In the right direction

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai, Mike Nithavrianakis presenting the scholarship to Natasha Bopaiah. P.M.Belliappa looks on. / Photo: V. Ganesan / The Hindu

British Deputy High Commissioner, Chennai, Mike Nithavrianakis presenting the scholarship to Natasha Bopaiah. P.M.Belliappa looks on. / Photo: V. Ganesan / The Hindu


Pemananda Monappa Scholarship helps deserving students pursue higher studies abroad

A twenty-year-old law graduate from Coorg has won The Pemanda Monappa Scholarship this year. Natasha Bopaiah, a graduate from Symbiosis Law School (Pune) will be leaving for Cambridge University this September to pursue her Masters degree. The scholarship is being offered by the Pemanda Monappa Trust and has funded four students in the last four years. Offered by P.M. Belliappa in the name of his late father, the scholarship, is awarded to Indian citizens who have completed a first degree at a recognised university in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala or Tamil Nadu, have been admitted to graduate studies in Cambridge, and have demonstrated financial need. It covers university tuition fees, college fees and allowances paid to scholars for living expenses in Cambridge. “I hope she returns home after her studies to contribute to society in a manner resembling what my father did many years ago,” Belliappa said at an event recently, where the scholarship letter was handed over to Natasha by Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner.

Natasha, a gold-medallist from Symbiosis, will be pursuing a degree in corporate and environment law at the University. “I would like to focus on issues such as the impact of climate change on human beings and also on farmers in particular,” she said, “Initially, I will be working on litigations but I hope to eventually handle politics.”

N. Ravi, Director, The Hindu Group of Publications Ltd., said “People from Coorg, though small in number are high achievers. There are so many names you can quote in the field of sports and academics. So it comes as no surprise that the scholarship, this year, goes to Natasha, who hails from there.” While Leela Samson, chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi and Central Board of Film Certification, who presided over the event added, “Everything we have to offer the world is influenced by who we are. And they are unmistakably Indian… The wise explore and accept each new idea in their merit and with the holistic learning that Natasha will go through in another country will help her discover her strengths and weaknesses.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Anusha Parthasarthy / Chennai – August 08th, 2013

Nicaragua launches new Coffee Trail

Coffee News, World Opinion

The Nicaragua Tourist Board has launched the Coffee Trail, a new tourist route that will give visitors an authentic experience of the northern region of the country.

The Coffee Trail covers five regional departments – Estelí, Jinotega, Madriz, Matagalpa, and Nueva Segovia – and aims to show visitors the diverse culture, food, scenery and tourism products of this area.

Visitors following the route will travel through several coffee and tobacco plantations and stay in charming rural hotels or guest farmhouses where they can take part in everyday activities. They can hike through nature reserves, visit picturesque villages and towns, and see how the locals produce beautiful handicrafts made of marble, clay or tusa (corn skin). The local gastronomy is another main attraction, including several corn-based dishes.

In Matagalpa, travellers can find out more about the history of tobacco and coffee production in the area at the National Coffee Museum. The department of Jinotega is the country’s main producer of coffee, renowned for its quality. In Estelí, visitors can choose amongst several natural parks – Cerro Tisey-La Estanzuela, Miraflores-Moropolente, Canta-Gallo, and La Patasta – to enjoy beautiful scenery. Madriz is famous for its ‘rosquillas’, or typical doughnuts, perfect to accompany a good cup of coffee. Nueva Segovia is known for its colonial and revolutionary history, and the typical handicrafts made by the local indigenous community.

The Coffee Trail offers visitors a combination of indigenous traditions, history, lush natural landscapes and a rich biodiversity, together with the warmest welcome from the locals, to provide an authentic experience of Northern Nicaragua.

source: http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk / ITCM / Home> News> Venues & Events / Monday – July 29th, 2013

Hoping for a bagful of medals

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Pune:

The picturesque Balewadi Sports Complex looked resplendent against the Baner Hillock, washed clean by the steady drizzle since afternoon. Yet, some 50 odd fans braved the pitter-patter to gather at the warm up ground as Indian quartermiler MR Poovamma went through her drills on the eve of Asian Track and Field Championships, on Tuesday evening.

As the chief coach Bahadur Singh watched keenly from a distance, another coach, N. Ramesh was busy explaining to a group of people how much it depends on the young 400 metres runner to lift the sagging morale of Indian athletics after the doping scandal involving six top female runners threatened to break the backbone of the sport.

“With all top female 400 metres runners including Ashwini and Mandeep being banned for doping, some felt India’s supremacy in Asia in this event would be over,” said Ramesh.

“We were once again able to build a team from the scratch that would be hard to beat in Asia. If Poovamma is our best bet, then equally talented are girls like Nirmala and Anu Mariam Jose.”

Having established herself as the top quartermiler of the country, Poovamma is placed second in the Asian lists for the season with her 52.75 recorded at Fed Cup at Patiala. For the record, No. 1 Japanese Haruka Sugiura, 52.52, is not competing here.

Poovamma should be a strong contender for gold; she had swept the three legs of the Asian Grand Prix series this season. Yulia Rakhmanova of Kazakhstan is expected to be her closest challenger. Gone are the days when India returned home with 10 gold medals from the Asian meet like they did in 1985 in Jakarta.

India are no longer considered an athletics superpower in the continent and in the last meet in Kobe, they managed to win only one gold through triple jumper Mayookha Johny.

Yet, in the 20th edition of the Championship beginning here Wednesday, India, being represented by a record number of 107 athletes, are expected to win a handful of medals. While the hosts have the luxury of naming three participants in each of the 42 events, the fact that as many as 21 events won’t see Asia’s current toppers would also definitely help the athletes from the home country. For being the hosts, India can expect to finish second or third in the medals tally, which has been dominated by the Chinese athletes for nearly 30 years now.

In the next one week, several Indians are expected to finish on the podium — Vikas Gowda (men’s discus), Sudha Singh (women’s 3000m steeplechase), MR Poovamma (women’s 400m), Kumaravel Prem Kumar (men’s long jump), Tintu Luka (women’s 800m), Renjith Maheswary (men’s triple jump) and Krishna Poonia (women’s discus). While all these are gold medal prospects, the likes of Mayookha Johny (women’s long jump and triple jump) and Arpinder Singh (men’s triple jump) are among other medal prospects.

The winners of gold medals in this meet would have the advantage of getting direct qualification for the World Championship in Moscow. Gowda is the top performer of the season among the participants with Iran’s 2012 London Olympic silver medallist Ehsan Hadadi deciding to skip the event in view of the Moscow World Championships in August.

Gowda’s 65.82m effort in April is the season’s second best among Asians after Hadadi’s 66.98m.

In women’s 3000m steeplechase, Sudha Singh is the clear favourite after her 9:45.60 effort in the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai early last month, which is a national record.

In the absence of last edition winner Minori Hayakari of Japan, Sudha’s contest for gold medal is likely to be with Ruth Chebet of Bahrain.

Sudha, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist, had finished second behind Hayakari in the last Asian Championships in 2011 in Kobe.

Krishna Poonia, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist and India’s most famous female athlete would be taking the field without much practice.

“I suffered an injury and could hardly practice after the Chennai nationals. I have to rely more on experience,” she said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcullta-India / Front Page> Sport> Story / by Jaydeep Basu / Wednesday – July 03rd,2013

Ktk CM gives Rs 1 lakh cheque to Ponnamma

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

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today handed over Rs one lakh cheque to M N Ponnamma, who was part of the bronze-medal winning Indian junior world hockey team in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

“I would like to congratulate Ponnamma for her achievement. The government will extend all support to her and hope she would one day play for the Indian senior team,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after handing over the cash reward to Ponnamma at his official residence here.

Ponnamma, who hails from Ponnampet town in Kodagu district, thanked Siddaramaiah for supporting her. “I was very happy when the chief minister promised to extend all support to me.”

Ponnamma said she is focusing hard to come up with yet another sterling performance in next month’s Asia Cup to be played in Malaysia.

Ponnamma, who is a defender, played in all the matches of the world junior hockey tournament and scored the all important third goal in the quarterfinal against Spain, which India won 4-2.

She said her good performance in the last year’s nationals had earned her a place in the national team.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Bangalore – August 14th, 2013

Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa to renew partnership

Sports

India’s most successful doubles badminton pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa are set to renew their partnership in October.

The successful combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who won India’s first women’s doubles bronze medal at the 2011 World Championship, is all set to be back together.

Almost a year after they broke up following Jwala’s seven-month sabbatical from badminton in August last year, Ashwini and Jwala are in talks to pair up once again but both of them refused to divulge the details.

The duo confirmed on Tuesday that they will play together again.

“Yes, we have decided to partner again. We have done well together and we just thought of renewing the partnership once more,” Ashwini said.

Jwala Gutta (left) and Ashwini Ponnappa. File Pic
Jwala Gutta (left) and Ashwini Ponnappa. File Pic

Jwala reiterated the same point here at the unveiling of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) trophy.

“Yes, we decided to get back together. We have done well in the past. We won medals at the Commonwealth Games and then at the World Championships. It is hard to say when we will get back together because we need to discuss a lot of things as of now,” Jwala told IANS.

Asked what were the reasons for getting back together, Jwala said: “Well, there are many reasons. When the time is right, we will let you know. It is not just about the results but about a lot more. But the important thing is we are getting back together.”

Both the shuttlers, however, refused to divulge details of their future plans.

Ashwini and Jwala are India’s only doubles shuttlers to win a medal at the World Championships, where they clinched the bronze in London two years ago.

Discussing the partnership, Ashwini said: ” feel Jwala and I can get back together. Both of us think it would be good for us. We have done well in the past but I don’t want to talk much about it now.”

Following the London Olympics, Jwala had taken a break and Ashwini decided to pair up with Pradyna Gadre. The pair had some good wins and are currently the world number 26 combination in the world.

Jwala, who had been playing with Prajakta Sawant since April after the latter was named in the Indian squad following a court’s order.

Jwala and Ashwini had also won the Commonwealth Games gold medal at the Siri Fort stadium where they will lead Delhi Smashers and Pune Pistons in their inaugural match of the Indian Badminton League (IBL).

source: http://www.mid-day.com / Mid Day / Home> Sports / New Delhi – August 13th, 2013

Ashwini Nachappa releases Nirupama’s autobiography

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports

Former sprint champion Ashwini Nachappa did the honours in releasing the autobiography of ex-India tennis player Nirupama Sanjeev (nee Vaidyanathan), titled “Moonballer” at a function here Tuesday.

Nirupama said: “In the book launch elsewhere, I had distinguished sportspersons releasing my book, but all were men and I am glad that in Bangalore, it is Ashwini.”

Nirupama, who became National champion at 14 and was the first Indian woman to win a first round tie in a Grand Slam event (Australian Open in 1998), said the book chronicled her struggles, hardships and her quest for excellence in the game.

“I wrote it as a motivational book for all those who face similar situations, though things have changed a lot in Indian tennis,” said the US-based Nirupama.

Turning nostalgic, she said: “It was not an easy journey for me and I took up the game because I wanted to prove my family that I too can be a player, than being a mere ball girl for my brother.

“My coach was my father who was a self-taught player and coach. I made my decision to turn professional and to stay and play in Europe when I was 17. It was not an easy choice either, with no sponsor, and I had to do everything on my own.

“I remember the time when I had to opt out of doubles tie of an ITF tournament in Barcelona because I could not afford to say in a Hotel. Nevertheless, it was a satisfying career and I chose to write after I came out of retirement after a10-year break,” said Nirupama.

Married to Sanjeev, a software pro in the US where she has her ‘Niru Tennis Academy’, Nirupama urged the youngsters not give up on their dreams.

Ashwini, who is also writing her book, echoed Nirupama’s sentiments and said: “Both of us achieved what we could due to parental support.

“Sport is a great leveller in life. It teaches one to handle emotions, success and defeats and many a life lessons could be learnt in a sports arena.”

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS / Sports / by IANS / Bangalore – August 13th, 2013

Aggression has a new meaning for me, says Uthappa

Leaders, Sports

Mumbai :

Robin Uthappa has stood out for his trademark shot, walking down the wicket to loft over the bowler’s head. But such rash shots have often led to the Karnataka batsman’s downfall. The 27-year-old now wants to eliminate such risks to try and regain his India spot and sees his inclusion in the India ‘A’ squad to face New Zealand A in a one-day series this month end as a first step. Uthappa speaks to HT.

How do you see your India ‘A’ selection?

For the last year-and-a-half, I have been working on different aspects of my game – physical and mental. This is the first step towards making it to the India team.
How have you changed over the last season?

I needed a level of consistency to have the kind of season I did. Before the last season, I knew I was only 50-60% ready. But, if I could still have a decent season, I knew I can achieve a lot more.

Would you say you are more mature?

The definition of aggression has changed for me. I’m still an aggressive batsman, but I put a bigger price on my wicket. And technical changes helped me finish among the top-ten run-getters in the IPL despite difficult conditions in Pune (Pune Warriors’ home). I changed my grip and stance, which allowed me a better base.

What keeps you motivated?

I believe I belong to the India team. I never batted in one position for three games at a stretch. Had I done that in my 38 ODIs, I would have cemented my place. And Test cricket is something I have wanted since I picked up the bat.

Have you spoken to senior players?

I met Dravid a couple of weeks ago. He had heard I scored a triple century (in the Safi Darashan tournament). He came and watched me bat and told me he was very happy with how I have changed my batting approach.
HT Media Limited

source:http://www.india.nydailynews.com/ Daily News / Home> News / Mumbai – Saturday, August 10th, 2013

Nicaragua launches new coffee trail

Coffee News

nicaragua13aug2013
The Nicaragua Tourist Board has launched the Coffee Trail, a new tourist route that will give visitors a unique experience of the northern region of the country.

The Coffee Trail covers five regions and aims to show visitors the diverse culture, food, scenery and tourism products of this area. Visitors following the route will travel through several coffee and tobacco plantations and stay in charming rural hotels or guest farmhouses, where they can take part in everyday activities.

The tour will also include hiking through nature reserves, visiting picturesque towns and villages, and seeing how the locals make handicrafts made of marble, clay or tusa (corn skin). The local gastronomy is another main attraction, including several corn-based dishes.

In Matagalpa, travellers can find out more about the history of tobacco and coffee production in the area at the National Coffee Museum. The region of Jinotega is the country’s main producer of coffee and is renowned for its quality. In Estelí, visitors can choose amongst several natural parks – Cerro Tisey-La Estanzuela, Miraflores-Moropolente, Canta-Gallo, and La Patasta – to enjoy stunning scenery. Madriz is famous for its ‘rosquillas’, or typical doughnuts, perfect to accompany a good cup of coffee, while Nueva Segovia is known for its colonial and revolutionary history.

The Coffee Trail will offer visitors a combination of indigenous traditions, history, lush natural landscapes and a rich biodiversity, as well as the chance to interact with the locals.

Further information and details of accommodation and tour companies offering the route will be available shortly on the Nicaragua Tourist Board’s website: www.visit-nicaragua.com.

source: http://www.iwantsun.co.uk / Home> Active Sun / Friday – July 26th, 2013

Likith brace powers Govt HS

Sports

A brace from Likith BM powered Government High School, Ponnampet past Bishop Cottons Boys High School 2-0 in the Rotary Bangalore Indiranagar GS Randhawa memorial inter-school boys’ hockey tournament at the KSHA stadium on Thursday.

In the girls’ category, for the Bothireddy Cup, a double from Chemvamba R helped GHS Ponnampet crush Bishop Cottons Girls High School 5-0. An own goal in the 45th minute only added to Cotton girls’ woes.

Results: Boys: GHS Ponnampet: 2 (Likith BM 11th, 29th) bt Bishop Cottons BHS: 0.
Girls: GHS Ponnampet: 5 (Charisma AP 2nd, Niveditha N 26th, Chelvamba R 27th, 29th, Own goal 45th) bt Bishop Cotton GHS: 0.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / by DHNS / Bangalore – August 09th, 2013

I Am ‘Prajju’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Praju12aug2013
Actress Prajwal Poovaiah hailing from the hilly region of Coorg has cut short her name to ‘Prajju Poovaiah’ and that is mainly because of the existence of young actor Prajwal Devaraj.

First seen in ‘Cotton Pete’ Kannada cinema muhurth of director N Omprakash Rao, Prajju was later picked for ‘Bheema Theeradalli’. With an average film for her debut she went to Tamil cinema and come back to Kannada via ‘Kittodh Love Story’. She is now main lead in ‘Patharagitthi’.

Prajwal Poovaiah is ‘dilkush’ for the new offer. The second film centers on the heroine. It is a love story too says Prajwal Poovaiah.

In her comeback to Kannada cinema Prajju wants to get good name first here and then accept other language films.

In ‘Kittod Love Story’ I have good dialogues while in ‘Patharagitthi’ it is romantic and naughty. I have to perform well in both the film to get a strong stay in audience mind says Prajwal Poovaiah. Even before the release of her debut Kannada film she was consulted for a Tamil film. Prajwal made debut in ‘Anagarikalu’ and glamorous looking heroine Prajwal Poovaiah got offer ‘Veteyadu’ Tamil film.

source: http://www.indiaglitz.com / India Glitz / Home> Watch Movies / Monday – July 15th, 2013