13-year-old Indian-origin Yoga prodigy wins gold in Europe
London (PTI): A 13-year-old Indian-origin Yoga prodigy from south-east England with several awards under his belt has added another Gold Medal to his tally at the European Yoga Sports Championship in Sweden.
Ishwar Sharma, from Sevenoaks in Kent, started taking up Yoga when he was three years old after seeing his father practise daily and went on to win several World Yoga Championships.
Last weekend, he bagged the Europe Cup 2023 in the Boys 12-14 category when he competed in the European competition organised by the International Yoga Sports Federation in collaboration with Swedish Yoga Sports Federation in Malmo.
"Ishwar is passionate about spreading the message of Yoga especially for special needs children," his family said in a statement, with reference to his autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Sharma, who led daily Yoga classes for 40 children across 14 countries during the coronavirus lockdown, was honoured by then British prime minister Boris Johnson with the Points of Light award.
"You have brought the joy of Yoga to hundreds of children globally during lockdown. I was particularly inspired to hear how you have helped children with special needs enjoy the activity you enjoy and excel at," Johnson said in a personal letter to Sharma at the time in June 2021.
He has won five world championships and British Citizen Youth Award at the House of Lords for his contribution towards Yoga. Along with his father, Dr Vishwanath, Ishwar runs IYoga Solutions to spread the word about Yoga and its many benefits in the UK.
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China opens world's 'longest' expressway tunnel in Xinjiang
Beijing (PTI): China on Friday opened to traffic a 22.13-km-long tunnel, which it claimed to be the "world's longest", in Xinjiang province.
The Tianshan Shengli tunnel, which traverses through the central Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has reduced a treacherous mountain journey of several hours to about 20 minutes, official media reported.
According to Song Hailiang, chairman of China Communications Construction Company, the tunnel has “set two world records”.
“It is the longest expressway tunnel in the world and has the deepest vertical shaft for a highway tunnel,” Song said.
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The tunnel is a key part of the G0711 Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, which also became operational on Friday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The expressway serves as a major transport artery linking city clusters in northern and southern Xinjiang.
Stretching 2,500 km, the Tianshan Mountains span central Xinjiang, separating the provincial capital Urumqi, the largest city in the north, from Korla, the largest city in the south.
With the opening of the expressway, travel time between Urumqi and Korla has been reduced from around seven hours to about three hours, the report said.
The expressway, constructed over five years, is 324.7-km-long with a total investment of 46.7 billion yuan (about USD 6.63 billion).
