UiTV Connect

  National fencing squad's hopes of earning an Olympic Games quota place ended at the quarterfinal stage of the Asian Olympic qualifier tournament held in Tashkent. "Since it was one last chance to make the cut for the Olympics, the players wilted under pressure. Instead of staying calm and playing their natural game the fencers became a bit error prone that spoiled their chances," a national level coach told IANS. The two-day tournament, held last weekend, offered six quota places, including three in the women's category for the Tokyo Olympics. According to the coach, two fencers -- Sunil Kumar and Radhia Avati -- entered the quarterfinals of their respective events while other three bowed out in the first round. "Sunil gave a good account of himself in the epee event. He was leading in his quarterfinal match, but lost three vital points in the closing stages of the tournament to bow out," he said. Radhia too reached the quarterfinal stage in the women...

  In a major setback to India's Olympic Games preparation, the national women's 4x400m relay team has pulled out of next month's World Relays in Poland, said a source in the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Tuesday. "The team is unfit. The fastest runner in the squad, Anjali Devi, is yet to recover from an injury she had sustained in March," the source told IANS, explaining the reason for skipping the World Relays. One of the athletes said: "Three main runners are unfit. And there is no substitute." The World Relays, scheduled to be held on May 1 and 2 in Chorzow, is a qualifying competition for Tokyo Olympics as well as 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA. As if to further compound the national team's misery, Jisna Mathew, another key runner of the women's 400m relay team, has also pulled out of the World Relays. This month, the AFI had shortlisted six athletes for the 4x400m relay team. They were: MR Poovamma, Suhba Venkates...

  The world of music is mourning the death of Pandit Rajan Mishra , who passed away in Delhi on Sunday. Classical singer Rajan Mishra of the Rajan and Sajan Mishra duo breathed his last at the Capital's St Stephen Hospital due to Covid-related complications. He was 70. Singer Lata Mangeshkar tweeted: "Mujhe abhi pata chala ki bahut guni shastriya gayak Padma Bhushan Sangeet Natak Akademi puraskar se sammanit Pandit Rajan Mishra ji ka nidhan hua hai. Ye sunke mujhe bahut dukh hua. Ishwar unki aatma ko shanti pradan kare. Meri samvedanaayein unke pariwar ke saath hai (I have come to know gifted classical singer and Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning Pandit Rajan Mishra ji is no more. I'm heartbroken. May his soul rest in peace. I offer my condolences to his family)." Singer Hariharan posted on Instagram: "I am really sad to inform that another great soul has departed from us last night, Padma Bhushan Pandit Rajan Mishra was one of the doyens of Hind...

   Table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on second-placed Chennai Supers Kings (CSK) in what will be a battle between the current India captain Virat Kohli and former India captain MS Dhoni in an Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday afternoon. While RCB have a clean slate, having won four out of four matches in the tournament so far, CSK have won three out of their four matches. Both the teams have looked in great form although CSK would be a tad worried with the way their bowling wilted under the onslaught from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lower order comprising Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik and Pat Cummins, in their last match. The KKR trio took their team from 31/5 to 202 and just 18 runs short of CSK total. With RCB batting looking by far the best in the tournament, CSK need to be wary. Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Kohli shared an unbeaten 181-run partnership for the opening wicket as RCB romped to a 10-wicket win over Rajasthan...

   The Nepali government has implemented a quota system for mountaineers to climb Mt. Everest aimed at preventing overcrowding on the world's tallest peak. As per the new rules enforced on Wednesday, the Nepali government has introduced a "first come, first ascent" policy, allowing certain groups of mountaineers who had received climbing permits first to summit the mountain in the first weather window, Xinhua news aency reported. Similarly, other groups are allowed to climb the mountain in other positive weather windows. "If this policy leads to an unmanageable situation, expedition organisers are allowed to arrange expeditions of maximum 170 individuals in each positive weather window through coordination among themselves," states rules. Positive weather windows remain limited as the mountaineers seek to scale the 8848.86-metre tall mountains as early as possible. The Nepali government's move has come amid intense scrutiny over a reported traffic jam on Mt...

  Singer-composer Amaal Mallik recently recreated international artiste Dua Lipa's hit track "Levitating" along with Sukriti Kakar and Prakriti Kakar. Amaal thinks most of his songs over the past seven years or so -- as well as those of his brother Armaan Malik - are "global hits". "I think I can speak for myself and Armaan (Malik). Most of our music in the last six or seven years, our songs together and some of my songs from Arijit (Singh) were global hits. I get a lot of love from around the world. I have got fan clubs in Mexico and Turkey and I feel very blessed," he declares. Is Indian music getting the kind of global acclaim it deserves? "I think all of us are doing it not to make a dent outside. We just do it with all our heart and it is reaching music lovers outside of India," he says. Read More:  https://www.uitvconnect.com/newspaper/singer-composer-amaal-mallik-i-get-lot-love-around-world

  Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) should build their team around Ravindra Jadeja considering his all-round abilities. "You may say that Dhoni will play for 2-3 more years but let's be honest, he's not gonna play a great deal after that. So you've got to start looking at who you can build a team around and to me, Ravindra Jadeja is the kind of cricketer that I would build my team around. I just think he's that good with the ball, in the field, with the bat in hand, his mindset, his mentality is very good," said Vaughan on Cricbuzz. Jadeja played a crucial role in CSK's win over Rajasthan Royals on Monday. He took two wickets, including the all-important scalp of opener Jos Buttler and took four catches. "Jadeja for me is the kind of player to whom you can say 'You're going to bat at No.4 or 5, get in there early. We might even open the bowling with you, depending on who is batting We'll put you in...