Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

[sum]

Congrats to the Archery team...
sad to see this great achievement being ignored by the DDM ( as usual)..

[negi]

Aussies have been owned.

India trounce Australia 4-1 in Sudirman Cup badminton

GUANGZHOU, China: India outclassed Australia 4-1 in their first Group 3 tie of the Sudirman Cup badminton championship on Monday.


India, who are eyeing a promotion to Group 2 in the world mixed team championship, produced a clinical performance. Their only loss came in the women's doubles where Shruti Kurian and Aparna Balan were pairing for the first time.

[Stan_Savljevic]

No news from the hockey field till good news arrives.

The assies have nothing to do with badminton, so why rejoice in owning them?!

Yuki and Somdev achieve career best rankings

New Delhi (PTI) Riding on back-to-back ITF wins, Australian Open Boys' Champion Yuki Bhambri took a massive ranking jump to achieve his career-best singles ATP ranking of 664, gaining 175 positions. Another promising player Somdev Devvarman continued to be India's numero uno player, who rose six rungs to be 140, his career-best ranking too. Prakash Amritraj also gained three positions to be at 163.

In the doubles, Leander Paes (5) and Mahesh Bhupathi (9) hung on to their respective places while Rohan Bopanna improved two spots to get to 66. In the women's rankings, Sania Mirza (92) continues to be in the 90s.

Davis Cup draw today

NEW DELHI: India has been seeded along with Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland for the Davis Cup World Group play-off to be played from September 18 to 20. Each of the seeded teams will be drawn against one of the unseeded nations — Chile, Ecuador, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The draw is scheduled to be held at the ITF office in London on May 12.

Vijender excited to be back in the ring

NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medal winning boxer Vijender Singh will be back in action soon. After his historic feat in Beijing last year, the middleweight boxer will participate in the 40th European Grand Prix, to be held in Usti Nad Labem of Czech Republic from May 13 to 17. Despite the long layoff, Vijender is confident of putting up a good show in the tournament.

“After a long break I am excited to be back in the ring. I have been practising all these months to better my skills and am confident of doing well. In fact, the Grand Prix will be the beginning of my new journey to sharpen my skills for the upcoming championships that I will be participating this year,” Vijender said.

Main focus: The 23-year-old said he was aiming to do well in the forthcoming World championship to be held in Italy in August. “World championship is my main focus as I would like to bring another medal for my country at the highest level,” he said. Besides Vijender, other Indian boxers to take part in the European Grand Prix are Suranjoy Singh (51kg), P. Narjeet Singh (54kg), Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg). Preliminary bouts of the tournament will start on May 13 and the finals will be held on May 16. The first and second place winners will get prize money.

Jitender in second round

NEW DELHI: Jitender Kumar registered his first win since going up a division to bantam weight and entered the second round of a training-cum-competition boxing event in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Monday. The 21-year-old, whose first attempt at competing in the bantam weight category ended in a first round exit at the A.K. Mishra International in March, beat Kazakh boxer Judayder Genov 14-10.

“I am thrilled after winning this bout. I didn’t have a very good start in bantam weight, but this win has given me a lot of confidence,” Jitender told PTI from Almaty. The Haryana boxer is part of a 10-member Indian team competing in the event. The others are reigning youth world champion T. Nanao Singh (48 kg), former cadet world champion Vipin Kumar (51 kg), Chhote Lal Yadav (57 kg), Rakesh Kalaskar (60 kg), Balwinder Singh (64 kg), Jagat (75 kg), Dinesh Kumar (81 kg), Guru Lal (91kg) and Ram Singh (+91kg). — PTI

Foreign boxing coaches not needed: Vijender

NEW DELHI: As the search for a Cuban coach for Indian boxers continues, country's only Olympic medal winner in the sport Vijender Singh on Monday
said a foreigner is not needed as home-grown coaches can do the job well enough. Ever since Cuban B I Fernandes' contract expired, the Indian Boxing Federation has been hunting for a foreign coach, preferably another Cuban, to fill the void. But Vijender, who returns to the ring in a European Grand Prix event from May 13 to 18 in Czech Republic, says the Indians are doing a good job.

"I don't think we need a foreign coach. Our coaches are good enough. In my opinion, money should be spent on our coaches. If needed, send them abroad to learn the new techniques as they are the ones grooming us," the 23-year-old said here. Vijender also felt the boxers should be sent on training trips to Europe or America instead of Asian countries like Kazakhstan. Training in Asia is of no use. We should be going to US or Europe because that is where the conditions are different from India. We will learn to acclimatise to adverse conditions. It is very important," Vijender said.

"Take for instance, the tournament in Czech Republic where I am going now. It's going to be biting cold there but here it is hot and humid," he explained. Having trained hard in Patiala to get back in shape after being out of action for more than eight months, Vijender quipped that a proof of his devotion to the sport, questioned after a few modelling assignments, is that he missed the all-important voting for Lok Sabha elections to attend the camp. "I didn't vote because of the Patiala camp. I was very serious about my training. Otherwise, things would have been said about me again," he said.

Dilip’s distinction

CHENNAI: Dilip Rogger became the first Indian racer to take part in Germany’s four-hour endurance 1000 Berge Trophy Road Race at Oschersleben. He also got the opportunity to ride in the KTM Duke Battle race. In the four-hour endurance race, Dilip, riding for Team Schittko, was lying 30th when his teammate took over. His team finished 42nd. “It was an experience of a lifetime and a dream come true. Riding the endurance race has given me exposure to world class riding techniques and styles,” said Dilip, who took the 13th spot in the Duke Battle race.

[John_H]

Posting in full.

Harendra says he was provoked into Pakistan remark

New Delhi/Karachi, May 16:
India's hockey coach Harendra Singh on Friday clarified that his remark about India-Pakistan bilateral series were torn out of context by two Pakistani journalists who deliberately asked provocative questions.

Harendra's purported remarks that hit headlines in the Pakistani media sparked strong reactions from the Olympians across the border.

The Olympians took exception to Harendra's reported remark that "India would rather go to war with Paksitan than play hockey."

Harendra said that he only said it was not for him to take a call on the India-Pakistan bilateral hockey series and it is for the government to decide. He did not say that 'India should go to war' as attributed to him in the Pakistani media.
Harendra said the exchange between him and the two Pakistani journalists took place when he was on his way to the media room and not at the press conference, after defending champions India lost to Pakistan 2-3 in the pool game of the Asia Cup.

Harendra said he had heated exchanges with the two correspondents as they used abusive language.
"I will not stand anyone abusing my country. The two Pakistani journalists kept using foul language to provoke me," said a furious Harendra.

"I don't care what they write, all I said to silence them was this is not the time to play hockey with Pakistan. In any case, they should have confined themselves to the match and the game instead of provoking me to say something unpleasant. The way the two reporters accosted me it appeared they came with an ulterior motive.

"The two reporters kept asking whether Indo-Pak bilateral series should be resumed and I said that it is not my call, it is for the government decide. They kept needling me, asking irrelevant questions."

Harendra's team was out of medal contention after their loss to Pakistan in a crucial Group B match and the subsequent 2-2 draw with China.

The Pakistani Olympians said the Asian Hockey Federation and the International Hockey federation (FIH) should take action against the India coach.

Veteran Munir Dar said he was disappointed as Harendra's remarks were against the spirit of sport.
"Sports and politics should not be mixed," said Dar.

"I was really disappointed over the remarks as Pakistan-India matches are keenly watched on both sides of the border and they should continue," he added.

Another Olympian Khawaja Junaid, who is the coach of the Pakistan junior team, said Harendra's statement was irresponsible.

"I am surprised that a person in such a key position could be so careless," he said. "He (Harendra) made those remarks during an international tournament and I believe that the AHF and the FIH should take action against him."

Indo-Pak relations were strained in the wake of last November's Mumbai terror attacks. India then refused to send its cricket team to Pakistan while in a tit-for-tat reaction, Pakistan advised its cricketers not to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The two cricket teams have not played against each other since the Mumbai attack but Pakistani and Indian hockey teams have played each other twice in Malaysia in recent times. In the last month's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, India beat Pakistan and then went on to win the five-nation contest.

[Ameet]

India to play South Africa

http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/13/stories ... 861700.htm

India has been drawn to play South Africa in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tennis tie from September 18 to 20.

South Africa will have the option of deciding the surface at home. Rik De Voest (191) and Izak Van Der Merwe (273) had played the key roles for South Africa in its 5-0 victories over Macedonia and Belarus in Europe-Africa zonal competition this year. Jeff Coetzee, with a doubles ranking of 19, is its main doubles player, and partners De Voest, who has a doubles ranking of 42.

The 312th-ranked Raven Klaasen, who had lost to the16-year-old Yuki Bhambri in the second final, and to Vishnu Vardhan in the semifinals of the first tournament in the ITF Futures circuit in Delhi recently, is the other member of the squad. Kevin Anderson, South Africa’s best-ranked player at 149, has not played any of the Davis Cup matches this season, but had played his part last year, putting together a 5-1 singles record.

“It is a very good draw. We have a fair chance to qualify for the World Group” said the captain of the Indian team, S.P. Misra. India’s best player, the 140th-ranked Somdev Devvarman said that it was tough to play South Africa in its backyard.

[Vriksh]

So the Aussies do not get suspended from the Davis cup and pay a paltry $10000 to get out of the Davis cup in Chennai. However they lose hosting rights to their next Davis cup home court. Our foreign office should introspect on our poor standing in the world or we will be continually kicked around like beggars.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis ... id=4199157

[ArmenT]

Cross-posting from the Nukkad thread. Looks like there's going to be a second T20 tournament held this year, and this one is going to be held in India. At the bottom of this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/8066299.stm

it says that Lalit Modi has announced the details:

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, meanwhile, revealed that this year's Twenty20 Champions League - of which he is also chairman - will be contested by 12 teams rather than eight, with a total prize fund of A prize fund of US$6m (£3.77m).

The eight teams already due to take part were both IPL finalists - Deccan and Bangalore - plus the Cape Cobras and Eagles from South Africa, Victoria and New South Wales from Australia, plus the finalists from England's Twenty20 Cup, which begins on Monday.

They will now be joined by domestic Twenty20 champions from New Zealand (Otago), Sri Lanka (Wayamba) and West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago) - plus a third IPL franchise, Delhi Daredevils - for the tournament, which will take place in India from 8 to 23 October, just after the Champions Trophy.

There will be 23 games played, with teams divided into four groups of three. Two teams in each group will move onto the second phase, with the four top teams reaching the semi-finals. Fixtures will be announced in London on 23 June.

and the icing on top of the cake...

However, Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions, Sialkot Stallions, will not feature because the Pakistan government has restricted travel to India.

[SSridhar]

Sharath Kamal wins Silver at 18th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships

Three Indian Boxers reach Quarterfinals in the World Junior Championships

Sayali Gokhale wins Spanish Women's Singles Title in badminton

Indian Archery team gets 3 Golds and 4 Silvers at Asian Archery Grand Prix

[BhairavP]

Gurujano, what do you think of our chances against RSA? Methinks we're in with a good chance.

[Ameet]

World Cup to cost $40-50m

AGE CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

May 27: The 2011 World Cup — to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — is expected to cost between $40 and 50 million. The figure was worked out at a preliminary meeting of the 2011 World Cup sub-committee looking into operations planning and event budgeting here on Wednesday, said tournament director and cricket control board chief administrative officer Prof. Ratnakar Shetty.

The meeting was attended by two representatives of the International Cricket Council — Jamieson Campbell (ICC commercial manager) and Christopher Tetley (events manager) — who briefed the country representatives about preparing an operational plan for the event. They also asked the representatives to prepare various heads of expenses, on the basis of which a joint consolidated event budget would be presented to the ICC Finance Committee.

"The 2011 World Cup is an ICC event and all expenses are to be borne by the ICC. The representatives of the member countries were briefed by the ICC representatives how to present the various items while making the budget," said Shetty.

He added that the expenses would be different for each of the organising countries. Also, a rough ratified budget by each country should be presented by June 10 to the ICC Finance Committee.

The committee will then go through the figures when it meets in mid-June when the central organising committee meeting is slated in London. Present at the meeting were Sujeewa Rajapakse (Sri Lanka Cricket treasurer), Nishantha Ranatunga (SLC secretary), Mahbubul Anam (Bangladesh Cricket Board vice president), M.P. Pandove (BCCI treasurer), Prof. Shetty, K.S. Vishwanathan (assistant to BCCI secretary), and Suru Nayak (BCCI operations manager). "Each host nation will set up a local organising committee for the 2011 ICC World Cup after the event budget is approved. The match schedule will be finalised and announced at a later date," a BCCI statement said.

[Stan_Savljevic]

A semi-investigative report on why Indian hockey is surely targeted with a cross. Much of the blame needs to go to GoI for if it leaves its population uncared for, Trojans take over. For hickey v2.0 followers, its a choice between the devil and the complete devil. Els van Breda whats her name, and Jose Brasa. The spaniards are too uncaring and too evangelical. The Dutch are too opportunistic and evangelical enough.

Disclaimer: Not meant for the weak-hearted and the politically correct.

Sticking together with ‘StickforIndia’ ---- A. Joseph Antony

ANANTAPUR: The flight from Amsterdam took 12 hours and the drive from Bangalore to Anantapur, four more. Yet Spanish hockey wizard Santi Freixa was as fired up to train poor children, as when turning out for his country, fatigue and jetlag notwithstanding. Dividing time between playing for Amsterdam in the Dutch league and his MBA studies, what drew the double Olympian to Anantapur, a drought-driven dust-bowl? It was to live a dream he shared with teammate Andreu Enrich of using sports as a means for social development.

After the December 2005 Champions Trophy in Chennai, Enrich visited the Rural Development Trust (RDT), an Anantapur-based NGO. Soon Freixa, adjudged International Hockey Federation (FIH) junior player of the year in 2004 and twice European player of the year, and Enrich set up ‘Stick amb India’, a registered society in their native town of Terrassa, to fund an academy in Anantapur. Micro monthly donations came mostly from members of their club, Atletic Terrassa. In 2006, Enrich, along with Spanish woman international Clara Vancells and clubmate Anna Serra got the scheme going, which from its grassroots beginnings took wing.

Since then, Enrich, a business management graduate, has made eight visits, overseeing a full-fledged residential scheme for children aged between 12 and 16 years. Freixa, meanwhile, enrolled the support of Dutch drag-flicking destroyer Taeke Takaema, Australian Jamie Dwyer, German Timo Wess and compatriot Pol Amat. The project also enjoys the blessings of FIH President Leanardo Negre and current Indian coach Jose Brasa, also a Spaniard. Backing on home turf has come from Indian custodian Adrian D’Souza, Vinay VS, Vikram Kanth and Hari Prasad as also from past greats Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar and Harinder Singh.

Pixels for sale

For further funding, Freixa and Enrich, the latter an ardent admirer of micro-finance Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, have set up http://www.stickforindia.com. If small steps lead to great ones and a wall is built brick by brick, the website has 10,000 pixels for sale, each costing €10. While a formal launch is planned post European Nations Cup at Amsterdam in August, about 5 per cent of the pixels have already been picked up.

Some of international hockey’s leading lights are pixel patrons, including England’s Simon Mantell, Australians Andrew Smith and Alyson Annan, Germans Matthias Witthaus, Max Weinhold, apart from compatriots Alex Fabregas and Sergi Enrique. To enable the sport’s spread across India, the Spaniards and RDT are hoping to raise resources and lay an astroturf surface that will cost Rs. 1.6 crores. To promote the project in a big way, the duo has invited professional film-makers from Spain in September to make a documentary on the scheme that D’Souza describes as a stunning success.

I did some investigation into this RDT thingy. This is what I found, so take it with a pinch of salt.

Narendar had been affected by his work with Vincent Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit priest living in India since 1920. In the late seventies Ferrer, seeing the poverty all around, ended his life as a man of cloth, married an Englishwoman and went around rural Maharashtra observing farmers in distress. He became the centre of a huge media controversy. His programme of drilling tube-wells for farmers was suspected to be a Trojan horse. Forming Rural Development Trust [RDT] to continue his work with creating irrigation facilities, Ferrer moved to Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Narendar was living in the USA with his wife and two sons when he read of Ferrer and his work in the LIFE magazine. He came back to India to work in the rural areas on the invitation of Ferrer.

Well, the Narendar above is actually Narendar Luther!

Narendra Luther, also an NIS qualified athletics coach, monitors schemes in his pet discipline, besides managing the well-equipped RDT Gymnasium, where V. M. Kishore Kumar and K. P. Bhaskar are the instructors.

And its all in the family too,

"We wanted to set an example to the physically-challenged, that they too could shape up. On the other hand, here is a man who can teach a lesson or two to the able-bodied," said Moncho Ferrer, Associate Programme Director, Rural Development Trust (RDT), under the aegis of which runs the Anantapur Sports Village, formerly called the RDT Sports Centre.

They have the hi-falutins from Spain endorsing them, Leandro Negre, Jose Brasa, Joan Laporta (FC Barcelona president), and more. And many of the Taeke Takemas too.

A centre started in Anantapur will be Barcelona's first in Asia and the foundation has earmarked an investment of almost Rs 50 lakh. Barcelona also plans to open another centre near Anantpur by next year with the help of Rural Development Trust, an NGO that is based in Anantapur and looks to eradicate poverty and help with the integration of Dalits into the mainstream of society.

If you still are not too skeptical of Fundacion Vicente Ferrer, its one of the top-notch NGOs bringing in EJ-money into India. There was a post by Ramana a while back on how EJ-cash is flowing into India and FVF came in third. Check out the MHA report for details: http://www.mha.gov.in/fcra/annual/ar2006-07.pdf (page 26).

Plus, FVF acts in consort with ActionAid UK. See More from here
http://books.google.com/books?id=RyU7uC ... #PPA146,M1 and http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... %26hl%3Den for a wiki on them.

And finally, all the articles on the exploits of FVF and RDT in Anantapur in the Chindu are written by one Joseph A. Antony. Sorry, I would have ignored that normally, but too many coincidences make it too obvious for me.

[archan]

I am here to help Indian gymnasts
Looks like the Indian-origin guy Raj Bhavsar who got into the US team and won a bronze in the Olympics is being roped in to start preparing gymnasts in India. Let's see how he does.

[Stan_Savljevic]

We strongly feel Australia is one of the countries that prompts Malaysia to vie for hosting the next World Cup hockey, as according to them, if hearsay are to be believed, India is 'unsafe'. The real motive, we all know, is the fond hope that that Malaysia might offer free ticket to teams as it did for the 2007 Champions Trophy!!!!!!

[Stan_Savljevic]

Indian junior team benefits from Brasa’s visit

NEW DELHI: The Indian team was benefited from chief hockey coach Jose Brasa’s visit to the camp ahead of the junior World Cup to be held in Malaysia and Singapore from June 7 to 21. “He gave us a game analysis software and we are using it for the tournament,” said coach Ajay Kumar Bansal on Tuesday before leaving for the junior World Cup. The coach is delighted that India’s bench strength is strong. “There is a problem of plenty. The competition within the squad is very strong and it is difficult to pick 15 players from 18,” Bansal said.

The other good news for the side is the improvement of Innocent Kullu as a penalty corner expert. His effective direct hits will provide variety and choice for the coach. “Many European teams have sorted out Diwakar Ram (drag-flick expert and captain). So, Kullu gives extra strength to penalty corner conversion,” Bansal said. While the Indian coach is confident of the goal-scoring ability of his wards, he is equally aware of the team’s habit of getting relaxed and conceding soft goals. “Our short corner specialists and strikers are good enough to score goals. But we cannot afford to give away easy chances,” Bansal said.

Twenty countries will take part in the competition and India is placed in Pool ‘D’ along with the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore. India will play a couple of practice games against Germany and Chile on June 4 and 5 respectively before meeting Singapore in its opening match on June 8.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Sushil Kumar warned

NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medal-winning wrestler Sushil Kumar was censured and warned by the Steering Committee of the Union Sports Ministry for failing to make his weight category in the recent Asian championship in Pattaya, Thailand. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had issued Sushil a show cause notice and was dissatisfied with the wrestler’s reply, eventually dragging the matter before the Steering Committee.

Coaches Yashvir Singh and Vladimir Mestevirishvili were also warned for not keeping a watch on the wrestler’s weight, leading to his disqualification. All three were told that any repeat offence would result in their names being deleted from the National camp. The Steering Committee was of the opinion that with the Union Government taking such keen interest in the preparations of India’s sportspersons and making available all facilities and coaching staff, it was the duty of the competitors and coaches to show some responsibility in such instances.

Olympic Gold Quest announces the appointment of Viren Rasquinha as its Chief Operations Officer (COO) with effect from 1st June, 2009.

Viren Rasquinha, one of the biggest stars of Indian Hockey, is an Olympian and the former captain of the Indian Hockey team. He was bestowed with the prestigious Arjuna Award for Hockey for the year 2005. He has played 180 international matches for the Indian hockey team in a career spanning from 2002 till he retired in January 2008. He was an immensely gifted midfielder and an excellent team player known for his fearless tackling skills, tireless running and calm temperament. He was also the captain of the Maratha Warriors in the Premier Hockey League (PHL) for 4 consecutive years from 2005-2008 and played for Stuttgart Kickers in the German Bundesliga in the 2007-08 season

After his retirement in 2008, Viren did his MBA at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad which is ranked 15th in the world in the Financial Times (FT) world rankings for MBA schools. He has a dual major in Marketing and Strategy.

Commenting on his appointment as COO of Olympic Gold Quest, Rasquinha seemed very excited about his new role, “The 1 year stint at ISB has taught me a lot in what it takes to be a good manager and leader and I am really looking forward to working closely with legends like Geet and Prakash. Sport is something that has given me so much in life and I truly believe that I can make a difference to sport in India with my experiences as a player and my management background. The challenges are enormous but it is very exciting for me to work with a fantastic team at OGQ”. He went on to add, “My thrust areas would be identifying the most talented athletes in the country in individual Olympic sports and those with potential to win an Olympic medal and really do everything possible to take them to the highest level of performance.”

Geet Sethi said “The fact that Viren has been appointed as COO shows the commitment of Olympic Gold Quest to true sporting excellence. Viren is an elite sportsman first and foremost and along with his management background, he is the ideal person to drive our vision forward which is to develop Olympic champions.”

Badminton legend Prakash Padukone had this to say, “Viren will be in a position to understand the athletes better than anyone else. He knows what it takes from the point of view of a top sportsman and we want him to identify the areas where OGQ can make a difference to the final performance of our athletes.” undefined

Niraj Bajaj, one of the Board members of OGQ and former National Table Tennis Champion and Arjuna Awardee and Director, Bajaj Group of Companies had the following comments, “Viren brings very unique abilities to the table. He balances the sporting vision and the business perspective and we look forward to having him work very closely with the athletes.”

The most prominent athlete on board Olympic Gold Quest is ace shooter Gagan Narang who currently holds the world record in the men’s 10 metre air rifle event. Besides Gagan, OGQ has also tied up with Badminton player Guru Sai Dutt, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and boxer Sanjay Kolte. The foundation also supports Tintu Luka who is the most promising women’s 800 metre-runner in the country and the P.T. Usha School of Athletics.

Olympic Gold Quest is a Foundation for the Promotion of Sports and Games promoted by Geet Sethi, Prakash Padukone and Niraj Bajaj. OGQ’s Board and Executive Committee also comprises R Ramaraj (Senior Adviser, Sequoia Capital India), Shitin Desai (Vice Chairman, DSP Merrill Lynch), Rakesh Khanna (Founding Partner, Ambit RSM) and Neeraj Bharadwaj (Country Head, Apax Partners).

Some of the prominent donors to date for OGQ include the Bajaj group, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Shitin Desai, R Ramaraj, Ashish Kacholia, Amit Chandra and Vijay Aggarwal.

31.05.2009 – GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly of India and Zhang Xiaowen of China won the Asian Open and Women’s Championships 2009, respectively, in Subic Bay Freeport Zone in northern Philippines. A total of $50,000 was at stake in the Open and $15,000 in the Women’s Championships, from FIDE and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). The Open had a strong field of 85 players from 15 countries, including 40 GMs, 15 IMs and eight FMs. GM Ganguly emerged on top with 8 points out of 11 rounds, prevailing in a tie-break over GM Zhou Weiqi of China. The top-ten finishers qualify for the World Cup.

Other Indians to have qualified from the Asian championship include GMs Sandipan Chanda, Sasikiran (who has been going through a wretched form of late and is bound to shed a lot more ELOs in the next update) and Abhijit Kunte. Dronavilli Harika for a change played in the mens category and finished creditably for her ELO. In the womens category, Meenakshi Subbaraman finished third while pin-up-girl Tania Sachdev ended up in the bottom rung, thus underlying the oft-publicized remark that womens chess in India has little to boast about in terms of strength.

[Ameet]

India lose to Malaysia in Division 2 rugby championship

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1261805

India fought gallantly in the first half but Malaysia were too strong in the second half as the hosts scored a comfortable 43-29 victory in the HSBC Asian five-nations Division 2 rugby championship at the Shah Alam Stadium.

India will now have to fight it out against arch-rivals Pakistan for the third place. Malaysia will clash with China in the final on Saturday. The winners qualify for Division 1. In another match, China overcame stubborn resistance from minnows Pakistan to prevail 25-19.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Vijender & Co aim for first Asian C'ship gold in 15 yrs

New Delhi (PTI): He broke India's Olympic jinx in Beijing and now Vijender Singh, along with 10 others, returns to China aiming to end the country's 15-year wait for a gold medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai. Vijender had won a silver medal in the last edition held in 2007 in Mongolia and the 23-year-old says he is confident of improving the colour of his medal this time around. "It's going to be a tough tournament but then no international competition is easy. I am confident of going the whole distance this time and getting a gold medal that has eluded us for the past 15 years," the Olympic bronze medallist told PTI before the 11-member contingent left for China on Thursday.

More than himself, Vijender is confident about the prospect of his cousin Balwinder, an 18-year-old who will make his international debut at the event starting on Sunday. "I have trained with him. He is a fantastic boxer. I have more trust in him than even myself," he said. Balwinder, on his part, is banking on Vijender's support to get over the jitters of competing in the elite tournament. "Nervousness is there but having Vijender bhai around will make sure that it doesn't get too difficult to handle," said Balwinder.

One of India's four bronze medal winners in Mongolia was Jitender Kumar, who shifted to the bantam weight from fly weight this year. The event would be his first major test at the international level since making the jump. "As I have always said, what counts is a gold medal. I have got used to the new format of three rounds of three minutes each and realised the importance of a good defence. So, I will definitely do better," Jitender said. Another excited and nervous 18-year-old in the team is Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg), who was a world champion at the youth level.

"This being my first international tournament, I am quite excited and nervous but hopefully, it won't show in the ring," he said. Another prominent name in the squad is Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg). The 22-year-old from Uttar Pradesh substituted Olympian Akhil Kumar in the feather weight (57kg) division after the latter sustained a wrist injury while training. "It's a lucky break and hopefully I will be able to prove myself. I have gold medals at the sub-junior and junior Asian Championships and I am aiming to complete the hat-trick at the senior level," said Yadav, the reigning national champion in the division.

The team will be accompanied by three coaches -- led by chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. "The last time we won a gold was in Tehran 1994. While I don't want to predict the number of medals we might win this time, the performance will certainly be very good," said Sandhu. The other two coaches with the team are C Kuttappa and Jaidev Bisht.

Frequent postponment of Games leaves sports careers in tatters

Ranchi (PTI): The frequent deferment of the National Games - four times since 2007 - has left sports persons dejected and angry as it is threatening to leave their careers in tatters. The prestigious National Games, which was allotted to Jharkhand in 2002, is now scheduled for November 21 to December 5. Former internationals feel since sports persons across the country look forward to participate in the games, when they hear it is postponed, their morale shatters'. "You can just imagine what the sports persons across the country should be enduring after four postponements of the National Games," said Harbhajan Singh, a former international basketball player, presently serving as manager (sports) with the Tata Steel.

General secretary of the Orissa Olympic Association, Ashirbad Behera, said aspirants here have been in 'double-trouble' for the last couple of years as they were neither able to concentrate on their events nor on studies. "The postponement dealt a cruel blow to the aspirants of 2007 and 2008 who might not be able to get into their respective teams with more young ones catching them up," he said. Behera felt in future, Indian Olympic Association should shift the games to the state having readymade infrastructure if the allotted state fails to hold it on time, Behera told PTI from Cuttack.

Triple SAF games gold medallist and silver winner at the 1989 Asian track and field event Saroj Lakra ridiculed the games' organisers, saying so many postponements did not merit as the state did not get the games to host all of a sudden. "It will affect sports persons in the elite group who are aspiring to get into teams for international competitions," said Lakra, who represented Indian atheletics women's team in 1985 (Dhaka), Islamabad (1987) and Kolkata (1989) and now works as sports manager with the Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. Echoing Lakra's concern, former Indian women's hockey captain Savitri Purti felt the players might have lost enthusiasm following the frequent change of dates.

"They have faced enormous difficulties in balancing their time between studies and practice," rued Purti who is still attached to grooming new talents to keep hockey alive. "But I hope the organisers of the games will stick to the November 21 date, at least keeping the career interests of the sports persons," an optimistic Purti, who captained India in a tournament in Singapore in 1986, said. Olympian Sylvanus Dung Dung was more forthcoming in assailing the organisers for their alleged lack of sympathy towards sports persons.

"The sports persons give their heart out on the practice fields. They also risk injury threat during practice. The organisers should understand the ground situation and protect them," Dung Dung, member of the Moscow olympic gold medal winning Indian hockey team, said. "I hope there won't be any more postponement of the National Games," Dung Dung said. Going by the May 14 news conference by the Jharkhand Olympic Association president, R K Anand, Dung Dung has no reason to be hopeless.

Anand had promised that the organisers would not disappoint the players and sports fans. "We are going to stick to these schedules, a word you can take it from me," Anand said while announcing postponement of dates from June 1 to November 21 this year. The organisers had blamed frequent changes in governments that led to the slow-down in the construction of a multi-crore sports complex in Ranchi. Jharkhand saw four governments switching batons since 2005, lending credence to Anand's contention. Besides Ranchi, the games will also be held in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.

National Games: Sports persons worried over postponement

Ranchi (PTI): The frequent postponement of the National Games - four times since 2007 - has left sports persons dejected and angry as it is threatening to leave their careers in tatters. The prestigious National Games, which was allotted to Jharkhand in 2002, is now scheduled for November 21 to December five. Former internationals feel since sports persons across the country look forward to participate in the games, when they hear it is postponed, their morale shatters'. General secretary of the Orissa Olympic Association, Ashirbad Behera, said aspirants here have been in 'double-trouble' for the last couple of years as they were neither able to concentrate on their events nor on studies. "The postponement dealt a cruel blow to the aspirants of 2007 and 2008 who might not be able to get into their respective teams with more young ones catching them up," he said.

Paes in men's doubles final of French Open

NEW DELHI: Leander Paes kept the Indian challenge alive by advancing to the men's doubles final with Czech Lukas Dlouhy in Paris on Thursday. The third seeded Indo-Czech combination took one hour and 48 minutes to down their fancied rival 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the semi-final match. Paes and Dlouhy will now face Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium. The unseeded duo knocked off second-seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the early semifinal.

It was sweet revenge for Paes and Dlouhy as they had been beaten by Nestor and Zimonjic in the final at Rotterdam in February. Nestor and Zimonjic had won four of five clay events coming into Paris and Tuesday's quarter-final win was their 20th on clay in their last 21 matches.

[Stan_Savljevic]

For tomorrow: Go Leander, go!!
2 Men's Doubles - Finals Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)[3]/Leander Paes (IND)[3] v. Wesley Moodie (RSA)/Dick Norman (BEL)
--------
As much as we need to hear news from the field, we always keep hearing from far-away. The curse of this country is the set of well-entrenched oiseaules, who shy from giving away what they run after a fixed number of years.

‘Hockey India’ and after… --------- S. Thyagarajan

Chennai: The reaction of the hockey community to the move by IOA for the launch of an administrative unit under the banner of Hockey India has been predictably hostile. While there is a common perception that the IOA is pushing through a major change without adequate debate and not reading the signals from the constituents comprising IHF and IWHF, the attempt has triggered hectic activity — for and against — across the country.

In a significant development on Friday, J.B. Roy, President, Bengal Hockey Association, met K.P.S. Gill in New Delhi on the Hockey India issue. Sources confirm that both agreed to sink whatever the differences they might have and jointly put up a front to stall IOA from taking over the reins of Indian hockey. It may be recalled that Roy assembled as many as 28 units in two different meetings — Pune and New Delhi — to press the IOA for holding an early General Body Meeting to resolve the crisis and install a federation that has a majority support.

A joint press conference has been planned for June 8 in which both Gill and Roy are expected to detail the course of action. A meeting of all the constituents (both men and women) will then be held on June 13 and 14. This conclave is to serve as a common platform for both the men’s and women’s federations. All the issues concerning Indian hockey will be discussed at this forum and this meeting will form Hockey India, reflecting the hopes and aspirations of the huge hockey community and in conformity with the statutes of the International Hockey Federation constitution.

Fall in line

Meanwhile, several officials have been called to fall in line by sources close to the IOA. Quite a few were in receipt of requests to be present in New Delhi on June 9 and 10 to decide the course of action against the proposal. A classic case of contradiction comes in the women’s wing, where the Secretary has invited the members of the units to come to Delhi with the President instructing them not to participate. Indications are clear that the matter may be taken to court by Monday. The response to the formation from the Sports Ministry and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is awaited. Significantly, the official website is silent over the development in this regard.

Kept in the dark

It was also made known by senior functionaries in the Asian Hockey Federation that the continental body has been kept in the dark for a long time about the special project, the decision to award the World Cup to India, and also FIH’s moves to disaffiliate the IHF in favour of the formation of an ad hoc committee. The AHF is keenly watching the developments and may react in the next few days. It must be stressed that in the new dispensation under Leandro Negre, the continental federations enjoy a special status in the FIH and have a say in the decision-making process.

Trying to win an olympic gold medal through my school: Usha

Kochi (PTI): An Olympic medal eluded P T Usha during her days on the track but the celebrated former Indian sprinter says she is confident of realising the dream through the students of her school of athletics in Kozhikode. Speaking after receiving a award instituted by a Trust for nurturing budding talents, the former sprint queen said "though I have won 102 medals from various events, my ambition of winning a gold medal at the mega Olympics remained unfulfilled. But I am trying to accomplish my ambition through the school of athletics."

"At the 1984 Los Angeles olympics though I came very close to winning a medal, it evaded my clutches," Usha, known as 'Payyoli express', said. She attributed India's medal-drought in athletics to lack of exposure and training. The former track and field queen said, "P T Usha School of Athletics was started with the aim of bringing laurels to the country and win a gold medal at the olympics, which I missed narrowly."

In champions it trusts
http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/2 ... 903400.htm

[Ameet]

Paes - Dlouhy win French Open - Congrats!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1938 ... ubles-2009

Highlights:

This was the maiden Grand Slam for the Czech, while the fifth Grand Slam doubles championship for the Indian, Leander Paes.

In line with the upsets in the Singles, the final for the championship featured two unexpected pairs as the No. 3 seed Czech/Indian pair created a huge upset by toppling the clay monster pair and the No. 1 seed of Nestor/Zimonjic.

The stadium, although sparse, featured some big personalities, as Martina Navratilova was present to cheer for her former mixed doubles partner Leander Paes. Present alongside her was the Software Giant and philanthropist, and ex-chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates!

Paes/Dlouhy started in lousy fashion as they lost serve early in the opening set, and were spraying balls around the court as they quickly found themselves 2-5 down facing serve.

At this moment, Leander Paes suffered a terrible blow to the eye by Norman’s fast volley. Paes was hardly able to open his eyes, and the game halted for ten minutes as he tended to his eyes with ice.

The break was a wake-up call for the pair, as they showed superlative tennis in the next two sets and made me applaud this highly underrated and ignored form of tennis.

Leander Paes was the Great Wall of China at the net, as he showed supreme reflexes, McEnroeish volleys, and amazing overheads, to keep the opponents continuously off guard. Dlouhy, looked like an ideal match for his strengths, as he has big serves and huge inside out forehands to complement Paes' acumen at the net.

The pair showed good tactical minds as they mixed their games with good lobs and flat-n-quick returns of serves. It was fascinating to watch the pair rearrange themselves all over the court, to provide beautiful court coverage.

Paes constantly guided his big serving partner with clever use of his four fingers behind-his-back to point out the part of the court Dlouhy should serve.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Awesome, Leander Paes. Thats his ninth Grand-slam doubles win, defying calls to put him "to pasture!" No wonder MartinaN chose him as a partner a few years back, there is noone in the men's league who belongs to her "pasture" league....

The unsung and uber-underwritten warrior of Indian tennis, the man who always discards logic and physical limits to the trashcan, the silent storm behind the Indian tennis calm. When the Sainas and Sanias make news by being sainas and sanias, the lonely General does what he does best, on the field, with the racket, and not by yakking endlessly about this and that. Not by screaming and posturing about YIndia, but by doing for YIndia what he can! Salut to the General!! Onwards, dil maange more!!!

So we have a couple of wins at Oz open, one at French, will we have an Indian Grand Slam?! That would be teamwork, take that!!

[Suraj]

Paes and Dlouhy beat #1 seeds Nestor and Zimonjic in the semis. To be honest I did not even know he'd make it to the finals until you posted here, Stan.

Amazing what Paes in particular, and subsequently Bhupathi have done. For a long time we used to cherish some junior Grand Slams and Ramanathan Krishnan twice making the Wimbledon semis. But now, I've almost come to expect at least one Grand Slam every year from these two. Sania too has a title now, accompanying Bhupathi at the Aus Open this year. In a short span of a dozen years we've gone from no Grand Slams to over twenty (Paes 9, Bhupathi 11, Sania 1), though this includes doublecounting where they paired together on some occasions.

Paes and Bhupathi also own the Davis Cup record for the longest unbeaten run in doubles - 22 matches and counting, stretching back to 1996.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Oh btw, Yuki Bhambri was injured for the FO boys event, else we could have counted that too. After being in the news and hogging the dhimmedia attention, Somdev's progress is a bit hidden from the spearing eyes of DDM. Thank goodness for small things.... He won two of the qualifying rounds here, but lost the final one. He is just touching the top 100, so he wont have to qualify once he pierces the 80-90 list. That will happen before the year ends, I assume. Prakash Amritraj has been shutted out of representing India in events because he holds an Amriki passport. I have mixed feelings on this issue, I like his father and family and all, for what they have done for India, tennis and film-dom. I am just a bit confused as this is a senti-issue..... But more than that, I am just irritated with PA for he has been around for too long with not much to back him up for. Like ever pregnant, never baby-types.....

Junior World Cup from today

Chennai: Launched in 1979 in the French city of Versailles for the trophy named after Roger Danet, former President of European Hockey Federation, and designed to bring the spotlight on the youth talent across the globe, the junior World Cup enters its ninth edition on Sunday. The fret and fever of speculation about the outcome notwithstanding the competition now is unique in more ways than one. It is the first time that the FIH has enlarged the event to accommodate as many as 20 teams and also allowed it to be held in two countries-Singapore and Malaysia (Johore Baru).

From India’s standpoint, the competition carries a lot of significance in view of the excellent assimilation of talent under the dedicated coach like A.K. Bansal, who steered the squad to a trophy triumph in the Asia Cup. More importantly, as the former champion — India won the cup at Hobart in 2001 — the National team is duty bound to establish its credentials as a force to reckon with this time. India missed a medal by a quirk of circumstances in the bronze medal tie against Spain. In 1997, India missed the gold, albeit narrowly, against Australia in Milton Keynes.

Well balanced

The Indian squad, spearheaded by the penalty corner striker, Diwakar Ram, is viewed as well balanced, fired by the desire to court success. Placed in Pool ‘D,’ along with the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore, India takes on the host in the first match on June 8.

The Pools: Pool ‘A’: Argentina, Belgium, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia. Pool ‘B’: Australia, Chile, Germany, Japan, South Africa. Pool ‘C’: England, South Korea, Malaysia, Spain, USA. Pool ‘D’: India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore.

Clarence Lobo: I like Coaching Colts

Indian junior team’s coaching staff Clarence Lobo feels satisfied coaching colts as it is personally fulfilling experience. Clarence Lobo, along with World Cup player Rajesh Chauhan, is a long standing junior coach, now assisting chief coach AK Bansal in India’s golden quest in the Singapore-Malaysia Junior World Cup.

“Junior players in general are full of zest for hockey. They obey your training and instructions as it meant to be. Even if you assume the liberty of scolding them, they take in their stride, won’t mind. We also forget those things once the training is over. Basically youngsters are building their career, serious in their work ethics’, Lobo said on the sidelines of Sengkong Sports Complex, Singapore, where the ninth junior world cup will commence in 24 hours.

"In junior coaching, you mould a player the way the senior Indian coach would like us to. Therefore, no coaching to the likes of me or any coach, but to train a player to the need of senior team. This is a kind of job I like most", Lobo explained the reasons behind his long association with junior teams.

Lobo and Chauhan are putting the players under paces on Pitch 1 where India will play most of its pool matches. Lobo is a vital link in the coaching staff, continuing under Bansal after Junior India coach Harendera moved to senior team after his stint till 2005 World Cup. Lobo has been with junior teams since about last five years. His association with the Junior Asia Cup winning team enthuse him as if it took place the other day. “For our first Asia Cup we defeated Pakistan much against the 30 to 40 thousand home crowd, you know”, Lobo’s eye glistens.

Lobo feels the turf in Singapore is less bouncy than the one India played at nearby Johor Bahru last month. “This turf is true, and fast and it should help us, as our forwards are in good nick now”. Take this man's view seriously, he knows what he means. Lobo plays hockey for Tata Sports Club.

Vikas Pillay Gets to play – after all those misses and hits

He has been straight away in the senior camp. Thankfully, he had been selected for the national team too. But bouts of injury and once even lack of proper travel documents came in the way of Pune’s Vikas Pillay’s. But braving all odds, Pillay has made it. He is in Singapore now with the Indian {junior} team. Vikas Pillay, youngest of Pune’s fast emerging what is little known as Pillay clan – it has nothing to do with namesake Dhanraj -- is ultimately donning the colours after all those misses and hits. The younger brother of Vickram Pillay was selected for Under 18 competition when Dr. Bose was the coach, but had to miss the outing as he was not having passport. Then late in the last year, national coach Harendra gave him a rare opportunity to break into the senior team for the Test Series against Argentina.

He developed shin injury, and had to miss. “What can I do sir, when injury is there, what I can do” is what the smiling sibling said when asked about those missed opportunities. After seeing him practice on Saturday, one can easily say he is brimming with confidence, injury having been closed in completely. He has style, speed, and ball control acumen as well. When asked how he feels on his maiden tour, he does not go blush. “No sir. It’s my second visit to Singapore. I came here last year to play 9-a-side. We (Air India) came second. Before that we played another 9-a-side in Malaysia and won. I went to Russia last year for a 4-Nation”. So, the young lad is not unduly perturbed of the forthcoming big stage.

Coaches played him at left wing against Chile and Germany, and he got the right kind of opportunities in the short run up here. Having been the much talked about new face in the team, Pillay waits for the big day. Goalkeeper Harjit Singh is another new face in the team, but unlikely to get any chance to play, unlike the case of Pillay Jr. Victo Singh is expected to move inside positions or midfield to make room for sureshot Pillay to sweat out at left wing. Hockey followers can look forward to some excitement with this bubbling youngster getting break on to the Seng Kang Sports & Recreational Centre.

Pillay plays for Air India since 2006, as a stipend beneficiary after he did his schooling at All Saints Higher Secondary school, Pune. He feels Australia is the team to watch here in the World Cup. It is his gut feeling. "I watched them practice here, yet to see them in matches".

In other news, Anand leads Leko 4-2 in the Miskolc rapid chess event. One more pair of games to go before the series ends.

Santosh Trophy semifinals in the reckoning. Tamil Nadu squeezed past on goal difference despite losing to Punjab two days back, WB is one of the other semifinalists. Goa may make the mark. The fourth spot is a toss-up. The air will clear soon, I assume.

Indians move up in rankings

CHENNAI: Indian paddlers — A. Sharath Kamal, Subhajit Saha and Mouma Das — moved up the international rankings ladder, according to the International Table Tennis Federation ranking list released on Saturday. Former National women’s champion Mouma made the biggest jump — thanks to her fine showing in the Commonwealth championship in Glasgow recently where she reached the semifinals — climbing 29 places to be ranked 182. Mouma is now the highest ranked Indian woman player in the world. Saha, who defeated Singapore’s Yang Zi, seeded two in the Commonwealth championship, has jumped 26 places from 262, his career best. India’s top paddler Sharath is ranked 70th in the world, a jump of two places from last month.

[Singha]

leander was easily the best player on court among the four. high badminton smash leaps, sharp 90' smashes, touch volleys, super sharp reflexes, fist pumping, forward movement....he was on fire.

martina being there to watch him was nice.

[Singha]

yikes when did Leander have cancer ?

AFP:
"Martina has been a soulmate for many years. We've been through a lot in life, especially me in the last eight years. She's been along with me, supporting me, guiding me at times," said Paes.

"When I was diagnosed with cancer and I couldn't play, she basically stayed away from the game and didn't play mixed doubles until I came back."

"Whenever I look at a person like Navratilova, she gives me a lot of inspiration. It was strange that just at the end of the second set when we were getting a bit nervous and a bit edgy, she came out there and was just making eye contact.

"Lukas served three doubles faults early in the third set. I told him at one point, Martina is out there. Come on. Have a look at her. She's inspiring us."

[Stan_Savljevic]

Brain lesion, http://www.rediff.com/sports/2003/aug/23paes.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2003/08/27/stories ... 491900.htm

In the meanwhile, IWF warns of lesser medals in CWG. Thank you, but folks who have been watching you guys already expect zero medals due to your tainted gallery, Shri Gulati! A 1008 curses on IWF and all the dopers in your midst!! IWF is NOT an organization that deserves an easy-pass. The sportsmen and women, the administrators and all and sundry have systematically raped India's name, brought in infinite infamy, all because you guys wanna run after medals and glory instead of thinking about India's name. Even super-medallists such as Kunjarani Devi, Krishnan Madaswami and Karnam Malleswari are suspects.... So much for the rest of them. {For the record, every team worth its name dopes, but at the very least, they dont get caught.}

NEW DELHI: Indian Weightlifting Federation has warned that the country might end up with very few medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games as the lifters are training without basic equipment, food supplements and enough coaches due to Sports Ministry's apathy. IWF General Secretary Baldev Raj Gulati said the lifters have been facing problems galore at the two training centres - Bangalore SAI Centre and Army Sports Institute Pune -- as they lack even the bare necessities for training.

The core group athletes were selected for intensive training of at least 20 months to get maximum medals in the Games to be hosted by the national capital. Weightlifters had accounted for a major chunk of medals in the last two Commonwealth Games (27 out of 69 in Manchester and nine out of 50 in Melbourne). "Weightlifting accounts for a major share of medals in the Commonwealth Games but SAI and Sports Ministry have not provided enough basic equipments or food supplements. We are also finding it difficult to get the recommended number of coaches because they are not being given lucrative money for the one and half years of assignment," Gulati said.

Gulati was at loss of words to explain why the Ministry did not provide even enough barbells, a basic necessity for training. He said the IWF had to borrow them from the state associations and the two training centres leading to "irrational" training schedules, which increase the risk of injury to the lifters. "We don't even have the required number of barbells. We have to borrow them from the state associations or use them from the ASI. Normally, the lifters train in two sessions everyday. in morning and evening.

"Now, they have to train in five shifts in batches due to lack of barbells. They have to train at a time they should be resting because we cannot disturb the training schedule of the ASI athletes," he said. "So the training schedule has become totally irrational besides this increasing the risk of injury to the lifters. This could seriously impact on the performance of the lifters in the Games. This is true for other sports also but the officials do not want to speak out," he added.

Another cause of concern, Gulati said, was that the lifters have been training without food supplements for the last four months. "The SAI is struggling in chalking out the modalities and the type of food supplements for the lifters. They are yet to form a committee to do that. These supplements have been made mandatory by the Sports Ministry's own steering Committee. The lifters have been training for the last four mon
ths at tremendous risk. The Ministry's own medical team has warned of a possibility of injuries due to lack of required supplements," Gulati said.

"We have been sending reminders but SAI has been taking its own time," he added. Moreover, the technical equipment required for performance analysis, which has been sanctioned by the ministry, has not been procured till now despite a new coach, Hungarian Imre Zsuga, taking charge. Another grievance of the federation was the government's reluctance to bear the cost of a touring manager in foreign competitions despite clear guidelines of Sports Ministry.

"The Ministry uses dubious tactics to ensure that it does not bear the cost of a manager on foreign competitions despite a clear guideline approved by its own steering committee. They want the coach to do the job of manager which is simply not possible," Gulati said. "The Ministry clears the manager at no cost to government four or five days before the departure of the team which leaves very little time for the federation to protest and approach them. Many a times, a manager had to go on his/her own expense," Gulati said. "Moreover, the usual practice of the Ministry taking a long time to reimburse the federation of the expenses incurred in foreign competitions has left federations like IWF to pay interests for long time on money borrowed from external sources," Gulati said.

He said the Ministry is yet to reimburse around Rs 13 lakh spent by IWF in the Asian Senior Championships in Kazakhstan (May 9-16) and Rs 9 lakh for the Youth World Championships in Thailand (May 19-24). "The ministry gives clearance for visa four or five days before departure of the team but not the financial clearance which means the federation has to borrow from external sources at market rates of interests and while reimbursing the government takes its own time," he claimed.

[Singha]

pretty decent of martina, got to say http://www.rediff.com/sports/2003/aug/23martina.htm
she was my favourite player of that generation. later monica seles.

Leander was hitting forehands like he was throwing a javelin to kill a wooly mammoth! total
intensity and 'eye of the tiger' stuff. prolly scared the brains out of the guys across the net,
who were anyway too big for CQB net play

[Stan_Savljevic]

Junior World Cup itinerary of India:

India-Singapore 8th June
India-New Zealand 9th June
India-Netherlands 11th June
India-Poland 12th June

Spanish connection keeps increasing, and I am getting worried more and more.... Leandro Negre needs to GO, Els van Breda-what-da-eff-is-her-name was better. It is hard to figure who is an innocent spaniard and who is an EJ...

Spain’s Kayaking and Canoeing Champion Jesus Garcia Pallares, 27, signed contract with Sports Authority of India to be the fitness person of the Indian men’s hockey team. Lanky Pallarres signed the contract a couple of days ago, and then accompanied Jose Brasa to Pune to join him in inspecting arrangements for the national camp. He and Brasa reached Singapore this morning (Sunday) to be able to witness the Junior World cup. Pallares is himself an athlete having won many laurels in water sport. He hails from Morcia province of Spain, where he also worked with club level hockey teams. Pallares holds a degree in Physical Education. According to the contract, Pallares will be looking after team’s fitness program, contract is presently upto November 2010, with the option of extending it to the end of 2012 Asian Games. It is learnt that Indian senior team camp will be held in Pune from midway through June and will last upto November. In essence, Pune will see India’s preparation for the Champions Challenge to be held in Argentina in December this year.

Anand wins Miskolc rapids 5-3 against Leko.

DDA rejects BCCI request for land to construct cricket stadium, but

The budget committee also approved the bailout package to the Emaar-MGF which is developing the Games Village project for the Commonwealth Games next year. In a major relief to real estate firm Emmar-MGF, which is developing the Games Village, the DDA on May 11 decided to invest over Rs 700 crore in the Games Village.

See also my associated post at http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 04#p681904

Cramped schedule takes its toll

JAMSHEDPUR: A cramped schedule of national and international events seemed to have caused a burn-out, as the fourth leg of the Indian Grand Prix went without a record and a notable performance at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here on Sunday. While the performance levels were reasonably good with the athletes reaching close to their personal bests, the meet failed to produce anything superlative. A host of top athletes came to the venue hoping to book tickets for the World championships in Berlin in August. At the end of the day, there was only frustration all around as the athletes were unable to realise their ambitions and complained of aches and strains.

The calendar has been quite packed for the national campers, who have had to go through three Indian and Asian Grands Prix in little over a month. Hari Shankar Roy jumped a height of 2.20 metres to clinch the men’s high jump gold, but could not make it past his own national record of 2.25m that he has been eagerly looking to break for quite some time. Hari Shankar needed to clear 2.28m to qualify for the World meet, but could not summon the extra energy needed to clear the remaining eight centimetres.
Beenish wins 400m. National record holder K.M. Binu of Kerala, who was tipped to scorch the tracks in the men’s 400m, could not complete his race owing to a twitched hamstring.

With Bibin Mathew, the man who has dominated the quarter-mile event this season, pulling out, V.B. Beenish of Railways picked up the gold. S.K. Mortaza bagged the silver. Joseph Abraham, who has already qualified for the World championships, was his usual fluent best while winning the men’s 400m hurdles gold.

Bright start by Indian boxers

NEW DELHI: The Indian boxers made a resounding start at the Asian championships with Paramjit Samota (plus 91-kg) assuring himself of a medal by booking a semifinal berth and two others advancing to the quarterfinals of the event in Zhuhai, China, on Sunday. In flyweight (51-kg), Suranjoy Singh outclassed Lam Tat Ming of Hong Kong. The Manipur boxer led 8-1 before the referee stopped the contest in the second round due to Suranjoy’s total domination.

This was followed by Dinesh Kumar’s thumping win in his light heavyweight (81-kg) opening bout. The 22-year-old Haryana lad defeated Firaz Batlouni of Lebanon in a lop-sided bout that had to be stopped in the very first round. Later, Samota outpunched Iderbaat Davaalkhagva of Mongolia 12-4 to enter the last-four stage.

Santosh Trophy semifinals

10.06.2009 17:30 West Bengal vs. Services
11.06.2009 17:30 Goa vs. Tamil Nadu

[Stan_Savljevic]

Jitender in Asian Championships' quarterfinals

New Delhi (PTI): Rounding off a second successive all-win day for India, Olympian Jitender Kumar (54kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with contrasting wins at the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai, China on Monday. Jitender was the first to take the ring and the Beijing Olympic quarterfinalist defeated Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in a thrilling contest.

The two boxers were tied 4-4 after the regulation three rounds and were locked 4-4 even on countback but Jitender won after three of the five judges officiating the bout declared him as the better of the two boxers. "I was leading in the first two rounds but he became very aggressive in the final round and equalised. I was very tense after we were found to be tied even after the countback. It was such a relief when judges declared me winner for being a better boxer," a relieved Jitender told PTI from Zhuhai.

The 22-year-old Haryana-boxer now takes on Enkhjargal Iderkhu in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in what would be his first bout against the Mongolian. "I have not seen this guy. The coaches are keeping an eye on his bouts and will formulate a strategy accordingly," said Jitender.

[Ameet]

Liverpool Football Club launches football development centre in Pune

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldow ... 8-1301.htm

[Stan_Savljevic]

Tamil Nadu has utilised the home advantage ---- S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI: Home advantage is a phrase often heard in cricket, but that such an advantage can play a major role in football — and that too in a National championship — is a revelation. Tamil Nadu’s dream run in the ongoing Santosh Trophy has been attributed to the ‘home’ factor though it would be unfair to the players if their contributions are belittled. If there is one thing common to the Tamil Nadu players, it is self-belief. This is not the first time the host has reached the semifinals (in fact, Tamil Nadu has even been in the final once, in 1972-73, before losing), but what has been noteworthy is the way it has progressed this time.

Full of confidence

Of course, there were ups and downs, but the enormous confidence levels that had been a feature of the Tamil Nadu team in the cluster phase has continued unabated. Despite the loss to holder Punjab — something that appeared to trigger an emotional breakdown — the team roared back and put up a rousing display against Manipur. Manipur was not only beaten, but the 3-1 margin also helped Tamil Nadu to squeeze into the last four at the expense of the former on goal difference. If skipper Kulothungan’s imaginative passes and shooting skills inspired strikers P.C. Riju and Muthu in the earlier phase, Muthu stood tall for his sheer ability to scythe through rival defences with imperious off-the-ball runs.

The hero

After his magnificent showing against Manipur, when he scored all his side’s goals to record the first hat-trick of the championship, Muthu is the team’s new hero and a hot subject among the talent searchers of big clubs. In fact, the whole team is riding high on Muthu’s inspired performance. In order to prove that it possesses all-round strength, the Tamil Nadu defence has also delivered the goods. Ravanan has been outstanding while Kali Allaudeen, Mohanraj and Premkumar haven’t lagged far behind. No praise is too high for goalkeeper Sathish. Indeed, Tamil Nadu is a shining example of I-League players making a difference to the team.

Picture of perfection

Lacking the I-League players but containing sturdy and talented young men who have gone through stringent Army drills, Services has been a picture of perfection. Barring skipper Shajia D’Silva, the rest are members of Army XI and this has helped in cohesiveness — the strong point of the team. Except for the mishap against Goa, when a momentary indiscretion by goalkeeper Robikanta Singh fetched him a red card, Services has not come under pressure. The team’s iron resolve was seen in the must-win match against Karnataka when it held on in the face of a fierce last-ditch onslaught by its opponent. And Services is still to unleash its key weapon Ralenga, who is returning from an injury. Few teams had shown the kind of direct football which Karnataka displayed. Under Xavier Vijaykumar’s promptings, there was life in the attack and resourcefulness in the midfield, and these were backed by a resolute defence.

Bad luck

However, luck did not favour Karnataka. Despite looking pleasing and good for more, the defeat (when a draw would have earned it a passage) against Services dashed its hopes. Goa took time to settle down, but bogged down by injuries to some regular players, the state chose to play a waiting game. Like Bengal, another side without the ‘stars’, it finished unbeaten in the league. Both teams are, however, settling into a nice rhythm.

Biggest shock

The biggest shock of the championship was the exit of holder Punjab. Never sporting a champion look with a bunch of “available players” — as coach Jagir Singh put it —Punjab’s dream of a hat-trick of National titles (and make it nine overall) did not materialise. Maharashtra, too, was a big disappointment. A team spoken highly of after its good show at Coimbatore, many wondered if this was the side which had stopped fancied Kerala’s progress from there. That the team did not manage a single goal in three matches here is a fair reflection of how it fared.

Jitender and Jai enter quarterfinals

New Delhi: Rounding off a second successive all-win day for India, Olympian Jitender Kumar (54kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with contrasting wins at the Asian boxing championships in Zhuhai, China on Monday. Jitender was the first to take the ring and the Beijing Olympic quarterfinalist defeated Thailand’s Chatchai Butdee in a thrilling contest.

Lopsided: In the lightweight category, Jai Bhagwan thumped Thailand’s Adi Sailom 7-0 in a lopsided bout. The Indian now takes on local favourite Hu Qian Xun in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “Next up is a Chinese. He will have the home advantage but hopefully I would be able to draw from my experience and get past him,” Jai said. Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh opens his campaign against Uzbekistan’s Atoev Abbos on Tuesday. Abbos was a light heavyweight boxer and won the gold medal at the 2007 World championships in Chicago.

Youth World champion Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg), who got a bye in the first round, will compete for a place in the semifinals on Tuesday. Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) and Jagat Singh (69kg) also start their campaign on Tuesday.

India blanks Singapore

Singapore: Skipper Diwakar Ram led from the front, scoring five goals, as former champion India opened its campaign in style by crushing co-host Singapore 10-0 in the Junior World Cup field hockey tournament here on Monday.

Diwakar flicked five goals from penalty corners in the 15th, 18th, 29th, 55th and 66th minutes at the Seng Kang Sports Complex. Danish Mujtaba (fifth) and 51st, Dharamvir Singh (26th), Mandip Antil (30th) and Vivek (47th) minute completed the tally.

Other results: Pool ‘A’: Belgium bt Egypt 5-1; Pakistan bt Russia 7-2. Pool ‘B’: Japan drew with South Africa 1-1; Germany bt Chile 5-0. Pool ‘C’: Malaysia bt England 1-0; Korea bt USA 7-0; Pool ‘D’: New Zealand bt Poland 8-1; The Netherlands bt Poland 7-2; India bt Singapore 10-0; The Netherlands bt Singapore 8-0.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Focus on Indian football....

So the emerging football centres seem to be Punjab and a bit of TN. Hopefully, if the traditional powerhouses can expand from Kerala, Goa, WB, Northeast and ignite the fire, the club-waalon wont need to run talent competitions in Ghana, Nigeria etc. Subhas Bhowmick-ji, note that....
http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/2 ... 501500.htm
Mizoram meets its match in Punjab

With the youngsters given the opportunity to display their talent in front of the I-League club coaches, it was football skills that mattered, not the age of the players. Nandakumar Marar reports.
.........
According to the Mizoram coach, H. Lalmuanpuia, because of their short stature, and also the shortage of proper football grounds, the state’s football-loving youngsters have mastered the short-passing game, rolling the ball along the ground. “We don’t have proper stadium, grounds or a coaching system. Kids play on small grounds and pick up what they see on television. It is mainly the English Premier League; we don’t get to see quality football in the Spanish or Italian leagues,” explained Khiangte.

Suddenly, football prospects dont seem as disastrous as it was a decade back. Onwards, there is no other way.... But money and perceptions still rule the roost, as the following report shows...

The Indian footballing icon Baichung Bhutia has been suspended for 6 months by his club Mohun Bagan AC. The executive committee of the club met today and took an unanimous decision in this regard. It was surprising that the club secretary Anjan Mitra didn’t appear before the media for the press conference. Rather, senior Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee, who is also an executive committee member of the club announced the decision. Incidentally, Anjan Mitra had taken the initiative to show-cause the superstar.

The reason for suspension is quite strange.The executive committee alleged that Baichung had not taken necessary permission from the club for the dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. Not only that, he has skipped national and international assignments of the club giving preference to the dance programme. If Baichung intends to shootback then he will have enough evidence to prove that he did talk to one and all for necessary permission for the purpose. The coach Karim Bencharifa in one of his press conferences during the season had stated that the Indian captain had definitely talked with him before saying yes to the organizers of the programme. The treasurer of Mohun Bagan had also corroborated the coaches viewpoint. But today every such issue was absolutely squashed and the icon taken to task.

Baichung has infact not missed a single I-League match other than for card problems or injury. Even he did make himself available for the AFC Cup matches but the coach didn’t field him because he wanted his star to be fresh for the I-League tittle fight. But now Baichung is facing suspension on the basis of not having been sincere to his assignment! The officials also alleged that Baichung’s reply to the showcause notice was not satisfactory. But he had also asked for release from the club in his letter? The official reply was, "We didn’t discuss that." Baichung who is away to Darjeeling on way to his hometown Sikkim was not available for reply.

Santosh Trophy ---- Quarterfinal League Review
Tuesday, 09. June 2009 - Arunava Chaudhuri

The 63rd Santosh Trophy has now reached the last four stage, but lets have a look back at the tournaments Quarterfinal Leagues Group A & B. The semifinals will be held on Wednesday & Thursday with West Bengal taking on Services in a replay of last years semifinal while Goa face hosts Tamil Nadu.

But the Quarterfinal League has been amongst the most interesting in the last few years with only Maharashtra in Group B not scoring or winning a match. Goa has been the most impressive with six goals scored but none conceded, while defending champions Punjab finished bottom of Group A.

Group A: West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Punjab

29 time record champions West Bengal came with a young but talented squad to Chennai. And it was troubled Mizo striker Pachau Lalam Puia who scored three of Bengal's four goals with two of them coming late in the matches against Tamil Nadu and Punjab. That has taken them to the top of the group with five points, but coach Raghu Nandy tried and tested in the Group stage to find a suitable eleven. He will need it in the semifinals.

The hosts Tamil Nadu had stormed into the Quarterfinal League scoring 30 goals in four wins, but the going got tougher with stronger opposition in the quarterfinals. But a convincing 3-1 victory against Manipur sealed a semifinal spot for the home team though only on goal difference. Strikers P.C. Riju and P. Muthu have been most impressive for the hosts.

Manipur will consider themselves unlikely not to qualify for the semifinals. A goal more against Tamil Nadu would have taken them to knockout stage, but coach Birbal Singh gambled ahead of the final group game by benching a number of players to give them a much-needed break. In the end it did not pay of. Defending champions Punjab made an early exit as they couldn't play as a unit - the strength which had taken them to the title in the last couple of Santosh Trophy's.

Group B: Goa, Services, Karnataka, Maharashtra

Goa has not conceded a goal in six matches, scoring 14 goals in the process. And their young strikers Beevan D'Mello and Marcus Mascarenhas have played a major part with the seasoned internationals like Climax Lawrence and Mahesh Gawli also chipping in with good performances. Last year finalists Services playing with mainly non I-League players won their crucial matches against Maharashtra and Karnataka to make it to the semifinals, but last years hero Sochungmi Raleng hasn't been in top form yet. Midfielder Laldingliana has taken over the mantle having scored both goals for Services.

Karnataka started off with a bang - holding Goa goalless and beating Maharashtra, but when it counted against Services the team couldn't deliver and was out of the tournament. Maharashtra made a strong start into the tournament beating Meghalaya & Uttar Pradesh in the Cluster round, getting past a strong Kerala in the pre-quarterfinals and that raised hopes that the Steven Dias captained team could make it into the knockout stage, but somehow the team lost their way in the Quarterfinal League as they couldn't get any points nor score a goal.

Now on Wednesday West Bengal take on Services, while on Thursday Goa face hosts Tamil Nadu. Both matches kickoff at 17.30 IST.

[Stan_Savljevic]

AAI to conduct archery competitions for tribals

New Delhi (PTI): To promote sports talent among tribals, the Centre is all set to organise exclusive archery competitions for the community in the country. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has recently signed an MoU with Archery Association of India (AAI) for conducting the competition for tribal boys and girls. Five state-level and one national-level archery competitions will be organised during the year 2009-10, a ministry official said. "The competitions will be organised exclusively for tribal boys and girls," he added.

The state-level competitions will be held in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim while the venue for the national-level competition will be decided later. The schedule is yet to be finalised. Competitors will participate in event using "appropriate and acceptable" bamboo bows, arrows and indigenous accessories. Technical Committee of the AAI will prepare the comprehensive rules and circulate these well in advance of the events, he added. Stressing that the competitions were being organised to promote talent among tribals, a ministry official said, "tribals have a natural and in-born skill in archery. Bows and arrows are used in every religious rituals of tribals. Archery is practiced by tribals as a part of their festivity."

Sridhar enters main draw, Anand crashes out

New Delhi (PTI) Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the main draw after winning both his qualifying matches but compatriot Anand Pawar fizzled out giving India a mixed start at the Singapore Open Super Series in Singapore city on Tuesday. Sridhar bounced back from a game down in his second round match to beat Chinese Yanbo Qiu 15-21 21-19 21-17 after a gruelling 52-minute battle.

Second seed Sridhar had defeated Canadian Stefan Wojcikiewicz 21-10 21-11 in his first round match. However, Anand who beat Canadian Andrew Dabeka 21-16 21-15 in his first round match, failed to carry the momentum and went down 14-21 16-21 to Kazushi Yamada of Japan in a half an hour second-round clash.

"Its a setback", says Indian coach Bansal (6/9/2009)

As if to reflect the mood of his team that drew New Zealand 2-2 in its second pool match of the Junior World Cup, Ajay Kumar Bansal, the Indian coach, said that the draw is setback in their target and expecatations. "By all means we dominated the match, especially the first and last 15 minutes. However, the forward line could not avail the opportunities. It is definitely a setback" he conceded. "It does not mean we are heartbroken, take the result in its stride"

"This pool is strongest in my opinion. Three teams are evenly balanced. With this draw, the pool is now wide open", Bansal said. "We expected a tough match and it turned out to be insofar as our scorer's task is concerned. It is a sequence of missed chances that cost us dear", he elaborated the match. When pointed out the poor show of Diwakarram -- who could convert just a goal out of a dozen chances -- he shot back and evaded the portrend of the poser, "missed chances includes his as well".

To a querry why he did not have another PC converter when it is known things are not going for Diwakar Ram, he simply said, "I have substitute, alternative, and that will come in right time". Peter Miskimmin, New Zealand coach said, "I accept Indian coach's version. We were subjected to intense pressure by a team that had the benefit of three months training. We just had only three days camp. We could have even won the match". He further eleborated: "We are pleased with the result".

Both coaches talked about their goalkeepers. When Bansal almost eugolized Australian goalkeeper, Peter intervened and said, "Your goalkeeper also stopped a last minute attempt of Simon Child. I complement him as well". Both coaches accepted there is lot of room for development. Peter said, "we were nervous against Poland, now gained a measure of confidence after the Indian match. We should improve, I suppose".

New Zealand rejoices as India squander chances and (6/9/2009)

Squandering chances and a half a dozen penalty corners, India settled down to a draw 2-2 against the inexperienced New Zealand colts in the third day of the 9th Junior World Cup. First Simon Child, the captain, scored in the 10th minute and then when India equalized three minutes later his younger brother Marcus Child managed to match his elder. Marcus goal came int he 32nd minute. New Zealand took the lead twice, and had a comfortable half time lead. First Diwakar Ram and then ever agile Pramod Kumar equalized. The score was 2-2 in the 36th minutes. Both teams failed to score thereafter. Diwakar Ram scored in the 13th minute, and a minute after the lemon time, the renewed India made it 2-2, the goal coming from Pramod Kumar.

[BijuShet]

Sridhar enters main draw, Anand crashes out

New Delhi (PTI) Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the main draw after winning both his qualifying matches but compatriot Anand Pawar fizzled out giving India a mixed start at the Singapore Open Super Series in Singapore city on Tuesday. Sridhar bounced back from a game down in his second round match to beat Chinese Yanbo Qiu 15-21 21-19 21-17 after a gruelling 52-minute battle.

Second seed Sridhar had defeated Canadian Stefan Wojcikiewicz 21-10 21-11 in his first round match. However, Anand who beat Canadian Andrew Dabeka 21-16 21-15 in his first round match, failed to carry the momentum and went down 14-21 16-21 to Kazushi Yamada of Japan in a half an hour second-round clash.

Stansaar you have single handedly done a great job on keeping this thread alive with regular updates. I usually catch up on this thread every few days. Reading your updates is a delight as you are one of few Indians who seem to take delight in non-kirket sporting encounters that our sportsmen/women participate and excel in. I have a small request of you. Could you please post links to the articles from which you quote? If there is a desire to read an article in full then it is possible to do so. Another request, I have is about the quoted portion above does not inform the reader about the sport being reported on. I know I ask too much of you but kya kare yeh dil maange more.

[Stan_Savljevic]

^^^ Ok, will do, no problem...

[negi]

yikes when did Leander have cancer ?

Iirc he was diagnosed with some sort of a cyst in his brain and he underwent some non surgical treatment for that (he had put on weight due to the heavy dose of antibiotics after that) .

[Stan_Savljevic]

Boxing http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holn ... 101751.htm

Dinesh, Jitender, Jai enter semis of Asian Boxing Championship

New Delhi (PTI): Dinesh Kumar (81kg) scored a sensational knock-out win and fellow Olympian Jitender Kumar (54kg) was equally dominating in his quarter-final triumph as three Indians stormed into the semifinals of the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai, China on Wednesday. Dinesh was brutal in his knock-out win over Hsiao Huang-Yi as the bout had barely started when a ferocious body blow by the Bhiwani-boxer grounded his Taipei rival for good. Jitender, meanwhile, thrashed Enkhjargal Iderkhuu of Mongolia 10-2 in a lopsided bout to assure himself of his first medal since jumping a division from fly weight (51kg) this year.

Jai Bhagwan (60kg) was no less impressive in his 12-3 victory over local favourite Hu Quinxun. The trio's triumph means that India is assured of at least five medals as Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg) had also made the semifinals. Jitender was the first to take the ring for India on Wednesday and the counter-puncher was all aggressive from the first round itself, establishing a massive 5-1 lead after the opening three minutes. The 22-year-old increased the lead to 7-2 in the second before blanking his rival in the third and final round.

"I was very nervous before the bout. But once I stepped in, nothing mattered. I just focussed on getting as many points as possible in the first round. My defence was tight and I was quicker on the feet," the diminutive Jitender told PTI. "I have finally found my feet in the bantam weight. All the hesitation and skepticism is now completely gone," added the Haryana boxer. Jitender takes on Chinese Taipei's Liu Shih Jung in the semifinals on Friday. "My confidence is high after this win and though I am not complacent, I think I can pull it off in the remaining two bouts to get the gold medal," said Jitender, who will have his mentor Olympian Akhil Kumar by his side on Friday.

Jai Bhagwan, on the other hand, will be up against another tough opponent in Kazakh Zhailauov Gany in the semifinals. But national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said given his form, Jai, a former national champion, can upstage his more fancied rival. "To beat a home favourite by such huge margin is big. Jai looks to be in very good form and I think he would pull it off against the Kazakh guy," said Sandhu. Dinesh also has a Kazakh awaiting him in the semis. The World Cup bronze medallist meets Yeleussinov Dauren on Friday. Meanwhile, the lone disappointment for the team came in the 91kg, where Gurlal Singh lost to Jordan's Almatbouli.

Jr WC hickey v2.0: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holn ... 101522.htm

India eyeing win against Holland to advance to next round

Singapore (PTI): After their disappointing 2-2 draw against New Zealand, former champions India will have nothing but victory on their mind when they take on the Netherlands in their third Pool D match of the Junior Hockey World Cup here on Thursday. The Indian colts started their World Cup campaign in style demolishing co-hosts Singapore 10-0 in their tournament opener. However, they came up short against the junior Black Sticks on Tuesday and missed chances galore to settle for a 2-2 draw.

India occupy the second position in the group with three points from two outings while the Netherlands are on top with two outright wins. A win against the Dutch on Thursday will secure India a place in the next round of the quadrennial event and coach AK Bansal made it clear that he will settle for nothing less than a victory. "We are little disappointed with the result against New Zealand because we played very well. We could have won by a big margin but luck didn't favour us. In most part of the match we played in their half. It was sheer bad luck (to draw the match)," Bansal told PTI here. "But we are not thinking about all these. The match against Netherlands has become very crucial for us. We are eyeing only a win on Thursday. Our chances of qualifying for the next stage are brighter than New Zealand."

Footer: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... 641464.cms

Bengal beat Services to enter Santosh Trophy final

CHENNAI: A brace from Gouranga Biswas helped Bengal defeat Services 2-0 in the semi-finals and reach the title round of the 63rd Santosh Trophy for the National Football Championship on Wednesday. With this win, Bengal also avenged last year's 1-4 humiliation to Services at the same stage. They now await the winner of tomorrow's semi-final between Tamil Nadu and Goa in Sunday's title round. Bengal, who reached the final in 2007 only to be derailed by Punjab, would like to end their 10-year title drought at the national stage.

Chirag United mid-fielder Gouranga headed Bengal into the lead in the 35th minute against the run of play. A powerful drive from the hardworking PC Lalwmpuiya was headed beyond Services goalkeeper Sujan Suku. Buoyed by the goal, Bengal went on the offensive and gave Services some anxious moments. Last year's runners-up too came up with some chances of their own but S Raleng, who was instrumental in Services moving to the final in the previous edition, and Gordon Zoramchhana wasted them.

They were also guilty of holding on to the ball for far too long and thereby wasting some good opportunities. Crossing over, Services had a couple of chances and even an indirect free-kick from inside the box in the 62nd minute but in vain and Bengal pounced from the resultant free-kick to forge ahead. Services captain Shaji D'Silva was going for the ball inside the Bengal box when he was tripped by Safar Sardar. The resultant free-kick by Gordon hit the boot of a Bengal defender. Here the Bengal players broke free on the counter and an unmarked Gouranga beat Mahesh Rai and then placed the ball past an onrushing Suku for the team's insurance goal.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Athletics: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/11/stories ... 292000.htm

Binu’s long wait

RANCHI: Sitting on the sidelines of the Indian Grand Prix athletics with an injury is particularly painful for the 400m National record holder K.M. Binu. But the thing that hurts him more is the ‘failed’ promise from the legendary Milkha Singh. Binu remembers Milkha, the holder of the record for 38 years, had promised to give a cheque for Rs. 1 lakh to the man who would break his record. Milkha Singh set the record of 45.73s in Rome Olympics in 1960. Paramjit Singh bettered the mark in 1998 in Kolkata with a timing of 45.70 and went on to improve it to 45.56 two years later. But Milkha did not acknowledge Paramjit’s timing apparently because they were set in India.

“I got the record in the Olympics (45.48s in Athens 2004). So there should not be any doubts about its validity,” Binu told reporters here. “It has been five years but I am yet to get the coveted cheque. I have heard he (Milkha) has told people that he has given away the amount which is not true,” Binu added. More than the money it is the formal recognition from the legend that Kerala and Railways athlete wishes to have.

Athletics: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/11/stories ... 502100.htm

Average performances order of the day

RANCHI: The season’s final Indian Grand Prix athletics meet failed to bring up anything superlative as the results hovered around the average at the Birsa Munda athletics stadium here on Wednesday. None of the top names here for the elite competition could meet the expectations and qualifying berth for the upcoming world championships. However, better timings were recorded compared to the fourth leg held in Jamshedpur on Sunday. This was evident in the men and women’s 100m dash. Sameer Mon of Services (10.59s) and Nidhi Singh of Railways (11.97s) picked up the titles in the respective races.

In another feature event of the evening, S.K. Mortaza of Bengal pipped V.B. Beenish of Railways in men’s 400m. Their timing remained way below their personal bests. The absence of the two key names, Bibin Mathew and K.M. Binu, may have contributed to the below par timings. Joseph Abraham performance stood out. The 400m hurdles exponent ran a sub-50 second race, recording 49.87 seconds but could not get close to his national record of 49.51.

Aiming to break his own long jump national record of 8.08m, Maha Singh managed only 7.62. “I was not feeling fully fit as the ligament injury I had picked up in Jamshedpur was still bothering me,” said Singh, who ensured the gold in the third jump of the event. With Krishna Punia absent, Seema Antil of CRPF picked up the women’s discus gold.

Baddi: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/11/stories ... 552100.htm

Saina, Anup progress

New Delhi: Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and Olympian Anup Sridhar advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series while three other Indians lost. Sixth seed Saina came from behind to beat Maja 18-21, 21-11, 21-16 in a 50-minute gruelling battle. Sridhar continued his good run and defeated Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 22-20, 21-19. However, Chetan Anand suffered a 18-21, 11-21 loss to Malaysian Choong Hann Wong in the first round.

Arvind Bhatt went down 12-21, 21-15, 9-21 to third seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia while Aditi Mutatkar also made a first round exit, losing to Judith Meulendijks of Netherlands 21-14, 21-19. It was also curtains for the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V. Diju as they went down to the sixth-seeded Chinese pair of Zhongbo Xie and Yawen Zhang 13-21, 14-21.

Shooting: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/11/stories ... 592100.htm

Ronjan Sodhi bags silver

NEW DELHI: Ronjan Sodhi shot 194 out of 200, but had to settle for the silver in double trap in the shotgun World Cup at Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday. The 29-year-old Ronjan fought hard and matched his best score, pushing the eventual gold medallist, Hu Binyuan of China, to a new world record of 196. Ronjan shot 47, 48 and 50 in the qualification series and was two points behind the Chinese, who had equalled the world record at that stage, with 147. Incidentally, that record was shared by Ronjan himself, apart from Richard Faulds of Britain and Michael Diamond of Australia. Thereafter, both the Chinese and Ronjan shot 49 out of 50 in the final, and the gap remained. Ronjan had shared the final world record of 194 with Daniele di Spigno of Italy, only to find the Beijing Olympics bronze medallist set a new standard. Vitaly Fokeev of Russia was a distant third with 190, as he followed his 142 with 48. It was Ronjan’s third medal in a World Cup. The Beijing Games gold and silver medallists, Walton Eller of USA and Francesco Daniello of Italy, could not make the final.

The results:
Men: Double trap: 1. Hu Binyuan (Chn) 196 (WR) 147 (EWR); 2. Ronjan Sodhi 194 (145); 3. Vitaly Fokeev (Rus) 190 (142); 17. Vikram Chopra 132; 28. Mohammed Asab 119. MQS: Sangram Dahiya 134.

Boxing: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... 641995.cms

Bahadur a boxing champion despite all odds

JAMSHEDPUR: Birsanagar lies in a remote corner of Jamshedpur. A bumpy 15-minute autorickshaw ride deep into this hamlet - past thatched huts and through dusty lanes - takes you to a ramshackle mud-house with tiled roof. Cowdung cakes occupy half of the courtyard and an earthen oven sits in the middle of what can be called an open kitchen, just outside the two-room house. Nothing exceptional about this place, till its resident steps out. Namit Bahadur proudly displays the bronze medal that he won at the World Junior Boxing Championship in Yerevan, Armenia, on May 30. In his first international meet, this 16-year-old flyweight boxer has proved that champions can be made despite all odds.

"Boxing has always been my first love," Namit told TOI, sitting on a charpoy in the unkempt courtyard. "I took up this sport when I was six and have been at it since." He drew inspiration from elder brother Rajaram, a former junior national champion, and was inducted into the sport by Earnest Lakra, father of national champion Anthrax. The icing on the World Championship bronze was his matriculation result. Namit discovered after returning with the bronze that he has managed to get 65 per cent. "I was called for the national camp three months before my matric exams," he said. "So there I was, hitting the books after five hours of intense training. There were times when I didn’t know when I fell asleep. I would often wake up with my head resting on the open book."

Student of a Birsanagar-based government school, Namit got enough support from his teachers in quest for boxing glory. "I had to miss classes, but the teachers always supported me." He wants to continue with studies, despite the tight boxing schedule and finance has always been an issue. Son of a Nepali father and a Bengali mother, Namit, youngest of four siblings, more often than not had to sleep on half-empty stomach. Father Jung Bahadur was a gangman at Tin Plate, a Jamshedpur-based company. Namit used to ride on his cycle to the JRD Sports Complex, about 10 kilometres from his residence, for training every day. "Sometimes it became very tiring, but I loved boxing too much to quit," Namit said.

After Lakra, Namit started training under NIS-trained coach Ajit Kumar Singh. "He always told me that I could make it big," Namit said. Boxers need special diet and the Bahadur family had to stretch itself to provide Namit with whatever it could. "We spend around Rs 1500 every month on Namit's diet," Rajaram said. This money mainly comes from a few investments that Jung Bahadur made during his working days. The man is now retired and the family expenses are met through the odd job that the 23-year-old Rajaram does. Things have started looking up since Namit's World Championships bronze. "Tata Steel apparently has a cheque for Rs 50,000 ready, but can't hand it over as Namit doesn't have a PAN card. We have also applied to Mittal Trust for financial aid," Rajaram said.

Namit will also be spending a lot of time in national camps now, where his needs will be taken care of. The youngster is hoping to meet Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh. And if he expected a congratulatory message or a word of encouragement from the government's sports department, the wait continues.

[Stan_Savljevic]

No more news from the hockey field till good news arrives, which may be a while..

Footer: Goa vs WB in finals, http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... 645905.cms

Lawrence puts Goa in Santosh Trophy final

CHENNAI: A penalty by Climax Lawrence in injury time delivered Goa a 1-0 win against a prodigal Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals of the 63rd National
Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy on Thursday. Goa will take on Bengal in the final on Sunday while Tamil Nadu would be left to rue the chances they missed and of course, their captain's blemish at the fag end of the match. After the match spilled over to injury time at the end of 90 minutes, Tamil Nadu skipper Kulothungan was pulled up for holding substitute Francis Fernandes. Off the resultant penalty, Lawrence calmly slid the ball past goalkeeper Satish Kumar for the match-winner.

After conceding the goal, Tamil Nadu made a last-ditch attempt by throwing all their players into the rival area and Goan goalkeeper and captain Felix D'Souza added to the drama by taking a yellow card for handling the ball outside the penalty area, but denied the hosts an opportunity. Referee Pratap Singh awarded a free-kick, off which Kulothungan made an attempt for the last try of the match. The Tamil Nadu players, soon after the hooter went at the end of the match, surrounded the referee as the Goans erupted into celebrations.

Tamil Nadu only have themselves to blame for the disaster and for yet another heartbreak on the altar of poor finish and marksmanship. The teams indulged in a bit of cat-and-mouse game in the first half with the priority being ball possession. In the event, although the teams displayed fair bit of expertise in intra-passing, the end result could not establish any sort of command on the proceedings. There were a few spells of action, but with both sets of forwards being either wayward or weak in their attempts, it was hardly a surprise that no goals came about in the first session.

Perhaps, the approach to the game was tinged with caution as both knew each other's ability to score at the first hint of opportunity. However, such sentiments proved to be rather misplaced given the woeful finish of the rival forwards. A couple of pot shots at the target and some pleasing build up did little to give hopes of a goal. As the time ticked by, it appeared that the outcome would hinge on one critical moment that, however, never came until the injury time blunder in the closing minutes of the game. Tamil Nadu, boasting of having scored 30 goals in the preliminary league, had the best of chances in the first-half but their forwards, Muthu and Riju fumbled from less than three yards of the goal following a cross from Bengkok that goalkeeper Felix D'Souza failed to intercept.

This 40th minute lapse best exemplified the quality of finish of both sides and it was no surprise that both the teams entered the half-time goalless. The trend of missing chances continued in the second-half and, if anything, the overall quality of attacks, much less the finish, left a lot to be desired. Even the set-piece play from free-kicks and corners appeared a tad disjointed with both goalkeepers not really being tested. Muthu, the hat-trick scorer for Tamil Nadu in the previous game, had another good opportunity to score when he had D'Souza at his mercy, but chose to hit straight and the goalkeeper gratefully collected. In fact, Tamil Nadu looked the likely team to score as they put together some good moves. However, their old tale of muffing chances continued.

Another account of the same match, http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 292000.htm

Injury-time penalty sees Goa through
Heartbreak for Tamil Nadu; unruly crowds add to the disappointment
Climax Lawrence slotted home Goa’s penalty
Tamil Nadu dominated the contest, but could not translate it into goals

CHENNAI: Goa’s last gasp goal via a penalty helped the former champion to shock a fighting Tamil Nadu and make it to the title-round of the 63rd Santosh Trophy National football championship at the floodlit Nehru stadium here on Thursday. Climax Lawrence slotted in the penalty almost at the final moment of the three-minute injury time, to get his state into the final for the 12th time. For all its fighting effort, Tamil Nadu will not only rue the mistake that defender Kali Allaudeen did on substitute Francis Ferandes (pulling him needlessly as he was progressing deeper into the goal-area when extra-time seemed imminent) but also for frittering away all those chances that came its away.

It can be said without fear of contradiction that it was Tamil Nadu which dominated the entire contest with some rousing football. But in the end, nothing mattered as this was not translated into goals. Instead of walking out head held high and victorious with a big margin, the host confronted heart-breaking moments.

Mob frenzy

The disappointment was only to be expected but what unfolded in the galleries (including the VIP stand) was perhaps one of the worst scenes ever seen for a football match at this modern stadium. Mob frenzy took over with chairs and plastic bottles becoming missiles. The glass panes of the media room were shattered and there was a general feeling of danger around until the authorities came on to control the unrest. In the meantime, the players and officials were advised to stay put on the turf for a while fearing injuries through some mindless act of the miscreants. To that extent it was a black day for football in the city. SDAT officials meanwhile said that they estimated the loss to be upwards of Rs. 5 lakhs due to the disturbance.

But in the context of the match it certainly was a tearful exit for the Tamil Nadu team. Not in recent times has a state side presented such cohesiveness and performed with such merit. There was verve in the front line and in the midfield Kulothungan was brilliant with his scheming. The defence was adequate, so much so that Goa’s fearsome forwards Marcus Mascarenhas, Beevan D. Mello and Abranches (until he was substituted by the day’s saviour Francis Fernandes) were bottled up.

For Tamil Nadu, Muthu was uncharacteristic; wasting opportunities, once even scooping the ball in to the rival goalkeeper Felix D’Souza when he could have easily sold a dummy and sealed the issue. Riju triggered excitement but his shots were not sharp. He also missed a chance from handshaking distance of the goalmouth. Bengkok once had Felix at his mercy but wasted the chance. On another occasion Muthu’s effort saw the ball take Felix’s outstretched hands and bounce tantalisingly close to the goal-line before Rowilson effected a timely clearance.

Goa never had this luxury right through but why should it regret when the penalty came its way for Climax to bring off a climactic finish. In the final on Sunday, Bengal will play Goa, a repeat of the 1999 final held at the same venue. Friday and Saturday are rest days.

The teams:
Goa: Felix D’Souza; Rowilson Rodrigues, Covan Lawrence, Mahesh Gawli, Fulgancio Cordozo, Wilton Gomes, Climax Lawrence, Nicholas Roldrigues, Joaquim Abranches (Francis Fernandes), Marcus Mascarenhas, Beevan D’Mello
Tamil Nadu: V.P. Sathish Kumar; Kali Allaudeen, Mohan Raj, Ravanan, Premkumar, Suresh Kumar, Jegan, Bengkok (Fredy), Kulothungan, Riju, Muthu.
Referee: Pratap Singh (SSCB), Assistant Referees: Debajit Das (WB) and Amzad K. Mansoori (MP).

http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 501600.htm

Crowd behaviour shocks coach

Chennai: Twenty minutes after the end of the Santosh Trophy semifinal between Goa and Tamil Nadu, neither team had left the field. Bottles and chairs rained from the stands, rendering passage to the tunnel and dressing rooms unsafe. Goa coach Mariano Dias looked shaken, unable to experience the sweet relief of having steered Goa into its 12th Santosh Trophy final.
Shocked “We were shocked by how the crowd behaved — it was getting dangerous for our players,” he said. “Joaquim Abranches was almost struck on the head by a glass bottle. I can’t understand how people were allowed to enter the stadium carrying glass bottles.”

Later, safe in the corridor outside the dressing rooms, Dias reflected on Goa’s great escape. “Tamil Nadu played very well today. We played okay in the first half, but we were under a lot of pressure in the second half, and maybe the players were intimidated by the home crowd. Felix (D’Souza) made a couple of very good saves,” he said, acknowledging the contribution made by his skipper and goalkeeper in keeping striker Muthu out twice in the final ten minutes, one of them an instinctive left-handed parry from a diving header.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s final against Bengal, Dias said, “We have two days rest, so we should be fresh for the final. But three of our players — Abranches, Fredy (Mascarenhas) and Branco (Cardozo) are still carrying injuries. Still, it should be a good game.” Looking drained as he emerged after a final debriefing, Tamil Nadu captain Kulothungan summed up his side’s performance concisely: “We played good football, but missed too many chances — that’s why we lost.”

Cash award

The All India Football Federation has announced a cash award of Rs. 5 lakh for the winner of the Santosh Trophy. In addition, the runner-up will receive Rs. 3 lakh, the winner of the Fair Play award Rs. 50,000 and the player of the tournament Rs. 20,000.

Boxing: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 451500.htm

Vijender and Suranjoy enter last four

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh continued his rampaging form to sail into the semifinals and join six other Indians who have booked a medal each for themselves in the Asian boxing championships in Zhuhai, China on Thursday. Vijender outpunched Kyrgyzstan’s Karipov Ruslan 19-4 in the middleweight quarterfinals to assure himself of at least a bronze in the event where he had clinched a silver medal in the previous edition. Flyweight (51kg) National champion Suranjoy Singh also entered the medal rounds after beating Pak Jong Chol of DPR Korea 5-1. The 22-year-old from Manipur will be up against Thailand’s Olympian Ruenrotng Amnaj tomorrow.However, it was heartbreak for Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) and Vijender’s cousin Balwinder (64kg), both of whom lost close bouts.

Chhote lost 3-4 to Thailand’s Masuk Wuttichai, while 18-year-old Balwinder fell short in the countback against Karami Houman of Iran after both the boxers had ended 4-4 in the regulation three rounds. Vijender put up a clinical performance taking a 6-1 lead in the very first round with some hard-hitting upper-cuts and hooks. His opponent’s frustration at being unable to break Vijender’s defence began to show in the next two rounds and resulted in him getting a couple of warnings for rough play. The other five Indians to have already made the semifinals are Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg), Jitender Kumar (54kg), Jai Bhagwan (60kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg).

Same from ToI, http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... 645372.cms

Vijender, Suranjoy enter semi-finals

NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh continued his rampaging form to sail into the semi-finals and join six other Indians who have booked a medal each for themselves in the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai, China. Vijender out-punched Kyrgyzstan's Karipov Ruslan 19-4 in the middle weight quarter-finals to assure himself of at least a bronze in the event where he had clinched a silver medal in the previous edition. "I think I am on my way to getting a gold medal now which India has not won here for the past 15 years," the Haryana boxer, who takes on China's Zhang Jian Ting in the semis.

"The boxer I beat today had ousted an Kazakh Olympian in his previous bout and it feels great to advance after getting the better of tough opponents," he added. Fly weight (51kg) national champion Suranjoy Singh also entered the medal rounds after beating Pak Jong Chol of DPR Korea 5-1. The 22-year-old from Manipur will be up against Thailand's Olympian Ruenrotng Amnaj on Friday. "It was low-scoring but Suranjoy was clearly the better of the two boxers in technique and foot movement. We have the highest number of boxers in the semi-finals at this stage and everyone here is amazed," an elated national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said.

However, it was heartbreak for Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) and Vijender's cousin Balwinder (64kg), both of whom lost close bouts. Chhote lost 3-4 to Thailand's Masuk Wuttichai, while 18-year-old Balwinder fell short in the countback against Karami Houman of Iran after both the boxers had ended 4-4 in the regulation three rounds. "We thought we had won the bouts but Chhote and Balwinder didn't have the luck. It was so disappointing. It's so hard on the boys. Chhote was shattered because we seriously thought that he had pulled it off," said Sandhu. Vijender, who had won a bronze medal at a European Grand Prix event in Czech Republic last month, however had no such worries.

He put up a clinical performance taking a 6-1 lead in the very first round with some hard-hitting upper-cuts and hooks. His opponent's frustration at being unable to break Vijender's defence began to show in the next two rounds and resulted in him getting a couple of warnings for rough play. "Since I dominated the bout, his tactics didn't matter to me. Bottom line is I won and that too comprehensively," Vijender said. The other five Indians to have already made the semis are Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg), Jitender Kumar (54kg), Jai Bhagwan (60kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg). "It's a fantastic performance. My boys have beaten boxers from some of the top countries and who knows we might even get the team championship this time," said Sandhu. India had won five medals, a silver and four bronze, at the Asian Championships the last time around.

Tennis: Some lessons for India following the reduction in outright ban of Oz for DC oiseaule-ry. http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 201700.htm

ITF reduces fine for Sweden

LONDON: The International Tennis Federation has reduced the fine given to Sweden because of its decision to play a Davis Cup match against Israel behind closed doors. The ITF said on Thursday it had cut the fine to $5,000 from the original $25,000 after an appeal by the Swedes. However, Sweden still has to pay the $15,000 which would have been earned in gate receipts had the three days of play been open to spectators. Sweden hosted Israel in the first round of the Davis Cup in March, losing 3-2. The best-of-five series was played behind closed doors because city officials said they couldn’t guarantee security at the venue. The IFT in April had also banned Malmo from hosting Davis Cup games for five years.

Baddi: http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 091700.htm

Anup and Saina in quarterfinals

New Delhi: Olympian Anup Sridhar on Thursday pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, beating World No. 2 Dane Peter Gade 21-19 16-21 21-13 to reach the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament. Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal also reached the quarterfinals after staving off a scare from Indonesian Adrianti Firdasari in Singapore City. Sixth seed Saina beat 19th ranked Firdasari 21-18 17-21 21-17 in a 50-minute battle. The day, however, belonged to Anup. The world number 39 Indian defeated third seed Gade in an edge-of-the-seat thriller which lasted close to an hour.

In the quarterfinals, Anup takes on Thai Boonsak Ponsana, who beat sixth seed Simon Santoso 21-11 21-7. In the see-saw battle, Anup opened up a four-point lead at 14-10 in his first game and although his rival clawed back at 15-all first and then 16-17, the Indian battled his way to eventually pocket the game. The second game also could have gone either way as the duo went neck-and-neck from 3-3 to 9-9 before the Dane thumped his mark and raced away with the game. The decisive third game turned out to be a complete thriller as the duo didn’t concede an inch without fight and went 3-3, 5-5 and then 11-11 before Anup broke free and grabbed seven straight points to seal the match.

Swimming: A guy to watch for, in the future.... http://www.hindu.com/2009/06/12/stories ... 312000.htm

Poncha bags bronze

BANGALORE: India’s Rehan Poncha bagged a bronze in the 400m individual medley event at the Singapore Open swimming championship on Wednesday, according to information reaching here. The Bangalore lad clocked 4:35.4s.

[Stan_Savljevic]

Bad day in office for Ind Sports today....

Anup lost, prima donna no. 2 lost, Vijender and Jitender lost, jr hockey team failed to make quarters and paid the price for their stupid errors against Nzl and Neth. I hope the Kakdi-team does nt pull a defeat from nowhere.

Vis-a-vis hickey, a buncha juniors are good to make the grade to the seniors team though. And despite failing to make the qf grade, the jr team is a top-3 team in the world. I would even say, THE top-dog team to beat. Nevertheless, hope AK Bansal sir, Clarence Lobo, Ramandeep Singh and Diwakar Ram learn the lessons of this tragedy. Anything other than Kuala Lumpur as a venue in Malaysia is a disaster for us. But more than all these coincidences, I am spooked by Jose Brasa's close presence to the Indian hockey teams. The results had been super-great both on the seniors and the juniors front till JB arrived, we finished creditably at Azlan, PGC, Argentina series etc. and started climbing from Santiago. Then came the AC disaster for the senior team, the WC disaster for the jr team. And the spaniards are oiseaules, pardon the language. Many of the spaniards are in India primarily centered around Anantapur and that is already a spooky EJ feeling. With Leandro negre the FIH president and the ink written fairly strong with JB's tenure, he is NOT going anywhere till CWG. Or even after that. And if he is like John Buchanan and more familiarly like the other Oz oiseaule, RicC, then we are going to see our dear hockey team amble from one disaster to another. Leaves me with a bad taste in the mouth, a very bad taste in the mouth.

The only silver lining today is

Nanao (48kg), Suranjoy Singh (51kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) were the country's unlikely stars making the summit clash of their respective categories.

Other than that the original prima donna is in semis and sure to lose in the semis. No links, no details, bad days are just that, sorry.

[sum]

Bad day in office for Ind Sports today....

Given our bare cupboards/lack of representation in any sport just a few years back, very heartening to see how our standards have improved and so many of our athletes in varied competitions reaching medal rounds is seen as a bad day.

Hope we keep improving our standards like this and the day comes when we are like the Chinese and will whine if we don't sweep any competition in which our country participates.