Indian beats Australia, leads series 1-0

Disastrous! That's how Australia's performance in the Mohali Test can be described in one word.
With winning the match ceasing to be an option after India set them a mammoth 516, the least they could have done was play sensibly to ensure a draw, which would have given their otherwise vapid performance in the match a semblance of respectability. But therein lay their failure as a team.

Paceman Zaheer Khan captured three wickets in four balls Tuesday as India completed a comprehensive 320-run victory in the second cricket test against Australia to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

Score: Ind inn 1: 469-all out

Aus inn 1: 268 all out

Ind inn 2: 314-3 (Dec)

Aus inn 2: 195-10

Score card: The worst Olympians

India is the worst-performing Olympic country, with only 17 medals in its kitty so far, says Foreign Policy. A games participant since 1900, India ranks behind Nigeria, a country with an economy one-twentieth India’s size, in total medals. But we can take heart from the fact that there are others not so ahead of us.

VENEZUELA
Venezuelans have brought home only 10 medals, which is as many as Trinidad and Tobago, despite winning their first medal in 1952. Georgia, which first medaled at the 1996 Games, has outpaced the Bolivarian Republic. Venezuela has taken home only one gold, and the only Venezuelan woman to earn a medal is Adriana Carmona, who won the bronze for tae kwon do in Athens in 2004.

ISRAEL
The Jewish state won its first medal in 1992, and since then Israel remains tied with Uganda in the medal count, which stands at six. Of the other countries that first reached the podium in Barcelona, Israel has been outdone by Croatia, Slovenia, and Lithuania. All this is despite the fact that Israel has had a recognized Olympic committee since 1952.

TAIWAN
With 15 medals in all, Taiwan ranks with Mongolia, whose economy is one hundredth its size. Taiwan has half the medals of Ethiopia, which, like Taiwan, won its first medal at the 1960 Games. Taiwan’s Olympic status has always been contested. For years, China boycotted the games to protest Taiwan’s participation. In 1979, Communist Party leaders got the IOC to agree that Taiwan had never been a recognized Olympic country and that it would have to compete as “Chinese Taipei.” Taiwan must march under a special Olympic flag and may play only the “National Flag Anthem” on the few occasions when its athletes reach the podium.

PERU
Peru, with four medals, stands with Zimbabwe and Moldova, the biggest losers in Africa and Eastern Europe, respectively, as a top Olympic washout in its region. Peru took its first medal in 1948. Jamaica—whose economy is one-tenth of Peru’s—has won 10 times as many medals. Reason? Poverty and lack of infrastructure. Ten years ago, over half of Peru’s team was malnourished. In May 2008, President Alan García, proffered Lima as the host for 2016 Olympics, along with Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Doha and Tokyo. The deadline for applications had passed nine months earlier, and competing cities were already raising funds. García announced later that he’d like to play host in 2020.

Gene doping: New threat in sports

The newest—and perhaps most troubling—trend in the world of athletic enhancement today seems to be gene doping, says a Newsweek article. Gene doping involves modifying an athlete’s DNA, or having them inject or inhale foreign DNA, to make them bigger, stronger and faster. “It’s harder to detect than most drugs, which makes it all the more desired by cheaters looking to prosper,” says Jamie Reno, author of the feature.

The issue assumes increasing importance as newer instances of players’ suspension on doping charges come to light. Officials of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ensured unprecedented steps to keep the Beijing Olympics clean. The number of tests for banned substances performed at these Games was the most ever.

With gene doping, a person’s genetic makeup is actually changed by injecting genes into muscle or bone cells, creating proteins that then enter the tissue or blood. The article cites a German TV report on the availability of gene doping in China, which aired just a few days before the Olympics, and stunned anti-doping experts. It involved a reporter, posing as an American swimming coach, meeting a doctor who is the head of the gene-therapy department of an unnamed Chinese hospital. The hidden-camera report shows the doctor, with his face blurred, offering gene-therapy treatment to the undercover reporter in return for $24,000.

The TV programme wouldn’t have come as a surprise to scientists studying gene doping, like Dr. Ted Friedmann, director of the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California. “I don’t know how it was arranged, or what level of hospital this was, but it supports the idea that the world of athletics is very aware of gene doping and already pursuing it,” says Friedmann, who is the president of the American Society of Gene Therapy, and working closely with WADA to find ways to detect gene doping and, ideally, prevent it from becoming rampant.

The article quotes Friedmann as saying that WADA has established a research programme that plans to design new tests for gene doping, based on technologies developed around the Human Genome Project. Friedmann believes there are effective ways of testing tissue, blood or urine to see if the body has been genetically altered.

The issue, however, assumes some grey shades as well. For instance, as gene therapy becomes more commonplace in medical treatment, many athletes may undergo such procedures legitimately, and that will show up on any test. Friedmann says these athletes should be allowed to apply for an exemption.

THE LAST DANCE

WHILE GRACE and timing were the hallmark of Sourav Ganguly’s cricket, I'm unsure if his decision to ride into the sunset was true to those qualities.

The boy from Behala who galvanised the Indian team at the start of the new millennium announced in a very off-handed manner in Bangalore yesterday that the four-Test series against the visiting Australians will be his last in international cricket.

It wasn’t befitting a man who never went down without a battle. Probably, at 36, there’s no fight left in his stomach after having to prove his credentials to those who run Indian cricket over and over again. Or perhaps the fuel indicator is just hovering over the E mark and there’s just enough in the tank to take on the Australians before he puts his feet up.

“Before I leave, I have to make an announcement,” said Ganguly as a postscript to the pre-match press conference. “This is going to be my last series. I have decided to quit. These four Tests are going to be my last.” he said betraying his emotions.

“I have spoken to my team-mates that these four Tests would be my last matches. Thanks for all the support, hopefully I will go out on a winning note.”

Those in the know say that the BCCI was all set to bring down the curtain on Ganguly’s career after the second Test at Mohali. But the former skipper bargained hard for the entire series.

MORE PRESSURE


BY MAKING the decision public he may have only added more pressure on himself to bow out on a high and if the scene gets awry for India against Ricky Ponting’s men, the BCCI may not wait till Nagpur, which ironically was Ganguly’s Waterloo as the captain of Team India in 2004.

We pray this is not the case but we’re unsure who writes Ganguly’s script. Mere words will not do justice to a career that was as heroic as it was tragic.

For a teenager who reportedly dragged his feet to ferry drinks during his maiden tour of Australia in 1992, Ganguly emerged four years later to score a sublime hundred on debut at Lord’s amidst a smearing campaign that he was in the team courtesy Jagmohan Dalmiya.

This wasn’t going to be his only comeback as we all know it too well.

As his career progressed, Indian cricket regressed under Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar’s leadership. The Board finally offered captaincy to Ganguly in 2000.

It was a difficult time. Tendulkar had stepped down as the captain and the match-fixing scourge was about to raise its ugly head. With Kapil Dev at helm as the coach, it was a coronation under fire for the Prince of Kolkata. Six months into his term, the winds of change started to blow and a young unassuming Ganguly-led squad, much like the one that won the Twenty20 Championship in South Africa last year, reached the final of the mini World Cup in Nairobi.

Ganguly went on to add steely resolve to the group and the Indian team started to win Test matches and one-day games abroad frequently. In John Wright, he had a perfect coach to complement him although the relations wasn’t exactly hunky-dory.

Ganguly’s slide started in 2004 following his withdrawal from the Nagpur Test citing a hamstring injury. That he had a showdown with Shashank Manohar, the current BCCI president, over the nature of the pitch was no secret and that is when he lost a few friends in the team.

The arrival of Greg Chappell and his subsequent spat with the Australian for whom he had batted, added a bitter and painful twist to his career. He was banished to wilderness.

‘GANGULY’S DECISION WON’T AFFECT KKR’

While Sourav Ganguly has announced his retirement from cricket, his Indian Premier League (IPL) team — Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) — don’t believe they need to worry too much about his participation in the second edition of the BCCI-backed tournament at the moment.

“There is no reason why it should (affect Ganguly’s IPL commitments),” KKR’s team director Joy Bhattacharya told Mumbai Mirror yesterday. “The only thing is that he will have to find a way to stay fit. If you are not playing cricket, it’s difficult to motivate yourself to stay fit. But I think he is professional enough to manage that.”

Bhattacharya also said that Ganguly had not spoken to team owner Shah Rukh Khan or him regarding his IPL participation or commitments. “At the moment, I think we just have to give him some space at this time.” The fighter in him saw him staging a dream comeback facilitated by Dilip Vengsarkar taking over the selection committee in 2006. Ganguly batted with gusto to score heavily in both form of the games and in every possible condition on offer.

POOR SERIES

A POOR series against Sri Lanka, primarily because of inappropriate preparation and fitness, once again brought his career on the brink. But with another change in the selection committee and yet another lifeline thrown at him, Ganguly was back but with murmurs that he had struck a deal with the BCCI for a ‘dignified’ farewell.

A match-winning hundred followed by the announcement to quit would have been more apt for the man who along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman changed the face of Indian cricket for good.

Sex and sport

It`s an irresistible mix and one that Olympians are no longer shy of using to fund their sporting careers.


American Olympic swimming champion Amanda Beard posed naked in Playboy magazine last year and at Beijing stripped off for an advertising campaign to protest against fashion furs.

Image: Olympic swimmers (Left to Right) Amanda Beard, Michael Phelps, Jenny Thompson and Natalie Coughlin pose on 24 August 2004, during a photocall in Athens.





British athletes triple jumper Phillips Idowu, cyclist Rebecca Romero and swimmer Gregor Tait were photographed naked in sporting poses for a sports drinks advertising campaign.

Female beach volleyball players are first to admit that wearing bikinis has helped boost their popularity - and envious male players have joked about following by playing bare-chested.

Image: US Women`s beach volleyball players Misty May Treanor (L) and Kerri Walsh pose for pictures with US President George W Bush.




`In this competitive marketplace you have to separate yourself from other athletes and the taboo of posing for Playboy or modelling has started to wane,` Richard Deitsch, associate editor at Sports Illustrated`s website, said.

`People hardly batted an eyelid when Amanda Beard (above) appeared in Playboy but 10 or 15 years ago this would have caused much more of an uproar in the (United) States.`

With the Beijing Olympics underway featuring over 10,500 athletes in perfect shape, websites galore are carrying photo galleries and lists of the hottest Olympians.




Playboy spokeswoman Lauren Melone said they have published a special spread of Olympians who have appeared in the magazine over the years such as Athens gold medallist Beard, four-time Olympic high jumper Amy Acuff and figure skater Katarina Witt (above).

Dara Torres, the oldest US swimmer at 41, has appeared in a sexy photo shoot in Maxim magazine.




Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice (seen here) was featured on the front cover of men`s magazine FHM as well as posing for some underwear advertisements with her former boyfriend, fellow Aussie swimmer Eamon Sullivan.

Leryn Franco, 26, a javelin thrower from Paraguay, is competing in her second Olympics at Beijing, thanks to her second career, modelling.

`Modelling is a way for me to continue with my sport, the hours are flexible, and you can earn good money through photographic modelling and the catwalk,` Franco said.




But Deitsch said for hard-core sports fans the appearance or sex appeal of an athlete might make them more interesting, but only if they were winning at their sport.

He said two good examples of sports stars who had used their looks to build a brand were English footballer David Beckham and Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova (seen here).

`Ultimately it does not get away from the fact that you have to be an athlete first and a beauty second,` he said.

`But when you have someone who is fantastic at both, then you are looking at a global brand.`

Tendulkar tops Warne’s list

India’s Sachin Tendulkar tops the list of world’s best 100 Test cricketers named by legendary spinner Shane Warne in his book ‘Shane Warne’s Century’, which also features as many as 10 other Indians. Warne’s list from among cricketers whom he had played with or against also includes Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri.



The list in Warne’s book released on October 2 is almost identical with the one ‘The Times’ newspaper published last year.

The legendary spinner describes Tendulkar as a “genius” and “best in the business”, one who has an amazing discipline, and puts the Indian ahead of West Indian legend Brian Lara.“I have found it difficult at times to deceive Tendulkar because he reads length and spin so quickly,” said Warne in the book.

Ganguly, who is in the Indian Test squad to play against Australia in the four-Test series starting on October 9, features in the 96th spot of Warne’s list.

Warne shared a love-hate relationship with Ganguly. The two have had a few runins, the latest being during the inaugural edition of Indian Premier League, where they involved in a war of words and were both fined 10 percent of their match fees.

Still, Warne considers Ganguly as an intelligent cricketer with interesting ideas on all subjects and one who has his own way of doing things.

“But he did have the knack of rubbing opponents (and even teammates when he went to Lancashire) the wrong way without seeming to try very hard. If this was part of a deliberate strategy, then he got it bang on at times.

“He would also be late for the toss and then walk off on his own without waiting for Steve Waugh, our captain. To be a minute or so behind because an issue crops up is one thing, but more than that is just taking the Mickey,” Warne wrote of Ganguly.

Besides Tendulkar, the top five include Brian Lara in second spot, followed by Curtly Ambrose, Allan Border and Glenn McGrath.

The list of 100 best cricketers also features nine Pakistanis, eight Sri Lankan players.