Not sure
whether you are following Pro-kabbadi these days (I am forced to see some as my
son has become a compulsive fan !) – with less than a week to go for the Finale
of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League, the competition is heating up. The stage
is all set for high decibel action as the tournament now enters the 'do or die'
stage. At this juncture, the Jaipur Pink Panthers have already qualified with
101 as Score difference – they have 53 points so far in 13 matches with 10
wins, 2 loss and 1 draw. There seems to
be exciting contest between U Mumba, Patna Pirates, Telegu Titans, and
Bengaluru Bulls and Dabang Delhi for the remaining places in Semis. Can you
guess the ticket price for tomorrow’s match at Bengaluru between U Mumba and
Dabang Bangalore….
Sandeep Narwal of Patna Pirates caught by Telegu Titans
The top performers have
been : Rahul Chaudhari (Telegu) 146; Anup Kumar (UMumba) 121; Maninder Singh
(Jaipur) 107; Nitin Madane (Bengal) 101 and Surjeet Narwal (Dabang) 100. Elsewhere there is another Kabbadi
tournament the “Wave World Kabaddi
League” a professional Circle style
Kabaddi League with participation from India, USA, Canada, Pakistan and the United
Kingdom. The Indian team in the fray there is “Khalsa Warriors” - who
registered their 3rd consecutive win by defeating Vancouver Lions by 67-45 in
the 10th match – and for the games at Birmingham, a famous sportswomen wielded
the mike !
Moving to UK and to
Cricket - Gloucestershire is a county in
South West England. Bristol is a city,
unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England – where the
1st ODI between India and England is to be played tomorrow (i.e., on
25th Aug 14) The city received a Royal charter in 1155. It was part
of Gloucestershire until 1373 when it became a county in its own right.
The Schedule is : 2nd
ODI at Cardiff on 27th; 3rd at Nottingham, 30th;
4th at Birmingham, Sept 2; 5th Leeds on 5th
Sept – all at 15:00 IST. Cricinfo reports
that England have lost 3 consecutive bilateral ODI series – losing to New
Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka…… and India has not won since 24 years – the last
time being in 1990 when India won 2-0. India
have played 3 Series since – however this statistics does not reckon the
Natwest win in 2002 (Sehwag, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Kaif excelled in chasing 325) and
Champions Trophy of 2013 as these involved more than 2 teams.
The match is to be played
at the County Cricket Ground (also known as Nevil Road) in Bristol; home ground
of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. Initially known as Ashley Down Ground,
it was bought in 1889 by W. G. Grace and has been home to Gloucestershire ever
since. It was sold to local confectionery firm J. S. Fry & Sons and renamed
Fry's Ground. The club bought the ground back in 1933 and it reverted to its
original name. It was sold again in 1976, this time to Royal & Sun Alliance
who renamed the ground the Phoenix County Ground for eight years before
changing to The Royal & Sun Alliance County Ground until the ground was
again bought by the club and took it up its current title.
The person involved in commentary in Kabbadi at Bristol was Anjum
Chopra, an Arjuna Awardee in 2014. The
left handed batsman and all rounder won laurels on the field and it was
reported that when former India cricket captain is approached to do commentary
in a kabaddi tournament - she just walked
over to the nearest ground and tried her hand at the sport after accepting the
offer. Gentlemen, the tickets are priced at Rs.45 and Rs.200/- per
match
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
24th Aug 2014.