Khaleequr Rahman Speaking at Era Talent School

Khaleequr Rahman: Nikhat Zareen..Another Champion from Telangana in ...

Khaleequr Rahman: Nikhat Zareen..Another Champion from Telangana in ...: Nikhat Zareen and Khaleequr Rahman Nikhat Zareen, a 15-year-old  girl  from the small town of Nizamabad has bagged the gold medal ...

Nikhat Zareen..Another Champion from Telangana in Boxing

Nikhat Zareen and Khaleequr Rahman

Nikhat Zareen, a 15-year-old girl from the small town of Nizamabad has bagged the gold medal in the World junior boxing championships held recently in Antalya (Turkey).

Nikhat, who says her dream is to win a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, took to the sport just two years ago. She developed an interest in boxing watching her uncle, a boxing coach, training his sons in the sport. Seeing her interest, her uncle, Shamshamuddin, started training her as well.

Gritty champ: Nikhat says she is determined to win a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics

Soon, she participated in junior and state level competitions. In the 2010 Junior Nationals held in Chennai, she not only won the gold medal but also got the coveted ‘Best Boxer’ award. Her consistent performances in the domestic circuit got her a ticket to the junior world championship in Turkey, where she took the gold.

Nikhat is the third among four daughters born to Jameel Ahmed and Parveen Sultana. She hails from an ordinary family. Her father works as a salesperson in the Gulf.

The world champ attributes her success to sheer hard work and the hours of practice she had put in for the last two years. “I needed to put in a lot of extra effort in order to focus on studies and boxing simultaneously,” says Nikhat, whose idols are boxing legend Mohammed Ali and his daughter Laila Ali.

Everyday this teen wonder gets up very early in the morning and reports to the training by 6 a.m. After about an hour and a half of intense boxing session, she gets back home to leave for school. She sweats out in the ring for another hour and a half in the evening after she returns from school. After dinner, she completes her homework and goes to sleep.

She realizes that things are going to get tougher from the next academic year onwards, when she will be in tenth standard. “I am confident of clearing board exams without disturbing my daily practice routine. Boxing and studies are both important to me. I carry my textbooks to coaching camps and tourneys and go through them whenever I find the time.”

Nikhat is glad that her hard work has borne fruit. “Seeing my struggle for the past two years, friends, classmates and even relatives used to wonder why I was ‘wasting’ my time and energy. Many had doubts whether this girl from small town will ever make it big. But that did not deter me a wee bit because I believed in my abilities. And once I started tasting success, the perception of all those around me changed. Now that I got a world champ tag, everybody is over the moon,” she says excitedly.

“We are not looking for any awards or rewards; Zareen’s sole aim is to bring more laurels for the country,” her uncle and coach Shamshamuddin said. However, some companies are already showing interest in sponsoring her training costs. Sources revealed that the State government, Sports Authority of A.P and State boxing federation are likely to bestow cash prizes on the new champion.
 

- See more at: http://www.theweekendleader.com/Success/495/unsung-hero.html#sthash.mRZUkmGI.dpuf

Khaleequr Rahman: Richard Rahul Verma, New US envoy to India

Khaleequr Rahman: Richard Rahul Verma, New US envoy to India: H.E.Richard Rahul Verma presenting Credentials to H.E. President Pranab Mukherjee  President Barack Obama nominated former State Depar...

Richard Rahul Verma, New US envoy to India

H.E.Richard Rahul Verma presenting Credentials to H.E. President Pranab Mukherjee 

President Barack Obama nominated former State Department official and Indian-American citizen Richard Rahul Verma popularly known as Rich Verma as the US ambassador to India who presented his credentials to H.E.President Pranab Mukherjee in a specially organised function at the Rasptrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Richard Verma replaced Nancy Powell, the former US envoy to India who resigned in March. HE Verma's appointment came just ahead of PM Narendra Modi's visit to the United States.

So exactly who is HE Richard Verma? His parents are originally from Punjab and his mother had come to the Indian side after the partition. During a speech last year, Verma at a conference by the South Asia Journal Verma had spoken about the influence his family had on him.

He had said in the speech,

"My mother was born in what is today Pakistan…she was a product of the partition…as her and her family would resettle in Northern India shortly after 1947. It was a violent and unsettled time. My father was the only literate person in his family. He would be imprisoned as a teenager for protesting British occupation. My mother, this young girl from a village in Pakistan, would go on to get her master’s degree. And my dad would get his PhD, and become the first person in his family who could read and write."

He also spoke about how his father came to the United State in 1963 with only 24 dollars and that his mother and other siblings joined came to the US later on. He recounted the hard times saying, ""The times were hard. We had no money. The kids could be mean in school to this new immigrant family. But they persevered."

HE Verma was raised in Western Pennsylvania and is the youngest of five kids.

But he is no novice when it comes to working for the President Obama government and his relationship with President Obama go as far back as 2008. According to a Reuters report, he helped Obama in the 2008 elections on on presidential debate preparations.

He was then an assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs at the State Department in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Currently he is senior counselor at Steptoe and Johnson law firm and the Albright Stonebridge Group.

According to his profile on Steptoe and Johnson, "Verma has more than two decades of international and senior-level US government experience. He is a leading practitioner in the fields of national security law, international regulatory compliance and public policy."

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke (L) consults with Richard Verma, Department of State Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs in this 2010 photo. AFP

During his earlier role in the government, Verma was the principal advisor to Secretary Clinton, and also the Administration’s lead negotiator with Congress on Iran sanctions and the ratification of the New START Treaty, adds the profile.

The profile adds that Verma began his career in the US Air Force where he served an officer in the US Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps and won two military honours for his work which were the Meritorious Service Medal and Air Force Commendation Medal.

As far as Verma's connections with the Obama administration go, the Reuters report adds that he has a close working relationship with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and senior adviser John Podesta.

HE Richard Verma is the first Indian-American to hold the post of ambassador.

The Indian ambassador has experience of working in the US Legislature as he was also Senior National Security Adviser, Counsel and Foreign Policy Adviser to the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 2002 to 2007.

HE Verma is an experienced professional who will make "an outstanding ambassador" at such an important moment. He has many years of foreign policy experience as a high ranking official with the US Department of State, as an adviser in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives, and during his years in the US Air Force. 

I would like to congratulate HE Rich Verma on assuming office as the US Ambassador to India. I am more delighted that this is the first time that an Indian American has been appointed as the Ambassador. His vast experience in public service will serve him well. I wish him the best. He will have a better understanding of India and he will make one of the outstanding Ambassadors. 

Join me on Sept 11, 2014 at 5 pm at chiraan palace

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