jackofall.blogspot

Saina crashed out of the japan super series in her first match itself.she lost straight sets to the world no 7 Mi Zhou 18-21 16-21.

Know more about the game here


So next stop for saina will be the china masters super series sep 23-28..

Labels: badminton, india, Nehwal, Saina, sports

Video of 2007 Indian Open Semi Finals and Finals(Includes some very funny commentary :))..

chetan anand and jwala gutta Interview from badmintonsite.com






Video of SemiFinals match between Chetan Anand and Andrew smith

Part 1/3


part 2/3


part 3/3



Video of Final between Chetan Anand and Boonsak Ponsana

part 1/5


part 2/5


Part 3/5


Part 4/5


Part 5/5



Links

http://www.badmintonindia.org/home.html

Labels: anand, badminton, chetan, india, sports, video

Round 32 match between Anup Sridhar Vs Shoji SATO(Japan)

part 1


part 2


part 3


part 4

Labels: anup, badminton, india, olympics, sports, sridar, video

I was confused.. how come everybody is saying that he has already secured a bronze medal in olympics.he has just won a quater final match.That means there are 4 people in the fray for the medals. so if two guys advance to the finals there will still be 2 losers from the semi final match and just for a second assuming that Vijender loses in the semi's and then he again loses for the bronze medal match between two losers of the semi finals..he will end up as the fourth guy and he wont win the medal.So how come everybody is saying he has already secured a medal for india.

Actually i just found out this.. :).In Olympic boxing,there wont be a match between the two losers of the semi finals for the bronze, but instead two bronze medals are awarded :).so there are four medal winners for every weight class.Hence for the 75kg weight class, all the people who won the quarter finals including Vijender already have a bronze medal... :)

Labels: boxing, india, olympics, sports, vijender

Wow.What an Olympics this has been for india... another inspiring story...Sushil Kumar the bronze medal winner in wrestling.The second wrestler in India's Olympic history to win a bronze medal in the men's 66 kg freestyle category.

On Thursday, at the Beijing Agriculture University Complex, Sushil fought four continuous bouts but refused to go back to the Athletes Village to take rest after two bouts. It was typical of Sushil, who does not believe in deserting the ring midway through. Born in a middle class family, Sushil resisted many provocations to say good bye to the sport and decided to pursue his dream of an Olympic medal.

Sushil’s father, Diwan Singh, a former wrestler himself, is employed as a driver with the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited in Delhi. He could not generate enough cash but provided priceless encouragement.More here

Sushil then talked about how his father would get milk for him every morning so that he could be strong enough to train. "He did that for years, without fail. He was sure I could do something big," he said, getting emotional.

Did he know that the medal was coming when he went into the last round? "No one knows that. You just fight. I was tense this morning but Kartarji kept massaging my body the whole day. He is a double Asian Games gold medalist, secretary of the wrestling federation. I felt bad, awkward but he insisted that it was necessary."

It surely was, and Kartar, standing next to him smiled. "We don't have masseurs and doctors here with our team. I was his coach, his masseur, his trainer, his motivator. It was my responsibility to do it. But I would now request the government to give better facilities to the wrestlers.More here

The disbelief grows as one enters the dingy room. It looks dark despite the light outside, and with barely any space to walk between the beds, the room gives the impression of being much smaller than it is. The shelf at the back has a number of trunks thrown together, taking up precious space, but it’s all they have to spare for their belongings.

Sumit, one of the wrestlers who bunks in the same room as Sushil, proudly points out his now famous colleague’s mattress among nine others in the small room. “See, this is where he sleeps. In the summer he sleeps this side, but in winter he moves to the other mattress. We have to manage with just these two coolers, so he moves to be more comfortable,” he says.More here

Video of Sushil thanking everyone

Video of the last one minute of the bronze medal match

Video of celebrations at sushil's home

http://broadband.indiatimes.com/Sports_/We_were_sure_of_Sushils_win/videoshow/3388036.cms

Links
Village boys give India their best show

Insatiable hunger for perfection

Labels: india, kumar, olympics, sports, sushil, wrestling

Anoop Sridhar Vs Marco Vasconcelos
part1


part2


part3


part4


part5

Labels: anup, badminton, india, olympics, sports, sridar, video

Sport Minister M S Gill on Tuesday failed to recognise former All England Champion and National Badminton Coach Pullela Gopichand when along with Olympian Saina Nehwal he went to meet him in his office.While Gill greeted Saina heartily, he could not recognise Gopichand who was standing next to Saina and asked him who he was."Who are you?" Gill asked Gopichand, leaving him with no other option but to spell out his name. Gopichand is only the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the All England Open Champion in 2001 and we hope Gill was only joking when he asked him his name.More here

Here is the video of his semi finals against Peter Gade at the 2001 All England Championship

Part 1


more here


His Finals against chen Hong at the 2001 All England Championship

part 1


more here

Links
Interview in rediff
http://in.rediff.com/sports/2001/mar/14gopi1.htm

Labels: badminton, chand, gopi, india, Nehwal, olympics, Saina, sports

Well, Akhil Went down fighting.Let's look at the others still in the fray.The best medal hope in boxing for india is Vijender Kumar.Check out this video, it gives a good picture of the Bhiwani boxing club.

Although he is a boxing champion, Vijender Kumar is an oddity in India, a virtual one-sport country where cricket is religion.The son of a bus driver who worked overtime to pay for his coaching, Vijender is India's unsung champion boxer.

"My blood boils when everybody goes gaga over cricket," says the 22-year-old, one of five boxers in India's modest Olympics contingent to Beijing this summer.More hereVijender Kumar interview Video on BBC about BBC(problem with firefox?.watch in IE)

Vijender is one of the new generation sports icon of india.He belongs to the new wave of sportmen in india, who are not content with winning an odd match here and there.He belongs to the generation which dreams big and works for it.This boxer with looks of a model's dream does not even stop with olympics.He dreams bigger than that.He wants to box in Madison Square Garden and he dreams of a day when Don king will be his promoter.He is on the way to achieving it.

Want to know how he has already won a bronze medal.check it out here.


Receiving the Arjun award from the president.

The District Administration had forwarded recently a plan to the State Government for setting up a boxing centre in Bhiwani, but Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced setting up a of Boxing Academy to mark the historic victory of Vijender Singh in the Beijing Olympics.More here

2008 Beijing olympics quaterfinals Aug 20

Vijender Kumar Vs Carlos Gongora Round 1


Vijender Kumar Vs Carlos Gongora Round 2



Vijender Kumar Vs Carlos Gongora Round 3




Olympics Round of 16 match on Aug 16th

Vijender Kumar Vs Angkhan Chomphuphuang Round 2




Vijender Kumar Vs Angkhan Chomphuphuang Round 3


Vijender Kumar Vs Angkhan Chomphuphuang Round 4


Videos from 1119sup

Links

Labels: boxing, india, olympics, sports, vijender

A Rising star in international badminton, she is india's best.One of india's many next generation sportsman/sportswomen who are not shy to mention their intentions and are not afraid of loosing.Focused,determined and fearless, she destroys here opponents with raw power and lightning speed.Even though she is not a naturally talented badminton player, her rise is due to her perseverance and single minded dedication for one sport,Badminton.Her story like many other indian Olympic athletes is one of inspiration.

The tough journey had started. Saina had to be taken to the stadium every day early in the morning and the distance from the house was 20 km.It was a challenge for both of us because I had to wake up early so that we could reach the stadium by 6 am. The training session used to last for about two hours.After attending the training session, Saina had to attend school. This way I had to drive my scooter around 50 km daily as Saina, apart from attending rigorous practice sessions, had to concentrate on studies,” her father explained.The impact of this tough routine began to show in the first week as Saina would often fall asleep on the back seat.Sensing the danger, Saina’s mother started accompanying them on the two-wheeler. This continued for three months.Ultimately, the family had to arrange a house near the stadium in 1999. This time the distance was about 7 km from the stadium.More here

Watch IBN video "Move Over Sania, Saina is here"

Anyway… going into the Nationals, it looks like Saina is the only serious obstacle to Aparna Popat's quest for an unprecedented eight consecutive National singles titles. She's the hottest prospect on the horizon; at 14, she is one of the top players in the country. She's had a string of impressive results abroad, so not many will be surprised if she manages to upset Aparna this time.More here

I just uploaded some of her olympic matches on youtube Here is the match between saina and Maria Yulanti,unfortunately this one has only the 2nd and last set.The awesome first set is not there.If anybody has that please upload. will upload and update the remaining parts ASAP

Beijing 2008 badminton Quaterfinals match Between India's Saian Nehwal and Indonesia's Maria Kristin Yulanti Wed Aug 13.Saina lost the match.

I moved the match videos to a separate post here

All Saina Nehwal posts in my blog

Links
if the video does not play in firefox try IE...

saina Nehwal Philippines open videos

Saina Nehwal Vs Maria Kristin Olympic match video

Saina Nehwal Vs Ella karachkova match video

Video of saina nehwal losing a the junior world chamionship

Video,Asian Games will be tough: Saina

Video:Saina joins Mittal champions trust, Manisha Malhotra talks about saina

Labels: badminton, india, Nehwal, olympics, Saina, sports

Whether he wins the bout on monday or not.He is a champion.How many times will you see a indian down 2-6 against the reigning champion come out of the ring as a winner and the champion in tears.Here is more about him




Akhil Interview Part 1


Akhil Interview Part 2


Akhil Interview Part 3



Akhil Kumar Vs Sergery Vodopyanov, Final round

Videos from 1119sup


This one from Mani 5577. People are already uploading lot of videos.




IBN interview video

interview with his parents video
Links
The indian mohammed Ali ?
Back From the Ropes
Akhil at the olympics
His Bio at Mittaltrust

Labels: akhil, boxing, india, kumar, olympics, sports

A tin of covers the boxing arena. A majority of the kids here don’t have their own gloves. And to drink water after practice, the lone hand-pump has to be operated very slowly, otherwise sand particles will start coming out along with the water.You look around and have to wonder, what results will you possibly get with conditions like these? Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t get anything. But the one thing that cannot be factored in is the passion for boxing that seems inherent in the Bhiwani local.And because of this, despite the very basic facilities, Bhiwani has become the boxing hub of India. More Here

A few days back, Bhiwani was just another nondescript north Indian town. Its unique feat of sending five boxers to the Olympics was known to only the die-hard sports fan.Eight days into the Games the scenario changed, and how. The entire nation --- and probably some boxing pockets in the world --- have been enthralled by the exploits of the Bhiwani pugilists --- Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Vijender Kumar. The three are on the cusp of rewriting Indian boxing history, and this city now hopes for at least one medal from its quarter-finalist trio.More Here

There’s a reason they call ramshackle Bhiwani town in Haryana India’s Little Cuba.As dusk falls, a strange, new fear grips residents of this sleepy North Indian town — the fear of power cuts, which they never really worried about.Over the past week, outages are the only thing that have come between the residents and their heroes: the four boxers in the Olympics coached by Jagdish Singh, all from the Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC).More Here

The boxing boom in Haryana has been set off due to systematic planning and execution to promote the sport in the State with a combination of helpful factors like irresistible financial incentives, with the sound support of sponsors and the mush-rooming of boxing clubs all over State, aiding the cause of the sport greatly.More Here

As we talk, adolescent enthusiasm gets the better of a couple of boys. So, you’re not being interviewed? one taunts the other. Oh, just wait till 2012, he responds.By now you know Bhiwani has changed in these past two weeks, so dismiss this as a fanciful dream at your own peril.

THE GURU Behind the success of the Indian boxers at Beijing is the coach who groomed them SAY no to four-letter words, it says on the wall. That, presumably, includes ‘loss’. As India hung on to its boxers’ positive talk in Beijing, smiling at home in Bhiwani was their coach Jagdish Singh. Because along with the hooks and jabs that Singh trains his wards in, thrown in for good measure are these little nuggets on the right attitude.More here

A boxing academy on the patter of Australian Institute of Sports would be soon established in Bhiwani.More here


Video of bhiwani and its boxing club with Vijender Kumar interview

Video Of BBC

Video of the Bhiwani Trio's Feat here.



Links

Born out of nowhere

Bhiwani Boxers

Manisha of Mittal Trust blogs on haryan's boxing achievement

My post on Akhil Kumar

My post on Vijendra Kumar

Struggling to win

bhiwani


Punching through barriers

Labels: akhil, bhiwani, boxing, haryana, india, kumar, olympics, sports, vijender

Wow.Is this really happening.Apart from bindra,So many good performances by india.what struck me the most was, how these people over came the obstacles thrown at them to be what they are right now.Everybody's story is an inspiration.But our lack of interest on sports other than cricket(Iam as guilty as anybody else on this) shows on the internet too.Except for the newspapers, there aren't much information available about these sportsman/women.They don't have a proper wiki page or there is not much video in youtube or there is no blogs on there performances.I thought i will blog and provide links to some of the good articles and media available about these great athletes.I have some videos also which i will upload later.

One of the best blogs that i came across was that of Manisha Malhotra a former tennis player, now the administrator for the Mittal Champions Trust.She has put down her journey from 2007 in her blog at http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/.I would recommend you read the whole blog from jan 2007(actually there aren't a lot of posts) including the comments....

But here are some of her posts on Abhinav bindra.It will give you an insight into the champion.

http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/sawadeeka.html

http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-ii.html


http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/pattiala-part-ii.html


http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/08/oh-my-god.html


http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/08/back-in-action.html


http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/08/whirlwind-tour-of-world.html


http://manishasthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/shooting-in-bangkok.html

Labels: abhinav, akhil, bindra, india, kumar, olympics, saina nehwal, sports, vijender

Who can tell,analyze and give various perspectives about charu mazumdhar, Periyar,bal thackrey, ambedhkhar, mahatma gandhi,Namdeo Dhasal, bindralwale and many more in the same book?.Only Naipaul can do that.

When i started reading the book I was still thinking of how to write a review for 'India: A wounded civilization', cause i was so overwhelmed by that book.He questions the basic indian pshyce and shakes the foundation of your thoughts.I was first skeptical of venturing into another naipaul book when i am still not completely out of his previous book.But unlike the wounded civilization, million mutinies wasn't that overwhelming.In wounded civilization, it was all naipaul's perspective, but whereas in million mutinies, naipaul interviews lot of people and there thoughts are are echoed by naipaul.Naipaul does put his opinions also but very less compared to wounded civilization.

I dont know how to classify this book, this can be called a travelogue, cause naipaul travels to bombay, chennai, calcutta, lucknow, kashmir and punjab.He gives us a background of the place and makes us meet various peoples from these regions giving a brief idea about these places.

But naipaul does not stop with a travelogue description, he goes about his business of analyzing and providing critical views on various subjects.We meet different peoples in these regions.A shiv sena party guy and a muslim who lives in a bombay slum.A mylapore brahmin and K.Veeramani of the anti brahmin Dravida party, journalist, politicians, publishers and many more.

Talking about the dravidian movement he comes to MGR and says this.

It was said that at his death some 18,000 files were waiting for his attention.One of the things he had done was to abolish Madras corporation.So madras was in a mess,with mounds of rubbish everywhere.It was as though this too, was part of the revolt of the south,this violation of the old ideas of purity.

Through these people he gives an idea about what is compelling these peoples to do what they are doing. what is going on in there mind.One important guy that he talks to is Mr.vishwanath who is the propreitor of women's era magazine.During naipaul's discussions with him, vishwananth utters some strong statements

The hindu religion is a conglomerations of faiths,500 religion or faiths.We've had reformist movements against orthodoxy.what happens is that every reform movement degenerates into a sect - the lingayats, the arya samajists everybody.Buddha rebelled.Mahavir , the founder of jains,rebelled.Guru Nanak rebelled.It is a long list.They rebelled and degenerated into sects and became as orthodox as the previous orthodox people.

I think religion is the greatest curse of mankind.It has killed more people, destroyed more property, than any other thing.Even today- northern ireland, middle east, hindu,muslims,sikhs, all fighting each other in india.The oldest profession is not prostitution.It is priesthood.

At first many of the topics that are covered seem unrelated.It looks like more of a political view of things happening all around india.But naipaul beautifully sums them up in the end.He looks at everything as india trying to identify itself, a country mutinying against its cultural baggage and past.The sign of change happening, the sign of growth and progress.

To most what happened in the punjab was a pure tragedy.. it seemed that sikhs bad brought this tragedy on themselves,manufacturing grievances out of their great success in independent india.It was as if there was some intellectual or emotional flaw in the community, as if in their fast ,unbroken rise over last century there had developed a lack of balance between their material achievements and their internal life, so that though in one way so adventurous and forward looking in another way they remained close to their tribal and country origin.

Dalip a reporter.

Because i was not impressed by bindranwale.I knew he was not guru gobind singh.I knew he was just being used by indira congress to harm akali party in punjab.He was an ordinary man on whom greatness was being imposed.why should the community accept him?.Why should general shabeg singh not judge him as a man?.why were people just impressed by his angry looks and the armed men around him?.He was not an intellectual, not a thinker, and he was not a pious man.

Talking about the british scholor he quotes from one of his letter...

Great 18th century british scholor Sir william Jones wronte in 1786 to his friend.I shall never cease thinking,that rational liberty makes men virtuous; and virtue happy:wishing therefore ardently for universal happiness,I wish for universal liberty.But our observations on Hindu is too just;they are incapable of civil liberty;few of them have an idea of it;and those who have do not wish it.They must, they must be ruled by an absolute power and I feel my pain much alleviated by knowing the natives themselves... are happier under us than they were or could have been under the sultans of delhi or petty raja.

"They are incapable of civil liberty.They must be ruled by an absolute power".The words expressing the imperial views of that time.But the sad thing is most of the countries below the equator havn't come to terms with not being ruled by an absolute power and civil liberty.

Naipaul talks a lot about Sir william jones who came ot india to make a fortune of 30,000 pounds and made 50,000 in 11 years.He also says he gave back to india a lot. William jones seems to have interacted with many sanskrit scholors and translated many plays like kalidasas's shakuntlam.

The point that made the biggest impact for me was when naipaul said that if not for people like sir william jones, he who was growing up in trinidad before independence could have never had a chance to read about a book like shakuntalam, cause sanskrit was supposed to be the language of gods and only priests and upper caste people could read it.

Another great example of his interesting observation skills.Gandhi the upper caste guy is bare bodied or scantly clad in the pictures where as low caste ambedhkar is in coat and suit.That simple observation makes you think so many things.The insecurity of a group, the way the society looks at them etc.

The book starts in bomabay and after reading few pages, i started seeing the similarities between it and sukhethu's Maximum city.I just wanted to make sure my assumptions were true and i saw this sukethu's interview.

Who provided literary inspiration for you and the book?

Joe Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel and Joseph Liebling taught me how to write about cities. Plus Ryszard Kapuscinski, V.S. Naipaul — I mean, lots of Naipaul. I read him like a textbook. I very much disagree with many of his political viewpoints, but that whole arc he has in the three nonfiction books on India — An Area of Darkness, A Wounded Civilization, and A Million Mutinies ...more

Another great book by the master.

Links:
http://naipaul.blogspot.com/

Labels: book, english, india, Naipaul

Lot of interesting thoughts that sprang out of the last few posts. one interesting one was the comments of Zero, who raised a point on the previous post on how gandhi will be mythologized and how krishna could have lived but he might not have been the man the stories talk about.

This reminded me of a story in "Freedom at Midnight".Freedom at midnight was based on well researched materials and the diaries of lord mountbatten. The british govt which had so many articles on the lifestyle of the prince and kings of india, had to burn all those articles when the kings demanded it, before the british declare independence to india.So much of the information regarding the lifestyle of the kings were lost.But there were some of them that escaped the fire and lord mountbatten also had written many of the interesting things in his diaries. Here are some of the incidents from them, Iam quoting them not to offend anybody, it is just to drive home the point on mythology.

One king of south india used to assemble all his subjects in a stadium on the full moon day.The king will come in a black horse all dressed in black and will go around the stadium and his subjects have to worship him. The prince truly believed that he was the son of god and he made his people compulsorily worship him.

One other king of punjab or some other province used to give audience to his subjects in his darbar on his b'day .The Birthday darshan is special cause, he will come with a golden breast plate and just the golden breast plate. The subjects where made to worship his manhood as the ultimate shiva lingam.

Well we won’t hear about these kinds of incidents of our kings and queens from our own writers, we need a foreigner to write about it. The point here is when ruled by king you don’t have a choice, you have to do things how ever degrading they are, otherwise it is your head will roll.

What if a king who thought he was god and made his people worship him and made his poets write stories about him.If he is successful in brainwashing a whole generation of children’s to believe in that, then you got a whole set of beliefs and these beliefs, mythologies will be passed down to the later generations. Unquestioned the stories will be believed, improvised and made more divine. Later riots and wars might take place to save the sacredness of that lunatic king. Rama the king of ayodhya or krishna the king of dwaraka could also be an example of this... maybe, who knows.

Labels: blind belief, god, history, india, mythology