Medal mix points to a tectonic shift for India

New champions in diverse sports change narrative

liards champion and director of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), which supports 67 of India’s elite athletes with funding and training. “This is the culmination of the entire eco-system coming together which consists of the government, federations, NGOS, private enterprises, athletes themselves and coaches. Everything is getting professional.”

Sawarn Singh, Bhokanal, Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh’s victory gave India only its second gold from rowing in Asian Games history after Bajrang Lal Takhar clinched the men’s single sculls at Guangzhou 2010. In martial art wushu, India stunned the continent by winning four bronze medals, the men’s regu team won a bronze in sepak takraw (like volleyball, but with the foot).

“It is heartening to see sportspersons from different disciplines winning medals and bringing glory. It is clearly an indication of how much depth we have,” said Pankaj Advani, a former world champion billiards and snooker player who won Asian Games golds in 2006 and 2010.

CONTINUED ON P 10 ››FULL COVERAGE, P16 & P17 MUMBAI: The blaze at two upscale eateries in Kamala Mills claimed 14 lives last December, but several commercial establishments across Mumbai are yet to learn their lesson, as they continue to ignore fire-safety norms and put people’s lives at risk.

Data, which HT obtained from the Mumbai fire department, revealed that 1,479, or 45 per cent, of the restaurants, malls, theatres and basements/godowns inspected for fire-safety norms between January and July were found to be unsafe.the fire brigade inspected 3,264 establishments in all after the Kamala Mills tragedy.

“Non-compliance of fire-safety norms is a hazard to lives. It’s appalling how many establishments are unsafe in case of a fire,” said P Rahangdale, chief fire officer.

While 94 per cent (1,395) of the ‘unsafe’ 1,479 establishments are

eateries, 17 were theatres, 8 were malls and the remaining 59 were basements or godowns. All these establishments were served notices for being unsafe, after which only 489, 33 per cent of those found unsafe, complied with the norms.

As part of the crackdown, the fire brigade even demolished 380 eateries and shut down 36 others in popular nightspots of Bandra and Lower Parel.

CONTINUED ON P 10 ››RELATED REPORT, P4