India won Test series against New Zealand 2-0. After winning the first Test at Hyderabad by an Innings and 115 runs Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the wicket was not turning enough. Spinners had got 18 wickets out of 20. R. Ashwin got 6/31 and 6/54, total 12/85. About Bangalore wicket he said it was like that of Napier. The curator said the wicket will be sporting one with equal chances to all. India won the Bangalore Test by five wickets.
Category: Sports and Games
Pistorius in Paralympics
Oscar Pistorius of South Africa had taken part in 2004 and 2008 Paralympics and won gold medal in 200 metres race. In 2012 he wanted to take part in Olympics. IOC officials did not want him in Olympics. Pistorius argued that prosthetics did not offer him advantage over normal athletes and was allowed to take part in Olympics. In one relay event his team did not complete the run because one athlete fell down and did not hand over the baton to Pistorius but the fall was blamed on an athlete of another team and Pistorius’ team was allowed to proceed to the next round.
Unmukt Chand controversy
All students are equal. Students who are sportspersons are more equal. A student who is the captain of a cricket team that wins U-19 World Cup is the most equal.
That is the view of Ajay Maken, Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Shukla, Kirti Azad, Arnab Goswami and many others who live in a world that is worse than George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Valson Thampu, principal of St. Stephen’s College, appeared on many channels on 30/8/2012. He faced hostile questioning on Times Now.
From chokers to champions
South Africa had abundance of talent before. It seems their losses were due to non-cricketing reasons. There was betting and match-fixing. When many people put money on South Africa winning South Africa lost. Bookies made money. People lost faith in South Africa’s ability to win. They stopped betting on South Africa’s wins. South Africa winning became profitable for bookies.
Six medals in London Olympics
I expected five medals in London Olympics; one each in archery, badminton, boxing, shooting, and wrestling. We got six. In archery we did not get a medal. In badminton we got one. In boxing we got one. I expected a medal from one of the seven men; we got from a woman, Mary Kom, the…
India and Olympic medals
India got its first Olympic medal in 1928. That was gold medal in hockey in Amsterdam. India continued to win gold medal in hockey till 1956. That was the only medal India used to win except in 1952 when it also won a bronze medal. In 1960 it was silver medal. In 1964 India reverted…
Fake gold medals
Olympics is under way. Gold, silver, bronze medals are given to athletes who come first, second, third. However gold medals are fake. They have only 6 grammes gold which is 1.34%. The gold medals have 92.5% silver. The rest is copper or something else.
The last time genuine gold medals were awarded was in 1912. In 1984 I had read that genuine gold medals will be awarded in Los Angeles Olympics but it seems that was not the case. Billions of dollars or euros or pounds or some other currencies are spent in hosting Olympics but in giving gold medals enough money is not spent and fake medals are given.
Sania Mirza and humiliation
On 26/6/2012 Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakrabarty got wild card entry for women’s doubles in London Olympics and Somdev Devvarman in men’s singles. Soon Sania issued a statement. Some excerpts:
“For Leander to consider partnering with Vishnu only if he has a written assurance from me to play mixed is, I think, demeaning for me, Vishnu and Leander. What is even more shocking is the manner in which facts have been misrepresented to justify the breaking up of a team that won a second Grand Slam. Leander and I are not the only combination likely to get a direct entry in the mixed doubles.
As an Indian woman belonging to the 21st century, what I find disillusioning is the humiliating manner in which I was put up as a bait to try and pacify one of the disgruntled stalwarts of Indian tennis… the manner and timing of the announcement reeks of male chauvinism where a two-time Grand Slam champion and No. 1 player in women’s singles and doubles is offered in compensation to partner one of the feuding champions purely in order to lure him into accepting to play with a men’s player he does not wish to play with!
AITA and politicians
The role of politicians in the controversy surrounding the selection of tennis players for London Olympics has not been debated much. The debate has been mostly about players and AITA.
AITA selectors picked Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati for men’s doubles. Mahesh refused. He should have been banned for life for refusing to play for Indian and asked to refund the amount spent on him. That would have sent a message to all players that AITA will not tolerate players dictating terms to AITA. AITA did not do that. They selected Rohan Bopanna. Rohan also refused. Mahesh and Rohan wanted to play as a pair and said two teams could be sent.
Rahul Dravid retires
On 9/3/2012 Rahun Dravid announced his retirement from international and domestic first class cricket. Anil Kumble and BCCI President N. Srinivasan were with him. In 164 Tests, he had 36 centuries, scored 13,288 runs with an average of 52.31, 210 catches and one wicket that is of Ridley Jacobs. In 344 ODIs he scored 10,889 runs with an average of 39.16, 12 centuries, 196 catches and four wickets including one of Saeed Anwar. His T20 match against England was his debut match and retirement match. He was known as the Wall. When he batted well the headline was the Wall stands tall.