Life Etc Etc

This was the first time I had watched the World Wrestling Championships end to end and my interest was obviously in the Indian wrestling team which had a stupendous time in the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Birmingham . Now I am no wrestling expert, but I thought that the Indian team underperformed. If you look at the medals tally we ended up with the same number of medals as the 2021 edition where we had one silver and one bronze compared to the current edition where we managed to secure two bronze medals. But both of these tallies are behind the 2019 edition where we won five medals (1 silver and four bronze). Since 2018, at least one of the Indian wrestlers has been making it to the finals at these championships but that run was halted in 2022 which makes this edition the worst since 2017 where the team had won no medals at all. The Disappointments  None of the winners from 2021 could build upon their success in this edition with last time's silver medalist Anshu Malik pulling out...

It has been a topsy-turvy year to say the least. Things have started to open up, people seem more relaxed, there's also a hint of normalcy yet there is more to it than what meets the eye. We are not fully out of the pandemic but sport along with its myriad incarnations is back in a major way. This in my opinion has been a substantial factor in driving out the gloom that had settled in since the onset of the pandemic. But sport by itself is nothing without the unbelievable individuals who permeate its every fabric. I was fortunate to witness the fascinating stories of some very talented sports people this year. Here in this blog I will try to do my best to not only recount those stories but also the various lessons that can be gleaned from them. So let's begin! Lesson 1 - You can't have it all Rarely has a tennis player looked so complete and as perfect as Novak Djokovic in full bloom. The year 2021 was set to be his signature year. He trampled competition at the Australian...

Before the Rio Olympics began there was an intense debate about whether the sport of wrestling should be dropped from Olympics altogether. I believe that debate has been put to rest once and for all with the extremely intense and nerve wrangling bouts that were on display at the Olympics. Today we will look at five nail biters from the Rio Olympics which will prove that wrestling without an iota of doubt is as interesting as any other sport.  Sakshi Malik V/S   Aisuluu Tynybekova :   Everyone in India knows about this  match. Sakshi was trailing the Asian Champion from Kyrgyzstan 5-0 until the 4th minute when she executed two consecutive take downs to bring the score to 5-4. With 10 seconds left on the Clock Sakshi leveled the score by pushing Tynybekova out of the competition circle. That move tied the scores but even a tie couldn't help Sakshi's fortunes because i n the event of a tie the contestant with the least number of penalties would be adju...