Beyond the F1 buzz, India need more drivers
By Abhishek Takle
I knew India would fall in love with Formula One when I witnessed Lewis Hamilton do a demo drive in Bangalore last month in front of 40,000 massively excited fans thrilled by the assault on their senses . Our first grand prix at Noida last weekend only proved me right. The world’s finest drivers were given a taste of the adulation usually only handed out to Indian cricketers on home soil.
Even if the 95,000 race day attendance fell short of a sell-out at the $450 million Buddh International Circuit, it was still pretty impressive and all the indications point to the sport growing and attracting ever larger crowds in the years ahead as the word spreads. My stand at Turn 3 was certainly packed with fans, the majority of whom were Indians and decked out in Ferrari red.
Unsurprisingly for a cricket-crazy nation taking its first, baby steps into the world of global motorsport, most of the fans did not appear to be close followers of motor racing.
However, their enthusiasm more than made up for that.
That intoxicating sound of a 2.4 litre V8 engine at full throttle, the addictive smell of petrol and scorch of tortured rubber as drivers locked up into the tight Turn 3 had them on the edge of their seats.
They cheered loud and hard when race-winner Sebastian Vettel drove past on the victory lap and acknowledged with equally wild applause seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher’s dogged drive to fifth from eleventh on the grid.
IPL Kochi on its way out?
It’s intriguing arithmetic. After adding two new franchises to its stable, the Indian Premier League now runs the serious risk of going into its fourth edition with seven cricket teams, one less than the original eight.
In that March 21 news conference in Chennai, Lalit Modi, still one month away from a dramatic dumping, was doing what he does best — reeling off mindboggling numbers.
Modi welcomed Pune and Kochi on board and waxed eloquent on how recession-proof the cash-awash league was.
Seven eventful months and Modi is now hounded by the anti-corruption agency while IPL is grappling with a rumbling ownership row which already has led to the ouster of two teams — Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.
Kochi may just become the third.
According to media reports, the consortium which paid $333.33 million to own the 10th IPL team is a divided house and unlikely to meet BCCI’s deadline of forming a joint venture company by Thursday.
The 25 percent free equity held by Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited is the bone of contention and five other investors now simply want RSWPL to exit the consortium.
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Commonwealth Games 2010 – LIVE Blog
News, views and updates from the Oct 3 – 14 Games in New Delhi. Share your views.
Full coverage of the 2010 Commonwealth Games here
I was there in Feb/Mar 2010 and said “there’s no way this’ll all come together in time”
Commonwealth Games besieged – now diseased?
Plagued by endless corruption accusations, vast overspending claims and huge construction delays, you would be forgiven for thinking none of Delhi’s inhabitants were overjoyed about the city’s upcoming Commonwealth Games.
But you’d be mistaken, at least according to India’s health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
On Sunday, he said that the construction sites for the Games, which kick off in just over 40 days, were providing perfect conditions for the city’s mosquitoes, and laying the blame for the city’s record-breaking dengue outbreak squarely with the organising committee.
“Dengue and water is strongly related. Delhi is already dug up because of the Games and it is also raining heavily. Since water remains accumulated in many places, it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which are contributing to diseases,” Azad told reporters.
Throwing salt in the organisers’ wounds was his thinly-veiled accusation that had the work been completed on schedule, and the construction completed before the monsoon weather arrived, this year’s outbreak of the deadly virus could have been avoided.
The embarrassing issue for the much-maligned organising committee is that he may well have a point.
Not only is Delhi anxious to get rid of the outbreak before the high profile event, the people are even more than anxious to get rid of the high profile event itself.
They are flocking travel agents to take the first flight/bus/train out during these games.
No, the games alone are not to blame, water stagnation does however have no small part to play. Its not as easy to discount it as being just a question of two swallows. 400 plus to a previous high of 55 may seem so to the author. To the rest of us it is blinkered vision.
Game over for sports VIPs in India?
The rules of the game in India’s multi-million dollar sports industry are set to change with the sports ministry’s decision to bring back a key 1975 regulation.
The regulation, capping the tenure of sports bosses, has pitted the ministry against National Sporting Federation (NSF) chiefs, who have threatened that the ministry’s actions might invite a ban on Indian sports.
The central government’s move is seen as part of a ‘clean-up drive’ of the country’s sporting bodies that have long been riddled with controversies, and allegations of mismanagement.
What is often described as the modern day fiefdom of the sports bodies’ chiefs, most of whom are politicians, is now under threat.
Who retires hurt?
At present, not many. Existing office bearers will be allowed to complete their terms, according to the ministry. But eventually, almost all NSF chiefs, including the chief of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Suresh Kalmadi, will have to go.
Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar?
The Maharashtra government is going to recommend Sachin Tendulkar for the country’s highest recognition — Bharat Ratna.
Not only politicians of various hues but former cricketers have also rooted for Tendulkar.
Calls for the award have become louder after Tendulkar achieved the rare feat of a double century in the one-day format.
In the event Tendulkar does get this honour, he will be the first sportsman and the youngest person to be so felicitated.
Should he be awarded the highest national honour?
The case for it seems quite strong.
Tendulkar’s greatness in various formats of the game is acknowledged by his peers, seniors, spectators and statisticians alike.
After reading this forum and does some research,
If we started giving Bharat Ratna for sports then it would be Dhyan first as he is the first contributor and also to the National game of INDIA … we should not change the scared roots as something comes in between …
Cricket is not over national game and sachin contributed after Dhyan …
And if we start sports into this why cant we start cinema and award many persons ….
Can Indian hockey be given its due credit?
The year was 2007. Cheerleaders danced to the beats of a Bollywood song as India was about to script a nail-biting finish against Pakistan in the cricket Twenty20 World Cup final.
With tricolour flags in hand, almost every Indian spectator was gripped with the spirit of patriotism. The impact on TV viewers couldn’t have been less.
And all this while, little did cricket fans realise that intensity was coming from a song ‘Chak De India‘ filmed on a sport so different in its administration, handling and following.
“Chak De! India“, the film featuring the song, was an effort to remind the nation of its national sport — hockey.
Of a sport that brought the nation eight Olympic gold medals.
Of a sport that saw the emergence of a spectacular sportsman.
Of a sport that went on to witness one of its most unfortunate days when India failed to make the cut at the Olympics for the first time in 80 years.
It’s pity that hockey is in such a bad state of affairs. I have give a different prescription for the revival of Indian hockey at the blog http://chapter18.wordpress.com/2010/01/2 6/batting-for-hockey/
Do check it out.
Nara
Is India really ready for the Commonwealth Games?
While travelling to work in an auto rickshaw, the driver asked me, “Madam aap TV dekhte ho kya?” (Madam, do you watch TV?)Wondering what would come next, I replied with a nod.“Hamare desh mein agle saal khel hone vale hain, mehmaan ayenge magar mehmaano ke liye humne kya kiya? (We are going to have games in our country next year, guests will come but what have we done for our guests?),” he asked. With a very miserable expression he further said, “Padhe-likhe log bhi sadak pe kachra aur thook fekte hain.” (Even educated people spit and litter the streets) The auto driver is not the only one concerned about this issue.Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram remarked recently that people should learn to behave like citizens of an international city.“We want to encourage people to change their mindset,” he said. The Indian Olympic Association has expressed its concern over the logistical preparations for the event, but who is going to check on how the people behave?Beggars in the national capital are also looking forward to the Games. A large number of tourists would be a windfall and beggars are leaving no stone unturned to be prepared.An informal academy has been set up in New Delhi’s Rohini area where children are taught to beg in different foreign languages.Countries like Germany and China had taken the initiative to train their citizens to behave properly when they hosted the football World Cup and the Olympics. Should India also start a similar training program or is it too late?The Indian Tourism’s tagline reads – ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’. (Our guest is blessed and our visitor is God)Do you think people will adopt this tagline in the months to come? Are we really ready for a global event like the Games?
There is nothing between sports Ministry and federations.Their fight is not for promoting sports in India and how Indian reach on top of the world but for the SHARE distribution of the CWG Delhi money.
Sports ministry created and share the money from the federations which not exists in International sports.Any one can make Federation wether itis of Kanchey, Guli Danda, stapoo, ludo,snake and ladder sorry for Carrom it is already made or any home made game you know.The upcoming federations are Video/Computer Games.Many media personalties are also involved with them.Its a pure game of WINE,WOMEN,WEALTH. is really Maharashtiyan specially PUNE/Mumbians have experience to get jobs in CWG Delhi where others can work at the half the cost and better then a dozen of those. The rest are the relatives of the politicians and Federations members.Is really there is need of so much staff.
IF really Govt wants then check the expenditures of YCWG Pune of Transpotation,Hotels,Accredition Cards which were not more then a normal peace of paper as there were no scanning machines to check accredition cards.Ticketing,kit etc.
Most of the tenders of CWG Delhi are given to the Agencies which are of the heads of Sports Federations or of their relatives.
Transperacy what transperancy Sports Ministry is Partner and its a dispute of Money.
INKA NARA: APNA KAM BANTA BHAD ME JAYE BHARAT KI JANTA
Playing spoilsport with Formula One?
Despite the Force India team taking second place at the podium at the Belgian Grand Prix there is no rethinking in the sports ministry on its view that Formula One is not enough of a sport.
Sports minister M.S. Gill congratulated Vijay Mallya on his team’s win but labelled Formula One as ‘expensive entertainment’.
The sports ministry has refused approval to the promoters of Formula 1 in India, JPSK Sports, to pay 1.7 billion rupees to the Formula One Administration for the proposed Indian Grand Prix of 2011.
The ministry has reasoned that the Formula One race “does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others, keeping in view the whole sports movement from Olympic downwards.”
It wrote to the promoters that Formula One is not purely sports, it is entertainment and the venture by JPSK Sports was a commercial initiative.
The sports ministry’s argument stands on two legs. Formula One is expensive entertainment and the outcome is determined by technology hence it is not ‘pure sports’.
Is sport supposed to be boring — that’s a question which can be posed at least rhetorically?
I’ll make 2 distinct points here:1. It is the hollow mindset of people like Mr. Gill that had killed sports in India. The promotion of all sports and allocation of higher funds is long long overdue – in whichever field it may be.Education, Sports and Individual (personal) Taxation are the 3 fields that have received step-motherly treatment by the ruling Congress party in the past 45+ years it ruled. It’s high time our politicians came down from their pedestal of OLD SCHOOL THOUGHT and changed with time. F1 is here to stay – whether Mr Gill LIKES IT OR NOT !!!!At least the tourism dept will be benefited from the revenues F1 will generate if it is started in India.Mr Gill, Isn’t Sky-Diving a sport ? If it is, it’s definatley not played in our backyard – and again, it is NOT CHEAP – by any yardstick. So, why the double standard ?Wake up to the reality – Mr Gill.2. Another change that India needs is to show the door to people holding political posts after the age of 58. If the constitution has to be ammended – so be it !!!Young minds are needed to change the anarchic COLONIAL laws of bygone eras at the earliest.This change will improve the quality of the political system in India as more and more young people enter the political space. Lets TRY to make it more professional and transparent, responsible and accountable ….. even if it means to fix a retirement age for all politicians.”Lead India” and other such institutions can take a bold step in this direction and ensure that such a constitutional ammendment is made at the earliest.This is the time to “BE THE CHANGE” …..All political parties should nominate young candidates and that will usher in the change …..
Force India podium, giant leap for Indian motor sport?
India can boast of taking a major stride in Formula One after Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella drove from pole to second on the podium at the Belgium Grand Prix on Sunday.
The first points for the team owned by India’s liquor and airlines baron Vijay Mallya was a pleasant surprise, the team having failed to make an impact since it was launched ahead of the 2008 season.
The Indian media lapped up the news, indicating that F1′s popularity in India will only grow more rapidly as Indian fans gradually embrace the team as theirs.
Although home fans would have hoped an Indian driver had produced the achievement, India would still celebrate Fisichella’s success.
Indian F1 hopes were given a huge boost when Narain Karthikeyan was signed up by Jordan in 2005. However, an uncompetitive car and his lack of experience at the highest level meant India’s first F1 driver stayed very briefly in the limelight.
Karthikeyan’s subsequent role as a tester for Williams pushed him behind the scenes and he has now moved to the A1 Grand Prix, the world cup of motor racing, with his Formula One hopes all but over.
The Force India podium could not have come at a better time, as India gear up to stage an inaugural Grand Prix in 2011.
This win is really a hard-earned win for Force India team of Mallya. With this win, popularity of formula car racing will grow rapidly in India, however it
does certainly not necessitate organization of an Formula 1 Grand Prix event in India in 2011.
Can Formula 1 racing be defined as a “sport”?- according to govt. of India it is an open question.
The government may have not recognized it as a sport, only because to turn down much anticipated demands by interested parties in view of organizing 2011 Grand Prix in India and another reason could be that motor sports is generally considered a luxury.
