China officially admits five military officers, soldiers killed in Galwan clash with Indian Army
Beijing, Feb 19: Five Chinese military officers and soldiers were killed in last year's Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh with the Indian Army, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) officially acknowledged for the first time on Friday.
Five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border confrontation with India, which occurred in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military reported on Friday.
Those killed included Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, state-un Global Times quoted PLA Daily report as saying.
A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash on June 15, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border.
The CMC, the overall high command of the PLA headed by President Xi Jinping,has awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, the title of "Hero regimental commander for defending the border," Chen Hongjun with "Hero to defend the border," and awarded first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
This is the first time China has acknowledged casualties and details of these officers and soldiers' sacrifice, four of whom died when dealing with the Indian military's "illegal trespassing" of the Galwan Valley Line of Actual Control (LAC), the report said.
A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border.
While India has announced the casualties immediately after the incident, China did not officially acknowledge the casualties until Friday.
The Russian official news agency TASS reported on February 10 that 45 Chinese servicemen were killed in the Galwan Valley clash.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that China unveiled the details of the incident to refute previous "disinformation" that stated China suffered greater casualties than India or China incited the incident.
The admission of the casualties by the PLA coincides with the disengagement of troops by both sides at the North and South banks of the Pangong Lake, the most contentious part of the standoff which began in May last year.
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.
SRH qualifies for IPL playoff after rain washes out match against GT
Hyderabad, May 16: Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday qualified for the Indian Premier League play-offs after rain washed out their IPL match against Gujarat Titans here without a ball being bowled.
SRH thus became the third team to make the cut after following Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, who are currently occupying the top two places in the standings.
The Sunrisers received one point to take their tally to 15 points with one match to go. They will face Punjab Kings, who have already been eliminated, on May 19 in their last league assignment.
GT, the last year's runners-up and 2022 champions, were knocked out of the play-off race after their previous match was also abandoned due to rain. They thus end the season with 12 points from 14 matches.
The toss didn't happen at scheduled time of 7 pm due to rain and wet outfield. The rain intensified before settling into a steady shower as the covers and outfield stayed covered.
The cut-off time for a five-over game was 10:56 PM, which meant the drizzle needed to stop for mop-up to begin by around 10:15pm but with rain showing no signs of abating, the official decided to abandon the match.
It is the second game to be called off in this IPL, because of rain and wet outfield.
Four teams -- Chennai Super Kings (14), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (12), Delhi Capitals (14) and Lucknow Super Giants (12) -- are still in fray for the battle for the last spot.
If LSG win against Mumbai Indians on Friday, they will move to 14 points to stay mathematically alive but CSK will seal the spot if they beat RCB or the game is washed out on Saturday.
If RCB beat CSK by at least 18 runs or 11 balls to spare then they will grab the fourth available spot on the basis of net run-rate as they would be on 14 points, same as DC, CSK and LSG (if they win).
๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ are through to #TATAIPL 2024 Playoffs ๐งก
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 16, 2024
Which will be the final team to qualify ๐ค#TATAIPL | #SRHvGT | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/6Z7h5kiI4o
