Sep 11, 2010

Kudos : Bopanna Qureshi

Bopanna Qureshi

It was indeed a heroic effort on the part of the Indo – Pak pair in the finals of the US Open men’s doubles finals yesterday. The intensity of the finals was nothing short of breathtaking, with electric reflexes, booming serves, great anticipation and precise coordination. Bopanna – Qureshi were obviously not intimidated or over awed by their much more accomplished opponents. while the former were playing in their first grand slam finals, the latter were the holders of eight major titles. the hallmark of the match was the fact that none of the two teams could break their opponent’s serve even once. As it turned out, the outcome was decided in the Russian Roulette of tie breakers in both sets. However, as the match statistics would reveal, there was hardly anything to choose between the two teams.

The spinoff of the Indo – Pak duo’s partnership was that, at least for some time it made Indian and Pakstani fans in New York forget their animosity and join hands to cheer the team. Much as media and certain individuals, hail the partnership as a step towards improving relations between India and Pakistan, it is nothing more than a partnership of convenience. And in any event it would take much more than a tennis partnership to propel the two countries towards peace and friendship.

Notwithstanding the same, let us hope that Indo Pak express, as they are fondly called, continue to do well and give us that elusive opportunity to rejoice in sporting excellence by our countrymen, particularly in a sport other than cricket.

Wishing the Indo – Pak Express much greater success and glory in times to come.

Sep 4, 2010

Pak’s Tainted Trio: Tip of the Iceberg?

Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Test captain Salman Butt are in the dock in the spot fixing scandal. Mazhar Majeed is to blame for having been careless enough to let himself be filmed accepting loads of cash ………………. And thus Pakistan Cricket finds itself in the midst of a fresh controversy. Nothing new there.
However who is to say that others including Indian cricketers are not involved in match fixing. Leading Indian cricketers like Navjot Sidhu, Azharudding, Jadeja, Prabhakar ……………have been accused of it in the past and its difficult to imagine that the current lot would be any better. And so would be the case with cricketers of other countries. A leading Indian bookie has alleged that India Sri Lanka Rajkot ODI was fixed.
The fact of the matter is that match fixing accusations are extremely difficult to prove and in almost any sport, it is next to impossible to differentiate between the real and fake. Sports like Wrestling, the WWE variety are known to be rigged, but still are hugely popular. Davydenko, a tennis player who has been in the world top 10 for close to a decade was accused of fixing. Is Davydenko, who is a multimillionaire, short of money.
Was it not Gandhi who said, “There is enough in the world for everyone’s needs, but not enough in the world for one man’s greed.”
Pakistans-Mohammad-Amir-c-006
 
 Mohammad Amir (centre) and Mohammad Asif (back) arrive at the Pakistan High Commission.