Ashwin Hebbar has given people of Nellore a reason to rejoice
His 250 against Haryana and 175 against Jharkhand in the Cooch Behar fixtures made the selectors come to an agreement to blood him in first class circuit. Nineteen-year-old Ashwin Hebbar found a place in Mohammad Kaif-led Andhra Ranji team for the season thus bolstering the team’s middle-order.
Nellore turned jubilant when after a long gap, a player from the district was picked for the Ranji team. “The last man to earn the cap was all rounder Fayaq Ahmed,” recollects Andhra Cricket Association statistician G. Phani. Ashwin is a product of ACA’s academy concept which took shape in 2010. The sprucing up of three academies at Mangalagiri, Kapada and Vizianagaram for three age groups has done a world of good to junior cricket.
“Players like Ashwin Hebbar, Naren Reddy, Ricky Bhui, MUB Sriram and Karan Shinde are the products of these academies,” says a proud Prasad. For an introvert, who is an avid reader, this season will be an important one for he will aim to cement his place if opportunities are given by the management to perform.
“He has been performing consistently in the junior grade and it is imperative to promote him to keep his morale high. He is also a good fielder in the point-cover region and he is good team man who bowls at gentle medium pace,” says Srinivas Reddy, an ACA coach.
Many administrators and coaches rate Ashwin high when it came to patience. “He has loads of it and he loves to play a waiting game. He has all the strokes but he plays according to situation,” says Prasad. Ashwin had a dream run in the junior grade by slamming more than 500 runs in many seasons and he led Andhra team to win the South Zone under-16 honours.
Many feel that lack of flamboyance like Karan Shinde and Ricky Bhui was the main reason for Ashwin efforts going unnoticed. “He is a quiet bloke. He minds his business and he is not the noisy type to draw the attention,” says a coach.
A darling of coaches, Ashwin always places his team before self. “He is a quintessential middle order batsman but when team demanded, he opened the innings for team and scored big runs. But when it came to national selections he could not match the performance of the regular openers of the rival teams,” says Prasad.
Andhra begins its Ranji voyage from December 7 at Vizag against Hyderabad and will wind up in early February (2015) after playing seven matches and Ashwin certainly has his work cut out for him.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by J.R. Sridharan / November 21st, 2014
Women boxers in action at the finals of AP State Women Sports Meet at B.R. Stadium in Guntur on Friday. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar / The Hindu
Women boxers from Guntur district put up a spirited fight. A special boxing ring was put up in front of indoor stadium with the support of District Boxing Association.
Women boxers from the district put up a spirited fight to finish a close second behind Visakhapatnam at the end of finals of Andhra Pradesh State Women Sports Meet that concluded here at Brahmananda Reddy Stadium on Friday.
The women boxers put up a commendable fight to put a tally of 39 points finishing closely behind Visakhapatnam (45 points).
T. Prameela who won a silver medal in 45-48 kg category was declared as best loser while B. Likhita from Srikakulum was declared as best winner. Ch. Naga Jyothi from Guntur was declared as upcoming boxer.
P. Farzana from Guntur won gold medal in the 81 kg category beating K. Saniya from Chittoor.
Boxers from Visakhapatnam packed a punch as they bagged a rich haul of medals. G. Jyothi (45-48 kg), V. Gnaneswari (52-54 kg), A. Hema (54-57 kg), G. Shaara (60-64 kg), G. Gaya Rupini (64-69 kg), S. Marthamma (69-75 kg) and D. Vara Lakshmi (75-81 kg) bagged gold medals.
District Sports Development Officer G. Venkateswara Rao inaugurated the competitions. A special boxing ring was put up in front of indoor stadium with the support of District Boxing Association.
Secretary Kosana Venugopala Rao, vice president Kosana Subba Rao, senior boxers Chiranjeevi, Manohar, Parsa Venkateswara Rao and boxing coach R. Viswanath were present. Senior referees Sai Prasad, Narsing Rao, Ramesh and Rajeswara Rao were also present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by P. Samuel Jonathan / Guntur – November 22nd, 2014
Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas handing over a trophy to Krishna shuttlers in the closing ceremony of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan sports meet for women at DRRMC indoor stadium at Vijayawada on Friday. Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra is also seen. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar / The Hindu
Sportspersons win four gold medals in meet
Krishna District athletes’ reigned supreme winning four gold medals in archery, gymnastics, badminton and table tennis in the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan women’s sports and games meet that concluded on Friday. East Godavari and Vizag took weightlifting and tennis honours while Chittoor and Kurnool took the first place in judo and swimming respectively.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Minister for Excise Kollu Ravindra said that these meets will help sports administrators tap the raw talent from rural areas.
“Sports, when compared other countries, is lagging behind in India and the need of the hour of effective policies both by the Central and the State governments. Sports took back seat during the Congress rule for 10 years and the new State after bifurcation will witness surge in sports activities under the stewardship of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu,” he promised.
MP Kesineni Srinivas said under the Local Area Development Scheme he had sanctioned Rs. 3 lakhs to 100-odd municipal schools in city towards purchase of sports equipment.
“The new capital city will witness best of sports infrastructure and playfields. Andhra Cricket Association has already taken the cue and is constructing a stadium at Mangalagiri,” he pointed out. He said though the 13 districts did not have quality infrastructure, the athletes excelled in their respective events by winning several medals.
Zilla Parishad Chairperson Gadde Anuradha said players like Koneru Humpy and Karnam Malleswari inspired many youngsters to pursue sports and games and asked women to shun the ‘soft’ image and train hard to make a mark in sports.
Krishna District Olympic Association secretary K.P. Rao emphasised the importance of making sports as a compulsory subject in the school curriculum.
City Mayor Koneru Sridhar, Joint Collector J. Murali, sports administrators K.Ch. Punnaiah Chowdary, Ch. Satyanarayana, K. Pattabhi Ram and District Sports Development Officer P. Ramakrishna took part.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – November 22nd, 2014
A.P State Junior Inter District Athletics meet winner Agaramsetty Yeshwant Kumar. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar / The Hindu
Agaramsetty Yeshwant Kumar has bagged the individual championship title at the A.P State Junior Inter District Athletics meet held in Vijayawada recently. Yeshwant bagged the title in under-18 group.
Athletics Association of Guntur district secretary G. Seshaiah congratulated Yeshwant and his coach Rama Sundari and gave away Rs.1,000 and a memento. G, Usha Rani and Siva Prasad, executive council members of the association were present.
A promising athlete, Yeshwant had earlier bagged gold medal at Pentathlon event at the 23rd Nationals held at Hyderabad in 2011 and bronze in high-jump event. His impressive tally of 10 gold and an equal number of silver and bronze medals tells some thing about his abilities.
The boy being coached by veteran athlete, Rama Sundari, is blossoming into a fine prospect. “I have identified him as a good prospect five years ago and since then he has not disappointed us. He is a fine talent and would scale greater heights, if given proper support,” said Rama Sundari.
Yeshwant Kumar’s mother sells flowers to make a living and is finding it hard to make both ends meet.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Staff Reporter / Guntur – November 20th, 2014
Kidambi Srikanth defeated five-time world champion Lin Dan to win the China Open in Fuzhou. Earlier, Saina Nehwal (below) beat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the women’s final. (Source: AP)
At his best, Lin Dan is the greatest badminton player of all time and deemed invincible by all contemporaries. But even at his worst — when injury makes him wobble — the five-time World Champion is considered shuttling divinity’s Lazarus, the man who can rise from the dead any moment of the match.
Only two men have snatched matches from the twice Olympic champion since the 2012 London Games — Jan O Jorgensen and Sony Dwi Kuncoro. And China has not seen him lose at home in a decade. So when Lin Dan, recovering from an ankle injury, turned up at Fuzhou this week, it could only mean one thing: Kidambi Srikanth of India stood no chance even if he suddenly found himself in the finals of the Premier Super Series at China.
Except, Srikanth upturned all logic and calculation by beating Super Dan 21-19, 21-17 at the spaceship-like futuristic stadium in eastern China. In achieving that, he even pushed to the back pages Saina Nehwal’s heart-warming return as champion after she beat Japanese Akane Yamaguchi 21-12, 22-20 for her eighth Super Series title.
Srikanth, a brooding 21-year-old from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, who grew up watching his father manage many acres of farms that grew paddy, had climbed the rankings ladder of men’s singles painstakingly to World No.16 and done nothing more spectacular than winning India’s first Grand Prix title in men’s singles at Thailand two years ago.
In fact, he reluctantly started playing singles a few years ago, and needed to be told by coach Pullela Gopichand that making the national doubles semis in U-19 did not constitute ‘ambition’.
On Sunday, the laidback shuttler confidently stuck to no fixed plan whatsoever (“It’s the only way to beat Lin Dan,” coach Gopichand said), improvised on his unorthodox strokes, and scored a tactically brilliant and historic title triumph for himself and India.
Considered India’s most talented player for some time now – talented, not always consistent – Srikanth had told his coach in his characteristically crisp fashion that he would only wish Gopichand on his birthday Sunday, if he could beat Lin Dan. And the Hyderabad coach, though happy at how his ward had been playing, wasn’t expecting to be wished.
Till the very last point, and given the number of times the world had seen Lin Dan defy defeat eventually, Gopichand waited nervously for the Chinese champ’s revival. “I jumped when Srikanth got the last one through. There’s disbelief because you never expect Lin Dan to lose, he always makes a comeback,” the coach said.
Srikanth had given the coach many reasons to be optimistic over the 45 minutes. He was commanding in the way he started with assurance (“not tentative at all taking the lead in the opening set for someone playing his first Super Series final of his career”); he was making Lin Dan run, catching him off-guard at the net; and he was playing his shots unhindered till the end.
“But you know how Lin Dan can turn it around. He might be coming off an injury but you never write him off,” the coach persisted an hour after he’d secured his biggest win as mentor. “Biggest, I don’t know, I’m just very, very happy,” he said.
Only one Indian has beaten Lin Dan – and that was when the Chinese was a rookie. “I’d beaten him 15-4 or 15-3 in the decider when he was very young. But over the years, he’s turned into quite a monster. He’s better, faster and more versatile than anyone else,” Gopichand said.
His assessment of what Srikanth achieved was unabashedly complimenting. “Srikanth dominated him early, but Dan was reading his game. That Srikanth changed his tactics and used the right ones at the right time, and kept calm makes it a brilliant win,” the coach added. Srikanth’s poise, his 6 feet frame, and tactical nous mirrors Gopi’s, who was the last Indian to win a comparable title – the 2001 All England.
It was an intuitive call based on the same mental maturity he saw in the boy that made him convince Srikanth that he would be better off at singles. “Good thing about him is he doesn’t think too much, he’ll do what he’s told. And if he’s told nothing, he won’t do anything which can be a problem,” the coach half-joked.
Moving to the Hyderabad academy was a choice Srikanth made, following elder brother Nandakumar – a far more energetic, outgoing and driven youngster. While Nandu had the spectacular jump smash and all the ambition, Srikanth dawdled about till the coach saw his malleable mind and wrists, and wide range of strokes and decided to put an end to doubles, the closest the reticent boy chose to being a wallflower while playing badminton.
“He only speaks to Gopi about his game. The maximum I’ve heard him speak about sport is about Roger Federer in tennis. Otherwise, he trains, sleeps, watches movies alone, and never discusses the game with me. I was told by our parents that I had to look after my kid brother at the academy, and I don’t clutter his mind about the game either. When I spoke to him last night, I knew he didn’t need to be told what to do against Lin Dan,” brother Nandakumar said.
“He liked looking at big stadiums, but as a kid he was very quiet and would follow his mother around everywhere. Studies happened alongside, but it’s not like badminton was life-and-death for him. He’s turned into a good player now, no?” father Krishna said. A spectacular understatement if there ever was any, about one of the greatest wins in Indian badminton.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Sports> Badminton / by Shivani Naik, Mumbai / Monday – November 17th, 2014
Boys and girls from Guntur who, won medals in School Games Championship held at Visakhapatnam recently, pose with medals. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar / The Hindu
Young boxers from the district have won laurels at the State-level boxing championship conducted by the School Games Federation of India in Visakhapatnam. Trained by national level boxing champion and coach R. Viswanath, K. Karthik (91 kg) and A.K. Divya (69) won gold medals in boys and girls (under-19 category) sections while Sk. Yasin (81 kg), and B. Srilatha (48) have won silver medals. The girls have also secured runners up championship.
Complimenting the young boxers at a felicitation function held at LVR & Sons Club here on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Excise Kullayappa said that young boxers achieved so much in spite of having poor facilities and added they needed encouragement to excel in the sport and promised all help.
Secretary of LVR & Sons Club Movva Chandramouli said that the club has been extending all help to budding sports persons. The budding boxers have been allowed to use the facilities in the gymnasium where they fine tuned their abilities under boxing coach R. Viswanath.
Guntur District Boxing Association secretary Venugopal, Assistant Commissioner of Excise Adiseshu, vice- president Kosana Venkateswara Rao and School Games Federation secretary Murali were present.
Seeking the assistance of various members in providing a boxing ring, Mr. Venugopal said that the Guntur Municipal Corporation had already allotted site opposite tennis court complex at NTR Municipal Stadium and sought the approval by the commissioner. Cotton Association president Pavuluri Krishna Kumari promised that he would speak to the Sports Minister and get the required boxing ring.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / Staff Reporter / Guntur – November 06th, 2014
Students of Kendriya Vidyalaya ,Waltair, have done the school proud by bagging medals in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan National Sports meet and also being selected for the Japan cultural exchange programme.
B Tejasri, student of Class XII, has won three individual gold medals in athletics and eight girls formed the volleyball team that won the championships. Four boys were part of the runners’ up team at the Boys Volleyball National Championships. One girl won a silver in athletics, one boy bagged a bronze in athletics and another the bronze in boxing, school principal PK Purohit announced here on Saturday.
Doing the school proud were three students who were selected to be a part of 126-member KVS cultural exchange team visiting Japan under the Japan East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youth Programme (JENESYS 2.0).
The three – M Monica Bhavani, K. Tejaswini and M. Manikanta Sai – would be leaving for Delhi on Monday and from there they would be leaving for Japan on a 9-day all-expenses paid tour of Japan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – November 01st, 2014
Sachin would be spending about Rs.4.5 crore from his Rajya Sabha member grant for taking up various developmental programmes in PR Kandrika. (Getty Images)
Nellore :
Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar is visiting a remote village, Puttamraju Kandrika in Nellore district on November, 16.
Sachin adopted the village for over-all development as part of his Saansad Adarsha Grama Yojana (SAGY), the programme proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sachin would be spending about Rs.4.5 crore from his Rajya Sabha member grant for taking up various developmental programmes in PR Kandrika.
Giving the details of Sachin’s tour, joint collector Gorle Rekha Rani, who was instrumental in prevailing upon Sachin to adopt the remote village on AP coast, said that Sachin would be reaching Chennai from Mumbai in a charted flight on the evening of November, 15.
He would then fly down at Krishnapatnam port in a chopper. Sachin would stay overnight in the guest of port and proceed to PR Kandrika village on the next day. He would inspect various works launched in the village and return to Chennai by afternoon.
Joint Collector said that all roads in the village would be converted into CC roads and an underground drainage would be taken up. In addition to providing protected drinking water to all residents in the village, they would see that each household have an individual toilet as part of the programme.
Rekharani, who got an opportunity to be the co-traveler of Sachin in a flight during a visit from US, made a request to adopt a village in her district to which the master cricketer had instantly agreed.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports / October 31st, 2014
Archers paying tribute to international archer and coach Ch. Lenin on his fourth death anniversary in Vijayawada on Friday. / Photo Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
The fourth death anniversary of international coach and archer Cherukuri Lenin was observed in a sombre manner amidst emotional speeches and memorable reminiscences at VMC-Volga Archery Field in Gunadala here on Friday.
Cutting across party lines, politicians and sports lovers paid homage to Lenin, who made the city proud by winning several medals and honours, both at the national and international competitions.
Four years ago, the 24-year-old Lenin died in a road mishap near Ibrahimpatnam while returning from Hyderabad after attending the felicitation arranged to honour 2010 CWG medallists by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.
“It was unfortunate that Lenin died in a mishap when the world was at his feet. He was blossoming as a successful Indian coach after the silver medal effort in the men’s compound event at CWG. His father Satyanarayana, with grit is taking the dream of his son forward by turning Vijayawada into a hub for archery,” said MLA Gadde Rammohan.
City Central MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said Mr. Satyanarayana showed exemplary courage by taking the twin shocks — death of son Lenin and daughter Volga — into his stride by moving forward confidently helping city archers win a medal at the Incheon Asian Games last month.
City Mayor Koneru Sridhar said the corporation will offer all necessary help for the effective functioning of the academy at Gunadala.
Asian Games bronze medallist Purvasha Sudhir Shinde’s parents’ donated Rs. One Lakh to the CM relief fund but later as per the advice of the legislators they donated the sum to the academy.
District Sports Development officer P. Ramakrishna, Krishna District Olympic Association secretary K.P. Rao, Congress leaders Devineni Avinesh, corporators Chennupati Gandhi, Devineni Aparna, D. Malleswari, Krishna District Archery Association chairman Parthasarathy, CPI city secretary Donepudi Sankar, CPI women’s wing leader Vanaja and others took part.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – October 25th, 2014
Archers paying tribute to international archer and coach Ch. Lenin on his fourth death anniversary in Vijayawada on Friday. / Photo: Ch.Vijaya Bhaskar
The fourth death anniversary of international coach and archer Cherukuri Lenin was observed in a sombre manner amidst emotional speeches and memorable reminiscences at VMC-Volga Archery Field in Gunadala here on Friday.
Cutting across party lines, politicians and sports lovers paid homage to Lenin, who made the city proud by winning several medals and honours, both at the national and international competitions.
Four years ago, the 24-year-old Lenin died in a road mishap near Ibrahimpatnam while returning from Hyderabad after attending the felicitation arranged to honour 2010 CWG medallists by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.
“It was unfortunate that Lenin died in a mishap when the world was at his feet. He was blossoming as a successful Indian coach after the silver medal effort in the men’s compound event at CWG. His father Satyanarayana, with grit is taking the dream of his son forward by turning Vijayawada into a hub for archery,” said MLA Gadde Rammohan.
City Central MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao said Mr. Satyanarayana showed exemplary courage by taking the twin shocks — death of son Lenin and daughter Volga — into his stride by moving forward confidently helping city archers win a medal at the Incheon Asian Games last month.
City Mayor Koneru Sridhar said the corporation will offer all necessary help for the effective functioning of the academy at Gunadala.
Asian Games bronze medallist Purvasha Sudhir Shinde’s parents’ donated Rs. One Lakh to the CM relief fund but later as per the advice of the legislators they donated the sum to the academy.
District Sports Development officer P. Ramakrishna, Krishna District Olympic Association secretary K.P. Rao, Congress leaders Devineni Avinesh, corporators Chennupati Gandhi, Devineni Aparna, D. Malleswari, Krishna District Archery Association chairman Parthasarathy, CPI city secretary Donepudi Sankar, CPI women’s wing leader Vanaja and others took part.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – October 25th, 2014
