Utter Disgust

"Monikadevi out of Beijing Olympics" --- read a breaking news on an English news channel this morning. For people who are not well read ----Monikadevi is the sole weight lifter(69kg category) from India to have been selected for the Beijing Games. Let me tell you this is no ordinary news because Monikadevi wasnt allowed to go to Beijing in the first place amidst all those doping controversies (as per the charges).

Just two days prior to leaving for the Olympics Monikadevi was accused of doping charges and her dreams were shattered. But this morning came the news that she had been falsely trapped in this controversy after she was cleared of the above charges. All this dates back to early this year when Monikadevi's adversary Shailaja Pujari was selected ahead of her for the Olympics. Later it was found that Shailaja's selection was propelled by bribing a regional selector and thus justice prevailed when Monikadevi was finally picked for the Olympics and deservedly so after winning the silver at Doha Asian Games.

The above mentioned selector (belonging to Sports Authority Of India [SAI])then decided to teach Monikadevi a lesson(actually more out of disgust over the fact that a girl from his region wasnt selected) by falsely managing to get her sample test positive just prior to her departure for the games. Undoubtedly Monikadevi was in disbelief as she had been a clean athlete all her life having cleared 30 doping tests till date. She infact challenged the authorities to shoot her dead if she was found positive of doping after landing in Beijing. But the Indian Weightlifting Federation(IWF) could not risk sending her because if by any chance she was tested positive then IWF could be banned.

I am certainly not a weightlifting aficionado but I felt abashed as an Indian when today she was disallowed from travelling to Beijing after being cleared of the charges levelled against her (by an independent enquiry carried out by IOA). I could not help but feel sorry when pictures of Monikadevi shedding tears were being flashed on news channels.

I completely disapprove of the treatment meted out to a sportswoman (from a small village in Manipur in this case) who had toiled for the past 4 years living an Olympic dream. It takes a lot of hardwork & perseverance to be a part of your nation's contingent for the Olympics and IOA has absolutely no right to demand medals from our athletes when it cannot take care of its own athletes. IOA should bring in selectors who are ready to put the athletes welfare above personal aggrandizement.

I hope there are people around her to give her that much needed support at this juncture when she stands stranded in this situation. May be she should sue the SAI(Sports authority of India) over this fiasco and ensure that something as serious as this never happens to another athlete.

JAI HIND!

Cheque-De India!

No cricketer likes a string of zeros but when this string is attached to his pay cheque like an endless necklace of pearls he just cannot complain! Yes that is what is actually happening if you have been going through the papers or browsing through the websites for the past 3-4 days. The IPL bidding has created more buzz than the Bombay Stock Exchange. 8 franchisees have been battling it out to bid for the best players in the world from a pool of 78. Welcome to the ultra modern form of cricket i.e. T-20 where its all about the three hour rush of adrenalin.

Consider this: Ishant Sharma who has barely spent 6 months in international cricket has been bought by SRK's Kolkata franchise for a whopping 3.6 crores!! This when simplified turns out to be Rs 1 lakh per delivery! Indian captain M.S. Dhoni who has been bought by the Chennai based franchise for 6 crores will make thrice the money that a Delhi University professor would make in a career spanning 35 years and that too in just 44 days!! I am sure these stats are sufficient to convince you of the money that is being poured into the game.

Now in all this hush hush one news that i am sure most of you would have missed is the fact that this IPL T-20 league has eaten the sponsorship revenue that could have gone to the athletes preparing for the Beijing Olympics scheduled to get underway in August this year. Indias thriving advertising industry sees the IPL as the potential goldmine and even the franchisees are now looking to get individual sponsorships. Multiple world billiards champion Geet Sethi, a promoter of a sports fund dedicated to funding athletes with potential of winning India a first individual Olympic gold medal, voiced his concern in a newspaper article on Thursday saying "The fanatical obsession called cricket has just joined hands with the film world to create a new pastime (I consciously refrain from calling it sport) where it will gain even further visibility and media hype fuelled by both cricket and Bollywood". He also said "This in turn will almost certainly divert sponsorship which could have gone to disciplines with a genuine chance of winning India that Olympic gold."

The IPL has attracted over $1.7 billion in franchise sales, television and promotion rights over a 10-year period in a cricket-mad country with the fastest growing major economy after China. This fantastic success of cricket packaging is being played out at a time when our Olympic medal hopes, who will pit their skills against the best in the world in only five months at Beijing, are starved of funds. Despite being the world's second most populous nation, India has only won four individual medals in Olympic history since they sent their first official team to the Summer Games in 1928. Most of the athletes are finding it difficult to put together a budget for training and international competition in preparation for the games like archery, boxing, athletics, wrestling and swimming.

I am not against cricket or for that matter even cricketers, infact cricket happens to be my favourite sport too. But what hurts me is that the Sports Ministry inspite of receiving requests from Sports Authority of India[SAI] (the body responsible for ensuring that all sports in our country get equal attention) about the infrastructure to buy equipment for archers, shooters and badminton players has simply asked the SAI to buy them on its own!!! What also hurts me is that when 160 crores can be spent on buying cricketers in a matter of hours, cant the Sports Ministry direct some funds towards buying shuttle cocks,bullets,bows & arrows? We might lose out on creating the future Karnam Malleswaris , Rajyawardhan Singh Rathores, Aparna Popats and Saina Nehwals if this trend continues. Does anyone remember Samresh Jung? I am sure no one does, inspite of being awarded the best athlete at the commonwealth games in Melbourne the poor guy got no sponsorship! Probably the BCCI can now think of sponsoring some worthy athletes if not the Sports Ministry!!

Cricket certainly has moved from being a 5 star sport to a 7 star sport but i guess the other sports will also have to be modelled on the new IPL format to attract sponsors & viewership so that the gap between cricket (Modern National Sport of our country) and other sports is bridged.
Till then all i can say is "Cheque De" & "Cheque Le".

Finally i make my mind!

Hello evryone.....

Today(19th feb) is a special day for me coz finally after persuasion from friends and seniors i decided to start my own blog( and why not!). I was really apprehensive about doin sumthng like this but now i am convinced that dis is sumthng dat i can do(atleast d efforts will b dre). I decided to call it "true-expressions" coz wateva i write hre whether it is sports,politics,techncl stuff,entertainment etc will all b straight from my heart, simple & uncomplicated.

I take this opportunity to welcum u all to my space and i hope to receive constructive criticism and valuable suggestions from ur side.

Thanx,

NIKHIL aka N!CKEL