It'll be our best-ever show in CWG: Coach Bahadur

Padma Shri Bahadur Singh,the chief coach of indian athletics team for commonwealth games2010, one of the best shot putters India has ever produced and a veteran of five Asian Games, is perhaps the busiest man at the Netaji Subas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS) in Patiala where the Indian athletes are training for the CWG.

Talk about the Delhi Games and Bahadur's eyes will light up with excitement. "It will be our best-ever show," he told TOI with confidence. "We won just two silver medals at the last Games but this time it will be a totally different story."

According to the coach, the host country will be a medal contender in at least 10 events. "If you look at the track events in the women's section, we have got a chance in the 400m hurdles, 800m, 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m."

The coach expects great things from youngsters like Tintu Luka and Mayookha Johny. "Tintu has got the capacity to excel at the world level but needs to work more on her endurance. She may not win a medal but she will definitely produce a good performance," said Bahadur. Analysing Mayookha's chances, he said: "She got a better chance in long jump. In triple jump, she will better the national record for sure."

Bahadur said the women's discus throw would see fierce competition between Melbourne silver medallist Seema Antil, in-form Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur. "All three are capable of winning medals," Bahadur, who personally trains Seema, felt. Among the men, the chief coach is floored by the improvement shown by Pankaj Dimri who clocked 1:46.26 in men's 800m at the inter-state meet in Patiala.

"That was a stunning performance. Not even Sriram (Singh) or Charles (Borromeo) could clock this time," he said. "I'm also confident about the performance of Om Prakash in men's shot put, Vikas Gowda in men's discus and Renjith Maheswary in men's triple jump."

Asked about the contribution of foreign coaches, Bahadur Singh said their contribution was vital for the sport. "Earlier, we never did this well. All these improvements in standards came only after their arrival. For example, in middle and long distance and walking we have done well with the help of foreigners."

The coach revealed that the plan was to let the athletes' peak at the right time. "We've deliberately kept the qualifying standards a bit low so that our athletes didn't have to reach their peak to qualify for the Games."

Read more: It'll be our best-ever show in CWG: Coach Bahadur - Interviews - Commonwealth Games - Events & Tournaments - Sports - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/events-tournaments/commonwealth-games/interviews/Itll-be-our-best-ever-show-in-CWG-Coach-Bahadur/articleshow/6465128.cms#ixzz0yIToeRUI

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Promila Aiyappa Heptathlon Athlete Biography

Aiyappa G. Pramila IND

Sex	Weight	Height	Date of Birth	Place of birth
W			08/05/1977

Information
Née Ganapathy

Personal Best - Outdoor
	Performance	Wind	Place	Date
200 Metres	24.09		Bangalore	17/07/2008
800 Metres	2:16.90		Bangalore	18/07/2008
100 Metres Hurdles	13.85		Chennai	30/07/2000
High Jump	1.75		Chennai	30/07/2000
Long Jump	6.52		Bangalore	05/07/2000
Shot Put	12.30		Bangalore	17/07/2008
Javelin Throw	42.62		Chennai	31/07/2000
Heptathlon	6105		Chennai	31/07/2000

Progression - Outdoor
	Season	Performance	Wind	Place	Date
200 Metres	2008	24.09		Bangalore	17/07/2008
	2001	25.04		Edmonton	04/08/2001
	2000	24.69	1.4	Sydney	23/09/2000
800 Metres	2008	2:16.90		Bangalore	18/07/2008
	2001	2:22.89		Edmonton	05/08/2001
	2000	2:20.86		Sydney	24/09/2000
100 Metres Hurdles	2009	14.97	-0.4	Guangzhou	10/11/2009
	2008	13.95		Bangalore	17/07/2008
	2001	14.41	-0.8	Edmonton	04/08/2001
	2000	13.85		Chennai	30/07/2000
High Jump	2009	1.64		Guangzhou	10/11/2009
	2008	1.74		Beijing (National Stadium)	15/08/2008
	2008	1.74		Bangalore	17/07/2008
	2001	1.73		Edmonton	04/08/2001
	2000	1.75		Chennai	30/07/2000
Long Jump	2008	6.37		Bangalore	18/07/2008
	2006	6.26	0.1	Chennai	02/11/2006
	2004	6.39	0.6	Chennai	16/06/2004
	2001	6.43	-1.5	Chennai	19/10/2001
	2000	6.52		Bangalore	05/07/2000
	1999	6.43		Lucknow	13/09/1999
Shot Put	2009	10.45		Guangzhou	10/11/2009
	2008	12.30		Bangalore	17/07/2008
	2001	11.43		Edmonton	04/08/2001
	2000	11.14		Sydney	23/09/2000
Javelin Throw	2008	42.04		Bangalore	18/07/2008
	2001	34.60		Edmonton	05/08/2001
	2000	42.62		Chennai	31/07/2000
Heptathlon	2010	5454		Patiala	08/08/2010
	2008	6078		Bangalore	18/07/2008
	2004	6046		Bangalore	07/08/2004
	2003	5787		Jamshedpur	07/09/2003
	2001	5825		Bangalore	25/06/2001
	2000	6105		Chennai	31/07/2000
	1998	5705		Calcutta	05/11/1998

Honours
	Rank	Performance			Wind	Place	Date
Heptathlon
The XXIX Olympic Games		27	7	5771		Beijing (National Stadium)	16/08/2008
15th Asian Athletics Championships		5	f	5500		Manila	21/09/2003
8th IAAF World Championships		15	7	5492		Edmonton	05/08/2001
27th Olympic Games		24	7	5548		Sydney	24/09/2000

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Harwant Kaur , Indian discus thrower

Harwant Kaur was born on 5th July in the year 1980. She is an Indian discus thrower, who won the silver medal at the 2002 Asian Championships. She has finished fourth at the 2003 Asian Championships and seventh at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Harwant Kaur made the grade at the Commonwealth Games. On her sixth attempt, Harwant had her best of 58.94 metres, as against the third-place norm of 58.13m, and will join the 18-member team named earlier. Apart from three fouls she also had throws of 58.08 and 57.20. Before going for the Commonwealth Games Harwant said that she was `confident of crossing the 60-metre mark in Melbourne and looked forward to have a podium finish at the games`. in addition she took part at the 2004 Olympic Games and was ranked 13th in the qualifying ronds. She is being coached under the guidence of Parveer Singh. 63.05 metres is her personal best throw which is achieved in August 2004 in Kyiv.

(Last Updated on : 21/11/2008)

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Suresh Babu , Indian Athlete

The unparalleled, record holder of the national title in the long, triple and high jump events, Suresh Babu is an Indian athlete. He is counted amongst one of those rare athletes who have won medals in two events in the consecutive Asian Games, in the Teheran edition of 1974 the Bronze in the decathlon and of the Bangkok edition of l978 a Gold in the long jump. This fine athlete, Suresh Babu predominated the athletic scenario between the year 1972 and the year1979. He was holding the national titles in the jumps and decathlon. At the same time, he was picking his event for laurels on the international arena.

Suresh Babu was born in Quilon in Kerala on 10th February in the year 1953. He was a science graduate. For his athletics career, the foundation was laid in the Infant Jesus High School and the Fatima Mata College in Quilon. In the year 1969 at Jalandhar, his first attempt at the national level, was as a junior. He won the national championship in high jump three years later. During the years 1974, 1977 and 1979, he switched from one pit to another and won the national championship in long jump and the triple jump in 1974,1976 and 1978. In between the times, he wandered over to the ten card event of decathlon and brought down himself on the national aspect in the championships held in the years 1974,1975 and 1978.

At the Munich Olympics held in the year 1972, he got his first experience of international athletics. At the Teheran Asian Games held in the year 1974, Suresh Babu won his first medal. His first medals includes a Bronze in the decathlon, and also won a Gold medal in the Asian Championships at Seoul in the following year. The Indian Universities athletics team under the captaincy of Suresh Babu participated at the World Universities Games in between the times, which was held at Moscow in the year 1973.

Under the headship of Suresh Babu, the Indian athletics team took part in the 1978 Commonwealth Games, which was held at Edmonton in Canada. They mainly focused on the long jump event and won a Bronze. After that he went on to pick up the Gold at the 1978 Asian Games held in Bangkok. He targeted the 1979 Asian Athletics Meet which was held in Tokyo. He picked up the Silver at the tournament. As an active athlete Suresh Babu during his seven years also won medals for India at competitions held in Ceylon, Lahore and the Philippines. For the World Athletics Meet, he was the captain of the Indian team. The meet was held at Montreal in the year1979.

To honor his contribution to the Indian Sports, the Indian Government conferred the highest prestigious award in sports the Arjuna Award for the year 1978-79. He is currently employed as Sports Officer in the Kerala Sports Council. Suresh Babu has also served as Special Officer, Sports and Games, in the Kerala State Electricity Board. He has been a member of the Technical Committee of the All India Electricity Sports Control Board and been a coach at the Sports Authority of India (Southern Centre) in Bangalore. For Kerala and Lakshadweep, he was the State Supervisor of SAI.

(Last Updated on : 25/11/2008)

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Geeta Zutshi , Indian Athlete

Geeta Zutshi, a famous Indian women athlete on her credit, has constituted several national and Asian running records in the track events of 800 m and 1500 m. Conformist Mohammad Ilyas Babar was the coach of Geeta Zutshi. In the year 1978, Geeta won the women`s 800 m gold medal at the Asian Games held in Bangkok.

She has won the silver medals for the 800 m track event in the year 1982. She has also won medals for the 1500 m in both the year 1978 and 1982. At the 1982 Asian Games, which was held at New Delhi, she, as the top Indian woman athlete avowed an oath on behalf of all the competitors. It took place during the opening ceremony of the 1982 Asian Games.

Acknowledging her contribution to Indian Sports, Indian Government conferred Geeta Zutshi the highest prestigious sports award, The Arjuna Award and one of the highest civilion award, the Padma Shri. Her achievements has inspired other Indian women too. Geeta Zutsi later shifted to USA. She returned to India in July, 2002, that is after 17 years and took over the Indian junior athletics team as a coach (800m and 1500m).

(Last Updated on : 25/11/2008)

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Jyotirmoyee Sikdar , Indian Athlete

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar won two Gold Medals and a Silver medal, in the 1998, Bangkok Asian Games, where she cheered up the nation, electrified the sagging morale of the participants and silenced the media criticism of the sports officials. The 29 year-old athlete returned home to be hailed as the `New Golden Girl` of India. Already an Arjuna Award winner (1995), she got the `Most Valued Performance Award` instituted by Samsung. There years later she became the first athlete to be honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (1998).

Born in December 1969 in Debogram a town in Nadia district in West Bengal, Jyotirmoyee began her athletics career as a worthy successor to Shiny Abraham in the 800 metres but extended her area or excellence to the 400 and 1,500 metres as well. With the help of her father, a retired pole-vaulter, she built up her stamina by running through the fields and simultaneously completing her graduation in physiology.

Jyotirmoyee made her national debut with a Silver Medal in 800 metres at the All-India Open Meet in 1992. A Gold medal in the Open Nationals of the following year earned her a berth to the 1993 South Asian Federation (SAF) Games at Dhaka where she picked up a Silver in the 1,500 metres. With a Gold at the Singapore Open in 1993, she went on to break the national mark in the 1,500 metres at the National Athletics Meet in 1994. In the trials for the Asiad `94 she came under Shiny Abraham`s 800 metres mark and confirmed her place in the Indian team to the 1994 Asian Games at Hiroshima where she took part in the two events but could manage just a fourth place in 1,500 metres.
She was a part of the 4x400m relay team that won the gold at the World Railways Meet in London in 1994. She took part in the World Championships in Sweden followed by the 1995 Asian Track & Field Meet in Jakarta where she claimed a Cold in the 800 metres and her team won the Silver in the 4x400m relay. She created a new 800 metres national record in 1995 and was named Indian Railways Best Sportsperson in 1996, the year she won a Gold in the 400 metres at Taipei and was a part of the Indian 4x400m relay team at the Atlanta Olympics. She participated twice in the International 1TC Meet, winning a Bronze in 1994 and a Gold and Silver in 1997.

Jyotirmoyee won Bronze Medals in the 800 and 1,500 metre events to along with her team winning the 4x400m relay Silver or the Asian Track & Field Meet at Fukuoka in Japan in 1997. But it was the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok where she was to give her best performance with career best timings of 2:01.00 seconds in 800 metres and 4:12.82 seconds in 1,500 metres to win the Gold in both the events. Her third medal, Silver, came as member of the 4x400 relay squad.

(Last Updated on : 5/02/2009)

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J. J. Shobha , Indian Athlete

J. J. Shobha participates in the heptathlon and was the winner of the event at the inaugural Afro Asian games in 2003. Her personal best of 6211 points, achieved in 2004 is a National Record.

She came into the news for her performance at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens; where she completed the seven-discipline heptathlon event despite being injured in the penultimate event of Javelin throw. She had to be carried off the field but she returned with a tightly strapped left ankle and finished 3rd in the final event (800 m) and 11th overall with 6172 points. She was awarded the Arjuna award for the year 2004 for her gritty performance.

(Last Updated on : 25/11/2008)

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Ashwini Nachappa , Indian Athlete

Ashwini Nachappa was the glory girl of Indian female sprinting in the early 80`s having beaten P.T. Usha. There were many great moments in her life, with regards to her achievements.

However, the first great moment was in the first All India Open Nationals when she won the first gold for the state and the then chief minister Gundu Rao presented her a cash award of Rs.1000.

In the Mangalore Nationals, Anand Shetty and she had emerged the `fastest man and woman` and she ran the 400 metres for the very first time finishing behind P.T. Usha, Shiny Wilson, Vandana Shanbhag and Valsamma. The selection to the 1988 Olympic trials in Bangalore and being part of the Indian team to Seoul for the main event was Ashwini`s biggest moment.
Ashwini`s twin wins over `Payyoli Express` P. T. Usha catapulted her to a household name in India. The first time, at the Open Nationals in New Delhi `91, when she had won over P.T.Usha, in the 400 metres, every one called it a fluke. But, then she came back strongly two weeks later in an international invitation permit meet, also in New Delhi, and finished behind a Russian, pushing Usha to the third spot. The Arjuna Award that she received in June 1990 was yet another memorable occasion.
(Last Updated on : 25/11/2008)

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Soma Biswas ,Indian athlete

Soma Biswas was born on 16th May in the year 1978 in Ranaghat, indian state of West Bengal. She is an athlete who lives in Calcutta, India. Soma Biswas is a specialised athlete in the heptathlon. She has participated at the Asian Games held at Busan, South Korea in the year 2002. She won the silver medal at the tournament. Thus the rise of Soma Biswas to the fame greared up after this honor. Another silver medal, came from her participation at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. However she managed to win the 110m hurdles, the 200m and the 800m during that heptathlon.

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Vijaya Kumar , Indian Shooter

Vijay Kumar, the 21-year-old Himachal Pradesh lad , is an Indian Shooter. Vijay Kumar hails from Harsaur village of Hamirpur district, located near the shrine of Baba Balak Nath at Deotsidh.Vijay’s father Banku Ram is a former soldier. At the 2006 Commonwealth games he is the winner of two gold medals in the Men`s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (Pairs) with Pemba Tamang & the Men`s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.Vijay Kumar has the credit of winning 24 gold, 8 silver and 24 bronze in different national shooting events.Vijaya Anand is an Indian shooter and has received the Arjuna Award 2006.

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Jayant Talukdar , Indian Archer

Jayant Talukdar is a well-known name in Indian archery. Born in 1987 Talukdar is a promising youngster in the field of archery. Jayant comes from Guwahati from where he was picked up by archery coaches at a talent hunting camp .At a training camp in Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur , the coaches were impressed with his physical strength and focused attitude .

In 2004 Jayant became the top performer of the Indian team and won the silver medal at the Junior Worlds in Britain .It was the country`s first medal at a world Championship. As Jayant upstaged a few seasoned stars to clinch the Olympic round at the 25th Senior Nationals in Kochi, he became India`s top archer in 2005.

He continued his successful run and made history by winning the gold medal in the FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup at Porec, Croatia,in the same year. Jayant Talukdar ranks second behind Italy`s Ilario di Buo in the world rankings of the individual archery. In the SAF Games held in Colombo, in 2006, Jayanta defeated competitor Tarundeep Rai to bag the men`s individual recurve gold in archery. He has received the Arjuna award for 2006 for his outstanding performance in sports.

(Last Updated on : 25/11/2008)

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Geeta Rani , Indian Weightlifter

Geeta rani is the Indian weightlifter .She is the winner of a gold medal of the Women`s +75 kg category at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and has received the 2006 Arjuna award. Sangrur-born Geeta Rani (25) is extremely hard working girl and this was the reason that despite having passed only Class VIII, she is now an Inspector in the CRPF on the basis of her performance at the national and international level. She has also won three silver medals in Asian Championship in 2004 and a bronze medal in the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad in 2003, he added. She started weightlifting in 1994 and her coach was Surinder Singh.Geeta Rani has been awarded the Arjuna Award for her outstanding performance in sports.

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Jeev Milkha Singh , Indian Athlete

If there is any discussion taking place about the successive Indian Golfers so far in the history, the name of Jeev Milkha Singh will surely come at the very beginning. This young Golf star of recent times has stunned all the Golf spectators of India with his extraordinary talent and brilliant performances over the past few years. He is now aiming to be among the world`s greatest Golfers and the way he is going on, there are is a lot of reason for the people of India to be hopeful about him.

Jeev Milkha Singh has a very strong sporting tradition by born. He is from one of the most famous sporting families in India. With his father, the `Flying Sheikh` Milkha Singh and his mother Nirmala Kaur, the former captain of the Indian Women`s Volleyball Team, Jeev got his talent genetically. His father is known as one of the greatest athletes of all time in India. Jeev Milkha Singh born on 15 December 1971. According to his own words, from the very childhood, he was attracted in such a sport that he will be able to continue playing till the age of 60 or 70`s. For this very reason only he decided to take Golf to show his charisma and talent, as he found no other sport in the world to meet his perspectives.

At the age of only around nine or ten years, Jeev seriously got attracted to the game of Golf by closely observing the senior army officers play the game. He won his first amateur tournament, the American Express Championship in Delhi at the age of only 13. When he was only 17 years old, he represented India in the Eisenhower Trophy in the year of 1988. He again represented his country in the same tournament in 1992. After passing the school level, he became more determined to take Golf as his only aim and he went to United States of America in order to fulfill his dreams. He got admitted in the Abilene Christian University there and won the NCAA Division II individual Golf Championship in the year of 1993. He also won a number of amateur Golf tournaments in the U.S. during his study period. He did represent India in the Alfred Dunhill Cup in the years of 1996 and 1999 as well.

He won his very first Professional Title in the year of 1993 at Southern Oklahoma State Open. That was a minor local event. However, he mainly played in Asia where he was one of the dominators of the game in the mid 1990s. During this time he won several titles in the Asian Golf Courses. He won the Shinhan Donghae Open in 1994, though it was not an Asian Tour event. In 1995, he won both the Philippine Classic and Asian Match Play Championship. He claimed the title of Philip Morris Asia Cup in 1996 and he became champion in the Lexus International in 1999. He finished seventh at the European Tour qualifying school in 1997.

In the year of 1999, Jeev Milkha Singh played his best season in Europe so far till 2007. He became 50th on the Order of Merit that year. However, his performance fluctuated a little bit in the following years as he was struggling with injury, a common aspect of any sportsperson`s life. He came back with great style in the year of 2006 and won quite a number of titles. In fact, that year was a dreaming year for him. He won the Volvo China Open in 2006 and became only the second Indian player to win on the European Tour after Arjun Atwal. After that, he won the season ending tournament of Volvo Masters and claimed the final 16th spot on the Order of Merit. Coming to the Asian Tour, Jeev Milkha Singh did shown his talent there as well. He won the Casio World Open and Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in the Japan Golf tour in 2006. He also won the Asian Tour Order of Merit to finish the year and with this extraordinary performance, he became the very first Indian to be ranked among the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. In the year of 2007, he got another success in his pocket and participated in the Masters Tournament as the first Indian Golfer in the history of Golf. Though he couldn`t show off a very great performance there, but he did fight with the top names of today`s Golf world. For this great achievement, the Indian Government honoured Jeev Milkha Singh with India`s fourth highest civil honour, the Padma Shri in 2007.

The famous Golfer Fred Couples is the idol for Jeev Milkha Singh. In his own words, winning the Pro Asia tournament in Bangkok in 2007 has been the most exciting phase of his so far playing career. Being ranked as the 48th player in the Official World Golf Rankings, the upcoming aim of Jeev Milkha Singh is to win the British Open and the U.S Masters. It is definite that, if he can do that in near future, it will surely boost up the Indian Golf circuit in a great way.

(Last Updated on : 26/11/2008)

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Athlete Biography KUMAR Sushil

IND - India

Profile
Date of Birth:	May 26 1983	Height(cm/ft in):	163cm / 5'4"
Gender:	Male	Weight(kg/lbs):	66 kg / 145 lbs
Place of Birth:	Delhi (India)
Residence:	New Delhi (India)
Sport:	Wrestling
Event(s):	Men's Freestyle 66 kg

Historical Results
Competition Highlights:	Note: A complete explanation of data type and depth can be found in the Additional Information section of the biography Rank Event Year Venue Olympic Games 14 Freestyle - 60kg 2004 Athens, GRE World Championships 7 Freestyle - 66kg 2007 Baku, AZE Asian Championships 2 Freestyle - 66kg 2007 Bishkek, KGZ 8 Freestyle - 66kg 2005 Wuhan, CHN

Schedules and Results
Date	Time	Sport	Event	Location	Result	Reports
Aug 20 2008	10:00	Wrestling	Men's FR 66 kg 1/8 Final KUMAR Sushil - STADNIK Andriy	CAU Gymnasium	1-3	Reports
Aug 20 2008	16:00	Wrestling	Men's FR 66 kg Repechage Round 1 SCHWAB Doug - KUMAR Sushil	CAU Gymnasium	1-3	Reports
Aug 20 2008	16:20	Wrestling	Men's FR 66 kg Repechage Round 2 KUMAR Sushil - BATYROV Albert	CAU Gymnasium	3-1	Reports
Aug 20 2008	17:10	Wrestling	Men's FR 66 kg Bronze KUMAR Sushil - SPIRIDONOV Leonid

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