Sports Etcetera!!!

What else any F1 fan would have thought on hearing the 7 time world champion's return to the track. But all that seems like an egregious dream with Micheal Schumacher's confirmation that his recently fractured neck was unable to withstand the extreme pressures of F1 machines.


What began with an unfortunate accident at the Hungarian GP has ended in an equally unfortunate way. A suspension spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP car hit Felipe Massa on the helmet at the Hungarian GP and probably put the Ferrari driver out of contention for the rest of the season. The unfortunate accident however made Ferrari look for a replacement for Massa. And who else other than the god of F1 could have answered their prayers? The 40 year old announced his return to competitive racing within no time on receiving Ferrari's request.


But the following weeks saw chaos and uncertainty resulting out of Schumacher's decision. The 1st of all set backs to Ferrari happened when the team Williams objected their request to test Schumacher behind the wheels of F60. With prohibition on in-season testing, Ferrari wrote to FIA and the other nine F1 teams to allow Schumacher to drive F60 on a test day before the August 23 Valencia Grand Prix. But Williams boss Frank Williams and both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso disagreed that Schumacher be given special consideration. Toro Rosso was letting out it's steam in not letting Jaime Alguersuari test before the Hungarian Grand Prix.


Whatever the case was, Schumacher never tested on F60. But he used an older version of Ferrari, F1 Clienti, for the tests. After a day's training at Mugello, the Super Driver was quick to realize that his neck was not up to the mark of F1 speeding. Having suffered neck fractures in an accident in February this year, Schumacher was confident that his physique was fit enough for serious pressures. But his hopes were fluttered once the training proved to be too big a strain on his neck. He was left with no choice but to leave his eager fans in despair.


None the less, you gave us something to look forward to, Schumi...

What else one can say to the young Indian lads who lost to Brazil yesterday (08/08/2009) in the Junior World Championship being held at Pune. The passion and fighting spirit shown by the Indian juniors were nothing less than of the highest quality. But the heroics of the Brazilians weren't no lesser and act. In fact it is their composure which won them the final set with a comfortable margin of 15-9.

The earlier rounds were a different story. The inexperienced Indian team showed extra ordinary character to reach so far in the tournament and to stretch the brilliant Brazilians to their maximum. With one set down, the Indians were looking out of place at the beginning of the second set. With Brazilian spikers led by the extraordinary Mauricio Silva finding gaps in the Indian defense consistently, the doom was descending fast up on the hosts. But the Indian spikers turned to the best form of defense to protect themselves - AGGRESSION. Indian spiking duo of Gurinder Singh and Naveen Jacob revamped themselves and smashed ball after ball into the Brazilian court to lift India to a 2-2 situation. In fact, the smashes of Gurinder Singh have been the best ones on display in the tournament. But Indians weren't showing the same talents in their blocking. The leaky defense and an unusually high number of unforced errors were more than enough for a dangerous Brazilian team turn the tables in their favor.

The scores: 25-19, 17-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-9 in favor of Brazil

Undoubtedly the Indian sporting week that has passed by was turn moiled by the Indian cricketers' defiance to sign the agreement with World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). Consistent with the contemporary media gimmicks, the occasion was pepped with countless talk shows and panel discussions. It’s on one of such discussions in a leading national news channel that I happened to stumble upon the smiling face of Saina Nehwal, the badminton sensation.

Being someone avidly following the Indian sporting arena, I was awe struck by her presence. Down with Chicken Pox merely 10 days ago, there she was, all smiling and robust with enthusiasm. In the days when her sickness was confirmed, it was all dejection that enveloped the badminton circle of the country. But one could still remember the confident press release of the player that she could be ready by the time of World Championship. Not even her I’ll-die-for-you fans would have taken those words for nothing more than a wish that only the Gods could grant. And it seemed so that the Gods have granted her wish. Even the Gods would have been impressed by the girl’s hard work, dedication and humility. It was with such humility and uncomplication that she floored her opponents in the same panel discussion. The cricketers represented by former all rounder Nikhil Chopra was taken for cleaners by her words of wisdom and one can’t stop wondering when our celebrated cricketers will start thinking and talking like this teenager. Perhaps they will never; because they play for money and Saina for INDIA.

For anyone who has watched the program, there would be no doubts as to how simple and risk free are the WADA requirements and also how stupid our cricketers’ claims are. With our cricketers’ outcry, it seemed so that an athlete needs to communicate his detailed itinerary to the WADA. And all issues raised by the cricketers made us to believe so; at least for a few minutes or hours. Even if you had believed so even after it’s stupidity being demasked through various media, this girl would surely have enlighten you. Saina Nehwal so effectively communicated how simple the WADA requirements are and how baseless the cricketers’ claims are. Her explanation that an athlete needs to tested only when he/she is playing a tournament or when is training professionally made Nikhil Chopra shift to back foot. But he made it a point to emphasis that the country’s cricketers are on a 12 month continuous tournament calender which essentially leave them with very little private time and the WADA’s intrusion into this time was beyond any ethical practice. Saina’s reaction to the statement virtually threw Nikhil out of the race; yet, it was never an outrageous display of aggression or higher decibels. Her mere statement of the fact that all other professional athletes in the country have a 12 month continuous tournament calender and she too was subjected to the same was said with compassion that the moderator just had to announce the verdict. He went on to add that not many in the country would agree to grant a special status to Dhoni & Co. when real champions who play their heart out just for the national flag are backing the WADA agreement.

Hats off to you Saina, not just for being a real Champion, but also for being such a wonderful human being.