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Pressure tactics Yuvraj’s mantra: Treat the World Cup as any ODI series Children of working mothers are more likely to be fat, says a study Dressing over dumbells |
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Pressure tactics
Batsman Gautam Gambhir has been hogging all the limelight since he was bought for a record amount by the Kolkata Knight Riders. The left-handed batsman speaks about India’s chance and the pressure to play in the World Cup. Excerpts from an interview: You will be playing in your first World Cup and that, too, at home? It is a great privilege to be a part of the World Cup team, and playing at home makes it special. The two-three years have been great for me and I have worked hard to perform consistently. I was never in contention in the last World Cup in 2007, but since then I have been a part of the core team and it gives me a lot of satisfaction. Playing at home will also put India under pressure? India are always under some pressure in the World Cup, be it at home or abroad. But this team is well-equipped to handle the pressure. Obviously, there will be lot of expectations, but we also perform better when we are under pressure. This team has done well both in India and away in the last few years and the boys know how to handle pressure. What are India’s chances in the World Cup? I think we are one of the firm favourites. Every World Cup, India enter as firm favourites and we have done well in the two World Cups (1987 and 96) that were held here. So. I think home advantage and crowd surely makes us the favourites and not reaching the semi-finals will be a disappointment for the team. But I surely feel India will be the team to beat in this World Cup. Has the series in South Africa, helped India to prepare better? It was good to have a tough series in South Africa ahead of the World Cup. It was a gruelling, high-intensity series and the way we played both in the Test and the One-day series have made the boys confident. We were down badly after losing the first Test, but came back extremely well to draw the Test series for the first time on South African soil. The ODI series was also close. So, in all respects that series has made the boys tough and confident. What about your fitness? Missing the ODI series with my hand injury was tough and a painful decision. But I could barely hold my bat in the last Test. So, the rest was much needed and I am better now and have been doing light training since my return from South Africa. I am still close to regain my full fitness and I don’t want to rush into things. I have time on my side. You will be batting at No.3 since Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag will be opening the batting. Will that curb your natural attacking instinct? For the last one year, I have been opening the innings with Viru, because Sachin bhai was not playing the ODIs. Now batting at No.3 will be different, because I won’t be able to play my free flowing shots. But I have played in that position in the past as well and I am used to it. It will also be coach Gary Kirsten’s last assignment with the Indian team. How has he helped you? Gary has played an important role in my success. He was one coach, who never asked me to change my style and allowed me to play freely. In fact, we want to win this Cup for Sachin bhai and Gary.
— TWF |
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Yuvraj’s mantra: Treat the World Cup as any ODI series If India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sees playing under pressure in the World Cup at home as an added responsibility, Virender Sehwag thinks it’s an advantage and now Yuvraj Singh finds it a “big challenge”. Yuvraj’s mantra to ease pressure: treat the World Cup as any other bilateral series. Having played in the final in 2003 and the disastrous 2007 World Cups, the dashing middle-order batsman knows what pressure is all about. He wants the team to approach the “World Cup as any normal ODI series” and “shrug off the pressure of expectations.” The 29-year-old left-handed batsman knows that playing in front of home crowd would be a challenge, but he is confident of the team making the semi-finals. “The pressure will be huge and we should face it as a big challenge. We should enjoy the home support,” Yuvraj said in an interview. Yuvraj says the best way to battle pressure is to stop thinking that we are playing in a World Cup. “If we start thinking too much about the World Cup, then we end up putting too much pressure on ourselves. We have to take it as any ODI series and plan and execute properly for best results. We have to be in control of the game for greater parts of it,” he said. Yuvraj agrees the expectations of fans will be huge, but the players can’t get distracted. “We have to try to stay away from distractions and concentrate on the game. We need to take game by game and if we are able to carry out our plans I am sure we will reach the semi-finals. It is all about keeping up the momentum,” he said. Yuvraj knows that the opening game against Bangladesh is crucial. Four years ago in the West Indies, India suffered a shocking five-wicket loss against the neighbours, leading to a first-round exit. Yuvraj is well aware of his role; after all he has been a match winner. “Earlier, I batted at No.6 and my role was to finish the game, scoring runs quickly in the last 15 overs. Now, I bat at No 4, sometimes at No.5, and have to bowl 7 to 10 overs. So, now my workload has increased, as I am bowling a lot in most of the matches. Now I am doing decently well with the ball and my role is different now. I am bowling more because we don’t have a left-arm spinner in the team,” he said. With little time left for the Bangladesh game, Yuvraj is a bit worried about his form. In the last two ODI series against New Zealand and South Africa, he has scored 211 runs in nine matches at an average of 23.44 with the highest being a crucial 53 against the Proteas in Johannesburg, where India won by one run. “Last year, I have been injured a lot. It is always tough to come back from an injury, perform and get injured again. Form hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been too bad either. I have scored a few 40s and 50s but couldn’t convert them into big hundreds. I have to concentrate on converting 50s into big scores. But I have been hitting the ball well,” he said. The year 2010 indeed was tough for Yuvraj. “It was tough as everything happened at a time when I was trying to build my Test career. It taught me lot, made me stronger and gave me the will to fight back. A lot was said about me, but I focussed on my game and fitness unruffled. I have come out of it strong and am confident of getting back to where I belong,” he said.
— IANS |
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Children of working mothers are more likely to be fat, says a study And the reason, scientists believe, may be the diet of fatty ready meals and snacks, which children eat unsupervised. They also claimed that the effect is greatest amongst the age group of 11 to 12 years, called the "latch-key children", who let themselves in to the house while parents are at work. Such children may also go to bed later, and lack of sleep has also been linked to higher risk of obesity, the Daily Mail reported. For their study, the team that comprised researchers from the Cornell University and Chicago University and the American University in Washington looked at 990 kids between the ages of eight and 12 and compared their mothers' working hours. They also looked at the average number of hours the kids spent watching TV and the amount of exercise they took daily. It was found that the average child whose mother worked tended to be one or two pounds heavier compared to those whose mothers stayed at home. The effect increased with age, and 11 or 12 year-old children whose mothers were employed, either full or part-time, were six times more likely to be overweight. They carried an average of three or four pounds more than a child of the same age whose mother didn't work. Instead, they believe youngsters whose parents work tend to eat fatty ready meals or fast food, rather than healthy dinners cooked from scratch. They may also be more likely to skip meals, and instead fill themselves up on chips, chocolate bars or crisps bought on the way home from school. According to the latest figures, one in three children in the US are now overweight by the time they leave primary school, aged 11. A fifth are classified as clinically obese, so fat that their health is at risk. But the researchers stressed that working mothers cannot be blamed for growing obesity crisis amongst children. "Maternal employment is not the problem here," said Taryn Morrissey from the University of Chicago. "If all mothers quit their jobs tomorrow we would still have a crisis. It is just one of many factors related to obesity. "We found that physical activity and time spent watching TV didn't explain this link. Instead, we believe it may be related to nutritional intake." The new study was published in the journal Child Development.
— PTI |
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Dressing over dumbells
The average bill for hair products, make-up and fake tan in a bid to look young is $540 while just $360 is spent on healthcare, reports express.co.uk. The statistics emerged in a study of 3,000 women from age 18 to 65 quizzed on attitudes when faced with choosing between image or health. Nearly 19 pe rcent admitted to crash-dieting and one in 20 have resorted to laxatives to squeeze into tight-fitting fashions. A spokesman for the health group behind the survey, Benenden Healthcare Society, said: "There's a real danger that British women are becoming too focussed on what they look like and forgetting to look after their inner health."
— IANS |
Arijeet Mukherjee
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But surprisingly, the weight gain does not seem to be caused by television watching or a lack of exercise. The researchers found that latch-key children spent the same number of hours in front of the television and did similar amounts of exercise as those of stay-at-home mothers.
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A worrying three per cent admitted to taking up smoking to shed a few pounds and 14 percent have turned to diet pills. Four per cent said they had suffered an eating disorder to look their best for a night out.