A Common Fan’s Sports Diary

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

Sunil Chhetri can experience similar joy in one of the lesser European leagues

Indian footballer Sunil Chhetri left for English football club Coventry City with huge expectations. Sadly, he hasn’t made the cut and what is worse, he wasn’t even given a half –decent reason for why he failed to do so. If Coach Chris Coleman felt that he wasn’t part of their current plans, then why did they have to call him half-way across the world to run around in the bitter cold? I don’t know what their other ‘current plans’ are but I hope staying stuck in the English League Championship (which is one rung lower than the premiership) is one of them.

As for Chhetri, he shouldn’t give up on his dream of playing abroad. John Duerden of Goal.com makes a case for the Indian striker to try out one of the lesser leagues in Europe. He believes that Chhetri should seek inspiration from Park –Ji Sung and seek a club in the Netherlands. I agree with him in principle, but beg to differ in the choice of role model and league. With all due respect to Sunil, I believe that Park is a superior player in terms of natural ability and had the advantage of having played under Guus Hiddink for the Korean National side. So, when the Dutchman took the Korean to PSV Eindhoven, he made sure that he gave Park the right environment and the right opportunity to succeed. Chhetri does not have the same advantage.

As for finding a lesser league, the Dutch League might be inferior to the Premiership but it is definitely better than the English League Championship – which is where the Indian striker got rejected. So Chhteri needs to set his eyes on a league where he has a far more realistic chance of finding willing suitors for his talents.

He should look at the example of Emeka Ezeugo. The Nigerian starred for Mohammedan Sporting and East Bengal towards the end of the 80’s. He then moved to the Danish League with middle of the table club Lyngby BK and really prospered, so much so that he made it to the Nigerian national side for the 1994 World Cup. He is the example Sunil Chhetri should really try to emulate. Both players have been stars for Indian clubs and are more closely matched in terms of talent. Also, unlike Park Ji Sung, Emeka had to go through the struggles of finding his feet in Europe – something the Indian striker also needs to do. The Danish League is also a notch lower than the Dutch League.

So buckle up Sunil and head to one of the lesser leagues in Europe. You might not be on ESPN Star every weekend, but we will still be rooting for you.

P.S – Our very own Lakshmi Mittal, the one whose generosity has helped the likes of shuttler Saina Nehwal and boxer Akhil, also happens to be the owner of Bulgarian football giants CSKA Sofia. The Steel magnate could endow Indian Football with a slice of his largesse by arranging a ‘real’ trial for some Indian footballers including Sunil.