For an Indian sports fan it doesn't get any better than this - Will remember 11th August 2008 for the rest of my life

I got up this morning and checked the scores for the PGA Championship. I am a die-hard Jeev Milkha Singh fan and even though the rest of the country and the media doesnt give a damn, I do. The golfer finished 9th and thereby became the first Indian to finish in the top ten of a Major championship. This was a huge achievement and will further boost an already flourishing game in the country. As an Indian sports fan, it was the best way to start your day.

Then the day got ten times better by the time I got settled at work. Thanks to a friend who provided live updates on gtalk, I followed Abhinav Bindra's gold medal-winning effort shot by shot. And what an effort it was. As an Indian sports fan, it was one of those OMIGOD moments - the kinds you will probably have ten times in your lifetime.

Suddenly, the entire nation knew that the Olympics were on in Beijing. Half the people on my gtalk list had a status message which had something to do with Bindra's feat - right from NRI's in the US to middle aged aunties in India.That is something which I have never ever seen happen - the enormity of the shooter's achievement is loud and clear.

And the most ironical thing is that on a massive day for Jeev,even his father had no time for him and still the golfer will probabaly not mind. Milkha Singh called this day the happiest of his life and meant every word of it.

Emboldened by the gold, I decided to check on how the other Indian's were faring at the Olympics and soon chanced upon another moment of pure sporting joy - Saina Nehwal's stunning upset of the world's fifth best player. An Indian beat a Chinese player, ranked in the top five, in badminton, at the Olympics, in China, in an extremely close match. Thats a combination of six rare things.

She is now just one win away from a medal. We could end up with two medals for the first time since 1952. Take that. How much more do you want in one day.

Then someone reminded me of a cricket match taking place in Srilanka. When I checked the score, the host nation needed 122 to win - a fairly easy thing to do. But when Sangakkara fell and the Lankans were reduced to 25 for 2, it looked as if Indians were not supposed to lose on this day. A comeback victory by the cricketers could have stolen most of Bindra's thunder.

But then the bubble burst. India lost the test match and the best part was that nobody bothered. Who cares for a bunch of over-paid and over-hyped losers when we have an Olympic Champion in our midst. And the best part is that the youthful and good-looking Bindra also has the potential to do what Rajyavardhan Rathore couldnt - become a media and brand endorsement darling. That he has a steady head on his shoulders and will not get carried away is another matter altogether

The day was not over. Late in the evening I found out about Sania Mirza's disappointing exit from the singles event. And again I didnt care. I stopped caring for her when I discovered on opening night that she didnt know how to wrap a sari. She has enough time to learn now. And importantly Saina can have all the attention for once.

The day was bittersweet. But the sweet part was so damn good that I really didnt care how the bitter half felt. More glory to Indian sport !!!

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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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My season of misery begins...

The 2006-07 premiership season is over and Man United have been crowned worthy champions. That also means no more football matches to watch on weekends. Iam already suffering from 'withdrawal symptoms' and although, the Champions League final and the FA Cup final will alleviate my pain momentarily, this is going to be one agonizing summer of sport.

What’s worse - the NBA season is going to be over soon and baseball is going through the monotony of the 162 game regular season. As is common with all these North American sports, the fun doesn’t begin until you get to the playoffs (that is when the top teams of the regular season get into a knock-out competition). Watching my beloved Yankees struggling to match their arch nemesis - the Red Sox, makes the viewing even more unbearable.

Traditionally summer is the season of cricket and tennis, but I’d rather watch an International ‘Ludo’ tournament, than waste my time on the meaningless and inane stuff, the two have to offer.

Just check out the cricket calendar for May-June-July. We have India- Bangladesh, West Indies- England, India- Ireland, Sri Lanka- Bangladesh and India- England. Even the fans who survived the World Cup will be on life support after the season is over. And while they recuperate in hospital, they can watch county cricket on ESPN Star. The only silver lining could come in the form of the Afro-Asian tournament.

As for tennis, they can go ahead and hand over the French Open trophy to Nadal and the Wimbledon crown to Federer. The only people remotely interested would be the perverts watching the glamorous females unleash the new summer tennis collection. I will pray for London to have the highest rainfall in the last 100 years, forcing the sports channels to show us some old Wimbledon footage (remember the Connors-McEnroe, McEnroe-Borg and Becker-Edberg matches). Sania Mirza hasn’t played for two months and I am not counting on her to light up our TV screens this summer.

I will root for Jeev Milkha Singh at the US Open and the British Open, but that apart, there’s nothing else (Iam not a motor sport or WWE fan). The BBC sports calendar has just confirmed that for once I didn’t miss anything. For those of you, who share my predicament, here’s a suggestion. Start playing ‘Ludo’ (download the game here).

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