Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Gulliver and Lilliput :)

A pleasant moment during the gentleman era of cricket

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My Favourite Indian Sportsman

I have loved following sports right from my early childhood days. I was in my 2nd standard then and kept pestering my father to tell me the scores of cricketers in the cricket matches. That was when he showed me how to look for the scores in the newspaper (my love for the news paper is immense and I guess it deserves an article solely for it, hope to write it some other day). That was when my interest in sports began. I’ve followed all the sports covered by the newspapers and the television since the early 1990s. Only when the media highlights a sport do we get to know the players or teams playing the sport and form our opinion about them. So I am bound to neglect players who belong to lesser known sports. For instance Carroms is a field in which India has often produced world champions but we know little about them because of the poor media coverage. Therefore the choice of my favourite Indian sportsperson is restricted to players from the early 90s till the present time in the so called ‘mainstream’ sports.

The players who I feel have made India proud include Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble in cricket, Dhanraj Pillay and N. Mukesh Kumar in hockey, I.M. Vijayan and Baichung Bhutia in football, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza in tennis, Vishwanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, P. Harikrishna and K. Sasikiran in chess, P.T. Usha and Anju Bobby George in athletics, P. Gopichand in badminton, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Jaspal Rana, Anjali Bhagwat, Abhinav Bindra, Mansher Singh and Gagan Narang in shooting, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa in golf and Kunjarani Devi and K. Malleshwari in weightlifting. I’m sure I must’ve missed out quite a few names but I guess, I’ve covered the most important ones in recent times.

Now on to the main topic –My favourite Indian Sportsman is Leander Paes. I’ve been following him play tennis since a long time as his playing career began during the time I started following sports and is now almost coming to an end. Paes has been the best Indian men’s tennis player in the past two decades. He was the junior world no. 1 in tennis and won the junior Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles. He has also performed well in the ATP circuit achieving success mainly in doubles where he has won 7 grand slam titles. He was also the no.1 ranked payer in men’s doubles. However the achievement which sets him apart from the others is the fact that he won the Bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was also instrumental in helping India reach the Davis Cup semifinals in 1993 and also performed very well in many other Davis Cup ties.

Now one might say that many Indian sportspersons have achieved much more than him. For example Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the best batsman of our era; Vishy Anand is the world no. 1 in chess, Rajyavardhan Rathore got a silver medal in the Athens Olympics and many other players have also had great accomplishments. But when you look at other players you realize that they are all amongst the most talented in their respective fields. Leander, though the best Indian tennis player is not among the top most tennis players in the world. Though he did not achieve much success in singles tennis when playing individual tennis, whenever it came to playing as a team for the country he made a mockery of the rankings and time and again caused upsets which many would consider impossible. If people see his Davis Cup achievements, they will surely realize what I mean. His bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics was India’s first after 1980 Olympics. Such extraordinary achievements while playing for the country can be done only by people who truly love their country. This is the main reason which makes me feel that he is the greatest among the current Indian sportspersons.

Friday, June 01, 2007

My favourite sportsperson

I guess it was June 1992. I was only seven then. We had only one TV channel at that time, the Doordarshan. It was the final of the Wimbledon that year, between Goran Ivanisevic, one of the best serve and volleyers tennis has ever seen and Andre Agassi. It was from that time that I became a fan of Agassi. Guess it was more to do with his style- the trademark ponytail and his charisma rather than his play because not many seven year olds can understand the game completely and I was one among those many. It was a closely fought match and I remember jumping and clapping with joy when he won the match and and just lay there on the grass tears streaming from his eyes.

Agassi is rated as one the best baseliners and the best returner of serve ever by many tennis critics. He is one among only five players to have won all the four grand slams and the only one to win them on three different surfaces showing his versatility. He won eight grand slams and seventeen masters titles. These figures alone are enough to make anyone like a sportsman. But the main reason my respect for him grew was because he won more than half his titles making a comeback after having lost his focus in sport. We all face ups and downs in life and that is what his career graph also shows- When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Whenever I saw him playing, I saw it from the eyes of a seven year old who never wanted his hero to get bashed up. At that time I forgot about my love and admiration of the game and only wanted Agassi to win. The only reason I dislike Pete Sampras and Roger Federer is that if they hadn’t been there, he would’ve won more grand slam titles. People may think that I’m fickle minded but if they think like a seven year old I’m sure they will understand. When he lost his final match at the Flushing Meadows, most of the spectators in the stadium wept. Among the many persons who were saddened at his retirement was a twenty two year old but I think the main reason for me being sad was not the retirement of my hero but the retirement of the seven year old child within me.

My comeback post!

I’ve been inactive after my first post for so long(8 months!) that I don’t even remember having written it. Well this is how final year of MBBS is. One has no time for anything except studies, studies and studies and facing one exam after another. I finished my exams just yesterday and feel as if I’ve been released from jail after rigorous imprisonment. I guess it is going to take time to get used to the newly found freedom. Now that the exams are over, while waiting for my results (may Allah grant me success), I think I can pursue the activities I like for some time and enjoy my holidays and yes, start writing on my blog

Monday, October 30, 2006

WHY I ENTERED THE BLOGOSPHERE

I have been thinking of starting a blog for a long time now. The reason my friends give for starting a blog is that blogging is in fashion. Even I feel the same way but for me the most important reason to start blogging is to understand myself better because once I think about an issue and I write about it , I will be able to analyse myself better . Another reason is that my friends and family will be able to understand what I stand for and more importantly the reason for such a stand.
I am an avid fan of sports and like following politics and current affairs . I just love reading especially newspapers. I do get many thoughts in my mind and feel strongly about certain things. I wish to express these issues and also want to know what others feel about it. I think there is no better way to let the world about me than starting a blog.