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Indian athletes who came so near, but remained so far

TNN
August 29, 2017

Many are already calling PV Sindhu's effort as one of the most enduring in Indian sport. Here is a walk down memory lane where we pick a few of those special times when the contest left the Indian sportsman and the fan physically and emotionally drained.

PT Usha (1984 Los Angeles Olympics)

PT Usha was at the peak of her powers and a real hope in the 400m hurdles. Usha clocked 56.81 sec in the heats and 55.54 sec in the semifinals. In the final, she clocked 55.42 sec, finishing fourth, trailing the eventual bronze-medallist by an agonizing 1/100th of a second.

Milkha Singh (1960 Rome Olympics)

Milkha Singh had been clocking impressive timings in the run up to the Games and had beaten most of the top contenders at various meets. Expectations were sky high, but the Flying Sikh miscalculated his run when it mattered most and finished fourth. That's a memory that still rankles the great sprinter.

Limba Ram (1992 Barcelona Olympics)

The archer came close to Olympic podium at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Just ahead of Barcelona, Ram had equalled Takayoshi Matsushita's world record in the Beijing Asian Archery Championships in the 30m event with a score of 357360 for gold. Fans were counting on him for a repeat performance in the Olympics. However, he fell short by a single point in the 70m competition, and missed out on the bronze.

Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi v Ivan Ljubicic/Mario Ancic (2004 Athens Olympics)

In 2004, the pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi was rated as the finest doubles players in the world. All of India was certain that the duo would return with a medal from Athens. Things did not go as per plan and they were beaten by the wild card Croatian pair of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in the bronze-medal play-off. The Indians had numerous opportunities to shut out the match, but were pipped 6-7 (5), 6-4, 14-16 in three hours and 58 minutes in a nerve-racking contest that began on a Friday night and ended in the early hours the next day.

Abhinav Bindra (2016 Rio Olympics)

India's only individual gold medallist at the Olympics came extremely close to winning another medal before he ended up finishing fourth in the 10m air rifle event in Rio. Tied on 163.8 points after 16 shots with the eventual silver-medallist Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine, Bindra shot a 10.0 to Kulish's 10.5, depriving the Beijing Games gold winner of a fairytale ending in his fifth Olympics.

India v Korea: Men's Hockey Final (2002 Busan Asian Games)

Defending champions India fell to hosts Korea 4-3 in the final despite putting up a courageous display. They were buoyed by a splendid 4-3 win over a strong Pakistan side in the semifinals and young defender Jugraj Singh almost did the star turn for India. But his shoulder-charge of an opponent led to a penalty corner off which the Koreans scored the winner in front of a stadium packed with members of the Indian contingent who had come to see an Indian triumph.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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News Network
April 22,2020

Dhaka, Apr 22: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has decided to auction the bat he used during the 2019 ODI World Cup to help raise money for the fight against deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Shakib, who is currently serving a two-year ban from all forms of cricket -- one of which is suspended -- for not reporting corrupt approaches, is the second Bangladeshi cricketer after wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim to auction a personal cricketing gear to raise money for the cause.

"I had said before that I want to put up a bat for auction. I have decided to auction the bat I used in the 2019 World Cup. It's a favourite bat of mine," Shakib said during a Facebook live session.

The 33-year-old all-rounder had a hugely successful World Cup in England last year, scoring 606 runs in eight matches at an average of 86.57, which included two centuries and five fifties.

Besides, he also picked up 11 wickets in the tournament and became the only cricketer to score 600 plus runs and scalp 10 wickets in a single edition of the World Cup.

"I had a good World cup with the bat and ball. There were some good performances especially with the bat. I had used a single bat throughout the World Cup and even used tapes on it to get through games," Shakib said.

"It's not that this bat has only been used at the World Cup. I have scored over 1500 runs with this bat and had used it prior to the tournament and after it as well.

"Although I like the bat a lot but I have decided to put it up for auction with the thought that maybe it can leave some contribution to forming a fund during the ongoing coronavirus crisis."

The money raised from the auction will go to the Shakib Al Hasan foundation.

"This is a very special bat to me, but my people are even more special to me," Shakib said.

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