The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup is all set to be held in India from February 17 to March 7, 2021, after the apex footballing body announced new dates of the showpiece tournament on Tuesday. The U-17 Women’s World Cup in India, which was originally scheduled to be held in November 2020, was postponed earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic with FIFA announcing new dates for the competition on Tuesday. 

In what comes as a huge relief for youngsters, FIFA has decided to keep the original eligibility criteria – players born on or after January 1, 2003, and on or before December 31, 2005. Hence, the teams and players need not worry about bringing in new faces into the squad. 

The World Cup is scheduled to be hosted by Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai with the opener slated to be played at Bhubaneswar and final at Navi Mumbai.

Manmeet Singh Walia, the former National table tennis champion, died following a prolonged illness in Montreal, Canada on Monday.

Manmeet, whose solitary National championship title came in 1988-89 in Hyderabad, suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for well over a year before breathing his last.

Manmeet was one of the most consistent and prolific performers in Indian table tennis in the 1980s and represented the country at multiple international events.

When it came to the Nationals, however, Manmeet was unfortunate to have lost to the eventual champion four times in a row since 1981.

He broke the jinx in Hyderabad in 1988-89 by overcoming S. Sriram in the final. After retiring in the early 1990s, Manmeet relocated to Canada and stayed in touch with his old friends.

"Terrific player. We shared some amazing moments on and off the table. I think he is gone too soon, just like the way he retired too early," Kamlesh Mehta, his nemesis and a teammate at the Banks Sports Board then, told Sportstar.

China won the inaugural $180,000 FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup following a 2-2 draw against USA on Sunday.

China, which lost to USA in the concluding league match on Saturday evening, was declared the winner on the basis of topping the points table in the round-robin stage.

China won $48,000, USA $36,000 and others received $24,000 each.

New Delhi: TV actor Shafique Ansari, who featured in several episodes of Sony TV’s popular show ‘Crime Patrol’, passed away in Mumbai on Sunday (May 10). He left for his heavenly abode after a long battle with cancer. Shafique started his career as an assistant director & writer and later switched to acting. CINTAA confirmed the actor’s death on its official Twitter handle.

According to a report in an entertainment portal, Shafique Ansari was battling cancer since the past few years.

“Shafique Ansari was suffering from stomach cancer for a few years and he lost the battle to the deadly disease today," a source told Tellychakkar.

MP Home Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra launched the country's first-ever 'FIR Aapke Dwar Yojana' in Bhopal today.

Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to implement such an innovative scheme. Launching the scheme at the new Police Control Room, Dr. Narottam Mishra said that now people would not be required to visit the police station to lodge an FIR.

'FIR Aapke Dwar' scheme has been started as a pilot project in 23 Police Stations including one urban and one rural Police Station at 11 Divisional Headquarters. Director-General of Police Vivek Johari informed that Dial 100 vehicles would have trained Head Constables to lodge FIR. FIRs in complaints of general nature will be lodged on the spot. In case of serious complaints, guidance will be sought from senior officers. Today, the first FIR of Sunil Chaturvedi of Jawahar Chowk, Bhopal was lodged by Dial 100.

The Minister also launched helpline 'Dial 112' on the occasion, to facilitate immediate availability of ambulance, police, and fire fighting services wherever needed.

ICN’s theme for International Nurses Day 2020 is "Nursing the World to Health", focusing on the true value of nurses to the people of the world. Each year, the International Council of Nurses lead the celebrations on International Nurses Day, which is usually held on May 12. This day also marks the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

The theme for 2020, Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Nursing the World to Health, demonstrates how nurses are central to addressing a wide range of health challenges. It will inspire nurses and make the public aware of their contribution in healthcare and health management.

International Nurses Day also provides information and resources that will help to raise the profile of the profession, so that the new generation can also know more about this noble profession.

Days after Israel announced a breakthrough regarding a Covid-19 vaccine, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday announced a tie-up with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop a fully indigenous vaccine using the virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

“Work on vaccine development has been initiated between the two partners. The ICMR-NIV will provide continuous support to BBIL for vaccine development. ICMR and BBIL will seek fast-track approvals to expedite vaccine development, subsequent animal studies and clinical evaluation of the candidate vaccine,” the apex health research body said in a statement.

The strain has been successfully transferred from NIV to BBIL, it added.

NEW DELHI: The government on Friday gave awards to 12 startups for finding innovative solutions to address problems faced by the animal husbandry and dairy sector, a statement said. Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh announced the winners of 'Startup India-Animal Husbandry Grand Challenge'.

The ministry in partnership with Startup India had launched the 'Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge' to scout for innovative and commercially viable solutions to address the problems faced by the animal husbandry and dairy sector.

The challenge was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year at a national animal disease control programme in Mathura. As many as 157 applications were received in this competition. "The 12 startups will be given cash grants worth Rs 1,02,00,000," the statement said.

Under value-added products category, the winner was Krushak Mitra Agro Services Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, while Studio Carbon, Ahmedabad, was the runner-up. In the category of eliminating milk adulteration, White Gold Technologies LLP, Mumbai & Micro Life Innovations, Chennai were selected.

Narinder Batra will remain President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) until May 2021. The FIH said in a statement on Friday while announcing the postponement of the 47th FIH Congress that the terms of Batra and the Executive Board members which were due to end in October 2020 have now been extended.

"Meeting today via online conference, the Executive Board (EB) of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided to postpone the 47th FIH Congress, initially planned on 28 October-1 November 2020 in New Delhi, to May 2021, in India's capital city. The exact date will be confirmed as soon as possible," said the FIH in its statement.

The Presidential election for the world body had been due to take place at this year's Congress in New Delhi but it has now been pushed back in the wake of COVID-19 crisis.

"Consequently, the current terms of the FIH President and of the EB members which were due to end in October 2020 have been prolonged until the upcoming Congress in May 2021 and the subsequent terms for these positions will be shortened accordingly (mid-2021 to 2024) on an exceptional basis."

Renowned historian Hari Shankar Vasudevan, who was internationally acclaimed for his work on Russian and European history and Indo-Russian relations, passed away in the early hours of May 9 after contracting COVID-19. He was 68. Vasudevan is survived by his wife, historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta and daughter Mrinalini.

A highly respected academic and writer, Vasudevan was the author of Shadows of Substance: Indo-Russian Trade and Military Technical Cooperation (2010), and Footsteps of Afanasii Nikitin: Travels through Eurasia and India in the Early 21st Century (2015). He also edited and co-edited several books including Commercialization and Agriculture in Late Imperial Russia: Essays on Russian Economic History, Indo-Russian Relations: 1917-1947 – Select Documents from the Archives of the Russian Federation – Part II (1929-1947), and The Global Politics of the Iraq Crisis and India’s Option. His most recent publication was the chapter “India and the October Revolution: Nationalist Revolutionaries, Bolshevik Power and Lord Curzon’s Nightmare”, which was published in the book The Global Impact of Russia’s Great War and Revolution, Book 2: The Wider Arc of Revolution, Part 2, (Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica Publishers, 2019).