India at the Olympics

Sports-themed biscuits are displayed at Biscuiteers in London. (Reuters)

Come June 27, 2012 and our country will participate in which is known as the biggest sporting extravaganza in the world (and yeah it's not IPL), the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London.
Our government planned to spend over Rs 2500 mn in preparing for the London Games, including around Rs 200 million on foreign coaches. Ajit Pal Singh, former captain of the Indian hockey team, has been named the chef de mission of the Indian contingent by the IOA.
India first participated at the Olympics in 1900, with a lone athlete Norman Pritchard winning two silver medals. Norman also became the first athlete representing an Asian nation to win an Olympic medal. Born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Norman was of British descent and moved to England permanently in 1905.
Indian athletes have won a total of 20 medals in the history of Olympic Games. Most of our medals came in field hockey. There was a time when India's men's hockey team was dominant in Olympics competition, winning eleven medals in twelve Olympiads between 1928 and 1980. The team went on winning six successive gold medals from 1928–1956.
Beijing Olympics 2008 has been the best ever Olympics for India. India won three medals in three different sports. Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual Gold (Shooting) at the Games.

India has till now won a total of 20 medals in different events
Field hockey: 8 Gold; 1 Siver; 2 Bronze
Shooting:         1 Gold; 1 Silver
Athletics:     2 Silver
Wrestling:         2 Bronze
Weightlifting: 1 Bronze
Tennis:         1 Bronze
Boxing: 1 Bronze

What to look out at the London Games 2012:

* India has so far 4 archers qualified for London Olympics 2012.

* 12 Indian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards for the London Olympics. (Players to watch: Krishna Poonia, Mayookha Johny)

* India has earned 5 quotas in Badminton. (Players to watch: Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa)

* India has earned 8 quotas in Boxing. (Players to watch: Devendro Singh, Vijender Singh, Shiva Thapa)

* The Indian Hockey Team has qualified for the Games after winning a qualifying tournament. India could not qualify for the main event last time.

* India has earned 1 quota in Judo.

* India has qualified 2 boat with up to 3 athletes.

* India has earned 11 quotas in shooting events. (Players to watch: Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Ronjan Sodhi, Shagun Chowdhury)

* 4 Indian swimmers have so far achieved qualifying standards for the London Games. (Player to watch: Virdhawal Khade)

* India has won 2 quotas in Table Tennis.

* India has won 2 quotas in Weightlifting.

* India has won 5 quotas for Wrestling.

We wish the Indian contingent all the best for the London Games 2012 and pray that our sportspersons give their best and bring glory.

KKR IPL celebrations: All 'didi' did was right

KKR owner SRK celebrates with CM Mamata Banerjee at the felicitation ceremony at Eden Gardens, Kolkata: Indian Express Photo: Partha Paul

Mamata Banerjee and her WB government recently hosted a lavish party for the winners of IPl season 5 at the Eden Gardens. The celebrations started with the whole team parading on the streets on the 'City of Joy' and then a felicitation party takin gplace at the Eden Gardens.
The KKR players were showered with gifts (two sets of gold chains saying 'Bengal loves you,' custom-made cake, sandesh and shawls). The celebration cost the state government almost Rs 45 lakh.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who was more than happy about KKR's winning the IPL, was dressed in a white sari with a purple border, the colour of the team's jersey.
However, the celebrations by the Mamata-led state government was highlt criticised by many as West Bengal is fighting a debt burden of over Rs. 2 lakh crore.
"Today is the true poribartan (change) that our chief minister promised a year ago," said Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, who is usually reticent.

The crowd of nearly 70,000 at the stadium cheered as the CM called co-owner Juhi Chawla and team captain Gautam Gambhir for cutting the cake. She took the microphone to read out the inscription on the cake "Larechhi, Karechhi, Jitechhi (fought, done, won)."
Thousands of fans filled the streets to the iconic Eden Gardens where the celebrations seemed no less than last year's world cup win. But Kolkata's victory party failed to amuse critics with many taking to Twitter, and calling it an embarrassing drama at the cost of the taxpayer.
I don't know what has gone wrong with Indian media and why the hell are they blasting Mamata Banerjee and her government on felicitation of the Kolkata Knight Riders wining the IPL season 5. What I will do here is simply put forward the points and try to be fair in keeping my points forward.
There are many points brought forward by various sections. Some see this celebration as a political step intended for mere lobbying. Well, Mamata has overthrown a party that ruled WB for more than two decades. If somebody make such a miracle happen, then in my view no such political gimmick is required to be undertaken.
Some people think that Gautam Gambhir doesn't belong to Bengal and should not be appericiated as one. Such a lame statement!!!
In a country which has over 121 million of population full of people belonging to almost every religion, such a comment from some political leader (or even layman) comes to me as a surprise. Gambhir played for Delhi and contrubted hugely for them. He was the one who made World Cup 2011 win possible for us. Forghetting all this and just saying that Gambhir should have been a Bangali to be awarded is all crap to me.
'Shah Rukh Khan', a topic that trended in whole country for more than a week, is another point which I would like to include. Many critics say that Shah Rukh being the brand ambassador of West Bengal, has potrayed himself as an uncivilised man in front of a young crowd which take him as an idol (Wankhede incident). SRK is a personality whose life is more public than personal. And this is not the case with just him, every celebrity faces this problem. He has faced criticism for 4 years and his team being considered an underdog since last five years. It is natural for him to react that way. Just imagine how happy a man would be if he has had five years of failure and then gets a huge success.
Some even said that such a celebration didn't happen when Rajasthan or Chennai (2-time winners) win the tournament earlier. Also some people said that all this was more than enough for a T20 tournament. I feel these people haven't seen the way winners of the Champions League and other soccer championships winners are treated by their people. All that happened in Kolkata was just a beginning and it showed that people have the desire to come forward and celebrate something apart from a World Cup win or India emerging winner in an India-Pakistan rubber.
I also saw on some news channels that critics said why didn't we see winners of Vijay Hazare trophy being felicitated in the same way. Valid point though, but with an equally valid and understandable answer. We can't compare IPL with 'Vijay Hazare trophy' any day. IPL has over the years beaten the ever growing Bollywood industry and is a much better deal than domestic cricket tournaments. And then there is this huge amount of media hype and contoversies attached to it.
People who think IPL should be banned should try protesting it the next time it happens because this time it was better than ever and yielded much more enjoyment and money and all of that was for good!!!