Thursday, August 21, 2008

Can india produce a phelps or a bolt

Watched the cnn-ibn coverage of sushil's kumar's residence in delhi yesterday.The place was inhuman, with twenty people being crammed into one room with just a bed for each trainee there. There is no gym, no food specialist, no tv nothing even remotely resembling a decent living place let alone a training place for national sportsmen. Contrast that with our cricketers being paid crores for loosing their pants everywhere and playing politics more than cricket. Yes this is an age old complaint but i did not realise the extent of it till now. These guys [the wrestlers,boxers and the others]dont want to be pampered like the cricketers all they want is a decent training facility and they promise to bring glory. Is this too much for our government to provide?Why try to outdo each other in doling out rewards to a medal winner [yes these guys deserve the adualtion they get but then rewarding only the winner and leaving the other thousands in the same old situation leaves me a bit sick] when this money and attention should have been given to the guys long before when they are preparing for these events.

Akhil kumar in his interview after the quaterfinal bout loss,said if one of the two remaining boxers win a medal my pain is nothing. I was really touched by this spirit of sportsmanship and love for the country. Men and women like him have to be cherished and not left to rot in obscurity.I serioulsy hope that some corporate group takes up the baton for indian sports becoz i dont think the babus give a shit about any of this.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Premier League Opening Weekend

Almost all the teams in the league are under one transfer saga or the other.For Liverpool it is alonso and Barry, ManU its Berbatov and Ronaldo,Arsenal one long transfer period where every player was linked with every club and vice
versa,Chelsea were under a cloud with regards to Lampard,Drogba and Carvalho but its been more or less resolved now.

And it showed on the pitch too,they were easily the best team amongst the top four in the opening weekend and if they keep this team fit for the season i think its going to be really hard to beat them in any of the competitions but they lack a bit in depth so ManU might still pip them to it again.Liverpool's crazy lusting after Barry i cannot understand cause they need a decent winger and having seen Jonas play for Newcastle i dont know how rafa missed such a gem.Without a decent winger or two,Liverpool do look a little flat.Arsenal's unwillingness to spend money is going to cost them,i mean i could understand when he did not buy anyone after that unbeaten season but now with flamini,gilberto and diarra all leaving in the last six months i think they need a holding midfielder and a good central defender.

The spurs have been most active in the market but there seems to be little direction in their buys,they have one striker in bent[this is not a joke] with berba laving soon and though their midfield and defense is better than their north london rivals without a good striker they will lose the plot very soon.

Amongst other teams Aston Villa,Newcastle and Borough look like this season's also rans.But right now Chelsea are the team to beat.Lets see what happens in the remaining two weeks,hope Liv gets in a good winger[sionko looked damn impressive to me in the euro's and riera is another good option] and spurs get in a good striker or two[personally i would prefer pavlyuchenko and mccarthy] and newcastle get in a good attacking midfielder and a left back[warnock and inler preferrable] and arsenal get no one in.That would make the season really interesting.