India's major sporting achievements in 2005

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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by BSharma »

As suggested by nothingnew, we now have a thread, "India's major sporting achievements in 2005".
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Post by Sandeep »

Ha Ha Ha, I thought some one would post this. I am extremely fortunate to be the first person to post our major sporting achievement of this year from our authentic heroin Sania Mirza. THe bigest achievement so far has been Sania's third round appearance in Australian Open. She lost to serena Williams in third round of Australian open. She created history as first Indian woman to reach that far in grandslams. She rewrote the record of Nirupama who at the same venue won her maiden grandslam match. She lost the match in second round. I am sure this thread is going to be filled with Sania's achievements this year. Greta start to 2005 and hope it continues this way.

I still can't believe that no one posted this here. Especially Jayakrishnan :roll:
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by BSharma »

I was going to post the news about Sania but thought that Sandeep deserved the honor for posting it. :D
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Post by Sandeep »

Wow, I am completely flattered.
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

Sania's achievement (both in reaching the third round of the AO, and winning the Hyderabad Open) are unprecedented in the annals of Indian tennis. By virtue of that alone they qualify as major achievements, especially for a young 18-year-old sportswoman.

However, the criterion we had used for "India's major sporting achievements" were top-3 finishes in world-level events. So in tennis it would be the equivalent of making the semifinals of a Slam (junior or pro). In 2003, we included Sania's Wimbledon doubles crown (junior) in the list of major achievements. But I'm afraid, her sterling achievements this year don't quite meet the criteria we had set... (sorry to be the curmudgeon on this day when no superlatives are really enough to describe what Sania has achieved).
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Post by Sandeep »

Noway, I think if we have to reset out criterion to place sania here, I guess we should do it. This is unbelievable performance from this young girl and she should definitely be here.
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

I appreciate your excitement at placing this here, Sandeep, but the criteria were set for a reason. We should not be emotional about this: when someone achieves a "Top 3 in the world" (or no. 1 in Asia) title, we should include them here -- not otherwise. If you can find a way to interpret Sania's achievements in the light of that criterion, please do. (I can make an attempt if you like!).
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by BSharma »

I agree with PKB about the criteria for including the athletes into this category. Sania's WTA title does not fulfill the criterion but the only reason I can think of for including Sania here is the amount of enthusiasm that she has generated by her performance in the AO and in Hyderabad. When banners in India display tennis "replacing" cricket, that is something! We did not see this amount of celebration when the Indian Express won Grand Slam doubles titles. Sania gets my vote for inclusion on that basis. :)

Just my thoughts....
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by amr090 »

PKBasu wrote:
However, the criterion we had used for "India's major sporting achievements" were top-3 finishes in world-level events.

isnt a WTA Tour event world level?
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Post by Sandeep »

My god, but why did you set a criterion like top 3 in world level. We always talked about Indian sport and how they fare in world level. If any player reaches the criterion we have set then he or she should be placed in worlds major sporting achievements rather than India's. Reaching top3 in world is no mean achievement. But as you said let me see if I can interpret some things, how about sania being the second youngest WTA tournament winner this year, first being sharapova. Sania is the first asian to win WTA tournament this year. Sania is the first muslim to win WTA tournament this year :D .
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by BSharma »

But as you said let me see if I can interpret some things, how about sania being the second youngest WTA tournament winner this year, first being sharapova. Sania is the first asian to win WTA tournament this year. Sania is the first muslim to win WTA tournament this year.
Sandeep,

Being the first player to win anything in a year does not mean a lot since those achievements will be duplicated by others as the months go by. Winning in Hyderabad does not make Sania a top 3 tennis player in the world (or a top 25 player).
We always talked about Indian sport and how they fare in world level. If any player reaches the criterion we have set then he or she should be placed in worlds major sporting achievements rather than India's.
The goal of this thread is to highlight those Indian athletes who have reached the milestone of being among the best in the world. We have threads to discuss "lesser" achievements else where in this forum.

For the record, the athletes who made the 2004 list were:

Saurav Ghosal for winning the British Junior Open Squash under 19 boys title and Joshna finishing runner-up in the girls under 19! Saurav ended the year as the number one ranked junior player in the world, and Joshna is the top junior female squash player.

Asian Sailing Championship:
1st - India - 5 Gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze
2nd - Japan - 2 Gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze
3rd - China - 2 Gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze

Viswanathan Anand won the 66th Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament and the Chess Oscar.

Abhinav Bindra won gold in a world-class shooting event in Germany.

Indian girls won the Asia Cup and qualified for the 2006 World Cup in hockey. (1. India, 2. Japan, 3. China, 4. South Korea, 5. Kazakhstan, 6. Malaysia, 7. Singapore, 8. Sri Lanka.)

India won a gold and a silver in the Dave Schultz Memorial International Wrestling Championship. (Greco Roman 55 kg: Mukesh Khatri, Gold; 66kg, Gurbinder Singh, Silver)

Junior Asian hockey champions.

Indian cricket team.

Olympic silver medal in Double Trap shooting for Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

World junior chess champion, P Harikrishna.

Who says that Indians are not amongst the best in the world in some sports.
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Post by Sandeep »

I am not saying Indians are not good at world level. But winning a title at professional level should be ranked higher than being world no.1 in juniors. If you can place junior level achievements here, then why not a WTA title? When you say world top 3 it should be in professional level. Juniors should not be taken into account.
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by BSharma »

A world junior #1 means that a player is the best in the world in that age group; a WTA title does not mean the same. Please keep in mind that not all WTA tournaments are equal.

Check the names of players who made the 2003 list and you will see the point that PKB and I are making.

PKB wrote in the 2003 thread:
Tennis: Leander Paes, Australian Open and Wimbledon MxD champion; Mahesh Bhupathi, runner-up Wimbledon men's doubles; Sania Mirza, Wimbledon girls doubles champion
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by vkd_1717 »

wow im surprised no1 added Narian to the list now that hes in he top 20 in the World
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India's major sporting achievements in 2005

Post by PKBasu »

If Narain finishes in the top 3 in a world class event he will be added to the list. We have stringent criteria because the whole point here is to celebrate world class achievement in any sport. The interesting point that has emerged from these threads in 2003 and 2004 is that India has much to celebrate in international sport, although some of these achievements may be obscured by lesser achievements in "glamour" sports like tennis, cricket or motor-racing.
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