Kelvin Bryant

Kelvin LeRoy Bryant (born September 26, 1960) is a former American football running back in the National Football League and the United States Football League.
High School.
Bryant played two years of varsity football at Tarboro High School in Tarboro, N.C.. In the 10th grade as a player on the Junior Varsity team he was invited to move up to varsity but endeared himself to his team by choosing to remain with the Junior Varsity squad. His 10th grade team was 8-1, his 11th grade (varsity team) was 6-4 and as a senior the Tarboro Vikings were 10-0 in the regular season claiming the conference championship and ranked number 1 in the state in the 3A classification. A first round playoff defeat ended dreams of a state championship.
College career.
Bryant played college football at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a three-time first-team All-ACC tailback. When he left UNC in 1982 he had 3,267 rushing yards in his career. This was, at the time, the third highest career rushing yard total ever for the Tarheels (fifth most ever as of March 2021). He had three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons from 1980-82. Despite injuries in 1981, he still rushed for 1,015 yards in just seven games. He rushed for more than 100 yards in a game on 19 occasions. In one of the most memorable games in UNC football history, Bryant scored six touchdowns against East Carolina University in 1981. He holds the NCAA record for most touchdowns scored in two and three consecutive games (11 and 15, respectively). He was named one of the ACC's Top 50 players of all-time in 2002.
Professional career.
Bryant was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League in 1983. He rushed for 1,440 yards on 317 carries with 16 touchdowns in his rookie season and was named league MVP and an USFL All-Star. He played in the Championship Game that year but the Stars lost to the Michigan Panthers, 24-22.
In 1984, Bryant rushed for 1,406 yards on 301 carries and ran for 13 touchdowns and was again named to the USFL All-Star team. That season, the Stars won the Championship Game with Bryant as the starting running back.
In 1985, Bryant rushed for 1,207 yards on 238 carries with 12 touchdowns. The Stars had become the Baltimore Stars that season and they again won the Championship Game. He left the USFL the second leading running back in their history.
Bryant was then signed by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. He was a reserve for the Redskins in 1986 and 1987, but he showed flashes of his USFL greatness and became the starting running back in 1988. He had rushed for 498 yards on 108 carries when he suffered an injury which ended his season. He was out in 1989 due to the injury and came back briefly in 1990 before retiring. Bryant scored 14 touchdowns on 154 catches in his NFL career. He was a part of the Redskins' Super Bowl XXII winning team.


John Smith (wrestler)

John William Smith (born August 9, 1965) is an American folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Smith is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, and a six-time world level champion with two Olympic Championships and four World Wrestling Championships.
As of to date, Smith has won more World and Olympic gold medals in wrestling than any other American.
Wrestling career.
College.
Smith attended Oklahoma State University, where he competed in folkstyle wrestling. At Oklahoma State University, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up, and a two-time national champion. Smith's college career record was 154-7-2.
International.
Beginning in his teenage years, Smith competed internationally in freestyle wrestling. Highlights of his career include four UWW world gold medals, and two Olympic gold medals. At the Senior level (ages 20 and up) his international freestyle wrestling record was 100-5. He won 6 consecutive world championships as a competitor.
Coaching career.
Smith became the head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State University in 1991. During his tenure, Oklahoma State University won five NCAA Division I national team titles, with titles coming in 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. As of 2020, his overall dual meet record was 439-65-6. He had also coached 32 NCAA Division I individual national champions, and coached his wrestlers to 140 All-America honors.
Family.
Smith's older brother Lee Roy Smith and younger brother Pat Smith are NCAA Division I national champions. Smith's youngest brother, Mark, was also a successful NCAA Division I wrestler, having placed in the top five nationally three times. Smith's nephews Mark Perry and Chris Perry are also NCAA Division I national champions. His son, Joe Smith, earned NCAA All-American honors twice while wrestling at Oklahoma State under his coaching. His nephew J.T. Realmuto is an all-star Major League Baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies.


Mukhbain Singh

Mukhbain Singh (born 12 December 1944 in village Shatab Garh, Sialkot, West Punjab, Pakistan) is an Olympian (field hockey).
Family background.
Son of S. Darbara Singh and Surinder Kaur, who migrated to Gurdaspur after partition in 1947. Has one brother (international hockey player) and two sisters.
Education.
Passed matriculation from Guru Nanak Khalsa High School Batala, Gurdaspur, Punjab (India).
Early stage.
Started playing hockey in his childhood age. While playing for his school, he was selected in the district team and from there was selected in the Punjab team. After that he joined Indian Railways in 1965 as a sub-inspector (RPF) against sports quota.
International career.
While playing in the Nehru Cup for Railways in 1965, he was selected in the Indian team for test matches against Japan. He officially joined Railways in 1966 and after that he played many international tournaments including the Munich Olympics, where he was the vice-captain of the Indian team. He also played 1970 Asian Games.


Amy Palmiero-Winters

Amy Palmiero-Winters (born August 18, 1972) is a below-knee amputee who currently holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States and the ESPN ESPY Award as the top female athlete with a disability in the world.
Personal life.
Palmiero-Winters was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and competed in track and distance running from a young age. In 1994, she was involved in a motorcycle accident which crushed her left leg. After three years and twenty-five surgeries, her leg was amputated below the knee. She would not be able to run at all until three years after the amputation.
Early running career.
In 2004, Palmiero-Winters entered the Silver Strand Marathon. Despite being five months pregnant and running on a prosthetic leg only meant for walking, she finished second in her division. She entered the 2005 New York City Triathlon the following summer, still using a walking prosthesis as well as a bike borrowed from her employer, and placed third in her division.
At this point, Palmiero-Winters decided to engage in running on a more serious level. After obtaining a highly customized prosthetic leg from A Step Ahead Prosthetics in Hicksville, NY, she decided to relocate to New York in order to become a member of Team A Step Ahead, a group of amputee athletes professionally coached and sponsored by A Step Ahead Prosthetics.
By May 2006, Palmiero-Winters had been training extensively and, with a new prosthetic, she ran the New York City Marathon in 3:24 and broke the world record for a below-knee female amputee by more than twenty-five minutes. She followed this up by running the 2006 Chicago Marathon in 3:04, which stands as the best marathon time for a below-knee amputee, male or female.
Ultramarathons.
By 2009, Palmiero-Winters had decided to switch from marathons to the more demanding ultramarathons, which are races longer than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. She would run ten ultramarathons between 2009 and 2010, finishing first in the female division at the Heartland 100 Mile in October 2009 and finishing first overall at the Arizona Road Racers Run to the Future twenty-four-hour race on December 31, 2009 by running 130.4 miles during the allotted time. It was the first time an amputee had won an ultramarathon.
After this performance, Palmiero-Winters was named to the US ultrarunning team for the IAU 24-Hour Ultramarathon World Championships in Brive, France. It was the first time an amputee had been named to a United States able-bodied championship team. On May 17, 2010, she finished 18th in the female division at the World Championships, running 123.99 miles.
Palmiero-Winters' next race was the Western States Endurance Run on June 26, 2010. She became the first amputee to finish the 100-mile race. By finishing in 27:43:10, she received the bronze buckle presented to runners who finish in under thirty hours.
In 2011 Palmiero-Winters became the first female amputee to finish the Badwater Ultramarathon. She had a finish time of 41:26:42.
In 2019 she became the first female amputee to finish the Marathon Des Sables.
Paratriathlon.
Palmario-Winters won her classification at the International Triathlon Union Paratriathlon World Championships in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, Palmiero-Winters was the first athlete was a physical disability invited to race in the elite able-bodied division of the NYC Triathlon.
In 2014, Palmiero-Winters became the first amputee, male or female, to complete the Ultraman triathlon, a 3-day, 320 mile race.
Awards.
Palmiero-Winters was named USA Triathlon's Female Physically Challenged Athlete of the Year in 2006. She was awarded the 2009 AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the best amateur athlete in the country and also won ESPN's 2010 ESPY award as the top female athlete with a disability. In 2009, she was also named the director of Team A Step Ahead.


Brad Van Pelt

Brad Alan Van Pelt (April 5, 1951 – February 17, 2009) was an American football linebacker who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). A two-time All-American (1971, 1972) and the 1972 Maxwell Award winner as college football's best player, he was drafted by the New York Giants, earning five Pro Bowl selections during his ten years with the team. He rounded out his career with the Los Angeles Raiders from 1984 to 1985 and the Cleveland Browns in 1986. Van Pelt is the father of former Denver Broncos and Houston Texans quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt.
Early years.
Van Pelt attended Owosso High School, which was a member of the Big Nine Conference in Owosso, Michigan. Dean Howe covered high school sports for the Flint Journal and recalled an incident involving Van Pelt:
"He was like a man among boys. He was about 6-5, 220. One night, his coach from Owosso called in and said he got 32 rebounds in a game. I didn't put that in the paper. I didn't believe that. So, the next game I went out when they played Davison and I just counted his rebounds and he got (42). He was just so dominant."
In 1969 he was named all-state as a quarterback and first-team all-league in basketball, baseball and two ways in football. The Detroit Tigers and California Angels tried to sign Van Pelt directly out of high school, but he declined.
College career.
He played college football at nearby Michigan State University where he was a two-time All-American at safety, in 1971 and 1972 and also won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player, the first time a defensive back won the award. He was also named Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year and Columbus Touchdown Club Defensive Player of the Year. His career coincided with the last three years of the tenure of legendary Spartans coach Duffy Daugherty.
In his college career, Van Pelt had fourteen interceptions returning two of them for touchdowns. He followed his senior season playing in the East-West Shrine Game, the Hula Bowl, and the College All-Star Game. Van Pelt also played basketball and baseball at MSU, earning a total of seven varsity letters.
Professional career.
As a member of the Giants, Van Pelt was a member of the Crunch Bunch, a team of fierce linebackers composed of Van Pelt, Brian Kelley, Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson. The group is widely considered one of the best linebacking combos in NFL history. He was also named the player of the decade for the 1970s by the Giants.
During his 11-year career with the franchise, the Giants posted a winning record only once, in 1981, when New York reached the playoffs for the only time in a 20-year stretch between 1964 and 1983. Van Pelt also has the unusual distinction of playing for the franchise in four different home stadiums: Yankee Stadium, the Yale Bowl, Shea Stadium, and Giants Stadium. He also played for five Giants head coaches: Alex Webster, Bill Arnsparger, John McVay, Ray Perkins, and Bill Parcells.
Van Pelt wore number 10 with the Giants, his college number, even though the NFL instituted a jersey numbering system for the 1973 season, which then limited linebackers entering the league to numbers 50 through 59. He was allowed to wear 10 because he was the backup kicker in his rookie year. Van Pelt wore number 91 with the Raiders and wore number 50 with the Browns.
Post NFL.
In addition to being teammates, the four Crunch Bunch members were close friends. They knew each other longer as buddies than as players and frequently talked on the phone, played golf and attended memorabilia signing events. Van Pelt was quoted in 2004:
"I feel as comfortable with (Carson, Kelley and Taylor) as I do with my brothers. Obviously, your brothers are your brothers. But these three are probably the closest thing to them. Brian and I played 11 years together. I played nine with Harry. Lawrence being the guy (he is), it didn't take long for him to fit right in and become one of the guys. I can't really explain why but they're the only three I stay close with."
The Crunch Bunch went to Puebla, Mexico on October 26, 2004, to promote Habitat for Humanity and assist 3,000 volunteers who were building 150 houses. While there, they met and talked with former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.
Van Pelt went back to school to complete coursework for his degree in 1998 and in 2000, he was elected to the Sports Hall of Fame at Michigan State University. In 2001, Van Pelt was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the class with Steve Young. He was nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005, but was not elected. In 2009, Van Pelt was inducted into the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame. He participated in the 48th East-West Shrine Game in 1972. The year before his death, he and his fiancée, Deanna, purchased a home in Harrison, Michigan, where his two brothers and mother reside. They spent most of their time there.
Van Pelt was inducted into the New York Giants Ring of Honor during the 2011 season at halftime in a game between the Giants and the Green Bay Packers.
Death.
On February 17, 2009, Van Pelt was found by his longtime fiancée, slumped in a chair, dead from an apparent heart attack. He was 57 and had no known heart condition; but his father had died at an early age from heart problems.
Van Pelt's death was a shock to the Crunch Bunch. Harry Carson commented, "I am just so glad that I got to know the man more so than the athlete." Brian Kelley stated:
"It was total devastation. I've known Brad since '73 -- 36 years. I've known him longer than my wife and my kids. Football was 11 years of our life. We had 25 other years when we were together, did things together and still are doing them together, us and LT and Harry Carson.
It's sort of like losing a limb because the four of us are so close. To lose one of us is tough. It's even tough to believe it happened. ... I'm just going to miss him, miss seeing him at Giants games, miss him calling me about stupid stuff."


Kavita Chahal

Kavita Chahal (born 8 April 1985) is a 5' 9" tall heavyweight Indian female boxer and recipient of the highest world ranking 2 from 2012 to 2014 (AIBA Ranking - 11 in 2016) from the village Nimri which resides in the Bhiwani district, Haryana. In recognition of her achievements, the Government of India presented Chahal with the Arjuna Award in 2013. Chahal is the first female boxer from Haryana to be presented with the Arjuna Award. Chahal is a twice-consecutive World Championship medallist, 3 Time Gold medalist in World Police Games. 4-Time Asian championship, Asian cup medallist. With 9 gold medals, she is a record holder in women's national championship boxing. She is a 5-time gold medallist in the Federation Cup, and 7-times Gold medalist in all india police games 2012 to 2018. Chahal 3-time gold medallist in the Inter-zonal Super Cup championship.
Early life.
Kavita was born to Sh. Bhup Singh and Ramesh Devi on 8 April 1985 at Nimri in the Bhiwani district of Haryana (India). Bhiwani is a well-known area in national boxing and also known for the amateur-turned professional boxer Vijender Singh.
Her initial training at boxing was handled by her father Bhup Singh, also a boxer. Once she had progressed, she then went on to train at the Bhiwani Boxing Club under the coach Jagdish Singh, who also handles the training of the Indian Ace Male Pugilist.
After winning medals and accolades for her state, and India, she went on to also become the first female boxer of Haryana state to be presented with the Arjun Award in 2013.


Dan Jansen

Daniel Erwin Jansen (born June 17, 1965) is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which was the 1,000 meters in the 1994 Winter Games.
Early career.
Dan Jansen is the youngest of nine children born to Geraldine (née Grajek) Jansen (1928–2017) a nurse, and Harry Jansen (1928–2015), who retired from the police department as a lieutenant detective. His family is Roman Catholic. He has three sisters who are nurses. Two of his four brothers are police officers and one is a firefighter. He graduated from West Allis Central High School. Inspired by his sister Jane (1960–1988), he took up speed skating while growing up. He set a junior world record in the 500-meter race at age 16, and finished 16th in the 1,000 meters and fourth in the 500 meters at the 1984 Winter Olympics.
Competitive history.
In 1988, Jansen became the World Sprint Champion before BBC heading to the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he was a favorite for the 500- and 1,000-meter races. In the early hours of February 14, the day of the 500-meter event, Jansen was informed that his 27-year-old sister, Mrs. Jane Marie Beres, was dying of leukemia. Jansen spoke to her on the phone but was unable to receive a response. A few hours later, Jansen was notified of his sister's death.
Jansen went on to compete in the 500-meter race that afternoon but fell in the first turn. Four days later in the 1,000-meter event, he began with record-breaking speed but fell again, just past the 800-meter mark. He left the 1988 Olympics with no medals but became the recipient of the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award for his valiant efforts. In the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, he finished fourth in the 500 meters and 26th in the 1,000 meters, and left the games with no medals. In 1993, Jansen set a world record in the 500-meter event and was cast as a favorite to win the gold medal in the event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
Between the 1992 and 1994 Olympics, Jansen was the only skater to break 36 seconds in the 500 meters, doing so four times. In 1994, Jansen won his second World Sprint Championship title, and he arrived at the 1994 Winter Olympics for one final attempt at an Olympic medal.
In the 500-meter event, he finished eighth. In preparation for the 1,000-meter event, he was coached by Peter Mueller, who won the same event in the 1976 Winter Olympics. Jansen defied expectations and finished first, winning his first and only Olympic medal of his career, while setting a new world record in the process. He received the 1994 James E. Sullivan Award and was chosen by his fellow Olympians to bear the U.S. flag at the closing ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympics. He was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.
Personal life.
Jansen has two daughters, Jane (named after his sister) and Olivia, from his marriage to first wife Robin Wicker. After separating from his wife, he was in a relationship with Christine Rosa. His second wife, Karen Palacios, is a top golf teaching professional. He was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2004. Today, Dan Jansen is a speed skating commentator for NBC, and, from 2005 to 2007, he was the skating coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.
In memory of his sister Jane, he established the Dan Jansen Foundation with the purpose of fighting leukemia. He is an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Records.
World records.
Over the course of his career, Jansen set eight world records in speed skating:


Stan Holmes

Stanley Craig Holmes (February 1, 1960 – February 28, 2011) was an American college and minor league baseball outfielder who is most notable for winning the College World Series MVP award in 1981.
Holmes was born in Dos Palos, California, where in high school one of his baseball teammates was future major leaguer Dave Henderson. Holmes played college baseball at Arizona State University and won the Most Outstanding Player award at the 1981 College World Series as a senior. He is one of five players from Arizona State University to win that award. The others are Sal Bando, John Dolinsek, Bob Horner and Ron Davini.
Minor league career.
Holmes was drafted by big league teams twice. In 1980, he was selected in the 19th round by the Seattle Mariners and chose not to sign with them. He played for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1980. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the eighth round of the 1981 draft and signed with them. He played professionally until 1989, never reaching the majors. Although he began his professional career as an outfielder, he also spent a considerable amount of time playing first base and third base.
In his first professional season, 1981, he played for the Wisconsin Rapids Twins. In 182 at-bats he hit .291 with seven home runs and 38 RBI. He played for the Orlando Twins in 1982, hitting .250 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 80 at-bats. Playing for the Visalia Oaks in 1983, Holmes had perhaps the best year of his professional career when he hit .302 with 37 home runs and 115 RBI in 500 at-bats. He won the California League MVP Award that season. Still with Orlando in 1984, he hit .280 with 25 home runs and 101 RBI in 507 at-bats. In 1985, playing for both the Orlando Twins and Toledo Mud Hens, he hit a combined .235 with 11 home runs and 46 RBI in 340 at-bats. In 1986, he again played for Orlando and Toledo, hitting a combined .244 with 15 home runs and 60 RBI in 315 at-bats.
From 1987 to 1989, he played in the California Angels organization. In 1987, he played for the Midland Angels, hitting .309 with 30 home runs and 106 RBI in 517 at-bats. While playing for the Edmonton Trappers in 1988, he slumped and hit only .254 with 14 home runs and 62 RBI in 331 at-bats. He again played for the Trappers in 1989, hitting .158 in 38 at-bats. He finished up his career with the Huntsville Stars, hitting .167 in 48 at-bats.
Overall, Holmes hit .273 with 143 home runs and 545 RBI in 2858 at-bats. He also pitched in ten games, posting a 5.06 ERA.
Holmes died in February 2011, of complications from liver and kidney failure.


Leslie Fernandez (field hockey)

Leslie Fernandez is a railway worker and former Indian national field hockey goalie. He served as a goalkeeper in the Indian national hockey team which won the gold medal in the 1975 Hockey World Cup.
and he was educated at Campion Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School in Tiruchirappalli. He blocked Pakistan's winning goal in the final minutes of the game winning India a gold medal. In tribute, he donated it to the church. He lives in Madras currently with his family.


Spencer Eccles

Spencer Fox Eccles (born August 24, 1934, Ogden, Utah) is a prominent financier and philanthropist in Salt Lake City, Utah and chairman emeritus of the Intermountain Region of Wells Fargo Corporation. From 1982 to 2000, he was chairman and chief executive officer of First Security Corporation of Salt Lake City, which was, until its sale to Wells Fargo in 2000, the largest banking organization in the Mountain West measured by assets, deposits and market capitalization.
Biography.
Eccles is the son of Spencer Stoddard Eccles and Pauline Hope Fox and the grandson of Ellen Stoddard and David Eccles, a Utah banker and industrialist. He earned a Bachelor of Science in finance in 1956 from the University of Utah, where he was also a member of Beta Theta Pi, and a master of business administration in 1958 from Columbia University School of Business. Eccles is the nephew of both George S. Eccles and Marriner Stoddard Eccles.
In addition to his role at First Security, Eccles has also been a director of the Union Pacific Railroad, Intermountain Health Care, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the National Chamber of Commerce, the ZCMI Corporation, the Anderson Lumber Company, Amalgamated Sugar, the Alta Ski Corporation, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and the National Parks Foundation. He was a member of the three-person executive committee of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee and, in recognition of his critical contribution to the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake, was appointed mayor of the Olympic Village during the games and received the Pierre de Coubertin medal from the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic movement's highest honor.
Family.
The Eccles family is noted for its philanthropy in the West, and Eccles is actively involved in many of the various Eccles family foundations, including as chairman of the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, the largest philanthropic foundation in Utah, president of the Eccles Family Foundation, which he founded, and of the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation, and trustee of the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. Utah news organizations have identified Eccles as one of the handful of most influential people in the state, along with the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Governor, and Orrin Hatch, the state's senior senator.
External links.


NBL Canada Canadian of the Year Award

The National Basketball League of Canada's Canadian of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) award given since the 2011–12 season. Three of the first four players to been named Canadian of the Year had competed with the Rainmen in that season.


Outstanding Live Sports Special

The Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Special has been awarded since 1976. It is awarded to a network for their coverage of one specific sporting event in a calendar year, which means it should not be confused with the award for Outstanding Live Sports Series.


Anuja Chandra-Thakur

Anuja Chandra-Thakur (born 1983) is an Indian amateur player of snooker and English billiards.
She won the WLBSA Ladies World Billiards Championship title in April 2005, in a 243–136 victory over Lynette Horsburgh of Scotland, and reached the semi-final at the 2006 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Amman, Jordan, where she was eliminated by In Wan-ip 4–2.
Thakur is a native of Mumbai, Maharashtra. She has won several state and national championships in both snooker and billiards. Her sister, Meenal Thakur, is also a player in both disciplines. Anuja is married to Manan Chandra, another Indian amateur billiards player.
Titles and achievements.
Snooker
English billiards


Basketball Champions League Final Four MVP

The Basketball Champions League Final Four MVP award is presented to the basketball player who has exhibited the most exceptional play during the Basketball Champions League Final Four.
The award is given out by FIBA, and it began with the Basketball Champions League's inaugural 2016–17 season.


Ram Kumar (basketball)

Ram Kumar (born 4 February 1964) is a former Indian basketball player and coach of the junior Indian team. He is currently the coach of the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala team, and has been a long-standing coach of the Indian Railways men's team. He played for India during 1985 to 1996 and represented the Indian national basketball team at several international championships. He also served as the captain of Indian national basketball team from 1991 to 1995. He played the position of shooting guard. In the National Championships, Ram Kumar represented Indian Railways and during his playing days, Indian Railways won eight Gold, three Silver, and three Bronze medals. Ram Kumar is the son of former basketball player Khushi Ram, an Arjuna awardee and the brother of Ashok Kumar, also an India international player. Considered India's best all-time shooter, he is the 2003 recipient of India's highest sporting honor, the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement in sports.
Career.
He started his career in the year 1983, when he played his first National Championship at Calicut. Ram Kumar first joined income tax department in Jaipur and later moved to Western Railway in the year 1987. He followed his father Khushi Ram's footsteps and became a basketball player. He was honoured by prestigious Dhyan Chand Award in the year 2003 and also "Maharana Pratap Award" in the year 1989 for being the best sportsman of Rajasthan. Kumar was top scorer at many national and international championships for India. His younger brother Ashok Kumar was also former international basketball player and former India captain.
Kumar after his retirement in 2003 is serving as the coach of "Indian Railways Basketball Team" and has also coached India Junior Basketball Team in year 2003 and 2004 that played at Kuwait and Bangladesh where the Indian team won silver medal. He is currently working as a Senior Sports Officer at Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala. In 2010, he was the coach of Indian team that won the Asia zone qualifying round for the 21st "FIBA Asia Cup Basketball Championship" to be held at Yemen and coached the Under-18 Indian National Basketball Team at Junior Asian Basketball Championship held at Tehran in 2004 .


Stephanie Gilmore

Stephanie Louise Gilmore is an Australian professional surfer and seven-time world champion on the Women's WSL World Tour (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018). She was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia on 29 January 1988 and currently resides in Kingscliff, New South Wales, Australia.
Career.
Gilmore's life as a surfer began at age 10 when she stood on a bodyboard. By age 17 she was entering world tour events as a wild card competitor, which paid off with a victory at the 2005 Roxy Pro Gold Coast. In her next season she won another wild card event, the 2006 Havaianas Beachley Classic. Gilmore's success on the WQS (World Qualifying Series) tour qualified her for the 2007 Women's ASP World Tour and she did not disappoint. She won four of the eight events and claimed the 2007 World Title. She would repeat her success in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018.
Gilmore also won the inaugural Swatch Girls Pro France in 2010. Also in 2010, she was inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame and won the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the year award.
Gilmore is currently the top athlete on the ROXY Surf Team. In 2014, Gilmore starred in a feature length documentary titled Stephanie in the Water.
2007 World Title.
Although the 2007 season was Gilmore's rookie year, she captured the Foster's ASP Women's World Title. She won three events in 2007 to enter the final event of the season, the Billabong Pro Maui, ranked in first place; when the other contenders - former world champion Sofia Mulanovich and sophomore Silvana Lima - bowed out before her, she won the title.


Cornelius Warmerdam

Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam (June 22, 1915 – November 13, 2001) was an American pole vaulter who held the world record between 1940 and 1957. He missed the Olympics due to World War II, and retired from senior competitions in 1944, though he continued to vault into his sixties. He was inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame in 1974.
Warmerdam was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Dutch emigrants Adrianus and Gertrude Warmerdam. He grew up in Hanford, California. Because of his ancestry he was more commonly known to both friends and, later, to the media as "Dutch".
Warmerdam got his start in pole vaulting in his backyard using the limb of a peach tree and landing in a pit of piled up dirt. He was discovered by the local track coach and vaulted for Hanford High School until his graduation in 1932, after which he attended and vaulted for Fresno State University.
Vaulting throughout his career with a bamboo pole, Warmerdam was the first vaulter to clear 15 feet (4.57 m), accomplishing that feat at UC Berkeley on April 13, 1940. However, that achievement was not ratified for a world record, and his later vault of 4.60 m on June 29, 1940 was the first ratified jump over 15 feet. During his career, Warmerdam vaulted 15 feet 43 times in competition, while no other vaulter cleared the mark a single time. Warmerdam surpassed the pole vault record seven times in a four-year span, and three of those marks were ratified as world records. His highest outdoor vault was 15' 7-3/4" (4.77 m), achieved at the Modesto Relays in 1942, a record which stood until 1957 when Bob Gutowski broke the mark using a metal pole. Warmerdam won the James E. Sullivan Award in 1942, but was never able to compete in the Olympics because the 1940 and 1944 games were cancelled due to World War II, and by 1948 he was coaching professionally and therefore ineligible. However, he continued competing as an early practitioner of Masters athletics. He still is ranked in the world all-time top ten list in the M60 Decathlon.
Warmerdam went on to coach track and field at Fresno State University until his retirement in 1980. His team won the second NCAA Men's Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships, essentially at home at Ratcliffe Stadium. Fresno State named its track stadium Warmerdam Field in his honor. Dutch is a member of several halls of fame, including the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and the Millrose Games Hall of Fame.
Warmerdam married Juanita Anderson on August 29, 1940, and they were married for 61 years until Dutch's death in Fresno, California, from Alzheimer's in 2001. Juanita continued to live in Fresno until her death on Valentine's Day in 2006. They left behind five children (Mark, Greg, Gloria, David, and Barry) and twenty grandchildren.


Glenn Robinson

Glenn Alan Robinson Jr. (born January 10, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed Big Dog, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1994 to 2005 for the Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and San Antonio Spurs. Robinson attended Purdue University, was the first overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, and is the father of Glenn Robinson III, who played college basketball at the University of Michigan and plays in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings.
Early life.
Robinson was born to Christine Bridgeman in Gary, Indiana. With his mother being an unmarried teenager, Robinson rarely saw his father. Not receiving the best grades at school, his mother once pulled him off the basketball team, and he took a job at an air-conditioning and refrigeration shop.
High school career.
Robinson attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Gary, where he started playing organized basketball during the 9th grade. He was a member of three IHSAA Sectional title teams, two Regional title teams and a State Championship team. During his senior season (1990–91), he led the Panthers to an Indiana state basketball championship, winning the final game against Brebeuf Jesuit and their star Alan Henderson; this highly anticipated showdown was captured in "The Road to Indianapolis". and "Indiana High School Basketball 20 Most Dominant Players". Robinson won the 1991 Indiana Mr. Basketball award, the oldest such award in the nation (inaugurated in 1939). He was selected as a McDonald's All-American and along with Chris Webber was one of the MVPs of the Dapper Dan Roundball classic.
College career.
1991–1993.
After high school, Robinson attended Purdue University to play under head coach Gene Keady and his recruiter/assistant coach Frank Kendrick. A school custodian gave him the nickname of "Big Dog" before he played a game for Purdue. Robinson subsequently got a tattoo of a "snarling bulldog wearing a spiked collar" on his chest.
Due to struggles with NCAA eligibility, resulting from Proposition 48 which requires minimum academic standards, he had to redshirt for his freshman season. He worked as a welder during the summers while at Purdue.
Eligible for his sophomore season, Robinson led the Boilermakers with 24.1 points and 9.4 rebounds a game in his first season as a Boilermaker. He led them to an 18–10 record in the regular season and an NCAA tournament appearance. He received First Team All-Big Ten and Second Team All-American honors.
1993–1994.
In his junior season, Robinson built upon his previous season's averages with 30.3 points and 11.2 rebounds a game, while becoming the first player since 1978 to lead the Big Ten Conference in both categories. Along with teammates Cuonzo Martin and Matt Waddell, he led the Boilermakers to a Big Ten Conference Title and an Elite Eight appearance, finishing the season with a 29–5 record and a 3rd overall ranking. In his last college game against a Grant Hill-led Duke team in the NCAA Tournament, Robinson was held to only 13 points, his season low, while suffering from a back strain he sustained against Kansas in the prior game. Leading the nation in scoring and becoming the conference's all-time single season points leader with 1,030 points, Robinson was unanimously selected as the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year. He also unanimously received the John R. Wooden Award and Naismith Award, the first national player of the year-honored Boilermaker since John Wooden himself did it in 1932 (who also wore the jersey #13). Robinson also was the recipient for the USBWA College Player of the Year.
College notes.
Robinson left Purdue after becoming the only Boilermaker to have more than 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 steals, 100 assists and 50 blocked shots in a career during his two seasons at Purdue, along with a school weightlifting record with a 309-pound clean-and-jerk. His 1,030 points during his junior year made him only the 15th player in college history to score 1,000 points in a season. In September 2010, the Big Ten Network named Robinson Icon No. 35 on its list of the biggest icons in Big Ten Conference history.
Purdue's campus bookstores sold T-shirts featuring Robinson's image and his nickname "Big Dog" before Robinson complained and they discontinued the practice.
Professional career.
Milwaukee Bucks (1994–2002).
Robinson was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, the first Boilermaker to be selected as the first pick since Joe Barry Carroll in 1980.
At the draft, Robinson wore a gold suit and black alligator slip-ons. Before he could take the court, he and the Bucks became involved in a contract holdout that lasted until the beginning of training camp after it was rumored that he desired a 13-year, $100 million contract. Robinson eventually signed a rookie-record 10-year, $68 million deal that stands as the richest NBA rookie contract, as a salary cap for rookies was implemented the following season. During his first year in the NBA, Robinson was twice named the Schick NBA Rookie of the Month and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team after leading all rookies with an average of 21.9 points per game. Robinson finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Grant Hill and Jason Kidd, who shared the award, but was named Rookie Of The Year by "Basketball Digest" magazine. While playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, Robinson recorded some of the best statistical seasons in franchise history. Early in his career, Robinson shared the frontcourt with teammate and All-Star Vin Baker. After Baker departed, he teamed with Ray Allen and Sam Cassell, and helped lead the Bucks to the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers. Robinson was the second place all-time leading scorer in Milwaukee Bucks history, only trailing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until surpassed by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Robinson averaged at least 20 points per game in seven of his eight seasons in Milwaukee. He made back-to-back NBA All-Star Team appearances in 2000 and 2001.
Atlanta Hawks (2002–2003).
Robinson was traded by Milwaukee to the Atlanta Hawks for Toni Kukoč, Leon Smith, and a 2003 first-round pick on August 2, 2002. In Robinson's debut as a Hawk in the season opener, he scored 34 points, had 10 rebounds and 8 assists against the New Jersey Nets. During the 2002–03 season, he averaged 20.8 points a game and shot a personal-best 87.6 percent from the free throw line.
Philadelphia 76ers (2003–2004).
After a year in Atlanta, he was traded on July 23, 2003 with a 2006 second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in a four-team deal. In his tenth overall and only season playing with the Sixers, Robinson averaged 16.6 points and 1 steal per game as second scoring option to teammate, Allen Iverson. After his year in Philadelphia during the 2003–04 season, Robinson did not play a game for the 76ers in 2004–05, largely due to an injury. On February 24, 2005, he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for forwards Rodney Rogers and Jamal Mashburn. Robinson was waived by the team almost immediately and never suited up for them.
San Antonio Spurs (2005).
Robinson signed with the San Antonio Spurs on April 4, 2005 to establish an additional veteran shooting presence as the team prepared for the playoffs. As a role player in the 2005 playoffs, Robinson helped the Spurs win the championship. The games in the NBA Finals would be Robinson's last in the NBA, capping off his 11-year career with a title.
Robinson was forced to retire due to injuries, particularly to his knees. He finished his career with 14,234 career points, averaging 20.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game, also playing in two league all-star games.
National team career.
Robinson was selected for the 1996 U.S. Olympic basketball team, but was unable to play because of injury. He was replaced by Gary Payton.
Personal life.
His oldest son, Glenn III, played basketball for the University of Michigan and started for the national runner-up 2012–13 team. Following the 2012–13 Big Ten season he was an honorable mention All-conference selection and All-freshman honoree by the coaches. Glenn III currently plays in the NBA for the Sacramento Kings.
His younger son, Gelen (class of 2014), is the 2013 Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) wrestling champion, the 2013 IHSAA shot put runner-up, the 2013 IHSAA discus runner-up, and a repeat (2012 and 2013) winner of "The Times of Northwest Indiana" Football Defensive Player of the Year and as a result the 2012–13 Times of Northwest Indiana Athlete of the Year. Gelen played for the Purdue University football team and signed with the CFL BC Lions in 2018.
Robinson also has a daughter named Jaimie who competes in track and field.


Saikhom Mirabai Chanu

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (born 8 August 1994) is an Indian weightlifter. A regular presence in international events since 2014 in the 48 kg category, Chanu has won the World Championships and multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contributions to the sport. She was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards by the Government of India for year 2018.
Chanu had won the silver medal in the women's 48 kg weight class at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow; she went on to break the games record en route to the gold medal at the 2018 edition of the event held in Gold Coast. Her biggest achievement came in 2017, when she won the gold medal at World Weightlifting Championships held in Anaheim, United States.
Early life.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was born on 8 August 1994 in Nongpok Kakching, Imphal, Manipur. Her family identified her strength from an early age when she was just 12. She could easily carry huge bundle of firewood to her home which her elder brother found it hard to even pick up.
Career.
Chanu's first major breakthrough game at the Glasgow edition of the Commonwealth Games; she won the silver medal in the 48 kg weight category.
Chanu qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women's 48 kg category. However, she failed to finish the event as she failed to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in clean & jerk section. In 2017, she won the Gold medal in the Women's 48 kg category by lifting a competition record 194 kg in total (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean & jerk) in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships held at Anaheim, CA, United States.
Chanu lifted a total of 196 kg, 86 kg in Snatch and 110 kg in Clean and Jerk to win the first gold medal for India in the Commonwealth Games 2018. En route to the medal, she broke the games record for the weight category; the effort also marked her personal best performance. She won Bronze in Clean and Jerk at 49 kg Category in 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships. The total weight of 199 kg was her best ever and she just missed out on a bronze medal as her Snatch weight was lower than the third place athlete, both of whom had an identical total.
At the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, Mirabai lifted a total of 201kgs (87kgs Snatch and 114kgs Clean & Jerk) to finish 4th. This personal best total also created a new national record in the 49kg category. She broke her personal record again four months later when she lifted 203kgs (88kgs in Snatch and 115kg in Clean & Jerk,) in the 49kg category to win the gold medal at the 2020 Senior National Weightlifting Championships.
Awards.
Chanu was felicitated by the Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, who presented her with a cash prize of 2 million. She received India's highest civilian sports honour Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 2018. In 2018, Chanu was awarded with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.


Anupama Gokhale

Anupama Gokhale (born Anupama Abhyankar, 17 May 1969) is an Indian chess player. She won the Indian Women's Championship five times (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1997) and the Asian Women's Championship twice (1985 and 1987). In 1985 she was also joint winner, with Malaysian player Audrey Wong, of the Asian Junior Girls' Championship in Adelaide. This achievement automatically earned both players the title of Woman International Master (WIM).
She played for the Indian national team in three Women's Chess Olympiads (1988, 1990 and 1992) and two Women's Asian Team Chess Championships (2003 and 2005), winning the team silver medal in the latter event in 2005.
Gokhale was the recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 1986 and the Arjuna Award in 1990. She is the youngest Padma Shri awardee, being only 16 years old when she received it.
She is married to Dronacharya Award winner Raghunandan Gokhale, a chess player himself. She works for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.


Christine Ohuruogu

Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu, MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion.
The Olympic champion in 2008, and silver medalist in 2012, she is a double World Champion, having won the 400 m at the 2007 and 2013 World Championships. She has also won six World championship medals in the women's 4 x 400m relay as part of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team (three awarded following disqualification for doping for other athletes) and bronze Olympic medals with the women's 4 x 400m relay at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2016 Rio Games, her final Olympics. Ohuruogu shares with Merlene Ottey and Usain Bolt the record for medalling in most successive global championships - 9 between the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Ohuruogu's personal best time of 49.41 seconds, set at the 2013 World Championships, beat the UK record set by Kathy Cook in 1984 by 0.02 seconds, simultaneously making her the first British female to win two World Championship titles, and the first British female to win three global titles (both achievements retrospectively moved to Jessica Ennis following her promotion to gold in the 2011 World Championships). Her relay bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics made her only the second British track and field athlete, after Steve Backley to win medals at three successive Olympic Games. She is coached by Lloyd Cowan.
Biography.
Born to Igbo Nigerian parents in Newham, east London, she was raised less than one mile from the 2012 Summer Olympics stadium in Stratford. She competed for Newham in the London Youth Games at both netball and athletics. She was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2009. Ohuruogu studied at University College London, where she graduated in Linguistics in 2005. She also played netball during her undergraduate studies. She has eight siblings, one of whom is Victoria Ohuruogu, a sprints competitor. She attended St. Edward's Church of England School, Romford and Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green. She resumed her education in 2017 when she started a two-year law degree course at Queen Mary University of London.
Ohuruogu is a member of Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club.
She was appointed MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours, and conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of East London.
She is the author of the "Camp Gold" series of children's books about an elite training school for budding athletes.
Athletics career.
In 2003 Ohuruogu was a bronze medallist at 400 m at the European Junior Championships. She became the AAA champion in the 400 m in 2004, was a semi-finalist in the 400 m at the Athens Olympics of 2004, also taking part in the 4 x 400 m relay team that finished 4th. In the 2005 European Under 23 Championships she took the silver medal, losing individual gold by a hundredth of a second. She also won silver in the 4 x 400 m relay.
After reaching the semi-final at the 400 m at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics she won a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 400 m relay together with Lee McConnell, Donna Fraser and Nicola Sanders.
Ohuruogu won a gold medal for England in the 400 m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in a personal best time of 50.28 seconds, beating favourite Tonique Williams-Darling in both the semi-final and the final.
She was banned for a year for missing three out-of-competition drug tests; one in October 2005 and then a further two in June 2006.
Within 24 days of the end of her year-long competition suspension she returned to win the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Fellow British athlete, Nicola Sanders won silver with Novlene Williams of Jamaica third. Ohuruogu won all three of her individual races at the world championships – her heat, her semi-final and the final.
2006.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Ohuruogu missed out on a gold medal due to a mix-up caused by other members of her team. She ran the final leg in the 4 x 400 m relay for England, where the team finished over a second ahead of Australia, with Ohuruogu pulling away at the end. However, after the race the Australians were awarded the gold medal, after they protested that the English team had breached IAAF Rule 170 earlier in the race, when Danvers-Smith changed position with Tamsyn Lewis. Australian winner Jana Pittman offered the England team her gold medal, stating "They set the fastest time of the day and England are the winners of the race".
Ohuruogu was suspended from competing in the 2006 European Athletics Championships because she had committed a violation of the anti-doping code. She missed three out-of-competition drug tests, known as the "whereabouts" system, of the World Anti-Doping Code; one in October 2005 and then a further two in June 2006. Under IAAF and British Olympic Association rules, she received a one-year ban for missing these tests, which expired on 5 August 2007. The final test missed occurred when Ohuruogu failed to inform the testers of a last-minute change of training venue after a double-booking. Due to the circumstances, the Independent Committee stated "There is no suggestion, nor any grounds for suspicion, that the offence may have been deliberate in order to prevent testing," and that a fair ban would have been 3 months. Ohuruogu passed tests 9 days before and 3 days after her final violation.
The British Olympic Association also imposed a lifetime ban on competing at future Olympic Games for Great Britain. She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but the original decision was upheld, even though CAS emphasised that there was no suspicion of doping. Ohuruogu submitted a further appeal, citing the precedent of triathlete Tim Don. Ohuruogu suggested that she would probably leave Britain and compete in the Olympics for another country if her appeal was unsuccessful, but confessed "I haven't really given it any serious thought.". Her Olympic ban was overturned on 27 November 2007.
2007.
A day after her ban ended, Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2007 Athletics World Championships. She had only run five competitive races before the final since her suspension; however, she won the individual 400m, taking the only gold medal for Great Britain at the Championships. Nicola Sanders won silver. Ohuruogu was also part of the bronze medal winning team in the 400 m relay.
2008.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ohuruogu won her heat against Yulia Guschina who finished 0.18 seconds behind. She won the semi-final over Shericka Williams by 0.14 seconds. In the final, she became the first ever British female Olympic 400m champion, by beating the pre-race favourite Sanya Richards (bronze) and Shericka Williams (silver), with a time of 49.62s, the fastest time of 2008. In doing so, Ohuruogu won the 50th gold medal for Great Britain in athletics at the Summer Olympics. She was once again ranked No. 2 in the world over 400m behind Sanya Richards. Ohuruogu was also part of the bronze medal winning team in the 4x400 m relay, initially finishing 5th but being upgraded to 3rd place following subsequent disqualifications for drugs offences of the teams finishing in 3rd and 4th place.
2009.
In preparation for the European Indoor Championships in Turin, Ohuruogu set personal bests in the 60 metres and 200 m at the Birmingham Grand Prix. She competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games, finishing second in the 150 metres final in 17.10 seconds. She ran a personal best 22.85 seconds to take second place in the 200 m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games. While she won the 400 m national title at the UKA Championships in Birmingham that July, her times and finishes over the distance at IAAF Golden League meets were unimpressive. She had failed to break 51 seconds in the 2009 season; some distance behind world-leader Richards' best of 49.23 seconds. A hamstring problem caused her to withdraw from the London Grand Prix, raising doubts that she would be able to defend her World title.
Ohuruogu's form improved in time for the 2009 World Championships, and she set a season's best time in her semi-final heat. She ran another season's best of 50.21s in the final, well behind Sanya Richards, who won in a time of 49.00s.
2010.
Ohuruogu was ruled out of the European Championships in Barcelona with a thigh injury, and later in the year withdrew from the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, citing niggling injury that she did not want to aggravate.
2011.
Ohuruogu was selected for the British team at the 2011 World Championships. She was disqualified from the individual 400 m after a false start.
2012.
In the Indoor World Championships 4x400m relay in Istanbul Ohuruogu, after legs from Shana Cox and Nicola Sanders took over in third place for Great Britain. Ohuruogu handed over to Perri Shakes-Drayton to hold off Sanya Richards-Ross to win Great Britain's first ever IAAF World Indoor Championships medal in the Women's 4x400m relay.
Ohuruogu won the silver medal at 400m in the 2012 London Olympics. In a close race Sanya Richards-Ross held on to take the gold while Ohuruogu produced a fast finish to beat DeeDee Trotter and Amantle Montsho by just a few hundredths of a second to take the silver. Trotter finished fourth. Richards-Ross won in 49.55s; Ohuruogu ran a season's best time of 49.70, which is only the third time she ran under 50 seconds. Ohuruogu said she was "heartbroken" to not be able to defend her title. With her family home less than a mile away from the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, she had been picked out as the public face of the Games when London was awarded the Olympics in 2005, but after her suspension her image was removed from publicity material. Ohuruogu had a low-key build up to the Games, with the burden of "poster girl" falling instead on Jessica Ennis.
2013.
Ohuruogu claimed a second world title on 12 August 2013, becoming the first British woman to do so, by winning the 400m final in Moscow. A late surge helped her pip Montsho in a photo finish, and beat Kathy Cook's long-standing British record in the process, with a time of 49.41s, beating Montsho by 0.004 seconds.
2014.
Ohuruogu only entered the 4x400m Women's relay at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, alongside her sister Victoria Ohuruogu, attempting to defend the title that Great Britain had won two years earlier in Istanbul, however the team finished in bronze medal position.
2015.
Despite an injury-ravaged season, Ohuruogu reached the final of the 400m at the World Championships in Beijing, the scene of her Olympic triumph in 2008, as the defending champion. She finished in eighth place with a time of 50.63.
She led off the British 4x400m relay at the same championships, helping them to win a bronze medal.
2016.
Ohuruogu won the bronze medal at the 4x400m relay in the 2016 Rio Olympics, running the final leg. Running the first three legs were Eilidh Doyle, Anyika Onuora and Emily Diamond, and they finished in a time of 3:25.88, behind the USA and Jamaica. This was Great Britain's first medal in the event at the Olympics since 1992.
2017 and retirement.
Ohuruogu missed out on selection for the individual 400m at the 2017 World Championships in her hometown of London, failing to advance to the final at the GB World Championship trials in June of that year after finishing third in her heat with a time which was five seconds down on her personal best. She subsequently stated that 2017 would be her last season in competition, and that she would be open to competing in the 4x400m relay at the World Championships if selected. Although she was not selected for the Worlds, she did attend the Championships, supporting the British women's 4x400m team that took a silver medal there, and along with her 4x400m team-mates, was presented with three medals from the 2009, 2011 and 2013 Worlds after the Russian squads which had finished ahead of Team GB in those Championships were disqualified due to doping. The British teams received bronzes for 2009 and 2011, and a silver for 2013.
In June 2018, on the first day of the British Athletics Championships, Ohuruogu confirmed her retirement from competition, indicating that although she did not feel ready to retire at the end of 2017 her subsequent training had been restricted due to injuries and her studies.


Tingonleima Chanu

Tingonleima Chanu (born 1 April 1976) is a member of the India women's national field hockey team. She hails from Manipur and played with the team when it won the Gold at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games. She also earned the Arjuna Award.


2005 ESPY Awards

The 2005 ESPY Awards (for the Olympic year 2004 and the year 2005) were announced from Kodak Theatre on July 13, 2005 and showed during the telecast on ESPN, July 17, 2005. ESPY Award is short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award.
The show was hosted by Matthew Perry and had performances from Destiny's Child.


Harishchandra Birajdar

Harishchandra Madhavrao Birajdar {मराठी: हरिश्‍चंद्र माधवराव बिराजदार} (June 5, 1950 – September 14, 2011) was a wrestler and wrestling coach from India. He was a Gold Medallist in the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. He was also known as the coach of National Games winners.
Biography.
Birajdar was born in Ramling Mudgad Tal in Nilanga in the Latur, district n the state
of Maharashtra in India. He was from Lingayat community. He was coached by his father initially and then Ganpatrao Khedkar at Gangaves Talim, Kolhapur. He had defeated well-known wrestler Satpal in a 1977 bout, which brought him into limelight. Birajdar worked as coach in Gokul Vastad Talim in Pune. He was awarded the Dhyanchand award in 2006 by the Indian Government. Earlier in 1971 he has been awarded the Shivchhatrapati award and then the Dadoji Konddev award for coaching in 1998. Even after having been honoured with so many awards and recognitions, he was a humble human being," said Ganpatrao Khedkar, under whose tutelage Birajdar wrestled from 1965 to 198


World Series ring

A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series champion team get to keep for themselves to symbolize the victory. World Series rings are uniquely commissioned by the winning team each year and presented to deserving players and staff early in the next season. The rings have been made by companies that include Jostens, Tiffany & Co., Dieges & Clust, and L.G. Balfour Company.
The first World Series rings were given to members of the New York Giants after winning the 1922 World Series. By the 1930s, each winning team gave their players a ring. Though the ring started off simple, usually containing only one diamond, rings over time have become more elaborate and ornate, with the 2003 World Series ring containing over 200 diamonds.In addition to their inherent value, World Series rings also carry additional value as sports memorabilia. A World Series ring belonging to Casey Stengel sold for $180,000. Lenny Dykstra's 1986 World Series ring sold for over $56,000 during his bankruptcy proceedings. Other rings sold in auctions have sold for over $10,000 apiece. Replica rings given to fans have sold for as much as $300.
History.
Prior to the 1922 World Series, players on the World Series-winning team were given keepsakes, such as a pin or pocketwatch fob. The first World Series ring was given to the members of the New York Giants following their victory in the 1922 World Series over the New York Yankees. When the Yankees won the 1923 World Series, players were given a commemorative pocketwatch. The Yankees first gave rings to their players following the 1927 World Series. Rings became an annual tradition in the 1930s, as every World Series-winning team has given rings to its players since 1932. In past years, players often requested other items in place of rings, including cufflinks and tie clips. Frankie Crosetti and Tommy Henrich requested shotguns from the Yankees following World Series championships. Grover Cleveland Alexander reportedly pawned his 1926 World Series ring.
Members of the 1973 World Series champion Oakland Athletics were upset when team owner Charlie O. Finley, following salary disputes with his players, presented his team with rings that were identical to the ones received after winning the 1972 World Series, except without the one-carat diamond. Reggie Jackson referred to them as "trash rings". The first ring to contain more than one diamond was the 1977 World Series ring commissioned by the Yankees, which had over a dozen diamonds. Over time, ring designs have become larger and more elaborate, with Yogi Berra saying in 2009, "They're so much bigger now, they're like weapons. You can't even wear them." Whereas older rings were 10 carat and between 20 and 25 pennyweight, modern rings are typically 14 carat and 50 pennyweight. The rings commissioned by the Florida Marlins after the 2003 World Series are believed to be among the most expensive World Series rings ever made; made of 14-carat white gold, the ring featured 229 diamonds, including one teal diamond, and 13 rubies. The rings cost $20,000 apiece due to the quantity of the purchase, though they retailed at $40,000 each. After breaking their long championship drought in 2016, the Chicago Cubs commissioned rings said to be worth up to $70,000, consisting of 214 diamonds at 5.5 carats, 3 carats of rubies, and 2.5 carats of sapphires.
Teams have also increasingly added distinctive touches to make their rings unique from previous versions. For their 2007 World Series rings, the Boston Red Sox commissioned a special version for players who were on both the 2004 and 2007 championship teams, and for 2013, they included the Boston Strong logo on the side. The St. Louis Cardinals had the Rally Squirrel engraved into their 2011 World Series championship rings. For their 2014 World Series rings, the San Francisco Giants included three diamonds on the top bezel and five on the bottom, representing their three titles in five years, and eight championships overall. The 2016 World Series rings for the Chicago Cubs each contain 108 diamonds around the bezel, one for each year that the team went without a championship, and also include an image of a goat on the inner band. Companies that have been commissioned to create World Series rings include Jostens, Tiffany & Co., Dieges & Clust, and the L.G. Balfour Company.
Distribution.
Players typically receive their rings in pregame ceremonies early in the next season. Since the rings are commissioned by the team, many non-players affiliated with the team, including front office executives, coaches, scouts, broadcasters, locker room staff, and groundskeepers also receive rings at the team's discretion. After the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox ordered over 500 rings; the Cardinals commissioned 400 rings in 2006; and the Kansas City Royals distributed about 700 rings after their 2015 title. Players who were only briefly on the team's roster during a championship season and those no longer affiliated with the winning team also often receive rings. Arthur Rhodes, Bengie Molina, and Lonnie Smith played in the World Series against a team they played for earlier in the season, guaranteeing them World Series rings regardless of the series outcome. As both the physical size and number of rings given out has increased, teams have started producing both "A" and "B" versions, and sometimes "C" versions, that are similar in appearance but smaller in size and use cheaper materials. The most expensive "A" rings are typically reserved for full-time players, coaches, and executives, while bit players and other team employees receive the cheaper "B" and "C" rings.
Rings as trophies.
In modern years, the importance of World Series rings to players has increased, whereas decades ago during the reserve clause era, players typically emphasized more the bonus World or League Championship check rather than the ring. Alex Rodriguez said his 2009 World Series ring "means the world" to him, and that he would wear it daily. Sergio Romo of the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants said of his ring: "In all reality, this is why we play right here." Jon Jay said his 2011 World Series ring "...represents last year and all the hard work. Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of something like this." Former player and current Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper said, "It's not a hug. It's not a handshake. It's not a pat on the back. It's a ring. It's the one thing every professional athlete wants: something they can hold onto, something they can show off." Players' names and uniform numbers are often individually inscribed in their ring. Many players prefer to display their rings as trophies as opposed to wearing them.
Memorabilia.
World Series rings are considered valuable sports memorabilia. In 2007, Casey Stengel's 1951 World Series ring sold for $180,000. When Lenny Dykstra went through bankruptcy in 2009, his 1986 World Series ring sold for $56,762.50 through Heritage Auctions, three times as much as was expected. Others have sold their rings on eBay. Doug Baker of the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers had a new ring made after his original was stolen, and when he recovered the original ring, he sold it for $12,322. Cucho Rodriguez, a scout for the Red Sox, sold his 2004 World Series ring for over $53,000 and in 2011, Scott Williamson auctioned off his 2004 ring for $89,000. More recently, Willie Stargell's 1979 World Series ring was sold at auction for over $82,000. However, the ring that once belonged to disgraced pitcher Brandon Puffer, when offered for sale on the August 15, 2013, episode of "Pawn Stars" could not be sold. The shop declined to make an offer, claiming Puffer's off-field problems destroyed the resale value of the ring.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains an exhibit on World Series rings. The New York Yankees Museum, located in Yankee Stadium, has an exhibit with replicas of all Yankees' World Series rings, including the pocket watch given after the 1923 World Series. Yogi Berra won the most World Series rings with 10, as a player. Frankie Crosetti won 17 as a player and as a coach.
The most valuable rings can sell for a million dollars or more, most notably the rings belonging to the 1927 Yankees starting lineup. Babe Ruth's ring, after being in the possession of Charlie Sheen for 20 years, sold at auction for over 4 million dollars in 2017. Its whereabouts are currently unknown as the buyer is unknown.


Saba Anjum Karim

Saba Anjum Karim (born 12 June 1985) is a former member of the Indian women's hockey team. She was the youngest of all participants in hockey competition at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
She first played for India in under-18 AHF Cup in 2000. As a right wing forward, she has represented India in many other international tournaments like Asian Games Oct 2002, Asia Cup Feb 2004 Delhi, Commonwealth Games 2002 and 2006, Manchester, Junior World Cup May 2001, Buenos Aires and Australian Test Series and New Zealand Tour.
She hails from Kelabadi, Durg and is being coached by Tanveer Akil.
On 1 November, she was honored with Chhattisgarh's top Gundadhur sports award. The annual award is given to a person who brings honor to state in the field of sports at national and international level. The award is rewarded along with cash prize of Rs 1 Lakh and a citation.
Govt of Chhattisgarh has honoured her by giving posting in police department at the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). @ Chhattisgarh Durg
For year 2013, she is honored with Arjuna award by the president of India.
She was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015.


Jerry Thomas (baseball)

Gerald E. "Jerry" Thomas (born 1935) was a pitcher who is most notable for winning the 1956 College World Series Most Outstanding Player award while a junior at University of Minnesota. He is one of three players from University of Minnesota to win that award. The others are John Erickson and Dave Winfield.
He was also an All-American in 1956.
Thomas played professionally from 1957 to 1960, never reaching the majors.
He was inducted into the University of Minnesota sports Hall of Fame in 1995.


Hungarian Sportspeople of the Year

Hungarian Sportspeople of the Year awards are granted each year since 1958, with categories for sportsmen, sportswomen, teams, coaches (since 1985) and presidents (since 1995).
Statistics.
Breakdown of winners by sport.
Men
Women


Ashish Ballal

Ashish Kumar Ballal (born 8 October 1970) is a former Indian goalkeeper of field hockey. He represented India in 275 international matches in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 1990 World cup, 3 Champions Trophy tournaments (1989, 1993, 1996), 2 Asian Games (1994, 1998) and 2 Asia Cups (1989, 1993). Ballal became a household name in India when he saved two tie-breaker goals in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games final against South Korea. India, captained by Ballal, went on to win the Asiad hockey gold at Bangkok after a gap of 32 years.
For his outstanding contribution to the game of hockey, Ballal was bestowed with the Arjuna Award in 1997 by the Government of India And the Eklavya Award in 2000 by the government of Karnataka. He coaches hockey players of India. In a laudable effort, he runs the Ashish Ballal Hockey Academy in Bangalore as his way of giving back to the game of hockey in India.
Personal life.
Ballal hails from the Bunt community and is married to fellow Bunt Sahana. He is a father to two sons, Vansh Ballal and Yash Ballal.


Glenn Cunningham (athlete)

Glenn Vernice Cunningham (August 4, 1909 – March 10, 1988) was an American middle-distance runner, and was considered the greatest American miler of all time. He received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1933.
Early life.
Cunningham was born in Atlanta, Kansas and grew up in Elkhart, Kansas. When he was eight years old, his legs were very badly burned in an explosion caused by someone accidentally putting gasoline instead of kerosene in the can at his schoolhouse. His brother Floyd, 13, died in the fire. When the doctors recommended amputating Glenn's legs, he was so distressed his parents would not allow it. The doctors predicted he might never walk normally again. He had lost all the flesh on his knees and shins and all the toes on his left foot. Also, his transverse arch was practically destroyed. However, his great determination, coupled with hours upon hours of a new type of therapy, enabled him to gradually regain the ability to walk and to proceed to run. It was in the early summer of 1919 when he first tried to walk again, roughly two years after the accident. He had a positive attitude as well as a strong religious faith. His favorite Bible verse was Isaiah 40:31: "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Accomplishments.
Cunningham competed in the 1500 m event at the 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics and finished fourth and second, respectively. While on the ship, traveling from the U.S. to Germany in 1936, he was voted "Most Popular Athlete" by his fellow Olympians.
Cunningham won the Sullivan medal in 1933 for his achievements in middle-distance running. In 1934, he set the world record for the mile run at 4:06.8, which stood for three years. He also set world records in the 800 m in 1936 and in the indoor mile in 1938.
Cunningham's unachieved goal was a four-minute mile, a goal attempted and unmet by many other runners. Several theorists proclaimed it was impossible physiologically for humans. Some athletes tried running steady and fast-paced the whole time. Others tried to go steady for the first half then give it all they had. Glenn worried about the strength of his legs burned in his youth, so he started slow – running in the pack. He would be fresher in the second half – and would almost be sprinting the last 100 yards to the finish.
Cunningham has a park named after him in his hometown of Elkhart, Kansas. The mile run at the Kansas Relays is named in his honor. In 1974 he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Retirement.
Cunningham earned a master's degree from the University of Iowa and a PhD from New York University. After retiring from competitions in 1940 he served as director of physical education at Cornell College in Iowa for four years. Later he opened the Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch in Kansas, where he and his wife helped 10,000 needy and abused children.


Abhijeet Gupta

Abhijeet Gupta (born 16 October 1989) is an Indian chess player with the title of Grandmaster (GM). Gupta is the first player to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship five times. He has completed his early education from Emmanuel Mission Secondary School, Bhilwara and then embarked-upon his career of being chess player.
Chess career.
He achieved the norms required for the GM title at the Andorra Open 2006, New Delhi (Parswnath) 2007 and Balaguer 2007 tournaments.
On 15 August 2008, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Gaziantep, Turkey, ahead of many other strong players, including Maxim Rodshtein, David Howell and Hou Yifan. He is the third Indian to win this prestigious championship, after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna. In the same year, he also won the 6th Parsvnath Open in New Delhi. In 2011, he came first in the 13th Dubai Open Chess Championship and in the Indian National Premier Chess Championship. In 2013 Gupta won the Commonwealth Chess Championship and the Al Ain Chess Classic tournament. In the same year he received the Arjuna award for his achievements. Gupta took clear first in the 8th Georgy Agzamov Memorial, held in Tashkent in May 2014. He won the Commonwealth championship again in 2015 and later that year the Hoogeveen Open. In 2016, Gupta won the Reykjavik Open and his third Commonwealth championship title in Kalutara, Sri Lanka. In 2020, Gupta won the 8th Delhi international open with a score of 8.5/10.
Abhijeet Gupta played for the Indian national team in the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey, where he won an individual silver medal thanks to his rating performance of 2746 on board 4.


Turkish Basketball Presidential Cup MVP

The Turkish Basketball Presidential Cup Final MVP is an award that is given to the most outstanding player in the Final of the Turkish Basketball Presidential Cup. The award is handed out since 2016.


34th Sports Emmy Awards

The 34th Sports Emmy Awards were presented on May 7, 2013 at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.


Fumiya Nishiguchi

, born September 26, 1972 in Wakayama, Japan, is a Japanese baseball player. He is a right-handed pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball for the Saitama Seibu Lions.
Career statistics.
"Bold indicates league leader; statistics current as of December 25, 2013"


Denzel Valentine

Denzel Robert Valentine (born November 16, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans. As a senior, Valentine became the first player in Michigan State history to be recognized as the National Player of the Year by The Associated Press. He also earned other player of the year awards from the NABC, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, NBC Sports, and Basketball Times in addition to being named a unanimous First-Team All-American. Valentine was selected with the 14th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Valentine is also a rapper who released his first album in February 2021.
High school career.
Valentine attended J. W. Sexton High School, where he was coached by his father, Carlton Valentine (former Michigan State player), and played alongside future Michigan State teammate Bryn Forbes and Iowa basketball player Anthony Clemmons.
As a sophomore, Valentine averaged 10.9 points, 5.8 assists and 6.3 rebounds, leading Sexton to a state title game. He was awarded 2010 Class B honorable mention all-state.
Valentine averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists per game as a senior, leading Sexton to a 27–1 record. He was selected as the Lansing State Journal Player of the Year and Associated Press Class B Player of the Year as a senior. As a recruit, Valentine was nationally ranked in the top 100 by Rivals.com (#81, #15 shooting guard), ESPNU100 (#98, #26 small forward), and Scout.com (#27 small forward).
College career.
Following his successful freshman year, Valentine was the recipient of MSU's Unsung Player Award (voted on by players). As a sophomore, he earned honorable-mention All-Big Ten (Coaches and Media).
With Adreian Payne and Gary Harris leaving MSU for the NBA Draft, Keith Appling leaving due to graduation (eventually to the NBA), the dismissal of Kenny Kaminski, and the transfer of Russell Byrd, Valentine saw an increase in leadership and an expanded role on the team as a junior. Before the season started, he was awarded one of the three captain spots. Perhaps one of Valentine's most memorable moments came on Valentine's Day 2015, he hit the game winning shot in a matchup versus Ohio State and finished with 17 points. His junior season saw him earn Orlando Classic All-Tournament Team (averaging 19.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in three games), Third Team All-Big Ten, USBWA All-District V, and NCAA East Regional All-Tournament Team honors.
On November 17, 2015, the senior Valentine became the 4th player in Michigan State history to record a triple-double. He had 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in Michigan State's 79-73 victory over the fourth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks. It was the first triple-double of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. On December 21, it was announced that Valentine would be sidelined for 2–3 weeks after he underwent an arthroscopic knee surgery. He returned on January 10, 2016.
He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11. On February 29, he was named a semifinalist of the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Valentine was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year, and the NABC Player of the Year.
Valentine finished the 2015–16 regular season averaging 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.5 assists as MSU finished in second place in the Big Ten. On March 8, USA Today named Valentine National Player of the Year over Oklahoma's Buddy Hield. The Big Ten also announced that Valentine was the Big Ten's Player of the Year. On March 9, Valentine was named to the Sporting News All-American Team.
Valentine's senior year at Michigan State saw him ranked among the NCAA leaders when it came to three-point shooting. He accumulated many awards and won Michigan State's first College Basketball Player of the Year Award since Draymond Green won the NABC Player of the Year in 2012. Valentine shined during the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, earning tournament Most Outstanding Player while winning Michigan State's fifth championship. Valentine, along with Bryn Forbes, were selected to the NCAA College Basketball Three-Point Contest following his senior year. Valentine defeated his teammate in the first round of the competition when he rattled off 22 points compared to Forbes' 10. Valentine was eliminated from the competition in the semifinals when he hit 17 points, needing 23 to advance. Valentine's senior year also proved very effective in raising his draft stock. Valentine went from being potentially undrafted to being seen as a potential lottery pick in the 2016 NBA draft.
Professional career.
Chicago Bulls (2016–present).
On June 23, 2016, Valentine was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 14th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. On July 16, 2016, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Bulls. Two days later, Valentine hit a turnaround jumper as time expired to lift the Bulls to an 84–82 overtime victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Las Vegas Summer League championship game.
On January 2, 2017, Valentine, who had played just four total minutes in the previous seven games, played 18 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets and hit his first three three-pointers, finishing with a then season-high nine points. He exited with an ankle injury in the second half, as the Bulls went on to win 118–111. On January 10, 2017, he posted career highs with 19 points and five three-pointers in a 101–99 loss to the Washington Wizards. On March 18, 2017, Valentine recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds in a 95–86 win over the Utah Jazz. During his rookie season, Valentine received multiple assignments to the Windy City Bulls, Chicago's D-League affiliate.
On November 26, 2017, Valentine had 14 points and career highs of 13 rebounds and seven assists in a 100–93 loss to the Miami Heat. On January 18, 2018, he scored 19 points against the Houston Rockets. Two days later, he scored a career-high 20 points in a 122–119 double-overtime win over the New York Knicks. On March 17, 2018, he hit eight 3-pointers and scored a career-best 34 points in a 114–109 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On April 4, 2018, Valentine underwent arthroscopic debridement on his left knee, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
In September 2018, Valentine was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle during the team's training camp and was expected to miss one to two weeks. However, in late October, the Bulls announced he was suffering from a bone bruise, not a sprain, and would miss an additional two weeks. On November 19, after missing the first 17 games of the season, Valentine was diagnosed with ongoing ankle instability. Following a left ankle stabilization procedure on November 27, he was ruled out for the season.
National team career.
Valentine was a member of USA Basketball's senior men's national team at the 2015 Pan American Games which was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The U.S. team captured the tournament's bronze medal, with a 3–2 record The following year, Valentine joined the USA Basketball Select Team to train against the 2016 Rio Olympic team.
Personal life.
Valentine is the son of Carlton and Kathy Valentine. His older brother, Drew, played collegiate basketball for Oakland University, and is now the head coach at Loyola University in Chicago. Valentine considers fellow NBA player and Michigan State alumni Draymond Green "like a big brother".
On April 7, 2016, Valentine and his coach at Michigan State, Tom Izzo, were featured as guests on Dancing With the Stars where they learned from Artem Chigvintsev and Edyta Sliwinska.


Liu Xiang (hurdler)

Liu Xiang (; born July 13, 1983) is a Chinese former 110 meter hurdler. Liu is an Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion. His 2004 Olympic gold medal was the first in a men's track and field event for China.
Liu is one of China's most successful athletes and has emerged as a cultural icon. On top of being the only male athlete in history to have achieved the "triple crown" in the event of 110-metre hurdles—World Record Holder, World Champion and Olympic Champion—Liu remains the Olympic record holder for the men's 110-metre hurdles with a time of 12.91 seconds he set back at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He was the favorite to win another gold in the 110 metre hurdles at the Beijing Olympics, but he had to withdraw from competition at the last moment after a false start and aggravation to a previously unrevealed injury. Again a gold medal favourite in the 110 metre hurdles at the London Olympics he pulled his Achilles tendon attempting to clear the first hurdle in the heats. On April 7, 2015, he announced his retirement on Sina Weibo.
Career.
Early career.
In May 2001, Liu won at the East Asian Games in Osaka, Japan with a time of 13.42 seconds. In August 2001, he won at the Universiade in Beijing, China with a time of 13.33 seconds. He also won at the 2001 National Games of China that same year.
In 2002 Liu set an Asian record time at the Athletissima meeting, completing the event in 13.12 seconds. This also broke Renaldo Nehemiah's long standing and world junior record, which had stood for almost 25 years. The following year he secured bronze medals in the 60 metres hurdles at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 110 m hurdles at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics.
2004 Olympics.
In May 2004 at an IAAF Grand Prix race in Osaka, Japan, Liu managed to beat Allen Johnson with a personal best record time of 13.06 seconds. He improved even further at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Although he was not considered a favourite for the event, he won the Olympic final by some distance to take the gold medal in a world record-equalling time of 12.91 seconds, matching the feat of Colin Jackson. This was a new Olympic record and was almost three tenths of a second faster than the runner-up Terrence Trammell. The performance had Liu the sixth man to run under 13 seconds for the event and was China's first men's Olympic gold medal in a track and field event. On top of this, it defied the traditional thinking that Asian athletes could not compete in sprint events at the top level. He said that his gold medal "changes the opinion that Asian countries don't get good results in sprint races. I want to prove to all the world that Asians can run very fast."
Liu, a 21-year-old East China Normal University student at the time of victory in Athens, became the target of a bidding war among commercial sponsors. The Chinese Track and Field Association limited him to four such deals.
Liu finished the season with four of the year's ten fastest clockings. Reaching 17 finals in the 60-metre indoor and 110-metre outdoor hurdles, he lost just two, both to American Allen Johnson.
2005 and 2007 World Championships.
In August 2005, Liu won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland, finishing 13.08 seconds, 0.01 second after champion Ladji Doucouré from France. In November 2005, he won at East Asian Games in Macau, China with 13.21 seconds.
Off track, in May, Liu was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Newcomer of the Year for his breakthrough performance at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
On July 11, 2006, Liu set a new world record in the 110 metre hurdles at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne with a time of 12.88 seconds (+1.1 m/s tailwind). The record was ratified by the IAAF. In that same race, American Dominique Arnold had also beaten the previous record with a time of 12.90 seconds.
In September, he won gold at IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany with 12.93 seconds.
On August 31, 2007 at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, Liu won gold in the 110-metre hurdles with 12.95 seconds to become World Champion.
On May 23, Liu participated in a test event at the Beijing National Stadium. He pulled out of the Reebok Grand Prix in New York on May 31, citing hamstring problems. On June 8, he false-started at the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene, Oregon. Liu skipped the entire European circuit, preferring to train for the Olympics in China instead.
Beijing Olympics.
Leading up to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Liu bore national expectations of a repeat victory on home soil. On August 18, Liu withdrew from the Olympic 110 metre hurdles. He walked off the track after a false start by another runner in his first-round heat, leaving the crowd at the Beijing National Stadium in stunned silence, confusion, and tears. According to Jeré Longman of "The New York Times", "China's greatest hope had been dashed".
According to China's track and field association, Liu suffered from a recurrence of chronic inflammation in his right Achilles tendon. Liu's coach, Sun Haiping addressed the media during a press conference and stated that the hurdler had been hampered by a tendon injury for six or seven years. He commented on the situation, saying "We worked hard every day, but the result was as you see and it is really hard to take." Sun, who was in tears for most of the press conference, stated that Liu would be unable to compete for the remainder of 2008. Liu made a public apology to the Chinese media the following day, saying he could "do nothing but pull out of the race" because of his foot injury. He believed that the injury would not prevent him from future competitions and vowed to "come back" for the next Olympics.
Liu's injury was significant and also ruled him out of the following year's major competition, the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. However, coach Sun Haiping was confident that he would return in time for the Chinese national championships and 2009 Asian Championships in Athletics in November.
2009–2011: Return from injury.
After a 13-month absence because of his injury, Liu finally returned to competition at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. Liu recorded a time of 13.15, tied with Terrence Trammell, but finished 0.01 second behind and was awarded second place. However, Liu said he was happy with his performance. Nearing the end of the year, he competed at a number of major events on home turf. He won gold medals at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships, the East Asian Games and the 11th Chinese National Games.
At the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, admitting that his right foot has yet to fully recover, Liu was able to finish in the finals of the 60 m hurdles, but managed only seventh place. His sole appearance on the 2010 IAAF Diamond League circuit came at the Shanghai Grand Prix and he lost to national rival Shi Dongpeng for the first time. Following a six-month break, he marked his return to form at the 2010 Asian Games. A crowd of 70,000 gathered at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium to see him in the final and he easily won his third consecutive title at the competition, breaking the Games record with a run of 13.09 seconds – making him the third fastest athlete that season.
The Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in May 2011 saw Liu make a return to a world class level: he defeated David Oliver (the fastest hurdler in 2010) with a world-leading mark of 13.07 seconds to take his first win on the 2011 IAAF Diamond League. Liu showed he had accomplished a transition in his technique, as he reduced his number of starting steps before the first hurdle from eight to seven, using his left leg for hurdling.
On August 29, 2011, Liu Xiang competed in the men's 110-metre hurdles final in the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Liu finished the race in third place, but he eventually won the silver medal, as the winner Dayron Robles was disqualified for entering Liu's lane and pulling him back.
2012 season.
In Liu's first competition of 2012, he was matched up against Dayron Robles at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix and this time he won cleanly with an Asian record time of 7.41 seconds for the 60 m hurdles. He was the favourite for the title at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, but was beaten into second place by Aries Merritt and left with the silver medal. In the outdoor season he set a 110 m hurdles meet record at the Golden Grand Prix Kawasaki, then ran 12.97 seconds to win at his home nation 2012 IAAF Diamond League meet, the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. This was his first run under 13 seconds since 2007, and he beat Americans David Oliver and Jason Richardson by some distance. He followed this with a run of 12.87 seconds to win at the Prefontaine Classic, matching the world record time albeit with wind-assistance of 2.4 m/s.
In the 110-metre hurdles at the London Olympics in 2012, Liu pulled his Achilles tendon while taking off and attempting to clear the first hurdle, instead crashing straight into it. Liu hopped the full 110 metre stretch, was helped by a few of his fellow competitors, and was put into a wheel chair and led away. He kissed the last hurdle before he left the track. Colin Jackson described it as a "very sad sight indeed" for the sport. Liu's loss echoed strongly in the Chinese press but also sparked a lot of controversies. Some voices expressed support while others wondered why Liu chose to participate in spite of his injury. Liu even earned a nickname "Liu PaoPao" because of pullbacks in two consecutive Olympic Games. As per reports Liu was to have surgery on his Achilles tendon in Britain.
Retirement.
On April 7, 2015, Liu announced his retirement in a statement posted to his Sina Weibo. He had not competed since the 2012 Olympic race. In his post, he wrote that he was retiring after two years of frustrating and ultimately futile rehabilitation: "Of course my heart is still willing, but my foot has again and again said no to me."
In 2016, Liu was chosen as one of the teams in Shenzhen TV's reality program "The Amazing Race China 3". Liu was initially paired up with his cousin Ji Longxiang on the first two legs, but Ji was later replaced with his best friend Xu Qifeng for the remainder of the race. They finished in 3rd place overall.
Personal life.
Liu is known for his low-profile appearance, but he has become one of the most popular athletes in China.
Liu Xiang was on "Time" magazine Asian edition's cover of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games titled "Liu Xiang & 99 More Athletes to Watch."
Liu donated approximately 2,500,000 yuan (364,000 USD) to 2008 Sichuan earthquake relief efforts.
Liu married Ge Tian, a post-90s generation actress on September 7, 2014, after officially dating the actress for two years prior to their marriage.
 They divorced in 2015. On January 9, 2016, Liu Xiang announced a new relationship with pole vaulter Wu Sha, in his Sina Weibo. On December 1, 2016, Liu and Wu held a low key wedding ceremony in Fiji.
Liu's athletic gear is sponsored by Nike. He is also a spokesperson for Coca-Cola and Cadillac.


Chihiro Kaneko

 is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Nippon Professional Baseball(NPB). He previously played for the Orix Buffaloes.
Career.
Kaneko pitched for the Orix Buffaloes. He won the Pacific League Most Valuable Player Award and the Eiji Sawamura Award in 2014. He became a free agent after the 2018 season, and signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
On October 19, 2019, Kaneko signed a 1-year extension to remain with the Fighters.


Pro Basketball League Finals MVP

The Pro Basketball League Finals MVP is an annual award of the Pro Basketball League (PBL), the highest tier professional basketball league in Belgium, given to the league's most valuable player in the finals. The award was first handed out in the 2017–18 season.