Archive For The “Sports” Category
New Delhi, Jan 14 : In December 2020, the NITI Aayog released the first-of-its-kind draft guidelines, titled 'Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-Level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India'.
These guidelines emphasise the need to differentiate between fantasy sports and online gaming, create an independent identity of the fantasy sports industry, and appoint a single-purpose self-regulatory industry body for governance.
The guidelines highlight the contribution of the Indian fantasy sports industry towards the growth of sports.
Commending NITI Aayog on the progressive guidelines, Shailesh Haribhakti, Chartered and Cost Accountant and a veteran industry leader, said, "NITI Aayog has taken progressive steps to pave the way for setting up a safe-harbour for the Online Fantasy Sports industry and provide the much-needed impetus for growth and innovation.
For an industry as vibrant as fantasy sports, self-regulation is the ideal mode of governance to ensure sustained innovation and responsible conduct from the operators."
"NITI Aayog's proposition to set up a single self-regulatory organisation (SRO) recognised by the government, is noteworthy.
A self-regulatory mechanism will ensure that the OFS industry functions in a manner that continues to benefit and protect the interests of the consumers while maintaining a governance framework that deters unscrupulous operators."
Creating and growing this category also ties in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of creating an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', where growth is tied to self-reliance and employment generation, he added.
As per the NITI Aayog guidelines, the online fantasy sports sector is expected to contribute nearly Rs 10,000 crore to the Indian government over the next 2-3 years by way of taxes.
And in the coming few years, it also has the potential to attract FDI of more than Rs 10,000 crore and generate additional 12,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The draft guidelines from NITI Aayog examine the current state of affairs for fantasy sports and endeavour to eliminate all legal ambiguities around the industry.
"NITI Aayog has noted that there is a public interest in the fantasy sports industry receiving recognition from the government and having its own identity, which is distinct from other games of skill and legally differentiated from betting and gambling.
It is necessary to shift the focus away from viewing fantasy sports as an exception to betting and gambling, to eliminate the extant ambiguity that the operators encounter at the state level," said Managing Partner, Fidus Law Chambers, Shwetasree Majumder.
Talking about the growth prospects, Rameesh Kailasam, CEO, IndiaTech said, "Providing a distinct identity to Fantasy Sports will go a long way in gaining the consumers' trust and ensuring that all OFS platforms function responsibly and remain compliant with the prescribed format.
This endeavour by NITI Aayog is a welcome step in the direction of moving towards regulatory clarity for the Online Fantasy Sports sector.
Such an effort would enable both the Centre and states to work in the direction of empowering this sunrise sector which is currently dependent on various court judgments for legitimacy to distinguish itself.
India also has a huge potential of creating more startups in this space that can take on the world."
The draft guiding principles released by NITI Aayog have provided fantasy sports with the much-needed momentum for a distinct industry to emerge.
A uniform national-level principle-based governance framework may be deployed to regulate with a light touch.
Such progressive and supporting reforms from the government will allow fantasy sports to thrive and perhaps even make India the global hub for the industry.
Sports lovers and the economy will benefit from establishing a free and regulated industry of online fantasy sports.
--IANS
san/kr.
Source: IANS
These guidelines emphasise the need to differentiate between fantasy sports and online gaming, create an independent identity of the fantasy sports industry, and appoint a single-purpose self-regulatory industry body for governance.
The guidelines highlight the contribution of the Indian fantasy sports industry towards the growth of sports.
Commending NITI Aayog on the progressive guidelines, Shailesh Haribhakti, Chartered and Cost Accountant and a veteran industry leader, said, "NITI Aayog has taken progressive steps to pave the way for setting up a safe-harbour for the Online Fantasy Sports industry and provide the much-needed impetus for growth and innovation.
For an industry as vibrant as fantasy sports, self-regulation is the ideal mode of governance to ensure sustained innovation and responsible conduct from the operators."
"NITI Aayog's proposition to set up a single self-regulatory organisation (SRO) recognised by the government, is noteworthy.
A self-regulatory mechanism will ensure that the OFS industry functions in a manner that continues to benefit and protect the interests of the consumers while maintaining a governance framework that deters unscrupulous operators."
Creating and growing this category also ties in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of creating an 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', where growth is tied to self-reliance and employment generation, he added.
As per the NITI Aayog guidelines, the online fantasy sports sector is expected to contribute nearly Rs 10,000 crore to the Indian government over the next 2-3 years by way of taxes.
And in the coming few years, it also has the potential to attract FDI of more than Rs 10,000 crore and generate additional 12,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The draft guidelines from NITI Aayog examine the current state of affairs for fantasy sports and endeavour to eliminate all legal ambiguities around the industry.
"NITI Aayog has noted that there is a public interest in the fantasy sports industry receiving recognition from the government and having its own identity, which is distinct from other games of skill and legally differentiated from betting and gambling.
It is necessary to shift the focus away from viewing fantasy sports as an exception to betting and gambling, to eliminate the extant ambiguity that the operators encounter at the state level," said Managing Partner, Fidus Law Chambers, Shwetasree Majumder.
Talking about the growth prospects, Rameesh Kailasam, CEO, IndiaTech said, "Providing a distinct identity to Fantasy Sports will go a long way in gaining the consumers' trust and ensuring that all OFS platforms function responsibly and remain compliant with the prescribed format.
This endeavour by NITI Aayog is a welcome step in the direction of moving towards regulatory clarity for the Online Fantasy Sports sector.
Such an effort would enable both the Centre and states to work in the direction of empowering this sunrise sector which is currently dependent on various court judgments for legitimacy to distinguish itself.
India also has a huge potential of creating more startups in this space that can take on the world."
The draft guiding principles released by NITI Aayog have provided fantasy sports with the much-needed momentum for a distinct industry to emerge.
A uniform national-level principle-based governance framework may be deployed to regulate with a light touch.
Such progressive and supporting reforms from the government will allow fantasy sports to thrive and perhaps even make India the global hub for the industry.
Sports lovers and the economy will benefit from establishing a free and regulated industry of online fantasy sports.
--IANS
san/kr.
Source: IANS
Chennai, Jan 8 : The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has announced that its Chennai and Delhi offices would work on alternate days owing to the prevailing Covid pandemic situation.
Though the chess body has cited the Covid-19 pandemic for its decision, it is clear that the balance of power in AICF has shifted out of South India and more particularly from Tamil Nadu to North India post elections.
The important posts of President, Secretary and Treasurer were won by Sanjay Kapoor, Bharat Singh Chauhan and Naresh Sharma hailing from the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana, respectively.
According to AICF, its Chennai office -- the headquarters -- would work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while its Delhi office would work on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with Sunday being a holiday.
This arrangement would continue till further notice, the chess body said.
--IANS
vj/khz/bg.
Source: IANS
Though the chess body has cited the Covid-19 pandemic for its decision, it is clear that the balance of power in AICF has shifted out of South India and more particularly from Tamil Nadu to North India post elections.
The important posts of President, Secretary and Treasurer were won by Sanjay Kapoor, Bharat Singh Chauhan and Naresh Sharma hailing from the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana, respectively.
According to AICF, its Chennai office -- the headquarters -- would work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while its Delhi office would work on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with Sunday being a holiday.
This arrangement would continue till further notice, the chess body said.
--IANS
vj/khz/bg.
Source: IANS
Thane (Maharashtra), Jan 8 : A group of five amateur athletes, including two women, will attempt the gruelling Everesting Running Challenge record at the tiny Matheran hill-station in Raigad starting Friday evening and ending Sunday morning, an organiser said.
The full ERC -- which has been successfully completed by only three Indians so far -- will be attempted for the first time by two women, Queenie Silveira and Mahejabin Ajmanwala -- besides three males, Prashant Rane, Narendra Ranawat and the group coach, Manish Jaiswal.
Organised by Snails2Bolt, a fitness group in Mira Road town, ERC involves a tough trial in which the participants run non-stop to achieve an elevation of 8,849 metres (8.85 kms) -- or equivalent to the height of Mt.
Everest.
However, as Ajmanwala said, "There cannot be a break in the running, and we run non-stop for nearly 30-40 hrs," or till all participants complete the elevation.
Silveiria said since no breaks are allowed, they will keep running for the entire two nights in the schedule but when they are hungry, they can eat while continuing the sprint upwards.
The selected spot for the ERC is a 700-metre hill in Matheran which the runners would run up, return down and repeat the regimen at least 13-15 times till they attain the height of Mt.
Everest, but the descent part will not be counted for the challenge.
With a buzz on social media, S2B members are thrilled as this could probably be the first when at least one Indian woman, or both the female participants, may complete the ERC.
Coach Jaiswal said all the participants have trained rigorously for nearly eight months for Friday's final mega-challenge of a 'virtual climb' of the tallest peak on the planet, Mt.
Everest.
An accomplished swimmer, Rane said that recently, all the five completed hill repeats non-stop for eight hours, covering a distance of over 40 kms each to prepare themselves for the grand event.
Ranawat added that all the five runners have to their credit full and half marathons, some have participated in Himalayan, national and international athletic events, and now hope to complete the ERC successfully.
As per the S2B schedules, the ERC will begin on Friday, Jan 8 at 5 p.m.
and end by 10 a.m. on Sunday, January 10.
Till date, the ERC has been completed by 526 runners from all over the world, including three from India.
--IANS
qn/dpb.
Source: IANS
The full ERC -- which has been successfully completed by only three Indians so far -- will be attempted for the first time by two women, Queenie Silveira and Mahejabin Ajmanwala -- besides three males, Prashant Rane, Narendra Ranawat and the group coach, Manish Jaiswal.
Organised by Snails2Bolt, a fitness group in Mira Road town, ERC involves a tough trial in which the participants run non-stop to achieve an elevation of 8,849 metres (8.85 kms) -- or equivalent to the height of Mt.
Everest.
However, as Ajmanwala said, "There cannot be a break in the running, and we run non-stop for nearly 30-40 hrs," or till all participants complete the elevation.
Silveiria said since no breaks are allowed, they will keep running for the entire two nights in the schedule but when they are hungry, they can eat while continuing the sprint upwards.
The selected spot for the ERC is a 700-metre hill in Matheran which the runners would run up, return down and repeat the regimen at least 13-15 times till they attain the height of Mt.
Everest, but the descent part will not be counted for the challenge.
With a buzz on social media, S2B members are thrilled as this could probably be the first when at least one Indian woman, or both the female participants, may complete the ERC.
Coach Jaiswal said all the participants have trained rigorously for nearly eight months for Friday's final mega-challenge of a 'virtual climb' of the tallest peak on the planet, Mt.
Everest.
An accomplished swimmer, Rane said that recently, all the five completed hill repeats non-stop for eight hours, covering a distance of over 40 kms each to prepare themselves for the grand event.
Ranawat added that all the five runners have to their credit full and half marathons, some have participated in Himalayan, national and international athletic events, and now hope to complete the ERC successfully.
As per the S2B schedules, the ERC will begin on Friday, Jan 8 at 5 p.m.
and end by 10 a.m. on Sunday, January 10.
Till date, the ERC has been completed by 526 runners from all over the world, including three from India.
--IANS
qn/dpb.
Source: IANS
Eluru (Andhra Pradesh), Jan 5 : In an inspiring move, Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district police department is organising a cricket tournament to dissuade locals from cockfights and gambling during the Sankranti season.
"Previously also contests like this used to be held but without much publicity.
This time we are doing it in a grand manner, involving all the divisions of Eluru town. Involving sponsors and also like a big league," deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dilip Kiran told IANS.
He said the tourney's new avatar was the brainchild of superintendent of police (SP) Narayan Naik.
As many as 50 teams are vying for a cash prize of Rs 25,000, which is not limited to Eluru alone but also a few adjacent villages.
"There is no entry fee.
If 11 people come and give their team, they can go ahead," said Kiran encouragingly.
Strategically, the local league has been timed to clash with the mega Sankranti festival, which attracts thousands of people from across the world, who revel in festivities.
These also extend to large scale cock fights, gambling and betting, where hundreds of crores of rupees exchange hands in the annual Sankranti extravaganza, which also attracts hordes of Telugu film stars from Hyderabad.
Bhimavaram and adjacent villages such as Aibhimavaram, Kallakuru, Juvvalapalem, Seesali and several others are wildly popular for hosting hundreds of cockfights where the specially trained cocks throw extremely sharp knives tied to their feet against the opposing cocks to win the bloody battle and earn money for it owner.
Considering these excesses, the local police intentionally clashed the cricket contest with the festival, scheduling the finals and prize distribution on the main festival days.
"It is scheduled till Sankranti festival, so that they will be engaged in the league matches and the final will be scheduled on the festival day.
Later on, the prize distribution and closing ceremony will be on the festival day," pointed out Kiran.
According to the DSP, the initiative has also caught the fancy of a few more police sub divisions in the district such as Jangareddygudem, Polavaram, Kovvuru and Narasapuram.
Jangareddygudem tournament organisers managed to beat district headquarters Eluru by declaring a higher top prize of Rs 50,000 while Polavaram is organising a volleyball tournament.
With no age limit, Kiran said enthusiasts from all age groups are competing for the prize which is being organised at ASR stadium in Eluru.
--IANS
sth/ash.
Source: IANS
"Previously also contests like this used to be held but without much publicity.
This time we are doing it in a grand manner, involving all the divisions of Eluru town. Involving sponsors and also like a big league," deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Dilip Kiran told IANS.
He said the tourney's new avatar was the brainchild of superintendent of police (SP) Narayan Naik.
As many as 50 teams are vying for a cash prize of Rs 25,000, which is not limited to Eluru alone but also a few adjacent villages.
"There is no entry fee.
If 11 people come and give their team, they can go ahead," said Kiran encouragingly.
Strategically, the local league has been timed to clash with the mega Sankranti festival, which attracts thousands of people from across the world, who revel in festivities.
These also extend to large scale cock fights, gambling and betting, where hundreds of crores of rupees exchange hands in the annual Sankranti extravaganza, which also attracts hordes of Telugu film stars from Hyderabad.
Bhimavaram and adjacent villages such as Aibhimavaram, Kallakuru, Juvvalapalem, Seesali and several others are wildly popular for hosting hundreds of cockfights where the specially trained cocks throw extremely sharp knives tied to their feet against the opposing cocks to win the bloody battle and earn money for it owner.
Considering these excesses, the local police intentionally clashed the cricket contest with the festival, scheduling the finals and prize distribution on the main festival days.
"It is scheduled till Sankranti festival, so that they will be engaged in the league matches and the final will be scheduled on the festival day.
Later on, the prize distribution and closing ceremony will be on the festival day," pointed out Kiran.
According to the DSP, the initiative has also caught the fancy of a few more police sub divisions in the district such as Jangareddygudem, Polavaram, Kovvuru and Narasapuram.
Jangareddygudem tournament organisers managed to beat district headquarters Eluru by declaring a higher top prize of Rs 50,000 while Polavaram is organising a volleyball tournament.
With no age limit, Kiran said enthusiasts from all age groups are competing for the prize which is being organised at ASR stadium in Eluru.
--IANS
sth/ash.
Source: IANS
Kolkata, Jan 2 : Former India skipper and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly, admitted to a Kolkata hospital on Saturday after he complained of chest pain, is stable and out of danger, said sources close to his family.
According to sources, Ganguly had suffered a sudden blackout following mild chest pain during a workout session at his Behala residence this morning.
He called up his family doctor who advised him to immediately get admitted to a hospital.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Sad to hear that Sourav Ganguly suffered a mild cardiac arrest and has been admitted to hospital."
Banerjee also wished him a speedy and full recovery.
"My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family," the CM said.
Sources close to Ganguly said that an ECG test was conducted upon him after he rushed to hospital.
He is now stable and out of danger. He might need to undergo angioplasty. A troponin-T test will also be performed upon the BCCI chief at the hospital to determine the cause of his sudden chest pain.
A medical team, led by state-run SSKM Hospital's cardiology department head Saroj Mondal, is looking after Ganguly's health check-ups at the city's Woodlands Hospital's emergency observation ward, sources said.
--IANS
sbn/ash.
Source: IANS
According to sources, Ganguly had suffered a sudden blackout following mild chest pain during a workout session at his Behala residence this morning.
He called up his family doctor who advised him to immediately get admitted to a hospital.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Sad to hear that Sourav Ganguly suffered a mild cardiac arrest and has been admitted to hospital."
Banerjee also wished him a speedy and full recovery.
"My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family," the CM said.
Sources close to Ganguly said that an ECG test was conducted upon him after he rushed to hospital.
He is now stable and out of danger. He might need to undergo angioplasty. A troponin-T test will also be performed upon the BCCI chief at the hospital to determine the cause of his sudden chest pain.
A medical team, led by state-run SSKM Hospital's cardiology department head Saroj Mondal, is looking after Ganguly's health check-ups at the city's Woodlands Hospital's emergency observation ward, sources said.
--IANS
sbn/ash.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Dec 30 : Year 2020 was supposed to one in which words associated with the Olympics were expected to dominate the sports headlines.
Instead, it was terms like pandemic, postponement, behind closed doors, uncertainty and, more recently, vaccine that swept the world as coronavirus forced people shut themselves up in their homes, quarantine centres and, in the case of many sportspersons, hostel rooms of sports facilities.
It was in March that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic and by the end of the month, the Tokyo Olympics, which was scheduled to start from July 24, was postponed to July 23, 2021.
India declared a nationwide lockdown on March 25 which brought the sports calendar to a grinding halt and so, most of the highlights happened before that month.
The most notable highlight of 2020 in Olympic sports for India came from the Asian boxing qualifiers.
Initially scheduled to be held in Wuhan, China, the qualifiers were relocated from the city after it became ground zero for the pandemic, to Amman, Jordan.
India ended up collecting a record nine quotas at the qualifiers, surpassing the previous record of eight that had gone for the 2012 London Olympics.
Six-time world champion Mary Kom (51kg) was among those who booked the quota and her journey to the qualifiers came after she beat Nikhat Zareen in the controversial trials in New Delhi in a bout that was preceded by the kind of war of words in the media that one would usually find for a big ticket professional fight.
Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and Lovlina Burgohain (69kg) were the other boxers who qualified for the Olympics in Amman while among the men, Manish Kaushik (63kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg), and Vikas Krishan (69kg) went through.
India can still add to the nine quotas at the World Qualifiers that, after several delays due to the pandemic, is now set to be held in June 2021.
In badminton, most of India's top players, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, ended the year with the All England Open in March.
While Sindhu, the reigning world champion, and 2019 world championship silver medallist Sai Praneeth have sealed a spot in the Olympics, Saina and former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth were both in a frantic race against time to improve their rankings in time for the Games.
Hence, the postponement of the Olympics became an opportunity for them to recuperate from the mental and physical wear and tear.
Srikanth's form was floundering before the pandemic-induced break, but he looked closer to his 2017 form, when he took the top spot and was winning almost every tournament he was competing in, when he made his comeback at the Denmark Open on October 13.
He was knocked out after a hard-fought quarter-final match against world No.2 Choy Tien Chen.
Meanwhile, Sindhu chose to travel to England where she has been training since. She will now make her comeback, along with the likes of Saina, Praneeth, Srikanth and doubles aces Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy, Chirag Shetty, Satiwiksairaj Rankireddy at the two season opening BWF events in Thailand in January.
The badminton qualification calendar ends with the Indian Open, scheduled for May 11 to 16.
In track and field, Neeraj Chopra, arguably India's biggest medal hope in the field events at the Olympics, qualified for the Tokyo Games in his first attempt at a local meet in South Africa in January.
Chopra's previous competition before that was the 2018 Asian Games, where he won gold with a national record throw of 88.06m, and had been out since then due to an elbow injury.
Year 2019 ended with a flurry of action in wrestling and started in a similar manner with the Asian Championships hosted in New Delhi.
Covid-19 had left an imprint on the tournament with China being barred from participating and North Korea and Turkmenistan pulling out because of outbreaks in their countries.
The postponement of the Olympics, however, led to the sport going into a state of stasis in the country and it was only in December that the country's top grapplers got back on to the mat with Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia.
However Asian Games gold medallists Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat chose not to compete in the World Cup.
While Vinesh travelled to Budapest, Hungary, for a training camp with her support staff, Bajrang is in the United States where he is undergoing a training camp till January 3.
Bajrang also participated in the Flo Wrestling Challenge in Texas where he beat two-time world medallist James Green of America 8-4 in the final and pocketed (Dollar) 25000 in prize money.
In tennis, Sumit Nagal was the biggest mover while veteran Sania Mirza made a victorious comeback after two years away from the tour on a pregnancy break.
Nagal beat American Bradley Kahn in the first round of the US Open to become the first Indian in seven years to win a singles match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
His tournament ended in the next match however, where he faced eventual champion and world No.3 Dominic Thiem.
Sania, meanwhile, won the Hobart Open with her women's doubles partner Nadiia Kichenok in what was her first tournament on the WTA Tour since the China Open in September 2017.
In March, she was an integral part of the Indian team that sealed its first ever spot in the world play-offs of the Fed Cup, which has since been renamed as the Billie Jean King Cup.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
Instead, it was terms like pandemic, postponement, behind closed doors, uncertainty and, more recently, vaccine that swept the world as coronavirus forced people shut themselves up in their homes, quarantine centres and, in the case of many sportspersons, hostel rooms of sports facilities.
It was in March that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic and by the end of the month, the Tokyo Olympics, which was scheduled to start from July 24, was postponed to July 23, 2021.
India declared a nationwide lockdown on March 25 which brought the sports calendar to a grinding halt and so, most of the highlights happened before that month.
The most notable highlight of 2020 in Olympic sports for India came from the Asian boxing qualifiers.
Initially scheduled to be held in Wuhan, China, the qualifiers were relocated from the city after it became ground zero for the pandemic, to Amman, Jordan.
India ended up collecting a record nine quotas at the qualifiers, surpassing the previous record of eight that had gone for the 2012 London Olympics.
Six-time world champion Mary Kom (51kg) was among those who booked the quota and her journey to the qualifiers came after she beat Nikhat Zareen in the controversial trials in New Delhi in a bout that was preceded by the kind of war of words in the media that one would usually find for a big ticket professional fight.
Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and Lovlina Burgohain (69kg) were the other boxers who qualified for the Olympics in Amman while among the men, Manish Kaushik (63kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg), and Vikas Krishan (69kg) went through.
India can still add to the nine quotas at the World Qualifiers that, after several delays due to the pandemic, is now set to be held in June 2021.
In badminton, most of India's top players, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, ended the year with the All England Open in March.
While Sindhu, the reigning world champion, and 2019 world championship silver medallist Sai Praneeth have sealed a spot in the Olympics, Saina and former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth were both in a frantic race against time to improve their rankings in time for the Games.
Hence, the postponement of the Olympics became an opportunity for them to recuperate from the mental and physical wear and tear.
Srikanth's form was floundering before the pandemic-induced break, but he looked closer to his 2017 form, when he took the top spot and was winning almost every tournament he was competing in, when he made his comeback at the Denmark Open on October 13.
He was knocked out after a hard-fought quarter-final match against world No.2 Choy Tien Chen.
Meanwhile, Sindhu chose to travel to England where she has been training since. She will now make her comeback, along with the likes of Saina, Praneeth, Srikanth and doubles aces Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy, Chirag Shetty, Satiwiksairaj Rankireddy at the two season opening BWF events in Thailand in January.
The badminton qualification calendar ends with the Indian Open, scheduled for May 11 to 16.
In track and field, Neeraj Chopra, arguably India's biggest medal hope in the field events at the Olympics, qualified for the Tokyo Games in his first attempt at a local meet in South Africa in January.
Chopra's previous competition before that was the 2018 Asian Games, where he won gold with a national record throw of 88.06m, and had been out since then due to an elbow injury.
Year 2019 ended with a flurry of action in wrestling and started in a similar manner with the Asian Championships hosted in New Delhi.
Covid-19 had left an imprint on the tournament with China being barred from participating and North Korea and Turkmenistan pulling out because of outbreaks in their countries.
The postponement of the Olympics, however, led to the sport going into a state of stasis in the country and it was only in December that the country's top grapplers got back on to the mat with Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia.
However Asian Games gold medallists Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat chose not to compete in the World Cup.
While Vinesh travelled to Budapest, Hungary, for a training camp with her support staff, Bajrang is in the United States where he is undergoing a training camp till January 3.
Bajrang also participated in the Flo Wrestling Challenge in Texas where he beat two-time world medallist James Green of America 8-4 in the final and pocketed (Dollar) 25000 in prize money.
In tennis, Sumit Nagal was the biggest mover while veteran Sania Mirza made a victorious comeback after two years away from the tour on a pregnancy break.
Nagal beat American Bradley Kahn in the first round of the US Open to become the first Indian in seven years to win a singles match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
His tournament ended in the next match however, where he faced eventual champion and world No.3 Dominic Thiem.
Sania, meanwhile, won the Hobart Open with her women's doubles partner Nadiia Kichenok in what was her first tournament on the WTA Tour since the China Open in September 2017.
In March, she was an integral part of the Indian team that sealed its first ever spot in the world play-offs of the Fed Cup, which has since been renamed as the Billie Jean King Cup.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Dec 30 : The year started with the anticipation that is characteristic to an Olympic year.
This time, however, there were also rumblings of uncertainty in the background. The coronavirus pandemic had started to make itself heard outside of China and before the end of the first month of the year, major sports events started falling to the pandemic.
The Tokyo Olympics was scheduled to start on July 24 and the calendar until that date was crammed with last minute qualifiers for a number of sports.
For India, the initial blows came in the form of the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers, which were scheduled to be held in Wuhan -- the city that ended up becoming ground zero for the virus -- being postponed and shifted to Amman, Jordan, and the women's hockey team's tour to China being cancelled due to the pandemic.
Apart from the problems with holding the qualifiers, international travel restrictions and different levels of restriction on movements around the world left the organisers with little choice but to take up the unprecedented step of postponing the Olympics.
The Tokyo Games will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
To what extent the pandemic caught the organisers and stakeholders off guard is testified by the fact that on March 4 -- 19 days before the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, and the Japanaese government announced the postponement of the Olympics -- IOC president Thomas Bach was still comparing the situation to the myriad other problems that previous editions of the Olympics faced months before they started.
"We had (before the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games) a situation where we did not know if we could have Games on the Korean peninsula (because of tensions with North Korea).
Before Rio de Janeiro 2016 we were talking about the Zika virus. Boycott discussions about Moscow 1980, we had the counter-boycott in Los Angeles 1984. We had a terrorist attack in Munich in 1972. We had the African boycott in 1976. You need more?" said Bach at a press conference after a two-day meeting at the organisation's headquarters.
The majority of cancellations or postponement of sports events in India came during March, including big ticket cricket events like the ODI leg of South Africa's tour of India and the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL).
On March 12, the Sports Ministry issued an advisory asking for all sports events to be held only if they are unavoidable and spectators won't be allowed to any of them.
The advisory was also marked to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which promptly announced the postponement of the IPL.
On March 19, the ministry put out another advisory calling for no sports events to be held until April 15.
The April 15 deadline was only a temporary one and it kept extending as the government renewed the lockdown that was put down in the country on March 25 and in May, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said that there would be no sporting events in India for the foreseeable future.
A silence pregnant with uncertainty prevailed in the country's sports community during this period, only pierced by virtual events involving current and former athletes and administrative issues like a turf war within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and National Sports Federations (NSF) losing recognition provided by the Sports Ministry due to a Delhi High Court order.
Just under a week before Rijiju's comments, however, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) issued detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for a phased resumption of sporting activities in the country, starting with training for Olympic bound athletes.
India's top athletes were mostly housed either at the National Institute of Sport in Patiala or the SAI centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka and the issuing and implementation of the SOPs meant that they could finally get out of their respective hostel rooms and do things that at least slightly resembled their normal training routines.
By the end of July, murmurs of the IPL being set to be held in the UAE started doing the rounds.
With the number of infections continuing to spike in India, the BCCI finally decided to hold the tournament in the UAE while implementing strict bio-security rules.
Artificial crowd noises filled up the silence that existed in the stadiums during the broadcast as the 2020 IPL was held from September 19 to November 10.
With that, men's international cricket also restarted for India with the team travelling to Australia for their full tour of the country right after the IPL.
However, there is yet to be a concrete plan for the Indian women's team while any form of domestic cricket tournaments will take place only in 2021.
It has been a similar case in other sports as well with international tournaments that were set to be held in India and national championships of different sports being postponed to next year.
Those athletes that did get some game time under their belts did so outside the country, like badminton and tennis players who participated in tournaments once their respective sports' international calendars restarted.
Indian boxers were taken on an extended European tour in October and they managed to participate in local tournaments in France and Italy.
More importantly, the boxers could spar again once they reached Europe, something that they were not allowed to do according the SOPs and the NIS were they were situated.
Wrestlers also got a chance to get back on to the mat at the wrestling Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, although a few of the top wrestlers chose to give the tournament a miss.
Preparation for an Olympics is a meticulous process with almost each month of a medal prospect accounted for during the four-year period between two Games.
For many, it was this structured process that was delivered a body blow when the 2020 Games were postponed but now, it is all about making the most of whatever 2021 has in store for them and be prepared once again for a first-ever postponed Olympics.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
This time, however, there were also rumblings of uncertainty in the background. The coronavirus pandemic had started to make itself heard outside of China and before the end of the first month of the year, major sports events started falling to the pandemic.
The Tokyo Olympics was scheduled to start on July 24 and the calendar until that date was crammed with last minute qualifiers for a number of sports.
For India, the initial blows came in the form of the Asian boxing Olympic qualifiers, which were scheduled to be held in Wuhan -- the city that ended up becoming ground zero for the virus -- being postponed and shifted to Amman, Jordan, and the women's hockey team's tour to China being cancelled due to the pandemic.
Apart from the problems with holding the qualifiers, international travel restrictions and different levels of restriction on movements around the world left the organisers with little choice but to take up the unprecedented step of postponing the Olympics.
The Tokyo Games will now be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
To what extent the pandemic caught the organisers and stakeholders off guard is testified by the fact that on March 4 -- 19 days before the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, and the Japanaese government announced the postponement of the Olympics -- IOC president Thomas Bach was still comparing the situation to the myriad other problems that previous editions of the Olympics faced months before they started.
"We had (before the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games) a situation where we did not know if we could have Games on the Korean peninsula (because of tensions with North Korea).
Before Rio de Janeiro 2016 we were talking about the Zika virus. Boycott discussions about Moscow 1980, we had the counter-boycott in Los Angeles 1984. We had a terrorist attack in Munich in 1972. We had the African boycott in 1976. You need more?" said Bach at a press conference after a two-day meeting at the organisation's headquarters.
The majority of cancellations or postponement of sports events in India came during March, including big ticket cricket events like the ODI leg of South Africa's tour of India and the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL).
On March 12, the Sports Ministry issued an advisory asking for all sports events to be held only if they are unavoidable and spectators won't be allowed to any of them.
The advisory was also marked to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which promptly announced the postponement of the IPL.
On March 19, the ministry put out another advisory calling for no sports events to be held until April 15.
The April 15 deadline was only a temporary one and it kept extending as the government renewed the lockdown that was put down in the country on March 25 and in May, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said that there would be no sporting events in India for the foreseeable future.
A silence pregnant with uncertainty prevailed in the country's sports community during this period, only pierced by virtual events involving current and former athletes and administrative issues like a turf war within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and National Sports Federations (NSF) losing recognition provided by the Sports Ministry due to a Delhi High Court order.
Just under a week before Rijiju's comments, however, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) issued detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for a phased resumption of sporting activities in the country, starting with training for Olympic bound athletes.
India's top athletes were mostly housed either at the National Institute of Sport in Patiala or the SAI centre in Bengaluru, Karnataka and the issuing and implementation of the SOPs meant that they could finally get out of their respective hostel rooms and do things that at least slightly resembled their normal training routines.
By the end of July, murmurs of the IPL being set to be held in the UAE started doing the rounds.
With the number of infections continuing to spike in India, the BCCI finally decided to hold the tournament in the UAE while implementing strict bio-security rules.
Artificial crowd noises filled up the silence that existed in the stadiums during the broadcast as the 2020 IPL was held from September 19 to November 10.
With that, men's international cricket also restarted for India with the team travelling to Australia for their full tour of the country right after the IPL.
However, there is yet to be a concrete plan for the Indian women's team while any form of domestic cricket tournaments will take place only in 2021.
It has been a similar case in other sports as well with international tournaments that were set to be held in India and national championships of different sports being postponed to next year.
Those athletes that did get some game time under their belts did so outside the country, like badminton and tennis players who participated in tournaments once their respective sports' international calendars restarted.
Indian boxers were taken on an extended European tour in October and they managed to participate in local tournaments in France and Italy.
More importantly, the boxers could spar again once they reached Europe, something that they were not allowed to do according the SOPs and the NIS were they were situated.
Wrestlers also got a chance to get back on to the mat at the wrestling Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, although a few of the top wrestlers chose to give the tournament a miss.
Preparation for an Olympics is a meticulous process with almost each month of a medal prospect accounted for during the four-year period between two Games.
For many, it was this structured process that was delivered a body blow when the 2020 Games were postponed but now, it is all about making the most of whatever 2021 has in store for them and be prepared once again for a first-ever postponed Olympics.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Dec 27 : Year 2020 started with the Australian Open amid raging bushfires in the country and ended with the last ATP Finals, played in front of an empty O2 Arena in London.
It's women's counterpart, the WTA Finals was cancelled, thus joining the long list of tournaments that couldn't take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, and these include the 2020 Wimbledon.
Amid the wreckage of the pandemic emerged a new men's singles Grand Slam champion in Dominic Thiem, who won the US Open while Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek continued the trend of first-time winners in the women's singles segment at the majors by winning the Australian Open and French Open respectively.
From an Indian perspective, the US Open featured a bit of history. Sumit Nagal managed to upstage what he did there at Flushing Meadows in 2019, when he won a set against Federer in the first round, as he became the first Indian singles player in seven years to win a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Nagal, 23, beat American Bradley Klahn in four sets in his first round game but in the second, he ended up facing eventual champion Thiem.
It was a mismatch on paper -- Thiem was ranked third in the world while Nagal was 124th -- and it showed on the court.
Nagal managed to keep up with Thiem early on but he eventually had no answer to the Austrian as he lost the match in straight sets.
The other Indian singles player to have managed to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam this year was Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who reached the first round of the Australian Open as a 'lucky loser' after a few players pulled out.
He ended up losing to Japanese Tatsuma Ito in straight sets, despite Gunneswaran being ranked 22 places above him, and thus lost a chance to face Djokovic in the second round.
Ramkumar Ramanathan, meanwhile, had a best finish this season at the Eckental Challenger in Germany where he was runner-up, thus missing out on a chance to win his maiden title.
Sania Mirza returned to the tour at the 2020 Hobart Open, after her maternity leave, teaming up with Nadiia Kichenok in the doubles section.
The pair ended up winning the title but had to bow out in the first round of the Australian Open subsequently, after Sania sustained a calf injury halfway through the match.
Sania then led the Indian team to a first ever playoff spot in the Fed Cup, which has since been renamed as the Billie Jean King Cup.
She teamed up with Ankita Raina in the decisive women's doubles match to win 7(7)-6(4), 6-0 and completed a comeback from one match down against Indonesia to take India through.
India won nine rubbers across five ties and finished behind China in their group. The playoffs were originally scheduled to be played in April but were pushed to February 2021 due to the pandemic.
India will face Latvia as they look to book a spot in the qualifiers for 2022.
Legendary Leander Paes announced towards the end of the last year that he would be ending his nearly three-decade long professional career in 2020.
The long break induced by the pandemic, however, seems to have changed his mind and he now says that he is aiming to make it to a record eighth consecutive Olympics next year in Tokyo.
He is also looking to reach 100 appearances at Grand Slams. He is currently sitting on 96.
On the other hand, world No.1 Novak Djokovic and No.2 Rafael Nadal continued chipping away at records held by Roger Federer, who played only at the Australian Open at which he reached the semi-finals.
Federer missed out the rest of the year as well due to a groin injury, which required surgery. He later suffered a setback in his rehabilitation that required him to go under the knife a second time.
This is only the second time in his illustrious professional career that Federer finished a year without winning a title.
Nadal continued his mind-numbing dominance at the French Open by winning the clay court Grand Slam a record-extending 13th time this year.
It was also his 20th Grand Slam victory that equalled Federer's record.
Djokovic became the second player after Federer to complete 300 weeks at the top of the rankings.
Federer's record stands at 310 weeks and Djokovic can surpass the Swiss great if he maintains his No.1 position, which he attained for a fifth time in his career after winning the Australian Open, until March 8, 2021.
Djokovic, however, had been in the news for a number of wrong reasons this year, starting with his ill-fated Adria Tour.
A series of exhibition tournaments that were planned to be held across five cities in countries situated in the Balkans, the event came under heavy criticism due to the lack of social distancing and allowing full crowds in stadiums despite the tournaments taking place in the middle of a pandemic.
It was eventually cancelled midway through its second leg in Croatia as several players, including Djokovic, tested positive for the virus.
Djokovic went on to equal Nadal's record for 35 Masters 1000 titles by winning the Cincinnati Masters, but was then disqualified from the US Open in the fourth round when the Serbian accidentally hit a line official in the throat with a tennis ball after losing a point.
He was a favourite to win the title at Flushing Meadows and his departure, coupled with defending champion Nadal and Federer's decision to skip the tournament, meant that the US Open was going to see a new men's singles champion.
It was Austrian Dominic Thiem who went all the way beating Germany's Alexander Zverev in the final to win his first Grand Slam title.
American Sofia carried forward the momentum she built up from a strong finish to 2019, in which she became the first from her country after Serena Williams in 1999 to win the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award.
She won the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam title, beating world No.1 Ashleigh Barty on the way and downing 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in the final.
She was aged 21 at the time, and thus became the youngest American woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Williams won Wimbledon in 2002.
Sofia went on to win the Lyon Open, the last tournament to be held before the pandemic froze the women's tour, and achieved a career-best ranking of fourth.
She then entered the fourth round of the US Open before reaching her second Grand Slam final of the year at the French Open.
However, Sofia was not able to get past a marauding Iga in Paris, who became the first player from Poland to win a Grand Slam title.
Iga, 19, was ranked 54 in the world at the start of the 2020 French Open, thus became the lowest-ranked winner of the tournament in the history of the WTA rankings.
She was also the youngest singles champion at the French Open since Nadal in 2005 and the youngest women's singles winner since Monical Seles in 1992.
Japan's Naomi Osaka won her second US Open title this year. Osaka expressed her support for the Black Lives Matter movement by wearing seven black masks during her matches, each bearing the name of an African-American killed by police action.
Earlier in the year, she was beaten by compatriot Coco Gauff in the third round of the Australian Open while Osaka had to withdraw from the French Open due to a hamstring injury.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
It's women's counterpart, the WTA Finals was cancelled, thus joining the long list of tournaments that couldn't take place due to the coronavirus pandemic, and these include the 2020 Wimbledon.
Amid the wreckage of the pandemic emerged a new men's singles Grand Slam champion in Dominic Thiem, who won the US Open while Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek continued the trend of first-time winners in the women's singles segment at the majors by winning the Australian Open and French Open respectively.
From an Indian perspective, the US Open featured a bit of history. Sumit Nagal managed to upstage what he did there at Flushing Meadows in 2019, when he won a set against Federer in the first round, as he became the first Indian singles player in seven years to win a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Nagal, 23, beat American Bradley Klahn in four sets in his first round game but in the second, he ended up facing eventual champion Thiem.
It was a mismatch on paper -- Thiem was ranked third in the world while Nagal was 124th -- and it showed on the court.
Nagal managed to keep up with Thiem early on but he eventually had no answer to the Austrian as he lost the match in straight sets.
The other Indian singles player to have managed to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam this year was Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who reached the first round of the Australian Open as a 'lucky loser' after a few players pulled out.
He ended up losing to Japanese Tatsuma Ito in straight sets, despite Gunneswaran being ranked 22 places above him, and thus lost a chance to face Djokovic in the second round.
Ramkumar Ramanathan, meanwhile, had a best finish this season at the Eckental Challenger in Germany where he was runner-up, thus missing out on a chance to win his maiden title.
Sania Mirza returned to the tour at the 2020 Hobart Open, after her maternity leave, teaming up with Nadiia Kichenok in the doubles section.
The pair ended up winning the title but had to bow out in the first round of the Australian Open subsequently, after Sania sustained a calf injury halfway through the match.
Sania then led the Indian team to a first ever playoff spot in the Fed Cup, which has since been renamed as the Billie Jean King Cup.
She teamed up with Ankita Raina in the decisive women's doubles match to win 7(7)-6(4), 6-0 and completed a comeback from one match down against Indonesia to take India through.
India won nine rubbers across five ties and finished behind China in their group. The playoffs were originally scheduled to be played in April but were pushed to February 2021 due to the pandemic.
India will face Latvia as they look to book a spot in the qualifiers for 2022.
Legendary Leander Paes announced towards the end of the last year that he would be ending his nearly three-decade long professional career in 2020.
The long break induced by the pandemic, however, seems to have changed his mind and he now says that he is aiming to make it to a record eighth consecutive Olympics next year in Tokyo.
He is also looking to reach 100 appearances at Grand Slams. He is currently sitting on 96.
On the other hand, world No.1 Novak Djokovic and No.2 Rafael Nadal continued chipping away at records held by Roger Federer, who played only at the Australian Open at which he reached the semi-finals.
Federer missed out the rest of the year as well due to a groin injury, which required surgery. He later suffered a setback in his rehabilitation that required him to go under the knife a second time.
This is only the second time in his illustrious professional career that Federer finished a year without winning a title.
Nadal continued his mind-numbing dominance at the French Open by winning the clay court Grand Slam a record-extending 13th time this year.
It was also his 20th Grand Slam victory that equalled Federer's record.
Djokovic became the second player after Federer to complete 300 weeks at the top of the rankings.
Federer's record stands at 310 weeks and Djokovic can surpass the Swiss great if he maintains his No.1 position, which he attained for a fifth time in his career after winning the Australian Open, until March 8, 2021.
Djokovic, however, had been in the news for a number of wrong reasons this year, starting with his ill-fated Adria Tour.
A series of exhibition tournaments that were planned to be held across five cities in countries situated in the Balkans, the event came under heavy criticism due to the lack of social distancing and allowing full crowds in stadiums despite the tournaments taking place in the middle of a pandemic.
It was eventually cancelled midway through its second leg in Croatia as several players, including Djokovic, tested positive for the virus.
Djokovic went on to equal Nadal's record for 35 Masters 1000 titles by winning the Cincinnati Masters, but was then disqualified from the US Open in the fourth round when the Serbian accidentally hit a line official in the throat with a tennis ball after losing a point.
He was a favourite to win the title at Flushing Meadows and his departure, coupled with defending champion Nadal and Federer's decision to skip the tournament, meant that the US Open was going to see a new men's singles champion.
It was Austrian Dominic Thiem who went all the way beating Germany's Alexander Zverev in the final to win his first Grand Slam title.
American Sofia carried forward the momentum she built up from a strong finish to 2019, in which she became the first from her country after Serena Williams in 1999 to win the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award.
She won the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam title, beating world No.1 Ashleigh Barty on the way and downing 2017 Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in the final.
She was aged 21 at the time, and thus became the youngest American woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Williams won Wimbledon in 2002.
Sofia went on to win the Lyon Open, the last tournament to be held before the pandemic froze the women's tour, and achieved a career-best ranking of fourth.
She then entered the fourth round of the US Open before reaching her second Grand Slam final of the year at the French Open.
However, Sofia was not able to get past a marauding Iga in Paris, who became the first player from Poland to win a Grand Slam title.
Iga, 19, was ranked 54 in the world at the start of the 2020 French Open, thus became the lowest-ranked winner of the tournament in the history of the WTA rankings.
She was also the youngest singles champion at the French Open since Nadal in 2005 and the youngest women's singles winner since Monical Seles in 1992.
Japan's Naomi Osaka won her second US Open title this year. Osaka expressed her support for the Black Lives Matter movement by wearing seven black masks during her matches, each bearing the name of an African-American killed by police action.
Earlier in the year, she was beaten by compatriot Coco Gauff in the third round of the Australian Open while Osaka had to withdraw from the French Open due to a hamstring injury.
--IANS
rkm/qma.
Source: IANS
Chennai, Dec 27 : Not even a single congratulatory message from any minister -- state or Central -- or the officials of All India Chess Federation (AICF) or the concerned state chess associations for the winners of the gold and bronze medals in the FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships, chess players pointed out.
Tamil Nadu's G.
Akash became India's 66th chess Grandmaster (GM) -- the only one to get the title during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the women's section, Pratyusha Bodda got her WGM title early this year.
The year 2020 can be summed up as the year of fight for power between the two factions in AICF outside the board.
The year also saw the AICF getting a new set of office bearers and later got dismissed.
On their part, the chess players brought laurels to the nation by winning gold in the FIDE Online Olympiad and the FIDE Online World Cadets.
"Two junior players - Grandmaster D. Gukesh and Woman International Master (WIM) Rakshitta Ravi - from Tamil Nadu have won gold in the World Cadets tournament.
But there was no congratulatory message even from the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA)," an International Master (IM) told IANS preferring anonymity.
The AICF is split into two factions - one headed by former President P.R. Venketrama Raja and the other by its Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan.
The Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to offline/traditional face-to-face chess tournaments but gave birth to the online version.
While several online tournaments were held and are being held by private organisers, the AICF and several state federations largely kept themselves away from that activity.
The Chess Players Forum (CPF) had even urged the cashrich AICF to explore the possibility of holding the National Championships and rated tournaments online with players at their designated centres.
Similarly, the CPF had appealed to the Central government to reward the victorious Olympiad chess team members.
At the start of 2020, AICF President Raja's camp got a shocker with the Election Officer retired Supreme Court Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla rejecting the nominations filed by him and others belonging to his faction.
Kalifulla rejected the nomination forms of 23 contestants as they did not file their nominations in person as specified in para 6.4 of the National Sports Development Code.
He also announced Ajay H. Patel as the President, Chauhan as the Secretary, Naresh Sharma as the Treasurer, M. Arun Singh as the Joint Secretary and Vipnesh Bharadwaj as the Vice President.
Global chess body Fide also recognised the new office bearers. However, the Madras High Court annulled their election and ordered fresh elections.
The election process got stalled as Kalifulla ordered the chess body to deposit Rs 58.50 lakh towards remuneration for himself, two assistant returning officers, secretarial staff and other charges so that he can commence the election process as per the National Sports Development Code but AICF was not ready to pay that amount.
Concerned with the developments in AICF, the Fide in April suggested the formation of a committee to run the day-to-day affairs of AICF.
According to Fide, Chauhan and Raja have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a five-member committee comprising themselves or their nominees, a nominee from the Central government and a famous and respected male and female chess player.
While the Chauhan camp agreed to FIDE's proposal, the Raja camp declined saying the matter is sub-judice.
On its part, the Central government, in a letter addressed to Raja and Chauhan on May 20, while referring to the disputes in the management of the chess body, had said: "AICF may resolve the issues concerning management of All India Chess Federation by September 30, 2020."
In November, the Madras High Court appointed retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, K.
Kannan, as the new returning officer to conduct the AICF elections and the latter has fixed January 4 as the poll date and set the election process rolling.
Be that as it may, it was a great year for young GM Nihal Sarin who recently won the gold in the FIDE Online World Cadets in the Under 18 category.
The other tournaments won by Sarin are: ChessBase India Super Juniors Cup, Junior Speed Chess Championship by beating several top GMs, Karpov Trophy by beating several top GMs and a bunch of smaller blitz tournaments.
Sarin was also the member of the Indian team that won the Olympiad gold and the silver medal in the Asian Nations (Regions) Online Cup 2020.
The Indian women's team won the gold at Asian Nations (Regions) Online Cup 2020.
The other notable achievement was Akash getting the GM title.
Young Akash, who took a break from chess to complete his engineering, came back to the game to earn the prestigious GM title - the passport for further growth.
"His come back is very credible. Generally, if a sportsman takes a long break, it becomes difficult to find his old form. But in Akash's case, he came back with a bang. He had the self-confidence. The challenge was the changes in technology, techniques and many who are much younger to him have become GM and he has to compete against them," Visweswaran Kameswaran, a professional chess trainer, told IANS.
In the women's section, Pratyusha Bodda got her WGM title this year.
Other events:
* Many GMs started streaming on the social media site YouTube
* 5 persons from Erode, including the two women, were not allowed to write the arbiter's exam that was held on March 8 despite paying Rs 1,000 each as exam fees
* International Master Atanu Lahiri was selected to train around 50 junior chess players -- both girls and boys -- in Guyana for three months initially
* In an attempt to safeguard the rights of chess players, the Chess Players Forum wrote to Central government against AICF for not following the National Sports Development Code and also having "draconian anti-player" provisions.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
--IANS
vj/arm.
Source: IANS
Tamil Nadu's G.
Akash became India's 66th chess Grandmaster (GM) -- the only one to get the title during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the women's section, Pratyusha Bodda got her WGM title early this year.
The year 2020 can be summed up as the year of fight for power between the two factions in AICF outside the board.
The year also saw the AICF getting a new set of office bearers and later got dismissed.
On their part, the chess players brought laurels to the nation by winning gold in the FIDE Online Olympiad and the FIDE Online World Cadets.
"Two junior players - Grandmaster D. Gukesh and Woman International Master (WIM) Rakshitta Ravi - from Tamil Nadu have won gold in the World Cadets tournament.
But there was no congratulatory message even from the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA)," an International Master (IM) told IANS preferring anonymity.
The AICF is split into two factions - one headed by former President P.R. Venketrama Raja and the other by its Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan.
The Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to offline/traditional face-to-face chess tournaments but gave birth to the online version.
While several online tournaments were held and are being held by private organisers, the AICF and several state federations largely kept themselves away from that activity.
The Chess Players Forum (CPF) had even urged the cashrich AICF to explore the possibility of holding the National Championships and rated tournaments online with players at their designated centres.
Similarly, the CPF had appealed to the Central government to reward the victorious Olympiad chess team members.
At the start of 2020, AICF President Raja's camp got a shocker with the Election Officer retired Supreme Court Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla rejecting the nominations filed by him and others belonging to his faction.
Kalifulla rejected the nomination forms of 23 contestants as they did not file their nominations in person as specified in para 6.4 of the National Sports Development Code.
He also announced Ajay H. Patel as the President, Chauhan as the Secretary, Naresh Sharma as the Treasurer, M. Arun Singh as the Joint Secretary and Vipnesh Bharadwaj as the Vice President.
Global chess body Fide also recognised the new office bearers. However, the Madras High Court annulled their election and ordered fresh elections.
The election process got stalled as Kalifulla ordered the chess body to deposit Rs 58.50 lakh towards remuneration for himself, two assistant returning officers, secretarial staff and other charges so that he can commence the election process as per the National Sports Development Code but AICF was not ready to pay that amount.
Concerned with the developments in AICF, the Fide in April suggested the formation of a committee to run the day-to-day affairs of AICF.
According to Fide, Chauhan and Raja have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a five-member committee comprising themselves or their nominees, a nominee from the Central government and a famous and respected male and female chess player.
While the Chauhan camp agreed to FIDE's proposal, the Raja camp declined saying the matter is sub-judice.
On its part, the Central government, in a letter addressed to Raja and Chauhan on May 20, while referring to the disputes in the management of the chess body, had said: "AICF may resolve the issues concerning management of All India Chess Federation by September 30, 2020."
In November, the Madras High Court appointed retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, K.
Kannan, as the new returning officer to conduct the AICF elections and the latter has fixed January 4 as the poll date and set the election process rolling.
Be that as it may, it was a great year for young GM Nihal Sarin who recently won the gold in the FIDE Online World Cadets in the Under 18 category.
The other tournaments won by Sarin are: ChessBase India Super Juniors Cup, Junior Speed Chess Championship by beating several top GMs, Karpov Trophy by beating several top GMs and a bunch of smaller blitz tournaments.
Sarin was also the member of the Indian team that won the Olympiad gold and the silver medal in the Asian Nations (Regions) Online Cup 2020.
The Indian women's team won the gold at Asian Nations (Regions) Online Cup 2020.
The other notable achievement was Akash getting the GM title.
Young Akash, who took a break from chess to complete his engineering, came back to the game to earn the prestigious GM title - the passport for further growth.
"His come back is very credible. Generally, if a sportsman takes a long break, it becomes difficult to find his old form. But in Akash's case, he came back with a bang. He had the self-confidence. The challenge was the changes in technology, techniques and many who are much younger to him have become GM and he has to compete against them," Visweswaran Kameswaran, a professional chess trainer, told IANS.
In the women's section, Pratyusha Bodda got her WGM title this year.
Other events:
* Many GMs started streaming on the social media site YouTube
* 5 persons from Erode, including the two women, were not allowed to write the arbiter's exam that was held on March 8 despite paying Rs 1,000 each as exam fees
* International Master Atanu Lahiri was selected to train around 50 junior chess players -- both girls and boys -- in Guyana for three months initially
* In an attempt to safeguard the rights of chess players, the Chess Players Forum wrote to Central government against AICF for not following the National Sports Development Code and also having "draconian anti-player" provisions.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
--IANS
vj/arm.
Source: IANS
New Delhi, Dec 25 : The Indian men's and women's hockey teams had started the year with an aim to finish on the podium at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that would end the countrys 40-year medal drought at the worlds biggest sports extravaganza, but the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19.
India last won a hockey gold medal in hockey at 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Since then, the men's team has participated in eight Olympic Games without making it to the podium. In Rio, the men's team finished a dismal eighth.
The men's team, which rose to fourth spot in the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) world rankings this year, maintained that position with 2,063.78 points in the year-end list and would enter 2021 as the fourth-ranked team.
Before the hockey activities came to a halt in March due to Covid-19, the Indian men's hockey team took part in its maiden FIH Pro League campaign, playing six games against formidable teams like reigning world champions Belgium, Olympic silver medallists the Netherlands, and Australia.
The Indian team had made an emphatic start to their FIH Pro League campaign with a 5-2 and 3-3 (3-1) wins against the Netherlands, followed by a 2-1 win and 3-4 loss against Belgium, and 3-4 loss and 2-2 (3-1) win against Australia, before the Covid-19 pandemic halted the competition.
After that, the players were confined in a bio-secure environment at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility in Bengaluru where they carried out their training once the rules were relaxed by the government in August.
During this time, six of the players, including captain Manpreet Singh, got infected with the virus.
Apart from him, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar and Krishan Pathak had also been diagnosed with Covid-19.
"I think we had read and heard so much about the pandemic being a deadly disease, the first few days was stressful and anxious after testing positive for the virus.
Although I have been in some of the most difficult match-situations as a professional hockey player, I had never felt this stressed," Mandeep had said about his experience in quarantine.
"I was never taken away in an ambulance, never been seriously injured either. So, this phase was a new experience for me.".
India's campaign in the ongoing Pro League would restart on April 10 and 11 with a tie against Argentina away from home.
India will then play Great Britain on May 8 and 9, again away from home, before travelling to Spain where they play on May 12 and 13.
They then face Germany away on May 18 and 19 and will finally play a home tie on May 29 and 30 against New Zealand.
Skipper Manpreet believes back-to-back matches will be the right litmus test for the team before the Tokyo Olympics.
"I feel after the four-week gap between our matches against Argentina and Great Britain, we will play back-to-back matches almost every weekend right until the end of May and that's the kind of momentum we are looking for ahead of the Olympic Games," he had said.
"We will test our body and mind during this time to see how we can cope the pressure of playing back-to-back high intensity games and manage the load well.
This will be ideal test for us before the Olympics."
On the other hand, the women's team made only its second Olympic appearance in 2016 in Rio, but finished a poor 12th.
The team, which qualified for the 2020 Olympics last year, were expected to make a mark in Tokyo. But the Olympics were postponed, and will now be held from July 23 to August 8.
The women's team was ranked ninth with 1,543 points in the year-end rankings.
The first time they achieved a high of ninth position was in 2018.
The women failed to qualify for the Pro League.
They did not play any competitive games in 2020, and travelled to New Zealand for a five-match practice tour in January.
The Rani Rampal-led side registered win against New Zealand Development Squad (4-0) in their opening match.
The Indian eves then lost two matches 1-2 and 0-1 to the New Zealand national team. After that, India won 1-0 win against Great Britain. In the last match of the tour, India defeated New Zealand 3-0, ending their tour on a high.
Following the tour, like the men's team, they also took part in the national camp at SAI Bengaluru centre amid the Covid-19 pandemic and focussed on their fitness and sharpening skill as part of their Olympic preparation.
Indian women's team will begin their Olympic campaign against world champions the Netherlands next year.
Though India has not faced the Dutch team in any major tournament in the recent past, they are aware of how the team plays.
With both chief coach Sjoerd Marijne as well as analytical coach Janneke Schopman are from the Netherlands, the duo is well-versed with the playing style of the Dutch national team.
"We have not played the Netherlands national team in the recent past but we follow their matches closely and we end up talking to coaches Sjoerd and Janneke about the team's playing style," vice-captain Savita has said.
"Since both coaches are from the Netherlands, they have a lot of knowledge about how the team plays.
Netherlands are undoubtedly aggressive and tactically very sound. Our first match at the Olympics will surely be challenging," she added.
Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay believes the Indian women's team can win the elusive Olympic medal next year.
"We have one of the best captains in Rani.
I think Rani and goal-keeper Savita can take the team to a podium finish. The team is working really hard, preparing for the Olympics, and am confident of a good show," he has said.
And going by the performance of both the men's and women's teams in the past two years, fans can safely expect a good show in Tokyo next year.
--IANS
aak/qma.
Source: IANS
India last won a hockey gold medal in hockey at 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Since then, the men's team has participated in eight Olympic Games without making it to the podium. In Rio, the men's team finished a dismal eighth.
The men's team, which rose to fourth spot in the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) world rankings this year, maintained that position with 2,063.78 points in the year-end list and would enter 2021 as the fourth-ranked team.
Before the hockey activities came to a halt in March due to Covid-19, the Indian men's hockey team took part in its maiden FIH Pro League campaign, playing six games against formidable teams like reigning world champions Belgium, Olympic silver medallists the Netherlands, and Australia.
The Indian team had made an emphatic start to their FIH Pro League campaign with a 5-2 and 3-3 (3-1) wins against the Netherlands, followed by a 2-1 win and 3-4 loss against Belgium, and 3-4 loss and 2-2 (3-1) win against Australia, before the Covid-19 pandemic halted the competition.
After that, the players were confined in a bio-secure environment at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility in Bengaluru where they carried out their training once the rules were relaxed by the government in August.
During this time, six of the players, including captain Manpreet Singh, got infected with the virus.
Apart from him, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar and Krishan Pathak had also been diagnosed with Covid-19.
"I think we had read and heard so much about the pandemic being a deadly disease, the first few days was stressful and anxious after testing positive for the virus.
Although I have been in some of the most difficult match-situations as a professional hockey player, I had never felt this stressed," Mandeep had said about his experience in quarantine.
"I was never taken away in an ambulance, never been seriously injured either. So, this phase was a new experience for me.".
India's campaign in the ongoing Pro League would restart on April 10 and 11 with a tie against Argentina away from home.
India will then play Great Britain on May 8 and 9, again away from home, before travelling to Spain where they play on May 12 and 13.
They then face Germany away on May 18 and 19 and will finally play a home tie on May 29 and 30 against New Zealand.
Skipper Manpreet believes back-to-back matches will be the right litmus test for the team before the Tokyo Olympics.
"I feel after the four-week gap between our matches against Argentina and Great Britain, we will play back-to-back matches almost every weekend right until the end of May and that's the kind of momentum we are looking for ahead of the Olympic Games," he had said.
"We will test our body and mind during this time to see how we can cope the pressure of playing back-to-back high intensity games and manage the load well.
This will be ideal test for us before the Olympics."
On the other hand, the women's team made only its second Olympic appearance in 2016 in Rio, but finished a poor 12th.
The team, which qualified for the 2020 Olympics last year, were expected to make a mark in Tokyo. But the Olympics were postponed, and will now be held from July 23 to August 8.
The women's team was ranked ninth with 1,543 points in the year-end rankings.
The first time they achieved a high of ninth position was in 2018.
The women failed to qualify for the Pro League.
They did not play any competitive games in 2020, and travelled to New Zealand for a five-match practice tour in January.
The Rani Rampal-led side registered win against New Zealand Development Squad (4-0) in their opening match.
The Indian eves then lost two matches 1-2 and 0-1 to the New Zealand national team. After that, India won 1-0 win against Great Britain. In the last match of the tour, India defeated New Zealand 3-0, ending their tour on a high.
Following the tour, like the men's team, they also took part in the national camp at SAI Bengaluru centre amid the Covid-19 pandemic and focussed on their fitness and sharpening skill as part of their Olympic preparation.
Indian women's team will begin their Olympic campaign against world champions the Netherlands next year.
Though India has not faced the Dutch team in any major tournament in the recent past, they are aware of how the team plays.
With both chief coach Sjoerd Marijne as well as analytical coach Janneke Schopman are from the Netherlands, the duo is well-versed with the playing style of the Dutch national team.
"We have not played the Netherlands national team in the recent past but we follow their matches closely and we end up talking to coaches Sjoerd and Janneke about the team's playing style," vice-captain Savita has said.
"Since both coaches are from the Netherlands, they have a lot of knowledge about how the team plays.
Netherlands are undoubtedly aggressive and tactically very sound. Our first match at the Olympics will surely be challenging," she added.
Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay believes the Indian women's team can win the elusive Olympic medal next year.
"We have one of the best captains in Rani.
I think Rani and goal-keeper Savita can take the team to a podium finish. The team is working really hard, preparing for the Olympics, and am confident of a good show," he has said.
And going by the performance of both the men's and women's teams in the past two years, fans can safely expect a good show in Tokyo next year.
--IANS
aak/qma.
Source: IANS