Happy days for Indian Sports

The big news was of Yuki Bhambri winning the junior title in the Australian Open. It was a good day for India at the Open, with Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles losing in the finals to the Bryans. Sania and Mahesh went on to win the mixed doubles title – Sania getting her first and Mahesh his eleventh. Also this was the first time that an all Indian pair has won a Slam title in the mixed doubles. Kudos to them and hope their performance helps and encourages others to take to sports. There is pretty good money and hopefully we Indians will get it out of our heads that only a college degree can get you a job. If kids are talented, it is the parents’ responsibility to nurture that talent to achieve its full potential. Today - a talented sportsperson earns far more money in the five to ten years that he he/she plays than an average salary earner can hope to make in a lifetime. Hence, if there is talent which is visible – then it should be nurtured – else I feel we will be failing in our duty both to the children and to the nation.

We had the national under 21 hockey team take on Argentina in a away test series, winning the first two matches and then losing the next and drawing the final match, thus winning the Test series 2-1. This is happening after a long time and hopefully the juniors will graduate and improve in time to restore India’s status in hockey – if not to the status of the golden era- then at least somewhere close. The national team actually managed to draw with Holland in the four nation Punjab Gold Cup tournament being played in Punjab. We have not beaten Holland in 12 years – hopefully we will do it in the near future.

The Indian cricket team also managed to win a humdinger in the second ODI to take its winning streak to seven games so far.

The tennis final’s between Nadal and Federer was a dream match between two extremely talented individuals. The game saw tennis of a quality unmatched in recent times. Each player kept raising his game to a level which one thought could not be exceeded, but exceeded it was! Ultimately Federer gave way in the last set – losing to Nadal quite tamely. You could see from his expression that he had lost the match in his mind, because whatever he threw at Nadal in the earlier sets used to come back to him. It was like throwing in the towel in the last set. But kudos to both the players for one of the most scintillating display of tennis seen in a very long time. Reminded me of the Borg-McEnroe clashes of the late eighties. Just goes to prove that you have to have a tough mind to go along with talent in your game to make a truly winning combination. I personally felt for Federer and was willing him to win – but that was not to be. I do hope he gets his 14th Slam title and then one more to surpass Pete Sampras’s record. I specially liked Nadal consoling him by saying ‘you are a great player and you will surely get the 14th title and then go on to surpass Sampras’. Just goes to show the human qualities of both these great players. Three cheers to them – Hip hip hurray, Hip hip hurray, Hip hip hurray.