Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas assumes charge as IAF AOC-in-C, training command
Bengaluru (PTI): Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, Indian Air Force on Thursday.
An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Shrinivas was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 13 June 1987, an official statement said.
Air Marshal Shrinivas is a ‘Category A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,200 hours of flying experience on MiG-21, Iskra, Kiran, PC-7 Mk II, HPT-32 and Microlite amongst other aircraft.
The AOC-in-C is also qualified as a second pilot on Chetak / Cheetah helicopter and a categorised Operations Officer on the Pechora missile system.
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The Air Marshal has held a number of command appointments in his career.
He has been the Commandant of the Air Force Academy, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of a frontline fighter base on the Western border, and a premier flying training base, AOC Advance HQ Western Air Command (Jaipur), Commanding Officer of the prestigious Flying Instructors’ School, Commandant of the Institute of Aerospace Safety and CO of Basic Flying Training School.
His staff and other appointments include Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officers), Chief Instructor (Flying) at Air Force Academy, Ops Staff at HQ Central Air Command and Directing Staff at College of Air Warfare. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ SWAC.
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Air Marshal Shrinivas is a graduate of National Defence College, College of Defence Management and Defence Services Staff College. His educational qualifications include Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies, Master of Management Studies and Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies.
In recognition of his meritorious services, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2017 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024 by the President of India.
After assumption of his new appointment, the Air Marshal paid homage to bravehearts by laying a wreath at the Training Command War Memorial.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
