Bharat Rakshak

1. Total 4 Gold, 2 Silver & 2 Bronze
2. India wins Team Championship as well
3. Under-16 Boys' Gold by B.Adhiban
4. Under-14 Boys' Gold by Vidit Gujarathi
5. Under-12 Boys' Gold by Sayantan Das
6. Under-16 Boys' Silver to Sethuraman and Bronze to Debashis Das (A Clean Sweep in Under-16 by India. Bravo)
7. Under-12 Girls' Bronze to Pratyusha Bodda
8. Under-18 Girls' Silver by R.Preethi

What did you do right?

I took some risks. It was a gamble which paid off handsomely. I knew he would work on my 1.e4 (King Pawn Opening). I decided to go for 1.d4 (Queen Pawn). All his preparation on e4 was wasted. I don’t think it was a surprise for him because he prepared for d4 too. But I could still put some pressure on him with queen pawn. The other thing was I prepared some sharp and interesting stuff with the black pieces. It was a fantastic concept. I could post two convincing wins with black. It paid off big time.

Were you surprised that the match was one-sided?

Yes. Kramnik never lost three games in a row.

How much of an effort was it to win the world title?

It drains you. It took a lot of effort and energy. I can tell you the last three days have been very intense. I could have finished the game three days before. In fact, the last half point took me as much effort as the first six points. I had to think of the tenth game defeat one whole day. It was a slow boil. It was a huge relief when Kramnik offered me the draw today.

Did the tenth game loss remind you off Sanghinagar?

Not really though I should admit that at some stage it certainly crossed my mind. The things were different. I had a three-point advantage and I was sitting pretty.

Which was the most satisfying win?

I won the third and fifth games with black pieces. Even my win in the sixth game with white was very satisfying, but nothing can compare the satisfaction of today’s draw. It was the most satisfying moment.

What was the turning point?

The three-point lead has to be the turning point. To be more precise, I think the second win (in game five) was a kind of turning point.

You out-prepared Kramnik? Right?

I think so. It took us a lot of preparation. We were able to control the direction of the match. Particularly in the first half. In the second half, he definitely caught up and put a lot of pressure.

Kramnik said a few nasty things before the match. Did that fire you up?

Well, you can imagine what I would have had to listen to if I had lost the match. When you see such things, it has to give some extra motivation. I’m happy that I will not have to listen to such things any more. {Dream on, Anand. The detractors will always find something to yak about, just like there are folks who always wanna see the cup half full.}

You lost badly in Bilbao, just before the Bonn match. Did you hold back your cards there?

It was disappointing but I knew I would not be able to focus completely. I was not holding back my cards, but I was not able to play the 1.d4 move. In the scheme of things I could put aside that disappointment.

You think you have answered your critics, particularly from Russia, who say you can’t win matches?

Yeah. I think I will not have to listen to such stuff any more. This result will take care of that.

You have won in all formats — rapid, knockout and match. You agree that there is no player more complete than you?

I personally see no fault with any format. But having won in all formats, I can put forth the claim to be the complete player. {Thats vintage Anand, soft like a knife, thrust it on.}

Are you thinking of Topalov or Kamsky?

Right now I’m only thinking of celebrating.

Will you demand a rematch privilege which has been given to past champions?

I don’t think I will do that ever. But I have not really thought about it. At the moment I’m too exhausted to think of such things.

Why were you both dope-tested after the match?

It was not necessary but it was a rule set up by FIDE and we have to follow the regulation. It was some kind of electronic testing.

Who do you give credit to for this win?

A lot of people. My family and especially my wife Aruna who has been working like crazy. The whole year she has been doing all the negotiations and dealings. Then my team – Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Surya Shekhar Ganguly. These guys had done a fantastic job. While I was sleeping, these guys were working till six and seven in the morning.

You have beaten everyone except Kasparov. Regrets?

It will be great if he changes his mind and comes out of the retirement. I will definitely give it a shot. It will be very exciting to play him again. {Bring on Kasparov, that will seal the anointment and pass the baton completely. 100% pucca.}

Are you too exhausted for the Olympiad?

I’m definitely not playing the Olympiad. After all this work I’m too tired and exhausted.

You have won everything. Is the fire still left in the belly?

It is still there. But I will think about it later. Right now my mind is working on other things.

Finally, what’s Vishy Anand’s legacy to chess?

I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that yet. Today we’re in a celebratory mood.

With the Commonwealth youth gold and the World Junior badminton title in her kitty {and the excellent show in the Beijing Olympics}, the world number 11 has now set her eyes on China and Hong Kong Open later this month.

SSridhar wrote:Saina Nehawal claims World Junior Badminton Championship

Well done Saina. You have had a wonderful year this year. Keep it up.

With the Commonwealth youth gold and the World Junior badminton title in her kitty {and the excellent show in the Beijing Olympics}, the world number 11 has now set her eyes on China and Hong Kong Open later this month.

The men's world chess champion is Anand, the world jr open category champion is Abhijeet Gupta, the world junior women's champion is Dronavalli Harika. Only Koneru Humpy missed out losing the semis to Hou Yifan, else it would have been 4/4. That even the Russkies during their heydays cannot have dreamt of given that Maia Cheburdanidze is ah-so a bit Georgian and Zhu Chen Chinese.

Drag-flicker Diwakar Ram will lead the under-21 Indian hockey team against Pakistan in a five-match away Test series from November 11-21. Apart from Diwakar, the 20-member squad also includes promising junior players in Innocent Kullu, Birendra Lakra, Mandip Antil, Amardeep Ekka and others.

The team will be accompanied by five officials including chief coach A K Bansal, coach Clarence Lobo, manager Rajeev Mehta, trainer Pradip Dutta and umpire G S Sangha. The tourists will start their five-Test campaign in Karachi on November 11, followed by Rawalpindi on November 13, Faisalabad on November 15, Sialkot on November 18 and round off the series in Lahore on November 21.

Team:
Goalkeepers: Mrinal Chaubey and C Santosh Kumar
Defenders: Diwakar Ram (Captain), Innocent Kullu, Manjit Kullu, Hari Kripal Yadav
Midfielders: Birendra Lakra, Amardeep Ekka, Belsezer Horo, Vivek, Rupinder Pal Singh, Mohd. Asif
Forwards: Pramod Kumar, Jagwant Singh, Mandip Antil, Danish Mujtaba, Dharamvir Singh, Jai Karan, Mohd. Amir, Karamjit Singh
Officials: A K Bansal (Chief Coach), Clarence Lobo (Coach), Pradip Dutta (Trainer), G S Sangha (Umpire) and Rajeev Mehta (Manager).

Goalkeepers: Imran Shah, Waqas Ali.
Fullbacks: Kashif Ali (vice captain), M. Ateeq, Imran Abbas.
Halfbacks: M. Irfan, Zaheer Ahmed, Amir Shahzad, Fareed Ahmed, M. Rashid.
Forwards: Adeel Hussain, Shafqat Rasool (captain), Haseem Khan, M. Zubair, Shahbaz, Rizwan, Taufeeq Yasir, Hasan Akhtar, Azlan Khan.
Officials: Qamar Ibrahim (chief coach); Danish Kaleem, Ahmed Alam (coaches); Faiz-ur-Rehman (physio); Nadeem Lodhi (video analyst).

Selection Trails for the under 21 team has commenced at Bhopal. All the five selectors – Ajit Pal Singh, Aslam Sher Khan, Ashok Kumar, Zafar Iqbal, Dhanraj Pillay – have witnessed a session in the evening of Wednesday. The series is another earnest effort from both the sides to prepare for the Next year’s World Cup. In all five matches will be placed in different cities, starting from Karachi on 10th {The other schedule says 11th}.

The camp in Bhopal will continue upto 3rd Nov. The team will again assemble in Punjab on 6th before crossing the border at Wagah. The series assumes significance in view of the fact that India are at present better ranked team in the category while Pakistan hockey administration is geared up to improve its lot in the wake of disastrous performance of its national team in Beijing. It is even expected the series might be telecast live, as Pakistan Hockey Federation has recently made TV inroads.

Indian juniors last assignment was Junior Asia Cup held at Hyderabad in May this year. While India won the event, Pakistan finished third. Both the team played the semifinals where India emerged the victors.

The Junior team then will fly off to distant Argentina for another 5-match series against the newly crowned Junior Pan Am Champions, Argentina. It is perhaps first time juniors are going so far to play a series in North American continent. Exchanges between Asia and American continents are rare, and the tour breaks the ice. Argentina tour is scheduled for December.

It is almost certain now this year will not see our seniors in action. Early next year, India will open its international turf action with the tour of Pakistan. Shortly, Pakistan will return to play return leg (three-match series) in India. India is yet to finalize the venues.

Meanwhile the IOA sources confide the appointment of foreign coach is on high track, and the announcement is expected by the end of this year in any case.

A composed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu upset sulky second seed Muhd. Asyraf Azan of Malaysia in the opening round of the $15,000 Indian Challenger-PSA tournament on Wednesday. Harinder matched his adversary’s erratic run-ins with the referee with consistent shot making skills and did not allow Asyraf’s antics to derail his gameplan. The players split the first two games and began the third on a sour note as Asyraf began to question almost every other call by the umpire. Refusing to budge out of Harinderpal’s way on several occasions, Asyraf tested everybody’s patience by taking extended breaks between points and flashing risque finger signs in the direction of the umpire. The third game see-sawed to 9-9 before Harinderpal eased a slanting ball beyond Asyraf’s reach and then ’killed’ one on the rebound take the game 11-9. The fourth game was a repeat of the third, in score as well as in action, as the Malaysian continued to pout and Harinder continued to hound him around the court. Top seed Saurav Ghosal and second seed Ritwik Bhattacharya also advanced.

Such was Gagan Narang’s hunger for success that he skipped breakfast to train his sights on the World Cup Finals men’s 10 metre air rifle championship at Bangkok on Wednesday morning. Following the early morning commencement of competition, he was an exhausted man when he spoke to The Hindu at the end of it, well into the afternoon. Otherwise a foodie, who relishes cuisines of varied cultures, the goodies of the table he’d placed on the backburner for a crack at shooting glory, which had slipped through his fingers on countback at the Beijing Olympics only recently.

“I had to make it official,” the 25-year-old said of his 600/600 tally in the qualifying rounds, a rare feat that he’d accomplished only in practice earlier. “I began with a 100 in the first series and I wasn’t willing to settle for less in the remaining five,” he said. “I ensured I was ahead right through,” he said.

Gagan was quick to acknowledge the support extended to him by coach Laszlo Szcuzak, Dronacharya awardee Prof. Sunny Thomas and Geet Sethi’s Olympic Gold Quest Foundation. The new world record holder is expected to return to Hyderabad late on Wednesday night.

Relying on his sharpened safety skills, India’s National snooker champion Pankaj Advani overcame stiff resistance from England’s Craig Steadman to win 5-3 in a last 32 knock-out stage encounter of the 2008 IBSF World snooker championship. However India’s No. 2 cueist, the talented Manan Chandra from Delhi crashed out of the event losing 1-5 to Iran’s Soheil Vahedi.

Well known hockey player and coach Jeyasekaran of Chennai has passed away. The ever energetic, grassroot level coach has suffered a heart attack on Friday. Jeyesekaran, 56, played many national championships, and also represented India in a Test Series. He was formerly coach of the Sri Lankan team too. During that spell, India in the opening match of the South Asian Federation Games struggled to defeat his side.

Besides, Jeyasekaran, a Indian Railways employee, spared all his time in coaching youngsters. This writer saw him training slum boys and girls near Marina grounds, with passion. A visiting French television crew, with which I was attached, filmed his work. The crew was wonder struck how with such a mean resources boys and girls from poorest of the poor section of the society are benefited.

The tall Jeyesekaran is always seen at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium, always part and parcel of Chennai’s hockey. The city has certainly lost a great hockey promoter. We lost a nice gentleman who is always smiling and ready with hockey anecdotes. It is very sad that he is no more when hockey needs his services. Jeyasekaran is brother of V. Baskaran, former India coach.

Sports Ministry has sanctioned nine proposals, amounting to a total expenditure of Rs 84.09 lakh, for training and competition programmes of various disciplines. The proposals, received from various National Sports Federations, have been cleared under the Scheme 'Assistance to National Sports Federations', according to a press release issued by the Sports Ministry on Wednesday.

Handball and chess are the biggest beneficiaries as the two Federations were granted Rs 25 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively by the Government. {What has handball done to deserve so much cash?!} The handball team will feature in the Asian women's championships in the last week of this month in Bangkok, Thailand, while the Chess players will participate in Olympiad in Dresden, Germany.

Besides, the money has also been allocated for Junior National Badminton Championship, World Women Boxing Championship in China {Is this a strategy like the old one with weightlifting that they go for easily medall-eable sports?}, Billiards and Snooker Championships for Sub-Juniors, Juniors and Seniors in Indore, Junior Powerlifting Championship in Jamshedpur, Central Zonal Table Tennis Championship in Raipur and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championship at Vijayawada.

Jeev Milkha Singh will tee off with defending champion and world number two Phil Mickelson and English Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter at the $5 million HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club this week. Jeev, who is currently trailing New Zealand's Mark Brown on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, is among a parade of stars looking forward to get their week going.

I'm still working with the fact that he dropped from 10-flat to 9.6 in one year. I think there are some issues. I'm proud of America right now because we have the best random and most comprehensive drug testing program. Countries like Jamaica do not have a random program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.

SI.com: To be fair, you reportedly tested positive three times before the 1988 Olympics for banned substances, a ruling that was overturned by the USOC due to inadvertent use.

Lewis: That was an issue where people tried to make something out of nothing. It got thrown out. I didn't lash out. They said I tested for stimulants found in over-the-counter cold medications. That's it. I did nothing wrong.

Bizarre though it may sound but the sitting Congress MLA from this constituency, Uday Mudaliar, has raked up neglect of budding hockey players by his opponent Chief Minister Raman Singh as one of the main election issues. Rajnandgaon, which borders Maharashtra, has produced several hockey players at the national level and even boasts of an Olympian. With the locals love for the national sport it is little wonder that Mudaliar is espousing this cause to win against the BJP chief ministerial candidate who is fighting from the constituency.

"One of our hockey players, Mrinal Chaube is in the national hockey team. Raman Singh kept announcing that he will get astro turf for the local stadium but as chief minister he never made any efforts," Mudaliar told PTI, when asked to enumerate the issues on his agenda. It is obvious Mudaliar, who has won this seat in 1993 and then in 2003 and is in the fray for the fourth time, is aiming at the sizable chunk of young voters.

Narang wins World Cup, sets world record

NEW DELHI: Putting behind the disappointment of the Olympic Games, shooter Gagan Narang won the gold in the men's 10 metre air rifle event with a
world record score in the World Cup Finals in Bangkok ON Wednesday morning. ( Watch )

In a strong field dominated by Beijing Games medallists Chinese Zhu Qinan and Finn Henn Hakkinen, Narang shot a perfect 600 in the qualifying stage and 103.5 in the final for a world record score of 703.5.

En route to the gold, Narang broke the record of Austrian Farnik Thomas set in 2006 World Cup Final in Granada, Spain. American Matthew Emmons bagged the silver with 702.5 (qualifying 598, final 104.5) and the bronze went to Zhu, who shot 702.3 (qualifying 599, final 103.3).

The 25-year-old Indian qualified for the event after he won a bronze in the World Cup in China earlier this year. He almost made it to the final round at the Beijing Games but eventually lost out on a count-back. Qinan, a gold medallist in the Athens Olympics, won the silver in Beijing while Hakkinen bagged the bronze.

India number two, Ritwik Bhattacharya won his maiden USD 15,000 professional Squash players association challenger series when he defeated compatriot Saurav Ghosal in a closely fought final here on Saturday. As in the past the two figured in a title clash in PSA event held in India but Bhattacharya took sweeet revenge for his earlier losses at the hands of Ghosal. Bhattacharya was down 1-2 but rallied winning the fourth game and then the decider. He won 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8, 12-10 in ninety minutes of see saw battle. With this win, Bhattacharya gained 225 points and also USD 2850, while Ghosal claimed USD 1950.

Somdev Devvarman extended his sizzling run at the USD 75,000 ATP Challenger in Nashville, USA by advancing to the finals with a stunning triumph over second seed and local favourite Bobby Reynolds. The unseeded Indian Davis Cupper upset world number 86 Reynolds 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the semifinals of the hard court event. This is Somdev's second win over Reynolds in as many meetings. He had also beaten him in the pre-quarterfinals of the Challenger event in Lexington, USA. He takes on American fourth seed and world number 91 Robert Kendrick in the final match.

Of the seven-member team, which landed in Wels for the IBSF world snooker championship almost two weeks ago, Geet Sethi remains the lone Indian survivor on the basis of an emphatic 4-1 quarterfinal victory over Hong Kong’s Yam Shui Ng in the Masters event.

In a gesture that conveyed a sense of pride, the MCC felicitated its senior member N. Ramachandran on his taking over as the President of the World Squash Federation.

Arjun Atwal was left to rue a poor back-nine as he turned in a second successive even-par 71 to slip to the tied 41st spot after the halfway stage of the Nationwide Tour's season-ending Championship. The Orlando-based golfer, who was tied 32nd overnight, has a two-day total of 142 in the USD one million event at the Craig Ranch.

Somdev Devavarman on Monday became India's number one singles player after achieving a career best ranking of 201, eclipsing Prakash Amritraj, who follows him next at 214. Somdev's giant-killing spree at the Nashville Challenger, where he beat a couple of top-100 players, helped him leapfrog 40 places to get past Prakash. Somdev had ended runner-up at the Nashville Challenger after losing the final against Robert Kendrick on Sunday.

The five-match hockey Test series between the junior teams of India and Pakistan was today called-off after the Indian Foreign Ministry refused to give clearance to the national side to travel to the strife-torn country, citing security fears. The series, seen as a preparation for both the teams ahead of next year's Junior World Cup, was slated to start tomorrow at the refurbished Hockey Club of Pakistan in Karachi but was in tenterhooks since yesterday.

President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation Qasim Zia told reporters in Karachi that the series was called off as the Indian government was not satisfied with the security plans for their team. "When Indian team didn't arrive on schedule, we got in touch with the Indian hockey officials and they said they are still waiting for clearance from their foreign ministry," Zia said. "But at 1600 hrs, we were informed by the Indian hockey officials that they are not coming. The Indian government didn't clear the tour because they were not happy with the security plan we assured them," he added.

Zia, a former Olympian and an influential Parliamentarian of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, blamed the Indian government for the last minute cancellation of the tour and said he has already taken up the matter with the Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. "We don't understand this last minute hiccup. We were waiting and ready to receive their team this afternoon at Wagah border," he said. When contacted the officials of ad-hoc committee for Indian hockey -- the administrators of the sport in the country -- pleaded ignorance about the entire incident.

"I don't know about any such development. As far as I know the team has left for Amritsar and will leave via Wagah border," said ad-hoc selection panel chairman Ajitpal Singh. A K Bansal, the coach of the team, also had no clue about the development. However, he said that the ad-hoc committee officials have instructed the team to stay put in Amritsar today and will inform them tomorrow morning whether to proceed to Pakistan. "I don't anything about the development. We are only told to stay in Amritsar today and they will inform us tomorrow morning by 9 a.M. What to do," Bansal told PTI from Amritsar.

Meanwhile, the cancellation of the series comes as yet another blow to Pakistan's chances of hosting international sports events at home. Some feel that the cancellation of the tour is bound to have adverse impact on Indian cricket team's tour to Pakistan in January-February next year. Pakistan cricket and other sports have been badly hit this year due to regular postponement of many scheduled tours because of the uncertain security conditions prevalent in the country.

Eklavya’s way
Uday Mahurkar
November 7, 2008

Boys hone their skills at the academy in Naswadi
Boys hone their skills at the academy in Naswadi
But for its ambitious sportspersons and their glittering dreams, this mud-plastered and tarpaulin-covered hut could well be the poorest sports academy in the country. Located in the tribal-dominated Naswadi tehsil of Vadodara district in Gujarat, the Eklavya Archery Academy started by Dinesh Bhil, 30, a former national champion, is home to 30-odd day-dreamers.

They cook their own meals but their mission is to win archery medals at international events. They are medallists, however, in Indian Archery, where bows and arrows are made of bamboo and which uses little modern materials.

This sport doesn’t figure in international competitions where the equipment is a mix of metal and carbon fibre. An Indian bow and arrow set costs just about Rs 3,000 while the international one costs more than Rs 1.5 lakh.

The academy which began in 2005 gets inspiration from Limba Ram—the champion from Udaipur who equalled the world record by winning a gold in the 30 mt event at the 1992 Beijing Asian Games.

The boys study in local schools and colleges and practise archery in an open ground in front of their hut. Against an ideal diet which will cost Rs 50 a day per head, these boys make do with food worth only Rs 25 a day. But they show promise.

Take the case of Gharakiabhai Bhil, 19, a second year humanities student who has already won three golds at the under-19 Indian Archery school championship in 2006. Similarly, Ramesh Bhil, 21, went on to win a bronze at the 2007 National Games and two golds at the inter-university national games. In fact, 15 of the 30 boys became national medallists after joining the academy.

Eklavya currently has only four sets of the metal and carbon fibre bows and arrows—a generous donation from a Mumbai businessman who saw the boys practise while passing by the academy as a tourist.

Dinesh, who won one gold and two silver medals at the 1997 National Championships, says: “Our aim is to win medals at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and the 2012 London Olympics. I appeal to philanthropists to adopt the academy till 2012 and see the results for themselves.” They can make it big but only if the sports establishment helps them out with good equipment.

Indian junior team that was in Amritsar, a city just 20 km off Pakistan border, could not cross the border, as last minute hiccups put paid to their ambition of playing the 5-match series in Pakistan. Indian coach AK Bansal and his team is set to return Delhi today evening by train. The team will not be disbanded, instead will play the Senior Nehru Cup which will start on 14th. Due to stadium renovation, the Nehru Cup is held at Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi. This is an unexpected boost for the Senior Nehru Cup, undoubtedly one of the best organized and much awaited domestic competitions.

A rare world title in snooker eluded cue master Geet Sethi who was beaten 5-1 by Kiwi Dean O'Kane in the final of the Masters (over-40) event of the IBSF world snooker championship at Boschalle, Messegelande Wels in Austria on Saturday. Sethi entered the final beating John Welsh 4-0. O'Kane beat Robby Foldvari 4-1 in the other semi-final. New Zealander O'Kane has won the title twice in its four-year history. Title holder Darren Morgan lost in the round of 16.

Doubles - Round Robin
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) d [3] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) 7-5 3-6 10-4

The ATP World No. 1 doubles pair of Bob and Mike Bryan from the U.S. have confirmed participation in the $450,000 Chennai Open scheduled here from January 5 to 11.

The All India Chess Federation is organising an India-Armenia friendship tie in New Delhi from November 30 to December 2. The event, being held for the first time is fully funded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. According to a press release, the Armenian men’s team is the reigning Olympiad champion and that aside, the country has a great chess tradition and culture. The three-match team event will feature under-21 players. The Chief Arbiter will be FIDE Arbiter Gopakumar from Delhi. The Indian team will be headed by the World junior champion GM Abhijeet Gupta (2580) and has World U-16 Champion B. Adhiban (2439), latest Grandmaster S. Arun Prasad (2530), IMs Deep Sengupta (2441) and G. Rohit (2457). IM Vishal Sareen is the coach. The Armenia side comprises GM Grigoryan Avetik (2513), GM Adriasian Zaven (2561), IM Melkumyan Hrant (2541) and FM Ter Sahakyan Samvel (2495).

“The overall impression is positive and the Commission is satisfied that quality venues can be ready for the Games. However, one venue, cycling, does give a cause for concern as no work has commenced as yet on the velodrome,” said Austin Sealy, Chairman of the Commission and Honorary Treasurer of the CGF, while addressing mediamen here. But the OCCG President, Suresh Kalmadi, was confident that the velodrome would be ready before the Games. “The Sports Ministry has said that the velodrome will be ready in time.

The other point of concern for the Commission was the Games village, the construction of which has been challenged in the Delhi High Court on the ground of environmental issues. {While the commission kept whining and moaning about all this bakwaas} Kalmadi, however, was hopeful that the issue would be sorted out and it would pose no hurdle for the holding the Games. “The construction work at the Games village is going on and the court has not put any stay order,” he said.

BANGALORE: Indian shuttler Anup Sridhar, whose niggling ankle injury had forced him to miss as many as seven tournaments after the Olympics, will
now end the year without taking part in any more events. The ace shuttler, who is undergoing a six-week rehabilitation programme to regain fitness for tournaments in 2009, will not participate in the China Super Series (November 18 to 23) and Hong Kong Super Series (November 24 to 30), as well as the Indian Challenger event in Lucknow.

Sridhar, who was initially told he had damaged ankle ligaments during pre-Olympic training, said his long injury layoff was not because of the recurrence of the same injury, but because he was suffering from posterior ankle infringement, a condition prevalent in most athletes in the world. According to Sridhar, this condition prevented his ankle from being fully flexible. Sridhar had earlier opted out of Asian and European circuit tournaments, including the Japan Super Series, China Masters Super Series, Macau Grand Prix Gold, Bitburger Open, Dutch Open, Denmark Super Series and the French Open Super Series, which saw his world ranking dip to 43, behind Chetan Anand (14) and Arvind Bhat (36).

A grim-looking PHF secretary Asif Bajwa, also speaking on the occasion, apologised to the media for the delayed press briefing: ‘We are extremely sorry to have kept you waiting but we wanted to ascertain a few things before coming here to speak to you.’ When asked why the PHF waited until now to break this news to the media when they had known about it since yesterday, Qasim said: ‘We approached our Patron ‘n’ Chief, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with the issue who then instructed the foreign ministry to get involved in the matter. Pakistan’s foreign secretary was asked to get in touch with its Indian counterpart and we were hoping that some good would emerge from the talks. However, it did not happen in the end and we only learned about it this afternoon.’

‘We hoped to begin the revival of Pakistan hockey with this junior series and, therefore, so much hype was created. But our neighbours really let us down,’ he lamented. {Your revival at a grave threat to our lives, dammit thats great Lawhori logic.} Asked why India had suddenly decided to cancel the visit and wasn’t a security plan approved by them in advance, Qasim said: ‘We were prepared with the best possible arrangements. {for the jihadis eh?} Only they [Indians] would know best why they didn’t reciprocate. They should have at least informed us four or five days in advance.’

When asked about PHF’s back-up plan to the series in order to compensate the disappointment of the young cubs and thousands of fans who eagerly looked ahead to the contest, Qasim said: ‘The five-match series has been cut down to two matches. On Tuesday in Karachi, we the Pakistan veterans will face the junior team.’ The other match, he said, will be played in Lahore on November 21, details of which will be revealed later. When asked if there were any chances of the series being rescheduled, Qasim said that it was too early to say anything on the issue.

On being asked if the PHF suffered any financial losses due to the cancellation, Qasim said: ‘The money is immaterial. It is the hurt feelings of our nation and setback to the expectations that we are worried about.'

Vipul wrote:Stan your knowladge and coverage of Indian sports is awesome. Keep it up.

The Indian team for the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany have good medal prospects due to the new format introduced this year. The placing will be based on wins and not points. A 4-0 win and 2.5-1.5 win will give the same two points. With the yardstick for measuring success changing, it can help strong teams like India. The Indian team, which finished 30th in men and 12th in women at Turin 2006, will be sponsored by India Cements to the tune of Rs. 1 million. Unlike in 2006, India will at full force all-GM team: Krishnan Sasikiran, Pentala Harikrishna, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Sandipan Chanda, G.N. Gopal.

The women's team will be headed by the reigning World Junior girls champion Dronavalli Harika. The other four players are Tania Sachdev, Swati Ghate, Nisha Mohota and Mary Ann Gomes. The coaches with the team are grandmasters Lev Psakhis of Israel for men, Elizbar Ubilava of Georgia for women. The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has also sent a Coaching co-ordinator K. Visweswaran. Gopal of Kerala in men and Asian women's champion Tania of Delhi will be making their debut. The AICF conducted three preparatory camps for both the teams and the last camp started in Dresden, Germany on November 4. Armenia (men) and Ukraine (women) are the defending champions.

With the PGA Tour card for the next season safe in his pocket, a buoyant Arjun Atwal is plotting a late assault for the Asian Tour's Order of Merit title, a crown he won in 2003. Atwal is lying fifth in the Order of Merit with USD 430,201 against his name but the Orlando-based Indian, who regained his US PGA Tour card by finishing 17th on the Nationwide Tour money list, believes with a couple of big-money tournaments lining up, he has a reasonable chance of repeating his 2003 success.

India continued its upward movement in the FIFA charts besides managing to break into the top 20 among Asian countries in the latest rankings India gained four places from their October ratings and are now ranked 144 having tallied 174 points. They are also ranked 20th in Asia despite the national team not having played a single match in this past month.

In a major decision, the I-League committee on Wednesday to reduce the number of foreigners for the Federation Cup from three to two besides announcing the fixture for the second phase of the I-League. The committee, in a meeting here, decided that clubs can register two and play two foreigners in the Federation Cup.

Since clubs had already been intimidated beforehand, they have no other choice but to accept. “But they should have at least allowed us to register three foreigners,” said one club official. Clubs can register three foreigners in the I-league and field all three of them. The committee also decided to shift the final round of the Federation Cup from Delhi and Gurgaon to Kolkata.

Indian football received yet another patron from Europe when the German giant FC Bayern Munich confirmed a five-year pact with the West Bengal government to develop an ‘international standard’ academy at Burdwan. The academy, spread over 25-acres, will be built on the blueprint developed on Bayern’s know-how, announced the chairman of the German champion, Karl Heinz Rummenigge. {For those of you who have seen DD in the old days, Karl Heinz Rummenigge is the guy who used to come up with a 2 minute video for stretching before a football game. The 2 min video would be in four 30 sec segments of moderate to heavy activity progressively. The video was from Transtel in Cologne.}

The announcement comes close on the interest shown by the English Premier League outfit Chelsea, which recently had talks with the AIFF over setting up a national academy. “Many clubs from Europe are investing a lot in Asia in a bid to make quick money. But our club has a different philosophy — we believe in creating deep and long-term championships,” said the former German captain. The Bayern chairman said that club would be giving technical back-up first to develop the infrastructure and subsequently the aid to develop good coaches and players. “We’ll take the Indian coaches to Munich and show them how football is organised in Germany,” Rummenigge said.

India is among the eight countries that figure in the Champions Challenge I for men in the latest list of teams that qualified for tournaments organised under the control and supervision of the International Hockey Federation for 2009. The women’s team finds a place in the Challenge II on the basis of its fourth place obtained in the Olympic qualifier at Baku.

Champions Challenge I Mens: (host to be announced.) New Zealand, Pakistan, Belgium, Canada, China, South Africa, Argentina and India

Challenge II Womens: Belgium, Ireland, Chile, Netherlands Antilles, India, Ukraine, Canada, and Russia.

The Indian chess team, without World champion Viswanathan Anand, has been seeded 13th in the 157-nation Chess Olympiad beginning in Dresden, Germany from Thursday. The ladies team, led by World junior girls’ champion D. Harika in the absence of K. Humpy, is seeded 11th in the field of 119 countries.

Cricket is a game played by gentlemen, hockey is a game played by brainless lunatics - this is what young fans will believe in if they see the violent acts of the Namdhari team. In the 2008 Bengaluru Super Division league, the Namdhari coach and manager, Deedar Singh, was banned from the remainder of the league for fighting with an umpire. However, his team was allowed to continue in the league. In a subsequent match between Namdhari and Fortis on October 12, the Namdhari players, with support from Deedar from outside the field, surrounded the umpire, protesting his decision to award a goal to Fortis. The situation turned violent when former KSP player Chetan Krishna suffered a gash on his forehead.

The match was abandoned, the Namdharis were scratched from the competition, and all their results in the Super League were declared null and void. The executive council of the Karnataka State Hockey Assocation (KSHA) met on October 20, studied the report submitted by tournament director A. B. Palangappa, and took the following decisions:
* Namdhari XI team - banned for 3 years from the Bengalure Super Division and other KSHA events
* Namdhari player Dhyan Singh, who manhandled umpire Arun Babu - suspended for 5 years
* Namdhari coach Deedar Singh - suspended for life from associating with any hockey activity in the state of Karnataka

Coach Deedar Singh has shown a violent and mentally unstable streak before. Back in 2005, during the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru hockey tournament in Delhi, the Namdhari team fought with the Indian Oil team after they lost a semi-final match. In an uncivilized act, coach Deedar Singh wildly swung a stick at Olympian Deepak Thakur and bit him on the shoulder, like a mad elephant in heat. Two of Deepak's teammates - Inderjeet Singh Chadha and Deedar Singh Jr. - were beaten up by Namdhari XI players. Order was brought only after the arrival of a large police force. The Indian Oil team pulled out of the Nehru tournament in protest.

Indian cricket, tennis, golf and chess have such great role models in Sachin Tendulkar, Leander Paes, Jeev Milkha Singh and Vishwanathan Anand. In contrast, Indian hockey has violent coaches like Deedar Singh. The shoulder-biting and stick-swinging coach Deedar Singh is a disgrace to the sport of hockey, and should be banned permanently from the sport.

Half a dozen former women's internationals met Sports Minister M. S. Gill and complained about the 'defunct and malfunctioning' Indian Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF). The players in the hour-long meeting with the Minister included Arjuna Puraskar winners Preetam Rani Siwach and Sandeep Kaur, 1982 Asiad gold medallists Anurita Saini and Devinder Bhatia, and 1998 Asian Games silver medallist Sunita Dalal. The players' delegation highlighted 17 greivances with the IWHF to the Minister, some of which were:
* Failure to conduct the annual national hockey championship in 2008
* Failure to send selectors the previous nationals
* Failure to conduct elections, which are overdue by six months
* Unduly long term of office - the top officials are in the post for almost 25 years continuously

The IWHF is a one-woman show, run by its secretary Amrit Bose. The IWHF president, Vidya Stokes, is a mere figurehead in the IWHF; her main job is being the Opposition Leader in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, and does not have time for women's hockey. Indian women's hockey functions at the whim and fancy of "I-am-always-right" Amrit Bose. She is casual, auocratic, arrogant, and thinks that the world moves on her finger tips.

The IWHF is being run from the home of IWHF secretary Amrit Bose, since they had to vacate their office in the National Stadium due to renovation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. If the IWHF cannot pay for an office, it has no moral right to call itself an organization. Both the junior team coach (G. S. Bhangu) and the senior team coach (M. K. Kaushik), are puppets at the hands of Amrit Bose. Bhangu and Kaushik do not take any stand against the IWHF, because their primary objective is to protect their jobs.

The last-minute cancellation of Indian junior girls team to Australia should not surprise anyone who is familar with the ad hoc nature of the IWHF. By Monday, October 13, an 18-member Indian junior girls team had assembled in Delhi for their flight to Australia the next day. Many of them were going to fly in an aeroplane for the first time. Just before their flight, they were curtly informed that their 9-match training tour was cancelled, and that they should pack their bags and go back home.

The reason for the cancellation was pure misanagement by the IWHF, who had approached the Government at the eleventh hour for funding. I. Srinivas, joint secretary in the Sports Ministry, said: "The IWHF is well aware about the procedure for financial assistance. It takes about 15 days to arrange funds for an overseas tour, but they didn't approach us in time.Sanctioning financial assistance within a day or two isn't possible. The government should not be taken for granted." In all this mishandling of the tour, the people who suffered most were the young players, denied vital exposure. According to one of the team officials, "The players were bitterly disappointed at this last-minute cancellation of the Australia tour."

The election for the FIH president is round the corner. Two biggies - European Hockey Federation president Leondro Negre (Spain) and the present president Els van Breda Vriesman (Netherlands) - are in the race. The winner of the contest will be known on Saturday, November 29, when the FIH Congress concludes in Los Angeles, USA. Both the contestants, in a democratic and also tech-savvy way, have launched their election websites. This type of development is welcome, and we have to thank the present administration for opening the public door for canvassing.

FIH elections are a predominantly European affair. All the past FIH presidents were from Europe. All the past FIH Secretaries were from Europe, except for Peter Cohen of Australia. Europe has been dominating the world hockey body scene, and the rest of us don’t bother and don’t care why is it so. The traditional function of the FIH is to manage rules and regulations of the game, allot tournaments and post officials to FIH-sanctioned tournaments.

A press conference was organised at the Chelmsford Club in Delhi to mark the commencement of Nehru Junior Hockey Tournament on November 1 at Gurgaon. ONGC was the title sponsor of this year's the Nehru Sub-Junior as well as Junior Hockey Tournaments. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. N. K. Jit, Deputy General Manager, ONGC, talked about the Sports Policy of his organisation. ONGC has earmarked Rs. 50 crores for sports development.

Jit said: "We have teams in 16 different sports, and are in the process of forming a shooting team as well. The main objective is to complement government efforts to improve nation's sporting image. In hockey, we have recently recruited players of high calibre, and the results are showing. In the ongoing Mumbai Super Division Hockey League, we have won all the six matches played so far." He was particularly happy on taking the prize catch of penalty corner specialist Divakar Ram in the ONGC team. Divakar was hired as an Executive Grade I officer, as was Olympian Harpal Singh, on par with top cricketers. "I thank our management for the grand gesture to a sport that is not as glamourous as cricket," he said.

ONGC also sponsors the I-League as well as the Development League in domestic football. Since the ONGC hockey team shifted its base from Dehra Dun to Delhi in 2004, the company has been slowly trying to bring recognised stars to its payroll. The new recruits in the ONGC hockey team are: Dinesh Ekka, Harpal Singh, Baljinder Singh, Jasbeer Singh, Arun Ravat, K. H. Jainta Meitei, Sandeep Antil, Jagvant Singh, Divakar Ram, Bikas Toppo, Pramod Kumar, Yoginder Guria, Vikas Chaudhry and Joginder Choudhry. Uttar Pradesh's Pant is the coach of the ONGC team. Pant was formerly attached with Lucknow Nawabs, which was a Second Division PHL team in the 2005 season.

M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) vs P Cuevas (URU) / L Horna (PER) tomorrow in the masters cup last round match at Shanghai. If Hesh & co wins, they are through to the semis, else the other pair does. The winner will (most likely) face Dan Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic. Lee & co are out of the tournament with two straight losses. Its a do or die situation.

Canada, which stunned India 2.5-1.5 when the teams met in the penultimate round of the last edition at Turin in 2006, has fielded Mark Bluvshtien, Pascal Charbonneau, who stunned Viswanathan Anand, Igor Zugic and Nikolay Noritsyn. For India, Hari and Gopal will play with white pieces.

Carlos Moya on Thursday confirmed his participation in the Chennai Open from January 5-9 here. Moya , who is currently ranked 42 , is a 2004 and 2005 champion and will be making his seventh appearance here in the last eight years. The Spaniard missed a hat-trick of titles in 2006 when he was defeated by Ivan Ljubucic.

In the girl’s under-20 400 metres all eyes were on Tintu Luka of Kerala, a product of P.T. Usha’s school in Koyilandy and M.R. Poovamma of Karnataka, who was part of the Indian contingent to Beijing Olympics. Though Poovamma caught up with the Kerala girl at the 200 metres mark, Tintu, watched by her mentor from the sidelines, switched gears on the straight and breasted the tape about five metres ahead in a time of 54.53 seconds. Poovamma was timed at 55.77 seconds while Anu Mariam Jose also from Kerala finished third in a time of 56.83 seconds.

Third seed Joshna Chinappa entered the final of the NSC Super Satellite (No. 3) squash tournament, defeating top seed Sharon Wee of Malaysia 11-9, 11-9, 12-14, 11-2 in the semifinals at the National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday. Joshna will meet Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern in the final on Friday. “Joshna’s training at the ICL Academy in the last few months has significantly improved her game. She has been training with Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Singh and the other boys, which has helped her defeat a player like Wee who is an Asian Games bronze medallist,” said Joshna’s father Anjan Chinappa. Earlier, Joshna had defeated seventh seed Chinatsu Matsui of Japan 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 in the quarterfinals.

The disciplinary committee of the All India Football Federation let off Churchill Alemao with a fine but warned of a "stricter sentence" for a second punishable offence. The disciplinary committee, chaired by NA Khan, imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the Churchill Brothers Sports Club director for showing disrespect to match commissioner JP Singh and abusing match officials by marching into the referees room after the 3-3 draw against Dempo Sports Club.

"Churchill’s explanation is not based on facts as per the documents available with us, as well as video recording," the disciplinary committee noted while delivering their judgment on Thursday. The committee said they were "grieved at the irresponsible behaviour" of the Churchill Brothers director, who incidentally, is not registered as one of the seven club officials for the I-League. Those in the know said a monetary fine was the only sanction applicable to Churchill since he is not registered as an official. "He signs correspondence as the director of the club but is not a registered official. The committee could have considered a ban for a couple of matches but he does not occupy the technical bench," an AIFF official told TOI.

Declaring Churchill persona non grata, like AIFF did with Mickky Pacheco during his days with Fransa-Pax Football Club, would have been too strict a sentence for the first offence. "A stadium ban was not considered since Churchill enjoys high status with his position as an influential minister in the Goa government," the official said. The committee has also pulled up Savio Messias for not attending the disciplinary committee meeting. The committee allowed Churchill to appeal the verdict, not later than Nov 20. Churchill did not immediately react to the disciplinary sanction but is expected to announce his stand on Friday.

The last-minute cancellation of junior team's Pakistan tour has jolted the side's preparation for next year's World Cup, but an unfazed chief coach AK Bansal says he is eyeing Argentina tour to finetune his strategies. "The team had some fresh boys and we wanted to try them out in the series. Even the senior players were excited about the tour. We wanted to try out some technical things, strategies and set plays, but security of players is the top priority. "Yesterday, also a blast took place in Peshawar just outside the stadium where we were supposed to play a match," Bansal said after returning from Amritsar. "The team will now take part in the Nehru Hockey tournament before heading to Argentina next month. We are now eagerly looking forward to the Argentina tour to implement our strategies," he said.

The first question was an obvious one, pertaining to the A1 GP race at Chengdu (China) -- Narain Karthikeyan finished 10th in the Feature Race and earned a point for Team India. The answer was even more obvious. "I think we had a pretty solid start at Chengdu. I am confident we can carry forward the good work," said Narain. So how good is the new Ferrari-powered car? "The Ferrari-powered car is very different from the A1 car we had last year," he said. "Obviously, the Ferrari name gives it a lot more credibility and I am looking forward to having a fantastic year."

Back-to-back diplomatic answers are always deterring, but we persisted and requested the ace driver to elaborate. And it worked to an extent. "It's the dream of every driver to race in a Ferrari-powered car and it's the first time in my life that I am getting to race with a new car," said Narain. "I tried to do the best I can and came out with the point. The next step is obviously Sepang and I am looking forward to it."

And how smooth was the transition? "We actually changed the set up of the car between the sprint and the feature race in Chengdu," explained Narain. "The car was more comfortable. Before the first pit stop I had settled down and then I set the third fastest lap in the race. So, things are looking up definitely." The Indian ace had a great debut season in A1 GP last year -- winning twice in Zhuhai (China) and Brands Hatch (UK) and getting pole position in the latter -- and seems to be carrying forward the good forward the good form into this season.

"I was really happy to have won two races last year, in China and the UK," said Narain. "Now that I have won a point, I can expect more points and try and figure out how to make the new car work." Is it his F1 experience -- Narain drove for Jordan in the 2005 F1 season and was a test driver for the Williams team in the two subsequent seasons --- that is holding him in good stead at the A1 GP? "I think a lot of drivers have some experience or the other at F1 or some other format," reasoned Narain. "So I don't have any advantage in that sense. But my overall experience is definitely an advantage."

Now that Vijay Mallya's Force India has severed ties with Ferrari -- opting for McLaren instead -- does it mean a return to F1 for India's only driver with that experience? Has he had talks with Force India regarding a comeback "No," said Narain, a one-word answer, sans any explanation, but with enough scope to read between the lines. But that is Narain Karthikeyan for you -- a man of few words, always at his diplomatic best. And lest we forget, he continues to be a show-stopper.

India beat Sweden 3-1 in mens 2nd round, Wins by Sasikiran and GN Gopal and 1st and 3rd boards. Take on lowly ranked El Salvador in the next round. Womens match won 3-1 against Latvia. Tania Sachdev and Mary Ann Gomez win on 2nd and 4th boards. Harika and Swathi Ghate draw. Next round will be super explosive with the women facing no. 1 seeded Russia.

Joshna Chinappa became the first Indian woman to claim a WISPA title, when she defeated Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 in the final of the NSC Super Satellite (No.3) squash tournament at the National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday. Joshna, who’s been training at the ICL Academy and at England, contested her third final of the season. The 22-year-old had earlier made it to the summit clashes in the tournaments at Vietnam and China.

Her first-ever final appearance was at Hong Kong, as a 19-year-old. “Joshna has been extremely sharp and focussed, and was in devastating form in the final. She had made it to finals before but couldn’t close it out, which is something she has worked on. This win should help her significantly move up the rankings,” said her father Anjan Chinappa. The 37th ranked Joshna, seeded third in the tournament, upset top seed Sharon Wee in the semifinals before her dominating performance in the final. Joshna will participate in the NSC Super Satellite (No.4) event in Malaysia from Monday, where she’s been given the top billing.

Karun Chandhok returned to the track for the first time since the final round of the GP2 series in Monza, to test with GP2 teams Fisichella Motorsport (FMS) and his team from the 2008 season, I-Sports International.

Another bad news from women's front. An young goalkeeper from Chandigarh alleges 'mis-behaviour' from goal-keeper coach Alloysius Edwards. The matter is serious, as proved by the fact that Chief Coach with the team GS Bhangu, in consultation with the Indian Women Hockey Federation, asked the player and the coach in question to leave the camp. The goalkeeper, Navneet, has already left the camp, so also Edwards. Navneet was selected for the abandoned Australia tour and was expected to be in the Junior Asia Cup team.

Somdev Devvarman (IND) / Izak van der Merwe (RSA) beat Ilia Bozoljac (SRB) / Chris Haggard (RSA) 6-4, 7-6(6) to enter semis of Champaign Challenger tournament.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is claiming that it lost almost six million rupees after a five-match junior Test series between Pakistan and India was cancelled earlier this week over security fears.

Joshna Chinappa became the first Indian woman to claim a WISPA title, when she defeated Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 in the final of the NSC Super Satellite (No.3) squash tournament at the National Squash Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on Friday.

Joshna, who’s been training at the ICL Academy and at England, contested her third final of the season. The 22-year-old had earlier made it to the summit clashes in the tournaments at Vietnam and China.

Her first-ever final appearance was at Hong Kong, as a 19-year-old.

“Joshna has been extremely sharp and focussed, and was in devastating form in the final. She had made it to finals before but couldn’t close it out, which is something she has worked on. This win should help her significantly move up the rankings,” said her father Anjan Chinappa.

The 37th ranked Joshna, seeded third in the tournament, upset top seed Sharon Wee in the semifinals before her dominating performance in the final. Joshna will participate in the NSC Super Satellite (No.4) event in Malaysia from Monday, where she’s been given the top billing.

GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2525 1 - 0 IM Harika Dronavalli 2462
IM Kosintseva Tatiana 2513 0 - 1 IM Tania Sachdev 2425
IM Kosintseva Nadezhda 2468 1 - 0 WGM Mohota Nisha 2311
IM Korbut Ekaterina 2459 0 - 1 WGM Swathi Ghate 2320

Nanao Singh Thokchom (IND), Jonathan Gonzalez (PUR), Magomed Kurbanov (RUS), Oscar Rafael Valdez (MEX), Raymond Moylett (IRE), Frank Izla, Rey Recio, Jose Angel Larduet and Erislandy Savon (CUB), Erik Brechlin (GER), and Oscar Molina (MEX) are the new stars of world of boxing.

 
Teams	    P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Sporting	 8	6	0	2	10	6	18
Air India	8	4	3	1	10	6	15
Churchill	8	3	4	1	15	9	13
E. Bengal	8	3	3	2	10	7	12
Mumbai	   8	3	3	2	7	 7	12
JCT   	   7	2	3	2	5	 4    9
Moh Bag	  7	2	3	2	6	 7	9
Mohd Spo	 8	2	3	3	4	 8	9
Dempo	    7	2	2	3	9	 9	8
Mahindra    8	2	2	4	7	 9	8
Chirag Utd  7	2	2	3	5	 6	8
Vasco	    8	0	2	6	3	13	2

Hailing the Sports Ministry's decision to impart special training to Indian paddlers for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, national table te
nnis coach Aleksey Yefremov said more international outings will increase their medal prospects at the quadrennial extravaganza. The Sports Ministry, under the 'Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010' scheme, has decided to include 40 Indian paddlers -- including Olympians Achanta Sharath Kamal and Neha Agarwal -- in the 'Core Group'.

"I think, it is a very good project to have potential recourse of talented players at the training centres. It will help bring up the important feelings that Indian team is one team. It's very important for success to have this spirit," Yefremov, who is the only foreign coach involved with the programme, said. "Besides training, international matches will also help improve the level of competition. The best Indian players should have more international outings with world class opponents on the other side of the table. That will surely improve their confidence level," he added.

The Belarussian coach feels participating in Pro Tour tournaments will add to the skills of Indian paddlers, who are often done in by lack of experience. "It's because table tennis is not just about reflex, it is also a sport of experience. You have to know how to start with strong services, how to receive them and how to change those depending on your opponents," Yefremov said. The coach said the perfect recipe for success in the international arena is a sensible fusion of training and regular competition with quality opposition.

"The system is very simple, hard work - competition -hard work - competition and hard work - competition," the lanky coach insisted. The Belarusian feels holding camps with players from other Asian countries -- some of whom are giants in the game -- will help Indian paddlers boost their performance. "In my opinion, it's better to have international camps with Asian players from countries like Korea, China, Japan and Hong Kong," he said. Yefremov expressed satisfaction with the preparation for the Commonwealth Games and said, "I am satisfied because we are already improving in technical and tactical aspects. We are putting emphasis on the physical preparation also."

The male paddlers, who will receive special training, include Subhajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy and Zubin Kumar, while Mouma Das, Poulomi Ghatak and Soumi Mondal will figure among the women players. Besides Yefremov, six other Indian coaches, including Kamlesh Mehta, Manjit Singh Dua, Bhawani Mukherjee and Mantu Ghosh will be roped in for the programme.

India's Jeev Milkha Singh won a nail-biting Singapore Open on Sunday after Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els missed putts to take the US $5 million event to a playoff.

Singh, who virtually sealed the Asian order of merit title with the win, started the day five shots behind leader Chapchai Nirat of Thailand but three birdies on the front nine helped him to the top of the leaderboard at seven-under par.

Three-times major winner Harrington looked certain to force a playoff after a stunning fairway wood gave him the chance of birdie at the last, but the Irishman's five-foot putt leaked across the face of the hole.

Els moved within a shot of leader Singh with a birdie at the 16th, but a poor tee-shot on 18 left him with too much to do and the South African's birdie putt came up just short.

World number three Phil Mickelson also had a disappointing fourth round, which included an ugly triple-bogey eight, and finished the tournament six shots behind the winner, while Singapore's Lam carded a shocking 79.

Singh takes home a winner's cheque for US $792,500.

Rahul M wrote: they had a good day yesterday tho', beating leader SC de Goa 3-1.

Meanwhile, Indian junior team is already in Gurgaon to participate in the Senior Nehru Tournament, which will start from today 15th Nov.