Srikanth hoping to make up for the CWG miss four years ago
CWG ABANDON VISITORS’ DATA MINING AFTER FACEBOOK SCANDAL
His Commonwealth Games debut spoiled by brain fever four years ago, Kidambi Srikanth, now the toast of the nation, is eyeing a maiden medal at the Gold Coast multi-sport extravaganza after a sensational run last season.
Weeks before he was to make his debut at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Srikanth was battling for life in an Intensive Care Unit.
He was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of the Gopichand Academy and later diagnosed with brain fever. He ended up spending about a week in the ICU, giving a mighty scare to his near and dear ones.
But that is history.
Cut to 2018, Srikanth is arguably one of the best sportspersons in the country, walking shoulder to shoulder with the who’s who of the sporting world.
With four titles under his belt, Srikanth swept all the sports awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri, and is considered a hot-favourite for the coveted gold medal at Gold Coast.
“It was some sort of a virus, I don’t even know the name. Nobody even wanted to tell me what happened that day and I don’t remember much,” Srikanth says, recalling the incident in 2014.
“I was playing good enough so I returned and played at the Commonwealth Games but lost to a Singapore guy in the quarters,” he recollects.
NEW DELHI:
A plan to mine data from Commonwealth Games visitors who use free and fast wifi in Australia was abandoned Thursday as a privacy scandal swirls around social media giant Facebook.
The local Gold Coast council is offering a service up to 10 times normal speed after laying new fibre cables to coincide with the multi-sport event next month, which is contested between nations that are members of the Commonwealth. But there was a catch.
To use it, they wanted people to log on through a Facebook account, allowing the council to capture data, which it said would be used to help shape future tourism marketing campaigns.
SYDNEY:
“Now after four years, I think I am much more confident after all the experience of the last one year, so it will be a different experience. Of course, winning a medal at CWG ranks high in my list,” he says.
In less than a fortnight, Srikanth will carry the aspirations of millions on his shoulders as he looks to retain the Commonwealth Games gold medal that Parupalli Kashyap had won for India in Glasgow after 32 long years. Only Prakash Padukone (1978, Edmonton) and Syed Modi (1982, Brisbane) have won gold in badminton at this multi-sport event. But authorities had a re-think after Facebook became embroiled in a snowballing scandal over the hijacking of personal data from millions of its users.
Gold Coast councillor Hermann Vorster said the wifi feature would be amended to allow users to access it without having to log in through the social media platform. “Only today, the Facebook CEO has confirmed that he is investigating privacy issues to do with Facebook and how it manages people’s privacy,” he said in a statement.
“So if Facebook cannot guarantee the security of its users, it is best council takes a cautionary approach and removes this feature from our free wifi. That is what we are doing right now.”
ASAFA LEFT OUT
Former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell was left out of the Jamaica team for next month’s Commonwealth Games because he was injured, the head of the country’s athletics association said.
Powell, who won 100m gold at the last Commonwealth Games to be held in Australia in 2006, had expressed a desire to race on the Gold Coast despite heading towards retirement at the age of 35. The Olympic sprint relay champion was not among the 30 men named earlier this month to take part in the track and field at the April 4-15 Games.
KINGSTON: