Author: Boria Majumdar

Indian football is not in great shape. The national team is at its lowest ebb in years, and there is nothing much to look forward to. More than results, the Anwar Ali issue has hogged headlines in the last two months and as I have written earlier, no one really benefitted from the unsavoury saga. In every way, football needs an injection of positivity. Something that the fans can draw on to keep their hopes alive. May be that’s why this year’s ISL is perhaps the most important ever. It has to give Indian football a new lifeline, and restore…

We were all waiting to board at gate C90 at Paris Charles de Gaulle when a team of five or six policemen came to us and asked if we were Indian athletes. Rohan, Sharmistha and Trisha were all wearing the official Indian jacket, and maybe that prompted the question. For a few seconds, we were all a bit taken aback. Why would the police start to ask questions all of a sudden? Only then did the real issue come to light. “Do you have any more India pins left?” asked one. By then, we had distributed to everyone possible, and…

There is a lot of talk about Vinesh Phogat levelling a series of allegations against PT Usha and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) that she now heads. She has even said that her medal was lost because the legal case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) wasn’t fought well. If we listen to her interview, she makes three key points: First, Usha went and met her at the village and, without her permission, clicked a photograph and posted it on social media. That Usha had gone to meet her was known to us all in Paris. Usha and…

Anwar Ali for East Bengal (PC: East Bengal/X)While the Anwar Ali saga is all set to continue, the truth is that whatever the final outcome, no one really wins. Mohun Bagan might get Rupees 12.9 crores in compensation, but they have lost the best defender India has at the moment. East Bengal, while getting Anwar, will now have to spend 30-plus crores on the player for 5 years, which includes the 6.45 crores fine which the club has to pay. Also, the transfer ban will hurt them in January, and again before the start of the next season. Anwar, who…

Boria Majumdar in Paris We have all celebrated Navdeep Singh for his gold medal at the Paris Paralympics. It was a fantastic effort to throw 47.32m to win gold, and give India a record seventh gold medal. However, when we spoke to him the next day, something very different came to light. It was his sportsmanship. Soon after the announcement was made that the Iranian, Sadegh Beit Sayah, was disqualified, he was in tears. Navdeep and Sadegh were both in the mixed zone at the time, and Navdeep immediately went up to him and to console him. He got him…

Boria Majumdar in Paris We started planning for the Olympics and Paralympics in late 2022. Budgets, travel plans, hotels and, more importantly, whether it was even feasible for an organisation that was just a year old (then) to think of taking a six or seven-member team to the Olympics and the Paralympics for 50-plus days. Paris is expensive, and money was always an important consideration. The truth is it sounded impossible to start with. But then, we started breaking things down, worked our way round the maze and realised that if we had to do quality coverage of a very…

Boria Majumdar in Paris It has been a stellar Paralympics for India – 29 medals don’t come easy, and speak of a revolution back home. From a solitary medal in 2012 to 29 just 12 years later is serious progress. And that’s what brings me to this piece, my penultimate one from here in Paris as we get ready to leave for home. For the last few weeks, we have repeatedly talked about Harvinder Singh, Sumit Antil, Sheetal Devi, Nitesh Kumar, Preethi Pal and the like. We have written about them and their stories. Celebrated them and given them their…

Boria Majumdar in Paris “I don’t know if I should say this to anyone” was how it began. Harvinder Singh, one of the nicest athletes I know and India’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony, was somewhat downcast when I met him at the Athletes Village. While everyone else was celebrating the 26th medal, he was standing quietly in a corner. “What happened?” I asked, and it seemed to me that he wanted to say something but couldn’t. “If you don’t want me to write it, I will not,” I assured him, and said he could tell me if that helped…

Boria Majumdar in Paris With two days left for the Paralympics to end, it is perhaps time to take stock of what I have learnt over the last 45 days during the Olympics and the Paralympics. How sport continues to teach life lessons, and makes you feel humbled each time you try to get too far ahead of yourself and make predictions. How sport always has a way to surprise you and bring smiles to people’s faces. Finally, and most importantly, how we can all continue to get better and make a difference. I will highlight my learnings with three…

Boria Majumdar in Paris I had predicted 25 medals coming into the Paralympics. Now, I am adding one more to the tally. To finish with 50 percent more medals than what India had won in Tokyo – and with half of those won by women – the Paralympics contingent has turned a new leaf. The number of gold medals has not gone down either, and when you think that India missed out on a few certain golds – Thulasimathi Murugesan and Krishna Nagar, to name just two – you know that the story is positive and vibrant. India is on…