RECORDS, ALL OTHER excl. Asia & India – Page 15

** Indian-American Navy veteran appointed Kamala Harris’s defence advisor

In her new role, Ms. Sethi coordinates National Security Advisor documentation across the Office of the Vice President.

Shanti Sethi, a trailblazing Indian-American Navy veteran, has joined US Vice President Kamala Harris’s office as her executive secretary and defence advisor, according to a media report.

Ms. Sethi, the first Indian-American commander of a major US Navy combat ship, recently joined Vice President Harris’ office, Politico news website quoted vice president’s senior advisor Herbie Ziskend as saying.

** Gukesh wins La Roda International Open chess title in style

Praggnanandhaa finishes third; Raunak fourth

The country’s youngest Grandmaster D. Gukesh, 15, improved upon his two runner-up finishes in March with a resounding title-triumph in the 48th La Roda International Open chess tournament in Castile-La Mancha, in Spain.

In the ninth and final round, joint overnight leader Gukesh stopped Israel’s Victor Mikhalevski in just 26 moves to finish with eight points.

Earlier, aiming for the runner-up spot, R. Praggnanandhaa did Gukesh a favour by holding the other overnight leader Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan in 37 moves. Martisroyan (7.5 points) finished runner-up and Praggnanandhaa topped a five-way tie for third place at seven points. Raunak Sadhwani was part of those at seven points and took the fourth spot.

** Kolhapur-based software engineer among Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ photography challenge winners

Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ macro photography challenge invited photography enthusiasts from all over the globe to click the best macro picture using an iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max.

Prajwal Chougule from Kolhapur, Maharashtra is among the ten global winners of the Apple ‘Shot on iPhone’ macro photography challenge. The global challenge was introduced for photography enthusiasts on January 25, 2022 and accepted entries till February 16, 2022.

Chougule joins nine other winners from countries including China, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Thailand and the US. The 10 winning photos, including Chougule’s will be featured on apple.com, on Apple’s Instagram (@apple), and on billboards in select cities around the world, including cities where the winners are from.

** Maha, Delhi girls bag bronze at Hungary Maths Olympiad

All four contestants representing India at the 11th European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad in Hungary have bagged bronze medals, an official said here on Monday.

The winners — three Class XII students and one Class X student — included two girls from Maharashtra and two sisters from Delhi.

They are: Ananya R. Ranade from Pune, Sanika A. Borade from Nashik, Anushka Aggarwal and Gunjan Aggarwal, both from Delhi. The students and were accompanied by their leaders/observers including Aditi S. Phadke, Puklit Sinha and Rohinee Joshi.

** India’s Chahat Arora wins gold at Thailand Age Group Swimming Championship

Indian swimmer Chahat Arora clinched a gold medal in the women’s 50m breaststroke event at the Thailand Age Group Championship.

The Chandigarh swimmer, who won two gold medals at the nationals last year, won the yellow metal after equalling her own previous best Indian time of 33.62 seconds in Samut Prakan, Thailand.

Junior swimmers Vritti and Nina shine in SA Nationals

The country’s junior swimmers continued to make a splash in South Africa.

Vritti Agarwal and Nina Venkatesh won a silver and bronze medal respectively in the South Africa National Championships.

Vritti clocked a personal best time of 18:06.40 to grab the silver in the junior girl’s 1500m 15-16 years freestyle event.

Nina won the bronze in the 50m butterfly finals with an effort of 29.03 in Port Elizabeth.

The two are a part of the 16-member Indian junior team participating at the South Africa nationals.

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** Melur girl qualifies to participate in sports event in France

Ananthi, a beach volleyball player, will represent India at the international event

A. Ananthi, a beach volleyball player from Melur, has qualified for the International School Sports Federation (ISF) Gymnasiade 2022, to be held in Normandy in France between May 13 and 28.

She qualified in the national-level selection organised by School Games Federation of India (SGFI) held at Namakkal on March 20 where more than 1,200 athletes competed in various sports. She will represent India at the ISF along with her teammate K.B. Amirthaa and substitute player M. Swethaa.

Ananthi is a Class XII student in Palaniappa Memorial Higher Secondary School, Palanichettipatti, near Theni and resides in a Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu hostel. She hails from Therku Theru in Melur, near Madurai.

** Veteran Bengali writer wins coveted O. Henry Award for 1977 story

Sahitya Akademi awardee Amar Mitra wrote Gaonburo when he was 26 years old

Amar Mitra wrote the story back in 1977, when he was only 26; today, it has fetched him the 1919-founded O. Henry Award, whose past winners include William Faulkner, Saul Bellow and Raymond Carver.

The award has reinforced Mr. Mitra’s belief that the short story — titled Gaonburo in Bangla and The Old Man of Kusumpur in English — must have some “internal force” for even the Western audience to find it relevant after 45 long years.

“It has often been hailed, at various times, as a ‘wonderful story’. Maybe it really is a wonderful story. I don’t remember the last time an Indian writing in an Indian language getting such a recognition,” Mr. Mitra, recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and several other prestigious honours at home, told The Hindu.

th/west bengal

** HAL-Israel sign MoU for conversion civil aircraft into Multi Mission Tanker Transport Aircraft

In a move aimed at bolstering the ‘Make in India’ campaign, HAL has entered into a MoU with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to convert Civil (Passenger) aircraft to Multi Mission Tanker Transport (MMTT) aircraft in India.

The move will provide India’s defence ecosystem with new capabilities and cost effective solutions in the market. The MoU will facilitate HAL and IAI’s decades’ long expertise in developing, manufacturing and producing leading defence platforms.

The scope of MoU also covers “passenger to freighter aircraft” conversion along with MMTT conversions.

A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Delhi by D Maiti, CEO (MiG Complex), HAL and Yaacov Berkovitz, Vice President and General Manager, Aviation Group, IAI in the presence of Chandraker Bharati, JS (Aero), Ministry of Defence, Goveernment of India.

“We are glad to join hands with our long standing partner IAI in this venture of MMTT conversion business which is one of the strategic diversification avenues identified by HAL”, said R Madhavan, CMD, HAL.

** India’s Rickey Kej and Falguni Shah win big at 2022 Grammy Awards

Rickey Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides. Falguni Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

A Mumbai-born singer went to the US and made her career in music, while the other, born in the US, moved back to India, the country of his parents’ birth. The ‘crossover’ stars Falguni Shah and Rickey Kej have now won their respective Grammy Awards.

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday night in Las Vegas, Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides, his collaboration with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

6,000 Km In 110 Days: Delhi Woman Sufiya Khan Breaks World Record For Golden Quadrilateral Run

Sufiya Khan began her run from the national capital on December 16, 2020.

Sufiya began her run from the national capital on December 16, 2020. By April 6, 2021, she has completed the golden quadrilateral circuit. A gruelling journey, to be sure, but the 35-year-old athlete was determined to see it through.

“No, I did not think of giving up in the entire attempt,” she was quoted as saying by Guinness World Records. “Though there were very many injuries that happened during the run my full focus was on completing this attempt in minimum time.”

Sufiya was supported on her run by her husband, who drove the support car, took care of her nutrition and physiotherapy and managed her schedule. Besides this, local runners and cyclists joined her at various stretches of her journey.

On Saturday, she was certified as the “fastest female to run along The Indian Golden Quadrilatrel Road.”

ndtv/first