** Swiss Open badminton | Sindhu clinches title; wins second singles title in 2022

Ace Indian shuttler P V Sindhu notched up her second women’s singles title of the season with a straight game win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the summit clash of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament in Basel on Sunday.

Playing her second successive final in the tournament, Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, took 49 minutes to get the better of the fourth seeded Thai 21-16 21-8 at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel.

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** Indian Premier League returns home bigger than ever

It will be the first time since 2011 that 10 teams be fighting it out for the most coveted T20 trophy in world cricket.

Indian cricket’s crown jewel, the IPL, is back home: bigger, better and longer.

It will be the first time since 2011 that 10 teams be fighting it out for the most coveted T20 trophy in world cricket.

Two new entrants, Lucknow Supergiants and Gujarat Titans, fetching a combined price of approximately USD 1.7 billion shows that brand IPL keeps getting bigger.

It took 14 years but the league has now well and truly gone global.

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** 13 year old Mumbai autistic girl swims across Palk Strait, sets record

The swimming commenced at 4.22 am on Sunday from Talaimanar and concluded at Dhanushkodi at 5.32 pm.

A 13-year-old Maharashtra girl suffering from Autistic spectrum disorder has set a new record by swimming across the Palk Strait from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Dhanuskodi in Tamil Nadu, covering a distance of 29 km in 13 hours and 10 minutes on Sunday.

By achieving the feat, Jiya Rai, daughter of Master Chief of Arms of INS Kunjali, became the youngest and fastest female swimmer in the world to swim across the Palk Strait. The previous record was held with Bhula Chowdhary who covered the distance in 13 hours and 52 minutes in 2004. The swimming commenced at 4.22 am on Sunday from Talaimanar and concluded at Dhanushkodi at 5.32 pm. The event was conducted and guided by the Para-Swimming Federation of India (PSFI).

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** Jay Shah’s term as Asian Cricket Council president extended by one year

BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s tenure as president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was on Saturday unanimously extended by a year at its annual general meeting here.

Shah had taken over the reins of the ACC in January last year from Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan, making him the youngest administrator to be re-appointed as ACC president.

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** Amin Jaffer’s new chapter in Paris

The Rwanda-born Indian curator, who has made the French capital his home, on the Al Thani collection’s first museum, his new book, and the importance of private collections

Writer, curator, collaborator, colonial furniture specialist: Amin Jaffer wears his titles effortlessly. And in the last couple of years, he’s added another one — that of Paris denizen — after he uprooted his English life of 25 years to move into a hôtel particulier (a grand townhouse) on Quai Voltaire along the Seine.

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** India’s historic Road to 1000 released

The 520-page special collection with 1000 pictures is a tribute to the journey

Sportstar and The Hindu group released a Coffee Table Book, ‘Road to 1000’, at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel here on Saturday.

The book is a 520-page, special collection with 1000 pictures to commemorate Indian cricket’s journey.

First to the milestone

On February 6, India played its 1,000th ODI against the West Indies in Ahmedabad, becoming the first team to record the feat.

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source: thehindu.com

** In post-Brexit UK, Indians got 43 per cent of all skilled work visas in 2021

Indians nationals are the top nationality in the skilled work category in the United Kingdom, accounting for two-fifth’s of visas granted.

“In the last year alone, over 65,500 Skilled Worker visas were issued to Indian nationals,” a British High Commission spokesperson told this newspaper.

Indians have accounted for 43% of the total skilled worker visas in 2021, which is a 14% increase from 2019.  Experts attribute this to point-based UK immigration system that was launched post Brexit.

In May 2021, the UK signed the Migration and Mobility Partnership with India, increasing cooperation on migration and opening access for youth mobility.

A number of legal routes are being offered to work in the UK.

These include the Skilled Worker route, Graduate Route and Health and Care Worker visa.

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** ‘Green Triangle’ named after Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav

Indian Ambassador Abhay Kumar said Gandhi was the “greatest Pravasi” who returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians.

As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate India’s 75th year of independence, a “Green Triangle” named after Mahatma Gandhi was jointly inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

Mayor of Antananarivo Naina Andriantsitohaina and India’s Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar inaugurated the green space on Wednesday at a special ceremony in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

** Joshi, Bhagat shine as India bag 21 medals at Spanish Para Badminton International

Manshi Joshi and Nithya Sre claimed a gold each, while Tokyo Paralympics champion Pramod Bhagat secured two silver and a bronze as India bagged as many as 21 medals at the Spanish Para Badminton International in Cartagena, Spain.

World no. 1 Joshi (SL3) and Sre (SH6) were among the six gold medallists, while India also secured seven silvers and eight bronze medals in the level I tournament, which concluded on Sunday.

Raja/Krishna (men’s doubles SH6), Raj/Parul (mixed doubles SL3-SU5), Chirag/Raj (men’s doubles SU5) and Nitesh/Tarun (men’s doubles SL3-SL4) also bagged the yellow metal.

World no 1 Bhagat (SL3) secured two silver and a bronze, while world no 2 Sukant Kadam (SL 4) ended up with a bronze medal at the event.

Tarun Dhillon (men’s singles SL4), Krishna Nagar (men’s singles SH6), Mandeep Kaur (women’s singles SL3), Manasi/Ruthick (mixed doubles SL3-SU5), Hardik/Ruthik (men’s doubles SU5) and Manoj/Bhagat (men’s doubles SL3-SL4) also won silver medals.

The bronze medal winners were Nitesh Kumar (men’s singles SL3), Manoj (men’s singles SL3), Nilesh Gaikwad (men’s singles SL4), Parul Parmar (women’s singles SL3), Bhagat/Kohli (mixed doubles SL3-SU5), Arwaz/Deep (men’s doubles SL3-SL4), and Prem Ale/Abu Hubaida (men’s doubles WH1-WH2).

Kadam lost to world no 1 Lucas Mazur from France 21-19 19-21 12-21 in the semifinal to settle for a bronze.

India had claimed 34 medals, including 11 gold, seven silver and 16 bronze, from the Spanish Para badminton International II event recently.

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** Shreyas Iyer named ICC ‘Player of the Month’

New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr bags honour among women

Fast-rising India batter Shreyas Iyer was on Monday voted the ICC ‘Men’s Player of the Month’ for February, while New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr bagged the honour among women.

Iyer earned the award on the back of his brilliant white-ball exploits during the home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively last month.

He pipped UAE’s Vriitya Aravind and Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee to claim the honour.