Riding on roads is fun. But the track is a completely-different beast — the place is meant to showcase real skills.” This is how Rehana Reya draws the line between your run-of-the-mill, two-wheeled commuting and the adrenaline-filled arena of bike racing.
Rehana won the first place in the Honda Support Race — the first all-women’s race in Indian motorsport history — which was conducted on the sidelines of the National Racing Championship in Irungattukottai on Sunday. The 19-year-old Chennaite’s racing roots started taking shape during her days at the MGR Adarsh Matriculation School (Mugappair). “I started with non-geared scooters in Class 7 and I was quite good,” says Rehana.
Her brother, Abdul Wahab, is also a former professional bike racer. But he did not teach this self-made biker. “Though my brother was my inspiration, he didn’t really want me to become a racer because of the hardships he faced — lack of funds and the general struggle that racers have to endure in our country,” she explains. “Now he encourages me all the time. He was there during this race too to boost my morale.”
A friend’s R15 was Rehana’s first geared companion. “That was when I was in Class 12. I tried riding it myself. I didn’t fall the first time, by the way. I used to drive near Besant Nagar and Marina Beach. That was where the Honda representatives spotted me,” she says.
Rehana, now pursuing a degree in Shipping and Logistics at the AMET University and also modelling during her spare time, is intent on realising her dream of becoming a professional bike racer. But, she is wary of the obstacles.
“This is an expensive sport, and we aren’t that well-off. Being a girl from a conservative family comes with its baggage,” explains Rehana. “Hopefully, if I get funding, I may be able to involve myself in racing more seriously.”
When not on a bike, Rehana likes listening to music. “I love peppy numbers and party songs. Rihanna is one of my favourites. And, no. It’s not because of my name. I really love her voice.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Rahul Ravikumar / February 24th, 2016
C. Ajith Prakash, Chief Instructor and Technical Director, World Goju Ryu Karate Do, India, with the winners. Instructors S. Suresh Kumar and B. Raja look on.
Madurai, TAMIL NADU :
A group of six students from Madurai schools has won as many as eight gold and two bronze medals in the Sixth All India Goa Open Karate Championship -2016 held at Mormugoa Port Institute at Vasco Da Gama in Goa on February 14.
The following students won the gold: M.J. Nithilan (kata) from TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School; C. Santhosh (kata/kumite) from SBOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School; S.K. Akshaya (kata) from St. Mary of Leuca Matriculation School, R. Dinesh Kumar (kata/kumite) from Grace Matriculation Higher Secondary School,and A. MohamedMadarsa (kata/kumite) and A. Hasan Sahul (kata/kumite) from Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Hasan and Dinesh Kumar won the bronze in the kumite category as well.
The winners are students of World Goju Ryu Karate Do – India, Madurai, which is a member body of WGKA Watanabe Ha, Japan and Shohbukai.
The students attributed their success to Shihan C. Ajith Prakash, Chief Instructor and Technical Director, World Goju Ryu Karate Do, India, for having trained them rigorously. He was the chief referee at the event while S. Suresh Kumar and B. Raja were the instructors.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Staff Reporter / Madurai – February 21st, 2016
Rugby in the country, and in Asia, has a lot of picking up to do, writes TANAY APTE
In our cricket-crazy country, it would be safe to assume that all other sports fall under the minority category. In their fight for more recognition, football, hockey, badminton and even kabaddi now have glitzy, cash-rich leagues — modelled, ironically, on the IPL. These have gone some way in increasing the sports’ fan following, but are nowhere close to dislodging cricket off its pedestal.
And then, we have rugby. The first rugby match was played on Indian soil nearly 150 years ago, in 1872, in Kolkata — a team of Englishmen took on another with Scottish, Welsh and Irish players. Almost a century later, the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) was founded in 1968. But, it received recognition from the International Rugby Board only in 1999.
The sport is a huge hit among Western European countries, Oceanic countries and, of course, in South Africa. To increase its popularity in Asia, the governing body, Asia Rugby, introduced the Asian Seven Series in 2009. Although it has not set the world alight by any means, the quality of rugby has definitely improved.
After the success of last year’s Asian Rugby Sevens Olympic Pre-Qualifiers in Chennai, the city was given a chance to host the Asian Rugby Development Sevens Series as part of the Asia Rugby Sevens calendar. The tournament took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on February 20 and 21.
Nasser Hussain, the General Manager of Rugby India, had said, “Riding on the success of last year’s edition, the top teams in Asia are well prepared to raise the bar of the competition. We will witness some of the best Rugby in Asia, during the course of the tournament.” He was not wrong.
Hosts India competed against the likes of South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Guam, Bangladesh, Nepal, the UAE, Lebanon, and Chinese Taipei, which eventually emerged victorious in the men’s section, beating Thailand 36-21 in the final, with a powerful display. The women’s final was a cracking affair, in which South Korea defeated Guam 24-19, via a golden try after the game ended in a tie at the full-time whistle.
The Indian women’s team won the bronze medal match against Nepal in a lopsided encounter, in which the score read 39-0. The men’s team ended up with a sixth-place finish.
In a country of more than a billion, you would expect some semblance of a crowd at an international sporting event. But, although their numbers were scarce, the locals turned up the volume throughout the tournament. With drum beats, whistles and loud cheers, the atmosphere at the stadium egged on the players to give it their all.
Rugby is still not a professional sport in India (though there are roughly 50,000 men and women playing it), and the sport finds it hard to attract the investment needed to take it to the next level.
Asia Rugby’s tournament consultant, Aaron Stockdale, however, believes there is light at the end of the tunnel. “Over the past decade, India has consistently been developing as a serious contender in the Asian rugby circuit. With an event of this stature being held here, it is only a matter of time before the youth of this nation help build a formidable line-up that will compete amongst the best.”
The 2019 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to take place in Japan — the first time an Asian country will host the event. Japan’s stunning win over South Africa in the World Cup last year sent shockwaves throughout the sport. It put Asia on the rugby map and, more importantly, gave hope to the Asian rugby nations that they can mix it up with the big boys and not feel out of place.
However, that date might be a bit too soon for India, as the sport is still in its infancy. But, with careful nurturing, we can one day see ourselves staring at TV sets as the national team goes toe to toe with rugby’s finest.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Tanay Apte / February 22nd, 2016
Dr Hammad Hamed al Ghafri, adviser at the Ministry of Civil Services and former chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC), has hosted a dinner in honour of SAS Naqvi, former technical adviser of OOC and the first national hockey coach of Oman.
The function was held at Al Ghafri’s villa at Madinat Alam Qurum on September 25.
Prominent sports dignitaries were invited along with the Future Group officials and staff.
Al Ghafri also presented a new model of 2015 Yaris Automatic Car to Naqvi.
Also present were Dr Hamdan Hamed al Ghafri, Ali Hamed al Ghafri, Ahmed Hammad Hamed al Ghafri and Munadhil Hammad Hamed al Ghafri along with special guests.
source: http://www.omanobserver.com / Oman Daily Observer / Home> Sports / Monday – September 29th, 2014
Team Coorg receives the winner’s trophy from H E Indra Mani Pandey
Team Coorg edged past United Thalasserry Sports Club (UTSC) Oman 2-1 to lift the Republic Day Cup at the 67th Republic Day of India Hockey Festival, which was held at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex recently.
It was the ninth successive year of the festival, organised by Team Coorg and Friends of Naqvi Group.
Three teams took part in the Republic Day Cup.
In the opening clash, UTSC Oman edged past Beatrice XI by a solitary goal to set up summit clash with Team Coorg, which received a first-round bye.
Earlier in the clash for the Ambassador Cup, Ambassador XI beat Indian School al Seeb 1-0. Later, H E Indra Mani Pandey, the Indian Ambassador to Oman, gave away the prizes in the presence of H E Sheikh Mahfoodh al Juma, the Oman Hockey Association (OHA) chairman and also a Majlis A’Shura member, and Kanak Khimji, the Oman Cricket chairman.
On this occasion, H E Pandey honoured veteran hockey coach and sports administrator S A S Naqvi for his contribution to the game.
Sarfaraz’s father, Naushad, was stung when Iqbal Abdullah, who he had picked from a UP village and housed at his small home in Mumbai, rejected him.
Despite financial hardships, Naushad always supported his son’s passion.
Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :
“Abbu, Arjun kitna naseebwala hai na? He’s Sachin sir’s son, and has cars, I-pads, everything.” He didn’t mention it as a lament. Sarfaraz Khan was right though. On the face of it, Arjun Tendulkar was of course more fortunate than many others. And Naushad could do little but nod in agreement.
Like any father, it wasn’t what he wanted to hear from his son, regardless of how true it was. But Sarfaraz never let him mull it over. For, he ran back almost immediately, wrapped himself around Naushad and said as an instantaneous afterthought, “Abbu main usse zyaada naseebwala hoon. Aap din bhar mujhe time dete hai. Uske papa use time hi nahi de paate (I’m more fortunate than him. You can devote the entire day to me. His father is not able to give him any time).”
Recalling that conversation, Naushad’s eyes well up and his generally authoritative voice gets wobbly. Sarfaraz’s words not only meant that the two were on the same page in terms of pursuing their maksad (ultimate goal). They also belied Naushad’s biggest fear. That he was pushing his son too far in his quest to keep up a vow he’d made in the face of a ‘betrayal’ that he never quite came to terms with.
Long before Sarfaraz took steps towards cricketing stardom, Naushad had dreamt the same dream of producing a cricketer at the highest level with Iqbal Abdulla—the star pick among many young, poor kids he’d plucked out from the clutches of poverty and brought to Mumbai. He had even kept the boy from Uttar Pradesh in his 225 sq. ft. Kurla home, getting his wife, Tabassum, to cook and clean for him.
Abdulla, like Sarfaraz has subsequently done, would go onto play the U-19 World Cup for India as well as become an IPL star. But according to Naushad, he would also turn his back on the man who’d been his unrelenting benefactor as soon as it was time to show the necessary gratitude.
It came to a head during their ‘final meeting’ at the same house that Abdulla called home for seven years that would once and for all drive a wedge through their relationship.
“That is when he spoke those unforgettable words, Mere mein kabiliyat thi, main khela. Tumhaare mein talent hai toh apne bachchon ko khilaake dikhao na. (I had the ability, so I played. If you have the talent, then make your son play and show the world,” recalls Naushad, his eyes turning red.
Rather than react with any hostility, Naushad took Abdulla’s challenge up. It lit a fire in his belly, and became a drive to make his own son reach the level that he had brought Abdulla to. It wasn’t that Sarfaraz wouldn’t have made it this far without the two growing apart, but it certainly has been a major motivating factor in his meteoric rise in the last half-a-dozen years. It was also an episode that turned Naushad into a shayar, and he can barely go a few minutes without spewing his shers.
The real force behind it though has been Naushad’s all-encompassing, almost overbearing, grip over his son’s life, both on and off the field. Growing up, the Western Railways’ Class 4 employee was used to odd jobs. The track-pant selling business that he partook with Sarfaraz as his apprentice enhanced the mutual respect between father and son.
“Sarfaraz still starts crying when he talks about those days. There used to be one lot in front of me, one between Sarfaraz and I, and one that he would carry on his shoulders. We would get completely wet on the bike, but still make sure we did enough business on Fashion Street,” says Naushad.
The money made from there was used entirely on running Macho Cricket Club-based on a nickname he earned during his playing days for an acrobatic diving catch at National Cricket Ground-and Abdulla’s finances. The Rs 2,000 he earned from his Railways job would run the house.
The rest of his time was spent in perfecting Sarfaraz’s game.
Naushad would spend hours dishing out throw-downs, paying opposition teams to come play friendly games in which Sarfaraz would bat the whole innings regardless of whether the team lost or not. These days, it’s with his youngest, Musheer. Moeen, the middle son, has been taken off cricket and is now pushing himself to be the Ajit Tendulkar of the family.
Sarfaraz though, would find himself a constant tag of ‘problem child’ — something that didn’t sit well with Naushad. But a meeting with Bharat Arun, present India bowling coach who was in-charge of the U-19 team two years ago, changed Naushad’s own opinion about his son, he reveals.
“He said, ‘have you seen the circus? First comes the lion, everyone claps. Then the elephant comes and plays a few cricket shots. Everyone claps. Then why do you need the joker? Sarfaraz is the one you need when everyone else is shivering and is intimidated by the opposition. Don’t restrict him, that’ll kill him,” recalls Naushad.
And as it’s turned out, Sarfaraz today not only stands on the cusp of being the most valuable player of the U-19 World Cup, he also shares the RCB dressing-room with Abdulla, which in Naushad’s eyes is a sort of denouement to a saga that has dictated his life.
“I don’t see it as a victory. Our ultimate goal is playing for India. It’s like saying we have reached Ratlam en route to Delhi,” he says.
But like he showed last year, Sarfaraz has taken a step up by impressing everyone including AB de Villiers, that reinventor of the batting wheel, in RCB colours, especially playing the scoop shot audaciously even off fast bowlers. But it is a shot that his father had brought into vogue back at a time when nobody had seen it in India.
Unfortunately, like Naushad reveals now, it was too far ahead of his time and cost him a place in the Mumbai Ranji team. He grew up playing cricket in a cowshed, diving around on cow-dung, and like his son is today was a belligerent striker of the ball with a penchant for bravura. But he does regret having turned down offers from other states once Mumbai stopped showing interest in him. A mistake he didn’t make when Sarfaraz found himself in the same spot last year. He immediately moved him to Uttar Pradesh, who he represented this season in the Ranji Trophy.
Aakhon aakhon mein raha,
Dil mein utar kar nahi dekha
Kashti ke musafir ne samundar nahi dekha
Aur jab se main chala hoon, meri manzil pe nazar hai
Aankhon ne kabhi kilometre ka pathhar nahi dekha
This he believes is the sher that captures his life the best. And he can’t help himself but punctuate each line with a dramatic pause. In many ways, Naushad, who also sold toffees and cucumbers in trains, has banked on his own life story to shape Sarfaraz’s career.
No wonder it’s mirrored it in many ways already. But he is aware of the fickleness of the sport he calls his best and only friend. He no longer believes that there is no way back for him and his ambitious family if Sarfaraz doesn’t make it.
Says Naushad, “We came from the slums, used to stand in queues for the toilet where my sons would be slapped and overtaken. We came from nothing and will go back to nothing. Sarfaraz told me the other day, ‘Abbu so what if this doesn’t happen. We can always go back to selling track-pants.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Sports> Cricket / by Bharat Sundaresan / February 14th, 2016
Two-year-old Aradhya Vedwan and 6-year-old Anoop Skanda, both residents of Chennai, have created unique records in the realm of children in sports. The former has been titled the world’s youngest archer, and was awarded Bronze for ‘Recurve Archery’ at the under-10 category. The latter won gold in the complex ‘Compound Archery’ category, making him the youngest in the world to hold the type of bow at any recognised event. They returned home after bagging medals at the National level archery competition conducted by the Archery Association of India at Vishakapatnam last week.
The two young awardees and record-setters were felicitated at their Archery training institute run by Shihan Hussaini. “Its not everyday when your student makes you so proud. That too children at such a tender age picking up an art like archery, its the best moment for a teacher like me,” he said at a press meet on Saturday at his ‘Dojo’ (institute).
6 YEAR OLD ANOOP SKANDA WAS AWARDED A GOLD MEDAL BY THE ARCHERY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA, DURING THE PRESS MEET ORGANISED BY SHIHAN HUSSAINI. EXPRESS/ MARTIN LOUIS. AMRUTHA STORY.
The two archers both skilfully demonstrated their shooting techniques with their respective bows, to the watching audience after being felicitated along with their parents who have also been training alongside them. “One parent is expected to train alongside the child, to act as a parent coach. It becomes like an addiction even for us,” says Ashwin Kumar, father of Anoop.
The class one student showed-off his skill in handling the complex and hefty ‘compound’ bow which his master declared has “never been held by a 6-year-old anywhere in the world. He even practices for 15 hours a day,” say his proud parents, who accompany him from Valasaravakkam to Besant Nagar for classes.
The other star of the show, Aradhya had picked up a plastic bow and arrow when she was just a year old – “there was no looking back after that,” say her mother Abhilasha, and father Kuldeep, national-level archers themselves. “She’s a very young child, so we didn’t know if she would listen if we told her to shoot. But upon seeing the crowd, she took aim and shot it right at the target,” said Hussaini.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / February 07th, 2016
About eight years ago, a young man from a village in Dharmapuri district set out to Chennai to meet Shihan Hussaini. He had seen the flamboyant karate master talking about archery on television. It had set off a spark in him and he wanted to become a champion archer like Limba Ram- though till that point of time he had not touched a bow or arrow in his life. In Chennai, Shihan agreed to train him free of cost in his archery academy, and later, noting his extraordinary talent advised him to join the army to receive advanced training.
Shihan’s protégé has done him proud. After winning a gold in the Asian Championship last year, he bagged a silver medal in the team event at the recent Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. At 28 years of age, C Srither, is now eyeing a gold medal at next year’s World Championship.
But for Shihan (left), Commonwealth Games silver medallist in archery, Srither (right), would not have scaled the heights he has reached now
Spurred on by Srither’s success, Shihan – who is also an official at the Tamil Nadu Archery Association – has now embarked on a project to create more archery champions from Tamil Nadu. He calls it, Mission Olympics – 2016. “We are planning to conduct a free 2-day archery workshop in all the districts to identify talents to be trained for winning a medal in the 2016 Olympics,” he says.
Shihan, 52, is a popular karate instructor in Chennai. He has also been an actor, artist, and at one time even headed a private security bureau. He has trained thousands in karate, many of whom have received black belt. He shot into limelight in the early 1990s when he created a bizarre feat to grab the attention of the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for donating land for his karate school. He had 100 cars run over his right hand, and then smashed 5000 tiles and 1000 bricks with the same hand before sketching Jayalalithaa’s portrait with the blood that flowed from his hand.
He had run into trouble with the earlier DMK regime (1996-2001), when police raided his home and seized many articles including the Jayalalithaa portrait – which till date remains untraced. He was once arrested in New Delhi on charges of travelling on a forged passport, and had to spend a few weeks at Tihar jail. “I have been acquitted in all the cases that were registered against me and today I am a free man,” he says.
Shihan attributes his travails to the general perception that he is a Jayalalithaa man, hinting at political vendetta. “It’s a wrong perception. I don’t belong to any party and I have met Jayalalithaa only twice in my life,” he says.
But the pro-Jayalalithaa label stuck harder on him early this year when Jayalalithaa gave Rs.2 lakhs to Srither for buying archery equipment responding to Shihan’s appeal. The Tamil Nadu government had ignored his pleas.
Meanwhile, Srither is grateful to the support he had received from Shihan. “He taught me the basics of archery,” he reminisces. In those days, Srither, who hails from a very poor family, used to sleep in the garage at Shihan’s house and train for hours daily in order to achieve his dream. As Shihan says, “Normally, one would get tired shooting for two or three hours. But he used to train from morning till evening.”
source: http://www.theweekendleader.com / The Weekend Leader / Home> Success /by P C Vinoj Kumar, Chennai / February 09th, 2016
S. Mohamed Hussain, representing Anna University, won silver medal in the all-India inter-university weightlifting championship held in Guntur. Hussain, a final year MCA student of J.J. College of Engineering and Technology, Tiruchi, competed in the 62kg category and finished second with a total lift of 231 kg (102 kg in snatch and 129 kg in clean and jerk).
K. Ponnusamy, Chairman of the college, S. Sathiyamoorthy, Principal, K. Jayaraja, Director of Physical Education, and S. Chidambararajan, Assistant Physical Director, felicitated the youngster.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities. Tiruchirapalli / by Staff Reporter / Tiruchi – February 05th, 2016
Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar (third from left) is seen receiving the prize on behalf of his grandson Dhruvesh, who shared first place along with Venkatesh of Kolar (2nd from left) at the State-level Milking Contest, from Actor Darshan Thoogudeep and Animal Husbandry Minister A. Manju at J.K. Grounds in city yesterday. MLA H.P. Manjunath, Film Director Sandesh and others were present
Mysuru :
The three-day State-level milking competition, organised by Mysuru Nagara Gopalakara Sangha in association with the Department of Animal Husbandry at J.K. Grounds in the city, concluded yesterday.
The cow, owned by Dhruvesh, grandson of former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar and the cow owned by one Venkatesh of Kolar bagged the top prize, with both of them milking 40.800 kg of milk.
As both the cows shared equal honours, the owners were given Rs. 87,500 each (Rupees 1 lakh first prize and rupees seventy five thousand – second prize, divided by two). The third prize was bagged by the cow owned by Anwar Shariff, a resident of Akbar Road, Lashkar Mohalla, which milched 36.350 kg.
Anwar Shariff was given a cash prize of Rs. 50,000.
The fourth prize was bagged by the cow owned by Aishwarya, the grand daughter of former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar, which milched 35.450kg.
Aishwarya was given a cash of Rs. 25,000 as fourth prize.
Speaking after distributing the prizes, Animal Husbandry Minister A. Manju said that dairy farming can be a main source of income for farmers. Pointing out that taking dairy farming will bring happiness in the lives of farmers, he called upon the youth to engage themselves in dairy farming.
Stating that the State was one amongst the top producers of milk in the country with 66 lakh litres of milk production per day, he complimented the role of the Sangha in boosting milk production.
Actor Darshan Thoogudeep was the star attraction during the prize distribution ceremony. Thousands of people, most of them youths, gathered at the venue to have a glimpse of the actor, who has been attending the event for several years.
Minister Manju also presented a cheque of Rs. 1.5 lakh (Rs. 1 lakh donated by the Sangha and Rs.50,000 donated by actor Darshan) to Adarsh, son of the Sangha Founder late B. Paramesh on the occasion.
Former Mayor D. Dhruvakumar presided. Hunsur MLA H.P. Manjunath, KEA Chairman R. Murthy, Cine Producer Sandesh, JD(S) leader G.D. Harish Gowda, Sangha Hon. President Desigowda, President and Corporator D. Nagabhushan and others were present on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Monday – January 25th, 2016
