P. T. Usha

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

P. T. Usha
Born	Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha[1] 27 June 1964 (age 48) Payyoli, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Residence	Payyoli, Kozhikode
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Payyoli Express, Golden Girl
Occupation	Athlete
Employer	Indian Railways
Known for	Padma Shri
Spouse	V. Srinivasan
Children	Ujjwal
Parents	Paithal, Lakshmi
Signature
Website
ptusha.org

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha (Malayalam: പിലാവുള്ളകണ്ടി തെക്കേ പറമ്പിൽ ഉഷ) (born June 27, 1964), popularly known as P. T. Usha, is an Indian athlete from the state of Kerala. P. T. Usha has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She is regarded as one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced and is often called the "queen of Indian track and field".^[2] She is nicknamed Payyoli Express. Currently she runs the Usha School of Athletics at Koyilandy in Kerala.

P. T. Usha was born in the village of Payyoli, Kozhikode District, Kerala. In 1976 the Kerala State Government started a Sports School for women, and Usha was chosen to represent her district.

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In 1979 P. T. Usha participated in the National School Games, where she was noticed by O. M. Nambiar, who coached her throughout her career. Her debut in the 1980 Moscow Olympics proved lacklustre. In the 1982 New Delhi Asiad, she got silver medal in the 100 m and the 200 m, but at the Asian Track and Field Championship in Kuwait a year later, Usha took gold in the 400 m with a new Asian record . Between 1983-89, Usha garnered 13 golds at ATF meets. She finished first in the semi-finals of the 400 metres hurdles in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but faltered in the finals. In almost a repeat of Milkha Singh's 1960 feat, there was a nail-biting photo finish for the third place. Usha lost the bronze by 1/100th of a second. She became the first Indian woman (and the fifth Indian) to reach the final of an Olympic event by winning her 400 m hurdles Semi-final.Career

In the 10th Asian Games held at Seoul in 1986, P. T. Usha won 4 gold and 1 silver medal in the track and field events. Here she created new Asian Games records in all the events she participated. She won five golds at the 6th Asian Track and Field Championship at Jakarta in 1985. Her six medals at the same meet is a record for a single athlete in a single international meet.^{[citation needed]}

Usha has won 101 international medals so far. She is employed as an officer in the Southern Railways. In 1985, she was conferred the Padma Shriand the Arjuna award.

[edit]Achievements

Medal record
Women's athletics
Asian Games
Silver	1982 New Delhi	100 metres
Silver	1982 New Delhi	200 metres
Gold	1986 Seoul	200 metres
Gold	1986 Seoul	400 metres
Gold	1986 Seoul	400 metres hurdles
Gold	1986 Seoul	4x400 metres relay
Silver	1986 Seoul	100 metres
Silver	1990 Beijing	400 metres
Silver	1990 Beijing	4x100 metres relay

• National Record at State athletic meet at Kottayam, 1977.
• She captured the limelight as a junior athlete in National Inter State meet at Kollam, 1978.
• Selected to National Squad for the 18th Pakistan National Games in Karachi, 1980.
• Selected to the Moscow Olympics, 1980.
• First Keralite and first Indian woman to reach the final of an Olympic event.
• Youngest Indian sprinter to compete in the quadrennial sporting extravaganza in Moscow Olympics. She was past 16 then.
• Participated in 1982 Delhi Asiad and won the first medal of the games.
• In 1983 Asian Track and Field Meet (re-christened as the Asian championship) at Kuwait, Usha tried out the 400m for the first time. She emerged successful in the one- lapper at an international arena for the first time.
• Her effort of 55.54 seconds in LosAngeles was a record since this was the first time, 400 m hurdles was conducted in the women's section.
• Usha gathered 5 gold medals and one bronze in 1985, at the Jakarta Asian Athletic meet.
• Won four golds in 1986, Seoul Asian games, claiming for herself the title of Asia's sprint queen.
• Following her marriage in 1991, she took a hiatus of 3 years and returned in 1993.
• Participated in Olympic games from 1980, except on 1992, Barcelona Olympics.
• She last participated in Atlanta Olympics, 1996.

[edit]World record

During the 1985 Asian Track and Field Meet at Jakarta, Indonesia, Usha secured 5 gold medals in the 100, 200, and 400 meter sprints, the 400 m hurdles, and the 4 x 400 m relay. She also earned a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 m relay. This is the current record for most gold medals earned by a female in a single track meet.

[edit]Awards and honors

• Recipient of Arjuna Award,1984.
• Greatest women athlete in 1985 Jakarta Asian Athletic Meet.
• Padma Sree in 1984.
• Best Athlete in Asia Award in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989.
• 1986 Seoul Asian Games, won the Adidas Golden Shoe Award for the best athlete
• Thirty International Awards, for her excellence in Athletics.
• Kerala Sports Journalists Award for the year 1999.
• World Trophy for best Athlete 1985, 1986

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Resource: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born	2 October 1869 Porbandar, Kathiawar Agency,British India[1]
Died	30 January 1948 (aged 78) New Delhi, Dominion of India
Cause of death	Assassination by shooting
Nationality	Indian
Other names	Mahatma Gandhi, Bapu, Gandhiji
Spouse	Kasturba Gandhi
Children	Harilal Manilal Ramdas Devdas Child who died in infancy
Signature

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (pronounced: [ˈmoːɦənd̪aːs ˈkərəmtʃənd̪ ˈɡaːnd̪ʱi]; 2 October 1869^] – 30 January 1948), commonly known asMahatma Gandhi, was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.

Son of a senior government official, Gandhi was born and raised in a Hindu Bania community in coastal Gujarat, and trained in law in London. Gandhi became famous by fighting for the civil rights of Muslim and Hindu Indians in South Africa, using the new techniques of non-violent civil disobedience that he developed. Returning to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants to protest excessive land-taxes. A lifelong opponent of "communalism" (i.e. basing politics on religion) he reached out widely to all religious groups. He became a leader of Muslims protesting the declining status of theCaliphate. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, and above all for achieving Swaraj—the independence of India from British domination.

Gandhi led Indians in protesting the national salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in demanding the British to immediately Quit India in 1942, during World War II. He was imprisoned for that and for numerous other political offenses over the years. Gandhi sought to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He saw the villages as the core of the true India and promoted self sufficiency; he did not support the industrialization programs of his disciple Jawaharlal Nehru. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. His political enemy Winston Churchill ridiculed him as a "half-naked fakir."^[4] He was a dedicated vegetarian, and undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and political mobilization.

In his last year, unhappy at the partition of India, Gandhi worked to stop the carnage between Muslims on the one hand and Hindus and Sikhs that raged in the border area between India and Pakistan. He was assassinated on 30 January 1948 by a Hindu nationalist who thought Gandhi was too sympathetic to India's Muslims. 30 January is observed as Martyrs' Day in India. The honourific Mahatma (Sanskrit: mahāt̪mā or "Great Soul", was applied to him by 1914. In India he was also called Bapu (Gujarati: bāpuː or "Father"). He is known in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of Non-Violence. Gandhi's philosophy was not theoretical but one of pragmatism, that is, practicing his principles in real time. Asked to give a message to the people, he would respond, "My life is my message."