Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa jumped from 15th to 13th in the latest rankings
New Delhi (IANS):
India’s most successful women’s doubles shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa rose two places to be at No.13, matching their career-best in the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday.
Jwala and Ashwini, who won the women’s doubles bronze at the 2011 World Championships, reached the semi-finals of the US Open Grand Prix Gold which helped them rise up the ladder.
Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy also jumped two places to be ranked No.24 in the men’s doubles following their finals appearance at the US Open on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Indian shuttlers maintained their positions in singles.
Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal is still No.2 with P.V. Sindhu at No.14 among the women. In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and H.S. Prannoy are still on No.3, 10 and 12, respectively.
There is no Indian representation in top-25 of mixed doubles.
Indian shuttlers are currently participating at the ongoing $50,000 Canada Open Grand Prix in Calgary.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea ended runners-up at the ATP Gerry Weber Open following a surprise straight set defeat at the hands of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, here on Sunday.
Halle, Germany:
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea ended runners-up at the ATP Gerry Weber Open following a surprise straight set defeat at the hands of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, here on Sunday.
The second-seeded Indo-Romanian pair lost the summit clash 6-7(5) 2-6 against the unseeded American-South African team in one hour and 12 minutes.Bopanna and Mergea had come into the event after wining the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, last week.
They had advantage, following an early break but lost the momentum as well as their grip over the contest as the match progressed. They could not force a Match tie-breaker as they were outplayed in the second set.
They won 300 ranking points each and shared 50,880 as prize money for their effort.
source: http://www.zeenews.india.com / Z News / Home> News> Sports News> Tennis / PTI / Sunday – June 21st, 2015
After clinching the men’s doubles title at the Stuttgart Open with Romanian partner Florin Mergea, Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna said it was the perfect platform to warm-up for the lone grass court Major, Wimbledon, which starts on June 29.
“Great feeling winning the title here in Stuttgart,” Bopanna tweeted on Sunday after his win.
The fourth seeds took just an hour and 12 minutes to beat Austrian-Brazilian third seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 in the final.
“Being the first week on the grass leading up to Wimbledon is always nice. Not only playing on grass but winning a title gives us a lot of confidence,” the 35-year-old Indian said.
His partner Mergea was equally excited to win the title. The duo won their first crown together last month at the Madrid Open, which is a clay court tournament.
“It is my first title on grass, the first time I actually had four wins on grass since I started playing again. I am really happy to come and win a second title with Rohan,” Mergea said.
This was Bopanna’s fourth title of the year also having won two hard court tournaments with Daniel Nestor in Sydney and Dubai.
source: http://www.sports.ndtv.com / NDTV Sports / NDTV Sports> Tennis> News / by Press Trust of India / Thursday – June 16th, 2015
Ever since winning the senior National squash championship in 2004, making her the youngest ever women’s national champion, Joshna Chinappa has been at the forefront of India’s charge in the world of women’s squash.
2014 produced some massive highs for Joshna. She teamed up with Dipika Pallikal to claim gold in the doubles at the Commonwealth Games and also attained a career-high ranking of 19.
She also claimed the Winnipeg Winter Open trophy. Back from playing at the HKFC International in Hong Kong recently, Joshna caught up with Sportskeeda for a brief chat.
You have been extremely successful at the National championships over the last decade and more. Which has been the most memorable win for you?
My most memorable nationals was when I was 14 and I won the women’s title for the first time.
What was it that made you choose squash as a youngster over other sports?
I played tennis, squash and badminton equally while I was growing up. But since my dad was a squash player too, I naturally took to squash and continued playing it.
You won India’s first gold at the Commonwealth Games along with Dipika Pallikal. Talk us through that historic win.
Dipika and I both knew we had a great chance to win a medal. We had a tough semifinal against Australia which we were lucky to get through. For the finals, we were both more confident and knew we could win the gold. We were happy we pulled through.
How do you strategize before an important match? How is it that you like to prepare?
I only talk to my psychologist before and after a match. I get into my element by not really communicating with any friend or family for the duration of the tournament.
How has sports analytics helped you guys out in the last few years, on both a personal level, as well as for the sport overall?
It’s always beneficial to be able to go back and watch how you have played a match. The good ones to reinforce and the bad ones to learn and not repeat them and improve further either technically or physically.
You and Dipika have known each other for a long time. How do you approach things when you have to play in singles competition against her?
We both obviously want to win and that’s with anyone I play against. Yes it’s always harder playing your roommate and teammate especially. But we are professionals and just want to do our job to the best.
You won a hard-fought title at the Winnipeg Winter Open last year. You edged out Heba El Torky in a tight finish. What was the feeling like when you finally got the win?
My first Professional title was in 2008 in Malaysia. When I won in Winnipeg it was my 8th title. Winning in Winnipeg was nice because I was 3 match balls down. So to win from there was a good win.
Winning the Chennai Open in 2012 in your hometown must have been a special feeling. Tell us a bit more about that win.
I had always lost at the Chennai Open either in the semis or finals. When I won the Chennai Open, it was after my ACL injury where I was out for 9 months from the tour. So it was very special to me to come back and win it.
Nicol David has been World No. 1 for a long time now. What is it like facing off against her? What makes her so successful?
Nicol is an extremely tough and hardworking competitor. She’s got to where she has because she has a great team of coaches, physio, psychologist, advanced fitness trainers and the backing of her Malaysian government which has given her everything she’s needed from the time she was 10 years old! That’s what every athlete needs to get to that level and stay there.
If we were to ask you to name the best win of your career so far, what would it be?
Honestly I don’t have a best win. It’s still yet to come, but everything else has been important to me too as I have worked hard for those victories too.
How has the Indian Squash Academy aided you in your success?
The academy is a place I have trained at on and off for years whenever I am in Chennai. I always have great match practice there with the boys. I get on court sessions with coach Kali Muthu which helps me a lot too.
What are your thoughts on Squash not being an Olympic sport yet?
Squash is now short listed for the 2020 Olympics at Tokyo. So hopefully it will be a very successful bid to get squash in. We deserve to be there.
What are your goals for the remainder of the year building on the hugely successful year for Indian squash in 2014?
To remain injury free and get fitter and stronger.
(Joshana will next be playing at the Senior Nationals in Trivandrum between 9-12 July before flying to Australia for the Victorian and Australian Opens in July-August)
(Joshana is currently sponsored by TDPS & Amaranta Entertainment)
source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda / Home> Squash – Interview / by Virendra Karunakar / June 18th, 2015
Seagram’s 100 Pipers Music CDs in association with Pride of Karnataka, an initiative of Round Table India and Ladies Circle India felicitated 12 ‘true legends’ from the state.
Ashwini Nachappa and Pramoda Devi
Among those felicitated were Priya Mani, Ricky Kej, RK Misra, Prasad Bidpa, Manoviraj Khosla, Shukla Bose, Ashwini Nachappa and Robin Uthappa. Kartik Mohindra, Business Head, International Brands, Pernod Ricard India, said, “True legends are successful people who lead a positive change on society. The True Legends awards recognizes and felicitates successful personalities who have risen above the material pursuits of success, and believe in giving back to humanity. Each True Legend story is very inspiring and will forever be remembered for good.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / June 19th, 2015
Den Thimmaiah of Kodagu emerged as the fastest driver at the second edition of Maruti Suzuki Autocross Championship at Supernova Arena in Bengaluru on Sunday. Thimmaiah won three races which included four podium finishes.
National Award-winning filmmaker Sandhya Kumar’s documentary looks at the Kodava hockey festival that takes place in Coorg every year
A still from Hockey in my Blood; filmmaker Sandhya Kumar
In the summer of 1997, the head of the Kuttappa family, Pandanda Kuttappa, hosted the first Kodava Hockey Festival in his village Karada in Coorg. The first edition of the hockey “tournament” for the Kodavas — a martial-tribal community that belongs to Coorg — had 60 families competing for the title. In the 18 years since, the annual event has grown to become the largest hockey tournament in the world, with over 200 Kodava families taking part in it.
It was in 2012 that National Award-winning documentary filmmaker Sandhya Kumar first heard of this tournament. While the subject intrigued her, it wasn’t until she visited Coorg for a wedding later that year that she decided to explore it through her work. Kumar then got on board Deepti Bopaiah, a Kodava keen to chronicle what had come to be a tradition among her people, and began research for her next project. After close to two years of work, the 52-minute documentary, Hockey in my Blood, is now complete. “India doesn’t offer much scope for releasing non-fiction films. So I hope to tie up with sports and educational organisations to screen it across venues in India apart from taking it to festivals,” says the Bangalore-based filmmaker whose docu short O Friend, This Waiting!, on Devadasis, won the National Award in 2013.
In Hockey in my Blood, Kumar tells the story of the tournament chiefly through the extensive preparations the Kodavas put into organising the festival. One of the key voices, therefore, is a member of the family that has been selected to host the festival in 2013. Considering it a big honour, he has quit his job four months ahead of the festival to oversee the preparations, such as sponsorships, readying the ground and other nitty-gritties. “The month-long event takes place every year between April and May. It’s soon after children’s exams and also when the work on coffee plantations is minimal. So it allows the Kodavas to practise and also attend the matches,” explains the 33-year-old.
The timing is important because the Kodavas living away from their ancestral land travel from wherever they are — even foreign shores — to Coorg in order to participate in the festival. Each year, close to 220 teams (family clans) participate in the tournament for a cash prize of Rs one lakh and the trophy.
Kumar says the national hockey team, over the years, has had over 50 Kodava players, and some have even been Olympians. “But how did hockey emerge to be such an important sport in Coorg is a question no one could answer, it’s as if it’s always been there,” Kumar says.
That there is no age or gender bar to participating is one of the biggest highlights of the tournament.
This is captured in the film through the voices of 16-year-old Prajwal, considered one of the strongest players on the Palanganda team, and Priya Bopanna, who was made the captain of her team the very first year she participated.
Kumar adds that married women, in fact, have the option of playing for their paternal or husband’s team and can choose their side every year.
However, most importantly, the documentary conveys that the festival, although taken seriously by the Kodavas, is mostly a means to have a good time, losing isn’t a big deal. “Many of them return to Coorg for the festival. It’s a way for them to strengthen their bond with their extended family and the ancestral land,” explains Kumar who is open to screening invitations through the titular Facebook page of the film.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle / by Dipti Nagpaul D’Souza / June 05th, 2015
Femi Ogunode shatters his own Asian 100m record with a 9.91s
M.R. Poovamma, the fastest qualifier in the semifinals, retained her 400m silver while Liksy Joseph came up with an inspired performance for the heptathlon silver with a personal best as India’s women athletes did themselves proud at the 21st Asian athletics championship here on Thursday.
Purnima Hembram, a former Asian junior champion, followed Liksy for the women’s heptathlon bronze, and in the men’s section, G. Lakshmanan won the 5,000m bronze bettering his personal best by nearly 14 seconds.
Qatar’s Femi Ogunode did what he had been promising for some time by lowering his own Asian 100m record to a stunning 9.91s. That should make him the fifth fastest man in the world this year.
The Nigeria-born Ogunode had set the previous mark of 9.93 while winning the Asian Games gold in Incheon last year.
There were disappointments too for India, with both the country’s eight-metre long-jumpers, Ankit Sharma (7.76m) and K. Prem Kumar (7.69m) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Ankit was in the medal range for a brief while before going down. An eight-metre jump would have fetched them gold, for it was with a 7.96m that China’s Goa Xinglong took the top spot.
Poovamma, the Asian Games bronze medallist who has a personal best of 51.73s, was in fact quicker in Wednesday’s semifinal which she topped with 52.94s. Her silver, behind China’s Yang Huizhen, came in 53.07s.
Arokia Rajeev, also an Incheon Asiad bronze medallist, was seventh in the men’s 400m while Srabani Nanda was fifth in the women’s 100m.
The women’s sprint relay team finished fourth and the men sixth. Suprisingly Manikanda Arumugam, who had helped the team to qualify for the Asians in 39.11s in the controversial trials in Bengaluru recently, was not part of the men’s relay squad which finished in 39.67s.
Qatar’s Mohamad Al Garni, who had won the men’s 1,500m on Wednesday, completed a distance double by taking the 5,000m title.
India have bagged their second medal at the Asian Athletics Championships, that is currently being played in Wuhan, China with MR Poovamma clinching the silver in the 400m. event.
The Kodagu-born athlete clocked a timing of 53.07 and thereby clinched her second consecutive silver at the Asian Championships after her silver medal win at the 2013 edition of the Championships, that were held in Pune.
But her medal, here though, seems like it might have come at a cost as she fell behind the Olympic qualification mark by 1.07 seconds.
This is now India’s second medal after Inderjeet Singh won Gold on Day One of the competition with an effort of 20.41m.
source: http://www.sportskeeda.com / Sports Keeda / Home> Athletics> Asian Athletics Championship> News / by Shankar Narayan / June 04th, 2015
The former world no 3 doubles player follows a healthy diet on a daily basis, but every time he’s in the city, the tennis ace likes to indulge in gulab jamuns.
At 22, critics in tennis had ruled him out. With a career ranking of 213 in men’s singles, Rohan Bopanna was hardly in the reckoning in the world tennis scene. Six years later, he achieved the unthinkable – he was ranked No 3 in the world (men’s doubles category) in 2013.
He has been a strong force since and has carried forward the legacy of his senior compatriots Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. “I peaked late in my career because of the kind of system we have in India,” he says. “By the time we realise what’s good and what kind of training is required, many years are lost. In countries like the US, they have a system in place where they know how a top U-16 or U-18 player needs to train and reach top Slams. I am sure if we have better training facilities in place, we will see players peaking much early and have a longer career,” he says about starting a formidable career only in his early 30s.
While he travels across the globe on tournaments, he plays a lot of golf to de-stress and take the edge of constantly competing. But when he comes back home, he never misses the opportunity to indulge in his all-time favourite sweet treat, gulab jamun, especially from Bhagatram Sweets on Commercial Street.
We talk to the Coorg tennis ace about what works for him, his trade secrets and fitness mantras.
Meal plan
Morning mantra
I am a morning person and no matter what time I sleep, I get up on the dot after eight hours. My biological clock is set to eight hours.
Breakfast I love my eggs, especially scrambled eggs with some brown bread toasted, a bowl of cereal with cold milk and fruits. The timing of my meals and what I eat – be it breakfast or lunch, dinner – always depends on and revolves around my match schedules.
Lunch Pasta is what I usually prefer to have for lunch along with some grilled fish.
Dinner For dinner, I usually get chicken with some brown or white rice. If not that I have a good steak but I make sure I eat dinner at least three hours before I go to bed.
Snack Snacks are always fruits for me and sometimes, I munch on raisins.
Guilty pleasure It’s the Bhagatram gulab jamuns that I really love and crave for. But luckily, I am not home most of the year, so I don’t have the temptation or rather don’t get to eat it as often.
Drink menu I really like fresh fruit juices. I get my protein in my meats, so I don’t feel the need to have any protein shakes.
Tricks of the trade Well, when it comes to tennis, the most important thing is to watch and pay attention to all the top players about how they train, move on court, eat right and learn from that. The main thing is that it requires 100 per cent commitment and discipline.
De-stress strategy Listening to some good music (it could be anything, even Hindi, at times) and playing any other sport apart from tennis helps me de-stress. I mostly play golf as it is easily available all over the world.
Best advice The most important thing, when you decide to take up something in life is to not have an ounce of doubt in your own mind about it. You need to be 100 per cent sure that this is what you want to do and there’s no absolutely no doubt about it.
Skin splurge My wife keeps suggesting I use sun blocks and creams but I am so careless, I just don’t bother. I think it’s time to start. However, I do visit spas quite regularly but that’s more for massages and nothing to do with improving my skin tone.
Downtime I catch up on my movies. If I get a chance to watch any Bollywood movie, then that’s my first preference for sure.
Fitness mantra I enjoy my interval running on the treadmill. To add to this, I work a lot on my core and balances. I do interval running about five times a week and then in the gym, I lift weights but that’s just to maintain my muscles and not really to gain bulk or look ripped.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Columns> You / by Nandini Kumar, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / June 07th, 2015
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