10 Sports Persons You Should Know Before You Troll Sharapova!

Ever since Maria Sharapova admitted not knowing Sachin Tendulkar, a lot of fuss has been made about it in the social media by the so called "Sachin lovers". 

What I fail to understand is why should a tennis player from a non cricket playing nation like Russia know about Sachin? And why is it such a big deal if she doesn't know about Sachin!

If you have been trolling Sharapova over the last few days, you are only embarrassing yourself and your country.

Here's a challenge for you. How well do you know your nation's greatest sports persons? Not well enough, right?

So, here's a list of 10 Indian Sports Persons that you should know before you question Maria Sharapova :

10. Geet Sethi

Six-time winner of the professional-level and a three-time winner of the amateur World Championships, and holder of two world records, in English billiards.

9. A. Maria Irudayam

Two-time World Carrom Champion and nine-time national champion of India

8. Prakash Padukone

Former Indian badminton player from Karnataka. First Indian to win the All England Championship.

7. Balbir Singh Sr

Member of three Olympic gold medal winning teams, in London (1948), Helsinki (1952) (Vice Captain) and Melbourne (1956) (Captain). His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten.

6. Abhinav Bindra

An Indian shooter and a World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event. By winning the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games.

5. Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav or KD Jadhav, widely known as 'Pocket Dynamo', was independent India's first individual Olympic medalist when he won the freestyle wrestling bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

4. Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom

Five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. She is the only Indian woman boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning the bronze medal.

3. Vishwanathan Anand

The greatest Indian chess Grandmaster and one of the world's greatest chess players. Anand has won the World Chess Championship five times (2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012), and was the undisputed World Champion from 2007 to 2013.

2. Dhyan Chand

Considered as the greatest field hockey player of All Time. Chand is most remembered for his extraordinary goal-scoring feats, in addition to earning three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey, during an era where India was the most dominant team in Hockey. Known as “The Wizard” for his superb ball control, Chand played his final international match in 1948, having scored more than 400 goals during his international career.

1. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

Yes, you may know him as the greatest Indian cricketer. But what you should also know is that he is one of the most humble sportsperson ever. Let's face it. If you were a true Sachin fan, you would never have done what has been done to Sharapova over the last few days.
One can always write about Sachin's achievements, milestones and records, but let's admire and appreciate the person who hasn't changed one bit with all the adulation and fame. So, if you are a true Sachin fan, please do not resort to any activity that would be detrimental to Sachin's image!

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C̶r̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶A̶u̶s̶t̶r̶a̶l̶i̶a Crazy Aussies set a stupid precedent

What’s wrong with the Aussies? 

Seriously, what’s Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke up to?
4 players suspended for not doing their assignment. To be honest, my jaws were left wide open when I first read about it. It seemed more like a Faking News or The Unreal Times article! But guess what, this is 100% true. Would you believe that? 

“Four time world champion Australia have dropped Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and youngster Usman Khwaja for failing to make presentations in a team meeting as instructed by the team management.”

I should thank my stars 'cause my engineering college professors weren't as strict as Mickey Arthur. In my 4 years of B. Tech life, hardly did I submit any assignment! (Most engineer’s would consider that as a feather in one’s cap ;) ). And in spite of that, I managed to get through it! Goodness gracious me. I was way better off than those poor Aussie cricketers. They have become the laughing stock of the whole cricketing fraternity. Well, my sympathies are with them…. just can’t comprehend what they must be going through. There must be something more than that meets the eye, to trigger such a reaction from the team management. I mean writing reports isn't a player's virtue, they need to focus more on their on field performances. By the way, Johnson and Khwaja weren't even in the playing XI. Expecting them to do a performance analysis is a bit too much. It's a little over the top reaction. In fact, I believe, it's more of a coach's job to find the grey areas and work on them.  

On a lighter note, I absolutely agree with Andrew Flintoff when he says, "Amazing 4 Aussie players banned for not doing homework. I thought letting them play in the next Test would be punishment enough"

Mickey Arthur is setting a pretty dangerous precedent for the world of cricket. Imagine what would be the consequences if other people followed suit as well. Newspapers and tabloids could present similar headlines in the future as mentioned below :

Australia crashes out of the World Cup'15 in the league stage. Michael Clarke submits a detailed report; gets nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Infosys stock prices double after reports of negotiations between the Indian software giant and the Aussie players for outsourcing the task of creating PowerPoint presentations.

Just a few days left before India tour South Africa. Team India practice hard on the "Net". BCCI ropes in major software firm to help players create PowerPoint presentations on the Cloud platform.

BCCI modifies the selection criteria. Players need to pass 10+2 with a minimum percentage of 50. SC/ST/OBC need to secure at least 35%. Sachin goes back to school, says he would open the innings alongside his son after completing his class 12^th exams

ECB impressed with the opening lines of the new Jeffrey Archer book. Archer is set to replace Cook as the new English opener.

Pakistani players protest against Dav Whatmore's instruction to submit PowerPoint presentations in English. Request the board to consider Urdu presentations.

Kevin Pietersen allegedly sends his PowerPoint presentation to the South African coach instead of the English coach ; gets suspended from the English cricket team;

Hope the Aussies manage to sort their problem out pretty soon... Until then, you can continue to have a good laugh.

Do share your views in the comments box below 

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Kaunain : The Barbarian

Yes, it's Kaunain. If you think I should have spell-checked the title of this post before publishing, you've got it wrong. I'm talking about Kaunain Abbas, the lanky, 6 ft. 3 in. tall captain of the Southern Champs, Jain University, Bangalore. Instead of carrying a sword and a shield, he has a bat in his hands and still, he manages to evoke the same kind of terror from the opposition.

The inaugural Toyota University Cricket Championship has finally come to an end, the final of which saw the Southern Champs, Jain University, Bangalore snatch the trophy from the clutches of Jamia Milia Islamia, under the inspirational leadership of their captain, Kaunain Abbas.

The tournament has brought to the forefront many talented cricketers. But Kaunain stands out from the rest. And of course, no prizes for guessing, he's bagged the Player of the Tournament award for his consistent performance throughout the tournament. Averaging over 104 and scoring runs at a strike rate of 134.91, he has managed to score 313 from the 5 matches that he has played. No wonder then, the second highest run scorer in the tournament, Mumbai's Kevin D'Almeida, is more than 100 runs behind him.

What's most impressive about this young lad is that he is a thinking cricketer. He uses his brawn as well his brain quite maturely. A die hard fan of Mr. Dependable Rahul Dravid, Kaunain, himself, has picked up a thing or two from the cricketing icon he idolizes. In this all important final against Jamia, when they had lost the top 3 wickets even before opening their account, he shunned his normal attacking style of cricket and played a mature innings along with his partner, Shreyas Gopal, putting together 98 runs for the 4th wicket. He eventually got out at 33 of 45 deliveries, after having played at a pace unlike him. Defending a low total of just 122 runs and playing at Jamia's home ground where a capacity crowd of over 20K+ were all rooting for Jamia, Kaunain maintained his cool and his spirit rubbed on to his team mates as well. The Bangalore team had some pretty good bowlers and Kaunain used them to perfection. He rotated the bowlers and made   the changes in the field pretty well which did pay its dividends. He kept the pressure on the batsmen and didn't let the match slip away. Ultimately, the boys from Jamia crumbled under the pressure and the match ended with a thrilling win by 2 runs in favour of the Bangalorians.

His most impressive performance has been against the Eastern Eagles, when he scored a brilliant 128* of just 65 balls, hitting the bowlers ruthlessly all over the park. This was also the tournament's first century by any player.

TUCC has had a great opening and players like Kaunain have shown what young University cricketers are capable of. Don't be surprised if you find Abbas being roped in by any IPL team one month from now. Wishing this young lad success in all his endeavours. Hoping to see him donning the Indian colours soon!

To know more about Kaunain and TUCC, follow this link

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