Rishabh Pant’s heroics
Last week, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski sealed his transfer to Barcelona after a long drawn out saga. His time in Munich was marked by a level of output that felt almost mechanical - 344 goals in 375 games with 40+ goals in his past seven seasons. Last year, he broke Gerd Müller’s 49 year-old record for most goals in a single Bundesliga campaign with 41 goals.
And yet, you’d be hard pressed to remember any of these goals. For all that he achieved at Bayern, there are few standout performances that immediately come to mind the way they do for Messi at Barcelona and Ronaldo at Madrid. In the high stakes Champions League games, Lewandowski rarely left a mark.
The numbers have been high but the moments have been lacking. And, ultimately isn’t that what sports is about? Moments that you spend hours talking about with friends. Moments that you pull up on YouTube every few months. Moments that have you frantically tweeting. Moments you’ll never forget.
Rishabh Pant, in contrast to Lewandowski, is the king of moments. Each innings of his feels like an event. Watching Pant is an emotional rollercoaster; you find your gesticulations in front of the TV matching his wild movements at the crease. You will always remember when and where you were when he took on Lyon at the Gabba. When he reverse scooped Anderson for six. When he did the same to Archer. When he hit Willey for five fours and then seemingly intentionally defended the last ball.
While Pant’s batting style certainly adds to the recall value of his innings, it’s the timing of these knocks that further sears them in memory. All five of his Test centuries have come in the last match of the series. His first ODI century that came on Sunday, again followed this trend.
This is a man who thrives with his back against the wall. High stakes, high risk, high reward. The fact that he’s been out five times in the nineties in Tests is the perfect illustration of his mantra.
That anticipation of not knowing what’s coming next when he’s batting is intoxicating. It’s a thrill few batters in the world provide. There’s nothing mechanical about Rishabh Pant. It’s all emotion. It almost wouldn’t be fun if he was doing this in every game. His flaws make him who he is. His flaws make it impossible to keep your eyes off him.
Age is no barrier for these Indian athletes
A fortnight ago, 94 year-old athlete Bhagwani Devi Dagar won a gold medal in the 100m event at the World Masters Athletics Championship in Finland. For good measure, she also picked up a couple of bronze medals in the short put and discus events at this biennial event held for athletes at or above the age of 35.
Now, it should be noted that the 100m race had no other participants aside from Devi. But if anything, this is a testament to her durability. She was the last woman . ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ running. Posting a timing of 24.74 seconds at the age of 94 is worthy of a gold medal.
It’s been a phenomenal year for Dagar, who secured her qualification to these championships by winning three gold medals at the National Masters Championship held in Chennai last month. In the Delhi State Championships in May, she secured another three gold medals, including one in the javelin throw. Watch your back, Neeraj!
Her grandson Rajiv Dagar too has been blessed with her genes. The para-athlete, who holds the Asian record for the 100m sprint and long jump, is a Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee.
But, Bhagwani Devi isn’t the only aged athlete creating waves. At the same Championships in Finland, 81 year-old MJ Jacob won two bronze medals in the 200m and 80m hurdles. In his past life, MJ Jacob was an MLA in the Kerala state assembly. The CPI (M) leader was a university level track and field champion whose athletics career came to a halt when his father’s bullock cart ran over his foot.
His return to the sport took place in interesting circumstances. Freshly elected as an MLA in 2006, Jacob was invited to inaugurate an athletics meet in Ernakulam. The meet rekindled Jacob’s passion for the sport and he even took part in the 100m race that day!
Jacob has participated in four World Masters Championships with his first being in 2015. He still works as a local politician but wakes up at 4am every morning and runs 4 km.
“When you are a politician, you are likely to be invited to some events like weddings almost every day. I try my best to attend all these but I don’t indulge too much when it comes to the delicacies that these places have to offer,” he said in an interview to Indian Express.
A strict diet is a central tenet in 105 year-old sprinter Rambai’s fitness regime too. The Haryana athlete, who ran the 100m race in just 45.40 seconds at the National Open Masters Athletics Championships last month, consumes 250g of ghee and 500g of dahi everyday and swears by her buffalo milk. She runs 3-4km everyday and works in the fields too!
And here you are, whining about leg day at the gym!
Born in 1917, Rambai only took up running at the tender age of 104! At the National Open Masters Athletics Championship, she broke the previously held national record by almost 30seconds in the 100m sprint. The record had been held by 101 year-old Mani Kaur, who ran the 100m in 76s in 2017.
*insert motivational quote about how it’s never too late to follow your dreams*
Person of Interest
On Sunday, PV Sindhu defeated the reigning Asian Games gold medalist Wang Zhi Yi in the final of the Singapore Open to win the first Super 500 event of her career. It was a strange final, with the first two games being complete blowouts before Sindhu prevailed in the 3rd game to win 21-9, 11-21, 21-15.
This was Sindhu’s third title this year, following her wins at the Syed Modi International and Swiss Open. The talent pool wasn’t the strongest in Singapore; Sindhu entered the tournament as the third seed but effectively became the top seeded player following the injury withdrawals of Tai Tzu Ying (1st seed) and Chen Yufei (2nd seed). Tai Tzu Ying of course has been Sindhu’s nemesis, with the Indian shuttler having lost all of her last six matches to her.
Someone said This competition is too easy because the top rankers didn't participate. Yes, they didn't participate. But that doesn't mean Sindhu's win is anything but light, Light to shine It doesn't matter who participates, who doesn't. It is important who won the championship. She trained harder than anyone else and poured her passion into it. Who can despise this win for her like that? You deserve it, sindhu. You are the 2022 champion of the Singapore Open
PV Sindhu’s coach Park Taesang on Instagram
Following her early exits at the Indonesian Open and Malaysian Open in the past month, this win will boost her momentum ahead of the Commonwealth Games at the end of the month and the World Championships that follow it.
“Getting this title means a lot, this would give me a lot of confidence, this will take me to another level,” she said in the on-court interview after the final on Sunday.
Sindhu is only the third Indian to win the Singapore Open, after HS Prannoy in 2017 and Saina Nehwal in 2010.
Direct Hits
Harsha Bhogle turns 61 today! Here’s a clip of him talking about AFS Talyarkhan, the legendary radio broadcaster who inspired the Voice of Cricket to pick up the mic.
In last week’s edition:
Salim Durani tales
The first Indian to play in the Champions League
The para-athlete who is world #1 in TT
Read it here
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