A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Somdev Devvarman has brought us this far and he will have to carry us past South Africa

India take on South Africa in the Davis Cup World Group play-off from September 18-20. The tie will be played in the Ellis Park Indoor Arena on a hard greenest court, where the speed can be altered as required (I found this fascinating. The kind of things you can do these days)

Long overdue return to the World Group

For any Indian fan, this is the tennis event of the year, save for the grand slams. It’s a huge opportunity for India to get back to the World Group, where the big boys of world tennis play. We haven’t been there for 11 years now, and the wait has been so long that the pain of missing the action has almost numbed – the memories of past Davis Cup glory in the World group have almost started to feel like events from a past life now.

Davis Cup tennis was one of the major sporting attractions in the 80’s and early 90’s. It was easy to get hooked at a time when India’s presence in the World Group was a given and wins over higher ranked opponents a routine occurrence. But thanks to years of absentia, the competition seems to have lost some of its sheen for us. Therefore it’s imperative that we make the most of this opportunity to get back to the World Group – to refresh the old memories and create some more. There is so much riding on this tie.

So how do the teams stack up?

On paper the teams are well matched. India has the highest ranked player in the tie in Somdev Devvarman at 132. South Africa have Kevin Anderson at 156 and a trio of players in the 200’s. India’s next best singles player, Rohan Bopanna is only ranked 307. India’s doubles pairing of Leander and Bhupathi have to be considered the favourites, although South Africa have a fine doubles player in Wesley Moodie. South Africa are at home and have a very good record as hosts.

In terms of the playing surface, the two sides have very similar likes and dislikes so that shouldn’t be too much of a factor. But South Africa could gamble on a fast court which would suit the big serving game of the 6’8’’Anderson.

I am also counting on the Indian origin community in South Africa to turn up in large number to negate the massive crowd support that South Africa would have otherwise enjoyed.

The fate of the tie could come down to the clash between Somdev and Anderson and Rohan and South Africa’s second singles player. India need to win atleast one of these two matches to make the World Group.

And it is here that the absurd rule (an order from the Indian Government which bars non-natives from representing the country), which will probably keep Prakash Amritraj out of the tie, really rankles. The presence of the 159th ranked Prakash could have tilted the scales conclusively in India’s favour. But the team shouldn’t let his absence bother them. Somdev Devvarman has proven to be the true successor of Leander Paes; raising his game time and again to beat higher ranked opponents in the Davis Cup and we have full confidence that he will guide us back to the Promised Land.

The memories of 1974 of 1994

Any discussion involving India, South Africa and the Davis Cup cannot be complete without a mention of the 1974 final between these two nations which was won by the former Springboks after the Indians forfeited the tie in protest against apartheid. It was a righteous act but as a result South Africa are former Davis Cup champions and India are not. It was India’s best chance to win the Cup and save for the 1987 final, when we were blanked 5-0 by Sweden, we haven’t come that close again.

The Indian side would also seek to take revenge for the only other tie between the two sides, which was played in 1994 when the South Africans led by former top-ten player Wayne Ferreira won 3-2 in Jaipur. Leander Paes was a heart-broken member of that team and he would be itching to get some sort of revenge.

35 years on from the 1974 final that never happened, the two nations square up again with something substantial on offer – both teams trying to get back to the World group for the first time since 1998. And this round, the Indians cannot let anything come between them and victory.

Disclaimer: I am a diehard fan of Indian Hockey. For proof, you can check the articles related to Indian Hockey on this website. I have nothing against it and I am all for it. So, I request you to take an objective look at the argument made in the article and not start brandishing me as a hater of Indian Hockey.

Hockey has given us a lot but was it the right 'national game' in the first place

One of our (the kind of people who passionately follow Indian sports) favourite past times is to cringe and whine at the decline of our ‘National game’. We chronicle the official apathy towards hockey, debate ways to revive the sport and keep going back into history to unearth reasons for the sports’ fall from grace. That cricket is now the quasi national game is a reality we have more or less come to terms with. Our national game might go the way of the national bird of Mauritius- the Dodo has long been extinct but continues to enjoy posthumous recognition. Wait, I am getting into the rut again. Enough said. Rather than waste a lazy Saturday morning commiserating some more, I have decided to take a different approach. Let’s see how some other ‘national games’ are faring in their respective countries.

Before we begin, let’s clarify some things. Many countries don’t have an official national game or sport. But most of them, like the US for example have had a de facto ‘national sport’ all along. The sport getting this unofficial recognition has been one which has had a long history of extreme popularity in the country and has been widely followed and played all over.

We’ll start with our neighbours Pakistan where Hockey is the official national sport and Polo is the secondary national sport on a state –level. In terms of international success, however, Squash has been most rewarding with a slew of British Open and World champions. Today, all three have been pushed into the background by Cricket. Hockey and Squash have suffered with international successes completely drying up. Not that the increased patronage of Cricket has borne any fruit. 60 years after the split, we still continue to behave in similar ways. Maybe the two countries should stop bothering about nuclear missiles and cross border terrorism and set a joint action committee to improve the state of hockey and cricket. Will do more than anything else to diffuse the tension and win a few Nobel peace prizes for the likes of Sharad ‘I can’t find a cricket coach’ Pawar.

Next we move to the US of A. Being a country obsessed with itself, it’s not surprising that their popular sports are hardly international and domestic sports are far bigger than international events. There is great diversity when it comes to support with each sport having pockets of fanatical following. As mentioned earlier, they do not have an official national sport. Baseball has always been referred to as America’s ‘National Pastime’ and the sport has deep roots in America’s history and culture. Today American Football enjoys the highest popularity followed by Baseball and Basketball. Internationally, the Americans get beaten by the likes of Greece and Argentina at Basketball and Puerto Rico and Venezuela at Baseball. Not that it takes anything away from their popularity. The three sports are ingrained in the sporting DNA of the nation and there is no worthy challenger in sight. Even somebody like Andre Agassi at the height of his fame played second fiddle to the likes of Michael Jordan (basketball), Deion Saunders (American Football) and Ken Griffey Jr (Basketball).

The sport which rules Australia. But hasn't been accorded national game or national sport status

If there is one country, I truly admire as a nation of great sportsmen, it has to be Australia. Take any sport and you’ll find an Aussie competing for top honours. Unlike the Americans, they excel in truly international sports. Hockey, Cricket, Swimming, Athletics, Tennis, Squash, Rugby, Basketball, Motorsports, Shooting, Golf, Cue sports, Football, the list is endless. Their penchant for brawn stops them from recognizing cerebral activities like Chess as a sport. But wait till they discover Kabaddi – they’ll start whipping us in no time. They do not have an official national sport but Cricket has always been treated as one – owing largely to its traditional popularity and Australian history being intertwined with that of England. In terms of revenue and attendance though, the home-grown sport of ‘Australian Rules Football’ is marginally ahead. Another example of a sport being part of the nation’s DNA.

The English take credit for giving the World, Cricket, Football, Rugby, Badminton and Tennis. They dominated these sports early on but were soon caught up by the rest of the world. But surprisingly they do not have an official national game. Surprising, because I suspected we picked up this concept from them. They probably had a hard time choosing from the long list. They finally resolved this issue by having different sports earmarked for different seasons with Cricket being the national summer sport. Football is by far the most popular sport and cricket has been revived from the dead by Twenty-20. The national teams are generally no good but the domestic structure for Cricket, Football and Rugby is probably the best in the world with the domestic sides producing great fare. The English fans cheer for both national and domestic sides – which is a blessing for each sport and helps keep the interest alive.

This truly Japanese sport means more to the Japanese than football and baseball

Time now for some oriental flavour with the Japanese. They do not have an official national sport but have traditionally viewed Judo, Karate and Sumo Wrestling as national sports. The origins of these sports are pretty ancient and they are an important ingredient of Japanese culture. For a few years now, Japan’s stranglehold on Judo and Karate medals in international events has loosened considerably and the western influence has made Baseball and Football fairly popular. In spite of all this, Sumo Wrestling remains the nation’s number one national past-time followed closely by the two martial arts

Some other useful information

• Even the football-crazy nations of Brazil, Argentina and Italy have not accorded the sport any official status
• Many nations continue to have very ancient sports (which are totally unknown outside their country) as their national sport. Ireland has Hurling, Afghanistan has Buzkashi and Thailand has Muay Thai

So what have we learnt from all these countries – most of whom have a far more active sporting culture than ours

What was the need to have an ‘official’ national sport – Now come on. Before you call me ludicrous, remember that even the English don’t have one and we learnt all our good things from them- right from the way we eat to the way we sit in the toilet. It would have saved a lot of heart ache. Which gentleman came up with this brilliant idea when there were so many other issues to deal with in a newly-independent nation? I am sure we have inspired other nations to share our ‘official’ obsession. This deserves a place in the all-time top-5 foolish decisions taken by those in power, and considering the way governments are run in this country that is an outstanding feat.

Did Hockey really deserve to become the national game – This might also sound preposterous but think about it. We learnt the game from the British just like many others. There is no historical justification for this decision. Hockey was not by any stretch of imagination a part of our ancient culture. The Australians adopted cricket as they had no history or culture to speak of. We had no such issues. The committee which peered into history to pick out the National Emblem failed to do the same for the National Sport. If medal-winning potential was the right criterion back in the day, then what is wrong in using the same measure to identify a new National Sport?

The Mauritians were still justified in selecting a land-faring, defenceless, Dodo as their National Bird. At least it was unique to their island and part of their history. We would have selected the Siberian Cranes just because they can fly the furthest.

This article was originally published on iSport.in in October 2007.

Sports in India are at an all time high

Indian sports took a mighty leap in 2008 and a number of champion sport persons made impressive progress in a wide variety of sports. Quite clearly, Indian sports have never had it any better. It’s a time for Indian sports fans to be really excited about the future. So we thought it was a good time to conduct a poll to ascertain, which sportsperson makes our heart beat the fastest or in other words, the future of which Indian sportsperson are we most excited about.

As you will notice, we haven’t included any cricketers. Not that we have anything against them. Just that there are enough people who are always super excited about them. So let’s give the others a shot for a change. Considering the large choice, we have decided to have a multiple voting option. We have left out a few like Paes and Bhupathi, who we think, have already achieved everything they could have possibly had. On the other hand, Jeev Milkha Singh, who is hardly a youngster, still makes the list as he continues to get better every year.

Here is the list of names for the Poll. Please go ahead and vote for the sportsperson(s) who gives you the biggest reason to feel good about the future of Indian sport.

Sunil Chhteri – Football

Yuki Bhambri – Tennis

Saina Nehwal – Badminton

Akhil Kumar – Boxing

Abhinav Bindra – Shooting

Sushil Kumar – Wrestling

Vijender Kumar -Boxing

Somdev Dev Varman – Tennis

Gagan Narang – Shooting

Joshna Chinappa – Squash

Koneru Humpy – Chess

Karun Chandhok – Motor Racing

Diwakar Ram – Hockey

Virdhawal Khade – Swimming

Dipika Pallikal – Squash

Pankaj Advani –Snooker and Billiards

Sania Mirza – Tennis

Jeev Milkha Singh – Golf

Someone else

I think there is no future for Indian sports

The three shining stars of 2008

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

Just before the India- Australia series began, an English friend of mine commented that it would be great if the Indians could beat the Aussies. “It would damage their psyche and their confidence would be low, when we meet them in the Ashes”, he argued. He got his wish when India thumped the Australians 2-0.

But he forgot to account for the India-England series which was to follow. He feared the worst as India raced to a 5-0 lead in the one-dayers and was thankful that the series was called off prematurely. A 7-0 whitewash wouldn’t have helped the English confidence, obviously.

And then he was over the moon as England established a stranglehold over the first test. Beating the side that had just overpowered the old enemy was the best confidence boost ahead of the Ashes. But just before he could raise a toast, Sehwag and co changed everything. The Chennai test will continue to haunt the English side for a long time to come – up to the time of the Ashes series, at least. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the third-world country haters (Australia) have suddenly started liking one

India is suddenly the biggest factor in the Ashes battle – they just keep changing the balance of the series from one side to the other.

Watching the Ashes will be very different this time – like a winner watching the losers battling for a consolation prize. There will be no awe-inspiring moments, nothing to get too impressed by – how can you when you so recently kicked the same guy’s butt big time.

The two losers are more deserving of the pot on the right

How good are the hallowed Ashes with two losers battling it out? England and Australia might as well play for something else, lest they de-value the importance of something so prized – they could fight for an Indian earthen pot with filled with some sub-continental dust perhaps.

And while they are at it, they better hand over the Ashes urn to its rightful winners

In what is probably the most important discovery made by India since we discovered zero centuries ago, Indians have now found a way to beat the athletes from Jamaica

At the recent Commonwealth Youth Games, the rats in the Games Village scared the Jamaican athletes to death and the poor guys almost fled from the scene

The record showing of Jamaican athletes at Beijing had left the entire world looking for answers. Now we know how to keep the Jamaican sprinters in check or rather running for their lives

This news has caught the attention of all the big sporting nations

The exports of these ferocious Indian rats could really grow

See you at the Olympics

London has already placed a first order for 50

Mr Suresh Kalmadi has been elected as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the fourth time in a row. This is great news for all Indian sports fans. Mr Kalmadi can now build on all the good work that he and his team have done in the past 12 years and take Indian sport to new highs.

That he was elected unopposed is clearly testimony to the high esteem he is held in – by friends and foes alike. In that sense he is the closest thing that we have had to Mahatma Gandhi – somebody who can cut across party lines and unify everyone under his leadership – and lead the country to glory.

We don’t have to look beyond the 2008 Beijing Olympics to see what Mr Kalmadi is capable of. This was India’s finest moment in the history of the games – all thanks to this great leader’s efforts. In spite of the Mittal Trust’s best efforts to take credit for the success of the Indian athletes, we all know it was Mr Kalmadi who was really responsible for the 3 medals. After all he selected the team for the Olympics and sent them to Beijing. Bad selection policy has been a bane for Indian sport and finally we have someone who has put an end to that.

Suresh Kalamdi deserves a halo over his head

Another reason why Mr Kalmadi faced no competition was because he takes great care of his people. He always makes sure that a large number of sports officials are sent to the international sports events. If he gets to go then his men should also go -Even if the official has no business being at the sports event – Even if sometimes the number of officials becomes more than the number of athletes and coaches – even if a physio has to be sacrificed to make way for an official. For Mr Kalmadi the hard working official always comes first- and hence it’s no surprise that Mr Kalmadi comes first for the officials also.

He has also received little credit for convincing many politicians to take up important positions in the IOA and various other national sports federations. It is thanks to his powers of persuasion that many of these politicians have agreed to take time out from their busy schedules and work for the betterment of Indian sport. Thanks to the wicked media, the common sports fan does not know that getting more politicians on board is a brilliant move on the IOA president’s part. After all it is the politicians who know how to get more money out of the central government. Even the current team is adorned with noted politician- sports administrators like Jagdish Tytler and Abhay Singh Chautala.

Mr Kalmadi is a visionary who always thinks ahead. Although the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2012 London Olympics are far away, Mr Kalmadi has already started planning for them. The Indian govt has entrusted the IOA president with a large sum of money to bring great success at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. While lesser mortals would be struggling to find a quick fix solution to improve the performance of Indian sportspersons, Mr Kalmadi has again shown his genius. He has gone ahead and asked the Chinese to help India. He is not vain enough to think that this makes India an international laughing stock. He is aware that China has always helped India, as seen during the recent nuclear issue debate. It is a masterstroke on Mr Kalmadi’s part. It’s surprising that nobody thought of this before – we could have become a sports powerhouse long back.

Mr Kalmadi’s dream is to bring the 2020 Olympics to India. It’s a pity that this cannot be achieved in his current term which will end in 2012. Therefore, we should make him president of the IOA till 2020 so that he can make this dream a reality. And thanks to Mr Kalmadi and the help from the Chinese we might just end up on top of the medals tally

I have a new poll on Common Fan – to pick out the most popular Indian sportswoman from the current lot. I had expected this poll to get as many responses if not more than the previous polls on this blog. Sadly no one seems to care and the response has been bad. This is bad and we need to show more respect for Indian sportswomen. So to get more participation for this poll, I am writing this post and providing more information about each of these ladies. I hope this information generates a little more interest and a lot more in terms of participation. So here you go. Let the most popular lady win.

The poll is in the ‘Caste your vote’ page

Saina Nehwal – Badminton – Currently ranked world number 14, Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics.

Anju Bobby George – Athletics – Made history when she won the bronze medal in the Long Jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics becoming the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics.

Koneru Humpy – Chess – Her October 2007 FIDE Elo rating was 2606, placing her at number two in the world for women (behind Judit Polgar) and becoming the second female player ever, after Judit Polgar, to cross the 2600 Elo mark.

Sania Mirza – Tennis – Is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles.

Anjali Bhagwat – Shooting – She won four golds in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Dronavalli Harika – Chess – She has won three World Youth Chess Championship titles: in 2004, she won the Girls U14, and in 2006, she won the Girls U18. In 2008, she took the Girl’s title at the World Junior Chess Championship

Neha Aggarwal – Table Tennis – Qualified for the Olympics at the age of 18

Dola Banerjee – Archery – Became world champion in archery by winning the gold medal in the women’s individual recurve competition at the archery world cup in November 2007

Mithali Raj – Cricket – Became famous for her score of 214 runs in a test match against England, which broke the record for the highest score in women’s Test cricket. She led the Indian team to the finals in the Women’s Cricket World Cup of 2005 where the team lost to Australia.

There are three other options that you can choose.

Other – If you think someone else is more deserving. Please post a comment with the name.

I didn’t know women played sports in India – This is self explanatory. I hope this post helps you to become more informed.

No sports woman is good enough to be my favourite – Again self explanatory. I am sure you have very high standards. Tell me who your favourite Indian sportsman is?

This one is all about celebration. So please leave your skepticism at home. Forget what we had been doing as a nation of 1.2 billion. Just enjoy what we have done in the last one week.