PRG's Thoughts

It's the end of the year, that was twenty-eighteen, So what happened in sports, with your favourite team? There was the World Cup, and then regular seasons, 'Twas a great year for fans, here are my reasons. Lets start with the Cup, that comes every four years, As usual it ended, with England in tears. Croatia played well, and was the runner up, But in the end, the French won the cup. Neymar won an Oscar, Messi won nothing, Poor England prepared too early for homecoming. We've watched this next flick, since 2003, I'm talking about tennis, and the same old big three. Roger won Aus, Novak Wimb & New York, Rafa won the French, oh, what a shock! The time for new blood, is long overdue, Zverev, Thiem or anyone please come through. Four different winners, in four different slams, Women's tennis, is capturing the fans. Of course, the greatest had the greatest melt down, Oh Serena, you behaved like a clown. The Return of the Kings, is not a movi

Let me say clearly up front, Test cricket is my favourite format of the game to watch and follow, but the state of the five-day game is so pitiful that it is embarrassing to even call it an international sport. A little harsh? Nope, just realistic. Cricket has always been a frightfully small community of countries. There are only ten test playing nations, I am not counting Afghanistan because they've only played one Test match. Now, while most sports grow, test cricket has not only remained the same, it has in fact in a lot of ways become smaller. The truth is that today there are only four real competitive Test playing nations. India, England, Australia and South Africa. The rest of the pack are so far behind that playing against them is like playing one-off matches against club teams. Especially when these teams play away from their homes.  New Zealand aren't too bad but they barely play test matches and don't quite create the spark of interest.  West

Serena Williams has created an uproar in the US Open Final. Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past 24 hours you must know about it. Here is my take. The controversy comes down to three incidents. 1)     The on court coaching violation 2)     Breaking of the racket 3)     Verbal Abuse As per the WTA rules there is what is called the ‘point penalty schedule’.  A violation of any one of a number of rules results in the following schedule.  1 st  Offense- Warning 2 nd  Offense- Point Penalty 3 rd  and Subsequent Offenses- Game Penalty 1 st  Offense -  On court coaching violation Section XVI- Code of Conduct vii a)       Players shall not receive coaching during a match (including warm up) with the exception of the allowed coaching breaks as defined in the On-Court Coaching Requests - Section XVII.H.3. Communication of any kind, audible or visible, between a Player and a coach may be construed as coaching b)       Violations of

--> What if we defined talent differently in sports? What if instead of using the standard definition of talent, which is traditionally based on the physical abilities of an athlete we start giving weightage to the ‘mental’ strength of the individual? How would this new definition change the way we look at sportspersons? Let’s try it on for size. If we are adding an individual’s ‘mental’ abilities to the definition of talent we probably need to define what we mean by ‘mental’ abilities? Is it the ability to perform under moments of pressure? Yes. That definitely is a factor. Hitting sixes and boundaries in the last over of a match, raising your game when it is 4-4 in the fifth set of a tennis match and of course lining up to kick a penalty. This mental ability to perform when it counts the most, is a skill and talent that only the best in the business have had over the years. But this only makes up a small part of an athletes mental ability. The second par

This article was first published at https://www.huffingtonpost.in/pranav-gandhi/archer-deepika-kumari-asks-some-difficult-questions-about-women-in-indian-sports-in-this-documentary_a_23267671/ on 14/11/2017 Every once in a while a documentary comes a long that sparks a revolution. It takes an issue that plagues our society and ignites a generation into action. ' Ladies First'  is the documentary that could be a game changer for women in India. On the face of it, the documentary tells us a story that every Indian sports fan is already familiar with. In reality, we live in an impenetrable sports cocoon that has trapped us in the twenty-two yards of the cricket pitch so much that one of the most inspiring journeys of an Indian athlete has gone unnoticed. The documentary tells the heart wrenching and inspiring story of Deepika Kumari, a girl from the tiny village of Ratu, Jharkhand. Born into poverty, her home had all the problems that come with the territory. Th

This article first appeared at https://www.huffingtonpost.in/pranav-gandhi/happy-10th-birthday-ipl-thank-you-for-doing-so-much-for-indian-s_a_22018753/ on 4/4/2017 April 2008 was an interesting time. The world's economy was imploding. A young Senator Barack Obama battled Washington heavyweight and former first lady Hilary Clinton in the Democratic primary and Tata Motors had acquired Jaguar and Land Rover a month before. There was also 18 April 2008. Not a date that most of us would remember, but history will note it as the most significant date in Indian sports. It was the day of the first match of the Indian Premier League. Blasphemous statement? Not even close. It is truer than you can imagine. As it approaches its tenth birthday the impact of the IPL in its short run has been astounding. The league has been tainted with many labels and criticised accordingly. The cheerleaders, parties and the unceremonious ouster of the league's chief architect Lalit Modi. Th

This article first appeared at https://www.huffingtonpost.in/pranav-gandhi/this-is-hands-down-the-indian-sportsperson-of-the-year-2016_a_21622156/ on 8/12/2016 This has been a year like no other. If you've had any semblance of a pulse you'll know that 2016 has been filled with the good, the bad and the shocking. Sports was no different. In international sports you had  Leicester City's improbable EPL title , Usain Bolts  third triple  and  Phelps owning more gold than Bappi . Then there was  Spieth's 12 th  hole at the Masters ,  Portugal winning the Euro , Djoko's  start to the year and of course his end to the year , I could go on. On the Indian side, we had our moments—Kohli and Ashwin became greater, Vijender Singh became a champion and hockey showed signs that it may be on its way back. Then you had the debacle at the Olympics—a two-medal return from Brazil despite the highest of expectations. On the surface of it, Indian sports had a below average y