PUNE: In a bid to expand the Cricket Stadium facility by accommodating an international clubhouse for providing the state-of-the-art infrastructure as per international standards to promote Cricket with training, fitness coaching, residential and other support facilities the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) is organizing an architectural design competition for professional architects, architectural firms and the students of the architecture in collaboration with the Indian Institute Architects, Pune Center.

This was announced by Rohit Pawar, President of the Maharashtra Cricket Association during a Press Conference held at J W Marriott today. Kamlesh Pisal, Secretary MCA, Ar Vikas Achalkar, President, IIA Pune Center, and Ar Kapil Jain, EC Member of IIA Pune Center were present on the occasion.

Commenting on the competition Rohit Pawar said, “We are happy to announce an architectural design competition in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Architects, Pune Centre that seeks to blend the passion for cricket with innovative architectural design. It is a unique opportunity for professionals and students alike to contribute to the vision of a world-class facility, which will serve as a beacon for the sport of cricket in the state of Maharashtra.”

“Promoting Cricket as a global sporting event, expanding the existing facility for increased participation, integration of residential facilities, and most importantly making the MCA International Cricket Stadium at Gahunje a self-sustaining venue are the key objectives behind developing an international clubhouse and the competition being organized to get the best design for this project”, Pawar added.

Ar Vikas Achalkar, President IIA, Pune Center said, “In this competition architects and students of architecture are invited to submit designs for the proposed international clubhouse adjoining the MCA Cricket Stadium at Gahunje, Pune. We are proposing an adequate number of rooms at this clubhouse which can be run by a reputed international hotel chain so that the players can stay there during the matches.”

“Good accommodation at the stadium will save precious time for players and the support staff which is otherwise spent on travel from the city hotel to the venue on important days for the players. It will also reduce the burden on logistics and security. This will make MCA International Cricket Stadium the first stadium in the country to have world-class accommodation for the players”, Ar Achalkar stated.

This open competition is divided into two parts including a ‘Single Stage Competition’ for professionals and the ‘Ideas Competition’ for the students of architecture. IIA Pune Center will shoulder the responsibility of designing and executing the competition along with the evaluation of entries received. Information about the competition is available on the MCA website.

Registration for entering this competition can be done between September 10th and 30th, the designs submission process will take place between October 5th and December 14th, the presentation of shortlisted designs will take place between January 5th and 8th and the final result shall be declared on January 15th.

The author of the winning design shall be appointed as the Project Architect to render architectural & other allied services for successful implementation. The International Club House project at the MCA International Cricket Stadium is proposed to have world-class rooms for the stay, banquet halls, a sports bar, restaurants, an ultramodern gym, a swimming pool,  indoor cricket pitches for the all-year-round practice, and many other sports with the indoor format.

Details of the prizes of this competition are as follows

For Professionals Rs.25 Lakhs, Rs.15 Lakhs and Rs.10 Lakhs would be the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cash prize respectively. In addition, five merit prizes of Rs.3 Lakhs each shall also be awarded in this category.

For the students category cash prizes of Rs.3 Lakhs, Rs.2 Lakhs, and Rs.1 Lakh would be given as the top three prizes.

Works of some participating professionals and students selected by the Jury would be displayed at the special exhibition on the day of the awards presentation.

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KOLKATA: Mumbai City FC beat Mohun Bagan Super Giant 3-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium to emerge as the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 Cup Winners at the final in Kolkata tonight. The Islanders came from behind after Jason Cummings handed the Mariners a lead late in the first half. Second-half strikes by Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Bipin Singh, and Jakub Vojtus ensured that the Petr Kratky-coached side settled the scores against the home side in front of a capacity crowd to draw curtains on the landmark 10th season of the ISL.

In proceedings slightly identical to the final of ISL 2020-21, when both these teams had squared off in the summit clash, a similar hero came up, as Bipin Singh notched an 81st-minute strike to help his men avenge the loss that they succumbed to, in the title decider at this very venue. In the first-ever ISL grand finale held in Kolkata, Mumbai City FC returned the happier of the two teams winning their second ISL final, with both of them coming against the Mariners.

Both sides trod a cautious line in the opening half, focusing on holding their shape, playing to their strengths, and not giving away too much to work on for the opposition. However, Mohun Bagan Super Giant drew the first blood thanks to their fierce offensive duo of Dimitrios Petratos and Cummings.

Petratos hasn’t been afraid to test his luck from a distance often in this campaign. As the opening essay of the game was concluding, he unleashed a shot that caught Mumbai City FC goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa off-guard. The custodian fumbled the effort; with Cummings present right there like a fox in the box to bury the chance in the 44th minute and ensure that his team entered the break with a lead in hand.

The Islanders naturally decided to shake things up in the second half. They adopted newer courses of play, involving a long ball from Alberto Noguera to their Argentine striker Jorge Pereyra Diaz eight minutes into the second half. Diaz’s sharp offensive instincts were right there on display, calmly bringing the ball down, steering it near Vishal Kaith, and slotting the ball into the back of the net to equalize the scores.

For a brief passage of play, it appeared that the game might head into the extra time, but an unfortunate knock picked by Diaz in the 72nd minute opened the floodgates for the comeback by the visitors.

As the striker was taken off the field, Slovak striker Vojtus replaced him and was central to both the goals that Mumbai City FC scored after that. Bipin’s one came through a scrambled effort where Vikram Partap Singh squared up a pass for Lallianzuala Chhangte at the edge of the box. Chhangte’s attempt at goal took a nick off Vojtus’ foot, but amidst a crowded situation, Bipin hammered in the ball to get his side the lead in the game.

The Mariners desperately sought to level scores in the added time of the second half, but they ended up exposing large chunks of space in the backline. Vojtus capitalized on one of those loose balls, getting control over the ball on the right side of the box and demonstrating impeccable efficiency to net his team’s third goal of the night.

Key Performer of the Match

• Jorge Pereyra Diaz (Mumbai City FC)
• Diaz completed 15 out of his 19 attempted passes and was buzzing in and around the Mariners’ backline to search for a breakthrough. His goal oozed all class and was instrumental in laying the foundation of Mumbai City FC’s triumph in this game.

ISL 2023-24 Season Awards

• Golden Glove – Phurba Lachenpa (Mumbai City FC)
• Golden Boot – Dimitrios Diamantakos (Kerala Blasters FC)
• Emerging Player of the League – Vikram Partap Singh (Mumbai City FC)
• Player of the League – Dimitrios Petratos (Mohun Bagan Super Giant)

Brief Scores

• Mumbai City FC 3 (Jorge Pereyra Diaz 53’, Bipin Singh 81’, Jakub Vojtus 90+7’) – 1 Mohun Bagan Super Giant (Jason Cummings 44’)

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BHUWANESHWAR: In a major boost to Indian athletics and swimming, Chief Minister Sh Naveen Patnaik, today inaugurated India’s first Indoor Athletics Centre and Indoor Aquatic Centre at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. He also laid the foundation stone for the Indoor Diving Centre.

The Indoor Athletics Centre stands as India’s first capable of hosting indoor continental and regional championships. This world-class facility will be a training ground for the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, which was established in association with Reliance Foundation, and has been producing young athletics champions.

The centre boasts a 10,000-square-meter track, installed by the renowned Italian firm, Mondo SpA, used in Olympics, marking a pioneering feat within the country. The centre includes a 200-meter synthetic track, an 80m+20m running track, and designated areas for long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot-put, each meticulously designed to meet specific athletic requirements.

Accommodating the needs of high-performance athletes, the facility features 60 twin-sharing rooms for those undergoing full-time coaching. Its iconic stature was solidified with the esteemed Category 1 certification from World Athletics in December 2023.

The Indoor Aquatic Centre features temperature controlled 50m Olympic size swimming pool and 25 m warm up pool with a seating capacity for 1000 spectators and can host international championships. fitness centre, sports recovery facility and accommodation facility with 26 twin sharing rooms. The Odisha Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) HPC, a joint venture with JSW group, will be operational from this aquatic center.

The Central PSU – NALCO has contributed towards the construction of the Indoor Aquatics Center as a CSR funding.

The Chief Minister also laid foundation stone for Indoor Diving Centre that will be built at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. The Diving Centre will feature temperature controlled diving pool of 25 m, with an additional 5m for Synchronized Swimming and seating capacity for 500 spectators.

Speaking on this occasion, Chief Minister Sh Naveen Patnaik, said “The new indoor facilities will provide our athletes to train and compete, round the year, without any external weather disturbances. We are confident that both Indoor Athletics Centre and the Aquatic Centre will certainly help set new standards for sporting excellence on both international and national stages. It also marks an important step further strengthening Odisha’s robust sports ecosystem and our partnership with Reliance Foundation, JSW & Inspire Institute of Sports.“

Chairman 5T & Nabin Odisha, Kartik  Pandian was present during the event and interacted with the athletes and swimmers.

The President Athletic Federation of India, Sh Adille Sumariwala, Secretary Swimming Federation of India Sh Monal Choksi, Veteran Sports Administrator Sh Ashirbad Behera, representatives from the State associations and sports persons were present on this occasion.

Sports & Youth Services Minister, Sh Tusharkanti Behera, Secretary, Sports & Youth Services Department, Sh Vineel Krishna, Sridhar Patra, CMD Nalco, Aasish Contractor, Director Reliance Foundation, Mustafa Ghouse, CEO JSW Sports and other dignitaries were part of the ceremony.

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According to the report, Airtel performed best compared to other operators in the quality of mobile live video streaming experience across the 40 largest cities in India by population, in the majority of these cities for overall Live Video Experience as well as for 5G Live Video Experience.

On mobile speeds in the stadiums, Airtel delivered overall download speeds of 30.5 Mbps and 5G download speeds of 274.5 Mbps. Airtel topped in the upload speeds in both overall and 5G upload speeds with 6.6 Mbps and 26.3 Mbps, respectively. Airtel’s upload speeds are 5.2 percent higher than Jio and 13 percent higher than Vodafone Idea.

Airtel users were able to spend 98.6 percent of their time connected to a better mobile network and 20.7 percent of their time with a 5G signal across ICC Cricket 2023 World Cup stadiums in India. Coming to Voice Apps Experience, Airtel scored 78.2 on a scale of 100, while scoring the highest percentage of 83.3 on 5G Voice App Experience.

Airtel dominates the charts in overall live video streaming experience in the 40 largest cities in India by population. Airtel tops in 23 cities, beating its rivals outright in 9 cities. In comparison, Jio is top in 22 cities, coming first in nine cities, and Vi is in 15 cities, beating every major operator in two cities (Lucknow and Mumbai).

On 5G Live Video Experience, according to the report, Airtel is leading with users enjoying top live video streaming experience on 5G in 36 out of 40 cities, of which it beats Jio outright in 11 cities. Airtel users were able to enjoy the best experience overall and 5G mobile live video streaming in Aurangabad, Indore, Jaipur, Nagpur, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, and Vasai Virar.

The data samples were collected from March 1, 2023, to August 28, 2023, by OpenSignal, and this analysis includes data collected within 1000m from stadium coordinates.

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GURUGRAM: Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics brand, announced today a partnership with JioCinema to allow its consumers to experience a stadium-like immersive experience and enjoy the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season along with a variety of entertainment options available on the platform. The application will come pre-installed on all Samsung TV models starting in 2018 and all Samsung Smart Monitor models starting in 2022.

Consumers can now easily access the JioCinema app from their Samsung TVs & Smart Monitors as it will appear on the home screen of the device. With the cricket fever setting in, more and more viewers are looking forward to the opportunity to tune in to it and; most importantly, watch the matches on the big screen and still enjoy a stadium-like experience at home.

Coupled with the innovative technology and immersive viewing experience that Samsung TVs & Smart Monitors offer, the partnership with JioCinema will pave the way for consumers to enjoy TATA IPL as well as their favorite shows right from the comfort of their homes.

“With in-home entertainment becoming a norm, the partnership between Samsung and JioCinema gives us an opportunity to provide our consumers with the best of both worlds – their favorite shows on the big screen, in their living spaces. As the biggest and most awaited Indian cricket tournament beings, we are offering our consumers an opportunity to indulge in the sensation of the game, with an immersive, stadium-like experience at their homes with Samsung TVs,” said Mohandeep Singh, Senior VP of Consumer Electronics, Samsung India.

In addition to Samsung TVs, users can also access JioCinema content on Samsung smartphones providing a seamless multi-screen viewing experience, with even more flexibility and convenience to users.

“By combining the cutting-edge technology of Samsung with JioCinema’s digital-first, world-class offerings and features, this partnership creates a synergy that will provide consumers with the ultimate viewing experience,” said Viacom18 Sports Head of Strategy and Partnerships Hursh Shrivastava. “Whether you’re a die-hard sports fan or a casual viewer, this collaboration promises to deliver the very best of the TATA IPL on JioCinema right to your fingertips.”

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