Mercedes-Benz opens a driving academy and brings its sports cars to the Formula One circuit near Delhi. Aabhas Sharma gets behind the wheel for a first-hand experience.

Right on track

Business Standard

The premier at Reggio Emilia has seen high drama with a situation where any of four out of six participants could win going into the last round. There's been an incredible decision ratio; a nervous collapse by a certain Ukrainian; a big breakthrough performance by a teenager.

Chess (#985)

With the 2012 season of the Australian Open all set to begin in Melbourne on Monday, A Seshan traces the highs and lows of the tournament over the years and speculates on the possible contenders for the title this year.

Extreme tennis

Reggio Emilia was a big breakthrough for Dutch prodigy Anish Giri. Giri started with 1 from the first 4 rounds, (two draws, two losses). He finished with 15/6 (+4,=2) to grab clear first. The trio of Morozevich, Nakamura, Caruana shared second on 15 each.

Chess (#986)

Aabhas Sharma identifies the weak spots in his captaincy in Test matches outside India.

What's eating MSD?

The Tata Steel at Wijk An Zee (WAZ) is a spectacular event. Group A is a super tournament, Group B is very strong and C has an interesting mix of youngsters. WAZ has always been run on traditional lines. No Sofia Rules, no Bilbao scoring. Just a careful mix of hungry youngsters and decent conditions to encourage fighting chess. After four rounds, the lead is tied in Group A. World no:1 Carlsen has 3 points and so does world no:2 Levon Aronyan.

CHESS (#987)

For all your real car questions, there&rsquo;s the &lsquo;Which Car?&rsquo; section on this page, but what about your completely unreal fantasies? Say you wanted to drive a completely modded Ford Mustang on a race track? Well, for that and other driving related fantasies, we&rsquo;ve got for you a few of the top driving games available in stores now.

Game on!

A cricketer once mentioned that playing in front of an empty crowd is probably one of the worst feelings as a player. No support from fans or indifference can lead to a drop in the performance of any athlete.

Games they play

Levon Aronyan leads the Tata Steel's A group with 7.5 points after 10 rounds. The Armenian GM has a 2944 tournament performance rating. He is followed by Vasily Ivanchuk (6.5), who has moved up in unobtrusive fashion. World no:1 Magnus Carlsen shares third- fourth with Teimour Radjabov (both 6). Carlsen has been pegged back by a loss versus Karjakin.

Chess (#988)

What national and club football have not been able to do for the sport in India will possibly be accomplished by a West Bengal-based football league. Christened Premier Soccer League (PSL), the new format is a mix of the English Premier League (EPL), the US-based National Football League (NFL) and Indian cricket&rsquo;s favourite Indian Premier League (IPL).

IPL-style soccer league to kick off in Bengal

The Games are just 29 days away, and all we hear about is corruption and controversy. It&rsquo;s time the spotlight turned on what really matters &mdash; sports.

How many medals will India win at CWG 2010?

They may have started out as caddies and odd-job boys. But now they are successful golfers in their own right.

Out of a storybook

Growing up in Delhi, one phrase pretty much summed up our fatalistic way of life. Everything was koi baat nahin, a philosophy that basically says, life is a mess, but bash on regardless.

I'm ok, you're ok, it's ok

William Congreve&rsquo;s The Mourning Bride was published in 1697. Act 3, Scene 8 of the play has the lines, &ldquo;Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned&rdquo;. Three hundred and thirteen years later, the lesson is still being driven home, this time in the cricket&rsquo;s latest match-fixing scandal involving Pakistan&rsquo;s two Ms &mdash; Asif and Aamer &mdash; two of the best young bowlers in the world, and captain Salman Butt.

Is it all about money?

The action last week included wo rapids and a blitz. Carlsen beat Anand in the Arctic Securities Finals in Kristiansund, Norway. Anand's reputation as the best rapid-blitz player around is now under threat if one goes by this result.

Chess (#638)

It&rsquo;s probably not the best of the times to catch national shooting coach Sunny Thomas. The 56-year-old coach is running from pillar to post to iron out last minute hassles and to make sure that all goes well for the Commonwealth Games shooting contingent. &ldquo;As a coach, it&rsquo;s my responsibility to make sure that the team is in the right frame of mind,&rdquo; says Thomas. Spoken as every true coach should, always looking out for his wards, never mind that little credit, if at all, may come his way if the athletes do well.

A few good men

I was there when a minor deluge of people came from the other side into Punjab&rsquo;s parts bordering Pakistan, right up to Chandigarh, with the Pakistani cricket team that came to play a Test series in 2005. Everyone said Punjabiyat, as a culture, had proved to be a bigger binding force than the divisiveness of politics. Before that, I was transfixed as the Indian team went to the other side the year before to &mdash; as Prime Minister Vajpayee put it with his usual eloquence &mdash; win not only matches but also hearts. The team won both. A large contingent of non-cricketers accompanied the team, including many journalists sponsored by corporate houses, to roam the lanes of Karachi and Lahore. Young Pakistani girls sang naughty little songs to tickle Indian players (Balaji zara dheere chalo, for instance).

Love thy neighbour?

Sportsmen giving in to the temptations of big bucks, and making news for off-field reasons.

Should we care about sport anymore?

The Shanghai Masters consisted of a four player double round-robin with two to qualify and join Carlsen and Anand in a similar DRR, in a &ldquo;final&rdquo; to be played in Bilbao. The field was unbalanced with Aronyan, Kramnik, Shirov and Wang Hao. The latter is strong but not quite in the same league as the first three.

CHESS #643

It had been quite a ride, but the &quot;Indo-Pak Express&quot; finally ran out of steam at the US Open tennis championship here on Friday. At the men's doubles final of the Grand Slam tournament, it almost seemed as if the symbolism of the partnership between Indian tennis professional Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan&rsquo;s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi at times outshone the substance of their game.

Bopanna, Qureshi bridge trust gap in New York

He&rsquo;s a vegetarian, and likes watching TV serials. He&rsquo;s disciplined and down to earth. Prasoon Kumar meets Sushil Kumar, who has just won gold at the World Wrestling Championships It was a defining moment at the Olympic stadium in Moscow. As Sushil Kumar raised his arms and ran towards his coaches with the elation of a child, his defeated opponent Alan Gogaev covered his face with his hands and remained on the floor.

A day in the life of a champion

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 853 - Other Sports News