Facts about history of Football in India.

1. Football was introduced in India to unify the Indian Army. India is home to some of the oldest football clubs in the world and the third oldest competition, The Durand Cup started in 1888.

2. In the 1800’s Calcutta became the hub of Indian Football and Sarada FC the oldest Indian Football club.

3. In 1889 India's oldest current team Mohun Bagan A.C. was founded as Mohun Bagan Sporting Club.
The first Indian Federation, the Indian Football Association, was founded in 1893 but did not have a single Indian on its board.

4. In the late 1930’s the Indian Football team used to frequently travel to countries in Asia Pacific.

5. The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian team lost 2–1 to France in the opening match, failing to convert two penalties.

6. India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. But the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. Reason shown by AIFF was that there was the cost of travel, although FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses, lack of practice time, team selection issues and valuing Olympics over FIFA World cup.

7. The suggestion that India did not participate in the 1950 WC because they wanted to play barefoot which was banned by FIFA is completely untrue.

8. The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim India became the best team in Asia. The Indian team started the 1950s with victory in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted.

9. At the 1956 Olympics they finished fourth, this is the second time India made second history in the world of football.

10. India participated in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan where they finished fourth.

Post the 1960s Football in India has seen a gradual decline with the team travelling less and losing important tournaments.

Lack of political and corporate interest has made sure that the finances required to fund football at grassroots never reached the needy footballers. However over the past few years certain corporate have taken keen interest in owning and managing football clubs as well as promoting a new league in the country called the Indian Super League (ISL).

It will take time to reach the glory days of the period between 1945-1962 however we hope the renewed interest of today can make that happen in the future.

regards

Sportzmap

Olympic Gold Quest: The dream of a billion strong Nation

On a daily basis we hear about lot of Not for profit organizations starting and shutting shops. In fact the number of these organizations is so big in a developing country like India that we seldom care. However there is one such Not for profit organization about which all of us sports lovers should know. It is the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) http://www.olympicgoldquest.in/index.php

Started in the year 2001 the sole aim of this organization is to help Indian Athletes win Olympic Gold Medals.

Over the year so many Olympic Events have been held but the tally of medals won by our boys and girls has been abysmal and many including us at Sportzmap believe that the onus for winning Olympic medals lies on the athletes as well as the society in which they live because it is an event which displays the sports culture of a country.

Through various schemes and development agendas the state as well as the central govts has been trying to motivate players so that they excel in their chosen sports however all of us know those efforts be it in terms of financial aid or equipments don’t land up in their desired destination. This makes the role of an organization like the OGQ more important.

OGQ aims to complement the efforts of the various govt agencies in identifying and funding the best and most deserving prospects for Olympic medals. OGQ brings together eminent personalities from sports as well as other sectors to create a system of funding and promoting the best sporting talent. As of now they are focused on eight individual disciplines viz. Shooting Athletics, Boxing, Wrestling, Archery, Swimming, Table-Tennis and Badminton as the ones in which the Indian Athlets have the strongest potential to win Olympic medals.

It was founded by sporting legends Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone and they were first tested during the 2012 London Olympics where four out of 6 Indian Olympic medal winners were supported by OGQ. The board of OGQ boasts of lot of legends like Leander Paes and Vishwanathan Anand, both of whom joined in the year 2010. The current CEO of OGQ is Viren Rasquinha, former India Hockey captain who after retiring from the sports got a management degree from the prestigious  Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

The team at OGQ is highly motivated and looking at their personal achievements we can be rest assured that the athletes selected by OGQ will be in good hands. However these few people no matter their stature cannot accomplish the task they have taken up without the general public support.

Support is not only required in terms of finance however also in the form of recognition and love. All of us as a country should get behind the team of OGQ as well as all other Olympians and encourage them to achieve glory for the nation.

Hoping the billion stong nation takes notice and gets behind its athletes.

 regards

Sportzmap.

Badminton Doubles Queens of India

It is not often that India produces great players in individual Sports. However in this is case we have two great players who have given us a lot to cheer in an individual sport i.e. badminton and that too consistently at World level.

We are talking about our very own Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa two players who have been consistently winning laurels for the country but hardly applauded accordingly.

Jwala Gutta-

To start with the senior player among the two, Jwala has been one of the top level doubles specialist for close to fifteen years now and has won the National  Badminton Championships a mindboggling 14 times till the year 2013. She has partnered with multiple players over the years and with everybody she has been successful.

In the earlier years she partnered Shruti Kurien with whom she won the nationals six straight years. Just before the New Delhi Commonwealth games in the year 2010 Jwala partnered with Ashwini and there has been no looking back. 

The list of her achievements is amazing and for the same she was awarded the Arjuna Award in the year 2011 which we believe was long overdue and she easily qualifies for Khel Ratna award.

Ashwini Ponnappa-

Ashwini also started her foray in badminton at a very early stage and from the beginning has been a specialist at doubles. She went on to win nationals in 2004, 05, 06 and 07. She later went on to win the Gold medal in mixed doubles and the team events in the South Asian Games held in 2010.

Hailing from Bangalore, her father was a National Hockey player and it was quite natural that she took up sports very seriously. She completed her schooling from Bangalore and later moved to Hyderabad to complete her Graduation.

Like Jwala, Ashwini also has been a great player for the country bringing numerous medals but hardly recognized by all for her achievements.

Jwala & Ashwini pairing-

Just before the 2010 CWG games to be hosted in New Delhi, Jwala and Ashwini came together to form a team and to the delight of the home crowd won the Gold in the Women’s Doubles event which was a first for the country. The pair has since then been consistently ranked among the Top twenty in the BWF World rankings reaching as high as No 10 in 2015. As on date they are ranked as the 15^th best pair in the Women’s Doubles pairing.

Jwala and Ashwini also won the silver medal at the 2014 CWG. They have also won the bronze medal at the Uber Cup and Asia Championship last year.

This article is not enough to summarise all the wins of this pair and we are leaving below links to their Badminton World Federation profiles for people to see what they have achieved-

Ashwini Ponnappa- http://bwfcontent.tournamentsoftware.com/profile/overview.aspx?id=F3875CB7-E471-43E6-85AB-E5491472A119

Jwala Gutta-http://bwfcontent.tournamentsoftware.com/profile/overview.aspx?id=D28DF6CB-3B5B-42DB-8347-5519A0117429

We wholeheartedly hope that this pair remains together for a long time to come, winning more medals for the country and also pray that all Indians respect, love and cherish their every loss or win because they play with all heart and need our support.

Regards

Sportzmap

Greatest show on earth: Isle of Man TT

Isle of Man or known simply as “Mann” is a small Island between Ireland and England in the Irish Sea. It is a very small island with a population of about 100,000. However each year during the months of May and June the Island attracts lot of tourists due to a particular activity which has made this Island very famous.

It is the International Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Race” which attracts all those people during those few days of the year. It is a motorcycle sport event which attracts thousands of Motorcycle lovers as well as lot of racers who throng to the small island with their big and loud bikes.This event is considered as the “Holy Grail” of Motorcycle racing and is known as the most prestigious motorcycle racing event in the world. The race is in existence since 1907 and still exudes the same passion among racers till date as it used to during the early years of conception.

It is a time-trial format held on public roads. Time-trial means a racer who completes a particular length of distance in the shortest time wins the race. There are different categories depending upon the cc of the bike and the range is generally between 750-1200cc. 

The race is held on a 60.73 km long public road which is like any other road in any other city of the world passing through houses and markets, however for those few days every year that road is completely blocked for the public and for good reason.

For those few days bikes race the streets at speeds in excess of 200-300 km/h on a continuous basis and considering the format which is Time-trial all racers do not start and end at the same time. 

The speed with which the racers go past one another is something which has to be seen standing beside the road to be felt. Within a fraction of a second they pass in front of the audience and the people are left to the amazement of the loud noise the bikes make. Seeing bike after bike racing past in speeds in excess of 200km/h can be the most beautiful as well as the most scary thing at the same time.

 Racers are allowed to go on the track one after the other with 10 seconds interval and each one is individually timed. The main reason why this race is so famous among Motorcycle race  lovers is due to the fact that this is also the most dangerous race.

 There are lots of stretches on the track where there is no protection on the walls and a racer can ram directly into them due to a small mistake. Also there are lots of stretches where they have to race on small hills where an error can throw them into the air for several hundred feet without touching the ground. 

There have been many deaths during the past 100 years and this element of risk makes the race all the more exciting.

Below is a short video showcasing some of the best moments of the race.

regards
Sportzmap

Magnificent Mary: The girl from Manipur who won all hearts.

Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom or  simply known as Mary Kom deserves a lot of love and respect from us considering what she has achieved over the years in the toughest “Sport” to play.

Her achievements are a first not only for an Indian Woman but also in general for all Indians. Here are some facts about the mother of three boxer about whom no praise is long enough-

1.    She is nicknamed “Magnificent Mary” and is the only Indian Boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight category and winning the Bronze Medal. She is also the first Indian Woman boxer to get a Gold medal in the 2014 Asian Games.

2.    Born into a family of farmers with meager income she was inspired by Dingko Singh to take up boxing

3.    She is married to Karun Onkhlar Kom whom she met in Delhi and has three sons.

4.    She was awarded the Padma Shree in 2006 and  Padma Bhushan (Sports) in the year 2013 for her outstanding achievements.

5.    The International Boxing Association announced Mary Kom as the brand ambassador for the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.

6.     Mary Kom is a supporter of Animal rights and is associated with PETA.

7.    She had collaborated with Sanjay Dutt and Raj Kundra to be a part of the Super Fight League.

8.    In London Olympics she was without her personal coach as he didn’t meet the norms to visit the Olympics Village.

9.    She had all her luggage and passport stolen on the way to the selection camp in Bangkok, Thailand for her first Asian Women’s Boxing Championships.

10. In the 2014 movie “Mary Kom” Priyanka Chopra acted as the boxer and the movie went on to become great success bringing lot of joy to both Mary and Priyanka.

11.  She has recently been nominated for a Rajya Sabha Seat, a decision which we all welcome whole heartedly.

We wish “Magnificent Mary” all the good luck for the Rio Olympics and wish her all the success in life.

regards

Sportzmap.

Top 10 Facts about Diego Maradona

Presenting to you 10 facts about the legend Diego Maradona-

1. He made 91 Appearances for Argentina scoring 34 goals.

2. Maradona holds the record for making the most number of appearances as captain of any country in the World Cup. He skippered Argentina on 16 occasions.

3. A 15 year old Maradona made his professional debut on Oct 20, 1976 for Argentina Juniors.

4. On Feb 27, 1977 a 16 year old Maradona made his international debut against Hungary at the Bombonera Stadium Beunas Aires.

5. Maradona holds the record for suffering the maximum number of fouls in a World Cup. Numbering upto 53 during the 1986 World Cup.

6. Maradona won the Golden Ball for being the outstanding player in 86 World Cup.

7. He scored using his hand in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup against England. When asked about the goal, he said- "The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, a little by the hand of Maradona".

8. He won the Serie A with Napoli in 1987, a feat that would be repeated in 1990. He also won the UEFA cup in 1989.

9. In 94 World Cup he played only two games- scoring one goal against Greece- as he was sent home failing a dope test.

10. In 2005, Maradona started hosting a talk show on Argentinian television. Pele was the main guest on the first show.

Dravid Scores a century!!!!

You read it right, Dravid has scored a century, only this time it is Rahul Dravid's ten year old son Samit Dravid. 
Playing for his club Bangalore United Cricket Club in a Tiger Cup match Samit scored 125 and led his team to a massive 213 run victory over their opponent.
Some of us dont know but Samit has been regularly hitting  big knocks for his school team as well as club.
This particular Under-12 tournament is known as Tiger Cup and is aimed to spread awareness among school going kids about Tigers.
Now we all hope that Samit can walk on the path of his father and be a star performer in whatever he does in life. Here's all of us at Sportzmap wishing Samit Dravid all the best.

Beware: The Chinese are coming!!!!!!!

Chen Jingfen, Chen Xiaoran, Feng Yu, Gen Changyue... Do these names strike a bell???

We are sure no because almost all of us would have never heard these names before however it might not be a surprise if our next generation have posters of these players on the bedroom walls cause the people mentioned above are part of the Chinese National Cricket Team.

Yes you read it right, the Chinese do have a cricket team of their own and it has been in existence since 2004.

In fact cricket was first introduced to China way back in the 1800's with the formation of Shanghai Cricket Club http://shanghaicricket.com/.

Cricket in China was introduced by British Naval Officers as is the case in most parts of the world. However like in other Asian countries cricket never gained popularity and was mostly played by the expats living there.

But with the advent of the millennium the indigenous Chinese took to the sport with lot of enthusiasm. Lot of clubs were formed and slowly a league system started which gave people interested to play the sport lot of recognition.

The Chinese Cricket Association became an Affiliate member of the ICC in 2005 and took part in the  2009 edition of ACC Trophy Challenge.

Although most of the clubs are made up of expats it is heartening to see for a cricket lover that the entire Chinese National Team is made up of indigenous people. The current team is captained by their best player Chen Jinfeng.

The Chinese Cricket Association had the below plans when they started-

2009: Have 720 teams across the country in a well-organized structure

2015: Have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches

2019: Qualify for the World Cup

2020: Gain Test status

We are not sure where they are right now in terms of achieving the first two points but may be the last two points seem bit far fetched. However Considering the Chinese mindset and their work ethics it might well be possible.

They had taken a vow to produce Olympians who could earn medals in huge numbers and they achieved that with the Govt spearheading development of Sports. Now if the Govt of China and the people collectively decide to make a mark in World Cricket then soon we might have a team in the Cricket World Cup which is "Made In China".

A small video about the Game in China-

regards

Sportzmap.

Epic battle between Sreesanth and Shashi Tharoor

Well all of us know Sreesanth is not somebody who will take any challenge thrown to him lightly. During a test match played in South Africa, remember how he celebrated hitting Andre Nel over for a huge six after being verbally abused-

Here is a reminder of what happened back then-

Now that Sreesanth is out of cricket due to reasons which brought him and his family lot of pain and shame we thought we might not see that angry young man again. But Sree had a surprise for us.

He is currently busy in campaigning for the upcoming Elections to be held in Kerala and having secured a ticket  from BJP for Trivandrum constituency he is very excited.

His fellow state leader Shashi Tharoor who is very active on Twitter had this to say about Sreesanth's political entry-

Why @sreesanth36 needs to do his homework against the incoming bouncer: https://t.co/2pLbkFxu64 Should have stuck to his great outswingers!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 19, 2016

This tweet really angered Sree and he really got back into the Fast Bowler mode and sent Shashi one after another bouncer. Following were his replies-

@ShashiTharoor I will surly help and serve my people and will surly keep doing it.God is great may God be with me and family.ilove my people

— Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) April 19, 2016

@ShashiTharoor I love my party,will surly do everything that my party ask me https://t.co/QVa3iy0MZz might be over but Iam still breathing

— Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) April 19, 2016

@ShashiTharoor take care ..may someone give u strength to genuinely help our people..respect alwys

— Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) April 19, 2016

The way it is clever sometimes to duck an angry fast bowler balling relentless bouncers Shashi gave a muted reply-

Thanks @sreesanth36. You remain one of my favourite players. But politics is a different field.Now you're in the nets, full tosses will come

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 19, 2016

Well this session might be over for now but we are sure there will be many more fiery spells by the once fearsome bowler and knowing Shashi Tharoor  we think he is already practicing the hook shot.  

Dipa Karmakar- The Gymnast from Tripura who qualified for Rio Olympics

The proudest man on earth right now should be Dipa Karmakar's father. The man who for so many years has been training young weightlifters in the Andaman Islands. He wanted Dipa to follow his footsteps and be a weightlifter but to the joy of an entire nation she chose Gymnastics and we are thankful to her for that as she has become the first Indian female to Qualify for Olympics. 

On Sunday i.e. the 17th of April she created history by becoming the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. We should take some time off from whatever we are doing and laud this amazing feat of Dipa. Hailing from a small state of Tripura  in the extreme eastern part of India, she barely had the means to achieve what she has and we should be very proud as well as concerned to take care of her and make sure she succeeds in whatever she wants to do in life as talent like hers is rare in India.

During the early nineties female gymnasts were given cult like status in the Olympics and I am sure lot of Indians also wanted to see one among us in the world stage performing the acrobats so beautiful to see.However the craze of cricket was too strong for us to look at any alternate sport and the dream to produce a world class Gymnast was lost somewhere.

But since the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, we Indians got the first sniff of a young prodigy who could do wonders in Gymnastics.That young prodigy was none other than Dipa who went on to win a Bronze medal in the Glasgow games. This was not a small achievement as she was the first Indian female to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games and for a girl who was told at her childhood that being a flat-footed kid she wont achieve much in Gymnastics. How she proved everybody wrong is there for us to see now. Also it is remarkable that during the Glasgow games she was nursing an injury and that made the victory even more sweeter for her.

I am sure given the conditions in India she must have faced lot of difficulties coming up the ladder. Starting at the early age of 5 she credits her success to her coach Bisbeshwar Nandi and her parents. 

Known to be a master of the "Produnova"(a deadly move which can result in breaking the spine and neck if done incorrectly) on the mat earlier she had to quickly learn "Tsukahara" within flat 3 months before the World Championships.Others have been known to take years to master the new move. Also she was unsure whether she will be allowed to participate in the World Championships or not owing to lack of a Federation to represent. This is a situation lot of our budding Gymnasts face.Her determination since childhood was to perform at the world stage and what better way to do it by representing a Billion people at the Olympics. 

Now that she has achieved something which was deemed impossible earlier, we should open our hearts to this 22 year old Gymnast with a broad smile from Tripura and make sure she gets every possible support required to the run up to the Rio Olympics.

regards

Sportzmap

What lacks Indian Football: A mystery???

What lacks Indian Football: A mystery???

Nowadays lot of people on Facebook, Twitter and other social Networking sites talk about Indian Football not developing because of people's attitude to play and enjoy cricket more.

So a thought came to my mind as to why not find out facts and figures which may have resulted in the current state of affairs Indian Football suffers from. Also I thought it could be an eye opener for some who think Indian Football lacks money or support.

Football has a great history in India with the likes of Kolkata based clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Also some clubs in Goa, Kerala and the North East have been in existence for ages. Still we have not been able to create a side which is forget threatening in the World or Asia stage but even in the small part of South East Asia we are in. Currently the Men's National team is ranked 162 and in the last 20-25 years the highest rank we achieved was 100 way back in 1993. 

If we look at the recent results for the past two years we will understand why we are ranked so low-

Source-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_national_football_team_results

The above results are after the start of much hyped ISL in 2015. So the complain that Indian players never got the chance to play big league games can be negated. In ISL all players were paid decent money, fed proper diet, made to stay in the best of hotels and were continuously in the limelight. Although all these things shouldn't have mattered but this was a complaint from the Indian Footballing fraternity that there were lack of attention.Its true that the results of ISL or I league might not show immediately but please; the above results are way below the standard of a country which has reached Mars.

We have lost to or drawn with countries like Bangladesh, Guam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Palestine etc. Forget a proper footballing structure, some of these countries like Bangladesh and Nepal do  not offer a proper standard of living still we aren't able to compete against them.

The last game we lost to was against Turkmenistan a country which separated from USSR in the early nineties and played their first match only in the year 1992. 

The GDP of that country is less than only Rajasthan but still they are ranked well above us at 128. If you are thinking the players are paid well then think again because what  I league and ISL players make in six months the club players in Turkmenistan make in a year or two. 

If we go before 2015 then the results become even more sad. We have been beaten by countries like Azerbaijan, Zambia etc. If somebody says that there would have been more money in those two countries spent on Football then he/she must be joking.

If we look at all the records then it will come to light that the Men's National Football Team has performed abysmally for more than 90 years and continues to do that even now. Following is the overall record-

Matches Played	Won	Drawn	Lost
478	157	106	215

So when a team draws or loses 70% of its all games for the past 90 years then how can they expect support from fans, administration, Govt, Corporate, Media etc.

I know some blind supporters will question that money should come first then the development will happen however I ask them on what basis the money would have come. 

In sports be it at individual, club or national level there has to be some promise, some hope, some skills from the players for their backers to see otherwise it is foolish to expect money and adulation to come.

Even Messi or C Ronaldo who are now paid heavily had to start on their own display the skills they had and then the money followed. 

Summarizing the above I think we need to understand that India can never be a force to reckon with in the field of Football and all aspirations should be laid to rest. Although we pray and wish every moment the fortunes of Indian Football changes around.   

Regards
A disheartened football fan.