Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 26 Aug 2008 14:34

I think we give Panda too much of a hard time over the Olympics thing. One has to admit, they have put on an excellent show, better than the previous shows. It went clockwork like the communist machine is, and it worked. Is it a model that we should adopt? I hope not, but we can certainly aim to be at least a third of what they are given the pathetic performance of our Sports ministry. I think London 2012 will be hard pressed to surpass Beijing Olympics, the bar has been raised.

As for the Americans, they are still in the "We are the best", "We are the best", "USA, USA" mode. They are being overtaken in all fields, slowly but surely from sports to science. It is not glaringly obvious and it is a gradual process, but the signs are there for those who care to look. It is also equally true that they are the ones best placed in terms of potential, ability and resources to fight back , but given their current climate and lack of "responsibility" in general, its unlikely.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 26 Aug 2008 15:31

Crl-C/Ctrl-V from cricinfo:

Nevertheless, I think I have a beauty. It was told to me by the great Australian batsman, Dean Jones, who positively swore on the head of his daughter it happened, and I have since been told that Merv Hughes also confirms its truth.

The scene is set at a Test match between Australia and the West Indies at Adelaide Oval back in February 1989. These were the days when the Windies were the greatest power the cricketing world had ever seen, the days when they used to select 11 fast bowlers in the team and a 12th man who was a fast bowler just to be on the safe side.

And it was into just such a furnace that the young bowler Mervyn Hughes walked - with bat in hand. Figuring fortune favoured the brave, Hughes wielded the willow like an axeman his axe, and somehow - after snicking fortutiously, connecting full-bloodedly, and missing entirely - he finished the day's play at 72 not out.

The tradition in Test cricket is that the batting side take a few beers into the fielding side's dressing-room afterwards, but not on this evening. Instead, Merv took an ice-box full of bottles, so keen was he to give the men of the Windies the full blow-by-blow account of every run he'd made. So it was that half an hour later, Jones - who himself had contributed 216 - and Hughes and several other Australian players were in the Windies dressing-room, when a sudden hush fell upon the gathering.

They looked to the door and there was Sir Donald Bradman himself, being ushered into the room by several South Australian cricket officials. The Don had expressed a desire to meet this mighty team, and now here he was.

For the next 15 minutes or so, the great man was introduced to the visiting players, with each West Indian standing up well before Sir Donald got to their position on the bench. Then, when their time came, they warmly shook his hand and had a few words.

This all proceeded splendidly until Sir Donald got to the last man on the bench, Patrick Patterson - the fastest bowler in the world at that time. So the story goes, not only did Patterson not stand, he simply squinted quizzically up at the octogenarian. Finally, after some 30 seconds of awkward silence, Patterson stood up, all two metres of pure whip-cord steel of him, and looked down at the diminutive Don.

"You, Don Bradman!?!" he snorted. "You, Don Bradman?!?! I kill you,
mun! I bowl at you, I kill you! I split you in two!"

In reply, Sir Donald, with his hands on his hips, gazed squarely back at Patterson and calmly retorted: "You couldn't even get Merv Hughes out. You'd have no chance against me, mate!"

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 26 Aug 2008 19:00

Tanaji wrote:I think we give Panda too much of a hard time over the Olympics thing.

Tanaji, we should. It is a war of ideas. It is a question of bottom-to-top movement of free will vs top-to-bottom percolation of enforced diktats. I assume we all agree on whats good and whats wrong by our very existence. If thats the case, we should harangue these oiseaules at every opportunity.

One has to admit, they have put on an excellent show, better than the previous shows. It went clockwork like the communist machine is, and it worked.

Nope.. Take a look at the reaction following every olympics closing. It has always been better than the previous one. Read the reactions following Sydney closing and put that in the context of what follows now. Beijing wont be better than London and trust me on that, irrespective of what Seb Coe has to say or otherwise. Short of a 1972, and even if thats the case, no show is worth remembering at the end of the day for what the show presents. What is worth remembering and what is remembered is what is hidden underneath, the sporting spirit, the fairness of the judges, the stupendous super-human performances if any, the admiration for human capabilities not its fallibilities and so on.

What we have witnessed here in Beijing 08 is a tumult of bias - bias from the judges in many a sport towards chinese participants, bias from the world media at how clock-worky it is all, bias of the common man to ignore the undercurrents of what is good and what is bad - in short an ignorance to the dharma that drives our life and belief system.

Is it a model that we should adopt? I hope not, but we can certainly aim to be at least a third of what they are given the pathetic performance of our Sports ministry.

If it is a top-to-bottom diktat, we will never be even 1% of the chinese. Taking orders from the top is not our nature and the last 60 yrs of our free existence has only reinforced this nature, despite numerous aberrations. I dont think we should even think along those lines. Sports is important, but not more important than other things... Our sports ministry being haphazard is a reflection of the state of our society. Unless change happens bottom-to-top in this regard, we can all whine to hell about everything else needing fixing except us. Bottom-to-top is Indic, top-to-bottom is sinic - that has been the war of ideas as long as I remember and thats the way it will be. In the long run while both may average out, and both may be well suited for its set of population, what is immistakeable is that one idea is better than the other under certain extreme threats posed by external factors. Its your call to pick which one that is. But whichever one you pick, its your duty to defend that and ridicule the other when it invades your choice in a battle of ideas. And I even choose which letters to capitalize and which not to.....

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 27 Aug 2008 00:04

Nope.. Take a look at the reaction following every olympics closing. It has always been better than the previous one.

Interesting, I have not done that. Perhaps you are right on that one

What we have witnessed here in Beijing 08 is a tumult of bias - bias from the judges in many a sport towards chinese participants, bias from the world media at how clock-worky it is all,

No argument there

Taking orders from the top is not our nature and the last 60 yrs of our free existence has only reinforced this nature, despite numerous aberrations.

I dont know whether its in our nature or not, but thats what has been happening in MBM so far. From childhood, we are brought up not to question authority, ask too many questions or say inconvenient truths aloud. An extreme case in point was the death of scores of school children in Madras I think who kept rooted to their seats when the school was on fire, all because their teachers told them so. From peons to babus to police, no one does anything without explicit instructions. Is that all bad? Don't know, parents surely appreciate kids not asking many questions and so does the government in general... but you get my drift,

Unless change happens bottom-to-top in this regard, we can all whine to hell about everything else needing fixing except us. Bottom-to-top is Indic, top-to-bottom is sinic - that has been the war of ideas as long as I remember and thats the way it will be

Are we really completely bottom-to-top? I wonder? The economic liberalization which was the single most economic action in free India was a top to bottom affair, driven largely by the crisis we were facing. But it wasnt a mass movement, rather a government belatedly realizing that its earlier policies had failed. However, most social changes have been completely bottom-to-top, I agree. Sports falls more into the social side of things, so it should largely be a bottom to top change, but as with most things, it is linked to the usual issues of population, corruption etc etc etc. We are not going to see a mass movement in that area any time soon realistically speaking.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Aug 2008 00:50

Hnair, read the first two paras of this on nature of Olympics!

The New New World Order

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 27 Aug 2008 07:33

ramana wrote:Hnair, read the first two paras of this on nature of Olympics!

The New New World Order

Aye Ramana-saar, we need to get over this fixation of "Olympics as a noble sporting event". It never was.

Our approach should be as the legendary Malayalam satirist Kunchan Nambiar has dryly put in verse, when asked to comment on the newly inaugrated royal tower by the king

"Deepasthambam mahaascharyam! Enikkum veNam paNam"

Translation "The Royal Light tower is unbelievable! But I want *my* money"

Yayavar · Post by **Yayavar** » 27 Aug 2008 08:19

Translation "The Royal Light tower is unbelievable! But I want *my* money"

Nice!!

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Aug 2008 10:33

[Michael] Stich's talent and all-round ability, mastering serve-and-volley as well as baseline play, especially with his one-handed backhand, allowed him to become one of the few players to win tournaments on all surfaces. He is one of only five players of his generation to have a positive career head-to-head record against Pete Sampras (the others being Sergi Bruguera, Leander Paes, Paul Haarhuis and Richard Krajicek).

sum · Post by **sum** » 27 Aug 2008 11:36

IIRC,Paes and Pete went head to head only once and Paes defeated Sampras....

So,its unfair to calculate a head-head based on one match...

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 28 Aug 2008 06:49

X-post.

China's strategic thinking: A gold medal for mental gymnastics
by Ajai Shukla.

do check out the first pic !

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Aug 2008 08:58

So,its unfair to calculate a head-head based on one match...

everything is fair in love and psyops.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 28 Aug 2008 09:30

I wonder why the Sri Lankans have mile long names, like Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas?

We had a colleague with four names, and we used to joke like "why are you calling all those people?"

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 28 Aug 2008 10:30

http://www.crazylanka.com/aussie2.htm

SaraLax · Post by **SaraLax** » 29 Aug 2008 16:54

Five star show, two star treatment

NEW DELHI: You win a bronze medal for the country in world's biggest sporting event and this is what the authorities arrange for your accommodation on your arrival - a so-called two star hotel with double-bed rooms in the bylanes of Karol Bagh.

Even the lift does not work there. That's the treatment that national hero Vijender Kumar was supposed to get on Tuesday before better sense prevailed.

As part of a change in plan in the eleventh hour, that the officials claimed was done for security purposes, Vijender and Co were given lodging facilities at a five star hotel.

One is aware what response games like boxing get in a country where cricket is a religion. However, the fact that things refuse to change for better even after solid achievements, is shocking. The hotel in which the boxers were supposed to live has a total of 18 double bed rooms. Though the hotel authorities claim they provide five star services to its guests, when TOI visited the hotel, it found the lift not working.

Such treatment is not something new. Sharing a similar experience with TOI from Bhiwani, Balwinder Beniwal, cousin of Vijender and also a boxer said, "Recently, I went to Cuba for a boxing event. The arrangements for us in Cuba were outstanding but before boarding the flight we had to stay overnight in a hotel at Paharganj in Delhi where even the fans were not working properly. Forget about air coolers."

Meanwhile, the management of Hotel Sky Rich International is upset with the development. Expressing his disappointment, owner of the hotel Mahendra Gupta says, "The boxers along with other Olympians had stayed in this hotel for two days before leaving for Beijing so we had made special arrangements for welcoming our heroes but on last minute we were informed about the changes in the schedule because of the security reasons. All our hard work has now gone waste."

Denying that there were last-minute changes in the plans, a senior official from Sports Authority of India said, "It was IOA that decided to put the boxers in a five star hotel and SAI has nothing to do with that."

SaraLax · Post by **SaraLax** » 29 Aug 2008 17:30

From the latest SPORTSTAR

An insatiable hunger for perfection

“In all these years, Sushil has remained a very quiet boy, hates to go out even to the nearby market, forget about going for movies.

“He takes wrestling very seriously and talks of winning the Olympic gold.

“He has the right attitude, discipline and focus while training. His parents have given him the right values and he respects the words of his coaches. It is this combination of factors that has helped him bounce back from a bad start to win a medal.”
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Former Chief National coach and this year’s Dronacharya Award winner Jagminder Singh said: “Sushil is among the rare breed of young wrestlers who has managed to stay away from distractions like watching television or keeping a mobile phone. I have seen him from close quarters during all the National camps from 2003 to 2007 and found that his passion for wrestling is commendable. He would train, rest and look forward to returning to the mat the same day. His hunger for perfection is insatiable.
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Guru Brahamachari Ravinandan, 87, patron of the Indian Style Wrestling Federation, said: “Indian style wrestling (fought on loose mud) provides the foundation for all our wrestlers. But it is important to adapt to the changes in competitive wrestling taking place around the world. We should not stick to our traditional ways by ignoring the latest techniques and styles. I’ll be very happy if Sushil’s success brings in patronage of big companies which can also help our coaches gain knowledge of the latest developments in the wrestling world.”

‘Vijender is a winner’

Vijender’s father, Mahipal, was overwhelmed by joy. “This is the second occasion I am feeling the honour of being Vijender’s father.(Thirukkural verse#70 : The son's duty to his father is to make world ask, "By what austerities did he merit such a son! .....same applies to Sushil Kumar too) When he got the Arjuna Award, I had been to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. That was a great moment in my life and so is this,” he said.
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Mahipal, who has been asked by his employer, the Haryana Transport department, not to drive any vehicle any more and join duty at the bus yard, wants life to go on as usual for his son and his family despite the glory and fame. “Boxing has given him so much, he should not leave it. Rather he should try to win the gold next time. I also feel the same for me, I am ready to go on with life and drive vehicles as I used to do,” he said.
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Basking in the glory of his ward, Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh, Jagdish, who started the Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC) in 2003 with bare minimum facilities, is now planning to renovate the club. He wants to turn it into a world-class complex and produce more Olympic and World champions.

“I have fought against the system, my detractors, land mafia and other vested interests to come this far. I believe that athletes who have the hunger for success can be nurtured into world champions with proper training,” Jagdish said.

What are the criteria for admission to the club?
“It’s purely on the basis of talent. Basically, I look for students from lower middle-class families. I believe, being deprived, they have the spirit to excel in life, they can go through the hardships to succeed in their mission,” Jagdish said.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 29 Aug 2008 23:08

Some news on my queries to the s2h team...

Dear friend

I thought of writing this mail yesterday, which happens to the Sports Day in India, which actually is birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand. First let me congratulate the desire of you and your friends to extend help to Indian hockey. The sports needs everybody’s support on long term basis.

We cannot fight the officials all the time, but we can always help the players, coaches by giving them monetary help and creating competitions opportunities and infrastructure facilities.

Pertaining to your Query No. 1
I feel the players can be given a sum every month. We have 18 players each in Senior, Development and Junior Sides. Though most of them in the Senior side have landed in jobs while the other two categories are in dire need of support to stay in hockey. On a generous side, 54 players can be given a monthly stipend out of which 36 (development and junior side) on emergency basis.

One very important point here is the plight of coaches. They rely only on salaries. They have to support their families with the meagre government salary but when they come to coach National sides, they don’t get even ten rupees etc. On the contrary, they have to spend from their pockets to meet the expenses like mobile phone, hospitality etc. Every national coach whom I knew in the last two decades complained of draining of their own money. Unless the coach comes from high profile jobs like Indian Airlines or Indian Oil Corporation and others, they need compensation. This people like you can take it up. If coaches are happy the players are happy and so also the sport. Every national chief coach can be given a monthly stipend say Rs.30,000.

On Query No. 2
Infrastructure support is a good idea, but as I wrote early getting land is a big problem. People allot land for sports outside the city or town limits. Because of this, the created facilities are not much utilized. If in case you are all interested in creating a stadium, one Sports Management person had to be identified, paid and entrusted this job. Persons like me cannot do this job. Am frank about it. Incidentally, the government of India is going to lay 15 synthetic turf stadium in India. Each such turf would cost the government anywhere between Rs. 3-4 Crores.

My suggestion
I have about 25 years of association with hockey. Teams win or lose, one constant thing I observed is continued lack of hockey interest in schools and colleges. Nowadays players come from Rural and tribal areas whose aim is to secure a job and after getting it they appear satisfied. There is no motivation to go for the gold. This is a fact. Only way to overcome this problem and improve hockey, is creating interest in colleges and schools. The schools and colleges do not take up hockey in a big way because it has become costly. For the quarter of amount spent on hockey, they can have a volley ball or any other team sports. If select and proven schools and are given financial support, hockey will surely come up.

Nowadays there is a good concept coming up. Some tennis people have tried successfully. That is, identify schools and colleges interested in particular sport and tie up with them for giving equipment, dress and pay up for turf usage charges under a Academy name. This works. Schools are happy to provide help because money is from other sources. They are also motivated. The NGOs and others prefer this model because they are the masters of the scheme, can monitor, can improve as things are under your control. The amount requires also not much for each school. In other models, one needs to depend on so many others’ help.

There are a lot of government schools and colleges where talents are abound. If we can take up 20 schools and colleges in a city, a hockey atmosphere can easily be created there. We can also get the results in a couple of years. By providing proper diet, dress and coaching expertise, we can also socially uplift many poor students. Thus, this model can give us total satisfaction, as it promotes both sports career and improve standard of life of poor students.

Hoping to hear from you

On Sun, 24 Aug 2008 ***** wrote :
>Dear Mr. Arumugam,
>I am an Indian hockey fan and I came across your
>stick2hockey website a while back. I would like to
>chip in my small bit to help in getting Indian hockey
>revived.
>
>I was trying to check with you if you are aware of: 1)
>Any scheme where upcoming hockey players monthly
>income can be subsidized with some private funding, 2)
>Any initiative where astro-turf stadia can be laid in
>India. Is there some kind of a private plan/budget
>{apart from that of IHF} for laying a good astro-turf
>stadium in India? It may be possible for a bunch of
>folks like me {We are a group of 20-30 folks in and
>outside India.} to chip in either for 1) or 2) in
>part.
>
>Please let me (and us} know if you know of any way in
>which we can help Indian hockey {monetarily or
>otherwise}.
>Looking forward to your reply,
>sincerely
> *****

Please feel free to contribute or talk to Shri Arumugam at s2h directly. His contact addr below...

K.Arumugam
Sports Journalist
Author: Intnl. Hockey Year Book Series
New Delhi (India)
Alternate email: hockeybook AT gmail daat com
arumugamhockey At rediffmail daat com {Email addr screwed up with a purpose.} I do have his phone number, in case anyone wants to contact him on phone. He also added that he does nt mind talking on the phone.

We now need an akshun {read monetary contribution} plan for hockey. Those keen, please feel free to contribute constructively to whats next to be done, aka 1) Can we outsource this plan to Shri Arumugam, just doing the monthly contribution part?, 2) What is the target we are looking at? etc... At this stage, it would be best if he comes here to talk more about hockey. I will ask him to consider participation here, hope he agrees. Waiting for badil from KPSG saab.

Yea, I know I am shooting the gun, do me a favor and post whats the most logical response if I am not doing that. Those not keen, please desist from the "one medal onlee" argument. Hockey may not pass the panda test, but it sure does pass MY test

.

sum · Post by **sum** » 30 Aug 2008 10:04

Stan guru,
Any comments on the athletics debacle in the Olympics? Are we actually going backwards in it while moving forward in other discliplines?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 30 Aug 2008 11:01

Sum saar, Milkha Singhji was a bit harsh on the athletes and criticized them for not doing even better than their own PBs. Many of them are real young to be fair to the athletes. While performance-wise there was nothing to talk about, i would nt call it a complete debacle. Anju was nursing an injury and hiding it from everyone except Bobby George, perhaps. The 4x400 was a case of Mandeep striking form, but her hamstring might not have heeled {pardon the pun} on time.

We have nt had anyone good nuff to replace the Rosa-Shiny combo in 400-800 womens. That should be a cause for concern. The throwers, to be honest, definitely need better technique a la the Finnish, the Russkies, the Hungarians etc. On the asian scale, they are top-notch, but its gonna take some great effort to get out of this vicious circle that is the asian disease. The three heptathletes' performance was near-identical, which basically shows that these three have been besting only themselves and thus are not able to climb out of the well. If there is one good fix, I would let em get out of here and practice with the Oiropeans... They are living a hand-2-mouth existence as of now, employed in Indian railways as manager etc, I would nt blame em for finishing only 28th or so. In fact, finishing 28th after running around as ticket agent for the railways deserves commendation.
------------
A long due update on other heart-burn-it-is. I will let everyone else share my woes....

First, some good news. The Indian jr mens volley team is kicking some real butt in Tehran in the asian jr championship. The round robin stage are not yet done, but we are destined for a semi appearance in a day or 2. Should wait and see... Recall, last time we were bronze winners. A top 3 finish should ensure a direct entry to the world jr championships. Given that the sr team has skipped many routine tournaments like the Rashid one in Dubai, some tours to the Russland etc, this is the chance for the jrs to raise their hands and be counted....

Anand vs Kramnik x-plosion in 45 days time. The second leg of the final unification campaign will be underway. Given that Anand wins, he will have a moral position 2 say get lost to Topalov. But then the contracts have been signed. I hope I wont see an Anand vs Kamsky at the 100th floor.. While it may be de javu all over again, there is no wtc now to torment me

.

Besides, 11 sportspersons were given Arjuna Award for the year 2007 for outstanding contribution in sports and games. The award carries a statuette of Arjuna, a scroll of honour, ceremonial dress and cash award of Rs three lakh. The awardees were Chitra K. Soman (athletics), Anup Sridhar (badminton), Johnson Varghese (boxing), Harika Dronavali (chess), Arjun Atwal (golf), Prabhjot Singh (hockey), Tombi Devi (judo), Bajranglal Takhar (rowing), Avneet Kaur Sidhu (shooting), Alka Tomar (wrestling) and Farman Basha (powerlifting-disabled).

Out of a sanction of up to 15 arjunas per awarding, they could find only 11 with a CV that was worthy of arjuna selection. Shortage of talent even on the national level or is it a case of the babus failing to send the applicashuns on time, as that has happened many a time in the past too... V. Johnson in boxing deserved an arjuna 5-6 yrs back when he stormed the asian scene, any case it is a looooong wait for an increase in salary for him. Empathize with him for our system moves at its own damn pace. Arjuna becomes an automatic rendition after someone wins an asian/cwg/og medal. Weird, when all the support they need is prior to that.. After they win a medal, they can go and write to OGQ with a bloated cv anyway, right?! Guys at the south block, if any of you are reading this, please smell the kaapi no. 2 much 2 ask?!

Alka Tomar is the famous female wrestler who practices at the akhara in Sisauli

. She is 22 or so now. She will be a good bet for medalling in the londonistan {the closest Baki land and bd land could ever get to host one btw} games. Yes, womens wrestling is a part of the games

. She should have actually played at Beijing but for some bad organizational stupidity... 5 women vs 6 men awardees

. Last time (2006) it was a 4 vs 10 split.

Anger management time, now:
Dhyan Chand's birthday was yesterday....

Another legend, Sailendra nath Manna, the capitan of the 56 Melbourne 4th place finishing football team is seriously ill.

Can someone tell the anti-national chindu to do a series on our very own Somdev Debbarman? In a case of misguided asianitis, I have seen a Kei Nishikori-fest. They did nt notice Somdev when he thumped the very same james blake a few weeks back. Oiseaules...... I dread the day when someone chini bhai bhai plays good tennis, the chindu will put him on the front page and dance in joy, I am sure.

This article says that it costed Bakiland 6.6 million Baki gubos to lay an astro turf stadium. Does nt make sense, 6.6 m gubos = 1/10th the cash India needs to lay an astro-turf. Either the Bakis are getting subsidy here also, or there is a typo, or is it the 1:10 martial race theory in akshun.... We need to indigenize our turf laying process.

Suresh Kalmadi is twisting his undies to respond to AB's riposte that the babus and politicos have destroyed the Indian sport scene. His wailing response was that babus provide access to the sports mantri ji

. SK could nt even pin the blame completely on MSA for MSA was the sports mantri when the shortage of bullets and shuttlecocks hit the headlines. SK called him "friend" without holding MSA culpable. Go home, oiseaules. And SK, we will start with you....

I was waiting for this "we, south-asia ka maakis suck big time" bug to kick storm... The bakis have not disappointed me, although a bit late. Here is my middil finger to the article that deserves it.
We, suud asians suck

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 31 Aug 2008 13:50

A few updates:
India china semis at the asian jr mens volley championship. The game is done, but I have no idea of who the winner is. No updates I could find so far. Whats worse is I know who the winner will face in the final: Iran... The ddm, a few rounds back, came with scintillating headlines like "India stun qatar" etc.. What is unfortunate is that all this stunning is news for ddm crowd. India is the bronze holder from last edition, silver holder from the world jr mens volley championship held 4 yrs back with the coach getting dronacharya award very recently etc. This team is on the upswing and for those ddm who could nt update themselves, yes all this is stunning. To DDM: Please enlighten us dorks on how India is doing for heavens sake before getting stunned...

World womens chess champ is underway in sochi, russia. Look out for Humpy and Harika. A cpl more Indian females playing, but not much else fireworks expected. A gold silver will cap the jr title for Harika. Six georgian females and three with a georgian background withdrew from the champ due to the ru-ge crisis.

World billiards championship is underway in bangalore, kerala tomorrow. look out for Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi and pete gilchrist. Mike Russell aint playing this time round. The winner of the crown takes a princely sum of USD 4k. Given the cost of living in kerala, he may as well not come here like mike decided. Besides there is some heart-burn among the purists due to recent efforts of ibsf to shorten the long-drawl billiards format, much like snooker. I would rather drown myself in cooum rather than watch such a stupid snooker-inspired insipid game.

ranganathan · Post by **ranganathan** » 31 Aug 2008 15:44

Banglore, Kerala!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WTF???

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68 ... id=3510211
Chinkis won the volley. A crying a shame..

saip · Post by **saip** » 01 Sep 2008 20:11

Banglore, Kerala!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WTF???

You dont appear to be a newbie. I am surprised you should ask.
Earth e shatter, jugular vein, banagalore,kerala, raisin dater, all have the same history.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 01 Sep 2008 22:27

jaguar vein ! not jugular vein.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 02 Sep 2008 09:20

Yea whatever, Ranganathan. Should nt blame me if I tried hard for some fun in a stale thread that will invite more akshun, possibly when Londonistan nears. For once, I even contemplated a ib4tl

. I guess that aint a bad idea, seriously speaking.

Anand starts off in a very strong category 22 tournament in Bilbao, one of the dream ventures of Silvio Danailov, the manager of T-man. The chindu mistakenly has clicked the panic button and made it sound like Anand's no 1 ranking is under threat. Given the way live ratings operate, it is not that terrible. Of course, live ratings brings in some outliers to the way elo's are propped up and we occasionally see Carlsen getting close to Anand and what not, but as long as Anand does not blow this event, which he wont, there is no threat as such. The threat will come over a longer period of time when Anand and Carlsen face-off. As of now, Anand has the richer share of wins against the kid, and there is a skid expected for C once his west-induced stupor of the dream next Fischer weans off. For all that matters, Ivanchuk, Anand and Kramnik {who are the oldest active players in the league} rule the roost whenever and wherever they participate. The kids and the challengers are well what else but kids and challengers. It is so unfortunate that sports journos in India cant filter the short term effects and see the long term trends and make realistic, non-dramatic, non-sensational titles and news columns.

Anyway, some spine from babus and politicians who run sports in this country

In a major policy decision, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has decided to bar private players from holding an ATP/WTA event on their own in the country. The decision means that private entrepreneurs like Mahesh Bhupathi's Globosport, which has been conducting ATP Kingfisher Open and WTA Sunfeast Open, will have to go through the AITA in future if they intend to organise such big events.

The decision was taken at AITA's executive committee, held on Sunday in Mumbai, after the game's governing body in the country learnt that a private promoter -- Big Live -- wrote to the ATP that they were cancelling the proposed Bangalore Open due to security concerns in the city.

"The AITA Committee unanimously approved that henceforth AITA would not permit private entrepreneurs to take up any WTA or ATP events as their interest is only to make profits and in case they are unable to find sponsors, they are quite capable of putting the image of nation at risk and not honour the commitment of the nation to international events of such magnitude," Anil Khanna, Secretary General of AITA, said.

The number of foreign players in domestic football will be reduced in the near future as the All India Football Federation is contemplating this to promote local talent. He said India’s preparation for the Asian Cup in Doha in 2011 would get top priority. “After Houghton comes back from vacation, we will thrash out a blueprint of how to go about the Asian Cup. We will need at least Rs.2.5 crore per year, the bottom-line is we have to do well in the Asian Cup,” he said while calling for more corporate support for the game.

Ramana sir, from the kind of interest we have seen on this thread, I am fairly confident that expecting public partnership to resuscitate Injun sports {on a large scale} is a dead option. Your idea of laying {or re-laying} turfs with public money {which requires such a large-scale effort} is an utopia. In a country where everyone is busy, such ideas go nowhere, except if enforced with an iron fist, like possible in Chicom land. Even nicer dicktatorships would nt suffice, we need hard-nosed, cheap, goal-driven dicktatorships for what you say to happen. In a democracy, with prob 1, we can bid such ideas a nice warm goodbye.

Sorry 2 burst ur bubble, but more power to single men ventures like Mittal, Subroto, Tata etc. I see this trend again and again in multiple things in India: One or two movers and shakers can make or break things, the rest essentially dont matter, except to criticize such efforts. Sorry, I had to vent my frustration.

sum · Post by **sum** » 03 Sep 2008 14:43

Link

China’s Olympic gold medals pay-off

Pallavi Aiyar

Beijing: Talent and hard work may have no substitute in the making of an Olympics champion, but nor are they enough on their own to ensure a gold medal at the Games. Money is an increasingly vital part of any analysis of the final medals tally and this year’s Beijing Olympics were no exception.

China made a sweep of the gold medal tally with 51 medals, but the cost of each of these has been revealed to be at least around 15.7 million yuan ($2.3 million) a year. This back-of-the-envelope calculation was arrived at by Sports Minister Liu Peng on the basis of the fact that the government invests some 800 million yuan ($117 million) annually on Olympics sports. It must be kept in mind, however, that this amount is then supplemented by a roughly equal figure raised through government-run sports lotteries.

China’s gold medallists would also receive a hefty tax-free bonus of 3,50,000 yuan ($51,000) this year, almost double of what gold winners were awarded after the 2004 Athens Games. Champion athletes were paid a mere 6,000 yuan after the 1984 Los Angeles Games, in which China participated after a decades-long gap, but nonetheless won 15 gold medals. Experts say the return on investment is particularly high at the initial stages of developing a nation’s sporting system and tends to taper off once a country’s sport is sufficiently well developed.

India’s total allocated sports budget for 2008-09 stands at Rs. 1,111.81 crore ($280 million).

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 03 Sep 2008 18:43

From
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/200808 ... /main3.htm

THERE is an almost theatrical element to the Bhiwani boxers’ recent tryst in Beijing. An interesting element in the story is a soldier’s love for boxing in the 1960s, which culminated in Vijender Kumar’s Olympic bronze. This is also the story of resilience of the people of this arid terrain who have managed to succeed in spite of the many odds — poverty, deprivation, hunger and unemployment — which have plagued India’s "Little Cuba" for decades.

Bhiwani’s boxing history dates back to the 1960s when Capt Hawa Singh, a heavyweight boxer from the Army, won the National Championships for 11 consecutive years —1961 to 1972, and gold medals at the 1966 and 1970 Asian Games.

After retirement Capt Hawa Singh did not lose his passion for boxing. He went from one village to another scouting for boxing talent and persuading parents to send their wards to him for training, recall villagers of the area. The retired soldier’s efforts kindled interest in the sport, but not enough to create the kind of boxing mania prevalent in Bhiwani today.

Nevertheless, it was enough to spur the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to set up a sports hostel for boys in Bhiwani in the 1980s. The SAI hostel enrols boys in four disciplines — athletics, boxing, wrestling and volleyball. Boxing became popular after SAI coach Rajinder Yadav was posted there. He decided to complete Hawa Singh’s unfinished task.

There was another reason which was much more basic to survival, and that was poverty. The enrolment in the hostel was a guarantee of a roof, bed and food for the nearby village boys. The rural boys had to hone their skills and excel in the sport to remain worthy of lodging and food provided at the hostel.

The turning point came when Jagdish Singh was posted as the boxing coach at the SAI hostel in 1996. A student of Capt Hawa Singh, Jagdish, with his mentor’s love for the sport soon realised that Bhiwani had immense boxing talent and that the SAI hostel alone could not produce pugilists of international calibre.

So Jagdish, with the support of some local philanthropists, set up the now-famous Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC). After the Indian boxers’ performance in the Beijing games and other international contests, this BBC is as recognised now, at least in the world of sports, as the British Broadcasting Service. The club is housed in a rented building. It charges no fees and barely manages to provide gloves, shoes and clothes to the young hopefuls.

Over the next few years Jagdish’s efforts yielded results and club boxers began winning state-level championships. "These small successes proved to be a big motivation for the club boxers. They also began to get government jobs as a result of their victories in various state and national games. The young boxers soon realised that it was the best way to find a job that brought economic security for their families," says Jagdish. Till date more than 250 boxers have found jobs.

The Indian Railways has done its bit for these boxers. So much so that every tenth ticket examiner is a Bhiwani boxer, or so the locals say. Besides, the Haryana Police and other state and Central organisations, too, have employed Bhiwani sportspersons.

This trend of getting jobs through boxing has caught the fancy of local residents. Satpal Singh owns a rehri from which he runs a tea stall on the Hansi Road. He has a son whom he has enrolled with the BBC. "My son goes the club at four in the morning and then again in the evening. I am too poor to provide him any opportunity in life. Boxing is the only way he can get a job without paying a bribe", he said.

No wonder several private boxing clubs have mushroomed in Bhiwani over the years. At any given time as many as 1,500 young boys are learning the art of boxing in Bhiwani’s half a dozen ‘academies’. "These increasing numbers have led to a stiff competition among the boys. They have to do well to remain in the reckoning. A job is their first goal. Or, rather it was their goal until Akhil Kumar, Vijender, Jitender and Dinesh began to win medals at the international level a couple of years ago. Now the situation has changed. If a job is their first priority, their greater goal now is an Olympic medal," says Kamal Singh of the Bhiwani Boxing Association.

Besides poverty, the Bhiwani boxers have to cope with almost non-existent infrastructure. The BBC has no drinking water facility. The club has only a hand pump. The boxing ring in the BBC is in a tin shed, which heats up so much in summer that it is almost impossible to practice there even in the evenings. "But I don’t consider these a disadvantage anymore. Perhaps this has spurred us to overcome all the hurdles on the way to a medal. If we can win medals eating chana instead of almonds and drink lemonade instead of imported energy drinks, then we can even win barefoot under conditions like this," says Rajinder, a budding boxer. His worn out shoes are proof of his steely resolve.

Mittals Champions Trust of the steel baron L.N. Mittal is adding to the Bhiwani boxers’ resolve. The trust has been helping Akhil and his younger, fellow boxers. Vijender, too, gets a scholarship from the trust, which has helped him improve his skills and also build a decent house for his family. The trust provided financial help for Akhil’s treatment when an injury threatened to keep him out of the Beijing Olympics.

The Haryana Government has finally stepped in to keep Bhiwani on the international boxing map. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that a boxing academy would be set up here after Vijender won the bronze. Officials say it would be on the lines of the famous Australian Sports Academy.

It remains to be seen what the boxers would get by way of dietary and other allowances after the academy is set up. Akhil and his fellow boxers had, so far, been getting only Rs 100 a day as diet allowance for years, whereas a boxer normally needs five times more calories in a day than a normal male.

However, things are looking up. The conferring of the Dronacharya Award on Jagdish Singh, the man who transformed Indian boxing, is an indication of the changing scenario. The Haryana Government has now given the man, whose Herculean efforts went unnoticed until a fortnight ago, an incentive of Rs 25 lakh.

Nevertheless, the bravehearts of Bhiwani have learnt to take deprivation and obstacles in their stride. For Bhiwani this is just the beginning. The 2012 London Olympics will see India dominate the boxing scene is the conviction here. And, there is no reason to doubt the determination of those who have survived the odds so far.

sum · Post by **sum** » 03 Sep 2008 20:05

At any given time as many as 1,500 young boys are learning the art of boxing in Bhiwani’s half a dozen ‘academies’.

IMHO,1500 is a huge number and even after going by law of averages, Inshallah, our boxers should start flooding the international scene like the Chinese do in TT/Badminton/Diving in the days to come(esp 2012)....

ranganathan · Post by **ranganathan** » 04 Sep 2008 00:54

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjH ... zO5M9pmD2w
http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/17802.htm

Paes doing well at US open.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 04 Sep 2008 01:19

Paes is in the finals of both Men's Doubles (with Lucas Dlouhy of Czech Republic) and Mixed Doubles (with Cara Black of Zimbabwe) at the US Open. Paes and Dlouhy just blanked their semifinal opponents 6-2 6-0 .

Bhupathi was unluckier - lost a close match in the 3rd round in men's doubles, and an even more close mixed doubles match, in which his side lost the last set 10-12.

Just weeks ago there was talk about them being over the hill, but the fact is Paes and Bhupathi remain among the premier doubles players in the world. India lost in the sense that they could not play together.

Among Asian players at the US Open, Japan's Ai Sugiyama in women's doubles semis is the sole representative besides Paes; the Chinese women are out of the singles and doubles events.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Sep 2008 04:53

Time and again, Leander has showed that he is a fighter, a slogger and whatever that goes with the word fight. We should not write him off {or for that matter Mahesh} as "done with" etc. As he said a few days back, his time will come and that will be determined when he figures that he has no passion 2 play tennis. Thats the day when we should stand up to close down his era. Till then, he has been a royal treat so 2 speak for Indian tennis.

Tennis is a popular game among the middle class Injuns today. If it were not for examples like Hesh and Lee {same as Anand has been for chess, Om Agarwal, Geet Sethi and Michael Ferreira have been with cue sports}, this dream of middle-classers taking to tennis in such gigantic proportions would have been unimaginable. I remember three games against Andre Agassi sometime in the mid 90s {US open 1st rd, 96 Atl semis, Wimbledon 2nd rd} where he would give no point away, he would have put Michael chang to shame in those games. Of course, he was 10 yrs younger with a determination to prove something in singles etc.

Doubles as such is a game where gelling and bonding is more important than individual skills. Need someone to back up like a pocket dynamo or score cheap shots sitting near the net. Thats what doubles is. Hesh and Lee had done that with audacity, finesse, and panache. The fact that they were stale did nt matter in DC competitions with almost 99% of the dbls combos real terrible etc. But with OG where even a split-second mistake can ruin fortunes, they have been counted out 2-3 times now, real darn close. It is our misfortune that they have giant ego clashes that cannot be bridged. But singularly and in tag-team they are doing what noone else can do, bringing tennis closer to the masses than ever before. Lee has an academy somewhere in Calcutta and Hesh's globosport venture has been helpful in leveraging sponsor opportunities for fobs and even in identifying fobs, in general. Besides that they can also help get coaches for folks like Sania which would have been a bit difficult on her own efforts.

As regards Asian tennis, I would rather laugh at sick jokes by Chindu et al. These anti-nationals lose no sleep in glorifying outside elements whether they are great or not, but in terms of appreciating in-house talent, they are far far off. I have nt seen a single writeup in these newspapers about Somdev despite his climb from arnd 1000 odd to around 200 odd ranking in 2 months. In any sense of the word climb, thats a meteoric rise easily reminscing climbs like that of Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl etc. In fact, he missed not being on the qualifiers sections because his atp ranking is too low for being there. And that was because he went pro say 4 months back!!! I mean, Leander took 1-2 yrs after going pro to get to the qualifier stage and here is a guy 4 months off going pro, and he is knocking on the qualifier stage. If thats not dramatic, nothing else will be for the chindu.

I have seen articles about Li Na, Nishikori, even Aisam al-Qureshi, but no feature about Injuns that give accolades where it is due. I have seen Hesh and Lee news in Chindu where they seem 2 fight more than are seen to win doubles tourneys. Chindu is not only politically anti-Injun, but also in sports. And that degradation has been dramatic since the days of early to mid 90s when I had the opportunity to scour through every sportstar issue, where it was more crikkit centric, but still Indian. These days I can find better news about the Premier league on sportstar than say, Indian sports and in that broad brush I mean cricket too.

At the end of the day, Asian tennis is as much a joke as is say, Newzealand tennis. We have seen a few blips on the scene, mostly by Indians. Li Na and co, well I will rather be skeptical as so-so runners, and possible medal winners if the audience is pro-Chicomish like as in Beijing. Otherwise, I would nt bet even a single cent on these folks. Same for mens game, where its even worse. Tennis is the Indian bastion. Make no mistake about it. That was what it was, thats what it will be, despite minor aberrations when things look gloomy.

PS: Hesh was in the same quarter of the draw as Lee in dbls, so they would have met in the next rd had Hesh not lost. I was anticipating that, just missed out.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Sep 2008 23:00

First Malaylam DVD on Cricket coaching launched

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 04 Sep 2008 23:52

Leander Paes and Cara Black win the US Open Mixed Doubles event 7-6 6-4

Paes and Dlouhy now take on the Bryan brothers in the Men's Doubles final, on Friday 12PM Eastern Time.

ranganathan · Post by **ranganathan** » 04 Sep 2008 23:53

NEWS FLASH: Paes and Black win the US open mixed doubles final.

Results here
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/index.html

Chess: Anand, humpy and harika all draw their games in the Bilbao masters and womens world cup.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Sep 2008 01:06

Op-Ed in Telegraph, Kolkota, 4 Sept 2008.

I now its a satire but is quite revealing in its own way.

KILLER NERD IN FULL KIT
- An Indian at the Olympics
Mukul Kesavan

When Abhinav Bindra won gold in the ten-metre air rifle event in the recently concluded Olympics, I was delighted. Like most Indians, I’d have taken a gold for underwater skateboarding over fifty metres for boys with gills if it had been a bona fide Olympic event.

A friend of mine pointed out that it wasn’t a surprise that India’s first gold was won by a shooter. India, he pointed out, had a long tradition of medal-winning shooters, the Maharaja of Bikaner, Karni Singh, being the most famous of them. It was also predictable in a slightly depressing way: Indians have been athletically challenged for so long that it seemed appropriate that first gold was struck in an event where competitors were required to stand stock still.

The television coverage of the event was exciting provided you weren’t the sort of crude spectator who wanted visceral excitement. It was a lot like watching Anand play Kasparov for the world championship of chess all those years ago: nothing happened most of the time. In the chess match, the two hunched figures would occasionally, but visibly, make a move as in pushing a pawn forward or make a knight do things. Abhinav’s event was altogether more subtle, more Zen-like. The shooters took it in turn to shoot, but it was hard to tell their moments of activity apart from their passages of rest. This was because the shooters didn’t lower their rifles (which were elaborate devices that looked too sophisticated for something as basic as shooting a bullet) in between shots. They rested them on high stands and cuddled them as if they were alive. One of Bindra’s rivals was caught by the camera nuzzling his gun; I turned my eyes away, embarrassed at being privy to such intimacy.

Bindra, who seems a charming and unaffected man in his civvies, came across as a killer nerd in full kit. The thing he wore around his head to help him sight the target, an articulated frame with blinkers and lenses, made him look like a lethal optometrist. The two Doordarshan commentators who, like the rest of us, had no idea why Bindra was gaining points at the expense of his rivals, tried bravely to adopt the breathless hysteria that had worked so well with hockey matches in Olympics past, to the needs of this strange, non-doing sport… and failed. The target was so small that even close-ups failed to convey the difference between good shots and bad ones, and the enigmatic Abhinav seemed to win gold on account of superior inertia.

Watching him, I suddenly thought of how much more exciting dart championships on British television used to be: large men with beer bellies flipping darts with improbable delicacy, their pinkies extended, and then the riveting close ups of the dartboard as the missiles thunked home. Why wasn’t darts an Olympic sport? There was a simplicity to it, a manual quality, compared to the the automated gizmo-like feel of air-rifle shooting, that corresponded more closely to the Olympic ideal of physical striving and excellence.

For that matter, why wasn’t snooker or pool an Olympic medal sport? Snooker, with its green baize and coloured balls, makes for great television, and in terms of physical exertion, snooker is to air rifle shooting what the decathlon is to snooker. I can only guess that both snooker and darts are associated with pubs and bars and drink, and don’t come across as wholesome sports.

The medals we won for boxing caused me a different kind of unease. On the one hand, boxing is everything air-rifle shooting is not: an adrenalin-driven, violent, totally physical sport where you have no apparatus apart from your gloved hands and your protected head. The action is rapid, and the boxers aim their blows in a state of perpetual motion, and not from within a still trance. As a boy, I had tracked Muhammad Ali’s victories and defeats, desperately willing him on to win, but as I grew older and Ali’s boxing-induced Parkinson’s became more evident and more disabling, I stopped following the sport, if sport it is.

Suddenly, unbidden, after decades of peaceful spectatorship, my brother and I found ourselves shouting brutal, profane encouragement to Akhil Kumar as he fought the world champion, Sergey Vodapyanov, to a standstill and eventually won. For a few breathless seconds after the ref raised our boy’s arm, we experienced the most perfect satisfaction that is ever given to a spectator to feel. Then the Russian world champion scrunched up his face and cried, circling the ring in an unbelieving daze, and my brother and I saw that he was just a young, heartbroken boy and felt ashamed of our miserable, vicarious, troll-like glee.

Michael Phelps’s astonishing haul of eight gold medals left me unmoved. No fault of his; it’s just that modern swimming with its body suits and shower caps and goggles makes swimmers completely anonymous. It was like tracking a row of shiny torpedoes or a pod of cloned mermen. Also, I heard that his training regime included a diet that had him consume 12,000 calories a day. Once you’re told that someone eats as much as six grown men, it’s hard to think of him as human.

The most wonderful moment of the entire Olympics was the Insane Bolt’s 100-metre dash. Usain Bolt? What kind of a name was that? Was he a Jamaican Muslim trying to be discreet in Bush’s world by dropping an aitch? Whoever he was, he was a force of nature. If events as quick as the two short sprints can be said to tell a story, it was a Boy’s Own Paper story: in both the 100 and 200 metre finals, Usain got off to theatrically slow starts, hauled in the rest of the field, then left them for dead. In the shorter of the two sprints, he ran a world record and still managed to stroll down to the finish line in a lower gear, disdaining the vulgar urgency of lesser men who lunge at the tape.

Then I read somewhere that if Usain hadn’t become a champion sprinter, he would have become a fast bowler and felt a pang that alloyed my delight in his triumphs. The dreadful decline of the West Indies cricket team has been the most depressing aspect of cricket’s recent history, and I couldn’t help thinking of Bolt sprinting down to the stumps, as formidable as the great Courtney Walsh, only faster, putting the fear God into wicked Australian batsmen. Still, the article said that Tendulkar was a hero of his, and that, in an obscure way, was a consolation.

mukulkesavan@hotmail.com

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 05 Sep 2008 02:50

Still on tennis, I dont know how many of you are aware that the ATP Bangalore Open and WTA Sunfeast Open have been cancelled. The organizers are citing security concerns for canceling them.

The AITA, meanwhile, is very angry and is planning to bar any private company from organizing any ATP or WTA event. Both the events were being organized by Bhupathi's company. There are two accounts in the media for the real reason - the company could not sign big players, and the company could not sign big sponsors. Of course, both could be co-related.

Of course, this is the same Bangalore that India and Australia will be playing a test in when the Australians visit.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 05 Sep 2008 07:50

For those in Madras, a good chance to catch some of the national hockey players {sr as well as jr}. Afaik, a lot of em are playing this tournament. There are many national players with Air India, IR and BPCL. Sad not to see Punjab and Sind bank in action. {I guess PSB has been suspended from domestic action for a yr or so due 2 some on-field kendostix wielding by 2 or 3 of their players and the connivance of the ophisials. Hope they mend their ways and get back asap. We CANNOT have PSB out of the loop for 2 long. Not good for the national team, not good for em.} Bad not to see the Ind jr team too, but then some of the jrs are indeed playing for AI, IR etc. So that would have been a real mess, unlike 3-4 yrs back, when Ind jrs were not in the running for jobs etc and could field their A-team.

Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium should have free entry or a very small entry fee, as always for national level tournaments. If anyone catches the action {either up close and personal or on TV}, please do post what you see.

Domestic Season kicks off with MCC-Murgugappa Gold Cup commencing on Thursday, the 3rd September 2008. After a long lay off, the domestic season of India starts with the third oldest tournament in India, The Madras Cricket Club – Murugappa Gold Cup, starting tomorrow in Chennai.

In the first match of the day, Indian Oil Corporation will take on local champions Indian Overseas Bank at 16 hours followed by the high profile contest between Air India and Army XI. It is nice the much expected tournament -- the whole of south has only one Grade I tournament, this one – is on schedule unlike last year when the national governing body messed up the domestic calendar result of which this prestigious tournament was not given dates.

In 2007, our readers will be aware, the Indian Hockey Federation was pulling in three directions, with President, Secretary and national coach singing their own soliloquies -- much to the detriment of hockey they suppose to improve. Not giving dates to tournaments like MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup, which has a distinct tradition, did not enthuse any. Thankfully, past is past and the present dispensation in the form of ad-hoc committee at least did not fiddle with the MCC-Murugappa, which keeps local flocks clued to hockey for ten days, and was right enough to allot dates.

However, it is understood the much expected Indian National Junior Team will not be in the fray. A couple of occasions in the past, the junior Indian teams did well, winning both the hearts of the fans and the Cup. The Junior team that won the Cup in 2003, for instance, went on to win the first ever Junior Asia Cup next year at Karachi.

The event will be played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium from September 3 to 14, with increased prize money. The ten teams in the field are grouped into two as under:
Group A: Indian Oil Corporation(IOC), Karnataka XI, Mumbai XI, Indian Railways, Indian Overseas Bank(IOB).
Group B: Air India, Army XI, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Namdhari XI and Sports Hostel-Orissa.

BPCL are the defending champions. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knock out semi finals. The prize money for the winner has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakhs from Rs one lakh in 2006 when the tournament was last played. The runner up this year will take home a purse of Rs one lakh. The final match (14th September)is likely to telecast live by the national telecaster, Doordarshan.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 05 Sep 2008 08:29

Vasu wrote:Still on tennis, I dont know how many of you are aware that the ATP Bangalore Open and WTA Sunfeast Open have been cancelled. The organizers are citing security concerns for canceling them.

Look a few news items before

. From what I have read, the tournament was not organized by globosport, Bhupathi's company, but it was sub-contracted by Globosport to someone else. That sub-contracted gora company pulled shutters saying Bangalore, kerala is a security hotspot. And since it was subcontracted, globosport is not held to ransom now.

Also, it is NOT Bhupathi's company per se. It is run by a board, and from what I have heard he is not in the board. I may be off here. He is associated with that company majorly, like a remote control pm. Let me paraphrase what AITA said colorfully "these oiseaule companies would nt bother selling their mothers if only they could make profits." It was basically a profit issue, the gora subcontractor could nt find suitable biggie-wiggies to come here to recoup the cash they would put in and its a circle, and they chose security as a clause to dump the AITA. And rightly, aita slapped these dogs.

FWIW, AITA presidency has been won in the recent election by Yashwant Sinha

. And if you look at other elected members you will see Karti Chidambaram {PC's son}, SM Krishna etc. For the record, this is the full list of elected members with their affiliations afaik.

The office bearers:
President: Yashwant Sinha {BJP}; Secretary General: Anil Khanna {Full time tennis ophisial - part time with AITA, part time with Asian tennis federation}; Treasurer: Prof. T. D. Francis {Claim to fame: Christian evangelist teaching in Kerala; Assn with tennis: Via the Kerala tennis assn; Any other assn with tennis: Not that I can dig up }; Joint Secretary: Bharat N. Oza {Associated with Maharashtra tennis assn; Organized a few tournaments in Bombay; Otherwise tennis contribution: Nil}; Hon. Life President: S.M. Krishna {Kaangress}. Vice-presidents: Chintan Parikh {Former chairman, Indian cotton mills federation}, D.V. Bhatia {Associated with Punjab and Haryana tennis associations over a long time}, Karti P. Chidambaram {PC's son}, M. A. Alagappan {Executive chairman, Murugappa group of companies}, M. Damodaran {former SEBI chief}, Narendra Kumar {Chairman, DPS society}, Pratyush Sinha {Chief vigilance commissioner} and Rajan Kashyap {State Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab}.

The point I am making is that all the tennis ophisials are all babus, politicos and industrialists or folks already well entrenched in tennis officialdom at the state level. Their only attachment to tennis is probably playing in the Staff club over a cup of rum and coke. Thats how sports administrashun is done in India today. And thats how it was before. The politicial affiliation is also bi-partisan. We have BJP and Kaangress happily put up here.

They hold a strong leash on this and would nt let it slip from their hands, irrespective of how equipped and fit they are to run this body. We are truly cursed. Not one former single tennis player worth his name in that list...... No Premjit Lal, Ramanathan Krishnan, Shyam Minotra, SK Mitra, Sardar Nihal Singh, Ramesh Krishnan, Jaideep Mukherjee, Nandan Bal, Vijay Amritraj, Anand Amritraj, Enrico Piperno, noone whose name you could associate with tennis in the bygone era. Let alone any womens player. NB is the coach of the DC team, SK Mitra is the nonplaying capitan. Thats as much as the writ of the oldies with respect to tennis matters today.

Folks like RK sr would be itching to not associate with such junta, I am sure. Folks like the Amritrajs will happily make more money in Amrika instead of getting their hands dirty in Indian babudom. Why will pearls want to mix with crap? There is no sane reason one should expect much here.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 05 Sep 2008 09:29

Posting to let folks know who all are playing

. Madras folks, please go and see! Runs eight days, dont miss the akshun...

Friday’s matches: Karnataka XI v Mumbai XI (4 p.m.); BPCL v Air India (5-45 p.m.).

For all the pressure and persistence displayed by the IOC, featuring a string of internationals like Deepak Thakur, Rajpal Singh, Inderjit Chada, Raghunath, Bharath Chikkara, and the redoubtable Prabhjot Singh ........

Other players around: Adam Sinclair, VK Raghunath, Bruno Lugun etc.

Former champions Air India were unimpressive but managed to beat Army XI 4-1 in a pool B match, while Indian Oil Corporation, which had a full indian team in its ranks, gained full points after a hard fought 3-2 against Indian Overseas Bank in the 84th All-India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament, here today. The Army's defence went haywire whenever under threat from Air India, who scored three goals in the first half through penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh (7th), Girish Ponnappa (18th) and Bruno (30th).

They seemed set for a big win but the Armymen reduced the margin through tall and nippy forward Arumugam in the 32nd minute. In the second half, the Air India defence manned by Dilip Tirkey and Sandeep Singh, came under constant attack from the army forwards. However nothing came of it. Neither side scored almost throughout the second half. But an opportunistic move by Akmal helped Air India add one more goal as Cheenayanna (69th minute) made full use of a mistake by the Army defence, leaving the back fully open. In fact Army XI had the better of exchanges and most often were in the rival circle. But a couple of passes from both the wings went unattended as also three penalty corners.

MK Kaushik uvacha

Kaushik spoke about the nation not respecting the heroes of the game. “The decline has a lot to do with how we have treated our greats. In cricket, like hockey, we have won the World Cup only once, but look at the way the memories were revived by celebrating the 25th anniversary of that triumph. When there is no respect for those who’ve served the nation with distinction, how can you inspire the new generation to take up the game ahead of other disciplines.”

vishnur · Post by **vishnur** » 05 Sep 2008 12:11

Vasu wrote:Still on tennis, I dont know how many of you are aware that the ATP Bangalore Open and WTA Sunfeast Open have been cancelled. The organizers are citing security concerns for canceling them.

The AITA, meanwhile, is very angry and is planning to bar any private company from organizing any ATP or WTA event. Both the events were being organized by Bhupathi's company. There are two accounts in the media for the real reason - the company could not sign big players, and the company could not sign big sponsors. Of course, both could be co-related.

Of course, this is the same Bangalore that India and Australia will be playing a test in when the Australians visit.

Correction: Bangalore ATP is not handled by Globosport (Bhupathi's company). It is being done by Big Live, owned by Reliance. They cited the pathetic excuse of security concerns to coverup their pitfalls.

Globosport manages the Sunfeast open. They have sold it to other parties and they did not give the reason of security concerns.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 06 Sep 2008 01:31

Paes and Dlouhy lost the US Open Men's Doubles final to the Bryan brothers 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (10-12). Quite a closely fought match, especially the second set .

ranganathan · Post by **ranganathan** » 06 Sep 2008 02:35

Chess update: Anand lost to topalov (current leader)..

Humpy goes through as expected to next round of the womens chess world championship but harika losses out.