THURSDAY 27 - 2 - 2020 3

Namaste! Let’s Look Below Sir..!This morning I removed the

cushion on my seat and suddenly the view outside my window was glorious. Till then, I had been looking down from my perch at barren land, rubbish strewn all over, and goats, dogs and cats picking up whatever leftovers, inhuman humans, had thrown out through their windows. But when I removed the cushion beneath me, the mess below was cut off and my view changed!

All I saw was greenery from the trees, the squirrels and birds that sat on the branches and called out to me, and above the lovely blue sky!

With the removing of the cushion, my view changed; I couldn’t see anymore, stark reality below!

With the removing of my cushion, the window frame through which I looked, only showed beauty above!

I wonder, whether like me, Trump removed his cushion during his visit?

How lovingly his hands caressed Gandhi’s spinning wheel, but sir, did you look below and see the very

name of the father of our nation being vili� ed and tarnished? Did you see the assassin of our beloved Bapu being upli� ed?

How happy he was as he walked round the Taj and heard the romantic tale of the emperor who built this love monument for his wife, but did sir did you look below and hear other stories made up, not so beautiful, against same Mughals and their descendants?

And when he visited the home of our President, and saw peacocks roaming outside, and acres of peace that the home is surrounded with, did you look below sir and hear the wailing of women, some for their policemen husbands who have died in the line of duty, and others for husbands who have been innocently gunned down, for venturing outside, just north-east of where you two presidents met?

How easy to see the view we want to see! How easy to show the view you want others to see.

But � nally, it is we who move our cushions! It is we who decide not to

do anything with the view below; not stop the bloodshed, not stop hate speech spewing from mouths of leaders, not stop injustice and discriminations! And instead sir, you with � axen hair neatly combed back to impress, with wife wearing Indian clothes to dazzle, you and I decide to keep our sights � xed on the unreal above!

This morning I removed the cushion on my seat, and my eyes shifted from dirt and despair, to beauty and bearhugs, from filth and falsehood to � attery and fake freebies!

Dare I put my cushion back and deal with reality below?

Dare you sir, put your cushion back and address the reality you know is there?

Or shall we continue looking at calm greenery, perky little squirrels, calm birds and pleasant blue sky above?

Namaste! Let’s look below sir..!bobsbanter@gmail.com

Tokyo, Feb. 27: The Tokyo 2020

Olympics are going ahead, organizers said on Wednesday, even as the government called for major events in coming weeks to be postponed, cancelled or scaled back over the new coronavirus.

The fate of the Summer Games has been in the spotlight as the outbreak of COVID-19

forces the cancellation and delays in Japan of everything from football matches to the rituals that mark the opening of the March sumo tournament.

But organizers have been at pains to insist that Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for the summer are not in danger of being scrapped.

Olympics on track despitevirus scare, says Japan

Lucknow, Feb 27: Proving her mettle

yet again, young Sonam Mailk downed Sakshi Malik for the second time in a row, this time by pinning the Olympic medallist, to make it to the Indian team for next month’s Olympic Qualifiers here on Wednesday.

Asked to re-appear in trials after not-so-strong performance at the Rome Ranking series event and the recently-concluded Asian Championships, the 18-year-old Sonam tore apart the challenge

of established seniors in the 62kg competition.

She first got past Radhika and then caring little for reputations, Sonam beat the Asian Championship 59kg gold medallist Sarita Mor (3-1) in the semifinals before winning by fall against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi in the final.

She pinned Sakshi in the second period when she was trailing 1-2 and one minute left in the bout.

Nine wrestlers appeared in the 62kg

trials, including 2018 World Championship bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda and a few from upper weight categories.

The reigning world cadet champion trains at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Sports Institute at Madina (Sonepat) under coach Ajmer Malik.

“Beating Sakshi by fall is a big achievement for this youngster. Sonam tired her out. And this was despite an elbow injury she had suffered during the Rome event and had not recovered completely. She even had

not trained well,” coach Ajmer said.

“The girls who were in the upper weight categories would have thought they will be able to dominate Sonam because she is young and inexperienced. I had told her that coming out winner in a competitive group like this would be huge and she has made us proud,” he added. The Asian Olympic Qualifiers will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from March 27-29. The finalists will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Sonam downs Sakshi by fall, makes cut for Olympic qualifiers

New Delhi, Feb 27: India’s national

shooting federation on Wednesday said it will not allow its shooters to travel abroad for training due to the novel coronavirus threat and won’t hesitate in pulling out of a Tokyo Olympics Test event in April if it becomes a health risk.

Indian shooters are scheduled to travel to Tokyo to participate in the Olympic Test event slated to take place from April 16 to 26 in the Japanese capital, which will host the main event in July-August this year.

“We have chosen our test event team but we are yet to decide (on travelling there). I’m not going to risk any of those kids. If

we receive any advice from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or the international federation, our own mission in Tokyo or even our own assessment we feel there’s a threat, it isn’t worth the risk,” National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh said on Wednesday.

“We are also not allowing our shooters to travel overseas to train as well due to the virus,” Singh said. “If a shooter is infected in the test event then we are subjecting him or her to the gravest of dangers and then that shooter won’t be able to participate in the Olympics, hampering our chances of winning a medal,” he added.

Coronavirus: NRAI tells shooters to train in country

Paris, Feb 27: Five-time Grand Slam winner

Maria Sharapova, one of the world’s most recognizable sportswomen, on Wednesday announced her retirement at the age of 32.

“Tennis - I’m saying goodbye,” Sharapova said in an article for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines.

“After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I’m ready to scale another mountain - to compete on a different type of terrain.” Sharapova burst onto the scene as a supremely gifted teenager and won her Grand Slams before serving a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open.

The Russian former world number one’s ranking is currently 373rd. Sharapova has hardly played in the past year because of long-standing shoulder problems.

When she did play she lost as many matches as she won and was dumped out in the first rounds at Wimbledon, the US Open and, most recently, the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Sharapova shot to fame as a giggly 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 2004, the third-youngest player to conquer the All England Club’s hallowed grass courts.

She became world number one in 2005 and won the US Open

the next year. “One of the keys to my success

was that I never looked back and I never looked forward,” Sharapova said on Wednesday.

“I believed that if I kept grinding and grinding, I could push myself to an incredible place.” But in 2007 Sharapova began her long on-off battle with shoulder trouble.

She would win the 2008 Australian Open before a second shoulder injury kept her off tour for the second half of the season, missing the US Open and Beijing Olympics.

In 2012, the Siberian-born Sharapova captured the French Open to become the 10th woman

to complete a career Grand Slam. She added Olympic silver to her resume that year.

Her 2014 French Open title was another high after a dispiriting injury low. More fitness troubles followed before the bombshell announcement of her positive test for the banned heart drug meldonium.

Always a fighter - the seven-year-old Maria and father Yuri left for the US in 1994 with just a borrowed $700 to their names - Sharapova returned to the sport in 2017.

“In giving my life to tennis, tennis gave me a life,” Sharapova said in her retirement missive.

Maria Sharapova hangs up racquet, says goodbye to tennis in mag article

Bhubaneswar, Feb 27: Uttkarsh Dixit and

Priyanka Thakran took contrasting routes to win the men and women’s recurve archery gold medals at the Khelo India University Games 2020 here on Wednesday.

Uttkarsh from Punjabi University, Patiala

confessed to being nervous at the start against Ranjit Naik of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, but calmed down after losing the opening set to win the next two.

He could sense the home archer come under pressure in the final set

but resolved to keep his own focus sharp to run away the victor.

Priyanka, who is representing Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, thought the gold medal was slipping away when Prarthana Solanki (Panjab University, Chandigarh) won the

Uttkarsh, Priyanka claim archery gold

Haarlem, Feb 27: Young Indian shuttlers

Ravi and Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar registered straight-game victories in the U-19 men’s singles opening round at the Dutch Junior International tournament here on Wednesday.

While Ravi from Haryana wrapped up the match 21-11 21-8 comfortably against his Indonesian opponent Made Deco Setya Atmaja, Tamil Nadu’s Rithvik thrashed Singapore’s Zhiyuan Lee 21-12, 21-11 to progress to the second round.

Another Indian Harsh Arora gave tough fight against M. Fazriq

Mohamad Razif of Malaysia before going down 18-21, 18-21.

Indian women shuttlers had a tough day as both Meghana Reddy Mareddy and Uthsava Palit suffered defeats in U-19 singles opening round. Despite making a comeback after losing the first game, Meghana lost against Anna Tatranova of France 15-21, 21-17, 14-21 in a match that saw both the shuttlers putting immense fight for 42 minutes.

Uthsava was also seen in good touch before going down 21-23, 20-22 in a hard-fought clash against Sweden’s Julia Tuvesson.

Dutch Junior: Ravi, Rithvik off to flying start

“We have not thought about it. We have not heard about it. We have made inquiries, and we were told there is no such plan,” Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters.

“Our basic thinking is to conduct the Olympics and Paralympics as planned. That’s our assumption.” Muto said organizers would consider how to respond to the call from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday for organizers of major events in the next two weeks to cancel, postpone or downsize the gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We will make decisions by reviewing events individually,” he said.

But he said the torch relay scheduled to begin March 26 in Fukushima and travel across the country would not be cancelled, though he acknowledged adjustments might be necessary.

“We are absolutely not considering cancelling it. But we will think about how we can hold it in ways that won’t lead to the spread of the virus, including reducing its scale,” he added. Muto also hit back at coverage of comments by Dick

Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, who told the Associated Press that a decision on the Games would have to be made in the next two to three months.

“When we consulted with IOC... we were told it was not IOC’s thinking.” Earlier, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto also told Parliament that the Games were still on track.

“At the IOC review meeting in Tokyo the other day which committee chair John Coates participated, the coronavirus was of course on the agenda,” she told opposition lawmakers.

“At that time, we received a high rating on our preparation for the Tokyo Games, and the IOC offered to continue its support. It is important to prepare considering the worst-case scenario,” she added.

But Hashimoto said her focus now was “simply to end the (virus crisis) at the earliest time possible, to hold the Tokyo Games with a sense of safety, and to get approval from the IOC.” The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 24, with the Paralympics beginning from August 25.

With an average age of just 28.5 years, the Candidates tournament 2020 is going to be a cracker of an event. Eight players will fight it out against each other to determine the worthy challenger for Magnus Carlsen. While Fabiano

Caruana and Ding Liren are clearly the favourites, one cannot discount Alexander Grischuk, Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi. At the same time

we have three dark horses in the form of Radjabov, Wang Hao and Alekseenko. With less than a month to go for the event (begins on 15th of March), the player's preparations would be in full swing. But there are many twists in the plot, even before the event has begun - most notably the Coronavirus which is jeopardizing the participation of the Chinese players. The big event of

the year Candidates Tournament 2020 is

going to be held from March 15- April 5 at Yekaterinburg, Russia. Unarguably, one of the most anticipated chess events of 2020, a lot of eyes will be on the championship that will decide the next challenger to the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. The average rating of this (based on live ratings on 24th February, lower than the average rating in previous years except

2014. Does this mean this

year’s candidates are not as strong as before? The average rating of this year’s.candidates is 2773. With an average age of 28.5, this year could possibly be theyoungest candidates tournament ever. This is first time in the last fourcandidates that not even a single veteran 40+ player is playing in the championship. Alexander Grischuk at

36 is the oldest among the participants, while Alekseenko is the youngest at 22. While Kramnik and Anand like experience will be missed in this year’s candidates, can we expect more energy and craziness on the board? We can only wait and hope to see what the young guns bring to the championship.The coronavirus

outbreak in China has claimed over 2000 lives worldwide. Chinese public life has come to a standstill with events being cancelled or postponed. Would it impact the participation of the two Chinese players Ding Liren and Wang Hao? Russian authorities it seems have put in place strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus so much so that the Consul General from China Cui Shaochun had to be quarantined for 14 days on his arrival at Yekaterinburg.

Chess Talk Espal

The candidates 2020 – Great expectations

The eight men who will fight out to challenge Magnus Carlsen

last two sets to force a single arrow shoot off. Both archers hit 9 but Priyanka’s arrow was closer to center and she walked away with title.