Formula One drivers today follow a punishing fitness regime that concentrates largely on one part of their body: the neck.

Following Schumi's neck

Business Standard

Professor Aprad Elo invented his rating system to normalise results across eras to compare players, who never met. Unfortunately, that is not possible. There is inflation as the pool of rated players grows.

Chess (#977)

Think of Formula 1 circuits and the likes of Monza, Imola and Spa-Francorchamps are the first to pop into the mind of any F1 enthusiast. But these tracks have been around for nearly as long as Formula 1 itself! What about those tracks that have cropped up on the F1 season calendar within the last decade? Well, sometimes races there run with clockwork precision. Sometimes things all come undone.

Formula 1 firsts

Thirteen countries including Argentina, Pakistan, USA, Canada, UK, Italy, Norway and Afghanistan would be partcipating in men&rsquo;s category. For the first time, this year, Women World Cup kabaddi is being organised and four countries including UK, USA, Turkmenistan and India in women category are in the fray for the cup.

Punjab to host second edition of Kabaddi World Cup

The biggest teams in the sport are the ones with the biggest sponsors.

Big bucks riding on F1

Traditional Indian sports like mallkhamb, kabaddi and kho-kho are doing their best to be recognised and gain wider appeal.

Survival instincts

Zhao Xue failed to maintain her stratospheric tournament performance rating at the Nalchik Grand Prix. A last round loss to compatriot Ju Wenjun pulled her TPR down to 2828. Of course Zhao still won by a mile, with 9.5 points from 11 games while Jun bagged second place on 7 points. Ekaterina Kovalevskaya and Viktorija Cmilyle shared 3-4 on 6 points each. If Zhao had won her last round, she would finished with a TPR of 3000-plus.

Chess (#978)

Formula 1&rsquo;s finally made it to India, and amidst the buzz of activity at the pitlane and paddock runs a palpable air of excitement and anticipation. You see, the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) is no ordinary circuit. It might not be a historic or, for that matter, exceptionally scenic, race track. But it is unique, exciting and quite unlike many other tracks on the F1 calendar.

Excitement takes pole position at Indian GP

If you&rsquo;re going to be trackside at the Indian Grand Prix (GP) on Sunday, or even if you&rsquo;re following this at home on your television sets, you need to know who is at the front of the grid. And it&rsquo;s no surprise, if you&rsquo;ve been following this season closely, that it is the man who&rsquo;s already won the 2011 world championship.

Vettel takes pole position

Two weary travellers trudge through the stands at the 2011 Indian GP. It&rsquo;s been a long walk from the drop-off point for them, and an even longer journey from Bangalore to Greater Noida. But, there&rsquo;s not a hint of fatigue to be seen. Instead, there are smiles on their faces and sheer excitement shining in their eyes. Travelling 2,000 km to watch Formula 1 is nothing for them. &ldquo;If flights were booked out, we&rsquo;d have taken the train,&rdquo; they say before hurrying off to their grandstand seats.

In an electric atmosphere

The cheers from the grandstands said it all. And this was even before the Airtel Grand Prix of India had begun. The roads leading to Greater Noida were jam-packed and the buzz of activity in the pitlane and starting grid only served to elevate the enthusiasm of the crowds already in the grandstands. After all, Formula 1 was finally here, V8 engines, double diffusers, chequered flags and all.

Vettel wins first ever Indian GP

Despite telecast deals for 152 countries, most companies turned down sponsorship offers for Friday&rsquo;s match between Argentina and Venezuela.

Who'd watch football, ask corporate majors

A new book and a documentary put chess star Bobby Fischer in the spotlight once more. J Jagannath looks for fresh insight into the flawed genius.

Lethal moves

The KO format of World Cup lends itself to upsets. A mini-match of two games at normal controls is followed by progressively shorter controls in tiebreakers. This places a premium on nerves.

Chess (#688)

When the game of golf made its debut on the east coast of Scotland in the 15th century, it involved players hitting a pebble around with sticks. The pebbles went on to become balls and the sticks became woods, irons, wedges and putters.

Fits to a tee

The World Cup field is down to the last eight. The fourth round saw several close encounters and a couple went down to the wire. Judit Polgar, who knocked out top-seed Sergei Karjakin in Rd 3, came back from the dead in Rd 4. After losing the first game to Perez Lenier Dominguez. she won the second to force a tiebreak. Then they traded wins in four rapids and drew the first blitz before Judit won the second blitz tiebreak.

Chess (#690)

The Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukh-bir Singh Badal on Wednesday announced a cash award of Rs 25 lakh to the Indian hockey team that won the Asian Champions Trophy defeating arch rivals Pakistan 4-2 in the final on Sunday.

Punjab rewards Indian hockey team with Rs 25 lakh 

World Cup final features an all-Russian cast with Peter Svidler versus Alexander Grischuk. The third place playoff has the Ukrainian duo of Ruslan Ponomariov and Vassily Ivanchuk. That match is more high-voltage than the final.

Chess (#691)

A football academy near Kolkata is giving children of sex workers the courage to dream.

Game for change

It is unlikely that the office-bearers of Hockey India watched the Rugby World Cup that is currently under way in New Zealand. They should have, if only to see efficient sports management in action. Rugby is not a sport that transfixes world sports audiences. Few countries with large populations actually play it at the international level &mdash; although India and China are members of the global rugby federation, Argentina is probably the most populous participating in the current World Cup.

Sports' informal licence raj

One of India&rsquo;s oldest and most scenic golf courses at Naldehra on the outskirts of Shimla was the venue for the first Chalets Naldehra golf tournament attracting the best golfers in Himachal Pradesh.

First Chalets Naldehra golf meet draws Shimla's best golfers

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 808 - Other Sports News