Sanil faces Parikshit in boys U-18 singles final

 Parikshit Somani of Assam in action at BLTA courts in Patna on January 24, 2013

Meenal Maharwal of Rajasthan in action at BLTA courts in Patna on January 24, 2013

Patna, January 24, 2013: West Bengal’s Sanil Jagtaini moved into the boys’ U-18 singles final overpowering Allen Johnson Koundon of Kerala 6-2, 6-3 in the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Second Leg Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Thursday.

Sanil will face Parikshit Somani of Assam, who overcame a stiff challenge from Arnav Alok Goel of Uttar Pradesh 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. 

Sanil and Parikshit also booked their berths in the boys U-16 final winning their respective semifinal matches comfotabely.

Meenal Maharwal of Rajasthan struggled hard to down Shilpi Swarupa Das of Odisha 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the girls’ U-18 singles semifinal.

Results:

Boys’ U-18 singles (semifinals): Sanil Jagtaini (WB) bt Allen Johnson Koundon (Kerala) 6-2, 6-3; Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Arnav Alok Goel (UP) 4-06, 6-4, 6-2.

Boys’ U-18 doubles (semifinals): Ankit Rao (Haryana) and Azad Singh (Haryana) bt Shree Krishna (Bihar) and Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) 7-5, 6-4.

Boys’ U-16 singles (semifinals): Sanil Jagtaini (WB) bt Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1; Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) 6-1, 6-0.

Boys’ U-16 doubles (semifinals): Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) and Zain Zafar (Bihar) bt Ankit Anand (Bihar) and Nilay Mishra (Bihar) 6-2, 6-2; Adveya Sharma (Bihar) and Siddhant Raj (Bihar) bt Utksrsh Singh (Bihar) and Shadwal Sufi (Bihar) 6-2, 6-1

Girls’ U-18 singles (semifinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Manisha Sahani (UP) 6-0, 6-3; Meenal Maharwal (Rajasthan) bt Shilpi Swarupa Das (Odisha) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Girls’ U-18 doubles (semifinals): Manisha Sahani (UP) and Sitara Sahani (UP) bt Meenal Maharwal (Rajasthan) and Camellia Bhadra (WB) 6-4, 7-5.

Girls’ U-16 singles (semifinals): Shilpi Swarupa Das (Odisha) bt Sakshi Suman (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1; Manisha Sahani (UP) bt Aditi Shreya (Bihar) 6-1, 6-1.

Girls’ U-16 doubles (semifinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) and Shilpi Swarupa Das (Odisha) bt Tanmaya Khushi (Bihar) and Sakshi Sinha (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0; Aditi Shreya (Bihar) and Soumya Singh (Bihar) bt Pooja Reddy (Bihar) and Lavanya Hanshi (Bih) 6-0, 6-1.

Photo: BLTA

West Bengal Secretariat win All India Civil Services Bridge

Patna, January 23, 2013: West Bengal Secretariat won the team championship title of the All India Civil Services Bridge Tournament beating RSB, Patna 77-61 at the end of final round play at Patliputra Sports Complex hall here on Wednesday.

Rakesh Ranjan and Niti Ranjan Prasad Singh (both Bihar Secretariat) with 143 points claimed the open pair crown edging past the other Bihar combination of Dr DK Choudhary and SM Moin 143-141. The pair of Amitabh Verma and Sunil Kumar bagged the third position with 134 points.

For West Bengal, Shivnath Sarkar, Ram Prasad Das, Sanjiv Mazumdar, Gautam Das, Kishore A Roy and Vijon Kumar Bandhopadhaya displayed their wits and understanding of the game nicely.  Navin Kumar Sinha, Sunil Kumar, Hemant Kumar Sharan,Sujit Kumar and Ratnesh played well for RSB Patna.

Final standings: 1. West Bengal Secretariat (159); 2. RSB, Patna (148); 3. RSB, Bhubaneswar (148); 4. RSB, Chandigarh (135); 5. RSB, Kolkata (115); 6. RSB, Chennai (104); 7. Bihar Secretariat (96); 8. AP Secretariat (86) and 9. UP Secretariat (44 points

Sanil shows Shree Krishna the door

Sanil Jagtaini (top) of Bengal  in action against Shree Krishna (bottom) in the AITA Talent Series Tournament in Patna on January 23, 2013.

Patna, January 23, 2013: Sanil Jagtaini of Bengal upset first leg champion Shree Krishna of Bihar 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the boys’ U-18 singles quarterfinal of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Second Leg Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Wednesday.

Joining Sanil in the semifinals, the other three were Allen Johnson Koundon of Kerala, Parikshit Somani of Assam and Arnav Alok Goel of Uttar Pradesh.

Allen Johnson Koundon beat Azad Singh (Haryana) 6-1, 6-2 while Parikshit Somani beat Mohit Dahiya (Delhi) 6-3, 6-3. Arnav Alok Goel thrashed Ankit Anand 6-1, 6-2.

Results: Boys’ U-18 singles (quarterfinals): Allen Johnson Koundon (Kerala) bt Azad Singh (Haryana) 6-1, 6-2; Sanil Jagtaini (WB) bt Shree Krishna (Bihar) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Mohit Dahiya (Delhi) 6-3, 6-3; Arnav Alok Goel (UP) bt Ankit Anand 6-1, 6-2.

Boys’ U-18 doubles (quarterfinals): Ankit Rao (Haryana) and Azad Singh (Haryana) bt Rahul Khanna (Delhi) and Nimesh Khandelwal (Delhi) 6-3,7-6; Sanil Jagtaini (WB) & Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Arnav Alok Goel (UP) and Ravi Tomar (Delhi) 6-0, 6-1.

Boys’ U-16 singles (quarterfinals): Sanil Jagtaini (WB) bt Ankit Anand (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0; Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) bt Adveya Sharma (Bihar) 6-1, 6-2; Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Vishal Vivek Kumar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1; Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Zain Zafar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0.

Boys’ U-16 doubles (quarterfinals): Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) and Zain Aafar (Bihar) bt Roshan Kumar (Bihar) and Vishal Vivek Kumar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0; Utksrsh Singh (Bihar) and Shadwal Sufi (Bihar) bt Swapnil Sinha (Bihar) Rewant Raj (Bihar) 6-2, 6-3.

Photo: BLTA

Aditi Shreya looks set to shine in national-level tennis

For her on-court speed and fighting spirit Aditi Shrey is known as Michael Chang of Bihar tennis. The promising girl has a lot of potential to excel in the days to come. In the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Tournament, she tamed her rival and state mate Lavanya Hanshi 6-1, 6-1 to storm into the girls' U-16 singles semifinals at the Patliputra Colony Courts in Patna on January 22, 2013.

Photo: BLTA

Sanil, Shree Krishna in last 8; Aditi in semis

Aditi Shreya of Bihar in action during her match in the AITA Talent Series Tournament in Patna on January 22, 2013.

Patna, January 22, 2013: Allen Johnson Koundon of Kerala,  Azad Singh of Haryana,  Shree Krishna of Bihar and Sanil Jagtiani of West Bengal were among eight players moved into the boys U-18 singles quarterfinals of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Second Leg Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here today.

In the girls U-16 singles, Aditi Shreya, Sakshi Suman, Shilpi Swarupa Das and Manisha Sahani moved into the semifinals. 

Results: Boys’ U-18 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Allen Johnson Koundon (Ker) bt Ritwik Ranjan (Bihar) 6-1, 6-0, Azad Singh (Haryana) bt Sanoj Kumar (Bihar) 6-2, 6-3, Shree Krishna (Bihar) bt Rahul Khanna (Delhi) 6-0, 6-0, Sanil Jagtiani (WB) bt Adveya Sharma (Bihar) 6-2, 6-0, Mohit Dahiya (Delhi) bt Zain Zafar (Bihar) 6-2,7-5, Parikshit Somani (Assam) bt Shrahyat  Parashar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0, Ankit Anand (Bihar) bt Ravi Tomar (Uttarakhand) 6-4, 7-5, Arnav Alok Goel (UP) bt Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4

Girl’s U-18 singles (quarterfinal)

Manisha Sahani (UP) bt Sitara Sahani (UP) 6-2,7-5, Shilpi Swarupa Das (Odisha) bt Soumya Singh (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1.

Boys’ U-16 singles (pre-quarterfinal): Sanil Jagtiani (WB) bt Pawan Kumar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0, Ankit Anand (Bihar) bt Rewant Raj (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0, Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) bt Ankit Rao (Haryana) 6-3, 6-3, Adveya Sharma (Bihar) bt Siddhant Raj (Bihar) 6-1, 6-2, Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Shadwal Sufi (Bihar) 6-2, 6-2, Zain Zafar (Bihar) bt Nilay Mishra (Bihar) 6-2, 6-1, Parikshat Somani (Assam) bt Swapnil Sinha (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0

Girls' U16 singles quarterfinals: Aditi Shreya (Bihar)  bt Lavanya Hanshi (Bihar) 6-1, 6-1, Sakshi Suman  (Bihar) bt Soumya Singh (Bihar) 6-3, 6-3. Shilpi Swarupa Das (Odisha) bt Pooja Reddy (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1, 

Manisha Sahani (Uttar Pradesh) bt Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.

Photo: BLTA

All India Civil Services Bridge Tournament begins in Patna

Patna, January 21, 2013: Regional Sports Board (RSB) Bhubaneswar emerged sole leaders with 57 points at the end of third round play in the All India Civil Services Bridge Tournament at the Patliputra Sports Complex hall here.

RSB Kolkata with 56 points and Kolkata Secretariat with 49 points were following the leaders.

Earlier, Bihar Government’s Development Commissioner Phul Singh and National Highway Authority of India Secretary AK Upadhayay inaugurated the tournament jointly.

Team standing after the third round: 1. RSB Bhubaneswar (57); 2. RSB Kolkata (56); 3. Kolkata Secretariat (49); 4. Bihar Secretariat (48), 5. RSB Patna (43); 6.Chandigarh Secretariat (38), 7.Andhra Pradesh Secretariat (27); 8.Uttar Pradesh Secretariat (08) and 9.Chennai Secretariat (08).

Good day for Bihar players in AITA Talent Series

Patna, January 21, 2013: The second leg of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Tournament began at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Monday. No upset was witnessed on the first day.

Bihar’s Ankit Anand, Shrayat Parasher and Zain Zafar moved into the second round winning their respective matches in the boys’ U-18 singles first round.

Ankit Anand beat Anshumat Shrivastav 6-1, 6-2. Shrayat Parasher downed Siddhant Raj 6-2, 6-2 while Zain Zafar beat Nilay Mishra 6-0, 6-1.

Results: Boys’ U-18 singles (first round): Aarnav Alok Goel (UP) bt Nimesh Khandelwal (Delhi) 6-1,6-1, Rahul Khanna (Delhi) bt Sadwal Sufi (Bihar) 6-1,6-2

Boy’s U-16 singles (first round): Shadwal Sufi (Bihar) bt Purab Arora (Bih) 6-2, 6-2, Vishel Vivek (Bihar) bt Utkarsh Singh (Bihar) 6-1,6-2, Rewant Raj (Bihar) bt Roshan Kumar (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1, Zain Zafar (Bih) bt Ritwik Ranjan (Bihar) 6-1,6-0

Girls U-16 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Soumya Singh (Bihar) bt Sakshi Sinha (Bihar) 6-0, 6-1, Lavanya Hanshi (Bihar) bt Tanmaya Khushi (Bihar).

Anirban, Sagarika win national junior table tennis titles

Gandhidham, January 21, 2013:  West Bengal’s Anirban Ghosh defeated state mate Arjun Ghosh 4-0 to win the boy’s title while Sagorika Mukherjee from North Bengal downed C.R Harsha Vardhani of Tamil Nadu 4-1 to annex the girl’s crown in the sub-junior section of the Cadet and Sub-Junior National Table Tennis Championships here today.

Ashwin Subramanian of Maharashtra became the Cadet boy’s winner as he defeated Udit Bhattacharya of West Bengal 4-2 and the Cadet girls’ crown went to Prapti Sen of West Bengal who defeated Yashi of Punjab 4-1.

Anirban, who had beaten quite a few seniors in the last couple of years, had little difficulty in putting it across Arjun. After taking the first two games rather easily, he was extended in the third which he won 14-12 in the third which saw some excellent fight back by Arjun. But Anirban did not allow any liberty to Arjun in the fourth as he shut out the challenge very quickly to stamp his authority.

As for the sub-junior girls’ final, Harsha Varddhani showed some glimpses of a comeback but Sagarika proved too good against her Tamil Nadu opponent despite losing the fourth game.

In Cadet boys’ section,  the Maharashtra lad began promisingly before allowing Udit some leeway. However, Ashwin held his nerves to outwit the West Bengal boy in the final analysis. Prapti, on the other hand, was a hard nut for Punjab’s Yashi to crack as she must have found out during the Cadet girls’ final.

The results:

Sub-Junior Boys (Final): Anirben Ghosh (WB) bt  Arjun Ghosh(WB) 11-8, 11-3, 14-12, 11-7;Semi Finals: Anirben Ghosh (WB) bt Lalrinpunia (PSPB A)         15-13, 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-4, Arjun Ghosh(WB) bt Lalhunhlua(PSPB A) 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9.

Doubles Final: Lalhunhlua & Manav Thakkar(PSPB A) bt Arjun Ghosh & Ronit Bhanja (WB)  11-5, 11-2, 17-15.

Sub-Junior Girls (Final): Sagarika Mukerjee (NB) bt Harsha Vardhani CR (TN)11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10,; Semi Finals: Sagaoika Mukerjee (NB) bt Sreeja A (AP) 11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, Harsha Vardhani CR (TN) bt Moumita Dutta (WB)            11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 10-12, 11-5.

Doubles Final: Koushani Nath & Moumita Dutta(WB) bt Ashlesha Trehan & Manasi Chhajed(MHR A) 11-3, 11-9, 11-6.

Cadet Boys Singles (Final): Ashwin Subramanian (MHR A) bt Udit Bhattacharya (WB) 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-2; Semi Finals: Udit Bhattacharya(WB) bt Raegan Albuquerque (MHR A) 13-11, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10, 11-8, Ashwin Subramanian (MHR A) bt Anukram Jain (PSPB A) 11-9, 11-5, 15-13, 13-15, 11-9.

Cadet Girls (Final): Prapti Sen (WB) bt Yashi(PNJ) 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 13-11; Semi Finals: Prapti Sen (WB) bt Swetha Stephi (TN) 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, 11-2, Yashi(PNJ) bt Sasya V(AP)     11-8, 11-4, 11-9, 10-12, 11-8.

A TTFI Press release

Shree Krishna, Meenal clinch tennis titles

Patna, January 18, 2013: Shree Krishna of Bihar tamed his sparring partner and statemate Ritwik Bhriguvanshi 6-2, 7-6 to win the boys’ U-18 singles title of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Tournament at the Patliputra Colony court here.

Meenal Maharwal of Rajasthan downed Madhu Jaiswal of Bihar 6-2, 7-5 to win the U-18 girls’ singles crown while Madhu Jaiswal beat Priyam Kumari of Bihar 7-6, 7-5 to win U-16 crown.

Results:

 Boys’ U-18 singles (final): Shree Krishna (Bihar) bt Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) 6-2,7-6.

Boys’ U-18 doubles (final): Shree Krishna (Bihar) and Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) and Adarsh Anand (Bihar) 6-1, 6-2.

Girls’ U-18 singles (final): Meenal Maharwal (Rajasthan) bt Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) 6-2,7-5.

Girls’ U-18 doubles (final): Manisha Sahani (UP) and Sitara Sahani (UP) bt Sonal Sristi (Bihar) and Priyam Kumari (Bihar) 6-4, 6-1.

Boys’ U-16 singles (final): Elan Elangoven (TN) bt Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) 6-7, 6-3, 6-1

Girls’ U-16 singles (final): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Priyam Kumari (Bihar) 7-6, 7-5

Hockey India appoints Roelant Oltmans as Director, High Performance

Roelant Oltmans: Director High Performance of Hockey India

New Delhi, January 17, 2013: Hockey India announced the appointment of the vastly experienced Roelant Oltmans as Director, High Performance.

Hockey India Secretary General Dr Narinder Batra said that the appointment of Roelant Oltmans is an important step to ensure that a strategic program is in place for our senior and junior men and women teams.

“Hockey India has been looking for a candidate that not only has the experience of High Performance Management but also understands the unique attributes of working on the sub-continent. We are confident that Roelant will bring his vast experience and knowledge into this key position” he said.

Roelant Oltmans who is eager to commence his role with Hockey India said he is really excited to be signing with Hockey India in the first ever role as Director, High Performance. “I strongly believe that there is a lot of talent in India and by having a proper plan in place we will be able to raise the level of Indian Hockey in the near future” he said

“Our dream is to bring the glory back to the country. We need to work hard on a single platform that too with the unity, encouraging our players and giving them the right direction which will help our dream to come true” Oltmans said.    

Oltmans who coached the Dutch team for fourteen years has a long list of achievements. Under his coaching, the Dutch team has won one Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, 2 FIH World Cups, 3 FIH Champions Trophy and the Euro Hockey League.

The former Dutch coach is currently working with the Dutch Olympic Committee as its Performance Manager for Elite Sports, and is also an International Hockey Federation (FIH) Master Coach.

Oltmans is also the Chief Coach with the Uttar Pradesh Wizards for the Hero Hockey India League.

A HI Press release

Elan Elangoven upsets Ritwik Bhriguvanshi

Patna, January 17, 2013: Elan Elangoven of Tamil Nadu shocked title favourite Ritwik Bhriguvanshi of Bihar 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the U-16 boys singles semifinals of the India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Thursday.

Now, Elan will face Anshumat Shrivastav of Bihar, who beat Sanoj Kuamr of Bihar 6-2, 7-5 in the second semifinal.

 Results: Boys’ U-18 singles (semifinals): Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Anshumat Shrivastav (Bih) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, Shree Krishna (Bihar) bt Elan Elangoven (TN) 6-2, 6-0.

Girls’ U-18 singles (semifinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Camellia Bhadra (West Bengal) 6-0, 6-1, Meenal Maharwal (Rajasthan) bt Shalini Mishra (Uttar Pradesh) 6-1,6-2.

Girls’ U-18 doubles (semifinals): Sitara Sahani (UP) and Manisha Sahani (UP) bt Meenal Meharwal (Raj) and Manisha Biswas (Delhi) 6-3, 6-0.

Boys’ U-16 singles (semifinals): Elan Elangoven (TN) bt Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, Anshumat Shrivastav (Bihar) bt Sanoj Kuamr (Bihar) 6-2, 7-5

Boys’ U-16 doubles (semifinal): Zain Zafar (Bihar) and Adveya Sharma (Bihar) bt Shivank Sinha (Bihar) Ankit Anand (Bihar) 6-2,7-5

Girls’ U-16 singles (semifinal): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Medhavi Singh (Bihar) 6-1,6-2, Priyam Kumari (Bihar) bt Megha Pratap (Bihar) 6-1,6-0

Girls’ U-16 doubles (semifinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) and Mallika (Bihar) bt Nandni Shandilya (Bihar) and Sakshi Sinha (Bihar) 6-0, 6-2.

Ritwik, Anshumat move into semifinals

Patna, January 16, 2013:  Ritwik Bhriguvanshi and Anshumat Shrivastav of Bihar entered the semifinals of boys U-18 singles in the All India Tennis Association (AITA) Talent Series Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Wednesday.

Results: Boy’s U-18 singles (quarterfinal): Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Dheeraj Dhanvee (AP) 6-2, 6-1, Anshumat Srivastava (Bihar) bt Ravi Tomar (Uttarakhand) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, Elan Elangoven (TN) bt Mohit Dahiya (Delhi) 6-4, 6-2, Shree Krishna (Bihar) bt Sanoj Kumar (Bihar) 6-2, 6-2.

Girls’ U-18 singles (quarterfinal): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Priyam Kumari (Bihar) 6-0, 6-2, Camellia Bhadra (WB) bt Aditi Shreya (Bihar) 6-3, 6-3, Meenal Maharwal (Rajasthan) bt Pooja Reddy (Bihar) 6-1,6-1, Shalini Mishra (UP) bt Manisha Biswas (Rajasthan) 6-4, 6-2.

Boys’ U-16 singles (quarterfinals): Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bihar) bt Arnav Bhardwaj (Haryana) 7-5, 6-4, Elan Elangoven (AP) bt Adveya Sharma (Bihar) 6-1, 6-0, Sanoj Kuamr (Bihar) bt Adarsh Chaudhary (UP) 6-2, 6-2.

Girls’ U-16 singles (quarterfinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bihar) bt Ayushi Singh 6-1, 6-0, Medhavi Singh (Bihar) bt Tanmaya Khushi (Bihar) 6-0, 6-0, Priyam Kumari (Bih) bt Neelam Patel (UP) 6-3, 6-1, Megha Pratap (Bihar) bt Mallika (Bihar) 6-2, 6-2

Bihar wushu team for East Zone meet announced

Patna, January 16, 2013: Bihar wushu team will take part in the 3rd East Zone Championships to be held in Dhanbad from January 19 to 20.

Team: Sub-junior boys: Priya Ranjan, Swetam, Ajit Kumar, Durga Shankar Singh and Suraj Kumar.

Sub-junior girls: Priyansh, Sadvi Kumari, Ananya Kumari and Pratibha Kumari.

Junior boys: Arshad, Subodh Kumar Das, Brajesh, Rahul Kumar, Manish Kumar and Om Prakash.

Junior girls: Shristi Kumari, Smriti Kumari, Surabhi Kumari, Geshu Kumari, Madhu Kumar and Kumari Payal.

Senior boys: Jayant Kumar, Abhishek Gupta, Brajesh Kumar, Chandan Kumar, Karan Kumar and Praveen Kumar.

Senior girls: Sapna Kumari, Soumya Anand, Nutan Kumari.

Sub-junior routine event: Shivam Kumar and Isha.

Junior routine event: Boys: Ritwik Ranjan, Gautam Kumar, Mojamil Alam and Santosh Kumar.

Girls: Supriya Kumari, Sapna Kumari and Prachi Shree.

Senior routine event girls: Kumari Nikita, Malvika and Bhanu Priya.

Coaches: Sumit Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Sahu. Managers: Rajesh Prasad Thakur and Mukesh Kumar.

Bihar State Inter-School Table Tennis Championships from February 18

Patna, January 15, 2013: Bihar State Inter-School Table Tennis Championships will be held at the Moinul Haq Stadium here from February 18 to 22.

The tournament is being organized by a NGO Track. Convenor of the event Kumar Kishore said school students from all districts of the state would take part in the tournament.

Seeded players sail smoothly into quarterfinals

Patna, January 15, 2013: No upset was witnessed on the second day of AITA Talent Series Tournament at the Patliputra Colony courts here on Tuesday as all seeded players sailed smoothly into the next round.

Results: Boys’ U-18 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bih) bt Nimesh Khandelwal (Dli) 6-1, 6-1, Dheeraj Dhanvee (AP) bt Rahul Khanna (Delhi) 6-0, 6-1, Anshumat Srivastava (Bihar) bt Amyak Singh (Bih) 6-0, 6-1, Ravi Tomar (Uttarakhand) bt Zain Zafar (Bih) 6-1, 6-2, Elan Elangoven (TN) bt Adarsh Anand (Bih) 6-0, 6-0, Mohit Dahiya (Dli) bt Shivank Sinha (Bih) 6-0, 6-1, Shree Krishna (Bih) bt Arnav Alok Goel (UP) 6-2, 6-1, Sanoj Kumar (Bih) bt Ankit Anand (Bih) 6-4, 6-3.

Girls’ U-18 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Priyam Kumari (Bih) bt Neelam Patel (UP) 6-1, 6-1, Camellia Bhadra (WB) bt Sonal Sristi (Bih) 6-2, 6-3, Aditi Shreya (Bih) bt Soumya Singh (Bih) 6-0, 6-1, Pooja Rreddy (Bih) bt Mallika (Bih) 6-2, 6-1

Boys’ U-16 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ritwik Bhriguvanshi (Bih) bt Roshan Kumar (Bih) 6-0, 6-0, Arnav Bhardwaj (Haryana) bt Shivank Sinha (Bih) 6-0,6-0, Adveya Sharma (Bih) bt Utkarsh Singh (Bih) 6-2,6-1, Elan Elangoven (AP) bt Sourabh Singh (UP) 6-0, 6-0, Anshumat Shrivastav (Bih) bt Ankit Anand (Bih) 6-0, 6-2, Ramyak Singh (Bih) bt Shadwal Sufi (Bih) 6-1, 6-1, Adarsh Chaudhary (UP) bt Vidul Talwar (Delhi) 6-1, 6-1, Sanoj Kuamr (Bih) bt Vishal Vivek Kumar (Bih) 6-0, 6-1.

Girls’ U-16 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Madhu Jaiswal (Bih) bt Pooja Reddy (Bih) 6-0, 6-0, Medhavi Singh (Bih) bt Lavanya Hashi (Bih) 6-0, 6-0, Neelam Patel (UP) bt Soumya Singh (Bih) 6-0, 6-1, Priyam Kumari (Bih) bt Aditi Shreya (Bih) 6-0, 6-1.

Delhi Waveriders lead points table of Hero Hockey India League

New Delhi, January 15, 2013: With the 2-1 victory over Jaypee Punjab Warriors on Monday at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, Delhi Waveriders are on the top of the Points Table with five points in the Hero Hockey India League. Meanwhile Jaypee Punjab Warriors is at number-2 in the points table with one point.

Delhi Waveriders will now play their second match against Mumbai Magicians on 16 January 2013 at 20:00 hrs at MDC National Stadium in New Delhi.

Delhi Waveriders coach Ajay Kumar Bansal is happy with the performance of his team in the first match and said “The team was really positive and we have a lot to take back from this game. We have some areas to improve such as defence and are sure to come back as a much better team next game. Mumbai Magicians is a strong side with a world class dragflicker Sandeep Singh”.

In the other match to be played on January 16, Jaypee Punjab Warriors will meet Ranchi Rhinos at their home ground, Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar at 18:00hrs.  

Ranchi Rhinos coach Baljeet Singh Saini is confident of a good start in the tournament. “We have a balanced side with the combination of young and some experienced players and our boys will give their best. I feel that Jaypee Punjab Warriors is experienced side having players like Jamie Dwyer, Shivendra Singh, Bharat Chetri and Ignace Tirkey, so we can’t take them lightly” he said.

Press release

31 teams confirm for Cadet and Sub-Junior nationals table tennis

        

Gandhidham, January 15, 2013: North Bengal boys and Tamil Nadu girls in the Cadet sections, West Bengal boys and Andhra Pradesh girls in the sub-junior categories will try and attempt and encore at the Cadet and Sub-Junior National and Inter-State Championships that are getting underway at the newly-constructed KDTTA Indoor Stadium at Adipur, Kutch, here from tomorrow.

Thirty one states, including Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, have confirmed their entries and a total of 510 players from all over the country will be seen in action during the next six days. The events, originally allotted to Tamil Nadu, had to be shifted here owing to the unavailability of stadium at Chennai. Now it will be jointly conducted by the Gujarat Table Tennis Association and the Kutch District Table Tennis Association.

As per the draw conducted at the TTFI office in New Delhi, teams have been given the pride of place based on their performance last year at Kochi and divided into eight groups of four and three teams.

It will be interesting to see how the Bengal boys’ teams, West and North, perform this year even as the Andhra and Tamil Nadu girls, who did exceedingly well in the previous year, can match their display. The PSPB teams will want to do something extraordinary to lay a strong base in order to look ahead and continue the domination in the senior sections.

The team championship finals are slated for January 19 with VM Pargi, IG Border Range Bhuj, as the chief guest. As for the individual finals, it will be held on January 21, at wich the chief guest will be TTFI secretary-general DR Choudhary.

Matches will be conducted on 14 Donic tables with Nittakku white balls in use besides the synthetic flooring. There will be 50 umpires from all over the country officiating in the championships. N Ganeshan from Kerala will be the Competition Manager and Anil Dubey from Rajasthan will be the chief referee

The championships will be inaugurated by AK Bhardwaj, Jt Commissioner of Income Tax, Gandhidham Range tomorrow at 11 a.m. The major co-sponsors of the championships are s GAIL and Cargo Motors Pvt Ltd.

A TTFI Press release

AITA talent series tournament begins in Patna

Patna, January 14, 2013: All India Tennis Association (AITA) talent series tournament began at the Patliputra tennis courts here on Monday.

Results:

BOYS' U-18 SINGLES (FIRST ROUND) 

NIMESH KHANDELWAL (DLI) BT. AKSHAT KUMAR (UP) 6-1,6-0

DHEERAJ DHANVEE K (AP) BT. ADVEYA SHARMA (BIH) 6-2,6-1

RAMYAK SINGH (BIH) BT. BRIJESH PATEL (UP)6-2,6-3

ANSHUMAT SHRIVASTAV (BIH) BT. ASHISH SHARMA (UP) 6-1,6-0

ZAIN ZAFAR (BIH) BT. VIDUL TALWAR (DLI) 6-0,6-0

RAVI TOMAR (UTTK) BT. SHRAYAT PRASHAR (BIH) 6-1,6-1

ADARSH ANAND (BIH) BT. ADARSH CHAUDHARY (UP) 6-4,6-3

ELAN ELANGOVAN (TN) BT. PURAB ARORA (BIH) 6-0,6-0

SHIVANK SINHA (BIH) BT. SIDDHANT RAJ (BIH)6-1,6-0

MOHIT DAHIYA (DLI) BT. ARNAV BHARDWAJ (HAR) 6-1,6-2

SANOJ KUMAR (BIH) BT. ANURAG MISHRA (UP) 6-1,6-2

ANKIT ANAND (BIH) BGT. ABHILASH NAIR (UP) 6-1,6-1

ARNAV ALOK GOEL (UP) BT. ASHER JOHN KANDTHIL (UP) 6-3,6-4

BOYS' U-16  SINGLES (FIRST ROUND) 

ARNAV BHARDWAJ (HAR) BT. ZAIN ZAAFAR (BIH) 6-2,6-2

ROSHAN KUMAR (BIH) BT. REWANT RAJ (BIH) 6-3,6-3

SHIVANK SINHA (BIH) BT. SIDDHANT RAJ (BIH) 6-3,6-3

UTKARSH SINGH (BIH) BT. PURAB ARORA (BIH) 6-1,6-0

ALEN ALENGOVAN (TN) BT. DHEERAJ DHANVEE K (AP) 6-0,6-1

ANKIT ANAND (BIH) BT. ASHER JOHN KANDTHIL (UP) 6-1,6-1

ANSHUMAT SHRIVASTAVA (BIH) BT. ANURAG MISHRA (UP) 6-2,6-1

SHADWAL SUFI (BIH) BT. SHAHBAAZ AHMED (BIH) 6-1,6-1

ADARSH CHAUDHARY (UP) BT. SAMIT KESHRI (UP) 6-3,6-3

VIDUL TALWAR (DLI) BT. YUVRAJ ABHISHEK (BIH) 6-1,6-0

VISHAL VIVEK KUMAR (BIH) BT. AAYAM CHAUDHARY (BH) 6-0,6-0

BLTA Press release

Soumyajit Ghosh is youngest men’s TT champion; Shamini regains women’s crown

Raipur, January 12, 2013: Soumyajit Ghosh became the newest and youngest men’s champion at 19, denying six-time title holder Achanta Sharath Kamal another shot at the men’s crown and K. Shamini culminated her season on a high note by dethroning Poulami Ghatak from the high pedestal in the women’s event at the National Table Tennis Championships on Saturday.

The top-seed Ghosh beat 30-yearold Sharath 4-2 and took home the Maharaja Pitampura Cup, a bagful of confidence and Rs. 2.30 lakh for his efforts, while No. 2 seed Shamini won 4-1 to receive the Travancore Cup and carry a lot of self-assurance, valuable ranking points and Rs. 1.45 lakh with her.

Both Sharath and Poulami have to do a lot of introspection for the season ahead as they have the Commonwealth championships coming at New Delhi this May. But Ghosh will relish the victory over world No. 70, particularly for the way he came back into the final. After being 1-2 down, it required a lot of guts to do it against a player of Sharath’s experience and caliber.  

The final saw a lot of rallies and counters but the Siliguri boy, who earlier beat last year’s singles champion A. Amalraj in the semifinals, continued with his impressive form. After winning the fifth game by a big margin, he was trailing 1-4 in the crucial sixth. But Sharath made several unforced errors, paving the way for Ghosh’s recovery. From there the match turned only one way.

Shamini was shaky to begin the final and was straightaway down 3-5. However, once she caught up with Poulami at 8-8, glow returned to her face as she went on to win the game 14-12 after three deuces. This really put her opponent down and despite returning and countering well Poulami was definitely pushed to the wall. Yet the Kolkatan managed to take the third game and that was the only consolation for her. Shamini had earlier won the Cup at Patna (2008) and Kolkata (2010) nationals.

Nervous Neha

Neha Aggarwal lost what would have been a golden opportunity of becoming the national champion for the first time when she squandered her semifinal chance against Poulami to go down 3-4. The Delhi girl should have won 4-2 but let Poulami level 3-3 and again in the decider wasted a three-point lead at 8-5 to let the chance slip away. Once Poulami made it 8-8 with her serve on, the PSPB girl cashed in on the prospect to go 10-8 up and on Neha’s second serve returned so well to complete the task.

Neha threw her racquet up in frustration and knocked off a few surroundings after the match. This act of hers warranted an explanation. Neha accepted her mistake and apologized for her misdemeanor to competition manager N. Ganeshan Iyer and was let off with a stern warning and deduction of 15 per cent of her prize money. Luckily, no ranking points were deducted.

Shamini managed to put it across Ankita Das in the other semifinal as he Siliguri girl was more erratic on the day. She started promisingly only to go down 1-2 before picking herself up to lead 3-2. But Shamini countered her PSPB rival well to shut out the challenge.

The Results:

Men: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh (Pet) bt A. Sharath Kamal (Pet) 4-2 (3-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7); (Semifinals): A. Sharath Kamal bt Sanil Shetty 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2), Soumyajit Ghosh bt A. Amal Raj 4-1 (12-10, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4).

Women: Final: K. Shamini (Pet) bt Poulami Ghatak (Pet) 4-1 (14-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8); (Semifinals): Poulami Ghatak bt Neha Aggarwal 4-3 (10-12, 12-10, 12-14, 11-8, 4-11, 12-10, 11-9), K. Shamini bt Ankita Das 4-3 (9-11, 12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3).

Men doubles (final): Sourav Chakraborty and G. Sathiyan (Pet) bt Aman Balgu
and Noel Pinto (Rlys) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.

Women doubles (final): K. Spoorthy and Nikhat Banu (AP) bt Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe (Pet) 14-12, 3-11, 11-7, 11-5.

Mixed doubles (final): Utkarsh Gupta and Manika Batra (Del) bt Harmeet Desai and Frenaz Chipia (Guj) 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

A TTFI Press release

Hero Hockey India League ropes in Airtel as associate sponsor

New Delhi, January 12, 2013: Hero Hockey India League is proud to announce Bharti Airtel Limited as its ‘Associate Sponsor’ for the league which begins from 14 January.

Bharti Airtel Limited, the leading integrated telecommunications company has always patronised sports in India. It is also committed to support and enhance the sporting heritage of India.

Dr. Narinder Batra, Chairman of Hero Hockey India League and Secretary General Hockey India appreciated Bharti Airtel’s association with Hero Hockey India League. “We welcome Bharti Airtel for joining Hero Hockey India League and being part of this historical event. Their association will boost Indian hockey and will take the sport to a new level”.

In the inaugural season of the Hero Hockey India League, Jaypee Punjab Warriors will face Delhi Waveriders on 14 January at Major DhyanChand National Stadium in New Delhi. 

Press release

Sharath returns to form, enters semifinals

Raipur, January 11, 2013: Achanta Sharath Kamal returned to great form as he decimated Aman Balgu 4-0 in the quarterfinals here on Friday to setup his semifinal showdown in the men’s singles against No. 2 Sanil Shetty at the National Table Tennis Championships. The left-handed Shetty overcame Gujarat’s Devesh Karia 4-2.

In the other quarterfinals, reigning champion Anthony Amal Raj defeated Harmeet Desai 4-1 to earn the second semifinal meeting against No. 1 seed Soumyajit Ghosh, who beat Jubin Kumar 4-0.

Sharath took less than 20 minutes to dispose of Railway’s Balgu despite the latter running the No. 6 seed close in the first game at 11-9. Serving well Sharath put on display a variety of strokes which brooked no answer from Balgu. Gosh too dominated against Haryana’s Jubin Kumar but the No. 8 seed, despite showing glimpses of his fighting quality, surrendered.

The quarterfinal between Amalraj too proved a mismatch with the reigning champion sounding a grim warning to his opponent in the semifinals tomorrow. No. 2 Sanil Shetty did struggle a bit before overcoming his opponent from Gujarat.

In women’s singles, top-seed Poulami Ghatak, No. 2 K. Shamini and No. 3 Ankita Das, all of PSPB, and Delhi’s Neha Aggarwal entered the semifinals. Poulami, who beat Mousmi Paul 4-3 will take on Neha, who downed Divya Deshpande 4-0. In the other semifinal, Ankita, who beat Mallika Bhandarkar 4-3, will clash with K. Shamini, who accounted for Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-2.    

Earlier, PSPB’s Soumyadeep Roy, seeded No. 3, Delhi’s unseeded Manika Batra and PSPB’s Madhurika Patkar made their exit.  Roy played an aggressive game but the unseeded Aman Balgu matched him to cash in on the chances to win 3-2.  Despite trailing 2-4, Roy seemed well on course to extend Balgu in the sixth but several unforced errors by the erratic Roy foreclosed his options as Balgu won another extended game to seal Roy’s fate.

No. 4 seed Madhurika lost to Neha Aggarwal 3-4 while another Delhi girl and No. 6 seed Manika Batra was dumped by unseeded Karnam Spoorthy from Andhra in the first round. Spoorthy won 4-1 (8-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10).

As for Manika, who lent a helping hand in Delhi’s title win on Thursday, was sent packing by Spoorthy. The girl from Andhra had been her nemesis and troubled almost all big names, including Manika, in the past. And today was no different.

The Results:

Men (QF): A Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Aman Balgu (RSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-13. 11-5. 11-5), Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Jubin Kumar (Har) 4-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6), A. Amal Raj (PSPB) bt  Harmeet Desai (Guj) 4-1 (11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6), Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia 4-2 (11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 17-15, 11-2, 11-9); PQF: Soumyajit Ghosh bt L. Satheeswaran 4-1, Jubin Kumar bt Saurav Chakravarthy 4-3, A. Amalraj bt Sourav Saha 4-0, Harmeet Desai bt T. Nitin 4-0, Aman Balgu bt Soumyadeep Roy 4-2, A. Sharath Kamal bt Jignesh Jaiswal 4-0, Devesh Karia bt G. Sathiyan 4-2, Sanil Shetty bt Sougatha Sarkar 4-1.

Women (QF): Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) bt Mousmi Paul (WB) 4-3 (11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, Neha Aggarwal (Del) bt Divya Deshpande (Mah-A) 4-0 (15-13, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3); Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Mallika Bhandarkar (Mah-B) 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-3, 11-8), K. Shamini (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 10-12, 11-1, 11-4);  PQF: Poulami Ghatak bt Takeme Sarkar 4-2, Mousmi Pal bt Mamata Prabhu 4-3, Divya Deshpande bt Reeth Rishya 4-3, Neha Aggarwal bt Madhurika Patkar 4-3, Ankita Das bt Soumi Mandal 4-1, Mallika Bhandarkar bt K. Spoorthy 4-3, Pooja Sahasrabhudhe bt Ayhika Mukherjee 4-3, K. Shamini bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 4-2.

A TTFI Press release

Delhi girls live a dream, win maiden team title

Raipur, January 10, 2013: Delhi women, riding on a great team spirit, defeated Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) 3-1 to claim their maiden team title at the 74th National Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday. And, expectedly, PSPB men defeated West Bengal 3-0 to extend their reign over the Barna-Bellack Cup for the eleventh consecutive time.

In fact, Delhi had one hand on the Jayalakshmi Cup even before entering the show court after PSPB decided not to play their No.1 paddler Poulami Ghataka at all, and preferring to open with Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Ankita Das, instead of No. 2 K. Shamini who just got a match to play.

When Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal put Delhi 2-0, it was all over bar the shouting for PSPB. Delhi knew they would lose the third rubber to Shamini but between Manika and Neha they just had to win one match. Fortunately, Ankita could not spare the blushes and surrendered meekly to Manika, allowing Delhi take a firm grip over the cup.   

This was the second time in succession that PSPB women team has floundered, having been cleaned up by Maharashtra A in the semifinals at the Lucknow nationals last year. Coach Arup Basak offered a feeble defence, saying that Pooja had a better record against Manika while Shamini was less on confidence to start the proceedings. But Delhi coach Sandeep Gupta said they had won half the battle once the line-up was out.

“We knew the title was ours right from the word go. One of our players, Manika or Neha, had to give a good start. But both played brilliantly to make our dream a reality,” he said.

Manika began on a wrong note losing the first to Pooja but upped the ante to roll over her rival in quick time by taking the next three games to put Delhi 1-0 up. Neha, too, began shakily, losing 11-13 to Ankita Das. But the Delhi girl resurrected her game by keeping a cool head when Ankita countered well.  Using the flanks well and employing good blocks, Neha equalled at 12-10. She took the third game rather easily to go up 2-1 before shutting out Ankita 11-9 in the fourth.

Expectedly, Delhi’s Riti Shankar proved no match for Shamini as the latter dumped her in straight sets to give a semblance of chance to PSPB. But the writing on the wall became loud and clear for PSPB the moment Manika took the first game 15-13 after four deuces after being down 0-4 in the fourth rubber.

No doubt, Ankita did try to retrieve the situation in the second but lost 8-11. From that point the Olympian knew she was waging a losing battle. Manika ran up a sizeable lead in the third and allowed two points—one came off Manika’s service error and the other Ankita earned by right. With frustration showing up, Mankia had to simply force Ankita to play into her hands and give her easy points.

In contrast, the men’s team final was a mismatch. The PSPB could rest Achanta Sharath Kamal and yet blank out West Bengal.  Soumyajit Ghosh got extended by Sourav Saha in the first game before settling into a nice rhythm to win in straight sets. But Anthony Amalraj did not even allow that liberty to Sougatha Sarka and disposed him of quickly for a 2-0 lead. The experienced Soumyadeep Roy did drop his third game against Souvik Kar, but the result was never in doubt.  

The Results (Team finals):

Men: PSPB bt West Bengal 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sourav Saha 12-10, 11-5, 11-8; A. Amalraj bt Sougatha Sarkar 11-5, 11-9, 11-5; Soumyadeep Roy bt Souvik Kar 11-3, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4.

Women: Delhi bt PSPB 3-1 (Manika Batra bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe 4-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-9; Neha Aggarwal bt Ankita Das 11-13, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9; Riti Shankar lost to K. Shamini 6-11, 6-11, 11-13; Manika Batra bt Ankita Das 15-13, 11-8, 11-2.

A TTFI Press release

Jaypee Punjab Warriors visit Golden Temple to seek blessings before HIL

 Jaypee Warriors Captain, Jamie Dwyer, during his visit to Golden Temple on January 10, 2013.

Jaypee Punjab Warriors visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar on January 10, 2013.

Amritsar, January 10, 2013: The Jaypee Punjab Warriors team, today, visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar to seek blessings at the Harmandir Sahib before the commencement of the Hockey India League.

The Jaypee Punjab Warriors have been in Jalandhar since the 6th of January, practicing and bonding with each other under the guidance of Team Head Coach Barry Dancer, along with former Indian captains Jagbir Singh and Mohammed Riaz. 

Talking about the team’s visit to the temple, Barry Dancer, Team Head coach said, “The team has bonded very well, and after our practice sessions, we wanted to visit the holy shrine and seek blessings of Harmandir Sahib before we embark on our mission to win the trophy. The team spent time at the temple and now we are off for the opening ceremony and our first game against New Delhi.”

Jaypee Punjab Warriors captain Jamie Dwyer too looked excited on his visit to the Golden Temple and said:  “It is a great occasion for us to visit the Golden Temple. I’ve always liked the Indian Culture and felt connected to it. We wanted to visit the Holy Shrine before our matches and seek blessings of the Guru, so that we can do well in the tournament.”

Local player and budding talent, Gaganpreet Singh, while speaking to the media about his visit to the temple said, "Before every important game, I always visit the Golden temple to seek Guru’s blessing. I always feel very calm whenever I come here and it also helps me play without pressure as I always have the blessing of the Guru. I hope through this visit, the Guru blesses me as well as the entire team to do well and do Punjab proud in the HIL.”

The Hockey India League, a first of its kind tournament for Hockey in the country, will be held from January 14 to February 10.

Press release

Soumyajit and Poulami are top seeds

Raipur, January 9, 2013: Soumyajit Ghosh has been rewarded for his excellent form this season with the top slot in men’s singles event at the ongoing National Table Tennis Championships here today. And, for the first time in many nationals, Achanta Sharath Kamal has been denied the top perch, despite being the only Indian paddler in world’s top-100 list.

Sharath, whose current world ranking is 70, was seeded No. 6 at the Institutional Championships last August, which was also the season opener. On the other hand, Soumyajit Ghosh was seeded No. 5 at the Lucknow nationals but has since grown in stature by winning most zonals.  In contrast, national champion Anthony Amal Raj, who was the No. 2 seed at Lucknow, has dropped down to No. 5 here.   

According to the seeding list released today, all the top four seeds are from the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board with both Sanil Shetty at No. 2 and Soumyadeep Roy at No. 3 are ahead of Amal Raj. Harmeet Desai (No. 4), Subhajit Saha (No. 7) and Haryana’s Jubin Kumar at No. 8 complete the top seeding.

In women’s singles, the first four slots have been taken by PSPB paddlers—national champion Poulami Ghatak, K. Shamini, Ankita Das and Madhurika Patkar in that order, followed by Divya Deshpande (Mah-A), Manika Batra (Del), Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) and veteran Mousmi Paul from West Bengal.

  

All these top players will be seen in action when the main draw events begin tomorrow. That is when the focus will shift to these individuals who will be eying on the coveted men and women’s singles trophies as well as the top prize money. The men’s winner stands to gain Rs 2.30 lakh while the women’s winner will carry home Rs.1.45 lakh from the total prize purse of Rs 9.58 lakh.

PSPB favourites

As for tomorrow’s team championship finals, the moot point would be what plans the Delhi women and West Bengal men are going to adopt to counter the PSPB teams. With such a star power in their arsenal, PSPB paddlers would naturally want to finish off the job quickly. This would also mean that there will be some opening available for Delhi and West Bengal to exploit.

Last year, Maharashtra ‘A’ women did precisely that in the semifinals and Delhi can draw inspiration to repeat what they did. But the PSPB women will approach the final here differently, always thinking to recapture the title. Poulomi Ghatak, Ankita Das, K. Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe are all beatable and if Delhi manage to pull it off through Neha Aggarwal and Manika Batra—the latter will have to up the ante—it will do a world of good to the morale of the team.

On the other hand, Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and A. Amal Raj are good enough to run through West Bengal, particularly with Sharath in great shape and form. They also have the back-ups in Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy, but PSPB will hope their top three players accomplish the task. However, the West Bengal team has great warriors in Sougatha Sarkar, Sourav Saha and Souvik Kar who can be handful. Their semifinal match against Gujarat provided a glimpse of their ability last evening.

A TTFI Press release

Delhi women shock Maharashtra A to enter team championship final

Raipur, January 8, 2013: Delhi’s women paddlers caused the biggest upset of the championships, riding their way into the history book by entering the team championship final of the National Table Tennis Championships at the Balbir Juneja Indoor Stadium here today in decades.

Delhi beat Maharashtra A, who won the title last year, 3-2 in an edge-of-the-seat semifinal. In the final to be played on Thursday, they will take on PSPB who beat Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the other semifinal.

Drawing inspiration from Delhi women, Haryana men also walked into the history book with their maiden semifinal entry. They beat Maharashtra B 3-0 in the pre-quarters and then blanked out Assam in the quarterfinals. However, their progress was halted by the rampaging Petroleum Sports promotion Board (PSPB) team, led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, who is ranked 70 in the world.

Neha turns it around

In the semifinals, Delhi’s turnaround was made possible by Neha Aggarwal, who is in the best form of her life, who took both her matches against Divya Deshpande and Mamata Prabhu, the crucial fifth rubber after Maharashtra had rallied to equal at 2-2. Neha beat Mamata 11-7, 13-11, 15-13 to seal the fate of Maharashtra.

Manika began on an excellent note against an off-colour Mamata Prabhu and Neha beat Divya to put Delhi 2-0 up. But Sanya Sehgal lost to Prajakta Tipale and Manika surrendered to Divya to give Maharashtra a semblance of a chance.

However, Neha shut out the challenge from Mamata to put Delhi through. Down 0-5, Neha made an excellent recovery in the third game to level the score at 6-6 and went 10-9 up. But on her serve, Neha returned wide but Mamata blew up her chance. Manika Batra did contribute her might against West Bengal when she won both her matches to beat the team 3-2. Later, Neha, who lost her first match, accounted for the experienced Mousmi Paul in a thrilling four-setter in the decider.

Irrespective of the result in the final—PSPB is expected to wrest the title—Delhi can take heart from the fact that they have already ensured a silver medal for the team.  As for the formidable PSPB, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and K. Shamini made it a one-sided affair against Tamil Nadu.

Superb Haryana

It must be said to the credit of Haryana, led by Jubin Kumar, played superbly against Maharashtra B to earn their quarterfinal berth against Assam. And the quarterfinal proved to be a mismatch with Jubin taking the first match 3-0 against Saidul Alam Ahmed. Mohit Verma and Rajeev Ghai conceded two games each to their opponents, Anil Kashyap and Pankaj P. Chutia, but in the end prevailed over the northeast team to enter the semis for the first time. But the marauding PSPB routed Haryana 3-0 to end their winning streak.

Earlier, RSPB men had their chances in the quarterfinals against Gujarat but a brilliant display by Harmeet Desai, who took both his matches, paved the way for the latter to win 3-2. West Bengal, who beat Gujarat 3-1 in the other semifinal, will join PSPB in the final. As expected, RSPB women lost to PSPB without a fight in the quarterfinals to end their campaign on a disappointing note.

The Results:

Men: (PQF): PSPB bt Orissa 3-0, North Bengal bt Karnataka 3-0, Haryana bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Assam bt Maharashtra A 3-1, Gujarat bt Goa 3-0, RSPB bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, West Bengal bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Punjab 3-0; QF: PSPB bt North Bengal 3-0, Haryana bt Assam 3-0, Gujarat bt RSPB 3-2, West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-2; Semi-finals: PSPB bt Haryana 3-0, West Bengal bt Gujarat 3-1.

Women (PQF): Maharashtra A bt Haryana 3-0, Gujarat bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Delhi bt Assam 3-0, West Bengal bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, PSPB bt Maharashtra B 3-0, RSPB bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1, North Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0; QF: Maharashtra A bt Gujarat 3-1, Delhi bt West Bengal 3-2, PSPB bt RSPB 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt North Bengal 3-1; Semi-finals: PSPB bt Tamil Nadu 3-0, Delhi bt Maharashtra A 3-2.

A TTFI Press release

Cake-walk for Maharashtra ‘A’ women in National table tennis

Raipur, January 7, 2013:  Maharashtra ‘A’ women, last year’s champions, should walk into the final of the team championships, if one goes by the pre-quarterfinals draw decided at the of the National Table Tennis Championships after Stage 1 matches at the Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium here today. They beat both Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan in Group A with an identical 3-0 margin to take the top perch. 

Placed in the top-half, Maharashtra could well run into Delhi in the semifinals as the latter accounted for Maharashtra B, Punjab and Goa in a four-team Group G and they take on Assam in the pre-quarterfinals that begin tomorrow. In almost all second round matches, the results were along expected lines with the favourites making it a one-sided affair.

There could be another interesting match-up in offing in Stage 2 when Tamil Nadu women, in the bottom half of the draw, take on Andhra Pradesh in the last 16-stage. With three experienced girls in their ranks—A.V. Nivedita, N. Vidhya and Sumana R. Krishnan—Tamil Nadu have the ability to reach the semifinals where they could expect to meet North Bengal paddlers.  But before that they have to contend with Andhra Pradesh, who have Nikhat Banu and Karnam Spoorthy, in the pre-quarterfinals.

As for others, the fancied teams should pass the next round test without much sweat. But the real problem could be for the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB). Unless the RSPB put their best foot forward, they could be out in the quarterfinals as they are likely to meet the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) women in the quarters. In any case, one of the two institutional teams would make way for a state team which, in turn, increase the latter’s chance of finishing among medals. 

As for Delhi, who are in top half, this championships present with a great opportunity to reach the final. With Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal in their forefront and in good form, Delhi should at least reach the semi-finals where they will run into Maharashtra A, who have the likes of Divya Deshpande and Mamata Prabhu. If the former continue with the form they have shown so far, Delhi could topple Maharashtra A.

The teams that qualified for the pre-quarters also include Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, hosts Chattisgarh and Chandigarh.

In the men’s section, PSPB, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra ‘A’, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra ‘B’, RSPB, Orissa, North Bengal and Goa are the team set for a place in the second stage. The league phase will be completed only tomorrow and that will throw up the remaining five teams.

The Results (League):

Women:  Group A: Maharashtra A bt Rajasthan 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Andhra 3-0, Andhra bt Rajasthan 3-0; Group B: North Bengal bt Haryana 3-0, North Bengal bt Jharkhand 3-0, Haryana bt Jharkand 3-0;  Group C: PSPB bt Tripura 3-0, PSPB bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Himachal Pradesh bt Tripura 3-1; Group D: West Bengal bt Mizoram 3-0, Chattisgarh bt Uttarakhand 3-1, West Bengal bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Chattisgarh bt Mizoran 3-0, West Bengal bt Chattisgarh 3-0, Uttarakhand bt Mizoram 3-0;  Group E: Tamil Nadu bt Manipur 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Manipur 3-1, Tamil Nadu bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Group F: Gujarat bt Pondicherry 3-0, Chandigarh bt Pondicherry 3-1, Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-0; Group G: Maharashtra B bt Goa 3-0, Delhi bt Punjab 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Punjab 3-0, Delhi bt Goa 3-0, Delhi bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Punjab bt Goa 3-2; Group H: RSPB bt Bihar 3-0, Assam bt Meghalaya 3-0, RSPB bt Meghalaya 3-0, Assam bt Bihar 3-0, RSPB bt Assam 3-0, Bihar bt Meghalaya 3-1.

Top paddlers for Chattisgarh nationals

Raipur, January 6, 2013:  The record number of entries from teams for the Senior National Table Tennis Championships, starting here at the Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium from Monday, is an indication of the growing popularity as well as the importance of the event.

The nationals provide the best opportunity to teams on the fringe as well as those individual paddlers who look for permanent nests, to make a mark for themselves. With a restriction placed on entries per team, this is the best opening for some of the regulars to get a look in. The teams have been divided into eight groups with PSPB men and Maharashtra A women getting the pride of place.

Being the first nationals for all disciplines beginning in the New Year, the championships offer the right buzz—34 men’s teams and 30 women’s squads have confirmed entries—which other sports can emulate. Similarly, there are lessons for lesser teams in fray here to learn.

Tearing a page from Team Maharashtra’s book, they can pose questions on the monopoly of the Petroleum teams. Last year, Maharashtra ‘A’ not only ended the PSPB domination in the women’s semifinals, but went on to the claim the team championships in a most organized way. No doubt, the PSPB team—it has national champion Poulomi Ghatak, K. Shamini, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe—will come back with a vengeance to wrest the team title here, but they will be wary of Maharashtra and others.  

However, it will be difficult for Maharashtra to repeat the Lucknow performance because Divya Dshpande and Mamata Prabhu will have to share much of the team’s burden with some of their former state mates turning out for other teams. It will also depend on how Prajakta Tipale performs for Maharashtra.  Indeed, Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), who finished runners-up at the Kolkata Inter-Institutional championships last June, will be out to exact revenge from PSPB. The Railways have the resources to upset the best in business.

PSPB’s men, on the other hand, have no such fears. They have been a force to reckon with for several years in a row and there will be no change in the script this time. With the Who’s Who of country’s top paddlers—Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, A. Amal Raj, Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy— in their ranks, the rest are reduced to mere pretenders.

With all top-ranked players making their appearances for their teams, the meet is the best occasion for them to assess their strengths and weaknesses not only against one another but also collectively as a team.  Of course, in the men’s section there will be teams like Gujarat (Harmeet Desai, Devesh Karia and Jignesh Jaiswal), Haryana (Jubin Kumar and Mohit Verma) and Tamil Nadu (Nithin Thiruvengadam) who can be the party spoilers. Similarly, the Delhi’s women team, spearheaded by Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal, can pose serious challenges to many a team.

When the focus shifts to individual events from Wednesday, the rivalry among players will be even more intense as prize money will come into play. The men’s singles champion will receive Rs. 2,30,000 while the winner in women’s category will carry home Rs. 1,45,000 from a total prize purse of Rs. 9,58,800, with the losing pre-quarterfinalists too getting their share.  Players like Subhajit Saha, G. Sathiyan and Sourav Chakraborty, who are not part of any team, will walk that extra mile to make most of the championships. For them the sky will be limit.

Incidentally, Chattisgarh Table Tennis Association is hosting the senior nationals for the first time and the enthusiasm of the organisers is palpable to make the championships a grand success. The technical team, comprising 60 officials, is headed chief referee Anil Dubey who will be assisted by Satheese Attoor. 

Press release

PSPB men and Maharashtra ‘A’ women get top billing

New Delhi, January 5, 2013: All top-ranked paddlers of the country, including Achanta Sharath Kamal, will be seen in action at the 74th Senior National and Inter State Tale Tennis Championships that get underway at Raipur from January 7.

As per the draw released here today, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the men’s section and Maharashtra A in the women’s category, have been given the top billing for the team championships that marks the beginning of the six-day event, which is followed by the individual match-ups.

Teams have been divided into eight groups with each comprising four or three teams after the draw was made. The teams that have been placed atop of their groups have been the ones that need to be watched as they all got their after putting up a great performance at the Lucknow nationals.

No doubt, the petroleum teams have been ruling the roost for a number of years, thanks to their steady supply line of top players even as other teams have struggled to erode their monopoly. Indeed, the Maharashtra women did their star acts last year at Lucknow to make a dent into PSPB’s pride. This is what the rest of the teams in fray here—34 men’s teams and 32 women’s squads who have confirmed entries—will try to do.

But it is easier said than done because for PSPB winning is a habit of sorts. By recruiting the best of talents in the country in their ranks, only the second or third best set of players are available for other teams to lap up. There is a problem there but the individual brilliance of certain players from other teams cannot be ignored.

Among men, they have the likes of Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh, A. Amal Raj, Sanil Shetty and Soumyadeep Roy and among women the team will be comfortably placed with national champion Poulomi Ghatak leading the charge with K. Shamini, Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe.

After the team championships, the interest will be to see if Sharath Kamal redeems himself to wrest the men’s singles title from Anthony Amal Raj, who jumped on to the table to celebrate his victory at the Lucknow nationals.  Amal Raj may want to retain his title but there will be a host of other players, particularly Soumyajit Ghosh, breathing down his neck.

Poulomi Ghatak will certain have to up the ante here if she want to retain the title as more and more youngsters will like to unseat her. Above all, there is a substantial prize purse on offer and every individual will try to make a most of the occasion.

Press release

Hero Hockey India League announces technical officials

New Delhi, January 4, 2013: Hero Hockey India League today announced the panel of technical officials for its inaugural season, which will be held from 14 January to 10 February 2013.

Well-experienced Barry Anderson from England will be the Tournament Director for the five team franchisee based event. The 61-year-old Englishman has vast experience in his respective field has attended three FIH Champions Trophy, three FIH Champions Challenge and FIH World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.

Anderson will be supported by five assistant tournament directors – Claudius De Sale, Muneer Mohammad, Shakeel Qureshi (all from India), Ian McKay (Scotland) and Howard Pollard (England).

Hockey India Secretary General and Hero Hockey India League Chairman Dr Narinder Batra said the appointment of well experienced technical officials from different countries is a major step towards ensuring that the league is technically well conducted.

“We have already appointed Steve Catton as Competitions Director for the league who was also competitions director for the European Hockey League” he said.

Five technical officers - Rakesh Bhatia, Feeroz Khan, Rajendra Shelar, Ashutosh Verma and Faiyaz Qureshi (all from India) - will conduct the matches at five cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Jalandhar, Lucknow and Ranchi.

Sonia Bathla, Davinder Bhatia, Kalvin d’Cruz, Nidhi Gupta, Khalid Hussain, Michael Lal, Milind Narwekar, Harinder Sangha, Anjali Sharma and Avinash Srivastava (all from India) are the part of 10-member judges panel of the Hero Hockey India League 2013.

On the field, Michael Eilmer (Aut), Murray Grime (Aus), Marcello Servetto (Esp), Gary Simmonds (RSA), Anil Kumar, Raghu Prasad, Gurinder Sangha, Javed Shaikh, Ripudaman Sharma, Suresh Thakur Kumar, Pankaj Tyagi and Harsha Vardhan (all from India) are the 12 umpires who will officiate 34 matches and keep their eyes on all players during the action-packed League.

Lt Col Bibhu Nayak doctor for Senior Men National team has appointed as the medical officer for the month-long tournament.

Press release

Gautam Gambhir is back in twitter world

New Delhi, January 2, 2013: India cricketer, Gautam Gambhir is back in the twitter world. In the new year, Gambhir’s fans can follow him on his new twitter handle @5gautamgambhir.

Amongst his few initial tweets, Gambhir expressed his anguish over Delhi rape and the resultant death of the victim. Gambhir tweeted that new rape legislation should be named after the victim who passed away in Singapore on Saturday. He also said in one of his tweets that he wasn’t surprised that the US & UK authorities are reviewing their travel advisories to New Delhi.

He later on urged his fans to keep their faith intact in Team India, “Guys, have faith in us, the Indian team. Hopefully, it is a new year, a new start and we will turn it around…Godwilling,” was his tweet. Gambhir’s earlier twitter account @gambhirgauti which had over 4 lakh followers is now non-functional.

Press release

Hockey India League signs multi-year title sponsorship deal with Hero MotoCorp

New Delhi, January 1, 2013: Hockey India League (HIL) signed a multi-year deal with Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, for the ‘title sponsorship’ of the much-awaited League.

Hero MotoCorp has always reposed its faith in Indian hockey by promoting the game in the country through sponsorship of marquee tournaments and other initiatives.

With this sponsorship, the tournament will be called as “Hero Hockey India League”.  

Announcing this here today, Narinder Batra, Secretary General of Hockey India and Chairman Hockey India League, said: “We are delighted to have Hero MotoCorp as the Title Sponsor of the Hockey India League. Hero Group and particularly its MD & CEO Pawan Munjal, have always been great well-wishers of Indian Hockey and they have supported many initiatives of Hockey India in the past few years. Hockey India League thanks Hero MotoCorp for coming on board to become our partner for a long & joyful journey.”

Pawan Munjal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. Said: “Hockey holds a special place in our hearts and we are pleased to partner with Hockey India League. I am sure that the initiative taken by Hockey India to start this league will go a long way in developing the game and bring back its old glory”.

Hero MotoCorp was the title sponsor of the 2012 Olympics Qualifier Tournament – ‘Hero FIH Road to London 2012’, which was won by the Indian men’s team, thereby securing a berth in the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2010, Hero was also the title sponsor of the men’s, FIH World Cup held in New Delhi.

The inaugural Hero Hockey India League will be held from January 14 to February 10, 2013 involving 120 leading players, showing their finest skills in 34 matches. Five teams – Delhi Waveriders, Jaypee Punjab Warriors, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Mumbai Magicians and Ranchi Rhinos will compete in the inaugural season at five venues - Delhi, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Mumbai and Ranchi respectively. 

Press release