U.S.H.A.: Nurturing the budding Athletes

We all know about P.T. Usha. Don't we? The Athlete who missed an Olympic medal by 1/100th of a second! unghhh.... Bad Luck...

But the lady is now geared up to serve the Nation again. The girl nicknamed as Payyoli Express, udanpari, and Golden Girl because of her speed on the race-track, is running an academy named U.S.H.A. - The Usha School of Athletics. U.S.H.A aims at eliminating any disadvantages or handicaps by providing all essential– physiological, physical, psychological and technological training inputs A non-profit making organization, Usha School of Athletics aims to promote the development of young Athletes to their fullest potential.

Established in 2002 the school helps the youngsters with untapped potential to develop their talents, broaden their horizons, and become better citizens.

Students like TINTU LUKA in this school are India's major hope in 2012 London Olympics.

More about the school @ http://www.ptusha.com/

Haryana strives to be a Sporting Superpower

After the best Olympic performance in its history, India seems to be rising towards sports as well. Haryana, the state of Bronze medalist Vijender Kumar, seems to be working in that direction.

In a facilitation ceremony to honor the Olympic heroes, it was raining money on the sportsmen of India. Here is what was on offer:

Sports person	Achievement	Prize money
Abhinav Bindra	Gold in Shooting	25 Lacs
Vijender Kumar	Bronze in Boxing	50 Lacs, a residential plot and an offer to become the Deputy Director of Sports Department or Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Sushil Kumar	Bronze in Wrestling	25 Lacs and an offer to become the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Akhil Kumar	Quarter finalist in Boxing	25 Lacs
Jitender Kumar	Quarter finalist in Boxing	25 Lacs
Saina Nehwal	Quarter finalist in Badminton	25 Lacs
Yogeshwar Dutt	Quarter finalist in Wrestling	25 Lacs

The strangest of the above was the reward to Abhinav Bindra and it seems he was absent from the ceremony justifiably.

Haryana’s Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, vowed to make Haryana a sporting super power. He announced a reward of 11 Lac to everyone who qualifies for the Olympics in future. Other announcements were about the sports academies that will come up in Haryana.

• Boxing Academy in Bhiwani: A boxing academy of international standards will come up in Bhiwani and will be named after Captain Hawa Singh.
• Cricket Academy in Jhajjar: Cricketer Virender Sehwag would be setting a Cricket academy in Jhajjar.
• Football Academy: An international level Football academy will be setup in Gurgaon.
• Sports Institute: Naveen Jindal, MP and industrialist, will setup a sports institute in Haryana worth Rs 100 crore.

All this looks to be a welcome change in the mindset of the Indian politicians. What remains to be seen though is how many of these promises actually materialize.