Chhetri – Already a Wizard
A goal on debut and a hatrick in the very next match. Sunil Chhetri is living the dream of his life. From being the first Indian to play in MLS, he has now scored 4 goals in just 2 matches for Kansas City Wizards.
Chettri is looking to repay the faith MLS side Kansas City Wizards had shown in him and by all means he is doing it fast. Chetri, who scored a goal in his debut for the Wizards in a practice game against University of Tulsa on Thursday, struck thrice in his side’s 5-0 thrashing of University of Evansville.
The diminutive Indian scored his first goal of the match with a diving flick-on header off a pass by Graham Zusi who netted Wizards’ opening goal.Chetri then made it 3-0 with a deft finish off a pass from Kyle Brown who broke into the rival box from the right. The Indian, whose speed off and on the ball has impressed the Wizards management, completed his hat-trick by finishing smoothly from a one-on-one position with the rival goalkeeper.
Moreover, news of his getting a P-1 Visa and International Transfer Certificate would come as an icing on the cake.
Rugby Test Event – A closed door affair
In a bizarre development ( probably not so for CWG ), fans will not be allowed inside the venue to watch the forthcoming Commonwealth Rugby 7s championships, a test event for the Delhi Games. This is due to the fact that police has refused permission on security grounds as the organisers have failed to erect a temporary stand to accommodate the crowd. Delhi University’s Hindu College will hold the eight-nation test event.
“Police is saying from the beginning that spectators will not be allowed to watch the Rugby 7s test event unless a temporary stand is erected to accommodate them at the venue. But no such accommodation has yet been made,” Rugby India President Pramod Khanna said.
“Police said a temporary stand is needed since the crowd cannot be allowed in the pavilion meant for the dignitaries, who themselves will need accreditation. So common people would not get to see the event,” Khanna elaborated.
Hosts India will play Pakistan in the tournament-opener, while Sri Lanka, Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were the other participants.
Khanna threw his weight behind the police decision and said, “I don’t know why some people are saying that the police has gone too far. This is a test event to assess where our players stand before Commonwealth Games and I don’t know how many common people would be interested in watching it.”
Well said Mr. Khanna, if organization itself is not willing make accomodation for general public how many people in future would be interested in watching it. Perfect way to kill the game of rugby in India.
Indian Shooters reign Supreme
Former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu combined with Mansher Singh and Birendeep Singh to clinch the men’s trap team gold but settled for silver in the individual event of the Asian Clay Shooting Championship in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Manavjit (120/125), Mansher (110) and Birendeep (111) won the gold medal with a score of 341/375.
Manavjit took the silver individually with a score of 120+18. He was tied with a Kuwaiti shooter in the qualifying round in which both had scores of 120/125. But in the finals, the Kuwaiti shooter won the gold with 19/25, whereas Manavjit could shoot only 18/25.
On Tuesday, in the women’s Trap event, Shreyasi Singh (58/75), Seema Tomar (54) and Varsha Tomar (54) won the bronze medal in team event, the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) said in a statement.
Courtesy: http://www.timesofindia.com
Blue Sticks to square up against China in Sultan Azlan Shah Opener
It has been almost a month since the Australians were crowned the World Champions of Hockey in New Delhi. India being the host nation had lots of expectations from the Indian National Team and to an extent Indian team did not disappoint. They finished 8th and didn’t look like doing any better either. In the end, a fair result I must say. The world cup was well received with quite a number of matches witnessing a packed stadium. Ample media covergae was their and FIH would definitely be happy seeing the response of spectators. All in all a good and entertaining sporting event closed.
That gave way to the badshah (or should i say begum 🙂 )of sporting events in India. IPL came back to India and is a tremendous hit as expected. Amongst all this hoopla, schedule for Sultan Azlan Shah was announced. The tournament features teams from Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Australia, South Korea, China and of course India. Would there be same levels of enthusiasm amongst the spectators? Would Rajpal Singh and his team find the same level of support? Would hockey once again get some eyeballs (despite IPL being there)? Would Indian team perform? All these questions would surely be answered in due course of time.
India opens up its campaign against China. Thr tournament commences 6th May 2010 in Ipoh, Malaysia. Another chance for all those fans who still care about the national game and believe that there is some still hope left to get back from the abyss we see our national game in. All the very best to the “Blue Sticks” and may they do well. Cheers !!!
Raceday – India Shining
It was an exciting weekend for the motorsports enthusiasts from India. Never before in the history of sport, were there three different reasons to cheer for India in the motorsports.
The day started with the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. An amazing race saw various twists and turns before reigning champion Jenson Button took the chequered flag ahead of Robert Kubica in a Renault and Felipe Massa in a Ferrari. Also in the second race in a succession, Force India gather invaluable points in the championship. Vitantonio Liuzzi brought home a Force India in a respectable 7th position. However, the proudest moment was saved for Karun Chandok who brought home his HRT car to the chequered flag to give the team its first F1 finish. Though he was 5 laps down but it is amazing for him to just finish the race given absolutely no pre-season testing.
A world away from F1, Narain Karthikeyan made his debut in Nascar. He is competing in the Truck Series in Nascar. He must have found the rough and tumble NASCAR truck series at the half-mile Martinsville paper-clip shaped track an eye opening experience. Becoming the first driver from India to race in NASCAR he was knocked around quite a bit including a late-race spin which put him a lap down. Finally, he got home in the 13th place.
An exciting day indeed for all the motorsports fan from India. We sincerely hope that this is just a sign of things to come with Indian GP scheduled to be on the calendar for 2011.
Joydeep shoots 599 out of 600 in Shooting World Cup
Joydeep Karmakar shot an amazing score of 599 (out of maximum possible 600) in qualifying of the 50m prone rifle event at the ISSF world cup currently being held at Sydney’s International Shooting Centre. He was beaten only by the “Perfect Score” shot by Warren Potent of Australia.
Joydeep has been a regular in representing India in the 50 m prone rifle category along with Gagan Narang. Recently, both of them combined to win a Gold in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships as well in the Pairs event. Joydeep hails from a family very active in sports. His father, Santa Karmakar, was a national level swimmer hailing from the state of West Bengal.
Wishing Joydeep all the very best for the Finals which will begin later in the day.
6 Golds for Indian Boxers in Commonwealth Boxing Championships
History was created at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi when 6 Indian boxers outpunched their rivals to pick up 6 Gold Medals in the Commonwealth Boxing Championships. World Number 1 led from front by destroying his opponent Frank Buglioni from England. Bout had to be stopped in the final round due to ferocious attacks the Indian had mounted. Other boxers to bring glory to the country are Dinesh Kumar, Suranjoy Sing, Jai Bhagwan, Paramjit Samota and Amandeep Singh. This is the richest medal haul by the Indian Team at any of the boxing championships. Coming in front of the cheering home crowd made the victory even sweeter.
3-0 and still counting…
The day started with a bang and is continuing “Boom Boom”. In an amazing display of skills, 3 Indian boxers have punched out their opponents for that yellow, shiny gold medal in Commonwealth Boxing Championship. The day started with Pramjit Samota outboxing Joseph Parker of New Zealand in the Super Heavyweight Category( +91 kg). Paramjit trailed by 1-0 after the first round but ended up fighting back to a spirited victory, winning by 7-3.
Next it was turn of Amandeep Singh to take to the ring. With his typical aggressive style he ran over Peter Mungai from Kenya with a scoreline of 3-0, in the process pocketing 2nd gold for India in the championships. It was truly a remarkable performance from Amandeep who left hockey to pursue a career in boxing. Amandeep competed in the Light Flyweight Category (49 Kgs)
Suranjoy Singh added another feather to his cap by overcoming Oliver Lavigi of Mauritius in the Flyweight Category. Suranjoy was leading 1-0 when referee decided to stop the bout. This enabled India to capture 3 gold medals in as many events for the day. Still we have Jai Bhagwan, Vijender Singh and Dinesh Kumar to compete in their respective bouts. Cheers and best wishes to all !!!
Shotgun Shooting Events – Demystified
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: rifle, pistol, shotgun and running target. The main distinctions between different rifle events are the distances to the target and the shooting positions used. For the other disciplines, the position is always standing, and changes include limits to shooting times and different types of targets.
3 main Olympic sports in the Shotgun category are Trap, Double Trap and Skeet. Apart from Double Trap event, other two are competed in both Men and Women Categories.
Mansher Singh
Trap, the single-target shooting event has a history over a hundred years old. It is considered more difficult than most other trap versions in that the distance to the targets and the speed with which they are thrown are both greater. Until 1992, the Olympic trap event was open to both men and women. In 1996, it was open to men only, and from 2000 men and women have had separate competitions. The course of fire is 125 targets in the qualification round for men and 75 for women, and 25 additional targets in the final round for the six best shooters. In 2005, the final rules were changed so that only one shot can now be taken at each target, as opposed to two in the qualification round. Dr. Karni Singh, Mansher Singh and Manavjit Sandhu are few of the best known Indian shooters in this category.
In Double Trap category, participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at
Dr. Karni Singh
high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shooting. The shooter stands 16 yards behind the house that releases the targets. Two targets are released simultaneously from the house. They follow set paths, usually 35 degrees to left and right of straightaway. The shooter can take one shot at each target. In international Double Trap competitions, the course of fire is 75 doubles for men and 60 doubles for women. As the men’s event enjoys Olympic status, it also involves a 25-double final for the top six competitors. The women’s event was taken off the Olympic program after the 2004 Summer Olympics. Final shooting for women was discontinued in international competition as a result. Rajyavardhan Rathore won a Silver Medal in this category in Athens Olympics in 2004. Apart from him, Ronjan Sodhi and Mansher Singh are other shooters of note in this category.
In Skeet, two throwing machines at different heights launch a series of 25 targets in a specific order, some as singles and some as doubles, with the shooter having a fixed position between them. Men’s competitions consist of five such series, while women’s have three. The top six competitors shoot an additional series as a final round, on targets filled with special powder to show hits more clearly to the audience. The event was introduced in 1968, and until 1992 both men and women were allowed to participate. But in 1996 the event was limited to men only, which was somewhat controversial because the 1992 Olympic Champion was a woman. However, women had their own World Championships, and in 2000, a female skeet event was introduced. Dr. Karni Singh has been the most recognized Skeet shooter India has produced. He won National Championship for 17 years in a row !!!
Story of ” A Tear for a Cheer”
An interesting thought came to my mind while commuting to the office today morning and I thought I’ll share it with all of you. This thought is about the reasons that attract a person to take up any particular sport, professionally. These reasons can be identified as follows (These are the ones on top of my mind. There’ll be many more I am sure):
1. Instant liking for the game by watching others play (either in TV or in person)
2. Growing up seeing someone amongst family or friends play it professionally
3. Caliber and talent to excel in a particular sport game
4. Means to sustain livelihood by playing professionally
5. Attraction towards fame, respect, glamour etc associated with a particular sport
Now the question to ask ourselves is as to how many sports are there in India where in a professional can sustain his livelihood just by playing. When someone sees/hears about sportsmen fighting for their dues with the associations he will definitely be put off by it. It’ll be difficult to convince a parent to allow his/her child to pursue his interest in the sport and take it up professionally.
If the means of livelihood itself is not secured, I guess it’ll be unfair on our part to expect the world-class performances from our athletes. Memory of PT Usha crying on the national television still lingers and constantly reminds of the fact that we can not continue to meet out indifferent attitude to our sportsperson and then criticize them for a below par performance. The fact is that an athlete has given up on all the hopes of life to just hear us cheer for him. Can’t we do just that? Can’t we just cheer our fellow countrymen, in both victory and defeat, who are out there fighting for the glory of India, for us?
Shooting 101
History of Shooting
The shooting sports include those competitive sports involving tests of proficiency (accuracy and speed) using various types of guns such as Pistols, Air-rifles etc. Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event (albeit only once, in 1900). The shooting sports are categorized by the type of firearm or target used.
Abhinav Bindra
Rajyavardhan Rathore
French pistol champion and founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, participated in many of the early competitions. This fact contributed to the inclusion of five shooting events in the 1896 Olympics. Over the years, the events have been changed a number of times in order to keep up with technology and social standards. For example, targets that formerly resembled humans or animals in their shape and size have are now a circular shape in order to avoid associating the sport with any form of violence. At the same time, some events have been dropped and new ones have been added. The 2004 Olympics featured three shooting disciplines (rifle, pistol and shotgun) where athletes competed for 51 medals in 10 men’s and 7 women’s events—slightly fewer than the previous Olympic schedule.
The Olympic Games continue to provide the shooting sports with its greatest public relations opportunity. The sport has always enjoyed the distinction of awarding the first medals of the Games. Internationally, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has oversight of all Olympic shooting events worldwide, while National Governing Bodies (NGBs) administer the sport within each country. In India, the governing body is known as National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Shooting in India
In India, shooting is generally regarded as an expensive sport, which only the affluent, powerful and the talented with institutional support can pursue as a serious career. This is the reason why the sport remains as the secondary choice of the sports enthusiasts in India. Nonetheless, with the good work of Indian shooters coming into limelight, more and more youngsters are opting for shooting sport as their profession. Today, shooting has proved to be a stiff competitor of games including cricket and badminton, which score more in popularity.
The recent achievements of veteran shooters like Abhinav Bindra (who won the first individual Olympic gold medal for India) and Rajyavardhan Rathore (who won the silver medal in Men’s Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens) have become the role models for the young Indian shooters. Apart from these two, many other shooters are making a name for themselves in the International arena. Jaspal Rana, Samaresh Jung, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Ronjan Sodhi are just few amongst many competing for top spot in their individual event categories.
NRAI Relents – Finally !!!
Long wait to common sense seems to be over. Finally, National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) has relented to the sustained pressure from the shooting community and criticism by the media. They have decided to accept the scores from the International events towards the selection of the teams representing India in the various international events. The new policy goes into affect from 13th March 2010 and would cover the selection of teams till London Olympics in 2012.
This followed an embarrassing and public confrontation with Olympic Gold Medalist Abhinav Bindra and NRAI earlier in the year. Then the recent debacle where Ronjan Sodhi was not selected to be shooting in the recently concluded World Championship added fuel to the fire. Here Ronjan shot a memorable, world record equaling, score of 147 in the double trap event whereas the winner of event shot only 144. Ronjan was deprived of a sure shot medal opportunity due to flawed and ridiculous selection policy.
Hope things would be smooth from now on and we will not witness such situations in the future. Kudos to the shooting community and media for fighting for the cause. Cheers !!!
“TRAP”ped in the “DOUBLE TRAP”
A Gold Medal and a World-Record equaling performance at the World Championships should warrant a huge homecoming for the heroes. But these achievements (check out http://wp.me/pPztP-1n and http://wp.me/pPztP-1b for more information) have been lost somewhat in the recent craze that the nation has developed i.e. hockey. Inadequate media coverage and lack of understanding of the sport itself are just two of the reasons that these proud moments were lost to all the fans of Indian Sports.
For these precise reasons, I will talk about the game of “Shooting” under “Sport of the Week” column and would try to learn along with all of you about the history of sports, various events, rules, etc. Most importantly, I’ll talk about the achievements of fellow Indians in Shooting and the recent success that these phenomenal stars have achieved and made all of us proud. Hopefully, after this we’ll be able to distinguish between Trap, Double Trap, Skeet and be able to appreciate and cheer for the Champs of these sports.
India draws 3-3 with SA. Finish 4th in the Group
Shivendra Equalise for India
A stupendous performance by the “Blue Sticks” (read Team India) against the resilient South Africans have made sure that India finishes 4th in their group and compete for the 7th & 8th place play-off against the team finishing 4th in the other group in Hockey World Cup being played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi. Some moments of cruel fate and extreme smartness from Proteas were crucial in deciding the fate of the match. Had it not been for those moments, result might have been different (positively in favour of Team India) than the draw that final score line reflected.
Indians were the better lot and created numerous opportunities. As has been the case so far in the tournament, many opportunities were not converted in the goals. At one point in time, Indians were raiding the opponents “D” by the minute and still, were not able to break through the defense. The sad part of the story was the indifferent form of our star forward Prabhjot Singh and ace drag flicker Sandeep Singh. A better performance from these two could have yielded tremendous results for the “Blue Sticks”. Anyways, it was a good performance (could have been lot better of course) by Indians and the spirit of the team was certainly the high point. Coach must be happy seeing the way the pressure was sustained in the 2nd half despite 2 goals being disallowed by the referee.
Nevertheless, a spirited performance and we should be really happy that we finished 4th in the group, given that we are ranked 12th in the world. Good play Champs !!!
Indians run riot in Asian Youth Boxing Championships
Indian Youth Boxers ruled the Ring Asian Youth Championships. Nine of them made way to the Semi-finales in their respective weight categories, thereby entering into the medal round. Devendro Singh (48 kgs), Srinivas Surbetti (51 kgs), and Vikas Kishan (60 kgs) who won their quarterfinal bouts on Sunday, have got into the semifinals.
In addition to the above, Naveen Kumar (81 kgs) who had earlier won his quarterfinals, also moved into the semifinals. Manoj Kumar (91 kgs) and Rajat Kaliraman (+91 kgs) got byes and move directly into semifinals.
54 kgs: Shiva Thapa lost to Ehsan Sepahvand (Iran) on pts 0:6.
57 kgs: Venkat Giddi Nagarjun defeated Afshin Albandi on pts 2:1.
64 kgs: Harpal Singh defeated Jhamin Wu (China) on pts 7:2.
75 kgs: Sumit Sangwan defeated Hasanov Mirzobek (Uzbekistan) on pts 8:0.
All the semifinals are scheduled to be held on March 9, 2010. All the very best champs !!!
Adapted from Times of India.
Sodhi shoots the World Record score: Loses to NRAI
Ronjan Sodhi
Ace double trap shooter shot a score of superb 147 to equal the world record for the event. This is the third time that Sodhi has shot this score in the world cup and has equalled his own world record. However, the most important thing to note and ponder over is the fact that despite all this Sodhi wasn’t even competing for the Gold Medal. The reason: Draconian policies of the National Rifles Association of India (NRAI), the governing body for shooting events in India. The winner of the event shot a score of 144 and Sodhi would have been a winner by good 3 shots had this injustice was not meted out to him.
As per ISSF rules, a country can nominate for only 3 slots for any event. NRAI decides these slots on the basis of the trials being conducted every month or so. The most surprising thing to note is that scorees from International Competitions are not accepted. In order to qualify, a shooter must participate in the trials conducted by NRAI and his international achievements and training count for nothing. This was the reason that Sodhi, amongst the best in the world in double trap event, could not compete in the medal category. Just because he could not appease NRAI !!! What a shame !!! My heart goes out to Ranjon Sodhi and sincerely hope that something is done to correct this flawed policy and avoid occurance of such embarrasing moments again.
Meanwhile, Ranjon Sodhi all the very best for your future performances and heart congrats on this achievement. Keep on shooting down those birds champ !!!
Indian Women in Sports – Part 1
PT Usha
Anita Sood
Citius, Altius, Fortius, the Olympic motto in Latin, which translates to ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ , works equally as a tagline for the changing face of the Indian woman athlete – be it performance, hemlines, attitude et al.Â
Primarily, she is a work in progress. From the first of the speed merchants PT Usha to the iconic Anita Sood, and down the decades to the striking, leggy Anju Bobby George, iron-woman Karnam Malleswari, multiple world boxing champion MC Mary Kom, chess whiz Koneru Humpy, crackshot Anjali Bhagwat and the racquet-wielding Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and Joshna Chinappa, the Indian woman athlete, like the Indian woman herself, is like finely-threaded embroidery: intricate and ever-evolving.Â
In the daring Sania Mirza, 23, and the devoted Saina Nehwal, 19, you have the range that not only snapshots generations before them but also encompasses the whole sphere of the Indian woman’s life. Sania, path-breaking in her achievements in the most high-profile and competitive of women’s sports, is gifted, glamourous and outrageous in her sense of dare.Â
In her debut professional season, after a volatile match against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, she came into a packed Wimbledon pressroom wearing a pink tee that read, “Well behaved women rarely make history” . When international journalists quizzed her on noisy Indian crowds, she said, “Get used to us, we’re so many, we tend to be everywhere.”Â
On the other hand, Saina, with a packed trophy cupboard, a top-10 world ranking and going for gold in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, is almost hermit-like in her devotion to her career. She has no qualms in admitting that her talent doesn’t always extend to racquet skills and goes only so far as picking up as many shuttles as can possibly be picked. Her love of competition can only be matched by her appetite for hard work. “I love winning, you know,” she said. “I love standing on a podium, much more than I enjoy going out for a cup of coffee.”Â
Still, the two women, neighbours in the sense that they both live in Hyderabad, but on two ends of the scale as far as personalities go, are united in endeavour and audacity. They don’t give a damn, whoever it maybe on the other side of the net. That then, is the timeless face of the Indian woman athlete: bold and beautiful.Â
The time and climate in which India’s sporting icons came of age is as different as the journey has been diverse, but the sisterhood is uniquely bound. From running on ripened, sun-kissed paddy fields, to charging down synthetic tracks; from taking their first athletic steps in loose ankle length skirts to walking down the ramp; from badly tailored, low quality sports gear, to top-of-the-line designer ensembles; from the uncertain smile to the confident handshake, the experience may be different, but the connect is abiding. It’s the baton exchange zone.Â
To be Continued….
Adapted from timesofindia.com
India lose first rubber. Devvarman goes doen fighting to Kunitsyn
Sondev Devvarman began the proceedings against the Russian Kunitsyn. He was supposed to face off Igor Andreev but Kunitsyn started instead. It was all even steven in the first set with Kunitsyn having an early break of serve. He led 4-2 in the opening set when Somdev broke him back. Match went into tie-break where Somdev Devvarman converted 2nd Set point to clinch the first set 7-6.
2nd set was nothing less than a see-saw. Momentum continued with Somdev in the 2nd set as he took an early break to race ahead 3-0 and 30-0 in the 4th game. However, Russian fought back taking the game and then broke Somdev’s serve to restore parity to the match at 3-2 in the 2nd set. Devvarman again broke Kunitsyn in the 6th game and then held his serve to take the scoreline to 5-2. Kunitsyn was serving to stay in the match. Notonly he held his serve but broke back at Devvarman to level the set at 5 games a piece. Finally, 2nd set was also decided in the tie-break. Kunitsyn won 2nd set 7-6.
Russian wrapped up the match by taking final two sets 6-3, 6-4 respectively and taking Russia 1-0 up in the tie. Nevertheless, a spirited display from Devvarman. Next Rohan Bopanna will face Mikhail Youzhany and we keep our fingers crossed.
All the very best champs !!!
Manavjit Singh Sandhu wins Gold in the ISSF World Cup
Â
Manavjit Singh Sandhu
Manavjit Singh Sandhu wins the Gold in Trap with a score of 145 out of 150. The 34-year-old Sandhu did miss two birds in the final, in which the shooters have a single cartridge for each bird, Manavjit missed the two consecutive birds on his 8th and 9th shots but later held on to his nerves to hit the remaining 16 targets to grab the gold with a point’s margin. Recently, Manavjit had won Gold in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships at Delhi with a score of 146 (124+22)Â “I did not realize that I was going to win until the last shots. It has been a very close competition. I just won by a single target. I shot aggressively up until the end and eventually made it to the top.” said Sandhu
 Another Indian Anirudh Singh clinched the 4th spot in the same event. In fact on day one of the qualification rounds, Anirudh had taken the lead over the strong field after shooting a perfect score of 75/75. In the remaining two rounds held on day two, Anirudh shot 24 and 23 to qualifiy for the finals with a score of 122 with three more shooters on the same score, including Manavjit. Anirudh registered a total score of 143 which tied him for the 4th place with Pellielo Giovanni of Italy. In the shoot off Anirudh defeated the Beijing Olympic silver medallist by 2 hits to 1. The third Indian in the team Birendeep Sodhi also shot an impressive score of 120 (25,23,23,24,25) to finish 10th.
In the women’s trap event, none of the three Indian shooters could make it to the final round, Shagun Chowdhary shot the best among the Indians to finish 13th with a score of 66 (22,23,21), Shreyasi Singh finished 16th with a score of 64 (20,23,21) while Seema Tomar shot 63 (20,22,21) to finish 17th.
 Adapted from Indianshooting.com
Somdev Opens against Andreev in Davis Cup 1st Round
Somdev Devvarman will square up against Russia substitute Igor Andreev in Friday’s opening singles in the Davis Cup World Group first-round tie. Andreev was called in to play for the injured Nikolay Davydenko, Russia’s top player.
Thursday’s draw also pits Mikhail Youzhny against India No. 1 Rohan Bopanna. On Saturday, Igor Kunitsyn and Teimuraz Gabashvili will play experienced India duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in the doubles match.
India has reached the final three times but has yet to win a title. The team is back in the World Group for the first time since 1998. India leads 2-1 against the former U.S.S.R. and Russia. Russia has not lost at home since the 1995 final, when Pete Sampras won all three of his matches to lead the United States to victory. Since then, the Russians have won 16 straight.
All the very best to team India and all its Champs. Cheers !!!
Sunil Chhetri – Having trials with a MLS team
Sunil Chhetri
Talk is that India’s top international striker is currently in the United States, offering trials with a top tier club in Major League Soccer (MLS), America’s premier football competition. While the identity of the club was not fully established, those in the know are linking the Dempo Sports Club striker – highest scoring Indian in the I-league – to Kansas City Wizards, introduced as one of the 10 charter members of MLS in 1995. According to reports, Chhetri is joined for the trials by Craig Rocastle, a former Chelsea reserves player while the club has already announced the signing of Jimmy Nielsen, 32, from Danish club Vejle Boldklub.
 If the deal goes through it will provide good learning opportunity for the talented Chhetri. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of David Beckham, Landon Donovan would be no mean feat. We wish Sunil Chhetri all the best in his trials. Before Chhetri, Bhaichung Bhutia played for a 2nd division club Bury FC in England.
Bad day at Office for Team India
As they say “Today’s victory is tomorrow’s history” and this certainly proved true for team India. Looking to maintain the winning momentum after their stupendous 4-1 win over Pakistan, Indians ran into resilient Australians. A surprise defeat at the hands of English would have certainly hit few egos in the Australian camp.
Australians came out all guns blazing and all sticks rattling. Their speed and work ethics caught Indians napping and they took the lead in the 2nd min of the match. Another one thundered the board in the 10th minute of the match. This followed a tactical blunder by the Indian team to revoke their TV referral. The complacency and lack of leadership was all visible. However, Indians came back with a goal of their own in the dying seconds of the first half. India finally pulled one back through Vikram Pillay who slammed the ball home after receiving a cross from Gurbaj Singh from the right wing.
Down 3-1 at the halfway mark, the Indians were expected to come out all guns blazing in the second session but it was not to be and Australia scored another through a short corner from Luke Doerner in the 42nd minute. They piled on the misery with yet another goal from a penalty corner just two minutes later. The match was dead and buried by this time. However, a flash of brilliance from Arjun Halappa created the 2nd goal for India which was duly netted in by the captain Rajpal Singh. Later in the match, Adrian D’Souza stopped a penalty stroke to maintain the scoreline.
Indian team was thoroughly outplayed and was never able to match the speed and skills of Australians. However, Indian team can still take heart from the performances of Arjun Halappa and a few others. They just need to tighten up a bit and should be all right to take challenge to the other teams.
India-Pak hockey WC match generates record TRP
The India-Pakistan match on the opening day of the Hockey World Cup on Sunday attracted record number of audience in the country, generating viewing figures similar to that of a one-day cricket international.
The match, in which India beat Pakistan 4-1 during primetime, gained an audience share of 8.9 on Doordarshan (TVR = 1.8) and 1.3 on Ten Sports, a FIH media release said.
By way of a benchmark, cricket’s TVR on Doordarshan for the four one-day internationals between India v Sri Lanka in December last year ranged from 1.1 to 2.3, averaging 1.85
Indian Men’s team qualify for Thomas Cup Main Draw
Anup Sridhar
Indian men’s team edged past Japan to settle for the third place in Thomas Cup qualifiers. The men’s team, which has already qualified for the finals of the Thomas Cup Championship in Malaysia, survived some tense moments on Saturday before beating Japan in the third place play-off. World number 15 Chetan Anand gave India a perfect start as he saw off Sho Sasaki 21-16, 23-21 in the first singles. The experienced doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar then made it 2-0 with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 victory over Hashimoto Hirokatsu and Hirata Noriyasu in the second match. However, Yamada Kazushi beat Arvind Bhatt 21-15, 14-21, 21-7 in a 46-minute clash to reduce the margin. Kazuno Kenta and Hayakawa Kenichi then joined the party and the duo eked out a 17-21, 21-16, 21-19 win over V Diju and Akshay Dewalkar to draw parity and bring Japan back into the tie. With the encounter locked at 2-2, Anup Sridhar showed his mettle and defeated Sato Shoji 21-7, 19-21, 24-22 to the delight of the Indian camp.
Chetan Anand
Now it needs to be seen if Women’s team could also make it to the main draw for the Uber Cup. They are close to 4500 points ahead of Netherlands who are currently 4th in European Qualifiers.
Reviving the Glory of Indian Sports 