1 August 2016

PM Narendra Modi flags off Run for Rio 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the ‘Run for Rio’, an event to encourage the Indian contingent at the 2016 Rio Olympics beginning on August 5, 2016. The 5km run was flagged off from Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.


In this event thousands of school children and youths had participated to express the nation’s support to the 119 Indian athletes who have qualified for the Rio Olympics. The event was organised by Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. Prime Minister also released the Olympic Brochure. In his address Prime Minister urged the youth to work hard for 2020 Olympics and also mentioned that India’s focus should be on sending more than 200-member contingent to Tokyo.

 About 2016 Rio Olympics

• The 2016 Rio Olympics is the summer Olympics scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 5 to 21 August 2016. It is officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. 
• For the first the time Brazil is hosting summer Olympics games. Besides, for first time the summer Olympics will be held in South America.

Patna Pirates wins 4th season of Pro Kabaddi League

The Patna Pirates have won the fourth edition of STAR Sports-ProKabaddi League by defeating Jaipur Pink Panthers. With this win Patna Pirates has become first team to defend its title which they won in the third season in March 2016.

Key Facts
 In the final match played at Gachibowli Stadium, Hyderabad (Telangana) the defending champion defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers by 37-29 score. The Puneri Paltan was placed at the third place in this edition after they defeated Telugu Titans by 40-35 score.

Women’s Section:
 Storm Queens have won inaugural edition of the Women’s Challenge of Pro Kabaddi League. In the final match they defeated Fire Birds by 24-23 score.

 About Pro Kabaddi League (PKL)
PKL is a professional Kabaddi (indigenous sport) league based on the format of the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket tournament. It is known as the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi for sponsorship reasons. It is currently managed by Mashal Sports. The first edition of the tournament was played in 2014 with eight franchises representing various cities in India. It was won by Jaipur Pink.

India to host 2016 Kabaddi World Cup

India is going to host 2016 Kabaddi World Cup scheduled to be held in October 2016. It was announced by the International Kabaddi Federat

ion (IKF).

 In this edition of World Cup 12 international teams are going to participate. They are US, India, UK, Australia, Canada, Poland, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan and Kenya. Star Sports has been announced as the official broadcaster of the World Cup.

 Kabaddi became a part of Asian Games in 1990 and India has won all the gold medals since. In recent times the popularity of sport is growing fast and also had made breakthrough on a global stage ProKabaddi League.

Anandiben Patel resigns as Gujarat chief minister

·         Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has submitted her resignation after a week of protests across the state following the assault on four Dalits by a so-called cow vigilante group.

·         Patel sent her resignation to the BJP top brass seeking relief from the top job in the state.

·         In a letter posted on her Facebook page, Patel, who took charge as Gujarat’s first woman chief minister in May 2004 after then CM Narendra Modi was elected to the LokSabha, has said that she had two months earlier sought to resign from the party to give “enough time to the new incumbent to prepare for important events like the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat summit”.

HRD Minister inaugurates IIT Goa Campus

·         Union Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Prakash Javdekar inaugurated Indian Institute of Technology, Goa on Saturday, July 30th.

·         He also laid the foundation stone for IIT Goa Students’ Hostel.

·         The newly set up IIT Goa shall function from temporary campus at Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi and will be mentored by IIT Mumbai.

·         Speaking on the occasion Union HRD Minister stated that IITs are recognised world over as premier institutes of academic excellence. He also stated that the Ministry is working towards increasingthe perception of IITs so that IITs are ranked top in world rankings.

Yuriko Koike elected Tokyo's first female governor

·        Tokyo's new governor Yuriko Koike on Monday credited her landslide victory to having stood up to the powers that be in Japan's ruling party, who didn't want her to run.

·        Koike, 64, was elected Tokyo's first female governor in the Sunday vote, winning more than 2.9 million votes, far outpacing the nearly 1.8 million ballots cast for closest challenger Hiroya Masuda.

·        Masuda, a former governor of Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, was the favoured candidate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner.