Author: S Kannan

S Kannan in Hangzhou Twenty-one years is a long time for any player to be part of multiple Asian Games campaigns. Rohan Bopanna has seen the highs and lows, crests and troughs, in a career where he got a raw deal many times. On Saturday, the 43-year-old Coorgi showed commendable heart to keep the fight going as he teamed up with Rutuja Bhosale to win the mixed doubles gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. For sheer longevity, for sheer toughness and honesty, RoBo, as he is called now, deserves a separate gold medal. Indian tennis has seen drama…

S Kannan in Hangzhou Zeeshan Ali seemed hassled. At the tennis centre in Hangzhou for the Asian Games, the deep creases on his forehead suggested that all was not well with Indian tennis. On a day when Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan won silver (or lost gold), there was not too much to cheer about. Yes, winning a silver medal is good for the nations’ medal tally, but the recent story of Indian tennis is filled with woes. Zeeshan comes from an age and era when his father, the late Akhtar Ali, was the cerebral coach. In minutes, he could…

S.Kannan in Hangzhou The way Naorem Roshibina Devi fights is fearsome. Inside the FOP (field of play), she is a Wushu tigress. On Thursday, the diminutive 22 year old from Manipur was all pumped up, yet against China’s own star Wu Xiaowei, could win only a silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. In the good old days, Indian athletes would go to the Asian Games and the Olympics, just for exposure. Nah, not these kids, anymore. They go to compete, get noticed, and win medals. Sample this, in four minutes, two rounds, the medal is decided in Wushu.…

-S.Kannan in Hangzhou BOOM. Has the revolution begun again in Indian shooting? One swallow doesn’t make a summer goes the old saying. But then, the way the Indian marksmen have been pulling the trigger in Hangzhou at the Asian Games over the last few days does suggest a change of tide and fortune. There are many ghosts from the past in Indian shooting which need to be exorcised. If you talk of the Asian Games, Incheon in 2014 or Palembang in 2018, results were far from satisfactory. Against such a backdrop and top quality field in China, for the youngsters…

S Kannan in Hangzhou Man and horse have been the best of friends since ancient times. Yet, this combination in a competitive sport is something so technical that not many have an inkling of how tough it is. On Tuesday, at the TL Equestrian Centre in Hangzhou, with heat and humidity within tolerable limits, the Indian dressage team created history by winning a gold medal at the Asian Games. Such is the story of Indian sports that the names of well-known athletes come readily to the mind. People still remember what Fouaad Mirza did at the last Asian Games in…

Cricket and trophies have been closely intertwined for decades, but cricket and a gold medal for the nation still has a crazy ring to it. As India succumbed to cricket fever of a different sort on Monday night, celebrating the women’s triumph against Sri Lanka in the Asian Games final in Hangzhou, it’s worth a debate if the T20 format belongs in a multi-discipline event. Keeping in sync with the changes which are being made to the Summer Olympics, the Asian Games and even the poor Commonwealth Games, bringing in new sports has provided for captivating experiences. Sample this, cricket…

S Kannan in Hangzhou If there is one mass sport in India which is played with bare-minimum equipment and also outdoors, it is volleyball. It is a common sight to see middle-class men enjoying a game of volleyball minus all the fancy kit – shiny apparel and attractive shoes. At least, as a middle-class sport, it is common to see men in a makeshift venue, mostly outdoors, boosting a ball in the air and whacking it down. Volley is a word usually associated with tennis, but the sport that has the word in its name is one where India have…

S Kannan in Hangzhou Opening ceremonies at multi-discipline sporting events are all about capturing the ethos and culture of the country. China takes pride in anything and everything it does. Many may associate China with just gadgets, gizmos and glitz, but there is also the human element and a humane touch. That was what one got to see at the Hangzhou Asian Games opening ceremony on Saturday night. What a stark comparison it was. When Beijing hosted the Olympics’ opening ceremony on August 8, 2008, at 8:08pm, there was suspense. After all, the western world had serious doubts about China’s…

Legend Anju Bobby George has a very different take on Indian track and field athletes of this generation. In her view, the Asian Games are just a Continental Championship and winning a medal in it is just another reference in their Bios. Speaking to RevSportz, Anju said: “We are at a different level today. The world knows us today in every field and we belong to it. For Indian athletics competitors, the Asian Games is not so big like before, and I say this after watching our standards rise. These comments from Anju may surprise many people but it is…

Karnam Malleswari, the Iron Woman of Indian sport, was a pioneer in many ways. Apart from winning medals galore at the Asian Games and the World Championships, she scripted history when she won a bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It was the only medal at those Olympics for India, something which will always stand out in the record books. At one point of time, Malleswari was seen as an anti-establishment figure, fighting with the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF). Yet, it was Malli, as she is known to friends, who was the first to highlight how much…