South retain JK Bose T-20 trophy

South zone retained JK Bose Twenty-20 Cricket title in 42nd SJFI National Convention on Friday by winning all its three league matches. In its last league match, South crushed East Zone by nine wickets.

Batting first, East Zone were bundled out for just 64 runs in 16.3 overs. Lakshyasit Gogoi was the only batsman to reach in double digit (12 runs) while Anirban Roy was the second major contributor scoring just nine runs.

Hardik Worah was the pick of the bowlers. He scalped three wickets giving away just 11 runs while M Ramakrishnan and Ramesh Kote took two wickets each. In reply, South Zone chased down the target in 7.2 overs losing only one wicket. Ashwin Achal remained unbeaten at 1 while Hardik Worah made 18 runs. Gogoi got the only wicket.

Meanwhile, in another match, West Zone defeated North Zone by seven wickets. Batting first, North Zone could only score 45 runs in 15.3 overs. Jayant Singh (10) and Sourabh Gupta (10) were the only two to reach double-digit. Ashwin Ferro and Sanjeev Samyal took two wickets each.

West Zone reached the target in 6.4 overs losing three wickets. G Krishnan and Devendra Pandey made 11 and 14 runs respectively. Rupesh bagged two wickets giving away 20 runs while Jayant Singh took one wicket. Pandey was named man of the match.

Amol bags triple crown

Amol Karhadkar bagged triple crown in the SJFI table-tennis tournament on Friday. He won men’s singles, doubles title and also helped his team SJAM ‘A’ clinched team championship.

In men’s singles, Amol defeated K Keerthivasan in four games 11-4, 10-12, 11-4, 13-11. In men’s doubles, Amol paired up with Ashwin Ferro to defeat the pair of R Kaushik and Anand V in straight games 12-10, 11-4, 11-7.

In team championship, SJAM ‘A’ overpower the challenge of SWAB ‘B’. Amol Karhadkar won the first singles against Ashwin Achal in straight games 11-3, 11-6, 11-7. In the doubles match, Amol and Ashwin Ferro defeated the duo of R Kaushik and Karthik KL in a four-game encounter 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8 to seal title for SJAM ‘A’.

SWAB ‘B’ win putting, free throw titles, Odisha penalty kick

Sports Writers Association of Bangalore (SWAB) ‘B’ emerged winners in putting and basketball free throw competitions organised during the 42nd SJFI National Convention on Thursday.

The day began with putting contest at CP Club’s facility in Civil Lines. SWAB ‘B’ team comprising Vijeth Kumar, Hardik Worah and Ramesha triumphed with 16 points.

Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists’ Association (TNSJA) ‘A’ team finished runners up with 17 points. The team was represented by Santosh Kumar, Deepak Raghav, Krishnakanta Chakraborty. Delhi ‘B’ team consisting Vipin Bahuguna, Rajendra Sajwan and Rupesh Ranjan finished third.

SWAB ‘B’ also walked away with basketball free throw title. In the final they defeated their own ‘A’ team 4-3. The winning team was represented by MS Ramkrishnan, Hardik Worah and Ramesha. ‘A’ team members were Karthik Lakshmanan, Ashwin Achal and Vijeth Kumar.

In penalty kick competition Tripura comprising Sarju Chakraborty, Suprabhat Debnath and Sambit Mahapatra  defeated Odisha in sudden death .Odisha team members were Sanjib, Soubhagya and Tapan Swain.

42nd SJFI National Convention: Action Time

Experts upbeat about Ind prospects in Tokyo

Tirkey, Gandhe, Kanungo Feels India Will Perform Better Than Rio Games

Nagpur: Between 1980 and 2004, India won just four medals in seven Olympics. Since Beijing games, there has been a marginal improvement but it’s still far from expectations. Former Indian hockey player Dilip Tirkey, vice-president of Badminton Association of India (BAI), former international shuttler Pradeep Gandhe, and veteran pistol shooter Sheela Kanungo feel India has a good chance of improving the medal tally. 

The country was hoping for a far better performance from Indian sportspersons in the Rio Olympics in 2016, especially after the performance in London Olympics in 2012, where they won six medals. However, Rio Olympics saw only two medals and quite a few heartbreaks. The experts, however, still expressed confidence that the Indian sportspersons would do well in Tokyo Olympics next year.
 
They were speaking in an interactive session of ‘India’s chances in Tokyo Olympic 2020’ organised by Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) on Day-2 of its 42nd annual convention on Tuesday.

Since the introduction of Astroturf, India hardly had any success in hockey, especially in Olympics. Tirkey said situation has changed over the last 4-5 years. “Both men and women hockey teams are performing well. Men’s team, in particular, is capable of beating any team in the world,” Tirkey said.
 
“World hockey is very fast and we need to cope with the pace. Hence, we should not analyse the performance of players only ahead of Olympic,” he added.






Tirkey also highlighted the need to provide better facilities at grass roots level. “Not much facilities are available at the grass roots. We should learn from a country like Belgium, who were not among the top teams a few years ago, but are now world champions. They focused on academic level and we too must focus on providing better infrastructure and facilities to budding talent,” he said.

Gandhe is expecting four badminton medals. “I think PV Sindhu will win gold. The in-form pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy has the potential to claim silver medal. Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth can return with at least bronze medals,” said Gandhe.

He termed the duo of Chirag and Satwiksairaj as the best men’s doubles pair of India. “They have been producing sensational performance. They are a formidable pair and proved they are among the best by winning silver medal in the French Open last week.”
 

Kanungo said all 10 shooters have won an Olympic berth with their performance in world championships. “Their preparation is good, and what we need is to convert the chances into medals. We have a young team and all are at their best. All are capable of reaching the final including Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Baker, to name a few,” she said.

Happy to see Ganguly caring about FC cricketers: Pandit

Vidarbha Coach Suggests Selectors To Have A Pool Which Will Have Players From Every State

 

Nagpur: One could see Vidarbha players getting goosebumps after watching the video clip of their Ranji Trophy triumph during the 42nd National Convention of Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) at Nagpur on Monday.

A year earlier, Vidarbha would have shown some emotion. Not now. They know what it feels to win the Ranji Trophy. After all, this wasn’t their first. They have four titles— two Ranji and two Irani— in the last two years.

Skipper Faiz Fazal and head coach Chandrakant Pandit felt proud when the champion bunch was felicitated at a city hotel.

The former India wicketkeeper felt this honor will motivate Vidarbha boys to do well in the coming season. “As a coach, you need to keep players’ motivation level high. I feel this award has done half of my job,” Pandit said.

The 56-year-old acknowledged the role of media in encouraging players and building their image. He expressed happiness over Sourav Ganguly’s election as BCCI President. “It was encouraging to see Ganguly discuss about looking after First Class players well and providing more money,” Pandit said.

Pandit had some suggestions for Ganguly as well, “If India has 30 contracted players, they can have players from every state to have a pool of 30-35 players as bench strength. It would motivate domestic players to do well and be part of that second group. Eventually, it will increase competition, which always helps."

While thanking SJFI and Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) for honouring Vidarbha, Faiz said, “Just keep supporting us. I feel journalists are our extended family."

Former Mumbai cricketer and Rajasthan Royals batting coach Amol Muzumdar said cricket has become popular in the country because of media. He also wished the Vidarbha team and hoped that Vidarbha would score a hat-trick of title wins.

Rajasthan Royals team manager Romi Bhinder was happy to see ex-Royals player Faiz achieving the rare feat in the last two years. “When we had three Vidarbha players in Royals, Shane Warne said, 'Does all the talent come from Vidarbha?' I can proudly tell him now the kind of talent Vidarbha region has and what they have achieved in the last two years,” Bhinder said.

President of Bapuna Group Shiraz Gimi recalled the early days of the Vidarbha skipper. “I first saw Faiz at the nets when he was just 8. You could see that this boy would go the distance. He should have gone much farther. There are many factors that play important roles in player’s life. He was unlucky to miss out on India U-19 World Cup due to injury,” he said.

Stage set for SJFI national convention

Vidarbha Ranji team to be honoured

The stage is set for the 42nd SJFI National Convention hosted by Sports Journalists' Association of Nagpur (SJAN) under the auspices of Sports Journalists' Federation of India (SJFI) after a gap of 18 years in the Orange City.

Around 100 sports journalists from all over the country are arriving to participate in five-day convention that will be inaugurated on Monday at 7 p.m. at Hotel Centre Point. Vidarbha cricket team that won the Ranji and Irani Trophy titles for consecutive occasions will be honoured on the occasion. Rajasthan Royals' batting coach Amol Mujumdar, team manager Romi Bhinder, chairman of Raisoni Group Sunil Raisoni, Vishal Agrawal of Plasto and Shiraz Gimi of Dinshaw's will grace the function. The felicitation will be followed by draw of JK Bose Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament

On November 5 the JK Bose Twenty -20Trophy matches will be played at Ambedkar College and Vasant Nagar ground from 9 a.m. onwards. On the same day in the evening a seminar will be organised on 'India's prospects in Tokyo 2020 Olympics'. Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju, shooter Sheila Kanungo, former Indian shuttler and BAI vice-president Pradeep Gandhe, former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey will express their views.

On November 7, a discussion of Vidarbha Ranji teams historic achievement will be organised. Mr Neville Bastawalla, Head of Marketing, Sony Pictures Network Limited, will showcase its plans for the coverage of 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the same function. The convention will conclude on November 8 with prize distribution function.

Apart from cricket, AC Bali table tennis tournament, basketball free throw, football penalty shootout and putting competitions will be conducted for the delegates. Newsletter 'Nagpur Rocks' will be released daily at the hands of dignitaries.

The members of SJAN are working hard for the success of event under the able guidance of SJFI president Subodh Malla Barua, secretary Vinod Aiyappan Nair, SJAN president Kishor Bagde and secretary Suhas Nayse.