Sunday, March 30, 2008
Anxious wait for Mohammad Yousuf
The hearing in the matter of Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf's dispute with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) was concluded on March 29 and the Arbitrator Dr. Saraf (Retd), Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, reserved the judgement after hearing both parties.
In the meanwhile, the interim injunction restraining Yousuf from participating in any rival league of the ICL, such as the Indian Premier League (IPL), still stays and he cannot play for the BCCI-backed venture just yet.
[Posted by Y]
Friday, March 28, 2008
How to treat your guest? IHF shows the way
How do you treat your guest?
If you do not know, then follow in the footsteps of the Indian Hockey Federation.
Ric Charlesworth is one of the legends of the game with the experience of five Olympics and coaching the Australian women's team to two Olympic golds. Besides, he is a doctor and a former domestic cricketer of Western Australia. Moreover, he was a High Performance Manager with New Zealand Cricket, an ex-MP and a motivational speaker.
He was appointed as the Technical Advisor of Indian hockey. But the IHF snubbed him, treated him like an untouchable. He roamed around the country for four months to assess the situation.
Then, on the insistence of an insecure Joaquim Carvalho, the coach of the Indian team, the Aussie legend was not given a ticket to Chile to accompany the team for the Olympics qualifiers and was left stranded in Perth.
After India missed out on a berth in the Olympics for the first time in 80 years, the IHF started to lick its wounds and under the heavy media scrutiny finally gave a ticket to Charlesworth to come back to India.
But his plight was not over. He was stationed at Hotel Rajdoot -- a well-known shady joint in Delhi -- and was kept on tenterhooks by not being invited for a proper meeting for long hours.
The IHF preferred to talk to the Sports Ministry officials and unilaterally decided to keep Charlesworth away from the men's senior team. It was decided that he be given the charge of only the junior sides.
Later, when Charlesworth said no to the offer after learning the news from the media, IHF invited him to Gill's house after being "arm-twisted" by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
And what did they provide him for conveyance? An old Maruti Omni, into which both Charlesworth and FIH's Bob Davidzon squeezed themselves to travel for the important meetings. It's an irony because a few comfortable vehicles were parked at Gill's house round the clock.
All this go on to show the mean attitude of the IHF towards a foreigner and above all a guest. At least, they should nurture the commonsense that they are representing the country and by such foolish acts they are only depicting a poor picture of India to the world.
[Posted by Y]
Thursday, March 27, 2008
India gives up 2011 World Junior TT bid to Bahrain
Bahrain is to host the 2011 World Junior Table Tennis Championships after India withdrew from the bidding proces on the request of the Asian Table Tennis Federation (ATTF).
"On the request of the ATTF, we withdrew from the bidding process and unanimously decided to give Bahrain the chance," said Dhanraj Choudhary, Technical Committee chairman at the Table Tennis Federation of India(TTFI).
"It was our goodwill gesture towards ATTF as the federation had earlier helped us in getting the 2009 Asian Championships over Kuwait," he said.
Choudhary also said that the venue of this year's Indian Open Table Tennis Championship, to be held between October 29 to November 2, had been shifted to Indore.
The inaugural Indian Open had been held in New Delhi last year.
"There is hardly any place available in Delhi as all the stadiums here are under renovation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games," Choudhary said.
[Posted by S]
Bad wrist ruins Sania Mirza's outing at Miami Masters
Just when it seemed Sania Mirza was back on track to zoom up the rankings, the tennis ace has been laid low by a chronic wrist injury.
Mirza, 21, withdrew from the $3.7 million Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Wednesday after being troubled by a wrist injury she sustained at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells last week.
The Hyderabadi player, seeded 29th in the second Masters tournament of the year, had been handed a bye in the first round with a potential showdown against nemesis Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in the third round.
Mirza's pullout was an opportune one for lucky loser Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine who won her place in the main draw.
[Posted by S]
Rohan Bopanna learns the ABC of ATP
Well, it's back to school for Rohan Bopanna. He joined 20 other tennis players including American John Isner and Thailand's Ratiwatana siblings for a 3-day ATP workshop (March 19-21) in Orlando.
The workshop covered topics including the history of the ATP, how to control personal finances, and the importance of media and promoting the sport.
ATP University has now celebrated its 700th graduate since the program began in 1990. In fact, all Division 1 ATP player members are expected to pass through the University.
But the 28-year-old Indian now has to do more on the tennis court to salvage his singles career - he's currently ranked only 328 and lost his status as India's best male player to Prakash Amritraj.
That's more than a 100 positions below a career-high of 213 achieved in July last year.
His doubles record is sparkling though and he's back at a career-high 54 on the ATP list, thanks to a quarterfinal spot at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this month partnering Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
[Posted by T]
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Australia risk losing face in cricket
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