Badminton ace Saina Nehwal, whose phenomenal rise was highlighted by three top-flight international titles recently, was conferred the coveted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award at a glittering ceremony on Sunday.
Saina's achievements in the past one year made her an automatic choice for the prestigious award, the highest sporting honour in the country.
Meanwhile, on the mens side, a comedy of terror is still continuing and shakespeare is turning in his grave. For those, who have nt followed it:Aug 30: vs The Netherlands
Sept 1: vs Australia
Sept 3: vs Germany
Sept 5: vs Japan
Sept 7: vs New Zealand
. The issue seems to be selection/bias on the non-inclusion of Prabhjot Singh and re-entry of Sandeep Singh into the team. Ok, a few questions on wimmen matters for timepass:Goalkeeper: Bharat Chetri (Canara Bank).
Defenders: Sardar Singh (Haryana), Sandeep Singh (Haryana), Dhananjay Mahadik (Services), Gurbaj Singh (Air India) and Prabodh Tirkey (Air India).
Midfielders: Arjun Halappa (Air India), Vikram Pillay (Air India), Ravi Pal (BPCL), Bharat Chikara (Indian Oil), Danish Mujtaba (UP) and Sarvanjit Singh (PSB)
Forwards: Rajpal Singh (Indian Oil), Tushar Khandekar (BPCL), Shivendra Singh (Air India), Dharamvir Singh (Indian Oil).
Standbys: Adrian D'Souza, Rupinder Pal Singh, Vikas Pillay, V. S. Vinaya, Gurvinder Singh Chandi and Mandeep Antil.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 457342.cmsEarlier in May 2009, Bindra was arrested on charges of fraud by a Delhi Police team from his sprawling farmhouse in Zirakpur town in Punjab, around 15 km from here. However, he was hospitalised soon after with chest pain. He was arrested on charges of defrauding a private finance company and a private bank of over Rs 9 crore in 2006 and 2007. He took loans for PML and was accused of having sold the land that was mortgaged to the bank against the loan amount.
No I wont be. But that is a different story.suryag wrote:SS garu you will be happy now
For jokes of the day, Azhar: Guilty should be punishedWhy the selectors rejected the request of the chief coach, Jose Brasa, to have the seasoned players for the four-nation event at Hamburg, and subsequent European tour, is difficult to comprehend. If, as claimed, the composition was dictated by the desire to blood youngsters, then how come all the senior stars are back now. Sheer inertia by the unit claiming to control hockey, waving a letter of recognition from the FIH, has blacked out the scope to identify talent from various parts. There has not been a single national level competition for State units, save for the one staged by IHF in Bhopal. But Hockey India did everything to block it, threatening action against those taking part.
The selectors sent a team to Azlan Shah without a specialist drag-flicker. Then they picked a squad for the European tour sans the seniors citing reasons unacceptable in more ways than one. Now, the same set has brought back the discarded seniors, almost aligning to the idea of the chief coach, Jose Brasa. Everything now has to start afresh rendering the trips and tournaments meaningless. Coming to the composition, anything better could not have been achieved in the circumstances. The question why the selectors are not convinced about Prabhjot Singh, in whom the coach has tremendous faith, props up now and then.
Eyebrows are raised over the choice of a single goal-keeper. But the move seems logical. All major countries field a solitary goalkeeper even when the choice is 18, to get one additional player. Bharat Chettri gets the nod ahead of the more experienced Adrian D'Souza and the World Cupper, Sreejesh, who was part of the European tour. Headed by the drag-flicker, Sandeep Singh, who was outstanding during the last tour, all the prominent defenders have retained their posts. Arjun Halappa and Vikram Pillay will definitely enhance the profile of the mid-field. The hard-working wing-backs Gurbaj and Prabodh are retained along with Daniesh Mujtaba. Rajpal Singh leads the frontline in the company of Tushar Khandekar and Shivendra Singh, who is back after nursing an injury. The coach has enough to sift and shuffle, but how satisfied Brasa is with the team without Prabhjot Singh is worth investigating.
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.Though players from Orissa may not be as active in the international hockey scenario as they were a couple of years ago, there are many in the pipeline who have all the aggression and passion that hockey demands. Roshan Minz, Bikas Toppo, Sunil Ekka and many more youngsters will soon find their way into the team.
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Here, I would like to share why hockey players like Lazarus Barla, William Khalkho, Ignace Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey, hailing from small villages like mine in the tribal belt of Sundergarh, could make it to the top, despite no great training facilities.
In the tribal villages of Sundergarh district, children pick up branches of trees and convert them into hockey sticks when they are about six or seven years old. As a 10-year-old, I would run to the playgrounds with my friends to watch a hockey match in progress during our regular hockey tournaments. Known as Khasi tournaments, which would have a goat as the prize, these play-offs attracted a crowd of nothing less than 6,000. The spectators go extremely noisy and fervent at these tournaments which still continue in the tribal belt. When I was a kid, Sawnamara, my village, used to have very good athletes. But other villages participating in the tournament including Lulkidi, Tileikani, Sikajor, Bhalumunda, Nuagaon and Rajgangpur, had some fine players too. During my teens, I too enjoyed playing in these tournaments. A lot of people from neighbouring villages used to get together to organise the matches. About 80 villages participated in them. We had no electricity in the villages then. The veteran players would follow our idol, Michael Kindo, and we youngsters would follow them.
The entire concept, as I realise now, was never to emerge the winner of the tournament. We all played for the passion of the game and the spectators too watched our matches as hockey fanatics. The ambience as well as the spirit of the game is of a much higher level in the villages. The crowd would appreciate the game of players from all villages. Those who lost would even apply for re-entries paying double entry fee, just to play again. Finally, we would all feast together! In fact, this love for the sport of both players as well as the spectators is the most important factor for the success of a team.
More than achievements, a player needs to enjoy the game and play it with vigour. But that is possible only with the support of the crowd. Of course, to make that happen, the number of tournaments needs to increase in the urban areas of the state. A sports lover can follow more than one sport that way and not confine himself or herself to just one sport that appears more frequently on television. Despite no international facilities of training, it is the people’s love for the game that makes Sundergarh district a hockey belt. A hockey match in Bhubaneswar hardly gets a couple of thousand spectators whereas in a village like Tilekani, for a Khasi tournament, the number of spectators would sometimes touch even 10,000.
The fanfare of crowds is missing in most cities in Orissa, be it any sport. We need to come up with tournaments right from school level, be it any sport. Concepts like the six-a-side tournament that was held recently at Kalinga stadium and attracted close to 4,000 spectators, could work. The Commonwealth Games, that has been in news for all the wrong reasons, will definitely need a supportive crowd, not only for hockey but also for all the other 16 sports. Spectators will have a big role to play in order to keep up the spirits of the Indian players by cheering and attending the games. Neither victory nor loss should matter in the end. It is a great chance for sports lovers in India to look beyond a single sport and rather create a bonding for all sports and to oblige players to enjoy their game.
If only Mamta Kharab was there and Surinder Kaur was firing on all cylinders, this could have been a far better wc than ever before overshadowing all the dramabaazi that went before the show. If if if....By defeating Japan 2-0 on Sunday, the Indian ladies have made a small record of sort. This was the first victory in pool stage for India in three World Cups. In 1998 and 2006, India did not win a match in the pool. After losing thee matches in trot, Indian girls today woke up to mark a victory over their traditional rival Japan. This victory took India two steps ahead in the pool, well ahead of New Zealand and Japan, who are winless after four matches. India is now fourth in the pool behind Australia, Netherlands and Germany.
Shahbad girls Rani Ramphal and Jasjeet Kaur scored a goal piece in each half respectively to outwit the Japanese. It was India’s first win at Rossario in four matches, while Japan lost all the four. India will take on New Zealand, who have also last all the four matches so far. Rani Ramphal, easily the best of the lot on the turf today, bounced on to a centre near the top of the circle, and effected a hard push from near top of the circle, that diagonally reached home in the 14th minutes.
Thereafter, after surviving spells of attack spearheaded by Kaori Chiba in her third World Cup, Jasjeet’s low drag flick gave India the other goal. It was in the second half. About 20 minutes thereafter Japan unleashed many attacks, even earning two penalty corners more than India’s four, but Binita Toppo, Kirandeep and Subadhra Pradhan in the rear saw off the danger. While the youngest in the team was her best, captain Surinder was pale shadow of herself, turning to be a passenger in the little time she was fielded by emergency coach Sandeep Somesh. On the wing, Saba, easily one of the experienced in the side too was pedestrian. Chanchal, Soundarya Yendala – she was played only briefly – Monika Pardan showed glimpses of class.
. There are some places where any huge sporting event will be a perfect disaster. Hockey in suud amerika is one such, at least with football there is some hope assuming it is not held in one of those la paz or montevideo heights.Rani Ramphal scored a brace of goals, before and after Jasjeet Kaur and Saba Anjum respectively scored a goal apiece, to give India a thrilling 4-3 win over the fighting South Africa in the ninth place decider of the Rosario World Cup. This win enabled India to notch up two rungs up in the ultimate ranking compared to 2006 venture. At Madrid in the last edition, India finished 11th, now at Rosario ninth, not a bad result considering inter alia India is 13th in the FIH ranking. After South Africa surprised lethergic goalie Deepika Murthy, deflecting a mid-field through pass, Rani came on her own. First she deflected Jasjeet's powerful shot off a penalty corner, within seconds later, latched on to a loose ball, sidestepped a defender on the top of the circle before unleashing a reverse had shot from top of the circle. This two goals in a minute, must rank a great moment of the world cup.
Then Jasjeet scored off India's penalty corner, before Saba Anjum guided Jasjeet's drag from the midfield for India's fourth goals. Sitting pretty at 4-2, India would not have expected a fight on the hands, but it was. Africa came with the third goal and then two minutes before the hooter almost scored a goal, but it was disallowed on video referring. The goal went into the net from a stick raised above the shoulder. The cricket-like hook shot was disallowed by the third umpire. After losing first three matches badly, India managed to win two of the next three matches to finish ninth. Rani Ramphal has scored seven goals, scoring in five of the six matches.
PS: Ok, looks like the 15 year mark may be some afridi-zation. But nevertheless, the Indian team was the youngest at the wc. And Rani Rampal is still a teenager. Still....
Rani Rampal is 15 years old (Date of Birth: 4/12/1994)!!! The 15-year-old forward belongs to a poor family from Shahbad in Haryana, with her father making a living as a cart-puller and her brothers working as carpenters.
In her short career so far, Rani, the youngest player in the Indian team, has several accolades to her name, including the Young Player of the Tournament award at the Champion's Challenge tournament held in Kazan, Russia last year. She also played a vital role in Indian women's silver medal winning feat in the Asia Cup last year.
Published: Sunday, Sep 12, 2010, 22:19 IST | Updated: Monday, Sep 13, 2010, 0:30 IST
By Gautam Sheth | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Wrestling guru Satpal Singh was a restless man on an otherwise lazy Sunday as he eagerly awaited his protege’s call. His ward Sushil Kumar etched his name in golden letters in the history of Indian wrestling by becoming the first man from the country to win a gold medal in the World Wrestling Championship in Moscow on Sunday.
In what can be termed as ‘taming the lion in his own den’, Kumar outclassed home-favourite Russian grappler Gogaev Alan 3-1 in the final of the men’s 66kg freestyle wrestling. Mind it, this was Kumar’s fifth bout of the day and he gave it his all to clinch the shining yellow metal. “Immediately after winning his semifinal bout Sushil called me and promised that he won’t let me down, and he lived up to his word,” Satpal Singh, Kumar’s coach for 16 years, told DNA.
Singh’s joy expectedly knew no bounds as the coach said no one deserved the world title more than his ward. “I have been saying for a long time that Sushil is cut for the big stage. Now people will realize that his bronze at Olympics wasn’t a fluke,” Singh said.
In the final bout against the Russian, Sushil drew first blood by clinching two crucial points in the first period. Alan could only manage one. Showing his true form, the Indian grappler kept the pressure on the home-grown Alan to pick one more point in the second period and seal the issue in his favour.
It wasn’t an easy Sunday for Sushil who made it to the final after defeating Hasanov Jabrayil of Azerbaijan 4-3. Kumar clashed with Akriditis of Greece, Germany’s Martin Sebastian and Mongolia’s Buyan Jav before beating Azerbaijan’s Jabrayil in the semifinal to make it to the summit clash.
In the semis, the Azerbaijani grappler took the lead by notching the lone point in the first period. Kumar bounced back to level the score 1-1 in the second period. Knowing that he had no choice but to attack, Kumar came out all guns blazing to clinch three more points to Hasanov’s two to win.
“An Olympic medal (bronze) and the World title has been achieved. Now, an Olympics gold is the ultimate dream,” said Singh.
love you too SushilHe realises the magnitude of his achievement but the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee remains a grounded man and credited the feat to some hard work and lots of blessings of his countrymen.
“It is great feeling to have won the gold in the World Championship. I am very happy that I could keep the honour, love and respect the countrymen had bestowed on me,” Sushil said.
In a case of high handedness, Sports Minister MS Gill insulted Sushil Kumar's coach Satpal during a photo shoot at his residence, when he insisted that Satpal step aside while he himself posed for the camera along with Sushil.
He later chose to invite Coach Yashwir, who accompanied the Indian team during the event in Moscow for the photo session while still keeping Satpal away from all the action.
WTF is the problem with this sports minister, a former election commissioner also.Sushil expressed that he was hurt by MS Gill's actions by saying, "Satpal has been my coach for the past 13-14 years. He is coach to over 900 kids. If a coach is insulted then his pupil also feels insulted."/quote]For MS Gill though it must have been a case of Déjà vu, considering he had infamously snubbed Saina Nehwal's coach Gopi Chand when the two had come visiting him last year, asking only the second Indian to win the All England Championship to introduce himself.
India will look to exploit a favourable surface, weather conditions and form of its players to reclaim a berth in the Davis Cup World Group as the hosts take on formidable Brazil in the play-off tie here from tomorrow.
Traditionally India have chosen grass courts to host a Davis Cup tie but due to liking of Somdev Devvarman, its best singles players currently, it preferred hard courts for the tie, first at home in two years.
Hope India joins the elite group beating Brazil.In the end, it will be an intense tie in which both teams will go with equal chances to win. The losing team will play its respective Zone in 2011.
Published: Sunday, Sep 19, 2010, 0:03 IST
MC Mary Kom won her 5th gold by beating Steluta Duta 16:6 in the final.
TNN, Sep 19, 2010, 12.03am IST
NEW DELHI: MC Mary Kom claimed a historic fifth successive Women's World Boxing Championship gold with a thumping 16-6 win over Steluta Duta of Romania in the 48kg weight category final.
The former Khel Ratna awardee from Manipur thus remained the only boxer to have won a medal in each edition of the World Championship.
Mary Kom, a mother-of-two, defeated Alice Kate Aparri of Philippines 8-1 in the semifinal on Friday to assure herself of at least a silver in the sixth edition of the competition.
However, there was disappointment as well for India when Kavita (+81kg) settled for a bronze after losing 2-14 to Ukraine's Kateryna Kuzhel in the semifinals.
. If women boxing gets included in Olympics, then there would be a strong likelihood of a gold medal getting assured for India.Published: Monday, Sep 20, 2010, 18:46 IST
Ronjan Sodhi won gold in Double Trap at the shooting World Cup final today.
Sodhi shot 143/150 in the qualification round and 49/50 in the final today.
Appears to be very fishy to me.CHANDIGARH: India's only gold medal winning Olympian, shooter Abhinav Bindra's 'plot' may be in trouble.
Bindra won a 500 sq yard plot at the prized Aerocity township in Mohali town of Punjab, 10 km from here, in draw of lots Saturday. But his application will face scrutiny from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
The reason? The champion shooter allegedly misrepresented facts while applying for the plot under the sports category.
Bindra, who will represent India in the Commonwealth Games, could not be contacted.
Bindra, whose father is billionaire industrialist A S Bindra and lives in a sprawling farmhouse 15 km from Chandigarh, had applied for the Aerocity plot earlier this year.
Four people applied in the sports category, but Bindra was lucky ??? and bagged the plot. GMADA is to sell the plot to applicants for just Rs.60 lakh though its market price is around Rs.4-5 crore.
GMADA officials, requesting anonymity, said Bindra's application would be scrutinized as he has given an undertaking that he has never before availed the benefit of allotment of a plot, house or flat in any scheme under the sports reserved category from any Punjab government agency.
"No one can benefit from the same category twice," a senior GMADA official said.
According to the GMADA official, in 2002 Bindra applied and got a similar 500 sq yard plot from the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) under the sports category. He paid only Rs.175,000 at the time.
In 2006, Bindra sold off the plot to a property dealer in Mohali for a market price of Rs.1 crore, the official added.
Under GMADA rules, providing false information in the application will lead to forfeiture of the initial deposit amount for the plot. Authorities can also initiate criminal action against the applicant.
"We will not spare anyone who has submitted a wrong undertaking. We will initiate criminal action, if necessary," said GMADA additional chief administrator Balwinder Singh.
http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/se ... hockey.htmPenalty-corner specialist Narad Bahadur converted three penalty-corners, while Ganendrajit Ningombam also scored thrice, all field goals. Abung Singh got a brace, while Mohammed Irfan, Roshan Keisham, Vikram Yadav and Sumit Topno chipped in with a goal each.
For Indian hockey team player Amit Prabhakar even little joys mean a lot. He is extremely grateful to Lucknow Sports College principal A. K. Banoda for shifting his family (mother and three other siblings) from a 'hut' to a three-room quarter in the College. Amit, who is a defender, represents India at the international level. His name has featured in prestigious tournaments in 2010 like the SAF Games held at Dhaka (where India finished 2nd), and the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Ipoh (where India finished joint winners). The other tournaments that Amit participated in 2010 include the 4-nation Hamburg Masters tournament in Germany, and the subsequent Test series in Belgium, France and Holland.
Talking to The Indian Express, Amit who is a trainee of Lucknow Sports Hostel, said, "I will make it a point to thank Banoda sir. I am very grateful that he has shown so much of respect for my talent, and has provided my family a much better accomodation. My father Amarnath Prabhakar was a waiter at Sports College mess. After his death in April 2009, my mother Kusum Prabhakar works in the mess there on ad hoc basis. While I stay at the hockey hostel located at the K. D. Singh 'Babu' Stadium, my mother stayed in a hut inside the College premises along with my sister and brother. Another brother of mine, Ajay (15 years), is a trainee of the Scindia Academy, Bhopal," he informed.
Amit hopes that his performances in hockey will change his family's fortunes one day. An intermediate final year student of Bappa Sri Narain Vocational (BSNV) College in Charbagh, Lucknow, he gives whatever time he can to his studies. "Only recently, I got a contract to play for Air India on a stipend. Slowly, but steadily, I just hope that my family's fortunes improve," he says in a determined tone.
When contacted, Lucknow Sports College principal A. K. Banoda said, "Amit's mother earns Rs. 1,800 per month for the cooking work she does at the College. I salute his parents who put their children into sports despite financial difficulties. Giving a better accomodation to them is just a small gesture of respect to the mother of an Indian hockey team player, and a recognition of the Amit's talent. I was really moved when his younger brother came with a box of sweets as a thank you gesture."
After the World Cup, HI specially appointed Jugraj Singh to train the drag flickers. HI also went on record saying that Brasa had no knowledge of drag flick tactics. “Jugraj’s appointment has yielded results,” said a team official. “During the tour of Europe recently, our drag flick expert Sandeep Singh was in great form and scored a series of goals.”
Fortunately, Sandeep, who was down with eye-flu for a few days, has now fully recovered.
The confidence did show when, drag flicker Sandeep Singh converted two penalty corners to help India inflict a 3-1 defeat on England in their second practice match ahead of the Commonwealth Games at the Major Dhyanchand national stadium Tuesday. Besides Sandeep, Tushar Khandekar chipped in with a field goal, while Ashley Jackson sounded the board for England.
His moment of joy was really short, for Gopal Nadgauda had lost his job within hours of receiving the state award for the outstanding coach from guardian minister Ajit Pawar on May 1 this year. Nadgauda, 58, was employed as a guard — a job that fetched him Rs 3,000 a month which was bare enough to meet his family’s needs.
A shocked Nadgauda, who had captained the district athletics team in 1974, pleaded with his employers to let him keep the job for the sake of his family, but to no avail. “Even that I had just been recognised as the best coach by the government had no impact on them. They told me they don’t need the services of a guard anymore.” And for the past five months, Nadgauda — who has coached nearly 200 athletes with a clutch of them winning laurels at national-level tournaments — has been hunting for a job, but without luck. “I want a job that gives me more than Rs 3,000 as salary. I have to pay Rs 3,000 as rent besides incurring other expenses, but people are offering me 12-hour night shift with salary of Rs 3,000. This is just not enough for me and my wife to survive.”
Nadgauda, who hails from Karnakata, has been living in Pimpri for over four decades. He had inaugurated the first stadium in Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Annasaheb Magar Stadium at Nehrunagar.
Nadgauda and wife Anjali had been surviving on the income of their married daughter, who used to give her monthly income of Rs 7,000 to them. Daughter Sarika Jagan says, “I had told my husband before our marriage a year ago that I will be looking after my parents, which he had agreed to.” But now, she too has lost her job.
and want the games be done with without any terrorist bs. But, as happened during the 82 Asiad, what we will see (yet again!) is a writing off of the various crimes by the Kalmadi and nbjprie cabal. In India, we have a collective short term memory loss, whether it be the Partition riots or the ass-whooping on different fronts. If I post a para on what was said during the Asiad days, it will be de javu all over again. Cash is cash and I hate to see 1000s of crores of it going down the drain for a collective massaging of h&d. I dont wanna poop on anyone's party show in that thread. If not for hockey, my only focus for the CWG would be the security chatter.