Two badminton champions want to make 2010 a memorable year for the country.

International racquet-eers

Business Standard

This year the champion will be under even closer scrutiny.

Tiger, back on the prowl

World champions have trademark styles. Petrosian was a defensive genius while Tal was an attacker. The hallmark of the seventh world champion, Vassily Vassilievich Smyslov (1921-2010) was harmony. He found simple moves to maximise piece coordination. Apart from huge contributions to opening theory, he was also among the very best endgame artists.

CHESS #632

Tiger Woods is returning to golf to compete at the Masters tournament at Augusta National, the most prestigious golf venue in America, after many months of a self imposed lay-off.

Will Tiger tame Augusta once again?

For this viewer, it was a one-night stand and neither felt the need to exchange numbers.

Losing my IPL virginity

The lure of money often leads sportspersons to make questionable choices.

Cricketers or businessmen?

It was always going to be about brand image. And endorsements.

It just doesn't do it

Western Europe has many leagues with the German Bundesliga and the Dutch team championships among the best. The Bundesliga is studded with top-class players. But the strongest league is the Russian with the 10 premier teams all being quality outfits.

CHESS #633

The tail of the tornado swept through Augusta alright but only about nine at night, four hours late than predicted. It would have hit right in the middle of Tiger&rsquo;s personal record best first round of 68 with possibly untold negative consequences. As it is, the rain poured down in sheets, slewing off in different directions in the swirling wind. It washed away the pollen in rivers of gold but also softened the greens and fairways, thus changing the playing conditions unpredictably again. The possibilities of mud caking on balls increased and the consequential reduction in driving distances effectively lengthened the course. The wind was still blowing and swirling at about 20 kph and one could see the pines swaying some 70-80 feet up.

Tee for two? And Tiger makes three!

The renovated Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the gymnastics venue for this year&rsquo;s Commonwealth Games, was today inaugurated by Sports Minister M S Gill and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here.

Mint fresh India's largest Indoor Stadium

Press Trust of India

Basketballer LeBron James&rsquo;s reign as NBA&rsquo;s best player of this decade could finally begin this year.

All rise for King James

Women&rsquo;s hockey in India is facing some tough times, but the team is focused on Commonwealth glory.

On sticky turf

Many of you may hold a degree from a reputed business school. Did you ever think you would work for the Board of Control for Cricket in India? It is the world&rsquo;s richest sports body with expansive operations that could use some good managerial talent. When your son or daughter holds a career discussion with you, does BCCI figure as an option? No, it is not a generation thing, either.

Birds of a feather

The wind-up to the title match has seen one balloon of controversy. According to his manager, Topalov will unilaterally play Sofia Rules, neither offering nor accepting draws. All in-game verbal communication from Anand (presumably draw offers) is to be routed through the arbiter.

CHESS #634

India has several footballers waiting on the sidelines to follow Chhetri to the north American leagues.

Major league hopefuls

He&rsquo;s the first Indian to be ranked among the top 60 in the world.

Smash hits

Televising cricket from the Caribbean is a hazardous exercise at the best of times but when an Icelandic volcano erupts and spews its wrath over Europe&rsquo;s skies, thereby putting the world on hold, you begin to realise the enormity of the task in getting a cricket event onto television screens in households across the world.

Televising cricket is a numbers game

Researching for an article that appeared yesterday, Umpire&rsquo;s Post read many a book based on the Hindu scriptures. There is comfort in those tomes. Whenever corruption and wrongdoing crossed limits of tolerance, there was a great turbulence: a deluge, a great war, and so on. The turbulence destroyed the existing order and created, in its place, a spanking new world.

It's not about cricket

For three days starting Friday April 16, there was confusion about the world champion's location. Anand had intended to fly from Madrid via Frankfurt to Sofia on Friday. But Eyjafjallaj&ouml;kull shut down Europe, leaving him stranded in Germany.

Chess #634

That time of the cricket calendar is here again. In less than a week, IPL-3 will return, eclipsing &mdash; for the 44 days of the tournament &mdash; the saas-bahu soaps and reality shows on prime time television. Cricket will once again be the main act in the circus ring, looking to entice viewers with its high adrenaline format.

Catch-22

The crowds are there, so is the interest.

'Hockey comes home'?but has it?

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 813 - Other Sports News