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Sehwag Episode

IIt was only a simple shoulder injury, after all, a grade 1 tear in medical jargon that the redoubtable Virender Sehwag was suspected to have suffered. Blame it on the IPL, if you like. For the injury was the result of a dive in an IPL T/20 game in South Africa. You could call it an occupational hazard in the life of stressed out cricketers unwillingly to miss any opportunity to make some quick money. Not even the quite recent open heart surgery prime minister Manmohan Singh underwent received the same attention at the hands of the media.

t had transpired that Sehwag, a cricketer who can win a match singlehandedly with his cavalierly batting, had been included in the world cup squad I in spite of the injury in the hope that the shoulder will heal by the

time the world cup matches were played. But that did not happen. In fact, on c l o s e r examination, it was found that the tear was a m o r e s e r i o u s injury - a grade 2 tear, which forced the s t a l w a r t from Delhi to go under a surgeon's knife. Coming to think of it, it was an excellent opportunity for Rohit to cement his place at the top of the order, but the young Mumbai batsman failed to make the most of it.

New Stars

At the Asian Boxing Championships at Zhuhai, China, all eyes were on Vijender Singh, the Beijing Olympics bronze medalist in the 75 kg category. Again, it was a bronze medal that he had to remain content with. But, by all accounts, he deserved a medal of a more precious metal. In the pre-quarterfinal round Vijender scored a sensational 10-points-to-seven victory over the world champion Atoev Abbos of Uzbekistan. In the semi-final bout which he lost he was unlucky to get a warning, and a consequent two-point penalty, which was a doubtful decision.

Be that as it may. Let's hail a new champion in Suronjoy Singh. For India's only gold medalist at Zhuhai, it's only the start of what promises to be a bright future. Like Dingko Singh before him, Suronjoy had his early boxing lessons as a boy in Manipur before he graduated to the national coaching camps. Look out for Suranjoy, as also for Thokchom Nanao Singh, also from same little sporting north-eastern state, where boys take to boxing if they don't make good as footballers. Nanao was one of the silver medalists at Zhuhai, Jitender of Bhiwani being the other.

Boxing Fitness

How times have changed! Decades ago, there was a dhoti-clad yoga guru called Brahmachari who had easy access to the Gandhi family till he was killed in an accidental crash of the plane he was himself piloting. Now, a boxing coach, OP Bhardwaj, is said to have been getting Rahul Gandhi to sweat it out a bit in the gym. The former national coach is said to satisfied with the progress of his famous pupil, once interested in the sport of shooting.

But why, of all persons, a boxing expert to advise Rahul on fitness matters? Nothing better than boxing to make one into a man who can take it on the chin, as they say, and give it back in equal measure. Also, boxing develops stamina, nimble footwork and sharp reflexes. "Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," as the legendary Muhammad Ali used to say of his boxing style. But aren't our netas already doing something similar?


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