The Hindu : Six disciplines begin today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 12, 2002

Sport

Sport - National Games

Six disciplines begin today

By Abhijit Sengupta

HYDERABAD DEC. 11. Six disciplines of the 32nd National Games will begin at different venues within Hyderabad and Secunderabad on December 12, viz; badminton, volleyball, football, hockey, kho kho and gymnastics.

The Indoor stadium at Gachibowli, which was inaugurated today by the Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu, stages basketball and badminton. Five Hova courts on US maplewood flooring and computer controlled lighting make it on par with the best in the world.

But the badminton competition has lost some of its sheen due to the absence of P. Gopi Chand, P.V.V. Lakshmi and Aparna Popat. Gopi and Lakshmi will not be defending the singles titles they had won in the previous edition of the Games in Punjab in Nov-Dec 2001.

In the singles, Chetan Anand, runner-up on the last occasion could be the favourite. Others to watch out for are Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Sachin Ratti, Siddharth Jain and Sushant Saxena. In the women's individual events there is plenty of talent from AP in the form of Neelima Chaudhary, Ch.Deepthi and G.Jwala. But in Aparna's absence the hot favourite is B.R. Meenakshi, while Manjusha Kanwar and Trupthi Murugunde are strong contenders also.

Volleyball will begin at the indoor stadium in Yousufguda where the conditions are of top international standards. In the men's section the fight could be between Tamil Nadu, AP and Kerala for the top spot. TN, AP, Haryana and UP are in Group A and Kerala, Punjab, Services and Karnataka are in Group. In the women's section the leading contenders are Kerala and AP who are both in Group A with Punjab and Maharashtra. In the other group are Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Karnataka and Chandigarh.

In football no NFL player would take part, said Alberto Colaco, Secretary, AIFF.

Teams to watch out for are men's defending champion Punjab and runner up Goa and women's defending champion Manipur and runner up Punjab.

In the men's hockey championship, title-holder Services is in Group A along with Punjab, Chandigarh and Tamil Nadu, while runner-up Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra and Bengal are in Group B.

In the women's hockey tournament, Haryana along with Punjab, Jharkhand and AP are in Group A. Nidhi Mukesh Kumar will lead the state team for the first time while Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and Orissa are in Group B. All matches will be played at one ground in the Begumpet astro turf stadium.

In kho kho in the men's section, host AP will meet Gujarat in the first match and in the womens section AP will clash with Madhya Pradesh. The men's groups are Maharashtra, AP, Gujarat and Kerala in Group A and Karnataka, MP, Bengal and Delhi in Group B. In the women's section Karnataka, MP, AP and Tamil Nadu are in Group A and Maharashtra, Bengal, Punjab and Kerala are in Group B.

Gymnastics events will get underway at the Saroornagar indoor stadium with competition in women's artistic gymnastics qualifying and team competitions.

Today's schedule

Badminton: Team championship events.

Football: Men's and women's league matches.

Gymnastics: Team championship.

Hockey: Men's and women's league.

Kho-kho: Men's and women's leagues.

Volleyball: Men's and women's leagues.

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