Chris Bosh: Cricket will always be the No. 1 sport in India

My first reaction:

Oh Lord! Say it ain't so Bosh, Say it ain't so!

Then I thought, may be I should look into what Bosh actually said instead of going into a traumatized state of mind as I can't stop imagining the status-quo in India for perpetuity where Cricket is the only sport every kid plays. Oh the night mare and the boredom!

This is actually what Bosh said:

"I don't think basketball will be the most popular sport in India. Even in America it isn't the most popular sport. American football will always be the king, but that doesn't mean a lot of people won't like basketball. I think cricket will always be the national sport, but it is always great to [play] other sports and [learn from other people] to see what else is out there.

I have heard about different guys in [Indian colleges] who have the ability to develop their talent. Given the right situation, it is not going to take long. I am sure it is going to be very exciting. Once an Indian player makes it to the NBA, kids will watch that and they will know they can do it.

I think the work we are doing here will go a long way. There are other ways through which you can get people's interest. With the development of technology and social media, the people of India can see what a great game it is. People can see an NBA game. If they like it they will play the game or still remain a fan.

I will probably coordinate with NBA here. They brought me here, otherwise I never would have had the chance to come here. It is great that the NBA is here.

Hopefully, one day I will be able to come back and be one of the spokespersons for basketball here. This is a once in a lifetime experience. As I grow as a person, I have the ability or have the chance to come back, if I do, I will try to and grow the game."

[On playing in future international events]
"I don't think I will play in the Olympics again, I have kids and a family. Our summers are short, we work so hard during the season that I want to give them some time in the summer.

Plus I want other guys to experience it, because it is such a great game. I want other guys to enjoy it and have great stories, just have a good time playing international basketball because it is such a great thing."

[On his move from the Toronto Raptors to the Miami Heat]
"It was a very difficult decision but I'm happy I made it. Toronto was a great place for me, where I grew a lot as a player. Miami was a chance to take it to the next step. I'm really glad we [Miami] won, it shows I made the right decision. [In working with the team] it has taught me a lot more about team concept, what you have to give up to be on a team, how difficult it is to come together as a team and succeed. The bond that you great when you go through tough situations with guys.I have had such good time with the team and we have made bonds that will last a lifetime because of that.

We have a lot of work do. We can get a lot better. We have a chance to be mentioned with some of the best teams that have played the game. We know we have the chance. We know we have to work hard and stay focused doing what we are supposed to do and it will happen. We just concentrate and hopefully one day we can say we were one of the best teams to have played NBA."

[In regards to his role models]

"My dad played a lot and so it came naturally to me. I found I could play and I enjoyed playing it. It has been that ever since when I first picked up the basketball. I am just fortunate to have the success I have had. I never thought I could make it this far.

My role model in the NBA is Kevin Garnett. As I started getting older and went to high school, I started paying more attention to the NBA. I wanted to be just like him because we play the same position, to do what he did and try to be like him. "

To paraphrase what Bosh said:

Basketball is coming to India and it is here to stay. This is a great game and people will fall in love with it. Will it ever beat cricket in popularity? No. But if we can handle being as popular as we are playing second fiddle to American Football in the US, then we can do the same in India. 

Men's Tennis: Ramkumar Ramanathan

If anyone asks me to name an upcoming Indian tennis player who has the potential to be in the world's Top-100 one of the names that pop into my mind would be Ramkumar Ramanathan. This 18 year old dude is from Chennai and stands taller than 6'3'', and from what I heard he is very disciplined and hardworking.

The Tamil Nadu Tennis Association is sponsoring Ramkumar to train at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy in Spain. With his singles ranking at 703 and his doubles rank standing at 603, many tennis fans like myself are waiting anxiously for this lad to take his game to another level. It is a wonder though about why he is training on clay courts instead of working on his game on the hard or grass courts. Considering the fact that he is tall and could develop a strong serve it would seem he is more suited to play on hard and grass courts.

The evidence is also in the results of his matches. He has been competing in the Spanish clay circuit for the past two years without too much success, but recently he played in a hard court Futures Tournament in Spain and ended up reaching the finals. In the final, Ramkumar fought hard against Steven Diez (world rank: 267), and ended up losing a close match with a score of 5-7, 7-6(4), 4-6.

Regardless of which surface he is training on, lets hope he is getting good instruction from the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy. Spain produces the best tennis players in the world (i.e Nadal, Ferrer, Moya and etc.), may be the Spanish secret is to develop players on the clay surface? We will see if that secret holds true for Ramkumar's future success.

I will keep you updated about his progress as time goes on, but remember his name because most likely you will read about him again in the future.     

Association Football Stadiums by FIFA Ranking

Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata:

I wanted to make a list of the number of Association football stadiums by the order of the FIFA rankings to show the importance of sports infrastructure for the countries' standing in the world rankings. 

Top 25 FIFA teams:

1. Spain - 50 stadiums
2. Germany - 33 stadiums
3. Argentina - 29 stadiums
4. Croatia - 8 stadiums
5. Netherlands - 42 stadiums
6. Portugal - 17 stadiums
7. Colombia - 21 stadiums
8. Italy - 53 stadiums
9. England - 10 stadiums
10. Ecuador - 38 stadiums *
11. Russia - 36 stadiums
12. Belgium - 10 stadiums
13. Ivory Coast - 18 stadiums *
14. Switzerland - 7 stadiums
15. Bosnia-Herzegovina - 8 stadiums
16. Greece - 24 stadiums
17. Mexico - 33 stadiums
18. France - 9 stadiums
19. Uruguay - 20 stadiums
20. Denmark - 13 stadiums
21. Ghana - 8 stadiums
22. Brazil - 45 stadiums
23. Mali - 17 stadiums *
24. Czech Republic - 27 stadiums
25. Chile - 11 stadiums
26. Montenegro - 3 stadiums
27. Sweden - 26 stadiums
28. USA - 32 stadiums
29. Norway - 26 stadiums
30. Peru - 6 stadiums

FIFA Top 25 Asian Teams:

1. Japan - 36 stadiums
2. Australia - 12 stadiums
3. Korean Republic - 61 stadiums
4. Iran - 25 stadiums 
5. Uzbekistan - 16 stadiums *
6. Jordan - 7 stadiums *
7. UAE - 15 stadiums *
8. Oman - 9 stadiums *
9. China - 15 stadiums
10. Iraq - 20 stadiums 
11. Saudi Arabia - 16 stadiums *
12. Tajikistan - 4 stadiums *
13. Kuwait - 9 stadiums *
14. Korea DPR - 25 stadiums *
15. Qatar - 11 stadiums *
16. Bahrain - 1 stadium
17. Lebanon - 14 stadiums *
18. Turkmenistan - 5 stadiums *
19. Kyrgyzstan - 6 stadiums *
20. Thailand - 60 stadiums *
21. Afghanistan - 4 stadiums *
22. Syria - 9 stadiums *
23. Philippines - 4 stadiums *
24. Vietnam - 37 stadiums *
25. India - 5 stadiums   <--------------------------------------------------------------

* If there is an asterix next to the stat it means I couldn't determine how many of the stadiums are the country's association football stadiums.

To have enough football infrastructure in India, my educated guess would be at the minimum to have 50 association stadiums around the country by 2050. As per the country's population the number should be much higher, may be close to a hundred, but let's be realistic about the goals. I specify association stadiums because it is important that the AIFF has the convenience to field a practice when ever it deems necessary. If the AIFF thinks a group of state players need a stadium to prepare for an event they can't go to a privately owned stadium to use it as a practice ground. So it is important to have Association football stadiums where Indian football has the highest priority.

India's Team and Individual Sports Rankings

Indian Team Sports Ranking             World Rank                                     Date: 7/13/13

1. Test Cricket                                     2nd (improved)
2. One Day International Cricket            1st  
3. Twenty20                                         3rd
4. Tennis Davis Cup                             26th
5. Men's Football (Soccer)                    146th (improved)
6. Women's Football (Soccer)               50th (improved)
7. Men's Basketball                              58th
8. Women's Basketball                         40th
9. Boys Basketball                               43rd
10. Girls Basketball                                39th
11. Men's Volleyball                                30th 
12. Women's Volleyball                           103rd
13. Junior Boys Volleyball                       16th 
14. Junior Girls Volleyball                        29th
15. Men's Rugby                                    74th
16. Men's Field Hockey                          11th
17. Women's Field Hockey                     12th

Individual Sports ranking:

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

1. Somdev Devvarman                                     131st (improved)
2. Saketh Myeni                                             266th (improved)
3. Prakash Amritraj                                         308th (improved)

   

   

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

1. Rohan Bopanna                                           5th (improved) 
2. Mahesh Bhupathi                                         6th (improved)
3. Leander Paes                                              9th (improved)

   

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

1. Ankita Raina                                               363rd 
2. Rishika Sunkara                                          528th (improved)                                                  
3. Prerna Bhambri                                           582nd

   

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

1. Sania Mirza                                                 19th
2. Rishika Sunkara                                           394th (improved) 
3. Kyra Shroff                                                   516th (improved) 

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

1. P. Kashyap                                                   12th
2. R.M.V Gurusaidutt                                         22nd (improved)
3. Ajay Jairam                                                   24th (improved)

Men's Double's Badminton: India's Top 2      World Bank

1. Pranav Jerry Chopra                                       38th
2. Akshay Divalkar                                             38th

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

1. Saina Nehwal                                                  3rd
2. P.V Sindhu                                                     12th
3. Arundhati Pantawane                                       52nd (improved)

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

1. Pradnya Gadre                                                27th (improved)
2. Ashwini Ponnappa                                           27th (improved)

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.

Cricket: Dhoni guides India in the final against Sri Lanka

India won the final against Sri Lanka in a very closely contested final game of the Tri-Series tournament in West Indies. Sri Lanka batted first, they had a great inning until around 40 overs when they were 171/2 but the Indian bowlers stepped it up a notch to finish the Sri Lankan innings for 203 runs all out. India ended up starting off their innings sluggishly (except for Rohit Sharma) but the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni guided India to victory while he was struggling with a nagging ham string injury.

Just to give you an idea of how exciting the game was, India had no wickets left to give in the final over and had to score 15 runs from 6 balls. Dhoni ended up scoring 16 runs in 4 balls and was as cool as a cucumber while he was at it. The first ball was a dot ball, the second was a 6, the third was a 4, and the fourth was a 6. This guy should truly be an inspiration for all Indian athletes.

Here is the video of the final over of the match (commentary in Hindi):

Shiva Thapa redeems himself

In the 2012 Olympics, Shiva Thapa (56 kg) was the youngest Indian to ever qualify for the event. In 2010, he won a silver medal in the Youth Olympics and had nice performances in world boxing tournaments. He is technically very sound and if you couple his talent with his potential this kid has a bright future if he just keeps working hard.

It was a big deal that he qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, everyone in the country (including himself) had good expectations about the possibility of this young lad winning an Olympic medal at such a young age of 18 years. He had a tough draw in the first round against Oscar Valdez from Mexico, an opponent who was three years older and more experienced. Shiva ended up losing in the first round. Most of the boxing fraternity in India knew that he was too young to win a medal, but they were expecting him to win a couple of rounds to gain confidence for the future. On the contrary, it was a disappointment for him.

It was obvious though from his post match interviews (after the Olympic bout) that this kid wasn't going to give up on his goals. All he said was that he needs to get back in the ring and work harder. Seems like that is exactly what he is did.

Shiva Thapa won the gold medal in the recently held Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan. He beat Obada Alkabeh (Jordan) with a score of 2-1. Shiva must have worked very hard to win this medal, and even though it isn't something which offsets the Olympic loss it must definitely be a confidence booster.

In the same tournament India also won two silver medals by L Devendro Singh (another awesome young Indian boxing talent, 49 kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69 kg). India also won a bronze medal by Manoj Kumar (64 kg).

Here is a video Interview (Hindi) of Shiva Thapa and Devendro Singh prior to the Asian Championship:

2013 Asian Athletics Championship: Final Results

Out of the 43 Asian teams who competed, here is the ranking for the event:

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1)	China	16	6	5
2)	Bahrain	5	7	3
3)	Japan	4	6	10
4)	Saudi Arabia	4	2	1
5)	Uzbekistan	3	4	1
6)	India	2	6	9
7)	Kazakhstan	2	1	2
8)	UAE	2	1	0
9)	Qatar	1	2	1
10)	Thailand	1	0	2
11)	Hong Kong	1	0	0
12)	Tajikistan	1	0	0
13)	Iran	0	3	0
14)	Sri Lanka	0	2	1
15)	Kuwait	0	2	0
16)	Chinese Tapei	0	1	1
17)	Korea	0	0	2
18)	Oman	0	0	1
19)	Lebanon	0	0	1
20)	DPR Korea	0	0	1

Medals won by India:

1) Gold Medal by Vikas Gowda: Men's Discus Throwing (Result 64.90 m) 

                                             

2) Gold Medal by MR Poovamma, Tintu Luka, Anu Mariam Jose and Nirmala: Women's 4*400 relay (Result: 3:32.26)

3) Silver Medal by Ranjith Maheshwary: Men's Tripple Jump (Result: 16.76 m)

4) Silver Medal by Asha Roy: Women's 200 m Sprint (Result: 23.71)

5) Silver Medal by Jithin Thomas: Men's High Jump (Result: 2.21 m)

6) Silver Medal by MR Poovamma: Women's 400 m running (Result: 53.37)

7) Silver Medal by Prem Kumar: Men's Long Jump (Result: 7.92 m)

8) Silver Medal by Sudha Singh: Women's 3000 m Steeplechase (Result: 9:56.27)

9) Bronze Medal by Arpinder Singh: Men's Tripple Jump (Result: 16.58 m)

10) Bronze Medal by Satinder Singh: Men's 400 m Hurdles (Result: 50.35)

11) Bronze Medal by Tintu Luka: Women's 800 m Running (Result: 2:04.58)

12) Bronze Medal by Om Prakash: Men's Shot Put (Result: 19.45 m)

13) Bronze Medal by Mayookha Johnny: Women's Long Jump (Result: 6.30 m)

14) Bronze Medal by Ratiram Saini: Men's 10000 m Running (Result: 29:35.42)

15) Bronze Medal by Samarjit Singh: Men's Javelin Throw (Result: 75.03 m)

16) Bronze Medal by Hemashree J: Women's 100 m Hurdles (Result: 14.01 m)  

17) Bronze Medal by Dutee Chand: Women's 200 m Running (Result: 23.82 m)