60 Years in 60 Words

All about Indian Sports , last 6 decades

1. P.T. Usha ,
2. Jeev Milkha Singh,
3. Bishen Singh Bedi,
4. Gundappa Vishwanath,
5. Baichung Bhutia,
6. Kapil Dev,
7. Mohinder Amarnath ,
8. Geet Sethi,
9. Pankaj Advani,
10. Sachin Tendulkar,
11. Saurav Ganguly,
12. Anil Kumble,
13. Rahul Dravid,
14. Sandip Patil ,
15. Leander Paes,
16. Mahesh Bhupati,
17. Karnam Malleshwari,
18. Sunil Gavaskar,
19. Prakash Padukone,
20. Viswanathan Anand,
21. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,
22. Vijay Amritraj,
23. Dhanraj Pillay,
24. Pargat Singh,
25. Naryan Kartikeyan,
26. Abhinav Bindra,
27. Anjali Bhagwat,
28. Samresh Jung,
29. Dinko Singh,
30. Hawa Singh,
31. Jyoti Randhawa
32. Arjun Atwal,
33. Limba Ram,
34. Anju Bobby George
35. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar
36. T. C. Yohannan
37. Gagan Ajit Singh
38. Chetan Baboor
39. Saina Nehwal
40. Aparna Popat
41. Pullela Gopichand
42. Sania Mirza
43. Koneru Humpi
44. Dola Banerjee
45. Khazan Singh
46. Pataudi
47. Vijay Hazare
48. Erapalli Anatharao Prasanna
49. Javagal Srinath
50. Dilip Vengsarkar
    
51. Kris Shrikant
52. Kabaddi Team
    
53. Jaspal Rana
54. Mihir Sen
55. K. Kunjarani Devi
56. Saurav Ghoshal
    
57. Khali (WWE :) )
58. All Politicians who head the various Committees
59. Indian Fans specially of cricket
60. Coaches and Trainers

If i missed someone do tell me :)

As commented by saurabh I missed some important players

Azhar
Ramesh Krishnan
Ramanathan Krishnan



To adjust these 3 players we have to strike out the football player and other 2 could be Saina Nehwal and Pargat Singh

Thanks saurabh :)

India 60 60Worlds Independence Sports

Chariots of Fire

Being inactive for such a long time, I thought I would chip in with something hatke, anyway sports is not that exciting anymore (just a transient phase will pass). So a movie review for Chariots of Fire, one of the bestest Sports movie ever is a good way to restart my Pen at PenTheGame.

Think of Chariots of Fire and the first thing which comes to mind is the genius of Vangelis. If you are not able to recollect to the tune go back to the age when DD showed Asian Games or Olympics, that was the music which was always played, still not able to recollect, do a Youtube for the theme and you will get it for sure. Obviously the soundtrack is something which can never be forgotten, but the movie is no less.

It is one of only three sports movie ever to win an Oscar for the Best Picture, the other ones being Rocky & Million Dollar Baby which belong to another genre of Boxing movies. Chariots of Fire tells the story of two young athletes competing at 1924 Paris Olympics, the will to prove something to the world in the backdrop of their individual religious commitments. Eric Liddell stands by his missionary commitments and refuses to run his best event, 100 M as his missionary responsibility forces him not to run the race on Sunday.Being a Christian at heart but with a soul of athlete he competes for 400M event and wins it. As he quotes in the movie,

'But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and be not weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.'

The constant dichotomy involving responsibility towards God and Nation finally comes to an end with success on both fronts. The story of Eric tells us to how to fulfill all responsibilities with commitment and also how faith goes hand in hand with your life.

Harold Abrahams, the second athlete in picture is not just an answer to anti-semitism practised in Europe in those days, he symbolises a young bright individual who jsut did it his own way. Harold's college dash through Trinity College Cambridge is quite in contrast with Eric's religious dash towards understanding God. His victory in 100M filled the void created by absence of Eric and made him an athlete which Britishers admire till date.

Above all the movie as most of the other sports movies tells you to fight, but the narrative can't be as picturesque as this. Theopening shot of the movie which involves runners running on a beach is a classic with Vangelis playing in background. It is one of the most positive movies one will ever see, with quite a feel good vibe flowing along with it. A must watch for all Sports Lovers, Music Lovers, infact or everyone.

Technorati Tags: Chariots of Fire , Sports Movie , Vangelis , Eric Liddell, Harold Abrahams

Sports Mascots

As sporting event has a name, each has its mascot too. Nowadays as Sports events become big time money spinners there is lesser significance of this happy-go-lucky breed in Sports.

Going beyond etymology, where mascots generally are clubbed with Good Luck, they carry much more significance. A mascot can be a symbol to unite the whole country or the world. There genesis is not quite known but it is attributed to American Sporting structure at Universities. Mascots play a symbolic role in keeping up the spirit of the competition.

Seldom in Cricket has a mascot been popular. I remember Madhav Rao Scindia kicking off the 1996 World Cup at Eden Gardens, Calcutta with Googly, the them mascot. This world cup has Mello as the mascot but you see, nowadays it doesn't matter much. What matters more probably is which Cola brand comes with you, or should you let tobacco and liquor brands enter sports?


Mascots are quite popular in American Sports like Basketball and American Football. Here is one of my favourite one from there.

(Charlotte Hornets Mascot - Image Source: www.nba.com)

The most famous mascot in sports history remains Misha. All of us remember a bit of him from our childhood days when he showed up as an animated series on Doordarshan. Also one my cousin's had a Misha stuff toy which she liked quite a lot. Its also quite a part of popular culture. Misha was the mascot for the troubled, much boycotted Moscow Olympics.

(Misha, Mascot for 1980 Moscow Olympics, Image Source: www.wikipedia.org)

Whatever be it, mascots will keep on coming and surely will ensure that they stay in our memories forever.

As Luthra suggested I did a big mishtake in missing out Appu, the mascot for Asiad 1982, which also has a entertainment park Appu Ghar named after him. So updated this post.


Technorati Tags: Misha, Olympics, Sports Mascots