Monday, July 28, 2014

Pugilist Sangwan eases into men's 81kg quarters

Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan registered a comfortable 3-0 win over Mohammed Hakimu Fumu of Tanzania to reach the 2014 Commonwealth Games quarterfinals of the men's 81kg category here.

The 21-year-old pugilist dominated the proceedings and all three judges declared him a clear winner Sunday night.

Sangwan will take on New Zealand's Davis Nyika for a place in the semifinals.

Earlier, Sangwan's compatriot Manoj Kumar also booked a berth in the quarters of the men's 64kg category with a 2-0 win over Canada's Arthur Biyarslanov.

Manoj will fight it out against Samuel Maxwell of England.


Thursday, April 3, 2014

ANAND IS READY FOR CARLSEN AGAIN

At Khanty Mansyisk of Russia, Viswanathan Anand won the candidates Chess tournament. The tournament featured 8 top players of the world. The tournament victory gave him cheque of 135,000 Euros (equivalent to approximately 1 crore rupees).

The cup victory carries extra significance for him. With it, he now becomes eligible to play against current world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the final of World championship for second year in a row. It will be the first time in more than two decades when same opponents will play for the World title in two successive years. Last time it happened was in the era of two K’s (Kasparov-Karpov). They faced each other in successive finals in 1990.


When he lost to the Norwegian Carlsen at Chennai the previous year, noise grew for his retirement. Indian Grandmaster was nervy. He couldn’t manage a win in entire series of games. He seemed to have lost the elan after that humiliation.


After the win in the current tournament, he confessed candidly that he was in no mood to participate in the championship. His conversation with Vladimir Kramnik changed everything. On his insistence, he mustered courage for the tournament.


Friday was rest day for him. On Saturday he came with fresh ideas for the chess board. He played marathon round for more than 6 hours against Karjakin. After 91 moves, both the players agreed for the stalemate.  Andreikin beat Aronian and his crown was certain. 


In the tournament, he got a good strong start in the beginning. It uplifted his morale. It is very like his performance at Mexico in 2007, at Linares in 2007 and in 2008. There he won with margin of +3 in 14 rounds. In the entire tournament, he made no mistake in the moves. He faced bizarre opening of Aronian with grace. Against Manedyarov, he played superbly. Throughout the tournament, he opened brilliantly and side by side guarded his citadel well.


Other competitors continued to fall which made the life of Indian GM easier. Interestingly, at the end of round 13, he was the only player with plus (it means difference in no. of wins and losses) record. In previous edition, there were four players in the positives (two at +4 and two at +2).  


He came to Russian town for the tournament as an underdog. He proved every critic wrong and won the tournament with one round to spare. Round 13 proved very lucky to him. Indian son is ready to face the midnight su(o)n.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

ROGER FEDERER- THE FEDEX IS RUNNING AGAIN

These days in the tennis world, recharged Federer is the talk of the town. He just lost tough final against hard hitting Djokovic at Indian Wales. He was denied his record 5th title of ATP BNP Paribas, yet he won many hearts.

 

Since the beginning of this year, he is looking as threatening as he was. . Last year, he won a minor title only. 2013 was his least productive year for 13 years. Injuries troubled him. His back pain increased with each passing day. Due to it, he took a long 7 week break in the spring. After the Wimbledon, he remained out of action for a long time. In the meantime, his rankings dipped to new low. Many people suggested that he has got everything from the tennis and he should retire gracefully now. Federerlistened but kept going. His fortunes revived after his association with Stefan Edberg. He hired him as his personal coach in the beginning of this year. Edberg as a player was known for 2 qualities, icy head and the talisman game of serve & volley. He was one of those few players who announced his retirement a year in advance. He kept his word and retired from international tennis at a high note.

 

Under his guidance, Federer is only climbing up in the ATP rankings. On his advice, he starts playing with a larger racket. He is approaching the net quite often. His backhands improved drastically.

 

Last year, he dipped to low rank of 8. This year, his record speaks clearly. He is 19-3 this year. His only 3 losses have come in final of Brisbane, SF of Australian open and final of BNP Paribas at Indian Wales. Among all the players of the circuit, his form against top 10 players is most impressive (4-2).

 

His victory at Dubai was the shout of his revival. He stunned Djokovic (World no. 2) and Berdych (World no. 6) in back to back victories in semi finals and final. This was his 6th title at Dubai and 78th overall. It gave him 500 ATP points and much needed old confidence.

 

Djokovic praised him open heartedly after defeating him in the final at Indian Wales. He said that he is playing as good as he was 14 months before. He is serving well and his forehands are firing again.

 

Roger is happy. He is competing in tournament week after week. Currently, he is competing in Sony Ericsson open at Miami. Injuries are not troubling him anymore and he is playing with consistency. His movements, serves and shots are full of confidence again. He moved up to 5th spot in ATP ranking. Both David ferrrer and fellow countryman Wawrinka are in his reach. If he continues to play such quality tennis then he can climb up to 3rd rank, the position he lost in June. The hunger of 17 times Grand Slam champion is back. Fedex from Basel is running again at full speed.

 

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Efforts To Boost Hockey

At a meeting in Lousane, FIH decided to revitalize Hockey as per the modern need. Hockey will now be a 60 minute game, separated in 4 quarters. Each quarter will be played for the duration of 15 minutes each. After the first and third quarter, each team will get break of 2 minutes. Rule of 10 minute break at the half time has remained untouched.

There are some more changes in the rule book. After each Penalty corner, 40 seconds will be allotted as a time out. If PC is re-awarded then in that case, team will be given some time to readjust the players. There is a provision of Green card for taking more than 40 seconds in taking the Penalty corner. It means the guilty will have to warm bench for 2 minutes. If goalkeeper does so, then instead of him, a defender will bear the burden of the card.  After every goal, 40 seconds will be awarded as the time out.

Surely both the rules (pertaining to 40 seconds) will release fresh air in the teams. Teams will make suitable strategy for PC and involve themselves in goal celebration more freely. Quite recently, Hockey was about to face the axe from the Olympic Calendar. Reasons that went out of it's favour were lack of spectators and stale formats. Despite of all the efforts, game of Hockey was lagging behind other games in fetching number of eyeballs and sponsors.

New format will give more space for advertisers to push their ad. In the timeout and breaks, they can air it. Spectators will get a respite in otherwise speedy game. For TV crew, additional time will be available to analyze the game.

The first tournament to be played with almost similar rules was Premier Hockey League of India. The tournament is defunct now. Presently, Hockey India League and European Hockey League are played with almost the same rules.

Most of the Hockey pundits, coaches and players have said that game will get profit from these rules. Coaches are happy that now they will be able to give more time for the teams. Sponsors are seeing it a window of return of their ad. TRP will surely increase. Players will get more breathing space in fastHockey. Most importantly, actual time will not be curtailed. At the end of the game, actual time spent by the teams will be close to 70 minutes.

These rules are not coming to effect immediately. Champions trophy, The World League Round 2(semi final-final), all the continental Olympic qualifying events and Rio Olympic 2016 will be played under these guidelines.

Most of the games struggle in making a balance between spectators and advertisers demand. New format will do justice to both the parties. Money and TRP were not a big issue in the past. But time has changed. Just like air and water, these are now the most essential aspects for the survival of a game. There are plenty of lovers of Hockey around the world. Surely in this ‘Avatar', Hockey will go ahead to many of it's rivals.



Friday, March 21, 2014

Pride and prejudice: Difficulties of disseminating private sector achievements

The contributions the private sector can make to a country’s economic and social development are increasingly being recognised. These new roles have steadily progressed from being a product and/or a service provider, to a development partner and now as a potential engine for socio-economic development and environmental protection.

A growing number of mostly multinational companies are embracing sustainability policies and practices as integral components of their businesses models. Companies still aim to achieve the normal continuous profitability and growths goals but many are also looking to concurrently create social and environmental benefits in the communities within which they operate.

Out of necessity, but also as an acknowledgement of the values and benefits of working with local, regional and international non-governmental organisations, many private sector groups have now developed partnerships with different actors at different scales. Partnerships with academic institutions are also increasing both in developed and developing countries.

There is a growing body of evidence-based research that assesses and documents the impacts of companies in the social, economic and ecological environments within which they operate. Unfortunately, many members of development communities and media groups are largely disregarding most of these analyses. They are primarily concerned that publishing such positive facts may make them appear as the public relations agent of the companies concerned.

That is, it seems that being aware of the contributions of a growing number of multinationals to development is one issue, but acknowledging and appreciating them is a completely different one. The question that needs to be asked is why many sectors of society and media are reluctant or afraid to accept this fact.

Contrary to what is often assumed by many, not everything companies are doing is necessarily self-centred, profit-oriented or negative. The Harvard Business School, the Sustainable Markets Intelligence Center in Costa Rica, Regional Center for Studies on Coffee and Industries (CRECE) in Colombia, Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico, for example, have studied the new business models of some major private sector groups on sustainable development issues and the results they have achieved. There is now considerable evidence to show that there are many companies contributing to social progress through poverty alleviation and increasing the standards of living of millions of people, as well as making profits.

The inclusion of more sustainability-oriented business activities may very well be out of necessity due to increasing public and media scrutiny. Yet, companies are also responding to the demands from Boards and shareholders, who are signalling to the market the necessity and desirability to adhere to stricter social and environmental requirements.  

Let’s take the case of Nestlé, the largest global multinational food and beverages company that operates in 194 countries. The plans, programmes, investment and resources the company has put on the implementation of sustainability aspects (accessible and affordable nutrition, water management, resource conservation, and support to rural development and poverty alleviation) have translated in tangible results in the above areas for at least six decades in some parts of the world, especially India. This business model was established well before the movements for Corporate Social Responsibility, or Creating Shared Value (business strategies that directly address social problems) became fashionable globally.

In India, Nestlé has worked for six decades in Moga, Punjab, where it has established successfully a dairy industry where no milk culture existed before. The recipe has been to foster long-term relational interactions, and not only transactional ones, with numerous small to large scale farmers and other business partners.

Under very challenging conditions, the company’s work in Moga has progressively led to a more prosperous community, triggering positive spillovers in the region through its strict emphasis on hygiene, cleanliness, quality control and monitoring. This has directly and indirectly led local farmers, labourers, entrepreneurs and ancillary firms to climb up the economic and the quality ladders. Multiplier effects have played key and catalytic roles to steadily improve the social, economic, environmental and entrepreneurial conditions of the area. This is a fact recognised by the local population.

Nestlé’s work has significantly contributed to the milk economy of Punjab, which in 2012 represented 10.5% of India’s dairy production with only some 3% of the country’s dairy animals. This success proved the initial hypothesis of the factory’s first unknown planners of the 1960s: for Nestlé to survive and thrive in Moga, it must first look after the social and economic welfare of its farmers first, as without continuously increasing milk supplies from the farmers Nestlé simply would not have a viable business model.

The challenges and difficulties faced, lessons learnt and achievements in the region have received very little media attention in spite of serious attempts to disseminate them. ‘Too good to be true’, ‘most likely a PR piece’ or ‘we already wrote about the same company a year ago’ have been the main reactions of the mainstream international and business media. It may be that old prejudices on the private sector in general still prevail. It may also be that society, and many media groups, are still not ready to even consider, let alone acknowledge, the fundamental role an increasing number of private sectorgroups are playing in the field of economic and social development. It is high time for the national and international communities to move from blanket pronouncements praising or denouncing the private sector activities to the rigorous study of individual cases in order to share experiences, challenges and lessons learnt.




Dr Cecilia Tortajada is President of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico. She is co-author of the book Creating Shared Value: Impacts of Nestlé at Moga, India (Springer, Berlin, September 2013), with a Foreword by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer of Harvard Business School.