India's Anshu Malik grabs silver at Wrestling World Cup
Belgrade, Dec 17: Young Anshu Malik was the lone Indian woman wrestler to win a medal at the individual World Cup, grabbing a silver in the 57kg category, here.
Anshu, who is coming up from the junior ranks, clinched her third medal at the senior level from as many tournaments. She lost the gold medal bout 1-5 to Moldova's Anastasia Nichita on Wednesday night.
She had won a bronze at the Asian Championship early this year in New Delhi and a silver at Mattio Pellicone event in Rome in January.
She is gradually making the 57kg category her own despite presence of World championship medallist Pooja Dhanda and experienced Sarita Mor in the same weight class.
Anshu began with a 4-2 win over Azerbaijan's Alyona Kolesnik and followed it up with 3-1 victory over Germany's Laura Mertens in the quarterfinals.
In the semi-final, she outplayed Russia's Veronika Chumikova, recording a victory by fall.
Another Indian grappler Pinki also did well to reach the 55kg semi-finals, where she lost to Belarusian Iryna Kurachkina.
She later lost the bout for bronze to Russia's Olga Khoroshavtseva by technical superiority.
Sarita (59kg), Sonam Malik (62kg) and Sakshi Malik (65kg) could not go beyond quarterfinals in their respective categories.
Veteran Gursharanpreet got a repechage round in the 72kg but lost that by technical superiority to Evgeniia Zakharchenko.
Nirmala Devi (50kg) and Kiran (76kg) fizzed in the Qualification round, losing 6-9 to Poland's Anna Lukasiak and Canada's Erica Elizabeth Wiebe respectively.
From among the Greco Roman grapplers, only Arjun Halakurki could reach the quarterfinals in the 55kg while all other could not go beyond qualification rounds.
Arjun lost 5-10 to Kyrgyzstan's Balbai Dordokov.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Microsoft announces $17.5 billion investment to support India’s AI-focused digital growth
New Delhi: In one of its biggest global commitments to date, Microsoft has announced a $17.5 billion investment to support India’s push toward an AI-driven digital economy. The pledge, the company’s largest in Asia, was made soon after CEO Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Nadella wrote on X that the investment would help build “the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future,” thanking the Prime Minister for what he described as an inspiring discussion on India’s expanding AI opportunities.
PM Modi called the interaction “productive” and said India’s young population would play a central role in using artificial intelligence for innovation and broader global benefit. The meeting came amid a series of high-level engagements between the government and global technology leaders, along with the recent visits by executives from Intel and Cognizant.
Focusing on expanding cloud and AI infrastructure, strengthening digital skills, and supporting sovereign technology capabilities in India, Microsoft said the $17.5 billion commitment would be spread over four years from 2026 to 2029. The company described the announcement as part of its long-term vision to help the country advance as a “frontier AI nation.”
The pledge follows an earlier $3 billion announcement made in January 2025, bringing Microsoft’s total planned investment in India to more than $20 billion by the end of the decade.
Alongside infrastructure growth, Microsoft plans to double its training programmes, aiming to equip 20 million people with digital and AI-related skills by 2030. The company said these efforts would support the next phase of India’s digital transformation, moving from expanding connectivity to building technological capability.
The investment is also expected to support the integration of AI tools into national platforms such as e-Shram and the National Career Service, while potentially aiding more than 310 million informal sector workers through improved access to employment and digital services.
With data protection and sovereignty becoming central to technology policy, Microsoft will introduce Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud systems designed for Indian institutions. The company further said these platforms would help governments and businesses create secure and compliant environments for AI applications.
Welcoming the announcement, the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that this will help in strengthening innovation grounded in trust and sovereignty. He further said Microsoft’s expanded commitment reflects the country’s growing role as a dependable global technology partner.
India has been one of Microsoft’s most significant global bases since the company opened its first office in Hyderabad in 1990. Today, the country hosts Microsoft’s largest development centre outside its Redmond headquarters, contributing to products such as Azure, Office and Windows. Its new hyperscale data centre is expected to be operational by mid-2026, increasing its cloud presence across several major cities.
