The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐religious sovereign state called Khalistan in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan.
Anju Bobby George is a retired Indian athlete. Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris. With this achievement, she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics jumping 6.70 metres (22.0 ft). She went on to win the gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005, a performance she considers her best. Anju was upgraded to the gold status from silver in the 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo following the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia by the International Association of Athletics Federations, following the recent re-testing of the latter's sample collected at the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2002, Khel Ratna in 2003 and Padma Shri in 2004. She had got 5th position with personal best of 6.83 metres (22.4 ft) at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In March 2021, Anju won the BBC lifetime achievement award for best athlete in India. She is also the current vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India.
Amritsar district is one of the twenty three districts that make up the Indian state of Punjab. Located in the Majha region of Punjab, the city of Amritsar is the headquarters of this district.
Devendra Jhajharia is an Indian Paralympic javelin thrower competing in F46 events. He is the first Indian Paralympics player to win two gold medals at the Paralympics. He won his first gold in the javelin throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, becoming the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won a second gold medal in the same event, bettering his previous record. Devendra is currently being supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He becomes India's most decorated Paralympic player by winning his third medal, a silver at the 2020 Summer Paralympics at Tokyo. In 2024, he was elected president of the Paralympic Committee of India.
Thadathuvila Chandapillai Yohannan, is a former Indian long jumper who held the national record in long jump for nearly 3 decades and represented India in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He hails from the state of Kerala. Yohannan will be known for the new dimension he gave to long jump in India in 1974, the occasion was the Tehran Asian Games of 1974. Yohannan cleared a distance of 8.07 metres at the Tehran Asian Games for a new Asian record.
Anil Kumar is a well renowned Indian male discus thrower with his personal best throw of 64.37 metres attained in July, 2004 in Szombathely, Hungary. He received Arjuna Award in 2004 for his performances at Asia level. He is also bestowed with the Bhim Award by State Government of Haryana. He led the Indian athletics contingent for Asian Athletics Grand Prix Series held at Colombo, Bangkok and Manila in June 2003.
Renjith Maheśwary is an Indian triple jumper. He finished fourth at the 2006 Asian Games and won the 2007 Asian Championships. He also competed at the 2007 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships and the 2013 World Championships but did not reach the final in any of those events. He represented India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as in 2012 London Olympics. At the 2012 London Games as at the World Championships in Daegu, he committed three consecutive foul jumps at the qualifying stage, stopped his Olympic campaign. Renjith, had performed badly at the Beijing Olympics too, where he came up with a best of 15.77m. Later, he tested positive for a stimulant but was let off with a three-month suspension.
Sangrur district is in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sangrur city is the district headquarters. It is one of the five districts in Patiala Division in the Indian state of Punjab. Neighbouring districts are Malerkotla (north), Barnala (west), Patiala (east), Mansa (southwest) and Fatehabad (Haryana) and Jind (Haryana) (south).
Kalayathumkuzhi Mathews Binu is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala who specializes in 400 metres and 800 metres. He held the current 400 metres national record of 45.48 s set at the 2004 Athens Olympics on 20 August 2004 which was later broken by Mohammad Anas 45.32 sec in Commonwealth games, Gold coast 2018 sec. He broke the 44-year-old Olympics mark held by Milkha Singh who set an Indian National Record with a timing of 45.73 s at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He and his elder sister K. M. Beenamol made history when they became the first Indian siblings to win medals in a major international competition. They won medals at the Busan Asian Games (2002). While Binu won the men's 800 metres silver, his sister won the gold medal in the women's event. Binu received the Arjuna Award for the year 2006 for his achievements in the Indian athletics.
Hari Shankar Roy is an Indian track and field athlete from West Bengal who specialises in the high jump. He held the previous national record of 2.25 metres set on 28 September 2004 in Singapore during the Asian All-Stars Athletic Championship. Which was broken by Tejaswin Shankar on 10 November 2016 in Coimbatore at the National Jr athletics championships, as a 17 year old.
Manjeet Kaur is an Indian sprint athlete from Punjab who specializes in 400 metres. She held the 400 m National record of 51.05 seconds set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in Chennai on 16 June 2004. She broke the previous record held by K. M. Beenamol since November 2001. In doing so, she passed the qualifying mark for the 2004 Athens Olympics. She along with Chitra K. Soman, Rajwinder Kaur and K. M. Beenamol form the team that holds the current National record in 4 x 400 metres relay.
Sanjay Kumar Rai is an Indian track and field athlete from Uttar Pradesh, India who specializes in the long jump event. He competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games but did not record a valid jump. His personal best jump in IAAF competition is 8.03 m at the 2000 Asian Athletics Championships in Jakarta in 2000, where he won the silver medal.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Kumaravel Premkumar is an Indian long jumper from Tamil Nadu. He is the national record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor long jump. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and a silver at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships.
Arpinder Singh is an Indian triple jumper. He was a gold medallist at the 2018 Asian Games. He also claimed a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Amjyot Singh Gill is an Indian professional basketball player. He has previously played for the Tokyo Excellence of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) and the Delhi Capitals of the UBA Pro Basketball League. He and Amritpal Singh became the first Indian male to sign a professional basketball contract abroad.
Sukhbir Singh Badal is an Indian politician and businessman who served twice as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and is currently the president of Shiromani Akali Dal, and was a member of Parliament from the Firozpur Lok Sabha constituency. He is the son of Parkash Singh Badal, who has served five times as the Chief Minister of Punjab. He is influential over the Sikh organizations of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Badal and his family have ownership stakes in an array of businesses- including real estate, transport and other activities.
Ankit Sharma is an Indian athlete who competes in the long jump event. He holds the long jump national record of 8.19 metres set in June 2016 at the G. Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Shaili Singh is an Indian athlete who competes in long jump events. She is the junior Indian national long jump champion in age group categories and ranks among world's top 20 long jumpers in the Under-18 category. She holds the national record for long jump in the Under-18 category. She is trained by veteran Indian long jumper Anju Bobby George and her husband Robert Bobby George.
Amritpal Singh Sandhu is a radical Indian pro-Khalistan separatist, a self-styled Sikh preacher and politician. He is a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing the constituency of Khadoor Sahib since 2024.
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