Respect our players

Legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone had told HT a few months back that India sport will have no future till we learn to respect our sportspersons.

The officialdom was never expected to be considerate towards our players but when a former international great does the same to another, Padukone's words come back to haunt.

Dilip Vengsarkar and his selection committee definitely have the right to drop a player, including Rahul Dravid. But can't one at least expect that the committee, that has three former internationals in the rank, have the courtesy to treat the player of his quality with dignity?

Deepika fan club increasing

When Abhijeet approached Suresh Raina for a chat during the recently concluded Challenger Trophy, the batsman tried to recollect whether he had met him before. A fellow journalist told him that Abhijeet normally covers badminton.

And pat came the question, "Do you know Deepika Padukone? How is she?"

It seems Deepika has quite a fan club in the Indian cricket fraternity. But Mr Raina, Deepika does not play badminton. You need to knock on another door.

What if Sunny had been a fisherman?

What if Gavaskar's uncle Madhav Mantri had not been able to rescue him from the fisherwoman, who had mistaken Gasvarkar to be her own child.

Aren't we racist too?

Still smarting from the colonial hangover, we as a race have for long been in awe of the white skin but in the same breath have been dismissive of the colour black. Or how would we explain the disdain and indifference with which we treat the numerous African students who land on our shores in search of a better tomorrow. [...]

Jingoistic fans

Ouch. I had meant this to be a very different post. But then I woke up this morning to find that someone had taken the trouble to read something I had attempted to write on Indian spectators. And then decided to get his morning off by calling me a "stupid *#$@" [...].

A positive turn? Or a passing phase?

Thanks to Joaquim Carvalho's timely outburst against 'discrimination', many organisations and the centre have woken up to acknowledge the Asia Cup hockey win.

Film star MP Raj Babbar is going to felicitate the players in Agra on on October 31. The team will then travel to New Delhi to meet the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 1. Then, they will be felicitated by the Bombay Hockey Association two days later. Then, they will be honoured by the State Bank of India and be awarded a cash prize of Rs 5 Lac each.

Celebrating the hockey team's achievement is a welcome move. But they must soon get down to business — the Olympic qualifiers in March.

Counterpoint
Every once in a while, there are murmurs and reminders that hockey is India's national sport — an honour bestowed for the sole reason that, when a young, independent India had to pick something for sporting glory, hockey was the only game visible. Since then, except for the occasional upset victory, the national sport has been slipping in the national consciousness.

The question is: would even a world title in the sport spark off the kind of craze that the T20 title did in India? Or have things gone beyond salvage?

On Racism

Why does the Indian crowd these days behave as if winning is all that matters and enjoying the various skills for which any sport is watched irrelevant? Otherwise why should the abuse of a Sreesanth be admired and not that of a Symonds'? And why should the rare athletic skills of Symonds be booed but a Harbhajan's verbal aggression be appreciated. The full piece.