Cold conditions grip Bengal, Kolkata records season's lowest temperature on last day of year
Kolkata (PTI): Cold conditions gripped several parts of West Bengal on Wednesday with the minimum temperatures dipping to below 10 degrees Celsius, as the IMD said that the chill is likely to continue in the sub-Himalayan districts for the next one week.
Kolkata recorded the season's lowest minimum temperature on the last day of 2025 at 11 degrees Celsius, 2.8 notches lower than normal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Minimum temperatures in sub-Himalayan districts of the state are likely to dip further by two to three notches during the weekend, the Met office said.
It forecast light rain or snow in the upper reaches of Darjeeling district during the next three days.
The citizens of south Bengal are likely to get a little respite from the cold conditions with minimum temperatures set to go up by two to three degrees Celsius gradually over three days from Friday, it said.
Light to moderate fog is likely over all the districts of West Bengal in the morning hours during the next four days, the IMD said in its forecast.
The minimum temperature at the hill tourist town of Darjeeling dipped to 3.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the state on Wednesday, it said.
The sub-Himalayan districts of Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar are likely to receive light rain during the next three days, it said.
Across the plains of the state, Sriniketan recorded the lowest temperature at 6.5 degrees Celsius, the Met data said.
The other places which recorded sub-10 degrees Celsius minimum temperatures are Kalyani (7), Bardhaman (8), Bankura (8), Kalimpong (8.3), Panagarh (9.2) and Kalaikunda (9.4), it said.
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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.
