Author: G Rajaraman

Abhishek Pal could not have employed smarter racing strategy than on Wednesday to land India’s first medal in the Asian Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Bangkok, and mark his own maiden trip to the podium in an international track event. Aware that Japan’s Ren Tazawa was in a league of his own, the 25-year-old from Amethi did well to keep Kazakhstan’s Shadrack Kimutai Koech in his sights and relied on his kick to earn the bronze medal. Abhishek, who works for Railways, outsprinted Japan’s Yuto Imae and Gulveer Singh, his teammate, in the final lap but could not…

Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and long jumper M Sreeshankar will be expected to earn gold medals for India in the Asian Athletics Championships which gets underway at the National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. With reigning Olympic Games javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra, Commonwealth Games 3000m steeplechase silver medalist Avinash Sable and Praveen Chithravel, who leads the men’s triple jump season top list, opting to stay away from the meet, India will be hoping that at least a couple of others would step up for a better return that last time. India won two gold, through Toor and…

Adille J Sumariwalla, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President, has said the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) recognition of AFI as the best National Federation on the continent is due to the work of the entire athletics community. “It is the result of team work, and we believe that it belongs to the dynamic New India,” said Dr Sumariwalla, an Olympian himself, to RevSportz. “This would not have been possible without the hard work and commitment of our talented athletes, coaches, support staff, my colleagues in the executive committee and the office staff. We have been encouraged by the Government…

The heart of the Indian cricket fan would brace itself up for the quick fall of the first Indian wicket. The rival new-ball bowlers would lick their lips in anticipation of making early inroads. Through the 1960s, it was considered a bonus if the scratch combinations at the top of the order put together any partnership of consequence. For nearly a decade, after Pankaj Roy faded away from the scene and Nari Contractor was felled by a Charlie Griffith bouncer, India thrust upon a number of middle-order specialists the responsibility of being makeshift openers. While ML Jaisimha and Dilip Sardesai…

It is not the easiest of things to get dispassionate when writing about Sourav Ganguly. It would be the easiest to recall images of Sourav Ganguly, rising from his seat in the Lord’s balcony and waving his shirt to celebrate victory in the NatWest Trophy final against England. Or his strained relationship with coach Greg Chappell in 2005-06. But then there is so much more to Sourav Ganguly and his dramatic stint in India colours. I remember a colleague asking him if the first ball duck in his final innings in the 2008 Test against Australia in Nagpur was dramatic.…

It would be naïve to think that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his actions on the cricket field can ever be fully understood, more so in a piece like this on his birthday. However, there is no harm in trying to revisit Dhoni and the art of decision-making to examine some traits that make him the celebrated leader he is. It is a universally accepted fact that he earned himself a place in the pantheon of Indian cricket’s iconic leaders alongside Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly (with Virat Kohli joining the bunch later). Each of these captains…

The Indian contingent to compete in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou from September 23 will have to deal with growing pressure of expectations, not just from fans of multi-discipline sport but also from Indian sports bureaucracy and broadcaster, if a promo shared on social media earlier this week is any indication. You will have noticed that the smart athletes, aware of the vagaries of form and luck, have learnt to talk of making a 100 per cent effort on the biggest of stages. They are no given to making vain boasts about achieving success. Nobody knows better than them…

Maharashtra’s Rujuta Khade wrested the spotlight on the third evening of the 76th National Aquatics Championships by improving on the women’s 50m Freestyle meet record, set by Shikha Tandon 20 years ago, with a time of 26.47 seconds at the GMC Balayogi Sports Complex Swimming Pool in Hyderabad on Tuesday. In a final that saw the top seven finish inside 27 seconds – only Shikha, Kenisha Gupta and she herself had done this before Tuesday – Rujuta made it a doubly sweet evening for the family, after Virdhawal Khade, her 31-year-old husband, had pipped younger sprinters to the wall in…

It would take a brave student of sport some effort to stick one’s neck out a long way and name Neeraj Chopra as the greatest Indian athlete of all time. For, if comparing athletes across disciplines is fraught with much risk, adding another dimension – time spanning several generations – multiplies that manifold. The innate humility of most sportspersons is such that few, barring, of course, Muhammad Ali, have ever claimed to be the greatest. They shy away from standing before mirrors and asking: ‘Who’s the greatest of them all?’ They polish their talent and skill every single day, rather…

The heart bleeds for West Indies. It fears for world cricket. The fact that West Indies will go into the Super Sixes stage of the ICC World Cup qualifier with no points from Group A has left them needing to produce a series of miracles to make it to the ICC Cricket World Cup in India later this year. A few decades ago, this would have been a breeze for West Indies. Then again, back then, they would never have left themselves in such dire straits. Coming in the wake of a defeat to Zimbabwe, victory over the Netherlands was…