Elena Baltacha, a former top-50 professional tennis player, who had been fighting liver cancer since retiring from the game, died on Sunday. She was 30.
The former British No. 1 died peacefully surrounded by family and friends, the Women’s Tennis Association said on its website. Baltacha, who represented Britain at the 2012 London Olympics, was diagnosed with the illness in January, two months after retiring from tennis and only weeks after she married her long-time coach Nino Severino.
“We are heartbroken beyond words at the loss of our beautiful, talented and determined Bally,” Severino said in a statement. “She was an amazing person and she touched so many people with her inspirational spirit, her warmth and her kindness.”
“Elena’s journey was never an easy one and yet she consistently showed her strength, good humour and indomitable spirit,” WTA chairman Stacey Allaster said.
“We have lost a shining light from the heart of British tennis — a true role model, a great competitor and a wonderful friend,” former Fed Cup coach Iain Bates said. “We have so many special memories to cherish, but this leaves a gaping hole for everybody in both British and women’s tennis, and words simply cannot express how saddened we are by this news.”
Baltacha had already planned a tennis charity event in June, “Rally for Bally,” to raise money for a cancer hospital and her tennis academy. It will go ahead in her memory, with competitors, including childhood friend Andy Murray, Martina Navratilova and Tim Henman.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 100th IPL match gifted the fans a Sunday night to remember, as A.B. de Villiers played a blinder and ensured that the host did not come up short at the milestone. The South African’s pulsating knock (89 n.o., 41b, 6x4, 8x6) rescued the host from a precarious 95 for five in 14.3 overs while chasing Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 155 for six and ensured that the men in red and gold, lived up to the faith invested in it by its faithful followers, who thronged the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB won by four wickets. It wasn’t easy though as nails were chewed and nerves were stretched right through RCB’s chase.
The home team suffered a double blow when Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli in a span of six deliveries. As usual a lot hinged on Chris Gayle, and when the opener smote Ishant Sharma for a four and two sixes, the fans gained their voice.
The decibel levels rose sharply when Gayle tried to launch leg-spinner Karn Sharma over mid-wicket and then the noise died down instantly as Darren Sammy swooped in on the dipping ball and reduced RCB to 38 for three.
Worse was to follow when Karn, in the middle of a nagging three-over spell, trapped Rilee Rossouw.
It was left to de Villiers and Yuvraj Singh to live up to their reputations, and as the duo held fort, briefly, RCB was still in the frame.
The South African pummelled Irfan Pathan and Ishant and, just as Yuvraj joined the act with a rousing six off Karn, the delight was snuffed quickly as the southpaw perished in the same over.
de Villiers, never one to give up, then got busy in doing the improbable. He manufactured an improbable sliced reverse-sweep off Bhuvneshwar and made room to hoist Dale Steyn over fine-leg,
The steep 59 needed from the last five overs were scoffed at and men as fast as Steyn and as crafty as Sammy were treated with disdain.
Steyn — who had suffered similar treatment in the 2012 edition — was caned for 24 in the 19th over and, with that assault, de Villiers sealed the match, pocketing it with a four with one ball to spare in the last over bowled by Irfan.
Earlier, David Warner’s 61 (49b, 4x4, 3x6) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad stay afloat despite losing two wickets inside the first four overs.
Warner, who is said to have had boxing drills with team-mate Aaron Finch on the match’s eve, played an innings much akin to the sport’s oscillations between defence and sudden attack.
It was an approach shaped in equal measure by the position of his team when he walked in (29 for two) and by the RCB bowlers’ ability to slip in a few yorkers close to the off-stump to deny him the width he so desperately desires.
At the break, RCB may have believed that it was marginally ahead. It was a hope that de Villiers nursed effectively through to fruition.
Scoreboard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: A. Finch c Parthiv b Starc 13 (8b, 1x4, 1x6), S. Dhawan c de Villiers b Aaron 37 (36b, 4x4), K.L. Rahul c Gayle b Dinda 6 (6b, 1x4), D. Warner b Starc 61 (49b, 4x4, 3x6), D. Sammy c Starc b Harshal 8 (8b, 1x6), N. Ojha c Starc b Aaron 15 (11b, 1x4, 1x6), Irfan Pathan (not out) 4 (2b, 1x4), K. Sharma (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-6): 10; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 155.
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Finch), 2-29 (Rahul), 3-91 (Dhawan), 4-115 (Sammy), 5-149 (Ojha), 6-150 (Warner).
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Starc 4-0-21-2, Dinda 4-0-39-1, Aaron 4-0-33-2, Harshal 4-0-29-1, Chahal 4-0-30-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: C. Gayle c Sammy b Karn 27 (19b, 3x4, 2x6), Parthiv Patel b Bhuvneshwar 3 (5b), V. Kohli c Ojha b Bhuvneshwar 0 (5b), R. Rossouw lbw b Karn 14 (23b, 1x4), A.B. de Villiers (not out) 89 (41b, 6x4, 8x6), Yuvraj Singh c (sub) b Karn 14 (16b, 1x4, 1x6), M. Starc run out 5 (8b), Harshal Patel (not out) 1 (2b); Extras (lb-1, w-4): 5; Total (for six wkts., in 19.5 overs) 158.
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Parthiv), 2-6 (Kohli), 3-38 (Gayle), 4-59 (Rossouw), 5-95 (Yuvraj), 6-152 (Starc).
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Steyn 4-0-39-0, Bhuvneshwar 4-0-16-2, Ishant 3-0-35-0, Karn 4-0-17-3, Irfan 2.5-0-25-0, Sammy 2-0-25-0.
Man-of-the-Match: A.B de Villiers.
RCB won by four wickets and with one delivery to spare.
The word confusion sometimes makes you spin your head and lose everything. Sometimes it brings you a new idea and gets you on right path.
As I grow older, I have more and more responsibilities and obligations to myself and my dear ones.
Basically I have had a very simple family background that they (my parents) themselves are struggling for their day to day life happening. As I talk to my parents, I get to know that they are still not in a good financial status.
One of the major reasons why I was sent to India was just to relieve their financial burden an extra belly in a family with limited means of livelihood.
Honestly, sometimes I feel that I am nowhere fit in this world. I am like a good guy that lost in a crowd with oh yes I think that I remember that guy but.....Even though I go to work regularly reading a lots about business and idea, a part of me is like where I am now.
Obviously a guy getting close to 30 years old needs to have a decent job and a woman of his taste. Here I am like parachute hanging on the tree. My close and dear ones are worried about my future and a woman that partner with me. They try to hook me up with a desi gal in abroad, so that I have more comfortable life rather than working hard in India with little here and there.
However I am still like I don't know about marriage and need some more times to think. It’s odd times for me. Hopefully that confused mind won't drain my energy and loose temper. Our, believes totally depend on our everyday attitude. Reading and writing stuffs may help me to get on celebration.
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence....
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The day passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.”
The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Friends and loved ones are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. Water your relationships with kindness… and they will grow. So be careful little lips what you say…! And you won't chase friendships away.
US defence chief Chuck Hagel assured Malaysia he would consider providing undersea surveillance equipment to boost efforts to locate a Malaysian jet that mysteriously disappeared two weeks ago, Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Saturday.
“Spoke with Secretary Hagel — the second time in four days — very positive,” Mr. Hishammuddin tweeted.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby confirmed Mr. Hishammuddin talked with Mr. Hagel about the search for the Beijing-bound flight MH370.
“Minister Hishammuddin thanked Secretary Hagel for the support being provided by the United States, particularly that of the US Navy, and requested that the US consider providing some undersea surveillance equipment as well,” he said.
“Secretary Hagel assured Minister Hishammuddin that he would assess the availability and utility of military undersea technology for such a task and provide him an update in the very near future.”
Australia is leading dozens of ships and aircraft in scouring a 23,000 sqkm patch of the southern Indian Ocean for possible debris from a missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Appraisal committee will vet the nearly 50 new proposals in April
Field trials for ten varieties of GM (genetically modified) food and other crops were revalidated by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the statutory appraisal arm of the Environment Ministry. These included field trials for rice, wheat, maize, cotton and sorghum.
Companies applied for revalidation after their earlier permits lapsed following opposition from States. The revalidations would have to be first approved by the Union Environment and Forests Minister and then the promoter companies would have to go back to the States for a final nod as agriculture is a State subject under constitutional provisions.
The committee, sources said, did not clear any fresh proposals at this meeting and is likely to take up the new cases in the last week of April. There are nearly 50 applications pending before the GEAC for first-time appraisal of GM crops, including several food crops.
The move came after the Union Environment Minister Veerappa Moily did a u-turn on the views of his predecessor Jayanthi Natarajan and approved several trials that the GEAC had given the nod for in its earlier meetings. Ms. Natarajan had taken the view that it was not prudent to go ahead with the trials while the Supreme Court was hearing a case on the subject of field trials and the regulatory regime for GM technology in India. She had put the decision in abeyance while writing to the Prime Minister, expressing her views against immediately going ahead with trials of food crops. But Mr. Moily held, upon taking over, that the apex court had not explicitly ordered any stay against clearing field trials while the case went on.
The move to go ahead with GM technology — especially food crops — has been a subject of hot debate among the scientific community and evoked concerns among civil society groups. It had also created divisions in the government — the Agriculture Ministry, the department of Biotechnology and the PMO on one side and the Environment Ministry on the other. This had also delayed the government’s deciding on its stance on the Technical Expert Committee’s report in the case before the Supreme Court.
The government concurs with Mr. Moily’s view and has been working on putting forth a joint position before the apex court — something Ms. Natarajan had expressed the reluctance to do. More than 100 food crop trials are in the pipeline, in various stages of development, and the UPA’s Biotechnology Regulatory Bill is set to lapse with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha. Thus, the green light for trials, which comes just ahead of the elections, provides hope to major promoters — multinational and Indian — of GM crop technology.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday expelled two of its Uttar Pradesh office-bearers, who were caught in an audio sting operation allegedly demanding money from ticket seekers.
Addressing a press conference here, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal announced the sacking of Awadh zone convener Aruna Singh and Hardoi treasurer Ashok Kumar. The AAP acted on a complaint by Lucknow-based Rajesh Kumar, who wanted to contest the election from Mishrikh (SC).
“We received complaints following which we asked for evidence. The party looked at the evidence and found it to be true,” Mr. Kejriwal said, adding that, however, “no transaction was done.”
Flanked by party leaders Manish Sisodia, Yogendra Yadav and Dilip Pandey, he said, “I am sending out a clear and strong message. Whoever tries to give money for ticket should assume that their money will be wasted. The candidate will not get any ticket. We will verify evidence and whosoever is found involved will be out of the party within 24 hours.”
The AAP leader asked the media and also ticket aspirants to conduct sting operations on their mobile phones if they found anyone demanding money. “The audio should be clear and there should be raw footage.”
Asked about the allegations made against party MLA Rakhi Birla, Mr. Kejriwal said these were found to be “untrue.”
In his complaint, Mr. Kumar claimed that he had paid Rs. 5,400 towards Ms. Aruna Singh’s Delhi-Lucknow air ticket, and later she demanded Rs. 10 lakh for the party ticket.
Mr. Kumar said Ms. Singh had told him on February 10 that the Sitapur, Jaunpur, Machhali Shahar, Mohanlalganj seats had already been sold at prices ranging from Rs. 15 lakh and 25 lakh. “Since my seat was primarily rural, she said she would settle for Rs.10 lakh,” he told The Hindu.
Asked why he agreed to pay for her air ticket as it amounted to bribery, Mr. Kumar explained: “She requested me to visit Delhi and procure a flight ticket for her. I bought the ticket in the hope of getting the amount refunded. However, nothing of that sort happened.” Ms. Singh, however, dismissed the allegations as “baseless.”