A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

Playing at home is a huge advantage in sport. Having the crowd behind you and possessing a far superior knowledge of the playing conditions as compared to your opponent, gives the home player a competitive edge.

But is it really an edge when Indian sportspersons play in home conditions?

At the ongoing World Badminton Championships, Indian players failed to cause a single upset. Most of them including Chetan Anand and Aditi Mutatkar lost to players they have beaten recently. Saina Nehwal matched up well against her second seeded Chinese opponent and had home advantage but fell tamely.

Playing in her hometown didn't help Dipika Pallikal

Before this, there was the World Junior Squash Championships. Dipika Pallikal had the top billing but was knocked out of the semi-finals and the second -seeded girls team was beaten by lower ranked Hong Kong. Most of the boys failed to justify their seeding losing to lower ranked opponents.

But are these just isolated examples or do they happen to be the latest chapter of a grim tale – one where we have either failed to create the right home conditions or our players have failed to capitalise on them.

First let’s look at more examples from various sports to see if there is enough proof to validate our hypothesis – that we don’t really make the home conditions count.

We will compare the results achieved at home and overseas and see if there is a significant difference in the two.

Let’s start with tennis. The biggest Davis cup wins have both come abroad – over Australia in 1987 and against France in 1994. We have beaten Switzerland and Yugoslavia at home but there is no reason to believe that our players have thrived in home conditions.

In singles, we don’t have enough data, because we didn’t have any tournaments in India during our glory years. Somdev Dev Varman reached the final at the Chennai Open and Sania Mirza won at Hyderabad but both players have achieved similar success abroad as well.

A partisan crowd saw the home team getting thumped 1-7 in the 1982 Asian Games Final

In Hockey, we have never won a major tournament at home. We have hosted the Asian Games and the World Cup but both times we failed to meet pre-tournament expectations. The last major tournament in India was the Champions Trophy and once again the home advantage hadn’t counted for much. Neighbours Pakistan on the other hand have always raised their game when playing at home winning both the World Cup and the Champions Trophy on home soil.

Cricket is one sport where our home record is significantly better than our overseas record, especially in the five day version. But that has everything to do with the nature of the pitch. We perform better when we get a favourable pitch abroad and struggle on pacy and bouncy wickets at home. We fare better in places like Adelaide, Sydney and Guyana as compared to Mohali and Ahmedabad.

We have won the World Cup in England, the T-20 World Cup in South Africa, the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka and the Champion of Champions tournament in Australia. In the same period, the Hero Cup and the Titan Cup have been our biggest triumphs at home. India has hosted two World Cups and both times the national side was quite strong but we always came up short.

Crowd support and home conditions count for a lot in football especially at the club level. Even the weakest sides prove quite a handful when playing in front of their fans. The Indian national side have largely failed to raise their game while playing at home but they did make an exception in the AFC Challenge Cup. The club sides have fared better but foreign clubs have not been daunted by the challenge of playing an Indian club in India. All in all we have largely failed to drive home the home advantage.

The only other sport in which we regularly host international tournaments is golf. This is a sport where familiarity with the course is a massive advantage and Indian players have made it count. Foreign players held a stranglehold over the Indian Open for a long time. Then Ali Sher broke their monopoly and local players have dominated the tournament ever since. SSP Chowrasia continued the home domination by winning the inaugural Indian Masters.

Having looked at these various sports, we can say with some measure of confidence that the home conditions or home advantage haven’t been enough of factor in Indian sport.

So the next questions is why

Have we failed to create the right home advantage or is it because our players don’t know how to make it count?

I think it’s a little bit of both.

We are a country steeped in the tradition of ‘Attithi Devo Bhava’, meaning the guest is like god. We have never tried to intimidate the visiting players or indulged in planned psychological warfare like most other countries do. We have often seen how the foreign media gets behind a player’s back. Our media on the other hand pays visiting players to write columns where they criticize the home team and their tactics. Players are often advised not to read the local papers; but visiting don’t need to take such precautions in India.

This is the kind of crowd we need to be

Then there is the role of the fans. Our crowds cheer for our players for sure as we saw during the recent badminton championships and the squash tournament. But there is a long way to go before they can start getting into the heads of the foreign players. We mostly fail to create a charged atmosphere which makes the visiting player feel almost threatened; as if he is surrounded by a vicious enemy from all sides. The same energy drives the adrenalin level of the home player and he or she just takes their game to another level. We need more incessant flag waving, drum beating, wild cheering, singing and booing.

And what about the players themselves – are they able to thrive in the home conditions or do they crumble in the face of heightened expectation?

Most of the evidence points to the latter.

We have a long history of losing close encounters; of failing to give our best in pressure cooker situations. And playing at home definitely creates additional pressure. This additional pressure can get cancelled out if the impact of the other home factors is strong enough. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case in India.

While the negative impact of home conditions gets enhanced in the case of an Indian player because they aren’t good at handling pressure, the favourable conditions are not exploited sufficiently enough.

Together they have ensured that Indian sport in general has failed to make the most of the home advantage.

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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.

Another step towards being the best in the world

Poll- Which Indian Sportsperson are you most excited about? (Choose upto 5)

Results - Saina Nehwal – Badminton (48.0%, 43 Votes)
Yuki Bhambri – Tennis (22.0%, 20 Votes)
Somdev Dev Varman – Tennis (21.0%, 19 Votes)
Jeev Milkha Singh – Golf (20.0%, 18 Votes)
Sunil Chhteri – Football (20.0%, 18 Votes)
Abhinav Bindra – Shooting (19.0%, 17 Votes)
Sania Mirza – Tennis (19.0%, 17 Votes)
Koneru Humpy – Chess (19.0%, 17 Votes)
Akhil Kumar – Boxing (19.0%, 17 Votes)

Disclaimer – This poll was limited to non-cricket sports only.

As I write this, Saina Nehwal has broken new ground yet again, winning the Super Series title in Indonesia. With this win she has finally managed to break through the ‘Great Wall of China’ at Super Series Events. The wall of top Chinese players had stopped her from progressing beyond the semi-finals till date, leaving behind a trail of closely contested three setters. Now that Saina has broken through the Chinese hoodoo at the Super Series, we can expect more wins and glory for her and more joy for us – the fans who have voted her as the future of Indian Sport by a landslide.

The best part is that Saina is just 19 years old and has already given us a lifetime of great moments. She continues to get better and move up the world rankings. She is unrelenting in her desire to be the best player in the world and unfazed by the challenges that lie in her path. The world is her oyster and if the poll results are anything to go by, a lot of Indian sports fans including yours truly, are already licking their chops at the prospect of all the sporting joy that Saina Nehwal is going to bring to their lives over the next 10 years.

The race to be the second most exciting sportsperson in India is a dead heat between 3 tennis players, a golfer, a boxer, a shooter, a chess player and a footballer, although technically speaking, Yuki Bhambhri is alone in second place. It augurs well for Indian sports that so many sportspersons from different sports are doing well and each of them has a decent number of followers who are looking forward to their every move.

Now there is more good news for these sports fans. They can watch the videos of their favourite Indian sportspersons on www.SportPass.tv. This is a new sports video website which aggregates the most locally relevant sports videos from all over the world.

Now you don’t need to bother about media apathy towards the achievements of these sportspersons. If they are not showing you the action, you can catch it on SportPass.tv

More glory to Indian Sports

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

A moment to cherish for Indian tennis

First my heartiest congratulations to Yuki Bhambri for becoming the fourth Indian to win the Boys title at a Grand Slam event. Congratulations are also in order for everyone who did his or her bit behind the scenes to make this happen – none more so than his parents who have supported the careers of three tennis playing children and all the costs that come with it, despite being stretched well beyond their means. India could do well with more like you.

Yuki’s triumph has heightened the expectations of Indian tennis fans and raised a number of questions. Let’s look at these questions and try answering them.

How good is winning a Junior Grand Slam title, as an indicator of future success on the men’s tour?

Fairly good.

Check out the complete list of Junior Grand Slam Champions. Some of the winners this decade have been Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcos Baghdatis and Richard Gasquet. Others like Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cillic have also had pretty good careers so far.

All the previous Indians to win a junior title – Ramanathan Krishnan, Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes – also had a fairly good run at the senior level.

Therefore, winning a junior Grand Slam is a fairly good indicator and there is a very good chance that Yuki will make a successful transition to the senior game.

How difficult is the transition from a successful junior to a player on the men’s tour?

Quite difficult.

Look at the list again. There are some names you wouldn’t recognize – so what happened to those guys. Well, obviously they couldn’t make the leap from successful junior to successful senior. Like in most sports, the ingredients for success change dramatically as you step up into the men’s world, with natural talent playing a lesser role and things like power, fitness and mental toughness becoming increasingly more important. Also as compared to team sports, where you can hide your flaws with the help of your teammates, in an individual sport like tennis, you are completely on your own and every chink in your armour can be mercilessly exploited by your opponent.

Look at the Indians in the list again. Their level of success on the men’s tour is directly proportional to how soon they made an appearance on it, with Ramesh falling short of his father’s standards and Leander failing to match the junior Krishnan’s efforts. The reason is simple – physical fitness and power has become more and more important as years have gone by and the skill-oriented Indians have continued to fall behind. Paes won an Olympic bronze but a lot more was expected of him on the ATP tour.

So what needs to be done to ensure Yuki doesn’t miss?

Yuki needs to be more like Somdev Dev Varman and less like Krishnan and Paes, which means he needs to add a lot of muscle and work on his fitness and conditioning.

He also needs to avoid the temptation of playing too much juniors tennis and start getting a taste of the big bad world of men’s tennis. There is not much to be gained by winning a gaggle of junior trophies and a lot to be learned by playing the men.

He also needs to focus on singles. Doubles helps you with your volleying and provides a little extra cash while you are struggling on the ATP Tour but it also whets your appetite and makes you less hungry for success in singles. Yuki’s a great talent and should maximize his singles potential.

And finally he needs all the guidance and support including financial help as he finds his way in the men’s world.

What is the current state of affairs on Yuki’s development?

Most of it is coming along really well although a lot still needs to be done especially on the money front.

Yuki already trains at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, thanks to IMG, and is in very safe hands. The coaches at the NBTA are doing everything to build up his strength and fitness, not to forget helping him become better as a tennis player. He already trains with the men and has decided to focus only on men’s events except for the junior grand slams – another sign of his high maturity – in addition to the mental acumen he displays on court.

Yuki is also part of the government scheme for preparing players for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The  govt takes care of all his grand slam expenses.

But he needs more financial support to really make the most of his potential. As previously mentioned, his parents’ resources have already been stretched thin. He needs some serious sponsorship to take care of the cost of travel, training and providing for a full fledged support staff. Hopefully, the Australian Open success should attract a few corporates.

He also has the benefit of having a fair number of Indian players on the men’s tour to offer encouragement and support – Paes, Bhupathi, Dev Varman and Prakash Amritraj.

But there is still a lot of work to be done and we are hoping Yuki leaves no stone unturned.

What does this mean for the future of Indian Tennis?

This means that for the first time since the heydays of Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, India could have two fine singles players, playing together at their peak. Somdev Dev Varman is already making rapid strides on the tour and Yuki could join him in a few years time. That will pave the way for a return to the elite World Group in the Davis Cup. Man, have I missed the excitement of the Davis Cup.

Finally a word of caution

We will have to be patient and not over burden the young champion with expectations. It will take a while before Yuki makes his mark on the men’s tour. A look at the list of the Junior Slam winners will show us, that, the Champions since 2006 are yet to establish themselves on the ATP Tour. Most of them are still playing the Futures and the Challengers and trying to find their feet. Yuki Bhambri will also have to go through the same growth curve before he becomes man enough for the ATP Tour.

Till then, let’s get back to cheering for Somdev Dev Varman. He is definitely ready for the expectations.

More glory for Indian Tennis!!!

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

Saina Nehwal has landed her first endorsement contracts. According to her management firm Globosport, the shuttler has been signed up by MTV, The Cancer Society of India and Herbalife. Each of these contracts is worth Rs 10-15 lakhs each.

You read that right. 10-15 lakh rupees each!!! . A pittance for getting the image and media rights of India’s most popular sportswoman – One who has the country’s entire sporting fraternity following her every move. Even sports scholarships pay more than this. Even the state governments reward sportspersons with more money than this. These companies will pay ad agencies ten times as much to make commercials featuring Saina Nehwal

Saina deserves a lot more than this

This is daylight robbery and nothing else. These companies have got the steal of the century. Even the farmers who lost their land to the SEZ’s will have sympathy for Saina.

So who’s to blame? Globosport obviously

This company had been under tremendous pressure because of their inability to land any endorsement deals for Saina in spite of her growing reputation. So much so that other management firms were willing to buy out Saina’s contract with Globosport.

So what do they do to save face?

Sold her to the first bidder they could find. Rather let those companies steal her

Somebody get Saina Nehwal some help. She has every right to cancel her contract with Globosport for the shoddy manner in which her image and media rights have been handled.

Important notice to the Apollo Group – The AITA is the least of your worries. You should worry about the money you have handed over to Globosport to manage Mission Grand Slam Champion 2018.

The All Indian Tennis Association (AITA) recently requested the Apollo Group to produce an audited statement of their spending in the first year towards the Mission Grand Slam 2018 project. AITA felt Apollo were making big claims through their advertisement campaign but actually had not done that much.

Now Apollo have shot back saying they are under no obligation to do so.

I expected better from the Apollo Group. They could have easily saved all this trouble

If only they had known the rules of the game. Not the game of tennis. Rather the game, where a corporate gets involved in sports.

For the information of the Apollo Group and any other corporates planning to do something similar, playing such games is illegal in this country unless you have paid association tax?

This is the same tax that the ZEE TV group refused to pay to the BCCI and see how they have been made to suffer.

I hope the Apollo people learn their lesson fast and start behaving like a responsible corporate which pays all its taxes

Related Article

An Indian grand slam champion by 2018

Nostradamus

Nostradamus’ prediction on Indian men’s tennis

“At the height of the game’s glory in the land of the Aryans civilization, a great warrior will be born in a place known for its shrubs that produce a brew of unmatchable purity. The warrior will be named after the moon god. He will travel to the land of the game’s origins and train in the ancient learning grounds. He will conquer all and become the most accomplished fighter produced by the training grounds. He will return to the land of his birth and find it shorn of most of its past glory and eclipsed by other regional powers. His people have been consumed by internal strife and the last link to the magnificent past is also fading away. The warrior will answer the call of his long deprived people and bring back the glorious days.”

How the prediction has panned out

In the 1980’s (the best period for Indian men’s tennis with the combo of Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan) in India (land of the Aryans), a tennis player (warrior) will be born in the tea (brew) producing state of Assam (a place which produces the best tea). The player will be named SomDev (the moon god as per Hindu nomenclature). He will go to the US (place where tennis originated) and play in the US collegiate system (formerly a breeding ground for all US players). He will become the collegiate system’s most decorated player (most accomplished fighter). He will come home to find that India haven’t been to the World Group in ten years (lost past glory) and have no half decent singles player – Thailand, Japan and South Korea have far better singles players (eclipsed by other Asian powers). The team has been suffered from infighting (internal strife) and the last of our Davis cup heroes – Leander Paes (last link to glorious past) is close to retirement (fading away). Somdev will bring new hope for long suffering Indian tennis fans (long deprived people )and become India’s next great singles player. He will lead us back to the Davis Cup World Group and also bring back the days when Indian players were regular features in the main draw of grand slam events and other top tournaments (bring back the glory days).

Ok, fine, Nostradamus made no such prediction.

Mr Nostradamus couldn’t have done a better job with this prediction

But I am willing to put my head out and take ownership of this prediction. And you know what, this is the safest prediction that I have ever made, really. Somdev is that good.

Good enough to have won two NCAA singles titles breaking numerous records on the way

Good enough to have beaten a bagful of top-100 players even before he turned professional. One of them happens to be Sam Querry – the guy who gave Rafael Nadal a real scare in the US Open.

And we haven’t even come to the best parts yet.

Somdev's best is yet to come

Somdev’s stint in the US collegiate circuit has ensured that he is supremely fit and athletic and has an all-court game with no glaring weaknesses. This is a rare combination for an Indian player – we haven’t had another one who wasn’t lacking on at least one count.

Ramesh Krishnan had a serve which acted merely as way to start the point. He was taught by his father who in turn was taught by a father who was self taught. Vijay Amritraj’s lack of stamina was his undoing in countless encounters. Leander’s singles game was extremely one-dimensional – chip and charge at every opportunity. Sania Mirza has also suffered from a lack of a good serve and technical flaws which cause frequent injuries. Somdev on the other hand is well equipped to face the challenges of the modern game.

Additionally, he has a very mature head on his shoulders. He could have turned professional a year earlier after his first NCAA title. But he resisted the temptation to do so, preferring to stay on for another year to finish college and work on his game. Such maturity will hold him in good stead – he will not get carried away by the fame that has already been bestowed upon him and also not get disheartened by the growing pains of finding his way around in the tough world of men’s professional tennis.

Is there anybody who still doubts that chances of my prediction coming true?

Leander at Atlanta -This one counts for more than anything else

This will be a series of articles where I will be trying to list the five most memorable moments from each of the many sports that we play. I was looking for some similar information once and could not find it. So I thought, why not make the effort myself. So here I am starting with tennis. The moments are in no particular order. And as I am only putting down five for each sport, I am sure I will have to leave out a few moments. And remember these are the memorable moments not simply the greatest moments. This is a subjective exercise. So rather than criticizing the list, help in enhancing it. More glory to Indian sport.

• Leander Paes’ bronze medal effort at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics – The greatest singles effortever – on the largest stage for all sports – an individual medal after 44 years. This event has no prize money and no ranking points, just national pride and honour. Not surprising that Leander was at his very best.
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  261th ranked Amritraj stunned 30th ranked Masur to get India off to a flier in 1987

• The run to the Davis Cup final in 1987 – this one stands out for the amazing semi-final victory over the mighty Aussies in Melbourne. We had our opponents on the ropes at 2-0 but they roared back to 2-2. And then against Wally Masur and a raucous Aussie crowd Ramesh Krishnan guided us home.
• The Davis Cup final of 1974 that never was – India reached the final but refused to play against South Africa in protest against their apartheid policies. Was it a missed opportunity to rue forever? No, it was a show of uncompromising opposition to colonialism and racism – anything else would have been an affront to our own struggle for freedom and dignity.
• The quarter-final victory over the French in 1993 – Another Davis cup moment against a far superior opponent. Played on red clay – France’s favourite and India’s least favourite surface. Started on a disastrous note when senior pro Ramesh Krishnan was thrashed in the opening match. Leander showed indomitable spirit to keep India in the fray and Krishnan returned to win the deciding match in a marathon five setter spread over two days. This campaign also included another upset – over Switzerland in Calcutta.
  

  The Giant Killers of 1993

• Leander and Bhupathi winning the Wimbledon doubles title in 1999 – This victory is probably the greatest moment for the Indian Express also – as they were lovingly called before they split up. These guys made all 4 grand slam finals that year and as long as the Indian Express rolled at full speed it was one heck of a ride for the Indian tennis fan. It’s also a sad reminder of what could have been.
  

  Paes-Bhupathi win Wimbledon

Other notable efforts:

The 1966 Davis Cup Team

The Davis Cup final effort of 1966,

The win over Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup with Leander beating Ivanesevic,

Ramesh Krishnan’s win over World number one Mats Wilander at the Australian Open,

Ramanathan Krishnan’s semi-final efforts at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, and

All of Vijay Amritraj’s near misses – losing in 5 sets to eventual champion Jan Kodes in the Wimbledon quarters of 1973, losing to Jimmy Connors after being two sets up in the Wimbledon quarters in 1981 and losing to Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon in 1979 after leading 4-1 in the fourth and being two sets to one up– a victory in any of those would have surely cracked the top five.