Back from a conditioning camp in South Africa after going up a division, Olympian boxer Akhil Kumar on Monday said he will make his feather weight debut in the Asian Championship in June.

The Haryana-boxer, who went 3 kgs up from the bantam weight division after winning the World Cup bronze medal in December, says he does not expect instant success in the new division.

“Four to six weeks from now, I will be ready to compete and in all likelihood, my featherweight debut will be in the Asian Championship in June. I don’t know what the results would be like after the category change, I may even lose initially because it’s not easy to go up a division and adjust instantly,” the 27-year-old said in an interview.

“It will be a test similar to the one I endured while changing from flyweight to bantam weight,” he added.

In almost a fortnight-long camp sponsored by the Mittal Champions Trust and overseen by renowned physiotherapist Heath Matthews in Durban, Akhil said he worked on improving his endurance but it would be some time before he regains the sharpness in reaction and the all-important rhythm inside the ring.

“Boxing was never an easy sport but it has become all the more tough with the new three-rounds-of-three-minutes-each format. The stress will now be on endurance and this is precisely what I worked on in South Africa,” Akhil said.

“But being a counter-puncher, I rely heavily on quick reaction and rhythm and these two areas need to be worked upon as I have changed my division,” he said.

Akhil said he would not make the mistake of rushing back into competition immediately like his protege Jitender Kumar, who has also graduated a division to bantam from flyweight.

Jitender lost in the opening round of the last week’s A K Mishra International in Chandigarh, his first competitive event since making the division change.

“He should have waited. After the conditioning camp in South Africa, he should have trained in Patiala for at least four weeks before entering competition. New format, new division, it all got just a bit too much for him too handle,” he said.

Akhil said boxing’s changed format will benefit defensive pugilists, who keep their guard up while fighting.

“But I am not going to change. I will still fight with my guard down as it has become my strength and identity after Olympics. When I started out, keeping a low guard was considered a weakness in my game but I have made it my strength. Besides, this daredevil style has also got me so many admirers,” the diminutive boxer quipped.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who will be hosting the Oscar ceremony this year, wants late Heath Ledger to win the award for Best Supporting Actor. The Australia actor said he wanted a posthumous Oscar award for the late star for his villainous turn as The Joker in Batman flick The Dark Knight, say reports. Ledger has already won a Golden Globe and BAFTA award for the role from his last released movie. “I can’t hide the fact that I would really love for that honor to be bestowed upon him,” Jackman said of the late star, who was also an Australian. Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescribed drugs in January last year. “It would be fitting and I think he deserves it,” said the actor.

Model Kate Moss has topped the list of Hollywood celebrities whose fashion sense is most copied by women, a poll has revealed. Kate, 35, has beaten Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole and put them at the second and third place respectively, according to reports.

Website theragtrader.com polled 3,000 women and found that 14 per cent of them copy their favourite celebrity’s fashion statements. Kate’s spokesman said: “Kate effortlessly puts outfits together. Whether skinny jeans or a vintage frock, she’s incredibly stylish.”

Among men, football star David Beckham was the most copied male star followed by Justin Timberlake and Brad Pitt.

More snowfall in the state capital and higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh Monday intensified cold wave conditions in the state. “Popular tourist spot – and state capital – Shimla received snowfall last (Sunday) night and this (Monday) afternoon, plummeting the minimum temperature to 1.2 degrees Celsius in comparison to 1.7 degrees Celsius Sunday,” Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office said.

The minimum temperature was 5.7 degrees Celsius Saturday.

According to him, about four centimetres snowfall had been recorded in Shimla since Sunday night.

Lower areas of the town experienced light rain throughout the day.

Tourist spots near Shimla, like honeymooner’s paradise Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda also experienced fresh snowfall, triggering a rush of tourists there.

According to the meteorological office, while Kufri received six centimetres of snow, Narkanda had seven.

The Rohtang Pass, located at an altitude of 13,500 feet in Kullu district, has so far received around two metres of snow, while popular tourist resort Manali received about 7.5 cm snowfall along with rain Monday.

“Manali and its nearby areas had good spell of snowfall in the early hours of Monday,” Singh said.

The tribal districts of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba received light to moderate snowfall during the night and the weather remained cloudy.

The minimum temperature at Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was recorded at minus 7.8 degrees Celsius and maximum at minus 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district also recorded a minimum of minus 5.5 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature at Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, which received 1.6 mm rainfall, was low at 4.9 degrees Celsius.

The mid and lower hills received light to moderate rainfall while cold wave swept across Solan, Sirmaur, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una districts.

The Met office has forecast widespread rain and snow in the state during next 24 hours.

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Yusuf Khan, a Canadian citizen with Pakistani parents, claims his
heritage is from Jaipur, his mother’s home before partition. He is in
India for his album Jaanejana which he says has only three messages – love, peace and humanity.

‘I don’t believe in the divisions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, to
me these are all one – the subcontinent for which I am working’.

Having lived in North America, and being a second generation
immigrant, he has faith in the people from this subcontinent and the
value they hold to their homeland when they go abroad. He explains it
this way – ‘when a person goes abroad, he sends a part of his earnings
at home, that gives the country foreign exchange, that money is used to
build his family home for which the labour and the raw material comes
from local sources only, getting them their earnings. Our goal is to
create more such people, with the right attitude to go outside. We
don’t want aim to create large numbers, just a 100 tigers are enough.’

And how does music come into the picture here?

There are many organisations in the US and other countries who have
agreed to match up the amount generated by this album. He is also
trying to get a foot into Bollywood music to further up the brand
value.

I have been told that being a Pakistani voice holds some importance here, he shrugs.

Being from a marketing background, he says he has researched his
audience and found the niche for his product – his album. About the
kind of music that will be heard in his album he says it will be
western music with an eastern touch so that the end product will be
eastern music. He identifies two target audience age groups – 18 to 25
and 35 plus. ‘So that both the generations in a house would want to buy
it’

Every now and then, you hear music directors in Bollywood being accused of lifting tunes from international composers and foreign films. However this time, our music composers sure have a reason to be happy as one of our songs has been used in a Hollywood film.

The song we are talking about is the hit number Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja‘ from the Mithun Chakraborty starrer Disco Dancer. Now the same song is featured in the Adam Sandler film You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. It may be recalled that the song was composed by ace composer Bappi Lahiri nearly 25 years ago.

On being asked how he felt about this feat, an elated Bappi Lahiri exclaimed,”It’s a great feeling. I am naturally elated as this is the first time in history that a Bollywood music composer’s two songs have made it big on the international circuit.”

“After Kaliyon Ka Chaman made it big internationally, now Jimmy Jimmy is featured in the Hollywood film You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” he added.

“In fact the song Jimmy Jimmy was first used as a remix by the band M.I.A. in their album last year. The song went on to become a big hit. Now with the song also being featured in a Hollywood film, it’s a double success for all of us. It’s a great day for celebration for any Indian. Its all thanks to your love and blessings”, says the veteran music composer.

Unlike last time when Bappi da had to file a case against Truth Hurts feat.Rakim for using his song Kaliyon Ka Chaman, this time the makers of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan have given him due credit and needless to say Bappi da is grinning from ear to ear.

Singer Lily Allen, known for her songs “Smile” and “LDN”, has taken to wearing jewellery made out of bullet.

Reports came in that Allen was spotted wearing the Love Bullet – a 10 pound necklace, made of an actual bullet.

Other celebrities to have joined the club of bullet necklace wearers are Cheryl Cole, Coleen McLoughlin and Steve Jones. The proceeds from the necklace sales are going to a charity.

Allen is currently working on her second album, which will be released soon.