Moscow: Wrestling has introduced drastic changes designed to keep the ancient sport in the Olympic programme, the newly-elected president of the world governing body (FILA) said on Saturday. More categories for women, eliminating draws and cutting down the number of competitors are just some of the initiatives being introduced as wrestling battles to salvage its Olympic status after the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s executive board made a surprise recommendation to drop it from the 2020 Games programme.
"Today we made decisions needed for our struggle to remain in the Olympic movement," Serbian Nenad Lalovic told a news conference shortly after winning overwhelming majority votes to lead the sport at FILA's extraordinary congress in Moscow. The sport, which featured in the first modern Olympics in 1896 and every Games since apart from 1900, has joined seven other candidates battling for one spot in a revamped programme.
Wrestlers were told to bring changes to their sport, adapt to a new environment and make it more suitable for television audience if they wanted to remain in the Olympics. "They (IOC) gave us a yellow card, so we had to change. And we did," Lalovic said. "The new rules had been adapted. Also we gave more equality to women in our sport. The most important thing is the changes in our constitution and the new rules."
Wrestling, which had 18 medals - seven in both freestyle and Greco-Roman and four for women - contested at last year's London Olympics, has now
12:07 AM, May 19, 2013
Kolkata: Woman mountaineer Chanda Gayen has successfully scaled the Mt Everest today, becoming the third woman from West Bengal to achieve the feat. A message from the base camp at Solo Khumbu in Nepal reaching here said Chanda, who started the last part of her journey for the summit from camp four at South Col on Friday night, followed the South East ridge route and reached the top at 7...
06:03 PM, May 18, 2013
Bhubaneswar: At least 177 people were arrested in different parts of Odisha during the past week for their involvement in illegal money circulation and chit fund activities, a police official said on Friday. The crackdown on the firms began May 10, 2013 and about 200 offices of 84 companies were raided, Rajesh Kumar, deputy inspector general (economic offence wing) of the crime branch police, told IANS. The arrested include two...
05:45 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: The union cabinet on Thursday approved the establishment of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission to conserve and restore the sites associated with the Father of the Nation. "The mission would be entrusted with the identification, collation and assessment of information on Gandhi heritage material for its management and deployment," said an official release. The mission will aim at preserving for posterity 39 core sites as well as other...
06:00 AM, May 17, 2013
Tokyo: A Taiwanese eatery famed for its dumplings was crowned Asia's best restaurant, while restaurants in Beijing claimed the lion's share of spots in the top 10 of a new survey of the food-obsessed region's best dining. Five Indian restaurants made it to the list of 101 best Asian restaurants. Din Tai Fung in the Taiwanese capital Taipei was ranked number one in the inaugural "101 Best Restaurants in Asia"...
10:31 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: The NIA on Wednesday conceded that it didn't have evidence to connect suspected Hizbul militant Liyaqat Shah to the weapons found on him. The NIA made the statement during its concluding remarks in the case at a Delhi court. The agency, however, opposed the bail plea of Shah, who was arrested for allegedly conspiring to carry out terror attacks in the national capital. The NIA opposed his plea...
05:21 PM, May 15, 2013
Washington: A ghastly video posted online shows how barbaric the Syrian civil war can be. A rebel fighter is seen carving into the body of a Syrian government soldier, cutting out his heart and liver, putting the heart in his mouth and taking a bite, CNN has reported. "I swear to God we will eat your hearts out, you soldiers of Bashar. You dogs. God is greater! Heroes of Baba...
11:20 AM, May 15, 2013
New Delhi: Encouraged by the declining trend in inflation, the Finance Ministry on Tuesday made a case for further rate cut by the Reserve Bank to boost sagging growth. "I think we need to look at statement made by RBI Governor during the last policy review where he had stated that RBI is closely monitoring inflation figures and if there is dramatic change in inflation figures then RBI will take...
03:41 PM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Just two days after the removal of Ashwani Kumar as Law Minister over the coal scam, there seems to be more trouble for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A Right to Information application shows that it was the Prime Minister's Office that put pressure on the Environment Ministry to ease environmental rules to allow expansion in coal mining projects. In a recent landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has upheld...
09:33 AM, May 13, 2013
Barcelona: Paul di Resta added six more points to Sahara Force India's kitty with a seventh-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix of the Formula One Championship, while team-mate Adrian Sutil finished 13th here on Sunday. Starting from 10th place on the grid, the Scot raced brilliantly as he had an exciting tussle with pole sitter Nico Roseberg for the sixth place but eventually settled for seventh. He had moved...
11:44 PM, May 12, 2013
New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Sunday withdrew the medals from six of the current junior national champions, who failed to provide samples to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for dope test. WFI had requested NADA to collect samples from the Junior National Wrestling Championships that were held in Chandigarh May 9-12. However, some grapplers, including medal winners, avoided giving samples for the tests, and fled the...
05:29 PM, May 12, 2013
Barcelona: Force India's Paul di Resta qualified 10th for Spanish Grand Prix while his teammate Adrian Sutil will start the race at the 13th position, here Sunday. Di Resta clocked 1:22.233 to finish last in Q3 while Sutil came up with a timing of 1:22.346 in Q2. The top-10 grid position gives the British driver a chance to earn some points for the team at Circuit de Catalunya. Meanwhile, di...
08:43 PM, May 11, 2013
Barcelona: Pirelli are reviewing the construction of their Formula One tyres after a series of spectacular debris-related failures but have assured drivers they need not worry about safety. Concern was expressed at the Spanish Grand Prix when the tread came off the still-inflated left rear tyre of Paul Di Resta's Force India during Friday's second practice. Ferrari's Felipe Massa suffered two failures during the Bahrain Grand Prix last month and...
08:05 PM, May 11, 2013
Bhubaneswar: In a major crackdown on chit fund companies and other non-banking financial institutions, Odisha Police on Friday launched statewide raids and arrested as many as 110 people involved in the trade. "Our sleuths raided 185 places and 97 cases have been registered. This is for the first time that a statewide raid is conducted on a single day," said Additional Director General (ADG), Crime Branch, BK Sharma. Stating that...
03:09 AM, May 11, 2013
Barcelona<>: Pirelli expressed concern on Friday at an alarming tyre failure suffered by Force India's Paul Di Resta in Spanish Grand Prix practice. The tread came off the Scot's still inflated left rear tyre in second practice but Di Resta was able to bring the car safely to a halt. With drivers expressing safety concerns, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery said the Italian company would investigate the issue. "It obviously...
11:57 PM, May 10, 2013
New York: Don't worry, Pinterest fans: Your sprawling virtual pegboards of wedding dresses, handmade jewellery, craft projects and food porn haven't changed dramatically. They're just easier to manage. The popular link- and photo-sharing website has rolled out an update, one offering people simpler navigation and new ways to arrange their boards to fit their needs. Although the haphazard spirit of Pinterest remains, the site is much less overwhelming. I wasn't...
08:45 AM, May 09, 2013
Barcelona: Encouraged by their "best ever" start to season, Force India are determined to see their drivers on the podium soon as the side prepares "hard" to compete in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Paul di Resta came close to getting the team their first podium of the season but had to be content with a fourth-place finish in the last race in Bahrain. Team Principal Vijay Mallya said the team...
06:48 PM, May 07, 2013
CNN-IBN spoke to Indian bowler Zaheer Khan after he threw a glittering party to inaugurate his new restaurant called "TOSS" in Pune. ...
09:28 PM, May 06, 2013
The fast bowler also said that he won't return to international cricket until he is one hundred per cent fit. ...
09:24 AM, May 06, 2013
Kolkata: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday praised public interest litigations (PIL) for helping in delivering justice, but urged the judiciary to "observe self discipline" to "maintain the balance with the executive and legislature". "I would like to compliment the Indian judiciary for one innovation: PIL. A man staying in the remotest part of the country can write a postcard to the chief justice of this largest functional democracy and can...
05:10 AM, May 06, 2013
