Dravid and Ashwini declared best

September 13, 2012
ashwini-ponnappaRahul Dravid and Ashwini Ponnappa were declared Best Sportspersons at the Sports Writers’ Association of Bangalore’s (SWAB) awards function at the KSBA hall here on Wednesday. The two were among a host of active and retired athletes and administrators feted for their achievements by the organization.


Dravid was presented his award by chief guest and long-time India teammate V.V.S. Laxman, both of whom recalled the encouragement they had derived from seeing their names in print as young cricketers. “We used to cycle to newspaper offices to hand over the scores,” Dravid recollected. “It’s a great feeling for a young sportsperson to be featured in newspapers.” Despite the presence of visual media, Dravid felt that “at the end of the day, the written word lasts. I still treasure articles I had cut out as a kid.”


Golfer S. Chikkarangappa and cueist Varsha Sanjeev were declared the Best Junior Sportspersons. The Karnataka Senior swimming team and the National swimming coach Pradeep Kumar, meanwhile, emerged Team of the Year and Best Coach respectively.


G.R. Viswanath was presented an award for Lifetime Achievement, the former India great joking that this was likely to be his last such honour. S. Nataraj of the Karnataka State Billiards Association and S. Muralidhara of the Karnataka State Cricket Association were presented special awards in recognition of their work behind the scenes in administration.
SWAB president R. Kaushik welcomed the gathering and hailed the close ties between sportswriters and athletes in Bangalore.


Anil Kumble and Ashwini Nachappa also addressed the gathering.


The awardees:

Best Sportsperson: Male: Rahul Dravid (Cricket); Female: Ashwini Ponnappa (Badminton). Best Junior Sportsperson: Male: S. Chikkarangappa (Golf); Female: Varsha Sanjeev (Snooker).


Best Coach: Pradeep Kumar (Swimming). Team of the Year: State Senior swimming team. Lifetime Achievement award: G.R. Viswanath (Cricket). Special awards: S. Nataraj (KSBA) and S. Muralidhara (KSCA). — Sports Reporter



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News Network
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an unconventional and unique leader, whose biggest strength is his incredible gut feeling, says his Chennai Super Kings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipper has spent considerable time with Dhoni after joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) side in 2011 and has been an integral part of its successful journey.

"He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength," du Plessis said in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhoni changed his perception of how a captain should be.

"It was amazing for me to see how different M S was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but M S was completely different.

"He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field," du Plessis said of former India skipper.

Dhoni last played for India in World Cup semifinal last year and was expected to be back to playing competitive cricket at now-postponed IPL.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.

"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field."

"If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it."

Du Plessis said that playing for CSK alongside Dhoni and under the guidance head coach Stephen Fleming has taught him a lot about leadership.

"I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains."

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday said people seem to have become more compassionate while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped the sense of gratitude towards frontline workers like doctors and police personnel remains even after the crisis is over.

Speaking in an online class organised by "Unacademy", Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma spoke at length about the challenges they faced before tasting success.

"The one positive out of this crisis that we as a society have become more compassionate. We are showing more gratitude to the frontline workers in this war, be it police personnel, doctors or nurses.

"I hope it stays this way even after we overcome this crisis," said Kohli with Sharma seated next to her.

Kohli said the pandemic has taught the world a very important lesson.

"Life is unpredictable. So, do what makes you happy and not get into comparisons all the time. People have a choice now how to come out of this phase. Life is going to be different after this," said the skipper.

For Sharma, the pandemic has forced people to care about the basics in life.

"There is a learning in all of this. Nothing happens without a reason. If the frontline workers were not there, we would not have access to basics," she said..

"This has taught us that no one is special than the other. Health is everything. We are more connected as a society now," she added.

During the session, Kohli was asked about the moment when he felt most helpless.

"I felt nothing was working for me when I was not picked for the state team initially. I cried the whole night and asked my coach 'why did I not get selected'?" he responded.

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