India discard Robin Uthappa slammed a sparkling century as India ‘A’ recorded a comprehensive six-wicket victory over New Zealand ‘A’ in the first of the three-match unofficial ODI series here today.

Uthappa (103) shared a 178-run rollicking opening wicket stand with captain Unmukt Chand (94) from 30 overs to shut the game on New Zealand who were all out for 257 in 49.4 overs after electing to bat.

India ‘A’ chased down the target of 258 with 5.5 overs to spare as Uthappa and Chand produced a scintillating exhibition of strokeplay at Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium.

Uthappa, who was dropped on 93, struck eight fours and five sixes from 114 balls, while Chand’s 88-ball innings was studded with nine fours and six sixes. Aditya Tare was the other notable contributor with a 42-ball unbeaten 37.

Chand and Uthappa scored at a decent pace, reaching 48 for no loss by the end of the 10th over before they stepped up the gas and picked the India-born leg-spinner Inderbir Singh Sodhi for special treatment.

The duo took 15 and 16 runs in the 21st and 23rd overs bowled by Sodhi as India were 141 for no loss at halfway mark.

Chand was out in the last ball of the 30th over before he sent left-arm spinner Anton Paul Devcich’s first delivery to the fine-leg fence, the second one for a huge six over mid-wicket and another boundary from the fifth. But Chand perished the next ball, his pull-shot failed to beat Tom Latham at mid wicket.

Uthappa continued in the same punishing mood after Chand’s dismissal, as he plundered 17 runs the next over bowled by Matt Henry with the help of two sixes and a four. He reached to his century in style with a six off Adam Milne in the 37th over.

Milne though had the last laugh as he dismissed Uthappa in the 39th over with the Karnataka batsman holed out to Colin Munro at deep fine leg. Mandeep Singh (1) and Ashok Menaria (0) fell in quick succession in the 41st over but wicketkeeper Tare ensured that there were no further damage for India as they reached 261 for four in 44.1 overs.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Visakhapatnam – September 08th, 2013

Mumbai :

Come Sunday and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote will decide the fate of three sports awaiting the Olympic nod.

While wrestling with it’s stronghold at the Games comes across as the most obvious choice, especially after the IOC crossed it out of the Olympic roster in February this year.

Hanging on tenterhooks will be the joint bid for baseball and softball and the third time bidders squash.

Joshna Chinappa, the first Indian girl to win the British squash championship back in 2003, understands the magnitude of the IOC meeting this weekend. Though confident of squash making the cut, she is wary of wrestling bagging the spot.

“Squash has a really good chance to make it in to the Olympics,” she said. “We are competing with wrestling which is a tough battle of course. But the whole squash fraternity has worked tirelessly for the last few years presenting squash bid for the Olympics to the IOC. We have gotten tremendous support from people and world celebrities from sport and different fields .So really hoping for the best.”

“I think the only real tough part is that wrestling is one of the original sports of the Olympics and should never have been taken out. So it definitely has a very good chance of going back in,” she added.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> More Sports> Squash / by Maria Bilkis, TNN / September 06th, 2013

Bangalore:

Poignant recollections and heartfelt sorrow swept through the athletics fraternity in Karnataka after seven-time national sprint champion and international athlete AnandShetty succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday morning. The loss of Anand, who was known for his exemplary character and selfless desire to work towards improving athletics in Karnataka, will be a void hard to fill, sportspersons say.

Ashwini Nachappa, who shared a great camaraderie with Anand in the mid-1980s, was struggling to come to terms with his untimely death. “For the first time, Karnataka had both a male and female national champion in 100m when Anand and I emerged victorious at the Mangalore Nationals in 1987. We grew together in athletics and had a great bonding,” an emotional Nachappa said.

“His contribution to the growth of inter-school and inter-club meets those years was immeasurable. He was like a family member to me…,” the Seoul Olympian added.

Anand found his true calling in athletics after a brief foray into kabaddi and was a force to reckon with at state and national-level competitions. His dominance in 100m and 200m races saw him remain the national champion from 1981 to 1989.

The 49-year-old Anand was also known to be a pioneer, having conceived and run the Bangalore Sports Club (BSC) in 1996 along with former sprinter and Dhyan Chand awardee Uday Prabhu and several prominent sportspersons. BSC strived to inculcate track-and-field sports among schoolchildren and Anand was the catalyst behind organizing inter-school tournaments in Karnataka. Top athletes such as Clifford Joshua, Bindu Rani, Poonam Belliappa and Shilpa Sundar have been his prized wards.

Joshua recalled having received the gold medal from him during the 2001 Federation Cup meet at the Sree Kanteerava stadium. It was an emotional moment for Clifford back then, and still stirs up his emotions when he recalls it. “I still remember I was running on the fifth lane. I had broken his (Anand’s) 200m record and he was smiling, cheering me on. Later on the podium, I realized he was going to present me the gold medal. I couldn’t control my emotions,” Clifford recounted.

“I trained under him at BSC. I credit all my achievements to his and Uday’s coaching. I was with him throughout in his last moments at the hospital,” added Clifford.

One of Anand’s primary international achievements, apart from being a gold medallist at the 1987 SAF Games, was making the cut for the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. He was part of the 4x100m relay quartet and finished fifth along with Sunil Abraham, Kamal Ali and Adille Sumariwalla.

“He was a quiet chap who was dedicated to perfecting himself in his discipline during the national camp,” recalled Sunil. “We worked together at the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (Telco, now Tata Motors) for many years before he moved on to Infosys. I feel his greatest contribution has been the voluntary coaching he did for schoolchildren and youth,” he said.

Fellow sprinter Adille recalled: “He went about his training with great dedication. He showed his grit through his performance. He had great plans for promoting athletics among schools in Karnataka and I’ll miss a great friend,” said the Athletics Federation of India president.

FACTFILE

NAME: Anand Shetty
AGE: 49
FROM: Mani, Dakshina Kannada
CAREER
NATIONAL: Nine national titles in 100m & 200m from 1981 to 1989

INTERNATIONAL: 200m silver in 1981 junior invitational meet in Seoul; 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi (fifth in 4x100m relay); 1986 Asian Games in Seoul (participant); 4x100m medallist at 1983 Asian Track & Field in Kuwait; 200m gold at 1987 SAF Games in Kolkata; 1989 SAF Games in Islamabad (participant); 1991 Rajyothsava awardee.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalore> Karnataka / by Maxin Mathew, TNN / May 22nd, 2013

Guwahati :

Former international athlete, Arjuna Awardee Ashwini Nachappa will attend the 30th Abhiruchi Sports Day as the chief guest. Informing this, organising committee president Balendra Mohan Chakravorty said Nachappa will lead the mass jogging of the central function here on September 3 which will be flegged off at the Chandmari flyover at 6.30 am.

Other programmes like felicitation to international athletes of the State, group dance and mass PT competitions among the city-based schools will be conducted on the occasion. The Day has been organised on the occasion of the birthday of Bhogeswar Baruah, the first Assamese sportsperson to receive the Arjuna Award.

source: http://www.assamtribune.com / The Assam Tribune / Home / by Sports Reporter / Guwahati – August 26th, 2013

The players, including former skipper Arjun Halappa and CWG and Asian Games medalist Ravi Pal, who left the national camp last year to play in the rebel World Series of Hockey (WSH) league organised by the Indian Hockey Federation, will get a chance to be a part of the second season of the official Hockey India League.

The fresh season of the cash-rich tournament is scheduled to be held in January-February.

“The players approached us and showed their willingness to play in the HIL. Looking into their potential and future prospects, we are considering them for the mini-auction to be held in October,” Narinder Batra, HI general secretary, told HT.

They included former India forward Prabhjot Singh.

Although no WSH player was considered for HIL’s inaugural edition early this year, the federation later allowed them to play in the national championship.

NEW FRANCHISE
Apart from providing a window to the existing five HIL franchises for transfer of players and to fill their vacant slots, there is most likely to be an addition of a sixth franchise — in all probability a Bangalore-based team. In that case, quite a few players are expected to be bought in the October auction.

The WSH players who have now signed up with HIL for the auction have been given the opportunity to set their base price between $5600-15000 (R3.54 lakh-R9.48 lakh approx).

“It’s a good decision by HI as many youngsters had joined the WSH league, and they have a good number of years of hockey left in them. Performing well in the HIL will give them an opportunity to be a part of the national squad,” said Olympian and former selector, Col Balbir Singh.

Till date only Gurjinder Singh, who was adjudged the best player of the WSH league, has been considered for the national squad.

And allowing WSH players into HIL seems to be the first step before the doors to the national squad are thrown open for them.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> India> World> Sport> Hockey / by Saurabh Duggal, HT / Chandigarh – August 26th, 2013