Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi: Time For One Last Hurrah

On the ATP tour, India has been probably best represented by its two stalwarts in the doubles game—Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Leander was already a hero in India because of his Olympic Bronze medal winning effort at Atalanta in 1996 before the two of them decided to come together to play doubles in 1997.

This was, what started the rise of these two stars on the world doubles stage. They had a very successful partnership, and started to have comparisons with the legendary Aussie pair, the Woodies.

Dubbed the "Indian Express," their on-court camaraderie was something that the world took notice of. Their amazing chemistry led to them having their most successful year in 1999 when they created the record of reaching the finals of all four grand slams, the first time that happened in the Open Era, and managed to win the French Open and Wimbledon.

By the end of the year, they were ranked No. 1 in the world and the world predicted a long era of dominance by the Indian pair.

But that was not to be, in 2001, what started as a slight disagreement escalated into such a big conflict between the two players that they eventually decided against playing with each other. At the centre of the controversy seemed to be Bhupathi's coach, Enrico Piperno, though no one knows the exact reason for sure.

Ever since then, they have played with different partners, both becoming multiple Grand Slam champions with Leander having 12 Grand Slam titles and Bhupathi not being far behind with 11 titles. However, they have not been able to reach the heights and consistency of the "Indian Express" days.

To the credit of both the players, they have left their egos behind when it came down to playing for the country. They have a great 25-2 record in Davis Cup matches. Even in the Olympics they have come close to winning a medal twice.

In Athens 2004, they lost in the bronze medal playoff in a marathon match to the Croatian pair 6-7, 6-4, 14-16. In Beijing Olympics, they lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champions Federer and Wawrinka.

Amidst all this, there have also been unfortunate instances of public outbursts against each other, most notably by Leander in Doha Asian games when Leander publically questioned Bhupathi's attitude in playing for the country and Bhupathi leading the player's revolt against Leander's captaincy of the Indian Davis cup team in 2009.

However, lately, they seem to have talked to each other and made efforts to resolve their differences. They remain tight-lipped as to who took the initiative, but both of them seem to have put the past behind them now to team up for the ATP tour for the first time in many years. Both of them want to win the only Grand Slam doubles title missing from their resumes and who better to do it with than each other.

Although, they have decided to try out the arrangement till the Australian Open, the hopeful signal for the Indian fans is that they have not ruled out playing together even after the Australian Open is over. In the last eight years, they have only played a couple of ATP tournaments together just before the Olympics as practice.

But the getting back together of the "Indian Express" for a extended period might also help them win a Olympic Medal at London in 2012, a thing that has been expected of them for the last three Olympics, but unfortunately, they have fallen short each time. London would, in all probability be the last Olympics for the long careers of these two stalwarts. There is no doubt that they would like to go out on an absolute high.

Boxing : The Rise Of 'Little Cuba' in Bhiwani,India

Cuba is famous for a large number of things including the Cuban Cigars and one of the most controversial leaders in history - Fidel Castro. But, on the sports front it is famous for producing the most fierce boxers in Olympic history.

Cuba has performed exceptionally on the world stage in amateur boxing, and sits at the second position in all time medal winners list in the Olympics with 32 Gold medals for a total of 63 medals.

India has never been the powerhouse in boxing at the world stage but in the last decade, India has started producing some world-class pugilists. A large portion of that credit can be claimed by Bhiwani - a small town in Haryana that has started treading on the same path as Cuba.

Set up by the double Asian Games gold medallist Hawa Singh, the Bhiwani Boxing Club or 'BBC' as it is called has transformed from being the brainchild of a passionate boxer to being the hotbed of boxing talent in the country.

The credit for the success of BBC, a small town club is generally given to the Dronacharya award winning coach Jagdish Singh. His coaching methods, believed to be hard and uncompromising, are believed to be the reasons behind the success of the pugilists from this club.

The club had been quite successful since the beginning of the decade, with three of the four boxers who qualified from India for the Athens Olympics being from this club. However, the real recognition for the club came with the success of the boxers at the Beijing Olympics when two boxers, Akhil and Jitender reached the Quarter-finals and Vijender Kumar went one better to win the bronze medal.

Akhil, a former commonwealth games gold medallist, one of the senior boxers at the club is considered by many to be the inspiration for many of the trainees at 'BBC'. The success of Vijender at the Olympics coupled with him being ranked No. 1 in the world currently has provided the town with a second rush of youngsters wanting to take up boxing at the club.

This is quite evident from the fact that, along with the supposed old guard (although most of them are still quite young) of Akhil, Vijender, Jitender and Dinesh, a number of teenagers have started making their mark at the national and international level already. Vikas Krishan Yadav, a 18-year old and the reigning world youth champion, recently won the gold in the recently concluded Asian Games at Guangzhou. This just proves that the success of the club is built on a strong foundation and it was not just a lucky break to get some good boxers at the same time.

The town has now become obsessed with boxing with all the parents now wanting their children to have successful boxing careers. It is now estimated that around 10% of all teenagers in the town are enrolled in boxing clubs. Since, the intake of the club is very limited and the number of aspirants greater, a number of private clubs have also cropped up in the area which has led to the creation of quite a competitive boxing scenario in the town.

Although now boxing has started receiving a lot greater attention, there is still a long way to go. The facilities at the centre, being funded by the Sports Authority of India, are far from world class and one would cringe if one sees the condition of the room where potential world champions stay in. Although, the expenditure on coaches has improved many-fold, a small fraction of that on the facilities might go a long way. Many organisations like the Olympic Gold Quest have come forward to sponsor the top athletes, but more investment is needed at the ground level if we really want to make a difference.

Boxing is now considered by many to be one of the best bets for a medal at the Olympics along with Shooting. The pugilists have already set sight on the winning the Olympic medals with Akhil Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Vikas Krishan and Vijender Kumar being the main hopes but it would be foolish to ignore the emergence of a unknown name from the Bhiwani stable and surprise us in London 2012.

If India wins a bagful of medals at London 2012, it should be thankful to people like Hawa Singh, Jagdish Singh and everyone at BBC who has contributed in producing world-class boxers.

Are CWG and Asiad performances fair pointers for the Olympics ?

The last two months saw the conclusion of the second and third largest multi-sports events in the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. The media hailed has hailed the performance of the Indian athletes in these two events. Considering the media's habit of exaggeration, it is bound to absolutely slam the athletes if they fail to do as well in the Olympics.

One should, therefore, consider the performance of the sports persons in these two events and make a fair judgement with regard to the prospects in the Olympics where the competition is a lot tougher.

Let us look at some disciplines where India did pretty well in CWG and Asiad and judge whether the performances can lead to a medal in Olympics or not:

1. Shooting : Shooting is one of the disciplines that India can be optimistic about. A great show in the CWG followed by a decent haul of 8 medals in world-class competition at the Asian games gives a lot of hope about shooting at the Olympics. Results in shooting depend a lot upon the form of the shooter on the day of the event and India with a fair number of shooters in the top 10 in various disciplines can hope for a realistic 3-4 medals in shooting.
Medal Prospects : Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Tejaswini Sawant, Ronjan Sodhi, Vijay Kumar, Manavjit Singh Sandhu

2. Boxing : The recent emergence of boxers from India on the world stage has suddenly uplifted this sport from oblivion to one of the most keenly followed Olympic sports in India with a number of boxers receiving their due recognition. A decent showing at both the CWG and Asian games raises hopes of a good show in the Olympics where there would be some additional competition from Cuba and the East-European nations. Still, a haul of 3-4 medals is quite realistic.
Medal Prospects : Vijender Singh, Mary Kom, Suranjoy Singh, Other Bhiwani factory boxers

3. Archery : More than the performance in the CWG, the performance in the Asian Games is a reason to cheer as the performances were achieved against the top nations in Archery like South Korea, China and Taipei. With the current progress, India should manage a couple of medals in archery.

4. Wrestling : India performed exceptionally in the CWG but could manage only three bronze medals through the Repechage rounds. With Sushil Kumar coming back for the Olympics, India should be expecting a medal from him.

5. Tennis : India's great performance in both CWG and Asian games should not lead to great expectations for tennis at the Olympics. India benefitted from a greatly depleted field at the CWG and India has alwasy been a tennis powerhouse in Asia. The only medal hope still remains the pair of Leander and Bhupati who lost the bronze medal play-off in Athens and in the Quarters in Beijing. Hope they do one better in their last Olympics at London.

6. Badminton : It should be quite clear that Saina Nehwal would be the only realistic hope for a medal in Badminton. With the progress she is making on the international scene, it might be a possibility. It would all boil down to her ability to win under pressure as she sure does have the talent.

7. Athletics : India did manage to get a decent haul of medals but replicating the success at the Olympics would be a very bleak possibility as India has always managed medals in these two events but compares rather poorly when competing with the Track and Field powerhouses in the Olympics. The IOA still believes that Tintu Luka (800m runner and PT Usha Prodigy) is a medal prospect but she would require extensive training and a better running strategy if she wants to be in the finals leave alone win a medal.

Winning medals in sports such as Weightlifting, Table Tennis,Squash etc. would be near impossible task at the Olympics and Indian Hockey team needs to improve a lot to compete with the best in the world.

The medals in Aquatics and Gymnastics should be seen more as a stepping stone towards development of the respective sports rather than as medal prospects for the 2012 Olympics.

Hence my prediction for India's medal haul at Olympics 2012 would be close to 7-9 medals hoping that at least of third of them are the yellow metal medals. It would be a great improvement on the previous editions but still too little for a country of India's size.

So, it can be agreed upon that Indian Sports is definitely looking up and moving the the right direction with the government stepping in to help the sports persons and the formation of organisations such as Olympic Gold Quest. Hope these steps continue and we see India as a sports powerhouse in our lifetimes.

CWG and Asian Games

The last 2 months have been great for sports lovers like me with the just concluded Commonwealth Games and the on-going Asian Games.

Now, almost everyone has blasted the Commonwealth Games organisation. Although there were shortcomings and the corrupt people need to be punished, I think the media did exaggerate a number of facts. One example being the reported expenditure being Rs. 60000 crores - a figure which included the cost of flyovers, the Delhi metro - much of which would have been spent even if the games were not being held. There were problems but they are present in almost all international events. Probably the number of problems in the Delhi games were more than those at other places. The media though needs to be commended for keeping the organizing committee on its toes which finally led to the work being completed on time and also for revealing that there are some aspects of the expenditure that need to be probed after the games. I agree that the culprits need to be punished, but I would not question the rationale of hosting the games.

I attended a number of events during the Commonwealth games and the experience was simply great. I had only watched cricket live at a stadium before that but I have now realized the experience of watching any sport live is a very different one. The atmosphere at the India-Pakistan hockey match surpassed any experience I had at any cricket stadium and nothing beats the experience of hearing your National Anthem play when one of the country's athletes wins a Gold medal. Hence, it was a shame to learn that many events saw empty stadiums. There is a serious problem of marketing events in India. An example would be the Asian Badminton Championship held in Delhi in May. Not many people would be aware of the fact that many greats such as Lin Dan etc. were taking part in the event. The visibility of the event was so low that a policeman standing at a crossing just before the Siri Fort Sports Complex did not know about the event. Hence, I feel that small improvements such as better marketing of events could help raise the profile of sports in the country.

During the Commonwealth games, the Indian contingent, buoyed by the crowds, put up their best ever performance in the Commonwealth Games. I agree that the Commonwealth games are nowhere in comparison to the Olympics or even the Asian games for that matter, but these games do help in building the infrastructure as well as provide much-needed recognition to our neglected sports people. Such recognition along with the support of the government only would encourage parents to encourage their children to take up sport as a career.

Many people would be disappointed with the performance of the Indian contingent in the Asian Games. But people do need to see everything rationally. There are a number of sports like Shooting, TT, Badminton, Archery competition is nearly as good as world class whereas that was not the case in the CWG. Furthermore, all countries tend to do well in home condition which was the reason of the great performance of India in CWG and maybe the reason for China beating USA in the last Olympics. We need to take heart from the fact that young and talented sports persons are coming up in sports like Boxing and Wrestling and we are now one of the contenders in world shooting. The emergence of youngsters like Ashish Kumar (Gymnastics) and Khade (Swimming) also shows that with right kind of support we can produce world-class sportspersons just as China is doing. The primary difference between India and China is the organised nature of their sports setup from the great infrastructure and coaching facilities to the fact that all the sportspersons are taken care of right from childhood and sports is a viable career choice.

So, with a bit more effort and planning, India can dream of becoming a force (maybe not the top force as US or China) in world sports in the next 10-12 years time.

One more encouraging development was the inclusion of cricket in the Asian Games which according to me is the first step in getting cricket to the Olympics. All countries lobby for their strong sports to be included in the Olympics, so I see no reason why India should not do the same. The same efforts also need to be made for Cue Sports as well as Chess where Indians are world beaters or are among the top nations.

The only disappointing response in this regard seems to be from the BCCI. The Indian Cricket board does seem to be following a law of their own. India being one of the 4 top nations in Asia in cricket was expected to send a team for a sport which was included in the Asian Games after much hard-work . China needs to be commended for including it as it had nothing to gain by cricket's inclusion in Asian Games. India for its part did not even try for cricket's inclusion in Commonwealth games being held in Delhi. Incidentally the commonwealth includes 7 test playing nations (Australia, England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand,South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh), Kenya and also West Indian countries such as Antigua,Jamica and Trinidad & Tobago. So, it made much more sense for it to be included there. The Indian Cricket Board seems least bit interested to make cricket global. The sole aim seems to be money-making. The board's argument about prior commitments also seem to e hollow to say the least as even Pakistan and Sri Lana have sent teams even though they are involved in Test series against South Africa and West Indies respectively and the Indian women's team is not playing any series. India sure let 2 medals go as India would have surely won in women's category and even with a second-string would have atleast earned a bronze. I don't know why the MS Gill who seems to be the outspoken sports minister is mum on this matter. Is it because Sharad Pawar runs BCCI as opposed to KPS Gill.

Hence, I feel that with better administration and a greater intent on the part of the people running sports at present could help in improving the condition of sports in India. I would like to be cautiously optimistic in this regard hoping that the Indian sports structure becomes more professional and our sports persons are better treated and supported.

The Big Cricket Debate

Dated : 09/10/2009

The first edition of the Champions League T20 was inaugurated to follow two successful editions of the path-breaking Indian Premier League. The success of the shorter version of the game in the franchisee format has made people ask some serious questions about the future of the game.

1. Is the ODI format dying a slow death?
2. Would the club T20 format with the ridiculous amounts of money lure players away from international cricket?
3. Is the way in which ICC trying to run the game sustainable?

Now, if the ICC does not take steps soon, then definitely ODIs would die a slow death. But any cricket lover would not want that to happen. The T20 matches might be exciting, but it is mostly played in single gear with slam-bang approach being the only one that seems to work. ODIs provide the teams a lot more opportunity to make a comeback in a match, gives the batsmen opportunity to build an inning, the bowlers to work to a plan which sadly is absolutely missing in T20 cricket.

The IPL is too young to judge whether the players would start taking early retirements to play in the IPL but the signs are present that it is bound to happen. Look at the example of cricketers (especially the Aussies) who in the past have tried to prolong their careers to play till the age of forty, taking retirement at the ages of 35-36. There are also examples of cricketers turning down central contracts to be a free agent and some players openly admitting that the future financial stability is important. So, if the ICC remains stubborn about its FTP and does not accept the impact of these cricket leagues, these things would then become more of a routine rather than an exception.

The ICC has let the Boards of different countries run the game of cricket for the last century and a quarter. The tours are negotiated by the boards and the ICC provides support to the tours by proving the matches with umpires and referees. It is time the ICC stands up and realizes its responsibility of running the game. There should be order in the World cricket calender which is random to say the least. There need to proper schedules to tournaments and more organized championships.

As every person in India claims to be a cricket expert, I would also like to give my 2 cents about what I feel is the way forward.

1. Create a window for the IPL and ask all the boards involved to hold their T20 tournaments in the same window. This would solve a number of issues.
-Players play only for one franchisee and not for multiple ones as is the case with a number of players in the present Champions League T20 where a number of players are playing against their team-mates.
-The remainder of the year can be used to play proper international cricket and the Tests and the ODIs could be saved.

2. Create a window for all the ICC tournaments from the ODI World cup, Champions Trophy and the World T20. Also, freeze the formats of these tournaments. At present none of the above two things happen. e.g. The T20 World Cups till date have taken place in September 2007, June 2009 and the next is scheduled in April 2010. Where is the order to that. The ODI World Cups have tinkered with the formats too much with the Semis/Finals format in 1992, to QF/SF/Final in 1996, the Super Six format in 1999 and 2003, to the disastrous super eights in 2007 to finally going back to the QF/SF/Final format in 2011.

3. Create a model for a test championships. As a spectator, my feeling is that at present Test cricket is just played to increase the volume of records in the ICC history books rather than having a meaningful reason to play. The ICC rankings have only made us evaluate how the teams are performing and have become nothing more than statistic. A test championship, maybe spread over two years could be the answer to having more meaningful cricket and maybe could save the Test format of the game.

4. Promote the franchisee format of cricket in the T20 format. This wold help the game to spread to wider geographical boundaries. Unofficial cricket leagues are already running in countries like USA and Russia. Why is the ICC not grabbing this opportunity. No international sport is surviving on the international format. To sustain the game the clubs format needs to be adopted. ODIs and Tests matches cannot survive in the franchisee format. So, continue having ODIs and Tests in the international format.

All these points mentioned seem to be the way forward to me. It is time for the ICC to remove its blindfold and realize the massive opportunity it has to make Cricket a truly international game.

The Olympic Dream

Dated : 27/08/2008

I have always been a sports freak and liked watching all sports, even those other than cricket. The problem has always been that the other sports don't have the media coverage one would like. Some years back, there was at least hockey, but even that has disappeared out of sight. So, it was kind of refreshing to watch the Olympics and I particularly liked the media coverage it got.
India - expectedly for me and unexpectedly for many of my friends improved its tally significantly over the previous editions. But is that enough, 3 medals for a country of a billion people. I don't think its enough, but its certainly an improvement and India should build on the success of these Olympics to become a nation with a decent haul of medals over the next couple of decades.
The best part about the current haul of three medals was that all the three medals came in different disciplines. So, now at least there can be three different disciplines in the government's radar for development. There have always been about 5-6 disciplines in which India had a realistic chance. Apart from Shooting,Wrestling and Boxing where we won medals, we came close in Badminton and Tennis too. Though the Archers failed to impress, they have the potential.
The role of the government is very important now. It should not forget the achievements of the medal winners. IT can use this opportunity to push for better popularity of non-cricket sports in the country. The country's sportspeople need to be treated well. India can do a lot better if the government provides better facilities and just support the talent India has.
I am in IIM-Bangalore and I had in my batch Kutraleeshwaran, who at the age of 13 swam across 6 channels and is a Guinness record holder. But he left swimming as there wasn't proper infrastructure in the country and the government didn't support him when he required it. He had offers from other counties to use their training facilities provided he represented them in the Olympics. If the other countries can see such talent why can't India? He refused and concentrated on his academics and India lost a potential sporting Icon.
I myself have seen small 4-5 year old children performing acrobatics at traffic signals in Delhi and Bangalore. Such children should be groomed from a young age as they can be future gymnasts. This is what China does best and look at their medals tally. If I could spot such children just in a couple of cities, I can't even begin to imagine the kind of talent that can be hidden across the Indian landscape. Its just a matter of spotting it and nurturing it.
A couple of private companies have come ahead to support non-traditional sports. I hope this trend continues. Its just that sports has to be made a viable profession in India. For that everyone's role is very important, from the government and private companies who need to build infrastructure and support the talent to the people who genuinely need to respect its sportspeople and not just start to memorize their names once every four years.
I have great hope in the current scenario and sincerely hope that this time we definitely don't miss out and see a bag of medals by 2020 or 2024 when I hope that India would be hosting an Olympics of its own.

Start of a Thought

I realized that recently my blogs were becoming too sporting in nature. Hence, I decided to create one exclusively for sports. Hence, for the first few days, it would be a copy-paste exercise of the pervious posts from my other blog after which I would start writing new ones