Author: knowyoursport

The Himalayan Tigresses

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While Englishmen Stokes and Mills grabbed national headlines for their million dollar deals,somewhere in the Himalayas, a few young girls are training hard without even the basic amenities. The Indian Women’s Ice Hockey Team, mostly comprising of young girls from Ladakh are facing a challenge ahead. Forget excelling in their discipline, even survival is a challenge in a sport which most of us in India do not know exists. With an unsure future and no proper backing, these girls are struggling to even practice. Last year, the team went on to participate for the first time in an international competition in Chinese Taipei for the 2016 IIHF Challenge Cup. Recently, they missed a chance to represent us at the Asian Winter Games due to lack of funds. They are on the brink of missing another big tournament, the 2017 IIHF Challenge Cup to be held in March in Thailand.

Support the Indian Tigresses.

Follow the link to contribute – https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/icehockeypossible

Have RCB cured their Achilles Heel???

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Since 2008, my loyalties might have changed more than a couple times when it comes to various interests 😉 but not for a single time when you talk of the biggest money spinner in cricket. Ever since the first edition of the IPL began in 2008, the one team that got me cheering for them has been RCB. Initially for the likes of Dravid and Kumble and now of course, King Kohli and his brigade. With Abu Nechim playing in their jersey till last year, there was that added Assamese sentiment too 🙂 Their batting has always been their mainstay and the crowdpuller and bowling their Achilles heel. But with some really interesting and calculated signings this year, they hope to find a cure to their Achilles Heel. Tymal Mills is a proven death bowler and it would be really interesting to see Aniket Chaudhary bowl. A left arm tall fast bowler can create awkward angles that can unsettle the best in the world. I personally feel they are a much balanced unit this year. Chahal was anyway their go to bowler last year. But then it has been proven that what looks on paper has never been the same on the field.

My first choice RCB 11 would be the following –

Chris Gayle
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli (C)
AB De Villiers
Shane Watson
Kedar Jadhav (WK)
Stuart Binny
Pawan Negi
Yuzvendra Chahal
Aniket Chaudhary
Thymal Mills

India takes the Penalty !!!

I have fond memories of the 33rd National Games in Guwahati. My city was decorated like a bride. A well maintained traffic system, clean roads and a plethora of sportstars in the city. It was more of an extended celebration for most citizens. And more recently, the first season of the ISL, Guwahati  had never seen something so grand. Be it the football stars or our very own Bollywood heroes, people thronged to the stadium to have a glimpse of them. Even my friends in Delhi have similar memories of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Come 2017, the country is set to experience one of the biggest sporting extravaganza it has ever seen. India is all set to host the 17th edition of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. Let’s put the grand event is numbers –

  1. It started in 1985 as the FIFA Under-16 World Championship in China. Then it became known as FIFA Under-17 World Championship and finally the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

  2. Unlike the FIFA Men World Cup that has been dominated by Europe and South America, it is in fact Africa that has won the most titles so far, Nigeria 5 times and Ghana twice. The last Under 17 World Cup recently concluded in Chile was won by Nigeria too. Saudi Arabia won the title in 1989 and till date remain the only Asian country to do so.

  3. Stars like Cesc Fabregas and Adriano, before being superstars gave heroic performances in the Under-17 World Cup. Adriano and Fabregas won the Golden Shoe Award in 1991 and 2003 respectively.

Ok. Enough said and done, what does it bring to Indian football? Indian National Football Team is amongst the lowest ranked International sides. Seems hard to believe that a country of over 1.3 billion and the fourth most watched national football league in the world has failed to even give any sort of competition in the international arena. No, we do not expect any magic to happen after the Under-17 World Cup, nor do we expect any Ronaldos and Messis from India either. FIFA organises this tournament to boost the future stars, the raw talents. India surely has the enthusiasm for football, there is no doubt about that. The success of the ISL proves that. This World Cup in India will be a success in its truest form if it can inspire the kids to come to the grounds and kick the ball, to believe in themselves that they can be the next Messi or Ronaldo. They need to find football cool, just what Saina did for Badminton, made it TRENDY !!! For Indian Football to grow, the roots must get strong. If it can catapult the passion for football in the kids of this country, I will say, yes, the World Cup served its purpose.

Assam stuns Delhi,another long cherished dream yet to be realized

Today morning like always, I was going through my daily set of newspapers and online news portals when nostalgia struck. As a little boy in school, every morning during Assam’s ‪#‎Ranji‬ Matches, I used to eagerly wait for the newspaper hawker to arrive ( more eagerly than I ever waited for any of my gfs) and only calmed down aftr I went through the last pages of‪#‎TheAssamTribune‬ and checked the overnight score. It was really pleasing to see see Assam’s win over table toppers and 7 time Ranji Champions Delhi capture a lion’s share of the sports pages in national editions of major dailies. Hope the National Selectors are taking notice.
I hope when I sit at Lord’s 2019, I see an assamese donning the national colours send Kane Williamson’s middle stump cartwheeling……. I Hope smile emoticon
Till then, keep cheering for ‪#‎cricket‬
‪#‎AssamVsDelhi‬

India-born Bhamra enters NBA draft

After Canada born Sim Bhullar, who earlier this month made a brief appearance for the Sacremento Kings and in the process became the 1st Indian origin player to play in the NBA, now there is the towering Satnam Singh Bhamra who might also join the league.The 7 ft 1 inch tall hoopster from IMG academy is the 1st India-born player to enter the NBA draft. Satnam has been training in Florida, USA for the last 5 years on an initiative of USA-based IMG Reliance Academy.

Indian Eves Finish 4th in World Chess Championship

A podium finish was well within reach but a few missed opportunities cost them a medal and the Indian girls finished fourth in the women’s world team chess championship. With some brilliant show, Georgia, Russia and China bagged the top 3 positions respectively. However, D. Harika and Koneru Humpy put in fine performances and bagged a silver and a bronze respectively in the individual events.

‘’Flower Power”- Happy B’day Andy

Andy Flower’s name goes synonymous with Zimbabwean Cricket. His batting and wicket-keeping skills were never in doubt, he being the Zimbabwean record holder for most Test and ODI career runs speaks for itself. Much more than that, he was the face of Zimbabwean Cricket.  Zimbabwean cricket is in shambles today but there was this Golden-Era of Zimbabwean Cricket when they had the firepower to tumble any cricketing powerhouse. Andy Flower, together with younger brother Grant was the mainstay of their batting during that era, often compared with the Waugh brothers of Australia. His batting heroics scaled heights during the era and he was considered one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen of all time. However, off the field controversies rocked his career towards the end. He however came back to cricket with a bang being the coach of the England national cricket team and taking them to Ashes glory. From a great batsman to the coach of the World No 1 Test team, he has indeed come a long way….!!!

Happy Birthday Andy…!!!

Introduction

The credit for the birth of ”KnowYourSport” goes to my passion and love for sports. Hello friends, I am Uddipta N. Borah (UD), a PR professional, a crazy sports enthusiast and the founder of KnowYourSport. KnowYourSport is here to cater to the millions of sports lovers around the globe. KnowYourSport pledges to bring to its readers all the sports happenings around the world and interesting sports reads.

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