This was Pankaj Advani’s overall 24th national title and it came against an opponent, who proved he was worthy of being in the final but fell short against the eight-time world champion.

Lucknow:

World champion Pankaj Advani (PSPB) won his sixth national snooker title with a commanding 6-3 win over Kamal Chawla of Railways in the 81st national snooker championship, in Lucknow on Friday.

Chawla remained a spectator from his chair for larger period of the match as the Bangalore cueist Advani’s natural prowess for cue sport, both in snooker and billiards, was proven yet again in the ‘City of Nawabs’.

Advani had started the tournament with a break of 145, highest for the championship, and ended the last frame of the championship with a fluent 139.

This was Advani’s overall 24th national title and it came against an opponent, whose swift decisions on the table helped him reach the summit clash of the tournament.

In the final, Advani put up a gutsy break of 139 in the ninth frame to seal the issue in his favour. Chawla proved he was worthy of being in the final but fell short against the eight-time world champion.

Advani rose to the occasion of a national level final, delivering mouth-watering breaks of 84, 69, 61, 64 with the final break of 139 being the icing on the cake, thereby providing a dream finish for any sponsor and organiser.

Advani did not disappoint the spectators, who welcomed the champion for his first-ever visit to the city.

Speaking to PTI over phone, Advani dedicated his title triumph to India’s women on the eve of the International Women’s Day.

“It’s always a matter of pride to participate in the Indian National Championship and an absolute delight to win it. I dedicate this title to the Indian woman on the occasion of International Women’s Day. They are the true architects of society. This win is in their honour,” he said.

Advani’s three century breaks in the tournament was testimony to his mastery over the format, which has helped him earn accolades at the Professional circuit.

His toughest challenge came in the semi-final against Dharminder Lilly, the veteran Punjab cueist, against whom Advani rallied from 0-2 down to win the clash 5-3.

Advani now heads to China for the Haikou World Open with fond memories of his victory in the ‘City of Nawabs’.

source: http://www.sports.ndtv.com / NDTV Sports / Home> Sports Home> Other Sports> More / Press Trust of India / Friday – March 07th, 2014

Mysore :

Volleyball is a popular sport and is played both indoors and outdoors. The game has advanced and gained more popularity in the National, Asian and International level. Sports Hostel, Mysore and the University of Mysore have been promoting this sport in Mysore and have been regularly seeing talented players coming up from their support.

One amongst these talented sports persons is Mallika Vikas Shetty, a Mysore Sports Hostel’s product, who has been the most talented and upcoming volleyball players in the women’s section in the State. She was adjudged as the Best Player in the South Zone Women’s Volleyball Championships recently representing Karnataka as the skipper. She is our ‘Star This Week.’

Mallika Shetty is a State volleyball player from the Mysore Sports Hostel, who has been in the National camp for three years now but is yet to get a look-in into the Indian squad. The South Western Railway and Central Railway were interested in recruiting this talented lass.

Mallika Shetty, 21, led Mysore Sports Hostel team to another State ‘A’ division league title recently. Being a left-hander and very athletic has its advantages but it also comes with lots of responsibilities. She is the pillar of her team and shoulders the burden of smashing her way past the rival defense with impunity. Mallika has a wiry frame and has capitalised on her athleticism to good effect right from her school days.

“I did my schooling in a small hamlet in rural Karnataka, I excelled in athletics (shot put and discus throw). In 2007, I came to Bangalore and joined the Sports School Vidyanagar, and began my tryst with volleyball,” admits Mallika. She has been encouraged a lot by her parents to puruse sports as a career.

She is currently pursuing her second year B. Com at Teresian College in Mysore and honing her skills at the Mysore Sports Hostel under coach Ashok, whom she has been with for over three years now.

She is being encouraged by the DYES, Government of Karnataka and her college (Teresian College) provides her with all the needed help in attending various tournaments.

She has been a real inspiration and live wire for her team in the court and inspires the other players too.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / March 02nd, 2014

Karnataka had multiple heroes in its successful Ranji Trophy campaign but two men in the background also deserve equal credit. Coaches J. Arun Kumar and Mansur Ali Khan provided perfect support for R. Vinay Kumar’s men to win Indian domestic cricket’s number one title

They are men of extreme contrasts. J. Arun Kumar has tattoos, rides a Harley Davidson besides his other cars, is outspoken and during his playing days was a flamboyant opener. On the other end is Mansur Ali Khan, who is soft-spoken, an anachronism considering he was a medium pacer in his heydays.

But together, they have struck a wonderful tandem as coaches with the Karnataka cricket team that reaped the benefits of their expertise and won the Ranji Trophy defeating Maharashtra in the final at Hyderabad, last week.

Arun, ‘JAK’ to his friends, and Mansur, ‘MAK’ being his nickname, have had an association even during their days as key players for Karnataka. The duo shared rooms and now as coaches – Arunhandles ‘batting’ and Mansur supervises ‘bowling’ – their old rapport is very much intact while they also consciously avoid treading on each other’s toes.

The State had many heroes in batting led by K.L. Rahul (1033 runs) while Karun Nair, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Amit Verma and Ganesh Satish, all played their relevant parts. Similiarly, the bowlers too prospered and if Karnataka registered seven outright victories, it is thanks to the effort of speedster Abhimanyu Mithun (41 wickets), H.S. Sharath, skipper R. Vinay Kumar, S. Arvind and Shreyas Gopal. It would be prudent to hear from Arun and Mansur about the manner in which they extracted the best out of the team.

Jak’s prescription

Confidence the key

“At the start of the season, while we were looking at under-25 players I did look at talent, but I also wanted these players to have the necessary confidence.

I didn’t want players to step in and while facing Harbhajan Singh, think, ‘oh my god, I am playing against Harbhajan.’ I wanted the players to play their natural styles without getting overwhelmed.”

An arm around the shoulder

“The players are already under tremendous pressure and as a coach you are expected to reduce that and make them feel at ease. You cannot tell them, ‘you better get runs or get wickets’ and make them struggle even more. As a coach I had many one-on-one sessions with the players before the season and got to understand them better. I encouraged them a lot.”

A matter of trust

“When MAK and I took over last year there wasn’t much time to work on the players but this year we had time. I felt that among the players the trust-factor was not much and we worked on that, I made them enjoy each other’s success. Dropping a player is the hardest thing but we made sure that we explained to the player concerned about why he was dropped because we believed in ‘horses for courses’ and thatdetermined our team composition. Once that was made clear even the dropped players were cheering the squad from the outside and that camaraderie within the team is the biggest take-away I cherish.”

Mak’s measured words

Practice makes perfect

“Initially the bowlers were not clear in their minds and I worked on that. In the pre-season training, I made them aware of their strengths and at practise I told them to pitch it 10 feet from the batting crease and make the batsman play. I told them that if they could get it consistently there, they have more chances of getting wickets.

Mithun is an in-swing bowler and I told him to bowl four deliveries of in-swing and do a variation for the fifth – it could be a yorker, a bouncer, an away-swinger. Told him and the other fast bowlers to use the bouncer as a surprise weapon, like once in three overs and all that helped. I also used a speed-gun at training and that added more value as there was competition between the fast bowlers.”

Spinning some wickets

“The usual role of spinners is to keep it tight but I had chats with Anil Kumble and he said: ‘Even if they go for runs its okay as long as they get wickets.’ When we had sessions in the nets I made the spinners bowl 120 deliveries because in match situations they are expected to bowl 20 overs and if they could do that at training then they are well prepared and can cope with the pressure. I worked on these aspects with bowlers like Shreyas Gopal and Abrar Kazi. For instance with Shreyas, I focussed on his leg-spin and told him to give four deliveries of leg-spin per over and then work on a variation like googly in the other deliveries.”

Jak the friend

“JAK and I go a long way back. We kept it simple, he would watch the batsmen and also conduct close-in catching practice while I monitored the bowlers and also gave high-catches to fielders in the deep. I look forward to working with JAK in the coming years too.”

K.C. VIJAYA KUMAR

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by K. C. Vijaya Kumar / Mondyay – February 10th, 2014