Dutee Chand - When there's a will, there's always a way ...

She comes from a family that lives way below the poverty line from Jajpur, Orissa. Got into running courtesy her elder sister.

With sheer hard work, perseverance and training she made the headlines by winning the 100 metres event in the nationals in the Under 18 category in 2012.

Got dropped by the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) from the Commonwealth Games squad due to suspected Hyperandronegism (a medical condition characterized by excessive levels of testosterone than is permissible in a woman athlete)

Instead of helping her out the AFI and the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) banned her from all competitions. Got panned by numerous intersex advocates for the act.

She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Canadian law firm Davies, Ward, Philips & Vineberg, LLP represented her on a pro bono basis.

All of 20 years, back then, she was fighting battles on numerous fronts:
- training to remain competitive
- fighting the AFI & the IAAF
- struggling to meet her day to day expenses and needs
- fighting the humiliation meted out to her due to her medical condition

After a 2 year struggle, the court allowed two further years for convincing evidence to be submitted by the IAAF, after which the regulation will be automatically revoked if evidence has not been provided. This effectively removed her suspension from competition, clearing her to race again.

In 2016, she erased a 16 year old national record in the 100 metres. Became only the 3rd Indian female athlete ever to qualify for the finals of the 100 metres at the Rio Olympics.

Today, she ran the finals of the 100 metres at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 and came second in a photo finish. Won the Silver, missing out on the gold by just 0.02 seconds.

And she's done all in at aged just 22. If given the right kind of support and training this girl can go places and maybe win an Olympic medal.

Dutee Chand - A true story of grit and dogged determination!!!!


(P.S. - She's already taken a right step by relocating to the Pullela Gopichand Academy where she trains with PV Sindhu)

Mercy for Messi ...

So then, it's happening again.

Argentina in dire straits about to be dumped out of Russia 2018 unless Nigeria conjures up a win against Iceland, which they did and they beat the Super Eagles by a handsome margin.

The few who followed the World Cup qualifiers will recall that the La Albiceleste were in a similar position leading up to their final match against Ecuador at Quito.
The 2-time World Cup winners went into the final round of the South American qualifiers in 6th place outside the Top 4 positions that grant automatic qualification and trailing 5th place Peru, who occupied the playoff spot, on goal difference.

To make matters worse, Messi & Co. fell behind in the 18th second itself. The magician then wove his web around the hapless Ecuadorians and scored one of the finest hattricks seen in a qualifying match.
Yes, other results also helped their cause when Brazil hammered Chile 3-0 and Peru drew against Colombia 1-1. 

Yes, Argentina is in a similar position again. 

The entire timeline on my Facebook and Twitter feeds were Messi Marinating last evening on how terrible he was against Iceland and then against Croatia, who by the way, have a hobby of upsetting fancied teams.

Will this loss impact Messi's legacy adversely?? 

Let's look at his achievements for Barcelona:
- 8 La Liga Championships
- 4 UEFA Champions League Titles
- 4 Copa Del Rey Titles
- 3 FIFA Club World Cup Trophies
- 3 UEFA Super Cup Trophies
- 6 Spanish Super Cup Trophies

Let's look at his achievements for Argentina:
- Zero titles / trophies

This number will haunt him and the 40 million odd Argentinians who worship him like God. 

Gets even more difficult to answer that question if you look at this data.

Last season in the La Liga, Messi scored or assisted 46 of Barcelona's 99 goals. In the qualifiers leading up to the World Cup, he scored 21 goals in 18 games for Argentina.

In the match against Croatia, it started right from the national anthem. There was something that was troubling him. As if he know something wasn't right or something very bad is about to happen. You could see it written large on this face.

It's one thing to be able to cut through the opposition like that hot knife cutting through butter and another thing to have to. It's as if he's obliged to ensure Argentina's win every time he takes the field. He's a hero if the team wins else a player who's good only for his club. These kind of obligations strangle freedom of expression which is much needed for an artist of his calibre.

When you're counted as amongst the best in the world, the opposition ensures that the supply line to the player is cut. Exactly what happened with Messi against Iceland and Croatia repeated it to perfection.
If Messi scores regularly for Barcelona it's because the supply line is very efficient and that includes last night's scorer, Ivan Rakitic.

Manchester City's record breaking scorer, Sergio Aguero has been a shadow of himself in Russia. A much touted Paulo Dybala isn't able to make it to the starting line-up along with Angel Di Maria who created an EPL transfer record while joing Manchester United. Marcus Rojo, Higuain Gonzalo, Otamendi all talented players but nothing to show in World Cup 2018.
A feeble defensive line-up didn't help matters either. Javier Mascherano, 34, isn't able to match the speed that he is used to.

In all this it would be unfair to pin the blame totally on Messi. He's an attacking player who needs help from the midfield and the flanks. Here, the Argentinian team is obliged to pass the ball to him whatever the situation. Most champion teams are built around 4-5 players where this team seems to be built only around Messi. Becomes quite evident and therefore easy for the opposition to stifle the striker.

Going back since 2014, Argentina has had 3 coaches with varied styles of play. It's national soccer federation required an emergency management team appointed by FIFA in 2016 following a series of crisis.

A travelling fan to Russia summed it up quite pragmatically - "A table has four legs and Messi can't be all four. All other legs are broken".

Latest news reports state that the players have taken upon themselves to select the team against Nigeria and that Sampaoli is no longer being spoken to regarding this. All of these situations are undesirable for a country hoping to win a World Cup.

Not just all of his countrymen but all Messi fans across the globe would be watching the remaining matches in Group D with bated breath and just hoping the results go Messi's way rather than Argentina's.

Wayde Van Niekerk - The next icon of Athletics!!!!

Every sport needs an icon. An icon who motivates youngsters to take up the sport. An icon who draws in crowd and the sponsors. An icon who shows how winning is done. An icon who attains immortal status through sheer performance. Athletics is a perhaps the first sport that mankind has known. Running, jumping, throwing etc. Through time many other sports have been discovered or innovated, Athletics has stood the test of time. And it commands blue riband status in any multi-sport event.

Having said that the sport wouldn't have reached these levels if not for certain legends who graced the track and the field and proved to be the best for many years. Starting with Jesse Owens, Emil Zatopek, Said Aouita, Florence Griffith Joyner, Haile Gebrselassie, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Zola Budd, Hicham El Guerrouj, Carl Lewis, Heike Dreschler, Daley Thompson, Yelena Isinbayeva, Wang Junxia, Sergey Bubka till more recently Mo Farah and Usain Bolt this sport has seen quite a few icons who've raised their hand and ruled the world with their power, grit, tenacity and consistency.
With Usain Bolt limping out of what was an anti climatic end to an otherwise chequered career, fans would be wondering as to where their next hero would come from.

Aficionados are betting on Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa to be the next icon. An extremely talented sprinter, he's the current record holder and the World Champion over 400 metres and a former champion in the 200 metres sprint. In 2016 he became the first, and to date, only, sprinter in history to have run the 100 m in under 10 seconds, the 200 m in under 20 seconds and the 400 m in under 44 seconds.

What remains to be seen is if he'll turn out to be as consistent as others did before him. If the last 4 years are any indicators this athlete is tipped to go a long way and grab the seat vacated by Bolt.

Women's Cricket - No More Blues

The defeat should hurt and why shouldn't it!!!
Playing a final at the World Cup is akin to taking a shot at immortality. Your name gets etched as a winner for ever. Sadly, some of them will not get a second chance at it.
This defeat will hurt not just because the team lost but the manner in which a winning position came undone. World Cup finals are all about soaking up the pressure and winning crunch moments and lack of experience did the team in.
This team will leave the shores of England much more experienced and much more wiser. This team will leave with more sweet than bitter memories.
This team will arrive in India as heroes who made an entire nation of over a billion sit up and take notice of them. This team will provide young girls with an extra option of picking up a bat or a ball or a racquet or a wrestling mat. Dolls, will get relegated so the makers of Barbie better find new markets.
Popularity of the moniker 'Men in Blue' may come under threat because the 'Women in Blue' may usurp them in times to come. More role models will join the likes of Saina, Sindhu, Sania, Mary Kom, Saakshi Malik etc.
It beehoves us, the media and the corporate houses to support such performers for them to bring more glory to the country.
The silent revolution started by the sprinters from Kerala just got a huge kicker with this performance from the Indian cricket team.

Men's Tennis - Time to pass the baton

With Djokovic and Murray not in the picture, for the first time in 15 years the top two men's seeds have been dumped out of the Australian Open at the quarterfinal stage itself. 
While this gives a great chance for Federer and Nadal to have a shot at yet another Grand Slam, think it's time for aficionados to start looking beyond the sport's Big Four.
With Novak's power on the wane, Murray getting increasingly inconsistent and Wawrinka getting past 30, it's time for the likes of Tsonga, Dimitrov, Raonic, Istomin, Nishikori, Monfils to take centre stage.
One was reminded of Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, the way Mischa Zverev covered the net and his aggressive style of play took Andy Murray completely by surprise. And his younger brother, Alexander, all of 19, nearly pushed Rafa out of the Open.

Alexander Zverev

One thing is for sure though. Post Novak and Murray the men's Tennis world will not be dominated by a Top Four. There would be a Top Eight or a Top Ten. The quality on offer is indeed exciting and arresting.

Exciting times lie ahead for the sport!!!!!!!

Spare a thought for Stokes ...

Agreed for a fact that T20 is a batsman's game, so even for an asking rate of 12 runs or thereabouts in an over, one would bank on the team batting to win.
But 19 runs!!!! The odds would be pretty much stacked up against the best of the best. Only somebody like a Dhoni or a Maxwell may be capable of achieving that target.

Carlos Brathwaite!!! Who? Well, he did sell for Rs. 4.2 cr in the recent IPL auction but then how many really saw him? Nobody had heard of him in this cricket mad country of ours. And the same franchise paid Rs. 16 cr for Yuvraj last year.

Brathwaite's performance is akin to Pollard's 54 off 18 deliveries against New South Wales in the Champions League in 2010. There's been no looking back for him ever since. He's been the mainstay of all teams that he plays for, barring his national team, of course.

Yes, one may argue that all the deliveries were in Brathwaite's hitting zone but then it does take a cool and a calculated head to strike 4 sixes on the trot on such an important day and at such an important juncture.
And he achieved the target with 2 deliveries to spare.

We all know what the situation was. A World Cup final. All eyes of the cricketing world were glued to the match. A batsman, hitherto unknown, facing a bowler touted to be the next Ian Botham for England.

While Brathwaite became the toast of the cricketing world, let's just spare a thought for poor Ben Stokes.
In a T20 match, one ball or one over is enough to decide the match, so there's no way anyone can relax. The captain has to make decisions so fast that the only ones who're faster are aircraft pilots.
Ask Ashwin or Pandya and they'll share the pain of those no-balls that let Simmons lead a charmed life and win the semis for the Windies.

In this day and age, death over bowling is meticulously planned and bowlers spend long hours practicing full length deliveries on and outside the off stump, yorkers, slower ones and what not.

But what happened in that final over proves the fact that even the best laid plans can backfire and the bowler sometimes can just forget the plan in the heat of the moment. A cool and calm head was required and Stokes was anything but that.
Come to think of it, he bowled an outstanding spell against the Kiwis just a couple of day ago. Along with Chris Jordan, he also held the Lankan's back, in a league game.

Ask any bowler and he'll tell you the kind of sleepless nights they spend if they're hit for 3 consecutive sixes. Your's truly has experienced that. That moment just takes the wind out of your sails. Your mind goes blank and you completely lose track of what's going on.
The best you can hope for is for the earth to open up and gobble you up, so you don't have to face your teammates, your coach, your supporters and most importantly you just can't look at yourself in the mirror.

The mayhem that followed in the 20th over will remain with Stokes for quite some time. But then, he's young and has age on his side. He will come back in the next World Cup and prove to the world that he's not that Stokes who got massacred on that fateful day.
Expect him to bounce back and become an even better bowler at the death.

Martin Crowe - R.I.P.!!!

The game will remember and thank him for many innovations that changed cricket the way we see it today.
One of the best players on the field and one of the very best off it, his contributions and innovations surpassed most of his contemporaries.
Introducing a spinner to open the bowling in an ODI would probably rank right at the top.
Not to forget, getting his openers to tonk the new ball rather than see it off is another.
The concept of a 'Free Hit' was his idea.

In a career that spanned 77 Tests and 143 one-day internationals, he tallied 21 centuries; 17 of which came in five-day cricket. He sits third on the run-scoring charts for New Zealand, and no Black Caps player has scored more Test centuries.

His average of 45.36 may not suggest greatness, but don’t be fooled, he played in a time when Dennis Lillee, Joel Garner and Michael Holding were at their best. He scored three centuries against the fearsome West Indies attack of the 1980s and three against trans-Tasman rivals Australia. That's greatness!!!

He wrote about 2 regrets, one for not taking the field (to rest his injured hamstring) in the 1992 semis and the second was to get dismissed on 299 in a Test match.
His selflessness was there to see when he wrote about how the demon of the Test match score was exorcised when McCullum scored a triple century and became the first Kiwi to do so.

Outside the field, he did take his digs at the so-called 'Big Three' of the game and was scathing in his criticism (which eventually turned out to be true).
Battled cancer, won once but ran out of steam the next time he got attacked.

Today, on his funeral day attended by over 800 people, students of his Alma Mater fm Auckland Grammar performed the traditional 'Haka' dance to bid a final goodbye for, who would be regarded, as one of the greatest to play the game.

Martin Crowe - R.I.P.!!!!!!

Angelique Kerber - The German tennis saviour ...

When you are facing a 21 time Grand Slam Champion and perhaps, the best woman player to to ever hold a tennis racquet, you have no option but to get your 'A' game on the court.

Angelique Kerber did exactly that and bought some more because that's what was needed.

A match worthy of a Grand Slam final and a shocking result.
A series of unforced errors and a weak first serve did not help Serena's cause and Kerber capitalised on that to become the first German woman, since Steffi Graf, to win a Grand Slam title.
In the process, she also stalled Serena's bid to win a 22nd title which would have tied her with Graf. 

For a country that gave legends like Becker and Graf, Germany has found it quite difficult to produce Grand Slam champions. The very fact that Kerber is the first German to have won a singles title, this century, is quite a disservice to the legacy that they left behind.
The German Tennis Federation is, perhaps, the largest tennis federation in the world with more than 1.8 million members but unfortunately they don't have much to show for the effort.
It was only Michael Stich who won a Wimbledon in the early nineties and made it to couple of finals post that win. Barring Rainer Schuttler and Sabine Lisicki, no other German came anywhere close to winning a Grand Slam singles title.
With Kerber and Lisicki around there are chances that we could see a German Grand Slam winner in the near future.

Which brings us to a larger debate on should such winners take it upon themselves to ensure that they train and produce champions after retiring?

We'll dwell upon this in my next blog ...

2015 - Year of 'The Djoker'

What a year it has been for Novak Djokovic!!!!

He won 82 of the 88 matches played in 2015.

Won the Australian Open (5th time), reached the finals of the French Open (3rd time), won the Wimbledon (3 times) and won the US Open (2nd time).
He's won 4 of the last five Grand Slams
He won 11 Tour titles in 2015 and lost 4 which means he made it made to 15 finals (consecutive) on the tour.

His personal record against Nadal stands at 23-23.
Against Federer at 22-22, against Murray at 21-9, against Wawrinka at 21-4 and against Tsonga at 14-6.

Last night, he demolished Federer to win his 4th straight ATP World Tour finals and becomes the only man to do so. With total 5 titles under his belt he joins Sampras and Lendl. Only Federer with 6 titles stands above him.

And he's only 28!!! With a good 4-5 years of top tennis left in him.

Pawel Fajdek - Irresponsible Champion

Was lucky to catch the live relay of Pawel Fajdek from Poland winning the Hammer Throw event at the ongoing World Athletic Championships at Beijing.
Takes years and years of dedication, hard work and discipline to win a medal at this level.

Pawel decides to celebrate his win, gets drunk and wakes up in the morning only to find his medal missing. Cops help him find it. 
Apparently, he gave his medal away to the cab driver in drunken stupor. 
While he refuses to admit and claims it to be a figment of media's imagination, what comes to light is the fact that winning a medal at this level is one thing and maintaining your poise and composure is another.
A lesson to all of us - We struggle hard to get where we want to. And when we do, most of us tend to loosen the grip that we had on our goals. And that's where it begins to go wrong.

Arsenal - Not so near, but quite far ...

Another season is about to end at the Premier League and Arsenal for the 8th consecutive year would oscillate between the 3rd and the 4th place.

It's always been so near yet so far, for the Gunners who promise a lot at the beginning of every season but flatter to deceive by the end of it.

Some of England's, France and Holland's best players have played for Arsenal and they include the likes of Tony Adams, David Seaman, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Denis Bergkamp, Robin Van Persie and many more.

The team boasts of a quality manager in Arsene Wenger and a good quality support staff too. They command respect and adulation from every corner of the globe but have regularly come up short against top flight teams whether in the EPL or the Champions League.
The team went without a trophy since 2004 and it was only 2014 that they won the FA Cup.

One of the primary reasons for the Gunners not winning trophies frequently are the bargain basement deals that Wenger drives, thereby missing out on quality players who could help the team win more victories and trophies.

And the list is pretty awesome:
- Gianluigi Buffon
- Gerard Pique
- Vincent Kompany
- Roberto Carlos
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Yaya Toure
- Xabi Alonso
- Lionel Messi
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Can only imagine what could Arsenal have achieved has they moved in fast and signed up these players.

The team needs a world class striker, maybe two (although Giroud is getting there) and also needs to retain it's quality players.
They lost Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas and all of them won trophies with their new clubs.

Wenger has run an extremely tight ship, so far, but the need of the hour is to loosen his purse strings, buy some world class stock and win trophies.
His legacy at Arsenal will be unmatched for a few decades to come, but will look far better with some trophies in the cupboard.

Unkept Promises ...

Last year saw two international events that the Indian athletes participated in - The Commonwealth Games at Glasgow and The Asian Games at Incheon, Seoul.

These games were held within a gap of 45 days. 
Am sure all of us know that it's extremely difficult for an athlete to come up with peak performances within such little time. And to add - the weather, surroundings, food and time zone change don't help matters.

Still, some athletes take it upon themselves to come up with world class performances and win accolades for their country.

One such athlete is Discuss Thrower, Seema Punia from Sonepat, Haryana. She won a Silver at Glasgow and followed it up with a Gold at Incheon.

The moment she won those medals, the Haryana Govt and the Indian Olympic Association jumped up to announce cash rewards of Rs. 3 crore and Rs. 5 lac respectively.
Not surprisingly, Seema's yet to receive the cash rewards from both the associations.

I am asking - Why announce rewards when you can't give it on time? Instant gratification is the need of the hour. Here you have 20 yr old's hitting sixes in the IPL and they get rewarded almost immediately whereas athletes who earn medals and fame for the country get ignored.
Seema's been doing rounds of government offices along with her lawyer to prove her claim whereas these associations should have transferred the monies into her bank a/c even before she returns to India.

These athletes stay away from family, concentrate only on training and try to improve their performances. How will they win if they are required to run around government officials and offices? Is this how we treat our heroes.
Why would anyone take up sports as a career option?

Unrecognised Talent ...

Guillermo Ochoa, from Mexico, made every football fan sit up and take notice with his extreme goal keeping skills during the last World Cup in Brazil.
While playing the WC, he was very much available on a free transfer. Given his exploits one would have expected big clubs to line up for him. Didn't happen ...
Finally, Malaga (a first division Spanish Club) sign him up and he doesn't start in any of the 22 matches that they've played, so far ...
Seriously beats logic ...
Now, there's news that the Gunners intend to sign him up. Hope he gets to play top flight football, given his talent because at 29, time's running out on him ...

Indians, Indians ... Everywhere ...

With AB and Arsenal hogging all the limelight in yesterday's sporting action, couple of Indians slipped their way into the record books as well.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu -  The 22-year-old former East Bengal goalkeeper etched his name onto Indian football history by becoming the first Indian footballer in 79 years to take the field for an European club playing in the first tier of the country’s football league structure. Sandhu had been signed by Norwegian Tippeligaen club Stabaek FC in August 2014, and was handed the first appearance of his European career in this weekend’s 4-1 victory over Follo Fotballklubb.
Gurpreet is the fifth Indian player to play professionally in Europe after Mohammed Salim, Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri and Subrata Pal, but only Salim has the recognition of having represented a top-division club – the barefoot legend from Mohammedan SC had been signed by Celtic in 1936.

Gurinder Singh Sandhu - This 22 year old became the first ever Indian born Australian to play for the national team when his made his debut against India yesterday.
A tall fast bowler, Sandhu played for the Australia Under-19 cricket team in the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his senior cricket debut for the Sydney Thunder in the 2011–12 Big Bash League season. He made his List A and First-class cricket debut for New South Wales at the end of the 2012–2013 Australian cricket season.

Proud achievement for a country not known for it's sporting culture. The last decade though has seen a dramatic change with many parents willingly allowing their children to take up sports as a career option.

Lakshmipathy Balaji - The fighter

He had all the Pakistani cricket fans smiling even before Dhoni's long locks.
The befuddled look on Shoaib Akhtar's face was quite amusing when he was hit for a six during that historic tour to Pakistan in 2003-04.
A regular member of the Indian cricket team, a spinal stress fracture, threatened to take away everything, that he worked for. He was told that even walking properly would be difficult post operation.
Though he has a wiry frame, he worked on his fitness and came back into the national team after a 3 year gap.
Was a member of the Chennai Super Kings in the first season of the IPL.
Took the first hattrick of the IPL and helped CSK win their first trophy. Moved to KKR and helped them win the tournament as well.
He's known for his economical bowling at the death and now he's become a champion at it, in a game where batsmen are heroes.

Affectionately known as 'Nalla Bala', Lakshmipathy Balaji plays his 100th first class match, today.
An achievement that is becoming increasingly difficult in this day and age with placid wickets and batsmen friendly rules.