Sanjana Koushik, a city girl, has achieved a rare feat of being selected for the finals of All India-level Indian Classical Music competitions, conducted by Indian Association of Universities. She represented University of Mysore and has won the first prize in the South India-level of the competition.
Sanjana is a student of Maharani Arts and Science College, studying in first year BA (first semester). She was initiated to music at a young age, at Chandigarh, when her father was working there. Her first Guru was Gita Dutt of Chandigarh. When her father came back to Mysore, she continued her musical studies under Veerabhadraiah Hiremutt. Later, she came under the tutelage of Nagabhushan Hegde, who has now migrated to Sagar in Shimoga District. She later continued under Niranjan and Padma Gopal.
Currently she is pursuing her studies once again under Nagabhushan Hegde, who conducts classes in Bangalore. She is the daughter of Tara and Ravindran of J.P. Nagar.
This girl Sanjana, has made the city proud by her rare achievement and we wish that she come out victorious in the finals. —SRK.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 26th, 2013
The girl who ran barefoot at the 48th Karnataka State Cross Country Championship organised by Mysore District Athletic Association at the Chamundi Vihar Stadium emerged victorious.
M. Manjula, a native of Kurubur in T. Narasipur Taluk, ran the 4-km run for girls in U-18 category, bare foot and emerged victorious.
The race witnessed athletes from various districts across the State participating in the event wearing sports shoe but Manjula was a lone athlete who ran barefoot. Though she ran barefoot Manjula was faster than the other athletes.
Apart from the prize announced, she was also given a pair of shoes and other sports items by the Athletic Association.
A few people who saw Manjula running barefoot had doubted about her completing the run. But Manjula proved them wrong by winning the race. Manjula hails from a poor background. Mahadevaswamy, her father, is a farmer and Madalambike, her mother, is a home-maker. She has been practicing for the past 7 years and yesterday was Manjula’s first ever participation in the cross country championship.
MLA Vasu, who is also the President of Mysore Athletics Club, apart from handing over the shoe and other items, also gave her the prize money.
District In-charge Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad, Youth Empowerment and Sports Minister Abhaychandra Jain and Co-operation Minister Mahadevaprasad also lauded Manjula for her achievement.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / December 15th, 2013
(Top left ) Syed Faizan (Top right) Robinson Samuel (Below) Shireen Reginald, Associate Marketing Manager, N. Ranga Rao & Sons, who won second prize in the District-level Arm Wrestling Championship for the award ‘Mysore Shree’ held at Sarada Vilas Centenary Hall in city recently, posing with the runner-up shield.
Mysore :
Arm Wrestling, though not new to the globe, is definitely new to the city as very few people know about it.
Mysore, which has produced a lot of sports persons in various sports like body-building, athletics and cricket, with some of them reaching international-level, has also produced arm wrestlers.
Syed Faizan and Robinson Samuel from city are among those who have taken up arm wrestling.
The 23-year-old Faizan, a body-builder who took up body-building for fitness participated in the Mysore Shree Arm Wrestling Men’s Championship organised by Karnataka Arm Wrestling Federation, Mysore, held for the first time in city recently and won the title.
Son of Syed Abdul Khader, Proprietor of Biriyani Paradise on Sayyaji Rao road, Faizan, a B.Com graduate from MES College in city took up body-building at the age of 18 and is being coached by Mansoor, himself a body-builder who has won ‘Mr. Mysore’ title numerous times.
Faizan, speaking to Star of Mysore, recalled that his parents were hesitant to send him to gym in the beginning, but later agreed and allowed him to pursue body-building.
Apart from being a body-builder and an arm wrestler, Faizan is also an actor, who has acted in an African movie as a fighter and a model for many brands.
Faizan said that one has to work hard honestly and without taking short cuts to achieve in the sport.
Mansoor, coach of Faizan, said that arm wrestling has been around since the days humans figured out that they had arms and added that the sport became more popular in 1950s and 1960s when contests took place all across the United States and today, arm wrestling competitions are held around the world for men, women and kids in various weight categories.
Mansoor said that various factors play an important part in one’s success in arm wrestling. Technique and overall arm strength are the two important contributing factors to win an arm wrestling match. Other factors such as length of the arm, muscle and arm mass, hand grip, wrist endurance and flexibility, reaction time, etc. can add to the advantages of one arm wrestler over another.
Faizan said that his aim is to win ‘Mr. Mysore’ and ‘Mr. Dasara’ titles and also to win a medal for the State.
Robinson Samuel, 25, a final year M.Sc (Medical Biochemistry) student at JSS Medical College in city, is the son of Krupanand Samuel, a retd. Employee of District Tuberculosis Centre in city and Esther Celestian, a senior Lab Technician at Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMC&RI) in city.
Robinson won the second place in the Mysore Shree Arm Wrestling Men’s Championship held in city recently.
He said that initially he was into arm wrestling with his friends and took it seriously drawing inspiration from his elder brother Calvin Cornelius, a body-builder.
Robinson said that his parents were surprised when he expressed his desire to take up arm wrestling as a sport and supported him in all ways.
He says that he would exercise at home with the equipments he had made by himself for the training and added that he also goes to a gym just to keep himself fit. Robinson said that there are many different moves in arm wrestling such as Hook, Toproll, i Press etc. and added that arm wrestling is really a leverage sport. These moves all create different types of leverages, helping you to beat your opponent.
He said that because different moves work for different individuals, it is important to figure out which move provides the best leverage advantage to get the best chance of winning.
Apart from arm wrestling, Robinson has a music band in Chennai which plays Gosple music and soft rock.
Robinson said that his aim was to win titles but to be a full time Biochemist.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by S. Kenneth Shishir / December 02nd, 2013
City skater, Benazir Meera, a 5th semester student of Electrical Engineering at GSSSIETW, Mysore, represented India in the Samsung ISU World Cup Short Track Championship (also a qualifier for the Winter Olympics) held between Nov. 7 and 11 at Torino, Italy. She has been coached by K. Srikantha Rao.
Benazir Meera is the daughter of A. Mohammed Meera and Naheed Meera, residents of city.
Benazir Meera had previously won the second place in National Short Track Speed Skating Fall/ Winter Ranking Competition held in Taipei Arena Annex Ice Rink in 2007 and represented India in 2008 at the same event.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / November 22nd, 2013
A mother’s wish to meet Sachin Tendulkar ended in the entire Indian team snacking at a modest house in Hubli at an impromptu get-together.
Former India ‘A’ and Karnataka stumper Avinash Vaidya was keen that his mother Meenaxi Vaidya had a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar when he played a benefit match in Hubli on June 4, 1997.
“Since it was a once-in-a life time opportunity for anybody from my region to meet cricket stars, my mother expressed desire to have a glimpse of India’s favourite son,” Vaidya told TOI. “She came to the stadium to watch the match, but returned due to the rush. The stadium was packed beyond its capacity. I was keeping wickets, while Sachin was blazing his way to a big innings. During the drinks break, I was told my mother had gone home. I asked Sachin if I could get my mother to the hotel lobby to meet him.”
Sachin didn’t say much then. He was about to retire from the game after scoring a century and ready to return to the hotel. He asked Vaidya to give him a call after the game.
“I was pleasantly shocked when he told me it wouldn’t look nice asking my mother to come to meet him. ‘Instead, why don’t we go to your home?’ he asked. I was stumped as it wouldn’t have been fair to take Sachin alone as I was good friends with others — Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman , Saba Karim, Atul Bedade, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi and Sujith Somasundar. The team comprised 15-18 players and I invited everyone home without even thinking how I was going to accommodate them in our humble 12ftx10ft hall,” said Vaidya, recalling those days.
‘The moment lingered long after Sachin left’
Even as the convoy set out from the hotel to our home at Hemanth Nagar, Keshavapur, a distance of about 3km, my brother borrowed a few chairs from our neighbours even as our friend at Woodlands managed to prepare uppittu and shira for our guests,” said Vaidya.
Curious onlookers and fans followed the bus to Vaidya’s home around 5.30pm, with police forming a tight ring of security around the players.
“Sachin was relaxed as he happily chatted with my family. He enjoyed the uppittu and chutney pudi the most. We were transfixed as he spent around one hour with us. When it was time for a photo session, Sachin grabbed a chair and ensured my mother was seated. “I’d rather stand,” he said. When she thanked him for the visit, he said, “Maaji, aap baas hamey ashirwad deejiye.”
My mother was emotional as she wished him well. The moment lingered long after Sachin and others left.”
On another occasion, Vaidya’s son Anmol, who was five years old then, was so thrilled at getting Sachin’s autograph that he wanted to reciprocate by signing one. “Sachin coolly offered his palm and let my son scribble on it,” says Vaidya.
Vaidya’s association with Sachin was limited to his playing days in the Challenger Trophy and a Duleep Trophy game at Rajkot in the 1993-94 season. “I spent long hours at the crease in both innings to get chatting with Sachin. Since then, he has always been cordial and never failed to acknowledge me at any gathering. It’s this humility that has endeared him to millions. I’m touched and lucky to be one of them,” says Vaidya.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore> Rahul Dravid / by V Narayan Swamy, TNN / November 09th, 2013
Reebok opens its first Fit Hub, a fitness store, in Bangalore to help customers achieve their health goals.
Actress Nargis Fakhri at the Reebok store in Indiranagar to promote the sports apparel company’s Fit Hub. – Anantha Subramanyam K/DNA
For a leading sportswear brand that thinks Bangalore to be a ‘fit’ city, the launch of Reebok India’s first Fit Hub concept store might appear to have come a bit late in the day. That’s because more than 30 such stores have already been opened across the country in the last four months.
But that contention might miss the point — Reebok has been rolling out these stores in phases, and it is only now that Bangalore’s chance has come. And the size does matter here. Erick Haskell, managing director of Adidas Group India, said, “This is a rather large store compared with the rest of our stores in India. In this country, the stores tend to be a little smaller (than this). It may be marginally smaller than the average store size globally, but it is larger than the average store in India.”
Reebok, which was bought over by Adidas for $3.8 billion in 2006, has plans for Karnataka, according to Haskell. The brand wants to open 10 more stores across the state in the next six months. Incidentally, most winners of a recent competition who will get the chance to work out with another of the brand’s ambassadors, John Abraham, are from Bangalore. The company would want to make the best of the fitness craze here.
Given this backdrop, it could mean the company tested the waters before launching the Fit Hub concept here. “After the tremendous response we have received for our Fit Hub stores across the country, we are extremely excited to launch Karnataka’s first Fit Hub store in Bangalore,” Haskell said.
These Fit Hub stores have been designed to generate greater interaction with customers, and help them find the right products to achieve their fitness goals. The Fit Hub stores in India have been designed on the basis of themes found in fitness studios. These will also have certified fitness instructors during peak seasons to assist customers and provide insights for choosing the right gear as per their fitness regime.
As of now, there are 28 operational Reebok stores in Bangalore and 40 in Karnataka. The brand plans to increase its retail footprint in the market by 15 per cent over the next few months. Its focus would be to strengthen existing stores by making them more consumer-friendly. The brand has recently repositioned to make consumers “fit for life” and also make the business more profitable for their partners.
Reebok’s Indiranagar store was one of the first stores to open in the then-desolate retail destination and soon became a retail hub for most of the other brands to join in. It has been a landmark store for the company and is now being offered in the “fresh form” of a fitness hub serving all fitness and training needs of loyal consumers.
Promoting fitness
Reebok India on Tuesday opened its first “Fit Hub” concept store in Bangalore. It was inaugurated by Bollywood actress and Reebok’s women’s fitness ambassador for their ‘Studio’ category, Nargis Fakhri, at Indiranagar.
Talking about the idea itself, Fakhri said, “The concept of Reebok Fit Hub stores is extremely exciting and designed to motivate people to adopt active and healthier lifestyles. .”
Recently in the news for Madras Cafe, the actress remarked, “I am thrilled to be associated with the brand in this endeavour. Reebok as a brand is focused on fitness, and its unique offerings are a testament to this. An example of this is the Studio category, a unique and innovative line of products focused on dance, aerobics and yoga designed especially for the women consumers. I love everything right from the super comfortable fabrics to bold electric print.”
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by Subir Ghosh, Place:Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Wednesday – November 13th, 2013
RAISING THE BAR: Schoolboys participating in the Under-14 hurdles at the District-level Athletics Meet at Mangala Stadium in Mangalore on Tuesday./ Photo: H.S. Manjunath / The Hindu
Two district athletic meet records were broken in the two-day District Level Athletic Championship for school children that concluded here on Tuesday.
Adrushappa S. Pagaad, a student of Alva’s Kannada Medium School in Moodbidri, jumped to a distance of 6.53 meters to break the record of 6.15 metres set by Naveen of Canara High School, Urva, in 1998 in the under-17 boys category.
Anvitha Shetty of St. Gerosa High School, Mangalore ran 100 meters in 16.3 seconds to beat the record of 17.75 seconds set by Suprashasti of Rotary High School in Moodbidri.
Mr. Pagaad emerged as the fastest athlete in the under-17 boys category, while Simi N.S. from Alva’s Kannada Medium School, Moodbidri, was the fastest athlete in the girls category. Manas M. Rai from Rotary English Medium School and Shreyas Suvarna from St Ann’s High School, Mangalore, topped in the 100 meters run the under-14 category for boys and girls respectively, while Ravi Suresh Gollara from Holy Angels Higher Primary School and Shreya from Mount Carmel English Medium School, Moodbidri, won gold medals in the 100 meters run in the primary school category.
Prakash P from Alva’s English Medium School and Deeksha B from Navodaya High School, Puttur were individual champions in the under-17 category, while Ovin L D’Souza from St. Aloysius High School, Kodialbail and Shreya Suvarna from St. Ann’s High School were champions in the under-14 category. Selbistar from Sri Rama Higher Primary School, Kalladka, and Shreya from Carmel English Medium High School were declared individual champions in primary school category.
Alva’s Kannada Medium High School won the team championship in the under-17 boys and girls categories.
St. Aloyisus English Medium School and Vivekananda English Medium School, Puttur won the team championship in the boys and girls in the under-14 categories. Sri Rama Higher Primary School, Kalladka, and Carmel Higher Primary School, Pandeshwar, won the team championship in the primary school boys and girls categories.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangalore / by Staff Reporter / Mangalore – November 13th, 2013
Former India captain Rahul Dravid will be the star attraction at CBI’s international conference on corruption which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday and have law minister Kapil Sibal , finance minister P Chidambaram and several other dignitaries in attendance.
(CBI is celebrating its golden…)
Dravid will share his thoughts with the country’s premier investigators on corruption in sports in the backdrop of spot-fixing allegations in IPL. The three-day conference will focus on “evolving common strategies to combat corruption and crime”.
CBI is celebrating its golden jubilee and the conference is being organized as part of the celebrations.
With the cricketing world rocked with allegations of betting and spot-fixing, the agency has decided to introduce a special session on ‘Ethics and Integrity in Sports — Need for a Law and Role of CBI’ on Tuesday evening in which Dravid, Chris Eaton, director, International Centre for Sports Security and Ravi Sawani, chief of BCCI’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) will participate.
“The aim of this session is to recognize the root of the problem, evaluate the regulatory mechanism and legal framework in India and to ponder whether the time has come to have a specialized law to tackle corruption in sports,” CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said.
Besides corruption in sports, the conference, to be attended by representatives of 20 countries and anti-corruption bureaus of states, will deliberate on issues such as natural resource management and extent of corruption, transnational human trafficking, crime and asset recovery, crimes related to intellectual property rights, cooperation in investigations in high profile cases, among others.
After the inauguration, Sibal will deliberate on the theme of the conference. Chidambaram will address the gathering on Tuesday morning on ‘Building a Criminal Justice System to Deal with Financial Crisis’.
The conference will also be addressed by national security adviser Shivshankar Menon and minister of state for personnel V Narayansamy who will preside over the valedictory session on Wednesday, and will present police medals for meritorious service to CBI officers.
Wim van Geloven, director of Netherlands Forensic Institute, will make a special presentation for the delegates.
The conference, being held at Vigyan Bhawan, was first organized in 1961 with an aim to provide investigating agencies of the country engaged in fighting corruption a common platform to share information, discuss issues of common interest and evolve strategies to combat corruption. This is the 20th conference in this sequence.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Off the field> CBI / by Neeraj Chauhan, TNN / November 11th, 2013
M. Sathyanarayana (65), Patron, Mysore District Throwball Association and former Secretary & Jt. Secretary of Karnataka State Throwball Association, passed away following a brief illness at his residence in K.R. Mohalla in city yesterday afternoon.
He leaves behind his wife Shantakumari and two sons — Hemanth Kumar and Mohan Kumar.
Last rites were performed in city today.
Condoled
The President, Secretary and Office-bearers of the Mysore District Throwball Association have condoned his untimely death of Sathyanarayana.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / November 13th, 2013
P. G. Sathyanarayana with his medals which he won at various athletic championships during his younger days.
by SOM Sports Correspondent
India’s pride athlete Milkha Singh nicknamed the ‘Flying Sikh,’ has been our country’s flag-bearer by winning international acclaim with his performances in the Olympics, Asian, Commonwealth and International and National meets.
The Flying Sikh held centre stage with his brilliant performances in the International scene. In 1956-57, Milkha had just then started to make an impression in the National scene when he gave some splendid performances in the National meets.
In 1956-57, the Indian National Athletics camp was organised in Bangalore for the preparation of the Asian Championships. At the camp were National champion Makkan Singh, Milkha Singh and six other athletes.
As the camp was held in Bangalore, a trial was held at the Sampangi Stadium (now called Sree Kanteerava Stadium) cinder track. Mysore lad and 16- year-old youngster P.G. Sathyanarayana, a X std. student at Hardwicke High school, Mysore, who was a budding and upcoming athlete in the State, had gone for training to Bangalore under his coach C.M. Muthaiah.
His coach C.M. Muthaiah and then Karnataka State Athletic Association, Secretary, Chikkapapaiah, seeing this boy’s excellent performance asked him also to take the trials along with 7 other athletes.
Sathyanarayana, the 16-year- old lad was surprised with the call, but listened to his coach’s orders and agreed to take part in the trials. He was to run the 400m race as a time trial. The qualifying time for the selection to the Indian team was 49.00s. Sathyanarayana’s career best timing was also 49.00s.
Sathyanarayana’s coach told him that he was pitted against Milkha Singh (who was just making his mark in the National level) and asked him to give his best, to which Sathyanarayana replied, “Even if world champion Otis Davis is running with me, I am not worried, I will go all out and give my best.” Such was his confidence level. When Milkha Singh arrived on to the lane, he asked Sathyanarayana in Hindi ‘Kounsi Lane Chahiye?’ to which the soft spoken Sathyanarayana said “any lane.”
The Race of his life
Milkha was allotted the second lane and Sathyanarayana took the first lane. The race turned out be a historic one in Sathyanarayana’s life which he and the spectators who had assembled at the stadium couldn’t forget.
The race started and both the athletes busted off the blocks and ran at a good pace, matching each other’s strides meter-to-meter. The first curve saw both of them at a very close distance and up to the last 100m both were on equal terms.
Sathyanarayana with his excellent strides matched Milkha Singh stride by stride and kept everyone at awe with his performance, matching the great Sikh and also threatening to beat him. The last 75m, both were running together, with Milkha murmuring “Sala Bhagh Raha Hai.”
The last 25m of the race was nail-biting and it saw the Flying Sikh sprint like a cheetah and he beat the youngster to emerge as the winner, with Sathyanarayana finishing not far behind. Both Milkha Singh and Sathyanarayana qualified with timings of 47:00s and 47:09s respectively.
Sathyanarayana’s coach C. M. Muthaiah, who was the time keeper came and hugged him and informed him about his qualification. After the race was over Milkha Singh kept staring at this youngster who ran a great race and matched him step-by-step.
Sathyanarayana was overjoyed with his performance and was informed by the then Karnataka State Athletic Association Secretary, Chikkapapaiah, that he has been selected for the Indian camp to be held at Patiala, and has to come and confirm his availability by next week.
Sathyanarayana, was encouraged a lot by his school Principal Sanath Kumar. He was to appear for the SSLC exams that year. His mother late. Kamalamma, wanted him to concentrate on studies and asked him to forego the camp. His father late. P Ganapathy supported P.G. Sathyanarayana and told him that it is a rare opportunity and asked him to utilise it.
Ultimately, Sathyanarayana decided to concentrate on studies and did not attend the camp. I A great opportunity lost for this Mysore lad. Who knows? He could also have worn the India colours, but it was not to be, it was destiny. It was a missed opportunity, which Sathyanarayana repents till date.
About P.G.Sathyanarayana P.G. Sathyanarayana, 75, is a resident at Chamaraja Mohalla. Born to P.Ganapathy and Kamalamma, he had three brothers. His inclination towards athletics was encouraged by his elder brother P.G.Govindaraj who was also his first coach.
He represented Hardwicke High school, Mysore in the Subbakrishna Memorial Middle School City-level Athletic meets and emerged champion in the 100m and Long Jump events. In the High School level, he took part in the Silver Jubilee Inter- School Sports meet in 1954-56 and won medals.
He used to visit Bangalore once in a week and take tips and work out schedules from his coach C.M. Muthaiah. In Mysore, he trained under the supervision of Ambareesh. He was also helped by Lakshman Rao Jagtap ( Railway athlete).
Sathyanarayana joined D. Banumiah’s College for his PU. After PU, during his degree course at Yuvaraja’s College, he got a job at P & T, Mysore on Sports Quota in 1961 and discontinued his studies. He represented Mysore State from 1957 to 1963. He married Nirmala in 1968 and has three children.
Sathyanarayana retired as a Post Master from Devaraja Mohalla Post Office in 1996.
He is happy with his achievement in athletics, but still rues the lost opportunity of representing the country.
He took up to officiating in athletics in 1975-76 and has officiated in State, National and International athletic meets. He competed in the Veteran’s Athletic meet in 1990 in the 45-plus group and won medals. He took up to administration and is presently the Hon. Secretary of the Mysore District Masters Athletic Association.
Memories do not die and many people who watched him in action will not forget the great race he ran at the Sampangi Indoor stadium. We salute this feat of his and wish that youngsters take the cue and upstage such feats in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / November 08th, 2013
