India's major sporting achievements in 2005

This is the resting place for archived threads. Typically from threads that had become too long and had to be split to allow easier moderation.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Here's an achievement that definitely meets our criterion. Pankaj Advani has won the Asian billiards championship (and beaten a former world champ in the process):
http://in.rediff.com/sports/2005/feb/26bill.htm
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Kumar wrote:I am going to get on wrong sides of all the parties here, :wink:
If the Indian cricket team is ranked in the top three in the world then it gets into this list and it did
In a team of 10 test playing nations, This requirements sounds too much watered down to be considered as Major Sporting Achievement in any year...



PKB's Quote,
And beating Pakistan in Pakistan in a test series also qualifies as one of the sporting achievements of 2004 -- especially as it included India's first and second test wins in Pakistan ever (i.e., in fifty years of trying).
If beating a so-so pakistan team is considered a major achievement, (especially if it is the first test win in pakistan) Why shouldn't Sania's win be considered as a major achievement..

[..
First, the fact that there are only 10 test-playing nations does not diminish their achievements one bit. The 10 that are test-playing have that status because they are best in the world. To denigrate this is like saying that the year-end ATP Masters Cup tennis tournament (or the World Doubles championship) is an unimportant event since it involves only 8 players (teams). If you are ranked in the top-3 test-playing nations, you are top-3 in the world in the sport. There are loads of other nations trying to play the sport below the test level (I know, as I've played quite a bit of cricket in both the US and Singapore, and seen a bit in Malaysia and Hong Kong).

Second, India did not beat a "so-so" Pakistan side. Before the series, it was universally thought of as a contest for the title of the world's second-best side. Pakistan was not seen as "so-so" until they lost to India. Today, of course, England (after the away series win over South Africa) has edged both India (3) and Pakistan (4) to the second spot.
User avatar
Kumar
Authors
Authors
Posts: 7093
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2003 12:59 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by Kumar »

To denigrate this is like saying that the year-end ATP Masters Cup tennis tournament (or the World Doubles championship) is an unimportant event since it involves only 8 players (teams).
I was waiting for PKB to join the discussion.. I was sure PKB would pounce on my stmt about cricket..

That pakistan team didn't have one world class bowler.. Nobody can convince me that Shoaib Akthar is one!!! and just one world class batsman in Haq...

Further top 8 in Year end Masters is the best eight of 1000+ ranked players and scores of players who are yet to be ranked!! So the comparison of Top 10 cricket teams in the world to Top 8 in the Tennis is not a fair comparison... Further Apart from this 10 test playing nations, there are probably 10 more countries in which cricket is played with any passion..

So in cricket a world class achievement is to either win a world cup or the yearly ODI tournament among the top teams... Or Win the Test series against the Australia!!!

While evaluating the performance, we need to give 'weightage' to the past history of our country in that sports..
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Hi

Post by Sandeep »

Kumar, if you get chance just follow the ICC trophy for qualifiers which they conduct before every world cup to select the qualifying teams. Then you will get to know how many teams play cricket. 60 countries do participate in that event for a place in world cup. Because India is one among the top 5 nations and if you compare lowly ranked teams with India then obviously you feel that they have no quality.

Pakistan has good bowlers. Why do you say Akthar is not world class bowler. He is indeed very good bowler. The best if you take out Aussies bowling attack. They have Sami who is very good. Not just Haq, youhana also is world class batsman. They have good allrounder in the form of Razzaq.
User avatar
Kumar
Authors
Authors
Posts: 7093
Joined: Sun Jul 27, 2003 12:59 am
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 7 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by Kumar »

Sandeep, Tell me how would you equate the top 10 test playing cricket teams to Tennis players?

Is it top 10 tennis player?
Is it top 100?
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Hi

Post by Sandeep »

Actually it is difficult Kumar. You can't compare an individual sport with team. For a tennis player, he can be good on a particular day and even upset top seed, but it is not so in team game. All players should be good on that particular day to win. So it is unfair to compare. You can compare 2 team games, but with individual game it is difficult.

And moreover cricket is not like some or the otherway play well for 2 or 3 hours and thats it. You have to consistently play well for 8 hours to win a oneday. weaker teams lack that consistency, hence they appear very bad. If you keenly observe in a cricket match, you can see that a weak team also plays well for a brief period of sat 15-20 overs. But for them to perform at same level for 50 overs is difficult. This might be one of the reasons why you feel there is a lot of difference between weaker team and stronger team.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Team sports -- because they involve many players -- do tend to favour particular teams for long periods.
Cricket is far from alone in this.
Look at football (soccer to Americans). Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina have won all the World Cups since 1970 -- and generally dominate every World Cup. They also are the dominant teams in the history of the World Cup (only Uruguay has won it twice, apart from these four -- but that was in the 1950s). The next level of competitors include the predictable ones of Holland, Britain, etc., but most of the other teams just make up the numbers -- no matter how you dress it up.
Similarly in field hockey. The teams that dominate are Germany, Holland, Australia and (perhaps) Pakistan, South Korea or Spain. India would generally be 5th-8th along with Argentina. Those 8 teams will invariably take the top 8 positions. Very rarely, someone like South Africa, Britain or Russia would upset this apple-cart.
Remember, even in cricket Kenya upset the apple-cart by making the last World Cup semifinal.
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

HI

Post by Sandeep »

PKBASU did you intentionally avoid France or you forgot about it? I thought France was pretty good team too. I don't know much about football though.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Sania Mirza beats the reigning US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 6-2 at the Dubai Tennis Open.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: HI

Post by PKBasu »

nothingnew wrote:PKBASU did you intentionally avoid France or you forgot about it? I thought France was pretty good team too. I don't know much about football though.
Sorry, indeed I did forget France. Yes indeed, with Michel Platini in the 1980s (probably the greatest purely French player, who failed to win the World Cup) and Zinedine Zidane (on home soil in 1998, winning the Cup for France despite being Algerian/Tunisian by descent...), France definitely belongs among the great football sides. But Britain (1966 champs) and France are one-time champions that are definitely a notch below those 4 dominant sides that have won the Cup twice or more.
User avatar
PKBasu
Member
Member
Posts: 36869
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:04 pm
Please enter the middle number: 1
Location: New Delhi / Kolkata
Been thanked: 8 times

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Pankaj Advani and Devendra Joshi both make the final of the 2005 World Billiards championship. Advani, the 2003 IBSF world snooker champion, current Asian and Indian billiards champion, is on the verge of adding another feather to his illustrious cap. He would be the first man since Paul Mifsud in the 1970s and 1980s to win both the billiards and snooker world titles (incidentally, Mifsud succeeded Indians to both world titles -- succeeding Michael Ferreira as world billiards champion in 1979 and OB Agrawal as world snooker champion in 1985).
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

Hi

Post by Sandeep »

Sachin Tendulkar scored 10,000 runs today becoming only 5th member to do so in test cricket history. He needs more 98 runs to create a record of maximum runs scord by an Indian in test history and to occupy third slot in word test history for maximum runs scored.
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by Sandeep »

Sachin tendulkar in the process has become fastest to score 10,000 runs along with Lara. He scored 10,000 runs in 195 innings. Closest second is Gavaskar who scored in 212 innings.
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by Sandeep »

Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards Championship
User avatar
Sandeep
Moderators
Moderators
Posts: 10722
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 4:21 pm
Antispam: No
Please enter the middle number: 5
Been thanked: 1 time
Contact:

India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by Sandeep »

Pankaj Advani took the double, when he added to his IBSF 150 Format title by beating Geet Sethi 2242-1717, in the final of the Time Frame Format Championship.
Locked