Author: Boria Majumdar

It was the second time I asked Igor Stimac the question in the course of the same interview. In fact, I wasn’t sure if he would give me a straight answer or be diplomatic. The answer would give me a sense of his mind and hence it was important I asked the coach one more time. “How confident is he about taking India to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers?” Even before I had finished the question, I saw him smiling. It wasn’t a nervous smile. Rather, it was one of confidence, as if he was expecting…

Abhinav Bindra, Sourav Ganguly and Neeraj Chopra. These are three people who have all faced extreme pressure. You don’t shoot an Olympic gold medal without feeling the pressure. You don’t captain India in cricket for 200 games without handling pressure. And you don’t win an Olympic gold and follow it with golds at the Asian Games, World Championships and Diamond League competitions if you wilt under pressure. There is pressure. And it’s intense. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will feel it today at the All England. And in Paris. Everyone else will as well. We have seen many an athlete…

The empowerment walk. It made the Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 what it was – a story of inclusivity and sensitivity. It all started with a chat with my friend, Suman Saha. What could we do to make the conclave more inclusive? While the sessions are all intense, could there be something which was different and yet stood testament to what we stand for? For days, we kept thinking. Till the time Suman, Sameer, Ramneek, Sharmistha, Harish and I had a long brainstorming session. We arrived at what we called the empowerment walk. We aren’t models. We wouldn’t normally be considered ‘ramp-walk…

In an event of scale like the Trailblazers Conclave 2.0, you want to make a difference to your audience. Give them something to take back home and feel good about. While the presence of India’s best athletes and the quality of sessions was incentive enough, the endeavour is always to go one notch higher. How do you try and make sure that at least some from the audience feel empowered to take up sport? And for us, it was about both able-bodied and Para sport. How do we encourage kids with disabilities to follow the example of the Paralympic…

They are in red-hot form at the moment, and proved it at the French Open Super 750 in Paris. Completely dominant in the final, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have now played three tournaments this year and made the finals in each of them. If Pullela Gopichand, the badminton national head coach, is to be believed, they are India’s best bet for a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “If they play to potential, they have the best chance to win the gold,” said Gopi moments after they had closed out the final. “In fact, if they play…

The RevSportz conclave had just ended and each one of us had started to take selfies in celebration. We had all worked tirelessly for months and it was much deserved. That’s when two of our leading athletes came up to me and said, “Hope you are doing the the same time next year. This is now part of our annual calendar. It is an opportunity to meet fellow athletes and legends and learn so much. Let us know the date and we will surely want to come again”. The words took time to sink in. All of Saturday we have…

Forty-one athletes, 15 corporate leaders, 10 policy makers and federation presidents. Across 24 sessions. The scale was humongous. And to be able to pull it off and on time, with every athlete telling us it was an event they absolutely loved – can there be a bigger satisfaction than that? We at RevSportz worked six months for the conclave. Non-stop. Putting it all together. And our team of 41 did not sleep for days leading up to it. Today, I write for them. I write to celebrate each of them and the success of the event. Well done each of…

It is one thing to plan. A very different thing to see that plan come good. Team RevSportz worked nonstop for six months, day in and day out, to ensure that India’s best sporting minds came together for two days of meaningful dialogue. We made sure that we had the best of Olympic and Paralympic sport come, meet each other and inspire. Help clarify doubts, and make a difference. Legends like Abhinav Bindra meeting future greats like Shriyanka Sadangi, Sift Kaur Samra and Esha Singh. Sourav Ganguly and Saurav Ghosal meeting young athletes and exchanging ideas. Leander Paes speaking to…

Ask R Ashwin about obsession, and he will smile. In fact, he had once said to me, “Many say I am obsessed. Yes, I am. Against the batters who are the best, I do everything I can to be the best prepared. Steve Smith was one such. I tried to do all I possibly could to get into his mind and be ready for him. He was the most important wicket, and we had to get him early. When you study someone as closely, you almost tend to know what he will be doing. That’s what helped to get him…

Trailblazers conclave 2.0 was formally inaugurated by Pulella Gopichand on Monday evening with a press conference at the Calcutta Sports Journalists Club, which was more than packed to capacity. What Gopi said and details of the conversation will be written by my RevSportz colleagues. That’s not the focus of this piece. Rather, I will be writing about the response I witnessed from journalist colleagues at the press conference. It was, indeed, overwhelming. By the time we reached the venue at 345pm for a 4pm event, the club auditorium was packed to capacity. Journalists, print and broadcast, were all there and…