Mary Kom

MC Mary Kom, the five-time world champion beat L Sarita Devi at the Asian Games trials held on September 22 at Talkatora, New Delhi to qualify for the event to be held in Guangzhou, China this year. However, Sarita Devi refuses to accept her non-inclusion in the squad saying she had already been selected after the trials held in Bhopal last month. She is demanding sports minister’s intervention in the issue, resignation of Indian Boxing Federation General Secretary and a fresh round of trials in the presence of media within a week.

Sarita Devi

“The sports minister must intervene into the matter immediately and solve the issue. Until and unless these demands are being fulfilled I will not play for India and I shall also return the Arjuna Award that was awarded to me in 2009,” Sarita Devi says in her ultimatum. “The IBF general secretary must apologize for indulging in favoritism in the selection process which is against the ethics of sportsmanship. He must resign on moral and disciplinary ground,” she added.

Sarita Devi is a former world champion and the reigning Asian Champion in the 51kg category, while Mary Kom has been competing in the 48kg category till date.

“The selection trial for the Indian women boxing team to take part in the Asian Games was held at Bhopal for two days on 20 & 21 August. The selection committee had announced the selected names, in which I was included in the 51kg category with two other women players in the 60 and 75 kg categories,” Sarita explained. “But unfortunately Indian Boxing Federation tried to keep it confidential and delayed an announcement. Surprisingly the Federation decided to hold the trial again without giving any specific reason,” she said.

IBF General Secretary Muralidharan Raja categorically dismissed the allegations, saying that Sarita was beaten in both trials. He said, “There was no politics involved. The trial at Bhopal was inconclusive and for the sake of fairness we did another trial at Talkatora after Barbados world championships. All the selection panel was there at Talkatora and they felt Mary was much better. Sarita could barely hold herself against Mary.”

A barrage of bad news assaults us each day on New Delhi’s unpreparedness for hosting the Commonwealth Games to be held from 3 to 14 October. While Mr. Kalmadi, Chief of CWG Organizing Committee and Ms. Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi kept assuring us that ‘all is well’, the country’s majority was left wondering why the central government kept mum on the issue. Finally, in the eleventh hour, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to take matters into his hands and called a meeting yesterday to discuss the adverse reports about the event.

The meeting held at PM’s residence was attended by Sports Minister MS Gill, Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, Ms. Dikshit, Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar and National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. During the 90-minute meeting, PM enquired about the state of preparedness of Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games. The security and hygiene at the Games venues and Games Village were also discussed.

“The Prime Minister was briefed about the state of preparedness of the Commonwealth Games. He was informed that every effort is being made to prepare the games facilities and the village to the expected standards,” Mr. Khanna briefed media persons after the meeting. “Our guests will be received and welcomed in accordance with the best traditions of Indian hospitality,” he added with high optimism.

One significant omission in the invitee list for the PM’s meeting was Mr. Kalmadi. This has triggered speculations on his further role in the conducting of CWG.

Mr. Manmohan Singh has deputed Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar to meet Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell. He had raised concern over the lack of preparedness of Delhi and the standard of living available to athletes at the Games Village.

A high-level security meeting chaired by Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday has asked the CWG organizing committee to complete all the work by Saturday and hand it over to security agencies.

Meanwhile, more countries have delayed their departure for the Games and many international athletes have declared their nonparticipation.

Formula One racing enthusiasts in the country need not stay glued to TV channels to follow the racing gods in action anymore. One more year of wait will bring the world’s most thrilling sports to the Indian soil. The racing schedule for the 2011 Formula One season has listed the Indian event for October 30, 2011, pending International Automobile Federation (FIA) review during July 2011.

India is getting the chance to play host to the adrenaline pumping sport, thanks to construction billionaire and sports enthusiast Jaiprakash Gaur, founder and executive chairman of the Jaypee Group. The mammoth of construction industry is building a ‘green’ sports city in Noida, a satellite township of New Delhi. In the pipeline are one-lakh seater cricket stadium, a Greg Norman golf course and a cluster of luxury apartments, in addition to the Formula One racing track.

Including the Indian event, F1 races for 2011 will go up to 20. However, there will be no new teams for the next season. India will be the seventh nation from the Asia-Pacific region to host Formula One circuit. The other nations are Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. The Jaypee Group has signed a 10-year agreement with FIA to construct the 5.14 kilometer track and conduct the event through its sports arm, Jaypee Sports International. German architect and racetrack designer, Herman Tilke has designed the Noida track.

India’s only F1 driver Karun Chandok is being sponsored by Jaypee Sports International. Karun is presently racing with Hispania Racing Team (HRT) in F1. He is only the second Indian driver in the F1 circuit after Narain Karthikeyan made his famous debut in 2007. “I look forward to working with the Gaur family and their team at Jaypee to make sure the Indian Grand Prix is a huge success for all of us,” Karun wrote on his blog.

Another Indian in the F1 circuit is Vijay Mallya, whose Force India racing team has made a mark in the F1 circuit. Mr. Mallya expressed his delight at the latest turn of events. He said that nothing would give Force India more pleasure than a podium finish at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

Dabangg has managed to topple the opening weekend record created by the Aamir Khan-movie, 3 Idiots. With the box-office collections exceeding Rs 80 crore in a week, the Salman-starrer will most probably surpass the all-time collection record set by 3 Idiots. At this juncture, one fact that confounds trade pundits is the reason for its colossal success.

Dabangg, meaning fearless, is a movie of ‘70s and ‘80s genre, aimed more at smaller towns rather than the urban multiplex audience. However, upsetting all preconceptions of Bollywood, the urban cine-goers took to the unpretentious entertainer. One of the reasons for this turn of events is the lack of out-and-out entertainers in the action-comedy genre in the recent past. Once a sure-fire success formula for Hindi films, it was made obsolete with the arrival of multiplexes, which forced Bollywood to concentrate on urban-centric stories and urban sensibilities. The once-upon-a-time success formula was relegated to Bhojpuri movies. Now with the success of Dabangg, it seems the taste of Indian audience has not changed much over the last thirty-odd years.

The original story of Dabangg rooted in rustic Indian way of life is its forte. Now with most of the big films moving away from this space, the industry was experiencing a vacuum, which was eagerly filled by Dabangg.

The success of Dabangg is a reminder that the urban audience too loves such full-blown entertainers with rural touch. After all, this group comprises mostly of migrated rural folk.

Last but not least is the role played by Salman Khan in making the movie a hit. His down-to-earth performance struck a chord with audience belonging to all walks of life. Salman playing a corrupt yet lovable cop, in a way draws parallel with his own real character. May be the likeness made his performance look convincing to the audience.

Though the film was thrashed by critics, Dabangg’s debutant director Abhinav Kashyap is all smiles. As director Mahesh Bhatt said, “It is very easy to fool the high-brow audience but difficult to entertain the masses.”