Sachin Tendulkar to go to Hyderabad to meet Saina Nehwal

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal is on cloud nine! After a tumultuous welcome that the sports star received on reaching India, she is now all excited about meeting her idol Sachin Tendulkar, who will be in Hyderabad soon, to present her the keys of a brand new BMW.

"Yes, Sachin will be presenting the car to me," she smiles. It was a promise well-kept by former sports minister of Hyderabad V Chamundeshwarnath, who along with a few others, is gifting the car to Saina.

"Before Saina headed to London, I had told her 'If you come back with a medal, I will give you the car'. Now that she has a bronze, I am keeping my promise. Saina is a big fan of Sachin (Tendulkar)," says Chamundeshwarnath.

"Whenever we meet or talk, she always asks me about Sachin and keeps telling me how much she likes and admires the cricketer. I thought it best that Sachin present the car to Saina. I knew she will be very happy and she is," says Chamundeshwarnath.

Tirupati after Sachin
Soon after meeting with Sachin, Saina and her dad Dr Harvir Singh are heading to Tirupati as they too have a promise to keep. "Meri beti ko jeeta dijiye" — Dr Harvir Singh had asked Lord Balaji — and now that his prayers have been answered, he will be taking his daughter to Tirupati to thank Him. "We had plans of going to Tirupati immediately, but now that Sachin is coming here, we will go to the temple only after meeting him," says Dr Singh.

She slept for 5 hours!
After getting a royal welcome and then obliging the media with bytes and quotes, Saina finally headed home. "Saina was extremely tired, after a long journey. After the media interaction, she told me, 'Papa, mujhe aaram karna hain'. At home, we had tea together. I also gave her a banana because she looked drained. A little later, Saina and I had a quiet lunch of capsicum pulao. She looked too tired and went straight to bed. Saina slept from 4 pm to 9 pm," informs Dr Harvir Singh.

"Whenever we meet or talk, she always asks me about Sachin and keeps telling me how much she admires the cricketer. I thought it best that Sachin present the car to Saina. I knew she will be very happy and she is," says Chamundeshwarnath.

Saina's sister comes home
While Saina's has been constantly facing the camera, her elder sister Chandranshu has always kept away from it. But this isn't an occasion to be away. To celebrate Saina's success, Chandranshu came home with her four-year-old daughter. "She is seven years older to Saina, and stays in Chandigarh. I am so happy she came home," says Dr Singh.

Training can wait a day!
After gorging heartily on pizzas and pastas (something that she had been banned from eating by coach Pullela Gopichand) in London, right after she was awarded the bronze medal, Saina will have a couple of days to herself to eat and do what she wants to, before she starts training.

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Exclusive Video : Sachin Tendulkar Meets Pranab Mukerjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Sachin Tendulkar, who attended the Rajya Sabha for the first time on the opening day of the Monsoon session today, got some lessons from President Pranab Mukherjee on the functioning of Parliament.

The batting maestro, accompanied by noted film actress Rekha, called on the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan during which the first citizen briefed them about Parliamentary procedures, Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said after the meeting.

During the meeting, the President, a veteran Parliamentarian, described some salient features of the Indian Constitution and history of India's Independence, he said.

Tendulkar, who has scored 100 centuries in test cricket and one day internationals, described the interaction as "highly enjoyable and educative" and Rekha termed it as a "blessing".

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Exclusive Pics : Sachin Tendulkar Makes Debut in Rajya Sabha

Wednesday was cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's first day in Parliament as a nominated member.

"It is a new experience for me. When I'm ready to speak, I'll tell you. Thank you," Tendulkar told reporters outside the house. The cricketer was seen sitting in the upper house during the question hour of the first day of the monsoon session. The sitting was adjourned for half an hour after some ruckus over the recent Assam violence and vandalism of BSP leader Mayawati's statue in Lucknow.

Tendulkar was nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP in April and sworn-in between the budget and the monsoon sessions.Actor Rekha, another nominated MP, was also present in the Rajya Sabha as the new monsoon session began.She sat through the question hour, and was seen again when the house reassembled at noon.

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Rekha had attended parliament's budget session when she took her oath as member.Both Tendulkar and Rekha had voted in the vice-presidential election Tuesday.
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Exclusive Pics : Sachin Tendulkar Cast Vote to choose India's 14th vice president

Newly nominated members of the Rajya Sabha, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and veteran actress Rekha, cast their votes on Tuesday to choose India's 14th vice president.Prominent among those who exercised their franchise in Parliament included Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj and other dignitaries.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said that Sachin and Rekha would be attending the Parliament tomorrow on the first day of the Monsoon Session.Voting, which began at 10 a.m., will end at 5 p.m. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the poll.Incumbent Vice President Hamid Ansari completes his tenure on Friday.

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Sachin will be keen to play the ODI series against Pakistan : Ganguly

There’s no better way to start this column than to say: Kudos to the Indian medal winners at the London Olympics. They deserve the heartfelt congratulations of the entire country for making us proud. I would’ve been there in person backing the team, but circumstances have forced me to stay away, and appreciate the hard work from far.

Speaking of hard work, I’m immediately reminded of Yuvraj Singh. We all know what he has come through. He’s currently sweating it out to get back into the Indian team, and only Yuvraj and his doctors know whether his body will be able to take the grind. For me, his good health is topmost priority. What he has done for the country, what he has achieved till now on the cricket field, no one will be able to take away. Even if he doesn’t get to play again, it doesn’t matter because what matters most is a healthy Yuvraj Singh.

It was good to find his name in the list of probables for the World Twenty20. The selectors have done the right thing because if Yuvraj gets fit in the meantime, he’d walk into the team. Also, this selection will send out a message to Yuvraj, that he is very much in Indian cricket’s thoughts. That will definitely be a huge confidence booster for him.

If he does get fit, only then will there be a change in the squad for the World Cup. Otherwise, I don’t see any changes to the side that is currently in Sri Lanka. Maybe Yusuf Pathan will be discussed, but with Irfan Pathan playing a good hand with both bat and ball, I don’t think he will come in. I strongly believe that the selectors wanted the World Twenty20 probables to go to Sri Lanka and get some good match practice.

India did very well in the ODI series, except for the second match at Hambantota, but that sort of bad day is bound to happen in sport. Otherwise, they dominated the series and once again, the might of the Indian batting in the subcontinent was on show. I am enjoying Virat Kohli to the hilt and I can say with certainty that he is the next big thing in Indian cricket. He just needs to maintain focus, and I am sure he will do that.

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina also had a good series after having come out of a long lay-off and it was a good warm-up for India given the busy home schedule that beckons.

There is once again talk about Sachin Tendulkar opting out of this ODI series. I believe that he was right to do so. Firstly, Sachin has reached a stage where he has every right to pick and choose the series he plays. Secondly, if he wants to keep on playing ODIs, he should only make himself available for the important ones.

I feel that Sachin will be keen to play the ODI series against Pakistan. The fact that it’s been squeezed into an already congested itinerary makes it hard on the players, but they will have to deal with it. Given the rivalry that exists, I’m sure they would love to give it a go.

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Exclusive Pics :Sachin Tendulkar at All India Chess Federation for the Blind Event

He is one of the greatest batsmen in cricketing history having amassed more runs than anybody in Test and one-dayers, but Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday confessed that he has been quite unsuccessful at the game of chess.


"Chess was very much played at our house. I played a lot of chess with my brother, but without much good result. I enjoyed playing," Tendulkar said at an event organised by All India Chess Federation for the Blind.
"Chess started in my family with my uncle. He also wrote a book on chess and was part of the Chess Federation," the ace batsman said.He revealed that his 13-year old son initially preferred chess over cricket and also took classes for it.


"A few years ago, my son also started playing chess. He became quite serious about the game and we enrolled him in a chess class. If any of my friends or visitors came to me for whatever work, Arjun would make them play a game of chess with him first and then allow them to do whatever work they had with me.


"He was in full flow but you know how kids like to keep changing their likes and dislikes. He moved from chess to WWE and later to football and cricket," the proud father said.
Tendulkar lauded the efforts of the All India Chess Federation for the Blind to organise the Chess Olympiad for visually impaired to be held in Chennai from August 9 to 19.
He also appealed to the visually challenged youths to take up the sport as they had some great role models.


The Olympiad will feature 25 international masters, 5 international women masters and 120 world chess federation rated players from across 30 countries.
Charudutt Jadhav, general secretary of All India Chess Federation for the Blind, said this would be the first time that the event would be played in a non-European nation but lamented that the players in the country are not given the status of a sportsman and the blind federation is not recognised by the government.

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"The government can recognise only one federation. We are already recognised by All India Chess Federation. If the government gives us similar support, we would be happy. We are inviting Sports Minister Ajay Maken for the Olympiad," he said.
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Sachin Tendulkar nominated for ICC People's Choice Award

Just two years after winning it, senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar was on Wednesday once again nominated for the ICC People's Choice award.Those nominated include Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa's duo Vernon Philander and Jacques Kallis, while England's James Anderson makes up the quintet of nominees.

Both Sangakkara (2011) and Tendulkar (2010) have won the award in the past.For the third time in the history of the awards, fans will have the opportunity to decide the winner, this time by accessing an application on the ICC's official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cricketicc.

Voting will be open until midnight August 31 with the winner to be announced on September 15 at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo, the ICC said in a statement.The shortlist, nominated by an elite panel of cricket experts headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, along with Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu, England's Clare Connor, West Indies Carl Hooper and Australia's Tom Moody, was selected using criteria set out by LG and the ICC.

"This is the third year of the LG People's Choice Award and it is proving to be hugely popular among fans across the globe and continues to highlight how much voting for their cricketing heroes means," ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said.

"This year sees the two past winners nominated again alongside three other extremely deserving candidates, I'm sure the public will choose wisely as to who will be the 2012 winner of this prestigious award at the LG ICC Awards 2012."

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