Sports

[By Nigel Crowther] As a professor of classical studies, I’ve noticed some remarkable differences and similarities between the modern and ancient Olympic Games. The medals, the torch relay and events for females didn’t exist in the ancient games, but the four-year cycle and the concept of a major sports spectacle still continue. Yet while both versions have purported to observe ...

Tanju Devi WEST CHAMPARAN, BIHAR : Soni Kumari was part of India women under-14 team that won the Asian Football Confederation Tournament in 2013. Now she is the captain of the Under-14 Indian Football team. The government should take some initiatives to develop such rising stars but unfortunately, the government hasn’t even taken cognizance of the issue, where a young ...

[By Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka] New York (WFS) – The recently-concluded 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup has shown people everywhere what women athletes are all about: skill, strength, unity and determination. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the winners – the team from the United States – and to all others who participated. You are inspiring millions of women and girls ...

[Daniel Hough|The Conversation] Just as one of cricket’s great spectacles, a Lord’s test match between England and Australia, gets underway, the sport in India has faced a day of reckoning. The suspension of two of the eight sides in India’s megabucks Indian Premier League (IPL) following an illegal betting and match-fixing scandal shows that cricket has a corruption problem, and ...

[By Bethany Heinrich] By now, it’s no secret that the women’s USA soccer team is brilliant. Winner of the Women’s World Cup in their victory over Japan last night, these fab women have just proven how valuable they are in regard to professional sports. Unfortunately, however, their value is not being reflected in what they are paid in comparison to men. Surprised? ...

|By Sanjib Guha| Ishant Sharma’s 7-74 somehow reminds me of the English sensation of the 1930s – Harold Larwood. Being one of the finest fast bowlers of his time, Larwood’s career came to a premature end after inventing the style of bowling ‘bodyline’ against Bill Woodfull – Don Bradman’s Australia with resounding success more than 80 years ago. Larwood’s strategy ...

|By Sanjib Guha| The Little Master, in an exclusive interview to NDTV, said, sealing the fact that Maria Sharapova’s ‘who is Sachin Tendulkar’ statement is neither a jibe to the cricket legend nor akin to blasphemy. In India we worship cricketers like God, but that does not hold true for the sport across the globe. If at all, any story that could ...

|By Sanjib Guha| Who is the God of football? In most cases, there would be two answers — Edson Arantes do Nascimento ‘Pele’ and Diego Armando Maradona. But stakes were high for Argentina’s Lionel Messi to join the panel of ‘Gods’ in build-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. What Pele did in 1958 & 1970 or Maradona in 1986 was ...

|By Keith Lyons, The Conversation| After four weeks, we’re finally at the pointy end of the 2014 World Cup. Germany and Argentina meet in the final in the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro this weekend. Germany came into the tournament ranked second in the FIFA rankings, three positions higher than Argentina. And in the world football Elo ratings, Germany was ...

|By Sanjib Guha| There isn’t an iota of doubt that Rahul Dravid is the best man to guide a young Indian batting contingent while touring anywhere on earth. Why only England? He will command respect from all, and players too will get to learn the nitty gritty of batting in swinging conditions, where the ball literally wobbles at times.Who better ...