Sports Reviews

Mind Speaks – South Africa sweep Pakistan 2-0 in the Cool-Cool T20 series at Abu Dhabi

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Mind Speaks – South Africa sweep Pakistan 2-0 in the Cool-Cool T20 series

The two match Cool-Cool T-20 series between Pakistan and South Africa finished yesterday with South African side winning on a 2-0 margin.
Before the match, cricket lovers from all over had the expectation that Pakistan, with it’s fondness for the UAE grounds will give a tough fight. However, against all expectations, and with some un-imaginative batting and bowling display they proved otherwise. In the first match it was the captain Shahid Afridi with the bat whereas in the second it was Misbah-ul-Haq. Both the batsman, played shots which should be termed as turning point towards defeats. The remaining batsman in the team did not raise their individual game to the expectation. South African’s on the other hand displayed a disciplined effort with bat and ball. J Theron, R Theron and LL Tsotsobe  were excellent with their bowling and JP Duminy and CA Ingram played well on both the occasions. Bosman was not upto the mark but overall the team fielding was excellent that at times it was like Pakistan was playing against 18 players on field.
Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi is one of the most beautiful green ground currently available for international matches. Although the grass is thick, the outfield is short and fast. During this time of the year, there is a certain element of humidity and due factor making batting second difficult with the extra excellent lightings. There is also fair amount of air movement making accurate bowling and hitting high difficult. It is here that the batsman and bowlers have to show patience and skill and on both occasion South African players showed there superiority in adjusting better than the Pakistan team players who are more used to this condition than any others.
We hope they learn fast from the mistakes and adapt fast in the long version starting tomorrow or otherwise, the series will be of no interest by the time it moves to Dubai for the remaining matches. It looks like Afridi and company have to really aim for the stars to stay alive in the series in UAE.
Ramesh Menon
28.10.2010

photo courtesy: www.cricinfo.com

This entry was posted in Events Covered and Reviews, Sports +, Sports Reviews.

Campaign PASS – Inda’s football – a sad decline – THE NATIONAL 22.10.2010

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Campaign PASS – Inda’s football – a sad decline – THE NATIONAL 22.10.2010

To read this article in original, please visit THE NATIONAL Online.

The article outline the importance of increased support to promote the game. Hope, our corporate giants step in.

This entry was posted in Campaign Pass, Sports +, Sports Reviews.

Campaign PASS – Promote All Sports Simultaneously – Indian Football Team to train in Dubai – an opportunity to shower corporate support

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Campaign PASS – Promote All Sports Simultaneously – Indian Football Team to train in Dubai – an opportunity to shower corporate support

Campaign PASS or Campaign – Promote All Sports Simultaneously is intended to encourage all sports activities and personnel simultaneously for their growth and excellence in respective field.
It could be termed as a deliberate attempt to generate more corporate attention and support towards all Track and Field sporting events other than Cricket, which obviously gets the best for the game and players.
As the thought evolved during the recently concluded 2010 Common Wealth Games, I was looking for opportunities to promote how it could be done. The first of the series has come automatically with the news report of Indian Football team’s schedule to train in Dubai.
The report from Gulf News showing the news item is attached herewith.

Along with it my appeal to all Indian Social organisation’s and interested Corporate and Business units to shower them with your support and encouragement during the time they are in Dubai.

The first step, let it begin from UAE and hope that it will be towards bigger achievement for the sport and the athletes in common. 

A Face Book group has been created to promote this initiative. Please click on the link and join this group and promote it amongst your contacts.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_143065525739332&ap=1

Best wishes,
Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
21.10.2010

This entry was posted in Campaign Pass, Sports +, Sports Reviews.

Mind Speaks – India – Australia 2nd ODI at Vishakapatanam

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Mind Speaks – India – Australia 2nd ODI at Vishakapatanam

An interesting match played between India and Australia. Thank god it didn’t rained runs this time.

As a team, India is improving and claiming it’s stature in all forms of the game. The players showed that they are more serious about their place in the playing eleven and did not take it for granted. It was eminent from the performance of Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli. Once again, Yuvraj, although played well, tend to loose his focus and did not stay till the end. He should have continued and forced his dominance on this depleted bowling side of Australia.

With every match he plays, Suresh Raina is proving to be the gem that was carved out of Greg Chappel’s era. The way he comes out and play his innings effortlessly is a treat for all cricket lovers.

Virat Kohli also showed how important it is for the players now to come and deliver when needed. His post match comments and reference to Murali Vijay’s guidance to him during the match shows how the younger generation capitalising from the experiences of T20 matches.

Not to forget R Ashwin. A player to watch for many matches and season has arrived. Our bowling department is a weak link and the wicket taking and run restricting capabilities he possess and overall temperament with which he plays the game has to be commented.

Wish we had the same bench strength in bowling department.

Looking forward to a face saving innings by Australia in Goa on 24th October. The body language shows, they are already out of it.

Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi
21.10.2010

photos courtesy : http://www.cricinfo.com/

This entry was posted in Mind Speaks, Sports Reviews.

Mind Speaks – Common Wealth Games 2010 and way forward

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Mind Speaks – Common Wealth Games 2010 and way forward

Indian sporting events is passing through one of its glorious periods. On one side, Indian cricket team beat Australia convincingly 2-0 in a home series. With most of the visiting Australian players or for that matter leading players from any rival cricketing nations get accustomed to Indian playing conditions courtesy IPL, playing in India is not anymore complicated. The determination shown by those who got selected to the Indian team in the absence of the injured to opportunistically utilize the match conditions and gain advantage over Australia is remarkable. This shows how cricket as a sport has evolved in India. It could not be achieved by the tremendous support of corporate bodies and BCCI organizational skills to promote the game and develop it to be on top of the list.

Concurrently, a set of different sports personalities have put their best effort in the Common Wealth Games 2010 competitions. The results were extremely impressive. It was a delight to watch the finals of the 4×400 meters relay race for women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kezboiU3l-w&playnext=1&videos=kA_bOn9bizc&feature=mfu_in_order 

The short framed Indian athletes put their heart and soul into their feet to stay ahead till the finishing line with their swift strides. This memory will remain forever as do the winning moments from the other games played so far.

With Saina Nehwal’s victory in Badminton, India finished a historic 2nd place in Common Wealth Games 2010.

These achievements are of immense importance to overall sporting growth of the country, as well the region. It should not be considered as India’s only achievement rather should be treated as an inspirational step for the entire region to excel in track and field sporting activities.

Too much emphasize and money is now channeled to some sports, ignoring the importance of track and field games. To cash in on the interest generated by the victories of the CWG, organizations and regional associations should come forward and promote group and individual sports and encourage participants with financial supports and practice options. Electronic gaming industry have also a bigger role to instill the thoughts of opting for these sporting events by creating new games and toys to generate interest amongst children. Schools and universities should also encourage students to participate in one sport at least as a personality development programme.

Indian women athletes performed exceedingly well winning 13 gold medals out of 38 golds won by India in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2010.

http://www.dnaindia.com/videos/1453132

For all those who generated such a hue and cry, it is time to revert with a word or two of congratulations to those athletes who did their best to erase entirely the bad momentum generated to the curtain raiser of CWG . It’s also because; they are and will remain unknown if necessary support from all concerned is not in place from now on.

Post event scenario, I am extremely happy to read reports coming in from India, where the authorities have already started actions to find out the reasons for all the wrong doings and book those evil doers. It will be a great lesson and way forward procedure. We definitely look forward with optimism and hope that corruption will no longer be tolerated.
The link below will give a detailed list of all the 404 participants who represented India in the the 2010 Common Wealth Games. The spreadsheet is hyperlinked and thus you can click on the individual names and get the players profile. As you may notice, a google search of many of the players details and updated statistics are never available for these sports events. It shows the important different between the organisational support a cricket player gets and players from other sports, specially track and field gets in India.

For list of participants:
http://results.cwgdelhi2010.org/en/Participant.mvc/List
Organisations and associations have to come forward and do more for these silent heroes.
Ramesh Menon
Abu Dhabi

This entry was posted in Campaign Pass, Events Covered and Reviews, Mind Speaks, Sports +, Sports Reviews.