Thursday, March 3 2005 20:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sunil Dutt on Thursday (March 3, 2005) wished India's first ever Formula One racer Narain Karthikeyan all success ahead of the Sunday season opener in the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

Dutt hoped Karthikeyan would emerge as one of the top F1 racers in the years to come.

Proclaiming that Sania Mirza and Karthikeyan were the pride of the nation, he hoped the Hyderabad girl would continue her dream run by defeating Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the $ 585,000 US Dubai Open WTA Championship on Thursday.

The Minister described as shameful the incident involving Indian Oil's Deepak Thakur and Kamalpreet Singh of Punjab Police resulting in serious injuries to the former. Singh had hit Thakur with his stick in the recent Ranjit Singh Hockey Tournament match.

Dutt expressed confidence about the timely completion of all preparations for the Delhi edition of the Commonwealth Games in 2010. On the controversy regarding sportspersons sporting the tricolour on their garments and equipment, Dutt said the matter was under the purview of the Home Ministry.