KT Irfan first Indian athlete to qualify for Tokyo 2020

Agencies
March 17, 2019

New Delhi, Mar 17: National record holder KT Irfan Sunday became the first Indian from athletics to qualify for the next year's Olympics while finishing fourth in the 20 km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.

The 29-year-old Irfan clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds to better the Tokyo Olympics qualification standard of 1 hour 21 minutes.

The Olympics qualification period for race walk events and marathon race has begun from January 1 this year and will run till May 31, 2020. The Olympics qualification period for all other athletics events will start from May 1 this year and will run till June 29, 2020.

No other Indian from athletics has so far qualified for Tokyo Olympics.

Irfan, who has a personal best as well as national record of 1:20:21 which he did during his 10th place finish in 2012 Olympics, also qualified for this year's World Championships (September 27-October 6) in Doha, Qatar as he bettered the qualifying mark of 1:22:30.

The Kerala race walker had won the 20 km event in the National Open Race Walk Championships in Chennai last month with a time of 1:26:18.

He was one of the two Indian athletes who were expelled from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games for not adhering to the 'no needle policy' of the Games. He was disqualified in the 20 km race walk event of the 2018 Asian Games after receiving his third warning for "loss of contact".

Japan's Toshikazu Yamanishi won the 20 km race walk event with an impressive time of 1:17:15 while Kazakhstan's Georgiy Sheiko and Korea's Byeongkwang Choe were second and third in 1:20:21 and 1:20:40 respectively.

The Asian and World record in men's 20 km race walk stands in the name of Japanese Yusuke Suzuki who clocked 1:16:36 in the 2015 edition of the same championships in Nomi.

Two other Indians, Devinder Singh and Ganapathi Krishnan also qualified for the World Championships as they clocked 1:21:22 and 1:22:12 respectively. They had finished second and fifth in the Chennai National Race Walk Championships with timings of 1:26:19 and 1:26:43.

In the women's 20 km race walk event, Soumya Baby finished fourth with a timing of 1:36:08, well outside Olympics qualifying standard of 1:31:00 and World Championships qualifying standard of 1:33:30.

Comments

kumar
 - 
Monday, 18 Mar 2019

All the best dear Irfan.  May God bless u iwth victory in the olympic game.

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News Network
May 8,2024

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Mangaluru, May 8: The health officials in Dakshina Kannada are concerned over the increase in dengue cases in the rural areas of the district. They've seen 108 cases since January, compared to 45 last year. 

Dr. Naveen Chandra Kulal, who works on controlling diseases spread by insects, says humidity makes mosquitoes breed more.

People storing water in pots and drums during summer also make more mosquitoes, he added. 

In Lingappayyakadu village near Mulky, a survey found people store lots of water because they don't have regular drinking water. Dr. Kulal says this water becomes a place for mosquitoes to breed if containers aren't closed properly.

Dengue cases are also rising in Bengaluru, Mysuru, and other districts, he said. Even though there haven't been big groups of dengue cases in Dakshina Kannada yet, the health department is trying hard to stop it from spreading. They're doing things like teaching people how to prevent dengue and getting rid of places where mosquitoes can breed.

So far this year, Dakshina Kannada district has only had 16 cases of malaria. Dr. Kulal says many of these cases were among workers who came from other states to work on building sites.

Dr. Thimmaiah HR, who works for the health department, says if people have a fever, they should go to the nearest clinic or hospital. He also says they should get tested if they have symptoms of dengue or malaria and be careful about the hot weather.

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News Network
May 12,2024

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Mangaluru: A native of Kerala was arrested on charge of misbehaving with crew on an Air India Express flight while travelling from Dubai to Mangaluru International Airport. The man even threatened to jump from the aircraft, according to officials. 

Siddartha Das, the security coordinator for Air India Express, lodged a complaint against the passenger, identified as Muhammad BC from Kannur, Kerala, after which he was caught by the airport security once the flight landed at Mangaluru. He was later handed over to the police.

DCP (Law and Order) Sidharth Goyal said the incident occurred on Flight IX814 on May 8.

When the flight was above the sea, Muhammad reportedly said he wanted to get off the plane, posing a threat to all on board. The unruly flyer was detained by airport security once the flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport and he was handed over to Bajpe police station officials.

Sources added once the flight took off from Dubai, the accused went to the lavatory and thereafter started inquiring with the cabin crew about a person named Krishna who was not on the flight. Muhammad kept on pressing the bell for in-flight assistance, even though the cabin crew members were near at hand. He then picked up a life jacket, gave it to a crew member, and said he wanted to use it upon landing.

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News Network
May 10,2024

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Madikeri: A 15-year-old was bludgeoned to death and the accused fled with her severed head at Mutlu village in Somwarpet of Kodagu district on Thursday late night, hours after her SSLC examination result was declared.  

The victim has been identified as US Meena, a 10th grade student of Surlabbi High School. She had passed the SSLC examination and her school attained 100% results. 

However, she was brutally murdered by accused Prakash (32), a resident of the village. The police have launched a search operation to find the suspect, said Kodagu SP K Ramarajan 

It is said that the minor girl's engagement with the suspect was thwarted by officials from Women and Child Development department on May 9, and later officials had even convinced her parents of not to marry the minor girl.

However, the suspect barged into her house in the night and allegedly kidnapped her. Later, he took her to an area near the periphery of the forest and murdered her after which he fled with her severed head.

Victim's mother too has suffered injuries and is admitted to a hospital for treatment. The reason for the murder will be known after the probing officials have inquired the victim's mother, said the SP. 

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