Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 11 Jul 2011 23:29

Ajay Maken's latest salvo: include sports in the Bharat Ratna category. While this is welcome, I just hope for once that the MHRD wakes up and lobbies for educational/scientific contributions also for the Bharat Ratna. As of now, we just see politicians who "build nations" and artists who "create entertainment and pleasure" in the reckoning. India cant become a knowledge economy without due recognition to science, tech, engg and math.

His previous salvos: doping for all sports covered by the doping bill to be introduced in the Parliament in August (this will put him in a firm cross-fire with bcci), fixing the tenure of sports secretaries and presidents (pits him against the ioc), truce between HI and IHF (pits him against the FIH). If there is anyone who needs sports lovers' support, it is Ajay Maken. What a pleasant surprise from the days of MS Gill. Onwards.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 12 Jul 2011 20:44

Now I know that Nuke saar follows crikkit dhaaga, here is PT Usha uvacha:

Besides this, it's been reported that there were 122 cases in an 11-month period, starting May 2010. The trend seems to be deep rooted within the system. Is it a recent trend?

In America, Africa, Europe, Asia and other parts of world it is quite a day-by-day affair. The advanced countries develop their own new methods of doping and advanced masking agents. In the area of athletics, we are still backward, and that's why so many people are getting caught. This is not a recent trend, as since 1998, Indian sports seem be under drug abuse. There were repeated warnings, from many corners, yet the authorities took no action; that's why this would have happened. Moreover, this is a worldwide phenomenon; we cannot separate our country alone. One thing is for sure: with patience, hard work, success will surely come. God is always right.

After one prima donna, its now the turn of the other 2 uvacha on matters she has no clue about. Welcome to the world where brain is absent and India-paki bhai bhai can go a long way to hell and back.

KA has written a wailing and moaning tune on the departure of MS Gill. Sometimes I wonder which arse does KA put his head in. Wailing for MS Gill??? Dude, wake up and smell the filter kaapi. Good riddance happened when Ajay Maken replaced Mono-sodium Glutamate.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 13 Jul 2011 07:43

I still didn't get the real issue of going against pharmacies!!! 100% of all sportsmen and women in world use doping to enhance even in professional sports like Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Boxing, etc. This is a non-issue!! it is shooting yourself in foot!! This is what I call GARBAGE GANDHIAN NAUTANKI in front of the world. I would let all sportsmen do whatever they want to enhance their sports and Government of India Sports ministry (including BCCI) behind the sportswomen/sportsmen. I would rather blame the IHF, Olympics Organizing committee and other people before blaming my own countrymen.

and whoever is "whistleblower" for this news should be arrested and put behind bars for treason and working for chinese or against India!!

In usa and canada even high school kids use doping for their school competitions!! Indians sports ministry needs to keep up with world.

We Indians are killing ourselves in front of the world!! nobody gives two hoots about Gandhian values!! The goal is to WIN MAXIMUM OLYMPICS GOLD MEDALS and not to "catch maximum sports playing people in India". Even when I am caught with benadryl in my stomach makes me a "doper"., though I don't play any sports.

niran · Post by **niran** » 13 Jul 2011 09:11

Stan_Savljevic wrote:Ajay Maken's latest salvo: include sports in the Bharat Ratna category. While this is welcome, I just hope for once that the MHRD wakes up and lobbies for educational/scientific contributions also for the Bharat Ratna. As of now, we just see politicians who "build nations" and artists who "create entertainment and pleasure" in the reckoning. India cant become a knowledge economy without due recognition to science, tech, engg and math.

is not Sports a form of Art? in Art people uses their talent and the public wah!wah!, in Sport a Sportsperson uses their talent and public wah! wah!
why is there a need for different category, is beyond me.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 13 Jul 2011 20:25

Sports is not art, unless you want to think of sports as poetry in motion and hence ==. Sports is sports, art and culture is arts and culture and you cant mix the two. Without sports, you can still live, without culture, you die slowly as a civilization. Without education, you die faster. The last serious educator BR awardee was either Amartya Sen or Abdul Kalam, depends on if you want to categorize them as educators. To me, neither are educators despite their contributions to India of which I cant be a Judge. From the list on wiki, I cant put anyone other than CV Raman in the education category. PV Kane etc. are social reformers more than educators. I am looking at people like Prof. CR Rao or Prof. CNR Rao for BR. Or worse, they better create something better than Padma Vibhushan but below Bharat Ratna.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 14 Jul 2011 01:36

India take on Japan in Japan in the DC WG playoff, September I think.

Amma has submitted a bid for the Gelfand-Anand WC match in Madras. Wow, that was quick. Hoping to see a new SAF games bid or at the very least a NG bid. After what went on in Jharkhand, we need another NG. Heh, at least host an Ind-Assie series in MRS. I have a looong laundry list for what she can do, if she wants to starting with reviving the Rangaswami Cup to making the Murugappa Trophy on par with the Obaidullah Cup to providing State govt jobs to hickey players etc. I can keep dreaming, we will have another bum blast somewhere before anything happens.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 14 Jul 2011 07:10

Seems like AICF had a new President taking over last week, which I had missed. JCD Prabhakar took over from DV Sundar of the K. Humpy fight fame. JCD Prabhakar turns out to be an ADMK MLA. He arranged for a meeting between Amma and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Moscow had been another bidder for the event, but since Tel Aviv did nt make a competing bid, Madras seems to have won over.

So no hope of any SAF repeat I guess.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 15 Jul 2011 07:37

Amma doing her part to get FIDE Championship in Chennai. Looks like India's bid is higher than Russia. If no other country bids before July 31st, Chennai is sure to get this. Anand has announced he is happy that CM has taken keen interest. Amma assured TN would take care of the expenditure - Rs20 crore.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 15 Jul 2011 20:46

Seems like IHF and HI are moving towards a truce, the plan is not clear, but the outcome is. There may be a renaming to say, Hockey India Federation or Indian Hockey or Gubo to FIH League or some such clone. There is last minute bargaining on how many members each side can contribute, 19-all seems like where its headed now. Batra will hold the Secretary post. There are some issues on World Hickey League bound players who will have to ICL-ed in. etc. Rumormill is that the head of the new body will be Sunil Mittal, who will underwrite hickey cash woes with his personal cash. Wow. No, double wow. I cant be allowed 2 dream, eh. Hope he does nt burn himself like Subroto bhai.

Speaking of dreamz unlimited, did you know that Jugraj is only 27? And his protege Rupinder is 21?? Or that Dilip Tirkey rues the 2000 draw against Poland that put us out of the medal bracket and the Santiago meltdown. Why god why?

All this while I am waiting for some matchplay. Duh.

Elsewhere in the athletes doping saga, lotsa crap emerging. Infinitely many questions remain, but the top-most will be, if all these athletes are just pure victims of a coach's bad prescription contaminated by the chini piss poor manufacturing, then why did two athletes test for steroids over the regular dose of one drug. There seems to be a move to punish them less by using administrative clauses, so that they could be on board for Londonistan, but this aint fair. You caught, you pay price, whoever you are. Thats usually the rule. As much as I love the 1600 relay team, this is bad for the long run. The AFI seems more keen on fixing short term woes than fixing a long term mess. In the compromises, we are seeing a massive cockup of a coverup. India Shining, dudes and dudettes.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 17 Jul 2011 04:19

Hickey probables list released, nothing surprising. Nevertheless, the treatment meted out to Baljeet must be said to be one of the left hand not talking to the right. Why invite, if you want a test conducted? Why ask him to retire a la Jugraj? Baljeet has blamed AB Subbiah too, and ABS has been one of India's leading GKs in the last decade, so wtf is going on is something I have no clue of. Seriously shitty, but anyway...

New probables I am seeing:
Kamaldeep Singh for GK (not exactly new, but not exactly old either)
Diwakar Ram (nothing surprising about DR, its just that his position in surprising, he is now a contender in the defence rather than the fwd line, seems like he is being groomed to be the next Sandeep Singh, which is rather good news)
Gurjinder Singh in defence
Kothajit in midfield, Amar Aiyamma, Nithin Thimmaiah, Prabhdeep Singh, Banmali Xess, Akashdeep Singh, Pradhan Somanna, Chinglinsana, Yuvraj Valmiki, all in the fwd line. Thats a big Coorgi contingent right there.

There is a player from NE (Chinglinsana), one from JHK (Xess). Actually, Chinglen Sana may be from the NE, but he plays usually for Railways or Western Railways as he did in the Sr. Nationals (here is his pic: http://www.thehindu.com/sport/hockey/article523770.ece). All these players have impressed in the recently conducted Sr. Nationals, which means that the selectors have had much of a say in building this team than Mike Nobbs has had. This 48 list of probables will be pruned to 18 in a month, so lets see how the bickering is like then.

Other news: Danish Mujtaba seems to have been rehabilitated, Sardara and Sandeep are regularized without any wussing on the part of officials, Prabhjyot Singh is back FINALLY (gee, the last time I saw him was when Prabhjyot and Rajpal tussled under Brasa a year back), Dhananjay Mahadik has been ejected which is bad (he has been a man under fire for god knows how long, but he is old, not too old when compared with Tushar Khandker or Danish Mujtaba, but still), Ajitesh Roy and Diwakar Ram from the erstwhile jr. ranks are now common features, not much culling has happened as Rajpal Singh, Sardara Singh, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa, Shivendra Singh are all back.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 17 Jul 2011 09:43

From FIDE website,

The planned bid from India to host the Women's Championship between Hou Yifan and Humpy Koneru and "Chess in Schools" programme were also discussed.

The burning issue in Indian athletics
http://www.sportstaronnet.com/stories/2 ... 201400.htm

No one was willing to ask why the athletes were going to Ukraine. The International Sports Division of the Sports Ministry was more than willing to clear a group of athletes including the 400m runners and sprinters to Ukraine for an extended stint last year, prior to the Commonwealth Games, after the AFI had finished its ‘quota' of 45 days of training in the same country earlier last summer. Enquiries in the past of anything being special in Yalta, from coaches and athletes, have yielded nothing. “Good weather, good food”, they often used to say.

The Sports Ministry has explained that visits to cities like Muscat, Potchefstroom, South Africa, and Kuala Lumpur were also cleared in the past but no one had raised questions then. Perhaps without the knowledge of the ministry, an IAAF team did raid the Indian squad in Muscat in January 2008. The coaches called out the athletes and asked them who among them had doubts that there could be a possibility of not clearing the test.

One woman quarter-miler is learnt to have replied in the affirmative. She was shielded from the testers for one week and asked to stay at another location. International testing teams had also conducted surprise checks at the Indian camps in Yalta in the past, according to coaches who were in the know of it, though we do not know whether they were successful in either getting any athlete or collecting any urine sample.
...
Today, the SAI is talking of setting up a monitoring panel to spot abnormal improvement in performance of athletes. It could have spotted abnormal improvements in the past from a mile, but chose not to. It could have followed up on seizure of drugs from the rooms of athletes, both in Patiala and Bangalore, but chose not to. Quite often the question would be: “Are other countries not doing it?” Once you ask that question one knows that an excuse is being found to at least look the other way, if not to collude. When a woman athlete improves from 60.15s in the 400m hurdles to 56.15s in just six months (later the same level of improvement in three months), then alarm bells should start ringing in the SAI and the NADA offices even as it becomes music to the ears of the coaches who indulge in the abhorrent practice of doping. And of course to those in authority who cannot look at anything beyond medals in international competitions.
...
A doctor familiar with dope testing once told this correspondent that the chemist shops around the university area in Tiruchi, where an inter-university meet was about to take place, had run out of syringes days before the meet. This is a normal occurrence at school meets even. Still no one has bothered to work out remedial measures. Are the juniors after jobs or fame, or both? Or are they dreaming of those millions that could be theirs when they become Asian Games champions?

The Union Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, has lost no time in sacking the foreign coach in charge of the relay team, Yuriy Ogorodonik, and suspending the Indian coaches. He is on the right track as he seeks more accountability from the SAI, NIS and the NADA. He could possibly try to find out whether there is a nexus between SAI officials, federations and foreign coaches when appointments are finalised. The minister would be well advised to push forward with the administrative measures including compliance of ‘whereabouts' information by athletes, incorporation of NADA rules by federations in their constitutions, and formation of ‘independent' bodies to run the NADA and the disciplinary and appeal panels.

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 18 Jul 2011 11:15

India has defeated Qatar in a friendly Football match.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 263871.cms

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 18 Jul 2011 20:10

Thats a one shot face-saver for Armando Colaco and Subrata Paul. Else, the knives would have been out and morons asking for new capitaan or new coach and how Indian coaches all suck big time. The last time we had some success in footer coaching was the initial phase of Bob Houghton's which was ages back, and before that under Syed Nayeemuddin. Syed saab is persona non grata even in East Bengal these days, what a lousy and murky world of power politics. He went to BD and with those idiots bringing their Ctg-Dhaka rivalry to the board, he had to return back with a huge loss of face.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 19 Jul 2011 20:53

Memories of Madras - A fan called Balaji and other stories
http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/ ... 257541.ece

As I said,

No longer had India shocked Qatar 2-1, that the coaches have started demanding that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) should discard the idea of hiring foreign coaches for the national team.
...
“There are no alternatives to aboriginal coaches when it comes to national team. They know and understand the Indian players better and are aware of the ground realities,” Sukhwinder added.

Huh, what was that? Aboriginal?! Who wants to respond back to such loonies with a coach tag on their backsides? Elsewhere, PKB writes this:

There’s no denying the fact that India are doing well under Armando Colaco. But a loss in the qualifier will once again bring him under the scanner. After all he is at the helm on an ad-hoc basis. And knowing All India Football Federation’s fetish for foreign coaches, they may after all go for ‘big name’.

Sunita Godara, a former marathoner herself, says this:

Sports authorities in India have been running what is called a “controlled doping” scam for years and they deserve exemplary punishment. The process involves mass testing of athletes and keeping those who test positive away from international events. In essence, this is an encouragement and endorsement of the Eleventh Commandment as adapted for the sportsperson: “Thou shalt dope but not let thyself be found out.” Now that a few girls have been caught, the establishment has shamelessly dumped and disowned them.
...
I do indeed have my motives: first, to get some revenge against officials who treat athletes worse than domestic helps; second, to clean sports of drug use.
...
Young athletes didn’t start doping on their own. They were told to take banned drugs. Young, often poor and from a rural background, they had little choice. They were told drugs were like medicines or tonics, to make them stronger. They have greater knowledge now, but many still take drugs willingly. There’s pressure from officials, but there are rewards as well. Poor Ashwini Akkunji, who was awarded Rs 1 crore after her show at the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year, has been left to fend for herself after she tested positive recently. But when she came into sport, I’m certain she knew nothing about drugs. Clearly, sports officials, federations, coaches, managers gave her drugs.
.. .
The situation deteriorated after 2000. National camp athletes told me that almost everyone was on drugs. A high-jumper told me that at camps, they stood in a line to get drugs injected. Why do so many athletes take Liv-52? It’s because the use of anabolic steroids causes liver damage. Coaches, however, don’t tell athletes the long-term deleterious effects of using anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancers. This isn’t to say that athletes don’t take drugs willingly. A chemist who runs a shop near a camp venue once told me how two weightlifters bought veterinary drugs from him for their own use! When such athletes are caught, they blame it on contaminated food supplements. Apart from losing face, they have to lie because even possession of many doping drugs is a criminal act. They can lose their jobs, even land in jail.
...
Things changed in the early 1990s, when we started getting Russian coaches. Lab doctors and athletes now began to talk about drug use. They’d say things like, “He’s done so much drug use, now his kidney is affected”.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277649

Before the Commonwealth Games in 1998, a famous athlete tested positive in the screening tests. A specialist doctor was told to clean him up—that’s possible if there’s time. One week passed, and the level of the drug in his body dropped to a permissible level, and this athlete went on to win a gold medal. But the doctor was unhappy, and told me: “I cleaned up that athlete, who didn’t even thank me after winning the gold!”

There is a comment at the end of the article which says, no male athlete won a gold in the KL 98 CWG. That is true. So SG's article has not even been factually checked which makes it an easy candidate for being dismissed. Circumstantial evidence otoh suggests that not all that she is saying is wrong. SAI and AFI officials have been involved in covering up more than fixing the system. May be the athlete she is referring to is Anil Kumar, who the silver in discus in the 98 Bangkok AG. Anil Kumar was later found doping in 2005, but escaped as he was informed of his doping violation in 2007 when the 2 year suspension period was over. There were other medallists such as Bahadur Prasad, Gulab Chand, Paramjit Singh, Shakti Singh etc. Most of them have had decent careers (esp the middle and long distance runners), it is the throwers that could be under the scanner. Shakti Singh was a shotputter, but he was excellent when he competed. So all evidences could lead to Anil Kumar.

Q: If there was only one bid from India for your match would you like to play in India? You have played many World Championship matches here. Your win against Kramnik and defeat to Karpov at Sanghinagar might still be in memory?

Gelfand: I have very good memories of my Candidate Matches played in Sanghinagar (near Hyderabad) in 94-95 and FIDE World Championship in Delhi in 2000. However, for the moment I haven't heard about any bid from India. The only one that is known to me is the bid from Moscow.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/article2216877.ece

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 20 Jul 2011 13:25

Garnishing cannot enhance the taste of the food. It can only enhance it's appearance.

We pay so much of attention towards the National coach. But how about coaches at State, District and university level? It's time the who and who of Indian sports realize that it's the infrastructure at the grass root level that needs to be addressed first. Picking up raw talents at young age and providing them with good training/facilities will do more good to Indian sports than this great Indian debate about desi/videshi coach.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 20 Jul 2011 21:22

Asit P wrote: It's time the who and who of Indian sports realize that it's the infrastructure at the grass root level that needs to be addressed first.

Which world are you in?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 20 Jul 2011 23:17

Dilip Tirkey:

The 33-year-old reveals he is planning to build an academy in his native Orissa, though in Bhubaneshwar and not the district of Sundergarh he hails from. “Talks have taken place. Everything will be cleared in five-six months. We're thinking of two age-groups — 13 to 16, and 16 to 21.” The residential facility is to be set up with both government and private help, with other former players like Lazarus Barla too involved.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/ ... 276943.ece

Worrisome too is the recall of Ignace Tirkey who suffered serious ankle injury. There can be no two opinions about his proficiency in the mid-field. But can he be nursed to a level of fitness required at the Champions Trophy?

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/hockey/article2260473.ece

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 21 Jul 2011 21:44

Apologies, if people consider table tennis a minor sport. But at the US Open TT championship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 3 weeks ago( June 30th-July 4th) the relatively large Indian contingent, over 30 players, did very well. Several categories were won by these Indians. There was also a large ethnic Indian( distinct from the players directly from India) group competing, and some of them did very well, too. There were more Indian players than Japanese or Korean. Only the Chinese surpassed the Indians in total numbers.

Prem G · Post by **Prem G** » 21 Jul 2011 21:55

Just found this article.

http://news.yahoo.com/india-host-ipl-st ... g--;_ylv=3

India to host IPL-style hockey extravaganza
A franchise-based field hockey league on the lines of the successful Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket will be held in India in December featuring top players, it was announced on Thursday.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 22 Jul 2011 00:11

Depends on whether the World Hickey League organized by IHF is approved by FIH. Just a month or so back, FIH was saying my way or highway to IHF. Now it seems like HI and IHF are at loggerheads over this issue in their wrangling and FIH has seemed to have come over to the 1/2 way mark. Point being, transparency on what the 4 (IHF, HI, FIH and MSYA) think is hardly a debatable topic. Its a baby still, will be good if it happens even if by IHF esp given that HI is a lazy idiot in taking care of players and more vested in protecting its personal fiefdom. But I will say "yippeee" when it actually happens, not yet.

And I dont wanna see any of these sohail abbas-es or mohd. wasims or khalimullahs or salimullahs in India, even if they are the next best things after sliced bread.

Asit P · Post by **Asit P** » 23 Jul 2011 01:46

Stan_Savljevic wrote:
Asit P wrote: It's time the who and who of Indian sports realize that it's the infrastructure at the grass root level that needs to be addressed first.
Which world are you in?

Which world do you think I am in ?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Jul 2011 00:03

Harika becomes the second WGM, good going. In the team championship in Ningbo where the chinis are trying to re-interpret the Olympiads, after 6 rounds the Indian team is in the 9th spot out of 10 competitors. Losses have been at all four boards, SS Ganguly got replaced with Negi. Then Negi started taking defeats and then Hari went down, so its been a see-saw of missed ops. Too bad. If they end up at 6/10 after the next 3 rounds, I will be happy.

Khel Ratna for Gagan Narang. Long overdue. The Arjuna winners include Zak, Jwala Gutta, Sunil Chhetri, Somdev, Suranjoy Singh, Vikas Gowda (discus), Preeja Sreedharan, Tejaswini Sawant (shooter), Ashish Kumar (gymnast with medal at CWG), Sandhya Rani (wushu), Rahul Banerjee (archery). As usual, anyone who follows these award selections will see that there are quotas for women, there are quotas for NE sportsmen/women and then there is a quota for minority. I have never heard of Sandhya Rani doing something great in wushu to deserve an Arjuna. While the gymnast, archer and woman shooter with awards have been doing well with what they have been put up with, they still have to wait it out for a couple more years to get these awards esp when people like Zak are having to wait so long for an Arjuna. Seriously.... But then all is passe given the speed with which some prima donnas got awarded in tennis though. All hail Dr. Sania! GoI needs to award something to some random person to cover up its woes elsewhere, but then this is the way it operates.

Pargat Singh has seriously crossed over to the other side of the player vs. adminullah divide. And he has been making statements that are absolutely ridiculous. So are the akshuns of HI. This WSH is a stillbirth still, whether there is lite at the end of the day is a coin toss with a shitty coin.

The win against Qatar was just that, a fluke. Accept it, lets move on. 3-zip against UAE in the pre-qualifiers in Al Dubai. I still have hopes for a 4-zip+ win in Dilli to win the contest though, ah just kidding. I would if I was Alberto Colaco, or I will be rotfling if I was one of those JCT Mills jobless people waiting to ask for Indic coaches to muck up the mess that is already there. I am aboriginal, I deserve a chance to coach. No, I want Kavya to coach and play, seriously. Drop Dravid, here comes Kavya.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Jul 2011 16:55

How F@#% convinient. Is this the best that the looters gang could come up with?

Kalmadi suffering from memory loss

Suresh Kalmadi, lodged in Tihar jail for over two months in connection with the multi-crore CWG scam, is suffering from dementia, a disease related to memory loss, impaired reasoning and personality changes and this may have a bearing on his ongoing trial. The 66-year-old MP from Pune was recently taken to Lok Narayan Jai Prakash Hospital where an MRI scan was conducted on him.

The tests show that he was suffering from dementia which gradually affects cognitive functions of the person affected by it, Deputy Inspector General of Tihar R N Sharma said.

He said dementia at a preliminary stage was mentioned in the medical history submitted to Jail authorities by the family members. The MP was ailing much before he was arrested and brought to jail on the allegations of being involved in large scale corruption in the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, he said.

"We are still awaiting for a formal copy of the test conducted at the LNJP," he said. Legal experts feel that the impact of his health condition on the trial would be determined only after it was analysed properly by medical experts. Kalmadi's lawyer Hitesh Jain said that his client had been suffering from this problem for last four to five years and the same had been communicated to the jail and investigating authorities.

Noted lawyer K T S Tulsi said the first thing is that it needs to be established as to how long the undertrial has been suffering from dementia.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 25 Jul 2011 22:41

The official "Punk your ride" column

Today, punk janaab was witness to some merger agreement forced in by the MSYA. Its 20-19 in terms of HI favor in terms of the administrative apparatus with a face-saving == rights for the co-chairman who will come from IHF. All contakts with FIH will be through HI plus both organizations are resp for their own contractual obligations. The teams (mens, womens, juniors, etc.) will be selected by a body constituted jointly, eh who cares about the team yaar, fck em. Not much has been said on the future of WSH, which means that this shit is up for grabs in the future when the next immediate crisis comes into display which of course will happen when Rahul Baba does a big fart and Mme. Barkha Dutt will say ooh-aah, what lovely smell. MSYA has a face-saver to go talk to the Hon. SC on how they have "resolved" this mess. Overall, some time for the politicians to doze off, like as VP Hamid Ansari did by bringing fwd the Question Hr from 3PM to 11AM again. Again yaar, as if these nimrods were not dozing off at 11AM when they took a break from throwing the mike sets at the chairperson (see, after Smt. MK took over, we all use chairperson instead of chairman janaab, hic hic, we are gender neutered u see). In terms of intangibles, the gubo federation will be renamed as “Bharat Hockey”, “ Hockey Bharat” or “India Hockey” or some other name to signify the new ghulam-e-mubarak. Where is ^3 hiding when you need a ghulam dhaaga, yaar? May be our verbiose in-forum Lord Labakkudas aka Devgaru of the Devguru cabal can start a Hickey Pundamentalism dhaaga yet again, and whine about how it is all Ghar ki mantri ki conspiracy to create a India-pakistan Partition, hain hain?! May be I can pour some dev lotion of the Lord Indra fame and say Jeeve Telengana and change my number plates to TG1005E? We are all super-lubricated you see, so I will have to search for my lost compass, divider and protractor sets and go into hiding, eh?

Ningbo is a disaster in the making, little else needs to be said. Its going to be third from the last with 1 round to go, unless of course they swap the penultimate spot with Israel. Hanood-Hazara-Hindoo love-fest time yaar. Rumour is that the Indian delegation is fishing for escuses to cover-up the fiasco. Punk advises the delegation to learn some tricks from the chinis. After all, hamra chini bhais covered up even a HSR coach yaar, what is a shatranj tournament loss na?

Yumnam Renubala Chanu is the new highlight in the sordid saga called Arjuna awards show. She has returned her CWG gold medal saying she deserves the Arjuna better than her male compatriot in weightlifting who is awarded in this round. The lady is from NE, and the artificial quota system did her in. Elsewhere,

Unhappy at the non-inclusion of one of its players, the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) Sunday alleged that “undeserving candidates” were recommended for the prestigious Arjuna Award through canvassing by disregarding the government guidelines. In a letter to sports minister Ajay Maken, RFI president CP Singh Deo said that rower Saji Thomas was overlooked for the award despite his consistent achievements in the last 10 years.

Punk bhai welcomes you all to bureaucratic, megalomaniac, nepotistic face of India with a message to spread of how egalitarian the official machinery really is. Shri Padam pujyashree Harsh Mander of the Nakla committee fame is working on how to soothe the egos of Mme. Chanu. Despite that, punk bhai cant do much but rotfl at how all that face-saving came up a cropper against a NE, woman. Surely, Maken-ji must take some time off from NY and award himself the Darwin award for smartness in sustaining a 1008 wails from the likes of Patricia Mukhim. Oh no, the lady is an evil Meitei, based out of even more evil Guwahati and working for the bourgeois, the NEF Railway, how can our dear friend bat for such a combo? She still will, its called camaraderie of wimmenfolk with nuff white rice to cover the winter melon aka komora.

Adios amigos, and the odd senora who may make it through the last line without closing her eyes in wild anger at all the racist, sexist, and politically prissy-pants punk's puke. Auf wiedersehen and my new book is on my blog, come to my googal group plij.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 27 Jul 2011 23:20

Ningbo ends at last but third, as expected. According to ELO averages, India was ranked penultimate at 2655. They finished above Israel and Judit can finally count only a 2700+ jump, not the initial spurt she had. Hari will shed nuff points, Sasikiran will probably stay where he is now. Both Gelfand and Anand had been MIA, which is good. Elsewhere, Hou sheds another 15+ points with her disaster in china where Harika made the GM norm. Wenjun Ju has climbed the ladder with a 20+ jump in one event, so much for FIDE ratings joke. I should call it a ratings scam. And K-man is learning to game the system too with his 31xx+ event somewhere in la-la-land, so K-man will inch closer to 2800 finally again.

S. Thyagarajan has to finally write a line on "why bharat, why not India?" Thats the backhanded applause to the hindu stable that pays him.
http://www.thehindu.com/sport/hockey/article2296196.ece

BRatna for SRT sees that many people are being put fwd as candidates. Have seen the names of Dhyan Chand, Milkha Singh nominating himself, Deepika Padukone putting forth her father's name, etc.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 28 Jul 2011 21:05

Meet Anup Valmiki:
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/slideshow ... 0394-2#top

His coach, Merzban Patel (affectionately called Bawa) said, “He is supremely talented. However, he has a laid back attitude. He needs to improve that.”

A bit Bombay-specific given that its DNA India, but yea what the hell.

The five players who went for WSH inauguration have been provisionally "pardoned" conditional on an explanation due by Aug 2. I have never seen such semanticism in bullshitting, anyway you are dealing with Hickey India here.

2-2 in rain against UAE, as expected out of pre-wc qualifying.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 28 Jul 2011 21:50

good luck to Mr. Tirkey for creating a Hockey Academy. He should start with

1. Starting with Creating/maintaining an astroturf field.
2. Modern equipment.

While Mecca of Indian Hockey Sansarpur is still waiting for Astroturf after million promises from all politicians and dignitaries. They still play on grass.

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

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 28 Jul 2011 22:04

Sansarpur will get nothing, the academy is based out of Bb'war.

The 33-year-old reveals he is planning to build an academy in his native Orissa, though in Bhubaneshwar and not the district of Sundergarh he hails from. “Talks have taken place. Everything will be cleared in five-six months. We're thinking of two age-groups — 13 to 16, and 16 to 21.” The residential facility is to be set up with both government and private help, with other former players like Lazarus Barla too involved.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 278032.ece

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 28 Jul 2011 23:14

My take is that without an artificial field any academy is not worth to create international players. If astroturf is too costly and requires lots of maintenance how about something simple like

1. Concrete field.
2. Concrete field with a thick mat.

At least ball will travel at the similar speed as on astroturf. The key is to build the stamina of players early on (before they are reach puberty age 10-15) that way when they are ready to play international they already are used to playing on astroturf.

Our only options are

1. Build as many as astroturf grounds in India as possible at middle school level.
or
2. Re-introduce the original pristine hockey that is played on grass among Indian subcontinent and Asia and Africa.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 28 Jul 2011 23:40

SBajwa wrote: 1. Build as many as astroturf grounds in India as possible at middle school level.

One astro costs anywhere from 2-4 crore Rupees. Maintaining it over a day is the equivalent of water consumption for a population of anywhere from 100-1000. It is almost impossible to expand such an exercise at the middle school level across India. We dont have the money to throw on hickey, nor the water table to sustain a field, nor the interests to nuture a field over a long-term. What is needed is an out of the box like concrete + mat. But concrete + mat == harsh on the knees, most people are going to quit hickey after a few months at best. May be there is something less harder than concrete, level than grass, easy to lay and maintain, and closer to astro than grass?! I wish SAI looks into it, but yawn. May be I will ask a couple of folks I keep in touch with if such an exercise has been carried out already.

2. Re-introduce the original pristine hockey that is played on grass among Indian subcontinent and Asia and Africa.

For that, you are expecting people to grow balls. With the same set of politicians and administrators that runs this country, thats a bit too rich. At the age level of people who run the show, no risk is the best risk. And you cant blame them for it, youngistan would be too keen to cock-a-snook at conventional wisdom. At old age, you get wise and dont want to fck the show.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 28 Jul 2011 23:54

But concrete + mat == harsh on the knees, most people are going to quit hickey after a few months at best.

but if you have good pair of shoes that can absorb the most impact on knees something like this

http://www.amazon.com/Mens-ASICS-Runnin ... B000QD54Z2

along with good physiotherapist to make sure that players are working out properly for their Quadriceps, Hamstrings, calves and other muscles that support the knee (Physiotherapist will definitely help at school sports for increasing the pool of players)

either way!! A concrete hockey field will go long way in preparing international hockey players., provided that knowledgeable nutritionist/coaches/therapists are hired.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 01 Aug 2011 23:59

World jr chess in Madras.

Apart from hiring Surya Shekhar Ganguly as his second for two World championship matches, he has been taking regular camps of Indian players at Chennai. Charudatta Jadhav, general secretary of the All India Chess Federation for the Blind, said: "For the last few months, Anand's help to us has been immense. He has motivated us greatly. He was following Indian blind players' progress at the recent World championships and thinking about ways to improvise chess softwares to meet our needs."

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.co ... piad-again
Teams: Men:
K. Sasikiran 2681; Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2650, P. Harikirshna 2645, G.N. Gopal 2603, B. Adhiban 2516. Women: D. Harika 2515, Tania Sachdev 2382, Eesha Karavade 2365, S. Meenakshi 2336, Nisha Mohota 2332.

Even after going through all the family stuff, Meeanakshi is still in the top 4 of Indian women's modulo Koneru Humpy. That is the dearth for talent.

"It was from 1998 that this [doping] was done with the help of foreign experts. Until then it was unscientific at best, at whatever level it existed,” says P.T. Usha, one of India's all-time great athletes. “The whole thing started with the arrival of [Dr Yuriy] Boyko and Dr Alexander [training methods expert] sometime around 1998,” Dr Ashok Ahuja, former head of the Department of Sports Medicine, Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, told Frontline.
...
It is foolish to believe that athletes enter big championships stuffed with banned substances. Anabolic steroids, the muscle-producing, explosive-power-building testosterone derivatives, for example, are consumed weeks or months ahead of the competition, in cycles. They remain in the body for seven days to 17 months depending on the course, the type of drug and the route of administration. Injections last longer in the body system. Athletes who take banned steroids make sure that they are rid of them before going into a competition, without completely losing the advantage gained. Thus, the question “but were these athletes not tested when they won the gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games?” becomes irrelevant.
...
All the six 400 m runners have tested positive for methandienone, which can last in the body for up to 40 days (oral) or up to five months (injection). Mandeep and Tiana also tested positive for another steroid, stanozolol, which could last from 23 days (oral) to 65 days (injection) in the body. The breakthrough came when Mandeep and Murmu flunked dope tests conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in late June. Murmu also returned positive in a test done by the NADA in Bangalore. Ashwini was tested in Patiala after she reportedly managed to avoid the testing team in Bangalore.
...
Sunita Rani was the first high-profile Indian athlete to get caught in the doping web, in the 2002 Busan Asian Games. Luck was on her side since the Seoul laboratory, which tested her urine samples, did a poor job of documentation and the Indian gold medallist was let off, though after much drama. Sunita retired at the age of 24. By then she had developed osteoporosis, a disease generally associated with ageing. As a middle- and long-distance runner she could have continued for another six or seven years. Around the time Sunita's career came to an end, Russian coaches (as they were called although they came from Ukraine or Belarus) or recovery experts were busy preparing dope charts. The contents of two of those charts were published in The Hindu on June 28 and 29, 2004. They gave a concoction of steroids. Another chart made its appearance in recent weeks. It is learnt that Ogorodonik was confronted with one of the charts before he left for Kiev. Foreign and Indian coaches have been accused of selling drugs within and outside camps. “At double the price,” hammer-thrower Sukanya Mishra recently told a disciplinary hearing panel. Sukanya received a two-year suspension but she tried to expose the level of doping that has been going on in the camps.

http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20110812281604700.htm

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 02 Aug 2011 02:26

^^^
http://www.wjcc2011.org/Index.aspx

Did you look at the venue? They require all participants to stay in the Hotel; else they are not allowed to play. Is that a norm?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 02 Aug 2011 03:06

Did nt know, but seems like the rules are meant for furriners. Same kinda rule seems to have been in place at the last event:

The participants will stay in the „GRAND” hotel in Chotowa, and other hotels next to Chotowa (the „Sezam” hotel in Machowa, the „Lord” hotel in Debica) – all comfortable rooms with TV, Internet.
...
All participants including coaches and accompanying persons must stay in the hotels proposed by
Organizers. Organizers will refuse any person to be a participant if she or he don’t stay in the
accommodation offered by the Organizer.

http://www.wjcc2010.pl/regulations/2010 ... s_wjcc.pdf
Seems to have been true of 2008 event too: http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... nship-2008

This time, there is just one hotel proposed by AICF. May be got to do with preventing cheating given that it is very rife in these events?!

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 02 Aug 2011 03:27

How do they cheat in chess

? No representation from China. Interesting.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 02 Aug 2011 03:33

What, you have nt heard of Topalov-gate and Silvio Danailov and their spat with K-man? They famously called it toilet gate. There have been so many folks, primarily < 2000 ELO people, who have been caught with hearing aid/e-systems etc., esp in the last 3-4 years.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 02 Aug 2011 19:47

Nope, I have not paid close attention to International matches

). During Anand-Topalov series I did hear about Danailov and Topalov gate.

Meanwhile...http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/52c2fc78 ... z1TspaBEvI

With the euro in peril and the US on the brink of bankruptcy, the west seems to have enough to worry about without fretting about cricket. Yet a private dinner, in London on Monday night, was just the latest indication of how global power is shifting from west to east – and how India’s newly rich and powerful elite is throwing its weight around far from home

The dinner launched the foundation of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s handsome and much-loved captain, whose team began the first match of its tour against England on Thursday. The event, backed by high-profile business names such as Citibank and Asprey, saw a room full of rich Indians, quaffing champagne and spending vast sums on cricket memorabilia.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 02 Aug 2011 22:58

Plus, Kamsky is a known freak on these matters. Even Gelfand wanted (in his interview) "strict checks" as long as there is a possibility of cheating notwithstanding the fact that one seniorista who gets caught means that the whole edifice comes crashing down. Trust but verify is a standard motto in these situations. Its only with India where trust and wonder that rules the roost.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 02 Aug 2011 23:00

^^ Good to see you are still around

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 03 Aug 2011 01:17

When did I ever say I am gonna leave? Its for those with power to decide that. But oh, here comes Surya to do a