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Indian Girls Win Historic First-Ever Medal in Womens Hockey Junior World Cup . August 2013 .

The first Womens hockey team from India to win a Bronze medal in the Junior Womens World Cup history in Monchengladbach, Germany on Sunday – August 04th, 2013.

It was a thrilling match where the score remained tied 1-1 at full time after 70 minutes of play, leading to a penalty shootout. In a battle of nerves the Indian girls held their own, to beat a fancied England 3-2 in a shoot-out-victory on penalties to claim the bronze medal in the ‘Junior Womens’ World Cup’. The winning goal was scored by 17 year-old Navneet Kaur. 18-year old Rani was later named as ‘Player of the Tournament’.

This was the best finish by the Indian eves team in the event, having finished outside the top-eight in their earlier 3 attempts.

At the World level, across all age groups this was the maiden succes for the Indian Women’s Hockey team . The Indian eves best before was a 4th place finish at the 1974 World Cup and the 1980 Olympics.

Hockey India (HI) Secretary General Narinder Batra announced a cash reward of Rupees one lakh for each player of the team and Rupees fifty thousand for the support staff. The Chief Coach Neil Hawgood will also receive a cash reward of Rupees one lakh.

First Woman Managing Director & CFO for India’s Largest Bank – SBI . August 2013 .

India’s Prime Minister’s Office has paved the way for the first woman head at a Public Bank. Arundhati Bhattarcharya has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Country’s largest bank – The State Bank of India (SBI). August 02nd, 2013.

Arundhati Bhattarcharya breaks the glass ceiling and will be the first woman Mangaging Director of the Country’s largest bank – State Bank of India (SBI). She has been promoted from her previous position of Managing Director and Chief Executive Offier of SBI Capital Markets, the merchant banking arm. She replaces Diwakar Gupta who retired just a few days ago.

Prior to her role at SBI Capital Markets, Bhattacharya was also the Corporate Development Officer. She has been instrumental in setting up various initiatives of SBI General Insurance, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund and SBI SG Global Securities Services. She has over 3 decades of experience at SBI and has undertaken various assignments spanning credit, forex, treasury and retail operations.

The SBI has 4 Managing Directors, 5 Deputy Managing Directors and 18 Chief General Managers apart from the Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri. The other 3 Managing Directors are A. Krishna Kumar, Hemant G. Contractor and S. Visvanathan.

Note: There are other women who made it to the top in the domestic Banking and Financial Services industry . You may use the ‘Search’ feature to access the information.

British Mission in India, gets its First Indian-Origin Diplomat. July 2013 .

In a first Kumar Iyer, a Diplomat of Indian-origin is appointed as the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western Region. He will have responsibility of all aspects of diplomatic engagement in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

He will also simultaneously be Director General India for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI),for the whole of India – a new top-level post that has been created to reflect the increasing importance of the UK-India business ties.

He will be take up both positions based in Mumbai at the British Mission on August 05th, 2013.

Kumar Iyer has a MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a Bank of England scholar. He was an undergraduate tutor in Microeconomics. He was also a Kennedy Scholar and Teaching Fellow in International Capital Markets at Harvard University.

He joined the British Government in 2008 as Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. In 2010 he moved to the Treasury, first as Deputy Director, Strategy Plannig & Budget and then as Head of Financial Sector Intervention. Prior to that he was at the Boston Consulting Group where he worked mainly in the Financial Services Practice.

Kumar Iyer was born in London to parents of Indian origin. He spent his formative years in India, including time in Mumbai. He is married to Kathryn, a barrister practicing criminal law and they have 2 children a son and a daughter. He is a keen cricketer and chess player.

First ever Online Elections by IIM-A to Elect Campus Student Body. July 2013 .

In a first for Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad ( IIM-A), a Premier Business School of India, conducted its first-ever online elections on July 31st, 2013 to elect Representatives for its first-year Student Body Polls.

The Poll was conducted by IIM-A’s elected student body, The Students’ Affairs Council (SAC). The elections involved first-year students voting to select candidates for various portfolios like Cultural representative, Batch representative and Sports representative.

The system was developed by the Computer Centre Committee (CCC) of IIM-A. This online platform was an unprecedented success with voter turnout of nearly 95% for first year elections.

” A unique feature of this system was that, using a secure online link, voters may cross verify whether their vote had been cast for the right candidate, after the voting process” said IIM-A Secretary for IT Infrastructure, Anil Vishwanadhula.

Until the previous election, IIM-A elections were conducted using the traditional pen-and-paper ballet method.

First Indian Cueist to win Gold at Snooker ‘ The World Games 2013 ‘ . July 2013 .

Aditya Mehta , Asian Snooker Champion and top ranked Indian became the first Indian cueist to become ‘The World Games 2013’ Champion in the Snooker Event on Tuesday – July 30th, 2013 in the quadrennial 5-day tournament held  in Cali, Columbia.

Aditya was in top form as he toppled the pre-tournament favourite Liang Wenbo of China in the final with a thumping 3-0 win to clinch the Gold medal.

This is India’a first World Games Gold medal since the legendary shuttler Prakash Padukhone’s Bronze in the inaugral edition of the ‘World Games’ in 1981 and only the second for India in the history of the World Games.

Aditya Mehta, celebrated Mumbai cueist, born Maharashtra – October 31, 1985 (age 27) is a Indian Professional Snooker player currently ranked 74th in the world. He won Silver and Bronze medals at the 2010 Asian Games.

The ‘World Games’ is an international multi-sport event for sports or disciplines not contested in the Olympic Games. International World Games Association (IWGA) – www.theworldgames.org, founded 1981.

[MRR]

U.S. based Food Chain ‘ Pollo Tropical ‘ opens First Restaurant in India . June 2013 .

The Miami – U.S. based Carribean-Inspired ‘ Pollo Tropical ‘ fast-casual restaurant chain formally opened its first restaurant outlet in the Capital located in DLF Place Shopping Plaza, one of the most prestigious shopping and dining centres in New Delhi.

The Pollo Tropical restaurant in New Delhi is the first restaurant of the Company, outside the Americas and marks the brand’s first opening outside the Western Hemisphere.

Their entry into India is associated with the Delhi based Paramount Group headed by their C.E.O.& Executive Director, Manjit Singh Saini. Paramount Group’s associate company Paramount Cuisines Pvt. Ltd is the master franchisee for Pollo Tropical in India.

Paramount Cuisines has plans to open at least ten Carribean themed Pollo Tropical restaurants in the NCR, Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana in the next 4 years.

First Woman Guard appointed in Indian Railways for Freight Train Services . July 2013 .

D. Mohini Kumari, a woman has been appointed for the first time in history of the South Central Railways (SCR) as a ‘Guard’ for the Goods/Freight trains.

Mohini Kumari, a graduate,  was initially appointed in 2006 as a clerk, on compassionate grounds after the death of her husband. She subsequently qualified for the post of Guard after a departmental examination and subsequently underwent training in Secuderabad.  Mohini Kumari, the 43-year old graduate took charge of her new position as ‘Guard’ on Friday, July 26th, 2013.