Lenny Rodrigues is one of those players in the Indian football team who is happy to stay away from the limelight. The ‘Best Midfielder’ award conferred on him for the 2012-13 I-League season underlines his growing stature. Rodrigues, who played a crucial role in Churchill Brothers’ I-League triumph, credits his transformation to national coach Wim Koevermans. Excerpts from an interview on the AIFF website:

Pinki Sonkar, the Indian girl chosen to toss the coin at this year’s men’s singles final at Wimbledon on July 7, left for the prestigious event after a special send-off dinner at the British high commissioner’s residence in the capital on Tuesday.

Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and forward Shivendra Singh paid the prize for their poor show in the recent Hockey World League Round 3 in Rotterdam. The seasoned duo were excluded from the list of 48 probables announced by Hockey India on Tuesday, ahead of the crucial Asia Cup next month — a qualification event for next year’s World Cup.

Samuel Adelebari Francis is one of the 87 men who have managed to breach the 10-second barrier in the 100 metre race but the lanky sprinter stands out from the pack as he is the only Asian to have achieved the staggering feat. Representing Qatar, the Nigerian-born runner created ripples on the Asian circuit when he clocked 9.99 sec at the 2007 Asian Championships in Jordan.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) gave India a strong start at the Asian boxing championships in Amman, Jordan, thrashing local favourite Ibrahim Saleh in the opening round.

Back in action after weeks of injury lay-off, promising shuttler P.V. Sindhu said she was raring to compete in her maiden senior world championships at Guangzhou, China, early next month.

A few weeks ago. He’s made a living out of beating people to pulp with his bare knuckles on-screen; kids hero-worship him, women drool over him and other men cower at the sight of him. But can you imagine Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson needing to go on a diet to, ahem, ‘improve’ his physique?

Why did you write a book on farmer suicides?
I have always written books dealing with political issues and with farmer suicides in Maharashtra becoming so common I decided to find out about their plight and the reason why they did not want to live.?

Release dates can be an explosive topic as far as Bollywood releases go. We’re sure Shahid Kapoor would agree. The actor whose films have been dodging dates with ex-flame Kareena Kapoor’s releases will now run into Saif Ali Khan’s releases. Apparently, Shahid’s Rambo Rajkumar will now release alongside Saif’s Bullet Raja in November.

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board felicitated as many as 150 sportspersons for their outstanding performance in the last three years (2009 to 2012) in a glittering function in the capital on Monday evening.