Das Gupta re-elected President
lucknow: Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta was today unanimously re-elected for a four-year term, starting June 2014, as he was the only one to have filed the nomination for the post. Secretary Vijai Sinha and treasurer Ashok Bajaj were also unanimously re-elected in a clear mandate to the current leadership. With most office bearers elected without a contest, polling will take place only for the post of secretary — coaching and development where Bihar Badminton Association secretary K N Jaiswal will take on Assam Badminton Association secretary Omar Rashid on January 25. Das Gupta’s dynamic leadership and players centric approach has already helped India bag its first Olympic medal in badminton apart from many international titles. And the former national-level player is determined to take Indian badminton to the next level in his first full term. Addressing the media on today, BAI President said, “The unanimous verdict to back me for another term is a sign of trust and faith the association has in me. Since I took over as the president, I have worked towards uniting all the stakeholders and the results have been showing on and off the field.”
Pallikal bows out of NY tourney
New York: India’s world No.12 Dipika Pallikal put up a spirited display before going down in straight games to Hong Kong’s Annie Au in the Qualifying Finals of the Women’s JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, here. Pallikal, the highest-ranked player in the qualifiers, lost 8-11 9-11 5-11 in 33 minutes to Annie. With the ouster of the Chennai girl, the Indian challenge came to an end in the WSA Gold event at the Princeton Club. The Indian men’s challenge had ended yesterday with the defeat of Saurav Ghosal, who lost his opening round match to Germany’s Simon Rosner 2-3.
NHAI defeat JCB
New Delhi: In an exciting clash between engineering majors, National Highways Authority of India defeated JCB on the second day of 7th Manav Rachna Corporate Cricket Challenge 2014 held at Manav Rachna Cricket Ground here on Monday. JCB won the toss and elected to field first. NHAI, led by N. K. Sharma, an associate, set a competitive target of 203 for JCB. Arun scored 57 runs off 27 balls to help his team reach the score. His innings included 6 sixes and 2 fours. n reply, NHAI, led by P.K. Jain began their batting brilliantly and were neck-to-neck with JCB till the 18th over, scoring 188 / 8, but things took a wrong turn in the end which led to the victory of JCB.
‘India need to tap young talent’
New Delhi: Rod Thorn, President Basketball Operations at the National Basket Association (NBA) in the United States, insisted that there was no lack of talent in India and the priority for sports administrators should be to tap them at a right age. “I watched some teams play in Mumbai (9th Savio Club Basketball Championship) and I was impressed with some of the guys. They looked fit and agile. Some of them can easily make it to a Division I side in NBA,” said Thorn. “India being world’s second largest populated country has tremendous potential to be a force in basketball. The focus should be scout talent at grassroot levels and groom them for the top-level competition. We can certainly see an Indian at the NBA,” Thorn, who played a role in identifying Michael Jordan’s talent, said in a media interaction here. “When you scout a talent, the first and foremost thing you look at is character which is very important considering the strenuous competition in the NBA. Skills and training follows,” the 72-year-old said.
Saina seeks much-needed win lucknow:
Desperate for a much-needed win, two-time winner Saina Nehwal will be back in action at the Syed Modi international tournament, while defending champion Parupalli Kashyap will eye another victory when the Grand Prix Gold event begins with the qualifiers here on Tuesday. After a lacklustre season last year, in which she was plagued by injuries and failed to win a single title and her world ranking also took a beating, Saina now starts as a top seed in a field that has 16 other Indians. Among foreign shuttlers, world number 18 lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia and world number 39 Xuan Deng of China will be the top challengers.