Month: October 2023

Five additional sports officially included by IOC as part of LA28

As part of the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Mumbai, Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash have been officially added in the roster of events for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028.

Niccolo Campriani, director of LA Local Organising Committee, acknowledged Virat Kohli’s popularity as a driving force behind cricket’s inclusion. Campriani, himself a three time Olympic gold medallist in shooting for Italy, noted, “He’s the third-most followed athlete in the world on social media with 314 million followers. That’s more than LeBron James, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods combined. This is the ultimate win-win for LA 28.”

Out of these five, baseball/softball, cricket and lacrosse have already been a part of Summer Olympics before, while flag football and squash will be making their Olympic debut in LA.

KnowALLedge Plus:

>During the inauguration of the Mumbai session of the IOC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organise the 2036 Olympics.”

>The only time cricket was played in the Summer Olympics in 1900 Paris, Great Britain (comprising the Devon and Somerset Wanderers Club) had clinched the gold medal by defeating France (consisting of staffers from the British embassy in Paris) in a one-match showdown. Lacrosse was included at St. Louis 1904 and London 1908. Baseball and softball have shown up in multiple Olympics, most recently in 2021 for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

>Squash officials have been lobbying for decades for its inclusion in the Olympics. The World Squash Federation had launched Back the Bid 2020 to tap into the huge support players, fans and corporate organisations are showing towards Squash’s campaign to get the sport into the Olympic Games. They even roped in tennis Roger Federer who pledged his support towards the bid.

Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari unveils new ensign of IAF at Air Force Day parade

At the 91st IAF Day celebrations in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari unveiled a new ensign of the Indian Air Force (IAF), replacing the existing one that was adopted more than seven decades back.

The new lAF ensign has been created to better reflect the values of the Indian Air Force.

The unveiling of the new ensign by the IAF came over a year after the Navy made changes in its ensign shedding its colonial past.

The existing ensign was adopted in 1950, replacing the Royal Indian Air Force ensign that featured the Union Jack and the RIAF roundel (red, white and blue).

KnowALLedge Plus

> The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October, 1932.

> In view of its professional efficiency and achievements during World War II, the force was bestowed with the prefix “Royal” in March 1945. So, it became the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF).

> In 1950, the IAF dropped its “Royal” prefix and amended the ensign as India became a Republic. The RIAF ensign consisted of the Union Jack in the upper left canton and the RIAF roundel (red, white and blue) on the fly side.

> Post-Independence, the IAF ensign was created by replacing the Union Jack with the Indian tricolour and the RAF roundels with the IAF tricolour roundel in the lower right canton.

> The IAF crest has the national symbol, the Ashoka lion on the top with the words ‘Satyameva Jayate’ in Devanagari below it. Below the Ashoka lion is a Himalayan eagle with its wings spread, denoting the fighting qualities of the IAF. A ring in light blue colour encircles the Himalayan eagle with the words ‘Bhartiya Vayu Sena. The motto of the IAF — ‘touch the sky with the glory’ is inscribed below Himalayan eagle in Devanagari.

> The IAF motto has been taken from verse 24, Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita and means “Radiant Thou Touchest Heaven” or in other words “touching the sky with glory”.

> The parade was traditionally held at the Hindon airbase near Delhi till 2021 before the event was taken outside the national capital. It was held in Chandigarh last year and in Prayagraj this year.

Abki baar India went sau paar!

Here’s India’s medal round up at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023

ARCHERY (5 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze) 09

Gold – Mixed team compound: Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Ojas Pravin Deotale

Gold – Women’s compound team: Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami, Parneet Kaur

Gold – Men’s compound team: Abhishek Verma, Ojas Pravin Deotale, Prathamesh Jawkar

Gold – Women’s compound individual:  Jyothi Surekha Vennam

Gold – Men’s compound individual: Ojas Pravin Deotale

Silver     Men’s recurve team: Atanu Das, Tushar Shelke, Dhiraj Bommadevara

Silver     Men’s compound individual: Abhishek Verma

Bronze  Women’s recurve team: Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, Simranjeet Kaur

Bronze  Women’s compound individual: Aditi Swami

ATHLETICS (6 Gold, 14 Silver, 9 Bronze) 29

Gold – Men’s 3000m steeplechase: Avinash Sable

Gold – Men’s shotput: Tajinderpal Singh Toor

Gold – Women’s 5000m: Parul Chaudhary

Gold – Women’s javelin throw: Annu Rani

Gold – Men’s javelin throw: Neeraj Chopra

Gold – Men’s 4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, Rajesh Ramesh

Silver – Men’s 10,000m: Karthik Kumar

Silver – Women’s 1500m: Harmilan Bains

Silver – Men’s 1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj

Silver – Men’s long jump: Murali Sreeshankar

Silver – Women’s 100m hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji

Silver – Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Parul Chaudhary

Silver – Women’s long jump: Ancy Sojan

Silver – Mixed 4x400m relay: Muhammad Ajmal, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh, Subha Venkatesan

Silver – Men’s 800m: Mohammed Afsal

Silver – Men’s decathlon: Tejaswin Shankar

Silver – Women’s 800m: Harmilan Bains

Silver – Men’s 5000m: Avinash Sable

Silver – Women’s 4x400m relay: Vithya Ramraj, Aishwarya Kailash Mishra, Prachi, Subha Venkatesan

Silver – Men’s javelin throw: Kishore Jena

Bronze – Women’s shotput: Kiran Baliyan

Bronze – Men’s 10,000m: Gulveer Singh

Bronze – Men’s 1500m: Jinson Johnson

Bronze – Women’s heptathlon: Nandini Agasara

Bronze – Women’s discus throw: Seema Punia

Bronze – Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Priti Lamba

Bronze – Women’s 400m hurdles: Vithya Ramraj

Bronze – Men’s triple jump: Praveen Chithravel

Bronze – Mixed team race walk: Manju Rani, Ram Baboo

BADMINTON (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze) 03

Gold – Men’s doubles: Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Silver – Men’s team: Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, MR Arjun, Dhruva Kapila, HS Prannoy, Mithun Manjunath, Sai Pratheek, Rohan Kapoor

Bronze – Men’s singles: HS Prannoy

BOXING (1 Silver, 4 Bronze) 05

Silver – Women’s 75kg: Lovlina Borgohain

Bronze – Women’s 50kg: Nikhat Zareen

Bronze – Women’s 54kg: Preeti Pawar

Bronze – Men’s +92kg: Narender Berwal

Bronze – Women’s 57kg: Parveen Hooda

BRIDGE (1 Silver) 01

Silver – Men’s team: Raju Tolani, Ajay Prabhakar Khare, Rajeshwar Tewari, Sumit Mukherjee, Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral

CANOE SPRINT (1 Bronze) 01

Bronze – Men’s canoe double 1000m: Arjun Singh, Sunil Singh Salam

CHESS (2 Silver) 02

Silver – Men’s team: Gukesh D, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, Pentala Harikrishna, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa

Silver – Women’s team: Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Vantika Agrawal, Savitha Shri B

CRICKET (2 Gold) 02

Gold – Women’s T20 cricket: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Pooja Vastrakar, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry, Anusha Bareddy

Gold – Men’s team: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh, Akash Deep

EQUESTRIAN (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) 02

Gold – Team dressage: Hriday Chheda, Anush Agarwalla, Divyakriti Singh, Sudipti Hajela

Bronze – Individual dressage: Anush Agarwalla

GOLF (1 Silver) 02

Silver – Women’s golf: Aditi Ashok

HOCKEY (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) 02

Gold – Men’s team: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay

Bronze – Women’s team: Savita Punia, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Deepika, Lalremsiami, Monika, Navneet Kaur, Neha, Nisha, Sonika, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, Deep Grace Ekka, Vandana Katariya, Sangita Kumari, Vaishnavi Vittal Phalke, Nikki Pradhan, Sushila Chanu, Salima Tete

KABADDI (2 Gold) 02

Gold – Women’s kabaddi: Akshima, Jyoti, Pooja, Pooja, Priyanka, Pushpa, Sakshi Kumari, Ritu Negi, Nidhi Sharma, Sushma Sharma, Snehal Pradeep Shinde, Sonali Vishnu Shingat

Gold – Men’s kabaddi: Nitesh Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sachin, Surjeet Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Naveen Kumar, Pawan Sehrawat, Sunil Kumar, Nitin Rawal, Akash Shinde

ROLLER SKATING (2 Bronze) 02

Bronze – Women’s speed skating 3000m relay: Karthika Jagadeeswaran, Heeral Sadhu, Aarathy Kasturi Raj, Sanjana Bathula

Bronze – Men’s speed skating 3000m relay: Vikram Rajendra Ingale, Siddhant Rahul Kamble, Anandkumar Velkumar, Aryanpal Singh Ghuman

ROWING (2 Silver, 3 Bronze) 05

Silver – Men’s lightweight double sculls: Arjun Lal Jat, Arvind Singh

Silver     Men’s eight: Neeraj, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neetesh Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish, DU Pande

Bronze – Men’s pair: Babu Lal Yadav, Lekh Ram

Bronze – Men’s four: Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish

Bronze – Men’s quadruple: Parminder Singh, Satnam Singh, Jakar Khan, Sukhmeet Singh

SAILING (1 Silver, 2 Bronze) 03             

Silver – Girl’s Dinghy – ILCA4: Neha Thakur

Bronze – Men’s Windsurfer – RS:X: Eabad Ali

Bronze – Men’s dinghy ICLA7: Vishnu Saravanan

SEPAKTAKRAW (1 Bronze) 01

Bronze – Women’s regu: Khushbu, Maipak Devi Ayekam, Leirentonbi Devi Elangbam, Priya Devi Elangbam, Chaoba Devi Oinam

SHOOTING (7 Gold, 9 Silver, 6 Bronze) 22

Gold – Men’s 10m air rifle team: Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Divyansh Singh Panwar

Gold – Women’s 25m pistol team: Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Esha Singh

Gold – Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions: Sift Kaur Samra

Gold – Men’s 10m air pistol team: Arjun Cheema, Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal

Gold – Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions team: Swapnil Kushale, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Akhil Sheoran

Gold – Women’s 10m air pistol: Palak Gulia

Gold – Men’s trap team: Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Prithviraj Tondaiman

Silver – Women’s 10m air rifle team: Ashi Chouksey, Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal

Silver – Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team: Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik, Sift Kaur Samra

Silver – Women’s 25m pistol: Esha Singh

Silver – Men’s skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka

Silver – Women’s 10m air pistol team: Esha Singh, Divya TS, Palak Gulia

Silver – Women’s 10m air pistol: Esha Singh

Silver – Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

Silver – Mixed team 10m air pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Divya TS

Silver – Women’s trap team: Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak, Rajeshwari Kumari

Bronze – Women’s 10m air rifle: Ramita Jindal

Bronze – Men’s 10m air rifle: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

Bronze – Men’s 25m rapid file pistol team: Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh, Anish Bhanwala

Bronze – Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions: Ashi Chouksey

Bronze – Men’s skeet team: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa

Bronze – Men’s trap: Kynan Chenai

SQUASH (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze) 05

Gold – Men’s team: Saurav Ghosal, Abhay Singh, Harinder Pal Singh, Mahesh Mangaonkar

Gold – Mixed doubles: Dipika Pallikal, Harinder Pal Sandhu

Silver – Men’s singles: Saurav Ghosal

Bronze -Women’s team: Joshna Chinappa, Anahat Singh, Tanvi Khanna, Dipika Pallikal

Bronze – Mixed team: Anahat Singh, Abhay Singh

TABLE TENNIS (1 Bronze) 01

Bronze – Women’s doubles: Ayhika Mukherjee, Sutirtha Mukherjee

TENNIS (1 Gold, 1 Silver) 02

Gold – Mixed doubles: Rohan Bopanna, Rutuja Bhosale

Silver – Men’s doubles    Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan

WRESTLING (1 Silver, 5 Bronze) 06

Silver – Men’s freestyle 86kg: Deepak Punia

Bronze – Greco-Roman 87kg: Sunil Kumar

Bronze – Women’s 53kg: Antim Panghal

Bronze – Women’s 62kg: Sonam Malik

Bronze – Women’s 76kg: Kiran Bishnoi

Bronze – Men’s freestyle 57kg: Aman Sehrawat

WUSHU (1 Silver) 01  

Silver – Women’s 60kg sanda: Naorem Roshibina Devi

Scientists uncover tongue’s sixth basic taste

Our tongue does better than we imagine, as per fresh revelations from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. It can identify not five, but six tastes! USC Dornsife unveiled evidence of a potential sixth basic taste – Ammonium chloride, a compound well-acquainted with those in Scandinavian countries where it is an essential ingredient in salt licorice, a candy that dates to the early 20th century.

KnowALLedge Plus

> The five tastes that human tongue can detect are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami

> Umami was a late addition recognized in the early 1900s thanks to the work of Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda.

> Previously uncovered protein OTOP1, plays a pivotal role in detecting sour tastes. It functions as a channel for hydrogen ions when exposed to acidic sour foods, like lemonade and vinegar. Researchers hypothesised that ammonium chloride might also activate OTOP1 due to its impact on hydrogen ion concentration within cells.

Gear up to vroom above the traffic with a first of its kind flying car

A fully electric car you can drive on public roads and fly to skip traffic may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but San Mateo, California based Alef Aeronautics is making it a reality. The company revealed that its flying car, “Model A,” has become the first of its kind to receive legal approval to fly from the US government – a Special Airworthiness Certification from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

It is the first time a vehicle of this nature has been certified in the US. The flying car is being developed for driving on a “regular urban or rural road.” It can be parked in a regular parking space and inside a regular-sized garage.

KnowALLedge Plus

> The flying car is 100 per cent electric and can carry one or two occupants. The car costs roughly $300,000 as it can fly over stopped traffic and accidents on roadways.

> The car will not go faster than 25 miles per hour on a paved surface as it is a low-speed vehicle.

> In January, the company said that over 440 of its vehicles had been pre-ordered “from both individuals and corporate consumers.”

> The company hopes to begin delivering flying cars to customers by the end of 2025.

15-year-old school kids make versatile robot. To represent India in World Robotics Olympiad.

The challenge was to create a versatile robot that can help load and unload ships, fuel them and pilot them to open sea — a robot to solve ocean traffic problems. The team – Spero Hertz – comprising Hriday Parikh and Shreyaans Bohora, both 15-year-old students of Navrachana School, Sama, Vadodara, along with their coach Mukesh Bind, made the robot that can solve the challenge in 85 seconds!

They bagged bronze medal in the World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) 2023 national championship and will represent India at the international championship to be held in Panama.

KnowALLedge Plus

> Hriday Parikh has won the robot Olympiad national championship in 2016, 2018 and an international championship in 2019. He has been learning robotics and coding since he was 8.

> WRO comprises three levels — the regional level that was held in August in Pune, the national level that was held in September in Greater Noida, and the international level that is scheduled between November 7 and November 9 at Panama City, Panama.

> The WRO national level competition was hosted by India STEM Foundation at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida.

US issues first-ever space debris fine to Dish Network

The US Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has penalised Dish Network a sum of $150,000 (about INR 1.25 cr) for leaving junk in space.  The satellite television provider operates several satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO), which is a region of space about 36,000 km above the equator where satellites appear to be stationary relative to the Earth.

EchoStar-7, one of Dish’s many satellites, was launched in 2002 and completed its mission in 2022. As part of its orbital debris mitigation plan, Dish had agreed to move EchoStar-7 to a higher altitude, known as a graveyard orbit, where it would not interfere with other operational satellites in GEO. However, due to a fuel shortage, Dish was only able to raise EchoStar-7 by 122 km, instead of the required 300 km. This meant that EchoStar-7 remained in a disposal orbit that was too close to the active GEO region, posing a potential collision risk.

Although the fine imposed on Dish was relatively small compared to its annual revenue of $16.7 billion in 2022, this marks a precedent and a warning for other companies working in this domain.

KnowALLedge Plus:

>The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the agency that regulates the use of radio frequencies and orbital slots for satellites in the United States. The FCC has a rule that requires satellite operators to dispose of their satellites in a safe and responsible manner at the end of their missions.

>Space debris, also known as orbital debris or space junk, is any artificial object orbiting the Earth that is no longer functional or useful. It includes old satellites, rocket stages, fragments from collisions or explosions, and even paint chips.

>According to NASA, there are more than 25,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 cm in orbit, traveling at speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. Such high-speed debris could cause severe damage or destruction to active satellites or spacecraft, endangering the lives of astronauts and the functioning of critical services such as communications, navigation, weather forecasting, and scientific research.

>Kessler Syndrome: Proposed by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler, the Kessler Syndrome is a theoretical scenario where a cascade of collisions between space debris creates even more debris, making certain orbits around Earth too hazardous for spacecraft.

>Several private companies, in association with government space agencies, are exploring innovative solutions to actively remove space debris. Concepts include nets, harpoons, tethers and laser-based systems to capture and deorbit defunct objects.

The men’s football World Cup 2030 to be staged across three continents and six countries

In a first, six countries, Argentina, Morocco, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay, spread across three continents – Europe, Africa and South America will be hosting the FIFA World Cup 2030.

Initially, Morocco, Portugal and Spain won the race to host the tourney but Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay were handed the opening three matches. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino further added that the opening match itself will be played at the Estádio Centenário in Montevideo, Uruguay, the same venue as the first World Cup in 1930.

KnowALLedge Plus:

>The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the last in which 32 teams played. The tournament is expanding to 48 teams from the 2026 edition. Hence the 2030 World Cup will see 48 teams and 104 matches across three continents. All six host nations will automatically qualify.

>FIFA has a policy of rotating World Cups between confederations. In 2022 it was AFC’s turn, and CONCACAF (North America) will host the 2026 edition, having last hosted in 1994. Hence Europe/Africa’s UEFA/CAF bid was the favourite for 2030. South America’s CONMEBOL, which last hosted the 2014 edition, was also looking to commemorate the centenary of the 1930 World Cup. Such circumstances made this unique combination possible in the first place.

Researchers behind COVID-19 vaccine recognized with the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023 was jointly awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.  While working together at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), they discovered a chemical tweak to messenger RNA. The mRNA jabs have been administered billions of times globally in the last three years.

Despite realising the potential of mRNA in the early 90s, their road to global recognition was anything but rosy.  The discipline was considered a scientific backwater by the community.  In 1995, Karikó was even demoted by UPenn as she could not get financial grants to continue her research. In 2013, she was forced to resign and kicked out of the university. Kariko had been battling cancer during her ordeal. Meanwhile, their 2005 paper was summarily rejected by journals like Nature and Science and was accepted by a niche publication called Immunity.

As of October 2023, Karikó is a professor at the University of Szeged in her native Hungary while Weissman is a professor in vaccine research at UPenn.

KnowALLedge Plus:

>The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million) to share between the recipients.

>The prizes will be presented by the King of Sweden at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, followed by a banquet at the city hall.

>The daughter of a butcher, Katalin Karikó grew up in a village in Hungary, in a house without running water or a refrigerator. She and her husband sold their Soviet-era Lada car, sewed some cash and her research materials into their daughter’s teddy bear and went to the U.S. on a one-way ticket.

>Katalin Karikó met Drew Weissman over a copy machine at UPenn. They initially teamed up to develop a more effective HIV vaccine which Weissman was desperately searching for.

This ICC ODI World Cup, enjoy the matches vertically

In a first-of-its-kind coverage for the sport across all 48 World Cup matches, ICC will provide vertical feed for fans with an easier and more intuitive viewing experience on mobile phones, allowing them to consume content on the go in the most convenient handheld position.

KnowALLedge Plus

> ICC TV will produce an additional vertical video feed.

> The vertical feed will provide a special experience with the addition of split screens in its coverage.

> The production will also feature match graphics and bespoke production enhancements to enhance the vertically oriented coverage.

> Key features like ball tracking, player tracking and field plot will be tailored to fit the vertical format.

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