Thank You London!

Slow Star & Ending with a Bang

London Olympics 2012 - that started off slowly and smoothly - reached a crescendo with the athletics event and finally finished with a bang yesterday. As an Indian, this was the first time I was looking forward to Olympics - primarily because of the various Indian Olympic Medal prospects  - Deepika Kumari, Saina, Abhinav, Gagan, Paes + Sania, Sushil, Virender. I was convinced of the Indian support for the team at Olympics and also of the potential of the Olympic Participants. And they did not disappoint my faith in them. 

Unexpected Delights

Among the qualified players for London Summer Olympics, some of them fell short of their potential on the 'D' Day and some of them brought their best performance to the table. But my biggest delight was seeing the unknown/unheard/unexpected like Gowda & Krishna Poonia qualifying for an Athletic finals (6th and 7th Indians to do so), Kashyap qualifying for Q/Fs, Yogeshwar Dutt's bronze, etc.  Thank you all the Indian players, for making us proud in the last two weeks. 

Thousands of Stories

If somebody writes an account of Indian performance in London Olympics 2012, there are many stories to say

• Sania falling against the Chinese Hurdle
• 2 Indians Qualifying for London Athletic Finals
• Expected Medals in Boxing, Shooting & Wrestling
• After all the fighting and squabbling on the press, tennis players having the expected poor performance. 
• Mary Kom wining her deserved medal and fame in India
• Yogeshwar Dutt ensuring that his name is not forgotten in Wrestling History
• Sushil Kumar establishing himself as India's premier sports player
• & many more. 

And I am thankful & happy for all of them. 

Thank You OCQ & MCT

But the biggest thanks should go to organizations like Olympic Gold Quest and Mittal Champions Trust. And I am sure that the team is thrilled to see their efforts in the last few years bearing fruit Hope these organizations (or similar organizations) don't lose sight - because of India's best ever Olympic Performance and Continue to find ways to support new & upcoming Indian athletes. 

Challenge 2016

But the biggest challenge for the Rio Olympics 2016 is whether a new set of athletes - who are inspired and buoyed by these 6 medals  - will go and win 6 gold medals for India. Hope 1.2 Billion Indians receive their deserved haul of gold medals in Rio Olympics 2016.  

Bye & Thank You London! Here we come Rio!

P.S: Seeing the Olympics also reminded me of my beautiful trip to London - a year earlier. 

Gold Finally!!!

An Olympic Gold after a longggggggggggg gap of 28 years... That too in an individual event.. Yahoo!!! Something that India has never achieved in its history.. Yipee... This was my initial reaction when the news was shared by one of my office colleagues..

But with the excitement, there was also a feeling of relief... A relief that the future sportsperson of India would not have to carry the burden of history... A relief that Indians have the ability to win gold in the Olympics... A relief that Indians could compete with the best and still win... Way to Go! Bindra....

Thankfully this historic event has brought me out of the blogging slumber... Hope I don't go back to my slumber again...

What a Match! What a Match!

I am sure everybody, who witnessed the match between Federer and Nadal, would have left with the same words... Especially for someone from the ipod generation, who never got the chance to witness those great matches involving great players like Boris Becker, this match would be the greatest he has ever seen.

Though Nadal may have won, he is still not the champion. For that to happen, he has to win 4 more Wimbledons. Until then, he would remain only as a great challenger. But for me personally, Federer would always remain the champion. Every champion needs a setback to show his real greatnes.. Federer has finally got one. Now it is time that he shows his class and imprints his name in the history books as the greatest tennis player to have graced this earth.