‘Chak De India’ rocks

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Kishor

For the last one decade, I hadn’t watched a Hindi movie, which kept me gripping for the entire duration of 2.5 hours. Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Chak De India’, which means ‘Go, India!’ reversed the trend for me. It was simply an amazing movie. Yesterday, we watched the movie in Ruwi cinema, and I must confess it a must-watch film, irrespective of the fact whether you have little or zero knowledge of hockey.

Being an avid hockey lover, I couldn’t ask for more. In every sense, the film evokes nationalism to newer heights, and for every thousand kids watching the movie, if one gets motivated to play hockey, then the task is done – of bringing back the glorious days of Indian hockey. It’s no secret that in a nation obsessed with cricket, other disciplines are suffering a step-motherly treatment with no sponsors willing to take a risk of supporting non-cricket events.

As hockey coach, Shah Rukh Khan has rocked in ‘Chak De India’, and so are the 16 women players, who are the real stars of the movie. Credit must be given to the director, Shimit Amin, for digging up a true story, backed by relevant facts. On a scale of five, I would give the movie a perfect hi-five!

Here are some of my hockey-related stuff:

India not Champions class

Adrian, Viren and Vikram class apart

‘We used to play systematic hockey sans fouls’

Iraq: Despair in battlefield…joy in soccer pitch

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Kishor

(Pics source: AFP)

Hey, fans deserve something better

Posted on July 14, 2007 by Kishor

Fans of Oman football team look dejected after their team lost to Thailand. (Pic source: AFP)

“You have to know that Omani players had three weeks holidays and only one month training, so we could not have a good level of fitness for this tournament. The other teams didn’t have holidays like us.”

Thus spoke Oman coach Gabriel Calderon after his team lost to Thailand in the second match.

Isn’t the coach responsible for advising the federation on training schedules for the team? We all know that Oman had qualified for the Asian Cup a long time ago, and they had all the time in this world to prepare for this important event. The Gulf Cup got over in January this year. What were the players doing till July? Why wasn’t a methodical fitness regime planned out for them during the ‘rest’ period? Blaming the fitness levels for their loss is not the right thing a coach can do at this juncture. In the whole bargain, are the gullible fans taken for a ride?

Aussie bias

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Kishor

This is a paragraph from a report that appeared in AFP after Australia struggled to hold Oman in Asian Cup soccer yesterday:

The Gulf state, ranked 74 and playing against the Australians for the first time, frustrated their 48th-ranked opponents and stoically protected a 32nd-minute lead with a packed defence and questionable injury-feigning tactics.

This report has been filed by an AFP reporter, Robert Smith, and going by the bias in the story, I am assuming he is an Australian. Feigning injury has been going around in soccer from time immemorial, and top teams in Europe and South America have well adopted these skills. Whether one likes or not, feigning injury is here to stay in soccer.

Oman really played well yesterday and almost shocked the hot favourites. People who question Oman’s tactics yesterday, should also be aware of Australia’s sledging strategy in cricket. But, then they get away with it. For them sledging is nothing but ‘competitive spirit’. When others do it, it hurts.

Money power

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Kishor

Earlier, they imported athletes to win medals for them during the last Asian Games, and now they are hiring 10,000 Vietnamese to cheer their soccer team.

Qatar is known to do things a bit differently!

More over quads, Sand-X is here

Posted on April 11, 2007 by Kishor

Sand-X is the new high performance sand-vehicle to hit Middle East markets very soon. Sand-X is touted as the fastest and safest sand vehicle on the planet. The vehicle is set to accelerate from 0 to 60mph in less than three seconds, and has a top speed of over 120mph. The machine is fitted with a special cooling system to suit Middle East conditions. Manufactures claim that due to very low point of gravity, a roll-over like it happens very often in quads, is highly impossible.

Some snapshots of Sand-X:

Musical chair

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Kishor

Argentinian Gabriel Calderon (R) shakes hands with Oman’s Football Association President Saif bin Hashil al-Maskeri after signing a contract to manage the Omani national football team.

New Bahrain National Football coach Czech Milan Macala (R) poses with president of Bahraini football federation Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa. (Pics courtesy: AFP)

One bad match in Gulf Cup cost Milan Macala his job as coach of the Oman football team. After two months, he’s bagged a new job as coach of Bahrain. Ditto with Gabriel Calderon, the present Oman coach. He was with Saudi Arabia, and was unceremoniously dropped in December 2005. Tomorrow it could be Macala in Qatar and Calderon in UAE. I don’t understand why soccer associations in the AGCC pick coaches who have already done duty for their rivals in the region. Macala would know weaknesses and strengths of Omani players, and likewise Calderon of Saudi players. If they are in the business for 6-8 years in the region, I wonder what freshness or strategy they can provide after a point.

Is it worth it?

Posted on March 24, 2007 by Kishor

Indian cricket fans use black paint to deface pictures of Indian cricketers in Mumbai on March 24, 2007, following the team’s loss against Sri Lanka in the World Cup.

Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag (Top L) covers his face as he watches his team bat against Sri Lanka with teammates Sachin Tendulkar, (Top R) captain Rahul Dravid, (Bottom L) and Anil Kumble (Bottom R) at the Queen’s Park Oval, in Port of Spain.

(Pic source: AFP)