Category Archives: Sports

2001 Junior Hockey World Cup heroes honoured

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Mumbai:

Bombay Gold Cup is a popular tournament and some of India’s top teams participate in it. Some of India’s biggest stars have enthralled crowds at the Mahindra Stadium in Churchgate.

(Few members of the Indian…)
(Few members of the Indian…)

What makes the 48th edition of this tournament unique though, is that seven players from the 2001 Junior World Cup winning team are in the city.

On Thursday, the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. (MHAL), which is conducting the Bombay Gold Cup, felicitated the heroes of that spectacular triumph 12 years ago.

Mumbai boy Viren Rasquinha, Indian Oil’s Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh and Devesh Chouhan, Air India boys Prabodh Tirkey, Arjun Halappa and Vikram Pillay were all handed mementoes in between matches at the MHA on Thursday.

All the players have fond memories of their triumph, which briefly marked the revival of Indian hockey.

Recalling his experience, Halappa who has now become a national selector, says: “It was a turning point for Indian hockey, a revival of sorts. Players started getting attention and with it came decent money from the government. We also found a sponsor in Sahara who gave us all the support we needed.

“The future of hockey was looking up.”

That entire batch was arguably the best India has seen in a long, long time. Many of the World Cup heroes graduated to become formidable India stars. Rasquinha, in fact, went on to lead the team.

Explaining the reason behind the team’s success, striker Deepak Thakur, who top-scored with ten goals including two hat-tricks in the tournament, says: “Our approach was positive. Even before we could leave for Hobart, we had created a positive atmosphere. We had decided that come what may, we have to win this World Cup. We stayed like a family and every player knew another very well, as a result of which we combined well on the field.”

Rasquinha, who probably was in the best form of his career, couldn’t agree with his teammate more: “The best thing about that team was that coach Rajinder Singh created a super atmosphere. We knew each other very well, because we were playing as a unit since 1998. I guess sharing a good rapport with teammates makes a big difference,” he insists.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Hockey> Air India / by Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN / October 25th, 2013

For selector Arjun Halappa, professionalism is key

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Mumbai :

When people embrace dual responsibilities, dealing with the double-edged sword becomes inevitable. Air India’s Arjun Halappa is currently busy negotiating the many predicaments that come along with being a national selector and being an active player.

Being a player, Halappa rubs shoulders with potential candidates who could go and represent the country some day, while being a selector though, he has to ensure bias doesn’t creep in while doing his national duty. And as Halappa puts it: “drawing a line is critical”.

(Being a player, Arjun Halappa…)
(Being a player, Arjun Halappa…)

“I have played a lot of hockey and I know I have a lot more hockey left in me. So on that front I am assured. I have always idol-worshipped Dhanraj Pillay as a player. I try to emulate him as far as possible. Even at the age of 40-41, Dhanraj was a force to reckon with. So I want to follow in his footsteps. But it is a different ball game being a selector,” said Halappa, who turned out for Air India in the opening encounter of the 48th edition of the Bombay Gold Cup against Indian Navy at Churchgate’s Mahindra Stadium. For the record, Air India thrashed Navy 6-1.

“Having played hockey, people expect me to give them a hearing. They take it for granted that I will succumb to their requests just because I have shared the dressing room with them. But that is not the case. As a player, I will always respect the equation I share with my teammates. But when it comes to picking up the right candidate for India camps, I will do my job professionally,” added Halappa, who was part of India’s squad at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

At 32, Halappa is one of the youngest selectors. Dealing with senior selectors such a BP Govinda (Olympian and chairman of selectors) would sure be a tricky proposition. “You have to be respectful for sure. But I’ve been assigned a task and I believe doing my job with total commitment. Thankfully, I’ve never been required to assert myself.”

Results: Air India 6 (DS Darshan, Shivendra Singh, Birendra Lakra, Vikram Pillay, VS Vinaya, Joga Singh) bt Indian Navy 1 (Amit Kumar Goswami).

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Hockey> Air India / by Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN / October 21st, 2013

Chikka eyes number 1 rank, targets Asian tour card

Sports

GolfKF31oct2013
New Delhi:

India`s new golfing sensation S Chikkarangappa, who has been in sizzling form in his rookie season, is eyeing a year-end number one rank on the PGTI tour apart from earning an Asian tour card for the next season.

“At the beginning of the year, my target was a top 10 finish in the order of Merit. Having a good start, now I am looking at number 3 and also eyeing the Rolex ranking award also because it is just a few lakhs difference,” said Chikkarangappa, who is ranked fourth in prize money list now.

“Next few events are also big events, I just have to pull two weeks and if I can do that I will be number one. That is what my target is,” he said.

The 20-year-old finished inside top 10 seven times out of the 10 tournaments that he has played this year.
Chikkarangappa said his next step is to go to the Q school to get an Asian tour card.

“I have not played in the Asian tour event as a professional till now but I have played an European challenge tour event, Kensville in Gujarat. This year I will go to the Q-school. I wanted to play in PGTI, establish myself, get a good feedback and then move to the next level,” he said.

“Asian tour is a different game. You have to shoot really good numbers, you have to shoot four-under everyday on an average. Even in PGTI nowadays cut is going at one-over because a lot of young guys are coming up and also looking at top 10 finish, so that they can move to the next level.”

Born in a village in the suburb on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, Chikkarangappa had initially started as a ball boy and then worked as a caddie at `Eagleton Golf Resort` in Bangalore but his love for golf saw him rise above adversity and win medals.

Chikkarangappa won a bronze at Asia Pacific amateur Golf championships, clinched the All India Amateur Golf Championships in 2011 and 2012, won the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championships in 2010-11. He was also the winner of the Indian Open Amateur Golf Championships in 2012 and Tamil Nadu Open Golf Championships.

“As an amateur I did well for the country. I played for six years and won medals and really big thanks to IGU for sending us abroad and giving us exposure and it is paying off now,” he said.

“The Indian Open was the transition period for me. After that event I didn`t play any amateur tournament. I had a great experience at KGA. I was tied sixth after three days with Shiv Kapur, Jyoti and Anirban Lahiri. I decided I have to move to the next level.

“Since Anirban was there for me. He told me that you should not be thinking about the competition, you need to tell yourself that I need to get better everytime and keep playing and show your skill, focus and that is kind of inputs I got from him and my coach, Vijay Divecha.”

Asked about his aspirations for the BILT Open, which started today at the Jaypee Greens golf course, Chikkarangappa said: “As an amateur I never made the cut in BILT Open. So it was in my head that when I play the event as a profession, I will get the BILT open under my belt. I kept telling myself that I have to do this,” he said.
PTI
source: http://www.zeenewsindia.com / ZNews / Home> Sport> Golf / by PTI / Wednesday – October 23rd, 2013

Nachappa elected vice-president of Karnataka Athletics Assn

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Sports

Former sprinter and Clean Sports India president Ashwini Nachappa was today elected as one of the vice-presidents of Karnataka Amateur Athletics Association in the polls held at its General body Meeting here.

Nachappa was elected as one of the four vice-presidents for a three-year term. The other three vice-presidents are Uday K Prabhu, Sunil Kumar Shety and A Munisanjeevappa.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara was elected unanimously as KAA President, while Chandrashekar Rai was made the Secretary. H R Udaya Kumar will be the treasurer of the association.

Para-athlete H N Girisha, who won a silver in the London Paralympic Games last year, was also named as one of the Executive Committee members.

The GBM, which was attended by 138 members, gave unanimous approval to the Annual Report, Accounts for 2012-13, besides also passing several amendments to the constitution of the Association.

Welcoming Nachappa’s election as KAA vice-president, CSI Convenor B V P Rao said, “I hope other former sportspersons would emulate Nachappa and become administrators to clean up sports bodies in the country.

“Nachappa has worked at the grassroot level as she was the head of Bangalore Urban District Association. I hope she would go ahead further and in near future would take up important positions in Athletics Federation of India,” he said.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Bangalore – October 26th, 2013

Ashwini to contest KAA elections

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Bangalore :

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief G Parameshwara is set to continue as the president of the Karnataka Athletics Association (KAA) while former star Ashwini Nachappa has entered the fray for the post of vice-president in the elections scheduled for October 26.

Parameshwara’s third term at the helm of KAA is almost certain as the top politician is the only one to file the nomination for the post on the last day on Monday.

There are five candidates in the fray for the four posts for vice-president. Besides Ashiwini, a key campaigner for cleaning Indian sports, the other aspirants are Uday Prabhu, Sunil Kumar Shetty, Munisanjeevappa and Babu Kumar.

There are three contestants for the secretary’s post vacated by long-serving official Satyanarayana, while two are in the mix for the treasurer’s post. The final list of candidates will be announced after the scrutiny of nomination papers on Tuesday.

The candidates: President: G Parameshwara; Vice-Presidents: Ashwini Nachappa, Uday Prabhu, Sunil Kumar Shetty, Munisanjeevappa, Babu Kumar; Secretary: RK Gopalkrishna, Chandrashekar Rai, Nataraj; Treasurer: Uday Kumar, Bhimannanavar.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> More Sports> Kaa / by Biju Babu Cyriac, TNN / October 22nd, 2013

Olympians to run as volunteers in Salwan Cross Country Run

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Olympians Shiva Thapa, KT Irfan and MR Poovamma would be running as volunteers with the visually impaired school children at the Coca-Cola Salwan Cross Country Run on November 10 at the Army Equestrian Centre here.

Apart from running alongside visually impaired children, Shiva Thapa, Irfan and Poovamma would also promote and emphasize upon the tenets of Salwan Cross Country Run — to encourage clean and fair sports at the grassroots level.

This year’s edition of Salwan Cross Country Run would witness participation by more than 1700 visually impaired and differently-abled schoolchildren, all of whom would be running with a volunteer to aid them during the race.

All the three Olympians, who would be running as volunteers, are under the aegis of Anglian Medal Hunt Company, a venture that seeks to nurture talent in the arena of Olympic sports and beyond.

From a humble beginning of 300 students running in the year 1995, the race saw participation from 48000 students from 800 schools across India along with 1800 visually impaired, 200 intellectually challenged children running in 2012.

The participants and winners across each category underwent a dope and age verification test at the 18th edition of the Salwan Cross Country Run last year, with an objective to promote principles of fair play and protection of the athlete’s right to compete in a fair and drug free competition — an initiative that would be strictly enforced this year also.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News> by Press Trust of India / New Delhi – October 20th, 2013

Girisha, Poovamma honoured by SWAB

Sports

PoovammaKF24oct2013
Karnataka’s athletes and sports writers came together at the Sports Writers Association of Bangalore Awards ceremony here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday to celebrate their long-standing relationship.
The achievers of 2012-13 were felicitated by former world professional and amateur billiards champion Geet Sethi, who was also the chief guest.

HN Girisha, who won a high jump silver medal at last year’s London Paralympics, was awarded the Best Male Sportsperson while athlete MR Poovamma received the female Best Sportsperson award for her exploits in the 400M.

“To come from a small village in Hassan and go on to be a legend is not something I had ever expected,” said Girisha.

Arvind Savur, the flag-bearer of cue sports in Karnataka for close to four decades, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award.

List of awardees: Best sportsperson (male): H N Girisha (paralympian); Best sportsperson (female): MR Poovamma (athletics); Best junior sporstperson (male): Girish A Koushik (chess); Best junior sportsperson: Prema Huchannavar (wrestling); Coach of the year: Raman Vijayan (football); Team of the year: Karnataka State Senior Tenpin bowling team (both men and women); Behind the scenes: KS Rajshekar (volleyball) and Mohan Kumar (basketball); Lifetime achievement: Arvind Savur (cue sports).

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / DHNS / Bangalore – October 06th, 2013

Inter-Kodava Samaja hockey tourney from Oct.22 at Madikeri

Sports

Madikeri :

17- The Inter-Kodava Samaja Hockey tournament organised by the Kodava Samaja Federation will be held from Oct. 22 at the Balugodu Hockey Grounds here.

Disclosing this at a press meet here yesterday, the Sports Committee Chairman Kambiranda Kittu Kalappa said that 16 teams will be participating in the tourney.

He further said that the final would be played on Oct. 26 which also features tug-of-war competitions for men and women.

He added that a few important rules have been incorporated in the tourney.

Kalappa further said that only students of Sports Authority of India Hostel would be allowed to play for Bangalore Kodava Samaja. He added that the winner of the tourney would get a cash prize of Rs. 30,000 and the runner-up Rs. 20,000; the semi-finalists would get Rs.10,000 each and winner of tug-of-war would get Rs.10,000 and the runner-up Rs. 7,500.

Tourney Secretary Kotera Raghu Karyappa, members Neravanda Bharath, Iynanda Jappu Achappa, Tambu Kuttera Madhu Mandanna and Bolliyangada Dadu Poovaiah were present.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / October 17th, 2013

Rohan Bopanna has task cut out

Sports

Shanghai :

Leander Paes, playing with Canada’s Daniel Nestor, and Rohan Bopanna, combining with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, are in the 32-team draw of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

While Paes has already made the season-ending event the ATP World Tour Finals in London next month with Czech Radek Stepanek, Bopanna, who won the Japan Open last week, has his work cut out, placed as they are in the 13th position of the team rankings. Bopanna and Vasselin, seeded sixth here, are in the same quarter of the draw as the top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan.

India no.1 Somdev Devvarman, ranked 95 in the word, fell in the final round of the men’s singles qualifying competition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, falling in straight sets to Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-7 (6-8), 0-6.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Tennis> Rohan Bopanna / TNN / October 07th, 2013

Poovamma overcomes tight schedule, Tintu to claim 400m

Sports

But for MR Poovamma reinforcing her credentials as the best quarter-miler in the country, there was little to brag about on the penultimate day of the 53rd Open National Athletics Championship. Otherwise, slack organising was the central theme of the rain-hit day.

The word ‘unreasonable’ best sums up the organisers’ logic in holding the heats and finals of the 400m on the same day. That too after the 400m was widely billed as the marquee fixture of the tournament, which fielded more international athletes than any other stream.

Amidst these distractions, Poovamma proved unflappable in a grid replete with stars. Tintu Luka, Anu Mariam Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Anilda Thomas were all capable of upsetting Poovamma, who has established herself as the country’s titular figure in 400m.

Despite her recent form, Poovamma knew the race was by no means a cakewalk. And she set off to a near-perfect start and rocketed off to a handy lead.

But Tintu wasn’t to be shaken. Braving the fatigue of her gold-winning 800m spurt on Sunday and heats in the morning, she kept snapping at Poovamma’s heels and was within touching distance, so much so that the race seemed heading for a photo-finish. But Poovamma timed 53.96s, two hundredths of a second faster than Tintu.

Tintu’s mentor PT Usha felt Tintu was undone by rain and scheduling. “Tintu ran the 800m on Sunday in rain and that affected her performance in the 400m. The heats and final of the 400m was held too closely and there was no resting time,” she told TNIE.

Two meets records were created on the day. In women’s javelin, ONGC’s Anu Rani entered the record-book with an effort of 54.35m while Sudha Singh clocked 10:09.04s to better her mark in steeplechase.

RESULTS: Men: 110m hurdles: A Suresh (RLYS) 14.19s, K Prem Kumar (AP) 14.34, T Balamurugan (TN) 14.41. 3000m steeplechase: Jaiveer Singh (SER) 9:00.41, Sachin Patil (RLYS) 9:09.12, Karamvir (SER) 9:14.15. High jump: Jithin C Thomas (SER) 2.11m, A Shaiju (SER) 2.08m, Chethan (KAR) 2.05m. Discus throw: Arjun (HAR) 54.10m, Dharam Raj (SER) 50.99m, Karan Singh (RLYS) 50.19m. 20km walk: K Ganapathi (SER) 1:27:18.15s, Gurmeet Singh (RLYS) 1:28:19.30s, Baljinder Singh (PUN) 1:29:09.08s.

Women: 400m: MR Poovamma (ONGC) 53.96s, Tintu Luka (RLYS) 53.98, Chavi Sharawat (RLYS) 54.44. 100m hurdles: G Gayathry (TN) 13.70s, J Hemasree (LIC) 14.19, MM Anchu (RLYS) 14.31. 3000m steeplechase: Sudha Singh (RLYS) 10:09.04, Lalita Babar (RLYS) 10:33.40, Kiran Tiwari (HAR) 10:52.75. Pole vault: Khyati Vakharia (ONGC) 3.70m, VS Sureka (RLYS) 3.60m, Kiranbir Kaur (Police) 3.50m. Triple jump: MA Prajusha (RLYS) 12.91m, V Neena (RLYS) 12.76m, Mareena Joseph (Police) 12.50m. Javelin throw: Annu Rani (ONGC) 54.35m, Rupinder Kaur (Police) 48.16m, S Saraswathy (RLYS) 48.07m.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport / by Shan AS – Ranchi / September 10th, 2013