BVM, Somalwar triumph

Nitin Gadkari, State Unit Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party, along with the award winners. (Pic courtesy The Hitavada)

SJAN-NDBA celebrate National Sports Day

Nagpur Aug 29, 2008
BHAVAN’S Bharatiya Vidya Mandir 'A' and Somalwar High School emerged victorious in the Inter-School Free Throw Basketball (shooting) Competition, organised jointly by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA), at the Dharampeth Krida Mandal courts on Friday.The unique event to mark the National Sports Day evoked enormous response with over 200 school students taking part and around 500 spectators applauding city hoopsters’ scintillating display of basket conversion.In the girls’ section, the tiny cagers of Bhavan’s BVM registered a thrilling 4-2 victory over Mount Carmel High School. Shalmalee Gadkari played a crucial role in the title clash converting three out of her five attempts while Karishma Manekar scored once. Mount Carmel cagers Radhika Mohota and Ruchita Shrivastava scored a basket each.The boys title went to Somalwar School who drubbed The Jain International School 7-3. Vivek Pawar (3), Piyush Zanjal (3) and Mayur Ambulkar (1) scored for the winners while Nishkarsh Madavi’s lone effort of three baskets for TJIS went in vain.Chinmay Dondrikar (Hadas High School) and Maithili Joshi (Modern School) captured the best shooter with perfect action award.


Free throw competition in progress.

(pic courtsey The Hitavada)

Prizes were distributed at the hands of Nitin Gadkari, State Unit Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party. On the occasion SJAN felicitated Mobin Ahmed (former hockey player), Arvind Garud, (basketball coach) and Priya Deshpande (badminton coach) for their yeoman’s service towards sports.Mayor Mayatai Iwnate presided over the function and felicitated sportspersons who have achieved meritorious distinction in academics too. The players include Samiksha Ambekar (Basketball), Anuja Bombatkar (Chess) and Neha Bodele (Swimming).Present on the dais were Devendra Fadnavis, MLA and NDBA President, Sandeep Joshi, corporator, Bhau Kane, noted athletics coach, Sumitra Luley vice-president, DKM, Abhay Kaple, NDBA working president, Dr Ram Thakur, SJAN president and Rahul Dixit, SJAN secretary.Kishor Bagde, SJAN joint secretary, conducted the programme while Anupam Soni, treasurer, proposed a vote of thanks.

Results:Boys (final): Somalwar High School, Ramdaspeth 7 (Vivek Pawar 3, Piyush Zanjal 3, Mayur Ambulkar 1) bt The Jain International School 3 (Nishkarsh Madavi 3) Third place: CPS Wardhaman Nagar 2 (Hitesh 1, Kashyap 1) bt Hadas High School 0.Girls (final): Bhavan’s Bharatiya Vidya Mandir ‘A’ 4 (Shalmalee Gadkari 3, Karishma Manekar 1) bt Mount Carmel High School ‘A’ 2 (Radhika Mohta 1, Ruchita Shrivastava 1) Third place: CPS ‘A’ 4 (Riya Chandak 2, Tanya Jain 1, Resham Shrivastava 1) bt Modern School 3 (Vaishnavi Dongre 2, Maithili Joshi 1)

SPORTS DAY PICTURES

(Sjan pics)

Carmel, CPS cagers rule the roost

SJAN-NDBA FREE THROW CONTEST BEGINS

Yashvant Khodke, a Non Resident Indian
inaugurating the free throw basketball competition

NAGPUR, Aug 28

Over 200 hoopsters thronged the Dharampeth Krida Mandal basketball courts, Shankar Nagar, on Thursday afternoon to fight for top honours in the unique Inter-School Free Throw (shooting) Competition organised by the Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA). The tournament has been organised to celebrate National Sports Day on August 29. The competition was inaugurated by Yashvant Khodke, a Non Resident Indian in the presence of Sumitra Luley, NDBA Vice-President and office-bearers of SJAN and NDBA.The preliminary rounds were played on Thursday. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be played on Friday morning The teams that made to the quarter-finals in the boys section include two teams of Centre Point School, Wardhaman Nagar, The Jain International School, Centre Point School, Katol Road, Saraswati Vidyalaya, Dharampeth High School and Hadas High School.In the girls section both teams of Mount Carmel High School and Centre Point School Katol Road and a team each from Bhavan’s Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Somalwar High School, Ramdaspeth and Modern School Koradi Road entered the last eight.Ruchita Shrivastava of Mount Carmel gave a fine display converting three of her four attempts.Purval Joge of Saraswati Vidyalaya and Harsh Surana of The Jain International School emerged top scorers in the boys section with a fine conversion (3 out of 4).The prize distribution function will be held on Friday at 9 am. Nitin Gadkari, state unit chief of Bharatiya Janata Party, will be the chief guest while Mayatai Iwnate, Mayor, will preside over. Devendra Fadnavis, MLA, is the guest of honour. Sandeep Joshi, corporator and Madhukar Dhobley, Deputy General Manager, Bank of Maharashtra, Nagpur will be the special guests.SJAN and NDBA will felicitate Samiksha Ambekar (Basketball), Anuja Bombatkar (Chess) and Neha Bodele (Swimming) who have achieved meritorious status in academics too. SJAN will also felicitate three personalities who have done a yeoman's service towards sports. They include Mobin Ahmed, former hockey player, Arvind Garud, noted basketball coach and Priya Deshpande, an active badminton coach.
Results:Boys: The Jain International School 'B' 5 (Lav Agrawal 1, Sagar Bodhke 1, Harsh Surana 3) bt Centre Point School Katol Road 'B' 4 (Ankit Jadhwani 2, Abhishek Dharme 1, Kaustubh Gupta 1); Centre Point School Wardhaman Nagar 'A' 1 (Tejas Jain 1) bt Hadas High School 0; Saraswati Vidyalaya 'A' 3 (Purval Joge 3) bt Modern School 'B' 2 (Kartik Kumar 1, Tanmay Dhote 1); Dharampeth High School 1 (Jai Rahate 1) bt Bhavans BVM 0; Hadas High School 2 (Palash Babre 1, Chinmay Dhom 1) bt Saraswati Vidyalaya 'B' 1 (Rajat Pawar 1); The Jain International School 'A' 1 (Chaitanya Jain 1) bt Modern School 0; Centre Point School Wardhaman Nagar 'B' 4 (Hitesh Jain 2, Kashyap Patel 2) bt Bhavans BVM 3 (Ankur Agarwal 1, Vedant Sarkar 2).
Girls: Mount Carmel High School 'A' 5 (Radhika Mohta 1, Shreya Dhole 1, Ruchita Shrivastava 3) bt Hadas High School 'A' 3 (Yogini Oak 2, Arti Khodaskar 1); Mount Carmel High School 'B' 3 (Tejaswini Madne 1, Vedashree Abhyankar 2) bt Saraswati Vidyalaya 2 (Leena Garud 2); Modern School 'A' 1 (Maithili Joshi 1) bt Hadas High School 'B' 0; Somalwar High School 1 (Amruta Tingne 1) bt Modern School 0; Bhavans BVM 'A' 3 (Shivani Dubey 2, Shalmalee Gadkari 1) bt Saraswati Vidyalaya 'B' 1 (Aarohi Hadole 1).

SJAN to fete Ahmed, Garud and Deshpande

Mobin Ahmed

Arvind Garud

Samiksha, Anuja, Neha to be honoured
Nagpur, 6, 2008

Neha Deshpande

Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA) will honour three meritorious sportspersons and three eminent servants sports on the occasion of National Sports Day on August 29, 2008. The programme will be held at Dharampeth Krida Mandal basketball courts, Shankar Nagar at 9 am.
The sportspersons who have also achieved meritorious status in academics include Samiksha Ambekar (Basketball), Anuja Bombatkar (Chess) and Neha Bodele (Swimming).
SJAN will also felicitate three personalities who have done a yeoman's service towards sports. They include Mobin Ahmed, former hockey player, Arvind Garud, noted basketball coach and Priya Deshpande, an active badminton coach.
All the shining lights will be felicitated at the hands of Nitin Gadkari, State Unit Chief of Bharatiya Janata Party, who is the chief guest of the function.
Mayatai Iwnate, Mayor, will preside over the function while Devendra Fadnavis, MLA will be the guest of honour. Madhukar Dhobley, Deputy General Manager, Bank of Maharashtra, Nagpur region and Sandeep Joshi, coporator will be the special guests.

Indian chess has a bright future: Deshmukh

Denies reports of quitting as India jr coach
NAGPUR, August 18, 2008

IT WAS for the first time in the annals of a world junior chess championship that both the titles at stake in the open as well as in the girls’ championship went to the same country.
And had one of his wards listened to him, International Master Anup Deshmukh would have achieved his personal target of winning four medals on his first assignment as coach of junior India team, in the recently-concluded World Junior Chess Championship at Gaziantep in Turkey.
"Winning three medals out of a possible six is in itself a big achievement but for a silly mistake of Soumya Swaminathan, who needed just a draw against local girl Kubra Ozturk, that robbed team-mate Mary Ann Gomes of a bronze. The loss was more painful because she forgot to press the flag," said Deshmukh upon his arrival to the city on Monday.
Talking in a ‘Meet the Press’ organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) at Tilak Patrakar Bhavan Deshmukh shared his Turkey experience and also denied media reports that he was quitting as India juniors coach.
Excerpts:
On a newspaper report that said ‘frustrated Deshmukh quits coaching’:
My frustration of India missing a medal due to a silly mistake was blown out of proportion. Neither I have quit coaching nor am contemplating to do so. It was just in the heat of the moment that I said ‘If they are not listening to me, there is no point coaching them’. I also found the Indian players more focused on their game than others.
On what he expected from his team:
I knew Abhijeet Gupta was a good player. He had been at my place for quite some time in the past for training. We also had two experienced young girls in Dronavali Harika and Mary Ann Gomes. Last year in the same meet, Harika blew one full point lead to be placed outside the medal bracket, but this time I had faith in her.
On his coaching stint prior to the tour in New Delhi:
Actually I was to coach just the boys but as the coach of girls was indisposed, I guided them too in the camp. All the team members were hard working. But coaching boys is much easier as I think they grasp things quickly.
On their actual performance in the meet:
Till the eighth round we were nowhere near the top. In fact we were out of the top 10. But in this 13-round tournament which was very taxing as the players had to play one match a day, I knew that the other players too very losing focus. I encouraged my members telling them that this was the time to do it. And they responded. I also got the record of the previous Under-19 events and circulated the copies among the players which helped them prepare well against different styles of the Europeans and the Communist Block players.
On India’s future:
The future is bright. If we take a systematic approach, we can go far ahead. Apart from this team, I feel two players—Krishnan Sasikiran and Parimarjan Negi—can take their game to higher level. Sasi is very patriotic and gives his best playing for the nation. Negi, placed in the same bracket as Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore by their sponsors, is a very humble boy. He was a wild card entry in the meet. He used to run with me for 2-2.5 kilometers daily there. Gupta and Harika are also very dedicated players.
On his personal experience:
Being a vegetarian is the biggest disadvantage outside India. To be out of your home for such a long time takes toll on the body. And last but not least, there was no happier moment than hearing the national anthem twice on August 15 in a foreign land!

Georgia-Russia war costs India dear!
With the Georgia-Russia war going on at the time of the competition, the Georgian players had come with tattoos and banners reading ‘Go Russia’, ‘Stop Russia’ etc., that distracted some Indian players who lost their concentration and the match too.
‘BLACK’S WIN OVER ‘WHITE’ ON I-DAY
In his final match on the Independence Day, India’s GM Abhijeet Gupta played against GM David Howell of England and won comprehensively. The success tasted more sweet as it was August 15 and ironically Gupta was playing with black pieces against Howell’s white.

SJAN-NDBA to celebrate National Sports Day on 29th

SJAN-NDBA to host free-throw contest on National Sports Day
NAGPUR, AUGUST 14, 2008

AN INTER-SCHOOL basketball free-throw competition has been jointly organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Nagpur District Basketball Association (NDBA) to mark the National Sports Day on August 29 at Dharampeth Krida Mandal court, Shankar Nagar. Each school can send two boys and two girls’ teams upto 10th standard comprising three members each. Last date for entry is August 20. It can be confirmed with NDBA Secretary Anup Rajurkar (9890898028). Attractive prizes will be given to first four winners in each category. NDBA and SJAN will also honour meritorious sportspersons who have secured more than 90 per cent marks in SSC and also represented State in national tournaments. Students fulfilling the condition should send photocopies of their SSC marksheet and certificate of participation in nationals to Kishor Bagde (9822576459) at Lokmat and Nilesh Deshpande (9881243198) at Lokmat Times.