Author: S Kannan

SKannan in New Delhi An individual being laid low by dengue fever may seem normal in India after incessant rains. Even there, the patientis out of commission for at least a few weeks, and unable to perform most normal activities. This intensifies the debate over how soon Shubman Gill can come back to be part of India’s ICC World Cup campaign. “If Gill was hospitalised, that means he had high fever and the blood platelet count would have dropped drastically,”said Dr PSM Chandran, a well-known sports medicine doctor who has been part of the Indian system for over five decades.…

S.Kannan The heat was stifling and the humidity was killing in Chennai on Sunday. For those not used to these extreme conditions, even a casual walk in the streets can be dehydrating. In such extreme conditions, the Indian troika of spinners led by Sir Ravindra Jadeja throttled the Aussies for 199 runs in the ICC World Cup opener. That was just the prelude. What followed was a batting collapse like a house of cards from the India top order, where Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were clueless. Stress, tension, nail biting and more. Social media had stepped into…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou Who would have thought Indian cricket would rock, first in Hangzhou, China, at the Asian Games and then hope for an encore in Chennai. The blockbuster between India and Australia in the southern metropolis at the ICC World cup is important for many reasons. For those who have written traditional previews, SWOT analysis, plus more into the technical side, much has changed. For sheer volume of cricket these two nations play with each other, it has reached a saturation stage. That, of course, is market driven. In the good old days of Test cricket in white flannels,…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou A total of 100 medals at the Asian Games? You got to be kidding! We heard this phrase quite a few times before the Indian teams left for Hangzhou. On a cold Saturday night, when even the Rain Gods seemed be smiling on India, the medal tally stood at an unbelievable 107. For India to reap a rich harvest and pick up 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze medals was out of the world. If today the nation is rejoicing and from President Droupadi Murmu to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire Union Cabinet in…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou There is no medal which Barjang Punia has not won in his illustrious wrestling career, be it at the Olympics, the Asian Games or the World Championships. Not to forget, the 29-year-old Haryanvi also shone in the Commonwealth Games editions as well. The Bajrang Indian sports fans knew when he won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Bajrang of today are like Jekyll and Hyde. People always knew him as a hard-working guy on the mat, someone who commanded respect. Yet, the way Bajrang’s image has taken a beating in 2023 is…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou Cheer the champion, do a slam dunk on them when they are down and out. How true is this of Indian sport where winners are expected to be like robots, not humans. On a day when PV Sindhu crashed out of the women’s singles quarter-finals to China’s own smart cookie He Bing jiao in the Asian Games, carping critics were at their worst. This “I told you so” sneer on social media was overflowing as if people wanted the darling of Indian badminton to lose. Only a pervert will wish an athlete bad. Only a pervert will…

S Kannan in Hangzhou Indian sports is blessed it has so many different champions. Each generation has produced a superstar, and fans could relate to them. If Milkha Singh was the legendary runner with non-stop energy, then Sunny Gavaskar was the India Test opener whose bat was full of runs and tons. Many champions after that have gelled with the masses, though Sachin Tendulkar’s connect with one and all remains unparalleled. On the eve of the ICC World Cup, Tendulkar is its brand ambassador. People still relate to him simply because of what he did for the sport. Maybe, Kapil…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou Speed, skill, endurance and versatility, if that be an amalgam for an athlete in the track and field arena, you get to see the Alpha Male. The discipline is called decathlon, which means competing in 10 different events over two days, usually. Not many would like to attempt this, really, since the way a champion is decided on points awarded is a complex matrix. There have been legends like Daley Thompson and Kevin Mayer who embraced decathlon with amazing feel and felicity. To have been “The King” over and over again at multiple editions of the Olympics…

Beyond the boundary or field of play, for the sports fans, winning looks so easy. When a favourite athlete or team does well, there is cheering, clapping and appreciation. In an age where social media has become so intrusive, expressing thoughts is like the two-minute Maggi noodles. It takes less than a minute to post on multiple social media platforms, without even a thought. Yet, how many really think of what an athlete undergoes while competing? Professional sport is cold and ruthless. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the pressure of delivering medals for the nation is equally high. Do…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou India versus Pakistan, damn, how many times has that theme played, over and over again. We never get tired of it, India versus Pakistan in the sporting arena. Being an Indian in Hangzhou, China, as an Asian Games fan first and then a professional sports writer, it is not easy to be cold like ice. You cannot remain inert to emotions. For, sport minus emotion is like injury without pain. Sport makes you laugh, cry, roar, weep and sink. On Saturday evening and then night in Hangzhou, a city which has seen the Chinese put on their…