Athletics Frenzy!

               Day Four of the Athletics Championships at Moscow, turned to be a thrilling day, with many major events taking place as we go halfway through the Championships. 

               Alexandr Ivanov from the host country, brought the first gold medal to the hosts, as he conquered the men's 20 km. walk. Ivanov, 20, beat China's Chen Ding (silver) and Spaniard Miguel Lopez (bronze) as the Luzhniki stadium burst with delight. 

               Two-time world champion, and the greatest ever pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva thrilled the crowd yet again. She won the world title for the third time after 2005 and 2007, and maybe the last one in her illustrious career. Isinbayeva, who won gold twice in the Olympics, cleared 4.89 m. to beat America's Jenn Surh (silver) and Cuba's Yarisley Silva (bronze). 
               Men's pole vault turned out to be an enormous upset. Germany's Raphael Holzdeppe edged out France's favourite Renaud Lavillenie with a faultless 5.89 m. vault. As a result, Lavillenie won silver, and Germany's Bjoern Otto won bronze.
               Jamaica's domination in sprint prevailed, as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce gained the world title again after winning it in 2009. She won gold in the 100 m. by clocking 10.71s. and beating Ivory Coast's silver medalist Murielle Ahoure, and USA's bronze-winner Carmelita Jeter by a considerable margin. 

               Valerie Adams from New Zealand, struck gold in the women's shot put for the fourth time, after winning the title at Osaka in 2007, Berlin in 2009, as well as Daegu in 2011. She had also won gold at the Beijing Olympics; and a lucky gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012. She was promoted to the gold medal, after original winner Belarus's Nadezhda Ostapchuk was stripped off the medal due to doping infringement. 

India launches INS Vikrant!

               India's first indigenously-built aircraft carrier left the Cochin Shipyard in Kochi on Monday. This indigenous aircraft carrier will undergo extensive trials from 2016, and is expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy by 2018. It needs to be tested in aviation and weapon trials.

               This 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier features an angled ski-jump for take-off and "arrestor wires" for landing. The launch of this powerful aircraft carrier, catapults India into the elite club of USA, UK, Russia and France who also have built aircraft carriers with similar strength. China had built the 65,000 tonne Liaoning, but it's hull was purchased from Ukraine. As reported by officials in Kochi, INS Vikrant can carry about 30-35 aircrafts, and over 1500 personnel on board. It can handle rotary, or fixed wing aircraft as well as helicopters. It can detect incoming short-range missiles, and is equipped with a long range surface-to-air combat system, with multi-function radars.

               INS Vikrant was launched by Indian defence minister A K Antony in Kochi, but it is expected to be battle-ready only by 2020. The launch of this new aircraft carrier would reinforce India's naval strength, and make it's presence felt in the Indian Ocean territory, and further in the Pacific. This will help India to safeguard areas of geo-political interest, off-shore areas of strategic importance, as well as sea lanes extending from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. The already-operational aircraft carrier is INS Viraat, and INS Vikramaditya which has been bought from Russia, and is expected to be inducted this year.
               Another boon to India was a few days ago, when the submarine INS Arihant's miniature nuclear reactor went critical. The 85 MW pressurized water reactor (PWR), achieved a critical status, after various checks of it's sub-systems. The 6000 tonne submarine was being developed in the ship-building centre at Visakhapatnam. The INS Arihant will now head to open waters, for extensive sea trials, before becoming operational for the Indian Navy. 

               The PWR, which uses enriched uranium as fuel, would propel the 112 m. long submarine. INS Arihant, will be eventually fitted with 12 Sagarika K-15 underwater missiles carrying nuclear warheads. 
               PM Manmohan Singh stated that this was a giant stride for India in the field of nuclear propulsion. If INS Arihant is tested successfully, India may complete the third leg of the Nuclear Triad; the first two legs involved the Agni series of ballistic missiles with a range of over 5500 km, and the Sukhoi 30MKIs and Mirage 2000s, which are already operational in the Indian Armed Forces. The deployment of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) is crucial to increase India second strike capabilities.
              

The Athletics World Championships commence!

             

 

                 The IAAF World Championships kicked off at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The 8-day event which started on Sunday saw bids from Brisbane and Barcelona, but Moscow won the bidding process to stage to World Championships. The first day turned out to be quite eventful, even though the Luzhniki stadium was more or less deserted, with vacant seats, and rare instances of spectators cheering the athletes on. 

 



               In one of the earliest events in the World Championships, Briton Mo Farah won gold with a well-executed run at the 10,000 m. run. Mo Farah, originally from Somalia, had also won 5000 m. and 10, 000 m. gold at the London Olympics. Ethiopian Ibrahim Jeilan, who won the title at Daegu in 2011, won silver while Kenyan Paul Tanui won bronze.

 



               Indians disappointed on the first day, as medal-prospects relinquished medal hopes. In the men's 20 km. walk, India's K T Irfan was disqualified, and compatriots Gurmeet Singh and Chandan Singh finished at a dismal 33rd and 34th respectively.
               Sudha Singh, gold medallist at the Asian Games, ended up a miserable 12th in the 3000 m. steeplechase heats.
               100 m. world record holder, 26-year old Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won gold in the 100 m. finals. He clocked his season-best 9.77 seconds to regain his world title after having a false start at Daegu. Following him, Justin Gatlin from USA (9.85s.) bagged silver, and Nesta Carter (9.95s.) from Jamaica again bagged bronze.

 



               In the women's 10,000 m. Ethiopia's star runner Tirunesh Dibaba won gold to add a third world title for 10,000 m. She had earlier won gold for both 5000 m. and 10,000 m. at the Beijing Olympics, and 10,000 m. at the London Olympics as well as 2 world titles for 5000 m. Kenya's Gladys Cherono won silver, and Ethiopian Hitomi Niiya won bronze.
               In the women's discus throw, Croatian Sandra Perkovic won the gold with a 67.99 m. throw and added the title to her Olympic gold last year at London. The silver and bronze was bagged by France and Cuba respectively.  USA's Ashton Eaton gained the world decathlon title in addition to last year's Olympic gold. Germany's Michael Schrader and Canada's Damian Warner won silver and bronze respectively.
               Meanwhile, Brittney Reese of USA bagged the gold for women's long jump besides the silver of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, and bronze of Serb Ivana Španović. Kenya's legendary marathon runner Edna Kiplagat became the first woman ever to retain a marathon world title by clocking 2:25:44.




 

World Aquatics Championships Barcelona: A Summary

              

               The 15th FINA World Championships held recently at the Catalonian city of Barcelona really upheld itself as a show of 'aquatic prowess', and saw many records smashed by splendid performances. The Championships which were originally meant to be held by Dubai, featured six disciplines namely; water polo, swimming, diving, high diving, open water and synchronized swimming starting from July 19, 2013.

               The swimming and synchronized swimming were held at the iconic Palau Sant Jordi arena. A total of 181 countries appeared for the Championships, but only 34 could manage to earn a medal. The medal standings at the end of the tourney were:

1. USA 34 (15 Gold)
2. China 26 (14 Gold)
3. Russia 19 (9 Gold)
4. France 9 (4 Gold)
5. Hungary 7 (4 Gold)
6. Australia 14 (3 Gold)
7. Germany 10 (3 Gold)
8. Brazil 10 (3 Gold)
9. South Africa 5 (3 Gold)
10. Spain 12 (1 Gold)

The swimming meet is always considered the most popular event in the Championships, and the USA again topped the Swimming medal standings, with Missy Franklin bagging the most number of medals (6). The 'female swimmer of the meet' was earned by Katie Ledecky, while Sun Yang was rewarded 'male swimmer of the meet'.

Men's Swimming:

• 50 m. freestyle: César Cielo (Brazil)
• 200 m. freestyle: Yannick Agnel (France)
• 400 m. freestyle: Sun Yang (China)
• 800 m. freestyle: Sun Yang (China)
• 1500 m. freestyle: Sun Yang (China)

• 100 m. backstroke: Matt Grevers (USA)
• 200 m. backstroke: Ryan Lochte (USA)

• 50 m. breaststroke: Cameron van der Burgh (RSA)
• 100 m. breaststroke: Christian Sprenger (AUS)
• 200 m. breaststroke:  Dániel Gyurta (HUN)

• 50 m. butterfly: César Cielo (Brazil)
• 100 m. butterfly: Chad le Clos (RSA)
• 200 m. butterfly: Chad le Clos (RSA)

• 4x100 m. freestyle relay: France
• 4x200 m. freestyle relay: USA

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Women's swimming:

• 200 m. freestyle: Missy Franklin (USA)
• 400 m. freestyle: Katie Ledecky (USA)
• 800 m. freestyle: Katie Ledecky (USA)
• 1500 m. freestyle: Katie Ledecky (USA)

• 100 m. backstroke: Missy Franklin (USA)
• 200 m. backstroke: Missy Franklin (USA)

• 50 m. breaststroke: Yuliya Yefimova (RUS)
• 100 m. breaststroke: Rūta Meilutytė (LIT)
• 200 m. breaststroke: Yuliya Yefimova (RUS)

• 50 m. butterfly: Jeanette Ottesen (DEN)
• 100 m. butterfly: Sarah Sjöström (SWE)
• 200 m. butterfly: Liu Zige (China)

• 4x100 m. freestyle relay: USA
• 4x200 m. freestyle relay: USA

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               The World Championships truly gave incentive to swimming stars, and record-breaking performances. About six world records were smashed in the women's swimming. American 17-year old swimming sensation Missy Franklin became the first person ever to bag six gold in the World Championships. She became level with Australian legend Libby Trickett with 9 gold medals overall. Earlier, Missy Franklin had also won four gold including sweeps of the 100 m. and 200 m. backstrokes in the 2012 London Olympics.
               Rūta Meilutytė, from Lithuania, broke the records for the 50 m. and 100 m. breaststrokes in the semi-finals. Furthermore, Katie Ledecky from the USA, also managed extraordinary, record-breaking feats in the 800 m. and 1500 m. freestyle events.





Mt. Rokatenda erupts in Eastern Indonesia

               A volcanic eruption in Eastern Indonesia killed about six people in Eastern Indonesia. The eruption was reported by Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency, as people were banned from the surrounding area due to concerns of increasing volcanic activity. The Mt. Rokatenda volcano erupted at 4:27 am Local Time, and spewed hot ash over 2000 m. above the crater.
               The volcano, located on the island of 'Palue', a popular tourist spot in the East Nusa Tenggara province erupted, and killed six people at the Punge beach beside. The eruption which lasted about four hours, caused streaks of hot lava flow, which caused the deaths.
               The Indonesian archipelago, which nestled in the Ring of Fire, is full of active volcanoes, the most commonly known being Mt. Merapi in the Java islands, which killed around 350 people in one of the most horrifying series of eruptions.

Mount Rokatenda



Fire engulfs Nairobi Airport

               A major fire gutted Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International airport on Wednesday. This forced a suspension of international passenger flights and choking one of Africa's vital travel getaways. The massive fire, which started in the arrival and immigration department, engulfed the terminal buildings and caused the roof to partially collapse. Fire-fighters struggled for around five hours to extinguish the fires, as smoke billowed out of the airport rising in a plume.
               This incident would greatly affect Kenya's peak season of tourism, which is about to commence. Kenya's terror police clarified that this incident had nothing to with terrorism, as this disastrous event marked 15 years to the bombardment of the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.
               Nairobi's domestic airport started handling international departures immediately after the fire. There were no reports of casualties or deaths due to fire. However, it stranded thousands of passengers and exporters of perishable produce. This fire which torched the interiors of the airport completely, gave a serious blow to export. Tourists, were diverted to the airport at Mombasa.  Meanwhile, the airport authorities pitched tents outside, to handle the remaining passengers.
               Jomo Kenyatta Airport, is the biggest international airport in east Africa, and it handles about 2.5 million passengers per annum.

 

Pakistan infiltration attempts register a spurt

         



                 In what seems a spate of ceasefire violations, Pakistan's Border Action Team fired anonymously along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector of Jammu & Kashmir. The Pak troopers intruded into Indian territory around midnight on Monday, and ambushed an Indian military post, killing 5 Indian jawans, about 450 m. inside Indian territory. J&K CM Omar Abdullah stated that these incidents would not help in establishing cordial relations with Pakistan at all. Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh will be handling this crucial situation. 

 



               As reported by the defence ministry, Pakistan has violated the border ceasefire a mighty 57 times this year, an 80% rise since last year. This intense situation looms over the resumption of India-Pakistan peace talks, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next month, the first since the election of the new Pak PM Nawaz Sharif. Earlier on Monday a BSF jawan was severely injured in two rounds of sniper firing from the Pakistan side near the Narainpur border outpost in Samba district.
               On July 27, the ceasefire was flouted once again, due to heavy firing exchanges within a space of 10 hours involving use of machine guns, mortars and RPGs, along the Poonch and Kathua districts. July 3 saw a couple of IED blasts carried out Pakistani militants along the Poonch border. On July 12, Pakistani Ranger fired along the Pindi belt albeit, it being the international border near Jammu district. A similar horrifying incident happened when an 2 Indian soldiers was beheaded in the Mendhar sector on January 8.
               Defense minister AK Antony stated that all violations will be taken up with Pakistani military authorities by means of hotline or flag meetings. Belligerent Pakistan officials termed this violation as a false 'accusation'. Experts are warning India to step up security along the fronts as Pakistan's ISI may push Afghan Taliban fighters to terror camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir after the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan.
               Meanwhile, AK Antony downplayed the recent flurry of Chinese incursions saying that the transgressions would be controlled, and they were only caused due to no delineation of the LAC.