Adil and Mahak emerge winners in ‘Rendez-Vous à Roland Garros

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

Adil and Mahak emerge winners in ‘Rendez-Vous à Roland Garros in partnership with Longines’

·        Both the players will travel to Paris to compete for the Roland  Garros wild card

·        Winners get a wild entry into the Delhi Open

New Delhi, 12th February 2016: Adil Kalyanpur and Mahak Jain emerged champions in boys and girls divisions respectively in the second edition of ‘Rendez-Vous à Roland-Garros in partnership with Longines’ at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association here on Friday. The joint initiative by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) and All India Tennis Association (AITA) saw some of India’s top U-18 players in action on the newly laid clay courts at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA). Both Adil and Mahak earned their tickets to Paris where they will complete against players from Japan, South Korea, China and Brazil for a wild card entry into the Roland Garros Junior (French Open) in May 2016.

Adil and Mahak played hard tennis throughout the week and finals were no different. 16 year old Adil got past Manish Sureshkumar from Tamil Nadu in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Manish showed some resilience but could not stop Adil from winning the title. After the prize distribution Adil said. “It was a terrific experience playing on the red clay. It was a very satisfying week and I will try and better my performance in Paris and hopefully win the wild card into the French Open.

14 year old Mahak was unstoppable in finals, she cruised past Humera Shaik in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Humera has played impressively throughtout the week but Mahak was the better player on the day. Mahak  came into tournament seeded second and she did full justice to it. An ecstatic Mahak said. ” Feels really special to qualify for the finals, Hope i can make my country proud in Paris”

Mr. Sam Primaut, Director of Development- French Tennis Federation said, “It is indeed a great pleasure for the French Tennis Federation to be associated with the tournament.  It was exciting to see talented youngsters from India on the red clay courts and I wish the winners best of luck for the finale in Paris. I am positive that initiative like these will help promote the clay court culture in India and hopefully more players will come out of the region. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the entire team of AITA and Longines for their constant support.”

Furthering its support to the MOU signed between AITA and FFT last year, AITA had announced wild card entry to the winners into the Delhi Open earlier this week.

Talking about the initiative, Mr. Anil Khanna, President –All India Tennis Association said. “We are very happy with the performance of our players and are delighted to extend the wild card entry in the Delhi Open to the winners. We are excited with the new clay courts at DLTA and are sure that they will play a huge role in training and development of our players. We are thankful for the constant support by FFT and hope that Rendez-Vous à Roland-Garros go from strength to strength in the years to come.  I would personally like to congratulate Adil and Mahak and would like to wish them the best of luck for the grand finale in Paris and for also for the Delhi open starting tomorrow.”

FFT also announced the winners of the ‘selfie contest’ that took place at DLF Promenade. Afroz Kalapahad and Charandeep Singh won a return ticket to Paris along with an opportunity to watch the exciting semi-finals of the French Open at the hallowed Philippe-Chatrier Court.

0

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

Legendary theatre personality and founder of “Yatrik” Smt. Joy Michael at 18th Bharat Rang Mahotsav’s Master Class

“Theatre is the most apt medium of understanding something”: Sushma Seth

New Delhi, 12th February 2016: The second day of Bharat Rang Mahotsav’s latest addition “Master Class” was graced by eminent theatre personality Smt. Joy Michael. The famous director has been associated with theatre for decades and holds a big contribution in establishment of one of the oldest theatre group “Yatrik” in 1964. The session also held the association of Yatrik’s very first members: Sushma Seth, Salima Raza and Kusum Haider. The session was moderated by Sumit Tandon.

Struggling with the ailing health, Smt. Joy Michael spoke few, but very valuable words of wisdom to audience. “It is a great pleasure to be here. I love working with young people. It is always a pleasure to watch them succeed and come back to share with us.”

Sharing their memories regarding the conception of their reparatory group, veteran actress Sushma Seth mentioned, “We were a group of passionate young people who just wanted to perform theatre. We did not have any resources but Joy always kept her home open for rehearsals.”

Discussing about the importance of children theatre and the great work that Smt. Michael has been doing, Sushma said, “To make children learn something, theatre is the best medium. It is the most apt medium of understanding something.”

Emphasising on this, Smt. Michael said, “It will not be possible to transfer the values of theatre without letting children theatre grow.”

Providing a vote of thanks to the eminent guests and Smt. Joy Michael on behalf of National School of Drama, Director Prof. Waman Kendre said, “It is impossible to thank Smt. Joy for her work in theatre. I think that National School of Drama would prefer to be at her loan forever.”

0

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

2016 Florida Huddle Welcomed Attendees from Across the Globe

Mumbai, 12th February, 2016 – Florida Huddle 2016, recently held at the Tampa Convention Center, was a resounding success in its third year of being owned and operated by VISIT FLORIDA. Three high scores for this travel trade show continue to tell the story of Florida Huddle: more buyers, more time for appointments, more Florida travel business transactions. Hosted by Visit Tampa Bay, the show was sold out, reflecting the tourism industry’s interest in the show.

The 678 delegates at Florida Huddle 2016 represented 396 companies from around the world. More than 220 qualified buyers were in attendance to broker deals with Florida’s travel suppliers. They traveled to the event from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, India, China, Spain, the Bahamas, Brazil, Honduras, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

The bustling trade-show floor exhibited 229 appointment-taking suppliers presenting information about their destinations, products and services. Florida Huddle business transactions took place over two full days, allowing buyers and suppliers to conduct 14,658 face-to-face meetings. A 1:1 ratio of appointment-taking buyers and suppliers was maintained to ensure delegates had full, productive appointment schedules.

On day two, VISIT FLORIDA’s Public Relations team hosted Partners for a Meet & Greet event, placing 33 media from 7 countries with public relations pros from Florida destinations. Thirteen PR partners participated in this opportunity, which designated 90 minutes in a reserved space for one-on-one meetings with the media. Media and PR representatives resoundingly endorsed the format as a highly effective way to build relationships and supply information leading to destination coverage in editorial media outlets.

In conjunction with Visit Tampa Bay, VISIT FLORIDA also hosted three activity tracks for media so they were able to explore the city while in town for Huddle. Journalists had the option to visit the manatee viewing center, taste the culinary creations at some of Tampa’s most famous locally-owned restaurants and ride in the front seat of the only driverless car open to the public at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Special thanks to the destination sponsor of Florida Huddle 2016, Visit Tampa Bay, as well as all othersponsors. Next year, Florida Huddle is being held Jan. 9-12 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. For more about Florida Huddle, go to FloridaHuddle.com.

0

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

प्रैस निमंत्रण

प्रतिश्ठा में,

संपादक महोदय/मुख्य संवाददाता/छायाकार

महोदय,

यूनाईटेड हिन्दू फ्रंट (हिन्दू संगठनांे का समूह) द्वारा अयोध्या स्थित श्री राम जन्मभूमि मंदिर निर्माण के जन जागरण अभियान के प्रथम चरण में अब तक श्रीराम जन्मभूमि आंदोलन के दौरान शहीद हुए लगभग 5 लाख बलिदानियांे की स्मृति में संतों के मार्गदर्शन में (वीर हकीकत राय के बलिदान दिवस पर) 13 फरवरी को बलिदानी स्मारक का शिलान्यास हिन्दू महासभा भवन, मंदिर मार्ग, नई दिल्ली में किया जा रहा है।

-ः कार्यक्रम विवरण:-

दिनांकः 13 फरवरी, 2016, शनिवार

हवन प्रातः 10 बजे

स्मारक का शिलान्यास: प्रातः 11 बजे 

भोजन प्रसाद: 12ः30 बजे 

स्थान: हिन्दू महासभा भवन, मंदिर मार्ग, नई दिल्ली

निवेदक: जयभगवान गोयल (महासचिव, यूनाईटेड हिन्दू फ्रंट व अध्यक्ष, राष्ट्रवादी शिवसेना)

अतः आपसे अनुरोध है कि कार्यक्रम स्थल पर आप अपने प्रतिष्ठित संस्थान से एक प्रतिनिधि/छायाकार/कैमरामैन भिजवाने की कृपा करें एवं इस कार्यक्रम को अपने दैनिक कार्यक्रमों में उचित स्थान देने की कृपा करें।

भवदीय

भरत लाल शर्मा

कार्यालय सचिव

9899815284

0

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

M Dharma enjoys two-shot cushion ahead of final round

Kochi, February 12, 2016: Bengaluru’s M Dharma posted a steady one-under-71 at the CIAL Golf Club on Friday to move into a two-shot lead in round three of the CIAL Cochin Masters presented by PGTI. Dharma’s total stood at seven-under-209 on the penultimate day of the Rs. 60 lakh event. Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow, who shot the day’s best of four-under-68, occupied tied second place along with Kolkata’s Feroz Ali Mollah at five-under-211.

M Dharma (72-66-71), the overnight joint leader, emerged as the sole leader on day three after a sedate but solid round of 71. Dharma had a slow start to the third round. He made pars on the first four holes before making a brilliant recovery from the rough to add another par on the fifth. However, he wasn’t as lucky on the sixth where he found the hazard and as a result dropped a shot.

A 12-feet birdie conversion on the seventh brought the 29-year-old back to level par for the day. But an ordinary wedge shot on the ninth saw Dharma slip back to one-over. The former winner on the PGTI had a far better back-nine. He sank a 15-feet birdie on the 11th before finding the green in two on the par-5 16th where he picked up another shot.

Dharma said, “I stuck to my routine today. I didn’t try anything spectacular since the conditions were tough. The course was soft due to yesterday’s rain and the wind also came into play. The par-3s required four-iron and five-iron shots today.

“I decided to just hang in there after my first bogey on the sixth. I was delighted to have hit all greens on the back-nine despite the wind picking up on that stretch. The birdie on the 16th was crucial as it gave me a decent lead.

“I just need to keep my calm and repeat my swing in the final round in order to stay in contention. As scoring has not been easy this week, I think hitting an under-par round on the final day could set me up for a win,” said Dharma, who lost in a playoff in Mumbai last December after leading in round three.

Sanjay Kumar (73-70-68) earned the reward for shooting the day’s best score of 68 as he climbed up from overnight tied ninth to tied second place. Sanjay made six birdies against two bogeys on Friday. His birdies included three long putts from a range of 15 to 20 feet.

Feroz Ali Mollah (70-68-73), the overnight joint leader, slipped to tied second after his third round of 73.

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow was fourth at four-under-212 while the fifth spot was shared between Delhi’s Vikrant Chopra, Sudhir Sharma of Meerut and Jaipur’s Vishal Singh at three-under-213.

0

“Afghanistan – The Way Ahead”

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

Join us for a discussion with Former Ambassadors of India to Afghanistan On “Afghanistan – The Way Ahead”
EVENT DETAILS
DATE		Tuesday, February 23, 2016
TIME		4:30 PM  – 6:00 PM (Registration: 4:00 PM)
LOCATION		WWF Auditorium, 172-B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
SPEAKERS		Mr Vivek Katju, Former Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs Ambassador Jayant Prasad, Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses  Mr Amar Sinha, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs Ambassador Rakesh Sood, Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament & Non-Proliferation Issues
CHAIR		Ambassador Satinder K Lambah, Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre and Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India
ABOUT THE EVENT
Since 1973, Afghanistan has been in a state of turbulent transition marked by instability and internal conflict. External intervention by the neighbours and by the erstwhile superpowers during the 1970s and 1980s failed to bring peace to this land; instead it spawned the new threat of a globalised jihadi terrorism. Post 9/11, there emerged a collective effort, backed by the international community, to bring stability to this fractured land. Fifteen years later, the commitment of the international community is flagging and Afghanistan is still struggling to cope with political, economic and security challenges against the backdrop of rising violence and conflict. Taliban remains a threat even as IS is seeking to mark its presence in the region. Under the circumstances, will the economic pledges made at the Tokyo Conference translate into reality? Can the newly established Quadrilateral Coordination Group consisting of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US help underwrite a peace process? How capable are the newly established Afghan institutions in facing these challenges? Against this background, the session will seek to provide insights by analysing trends for the near future, up to 2020, and how India should factor these into its Afghan policy.
Please respond by clicking one of the buttons below
SPEAKERS   Mr Vivek Katju, Former Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs Mr Vivek Katju joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1975. He served in the Indian Missions in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Washington D.C., Suva and also served as Deputy High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur. He was Ambassador of India to Myanmar, Afghanistan and Thailand. Mr Katju served at the Ministry of External Affairs ( MEA) in various positions including as Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran), as Additional and Special Secretary (Political and International Organisations). Mr Katju served as Secretary West in MEA from September 2009 to August 2011. Currently, he is an analyst, commentator and columnist.   Ambassador Jayant Prasad, Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Ambassador Jayant Prasad is Director General, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.  He was India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria, Nepal, and the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva. He was Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Geneva (1986-87), Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1998-99), member of U.N. Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2005-07), and Visiting Scholar, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania (2014-15). Before his 37-year public service career, he was lecturer in history, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, after completing his studies at Modern School, St. Stephen’s College, and Jawarharlal Nehru University.   Mr Amar Sinha, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs Amar Sinha joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. He is an Economics Graduate from Patna University and has worked with the State Bank of India for over two years before joining the Indian Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, he has served in various capacities in Algiers (1983-87), Buenos Aires (1987-90), in the Ministry of External Affairs as Private Secretary to Minister of State for External Affairs, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Electronics and Ocean Development from July 91 to May 96. He then served as Director (BSM) in Ministry of External Affairs from June 1996 to July 1997 and as OSD to Minister of State for External Affairs from July 1997 to April 1998. He also held diplomatic positions in Indian Missions in Washington DC [1998-2001], Jakarta [2001-2004] and Brussels [2004-2007] before being appointed India’s Ambassador to Tajikistan (April 2007 to July 2010). During his last tenure in India [2010-2013], he was on deputation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and served as Joint Secretary in the Trade Policy Division and the RMTR Division handling WTO related matters and issues related to multilateral economic negotiations. He also oversaw India’s participation in multilateral fora such as UNCTAD, APTA, BIMSTEC, G20, IBSA, BRICS, etc. After completion of his assignment in Kabul successfully as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan (June 2013 to January 2016), he has assumed the charge of the post of Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, on January 15, 2016. His charge includes Development Partnership, Africa, and countries in the Gulf and West Asia. He speaks Hindi, English, French and Spanish and is familiar with Dari. His interests include travelling, sports, reading and playing Bridge, Tennis and Golf. He has one son.   Ambassador Rakesh Sood, Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament & Non-Proliferation Issues Ambassador Rakesh Sood is a Post Graduate in Physics and additionally in Economics and Defence studies. He has over 38 years of experience in the field of foreign affairs, economic diplomacy and international security issues. Before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, Ambassador Sood worked for a couple of years in the private sector. Ambassador Sood initially served in the Indian missionsat Brussels, Dakar, Geneva and Islamabad in different capacities and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, later in his career. He set up the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division in the Foreign Ministry, which he led for eight years till the end of 2000. During this period, Ambassador Sood was in charge for multilateral disarmament negotiations, bilateral dialogues with Pakistan, strategic dialogues with other countries including US, UK, France and Israel (especially after the nuclear tests in 1998), and dealt with India’s role in the ASEAN Regional Forum, as part of the ‘look East’ policy. He then served as India’s first Ambassador – Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva. He also chaired a number of international Working Groups including those relating to negotiations on landmines and cluster munitions and was a member of UN Secretary General’s Disarmament Advisory Board (2002-03). Subsequently, he was India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to early 2008, Ambassador to Nepal from 2008 to 2011 and to France from 2011 to March 2013. In September 2013, Ambassador Sood was appointed Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues; a position he held till May 2014. Since his retirement he has been writing and commentating regularly in both print and audio visual media on India’s foreign policy, its economic dimensions and regional &international security issues. He is a frequent speaker/contributor at various policy planning groups and reputed think-tanks in India and overseas.  CHAIR   Ambassador Satinder K Lambah, Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre and Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India Ambassador Satinder K Lambah was the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India from 2005-14 with the rank of Minister of State from 2010 onwards. He was the Co-Chairman of the Task Force on National Security 2011 – 2012.  Ambassador Lambah was the President of Association of Indian Diplomats in 2005. He was a Convener of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) in 2004-05 and the President of the Federation of Indo-German Societies in India from 2005-2014. He was the Special Envoy of the Government of India for Afghanistan and led the Indian delegation to the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in 2001-02. In 2001, Ambassador Lambah Chaired a Committee on the Re-organization of Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad. Ambassador Lambah has served in several Missions abroad including as the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany, High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, Consul General of India, San Francisco, and Ambassador of India to Hungary. He was Deputy Secretary General of the 7th Non Aligned Summit held in Delhi in 1983 and later Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting in India. His specializations include Economic Diplomacy and dealing with India’s neighbours. He opened the Indian Embassy in Bangladesh after liberation. He has been involved in many successful economic ventures. For instance, the first Export of an Indian Car (Sale of Maruti Cars) took place when he was Ambassador in Hungary. India’s largest investment ever upto that time of over $2 Billion in Sakhalin-I was made in 2001 when he was Ambassador in Russia. For this, in March 2015, he was conferred the “Urja Energy Security Award”. During his tenure as Consul General of India in San Francisco (1989-91) he was conferred a “Trustees’ Citation” by the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 for his initiating, coordinating, and spearheading the campaign which generated over US$2 million in a short span of four months for Indian Studies, resulting in the creation of two Chairs of  India Studies, a bi-annual lecture by a distinguished scholar from India, and an annual scholarship at the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C Berkeley. He is married to Nilima Lambah, author of “A Life Across Three Continents – Recollections of a Diplomat’s Wife”.

0

FEBRUARY 12, 2016 | EDIT

Indian Eves Secure Gold in Style at 12th South Asian Games

11th February, 2016, Guwahati: The home fans sitting at the Moullana MD. Tayabullah Hockey Stadium, Bhetapara in Guwahati was treated to an attacking master class by the Indian Eves with a 10-0 win over Sri Lanka to win Gold at the 12th South Asian Games.

India started the first half with a flurry of attacks and the first goal came from the stick of Rani in the second minute of the half. Rani didn’t waste time in capitalizing on the momentum and scored another goal within 2 minutes of the first goal taking the score to 2-0 with 4 minutes on the clock. India looked in immense attacking form as Preeti Dubey scored another field goal in the 8th minute taking the score to 3-0. The Indian forwards pressed hard in order to extend the lead with Soundarya Yendala adding the fourth goal to the score tally. In the 29th minute Punam Barla converted a penalty corner to add the fifth goal. The next two minutes saw Deepika also getting on the score sheet. The first half ended with the score at 6-0 in favour of the Indians.

The second half only increased the problems for the Sri Lankan team when the Captain Ritu Rani got on the score sheet with a penalty corner conversion in the 47th minute. Rani was unstoppable on the night and she scored her hat –trick with a 56th minute field goal. The score stood at 8-0 post Rani’s goal. India kept up the pressure and in the 64th minute another opportunity was created and Soundarya Yendala took full advantage by converting the penalty corner to score her brace and take the score to 9-0. India kept on knocking the door and another penalty corner opportunity was created and converted successfully by Jaspreet Kaur this time to make it 10-0. The match finally ended with the score at 10-0.