They are the first women hockey players from AP and TS to join the Indian team, which qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Yendala Soundarya and Etimarpu Rajani scripted history by becoming the first-ever women hockey players from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to be members of the Indian team which qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The last time India played in Olympics was in the 1980 edition when it was given a direct entry because of the boycott led by USA in the Moscow edition.

India made it to the next edition of Olympics (for the first time after 36 years) by virtue of defeating Japan 1-0 in the play-off match for the fifth place and both Ms. Soundarya and Ms. Rajani were part of the team in the World Cup semi-final league matches in Belgium.

Ms. Soundarya says she is delighted. “This is one of the finest moments in my career. We are all so happy that our biggest dream is coming true,” said both Ms.Soundarya and Ms. Rajani in a chat with The Hindu in Belgium.

For someone who took to hockey watching seniors and playing for India since 2006, the 25-year-old Ms. Soundarya was also a member of the Indian team, which won the silver in the Senior Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy.

Ms. Soundarya says that the team was confident in today’s crucial match. “Hats off to my teammate Rani Rampal; we emerged winner. And we are in celebratory mood right now,” she said in a voice choked with joy.

“I owe my success to my first coach Maqbool in Nizamabad and then to the SAI coaches, including Gloria, at the SAI Centre in Hyderabad, where I trained for five years,” the star player recalled. “Right now, no major event is scheduled and since we have qualified for the Olympics, some events may be lined up,” she said.

“I feel honoured to play for India, coming from a place like Nizamabad (she was a student of Modern Public School) which has no history of hockey players,” Ms. Soundarya exclaims.

Achievements not a surprise

SAI hockey coach P. Madhukaran, who was earlier the Indian women’s World Cup coach, recalls the abundance of talent these girls have shown in their formative years.

“Their achievements are not a surprise to me given their commitment and sincerity to keep improving,” he says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by V. V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – July 06th, 2015

Mysuru :

Mysuru lad D.H. Prashanth, will be taking part in the 1st World Deaf Tennis Championships 2015 at Nottingham, England from July 20-26.

Pruthivi Sekhar of Tamil Nadu and Jafreen Shaik of UP are the other two players selected along with D.H. Prashanth to take part in the tournament.

The players will have to bear the entire expenses as there is no government help. The All India Sports Council of the Deaf will only send the team members on their own expenses to represent the country in the championship.

Prashanth has already represented India in the 22nd Summer Deaf Olympics at Sofia, Bulgaria in 2013 in which India was placed fifth place in the men’s team doubles.

In 2013, Prashanth won a bronze medal in the National Games for the deaf at Aurangabad in the men’s singles and won silver medal in the men’s doubles.

Prashanth practices at Mysore Tennis Club in the city and helps his mother who runs a sports shop at Kalidasa road in our city. He is encouraged by his elder brother Satish, elder sister Tanuja and family members.

As there is no government support for Prashanth, he hopes to make it to the tournament on his own with the support of sports-persons. People willing to help Prashanth can contact Keerthi Kumar-8277553695.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News /
Tuesday – June 30th, 2015

Mysuru , Karnataka :

Ten Muay Thai Kickboxers, attached to Academy Of Martial Science (AMS), in city, affiliated to Mysore District Muay Thai Trust and Mixed Martial Arts Federation of India ( MMAFI) were certified as official coaches and were awarded with Instructor’s licenses at a programme conducted at AMS premises in city by Grand Master M.H.Abid and coach Kru. Vikram of AMS recently.

The two-day event included deliberations on both theory and practical aspects of traditional Muay Thai Kick Boxing and tests for the coaches on usage of 8 limbs of Muay Thai in self protection. They were also taught how to set up and deliver techniques in a scientific method and to teach the same in a most effective way. The certification ended with practical and theory exams.

The following are the coaches who were given license to teach Muay Thai in Mysuru by the National Federation.

Subrahmanya Sumanth- Cruiserweight Champion of India and four-time National silver medallist, Satyananda Bhat- National Silver medallist, C. Chethan- Present and five-time Light Heavyweight Champion of India, Abdul Razzack-Light Middleweight Champion of India, Naveen Shetty- South Zone Bantamweight Champion and three-time National Bronze medallist, Mohammed Suleman Shariff- Junior Bantamweight Champion of India and a National Silver medallist, Badri Narayan Kandade- South Zone Heavyweight Champion, Aditya Bhat- Silver and Bronze National medallist and a qualified National Referee and Judge, L. Srihari- National Silver medallist in Light Welterweight and Qualified National Referee and Judge and M.J. Chethan- National Silver medallist in Middleweight and a qualified National Referee and Judge.

Trust President Rtn.M.S. Nandakumar and guest of honour Group Capt. Srinath of IAF congratulated the newly appointed coaches.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / June 22nd, 2015

Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre swimmers set the pool ablaze, creating five new meet records on the third and penultimate day of the State Junior and Sub-junior Swimming Championship here on Wednesday.

Damini K Gowda clinched the Group I, 50M butterfly gold in a record time of 29.89. The BAC swimmer erased the previous meet record set by Arhatha Magavi (30.17), four years ago. Damini added one more gold to her tally by winning the 200M backstroke (2:30.67) and in the process surpassing Nisha Millet’s State record of 2:32.49, set in 1999.

Dolphin Aquatics’ Sanjay CJ put up an impressive show and powered to gold in the boys’ Group II, 100M freestyle. Sanjay clocked 55.22 seconds for a new record. Sanjay bettered Aniketh D’Souza’s (JSC) timing of 58.20.

Malavika V also kept her fine form going, bagging her third yellow metal of the meet. The 17-year old from BAC won the Group I 100M freestyle (1:00.22) and went past Nisha Millet’s meet record of 1:00.37 set in 1999.

Results: Group I: Boys: 400M freestyle: Avinash M (BAC) 4:14.75, 1; Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (DA) 4:16.90, 2; Rahul M (BAC) 4:23.24, 3. 100M freestyle: Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (DA) 56.34, 1; Vishwesh C Dudham (BAC) 56.82, 2; Rahul M (BAC) 57.13, 3. 200M backstroke: Joseph Padavath (BAC) 2:23.30, 1; Hemanth Jenukal V B (GSC) 2:23.70, 2; Nishanth Kumar (GSC) 2:28.25, 3. 50M breaststroke: Vaishnav Hegde (DA) 30.70 (NMR; OMR: Likith SP 31.22 (BAC) 2013), 1; Pruthvik D S (BAC) 33.00, 2; Rakshith R (GSC) 34.57, 3.50M butterfly: Avinash M (BAC) 26.82 (NMR; OMR: Rahul Batra 26.94 BAC, 2001), 1; Vishwesh C Dudham (BAC) 27.26, 2; Suhas P M (Aims) 29.06, 3.4x200M freestyle: BAC ‘A’ (BAC) 8:44.87, 1; BAC ‘B’ (BAC) 8:53.79, 2; GSC 1 (GSC) 9:14.79, 3.

Group II: 400M freestyle: Sanjay C J (DA) 4:27.21, 1; P Kushal (DA) 4:40.23, 2; Mihir Ahuja (DA) 4:51.80, 3. 100M freestyle: Sanjay C J (DA) 55.22 (Aniketh D’ Souza 58.20 JSC 2002), 1; Siddharth Rai (BAC) 1:01.61, 2; Vinod R (BAC) 1:03.70, 3. 200M backstroke: N Sri Hari (GSC) 2:20.62 (NMR; OMR: S Siva 2:21.15 (BAC) 2014), 1; Bhavesh R (DA) 2:36.93, 2; Mihir Ahuja (DA) 2:43.18, 3.50M breaststroke: Manohar M Prabhu (MAC) 33.61, 1; P Kushal (DA) 35.45, 2; Naveen Kumar T (BAC) 36.22, 3. 50M butterfly: Vaishnav V Rao (BAC) 30.69, 1; Anirudh J (BAC) 30.77, 2; Uday M L (PETAC) 31.44, 3. Group III: 50M freestyle:Prasidha Krishna P A (GSC) 28.57, 1; S Hiten Mittal (BAC) 29.05, 2; Abhay Kumar (SL) 29.16, 3. 100M backstroke: Shivansh Singh (BAC) 1:14.07, 1; R Vaibhav Shet (GSC) 1:17.66, 2; Deep Gilda (PMSC) 1:18.37, 3. 50M butterfly: Prasidha Krishna P A (GSC) 29.40, 1; S Hiten Mittal (BAC) 30.07, 2; Raj Vinayak Relakar (PMSC) 30.57, 3.

Group IV: 50M breaststroke: Shoan Ganguly (DA) 42.14, 1; Utkarsh S Patil (PMSC) 42.90, 2; R Akshaya Shet (GSC) 43.17, 3.

Girls: Group I: 100M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 1:00.22 (NMR; OMR: Nisha Millet 1:00.37, BAC, 1999), 1; Damini K Gowda (BAC) 1:00.90, 2; Deeksha Ramesh (GSC) 1:04.23, 3. 400M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 4:34.23, 1; Nikitha SV (BAC) 4:51.02, 2; Rhia Singh (BAC) 4:52.04, 3. 50M breaststroke: Charu Hamsini (BAC) 35.70 (NMR; OMR: Divya Guruswamy 36.45 GSC, 2011), 1; Riddhi S Bohra (PMSC) 37.02, 2; Deeksha Ramesh (GSC) 37.65, 3. 200M backstroke:Damini K Gowda (BAC) 2:30.67 (NMR; OMR: Nisha Millet, 2:32.49 BAC, 1999), 1; K Harishree J Rai (GSC) 2:36.71, 2; Jhanati Rajesh (BAC) 2:41.05, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: BAC A (9:37.04), 1; BAC B (9:37.59), 2; GSC 1 (10:54.41), 3. 50M butterfly: Damini K Gowda (BAC) 29.89 (Arhatha Magavi 30.17. DOL, 2011), 1; Charu Hamsini DA (BAC) 31.38, 2; Chandana (VSC) 31.70, 3.

Group II: 100M freestyle: Harshitha (BAC) 1:05.87, 1; Saloni Dalal (PMSC) 1:08.55, 2; Harshitha Jayaram (GSC) 1:08.74, 3. 400M freestyle: Nandini SS (BAC) 4:57.65, 1; Harshitha J (BAC) 5:04.64, 2; Abhigna Anand (BAC) 5:10.68, 3.200M backstroke: Vibha Aparna Bhovnsle (BAC) 2:46.40, 1; Sushma S Bharadwaj (ASC) 2:53.30, 2; Hita Juneja (BAC) 2:58.43, 3 50M breaststroke:Saloni Dalal (PMSC) 37.13 (NMR; OMR: Charu Hamsini DA 37.51, BAC 2011), 1; Harshitha Jayaram (GSC) 37.71, 2; Pratiksha Patel (DA) 40.53, 3. 50M butterfly:Mayuri Lingaraj (BAC) 31.67, 1; Thanuja S (BAC) 31.69, 2; Sunaina Manjunath (BAC) 32.40, 3.

Group III: 50M freestyle: Smruthi Mahalingam (BAC) 30.44, 1; Khushi Dinesh (BAC) 30.58, 2; Riddhi Juyal (PMSC) 31.00, 3. 100M backstroke: Suvana C Baskar (DA) 1:14.82, 1; Kshithija K (BAC) 1:18.82, 2; Vaishnavi P (BAC) 1:20.22, 3.

50M butterfly: Smruthi Mahalingam (BAC) 32.92, 1; Poojitha G Murthy (BAC) 33.11, 2; Suvana C Baskar (DA) 33.59, 3.

Group IV: 50M breaststroke: A Jedidah (DA) 44.34, 1; Latiesha Mandanna (Young Challengers) 46.11, 2; Keerthi B (PMSC) 46.64, 3.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / DHNS – Bengaluru , June 11th, 2015

Swimming Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem has in a few years emerged as one of the brightest stars in the Karnataka swimming fraternity

One of Hazibul Macci’s first acts on moving to Bangalore in 2004, from K.R. Puram in Hassan District, was to take his grandson to the swimming pool. The kid had shown a tremendous liking for playing in water and also Macci felt, a healthy distraction would keep him away from bad company in the neighbourhood. First taking him to public sessions at Jayanagar’s P.M. Swimming Centre on holidays, and then enrolling him in a beginner’s course there, Macci was satisfied that the boy would remain sufficiently active. He scarcely envisioned, though, that in a few years’ time Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem would grow to become one of Karnataka’s leading young swimmers.

Bags of medals and several individual championships later, Yaqoob admits in his early days“was only playing here.” Under then coach Rohit Das, Yaqoob travelled to Neyveli for his first significant competition, a non-medallist short course meet in 2006. “I won a bronze there. It was then that I started concentrating.”

Still nervous of the big stage, Yaqoob entered his first State meet a year later and finished with a gold in the 100m freestyle. “I had no clue,” the 14-year-old recalls. “I just swam and finished first. It assured me that I had the ability.” In the years since, he has won State Sub-Junior individual championships (Groups III and IV) and National silver and bronze medals. The apogee came in 2010, when he won a gold at the Nationals, in the 200m freestyle in Bangalore, raucously cheered on by his family.

“That was his big breakthrough,” feels John Christopher, his current coach at PMSC, who that day was seen on the pool deck animatedly urging his ward towards the finish. “It was reward for his commitment. He’s extremely serious about his swimming.” The day begins at 5 a.m. for Yaqoob, his morning session in the pool lasting two hours and after school, there are three further hours of training. “I cannot recall him missing a single session, citing illness or a friend’s birthday or a function,” says Christopher. Yaqoob admits that it is tiring. “I try to catch some sleep after school. When I go home from the pool in the evening, it’s almost 9. I just finish my homework and go to bed.”

Last year, he graduated to the Junior category (Group II), doubting initially that he would be able to handle the step up. “There were older swimmers in my group. I wasn’t entirely confident.” He needn’t have worried. At the State championships, five golds and yet another individual championship came his way.

Being a Junior also meant he could compete in middle and long distance events (400, 800, and 1500m races are not open to Sub-Juniors), something he had been training for, for some time. At the Junior National meet in Bhopal last year, his first, he finished with silvers in all three aforementioned events. “I felt his strength was his heart-rate,” says Christopher. “So I thought he would make a good endurance swimmer.” There was also a gold in the 4x100m medley relay but at the 2012 Junior Nationals, Yaqoob is aiming for a bigger prize — the individual championship. “If I work hard, I can,” he says.

Christopher is convinced that it is a reasonable target. “I definitely don’t want to weigh him down with unreasonable expectations. Nobody is saying he has to win everything tomorrow morning. He’s young and he’s got a long way to go. He has to enjoy swimming.”

Yaqoob’s father Ghouse Mohiddin, a Section Officer at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, admits that he hadn’t foreseen such progress. “I wouldn’t say I’m completely surprised — because he has worked so hard to get here.In the beginning I didn’t expect that he would become this good. His grandfather only brought him here to keep him occupied.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Shreedutta Chidananda / March 15th, 2015