Akhil, Aishwary Help India To A 1-2 Finish In Men'S 50m Rifle 3P Event At Jakarta

Home

Sports

Akhil, Aishwary Help India To A 1-2 Finish In Men'S 50m Rifle 3P Event At Jak...

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

India’s Akhil Sheoran and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar helped India to a 1-2 finish in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event on Friday as India extended their dominance of the on-going Asia Olympic Qualification Rifle/Pistol to a fifth consecutive day.

Jakarta, Jan 12: India’s Akhil Sheoran and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar helped India to a 1-2 finish in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event on Friday as India extended their dominance of the on-going Asia Olympic Qualification Rifle/Pistol to a fifth consecutive day.

The trio of Akhil, Aishwary and Swapnil Kusale also won the men’s 3P team gold taking India’s tally to a total of 10 gold, eight silver and six bronze medals, with two left to play.

All three Indian men made the finals of the individual competition comfortably with Aishwary (588) taking second, Akhil (586) third and Swapnil (584) the fourth qualifying spots, as China’s Yu Hao topped the 44-strong field with a 589.

Akhil reaped rewards of consistent shooting in the 45-shot final and was in the reckoning after every position. He went from strength to strength, breaching 153 in the first Kneeling position, 154 in Prone and then went shot 100.9 over the first 10 Standing shots to zoom to second place.

Besides Aishwary, Thailand’s Thongphaphum Vongsukdee was in real competition as the final five single shots in the Standing position ensued, and Akhil pulled out three big shots in them to wrest the gold away from them. He finished with a total of 460.2, with Aishwary 1.2 behind as the Thai settled for bronze and a coveted Paris Olympic quota place. Kazakhstan got the other with a fifth-place finish as Swapnil finished sixth.

The Indian trio also won the team gold over China with a tally of 1758, a huge 14 points adrift.

At least a couple of Indian men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol shooters have also put themselves in serious contention for the one quota place that they can win between themselves in the event.

After the first day of qualification, Adarsh Singh and Vijayveer Sidhu are in sixth and seventh spots respectively with identical scores of 288. Gurpreet Singh is further down with 281.

Read More Sports News

The top six qualify and at least three shooters above them from Korea and Japan are ineligible for quotas at this stage.

(IANS)

Sensex-Nifty open in negative zone as global cues remain muted

by Utkalika Mohanty

Mumbai, May 8: The stock market opened on a cautious note on Wednesday, with both the Sensex and Nifty starting the day in negative territory. The subdued global handover hinted at another lackluster day for Indian markets, as investors remained cautious amid ongoing uncertainties.

The Sensex opened 192.45 points down at 73,319.40, while the Nifty started the day 68.95 points lower at 22,233.55. Among the Nifty firms, 16 witnessed advances while 34 faced declines in early trade.

Notable gainers among the Nifty companies included Coal India, BPCL, Maruti, SBI, and Reliance, while Dr. Reddy, Asian Paints, Larsen & Toubro (LT), Hindustan Unilever, and HDFC Bank were among the top losers.

Commenting on the market performance, Ajay Bagga, banking and market expert, stated, "Muted global handover is pointing to another listless day in Indian markets. Volatility index VIX is up at a 15-month high, rising more than 40 per cent over the last month."

Bagga highlighted the impact of continued Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) outflows and the lack of strong catalysts in the Indian markets, including weak IT sector outlook and provisioning overhang on lenders from the RBI.

He noted the positive performance of European markets on ECB rate cut expectations for June and increasing fund flows into China.

Bagga said, "The continued FII outflows are contributing to the subdued performance of the Indian markets. With the Fed rate cuts moving to the last quarter of the year, US bond yields are providing good returns for US money market funds which are seeing continued inflows even at lifetime high AUMs of USD 6 trillion plus. With a tepid earnings season, marked by a weak IT sector outlook and a provisioning overhang on the lenders from the RBI, strong catalysts are lacking for the Indian markets. Globally Europe is doing well on the back of ECB rate cut expectations for June."

He added, "China seems to have bottomed and fund flows into China are increasing. We are reaching a favourable risk reward tradeoff in the Indian markets on the back of the recent negative price action. A small recovery may be on the anvil in this week itself, but the June 4th decision related volatility will limit any incipient euphoria , at least till the exit polls on June 1st. Mildly positive markets on the back of huge volatility, FII selling , positive global cues are expected. Leadership is moving to FMCG this week with rural demand expected to recover this year."

In terms of Open Interest (OI) Data, the highest OI was noted at 22,500 followed by 22,600 strike prices on the call side, while on the put side, the highest OI is at 22,000 strike prices.

Technically, the trend has weakened as the index fell below the 21-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), with a visible Head and Shoulders pattern on the hourly chart indicating a bearish formation.

Varun Aggarwal, founder and managing director, Profit Idea, said, "On the global front, Asian stocks showed mixed trends, with Japan witnessing a decline while South Korea and Australia saw gains. US stock futures remained largely unchanged.

Geopolitical tensions between China and the West persisted, with the US revoking licenses allowing Huawei Technologies Co. to buy semiconductors from Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp."

Despite these challenges, stocks worldwide have been attempting a comeback after April's decline, driven by prospects of Federal Reserve rate cuts and solid earnings.

The Indian stock market opened on a cautious note, reflecting muted global cues and ongoing uncertainties. Investors are closely watching developments both domestically and internationally for further direction.

(ANI)

Read Business News

'Game of Thrones' actor Ian Gelder passes away at 74

by Utkalika Mohanty

Washington, May 8: Renowned for his portrayal of Kevan Lannister in HBO's epic series 'Game of Thrones', actor Ian Gelder has passed away at the age of 74.

The news of Gelder's demise was confirmed by his husband, Ben Daniels, who shared the heartbreaking announcement on social media.

In a post on Instagram, Daniels expressed his profound grief, stating, "It is with huge huge sadness and a heavy heart broken into a million pieces that I'm leaving this post to announce the passing of my darling husband and life partner Ian Gelder."

Daniels revealed that Gelder had been battling bile duct cancer since December, and his passing came swiftly.

(ANI)

Read Entertainment News

Lok Sabha elections: Phase 3 witnesses peaceful polling, voter turnout at 64.4 pc

by Utkalika Mohanty

New Delhi, May 8: The voter turnout for the third phase of the Lok Sabha election held on Tuesday in 93 constituencies recorded at 64.4 per cent as per the Election Commission's update until 11:40 pm on Tuesday.

The highest voter turnout of 81.61 per cent was recorded in Assam where four constituencies went to the polls in this phase and the lowest, 57.34 per cent, was recorded in Uttar Pradesh, where 10 constituencies went to the polls.

The numbers are provisional and will be updated by the field-level officers.

The voter turnout in other states that voted on Tuesday in the third phase are Bihar -58.18 per cent, Chhattisgarh -71.06 per cent, Goa -75.20 per cent, Gujarat-58.98 per cent, Karnataka-70.41 per cent, Madhya Pradesh - 66.05 per cent, Maharashtra - 61.44 per cent and West Bengal -75.79 per cent, as per the latest ECI data.

Polling concluded at 6 pm, but voters were seen standing in the queue for longer hours after the scheduled time at many polling stations, the ECI said.

The ECI further said that the third phase of polling was held smoothly and peacefully in all States/UTs which covered the entire north-eastern part of the country, LWE-affected and vulnerable areas in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Commission, led by CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, regularly closely watched every aspect of the poll process. Stringent security measures were in place, creating a conducive environment for voters to cast their vote without fear or intimidation.

With the conclusion of Phase-3, polling is now over in 20 States/UTs and 283 PCs for the 2024 general elections. A total of 1331 candidates, including around 120 women, were in the electoral fray in this phase. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations.

At least 75 international delegates from 23 countries visited many polling stations in six states to witness the polling process. The delegates also witnessed the process of dispatching polling materials and machines to the polling teams and were appreciative of the magnitude, transparency and, most importantly, the festive mood of voters, the ECI said.

The ECI also mentioned that the voters from across 11 States/UTs participated enthusiastically to cast their vote at their polling stations, braving hot weather conditions in some areas. Special arrangements were made to mitigate the effects of hot weather conditions, including the provision of shamiyana, drinking water, medical kits, and fans for the convenience of voters, it added.

Several booths installed innovative bids to entice voters, urging them to come in large numbers to exercise their franchise. The Shimoga Zilla Panchayat in Karnataka unveiled a polling booth with majestic thrones reserved for voters. Mooting the idea that in a democracy, citizens are the lords, the unique polling station depicted voters as kings and queens.

Also, the proprietors of an ice cream shop in the Hubbali city of Dharwad offered ice creams free of charge as part of an awareness campaign to promote voting. The awareness campaign with the initiative 'Cast Vote and Eat Ice-Cream Free' was organised in Hubballi city.

Food shops in Madhya Pradesh's Indore offered free poha, jalebis, and ice cream to those who cast their votes in the early hours of polling. Some other commercial establishments in the city also offered to serve delicacies like noodles and manchurian free of charge to people who vote in the morning hours. Likewise, food establishments in Maharashtra offered discounts to customers who simply showed an ink mark on their fingers, indicating they'd voted.

Prominent leaders contesting today's poll battle included Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministersShivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others.

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Chhattisgarh are the States /UTs where polling took place in this phase. Voting in the Anantnag-Rajouri PC in Jammu and Kashmir was rescheduled to Phase 6. Also, Surat PC in Gujarat did not go to the polls as the candidate was elected unopposed. The next phase (phase 4) polling is scheduled on May 13, 2024, in 96 constituencies in 10 States/UTs.