Sports - The SoftCopy

The comeback king’s last roar

Watching Sourav Ganguly in the field for one last time at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore (unless Pune Warriors India qualify for the semifinals and they play in Bangalore or assuming the highly unlikely scenario of Ganguly playing in IPL-5), I sat among a crowd of around 10,000 with a feeling of relief, satisfaction and pride.

‘I want to aim for the No. 1 spot’

Royal Challenger Bangalore’s Sreenath Aravind, who overcame a career-threatening road accident a couple of years ago and made his first-class debut in 2008, is looking forward to this year’s Indian Premier League. In an exclusive chat with IIJNM trainee journalist Aswin Kanumarath, he said he aims at becoming the highest wicket taker in IPL-5.

'The team is full of confidence
and strong enough'

New Zealand cricketing all-rounder Daniel Vettori, who captained Bangalore’s Indian Premier League team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, to the IPL finals last year, is confident that his current team has what it takes to win the title this year, round. Vettori told IIJNM trainee journalist Pratik Jain how he plans to do so.

Nobbs goes the Aussie way

Indian hockey coach Michael Nobbs on Saturday said that unlike the previous Indian national teams, the team he coaches is playing like a unit and that the European style of coaching had ruined Indian hockey.

Ashok Nagar Police Station has refused to examine whether concerned authorities were negligent in connection with the death of Bangalore Mars soccer player Venkatesh from a suspected heart attack Wednesday.

Diligently preparing for the Olympics, Michael Nobbs, the coach of the Indian national hockey team, has a carefully formulated set of plans ready for execution. The Australian’s decision to select youngsters over senior players for the team was criticized from all quarters, but he silenced everyone when his team qualified for the Olympics after eight long years.

The Department of Youth Services & Sports has delayed the construction of a wall at the north end of Bangalore Hockey Stadium, leaving the ground open to the street at that end, despite repeated complaints over the past two years.

Allegations of unfair grouping, a substandard pitch and lack of proper accommodation were issues that surfaced before the start of the All India Civil Service Football Tournament in Kanteerva Stadium on Wednesday morning.

In an exclusive interview with IIJNM reporters Rutvick Mehta and Meghana Bhat, former Indian hockey captain and midfielder Viren Rasquinha shared his insights into the ongoing World Series Hockey, India’s chances at the London Olympics and his views on current India hockey coach Michael Nobbs.

He came, he saw, he conquered
—and how!

On Friday afternoon, the Indian cricketing fraternity, one of the oldest and the most revered in the world, bid farewell to that strong and silent warrior after 16 years of a glorious cricketing career.

In an exclusive interview with IIJNM, Indian hockey legend
and former captain Dhanraj Pillay shared his views on the ongoing World Series Hockey in India, current Indian coach Michael Nobbs and whether India have a realistic chance of winning a medal
in the London Olympics.

Spectators who had come to watch the World Series Hockey matches in Bangalore last week were in for a rude shock: There was no food, soft drinks or even water.

The Midas touch gone kaput

As a young cricketer learning the art of the game, I was always taught by my coaches that cricket is all about scoring runs and taking wickets. When you have the bat in your hand, your job is to score runs and when you’re on the field, your job is to take wickets. This is the golden rule of the game. Yet it is this simple rule that M.S. Dhoni quite often seems to forget.

Sometimes it seems as though Roger Federer was put on this Earth to sweep away all the Grand Slam titles. But of late it seems as if he is here to make his opponents look good. And in the latest Australian Open, he did it again. But this doesn’t mean the curtain is coming down on the Swiss legend’s tennis career.

State broadcaster Doordarshan has cocked a snook at the World Snooker Championship being held in Bangalore by choosing not to cover the event.

The fourth-round Ranji Trophy Super League tie between Karnataka and Saurashtra at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium started almost three hours late Tuesday due to a damp pitch.

The World Snooker Men’s Championship kicked off today at Bangalore, at the Karnataka State Billiards Association.

The cricket ground of an international school in countryside southwest of Bangalore has been taken over by the Karnataka State Cricket Association to develop it for major domestic and international matches.

The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association is doing little to develop the game in rural areas and support players there, with its only rural player receiving zero financial assistance.

Three ladies of the Karnataka State Billiards Association have won state, national and international championships, still only one in 100 members at KSBA is a woman.