Proud moment for entire city: Dr Samarth lauds Sanjana’s CWG performance

By Paritosh Pramanik

July 30, 2022

IT WAS a dream debut. Even though the result was not of her or for the country's liking, Nagpur athlete Sanjana Sunil Joshi who made her as well as India’s maiden entry at Birmingham Commonwealth Games in Triathlon did the nation proud by completing the Women's Individual (Sprint Distance) Final on Friday. Sanjana, all of 16, became the first girl from Nagpur to participate in CWG in a Triathlon event.

Sanjana was selected for the Sprint Distance Triathlon, a multi-sport event in which the athlete has to swim 750 metres, then cycle 20 kms and then run for five kms without any break.

Pragnya Mohan from Ahmedabad was the other female team member in the four-member Indian team.

In the final, Sanjana, who is trained by Dr Amit Samarth, ultra cyclist at Miles and Milers Endurance Sports Academy, and is a student of Somalwar Nikalas School, finished 28th in the competition. Though it was her maiden event, Sanjana finished the race with a time of 1:09:00. Her swim time was 11:16 while her T1 (Transition1) was 0:52. She completed her bike (cycling) event in 33:21 and then bettered her T2 timing with 0:27. She completed her event with a run in 23:04.

Sanjana’s coach at Miles N Milers Dr Amit Samarth termed her participation as a very proud moment for the citizens. “It is a very proud moment for all of us at Miles N Milers and in Nagpur. She is just 16 and was competing with Olympic champions... we are really proud of her,” said Dr Samarth.

“This experience (of CWG) will help her in future,” said Dr Samarth.

“From the very first day itself, Sanjana and her sister Snehal showed utmost sincerity towards training,” Dr Samrath recalled.

“From a swimming background, Sanjana started her journey in the world of cycling and running and then later into triathlon. All the hard work which she had put in the lockdown is making the difference today,” said Samarth in praise of Sanjana.

Narrating the hard work Sanjana put up during practice, Samarth said, “Getting up at 3 am for running and finishing the training by 5.15 am before the world wakes up is no joke. Also swimming in the Ambazari lake at 5 am in complete darkness showed how determined Sanjana was during her training.”

Sanjana did not get the desired bike (cycle) for the competition despite seeking help from city politicians and corporate but still she made it to the Indian team.

“She didn’t have a road bike, but Sanjana kept on training on a hybrid bike. Until six months ago she didn’t even have a proper road bike to train. Even during the finals, Sanjana participated with a borrowed bike,” narrated Dr Samarth.

“It is a dream come true for me and for Jeetu Sir and for Miles N Milers Family to see someone from Nagpur and Miles N Milers at the Commonwealth Games,” concluded Dr Samarth. 

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A hoopster, a black belt holder, and a mother: Rashmi wins powerlifting silver

By Paritosh Pramanik

July 30, 2022

She has played in five ball badminton nationals. She also appeared for Maharashtra basketball team on three occasions and also is a karate black belt holder.

Rashmi Iyer, mother of a 10-year-old boy, has recently won  silver medals in the Pro Powerlifting Championship.

A sportsperson since her childhood, Rashmi believed in doing new things,

religiously. 

That’s why despite changing sports she continued to climb the podium.

The taunts, “you are finished now after having a baby,” only ignited her passion to play the sport more. She decided to take up powerlifting just 18 months back and in the short span of time won medals at district and state levels.

“I’m an athlete from my childhood, I played five nationals in ball badminton, three nationals in basketball. I am also a karate black belt holder,” said Rashmi who recently won two silver medals in the Pro League National Powerlifting Championship at Bengaluru.

She clinched a silver medal in the Under-60 weight category and 34 age open category. She lifted 105 kgs in deadlift and 37.5 kgs in benchpress to finish second among 150 lifters who participated from all over the country.

It is more commendable as Rashmi has been doing powerlifting since last one and a half years only.

“Till now I have won a gold and a  bronze in district at WPC (World Powerlifting Congress), two silver medals in States Championship at WPC-1, a silver in State championship at PI Power India-1, a bronze at Pro League National Powerlifting Championship in March 2021,” she informed proudly.

Rashmi, who has been selected for the International meet in the UK said that the disciplined nature of sport attracted her towards powerlifting. “More importantly, I wanted to change the perception that a woman sportsperson’s career gets over after she delivers a baby. I wanted to prove this notion wrong. I decided to follow my passion towards my sport without ignoring my family and work. My husband, Ganesh and my entire family supports me in my training,” said Rashmi, who’s 10-year-old son Swayam loves playing football.

“To be honest, without family support it’s impossible to achieve goals. My husband takes care of everything whenever I go for training or for competitions. He also come with me daily for my training,” said Rashmi who has her own  fitness club ‘Fitnezz Junkies’ at Pratap Nagar.

Rashmi’s ultimate dream is to represent India and win medals for the country.

“I have won many medals in my life and now my ultimate dream is to represent my country at the International Powerlifting Championships and win a gold,” said the Microbiology Laboratory Technician,who worked for Orange City Hospital and Research Institute but had to resign after his son’s birth. The powerlifter who is also a certified fitness coach from AFAA (Athletics and Fitness Association of America) is working hard to fulfil her dream and make the city and country proud.

Savita, the captain, is better than what she was as a player: Coach

By Paritosh Pramanik

NAGPUR, July 20, 2022

CAPTAINCY, in any team sport, either brings the best out of the leader or it ruins the career due to the added responsibility and pressure.

There are many captains in Indian history who have led from the front and taken their teams to greater heights.

In cricket it was Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in football it was Sunil Chhetri, in men’s hockey it was PR Sreejesh who all led by example and gave the countrymen some memorable moments.

Indian women hockey team’s goalkeeper Savita Punia, who has been entrusted the responsibility to lead the team after Rani Rampal failed to recover from hamstring injury, has improved her performance since being handed over the baton in the World Cup.

She will be leading the side again at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games starting July 28.

According to Indian team’s chief coach Janneke Schopman, Savita as ‘the captain’ has improved since taking over the mettle and will only get better as the days pass.

Interacting with the media during a virtual press conference after the team reached Nottingham, in the United Kingdom, Schopman said that the team’s performance in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup wasn’t good but they created a lot of chances as well as executed the plans well.

To a query from ‘The Hitavada’ on how important will be the performance of goalkeeper and captain Savita in India’s progress in the CWG, Schopman said she is a player first and captain later.

“Everyone’s performance is important in the team’s progress, so is Savi’s. I have told her many times that she is a player first and then the captain of the side. But at the same time it’s her responsibility to perform to her ability and she knows that very well.

“This Savi (as captain) is better because she is learning and she is growing. She is becoming a better player and is a good leader,” Schopman explained about the ever-improving Indian custodian.

Punia was difficult to breach, especially in shootouts against Canada in the World Cup. She was agile, her reflexes were on cue and her instincts worked where she made a number of saves.

The former Dutch player said that India need to sharpen their skills in the coming matches.

“Our performance at the World Cup wasn’t good in terms of results. But we created a lot of penalty corner chances and played well overall in the tournament. It was our execution that wasn’t the best. We will be focusing on getting our execution right going ahead and prepare accordingly for the CWG. We need to train better for the execution to improve,” stated Schopman.

“There are many reasons for that. We struggled with our injections. It’s a different field than we typically train on. I don’t think we adapted that well.”

However, the 45-year-old coach also remarked that the team is no longer looked down upon in world hockey with the opponents often preferring to take defensive approaches against them.

“Our manner of playing has changed, instead of defending more like earlier, other teams are setting up defensively against us. We are attacking more now,” she added.

“You see a small transition happening when we play teams now that these teams prefer to play more defensively. If you see China, England and Canada, these teams were happily just defending. As a team we have to get used to it mentally that we have less space to attack,” the coach pointed out.

The Indian women's team, led by Savita, begin their campaign on July 29 in Birmingham with their match against Ghana, before playing Wales the next day. They take on England August 2 and Canada on August 3.

The Indian women’s team last won gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games (Manchester) and silver in 2006 (Melbourne).

Hard work pays, says gold medallist Alfiya

By Paritosh Pramanik

IT WAS sort of exposure tour for Alfiya Pathan. But the hard-working Nagpur pugilist converted it into a golden moment.

Playing her maiden senior international boxing championship city’s golden girl Alfiya clinched a gold medal in the Elorda Cup in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan on Monday.

The yellow metal was more special as Alfiya completely dominated the competition with one-sided victories.

The reigning World Youth Champion Alfiya, who moved into the senior category recently, defeated 2016 world champion Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan by 5-0 margin without breaking a sweat in the women’s +81kg final. 

“Hard work pays,” was the immediate reply from Alfiya when asked about her dream tournament.

“It was a good fight (in the final). I played to a plan and succeeded,” Alfiya told this scribe from Nur-Sultan after winning the title.

She was so powerful that referee had to stop the bout with an RSC in the semi-finals.

“I never thought that I would win the semis against Valeria Axenova of Kazakhstan by RSC. I got the opportunity and landed my punches at the right place,” said Alfiya who trains with NIS boxing coach Ganesh Purohit.

The plan for the final was simple. “I wanted to give my best. I was not under any pressure as such but wanted to give my best and win the gold. My confidence grew after the semis victory and that helped me in the final,” she explained.

Alfiya was never in the scheme of things for this tour. 

“After appearing for my Boards I was at the academy and was not really preparing for this tournament. It was only because of Sports Authority of India (SAI) who decided to send me on this exposure tour.

Whatever time I got to practice I worked hard. I thank SAI and all officials for giving me this opportunity, concluded Alfiya.

City GMs excited to be part of Chess Olympiad Torch Relay

By Paritosh Pramanik

CHESS Grandmasters of the city are delighted to be part of the maiden Chess Olympiad Torch Relay which is going to take place in Nagpur on July 2.

This is for the first time that, on the lines of Olympics Torch Relay, the FIDE and AICF decided to organise the Olympiad Chess Torch Relay.

The 44th Chess Olympiad will be held in Mahabalipuram in Chennai from July 28 to August 10, 2022.

The historic relay, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from New Delhi on June 19, will travel 75 cities across the country before reaching Mahabalipuram on July 27, where the tournament is going to be held.

The torch will reach Nagpur on Saturday morning where it will be received jointly by the District Sports Office and Chess Association Nagpur. From there it will be taken to Zero Mile.

City’s first Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani, Woman Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh and GM Sankalp Gupta, apart from other dignitaries will receive the torch.

Speaking with ‘The Hitavada’ Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Divya Deshmukh said she is happy to be part of the rally and thanked the government for the initiative.

“I am really happy to be part of this rally. I think this is a great initiative taken up by the government, AICF and FIDE. I was extremely happy when it was announced in Delhi that India is going to be the starting point for all the torch relays as chess originated in India,” said Divya, who is part of the India contingent.

“I felt patriotic when our PM lit the torch and handed it over to Vishy (Viswanathan Anand) sir. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and the fact that this is just my first Olympiad is even more wonderful. I can’t actually believe that the Olympiad is happening (taking place) in India,” added Divya.

Divya hoped that the relay in the city would help the game grow further. “It (the relay) will help chess grow and people will get more aware of this wonderful sport. I really hope chess reaches every child in India because honestly, it is really a good sport and I hope this relay will make people more aware about it.” said Diyva, who was also praised by PM Modi in his speech last month during the flag-off.

City’s first Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani, too, said it is a proud moment for Indians, not only Nagpur. “The torch relay is a great and proud moment for all of us. It is a wonderful initiative to popularise the beautiful game of chess in our city.

“It’s a great honour for me and I am really excited for the event and looking forward to becoming part of this historical, first of its kind event,” Sadhwani proudly said.

GM Sadhwani said it was also a proud moment when he attended the opening ceremony in New Delhi.

“I also attended the torch relay from where it started (Delhi) in the presence of Modiji, Vishy Anand sir and Sports Minister Anurag Thakurji,” added Sadhwani.

“This rally will definitely create awareness about chess. I appeal to all the schools and parents to teach this beautiful game of 64 squares to their children as it is the best mental exercise which improves memory and helps in focus and concentration,” said Sadhwani.

Another GM Sankalp Gupta, who will also be with the Indian team as a practising partner during the Olympiad, said he is grateful to the AICF for including him for the relay.

“This is a historic moment for chess that a torch relay has been organised. I’m very grateful and proud to be part of it.”

Gupta was also of the view that the relay will create a lot of awareness in the city.

“The relay will create a lot of awareness for chess and especially the Olympiad and I will say that chess is a gymnasium of mind and everyone should play,” concluded Gupta.