Rijiju appointed as new Sports Minister, replaces Rathore
New Delhi: Kiren Rijiju was on Friday appointed as the new Sports Minister. He replaced Olympic medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Along with the Independent charge of the Sports and Youth Affairs, Rijiju was also named as the Minister of State for Minority Affairs. “My heartfelt gratitude to PM Narendra Modi for reposing faith in me to be a member of his council of ministers. I sincerely thank Amit Shahji along with karyakartas and well wishers across India,” Rijiju tweeted on Friday. “For me ‘leadership is not about power and privilege, it is about responsibility’,” he added. Meanwhile, Indian Olympic Association and All India Football Federation congratulated the 47-year-old on his appointment as the Sports Minister. “Indian Olympic Association extends heartiest congratulations to honourable Kiren Rijiju on being appointed as the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry,” tweeted IOA. “Congratulations Kiren Rijiju for being appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Sports Ministry. We look forward to working together to make India a better sporting nation,” said AIFF on its official Twitter handle. Rathore was not inducted in the list of ministers, who took the oath of office and secrecy at the forecourts of Rashtapati Bhawan on Thursday. Rijiju, 47, who is BJP’s face in Northeast, had served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs. Rijiju comes with a small sporting background having participated in the National Games during his college days. He was named the best athlete in his school and college. (PTI)
Neeraj nominated face of the IAAF Global Run-Delhi
New Delhi: Ace Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was Friday nominated as the City Captain by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the second edition of the IAAF Run 24-1 to be held on June 2. Neeraj, who won the gold medal at the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year, is one of the 24 prominent athletes from around the world selected to promote the IAAFs global initiative. In the inaugural edition, former Indian quarter miler Paramjit Singh was named as the City Captain by AFI. After successfully conducting the 24:1 event at New Delhi on June 6 last year, the National capital will once again feature as one among the 24 chosen cities to stage the 24 one-mile run to support the Global Running Day. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has proposed to Territorial Army (TA) that this international event may be considered as a curtain raiser for Territorial Army & Athletics Federation of India Run (TAAFI RUN), the Official National Marathon of India approved by the AFI in partnership with TA. Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat will be the chief guest as he flags off the 1-mile Run at 7:30am at Cariappa Army Parade Ground here in presence of AFI President Adille J Sumariwalla on June 2. More than 12,000 runners had participated in the inaugural IAAF Run 24:1 in 2018 and this year the participation is expected to increase across the 24 host cities. One Mile Run will be held one after other in a series in 24 selected cities across 15 time zones around the world. This 24-Hour event will start from Fiji and conclude in Los Angeles, while travelling across venues such as Vancouver, Toronto, Lima, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Havana, Buenos Aires, Abidjan, Praia, Johannesburg, Nice, Berlin, Minsk, Addis Ababa, Ramallah, Bangkok, Auckland, Melbourne, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, New Delhi and London. (PTI)
