SPORTS

Zipping across a skating rink on a pair of wheels may only have seemed like a cool hobby to many youngsters until a few years back. But over the last decade, skating has quietly grown as a sport in Bengaluru – from having 5-6 skating clubs a decade ago, the city now has 15 registered clubs. For many kids practicing in these clubs, skating could easily be their future career. Students at BTM Roller Skating Club. Pic: Mayur Chennagere. Faraz A Umar, a seventh standard student at Frank Anthony Public School and member of Force One skating club in Banashankari,…

Amitabh Poddar, a businessman from Sadashivnagar, scored 34 points to win the Bangalore Golf Club's Intra-Club round of the McDowell Signature Club Golf Championships 2010. It was played in the new nine-hole PowerPlay Golf format at the Bangalore Golf Club on October 3rd. Winners of Signature Golf Championship. Pic: Jyothi Gosala Playing in the 0-8-handicap category, Poddar tallied 34 points and was followed home by Anand Srivastava with 30 points. Dr. Rame Gowda, a KAS Officer and private secretary to Ministry of Home and Transport, emerged winner in the 9-16 handicap category with 45 points, followed by Sunil Vasant with…

“The best way to promote sports is through communities. If we can support the needy through such initiatives, even better,” says 16-year-old Shaurya Saluja, organizer of a five-day squash camp in the city. A 12th standard student at Indus International School, Saluja believes that such camps will make the otherwise less-known sport popular. Shaurya Saluja. Pic courtesy: Shaurya Saluja. The camp will be held at Shobha Lakeview Club at Sarjapur Outer Ring Road on July 23, 24, 25, 30 and 31. Satinder Bajwa, Harvard University Head Squash Coach and mentor of eight-time world squash champion Jansher Khan, is holding the…

Amidst all the excitement of the FIFA World Cup, Bangalore had its own mini world cup tournament last week, with players representing France and Spain fighting it out in the finals on Sunday. The KIPSTA Cup football tournament ended with two ‘France’ teams - Rootsports (representing Bangalore based sports management firm Root Sports) and BSSF (Bangalore School Sports Federation) - winning the cup in the Senior and Under-15 categories respectively. The runners-up in the two categories were ARM Technologies Pvt Ltd and SPT (from SPT Sports Academy) respectively. Kipsta cup U15 team in action. Pic: Navya P K. A small…

Even though Bangalore does not have many professional clubs, the game is increasingly becoming popular, according to observers. “Over the last decade there has been lot of exposure to football through the broadcast of international matches on TV and internet. There are many sports camps and private academies now and people are taking to these,” says Sunil Kumar K, Player at Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) Football Club and former Captain of the State Football Team.Ramesh B, an upcoming player, says, “Earlier even though I had interest in the game, I couldn’t get much exposure and faced difficulties. Three years back…

On a day when there were low-intensity explosions near the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, here are photographic examples of what emergency-readiness and security was like within the stadium on April 17th 2010.One of the emergency exits on the day of the match, meant for spectators who enter through Gate No. 6, is locked. In addition you have a turnstile just in front of the gate and a standee as well, besides some bottles and trash. In case of an emergency, would they have enough time to access the person who has the key, remove the turnstile and other obstructions in front…

About 30 kms from the city, a little off Sarjapur Road is Ananya School, a unique institution for underprivileged children.  Ananya is a part of an effort to bring the benefits of long distance running to its students. Trained electronics engineer and now full time runner, Santhosh Padmanabhan (30) is the brain behind the programme. Padmanabhan is the founder of Runner’s High, a Bangalore-based organisation that aims to promote ultra running and integrate running as an activity into the curriculum of schools for underprivileged children  such as Ananya School. They also coach interested individuals for long distance runs and marathons.…

It was a much awaited event for all the climbers in and around Bengaluru. Some participants even travelled from other cities to attend the Rock Climbing fest organised at Turahalli on February 21st, 2010.Turahalli hillock is a place with lot of boulders and wildlife just off Kanakapura road and around 8 kilo-meters from Banashankari Temple in Bangalore South. I had visited Turahalli couple of times before along with my climber friends, but I had not tried much of the climbing at Turahalli. The whole effort was to promote the sport and make more number of people joining the climbing community.…

This is something I would loved to have participated in if I'd been in Bangalore....do participate! Cycle Rally - 7th March 2010The Event: 'Go Green Bangalore' - A Cycle Rally in Bangalore on Sunday, 7th March 2010, 6.30 am.The Task: Cycling 21 kms : Kanteerva Stadium - Hebbal Flyover - Kanteerva Stadium.The Cause:· To commemorate International Women's Day.· To tell Bangalore that it is time to Go Green and Healthy.· To urge the Government to create cycling and walking lanes around the city.Participation: Anyone and everyone who believes in cleaner and greener Bangalore. Beg, borrow, buy a cycle and be…

Close to 500 employees from companies within the Salarpuria Softzone campus including National Instruments, Airvana Akamai, SonicWall and so on were treated to a collection of bikes from Track & Trail and SportsXS on January 22nd.It was the first of the cycling workshops conducted by Bangalore Bikers Club (BBC) in 2010. The workshop also provided a platform for existing bikers within the campus to know each other and may be start group commutes and ask for cyclist friendly facilities within the campus. Pic credit: Krish. Personal cycles from members of BBC were displayed for participants to check out. It was…