Ashwini Ponnappa – unheralded hero of Indian badminton’s dream run at CWG

Amazing Feats, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Ashwini Ponnappa (right) won her third Commonwealth Games medal as she bagged a Bronze in women's doubles with N Sikki Reddy in Gold Coast. (Photo: Reuters)
Ashwini Ponnappa (right) won her third Commonwealth Games medal as she bagged a Bronze in women’s doubles with N Sikki Reddy in Gold Coast. (Photo: Reuters)

India completed their best-ever medal in badminton at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Sunday with a total of the six medals, including two Gold, three Silver and a Bronze.

India not only won a Gold and two Silver in the singles events but scooped a gold medal in the Mixed Team event, a Silver in men’s doubles and a Bronze in the women’s doubles.

The reason for India to win double the number of badminton medals this year than the last two CWG is the success of doubles.

On Sunday, after the Games officially got over, Pullela Gopichand said that he felt “this tournament belongs to Ashwini (Ponappa).”

Ashwini Ponnappa is a name well known in India. She has been India’s top doubles players for quite a lot of years now but it is truly now that her name has begun to be highlighted well.

During the Mixed Team event final against Malaysia, Ashwini played the first match of the tie, the mixed doubles, with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Satwik, who is only 17 years old, is already one of the best doubles players in the country and world No.21 in men’s doubles along with Chirag Shetty. However, on April 9, 2017, it was Ashwini who led the pair to a stunning win against Rio Olympics silver-medallist Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.

Ashwini Ponnappa was constantly chatting with Satwik, guiding him, during their mixed doubles match in the Mixed Team event final. (Photo: Reuters)
Ashwini Ponnappa was constantly chatting with Satwik, guiding him, during their mixed doubles match in the Mixed Team event final. (Photo: Reuters)

In the first game of the mixed doubles, the Indian pair completely dominated the Malaysian pair but Chan and Goh soon found their way through Ashwini and Satwik and took over from the second game.

In the decider, Chan and Goh were leading 12-7 at one point but the Indian pair then won a point to make it 8-12. From there as Ashwini led the way with her serve, India won seven straight points to go up 15-12.

Therafter, Chan and Goh could win only three more points before Ashwini and Satwik took the match away.

Ashwini in that mixed doubles victory was a sight to behold. Such was her brilliance that even the commentators were in awe of her skills and intelligence.

One could see in those final few moments, the determination and belief in her eyes and her strokes, she knew they could win it. Even as the Malaysians played it around, Ashwini knew exactly where the shuttles would come, she would leap up front and go for the kill.

Satwik supported her ably. Ashwini was constantly chatting with Satwik, guiding him, discussing their strategies, leading the team and it showed. Satwik’s control at the back of the court enabled Ashwini to absolutely intimidate the opponents at the net. Ashwini’s sharpness and booming smashes, along with Satwik’s jump smash, eventually took them home.

It was that unexpected mixed doubles victory that pegged the defending champions Malaysia behind. It gave Kidambi Srikanth to come forth and play his game.

Like Gopichand said, “The win in the team championship was very critical to put the team 1-0 up and give the confidence to Srikanth to beat Lee Chong Wei.” And Srikanth dominated the legend Chong Wei in some style.

Satwik and Chirag, thereafter, missed the chance to seal the win in men’s doubles and India’s Golden Girl Saina Nehwal came next and sealed the deal, giving India their first-ever mixed team Gold at CWG. (India Open: Indian doubles stars show spark, five pairs in quarters)

Ashwini, along with N Sikki Reddy, went on to win a bronze medal in women’s doubles and missed a mixed doubles Bronze by a whisker.

Consider this, on April 14, Ashwini played a total of four matches. Four gruelling badminton matches and still managed to scoop a Bronze in women’s doubles.

ASHWINI’S ROLE IN GUIDING THE YOUNGSTERS IN INDIAN DOUBLES

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Ashwini’s importance in this badminton setup is not limited to the medals she brings home. Her stature has gone beyond that.

She plays in two different categories with two youngsters — a 17-year-old Satwik and a 24-year-old Sikki. She is the one who is making them better players.

Satwik is one of the most successful stories to come out of Premier Badminton League (PBL), where he plays along Olympic medallist Pia Zebadiah for Hyderabad Hunters. He came into prominence playing alongside Zabadiah but the immense growth the youngster has shown in the past year and a half, is down to the experience he is gaining from Ashwini.

Ashwini is a leader on the court. She teaches Satwik the mental aspect of the game and that helps him when he plays with Chirag in men’s doubles. (BWF rankings: Satwiksairaj-Chirag Shetty break into world top 20 for first time)

In fact, Ashwini is almost transmitting her leadership quality into Sikki. Sikki, who also plays mixed doubles with Pranaav Jerry Chopra, shows those leadership qualities alongside Pranaav.

Ashwini has achieved a great deal over the years. A women’s doubles Gold with Jwala Gutta in 2010 CWG started a long success story. Even then, perhaps the success did not get its due recognition. Thereafter, came a Silver in women’s doubles with Jwala at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, a Bronze in women’s doubles at the 2011 World Championships and many more. Yet, those achievements hardly created a stir in the sporting spectrum.

Doubles badminton needs to be given its due credit. In Australia, while Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth held sway at the individual events, the doubles players quietly took home two medals. Consequently, India was the most dominant nation in badminton during the Gold Coast events.

At the age of 28, Ashwini has a great deal of experience and many more years of play where she can achieve more glory and impart far more knowledge.

Even as the success story of Indian badminton at CWG 2018 was largely attributed to the credentials of the singles, it were truly the doubles players who stamped their name uniquely in Australia.

Among a host of Indian badminton stars in Gold Coast, Ashwini perhaps shone the brightest.

source: http://www.indiatoday.in / India Today / Home> News> Sports / by Abreshmina S. Quadri / New Delhi – April 16th, 2018

This is how you can taste your coffee like an expert

Coffee News, World Opinion

Ever heard of a coffee tasting session instead of the wine tasting session? Well, the entire concept of coffee-tasting is a not a far-fetched one considering the coffee-lovers are showing interest in tasting a large variety of coffee that is yet to be discovered.

‘Cupping’ is the word used for tasting session for brewed coffee to evaluate the quality of the coffee bean. It has been a prevalent practice in Britain since late 1990’s which is also recognised to be as the First Wave of American coffee, as per media reports.

As per a coffee expert, wine is considered to be a finished product that is already packaged in a bottle and just needs to be tasted whereas the coffee needs to freshly brewed and then is given for tasting thus changing the mechanics of the tasting sessions.

Another coffee expert said that a rise in the coffee brewers and constant innovation in the caffeine industry along with the rise in dedicated blogs for coffee tasting are the driving factors to increasing interest towards coffee-tasting sessions.

Some of the steps included in the coffee tasting sessions are as follows:

-Smelling the aroma of the dry coffee before it is added to the water.

The pour matter too because the purer the water, the more space the coffee has to extract.

The ratio of coffee to water matters also matters: around 13 grams of coffee to 230 grams of water, or 1:17. Given that an espresso is normally around 2:1, and one can see the difference in intensity. The water should be approximately 94/95 degrees, so just off the boil. Let the grinds infuse for around four minutes. Good quality coffee still tastes good when it cools, whereas poor quality coffee decreases further as it cools.

-Smell the coffee

Use a flat, wide spoon angled away from you to break the bubbly film on the top to release the aroma. Push the spoon through the crust, about halfway down into the cup, and put your face right up into it. Inhale at will. The sweeter, chocolate flavours go well with milk, while the fruity samples are best served as black.

-Then taste the coffee

Skim the top with the spoon, in order to avoid any floating grinds, and put a little on our tongues to slurp. Do not be ashamed of slurping the coffee and try to coat the entire mouth with coffee and push it at the back of the tongue where the taste buds are stronger and so you could identify the aroma.

-The ranking

Look out for the body, or texture/mouth feel, and the acidity. Also, take note of both the flavour and the aftertaste. Consider the acidity of the coffee as well.

So now we hope that the coffee lovers would be all set to take part in coffee-tasting sessions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-ANI> International / by ANI, London / April 17th, 2018

Youngsters clean River Cauvery at Srirangapatna

Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature
Around fifty youths mostly professionals at various sectors volunteered themselves to clean up the Cavuery River at Srirangapatna taluk on Sunday
Around fifty youths mostly professionals at various sectors volunteered themselves to clean up the Cavuery River at Srirangapatna taluk on Sunday

Mysuru:

Around 50 youngsters, mostly professionals in various sectors, volunteered to clean the Cauvery at Srirangapatna on Sunday.

Uniting under the banner, ‘Yuva Brigade’, the youngsters assembled bear the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple, and cleared the river of plastic and cloth dumped in the waterbody.

Members from the Mysuru-based NGO Swachanda also participated in the programme.

“We arrived at the banks of the river around 6am, and started to fish plastic and cloths from the Cauvery. This went on till 11am. We cleared around two truckloads of garments dumped by devotees in the river. The waste removed from the river was transported to the designated dumpyard,” Swachanda member BK Purushotham told TOI.

Members of the ‘Yuva Brigade’ led by social activist Chakravarthi Sulibele, have initiated a campaign to clean the Cauvery starting from Talacauvery to Srirangapatna. The campaign started on April 12.

The campaign is called ‘Jeeva Nadige Jeeva Thmbi (Infuse life into the river that is our lifeline)’. On Thursday, cleaning started at Siddapura, while the river was cleaned at Kushalnagar on Friday, Ramanathapura on Saturday, before the activists proceeded to Srirangapatna on Sunday.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City News> Mysore News / Times News Network / April 16th, 2018

Commonwealth Games 2018 squash: Dipika Pallikal-Joshna Chinappa get silver

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

Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver in women’s doubles squash final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost 9-11, 8-11 in the final of women’s doubles squash at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.(Twitter)
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost 9-11, 8-11 in the final of women’s doubles squash at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.(Twitter)

Defending Champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver after losing their women’s doubles final match to the New Zealand pair of Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy at the Commonwealth Games 2018 on Sunday.

Pallikal and Chinappa lost the final in straight games 9-11, 8-11 in just over 20 minutes.

Coming into the final the Indian pair had lost just three games in their six matches but lost both of their games in the final to win silver.

Dipika was understandably unhappy with the contentious calls.

“There were some shocking calls as usual, those calls changed the match. They need to be looked at. If they don’t, then the game doesn’t grow,” she said.

“It’s sad to see, the players and game are growing, but the officials they’re not growing at all. It’s harsh for us players,” the player from Chennai added.

Joshna too was disappointed with not winning the gold but found some consolation in the silver.

“It’s great that we could be in the finals, we had a great chance to win. The New Zealanders played really well, we had a few bad calls. It’s disappointing, but it happens, that’s sport. We still managed to get a silver four years later,” she added.

This is India’s and Dipika Pallikal’s second medal in squash at the Games after winning the silver in mixed doubles on Saturday.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Gold Coast / April 15th, 2018

National Barista Champioship in Bengaluru from April 18 to 20

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Bengaluru :

United Coffee Association of India (UCAI) and Coffee Board of India are to organise ‘The National Barista Champioship 2018’ in Bengaluru at Orion East Mall, Bengaluru.

The champioship spread over three days – April 18 – 20 is likely to see participants from various parts of the country competing.

For the Barista Champioship, United Coffee Association of India (UCAI)—a representative stakeholder in the Indian Coffee industry comprising of green coffee traders, manufactures of roast and ground coffees, along with coffee machinery manufacturers and dealers of equipment, cafes, coffee labs and coffee professionals—have to come together.

According to R Srikanth Rao, Vice President, United Coffee Association of India, “The competition has three rounds of elimination. Each barista would be preparing and presenting four cups each of espressos, milk beverage and signature drink which will be evaluated and judged by certified jury to identify the best in the various categories of beverages.”

The preliminary round will be on April 18 and 19 and the semifinals and finals would be on April 20. The head Judge for the competition would be Joe Hsu, who is international representative from World Coffee Events. The winner of National Barista Competition would represent India at the World Barista Championship to be held at Amsterdam, during June 2018.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News / by Anil Urs / Bengaluru – April 13th, 2018

Hearing Loss Blog, Hearing Health & Technology Matters, Celebrates 7 Years

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Tucson, Ariz.:

Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM), an organization bridging the knowledge gaps in treating hearing loss, is proud to celebrate its 7 year anniversary. The HHTM website is a resource for people who share the belief that Hearing Health & Technology Matters!

The editor’s at HHTM strive to provide timely information and lively insights to everyone who cares about hearing loss.

“Being a member of the HHTM writing team for the past 7 years and to see its growth has been exciting. People with hearing loss tell me that learning more about hearing and the view from the professional side has helped them deal better with their personal hearing loss,” said Gael Hannan, editor of the Better Hearing Consumer.

“Hearing Health & Technology Matters has filled a long-needed gap in the hearing healthcare industry; a series of reasoned and thoughtful blogs touching on underlying causes of issues without being constrained by any one ‘party line’,” said Dr. Marshall Chasin, an expert on music and hearing issues and editor of Hear the Music.

CELEBRATING HHTM MILESTONES:

Over the past 12 months, HHTM has exceeded 1 million unique pageviews. Since January 2018, the site has already witnessed greater than 20% growth in visits compared to 2017.

January 2018: Brian Taylor, AuD, was named Editor-In-Chief of HHTM and Amyn Amlani, PhD, was welcomed as new section editor of Hearing Economics.

March 2018: HHTM underwent a significant brand refresh. The website undertook major updates, including a new company logo. This update significantly enhanced the overall performance of the site and user experience.

March 2018: HHTM launched new section, Innovations in Hearing Healthcare, and welcomed new editor, Bopanna B. Ballachanda, PhD.

March 2018: HHTM’s Jane Madell, PhD, editor of Hearing and Kids, and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director, producer, writer and cinematographer Irene Taylor Brodsky, premiered their documentary The Listening Project on March 9th at the American Cochlear Implant Alliance’s (ACIA) annual scientific meeting in Washington, DC.

“I take great pride in my role of Editor In Chief of the Hearing News Watch at HHTM. We strive to be an independent source of accurate and timely information. Like all credible journalists, our top priority is to inform our readers, who are combination of hearing healthcare professionals and lay-people, with unbiased reporting and thoughtful opinions about topics related to hearing healthcare,” said Dr. Brian Taylor, Editor In Chief.

HHTM articles and reporting have been cited and republished frequently over the last several years by authoritative sources inside and outside the hearing industry, including HHTM news reports cited in the influential “PCAST” report from the Obama Whitehouse in the fall of 2015.

“When I was first invited to work on the blogs, I hardly knew what a blog was… and I am not too sure many of our authors knew either. I had probably been to a blog but did not really know the term for it. It has really been hard work – but lots of fun – to be part of a blog that has gone from zero hits to millions of hits over the past 7 years. I must say, however, that the dedication of our initial investment team, our web site administrator and our authors that spent hours and hours of their time putting together blogs for our site once per week has allowed it to get to where it is today,” said Dr. Robert Traynor, editor of Hearing International.

The editors of Hearing Health & Technology Matters regularly add fresh content, including the latest industry news, so be sure to visit the website regularly for new articles. To view a full list of editors, visit: hearinghealthmatters.org/about-hearing-health-matters.

source: http://www.prweb.com / PR Web / Home> News Center / Tucson, Arizona – April 12th, 2018

The gold is a big confidence booster for us: Ashwini Ponnappa

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

The Indian contingent is on a roll at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.

They created history by winning the first gold ever in the mixed team badminton event.
AshwiniKF12apr2018

In the team is namma Karnataka hudugi Ashwini Ponnappa. We managed to talk to her for a brief moment, during which she shared the excitement and some details about plans for the rest of the tournament. She says, “I’m really happy. This is the first time we are winning a gold at the CWG mixed team event. It’s a huge confidence booster for all of us.”

The team is looking at this gold as an opportunity to better their record and aim for more wins at the tournament. “I sincerely hope that we get to do this again in the other team events too. But for now, the focus is on the individual events and doing well there as well,” Ashwini signs off.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> Lifestyle> Spotlight / by Sunayana Suresh / TNN / April 11th, 2018

A symbiotic bond with tribal communities

About Kodagu / Coorg, Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature

For 38-year-old S Thanaraj, a visit to study the impact on the lifestyle of Paliyar tribal community due to globalisation in 2006 was a life changing moment. He was impressed by how tribal communities embrace nature and live in forests complementing each other.

A native of Radhapuram in Tirunelveli, he shifted to Madurai to pursue law. Being a dalit, Thanaraj has witnessed caste discrimination at a very young age. He always stood against it and had the tendency of helping others since childhood. This came true after his formal education, when he turned an activist. The law graduate has worked in various areas like youth empowerment, environment and total prohibition by joining hands with various organisations including CESCI, Ekta Parishad and People’s Education for Action and Liberation.

Thanaraj became an Adivasi activist after he extensively worked with the Paliyars, educating them about the Forest Act which ensures their right over forest land. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act passed in 2006 promises tribal rights over agriculture land which traditional belonged to them, accessing forest produces and right to protect and manage the forest, which had been denied for long.

“I went to educate them, but ended up learning so many things from them. Their life is an exemplary one in conserving forest, which needs to be learnt by all. I have taken these lessons to over 1.5 lakh school and college students so far,” Thanaraj said.

For instance, Adivasis do not kill pregnant animals for meat. When they collect roots, they plant more and they never cut living trees, they only use dead trees. They treat woman equally and encourage widow remarriage. There is no dowry system either, said Thanaraj.
While he worked for Paliyars till 2008, he expanded his horizon and started working for various communities like Kadar in Valparai and Anaimalai, Malasar in Amaravathi, Udumalaipettai and Anaimalai, Muduvan in the interior forests of Theni and Valparai forests and Mahamalasar from Anaimalai and Topslip.

Thanaraj’s has a strategy in empowering the Adivasi community. To create leaders among them, unite them to retrieve their rights over forest and defend themselves from exploitation, he along with the organisations he works for help Adivasis in various areas in the state by getting them housing facility and agricultural land. Only recently, Kadar tribe from 24 villages in and around Valparai in Coimbatore received 10 acres of land after several stages of protest.
Thanaraj has taken part in various national-wide protests carried out to ensure the rights of Adivasis. He has also organised many state-level protests demanding total prohibition. He has also extensively worked in the Tsunami rescue and rehabilitation throughout the TN coast. He also played active role in the protests against Sterlite and Koodankulam nuclear plant.

Thanaraj was lucky to get married to a like-minded person like K M Leelavathi, a daughter of a tribal leader from Coorg, in 2010. An MSW graduate, she too joined him in the work towards helping deprived communities. Recently, he joined the Centre for Justice and People and continues his work towards Adivasi empowerment.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Madurai News / TNN / April 11th, 2018

Coffee cargo handling up from New Mangalore port

Business & Economy, Coffee News

CoffeeBeansKF11apr2018
Mangaluru :

Proactive measures initiated by the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) in the recent years have helped attract more coffee cargo from other ports in the recent years.

Suresh P Shirwadkar, Chairman in-charge of the NMPT, told BusinessLine that the port handled 2.41 lakh tonnes (lt) of coffee cargo during 2017-18 as against 2.36 lt in 2016-17. The port shipped out 1.94 lt in 2015-16 and 1.59 lt in 2014-15.

A senior port official said that more than 90 per cent of coffee cargo are being exported from the NMPT now. Had there been no lull in the international market, the coffee exports from NMPT would have gone up by another 10,000 tonnes, he said.

Stating that a majority of coffee is located in the hinterland areas such as Kodagu, Chikmagaluru and Hassan districts of Karnataka, he said all of them are within 180 km distance from NMPT. The cargo can reach Mangaluru within in four-and-a-half hours from the hinterland. There is no inter-State transfer of the cargo. All these factors have helped exporters to save time and money, he said.

Exporters now have the option of three ports for transhipment of cargo. If the transhipment is delayed for Colombo, the cargo can be taken to Mundra port. With this, transit time comes down.

Ramesh Rajah, Coffee Exporters Association, says New Mangalore port has emerged as preferred choice for exporters due to improved infrastructure including a quick customs clearance and increase in number of sailings. As rising fuel prices add to the exporters’ costs, proximity to Mangalore has worked out to their advantage.

To a query on the reduction in the cost when compared to Kochi, the NMPT official said the cost is less by around IRs. 6,000 a container compared to the neighbouring ports.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home / by AJ Vinayak / Mangaluru – April 04th, 2018

Indian T20 League 2018: Robin Uthappa plays his 150th match; joins Virat Kohli and others

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

Robin Uthappa has been associated with Kolkata franchise since 2014.

Robin Uthappa has been associated with Kolkata since 2014 © AFP
Robin Uthappa has been associated with Kolkata since 2014 © AFP

Robin Uthappa’s long association with Indian T20 League 2018 has reached a new landmark. The right-handed batsman is playing his 150th match. He achieved this feat as Kolkata took on Bangalore at Eden Gardens. Uthappa has played for franchises like Mumbai, Bangalore, the now defunct Pune franchise owned by Sahara and Kolkata. He has been associated with Kolkata franchise since 2014.

From 149 matches, Uthappa has 3,735 runs at an impressive strike-rate of 131.79. He also has 22 half-centuries to his name. He is sixth highest run-getter in the history of Indian T20 League. His Kolkata captain Dinesh Karthik will be playing his 153th Indian T20 League match. Virat Kohli will also be playing his 150th Indian T20 League match. Interestingly, all his matches have come for Bangalore.

Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni have played more match than Kohli, Uthappa and Karthik.

source: http://www.cricketcountry.com / Cricket Country / Home> Series> Indian Premier League 2018> News / by CricketCountry Staff / April 08th, 2018