* Medal-Winners In Muaythai National Championship

Nine Muaythai fighters (7 male and 2 female) of the Smite Academy of Martial Arts participated in the 22nd MTI Muaythai National Championship under the aegis of Mysore Muaythai Trust (MDMT) and Mysore Combat Sports Association (MCSA).

The event was held at Sheen Sports Alliance, Bengaluru, between Dec. 16 and 19.

The team bagged 4 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. 200 athletes from various States and UT participated in the event that was hosted by Muaythai Association of Karnataka (MAK) and sanctioned by MTI.

* Udupi: UAE businessman B M Zaffer Thonse gets Indian Achievers Award-2021

B M Zaffer Thonse Chairman Thonse Health Centre (Nature cure and Ayurveda hospital) has been selected for the prestigious Indian Achievers Award-2021 by the Indian Achievers’ Forum for his outstanding professional achievements and contributions in national building.

Zaffer is a known businessman from UAE and the award is given for recognizing his excellence in business, health sector and social activities

* Wins Medals In National Roller Skating Championship

City roller skater K.S. Prathiksha has secured three gold medals (500m track race, 500m road race, 3000m relay) and 1 silver medal (1000m track race) in the 14 years age category at the 59th National Roller Skating Championship conducted by Skating Federation of India at New Delhi from Dec. 11 to 20.

She is coached by coach K. Shrikanth Rao of Rao’s Roller Skating Club in Mysuru and is a student of St.Joseph’s Central School, Vijayanagar.

Prathiksha is the daughter of K. Shankar and Nirmala Shankar, residents of Vijayanagar 2nd Stage.

Mysuru, Karnataka

* Techie-turned-farmer teaches kids about forgotten flora

He is a storehouse of knowledge on Indian trees, plants and herbs, and in his farm, which is nothing like the traditional setup, the flora grows wildly and naturally.

The farm has over 300 species of plants and trees, all either edible or used for medicinal purposes. 

Srivathsa Govindaraju, a software engineer-turned-farmer, started his farm 13 years ago with the intent of “respecting nature as it is and to understand how it functions”.

* Olympian M.P. Ganesh, Padma Shri Awardee, Is ‘Coorg Person Of The Year-2021’

Olympian M.P. Ganesh, who captained the Indian hockey team and was honoured with the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind, is Coorg Person of the Year-2021.

Mollera Poovaiah Ganesh, hailing from Suntikoppa in Kodagu district, was selected ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ in a poll conducted by www.coorgtourisminfo.com, Kodagu’s first news portal, promoted by journalist and author P.T. Bopanna.

*** Hassan: Man who found black box of crashed Navy helicopter awaiting prize from 30 years

A youth, who has reached senior citizen’s age now, who found the black box of the Navy helicopter that crashed on Western Ghats in 1991, did not receive the promised prize money.

In 1991, a Navy helicopter that was carrying very critical documents from Mangaluru to Bengaluru crashed on the plateau of Aramane Gudda on Western Ghats. Four people, including a colonel, lost their lives in the mishap. Even after frantic searching the helicopter could not be located.

Puttaswamy Gowda, a youth of 33 years, resident of Vanagoor village, continued his search in the quest of getting the prize, though all others stopped the hunt for the black box of the helicopter. After two years of continuous search he was able to locate the black box in 1992 October on the plateau of Aramane Gudda.

* Bengaluru firm Strides Pharma Science to launch oral drug to fight Covid

n a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir.

Bengaluru pharma company Strides Pharma Science Limited said that it has received Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to launch Molnupiravir, an oral medication for Covid-19 in India.

In a statement, Strides said it will “immediately launch” its generic Molnupiravir, indicated for high-risk adult patients with Covid under the brand Stripiravir. The company is commercialising the product with a group-integrated supply chain for active pharmaceutical ingredients and solid oral dosage from its large-scale WHO pre-qualified manufacturing capacities, the company stated.

* Canada: Maxim D’Mello, Vijay Dante elected to lead MAC in its 20th year

Maxim D’Mello, one of the highly acclaimed Mangalurean leaders in Canada and outside India, has been unanimously elected as the president of ‘The Mangalorean Association of Canada’ (MAC) for the fourth term during its Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) held on November 21 at Petrescue Hall, Carmen Corbasson Community Centre, Mississauga, Canada.

He was actively involved with Kuwait Canara Welfare Association (KCWA) since its inception and served as a President before immigrating to Canada in 2002. From then on, he is part of the Mangalorean Association of Canada and serves the community. In 2006 he got elected as its president for the first time.

In addition MAC is fortunate to get yet another dynamic leader Everest Vijay Dante popularly known as Vijay Dante to its fold as the vice-president. Vijay, a philanthropist is a well-focussed, dedicated and a family-oriented business professional. He is the proud son of the late ‘Sridanti’ (Francis Dante from Udupi, Karnataka, India), a renowned writer, poet and a religious leader who is also one of the founders of Catholic Sabha, Mangaluru.

He is owner of ‘Udupi Madras Café’ (UMC) one of the prestigious business houses in Toronto. The UMC has won the prestigious ‘2021 Mississauga News Readers’ Choice Award’ for the successive 2nd time in a row. Serving the international community in Mississauga, Canada for 15 years.

* Aerospace incubation centre launched at NAL

The centre was described as the first public-private partnership in India

The announcement was made by Social Alpha, a venture development platform for science and technology start-ups.

Dubbed mach33.aero, the centre was described as the first public-private partnership in India.

The centre is housed on the CSIR-NAL campus and will focus on aviation, defence, space exploration, agriculture and climate action.

* Azim Premji Foundation, Salesforce to launch app to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination

‘To cover 110 million people in 25 States by June 2022’

Salesforce, a customer relationship management player, and Azim Premji Foundation have entered into a collaboration to introduce VaxIT, an app to help accelerate Covid-19 vaccination in India.

The programme would use VaxIT across 25 States to cover a population of 110 million (11 crore) across over 3,500 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) by June 2022.

The VaxIT app, developed on the Salesforce platform for Azim Premji Foundation and its partners, would capture the status of vaccination to help individuals plan and stay updated on their progress in the healthcare programme. VaxIT is available on the Android app store and offers multi-lingual, and offline capabilities.