It was an evening to remember for sports enthusiasts from this part of the region. Sportstar, the sports magazine of The Hindu Group of Publications, that brought out the best of every sporting personality in text and images for several decades, was launched in a new avatar amid much fanfare at the Brookefields Mall here on Wednesday.
Quiz
The evening began with a quiz programme. The questions that were posed to the public watching from the corridors of four floors of the mall varied from the very ordinary to the Olympic Games. Some were tricky and some easy. There were many from the large gathering who were bang on with the answers. And, they walked away with gift hampers sponsored by Brookefields Mall, the venue partner. Radio City was the FM partner. After an absorbing quizzing that lasted for over half-an-hour, the gathering, consisting of top sports officials, coaches, administrators and players, was treated with ‘Zumba Fitness’, a Latin-inspired fitness exercise in dance form. About 20 members of Footloose, headed by Artistic Director, M. Edwin, made a live demo for the first time in the city. And, the crowd went in raptures. They clapped, cheered and danced to the beat. This set the tone for the evening.
Later, the all-new Sportstar was launched by Dronacharya G.E. Sridharan, the chief coach of the senior India volleyball team. Sheela Karthikeyan, mother of India’s Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan and Pavarna Karthikeyan, his wife, received the first copy from Sridharan.
There were many who recollected the classy coverage, the crisp comments, the vital statistics and vivid photographs that were provided by the Sportstar to its readers. “I value every copy of the Sportstar for its contents. I had a passion for the magazine for many years. It may sound crazy but I have right from the first copy of the magazine till date,” said Ram Murali Krishnan, international statistician. He even showed the first copy of the Sportstar much to the delight of the crowd.
“I used to wait for the Sportstar eagerly week after week. And when it reached our doorstep, I would quickly collect the copy and pick the centrespread even before the rest could do in the family,” said an excited Ashwin Balasubramaniam, General Manager, Brookefields Estates Private Ltd.
There were others who voiced similar feelings. “I go back to the ‘Sport and Pastime’ in the early sixties. It was lovely in its contents,” said V.R. Sivakumar, Vice-President, Coimbatore District Cricket Association.
Venkatesh Natarajan, Regional General Manager (Advertising), The Hindu , explained the features of the new-look Sportstar. K.V. Prasad, Chief of Bureau and D. Rajkumar, Regional General Manager also spoke.
Subscription
Those interested in subscribing for Sportstar may email to sssub@thehindu.co.in or contact the Circulation Department, The Hindu, Coimbatore, at 0422 2212572.
