Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

KrishG · Post by **KrishG** » 28 Feb 2010 22:39

Bhy did Bakis loose ??

Beacuse they had green shoes and socks on!

negi · Post by **negi** » 28 Feb 2010 22:42

We have decent pair of legs in prabhjot,Deepak thakur and shivendra singh these guys can give other team's defence a run for their money ; Sandeep singh has a fast drag flick he beat the baki goalie with sheer pace on both occasions . Vikram Pillay's defense was impenetrable today . Germans and Dutch are very good with long passes and set pieces (to be fair in hockey one cant do much about a well executed drag flick from a penalty corner ) our best chance is our counter attacks , penalty corner conversions and of course mid field and defense holding up as they did today.

And I hate to say it but I hope we don't go back to our old habit of holding on to the ball or showing stick work in the D area .

Carl_T · Post by **Carl_T** » 28 Feb 2010 22:43

How big is hockey in desh? I've heard all about it, but never actually played it or seen it being played. Maybe that has changed now.

negi · Post by **negi** » 28 Feb 2010 22:51

First line SS== Shivendra Singh , RS==Rajpal Singh; I guess second line SS== Sandeep Singh (who is DR ?).
Phew too much for me.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 28 Feb 2010 22:57

RS == calm before the storm: capitan Rajpal Singh
SS == man with a mission: Sandeep Singh, the drag flick maestro
AdS == Adrian D Souza, the GK who was benched -- thank goodness that happened. anyone who has looked at AdS's record against the bakis would know benching AdS is not a flash in the pan idea.
PRS == PR Sreejesh, from AP, bropah sdre ==)), unlike Mumbai-nurtured AdS
BS == Baljeet Singh, GK who had the golf ball hit his eye and is sitting at home now waiting for dole from HI or some other organization that could stand for hickey in India.
DR == silence of the lambs: Diwakar Ram, drag flick maestro in the making, 22 y.o., former Ind jr team capitan, future powerhouse of Injun hickey
SA == perfidy thy name is paki: Sohail Abbas, 300+ goals, chooses to brand himself in the lineage of Hassan Sardar, but unfortunately no hulla gulla in the house {read as "track-record"} for such meritorious acclaims, for sdres like me, he is just another abdul despite his 300+ bullshite record
JB == coach Jose Brasa, for some like me, he used to be the evangelical face of spain in India, along with vicente ferrer. teaching oiropean skillsets to injuns seemed to be his sales-pitch, moi relationship with him as far as the hickey field goes is best described as love-hate, more hate than love. but that does nt take away anything about his wards', who come in different forms, shapes, beliefs and value systems.

PS: Defence effort of Gurbaj Singh won him the "Man of steel" award. There you go, midfielders world is one heckuva fun. Sandeep takes it in, Gurbaj holds the fort.

PPS: I refuse to count the number of Sikhs in the team, this should be called "return to normalcy"

. Gurbux Singh in the telegraph may have something to add, or our ndtv expert commentator Viren Rasquinha, newly minted ISB-ian

. thank goodness, they plucked the mike from our favorite bakra, else we would have had to witness a: "Indeeeeeeyaa has taken a 4-0 lead, mummy mummy, my favorite soooo-cute-hail-aaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbass mummy mummy, what a ripper."

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 28 Feb 2010 22:58

Enjoyed every single second of the match. Way to go India.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 28 Feb 2010 23:14

stan, times now reported before the match that adrian missed due to an injury.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 28 Feb 2010 23:29

Rahul M wrote:stan, times now reported before the match that adrian missed due to an injury.

The s2h guy came up with a "surprise surprise, what do we have here?" comment.

The chorus about how it was a sweet revenge for the 6-3 at Salta Champ challenge has started. Already. Sick. Salta CC cannot be revenged, it was a 1 shot opportunity for entry into CT and climbing upwards in the world rankings. And neither arg, nor Ind nor pak made it. Lowly and bum-team Nz made it. So how can 6-3 be venged, a buncha immature kids writing soap-operatic newspaper reports on matters they just cant bloody well fathom.

Next one is against oz. If we beat the roos and the pakis lose against the evangelists, I will really start fearing for the security of wch. The tableeghis may order a paki army team in disguise to pay a visit to DC stadium. And given the ToI blogger's tale of "security" hush-hush at around DC premises, bring that icon for head against the wall.

Really wanna see Nz finish dead last for Simon Child's childish behavior. Falls one level above Ravi Bopara though. Hate the black caps, and this comes from a super-duper bledisloe cup fan of the caps. This time I will choose the boks over the white pakis and the haka folk. Not even if Tana Umaga plays.

PS: evangelists == spanish hickey team. and there is a good reason why i call them that. take a look at the previous version of this thread where I bosted about the anantapur project, if that moniker bothers someone so much.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 28 Feb 2010 23:36

Interestingly, Australia, our next opponent, lost 2-3 to England in their first Pool B match.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 01 Mar 2010 00:43

Congratulations Team India.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 01 Mar 2010 00:50

anishns wrote:what are joo talking about? Did u notice the saffron socks of the yindoo team....SS/RSS influence is getting stronger...

Saffron socks of Yindoos, white ball..and green socks of Purelanders..interesting combination.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 01 Mar 2010 03:22

Players profiles

Both Women's and Men's team members profiles.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 01 Mar 2010 08:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCimDiyPEC8

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Mar 2010 10:51

Seems like GK PR Sreejesh is from Kerala and not AP. sdre tru-blue nonetheless

.

A product of G.V. Raja Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, Sreejesh has taken a break in his academics to concentrate dedicatedly on hockey. When asked about his inspiration for taking up the national game his straightforward answer couldn’t get genuine than that. “Inspiration? Hmmm… I cannot name any as I am from Kerala and I never heard of any famous name until I started playing in 2001,” he said.

Talking about the most memorable match of his career he said, “The 2009 Champions Challenge was a real good learning experience and at such a high competitive level I could really test my skills to the peak of performance against tough teams.” Born in Kumarapuram (Kerala), Sreejesh made his international debut in the under-21 team where his performance was noticed by every selector. It didn’t stop there; he was awarded the best goalkeeper in MCC Murugappa Gold Cup tournament in Chennai while representing Indian Overseas Bank.

http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?pag ... &sectxslt=

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Mar 2010 11:56

RahulM, from the horse's mouth:

Asked why Sreejesh Raveendran manned the Indian goal instead of Adrian D'Souza, he said, "There is no injury or anything on Adrian. We have two very good goalkeepers and we thought Sreejesh would do well today."

http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/ma ... kistan.htm

JB seems to have a set of priorities. He first pushed out Sandeep over Rajpal in the capitancy issue. Esp the rolling capitancy mess in the canada 6-zip series led to a lot of acrimony. After the "pay for 2009" fiasco, he chose to side with Prabhjot, who had magically gotten "the team's" overwhelming support. Baljeet had stated that there were lotsa cronyism peddled from the coach down under {from interview in dna}. Now AdS has been sidelined with Sreejesh, not like PRS was a bad choice and AdS would have been a default choice. AdS had become predictable under the bars, or somuchso I felt from his choreographed response to PCs and more to the PSs. Surely, PRS upset SA and Imran Warsi, but nevertheless....

What is not mentioned is that the midfield stood super-strong. Sardara Singh and Gurbaj Singh, alongwith Sandeep have manned the midfield with aplomb. Even during Salta CC, Sardara stood out. Same during the canada series. In fact, there was a challenge thrown by JB to Sardara to keep the midfield tight in the last match of the canada series after conceding 3 goals when we drew the lone match of the series. And Sardara came on top. Sardara has since then found JB's good side even during crises time, like the 6-3 game against the pakis in the Salta semifinals.

Plus the pakis drew against canada in the practice game, lost to germany, and came low on confidence even if the non-playing bench and zeeshan ashraf came to the defence of the pakis in the paki fora. There were a few injuries too, but thats none of my problems.

I am worried by JB's moves. Prabhjot, who is a smart khiladi, and a great one too {remember he carried us in 2008 when Sandeep was often injured, even during Punjab Gold Cup, it was Prabhjot who carried us in the first Germany match}, is being used by JB to set the team unity into a downslide. Deepak Thakur, the veteran, had been sidelined till the WC time came, which is a stupid move to be honest. DT has enough experience under his belt that he is a giant on and off the field. There are also some issues with the Tirkeys, even if Dileep Tirkey is injured and has been so for a while now. Prabodh Tirkey, Lazarus Barla, Belhazar Horo, and other Orissa/Jharkand/Sundergarh players had complained of getting the bad end of the stick previously. JB is getting away right now, cos India won a sentimental match against the oiseaules. But the situation seems ripe and one small matchstick away from a big bad burn, and a monumental meltdown. The brown pakis gone, I am waiting for the white pakis now.

Another interesting comment was that of Suresh Kalmadi: he mentioned a reward to the players and specifically made a statement about how JB had achieved what RicC had failed

. RicC is still producing too much burns in the HI apparatus. And guess what, RicC came for the Netherlands practice match along with the paki coach and taped quite a few things. I am not sure if that was for a taping of the Dutch or for the Injuns, given that RicC knows some stuff about the Indian playing attitude and style, etc. May be RicC was a bit early in thinking of the semifinals already

.

All that aside, remember this, when JB leaves, and he will leave soon, the bad end of the stick from HI and Suresh Kalmadi will come towards JB. It always happens that way. Remember Gerard Rach, not like GRach was a saint, he was a drunkard chooo___ who somehow became the coach god knows how. JB had also mentioned some rubbish in some interview I read where he said, "he will talk about stuff after the WC"

. There are wheels within wheels, and I would unsolicitedly advice some caution to the senti-folks here. The politics is nauseating, so dont invest a lot of your heart-felt emotions on WCH. I did so for many WCHs, and OGs, only to see it all burn away in the final minute {Poland 2000, etc.}. Just do it with a sense of indifference, good for your heart health

.

One final point. Seems like quite a few of the 17 in the team got to play a few minutes. Notable minimal play-listers were Diwakar Ram and Danish Mujtaba, both under 22. DM is 18! This is seriously new strategy for Team India. I have never seen 15 of 17 get to play with rolling subs, like we saw in the paki match. Is this JB's strategy, I believe so. The team slowed down in the second half, and trust me, this is NOT fun at all. The assies know this game, run at scorching pace for the first half and tire all over in the second. We have been caught gaping many a time in the past. No fun.

I dont know how India used the self-pass, which is a new strategy in this WC. But they did use the vid referral with great finesse. Will they continue to do so? god knows the answer. If they do so, expect RicC to burn more. He is already seething at the vid referrals being oiseaulish etc.

. I cant wait to rotfl at the white paki maestro, the one and only RicC, but thats for after the match, not now. Provided our khiladis dont settle for normalcy in a moment of madness.

niran · Post by **niran** » 01 Mar 2010 13:24

to me midfield was fantastic, they fed forwards
Loads and loads i observed wingers in midfield
and forwards and defending this must have confused the pakese.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Mar 2010 15:48

Seems like Shivendra Singh has been suspended for three matches. Will have to wait and see how the appeal goes. Most likely, nothing will come out of it. For those who followed the Santiago 2008 debacle, this is all par for the course. Four-five Injun players were pulled after 10 PM one day before the crucial Ind-Eng finals match, and were warned that they would be suspended henceforth for hard play. Joaquim Carvalho has more to say about this. And this is one aspect, which none of our ddm talked about despite the extended calumny that was bestowed on the then Indian team for missing the OG boat. Psychologically, the effect was well manufactured and the Injuns lost the match in the last 10 minutes. And we did nt play our first Olympics ever. England got extra training as a CT participant prior to the Santiago qualifier by some underhand dealings. First, the CT was pushed off from Lawhore due to security issues. And then conspiratorially kept out of Dilli and awarded to KL. There were 8 participants in that CT, unlike the normal six {and to date only CT with eight participants}, and magically a no-name English team found itself getting the much needed pre-Santiago practice with the top teams along with pakis and Malays (as hosts). Argentina that was higher ranked in the then world rankings and a couple more higher ranked teams did nt get the 8th spot (!).

This is the caliber of the oiropean-infested FIH. This was the same behavior under the Dutch Els van Breda whats her name as well as under the evangelicals from Spain under Leandro Negre. If the Injuns can bestow on all these goras a Dilli belly, so be it. Those oiseaules richly deserve it.

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 02 Mar 2010 00:53

FIH wants India to host first World Club Cup in December

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story ... ember.html

....here comes the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) next dream project: a global club tournament featuring eight of the world's top club teams -- to be held in India this December, the first of its five years on these shores.

"We are very close to an agreement about this club tournament during this weekend," Negre said and then laid down another statement of intent. One of the key steps to staging what aims to be hockey's premium club event, was the return of the Indian Premier League, now in 'suspended animation' after a three-year run since its inception in 2005.

The global club event is intended to bring in the top eight club teams from leading hockey nations (be it in terms of states/ province/ club champions) and said to be a short sharp event featuring quarter-finals on a Friday, semi-finals on a Saturday and a final on Sunday. The world club championship Negre said would travel around the travel around the world but "the next five years of it will be in India - it is one of the conditions." It may be that of the sponsors, but no doubt it is FIH's view too.

The FIH chief had his own version of what the revived PHL should be like. The inclusion of foreign players into every PHL team was still welcome, but he said, "In my particular feeling it has to be linked with a town or regionâ€¦ it has to be played in all towns."

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 02 Mar 2010 01:54

http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/ma ... r-read.htm

"If Mr Read wants to send a message why did he pick the Indian team. My players were struck on the face in that match against Pakistan and matches involving Australia, England and other countries were much more physical involving graver offences by their players.

"I have never ever experienced a player being handed a three-match penalty in my life -- be it Olympics , World Cup or Champions Trophy. Three match is half of the World Cup. To penalise a player by suspending him half of a World Cup for an unintentional foul was enormous," said Brasa.

The experienced coach, however, made it clear that he was not suggesting that Read had acted in that way because he was from Australia, against whom India play on Tuesday.

"I am not even suggesting that he was biased against us as he is an Australian. I am just talking about his decision as a tournament director," he said.

What is that which gets the goat of all aussies- be it chappells riccs and et al. we yindians are at the receving end.

niran · Post by **niran** » 02 Mar 2010 07:09

krisna wrote: What is that which gets the goat of all aussies- be it chappells riccs and et al. we yindians are at the receving end.

Dileep saar would have replied "know your place coolie"

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 02 Mar 2010 07:32

link to Hockey World Cup schedule and each match highlights

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... tures.html

Link to India - Sons of Musharraf match highlights

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... dia-4.html

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Mar 2010 21:08

Australia leading 3-1 at half time.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 02 Mar 2010 21:49

Ind-Aus-2-5

Ind has to bt spain to have a chance of semis.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Mar 2010 22:11

krisna wrote:http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/ma ... r-read.htm

"If Mr Read wants to send a message why did he pick the Indian team. My players were struck on the face in that match against Pakistan and matches involving Australia, England and other countries were much more physical involving graver offences by their players.

"I have never ever experienced a player being handed a three-match penalty in my life -- be it Olympics , World Cup or Champions Trophy. Three match is half of the World Cup. To penalise a player by suspending him half of a World Cup for an unintentional foul was enormous," said Brasa.

The experienced coach, however, made it clear that he was not suggesting that Read had acted in that way because he was from Australia, against whom India play on Tuesday.

"I am not even suggesting that he was biased against us as he is an Australian. I am just talking about his decision as a tournament director," he said.
What is that which gets the goat of all aussies- be it chappells riccs and et al. we yindians are at the receving end.

This IS racism pure and simple. No getting around it.

The aussies have been itching to take a swipe at us ever since the IPL started up and they saw the sheer global power of the BCCI.

Read is a cowboy.

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 03 Mar 2010 00:21

India lost but I quite liked the way we scored the second goal against the Aussies. Arjun Hallappa was mercurial. Waiting for our guys to give a better show against Spain.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 03 Mar 2010 08:43

Davis Cup update:

The Indian Davis Cup team received a good news ahead of their World Group first-round tie against Russia, in Moscow as world No.6 Nikolay Davydenko pulled out with an injury.

India are playing in the World Group for the first time since 1998 and they couldn’t have drawn a tougher opponent. Among the other three in the Russian squad for the March 5-7 tie, Mikhail Youzhny is ranked 13 in the world, Igor Kunitsyn 107 and Teimuraz Gabashvili 109. Dmitri Tursunov, the probable replacement for Davydenko, is No.111. Apart from Davydenko’s withdrawal, the Indians have also been in for a mild surprise in terms of playing conditions. “The court has been made on an ice skating rink with plywood, and could play a little slow. That would suit Somdev,” the captain said.

However, the conditions have been typically cold with the temperatures below the freezing point. It has been forecast that the temperature this weekend will be around -10 degree Celsius. The team, including Rohan Bopanna and reserve players Sanam Singh and Ashutosh Singh, have been practising since Sunday, while the senior duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who played in Dubai last week, were expected to join on Wednesday.

The only bad part is the resting of Yuki Bhambri.

Carl_T · Post by **Carl_T** » 03 Mar 2010 10:43

That is ok, the boy needs to focus on singles.

Carl_T · Post by **Carl_T** » 03 Mar 2010 11:35

So when are we beating next team in hockey. Spain should be easy, as long as they don't have players named "Xavi" or "Iniesta" etc.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Mar 2010 10:32

FIFA rankings:

India, meanwhile, experienced a two-spot slide in the latest update after enjoying a four-spot jump in the previous one. The Bhaichung Bhutias are now No.132 in the world and No.23 in Asia. Asian No.1 Australia were at the 23rd spot in the world rankings.

FIDE rankings:

World champion Viswanathan Anand slipped one rung to be placed fourth in the latest world rankings after trading places with Vladimir Kramnik. K. Sasikiran jumped from 83rd to the 46th spot by taking his rating from 2653 to 2686. Surya Shekhar Ganguly posted his career-best rating by moving from 2654 to 2672 and from the 80th place to the 55th spot. However, P. Hari Krishna slipped 15 places to be ranked 69th after his rating came down from 2672 to 2660. On the brighter side, India jumped to the fifth spot in World rankings with the average of its top-10 players being a whopping 2641, behind Russia (2730), Ukraine (2689), China (2645) and France (2642).

India (Top-21): 1. Viswanathan Anand (2787), 2. K. Sasikiran (2686), 3. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2672), 4. P. Hari Krishna (2660), 5. Sandipan Chanda (2635), 6. Parimarjan Negi (2634), 7. K. Humpy (2622), 8. G. N. Gopal (2604), 9. Abhijeet Gupta (2560), 10. S. Arun Prasad (2549), 11. P. Magesh Chandran (2543), 12. Abhijit Kunte (2528), 13. S. Kidambi (2520), 14. B. Adhiban (2510), 15. Sriram Jha (2506), 16. Vidit Gujarathi (2504), 17. Deep Sengupta (2496), 18-19. M. R. Lalith Babu, S. P. Sethuraman (2493 each), 20 21. Deepan Chakkravarthy, R. R. Laxman (2485 each).

India (Women Top-15): 1. K. Humpy (2622), 2. D. Harika (2473), 3. S. Vijayalakshmi (2466), 4. Tania Sachdev (2393), 5. Eesha Karavade (2366), 6. Meenakshi Subbaraman (2348), 7. Swati Ghate (2323), 8. Padmini Rout (2319), 9. Mary Ann Gomes (2318), 10. Nisha Mohota (2304), 11. Soumya Swaminathan (2288), 12. Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2259), 13. Bhakti Kulkarni (2242), 14. Kruttika Nadig (2236), 15. A. G. Nimmy (2225).

K. Humpy has moved along, but Hou Yifan saw a major fall this time. I just checked the FIDE rankings over a long period for the major players. A few have seen continuous rise aka a straight line growth rate: Magnus Carlsen, Wang Yue, Levon Aronian among men and Hou Yifan among women. This is clearly unsustainable and is a major effect of the FIDE score inflation, which the chessbase folks are a bit loath to admit. Sasikiran is learning to play the game with the FIDE scale. He had seemed to have forgotten the art of rankings inflation when he played in ultra-competitive events and saw a 25+ point slide in the last update. He has gained back > 1/2 of the points he lost. He was in the 27+ regime before he fell down. Hari needs to buck up and this is a two to tango shite. One also notices that "lessons" learned in the Indian camp is percolating all the way to the top-10, even if it may be due to incest in playing National B games and what not. Self-averaging, if you may. That can hardly be said to be the case with the women's side. Harika is far far lower and so are the other ladies.

Taking it one rung higher needs a not-so-benign push. Sasikiran and Hari are not getting any younger either, they are hitting the 27-30 mark sooner than later. Humpy can overwhelm Judit sooner than later if both continue on their last yearly progression. Judit has been steadily shedding points and is now 27- whereas Humpy seems to have put aside Hou and moved on with her life. The big buzz is the Sofia mafia, however. Waiting in the wings to see the Anand team. Onwards.... And fck the T-man. I am with Shirov and Short that T-man's climb is not via legal means. Anyway, for a later day....

PSA/WISPA rankings:

Ace Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal rose a rung to a career best 29th spot in the latest PSA rankings, released on Wednesday. Ghosal benefited by his pre-quarterfinal appearance at the Case Swedish Open last month has 1672.50 points. Veteran Ritwik Bhattacharya and Harinder Pal Sandhu also moved up a place each to be positioned at 113th and 107th respectively.

In the women rankings, Anaka Alankamony, the world’s youngest ever player to win a WISPA title, climbed one spot to 77. Veteran Joshna Chinappa also improved her ranking by gaining a position to 34. However, Dipika Pallikal failed to hold on to her 46th position and slumped three positions to 49.

If Ritwik wants to get back to where he once was, he needs a miracle. And seeing him over so many years, sorry, no hope, not yet.
Meanwhile,
Dipika Pallikal qualifies with shock win
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_di ... in_1354958

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 04 Mar 2010 18:34

Karun Chandhok becomes second Indian driver to race in Formula One
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 641400.cms

Karun Chandhok's long wait seems to be over as he becomes the second Indian to drive in Formula One after signing the deal with Hispania Racing team for the 2010 Formula One season, when the season starts in Bahrain next week.

vavinash · Post by **vavinash** » 04 Mar 2010 21:27

Abhijit gupta ties for 1st at reykjavik open 2010. Harika 10th, She earns her second GM norm.

http://chess-results.com/tnr29384.aspx? ... -1&wi=1000

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Mar 2010 21:48

Now the only possibility of a semifinal is if
Aus -- draw spain, lose to pakis
pakis -- beat aus, draw saf
india -- beat eng, beat saf
eng -- lose to india, beat spain
spain -- lose to eng, draw aus

wonderful...

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 05 Mar 2010 07:51

Carl_T wrote:That is ok, the boy needs to focus on singles.

Selection has been lopsided

Considering that a Davis Cup tie has only one doubles match and four singles matches, the selection seems lopsided. More so, when India have Yuki Bhambri, who was ranked as the No. 1 junior in the world. Bhambri opted out of the team to play in some nondescript tournament, but given the assurance of playing at the No. 2 spot in the singles, Bhambri would possibly not have refused.

Nobody in their right senses would advise Bhambri to miss an opportunity to play two Davis Cup matches against the likes of Mikhail Youzhny, the world No. 13 and world No. 38 Igor Andreev. The tension in a Davis Cup match would have helped Bhambri to toughen up and would have given him what he requires most at this time of his career — the experience of competing at the highest levels of the game. Furthermore a week of intense practice with a team full of Davis Cup experience would have taught him how to hone his game to its peak for important matches.

http://telegraphindia.com/1100305/jsp/s ... 180543.jsp

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 05 Mar 2010 07:58

I am waiting to see if this Ken Read asshole will suspend the anglais player for a more egregious crime than Shivendra Singh "committed".. pakkalam....

Pakistan forward Rehan Butt also had a few kind words for the suspended Indian forward. “You have seen the way an England player hit our Mohammed Irfan today (Thursday). For the same offence, Shivendra was suspended for two matches. I hope the tournament director have a look at the video and take similar action,” Butt said.

AjayKK · Post by **AjayKK** » 05 Mar 2010 15:11

Stan_Savljevic wrote:Now the only possibility of a semifinal is if
Aus -- draw spain, lose to pakis
pakis -- beat aus, draw saf
india -- beat eng, beat saf
eng -- lose to india, beat spain
spain -- lose to eng, draw aus

wonderful...

We are out. Saw the 3 matches. Except for PR Srejesh, yesterday's score would be some 8-2 and the first match would have been drawn.

We were simply outpaced.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 06 Mar 2010 01:23

From DNA : Somdev Devvarman bites dust after initial domination

Moscow: Somdev Devvarman let advantage slip out of hands, losing the opening rubber 7-6 (8) 6-7 (4) 3-6 4-6 to Igor Kunitsyn as India conceded lead to injury-hit Russia in the Davis Cup World Group first round tie here today.
...

Carl_T · Post by **Carl_T** » 07 Mar 2010 01:08

BijuShet wrote:From DNA : Somdev Devvarman bites dust after initial domination
Moscow: Somdev Devvarman let advantage slip out of hands, losing the opening rubber 7-6 (8) 6-7 (4) 3-6 4-6 to Igor Kunitsyn as India conceded lead to injury-hit Russia in the Davis Cup World Group first round tie here today.
...

That is ok, mah boi needs to focus on singles.

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 18 Mar 2010 00:28

Tension rises as Delhi misses CGames deadlines

With seven months to go until the start of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, the partially completed main stadium is a messy building site and the swimming complex a pile of rubble.

Infrastructure projects linked to the Games, including flyovers and metro rail network extensions, are badly lagging. And, with the monsoon expected to arrive in June and July, preparations could be blown further off course.

Outside the Commonwealth Games office, the countdown clock is ticking down to the October 3 start of an event that India hopes will showcase its ability to organise major sports events and put it on course to host an Olympics.

Instead, it risks a debacle, with nervousness growing as deadlines slip repeatedly, particularly for the main Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee swimming complex.

"The deadlines are being pushed further every time," Mike Hooper, chief executive of the London-based Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which owns and controls the Games, told AFP in an interview.

"In October last year we were told most of the venues will be ready by December, except the Jawaharlal Nehru and swimming stadiums which they said would be ready by March. Now that deadline has shifted to June.

"We struggle to understand that. If the venue construction programme does not adhere to what are self-imposed deadlines now, it will impact adversely the operational obligations."

He and others involved in the organisation stress that building the venues is one thing: testing and getting them ready to host thousands of athletes and spectators is another.

"We need to test their operational readiness at least two months before the start of the Games," Hooper said.

Hooper's concerns were echoed by CGF president Michael Fennell, who took a first-hand look at all the venues last week and went away a worried man.

"There remains quite a high level of concern about some of the venues being completed in time so that proper test events can be held," he told reporters in New Delhi.

"There is a lot of work still to be done. We still have areas of concern and we have discussed these openly and frankly with the organising committee."

The Indian organisers have been maintaining their line that everything will be ready in time.

Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi has compared the process to an Indian wedding in which everything looks disorganised from the outside but comes together at the last minute.

"There is no need to push the panic button," he was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

"We are going to have the best-ever Commonwealth Games. I would like to assure the entire country that all pending work will be completed within the deadlines.

"The Delhi Games would be better than Melbourne and Manchester. We will show the world what we are capable of."

A sports ministry official coordinating with various Games' committees scoffed at Kalmadi's tall claims.

"Kalmadi does not know what he is talking about," he said, requesting not to be named.

"The Games were awarded to us way back in 2003. If only the officials had planned in a better way, things would not have come to a head.

"But they have been spending all of their energies in ego clashes with one another," he said, referring to Kalmadi's ugly spat with Hooper in public last year.

Kalmadi had objected to Hooper's continued presence in New Delhi, saying he was of "no use" to the organising committee. The outburst prompted Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill to broker a truce in London.

Both Kalmadi and Hooper claim they have "moved on" since that slanging match.

"Kalmadi now refers to me as his good friend," laughed Hooper. "We have said let's focus on the issues and make sure everything is done in a timely manner. "After all, all of us want the same outcome -- to have a great Games!"

One foreign contractor working on the stadiums, who asked not to be named, is in no doubt that preparations are heading for a dramatic conclusion.

"It really is going to go down to the wire," he told AFP.

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 18 Mar 2010 05:33

India rise from 12 to 9 on Hockey rankings

http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/article254022.ece

India returned to single digit ranking in the World hockey list after finishing eighth in the recent World Cup.

India is now placed at 9, three places above the 12 that it occupied before the start of the Delhi World Cup. India's tally of points now stands at 1360 in the latest updated ABN-AMRO world rankings of the FIH.

Expectedly, Australia, the winner of the World Cup, takes the No 1 spot, pushing the leader, Germany to the second.

Top ten: 1. Australia (2605 points), 2.Germany(2388), 3. Netherlands (2215), 4. Spain (2053), 5. Korea(2005), 6. England (1930), 7. New Zealand (1560), 8. Pakistan (1523), India (1360) and Argentina (1349).

KarthikSan · Post by **KarthikSan** » 18 Mar 2010 17:28

Saina in top-five of world rankings

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal touched a new high as she zoomed into the top-five of the world rankings at a career-best fifth spot following her stupendous show in the All-England Badminton Championships earlier this month.

Saina, whose previous best on the chart was the sixth spot she attained last year, surprised one and all by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the prestigious All-England Super Series Championships.

Saina lost to Tine Rasmussen of the Netherlands in the semifinals of the event.

Riding on her fantastic show, the Indian gained a couple of spots in the latest list with 58516.7646 points in her kitty.

Chinese shuttlers dominate the top half of the women’s rankings with Yihan Wang leading the pack followed by Wang Lin, Xin Wang and Jiang Yanjiao respectively.

In the men’s rankings, Chetan Anand dropped a rung to 10th but P Kashyap gained one spot to be 29th. Arvind Bhat remained static at 36th but Anup Sridhar slipped to 40th, a loss of one position. In the mixed doubles rankings, Jwala Gutta and V Diju’s pair slipped one spot to 10th in the latest list.