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Confident Vidya hopes to go the distance at 6-red Worlds

September 28, 2013

VidyaBangalore, Sep 28: Having completed a rare double when she annexed the National 6-red snooker championship two days ago at Lucknow, the seasoned Vidya Pillai exuded confidence on her chances at the World 6-red Snooker Championship, due to kick off in Carlow, Ireland, on September 29.

Vidya, who took a sabbatical from the circuit to embrace motherhood before returning in stunning fashion this January in Gwalior when she lifted her seventh national 15-red snooker title with very little practice. She showed hunger for more glory, while beating Neena Praveen for the 6-red title as well in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Now, the 36-year-old, struggling to manage time between her love for the green baize and son Surya, leaves to Carlow where the women’s 6-red worlds is being staged for the first time with greater determination.

“Just like the 15-red event, I went to the 6-red with very little practice,” said Vidya. “Every title I win now is a bonus because I don’t practice as hard as I would’ve in my prime. Such victories give you a lot of confidence.

“The worlds is going to be a unique experience. This is the first time women will be involved in the 6-red format and I guess the shortness of it makes for some interesting games. I’m feeling very confident and I hope to go the distance.”

Apart from competing for individual honours, Vidya will also be teaming up young Arantxa Sanchis in the team event. Bangalore’s Chitra Magimairaj and Varsha Sanjeev will form the second team and will also be taking part in the individual championship.

“I honestly think we have a good chance. Chitra and I are there for experience while Varsha and Arantxa are extremely talented. Hope we are able to maintain the intensity.”

Besides Vidya, Chitra will be one of the cueists to watch out for after having won a 6-red snooker bronze medal early this year at the Asian Indoor Games in Incheon, Korea. “I am extremely disappointed with my Nationals show and I’m determined to make amends,” said Chitra who lost in the quarterfinals of the Nationals.

“I’m generally good at international events and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been practicing hard in the last few months and I hope to make the country proud yet again,” added Chitra.

The Indian contingent, including the men, left for Ireland in the wee hours of Saturday.

The squad: Men: Individual championship: Shivam Arora, Laxman?Rawat, Brijesh Damani, Manan Chandra, Shahbaaz Adil Khan.

Team: Manan Chandra/ Brijesh Damani; Shanbaaz Adil Khan/ Shivam Arora.

Women: Individual championship: Chitra Magimairaj, Vidya Pillai, Arantxa Sanchis, Varsha Sanjeev.

Team: Arantxa Sanchis/?Vidya Pillai; Chitra Magimairaj/ Varsha Sanjeev.

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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