Category Archives: Sports

Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan is looking to shift gears

Sports

With the first half of the Formula One season over, Narain Karthikeyan has charted out a plan to make the most of the remaining nine races and improve upon his qualifying performances for the Hispania Racing Team (HRT).

Narain has had some decent results in the races so far with Monaco being the best where the Indian ace finished 15th.

Into his second season with the HRT, Narain knows what the car and the team is all about, and what to expect in the next few races which also include driving in front of the home crowd during the Indian Grand Prix.

Narain Karthikeyan is hoping to improve on his performance in the second half of the season / Photo: Reuters

‘The second half of the season should be interesting. I haven’t been doing well enough in the qualifying and that’s one area where I am struggling,’ Narain told Mail Today.

‘During this break, I have changed my approach and have been analysing a lot of data with the engineers, which should help me in the remaining races. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make all that count,’ he stressed.

Besides experience, performance in the qualifying is one area which separates Narain from teammate Pedro de La Rosa, who looks far more settled with the Pirelli-McLaren tyres.

‘There’s everything to learn from Pedro’s vast experience. The Pirelli-McLaren tyres have been quite difficult and they have been specifically designed to make the races interesting. It is one of the reasons why this season has been so exciting. A lot depends on tyre pressure and temperature and all these aspects need to be taken care of,’ reckoned the Indian.

Although HRT has been far away from finishing among the points, Narain feels the new car and the changes it has undergone could give the team the necessary boost.

‘Some changes were made in the car. The new factory in Madrid has just been completed and it is nothing less than any other Formula One team.

“It took time to get familiar with the changes and to get used to them (changes). Things will surely improve in the season ahead.’

Being realistic about his team’s chances, Narain says if he is able to finish all his races and improves upon his qualifying results, he will be a satisfied man when the Championship comes to an end this season.

Out of the nine races left in the season, Narain will also get a chance to drive in front of his home crowd at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida in October.

At the inaugural Formula One race in India last year, Narain had a decent success with a 17th-place finish. He rates the BIC as one of his favourite circuit and hopes to come up with an even better show this season.

‘It’s one of the best circuit and at par with the best circuits of the world. I expect it to be in even better shape than what it was last year like the pit complex would be nice this time. It always feels good to drive in front of the home crowd and I would like to have a better finish than the last time,’ added Narain.

Narain also believes that with India now having its own Grand Prix, the perception for motor racing in the country has changed a lot in the last few years.

‘Definitely, things have improved a lot. The exposure level has changed manifolds with motor racing in various categories.

‘India is a huge manufacturing hub of cars and people understand now that it’s a serious business. We already have so many manufacturers and I know two more manufacturers are also coming into the scene,’ Narain pointed.

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk / Home> India / by Rahul Rawat / August 25th, 2012

Viswanathan Anand offers help for Kerala chess school

Leaders, Sports

Viswananthan Anand on Monday expressed his willingness to assist the Kerala government with its plans to open a chess academy along the lines of the one being opened by the West Bengal government.

“Yes, I’ll be open to working with the state government of Kerala if they approach me with such a plan. I’ll try to make myself available to the maximum extent possible, though time is a constraint due to the busy schedule ahead,” the five-time World chess champion explained at a private event here.

Anand said the main focus should be on generating interest towards the game among the youth. “Chess can be mentally healthy for students as it can sharpen their brains and improve their concentration levels. Several states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have included the game in the school curriculum,” he pointed out.

Earlier the Bengal government had approached Anand seeking his involvement with the chess academy it is setting up to popularize the game in the state.

Earlier, interacting with the students, Anand asked them to grab opportunities in life and fully utilize them. “Hard work and dedication is simply not sufficient for success. Just like my 8th game (at the World Championship match) against Gelfand.”

He described Kerala as his ‘favourite leisure spot’, saying it was very relaxing to come to the state. “I visited Kovalam earlier this year.”

Aim for global board: Anand

He finds the current lot of young Indian chess players “exciting”, but five-time world chess champion Viswananthan Anand, says they are yet to “translate” their early success to making a mark at the international level.

“Players like Grand-master (Krishnan) Sasikiran, (Surya Sekhar) Ganguly and (Pentala) Harikrishna, are in fact very close (to being at the top). I know they are working very hard but they should try to translate early success to leave a mark in the international scenario. Only then can I visualise India emerging as a major chess power,” said Anand, who became the only non-Soviet to successfully retain a World Cham-pionship title three times when he recently won agai-nst Israeli Boris Gelfand.

Indians are quite successful till they are 20 years of age or so, but thereafter they don’t concentrate enough on the game to move on to the next level. “However, India as a chess power is inevitable and eventually that’ll happen,” Anand said. His advice was to go for the right tournaments and be consistent.

Vishy also batted for India hosting a World Championship match at least once. “It would put immense pressure on me. Last time Chennai came close to bidding for the tournament. Players, though, would prefer neutral venues; Gelfand, for example, was not keen to come to India.”

The only person in chess history to have won a World Championship title in all formats — match, knock and tournament — Anand says his top priority is to defend the title and play for as long as he can.

“I’ll be defending the title next year and will play as long as possible. Sure, Kasparov’s record (six titles) is important for me, but the priority is to defend the title. At the end of the day, winning matches gives you more satisfaction,” he said.

source: http://www.asianage.com / Home> Sports> Chess / DC, Kochi    / July 17th, 2012

Malaysia gov’t allocates money for Tamil schools football tournament

Education, Nri's / Pio's, Sports, World Opinion

Tamil school kids in Malaysia get funding for “Road to England” football tournament.

Kuala Lumpur:

Tamil schools in Malaysia received a boost on Friday after Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the approval of RM530,000 for a football tournament between the schools aimed at boosting integration and cultural projects for the minority group in the country.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s office G. Palanivel said that the goal of the “Road to England” tournament was to promote cultural exchange and give Tamil speakers in Malaysia the opportunities other Malaysian students had.

The football tournament will include 523 Tamil schools in the country and will see the use of some 10 venues across Malaysia, he said.

He said that 11 players from the tournament would be sent to “train and play at the Manchester United (MU) football club in England later this year.

“The objective of the project is to produce Malaysian Indian boys who can have football as a career with their standards on par with the English players on a long term.

“They can also contribute towards the standard of football locally when they return and represent the country in international tournaments,” he told a a press conference after handing over an allocation worth RM330,000 to 23 Indian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Selangor at a temple near Bestari Jaya.

The final training and selection of the 11 players will be done by former England International footballer Peter Barnes.

The “Road to England” tournament initiative is a collaborative effort between Peter Barnes Football Academy and the Malaysian Tamil schools headmasters council.

BM

source: http://www.medianet2.com / by admin / July 16th, 2012

It’s better to race in wet conditions: Narain Karthikeyan

Sports

The weather played a major role once again in the second day of the British Grand Prix with a dry free practice session and a rainy qualifying session which got wetter and wetter. In the morning the team worked against the clock to carry out all the necessary tests to prepare for the qualifying session and tomorrow’s race, in what was the only dry session to date.

But in the end the rain started to fall during qualifying and every driver went onto the track immediately with intermediate tyres to set a time before conditions got worse. Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan made the most of their time on track to finish in 22nd and 23rd position respectively.
The uncertainty surrounding the weather makes tomorrow’s race an even greater challenge for the teams in terms of defining their strategies and making it to the checkered flag unscathed.
Narain Karthikeyan: 23rd (10 laps) 1:53.040
Qualifying was a big lottery because at some stages it was raining heavily in one part of the track and not on another. The car was really good in the dry this morning but English weather is very unpredictable and it turned things right around. We beat one Marussia, which is good, but we always want to do better. These conditions are a gamble and for us it’s better to race in wet conditions because anything can happen. You just need to stay calm and take the opportunities that present themselves.
Pedro de la Rosa: 22nd (11 laps) 1:52.742
This was probably the toughest qualifying session, because you didn’t know what you were going to find. Towards the end of the session they asked me through the radio if I wanted to change to dry tyres and I looked up to the sky and didn’t know what to go for because some parts of the track were dry, others we so we continued on intermediates and the strategy was to push on every lap as if it was the last one. As for tomorrow’s race, there aren’t many options because this is a high downforce track, both in wet and dry conditions. We used a set-up with a medium suspension, not too hard, because I doubt it will be a fully wet or fully dry race, so we have to be flexible.
Toni Cuquerella, Technical Director:
Today has been a very productive but hectic day because the sessions have taken place in different conditions to yesterday, dry in the morning and intermediate in the afternoon. In the practice session we had to work on a dry set-up and compare the tyres in only an hour but we gathered enough data in case qualifying or the race was to take place in those conditions. But this wasn’t the case so we had to adapt to the drizzly conditions. The first five minutes were the most important and we doubted whether to go for a risky strategy, with dry tyres, or go for intermediates like the rest. In the end we went for the latter and it was the right decision because the rain got stronger. The times in these conditions aren’t realistic because many mistakes occur, there’s traffic, you have to find the right moment on track…But despite all of this the drivers did a good job. Tomorrow will be a very open race where you can either win or lose a lot.
Source: HRT F1 Media
source: http://www.motorsportsgallery.com / Home / July 07th, 2012

Grand prelude to Mylapore’s biggest festival

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports

For City:  The annual car festival at Mylapore . Sri kapaleeswarar Temple. Photo: K_V_Srinivasan / The Hindu

The four Mada streets resounded with shouts of devotees

Be it picking up seven plastic toys for Rs. 50 from a pavement vendor or choosing from a bundle of ‘kolam’ stickers outside Indra Stores or buying liquid soap-filled containers to blow bubbles from, it’s fun choosing stuff you don’t really need. And this week, with the shops that have sprung up in Mylapore for the Arubathu Moovarfestival at the Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple, there’s no better time to indulge in unnecessary shopping.

D. Thilagavathy, a resident of Mylapore, was one of the thousands of devotees who had come to watch the car festival here on Tuesday. “Ours is a joint family and we bring all the children to the festival,” she said. “We are here for every occasion, including the Ther (Chariot), ‘Arubathu Moovar’, ‘Panguni Uthram’, and ‘ Adhikara Nandi’. The children ask for everything that they see. Each child will spend at least Rs. 100 on toys. We also enjoy buying them these things,” she added. Each time the chariot moved with the ‘uthsava’ idols of Lord Kapaleeswarar and Karpagamabal, the four Mada streets resounded with the shouts of devotees. Water was sprinkled on the path of the chariot and several philanthropists distributed food, water, buttermilk and ‘paanagam’ to the devotees.

When the temple car finally came to a halt, a winding queue of devotees waited to clamber onto it to get a better glimpse of the idols. I too, got onto the chariot along with my mother.

Two five-rupee tickets allowed us a few seconds of “proximity” to the gods. But it was a dangerous ride as there was hardly any space and one small misstep could lead to your hurtling down several feet to the ground. Able volunteers in the chariot stood minding every devotee who stepped onto it. After over four hours of following the temple car, the attention of the crowds turned to the vendors.

Adults too were enjoying the shopping.

With such variety on offer, it is hard to resist spending everything one has. You can pick up fake Kundan jewellery sets for Rs. 50, toy watches for Rs. 20 or Rs. 30 , Indianised Vuvuzelas that emit a deep booming sound when blown for Rs.10, and even earthen pots and pans. Visiris (handheld fans made of palm leaves), kumkum and thali charadu — considered auspicious sold the most, said a lady at the Srividya Manjal Kumkum shop.

Scholar Sudha Seshayyan says that the Panguni Uthiram Thiruvizha festival celebrated in most temples is very auspicious. “It is said that it was on that day that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi married, Lord Muruga and Devayani married and Goddess Mahalakshmi was born. The Arubathu Moovar festival is of special significance to the Kapali temple as of the 63 Nayanmars, Thirugnanasambandar is very important. He is said to have brought to life the daughter of Sivanesa Chettiyar of Mylapore.

The girl was called Poompaavai. She came to life after he finished singing a pathigam where he describes all the festivals associated with the Kapali temple. This festival also shows the importance given to devotion and devotees. The Lord will be pleased if his devotees are happy,” Dr. Seshayyan explained.

Somehow Mylapore seems to have become livelier and merrier. Perhaps it is in anticipation of Wednesday’s festival when the 63 Nayanmars of Lord Shiva are taken out in a procession. On Wednesday, festivities at the temple will begin at 9 a.m. The procession of the idols will be at 3 p.m. and it will take at least four hours to end.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Life & Style> Religion / by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan / Chennai, April, 04th, 2012

London-bound Indian walkers’ trip on ‘shoe-string’ of apathy

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Sports

Bangalore:

Olympic-bound race walkers Basant Bahadur Rana and Irfan KT, both sepoys in the Indian Army earning just Rs 15,000 a month, have been forced to spend from their pockets for past several months to buy special walking shoes. Both are sole bread winners of fairly large families and have spent thousands each on their shoes in the past year, which they can ill-afford.

The government has spent crores on the training of sportspersons for the London Games, but these two talented athletes have got no help on this front either from the federation ( AFI),  Sports Authority of India or the sports ministry.

Rana, who is with 3/8 Gorkha Rifles, must have spent at least Rs 40,000 on shoes in the past 18 months. With each pair costing upwards of Rs 6,000, he has grinned and borne the burden. He joined the army to escape poverty in his home country Nepal, where his father is a farmer.

“I am the sole bread-winner for a family of seven. We are not educated and there is hardly anything to gain out of farming. Depending on the season, we have to do hard labour to make ends meet,” says Rana, who earns around Rs 15,000 as havildar.

“I haven’t been of much help to my family as all my money is spent on the kit and shoes,” the first Indian to make Olympics grade in 50km Race Walk said.

For Madras Regimental Centre sepoy Irfan, who too hails from a poor background, it has been the same story for months. Mounting expenses had the Mallapuram (Kerala) lad worried for a while as he geared up for the quadrennial event with his mind forever on his family of seven which his father, a daily wage earner, struggled to support.

Again, Irfan’s salary of Rs 15,000 was hardly enough to cover every expense the family faced. It’s only now that he has found a benefactor in Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.

Both walkers point out that they require no other equipment but good shoes to come up with a good performance.

“I cover around 1,100km every month,” says Rana, as he shows two of his worn-out shoes. “I need at least 6-7 pairs of shoes a year. The kit that we receive from the government contains running shoes, which is of no use to us. There have been instances at the national camp when I had to put off buying new shoes by a few weeks. I make do with these worn-out shoes then.”

Rana, who paid $140 for a pair of shoes in Russia during the World Race Walking Cup, said the amount is yet to be reimbursed. “Two days back, Irfan found the shoes he wanted in Bangalore. He paid around Rs 6,000 for them. He too is hoping to get the money back.”

The two virtually circumambulated the earth ever since they began training for London 2012 before making the grade. Rana touched 4:02.13 in 50km, well within the ‘B’ mark of 4:09.00 while in 20km, Irfan clocked 1:22.09 as against the ‘A’ mark of 1:22.30 at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia in May.

The two athletes, who are certainties for the Olympics along with the other two 20km walkers Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh, had moved from Patiala to Bangalore in April after Athletics Federation of India decided to have both the walking camps, one under Russian Alexander Artsybashev and the other under SAI coach Ramakrishnan Gandhi, at the South Centre.

SAI to reimburse walkers’ expenses

Sports Authority of India regional director SS Roy was sympathetic to the walkers’ appeal, saying he would reimburse the amount immediately.

“These two walkers were in Patiala till April. I am not sure what happened there. But now that they have shifted base to Bangalore, we will take care of them,” Roy told TOI.

Apparently, the south centre has reimbursed the claims of the other walkers training under Ramakrishnan Gandhi – Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh – and Roy said he saw no reason why the others walkers had to be denied. “They have been here for a few weeks but haven’t brought this to my notice. Let them produce the bills and we will do the needful,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / TOI Home> Olympics 2012 / by V. Narayan Swamy, TNN / July 03rd, 2012

A R Rahman to introduce Punjabi beats for Olympics

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI)

 Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman, who is reuniting with Danny Boyle for London Olympics, will celebrate Indian influence in UK by incluing Punjabi track in the opening ceremony.

The 46-year-old has teamed up with Boyle, the artistic director of the games, for the gala ceremony.

“Clarifying the report on the Olympics track I am composing… It’s a track in Punjabi celebrating the Indian influence in the UK.

source: http://www.ptinews.com / PTI / by Staff Writer / July 01st, 2012

Beach kabbadi winner from Erode gets rousing welcome

Sports

Erode:

A rousing welcome was accorded to Marshal Mary, an M Com student with PKR College of Arts and Science at Gobichettipalayam, on Saturday morning when she arrived here after winning the gold in women’s beach kabbadi at the third Asian Beach Games, held in Haiyang in China.

Mary and her team mates won the gold defeating  Thailand 54-25 in the final on June 17. According to her, India put up a good show and dominated the match. The Indian team consisted of Mamata, Priyanka, Priyanka Negi, Kavita Devi and Randeep Kaur besides Marshal Mary.

A large number of students, sports enthusiasts and citizens had gathered at Erode railway station to receive Mary. She was taken to her college in a procession with people gathering along the road to greet her.

The district collector and the mayor were conspicuous by their absence as they had to attend to some state ministers who were visiting the region.

Mary told TOI that her victory was significant since had trained in land-locked Erode. “Others in my team had practiced on real beaches. But I was able to contribute my bit to win the event,” she said. She credited her coach N Anpu, a staff of the PKR College, for her success. “He had convinced the management about the need to build a beach kabbadi team. We have a dozen players and Anpu trained us on two truck loads of sand purchased by the management at market rate,” she said.

Mary and her friends used to train for two hours daily in the morning and evening.

Mary, a native of Sankarapuram near Villupuram, had represented India recently at an international tournament in Colombo.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / July 01st, 2012

Armaan quits Indy, set for GT series

Sports

Armaan quits Indy, set for GT series – DC

Armaan Ebrahim’s path-breaking journey in America’s famous Indy racing series has come to a premature end. The Chennai driver has decided to sever contract with his team, Fan Force United following a string of “unsatisfying results” with the low-budget team. Now, Armaan has set his sights on securing a seat in the FIA GT1 World Championship – a sportscar series that comes to New Delhi in November for its season finale.

“After the last weekend’s race on the streets of Belle Isle Park (Detroit), my dad and I sat down and reviewed the situation. We had no other option than parting ways with the team as it was not the results we were hoping for,” said Armaan.

Armaan competed in five races for the minnows and was placed 10th overall in the championship with 97 points. Out of five races, he had endured problems in three. “I had issues with the tyres in Birmingham and faced engine problems in Long Beach and Indianapolis. The Indy 500 weekend was the biggest disappointment,” explained Armaan.

The youngster has an offer from GT series and will decide about his plans for the rest of season in a week. “Right now, the sensible thing to do is going to Europe. The GT1 has a lot of potential and the fact that the series coming to Buddh International Circuit at the end of the year makes it lucrative,” he added.

Fan Force United team spokesperson said the decision to part ways was mutual. “We are sorry that this partnership has not worked out as we had hoped. Armaan has worked incredibly hard for the team, as has everyone involved, but for whatever reason, things did not click and we did not get the results that were required. We do want to make sure that everybody knows that Armaan lived up to all of his obligations to the team, and that this decision was taken after thorough consideration from both sides and this is related strictly to our on-track goals for the year,” said co-owner Chris Williams.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Sports> Motor Racing / DC, Chennai / June 07th, 2012

Narain Karthikeyan qualifies 23rd for Monaco Grand Prix

Sports

Monaco (Monte Carlo):

Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan qualified 23rd for the Monaco GP, round six of the 2012 FIA Formula 1 Championship.

The blue-riband event of the series sees drivers take to the narrow streets of the Principality through the weekend. It was looking good for the HRT F1 driver as the opening practice session on Thursday saw him complete 26 laps, finishing ahead of the two Marussia drivers and his teammate Pedro De La Rosa.

“There were a few off-track excursions, but this is normal in Monaco when you are trying to find the limit”, he revealed.

The second Thursday practice was rained out, resulting in very little running.
This meant the one-hour final practice session was a busy effort, with the Indian completing 19 laps in final preparation for qualifying.

“It was looking good for qualifying, we had got a fair amount of running and since the circuit isn’t aero-dependent, we were closer to the cars ahead of us”, he said.

The start of the qualifying session was interrupted due to an incident which brought out the red flag.

But once the track cleared, it was back to business and after 8 laps Karthikeyan was able to post a 1:19.310, good enough for 23rd on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

However, the Indian revealed later that all didn’t go to plan.

“We both had three runs, and I was ahead of him after the first two runs on new tires when we both put on new set of super soft tyres for each outing.”

“However, when I expected the third set of new tires my engineer strangely called it off!  This meant I wasn’t able to improve a lot whereas Pedro went almost a second quicker.

“I wouldn’t have done that lap though, but I would have been closer.So I need to discuss this with the team.”

However, he remains optimistic for the race tomorrow, considering the weather forecast which predicts a chance of rain.

“It was supposed to rain during qualifying today but it didn’t. So hope we get some showers tomorrow as it will give us a chance to do something more than usual”, he concluded.

source: http://www.indiansportsnews.com / Home> Top Stories / Saturday, May 26th, 2012