Boxing champion Mary Kom named Global Indian Icon at UK-India Awards
London (PTI): Sporting legend and India's first-ever Olympic medallist in women's boxing, Mary Kom, has been honoured with the Global Indian Icon of the Year award at the annual UK-India Awards in Windsor, south-eastern England.
The 40-year-old former Rajya Sabha member spoke of her 20-year journey of hard work and devoting her life to boxing as she accepted the award from Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami at a gala ceremony on Thursday night.
"I have been fighting for 20 years, putting in so much effort, hard work in my life, in boxing, it means a lot... making sacrifice for my country, for my family. I really thank from the bottom of my heart for this recognition," she said.
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, behind Oscar-nominated 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the field of cinema across both nations at the awards, organised by India Global Forum (IGF) as part of UK-India Week.
The Nehru Centre in London, the cultural wing of the Indian High Commission, won the UK-India Award for Significant Contribution to UK-India Relations.
"This is one of the most exciting times to be an Indian in the last many centuries, and India's growing economy has made many others, including many Westerners, think differently about India. But India's culture will actually make many others, including many Westerners, think differently period. And it's our privilege at the Nehru Centre to contribute to the growth and to the popularisation of Indian culture in the West," said author Amish Tripathi, Director of the Nehru Centre.
The awards, now in their fifth year, recognise outstanding contributions of leaders in business, professional services, government, culture and social impact, highlighting their remarkable achievements in strengthening bilateral ties.
"These awards are not just about recognising achievements of some outstanding contributors to the UK-India corridor, but also about celebrating the power of collaboration and the limitless potential that lies within our partnership," said IGF founder and chairman Manoj Ladwa.
Spanning across several categories, the UK-India Award for Business Promotion Organisation of the Year was conferred upon the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) UK.
Among the other awards were Market Entrant of the Year for startup investment platform CrowdInvest, Consultancy of the Year for SannamS4, Legal Practice of the Year for Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Financial Services Organisation of the Year for ICICI Bank UK Plc. While Mphasis bagged the Technology Company of the Year, Action Aid UK was named as the Social Impact Project of the Year.
The awards were selected from a shortlist by a jury of industry experts and marked the penultimate event of the six-day UK-India Week, which included a special reception hosted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street during which he committed to working towards a "truly ambitious" free trade agreement (FTA) with India.
"It's not just UK-India Week, but a whole Indian summer over the next few weeks the eyes of the world will be on India. There's the G20 in New Delhi, I can't wait to be there," he said, indicating plans for a visit for the world leader's summit hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September.
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Fact Check: AI-generated photos of Cristiano Ronaldo shared on social media with fake claim
New Delhi (PTI Fact Check): Multiple social media users shared several photos, claiming that they showed star football player Cristiano Ronaldo with his alleged wife Georgina Rodriguez. The users also claimed Ronaldo had converted to Islam and the photos were from their visit to Haram Sharif in Mecca, where they offered namaz. In its investigation, however, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the photos shared on social media were fake. AI-generated photos were shared as real with a false claim.
Claim
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared on December 21 multiple photos of legendary football player Cristiano Ronaldo along with his alleged wife, Georgina Rodriguez. In the post, which has garnered over 247.5k views so far, the user claimed that the former had accepted Islam and offered namaz with Rodriguez at Haram Sharif in Mecca.
Here's the link, archive link, and screenshot of the post.
Investigation
The Desk ran the viral photos through Google Lens and found that they were shared by several other social media users as well.
Here's the link, archive link, and screenshot of one such Facebook post.
The Desk then ran a customized keyword search on Google, but could not find any authentic report on the viral images or on the claim that Ronaldo had accepted Islam.
In the next part of the investigation, the Desk closely watched the viral images and noticed several discrepancies, which suggested that they may be fake or AI-generated. For instance, the fingers of Ronaldo look disfigured or abnormal, along with blurred faces in the background. Below is a photo highlighting the same.
Taking a cue from this, the Desk ran the combination of photos through True Media, an AI detection tool, which suggested a substantial presence of AI-generated or deepfake content.
Below are the screenshots of the results:
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the photos of Cristiano Ronaldo along with Georgina Rodriguez shared on social media were fake.
CLAIM
Star football player Cristiano Ronaldo, accepted Islam and offered prayers at Haram Sharif in Mecca along with Georgina Rodriguez.
FACT
AI-generated photos shared on social media falsely claimed that the two offered namaz at Haram Sharif in Mecca. Also, Ronaldo has not converted to Islam.
CONCLUSION
Multiple social media users shared a combination of photos, which showed star football player Cristiano Ronaldo with his alleged wife Georgina Rodriguez. The users claimed that Ronaldo had accepted Islam and the photos were their visit to Haram Sharif in Mecca, where they offered prayers. In its investigation, the Desk found that the photos were AI-generated and the claim of the player accepting Islam was fake.
(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
