Kenya's Mugu Antony Ndungu wins Chennai marathon
Kenya-born Mugu Antony Ndungu won the 9th edition of the Chennai Marathon on Sunday, covering the 42.2km full marathon in two hours 15 minutes.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: February 13, 2011 04:10 PM IST
Kenya-born Mugu Antony Ndungu won the 9th edition of the Chennai Marathon here on Sunday, covering the 42.2km full marathon in two hours 15 minutes. Hyderabad-based Ramsing came second and Kiplangatmi Teivice from Kenya finished third, a release said.
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In the half-marathon event, Karnataka born Berappa Dik bagged the first spot covering 21.1 km in one hour six minutes, while Bahadur Singh Dhoni from Hyderabad stood second and another Kenyan Alex Kirwa came third.
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In the half-marathon for Women's, Kerala's V S Suganya completed the lap in one hour 26 minutes. Kenya born Margarate Kiplagat claimed the second position and Chiai Uraguch of Japan ended third.
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In the 10km mini-marathon, Kavinadu Youth Sports School student from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu, G Lakshmanan, won the top honours while Rajansingh and Brijlal (both Indian Railways, Uttar Pradesh) came second and third, respectively. In the women's category, Pudukottai's L Surya and P Rani emerged first and second respectively while S Vijayalakshmi (Chennai) finished third.
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In the five kms mini marathon for men, K Yogendran Kumar and M Ravindra Khade (both Western Railways, Mumbai) came first and third respectively, while Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel J Jayaraj stood second.
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In the women's category, V Jayamala of Western Railway, Mumbai won, A Ashviya (Tiruvarur, Tamil Nadu) came second and M Arockia Elizabeth Rose (Thiruvannamalai, TN) settled for the third position.
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In the five kms boys category, J Shankar (Tiruvallur,TN) came first, A Alex and C Subbamaran (both Chennai) finished second and third respectively.
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Coimbatore's P Dhanapriya stood first in the five kms girls category. C Susila (Pudukottai) came second and J Kerchiyal (Thiruvannamalai) third, it said.
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In the 10kms mini marathon conducted for Uniformed Services, Meghalaya's Sunil Fatan, Sanavas and Sunish PN came first, second and third respectively.
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More than 6,000 people participated in the various events, flagged off by Tamil Nadu Sports Minister TP M Mohidheen Khan. He later presented the trophies to the winners.
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"Despite the clear stand taken by the Government, FIH has been openly defiant and has disregarded/failed to accept the facts presented by them (Government)," they said.
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"This has emboldened the IOA and its creation Hockey India to resort to further malpractices by not allowing the IHF-controlled state bodies who have been running hockey in various states/units, to participate in the National Games." "Hockey India itself was formed as an ad-hoc body and so were the state units who were doled out affiliations despite being in existence only on paper with no developmental and organisational activities in their so called areas of jurisdiction," the Olympians said.
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"With Indian Hockey in deep turmoil for the past three years, the FIH took the opportunity to conduct the World Cup on its own with the help of IOA and the Government. For the purpose, the FIH formed a body called FIH Hero Honda Society, and surprisingly, all the profits generated from the staging of the event have been taken out of the country," they said. "The FIH used all the facilities like stadia owned by the Government, security, infrastructure and other machinery and manpower to its advantage but surprisingly never allotted/assigned any portion of the profit for development of hockey in India, a subject on which so much concern had been raised and continues to be raised by the FIH.
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"The world body knows the potential of our country to generate funds in comparison to other hockey playing nations and has been trying to milk the system in India to their benefit by voicing grave concern about the present state. "However, the World Cup is an example of their so called concern of siphoning the profits and enriching their own coffers," the former internationals felt.
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"The FIH's stance? writing back to the Government not to interfere in the affiliation process controlled by them and its continued support to Hockey India - continues to baffle us, posing several question and also leading to doubts about their real intentions vis-a-vis Indian Hockey.
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"In other words the FIH has shown disrespect towards the Government which has only reinstated the Indian Hockey Federation as per the law of the land," they said.
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"For the record, whatever activities that were conducted in the past 2-3 years, including training and participation of the national team in various events, was possible only due to the support rendered by the Ministry of Sports and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), a government institution," the ex-players pointed out.
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"It has come as a surprise that the FIH, which on one hand fails to respect the Ministry of Sports, wants help from the Government to conduct the Champions Trophy. This again means use of the Government's facilities for free and then diverting the profits generated to their coffers as was the case when they conducted the World Cup."
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According to the Olympians, this was a clear case of double standards by the FIH, which announced that Champions Trophy would to be held in India without involving the Union Government.
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The former players said the way FIH has functioned gives the impression that its actions have the approval of the Government.
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"The press release dated February 3, 2010 issued by the FIH is conveying or giving the impression at large that its actions had the approval of the Ministry of Sports. The action also gives the misleading impression that the Ministry of Sports supports FIH's stand of recognising Hockey India as the national sports federation for the game," they said.
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"Has the Government disregarded/withdrawn its communication dated August 6, 2010 to FIH President Leandro Negre stating not to assign international events or have commercial dealings with Hockey India?" the former players sought to know.
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"Therefore, the visit of the FIH President and the subsequent announcement has created an atmosphere of gross confusion in the country and the government has to come out with a proper clarification justifying the extent of its involvement leading to the present situation," they observed.