Sindhu on Sunday became only the second Indian and first woman to win two Olympic medals, securing a bronze after a straight-game win over world no.9 He Bing Jiao of China.
Category: Leaders, on the World Stage – All others
** Biden nominates Indian-American to be first Muslim envoy for religious freedom
President Joe Biden has nominated an Indian-American, Rashad Hussain, as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and if approved by the Senate he will be the first Muslim to head US diplomacy for advancing religious liberties.
** True icon of Indian badminton: Tributes pour in after legendary Nandu Natekar dies
Nandu Natekar, who played a bit of cricket and tennis at the national level before becoming an international shuttler, died in Pune on Wednesday.
** Australia to showcase Indian alumni among global leaders to woo students
A Study Australia Masterclass Series of live events has also been launched under the flagship Australia India Business Exchange (AIBX) programme.
“After China, India is the second-most important region from where we get most of our international students. In October 2020, 1,15,000 Indian students were studying in Australia, which was 17% of the total foreign students studying here. We are happy that our current endeavour — the masterclass series — has so far had 10.3 million views,” said Ashish Sharma, director, South Asia, at Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).
“We know the Indian students are key stakeholders and we have numerous success stories. We will now highlight some of the top Indian students who studied in Australia and have now become global leaders,” Sharma said.
** India to host 2026 World Badminton Championships
This will be the second time that India will host the premium tournament
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has allotted the prestigious BWF World Championship to India for 2026, it was officially announced on Tuesday.
This will be the second time that India will host the premium tournament, which is held every year except for the Olympic year, after the 2009 edition in Hyderabad.
** A family repertory: The contribution of the Alkazi and Padamsee clans to Indian theatre
The Alkazi and Padamsee clans have played, and continue to play, an extraordinary role in the history of modern Indian theatre
“Oh god, it’s a page turner!” That was the cry from various family members on reading the first draft of Feisal Alkazi’s family memoirs published earlier this year. Titled Enter Stage Right — The Alkazi/Padamsee Family Memoir (Speaking Tiger, 2021), it is an irresistible, exciting read. The narrative details are gripping, the pace exciting, and viewing the times described in the book of the two families in pre- and post-Independence India through the lens of Feisal allows us to enter a world that we can relate to from stories that our parents and grandparents told us of the times they lived through.
** The 2020 Millennium Technology Prize goes to…
Balasubramanian and Klenerman for DNA sequencing techniques
The 2020 Millennium Technology Prize, announced in May, has been awarded to Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman, “for their development of revolutionary DNA sequencing techniques.” Their work is a perfect blend of science and innovation, and very apt as we have all heard a great deal about genome sequencing in the context of the ongoing pandemic.
** Records of freedom fighters to be digitised to mark 75 years of Independence: Minister
Precaution will be taken to save records during demolition for Central Vista project, says Kishan Reddy.
Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Monday said the National Archives’ records related to freedom fighters would be digitised within a year as a part of the commemoration of 75 years of Independence next year.
Mr. Reddy, who took over the Culture and Tourism Ministries after the Cabinet reshuffle last week, visited the National Archives on Monday morning. After his visit, he told media that the National Archives of India, which houses over 18 crore pages, 64,000 volumes and 1.2 lakh maps, had started the digitisation process, but it would take a long time to complete.
“The records of the freedom movement and freedom fighters would be digitised in the coming year as a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,” he said, referring to the year-long series of activities leading up to Independence Day 2022.
** Wimbledon: Indian-American Banerjee wins boys’ singles title
Samir Banerjee became the first India-American player to win a Grand Slam boys’ singles title, beating compatriot Viktor Lilov 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes in the final at the Wimbledon championships on Sunday.
Though Indian-American players like Prakash Amritraj and his cousin Stephen Amritraj have played on the circuit and won some titles too, Samir is the first to win the boys singles title at a Grand Slam.
Four Indians — Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan, Leander Paes and Yuki Bhambri — have won the boys’ singles title at Grand Slam events.
** Dr Lahane retires. He has to his credit world record of cataract surgeries
The country’s leading ophthalmologist Dr Tatyaro P. Lahane — who created a world record with an eye-popping 162,000-plus cataract surgeries — has retired after over 36 years from government service.
“Now, I will go back to my first love, Opthalmology”, a visibly relaxed Lahane told IANS a day after hanging up his boots and attending a variety of media events.