Daily Archives: March 12, 2015

Training to commence at Laxman’s Sports Academy soon

Sports
Former India cricketer V.V.S. Laxman with his wife, children and parents.– PHOTO: V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
Former India cricketer V.V.S. Laxman with his wife, children and parents.– PHOTO: V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

V.V.S. Laxman stepped into a different zone which he has been longing for ever since his retirement three years ago. The former India star batsman will now start the much-awaited VVS Sports Academy, initially with emphasis on cricket, and later on other sports, on the sprawling 50-acre campus of the Sreenidhi International School in Aziznagar near here.

“I want to be remembered as someone who has contributed to Indian cricket not only as a player but also an individual who set up a truly world-class Academy to nurture the best of the young talent and transform them into performers at the highest level,” Laxman said on Wednesday.

Laxman said that since he knew chairperson of Sreenidhi Group of Education K.T. Mahi for a long time and with the existing facilities and the group’s ideology matching his expectations, he had decided to start the Academy there with the inaugural summer camp scheduled from April 4.

The Academy has three turf, two astro-turf and two cement wickets to start with and plans include expansion on a big scale. “First thing we are planning is to bring some of the best fast bowlers from England. The other area of focus is to have coaches’ seminars where experts will delve into the critical element of coaching,” he explained.

“Definitely, Gopi (former All England champion Pullela Gopichand) is a trend-setter and I always share my thoughts with him. I am aware that to run a successful Academy you have to be passionate like him and I am confident of living up to the expectations for this is not a business venture but set up with the specific objective of giving back something to the game,” Laxman remarked.

Former Ranji cricketers like Vincent Vinay Kumar (Andhra) and P. Ramesh Kumar (SBH) will be assisting him. Transport has also been arranged for the trainees from three different localities – Banjara Hills (1{+s}{+t}Innings Play School), Madhapur and Mehdipatnam,” he said.

“Since I know many champion sportspersons personally, I will also request them to visit the Academy frequently to provide the right dose of inspiration for youngsters,” Laxman said, after formally lighting the lamp in the company of his parents, wife and kids. “I just can’t think of starting anything without my family but for whom I would not be standing here,” he signed off.

It’s going to be a different ball game for V.V.S. Laxman, whose Sports Academy will focus initially on cricket, and later on other sports

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – March 12th, 2015

A specialised support

Science & Technology, Sports
HELP AT HAND Dr. Prasanth Panchada (left) treating Pragyan Ojha (centre) during Hyderabad's recent Ranji Trophy campaign.
HELP AT HAND Dr. Prasanth Panchada (left) treating Pragyan Ojha (centre) during Hyderabad’s recent Ranji Trophy campaign.

Many a Hyderabadi cricketer owes it to Physio Dr. Prasanth Panchada for putting them on track from injuries

“An army marches on its stomach,” Napoleon Bonaparte famously said. Food apart, fitness fuels sports battles and campaigns short on these rarely succeed. Akin to well-oiled machines, agility of athletes enhances performance and achievement. Making them match-ready is a highly specialised task.

“To me, the support staff was a white elephant till I heard of Dr. Prasanth Panchada from no less than VVS Laxman,” said P. Jyothi Prasad, Chairman, Senior Selection Committee, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

Says left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, “Prasanth has been treating me since 2008 and diagnoses problems correctly. When bowling for Hyderabad or India over long periods, my shoulders get stiff. The beauty of his approach lies in driving away niggles, allowing me to play freely.”

A graduate in physiotherapy from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, Dr. Prasanth’s major assignments include the Afro Asian Games, the 2005 World volleyball championships in Visakhapatnam, the 2006 All India Coal Meet and working with the Sports Authority of Karnataka.

“In Hyderabad’s first Ranji match against Andhra, many expected G. Hanuma Vihari’s shoulder injury would rule him out of both match and season. Dr. Prasanth rendered immediate medical attention on the ground and nursed it so well later that Vihari played the entire season without a hitch,” said Prasad, who played alongside M.L. Jaisimha and M.A.K. Pataudi.

So was he effective in healing Ashish Reddy’s hamstring tear after the speedster limped out of the ground against Services. “I advised Mithali Raj to see Dr. Prasanth before she left for England. Now he has treated both the Padma Shri awardees from the twin cities, the other being Laxman,” Prasad, former Hyderabad and South Zone spearhead said.

Prasanth rehabilitated Pankaj Singh, down with decade long tears in both knees to enable his participation in two London triathlons at Dorney Lake, venue of the 2012 Olympics rowing event. “I trusted him fully in a four-wheeler in front, setting the pace for my cycling over a gruelling 40 km stretches on the Outer Ring Road in preparation for the big event,” said Singh, Head of Resource Practice, Global Change Delivery, HSBC.

“I aim not to just treat injuries but prevent them in the first place,” says Dr. Prasanth, also a consultant for Microsoft R & D and Apollo Clinics. His methods include muscular/ skeletal and pre-season screening, pre-game and post-game fluid level checks to formulate different programmes for different roles such as for a wicket-keeper, fast bowler, spinner or batsman.

Pool stretches and ice baths are some of the Level 1 BCCI accredited physio’s recovery techniques. “Eliminate simple errors and champs are produced,” says Prasanth, who dreams of working with the Indian team to the Olympics. His most memorable moments so far are doing the victory lap with the Hyderabad team in South Africa, 2009, finding himself surrounded by stars on the team bus and the pleasant surprise at spotting his portrait at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by A. Joseph Antony / March 11th, 2015

From homeopathy to building homes

Business & Economy, Leaders
Rameswar Rao Jupally.
Rameswar Rao Jupally.

Hyderabad :

Ordinarily dressed – in white shirt and black trousers – Rameswar Rao Jupally looks nothing like a business tycoon as he walks into the room for, perhaps, the first interview of his life. The only giveaway is the opulent hall where the chairman of My Home Group, counted among the few home-bred industrialists of Telangana, meets his guests.

“I have never done this before,” the homoeopathy doctor-turned-real estate biggie confesses, as he slips into tales about his modest upbringing and maiden trip to Hyderabad – from his remote village in Mahbubnagar – way back in 1974.

To think that the same boy from Kudikilla now rules two major businesses in the state, realty and cement (supplied to 11 states), and is set to launch a whopping $8 billion-worth ‘Smart City’ project spread over a sprawling 3,000 acres in Shamshabad, is definitely overwhelming.

“It’s my dream project. I have already accumulated 2,000 acres and am now in the process of acquiring another 1,000 acres. The project is in the planning stage and work on the first phase will commence in 2016. It will be completed in 10 years,” Rao reveals about the venture that’s expected to be “self-sufficient”, complete with top notch IT firms, high-end residential units, plush shopping complexes

and a dedicated ‘green belt’. Not to forget top-league corporate hospitals and educational institutions that’ll also be part of this ‘city’.

But before Rao gives a ‘smart’ makeover to Shamshabad – where he hopes to launch an electrical train line too – the spiritually-inclined industrialist is working on giving Hyderabad its largest commercial tower, with a total built up space of 3.2 million square feet (sft). Total cost: Rs 640 crore (roughly).

“Right now, the ICICI building in the Financial District (2.5 million sft) is the biggest. The one I am constructing on a single patch of 28.5 acres in Raidurgam will be bigger than that. The other patch of 3.5 acres (approx) will house 1,600 premium apartments, a 10-screen multiplex and mall. I hope to deliver it by the end of 2017,” Rao says.

He goes on to reminisce his days in 1979, when he made his first investment – of Rs 50,000 – to buy a two-acre plot in Dilsukhnagar. The deal, brokered with money borrowed from a maternal uncle, not only earned Rao a profit of Rs 2 lakh in two weeks, but also ensured that he bid his homoeopathy practice adieu, sooner than later, and plunge into the property business.

Three-and-half decades and an unwavering association with Chinna Jeeyar Swami, which the two struck up in 1992, later, the My Home founder is now a leader in the realty sector and also has three plants producing 8.5 million tonnes of cement every year. His brand, Maha Cement, posts an annual turnover of Rs 3,000 crore. In addition, he sells 30 MW of the total 70 MW of power produced by his captive power plants.

“The power crisis facing Telangana will be resolved by 2016-17. That’s when the city’s real estate business will bounce back,” an optimistic Rao, who prides himself in being futuristic and far-sighted, says. While he admits that the new TRS government did face administrative hiccups in its initial months, he is confident of ‘Team KCR’ living up to peoples’ expectations in the days to come. “The well-drafted industrial policy is an example of that. The government is working very actively on attracting investors to Hyderabad,” he adds.

But while Rao enjoys talking business, what gives him utmost comfort is his daily two-hour puja regime, frequent trips to Swamiji’s ashram in Shamshabad and the social activities that he undertakes under the Jeeyar Educational Trust banner.

It is this that Rao says, has saved him from falling prey to the ill-effects of big bucks and stupendous success!

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / by Sudipta Sengupta, TNN / March 05th, 2015

Lecturer Eyes World Record with Non-stop 150-hr Lecture

Education, Records, All, World Opinion

Sangareddy :

A lecturer from Zaheerabad Degree College, B Maruthi Rao Patil is eyeing World Record by teaching Taxation and Accounts non-stop for 150 hours from morning of March 9 to afternoon of March 15.

The earlier record is that of a person from Haryana for 139 hours continuous teaching. So to break the old record and create the new record, Maruthi Rao decided to teach continuously for 150 hours.

He had previously taught for 17 hours continuously. According to the rules of the Guinness World Records, five minutes rest will be given after every one hour.

Thus one gets almost two hours rest in a day and he wants to use that time for his daily activities like food and other things. Avadhuth Maharaj from Bardipur Ashram is going to inaugurate this programme.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / March 09th, 2015

Secunderabad Club celebrates its anniversary in Hyderabad

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

SecunderabadTELANGANA12mar2015

Jhatkas, matkas and drama peppered the anniversary celebration of one of the oldest clubs in the city.

Attended by members, who left no stone unturned to ensure that they looked the best, the do had them perform a few acts, walk the ramp with elan and even show off their moves.

From Shah Rukh Khan’s signature romantic pose to shimmying and shaking, performers had the crowd cheering and rooting for them.

Actor Shruthi Keerthi was spotted at the do having a great time.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / March 08th, 2015