Australian turf for India’s hockey fields

07/11/2008 0 Comments read Cricket & Sports

By Neena Bhandari

Melbourne, 07.11.2008 (IANS): A Melbourne-based global manufacturer of synthetic sporting surfaces, which has been installing hockey surfaces and athletic tracks across India, says international standard synthetic surfaces are crucial for India to regain its golden days of hockey domination in the world.

“When hockey moved to synthetic surfaces, India lost out because it currently uses natural grass surfaces. If India wants to push ahead with regaining its supremacy over the game, it needs international standard fields and that is where we come into play with our Poligras XL surfaces,” Advanced Polymer Technology Australasia Pty. Ltd‘s managing director, Martin Schlegel, told IANS.

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Maidens Set for Successful Innings

09/12/2007 0 Comments read Cricket & Sports, Gender

Lisa Sthalekar was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on 25th August 2020, becoming the fifth Australian woman to achieve the honour. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 09.12.2007 (Women’s Feature Service): The gentlemen’s game is catching the fancy of women, who are wielding the willow with élan. Cricket Australia, the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in the country and formally known as the Australian Cricket Board, is going all out to change the perception of cricket amongst women as an old fashioned and male-dominated game.

Announcing the first ‘Females in Cricket Strategy’, James Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of Cricket Australia, said, “We must recognize that engaging women and girls is the key to growing the game.” The strategy provides a framework to evolve cricket to the needs of women and girls and increase their participation in all areas of the game – playing, volunteering and watching.

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Bay Watching in a Burqini

31/03/2007 0 Comments read Cricket & Sports, Gender

Nevine Houri, Mecca Laalaa and Malaak Mourad at a multicultural festival in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Photo Credit: © Lakemba Sport and Recreation Club

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 31.03.2007 (WFS): As a child, Nevine Houri was petrified of water, a phobia developed after a near-drowning incident while growing up in the suburbs of western Sydney, far from the country’s beautiful beaches. Today, she is one of the three Muslim women who have seized the opportunity to join a small, all-women group of surf lifesavers in Australia.

These women were trained under Surf Life Saving Australia‘s (SLSA) $600,000 national programme – On the Same Wave – funded by the Australian government to directly bring Muslim and other culturally and linguistically diverse communities to the fore.

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