Pink Panthers down Puneri Paltan to remain top of the table

Jaipur, August 23, 2014: It was houseful at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium, as the vocal crowd of Jaipur turned up to celebrate the last day of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League in the Pink city. Fuelled by the enthusiasm of Pink Panther owner Abhishek Bachchan the Pink Panthers stole the show yet again, overcoming the rather strong looking Puneri Paltan challenge. With a score of 33-27, Jaipur became the third team to join U Mumba and Telegu Titans to turn their home into a fortress, not losing a single game there.

A contest between the top and bottom ranked teams in the league table, the home-team did not disappoint. Being the only team to have qualified for the semi-finals, the Jaipur played like champions, overpowering Puneri Paltan from the word go. Though out of the running for the semis, Pune looked strong but fell just short of the Panthers.

As Rajesh Narwal ousted Pune’s Manoj Kumar, Jaipur got the break they needed, tackling the Pune captain in the very next raid. But a defiant Pune did not let Jaipur march ahead, keeping the scores tied to three in the sixth minute.

Charged by the chants of “Jasvir, Jasvir” filling the stadium, the man left Pune to just two men, taking them one down during his very next raid and letting his team tackle down the last man standing, Swapnil Shinde. Jaipur earned their first LONA points at the end of the tenth minute. Leading by 6 points, the Jaipur outfit stepped up the game taking down Swapnil Shinde Mangesh Bhagat and captain Wazir Singh one after the other. A brilliant reverse –scorpion kick by Jasvir Singh reduced Pune to a four-man army yet again. As Jitesh Joshi left the field, the crowd burst in a euphoric cheer, celebrating the half-time score of 20-10, in favour of their team.

The beginning of the second-half saw Wazir Shah reducing Jaipur to a four-man army, and Navneet Gautam’s men seemed a little shaky. Reduced to just two Panthers, the Jaipur team conceded the first LONA points, taking the score to 21 all. However Jaipur was quick to bounce back, overthrowing Mangesh and Wazir consecutively. Going neck to neck, the Pune made sure that Jaipur do not have a sizable lead by their side. Jaipur manages to inch ahead thanks to Maninder’s raid which took down Jitesh Joshi and Mangesh Bhagat, earning his team two crucial points. It was now up to the Pune captain to revive his players, a challenge he could not complete, giving Jaipur their second Lona points for the day and winning the match by six points.

Photo caption: Jaipur raider Jasvir Singh undertakes a raid on Pune citadel during their Pro Kabaddi League match in Jaipur on August 23, 2014.

Photo and release: Organisers 

Telugu Titans edge past Patna Pirates in a crucial match

Jaipur, August 23, 2014: Excitement filled the historical Sawai Mansingh Indoor stadium as the first clash of the night began. With both the teams-Patna Pirates and Telugu Titans playing their second game in Jaipur, the crowds were anticipating some kabaddi fireworks. A closely fought match throughout the forty minutes, Titans overshadowed the Pirates 29-32.

With both the teams fighting to get ahead of each other in the points table, the match was peppered with some exciting raids and spectacular tackles. While Patna were slightly weakened with the absence of their captain Rakesh Kumar, Telugu Titans looked their attacking best with Rahul Chaudhari and Deepak Niwas Hooda backing each other beautifully. A clash to remain in the fray for the semi-finals for the Titans, the yellow army fought hard and defeated Patna by 3 points.

Patna got the points-tally going with one successful raid followed by a strong tackle. As a dangerous looking Deepak Niwas Hooda took an early exit and Rahul became a victim to Sandeep Narwal’s quickfire raid, the titans looked in a spot of bother. Vizag conceded the first LONA points soon after in the sixth minute, taking their lead to 9 points. But Sukesh Hegde soon joined the party ousting two Pirates including Ravi Dalal. Deepak traded roles and showed his prowess as a defender, single-handedly throwing Sandeep Narwal off the field of play. Before long Patna’s Gurvinder Singh failed to dodge the Titans, giving the Titans their first LONA points. Inching closer to Patna’s once mounting lead, the Titans fought back, trailing by only two points making the half-time score 18-16.

Thanks to two consecutive raids by Rahul Chaudhuri in the very first minute of the second half, Patna was just left with Ravi Dalal and inevitably, the Titans welcomed their second Lona points of the match. Leading by 3 points in the 25th minute, Rahul Chaudhari continued to throttle the Pirates, leaving them a 5-men army. But Patna did not give up easy sending Rahul and Sunil Kumar back to the bench, thanks to a failed attempt by Rahul to tackle Sandeep Narwal. After a short interval of empty raids, Patna were staring at the bottom of the barrel yet again, having lost two players consecutively. With just ten minutes to go the Titans led the match by three points, placing them in third spot followed closely by the Pirates at fourth.

Photo caption: Patna Pirates (green and yellow) and Telugu Titans players in action during their Pro Kabaddi League match in Jaipur on August 23, 2014. Telugu Tirans celebrate their victory.

Photo and release: Organisers

Sathiyan, Poulomi win Institutional TT singles titles

New Delhi, August 22, 2014: At 10-9 serving for the championship point, G. Sathiyan must have had his foot in the mouth. Luckily, the rally yielded him the last point which came off a backhand flick. It was very badly needed as Sathiyan had goofed it up in the previous game—he missed two championships point—while allowing Soumyajit Ghosh save six.

Thus Sathiyan, a Youth Boys and national ranking champion, graduated to the next level to bocame the men’s singles champion in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the Tyagraj Stadium here on Friday. He defeated PSPB colleague and last year’s champion Soumyajit Ghosh in the final 4-2.

Sathiyan comples a triple:

“A great victory, coming after a long time,” said Sathiyan who also bagged two more crowns here—men’s doubles with Sourav Saha and also the team title three days ago. “I was really delighted to keep my attacking posture right through. Credit to my coach S. Raman (former national champion),” added Sathiyan.

Indeed, Sathiyan was on a rampaging form. It reflected in the final match as well as he went ahead 2-1 before letting Ghosh stage a comeback in the fifth game. 

Leading comfortably at 9-5 he let the chance go by as Ghosh, slowly but surely, closed in on to narrow down the margin to 2-3. But in the decider, Sathiyan surged ahead with a 9-2 lead, only to make a few errors at the net raising doubts about his ability to hold on a bigger stage. But in the end, he came calm and clean to win the crown and with it Rs. 75,000 being the winner’s cheque.

Similarly, fit-again former national champion Poulomi Ghatak demonstrated that all was well with her play to defeat young Pooja Sahasrabudhe in the women’s singles final 4-2 in the evening, after having felled second-seed Madhurika Patkar in the semifinal 4-3 in the morning. Poulomi’s efforts fetched her Rs. 58,000.

Poulomi picks up steam:

Poulomi was slow to begin but picked up steam midway, winning one and losing one. She made several errors in the third and fourth game but managed to win the last to go 3-1 up. Nevertheless, the error-prone Pooja put up a semblance of fight in the fifth to win it 11-8. But that was all she could do as the veteran Poulomi won the next rather easily to claim the title.

In the first semifinal, Ghosh was in good form disposing of national champion Sanil Shetty 4-0 in just 25 minutes. The left-handed Shetty was groping in the dark, unable to answer the questions posed by Ghosh. Shetty came into groove only in the fourth extended game which Ghosh won 12-10 putting any speculation to rest.

Sathiyan, already on a roll in the championships, defeated FCI’s Sarthak Gandhi 4-1 in the second. Gandhi, who had put up a good display so far, found Sathiyan too hot to handle. Sathiyan played an aggressive game throughout giving little room for his opponent to manoeuvre. Keeping the ball short and executing his forehand to perfection, Sathiyan never relaxed his grip over the match.

But credit should go to Poulomi for upping the ante after the fourth game while trailing 1-3. No doubt, Madhurika played into her rival’s hands and was probably overawed by her senior opponent’s aggression. Poulomi won the last three games with greater ease which told the pathetic story of the No. 2 seed letting the former national off the hook.

Pooja too had several anxious moments in her semifinal against Mousumi Paul. The two PSPB girls played a see-saw match with swinging fortunes, particularly in the fifth game which Pooja won 14-12. That gave the confidence to Pooja who just shut out Mousumi’s challenge in the next without wasting any more time.

AAI women win doubles:

For hosts AAI, a consolation title came in the shape of women’s doubles win as Nikhat Bhanu and Kritwikka Sinha Roy combined well against the PSPB pair of Reeth Rishya and Narasimha Priya to win 3-0. The men’s doubles title went to G. Sathiyan and Sourav Saha who beat Ghosh and Harmeet Desai 3-0.

Results:

Men (Final): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) 4-2 (11-1, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9); Semifinals: Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 4-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10), G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Sarthak Gandhi (FCI) 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).

Doubles (Final): G. Sathiyan/Sourav Saha (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh/Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9).

Women (Final): Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8); Semifinals: Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 4-2 (11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 14-12, 11-6), Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (RSPB) 4-3 (2-11, 12-10, 11-13, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3).

Doubles (Final): Nikhat Bhanu/Kritwikka Sinha Roy (AAI) bt Reeth Rishya/Narasimha Priya (PSPB) 3-0 (1107, 11-8, 11-9).

A TTFI Press release

Sathiyan on a roll; Ankita, Desai upset

New Delhi, August 21, 2014: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s G. Sathiyan was on a roll in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships being played here at the Tyagraj Stadium. Picking up from where he left off in the second round on Wednesday night against RSPB’s G. Vinod, he made a smooth entry into the semifinals, beating PSPB rival Lalrin Puia 4-0.

Continuing the trend, three other PSPB paddlers joined Sathiyan in the semifinals as national champion Sanil Shetty accounted for Sourav Saha 4-1 and Soumyajit Ghosh downed teammate Subhajit Saha 4-2. But the surprise pack was FCI’s Sarthak Gandhi who stopped the LIC’s juggernaut L. Sathishwaran 4-1 to make his maiden semifinals.

The Ghosh-Subhajit Saha quarterfinals threw up some interesting moments with the former national champion struggling a bit. Yet, Subhajit could not measure up to his rival when it came to winning crucial points. Moreover, he made quite a few unforced errors at the net and also in his backhand execution, his Achilles’ heel. Ghosh, who never misses such glaring weak points in his rival, attacked relentlessly to win the crucial fourth game after being 8-9. Though he lost to Subhajit the next game, he was up to the task in the sixth to wind up things in his favour.

Sarthak Gandhi, who had an excellent outing so far, was meeting L. Sathishwaran in the quarterfinals. It could have been a touch and go affair, but the LIC lad failed to give his cent percent as he did in earlier rounds. This only helped Gandhi’s cause who lost just one game after leading comfortably at 2-0. He soon arrested the slide and finished off in style.

As for Sathiyan, he had a wonderful outing in the pre-quarters and keeping the good form mowed down Lalarin Puia, who was no match to Sathiyan on the day.

Mousumi Paul double quickly finished her job of routing veteran Anindita Chakraborty with a 4-0 verdict with little resistance coming from the Railway woman. As for Reeth Rishya, she had everything working for her, leading 2-0 and 6-2 in the third game. Pooja just changed gear and attacked on both flanks and took the game at 12-10. From there, her fortunes changed and she never relaxed her grip over the quarterfinals thereafter.  

Madhurika Patkar too did not face any difficulty, except for the one game she lost after her 1-0, but was clever enough to keep her PSPB opponent Mouma Das engaged which paid rich dividends. She won the next three games with least points to wrap it up 4-1. But the tricky Poulomi Ghatak, playing to her strength, indulged in keeping her colleague Neha Aggarwal to win 4-2. Ghatak began badly but pulled up her socks to outwit young Neha.  

Earlier in the day, top women’s seed Ankita Das, No. 5 seed Manika Batra and, more shockingly, No. 2 men’s seed Harmeet Desai bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals. The 40-plus Anindita Chakraborty of Railways rolled over promising youngster Kritwikka Sinha Roy from AAI in straight games to enter the quarters.

PSPB’s Ankita Das and Manika Batra were scratchy and it was reflecting in their matches. But more credit should be given to both Mousumi Paul and Reeth Rishya, also from the PSPB, for the way they exposed their opponents’ chinks.

Ankita never had a chance after being 0-3 down though she just about managed to take a game off her rival before Mousumi closed in on her with a blistering forehand to the edge of the table to sew it up 11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7.  Manika, on the other hand, had a lot of troubles against Reeth who began on a wrong note but ended with a good one. After levelling score at 1-1 Reeth never looked back but for a brief period in the fifth extended game which she lost 11-13. She was, however, up to the task and won 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 11-8.

No doubt, Harmeet Desai was not in his elements, but it was the way unseeded L. Sathishwaran from LIC played that unsettled the No. 2 seed. Having proved his worth in earlier rounds and playing extended games, the LIC paddler upped the ante when it mattered in the last three games to win 4-11, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-1, 11-6. L. Sathishwaran totally dominated over his rival that he allowed just a point in the sixth game to take it to the decider.

Results:

Men (QF): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Lalrin Puia (PSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3), Sanil Shetty (PSPB) bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6), Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 4-2 (11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6; Sarthak Gandhi (FCI) bt L. Sathishwaran (LIC) 11-3, 14-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7.

Women (QF): Mousumi Paul (PSPB) bt Anindita Chakraborti (RSPB) 4-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-8, 11-3), Pooja Sahasrabudhe (PSPB) bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-2 (7-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-1, 11-8, 11-7), Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Neha Aggarwal (PSPB) 4-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6), Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Mouma Das (PSPB) 4-1 (11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9).

Smooth passage for seeded players

New Delhi, August 20, 2014: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s Sudhanshu Grover, Air India’s Mallika Bhandarkar and Airports Authority of India’s Ayhika Mukherjee were the three prominent and upcoming paddlers who failed to make the cut for the main draw in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships being played here at the Tyagraj Stadium today.

But for these upsets in group stages, all top players participating in the season opener made their forays smoothly. The men, with 56 players in the draw, will play two rounds on Wednesday while the women, with 32 in fray, will have a round less. With the pre-quarterfinals in both sections beginning from tomorrow, the race to the title chase will get intensified.

Out of the two Glasgow CWG medallists from India, only Anthony Amalraj had turned up for the team event here as A. Sharath Kamal had chosen to give a miss to the championships. But Amalraj, after making an appearance on the opening day, had pulled out owing to fever. Until the main draw, there were doubts about his participation in the singles event. But with the draw out, it has become clear that he will no longer be participating in the championships.

National champions Sanil Shetty and Ankita Das have rightfully earned the No. 1 spots in the men and women’s singles seeding lists. Harmeet Desai, with his runner-up position at the Patna Nationals, is seeded behind Shetty while G. Sathiyan has jumped several spots to be at No. 3. Soumyajit Ghosh, who had a mixed bag, missing quite a few zonals, last season finds himself seeded at No. 4.

But with a reasonably good showing here so far, he gets a chance to go up the ladder and can even be expected to surprise some of the top seeds. In any case, Amalraj’s absence should boost the chances of Ghosh as well as other paddlers.

Madhurika Patkar is No. 2 seed while veteran Poulomi Ghatak despite an indifferent form, has been seeded behind Patkar. Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Manika Batra are behind Poulomi at No. 4 and 5. The women’s draw seems a good one with no player getting a first-round bye which makes the contest even and interesting.

Unlike in the women’s section, top eight players have been given a first-round bye. But all players will be getting engaged from round two, to be played later tonight.

Top women’s doubles pair of Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe has entered the quarterfinal beating AAI’s Anuska Dutta and Oishwarya Deb 3-0. Another pair from PSPB—Soumi Mondal and Mousumi Paul—had an easy passage while the other pairs were extended the full distance.

In the mixed event, the husband and wife duo Subhajit Saha and Nandita Saha will take on in the final Jubin Kumar (Haryana) and Neha Aggarwal (PSPB) tomorrow evening. The Sahas defeated the RSPB pair of G. Vinod and Shreya Ghosh 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 while Jubin and Neha accounted for AAI’s Sushmit Sriram and Nikhat Bhanu 8-11, 14-12, 12-10, 12-10 in a duel that lasted almost one hour.

TTFI Press release

PSPB men, women extend hold over team trophies

New Delhi, August 19, 2014: It is the Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSPB) that emerged victorious yet again. Both their men’s and women’s teams extended their reign over the two trophies for the nth time, without any threats—not even a perceived one—beating the Railways men and the Airports Authority of India women by an identical 3-0 margin in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships being played here at the Tyagraj Stadium.

The verdicts, along the expected lines, must have given real headaches to some of the teams in fray, for they may be sick and tired of going over the exercise of competing in the championships year after year, all in futility, and not seeing the silverwares coming their way even once.

For most teams, the team trophies have remained a pipedream and yet they religiously participate in the event. They need to put on the thinking caps and work their way out of a difficult situation to revive whatever little interests left in the championships.

The Soumyajit Ghosh-Sanil Shetty-Harmeet Desai blend did not need a second invitation to rout the Railway Sports Promotion Board as it went about its task clinically, demolishing one opponent after another to complete the job. Ghosh, unleashing a combination attack on both flanks, took 18 minutes flat to outwit Anirban Nandi, the most experienced Railways’ player, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9. Shetty, the national champion, conceded his second, hard-fought game to Souvik Kar, but came to grips soon after with his blistering forehand to outwit Souvik. And Desai, consumed very little time at the table to run over Noel Pinto for the 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 verdict.

PSPB team’s coach S.Ramaswamy was happy the way his team performed professionally. “I was a bit surprised that no opposition came from the Railways. But we were sure of retaining the trophy,” he said. On the other hand, RSPB coach Bona Thomas was more opt when he said that they had expected the team to reach final. “We know we will have a tough time against PSPB in the final. Our boys need to work more on fitness,” he said.

That, in a nutshell, summed up the chasm between PSPB teams and the rest.

So, it was not surprising that their women also played exactly the way a top-notch outfit would do. Barring the first game in which AAI’s Nikhat Bhanu began briskly and taking it 11-3, it was PSPB’s Madhurika Patkar all the way, stopping Bhanu on her tracks.

Ankita Das, too, lost a game to the promising Kritwikka Sinha Roy but the former proved to be way ahead with bagful of tricks—she played to her strength to win 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7. Former national champion Poulomi Ghatak, despite being rusty and losing her first extended game at 12-14, managed to put it across Amrutha Pushpak.

In the last edition at Dharwad, they had bagged two titles—the Youth Boys and Youth Girls—but as hosts they had nothing this time around. This must be really hurting them. Nevertheless, AAI can take heart from the fact that the three girls in the team final had managed to take a game each off their better known opponents.

Dignitaries from AAI and TTFI gave away the medals to the winners.

Results (team finals):

Men: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bt Railway Sports Promotion Board 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Anirban Nandi 11-6, 11-8, 119, Sanil Shetty bt Souvik Kar 11-4, 12-14, 11-8, 11-7, Harmeet Desai bt Noel Pinto 11-8, 11-3, 119).

Women: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bt Airports Authority of India 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Nikhat Bhanu 3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8, Ankita Das bt Kritwikka Sinha Roy 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, Poulomi Ghatak bt Amrutha Pushpak 12-14, 11-3, 13-11, 11-8.

PSPB, AAI women enter team finals

New Delhi, August 18, 2014: The Petroleum Sports Control Board (PSPB), both in the men and women’s sections, were just a step away from retaining their hold on the team trophies in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships being played here at the Tyagraj Stadium.

On Monday, PSPB’s men disposed of Central Revenue Sports Control Board (CRSCB) 3-0 in the first semifinal while in the second, the Railways huffed and puffed before beating AAI 3-2. PSPB women, taking the cue from their men counterparts, didn’t waste any time to mow down Air India for a similar verdict. The other semifinal saw hosts Airports Authority of India landing smoothly in the final with a 3-0 win over Railway Sports Promotion Board. Both the finals are slated for tomorrow afternoon.

In fact, the PSPB men and women didn’t have any opposition at all. Their bench strength in the two sections are so strong that they could ever experiment with it. For instance, G. Sathiyan was given a chance in the semifinals over a higher-ranked Harmeet Desai while the latter was played in the quarterfinals. So was the case on the distaff side that Poulomi played the quarterfinals while Pooja Sahasrabudhe got her chance in the semifinals.

Their strategy for the finals, particularly in the women’s category, may see a steady line-up with AAI beckoning at them. As for their men, they have the luxury to choose from the Shetty-Ghosh-Desai-Amalraj-Sathiyan blend, though Amalraj, who is down with fever, is a doubtful case. Whatever combination they might try out tomorrow, PSPB will see to it they retain both the titles.

But the hosts would wish to win at least the women’s crown, having lost their chance to retain the Youth Boys and Youth Girls titles, as PSPB became the rightful claimants after finishing top in their respective sections in the round-robin format. Thus they qualify directly for the Junior and Youth Nationals to be conducted at Alleppey in December. Air India’s Youth Boys and Girls finished second behind them.

If the PSPB men had a smooth passage into the final, the Railways had the now-start-now-stop journey with AAI taking the match the full distance. Everything was depended on Anirban Nandi who did not disappoint his employers. Nandi began well to close it on Nitin Thiruvengdam and win 3-1. Prabhakaran Ekambaram did justice to his inclusion in the team by posting a 3-1 victory over an experienced Sushmit Sriram.

That must have given enough confidence in the RSPB ranks, but both their third player Noel Pinto and Prabhakaran, playing his reverse singles, lost the advantage. This put a lot of burden on Nandi but the veteran kept his nerves intact to dismiss the challenge from Sriram, who surprisingly, lost both his singles.

Earlier, strengthened by the return of Nikhat Bhanu, who lost her grandmother on the eve of the championships, AAI posted a cozy triumph over RSPB in the semifinals. With Nikhat, Krittiwikka Sinha Roy and Amrutha Pushpak playing strong, the hosts should be fancying their chance against a strong PSPB in the final tomorrow.     

Results: Men (semifinals): PSPB bt CRSCB 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Devesh Karia 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 11-8, G. Sathiyan bt Sayan Paul Roy 11-2, 11-8, 11-9, Sanil Shetty bt Eric Nestor 11-9, 11-4, 11-6), RSPB bt AAI 3-2 (Anirban Nandi bt Nitin Thiruvengadam 15-13, 5-11, 11-5, 11-6, Prabhakaran E. bt Sushmit Sriram 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-3, Noel Pinto lost to Sabhay Virmani 6-11, 11-1, 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, Prabhakaran E. lost to Nitin Thiruvengadam 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 5-11, 8-11, Anirban Nandi bt Sushmit Sriram 11-9, 11-8, 11-5); Quarterfinals: PSPB bt ESIC 3-0 (Sanil Shetty 11-4, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5, Harmeet Desai bt Daramrajsinh Rana 11-9, 11-7, 11-5, G. Sathiyan bt Vikram Aditya 11-6, 11-5, 11-5), CRSCB bt Air India 3-1 (Devesh Karia bt Chinmay Datar 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, Sayan Paul Roy bt Nishaad Shah 7-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, Hardik Bhatt lost to Sanish Ambekar 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11, Devesh Karia bt Nishaad Shah 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3), AAI bt FCI 3-1 (Nitin Thiruvengadam bt Sameera Kumar 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9, Sabhay Virmani bt Sivananda Seshadri 11-2, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, Nitin Thiruvengadam bt Sarthak Gandhi 11-5, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8), RSPB bt LIC 3-1 (Souvik Kar bt Sougata Sarkar 7-11, 6-11  9-11, Prabhakaran.E bt Sathiswaran.L 10-12, 11-3, 11-2, 11-8, Anirban Nandi bt Ravi Joshi 8-11, 11-6, 12-10 5-11, 11-6, Prabharakan E bt Sougata Sarkar 11-9, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7).

Women (semifinals): PSPB bt Air India 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Devika Bhide 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, Ankita Das bt Mallika Bhandarkar 11-4, 11-6, 11-4, Pooja Sahasrabudhe bt Vedika Garg 11-4, 11-7, 11-6, AAI bt RSPB 3-0 (Nikhat Bhanu bt Anindita Chakraborty 11-7, 15-17, 11-8, 11-9, Kritwikka Sinha Roy bt Takeme Sarkar 11-7, 11-5, 11-5, Amrutha Pushpak bt Rupsa Bhattcharya 11-8, 11-7, 11-5); Quarterfinals: PSPB bt Dena Bank 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Frenaz Chipia 14-12, 11-7, 11-8, Ankita Das bt Krithicka. S 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, Poulomi Ghatak bt Monica Manohar 11-9, 11-4, 11-6), Air India bt Indian Audit 3-1 (Vedika Garg lost to Sayantika Kundu 10-12, 8-11, 8-11, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Manisha Sharma 11-5, 11-3, 11-6, Devika Bhide bt Nikita Rautela 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, Mallika Bhandarkar bt Sayantika Kundu 11-8, 11-6, 11-6), RSPB bt LIC 3-2 ( Takeme Sarkar bt Mrunmayee Mhatre 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, Sukanya Bose lost to Prajakta Tipale 9-11  6-11, 12-10, 9-11, Pallabi Kundu bt Shruti Talnikar 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, Takeme Sarkar lost to Prajakta Tipale 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 10-12, Sukanya Bose bt Mrunmayee Mhatre 11-9, 11-8, 11-6), AAI bt CRSCB 3-0 (Kritwikka Sinha Roy bt Praneetha Challa 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2, Nikhat Bhanu bt Jaita Pushilal 11-7, 11-7, 12-10, Amrutha Pushpak bt Silpa Basak 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-2).

TTFI Press release

Anindita does a star turn for RSPB

New Delhi, August 17, 2014: Dena Bank, with a young team, put up a fantastic show and almost derailed the plans of Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) of retaining their top perch in Group B in the AAI 44th Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagraj Stadium here today. But the old warhorse Anindita Chakraborty, holding on bravely, put paid to the ambitions of Dena Bank, who lost 2-3. They should, however, be finishing behind RSPB in the group to qualify for the second stage of the event.

Otherwise, things went according to the script as all other group toppers went through their motions to keep their No. 1 position in their respective groups. Title holders PSPB beat Central Revenue Board 3-0 and got a walkover from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to move into the second stage, which is a knockout. Simialrly, hosts Airports Authority of India (AAI) scored an identical 3-0 triumphs over RBI and Indian Audit, Air India beat ESIC 3-0 and then downed LIC 3-1 to qualify.

As for men, PSPB, RSPB, AAI, Air India, Indian Audit and Central Revenue have held on to the top position in their respective groups after two rounds. Except for the top teams like PSPB, RSPB and AAI, who are expected to keep their No. 1 position in their groups, the rest may retain their positions or swap places depending on their performances in the third round matches which are slated to begin later this evening. Going by their display so far, they should all be joining the big teams in Stage 2.

Coming back to the match of the day in the women’s section, Dena Bank held a 2-1 advantage under Anindata Chakraborty entered the scene for her reverse singles. Taking on Krithicka Sivaramakrishan, who is a youth player, Anindita played ball with her opponent. It was a touch and go affair until the fourth as both players had taken the alternative games to make it 2-2. However, in the decider the veteran showed her true colours, keeping the ball on the table and forcing Krithica into errors. Taking an early lead and firm grip, the Railways veteran shut out the Dena Bank player from Tamil Nadu for a 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 win.

This must have given enough confidence for Sukanya Bose, who earlier lost to Krithica, to take on Frenaz Chipia, who had lost her first rubber to Anindita 3-2. Nevertheless, Frenaz put up a good fight in the second game before losing steam as Bose went about finishing the task methodically.

In fact, between the two both Railways and Dena Bank played out 24 games, taking almost two hours to complete the task.

The day also witnessed another good game between Air India and Food Corporation of India in the men’s section. Despite having players like Sarthak Gandhi and Sivananda Seshadri, FCI folded up to the guiles of Air India’s Nishaad Shah, Sanish Ambekar, who won the third singles, and Chinmay Datar clinching the reverse fifth rubber against Seshadari 3-1. He had earlier lost to Nishaad Shah 3-0 which in the ultimate analysis proved costly.

With five teams figuring in both the Youth Boys and Youth Girls, clear pictures will emerge only after the round-robin league matches get over tomorrow.  Earlier, the championships were inaugurated by Dr Prabhat Kumar, IAS, Director General, Civil Aviation followed by a cultural programme.

A TTFI Press release

Pink Panthers maul Bengal Warriors

 

  

Patna, August 10, 2014: Miles away from home, but enlivened by the taste of recent victory, both the Jaipur Pink Panthers and the Bengal Warriors were in fine form tonight. Jaipur’s Jasvir Singh was an unstoppable force, a perfect match for the immovable Bengal Nilesh Shinde. As the two juggernauts battled it out for superiority, Nitin Madane showcased his speed and agility, exploiting every mistake the Jaipur defense made.

Unfortunately for Kolkata, the match’s progression saw an increasingly cohesive Jaipur team makes less and less mistakes, cementing the win for the Pink Panthers.

The start of the game saw the rest of their respective teams carry out a fight of equal proportion, with the Bengal Warriors slowly gaining the upper hand with a clearly superior defense. Down to 3 players by the 8th minute, a closely united Panther defense was able to fend off the Kolkata raids, and with their small numbers each successful tackle earned them double the points, actually earning a 2 point lead and returning to a 5 person size by the 10th minute.

Part of this drama was captain Navneet Gautam, defending against a potential all out raid from the lethal Nitin Madane, injuring his knee in a dodge but yet still able to play a crucial roll in preventing Nitin from reaching the center line, a heroic action that saved his two other in players from elimination.

After bringing back their team to 5 people, the Pink Panthers once again displayed an uncanny skill for comebacks, quickly turning the tables and bringing the Bengal Warriors down to just one player in about 5 minutes. Jasvir Singh gave the comeback its culminating blow, taking out the last Bengal Warrior and bringing the Jaipur Pink Panthers an all out and the lead with 18 points to Kolkata’s 9.

With their team once again all in, Nitin rushed to close the gap, immediately scoring 2 points. But even with Nitin’s lightning fast raids, the Panthers were able to maintain their 9 point lead for the majority of the second half, with Maninder Singh demolishing the Warriors in a 3 touch raid on the 27th minute.  Another all out rocketed them ahead to a 15-point lead, placing the Panthers on track for another landslide victory. With Nitin and Jasvir trading raids, the points continued to rise, with Kolkata unable to close the gap.

With 5 minutes to go, the score stood at Jaipur 35, Bengal Warrios 20. Jasvir’s raid at the 39th minute showed that Jaipur was content with this lead as Jasvir leisurely strolled around the Kolkata side, perfectly happy to come home empty. Thus, the pink flags of the audience jubilantly were thrown into the air to mark Jaipurs second conquest in Patna, and a final score of 39 – 23.

Photo caption: Top: Jaipur Pink Patnhers (pink) and Bengal Warriors players in action. Middle: Jaipur Pink Panthers' owner Abhishek Bachchan showed the victory sign along with his team members. Bottom: Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi gives away a prize to a Jaipur team member in Patna on August 10, 2014.

Press release

Bengaluru Bulls edge past Patna Pirates

Patna, August 10, 2014: The game began with the bitter knowledge that Patna had usurped Bengaluru’s place in the League standing, sending the Bulls down to 4th place and taking their second place position on the podium. 

Fiercely motivated, Bengaluru’s already historically unforgiving defense took its toll on Patna’s star raiders Rakesh Kumar and Ravi Dalal, who time and time again found themselves under the massive weight of the combined Bulls. But the Pirates were on their home turf, and they were eager for a challenge. Having come away with two unlikely ties in their last matches, they were ready once again to beat the odds.  The odds, unfortunately, were on this energized night, unbeatable.

Ravi kicked off the match with a series of stupendous raids, lashing out with hand and foot to slowly pick the defense apart. But by the 4th minute, the Bulls had taken him out with an earth shattering tackle. Rakesh Kumar proved a more difficult challenge for Bengaluru, scoring a touch and then flying back to his own side with explosive power that took any Bengaluru player with him. Patna’s Sandeep Narwal added his own flair to the match, repeatedly taking the high road over the Bull’s defense by jumping far above their heads back to Patna’s side. 

The trio of Patna raiders proved to be a potent combination, able to take out the entire Bengaluru team in less than 12 minutes. For a fleeting moment, Rakesh’s tenacity seemed ready to end his game early, as a defensive attempt ended in a head injury. Against the protestant gestures of his team however, the possibly concussed Rakesh stayed in the game, a questionable decision for the Patna team that would come back to haunt them

At 15 minutes in, the scores were set at 17 – 12 in the Pirate’s favor, but 2 dubious calls from the match officials had diminished the Patna side to only 3 players. Bengaluru Captain Manjit Chillar was sent out to mop them up, running towards Rakesh Kumar. Visibily disoriented, Rakesh attempted a sloppy grab on Manjit, who easily escaped, bringing the Patna down to only 2. An empty raid from Patna gave Manjit another chance, but this time was taken down by a whirlwind tackle by Girish Irnak and Sandeep Narwal, earning Patna 2 points and an additional player just in time for halftime.

It was the second half that finally saw Bengaluru Bull’s star player Ajay Thakur come into full splendour, easily tagging out Suresh Kumar and setting up Manjit to complete the all out by removing Waseem Sajjad. With both teams all in, and the scores set at 23 - 24, the game was very much up in the air.  A successful raid and another mistake from Rakesh, in the form of a bungled raid brought the Bengaluru bulls ahead to 25 – 24, their first lead of the game. Bengaluru’s Parmod Singh’s 2 touch raid combined with a touch from Manjit brought down Patna to just one player, Ravi Dalal. But even Ravi could not save the Pirates from the resolve of the charged up Bulls, and as the Bengaluru defenders piled on top of him, the score changed to Pirates 27, Bulls 31. 

With full-time approaching, the Patna fans watched on the edge of their seats as the two teams each scoring hard earned points. At 36 minutes, Patna needed to score 5 points to get another tie, and 6 to come away with a final victory. Even with a full team this would be a tall order, but as it stood Patna only had 4 players on the mat. The crowd roared to its feet as Sandeep scored a 2 point raid, and was able to get even louder as the 6 defenders were able to bring down the Captain Manjit Chillar. But time was against the Pirates, and as Rakesh stepped out with only 20 seconds remaining in the 39th minute of the game, it was once again up to him to save his team from a loss. 

Ajay Thakur gestured towards his fellow defenders, sweeping his arm back to tell them to let Rakesh be. Ajay knew that if they risked the potential multiple points in a failed tackle, they would give Rakesh the win. But Manjit could not resist. He had been outdone by Rakesh too many times that night, and he broke away from his team to slam into Rakesh’s midsection. 

Knocking him to the ground, it looked like the game would end in personal failure for the Patna captain. But Rakesh turned it into an epic personal triump, grasping hold of Manjit and rolling both of their bodies backwards onto the Patna side. But a personal triumph was not a team triumph, and the match ended with Patna falling just short of a tie, with the scores at Bengauru Bulls 37, Patna Pirates 35.

Press release

Photo caption: Patna Pirates (yellow and green) and Bengaluru Bulls players in action during their Pro Kabaddi League match in Patna on August 10, 2014.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

India sweep hockey series 3-0 against Bangladesh

New Delhi, August 9, 2014: Indian men hockey team registered their third consecutive victory over Bangladesh and cleaned sweep the three-match series by 3-0. Team India continued their winning spree and defeated the host nation by 3-1 in the last match played at Dhaka today.

India started the match with their attacking game and achieved their first goal in 6th minute through forward Yuvraj Walmiki. After the early success, India tried to create more opportunities in the first half but Bangladeshi defenders managed to restrict the Indian attack.

In the 2nd half, India came back with a better plan and managed to earn a penalty in 38th minute. Drag-flicker Gurjinder Singh converted the penalty corner into a beautiful goal and gave India 2-0 lead. Bangladesh fought back hard after conceding two goals and managed to score a goal in 56th minute through Pushkor Khisa Mimu. Indian skipper Vikram Kanth scored the third goal for his team in 57th minute and helped his team to remain unbeaten in the series.

Speaking on the win, Coach Tushar Khandker said, “This series was a good experience for us. All the players got enough chance and opportunity to take their skills to another level. We need to improve more on penalty corner conversions and man to man marking. I would also like to appreciate Bangladesh team for their competitive game”.

HI Press release

Jaipur paint Patna pink with stunning all-round display

  

Patna, August 9, 2014: As the weekend arrived, all roads in Patna led to Pataliputra Stadium as the crowds gathered to witness India’s greatest Kabaddi spectacle the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League. Celebrating the league’s second last day in the city, all Kabaddi fans in Patna turned up in huge numbers to watch 7-man army take on each other. The first clash of the night was a contest between the ascending Jaipur Pink Panthers and the resilient Telugu Titans.

While both the team needed the win- Jaipur to jump right to the second spot and the Titans to allow themselves some sort of redemption; it was the Pink Panthers who emerged victorious. Two completely different looking halves saw the Jaipur team thrashing the Titans by a good 20 point margin in the end.

After a couple of empty raids the Jaipur team got the first points on the board thanks to an athletic Rohit Rana who did not let his broken jaw stand in the way of a successful raid. The Men in Pink were oozing confidence, coming fresh from a win in their last encounter against Delhi, but it was the Telegu Titans who got off to a better start.

A closely contested match, the Telugu Titans soon gathered momentum as Rahul Chaudhury spun his web on the Antis. Sparks flew as Deepak took off Jasvir Singh and Rohit Rana at one go. Rahul Chaudhury came good again as he successfully touched Navneet Gautam and returned safe, extending the Titans’ lead. Consequently, Titan scored their first Lona points. The first half came to a close as Jaipur’s Maninder Singh, took down Rahul Chaudhury and D. Gopu in a spectacular tackle. Titans Rahul Chaudhury and Deepak Hooda scored 7 points each, took their team to a score of 20-16 in their favour.

The second half, however, saw a complete change of fate as Jaipur’s Jasvir Singh decided to join the party. The half-time break was indeed a game changer for the men in pink as Jasvir Singh started ousting the Titans one after the other. Maninder did an encore, as he took Gopu down in a fashion identical to his previous raid. As Navneet Gautam made way for Maninder Singh, the latter justified the stance by taking Titan Skipper Rajguru out.

Titans crumbled as Deepak Niwas’ reverse-scorpion kick failed to the Jaipur defence. A rejuvenated Jaipur side, riding high on Jasvir Singh’s successful raids and Rana’s strong defence raced ahead further and further. The score finally read 29-49 as the pink Panthers scored their maiden Lona points with the final whistle.

Press release

Photo caption: Jaipur Pink Panthers (pink) and Telugu Titans (yellow) players in action during their Pro Kabaddi League match in Patna on August 9, 2014.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Patna produce another tie in Pro Kabaddi League

 

Patna, August 9, 2014:  The third night in Patna saw no decrease in enthusiasm. A fully packed crowd, armed with green flags, eye-patches, and indefatigable vocal chords welcomed the Patna Pirates and Dabang Delhi teams with a roaring standing ovation. With a clear tilt towards their hometown Pirates, their support for both teams showed that not only was they die-hard Patna fans, but they were die hard Kabaddi fans. In the last standoff between Delhi and Patna, the Pirates stepped away victorious, and on their home court they once again aimed to destroy.

But it would be Delhi who scored first. If greatness is defined by an unbroken series of successful gestures, Surjeet Nawal was truly great this game, accounting for a huge amount of his teams huge early lead. It was thanks to him that Delhi was able to bring the Pirates down to 2 players in just 7 minutes, shortly followed by an all out as Kashiling Adanke teamed up with Surjeet to pick off the remaining players, and set the score at Patna 5, Delhi 14.

For the rest of the first half, the two teams traded raids and tackles, but Delhi maintained their superiority and slowly but surely grew the lead. Even with unrelenting power of Patna’s Ravi Dalal, who among consistent 1 point raids was able to score a 3 touch raid that cut the Delhi defense in half, the Delhi team was able to end the first half with a 10 point lead and 21 points.

  

After tying with current Pro Kabaddi League Leader UMumba, and the unbelievable comeback from the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the night’s first match, the Patna fans were filled with hope. Anything could happen tonight. Patna Captain Rakesh Kumar answered their call. Scoring 5 consecutive raids for his team and adroitly dodging targeted attempts by Kashiling, Rakesh was essential for the Patna comeback, bringing back in his entire team, who together were able to crush every raider Dabang Delhi sent at them.

  

Ravi Dalal went out, and accepted d15’s surrender, scoring Patna an all out and bringing them within one point of Delhi with a score of 24 -25, and 10 minutes remaining. The crowd was on its feet as the two teams battled with vicious strength, with Delhi barely holding on to their lead.  Both Patna and Delhi exhibited amazing plays, from backwards rolls to perfectly coordinated tackles, showing that the two teams were perfectly aware that every point could be the point that won the game.  

A mistake from the Patna defense gave the edge to Delhi, leaving Patna with only 4 players to Delhi’s 7, and giving Delhi a 3 point lead. After a number of incredibly tense empty raids, Patna was able to get the edge back, taking Surjeet out and bringing the score to 29 -30. The next raid started at 39 minutes and 26 seconds, and was properly undertaken by Rakesh Kumar.

The crowd knew, the Dabang defense knew, and Rakesh knew that this would be the raid that determined the game, and a well placed kick from the Patna Captain earned him the one point he needed to tie the game at 30 – 30.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the end of game whistle symbolized Patna’s second tie in a row, but through the jubilation one could see Rakesh with his hands on his head, knowing that only one more point would have given his team the win. 

A Press release

Photos: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Bengal Warriors tame Telugu Titans

Bengal Warriors (orange) outplayed Telugu Titans 40-35 in their Pro Kabaddi League match at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna on August 8, 2014.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Patna Pirates pull off a thrilling draw against U Mumba

Patna Pirates (yellow and green) held U Mumba to a thrilling 37-37 draw in their Pro Kabaddi League match at the Patliputra Sports Complex  in Patna on August 8, 2014.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Patna Pirates prevail over Puneri Paltan

  

Patna, August 7, 2014: On the opening match in Patna, the Pirates needed a victory. Trailing behind Dabang Delhi in the League standings in fifth-place, the Patna Pirates clearly possessed the skill to be a top tier team, but with a 2-2 win loss ratio, Rakesh Kumar’s team had dubious self-confidence.

The Puneri Paltan were not going to give it up easily. Even without their usual captain, the Pune team exhibited a tremendous defiance that led to a nail-biting first half, and only barely gave the win as the Patna Pirates surged ahead in the final 5 minutes for a final score of Patna 35, Paltans 27.

The game began with the two teams’ extraordinary raiders, Patna’s Ravi Dalal and Pune’s Praveen Niwale, both resulting in a single point for both teams. In the following two raids, the Captains came out to play. Rakesh Kumar, crossing the centerline with the backdrop of a roaring Patna crowd, came home empty-handed, unable to find an opportunity in the Paltan’s defense. Jitesh Joshi faced similar difficulty in the fierce Pirate anti-raiders, and with another empty raid, the crowd felt a little bit of anti-climax.

This was quickly overcome, to the delight of Patna fans, as the Pirates raced ahead to a 9 - 5 lead, spearheaded by Rakesh Kumar. Clearly suffering from the lack of their star captain Wazir Singh, the Puneri Paltans looked on as Jitesh stepped out to face the fully stocked, 7-person Patna Defense. But by shooting through the arms of one of Patna’s new defenders, Jitesh not only earned his team a much needed point, but earned their confidence and put them on the path to a comeback.

Rocketing forward in the next 10 minutes, a supercharged Puneri Team closed the gap up until an amazing tie at 13-13, developing to a 2 point Puneri lead of 16 - 14. With the game falling apart before their eyes, an inspired Sandeep launched into a spectacular 2 point raid that culminated in a soaring leap over the Paltan defence, once again leveling the score and preparing the Patna offense for a victorious rest of the game.  

Hosting a newly competitive side of Rakesh Kumar, the Patna Pirates dominated the game, taking back the comeback from the Puneri Paltan and putting on a tremendous game for their hometown supporters. Halftime saw the Pirates with a 6 point lead of 22 to 16, a differential that grew with an almost immediate all out. Trading raid for raid and defensive play for defensive play, that differential hardly adjusted until the end of the game, giving the Patna Pirates the triumph on their home turf.

Photo Caption: Patna Pirates (yellow and green) and Puneri Paltan players in action during their Pro Kabaddi League match in Patna on August 7, 2014.

Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Release: Adsfactor

India defeat Bangladesh 5-1 to win hockey series

 Devinder Sunil Walmiki receiving the man of the match award

Indian hockey team 

New Delhi, August 8, 2014: The Indian Men Hockey team registered their second consecutive win over Bangladesh in the three match test series, defeating the hosts 5-1 in the second match played at Dhaka today. This victory brings with itself the series-win against Bangladesh and the team expects a clean sweep by winning the third and last match of the series which is scheduled for 09 August 2014.

 The first goal of the match came in as early as in the 7th minute from Hasan Jubair of Bangladesh. However their joy was short lived as the score was soon leveled by Harjeet Singh who scored the first field goal for India in the 10th minute. It was followed by a quick field goal by Yuvraj Walmiki in the 12th minute of the game. Vice- Captain S. K Uthappa and Devender Sunil Walmiki too successfully managed to put the ball in the net in the 20th and 24th minute of the game respectively thus giving India a lead of 4-1 when the whistles blew for half time.

The second half saw a number of desperate attempts by both the teams to score goals but in th 41st minute it was Affan Yousuf who managed to score a goal for India. No goals were scored thereafter. End of the match saw India sailing past Bangladesh 5-1 to lead the three match test series 2-0. Devinder Sunil Walmiki received the Man of the Match Award. 

HI Press release and photos

Patna Pirates arrive in Patna

Patna Pirates team arrived in Patna on August 5, 2014 to participate in the Patna leg of the Pro Kabaddi League starting at the Patliputra Sports Complex on August 7. The team was accorded warm welcome by Bihar State Kabaddi Association secretary Kumar Vijay and its members.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Indian hockey team to play three-match series against Bangladesh

New Delhi, August 4, 2014: Indian Men’s Hockey team will leave for Dhaka to play a three-match series against Bangladesh commencing on August 6. The series will provide international exposure to the young players just before the upcoming Asian Games to be held in Korea from September 19 to October 4.

While preparations are warming up for the Asian Games 2014, considerable practice and induction is mandatory to ensure a creditable performance. In this regard, the core probables for the Asian Games team will find the series an appropriate opportunity to test their skills against an international opponent. The performance of players during this series will help selectors and coaches to select the best team for the Asian Games 2014.

The team will be captained by the experienced defender Vickram Kanth while midfielder S K Uthappa will be the vice-captain.

The matches are scheduled to take place in Dhaka on 6th, 8th and 9th August 2014. The team will depart for Dhaka, Bangladesh on 5th August and return back on 10th August.

Speaking on the upcoming series, Dr. Narinder Batra, Secretary General, Hockey India said, “We feel that while one unit of the core probables for Asian Games has gained experience from the XX Commonwealth Games where they won the Silver medal, this set of players will also have an opportunity to familiarise themselves in an international environment. Bangladesh has some very competent players and it will be good to play against them to review our own capabilities.”

“The experience of playing under pressure on an international platform always adds to the skills of the players and even helps in identifying the areas where the player lacks and the training required thereafter. This three-match series will help the team to get in rhythm according to the international requirements of playing away from home and even working upon the concerned areas henceforth,” he added.

Team:

Goalkeepers

1.     Harjot Singh
2.     Sushant Tirkey

 Defenders

3.     Gurmail Singh
4.     Harbir Singh Sandhu
5.     Gurjinder Singh
6.     Vickram Kant (Captain)
7.     Vikas Pillay
8.     Gurinder Singh 

Midfielders

9.     S. K. Uthappa (Vice-Captain)
10.  Jasjit Singh
11.  Devinder Sunil Walmiki
12.  Satbir Singh
13.  Harjeet Singh 

Forwards
14.  Affan Yousuf
15.  Yuvraj Walmiki
16.  Nithin Thimmaiah
17.  Talwinder Singh
18.  Lalit Kumar Upadhyay

Hockey India Press release