Grand Slam!!

Before I go on to write anything about the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, here is a big shout out to a certain 38 year old who's still making us proud, despite, as some would say, his 'old' age. Congratulations Leander Paes on another major tournament win. And congratulations on completing a career Grand Slam. There's still the mixed doubles final to come today, so thats definitely something to look forward to. At a time when the whole country is calling for the axe on a couple of other 38-39 year olds in a different sport, Paes still keeps on proving that age is simply but a number.


1. Men's tennis is in good hands
There is no doubting the quality of the top three in men's tennis. They've proved there worth time and again and still keep doing so with Nadal and Djokovic reaching the final. The chasing pack are getting closer with Murray getting closer than ever for his chance at the top. There are others like Del Potro, Tsonga and the new kid on the block Tomic waiting to take up the reigns.



2. Women's tennis has a new number 1, but it needs a couple of new stars
Congratulations to Victoria Azarenka on her first Grand Slam victory. 
But women's tennis still remains as unpredictable as ever, which though good at times, often leads to poor quality of tennis, case in point the final yesterday, where Azarenka blew Sharapova off the court! Considering that players like Serena Williams, even with all her injuries, and Kim Clijsters, after taking a couple of years off due to child birth, still often being stronger than the top ranked players in the world, it is a sign that the game is not progressing at the same pace as the men's game. The women's game needs someone, or a couple of new players, who can dominate just like the Williams-Henin rivalry in the middle of the last decade. At the moment there is too much inconsistency in women's tennis.

3.Federer still has the game,he just makes more mistakes nowadays
The great man's matches against Tomic and Del Potro were a treat to watch for Federer and tennis fans the world over. It's what you would call a 'Lesson' in tennis. And then the way he started against Nadal, I was sure he would win that match. But then he served the worst in that match in recent memory, and his trademark forehand winners deserted him on that day. He's still got the game, he just loses focus sometimes these days. Can't blame him for taking his eyes off the ball after everything he has achieved. In my humble opinion though, he's still good enough to win one if not two more Grand Slams. It's the unforced errors he needs to control.

4.Australia has new hope
Lleyton Hewitt has been the flag bearer of Australian tennis for the past decade. But there's a new kid on the block who seems ready to take on the mantle from Hewitt. He is the calm, cool-under-pressure, bordering on unemotional, Bernard Tomic. He showed in the first three rounds what he is capable of producing. And his brand of tennis is not the usual fare that's served up these. He doesn't rely on brute strength or manic running chasing down balls from Melbourne to Perth and everything in between! His game is a breath of fresh air, with slices and drop shots dished out with equal aplomb, along with a forehand which is more like a slap, it is hit so flat! Definitely someone to watch out for.

Match of the tournament : Djokovic vs Murray, semi-final(5 sets,almost 5 hours)
Comeback of the tournament : Tomic vs Verdasco, first round(from two sets down)
Disappointments of the tournament : Stosur's first round exit and Sharapova's tame surrender in the final
Biggest effort of the tournament : Clijsters defeating Li Na(after twisting her ankle in the first set)
Most different match of the tournament : Tomic vs Dolgopolov(filled with drop shots,all kinds of slices and everything else you don't see much these days)



The Mixed Doubles Final is on and the Men's Singles Final is from just after 2 pm today. Enjoy a great day of tennis.

CORRECTION CORRECTION CORRECTION
Everything above this point was written before the men's singles final.

Match of the tournament : Djokovic vs Nadal(without a shadow of a doubt)
Probably the best tennis match I have ever seen, Period.

A Star bids Farewell

With the glorious past of our footballing history left long behind in the pages of scrapbooks and record books, the past 25 years or so have been the worst phase of Indian football. That is pretty much all of my life and a bit more! But ever since I knew that a sport called football existed, and our country were, however disinterestedly, a part of it, there was one name which would be everyone's lips when talking about the Indian football team - Bhaichung Bhutia.
His journey started in the small town of Tinkitam in Sikkim in the foothills of the Himalayas. He represented his schools in various schools and finally landed a scholarship from SAI to take up football at the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. His professional career started in 1993 at the age of just 16 when he signed for East Bengal. He transferred to JCT Mills, Phagwara, where he won his first Indian Football League title in 1997. He was also the top scorer in the league that year. Thus began perhaps the greatest career in Indian football in the past two decades. A career in which he became the first Indian player to play professionally in England when he joined Bury FC in 1999. He played for a little less than 18 months, but managed to score only a single goal in the period, against Chesterfield in April, 2000. He also became the first Indian footballer to play in Malaysia when he signed for Perak on a 3 month loan in 2003. Later, he also played for Selangor MK Land. Unfortunately, neither his stints in these Malaysian clubs proved fruitful. His career included spells in both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, a fact for which he received a lot of flak with the faithful from either side questioning his loyalty. He never let any of he criticism get him down, and went on to win the ASEAN Club Championship with East Bengal in 2003, perhaps his greatest achievement as a club player, also finishing as the highest scorer in the tournament and winning the 'man-of-the-match' in the final.



He has represented the country a total of 107 times, scoring 43 goals along the way. His achievements at the international level include Nehru Cups, SAFF Cups, the LG Cup win in Vietnam and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, which allowed them to automatically qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the premier international tournament in Asia. By his own admission, qualifying for the Asian Cup was the highlight of his career. He could only play one match in the tournament, that too as a second half substitute because of an injury prior to the tournament. Perhaps fittingly, he decided to hang up his boots after this tournament, as India were eliminated following a 4-1 loss to South Korea.



Today was his testimonial match, and being the true champion that he is, he played a significant role in inviting Bayern Munich to be our opponents. He could have asked for any opponent, scored a couple of goals himself, but he decided instead to showcase Indian football to the world, and the stars of world football right here in India. As for the match, well it was a foregone conclusion even before a ball was kicked. Bayern won 4-0 eventually. A special mention and thank you to the Bayern Munich team for playing their starting 11 in this match. They could well have opted to field a second string side, this being a friendly match. A bigger mention for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer for playing the entire 90 minutes when they didn't need to. Shows the kind of respect that players have for one another.



Perhaps a fitting tribute to Bhaichung was paid in a tweet which was read out on air. It went something like, "If not anything else, Bhaichung Bhutia gave Indian football hope...". We'll stil see him playing for United Sikim, a club he founded and owns. But today was the last time he pulled on the Blue jersey of the Indian national team. Thank you Bhaichung Bhutia for all the memories...

The Year that is...

A lazy Saturday afternoon, with not much going on. I thought this would be the perfect time to write my first blog of the new year. 2012 - the year of the Apocalypse. The year when it all ends....
Hold on just a second, lets rewind. Really? It all ends this year? I sure hope not. So much left to do. So many things I haven't tried yet, so many places I haven't visited, so many people I haven't met! So I really hope the Mayans made some kind of mistake when they decided to end their calender on 21st December,2012. Not that they counted by our system, I'm sure they had no clue as to what December is or the year A.D. that they lived in. But you get the picture.
A week into the year, and there isn't much to write about. The occasional outings and frolic aside, it has been, well, boring. No project allocated in office yet, so not much work there either. It's getting a bit worrying now! Brought in the new year on a grand enough scale. House-party. We seemed to suddenly have the energy of ten year olds on their birthday. Music, dancing(I'm sure you've seen the pictures), dinner in the middle of the night, no less, and an overall sense of belonging, seemed a perfect enough way to start a brand new year. Though this also resulted in me sleeping through half the first day of the year, but one can't have everything! The rest of the week passed in cruise-control really. Reminds me of those lines in that song by Rembrandts, made famous by it's use as the title song of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., "It's like your always stuck in second gear...". From 2nd to 7th January, I really have been stuck in second gear. A higher gear shift doesn't seem to be around the corner either!
On another note, the new year has brought some definitely weird weather to our city and its surroundings. For starters, the cold weather has disappeared. Its been warm for a couple of days. It has even rained for the past couple of days! Looks like the weather is getting back at me for making fun of the winter rains in London. Also, on that note, check out the conditions in which the Wigan versus Sunderland game was played this past week. That was what I was talking about in my 'Calcutta=London...' blog post. Near zero temperatures, driving rain, half-sleeve and shorts....I am left wondering as to how the players don't end up with pneumonia!
The new year's celebrations are over for another year. Time to buckle in and hang on for the ride that is 2012. Happy New Year everyone. Better late than never :-)