India leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup from today

Jamshedpur, May 1, 2012: Nike in association with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) will kick off the 7^th edition of the India leg of the Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC), its grass root initiative for football in India. On Wednesday, the North, North East and East Zone teams will battle it out in JRD Sports Complex, in Jamshedpur.

Nike India under the aegis of All India Football Federation is conducting the MUPC Championship for U-15 boys for North, North – East & East Zone qualifiers from May 2 to 5 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex with the able sport of Tata Steel in association.

Assam, Chandigarh, Himachal, Haryana, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura and UP have been participating in the  tournament..

Matches will be played on league cum knock out basis at two grounds within JRD Tata Sports Complex. Daily three matches will be played at each ground from 7 am to 10 am. Each match duration will be of 40 minutes; (20 -10 – 20). Teams reaching the final will qualify for the final competition to be played at Goa on from May 10.

AIFF has nominated Binod Kumar Singh of Jharkhand and Bikash Mukherji of West Bengal as match commissioner for this tournament. Nine technical officials nominated by AIFF out of which 6 were from Jharkhand will assist in conducting the matches.  

Sanjiv Paul, VP (CS). Tata Steel will inaugurate the championship on Wednesday at 8.00 am at JRD Tata Sports Complex.

Press release

India face Australia in 4-Nation hockey opener

New Delhi, April 27, 2012: The Indian men hockey team left for London today from New Delhi for participation in the Four-Nation Olympic Test Event to be played at Riverbank Arena, Olympic Park from May 2-6.

The 18-member squad is captained by goalkeeper Bharat Chetri while midfielder Sardar Singh is his deputy.

The Four-Nation test event will feature Australia, Germany, Great Britain and India. India will open its campaign against Australia on  May 2  followed by matches against Great Britain and Germany.

The participation in this tournament will not only give India an opportunity to play against higher ranked teams, who have also qualified for the Olympic Games, but also give the team unique exposure at the same hockey venue that will host the London Olympics.

The tournament will be played on the blue artificial turf with yellow balls. The pitch has pink runaways.

A Hockey India Press Release

Pankaj Advani through to the quarterfinals

Bangalore, April 27, 2012: Ace cueist Pankaj Advani continued his stunning form today at the Asian Snooker Championships, beating Ahmed Saif of Qatar 4 frames to nil, to pocket his seventh straight win in the Championships on the first day of play offs.

Pankaj had earlier blanked Ebrahim Alsharrah of Kuwait, 4 games to nil to enter the play off's as the top seeded player, following his unbeaten run in the tournament. He will now face the winner of the match between Ehsan Heydari of Iran and Lim Chun Kiat of Singapore in the quarterfinals .

Pankaj is looking to continue his winning streak at the championships while keeping a clear eye on a possible historical win, aiming to secure a double Asian Championship win in Billiards and Snooker in a single year.


Press release

Om Prakash Chouhan reigns supreme at Oxford Golf and Country Club

Pune, April 27, 2012: Om Prakash Chouhan carded a sedate 72 in round four of the PGTI Players Championship presented by Oxford Golf & Country Club to bag his maiden professional title. The 25-year-old from Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, totaled 13-under-275 for the tournament. Delhi golfers Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan were the joint runners-up with matching totals of 12-under-276.

Om Prakash Chouhan (66-69-68-72) came home the winner by one stroke after making four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in his final round of 72. Chouhan had a poor start as he bogeyed the first hole. He then rallied with a magnificent chip-in for birdie on the fifth. Om Prakash's bogey on the sixth which came as a result of a three-putt was negated by his top-class chip-putt for birdie on the ninth.

Chouhan landed his approach shot from 100 yards to within seven feet on the 15th hole and thereby garnered his first birdie on the back-nine. He then endured some nerve-wrecking moments after he missed a three-feet putt and double-bogeyed the 17th. The Mhow-based professional was on level terms with Shamim Khan and Rashid Khan at this stage. Chouhan displayed his grit and determination with a near-perfect second shot on the 18th that stopped five feet from the pin. He then sealed the title by converting the five-footer for birdie.

"It is an amazing feeling to win my first professional title. I've finally crossed the line after being in contention on many previous occasions. This win will definitely do a lot for my self-belief. I started poorly today as I did feel the pressure towards the beginning of the round. However, I gathered my thoughts thereafter and tried to play my normal game. I hit it very well through the day and didn't let go of my opportunities despite the blemish on the 17th," said Chouhan.

Shamim Khan (69-68-71-68) had six birdies against two bogeys in his final round. He made a charge on the back-nine with three consecutive birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th but fell just short. Shamim was joined by Rashid Khan (71-66-69-70) in tied second place. Rashid made three birdies and a bogey in his round of 70 on Friday and missed out on a 15-feet birdie putt on the final hole that could've led to a play-off between him and Chouhan.

Harendra Gupta of Chandigarh was fourth at eight-under-280.

Pune's Shubham Jindal, the lone amateur to make the cut, took away the trophy for the best performance by an amateur. Jindal totaled 15-over-303 to grab a share of 46th place.

Photo caption: Om Prakash Chouhan displays his winner's cheque in Pune on April 27, 2012.

Press Release