India's Day of shame!

9th March 2008. A very important day in the history of Indian Hockey. India was playing the final match of Olympic qualifiers against Great Britain. It needed to win this match to qualify for 2008 Beijing Olympics. They were the favorites to win this despite losing to the Brits in the league match.

However, the script was entirely different. The Brits played with a lot of grit & determination scoring 2 goals in the 1st 10 minutes of the game. The Indians were clueless & defended badly. Though no goals were scored after that, it ended the one dream that every hockey lover in India has!!! Winning an Olympic gold medal!!! India managed to achieve the unbelievable! Not qualifying to the Olympic games. This is the first time India has not qualified in 80 years. Considering the legacy that the Indian Hockey has, it is the most shameful day in the history of Indian hockey!

Allegations have been flying thick and fast after the result with the blame game having started on who is to be blamed for the debacle. Things would hopefully improve after this debacle with the administrators of the game being more professional and working towards the betterment of the national game of this country! God save Indian Hockey! Hope I would live long enough to see the revival and be proud to see Indian team win Gold at Olympics.

Aussies Grounded!!!

Nobody could believe it when it happened... But it was completely true... India's tour down under ended in a very high note. India won the CB One Day series defeating the hosts 2-0 in the finals. This was Team India's first triangular series win in Australia.

But this victory would be savored for a long time to come for more than 1 reason. It had been a long hard trip for the Men in Blue especially with all the controversies surrounding the test series (remember the Australian win in Sydney!). All the talk about Bhajji making racist comment. And the pressure to perform on the young Indian team. And deliver they did! In emphatic passion, they defeated the Aussies in both the finals.

Way to go Team India! Is this the beginning of the era where the Indian domination is going to start?!?!?!

India Wins Under-19 Cricket World Cup!!!

The Indian Under-19 Cricket team created history today by winning the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. This was the second time that India won the world cup held for the junior cricketers of the world after lifting it for the first time in 2000. Interestingly, both the times when India have won, the tournaments have been held in Asia (in 2000, it was held in Sri Lanka).

India have been rewarded handsomely for some consistent performance all during the tournament. India is the only team to have won all their matches in this entire tournament. Their performance has, in fact, been so emphatetic that until the semi-final match of the tournament, they had lost less than 5 wickets in each of their matches.

The BCCI has responded by awarding each member of this victorious Indian team a sum of Rs. 1.5 Million. Congratulations! to the young stars of Indian Cricket. Wait to hear more about these guys in the years to come...