A good time to be an Indian sports fan

A lot has happened in my life lately, and its kept me away from commonfan for a while. things have settled down now and the period of neglect is over. This post is going to be a recap of all thats happened while I was away.

One of the developments has been the start of a new sports website called http://isport.in. Its come from the collective effort of a group of hard-core sports lovers. I have started writing on the site and it already has five of my articles. I would encourage all of you to go to isport. My favourite section is jabberoni, which is a forum for discussions and debates. Iam already addicted and most of you will follow suit, once you go there.

Commonfan will not suffer beacuse of isport. Infact, there will be no overlap in the stuff on the two pages. This will reduce the amount of content on commonfan but rest assured, it will be regular.

So, here's my first post.

India have won the test series in England. Will talk no more about it. Its a massive achievement in itself and we have to be proud of it. We always do well, when our batsmen fire. And this was a major collective effort - the likes of which we have seen very few.

The ICL is moving ahead with full speed. The BCCI is making knee-jerk changes but is clearly losing face. Luckily for them, the ICC and other major cricket boards are firmly behind them. Their proposed response to the ICL; the PCL is a long distance away and merely a creation to drive sponsors away from the ICL. Subhash Chandra need not worry. There is no dearth of advertizing moolah in this country when it comes to cricket.Iam really looking forward to the ICL.

At long last, the new EPL season is here. Man United have struggled initially. But Iam not worried. Let the new dudes settle down and injured players return. Liverpool finally look like taking on the big two. The biggest surprises have been Man City and almost all the new signings have excelled. The biggest star, however, has been Kasper Schmiechel. Lastly, my man, Michael Chopra has made a dream start with a match-winner on day one.

Continuing with a football, India have won the Nehru Cup. Its a big win - our biggest triumph in a long long time. Mr. Houghton seems to be on the right track. Just wondering if Chopra could agree to play for India. Bhutia and Chopra would be more than a handful together. Dream on Indian football fans.

Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship to silence all the doubters about his ability to win majors. No, his daughter has not taken his focus off his game. Sadly, our great hope - Jeev was not at his best and missed the cut. Hope he builds on his feats and doesn't go the way of fellow pro Arjun Atwal. Atwal had a promising first season on the US PGA tour but has struggled this year and is in grave danger of losing his tour card.

The US Open is on and players are already in the third round. Iam rooting for Novak Djokovic and Sania Mirza. The Serb has easily been the third-best player on tour after Federer and Nadal and took a major step towards challenging the two at the Montreal Masters. Consecutive wins over Nalbandian, Roddick, Nadal and Federer is testimony to his growing stature. I expect a breakthrough performance at the Open. Sania has had a great hard court season and is well positioned to match her fourth round performance of 2005.

Finally, hats off to my star performer of the period. Anup Sridhar has taken a big step forward in his career with a quarter-final appearance at the World Championships. He scalped two top players and almost beat the worlds best player in the quarters. He has the potential to become the next 'great Indian badminton player'; following in the foot-steps of Padukone and Gopichand. Remember, how training in Denmark with Morten Frost made Prakash such an improved player. A similar experience would do a world of good for Anup. He has been running around for sponsors and really needs help. Lets pray that one of the big corporate houses takes him under their wings and helps him realize his potential.

For once, its good to be an Indian sports fan.

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