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Gorging, greening & gaiety DELHI BELLY
Bottled beer and street curry are being considered the perfect recipe for the visiting teams during the Indian Grand Prix Photo: AFP Set to win the world
Lean on love
Shane’s new look has led to a diet debate. Photo: Reuters Yes to yoga |
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Gorging, greening & gaiety Boxer Akhil Kumar I would have loved to be in my hometown Rohtak on Diwali, as it is a special feeling to celebrate the festival with your near and dear ones. But with the training at the NIS, Patiala, under way and the Senior Nationals coming up shortly, the training camp is going to keep me busy at Patiala. The saving grace is that my wife, mother and daughter will be joining me there only and I am looking forward to having a fun-filled Diwali this time, too. Festival fitness: To say the least, I am a known mithai buff and I can literally gorge on them and it is very hard to keep myself away from the delicacies on offer during Diwali. I try to keep them to the minimum though, as weight control is a norm for us sportsmen. Green Diwali: It is great idea to celebrate it in innovative ways and if it can lessen the strain on the environment it would be an advantage. I fully support the idea of a green
Diwali. Wrestler Sushil Kumar Festival fitness: I love sweets but my idea of cutting down calories is to eat only homemade ones. I somehow feel sweets prepared at home are safer and have lesser fat content. Green Diwali: People should opt for eco-friendly options while going in for crackers, decorations and lightings. Yes, crackers are an integral part in the celebrations, but we should also be conscious of our environment and not go overboard with the bursting of crackers. Shooter Avneet Sidhu Festival fitness: I have a sweet tooth and I do indulge myself, as it is very hard to resist the temptation of goodies during Diwali but I do it in a restrained manner, as overeating has negative effects. So, sweets are definite yes for me but in a restricted manner. Green Diwali: I have never liked the idea of polluting the environment on any festival. It is not a healthy way to celebrate a good occasion. We should promote the idea of a green Diwali more aggressively. Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja Festival fitness: I like sweets and indulge in them during the festival, for I know that I will work out harder and burn the extra calories gained on the field later. Green Diwali: The pollution levels are rising by the day and it is any day better to celebrate Diwali in less polluting ways if we can. I admit it will take away the sheen somewhat but keeping in view the long-term benefits, the idea of green Diwali is surely a step in the right direction. Planting a tree can be another way of initiating change.
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DELHI BELLY Andrew Flintoff's advice to Formula One teams visiting India for the country's first grand prix next week is to fuel themselves on beer and curry. Virgin Racing team boss John Booth bumped into the colourful ex-England, Lancashire and Chennai Super Kings cricketer at Silverstone in July and picked his brains about health and safety.
"On a personal level you wouldn't even think about it, but when you're responsible for 70 people then suddenly it's a whole new level," said Booth. Rumours that some teams were bringing all their food with them from Europe, or flying in reserve staff as backup in case of an outbreak of 'Delhi Belly', appear wide of the mark. "I think the only reason people would take their own food is to guard against the hyped cost of food when you get there," said Booth, citing some of the charges listed by officialproviders. — Reuters
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Set to win the world The Indian table tennis squad will embark upon the World Junior (Under-18) Table Tennis Championship, scheduled to be held at Manama, Bahrain, from November 13 to 20, hoping to secure at least a bronze medal in the team event. The top 20 teams of the world, including India, will take part in the competition. The eight-member national junior team comprising four girls and boys each will attend the nearly month-long gruelling training camp in Sweden to hone their skills before the world championship. India has never won any medal in the singles, doubles and team events at the world championship either in the senior or junior categories, barring the mixed doubles medal won by Soumyajit Ghosh in partnership with a Hong Kong player last year in the world competition. Speaking with The Tribune recently, Ghosh, who is also part of the current team, said, “This (world championship) is the most important competition of the year and we are looking forward to it as we have made good preparations.” Ghosh added that India had good chances in the championship and would vie for a bronze medal at least. G. Sathiyan, another team member, said, “We are at present ranked number fourth after China, Japan and Korea. We have done good preparation and can beat France and Korea, while it will be a tough job to topple China and Japan. But even if we surpass the former, we will ensure a bronze medal. This will be the first time the national team hopes to gain a medal in the world circuit, which has eluded both the senior and junior squads till today. The only exception is the last year’s mixed doubles medal win by Ghosh.” India number one junior and youth girl TT player Mallika Bhandarkar said, “I am looking forward to the world championship, which will be followed by a training camp at Sweden. I am working on my forehand shot to improve my game.” Dhanraj Chaudhary, secretary general of the Table Tennis Federation of India, said, “Keeping in mind the world championship, the players are specially going in for a training camp, which is undertaken by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). We have high hopes, especially from the junior boys team, in which we are ranked fourth in the world.” The confidence of the junior Indian team is on a high, as it has returned from the just-concluded ONGC Indian Junior and Cadet Open – ITTF Premium Junior Circuit 2011 held in Dehra Dun, in which the host team dominated the whole tournament. A total of six countries, including the host, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, took part in the circuit in which India was the champion.
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Lean on love What would have become of Shane Warne had his new fiancee Elizabeth Hurley not come along? Would the blond bombshell of international cricket have been svelte, more and more red-faced, his hair bearing an ever-greater resemblance to a distressed hamster? Or would he have changed tack, somehow: lost the weight, gained a dress sense, aged gracefully? The answer is unlikely to be what has, in fact, happened to the alpha Australian in the wake of Hurley's involvement. Warne has become virtually unrecognisable, a million smart suits and tubs of moisturiser away from the unreformed bachelor of yore. With his slicked-back hair, colour co-ordinated golfing ensembles and lean frame, he resembles less a retired cricketer and more a rosy-cheeked Ken doll. His face, once puffy and weather-beaten, is these days smooth and shiny. He looks like he might be wearing makeup. It is an improvement, of sorts — and it appears to have been matched by a change in persona.
Not only is the soon-to-be Mr Hurley better turned out, but he's better behaved, too, clutching bottles of mineral water where once there might have been beer, squiring Hurley around the London social scene. Witness the speed with which he is attempting to make an honest woman of her, proposing just months after they first met. Just over a year ago, bookies would have taken good money that this was a man who would never marry again. It is, of course, entirely possible that Warne's metamorphosis is organic.Since meeting Hurley, he might have seen the light, realised the true joys of a low-carb diet and decided to pursue longevity by way of the vegetable aisle. But the odds are slim. Just like Warne's new trousers. Far more likely is that Hurley has gone where a million other women have before. She has embarked on the quest to change her man — without having to exchange him. —The Independent
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The Desperado star, who is married to Melanie Griffith, looks good with his age and credits his healthy diet for it, although he also admits he has his vices, reports contactmusic.com. "I smoke, which I shouldn't do, but I do yoga and I think I eat well. And I try to be in harmony with my life. I am not too anxious to get anywhere anymore. When you are content, I think it helps you feel good and to look good too, I guess," Banderas said.— IANS
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Khanna
Alan Baldwin
The
Alice-Azania Jarvis
I am in Delhi these days and I have not thought of Diwali celebrations still, as the preparations for the Olympic qualifiers are keeping me utterly busy, but, yes, I always rush home for Diwali and this time will not be any different. I will be home with family and friends and that’s how I want to celebrate it. It’s like a marriage in the village.
Just like anybody else, Diwali is very special to me. Though unlike many, I am not a cracker person and I do not like bursting any sort of noisy stuff. I have never been one to spend on fireworks right from childhood. My idea of celebrating the festival of lights is by putting up a lot of diyas and lights and going to the gurdwara with family. I prefer celebrating the festival at home, but more often than not I have to be away given my sports commitments. This time though I am training at the Phillaur Police Academy, I am trying my best to be at home for Diwali. 
This is a festival I always want to be home for, just like anybody else. But this Diwali, too, I will be mostly away from home playing the England series. My idea of celebrating the festival of lights is to have fun with close friends and relatives. I am looking forward to celebrating it with my teammates, that, too, on a winning note.
"I knew he'd been to the subcontinent on a number of occasions and he said he'd never ever had a problem, just eat lots of curry and drink lots of beer," Yorkshireman Booth said at the recent Korean Grand Prix. "Bottled beer and street curry. Sounds like a perfect recipe for me. That's like an Englishman's dream that, isn't it?" Behind the light-hearted banter, and unsurprising advice from a man whose passion for beer and curry was well documented as a player, there are some serious issues to be addressed as teams venture into what is, for most in the globetrotting glamour sport, unknown territory. What the drivers and mechanics eat, how they get safely to and from the circuit and general security measures in a country always on alert for terror attacks must all be considered. 
Spanish