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Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:32 pm
by Sin Hombre
prasen9 wrote:Maybe NZers are not that interested in tennis? It being a small country, the catchment pool is much smaller?
An "average" player with a ranking of around 200 will be feted more and will have a more lucrative career as an Indian than a Kiwi.

In fact, more than any other nation given our size and lack of sporting achievements. It is certainly the case for Olympic medals.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:25 am
by arjun2761
My guess is that the Mom is using threats to get more support from the NZ federation. As we know, the AITA barely supports even those as good as Yuki (a junior GS slam champion) although TNTA and perhaps some of the academies do better in India. NZ is also a far wealthier country than India with a per-capita GDP almost 25 times higher, so someone who can play club tennis in NZ (which I assume Ajeet Rai can do) should be quite capable of supporting themselves on tour for at least some time far more easily that someone in India.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:21 pm
by prasen9
Sin Hombre, agree with you fully.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun May 28, 2017 11:27 pm
by VReddy
Naiktha Bains won her first ITF Singles title ($15k) last week in Tunisia. It has been difficult transition to the Pros for her thus far though.. she is around 19.4 yrs old and is ranked around #480. Hopefully can be a top-200 player in couple of years.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 5:53 pm
by VReddy
WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open

[Q1] Naiktha Bains (AUS, 372) l Cornelia Lister (SWE, 434) 62 60
[Q2] Naiktha Bains (AUS, 372) vs (1) Ana Bogdan (ROU,110)

Small snippet on her from the media today: http://www.newindianexpress.com/pti-new ... 04676.html
Australia's Naiktha Bains, of Indian origin, provided some cheer to the home country fans as she came through her first qualifying round match.

The 19-year-old England-born girl, ranked 374th in the world, showed good touch and variety in her play to sideline Cornelia Lister of Sweden in straight sets.

Naiktha cruised to a 6-2 6-0 win against the 437th ranked Cornelia and later said she was glad to be in Mumbai and playing her maiden WTA event in India.

"It's great to be here in Mumbai and India. I arrived here on Thursday and just love this place. Both my grandparents are from Punjab and it feels nice to play here in India," said Naiktha, who was born in England and moved to Australia with her parents at the age of eight.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 8:56 pm
by jayakris
VReddy wrote: Sat Nov 18, 2017 5:53 pm
Australia's Naiktha Bains, of Indian origin, provided some cheer to the home country fans as she came through her first qualifying round match.
That is a very interesting (and nice) first name. Sounds like it is samskRtam-based, but I just cannot figure out what it could mean. Maybe just a made up word, but it sounds nice! She seems to be a pretty talented player.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:26 am
by Sin Hombre
I always assumed it was a butchered Nikita.

On a tennis note, both her and Sara Tomic have been a bit of a disappointment from an Aussie top prospect perspective. They were both considered as guaranteed top 50 players in their younger days.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 6:47 am
by sameerph
Naithika got thrashed 06 16 against Bogdan in Q2 I'm Mumbai. Similar scoreline like Pranjala against Bogdan in Q1.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:03 am
by VReddy
By the way, Naiktha is in the similar boat (for whatever her reasons maybe) as say a Neha Uberoi / Sunitha or others. Posting her (or her team's comment) on the fb page below
Athletes living abroad would be more likely to choose India if the govt allowed dual nationality. Nobody in their right mind is going to give up a USA/UK/AUS passport for an Indian only passport.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:36 pm
by jayakris
VReddy wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:03 am
Athletes living abroad would be more likely to choose India if the govt allowed dual nationality. Nobody in their right mind is going to give up a USA/UK/AUS passport for an Indian only passport.
They all say this line, but at least as far as the U.S. is concerned, it is not the end of the world if you really want to play for India. Give up the citizenship and have your parents or somebody just sponsor you to be a Green card (which can happen fairly fast in 2-3 years). Hey, I have lived on a green card in the USA for about 25 years now since I was eligible for a citizenship - and I never changed my citizenship. For almost all practical purposes, there is hardly much difference except voting rights, and having to get visas to travel to some countries. They will have to get visas to some places like Indian players have to. If you aren't even ready to apply for 3 or 4 visas a year, that you will invariably get like all Indian players - what the heck are you willing to do for India anyway?

If you really want to play for India, have sufficient respect for India to do what other Indians have to do, respect even the Indian laws that you don't like, and take some minimal trouble that so many Indians and Indian citizens residing abroad do. If they can't do that, and are not taking the time to analyze this enough to see that the sky won't fall if they become an Indian citizen, maybe they really are not the kind we Indians can look at as one of our own - one who feels he/she is an Indian. I don't really want to see India do what S.Arabia does in their sports teams with African imports. That kind of dubious glory is rather meaningless.

Admittedly, my opinions on this subject have changed a bit over time. I have written in the past rather passionately about how we shouldn't keep out players like Stephen Amritraj or Neha Uberoi who actually do have deep love for India, which I knew personally. But I also know others who didn't have much of an idea of India, like Sunitha Rao. Either way, prove to India that you can at least take some minimal trouble to get an Indian citizenship. Otherwise, too bad.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:13 pm
by Prashant
I've never understood why we don't follow the example of Japan. Almost impossible to become a naturalized citizen of Japan, EXCEPT if you're really good at sports. They fielded 4 Brazilian born guys last time they went to the WC. Indian govt should have a small exemption quota for sports people.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:57 pm
by VReddy
jayakris wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 2:36 pm
VReddy wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:03 am
Athletes living abroad would be more likely to choose India if the govt allowed dual nationality. Nobody in their right mind is going to give up a USA/UK/AUS passport for an Indian only passport.
They all say this line, but at least as far as the U.S. is concerned, it is not the end of the world if you really want to play for India. Give up the citizenship and have your parents or somebody just sponsor you to be a Green card (which can happen fairly fast in 2-3 years). Hey, I have lived on a green card in the USA for about 25 years now since I was eligible for a citizenship - and I never changed my citizenship. For almost all practical purposes, there is hardly much difference except voting rights, and having to get visas to travel to some countries. They will have to get visas to some places like Indian players have to. If you aren't even ready to apply for 3 or 4 visas a year, that you will invariably get like all Indian players - what the heck are you willing to do for India anyway?

If you really want to play for India, have sufficient respect for India to do what other Indians have to do, respect even the Indian laws that you don't like, and take some minimal trouble that so many Indians and Indian citizens residing abroad do. If they can't do that, and are not taking the time to analyze this enough to see that the sky won't fall if they become an Indian citizen, maybe they really are not the kind we Indians can look at as one of our own - one who feels he/she is an Indian. I don't really want to see India do what S.Arabia does in their sports teams with African imports. That kind of dubious glory is rather meaningless.

Admittedly, my opinions on this subject have changed a bit over time. I have written in the past rather passionately about how we shouldn't keep out players like Stephen Amritraj or Neha Uberoi who actually do have deep love for India, which I knew personally. But I also know others who didn't have much of an idea of India, like Sunitha Rao. Either way, prove to India that you can at least take some minimal trouble to get an Indian citizenship. Otherwise, too bad.

Thats an interesting view point, Jay. My viewpoints on this topic have been changing as I have been getting exposed more and more to Tech and its future. The entire globe is so connected now and the distances are shrinking so rapidly. [Earlier it would take 7 hrs to travel from my village in telangana to Hyderabd. Where now, on the same lines, I had couple of times on Friday afternoon decided to visit my Mom and it took me roughly the same time as I was able to visit her by Friday mid-night and be back in office in Zürich on Tuesday - thankfully this route flight prices don't fluctuate much]. In 20 years (by the time I start touching say 50s), we would likely have Hyperloop / similar technologies in place. It might sound absurd but 20 yrs back i.e., 1997 we were still using landline, I didn't know anyone who used Internet and so on - so it is indeed very probable. As you know, we are at the hockey stick phase vis-a-vis tech impact on our lives. Most of my colleagues from Kolkata these days prefer working in Singapore than Hyderabad as they have better connectivity from there (in addition to financial offering ofcourse).

My views are highly biased because probably I like Switzerland too. Anyway, should the Indian'ness be defined by a mere citizenship? For example - my hobbies are around travel/mountaineering/hiking/Tennis - now for me, a non-Indian passport would offer me way better options for my hobbies than Indian passport and so I don't think twice. However, I am equally passionate about trying to do my bit to where my roots are from (in addition to where i live). So as I slowly get more and more stable financially, I expect myself to pedal the gas on a slightly similar vein as an activist / Nature conversationist / Tennis or Hiking related causes (might be virtually or physically - whichever) both in India / wherever I live - for me that matters more than the passport.

Thanks to that interview thing, I had a call with Laxmi Poruri - it was clear to me from her talk that she was way more proud of her Indian Heritage / Culture / Telugu roots than I see in lot of people - which was a pleasant surprise actually. She is a US Citizen but for me, she is as Indian as anybody I know.

People might put the arguement that its unfair for a person who toiled hard in India vis-a-vis a player who came out of the USTA system but with that logic, how fair is it that a player from poor family background or coming from rural india has to compete against these new age players who are mostly getting trained in Germany / France / Spain - so there is huge difference in access within India itself and it is a delicate topic .. a bit similar to reservations in India. Probably if Poojashree had similar background / was present during these days, she would have been a top-200 player for sure.

Anyway long story short, my point is, in about 20-40 yrs, countries will become like counties/states. The powers-to-be will ensure country concept will still remain strong but I feel, still keeping the same high regard for passport/citizenship may not be as appropriate in the future. Probably I am biased and my views are different usually anyway on some of these issues.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:53 pm
by jayakris
^^^^ My thinking is no different from yours, about the world being much more of a continuum now than discrete spatial regions. I love the USA very much, and the love is very close to what I have for India. I really love Korea too, the country where I have spent the third most time, even if it was only a few months worth of time. My reason for keeping Indian citizenship is very simple, as I have said many times here. The day I feel that I will root for USA against India in a Davis Cup or in a football match, I will change my citizenship. I will root for USA against any country but India. I will root for Korea over any country but India and USA. I will be perfectly happy retiring and dying in any of these three countries too. (Sorry, I hated Switzerland every time I stepped foot there. Way too damn expensive, for one - and the attitude of the people rub me the wrong way every time; but that goes for most of Europe - but that's another discussion and I know most people don't feel like me).

And I can't say that at no point will I ever be rooting for USA against India in a Davis Cup or in a football match. It can happen, and I once thought it would happen by now too. But after 32 of my 54 years of life in the U.S., it has still not happened. So it may never happen. If I am asked where I am from, I never say California. I still say India. That is bringing out what is deep in once's mind. That should determine what country's citizen you are.

All I am saying is that one should have some personal preference for the country to root for it against every other country, for one to have that country's citizenship. Trouble in getting a visa, etc, should never be the excuse to hold another country's passport if you truly feel you are Indian. If you are truly indifferent between two countries as your most preferred ones, sure, you can keep a dual-citizenship, but I have never met any dual-citizen who think that way. They always have a basic preference, and the second citizenship is for just selfish convenience reasons.

But there are also other much more serious reasons why people may hold a different country's citizenship than that of the country that's deep in their heart - in which case, I can't fault them. Professional career and business reasons are of course there, and some country's laws would force an Indian to take the country's citizenship. Then, if somebody picks up a citizenship, for say, government healthcare or food-stamp reasons, how can we blame them? If the US president (even Mr. Trump!) asked me to be in charge (fat chance!) of the National Science Foundation or US Aid for infrastructural development in Africa, and asked me to change citizenship, I would probably do that - because I can do something much more valuable for the USA or the world, than sit and yell "go India" at a Davis Cup match to help India a bit with my yelling (which is all I can do for India)! ... One can, and probably should, suppress one's personal preference for a larger good, that is. None of that applies to sportsmen usually though. So, all this wailing about "how can one drop US/UK/AUS citizenship" is only showing selfish reasoning, or not having a real case to pick up India's citizenship due to a true preference for India as one's country.

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 7:26 pm
by Sin Hombre
I think I am of the same opinion as Jay for the most part after a decade outside of India. While I do annoyed by travel related issues (and surely, there is a big opportunity for someone to make traveling easier for educated/rich Indians/Chinese), I still feel fully Indian at heart and don't see why I should change citizenship just for that reason.

Also, I would not conflate Switzerland with the rest of Europe. The Swiss don't even like Germans or Italians, so at least they are an equal opportunity polite xenophobic nation (and for completeness, I did live almost 4 years there and can count at least one Swiss amongst my close friends).

Re: Indian Origin Players Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:13 pm
by VReddy
Interesting. I am probably still evolving in terms of view points, so probably a bit raw here. I have gone from total chest-beating patriotic / joining army goals / hardline views on border issues to questioning the concept of nation (given that its very nascent) / referring to the Kashmiris as Kashmiris (and not Indians) and so on. I introduce myself as an Indian and my news feed/subscriptions are all either Indian (except 1-2 Swiss tennis players thanks to Sporthilfe) but somehow my above reasoning / thought process diluted the importance of citizenship for me. I will create a reminder to check this post in 2 yrs to see if I still hold the same opinion :p

On a different off-topic note, you all should see this: http://sporting-derendingen.ch/wp/wp-co ... mm2017.pdf [Page 33; year 1993, 1994]. This event is not really nationals but pretty close it and so as you can see, similar to India, outside of the top-3 players, everybody else plays it. Came across it as I was planning to go Srinivasan & his wife's academy this weekend if i could find a playing partner to play there and hopefully bump into him [which is the motive! :) ]. Academy: http://www.tennisclub-zofingen.ch/heidi-und-vasu- [Thanks to Sam again for reminding me about Srinivasan being close to Zürich during our chat here]