Abhinav Bindra honoured with a doctorate

Olympics star Abhinav Bindra has now earned himself an honorary doctorate degree.

A university in Chennai has honoured the shooter, hoping that he will be an inspiration for young Indians.

India's golden boy Abhinav Bindra will henceforth be called Dr Abhinav Bindra. Chennai's SRM University has honoured India's first ever individual Olympic gold medalist with an honorary doctorate in Literature. The University also awarded him a cash prize of Rupees five 5 lakhs.

"For youngsters he is a star. So he should be focused upon so that it reaches to every youth of the country. Unless we encourage such stars how will we get our share in the Olympics in the future? That's why we decided to give this doctorate to him," said Chancellor, SRM University, T R Pachamathu.

Abhinav Bindra was joined by ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, who received a doctorate in Science from the governor of Tamil Nadu. And though by now, Bindra has got used to the limelight and awards, he was still very happy to accept this special honour.


Courtesy:ibnlive.com
Complete artical HERE

King of the ring: Vijendra the new brand for India Inc

In a country that has downright hero worshiped cricket and no other sport, the medal winners of the recently concluded Olympics have created somewhat a stir and made corporates sit up and take notice. But how long will ad world's interest in non-cricket icons last?

Sports personalities MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Sania Mirza have been the heartthrobs for brands in India, but now there is a new kid on the block, Olympics bronze winner and boxer, Vijendra Kumar.

The Olympics changed the game for him, as once there were no sponsors willing to touch him, but now his upper cut is hitting the sweet spot with advertisers.

''Lots of companies are after him now for tie-ups as now he has won the medal. But before he went for the games, it was very hard for us to find any sponsors for him,'' says CEO Infinity Optimal Solutions, Neerav Tomar.

Vijendra is not the only one in the ring, Olympic gold winner and shooter Abhinav Bindra, along with Olympic bronze winner and wrestler Sushil Kumar are hitting bulls eye with India Inc.

Vijendra alone has got eight endorsement deals worth Rs 60 lakh each. But, how long will the ad world's love affair with non cricket icons last ?

''This hype is very short-lived, in this revisionary period. I expect the hype for them maximum for the next six months. Companies are using them for brand building as they are definitely lesser priced than cricketers and Bollywood stars,'' says ED, Starcom Worldwide, Tarun Nigam.

But perhaps like the Olympics threw up these unexpected champions, Indian advertisers too are willing to break away from their fascination with cricket, the next few months will confirm which way this game will be played.


Courtesy:ibnlive.com
Complete artical HERE

Khel Ratna conferred on Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni became only the second cricketer, a decade after Sachin Tendulkar, to receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as he was conferred the country's highest sporting honour at a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Friday.

The Indian ODI captain, however, could not attend the function as he was leading the team in the fifth and final match of the one-day series against Sri Lanka, which India has already won.

His father Paan Singh received the award on his behalf.

President Pratibha Patil presented Rs 500,000, a scroll of honour and a medal in recognition to his spectacular and most outstanding performance in sports.

Apart from the 27-year-old Dhoni, it was also a red letter day for 11 other sportspersons, who were bestowed Arjuna Awards at a packed Ashok Hall which reverberated with thunderous applause.

Olympian shooter Avneet Kaur Sidhu, veteran hockey forward Prabhjot Singh, and Beijing Olympic quarter-finalist rower Bajranglal Takhar were among those who were honoured with the Arjuna awards at the magnificent ceremony.


Courtesy:ibnlive.com
Complete artical HERE

Master Blaster is likely to lead India in test series

India batsman Sachin Tendulkar is most likely to be named India's Test captain for the upcoming series against Pakistan.

As the Indian selectors are all set to announce the Indian team for the first two One-Dayers against Pakistan later on Saturday, CNN-IBN has learnt that the selectors might opt to go for a split captaincy for Tests and One-Dayers.

According to sources, the Master Blaster is likely to lead India in the Test series. The first Test begins at the Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi on November 22.

Tendulkar has had a mediocre record as Test captain, leading the side 25 matches, of which India have won four and lost nine. As a batsman too, Tendulkar has scored seven centuries out of his record number of Test centuries.

Courtesy:ibnleve.com
Complete artical HERE

M.S.Dhoni's new look

India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, sporting a new look with close-cropped hair, returned home on Wednesday after the recently concluded seven-match ODI series against Australia.

Dhoni was whisked away by securitymen from one of the gates of the Birsa Munda Airport even as a folk troupe, which was waiting to greet him at another gate, was stopped.
Dhoni looked neat and trim with his locks, which once drew the attention of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, shorn off.

“The enthusiasm would have been different had Dhoni returned immediately after the Twenty20 championship,” a fan said and blamed the 2-4 loss to Australia in the one-day series for presence of a few number of fans.

A few determined enthusiasts, however, shouted “Dhoni Zindabad” and “Welcome Dhoni” as he drove away to his brother-in-law’s home.

Courtesy:hindu.com
Complete artical HERE

Advantage India post Warne

Legendary Aussie fast bowler Dennis Lillee has warned skipper Ricky Ponting against taking India, under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lightly during their tour of Australia.

“The Indians cannot be taken for granted as they will have the advantage of playing in a full-fledged tour (five ODIs and three Tests) against Pakistan when they come to play the Test series while Australia, who have played very little cricket during the last few months, will prepare to meet India with just a couple of Tests against Sri Lanka in Brisbane and Hobart in early November and three ODIs against New Zealand under their belt”, Lillee wrote in his syndicated column on Wednesday.

“Despite being buoyed by their recent ODI success (4-2) in India for the summer clash, India’s Twenty20 world championship success in South Africa, has confirmed the team’s close-knit nature and the way the host side fought back against Australia in the One-Day games showed tremendous courage under fire”, he adds.

“India’s youth policy is working and I feel fans can expect results sooner rather than later. But having said that, I would include former captain Rahul Dravid in the Indian squad because you can’t buy that sort of experience should younger players falter on the big stage”, Lillee observed.

Courtesy:cricketnext.com
Complete artical HERE

BCCI President Sharad Pawar suporrt Indian crowd

BCCI President Sharad Pawar believes Andrew Symonds mistook hostile crowd antics for racism and insisted that the episode would not sour Indian cricket board's relation with its Australian counterpart.

Reacting to reports that Symonds had been subjected to monkey chants in Vadodara, Nagpur and in Mumbai too last night, Pawar assured that International Cricket Council's Anti-Racism Code would be strictly adhered to but he also felt that it was not a case of racism.

"We respect that we have to protect the individual player. There is a complaint and we will take the appropriate action," Pawar was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald .
"I believe this is a misunderstanding; a language issue. There are many languages spoken in India, and I don't understand many of them myself.

"Still, it is the responsibility of the Indian board to execute that (the ICC's Anti-Racism Code). There have already been steps taken," he added.

Courtesy:T he Times of India
Complete artical HERE

Tribute to Sachin Tendulkar dental surgeon

Paying tribute to Sachin Tendulkar, a dental surgeon from Kerala has brought out a video album on the cricketer in 20 languages. Titled Shan-e-Hindustan , the six-minute album features a song on Tendulkar, which has been sung by Dr C V Ranjith hailing from Kannur district. The first copy of the album was handed over to Tendulkar when the cricketer was here for the India-Australia one-dayer on October 2, Ranjith told reporters here. "All the best," was how Tendulkar responded when he was told about the video, which will be released in the market by December. The audio CDs will be ready by next month. "It was my dream to give the first copy to Sachin," Ranjith said. The shooting has been done in Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kannur.

Courtesy:The Times of India
Complete artical HERE

Sania Mirza leads into Hopman

The popular and glamorous Indian tennis star Sania Mirza will again lead her country's challenge at the Hopman Cup later this year
.
She is to team up with Rohan Bopanna at the unique mixed teams tournament, which starts on December 29 at Burswood Dome.The pair performed well at the season-opening tournament earlier this year, finishing second in their group after qualifying as winners of the Asian Hopman Cup.

This year, tournament director Paul McNamee was happy to invite the Indian pair rather than forcing them to qualify. "I was very happy to invite Sania and Rohan back because they did so well to finish second in their group last year and were undefeated in the mixed," McNamee said.
"Sania has still got the biggest forehand going around in women's tennis, that's for sure, and she is just a massive star on the subcontinent who really has a presence on the court

"She has had a really good year, particularly in the US summer and has beaten (Martina) Hingis, (Tatiana) Golovin, (Dinara) Safina and Patty Schnyder and is really starting to realise her potential."

Courtesy:sports.indiatimes.com
Complete artical HERE

Inquest into Woolmer's death to begin

Jamaican police have not ruled out the possibility of foul play in the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, which will be the subject of a coroner's inquest scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

The inquest in the capital of Kingston aims to determine whether anyone bears responsibility for the death of the 58-year-old coach, who was found unconscious in his hotel room March 18, a day after his heavily favored team was eliminated from the Cricket World Cup.

"There was a lot of speculation, and as a result of that speculation we are having the inquest," Sgt Dwayne Jex of the Jamaica Constabulary Force said in a telephone interview on Monday.
More than 50 people are expected to testify inside a conference center for the inquest, which Jex estimated would take more than two months.

Jamaican authorities initially said a preliminary autopsy was inconclusive, but a few days after Woolmer's death police announced he had been strangled, setting off a globe-spanning homicide probe.

Investigators collected dozens of DNA samples and fingerprints from potential witnesses, including members of the Pakistan World Cup squad and other teams.

Courtesy:NDTV
Complete artical HERE

The cricketer are scare in mid-air

The Indian and Australian cricket teams survived a scare on Monday morning after the Jet Airways aircraft flying them experienced a bird-hit 10 minutes into the flight to Mumbai and made an emergency landing.

The Jet flight, NW112, returned to Nagpur after the incident. All the players are safe.
The Indian cricket team has, meanwhile, arrived in Mumbai ahead of their final game against Australia in the seven-match one-day series. Australia beat India by 18 runs in the sixth one-dayer in Nagpur on Sunday.

Coutesy:IBNLive
Complete artical HERE

Team India at Vadodara

After regaining confidence by winning in Chandigarh, India are now looking to go all out for victory when they take on Australia in the fifth one-dayer of the seven-match Future Cup series on Thursday.

The Reliance Stadium pitch is expected to be a belter, with the curator expecting a 300-plus score by the team batting first. So the toss may be crucial, as both teams will like to put a huge score on the board and place their opponents under as much psychological pressure as they can.
World ODI champions Australia have a 2-1 lead in the series and are expected to come hard at Team India after their narrow loss in Chandigarh
.
But there is good news for captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as some of the problems that cropped up during the losses in Kochi and Hyderabad seem to have been solved with the win in Chandigarh.

The famed Indian batting line-up was a disappointment at the start of the series. But in Chandigarh, India preferred to go with their best opening combination - Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.

The duo did the trick as they added 91 runs for the opening wicket, which built the foundation of the Indian innings. The middle-order is also regaining form as Yuvraj Singh - who hit a century in Hyderabad - and Dhoni blasted the Australians in Chandigarh.
It will be a big occasion for Tendulkar Thursday. He will be playing his 400th ODI.

Courtesy:NDTV
Complete artical HERE

Prefir or perish message from Vegnsarkar

After two huge defeats against Australia, senior players of the Indian team are clearly feeling the heat with the chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar issuing a warning that nobody should take his place in the team for granted
.
In an interview with the Mid-Day newspaper, chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar said, "There are many players like S Badrinath and Suresh Raina who are performing with the India A side. These guys are waiting for their chance and you cannot ignore them. It's a professional set-up and nobody can take their place for granted. Definitely the threshold has reduced."

India lost the second and third matches of the seven-match series against Australia by 84 runs and 47 runs respectively. The first match of the series at Bangalore was washed out but in that match, too, Australia scored over 300
.
In the first ODI, only Sachin Tendulkar among the Big Three got a chance to bat but he was sent back by Mitchell Johnson without troubling the scorers.

At Kochi in the second match, Sourav Ganguly did not play due to a hamstring injury while Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid scored 16 and 31 runs each. The scene at Hyderabad was no different with Ganguly not in the XI and Tendulkar contributing only 43 runs in 71 balls when the asking rate was nearly six runs per over. On the other hand, Dravid was out for a duck.

Courtesy:IBNLive
Complete artical HERE