Category Archives: Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Harshika on night duty for chitte

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Harshika Poonacha is burning the midnight oil working on her upcoming movie Chitte. The shooting for the movie started recently.

Most of the scenes of the movie are set in the night. “My shoot starts from 6 pm and ends after midnight,” says Harishika. Although the schedule does get hectic, there is a different kind of excitement involved with shooting under the stars, she adds.

Yashas Surya and Harshika Poonacha
Yashas Surya and Harshika Poonacha

City Express caught hold of a photo where the hero, Yashas Surya expresses his love through a painting on her body. “Yashas plays the role of a painter. He conveys his love for me through the artwork. We recently shot the painting scene,” she says.

The film directed by ML Prakash is a thriller, and is a story that explores the romance of a newly married couple. “We are in the first phase of shooting right now,” she informs.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Kannada / by Express News Service / April 25th, 2017

Monte Carlo Masters: Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas clinch first ATP title as doubles team

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

Monte Carlo:

India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas lifted their first ATP World Tour title together when they downed seventh-seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in a three-set battle in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday.

The unseeded Indo-Uruguayan pair outwitted the Spanish team in the Match tie breaker for a 6-3 3-6 10-4 win in 74 minutes.

Rohan Bopanna and his partner Pablo Cuevas with the men's doubles trophy. Getty
Rohan Bopanna and his partner Pablo Cuevas with the men’s doubles trophy. Getty

It was the second title of the season for Bopanna having won the the season-opening Chennai Open crown with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

“I’m really happy to win our first title together. I have come to Monte-Carlo so many years, it’s such a historic tournament. We had a tough start to the season, but it s great to have won. We came through some close Match tie-breaks this week and it s a good start to the clay season. I m looking forward to the rest of the tournaments,” said Bopanna.

Cuevas said, “I am really happy, as I didn t started the season well. I’m happy to win with my partner in the first tournament on European clay and I hope for a good run through to Paris.”

Bopanna is now 16-24 in doubles finals and 4-4 in Masters’ summit clashes. It was Cuves’ second Masters trophy, adding to the 2015 Rome Masters triumph with David Marrero.

Marc Lopez, one-half of the Rio Olympic champion team, came under pressure in his first service game at 1-2, 30-40, when Bopanna feinted a switch at the net off a long rally to strike a forehand volley winner into space.

Bopanna and Cuevas held onto the break and wrapped up a 28-minute set when Feliciano Lopez mistimed a forehand wide on Bopanna’s serve at 40-15.

In the first game of the second set, Feliciano did well to hold as he recovered from 30-40, including two break points. At 1-2, 30-40, Cuevas over-hit a lob long to gift the Spaniards their first service break and it proved to be enough for Feliciano, serving at 5-3, to strike two straight aces for a hold to 30.

The greater weight of groundstroke by Bopanna and Cuevas was felt in the Match tie-break as the pair took a 6-0 lead, largely targeting the volleys of Marc.

Although Team Lopez recovered to 4-8, Cuevas sealed the first match point opportunity with a forehand down the line that Feliciano could not return cleanly.

They were trying to become the third Spanish team to win the Monte-Carlo title in the Open Era (since April 1968), joining Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in 1988 and Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo in 2008.

source: http://www.firstpost.com / Firstpost.com / Home> Latest News> Sports News / by PTI / April 24th, 2017

Karnataka hockey stadium gets new turf, new name

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

Bengaluru :

The Karnataka State Hockey Association stadium will now be known as the Field Marshal KM Cariappa stadium. It was renamed on Thursday during the inauguration of the newly-laid blue hockey turf by the Department of Youth Empowerment & Sports (DYES).

The grand ceremony, however, was marred by controversy after Hockey Bengaluru (formerly KSHA) – which holds the rights over the stadium land after having signed a 99-year lease with BBMP decades ago – slammed the DYES for ignoring them and not following due procedure.

“It is wrong on the part of the DYES to change the name of the ground without taking us into confidence. We are not objecting to the developments but they could have consulted us as the BBMP has leased the land to us. It’s a clear violation of the agreement,” fumed Hockey Bengaluru secretary K Krishnamurthy.

Krishnamurthy explained that the stadium cannot be renamed without a resolution passed by BBMP. “We are not aware whether DYES sought an approval from BBMP,” he said.

“The agreement signed in 1977 is in the name of KSHA. Although KSHA has been renamed Hockey Bengaluru, KSHA still exists as a trade name with an aim to promote hockey,” he said. “DYES came to an understanding with us during the 1997 National Games to develop the infrastructure and share the facility. The department has no rights over the land.”

Revealing that Hockey Bengaluru was invited only an hour before the inaugural ceremony, Krishnamurthy said: “Field Marshal Cariappa is a hero for all of us. They have put his name on a flex board instead casting it in stone. This is not the way to honour a national hero. We were not even informed about their plans to change the name.”

Blaming the DYES, he said: “Ever since the new director has taken charge we have been given raw deal. We were not informed when DYES called for tenders to upgrade the stadium.”

Krishnamurthy said they will take up the matter with the sports minister after consulting MLA NA Haris, the patron of the club.

Meanwhile, the DYES director Anupam Agrawal countered Krishnamurthy’s allegations saying they have followed the protocol. “We have an approval from the state sports minister to change the name of the stadium. We have not consulted KSHA because legally they don’t exist,” he said. “We wanted to rename the ground to Field Marshal Cariappa ground to honour his contributions,” he said.

Stadium will be upgraded: Agrawal

DYES director Anupam Agrawal said his department will upgrade the Field Marshal KM Cariappa stadium gallery and refurbish the hostel which is home to Sports Authority of India trainees.

“We have sought an additional Rs 1.5 crore to upgrade the gallery and the hostel. We will also upgrade the toilets and dressing rooms according to FIH standards.

We are in the process of installing a hockey turf at Somwarpet and upgrading the existing facility at Ponnampet as Kodagu district is the cradle of hockey,” he added.

source: http:/www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> Sports> Hockey> Top Stories / by Sunil Subbaiah / TNN / April 21st, 2017

Robin Uthappa Once Again Shows How Deadly He Is In The T20 Format, Takes Gujarat To The Cleaners

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Robin Uthappa was yet again the star of the show for Kolkata Knight Riders when they took on Gujarat Lions in Kolkata.

He was in exceptional touch from the word go and after Sunil Narine’s initial burst, took the bowlers apart piece by piece.

The death overs went for plenty as KKR piled on the runs.

Uthappa ended with 72 runs to his name in 48 balls. He slammed 8 fours and 2 sixes.

By the time he fell, KKR certainly had the base to push for a big total. They finished with 187/5.

source: http://www.indiatimes.com / IndiaTimes.com / Home> Sports / by Somak Adhikari / April 21st, 2017

Rohan Bopanna Says India Has No Top Singles Players Due to Lack of Federation Support

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Tennis – Bopanna says enough changes in doubles already; no further required

Tennis – Indian doubles tennis specialist Rohan Bopanna says that Indians do better in doubles as compared to singles due to lack of supoort from the Indian tennis federation. Bopanna analyzed, “The main reason for the lack of singles players is the federation: we do not have support, when players decide to turning pro, and travel, they have no sponsor. The federation does not support us, we make a lot more effort to emerge because it is not easy, indeed it is almost impossible to keep up with the Challengers through which you’re forced to start: a player gets to 26, 27 years without having enough experience, and then switches over to doubles if he still has the passion and desire for tennis. When this situation will change we will see the results. This is another of the reasons why I opened the academy, I would begin to cultivate the players the basics, because we have a system with which they can grow. We also have no tournaments: if you exclude Chennai which is part of the main tour, there are maybe two Challenger and a couple of Futures, and gaining experience in India is very difficult. In Spain, France, Italy, there are smaller tournaments every week, so it is easier to gain experience without having to travel too.”

Bopanna is also not happy with the changes introduced in doubles in order to quicken the game. “I think they have already introduced enough. Even just the super tie-break in the deciding set was a major change. The format is already fairly rapid, the matches are shorter, with the exception of Slams. It’s fun to introduce new concepts, but the format is already so fast. Personally I would prefer to play three sets normal, but as players we are required to adapt to what is being proposed.”

The Banglorean, who was picked by Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi over Leander Paes, says Bhupathi has been instrumental in his growth as a player. “Certainly playing with Mahesh Bhupathi helped me a lot: having a companion of my own nationality was good. I did well at the beginning of my career with Qureshi, we obtained excellent results (final at the US Open in 2010), but playing with Mahesh taught me a lot. He had a lot of experience, played twice at the highest level for many years gave me a great hand to understand my game, understand how to position myself well on the field and deal with new situations for me. The fact that it was the Indian was a great part, get along off the field helps to perform better in the game.”

The 37-year-old will partner with Pablo Cuevas for the Monte Carlo Masters starting tomorrow and is currently ranked 24th in the ATP Doubles Rankings.

source: http://www.tennisworldusa.org / Tennis World / Tennis World Magazine / Home> News> Indian Tennis / by Prakash / April 17th, 2017

Making coorgis aware of their culture via music

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Bengaluru :

Bouncing back with his second music album Nangukodava 2, after a successful prequel Nangukodava 1, Mandepanda Niron aims to raise the level of cultural awareness of the Coorgi community through music. He states that his album holds its distinction in representation of all aspects of the culture.

NironKF25apr2017

How it began
Niron began his career in music production in 2008 with community musical performances and programmes. In 2010, he began his collaboration with C J Anil, who is the co-owner of the production house in Banashankari, Bengaluru.

In the same year, Niron began composing remixes to retro music such as Chalthe Chalthe, Mere Sapnon ki Rani and Neele Neele Ambar Par. His love for his community coupled with his passion for music led him to begin the project of Nangukodava ( We Coorgis) where he invested nearly `5-6 lakhs and availed no financial gain.

Niron gave Udapanda Vimala, a teacher at Cauvery high school a platform to display her talent by giving her the opportunity to write the lyrics for his first album Nangukodava 1.

She also wrote most of the songs of the second album except for two songs — Kodava mangala and Selfie — which were written by Niron

The Process
Awareness and improvisation of culture are key to Niron’s mission. However he faced difficulties in bringing forth his ideology as he had no financial aid and self-funded the cause.

He received no support as there were ego clashes and attitudinal differences amongst the people. Despite the struggle he managed to process the sequel to his first album where he includes all facets of daily life through his songs ( Iguthappa Swamy – Relation to their God , Jeevamanna -life and philosophy, Ponhputtaraj, Selfie – a modern relation for the youth, Yelama Ponnamma – a proposal for marriage).

Future Prospects
His passionate endeavours towards his community have brought him acclamation and praise. His initial target was to raise the cultural banner of his community amongst the members itself, he now decides to move the boundary further by reaching a nationwide platform.

He hopes his music will reach the cinema through A grade movies and gain popularity in other languages as well. He plans to work with advertisements and promotional agencies to add credibility to his already eminent profile.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Erica Cyril / Express News Service / April 12th, 2017

Arunachal Festival of Speed: Amanpreet in lead

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

Amanpreet Ahluwalia proved he’s a master of short turns and deft handling as he finished first in the autocross, or the Super Special Stages.

With the breathtakingly beautiful Dirang valley for inspiration, National autocross champion Amanpreet Ahluwalia jump into the lead on the first day in the fourth edition of the JK Tyre Arunachal Festival of Speed here on Saturday.

He proved he’s a master of short turns and deft handling as he finished first in the autocross, or the Super Special Stages as it’s called here.

However, the championship suffered a huge setback after quite a few big names pulled out. Seven-time Desert Storm winner Sunny Sidhu pulled out citing engine issues. Joining him were ten-time Raid de Himalaya champion Suresh Rana and newly-crowned India Baja champion, Gaurav Chiripal. Both withdrew citing different reasons.

Organisers said Gaurav was stuck in Dubai due to personal issues while Rana’s car’s front axle was damaged. Another prominent rallyist Raj Singh Rathore, too, withdrew.

The hero of the day was Amanpreet. Driving a Maruti Gypsy, Amanpreet tackled the slippery grass track at the L’Opon Stadium to delight the locals, who had gathered in moderate numbers to watch the action-packed event. He needed just 2minutes and 09 seconds to complete the zig-zagging course.

“It was fun racing on this tricky course,” Amanpreet, a veteran rallyist from Delhi, said. “We are happy that we have taken the early lead. There is still a long way to go and we hope to drive on this momentum through the weekend,” he added.

The top seeded racer among those in classified cars here, K. M. Bopaiah from Coorg, had to settle for the second place in his 1600cc Polo. Delhi’s Sandeep Sharma finished third. In the autocross and sprint cars for local talent, Babit Lyngdoh shot into the lead, winning both his rounds.

The provisional results

1. Amanpreet Ahluwalia & navigator Ajay Kumar(02:09), 2. K.M. Bopaiah & Gagan Karumbaiah (02:12), 3. Sandeep Sharma & Prathap Thakur (02:13), 4. Ewellson Cyngdoh & Rijop M Sangma (02:14).

source: http://www.sportsalive.com / Sports Star / Home> India / by K. Keerthivasan / Dirang Valley (Arunachal Pradesh) / April 15th, 2017

MTV Roadies Rising Episode 9th April 2017 Video, Nikhil Chinappa’s Gang Wins First Task

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

MTV Roadies Rising Episode 9th April 2017 Video, Nikhil Chinappa’s Gang Wins First Task :- The stunt based reality show MTV Roadies Rising journey kick-started from last week which is having good feedback from audiences. In the show, there are the gang leaders including, Rannvijay Singh Singha, Prince Narula, Neha Dhupia and Nikhil Chinappa and those stars are having rocking feedback at the show.

NikhilKF11apr2017

Now at the show, the gang leaders are having the new challenge in front of them to identify their warriors behind the masks. And all the warriors will be wearing the mask on their face so it is for the gang leaders it will be tough to search the warriors.

MTV Roadies Rising Episode 9th April 2017 Video
The gang leaders and the team are needed to use their brains only to defeat the teammates who were seen doing competition with them. The team also said that the other gang’s warrior is needed to search the perfect gang warriors and they need to compete with them in the task.

As the task started, the gang leaders were shocked to see the each of their, participates were using their brains and they were also seen defeating each of them. Nikhil identified the male dancing feet, Neha guessed the jersey number. Rannvijay guessed a gang and they were seen performing their task at the Goa.

Nikhil Chinappa’s Gang Wins First Task
After the participants’ perform the task, the final results were announced and the masks people were also got revealed. Prince made the most number of wrong guesses at the place of Jahangir so it was tough for his team to announce the gang leaders. So the task of the team announced and the teams got divided where there were two groups.

But now there is a big twist and as per this twist the winner of the challenge will announce who will rule the gang and the members who will perform well will get immunity too so that they won’t be evict either they will be coming at the bottom line.

The game started and the correctly guessed gang members the water comes out from a pipe with water from a pond using buckets. The team 2 had to stop them from successfully filling the pipes.

But when Divya from the Ranvijay’s team failed to perform well she got dumped which irked Ranvijay as he doesn’t want to lose someone from his team.

Prabjot leant against the barricades and it seems like advantage for them. 4 members performed for Nikhil’s team and the Nikhil’s team won the challenge. Due to Neha’s team did not perform well so she had an argument with Nikhil as Nikhil’s team perform well.

The performance of Neha’s gang was very disappointing also and Prince team also face disqualification as his team did not perform up to the mark. Nikhil’s gang won the game and he thanked Karan Kundra as it was actually Karan select them to be the perfect one.

Before the episode came to an end, a new twist was announced that now the gang leaders and their team won’t leave in the five-star hotels, rather they will be staying in the jungle at the tank as now the challenges of the Roadies will be the more difficult one.

source: http://www.dekhnews.com / Dekh News / Home / by Chitra Home Chowdhury / April 09th, 2017

Robin Uthappa (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Robin Uthappa is known for his hard-hitting batting and his hunger for big sixes. He is a talented stroke-maker, an outstanding fielder, a reliable wicketkeeper and can even bowl slow medium pace.

About

DOB November 11, 1985
Batting style Right Handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Bio

Robin Venu Uthappa had a dream One Day International debut in final match of the English tour of India in April 2006. He scored a well compiled 86 as an opening batsman before being dismissed run out. Uthappa first grabbed eyeballs after a good show in the 2005 Challenger Series playing for India-B against India-A. He played an important role in India’s win at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. He finished the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season as the highest run scorer that season. Uthappa entered Indian Premier League in 2008 after being bought by Mumbai Indian. He later shifted to Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009, Pune Warriors in 2011, and finally to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014. He currently plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

The Walking Assassin

Robin Uthappa has been nicknamed ‘The Walking Assassin’ for his tactic of charging the bowler. Uthappa, part of the Indian team that won the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007, made hi ODI debut in 2006 but from July 2008 to June 2014 was not picked in the ODI team. In the IPL format, he has been playing for Kolkata Knight Riders since 2014 and has been a consistent run-getter for the team.

Batting Statistics

Matches 135
Innings 130
Not outs 15
Runs 3390
Average 29.47
Strike rate 128.65
Highest score 83* v Royal Challengers Bangalore
Hundreds 0
Fifties 17
Balls faced 2635
Fours 341
Sixes 104

Fielding Statistics

Catches 66
Stumpings 26
Run outs 7

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Timesofindia.com / Home> Cricket> IPL> Player Profiles / Aoril 15th, 2017

Davis Cup: Leander Paes Dropped From India Squad, Rohan Bopanna To Play

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

The Indian Davis Cup team’s non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi dropped Leander Paes from the squad against Uzbekistan, opting for Rohan Bopanna instead.

Leander Paes’ glittering career as a Davis Cup player might be in its last stages after he was dropped from the Indian Davis Cup squad to play Asia-Oceania tie with Uzbekistan, to be played at the KSLTA Stadium in Bengaluru from April 7. Indian non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi went with Rohan Bopanna as the sole doubles specialist for the tie.Bhupathi had left both Paes and Bopanna out of the probables when he shortlisted names for the team a couple of days ago, and on Thursday, he opted for the latter.

Indian were already without the services of the injured Yuki Bhambri. He had been named in the original probable’s squad along with Ramkumar Ramanathan, Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Sriram Balaji.

Bopanna and Balaji will feature in the doubles match against Farrukh Dustov and Sanjar Fayziev. Bopanna is ranked 23rd in the world — 34 spots above Paes.

Ramkumar Ramanathan will now spearhead India’s singles challenge in place of injured Yuki Bhambri.

Ramanathan will face Temur Ismailov in the first singles rubber tomorrow. Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who replaced the injured Bhambri, will then take on Fayziev in the second singles rubber.

In the reverse singles on Sunday, Ramanathan will face Fayziev and Gunneswaran will play the final rubber against Ismai.

Paes, who made his Davis Cup debut against Japan in 1990 at Jaipur, has been dropped from the Davis Cup team on form for the first time in 27 years.

Paes is also in the cusp of creating a Davis Cup history. Paes is currently locked at 42 with Italian legend Nico Pietrangeli and is one win away from the record for most doubles wins in Davis Cup history.

(With inputs from Suprita Das and PTI)

source: http://www.sports.ndtv.com / NDTV / Sports Home> Tennis> News / edited by Jaideep Ghosh / April 06th, 2017