Category Archives: Sports

Girl Power: The Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy launched report

October 21, 2014Education, Sportsadmin

Silverscreen goes to the launch of the Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women

We walked into the venue of Alisha Abdullah’s racing academy launch on a wet, wet day. An older gentleman in a bright blue shirt was on the piano, playing a song that obviously held deep meaning for him. Before we could get closer to investigate, a bold dash of colour grabbed our attention.

There was no evidence of the biker chick in the Alisha Abdullah we saw yesterday. In a neat pink blazer and with her hair in an intricate braid, she looked like your average fashion conscious Chennai-ite. Albeit one with a higher purpose. After ushering us inside, she went away to pose for the photographers. Hashtag pretty in pink .

When Alisha’s father arrived with one of the guests of the evening – Akbar Ebrahim, the father of Indian Moto Sports – the event began. Akbar has literally seen Alisha grow – from that of a child obsessed with racing to a woman who has raced with the best of them. The fact that she has never considered her gender a ‘restriction’ and has excelled in what is essentially a man’s sport is an immense source of pride to both Akbar and Abdullah. “Motor sports is not the easiest place for anybody, much less a young girl. She could have thrown a fit about many things, but she bore it all stoically and it is this strength that will help her with this new initiative of hers,” said a beaming Akbar on stage.

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When it was Alisha’s time to speak, she used it wisely. She spoke of the time when she felt intimidated at the races in Thailand; a ‘smaller’ country than India. “I thought I would easily finish in the top three, but I was beaten by eight very powerful women racers. I couldn’t compete on the same level and it got me thinking. What do they have that we Indian girls don’t?”

It was with this aim – to provide talented racers in India the guidance needed to survive in races abroad – that the academy was started. “I have been thinking about this for over three years. After a lot of brainstorming sessions with dad and mom, it was only this year that I could finally set up something concrete.” Alisha plans to recruit a hundred students for the academy and provide free training for them. And she will be doing this while juggling her successful and ‘satisfying’ racing career and the cinema opportunities too. “I want to use my stardom for the betterment and empowerment of women. When my film released, many women got in touch with me and asked me to help them drive super-bikes. It’s this need that I want to satisfy.”

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The academy was then duly launched by Renuka David, Bruce Schwack and Ashok Verghese.

Alisha hopes to begin the school soon and if all goes well, she will also embark on an extensive promotional tour to publicise it.

source: http://www.silverscreen.in / SilverScreen.in / Home> Events / Vandhana / October 21st, 2014

Jayaram conquers doubts after surgery to win Dutch Open

October 14, 2014Records, All, Sports, World Opinionadmin

For a long time, Ajay Jayaram was known for losing out on an Olympic berth to Parupalli Kashyap during the 2012 India Open. It seemed as if Jayaram had all but sealed the spot with some good performances round the year, but Kashyap pipped him courtesy a lucky break as the then World No. 4 Chen Jin gave the latter a walkover in the quarter-finals that eventually proved decisive.

Jayaram was crestfallen and since then has been trying hard to bounce back. He enjoyed a decent run but not as much he would have liked. To add to his woes, a shoulder injury during the Hong Kong Open in January this year put him out of action for more than six months.

Jayaram underwent a surgery and did the necessary rehabilitation. But at only his fourth tournament back, the Mumbai shuttler won the biggest event of his career when he clinched the Dutch Open Grand Prix on Sunday.

“Definitely it has surprised me. I played some good attacking badminton. I need to maintain this level of focus and discipline in the coming tournaments. That will be the key to getting good results,” Jayaram told MAIL TODAY.

“I am elated. It has been a tough few months. Even after I resumed playing, it wasn’t easy to find my rhythm. It took me a while to get back the match temperament and touch. But I am happy I managed to dig deep and get the muchneeded win which also happens to be my first Grand Prix title. I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback,” he said.

The manner of his win, coming against a tough field, should give Jayaram immense confidence. Beating the likes of third seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (World No. 26) of Indonesia and top seed Rajiv Ouseph (World No. 29) of England would do him a world of good.

“With higher-ranked players like Ouseph and Rumbaka in my half, it wasn’t going to be easy. I secured convincing wins against both. The final was against an upcoming Indonesian (Ihsan Maulana Mustofa). It was a hard fought five-game battle which swung both ways. I had to dig deep and bring all my focus into play in the fifth game where I was 1-5 down. But I played well and was positive when it mattered.”

Coming back from the shoulder injury was never going to be easy and Jayaram admitted that he was often frustrated. “The first few tournaments were quite hard to adapt to. But I knew it was a matter of perseverance. There were trying moments when frustration set in. But I had to keep my chin up and keep working.” Now Jayaram has got a feel of the new scoring system that is being introduced at the Grand Prix level on an experimental basis. The 11-points best-of-five games scoring format has been criticised by many top players. “Although the game gets shorter, most of the match is played under more pressure which requires more focus. Hard to say if it is the way to go for badminton, but I’m glad I was able to adjust to it and do well.” Jayaram, who was ranked as high as 21st in early 2013, has now fallen to 66th, and with many Indian players going past him, he was not part of the Asian Games squad. Getting back to the national team is his priority.

“If I am able to maintain the same positive tempo, I’m sure I will regain my place in the core group,” he said.

source: http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in / IndiaToday.in / Home> Sports / by Avishek Roy / New Delhi – October 14th, 2014

CM announces cash awards for Asiad medallists from TN

October 10, 2014Records, All, Sports, World Opinionadmin

Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has congratulated the 11 sportspersons from the State who won at the Asian Games, Incheon, South Korea. He also announced cash incentives for them.

Gold medallists Kush Kumar, Harinder Pal Singh and Saurav Ghoshal (squash), and Sreejesh Parattu Ravindran (hockey) will get Rs. 50 lakh each.

Silver medallists Aparajitha Balamurukan, Anaka Alankamony, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallika (squash) will get Rs. 30 lakh each.

Bronze medallists Varsha Gautham and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan (sailing), and Rajiv Arokia (400 m race) will be given Rs. 20 lakh each.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – October 10th, 2014

When the south got a taste of her music

October 5, 2014Sportsadmin

Though it took Lata a little over two decades to make a comeback in the Tamil film industry, she always maintained a connection with the south, and is a self-confessed fan of M.S. Subbulakshmi — Photo: The Hindu Archives

Few remember that Lata Mangeshkar’s debut in Tamil was as early as in 1956

Last week, veteran playback singer Lata Mangeshkar celebrated her 85 birthday, and accolades poured in from everywhere.

Lata was all of 13 when she took to professional singing and it was not long before she took the Bombay film industry by storm. So much so that, according to a report in The Hindu dated August 11, 1951, it was nothing but ‘Mangesh Music’ that ruled — “on screen, on the radio, and in street corners by enthusiastic urchins”.

Though most Illayaraja fans will credit the ‘Maestro’ for bringing the magical voice to Tamil films in the 1980s, few will remember that Lata’s debut in Tamil was as early as in 1956. With the film Vana Ratham, ardent fans in this part of the country got an opportunity to listen to the legend croon a couple of songs in their native tongue. This was, in many ways, her Tamil debut.

The film, a dubbed version of the Hindi original Udan Khatola starring Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, Suryakumari, and Agha, was directed by S.U. Sunny and produced by Naushad Ali, who was also the music composer.

The film itself was remembered for its visual flamboyance and touching music. While in Hindi it was Shakeel Badayuni who penned the lyrics, in Tamil, Kambadasan, adept at writing for dubbed movies, was roped in to do the same. Set to the same tunes, songs such as En ullam vittu odaathe, Enthan Kannalan, and Ennai Kande Selvai that were sung by Lata for the actress Nimmi became huge hits.

More than the film itself, it was its music that got noticed.

Despite making a promising start in the Tamil film industry, it took the singer a little over two decades to make a comeback.

It was between 1987 and 1988 that she finally returned with two back to back renditions —Aaraaro Aaraaro and Valai Osai, both set to Ilayaraja’s tunes — in the films Anand and Sathya, respectively.

Lata was not unaware of the popular music being produced in this part of the country.

In an interview with reporter ‘Partha’ of The Hindu in 1951, she said she was a big fan of K.B Sundarambal and never missed any of M.S. Subbulakshmi’s concerts in Bombay. If she had any regrets, she said, it was her lack of training in Carnatic music. “I really want to learn it, but hardly find the time.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / Nitya Menon / Chennai – October 05th, 2014

Junior spikers do Coimbatore proud

October 4, 2014Sportsadmin

The junior stars who did Coimbatore proud in the Tamil Nadu State junior inter-district volleyball championship at Tirunelveli recently.

The junior spikers from this part of the region put up a splendid show in the Tamil Nadu State inter-district junior volleyball championship at Tirunelveli.

The boys staved off a stiff challenge to oust a fighting Tiruchi for the title. Coach Murali was obviously pleased with the show. “It was not one or two individuals who did the job for us. It was a total team effort. There were quite a few teams which boasted of players with great height (195 cm) advantage but still our boys were able to cut them down to size, mainly due to some fine understanding.”

The girls did an equally good job but faltered in the final hurdle against Chennai. “We failed to get the blocks right. Frankly speaking, we did not have a block specialist. And, that did the damage. Also, two of our star players (Sandhya and Nandhini Priyanka) failed to get going. We rolled the bench as well but it was not our day. But, I am still pleased with the show,” said Kalpana, the team’s coach.

The Coimbatore District Volleyball Association and its office-bearers felicitated the players.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Coimbatore – September 26th, 2014

When a duo punched above their weight

October 3, 2014Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinionadmin

The match between Sita Bai of Tanjore and Kamala Bai of Malabar saw enthusiastic crowds but also led to controversy./ The Hindu Archives

The 1st all-woman boxing bout lasted only 3 rounds but ignited a fiery debate

Sunday was a fine day for Indian women’s boxing at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon. Olympic bronze-medallist M. C. Mary Kom, L. Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani entered the semi-finals, assuring medals for the nation. However, it was right here, in Madras city, that the first punches in women’s boxing in the country were thrown.

It was Saturday, the 15th of March, 1931, when two Indian women stepped into the ring for a bout of professional boxing at the famous White City Carnival held in the city. Looking fierce in knee-length shorts, sleeveless jerseys and gloved fists, the women appeared every bit combat-ready. Kamala Bai of Malabar and Sita Bai of Tanjore were trained boxers, touted to be in good form. Singapore’s English daily The Straits Times reported that this was arguably a first for India.

Visibly excited, The Hindu published an article five days prior to the event urging its readers to brace themselves to witness for the first time two ‘Indian ladies’ meeting in the boxing arena — until now the most exclusive preserve of men.

Large crowds, including a number of Europeans, assembled to watch history in the making. While the first two rounds saw the boxers on the defensive, the third round saw them packing a punch, exchanging double jabs, hard rights, hooks, and uppercuts. Disappointingly, by round three, the session drew to a close with referee V.E.J Brackstone of Messrs. Parry and Company declaring it a draw.

Despite their underwhelming performance, both Kamala Bai and Sita Bai stayed in the news — even making international headlines for days to come.

‘Shocked and pained’

The fact that two Hindu women dared to ‘invade’ the boxing ring also left many Indian men and women ‘shocked and pained’. Florida’s The Evening Independent published a report on March 16, 1931 titled ‘Women Boxers arouse India’. The story stated that ‘feminine India was up in arms’ with the female boxers facing ‘social ostracism and disgrace,’ having engaged in a boxing match in Madras.

For a country that had for centuries relegated their women to rigid domesticity, ‘ladies boxing’ became particularly hard to digest.

Mahatma Gandhi for instance found this to be especially problematic. He was quoted in Pennsylvania’sReading Eagle as saying women boxing was ‘degrading, disreputable and totally unbecoming of the finer instincts of Indian womanhood.’

Today, as the country celebrates the laurels of our women boxers, it seems only appropriate to pause and acknowledge the spirit of Kamala Bai and Sita Bai. For if not for them, we as a nation may have not dared to imagine the likes Mary Kom, L Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani fighting the good fight.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – September 30th, 2014

Madurai lad who wowed the nation

October 2, 2014Sportsadmin

It is not easy for a cricketer from a district like Madurai to make it to the national side but M Venkataramana belongs to a rare breed. He played for the country, albeit for a short while, within nine years of taking to the game at 14.

“I used to play for my school but had no club … it was one of those days when I went to watch a league match with friends. Before the start of the match, Jolly Rovers (Madurai) skipper, late Soundararajan, asked me to get ready for the game as his main spinner did not turn up. That’s how it began …,” says Venkat, as he is fondly called.His father, who played for his employers Rallis India but couldn’t make it to the state or national team, was a big influence in his life. After making it to the first division league in Madurai, Venkat was spotted by former Indian skipper Kris Srikkanth, who advised him to relocate to Chennai.”… I came to Chennai in 1991 and started playing for YMS. After two seasons Chika asked me to join Alwarpet CC,” says the man who played one Test and one ODI. Venkat, who earlier failed to make it to U-14 & U-16 levels, directly got selected for Tamil Nadu U-19 team and impressed with some brilliant performances.

“… after I got selected for U-19 state team, things started falling in place quickly and I made it to the state Ranji side within three years. I was a regular in the state side and my performance (794 & 1-106) in the 1987-88 Ranji Trophy final against Railways caught everybody’s attention. It was a very proud moment for me,” adds Venkat, who played 75 First Class and 30 List `A’ matches.

The lankly offie, who got into the ODI side against New Zealand in 1988 and made his Test debut against West Indies the next year, feels lack of guidance was one of the reasons why he could not play for India for a long time.

“I was not in a position to hire a personal coach and received no help from others when I was going through bad patches. When we went to New Zealand my bowling was not up to the mark despite having a very good domestic season. I could not find my rhythm and there was no one who could help me get back my tempo …,” says Venkat.

From 2007 to 2012, Venkat coached the Singapore cricket team and returned to Chennai after BCCI appointed him coach of the Zonal Academy in Chennai.

(A weekly column on famous sport spersons whose first playing field was Chennai and its neighbourhood)

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Krishna Kanta Chakraborty, TNN / September 27th, 2014

Tiruchi-born techie jumps to glory

September 27, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports, World Opinionadmin

P.S.Karthikeyan seen with his tandem instructor at the record-setting event held in Spain. / The Hindu

A Tiruchi-born techie working in Finland has become one of 89 Indians and the only Tamilian to have participated in a new world record setting tandem skydiving event in Spain recently.

P. S. Karthikeyan, 36, who works for Microsoft Mobile in Helsinki, Finland, took part in the April 25 challenge to set a world record (confirmed by the Guinness and Limca Book of World Records) for the largest group of Indian civilians to perform a total of 35 tandem jumps in an hour. The earlier record was 28 jumps. The same team had to abandon a similar 10-hour tandem jump attempt due to adverse weather.

The event, organised by the Maharashtra-based Phoenix Skydiving Academy, and sponsored by Indian businessman Manish Gupta, had a further Indian connection of being held at the Skydrive Empuriabrava centre in Girona, Spain, which was featured in the 2011 Bollywood hit Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

In the adventure sport, a student skydiver is connected by a harness to a tandem instructor who guides him or her through the whole jump. “I came to know about this adventure, earlier this year through my friend Vaibhav Rane, who is the husband of Indian skydiving pioneer (and Phoenix Academy founder) Shital Mahajan,” Karthikeyan told The Hindu in an email.

Despite hurting his feet on a rocky beach shortly before the event, Karthikeyan decided to go ahead with the skydive as it was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.

“As this was a special day, I had decided to wear the T-shirt given by my brother, with the words ‘Engal vaazhvum engal valamum mangatha thamizh endru sange muzhangu,’ during this historic event,” he wrote.

Karthikeyan recalled his days as a student of Bishop Heber Higher Secondary School, Puthur, and the Jamal Mohammed College, and being allowed to “get away with adventures” as the youngest son in the family of four siblings.

source: http://www.thehindu.con / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Nahla Nainar / Tiruchi – September 26th, 2014

Daredevil riders enthral Kovai

September 23, 2014Sportsadmin

Coimbatore :

Punctuated with gravity-defying jumps and breakneck drifts on a tailor-made obstacle course, Supercross is one of the most awe-inspiring forms of motorsports. The fourth round of the MRF MoGrip National Supercross championship, held at the Hindustan Institute grounds here Sunday had thousands of fans on their feet.

More than 95 riders from across the country showcased their skills in different categories and it turned out to be a feast for the fans. The event was dominated by TVS Racing and the newly launched Hero 9T9. Harith Noah of TVS reigned supreme in SX1, the showpiece category, while Hero 9T9 made a clean sweep of the class 6 for private experts.

However, the highlight of the weekend was ‘Locals’ class, a category instituted for the host city. Coimbatore’s Jagadish Kumar of Hero 9T9 emerged ahead of his city-mates A. Anand and Mohammed Rafiq. Another local boy, S. Azaruddin, caught the eye with an impressive showing.

The capacity crowd was in for a bigger surprise when junior ‘daredevils’ took the centrestage. The U-15 riders of JR SX class were greeted with a standing ovation.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC Correspondent / September 22nd, 2014

Asiad Bronze: Jaya Awards Rs 20L to Dipika

September 23, 2014Records, All, Sports, World Opinionadmin

Chennai :

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday greeted Dipika Pallikal for winning the bronze medal in Women’s Squash singles event at the Asian Games and announced a cash award of `20 lakh in appreciation of her achievement.

“You have done us all proud once again by winning a bronze medal in Squash Women’s singles event at the ongoing 17th Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea. My heartiest congratulations on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu for your splendid achievement”, the Chief Minister said in her message to Dipika.

Congratulating Dipika and and all those who had contributed to her success, the Chief Minister wished her many more such laurels on behalf of the country and Tamil Nadu in future.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / September 23rd, 2014

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