The Cup spilleth over

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

The World Cup 2007 bug has bitten the regional media space, with most Hindi newspapers going colour on their sports pages, presumably for the duration of the Cup.

Dainik Bhaskar carried a large piece of the opening programme, replete with firecrackers lighting the Caribbean night sky. The report was accompanied by the text of a cheer song for the Indian cricket team and available for download on FM. Over the next few days, the paper devoted prominent coverage to the starting matches, both on the front page and the sports pages. The paper also reported that global betting syndicates have over Rs 90,000 crore riding on the Cup. India alone accounts for Rs 10,000-15,000 crore of this amount.

Rajasthan Patrika also devoted front page coverage to the opening ceremony but restricted the match coverage to its sports pages. It also gave prominent coverage to Team India's chances, quoting skipper Rahul Dravid and team physio John Gloster on which areas called for attention. Coach Greg Chappell was quoted as saying that the team is well-prepared to take on any challenge.

Punjab Kesari has reserved a square column at the top of its front page, called the World Cup Monitor, which will give daily highlights of matches played over the previous day and those which will be played later that day. Unlike other papers whose sports pages were liberally sprinkled with pictures of cricket players, Dainik Jagran's coverage of the Cup was minimal and also lacking colour.

Another event that drew prominent attention in the Hindi press was the scuffle in the Lok Sabha between MPs of DMK and CPI(M) on the controversial Indian Maritime University Bill. The papers termed it a reprehensible incident which "further lowered the dignity of the august House" (Dainik Jagran).

The World Cup tournament received extensive coverage in leading Kannada dailies Vijaya Karnataka, Praja Vani and Kannada Prabha. All the newspapers carried reports and pictures of the World Cup's opening ceremony on the front page as the lead news. The cricket content on the sports pages has increased significantly with most newspapers dedicating one full page to the tournament.

The Cauvery issue continues to hog the limelight in the Kannada press. A delegation of all party MPs met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention for a 'quick solution'. The newspapers continued to highlight the subject in editorials cautioning the state government against showing laxity. The newspapers are also carrying a series on the state Budget, scheduled to be presented on Friday. The series is focusing on agriculture, rural development, social empowerment and other issues.

The killing of a Tamil fisherman by the Sri Lankan navy and related news stories dominated the front page of Tamil daily Dinamalar over the past week. However, the daily carried World Cup inauguration and match photographs on page 1 over the last three days.

The daily has dedicated two more pages to cricket-related news along with its regular sports section. It has been presenting views of senior and retired players on the strengths and weaknesses of the teams participating in the Cup. The edition dated March 14 carried a large photo of M S Dhoni and his statistics over a full page.