Is it "Jai Ho" for Indian Sports?

I start this new post when the Australian Open is over with some positive performances by Indian Tennis stars and also when the Indian Cricket team has trounced the Sri Lankans to win the Series 3-0.

Since the Last year, India has done really well in Sports - not only in cricket but all round. Lets look at this in perspective - 2008 was a really good year for Indian sports. Never has india performed so well in many a sport and at many a Event.

The Pinnacle was winning 3 medals in the Beijing Olympics and that too in all individual events: Abhinva Bindra (Gold), Vijender Kumar (Bronze) and Sushil Kumar (Bronze). India did well in Tennis - Yuki Bhambri winning the Junior Aus Open and Bhupathi (Hesh) and Sania winning the Mixed Doubles, Paes winning the US open doubles, Somdev creating many an upset in Chennai open. Never has any Indian ODI Cricket team competed for the top spot in its history and no one can forget the dissimation of Sri Lankan Bowling attack by Yuvi and Viru. India has a new star in Badminton - Saina Nehwal - Gold in Coomnwealth Games; Vishwanathan Anand winning the Chess World Championships; Pankaj Advani winning the double World championships in both Billiards and Snooker; Sachin breaking Lara's record; Jeev milkha Singh doing well in Golf in European and Asian Tours; Indian Boxers - Akhil, Jitender, Lakra and Dinesh doing well in the World Championships and the list goes on.

As for Cricket this had started a few years back since the time Ganguly took over the reigns as Indian Captain and is being well complemented by Dhoni now.

I feel the cut throat competition which every Indian faces all through his life is in one way or the other now showing up in Sports too. I was expecting this to happen a few years earlier but better late than never. Gone are the days when India would find excuses for lack of Sports facilties etc, now people are tired of this lament are are finding their own ways to come up in sports. Today young sports persons are more competitive and have what it takes to win. And to Top that Nothing Succeeds like Success which they have recently attained.

Again not only is the importance of sports being recognised but also this has lead to some corporate investments and sponsorships. A few examples of this is the amount of money (which I personally feel is ridculous) in IPL, the rise of a parallel Cricket Academy - ICL and also this is the second year for the Indian owned F1 Team Force India. Today Bollywood Superstar Akshay Kumar too announced that he would sponsor for 6 Wrestlers for their training for the next Olympics. I believe people today are coming forward for the cause of Sports which never happened earlier.

The only ailing sports for India are Hockey and Football. In spite of PHL and so many old and reputed Football Teams and Tournaments, India has still failed to produce any good results in these 2 sports.

But in spite of all this there are individual efforts being made by a few ex-sports persons who are now actively involved in Coaching new and young talents accross India. To name a few - Pullela Gopichand (Saina's mentor), Santhi (remember Doha Games), Venkatesh Prasad, Robin Singh etc and the results are really encouraging.

So in Conclusion, in just one year Indian Sports has moved in to a New Era and I would definitely say: Yes it is "Jai Ho" for Indian Sports and wait and watch there is a lot more to come......