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MPs from opposition alliance INDIA to visit Manipur on Saturday

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Opposition walks out

IMPHAL: A delegation of 21 MPs from the opposition bloc INDIA are slated to arrive here on Saturday for a two-day visit to Manipur to assess the current state of affairs in the ethnic strife-hit state.

The delegation, which includes Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, will make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to Manipur’s problems, based on their observations.

Ahead of the visit, Congress’ deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi called for an inquiry under a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence in Manipur.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, Congress MP and whip in Rajya Sabha Naseer Hussain said the MPs from 16 parties would visit affected areas and people both in the valley and the hills.

They would also visit two relief camps in both places to assess the situation.

The delegation will also meet Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday morning.

The team of the opposition MPs has sought the use of helicopters locally from the state government to visit Churachandpur, where fresh violence has taken place.

Besides Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi, the delegation will include TMC’s Sushmita Dev, JMM’s Mahua Maji, DMK’s Kanimozhi, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Manoj Kumar Jha of RJD, N K Premachandran of RSP, JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U), CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar and CPI(M)’s A A Rahim among others.

J P Nadda overhauls party’s team of central office-bearers; appoints Bandi Sanjay as general secretary

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HYDERABAD: BJP president J P Nadda rejigged the list of the party’s central office-bearers on Saturday, bringing in a Pasmanda Muslim from Uttar Pradesh as one of its-vice presidents and accommodating its former Telangana unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar as a national general secretary.

BJP general secretary and MP Arun Singh issued the appointment orders to that effect on Saturday.

Sanjay will now be holding the post along with seven other party general secretaries including Tarun Chugh and Sunil Bansal, while BL Santhosh will continue to act as the party’s general secretary (organisation).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, and Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as its general secretaries, with sources indicating that they may be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor, now a BJP MLC in Uttar Pradesh, has been made a vice-president, a decision seen to be part of the party’s overtures to Pasmanda Muslims.

Most of the office-bearers have been retained as vice presidents, general secretaries and secretaries in the new list.

There are 13 vice presidents, nine general secretaries and 13 secretaries on the list.

Former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, has been dropped as a party vice-president.

Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader A K Antony, has been brought in as a national secretary.

BJP vice-president DK Aruna has also been retained in her role, along with the party’s joint general secretary (organisation) Shiv Prakash. Satya Kumar from Andhra Pradesh has been appointed the party’s secretary.

French President Macron holds discussions with Wickremesinghe during historic Sri Lanka visit

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COLOMBO: French President Emmanuel Macron pledged strong support for the island nation’s debt restructuring and discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations with his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe during a historic visit to Colombo.

The first-ever visit by a French president to Sri Lanka took place as the two countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic ties this year.

Macron, who was on his return home from a 5-day visit to the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, was met by Wickremesinghe at the airport and spent over two hours in Colombo on Friday.

His visit marked the first time a French President visited Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe and Macron held “friendly and productive” bilateral discussions to enhance and elevate the existing relations between Sri Lanka and France, the President’s Media Division said in a statement on Saturday.

The discussions figured on Sri Lanka’s ongoing debt restructuring process.

Macron reaffirmed France’s willingness and commitment to support Sri Lanka in its economic recovery.

As Colombo’s fourth-largest creditor, France pledged its assistance in the debt restructuring process, aiming for a positive outcome for the country, the statement said.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

“Sri Lanka and France are two nations in the Indian Ocean sharing the same goal: an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. In Colombo, we confirmed it: strong as in our 75 years of diplomatic relations, we would open a new era to our partnership,” Macron tweeted after the meeting.h

The discussions during the over-one-hour meeting between the two presidents focused on strengthening cooperation in various sectors, including politics, economics, tourism, climate change, sustainable development, and maritime activities.

As part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, several specific areas for further collaboration were identified, according to the statement.

“These areas of cooperation included the establishment of a school for maritime safety and security, the opening of a permanent office for the French Agency for Development (AFD) in Sri Lanka, the initiation of high-level diplomatic dialogues, cooperation in the education sector, and the enhancement of efforts to combat human trafficking in the maritime safety and security sector,” the statement reads.

Additionally, both leaders exchanged views on regional and multilateral interests in the current global context.

Macron expressed keen interest in collaborating with Sri Lanka during its upcoming chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), of which France is a member.

Wickremesinghe showed interest in the Indian Ocean Commission, where France actively participates, and conveyed Sri Lanka’s agreement to join the Paris Agenda for the People and the Planet, emphasising the island nation’s commitment to global efforts for a sustainable future.

He also expressed admiration for France’s significant role in global affairs, particularly in areas such as climate mitigation, global debt restructuring, and matters related to the Indo-Pacific region.

In June, Wickremesinghe met Macron in Paris during the heads of state sessions of the conference for a New Global Financing Pact.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa also arrived Friday night on a two-day visit and paid a courtesy call on Wickremesinghe on Saturday.

Asian Champions Trophy: TN CM Stalin inaugurates eco-friendly hockey turf in Chennai

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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday inaugurated the first-of-its-kind eco-friendly Poligras Paris GT zero turf at the here as international hockey returns to this part of the world with the Asian Champions Trophy.

Stalin inaugurated the hockey turf in the presence of the state’s sports minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said, “With the Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 set to begin shortly, I extend a very warm welcome to all the participating teams to our beautiful city.

“The department of youth welfare and sports development of Tamil Nadu’s decision to opt for the carbon-zero turf showcases our government’s dedication towards the preservation of the environment, while also providing the best facilities for our athletes.

“I congratulate all the officials who have tirelessly worked towards hosting a successful tournament and wish all the teams the very best.”

The intricately designed zero turf is made with 80 per cent sugarcane and manufactured with green energy. The turf requires less water and hence has been designed to make it friendly for the environment.

Meanwhile, Udhayanidhi said, “The cherry on the cake is the fact that we are doing so on a carbon-zero turf. This is a testament to the state’s commitment towards sports and sports infrastructure.

“With this initiative, we want to continue supporting and developing the youth of this state.”

The event gets underway on August 3 with six teams — India, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan and China — competing for the top prize.

Hockey India (HI) president Dilip Tirkey added, “Apart from being environment-friendly, the turf will also provide a chance for the top nations in Asia to compete for the trophy on the best infrastructure available.

“We are confident that players from all the participating nations will enjoy playing on the newly laid turf and will be delighted to be a part of the movement towards preservation of the environment.”

Also, the main West Stand at the stadium has been named ‘Kalaignar Centenary Pavilion’ in honour of late Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi.

Juventus removed from European competition for financial rule-breaking cases Chelsea fined

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GENEVA: Juventus was removed from European competition next season and Chelsea was fined USD 11 million in separate UEFA rulings over financial rules breaches on Friday. 

The expulsion of Juventus from the third-tier Europa Conference League was expected because of a false accounting case that already saw the two-time European champion deducted 10 points in Serie A. That penalty dropped Juventus out of the Champions League qualification places. 

UEFA said Friday that Juventus also must also pay a fine of 10 million euros (USD 11 million) for breaking Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. A further 10 million euros can be deducted if the club fails to comply with UEFA financial monitoring rules in future seasons. 

Juventus regretted the ruling but said it wouldn’t appeal. 

“We regret the decision of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body,” Juventus president Gianluca Ferrero said in a statement on the club’s website.

“We do not share the interpretation that has been given of our defence and we remain firmly convinced of the legitimacy of our actions and the validity of our arguments. However, we have decided not to appeal this judgment. Despite this painful decision, we can now face the new season by focusing on the field and not on the courts,” he added. 

In a separate case, Chelsea will also pay a settlement of 10 million euros to UEFA for incorrect financial information submitted between 2012 and 2019 when the club was owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. 

Chelsea’s current American-led ownership group reported “potentially incomplete financial reporting under the club’s previous ownership” in May last year, UEFA said. 

Chelsea, which won the Champions League in 2012 and 2021, did not qualify for the next editions of European competitions. 

“In accordance with the club’s ownership group’s core principles of full compliance and transparency with its regulators, we are grateful that this case has been concluded by proactive disclosure of information to UEFA and a settlement that fully resolves the reported matters,” Chelsea said in a statement.

“Chelsea greatly values its relationship with UEFA and looks forward to building on that relationship in the years to come,” it added. 

UEFA had opened an investigation against Juventus in December for probable breaches of FFP rules after prosecutors in Italy unsealed their case against the storied club. 

Juventus was ultimately docked 10 points in Serie A by Italian authorities which dropped the club from potentially finishing in the top four and earning a place in the next Champions League to finish seventh enough only for the third-tier Conference League. AC Milan got into the Champions League instead. 

The false accounting allegations pushed UEFA club finance investigators to terminate a settlement agreed with the club last year and impose fresh sanctions, the European soccer body said. 

The chaotic 2022-23 season for Juventus also saw it lose long-standing club officials who resigned, including president Andrea Agnelli and vice president Pavel Nedvěd, a former playing great. 

Juventus also lost two years of European football from 2006 to 2008 in the fallout from the Calciopoli corruption scandal. 

Andhra Pradesh CM announces Rs 2,000 aid for flood-hit families

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In Konaseema, water from Rivers Vasita, Vaineteya and Gowthami entered low-lying Lanka villages, inundating causeways and disrupting traffic in the island villages.

VIJAYAWADA: A sum of Rs 2,000 should be extended to each family, and Rs 1,000 each to individuals when they return home from the relief centres once the flood situation subsides, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said during a meeting with collectors of Alluri Sitharama Raju, Eluru, Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema, East and West Godavari districts on Friday. He reviewed the rescue measures taken up in the flood-hit districts.

East Godavari District Collector Madhavi Latha said five rehabilitation centres have been set up. She directed civic officials to place barricades at all bathing ghats in Kovvur and Rajamahendravaram.

Officials visited Kedarilanka, Bridge Lanka, Yedurlammalanka, Kethavarilanka and other Lanka villages near Kotilingala ghat and shifted locals to two rehabilitation centres arranged in the city at Kotilingala ghat and Alcot Gardens.

She said 12 pregnant women were shifted from two submerged Lanka villages to rehabilitation centres.
Similarly, as many as 127 pregnant women and 124 children were evacuated from 34 flood-prone villages at Narasapuram in West Godavari, District Collector P Prasanti said.

In Konaseema, water from Rivers Vasita, Vaineteya and Gowthami entered low-lying Lanka villages, inundating causeways and disrupting traffic in the island villages.

As many as 200 personnel of the National and State Disaster Response Force were deployed in Kunavaram, Kukkunur, Velerupadu, and P Gannavaram mandals of the Godavari districts to carry out rescue operations.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah gets boost after CLP meeting

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BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah got a shot in the arm after convening the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting as he created an opportunity to establish himself as the top leader with his supporters backing him fully. Also, the MLAs, led by Aland legislator BR Patil — who had written to the chief minister urging him to hold the CLP, apologised to him for writing the letter. 

“The chief minister told them it was not proper to write the letter as it looked like a signature campaign and he would have responded to their request even if they had asked him orally. He told them that the practice of writing letters should stop. Telling him that they did not want to launch a signature campaign, they apologised to both the chief minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar,” Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara told reporters in Tumakuru on Friday. 

Siddaramaiah, during his earlier tenure During between 2013 and 2018 too, had resorted to a similar strategy to sort out the differences among MLAs and consolidated his position, political analysts said. This time, too, he has responded quickly to address MLAs’ concerns that ministers were letting them down, they added.

Interestingly, both Patil and former minister Basavaraja Rayareddy, who had signed the letter, are followers of Siddaramaiah. They both joined Congress from other parties. 

On Friday morning, former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi met Siddaramaiah. Meanwhile, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, a staunch supporter of Siddaramaiah, issued a statement that he is not in the race for the chief minister’s post in the present tenure, indicating that he will back Siddaramaiah as chief minister.

At a time Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said there was a conspiracy to destabilise the government from Singapore, the CLP meeting boosted the morale of Congress leaders and Siddaramaiah, said a senior Congress leader. Siddaramaiah is starting visits to districts from Monday to review the progress, and he is already in Haveri district. His aim is to take control of the bureaucracy amid a cash-for-transfer controversy, as alleged by opposition parties, especially JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy.

Telangana rains: Eight persons swept away in flood waters, relief operations continue

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About 3,500 people have been evacuated from areas situated on the banks of Godavari river in the district as a precautionary measure, police said.

An aerial view of an area submerged in the floodwaters of the swollen Godavari River, in Bhupalpally district. (Photo | PTI)

HYDERABAD: Eight persons were swept away in the flood waters of a rivulet in Mulugu district of Telangana following heavy rains and their bodies were recovered on Friday, even as relief operations continued at several places in the state.

Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar said that with the help of respective district administrations, around 19,000 people have been shifted to safer places in many districts, according to an official release.

In Mulugu district, 12 members of a remote village were swept away in flood waters when they were moving towards a safer place on Thursday, but four of them managed to save themselves, police said.

The bodies of the eight persons who went missing were found today.

Around 60 people in the habitation, which was cut off from other places due to the collapse of a bridge on the rivulet, stood on the top of a Gram Panchayat building and were clinging on with the hope of getting rescued, they said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, who could not reach the habitation on Thursday due to the force of flood waters in the rivulet, rescued the stranded people on Friday.

About 80-100 people, including those who required medical help, were rescued including in boats, police said.

Food packets were provided to some who took shelter at the high ground in the district by choppers and boats.

About 3,500 people have been evacuated from areas situated on the banks of Godavari river in the district as a precautionary measure, police said.

The heavy rains lashing Telangana during the last several days led to inundation of low-lying areas and damage to roads at many places in the state.

Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao visited the rain-hit areas in Warangal on Friday.

Observing that rains caused extensive damage in the undivided Warangal district, he said officials and the relief personnel should continue their efforts till normalcy is restored.

In the temple town of Bhadrachalam, the water level in Godavari River stood at 52.80 feet at 8 pm and the second flood warning was in force (third and final warning level is 53 ft).

Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari directed the district collectors to take effective measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in flood-affected areas as the heavy rains that lashed the state for the past few days have started subsiding.

The Chief Secretary, who held a teleconference with district collectors, appreciated that loss of life and property has been reduced so far due to the collective efforts of the district administrative machinery and police officers, an official release said.

She said similar relief measures should be carried out for another 24 hours.

As the flood caused by the rains has receded, the collectors were told to carry out sanitation measures vigorously to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Proper care should be taken in providing adequate food and fresh water to the victims of downpours and flooding who are already staying in the relief camps, she said.

Out of 10 NDRF teams, two teams are in Bhadrachalam and Nirmal, while one team each is stationed in Kothagudem, Mulugu, Warangal, Khammam, Bhupalapally and Hyderabad.

DGP Kumar, who attended the teleconference, also said special control rooms have been set up in several districts with senior police officers deputed to monitor the situation, release said.

In its daily weather report of Telangana (at 0830 hours on July 28), the IMD here said exceptionally heavy rainfall occurred at isolated places in Nizamabad and Nirmal districts of Telangana.

Khanpur in Nirmal district received 27 centimetres of rainfall, followed by Navipet (25 cms) in Nizamabad district and Kathlapur (18 cms) in Jagtial district, it said.

Rain occurred at most places over Telangana, the report said.

In a press release, the IMD’s Met Centre forecast that light to moderate rain or thundershowers are very likely to occur at a few places over Telangana on July 29.

Telangana has been receiving heavy rains for the past several days, resulting in the inundation of low-lying areas and disruption of road links.

The Met Centre on Thursday said Chityal in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district received a record 62 cm rainfall during 24 hours till 08.30 am on Thursday.

Eight persons have died in various rain-related incidents since July 22, official sources had said on Thursday.

Elon Musk wants to turn tweets into ‘X’s’. But changing language is not quite so simple

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Twitter logo

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk may want to send “tweet” back to the birds, but the ubiquitous term for posting on the site he now calls X is here to stay — at least for now.

For one, the word is still plastered all over the site formerly known as Twitter. Write a post, you still need to press a blue button that says “tweet” to publish it. To repost it, you still tap “retweet.”

With “tweets,” Twitter accomplished in just a few years something few companies have done in a lifetime: It became a verb and implanted itself into the lexicon of America and the world. Upending that takes more than a top-down declaration, even if it is from the owner of Twitter-turned-X, who also happens to be one of the world’s richest men.

“Language has always come from the people that use it on a day-to-day basis. And it can’t be controlled, it can’t be created, it can’t be morphed. You don’t get to decide it,” said Nick Bilton, the author of “Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal” about Twitter’s origins.

Twitter didn’t start out as Twitter. It was “twttr” — without vowels, which was the trend in 2006 when the platform launched and SMS texting was wildly popular. The iPhone only came out in 2007.

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams “went one day and purchased the vowels, two vowels for essentially $7,500 each,” when he bought the URL for twitter.com from a bird enthusiast, Bilton said.

At the beginning, people didn’t “tweet” — it was “I’m going to twitter this,” Bilton recalled. But “twittered” doesn’t roll off the tongue and “tweet” soon took over, first in the Twitter office, then San Francisco, then everywhere.

We’ve been tweeting for well over a decade. World leaders, celebrities and athletes, dissidents in repressive regimes, propaganda trolls, sex workers and religious icons, meme queens and actual queens. Former president Donald Trump’s incendiary use of the bird app quickly punted “tweet” into near-constant headlines during his presidency. People who never signed up for Twitter knew what the word meant.

For now, we still tweet, retweet and quote tweet, and sometimes — perhaps not often enough — delete tweets. News sites embed tweets in their stories and TV programs scroll them. No other social network has a word for posting that’s entered the vernacular like “tweet” — though Google did the same for “googling.”

The Oxford English Dictionary added “tweet” in 2011. Merriam-Webster followed in 2013. The Associated Press Stylebook entered it in 2010.

“Getting into the dictionary is an indication that people are already using it,” said Jack Lynch, a Rutgers University English professor who studies the history of language. “Dictionaries are usually pretty tentative or cautious about letting new words in, especially for new phenomena, because they don’t want things to be just a flash in the pan.”

As Twitter grew into a global communications platform and struggled with misinformation, trolls and hate speech, its friendly brand image remained. The bluebird icon evokes a smile, like the Amazon up-turned-arrow smile — in contrast to the X that Musk has imposed.

Martin Grasser was two years out of art school when Twitter hired him for the logo redesign in 2011. His wasn’t the first bird logo for Twitter, but it would be the most enduring.

“They knew they wanted a bird. So we weren’t starting completely over, but they wanted it to be on par with Apple and Nike. That was really brief,” he said.

Twitter launched Grasser’s design in May 2012; the company went public on Wall Street later that year.

One early in-house design shown to Grasser looked like “a flying goose with a tail. It looked kind of like a dragon. It was crazy,” he said. Jack Dorsey, another co-founder (and twice-CEO) wanted something simpler.

The bird represented a vision of Twitter as a friendly place “where everyone can weigh in and chat,” Grasser said.

“The round form evokes a sense of optimism, the bird even being sort of turned upward, as corny as that sounds, I think is different than a bird flying down or flat,” he said. “We wanted to give it this idea of like soaring.″

The word “Twitter” itself is playful, as is “tweet.” This was no accident, Bilton said.

Other names that floated as the platform started out included “Status” and “Friend Stalker.”

It was Noah Glass, another co-founder who never quite got the credit he deserved for his role in hatching Twitter, who had the winning idea.

Glass, Bilton said, “had been thinking about like heartbeats and emotions. He was going through a divorce and he literally went through the dictionary word by word until he came across the word twitter. And he just knew instantly that was it.”

“He was one of the four founders who had the emotional intelligence to be able to understand that this was about connecting with humans,” Bilton said. “It was inviting, it was emotional. It was about connecting with humans and your friends and your loved ones.”

Musk began his quest erasing Twitter’s corporate culture and image in favor of his own vision as soon as he took over the company in October 2022. He lost three-quarters of the company’s staff through firings, layoffs and voluntary departures, auctioned off furniture and décor, and upended policies on hate speech and misinformation. The rebranding to X was no surprise.

Twitter’s rebranding is rooted in ambition that Musk began to pursue nearly a quarter century ago after he sold his first startup, Zip2, to Compaq Computer. He set out to create a one-stop digital shop for finance called X.com — an “everything” service that would provide bank accounts, process payments, make loans and handle investments.

He has not given up on the dream. Twitter is now X, falling in line with Musk’s other X-named brands, SpaceX and Tesla’s Model X. Not to mention his young son, whom he calls “X.”

His goal for X is to turn it into an “everything” app — for video, photos, messaging, payments and other services, although he has given few details. For now, X.com is still, essentially Twitter.com, even as the bluebird and other playful tidbits start to disappear.

“There used to be a saying inside Twitter that Twitter was the company that couldn’t kill itself. I think that still rings true, whether it’s called Twitter or X,” Bilton said.

“I think that it’s kind of become a fabric of society. And even Elon Musk may not be able to break it.”

Indian men’s and women’s football teams cleared to play at Asian Games

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Indian men's football team. (Photo | Twitter)

CHENNAI:  The sports ministry on Wednesday cleared both India’s men’s and women’s football teams for the Asian Games. There were needless controversies running up to the decision of the sports ministry. The sports ministry through a tweet announced that keeping in mind its recent performances the ministry has relaxed norms and cleared the team.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur tweeted: “Good news for Indian football lovers! Our national football teams, both Men’s and Women’s, are set to participate in the upcoming Asian Games. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, has decided to relax the rules to facilitate the participation of both teams, which were not qualifying as per the existing criterion. Keeping in mind their latest performances in recent times, the Ministry decided to grant the relaxation. I am sure they will put their best foot forward in the Asian Games and make our country proud.”

The IOA recently said that they would prefer sending teams that qualify and meet sports ministry criteria – top eight in Asia. The Indian men’s football team is ranked 18th.  The sports ministry finally sanctioned almost all team sports except four which include water polo, handball men, basketball 5×5 men and softball.

The prospects of teams that looked bleak like volleyball have been cleared. According to a circular from the sports ministry, 15 teams have been sanctioned at a cost to the government.

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