India's team and individual sports rankings

Indian Team Sports Ranking             World Rank                                     As of 7/6/2011

1. Test Cricket                                     1st
2. One Day International Cricket            2nd
3. Tennis Davis Cup                             13th
4. Men's Football (Soccer)                    147th
5. Women's Football (Soccer)               54th
6. Men's Basketball                              50th
7. Women's Basketball                         41st
8. Junior Boys Volleyball                       7th (Men's volleyball is 37th)
9. Junior Girls Volleyball                       55th (Women's volleyball is 103)
10. Men's Rugby                                    75th
11. Men's Field Hockey                          9th
12. Women's Field Hockey                     10th

Individual Sports ranking:

Men's Single's Tennis: India's Top 3            World Rank

1. Somdev Devvarman                                      63rd
2. Vishnu Vardhan                                           316th
3. Karan Rastogi                                              347th

   

   

Men's Double's Tennis: India's Top 3          World Rank

1. Mahesh Bhupathi                                         5th
2. Leander Paes                                              8th
3. Rohan Bopana                                             10th 

   

Women's Single's Tennis: India's Top 2        World Rank

1. Sania Mirza                                                 63rd
2. Poojashree Venkatesha                                615th

   

Women's Double's Tennis: India's Top 2      World Rank

1. Sania Mirza                                                  11th
2. Rushmi Chakravarthi                                     406th

   

Men's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3       World Rank

1. P. Kashyap                                                   30th
2. Ajay Jayaram                                                36th
3. Anand Pawar                                                 51th

   

Women's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3     World Rank 

1. Saina Nehwal                                                  6th
2. Aditi Mutatkar                                                  124th
3. Sayali Gokhale                                                135th

If you think there is any other sport that should be added to this, please let me know and if you could provide me the source of where I can find the rankings it will be of great help. Thank you.

The new Indian sports bill

Article Written by C. Rajshekhar Rao, AP Sports Writer 

A bill to be introduced to parliament this year proposes significant changes, including oversight of election protocols, rules to ensure athletes are involved in administration and provisions to clean up doping and stamp out age fraud across the sporting spectrum.

The reform drawing the ire of most administrators, though, is proposed limits on the age and tenure of leading officials — and that's where the International Olympic Committee comes in.

Proponents of the legislation say it is long overdue and will stamp out the kind of corruption that led to the arrest of some of the leading figures in the organizing committee for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

"The bill is being opposed by only those with vested interests," India sports minister Ajay Maken said last week as he pushed forward with plans to introduce the legislation. "It is the only way to ensure accountability of officials."

Detractors have described the bill as draconian, saying it impinges the Olympic charter.

Randhir Singh, a 64-year-old former competition shooter who has been the Indian Olympic Association secretary-general for 23 years, warned that the bill could put India in breach of IOC guidelines which prevent government meddling in independent sporting bodies; a stance the IOC reiterated in a letter to Singh.

"The government authorities may make suggestions and recommendations to assist sports organizations in their internal matters and internal governance, if need be, however, cannot force them (by law) to adopt standard mandatory provisions," the IOC wrote.

The IOC issued another statement on India's draft legislation after a meeting in April.

"The IOC executive board will consider taking appropriate measures and actions which might seriously affect the representation and participation of India at the Olympic Games and international sports events coming up," the statement said.

The focus for Randhir Singh and other long-term serving officials has been on the age limit of 70 and the two four-year term limits for office bearers in national sports federations.

The long, unchecked reigns of sports officials were highlighted as public concerns before graft charges were laid against Commonwealth Games chief organizer Suresh Kalmadi and his close aide Lalit Bhanot.

Kalmadi, a member of Parliament, was the India Olympic Association's president for 15 years and fired only after his arrest, while Bhanot was secretary of the Athletics Federation of India for 24 years.

Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who represents the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Parliament, has the longest tenure of all those running national sports federations, having headed the Archery Association of India for 31 years.

"Through this bill, the government is trying to take over the federations," Malhotra, the IOA's acting president, said last month after the national Olympic body rejected the proposed legislation.

Maken, though, contends the proposed laws aren't radically different from the IOC's own rules — which limit the age of committee members and impose term limits for the president and executive committee members — and are in line with similar guidelines in other countries.

"We want to have transparency and that can be done legally. Sports bodies should be governed by clear, transparent and fair rules," Maken said.

It is not just those sports which receive government funding that will be affected by the legislation.

All federations will lose the right to represent India if they don't adhere to the rules, meaning even the rich and powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India will have to fall into line. Although Maken doesn't think the BCCI has to be concerned.

"Almost all of these guidelines have been implemented by BCCI, including the tenure norms, so they should have no problem," Maken said.

However, the bill also contains the Right to Information Act, under which the BCCI's finances would have to be publicly disclosed.

Former India field hockey captain Pargat Singh leads a new 'Clean Sports India' organization which aims to combat bad administration in sports, and has welcomed the proposed laws as offering "a new direction in sports."

"Officials don't want to leave their posts, but they can't go on forever," Pargat said.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2011-06-28-542163415_x.htm

Rohan, Aisam, Somdev and Sania riding in a train together to Wimbledon 2011

http://yfrog.com/z/klhfzaj

Sorry I don't know who the others are in the picture.

Somdev Loses in the second round of AEGON International

After ousting the No. 4 seed of the tournament in the opening round, Somdev couldn't muster up enough magic in the second round to beat Julien Benneteau of France. Even though Somdev lost he gave a good fight and took the match to the third set, the score ended up being 6-7, 7-6, 3-6 from Somdev's point of view.

The rest of the Indians also bowed out of the tournament as well, Sania Mirza lost her first round match the day before yesterday and Rohan Bopanna lost his doubles first round match today. They must be all packing their bags and getting ready for Wimbledon. There will be 5 Indians participating in the Gran Slam, Somdev and Sania will be representing India in the singles draw while Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will be playing in the doubles draw.

Somdev defeats Lopez, enters second round of AEGON International

Logging his first win of the season on the grass court, Somdev Devvarman defeats Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in a two set match. This is impressive for Somdev because of the fact that the grass is the toughest surface for his style of play, and Lopez is definitely not an easy player to beat considering that he is ranked 33rd in the world and made it to the finals of the 2010 AEGON International.

Somdev had a tough time in the last few tournaments after he had a minor injury in the middle of the clay tournaments. After a few string of good matches on the red surface he tapered off in the win department and took a bunch of tough loses. It is not clear if that minor injury was the reason for his lack of wins over the last month or if it was just technical issues he was dealing with on the clay and grass surfaces.


Wimbledon is approaching fast at the end of June, and this win could be a good confidence booster for the India's No. 1 men's player. Lets see how he does in the second round of the AEGON International where he faces Julian Benneteau (world no. 77)  from France.

Indian Team and Individual rankings

Indian Team Sports Ranking             World Rank                                     As of 5/30/2011

1. Test Cricket                                     1st
2. One Day International Cricket            2nd
3. Tennis Davis Cup                             13th
4. Men's Football (Soccer)                    145th
5. Women's Football (Soccer)               54th
6. Men's Basketball                              50th
7. Women's Basketball                         41st
8. Junior Boys Volleyball                       7th (Men's rankings weren't available)
9. Junior Girls Volleyball                       49th (Women's rankings weren't available)
10. Men's Rugby                                    76th
11. Men's Field Hockey                          9th
12. Women's Field Hockey                     11th

Individual Sports ranking:

Men's Single's Tennis: India's Top 3            World Rank

1. Somdev Devvarman                                      66st
2. Karan Rastogi                                             328th
3. Vishnu Vardhan                                          350th

   

   

Men's Double's Tennis: India's Top 3          World Rank

1. Mahesh Bhupathi                                         5th
2. Leander Paes                                              7th
3. Rohan Bopana                                             11th 

   

Women's Single's Tennis: India's Top 2        World Rank

1. Sania Mirza                                                 72rd
2. Poojashree Venkatesha                                546th

   

Women's Double's Tennis: India's Top 2      World Rank

1. Sania Mirza                                                  25th
2. Rushmi Chakravarthi                                     376st

   

Men's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3       World Rank

1. P. Kashyap                                                   28rd
2. Ajay Jayaram                                                36th
3. Anand Pawar                                                 43th

   

Women's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3     World Rank 

1. Saina Nehwal                                                  4th
2. Aditi Mutatkar                                                  88th
3. Sayali Gokhale                                                133th

If you think there is any other sport that should be added to this, please let me know and if you could provide me the source of where I can find the rankings it will be of great help. Thank you.

Can Indians ride the waves?

An ESPN article reports that India is added to the International Surfing Association. I tried to find videos or search for information to check if Indians have any notable surfers, and check what I found:

If we have Indians who are doing that, you really think it is much harder for us to grab a board and ride the waves?

Hockey: India defeats Malaysia

 Prior post on 5/9/11

In the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, India defeated Malaysia (the host team) with a score of 5-2. It was a good performance by India in front of the loud home crowd and after this performance many are becoming confident that Indian hockey has a good group of youngsters coming into the mix. The next match is going to be an emotion filled one against Pakistan, the Indian coach (Harinder) made a statement that it is just like any other game. The game against Pakistan will be on 5/11/11 6:05 pm Malaysian time, if there is a live broadcasting link it will be posted on this site an hour or two before the match.

Current standings in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup:

№	Team	Played	Points
1	Great Britain	4	9
2	Australia	3	7
3	India	4	7
4	Pakistan	4	6
5	Korea	3	4
6	New Zealand	3	1
7	Malaysia	3	0

Hockey: India draws Australia in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup

India has won the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in 2009 and were joint winners with South Korea in 2010, if they win this year they would set a hat-trick of titles. The Azlan Shah cup is known to be a tournament in which countries do not send their complete team, it is the kind of tournament when the senior players are rested and the younger or next in line players represent their countries.

The tournament started off last week, the results so far:
May 5th: India Vs. South Korea: South Korea won the match 3-2 after India lead the game 2-0 at half time.
May 6th: India Vs. Great Britain: India won the match with a score of 3-1.
May 8th: India Vs. Australia: The game was tied at 1-1, India's goal keeper Adrian D'Souza performed extremely well by clamping down all the goal attempts by the Aussies. The score would have been 5-1 if it wasn't for D'Souza's performance.

India is set to play Malaysia today, here is a link of the match updates and other information about the tournament.

Live coverage of the match: Click here. Note: The link will be taken off once it expires.

India can't afford a million dollar coach

After Bob Houghton resigned as India's national football coach there has been a hunt for a new coach over the last few weeks. There are reports and rumors floating around about the kind of applications that AIFF has received. Many Indian football crazies got super excited to see rumors/reports that Andi Voller, a coach who led Germany to a World cup final, was interested in the job. Officials rejected those reports and killed the dreams that some of us were painting in our minds. Surprisingly, for AIFF and the fans, there are some high profile former national coaches who are actually interested in coaching India.

Apparently, former coach of Argentina Jose Pakerman and former coach of Japan Philippe Traussier are a couple of those high profile coaches who are interested. The first instinct would be to go ahead and hire these experienced coaches, but once you find out how much they cost your instincts will wither away. Can we afford a million dollars?

Houghton got paid $360,000 dollars per annum and according to AIFF the new coach will not get paid any more than the amount Houghton bagged. $360,000 sounds like a lot of money, and it most definitely is for India's standards and it is a decent level pay according to the world football standards.

To get a perspective here is a list of some countries' national coach salaries during the 2010 World cup:

1.  Fabio Capello, England: $12,601,600
2.  Marcelo Lippi, Italy : $4,296,000
3.  Joachim Loew, Germany : $3,580,000
4.  Berter Van Marwijk, Netherlands : $2,577,600
5.  Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland: $2,506,000
6.  Vicente Del Bosque, Spain : $2,148,000
7.  Carlos Queiroz, Portugal : $1,933,200
8.  Pim Verbeek, Australia : $1,718,400
9.  Carlos Parreira, South Africa: $1,718,400
10. Javier Aguirre, Mexico : $1,718,400
11. Carlos Dunga, Brazil : $1,145,600
12. Diego Maradona, Argentina : $1,145,600
13. Takeshi Okada, Japan : $1,145,600
14. Ricki Herbert, New Zealand : $1,145,600
15. Otto Rehhagel, Greece : $1,074,000
16. Paul Le Guen, Cameroon : $930,800
17. Marcelo Bielsa, Chile : $823,400
18. Raymond Domenech, France : $801,920
19. Vahdi Halilhodzic, Ivory Coast : $723,160
20. Huh Jung Moo, South Korea: $579,960
21. Morten Olsen, Denmark : $558,480
22. Milovan Rajevac, Ghana : $522,680
23. Radomir Antic, Serbia : $436,760
24. Bob Bradley, USA : $393,800
25. Matjaz Kek, Slovenia : $350,840                   <-------------Houghton's pay grade
26. Gerardo Martino, Paraguay : $350,840         
27. Rabah Saadane, Algeria : $350,840
28. Reinaldo Rueda, Honduras : $343,680
29. Vladimir Weiss, Slovakia : $307,880
30. Oscar Tabarez, Uruguay : $293560
31. Kim Jong Hun, North Korea: $243,440
32. Shaibu Amodu, Nigeria : $179,000


Based on these numbers India pays just about as much as Slovenia, Paraguay, and Algeria. According to FIFA, these three teams rank 17th, 23rd, and 40th respectively while India ranks 146th. Is it that the coaches from Slovenia, Paraguay and Algeria over achieved? Or is it because India's coach under achieved? The answer might not be that simple.

Here are some football facts of U.S, India, and Nigeria:
U.S's soccer(football) budget = $60 million, spends $393,800 on their coach, ranks 22nd in the world.
India's football budget = $10 million, spends $360,000 on their coach, ranks 146th in the world.
Nigeria's football budget = $43 million, spends $179,000 on their coach, ranks 38th in the world.

Based on these numbers the quality of the coach isn't the major factor which effects the ranking of a country, what matters is how much the country spends on the overall development of the sport. The difference between what the U.S, India, and Nigeria does is at the grassroots level. The word "grassroots" refers to the kind of local coaches they groom, the kind of football fields they have, the kind of stadiums they build and the kind of leagues they run from the ages 8 through 18.

Conclusion:
Even if we hire a million dollar coach, if the AIFF doesn't develop the game at the grassroots stage the players we produce will not be good enough to comprehend what a million dollar coach asks them to do. Instead of hiring a high profile coach, we need to hire five mediocre coaches (worth $200k per annum) and assign them to train at the grassroots level. AIFF says "no" to those high profile coaches, and I agree with them on this one.

Geethu Anna Jose finished her try outs with three WNBA teams

Recent quotes:
“The tryout is a very big thing, I really wanted to do my best in the tryout. I didn't want regret in my life, like, ‘I should've gone for the tryout.'” Geethu.

San Antonio Silver Stars head coach Dan Hughes said:
"She far exceeded my expectation coming in, what was amazing to me working her out was her listening ability was tremendous,” Hughes said. “That was really pleasing, really exciting to see an athlete that cares that much about getting better. She's been in Chicago, L.A. and now here in San Antonio, and she's going through every drill with an intensity. I enjoyed working with her. It was a favorable impression she left on me.''

Significance of the try outs:
Geethu Anna. Jose is the first Indian to try out for a WNBA team. The 6'2'' forward from Kerala, India had try outs with the Chicago Sky, the L.A sparks and the San Antonio Silver Stars. Even though trying out doesn't sound as glamorous as making a team, it is a big accomplishment nevertheless. It brings much intangible value to her as a player and Indian basketball. It acts as a motivation factor for many basketball players in India who now know that if they can be as good as Geethu (or better) they will have a chance at the big leagues.

The result:
By looking at the statements which were made by Dan Hughes it is probably the case that she might not be selected to play with the Silver Stars. There haven't been any opinions expressed by any personnel from the Chicago Sky and L.A Sparks organization, it is probable that they couldn't find a space for her on the roster just yet.

What could be the reasons for them to not give her a spot?
The fact that she is trying out with the teams after the WNBA draft shows that the teams are in search of a player with a particular skill set that would fit their needs. At 6'2'', Geethu is a tall player and most probably fit the typical women's power forward profile. As a player, she is known to play both inside the paint as well as at the perimeter range so it is probably safe to assume they chose to try her out due to her versatility. During the try out they check the speed, strength and tendencies of the player to judge what the strengths and weaknesses are. If they find certain weaknesses in the player's game, they will check the player's willingness and ability to learn new things.

If they found no weaknesses in Geethu's game they will take her right away. If they found certain weaknesses, they will wait until they really need her regardless of her weaknesses. The fact that Geethu follows directions very well and is willing to learn will be a positive on the coaches' mind. The fact that she is 25 years old and is not too young for the WNBA rookie standards will probably make the coaches think twice.

Does this mean she will not be picked in the future? 
Definitely not. In basketball players get injured all the time, and the teams will need to bring in someone to substitute the injured player's spot on the team. Teams have scouting networks, and since Geethu tried out with three teams, the rest of the teams will know exactly what kind of a player she is and what she can offer. If a team needs a player like her and if their coach wants to give her a chance, her phone will ring.

How will this experience make a difference in Geethu's career?
1) She got exposure in India and abroad among thousands of basketball fans.
2) She worked/did try outs with fabulous WNBA coaches and probably learned new techniques to improve her game.

With this experience she is obviously a much matured player mentally. She can use her maturity and coaching tips to make her game and the Indian national team better. She can definitely help other young players on the team and give them a perspective on what to expect if they do try outs in the WNBA. Who knows, may be she will become a great coach one day and take Indian basketball to another level? Yes, the possibilities are unlimited.

For now, lets just hope she will get a spot on one of the 12 WNBA teams. I will keep you updated on what happens.

Results and Updates:

Boxing: 4 Indians win gold at the Women's Youth and Junior World Championships
As I have been posting for the past few days, India is participating in the Women's Youth and Junior World Championships in Antalya, Turkey. India sent a total of sixteen participants in different weight classes from which four won the gold, one participant won the silver, and two won the bronze.

Judging by the results over the last couple of years of Indians winning medals and accolades in combat sports, it is quite obvious that for what ever reason we are good at it. Is it because the combat sports are provided with good coaches and facilities? Is it because of the fact that Indians are genetically made for combat sports? Or is it because of a combination of the both?

Here is a list of all the participants:

Youth Women's World Championship:
1) S. Sarjubala Devi (Gold)
2) Sanasri Brahma
3) Pwilao Basumatary (Bronze)
4) Anjali Machahari
5) Poonam Chahal (Bronze)
6) Minu Basumatary (Gold)
7) Heena Tokas
8) Alary Bord

Juniors Women's World Championship:
1) Lalenkawli (Gold)
2) Chanchan Devi
3) Nikhat Zareen (Gold)
4) Lalfakzuali (Silver)
5) Pinki Kachari
6) Neeraj Bala
7) Marathamma
8) Laxmi Wagh


Tennis: Vishnu Vardhan hurts himself during the finals
In the Chennai Futures tournament final Vishnu Vardhan faced off against Patrik Rosenholm of Sweden. During the match, Vishnu hurt either a muscle or joints in his leg and was unable to continue the match. He had to withdraw from the final and declare Patrik Rosenholm as the winner. 

Due to his appearance in the finals, Vishnu has gained 10 ATP ranking points and this will aid him to be around the world ranking of 300. Hopefully his injury isn't too serious, if it is serious it will be tough for him play well in the next couple of months during which he has important ranking points to defend from last year.  

Results and Updates:

Tennis: Vishnu Vardhan enters the Chennai Futures finals
Vishnu Vardhan defeated Julien Dubail of Belgium in the semi-finals of the Chennai Futures tournament with a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. By winning this match Vishnu Vardhan won in his last 14 straight games, and if he wins the final he will be on a 15 game win streak and the third consecutive Futures title. He will be facing Patrik Rosenholm of Sweden. Stay tuned tomorrow to find out the results.

Tennis: Somdev Devvarman crashes out of the Serbian Open
In the quarterfinals of the Serbian Open Somdev Devvarman lost a three set match (3-6, 6-3, 4-6) against Janko Tipsarevic. Devvarman had a good run in the tournament and fetched himself 45 ATP ranking points to his collection, this will propel him a couple of positions and put him around world rank 68.

Boxing: 5 Indians enter the finals of the Women's Youth and Junior World Championships
In a strong showing, five of the seven Indian women who entered the semi-finals of the event ended up in the final bouts of the tournament.

Here is a list of all the participants:

Youth Women's World Championship:
1) S. Sarjubala Devi (made it to the Finals)
2) Sanasri Brahma
3) Pwilao Basumatary (made it to the Semi-finals)
4) Anjali Machahari
5) Poonam Chahal (made it to the Semi-finals)
6) Minu Basumatary (made it to the Finals)
7) Heena Tokas
8) Alary Bord

Juniors Women's World Championship:
1) Lalenkawli (made it to the Finals)
2) Chanchan Devi
3) Nikhat Zareen (made it to the Finals)
4) Lalfakzuali (made it to Finals)
5) Pinki Kachari
6) Neeraj Bala
7) Marathamma
8) Laxmi Wagh

A detailed article on Geetu Anna Jose's basketball career and aspirations

Click here

"So far, no Indian player has even gone for trials there (WNBA). So, I never expected to go there. But there was a desire within me to go there at least for a trial. I used to pray to God, 'please let me go at least for one trial'. Here, I am, going for three trials. I have also had dreams of me basketing and the team winning the game! These were the kind of dreams I had. I can't believe that my dreams are coming true; just a step away. If I come out with flying colours in the trails, I will say my dreams have come true. I am nervous and excited." Geetu Anna Jose

Here is a video of her:

He is trying out with three teams: Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks and San Antonio Silver Sparks.

Serbian Open: Somdev enters quarterfinals

Prior post 4/26/11
Prior post 4/24/11

Somdev Devvarman (world rank 70) won his second round match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (world rank 26) in a grueling 3 hours and 11 minutes long match. The final score ended up being 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-6(8) and it was a real test for both the players' endurance. As I have mentioned in my last post Somdev and Guillermo faced each other at the beginning of the month in the Houston Open in which Somdev lost 4-6, 1-6. In a matter of a month India's no. 1 player made enough adjustments in his clay court game to end up beating Guillermo.

This shows that Somdev is truly figuring out his way on the clay courts and it will be a big boast for his confidence. Tomorrow he will be facing off against Janko Tipsarevic (world rank 36) who defeated his second round opponent with a score of 6-2, 6-0. Looking at the scores it is obvious that Somdev will be much worn out physically compared to Janko, and lets hope Somdev will recover on time to bring his A game. He will definitely need it. Janko and Somdev played against each other trice in their careers, and Somdev ended up beating Janko in their most recent encounter in the Davis cup match in Serbia. Stay tuned for tomorrow to know what happened.


Here is a clip of his Davis cup match against Tipsarevic:

You can keep track of the live scores on this link: 2011 Serbian Open.
Draw sheet: click here

P.S Please keep in mind that tomorrow's results could be different from what the video presents.

Chennai Futures tournament Update:

Two Indian players made it to the semi-finals of the singles Chennai Futures tournament. Vishnu Vardhan (world rank 340) defeated Ranjeet Murugesan (world rank 554) with a score of 7-5, 6-2 while Vijay Sundar Prasad (world rank 611) defeated Karan Rastogi (world rank 318) to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. 

Vishnu will be playing against Julien Dubail (world rank 463) and Vijay will be playing against Patrik Rosenholm from Sweden in the semi-finals. If Vishnu wins this semi-final, it would be the third consecutive futures final for him. Stay tuned tomorrow for the results.

Draw Sheet

Indian women have the boxing genes

Out of the sixteen boxers that made it to the Women's Youth and Juniors World Championship in Antalya, Turkey seven of them ended up making it to the semi-finals and guaranteeing themselves a medal. Nearly half of the contingent ended up with a medal and once again India proves to be one of the leaders in the field of boxing. Is this a sign which screams Indians are good at combat sports?

Here is a list of all the participants:

Youth Women's World Championship:
1) S. Sarjubala Devi (made it to the Semi-finals)
2) Sanasri Brahma
3) Pwilao Basumatary (made it to the Semi-finals)
4) Anjali Machahari
5) Poonam Chahal (made it to the Semi-finals)
6) Minu Basumatary (made it to the Semi-finals)
7) Heena Tokas
8) Alary Bord

Juniors Women's World Championship:
1) Lalenkawli (made it to the Semi-finals)
2) Chanchan Devi
3) Nikhat Zareen (made it to the Semi-finals)
4) Lalfakzuali (made it to the Semi-finals)
5) Pinki Kachari
6) Neeraj Bala
7) Marathamma
8) Laxmi Wagh

Today's results and updates:

2011 Serbian Open: Somdev beats a clay specialist

Today Somdev beat Mikhail Kukushkin (World rank 65) with a score of 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to enter the second round of the Serbian Open in Belgrade. This is a sweet win for Somdev not just because Mikhail is ranked higher than him, but also because Mikhail is a clay court specialist. This victory is a sign that Somdev is evolving his game to suit the clay courts as well, and this will bode well for his ranking.

He will be facing against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (World rank 26) a solid clay court player. Somdev and Guillermo went head to head at the beginning of the month in the Houston Open in which Somdev lost with a score of 4-6, 1-6. This is the second time these two will go against each other in less than a month, and lets wait and see if the results will be any different this time around.

India's Team and Individual Sports Rankings

Indian Team Sports Ranking             World Rank                                                  As of 4/25/2011

1) Test Cricket                                      1st

2) One Day International Cricket            2nd

3) Tennis Davis Cup                              13th

4) Men's Football (Soccer)                     146th

5) Women's Football (Soccer)                54th

6) Men's Basketball                               50th

7) Women's Basketball                          41st

8) Junior Boys Volleyball                        7th (Men's rankings weren't available)

9) Junior Girls Volleyball                        49th (Women's rankings weren't available)

10) Men's Rugby                                   75th

11) Men's Field Hockey                         9th

12) Women's Field Hockey                    11th

Individual Sports ranking:

Men's Single's Tennis: India's Top 3            World Rank
1) Somdev Devvarman                                      71st
2) Karan Rastogi                                              318th
3) Vishnu Vardhan                                            340th
   
   
Men's Double's Tennis: India's Top 3          World Rank
1) Mahesh Bhupathi                                         5th
2) Leander Paes                                               7th
3) Rohan Bopana                                             12th 
   
Women's Single's Tennis: India's Top 2        World Rank
1) Sania Mirza                                                  73rd
2) Poojashree Venkatesha                                546th
   
Women's Double's Tennis: India's Top 2      World Rank
1) Sania Mirza                                                 29th
2) Rushmi Chakravarthi                                     371st
   
Men's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3       World Rank
1) P. Kashyap                                                    23rd
2) Ajay Jayaram                                                 29th
3) Anand Pawar                                                 40th
   
Women's Single's Badminton: India's Top 3     World Rank 
1) Saina Nehwal                                                   4th
2) Aditi Mutatkar                                                  85th
3) Sayali Gokhale                                                100th

If you think there is any other sport that should be added to this, please let me know and if you could provide me the source of where I can find the rankings it will be of great help. Thank you.

Sports Update: Badminton

Indian Open: Saina Nehwal confident about winning it

"This stadium has been lucky for me and I hope to perform like I did in the Commonwealth Games. It is going to be tough even though the Chinese players are not here. Other players are also playing very well. It is going to be tough but I am confident of doing well again. I have trained hard and my ankle is much better. Second seed Tine Baun of Denmark is also here, even the Japanese, Koreans, all have improved a lot. It is going to be a tough fight." Saina Nehwal

Saina is currently ranked 4th in the world singles badminton rankings.

Tennis: Serbian Open 2011

Somdev Devvarman, world No. 71 will be participating in the Belgrade's Serbian Open and will be playing in both singles and the doubles field. The Serbian Open is a clay court event which is part of Somdev's schedule leading up to the Roland Garros (French Open).

Somdev's favorite surface is the hard courts due to the fact that he played and dominated the US college circuit where all games are played on the hard courts. Since turning pro 3 years ago, Somdev has been making adjustments to his clay court game and trying to improve on the red surface. Traditionally the Europeans are the specialists on the clay since they start off playing tennis on the clay courts. In this clay court season Somdev will face many of the clay court specialists and unless he familiarizes with the surface to the best he can he will not be able to beat the specialists.

In the Serbian Open, he will be facing  a clay court specialist Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in his singles bout. In addition, Somdev will be pairing up with his college tennis partner Treat Huey of Philippines to face off against a German pair Martin Emmrich and Tobias Kamke. It is good that he is playing doubles along with his singles because playing doubles usually improves one's volleying aspect of the game. Which in result can help his singles game in the long run.

Draw sheet for singles
Draw sheet for doubles

Today's results:

Boxing: Serbian Invitationals at Belgrade, 2 golds and 1 bronze

1) India's teen sensation Shiva Thapa (bantamweight 56kgs) beat Delaklive Detelin (from Bulgaria) to win his first senior level gold medal.

                                                       Shiva Thapa, currently 17 years old


2) India's Heavyweight (91+kgs) Paramjeet Samota also managed to win a gold medal by beating Marceta Mane (from Bosnia).

                                                           Paramjeet Samota

3) Manpreet Singh (cruiserweight 91kgs) lost against Pulev Tervel (from Bulgaria) in his semi-final bout and ended up collecting the bronze medal.

                                                           Manpreet singh

Tennis: Vishnu Vardhan wins 2011 Noida futures

Prior post 4/22/11
Prior post 4/21/11
Prior post 4/20/11

Vishnu Vardhan who is currently India's No. 3 tennis player defeated Young Jun Kim of Korea in a three set match. Like yesterday's Semi-final today's final was also a very tough match to win for Vishnu, the score was 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(13) and it was a grueling three hour match in the Indian heat. Vishnu relied on his serve to keep himself afloat from losing the game, and as he plays more games he is learning and improving his tennis.

This is the third futures title won by Vishnu, this win will provide him with 27 ATP points and will propel him to be the No. 2 tennis player for India. This will give him the opportunity to play more at the Challenger tournaments and face players much highly ranked and more skilled than him. He will play in the Chennai Futures tournament next and head off to play a challenger in Uzbekistan.

The draw sheet

Boxing: Updates

8 fought in the Serbian invitational, 3 made it to the Semis:
Shiva Thapa (bantamweight 56 kgs), Paramjeet Samota (heavyweight 91kgs+), and Manpreet Singh (cruiser weight 91 kgs) managed to make it to the Semi-finals of the Serbian Invitational boxing tourney.

India sends 16 women's boxers to the Youth and Junior world championships:

Youth Women's World Championship:
1) S. Sarjubala Devi
2) Sanasri Brahma
3) Pwilao Basumatary
4) Anjali Machahari
5) Poonam Chahal
6) Minu Basumatary
7) Heena Tokas
8) Alary Bord

Juniors Women's World Championship:
1) Lalenkawli
2) Chanchan Devi
3) Nikhat Zareen
4) Lalfakzuali
5) Pinki Kachari
6) Neeraj Bala
7) Marathamma
8) Laxmi Wagh

Football: Bob Houghton vs. All-India Football Federation

This is a battle that has been brewing in the background for a few months now and as much as I tried avoiding to report on Indian sports drama it has turned out to be impossible to ignore this topic. This is the end of the road for the Indian national football coach. From a reasonable point of view Bob Houghton did a good job as the head coach of Indian football, but that isn't good enough for the AIFF.

After being hired in 2006, Houghton guided the Indian team to winning the Nehru Cup in 2007 by beating Syria, a team that was ranked 40 spots higher than India in the FIFA rankings. In 2008, he led the team into winning the AFC Challenge Cup by beating Tajikistan in the finals. As a result of winning the AFC Challenge Cup, India got an automatic entry into the AFC Asia Cup, a feat that was achieved after 28 years. Under his tenure, India managed to win the 2009 Nehru Cup as well.

Here is a clip of India's 2011 Asia Cup goals:

There were some barely negative aspects of what happened under his tenure. India got trashed in the Asia Cup, something that was excepted considering that we were placed in the toughest group and pitted against Australia (ranked 2nd in the tourney), South Korea (ranked 3rd in the tourney), and Bahrain. There were many who criticized Houghton for sticking to his old Brigade of players rather than bringing in the young guns who would have brought speed and energy to the team. We'll never know if his instincts were correct, but I would like to think so after taking a look at his Resume.

His biggest mistake was that he butted his head against the all powerful, all corrupt, and all political: AIFF. That's what the word is in the Indian footballing world, for all I know the AIFF could be angels sent from heaven.

Houghton criticized the AIFF in public with out any reservations. He criticized them for their lack of vision and professionalism, he did it without any fear and regard for the consequences, so he is paying for it. The AIFF accused him of racism and is trashing his contract that technically should have continued until 2013. Link to an article on his racism allegations

Lets take a moment to say cheers to this man and thank him for the service he has provided for Indian Football. The Indian football fans and the national team will certainly miss his leadership.

P.S: I was told that creating the Indian Arrows was also his idea.

Tennis: 2011 Noida futures tournament Semi-finals

Prior post 4/21/11
Prior post 4/20/11

As I predicted in my last post, Vishnu Vardhan won against Karan Rastogi in the Semifinals of the Noida futures. Judging by the score 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 one can tell it was a very tough match for both players. Rastogi started off the game by winning a very close contested first set, Vardhan collected himself from the first set loss and came back strong in the second and third set to win the match.

This is not the first time Vishnu Vardhan has done this, he has a tendency to lose the first set and come back strong to win the matches. Vishnu has one of the strongest serves among all the Indians. He uses his power on the serve to his advantage and gets himself out of tough situations. Karan Rastogi, after having a good 2010 season, has been struggling with him form lately. Hopefully he will recover himself from this loss and re-gain his form.

In the other semi-final, Young-Jun Kim of Korea easily defeated Danai Udomchoke with a score of 6-1, 6-1. Based on the scores, Young-Jun Kim will be less tired compared to Vishnu Vardhan for the final bout. Lets wish Vishnu well and that he will recover before the final and give a good fight.

The draw sheet

The winner of this tournament will receive 27 ranking points while the loser will receive 10. If Vishnu Vardhan wins the final he will help himself to the rank of approximately 300, and if he loses he will place around 330. Vishnu is currently ranked 368 in the world.

Football: U-15 boys national team, Dallas Cup Quarter-Finals

Prior post 4/21/11
Prior post 4/20/11

The team was competing in a local US tournament called The Dallas Cup where they are playing against very good U-15 club teams from around the world.

Here is the points table for the tournament: Dallas Cup points table

Update:
I would like to sadly inform you all that the Indian U-15 team was ousted from the tournament quarterfinals. It was a hard fought match that stayed close until the end of the game, but they lost with a final score of 3-4 against FC Golden State. Alen Deory, Jimmy Maibam and Muana Lalram were the goal scorers in the game for India.

This is not at all a bad result, building a team to win tournaments such as the Dallas cup is a long term process and the players (as young as they are) who are away from home will have a tough time to compete. They should be appreciated for their effort and watch them progress into very good players by the time they play for the national team.

Current Team: 
Anis Kaithara, Hanan Javed Nellikavil, Siddharth Mukhi, Sanga Vanlal Duat, Jimmy Singh Maibam, Utam Rai, Alen Deory, Muana Lalram, Myron Mendes, Agiapal Singh, Supratim Bhattarcharjee,Mohammad Sajid Dhot, Harmanjot Singh, Germanpreet Singh, Nitin Jyal, Myron Mendes.

Remember them, may be someday you can boast of the fact that you knew about these kids before everyone else. After the Indian Arrows these kids are certainly the ones who will carry the Mantle.

The next tournament for them will be the AFC U-16 Championship qualifiers in September of this year. We'll definitely hear about them again.

Tennis: An Interview with Somdev

Some facts about Somdev Devvarman:
1) Current Rank: 71 (best Indian ranking since Ramesh Krishnan)
2) Won 2 NCAA singles titles consecutively (only 3 people did that in history)
3) He brought India back into the Davis cup world group after 11 years

Here is a clip of him playing against Rafael Nadal:

Excerpts from the Interview:

What have been the finer adjustments in your game this year?
It (2010) was a good year but I have always felt that I had a lot more in my game, that I could really take it forward and play better tennis. Towards the end of 2010, I tried to translate much of that to my game, so I focused on getting stronger, fitter and run down every ball. Once that is in place, I could stop worrying about much else. I worked upon my serve, quite a bit on coming forward and finishing points on the net, and also improving my forehand.

What is the one thing you’d like to improve right now in your game?
I have been serving better, but it’s been on and off. I want to make it more consistent and make it a weapon to reckon with, something I can rely on and trouble opponents with more consistently.

Many top international players have been known to skip the Davis Cup. With your singles career now taking off well, do you also face this dilemma?
Not yet luckily. Davis Cup has always been a priority for me. I have not been playing a long while in Davis Cup; only for the past two years. I take a lot of pride in playing for India and I don’t foresee any problems in my playing for my country.

You’ve played both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal this year. Comparing the two, who do you think is more beatable and stands a better chance of pushing the limit?
If you look at the scoreline, it’s pretty simple to guess (Federer won 6-3, 6-3, Nadal won 7-5, 6-4). But both are great players, and have humbled a lot of other good tennis players. A lot depends on the day, if you show up and feel ready to play, then I think you have a good chance.

Interview conducted by livemint.com: The Complete Interview

Tennis: 2011 Noida futures tournament (Update)

Prior post on 4/20/11

We were hoping there would be an all Indian semi-final at Noida futures, but that wish only came half true. Karan Rastogi (World rank: 321) and Vishnu Vardhan (World rank: 368) are the two Indians left in the draw, while Ranjeet Murugesan (World rank: 555) and Vijayant Malik (World rank: 770) bowed out in the quarter-finals.

In the Semifinals, Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan will play against each other while Danai Udomchoke of Thailand (World rank: 277) will face off against Young-Jun Kim of Korea (World rank: 407).

Even though Karan is ranked higher compared to Vishnu, it is hard to predict who will win. Vishnu won a futures tournament last week by beating Yuki Bhambri (a.k.a the future of Indian tennis) in the finals, he should be high in confidence and motivated to win his 3rd futures title of his career. Lets see if the much experienced Karan will give him that privilege. 

My tennis instincts tell me that Vishnu Vardhan is going to win because he is a Hyderabadi. Stay tuned to see if my instincts ACTUALLY work.

The link to the Draw

I'll keep you all updated....

Football: U-15 boys national team, Dallas Cup (Update)

Prior post on 4/20/11

They are competing in a local US tournament called The Dallas Cup where they are playing against very good U-15 club teams from around the world.

Here is the points table for the tournament: Dallas Cup points table

Update: India is in the playoffs!!
Yesterday, the U-15 national team has beaten Socker's U-15 Cup with a score of 1-0. Before yesterday, the India U-15 national team was 3rd in the points table and it looked very unlikely that they would advance to the play offs. They surprised many by beating a very strong Socker's U-15 who were (before India beat them) the favorites to win the Group G.

India has leapfrogged themselves to be the best in the group. Guess what? We made the play offs! And we will be facing FC Golden State in the quarter finals match. If we win that we will be facing an undefeated Eintracht Frankfurt.

Here is a promo for the Dallas cup:

I'll keep you all updated on what happens in the play-offs.

Women's Basketball: Geethu A. Jose to try out in the WNBA

Will she be the first Indian in the WNBA? The 25 year old from Kerala is currently the captain of the Indian women's basketball team. She towers at 6'2'' and is a prolific scorer who averaged 22 points per game at the 2009 FIBA Asia Women's Basketball Championships.

“I have waited a long time for this opportunity – I can’t believe that it’s finally here,” said Jose. “It has been my dream to play at the highest level – the WNBA. It does not matter which team gives me the opportunity there – I just want to compete.”              

It turns out that Jose was actually invited to try out for WNBA teams last year but was unable to take advantage. This time, she will.

The Indian Basketball Federation’s (BFI) Harish Sharma said: “This is an incredible opportunity for Geethu Anna Jose.

“We are delighted for her and everyone who supports basketball in India will hope and pray for her success with the tryouts.

“She was offered the same opportunity last year, but due to complications she couldn’t make it – we are glad that this time, her dream is one step closer to being realised.”

“This has been one major step for us at BFI in promoting Indian players throughout the world,” Sharma said.

“We will be looking to support such opportunities for other basketball players in India as well – the more players that proper outside of India, the more prosperity they will be bringing to the game of basketball in India.”

 Source: http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/cp/eid/eventid/langid/1/lid/newsid/46322/rid/roundid/sid/arti.html

Tennis: 2011 Noida futures tournament

There is an ITF men's Futures tournament taking place in Noida, India. The tourney is currently in the quarterfinals stage, and 4 out of the 8 players left are Indian! Karan Rastogi (World rank: 321), Vishnu Vardhan (World rank: 368), Ranjeet Murugesan (World rank: 555), Vijayant Malik (World rank: 770) are still fighting in the tournament.

Lets hope that this will be an All-Indian semi-finals! Link to the 2011 Noida Futures Main Draw

Will keep you updated on the results...

Football: India U-15 national team

IMG-Reliance has invested in India's U-15 national team by giving them scholarships to train in the US and compete against better players. This would give these youngsters a much needed exposure to take their abilities to a different level.

Here is a clip of the kind of training they are receiving:

They are competing in a local US tournament called The Dallas Cup where they are competing against very good U-15 club teams.

Here is the points table for the tournament: Dallas Cup points table

Our team lost against Santa Clara Sporting club (1-2), won against TSF Academy Grey (5-2), and to survive the group stage and go to the play offs of the tournament they will have to beat Socker's U-15 Cup on April 20th. I will provide you with the updates as the tournament continues.

As a treat, here is a footage of a goal scored by India against TSF Academy:

Bhutia wants better football pitches in India

Blaming poor quality of infrastructure for the miserable state of Indian football, Bhutia on Friday said that quality grounds were essential to luring youngsters.

"Indian youth watch and follow European leagues. It's clear that they love football but they should be playing the sport more. And we don't have good grounds for that," Bhutia, co-owner of second division side United Sikkim Football Club, told Sunday MiD DAY.

"There aren't enough football stadiums in the country. And the quality of the existing stadiums isn't up to the mark."

Bhutia explained that Indian football could compete with lucrative European leagues for television viewership but the bad playing conditions were an impediment.

"Poor pitches affect the game and the quality of football drops. A good pitch ensures a good quality game and people want to watch good quality football," Bhutia said.

"Even if teams like Arsenal and Real Madrid are made to play on a bad ground, their quality will reduce immensely.

"That's why people prefer to watch the English Premier League on TV rather than Indian football," added Bhutia.

Bhutia believed the football loving youth of India deserve better.

"We need to back talented players and the least we can do is give them good infrastructure. Who knows, one of them can become the next Cristiano Ronaldo!"

Source:  http://www.mid-day.com/sports/2011/apr/170411-Baichung-Bhutia-Indian-football.htm

Indian Arrows: The future

Over the past few decades India has been dubbed as a sleeping giant of world football. The reasons vary for why India under achieves and depending on whom you ask you will get a different answer. I can give you 101 reasons for why we are not in the top-50 in the world, but I'll focus on the positives today.

This video features the Indian Arrows. They are exclusively an Indian Under-20 team who play in the I-league. The other 13 teams in the I-league do not have any age limit and they can recruit players from other countries. The Arrows are boys among men, by the time they all become full fledged national players they will hopefully raise the bar for Indian football.

For now, enjoy watching this video, I will keep you all updated on the future "happenings" of the Arrows.