Anju Bobby George created history at Paris on Saturday when she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal, a bronze, at the World Athletics Championships.

George clinched third place in the women's long jump competition with her fifth attempt of 6.70m, just 4cm under her personal best. She stands to gain US $20,000 [approximately Rs 9,18,000] after she clears the mandatory drug tests.

Anju, who won a gold at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, and a bronze in the Commonwealth Games last year, was radiant. "It is a great honour for me to win a medal for the country."

Russian Tatyana Kotova, who had the previous best jump this year of 6.94m and who had earlier tied Barber on 6.74m, had to be content with the silver medal.George made a dream start to her bid for glory when she registered a jump of 6.61m on her very first attempt to grab the lead.

George fouled her third attempt as well and slipped to fourth place as Jade Johnson of Great Britain registered a jump of 6.63m to move into the third spot. George avoided elimination by registering a clean jump on her fourth visit, clearing 6.56m, a distance that was matched by Kotova.

Then, in the fifth round, George grabbed third place back with her season's best leap of 6.70m. In her sixth and last attempt George managed 6.62m, but the bronze was hers when Johnson could only clear 6.53m.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, August 31, 2003

Indian junior paddlers won three silver and five bronze medals at the STIGA Canadian Junior Open table tennis tournament in Edmonton, Canada, on Saturday.

The silvers came from the girls' cadet doubles team of Mahalanc Salankara and Bodas Ahiest Rajeev, the boys' cadet doubles team of Devesh Karia and Aniket Koparkar, and the cadet boys in the team events.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, August 31, 2003

Mumbai: National long jump champ Anju George has landed herself a wonderful gift with three days to go for the World Championships in Athletics to be held in Saint-Denis, Paris. Anju has moved to her life's best ranking of world No. 8 as per the latest International Association of Athletics Federations.

Her points are static at 1194 but she has moved a spot up from her last fortnight's rankings of No. 9. Great Britain's Jade Johnson, who was at No. 8, has slipped to No. 10. The ranking, initiated only this year by the IAAF, is the average of performance scores - result added to placing.

The standings are of great importance as the top seven will qualify for the World Athletics final in Monaco on September 12-13. Wild cards will be given in only five of the 33 disciplines.

There is every possibility of Anju, who will be jumping in Saint-Denis on August 28, moving to No. 7 when the final qualifiers are decided as per the rankings on September 9. Current No. 1 Maurren Higa Maggi has been suspended by the Brazillian athletic association after testing positive. The IAAF, however, is yet to ratify it. When it does happen, the athletes will expectedly move up the ladder and Anju to No. 7.

"The case is pending," informed Anna Legnani, the IAAF deputy director of communication, via e-mail from IAAF HQ in Monaco. "We are still awaiting a clarification. It will definitely affect the qualification. Athletes are removed from the rankings lists once a definitive sanctions imposed on them. Before then, i.e. until the case has reached its conclusion, it is not appropriate to remove athletes from world rankings."

Rankings: 1. Maurren Higa Maggi (Bra) 1298 points, 2. Tatyana Kotova (Rus) 1292, 3. Elva Goulbourne (Jam)1253, 4. Tinde Vaszi (Hun) 1222, 5. Olga Rublyova (Rus) 1217, 6. Grace Upshaw (US) 1202, 7. Concepcism Montaner (Esp) 1201, 8. Anju Bobby George (Ind) 1194; 9. Jacqueline Edwards (Bah) 1190. 10. Jade Johnson (GBR) 1186.

Courtesy: The Times of India, August 21, 2003

New Delhi: Seven-year-old golfing prodigy Viraat Badhwar has created history by becoming the youngest Indian sportsperson to be signed by a professional sports management agency. Viraat, who recently achieved the number two position in the world Junior Gold Championships held in USA, will be managed by Globosport, a company promoted by tennis star Mahesh Bhupati.

Already the winner of many junior tournaments, Viraat also features in the 'Limca book of records' as the 'youngest Indian golfer to do a hole in one'. Globosport's list of clients include Wimbledon champion Sania Mirza, Formula 3 driver Karun Chandhok, and Mumbai pace bowler Aavishkar Salvi.

"We started this firm aiming to make a difference in Indian sports," Bhupathi said in a press release. "We decided to identify and support the best young talent in India, people who can make a global impact," the tennis ace maintained. "When we looked at golf, we felt that there were several talented young golfers but only one who is a world-beater."

"That young golfer is Viraat Badhwar and we are really happy to add him to Globosport's roster of outstanding young talent," Bhupathi said.

Courtesy: The Times of India, August 21, 2003

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Todd Woodbridge of Australia 6-3 7-6 (7/4) to win the doubles crown in the ATP Tennis Masters tournament at Montreal, Canada.

The top seeds, who got a walkover in the semi-final against Czech Republic's Cyril Suk and Martin Damm, had no problems on Sunday night in overcoming the challenge of the 4th seeded Swedish-Australian pair in straight sets to win their third ATP title of the year, according to information received here.

The duo had earlier won the Estoril Open and the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters event and finished runners-up at Wimbeldon.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, August 11, 2003

NEW DELHI: Move over Sachin Tendulkar, Brand Baichung is here! The unsung hero of Indian football, Baichung Bhutia, is all set to leave the cricket heroes behind when he scores his first goal on the silver screen with his maiden Bengali movie Kuasha (fog) along with his coach Subhash Bhowmick.

Master Blaster Tendulkar may have made his millions from commercial endorsements, but to imagine Sachin acting in films is a wee bit difficult. Cricketers have mostly discovered themselves to be hopeless in front of the camera. Some who tried their luck - Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil, Syed Kirmani and fairly recently schoolmate Vinod Kambli - have all been big disappointments on screen.

The modest Baichung dismisses the possibility of a filmi career nonchalantly. "Hey, come on it is not a big deal really. It is just a small special appearance in the movie where I do not speak a word but just get felicitated in a function." The man who can do nothing wrong especially for the people in Sikkim and his fans, is slowly but steadily gaining the iconic status till now reserved for the Tendulkars and the Gangulys

As far as endorsements go Baichung makes no comparison to the cricketers. While Sachin can command up to Rs 1 crore for a year, Baichung's best is an endorsement deal with Kingfisher to the tune of Rs 20 lakhs for two years. But Baichung remains the highest endorsed Indian footballer ever and fortunately for the Sikkim lad, it is all uphill from here.

The most famous face in Sikkim, Baichung apart from appearing on labels of pickle bottles has also in the past had a deal with Sitco, the Sikkim watch company to the tune of Rs 18 lakhs for two years. According to his agent, things are really looking up with deals on the anvil with some broadcasters and possibly TVS and LG.

Baichung himself loves to take things as they come. "Indian sport is looking up and that is not just because of me. India is doing well in hockey also." Keeping things in perspective Baichung's endorsement earnings at present are at par only with the fourth rung of cricketers in India. Sachin is at the apex followed by Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in the second rung. Then comes Virender Sehwag followed by the likes of Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh.

Baichung's achievements seem poignant as unlike Tendulkar who hailed from a solid upper middle class background in Mumbai, Baichung almost literally came down from the Himalayas to become the toast of Indian football. Born in Sikkim, not far from Nepal, he grew up in one of those rare regions of his country where football jostles with cricket on an equal basis to grab media attention and fan following.

Baichung did not have the luxury of playing in a Shivaji Park under a coach and then moving on to a stadium like Wankhede in the same city. Right from the time that Baichung Bhutia first came to the forefront at the 1992 Subroto Cup in New Delhi, the footballer has had to move away from his family to fight and make a name in Indian football. "I was away from home since I was 15. I certainly miss spending the growing-up years at home with the family. But I did not have a choice as my school was far away from my home."

While Sachin Tendulkar was signing multi-crore deals with WorldTel, Baichung was signing a three-year contract with Bury FC after going through the throes of getting a UK work permit.

Success never came easy for Baichung who had an unsuccessful trial with English Premiership club Aston Villa. This was later followed up by a three month rigorous training stint in Sweden, with AIK Solna. In the summer of 1999 Baichung had unsuccessful trials at First Division clubs Fulham FC and West Bromwich Albion, before going for a trial at IInd Division club Bury FC.

But Baichung has put Indian footballers on the road to lucrative corporate endorsements and it is only a matter of time before we see Baichung beaming from billboards and cracking multi-crore deals.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, August 07, 2003

MUMBAI: India's top long jumper, Anju Bobby George, was on the podium in only her third big event after being trained by US Olympian Mike Powell and signed by top US-based sports management firm, HIC. At the DN Galan athletic meet, part of the IAAF Super Grand Prix series, in Stockholm (Sweden) on Tuesday, Anju, the gold medallist at last year's Busan Asian Games, bagged the silver medal with a best jump of 6.49 metres. The medal carries a monetary reward of 2,400 Euros.

With top long jumpers not taking part in the event, there were only six jumpers at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. Sweden's Carolina Kluft got the gold with a best of 6.59 metres and the silver went to Concepcion Montaner of Spain with 6.48 metres.

The effort is far from Anju's best, yet praiseworthy. She joins her Kerala statemate PT Usha who had won two silvers in Grand Prix events. In Anju's two recent events, she had finished fourth (6.51 metres) in a topclass field at the Berlin Golden League and seventh (6.54 metres) in the Madrid Super Grand Prix.

Anju seems to have overcome stagefright, something she was extremely wary of having stayed away from high quality events, as the Indian fouled only on her fourth jump. Anju, currently ranked No 9 on the IAAF computer and with a year's best of 6.65 metres, was clear off the board in her other five with 6.42, 6.41, 6.49, 6.41 and 6.36.

Anju, who will be participating in the world track and field championships in Saint Denis (Paris) later this month, has a personal best of 6.74 metres.

It was the second consecutive time that Anju was besting Montaner who is ranked world No.7 with the year's best of 6.69 metres.

None of competitors managed to come close to their best jumps of the year. Kluft, ranked No. 19, has a 6.69; Montaner and Grace Upshaw of USA (No. 8) 6.69 and Tina Carman (Slovenia) No. 32 and 6.56 metres.

Final results:

1. Carolina Kluft (Swe) 6.59 metres; 2. Anju Bobby George 6.49; 3. Concepcion Montaner (Esp) 6.48; 4. Grace Upshaw (USA) 6.47; 5. Tina Carman (Slovenia) 6.24; 6. Lincoln Saavedra Daniela (Swe) 6.11.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, August 06, 2003