Indian batter Robin Uthappa revealed about his sporting journey from hockey to cricket. Uthappa has played 46 One-Day International matches and 13 T20Is for India since making his ODI debut against England in 2006.
The Karnataka-born player was part of India’s victorious title in the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa led by MS Dhoni.
Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa. Photo- Getty Images
Uthappa last played in Indian colours in the year 2015 in both the white-ball formats during India’s tour of Zimbabwe. Seven years later he is still playing the game for Kerala on the domestic circuit and Channel Super Kings in the IPL.
Not many might be aware of Uthappa’s early days as a hockey player and why did he switch to cricket?
“My father was an internationally renowned hockey umpire who also represented Karnataka. Once, when I went for the U16 sub-junior selection, I realized the path is going to be very smooth because everyone loved my father.
“In fact, during the selection day, there were very talented people who had come there, however they did not get selected,” Uthappa said on Sharechat’s online show CricChat.
Robin Uthappa (Image Credit: Twitter)
“I felt really bad that day that these players were not selected even though they were better than me. I used to play as a full-back and I was selected as a stand-by, but I felt that these players were so talented, however, they did not get selected. That’s when I realised my journey will be easy,” he added.
Uthappa is someone who wanted to establish his image by his own deeds rather than climbing on his father’s shoulders and doing injustice to the deserved ones.
“I wanted to do something on my own. I loved and enjoyed hockey as it was a game of courage and perseverance but I thought the route would be an easy one and even if I succeed people would believe that has happened because of my father,” the 36-year-old said.
“So I went back to cricket, expecting to become successful through my hard work since my father had no connection with cricket,” he added.
Uthappa claimed the orange cap for the most runs in the 2014 IPL season, which was his debut for Kolkata Knight Riders, scoring 660 runs in 16 innings at 44 and a strike rate of 137.78.
source: http://www.cricketaddictor.com / Cricket Addictor / Home / by CA staff / July 26th, 2022
Kodagu Champ Ankitha Suresh has been selected as Assistant Coach for the Indian Women’s Hockey Team which will take part in the 22nd Common Wealth Games (CWG) to be held at Birmingham in England between July 28 and Aug. 8.
Ankitha, apart from being Assistant Coach, will also be the Manager of the team. Team India, which has already reached England and is practicing, will take on Ghana in the first match.
It may be recalled that the Indian Women’s Team which had trained under Aniktha Suresh had given a good show at Olympic 2021 held in Tokyo.
Daughter of B.A. Suresh and B.S. Dharmavathi, residents of Madikeri, Ankitha is married to Honnampadi Suresh Kushalappa of Suntikoppa.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / July 26th, 2022
Adventure lovers who have been pining to get some adrenaline rush are heading towards Dubare and Barapole in Kodagu district for whitewater river rafting and rappelling in the rapids. Rafting in the Cauvery and at Barapole is an exhilarating experience. Rafting usually starts once the inflow into the Cauvery and Barapole increases and the level rises. A raft is a rubberised, inflatable boat with different carrying capacities.
A 7-kilometre journey at Dubare will take about one-and-a-half hours while it is shorter but adventurous at Barapole’s 4.5-km rafting. The tranquil water may be a deceitful thing along the course of the Cauvery and Barapole as one hits the rapids (a section of the river where the water moves very fast particularly over or bisecting the rocks).
If one is tired of their mundane schedule and wants to try something adventurous with friends then river rafting is one of the perfect and thrilling options that one can opt for. The thrill, however, is not without a certain amount of risk. However, the risks are what enhance the river rafting experience for many adrenaline junkies.
Rapid adventure
At Dubare, rafters will get to experience two rapids and swimming is allowed at two places. Barapole has more than nine Class 2 Class 4 rapids and is set on the banks of the Kithu Kakathu River (KKR). The river is a turbulent one all along its route as it flows through the Brahmagiri hills to the Arabian Sea via Kerala.
While June to the end of September is the ‘whitewater’ season, October to December or January is a ‘stillwater’ season. After which, the water level depletes. Whitewater is formed in a rapid when a river’s gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and white. Stillwater is part of a stream where no water current is visible.
The response for rafting is pretty good with over 2,000 rafters during weekends and over 250 rafters daily. At Dubare, there are 70 rafts and 70 guides while Barapole has 9 rafts and 9 guides. Soon, 10 more rafts will be added to the existing fleet at Dubare as there is a huge demand.
Safety is of paramount importance here and all the guides are well trained. Life jackets are worn by all the rafters and the guide and at Dubare, each life jacket can withstand a weight of 180 kgs and there is little chance of drowning. Rafting at Dubare costs Rs. 600 per person and Rs. 1,200 at Barapole. Each raft can carry six rafters and one guide.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Pavan of Coorg Water Rafting Sports and Adventures, Barapole, said that the response is good. “Only those who are passionate about rafting and adventure come here and we have many regulars. It is quite challenging and tests the adventure spirit,” he said.
Barapole
Need changing room for ladies
C.L. Vishwa, raft owner and former President of Dubare Rafters Association, said that they desperately need a changing room at Dubare for ladies and girls and also there is a need to establish a drinking water facility.
“If the District Administration wants to attract more tourists to Dubare, then a hanging bridge is a must for tourists to reach the Elephant Camp from one side of the Cauvery river. Unfortunately, the tourist-friendly project has been shelved by officers without a vision,” he added.
Rules and regulations
The Kodagu District Administration has came out with a 23-point formula to ensure safety. The operators must secure permission from the Departments of Police, Forests, Fire Force and Tourism, and employ trained guards to accompany the rafters. Every one of them should have ID cards issued by Tourism Department and should be trained in first-aid methods. Smoking and drinking is prohibited during rafting. Rafters should also obtain permission from the Karnataka Inland Water Transport Department.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News> Top Stories / July 24th, 2022
Many take part in programme despite intermittent drizzle
Providing a reprieve from the stress and strain of a vigorous monsoon which tends to wreak havoc in Kodagu, was the slush field sports conducted by the district administration, on Saturday.
The monsoon in Kodagu tends to conjure up images of flood and landslips. But with the rains abating, the people put their worries behind to take time off and participate in the 30 th State-level slush field sports organised at Kaggodlu village in Madikeri taluk.
It was conducted by the Kodagu district administration, Zilla Panchayat and Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports and inaugurated by Appachu Ranjan, MLA. He recalled that in earlier days, every farmer or landlord in Kodagu used to take part in slush sports after sowing and it helped bring the community together and strengthened bond.
The competition drew people from different parts of the district who braved the intermittent drizzle and encouraged the participants who were drenched in muddy water and slush and gave a display of their prowess in different games. The festival was open to boys and girls as also men and women and included 50 metrerace, 200 metre race, 400 metre race , throwball, volleyball, tug-of-war etc.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / July 23rd, 2022
TRUGlobal, a leading IT services provider having headquarters in Dublin CA, US and multiple offices in other US locations and Bangalore now has expanded its operations in Pune City.
TRUGlobal is a top global IT services firm working with a diverse clientele across the world including many Fortune 500 Companies. TRUGlobal is well renowned to solve complex business challenges for their clients through rich industry knowledge and vast experience of implementing thought leadership enabled end-to-end solution architecture.
The facility was inaugurated at the hands of Ibrahim Sharif, Founder & CEO, TrueGlobal and Famous Cricketer Robin Uthappa. Also present on the occasion was, new operation head for in Pune. Also present was Zaid Mahvi, VP of Global Delivery. TrueGlobal.
TRUGlobal has worked with some of the world’s best companies like Facebook, Twitter, Nvidia, LinkedIn, Penumbra, Symantec, Genentech and more. TRUGlobal has its headquarters in Dublin CA, with offices in Dallas TX, Washington DC, and Global Operations Centre in Bangalore. TRUGlobal is now coming up with a new state-of-the-art office in central India’s IT Hub Pune, to help expand their global footprint.
Ibrahim Shariff, Founder and CEO of TRUGlobal expressed his pleasure in opening and said, “The new Pune office “Coming to Pune will help us expand our operations and aid us in aligning with our client’s goals and objectives for better and efficient delivery.
He further said, “Our teams in Pune will be working on cutting-edge technological solutions involving the very latest and sophisticated applications in the domain of AI/ML, RPA, Immersive virtual reality, while boosting Cloud transformation and mitigating threats by fortifying security solutions. To give a glimpse, we are extremely excited to be working on an autonomous car project which will disrupt the driver-less car space, along with a very intuitive rehabilitation tool utilizing immersive virtual reality. Coming to Pune was a natural choice for us. Pune, being a world renowned industrial and IT hub, the city offered great infrastructure, vibrant culture, while providing access to India’s best academic institutions.”
TRUGlobal has a turnover of INR 200 crores and registered an impressive growth of 215% in the last financial year. TRUGlobal’s operations centre in Pune has 102+ seating capacity, the future plan of the company is to add twice as more seats to their Pune operations in coming years. This will help them scale-up and adapt to solve their customer’s business and technological challenges.
TRUGlobal is a top global IT services firm servicing client across Fortune 500 Companies. A customer centric technology company with a laser focus on delivering excellence with the right blend of skill, competency, and passion, with well-defined processes enabling quality delivery, best suited for global customers.
A young dynamic and energetic entrepreneur, who is a truly techno-business leader. A leader who strongly believes in doing right things with highest morale. He is driven by a passion to build the company on the fundamental principles of commitment, trust, and excellence. Ibrahim is a well-known name in the technology circle of Silicon Valley.
This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
source: http://www.theprint.in / The Print / Home / ANI Press Release / by ANI PR / July 18th, 2022
Through her institute Karaumbiah’s Academy for Learning and Sports, Olympian Ashwini Nachappa is aiming to bring potential athletes from Kodagu on the right track.
After a foray into films in the 90s, Nachappa in 2004 established her own institution, Karaumbiah’s Academy for Learning and Sports or KALS (named after her husband Datha Karumbiah) in Gonikoppal, Kodagu.
While sports enthusiasts around the globe are hooked on to the World Athletics Championships that kicked off in the USA, in Bengaluru, Karnataka’s very own former track and field athlete Ashwini Nachappa is single-mindedly focused on reviving activities at her sports academy in Kodagu after a “difficult two years”.
A Kodava by birth, Nachappa’s drive for athletics picked up when she was just eight years’ old. While her father worked in Kolkata, Nachappa lived with her mother and sister Pushpa, who is also an athlete, near Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Little did Nachappa know that the stadium would be a turning point leading to her accomplishments in the track and field discipline.
“My sister and I used to love running on the tracks of the stadium every morning. The late Mohinder Singh (triple jumper) saw us and bribed us with sweets and wanted to see us more on the field. For every round, he would offer sweets and I ended up taking more sweets. Since then, there was no looking back,” said the Olympian, who bagged her first gold at All Indian Open Nationals in Bengaluru in 1980.
Nachappa began her career in track and field as a hurdler and long jumper, before making the switch to sprints. She participated in two Asian Games, one held in 1986 at South Korea, and the other in 1990 at Beijing, China where she bagged a silver medal in 4 × 100 m relay. She also represented India in two World Championships, one in 1987 in Rome, and the other in 1991 in Tokyo, as a member of the 4 × 400 m relay. She also won the 200 m gold at the 1990 National Open Meet in New Delhi ahead of P T Usha, clocking 24.07 seconds.
After a foray into films in the 90s, Nachappa in 2004 established her own institution, Karaumbiah’s Academy for Learning and Sports or KALS (named after her husband Datha Karumbiah) in Gonikoppal, Kodagu. Later in 2010, Ashwini’s Sports Foundation, a non-profit organisation, was built in the same academy to nurture potential athletes from Kodagu.
“We realised that Kodagu produced some excellent sporting talent but the children either had to travel to Mangalore or Bangalore to pursue their dreams. That is when we decided to blend academics and sports through the foundation and the school to embolden the sporting culture from the grassroots level in Kodagu,” said Nachappa, who is also associated with Parikrma Humanity Foundation, an NGO providing English language education to the poorest from the slums of Bengaluru. In fact, she was also associated with the Special Olympics programme for 12 years, offering year-long sports training to specially abled children.
A venture that started with 25 students has now grown with 850 students who are into athletics, hockey, and air rifle shooting. Some of them have made it to the Indian hockey team in the junior category and have represented the state at National Athletic Championships and National Shooting Championships. The sports academy consists of a synthetic athletic track and an astro turf for hockey.
“It has been a difficult two years for all, financially and emotionally. At our academy, we have re-started sporting activities this year with a new set of athletes across three core sports. Keeping in mind the impact of the pandemic over students, we have also started addressing physical and emotional challenges of children through small initiatives,” said Nachappa, adding that raising funds for the academy remains a challenge.
“Raising funds has been quite a challenge over the years for the sporting academies. However, we are using the revenue generated from the KALS to develop the amenities at our academy. We have also received grants from the national and state’s sports funds,” said Nachappa who believes that the participation of women in sports has increased over the years.
“During my early days as a sportsperson, I never thought gender would be a barrier to achieve your dreams. It’s all about talent and it is important to keep doing what you do. For me, life has been a learning experience, even now. With the pandemic putting a full stop to sports for the last two years, we are going to restart training processes at our academies and go on to produce more young athletes for the country,” said the Arjuna awardee.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Sanath Prasad, Bengaluru / July 16th, 2022
Poonam Chattoo with her husband and Real Kashmir owner Sandeep Chattoo.
Over the past couple of seasons, Real Kashmir FC have been a beacon of joy for the people in India’s northernmost union territory. A club that beat many odds to gain promotion to the I-League, mounted a title charge against all expectations in its first season in top-flight football and overcame the challenges posed by lockdown to achieve higher standards.
The men’s team has brought smiles to their people. And now it’s the women’s turn. At the helm is Poonam Chattoo, a Karnataka native who made Kashmir her home after her marriage to RKFC owner Sandeep Chattoo three decades ago.
“My parents are coffee planters settled in Kodagu after my father retired from the Food Corporation of India. It’s been a long journey from Kodagu to Kashmir, both diverse culturally, geographically and climatically, but I am grateful for the love and affection I have received,” Poonam, who gradutated from Bengaluru after schooling in Chandigarh, tells DH.
The women’s team has been in the making for a long time and the response has been overwhelming, according to Poonam, a teacher.
The requests flooded in from girls after RKFC made a name in the I-League but with so much unpredictability, they started in a small way with a She Power Programme with DPS, Srinagar. Now, the club has taken the plunge by starting registrations for building U-10 and U-14 teams. A training ground also has been identified and plans are being made to ensure they take part in national tournaments.
“(Coming from Karnataka) Sports is definitely in our blood. That mindset has helped me see things differently. All that these young girls need is just an avenue for their talents to bloom,” says Poonam.
“The past year has been dark but then the last couple of decades have not been easy either. Sport has always provided psychological, physiological and cathartic relief and I have always felt that the women have borne the bigger brunt of the circumstances. The girls just did not have an outlet.”
In her quest for understanding the difficulties, she had chats with Afshan Ashiq — captain of Kashmir football team and part of the recent virtual meeting with PM Narendra Modi for the Fit India Movement — about the trials and tribulations she faced and continues to face. Poonam also spoke to Irtiqa Ayoub who runs a rugby team in Kashmir.
“God willing, if we are able to bring hope to even a handful of young girls, I would consider it a blessing,” Poonam admits.
There are big challenges ahead, though, especially for someone as inexperienced as Poonam in the labyrinth that is Indian football.
“Yes, I have no experience of managing a football team, but having been a teacher it shouldn’t be a problem, plus we have very able coaches and a support team. And of course, we have a big brother in RKFC who we can always call for support.
“One doesn’t stop living….we just find different ways to go about our business,” she says.
Well, few are as adept at doing that at that as RKFC.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports> Football / by Sandeep Menon, DHNS, Bengaluru / September 29th, 2020
Marking World Karate Day (June 17), Mysore Karate Association has organised ‘Karate for Self-dense’ programme at Sports Pavilion in Maharaja’s College Cricket Grounds on June 26.
Over 1,000 Karate enthusiasts from across the State will present Karate skills on the occasion.
District Minister S.T. Somashekar will inaugurate at 7 am. University of Mysore (UoM) Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar will preside.
International Karate Master and Mysore Karate Association Hon. President Cheppudira Arun Machaiah, Mysuru SP R. Chethan, ASP R. Shivakumar, UoM Physical Education Department Director Dr. Krishnaiah, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports Assistant Director K. Suresh, Association President Sensei V. Nagaraj and Secretary Sensei M. Sosale Siddaraju will be the chief guests.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> In Briefs / June 25th, 2022
Al Rm. Nagappan has been elected as the President of United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) for the year 2019-20.
A coffee planter by profession, he manages the family business of Karrie Kollie Estate at Suntikoppa in Kodagu. Nagappan was elected at the 126th Annual Conference of the Association held in Coonoor in Nilgiris district.
Nagappan has been in the coffee industry from 1982 and has rich experience in planting industry. His involvement with the planting association has been longstanding. He is an avid sportsman, with Golf being one of his passions.
Nagappan was associated with the Mercara Downs Golf Club for many years as Hon Secretary. He served in Karnataka Golf Association in various capacities and went on to become the President of the Karnataka Golf Association
Prashant Bhansali, CEO of Kairbetta Estates, a family-run tea plantation and an orthodox tea manufacturer, was elected as the Vice-President.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / September 15th, 2019
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