General
Awareness Updates – February 2013
Sports
Lance Armstrong admits to doping
Disgraced cycling legend
Lance Armstrong’s fierce defence of his record finally collapsed when he
admitted that his seven Tour de France titles were fueled by an array of drugs.
”I made my decisions. They’re my
mistake,” Mr Armstrong (right) told the U.S. talk show host Oprah Winfrey in
his first interview since he was stripped of his record yellow jersey haul and
banned from sport for life. “And I’m sitting here today to acknowledge that and
to say I’m sorry for that. I view this situation as one big lie that I repeated
a lot of times.”
“Certainly, I’m a flawed
character,” said Mr Armstrong, who was once revered as a cancer survivor who
beat the odds to succeed on cycling’s greatest stage, then used his fame to
help others fighting the disease. “It’s just this mythic, perfect story,” he
said. “And it wasn’t true.”
Ms Winfrey’s much-anticipated
interview opened with a rapid-fire series of “yes” or “no” questions that saw
Mr Armstrong admit to using the blood-booster EPO, blood-doping transfusions
and testosterone and human growth hormone. He said he didn’t believe that in
his years of competition it was possible to win cycling’s greatest races
without performance enhancers. He declined to characterize Italian doctor
Michele Ferrari as the mastermind of the doping program on the US Postal
Service cycling team. He also said he didn’t use banned drugs when he returned
from retirement in 2009, and was clean when he raced in the Tour de France in
2009 and 2010 and insisted he didn’t force team-mates to be involved in doping.
The International Cycling Union
last year upheld the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s ban of Mr Armstrong, and the
revocation of his cycling results from August 1998. This includes a 2000
Olympic time-trial bronze medal officially yanked by the International Olympic
Committee.
Saina rises to 2nd, Kashyap in top 10 of BWF rankings
Olympic
bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal attained a new high as she climbed to a
career-best second in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. She
gained a rung to be second with 80091.7444 points. The Indian is a distant
second to top-placed Olympic champion Li Xuerui of
In the men’s list, Olympic
quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap also headed northwards as he reached a
career-high 10th. He has 51986.6900 points and is the only Indian in the top-25
of the BWF list.
HOCKEY
AI lifts
Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup Hockey Tournament
Air India (AI) lifted the
International Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup Hockey Tournament title by defeating
holders Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) 4-3 in the final. Air
In the third-fourth place play-off
match,
TENNIS
Tipsarevic wins
Chennai Open
World number 9 Janko Tipsarevic of
24-year-old Agut,
ranked 80th in the world, had defeated top seed and defending champion Thomas
Berdych of Czech Replubic in the quarter finals. Tipsarevic had lost to Berdych
in the title clash last year. He had finished as semi-finalists from 2009 to
2011.
In an illustrious career, Claudius
had three Olympic gold medals –
In 1978, Claudius met with tragedy
as he lost his younger son Robert (Bobby) in a fatal road accident. Bobby had
also represented
Born in Bilaspur, Claudius was
conferred with the prestigious Padmashree Award back in 1971. His dribbling as
well as precision passing was work of art and after
