Fun & Games

Twelve nations (Australia, Argentina, Canada, England, Germany, India, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Spain, South Africa) are drawn in two Pools (A and B) and play each side in their group once before the classification matches take place.

Germany are the current holders and a win in New Delhi will see them become the first side to win the trophy for the third consecutive time.

England finished fifth in 2006 but as reigning European champions have targeted a semi-final berth in India.

Pools:

Who to watch:

Cup holders Germany will be looking to prove themselves worthy of being ranked No 1 in the world after missing out on the European title and the Champions Trophy last year.

Champions Trophy holders and medal winners at the last four Olympics, Australia are favourites to join Germany in the 1st v 2nd place match on the final day of the tournament.

Source: telegraph.co.uk By Emily Benammar Hockey World Cup 2010: complete tournament guide

This was stated by Gopal Kanda, State Minister for Home, Industries and Sports at Sirsa today. He said that Haryana Sports Authority would look after the work of construction of stadia and their maintenance, besides conducting various sports activities in the State. A sum of Rs.56 crore was being spent for the promotion of sports in the State during the current financial year, he added.

He pointed out that more sports nurseries and sports wings were being set up in the State. The sportspersons of Haryana were fully prepared for taking part in the ensuing commonwealth games. They were being imparted training at various places. It was a matter of pride for the state that commonwealth games would commence from CRPF stadium at village Kadarpur in district Gurgaon.

Kanda said that law and order situation in the State was much better. The Police Department was being provided more facilities to further beef-up law and order in the State.

In reply to a question regarding protection of women, Kanda said that women police station would soon be set up at district level to protect the rights of women. The complaints of women were being registered on priority basis in the general police stations.

Speaking on the development of district Sirsa, the Minister said that Sirsa would be an model district in the State in the matter of development. A number of new development projects of crores of rupees were in the pipeline and on the completion of these projects the Sirsa district would certainly become a leading district of the State.

On Sunday, while paragliding, parasailing, skydiving and hot-air ballooning took place all around him, Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced the opening of the Rajiv Gandhi National Centre for Aero Sports at Bachhaud air strip near Narnaul, Mahendragarh. The centre will work towards giving youngsters a platform from which to understand the science of aviation, and also to get up close and personal with the more adventurous side of aviation.

Captain Satish Sharma, chairman of the Aero Club of India, stood side by side with the CM as the aero centre was declared open.

The centre, named after late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been set up by the Department of Civil Aviation, Haryana, in collaboration with the Aero Club of India. The centre will be developed along international lines and, it is hoped, will help give a fillip to India's participation at world aero sports events. Up to now our participation in such events has been woefully limited.

Sanction has already been given for the purchase of an ultra-modern, multi-engine simulator at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore to help better training facilities at Karnal. It has also been proposed that a flying training academy be set up in the state. In addition, air strips at Pinjore, Narnaul, Hisar and Bhiwani will be further developed.

The centre, it is planned, will provide cheap training and facilities to the people who cannot afford it by charging more from the people who can afford it and who dabble in aero sports as a hobby.

Source: Times Of India By Sumi Sukanya Let dreams soar at this flying club near Gurgaon

Information to this effect was shared by P.V. Rathee President, HOA while interacting with media persons during the final match of Meer Iqbal Hussain Trophy held at Gurgaon on Tuesday that initially 15 Sports Club would be set up at Shahbad, Ameen and Kiloi as these three places represents the best teams of women hockey, volleyball and basketball respectively.

The national sports meet would be organized by the HOA in the month of February 2010. Later on, teams for ensuing Commonwealth Games would be selected.

While giving this information here today, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs department, Gopal Kanda said that sports events in various disciplines, such as 100 meter, 200 meter and 300 meter athletic track event and long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put, discus and javelin under athletic field event would be organized during the competition. He said that two sportsperson from each district in the age group under 19 years and above in each discipline would participate in the competition.

The Minister said that those secured first, second and third position in the competition would be awarded cash prize. Besides this, 1134 track suits costing above Rs.4.50 lakh would also be given to the participants, he added.

As per the new bylaws, the property owner on whose premises the tower is to be installed will have to obtain a licence from the competent authority.

Disclosing this here today, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kumar Kataria said according to the bylaws, the maximum height of a communication tower from the ground level should not exceed 30 metres, subject to clearance from the defence, civil aviation and doordarshan authorities.

The location of the communication towers shall be governed by radio frequency system adopted by the application and shall be allowed subject to some conditions.

The first condition is that the communication towers shall be installed only in the commercial or other public areas. Where it is not possible to install the communication tower in commercial or other public areas, a possibility shall be explored to install them in park or green belt within residential areas, open spaces or community buildings.

"In case it is not possible to find such suitable spaces on the said sites, then such towers can be permitted on the rooftops of the residential buildings, subject to the condition of structural safety certificate issued by a designated institute," he said.

Source: tribuneindia.com Licence must to get communication towers installed

Thailand's Benyappa, who finished third at the Jakarta World Juniors 2009, and UAE's Serifa, winner of the Ladies BMW Open, Dubai are some of the top foreign names at the event.

Aditi Ashok, who is in category C, has already participated in many international junior golf championships including the US World Junior Championship 2008 at Pinehurst, USA. She won the 2009 South Zone Junior Golf Championship and and the All India Ladies Golf Championship title in bronze category at Eagleton, Bangalore.

He also announced the appointment of wrestler Ramesh Kumar Gulia, who won gold medal at international level, as DSP in Haryana Police. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 23rd Haryana State Games organised at the campus of Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak, he also talked about the steps taken by the government to promote sports, and added that the number of sports nurseries has now increased to 46 and sports stadiums in the name of former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi were being constructed in 171 villages of the state.

He also said that a modern sports complex was being developed on 90 acres of land in Rohtak. A synthetic athletic track was being laid at Panchkula at a cost of Rs 4 crore and astroturfs had been laid at Gurgaon and Shahbad.

Announcing a bonanza for the sportspersons, the Chief Minister said that now the gold medal winner of National Games would get Rs. 3 lakh, the silver medal winner Rs 2 lakh and the bronze medal winner Rs 1 lakh. Earlier, the medal winners of these games were given Rs. 51000, Rs. 31000 and Rs. 11000, respectively. He said that the state government was spending Rs. 56.48 crore during this financial year for promotion of sports in the state.

While referring to the incentive being given to the outstanding sportspersons, he said that a sum of Rs 5000 per month was being given as honorarium to the Arjun and Dronacharya awardees. He said that Rs 14.31 crore had been disbursed among the award winners during the last four and half years. Hooda said that a new sports policy had been formulated as a result of which sportspersons were participating in a large number in this mega event.

Source: The Indian Express Sports Academy and Sports University in the state soon: Hooda

The three-day event, which will also see participation from Canada, UAE, Sri Lanka and Korea, will tee off on the at the Classic Golf Resort.

Juniors like Arshbeer Saini, Arjun Singh, Harshjeet Singh Sethi and Gurbaaz Takkar would be among the India golfers in the tournament that would be played over 54 holes with no cut.

Among others, American Jordon Knight, Poom Saksansin of Thailand, Korean Sun Woo Choi, Sai Ganesh of Dubai and Sri Lankan Harsha de Silva would add the foreign flavour.

"Our endeavour is to provide the best facilities for the junior golfers so that they can compete at the international level.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Thursday, the Director of the championships, Subrata Dutta, said that around 300 athletes and officials from 39 countries were expected to take part.

"Many countries were concerned about the security aspect. Otherwise, the number of participating countries could have gone up to 60," Mr. Dutta said.

Mr. Dutta said private security personnel would be hired to conduct the meet smoothly. Besides, the International Powerlifting Federation has requested the Union Sports Ministry to provide security for international athletes.

India will conduct the Worlds for the second time. It had hosted the event last time in Kolkata in 1981.

At present there were many industry that were investing their capital in the real estate business in India.Both the foreign and the Indian business are expecting to investing in India. There are some of the major industry who are promoting the real estate business in India. The industry are HDFC property Fund, DHFL Venture Capital Fund, Kotak Mahindra Realty Fund, Kshitij venture capital fund which is a venture of the Pantaloons Retail India Pvt. Ltd. And ICICI's real estate fund, India's advantage fund which is regulated under the SEBI's venture capital funds. These are actually the closed ended schemes that are accompanied with a initial public offer with a discount on the NAV amount. However there is a long line of the foreign investors who are willing to invest their capital in the real estate sectors of India. They are US operated Warburg Pincus, Blackstone group, Broadstreet, Morgan Stanley, Columbia endowment Fund, Hines, Tishman speyer and Sam Zell's Equity Interantional and JP morgan Partners etc.

The real estate business has also well developed in Gurgaon. Various reputed builders like the DLF, Unitech, Vipul, Vatika, JMD, Omaxe Parasvnath, Suncity Projects ltd are ctually transforming th elife of the people living in Gurgaon. There were several malls built up in the Gurgaon area which gives us the feeling of living in a foreign country. The commercial centers like IMT Manesar, Pace City, Infocity and that of the Udyog Vihar have made Gurgaon to be the commercial hub of India. It has also got world class skyscrapers like Global Foyer, Vatika Tower, Augusta Point etc are captivating to our eyes.

Thus it is noted that the real estate in India are in its initial stage and there is a strong hope that it will increase in the near future.

The championships, to be organised at the Ambience Mall, will see 60 men and 20 women from 10 states across the country vying for the top honours.

"Bowling is a medal sport in the Asian games and I strongly believe that Indians can excel in it because Indian sportsmen tend to do well in games that involve hand eye co-ordination," P Karti Chidambaram, President of the Tenpin Bowling Federation of India, said.

"We have some very talented players who can do the country proud by winning medals in future championships," he added.

What comes as welcome news for Sultanpur National Park in Gurgaon, Bhindawas wildlife sanctuary in Jhajjar as well as another national park and seven other sanctuaries, the Central government has issued a draft notification declaring areas around these sites as eco-sensitive zones (ESZs). This would mean all development activity within 5-km radius of these spots will be restricted.

The state forest department had taken up the issue with the Centre after reports of realtors building close to the sites came in. Forest minister Kiran Choudhry claimed the notification would restrict the ``destruction'' of natural wealth in the garb of ``development''. ``We took up the case silently with the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson being aware of the vested interest of different groups.

Construction had started close to Sultanpur bird sanctuary. With the land prices sky-rocketing in Gurgaon, Jhajjar and Rohtak districts, these sites were facing threat of degradation,'' Choudhry told Times City.

Sultanpur and Bhindawas are close to the capital and both attract thousands of migratory birds belonging to over 250 species during winter.

Source: Times Of India 7 forests including Sultanpur declared eco-sensitive zones

The meeting held at the Police Headquarters was attended by top police officers, Delhi High Court amicus curiae Anup J Bhambhani and several advocates and representatives of insurance companies.

The Delhi Police is designing a special website in which the investigating officers of every accident case in the city will have to post their reports, the minutes stated.

These reports, called `Accident Information Reports' (AIRs), are crucial documents and contain detailed findings of police investigations of road mishaps.

Justice J R Middha, who is hearing the case, had taken a serious view on the lapse on the part of the police to forward the AIRs to accident tribunals, thus needlessly delaying the reward of compensation to victims' families.

Investigation by amicus curiae Bhambhani had earlier revealed that the police had failed to send the AIRs to Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) for last several months.

The AIR, a comprehensive report on the extent of injuries or cause of death, forms the foundation of a case before MACT to decide the quantum of monetary compensation due to a victim's family from an insurance company.

Source: The Indian Express Accident details on the web soon

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Most of them plan to operate fewer screens in each property, reduce advertising and marketing expenses and put fresh recruitments on hold.

According to sources, a handful of multiplexes are already operating fewer screens in each property to keep cost of operations low. Many are showing re-runs of blockbusters such as Ghajini, Tare Zameen Par, Rock On and Dev D. Some are showing back-to-back shows of regional films such as Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy and Sundar Majhe Ghar, said a source.

Mr Devang Sampat, Senior Vice-President, Cinemax, declined to comment on the issue.

The biggest overheads for operators are rentals, electricity, staff salaries and marketing. Around 25 per cent of revenues come from food and beverage sales while the balance is from ticket sales. The investment for a seat is Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh, depending on the location, and breakeven usually takes 5-7 years.

Mr Abhishek Raina, Head of Marketing, Fame Cinemas, said, "Overall, we are looking at a 30-40 per cent reduction in advertising and marketing spends this year. The way forward is to explore various co-branding opportunities."

The issue with the producers is only one side of the story. The fortune of the multiplexes have also been affected by the Indian Premier League season (which has had people glued to TV screens), weak consumer spends and poor content.

Mr Vikas Mohan, film trade analyst, said content is the main reason for keeping people away. "Despite the slowdown and the aftermath of the terror attacks, Ghajini managed to gross above Rs 100 crore locally," he said.

"The audience has become selective about watching films at multiplexes. Cost is a big issue in these times because a four-member family typically coughs up over Rs 1,000," said Mr Mukesh Bhatt, who runs Vishesh Films.

According to an Angel Broking report on multiplexes, the top grossers in 2008 collectively earned Rs 435 crore compared with Rs 692 crore in 2007, almost a 40 per cent dip. "Occupancies in most multiplexes have declined to as low as 25-30 per cent level in FY2009," said the report.

Even the first month of this fiscal has hardly been any cause for cheer to operators. Thanks to the IPL, the fate of April and May releases such as Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, Aashayen, 99, Detective Nani and Kambakht Ishq is still uncertain.

Moreover, multiplexes are planning to operate fewer screens per property, reduce advertising and marketing expenses and put fresh recruitment on hold.

Q1 FY2010 is also likely to be a forgettable quarter for multiplexes due to the second season of IPL. Owing to huge popularity of IPL across India and particularly since the matches are telecast at prime time, most producers have shied away from releasing big films during the period. Moreover, the release dates of movies slated for April and May are not yet decided due to the standoff. "Hence, we expect 1QFY2010 to be yet another poor quarter in terms of the movie pipeline," said the report.

The report also adds that the multiplex industry is set for troubled times ahead owing to multiple headwinds, high dependence on content, leading to a stagnation in footfalls and average ticket prices.

FY2009 witnessed a substantial 25-30 per cent drop in occupancy levels for most multiplex operators. While the first season of IPL hit them hard during Q1 FY2009, terror attacks and security issues during Q3 FY2009 kept occupancies low. Weakening consumer spends due to economic slowdown, exam season and a weak movie pipeline only aggravated their woes and ensured another poor quarter in Q4 FY2009 with occupancies reaching as low as 20 per cent. The report adds that, as a result of this, most multiplex companies (except Cinemax), registered a significant drop in their occupancy levels.

However, over the last one month, multiplex stocks have witnessed sharp rally in the range of 35-50 per cent despite looming concerns including lower occupancies and possible delays in handover of properties.

The report added, "Going ahead, we believe a weak Q1 FY2010 (owing to the ongoing tiff and second IPL season) coupled with weakening consumer spends are unlikely to improve occupancy levels. However, we expect H2 FY2010 to be better, though quality of content will remain the key driver for footfalls."

Palepu is among 40,000 Indian social networking online and mobile users who spend an average of 20 minutes every day playing games on social networking portals. Data from a web analytic firm, Comscore, shows that last year, social networking traffic saw a surge of a whopping 51 per cent in India. Social games are simple games such as word puzzles, antakshari or quizzes. Also referred to as Gaming 2.0, this form of gaming does not require high-end PCs or 3D graphics.

ComScore reports that networking sites like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, iBibo, and Hi5 draw maximum number of social gamers. "Unlike traditional online casual games, users playing inside a social network aren't competing against strangers. They play with friends who happen to be online at the same time," says Meisha Grover, a regular gamer at Orkut.

Around three million global users play Pet Society -- another social game on Facebook - every day, and an average play session lasts around 30 minutes. Grover believes that social gaming is emerging as the latest mode of contact between youngsters in the virtual world.

Games2Win co-founder and CEO Alok Kejriwal must know. Games2Win's Internet Cricket League (ICL) application is a roaring success on Orkut. The company claims that it recorded 20,000 installations of the game within 15 days of the game's launch. Soon after, ICL was being played more than 6,500 times a day.

Source: Business-standard Gaming 2.0 picks up steam

Several producers have also said they will not release new movies in April if their ongoing tussle with multiplex owners over revenue sharing terms is not resolved. Further, with the second edition of Indian Premier League(IPL) cricket tournament expected to take place in April, movie producers are not planning to roll out any big flicks.

PVR Cinemas has dropped its lowest ticket price for shows screened before 1 pm to as low as Rs 50. It was earlier charging between Rs 80 and Rs 150. PVR now charges Rs 50-100 for the first two shows depending on location of the theatres.

The company initially cut rates in Mumbai which has now been extended to Delhi and Bangalore and some other cities. Says PVR Cinemas' CEO (cine media) Gautam Dutta, "Our average occupancies across properties on weekday mornings hovers between 30-35%, which has grown 5-10% after we have cut rates."

Similarly, Big Cinemas (formerly known as Adlabs Cinemas) is offering morning show tickets on weekdays in the range of Rs 80-100, about 30% lower than what it used to charge till February-end. "We have cut rates for morning shows at some properties in NCR , Mumbai and Maharashtra to boost occupancies," the official spokesperson for Big Cinemas said.

A senior marketing executive with a Mumbai-based multiplex firm said it is not financially viable for cineplexes to cut ticket rates during weekends. "Cutting rates for the morning shows means higher volumes and helps attract consumers like college going kids, house wives and older citizens, who might otherwise give a skip to movie shows on the weekend," he added.