Journalism of Courage
ASI athlete wins gold in hurdle race
Gold medalist athlete Durgesh Kumar Pal of Pune-based Army Sports Institute (ASI) returned home to a warm welcome. Competing in the 400 metre hurdles,Pal clocked 51.76 seconds to bag the top position in the event held at Isle of Man last week. Pal,who is also the 2010 Youth Olympics silver medalist,defeated world number one South Africas Johannes Lodewicus. Enrolled in ASI in 2006 for training after being spotted by the institutes talent scouts,Pal dominated the national scene immediately by bagging the second position in 800 metre in 2007,gold medals at inter-zone athletics championship in August 2008 and junior national athletics championship in November 2008. Hailing from a lower middle class family from Uttar Pradeshs Gazipur District,Pal is currently training under coach Subedar KS Ajimon.
Kyrgyzstan Defence Minister visits NDA
The Kyrgyzstan Defence Minister Major General Abibilla Kudayberdiev accompanied by a high level delegation visited the National Defence Academy recently. The delegation was received by Lt Gen Jatinder Singh,commandant,NDA. The delegation was briefed on the various training activities taking place in the academy. The visit comes after the invitation extended by the Indian Defence Minister AK Antony during his visit to the Kyrgyzstan capital Biskek in July this year. India has progressively strengthened its bilateral defence cooperation with Kyrgyzstan in the fields of military exercises,training,jungle warfare,information technology and counter-terrorism over the past few years. Indias ties with Kyrgyzstan are special and in sync with other Central Asian republics,including Kazakhstan,Turkmenistan,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(Compiled by Pranav Kulkarni)
