Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Jun 2008 22:15

I hope the early onset of injuries dont ruin her career. remember tracy austin?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 29 Jun 2008 03:24

We need to keep track of all the young ones in different individual sports that are good bets to shine bright in the next 1-3 years. Let me start with an incomplete list. Please add to the list...

1) Badminton: (Men) Anoop Sridhar, (Women) Saina Nehwal
2) Squash: (Men) Ritwik Bhattacharya, Saurav Ghosal, Siddharth Suchde, (Women) Dipika Pallikal
3) Tennis: (Men) Harsh Mankad, Rohan Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj, Somdev Dev Varman, Syed Fazaluddin?, (Women) Sania Mirza, Ankita Bhambri, Yuki Bhambri, Tara Iyer, Sunitha Rao
4) Table tennis: (Men) Achanta Sharat Kamal, (Women) Neha Aggarwal, Paulomi Ghatak, Mouma Das
5) Boxing: (Men) Vijender Singh, Jitender, Mohammed Ali Qamar?
6) Chess: (Men) Krishnan Sasikiran, Pendyala Harikrishna, Parimarjan Negi, (Women) Koneru Humpy, Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman, Dronavilli Harika
7) Shooting: (Men) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Samresh Jung, Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Mansher Singh, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Sanjeev Rajput, (Women) Anjali Bhagwat, Deepali Deshpande, Suma Shirur, Avneet Kaur
8 ) Athletics: (Men) K. M. Binu (400 ms), (Women) Anju Bobby George (long jump), Mandeep Kaur (400 ms), Seema Antil (discus)
9) Car racing: Armaan Ebrahim, Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok
10) Billiards/snooker: Pankaj Advani, Dhruv Sitwala, Rupesh Shah apart from old birds Geet Sethi, Devendra Joshi, Ashok Shandilya
11) Golf: (Men) Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal, Gaurav Ghei, Jyoti Randhawa, Shiv Kapur

FWIW, we also need to document great Indian victories, triumphs, dramabaazi etc so that they are not lost to posterity. And great many, I am sure, most people here have not read about or even aware of, except for perhaps crikkit. For example, there is not much documentation about Norman Pritchard, the 100 yards and 200 yards double silver medallist for India in the 1900 Paris OG. Most people here would nt even recognize him as Indian, even though he was Anglo-Indian in origin and most sports texts state his medals as India's first in OG. He soon figured that running 100 and 200 yards would nt fetch him a steady income etc and he ended up doing filmi roles in Hollywood. I read long time back about his rivalry with Al Kranzlein?, the great Amrikan sprint giant of those days who won the golds at Paris.

How many remember Prakash Padukone's All England title win against Liem Swie King? The Davis Cup slaying of the French at Frejus, 1993? The walkover given by India to South Africa in DC finals at the peak of Ramanathan Krishnan era due to apartheid logic? Vijay Amritraj's repeat quarterfinals show at Wimbledon? Ramanathan Krishnan being world no 4 in the open era? Milkha Singh and P.T.Usha's bronze misses by a whisker? Misses by M.D.Valsamma, Shiny Wilson, Rosa Kutty, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Henry Rebello etc anyone?! K.D.Jadav's semifinals loss in wrestling? Just the tip of the iceberg.

Point is "If we dont know our past, there is little we will know about where we are headed." We dont need to leave current crikkit news alone to the nukkad thread. Since crikkit history is much more etched in the hearts of people, I guess we may see more stories where people remember seeing great events on the telly or at the stadia or even the radio. And this is also timely because cricinfo is becoming more and more an ICC, and in extension, a gora-inspired and biased/whitewashed chronicler of our history, both past as well as current. Apart from that, our history has been hijacked in the recent past by folks with a sociological agenda like Ramachandra Guha. We need an Indic version of our sports history. And sports/entertainment has long been a policy tool in the hands of governments and rulers. Not just the communist nations where this is seen regularly, but even the very ideology behind the ancient OG was as a soft power tool. Dont know if this is the thread for such stories. Comments/suggestions are welcome.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 29 Jun 2008 03:40

Thanks for the effort, Stan. I am sure this list is bigger, which is a very good thing.

I am very happy to see the rise of Indian golf. More money in the sport in India, and many more Indians on the Asian and European tours. For example, SSP Chowrasia is another golfer with an Asian Tour win (the Indian Masters 2008).

I dont know, but my heart tells me Beijing 08 will be great (by our pitiable standards) for us.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 29 Jun 2008 04:23

Vasu wrote:Thanks for the effort, Stan. I am sure this list is bigger, which is a very good thing.

Vasu, please reread my post as I have made some edits to it. Esp the last bit. TIA.

I happened to see a CCTV sports bulletin yesterday, somehow by luck. And the Chinese method behind the madness was expounded as such: 1) Pick the sport/sports with very little competition, 2) Make it an Olympic sport by force or fiat or other enticements {e.g., wushu}, 3) Have a two-five year lead in training methods over other countries with bigger pile of resources, 4) Export a huge set of resources and pick talent from the district level and upwards, 5) Train train train and reward district officials who can win medals and thereby set up a supply chain or vicious circle of olympic medal hopes, 6) Translate olympic dream to reality, 7) Put huge pressure on the sportsmen/women to win medals and make it amply clear that a win would make them not only famous but also well settled, 8 ) Set up raucous audience to support the participants and crow against oppn teams esp if the event is held inside China, 9) Once the medal winners come home, put immediate pressure on them and start them on the next olympic cycle, 10) Throw them away with disdain if they are past the sell-by date, 11) Raise the repeat winners to a pantheon of chinese greats that need to be emulated for glory by future greats, and 12) Watch the flowers bloom in many directions.

I also read a story about what was called in the early to mid-90s as "Ma's army", a team of middle and long distance women runners coached by Ma Junren: The team consisted of Wang Junxia, Qu Yunxia and other notable worthies. They set about a humongous set of records in 3k and 10k and all distances in between. It turned out that they went through not only a rigorous training regimen that killed their social life as such, but were also force-fed Chinese medicine {that invariably consisted of some animal parts, blood etc} in the name of strength, endurance etc. Some of them had appendicitis, a few missed drug tests regularly as their form deserted them somuchso that IAAF suspected cheating, but could nt prove it in those days of not-so-swift punishment for missing drug tests. This was also the pre-HGH and pre-designer drug days, so there were hardly any deeply sophisticated chromatograph techniques for detecting compounds that could stimulate and provide strength etc from animal origins etc. To cut a long story short, Ma's army got disbanded around 1997 or so due to internal revolt to Ma's methods, the impact it had on health, and once the runners figured that they were all financially well-settled enough so that there was no more incentive to torture their bodies so much etc. As of now, Ma is a persona non grata even in his own country, and he is the gold standard by which any Chinese coach moulds himself. He is the Vince Lombardi of the Chinese sports coach association, if you know what i mean by that comparison.

So the point of all this long drivel is, China seems to be a basketcase where loss of face {H&D} is seen as a severe insult to the art of living. Anything and everything they do {whether politics or sports or in extension, any act of life} seems to somehow be moulded by loss of face, shame and the need to win more medals than everyone else or have a bigger appendage than everyone else etc. The need to beat the US as the number 1 team on the medals table at the end of Beijing 2008 seems to have driven every two-bit chinese sports association honcho to a frenzy. In fact, if the chinese dont end up there, i would nt be too surprised to see a few of them shot by the politbureau as a face-saving and shame-clearing deal. We are more civilized than these untermenschen up north. Our sports development goes a little slower, but it has little to do with force.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 29 Jun 2008 05:29

What match fixing?

Is India-Malaysia match fixed: This is what we were bombarded with last couple of days. For many, the newsflash by the channels is a shocker. Even for those who follow game, it is a shocker -- in a different sense, for a different reason. First, why should a hockey match be fixed?

India and its vast media network in particular are always obsessed with match fixing. That a South African cricket captain was caught on match fixing by the Indian police, even the first book on match fixing is written in India are the settings why our media laps it up anything match fixing.

But in hockey, as everyone of us know, there is no money involved so that a necessity to fix a match does arise. Hockey is neither that popular nor we have come across any bookies’ link to it. ...... The scenario is portrayed to bring home the point that there is no national interest (?) or public interest is going to be served so that the result of a particular match needs to be tanked.

Whether Malaysia won or lost, it was a foregone that they would end up last. Then why on earth will they go for fixing the match? There is no logic. Ok. See the other way. Their players got into betting, gambling as to the result of the match – which is actually the case with the Malaysia police now – it is certainly a case for the Malaysia to ponder over. Which they are rightfully tackling it. Dragging India, overtly or covertly, is not correct. It has no logic. Bansal and Md. Aslam company therefore need not worry.

In the last World Cup in Germany, for instance, Korea and Germany played out an expected draw so that, firstly both will reach the semis and secondly to keep Netherlands out of semis. The drama was enacted in full view of global media – and it was a challenge to sporting ethics. In hockey this is match fixing.

Hockey, due to its low profile -- it is much lower in the countries which are winning – no monetary stakes exist. Everyone of us should understand the dynamics of hockey before blowing up 'India-Malaysia Match fixing'. It is injustice to Indian players who played so superbly, despite most of the seniors were a tired lot due to ill-timed Australia tour.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 29 Jun 2008 10:06

PRC system is based around picking up kids in the 8-12 yr agegroup and then having them
live in sports school therafter, visiting their parents once in 2-3 yrs sometimes less. see my
NYT article post.

they have established a huge system but the idea is not unique. East Germany was the
pioneer and most successful practitioner in the past. recall they used to occupy 3rd place
in olympics medals mostly - a country with barely 50mil souls. they were pioneers in
drug use also and many of their former champions are now dead or seriously ill at
young age from organ damage.

recall the 1988-1990 crop of chinese women swimmers were all caught eventually
and banned. some are probably dead. each had bulked up to the size of a horse.

nationalism and sports is used as a substitute to trumpet the success of the regime.

Raj · Post by **Raj** » 29 Jun 2008 23:18

Singha wrote:East Germany was the
pioneer and most successful practitioner in the past. recall they used to occupy 3rd place
in olympics medals mostly - a country with barely 50mil souls.

Wikipedia says East germany had a population of about 16 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 30 Jun 2008 08:04

Some more athletics news

India had no luck on the qualification front in the distance events as well, though there were some good timings. Surendra Singh, who bettered a 32-year-old National record in the 10,000 metres in the last meet, came up with a career-best 13:45.77, the second fastest by an Indian behind Bahadur Prasad’s National record of 13:29.70, while winning the 5,000m.

According to information received here, Rajeev Ramesan clocked a career-best 1:47.06 while winning the 800m but missed the Olympic qualification mark by six-hundredth of a second.

With the entire focus on Olympic qualification being fixed on the women’s longer relay team, not many would have thought that the Indian men’s 4x400m relay team also could come into reckoning. ... However, the 3:04.57 that India timed in winning the second leg at Korat, Thailand, last Thursday has given it an outside chance. Currently, with an average of 3:05.9, it does not figure in the top-20 rankings. Yet, a time under 3:04 in Hanoi can bring the team into the top-16 fold, excluding the possibilities that could emerge after the last of the relay qualification events are gone through in Europe in July.

Clicky1
Clicky2

Anaka Alankamony did herself and India proud by winning the girls’ under-15 title in the Asian junior individual squash championship, which concluded in Busan, South Korea on Sunday. Cyrus Poncha, the National coach, who is with the team, said, “It was a terrific performance by Anaka.” Anaka defeated Hong Kong’s Ho Ka Po in straight games 9-6, 9-6, 9-5. Anaka’s was the lone success for India after Mahesh Mangaonkar and Dipika Pallikal, who too were in the final, failed to grab the titles.

clicky3

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 30 Jun 2008 12:26

Indian women's archery team...

Dola, Pranitha make it to Beijing

The Indian women’s archery team for the Beijing Olympic Games was finalised here on Sunday.

Laishram Bombayla Devi will be joined by a veteran in Dola Banerjee and rookie in V. Pranitha to spearhead the Indian challenge.

At the end of four days of trial, the 17-year-old Pranitha, originally from Parvathagiri village of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh and now with the Tata Archery Academy at Jamshedpur, topped the trial with a total of 5,167 out of a possible 5,760 points.

Dola, who represented India at the Athens Olympics four years back, finished second in the trial scoring 5,141 points.

A string of superb performance in recent times enabled Bombayla to make the cut. Both Dola and Bombayla represent Railways.

It was really heartbreak for Reena Kumar of Railways. She made it to the Indian squad for the Games in May when trials were called for following the poor form of Chekrovolu, who along with Dola and Bombayla were named in the squad by the Archery Association of India (AAI).

The squad: Men: Mangal Singh Champia (Rly.) Women: L. Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee (both Rly.) and V. Pranitha (Steel Plant).

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Jul 2008 10:39

Vision 2012
The ad hoc panel governing Indian hockey will soon come out with a comprehensive long-term programme ‘Vision 2012’ with the specific target of seeing the country in the 2012 London Olympics hockey competition.

Aslam Sher Khan, chairman of the newly-appointed ad hoc selection panel, said a high-level delegation from the FIH will be present and after a serious debate, the Vision 2012 document will be given a final shape.

[FWIW Aslam Sher Khan speaketh]

“Our top priority is to see India back in Olympics. The failure to qualify for the Beijing Games is the biggest disappointment in recent memory for Indian hockey,” he said. “It is a fact that India had the best opportunity in 2002 to forge a team that could have brought laurels to the sport over a long period at the highest level but for the failure of the officials concerned in giving the right support to the team with a perfect blend of seniors and juniors,” he said.

The former Olympian also stressed the players earlier were always insecure and even the performing coaches were thrown out after showing good results, thus shattering the morale of everyone concerned in the sport. “We are now keen to send the message across to the fraternity that the new set-up is for the players and nothing else. There will be nothing unusual in selection process for various national teams,”

Aslam Sher Khan said “things are bound to change for the good now. The fear psychosis amongst the players has to go. That is one of our first objectives. Performing players will be given priority and nothing else.”

He assured that the ad hoc panel had enough powers vested with it to oversee the selection matters while pointing out that the panel on administrative matters has an equally enviable task of taking corrective measures to stem the rot. Referring to the match-fixing allegations featuring India-Malaysia match in the last Azlan Shah Trophy, Aslam Sher Khan felt it was unfortunate that these things have come up at the wrong time for Indian hockey which just started looking up.

He asserted that they had not taken up the job for the craze of any post or a foreign assignment with the Indian team. {The price of the pudding is in the eating, time will answer this remark.} “We will quit the scene when we feel that everything is in safe hands. We have no fancy or glamour for any posts. We are here for the love of the sport,” he said while monitoring the selection trials, in the company of Ajitpal Singh, Ashok Kumar, Zafar Iqbal and Dhanraj Pillay, to pick the Indian team for the forthcoming Junior Aisa Cup at Gachibowli hockey complex.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Jul 2008 10:49

Asian Grand Prix athletics news

The men’s longer relay team timed 3:07.09 while prevailing over Sri Lanka and Botswana, the last-named team being a late addition in an effort to aim Olympic qualification. The latest timing by the Indian men’s team does not give it a chance to figure in the Olympic qualification race. Long jumper Anju George equalled her best performance for the season with a 6.55-metre jump in the concluding leg of the Asian Grand Prix series here on Monday.

Anju has to go 7+ if she entertains a chance of a medal. Last chance at a OG medal for her. At the world champ event a while back, she won bronze. All the Russkie, Oiropean and North Amrikan females flopped big time then. If she does nt go 7+, she has to hope the same again.

Seema Antil seems to be in terribe form. At this rate she may not even make the bus to Beijing. Harwant Kaur is already going and is throwing 58+. If she makes the 65+ mark, which seems far away NOW, she can get to the finals.

Chess news. Fide ratings are up. Anand holds the top slot, but FIDE has announced Moro as no 2 officially even though live ratings show that Carlsen is no 2 due to a magnificent performance in a single tournament, the Aerosvit. Nevertheless, numerous scandolous allegations have been making the buck for why Carlsen was denied this time around, when numerous exceptions have been made in the past. Aerosvit concluded a few days after the official cycle closing. In any case, some stoopid pointers at Anand has also been making the news. How he has played only 2 games in the last 3 months and how he can still retain the no 1 ranking while Carlsen has played 20 and still cant make it to no 2. Bozos all around, how many games/tournaments did Kasparov play when he was preparing for the Dragon openings against Anand mid 90s?

In any case, for other Indian players, Harikrishna is now the official no 2. Even though he is tied with Sasikiran on points, he has played more games in the last cycle. Surya Shekar Ganguly and Koneru Humpy complete the 2600+ club, even though they are at the tail end of the 2600+ club. The top 3 for India have dropped points, more pronounced in the case of Hari and Sasi. It has been true in the last cpl of years that whenever Anand plays a significant no of games in a FIDE cycle, he touches a new rating high and when he goes on a break, he dumps points quite well. This round he dumped 5 points by playing 2 games. Last cycle, he had 20+ and gained around 10+ points. Sasi and Hari's downturn may be cos of preparations going on, one never knows. The Olympiad is a-coming, but its still early days preparing for that. I have seen them play too many rapid games over the last cycle, never good for anyone with a name other than Anand.

Humpy has hit her highest rating, so too SSG. She is now the highest rated active womens player after Judit. Hou Yifan is not far behind. She has also hit her peak. But they stand separated by around 70 points. If Humpy can get to 2700+, she can switch over like Judit. May happen in a cpl of years time given the rate at which she is playing category 19+ tournaments these days. Parimarjan Negi has hit a plateau settling at 2530+. But one surprise is a guy named G.N.Gopal. He has been climbing steadily {not even slowly} over the last two years. He is now mid 2500s. Need to track his progress. He may be the buzz that may have been missing for long since the days of Abhijit Kunte, before he folded due to other commitments.

Dronavilli Harika seems working hard, but without luck. She is flat. She has played around 70 games in the last 6 months. May be she has to cut down on the no of games and get to some bigger tournaments where quality points are at stake. I noticed that S.Vijayalakshmi has been inactive for the last one year or so, maybe a kid is in the pipeline. We may see her after a yr or so later, I guess.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Jul 2008 21:30

Paes and Dlouhy will meet the no 2 pair in MD, Dan Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic. Not for nothing are these the no 2 pair. But Paes-Dlouhy is not a walkover case either. If they win, they might meet the Bryans or Bjorkman-Ulyett in the finals.

Womens doubles: Sania partnering Bethanie Mattek {another no-namer on the singles tour} will face the Williams' sisters. The path to the finals is laden with no-namers, so anyone can win it all. The one seed remaining are Cara Black and Liezel Huber. Lets see how this will roll. A double blast on Sunday will be awesome, but something tells me it may just be one this time.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 01 Jul 2008 22:26

About the Chinese training system, I would not be roundly condemnatory of it. The performance enhancing drugs aspect is all that I see as a negative. As for everything else, I am hardpressed to treat such training policies as negatives. Having been semi-competitive in sports at one time, and had friends who are far more serious, the simple fact is that an elite athlete's life is a continuous story of relentlessly hard training and enormous personal sacrifices on a number of fronts. It is a lifestyle quite simply unimaginable to most folk - training year after year for one fleeting shot at glory, so to speak.

The only reason why the Chinese/Soviet/EGerman system appears particularly egregious on this front is that it is state sponsored; even otherwise, all the Olympic champions out there are individual systems on the same lines. It is one thing to know a person who does this on his own volition, and we'd at best see it as eccentric/admirable/"there's no way I could do that", or in other words, neutral-positive. But a state-sponsored system tends to be viewed in a more negative way, primarily because they tend to be in authoritarian states.

I would personally not be against such a sports school system in India. I don't think the government can run such a system, but perhaps the defence forces or private sector can. It would certainly increase the breadth and depth of performances of Indian sportsmen in a range of sports very quickly.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 02 Jul 2008 10:41

The July squash rankings are up. Sourav Ghosal, the top ranked player, drops two places to 55. Ritwik climbs one to 57. High time they pierced the top-50. Siddharth Suchde and Gaurav Nandrajog are somewhere around the 120s. Ritwik stands to lose some points in the next cycle due to roll-over. {He had won a tournament last year in Pak}. He needs to make that up with some good show in the coming months. On the womens side, Joshna is down 1 to 36. Dipika is down 6 to 58.

In its wimbledon coverage, the anti-national Chindu, as expected, has put down the fact that Paes and co are in the semis at the very end. Nor is Sania and Mattek entering the quarters that important. Nirmal Shekhar goes oo-la-la about the flavor of the season, Jie Zheng. One semifinal entry and she has become a bright prospect for gold at Beijing, it seems.

What a set of doofuses that run the show at the Chindu. Cant they at least be a bit more sophisticated in their Chicomish predilection?! It will be a good test case if treason charges are brought on these oiseaules.

... eve of the departure but the Indian football team was in excellent spirits as it prepared to take off on a 12-day tour to Portugal.

Houghton observed that it was better to tour than invite teams. “To host teams can be an expensive exercise and it also becomes difficult to organise matches. I prefer taking the team on such assignments.”

Is the matter bolded above true?! I thought flight tickets and accommodation were expensive these days. Or is it that AIFF pays for the flight tickets of invited teams also? Sounds quite unusual, even for 100+ ranked teams!
Clicky

Pankaj Advani added yet another title when he pocketed the Australian Open billiards (points format - 150 up) championship at Melbourne on June 29.

Clicky

Golf rankings: Jeev Milkha Singh slipped three places to 78 but still managed to retain his status as the highest ranked Indian golfer while Jyoti Randhawa, the only other Indian in the top 100, slid as many rungs to be 81st.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 03 Jul 2008 02:08

Two football stories. First an update on our pitiable state of affairs.

India will start the July 30-August 10 AFC Challenge Cup in Hyderabad as the second highest ranked team behind North Korea after it remained static at 153rd position at the latest FIFA rankings issued on wednesday.

Clicky
How many countries are there in the world? ~180?! And we are ranked 153!!!! Why not 180 odd?

Posting in clipped portions due to the seriousness of the sad state of our football. Cry my fellow countrymen. And an explanation for the previous story. Bob Houghton, the Indian team coach, speaketh

"Indian football is moving in the right direction, but the pace is too slow. It is sometimes frustrating," he said. "The AIFF knows the direction but the problem is state associations, particularly that of Bengal (Indian Football Association). The state associations have their own agenda. They think their state leagues are more important than the I-League, they want to protect their interests only which is holding back Indian football," added the 60-year-old Englishman. "A Colaco or Dasmunshi cannot do everything. You have the constitution, which involves the state associations. Decisions to change Indian football structure are to be sanctioned by the Executive Committee, which have state representatives. If the state associations don't want change, nothing much can be done. Ultimately they have to be brought on board."

"Some important steps have already been taken to restructure Indian football. We have implemented youth development programmes for under 14, 16 and 19 and we will keep these going on for a longer period. The main aim is to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. I-League is a big step forward and from the coming season it will be played in nine months which I think is the right way to do. I-League matches on weekends, the state league matches on weekdays, more international matches with proper spacing between them all these are being implemented to give Indian football a leap," he said.

"I don't care whether the Santosh Trophy is scrapped or not. I can't dictate the AIFF to do this or that. It is fine if they want to continue Santosh Trophy but I-League players should not play there. In the international perspective, it (Santosh Trophy) is a silly and amateur competition. The top players should be always playing against each other in the I-League. We can have a reserve league and junior league. If India wants to stick to tradition forget about qualifying for the World Cup," Houghton said.

"All the players are dedicated and talented. But lack of height has been a problem. These days in any international match, six out of 10 goals are scored from set pieces and you need taller players in defence and attack. In the game against Lebanon in the World Cup qualifiers they had six players taller than our biggest -- Gouramangi. That was a big problem," {Wow!} "Baichung is a fine player, a natural leader. He has the massive presence and is the central figure of the team, but we have to find his replacement in the team in a few years time," Houghton said. Asked who from the current lot could fill into the boots of the inspirational captain, Houghton said, "(Sunil) Chhetri is already playing a lot of internationals; he is there. Then, there are some junior players like Sushil Singh, who is shaping up as a promising striker. But the problem for Sushil is that he has played just a few I-League games. He is 23 and might have played 20 (I-League) matches or so. A European at his age would have played 300 matches."

Houghton was unforgiving of European clubs coming to India for exhibition matches and for undertaking talent hunt programmes, calling their efforts as "disingenuous way of marketing". "What the European clubs have been doing were marketing exercises and nothing else. India is the second fastest growing economy and in 10 years it will become a huge economy," Houghton said. "They know it and want to market their football. I can't see any benefit for Indian football," said the former Fulham midfielder. "I saw 5000 young kids taking part in the Under-15 Manchester United [Images] Premier Cup trials in Goa [Images] with the misguided belief that they have the chance to turn out for Manchester United. These are disingenuous marketing devices deployed by the English clubs. "I once saw two kids crying on television after visiting Manchester and they have stopped playing after that. Their parents were also crying," he said.

He also described the May 27 Bayern Munich match against Mohun Bagan in Kolkata as nothing but "filling the pockets of rich European players". "I think the match organisers must have spent around 1.5 million dollars though they must have recovered some later. But what was its benefit on Indian footballers. It was just filling up the pockets of Bayern players who are already rich with 2 million dollars a month salary. The money could have been spent in laying an artificial pitch in India for training of kids," he said.

What a hitting commentary on the sad state of affairs! He has answered my earlier question on if AIFF also underwrites the expenses of furrin teams. Jeezus, 1.5M$ for foreign players when our very own rot in shit. Jeezus H christ!!! If the AIFF honchos had any pangs of shame, they should take a cord and hang themselves. But alas, is nt that expecting too much?

India was the Asiad gold medalists in 1951 New Delhi and 1962 Jakarta. We entered the semis of OG in Melbourne 1956. We were the first Asian team to do this. And for a looooooooooooooooong time, no Asian team could even get that far. And what a free fall it has been. PK Banerjee sir, I have no idea how you can stand the current AIFF mess. Surely your love for this game must be infinitely more to keep chugging along despite all the mess. Thanks for all the effort. Please keep trying.
Clicky

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 03 Jul 2008 02:37

"Indian football is moving in the right direction, but the pace is too slow. It is sometimes frustrating," he said. "The AIFF knows the direction but the problem is state associations, particularly that of Bengal (Indian Football Association). The state associations have their own agenda. They think their state leagues are more important than the I-League, they want to protect their interests only which is holding back Indian football," added the 60-year-old Englishman. "A Colaco or Dasmunshi cannot do everything. You have the constitution, which involves the state associations. Decisions to change Indian football structure are to be sanctioned by the Executive Committee, which have state representatives. If the state associations don't want change, nothing much can be done. Ultimately they have to be brought on board."

this is a very real problem. anybody following Indian football in general and kolkata football in particular can't fail to notice that the morons running the associations have continued the pitiable kolkata super league in which no team other than EB/MB have own for the past 2 decade or so.
the top 3/4 teams are forced to play against tremendously weaker sides who have no hope of winning against the top 3 and resort to defending with the whole team. and all the national side players go on playing against these oppositions for n number of matches which doesn't increase their footballing skills one bit but wears them out to no end.
a similar situation exists in goa to a lesser extent. given that these two states along with kerala are our main source of national players, and the top clubs of these states share the nationals among them results in players wasting out their useful period playing with minnows.
and when the real important international games come, you find they are injured and unable to play.

and the colacos and das munshis are the problem, they can't even contemplate a solution, let alone execute one. football administration needs to be in the hands of ex players who have some amount of organizational/leadership skills. for example, nepal made a tremendous effort in developing infrstructure when shyam thapa was at the helm.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 03 Jul 2008 15:20

After all the high of 4x400 qualification, here comes the fricking googly from IAAF. I feel like hitting my head on a wall. Someone please tell me this is no April fool joke.

Relay team gets a jolt from IAAF

NEW DELHI: After all the suspense about the Indian women’s 4x400-metre relay team’s qualification for the Beijing Olympics, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) came up with a stunner on Wednesday that the meets in the just-concluded Asian Grand Prix series were not qualifying events. The Indian team does not figure in the top-20 relay qualification lists at the moment. There are no listed meets where women’s longer relay is part of the programme, from now on till July 16, the last date for relay qualification.

Clicky

She did nt get much of a damn when she won medals for India, but when she quits the sport, it would be worthwhile to notice it.

Heptathlete Soma Biswas, on Wednesday, announced her retirement from the sport on Wednesday. “I feel I have attained the targets I aimed in my career,” she said. “I was not enjoying the rigorous training routine and thus decided to quit competitive athletics,” she added while announcing her decision at a news conference organised by the Calcutta Sports Journalists’ Club on the occasion of World sports journalists’ day.

Biswas, who turned 31 in May, said she had wished to participate in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, which would have been her third appearance in the world event. “I was performing well and was sure of making the qualifying grade for the Beijing Games,” she said. “But on the day of the event everything went wrong and I could not show the desired fitness,” Biswas said. “I have no regrets and am happy with the two Asian Games silvers (won in Busan 2002 and Doha 2006), which I think are the high points in my career,” she said.

Clicky

Wiki adds

Soma Biswas (born 16 May 1978 in Ranaghat) is an athlete who lives in Kolkata, India and who specialises in the heptathlon. She rose to fame when she won the silver medal in 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. She won another silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. She managed to win the 110m hurdles, the 200m and the 800m during that heptathlon. Biswas worked with Kuntal Rai and several foreign coaches. She was one of the recipients of the prestigious Arjuna Award for Athletics. (year 2003)

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 03 Jul 2008 21:23

Poor Sania. She's on the downswing now. I feel she got distracted by all the attention, and spent too much time trying to be a fashion icon and ad-qyoon. A real shame.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Jul 2008 03:47

Karkala Joishy wrote:Poor Sania. She's on the downswing now. I feel she got distracted by all the attention, and spent too much time trying to be a fashion icon and ad-qyoon. A real shame.

KJ, please no Sania-bashing. Please read one of the above posts on her spate of injuries, not just last season, but through the last 3 years. No point bashing her if you dont know what she is going through, and making up your viewpoints based on what you see at rediff et al.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Jul 2008 17:19

News about Saina Nehwal.

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal's stupendous performance in the Asian circuit last month saw her move up the rungs and break into the top-20 in the women's singles ranking. The National Champion, who would be representing India in the Beijing Olympics, jumped to the 18th spot in the latest rankings released by the International Badminton Federation on Thursday. "I am very happy with my performance. In the beginning of the year I was not so happy, I was not doing well, I wanted to do well, I trained hard so I am quite satisfied. However, I want to raise my game and break into top 10 now," Saina told PTI.

Clicky
For those who dont know, this is to be read as Gopichand garu's revenge. Keep checking the news often, as there is a running feud {hopefully, just a motivation} between GC and PP. It wont stop till the All-England is won.

Good for India.

Some movement on the relay fiasco. Time will tell if India goes to Beijing. Feel sorry for Manjit Kaur & co, for this is not their mess.

The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) on Thursday initiated moves to sort out the Olympic relay qualification status of the recent Asian Grand Prix meets with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

I am sure this will attract some of the millionaire-wannabes and the richie-rich to take a shot at golf. Unlucky caddies of yore like Ali Sher might just wish they were a few years younger seeing this turn of events.

The prize-money for this year’s Indian Open golf championship will be doubled to one million dollars. Hero Honda, the title-sponsor of golf’s flagship event in the country, announced on Thursday that the 45th edition of the event to be held here from October 9 to 12 would be a millon-dollar event.

While the archers might not win any medals at OG, the AAI reeks of political skulduggery of the worst kind. And why the eff are politicians like V.K.Malhotra {BJP} heading AAI. What is it that these politicos wanna do with such clout, when they can get infinitely more just being MLAs and MPs? Another hockey clone the way this sport is suffering.

She has packed up her bow. “I may never be allowed to compete again,” said archer Reena Kumari, protesting against her exclusion from the team to Beijing Olympics next month. Reena recounted her side of the story on the “flawed” selection process adopted by the Archery Association of India.

“I am a victim of the selection process which was aimed at protecting some big players. My name figured in the team announced earlier and then one more trial was forced upon us. “I was under pressure and did not fare well and that gave the selectors the chance to drop me,” bemoaned Reena here on Thursday. According to Reena, she had made the grade by topping the second and third trials held at Meerut and Kolkata.

“Why did the AAI then force another trial when the team had already been selected,” she asked even as she produced a letter from the AAI Secretary General Paresh Nath Mukherjee. The letter announced the selection of Reena along with Dola and Bombayala for the Olympics. Reena claimed she had approached the AAI president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who had asked her to attend the trials even though she had fared better than Dola Banerjee at the World Cup in Turkey. “Now, Mr. Malhotra is asking me as to why I gave the trials when I had been already selected. I fail to understand this selection process.”

Reena also alleged that at the last trials held in Kolkata from June 25 to 29, there was no selector present. Mr. Mukherjee refuted Reena’s claims. “We have picked the best team through a very transparent process. The trials we had were open and the competitors had 27 days to prepare. It is unfortunate that Reena has chosen to go public when her charges are out of place. “She has not achieved anything of distinction in the last two years while Dola has been our greatest achiever. Even Dola went through the trials and qualified on merit. There has been no unfair process in selection,” said Mr. Mukherjee. Reena is planning to meet Union Sports Minister M.S. Gill on Friday to present her case.

And finally, hope Paes and Dlouhy get to the finals. Its been ages since Paes has won a GS doubles. FWIW, he needs this boost prior to the OG. There has been too much commotion surrounding him and the noise has become too unbearable for comfort. Go Paes.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 04 Jul 2008 17:46

Stan, Archery Association of India is only part of the trend in Indian sports. There will be a politician at the top of every sports association at the national level and the state level.

An Indian politician does not feel accomplished till he/she has infested every aspect of Indian society and organization.
Archery was one sport that many have expectations from at Beijing. I hope AAI's incompetency doesn't put those hopes to rest.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Jul 2008 18:02

Xposting in psy-ops thread too. The journos are being torn by this guy. I love this article.
Who da eff is Gurbaz?

Yesterday all newspapers nearly carried a news item captioned “Gurbaz Singh to lead India in the Junior Asia Cup”. All they meant was Gurbaj Singh who has been a live wire for Indian teams since made his senior debut at the Doha Asian Games.

The press release by the Indian Olympic Association, which controls hockey through an ad hoc committee nowadays, made this mistake – putting z in place of j. Mis-spelling the captain of a team by their own administrators is surely condemnable but at least they can be given a discount because they are new. When you do a job at national level, there is no question of new or old, everyone is supposed to do things in professional manner.

But what is worrying more is the casualness with which the media went through the motion. The news agency report did not correct the spelling, so almost all newspapers carried out with the same mistake. Would they have done so in case of cricket or tennis? Gurbaj is not a newcomer. He has been with the senior team for last two years as a mainstay. Why no newspaper corrected this mistake? One paper even went to the extent of putting Mandeep Antil’s photo and named him, again, Gurbaz!!!

Though there are no major international events in India, two publications in Delhi did not even present this news item to their readers. The same press release mis-spelt AK Bansal as SP Bansal, most of them carried out as it is though some papers corrected it. Hockey is facing a rough time and identity crisis. So much so even prominent players names go for a six. Ironically, the day these error reports were carried out is called "Sports Journalists Day" and is celebrated world over.

For those who dont know, AK Bansal is the uber-famous coach of the Indian junior hockey team, which are the defending Asian champions + world runners up. AKB saab also coached India at the recent Azlan Shah tournament where we won silver, after much internal catharis following the failure to qualify for Beijing 08. So much for journalism in India. Ack thooooooo.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 04 Jul 2008 19:57

I am jinxing these guys. They lose 6-8 in the fifth. The 13th game was so terrible. Ah jeez.......

vishnur · Post by **vishnur** » 07 Jul 2008 23:05

Results of Somdev from the last 2 weeks

$10K Futures at Rochester from June 23-29, 2008 - Clay Court

[R1] #797 (8)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #932 Adolfo Gomez-Pinter (ESP) 6-0 6-0
[R2] #797 (8)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #1687 (WC)Justin Kronauge (USA) 6-0 6-0
[QF] #797 (8)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #324 (1)(q)Artem Sitak (RUS) 6-2 6-2
[SF] #797 (8)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #827 Bryan Koniecko (USA) 7-5 6-3
[F] #797 (8)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #1045 Alexander Domijan (USA) 6-2 6-2

$10K Futures at Pittsburgh from June 30-July 6, 2008 - Clay Court

[R1] #797 (7)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #1045 (SE)Alexander Domijan (USA) 6-2 6-4
[R2] #797 (7)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #UNR (q)Roy Kalmanovich (USA) 6-1 6-3
[QF] #797 (7)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #639 (3)Marcus Fugate (USA) 6-4 6-3
[SF] #797 (7)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #509 (1)Luis Manuel Flores (MEX) 6-4 6-0
[F] #797 (7)Somdev K. Dev Varman (IND) d. #1010 Travis Helgeson (USA) 6-3 6-1

The ranking of Somdev will move into the Top-600 now. He is playing this week in an Exhibition event, The Kennedy Invitational . There are several top-200 players participating. So this will be a good test for Somdev.

Sunitha Rao Results

At $50K Boston Challenger, MA, USA

[R1] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,152) bt (JE) KUCOVA Kristina (SVK,474) 16 64 76(4)
[R2] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,152) bt (Q) BRODSKY Gail (USA,411) 63 75
[QF] (5) RAO Sunitha (IND,152) l (2) DUBOIS Stephanie (CAN,100) 2-6 2-6

Rajeev Ram, The Indian American

At $50K in IL from June 30-July 6, 2008 - Hard Courts

[R1] #278 Rajeev Ram (USA) d. #99 (1)Vince Spadea (USA) 6-3 5-0 ret.
[R2] #278 Rajeev Ram (USA) d. #299 Nick Monroe (USA) 1-6 6-4 6-2
[QF] #278 Rajeev Ram (USA) d. #194 (5)Brendan Evans (USA) 6-3 0-6 6-3
[SF] #278 Rajeev Ram (USA) d. #229 (7)Benedikt Dorsch (GER) 4-6 6-4 6-4
[F] #278 Rajeev Ram (USA) d. #224 (6)Scoville Jenkins (USA) 7-5 6-4

Squash Results

At $8K Womens Chennai Open 2008, India

Round One -
(1) Christina Mak (HKG,33) bt Shriya Khatri (IND,UNR) 9-2 9-3 9-2 (21m)
(5) Dipika Pallikal (IND,64) bt Swati Muchal (IND,UNR) 9-0 9-2 9-0 (10m)
(3) Orla Noom (NED,38) bt Saumya Karki (IND,UNR) 9-1 7-9 9-3 9-1 (24m)
(7) Anwesha Reddy (IND,169) bt Irina Assal (RUS,233) 9-4 9-4 3-9 9-1 (25m)
Harita Omprakash (IND,UNR) bt (8) Surbhi Misra (IND,235) 10-8 9-5 9-2 (25m)
(4) Annie Au (HKG,50) bt Anaka Alankomony (IND,UNR) 9-4 9-0 9-2 (18m)
(6) Birgit Coufal (AUT,95) bt Sachika Balvani (IND,UNR) 9-4 9-4 9-3 (20m)
(2) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt Arapajitha Balamurukan (IND,UNR) 9-2 9-1 9-0 (10m)

Quarter-Finals -
(5) Dipika Pallikal (IND,64) bt (1) Christina Mak (HKG,33) 9-7 9-5 9-3 (34m)
(3) Orla Noom (NED,38) bt (7) Anwesha Reddy (IND,169) 3-9 8-10 9-5 9-1 9-2 (42m)
(4) Annie Au (HKG,50) bt Harita Omprakash (IND,UNR) 9-2 9-0 9-1 (24m)
(2) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) bt (6) Birgit Coufal (AUT,95) 9-2 9-6 9-2 (22m)

Semi-finals -
(5) Dipika Pallikal (IND,64) bt (3) Orla Noom (NED,38) 10-8 7-9 9-5 9-1 (49m)
(4) Annie Au (HKG,50) bt (2) Joshna Chinappa (IND,37) 10-9 9-1 5-9 10-9 (67m)

Final -
(4) Annie Au (HKG,50) bt (5) Dipika Pallikal (IND,64) 9-3 10-8 10-8 (44m)

At $10K Mens Chennai Open 2008, India

Round One -
(1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,55) bt Naresh Kumar (IND,153) 11-5 11-7 13-11 (45m)
(5) Dick Lau (HKG,87) bt (Q) Parth Sharma (IND,226) 11-7 11-7 11-7 (25m)
(7) Max Lee (HKG,107) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (IND,128) 12-14 11-8 11-1 12-10 (45m)
Harinderpal Singh (IND,181) bt (6) Shamsul Islam Khan (PAK,89) 12-10 9-11 11-1 13-11 (39m)
(2) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,57) bt (Q) Ravi Dixit (IND,UNR) 12-10 11-9 11-1 (29m)

Quarter-Finals -
(1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,55) bt (8) Rob Sutherland (WAL,95) 11-8 15-13 11-5 (48m)
(2) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,57) bt (Q) Harinderpal Singh (IND,181) 11-8 13-11 11-8 (38m)

Semi-finals -
(1) Saurav Ghosal (IND,55) bt (3) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS,61) 10-12 5-11 11-5 11-9 11-7 (84m)
(2) Ritwik (IND,57) bt (4) Ali Anwar Reda (EGY,58) 10-12 7-11 12-10 11-7 11-8 (73m)

Final -
(4) Annie Au (HKG,50) bt (5) Dipika Pallikal (IND,64) 9-3 10-8 10-8 (44m)

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Jul 2008 10:47

Apologies if posted earlier

Apparently an Indian, Somdev Dev Varma is twice NCAA tennis champion in the USA.
He was recruited by the University of Virginia coach for his team from Chennai.

You tube Video

Best athlete in UVA history?

More tennis news

bart · Post by **bart** » 14 Jul 2008 19:12

How good is the NCAA for tennis?

I know American college teams are really big in American sports like AF, BB etc, but what standard of tennis players are found in the NCAA? Does it mean he has a chance of making it big on the pro circuit?

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 14 Jul 2008 23:41

hanumadu wrote:Apologies if posted earlier

Apparently an Indian, Somdev Dev Varma is twice NCAA tennis champion in the USA.
He was recruited by the University of Virginia coach for his team from Chennai.

You tube Video

Best athlete in UVA history?

More tennis news

Hanumadu, go through the thread. We're discussing him already.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 14 Jul 2008 23:57

vasu, I've split those two posts(hanumadu and bart) from another thread. the contextual problem is a result of that.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 15 Jul 2008 02:19

Beijing Olympics: China invites Sonia, not PM or Prez

Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 15 Jul 2008 02:22

SaiK wrote:
Beijing Olympics: China invites Sonia, not PM or Prez
Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.

shame on Sonia, if she accepts the invitation.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 16 Jul 2008 20:58

India bt Pakistan in an ill-tempered Asia Cup semi-final

Defending champions India beat Pakistan 3-1 through Diwakar Ram's brace to storm into the final of the Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament on Wednesday in an ill-tempered match that saw players of both sides exchange blows in the first half.

But the otherwise excellent match left a bad taste among the spectators when players of both the teams flung their hockey sticks at each other four minutes before the interval. The match was stopped for 10 minutes and the intervention of coaches and officials calmed the frayed tempers.

Just four minutes before the first half, an ugly spat between Indian forward SV Sunil and Pakistan's defender Kashif turned nasty as players joined in and raised their sticks to hit one another.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 17 Jul 2008 00:21

Rahul M wrote:
SaiK wrote: Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.
shame on Sonia, if she accepts the invitation.

Spot on. beijing sure knows how to play games, this being the season of five rings and all.

vipins · Post by **vipins** » 17 Jul 2008 00:26

Violence in India-Pak hockey match

pic

Kakkaji · Post by **Kakkaji** » 19 Jul 2008 02:00

India win Jr Asia Cup hockey

vishnur · Post by **vishnur** » 19 Jul 2008 15:10

Results of Somdev from the last week. Top quality win against a top-50 player!!! This guy seems to be better than what i thought!! We have a Davis Cup match against Romania on Clay and we finally have a player who is world class on Clay.

At the Kennedy Funding Invitational from July 9-13, 2008 - Clay Courts

[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,661) bt Jhonson Garcia (DOM,1134) 63 63
[QF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,661) bt (4) Robert Kendrick (USA,120) 76(5) 75
[SF] Somdev Devvarman (IND,661) vs (1) Sam Querrey (USA,44) 62 16 75
[F] Somdev Devvarman (IND,661) vs (2) Dudi Sela (ISR,76) 62 64

This one is an Exhibition tournament and so Somdev won't win any points for this

At the 2008 Campbell's HoF ATP, Newport, July 7-13 - Grass Courts

[R1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) d Joseph Sirianni (AUS.155) 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4
[R2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) d. Jesse Levine (USA,124) 7-5 6-3
[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) d. Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) 6-4 6-3
[SF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) d. Frank Dancevic (CAN,99) 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3
[F] Fabrice Santoro (FRA,57) d. Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) 6-3 7-5

[Q1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) d. Justin O'Neal (USA,745) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-2
[Q2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) d. Artem Sitak (RUS,313) 7-6(7) 7-5
[R1] Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) d. Kevin Kim (USA,178) 6-3 6-4
[R2] Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) d. Mardy Fish (USA,41) 7-6(6) 7-5
[QF] Prakash Amritraj (IND,305) d. Rohan Bopanna (IND,374) 6-4 6-3

Rohan made the finals in Doubles
[F] Mardy Fish/John Isner (USA) d. (4)Rohan Bopanna/Aisam Qureshi (IND/PAK) 6-4 7-6(1)

At $600K Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, USA (Tier II)

[R1] Sania Mirza (IND,33) l (Q) Anne Keothavong (GBR,82) 6-7(4) 1-6
[R1] Sania Mirza (IND)/ Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) l Eva Hrdinova (CZE)/ Vladimira Uhlirova (CZE) 36 46

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 21 Jul 2008 02:50

A TT legend's life on TV
In these days of hype and hoopla over "entertainments" such as the recently concluded IPL, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise to see so much of excitement over the launch of the inspirational saga of V Chandrasekhar, three-time table tennis champ in the 1980s who also boasts an Arjuna award on his mantelpiece.

In a country which has too few role models, Chandrasekhar's life as an ace TT champ was going great guns till he was halted by a surgery that went horribly wrong and sent him into a coma. He recovered, went to court and in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court ordered the premier hospital in question to provide him compensation. He then went on to be a bank officer and started a TT academy which is currently training 200 children.

Now Chandra's life and times will be serialised on Jaya TV from mid-August and will have the great TT player playing himself in the final episodes -- there are 26 -- although three youngsters from different age groups have been picked to play the young Chandrasekhar. The script is based on the book by Chandra himself called My Fight Back From Death's Door. "The story highlights the different aspects of Chandra's life starting from his childhood, his passion for table tennis, fan following in his heyday, the fateful day of his surgery, treatment in the US, how he bounced back fighting against all odds then became a bank officer and his TT academy," says Haricharan who is directing the serial.

The nice thing about the launch -- or to be cynical, probably why it generated publicity -- was that Cricket greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid took time off and showed up for it. Chandra says that the revenue from the biopic would be used to fund his academy.

Clicky

India’s No. 1 swimmer has finally made it, qualifying for the 200m butterfly event at the Beijing Olympics in his last attempt at the Telstra Australian Grand Prix in Sydney. With Rehan on board, the country, for the first time, is fielding a four-member squad which also includes Virdhwal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and the US-based Ankur Poseria. It is certainly a good sign for Indian aquatics.

Much good stuff has been written about Rehan and Virdhawal. For example, this coming from the horse's mouth and this.

Been a long while since I have seen such glorification from the chindu. Look out for em.
Clicky

ranganathan · Post by **ranganathan** » 21 Jul 2008 12:04

http://ia.rediff.com/sports/2008/jul/20chand.htm

Chandhok wins German GP2 race

KrishnaMu · Post by **KrishnaMu** » 22 Jul 2008 20:43

May be its already posted.
Against the Odds: Vijender Kumar - Olympic medal hopeful

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Jul 2008 20:14

Interview with Anand

Kramnik has made some strong remarks on Mexico world championship and some of them were trained at you. Do you see it as an attempt to psyche you ahead of your match in Bonn?
I prefer not to give too much attention to interviews. I think you should just play your chess and not find excuses. I understand that there will be a lot of out-of-the-board tactics and this could come under that category. I remember before and after Mexico also similar kind of rhetoric was used from their side.

He rubbished Mexico 2007 as a compromise.
As a champion you should learn to play all formats and accept the results. I think this topic has been discussed a lot. We have to get to the present situation. You don’t see Federer complain about Nadal winning Wimbledon. Nor do you have the debate whether a grass court player is a classical player and hence better. They play on different surfaces. One plays better than another on different surfaces. But you try to play your best on all courts.

Do you think Kramnik is yet to reconcile to the defeat in Mexico?
If there is an event called the World Championship and someone wins it he or she is the World Champion. You can’t suddenly find conditions that make them a lesser champion, if it doesn’t favour you. {What a kick to the Russkie echandee} I played in Moscow 2001 and Ponomariov won. He rightfully has a claim to the title.

Is it binding that only match-play should decide a world champion, not a tournament play?
How to find a true World Champion is an enigma all chess players are very keen to solve. The tournament format seemed very just and interesting now we have a new format to find the World Champion. In my opinion a champion is someone who plays tournaments, shows his preparation, is unafraid of challenges and not too scared to put his title on the line. There is no use of a title if you play badly.

Kramnik claims to have saved the world chess from another split by taking part in Mexico.
I don’t know if that is the popular opinion. I think analysing his games keeps me fairly occupied these days, I don’t want to start analysing his words.

Is it case of being a bad loser?
No comment. Kramnik is a world class player and he will be a tough rival in October and that is what I will be focusing on. I am not really thinking of his past results or his interviews. He has shown he is a good match player and has played matches in the last few years.

He says the value of Mexico tournament is not as much as any classical match?
That’s his personal opinion. Both San Luis and Mexico were highly entertaining and produced some really good games. And we had a lot of decisive games. The question is not classical, rapid etc, it is what is relevant and entertaining.

He cited your none-too-impressive record against Kasparov. He says you were out-foxed by the big K.
Everyone has their nemesis. For me it was clearly Kasparov. I don’t think I want to make excuses for that. Kasparov, in spite of his explosive character, brought the game into the limelight. Now that we are not rivals I can say that Kasparov did try to promote the game on a global level. In a way players at the top should try to promote the game in their own countries as that is the legacy that makes you feel proud. If you have not done that you have failed as a sportsperson.

How is your preparation going?
Good so far.

You will be taking part in the Chess Grand Slam a month before the world championship. What could be the thinking?
I wanted some practical play before the match. Last year also I played in Mainz three weeks before Mexico.

Clicky

In the meanwhile, the Indian juggernaut keeps rolling at the Asian under-16 chess championship. A good future lies ahead if these young ones get the right orientation and dont get stuck at the 2400s like some of their illustrious predecessors.
Clicky

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Jul 2008 20:17

Meet Belsajar Horo

Belsajar Horo, 18, joins the illustrious list of hockey stars to come from the tribal district of Sundargarh, Orissa. A find of the Sports Authority of India’ s Special Area Game Centre, Sundargarh, has earned his maiden Indian jersey in the recently concluded 6th Junior Asia Cup, Hyderabad. India retained the championship with a hard fought win of South Korea (3-2), thus marking a ‘golden’ beginning of Horo’s international hockey ride. Hyderabad marked not just this midfielder’s golden beginning, but also a great dawn for his institution, SAG Centre-Sundargarh, as he has earned the distinction of being its first regular inmate to don the national jersey.

Belsajar is elated to play for the country. He is aware that he has miles to go before getting elevated to senior grade. He realizes tough road lies ahead of him to realize this dream of making it to the top. The colt is aware he needs to work hard to make room for himself in the senior team-- he is surely working towards that end. Meantime, his coach P.K.Sarangi is happy that his ward Belsajar will inspire other boys and girls of his centre. “Certainly, they will try to emulate Horo’s feat”, said the beaming coach.

This is what the departed Chappel-clone RicC and FIH wanted to get a hold on. The budding talent in the nooks and corners of our country. Thank God for the impatience of RicC lest he stuck around here and raked more muck irrelevant to the cause of the game.