Mess it like Beckham

Beck... Ahem!!

11th October 2003: England v/s Turkey @ Istanbul, Turkey: Late in the first half, one Mr David Beckham, renowned spot kick specialist from anywhere on the ground, decided to take a spot-kick from 15 yards. Rustu Recber, the Turkish goalie, perhaps knew of Beckham's reputation, and was wondering how he is gonna stop the ball slamming into the net. Beckham advances, slips, and hits the ball so wonderfully, even Tiger Woods may not have managed that with his 9-iron. The ball is stopped by a spectator 10 rows behind, and a goal averted.

13th June 2004: England v/s France @ Lisbon, Portugal: Mid-way through the second half, Beckham's former MU team-mate, Mikael Silvestre, brings down Paul Scholes in the area. Responsible captain that Beckham is, not forgetting that he is also a spot kick specialist, he decides to take the penalty. Beckham advances, shoots the ball on target, ball moves freely in the direction of the kick. But unfortunately, so does one pathetic French player wearing the number 1 T-shirt. Soon, the co-ordinates of the ball and this player coincide , and Beckham fails once again.

24th June 2004: England v/s Portugal @ Lisbon, Portugal: 120 minutes of the game over, both the teams tied at 2-2. Its all down to a series of spot kicks(lets not forget, it is Beckham's specialty). England win the toss, and they have a go first. The responsible captain, yet again, leads from the front. He advances, slips and this time matches Tiger Woods' 9-iron. The goalkeeper wouldnt have had to move a centimeter even if he were standing on top of the goal, coz it was out of his reach. Such is the expertise of our glamourous spot kick specialist.

A la Star Sports and Wimbledon, I am almost tempted to say, another Golden Moment from David Beckham.... for the opponents at least!!! :)

--Avi

The Olympic Fire

What connects the following individuals?
Norman Pritchard, Kasba Jadhav, Leander Paes, Vasudevan Bhaskaran and a whole host of hockey players, other than the fact that all these individuals have won medals for India at the Olympics?
What connects Milkha Singh, P.T Usha, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and many other such names other than the fact that these individuals have given India glory in the world of sport?

Unfortunately, the connection is something really shameful. When the Olympic torch visited India after 40 long years, none of these people were given the honour of carrying the torch. Yes, there were a few sportspersons, who did carry it; but then there were the Bipasha Basu's, the Aamir Khan's, the Aishwarya Rai's, the Vivek Oberoi's who also managed to get their hands onto the sacred torch.

What a shame!

India is a country, which, for most of the last century, had the best hockey team in the world. It also had a moderately successful cricket team and that's about it. Glory in any other sport was unheard of. Hence, when the P.T Ushas and Milkha Singhs managed to put a small dot representing India on the world map of athletics, sports aficionados like me assumed that the country would be proud, and indebted to these people forever. But then, sadly, nobody cared. The whole opportunity that we got when the torch came here went abegging. Filmstars, who aren't worth anything got to carry the torch.

Tomorrow, I am looking at a scenario, where in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, we will have an Amitabh Bachcham administer the players oath. An Aishwarya Rai to light the torch, a Kareena Kapoor to receive medals on behalf of athletes, an Isha Koppikar to perform an item number during the opening ceremony, a Mallika Sherawat carrying the country's flag in the parade( and maybe kissing players in the process.. who knows).

What a shame!!

Why couldn't the ministry insist on using this torch as a platform to re-live the great Indian Hockey magic of the 30s,40s,50s,60s? Why couldn't they have searched for some descendant of Norman Pritchard or Kasba Jadhav and commemorated them? Why couldn't they have Dhyanchand or Milkha Singh inspire young sportsmen of the country? Why??

Small wonder then that India produces fewer noteworthy sportsmen than the atomic country of Surinam. Why would somebody want spend his/her life devoted to bring laurels to the country, when the country least cares about it? Small wonder that eminent sportspersons reject the big joke called the Arjuna award. When every sportsman big and small gets one anyway, then why should people bother about performing?

Its a terrible,terrible shame!!