The Good, Bad & The Ugly ft. Ambati Rayudu, Soumya Swaminathan and Indian cricket

The Good, Bad & The Ugly ft. Ambati Rayudu, Soumya Swaminathan and Indian cricket

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We’re back with our section featuring the good, bad and the ugly aspects, which sports threw up in the last one week. While the heartwarming end to the historic Test match between India and Afghanistan gave good vibes, Indian hockey’s pathetic condition also gave a timely reminder of Indian sports.

The Good

The Afghanistan team had a forgettable Test debut on the international circuit as India crushed the newbie side by an innings and 262 runs to become the first side in Asia to win a Test match within the first two days. Though it was in many ways expected given the inexperience the side possessed to play the longest format, the hype surrounding the build-up to the historic game and their whitewashing Bangladesh, in the T20I series, prior to it had already raised expectations tremendously by the Red caps. However, though the historical match met a pretty underwhelming end, it was Ajinkya Rahane’s gesture at the end of the game that would keep the match beaming in the annals of cricket history. 

After the match, the stand-in captain gestured the Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai and the rest of his team to join the Indian side for the victory photo. It didn’t end there though, as India followed the heartwarming gesture by handing over their trophy to the debutants in an attempt to boost their morale. The act was acknowledged with a huge roar by the crowd in the Chinnaswamy. This is, however, not the first time that India have shown respect. prior to the IPL after Nidahas Trophy final victory, when Sri Lankan supporters had turned out in numbers heavily to support India following Bangladesh players’ unacceptable behavior during their semi-final win over the hosts, stand-in captain Rohit Sharma was seen carrying the Sri Lanka flag for some time during their victory lap.

While the above acts were widely viewed by the Indians and shared again and again on social media, a lesser known act of selflessness was done by ace Indian Chess player Soumya Swaminathan. The 29-year-old woman grandmaster decided to move out of the Asian Team Chess championship after the hosts, Iran, made headscarf compulsory. The Iranian law allows women to show their only face, hands and feet in public and is also supposed to wear only modest colors.

"I believe in all religions and follow their rules but you can't force it outside religious places," she said as quoted by PTI.

"I find the Iranian law of compulsory Headscarf to be in direct violation of my basic Human Rights including my right to freedom of expression, and right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. It seems that under the present circumstances, the only way for me to protect my rights is not to go to Iran," her Facebook post read. 

It is not every week that we get to include such brave and heartwarming gestures in our good category and we sincerely hope to get such instances week in, week out in the world of sports.

The Bad

Unlike most other sports in India that have seen a huge growth over the last few years and consequently a large following, tennis has been stagnant. While the nation has still seen some success in the doubles category, singles have been largely marginal. The latest person to come dangerously close to change that scenario even slightly was Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who raised everyone’s hope by stunning world No. 23 Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-3 in the opening round of the Stuttgart Open, which was also his first ever appearance at an ATP World Tour main draw. It was the biggest win of his career and it resulted in huge anticipation of him facing the legendary Roger Federer two rounds later. Though the crowd in Germany was taken aback by Guneswaran’s display against Shapovalov, his next opponent Guido Pella was a tricky one to overcome and he lost 6-7(4) 4-6. Had he beaten the Argentine, he would have faced Federer and there wasn’t a doubt it would have been hugely covered. More than anything, it had the potential of injecting willingness among the future generations to take the sport seriously in the singles category.

Inarguably, the biggest surprise this IPL was Chennai Super Kings’ Ambati Rayudu. Just when everyone had thought that the 32-year-old was finished, he made a brilliant comeback in world’s biggest T20 league garnering 602 runs at a strike rate of 149.75, which included one century. But, just when India had seemingly found a brilliant top-order option in the limited-over format, news came of the Hyderabad batsman failing the Yo-Yo test. The fitness measuring test has previously stunted the comebacks of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh and could now prevent the in-form batsman from going to India’s long England tour, who was named for the England ODI series. While the beep test has been quite effective in making India one of the fittest nations in international cricket, one just cannot deny the fact that it could be a hindrance on the path of some real gems.

The Ugly

A FIFA World Cup is bound to create headlines; but, the way it got kick started in Russia was just incredible. Manager of Spain, Julen Lopetegui, had got his timing all wrong as he struck a deal with Real Madrid to become their next manager without the knowledge of the Spanish Football Federation. The Spanish giants presented him as the manager and within 60 minutes threw the players and staff into a total disarray. What Spain did next was incredible. With one day to go to the World Cup, they sacked the head coach, something Lopetegui didn’t expect could happen. There was a huge risk of it affecting the morale of the players despite their experience and skill, and one look at their astonishing 3-3 draw against Portugal only reflects it. We hope Spain get back their mojo as fast as possible.  

Hockey India is currently in a huge turmoil after a disappointing result at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games by both the men and women sides. It also led to the swapping of coaches for them, which wasn’t a welcome by the critics and experts. And amidst the chaos, when the men are toiling hard for the Champions Trophy that starts next week, shocking news emerged of chief coach Harendra Singh’s complaint to Hockey India concerning the sub-standard quality of food and hygiene provided at Bengaluru’s Sports of Authority of India (SAI) centre.

“I would like to bring to your kind notice that food quality at Bangalore SAI centre has been well below par with a professional unit – excessive oil and fat throughout, bones with lack of meats. Moreover insects, bugs and hair were also found in the food,” Harendra wrote.

“We are preparing for the upcoming Champions Trophy, Asian Games and World Cup. It is vital for these high performance athletes to have meals which consists of entire nutrition," he added.

“Recently, we conducted blood tests on all 48 athletes, and the blood report found many food-related deficiencies in some athletes, which act as a hindrance to perform at the optimum level,” the letter further added.

Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore had visited the SAI centres a few months back and had asked for immediate rectifications. This letter is expected to speed up the action.

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