BFC finds a new fitness mantra

Bangalore: Aching bones and sore limbs are a part and parcel of a sportspersons life, but often they prove to be the bane for a team’s fortunes. Bengaluru Football Club too have had their share of injury and fitness woes.

To battle the concerns, the home club has hired a sports performance coach, a novelty on the domestic football scene. Malcolm Purchase, with over 30 years of experience, half of which has been spent with football clubs, has been with the team for over a month now.

Purchase, whose last assi­g­nment was with English club Wolverh­ampton Wanderers, has stood up to the challenge of working in India, a culture and environment alien to him. He’s come in with the mantra of “making Beng­aluru FC the Barcelona of Indian football.”

Having joined the team midway through the season, Purchase has his task cut out. “Ashley has put in some great ground work. He’s got it up to a really good standard to start with. The leg conditioning is lacking but the lads weren’t in great shape to start with,” he said.

“He had to battle those issues first. They’re ok fitness-wise, but they’re nowhere near where they should be. But we’re going to push our levels to go where we need to be.”   Purchase has been with the team for six weeks, and he’s gotten down to business from the day he landed.

“I won’t be satisfied till I squeeze the last drop out of each and every player. I’ve already done the hydration and wellness testing. We are screening all the players and have done several tests to determine the speed, agility, endurance and leg strength.

“The easiest part of a fitness coach is conduct the tests but the hardest past is to improve. I’m putting across a six-week programme and from February 23, you’ll see a faster and fitter Bengaluru FC.

Speaking about the changes he has brought about in the newly-formed team, the 49-year old said, “We’ve changed the nutrition of the team. I know exactly the ingredients we need for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “Also on match days, we know the exact amount of chemicals we need to perform better.”

The Englishman is looking to reduce injury trouble too. “One of the important areas that I would be focusing on is injury prevention. It’s very important to have your best players on the pitch for the maximum amount of time. “Endurance is important but speed and power is equally important for a game like football,” he added.

ITI romp past Belgaum

ITI romp past Belgaum

Cariappa struck twice to lead ITI to a thumping 8-0 win over Belgaum Dist­rict Hockey Association in the KSHA ‘A’ Division hockey league match on Saturday.

Results: BSNL 6 (Deepak John Karketta 9; George Dominic 18, 28; Praful Kujur 37, 55; Jayaganesh G 58) bt Coorh Blues H A 0; MEG Boys 5 (Rahul 6; Neeraj Choubey 25, 57; Pullaiah R 43; Shashi Dung Dung 44) bt DYES ‘B’ 0; ITI 8 (Prathik 6; Cariappa 14, 27; Kalappa 23; Somaiah 40; Somanna P A 42; Chingappa 54; Vineeth Michael 47) bt Belgaum District H A 0; Young Star H C 4 (Anil 23, 48t; Raghavendra 26; Nagarjun 50) bt Flying H C 2 (Narasimhalu 44, 59)

Karthik gets past Vishal

M.S. Karthik prevailed over P.Vishal Reddy 8-7 (1) to enter the third round of the KTPPA –AITA U-14 Champi­onship Series tennis tournament for Sam­path Loganadan Trophy at the TAMS courts here on Saturday.

Results: Boys (second round):  Pr­a­lok Ikkurthy bt Prasanna P.M 8/6; Harsh Kumar bt Sudarshan 8/7 (0); Naeem Salim bt Jaydheer Re­d­dy 8/4; Harsheel bt Dhruv Sai Ch­aran 8/6; Nitin Nagaraj Reddy bt Nitin Varma 8/6; Chandan Re­d­dy bt Deepak A 8/6; Madha­v­an M­a­noj bt Nirmal Varma 8/4; Sh­r­e­ya­s M D bt Sahil Varman 8/5; Kar­t­h­ik M S bt Vishal Reddy Pag­d­a­la 8/7 (1).

Prajwal to lead state team

Prajwal Gowda and Var­a­lakshmi will lead the Ka­rnataka side in the Ju­nior National volleyball championship to be held at Dehradun (Uttar­a­kh­and) from January 8-14.

Teams: Boys: Prajwal Gowda (Cpt.). Nikhil (Vice-Captain), S­u­n­il.S, Bharath, Varun, Niranjan, M­­a­nj­unath.D.S, Rajshekar.P, Om­k­ar, Prashanth .V, Shimogga, Avin­a­s­h.G, Shimogga, Shashi­ku­mar, Co­ach: Parashuram, Manager: K.S.­S­hashi.  Girls: Varalakshmi (Cpt.), P­u­­­shpa (Vice-Captain), As­ha Um­e­sh, Vidyashri, Renuka, Su­mithra, K­a­­vya, Pooja.N.Prasad, Roja, Anu­s­ha, Syyed Arbiana, Chin­m­­ayee, Co­ach: Ramesh.S.N, Manager: Man­junath.

Selection trials on Jan. 10

The selection trials for the probables to represent Karnataka in the Senior South Zone National Volleyball championship for men and women will be held on January 10 at the Sree Kanteerva stadium at 8:30am. Selected players will undergo coaching camp from January 11.

For details contact K. Nanda Kumar 080-22228695

Nithin, Nayana named captains

Nithin and Nayana V.C have been named the capt­ains of the Karna­t­a­ka boys and girls team r­e­s­­p­e­ctively in the U-19 junior National Netball Cha­m­p­­i­o­nship to be held in Me­h­s­ana (Gujarat) from Jan­u­a­ry 7-10.
Teams: Boys: Nithin (C), Avinash .P.L, Gajendra.C.N, Girish. M, Sujith. C, Thrisulsudharsh. T, Sagar. V, Pramod. G.V, Sharath. S, Rakesh Kumar, Chethan. K.L, Shiva Murthi. G.K, Coach: Vijay.N, Manager: Selveraj .G. Girls: Nayana V.C (C), Nandani. L.G, Yogashree Banu, Bindhya. S, Roshini. R. Palkar, Hamsa. I, Dharaini. N, Meena. R, Mamatha, Netharavathi. C. K, Gagana B.V, Pratusha. S, Coach: Tilagavathi, Manager: Deepa.