So the same old story unfolds at the Olympics for India. A bad first day, even worse second day - the independence day not withstanding, and we can expect the worst on the third. From shooting team, we hear the stories which we have heard before. Anjali Bhagwat talks of not checking the setting of the Air Rifle which cost her the crucial points in the beginning. We heard the similar crib by Jaspal Rana, 4 years ago. According to him his pistol for Center Fire event was faulty and got stu...
Anju George, that's it. Rest of them, if did extremely well, can come 6th or 7th. The long jumper, till date remains our biggest hope for a medal in Athens. She will be the flag bearer as well. With out any doubt she is a rarety beacause Track and Field has never been India's forte but a Bronze in the Manchester Commonwealth Games, a Gold at the Busan Asiad and most importantly a Bronze in the World Championship in Paris has changed the history. All these can be put together to equal f...
If you are banking on it, then you can't be blamed. But apart number one ranked Malleshwari, forget about others. Here is the reason behind it. That day they were showing an interview of Kunjurani Devi on some news channel . She was asked about her preparation. Her reply gave me a thorough jolt. According to her, representing her country in the Olympics itself is a big honour, however she will try for the medal as well ! This has been the attitude of most of the players till now beca...
Ask me one player whom I could bet my life on and my answer would be Leander Paes. He does not give his 100 % percent when playing for the country, rather he gives 300%. What else one could explain the reason behind his phenomenal success in Davis Cups? He plays the game with passion and when plays for the country, this passion manifolds. ATP rankings don't daunt him as he has felled many an aces in his career. The kind of respect he generates in the circuit is awesome, ask Martina Nav...
For quiet a few, the heading it self may seem far fetched, me included. I want to assess the realistic chances of India attaining any medal at Athens. I begin with Hockey not because India has the maximum chance in it but simply for the historical reasons. We are the country whose national sport is Hockey(the only Gold fetching event so far) and who have won the gold most number of times, albeit the last on was 24 years back in Moscow Olympics. We must also note that due to cold war, m...
Being an avid sports fan, I can't help it. Yet another post on the same . By the way, if Sphinx was ever there for the real, he could be no other than Lance Armstrong, the six time Tour-de-France champ, the only person to achieve this feat. He literally rose from the dead, recovering from prostrate cancer and winning two titles in row. The Sphinx and the Superman rolled into one. If there ever was rabbit- the looser( in rabbit-tortoise race), it could have no better per...
There was a comment by greatuser regarding the bias towards Cricket in India. Other sports like Hockey are not given there due attention by media and sponsors. Here I would I say, as far as media is concerned, they would cover what people like to read. Same is the case of the sponsors. Sponsor won't do any charity, they want to earn money. At most , they can go for no profit no loss. How will they earn money? They will earn money if more people are interested in the game. People...
There are two news items which provide contrasting case study on the state of organization of Cricket and Hockey in India. News items in question are a- India vs. Australia Test series venue and schedule have been just announced. b- India Hockey Coach, Rajinder Pal Singh has been sacked. You might wonder what is the contrast over here. Let me explain. Athens Olympics are not even a month away. This is the time for making strategies, training and fitness camps. Team, which only an y...
Yesterday, when India played Srilanka, a lot of worth mentioning moments took place. Like Dravid hitting Zoyasa for a six, Kaif reverse sweeping Murli, Pathan hitting Murli out of the longest boundary etc. But the moment which stood out of all is this. Sehwag was ambling for a second run when Zoyasa threw a direct hit at the stumps. Now, even a Bat in the daylight could have seen that it was out. Just to make sure, umpire called for a replay. Mr Sehwag, in the hearts of the heart mus...
Humility, that low, sweet root, From which all heavenly virtues shoot. Unfortunately, Shane Keith Warne doesn't think so. Yesterday, after temporarily equaling the world record of highest number of wickets, he started shooting from his lip. It's explainable to be proud of the record. It's remarkable that the feat has been achieved mostly on those tracks which were fast bowlers friendly. But what was need to belittle somebody else's achievement, while basking in one's own glory. ...
Twenty-twenty cricket is a new fad which is catching up in English counties these days. Actually, it was there last year as well. It drew large crowds and supposedly generated a lot excitement during the matches. It is said to be the next generation cricket after Tests and LOI. Now we hear that Australia and India(read Dalmiya) have also taken notice. Both of them are planning to introduce this new format in there forthcoming domestic season. Australia, infact has agreed to play a Twenty...
He has done it again, She has done it for the first time and They have created history!!!Here "He" is Roger Federer, "She" is Maria Sharapova and "They" are Greeks. While defending champion Federer had to fight off stiff challenge from 2nd seed, Andy Roddick, Sharapova to my pleasant surprise simply blew Serena away. She very tactically exploited Serena's weak forehand and drew the American to submission. She, now becomes the second successive Russian to win a Grand Slam final after Ana...
Czechs are out of the Euro, alas, courtesy the Silver goal by Greece. It was a case of missed opportunities. Czechs had strong midfield and forwards . There moves were phenomenal, but the finishing was poor. But that is not to take any credit away from Greeks. They gave it all they had. They were better organized. There marking , tackling was excellent. They checked all the moves marauding Czechs made. So we will have a new Euro champion this time. It's very interesting that this Euro ch...
That's Roger Federer for you. His game is oh-so mesmerizing. Just saw his Wimbledon match yesterday. Memories of last year's Semi-Final and Final came flooding back. Just how he had demolished big servers Andy Roddick and Mark Philippoussis (they call him SCUD for his missile serves ), it can only be seen to be believed. He has the grace of Stefan Edberg, which no body could fill since he departed Tennis scene. But unlike Edberg , he also has a controlled aggression . He is not wooden-fa...
" Good luck to them. While we're not allowed to do it in New Zealand, they're obviously allowed to do it over here. Our policy is to produce the best cricket wickets possible, not ones that suit the home team ." John Bracewell, New Zealand's coach, suggests that the recent Test wickets were tailored to suit England. This has to be most blatantly shameless comment of the year. He has so conviniently forgotten what these guys served Indians in the name of pitch last year. When Indians com...