SJAN memebers with Kidambi Srikanth

Defending champion Lokmat's Jain enters semis

Defending champion Ashish Jain of Lokmat Group moved into the singles as well as doubles semi-finals of the 10th badminton tournament for mediapersons organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur and sponsored by Vatsalya Group.
The tournament is under way at Subhedar Hall, off Amravati Road.
Also joining him in the singles semis are The Times of India’s Madhav Soman, Suhas Nayse and Loksatta’s Vijay Sant.
While Jain defeated Loksatta’s Vivek Puradbhat 21-3, 21-8, Soman got the better of Ranjit Deshmukh 21-11, 21-17. Nayse ousted Subodh Ratnaparkhi 21-6, 21-6 and Sant outplayed Sujan Masid 21-4, 21-3.
The prize distribution function will be held on Saturday at 11.30. Chairman of Vatsalya Group Praful Gadge will be the chief guest on the occasion. Vice-chancellor of RTM Nagpur University Dr Vilas Sapkal will preside over the function. NDBA president Kundatai Vijaykar will be the guest of honour.
Results
Men’s singles (quarters): Ashish Jain (Lokmat) bt Vivek Puradbhat (Loksatta) 21-3, 21-8; Madhav Soman (TOI) bt Ranjit Deshmukh (TOI) 21-11, 21-17; Suhas Nayse (TOI) bt Subodh Ratnaparkhi (TOI) 21-6, 21-6; Vijay Sant (Loksatta) bt Sujan Masid (Dainik Bhaskar) 21-4, 21-3.
Doubles (quarters): Suhas Nayse-Madhav Soni (TOI) bt Abhishek Ayengar-Kailash Kukreja (TOI) 21-10, 21-7; Vijay Sant-Vivek Puradbhat (Loksatta) bt Vilas Tijare-Avishkar Deshmukh (Lokmat) 21-8, 21-4; Ashish Jain-Alshar Khan (Lokmat) bt Ranjeet Deshmukh-Abhishek Choudhary (TOI) 21-19, 21-12 ; Sunil Warrier-Manish Sakharwade  (TOI) bt Amit Sampat-Anjaya Anaparthi (TOI) 21-3, 21-10.
Women singles: Manjusha Joshi of Maharashtra entered final by wining four league matches. 
Semis line up
Singles: Ashish Jain vs Madhav Soman; Suhas Nayse-vs Vijay Sant.
Doubles: Suhas Nayse-Madhav Soman vs Vijay Sant-Vivek Puradbhat; Ashish Jain-Alshar Khan vs Sunil Warrier-Manish Sakharwade.

 Suhas Nayse of Times of India

 Vijay Sant (L) and Vivek Puradbhat of Loksatta

 Vijay Sant

 Defending Champion Ashish Jain of Lokmat Group

 Vijay Sant of Loksatta

 Vilas Tijare of Lokmat

 Alshar Khan of Lokmat Times

  Defending Champion Ashish Jain of Lokmat Group

Madhav Soman of Times of India

All pics SJAN/Sudarshan Sakharkar

Badminton publicity Day 1

 

Lokmat

   The Hitavada 

 Lokmat Samachar

Lokmat Times

 Lokshahi Varta

Sakal

 Times of India

Times of India

Badminton meet for media employees gets under way

Vatsalya-SJAN 10th Badminton Tournament for Media Employees

The 10th edition of Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur’s badminton tournament for media employees got under way on Thursday morning at Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University’s Subhedar Hall.
The tournament is sponsored by Vatsalya Group. India no 1 shuttler Kidambi Shrikanth inaugurated the tournament. Chairman of Vatsalya Group Praful Gadge, chairman of board of physical education of RTMNU Dr Babanrao Taywade, Nagpur District Badminton Association secretary Mangesh Kashikar shared the dais. SJAN president Dr Ram Thakur conducted the proceedings. Secretary Kishor Bagde made introductory remarks while treasurer Suhas Nayse proposed a vote of thanks.
Prominent amongst those present on the occasion were coordinator of PGTD Physical Education Dr Sanjay Choudhary, T Thomas, Kiran Makode, Jayendra Dhole, Gurdeep Singh Arora and others.
Results: Men’s singles: Round 2: Ashish Jain (Lokmat) bt Shashikant Rahate 21-0; Dharmendra Kumar (TOI) bt Sachin Mokharkar 21-7; Vivek Puradbhat (Loksatta) bt Sandeep Wardhane (TOI) 21-16; Amit Sampat (TOI) bt Deepak Gurnani (TOI) 21-9; Ranjeet Deshmukh (TOI) bt Atul Pande (MT) 21-5; Madhav Soman (TOI) bt Sudarshan Sakharkar (Loksatta) 21-10; Vilas Tijare (Lokmat) bt Kumar Amlendu (TOI) 21-11; Subodh Ratnaparkhi (TOI) bt Devendra Sadavarti (Lokmat) 21-13; Sujan Masid (Dainik Bhaskar) bt Sandeep Dabhekar (TOI) 21-11; Alshar Khan (Lokmat Times) bt Lalit Patki (MT) 21-16; Vinay Pande (The Hitavada) bt Dinesh Wankhede (TOI) 21-7; Vijay Sant (Loksatta) bt Rupesh Chaflekar (Punyanagari) 21-2; Piyush Patil (MT) bt Avishkar Deshmukh (Lokmat) 21-14.
Men’s doubles: First round: Piyush Patil-Lalit Patki (MT) bt Anupam Soni-Nikhil Dixit (The Hitavada) 21-11; Ranjeet Deshmukh-Abhishek Choudhary (TOI) bt Roshan Bhakte- Rupesh Chaflekar 21-4; DK Khwaja-Sudarshan Sakharkar (Loksatta) bt Mahesh Sarangi-Manish Shriwas (Navbharat) 21-9.
Men’s doubles (2nd round): Ranjeet Deshmukh-Abhishek Choudhary bt Shashikant Rahate-Dharmendra Kumar 21-7.

(All pics Sudarshan Sakharkar/SJAN)

Media badminton tourney from March 20

The 10th edition of the annual badminton tournament for media employees, organised jointly by the Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) and Post Graduate Teaching Department for Physical Education, RTM Nagpur University, will get underway at the Subhedar Hall here on Thursday.

The three-day event will be sponsored by Vatsalya Group. India’s No. 1 men’s singles badminton player Kidambi Srikanth will be the chief guest for the inaugural function slated to be held at 11 am. However, the matches will begin at 9 am.

Chairman of Vatsalya Group Praful Gadge,  chairman of Board of Physical Education of RTM Nagpur University Dr Babanrao Taywade, NDBA secretary Mangesh Kashikar, co-ordinator of Post Graduate Teaching Department for Physical Education, RTM Nagpur University Sanjay Choudhary, and  Li Ning country marketing manager Ujjwal Bhalla,will be the guests of honour on the occasion.

Matches will be played in three categories – men’s singles, women’s singles and men’s doubles. The organisers have received record 64 entires for the men’s singles. Matches will be played with Li Ning feather shuttles.

Seedings

Men’s singles: 1. Ashish Jain, Vijay Sant, 3. Suhas Nayse, 4. Vilas Tijare

Men’s doubles: 1. Suhas Nayse-Madhav Soman, 2. Sunil Warrier-Manish Sakharwade.

Women’s singles: 1. Rakhi Chavan, 2. Manjusha Joshi.

"सकाळ' आज विजेतेपदासाठी खेळणार

स्पोर्टस जर्नालिस्ट असोसिएशन ऑफ नागपूरतर्फे आयोजित सोळाव्या विको-एसजेएएन आंतरप्रेस क्रिकेट स्पर्धेत विजेतेपदासाठी शनिवारी गतविजेता "लोकमत' आणि प्रथमच अंतिम फेरी गाठणारा "सकाळ' संघ आमनेसामने येत आहेत. 
दीक्षाभूमी स्थित आंबेडकर महाविद्यालयाच्या मैदानावर सकाळी साडेनऊ वाजता ही लढत सुरू होईल. दोन्ही संघ जबरदस्त फॉर्मात असल्याने लढत चुरशीची होण्याची शक्‍यता आहे. स्पर्धेच्या सलामी लढतीत "लोकमत'ने "सकाळ'वर मात केली होती; मात्र त्यानंतर जबरदस्त कामगिरीच्या जोरावर "सकाळ'ने अंतिम फेरी गाठली. किशोर जामकर, सुनील ठवकर, पंकज बोरकर, ओम ढाकुलकर यांनी फलंदाजीत उत्तम कामगिरी केली आहे. बोरकर, राजेश व्यवहारे, सचिन बेलवलकर आणि अतिशय संथ गोलंदाजी करणारा धोकादायक अनिल कांबळे यांच्या गोलंदाजीचा प्रतिस्पर्धी संघातील शरद मिश्रा, नितीन पटारिया, अमित खोडके आणि सचिन खडके हे फलंदाज कसा सामना करतात, हा उत्सुकतेचा विषय आहे. अंतिम फेरी गाठण्याची ही लोकमतची ही सातवी वेळ असली तरी यापूर्वी तीनदा त्यांना विजेतेपद मिळविता आले आहे. 
"सकाळ' संघ ः राजेश व्यवहारे (कर्णधार), किशोर जामकर, सुनील ठवकर, पंकज बोरकर, सचिन बेलवलकर, ओम ढाकुलकर, देवेंद्र देशपांडे, स्वप्नील नागपुरे, अनिल कांबळे, चंद्रकांत पुणेकर, तेजस काळमेघ, मनोज मुळे, मकरंद राव, शशांक लालझरे, संजीव शर्मा.

विको-एसजेएन आंतरप्रेस क्रिकेट स्पर्धा

क्रिकमिडिया स्मरणिकेचे विमोचन

स्पोर्टस् जर्नालिस्टस असोसिएशन ऑफ नागपूरतर्फे आयोजित १६व्या विको-एसजेएन आंतरप्रेस टी-२० क्रिकेट स्पर्धेला आज, बुधवारपासून प्रारंभ होत आहे. डॉ. आंबेडकर महाविद्यालयाच्या मैदानावर होणाऱ्या उद्घाटनाच्या सामन्यात गतविजेत्या लोकमतची लढत सकाळशी होईल तर त्याच वेळी वसंतनगर मैदानावर पुण्यनगरी आणि तरूण भारत यांच्यात सामना रंगेल.

१५ फेब्रुवारीपर्यंत चालणाऱ्या या स्पर्धेचे उद्घाटन बुधवारी सकाळी ९.०० वाजता, माजी कसोटीपटू प्रशांत वैद्य, मोशन ट्युटोरियल्सचे संचालक प्रमोद वालमांढरे आणि डॉ. बाबासाहेब आंबेडकर महाविद्यालयाच्य प्राचार्या डॉ. मालती रेड्डी यांच्या प्रमुख उपस्थितीत होईल. हे या स्पर्धेचे १६ वे वर्ष असून नऊ वृत्तपत्रांचे संघ सहभागी झाले आहेत.

गत‌वर्षी उपविजेता राहीलेल्या टाइम्स ऑफ इंडिया संघाची सलामीची लढत गुरूवारी आंबेडकर महाविद्यालयाच्या मैदानावर लोकशाही वार्ताशी होईल.

दरम्यान, मंगळवारी सकाळी विको-एसजेएन आंतरप्रेस टी-२० क्रिकेटस्पर्धेच्या स्मरणिकेचे विमोचन धनवटे नॅशनल कॉलचे प्राचार्य आणि ज्येष्ठ क्रीडा संघटक बबनराव तायवाडे यांच्या हस्ते करण्यात आले. यावेळी ताजश्री मोटर्सचे संचालक अविनाश भुते आणि मोशन ट्युटोरियल्सचे संचालक प्रमोद वालमांढरे हे ही प्रमुख अतिथी म्हणून उपस्थित होते.  

विको लेबोरेटरीज या स्पर्धेचे मुख्य प्रायोजक असून मोशन ट्युटोरियल्स सहप्रायोजक आहेत.

Our sponsors

Media Walkathon getting good response

The ‘Media Walkathon’ organised by Sports Journalists’ Association of Nagpur (SJAN) in association with Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI) with a slogan ‘Walk for Health’ to be held on June 2 has evoked good response.
The event will be flagged off at 6.30 am. Participants will have to report at 6 am. The four-kilometre walk for men in below and above 50 years category will start from Dr Ambedkar College and would take the route through Govt Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya, Kachipura police station, Alankar Talkies, Shankar Nagar square, Bajaj Nagar, Matruseva Sangh College and will terminate at Dr Ambedkar College Sports Academy ground.
Similarly, the two-kilometre walk for women will be flagged off from Dr Ambedkar College and will take the route of Govet Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya, Kachipura police station, Bajaj Nagar square, Matruseva Sangh College and will terminate at  Dr Ambedkar College Sports Academy ground.
The prize distribution function will be held immediately after the event.  Attractive prizes and mementoes will be given to first three winners in each category. 

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.