Sportsnob’s favourite tennis player Sania Mirza is on a roll in the U.S. hardcourt season. After a semifinal appearance at last week’s tournament in Cincinatti, she has reached the semifinals of the Stanford Classic.

After coming through a tough three setter in the first match against Japan’s Akiko Morigami, Sania then went on to defeat French teenager and World No. 19 Tatiana Golovin. And in the quarterfinals played last night, she upset fourth seed and World No. 17 Patty Schynder 7-6 6-1. Sania plays 8th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria tonight.

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A powercut prevented me from writing a morose review of the first day’s play of the Lords test match. All the familiar ingredients of Indian cricket team’s travails abroad were there- a clueless captain, nervous fast bowlers, dropped catches and the opposition batsman raking up the runs. England ended the first day at 280 odd for 4, with the last two wickets falling near the end of the day’s play.

The second day has been nothing short of remarkable, reminding us what test match cricket is all about. After a thundershower and some excellent mopping up display by the groundsmen, the Indian pacemen went about dismantling the English batting lineup. Sidebottom’s stumps were shattered right away by Singh, then Pietersen played a very lose shot to give Dhoni a regulation catch off Khan.

Ten minutes later, Sreesanth joined in the party with wickets of Matt Prior, Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar in quick succession. Good swing bowling and all three dismissals being LBWs, the young lad obviously having learned some valuable lessons from the first day’s play. Khan’s dismissal of Bell, soon after meant that India had taken 6 wickets in just 11 overs. England dismissed for 298, six of the last seven batsmen scoring just 2 runs between them. An astonishing afternoon by Indian standards, really.

Indian First Innings:

After the quick dismissals of Karthik and Dravid; Jaffer and Tendulkar set about ressurecting the innings with a lot of patience. Tendulkar played really well for his 37 before getting out to Anderson. Jaffer’s wicket late in the day means that the test match is evenly poised. India ending the day on 145/4, 153 adrift of England’s first innings score.

I am hoping for a good knock from Laxman- it seems to me that he is always (and sometimes unfairly) one bad knock away from being dropped. A good innings here will set him up well for the next two test matches. Also, its going to be very interesting to see how Dhoni performs, with all the talk of dropping him for Yuvraj Singh. And how will the Indian team play Panesar? And what of the weather! Hopefully, we will see atleast 75 overs play tomorrow with India taking the first innings lead and with Laxman scoring a fine century.

Cricket, India Vs England, Indian Cricket | No Comments »

Transfers between Real Madrid and Barcelona usually create a lot of buzz. Figo , Luis Enrique and Laudrup earned their media’s hall of fame for defecting to the enemy. But the latest to join that line hasn’t received the same amount of publicity. Javier Saviola, the ex argentine sensation has agreed to join Real Madrid after his contract at Barcelona had expired. Much like Luis Enrique and Laudrup, the club had little to do as it was the player’s prerogative to leave the club after his contract had expired. Barcelona didn’t feel like Saviola had met their expectations after the 20 million pounds they spent on him a few years ago and they thought he was fungible. A notion that I won’t reject.

As a 20 year old, Saviola showed great potential leading the Argies to the title in the 2001 Youth World Cup . But after that it has been the case of unfulfilled promises on the part of the Argentine. He was loaned out for two seasons in his 6 years as a Barca player and it was clear that he would be getting his wish of a big payday after rejecting a transfer to Sevilla at the end of the last season. As a free agent, he could move to any club with increased incentives, since the club wouldn’t need to shell out on the transfer fee. Moves to the English Premier league were mooted but none with the pedigree of Real Madrid. What is interesting is whether this transfer by Calderon has sporting implications or if its just a psychological jab at their rivals. It is very unlikely that new Manager Schuster would use him in the starting line up. He is a substitute at best.

Calderon meanwhile has turned his attention to Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal after Milan had spurned his advances for Kaka. It does look like Calderon isn’t half as savvy as his predecessor, Florentino Perez who was an absolute whiz in the transfer market. Calderon did win his election on the back of promises to sign Kaka, Cesc and Robben- three of whom have not shown the slightest intention of joining Real Madrid anytime soon. Madrid were once the leaders of the transfer market and need a Big money signing (Robben doesn’t qualify as he is surplus to requirements at Chelsea) to satisfy fans who were spoilt by Perez’s excesses.

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Fantastic Video Compilation of the Top 10 Goals from Copa America 2007 being held in Venezuela.

Top 10 Goals

Videos | No Comments »

The second most tedious transfer saga of the summer has finally come to an end. After Manchester United’s signing of Owen Hargreaves, the whole ‘Schuster to Madrid’ story was being dragged endlessly. And thankfully we were spared another month of gossip and needless speculation, when Schuster was announced as the new manager of Real Madrid. Schuster is the seventh manager to be in charge of the los merengues in seven years!

Schuster comes to Madrid on the back of two successful seasons with Getafe, who he led to back to back ninth place finishes in the league. He comes to the team, with the twin tasks of winning titles and at the same time entertaining the Bernabeu. It is certainly going to be very interesting times in Madrid next season.

And Schuster’s first target? Cesc Fabregas! Whether, the young midfielder will make the move to Spain remains to be seen. I get the feeling that Fabregas wont make the move considering the amount of respect he has for the ability of Arsene Wenger. Arsenal fans will be hoping for some words of reassurance from either Fabregas or Wenger.

Good luck mate, you need it, considering you are replacing a manager who just won the league!

Real Madrid, Spanish Football | 1 Comment »

Wimbledon 2007 got a men’s final it didn’t deserve. After two weeks of incessant rain delays, arguments about scheduling, complaints about tradition, and a rather very one-sided woman’s final, we got to see 4 hours of glorious tennis.

And at the end of all that, Roger Federer stood Wimbledon champion and for the fifth time in a row. Now he is just 3 grand slams away from Pete Sampras’s record of 14 and chances are he might do it as early as next year. Federer edged the final in five tough sets 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2. He did admit that luck had played a big part cause Nadal had 4 break points in the fifth set but couldn’t convert any of them.

Rafael Nadal might have ended up with the silver plate, but there is no doubt that we were seeing a future Wimbledon Champion. Now, I can’t wait for the U.S. open; to see these two to slug it on a surface other than grass or clay. Nadal still holds the edge 8-5 in the head to head. And for years we have been wondering if Federer will win the French and achieve the career Grand Slam, but now I feel there is an equally good chance that Nadal might do the same. In fact, the odds on Nadal are achieveing it are about as good.

Wimbledon | 2 Comments »

No, no the cricketers are quite safe. In quite a daring move, the Indian selectors have chosen to leave out the three big names from the list of probables for the 20-20 world cup. In the absence of further information at this point, let us feel free to speculate on why:

1. The Indian selectors are far thinking and want to groom the next generation of cricketers. In a move in that direction, they have decided to test out some new blood at the world cup.

2. The older players’ styles are not suited to the requirements of the wham-bam cricket that is 20-20. You need aggressive and extremely agile cricketers which the older guys are not. So, they have been dropped from the team.

3. This is actually a suggestion by one of the leading players of the team. They are interested in grooming the next generation or have ad shoots during that period. Hence this move.

4. They haven’t actually been dropped. This is a warning to the senior players that the selectors wield power too. After massive public outcry and criticism from other older players, these players will be included in the team.

Readers, please feel free speculate on the issue.

Cricket, Indian Cricket | 2 Comments »

Liverpool as expected annouced the signing of Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid for 26.5 Million Pounds. His arrival will hasten the departure of Craig Bellamy, who besides the goal against Barcelona hasn’t performed upto the expectations of Rafael Benetiz. Torres will partner Peter Crouch in attack.

It remains to be seen if Torres is the guaranteed 30 goals a season player that Liverpool have missed for seasons now. He has flown under the radar of critics at Atletico Madrid scoring just 82 goals in 214 games for the Castille team. His team was often blamed for his lack of goals. With the 26.5 mill pound capture, and the hopes of a club who are waiting for their first league championship since 1990, he will no longer have that luxury.
Rafa has not had the best luck with his Spanish signings. Only Xabi Alonso has been able to lock in a starting spot in his team. Ex Pool Morientes had a horrid time at the KOP and Rafa will be wishing that those mistakes don’t repeat with Gillette and co breathing down his neck.

In my opinion, Torres has taken far too long to translate potential into goals and doesn’t look like a player capable of solving Liverpool’s inadequacies. Liverpool have taken a huge gamble on this former prodigy, who showed all but flashes of brilliance during his time at the Vicente Calderon. From what I’ve seen, his off the ball movement is top class but his finishing isn’t. I expect him to score not more than 15 goals per season (in the league) at Liverpool, in keeping with his scoring record at Atletico Madrid.

Torres Videos:

Torres Compilation 

Torres Interview (subtitles in English)

English Football, Spanish Football, Videos | No Comments »

India’s Sania Mirza and Israeli Shahar Peer’s run at Wimbledon came to a halt today as they lost to top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in three sets. For Mirza this is another bullet point in the list of controversies she has found herself in. Be it for her T-shirts, religious fatwas or for her comments on pre-marital sex, Sania has managed to stay in the news for more reasons away from the tennis court.

But full credit to the girl for doing what she thinks is right. This partnership with Israeli Shahar Peer is particularly significant considering the two were criticized by religious groups for pairing in the Japan Open in 2005. I had hoped the two would do well and shut people up, too bad they had to run into the top seeds so early in the tournament!

I don’t care too much for what religious fundamentalists have to say but stay the hell out of sport!

Not the first controversial pairing:

However, the Mirza-Peer team is not the first controversial pairing in the world of tennis. That title should definitely go to the duo of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton. Althea Gibson is well known for being a breaker of barriers, the first black to play both the US Open and Wimbledon, she was also the first black to win Wimbledon (however her achievements are much less known than those of Arthur Ashe) and was an inspiration to a number of players including the Williams sisters.

However, the Gibson-Buxton partnership is not very well known. Anti-Semitism kept Buxton out of a number of British clubs in the same way racism kept Gibson out of white clubs in the U.S. By the time the two met (in India of all places!), Gibson was nearing 30 and had remained in the sidelines due to restrictive polices in the U.S.

The following French Open found the two without partners (because no one would partner them) and the rest is history. Gibson and Buxton partnered in both the French Open and Wimbledon and would win both quite convincingly. Althea Gibson would go on to win 5 grand slam titles including 2 Wimbledon titles.

And if you had taken our Wimbledon quiz , you would know that in 1995 Gibson wrote a letter to Buxton saying that she was sick, poor and forgotten. Buxton immediately got the letter published (without Gibson’s knowledge) and managed to raise over a million dollars for Gibson.

Lets hope the Mirza-Peer team wins a couple of grand slams before they quit!

Wimbledon | 1 Comment »

Yet another absolutely meaningless series has come to an end. But with one small difference, the Indian team came out on top. Congratulations to Rahul Dravid and his men- they have managed to win something after a long time! Plus, the series was won in alien conditions, against a tough squad and after losing the first game.

There were some real positives from the series, most notably-

1) That great man Sachin Tendulkar finally remembering that he was once a decent batsman who could make ordinary bowlers like Andrew Nell look well, ordinary.

2) Yuvraj Singh finding the form that made him one of the best finishers of 2005

3) Piyush Chawla showing us that he has the potential to lead our spin attack

However, the question remains, was this a missed opportunity to test some new blood? Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly are all 34 and will retire in another couple of years or possibly (considering the grip they have on Indian cricket) will play on till 2011. That is the top three in one-day internationals and the entire middle order in the test matches (Laxman is not too much younger either) Yuvraj has made one position his own but there is hardly any competition so much so that Gautham Gambhir seems to always find himself in the team.

We pick a player like Rohit Sharma and don’t give him the opportunity to show his potential. What has been learnt about his batting skills? Nothing. The poor lad came to bat in the 47th over of the only game he got to play. He managed to score 8 runs in 8 balls before being bowled. Chances are that if the Indian team fares badly in the test matches in England, Virendar Sehwag or Mohammed Kaif will be brought back for the seven match one day internationals. And who will take the fall? Rohit Sharma.

It begs to be asked, do men like Dravid and Tendulkar have the cricketing brains that we always seem to give them credit for? I am not questioning their commitment, just the fact that they couldn’t recognize that this was a brilliant opportunity to blood some some new faces. Or considering the amount of clout they have, can’t they impress on the board, the need for a very comprehensive A team policy?

Cricket, Indian Cricket | No Comments »