Incredible India Wins First Gold in Beijing

Truly a glorious moment for Indian Sports. Hope this is just the beginning of India having a presence in International Sports. Abhinav Bindra ended the 28 year drought by bringing Gold to India.

What was even more surpirising was some beat me to updating his wikipedia entry :)

Hooray!!!

So India beat Bhutan in overtime in Soccer. The entire population of Bhutan including the king of Bhutan were at hand and seated in the first row in the stadium to see the mighty Indians given them a 2-1 drubbing. The King accepted defeat and hinted that the Bhutanese goalkeeper's reflexes were not good enough to stop the Indian goal in the last minute. He suggested the queen might undergo extensive goalkeeper training from Schumacher in Germany. Prasanetajit Banerjee the victorious captain of the Indian team was overheard growling to the Bhutanese captain "You better start training your 3 month old baby prince right away if you want to stand a chance against my battletested Indian Tigers in the next Good for Nothing championships".

At last something to cheer about!!

It was a tough day at work. Deciding to take a breather, I opened my news feed and voila a news item stared at my face that made my day. It was almost as if God custom wrote that news article to cheer me up. So without further ado I would like to share the article with my massive blog audience. I know, I know you think I am being sarcastic. But seriously, don't you think being better than Maldives a country of 14 people is something to be proud of. Falling a mere 6 places from the 148th place to the 154th place in the heavily competitive sport of World soccer in my dictionary calls for opening up the champagne bottle. I would like to start an online campaign to include soccer along with hockey as our twin national sports. Any takers??

Australia gives it back to murali

Muralitharan had a knack of foxing the aussies with his doosra. Not having a sound reply on the field they decided to take him off the field. So they decided to toss eggs on him when he was walking the streets of Hobart.
So take that Murali, you give us ducks and we give you eggs! Continue the sporting tradition Aussies!!

Spot the similarity.

Who knew growing long hair was a symbol of unruliness? It appears that Shoaib Akhtar, M.S.Dhoni etal are going for a chop of their locks. This is supposedly indicative of more responsible behavior on their part. Sreesanth, where does that leave you?

Sidhuism

Navjot Singh Sidhu is famous for his quotes which are typically packed with punch and laced with humor. Here is what he had to say about the three versions of Cricket, Test, One Day and 20-20.

Comparing the various forms of cricket with music, Sidhu said, "Test cricket is like classical music which has survived since ancient ages. One-dayers are like film music that leaves people enthralled and T20 cricket is like disco and rap which provides occasional pleasure in short bursts."

The Australian Juggernaut

When it comes to Cricket it would be fair to say that the Australians are the undisputed champions of the world. Save for a period when the West Indies under Clive Lloyd did the unthinkable, the australians have pretty much dominated this sport. Gavaskar nailed the reason for this supremacy. Here is what he had to say

Just about every cricketing country has tried to copy the Australian system and its method, but the fact remains that it’s unique and pretty much inimitable because those who pull-on the Aussie cap have that ‘X’-factor, self-confidence and a mateship that no coaching manual can ever teach.

Have not been much of a Gavaskar fan but it's hard to disagree on this assessment.

India beats India

Ok, call me crazy but India did beat india in the 20-20 semi finals according to rediff. Here's the clip.

Powered by a gusty knock from Yuvraj Singh , India turned in an inspired performance to beat India by 15 runs and storm into the final of the Twenty20 World Cup in Durban on Saturday night.

Even an esteemed site like rediff got carried away given the unexpected outcome of this game. The more you think about it maybe the writing was not a faux-pas. Possibly India had to defeat it's own lack of confidence to start shining. This victory is hopefully only the beginning. Chak de India!!!!

Yahoo! Microsoft and Cricket

If you are into cliffhanger's the India-Pak 20-20 cricket match was definitely a treat. You can follow all the 20-20 action you want in this microsite
It appears that Yahoo! is doing it's bit to promote cricket (BTW does anybody need to promote cricket in India I wonder!). So it seems like Google is a bit behind on this given that Microsoft has had it's share of cricketing limelight as well

Sports Galore.

This weekend proved to be a bumper bonanza for sports lovers. Here are the games I keenly followed

1. India vs South Korea: It looked like the women of Chak de India have rubbed some of the fire they showed on screen off screen to their male counterparts. The Indian team gave a 7-2 drubbing to the Asian tigers (Yes, I know there are no tigers in south korea but they are still considered the Asian tigers). In any case the Indian team was flawless winning all their games in the Asia Cup. I am no fan of K.P.S.Gill but hopefully with this victory the focus will be less on politics and more on this beautiful game. I have officially redefined who will henceforth be called an Asian tiger.
2. Roger Federer delivered in what is becoming a routine effort to win the US open. It has been a while since I watched serious tennis but this US open was a real treat. Fedex as he is popularly called for his rocket serves played such great tennis even when he was pushed against the wall to possibly become the greatest tennis player ever.
3. The NFL season is back in full swing. The Patriots have become deadly because of the lethal combination of Tom Brady and Randy Moss. They made mincemeat of the Jets. I am predicting "Brady-Moss-Touchdown" will become a commentary we will get to hear very often.

It's just not cricket

While Indian cricketers flounder in England, a lone Badminton star Sridhar did India proud by beating the World number one in the World Badminton Championship and reaching the quarter finals. I was appalled to read an article where this one in a billion ace was seeking sponsors. I know life is not fair but this in spite of our cricketers embarassing the country time and time again.... Well, it's just not cricket.

Dravid prefers an upset Zaheer

Today was yet another historic moment for Indian Cricket. I wish such moments are not historic and just routine or maybe it would'nt be so special if it becomes so routine :)

It was nice to hear Dravid remark the following.

"If he is going to do so well everytime after he gets upset, I would rather like him to be upset"


It appears that Indian cricketers do well when they are upset. So instead of a coach what we really need is someone to upset them. Maybe this video will kindle your memories on what I mean.