Sweat drips from greasy bodies criss-crossed with veins and buffed with taut muscles, on a makeshift stage nestled in a street here. As gym partners cheer for 91 bodybuilders, Santhi Nagar residents lean in doorways, perch on railings and squat on pavements, watching agape the Bahubali – Mr. Krishna District Bodybuilding Championship, 2018.

The Bodyline gym and the Golden Fitness gym in association with the Krishna Bodybuilding Association, Gudivada, organised the contest on Sunday. Participants in nine weight categories, from 50kg to 85kg in multiples of five, posed their front-double biceps, side-chest with calf muscles and front abdomen with thigh, in the first round, even as a cut-out of Arnold Schwarzenegger stared at them from a poster in the backdrop. The second round was a free posing session for 30 seconds on a Pawan Kalyan song from Thammudu. Each time the song played, a pack of skittish children broke into a wild dance amid an audience of 150 people. While winners in each category got a cash prize of ₹800, a box of protein supplement, a medal and a certificate, runners-up got ₹600, a medal and a certificate and second runners-up ₹500, a medal and a certificate. The overall winner, V. Appalaswamy Naidu, got ₹2,000 and a trophy. The Indian Physique gym, Ramavarappadu, bagged a trophy for the most number of medallists.

Amaravati sports village

Exhorting youngsters to take up bodybuilding, City Central MLA Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao, the chief guest, said, “The Chief Minister is committed to the development of a sports village in Amaravati.” APSRTC Chairman Varla Ramaiah said, “Fitness is all about making right decisions. A sportperson has no religion, no caste and no language. One’s spirit for a sport is all that matters.” SAAP Director Ravindra Babu said the authority had two targets, to ensure every student was fit and healthy and to get more medals for the State and the country.

Winners

The category-wise winners are: G. Durga Satyanarayana (50kg), P. Raja (55kg), Y. Lashamikanth (60kg), N. Ganesh (65kg), V. Appalaswamy Naidu (70kg), G. Gopalakrishna (75kg), B. Maniprakash (80kg), B. Surendra (85kg) and R. Narendra Nadh.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Sidharth Yadav / Vijayawada – September 03rd, 2018

Guntur girls’ team registered a thumping victory with the 15-0 point lead against Anantapur to lift the 2nd State Rugby Championship 2018 trophy (Under 18 boys and girls) at Hindu College Grounds here on Sunday.

The Krishna District Rugby Association with the support of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh has organised the two-day championship-cum-selections. At least 300 players, representing 13 boys’ teams and 11 girls’ teams, have participated in the championship. In the girls’ category, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore and Chittoor bagged the third and four places respectively.

In boys’ category, SPSR Nellore emerged the champion by defeating East Godavari while Guntur and Anantapur got third and fourth places. MLC B. Arjunudu and Machilipatnam Municipal Chairperson M. Baba Prasad on Sunday presented trophies to the winners. The officials representing the SAAP and State Rugby Association on Sunday selected the 12 players from each category of boys and girls. “The best 12 players from both the categories will represent the State at the nationals to be held in July-end in Tamil Nadu,” according to SAAP official and the championship observer Vamsi.

Addressing the players, Mr. Arjunudu has announced that foundation stone would be laid for construction of the stadium at Goshala area in July, to provide better sports infrastructure in Machilipatnam.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Machilipatnam – July 16th, 2018

He is 16-year-old and his batting prowess has mesmerised many in cricketing circles. K. Nitish Kumar Reddy has been consistent with willow and hammered 441 runs against Nagaland in the Vijay Merchant inter-State tournament. His insatiable hunger for scoring runs seems going on unabated. His incredible run of form in the last season saw him finish as the leading run-getter and fetched him the BCCI ‘Best Cricketer in the Under -16’ award for the season 2017-2018.

BCCI presented him the award along with a cash prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh and a Trophy named after Jagmohan Dalmiya at its annual presentation ceremony in Bangalore. Nitish is the first player of Andhra Cricket Association who got the BCCI award.

Speaking to The Hindu Nitish said he was very much thrilled and excited to receive the BCCI award. Indian skipper Virat Kohli was his role model and his goal was to beat the records set by Kohli, the young batting sensation from the city said.

Nitish expressed confidence that he would continue his performance in u-19 selections. He said ACA academies were very much helpful to the budding cricketers like him.

“As a citizen of Visakhapatnam we are proud of him,” says VDCA general secretary K. Parthasaradhi. He said Nitish had played for VDCA in under-12 and u-14 matches and will don national colours and sure will become an all-rounder.

Nitish began playing cricket with plastic bat at the age of five years and was a regular to Hindustan Zinc grounds to watch seniors playing cricket. The little maestro received good support from his father K. Mutyala Reddy, who quit job in Hindustan Zinc when he was transferred to Udaipur, to lend helping hand to Nitish to continue his dream campaign in cricket. He took Nitish to VDCA camps where coaches Kumara Swamy, Krishna Rao and Watekar nurtured him in batting and bowling.

Proud moment

An elated Mutyala Reddy told The Hindu that he was very happy and it was a proud moment as his son got the top award of BCCI. Mr. Reddy thanked VDCA, ACA and BCCI for the support extended to Nitish.

MSK Prasad spotted Nitish during u-12 and u-14 matches and picked him up for training at ACA Academy at Kadapa, where coaches Madhusudhana Reddy and Srinivas Rao further improvised his batting and bowling skills, Mr. Reddy said. “Nitish’s mother also encouraged him to pursue cricketing skills and now We are happy that he was bringing laurels both to the family and the city. We owe a lot to selection committee chairman MSK Prasad,” he said

Nitish made his maiden century in u-14 MSK Prasad tournament against Kurnool. Since then runs flowed from his bat. He remained unbeaten with 207 against Karnataka in Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2007.

His success run with both bat and ball continued.

During 2017-18 season Nitish scored 811 runs in ACA inter-district matches and 1237 runs all India inter-State matches and took 27 wickets in the inter district and , 26wickets in the inter-State matches.

Had he been given a chance to play in the under -19 age group inter-State matches, probably Nitish would have represented the country in the under -19 age group, said D.S. Varma, vice-president of VDCA.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by G. Janardhana Rao / Visakhapatnam – July 06th, 2018