India’s Jubilation over the London 2012 Olympics

Usually, in the Indian annual felicitation ceremony for sports, only one person is awarded the National Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the President, but this year the condition has been relaxed as per the original scheme of the award since both the awardees- Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling) and Vijay Kumar (pistol shooting) won Olympic medals.

As for the Arjuna Awards-- not more than 15 awards are given in any calendar year but this time around, 25 people were awarded exception as a result of the Olympics. 

India’s triumphant bag of 6 medals in the London 2012 Olympics has been, in many ways, a proud moment for the country. Although some people still choose to go on about how India might have done better in its performance, most citizens are overjoyed and are more than eager to extend their praise for the winners.

This fact has been made obvious by the recent felicitation of the medal winners and participants of the Olympics by the Haryana government, along with the sheer numbers of awardees in the months following the event.

The list of awardees for the Arjuna Awards consisted of:  Deepika Kumari (archery), Laishram Bombayla Devi (archery), Sudha Singh (athletics), Kavita Ramdas Raut (athletics), Ashwani Ponnappa (badminton), Parupalli Kashyap (badminton), Aditya S Mehta (billiards and Snooker), Vikas Krishan (boxing), Yuvraj Singh (cricket), Sardar Singh (hockey),  Yashpal Solanki (judo), Anup Kumar (kabaddi), Samir Suhag (polo), Annu Raj Singh (shooting), Omkar Singh (shooting), Joydeep Karmakar (shooting), Deepika Pallikal (squash), Sandeep Sejwal (swimming), Ng. Sonia Chanu (weight-lifting), Narsingh Yadav (wrestling), Rajinder Kumar (wrestling), Geeta Phogat (wrestling), M. Bimoljit Singh (wushu), Deepa Mallick (athletics, Paralympics), and  Ramkaran Singh(athletics, Paralympics).

Indian hockey team is ready to attack again!

Strategies have been formed, physical and psychological training done - its time for real action! The Indian hockey hopes are at an all time high. The fact that the Indian Hockey team has managed to qualify for the Olympics has stirred the nation.

The man behind this surprise turn of events is Michael Nobbs, Coach of the Indian Hockey team. After coming  on board, he took on the challenge of steering the team to success. It is abundantly evident that Nobbs has done a great job of instilling confidence in the team. His simple manta - play freeflowing attacking hockey! The team has an improved gameplay and an aggresive attacking style.

Key to India's chances are strikers Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh, SV Sunil and the captain Bharat Chetri. With Coach Nobbs backing the team up, recent victories and a great set of skills, the Indian team is all set to chase the nation's Olympic medal dreams!

-IOS Sports and Entertainment

Know your athlete - Bharat Chettri

Know Your athletes - Sardar Singh

Know Your Athletes - 'Sardaro Ka Sardar'- Sandeep Singh

Indian Men’s Hockey team qualifies for the Olympics.

The Indian men’s Hockey team, managed to qualify for the Olympics after they beat France 8-1 in the final round of the qualification tournament that was held in New Delhi. This was a big moment for India as India has finally managed to qualify for the Olympics after many decades.

Furthermore, the team did not want to repeat what happened at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where they missed the berth by a very small margin. This fact only pushed the team more to win as they managed to defeat France. The French team found it impossible to counter the Indian team’s relentless shots. So much so, that both teams earned seven penalty corners each.

However, players such as Sandeep Singh and SV Sunil kept pushing against their opponents. This culminated into a match which India won. This match has also ensured that the Indian men’s Hockey team goes to the Olympics after a very long time.

-         IOS Sports and Entertainment.

Hockey in the Mansion.

We are proud to announce that our star hockey talent Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh, Shivendra Singh and SV Sunil will now be endorsing the brand Mansion House.

In a press conference held on May 10^th in Mumbai, Tilaknagar Industries Ltd introduced the IOS star players as its brand ambassadors. This tie-up managed by our team also strengthens and represents our support towards the Indian National Hockey team and their quest for victory in the upcoming London Olympics. It also represents the shift in attitude of corporates towards unappreciated talent, which always has been favoring cricket stars.

Keen to achieve victory in the upcoming Olympics, our players have been receiving support from many brands and companies for the same. The players' incredible energy in the Olympic qualifiers gathered us many endorsement offers- one of which was Mansion House.

According to the Deputy Managing Director of TI, Mr. K. Lakshmi Narsimhan, the brand Mansion House is based on the theme of ‘Have Courage’ and this spirit was strongly emphasized by Indian Hockey and its players. Their remarkable courage in the Olympic qualifiers proved a natural synergy between the players and the brand. 

Inspired by our team’s dedication and the players’ talent, TI took a step that was long due. This was the first time Tilaknagar Industries Ltd engaged with sporting celebrities to endorse their brand. This move marks the beginning of the phase of aggressive marketing for the 79-year old company that witnessed a robust growth in the last seven years. TI’s turnover rose from Rs. 50 crore in 2005 to Rs. 1100 crore in FY 2010-11.

In this press release, Mr. K Lakshmi Narasimhan also said that it was TI’s long term commitment to promote not just sports stars, but also unrecognized sports persons and they were thrilled to do so.

Arjuna award winner and IOS talent Sandeep Singh said that he was encouraged by TI’s support to the team. He said that this kind of support would help the growth of our national game. Sports persons are dependent on corporate sponsorships and as money starts flowing into the game, more youngsters would be encouraged to take up hockey full time.

 Mr. K Lakshmi Narasimhan concluded by saying that TI will always stand committed to promoting sports and will step up these promotional activities in the foreseeable future.

We thank Tilaknagar Industries Ltd. for their support towards promoting talent.

                                                                                           - IOS Sports and Entertainment.