After the exploits of the Indian team which has been doing well in the International scene, many youngsters have taken up cricket as their career. Mysuru has also its share of producing talented cricketers who have gone on to represent the country and on these lines is all-rounder J. Suchith who has gone on to represent the State in the higher level by making his debut in the Ranji Trophy for Karnataka against Assam at Guwahati last season. In the 2016-17, Karnataka Premier League, presently going on at Hubballi, Suchith, representing Mysuru Warriors, has been performing splendidly with the ball and has emerged as the main wicket-taker for his team. In the tie on Saturday against Belagavi Panthers, Suchith came up with an match-winning bowling performance of four for 26 and helped his team bowl out their rivals for 108 runs in reply to their team’s score of 142 in 20 overs. He is currently the highest wicket-taker in the tournament (9 wickets) along with A. Mithun. He is our ‘Star This Week.’
Suchith, who bowls left-arm spinners, impressed with his performance for Mysuru Warriors against Belagavi Panthers and took the crucial wickets of Praveen Dubey (20), C.K. Akshay (0), Sachin Shinde (0) and Anurag Bajpai (3). He ended up with figures of 4-1-26-4 and along with medium-pacer Suraj Yadav (three for 19) helped his team carve out a fine win.
Earlier, Suchith had represented Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy South Zone T20 Cricket Tournament at Kochi and had performed well with the bat and ball.
He was also part of the triumphant Karnataka Ranji, Irani Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
He was also part of the IPL Mumbai Indians team for the last two years and impressed everyone with his excellent performances. He also performed well for Mysuru Warriors in the KPL 2015-16 and is currently doing well with the ball in this edition of the KPL 2016-17.
He has played for Karnataka in the one-dayers and has represented the State in the U-16, U-19, U-22 and gave excellent performances.
Suchith learnt his cricket and played for the Mysore Gymkhana in our city. Encouraged by his parents, his coaches and KSCA Mysuru Zone, this lad aims to climb to greater heights in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / September 25th, 2016
Aditi Ashok became the youngest and first Indian to win the Lalla Aicha Tour School and get a Ladies European Tour card for the 2016 season. — Photo: Getty Images
The 18-year-old from Bengaluru, the only Indian woman golfer competing int the Rio Olympics, 2016, turned professional earlier this year after a sparkling amateur career.
Eighteen-year-old Aditi was slotted 58th among the women who had qualified for the Rio Games. She’s ranked 439th on the official women’s world rankings list but that didn’t make any difference to her approach coming into the Games and facing off against higher-ranked opponents.
In the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Aditi, the youngest contender and only Indian woman golfer in the fray, was able, for the most part of the first 36 holes, to tail the top spot on the leaderboard. She even shared the lead briefly before falling away in the third round.
A student at Bangalore’s Frank Anthony Public School, Aditi has been a consistent figure on the Indian amateur golfing scene. She turned professional in January 1, 2016, after an illustrious amateur career.
She made history when she became the first player from the country to win the Ladies British amateur stroke-play championship at Leeds, in 2015.
She won the St. Rule Trophy at St. Andrews and finished second in the 2015 European Women’s Amateur Championship, also claimed the overall title called ‘The Nicholls Trophy’ as well as the ‘Dinwiddy Trophy’ given for the lowest score by an under-18 player.
She is the only Indian golfer to have played the Asian Youth Games (2013) Youth Olympic Games (2014) and Asian Games (2014).
She is a three-time National Junior Champion for 2014, 2013, 2012 and a two-time National Amateur Champion for 2014, 2011.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / Internet Desk / August 20th, 2016
Cricket is a very popular game in our country and after the exploits of the Indian team which has been doing well in the International scene, and inspired by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s feats, many youngsters have taken up cricket as their career. Mysuru also has its share of producing talented cricketers who have gone on to play higher level of cricket. On these lines is Mandya-born youngster M.G. Naveen who has been performing consistently with the bat and the ball in the recent tournaments conducted by KSCA. His performances in the S.A. Srinivasan Memorial tournament and in the Inter-zonal Tournament for Mysuru zone, has earned him a place in the KSCA XI team which will take on Cricket Association of Bengal in the final of the Dr.(Capt.) K. Thimmappiah Memorial All India Cricket Tournament-2016, which will begin in Bengaluru from August 15 onwards. He is our ‘Star This Week.’
Naveen has been picked up by the Bijapur Bulls team for the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) 2016, which is set to begin in Mysuru from September, 2016. Naveen, representing Vijaya Bank in the recently held V. Prabhakar Memorial State-level Invitation Cricket Tournament conducted by Navodaya Cricket Club in Mysuru, impressed with his performances with the bat and ball for his team and has won two ‘Man of the Match’ awards in two successive games against MUCSC and Bangalore Occassionals and was responsible for his team’s win in the matches and also helped his team win the title.
Naveen, 23, hails from Mandya and plays for Vidyaranya CC in the KSCA Mysuru Zone 1st Division league. He represents Swastic Union CC in the KSCA Bengaluru league in the Group I, 1st Division.
Naveen is a top order batsman and a medium-pacer and is a utility allrounder. Naveen has represented Karnataka in the U-23, U-19, U-16 levels and has been performing well.
Naveen also represented Mangalore University in the South Zone Inter-University Championships 2015-16. He represented Mysuru Warriors in the KPL 2015 season and in the recently concluded Mangalore Premier League won the ‘Best Player of the Tournament’ award for his allround performance throughout the tournament. He captained Mysuru Zone U-23 team in the 2015 season in the KSCA Inter-zonal Tournament. Naven also played for Vijaya Bank and BEML (Mysuru) in the KSCA Group II, 1st Division matches and has gained valuable experience with the exposure.
Naveen has been encouraged in his efforts by the KSCA Bengaluru, KSCA Mysuru Zone and his team Vidyaranya CC. He intends to work hard with his batting, bowling and fitness levels and aims to represent the State in the senior level in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / August 14th, 2016
Forty footballers underwent an intense six-day training session at the Manchester City Football Academy with the leading club’s coaches
Bengaluru :
A Bengaluru Under-17 football team has emerged champions in a tournament in England, against three Indian and one British school teams. The 16 students from different schools were playing at the first edition of Premier Explore Cup 2016, organised by a UK-based travel company Premier Explore.
A former English Premier League player Darren Sean Barnard selected teams from four cities — Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. Barnard, who is now a manager and a coach, was a wing back and midfielder from 1989 until 2010, notably in the League for both Chelsea and Barnsley.
Forty footballers underwent an intense six-day training session at the Manchester City Football Academy with the leading club’s coaches. The boys also toured and played futsal at St George’s Park Centre, run by one of the oldest football associations in England. Another highlight, of the eight-day experience, was playing at City of Manchester Stadium (also known as Etihad Stadium). This is the third-largest stadium in Premier League.
Mohammad Dhaisam was the Bengaluru team captain. One of the two students selected from Ebenezer School, he says, “The coaches had come to Bengaluru in the beginning of this year for selection… All the teams played well in the tournament.” Kolkata was the toughest contender, according to the students. They were the runners-up.
Kirthan Shaker from Delhi Public School says that day one of coaching in Manchester was revelatory. “We realised that we lacked coordination,” he says. But they defeated the English team. “The second match against Mumbai was an easy win,” says Kirthan. “Then we were confident of winning.”
It was a “life-changing experience” for Anirudh Madhava Mugalihal, a student of Jnanaswikar PU College. He took his first flight, for this trip, and says, “They treated us like professionals… I learned discipline and how to deal with things.”
The students underwent coaching in India first. The brothers Maahir Aszaskazi and Raashid Aszaskazi who run Bangalore Soccer Academy trained eight students for the tournament for eight days. Maahir says, “It was just a basic coaching of how to attack and defend yourselves… The first two to three classes were focused only on fitness and team-building exercises as there were students from different schools.”
Next year, the company plans to organise a tournament with eight Indian cities including Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kerala.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Akhila Damodaran / August 13th, 2016
Any tennis official’s dream is to officiate in the Olympics tennis events and also be part of the Olympic Games. Our city’s Sagar S. Kashyap is in Rio De Jeneiro as a Tennis official and is officiating in the ongoing Tennis events in the Olympic Games-2016. Twenty eight-year-old Sagar achieved a milestone in 2015, when he officiated as a line umpire in the men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer at the Wimbledon Grand Slam Tennis Championships at the all England Club’s Courts on July 12, 2015. Sagar became the youngest Indian to officiate in the Wimbledon Championships final. Today, he is officiating in the Rio Olympics as part of the ITF Tennis Officials’ team. He is our ‘Star This Week.’
He is the only Mysurean official other than Mysuru-born US-based athlete Vikas Gowda who are doing our city and nation proud at the Olympic Games in Rio.
In Wimbledon Championships-2015, Sagar served as a line umpire along with another Indian referee Abhishek Mukherjee from Kolkata. This was the first time that two Indian officials were selected to officiate in a Wimbledon Championships men’s final. He is the first official from Karnataka to officiate in the Wimbledon final and the third Indian to be selected to officiate in the final of the Wimbledon Championships.
Sagar, a former national ranked tennis player and an Engineering graduate from Mysuru, fascinated by the game, took up officiating in smaller tourneys in Mysuru and Bengaluru in 2007. Sagar passed the International Tennis Federation’s Level-1 Exams in 2008. Later, he passed the ITF Level-2 exams and became the youngest White Badge official in the country, making him eligible to officiate at the highest level.
Sagar started officiating in ITF Tournaments and gradually was chosen for bigger tournaments. He got an opportunity to officiate in the ATP Chennai Open, WTA Sunfeast Open and ATP Kingfisher Open Tennis Championships.
In 2009, he got an opportunity to officiate as a line umpire in the Wimbledon championships qualifying rounds. In 2010, the British Lawn Tennis Association invited him to officiate in the main draw of the Championships. Since then he has been a regular in the Wimbledon Championships.
He was awarded as the Best performing Tennis Official by the ITF in 2015-16.
Sagar, after being in the circuit for seven years travelling to officiate from one championship to another, intends to climb greater heights in officiating various tournaments across the globe.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / August 07th, 2016
Table Tennis is a global sport which is popular in the world sporting scene. It needs excellent hand and eye co-ordination combined with skill and physical fitness to excel in the higher level. Mysuru has always been producing talented players who have gone on to represent the country and the State in different events in this popular sport.
One such talented table tennis player is our city’s youngster Ullas Naik, who has made every-one proud with his feats by representing India in the World Deaf Table tennis Championships 2016 held at Samsan, Turkey, from July 18-24, 2016 and won the men’s doubles bronze medal teaming up with Tanuj Mukherjee. An excellent performance in the world arena by this youngster from our city is a fit choice for this week’s ‘Star This Week.’
Ullas Naik, 24, is the son of Udhayshankar and Prafulla, who reside in Saraswathipuram, Mysuru. Ullas Naik who cannot hear from a young age, took up to Table Tennis in 2002, when his mother took him to Umesh Urs, the chief coach at the Harsha Table Tennis Centre in Kuvempunagar.
Umesh has been coaching him since then giving him all the needed encouragement and is responsible for his improvement in the sport.
Ullas Naik, a II year B.Arch. student at the University School of Design at the Manasagangotri, Mysuru, representing India in the World Deaf TT championships 2016 at Turkey from July 18-24, 2016, won bronze in the men’s doubles. Earlier in 2013, he had represented India in the Deaf Olympics in Bulgaria and in 2006 had represented India in the Friendly International Tournament at Pakistan and won gold in the men’s singles event.
Earlier, Ullas Naik, did his Diploma in Architecture in JSS Ploytechnic and was encouraged to the maximum by HOD Chandrashekar to pursue his sporting interests.
Ullas also takes part in the State Ranking TT Championships when he finds time now and earlier was regularly taking part in the Championships from time to time and has won medals.
He has been supported and encouraged well by his parents, coach Umesh Urs (HTTA), the Mysuru University and PG Sports Centre in continuing to play this sport in the highest level.
Ullas Naik intends to continue playing this sport and aims to perform well in the National and International level for the country. This multi-talented lad needs to be encouraged and hope he goes on to achieve greater laurels in this sport in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / July 31st, 2016
Cyclist Sandesh Uppar dreams of qualifying for the Olympics
Sandesh Uppar has always been interested in sports. Born in Shiggaon, a town in Haveri district, he would keenly follow every sporting event. A snippet on cycling caught his attention and he was soon hooked on to cycling.
He got in touch with a cycling institute in Vijayapura, Karnataka’s cycling hub. The 19- year-old has gone on to win medals in State and National Championships. He also excelled in the MTB National Championship in Pune last year. However, lack of funds seemed to have put breaks on his career.
Help came from Starkenn Sports Private Ltd, a bicycle company. He says, “Starkenn believed in my talent. They helped me with money and other resources.” Sandesh hopes to participate in the Asian Championships in New Delhi next year and dreams of qualifying for the Olympics.
He says, “In a couple of decades, I want to start a coaching centre where I can guide and train young passionate cyclists who don’t have adequate resources.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / T.R.Karthik / Bengaluru – July 30th, 2016
The fascinating story of Anu Vaidyanathan, the first Asian woman to compete in Ultraman Canada.
As someone who goes to bed praying the morning papers will publish findings that pizza is good for weight loss, two questions popped up when I read Anywhere but Home: Adventures in Endurance, written by Anu Vaidyanathan, “the first Asian female to have competed in Ultraman Canada”. It sounds suspiciously like auditioning for a superhero movie set in Nova Scotia, but what is it really? The answer is easy enough, as it exists in the finite and definable realms of sport and mathematics: a 10-km swim, a 420-km bike ride, and an 84.4 km run. (Four weeks later, again in Canada, Vaidyanathan switched her allegiance to a different superhero: Ironman. This time, a 3.8 km swim, a 180-km bike ride, a 42.2 km run.) I then asked the tougher question, the answer to which lies in the diffuse dimensions of metaphysics: Why?
I get why people climb the Everest. It sounds like something you’d want on your obituary note, or at least your Facebook post. But what glories can swimming, running and biking bring? As it turns out, Vaidyanathan is searching for a “why” too.
Despite the broad motivational-poster nature of the narrative (sample quote: “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing”), Anywhere but Homeis also an intimate portrait of a single woman in India — “a quintessential Tamilian Brahmin — five times a year at least, during Pongal, Nombu, Ganapathi Chaturthi, Krishna Jayanti and Deepavali” — brushing off the “when are you going to settle down?” question, training on bad roads, without much money for equipment, putting her body through unimaginable stress, all because… Because… The answer, finally, comes from writer and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl. What athletes do with their goal-setting “frees them up from commerce or the meaningless pursuit of goals that depend on other people’s validation.” The other reason: “the grand challenges of survival were absent because we were children of luxury.” Hence the transformation of life into a hurdle race with a series of self-imposed challenges.
Vaidyanathan writes like a runner — breathlessly, without getting sidetracked. The pages seem to pant. The prose is observant (“watching dark grey clouds tease the distance between them and my rear-view mirror”), if sometimes too cute (a chapter is titled “An Inheritance O’Floss”). And often very funny, in the way everything circles back to running, even romance. About an early boyfriend, she writes, “I think I was in love. You would have to be, with a boy who took you on a 13-km run through the woods on a first date.” Later, she writes about dating a tall, soft-spoken German boy who did not understand why a ride was so much more exciting than a movie. “Miffed with his lack of understanding, I took off on a long run.”
I must say I saw the German boyfriend’s point. Vaidyanathan is quite a character, someone whose idea of a memorable Thursday includes a 3.5-km swim, a two-hour run, an hour of commuting on the bike, and 30 minutes of upper-body weights. (One can only imagine what her idea of a perfect Valentine’s Day is.) She never seems to rest. If she’s not working towards a PhD in Electrical Engineering, she is at home in Bangalore plunging into a start-up.
Anywhere but Home is mostly the story of a solitary pursuit but filled with family and friends. We meet the people Vaidyanathan leaves behind when she goes off on her runs and bikes and swims, the people she yearns to be with while living out of suitcases. We get to know her roommates and boyfriends (though we never seem to know when the relationships ended). We meet members of the running community, people who seem to think nothing of scrounging up enough money to fly off to exotic locations (Brazil! China!) for endurance events. And everyone is so giving. During a run, when Vaidyanathan was suffering from dehydration, sleeplessness and worries about an unsupportive crew, “Lena held my hand for nearly two kilometres, running alongside me, reminding me to never give up.”
The last chapter deals with another sort of hand-holder, finding “someone crazy enough to marry me”. And we sense a calming down, especially after the birth of Vaidyanathan’s son. “Giving birth brought with it a moment of great clarity. There was magic beyond what any class in engineering, science or objective observation had taught me. However, to sustain that magic past the endorphin rush of birth would involve a great deal of humility… Overnight, I went from being someone’s daughter to being someone’s mother.”
The epiphany lasted about six weeks. Soon, Vaidyanathan was back on the road, participating in a 10 km race. It wasn’t easy, but she finished, “just for the pleasure of having my son know that his mother embraced life’s challenges.”
Anywhere But Home: Adventures in Endurance; Anu Vaidyanathan, Harper Sport, Rs. 350.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books> Literary Review / by Baradwaj Ranjan / July 23rd, 2016
City’s A. Augustin (SJCE, Mysuru) with 8.5 points from 9 rounds won the coveted Karnataka State U-25 chess title in the tournament conducted at Christ School, Hassan recently.
R. Manoj of Hassan finished second with 8 points, while Arjun Adappa with 7.5 points secured the third place. M. Tulsi of Mysuru secured the fourth place with 7 points, while V.P.S. Darshan of Mysuru finished fifth with 7 points.
The winner A. Augustin received Rs.3,000 and a trophy, while R. Manoj took home Rs.2,200 and a trophy. Arjun Adappa who secured the third place secured Rs.1,800 as cash prize with a trophy, while M. Tulsi of Mysuru took home a cash prize of Rs.1500 and a trophy.
The top two players A. Augustin and R. Manoj will represent the State in the National U-25 championship.
Final Placings 1. A. Augustin (8.5 pts) 2. R. Manoj (8.0 pts) 3. Arjun Madappa (7.5 pts) 4. M. Tulsi (7.0 pts) 5. V.P.S. Darshan (7.0 pts) 6. Navaneetha Krishna (7.0 pts) 7. N. Nishanth (6.5 pts) 8. S. Naga Kiran (6.5 pts) 9. L. Vivekananda (6.5 pts) 10. Akshay R. Kashyap (6.5 pts)
Best U-10 Boys 1. Srivatsa (6.0 pts) 2. Patrick P. Johnson (5.5 pts) 3. M.H. Akash (5.5 pts)
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / July 19th, 2016
Bengaluru biker becomes first Indian to compelete the Trans Am Bike Race in US
A practice that began as an 18-kilometre cycle ride to school every day in the suburbs of Manipur’s Thoubal district has culminated into Thoudam Opendro Singh becoming the first Indian to complete the Trans Am Bike Race (TABR) in the US, covering a distance of 4,400 miles in less than 25 days. A resident of Bengaluru for nearly two decades, Opendro is an avid cyclist , who has been regularly taking part in long-distance biking tours in and around Karnataka as well as in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Describing his recent feat as a fantastic experience, the 38-year-old technical professional says, “TABR is an annual self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across the US that follows a specific trail, covering 10 states. I rode from the north-west coast to south-east coast of the country with a group of bikers. The race started at Astoria in Oregon and went on to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming in the north, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri in the central part and Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia in the east. Yorktown in Virginia was the finish point.”
From idyllic countryside to hilly terrains as high as 11,500 feet from the sea level, this race packs quite an adventurous trip, according to Opendro. “During the initial days of the journey, we either camped at a particular location or tucked ourselves into sleeping bags outside petrol pumps or other public places. But later, when the weather started becoming colder at high altitudes, we halted at motels overnight and then hit the road in the morning,” he adds.
So, do you think resorting to bicycles can be a solution to Bengaluru’s growing traffic and pollution? “Although Bengaluru is expanding in area, when it comes to commuting space, the city is rapidly shrinking. We have a lot of cycling enthusiasts in the city, and clubs and groups supporting them. But to make cycling a regular mode of transport, more constructive efforts need to be made and common people made me aware of the benefits of the cycling,” he sums up.
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bangalore / Reema Gowalla / July 16th, 2016
