Indian women's hockey team eases past Thailand with 13-0 win in Asian meet
Donghae (South Korea) (PTI): Dragflicker Gurjit Kaur scored five goals as the Indian women's hockey team thrashed Thailand 13-0 in its first game at the Asian Champions Trophy here on Sunday.
Gurjit gave India the lead in the second minute of the match after an infringement from Thailand in their defensive third awarded them a penalty stroke.
Gurjit, who scored four goals at the Tokyo Olympics, kept a cool head and put the ball in the back of the net.
Conceding an early goal put Thailand on the back foot straight away, and Vandana Katariya, the only Indian women's player to score a hat-trick at the Olympics, found the second goal five minutes later.
By the time the first quarter ended, Lilima Minz added another field goal in the 14th minute, while Gurjit and Jyoti scored two more from penalty corners in the 14th and 15th minute, giving India a 5-0 lead.
The second quarter started much the same way as India kept most of the possession giving no room to Thailand to cause any danger.
Within the first minute of Q2, Rajwinder Kaur, who made her international debut on Sunday, scored a field goal in the 16th minute, and in the 24th minute, Gurjit scored her third goal and Lilima scored another from a penalty corner also in the 24th minute.
The Indian team demolished the Thai defence as they struck another in the 25th minute through Gurjit, giving them a massive 9-0 lead at the end of the second quarter.
Returning from the 10-minute half-time break, India dominated by continuing to make threatening circle penetrations from the left flank. But Thailand dug in deep and defended well for the first six minutes in the third quarter.
Jyoti broke the threshold, scoring another field goal in the 36th minute to exceed India's lead by 10 goals.
A defensive error four minutes later from Thailand gave India another penalty corner, but this time Gurjit's powerful flick was deflected by the opposition. A well-constructed move from the middle late in the 43rd minute caught Thailand's defence napping as Sonika struck in her first goal in the match.
The fourth quarter saw Navneet Kaur threatening Thailand's defence with penetrating runs from the right flank. But Thailand's defensive troops managed to keep the danger at bay, preventing any further damage to the scoreline.
In the 55th minute, Monika managed to get her stick on a long pass inside the circle, as she deflected the ball into the back of the nets to exceed India's lead by another goal.
Three minutes later, Gurjit scored her fifth goal of the match from a late penalty corner, adding in the 13th goal for India.
This was the Indian team's first match since the historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the absence of Captain Rani, who has been rested from the tournament, India were led by veteran goalkeeper Savita.
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
