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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘To see Leander do India proud gave Vece Paes a lot of happiness, and Chandigarh had a special place in his heart'
Before watching his son Leander Paes play in his maiden Davis Cup title against Japan at the age of 16 years and nine months at the grass courts at CLTA Stadium in Sector 10 in 1990, Munich Olympics bronze medal-winning Indian hockey team member Dr Vece Paes had watched Paes Junior win the ITF Juniors Tournament in 1989 at the same stadium. Then, 44-year-old Dr Vece Paes came to CLTA for the first time, and it would start a more than three-decade association of Paes Sr with the city. An honorary consultant with CLTA for long and a supporter of the CLTA's Chandigarh Academy of Rural Tennis, Dr Paes breathed his last at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday morning. He was 80. CLTA founding member and former president Rajan Kashyap remembers one thing which remained with him since his first meeting with Paes Sr. 'I met him for the first time when Leander Paes won his first Junior ITF Title at CLTA before he came again to watch Leander make history for India with his debut in the Davis Cup tie against Japan in 1990. He would come for the next Davis Cup ties against New Zealand in 2012 and the World Group semi-final against Australia in 1993 at CLTA Stadium, apart from the Davis Cup tie against Korea at Chandigarh Club in 2016. While Leander won the Atlanta Olympics bronze medal, apart from making records in Davis Cup and Grand Slams for India, every time Dr Paes would make sure to downplay his feat of winning the Olympic bronze and wanted to remain in the background. To see Leander do India proud gave him a lot of happiness, and Chandigarh had a special place in his heart,' Kashyap told The Indian Express. Born in 1945 in Goa, Paes Sr would play for the Mohun Bagan and Bengal teams before he made his debut for the Indian team in the Hamburg International Cup in 1966. Later, he was selected for the Indian hockey team for the 1972 Munich Olympics as a centre-half, with Ajitpal Singh donning the role of the main centre-half of the Indian team. After Paes Jr played his maiden Davis Cup in Chandigarh, Dr Paes would visit Chandigarh often and come on board CLTA as an honorary consultant. 'Before the Davis Cup tie against Japan, I met Indian captain Naresh Kumar at Kolkata Race Course, and Kumar was very excited about Leander. He told me that he wants Leander in the team, and I told him that it's his choice as the captain of the team. Initially, Leander went to Chandigarh as the hitting partner for Rohit Rajpal, but on the day of the draw, Kumar decided to hand Leander his Davis Cup debut. Leander and Zeeshan Ali won the doubles match, and Leander would tell me later that it was nothing short of a festival in Chandigarh at that time. Later, Leander and I were associated with CLTA for more than 14 years, conducting coaching clinics and being on the advisory committee,' Dr Paes had told this correspondent in 2022. With CLTA starting its own rural programme in 1992, Dr Paes would keep a keen interest in that with charting the fitness programme for the trainees as well as supporting some of the trainees, including national champion Sunil Kumar. The Olympic bronze medallist would also be a pioneer in sports and worked as a medical consultant with the BCCI as well Indian Davis Cup teams. 'Dr Vece Paes joined CLTA as an honorary consultant, and his focus was on the nutrition as well as injury recovery of the young trainees. He would also support national champion Sunil Kumar, who would stay at his home in Kolkata for two years. During the 2013 World Group semi-final against Australia, where he was a consultant with the Indian Davis Cup team, he would play tennis along with me and the Spanish consultant and would enjoy the tennis sessions. He would never show that he is an Olympic bronze medallist. Whenever he would get free, he would make sure to ask about CLTA trainees, and it continued till recent years when he was fully fit,' shared Kashyap. Dr Paes would also prepare a blueprint regarding fitness and nutrition programmes for the school children in Chandigarh and had been in consultation with the UT Administration before the project failed to take off. 'Dr Vece Paes wanted to give as much of his knowledge to the players as he could. He had prepared the blueprint for the school children in Chandigarh and was in talks with the UT Administration for no fees for his services. Such was his passion for sports,' remembers Megh Raj IAS, COO, CLTA. CLTA head coach Romen Singh, too, had met Dr Paes and remembers his inputs. ' We were beginners in coaching and whenever he would visit Chandigarh, he would spend time with the coaches and trainees, emphasising the aspect of sports science as well as fitness,' says Singh.
The Hindu
18-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Billie Jean King Cup play-off draw on Thursday
The draw for the Billie Jean King Cup World Group play-off women's tennis event is scheduled to be made in London on Thursday. Unlike the last time when India played Latvia in the play-off in April 2021 that saw Jelena Ostapenko lead her team to a 3-1 victory, it will be a three-nation competition this time, spread over seven groups. Seven nations, Canada, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands have been seeded. The next bunch will have Romania, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. India and New Zealand which qualified from the Asia-Oceania zone will be along with Argentina, Turkey, Denmark, Croatia and Portugal. Each of the seven pool of three teams will have one country drawn from each of the three groups. The host will also be decided by the ITF. The three teams in each group will compete on a league basis. The topper of each of the seven groups will make it to the World Group qualifier. The rest will return to group-1 in their zones.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ContainerPort Group expands Southern California dray network with acquisition
ContainerPort Group announced that its parent, World Group, has acquired Dray Alliance, making the combined operation one of the largest dray providers to the Southern California ports. Founded in 2018, Long Beach, California-based Dray Alliance provides end-to-end drayage management in the Los Angeles and Long Beach markets. The addition of Dray Alliance expands ContainerPort Group's carrier network and improves its technology platform with enhanced real-time tracking and other automation tools. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 'Dray Alliance has built an incredible platform that aligns with our commitment to innovating and digitizing, while maintaining the reliability and service that our customers know and expect,' said Joey Palmer, president of the company and co-CEO at World Group, in a news release. 'By bringing their technology into CPG, we're unlocking new efficiencies and expanding our ability to serve shippers with smarter, tech-enabled solutions.' Shippers and carriers served by Dray Alliance will continue to use the company's platform as ContainerPort Group integrates its customer base. 'By combining CPG's scale, reliability, and expertise with our cutting-edge technology, we are creating a best-in-class solution that benefits customers, carriers, and the entire industry,' said Dray Alliance founder and CEO Steve Wen. Cleveland-based World Group is the parent of multiple international cargo transportation and logistics companies, including NVOCC freight forwarder UWL and warehousing and distribution provider World Distribution Services. More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden: ArcBest takes on TL freight to fill empty capacity Deutsche Bank eyes industrial rebound, endorses these transportation stocks XPO sees improvement in February, tonnage still down y/y The post ContainerPort Group expands Southern California dray network with acquisition appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Britain face Poland in Davis Cup relegation play-off
Great Britain have been handed an away tie against Poland as they look to avoid relegation from the top tier of the Davis Smith's side, seeded fourth in the draw, face the unseeded Poles in a World Group I best-of-five tie in winners will progress to the first qualifying phase of the 2026 event and maintain their chances of reaching the eight-team finals later that are likely to be led by 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz, who is currently their only player ranked inside the men's top face the play-off tie after losing to Japan in this year's first qualifying injured US Open semi-finalist Jack Draper, a makeshift British side were beaten 3-2 - jeopardising their place in the top tier of the men's team draw for the World Group I ties was held on Thursday - a week later than originally planned because of Chile's protests following their controversial tie against Belgium. Chile still want Davis Cup replay after Garin 'attacked' The first qualifying round tie descended into chaos when Chile's Cristian Garin was knocked over by his celebrating Belgian opponent Zizou Chilean Tennis Federation (Fetech) claimed Garin had been "attacked". Tennis Belgium insisted Bergs was careless with "no malicious intent whatsoever".Chile, who lost the tie after Garin refused to continue playing, have demanded a replay "under fair conditions" or a wildcard into November's eight-team Davis Cup Finals. The South American nation were awarded neither during a preliminary hearing with an independent panel convened by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).However, the case is still ongoing. Fetech said it has not withdrawn their claim, which also called for Bergs to be had initially also asked for the World Cup I draw to be postponed until a resolution was Fetech withdrew that demand after the meeting on 27 February, saying it did not want to harm the "interests of the other countries".As a result, the draw took place with Chile among the seeded teams and they have been placed against Luxembourg in the play-off.
