Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

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member_28714
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by member_28714 »

ritesh wrote:Its Kolkata Vs Kerala in the ISL finals, who will take the cake???

My vote goes to Kolkata :D
Of all the fellow Indians that I have met, I felt, Bengalis and Tamilians are the most parochial concerning their native languages. So it was funny when Ganguly's Spanish side emerged to name the club Atletico De Kolkata.
By some fluke, the two top footballing states ended up in the final.
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Post by Comer »

At least 3 out of 4 reached semis.
Am supporting Kolkata since Kerala defeated us in the battle of lungis :evil:
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Post by arshyam »

George wrote:Of all the fellow Indians that I have met, I felt, Bengalis and Tamilians are the most parochial concerning their native languages.
What boss, bored on a Friday, hence the flame bait?
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Post by Suraj »

Saina and Srikanth are both through to the semifinals of the badminton season ending Super Series Premier Finals. Saina topped her group with 3/3 wins and Srikanth finished second with 2/3 wins.
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by ritesh »

Paki coach now showing his true colours :D

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 575832.cms

Pakistan hockey team coach Shahnaz Sheikh made allegations that it was "India's conspiracy" to put pressure on his players ahead of the Champions Trophy final against Germany, which his team lost 0-2.
said that a "small incident" was blown out of proportion.

"The way the incident of our players celebrating after the semifinal win over India was blow out of proportion and the manner in which we were put under pressure before the final against Germany is a confirmation of Indian conspiracy. They didn't want us to win the title," Sheikh said in an interview.
Sheikh also complained that the team wasn't provided with any security as they were returning by bus crossing the Wagah Border.


"It was a long drive and there was no security escort given to us which was strange because in the past buses have been stoned and harassed on this route. More importantly, soon after we beat India in the semifinal, the attitude towards us changed and it added to the pressure on us before the final," fumed Sheikh.
When did this occur??? In his dreams???

"It was natural action on their part and it wasn't done with any wrong intention. They are youngsters and they got emotional and carried away. But the way the incident was blown out of proportion and the way I was pressurized to submit a public apology was an awful experience," said Sheikh.
WoW!!! Its only natural.....

He went on to allege that even India's behaviour after their Asian Games triumph was not at all sporting.

"When the Indians beat us in the Asian Games final, they also celebrated in a big way and they made signs but we accepted all that in sporting spirit because such celebrations are done at spur of the moment. It's not meant to convey any message," said Sheikh.
True pakistaniyat... Only allegations... no proof. Where is the proof you bakis???

He said he would like to see the Pakistan Hockey Federation take up the matter with the FIH.
Bloody hell, you beggars dont have money to compete & talking of such belligerence.... :rotfl:
Last edited by ritesh on 20 Dec 2014 12:37, edited 1 time in total.
member_28714
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Post by member_28714 »

arshyam wrote:
George wrote:Of all the fellow Indians that I have met, I felt, Bengalis and Tamilians are the most parochial concerning their native languages.
What boss, bored on a Friday, hence the flame bait?
try and get the context. boss! :roll:
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by ritesh »

George wrote:
ritesh wrote:Its Kolkata Vs Kerala in the ISL finals, who will take the cake???

My vote goes to Kolkata :D
Of all the fellow Indians that I have met, I felt, Bengalis and Tamilians are the most parochial concerning their native languages. So it was funny when Ganguly's Spanish side emerged to name the club Atletico De Kolkata.
By some fluke, the two top footballing states ended up in the final.
Actually ATK was result of tie up with Atletico Madrid, hence the naming goes like that.

This is good, way to access talent (coaching etc.) and funding in the nascent stage of footballing development in our country. Lets see, whether other team would follow this. I believe, even delhi has similar step with dutch club side.
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Saina and Srikanth bow out after starting excellently. They just kind of froze. Anyway, expecting more good things from Srikanth in the years to come.
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Post by member_28714 »

On a happier note, we just beat the shit out of Toiletstan in the 5th Kabaddi World Cup Final.
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by ritesh »

ATK won!!!! 1-0 with last kick of added time in the second half................!!!
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Post by Comer »

Wish the ISL is longer and continues in the next years. Lot of good matches and the best pedigreed team won.
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Post by Rahul M »

ISL holds no interest for me unless they find a way of making East Bengal club a part of it.
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Post by Suraj »

George wrote:Saina and Srikanth bow out after starting excellently. They just kind of froze. Anyway, expecting more good things from Srikanth in the years to come.
Too bad. Saina at least was expected to win. Srikanth is just a rookie making waves in his first year in the elite ranks.
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Post by ritesh »

Well Well pakis again upto their pakistanyiat.....
They lost the match due to foul play by indians....
Why the hell are we entertaining these p!gs???? :evil: :x

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-16927 ... -World-Cup
from the farticle.......
However, at the end of the match, Pakistan team captain accused Indian players of foul play, saying fair decisions would have changed the result in Pakistan’s favour.

The scoreboard showed 45-42 as the match ended in India’s favour.
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Post by krisna »

swimming world record
Indian swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean.

Bhakti became the first Indian woman on Tuesday to achieve this feat, beating the record of British open water swimming champion Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox.

She is also the youngest and the first Asian girl to have achieved this success and has now conquered all the five oceans of the world. Hindustan Zinc sponsored Bhakti in her quest.
Bhakti had been pursuing open water swimming for the last 10 years and also swam across four oceans, eight channels and seas. This also is a world record. In 2010, she was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.
wow
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Post by SBajwa »

check this video about Chinese sports slaves

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Post by Suraj »

Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi win the singles titles at the Indian Open Super Series badminton event, the second time in 6 months that they've won the singles at a Super Series, after winning the titles at the China Open Super Series Premier last year. In the process, Saina becomes World #1 , and Srikanth will probably come close to, or overtake the legendary Lin Dan as World #3 .
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Post by wasu »

The best part of about both these (Saina & Srikanth) are the never say die attitudes. That is the key to their success and the rest (Sindhu, Kashyap, Prannoy etc.). See the way Srikanth won both the Swiss open and Indian open titles. Same opponent. Same way. Down 1 set, win 2nd set, tough 3rd set..but kept his cool. Victor will take a while to get his psyche back in order after the loss yesterday. See the last 5 points. He was just dejected.

Srikanth will play Lin Dan in second round in Malaysian open. Will be interesting to watch.
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Post by KJo »

Saina's achievement is amazing. I hope she is being rewarded well through sponsorship and such things. Of course, she won't get to the level of cricket players, but then she is in a smaller market.

How many World No 1's have we had in individual sports?
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Post by Suraj »

Personally I am more impressed with Kidambi's performance so far. The kid's rise has been meteoric, from being Kashyap's backup to rising to heights Kashyap has never managed. The guy is already rated as the best singles player behind World #1 Chen Long and the ever dangerous Lin Dan, on par with JO Jorgensen, and better than previous peers like Axelsen and the Japanese and Korean players in the top 10. He has great net play, combined with a powerful smash and great court craft. Properly managed, he can rise to great heights.

Saina desperately needs a few more big titles. Her only top flight win at Super Series Premier level is the China Open last year. She lost in the final of the All England Super Series Premier this year, something that should rankle her, since she sought to be the first Indian after Padukone and Gopichand to win it, and the first woman to do so. She must try to win the World Championships or the Super Series Finals this year. She's approaching the latter part of her career, and will be up against more and more young hungry competitors. With the Chinese showing some fatigue, now's her time to grab more titles and cement her legacy.

Here are the rankings as of last Thursday, to be updated this week with the wins in India Open: http://www.bwfbadminton.org/page.aspx?id=14955
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Post by Gus »

fantastic stuff from the shuttlers...never thought i would see this day so soon..
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Post by VenkataS »

Agreed, awesome stuff by both Saina and Srikanth. I did not think we would have world's number 1 singles player in women's and world's number 4 singles player in men's so soon (and at the same time). Now we need more players in the top 10 in both men's and women's singles.

However we seem to be weak in all doubles categories. Hopefully in the next few years we will develop strength in the doubles categories as well.
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Post by Singha »

another saina vs lee xuerui match coming in malaysia semis.

the 17 yr old thai girl and carolina marin are the upcoming challengers for a long reign at #1. the chinese have not revealed a wunderkinder yet to replace xuerui. its time for Sindhu to raise her game and be considered a genuine top5 player if she wants to occupy the area vacated by Saina.

lin dan and wang yihan are spent forces, will likely retire soon.

30 may not be the end of career these days,,,,,,Susi susanti had a very long time at the top?
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Post by Suraj »

We don't have enough coaching and training support staff to run singles and doubles teams at the top level, it seems. As things stand, Vimal Kumar, Madhumita Bisht and/or Gopichand are present at the courtside practically everywhere Srikanth and Saina go. The Chinese don't have head coach Li Yongbo traveling like that. He has capable subordinates to accompany players. Still, we managed to win our maiden Thomas/Uber cup world team championship medal last year, winning the Uber Cup bronze. We used to have Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa in womens doubles, but they've fallen behind.

It wasn't surprising to see Srikanth lose in the Malaysian Open. He has been playing continuously for weeks, winning back to back titles at Swiss Open and India Open. He's already within a few hundred points of Lin Dan's #3 position in the rankings.
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Post by Singha »

Jwala was again complaining bitterly on tv last week about lack of help.

its time to bell the cat, since gopichand and vimal are delivering results why not a Govt grant of 100 cr to each facility to scale up physical infra, train more coaches and improve things like gyms and physical therapy setups like close ckt resistance swimming pools etc.

we need a more industrial system to deal with the chinese consistently.
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Post by arshyam »

Who heads the sports ministry? Nary a squeak from him.

The above was rhetorical, the sports minister is Mr. Sarbananda Sonowal, but point about his being quiet still stands.

He said the right things in his inauguration, but not much later. These are the only things I found online after a quick search.

Sonowal’s priority is to make Sports ministry visible - The Hindu, dated 27 May '14.
Sarbananda Sonowal, the new sports minister who took charge on Tuesday, wants to make his ministry “important and visible” and will seek advise from experts and sports personalities of the country to discharge his duties.

Welcomed by the ministry officials at his Shastri Bhawan office, Mr. Sonowal was cautious taking questions from media.

“Today is the first day. I need your (media) support and support of the countrymen to make this ministry important and visible,” Mr. Sonowal, the Lok Sabha MP from Lakhimpur constituency in Assam, told reporters after taking charge.

“I want the sports personalities to grow from our countryside,” he added.

Quizzed about his priorities, the 51-year-old leader said, “Some other day I will talk in detail about my future plan and action. I will discuss (matters) with sports experts and sports personalities of the country to carry out my functions and responsibilities effectively.”
Did he elaborate on his priorities later?

Only other news article I found about him:
Sonowal tells TOP athletes not to worry about contentious part - Sahara Samay, dated 21 Mar '15
Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today assured athletes who would be given funds for top-class training under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOP), not to worry about the contentious clause requiring them to get prior government approval for any othercwith third parties.
This is his twitter feed, seems to be somewhat active: https://twitter.com/sarbanandsonwal

Do you have a link to Jwala's complaint on TV? We can try tweeting your idea Singha-saar. I will send one, but we need more than one person saying it :)

[Added later]
So I found an online link to Jwala's complaint:

Our own people don't appreciate us, alleges Jwala Gutta - MSN.com
India's star doubles shuttler Jwala Gutta on Thursday slammed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports after being left out of the latter's ambitious Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme.

Talking to Headlines Today ahead of her Malaysia Open women's doubles second round match, which she ultimately lost pairing with her long-time partner Ashwini Ponnappa, Gutta alleged that "those who know the game and system don't support us or acknowledge us".

"We are not acknowledged for what we have done for the country. Our parents and friends know what we are going through. Our own people don't appreciate us, don't acknowledge us," Gutta told Headlines Today over the phone.

"I was very disappointed when I read the details of doubles selection. How much I ever try to be strong or tell Ashwini to be strong, it hurts us. Lot of people are happy with the performance of singles players. Singles players have a good support system, but Ashwini and I don't have a doubles coach. We didn't even had shuttles at the Bangalore camp," the Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who also expressed her outburst over the issue in her Facebook post, said.

Also read: Saina reaches Malaysia Open quarters

Recommended gallery: Saina Nehwal's career in pictures

"We are expected to attend national camps without any support system. At this very point we can say that Ashwini and I don't have any support system apart from our sponsors. It's quite disappointing, it has been happening again and again. We had been relying on the government of India. Whatever tournament we got, we got it through the government of India... We are demoralised," she said. {Does this mean GoI is more responsive than BAI? Isn't BAI under the Sports ministry?}

BAI plays down Jwala's charges

Reacting to Gutta's allegations, BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta said, "Every player is given their due depending on their ranking. There is no question that they will not be getting any support from government of India or BAI."

"They have to qualify for Olympics, they have to attend camps. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini are our stars," Gupta said reiterating the BAI's commitment towards "the players who are performing".

Govt's TOP scheme

Badminton became the first sport to benefit from the sports ministry's Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme as it signed an MoU with India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), a company under Ministry of Finance, to provide financial support to badminton.

According to the MoU, signed on March 30, IIFCL shall contribute Rs 30 crore for three years (Rs 10 crore per year) for the TOP scheme under its initiatives for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

India's first ever World Number One shuttler Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy, RMV Gurusaidutt and PV Sindhu would be the beneficiary of the scheme.
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Post by Supratik »

The problem is that Jwala has been at loggerheads with the federation and others for sometime. The federation may not have recommended her name to the SM. This is politics and Sonowal should look into it.

Meanwhile saina lost to lu in a close fight. Hope she peaks next year at the OG. the main challenge are lu and carolina.
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Post by Suraj »

ATP World Tour pays tribute to Paes as he wins his 700th doubles match:
LEANDER PAES: THE PRINCE OF INDIA
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by VenkataS »

Australian Open Superseries: Kidambi Srikanth Advances, Parupalli Kashyap, PV Sindhu Exit

Strong showing as well by Sindhu and Kashyap in losses to higher seeds.
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Post by vinod »

World-ranked 174 Guam stun India in World Cup qualifier
A country ranked 174 in the world, with a population of 165,000 and coached by a former Bognor Regis player has beaten India in qualifying for the World Cup.

Guam, defeated 16-0 and 19-0 during the 2002 tournament qualifying, recorded their first ever qualifier win with victory over Turkmenistan last week.

And now the Asian team, managed by Gary White, has beaten a country with a population of 1.25 billion 2-1 at home.
Wow! Why am I not surprised?!!!
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Post by Pranay »

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/sport ... world&_r=0
The Indian state of Manipur, the birthplace of modern polo, is home to the oldest active polo ground, Mapal Kangjeibung. Here, the “game of kings” is the province of the common man: Masons, laborers, government employees and police officers populate the roughly 20 active polo clubs in Imphal, the capital.

Last year was the 150th anniversary of the first official polo tournament played in its modern form. Before British influence, sagol kangjei, as polo was originally called here, was played with seven players per team. The mallets were made of cane, and the ball was made from bamboo root. The name polo came later: The Tibetan word for bamboo root is “pulu.”

Today, Manipur follows International Polo Association rules, and teams consist of four players. Sagol kangjei is played only as an exhibition sport at tournaments and festivals.

The decline of polo and of the Manipuri pony, which was once used in warfare and is now endangered, began when state patronage for polo players ended, around the time of India’s annexation of Manipur; the royal family of Manipur had patronized the sport. Though attributed to many factors, a major reason for the decline of the ponies is that they are used for little else today besides polo, and with almost no income to be made playing polo there is little value seen in keeping ponies.

A 2007 survey of the pony population conducted by the Manipur Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Services put the population at 1,218. But an informal survey by the Manipur Pony Society in August 2014 found that the population could be as low as 500.

As it stands, there is no official government policy regarding the preservation of the Manipuri pony or sagol kangjei. Both have survived because of occasional patronage by private enthusiasts, but all involved know that is unsustainable in the long term. Players and advocates for the pony see little hope for the species and the sport if there is no government intervention. No pony, no polo. No polo, no pony.
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Post by SBajwa »

World Hockey League!

India defeated Malaysia to enter semi finals.

notsogreatBritian defeated Bakis by 2-1 to enter Semi Finals.

Bakis did not qualified for Olympics (India has already qualified as Asian Gold Medalist)

The top 4 teams will play in the world hockey league later this year in India. Top 3 of these will qualify for Olympics.
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Post by Rahul M »

from stan's blog.
http://dharma-yuddham.blogspot.in/2015/ ... field.html

=======================================
Reflections from the hockey field

Now that the Hockey World League semi-finals have concluded at Antwerp, it is time for some reflections and stock-taking.

1) The initial Indian men's practice matches saw a 1-0 win against France, a 1-2 loss against Belgium, a 4-0 win against the US and a 2-1 win against England. Most teams take these matches kinda easy and reserve it primarily to fine-tune certain set-pieces without revealing too much about themselves, learning as much about the opposition, and getting a hang of the bounce in the field and other shenanigans of the umpires. Thus, while they reflect very little about the overall state-of-affairs of each team, they do provide general indications about the trajectories of different teams. Setting up four practice matches before the main event also speaks immense proportions about the HI administrative machinery, a congratulatory note deserved to them given the ramshackle nonsense one has witnessed in the bygone era. The Indian team actually arrived ten days before the event (surprise), and an Indian umpire ran the ground in many matches, surprise surprise.

2) Anyway, from these score-lines, it augurs well that we have caught up with the English a bit (to whom we lost in the ill-fated Santiago qualification match for the 2008 Olympics as well as later in the 3rd place playoff), while we have fallen beside Belgium a bit. But it must also be pointed out that much of the "spectacular" (ably assisted snidely by the Euro-centric FIH) English climb in the 2005-10 period was built on the backs of people such as Barry Middleton, Ashley Jackson and Simon Mantell. While an official Project India was going on at FIH, an unofficial Project "Heil Europe/the white man" has been in the works over the last four decades, with a lot of backroom parleying in terms of voting/rule changes/policy changes to suit the European teams primarily. Similarly, much of the Belgian climb has been on the back of people such as Tom Boon (the costliest flop in the HIL that concluded earlier in the year) and Florent van Aubel. While it can be argued that every team climbs on the back of a few star players, it is more so the case with European teams than is the case with India. Lone superstars in the Indian team annals is a bygone era, and therein lies the rub, despite humongous noise made about the case of Sardara Singh and his lonely presence in the best-11 team of many a year. To break the Indian team and its rhythm, in general, one needs to see many injuries, like in this event.

3) The performance of the Indian men's team at the event has not been abysmal, but has not been spectacular either. While one can discount for the fact that the pre-knock out matches were only useful for discarding the 5th team (4 out of 5 teams enter the quarterfinal stage), it could also be useful for steering an easier path to the finals. In that sense, a 3-2 win against France, a 2-2 draw against Pakistan and a 3-2 win against Malaysia in the quarterfinal stage did not showcase Indian capabilities in any sense. Both the 3-2 wins against France and Malaysia were wins pulled out of nowhere-land, with goals in the last-5 minute period from Ramandeep Singh and Jasjit Singh Kular, respectively. Sadly, these were the instances in the past, where India would have demitted the opportunity to the opponents, however crappy they are/were, however lowly they stood in terms of history or the more recent FIH rankings eke-ing out draws from victories and losses from draws. These are opportunities on which we capitalize these days. This says a lot about the fitness of the core bunch --- a notch or two upwards from the good old days.

4) The other side of this performance coin was the series of massive losses --- a 2-6 loss to the Australians, a 0-4 loss to the Belgians in the semi-finals and a 1-5 loss to the English in the 3rd place playoff. Not much can be said except that our rhythm has been too wrecked by one or two initial bad happenstances in the first quarter. An early goal conceded in the first quarter has led to a meltdown, especially against strong opponents who can pounce on silly mistakes in the D. A number of such goals were scored by the Belgians and the Australians. The lack of defensive depth that could couple with penalty corner strength was sorely lacking in the event (Raghunath with an injury prior to the event and Rupinderpal's continual presence in the field dogged by his injury in the practice matches). Our penalty corner conversion rate in the league matches was beyond abysmal. Jasjit Singh Kular donned the mantle of a drag flicker for the first time in the match against Malaysia and he came up with two spectacular strikes to the top of the goal box especially when it mattered the most. The last goal, coming 5 minutes before the final hooter, was more than perfect exquisitely targeted in a way that even Kumar Subramaniam (the no. 1 custodian of Malaysia who had to return due to his son's death) could have saved.

5) The rise of Jasjit, a product of Sansarpur, hopefully opens up the now defunct assembly line of Sansarpurian hockey players. Jasjit made his debut last year and it is remarkable what a bit of trust can do to a player who was/is not in his best elements in his debut series. But the empty cupboard beyond Raghu and Rupinder is how the state of affairs is in India, let alone most teams. Take away one or two linchpins and every team falls crashing down. The losses against Australia and Belgium clearly demonstrate that the young Indian team (very different from the one that won the series 3-1 in Australia) is still fresh on its knees and experience. The Indian team will go back to the drawing board to lick its wounds and fix the mess that left them without a medal in this event. But more than cleaning up the mess, the bigger questions that need attention are: who after Sreejesh?, who is filling the D-line when Raghu/Rupinder/Birendra are out?, who are the PC-exponents?, who can double or treble up their jobs at the front, the middle and the D?, etc. and more. When the margins are wafer-thin, the pipeline needs to be hot. Despite the massive improvement over the last decade, dil maange more in terms of the lower rungs of hockey. This is a sad case of work eternally in progress. It also looks like Roelant Oltmans has stepped aside leaving the job to Paul van Ass, but the substitution charts seem to indicate that we did nt exploit this capability like we did in the Walsh era. Is this a case of one step forward, two back, or is it a transition to the good old era of "a man should last the 70 minutes?"

6) Despite all the fiasco, the order of the day was that India could end up on the podium with a win over England in the 3rd place playoff. This is how every tournament is. Pakistan finished runner-up in the Champions Trophy at Bhubaneshwar recently after squeaking through the knock out stages. Many other teams just up their ante only during these stages rather than go for the kill in the league matches. All this means nothing as knock out matches essentially capture a path to the finals and eventual hockey performance depends on the side of the bed one wakes up on. There are no rewards for "consistency" in the FIH rankings, except for consistent finishing on the podium, which is rather indirectly reflected by the strength of the team. In contrast, in most other sports, every match counts in some form or another. Take that, FIH! There is no incentive for a bilateral series in the FIH rankings chart. Thus, a win here and there against Australia or Belgium or Germany does not mean much to India, but what is needed are consistent top-few finishes and wins that matter in the knock out matches.

7) It is a fact that the FIH has skewed its rankings for Asia with a massive inertia to the past rather than the recent current. For example, the Asian Games gold won by India in 2014 will not count for the top-dog in Asia mark-up (a 750 point boost over the current 700 points we have for being the 2nd top-dog based on past calculations) till 2016 has begun. This means that South Korea will continue to be ranked the no. 1 team in Asia till the end of 2015, even though the FIH rankings get updated often enough to see the impact of the Asian Games gold medal. The obvious justification for the FIH actions is that the continental events for the other four continents do not happen till 2015, but with the next Asian Games initially scheduled for Hanoi in 2019 and the Asia cup happening in 2017 and in regularity every four years, the two-year regularity between the Asian Games and the Asia Cup was to have brought back Asia to the same page as Oceania and Europe. Now with Hanoi withdrawing from running the Asian Games, and with Jakarta stepping in but with 2018 as the host date, things are again back at a flux. It is time for the Asian Hockey Federation to step in and run the Asia Cup event at a regularity of every two years. Four years is too long a time in hockey and a weighted average of the Asian Games could only help. Given the lethargy that dominates AHF, nice try at that revolution.

8) Nevertheless, despite the inertia, India's chart is only going to go up in the oncoming future. With South Korea failing to qualify for the Rio Olympics from the other Hockey World League semi-finals at Buenos Aires (So Korea finished 7th), Pakistan failing from Antwerp (finishing 8th) and Malaysia with a thin chance (finishing 6th at Antwerp), India is perhaps the only entrant at the Rio Games from Asia. That brings us to the likely qualifiers for the Rio Games: As the top-3 finishers at Buenos Aires, Germany, Argentina and Netherlands have made it. So have Australia, Belgium and England from Antwerp. India has made it as the Asian Games gold medallist. The other four continental events are to unfold in the next few months with likely winners being Argentina/Canada, South Africa, Germany/Netherlands/Belgium, and Australia/New Zealand. I am more biased towards Argentina, Australia and Germany/Netherlands as continental champions. With Brazil with a very faint hope of qualifying as the host (it has already finished beyond the 30th overall rank set by FIH for the end of 2014 and it looks likely to finish past 6th in the Pan-Am games), that leaves 7 spots to be filled from the two HWL semi-finals stage. With this set of likelihoods, three/four spots open up for Buenos Aires and Antwerp each with the 4/3 switch depending on the head-to-head FIH ranking of the 7th team from each list. Since 3 spots are assured from each event and with two spots vacated from Buenos Aires, Canada and Spain are going to make it. With 1 spot vacated from Antwerp and India already qualified, Ireland are going to make it. The 7th spot is a head-to-head between New Zealand and Malaysia, which Malaysia will lose leaving Asia with India as the lone entry. In the remote possibility that Brazil qualifies, New Zealand is out, which would be sweet comeuppance for being the darling cinderellas of FIH, a la Belgium and England.

9) The less talked about tale is the remarkable "success" story of the women. The women have all but qualified (just the official list yet to be printed) for Rio, finishing 5th beating Japan 1-0. India has now consistently beaten Japan in the recent past (including the bronze playoff at the Asian Games last year and Asia Cup in 2013) making us the 3rd best women's team in Asia behind South Korea and China. Again, this is not reflected in the FIH rankings chart. If one discounts the boycott-ridden Moscow Games in 1980, which most sensible people do, this is the first real qualification for the women's team. The entry to the World Cup in 2006 on the back of the Asia Cup win in 2004 in New Delhi and the subsequent 11th finish was ok, but not something to crow about given the massive hosting help the Asia Cup did to us. Not blaming India for hosting that event, but this qualification, on the other hand, has happened despite adversity and essentially foreign/hostile conditions.

10) The tidings towards the qualification did not look prosperous at all. With a no-name Mathias Ahrens being appointed the head Coach in May 2015, after the Australian Neil Hawgood departed from the women's team in a show of support to the ousted men's coach Terry Walsh, things looked ominous from the start. The gap from the expiry of Hawgood's contract (Dec. 31, 2014) to Ahrens' eventual appointment/first pay-date (May 4, 2015) says a lot about the lethargy that runs rife at HI, SAI and MSYA, notwithstanding their other claims to change, mobility and dynamism. Despite the women's qualification for the Rio games, Ahrens' CV and claim to coach the women's team is a bit untested. Much will depend on the team's performance in subsequent events. Is Ahrens the lucky bellweather of change initiated by Hawgood AND HI, or is Ahrens going to take a leap from Hawgood's book and jump out of the sky? Time will tell.

11) In any case, the women had earlier traveled to Hastings, NZ for the Hawke's Bay Cup and performed reasonably well, even if they lost all the matches except the 7th-8th playoff against Japan (won 3-2). That performance left one with the feeling that the climb is far and high to the top echelons of women's hockey. Given our rather wayward performance even in this event, that feeling has only been re-emphasized. The 1-0 loss to Belgium (ranked just above us in the FIH ranking list) must have hurted the most with the 5-0 and 4-2 losses to New Zealand and Australia looking like usual business. The 3-1 win against Poland (a repeat of the HWL Round 2 finals win) set us to the quarterfinal stage against Netherlands, which we lost comfortably 7-0. But the subsequent penalty shoot out win over Italy (a team ranked considerably lower than us) and Japan set us up for the 5th place finish. Our victories, like the men's, were not comfortable and does not give us a great feeling of satisfaction despite the end result.

12) As far as the Rio games are concerned, England, China and Germany make it from Valencia (the first of the two semi-finals) and Netherlands, South Korea and Australia make it from Antwerp. With South Korea already qualified as the Asian winner, New Zealand make it too. And with one of Australia/New Zealand bound to be the Oceania Cup winner, India will definitely make it. South Africa will make it as the African continental champion and Brazil wont make it as the host. With Netherlands and Argentina/US as the other likely continental champions, the list is heavily skewed for the Antwerp half of the semi-finals, with the loser of New Zealand/Australia, India, Japan likely to make it from this half. The loser of Argentina/US in the continental event is likely to make it from Valencia on account of head-to-head against Belgium. Thus, in contrast to the men's outing, all the four major Asian teams will make it to Rio.

13) That brings me to the ugly 13th point, that of Pakistan. There is a lot of hand wringing going on in Pakistani media about the non-qualification/departure from the Olympic movement. Following up with the absence at the World Cup at the Hague in 2014, there is a lot of clamor for the heads of Akhtar Rasool (the PHF president), Shahnaz Sheikh (the coach) and Muhammad Imran (the captain, who has already resigned along with the selection panel). Sadly, none of these goals will get any job accomplished. What Pakistan needs to do is to observe the climb of the Irish (who also beat them at cricket not long ago). Or closer to home, India since missing the boat at the 2008 Beijing games. What the Irish and the Indians have going for them is exposure and more exposure. Given the dearth of exposure to hyper-running teams, what did the Pakistanis do on their first foreign visit (even missing the Sultan Azlan Shah cup for want of travel moneys) to India for the Champions Trophy in ages: show a middle finger to the crowd. What did they do in South Korea, where they had gone for an exposure trip before the HWL semi-finals: walk out of the game after a yellow card. Whether the crowd was hostile or not, whether the yellow card was undeserved or not, great going that, where one loses focus on one's strategic goals and thinks with their backsides.

With Narinder Batra still hostile to any Pakistani player in HIL (and get over it, HIL is a money spinner just like IPL is and where the money grows, one goes), the ball is entirely in the Pakistani court to fix the mess amidst them. The Pakistani team is not a bad team yet, but they could well on their way to be one, given the desert that is the PHF calendar in the subsequent years. It is not India's responsibility or obligation to lift Pakistan out of its morass by hosting a rivalry now, but perhaps a business dealing, much like cricket is. What does India stand to gain by hosting a match/series/badlaa? Nothing tangible so far. And India will only host an event if it sees net benefits to itself, get over it. I am no fan of India-Pakistan matches (rioting with or without tanks and bullets), but I am an even lesser fan of a cross-border pissing contest when the Indian team has a task ahead and with diversions galore that could knock it down from its path.

That medal-winning London-bound team post could still be alive and kicking, for all one knows. Aye Gorkhali to that!
Supratik
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by Supratik »

I happened to catch the first half of SF against Belgium. It was terrible. The team was trying to defend from the start which is not India's game. They were standing around the D and conceded two quick . This is not the Dutch team who will defend and then counter-attack and score of PC conversion. IMO the coach got it horribly wrong. This is not an European team. If this is going to be this coach's strategy more horrible defeats are on the cards. We should re-look into this strategy of hiring foreign coaches. Cricket is trying to move away from that.
Suraj
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by Suraj »

I don't think we even sent our best team to Antwerp for the World Hockey League Semifinals. Raghunath and Rupinder (both of whom are our best drag flickers) was injured, and I suspect others were carrying injuries, considering our losses at the end after making the semifinals. We already qualified for the WHL Finals as the host. We were also the first country to qualify for Rio 2016. In effect, the team had no motivation. The Belgians on the other hand were desperate to qualify for final and guarantee their Rio spot, at home.

The Euro and Aussies have a strong penalty corner conversion rate. We still need to get better at that. GB seem to have a very good running game too, something the Irish are picking up on . I agree with Stan - there's a big gulf between Sreejesh, who's one of the world's best goalies, and any substitute.
SBajwa
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by SBajwa »

Defender Jasjit Singh Kular is still very young and learning. Counter attack after successful defending is the issue with the team (fast running).

Also Sansarpur has a long time demand for an astroturf field which is still pending. If 10-15 years old are practice on Astroturf(like they do in Netherlands, Australia, Germany, etc) they can become a match winners. Astroturf also needed in Manipur, many villages in UP along with villages in Tamil Nadu.
Suraj
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by Suraj »

Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner narrowly misses out making the Wimbledon Men's Doubles final, losing an epic 5 setter 13-11 in the last set. They beat the Bryan bros en route to losing the semifinal.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis (top seeds) in Women's Doubles semifinal. Leander Paes and Hingis in the Mixed Doubles semifinal. Hopefully between them they'll win at least one of the doubles titles.
Kakkaji
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Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Post by Kakkaji »

I don't think India should help in financial revival of Pakistani hockey or cricket or any other sport. Let them lie in the bed they have made for themselves
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