The 2012 Olympics Thread

[SBajwa]

I don't get this logic of why the sport we excel in, has to be popular around the world or has to be played by gora, to feel proud of the fact.

Exactly!! When they have 5+ medals for horse (animal) based competition in Olympics why not have a "Bull Cart race" competition too? How about elephant or birds based competitions!! These are ancient sports and is performed at all Village Fairs!!

We have Wrestling and Kabaddi at Village fairs!
How about kite competition!
When they can have synchronized swimming why can't we have Indian dance routines in Olympics?

There are so many Indian martial arts from kalaripayattu to Gatka! which are as good or better than fencing or Judo/Taekwondo!

It is the white man's world and we are forced to learn their sports and compete with them!! And in the sports where we do beat them (Hockey) they change the rules (astroturf) so that they remain unbeaten!!

[Vikas]

I want to see "stapu" and Langadi Taang in OG before I die.

[SBajwa]

by VikasRaina
I want to see "stapu" and Langadi Taang in OG before I die.

First step (langadi taang as example)

1. Create the rules for langdi Taang i.e. number of players, size of the field, time of the game.

2. Create some teams and regularly have tournaments of these teams.

3. Try to get into the Indian state games and then National games.

4. Try to get them into ASIAN games.

5. Then maybe they will be part of Olympics.

[SBajwa]

BTW... The second world cup of Kabaddi is being organized by the Punjab government from November 1st - 20th. This time 14 world teams will participate in it.

India, Pakistan, USA, UK, Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Australia, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Norway, Germany and Sri Lanka.

This number could go up as Nepal and Bangladesh might also participate.

[Vikas]

by VikasRaina
I want to see "stapu" and Langadi Taang in OG before I die.

First step (langadi taang as example)

1. Create the rules for langdi Taang i.e. number of players, size of the field, time of the game.

2. Create some teams and regularly have tournaments of these teams.

3. Try to get into the Indian state games and then National games.

4. Try to get them into ASIAN games.

5. Then maybe they will be part of Olympics.

Maybe also change the name too. Langdi word might be too much for PC junta.

[Singha]

among the martial and warlike nations - pakistan = 0, israel = 0.

[Vasu]

It kills me to see no sports culture in our higher education. Our universities and colleges are almost devoid of any sporting culture

Wish we had something like the NCAA in the US.

[sum]

Interesting tit-bit in a article on the boxing judging fiasco:
Unfair play?

Eight boxers were touted to create history and topple the record of a single boxing medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Alas, they could only manage just one more — a bronze by MC Mary Kom. If women’s boxing weren’t introduced this Olympics then the boxing contingent would’ve returned empty-handed. At least five boxers, including Manoj Kumar (64 kg), Sumit Sangwan (81 kg), Vikas Krishan (69 kg), Vijender Singh (75 kg) and Devendro Singh (49 kg), were floored by the inefficiency of judges and referees and their easy-to-manipulate scoring machine.

Commonwealth gold medallist Kumar deemed the judging at the Olympics as biased. Kumar, who was defeated by Thomas Stalker of Great Britain in the pre-quarterfinal bout, even likened the Games to a district competition (in India) where there’s a lot of “cheating, cheating, cheating”. India’s Cuban coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez stormed out of the ExCel arena yelling “Mafias! Mafias!” after Vijender’s loss to Uzbekistan’s Abbos Atoev. Boxing experts present at the arena gave a split verdict. Some said Vijender was too circumspect, as he usually is initially, against a boxer of attacking style. Vijender had to remodel his game quickly. Others said that the Olympic bronze medallist did in fact open up. But, as it happens with most boxers, when you open up and drop your guard, you give more chances to the opposition to score points off you. Still others have pointed out that Vijender deserved to win, even though it would’ve been a small margin.

Sangwan lost 14-15 to Brazil’s Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino but whoever witnessed the bout was unanimous (except the judges, of course) that the teenager should’ve won emphatically. A protest was lodged specifically over the scoring in Round Two. “We thought Sangwan should’ve got more points in that round,” said P K Muralidharan Raja, the IBF secretary general and Chef-de-mission of the Olympic team. The protest was overruled. “Daylight robbery” was how a commentator summed up his bafflement.

Vikas’s father, Krishan Kumar, described his son’s defeat after winning 13:11 as “American dictatorship”. Vikas was declared the winner against Errol Spence of the US. But Team US submitted a protest to the competition jury for “number of holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer and spitting the gum shield” which the referee didn’t notice. Rumour has it that the Americans threatened — at least for two straight hours, from the finish of the fight at about 10 pm to 12.21 am — to withdraw from boxing had the decision not been overturned. And the decision was overturned. Indians tried to file a counter-protest with AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) but it was turned down. Indians then lodged a complaint with CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sports). But that too was turned down by CAS stating that “there is no provision in the AIBA Technical and Competition Rules allowing for an appeal against the decision of the competition jury in relation to a protest”. The final score was 13:15 in favour of Spence. As it happened, Spence lost in the very next round against Russia and, for the first time, the most successful Olympic boxing team in history, Team USA, returned home empty-handed. Spence’s loss is being seen as the “lowest point” in US boxing.

In 2004 Athens Olympics, when four talented boxers, including Vijender and Akhil Kumar, crashed out of the first round, Indian boxing was thrown into chaos. “I noticed that there was no shortage of hard work by our boxers. We were not fighting clever, that’s all,” said Raja, who was then a member of the AIBA referees and judges committee. Thereafter, Indian boxers were barred from using upper cuts and hooks and asked to practise long range and computer-friendly straight punches to score points like the Cubans. The result of these subtle changes in technique came within no time. In 2006, Indian pugilists produced their best-ever show by winning the Commonwealth Boxing Championships highlighted by a four-gold haul. They followed it up with five medals at the Melbourne CWG. The biggest of them all, of course, was the corker from Vijender at the Beijing Olympics. At the Delhi CWG then, Indians fetched seven medals. Indian boxing is now back in 2004. Once more it’s in a state of chaos.

So, we adapted superbly after 2004 but the world moved on by 2012 and we need to re-adapt?

Interesting that even the Cubans ( from whom we adopted) were almost blanked in boxing in 2012. Time for the next of adaptions, IMO.

On a related note:

The president of amateur boxing's governing body expects to replace the sport's computerized scoring system with the traditional professional judging system before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Wu Ching-Kuo told The Associated Press it's all part of his plan for Olympic boxing to look more like the pro game. AIBA intends to move to the pros' 10-point scoring system, which takes into account every aspect of fighters' skills, not solely their ability to land clean punches.

"We are on the way," Wu said. "It's better for the boxers. That competition style (means) everything, the whole aspect, is added together. The winner should be the better boxer."

The eventual move will trigger a fundamental shift in an amateur sport that has withered in the U.S. and other countries where pro boxing dominates. Olympic boxers will no longer be able to train merely to master the quirks of the computerized system, which records a point when a majority of ringside judges push a button indicating a fighter connected with a punch.

That system has been widely criticized for warping the sport into something resembling fencing with gloves, de-emphasizing everything from body punches -- which don't usually yield many points -- to ring control and even fighters' charisma.

Olympic boxing could look much different in Rio. AIBA also has considered getting rid of headgear for its men's fights, and Wu is determined to significantly increase the number of women's boxers in Rio after cramming just 36 into the highly successful debut tournament in London.

The changes in the scoring system will require significant re-training of referees and judges, but Wu believes it can be done well before Rio.

[SBajwa]

3 years on., sports infrastructure still incomplete

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120821/cth2.htm#9

3 years on, sports infrastructure still incomplete
Engineering department told to reimburse funds n Sports department intends to take charge
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 20
The officials of the UT sports department and engineering department seem to be struggling hard to complete the pending sports infrastructure in the City Beautiful.

In a recent meeting, the UT engineering department was told to return the fund allocated for building two badminton courts at Sports Complex of Sector 42.

In 2009, the UT sports department gave around Rs 24 lakh to the engineering department to come up with the two courts but the latter failed to complete the project even after three years.

Even basketball courts of Sector 7 and Sector 42 are facing the same problem. Laying of the synthetic courts at Sports Complex of Sector 42 is under process since 2009. On June 22, last year the issue was reported in these columns. Yet, the engineering department failed to open the courts for players.

Last year, the sports department decided to organise an All-India Basketball (U-19) Tournament in November 2011 at the newly-carpeted basketball court of Sports Complex, Sector 42, but due to the non-completion of work the tournament was dropped.

“The sport-cum-finance secretary has ordered the engineering department to reimburse the entire amount after the department failed to come up with the project. Now, the UT sports department will take the charge and will build both the courts here,” said JDS Sidhu, joint director of sports.

Adding further he said, “The department will flow tenders after receiving the amount and the work will be started soon. The players are in need of proper environment equipped with new facilities and they will be provided with this as soon as possible.”

When asked about the other pending projects, he added, “The engineering department is doing its best to complete all the projects. Hopefully, the department will soon complete the construction of basketball courts at Sports Complexes of Sector 42 and 7. The players will soon get to play in these stadiums and the department will organise tournaments here.”

“The portable badminton courts are in demand these days. This is the only complex of the City Beautiful and it should have all the modern facilities. We come here to learn and if we will learn in proper environment with proper facilities, we can give our best in all national or international tournaments. Hopefully, we will get the new courts soon,” said a group of junior badminton player.

On other hand, the local stadias also failed to catch official’s attention as the planning to convert the local stadiums into international standards grounds is still lying under official’s files.

“The top brass in both sports and engineering departments always put efforts to bring in new projects but failed to upgrade the present infrastructure. New projects are a sign of development but they should not ignore the present situations,” said a coach.

[Rony]

India's Olympic Achievement: Indifference

Earning just six medals (none gold), India largely ignored the Games. Therein lies its wisdom and glory

By Theodore Dalrymple

Interviewed last week for a British radio program on childhood obesity—British children are on track for the gold medal for fatness—I happened to hear a Nigerian sports journalist who said that his fellow countrymen were furious that no Nigerian competitor won a medal at the Olympic Games. After all, he continued, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with the largest financial resources; the government ought to spend more on sports facilities.

The interviewer very properly asked him whether the government might not have other priorities. It is certainly true that the first thought of any visitor to Nigeria wouldn't be: "This country desperately needs more world-class discus throwers."

The Nigerian journalist replied that there are always other priorities, for any activity at all. It depended on the importance you accorded to sports.

Precisely. And in this matter there is one shining beacon in the world: India. Its low tally of medals in the Olympic Games puts practically all other countries to shame. With a sixth of the world's population, it won only six medals, none of them gold—that is to say, it won fewer, pro rata, than half a percent of the medals won by Britain and 1.25% of those won by the U.S.

It is not that India tried and failed. It did not try, and therein lies its peculiar wisdom and glory. Almost alone of the nations of the world, it more or less ignored the Games. But it is India, whose government does nothing to encourage (or deter) its athletes, that is right, not the rest of the world.

There is a bimodal distribution of countries that are enthusiastic about winning Olympic medals: They are either populist or ideological. Britain, for example, falls into the former category. Woe betide the British person who dares to suggest that his country's excellent performance at the Games wasn't a sign of national regeneration but of national frivolity and meretriciousness, to which its population and its leaders now turn as naturally as some flowers turn to the sun.

There are no prizes for guessing into which category falls North Korea, which did about a hundred times better at the Games than India. There is nothing a totalitarian regime likes more than devoting its citizens to pointless activities, such as throwing the javelin, and then claiming, when one of them does it better than anyone else in the world, that it proves the brilliance of the dictator and the beneficent efficiency of his rule. How else could such excellence result?

No typology of complex social realities can be perfect, though, and so it must be admitted that there are intermediate forms between the two types of countries. The U.S. and Britain could be said to be intermediate, insofar as some politicians used the Games as a photo opportunity. Other public figures pointed to the prowess of their country's athletes as evidence that success comes with effort and determination. But was there ever a time when we did not know that?

India alone values the Games at their true worth—which is to say, approaching nil. It is not that Indians are completely indifferent to sports. They are crazy about cricket, a game whose considerable subtleties are lost on all who did not grow up with it but which teaches mental flexibility as well as specific skills.

But no official encouragement is necessary to promote this enthusiasm. On every field of every Indian city, ragged children can be seen playing with improvised equipment, as richer children play with the latest kits. It is no coincidence that, economically, India now dominates this most English of games. India has taken over cricket as its companies have taken over British companies.

For reasons that I am unable to fathom, for no person is less interested in sports than I, the United Nations Development Program regularly sends me updates on its efforts to promote economic and social progress through athletics. India, I am glad to say, does not believe in this nonsense.

Last Wednesday, India celebrated the 65th anniversary of its independence, and officials announced that it would send a space probe to Mars. This is something quite beyond the technical powers or prowess of its former colonial masters—though they, of course, did far better at the Olympics. I hope India will maintain its ability to discriminate between the worthwhile and the worthless.

Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of the physician Anthony Daniels. He is a contributing editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal.

[Lalmohan]

no celebration of the silver medal win in paralympics long jump?

[member_23686]

no celebration of the silver medal win in paralympics long jump?

Won't get BMW either. People are more than happy with test team win.

[Lalmohan]

yet this dude has made bigger sacrifices and achieved so much more on his own that all those pansies in the cricket team

[Singha]

London: The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) on Wednesday announced a cash award of Rs 10 lakh for Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda for his silver medal leap at the London Paralympics.
The committee, however, expressed disappointment at the apathy towards the disabled sportsperson.
Girisha, who has an impairment in his left leg, sailed over a height of 1.74m in the Men's High Jump F42 event on Monday to finish behind gold medallist Iliesa Delana of Fiji.

"PCI is disappointed that no one is coming forward to give the cash prize to this athlete while the only difference of this medal is that this is for disabled," the PCI said in a statement while congratulating Grisha for his effort.
The committee pointed out there was no difference between the Olympics and the Paralympics, as far as their status were concerned.
"The status of Olympics and Paralympics is same," it insisted.
The president of the PCI Sultan Ahmed, meanwhile, appealed to corporates to come forward to give Girisha more awards.

[Singha]

Maken has tweeted that Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda will be offered a job of coach in SAI at an officer level.

[Gus]

India alone values the Games at their true worth—which is to say, approaching nil.

--got to love the British humor there...

[kshatriya]

[Singha]

Maken seems to be a good guy:

Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken on Tuesday confirmed a Rs 30 lakh reward for London Paralympics hihg jump silver medalist Girish Hosanagara Nagarajegowda.

The sports minister also said that the rewards for Paralympic medal winners would be at par with those for Olympic medal winners.

Girisha is also only the third Indian after javelin thrower Bhimrao Kesarkar and shot put thrower Joginder Singh Bedi to claim silver at the Games. Kesarkar and Bedi won silver at the 1984 Paralympics.

[Singha]

one thing we didnt know is that mens 50km walk national record was also broken in london

50 km walk (road) 3:56:48 Basant Bahadur Rana 11 August 2012

[Lalmohan]

i watched the paralympics athletics last night on tv
wow!
the men's 800m wheelchair and then the men's amputee 100m sprint. a guy with one leg comes in at 10.9 and is predicted to make 10.6 in the future?!? bolturam is at 9.5
wow!!

[vina]

a guy with one leg comes in at 10.9 and is predicted to make 10.6 in the future?!? bolturam is at 9.5wow!!

Yes. Impressive, given that the Indian national records is still above 10 sec. But then hard part is getting it down to Bolturam levels.

Top speeds those sprinters hit is around 40 to 45kmph. Even at 36kmph, (ie 10 m/s), a 1 sec diff is 10 meters , which is 10% of the track lenght!

[Singha]

the small blake types react fast from blocks and hit top speed by 40m and upright posture...after that speed is bit uneven around 40kmph mark.
the bigger bolt types come up a bit slow, and really start eating up around the 60m mark. thats why he prefers the 200m...gives him time (first 100m) to get set without being frantic and then destroy anyone out there over the last 100m.

he will probably not seriously race the 100m again, but may go with 200m and long jump combo.

[Lalmohan]

i think in the paralympic event it is all about the start. pistorious had a poor start and never made it up. peacock had a blistering start and sustained boost to target. pisto prefers the 400m, where i think he can hit high cruise speed a little later than in the sprints

incidentally peacock (gold) trains with the top able bodied sprint coach

i am sure that IA has many otherwise fit disabled alumni, who would make decent paralympians - given right training, and perhaps be a great motivation for disabled people in india

[Lalmohan]

i have been extremely moved and profoundly impressed by the paralympics. its completely changed my perspective on disability and athleticism. pistorius's magnificent masterful gold in the final race in the stadium - 400m T44 was the inspirational finale in a glorious tournament. some of the competitors have won gold in wide range of races, from sprints to marathons - not many able bodied athletes can claim to have that range of capability!

every athlete gave it their all - very moving, regardless of the disability class, be it amputees, or cerebral palsy or blindness - i am totally humbled.

china totally dominated, which was a slight surprise, as was the US coming much further down the rankings than in the olympics

[Prasad]

One person who I was personally impressed by was Alex Zanardi. Ex-F1 driver, then CART champion, won 2 golds in the paralympics. He lost both his legs in an accident during a race. And now this. Unbelievable belief in himself.