Category: Amazing Feats

Dubai’s Kay Godkhindi creates history in all-female chair umpire team at Sofia Open

In a first, supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires are all women who have been assigned to an ATP tour event.

There’s a strong Dubai connection to the ongoing Sofia Open in Bulgaria run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits.

This is for the first time, an all-female chair umpire team, including the ATP supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires, was assigned to an ATP Tour event.

Tournament Director Kay Godkhindi, who is of Indian origin and holds an Australian passport, grew up in Dubai and went to college in the USA.

She told Khaleej Times from Sofia about the exciting aspect of the event.

“Truth be told, we had no clue about history being made in front of our eyes. At the end of the day, it’s a sport where gender is of little consequence. Besides, gender doesn’t define an individual’s capabilities. However, it’s a wonderful concept to have equal opportunity in both the ATP and the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and empowering women as and when possible is a step towards the right direction,” she said while lavishing praise on ATP for championing the gender cause.

Tennis has had several prominent female officials, including those officiating in men’s matches, for several decades.

Anne Lasserre, who is the ATP Supervisor for the ATP 250 in Sofia, is the gender-bender pioneer.

“I think it’s an honour as well to be the first female. I worked as a chair umpire for the ATP a long time ago,” Lasserre said.

“I think things and the situation are evolving, which I think is a good thing. It’s an honour, I’m proud of it…

“It’s good to think about the future and being able to break this glass ceiling and give this opportunity to other females to do the same job as we do in every sport,” she told atptour.com.

ATP Senior Director of Officiating Administration Ali Nili told atptour.com: “The ATP Officiating Department prioritises high performance and a diverse officiating team. The tournament in Sofia is an example of our successful efforts in that direction. While the road to progress is long, we are proud of the direction we are heading, and the future seems bright.

khaleejtimes.com

A new ball game for Malayali expatriates in Italy

Adlers Lombard, a Keralites-run football club, will become the first of its kind to compete in an Italian soccer league on Sunday

They moved from Kerala to Italy for higher studies, work and seeking better lives. But for these soccer maniacs, there was no better life without football. Moving from a football-crazy State to a country where soccer is almost a religion, they took their game to a new level.

Come Sunday, Adlers Lombard, a Keralites-run football club in Italy, will begin its journey in the Italian football system by competing in the CSI (Centro Sportivo Italiano) Regione Bergamo, a lower-division football league competition consisting of 12 teams. The club formed in 2019 plays the 7-a-side football format. It is the first of its kind, with 15 Keralites among its 20-member roster, to play in an Italian league. The CSI Regione Bergamo season lasts 10 months.

“Before moving to Italy from Kerala, one thing we all liked doing most was playing football. We came to Italy from different parts of Kerala at different times. But football has brought us together. After launching Adlers Lombard (Eagles from Lombardy), the team initially participated in some local tournaments. In the last 12 months or so, we have won five tournaments organised by the Kerala European Football Federation in Italy and Germany. The victories prompted the team management to register the club with the CSI and participate in the league,” says club vice-captain Mohammed Naseef C.P. who hails from Malappuram and works as a teacher in Italy. According to him, Adlers Lombard is the first ‘Indian Club’ to compete in an Italian football league.

The team is captained by Muhammed Abir P.T., also from Malappuram. The rest of the Keralite players are from Thrissur, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and so on. Two other Indians and a couple of Italian players are part of the team. The club has spent around €20,000 (approximately ₹15.84 lakhs) to prepare the team for competing in the league. They raised the money through sponsorships from several funders including an Italy-based automobile giant.

For Adlers Lombard, competing in CSI Regione Bergamo is just a start. “We are currently plying our trade in a lower division. But we are ambitious and have a long-term goal. Our aim is to play professional football in Italy in Serie D, Serie C, Serie B and Serie A and compete against top teams like Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan. We hope to recruit Indian players and provide them with a chance to play in the Italian league. It will help the growth of football in India,” says Smento Joseph, president, Adlers Lombard who hails from Angamaly in Kerala.

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Natural remedy for fatty liver disease found, claims CMFRI 

Continuing its research on developing natural remedies from marine organisms against lifestyle diseases, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday claimed it had developed a nutraceutical product from select seaweeds to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  

Named Cadalmin TM LivCure extract, the product is a blend of 100% natural bioactive ingredients extracted from seaweed with an eco-friendly green technology to improve liver health, according to a press release from the CMFRI. 

This is the ninth such product from marine organisms developed by the CMFRI which had previously brought out nutraceuticals to combat a series of lifestyle diseases, such as Type-2 diabetes, arthritis, cholesterol, hypertension, hypothyroidism, and osteoporosis, and to improve immunity. Out of these nutraceuticals, eight products are from seaweed and one from green mussel, the release said.

Dr. Kajal Chakraborty, Principal Scientist at the Marine Biotechnology, Fish Nutrition and Health Division of the CMFRI, led the research works to develop the product. He said bioactive pharmacophore leads from seaweeds were used to develop the nutraceutical product. 

“Pre-clinical trials showed that LivCure extract proved to have the potential to inhibit different enzymes and various target receptors associated with dyslipidemia and pathophysiology leading to NAFLD. This helps improve liver health, reduce the disposition of fatty substances, and maintain other liver/lipid parameters within the clinically acceptable limits,” he added. 

The nutraceutical does not have any side effects as established by detailed preclinical trials. “It has proved that long-term oral administration of this product will not lead to general organ or systemic toxicity,” Dr. Chakraborty added. The technology will be out-licensed soon to those in the pharmaceutical industry for commercial production of the nutraceutical. 

For the past few years, the CMFRI has intensively focused on research on seaweed mainly for developing natural products beneficial to improving human health, said Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, Director, CMFRI.  

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Researchers develop algorithm that can help decode brain scans to identify type of epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disease where the brain emits sudden bursts of electrical signals in a short amount of time.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh, have developed an algorithm that they said can help decode brain scans to identify the occurrence and type of epilepsy.

Currently, a patent has been filed for the work and the algorithm is being tested for its reliability by physicians at AIIMS Rishikesh, Bengaluru-based IISc said.

Epilepsy is a neurological disease where the brain emits sudden bursts of electrical signals in a short amount of time, resulting in seizures, fits, and in extreme cases, death.

Based on the point of origin of the brain’s erratic signals, epilepsy is classified as either focal or generalised epilepsy.

Focal epilepsy occurs when the erratic signals are confined to a specific region in the brain. If the signals are at random locations, then it is termed as generalised epilepsy.

To identify whether a patient is epileptic, neurophysiologists need to manually inspect EEGs (electroencephalograms), which can capture such erratic signals, an IISc statement noted on Wednesday.

Visual inspection of EEG can become tiring after prolonged periods, and may occasionally lead to errors, says Hardik J Pandya, Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (DESE) and the corresponding author of the study published in ‘Biomedical Signal Processing and Control’.

“The research aims to differentiate EEG of normal subjects from epileptic EEGs. Additionally, the developed algorithm attempts to identify the types of seizures. Our work is to help the neurologists make an efficient and quick automated screening and diagnosis,” he adds.

In their study, the team reports a novel algorithm that can sift through EEG data and identify signatures of epilepsy from the electrical signal patterns, according to the statement.

After initial training, the algorithm was able to detect whether a human subject could have epilepsy or not – based on these patterns in their respective analyses – with a high degree of accuracy, the researchers say.

To develop and train the algorithm, the researchers first examined EEG data from 88 human subjects acquired at AIIMS Rishikesh. Each subject underwent a 45-minute EEG test, divided into two parts: an initial 10-minute test when the subject was awake, which included photic stimulation and hyperventilation, followed by a 35-minute sleep period when the subject was asked to sleep.

Next, the team analysed this data and classified different wave patterns into sharp signals, spikes, and slow waves.

An epileptic subject shows a different set of patterns compared to a healthy individual.

The team ran their algorithm on a new set of EEG data from subjects for whom the classification (whether they had epilepsy, and if so, what type of epilepsy they had) was already known to the doctors. This blind validation study successfully classified the subjects accurately in nearly 91 per cent of the cases, the statement said.

“We hope to refine this further by testing on more data to consider more variabilities of human EEGs until we reach the point where this becomes completely translational and robust,” says Rathin K Joshi, a PhD student in DESE and first author of the study

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Army Aviation inducts 1st indigenous Light Combat Helicopter

Army will receive second LCH in October, says defence official

The Indian Army formally inducted the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) on Thursday. The first LCH was formally received by Director General Army Aviation Lt Gen A. K. Suri from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru.

“Army Aviation received one LCH today. It will receive the second LCH in October,” a defence official said.

The Army raised its first LCH Unit on June 01, 2022, in Bengaluru to prepare for the induction. As reported by The Hindu earlier, the Unit will move to the Eastern Command along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on completion next year.

The Army plans to acquire 95 LCH of which seven units, each having 10 helicopters, are to be deployed for combat role in mountains.

In a related development, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to formally induct 10 LCH in Jodhpur next week ahead of Air Force Day.

In March 2022, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved the procurement of 15 Limited Series Production (LSP) variants of the LCH at a cost of ₹3,887 crore along with infrastructure sanctions worth ₹377 crore. Of the 15 helicopters, 10 are for the IAF and five for the Army. The LCH is designed and developed by HAL.

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Jehan Daruvala becomes the first Indian to win a Formula 2 race

With 31 points from this weekend, the Red Bull-backed racer has jumped to fifth in the F2 season standings with 126 points

India’s Jehan Daruvala raced to his first feature race win in the FIA Formula 2 Championship here on Sunday to make it a double podium weekend for himself.

After three tough rounds, Jehan finally got the car to challenge for podiums and he did not disappoint. The Prema driver had finished third in the sprint race on Saturday.

Jehan, who was top-3 in the standings at one stage, had slipped well out of top five.

With 31 points from this weekend, he has jumped to fifth in the standings with 126 points. The final round will be held in Abu Dhabi in November and he still has a shot at finishing third in the championship. The Indian racer is into his third and probably last season in Formula 2. He recently tested a Formula 1 car with McLaren but a race seat for next season looks tough at this point.

On Sunday, the 23-year-old started sixth on the grid but used a mix of strategy, race craft and tyre management to capitalise on a safety car and red flag-interrupted race and clinch a comfortable win around the hallowed ‘Temple of Speed’.

The win was Jehan’s first this season. It was also his sixth top-three finish at Monza and second win at the track after the Indian won there last year.

“What a weekend,” said Jehan.

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve had the win taken away from us for one reason or another on more than one occasion this year. But we’ve kept our heads down, kept believing, kept pushing and we’ve finally done it. And what a venue to do it at too! Monza is up there with one of my all-time favourite tracks and standing on the top step of this incredible podium, out over the main straight with the Indian national anthem playing out, feels so, so special.” Jehan made a good getaway, but starting on the dirty side of the grid got bogged down after the initial start.

Nevertheless, he was at sixth as the field went through the first chicane but lost a place to Juri Vips as he lifted in anticipation of a safety car after an opening-lap shunt involving Ralph Boschung and Theo Pourchaire.

The safety car wasn’t deployed until later, however, and Jehan was forced to defend from Jack Doohan on the run to the second Roggia chicane.

The pair went wheel-to-wheel in the braking zone with Logan Sargeant making it three-wide into the chicane. Doohan, with Jehan on the inside and Sargeant on the outside, had nowhere to go and ended up colliding with Jehan.

The Red Bull-backed racer, however, suffered only minor damage and carried on as the safety car was finally deployed.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 5 with Jehan running seventh. But a crash for Calan Williams at the Ascari chicane brought the safety car back out on Lap 8.

Jehan seized the opportunity to pit, with the perfectly timed stop, eventually moving him up to third once his other rivals had pitted.

That left him perfectly placed to battle for the win as the red flag was deployed to allow track workers to clear away Williams’ stranded Trident and carry out repairs to the barriers. 

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UNESCO launches list documenting 50 iconic Indian heritage textiles

It mentions causes for their dwindling popularity and provides strategies for their preservation

UNESCO on Thursday released a list of 50 exclusive and iconic heritage textile crafts of the country. Toda embroidery and Sungadi from Tamil Nadu, Himroo weaves from Hyderabad and Bandha tie and dye weaving from Sambalpur in Odisha were some of the textiles that made the cut.

Handmade for the 21st Century: Safeguarding Traditional Indian Textile lists the histories and legends behind the textiles, describes the complicated and secret processes behind their making, mentions the causes for their dwindling popularity, and provides strategies for their preservation.

According to UNESCO, one of the major challenges to the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the South Asia is lack of proper inventory and documentation. The publication, which aims to bridge this gap, brings together years of research on the 50 selected textiles.

Some of the iconic handcrafted textiles documented from north India are Khes from Panipat, Chamba rumals from Himachal Pradesh, Thigma or wool tie and dye from Ladakh and Awadh Jamdani from Varanasi.

Finding a place

From the south, Ilkal and Lambadi or Banjara embroidery from Karnataka, Sikalnayakanpet Kalamkari from Thanjavur have been included.

Kunbi weaves from Goa, Mashru weaves and Patola from Gujarat, Himroo from Maharashtra and Garad-Koirial from West Bengal also find a place among the 50 iconic textiles.

In announcing the publication, UNESCO New Delhi Director, Eric Falt added: “Textile crafts represent a very significant share of the Indian cultural heritage and have dazzled the world for centuries. Despite the pressures of industrial mass production and competition from new countries, it is essential that these iconic heritage crafts are taken stock of and promoted as contemporary treasures”.

 “It is my hope that India will consider expanding its register of elements inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by nominating one of the textile crafts featured in this publication. No textile practices from India have been included in the list so far and an inscription in the list would be due recognition of the talent and diversity of the country’s extraordinary weaving traditions,” Mr Falt said.

In addition to acting as a sample of endangered textile crafts, the UNESCO publication also includes recommendations for the protection and revitalization of these textile crafts, that cover both the broad-spectrum of issues extending from policy to grass-root based micro-interventions.

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New memorial to Indian Army soldiers who died in Scotland unveiled

Nine soldiers from the Indian Army’s Force K6 died in the area after fighting with the British in World War I and II.

A memorial has been unveiled to commemorate a band of war heroes who served with the Indian Army and perished in the Scottish Highlands.

Nine soldiers were buried at a cemetery in Kingussie. The new monument stands prominently in the centre of the town.

People came from all corners of the UK for a pilgrimage to honour the men.

The Indian Army’s Force K6 was a transport unit that used mules to deliver vital supplies to frontline troops. It was despatched to various UK destinations.

The nine soldiers who died during training in the Cairngorms are remembered on the new stone-built tribute.

Among those attending the unveiling was 99-year-old Isobel Harling from Kingussie who had served in the Navy.

news.stv.tv /21.09.2022

Rs 10 crores and gleaming: First made in India diesel-fired steam engine flagged off in TN

 A diesel-fired steam engine manufactured in the Golden Rock railway workshop in Ponmalai for the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) was flagged off by Southern Railway general manager BG Mallya on Tuesday. Railway sources said this is the first diesel-fired steam engine manufactured in the country.

Mallya appreciated the efforts by the team in manufacturing the vintage steam engine. “This is a workshop that has a history of almost 100 years. The steam loco will be given to the NMR in the coming days and it is a totally indigenous effort,” said Mallya.

Last year, the workshop manufactured a coal-fired steam engine for NMR.

In the past, the workshop had done several vintage projects like overhauling the popular steam loco Fern Queen and repairing a century-old clock tower in Tiruchy district court building.

Officials said the Golden Rock is one of the few workshops in the world that still manufactures vintage steam engines. The manufacturing of this vintage loco started last August and sources said railways spent about Rs 10 crore on it.

“We have experience of manufacturing and conducting overhauling works on steam engines. But, it is for the first time that we are manufacturing a diesel-fired steam engine. Most of the steam engines are either oil-fired or coal-fired. So, this is a unique loco and it might be the only diesel-fired steam engine in the world,” a senior official said.

The diesel-fired loco was rolled out through a dedicated track in the workshop.

“We are glad that everything went on well. In the coming days, this loco will offer a historic voyage to hundreds of tourists visiting the Nilgiris,” a worker said.

In addition to this steam engine, Mallya also flagged off the 606th Public Sector Undertaking loco and modified high-speed goods coaches at the workshop. He inaugurated new projects, including Bheema Bamboo Garden, a renovated canteen and other facilities at the workshop.

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SD Burman’s abandoned palatial home in Bangladesh to be converted into cultural complex

Legendary musician and composer Sachin Dev Burman’s palatial home in Cumilla district of Bangladesh is all set to be transformed into a cultural complex, with the Sheikh Hasina government having sanctioned Taka 1.10 crore (Rs 86 lakh) for the project.

Dev Burman, born in 1906, spent the first 18 years of his life in this South Chartha village rajbari (palace) in Cumilla, said Golam Faruk, an advocate and a prolific writer who edited a 596-page book on the musician.

“His musical talent was honed under the supervision of his father, who was a sitarist. Dev Burman completed his schooling from Cumilla Zilla School and graduated from Victoria Government College in 1924,” Faruk, also a historian, said.

His father, a descendant of Tripura royal family, had moved to Cumilla to look after the princely estates.

The palace, where the music maestro was born and raised, was listed as a protected monument on Nov 30, 2017, officials in Bangladesh said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had visited Agartala to attend the convocation of Tripura University in 2012 and assured a delegation of writers and cultural activists there that the house would be preserved and converted into a cultural centre and museum, the officials said.

READ HERE | Tripura’s Pushpabanta Palace to be turned into museum celebrating royal history, Tagore links

In May 2017, Hasina had visited Cumilla to attend the 116th birth anniversary of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, and laid the foundation stones of seven projects, one of which was for the ‘Sachin Dev Burman Cultural Complex’, they said.

Faruk pointed out that the palace was built on seven acres of land, but a major part of it was encroached upon, over the years, as it lay abandoned.

“Cumilla MP AKM Bahauddin Bahar, however, was able to vacate the land to a considerable extent with the help of the district administration,” he told PTI.

The MP, when approached, underlined that the government sanctioned Taka 1.10 crore for building the complex.

The district collector of Cumilla, Md Kamrul Hasan, said the administration was waiting to hand over the house to the archaeology department, have completed all repair work.

“The restoration work was completed long ago. Since the site is yet to be taken over by the archaeology department, the district administration is still looking after it. Two staff members of the district administration and the archaeology department are currently taking care of the house,” he told PTI.

Faruk, also a ‘mukti joddha’ (freedom fighter), said, “Many geniuses, including renowned Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, had visited Dev Burman’s house and played music with him.”

An official said on the condition of anonymity that the abandoned house was used as a military warehouse during the Pakistan regime.

After the warehouse was removed, part of the house was converted into a poultry farm, and since then, the place was known as ‘Cumilla poultry farm’, he said.

“Former cultural affairs minister and theatre personality Asaduzzaman Nur had earlier announced that a complex would be built around the house with a floating stage in the pond. A music library was also part of the plan. The poultry farm will have to be done away with,” he added.

Dev Burman, popularly known as ‘sachin karta’, lived in Cumilla until 1924, said Faruk.

“He left for Kolkata that year to pursue higher education and then later to Mumbai in 1944. Those of the Dev Burman family, who lived in the Cumilla house, migrated to India after 1947,” Faruk added.

Dev Burman’s first major breakthrough in Mumbai came in 1947 with ‘Do Bhai’.

He went on to compose music for several epic Hindi films including ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Kagaaz ke Phool’, ‘Guide’, ‘Abhimaan’ and ‘Mili’.

He also sang songs in semi-classical and folk styles of Bengal.

The maestro was conferred Padma Shri in 1969 for his contribution to music.

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