Russian wrestling team boycotts Paris 2024 Olympics
Paris: The Russian Olympic wrestling team has announced a boycott of the Paris 2024 Games, protesting the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to allow only a select group of Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag.
The decision to permit certain athletes followed Russia's ongoing conflict with Ukraine, prompting the IOC to initially bar all Russian athletes. The IOC later allowed participation for those who met stringent requirements, including not supporting, funding, or being associated with the Russian military efforts.
The Russian Wrestling Federation had ten athletes who passed the eligibility checks but chose not to participate. The Federation released a statement condemning the criteria used for selection, stating it undermined the unity of their team. Mikhail Mamiashvili, the Federation's President, criticized the event, calling it a "parody of competition."
Prominent wrestlers, including two-time Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev and double world champion Zaur Uguev, failed the IOC's eligibility test, potentially influencing the Federation's stance. The athletes eligible to compete under the "AIN" designation (Individual Neutral Athlete) did not partake in the opening ceremony and will not have their medals count towards official team standings.
Despite the controversy, the neutral athletes secured early success, with Ivan Litvinovich winning gold in men's trampoline and Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya taking silver in women's trampoline.
The Federation expressed disappointment that the wrestling world missed an opportunity to witness a competition featuring the sport's strongest athletes.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
