Author: G Rajaraman

Joe Root’s class and character, so conspicuous by their absence thus far in the Test series, teamed up with some lower-order grit to help England overcome misery inflicted by debutant paceman Akash Deep in the first hour and share honours on the opening day of the fourth Test at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Friday. Akash Deep’s lively and memorable maiden spell in Test cricket — he picked up three wickets in the first six overs — would have overshadowed the cricket that followed but Root cast aside thoughts of Bazball. With clear and not muddled thinking, he…

Anush Agarwalla has secured India an individual spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Equestrian competition in the Dressage event through overall ranking, the International Equestrian Federation has confirmed. With some smart planning and execution he pipped a Korean rider to the final qualifying berth by 7 points. Having led the Indian Dressage team to a historic Asian Games gold medal and won an individual bronze on Etro in Hangzhou in September last, Anush Agarwalla did not rest on his oars and returned to his base in Europe. In a tribute to his planning, he nailed a series of high…

Sometime in the future, Ravindra Jadeja may look back at four days in February 2024 during the third Test against England and speak on it as a great example of holding held himself together under stress. He was returning to the fray after sitting out of the second Test in Visakhapatnam on account of fitness. Worse, there was a storm raging on social media around his family. He delivered decisive performances first with the bat and then with the cricket ball to showcase his ability to focus on the things at hand rather than let his mind be riddled with…

Trailblazers 2.0 is already emerging as India’s biggest, most diverse and most inclusive sports conclave in the year of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It would be natural to expect the stunning array of panelists across the entire spectrum of the sports ecosystem to tickle the grey cells of those listening to them as they share their experiences, their learning and their vision. The eclectic group includes superb achievers, including athletes with disabilities, female athletes, sportspersons with rich experience behind them and others who are beginning to make a mark on the international stage, officials who work tirelessly behind the…

Elation and, more often, despair are constant companions of all athletes. Few have lived that reality with as much awareness as India’s premier long jumper M Sreeshankar. While he has become familiar with agony and ecstasy, the World No. 8 may have cracked the code by embracing the joy of effort in his quest to leave a lasting impact on the Indian track and field horizon. Making it to the World Athletics Championships Long Jump final at Eugene, USA, in 2022 was a key milestone in instilling greater self-belief in him. As was the silver medal in the Birmingham Commonwealth…

She defies the stereotyping that track and field athletes only come from humble backgrounds and do not express themselves in ways other than through their talent. Harmilan Bains may have been persuaded by her parents to take to athletics but she has shown that she can carve a niche for herself, exceeding their expectations in her maiden Asian Games appearance last year. With 800m and 1500m silver medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games, she sprinted away from the shadows that loomed on her. Be it the long lay-off due to injury, surgery and rehab or the pressure that came along…

Anush Agarwalla is a fabulous representative of the new generation of Indian athletes which knows what it aspires for and how to make it come true. India’s top Dressage rider at age 24, Anush Agarwalla will hold his own amidst a galaxy of top-notch panelists in India’s biggest sports conclave, Trailblazers 2.0, at the ITC Royal Bengal, Kolkata, on March 7 and 8. For a nation that pays more attention to rags-to-riches stories, India would do well to track the determination of a Ballygunge boy to court success in a sport of his choice. Early on, he would travel to…

For someone who had to reach a landline phone to convey the news of her maiden National Championships victory to her parents and now goes off social media without batting an eyelid, Joshna Chinappa is a dignified ambassador for her sport and for India. And she will be an important part of Trailblazers 2.0, India’s biggest sports conclave. With 18 national titles and two Asian Championships singles crowns under her belt, she is the most successful Indian squash player. Her maiden National title dates back to the year 2000 when she was 14. From being among the youngest on tour…

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur has exhorted India’s athletes heading to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to play safe, play clean and play fair in their quest to sustain India’s progress in sport. “They must observe the spirit of competition and integrity while reflecting India’s aspirations on the global stage,” he said on Friday. He was speaking at a conference, Road to Paris 2024, hosted by the National Anti-Doping Authority (NADA) after virtually unveiling the plaque to inaugurate the Centre for Excellence in Nutritional Supplements Testing for Sportspersons (CoE-NSTS) at the National Forensic Science University,…

Sanjeet Singh Joon, a 29-year-old sprinter from Jhajjar in Haryana, has been banned for eight years for a second anti-doping rule violation. By an order dated December 27 last but made public now, a National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) overruled his plea to reduce the ban by a year after he claimed he had accepted the violation early. In his first sprint on return from the first ban, Sanjeet Singh clocked a slow 11.19 seconds in the heats in the National Open Athletics Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on October 15, 2022. He did not even make…