Good Bad Ugly ft. Kusal Mendis, Lin Dan and Indian Sports Ministry

Good Bad Ugly ft. Kusal Mendis, Lin Dan and Indian Sports Ministry

no photo

Good Bad Ugly - July 5 Edition

|

SportsCafe

And we are back with another round-up of kick-ass stories, some utterly disturbing ones and surely, the ugliest episodes that panned out over the course of this week in the world of sport. Can you wait? I certainly can’t as I roll out the Good, Bad, Ugly episodes from this week.

The Good

Players testing negative after a spree of Covid-19 positives

After weeks of frustration and fear due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the fears got manifold when the reports emerged as three Bangladeshi players, 11 Pakistani players, including Shahid Afridi, tested positive for the virus. That escalated further when Novak Djokovic contracted the same in a charity tournament where he flouted social distancing norms and attended a party without any precautions. However, recent reports are bound to bring smiles to the face as Bangladesh’s Nafees Iqbal, Nazmul Hassan and Pakistan’s Afridi have recovered and tested negative for the virus. Djokovic has also recovered along with his family, clearly indicating some sort of normalcy. We can only wish that everyone affected by the same recovers and a vaccination comes out faster, restarting old normal.

Government to launch TOPS Scheme for junior athletes

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has confirmed that the ministry will launch Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Junior to groom young athletes for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, deviating from their old formula of only sponsoring the players who are going to take part in the immediate Olympics. This is a piece of brilliant news coming from the Union boardroom considering scouting, talent identification, customized training, exposure trips, all the possible facilities go into the making of an Olympics star, which the TOPS scheme will help to bolster the strength further. Not only will this allow players to train without any extra tension, but the scheme can also potentially produce many young champions from a tender age. 

The Bad

A golden chapter comes to an end - Lin Dan retirement

After ruling the roost of World badminton for two decades, Lin Dan, undoubtedly the greatest to have graced the sport, retired from badminton, leaving behind a huge legacy that will be extremely hard to emulate. With two Olympic golds and five World titles, Dan dominated men's singles badminton along with Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei. To understand the sign of greatness, it is prudent to see Lin Dan through his performances against some of the best in the world and he surely had the last laugh in most of the moments. The Chinese won 23 of his 31 matches against Lee between 2006 and 2014 while his record against Chen Long during the same period was 7-3. It is definitely one of those days as a sports fan to sit back and savour all the memories and the magic that Dan’s irresistible figure gave us and savour each of them before saving them in the most precious corner of our life. Thank you, Lin Dan, for the magic! We will remember you with fondness.

All India Chess Federation name separate teams for upcoming Online Olympiad

The association fight for recognition is not new in the Indian sports milieu, with Kabaddi being the recent controversy-puller by organising a different tournament to challenge the Pro Kabaddi League. However, the factional feud in the All India Chess Federation reached a zenith when two warring groups named separate teams for the Fide Online Olympiad, scheduled to begin from July 22. While one group in the association is led by president PR Venketrama, the other by secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, who has been at loggerheads over various issues. This has put the players in difficult situations as former world champion Viswanathan Anand, Koneru Humpy, Vidit Gujrathi and D Harika feature in both the lists. Can we have some sort of consensus, please?

The Ugly

Kusal Mendis arrested for fatal accident

In the wee hours of Sunday, budding Sri Lankan star Kusal Mendis was arrested after he hit and killed a 64-year-old cyclist in Panadura, just south of Colombo. The police media unit has confirmed that the victim sustained serious injuries and died as he was being admitted to the hospital. However, the initial police statement had no clarity on whether Mendis or the victim were under the influence of alcohol but the investigation is on. It has been an unfortunate day for the promising Sri Lankan star, who was part of Sri Lanka's residential training camp at Pallekele until Wednesday.

The farce that is Alumathage’s claims

The second ugly of this week has also been donned by a Sri Lankan. Sri Lanka's sports ministry’s special investigation unit questioned Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, and Aravinda de Silva after which, subsequently, the cricketers and selectors were cleared of fixing allegations. The investigation into the 2011 World Cup final was dropped after no evidence was found to support former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage's allegations. However, that has not gone down well with Aluthgamage, who has now stated that the conclusion is wrong and not acceptable. Despite lacking evidence himself and then ICC ACU Head claiming that he had not been sent any email from Alumathage, the claims seem preposterous and time-consuming tactics without any real substance. The sooner Alumathage realises this, the better.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all