The Sports-India Community

Gene Pool? With all due respect to the great Akhtar Ali, I think he should comment about tennis and not speak about genetics so confidently. I have always wondered why the gene pool is so important only for Indian atheletes and not so elsewhere in the world. What I am implying is that in India a ten...

Irritating indeed. The 'phoren' accent is definitely an acquired one, but I have a hard time acquiring a taste for it! :( It's an 'eewent', the first in 'Ishia', which will be an 'extra waganza' in a 1 lakh 70 'thhhousand' 'dollar' 'Tornament' & yes Bhupati will play doubles 'Tornament' with 'Ki...

Looks like an Indian...Talks like an Indian (speculation)...Plays under Indian colors...must be an Indian! See Picture here: http://www.byucougars.com/tennis_w/profiles/00000001315_wten.html Women's Tennis Athlete Profile - Khushchehr Italia, 5-8, So. Los Angeles, California Before BYU: Was ranked s...

Ravishankar got cramps due to heat & dehydration and the other kid didn't? What's wrong with this picture? Hope he goes back home and works on his diet and fitness. Granted 40 deg. is hot, Indian kids need to realize if you are fit you can use the heat to your advantage, particularly if you plan...

I think we should invent a new surface. Here is my suggestion. Use Indian clay, reinforce it with grass fibers and roll it with a heaviest roller we can find in to a hard court. Then ask the Swedes to hold their noses, while we spread the best quality dung from organically fed cows while the Swedes ...

Guys....it shouldn't matter where the kids come from... small villages, mega cities or Ludhiana. When a national program is not meeting nation's expectations you will hear comments like this. And you will agree, we have a long way to go before we can call our program a success. Hunger to win is disp...

Guys, Its OK to get upset over Guarav's comments. He may have defined the problem in a worng way. However, I am all for it, if these words come as 'kick in the pants' for the players and point of debate for the tennis officiandos in the country. We need that. His comments are not too far from the di...

Kumar, Thanks for the compliment. As you know, the English language has lots of words...and when I run out of those I will use Indian language words. I speak multiple. When I am out of those....hmmm....I can always recycle! :D Then again, I may not live that long! Varma, Although there may be overla...

Way to go Lee & Kash, Bring on the Indian Express! Hope we finish off the Uzbecks on the grass without any hiccups tomorrow. Make it 5-0 and then we should treat the Uzbecks at the Bukhara in Delhi and see them off to their home. I am very amused by the silly controversy over questions raised ab...

Lee playing in singles is a good move, although his lack of singles match practice is a major concern. However, grass is Lee's best surface (not India's). So he has an edge there. In addition, the Lee that shows up at Davis Cup is a far different person from the one on the circuit. Home court and th...

Jay, Use of Internet for posting scores and palyer rankings in my mind anyway, is rudimentary use of teh internet. There are panwallas in Mumbai who take orders on the internet...true ancient business run off of eCommerce system. What I meant was the use of the internet to communicate and monitor th...

PKBasu, The difference between then and now is opportunities for the players, which are very closely linked to the nation's economic well being, particularly in a democratic country like India. During the time of the Krishnans & the Amritrajs there could have been 50 players who could have been ...

Jay, Thanks for the 'food for thought' and a thorough reality check. I can not say that I have a lot of specific examples of AITA mis-steps. I am definitely not in a position to pinpoint any blame on any specific individual. Your thoughts are not advocating for the devil at all. You have indeed give...

Jay, Completely agree with you that in this case, we must get the facts before jumping on AITA. No argument there. However, I am talking about the systemic problem of one goof up or another. Perhaps not the creation of AITA, but happens under their watch. Do they do any fact finding and make sure th...

Jaideep, Wishful thinking :) Grass is not any greener on Jaipur's side of the fence! Delhi is an excellent site for simulating Jaipur grass courts. Delhi pollution is slightly higher than Jaipur's but everything else is very close. I wish the Indian players had longer practises on grass than what th...