Seclusion

Music Reloaded!

2007-02-04T15:39:00.000+05:30

Music has an all new definition now. It’s now time to say goodbye to your bulky CD-players or the MP3 players as Sony Ericsson launches W810i into the market. Sony Ericsson has been an enigma into the world of cell phones over couple of years now. With the introduction of the third walkman phone, it surely has an edge over its competitors now.

While being similar to the W800, the W810i has benefited from several improvements. Most notably are the improved sound quality, the design which allows the phone to be used by either of the genders, EDGE support for faster wireless data transfers, a slightly enhanced display, and slightly improved battery life.

In addition, the 2 mega pixel camera takes excellent photos and if you need to catch some action, W810i has video too.

The key to Sony Ericsson's success with its Walkman range of music phones is the fact that they've been designed from the inside and out with music in mind.

On the outside, for example, you'll find integrated speakers on the back next to the camera, with a volume control located on the side together with a dedicated play/pause button that will stop the music no matter what the phone's doing.

There's also a D-pad beneath the screen that's specially marked for music features, while on the sides rest matching Walkman and Shortcut buttons for direct access to the W810i's music features.

Inside, there's an MP3 player with MP3 and AAC codec, and a dedicated Walkman application that lets you manage the tunes you're playing. Pressing the Walkman button on the front of the phone will take you straight to this application, where you're presented with the "Now Playing" screen. It's now that the D-Pad comes into play, letting you scroll through the list of tunes you have by pressing up and down or fast forward and rewind the current tune by pressing left and right.

The Walkman application lets you access your whole library of tunes either by track, artist, or playlist that you've created, and play around with the graphic equializer settings. One nice feature is the ability to send playliss and (unprotected) tunes to other users, either via Bluetooth or IR.

As a Walkman phone, the W810i's features are focused mostly on music. This is evident both on the outside of the phone, with dedicated music keys, and the inside, with easy to use playlists and tune down loading software. The sound quality of the W810i is also very high.
Sony has clearly spent time upgrading the W800i with a better build quality and a splash of extra style. It was a relief that the pervious garish orange colours used by Sony Ericsson had been toned down for this model and the cool black with silver accents and a tiny slash of orange is much more acceptable.

The screen is a 1.8 inch 176 x 220 pixel unit which is similar to that on the K750.

The screen does do a good job with bright and vibrant colours and clearly readable text which is about as much as you can ask for from a mid tier mobile, a nice touch is the inclusion of a light sensor that adjust the screen brightness according to the ambient light. This both lengthens battery life and ensures you can read the screen in all but direct sunlight. It’s use is proven when the backlight timer kicks in and switches it off which sees the screen go jet black, all very cool but there is no way to adjust the backlight timer duration! The keypad is well spaced even for larger fingers and nowhere near as cramped as some Sony phones of the past year, the tactile feedback has also been improved with good feel for the keys as they are slightly raised making it possible to text by feel rather than sight.

Round the back of the phone is the customary camera, this one is only a 2 mega pixel version but it provides sharp and useable images, plus it has a built in LED flash which is good for short range shots only. The camera lacks the inbuilt shutter, which other SE models now sport but this does help keep the package nice and thin, plus I think that users will select this more for its walkman features as opposed the camera.

The Sony Ericsson W810i offers improved music navigation in tandem with the same excellent music management capabilities and decent amount of bundled memory as its predecessor. Out-of-box audio quality is on par with the high standards we’ve come to except from the handset maker, while we’re slightly disappointed by the lack of stereo Bluetooth audio. These niggles aside, the W810i makes for a stellar music phone with side servings of a 2 Megapixel camera and EDGE.

Overall the Sony Ericsson W810i is a good mobile phone that packs some serious muscle when it comes to playing music. It’s not your usual corporate offering and most companies will stick to basic Nokia models or issue Blackberry's.

From Armstrong...To Landis...

2006-07-26T18:25:00.000+05:30

Think of cycling and all we think is a Lance Armstrong sipping champagne after wining the most prestigious cycling event, Le Tour De

France

. Since past seven years, this road bicycle race has seen Armstrong emerging as the outright winner.

In absence of the top five finishers from the last edition of Tour De France, the race this year was spilt wide open for the cyclists. So, how exciting was the Tour without Armstrong and other top riders across the world?
To be fair enough, the 2006 Le Tour De France was closely contested. Until the penultimate day even the cycling pundits found it difficult to predict the winner of 2006 Tour De France.
However, when Armstrong bid adieu from the world of cycling, the whole world was excited to see who would succeed the American.
And of course, it had to be an American! Floyd Landis, the 30-year old American won the Tour, in the closest three-way finish in the race's history.
Landis was among the favorites to win the Tour, after some top riders were suspended following doping charges. However, Landis’ bid to succeed fellow American Lance Armstrong looked a bit shaky when the rider lost his leaders yellow jersey to Spain’s Oscar Periero in an epic eight minute loss of performance in Stage 16.
It appeared he had lost all hope to finish on the podium, much less win.
But the following day, during Stage 17, Landis set such a high pace on the first climb of the day that no one chose to follow. He caught a breakaway group that had escaped earlier, passed them, and continued to the finish line, making up almost all of his deficit, ending up 30 seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Oscar Pereiro, which he made up with an extra minute in the final Stage 19 time trial.
With Landis’ win, the USA continued its dominance in the world of cycling with Landis being the third America to win this prestigious race. Moreover, with Armstrong himself giving Landis a pat on his back, the pressure is now on the 30-year old American to defend his crown. But the question remains, will he be able to do it?

But, what exactly is Tour De France?

Le Tour de France is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world. It is a long-distance stage race competition for professional cycling teams, travelling through France and its nearby countries over the course of three weeks each July, spread across 20 stages.
The winner is the individual rider who finishes the course of the race in the least accumulated time. Tour De France for cycling is what Football world cup is for its global popularity.
Apart from the overall competition of winning the Tour, each edition of the race has two further classifications: the points and the mountain competitions. Tallied at the end of each stage, the current leaders of the three competitions are required to wear a corresponding, distinctly coloured, jersey during the next stage.

Ø Yellow Jersey—the overall race leader wears it

Ø Green Jersey—the rider with maximum spirnt points wears it

Ø White or the Polska Jersey—to the rider who is first to climb the mountain

Postcard From Europe (p.s. not my creation)

2006-06-12T13:56:00.000+05:30

Liked this article by Vir Sanghvi, so thought that will put it on the blog and see what you think ...

ON THE grounds that you will probably have heard more than you need about Rahul Mahajan/ cocaine, about petrol prices and about who-did-Murli Deora-really-clear-the-hike-with, I’m going to spare you a column on current political events.
Besides — and it is time to come clean — I’ve been travelling so much over the last few weeks that I’m not sure if I am plugged in enough into the Indian political scene to offer you any insights that are worth reading.

So, instead, here is an entirely subjective take on the view of India that I have encountered on my travels abroad over the last month. As with the column I wrote a few months ago on the opinions I heard during my travels within India, all the usual disclaimers apply: my travels were restricted in scope (to Europe, mainly), so I can’t claim that I met a representative sample of global opinion; even within this limited area, I tended to meet people who were already interested in world affairs (rather than the man on the street); and, in my experience, polite foreigners tend not to be too scathing in their criticisms so perhaps I got a low-calorie version of their real views.
But, for what it is worth, here’s what I found. The Economy: I was abroad in the weeks after the Sensex crashed and travelling again during the second global crash (set off by the rise in US interest rates). The papers told us that the Indian market had lost something like 26 per cent of its value over the last year. So I waited for the usual questions: Is the India story over? Has the bubble burst? Was India no more the flavour of the year?
Oddly enough, most people I spoke to — and keep in mind that I tend to hang out very little with stockbrokers and investment bankers — were not downbeat about the Indian economy at all. The fall in the Sensex was seen as a reflection of a global trend and the overall optimism about India had endured.
The questions I was asked (and which I was singularly illequipped to answer) were these: Could the economy grow above 8 per cent? Is 10 per cent growth feasible? How strong is the Left’s influence on policy-making?
People with no great interest in economics still spoke admiringly of India as an IT success story and enviously of our outsourcing boom. Nobody mentioned manufacturing (though our growth rate in that sector vastly exceeds the 8 per cent overall growth in GDP), but they all spoke highly of what they saw as India’s young, well-educated, English-speaking, super-intelligent workforce.
Listening to them, I wondered if IT and the BPO boom could serve as India’s Wine Syndrome.
Wine Syndrome?
Well, some market researchers believe that the image of a country as a brand depends on many intangibles. One of them is the ability to make such luxury goods as wine for the international market. Countries that export wine (the US, France, Germany, Italy etc) tend to be regarded as capable of delivering quality. Relatively new entrants on the global wine scene such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and, now, even Chile, have also gained: because people buy their wine, they regard them as worthy of respect. (Isn’t ‘Made in South Africa’ more attractive a label than, say, ‘Made in Zimbabwe’?) As much as I respect Grover Vineyards, I don’t think our Cabernet Sauvignon is going to transform India’s image. But IT and outsourcing might just do it. My guess is that global respect for our IT skills and for the intelligence of our BPO operators will turn ‘Made in India’ into a label to respect — after so many decades during which it was regarded as a euphemism for shoddy quality and missed delivery dates. So, the influence of IT may extend beyond the technology sector and to Brand India as a whole. China/Pakistan: For me, this was the real surprise. For nearly all of the last decade, all discussions of India have resulted in either China being mentioned (in the economic context) or Pakistan being referred to (in a threat-ofnuclear-war sort of way). This time around, neither came up.
There seems now to be an increasing acknowledgement that while quantitatively, China has huge advantages over us (faster rates of growth, much more foreign investment, centralised rapid decision-making etc), India has certain qualitative advantages.
We are seen as being more stable (because of democracy), more subject to the rule of law and better at processes that require skill, intelligence or education. This is not to suggest that India will overtake China in the affections of investors (we won’t) but that people are less willing to speak of the two countries in the same breath. China may be a great success but India has it own story.
So it is with Pakistan. For years, it has always struck me that the only reason why anybody anywhere in the world bothers to mention Pakistan is because of conflicts with its neighbours (India and Afghanistan). Otherwise, it could occupy roughly the same space in the global consciousness as Bangladesh.
But this time, nobody mentioned Pakistan. Nobody seemed too bothered about the Kashmir problem. And the threat of nuclear war never came up.
Why should this be so?
Partly, it is because relations between India and Pakistan have been relatively event-free for the last couple of years. But I suspect that it also has something to do with the international community’s tendency to look at South Asia through the prism of Washington.
If America thinks India’s nuclear programme is not a problem (and the Indo-US deal on this issue helps suggest that), then the Western world is not worried. And ever since Pakistan became a client state of America and General Musharraf was appointed George Bush’s viceroy, the West has treated Islamabad as no more than a slightly troublesome pet which will nevertheless jump through the hoop when the State Department blows the whistle.
Despite India’s anger at what we see as Washington’s indulgence of Islamabad, the truth is that America’s political colonisation of Pakistan has actually made South Asia seem like a safer place — and India has benefited.
Minorities: My most recent trip was to Vienna for the India-EU Roundtable. One of the subjects on the agenda was how liberal societies should treat minorities. Nearly everywhere I have gone over the last three months, India’s experience has been top of the mind.
For decades now, I have heard Europeans give vent to ignorant rubbish about how ‘Hindu India’ handles its Muslim minority. And I have to say that, after Gujarat, it became extremely embarrassing to participate in any such discussion because while the Europeans may have been ill-informed, there was no doubt that we had much to be ashamed of.
At the Roundtable, I listened with awe as Professor Zoya Hassan delivered a 15-minute masterly summary of India’s experience that was so exhaustive in its scope that it took my breath away.
While the EU has had to struggle unsuccessfully with religious protests (over the Danish cartoons, for instance) and with plain old racism (the French attitude to LN Mittal’s bid for Arcelor), India has coped much better with the problems inherent in a multi-linguistic, multi-religious and multi-ethnic society.
The EU side had little to say when Zoya Hassan explained why so few Indian Muslims were attracted to al-Qaeda. It wasn’t just that we had democracy, she said, it was because we were an inclusive society.
Sujata Mehta of the PMO, an ex-officio member of the Roundtable, explained that while we had our problems, our greatest strength was that our minorities rarely questioned their identity as Indians. Contrast this with democratic Britain, for instance, where so many UK-born Muslims of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin will sign up for the global jihad. For all of the UK’s politically-correct multiculturalism (which, by the way, I think has now gone too far — but that’s a different column), racial minorities still feel alienated enough from the mainstream to search for global (such as pan-Islamic) identities.
It pleased me to note the respect with which Sujata and Zoya were listened to. Now that they have minority problems of their own, Europeans are suddenly taking India’s experience more seriously. I was especially pleased when Zoya made a point that took them all by surprise: as disgraceful, horrifying and indefensible the massacres in Gujarat were, what was encouraging was that the outrage they provoked cut across all communities in India. The worst critics of the Gujarat government were not Muslims, but were Hindus. It is a point that needs to be made again and again. And finally: The alert reader will have noticed that nearly all of the news I received was good. Obviously, some of this had to do with the desire of my European hosts not to give offence. But I have to say that there was a very real sense in which nearly everybody I met treated India with interest, respect and — at the very least — informed curiosity. Clearly, this is a good time to be an Indian.
Now, all we have to do is make sure that we don’t screw it up, as we usually manage to do.

It Was Much More Than Just Another "World Cup"...

2006-05-17T12:49:00.000+05:30

Controversial Build Up To The World’s Most Pretigiuos Tournament
It was the first time that the World Cup took place in Asia. In fact, it was the first time the Cup was hosted outside of Europe and the Americas.
Initially, the two Asian countries, South Korea and Japan were competitors in the bidding process, but at the last minute before the vote, they agreed with FIFA to co-host the event. However, the competitive nature of the two host nations, partly because of the historical rivalry between them and the distance between them led to problems in organization and logistics. With Japan lobbying FIFA and Korea lobbying UEFA, the soccer world was split badly. Japan pushed its modern infrastructure, wealth, and technology as key points. Korea, which had a longer professional soccer tradition, believed it was more deserving.
After the tournament, FIFA has repeatedly said co-hosting will likely not happen again, and in 2004, FIFA stated that its statutes do not allow bids that involve co-hosting.
In the end, the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan was successfully co-hosted by the two countries.

A Cup, Full of Surprises and Upsets
The 2002 World Cup will surely be most memorable for the upsets... There were the astonishing early eliminations — favorites Argentina and reigning champions France headed home after the first round.
There were the shock victories, like Senegal's 1-0 win over the French in an opening match that set the tourney's roller-coaster tone. Although no underdog actually broke through, what fun it was to watch the Senegalese, with their ecstatic conga-line celebrations after their unexpected goals, and the U.S.'s 3-2 defeat of Portugal that helped the Americans advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1930.
And there were the Cinderella marches of host countries Japan and Korea, both of whom went further than anyone imagined. Maybe all these surprises seduced us briefly into believing in football's parallel universe. In what seemed to be the final hurdle for Koreans to clinch third place, it was the Turks, whose relentless perseverance eventually paid off when they secured a 3-2 victory over the untiring Koreans and won the battle for third place.

Ah! The Fans...
If a sport is only as strong as their passion, one of the legacies of World Cup 2002 must be how football found its way into the heart of folks in the most unexpected places — like the host countries, where soccer is hardly the prevailing pastime. In the first half of Japan's initial match against Belgium, which resulted in a draw, many of the 50 odd thousand-strong, blue-clad home crowd sat strangely mute.
However, when Takayuki Suzuki scored Japan's first goal of World Cup 2002, Saitama Stadium erupted in a frenzy of pride. And once the Japanese got the hang of it, they could not be stopped. The night their team defeated Russia, the Japanese celebrated like hell.
As for the Koreans, who could forget the sight of 40 odd thousand delirious fans jumping up and down in Daejeon Stadium the night their forward Ahn Jung Hwan grabbed a 117th minute Golden Goal to knock Italy out of the World Cup? Or the 100,000 Koreans who, in the spirit of hospitality, served as volunteer supporters for other nations?
People of both the countries served as true ambassadors, in which, football was the ultimate winner.

A New Star Was Born...
It was the 50th minute of the match. With scores tied at 1-1 in what was assumed a close encounter. And there it was! A magnificent free kick, taken by Ronaldinho, stunned thousands of English present in the stadium, millions of them watching at their home and most of all, England keeper David Seaman. Seaman and the entire English team were left stunned by a Ronaldinho special. With this goal, Ronaldinho marked his arrival on the big stage.

The Ultimate Samba…
After a deluge of upsets in the early stages of the cup, the World Cup 2002 was now into its most important stage—the final. And it was none other than the Brazilians, who overpowered Germany and lifted the trophy with a emphatic 2-0 victory. It was a time to celebrate for the South Americans, who won their fifth world cup.
The three R’s—Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo, provided the world cup with some breath taking moments. It was a pleasure to watch these three play and torment the oppositions defense throughout the World Cup.

The 2002 World Cup will be remembered for a long time by the Japanese and the Koreans. It will be remembered for the upsets it had. The cup would be remembered for years, as Asia announced its arrival on global stage. Nonetheless, the 2002 World Cup will be remembered as one of the most exciting world cup ever played in the history of World Cup Football. The focus now shifts to Europe and to the country, rich with Football history, Germany to host a world cup and make it the most memorable one, not only for them, but also for the entire footballing world...

Will He or Won't He?

2006-05-07T16:24:00.000+05:30

It is funny, how absence of one player can affect a team. All of a sudden, England's dream of winning the World Cup has taken a setback after Wayne Rooney's injury. England, who were considered as favourites to win the WC, are now labelled as the outsiders for the tournament. But without Rooney, are England actually as weak? Not really. The English team still have some quality strikers, and they certainly cannot be ruled out of the World Cup. We have a look at England side, without Rooney.

First, the efence line. Surely, Rooney's absence will not have a impact on England's defence. With players like Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, John Terry and many more, England's defence looks as good as any other top flight team. They have plenty of experience at the back and with Paul Robinson or David James present between the two poles, England look a difficult side to score against. Then comes mid-field... Boy! Don't they have quality players here... there is Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Joe Cole, Jermaine Jenas, Shaun Wrigh Phillips, ... Man they have plenty of strenght in the mid field. The important thing here for England is they have experienced players like Becks, Gerrard, Lampard alongwith some promising youngsters in the form of Wright-Phillips, Jenas, etc. So, the things don't look bad here. But then comes the area of concern for them. The forward line. Without Rooney, the forward line looks a bit shaky. Of course, there is Owen, who is quite experienced and a deadly finisher, but who will partner Owen is a million dollar question. There is the tallest English player Peter Crouch, who will be looking to captalise on Rooney's absence. Then there is Michael Carrick, who is most likely to partner Owen after some spectacular performance for Tottenham. Even Jermaine De Foe and Darren Bent will be looking to make most of the opportunity.

Well, without Rooney, England team looks strong enough to challenge any other team in the WC. Its just that the senior players should take the responsibility on their shoulder and play out of their skins. And the group that England are placed in, qualification in the second round is not that difficult, and who know's by then Rooney might be fit! England are set to announce their squad on Monday, will Rooney feature in the squad??? Will Sven Goran Errickson gmble on Rooney??? Well, these quetions will remain unanswered till the squad is announced. Only thing we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope Rooney will be fit...

England's Group: Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden.

First Group Match: 10th June 2006.

Last Group Match: 20th June 2006. (if England go through to the next round, then the possibilities are high that Rooney will play, as it would be around 8-weeks rest for him, which is enough.)

England WC Probables to be annouced on Monday, May 8: (My Guess)

David Beckham

Frank Lampard

Steven Gerrard

Michael Owen

Gary Neville

Sol Campbell

Ashley Cole

John terry

Wayne Bridge

Wes Brown

Ledley King

Jamie Carragher

Jermaine Jenas

Joe Cole

Shaun Wright-Phillips

Peter Crouch

Michael Carrick

Darren Bent

Paul Robinson

David James

WAYNE ROONEY

The Best Evening of My Life...

2006-05-04T11:45:00.000+05:30

ACTUALLY MET THIS GUY!!!

WITH HIS WIFE...

THEN IT WAS THE PRESS CONFERENCE...

SHE IS A BEAUTY... TO SAY THE LEAST...

HE IS A NICE GUY... SUFFERS FROM DIABETES...

HE TOO WAS THERE...

A STAR...

State Government Dances on HC Tunes...

2006-04-19T23:12:00.000+05:30

So here I was standing outside Tarannum’s house waiting to get her quote on the High Court Order... Believe me her house is awesome. At least it appeared wonderful from outside. Unfortunately, my four-hour wait didn’t pay off as she refused to comment on the issue.
However, I got one thought going through my mind. I was constantly thinking about the HC order on the issue. Was it justified to lift the ban? Of course, it was, I thought to myself. After all this was the only source for earning their daily bread for these girls. You can’t take away their only source of living just because it was against the morality of the society... It was a nightmare for the bar owners after the state government issued the order to close all the dance bars on August 15, 2005 amending the Bombay Police act and exempting the three stars and above graded hotels from this ban. The decision by the HC is welcomed with open arms by the bar girls and the bar owners
Not only did they suffer huge losses but also the unemployment level in the state increased to 75,000, which just added fuel to fire considering that the unemployment level was already high. After the state governments order, most of the bar girls turned to prostitutes. It was very interesting when I spoke to one of the bar girls and she said it was easy for them to earn money at the dance bars rather than wait for the customers at the stations or the roads...
It is not fair to pass the law so easily and annihilate the lives of these workers. This is not Democracy. It was a clear violation of the right to freedom of right and freedom of expression for not only the Bar Girls but also the Bar Owners. They said that young girls are exploited at the bars and most of them working there are minors... Ok I agree with that, but with the dance bars closed, these girls are forced into prostitution, which is a much bigger crime. Undoubtedly, this is a wise decision taken by the government.
So what next for the Bar Girls? For the time being, the bars may have started but it is not being to be as easy as it looks. I am sure most of you know this. Getting the license renewed will be a cause of concern for the owners now. The state government will impose much more strict laws on the bar owners with the ban now lifted. In addition, if the residents of the area oppose the bar in that particular area the bar can be shut. Even the state government has appealed against this decision of the HC.
The Bar Owners may have won the first leg of this interesting fight, the most awaiting part of the story comes now as the Bar Owners and the Girls rehabilitate themselves along with the decision of the Supreme Court, which is indeed a later part of the story but a eagerly awaited one.

The "Shooting" Stars

2006-04-06T17:14:00.000+05:30

World Cup is around the bend and it’s the time where the predictions begin to pour in. The tournament has a tradition of producing stars for the game. Or, I can say that it has a tradition of producing Legends of the game. Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo, Zidane Ronaldinho, are all famous courtesy their performances in the World Cup. These players have played a key role in helping their country winning the World Cup or performing well in it.
We have a look at the men who will make a difference. They will be one who will try to make a name for themselves; they will be there to compete for the Golden Boot. We have a look at the strikers who will be playing the World Cup for the first time...

Wayne Rooney:
Rooney is the “Angry Young Man” of the English team. England’s success at the World Cup largely depends on how Rooney performs. Rooney announced his arrival on the big scene by becoming the youngest ever goal scorer in The Premiership at the tender age of 16 when he netted from 25-yards against champions Arsenal to end their unbeaten 30-game run. He is the youngest player to play for England and later became the youngest English player to score a goal. Sir Alex Ferguson said when he signed Rooney for 30 million pounds; “I think we have got the best young player this country has seen in the past 30 years” After his first season at United, few would disagree. He is the Pele in making. The 2002 BBC Sports Young Sports Personality of the Year and the 2005 FIFpro Young Player will be surely one to watch out for...

Lionel Messi:
He is the ‘new Maradona’ of the Argentinean soccer. After witnessing what the 18-year old can do, I am now sure that this lad can all alone win matches for his country at Germany. Everyone new that Argentina could play but Messi’s recent performance in the Champions League round of 16, where he tormented the best defense in the Premiership has everyone in or outside Argentina exited. There have been many players over the years who has been dubbed the new Maradona, but so far no one has really lived up too expectation. Messi is the latest produce and so far is looking more and more likely to be the next Maradona. Even the man himself has recently said that Messi is going to be his successor. He has everything in his game and yet is only at a tender age of 18. He is surely the one to watch out for. He along with the likes of Riquelme, Aimar, Saviola, Tevez, Crespo and Rodriguez, the South Americans are a force that no team would like to face.

Robinho:
Robson De Souza, a.k.a.Robinho is called the Brazilian Pearl and rightly so. Robinho when in full flow is a glorious sight and if he can produce his best for Brazil in the World Cup, then football will be the ultimate winner. Despite his slight build, he has become proficient in winning possession, using speed and intelligence to swoop at the perfect moment to poke the ball away from his opponent and set the counter attack in motion. He is a great asset for Brazil and he will play a vital role, if Brazil is to win the World Cup.

Andriy Shevchenko:
When you think of Ukrainian football, the one name that immediately comes to mind is Andriy Shevchenko. The AC Milan star has been one of the most lethal strikers in Europe the past few years and he will surely be the focus of attention for Ukraine’s opponents in this year’s World Cup. A poacher supreme Shevchenko lives for goals and is unsurprisingly his country's record scorer, averaging roughly a goal every two games. If this guy performs over par, then there are chances that Ukraine creates upsets at Germany.

Didier Drogba:
A pacy, powerful and a prolific striker, Drogba was nothing short than a sensational in his first European season for Olympique Marseille, prompting Chelsea to pay a club- record fee for this Ivory Coast striker. He has been instrumental in Chelsea’s league performance in past two seasons. The only problem with Drogba has been his inconsistent form, which led to the criticism that the player is not living up to his price tag. Whatever said, Drogba when in form is delight to watch and is surely the striker to watch out for in the so-called low profile Ivory Coast team.

Apart from these players, we can also expect some competition from the Dutch pairing of Arjen Robben and Rafael Van Der Vaart, Aussie ace Harry Kewell and Jose AntonioReyes from Spain for the race to glory who will be playing in the world cup for the first time.

Men In Blue

2006-03-24T20:34:00.000+05:30

Well am a bit late to post this, but could't help... Speaking about the current issues in Indian Cricket (i know its kinda boring to read about this topic now, but it is a topic any sports maniac would love to write on)

as the Indo-English series ends, questions are already being raised on Dravid's captaincy. He already has got a idea how ruthless can the crowd be if u dont perform... just a few months ago Dravid was backed by the three fourth of the nation and now most of them are doubting his ability. The Mumbai crowd chanting "saurav saurav" at the presentation when Dravid came up to speak just summed up the entire story of how frustrated the crowd was and proved that they could just not tolerate the poor show put up by the team. so who are to blame? The Captain, The Coach or the entire Team??? Well, i would say the selection committee coupled with some aweful decisions by the captain can be blamed...

Former England Skipper Boycott rightly describes Kiran More, the captain of our selection team, "a joke" and rightly so. More is certainly the one to be blamed for the poor show of the team. As More qouted that the team will be selected on the basis of current performances and not on the records of the players. Well Mr. More, I would like to say that pls pls keep this selection criteria for all players and not just one or two... wat are people like Sehwag doing in the team when they are not performing fdor such a long period?? Sachin Tendulkar has already got a warning that he has to perform after the crowd booed him, and he was the only batsman who looked like sticking on the crease against those English Bowlers.

Well talking about the team selection, I think that Piyush Chawla was selected a bit too early. Undoubtedly, the lad from U.P. has immense talent, but rather than involving him in such high profile matches, the selection committee should have let him play a few matches for India A team or the ODI squad. Selecting the youngster for ane test series and then dropping him would affect his confidence immensely. Rather they could have selected a little more experienced players like Romesh Powar or anyone else. The talent is there in plenty, but they quite unfortunately dont know how to utilize it.

Speaking about the captaincy, well no real issues here, but the decision made by Dravid to field first was completely wrong and i am sure most of you agree with this unless you try to understand what was Dravid thinking at the time when he won the toss and put England to bat... Also the ommission of Kaif in the second test was also a debatable issue. Kaif showed some good form in the First Test, but was dropped to let Yuvraj Singh in the team. Again, one just can't blame Dravid for these decisions, even the coach and the seniors team members can be blamed for this.

When we talk about Indian Cricket, the crowds cannot be kept out of the picture. It is afterall the crowd who creates the heroes for the game and bring them to ground if they do not perform. But, one of the main things that the crowds should understand is that they shouldn't be to harsh on the player. Last thing Tendulkar would have expected is to be booed by the crowd, atleast at his home ground. People should know that they are players and as everyone has a lean period in their job or profession, this is just another bad patch for Sachin and you just can't doubt the abilities of the man who has served thecountry for such a long period. Another thing that kind of amaze me is that the people who didn't want Ganguly in the team a few months back, are demanding his return in team...

The crowds should be mature and give players a chance to prove themsevles. It is not that our team is playing bad cricket. Obviously, we aren't ranked third in the world for nothing. We just need to have faith in our team, trust the abilities of the player. Afterall its the right selection and right decisions that will help India win the World Cup.

Budget n all...

2006-03-23T19:41:00.000+05:30

well, finally got the net connection renewed... well, today i went to the Kalina University with one of the HT reporters( am doin internship there) had the annual university budget today... boy! one can actually say that the entire thing was quite pathetic... the budget was scheduled to start at 11 am, it got postponed to 2 pm... well, then we had our lunch time there... the food was good and probably the only good thing there... so had our lunch and then it was the time to inaugrate the newly built SHIKSHAK BHAVAN... then we moved to the hall where the budget was to start, it was 3 pm now and still there were no signs of the budget starting, so we had our respected Vice Chancellor Vijay Khole gave a long speech which lasted for 5 minutes(5 mins. was too long for me that time), then the pending issues were brought in the light by the senate members... just coudnt believe the topics they were talking on... one Mr. Salve spoke started with his speech talkin abt the rural education and ended up on the recent Kasliwal rape case... then one of the senate members started with speaking about the agricultural education went on to speak about the relevance of the day, Bhagat Singh was hanged this very day, ended speakin abt the Maharashtra budget... i mean thr was no link of wat these guys were speakin... everything the spoke was crap... ok, then we had a cup of coffee and again started listening to the speakers... a good time of about 15 mins. were dedicated to crack jokes on eachother... anyways then announcement was made stating that the budget would start by a hour or so, the time now was 4:30 pm... so my reporter with whom i was there for the entire day, said that i could leave for the office which is at Mahim... i reached thr within half hour and sat with my boss for around 20 mins. well then wrote a report on one of the press releases and that was it for a very boring day... well, it was boring, but today i got a good taste of what this field is all about...

hmm.. dont know why i ve put it on the blog... i think that u guys have wated your time if you have read this...

hmm... am just happy...

2006-03-17T14:11:00.000+05:30

finally i have something i can be proud of in my life so far... today, the JAM magazine have published my first article and have dedicated one entire page for it... basically its one of my football articles written on english league and the spanish league(scroll down... its posted here)beleive me, it feels nice to read your in a mag. or newspaper...
anyways have to study for my literature paper(or at least pretend to study), so thats it for now...

Oh! Exams...

2006-03-09T18:56:00.000+05:30

so as we completed our final presentation for marketing, here comes the exam tension... my life has become SHIT( as one of friend rightly explained the entire SHIT funda few months back) since i`ve joined this course. i haven`t had a month where i could actually enjoy the college life... projects, presentations, exams, and stuff like that has really ruined my life... now when i really need to study hard(ly) for my exams i am sitting at my home doing nothing but watch the different football, basketball and cricket matches... everynight from 10 to 1 i sit to study, but again end up doing all sorts of faltugiri... now that just 4 days remain for exams to kick off, am screwed royally as i`ve not started a single subject... dunno wat will happen during the exams...

The Quest for Medals Begin...

2006-03-07T19:45:00.000+05:30

Around 4,500 competitors, 3,500 technical, and team officials will be taking part at the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne, which begin on March 15th. There are plenty expectations from the 270 (103 men and 83 women, 84 assisting staff) member Indian squad that will be representating the country. The Indian squad is under extreme pressure to perform well since India will play host to the next commonwealth games in 2010. India though has a decent history at the games by finishing fourth to Australia (1st) and England (2nd) and Canada (3rd) in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.
We have a look at our medal prospects and the event in which we are most likely to win medals...
BOXING: Boxing which is a non-traditional performance for India, won three medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze) at the Manchester Games. Indian squad for this event looks quite decent. Super Heavyweight Varghese Johnson in the 91kg class is considered a medal chance in his Games debut, as is 2004 Olympian Vijender Kumar in the 69 kg division. Som Bahadur Pun, the Indian silver medalist at Manchester in the 57 kg category is the Indian hope in the 64 kg class. Young Indian boxer Diwakar Prasad will make his return from injury at the Games, looking to build on the promise he showed in the Athens Olympics two years ago. He will challenge in the 57 kg category.
However, one surprise omission from the squad is Manchester 48 kg gold medalist Mohammed Ali Qamar, widely considered one of India’s best. Jitender Kumar takes his place. The rest of the team filled out by 48 kg powerhouse Mohammed Suranjoy Singh, 54 kg Akhil Kumar, 60 kg newcomer Jai Bhagwan, 75 kg Parwinder Singh, 81 kg fighter Ajay Kumar and 91 kg Harpreet Singh.
BADMINTON: Well, one cannot consider India as hot favourites in this particular event for a gold medal, but still there are many opportunities for young talent representing the country at the games. Aparna Popat, who won Bronze medal at the Manchester Games, is considered the sole Indian challenge. In addition, the youngster Saina Nehwal is also expected to create upsets at the games. In men’s Arvind Bhatt and Chetan Anand look to be best Indian, challenge.
WEIGHTLIFTING: This has always been an event in which India has won a medal or two. India won 27 medals in this particular event at the 2002 Manchester Games. This time though the team has a setback of losing one of the major medal contender Shailaja Pujari who won three gold medals at the Manchester Games. She was axed from the squad after testing positive for banned drugs.
Kunjarani Devi remains is the spearhead of the Indian weightlifting squad. She will challenge in the 48 kg category. Renu Bala, who will compete in the 58 kg category, is also considered to be the medal contender. In men’s Vicky Batta who will be competing in the 56 kg category will be the major medal contender after he won two medals, one silver and one bronze at the Manchester Games. Sateesha Rai, who was stripped of his medals in the 2002 games, is also included in the squad.
The team: Men: R Edwin and Vicky Batta (56kg), M Arun (62kg), C P R Sudhir Kumar (69kg), Mohammed Zakir (77kg), Tejinder Singh and Sateesha Rai (85kg).
Women: Kunjarani Devi (48kg), Renu Bala (58kg), B Prameelavali (63kg), L Monika Devi (69kg), Geeta Rani and Simple Kaur Burmah (plus 75kg)
ATHLETICS: Ace long jumper Anju Bobby George, heptathletes Soma Biswas and J.J. Shobha will lead from front the 26 member Indian athletics squad. The Indian squad comprises of 10 men and 15 women. While there is a remote possibility of India winning a medal in 800 meters race, shot put, discus throw, the decathlon and the walk, the onus is on these three athletes to win a medal for the country.
Squad: Men: Ghamanda Ram (800 meters), Vikas Gowda (discus and shot put), Jora Singh (decathlon), P.S. Jalan (20 km walk)
Women: Manjeet Kaur, Chitra K. Soman, Sathi Geetha, Pinki Pramanik, Rajwinder Kaur Gill and Ashiq Beevi (4x400m relay). Pinki Pramanik (800m), O.P. Jaisha (1,500m), Seema Antil and Krishna Punia (discus throw), Anju Bobby George (long jump), Sushmita Singha Roy, Soma Biswas and J.J. Shobha (heptathlon), Deep Mala Devi (20 km walk).
SHOOTING: An astounding 40 gold medals are up for grabs in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games shooting competitions. India's 27-strong shooting squad lead by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will be aiming to improve on the 14 gold medals they won in 2002 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Samaresh Jung, Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat all are major medal contenders.
Indian shooters will look to continue their medal-winning spree at the Games after a impressive performance Australia Cup in Melbourne held in February, marking themselves as the team to beat in Shooting during the Commonwealth Games.
HOCKEY: We always remain to be optimistic about India’s performance in hockey, don’t we? Indian chances of winning a medal in hockey look very slim for both, the men as well as the women, who are the defending champions. With top players like Gaganajeet Singh, Deepak Thakur, Viren Rasquinha and Prabhjot Singh axed on basis of performance, there will a lot of pressure on the young guns to deliver the goods.
The team: Bharat Chetri, Baljit Singh (Goal Keepers)
Full backs: Dilip Tirkey (captain) Kanwal Preet Singh, Harpal Singh and Raghunath
Mid-fielders: V.S. Vinaya, Vikram Pillay, Ignes Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey and Sandeep Singh
Forwards: Rajpal Singh, Didar Singh, Sardara Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Tejbir Singh, Arjun Halappa, Adam Sinclair, Shivinder Singh and Hari Prasad
The men’s team kicks off their campaign on March 17 against Malaysia and women’s team face Australia on March 16.
Besides these, India will also be participating in events such as Swimming, Basketball, Gymnastics and Table Tennis. Overall, India will be participating in 10 events. We can also expect some medals in table tennis with Chetan Baboor, the ace Indian player representating the country.
Look out for the closing ceremony... With India hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games some of India's legendary sportspersons, like cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, athlete Milkha Singh and tennis ace Vijay Amritraj, will feature in the 15 minutes allotted to India during the closing ceremony in Melbourne March 26. P.T. Usha, badminton ace Prakash Padukone, India's lone World Cup-winning hockey captain Ajit Pal Singh, billiards champion Michael Ferreira, ace swimmer Khajan Singh and wrestler Satpal will also join the ceremony.
Bollywood is going to shine at the closing ceremony of the games. Aishwarya Rai, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Lara Dutta, Isha Sharvani, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghosal, Shankar-Ehsan-Loy as well as percussionists Taufiq Quereshi and Sivamani and 408 dancers from Shiamak Davar’s troupe will ensure the world remembers the day...

Black and White...

2006-02-28T11:53:00.000+05:30

Abraham J. Heschel quotes (Jewish theologian and philosopher, 1907-1972),
“Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”
This has been a much-debated topic for a while now. Racism happens everyday and everywhere. It is a complex issue, which occurs at many different levels. In sports, racism is happening more often and becoming a bigger issue.
The games that we play today are virtually the same games that we have been playing decades ago with a few exceptions. The first difference is the equipment we play with. The second difference is the skill level of the players. The third and possibly most important difference is integration of the games. If you take away the new equipment, and the players skill levels you still have the same game with the same basic principle. However, if you take away the integration of the game you would take away a whole other dimension that people of different race have brought to the game we play.
The Europeans, Americans or the FIRANGS, as we call them, often subject players from Asia, Africa to racism comments.
We all saw how the South African cricket team was abused racially in their recent tour to Australia. There was a whole controversy about the Aussie fans abusing the Africans based on color.
Boxing has been prone to Racism comments for years. Muhammad Ali in 1962 refused to play a Heavyweight title match in Vietnam because of the racist comments he faced there. There was a period in world boxing when the white refused to fight black boxers. Black boxers were dislike so much that white boxing promoters did everything they could just to find the “Great White Hope” to defeat one black man.
Football has witnessed racist comments over a last few years. The recent incident of Samuel Etto, the three times African Player of the year and the Barcelona striker, was racially abused by the fans of another Spanish club, Real Zaragoza. Etto threatened to leave the field but played the rest of the match only when his teammates, referee and the Zaragoza players convinced him. There was another incident of racism comments in Spain, when the crowd abused the black players from England team.

When we look back in the history books and for that matter even today, most of the renowned sportspersons have been black. Muhammad Ali in boxing, Michael Jordan in Basketball, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, and a list of players from the sub-continent in cricket, the Brazilians in football, the list never ends...
The point is that all these comments based on the difference in color bring the sport to disrepute. If you are black, you know that racism is still alive, unless you live in a cave. Racism isn’t just a sports thing, it is a society thing. Blacks run into it or see it everyday in all walks of life. Sports are just a small part of society and racism in sports cannot be denied.

Did U Know...

2006-02-24T13:18:00.000+05:30

hey huys! this is some stuff i gave to JAM... dunno whether they will be publishing it, but here are aome interesting facts related to different sports... also there are some famous QUOTES by famous sportspersons...

DID U KNOW????

1. The World's First Football Club - Sheffield Football Club - was founded in 1857 by Colonel Nathaniel Cresswick and Major William Priest, two British Army officers.
2. The English League was founded in 1888.
3. The founding clubs were: Accrington (Old Reds), Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, DerbyCounty, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who played 20 seasons in the NBA, holds the record for most points scored in a career with 38,387.
5. The closest finish for the F1 Championship was in the year 1984, where the difference of points between the 1st and the 2nd driver was just Half point! Niki Lauda won the championship with 72 points and Alain Prost finished second with 71 ½ points...
6. Chess was invented in India.
7. The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after levelling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
8. The start of the 5th Test of England vs South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban in 1931 was delayed by 20 minutes due to the unavailability of the correct size of the bails.
9. Don Bradman`s scores in his first and final Tests were 18, 1 & 0 respectively.
10. The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. The gold and silver Olympic medals must be made out of 92.5 percent silver, with the gold medal covered in six grams of gold.

Sports QUOTES:
Ø I don't know what these fellows are doing, but whatever they are doing, they sure are doing it well. - Pete Sampras on watching Lara and Ambrose at Lord's.
Ø I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel! -- Don Bradman in reference to Sachin Tendulkar
Ø I never play cricket. It requires one to assume such indecent postures- Oscar Wilde
Ø The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun. -- P. G. Wodehouse
Ø When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems.-- Michael Jordan, Basketball Legend
Ø I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok. -- Shaquille O'Neal, Basketball Player
Ø Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost. --Martina Navratilova, Tennis Legend
Ø Champions keep playing until they get it right.-- Billie Jean King, Pro Tennis Legend
Ø For me, winning isn't something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowds roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream. -- Emmitt Smith, American Football Player
Ø When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.-- Steffi Graf, German Tennis Player
Ø Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.-- Pele
Ø My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. That's why we put on clinics. The only thing I can do is try to give back. If it works, it works.-- Tiger Woods

THE BATTLE BEGINS HERE…

2006-02-21T13:52:00.000+05:30

V/S

Football generally requires several good plays for a score. This means that skill has a larger impact on a team's probability of scoring on a given possession, so the importance of luck is smaller than it would be in most other sports with the same number of scores per game.
Over last two decades or so, there has been a surge in the viewership of European Football. The various leagues played across Europe have publicized the game and has made it the most popular sport in the world. The big names’ playing in these leagues is an added attraction for the viewers. The English Premier League might be the most popular of the European Leagues’, but there is a lot more quality found in other leagues such as the Spanish League and the Italian League. So what is that makes these leagues different from eachother? Let us compare the EPL and the Spanish La Liga…

Style of play: Well, this might be the major difference in these two leagues. The Spanish League promises to be more attacking. It's not the goals difference that tells you liga is more "attacking minded" than the rest but their playing style saying it all : possession in midfield and prepare to score goals in attack. EPL could be very exciting to watch too, if you prefer speed and not mind of "floating balls" (make sure your neck is good). Overall, it is the pace of English football that makes it exciting, and the possession play of La Liga quite elegant.

The name-game in the league: The EPL is like a paradise for Spanish Players also. It’s definitely not due to money, because Reyes came to Arsenal, Xabi Alonso, Garcia and others to Liverpool. There seems to have been a lot of La Liga to EPL moves rather than the inverse. I guess that’s due to the glamour and attraction of the league. One thing that the EPL does not have is what you call ‘World Player of the Years’, which La Liga has in abundance. Although, most times the polls are right, the 2003 was flawed one for the experts. Henry deserved it but Zidane won it. Gerrard had done much more than Adriano (plays in the Italian League) or Etto, but he was 7th, in the year 2005.

European Presence: The EPL big guns have had the better of the La Liga big guns in the Champions League in past 20 games or so. Most English managers will disagree that European competitions provide a good way to test the quality of local competitions, but it still is. English clubs, over-rated in media usually fail to perform against their European counterparts, and then their managers issue such statements. Arsenal is a good example. It is not very uncommon to find it rated better than successful clubs like Barcelona and Madrid did, but Arsenal has always failed to prove this in European competitions. The only reason why Chelsea has an upper hand is their Russian Link. With a spending of about half a billion within 2-3 years, any club can be a potential contender in EPL and Champions League. Even Manchester United has failed in Europe this year thanks to some good fight put in by the ‘Under Rated’ European clubs.

Competetion: Hardly ever could one imagine Chelsea loosing to a West Bromwich Albion or a Sunderland in EPL. These kinds of upsets are too rare in EPL. The only reason for that is that the low ranked teams are not as strong as compared to the top teams in the league.
Since the difference between 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the EPL is around 14 points or so. Then you have two teams in the EPL that will fight 2nd and 3rd place. Then the difference to 4th place is around 10 points. The difference of points between to top five teams and the bottom half of the teams is around 20 points which makes it immpossible for these teams to compete for a European place.
In La Liga, the difference is 3 to 6 points between between 1st and 2nd ranked teams. Then the competition for the 3rd and fourth place spots is crazy. Since the difference between the 3rd place team and the 11th place teams is 6 points. Meaning that a bottom half club are in competition for a European spot.
So if its competition you are making your desicion, then no doubt La Liga is better than the EPL.

Cup Football: The English cup football is much more popular than any other domestic cup football competetions in the world, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup are one of the oldest cup competeions in Europe and certainly outclasses the Spanish Kings Cup.

Public-City: This is where EPL scores the winning goal. The fan following for EPL is much more than La Liga. Every weekend a Football Maniac will get some time out of his busy schedule to watch either Manchester United or Chelsea or in that matter any Premier league team playing. The wide television coverage for the EPL has made it much more appealing for the viewers. It was only when David Beckham shifted to Madrid that a La Liga club was voted the most popular club in the world, but now the onus of carrying tha tag of Most Popular Clubs has shifted to England.
The popularity for EPL can be summed up by stating that, ‘most populated continent in the world is Asia, the most popular league in Asia in English Premier League, hence it is the most popular league.’

Indian Hockey Going Places...

2006-02-18T11:48:00.000+05:30

Indian Hockey Going Places...

Hockey is the only event in which India has won Gold Medals - eight of them. Hockey was considered the National Game of India. Unmatched excellence and incomparable virtuosity brought India a string of Olympic gold medals. The brilliant Indians brought a touch of black magic to their play and the ball juggling feats of the Indians were a sheer delight.
The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won six consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
This was the time India dominated world hockey and none of the teams could match the quality that was seen in Indian Hockey. The score lines like 12-0, 15-0 was very common for the matches won by India. Zillions of hockey fans all over the world idolized the Dyanchand’s and the Mukesh Kumar’s- the magicians with sticks.
When we look at all this, we proudly say that India dominated World Hockey. However, when we see the condition of Indian hockey today, one would really question, was India ever a superpower in world hockey?
Indian hockey in last decade has gone from bad to worst. The situation of the Indian Hockey can be summed up by the fact that the team has seen as many as eleven coaches in last ten years! Moreover, rumours are now spreading that the IHF is now eyeing to hire another foreign coach in place of current coach of the team, Rajinder Singh Jr. We really cannot blame the coaches for the dismal show put on by the National team. The IHF should give the coaches a long time span to spend with the team. Before the coaches adjust to the conditions in Indian Hockey, they are sacked. The IHF needs to change its policy to hire coaches for a tournament or two and should give them long-term contracts.
Also to be blamed are the players for the downfall of Indian Hockey. It is seen very often that the players tend to play for themselves rather than playing for the team. The unity in the Indian Hockey team is not visible and this is one of the major reasons for India not winning the matches.

The present situation in the domestic hockey circuit is also a shame for Indian Hockey. The fracas between players of Namdhari XI and Indian Oil Corporation in the recently concluded Jawaharlal Nehru Tournament where there was fight between the two sides, so bad that the teams hit eachother with hockey sticks. Whatever be the provocation, this is symbolic of the malaise that is creeping into competitive hockey, especially in this country.
Even to be blamed are the younger generation of the country. The sport has hardly seen any faces from the metros of the country. Remote areas of Punjab like Sansarpur have given the sport as many as nine players who have represented India at the Olympics.
But why bother so much about hockey? Cricket is now our national obsession. Cricket has real stars that make us feel good with their performances, even if the Indian cricket team ranks in the bottom half of the world rankings, just above Bangladesh, Kenya and Zimbabwe. What is the big deal about hockey? Who plays hockey, anyway?
That, precisely, is the issue. Indian hockey's decline coincided with the arrival of live television and big sponsorship money. A sporting 'product' was needed to sell those wares, to consume the sponsors' and the advertisers' money, and Indian hockey did not make the grade. It had no Gavaskar, no Kapil Dev.
The hockey establishment too was happy to let things drift. If there was anything they hated more than losing, it was the hockey star. So the moment one reared his head, it was squashed. In addition, the basic principle of modern sport is no stars, no cash.
We need to change our thinking to see India get medals again at the Olympics. We have to give our National Sport the importance it deserves. Only then, the glorious years for Indian Hockey will return…

A Horrible Week...

2006-02-17T15:12:00.001+05:30

well, u can say that this is one of the reasons why i have started the blog... i badly wanted to share my thoughts wid someone... this has been a horrible week for me. my childhood friend, Varun passed away on Sunday... i lost my second childhood friend in a span of six months... this is terrible... how can god end a life of a person who has just started to live his life?? God is a mean kid now... now i have lost four of my friends in two years... i wonder is there something wrong with me?? am i unlucky for my friends?? who knows? i know just advise people 'please dont be to close to me or else...'

my first blog...

2006-02-17T15:12:00.000+05:30

finally guys! always thoght of maintaining a diary for myself, but never succeeded... well have my blog now to put up my thoughts on various issues and will try to update it regularly... expect more of the Sports related stuff...