Benzema scores twice but Al-Ittihad loses 4-2 to Al-Duhail in Asian Champions League
Doha (AP) Karim Benzema scored twice but Al-Ittihad lost 4-2 to Al-Duhail of Qatar in the Asian Champions League Elite on Monday.
It was the Saudi Arabian champion's third loss in five games in the continental competition. The top eight from the 12-team western zone group stage — the first round of the tournament is split into geographic halves — advance to the knockout phase.
Algerian forward Adil Boulbina put Al-Duhail in control with a hat trick — scoring twice in the first half and adding a third seven minutes after the restart.
Polish forward Krzysztof Piatek made it 4-0 with 16 minutes remaining, before Benzema struck twice for the two-time champion.
Ittihad's Jeddah rival Al-Ahli lost 1-0 at home to Al-Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates.
Ousmane Camara put Sharjah ahead with just nine minutes remaining. Al-Ahli, the defending champion, thought it had rescued a point in the 90th minute, but Ziyad Al-Johani's would-be goal was ruled out for offside.
Earlier, Tractor of Iran continued its solid campaign with a 1-0 win at Uzbekistan's Nasaf Qarshi to move into second behind Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal. Al-Ahli Dubai defeated Qatar's Al-Gharafa 2-0.
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Jai Bhim: Slogan that energised Dalits was first given at this central Maharashtra village
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): 'Jai Bhim': These two words have come to symbolise the awakening and empowerment of the Dalit community in independent India, but not many people know how it originated.
The slogan, which also encapsulates the immense reverence in which Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is held, was first raised at the Makranpur Parishad, a conference organised at Makranpur village in Kannad teshil of today's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, died on December 6, 1956.
Bhausaheb More, the first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Marathwada, organised the first Makranpur Parishad on December 30, 1938.
Dr Ambedkar spoke at the conference and asked the people not to support the princely state of Hyderabad under which much of central Maharashtra then fell, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Pravin More, Bhausaheb's son.
"When Bhausaheb stood up to speak, he said every community has its own deity and they greet each other using the name of that deity. Dr Ambedkar showed us the path of progress, and he is like God to us. So henceforth, we should say 'Jai Bhim' while meeting each other. The people responded enthusiastically. A resolution accepting 'Jai Bhim' as the community's slogan was also passed," More told PTI.
"My father came in contact with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his early years. Bhausaheb was aware of the atrocities the Nizam state committed on Dalits. He told Ambedkar about these atrocities, including the pressure to convert. Dr Ambedkar was strongly against these atrocities, and he decided to attend the 1938 conference," he said.
As Ambedkar was against the princely states, he was banned from giving speeches in the Hyderabad state but was allowed to travel through its territories. The Shivna river formed the border between Hyderabad and British India. Makranpur was chosen as the venue for the first conference because it was on the banks of Shivna but lay in the British territory, ACP More said.
The stage made of bricks, from where Dr Ambedkar addressed the conference, still stands. The conference is organised on December 30 every year to carry forward Ambedkar's thought, and the tradition was not discontinued even in 1972 when Maharashtra experienced one of the worst droughts in it history.
"My grandmother pledged her jewellery for the conference expenses. People from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada attended it. Despite a ban imposed by the Nizam's police, Ambedkar's followers crossed the river to attend the event," said ACP More.
"This is the 87th year of Makranpur Parishad. We have deliberately retained the venue as it helps spread Ambedkar's thought in rural areas," he added.
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