Digital Indian Gov

The Xbox One backwards compatibility program shows no signs of abating. 19 original Xbox games are coming to the Xbox One this month. These include six Star Wars games like 2005's Star Wars Battlefront 2 and 2003's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Like previous games on the Xbox One backwards compatibility list, they will work via disc or a digital copy purchased from the Microsoft Store.
Other additions include classics like Panzer Dragoon Orta, Conker: Live and Reloaded, and SSX 3. "Later this month, we’ll release two batches of Original Xbox games – the first on April 17 and the second on April 26. All of these Original Xbox games will take advantage of the power of Xbox One with up to 4X the pixel count on Xbox One and Xbox One S, and up to 16X the pixel count on Xbox One X," wrote Bill Stillwell, Lead Program Manager, Xbox Platform on the official Xbox website.
Original Xbox games launching on Xbox One on April 17 * Blinx: The Time Sweeper 

* Breakdown
* Conker: Live and Reloaded
* The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
* Hunter: The Reckoning
* Jade Empire
* Panzer Dragoon Orta
* SSX 3
Original Xbox games launching on Xbox One on April 26 * Destroy All Humans!
* Full Spectrum Warrior
* Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
* MX Unleashed
* Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory (Europe only)
* Star Wars: Battlefront
* Star Wars: Battlefront II
* Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
* Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
* Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
* Star Wars: Republic Commando
Microsoft also announced that the classic open-world game Red Dead Redemption from GTA V hitmaker Rockstar gets an update for it to be playable at 4K. Other games getting the Xbox One X enhanced treatment include Sonic Generations, Gears of War 2, Portal 2, Darksiders, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This follows Microsoft updating last-gen classics like The Witcher 2 and Crackdown. And while those updates resulted in clearly looking games, its near transformative in the case of Red Dead Redemption in our experience.

E3 2018 is a couple of months away and Bethesda seems to be teasing the next instalment in the Doom franchise. Bethesda Senior Vice President of Marketing Pete Hines hinted at a sequel to the superlative 2016 Doom by stating that E3 is “hell on Earth” for the company. Its an interesting turn of phrase when you consider that 1994’s Doom 2 was known as Doom 2: Hell on Earth. Hines made this comment when asked about what could be expected from Bethesda in the second half of the year. “I couldn’t give you any guesses as to what we’re going to announce and when those games will be out. But I will say, we have a lot of new stuff to talk about at E3. Whether or not folks realise it, this is the hell on Earth time for us with E3. We are in the midst of so much planning and work for all of that content but I’m really excited,” he said in conversation with gaming blog Dual Shockers. “I think we have a lot of stuff that folks are going to like. To my earlier comment, it’s going to be a big mix of stuff that’s all over the place. It’s not going to be like all [one] kind of game or genre. It’s going to be a lot of stuff in a lot of different areas and hopefully, there’s something in there for everybody.” A sequel to 2016's Doom is no surprise considering how critically and commercially successful it was. And E3 would be the right place for Bethesda to reveal it. Given that the second half of the year features Red Dead Redemption 2 in addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and FIFA 19 would make a 2018 release seem unlikely due to how crowded it already is.

Furthermore, Hines claims we haven’t heard the last of 2017’s fantastic immersive sim, Prey. “As with a lot of stuff, we’re not a massive publisher that just churns out a ton of titles. We never have been. We really stick with our stuff after it launches, as we have with Prey,” he said. “Part of what you’ve probably noticed is that we’ve hired a new community manager, who’s been focused on Prey. She’s [Abigail] been awesome and has been doing a lot of fun stuff around April Fools’ and other things. But yeah, I don’t think you’ve heard the last of Prey. I just couldn’t tell you precisely when you might hear more.”

India dominated the range and the ring as Shreyasi Singh's double trap gold shored up the medal tally while the entire men's Indian boxing contingent made the semifinals to be assured of podium finishes in an unprecedented performance on day 7 of the 21st Commonwealth Games.
On the overall medal tally, India held on the third position with 12 gold, four silver and eight bronze medals for a total of 24 so far. This number is expected to jump substantially once the wrestlers begin their campaign tomorrow and the boxing medals are finalised in the next two days. The Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane continued to be a happy hunting ground for Indian shooters and for a fourth successive day the country had a medal to celebrate. Shreyasi, a silver-medallist from the 2014 edition, beat Australia's Emma Cox in a shoot-off to improve the colour of her medal from the last time.
"This is the highest medal of my career, right up there. It is also very special because shooting is not going to be a part of the Commonwealth Games in 2022," said the 26-year-old. "It would be the one to cherish for a very long time," she added. There were a couple of bronze-medallists as well in Om Mitharval (50m pistol) and Ankur Mittal (men's double trap). And some disappointment too as 10m air pistol gold-medallist Jitu Rai signed off 8th in the 50m pistol final.
From the range to the Oxenford Studios and it only got better for India. All eight of the male Indian boxers entered the semifinals, while the redoubtable M C Mary Kom (48kg) entered the final. "It was difficult in the sense that this girl would just not come to me. I had to be careful because she was perhaps waiting for me to let my guard down," Mary Kom said of her defensive opponent, Anusha Dilrukshi Koddithuwakku of Sri Lanka.
Gaurav Solanki (52kg), Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Manish Kaushik (60kg) joined Manoj Kumar (69kg), Satish kumar (+91kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg) in the semis, making for a very happy Indian boxing contingent, shepherded by Swedish coach Santiago Nieva. There was good news from the hockey arena as well with India beating England in their final pool B clash to set up a semifinal with New Zealand. The spark that had been missing so far from their campaign was rediscovered to an extent and coach Sjoerd Marijne said he could finally recognize his team again.
On the badminton court, the stars of the mixed team's gold medal winning campaign began their singles run and with easy opponents in opening rounds and the likes of P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth hardly took less than 20 minutes each to move into the pre-quarters. Most of the table tennis and squash players made their way into pre-quarters of their respective individual and doubles events. In squash, the spotlight is on defending gold medallists Joshna Chinnappa and Dipika Pallikal, who won their opening match today.
There was disappointment in the athletics arena where high jump hope Tejaswin Shankar ended up sixth after fouling all his attempts at 2.27m even though his personal best stands at 2.28m. It's the first time I am experiencing something like this. I still have a lot of big competitions coming up this year. The biggest positive is that I could hold my nerve against these big competitors. I realised they are people like me, they are not gods, Shankar said later. Also finishing sixth was Hima Das, but in the 400m women's race. She could, however, take solace from the fact that she achieved a personal best of 51.32sec.

Despite being overshadowed by GTA V, GTA 4 is for many, one of Rockstar’s best games ever. Even though it was poorly optimised for PC at launch and had its fair share of difficulty spikes that took away from the immersion. And with the game approaching its tenth anniversary, the game will lose a lot of its music due to the expiry of its licenses.
This applies to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions of the game. “Due to music licensing restrictions, we are required to remove certain songs from the in-game soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto IV and its Episodes, in particular a large portion of the Russian pop station, Vladivostok FM.
However we are replacing some of those songs with a new set of songs on that station. We will update our customer support website with new information as soon as it is available,” said Rockstar in a prepared statement to Kotaku.
This isn’t the first time this has happened though. The PC version of GTA: Vice City was unavailable for awhile due to a dispute over the Michael Jackson licence and in the case of GTA: San Andreas, music was removed via a patch without telling fans. 
 Given GTA V’s seemingly unending popularity, it will be interesting to see what would happen when it hits the ten year mark. Chances are it would suffer the same fate. Previously it was suggested that GTA 6& could see a 2022 release date.
According to a report, Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) may take place in two locations — Vice City and South America. While the former is Rockstar’s take on Miami, players will go to South America for a few missions. The game is being referred to at Rockstar as Project Americas. In addition to this, GTA 6 may, for the first time, include a female protagonist as one of it leads. Though there’s no confirmation if you’ll be able to control multiple characters like you could in GTA V.
But don’t expect to play GTA 6 anytime soon. The game is slated to be available around 2022. If so, it could possibly signal the end of the PS4 and Xbox One with GTA 6 being their collective swan song as well as it being re-released for the next wave of consoles from Sony and Microsoft as well as the PC. The source of this information is YouTube channel The Know (via VG247) that cites an “inside source”. The Know’s track record is spotty at best. At the moment, GTA developer Rockstar is working on Red Dead Redemption 2 that's out on October 26, 2018.

Red Dead Redemption is now playable in 4K on the Xbox One X. Microsoft announced that the classic open-world game from GTA V hitmaker Rockstar gets an update for it to be playable at 4K. Other games getting the Xbox One X enhanced treatment include Sonic Generations, Gears of War 2, Portal 2, Darksiders, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. This follows Microsoft updating last-gen classics like The Witcher 2 and Crackdown. And while those updates resulted in clearly looking games, its near transformative in the case of Red Dead Redemption in our experience.
For most part Red Dead Redemption on the Xbox One X looks a great deal sharper though certain aspects like pop-in and geometry draw are way more noticeable. Its certainly a cut above what we’ve seen with Rockstar’s remaster of LA Noire and is a good way to prep yourself for Red Dead Redemption 2 when that hits later this year, assuming Rockstar doesn’t delay it. “As a reminder, Xbox 360 games enhanced for Xbox One X run at a higher resolution and 9X the original pixel count when played on Xbox One X.
The power of Xbox One X enables the Xbox 360 emulator to showcase the very best version of the game possible with the existing assets – all without touching the game code. And through the power of Backward Compatibility, fans can choose whether they want to experience these games with enhanced graphics or in their original form,” wrote Bill Stillwell, Lead Program Manager, Xbox Platform on the official Xbox website.
How to play Red Dead Redemption at 4K on Xbox One X Note, once you change the setting, you’ll need to restart the game:
* Press “View” and “Menu” buttons on the controller to pull up the Xbox 360 guide
* Navigate to “Settings” blade
* Select “Xbox One X Settings”
* Select to optimise for “Graphics” or “Performance”
Previously it was suggested that Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR 2) could be getting a battle royale mode and the entire game may be completely playable in first-person according to a recent report. Furthermore, it could have other modes such as Revive and Survive, and Money Grab.

PS4-exclusive God of War has an April 20 release date. Though this hasn’t stopped some retailer from selling the game early. According to a post on Reddit, the game has been on sale. A Redditor by the name of kemar7856 posted pictures of the game — both back and front on the r/gaming subreddit. Considering some God of War reviews are already out based on retail copies floating in the wild, this doesn’t come as much as a surprise. Though images from kemar7856 seem to suggest its a Canadian copy of the game given the use of French on its cover. This isn’t the first time a Sony game has released early. In the past, high profile exclusives such as the Shadow of the Colossus remake, Uncharted 4, No Man’s Sky, and Ratchet and Clank could be purchased well ahead of their release dates, at times almost two weeks before their official release. If you were expecting India to get copies early, this doesn’t seem too likely. Reason being, before release most games tend to be extremely expensive for even the most enterprising of retailers to bring in. Though given Sony’s recent track record in the country with games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Shadow of the Colossus, we won’t be surprised to see grey market copies at a lower price weeks post-launch. Furthermore, if you’re looking for a copy of God of War in India, it should hit stores on release day. Unless of course Sony pulls another logistical snafu as we saw with Horizon Zero Dawn which was delayed by nine days and Shadow of the Colossus that was delayed by over a week.

That being said, if you’re on the fence, God of War reviews go live on April 12 at 12:31pm IST (8:01am BST). We’ve been playing the game so check back on the day for our full review and more.

After receiving an update that claimed to make future updates smaller, Fortnite for iOS receives an update that improves graphics. Dubbed as the Fortnite v3.5 patch, it brings some interesting changes to all platforms - iOS, PS4, PC, and Xbox One. While Fortnite iOS gets "multiple graphical improvements" for "the skybox, vegetation and anti-aliasing", the Fortnite Replay System is now available on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
In terms of size, the Fortnite v3.5 patch download size is 2.86GB on PS4 and a paltry 128.40MB on iOS. Firing up the game on iOS results in another download, presumably including the rest of the game's files post-update. Other fixes include locking out jailbroken iOS devices and removing audio indicators for silenced weapons. "We’re excited to introduce a brand new feature for Battle Royale...Replay.
With a suite of cinematic settings you can now capture your most memorable moments, highlights and cinematics. We can’t wait to see what you create. You have an opportunity to win phenomenal prizes with the Replay System… very soon," a post on Epic's site says of the Fortnite Replay System. The Fortnite Replay System allows you to save your match from any angle, adjust camera exposure, aperture, and even focal length. Right now it's limited to PC and consoles. Safe to say, it should hit iOS soon enough.

Other additions with Fortnite v3.5 patch include new heroes in Fortnite Save the World as well as a 50 versus 50 Fortnite Battle Royale mode coming soon. For the latter, Epic will not be tracking all user stats. "Due to this being a 'large squad' mode, Profile Stats will not be tracked. Daily and Weekly challenges will still work, with the exception of the Squad-based challenges," the company's post reads.

Heena Sidhu claimed gold for India on the 2018 Commonwealth Games shooting range when she fought off a challenge from local shooter Elena Galiabovitch to win the women's 25-metre pistol event at Gold Coast, Australia on Tuesday. With this gold medal, India's tally went up to 11 golds at 2018 CWG. Heena proved to be better than Galiabovitch as she kept her poise to clinch the gold with a Commonwealth Games record with a total score of 38. This was Heena's second medal at the Games, after her silver in the women's 10m air pistol behind Manu Bhaker.
Heena was in joint second position after Round 2 while compatriot Annu Raj Singh was lower down the rung at joint 5th. However, while Heena managed to stay in the leading group after Series 4, Annu Raj Singh fell to 7th. After Series 6, Heena was in joint gold medal position while Annu Raj Singh was eliminated.
After Series 7, Heena was on top, ahead of the second-placed Australian by 2 shots. "I am exhausted, those are my thoughts on today's performance," Heena said while speaking to PTI after her gold. Annu Raj Singh finished sixth after being eliminated in the second stage of the same event. Her final score was a disappointing 15. Heena, however, was in terrific form after qualifying third with a score of 579 despite admitting to struggling with her trigger finger owing to a nerve problem. "Thankfully, my trigger which has been giving me some trouble because of a tingling sensation was alright today. I didn't feel that tingling too much," Heena said. "The 10m air pistol final is a blur to me, I couldn't feel my fingers during that.
I have been undergoing physiotherapy for this problem but for today, I told my physio not to touch me. I just let it be and to my relief it went off well," she said. Heena meanwhile, started slowly before climbing up the standings with an awesome show in the Rapid round. She was decidedly below par in the Precision round and was lagging at the seventh spot with 286. Heena struggled with her opening couple of shots in the Precision round with disappointing efforts of 95 and 93 before recovering somewhat with a 98 in her third and last attempt. Heena started the Rapid round poorly as well as she could only manage a 95 in her opening attempt. But she saved her best for her last two shots, firing consecutive scores of 99 to zoom to the third spot.
Heena Sidhu (born 29 August 1989) is an Indian sport shooter. On 7 April 2014, Sidhu became the first Indian pistol shooter to reach number one in world rankings by the International Shooting Sport Federation. In 2013, Sidhu became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup finals when she won the 10 metre air pistol event. In 2014, Sidhu was the World record holder in the 10 metre air pistol event with a final score of 203.8. Sidhu is right handed and is right eye dominant.
Personal life In 2013, Sidhu received a Bachelor of Dental Surgery. Sidhu's father was a national sports shooter. Her brother is also a shooter in the 10 metre air pistol event. Sidhu's uncle is a gunsmith and gun customizer. On 7 February 2013, Sidhu married Ronak Pandit, also a pistol shooter. Sidhu resides in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Career Sidhu began shooting in 2006, participating in the national junior and senior teams. She was a member of the Patiala Club. In 2009, Sidhu won a silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Beijing.. She won first place in the women's 10 m air pistol event at the national championship in Kerala. Sidhu, with Annu Raj Singh and Sonia Rai, won a silver medal in the Women's 10m air pistol team event at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
With Annu Raj Singh on 375 points and Sidhu on 384 points, Sidhu and Singh won a gold medal in the women's pairs 10 metre air pistol at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In the singles event, Sidhu won a silver medal. Sidhu was a member of the Indian team to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She competed in the women's 10 metre air pistol event, finishing twelfth in the qualification round. Sidhu was part of the official London Olympic Games film entitled First: The Story of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The film, written, produced and directed by Caroline Rowland followed a dozen first-time Olympic athletes as they prepared to compete in London.
In 2013, Sidhu won the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Finals in Munich, Germany. Sidhu defeated the world champion Zorana Arunovic of Serbia and the previous winner, Olena Kostevych of Ukraine with 203.8 points, which gave her a 5 point lead at the end of the event. In the 2014 Indian National Shooting trials, Sidhu won by 0.1 point over Rahi Sarnobat in the women’s air pistol event. In 2016, Sidhu qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the women's 10 metre air pistol and the women's 25 metre pistol events.
She finished fourteenth in the women's 10 metre air pistol and twentieth in the women's 25 metre pistol qualifying rounds. In 2017, Sidhu won gold medal in women's 10 metre air pistol event at the Commonwealth shooting championships in Brisbane. In 2016, Sidhu pulled out of the Asian Air Gun Championships in Tehran because Iran made the wearing of the hijab mandatory for female participants. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Sidhu won a silver medal in the women’s 10 metre air pistol event, and a Gold medal in the women’s 25 metre air pistol event. She broke the Commonwealth Games record of 38 in winning the gold medal,
Awards On 28 August 2014, Sidhu was conferred the Arjuna Award.

Google has announced “Google Play Instant”, a new and faster for users to try out apps and games within the app store for Android. This allows users to discover new apps and games that can launch instantaneously without the need to install or download them.
In its blog, Google said, “With Google Play Instant, you can just tap and try a game without having to download it first—whether you’re looking to storm a castle on Clash Royale or become a word master with Words with Friends 2.” With this feature, you will now see a “Try Now option” available with select apps and games.
This button will replace the previous “More Info” button just next to the Install option on Play Store. Tapping it leads to a brief downloading process and then the app loads online. This part will be stored in the Play Store. So if users open the same app/game for the second time, they won’t have to wait for the Instant version to load again. Announced at the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018, with Play Instant Google aims to make it easier for users to choose among the thousands of games available on the Play Store.
Users can experience the Google Play Instant in the Google Play Store and the Google Play Games app, or wherever the game links are shared. Play Instant is currently a beta program, and only eight games are available on it right now. In addition, a fresh set of updates made to the User Interface (UI) of the Play Store will give users better access to images and screenshots. The company also launched a new version of Google Play Games with a new “Arcade” tab.
The tab is meant to help users discover new games and includes game trailers. It also comes with tags like “New” or “Action” to help users search for games on Play Store. Google will also show more information about games such as news related to a particular game, YouTube videos related to the games, which will allow users to learn more about the game. Also, all the latest developments by game developers will be available.

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 could see a 2018 release date and will tone down the sci-fi elements of past games. It's being developed by Treyarch, the studio behind previous games in the series. While previous reports of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 have come from industry insider Marcus Sellars, this latest confirmation comes from Eurogamer. "Black Ops 4 is in development at Treyarch, the Activision studio behind the three other Black Ops games, and as you'd expect is due for launch late in the year," writes Eurogamer's Tom Phillips.
"The Black Ops storyline so far has covered the Cold War, near future, and a further time period in 2065. In particular, Black Ops 3 had a fully sci-fi focus - something which Black Ops 4 will dial back to better fit the series' recent desire for a more grounded feeling - in response to the negative feedback surrounding 2016's space-set Infinite Warfare." Eurogamer's had a pretty solid track record in the past. Previously it confirmed several specifications related to the Nintendo Switch. Its confirmation of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 comes a day after Sellars' statement regarding it hitting Nintendo's hybrid console.
"COD 2018 is Black Ops 4 and is coming to PS4/Xbox/PC/Switch. It is set in the modern times and is boots on the ground. The Switch version will support DLC, HD Rumble and motion controls. The Switch version is also being ported by a company which is familar with COD games," Sellars tweeted.

MC Mary Kom claimed a gold in the women's competition but Indian men were denied a complete sweep by traditional powerhouses Cuba and Uzbekistan on an exciting final day of the India Open boxing tournament, on Thursday. Mary Kom (48kg) got the better of Filipino Josie Gabuco 4-1 in a battle of attrition to come up trumps.
In fact, women stole the thunder from men by picking up five gold medals after men were thwarted by Cuba and Uzbekistan. Pwilao Basumatary (64kg) was the first among them to fetch a gold.
The former world and Asian bronze medallist claimed a 3-2 win over Thailand's Sudaporn Seesondee. The Assam boxer is a regular in the national camp and had claimed a gold medal at the 2015 Nation's Cup in Serbia.
She hails from a small village in Kokrajhar where several families were displaced during the 2012 riots. Her family was among those displaced by the violence but has since moved on.
Another Assam boxer, Lovlina Borgohain claimed the welterweight (69kg) gold among women, getting the better of compatriot Pooja. In the evening, Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra (51kg) registered a unanimous victory over Mongolia's Jargalan Ochirbat. Manisha (54kg) added to the gold rush for women by claiming the top honours in the all-Indian final against M Meenakumari.
But former world champion L Sarita Devi (60kg) settled for a silver medal after losing to Finland's Olympic bronze- medallist Mira Potkenon. Sarita gave her all in the bout but lost on a 2-3 decision after Potkenon salvaged a rather rusty performance with a final round flourish. In the men's draw, Sanjeet (91kg) picked up India's first gold of the day when he upstaged Uzbekistan's Sanjar Tursunov.
The Indian matched Tursunov punch for punch in an engrossing contest before getting a split 3-2 verdict in his favour. National champion Manish Kaushik (60kg), who stunned world and Asian medallist Shiva Thapa yesterday, didn't have to step inside the ring to collect his gold. Manish was given a walkover by his Mongolian rival Battumur Misheelt, who pulled out owing to a cut sustained on his forehead during his semifinal bout.
Asian Games bronze medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg), however, settled for a silver, outwitted by Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov in a split 4-1 decision. Dinesh Dagar took the welterweight (69kg) silver after going down to Uzbekistan's Bobo-Usmon Baturov. In perhaps the most entertaining bout of the day, the Uzbek turned on the style against the gritty Indian.
With a smile on his face throughout and a mostly non- existent guard, Baturov was every bit a showman as he craftily got the better of Dinesh in a unanimous verdict. To his credit, Dinesh connected a few lusty jabs of his own but Baturov was never really troubled. Later, Devanshu Jaiswal (81kg) was up against Cuba's David Gutierrez.
Although the crowd favourite gave a good account of himself in defensive tactics, the Cuban connected enough with his jabs to score a split 4-1 victory. Former world silver medallist Saweety Boora (75kg) also had to be content with a second place finish against Cameroon's Essaine Clotilde.
Each gold winner in the USD 100,000 event went home richer by USD 2500. The silver and bronze medal winners were presented USD 1500 and USD 500 respectively.

Sheena Nellckal Varkey emerged the lone Indian medal winner as she bagged a silver in women's triple jump on the opening day of the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran on Thursday. Sheena cleared 13.37m to finish second, behind Kazakhstan's Lrina Ektova who had a jump of 13.79m. Thi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam was third with 13.22m. Two Indians -- Dutee Chand (60m) and Sanjivani Jadhav (3000m) -- did not start their races. Dutee did not travel to Tehran due to a minor injury on her wrist she suffered during training in Hyderabad. In case of Jadhav, her visa did not reach on time. Triple jumper Arpinder Singh also will not take part in his event.
India are being represented by 13 athletes in the three- day championships. Meanwhile, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first Khelo India School Games in New Delhi at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the country's sporting legends have come in unison to laud the efforts made by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports led by Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (retd). Legends like PT Usha, Bhaichung Bhutia, Vijender Singh and iconic para athlete Deepa Malik are of the view that the initiative would strengthen the system right from spotting talent, to grooming them and will benefit the country in the years to com. They also felt that the Khelo India would leave a lasting impact on Indian sports and would bring a paradigm shift in the country's sporting culture.
Sharing the trials and tribulations that she underwent, former track queen and top athlete PT Usha recalled the days when she was coming up through the ranks. She said, "We used to get support only after winning medals. We did not have a system that Khelo India is trying to put in place to capture, groom and nurture talent. Our young athletes are very fortunate to find this kind of support from the government.
I am sure Khelo India will go a long way in all-round development of sports in India." Expressing his sentiments, ace footballer Bhaichung Bhutia said that the pyramid structure of Khelo India will have a strong and lasting impact at the grassroots level, adding that it has the power to bring a significant change the way sports is perceived in the country. "It is important that we reach out to the kids and encourage them to go out and play. That's what Khelo India is intended to achieve.
I am sure Khelo India will help to spot a good crop of fresh talent in greater numbers," said Bhaichung. Dipa Karmakar, who made history at the 2016 Rio Games by becoming the first gymnast from India to qualify for Olympics, believes that Khelo India would have a direct bearing on India's future medal prospects. "It's a great opportunity for India to improve its medals tally in the 2024 and 2028 Olympics.
If all those who are selected through this programme train well, follow schedules and don't have to worry about financial support, India will definitely win more medals than expected," said Dipa. Deepa Malik, one of India's most decorated para athletes, who won a silver medal in the F-53 shot put event in the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games, felt that only when more people take to sport it will be the first step in the direction of becoming a global sporting superpower. "It is high time we pushed the country to become a sporting nation. If we talk about sports excellence then the total population of the country doesn't matters.
What matters is the sporting population. It is only when we start catching talent at a young age and an impressionable age, it will help in inculcating the good habit of sports as a healthy lifestyle. It will help in changing the image of new India and transform India into a sporting powerhouse," she said. Meanwhile, India's boxing sensation Vijender Singh insisted that Khelo India has the potential to change the face of Indian sports. "It's a very good initiative by the government and a step in the right direction. It will give a huge boost to India's Olympics aspirations.
I lend my full support to the Khelo India initiative," added Vijender. The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in the country at grassroots level and make India a sporting nation. In keeping with Prime Minister Modi's vision, Khelo India is expected to help scout young talent from the schools in various disciplines and groom them as future sports champions. Talented players identified in priority sports disciplines at various levels will be provided annual financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh per annum for eight years.
The 'Khelo India' programme, was initially launched by former Sports Minister Vijay Goel but was later revamped by his successor Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport, Col. (Retired) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Over the coming nine days, Under-17 players will vie for 199 gold medals, 199 silver medals and 275 bronze medals in across 16 disciplines: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Shooting, Swimming, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. The school games will be held at multiple venues in Delhi. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex are among the venues where the games will be held. The inaugural games, which begun yesterday, will conclude on February 8.

भारतीय महिला क्रिकेट टीम का हरफनमौला खिलाड़ी हरमनप्रीत कौर ने गुरुवार को ऑस्ट्रेलिया के खिलाफ नाबाद 171 रन की पारी खेलकर सबका मन मोह लिया। हरमनप्रीत ने 115 गेंदों में 171 रन बनाए। इस दौरान उन्होंने 20 चौके और 7 गगनचुंबी छक्के भी जड़े। पारी के दौरान हरमनप्रीत का स्ट्राइक रेट 148.69 का रहा। उनकी इस धमाकेदार पारी की बदौलत ही टीम इंडिया डिफेंडिंग चैंपियन के सामने जीत के लिए 282 रन का लक्ष्य रख सकी। अपनी इस पारी के दौरान हरमन ने न केवल महिला क्रिकेट के बल्कि पुरुषों की क्रिकेट के कुछ रिकॉर्ड्स को चुनौती दे डाली। आईए उन रिकॉर्ड्स पर नजर डालें जिन्हें हरमनप्रीत ने अपने नाम किए।

हरमनप्रीत का 171 रन की नाबाद पारी महिला वनडे क्रिकेट की पांचवीं सबसे बड़ी पारी है। महिला क्रिकेट की सबसे बड़ी बड़ी पारी ऑस्ट्रेलिया की बेलिंडा क्लार्क के नाम दर्ज है। उन्होंने साल 1997 में नाबाद 229 रन बनाए थे। इसके बाद दूसरी सबसे बड़ी पारी भारत की दीप्ति शर्मा(188), तीसरी श्रीलंका की चमारी अटापट्टू(178) और चौथी इंग्लैंड की चार्लोट एडवर्ड्स(188) के नाम दर्ज है। 

हरमनप्रीत की पारी मौजूदा विश्वकप की रनों के लिहाज से दूसरी सबसे बड़ी पारी है। इसी विश्वकप के दौरान श्रीलंका की चमारी अटापट्टू ने ऑस्ट्रेलिया के खिलाफ लीग मैच के दौरान नाबाद 178 रन बनाए थे। वह इस रिकॉर्ड की बराबरी करने से 7 रन से चूक गईं।   

ऑस्ट्रेलियाई महिला टीम के खिलाफ सबसे ज्यादा रन बनाने वाली दुनिया की दूसरी खिलाड़ी बनने का रिकॉर्ड भी हरमन ने अपने नाम किया। ऑस्ट्रेलिया के खिलाफ हरमन से ज्यादा रन श्रीलंका की चमारी अटापट्टू(178) ने बनाए हैं। इस सूची में तीसरे नंबर पर न्यूजीलैंड की कप्तान सूजी बेट्स हैं। बेट्स ने साल 2012 में ऑस्ट्रेलिया के खिलाफ नाबाद 122 रन बनाए थे। 

अपनी इस धुआंधार पारी के साथ ही हरमनप्रीत ने किसी भी नॉक आउट इंटरनेशनल मैच में सर्वाधिक व्यकितगत स्कोर बनाने का रिकॉर्ड भी अपने नाम कर लिया। हरमनप्रीत से पहले ऐसा कारनामा करने वाले खिलाड़ियों में पुरुष क्रिकेट के तीन खिलाड़ी हैं। इनमें मार्टिन गप्टिल(237), सनथ जयसूर्या(189) और मार्क वा(173) का नाम शामिल है।

किसी वनडे नॉकआउट में 150 रन से ज्यादा की पारी खेलने वाली हरमनप्रीत पहली भारतीय बल्लेबाज है। पुरुष खिलाड़ी भी आज तक इस मुकाम पर नहीं पहुंच पाए हैं। विश्व में अबतक केवल 6 खिलाड़ी यह कारनामा कर पाए हैं।

इस पारी से पहले नॉकआउट मैच में सबसे ज्यादा रन बनाने का रिकॉर्ड कप्तान मिताली राज के नाम दर्ज था। मिताली ने साल 2006 में एशिया कप के फाइनल में नाबाद 108 रन बनाए थे। 

महिला विश्वकप में किसी भारतीय द्वारा खेली गई सबसे लंबी पारी का रिकॉर्ड अब हरमन के नाम दर्ज हो गया है। इससे पहले महिला विश्वकप में भारतीय द्वारा खेली गई सबसे बड़ी पारी का रिकॉर्ड मिताली राज के नाम दर्ज था। मिताली ने इसी विश्वकप में आखिरी लीग मैच में न्यूजीलैंड के खिलाफ 109 रन की पारी खेली थी। 

हरमनप्रीत महिला विश्वकप के नॉकआउट दौर में शतक बनाने वाली दूसरी खिलाड़ी हैं। उनसे पहले साल 2005 के विश्वकप के फाइनल में केरन राल्टन ने नाबाद 107 रन बनाए थे।