SPOTLIGHT

Asked to name his guru (revered teacher), on the occasion of Guru Poornima, India cricket captain Rahul Dravid told the Mumbai Mirror (July 29, 2007) from England: "My guru is the late Keki Tarapore. Many coaches have helped me to fine-tune my cricketing skills but no one can be like Tarapore. He helped me understand the importance of practice… He always said, ‘Rahul…you should never lose your balance on the cricket field.’ If people say Rahul Dravid is a gentleman cricketer, then the credit goes to Mr Tarapore and not to me. On this auspicious day of Guru Poornima, I would like to remember Tarapore sir.” Dravid is leading the Indian team in the one-day series against England.

Omar Balsara of Bombay Gymkhana scored an emphatic victory over Sanjiv Bijlani in the final of the Wilson Jones Memorial Open Handicap Billiards and Snooker Championship at the P. J. Hindu Gymkhana on August 25, 2007, reports the Sunday Hindustan Times, August 26.

Rahul Dravid with guru Keki Tarapore (right)

In snooker, Lucky Vat­nani triumphed over Marzdi Kalyaniwala of Bombay Gymkhana in the best-of-seven frames championship round. "Kalyaniwala started well to win the opening frame but Vatnani came back strongly to win the next four…” the paper writes.

Veteran athlete Prochy Mehta of Calcutta was given the rare honor of taking the oath on behalf of all the Asian athletes at the 14th Asia Masters Athletic Championships at Bangalore in November 2006, though she did not participate in the meet due to personal reasons (the birth of her granddaughter).

Prochy Mehta: rare honor for veteran athlete

"This honor is always given to the best athlete of the meet selected on previous performance but I was given the privilege,” Mehta informs us on the e-mail, subsequent to Parsiana’s coverage of the event (Sports, July 7, 2007).