Federer rewrites history by winning 15th Wimbledon title

LONDON, July 5: Roger Federer made tennis history on Sunday, winning his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years to claim an all-time best 15th Grand Slam trophy 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14 over American Andy Roddick.

The Swiss, only man to appear in seven consecutive Wimbledon finals, rewrote the records in front of tennis royalty — Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras, the seven-time All England club champion with whom he shared 14 Grand Slam honours.

Federer’s victory was his 60th career trophy and third Wimbledon finals victory over Roddick, whom he also beat in 2004 and 2005. The Swiss has defeated the American in 19 of 21 meetings.

Federer will take back the number one ranking he lost last summer to Rafael Nadal, regaining the position he held for a record 237 weeks. The Swiss was appearing in his sixth consecutive Grand Slam final dating to Roland Garros last year. SOURCE: THE SENTINEL

Nanao Singh in Asian Boxing Championship finals

Three Indians in Asian Boxing Championship finals New Delhi, June 12 (PTI) World youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh advanced to the finals along with two others but Olympians Vijender Singh and Jitender Kumar had to settle for bronze medals after semifinal defeats in the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai, China today. Nanao (48kg), Suranjoy Singh (51kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) were the country's unlikely stars today making the summit clash of their respective categories. Apart from Vijender (75kg) and Jitender (54kg), Paramjit Samota (+91kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) also settled for bronze medals after semifinal losses. Nanao, making his senior international debut, beat Nyayambayar Tugstogt of Mongolia 15-7. Fellow Manipuri Suranjoy notched up a 4-2 triumph over Thai Ruenroeng Amnaj. Nanao takes on Thailand's Pongtrayoon Keaw and Suranjoy will be up against Li Hao of China in the finals. Jai, meanwhile, beat Zhailuov Gani of Kazakhstan 7-2. He will face Turkmenistan's Hudayberdiyev Serdar tomorrow. "Both of us were tied 0-0 at the end of the first round but I attacked more in the next two rounds. I was expecting a better fight from him. I kept my guard up and didn't allow him an opening," Jai told PTI. Vijender's 8-11 loss to local favourite Zhang Jianting came as a surprise as the 23-year-old Indian had been in brilliant form out-punching boxers from top countries like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in his previous two bouts. PTI

British coach to conduct AFA’s U-16 camp

By our sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, June 2: The Assam football Association (AFA) will be organizing a special training camp for the U-16 soccer players of the State. The training programme, which would be held in collaboration with FS Sports, a football promoting organization of USA, will get under way at the Nehru Stadium from June 12. This time FS Sports will send one British coach Erick Winstanley to supervise the entire training programme.

Talking to the mediapersons, the secretary of the Assam Football Association Ankur Dutta said that altogether 30 players of the State have been invited to the camp. The AFA has also decided to depute four local coaches in the camp to assist the foreign coach.

Meanwhile, Dutta today termed the Asom team’s performance in the Santosh Trophy as unfortunate. He said, “This time we had selected a good team for the championship but it was very unfortunate that we couldn’t qualify for the next round.”

He also admitted that there was lack of planning as footballers attended the trial camp of the Santosh Trophy after a two months rest. “The footballers did not have regular practice sessions so it was little difficult for them to get back to form quickly. Next time we would definitely keep this point in mind at the time of preparing our team for the Santosh Trophy,” said Dutta.

The AFA has finalized the venues of the different inter districts soccer tournaments for the coming football season. However, the date of the tournament will be finalized after representatives of the AFA inspects the venues where the tournament would be held. The venues of the different tournaments of the AFA: Dhemaji- senior inter-district, Dibrugarh- U-21 inter-district, Lakhimpur- junior inter-district, Hojai- sub junior inter-district, Jorhat-women inter-district, Bongaigaon-U-19 girls inter-district, Biswanath Chariali- U-17 girls inter-district, Nazira- U-13, Karbi Anglong- Assam Club Championship. The date and venues of the State league will decide later on. THE SENTINEL

Indian junior boxers shine

NEW DELHI, May 27: Boxing troika of Sandeep (46kg), Nam Bahadur (50kg) and Asom’s Shiva Thapa (52kg) advanced to the semi-finals of the World Junior Boxing Championships with contrasting wins in Yerevan, Armenia on Wednesday.

However, there was some disappointment as well with Gaurav Bidhuri crashing out of the light fly weight category following a 4-8 loss to Bagdat Uaidayev of Kazakhstan.
Shiva had an easy bout against Makhlin Stanislav of Israel.

He was leading 5-1 before landing a hard right hook to leave Makhlin’s nose bleeding which prompted the referee to stop the contest in the first round itself. “The Israeli guy was very defensive and was playing it safe which lead to hos downfall,” said Indian coach MS Dhaka (Agencies)

Winning start for Sania-Chia; Bopanna bows out

Paris, May 27: Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) sailed into the doubles second round of French Open with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Ipek Senoglu of Turkey and Yanina Wickmayer of Belarus at Roland Garros here on Wednesday.

Rohan Bopanna and Jonathan Elrich of Israel, however, lost a tough first-round encounter to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and Sergio Roitman of Argentina 4-6, 6-7 (10).

Sania and Chuang, seeded 14th, faced tough resistance in the first set that lasted 50 minutes. They converted all three break points that came their way while Ipek and Yanina wasted the same number of chances of breaking back.

Sania and Chuang raised their game in the second set, breaking their opponents twice and not conceding any break points, as they wrapped it up in just 24 minutes.

They will next face the winner of the match between Ukraine’s Viktoriya Kutuzova and Aravane Rezai of France and Polish pair of Agnieszka Radwanska and Urszula Radwanska.

Sania has bowed out of the singles competition, going down to Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva in the first round Tuesday. (IANS)

Maria joins Safina, Ivanovic into 3rd round of French Open

PARIS, May 27: Maria Sharapova struggled again in her Grand Slam tournament comeback at the French Open, needing three full sets and extra games to defeat 11th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 1-6, 8-6 and reach the third round.

Playing again with tape on her troublesome right shoulder, the unseeded Sharapova joined top-seeded Dinara Safina and defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the next round.

Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has slipped to No. 102 in the rankings because of her injury layoff, won five straight games to close out the first set.

Trailing 4-2 in the deciding set, she broke Petrova to get back on serve at 4-4, and then saved two break points to take a 5-4 lead. She saved another break point while serving at 6-6.

Sharapova is making her first Grand Slam appearance in almost a year after missing the US Open and the Australian Open because of her shoulder injury. She had surgery in October.

Safina easily beat 18-year-old Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko 6-1, 6-1, and Ivanovic defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-1, 6-2.

Safina took a 5-0 lead to open the match, stretching her streak to 17 straight games after winning 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.

“Pretty good start for the tournament,” said Safina, who lost in the Australian Open final and was the runner-up at Roland Garros last year. “I just played a good game today, good enough to win.”

The 153rd-ranked Diatchenko didn’t have many break opportunities against Safina.
“I felt so bad because I didn’t play my best game today,” Diatchenko said. “She’s in good form. Every ball she put close to the line.”

Ivanovic looked more comfortable on court after struggling in her opening match. The eighth-seeded Ivanovic broke the 32-year-old Tanasugarn twice in the first set and three times in the second.

“I just want to sort of get my way through the rounds and just feel more comfortable match after match,” Ivanovic said. “Today I think I served some aces, which gave me some confidence in my serve, and that’s something I’ve been working on.”

On the men’s side, third-seeded Andy Murray defeated Potito Starace of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. The Briton trailed 5-1 in the third set but broke Starace three straight times to win.

“On clay, there’s always time for you to get sort of back into the match and find your game, even if you’re struggling,” Murray said.
Murray also reached the third round at Roland Garros last year but lost to Nicolas Almagro in four sets. In his only other appearance at the French Open, in 2006, he lost in the first round.
No. 7 Gilles Simon of France, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia, No. 17 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, No. 30 Victor Hanescu of Romania and No. 31 Almagro also advanced, but French veteran Fabrice Santoro played his last match at Roland Garros.
Santoro, who has made a record 67 Grand Slam appearances, lost in the first round of this year's French Open — his record-tying 20th — to Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. (Agencies)

Rituraj lifts Badminton title

By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 27: Rituraj Konwar of Assam Photo Journalists Association lifted the men’s singles title in the Arabinda Buragohain Inter-Media Badminton Championship defeating Hildul Gogoi of Janambhumi in the final held at the Kanaklata Stadium today. In the men’s team section, Asomiya Pratidin lifted the title beating Assam Photo Journalists Association in the final.
The men’s single was mostly dominated by Ritutraj and he captured the game in two sets. In the first set, he beat Hildul 11-6 while in the second one he won 11-3. Earlier, in the semifinal, Hildul Gogoi defeated Simanta Bhagawati (The Assam Tribune) while Rituraj got the better of Ranadeep Kakoti of Janambhumi.

Meanwhile, the final of the men’s team event was well contested. Rituraj Konwar defeated Tauhid Ali Talukdar in first single 21-10. Rajiv Kalita of Pratidin brought back his team in the competition defeating Biju Boro in identical margin. However, in the doubles match, Rajiv Kalita pairing with Manjit Sharma defeated Rituraj Konwar and Biju Boro 21-13 to lift the title. THE SENTINEL

Australia’s withdrawal from Davis Cup

— Tennis Australia’s pullout from next months Asia/Oceania Davis Cup tie against India has harmed none but itself, while India has benefited handsomely from the forfeiture. The International Tennis federation (ITF) has declared India winner and placed it in the World Group Play-offs scheduled for September. Now Australia may have to pay a heavy price for not abiding by the governing body’s verdict, USD 100,000 to be precise, apart from a possible one-year ban. India should have little to complain, for it has progressed without having to sweat it out in the searing Chennai heat. But the reasons Tennis Australia has cited while justifying the withdrawal are definitely based on flawed premise. Australia requested the ITF to shift the tie from Chennai when the Sri Lankan cricketers came under terror attack in Lahore. Terming India as an area of high risk, they have pointed to the election time in Chennai coinciding with the three-day Davis Cup schedule and stated that it was not without reason that the Indian Premier League (IPL) had to be shifted from Indian to South Africa.

While making all these justifications, however, Australia has missed some major points and acted in unnecessary haste. The security scenario in Chennai had pleased the ITF team and the governing body had no problem in giving its go-ahead for the tie. It is not known if some individual players’ unwillingness to travel to India by and large influenced the decision to squander the opportunity to get into World Group contention. But first of all, painting India and Pakistan with the same brush was utterly ridiculous. Down Under, India and Pakistan probably look similar to the Australians, security-wise. But the England cricket teams return to India just days after the Mumbai attack proved that India does not have much security concerns as far as sports are concerned. Almost all places in the world are vulnerable to terrorist activities.. Is England immune to such attacks? Far from it. But that’s where the Australian cricket team is scheduled to play the Ashes Test series in May before huge crowds. England perhaps does not scare the Australians like the Indian subcontinent. The poll schedule in Chennai, on the other hand, would not have affected the Davis Cup tie, because it was to be only a three-day event and complete security would have been very much possible in the small stadium. The reasons why IPL had been shifted to South Africa were its long duration and large number of venues involved. Hence the government’s inability to guarantee foolproof security for a 59-day event during the period of multi-phase Lok Sabha elections was understandable. Therefore, it is clear that Tennis Australia has put forward some loose arguments which are obviously based on exaggerated fears, not facts. ASSAM TRIBUNE

Shuttlers aim to exploit home conditions at Indian Open

HYDERABAD, March 24 (PTI): Saina Nehwal was on guard for lower-ranked rivals, while Chetan Anand was not looking beyond the first round but Anup Sridhar was targetting the semis as Indian shuttlers geared up for the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open Grand Prix that rolls out here tomorrow.

With a relatively easy draw and home conditions, second seed Saina is undoubtedly a hot favourite at the event but the Indian, who opens her campaign against unseeded Chew Yen Daphane Ng of Malaysia, is not taking her opponents lightly as their game is unknown to her.

“I have never played against her (Chew). I don’t know her game, I don’t know her weakness or strength, so I am not setting any targets as such. It is an important tournament for me and I know it would be tough,” Saina told PTI.

“There are some good players like Julia (Pei Xian Wong), Maria (Kristin Yulianti) and others. Each of them are good. The first two rounds are OK and I know people expect me to win and take it easy. One may say that I have a 60 per cent chance of winning because they are lower ranked than me but I won’t take any player lightly,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chetan will be up against a lesser known Chong Chieh Lok of Malaysia in the first round but the world number 12 Indian doesn’t want to put pressure on himself and has avoided a look at the draw.

“I don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on myself thinking about what would happen if I get past Chong. For the last one year, I have been focussed only on the game at hand and it has help me to concentrate more and get the results, so this time also it won’t be any different,” Chetan said.

“I have not played against the Malaysian, nor do I know his game and I am not even thinking about that because I would rather think about my own strength and weakness than thinking about his game. Maybe just before the match, I will see him and play my game accordingly.”

Struggling for form after returning to the court after a five-month injury layoff, Anup Sridhar will look to regain his confidence and has set his eyes on the semi-finals.

“I think if I can win 2-3 good matches, that would be OK. As far as results go, I would think that semi final and above would be good, and I think it’s realistic as well,” Sridhar said ahead of his first round match against qualifier.

“I tend to look at a situation like this as being a huge opportunity to play myself back into form, get my confidence back and earn some ranking points in the process,” he added.

Among other Indians in fray, National Champion Arvind Bhatt will face Pengyu Du of China, while Gurusai Datt RMV will meet French Brice Leverdez and 16th seed Anand Pawar will lock horns with a qualifier in the main draw tomorrow.

Indian mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta will open their campaign on Thursday, while Jwala will team up with Shruti Kurian for her women’s doubles match.

Harendra confident of winning Azlan Shah cup

BHOPAL, March 24 (PTI): India’s men’s hockey coach in-charge Harendra Singh is eyeing a top-six finish in world ranking this year and confident about winning the Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Malaysia next month.

“India ranks ninth among the hockey playing countries and we are aiming to finish among the top-six nations in the sport by the end of the year,” Harendra said today.

Talking to PTI at the central regional centre of Sports Authority of India (SAI), where the team for upcoming Azlan Shah hockey starting on April 5 will be picked up, Harendra said his boys will adopt an attacking strategy this time to clinch the title.

“We are going to lift the Azlan Shah Hockey Cup.

“The team will play an attacking game for which India is known world over. I don’t believe in playing a defensive game as it does not lead to victory,” Harendra said.

India finished runner-up in the tournament last year.

“The players’ morale is high after the team’s stunning performance in New Zealand, where India won the Test series 2-0,” he added.

Five teams - New Zealand, Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, besides India will participate in the tournament.

Anand to meet Topalov in 9th round of Amber chess

NICE (FRANCE), March 24 (PTI): World champion Viswanathan Anand, who is now in sole lead following a sedate start, will take on Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the ninth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here today.

With 10.5 points under his belt, Anand looks like a hot favourite now to annex the title. After his match against the former world champion Topalov, Anand will meet Alexander Morozevich of Russia in the next round and in the final round he is set to take on tail-ender Wang Yue of China.

Its been a great comeback by Anand in the last few rounds. His previous round victory over Kramnik was exemplary in a Petroff defense game and he was lethal in his quest over Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan whom he beat 2-0.

Anand’s main rival in the combined standings are Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen who both are a half point behind the leader. Of the two, Aronian has to meet same opposition as Anand but Carlsen has a tougher task on hand as he hasn’t played Kramnik yet.

Kramnik slipped to fourth spot after the debacle against Anand on 9.5 points and the Russian was left to do some hard work in the rounds to come in matches against Ivanchuk, Carlsen and Hungarian Peter Leko.

East go down to West; Dhiraj shines

East go down to West; Dhiraj shines

By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 18: Asom all-rounder Dhiraj Goswami has now made it a habit to perform in every match and this time he showed his mettle in the finals of the Deodhar Trophy Cricket tournament which was held at Cuttack on Wednesday. Though his side East Zone lost the game against West Zone by a huge margin of 218 runs but Dhiraj came out with flying colours scoring the highest individual run for his team.
Chasing a huge total of 363 runs to win, East Zone were never on the race and were finally bowled out for 144 runs. Dhiraj Goswami fought a lone battle with the bat and finally remained not out on 40 which came in just 49 deliveries. He also hit three boundaries and two sixes. Another Asom cricketer Dipak Sharma failed in the match and he just contributed seven on the scoreboard. Apart from Dhiraj, captain Manoj Tiwari (24) and RK Mohanty (26) were the other major scorers for East Zone.
Earlier batting first, West Zone riding on a fine century from captain Wasim Zaffar (116) scored 362 runs for the loss of five wickets in 50 overs. East managed to score just 144 runs.
East started well when their new ball bowlers sent back Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel to reduce West to 40 for 2 after 8.1 overs. But the match started to slip away once Jaffer got two lives in the innings and in one instance Dhiraj missed a caught and bowl opportunity when Jaffer was just one short of his half century. Apart from Jaffer, two other middle order batsmen A Pajara (94) and R A Jadeja (61no) also played big innings in the match. THE SENTINEL

2nd Kaliyani Ranking Tennis starts:

The 2nd Kaliyani Open Junior Ranking tournament went under way from today at Kaliyani Club premises in the NRL township. This tournament is being organized by Kaliyani Club for the second time in succession under the aegis of the All Assam Tennis Association, press release states.
In a colourful opening ceremony held today, tournament director Sobhan Konwar welcomed all the participants and recollected the involvement of Kaliyani Club in the development of sport in the region. The meet was formally declared open by guest of honour RK Grover, Director (Projects), Engineers India Ltd. and he called for a healthy competition among the participants.
In two major upsets today in boys U-14 category, Zhaputso Khate of Dimapur beat top-seed Abhinandan Das of Digboi and Bijoy Kr. Mohanty beat Ruben Krishnayatri (8th seed) of Golaghat.
Following are some of the other results of the matches held today.
Boys U-14: Ankur Deka (Jorhat) bt Rishiraj Saikia 5-1, Abhishek Saikia (NRL) bt Anubhav Gogoi (Dibrugarh) 5-1, Rohan Gogoi (Duliajan) bt Abhigyan Gogoi 5-0, Abhilash Gogoi (Jorhat) bt Prateek Sarma 5-0, Trishant Talukdar (Duliajan) bt Jyot Arora (Golaghat) 5-0, Shoaib Hussain (Ghy) bt Iftikar Rasul (Ghy) 5-3, Parikshit Somani (Jorhat) bt Arnab Lakhi Barua (Golaghat) 5-0.
Boys U-10: Abhinav Saikia (NRL) bt Sanjay Sekhar Saikia (Jorhat) 5-1, Hrishikesh Gogoi (Jorhat) bt Nirav Jain (Golaghat) 5-0, Kritartha Hazarika bt Pratyush Poddar (Golaghat) 5-0, Rituraj Gogoi (sivsagar) bt Ankit Sarma (Jorhat) 5-2. THE SENTINEL

Fund crunch hits Saraighat Body Building

Fund crunch hits Saraighat Body Building
By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 19: The 20th edition of the RG Baruah Memorial Saraighat All India Body Building Championship will be held at the Pragjyoti ITA Centre, Machkhowa, on March 22. Around 40 participants will take part in the championship.

Talking to the mediapersons, Bhabajyoti Goswami, the secretary of the Assam Body Builders Association, the host of the tournament, said that the preparation for the championship is in the last stage and they are trying their best to organize the most prestigious tournament of the region in the best possible way.

However, this time the organizers are facing a tough time in arranging funds for the tournament. Apart from the cash awards amounting to Rs 1.24 lakh, the organizers will have to bear other expenses like travel, food and accommodation of the participants. “On earlier occasions, we didn’t face too many problem on the financial front, but with elections round the corner, sponsors are hard to find. For the same reason, the Assam Government is also unable to help us,” said Goswami.

Goswami added that participants from nine States have sent their confirmation to take part in the tournament. Asom will have a seven-member team for the championship and the members are: Chandrajit Bora, Indranuj Kashyap, Arabinda Boro, Rikumoni Bora, Riaj Ahmed, Biju Thapa and Jiten Kalita. The Mr Saraighat title winner will be awarded Rs 25,000 while the first and second runners- up will earn Rs 20,000 and 15,000 respectively. He also said that cash awards will be given to the first 12 position holders of the championship.

The media briefing was also attended by the president of the Assam Body Builders Association Basanta Das, and two senior officials Ramen Das and Kishore Baruah. THE SENTINEL

Maharana to organize selection trial
Maharana Athletic Club will conduct a three-day selection-cum-trial camp to select footballers for its team for the forthcoming football season. The camp will get under way in Guwahati from March 28 and will conclude on March 30. The players, who turned out for their clubs in the last season, will also have to attend the camp to be in the reckoning. THE SENTINEL

Advance tennis camp from March 31
The All Assam Tennis Association will organize its second advanced tennis coaching camp in its tennis complex at Chachal. The camp will get under way from March 31 and will be continue till April 11. Renowned tennis coach of the country Kanwaljeet Singh will conduct the camp. THE SENTINEL

Swimming training course begins from April
The regular swimming training course at the BP Chaliha Swimming Pool in the RG Baruah Sports complex will start from the second week of April. Interested candidates can collect admission forms which would be available from the pool office from March 20. THE SENTINEL

Lajong FC to start final round from April 1

Lajong FC to start final round from April 1

By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 20: Lajong Football Club of Shillong will start its campaign in the main round of the National Second Division League Soccer Tournament with a match against Viva Sports on April 1. The final round of the championship will be held at Gurgaon in Haryana from March 31. Altogether six teams have qualified for the main round of the tournament. Lajong earned the main round berth from group ‘A’ along with ONGC. The other teams which will be seen in action in the main round are Viva Sports, Pune FC, Sesa FA and Salgaocar Sports Club.

AIFF sources said that matches of the fifth round will be played between April 16-18 and the schedule of those matches will be announced later. Salgaocar would be the opponent of Lajong FC in the fifth round match of the championship.

The schedule of the main round: March 31: ONGC vs Pune FC, April 1: Viva Sports vs Lajong FC, April 2: Sesa FA vs Salgaocar SC, April 4: ONGC vs Lajong FC, April 5: Pune FC vs Salgaocar SC, April 6: Viva Sports vs Sesa FA, April 8: Salgaocar SC vs ONGC, April 9: Lajong FC vs Sesa FA, April 10: Pune FC vs Viva Sports, April 12: Sesa FA vs ONGC, April 13: Salgaocar SC vs Viva Sports, April 14: Shillong Lajong FC vs Pune FC. THE SENTINEL

Bramha to attend goalkeepers course

Asom soccer coach Pradip Kumar Bramha has been nominated to participate in the first ever specialized AFC goalkeepers coaching course to be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai from March 23. The course will be conducted by Hamad Amer Alyani of Saudi Arabia. THE SENTINEL

T-20 cricket at Karimganj

The District Sports Association of Karimganj will organize the inter-club T-20 cricket tournament from March 26 at the Government School ground. The final of the tournament will be held on April 1. It may be mentioned here that the diamond jubilee celebration of the Assam Cricket Assocaition would begin on April 1 and to commemorate the occasion, the District Sports Assocaition has decided to arrange different function throughout the day at Karimganj. THE SENTINEL

Assam Local Sports

TT camp in Guwahati from March 24

As a first step to bring back the lost glory of the table tennis in Asom, the Assam Table Tennis Association (ATTA) will organize coaching camps in different parts of the state. The secretary of the ATTA Tridib Duvarah said that a details plan has been chalked out to arrange those camps . He also added that most of the camps would be attended by the former renowned international playerof Asom and they would also impart training to the budding talents. The training camp in Guwahati will get under way at ABITA Indoor Stadium from March 24. Duvarah also said that the ATTA will organize a special summer coaching camp for the state level players in Guwahati and a national coach would be invited to supervise the camp. THE SENTINEL

Parthiv Patel to attend diamond jubilee function of ACA

Former test cricketer Parthiv Patel would attend the diamond jubilee celebration function of the Assam Cricket Association which would be held on April one in Guwahati. The Asam Cricket Association (ACA) has planned to organize several programs to mark the occasion.
The secretary of the ACA Bikash Baruah said that Parthiv Patel, a member of runners up Indian team in 2003 world cup, will attend most of the functions that would be held in this occassions on April one. The day long diamond jubilee celebration would get under way with mass jogging and it would be followed by felicitation of veteran cricketers, above 60 years of age, and few other functions. The felicitation function would be held at Pragjyoti ITA centre, Machkhowa. THE SENTINEL

Inter-district school cricket from Monday

Dilip Sharma memorial Inter district School Cricket championship will get under way in three different venues in Guwahati and Nagaon from March 23. However the matches in Guwahati will kick off from March 24.
The Assam Cricket Association has already released the schedule of the tournament. This time altogether 28 teams are taking part in the championship. Nagoan would host 11 matches of the the tournament while rest of the games would be held at Nehru stadium and NFRSA stadium, Maligaon respectively. On the other hand two-day final would be held at the Nehru stadium from April five. As per the schedule Hindi High school of Bokakhat will face St marry school, Naharkatia on March 23 at Nagaon. In Guwahati, where the tournament will start from March 24, Dhemaji HS School will face Sunrise Academy (Karbi Anglong) at nehru stadium while Holy child English school of Bongaigaon will meet Govt Gordon H S School, Nalbari at NFRSA stadium, Maligaon on the inaugural day. THE SENTINEL

Asom lift women’s title in NE Carrom

Asom lifted women team title in the North East carrorm championship held at Nagaon on Saturday. In the final Asom defeated favourite Manipur by 3-0. Manipur was favourite in the championship but Asom out played them in the final. In the first single Barsha Baruah, who is the sixth ranked player in the country, beat N Ranjita Devi by 9-23, 17-4, 25-1. In the second single D Tamuli bt her Manipuri opponent S Sushmita Devi by 25-14 and 21-1 while in the doubles Sharmila Bora and Toslima Sultana defeated N Ashiya Devi and S B Devi in three games match by 20-11, 8-20 and 25-0. Meghalaya bagged the third sport in the womens section. Meanwhile Manipur lifted the mens team title defeating Meghalaya by 2-1. Asom bagged the third spot. THE SENTINEL

Borpuzari, Somani in the final of Kalyani Open tennis

Uddish Borpuzari of Jorhat will face Parikshit Somani, also from Jorhat, in the final of the boys U-10 category of the second Kalyani Open tennis championship which would be held at Numaligarh on Sunday. In the semi final Uddish defeated Ashish Kashyap (Jorhat) by 9-4 while Parikshit came better against kitartha Hazarika (Nagaon) by 9-1. The result of other matches: Boys U 14 (Qtr final): Zhaputso Khate (Dimapur) Bt Bijoy Kr Mohanty (Ghy) 9-8, Iciraibe (Dimapur) Bt Gaurav Devsarma 9-5, Siddhanta Barua (Jrt) Bt Abinash Kaushik (Ghy) 9-7, Gaigeng Pamei (Dimapur) Bt Rishav Parasar (Jrt) 9-1
Girls U 14 (Qtr Final): Jyotismita Khound (Dul) Bt Manaswini Hazarika (Ghy) (Seed 1) 8-6 Sanghamitra Thakur (Ghy) Bt Namrata Duwara (Nrl) 8-2, Sumaiya Begum (Jrt) Bt Shreoyshri Dutta (Gol) 8-1, Marisha Dutta (Ghy) Bt Dhriti Pathak (Ghy) 8-1 Girls U 18 (Qtr final): Sanghamitra Thakur (Ghy) Bt Jyotismita Khound (Dul) 8-6 Manaswini Hazarika (Ghy) Bt Chuba Senly Aier (Avs) 8-1, Marisha Dutta (Ghy) Bt Cosmi Bora (Brpl) 8-1, Sumaiya Begum (Jrt) Bt Abhishruti Sarma (Walk Over) Boys Under 18 (Qtr final) : Janoaid Toshif (Ghy) Bt Manas Gogoi (Jrt) 9-6, Rupam Gogoi (Sib) Bt Sanjay Mohanty (Ghy) 9-4, Alok Tripathy (Ghy) Bt Ritriz Duwara (Gol) 9-2 THE SENTINEL

Three state shuttlers in Indian team

Three state players- Anjali Kalita, Bibari Basumatari and Angshuman Hazarika have been selected to represent India in the forthcoming India Open Badminton championship. The event would be held at Hyderabad from March 24. THE SENTINEL

FIFA official inspects Sarusajai Sports Complex

FIFA official inspects Sarusajai Sports Complex
Our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 24: A top official of FIFA -Timmy Satiawan— today visited the Indira Gandhi Stadium at Sarusajai Sports Complex to gather information on the facilities at the venue. His report on the sporting infrastructure will decide whether the stadium is fit to host international matches in the future.

Without the approval of FIFA, no stadium can host international soccer matches and with Timmy’s visit, Guwahati might be included in the international fixture.

Timmy, who was accompanied by the officials of the AIFF, was in the stadium for more then three hours and apart from inspecting the different facilities he also talked with top officials of the Police Department, State Sports Department and State Fire Department.

Talking to the mediapersons Timmy said, “ During this visit to India he will inspect six stadiums. Already he had visited stadiums in Goa and Chennai and this one was his third inspection.”
Timmy, who is the member of the security department of FIFA said, “ Generally we divide our work into three parts—players, VVIP and crowd. We also keep in mind factors like airports, hotels, ground, and media centres.”

He added that it will take two more weeks to submit his report to FIFA and the parent body of world football will send its reply to the All India Football Federation within two weeks.
When asked to comment on the infrastructure of the Indira Gandhi Stadium, he said that his report to FIFA would be confidential so he can’t disclose anything now. However Timmy indicated that except for the turf, the other facilities are quite satisfactory. the sentinel


Pace bowling clinic starts
A week-long pace bowling clinic organized by the Guwahati Cricket Coaching Centre as a part of its silver jubilee celebration, got under way at the Nehru Stadium on Monday. Altogether 20 pace bowlers from the different clubs of the city are taking part in the camp. It is after 15 years that a pace bowling clinic is being held in the city with two former Ranji cricketers Gautam Dutta and Hemanga Barua supervising the camp. Talking to The Sentinel, Gautam Dutta said that thrust would be given on the basics only. “ First we have to correct the basics of the pace bowlers before we give them the finer tips. So in this camp we will work on this aspect only,” said Dutta. the sentinel

NFR victorious
A fine all round performance from Parag Das helped NF Railway to register a 33-run win against Northern Railway in Mumbai on Monday. Batting first, NF Railway riding on a fine century from Parag Das (100), scored 313 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 50 overs. Swarupam Purkayastha, and Kunal Saikia also contributed 67 runs and 43 runs respectively. In reply, Northern Railway were bowled out for 280 runs. Parag Das picked up four wickets. the sentinel

Assam Sports

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FIFA observer to inspect Sarusaji Stadium
By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 22: FIFA observer Timmy Satiawan will visit Guwahati on Monday to inspect soccer infrastructure in the city. The secretary of the Assam Football Association Ankur Dutta said that during his visit, Satiawan will go to the Sarusajai Sports Complex to check the facilities of the ground and the stadium. It may be mentioned here that FIFA allots matches only to those stadium it deems fit to host international matches and whether Asom would get a chance to host any international soccer meet in the future would depend on the report of Satiawan. Dutta added that Satiawan will be accompanied by few officials of the . The Sentinel


U-21 soccer camp from April 7
The Assam Football Association will organize a coaching-cum-selection camp to prepare its team for the forthcoming U-21 National Football Championship which will get under way in Goa from April 29. The camp to select the probables will start from April 7 at Tezpur and altogether 57 footballers have been invited to attend the camp. It may be mentioned here that Asom is placed in cluster IV along with Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chattishgarh. Asom will start its campaign with a match against Madhya Pradesh on April 30. Their last two group league matches would be on May 2 (vs Chattishgarh) and May 4 (vs Delhi). The Sentinel

Barsha wins women’s crown
Barsha Baruah of Asom lifted the women’s single title in the North East Carrom Championship which concluded at Nagaon on Sunday. Barsha defeated her teammate Debjani Tamuli 3-0 in the final to win the crown. However, in the men’s single, Nayan Goswami had to satisfy with the runners-up title as he lost a well-contested 1-2 final against L Rakesh Singh of Manipur. Manipur dominated in the junior section and won both the titles in boy’s and girl’s section. In the final of the boy’s section, Herojit Singh defeated Rajib Ahmed of Asom 25-20, 25-22. In the girl’s section, S Binita Devi of Manipur defeated Asom girl Himakhi Baidya 25-1, 25-12. The Sentinel

BCCI official to attend diamond jubilee celebration
One of the senior officials of the BCCI will likely be present in the forthcoming diamond jubilee celebration of the Assam Cricket Association which will start on April 1. Secretary of the Assam Cricket Association Bikash Baruah said that Prof RS Shetty will be present in the opening function of the diamond jubilee celebration and they have also invited former test cricketer Maninder Singh along with Parthiv Patel to attend the function. However Patel might not be available as he has few other assignments during that period. The Sentinel

Pace bowling clinic begins today
As part of its silver jubilee celebration, Guwahati Cricket Coaching Centre will organize a pace bowling clinic for the upcoming bowlers of the city. The camp will get under way at the Nehru Stadium from Monday. A key officials of the celebration committee Nishanta Bordoloi said that two pace bowlers from each club of the city will be allowed to take part in the clinic which will be supervised by two former pacers of the State—Gautam Dutta and Hemanga Baruah. The Sentinel

Cricket academy inaugurated
A new cricket academy —North East Sunrise Cricket Academy— was inaugurated at Silpukhuri in Guwahati on Sunday. Former cricketer Hemanga Baruah inaugurated the academy which currently have around 30 trainees. The Sentinel

Kaliyani tennis ends
The 2nd Kaliyani Open Ranking Tennis Tournament came to a closure today in the township of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. The closing ceremony started with the felicitation of chief guest Ms Susan Das Choudhury by Ms Madhumita Chakravarty, the first lady of Kaliyani Club. In her address, the two time former national champion Ms Choudhury while congratulating all the winners and participants stressed the need for having physical endurance and mental ability to succeed at the highest level. Following are the final results: Boys U -18—Alok Tripathy (Ghy) (4) bt Madhurjya Dutta (Digboi) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Girls U-18—Somaiya Begum (Jorhat) bt Jyotismita Khound (Duliajan) 6-1, 6-2. Boys U-14—Iciraebe (Dimapur) bt Gaigeng Pamei (Dimapur) 6-1, 0-6, 6-3. Girls U-14—Somaiya Begum (Jorhat) bt Sanghamitra Thakur (Ghy) 6-1, 6-2. U-10 boy’s and girl’s combined—Parikshit Somani (Jorhat) bt Uddish Borpuzari (Jorhat) 6-4, 6-3. Men’s doubles— Borpuzari / J Mishra (Jorhat) bt S Kalita / P P Singha (NRL) 6-2, 6-3. The Sentinel

NRI Dr Francis Saldanha, wants to work for State sports

Sports Reporter Assam Tribune
GUWAHATI, Feb 23 – The West Virginia-based NRI, Dr Francis Saldanha, wants to work in Assam for the development of sports here. Originally from Chennai, Dr Saldanha, who has been a successful physician in West Virginia, is a keen sports lover and his affection for the sports dragged him to this kind of activities. His organization, FS Sports, an NGO, had sponsored the Indian U-16 football team last year, which played a few friendly matches in USA apart from attending training sessions.

Assam Football Association secretary Ankur Dutta, who was the manager of the Indian team, came in contact with Dr Francis and invited him to help in preparing the Assam Santosh Trophy team. Accordingly, accompanied with three coaches, namely Robert Gray, Henry Carl Gray and Glenn Gray, he arrived here yesterday and started their coaching programme at the Nehru Stadium here this afternoon.

Interacting with media persons today, Dr Francis said he would invest $20,000 in preparing the Assam Santosh Trophy team. He, however, revealed that in return he does not want anything from the State. His NGO has started working for sports development last year and wants to continue all over India so that hidden talents in the country could be spotted.

Dr Francis said he feels sorry when people in USA ask him how many medals India got in Olympics. So, considering the poor performance of the Indian sportspersons in the international arena, he decided to take up football and athletics as these are played in all the countries.

He asserted that although he does not have any idea on the Indian football, he has chosen this sport in this country as India is affiliated to FIFA. He is also planning to introduce his scheme in other Indian major cities.

Dr Francis also said he would start a training center for long jumpers in the State soon, as for this type of sport it does not need wide arrangements.

Meanwhile, a website, dekhoyaar.com, has been launched where youngsters of any sports can display their skills after registering their names. If the selection panels of FS Sports is satisfy with their skills then they may be selected for scholarship and training in Europe.

Giving details about the coaches who will train the Santosh Trophy probable here, he said all the three coaches are quite experienced and capable of providing high quality training. Robert and Carl are brothers while Glenn is Carl’s son. Glenn is also a footballer and a graduate in sports management.

1956 Olympics football heroes honoured

NEW DELHI, Feb 23 (PTI): In a fine gesture though after more than fifty years, Sports Ministry today honoured the football heroes of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics for their contribution to the sport in the country.

The 1956 team, led by Badru Banerjee and coached by Syed Rahim, reached the semifinals in Melbourne, only to miss out the bronze to Bulgaria in the third-place play-off.

Out of the 17 heroes that formed the historic 1956 team, only nine still remain alive and Sports Minister MS Gill today felicitated the seven who made it to the Capital.

Badru Banerjee, PK Banerjee, Nikhil Nandi, Babu Narayan, Muhamed Abdus Salam, Ahmed Husain and MZ Zulfaikar were presented a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh each, a silver salver and a shawl by the sports minister.

Tulsidas Balaram and Kesto Pal could not attend the programme due to ill health. Their awards would be sent directly to their homes.

This is the first time that the government has done something for the 1956 team and the decision to felicitate these players took shape during the sports minister’s visit to Kolkata to inaugurate the swimming complex of the Sports Authority of India.

“I have played football and was a fan of Jarnail Singh, Muhamed Kempiah and Peter Thangaraj,” said Gill after honouring the yesteryear footballers.

Sahara to sponsor boxers, wrestlers - a great boot to Indian Sports

New Delhi, Feb 23: Much like their cricket cousins, 17 grapplers and 13 pugilists will receive graded contracts after Sahara India Pariwar today pledged to support wrestling and boxing in the country.

Apart from offering them a four-year contract which would be reviewed every year, Sahara also adopted the famous Bhiwani Boxing Club in Haryana and the Guru Hanuman Akhara in the capital with an aim to upgrade the facilities at both the centres.

"This is our emotional attachment to these two disciplines. We just wanted to ensure that these wrestlers and boxers can prepare for both the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 London Olympics without bothering about their basic necessities," Sahara Chairman Subroto Roy said here.

Sahara will also be the title sponsor for the Senior National Boxing Championship for the next four years, he added.

"We cannot deny the fact that we were tempted to adopt these two disciplines after both fetched India medals in the Beijing Olympics. It’s not only the medal winners alone, other boxers and wrestlers also did a good job there. We were thoroughly convinced of the tremendous potential of both the sports," Roy said.

Efforts would be made to create icons out of the identified athletes, he added. Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar welcomed the initiative but said had such help come earlier, he probably would have returned with a gold from the Chinese capital. "This is a welcome start. It would be a huge boost to all the wrestlers. Had it come earlier, I would have won the gold in Beijing," he said.

"I’m still happy because it would help us and every wrestler would work hard to retain their contract," said the grappler, beaming in a blue Sahara jersey.

"It feels good to wear this jersey. So far I saw only the cricketers wearing it," he said.

Vijender, the country’s first Olympic medallist boxer, echoed Sushil’s view and said other corporate houses should also come forward to promote Olympic sport.

"This is a great thing to happen to both boxing and wrestling. Boxing is on a high after Beijing Olympics and I hope it becomes as popular here as it is in Cuba," said the Haryana boxer. Indian Boxing Federation president Abhay Singh Chautala, secretary PKM Raja and Wrestling Federation of India president GS Mander were also present on the occasion. (PTI)