Category Archives: Sports

Rohan Bopanna: It’s a great honour to represent India at an event as big as Olympics

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

RohanBopannaKF18feb2020

Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna says he is looking forward to the Olympics this year and has devised his schedule this year based on the Tokyo Games. Speaking to the Olympic Channel, 39 year old Bopanna says, “It’s another exciting season (with the Olympics involved).

It’s a great honour to represent India at an event as big as the Olympics. I am happy to get the title in Doha at the start of the year. But having said that, we have a lot of big events like not only the Grand Slams but also the Masters Series before going into the Olympics.

But I am happy and I am looking forward to it.” Bopanna continues, “I think the calendar is already planned in such a way that it’s between two Grand Slams (Wimbledon and US Open). And you know, in tennis, we have so many big events scheduled in our season that we constantly are playing the best players in the world.

So that really helps in making you a better player and make you ready for a big event like the 2020 Olympics.” The qualification for the Olympics will be based on the rankings of Bopanna and Divij Sharan. The two are playing with different partners currently in order to improve their ranking and hope to pair up closer to the Games once their rankings are high enough to enter the ATP tournaments.

“At this juncture, Divij and I are the only two players who are high enough (on the ATP Rankings) to try and qualify for the Olympics. We played a few events (as a pair) last year and we did end up winning the title in Pune.

Really excited to be playing with him. We had the gold medal at the Asian Games. I think we gel well as a team.”

source: http://www.tennisworldusa.org / Tennis World / Home> Tennis News> Indian Tennis / by Harish / February 16th, 2020

Gold Cup: Wake up and smell the coffee

Sports

The team’s presence has added a Coorgi flavour to the championship, which is still to find a sponsor.

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Mumbai:

Hockey in Mumbai could be a drifting ship, but not if the people of Coorg, from the southwest corner of Karnataka, can help it. Thanks to the Coorg Association of Mumbai, a set of Coorgis training at three different units in Bengaluru have teamed up to form the Coorg XI, Mumbai, and have been proving that they the side to beat.

The team’s presence has added a Coorgi flavour to the championship, which is still to find a sponsor.

The lads on this team, whose average age is 20 years, have received good exposure and the experience of rubbing shoulders with senior players in the ongoing Gold Cup hockey tournament in the city.

These boys have made it to the semifinals, and have proved why hockey is special to them.

True to its name, Coorg or Kodagu as it is now known, nestled in the Western Ghats and bordered by Kerala on one side, is the heartland of Indian hockey.

“Yes, this is an opportunity for us and we are making the most of it,” said Sharath Somanna, skipper of the side which will take on Indian Navy to fight for a place in the final on Tuesday.

For the inhabitants of this district, which has churned out more than 50 international hockey players, the game is inextricably woven into the fabric of their everyday existence.

“It is a move by the Coorg Association of Mumbai, which has sponsored the team,” said M M Somaya, the former Indian field hockey player, who is also from Coorg.

“It is good to see these boys come up with some good hockey. More than winning the championship, it is the exposure that will enhance them,” said Somaya, who was a member of Indian squad which won the gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic Games.

Kodagu is no stranger to the game of hockey, producing a number of Olympians and World Cup winners in the men’s section and several reputed players in the women section. Sport is simply an extension of this community’s culture.

While many from Coorg have distinguished themselves in the Armed forces, their achievements in sport are no less commendable. There is an interesting annual festival in Coorg, ‘Hockey Namme’, a championship played between families. This month-long tourney attracts 300-odd teams.

People from the coffee estates and this hilly district are bound together by their special love for the game of hockey.

source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Sports / by Joe Williams / February 11th, 2020

Hockey: Coorg Eleven off to flier

Sports

Making their maiden appearance in the prestigious Gold Cup, Coorg XI skipper K R Bharath led by example scoring two goals.

Coorg XI, Bengaluru made a successful debut by prevailing over Mumbai challengers Union Bank of India by coasting to a 5-2 victory in a Group-B league match of the 54th All India Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, organised by the Mumbai Hockey Association Limited and played at the MHAL ground, Churchgate.

Making their maiden appearance in the prestigious Gold Cup, Coorg XI skipper K R Bharath led by example scoring two goals. He was ably supported by B P Somanna, N Somanna Chiranth and P P Belliappa, all contributing with a goal each to complete Coorg XI’s success. Union Bank of India scored through Thonglen Singh and Prince Chaurasia.

Later in the day, Mumbai champions Indian Navy smoothly sailed past Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai cruising to a 4-1 win. Pawan Rajbhar, Kuldeep S, Rajat Sharma and Jugraj Singh scored a goal each for the sailors while the Chennai side who missed a couple of sitters managed to score one through Ashwin Kujur.

Earlier, Mumbai Customs made a bright winning start recording a 3-1 win against Bombay Republicans in a Group-D match played in the morning.

Jayesh Jadhav opened the scoring for Customs in the 10th minute before Alden D’Souza doubled the lead in the 28th minute. Bombay Republicans managed to reduce the margin with Olympian Devender Walmiki scoring a goal in the 49th minute before , Felix Baa struck Customs third goal in the 60th minute to complete the win.

Results

Group-D: Mumbai Customs, Mumbai: 3 (Jayesh Jadhav, Alden D’Souza, Felix Baa) bt Bombay Republicans: 1 (Devender Walmiki 49);

Group-C: Indian Navy: 4 (Pawan Rajbhar, Kuldeep S, Rajat Sharma, Jugraj Singh) bt Integral Coach Factory, Chennai: 1 (Ashwin Kujur).

Group-B: Coorg XI: 5 (K R Bharath 2, B P Somanna, N Somanna Chiranth, P P Belliappa) bt Union Bank of India: 2 (Thonglen Singh, Prince Chaurasia).

source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal/ Home> Sports / by FPJ Bureau / February 07th, 2020

Kodagu Champ Selected As National Coach By Hockey India

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All, Sports

AnkitaSureshKF21jan2020

Ankitha Suresh has been selected as Assistant National Coach by Hockey India for the Indian Senior Women’s Hockey Team. She is now a member of coaching staff who is training senior hockey players at the ongoing National Coaching Camp till Jan. 21.

She will represent India as Assistant Coach and will be a part of the Indian National Hockey team (Senior Women’s Hockey) that will leave for New Zealand on Jan. 22. The New Zealand tour will begin from Jan. 23 till Feb. 6. Ankitha will be a part of the 26-member team headed by Chief Coach Sojero Marjine and Analytical Coach Janneke Schopman. 20 players are also part of the team.

Daughter of B.A. Suresh and B.S. Dharmavathi, residents of Madikeri, Honnampadi Ankitha Suresh started her sports career as an athlete and had won medals in 3,000 meter and 5,000 meter running races in national levels. While studying in Junior College in Madikeri, she stumbled upon hockey and her passion for the sport grew after she joined SAI Hockey Hostel in Madikeri for training.

She has represented Karnataka in the National level five times (twice in senior level and thrice in junior level). In the University-level (Mangalore University), she has won three Gold medals and two Bronze (Annamalai University). She has participated in All India Inter-University Tournaments five times.

Ankitha also has the distinction of being the one among the five women from Karnataka who have been selected for the Level-3 coaching course offered by Hockey India as well as only Level-2 Technical Official to be selected from India and from Karnataka for the Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) World Cup Women’s Hockey.

She is currently working as hockey coach in Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) at Ponnampet Sports Hostel and will join as national coach. A post-graduate diploma holder in e-Finance and Gym Instruction, she holds Masters in Commerce and has a Diploma in Sports Coaching (National Institute of Sports).

“N. Muthu Kumar, my coach in SAI Hockey Hostel, Madikeri, is my role model and inspiration,” she fondly says and feels grateful for all the coaches that she has worked with throughout her career. She specially mentions the name of Ponachanna Srinivas who taught her the game of hockey.

“Hockey Karnataka supported me to do the course (Hockey India Level-1, Level-2 and FIH Level-1 and 2 and now I am promoted to do FIH Level-3) conducted by Hockey India and FIH Hockey Academy,” she adds.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / January 20th, 2020

Rohan Bopanna-Wesley Koolhof Win Qatar Open Title

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Veteran tennis star Rohan Bopanna won the $1,465,260 Qatar Open with men’s doubles partner Wesley Koolhof.

Veteran tennis star Rohan Bopanna won the $1,465,260 Qatar Open with men’s doubles partner Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands with a come from behind win in the final on Friday. The pair beat British-Mexican pair of Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 to clinch the title.

Third-seeded pair Bopanna and Koolhof had reached the final earlier after beating second seeds Henri Kontinen and Franco Skugor 7-5, 6-2. The title win hands them 250 ATP points and a prize money of $76,870.

Unseeded Bambridge and Gonzalez, on the other hand, had got the better of Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and Tim Puetz of Germany 2-6 6-2 10-4 in the semis to get to the final themselves.

source: http://www.sports.ndtv.com / NDTV Sports / Home> Tennis> News / by Indo-Asian News Service / January 11h, 2020

Hockey India serves notice of merger to 10 member units

Sports, Uncategorized

Upto 10 additional state member hockey units have been given time till June 30, 2020, to merge with the permanent state units.

Chennai :

Upto 10 additional state member hockey units have been given time till June 30, 2020, to merge with the permanent state units. If they don’t, their membership with Hockey India ‘will deemed to be withdrawn’ on July 1, according to a letter sent by the body to the 10 additional units in question.
HI have taken this step as they are required to follow ‘Clause 31.1.3 of the IOA Constitution,’ as stated by the letter, a copy of which is with this daily. Clause 31.1.3 states that: “The right to vote in any of the National Sports Federation is granted to those Associations that have only one Sports Association in one State for those sports. It implies, therefore, that in the field of sports, it will be ‘one State, one Unit’ and at the national level it will also be one unit (NSF) for one sport.”

HI took the decision at its Congress on November 30, 2019. While the additional state units are free to field teams for the nationals till June 30, once the new rule comes into effect that’s no longer possible. “The teams of your unit will be permitted to participate in the scheduled events being conducted by Hockey India upto 30th June, 2020 as per present practice. Further, from 1st July, 2020 onwards the membership of your unit with Hockey India will deemed to be withdrawn and you will be required to coordinate your sports activities related to hockey with respective State Member Unit,” the letter further added.

A few additional units have already asked what happens to academy sides (Madhya Pradesh State Hockey Academy for instance). HI are yet to get back to them with a concrete answer. Attempts to reach HI went in vain. Ten units in question: Andhra Hockey Association, Hockey Madhya Bharat, Hockey Bhopal, Hockey Gangpur-Odisha, Hockey Patiala, Bengaluru Hockey Association, Hockey Coorg, Hockey Him, The Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd, Vidarbha Hockey Association.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Other / by Express News Service / January 08th, 2020

Decathlon Champion, Sports Achiever: Dr. C.M. Muthaiah No More

Amazing Feats, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

DrMuthaiahKF25dec2019

One of India’s leading Sports Administrators, five-time National Decathlon Champion, senior sports achiever in National and International arena and the first person in Kodava community to secure a Doctoral degree in Sports, Dr. C.M. Muthaiah passed away in Bengaluru on Dec. 5. He was 87.

Dr. Codanda Madappa Muthaiah was born in Madikeri on April 30, 1932 and had secured gold medal (first rank) in M.Sc. Biomechanics from Germany. Despite his education in Science, he had deep interest in sports and Muthaiah was involved in Decathlon, Long Jump and High Jump and had achieved National and International-level recognitions.

From 1956 till 1960, Dr. Muthaiah had won National-level and Asian-level championships. He had won the National Championship crown five times and recognising his achievements, he was bestowed the title “Golden Shoe” in 1977. One of his biggest regret was his narrowly missing the Decathlon Medal in the Tokyo Asian Games in 1958. Dr. Muthaiah was instrumental in bringing the Sports Authority of India, South Centre, to Bengaluru.

After dedicating his youth to the cause of sports, Codanda Muthaiah served the field as a Coach and Sports Officer. He went on to become a Senior First Grade Coach at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports commonly known as National Institute of Sports (NIS), the Sports Training Centre at Patiala in 1962. He later served as the chief of NIS, an Academic Wing of Sports Authority of India and Asia’s largest Sports Institute in Patiala, Punjab.

Dr. Muthaiah had also served as the Director General of the Sports Department of the Union Government and in 1982, he was conferred the ‘Asiad Vishist Jyothi’ for his contribution to Asian Games and Rajyotsava Award in 2013.

He was appointed as the Technical Advisor when the Asian Games was organised in New Delhi in 1982 and had served as Technical Director to various other National and International Games.

He also served as the Secretary General of Asian Track and Field Research Centre. After retirement, he was residing at Jayamahal Extension in Bengaluru. He is survived by wife Parvathi and a daughter.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / December 13th, 2019

Play, learn, grow in this Bengaluru sports school

Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Sports

City-based The Sports School aims to enable young players to achieve their dreams without compromising on academics

(From left) Anup Sridhar, Robin Uthappa, Rohan Bopanna. (Photo | EPS, Meghana Sastry)
(From left) Anup Sridhar, Robin Uthappa, Rohan Bopanna. (Photo | EPS, Meghana Sastry)

Bengaluru :

Mother of Class 8 student, Arshiya T, was always worried about how to send her child to tournaments and cope with academics at the same time. “My daughter is passionate about badminton. But how will she cover the chapters that she misses out on during the tournament?” said Arshiya.

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The Sports School at Vaderahalli on Kanakapura Road tries to mitigate this point of parents, who are worried about the academic performance of their kids. The school’s tailor-made teaching method allows students to pursue their sporting dream without compromising academics.

Set up in partnership with Jain Group of Institutions, the main highlight of the school is involvement of sports celebrities such as tennis player Rohan Bopanna, cricketer Robin Uthappa and shuttler Anup Sridhar on the advisory board. “Coaching is something that I’m fully passionate about. Today, I got the opportunity to advise The Sports School to run their cricket coaching, set up a curriculum, collaborate with many national and international clubs and associations to conduct tournaments often and make sure that each student is given complete attention to nurture their skills,” said Uthappa.

According to Sridhar, setting up of these kind of schools can empower other sports, other than just cricket. “The school allows children to get proper training from a young age that will ensure more potential. They can explore suitable careers that can go along with your sports interests with a backup of academic qualification. If we get such qualified professionals, it can boost any sport,” he said.

All these established players unanimously agreed that this is something essential for the development of the athletes.

“Managing studies during your competitions as well as during the preparations is a big challenge. I personally have faced this. Fifteen years ago, parents used to be very strict about children following studies and giving up any other interest for the sake of it. But now, parents are okay if children compromise on their studies. They want them to play more and be popular. Both situations are not correct. When I was introduced to the concept of this school, I took it up immediately. This is something I dreamed of doing myself at some point of my life,” Uthappa added.

Bopanna, who runs his own tennis academy, said, “I never had a facility like this. It’s good to provide an athlete the right direction to become a world-class player. They need education to lead their life and career. That drew my attention towards this initiative.”

He also added that the school takes care of the overall development of the player.

“Nutrition, physical fitness and stress management – everything has been taken care of, just like how a professional player is exposed to.”

Speaking about the development of students in rural areas and the concept of inclusion, Jaggi Nadig, chief marketing officer, The Sports School, said, “Training of specially-abled children and government school students is under discussion.

There is a lot of economics behind it. We are trying to get CSR sponsors to initiate that. Right now, we are focusing on reaching out to as many children as possible.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sports> Others / by Lesly Joseph, Express News Service / Decembr 23rd, 2019

Uthappa excited about Royals move

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports
Robin Uthappa. | Photo Credit: G_P_Sampath Kumar
Robin Uthappa. | Photo Credit: G_P_Sampath Kumar

Robin Uthappa, picked up by Rajasthan Royals for ₹3 crore in the IPL Auction, says he is excited at reuniting with Steve Smith. The Aussie and Uthappa have been together at Pune Supergiants.

The former India batsmen said he was also looking forward to sharing the dugout with Kerala teammate Sanju Samson.

“I wasn’t aware of what was happening at the auction as I was batting. I was told about this after the match and I am excited at playing for Rajasthan Royals, especially with Steve Smith.

“I had played with him before and I am looking forward to sharing the dugout with Sanju. I played six seasons for Kolkata. It has been an exciting journey for me. The people in Kolkata loved me and I am thankful to them,” he said.

Uthappa said Rajasthan Royals was a good team with world class players.

“I know quite a lot of players personally, so it won’t be a problem for me to play for a new team. I am keen to play alongside Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Cricket / by M.R. Praveen Chandran / Thiruvananthapuram – December 19th, 2019

Joshna Chinappa Nominated For Sportstar ACES Awards – 2020

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

JoshnaChinnappaKF22dec2019

The International Squash player Joshna Chinappa from Kodagu has been nominated for the Sportstar ACES Awards – 2020.

Joshna is nominated for the ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ award in the Racquet Sports category along with P.V. Sindhu (Badminton) and Archana Kamath (Table Tennis).

Nominees for ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award in the Racquet Sports category are G. Sathiyan (Table Tennis), G. Prajnesh (Tennis) and Saurav Ghosal (Squash).

The top two contenders from each category, based on popular vote, will be sent to a jury panel, which will then decide the winner.

To vote, log on: sportstar.the hindu.com/aces-awards or give a missed call to 044-71055000.

Joshna Chinappa, who reached a career-high world ranking of World No.10 in July 2016, was the first Indian to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the U-19 category and was also the youngest Indian women’s national champion.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Joshna, along with Dipika Pallikal Karthik, won the Squash Women’s Doubles Gold Medal, making it India’s first ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport.

Currently training at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai, Joshna is the daughter of Kuttanda Anjan Chinappa and Sunitha of Pollibetta, Kodagu.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / December 21st, 2019