Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry

A Arun · Post by **A Arun** » 15 Aug 2008 17:56

Akhil Kumar won!!!

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 15 Aug 2008 17:58

akhil kumar wins.

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/I ... #BXM054406

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 15 Aug 2008 18:01

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_at_ ... ntamweight
The road ahead. Quarterfinals with the Moldovian.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 15 Aug 2008 18:32

Sergey is the current World Champion. Good going!

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Aug 2008 21:10

I've updates from both Mittal Champions Trust and Olympic Gold Quest organizations now. Both are working towards setting up online donation portals and will soon have these up.

It will then be up to spread this information out for people to contribute by. The nature of the Olympics is that you see results every four years, but the preparation occurs quietly in between. It requires sustained support over a long time for such things to work, and support in the immediate period before/after an Olympics alone will not help much.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 15 Aug 2008 21:15

When it rains, it pours.
We have double jr world champions in chess. Abhijeet Gupta came from nowhere to win the title. Negi gets the silver. Dronavilli Harika wins the gold in the women's front. 1 1/2 pt lead over the silver. Thats a big gap for such a competition. As I said before, she does nt belong here. She should have fought in the open category. Bad strategic mistake.. Mary Ann Gomez finished joint second, but got edged out of the bronze on progressive score. Sowmya Swaminathan fell in the last round..
http://wjcc2008.tsf.org.tr/

PS: Anand won this very title in 1987.

sum · Post by **sum** » 15 Aug 2008 22:33

Come on Akhil....one more win and we get two medals in the games for the first time ever...
Hope it isnt a repeat of 2004 when one of our boxers lost on countback in the quarters with scores being tied at full time...

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 15 Aug 2008 23:00

Actually, we did win two medals once before - in 1952 in Helsinki - when the hockey team won a Gold and Khashaba Jadhav won a bronze in wrestling. We need to win at least one silver or win more than 2 medals to better that record . (Not that the record is anything to speak of in the first place)

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Aug 2008 23:32

I also heard back from the Olympic Gold Quest today. Basically they are trying to get the requisite permissions to accept foreign currency contributions and enable tax-deductible contributions (both in India and US). After that they will try to set up an electronic payment portal.

Another thing that Mr.Khanna of OCQ asked for is as follows:
"May I suggest that you and your friends who want to contribute can
send us an e-mail stating the amount that each one is ready to commit
and for what period and once these processes are in place, we shall
get back to you."

Suraj, if possible can you organize the above? You can put me down for $100.- per year.

Suraj wrote:I've updates from both Mittal Champions Trust and Olympic Gold Quest organizations now. Both are working towards setting up online donation portals and will soon have these up.

It will then be up to spread this information out for people to contribute by. The nature of the Olympics is that you see results every four years, but the preparation occurs quietly in between. It requires sustained support over a long time for such things to work, and support in the immediate period before/after an Olympics alone will not help much.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 16 Aug 2008 00:23

Here is a picture of our youthful sports minister Dr. M.S.Gill.
Why cannot the govt. pick some one who is in their thirties to head this ministry. This man surely can be accomadated with some other cabinet position. Look at the signal we send to our kids when the man in charge of sports is past his prime.

In all fairness the 2000-2004 NDA Govt did not inspire much confidence either. As per Wiki Vikram Verma, born January 23, 1944, was the Union Cabinet Minister of youth affairs and sports(Member of Rajya Sabha in Third Vajpayee Ministry).

Manu · Post by **Manu** » 16 Aug 2008 00:53

Mr. Gill was picked as he and his Junior (who is directly supervising Commonwealth Games) are to Suppy Mata ji with "her share" of the Commonwealth Games Money. Just asn an FYI.

Disclaimer: Silly Rumor Of course - in case anyone is contemplating bringing suit.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 16 Aug 2008 01:05

Just like I said before when I started this conversation, $100 per year from me for 4 years is a guarantee. I donate to Ekal Vidyalaya, and it sends me some kind of progress or info on the village/children, so if this sports trust can share the progress similarly; then I willing to increase the amount right from the second year itself.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Aug 2008 01:11

Raja Bose: I too am in touch with Rakesh Khanna of OGQ . I'll ask him to set up the donation system so that people can choose automatically contribute at fixed intervals over a period of time, e.g. monthly deductions for N months or quarterly for N quarters. That would answer their question, and give them a regular funding stream.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 16 Aug 2008 04:53

Thanks! Appreciate that.
-Raja

Suraj wrote:Raja Bose: I too am in touch with Rakesh Khanna of OGQ . I'll ask him to set up the donation system so that people can choose automatically contribute at fixed intervals over a period of time, e.g. monthly deductions for N months or quarterly for N quarters. That would answer their question, and give them a regular funding stream.

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 16 Aug 2008 08:31

Who are our remaining serious medal hopes? Just Akhil?

"Lee Hesh" need to be put to pasture. The idea of them fighting for 3.9 years and coming together "for India" for 0.1 year is just nonsense.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 16 Aug 2008 08:36

"put to pasture" is a pretty insulting comment to make of a pair who gave so much to Indian tennis and went out of their way to re-create a winning pair so that they could have another shot at the medals tally for India, in spite of enormous personal differences.
this time around, they were almost trying to do a favour to the nation. it's not that competing
in the olympics gets you a pot of money, you know !

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 16 Aug 2008 08:48

They are not doing anyone a favor. They were good.. no great around 1999 when they were world beaters. Now all they are doing is taking up someone else's spot. They are around 35, and that's too old for tennis. They are just pulling a fast one if they think that they can squabble all the time and hope to win a medal come Olympics. That trick is old now.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 16 Aug 2008 09:00

and exactly which players comprise our young medal winning hope in men's doubles whose place lee-hesh have apparently occupied ?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 16 Aug 2008 09:15

By playing for India even at their age they are doing their country a favour. Given what they achieved in the past I dont think their motive was to fast-grab an Olympic medal....they know much better than that. If there were some young guns who could convincingly take their place, they would not be playing in this Olympics. Hopefully we wont have to field them at age 39.

Karkala Joishy wrote:They are not doing anyone a favor. They were good.. no great around 1999 when they were world beaters. Now all they are doing is taking up someone else's spot. They are around 35, and that's too old for tennis. They are just pulling a fast one if they think that they can squabble all the time and hope to win a medal come Olympics. That trick is old now.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 16 Aug 2008 10:07

I usually will let things past. But this fast one by Karkala Joishy sir is a huge misconception that needs redressal. So I will go out of my way to shame everyone who want to whine about Hesh, let alone Leander. First, I thought I will compare Lee-Hesh with other Indian folks, but that will be a huge self-goal. So I will go directly and bring out the doubles statistics of Lee-Hesh.

Paes-Dlouhy
quarterfinal loss at the atp masters cincinatti to the no 2 pair at that time Nestor, Daniel (CAN)/Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB) 6-7(6) 6-7(5)

semi loss again in atp masters canada to Nestor, Daniel (CAN)/Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB) 3-6 6-7(5); fyi they beat this very same Federer, Roger (SUI)/Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) combo in the pre-quarters 6-4 6-4 and Bhupathi, Mahesh (IND)/Knowles, Mark (BAH) in the quarters 6-4 3-6 10-5

the match i saw paes lose in indy.. to Nestor, Daniel (CAN)/Niemeyer, Frederic (CAN) a tuf one at that.. 4-6 6-3 10-12

wimbledon.. a hard fought semi loss again to Nestor, Daniel (CAN)/Zimonjic, Nenad (SRB) 6-7(4) 6-4 1-6 6-4 6-8.. the 5th set score is 6-8, if anyone knows how to read tennis scores.. that means leander is one tuf cookie who can battle evil 5 setters despite being 35+.. and their measure has been had consistently by a young 25 yr pair.. of nestor and zimonjic.. fortunately or unfortunately, nestor and zimonjic cant pair at the olympics.. so that wool cant be pulled again..

lee partnered hesh in hertogenbosch.. and guess what.. went to the finals and lost to Ancic, Mario (CRO)/Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) 6-7(5) 3-6.. partnered dlouhy the previous week and was at the finals of halle.. a tuf three set loss to Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS)/Zverev, Mischa (GER) 6-3 4-6 3-10.. and so on and so forth..

hesh for that matter.. had an evil 3 set semi loss at the cinci masters partnering mark knowles to Bryan, Bob (USA)/Bryan, Mike (USA) 6-4 6-7(7) 8-10.. lost to dlouhy and paes in canada in quarters.. went down early in wimbledon in rd 2.. an ugly wake up call loss.. partnered rohan bopanna and lost in queens in the semis.. this was the game where hesh wanted to stake a claim that rohan and he are better bets than lee and himself.. some internal wrangling..

there have been 7 masters tournaments this year.. hesh and co have been at finals twice.. in semis once.. and quarters twice more.. leander has been at two quarters and three semis.. that may not be a super productive season.. but heh, they are fighting against 20 yr olds.. and if you did nt see them win more often, thats cos they are NOT partnering the other.. and how many other indian pairs did you see.. how many asian.. how many other inter-country pairs you saw.. let me name the few pairs.. the bryans (who are in the semis at olympics too).. jon erlich-andy ram (they lost much earlier, if you did nt realize).. none else that i can fish out for you..

despite that they lost.. and its a good idea to internally question why.. i will put out my hypothesis.. federer had lost the singles.. and he came out in a revenge mode.. when one guy comes with such motivation, and when its a best of 3 sets, even a small mistake can mean death.. for hesh and lee to have won, they needed to produce magic on the court.. and the on-again, off-again, rain-interrupted match did nt last long enough or was continuous nuff for these 2 guys 2 get into groove.. and they lost.. yes they did..

but so wtf.. they at least tried.. leander has been giving his blood, heart soul n sweat for indian tennis from 1992 and up.. if you did nt know.. 1992 he lost another evil quarterfinal with ramesh krishnan in barcelona.. he made for that in 1996 with the singles bronze.. go check the game against fernando meligeni.. i sat back and watched that match.. fortunately, doordarshan had a live telecast those days.. and guess what, i saw a man possessed.. i knew he would get the ugly win.. and get the bronze.. he did.. fernando has never ever been seen on a tennis court again.. maybe he did come, he was a paled version of his former self.. he did nt win a single game of repute after that heart-breaking loss.. leander won that game.. and went higher up.. 1999 was a breakthrough year.. they won 2 grand slams.. and were at the finals of the other 2.. they had a split... they are old.. yes.. noone is saying nothing about that..

you are abusing someone who has shed his weight in gold for the only reason that india has to stay in contention for world group davis cup matchplay.. and you saw an earlier post of mine on why leander's win should be acknowledged as the turning point for indian sports.. and yet there is this bs.. please.. next time, when you write some crap, read it 10 times to make sure if it sounds ok.. or if it will be misread.. i just did my post.. and i ve nt changed a single line.. cos your post deserves this rant.. nuff said..

They are not doing anyone a favor. They were good.. no great around 1999 when they were world beaters. Now all they are doing is taking up someone else's spot. They are around 35, and that's too old for tennis. They are just pulling a fast one if they think that they can squabble all the time and hope to win a medal come Olympics. That trick is old now.

Sorry if i am rude, but why are you getting a fast one pulled on you by watching them.. who do you plan to support so that you dont have a fast one pulled on you?? Ahem, can you clarify that..

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 16 Aug 2008 10:41

Wow Stan, you typed all that stuff just to prove me wrong? You need not have bothered, since I am not wasting my time reading all that. The fact is that Paes and Bhupathi are over the hill. They were a great pair, but thats the problem with us, always thinking about the past and not about the future. We should have sent Bopanna or Amritraj or whoever we plan to be in our Olympics plans in the next decade. Not a bunch of squabbling chaps who obviously hate each other.
And no one does anyone a favor. I am surprised that I am reading this here.

Karkala Joishy · Post by **Karkala Joishy** » 16 Aug 2008 10:43

ok Stan, I read parts of your post, you are getting too personal here. Please keep the language decent and the focus on the issue, not on me.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 16 Aug 2008 10:48

Karkala Joishy wrote:ok Stan, I read parts of your post, you are getting too personal here. Please keep the language decent and the focus on the issue, not on me.

I apologize. I was just too angry to read this paes-bhupathi are a bad pair etc. Your suggestion of sending Rohan-Prakash would nt work, cos lets get it right, these two guys need to prepare elsewhere before going on the olympics. Tbey have nt done a significant amount of partnering between themselves even in local tournaments; in fact rohan partnered mahesh 3-4 weeks back. The problem with any other Indian pair, is that, IT DOES NT EXIST. Come to think of what will happen in 2012 London, I am as worried as you cos we have no strong contenders. It makes no sense to send anyone else here now. Paes-Hesh or none else.

Added here: And btw, we DONT send anyone that we like to send wherever we want to send. Someone has to earn his way, esp in tight situations like olympics tennis.. So in case of Rohan, Prakash, Somdev, Mahesh or Leander, they have to earn their way in. Leander and Mahesh did just that. Not cos of the past or something, but cos the cutoff rankings for this olympics was 2 months back. Thats as immediate past as you can get. As regards the future, I know this is a self goal. But Rohan and Prakash, for all their talents, need to work their way up more. I will leave it at that as regards things like "We should send abc." Thats as much a one line answer as you can read, cos it seems like you cant read more than 1 or 2 paras.

Added later: I must admit that you are not reading what I write completely and are fixed on your opinion. So I dont expect much to change whatever I write or dont. So it would be great if we did nt say much 2 each other, cos you dont seem going nowhere with your opinion, nor me. So why waste our times?

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Aug 2008 11:04

I agree with both perspectives.

Paes and Bhupathi aren't what they were a few years ago. Their lack of an Olympic medal is a blot on their record, despite Paes' unquestionable patriotism.

But they'll still beat any other combination India can field, with ease. They'll also still beat most of the top doubles teams in the world, even without having much time on the same side of the net together.

They are that good. Doubles takes a lot of partner-coordination. It takes experience to achieve that. They got beaten by the world's best player who happened to be seething at a shock loss in singles. But that's no excuse. They'll long regret Beijing, and even more so, Athens.

They may be old, but they'll probably still win a few more pro tour doubles titles before they both retire, simply because they compete at a stratospheric level that no other Indian plays at yet. Between them they have 17 senior level Grand Slam titles, the most recent in late 2006. No other Indian has even one. Even if you take into account all of Asia you have 3-4 more grandslams; out of the twenty odd Grand Slams by Asians, these two account for 17, all between 1999 and 2006.

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 11:45

Jitender's fight is going on with the Uzbek. Jitender is leading by 8-2. If he wins today he will have to fight the Gold favourite Russian.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 16 Aug 2008 11:53

Jitender wins 13:6 and enters the quarterfinals too.
link

sum · Post by **sum** » 16 Aug 2008 12:02

Gurus, what are Akhil's chances in the quarters? How strong is his opponent?

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 16 Aug 2008 12:05

man, with the form jitender is in, I won't wager against him whoever the opponent !
what a superlative performance ! just superb footwork from the fellow !!
btw, his opponent almost made it a wrestling match !

poor fellow, very frustrated !

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 12:16

AOA, another kaffir into the QF. It should be an interesting fight with the Ruski. I saw the Russian fight earlier today and Jitender has a pretty good chance of beating him.

Jitender is pretty nimble on his feet. Circles his opponent and stings like a bee when finds an opening. The Uzbek got pretty frustrated by end of round 3 and 4 looked more like a wrestling match. The body language of these Bhiwani kids is amazing. The entry into the arena is like a movie star, smiling, talking and punching into the camera. I wouldn't be too surprised seeing them on television promoting doodh, ghee, chyawanprash brands.

Also saw Akhil kumar's interview yesterday. He is a pretty articulate guy, reminded me of Dhoni when I first heard him speak four years ago. He sounded pretty philosophical about the sport and life and thanked the Mittal foundation amongst others for his achievement. I looked at the record of remaining opponents in his weight category and looks like he has a pretty good shot at winning the yellow medal.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 16 Aug 2008 12:18

really, he was literally running rings around his opponent !

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 16 Aug 2008 12:32

The boys from Bhiwani
Wiki on Bhiwani
Another one
Rajaraman's blog

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 16 Aug 2008 12:56

He is a pretty articulate guy, reminded me of Dhoni when I first heard him speak four years ago. He sounded pretty philosophical about the sport and life

Hold it right there Sidd Ji and read this..

"Dreams are not those you get while sleeping. Dreams are those that don't let you sleep"

Thats Akhil Kumar boxer from Bhiwani and not some General, PM, Twain, Russel or Gandhi. There's a combination of spirit, energy, passion, skill and intelligence here thats going to get the lad somewhere up there. And i doubt he'll do just Ghee and Chyawanprash..i just wish these guys knock into some of the prime time advertising turf now occupied by our Cricketers.

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 13:09

Stan_Savljevic wrote:The boys from Bhiwani
Wiki on Bhiwani

Just goes on to show that you don't really need Marxist production line and state of the art facilities to produce results. It sometimes takes vision and dedication of just one person to work miracles. Qudos to coach Jagdish Singh. Also would like to bring to notice the efforts of some other individuals which have gone un-noticed since they have not produced results of this magnitude yet.

Dr UK Mishra: He single-handedly turned the gymnasium of boys high school in Allahabad into assembly line manufacturing unit of Indian gymnastics. For the first time India was able to send a decent team to the Commonwealth and Asian games and all the participants were Dr Mishra's prodigies.

Subhash Chandra Gupta: Founder of Gurukul Prabhat and Chotipura in Meerut and Muradabad. Have produced numerous archers at the national level. Including Satyadev Prasad and Sumungla both Olympians.

KP Singh Deo: Can be given most of the credit for metamorphosis of Indian rowing. The Indian team won two silvers at the last Asian games and qualified for two events in this olympics.

In all these three cases, though they have not produced results similar to Bhiwani yet. But I believe the distance between their athletes and medal winners at world level is not that big as it may look like. A little push in form of good coaches, nutrition and fitness training should be able to launch them into the elite medal winning league. This is where of Mittal trust and Gold Quest Foundation can help them.

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 13:10

harbans wrote: And i doubt he'll do just Ghee and Chyawanprash..i just wish these guys knock into some of the prime time advertising turf now occupied by our Cricketers.

AMEN!

Duangkomon · Post by **Duangkomon** » 16 Aug 2008 17:45

Are there any archived videos of these fights for both Akhil and Jitender??

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 19:23

Vijenders fight starting with the Thai boxer.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 16 Aug 2008 19:30

Final Score
Men's Middleweight (75kg/165 lbs) Round of 16 In Progress Saturday, August 16, 2008 - Beijing Workers' Gymnasium
IND KUMAR Vijender vs THA CHOMPHUPHUANG Angkhan

Code: Select all

ountry	Name	                            Corner	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	results
THA	CHOMPHUPHUANG Angkhan	              Red	       0	      1		 0	       2             3
IND	KUMAR Vijender	                     Blue	      2			4	    4          3            13

Vijender won 13:3

Sidd · Post by **Sidd** » 16 Aug 2008 19:33

Champu getting a navratan tel champi by Vijender. Leading by 10-1 after third round.

satya · Post by **satya** » 16 Aug 2008 19:37

Vijender in quarters . Very convincing win . 13-3