Don't blame cricket for India's poor performance in Rio

With a handful of hours to go before the Closing Ceremony at Rio Olympics, here are some notable Medal tallies -

BRITAIN - 27 Gold, 22 Silver, 17 Bronze

AUSTRALIA - 8 Gold, 11 Silver, 10 Bronze

JAMAICA - 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze

NEW ZEALAND - 5 Gold, 9 Silver, 5 Bronze

SOUTH AFRICA - 2 Gold, 6 Silver, 2 Bronze

KENYA - 5 Gold, 6 Silver, 1 Bronze

What's the commonality among these nations ? They also play a game called Cricket. The game of the Willows haven't stopped these nations from winning a sizable number of Olympics medals. So should cricket be blamed for India's below par performance at the Olympics ?

Don't think so. Please don't blame it on Rio for Cricket. It's not the fault with cricket, it's the fault with us, our stubborn reluctance to go above and beyond Cricket. Not choosing to play any game other than cricket is our

problem. Nobody forces us to do so pointing a gun at our head.

It's a classic catch 22 situation. Without participation of public a Sports can't prosper and to grow a sports it needs to be popular, at least to some degree. As the word popular stands - it's only the people who can make it popular. Our people have decided not to play any other game than cricket. Hence, the end result of HUM DO, HAMARE DO (We two, Ours two) - alluding to the two medals we got so far from the Olympics, thanks to the two ladies.

Most events at Olympics aren't mass sports. In fact USA, which has an insurmountable lead in the medal tally, two of their most popular sports, Football (American version) and Baseball don't find a spot in the Olympics. A Michel Phelps, in spite of winning more than a quarter of hundred medals by himself, won't be mobbed in the street of New York, whereas a Kobe Bryant or Payton Manning might be. Only a interested few follow majority of the Olympics sports, yet win medals dime a dozen.

As cricket has become a Banyan tree in India, other sports simply don't get any nutrient to grow under it. Taking a cue from the beginning lines of our Preamble - "We The People of India" are responsible in feeding and nurturing this sacrosanct Banyan tree. More than the system, it's the people who have allowed this to happen. Only the same folks can come out of the shadow and popularize other games, not withstanding the Banyan tree standing by itself.

Cricket in Olympics - A midsummer day dream

Though not a big fan of discussing hypotheticals - with the ungoing Olympics, can't resist the thought of Cricket being part of it.

 

Sounds like a mid summer day dream. But you never know this dream may come true one day, considering Rugby played seriously by same number of countries as Cricket, was re-admitted from this Olympics. Same can happen to the game of the Willows, which was once part of the Olympics in Paris, 1900.

 

In such a scenario of Cricket being readmitted to Olympics, a la Golf and Rugby, Test and 50 overs limited overs cricket is ruled out due to time and logistics constraints.

 

In all likelihood, Cricket will be played as T20 event - a format which would aptly fit to the Olympics. That pretty much opens up the field for all the participating nations.

 

T20 can be freaky and any nation which otherwise considered kitten in Test cricket, has the ability to be a Tiger, springing a surprise or two in T20 format, with a shot at the medals. The most recent example is West Indies, who is currently hammered in Test at home, defeated India in India and eventually winning the T20 World Cup few months ago.

 

IOC will be in a quandary about the status of West Indies. They probably have to compete separately as Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, etc, severely curtailing their chances. Some of these Caribbean nations may not even qualify.

As my midsummer dream ends, the reality strikes hard as it's still a distance dream to see Cricket being part of the Olympics - at least in my generation. But you never know, if Rugby and Golf, why not Cricket ?

Killer Instinct displayed by the Germans

A great display of grit, determination and killer instinct in Sports was shown by Moritz Furste of Germany in their crucial Quarterfinal game against New Zealand in men's hockey at Rio Olympics.

With 41 seconds to go, New Zealand was leading Germany 2 - 1, when Germany earned a Penalty Corner, an opportunity to equalize and prevent New Zealand from getting an epic victory.

 

Germany was seconds away from elimination when their sturdy, bearded Penalty Corner specialist Moritz Furste took position to take the penalty corner hit. The camera closed on him, showing a face with a steely resolve, without any sign of nervousness.

 

The Kiwis closed in, forming a cordon to prevent the German from getting that coveted goal. They knew very well that allowing the Germans to score at that juncture would snatch their imminent victory against their more fancied European opponent.

 

The burly German took an icy look at the defense and hit the ball with immaculate accuracy. Even in slow motion replay the ball went like a bullet from his stick. The Kiwi defenders tried to thwart the ball away, frantically sweeping their hockey sticks.

 

Fruste's hit went like a rocket, past their extended sticks and the stretched legs of the Kiwi goalkeeper into the net. The Germans scored the equalizer. That was just 41 minutes the final whistle.

 

Germans had a curtailed celebration. Before the Kiwis could wipe off sweat from their foreheads, galloped they slithered their way to score one more field goal, as the hooter sounded signalling the end of the game and an improbable German win - a game they were on the verge of losing just 41 second ago.

 

Lessons from competitive sports at the highest level - if you relax and let your guard down, your opponent can pounce on you. Even you haven't slacked, as in case of the Kiwis, a never say die attitude and relentless optimism can put you back in the game.

 

Moritz Furste and the Germans "Never, Never, ever give up" attitude I was so fortunate to watch live yesterday, was a game changer, something worth emulating by one and all, if one aspires to succeed at the highest level.

Analyzing India's elimination in hockey from Rio Olympics

End of India's campaign in Men's hockey in the Rio Olympics. Going into the tournament, we were hopeful, being the runners up in the Champions Trophy held only a couple of months earlier.

India began well and played some good hockey. Well begun is half done and India soon cemented its position to go into the semifinals despite their narrow loss to the Germans and Dutch. Only in the last match with the minnows Canada, we showed some signs of struggle despite settling for a 2-2 draw.

Enter the knock out round, one knock and we are out. In hockey the Eurpoeans and Australians are known to adapt well under the circumstances, rising to the occasion when it matters.

India started well, drawing the first blood by going one goal up. But soon we faltered under pressure by uninterrupted Belgian blitzkrieg. Sreejith, our goalkeeper did his best to thwart numerous attacks, as the Belgians took possession of the ball more often.

A combo of factors worked against us today - Belgium playing better hockey, marking our star attackers like Sardar Singh, relentlessly putting our defence under pressure and our lack of big match attitude.

Hope what we learn from this Olympic defeat, using our lacunae and lessons from this loss to better our hockey for future. The skill and potential is there, it's a matter of developing that extra edge over the others.  Otherwise, it will be the same old story repeating itself.

The Chinese Attitude towards success

The other day, I was watching a women's Beach Volleyball game (arguably most eye soothing event in the Olympics) between a pair from China and Sweden. The Chinese duo, though half a feet shorter than their European rivals, compensated for their lack of height with sheer grit and composure at the height of their combative moments.

Whether it's Diving, Weightlifting or Ping pong (Table Tennis), the Chinese have shown single point determination, discipline and top skills needed at the toughest level of competition. From a dozen or so medal they won at their first appearance after 28 years in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, they have come a long way to be a Sports Superpower.

It's not just in the arena of Sports, the Chinese success story has permeated into all realms. In the cruise trips I have taken abroad, the popularity of Chinese food aboard didn't escape my notice. They serve Italian, American, Caribbean, French and limited Indian Cuisine. Yet the Chinese food was a constant feature on the menu. There were invariably long lines in front of the Chinese with more non-Orientals queuing up for food.

They are apt the business of doing business. In America every strip Mall has a Chinese restaurant. No business can run withour attracting local customers, so they leave no stone unturned to attract them , providing quality food and customer service.

This is exactly what most Indians lack in the Restaurant business. Barring a few, most of our restaurants serve stale, low quality food. Many put liberal dosage of baking soda in the food, so that the eaters feel filled up unable to intake more, so that the left overs can roll over to the next day.

Post a hearty lunch buffet, it isn't unusual to feel bloated like a gas filled balloon ready to take off, due to SODA KA KAMAAL (the magic of Baking Soda) in your stomach. Your entire evening would be spoiled munching antacids. Our Desi restaurant owners are champions of cutting corners to make profit, cutting into your wallets by compromising their ethics for a few dollars more.

The least said about their attitude towards business, is better. Once I planned to celebrate my son's Birthday at a local Indian restaurant for a change, though aware that it would cost me more that the other available options.

So one fine evening, I walked into the restaurant to negotiate with the owner about the menu, pricing etc. The man stubbornly refused to give me any discount and accept credit card as a method of payment. We were still negotiating, when he deveopled a sudden urge to smoke. Without excusing himself, he simply walked out.

I should have walked out at that moment, but was stupid to follow him as he walked out of the door and lit a cigarette, snorting his porky lips to puff out the smoke straight into my face, muttering - "Why every one wants to pay by f***ing credit cards ?" To the already irritated me, this was like lighting a matchstick in a room filled with inflammable gas. It flared me up, as I felt like landing a punch on his face. That was the last straw.

I walked away blasting "You don't know anything about doing a f***ing business. This deal now stands null and void". He called me the next morning to apologize. But it was too little and too late for me to change my mind.

On my way back home, I booked my party in a Chinese restaurant which was a whole lot better. On top of everything the owner gave me a 15% discount, accepted my credit card. As there were many vegetarians among the guests, per their order, their smiling staff promptly served Veggie stir fries, Pizzas etc with no question asked and no additional fee charged.

Quality product at a cheaper price with an excellent customer service - is all a customer desires. Not surprisingly Chinese restaurants are doing brisk business, whereas their Indian counterparts often go out of business (including this particular one who met the same fate).

I marvel at the acumen of our Northern neighbor with whom we share a common border, a turulent relationship and thousands years of history. Like Michel Phelps, they're surging ahead. Their success in this Olympics just vindicated it.

Brazil thrashed in Hockey in Rio Olympics

Yesterday the hosts Brazil was badly thrashed by Belgium by a dozen goals, 12 -0 by belgium. That means they conceded a goal every 5 minutes, scoring none.

Nothing new in Olympics. On the heavily curtailed Hockey field in the Moscow Olympics boycotted by major hockey powers of that time, nations like Tanzania who hardly play any hockey were allowed to play. India thrashed them 12-0, if I remember correctly.

Though the host country, Brazil  DID NOT automatically qualify for Rio Olympics and had to beat USA (not a great field hockey playing nation by any stretch) on penalty shootouts to qualify.

America is not known to play Field Hockey  (hockey by default is played on ice), at least the male version (USA is represented in woman's hockey at Rio). But it didn't fair so bad in Atlanta, 96 where they played in men's hockey last time, being the host. India once defeated them 24-0 during Dhyan Chand's time nearly a century ago.

Brazil as the host nation qualified, but with a rider. Due to the standard of field hockey in Brazil, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) required Brazil to place higher than thirtieth in the FIH World Rankings by the end of 2014 or finish no worse than sixth at the 2015 Pan American Games in order to qualify as host nation. They achieved this by beating the United States on a penalty shoot-out in the quarterfinal, ensuring a top four finish.

Summer Vacation ends as Sidhant goes to Middle School

Today is the last day of summer vacation for my son before he starts his Middle School. It was a long, arduous and eventful dog days of summer for him, where he lost her grandmother. Missed the company of his mom for few weeks as Taekwondo, Web design classes, Piano and swimming lessons gave him company.

Vacations are supposed to be light, fun filled and an opportunity to recharge the batteries, to shrugg off the jaded nerves. Heckuva vacation it was for him, not to mention how much fun filled it was.

When we were students our summer vacations back home used to be a lot lighter. No lessons was forced upon us. Web then was the abode of a spider, best left for the octo-legged insect to design and implement it for his privacy, never a public domain.

Taekwondo was the answer to the GK/Quiz question "What's the martial art of Korea ?" which can fetch you some brownie points. Piano was a musical instrument we saw in movies and CHITRAHAARs (a popular collection of Hindi songs on Doordarshan,  the only TV channel those days), invariably played by a rejected lover in front of his now married beloved while her husband curiosity watches with cigar between his lips.

On summer evenings back then in Bhubaneswar, after a game of cricket as cool southern breeze (now a rarity) starts wafting in, it's time to spend at KHATTI (NUKKAD in Hindi, ADDA in Bengali) clustering around a half broken cement culvert where we found solutions to many local and global issues pertinent to our times.

Our early teen discussion centered mostly around Amitabh Bachman, the one man Bollywood industry of that time, character assassination of our cricketers who were frequently beaten by Pakistan in Harjah (I mean Sarjah which was the venue where we got frequently vanquished by our traditional rival) and of course girls.

No specialized classes for us, not a single penny spent on them. Swimming lessons were limited to jumping inside a muddy pond aptly called GAI GADIA (cow bathing poodle) during the summer trips to our village. Few sips of those yellowish water was enough for me to learn swimming the hard way.

My son swallowed a few gulps of chlorine laced blue waters of the swimming pool, but I wasn't so fortunate. Same H2O, same lessons but different milieu, different times. Nevertheless those were the moments, those were the memories to cherish forever.

Time and tide wait for non, as years have passed by twinkle of eyelids. The KHATTI culture and social bondings are pretty limited in America - replaced by iGadgets connecting to the world of social media. As the son ventures into the Middle School, the dad nurtures his Middle life blues with memories - blast from the past.