Two back-to-back centuries and Harbhajan is letting his bat do the talking.

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Kiran Kumar Reddy was an efficient wicket-keeper batsman who captained Hyderabad&rsquo;s under-22 team in the early 1980s. The team included Mohammed Azharuddin, who recalls that he played his first Test against England in 1985 with the kit presented by Reddy. Around this time, Reddy&rsquo;s interest in cricket began to flag. He never played Ranji Trophy. However, the other interest which began to consume him, politics, saw him take oath as Andhra Pradesh&rsquo;s chief minister on Thursday. Reddy may still be interested in cricket. In 2006, he did not say no when Shivlal Yadav, now BCCI vice-president, and D S Chalapathi, Hyderabad Cricket Association&rsquo;s secretary, requested him to be nominated as HCA&rsquo;s vice-president.

A few good men

Like soccer, chess is played pretty much everywhere and Europe is the leading continent.But unlike soccer, Asia is pretty competitive although Europe is the powerhouse. A half-dozen former Soviet Republics guarantee professionalism. Along with the Philippines, the rise of the PRC, Vietnam and India, has raised standards considerably. The Chinese are top contenders in the women&rsquo;s Olympiad and nobody would be surprised if they managed a podium finish in the open.

CHESS (#654)

News from the 16th Asian Games, ending in Guangzhou today, should make us view India&rsquo;s performance in a new light. Not against the noisy euphoria of the CWG or in the looming shadow of China, the athletics powerhouse.

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Only 16 journalists out of 400 trying their luck in the media lottery get to play the Augusta National on the Monday after the championship. I was lucky enough to win the lottery last year in my fourth attempt, while some have not won it in 20 years. The pin placements remain the same as on the final day of the Masters tournament.

Teeing off at Augusta

Levon Aronyan took the 20th and last Amber title with a score of 15.5 points from 22 games. Carlsen was second with 14.5, and Anand, third with 13. Grischuk and Ivanchuk tied for 4-5 with 11 each. Everybody else had minus scores. Aronyan took the blindfold with 8.5 (from 11) while Carlsen scored a record 9.5 in the normal rapids. It's a pity this unique event is ending.

Chess (#673)

Just back from the Hong Kong leg of Future Ventures&rsquo; initial public offer roadshow, Kishore Biyani was jet-lagged throughout Saturday morning. However, by noon, he was ready to cheer for India in the cricket world cup final at the Wankhede stadium here.

CEO Dhoni bowls over India Inc

The moment &ndash; when Mahendra Singh Dhoni walloped a full delivery from Nuwan Kulasekara over the long-on boundary for a mighty six to win the World Cup after 28 long years &ndash; will be etched in the memory of Indians for decades to come.

Have money? Now, you can own a piece of World Cup history

The consensus seems to be that Tiger will not only win but will also fail to flatter to deceive in his quest for the holy grail in golf. Nowhere near winning, he is still always the story; the galleries for him are 10 times larger than for the leaders. He does not enter sundry events which other greats like Mickelson/Els/Westwood/et al routinely play; he appears stand offish, participating in only the more important tournaments where the competition is arguably stronger.

Will the Tiger rediscover his roar? 

This year is special. It&rsquo;s the 75th year of the tournament, the 50th year since the first non-US player (Gary Player) won the tournament, the 25th year since Jack Nicklaus, at 46 years, won his sixth Green Jacket, 11 years since a European won the event, and it has our own Arjun Atwal playing for the first time. The Europeans fancy themselves as they are one (Kaymer) and two (Westwood) in world rankings. However, there are a dozen first-time winners on the US PGA Tour all of whom fancy themselves, and Phil Mickelson (who shot a 16 under on the last weekend to win) has peaked at just the right time.

The greatest golf show on earth gets underway

Kapil was never my captain but he was the seniormost player in the side when I made my debut. He was always leading from the front, even when he was not captaining the side. He was always positive and had the ability to motivate his team mates by talking to them as well as inspiring them with his performance. Ganguly took over at a time when things weren&rsquo;t very rosy for Indian cricket (the match-fixing scandal had come to light). Yet, he was a fighter. He had confidence in his players and always backed them even when things weren't going their way. He was an inspirational captain and it was under his captaincy that we started to believe we could win overseas as well. I hate to use the clich&eacute; but Dhoni is Captain Cool. He never loses his temper.

O captain my captain

On yet another crisp, bright and clear Augusta morning, Arnold Palmer (81 years, 56 appearances) and Jack Nicklaus (71 years, 52 appearances), the two most revered men in golf, conducted the ceremonial tee-off with thousands of their fans who had gathered so early in the morning on Thursday to cheer their idols, who are virtually synonymous with this tournament. This tradition is basic to the Masters&rsquo; mystique because it heralds the promise that something dramatic and exciting will unfold over the next few days.

Augusta Masters tees off to a Rorying start

The Euro saw a photofinish with the lowest-rated of four co-champions taking the title. Vladimir Potkin's 2653 Elo made him seed no:43. But the Russian GM made a blistering start and had a 2820+ performance to ensure the best tie-break.

Chess (#674)

Cloudy day, 30 per cent chance of precipitation. The course still laying itself open to be taken. Somehow one feels that a trap is being set for about 50 players who will be let in to the weekend (10 shots off the leader or forty four plus ties equals, whichever is greater) for the trap to be sprung.

Tiger purrs again, can win

Former Indian cricket team captain Kapil Dev, who led India&rsquo;s win in the 1983 World Cup, said tax breaks considered by the Central Government for members of the 2011 World Cup winning team, must be extended to all other sports as well.

Tax breaks should be extended to all sports people, says Kapil Dev

This is the home diet that Rory McIlroy grew up on and it is pretty evident in all his takes. His responses are completely natural, he is not trying to create an image of what he is not, he has got nothing to hide, no problem with eager autograph seekers, handles all the very considerable media attention without turning a hair and does not mind admitting that he got ticked off by a neighbour three days ago for noisily throwing around an American football on the street after hours.

At 19, Hideki plays remarkably good 

As the curtain comes down on the most exciting Masters ever, when anyone of 10 talented players could have captured the Green Jacket, the golfing world has been served notice that an eclipsing of a generation of great golfers by a whole new crop of startlingly skilful young golfers is beginning now.

Schwartzel wins the most exciting Masters ever

Chattrasal Stadium is located in Model Town of New Delhi, off the highway to Karnal in Haryana. It was renovated last year for Indian athletes to train for the Delhi Commonwealth Games. It is also home to India&rsquo;s top wrestlers &mdash; this is where they train, eat and live. Everybody knows where the person I want to meet lives. A brand new Ford Endeavour is parked outside the room. Sushil Kumar, India&rsquo;s first Olympic medalist in wrestling since 1952, shares this room with fellow wrestlers &mdash; seven or eight of them. After the bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Kumar was offered a separate room, but he turned down the offer &ldquo;because it would have set a wrong example for the young wrestlers&rdquo;. But it isn&rsquo;t one of the cramped rooms that most wrestlers have to contend with &mdash; it is spacious and has a laptop, television and refrigerator.

Following the champion

The rule of thumb for a Swiss open is that, given n players (say 64), it takes the square root of n +1 rounds (8+1=9) to have a clear champion.

Chess (#675)

India&rsquo;s eternal quest to find a genuinely quick bowler continues.

Need for speed?

The Euro Championships ended with a controversy regarding the tie-breaker system, with Peter Heine Nielsen pointing out how it&rsquo;s illogical. That has sparked a massive debate about alternatives.

Chess (#676)

Other Sports: Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Other Sports News: Latest News from Olympics Games, Volleyball, Badminton | Business Standard

Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Page 803 - Other Sports News