A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Considering that we had the Olympics in 2008, it is natural that the performance in the Olympics will largely determine how well a particular sport fared in the year gone by. But that will not be the entire story. A lot of non-Olympic events will also vouch for the current state of affairs and as well as how the future will be.

We will rate every sport on a scale from -3 to 3. A positive score will indicate a step forward and a negative one will point to a regression. The absolute value will be a measure of the quantum.

So here we go sport by sport in alphabetical order

Archery

Positives
Indian men won gold medal in the men’s recurve team event in the World Cup held in Antalya, Turkey.

Negatives
The disappointment of the Olympics. A Lot was expected of the women’s team and of Dola Banerjee – the winner of the World Cup in 2007. But nobody delivered on the promise. We didn’t even contend for a medal. Another story of under achievement

Verdict
Archery has tantalized us with its medal winning potential for too long now. Time and again it promises a lot and then leaves Indian fans heartbroken. The sport has a decent talent identification program and generally the archers are provided with world class coaching and infrastructure and given sufficient international exposure. If only we could do something about their mental strength and nerves at the big events

Score
0

Athletics

Positives
The Indians topped the medals tally in the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha in February ahead of China and did well in the three Asian Grand Prix events in June.
The federation and the govt improved its act – there was a training-cum-competition trip of England before the Olympics and a few athletes were sent to train abroad.

Negatives
A hugely disappointing Olympics where almost instead of going swifter, higher and stronger our athletes ended up being slower, lower and weaker. The selection criterion remains a joke with the authorities’ intent on inflating the size of the squad. The Olympics also signalled the end for our lone world class athlete – Anju Bobby George.
Doping and age violations became even more rampant at junior and sub-junior levels.

Verdict
We are totally stuck in a time warp – happy to win medals at inconsequential events and send the largest contingent amongst the various sports to the Olympics. The consistency of our underperformance at the Olympics is extremely depressing. There isn’t a single athlete coming through the ranks who we can get excited about. This sport needs a major over haul.

Score
-1

Badminton

Positives
The super success of Saina Nehwal who is still a teenager. She missed an Olympic medal by a whisker and has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand form a two man support system for all aspiring badminton players
India has 4 players in the top 50 on the men’s side including Chetan Anand at 15.

Negatives
The cancellation of national level tournaments, the passport fiascos and the haphazard arrangement of training camps.

Verdict
We have the talent and we are making it count to some extent. But we could really do with more exposure and better support systems.

Score
1.5

Boxing

Positives
An Olympic medal and two near misses
4 medals at the AIBA boxing World Cup
World Championship Gold medals for Mary Kom (women) and Thakchom Singh (junior men)
A much better support system and hopefully things are getting even better – thanks to Bhiwani and the Mittal Trust

Negatives
In spite of all the glory and the surge in popularity of the boxers’ post the Olympics, things are back to normal – there was no reception for the World cup squad which came home with 4 medals

Verdict
The talent was always there. Now we have started to believe in ourselves. The depth is also very good. The next Olympics could be even better

Score
2

Hockey

Positives
KPS Gill was finally sacked
The emergence of a talented drag flicker in Diwakar Ram
A movie called Chak De which made some much needed attention to the sport

Negatives
We missed the Olympics
We still have an ad-hoc committee and a caretaker coach

Verdict
We have reached a nadir. And we have stayed there. Full stop.

Score
-3

Shooting

Positives
Abhinav Bindra wins an Olympic gold
Gagan Narang breaks two world records
Ronjon Sodhi wins the World Cup and equals a world record

Negatives
Other then Bindra and Narang all the other shooters stunk at the Olympics
The acute shortage of equipment, practise pellets, infrastructure and support systems continues

Verdict
The talent has always been there but in spite of an Olympic gold life has not changed for the shooters. Is Bindra merely an exception or do we have capability to produce more champions – the jury is still out on this

Score
1

Tennis

Positives
The emergence of Somdev Dev Varman. Barely six months after turning professional he is already India’s highest ranked player at world number 204.
Leander Paes’ becoming a vice president of Bengal Tennis. We shouldn’t read too much into this but it at least creates hope.
The emergence of Yuki Bhambhri. Another one who gives us hope for the future

Negatives
The open infighting in the Davis Cup team
The dismal year for Sania Mirza. Also disappointing years for the other women’s players
Failure to win a medal at the Olympics. It’s not the failure which stinks – it’s the fact that Paes and Bhupathi made every effort to not be well prepared.
Failure to make the World group in the Davis Cup once again
The AITA at its worst. They announced the Indian Tennis League – which was modelled on the IPL but then totally forgot about it. They also picked up a fight with the guys running Apollo’s Mission Grand Slam 2018 program

Verdict
Tennis is extremely popular in the country – there are lots of enthusiastic kids playing it, parents are usually encouraging and there is no shortage of fans willing to cheer and corporates willing to fund the game. But hardly any good players are coming through. We have a big problem with our system and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Score
0

Weightlifting

Positives
Absolutely nothing.

Negatives
Once a medal generating sport, women’s weightlifting slipped a little more in 2008, with our weightlifters falling a little further off the international pace.
The doping controversies
The selection controversies

Verdict
We are going from bad to worse and to add to it are also doing it disgracefully and with shame

Score
-1.5

Wrestling

Positives
The bronze medal won by Sushil Kumar at the Olympics.
A decent performance at the Commonwealth Youth Games
The emergence of Indian stars in professional wrestling like the WWE – the likes of the Great Khali and Sanjoy Dutt. At least it motivates young kids to take up the sport.
As compared to the previous Olympics, Indian wrestlers were trianed by better foreign coaches and were given more international exposure.

Negatives
We are not making the Olympic success count. Absolutely nothing has been done to take advantage of the increased interest in the sport

Verdict
The sport is extremely popular in certain pockets of the country and there is no shortage of talent. In fact the sport continues to prosper, in spite of govt and corporate apathy, because of its huge popularity in these regions. And now Sushil Kumar has shown all the budding wrestlers that we can be true world beaters. This is a great time to harness this surging potential and make Olympic medals a regular feature. Sadly the govt hasn’t awakened to this possibility. And for some reason the corporates also stay away. Why isn’t Sushil Kumar endorsing energy drinks and breakfast cereal?

Score
1

This article was originally published on www.IndiaAtLondon.com

3

The number of medals that India won at the Beijing Olympics – the best ever haul and equal to the combined tally of the last 6 Olympics. The happiest, most memorable Olympics ever. Bindra, Sushil and Vijender won the medals and Akhil and Saina won hearts.

2-0

The score line in the final of the triangular series in Australia and in the home test series against the same opponents. Both were landmark moments for Indian cricket.

6.5 -4.5

The victory margin for Vishwanathan Anand against Vladimir Kramnik in the World Championship Match –up in the classic format. The media might call this another world title for the Chess maestro but the real aficionado will tell you that this one mattered more than anything. Anand thus became only the second non-Russian to become world champion in the classic format.

18

The number of Olympics that India’s streak of playing in the hockey event of the quadrennial event lasted, before we suffered the ignominy of missing out in Beijing. And based on what’s happened after, there is a good chance that we could start a new streak – one of missing out

4-1

The score line in the final of the AFC Challenge Cup as India humbled Tajikistan. For once, India’s football side had the entire nation glued to attention as they went on a rare winning run which culminated in the title triumph and qualification for the Asian Cup after 24 long years. Start making plans for 2011.

36 and 9

Like in 2008, Jeev Milkha Singh had won 4 tournaments in 2006 also. But 2008 saw Jeev become the first Indian to have a top ten finish in a major, when he finished 9th in the PGA Championship. The other highlight for Milkha Singh’s son was achieving a career-best world ranking of 36. Like the golfer, we have also started dreaming of winning a major.

10

This was the year-end world ranking of Saina Nehwal – India’s shining new hope in badminton. Saina
Has taken major strides this year – narrowly missed an Olympic medal, won the world juniors and made a semi-final appearance at the BWF World Masters. Prakash Padukone sees a future world number one in her and we don’t disagree with the great man

0 and 0

The number of Indian drivers in the Force India Formula One side and the number of points won by ‘India’s’ team in formula one. Not seeing an Indian in the driving seat was disappointing and therefore the zero points didn’t hurt so much.

83

The most brilliant cricket innings played by an Indian player in 2008. There have been far bigger ones but nothing comes close to Virender Sehwag’s effort in terms of sheer audacity and eventual impact on the outcome of the game. Indian cricket’s most memorable non-century innings ever.

204

The year- end rank of the new hope of Indian men’s tennis – Somdev Dev Varman. This young man has been a professional tennis player for only six months and is already our highest ranked singles player. He has all the game, the physique and the mind to make it big. And he also has the support of all Indian tennis fans.

2

The number of gold medals won by India at the World Junior Chess Championships. India thus became the first country to win both the boys and girls titles. Dronavalli Harika and Abhijeet Gupta reflect the growing power of Indian chess –Vishy is the king and there are pretenders galore

2500000

The total prize money in dollars at the Emaar MGF Indian Masters – the first European Tour sanctioned event to be played in India. Having this tournament in India was clearly a sign of India’s growing stature in golf

4

The number of Indian players in the top-50 of men’s badminton. Led by world no 15 Chetan Anand and nurtured by Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, India has a decent program in place and a steady stream of good players coming through. I always wonder, why, in spite of all this, badminton has not become a darling of the sponsors, the fans and the media.

4 and 4

The number of World titles won by women’s boxer MC Mary Kom and the number of medals won by the men at the first AIBA World Cup. After years of promise, the medals have finally started to come. The recruitment of a South African physio and a Cuban coach has played no small part. It’s imperative that we make the most of this momentum

3

The number of sports federations headed by Suresh Kalmadi – Athletics, Olympics and now Hockey. He is also in charge of the Delhi Commonwealth Games which are in serious danger of being moved to a new location owing to the glaring delays in meeting project timelines. I will say nothing about his performance though.

2
The rank of India’s richest sports fan on the Forbes billionaire list. Lakshmi Mittal and his son-in-law Amit Bhatia have proven to be true sports fans – they were moved by India’s sporting plight and decided to make a meaningful contribution. The Mittal’s Champions Trust was born – it intends to support and fund talented sportspersons and potential Olympic medal winners to enable them to access the best specialists in the world, so that they can compete with the best in the world on a level playing field. With a list of beneficiaries that includes Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Akhil Kumar and Joshna Chinnappa, they are already making a difference.

115000000

The number of dollars paid by Mukesh Ambani to own the Mumbai franchise of the IPL – clearly a measure of the hype and possible potential of the league. The IPL lived up to all the hype and unleashed a creature which could change most of the paradigms of the game of cricket.

6-1

The score by which Pankaj Advani beat eight time World Champion Geet Sethi in the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championships. This was in true sense a passing of the baton, from a legend of the green baize to one capable of being a true successor.

147+47

Ronjon Sodhi’s world-record equalling score which also made him the first Indian shooter to win a gold medal in the double trap event at the World Cup. It was unfortunate that this brilliant shooter could not find an Olympic berth. Sodhi along with Bindra and Gagan Narang are the stars of Indian shooting in 2008.