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The QUOTE of All quotes: <b>"Its so much easier to shoot Pakistani terrorists, its like a turkey shoot." </b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->

India's Pratima fails dope test, suspended <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>From every official falling over each other either to give an interview on how Rajyavardhan Rathore's success was a matter of pride for India, the same ones were now scurrying for cover as the Pratima disgrace unfolded. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Blame game: India excels <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Malleshwari cheated us

Finally, one braveheart Indian

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Between the two times she was stretchered off the Olympic Stadium, Hyderabad's J J Shobha ran the race of her life. The Olympics are abundant with intense, braveheart stories and the Indian heptathlete's courageous effort in Athens will add another page to the history of the Games.

Shobha tripped and injured her left leg during her second attempt in the javelin on Saturday. She was in excruciating pain and had to be carried off after collapsing in the pit. Only a reckless punter would have wagered on her returning for the last event — the 800 metres.


Shobha was originally not listed to run and the giant scoreboard at the Olympic stadium had DNS (did not start) against her name. But there she was. "I was shocked to see her in the warm-up area," confessed Carolina Kluft, the heptathlon winner from Sweden. "I didn't think she'd be able to walk, forget run."

After the first lap, she was last among the eight runners. Then she picked up pace, and the audience warmed to her.
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If this hasn't already been posted.

<b>An Eternally Faltering Flame</b>

Despite its billion-plus population, India is always an also-ran at the Olympics
BY ALEX PERRY

My problem with this kind of characterization is - let me see if i can word this properly - how about a sentence..

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->US, world's biggest super power, is pathetic at playing marbles/khokho/tops/kochamni..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

marbles = kanche (hindi) = lakhoti (gujju).

1. Now should the US feel ashamed of this ?
2. Does/Should the US even care about this ?

Duh !!!

Chill rajesh_g.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->US, world's biggest super power, is pathetic at playing marbles/khokho/tops/kochamni..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Anything by Alex Perry on the world biggest brightest super duper hyper airforce trashed by couple of those IAF pilots used to flying outdated flying-coffins ?

If I remember correctly, Alex Perry had some issues with his passport and his job at India desk of Time. Guess those problems have disappeared.

Rajesh ji, while you make a good point on US playing marbles, you should also ask the question, <b>If India (and Indians) do not care for Olympics or Paralympics, then why bother even contesting with such a large battalion?</b>

As much as I disapprove Alex Perry's bias against India, (his Vajpayee Whiskey article is still fresh in my mind), I do find this article worth reading. I am sure most Indians will get defensive about their shoddy performance in Sports, but we have ourselved to blame for being the butt of the joke.

Perry's unkindest remarks come in his last paragraph. It's a big OUCH..

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Perhaps then India's oversized and underfunded squad <b>serves a purpose in these humorless days of professional sports</b> and all the science, diets and doping the era brings. It reminds us that at least one nation remembers the spirit in which the modern Olympics were founded—as <b>a contest among amateurs.</b> And that taking part, <b>however haplessly</b>, is the thing that counts. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Alex does ask quite a few questions that are on everyone's minds:

(*) Aside from a handful of lesser Olympians, India had chosen Bollywood stars and cricketers as the guardians of sports' supreme icon.

(*) India's finest actor, Aamir Khan, outfitted for his latest role as a 19th century anti-British mutineer with shoulder-length hair and a handlebar moustache, jogging with the futuristic metallic torch.

(*) Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, kitted out in a white tracksuit, giggling with her boyfriend, actor Vivek Oberoi.

(*) Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev paunchily puffing his way past New Delhi's Red Fort

(*) Statistics like "India has no football team worthy of the name, ranking 142nd in the world, behind the Maldives (population. 339,330)."

(*) 78 athletes for 28 sports—significantly bigger than the average Olympic team of 53—and a host of officials, trainers, masseurs and managers.


The above comments, though unkind, are not untrue. The problem is not one of incompetence, but that of complacence. Indians do not expect their Olympics team to win anything. It is almost given expectation that there will be ZERO medals, and that any medal won will be the pride of India.

Remember Balarama, Bhima, Dhuryodhana, Keechaka, Dritharastra, Jarachanda, Chaanura and other Mallas (Wrestlers) ? If not other sports, what happened to the tradition of Malla-Yuddham in India ?

inshallah woh subah kabhi to aayegi.

meanwhile........

Sports Ministry sacks weightlifting coaches

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Union Sports Ministry today sacked national weightlifting coach Pal Singh Sandhu and also the foreign coach Leonid Taranenko.

"We felt that with whatever happened, and the way the country took this incident with great shame, even they should have felt the same way. But they didn't even bother to inform the ministry," said Sports Minister Sunil Dutt.

"These people were appointed by the Sports Ministry, and they don't even care for our sentiments and the sentiments of the people. So we felt that such people are not required any more," he added.

After returning to India from Athens, Pratima Kumari had alleged that the coaches had misguided her. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Mr. Dutt, the entire IOA needs a major overhaul. Please do so.

Fans want netas out of sports

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But India is losing patience with losers and those responsible — especially with the latter. An opinion poll conducted for the Sunday Hindustan Times by C-fore shows that clearly.

Most respondents blamed the losses on those running sports in the country: mostly politicians. They said politicians should get out of sports and leave it to those who know.

And guess who they thought know most about sports and winning? The Army. Could it have anything to do with Major Rajyavardhan Rathore's silver — the only medal for a country of over one billion people?

The country wants to win now — check the response to the question that is it enough to participate in the Games and not win anything — only 19 per cent agreed The rest — a huge 78 per cent want to see medals.

The HT-C fore poll's other clear message is this: win, but don't cheat. An overwhelming 83 per cent of respondents said doping should be made a punishable crime. The Pratimas and the Chanus, please note.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


No dork, it was the lifting coach.

After watching yesterday night 4x400 relay final, Indian women team were physically weak and lack stamina. After race they just collapsed/ sat on track while other athletes were walking and cheering each other.
Indian team definitely have good run despite passing of baton was horrible.

Indian origin Mohini Bharadwaj, US women Gymnastics captain performance was excellent. Proper training programme can do wonder.

Dope: Dutt was in the dark

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Do sports administrators deserve the disgrace they are getting for India's disastrous performance at the Olympics? Sample this and draw your own conclusions: Sports Minister Sunil Dutt was in Athens when the doping scam that shamed the country hit the weightlifting contingent. But in their wisdom, officials in the know kept the minister out of the loop.

Sports Ministry sources said without caring to inform Dutt, officials sent Pratima back to India on a late-night flight. In fact, Dutt remained oblivious of Sanamacha Chanu failing the dope test even after he returned home on August 18.

It was only on August 20 —when TV channels began airing Pratima's interviews — that Dutt was informed about the incident during a function at a hotel.

Dutt then decided to terminate the services of the two weightlifting coaches, Pal Singh Sandhu and Leonid Taranenko of Belarus. Normally, such decisions are taken by the sports body concerned.

Dutt was also of the view that instead of sending Pratima back in a clandestine manner, the officials should have let her clarify her position before the World Anti-Doping Agency that conducted the test.
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The incompetence of the Indian sports authorities was always out in the open, itsjust that nobody cared about it before.

Now the Olympics are over, we can either forget about all this and wait till 2008, or the Government uses the 4 years to lay a foundation of accountability in the sports federations.

I know couple of incidences, where sport authority personal asked participant/players to pay for coach and traveling officials.
When Indian and state government gave scholarship to player, school authority or sport teacher decided to pocket yearly scholarship.
Even in Delhi Asiads couple of players paid their coaches so that they can represent India.

No gold or lack of medal is any surprise

Forget it at the national level.

At my college , they do not provide transport , nor sanction leave for the football team , or volleyball team.Rule has it that they are to be a stipend of Rs.50 for a day per palyer when playing for a district zone.
And it is the same case in *every* college and school in this country.

Everybody wants to finish a course, get a job , go to work , earn their bread,get back home sleep and moan about the sad state of this country.

Reminds me of a Poem by Subramania Bharathiar in tamil.
"Thedi sooru nitham thindru...."

We Indians have many things hanging upside down at the grass roots level.

Sacked coaches say Chanu clean, Pratima had a drink too many

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The mystery of when and how weightlifters Sanamacha Chanu and Pratima Kumari took illegal substances that led to their expulsion from the Olympic Games will require a team of psychologists and detectives to crack. Because the disgraced coaches, Leonid Taranenko and Pal Singh Sandhu, have virtually cleared one and condemned the other.

While Sandhu, the chief national coach, clears Chanu of wrongdoing and hints at sabotage, foreign expert coach Taranenko says Pratima tested positive for alcohol consumption while training in Belarus and indicates her personal coach Ramesh Malhotra may be an accessory to her doping.

Both coaches, incidentally, are responsible for both lifters — and both have had their contracts with the Sports Ministry terminated. The entire issue is now being investigated by the KP Singh Deo Committee.

Sandhu’s report, to the Teams Wing of the Sports Authority of India, fails to answer how traces of banned diuretics were found in Chanu’s urine samples after the competition. It merely says that Chanu, having kept her body weight in check all through her training period in Minsk and after reaching Athens, didn’t need to take diuretics to reduce her body weight.

It implies one of two things: that Chanu doped herself between the random test and her competition or, as the lifter herself alleged, was the victim of sabotage.

Chanu had alleged, after the news broke, that someone had mixed something in a drink before the comeptition. She was sharing the room with fellow Indian lifters at Athens.

Pratima, on the other hand, had blamed her fall on Taranenko and Karnam Malleswari. She said she went to Belarus against her wishes and there she was administered close to 25-30 injections.

Taranenko — currently at the NIS, Patiala — also mentions another incident that took place at Minsk. During a warm-up session, Pratima’s mouth ‘‘was not smelling normal’’. When asked, she told the coaches that she had taken ayuvedic medicines.

‘‘The test report was shocking as her blood contained 1.07 per cent alcohol content, which is very high concentration’’, Taranenko’s report says. ‘‘It is no good for lifter to take alcohol during training as it can cause serious injury and trauma.’’

Pratima, when contacted today, denied the alcohol-related allegation, saying it was not possible for any lifter to consume alcohol.

She stuck to her allegations against her coaches and said that Taranenko was now trying to blame her in a bid to come out clean in the entire episode.

She said that she’d been getting threatening calls asking her not to pursue her case with the Union Sports Ministry and remain silent.
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<!--emo&:mad--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Kalam's big idea to win Olympics

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->President APJ Abdul Kalam has said he was worried about India's poor performance at the Olympics and wants a two-pronged strategy to produce future medal winners - have an Army brigade dedicated to sports and groom 200 talented youngsters with potential.

Revealing that many children had written or spoken to him on opportunities available in the country for a career in sports, Kalam said he was working on his own idea to create world-class Indian sportspersons.

"Imagine if every year the government adopts 200 young children of age up to 15 years, and grooms them in sports, they can build it up as a career. Some countries are already following this practice, and they get a lot of gold," he said.

"Some countries also use armed forces. If our Army decides to use one brigade only for sports, we will have arrived in the international sports scene. These are the two ideas I am developing," Kalam added.
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I must say this is a really horrible idea - sorry wrong word - the right word is stupid. Is army some kind of a panacea ? Whats next an army brigade to groom politicians ?

Why dont we get the BCCI to market cricket better and build a professional sports infrastructure around cricket ? Other sports can latch on to it - it will generate a lot of employment and profits. Despite such popularity there is hardly any professional league in sight - does anybody even know who was the Ranji Champion ?

Lets face it desi parents are not going to promote kids to take up sports professionally until sports becomes a viable profession - we just dont have that attitude right now. So if we are really serious about building a sports industry, cricket is our best bet. Do whatever it takes (make cricket gambling official) and spread the word around - let there be a Sachin in every state..

Why dont we get folks like these together and setup a good cricket league ?

Subash Chandra bats for sport

Nana shoots from screen to silver medal
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> INDORE: The spotlight turned once again on Nana Patekar at the 48th National Shooting Championships at the BSF's Reoti Range on Saturday. The actor won a silver in the Pre-Nationals 300m big-bore event. The day also saw him better his best by four points in the 50m rifle prone when he shot 557/600.

The day's only final, the 10m air pistol, was delayed till late in the evening because of time taken to tabulate points.
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The 36th Chess Olympiad is in progress. While the sheep watch cricket, here's something for us discerning and cerebral sports fans <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Standings after Round 3:
Olympiad standings site

Mens
1 Ukraine 12.0
2 Israel 10.5
3 Bulgaria 10.5
4 Russia 10.5
5 Azerbaijan 9.5
6 Armenia 9.5
7 Bosnia Herzegovina 9.5
8 Scotland 9.5
<b>9 India 9.0</b>
10 Canada 9.0

Womens
1 Germany 8.5
2 China 8.5
3 United States 7.5
4 Russia 7.5
5 Hungary 7.5
6 Netherlands 7.0
7 Poland 7.0
8 Ukraine 7.0
9 England 7.0
10 Sweden 7.0
<b>11 India 7.0</b>

The Indian men are seeded 5th, and the women, 6th. The men's team is
(board, title, name, ELO, nationality)
1 GM Anand Viswanathan 2781 IND
2 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2668 IND
3 GM Harikrishna Pentala 2612 IND
4 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2559 IND
GM Kunte Abhijit 2550 IND
GM Sandipan Chanda 2543 IND

Women's team:
1 GM Koneru Humpy 2503 IND
2 IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman 2411 IND
3 WGM Harika Dronavalli 2391 IND
WGM Mohota Nisha 2286 IND
(Source)

With Anand in the team, and with him, Sasikiran and Harikrishna on the top three boards, we should do very well - top 5 hopefully. If we do, it would be our best ever standing. Anand is also the highest rated GM in the fray, with Alexander Morozevich (Russia) being 2nd. Kasparov, Karpov and Kramnik are not participating. Humpy is also debuting in the Olympiad, and is one of the only five GMs in the womens event, the others being Xie Jun (China), Zsuzsa Polgar (Hungary), Maya Chiburdanidze (Georgia) and Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria).

FIDE World Rankings
1 Kasparov, Garry g RUS 2813
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2781
3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2760
4 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2758
5 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2757
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2743
7 Adams, Michael g ENG 2740
8 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2735
9 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2728
10 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2726