This is India’s best ever haul, matched only by the 2012 London Olympics.
Chiba (Japan): India’s Bajrang Punia will return from Tokyo with a bronze medal on Olympic debut after outwitting Daulet Niyazbekov in the play-off here on Saturday.
If his defence let him down in the semifinal against Hazi Aliev, Bajrang’s smart attacking moves made him a 8-0 winner against Kazakhstan’s Niyazbekov, to whom he had lost in the semifinals of the 2019 World Championship.
With Bajrang’s medal, Indian wrestlers have matched their best performance at the Olympic Games. At the 2012 London Games, Sushil Kumar won a silver and Yogeshwar Dutt returned with a bronze.
With his podium, India also equalled their best ever Olympic medal haul of six achieved in in the 2012 London edition.
Bajrang had defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev and Iran’s Morteza Cheka Ghiasi before losing to Hazai Aliev from Azerbaijan in the semifinals on Friday.
This week in Haalat Kya Hain, we also look at the women who have made Indian proud at the Tokyo Olympics.
This week in Haalat Kya Hain, we look at some of the absurd statements made by political leaders, the Tokyo Olympics, and the loss of Rs 133 crore that has occurred after parliament sessions did not function in full measure.
Disclaimer: This is a satirical show and intends to throw a spotlight on issues within the country. The content provided is not intended to malign or harm any religious, ethnic, cultural sentiments and values or/of individuals or anyone or anything.
The 24-year-old athlete had objected publicly to being entered into the women’s 400m relay at the Games by Belarus’ athletics federation without prior notice.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is safe after refusing to get on a flight from Tokyo on Sunday after forcibly being taken from the Olympics to the airport by her team.
She was removed after she criticised sports officials, according to an NGO that supports athletes in conflict with Belarus’ authoritarian regime.
The 24-year-old athlete had objected publicly to being entered into the women’s 400m relay at the Games by Belarus’ athletics federation without prior notice. She said she had never raced in the event before.
Coaching staff order Tsimanouskaya to pack
Tsimanouskaya said coaching staff had come to her room on Sunday and told her to pack. She said she was then taken to Haneda Airport by representatives of the Belarusian Olympic team.
But she refused to board the flight, telling news agency Reuters in a message over Telegram: “I will not return to Belarus.”
Tsimanouskaya asked Japanese police at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to give her protection.
She also appeared in a video posted on theBelarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation’s (BSSF) website, asking the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to help her.
“I am under pressure and they are trying to take me out of the country without my consent. I ask the International Olympic Committee to interfere,” Tsimanouskaya said in the video.
Tsimanouskaya is ‘safe’
The IOC said it had spoken to Tsimanouskaya and that she was with a Tokyo 2020 official. The statement quoted her as saying she felt “safe.”
It added the IOC and Tokyo 2020 would continue their conversations with Tsimanouskaya and the authorities “to determine the next steps in the upcoming days.”
The director of the IOC’s National Olympic Committee relations has been in contact with the athlete, Reuters reported citing an IOC official.
The IOC and Tokyo 2020 will continue their conversations with Krystsina Tsymanouskaya and the authorities to determine the next steps in the upcoming days. /2
Japan’s top government spokesman also confirmed she was safe.
Chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato added in comment during a news conference that authorities, including the International Olympic Committee, were working to confirm her intentions, and that Japan would take “appropriate steps” in cooperation with other bodies.
The United Nations refugee agency UNCHR and Japanese police are involved in the situation, Reuters said, quoting an IOC official.
Exiled opposition leader speaks out
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter that the Olympic runner “was forced by the regime” to leave the Games and that the athlete was “afraid to come back to Minsk.”
“No athlete should be forced this way,” Tsikhanouskaya added.
Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsymanouskaya was forced by the regime to leave the @Olympics in Tokyo & fly to Belarus after criticizing Belarus’ management of the national team during the games. She’s afraid to come back to Minsk. No athlete should be forced this way. pic.twitter.com/1Ros5scrJG
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) August 1, 2021
Tsimanouskaya’s remarks on Instagram
Tsimanouskaya ran in the women’s 100 meters heats on Friday and was scheduled to run in the 200 meters heats on Monday, along with the 4×400 meters relay on Thursday.
She said she had been removed from the team due “to the fact that I spoke on my Instagram about the negligence of our coaches.”
Tsimanouskaya had complained on Instagram that she was entered in the 4×400 meter relay after some team members were unable to compete.
“Some of our girls did not fly here to compete in the 4x400m relay because they didn’t have enough doping tests,” Tsimanouskaya told news agency Reuters from the airport.
“And the coach added me to the relay without my knowledge. I spoke about this publicly. The head coach came over to me and said there had been an order from above to remove me,” she said.
Official denial
The head of the Belarus athletics team in Tokyo, Yuri Moisevich, told state-owned broadcaster STV the decision had been taken to make changes to the relay team, but they did not announce it immediately so as not to disrupt the athletes’ preparation.
“We intended to tell her everything, to explain it, especially as she was a reserve,” Moisevich said.
The Belarusian Olympic Committee also said in a statement that Tsimanouskaya had left the competition on medical advice. It cited problems with her “emotional and psychological state.”
The IOC has asked Belarus National Olympic Committee for a full response.
The BSSF quoted Tsimanouskaya as denying that she was even examined by doctors.
What might Tsimanouskaya do now?
A source at the NGO said she planned to request asylum in Germany or Austria on Monday.
Belarusian authorities have clamped down hard on dissent in the country following heavily disputed August elections won by long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko.
As Japan prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Tokyo has elected Yuriko Koike as the Governor for Tokyo. Koike said that the Olympics will give them a chance to rebuild the Tokyo for the future.
Former defense minister Yuriko Koike, a candidate planning to run in the Tokyo Governor election, attends a joint news conference with other potential candidates at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Japan July 13, 2016. Issei Kato, Reuters/Files
Tokyo: Voters in the Japanese capital elected their first woman governor on Sunday, after two predecessors stepped down over scandals that clouded the city’s preparations to host the 2020 summer Olympic games.
Yuriko Koike, Japan’s first female defence minister, beat former bureaucrat and fellow member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party Hiroya Masuda, as well as liberal journalist Shuntaro Torigoe, according to an exit poll by public broadcaster NHK.
Koike, 64, angered the Tokyo branch of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party by not getting its approval before announcing her candidacy for city governor. The LDP instead drafted Masuda, 64, who once served as governor of a rural prefecture.
“Taking this result very heavily, as the new governor I would like move forward firmly with the administration of the metropolis,” Koike, an experienced politician fluent in English and Arabic, told supporters.
“I would like to move forward with a metropolitan administration such as has never happened, never been seen, together with all of you.”
The NHK exit poll showed Masuda was in second place, with Torigoe, a 76-year-old cancer survivor who was backed by several opposition parties, trailed both.
The sprawling city of some 13.5 million people faces a plethora of problems such as an aging population, daycare shortage, and the ever-present possibility of a big earthquake.
But a big issue in the campaign was the 2020 Olympics, which Japan hopes will spur its economy, struggling to escape decades of deflation.
Construction of the main stadium has been delayed and the original logo for the games had to be scrapped after plagiarism accusations.
After the resignations of the city’s two previous governors, Koike will be responsible for saving Tokyo’s reputation as host for the games.
One of her first duties will be to travel to Rio de Janeiro when the curtain comes down on next month’s games there to accept the Olympic flag as the next host.
“The Olympics are right in front of us. I want to use them as a chance to build a new Tokyo for beyond 2020,” Koike said when the campaign began.
Though the LDP and its coalition partner backed Masuda, fallout for Abe will likely be minimal despite Masuda’s loss.
“This is basically a Tokyo issue,” said Kenji Yumoto, vice chairman of the Japan Research Institute think-tank. “Abe’s prestige probably won’t be damaged and support for the LDP won’t fall.”
