• Indian Men Beat Germany
• Neelotpal Becomes India's 13th GM
• Marathon Kid Budhia Creates World Record
• Asia Wins Bid to Host 2011 Worldcup

• Sania Nehwal Wins Philippnines Opens
• Anju Aims For Glory at Cup, Asian Games
• Indian Completes His 70th Distance Run in US

National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly and P Harikrishna scored brilliant victories to help India post a resounding 3-1 victory over Germany in the sixth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad. After a rather subdued start, the Indian men are back into reckoning in the biggest chess event which saw top seed Russians suffering a shocking 1.5-2.5 defeat at the hands of Holland in the sixth round. Russian National Champion Sergey Rublevsky failed to hold his ground against Dutchman Friso Nijboer. Third seed Armenia gained lost ground as they scored a much needed 2.5-1.5 victory over Uzbekistan by notching a win on the second board while drawing the rest of the games. With 16.5 points, Indian men are on joint fifth position while Armenia are the sole leader with 18 points in their kitty after six rounds. For India, world number two Viswanathan Anand and second ranked Indian player Krishnan Sasikiran achieved draws on the top two boards while Harikrishna and Ganguly scored victories over Christopher Lutz and Alexander Grafm respectively on the third and fourth board to script a grand victory. Viswanathan Anand, on the top board could not break the ice against a solid Arkadij Naiditsch while Sasikiran's attempt to complicate against Artur Jussopow also did not materialize. In the women's section being played simultaneously, the Indian eves yet again came out with flying colours scoring a 2-1 victory over Slovenia in their sixth round game. Koneru Humpy drew her game playing on the top board while D Harika achieved the same result on the second. Much was expected from National women champion Swati Ghate and she came up with yet another splendid effort to score a victory. The Indian eves are on third spot with 13 points while Russia continue to lead the table after six rounds.

Courtesy: The Statesman, May 29, 2006

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After Sania Mirza, another young lady from Hyderabad has made India proud with a unique sporting feat. Sixteen-year-old Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a badminton grand prix event, claiming the singles title at the Philippines Open in Pasig City, Manila, on Sunday. Saina, coached by former All-England champion P Gopichand-another Hyderabad luminary-justified the faith her fans and the fraternity had reposed in her, defeating Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia 21-15, 22-20 to pocket the winner's prize cheque of $8,280. It was a stunning feat on all counts, because four-star events are not easy to conquer. Indians have made a big impact in A-grade tournaments-which in terms of quality would match the modest Challenger series in tennis-with Aparna Popat, Trupti Murgunde, Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar and others winning these titles. Until Saturday, when Saina made the final in Pasig City, Aparna Popat's semi-final entry in the two-star Swedish Open in 1999 was the best performance by an Indian woman. A rank outsider when she set foot on the islands, Saina, who is ranked 86th in the world, scalped three top-ranked players-including world No. 4 Xu Huaiwen of Germany-on her way to the title. A thrilled Saina, whose parents originally hail from Haryana, told TOI on the phone that she never expected to get this far in this tourney. "I don't have words to describe this victory.

Courtesy: Times of India, May 29, 2006

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Neelotpal Das was today officially declared the 13th chess Grandmaster of India by Fide, the world chess governing body, while wonder kid Parimarjan Negi became the country's youngest-ever International Master. Himanshu Sharma was also awarded the title at Fide's conference held on the sidelines of the Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. However, the case of Deepan hakravarthy, who secured his third GM norm at the recent National A championships in Hyderabad, would be referred to the Fide technical committee as the Tamil Nadu player is still to officially attain the required ELO rating points for the title. Neelotpal had bagged his third and final GM norm at the 29th International Open Chess tournament at Spain's San Sebastian earlier this year. Neelotpal, who had tied for first place with four other GMs gleaning seven points in the nine-round tourney, had got both his earlier norms in Spain last year at the Sort International Open and Benasque International Open. Negi also hold two GM-norms and an ELO rating above 2500. Himanshu, who got his maiden IM norm during the Asian individual championship at Hyderabad last October, completed his third and final norm here, in January.

Courtesy: The Statesman, May 28, 2006

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Leaving behind the disappointment of Melbourne Commonwealth Games, world number four long jumper Anju Bobby George is raring to get back to her winning ways and has already set her sights on the Athletics World Cup and Doha Asian Games. "My two main aims for the rest of the season are the World Cup in Greece in September and the Doha Asiad in December," Anju said from Bangalore. "I am definitely eyeing the gold at the Asian Games," she said. Athletes from Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan and China were expected to be her main rivals at the mega event, she said. The ace athlete, who took some time off after returning from Melbourne, has since resumed training. She has a packed competition schedule this month which will see her in action at five meets in Asia and the United States. She would start with the Super Grand Prix at Doha on May 12 followed by the three Asian Grand Prix at Bangkok (May 18), Bangalore (May 22) and Pune (May 26). Anju will round off the month with the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene in the US on May 28. "After that I will again take rest and prepare for the World Cup at Athens," she said. She qualified for the World Cup by virtue of winning the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championship at Incheon, South Korea, last September. The event is a contest between continental teams besides those from some select countries. However, Anju has not decided her detailed schedule leading up to the Doha Games yet as she thinks that could be worked out in due course.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 08, 2006

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Budhia Singh, the five-year-old Orissa kid who shot to fame for his ability to run long distances, created a world record on Tuesday by running about 65 km in seven hours and two minutes. Budhia started running at about 4 am from the lion gate of the Jagannath temple in Puri, 56 km from here, and arrived at Bhubaneswar in about seven hours and two minutes, his coach Biranchi Das said. "None of his age had earlier created such a record in the world and the officials of the Limca Book of World Records, who witnessed the race, confirmed that his name would find place in the record book," Das said. According to Das, he was initially scheduled to run 10 km per hour but exceeded that speed within two hours and started running 12 km per hour. When he started running from Puri, hundreds of people encouraged him, raising slogans in his favour. A special ambulance and a doctor were part of the event, which is sponsored by the CRPF. At least 200 CRPF jawans also ran with him to provide moral support, Das said. Hoards of mediapersons reportedly accompanied Budhia in his marathon run. After arriving in Bhubaneswar, he was taken to the local hospital for a thorough medical check-up, said Das. Das and his wife had adopted Budhia, after rescuing him from a slum and helped him become a running sensation. Budhia had been sold to them for a paltry sum of Rs 800 by his impoverished mother. The boy became a celebrity after his non-stop 60-km run between Puri and Bhubaneswar last year. He runs at least 20 km every day, covering 45 km twice a week. Das has recently enrolled him in the Boxi Jagabandhu (BJB) English Medium School, one of the leading institutions here, as a lower kindergarten (LKG) student. Meanwhile, the state child welfare committee, constituted under the Juvenile Justice Act, is probing charges that the coach is exploiting the child for his personal gains. Das has, however, denied these accusations.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, May 05, 2006

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Vanquishing age and distance, Indian marathon man Ashis Roy, 73, has completed his 70th long run in the United States. Honouring his 70th marathon run in Frederick, Maryland, on Sunday, organisers gave Ashish Roy the chest number 70 and published his achievement in local newspapers. Roy, who aims at completing his 75th run on his platinum jubilee birthday, suffered from a painful right knee due to ortho-arthritis and wore a knee cap while running. Ashis Roy developed sudden acute pain in the left hip joint after running 10 miles and was forced to run slowly, but managed to secure the second position in his age group of 70-79. Runners from Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and India participated in the event in which 2,500 people opted for the full marathon. The marathon track being a hilly terrain, runners encountered heights up to 170 feet, but the weather was pleasant enough for the run with temperatures between five to 10 degrees Celsius. The veteran runners were provided with water and drinks after every mile. Roy's next marathon will be in Delaware, United Sates, on May 21.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, May 02, 2006

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India and three other Asian countries on Sunday won the bid to host the 2011 Cricket World Cup after defeating a joint proposal by Australia and New Zealand at the ICC's Executive Board meeting here. The cash-rich South Asian bloc swept the voting by an overwhelming margin to ensure the cricketing extravaganza returned to the sub-continent after a gap of 15 years. The ICC also announced that Australia and New Zealand would host the 2015 World Cup while England will stage the following edition in 2019. Although the ICC bosses refused to disclose the margin of victory, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi told a TV channel that the Asian bloc won 10-3. The surprisingly easy victory for the four Asian Test playing countries -- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- put an end to weeks of suspense on who would host the high-profile event. "In the end, everybody supported the Asian bid. We have also decided that every third World Cup would be held in Asia," ICC president Ehsan Mani told a press conference after the meeting. The ICC Board meeting took place amidst indications that none of the two parties would be able to gain a clear majority but the Asian bloc managed to tilt the scales in its favour. The joint Asian bid needed just three more votes from full members for the required majority of 7 out of 13 votes. Apart from the 10 Test playing countries, three associate members -- Israel, UAE and Malaysia -- had the voting rights. India were represented by their senior Cricket Board functionary Inderjit Singh Bindra at the meeting in the absence of BCCI chief Sharad Pawar. Bindra thanked the other Asian members for their support. "Without the support of all the members, we could not have achieved what we have done today, it is a landmark win," he said. The result came as a boost to the Asian countries who had all along wanted that every third edition of the World Cup should be held in the sub-continent since it accounted for four of the 10 Test playing nations. The West Indies are to host the World Cup next year. As per the schedule of matches mentioned in the joint Asian bid, India will host 22 matches, including the semi-finals, Pakistan 14, Sri Lanka 9 and Bangladesh 6. Lahore will stage the final. A successful bid of the 2011 World Cup showed the "solidarity" among the Asian nations. "This shows the solidarity among the Asian Test playing nations," Dungarpur added. Dungarpur praised IS Bindra, another former president of the Board who represented the BCCI at the ICC meeting in Dubai, and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan. "BCCI president Sharad Pawar sent the right man (Bindra) for the bid... and kudos to Shaharyar Khan for building the bridges so quickly with Pawar," he said. The International Cricket Council Executive board meeting in Dubai decided to award the 2011 World Cup to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. CA Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland, however, welcomed that Australia and New Zealand would be jointly hosting the 2015 ICC World Cup. Australia has won the last two ICC World Cups and Australasia has not hosted a World Cup since 1992. He also welcomed that the ICC had decided to award Australia hosting rights to the 2009 ICC Women's World Cup. "It is disappointing to miss out on the men's 2011 World Cup," he said in a statement. "But I am pleased that the highly professional bid we made, which complied with a long list of strict criteria, and which was supported by governments, venues and others such as our member state cricket associations, has demonstrated to the ICC that Australasia will host a world-class tournament in 2015," he said.

Courtesy: The Times of India, May 01, 2006

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