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

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

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

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

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

Shanghai :

India’s No.1 singles player Somdev Devvarman and doubles top gun Rohan Bopanna have given the latest appointee to the country’s Davis Cup squad – non-playing captain Anand Amritraj – the thumbs up.

The former ace, ranked as high as No. 74 in singles and 24 in doubles in the 70s, will take over the reins for India’s next assignment, the Asia Oceania Group I opener against Chinese Taipei to be played in Indore in January.

The 61-year-old Anand, a one-time chess prodigy who went on to win 12 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, most of them in tandem with younger brother Vijay, is widely acknowledged as a keen tennis brain. He even reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1976. Somdev, ranked 95 in the world, said, “Anand was a fantastic player for India, he’s a great choice for a captain. His knowledge of the game is vast. I have a lot of respect for what he has accomplished. A lot of us have been in touch with him for a number of years and he comes around and watches our matches whenever he can. I look forward to playing for him. We’ll give him our best.”

Somdev, who led a players’ revolt which saw the country’s best players put up a unified front in expressing their displeasure at the functioning of the All India Tennis Association, forced the federation to replace Shiv Prakash Misra with Anand. Zeeshan Ali will stay on as coach. “The goal is to get back to the World Group,” Somdev said, speaking for his team, “I want to get on with the job and get us there.”

Bopanna, who will likely partner Pak’s Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi on the Tour next year, welcomed Anand into the squad. “It’s great to have Anand as Davis Cup captain. He’s very enthusiastic, very knowledgeable about the game and understands how tennis is played today.”

Mahesh Bhupathi said, “Anand has a great tennis brain and a world of experience to fall back on. He brings a lot to the table. I played under him in the Asian Games.”

Leander Paes told the media that he hadn’t given much thought to the appointment. Paes learnt his craft at Amritraj’s BAT academy in Chennai.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Tennis> Somdev Devvarman / by Prajwal Hegde, TNN / October 13th, 2013