The 14-year-old clinched her maiden international gold, playing a key role in the Indian team’s win over Sri Lanka in the final of the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship in New Delhi

She was the only representative from the State in the Indian team for the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship in New Delhi. And, on Sunday, 14-year-old paddler Sreeja made it a memorable trip clinching her maiden international gold as she played a key role in India winning the team event defeating Sri Lanka in the final.

This victory also meant that India qualified for the Asian Junior Championship to be held in Doha later this year.

A product of Global Table Tennis Academy in Anandnagar Colony here, this class X student of Rosary Convent did her coach Somnath Gosh and the officials proud.

“I am delighted at this performance. Honestly, when I entered the meet, I just told myself to give my best. And, the end result is a dream come true. I dedicate this win to my coaches, parents and well-wishers,” an elated Sreeja told The Hindu from New Delhi.

The India No. 3 in the sub-junior girls category had been training really hard under the tutelage of Somnath and today’s performance in the team event (the other members being Sagorika Mukherjee (Bengal) and Harshavardhini (Tamil Nadu) – could well be the beginning of a new chapter for this gifted youngster.

Somnath said India was the clear favourite to win the title and the gold for Sreeja was important in the context of boosting her morale. “She will be a different player now,” he remarked.

“We are hoping that Sreeja’s achievement will lift the morale of the other trainees too,” feels GTTA president Ramdoss Bharatan.

And, the joy of her parents — Praveen and Sudha — was understandable.

“We were waiting for this big moment and hope that she will keep winning many more medals at the highest level,” they said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V. V. Subrahmanyam / July 22nd, 2013

Much to the delight of the Vijaywada chess fraternity, 11-year-old Potluri Supreetha won the silver medal at the Asian Youth Under-13 Rapid Chess championship on Thursday night.

It was a moment to cherish for the city’s chess fraternity as young Potluri Supreetha won her second Asian title at Mashhad (Iran) on Thursday night. She pocketed a silver medal in Asian Youth under-13 rapid chess championship by hauling 5.5 points.

Supreetha (Elo rating 1646) drew her last game with her fellow-Vijayawada player World under-10 champion Nuttaki Priyanka to achieve the podium finish. The only game she lost was against the ultimate champion from China – Yang Yijing.

Earlier, the 11-year-old student of Viswa Bharathi English Medium School won her maiden Asian title when she clinched the gold medal in the Asian School Games in 2012. “Her next destination will be Dubai where she will represent India in the World under-13 championship in December,” said her coach V. R. Bobba.

A trainee of Mustabada Sports and Educational Society, Supreetha is labelled as a player who takes no risks. “She is a consistent player and plays solid chess. As she grows she will learn the intricacies of the game better,” felt Global Chess Academy chief coach Khasim.

Chess is not in the family background of Supreetha and her father takes care of agriculture in Nuzvid. What started off as a hobby went on to become an obsession for the young girl. Her mother gave up her job to concentrate on Supreetha’s fledgling career.

She spends around five hours honing her skills everyday. “Her middle and endgames are encouraging. She needs to master the technique of finishing the game within the allotted time,” felt her coach.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by J.R. Sridharan / June 22nd, 2013

Appearances, they say are always deceptive. Not many regulars who visit Gopi Chand Academy in Gachibowli would have dreamt of such a fabulous finish in the big league when three relatively unknown faces — Kidambi Srikanth (winner of Thailand Open), Kidambi Nandagopal and K. Maneesha (mixed doubles winners in the Maldives Open) — hogged the limelight last weekend.

“We enjoyed every match and just played to our potential,” says Maneesha, who visited the academy along with the Kidambi siblings on Tuesday. This B. Com II year student from Kukatpally won her maiden international title at Maldives is a doubles specialist — having won the junior national titles partnering P. V. Sindhu besides the mixed doubles title.

The 18-year-old, who learnt her basics from Mohammad Ali in Kukatpally before joining the academy, says she is keen on improving and winning more titles. Maneesha says since she trains with Nandagopal she had a better understanding in the game.

“Gopi sir will decide if we should as partners in mixed doubles,” she says, even as the trio dedicated their victory to their coaches and parents.

“We hope this is just the beginning,” they said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – June 12th, 2013

Hyderabad :

It was festival time for the Kidambis of Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), when two brothers from the family won international badminton titles on Sunday, a first for India. While younger sibling Srikanth became the first Indian to win a Grand Prix Gold men’s singles title outside the country by winning the Thailand Open, Nandagopal, along with partner Kiran Maneesha, claimed the mixed doubles at the Maldives International tournament.

Srikanth stunned world No.7 Boonsak Ponsana 21-16, 21-13 in Bangkok. In Male, the Indian pair beat Koreans Kim Dae Sung and Oh Bo Kyung 21-16, 23-21.

The Guntur brothers became the first Indian shuttlers to achieve the remarkable feat of winning two titles at two different tournaments on the same day.

If younger sibling Srikanth grabbed the cake by becoming the first Indian to win a Grand Prix Gold men’s singles title outside the country, Nandagopal provided the icing to the celebrations as he and Kiran Maneesha claimed the mixed doubles at the Maldives International tournament. The pair defeated Koreans Dae Sung Kim and Bo Kyung Oh 21-16, 23-21 in the final.

Pitted against a formidable rival, Srikanth came out with all guns blazing to beat world No. 7 and local favourite Boonsak Ponsana in straight games 21-16, 21-13 to lay hands on the Thailand Grand Prix Gold trophy in Bangkok.

“It is a great day for us. This is for the first time we are witnessing such a feat. This shows how well we are progressing in the sport. I am confident that we can hear a lot of good news about men’s badminton in future,” said national coach P Gopichand, who told TOI last year that there would be some ‘exciting’ results in men’s singles within a year’s time.

An elated Srikanth said that he stuck to the plan. “It is a great victory for me. Everyone knows Ponsana is dangerous and a tough nut to crack. But I went in with a clear strategy. I had spoken to my coach before the match and he told me to be aggressive and stay close to the net as the shuttle is very slow here. So I went on an all-out attack right from the start. Once my smashes started hitting the lines it became easy for me,” said Srikanth, who will return to the country on Monday. While facing Ponsana, Indian shuttlers used to adopt a defensive strategy of toss and drop but a change in plan on Sunday seems to have paid rich dividends.

What stunned the critics and fans alike is the way the 20-year-old trainee from the Gopichand Academy handled Ponsana in the final. Srikanth showed utter disregard for the rankings and local support as he crushed the Ponsana in just 33 minutes. The Thai shuttler had defeated several top shuttlers in the past but Sunday was a different tale altogether.

Securing winners with consummate ease, Srikanth opened with a 7-2 lead and though Ponsana stayed close till 15-16, Srikanth killed the contest with a four-point burst at this stage. The Guntur lad was even more aggressive in the second game as he produced nine smash winners and once he moved to 11-4, Ponsana was forced to give up.

If the coaches have any complaint about Srikanth it is his ‘casual’ attitude but it seems he has what it takes to win major titles. “He has a casual and refreshing attitude, doesn’t think much about anything and never gets tense. But he needs to build up his strength. There was a lot of improvement in the last year and there is a lot that needs to be done. He has it in him to break into the top five,” Gopi said.

Meanwhile, it was celebration time in Guntur. With two of his sons winning titles, father KVS Krishna was over the moon. “I don’t have words to describe my feelings. The whole thing is yet to sink in,” said Krishna, a farmer.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> More Sports> Badminton /Guntur / by V Ratnakar, TNN / June 10th, 2013

 Amer Beg, the first Indian to participate in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series, talks about how he made the best use of his resources to zoom his way to into the fast lane to leave a mark on the Indian and the international racing circuit.

If you want to meet someone who can humbly ‘talk’ about himself, it has to be Amer Beg. Amer Beg who? A racing enthusiast who isn’t just new to the racing circuit but is one of the best in the country. And yet, we hear very little of this Hyderabadi who sometimes love to hop on to a bus for a joyride-cum-grocery shopping and thinks the city’s autowalas are amazingly talented in handling speed and time. He enjoys his bus rides despite owning a sports version of a high-end car and an open jeep.

He began humbly on the track and says he could not imagine how he would have continued, had the Gujarati family in Canada not requested him to train their kid in racing. He recollects how he could withstand the pain of two broken ribs and still race with a plaster made of flour and eggs because he didn’t have enough time to make the rounds of the public health care system in Canada.

Automobiles and speed are some of the things Amer is passionate about and almost after a lull of two years, what drew racing enthusiasts’ interest in this Hyderabadi is the fact that Amer Beg has become the first Indian to participate in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series.

He raced in the season opener at the Shanghai International Circuit and Amer’s driving skills got him spotted almost instantly.

Amer Beg, who has half a dozen other motorsports titles under his belt, was given this opportunity by Lamborghini India. Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series is considered to be the fastest one-design series in the world (where all the vehicles are of the same make and same specifications). “The participating race cars in the series are Lamborghini Gallardo 570-4 Super Trofeo. And me getting on the list of drivers was luck after sponsors turned us down. I was fortunate enough be known in the circuit and when the CEO of Lamborghini said he wanted me to represent Lamborghini India as India is an emerging market, it was like a dream come true. The company did everything possible to accommodate me and I was racing with racing giants and legends who have been my idol for years,” says Amer.

Amer’s tryst on the fast lane happened with him following TV shows on rallies and races in the good old cable TV days. “I was a sports TV buff following the drivers on TV and reading up on them on the magazines those days. But since my parents were not too keen on me racing and burning rubber I held my horses till I could get on to a real cart and feel the real energy of racing,” recollects Amer.

After he landed in Canada to pursue higher education, Amer found the right opportunity to try and romance speed. He would race on weekends and during one such race “someone handed over a piece of paper which said, ‘if you think you can race, be here.’”

Amer reached the appointed spot and what does he see, “it is a race where 2214 drivers were participating out of which 800 were veterans and the rest rookies. I was a rookie but I wasn’t thinking about anything. I just wanted to race and get the feel of it. At the end of all the lapses I was in the top 50 and qualified for the finals. And I won that race,” says Amer.

From there on Amer went on to win the Canadian National Championship and Amer was sure he would juggle being a finance manger with a motor company and being a racer. “I basically worked to make ends meet for my races, cart, tyres and all that. My life revolved around the kart track,” he smiles.

In the meantime Amer wasn’t really leading a comfortable life because all his earning were to be saved for his Kart needs. What he says is hard to believe but the logic works, “I was too full of ego to seek help from parents and I was too hooked on to my interest to give up. I would save every penny for the tyres, fuel etc and I would think twice before eating a three-dollar McDonald meal at one go. If I ate the fries for dinner, I would save the burger for breakfast,” recollects Amer.

Amer, now father of a little less than a month old baby girl says he regrets none of the hardship as it only taught him to be better at what he does. And this applies to the fact that the couple is trying to manage home all on their own. “Our mother brought us up with no people attending to us all the time and that is how I want to bring up my daughter. As a couple we are managing and as time goes by we should be experts,” says Amer. But just because he loved to speed on the track doesn’t make Amer a party boy. On the contrary he is quite a shy guy and loves being home and spend time with family. “My wife Sana is adjusting to this as well. She is a great partner.”

On his friends

Amer Beg says he would always be grateful to actor Dia Mirza for her help to raise money for his sponsorship. Dia is Amer’s buddy and Amer and his wife loves having her around at their house. The other person who always saw to it that Amer makes it to the racing arena without much financial glitch is Rohit Reddy. For Amer these two people along with the Gujarati couple in Canada have been most helpful to promote his racing career. “The Gujarati couple was kind enough to tug my cart on their trailer when I didn’t know how to ferry it as I couldn’t afford to even hire one,” says Amer.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Prabalika M. Borah / Hyderabad – June 13th, 2013