Category Archives: Sports

Mysore girl Kavyashree Mallanna creates waves in Chess coaching at United States

Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Mysore girl Kavyashree Mallanna, a former Karnataka State Women’s chess champion and National level player, now settled in Boston, USA, is the Founder and Director of Celestial Minds ( A Chess Coaching Centre) and one of New England’s top chess players.

KavyashreeBF01feb2014

by our Sports Correspondent

A 14-time Chess champion in various catego ries in Karnataka for a decade, Kavyashree pursued her higher studies in California, during which, she acquired United States Chess Federation ‘Expert’ level rating after winning Kolty Chess Club Championship in year 2000.

Chess is a mind game and Mysore has always been producing talented players from time-to-time who have gone to represent the country and the State in different levels.

Mysore girl, M. Kavyashree is one such player who has done Karnataka and Mysore proud with her feats in playing chess from 1989-2000, and won different titles in the State and National levels. Chess remained a part of her life either as a player or as a teacher when she started Prema Chess Lab ( 2003) to train the local talents. Presently she coaches children and chess players of all ages in the United States and also conducts tournaments from time-to-time.

She is the daughter of Prof. Mallanna and Prof. K.R. Premaleela, who are residents of Mysore. Her younger sister Kavana, who is also in the US, is a National level chess player and a former State champion.

Kavyashree went to United States to pursue her higher studies California and after completing her studies, started a chess club (Prema Chess Lab) in 2003 which she renamed in 2012 as ‘Celestial Minds.’

Kavyashree took up to chess at a very young age encouraged by her mother Prof. K.R. Premaleela. She learnt the basics of chess from her mother and senior local chess players initially and later moved on to chess books.

She went on to play chess in the district level and then represented the district in the State level tournaments and went on to win State championships in different age categories (from 1989 to 2000).

Chess, according to Kavyashree, helps an individual to develop lateral thinking, handle multiple tasks, have a holistic view & approach, and balance a situation in a good manner. It is also very helpful for academics.

She loved chess and one fine day quit her IT career and took up to her passion of coaching chess.

Her company ‘Celestial minds’ promotes both music and chess. Love for music is a blessing from her father Prof. S. Mallanna and love for chess is a gift from her mother. Her parents’ hobbies helped Kavyashree find an expression and in balancing a highly competitive career be it chess or IT.

Every September, Kavyashree, through her club conducts tournaments, which gets good response. On the occasion, a musical programme by her father captivated the audience with his songs. Kavyashree’s mother gave away the trophies to the winners.

Kavyashree intends to pursue her passion and love of promoting the game of chess through her club and aims to produce talented players in the days to come. This Mysore girl has made everyone proud with her feats in US and hope she scales greater heights in her coaching career in the days to come.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / January 27th, 2014

Soha on the Success Trail

Records, All, Sports
S Soha is a promising player
S Soha is a promising player

Karnataka’s junior tennis player S Soha made history of sorts when she emerged as champion in the National School Games (NSG) tennis tournament in Pune earlier this month, thereby, beginning the new year on a rousing note.

The 15-year-old, 10th standard student of Cluny Convent, Jalahalli, thus became the first Karnataka girl to win the NSG tennis title in recent years. Soha defeated Urmi Pandey of Gujarat 5-4 (5) in the final.

“I am happy I won the title as it was a tough tournament, especially the semi-finals and finals,” said Soha, a trainee of the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy. Soha was quick to acknowledge that she owed her success to the support of her parents, school and her coaches Krishna Bhupathi, S Praveen Kumar and Prakash.

“My coaches have been encouraging me in every respect and I have learnt everything from them. I owe my success to them,” she added. Prior to the NSG title, Soha had won the under-16 title AITA Championship Series conducted by the Topspin Academy at Bangalore and was a runner-up in the AITA Super Series at Chandigarh.

She managed to reach the semi-finals in the R T Narayan Cup National Series in Bangalore. She has won about 50 titles in her fledgling career in the under-12, under-14, under-16 sections so far. A commendable achievement by any standards.

Her coach at MBTA, S Praveen Kumar, a former ITF and ATP player, was all praise for her. “She is a dedicated youngster with a lot of promise. She can go up the ladder, with more exposure, especially in Junior ITF category. She works very hard and is a very willing learner. That makes it easier to coach her,” Praveen added.

P R Ramaswamy, Joint Secretary of the KSLTA, while  congratulating Soha said, “After a long time, we have a champion in the National School Games and KSLTA wishes Soha more such successes.  We will see how best we can support her.”

Soha had done very well in the AITA Talent Series Tennis tournament for under-14 and under-16 (boys and girls) at the MTC and Raghuveer Tennis courts in Mysore as a tiny tot way back in 2009. That’s when she showed a lot of promise and though she did not win the title there, there was no doubt that a young girl with loads of talent had arrived on the tennis scene in the state.

Soha beat Priyanka M 6-0, 6-1 on her way to the semis in the R T Narayan memorial tournament and displayed her confidence in executing her forehand and backhand strokes. She also has a good first serve and surely should be able to improve her stamina as she progresses.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore /  by S Shreekumar – Bangalore / January 16th, 2014

Manipal to host sports science conference

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Sports

Mangalore :

Manipal University will host an international conference on ‘Physical Education and Sports Science’ in Manipal from January 8 to 11.

According to K. Ramnarayan, Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University, the theme of the conference is: ‘Vision 2020 – Global excellence in physical education and sports science.’

The conference will deal with aspects such as pedagogy, psychology, fitness, nutrition, doping, traditional Indian sports, coaching and training, physical education and health in schools, he said, adding that new information and knowledge on these topics will be imparted by the resource persons.

The conference is being organised under the aegis of National Association of Physical Education and Sports Science.

Though the conference begins on January 9, a one-day workshop on ‘Recent advances in fitness appraisal and exercise prescription’ will be conducted on January 8. Oleksandr Krasilshchikov, professor at the School of Health Sciences, University of Sains, Malaysia, will moderate the workshop.

Dayanand Pai, treasurer of Karnataka State Cricket Association, will inaugurate the conference on January 9. Ramdas M. Pai, Chancellor of Manipal University, will be the chief guest on the occasion, he said.

Around 450 delegates have already registered for the conference, he said.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Education / by The Hindu Bureau      vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in / Mangalore – January 05th, 2014

A pitstop for Bangalore’s bikers

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports, Travel

Lounge in Marathahalli gives an “adda” for bikers to congregate, plan rides, discuss technicalities, and hone their riding skills.

The maiden biker's lounge in the country, 6000 Miles to Isle of Man, was inaugurated in the city by the MD of Kawasaki Motors India, Yuji Horiuchi, and Dy MD Shigeto Nishikawa on Saturday. - DNA
The maiden biker’s lounge in the country, 6000 Miles to Isle of Man, was inaugurated in the city by the MD of Kawasaki Motors India, Yuji Horiuchi, and Dy MD Shigeto Nishikawa on Saturday. – DNA

With biking catching up in a big way in Bangalore, bikers in the city are often left in the lurch when it comes to places to hang out and discuss about their motorcycles and plan their rides. However, now it appears like they have finally got an “adda” to call their own. And it is not some quaint corner in a mechanic’s shop.

A swanky lounge ready to host biking groups, the “adda” comes alive with a screen showcasing motorsports, coupled with a unit selling everything from riding and safety gear to technicians ready to explain intricate details of different bikes.

Called 6000 Miles to Isle of Man, the lounge is expected to be the ultimate place for all bikers to congregate, debate and discuss, plan biking tours, get details on technicalities, and hone their riding skills.

“The idea is mainly to get bikers to bond with each other, and get to know their bikes better,” says Pushpchand Chordia, CEO, Khivraj Motors.

He says bikers in India surf the net, catch up with like minded people and plan rides together.

“Instead of hanging out in some cafe or restaurant, bikers can come to this biking lounge, which is designed just for them,” says Chordia.

Veteran biker Jaidas Menon, who runs Motorsport Inc, says, in the past, bikers would sit in workshops or mechanic shops, and discuss and plan things.

“A lounge is a nice concept as bikers can not only just relax with their friends, but also buy riding gear, understand their bikes, and upgrade their skills,” says Menon.

The lounge, located in Marathahalli, will also hold courses for riders, apart from having technicians who will encourage bikers to better understand their bikes, and learn to handle everything from tyres to suspension.

Moreover, the lounge also intends to screen movies focused on biking like Riding Solo on Top of the World, and Once Crazy Ride.

“We will also get the director of these films to come and interact with bikers, and brief them on what it takes to ride in places like Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh,” says Anil Kumar S from Apex Riding Academy.

Kumar adds that the lounge will also organise bike rides to nearby places like Coorg, Mysore, Mangalore on a monthly and bi-monthly basis.

Khivraj Motors, along with India Kawasaki Motors, is planning to open four more such lounges in Rajajinagar, Central, South and North Bangalore.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by DNA Correspondent / Place: Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Sunday – January 05th, 2014

Mysore Skaters fare well in national Ice-Skating championships

Records, All, Sports
Rea Elizabeth Achiah, Akash Aradhya and Kaviraj Prithvi, of Mysore, who emerged winners at the 10th National Ice-Skating Championships held at Simla recently.
Rea Elizabeth Achiah, Akash Aradhya and Kaviraj Prithvi, of Mysore, who emerged winners at the 10th National Ice-Skating Championships held at Simla recently.

Mysore :

Mysore’s skaters, representing Karnataka in the 10th National Ice-Skating Championships held at Simla recently, performed creditably.

Rea Elizabeth Achiah won 3 golds, while Kaviraj Prithvi won 2 gold and 1 silver medal. Akash Aradhya won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the Championships. All the three skaters are coached by K. Srikanta Rao, Ekalavya awardee and Indian team coach.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / January 14th, 2014

Karnataka lads shine at world chess meet

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Bangalore :

Girish A Koushik showed why he’s one of Karnataka’s most promising chess players after clinching the silver medal for the second year running in the Under-16 (open) category at the 13th FIDE World Youth Chess Championships that concluded in Al-Ain, UAE, on Saturday.

Sharing the limelight with the Mysore chess prodigy was Bangalore boy Raghunandan K Srihari, who bagged the silver medal in the U-12 category. Indians trumped players from 123 countries to top the heap with eight medals (three gold, two silver and three bronze). India also secured top honours in the blitz format with 13 medals (five gold, four silver and four bronze).

Girish’s dominance in world chess has been well chronicled ever since he won the World Youth Under-10 Championship in Batumi, Georgia, seven years ago. Last year in Maribor, Slovenia, the 16-year-old was met with stiff opposition, but still finished second with eight wins, two defeats and a draw.

This time around, Girish was expecting the worst after heading to the Gulf nation underprepared for the tournament. “I had tests and was busy with my studies so I could not find time to prepare for the Worlds. I caught up with whatever I could at the airport lounges and in flight. Thankfully, everything went my way,” said the first year student of Sadvidya Composite PU College, Mysore.

With seven wins and four draws, the seventh-seeded Girish finished with nine points and was tied for gold with Tamil Nadu’s Murali Karthikeyan. But with no joint awards in store, Murali pipped Girish for gold with a slim tie-break margin (total points against other opponents) of 0.5.

Girish, however, was ecstatic. “If you look at it, both of us finished joint first, so I am happy with my performance. I finished with 50.0 (tie-break points) while Murali got 50.5. So it was a bit disappointing that I missed out on gold with such a small margin. But, I’m happy that I remained unbeaten in the 11 rounds. This is my best performance yet,” explained the International Master (IM) and Grandmaster (GM) norm holder.

Girish, whose biggest win came against higher-ranked Russian Kirill Alekseenko, will see his 2413 ELO rating rise by 17 points.

SILVER ON DEBUT

For Raghunandan, the U-12 silver will be one of his most cherished ever. Making his debut appearance at the Worlds this year, the soft-spoken tenth seeded youngster picked up eight wins, two defeats and a draw to finish with 8.5 points behind Armenia’s Aram Hakobyan.

“It feels great to win a medal in your first World championship,” Raghunandan said. “It was a very competitive field but I was ready for them. My match against American Marcus Miyasaka was one of my toughest wins. He had a middlegame error, which I immediately capitalized on and turned the contest in my favour,” said the seventh standard student of VVS Gandhi Centenary School, who trains under Ukrainian coach Alexander Vaysman.

United Karnataka Chess Association officials received the winners in Bangalore. The boys would be felicitated soon, it is learnt.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Chess> Silver Medal / by Maxin Mathew, TNN / December 31st, 2013

Star this week : Chess champ: Girish Koushik

Education, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Girish A. Koushik
Girish A. Koushik

Chess is a traditional game and India has been doing well in this sport since the expoits of Vishwanathan Anand in the world chess scene. Many youngsters have taken up to chess and Mysore city has seen many chess players who have gone on to represent the country in different levels and perform well. One such chess player who has been consistently doing well in the International-level is International Master Girish A. Koushik.

Girish, representing India in the World Youth Classic U-16 Chess Championships held at Al-Ain (UAE) from Dec. 18 to 29, 2013, did everyone proud with his performance when he won the second place in the boys U-16 category. He secured 9 points from 11 rounds and tied with Karthikeyan Murali of India, but the latter’s better tie-break score of 50.5 helped Karthikeyan Murali to clinch the title. Girish Koushik finished a creditable second. He is our ‘Star This week.’

The 16 year old, Girish, is a 1st PU student of Sadvidya Composite PU College in city. Encouraged by his parents, Arun Koushik and Lakshmi Arun, his family members, State Govt., the UCKA and MDCA,this lad has been a consistent performer for our country in the junior level.

Girish, a former World Champion (U-10) in 2006, the first Karnataka chess player to win a World chess title, has grown from strength to strength and has been our Nation’s flag bearer with some spectacular performances in the tournaments whenever he has represented the country.

Girish had wins over Lekic Lazar, Bora Safal (USA), Saloman Johan (Norway), Wang Richard (Canada), Sibasvili Giorgi (Georgia), Wang Yiye (China) and Alekseenko Kirill of Russia. He had draws with Brown Michael William (USA), Asgarizadeh Ahmad (Iri), Petrosyan Manuel (Armenia) and Vorontsov Pavlo of Ukraine.

Girish got his final International Master Norm in this tournament. Presently he has a ELO rating of 2430 and has added 17.1 points with his performance in this tournament.

He also finished fifth in the World Under-16 Blitz Tournament held at Al-Ain. Ranked No. 40 in the country, Girish won gold in the Asian Youth Chess Championships U-16 Open at Sri Lanka in July 2012. He also won gold in the Asian Youth U-16 Open held at Savi- Isreal in June 2013. He had won the gold in the World U-10 Championships held at Georgia in 2006.

Encouraged and helped by the Karnataka State Government, he got the Ekalavya Award in 2012, the SWAB Best Sports person award in 2012-13. He needs to be encouraged and promoted as he has the talent in him to become a Grand Master in the days to come.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News /  January 05th, 2014

PR Ashokanand named new KSCA president

Sports

Former first-class cricketer PR Ashokanand has taken over as president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, filling the vacancy created by the death of Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the former KSCA president.

Wadiyar had died on December 10, a few days after reclaiming the post of the association’s president. Ashokanand, one of KSCA’s elected vice-presidents, was unanimously nominated to take over as president at a managing committee meeting.

Ashokanand played first-class cricket between 1957 and 1972, representing Hyderabad, Madras and Mysore. He scored 2410 runs in 62 matches at an average of 26.77 and took 14 wickets with his medium pace, at 30.78.

source: http://www.espccricinfo.com / ESPN CricInfo / Home> India> News / by ESPNcricinfo Staff / December 28th, 2013

From a gold-medallist cyclist to an ATM guard

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

Bangalore :

It is 5am and a biting cold wind sweeps through Kumbarhalla, a remote village located 10km from Jamakhandi, India’s Mecca of cycling. The sun is still a long way from topping the horizon, but 24-year-old Mahadev Kurani alias Madappa, a national-level cyclist, silently slips out of his dingy house with his Singapore-made Trek bicycle.

(Mahadev Kurani mortgaged…)
(Mahadev Kurani mortgaged…)

Racing against time, Kurani pumps the pedals hard as he zips on the Bijapur-Dharwad state highway on his way to Jamakhandi. He is joined by several other riders on the stretch, but while they head for the Jamkhandi stadium to hone their cycling skills, Kurani turns towards the Jamakhandi bus stand where he works as a security guard at one of the ATMs of anationalised bank.

Olympians would say that it’s the journey rather than the destination that makes the event so special. Kurani, though, wonders if he would ever arrive. A national cycling champion with four gold medals to his name, Kurani believes he has plenty more to give. But stuck in mounting debt, he had to give up cycling to help his family make ends meet. The daily sprint to work at the ATM serves as his only means of keeping in touch with the sport.

He draws a pittance — Rs 4,800 — in salary every month, much of it goes towards repaying the Rs 60,000 mortgage taken against his family’s acre of land. The money was borrowed six years ago from a local financier to fund his bike. The rest is given to his mother to take care of the family.

“What to do?” Kurani asks rhetorically. “If I do not work, we will lose the acre of dry farmland that was mortgaged to buy my bicycle. The land is the only hope for my family. Being the eldest, I have to look after my parents, brother and sister. The priority is to settle the loan as the interest piles up by the day. There was a time when I hoped the state government would recognise my achievements, but all I got was disappointment and insults. The creditors are not bothered with all these stories. I simply have to settle the debt or we will lose our land. So I had to join as a security guard.”

Kurani was drawn to the sport when he was in Std VIII. Success stories of several other cyclists from Jamakhandi spurred his dream of becoming an international athlete. He began by covering between 50 and 100km on an ordinary cycle. Soon he began to participate in state and national-level events. His dream began to take definite shape. The imported cycle was procured in 2007.

“I was initiated into the sport by my grandfather when I was in high school,” Kurani said. “He was a national-level cyclist and he motivated me to take up cycling. While in school, I took part in several national and state-level cycling competitions, either borrowing cycles from friends or using an ordinary bike. There are basically two types of events in cycling: Velodrome events and cross-country races. Both require different kinds of cycles. But I used to practise both events on the same bike. It was only when I was selected for the international race in Chennai that I had to buy an imported cycle to stay on par with the competition.”

Buying an imported cycle was no easy decision for Kurani, coming as he did from a family that struggled to make ends meet. His father, Manik, worked as a peon at an ITI college in Bagalkot and his earnings barely took care of his own needs in the city. The rest of the family relied heavily on the acre of land for a living.

“I did not want to miss out on an international race in Chennai, so I decided to buy an imported cycle by raising a loan,” Kurani said. “When none came forward to give me a loan, I mortgaged the land and bought this cycle from Singapore for Rs 60,000. Every year I had to pay an interest of Rs 18,000 failing which I would lose my land. Initially I began repaying the loan with whatever money I won at competitions. But it was not enough as considerable money was spent on my travel and maintenance of the cycle. In fact, to support the family, my younger brother gave up schooling and began working. We still fell short.”

Though he finished 14th at the race in Chennai, Kurani refused to be put off. The following year he finished 5th, but by then his bike, while still streets ahead of an ordinary bike, had become outdated for international competitions. He still continues to cover 150 to 200 kms in four to five hours with a maximum speed of 45 km per hour merely by pedalling to work. He hopes to get back into competitive cycling in a few months once the loan is repaid. He says he tried securing a constable post with the police and a job in the Railways under sports quota, but both moves didn’t work out.

“Meanwhile, I kept winning medals at both nationals and state level events in various states,” Kurani said. “So far I have won four gold, three silver and four bronze medals at the national level besides several state awards.”

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore> Security Guard / Bangalore Mirror Bureau / August 03rd, 2013

Pandey Eyes Ranji Glory for Karnataka

Records, All, Sports
Karnataka cricketer Manish Pandey (right) at a promotional event in Chennai on Thursday | R Ravishankar
Karnataka cricketer Manish Pandey (right) at a promotional event in Chennai on Thursday | R Ravishankar

Best known for being the first Indian to score a hundred in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Manish Krishnanand Pandey has been instrumental in getting those big runs for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy this season. With two hundreds and a couple of fifties, this 24-year-old has along with compatriot Lokesh Rahul has steered Karnataka to the top of Group A, which boasts of bigger teams like Mumbai and Delhi.

Speaking on the sidelines of a promotional event here, Pandey said that the current squad desperately hoped to end Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy drought. “It’s been 14 years since we won Ranji and it’s high time we did something about it. We have been doing well this year as a unit, the batsmen have been in form while the bowlers are doing their job. Everyone’s been on their toes. We have a young squad and have learnt from our mistakes,” he said.

Karnataka last won the Ranji Trophy in 1998-99 and the closest they have come to winning it was in the 2009-10 season, when they lost to Mumbai by a mere six runs in the final. “I have been playing Ranji for the last 5 years. We lost to Mumbai by six runs and I missed on my 150 by six runs. That’s the closest we came to winning the trophy. It’s one of my best knocks ever but also disappointing that I could not take my team through then.”

Pandey hopes to change the fortune in his team’s favour this time around and feels a few more good knocks would take him closer to making the India squad. “This season, I have already scored two hundreds and both have come on green wickets, which have been bowler friendly. It has given me a lot of confidence. I have a feeling that this year we will go all the way. I need to work harder to make the India squad. I can’t take anything for granted. Two to three bigger and better performances would help me get closer,” he added. Karnataka next play Mumbai in Bangalore on December 22.

The right-hander, who has been part of Pune Warriors since 2011, hopes to return to his former team Royal Challengers Bangalore now that the Pune outfit has been scrapped from the IPL.

“The Pune Warriors team is not there in the IPL. The new rule is that a lot of players will be going under the hammer in the auction. My heart is at my home, so I would definitely want to pl­ay for my home team RCB. Let’s see how it goes.” On the prospect of playing alongside Chris Gayle, Pandey added: “To play with Gayle is a big thing. It will be a good competition and I would get to learn about his batting technique and mindset.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cricket> News / by Krithika Gopalkrishnan / ENS – Chennai / December 20th, 2013