second time because of Sunday's rain, the Spanish world number two, playing in his 16th Grand Slam final, also took his Paris record to a staggering 52 wins against just one loss.

Victory, which was achieved on a Djokovic double fault, allowed him to break the tie for six French Opens he shared with Bjorn Borg.

It was the 26-year-old's 11th Grand Slam title, taking him one behind Roy Emerson, three off Pete Sampras and five away from the record of 16 held by Roger Federer.

For five-time major winner Djokovic, the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion, it was the end of his dream of emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) by holding all the Grand Slams at once.

He was left to regret his unforced error count of 53 which undermined his challenge.

After Sunday's suspension, the players, meeting in a fourth successive Grand Slam final, resumed with Nadal leading 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2, but with Djokovic in the ascendancy and serving for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set.

But a forehand error from Djokovic, with the court at his mercy, gave Nadal a break point and the Spaniard seized it when the Serb had been left flat-footed by a net cord which allowed his opponent to push through a winner.

The set remained tight as would be expected with the pair meeting for a 33rd time.

Nadal moved to 5-4 as the umbrellas went up all around Philippe Chatrier Court and the players sat courtside to wait out a passing, heavy shower and complained to tournament referee Stefan Fransen about the slippery conditions.

Djokovic finally buckled when a monster forehand from Nadal set up championship point which he converted when the top seed tamely served up a fourth double fault.

The celebrations were ecstatic as Nadal fell to his knees and consoled Djokovic before the champion climbed into the player's box to embrace his family.

On Sunday, Djokovic had looked down and out at one stage, even picking up a warning for destroying his courtside chair box with his racquet.

After slipping two sets down, he was also a break behind at 0-2 in the third before he reeled off eight games in succession to take the third set -- the first lost by Nadal in this year's event -- and lead 2-0 in the fourth.

The first game of the fourth set had featured a gruelling 44-shot rally.

But Nadal had raged at tournament referee Stefan Fransen for having to keep playing as the court became increasingly treacherous.

As he stormed, Djokovic, who had been two sets to love down to Andreas Seppi in the fourth round, and saved four match points in his quarter-final victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seized his chance to get back into the match.

The last time a French Open men's final failed to be completed on the last Sunday was 1973 when it was played on the Tuesday with Ilie Nastase beating Niki Pilic.

Monday finishes have become common at the US Open in New York with the last four finals taking place on the extra day while the 2001 Wimbledon final was also completed on a Monday.

Roland Garros will eventually avoid late finishes as a main court with a retractable roof is to be built in 2017.

Tendulkar gets Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award

DUBAI, June 11: Senior Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was presented the Wisden India Outstanding Achievement award for completing a century of 100 international hundreds in Dubai.

Tendulkar had achieved the milestone while playing against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in March.

The event was organised by FidelisWorld and the iconic batsman was presented with a trophy. Made from crystal, it features a cricket ball resting on the open pages of a book.

The 49 one-day international centuries that Tendulkar has made are listed on one side, and his 51 Test hundreds on the other.

Tendulkar spoke on various aspects of his career at the function such as his favourite innings - the match-winning fourth-innings hundred against England at Chennai in December 2008 - balancing play and personal life, and the influence that his late father had in shaping his career.