INTEL Award for Indian-American High School girl

An Indian-American High School girl has bagged a whopping $ 100,000 Intel scholarship for developing a model to identify early stage colon cancer patients with a high risk for recurrence, beating competition from 1,600 others.

Shivani Sud, 17, of North Carolina won the Intel Foundation's top award aimed at honouring the next generation of scientists and innovators in the US.

For her research project, Sud developed a model that analysed the specific ''molecular signatures'' of tumors from patients with stage II colon cancer.

She then used this information to identify those at higher risk for tumor recurrence and propose potentially effective drugs for treatment, Intel said in a media release.

''That proud feeling comes from doing what I do and not just the acknowledgment of it,'' Sud, who attends Jordan High School, was quoted as saying by The News and Observer of Durham.

Sud said her interest in cancer research started very early on as a result of a relative developing cancer.

''I saw how hard that was for my family, I saw how that kind of changed my outlook on life, because when you're six years old, you don't think about topics such as death or dying from this type of cancer -- having your life change drastically,'' she said.

This year's Intel Science Talent Search finalists came from 19 states and represented 35 high schools throughout the United States.

Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill Refuses to RESIGN :

Despite India's disgraceful exit from the Olympics qualifier, hockey federation chief KPS Gill has said he had no intention of resigning from the post.

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president denied giving any 'instant coffee' remark. "I never made this statement."

Gill said that the focus of the IHF was on juniors and not seniors. He emphasised that the federation has done well in that regard.

Defending himself over the Olympics qualifier issue, Gill pointed to the fact that India had won 10 major hockey tournaments during his 14-year tenure.

"When I took over we were nowhere in hockey. From 1998 till now, we have won approximately 10 major titles," he said.

"You have to see the effort, it is not only the federation. When you call it a National Game it has to be a national effort. It becomes a national sport through symbiosis through the government, IHF and Sports Authority of India. Now for four years, the training centres for hockey were non-existent," said Gill.

Another justification that Gill gave on the recent hockey debacle was that India's performance at world cup has always been bad.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS ROCKZ With SRK

Even as the second auction was on, one team unveiled its name - Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata team will be called the Kolkata Knight Riders and the star was in his element at the launch.

"Iss team mein do gundey hain - ek lamba gundey hai aur ek 'Dada' hai - hum Delhi mein gundey ko dada bolte hai (We have two bad guys in our team)," said Shah Rukh Khan.

Shahrukh Khan's tongue-in-cheek humour had the media rolling over as he touched down in the City of Joy to launch the Kolkata Knight-Riders, the city's IPL team and with the famed Aussie coach John Buchanan and team skipper Sourav Ganguly in town, Khan said it was a matter of time before things would fall in place for the Knight-Riders.

We have mashalla really really good players in our team already. Now how they gel together is a thing. Once that works, we are really happy with what we have at this point of time," said King Khan.

"We have a series against South Africa - three Test matches which finishes two days before the first IPL game. So, we need to sit with John (Buchanan) and work it out because other than the Indian players, others would be available. We will work something out - to train them and get used to the conditions," said Ganguly.

Shahrukh also released the team's official song and playing shirts. The colours of the team are black and gold. And the team's mascot will be a tiger called "Hoog Lee".

"I have already requested Sourav and John to dance at the beginning of every game. So, they have relented and we all are learning the Bollywood steps. John is doing very well," said Shah Rukh.

Now that's a clever one if you are want to draw the average Bengali to the stadium.

"Whenever the Kolkatans scream very loud for me to dance, I will dance for you guys. I will be there for every match," assured the Bollywood's superstar.

By the body-language of Shah Rukh Khan, it seems that his Tigers are just waiting to roll.