I know the Olympics just ended. But I am not going to talk about it, because India was, like 50th in the medal tally. Did you know no Indian had ever won an individual gold medal before, until this Olympics. If you said "Indians suck at sports", I would say you are being too polite.
So we prefer to celebrate the wins we do get, like this one from The Hindu:
India, which crushed Russia 3.5-0.5 in the second round but almost lost its way in the second half of the 10-round competition, caught up with the top seed at 28.5 points and took the honours due to superior tie-break score.
What is particularly thrilling to us is we at AdventNet had a small hand in it. About a year ago, the Hindu carried an article that said a gifted chess player in our state was looking for help acquiring a laptop, so he could polish his game. We gifted him one. He is one of the players in the team that won the World Youth Chess Olympiad. Congratulations, Priyadarshan, you make us proud!
I want to emphasize that our role in this is small and incidental, but we are really happy it made a difference. There is plenty of talent where he comes from. One of the most satisfying things we do at AdventNet is to help surface such talent - in the field of software. But there is a lot more than software talent in India, that is waiting to be discovered.
[...] public links >> title How To Become Champion Of The Naaru Saved by pleslie58 on Fri 31-10-2008 India retains World Youth Chess Olympiad title Saved by nacrofago on Thu 30-10-2008 Field Hockey team looks to defend A-10 title Saved by Narsil [...]
[...] public links >> title How To Become Champion Of The Naaru Saved by pleslie58 on Fri 31-10-2008 India retains World Youth Chess Olympiad title Saved by nacrofago on Thu 30-10-2008 Field Hockey team looks to defend A-10 title Saved by Narsil [...]
Congrats to Priyadarshan !and Good support from your corporate !Jus' came across, J.Mohanapriya, who needs financial assistance for the participation of World Youth Chess Championship (Vietnam-2008), and further coaching assistances ...More details @ http://idlyvadai.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_6167.html" rel="nofollow">http://idlyvadai.blogspot.com/...
Congrats to Priyadarshan !and Good support from your corporate !Jus' came across, J.Mohanapriya, who needs financial assistance for the participation of World Youth Chess Championship (Vietnam-2008), and further coaching assistances ...More details @ http://idlyvadai.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_6167.html" rel="nofollow">http://idlyvadai.blogspot.com/...
Congratulations! And let me just humbly add an area where Hungarians hold the world record :-)
Congratulations! And let me just humbly add an area where Hungarians hold the world record :-)
True, very true Sridhar.
True, very true Sridhar.
Jeevan, One visit to any of our cities should tell you why: due to excellent "planning" for decades, we have zero space for any kind of sporting activity. How many swimming pools are there in all of India? How many gyms? How many basketball courts? Yet, just get 20 km out of any major city, and see how much land is there, land that cannot be developed easily because there are no access roads of any kind. The countryside, which has the land remains "dirt poor", because of such lack of access. People who jump and say "Other poor countries ..." should realize that economic development has made this situation significantly worse in India compared to what it was when the economy was, well, a lot less developed. 20 years ago, a city like Bangalore or Chennai actually had an occasional bit of open space. Economic development + zero urban planning = zero sporting facilities.Sridhar
Jeevan, One visit to any of our cities should tell you why: due to excellent "planning" for decades, we have zero space for any kind of sporting activity. How many swimming pools are there in all of India? How many gyms? How many basketball courts? Yet, just get 20 km out of any major city, and see how much land is there, land that cannot be developed easily because there are no access roads of any kind. The countryside, which has the land remains "dirt poor", because of such lack of access. People who jump and say "Other poor countries ..." should realize that economic development has made this situation significantly worse in India compared to what it was when the economy was, well, a lot less developed. 20 years ago, a city like Bangalore or Chennai actually had an occasional bit of open space. Economic development + zero urban planning = zero sporting facilities.Sridhar
I think we this time did far better than previous times
If chess and cricket were in olympics, we could had made out 2 more silver + medals
I think we this time did far better than previous times
If chess and cricket were in olympics, we could had made out 2 more silver + medals
Congratulations to Priyadarshan on his victory. I hope he does not have to move to another country (Like Vishy had to move to Spain) as our country could not afford!And Sridhar, let us welcome our heroes who could make it. I understand you are hurt (and so am I and many others), but then, we are not known to be a nation who respect our sporting heroes - only exception being Cricket or Tennis where glamor, money, and hype (stealth combination) is highly involved.Chess has not been part of this Olympics at Beijing. I guess it will take a long time: http://www.time.com/time/world....What are your thoughts on India doing so badly at Olympics or for that matter really performing well in any other sport?
Congratulations to Priyadarshan on his victory. I hope he does not have to move to another country (Like Vishy had to move to Spain) as our country could not afford!And Sridhar, let us welcome our heroes who could make it. I understand you are hurt (and so am I and many others), but then, we are not known to be a nation who respect our sporting heroes - only exception being Cricket or Tennis where glamor, money, and hype (stealth combination) is highly involved.Chess has not been part of this Olympics at Beijing. I guess it will take a long time: http://www.time.com/time/world....What are your thoughts on India doing so badly at Olympics or for that matter really performing well in any other sport?