UP farmer's daughter Rupal becomes first Indian to win twin medals at World U-20 Athletics
Cali (Colombia) (PTI): Rupal Chaudhary created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the World U20 Athletics Championship as she followed up her 4x400m relay silver with a bronze medal in the women's 400m here.
Hailing from a family with modest means, her father being a small time farmer in Shahpur Jainpur village in UP's Meerut district, the 17-year-old has been in incredible form having run as many as four 400m races in just three days.
Rupal clocked 51.85 seconds to finish third behind Yemi Mary John (51.50) of Great Britain and Damaris Mutunga (51.71) of Kenya on Thursday night.
On Tuesday, she had won a silver as part of the 4x400m relay quartet that finished second behind USA with an Asian junior record time of 3:17.76s.
On the same day, she ran her individual 400m first round heat before featuring in the semi-finals on Wednesday and final on Thursday. She ran her personal best time twice in the championships, first a 52.27s in semi-finals before bettering it in the final.
Earlier this year, Rupal stunned pre-race favourite Priya Mohan of Karnataka to clinch the gold medal in the women's 400m at the National U-20 Federation Cup Athletics Championships here on Friday.
Rupal is the second Indian to have won a medal in the women's 400m after Hima Das clinched a historic gold in the 2018 edition of the championships in Finland with a time of 51.46s.
Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was the first Indian to win a gold in the championships in 2016 in Poland.
Rupal's bronze is India's ninth medal overall from the championships, which was earlier known as World Junior Championships. In the last edition in Nairobi in 2021, India had won three medals -- 2 silver, 1 bronze.
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Kolkata Port: Decline in number of voters during SIR brings in uncertainty in TMC bastion
Kolkata (PTI): A sharp decline in the number of voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has injected an element of uncertainty into the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency, considered a safe seat for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The electorate in the south Kolkata constituency has dropped from 2.36 lakh in the 2021 Assembly polls to around 1.75 lakh, a fall of nearly 26 per cent, prompting political parties to closely assess its potential impact on the April 29 polling.
The TMC re-nominated senior minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who has held the seat for two consecutive terms, while the BJP fielded Rakesh Singh. The Congress nominated Aquib Gulzar, and the CPI(M) put up Faiyaz Ahmad Khan, making it a four-cornered contest.
Kolkata Port, part of the Kolkata Dakshin parliamentary constituency, comprises dock areas, old business districts and densely populated neighbourhoods. Muslim voters form a significant segment of the electorate, alongside traders, transport workers and working-class Hindu families.
The reduction in voter numbers has prompted party workers across formations to scrutinise the revised rolls booth-wise to identify deletions and assess whether specific localities have been affected.
Singh’s candidature has added a twist to the contest. He had earlier contested against Hakim as a Congress candidate but is now in the fray on a BJP ticket.
Hakim won the seat in 2016 by 26,548 votes, defeating Singh, and increased his margin significantly to 68,554 votes in 2021, polling over one lakh votes.
While the TMC has expressed confidence in retaining the seat, opposition parties have raised concerns over the voter list revision, alleging that names of genuine voters have been removed.
“People here know who has stood by them. Elections are decided by trust,” Hakim told PTI during a campaign event.
Singh claimed several residents had complained about missing names in the rolls, stressing the need for transparency. The CPI(M) nominee also said voters in several areas had raised similar concerns.
The constituency has remained a difficult terrain for the opposition in recent elections.
Civic issues such as sanitation, traffic congestion and declining business activity in traditional markets also feature in the campaign in the constituency, though the revised voter list has emerged as a key talking point.
Polling in the constituency will be held in the second phase on April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
