Re: Indian Sports and Entertainment Industry
Posted: 28 Jun 2008 22:15
I hope the early onset of injuries dont ruin her career. remember tracy austin?
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Vasu, please reread my post as I have made some edits to it. Esp the last bit. TIA.Vasu wrote:Thanks for the effort, Stan. I am sure this list is bigger, which is a very good thing.
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.
Wikipedia says East germany had a population of about 16 million.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.
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.
clicky3
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.
The squad: Men: Mangal Singh Champia (Rly.) Women: L. Bombayla Devi, Dola Banerjee (both Rly.) and V. Pranitha (Steel Plant).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).
“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.
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.
... 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.”
Pankaj Advani added yet another title when he pocketed the Australian Open billiards (points format - 150 up) championship at Melbourne on June 29.
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.
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.
"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.
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."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."
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Hanumadu, go through the thread. We're discussing him already.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
Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.Beijing Olympics: China invites Sonia, not PM or Prez
shame on Sonia, if she accepts the invitation.SaiK wrote:Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.Beijing Olympics: China invites Sonia, not PM or Prez
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.
Spot on. beijing sure knows how to play games, this being the season of five rings and all.Rahul M wrote:shame on Sonia, if she accepts the invitation.SaiK wrote: Shame on MMS and Prez, for being quite about it.
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.
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.
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.
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.