Click Here To Download IPL Season 5 Schedule

IPL Season 5 Schedule

SAFF Championship Official Draw

New Delhi, 2nd November 2011: Defending champions India will look to extend their dominance in the SAFF Cup when they host the 10th edition of the premier regional competition in New Delhi from December 2nd to 11th this year.

India have won the title a record five times after qualifying for the final on seven occasions, and despite being ranked lower than rivals Bangladesh and Nepal, will start as favourites when the majestic Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium stages its first international football competition since the Commonwealth Games last year.

India’s Minister for Sports Mr. Ajay Maken has taken it upon himself to turn the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium into an energetic football hub and the All India Football Federation and the World Sport Group are grateful to the sports-loving Honourable Minister for his initiative.

Mr Praful Patel, President of the AIFF said, “It is a great pleasure to host the SAFF Championship in New Delhi once again. This time the Championships will be held at the World class Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which is now being developed as a football hub as part of the legacy plan of the Ministry of Sports, Government of India. This tournament held biennially is a very important event for all the SAFF countries. I wish all the participating countries the very best and hope to see a very competitive tournament.”

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and India are the eight teams vying for top honours in the biennial competition being staged in India for only the second time. India hosted the fourth edition of the tournament in Margao in 1999 and won the cup.

SAFF Schedule 2011 - Click The Image to Get Large

According to the tournament format, the eight teams will be divided into two groups with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals. India defeated Maldives 3-1 in the tie-breaker in the final of the previous edition held in Dhaka in 2009.

FIFA rankings of the eight competing teams: Bangladesh – 141; Nepal – 144; India – 160; Maldives – 162; Pakistan – 173; Sri Lanka – 177; Afghanistan – 184; Bhutan – 199.

Results of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship

Mumbai, 18th October, 2011: Alex Solanki oust Richie Agarwal and Fatehdeep wins against Raswant Ravi in the Boys 16 category at the Fenesta Open National Tennnis Championship for Juniors

New Delhi 18th October 2011: Alex Solanki came back from a set down to oust sixth seed Richie Agarwal in the boys under-16 singles at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship on Tuesday.

Richie had little trouble to win the first 3-6 before Alex fought his back into the match to win his second-round clash 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the RK Khanna Tennis Complex.

Second seed Fatehdeep Singh from Punjab continued his impressive run and had an easy passage into the third round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tamil Nadu’s Raswant Ravi.

Sai Nikhil did stretch Jude Raymond in the second set but all his efforts came too late to challenge the third seed Andhra boy, who emerged victorious with a 6-3, 7-5 verdict in his favour.

Fifth seed Karan Salwan too made it to the third round with an easy 6-1, 6-1 victory over Delhi lad Siddharth Anand. Deepak Vishwakarma (4th) and Vidit Vagela (13th) were the other seeded players to march into the pre-quarterfinals.

In the boys under-14 singles, there were hardly any surprises with top two seeds Sachin Kumar and Vishnu Prasad marching into the next round. While Delhi’s Sachin accounted for Rishab Dahiya 6-1, 6-3, Vishnu defeated Ammarnath Arora 6-2, 6-2.

In the girls under 16 singles category the first seed Sneha Devi Reddy from Andhra oust Samriti 6-1,6-3.

Isha Lakhani

Mumbai, 14th October 2011: Young Pune girl Rutuja Bhosale caught the eye with her fluent stroke-making as she shocked seasoned campaigner Rushmi Chakravarthy 6-4, 6-4 in the ladies singles semi-finals of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship.

On Saturday, Rutuja will take on Isha Lakhani for the title at the DLTA facility. Isha showed that nothing was going to stop her as she overcame the pain barrier to defeat Soujana Bavishetti 6-4, 6-2.

Undoubtedly, the find of the tournament has been Rutuja, as the Asian junior champion worked her way up the draw.

Having been drilled well in the basics of the game by Coach Sandeep Kirtane in Pune, Rutuja is a crafty player.

Yet, on Friday, what made the difference was she did not get overawed while competing against a player who had loads of experience in her favour.

Quite often in big matches, despite her strong physique, Rushmi has fumbled when it comes to tight points.

Rutuja exploited that well and showed that she is the one to watch for the future. “I am happy I am in the final, I was not expecting to be here,” said Rutuja.

In the other semi-final, Isha Lakhani, who has been popping in painkillers the whole week, showed she was not going to end her campaign so easily.

As a qualifier making it so far, her success story has been fantastic. “I have found it tough because I have been in pain. I was out of match practice and was pulling it away one at a time,” said Isha.

But the big plus for Isha was she could use her experience to find the winners against a much younger opponent. Moreoever, Bavishettin was not able to handle the big match pressure.

In the men’s singles, it will be a fight between Yuki Bhambri and Vishnu Vardhan for the men’s singles title.

Second seed Yuki beat Saketh in a match which went down to the wire.

Yuki had hardly been tested till now this week. This was a big match for Saketh but he showed guts and grit before losing in a three setter 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

In a way, Saketh’s performances come as a whiff of fresh air as Indian tennis badly needs another solid singles player. As has been the case before, performances in the nationals do count and the talented Andhra Pradesh player’s showing will count.

For Yuki, this was a big win as he had the advantage of familiarity with conditions in Delhi.

In the other semi-final, Vishnu Vardhan beat Mohit Mayur 6-3, 6-3.

Vishnu had played brilliant tennis this week and pulled off points without having to exert himself.

“I don’t find myself under pressure,” said Vishnu, who has some good results under his belt in the 2011 season.

However, what should goad him in Saturday’s final is he has never won the hard court national title before.

National Tennis Championship

Mumbai, 13th October 2011: The young men from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu made it a memorable day for themselves as Saketh  Myneni and Vishnu Vardhan stormed into the semi-finals in the Fenesta National tennis championship on Thursday.

On a pleasant day at the DLTA facility in New Delhi, Vishnu once again had to play just percentage tennis to outsmart SV Abhishek 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals.

Quite often, the favourites find the going tough in the latter stages of the tournament. But in the case of athletic and sturdy Vishnu, his matches this week have been quite comfortable.

As one who has camped at the baseline and grinded out his shots for most part, Vishnu did not have to worry about getting hurt by his opponent Abhishek’s shots. But where Vishnu really won the match today was his ability to play consistently and not make errors.

As for Saketh Myneni, the Andhra boy has learnt well to pace himself out this week. Perhaps, the good experience of winning matches in recent times helped him play solid against Vijay Prashanth as he won 6-3, 6-1.

With the Indian Davis Cup team looking for a quality singles player to lend support to Somdev Devvarman, the focus has been on the men’s event. And in this regard, the performance of Delhi boy Yuki Bhambri also cannot be discounted.

Yuki did not have to stretch himself as he pummeled Ankit Sachdeva 6-1, 6-3. Yuki’s game plan was simple, camp at the baseline and whack ground strokes on either flank with assurance. As one who has grown up learning the bread and butter strokes in the Capital, Yuki imparted a lot of weight into his shots. However, what was a matter of concern was how he rarely made approaches to the net.

Mohit M Jayaprakash from TN won against Kaza V Sharma with a score of

In the women’s section, Isha Lakhani once again showed that her hunger for success is not yet over. Despite marriage and running a tennis coaching programme in New Delhi, Isha showed that when it comes to winning matches, she still has the punch.

Up against the seasoned Sheetal Goutham, Isha worked up a good pace. Her aggression and angle of shots hit from the mid-court was tough for Sheetal, who at best was a counter-puncher.

“It has been an exciting run for me. I am enjoying this run,” said Isha.

There was one more seasoned campaigner who showed that at 34, her hunger for success is not yet over. Chennai-based Rushmi Chakravarthy, who has been part of the national circuit for almost two decades, whipped Shivika Burman 6-0, 6-2.

Tall and lanky Rushmi loves to hit the ball on the rise and imparts a thwack when she times it sweetly. Against the younger Shivika, Rushmi was on song as she hit flat and deep strokes.

Another entrant into the semi-finals was Soujanya Bavishetti as she beat Rishika Sunkara 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-0 in a long-drawn affair.

Tall Pune’s Rutuja Bhosale had to work hard, Rutuja had a injury earlier in the day but still gave a strong fight to Prarthana Thombare and won  with 6-2, 6-3 .

2nd Mahindra Youth Football Challenge

Three footballers, Bishal Harizan and Jayanta Mondal from Kolkata and Mani Maran R. from Bangalore, emerged the best three footballers from the first season of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. After intense football action across six cities, involving 32 schools from each city, these three were picked after the Inter-City Challenge and got an opportunity to avail of a ten-day intensive coaching camp in Glasgow with the Celtic Football Club.

The three are back, richer and wiser in terms of footballing talent in time to launch the second edition of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge, an under-14 Schools Football Tournament-cum-Talent Hunt, an initiative by the Mahindra Group to promote football at the grass root level. The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge will continue to partner with Scottish football giants, Celtic Football Club, who will take on the responsibility of training and developing young talent identified through the initiative.

Bishal Harizan, Jayanta Mondal and Mani Maran spent fruitful days at Celtic FC, where they got an opportunity to watch a Scottish Premier League game at Celtic Park, involving Celtic FC and Motherwell FC and another at Ibrox Stadium featuring Celtic FC vs Glasgow Rangers. Their training there involved individual technique training, multiple sessions of Sports Science Testing, learning the right warm up techniques with the under-19 team, and daily coaching sessions with the Celtic Under-15 team. Bangalore’s Mani Maran was then selected to represent the Celtic FC Under-16 team to play against the Monash Football Club from Melbourne, Australia, capping a successful and satisfying experience for the three lads.

The second season will also be played in the six cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Goa, Bangalore and Kerala, involving the top 32 schools from each city, but a host of exciting initiatives will be added to ensure that the net is cast wider to identify the most talented junior football players in the country.  The MYFC initiative is being promoted and executed by leading sports management company, Procam International.

This was announced by Mufaddal Choonia, Dy. General Manager, Corporate Strategy, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., along with P N Sankaran of Procam International.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Choonia said “We are proud of Bishal, Jayanta and Mani and wish them a fabulous future in football. Our commitment to nurture the sport remains steadfast and we are looking forward to the second season with a great deal of excitement.”

Peter Lowell, Chief Executive of Celtic Football Club had this to say, “Celtic Football Club was delighted to host the three successful players during the past week at our Youth Academy here in Scotland. The boys acquitted themselves very well – working with many of our elite squads – and we will be keeping a close eye on their future development. We are looking forward to another fantastic series of events over the next 12 months to ensure that the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge continues to grow as THE youth football event in India.”

Expressing his views on the second edition of this top-class event, Vivek B Singh, Joint Managing Director, Procam International, said, “The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge has provided a platform to promote grassroots football in the true sense, with lesser known schools putting it across their fancied counterparts and propelling their players into the limelight. Procam International is indeed proud to be part of this novel initiative and committed to evolve and improvise in order to help fructify the dreams of talented under-14 football players,”

The inaugural edition of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge was won by Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan School, Kolkatta, while Govt. Sports School, Bangalore finished runner-up. Mumbai was represented by Don Bosco, Matunga, who had emerged the champion school of Mumbai.

Looking back on the 1st Mahindra Youth Football Challenge, Stephen Frail, the head coach from Celtic FC had this to say, “The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge has been a great success. The Mahindra organisation, in partnership with the Celtic Football Club, has put together an exciting project. With the help and expertise of Procam International the tournament has provided a platform and opportunity for young players from across India to showcase their talent and, hopefully, earn a chance to further enhance their ability by visiting Glasgow. Celtic Football Club is very proud to be part of such a project.”

The second edition of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge will be played in the same format as the inaugural edition, whereby 32 schools in each of the six cities/states will be invited to play a knockout round. This will result in a winning team from each city. These winning teams will then play against each other. The winners will be crowned the Champion of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge.

The enhancements in the second year will include 25 boys being selected for the coaching clinic as against 22 in the first year. The three boys who travelled to Glasgow, Bishal, Jayanta and Mani will also be invited for this coaching clinic to ensure that they get another opportunity to benefit from the specialized coaching. There will be growing involvement from Celtic FC, with the players benefiting in the form of kit and equipment. Training videos will be posted on MYFC website along with specialized articles on training and nutrition. Details of every leg will be up on the MYFC Website, while radio updates of results and schedules will be running in every city through 92.7 BIG FM, who will continue to be Radio Partners to the event.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES: The winning school of the 2nd Mahindra Youth Football Challenge will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000, along with the winner’s trophy, while the runner-up team will win a cash prize of Rs 30,000 and a trophy. There will also be awards such as ‘Star Performer of the Game’ and individual appreciation trophies for the ‘Best Striker’, ‘Best Mid-fielder’, ‘Best Defender’ and ‘Best Goalkeeper.’

Each player of the six teams in the Inter-City League will be given two pairs of kitting (Jersey, Shorts & Stockings), while travel, out of pocket expenses during the travel, and lodging & boarding of all the six schools will be taken care of by MYFC.

There is plenty to play for in the Intra-City stage too, with the winners from each city gaining Rs 30,000, the runners-up team Rs 20,000 and the 3rd placed winner Rs 15,000. The winners and runners-up teams will also be awarded trophies while each player from these teams will be given a kit bag. Similarly there will be a ‘Star Performer of the Game’ trophy for each match from the quarter-final stage and ‘Best Player of the Tournament’ Trophy to be won.

A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM THE BEST: The winning schools from the six cities and their coaches will benefit from a four-day coaching camp to be conducted by a panel of visiting coaches from the Celtic Football Club before the Inter-City Challenge. This same panel will then shortlist 25 players from the Inter-City Challenge who will further undergo an intensive five-day long coaching clinic where two to four of the best players will be picked to travel to Scotland and the Celtic Football Club for further intensive training.

Champions League Twenty20 2011 Teams

Auckland Aces
Cape Cobras
Chennai Super Kings
Kolkata Knight Riders
Leicestershire Foxes
Mumbai Indians
New South Wales Blues
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Ruhuna Eleven
Somerset
South Australian Redbacks
Trinidad & Tobago
Warriors

Check Here for – Champions League Twenty20 Schedule 2011

Brazilian Football League

New Delhi, 4th August 2011 – The Brazilian Football league is all set to hit the screens in one of India’s biggest football markets, Kerala. Coming hot on the heels of the league’s entry into the Indian market in West Bengal, it will now be available in Kerala through Asianet Satellite Communications Limited who will show the matches on its channels, Rosebowl and Asianet Cable Vision (ACV). The league, distributed by Globo TV Sports and facilitated by Total Sports Asia, Asia’s global leader in sports content and branding solutions, sees one of the World’s most exciting football leagues creating a footprint for itself in India’s biggest regional markets. The Brazilian league,

This move gives Kerala’s football crazy audience, a chance to experience the thrill and excitement that comes with the Brazilian Football League, one of the most intense football leagues in the world. After the initial rounds of action, the league is intriguingly poised with leaders Corinthians and a Ronaldinho-inspired Flamengo leading the pack with Sao Paolo and Palmeiras in hot pursuit. Defending champions Fluminense’, stuck at 8th spot, continue to search for their best form that saw them clinch the Brasileirao last season. Copa Libertadores winners Santos’ horror start to the season that sees them firmly entrenched in a relegation battle adds an intriguing subplot to the league, leaving it tantalizingly poised for the rest of the season.

Following in the footsteps of the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A, the Brazilian Football League will hope to captivate viewers with its exciting brand of football. The trickery, the dribbling, the passing, the rhythmic flow, all these factors make the Brazilian league a treat to watch. To add to this excitement, an average of 3 goals is scored in every match.

Brazil is the most decorated football nation having won 5 FIFA World Cups and is the only team to have qualified for all World Cups till date. The Brazilian Football League boasts of teams like Sao Paulo, Santos, Flamengo, Gremio, Corinthians, Internacional, Cruizero, etc. A number of leading footballers like Neymar, Ronaldinho, Paulo Henrique Ganso and many more ply their trade in the Brazilian Football League.

Asianet Satellite Communcations President Mr. Shankar Narayana said, “ Football is close to every Keralite and Brazil being synonymous with football in Indian minds, it was imperative for us to have the league made available to our audience. Every time Brazil plays in the World Cup, Kerala goes crazy; we intend to recreate that spirit over an entire season. For a league that is just about entering the Indian market, we are expecting a great response from the audience thanks to the popularity of last year’s FIFA World Cup and the buzz surrounding the next World Cup in Brazil.”

Suvrangsu Mukherjee, Managing Director and Senior Vice President, Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, Total Sports Asia said, “After the league’s success in West Bengal, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the country took notice. Kerala is right up there with West Bengal when it comes to passion for  football and it’s only natural that the league be made available here. It’s a part of TSA’s long-term initiative to take sports to the least common denominator in their local languages. Rosebowl and ACV are amongst the most popular channels in Kerala and provide a terrific platform to reach out to the audience. It’s a unique initiative in that football is being offered to the audience in their own language, creating an instant connect.”