Muhammad Ali funeral: Thousands line route for farewell

Thousands are attending a farewell procession for boxing legend Muhammad Ali in his home city of Louisville, in the US state of Kentucky. Onlookers lining the roadside waved, took photos and chanted "Ali, Ali" as a cortege led by the hearse carrying his coffin drove through the downtown area. The heavyweight champion and rights activist died last Friday aged 74. The cortege is taking Ali's body past key sites in his life, ahead of...

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Muhammad Ali death: Obama will not attend memorial

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThousands are expected to attend services on Thursday and Friday in Louisville Muhammad Ali dies The day Muhammad Ali met Prince Muhammad Ali: Hometown mourns the 'Louisville Lip' Muhammad Ali - in his own words Image gallery Muhammad Ali's life in pictures US President Barack Obama is to miss the memorial to boxer Muhammad Ali on Friday because it clashes with his daughter's...

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Manohar Aich: Top Indian bodybuilder dies, aged 104

Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe 1.49m- (4ft-10.5in) tall bodybuilder was popularly known as 'Pocket Hercules' Tributes have been paid to a celebrated Indian body-builder, Manohar Aich, who has died in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta), aged 104. Mr Aich died of age-related "complications" on Sunday, his family said. He is survived by four children. Mr Aich was the first Indian to become Mr Universe in 1952, five years after the country's...

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Muhammad Ali, a gold-medal winning Kerala athlete? Sports Minister Jayarajan thinks so

It was a phone call Kerala’s new Sports Minister, E P Jayarajan should have avoided at any cost; unfortunately he didn’t. The result: World’s boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, who died at an Arizona hospital, on Friday night, became an eminent sports star from Kerala. Not only that, Ali even won a gold medal for the state in his heydays and thus elevated the state’s fame internationally. All this happened on Saturday when...

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Muhammad Ali: How even the greatest worshipped 'The Greatest'

Cricket has in recent years lost some wonderful commentators: Tony Greig, Richie Benaud and Tony Cozier have all passed on taking with them their huge mass of knowledge, ebullience and incisiveness. You miss these people because they weren’t just voices calling a sport, they were facets of the sport itself, indivisible parts of your experience growing up watching cricket. It is the same regardless of the game, and for millions of...

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Muhammad Ali Was The Essence Of Greatness, And His Voice Will Never Be SilentMuhammad Ali Was The Essence Of Greatness, And His Voice Will Never Be Silent

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali retired from boxing in 1981 with a record of 56 wins, 37 by knockout, and five losses. Muhammad Ali, the legend of all sports legends, is gone. His quiet, excruciating, decades-long descent into Parkinson's disease is over. If there is a championship ring in heaven, may he stand peacefully in the middle of it, arms raised, and speak with audacity and wit once more, this time about a life...

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