Disabled students from the university are heading forward to participate in the two-day sports event in the university.

"There are lots of disabled students who excel in sports in the university. We in fact have a football team from various colleges for visually impaired students. This team recently was accorded with a trophy in a tournament organised by the Blind Relief Association," said Dr Chandra Nisha Singh, officer on special duty, Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC).

The event officer of the cell further says that, "There are quite a few number of students interested to participate in athletics as well. We have gauged a great enthusiasm among this group of students so we want to encourage them in every possible way to come out and participate in the event."

As planned by the EOC, the Shri Ram College of Commerce will be hosting the events like Javelin Throw, Short Put and races of all kinds besides a chess tournament on February 27 and 28.

Source: indiaedunews.net DU's disabled students get ready for sports meet

M K Kaushik, coach of Indian women hockey team demanded 24 International matches in order to gear up the preparation but till now got no response from Hockey India. At present team is camping at Bhopal. Kaushik admitted that preparations will be incomplete without foreign tours. Only parameter to judge the team is to play against stronger team.

Hockey India is focused on conducting its own elections as per the FIH ultimatum ahead of the men's World Cup in February.
On being asked about the women team's preparations, Hockey India chief A K Mattoo said they were planning foreign tour for the girls.

We can only hope that FIH should start thinking about the future on Indian women hockey and can arrange few foreign tours so that our team can get a chance to sharpen their playing style and compete well in front of home crowd against world class teams.

Dickey's first training camp was held Wednesday at the artificial turf of the Chowgule Education Society at Margao. More than 29 national footballers are attending the camp. Dickey will also conduct a workshop for women's coaches and it will be attended by 16 coaches.

The camp is the first assistance to All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).

USSF chairman Sunil Gualti, who is of Indian origin, during his trip here earlier this year had promised the AIFF assistance in areas ranging from technical advice, exchange programmes and expertise in coaching and administrative issues.

Australia will train promising Indian field hockey players to enable the beleaguered former champions regain their old glory, the Australian foreign minister said on Wednesday.

India, eight-time Olympic gold medallists, failed to qualify for the Beijing Games last year for the first time since field hockey was introduced as a medal sport in 1928.

Minister Stephen Smith, currently visiting India, said a male and female player, along with a coach, will receive two-week training at the renowned Institute of Sports and Hockey Facility in Perth.

`India is one of the premier hockey playing nations and we are sad that India failed to qualify for Beijing Olympics,' Smith told reporters after visiting the national hockey stadium in the Indian capital.

`All hockey playing nations, including Australia, want India to return to its historic place as a great hockey playing nation,' the Press Trust of India quoted Smith as saying.

Australia, who won their maiden Olympic title in Athens in 2004, took home a bronze in Beijing and are currently second in the world rankings behind Germany.

Speaking at the meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education, sports minister MS Gill said sports has remained a neglected area in schools.

"Every school must have a compulsory sports period a day. The Central Schools and Navoday Vidyalayas need to do more for sports," he said at the meeting chaired by HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

The Sports Minister said according to the National Education Policy of 1986, sports is a part of education. "I want to provide sports and physical education a real place at all levels of education," he said.

Gill said his ministry has started National Rural Sport Endeavour, a scheme, under which 25,000 playgrounds have been constructed across the country. He mooted the idea of making sports and games a component of government's flagship Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA).

In a veiled reference to the problems faced by Indian students in Australia, Gill expressed concern over certain foreign educational institutions duping students from here by giving false promises.

Pathak, now deputy director of Physical Education at DU, represented the college at various local and national events and won numerous medals.

Hockey

• Only 18 colleges, mostly girls' colleges, accept students in this category

• In North Campus, Daulat Ram College, GTB Khalsa College, Shri Ram College of Commerce and Kirori Mal College still offer the sport

• Khalsa College started offering the sport only last year but thanks to an outstanding performance their team is ranked first in DU

* Daulat Ram offers kabaddi

Kho-kho is offered by Jesus and Mary College in South Campus

* According to Krishna Gupta, kabaddi sports-in-charge at DU, 10 out of the 70 colleges in DU offer kabaddi.

Forty-eight years later, as the college wraps up its Sports quota admissions, the game of hockey no longer exists at IP College for Women.

Pathak looks back at the happy '60s. "Neither were we forced to concentrate on our studies, nor were there so many diversions. Nowadays, students have more interesting things to do then play sports," she says.

Source: The Indian Express Indian sports lose out at DU

With the Beijing Olympics behind us, the Common- wealth Games ahead of us and cricket with us all year round, there is now a newfound demand for opportunities in sportscasting. Sportscasting, which refers to a variety of inter-related careers, including sports commentary, sports reporting and sports presentation, can be a very challenging career.

Sports presentation
This is perhaps the most recognised and approachable avenue of the three. A sports presenter hosts regular shows on television and talks about various aspects related to the sport. Says Padamjeet Sehrawat, runner-up of the ESPN dream job hunt and anchor of the show Paddying Up on Zee Sports, "Sports presentation is a thrilling job. This is something that you can turn into a profession, as opposed to sports commentary, which can, at best, can only be a temporary career in a country like India."

Sports commentary
In complete agreement with Sehrawat is renowned football commentator and expert Novy Kapadia. He says, "In India, only if you are associated with crick- et can you make it big as a sports commentator Otherwise, the scenario is very dismal."

Kapadia has his reasons to make such a statement. More often than not, sports channels only broadcast cricket on a regular basis and some specific sporting event, if it is big in terms of viewership. In which case, says Sehrawat, there are feeds and commentary from international professionals. In such a situation, there is barely space for Indian commentators to get a word in edgeways.

Therefore, it is better to make your name as a freelancer to get more work, advises Kapadia.

Skills required
There's a basket of skills required if one wants to be a successful sportscaster. "You need to be blessed with a good voice and have the ability to communicate well.

Interestingly, most of these budding sports aspirants prefer to join high earning games like cricket, tennis, hockey and shooting, finds the latest survey from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The survey brought out by ASSOCHAM clearly indicates that "Urban Sports Programmes" promoted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports are yet to prove their worth, as they have not been launched with the necessary vigour The other factor for such a dismal situation is the fact that corporates have only extended lukewarm support and measly scholarships for national games like Hockey, Football, Athletics, Boxing and Weightlifting. As a result, these games have not gained much recognition in India. The scheme, known as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) - National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) scheme, has virtually proved to be a non-starter for the youth.

Urban youth from states like Karnataka, Andhra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa have also not shown their eagerness to tap sports for career opportunities.

While you mention that you are in your college team, you do not mention which sport you play To be able to .

get into a higher-level sports team, you need to qualify for zonal and state level matches, and then those at national level.

Today there are several , academies and institutes that select and train talent for practically every sport.

Private academies such as the Britannia Amritraj Ten nis Academy which , launched Leander Paes, and the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, have been promoting and training sports persons in different sports. The Sports Authority of India, and some state sports associations have also instituted special academies, which help nurture talent.

However, at the age of 20 it may be difficult for you to start training, if you have not already qualified for any competitive level.

I think that excessive sports in schools or even in colleges can spoil a child's life. Every child is not able to make a career in sports. So, in my view, indulging in sports at the cost of studies is not right. I think that increasing participation in sports at schools and colleges can lead to bad academic perfbrmance. Gyan Prakash Gupta, Teacher Delhi