Project Rainbow

There are hardly any sports books from India that one can read barring a few from cricket. This book particularly interested me as the topic was about professional cycling a sport that is catching up now in India and the fact that there was a book about how British cycling has reached such a dominant spot in the world made it more appealing to read.

Ideally this book is a worth while read for any sports manager or administrator as it highlights the process that British Cycling used to build such impregnable top class team across all formats of professional cycling be it the team pursuits, track cycling or even road races.

The author himself is a professional cyclist and is about this journey as a coach and what it takes to spot, build and nurture world beating team. The importance of discipline in training is some thing the author keeps stressing upon with various examples and outcomes.

The dominance of the a British cycling ever since this program was put in place is evident from the results that British cyclists have won in the various world championship and Olympics starting form the Sydney Olympics of 2000. The Grass root level talent spotting program has yielded some of the biggest names in the cycling world from team Great Britain. A good amount of information on how British Cycling became a professional unit, the races strategies used are the highlights in the book.

The likes of Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome who are and were the biggest stars in the cycling world and their journey across the major cycling events be the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia etc etc and the work ethics of team Sky make it a worth while read for any sports affectionado.

From Average Runner to Legend of Ultra Marathons

First book of 2018 and what better than reading about Ultra Marathon legend Scott Jurek.

Strength does not done from physical capacity but comes from an indomitable will ~ Gandhi

Doesn't matter if you are a 5k runner or a want to be Ultra Marathoner this book is a must read. Scot talks about his unlikely journey from being a weekend skiing enthusiast to Ultra Marathon legend. He has included lots of tips on running form and the various plant based diets that he experimented with to help him perform and recover better after each run.

Long distance running is an extremely lonely sport and what drives professionals and amateur athletes to run such long distances ranging from 50 Kms to, 250 kms is something one should experience.

The book has lot of details of some of Scot's most famous races including the deadly Badwater ultra, the run with the Tarahumara Indians in the Copper Canyons, the Western States 100 Mile race, The Hardrock Ultra, UTMB France and the Spartathlon in Greece.

A must read book from one of the sages of long distance running.

The Men in Blue .....

From plain white coloured pants and buttoned shirts to honour the Gentlemen's game to the designer sports wear from the biggest sports apparel manufacturers of the world, this has been the journey of the dress that our Indian cricket team wears on the field.  Ever since the advent of the white ball and day night cricket it is always the colour of the jersey worn by cricketers that spectators from around the worl have got used to identify their favorite teams and players . While it was traditionally yellow for the Aussies, it was always green for Pakistan, black for the Kiwis, Maroon for the Windies and for some reason the Indian team got used to be called the Men in Blue. 

My earliest memory of the Men in Blue was from the 1985 Benson and Hedges trophy in Australia, I vividly recall a tall and lanky Ravi Shastri in his light blue T shirt and blue pants opening the innings and winning the coveted champion of champions title and an Audi car. Over the next few years the light blue was the standard jersey colour until it changed in the 1992 world cup when the team started using the dark blue  jersey , I found it strange that this T shirt also had a red and green strip on it , not really sure of the significance of these two colours. It is quite normal to have the colours of the flag of the country but this combination all though it looked good didnt have any significant reason for it to be present on the T shirt. Over the next few years as the sponsors of Team India changed so did the design of the Tshirt, from simple collared Tees to Tees with buttoned collars to open collared Tees.

The Tri colour was now common on almost all designs after the 1999 world cup which probably was the last Tee with a light blue and yellow combination.As the years passed with improvement in fabric the Tees were now made from the latest synthetic materials which we now call as the Dry Fit Tees.The last couple of years has seen a completely new shade of blue which is quite different from the light and dark blues that have been tried earlier and I find this most appealing, thanks to the efforts of the various hi profile designers who have worked with BCCI to make this not only eye catching but also very trendy. The tri colour also been juxtaposed well with the team name and logo of BCCI. 

It wouldnt be unfair to say that just as the design of the Tees have evolved so has the fortunes of the Indian cricket team over the last 2-3 decades. 

A genius called George....

Maradona Good...Pele Better....but George Best

For most kids of the 70s and 80s growing up watching football our heroes were the two Latino giants, Pele and Maradona and I was no different. It was only a few years back that I accidentally while changing channels on TV came across this program on a player named George Best. It was for about half an hour and the documentary was about the life what they described as probably the greatest footballer ever and that made me curious to start reading and watching videos about George Best and over a the next few weeks I was also of the same opinion that George was easily one of the best the football world ever saw.

Best was an Irish Born footballer who played professional football for Northern Ireland and made his debut for Manchester United at the age of 17. It is said that the a talent scout when he spotted George at the young age of 15 immediately sent a telegram to the Manchester United coach Matt Busby saying " I think I've found you a genius " and he was right. Pele called him the greatest player in the world. Maradona said that both of them were very much alike when it came to creating magic on the field. Much before the Ronaldos and the Beckhams , George was the first superstar in the world of football.

His remarkable ball control and dribbling skills left the opposition spell bound.When he turned up to play for Manchester United the entire stadium would be on their feet chanting the name of George. Best was also part of the United Trinity at Old Trafford comprising of George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton. The same United trinity who helped ManU win the first European cup in the year 1968. A statue of the three has been erected outside the Old Trafford to honour them.

George had everything going for him at such an young age he had fame , money and anything else that he wanted. Women and fast cars were now his constant companions of the field. Addicted to drinking almost everyday , the high life of work hard party hard had now started to take a toll on this phenomenally talented youngster from Belfast. George could neither give up football nor the late night drinking and partying.The long hair like the hippies, the side burns made women droll over him and at some stage George was as popular as any of the Rockstars of those days the Beatles or the Rolling Stone. His prime came at a time when youngsters were still hoping to play for their country or a club like ManU and his decline also came at time when other youngsters in the club were hitting their prime. Unable to manage all this and work with the new players who came into the team George quit ManU at a age of 27 , he did play for 10 more years after that but was never the Best again. Success had become his biggest enemy , the same success that he could not handle had let him down.

Alcoholism took over his life and eventually he died due to liver complications in the year 2005.His life was glorious and his end was tragic. His final words from his hospital bed were:"Don't die like me." George will not be remembered for how he walked into oblivion and died but will be remembered for the way he played this beautiful game , at a time when football players were treated like any other players George attained the status of Football's first Superstar.

What ails Indian Football

The headlines read that twiterratti celebrates Indian football teams FIFA ranking reaching a 21 year high of being in the top 100 among all FIFA nations. Something to cheer about? Yes, considering that at one point we were ranked somewhere below 130 and many times lower than countries which many of us wouldn't have even heard of.

What ails Indian football, why is that we are so lowly ranked in the world. We have some of the largest fan bases in the world. The English Premier League or the Bundesliga or the Copa America has probably more crazy fans in India than in their own home counties. I can see almost every pub or lounge bar on the weekend playing live matches of the EPL with crowds of youngsters throwing comments and strategies on what Paul Pogba should do next or why Vincent Kompany is the best Manchester City has had in a long while or why Jose Mourinho can never become the next Sir Alex Fergusson. The same exuberance is displayed once in four years when the FIFA world cup is held. All though India would have failed to qualify to the finals much before the elimination round the interest shown by Indian football fans in tracking the performances of other teams is simply amazing.

After all this one would certainly expect a country with such a vibrant football support base to be atleast highly ranked in Asia but is not the case. To add to it the Indian soccer league between teams named after regions and cities of India has bought a lot of interest to the game. But a point is what is that ails Indian football while we can claim glory in cricket even though not many countries play cricket as compared to football and we are quite successful when it comes to hockey why is our performance is below par in football. The answer could lie in the fact that how many of us actually play football, how many of us would encourage our children to take up this game on serious level. Professional football is a muscular sport requiring extreme levels of training and fitness coupled with a disciplined training regime, do we have enough staff to coach the new generation of players. Baring a few States like Kerala, Goa, West Bengal and North East India most of the other states hardly have any talent to showcase.

Probably the answer to the question 'What ails Indian Football?' is we just don't need a few players from handful of states to play the game, the game will grow when all of us get out of the house onto the field and start playing it in our own little way and not just watch it on television.

Book Review - Out of my Comfort Zone

Steve 'Tugga' Waugh or Iceman Steve as he was popularly known never had the talent of a Tendulkar or the Charisma of Shane Warne nor was he intimidating on the field like McGrath nor was he as flamboyant as Jayasuriya but if you look into what he has achieved in his nearly 20 years of cricket you will easily acknowledge Steve as one of the greatest to have played the game, his sheer grit, discipline and never say die attitude is something cricket fans will speak for generations. This book is quite detailed I would say really detailed and is spread over 700 pages but still worth a look for anybody having interest not only in cricket but in general about sports leadership and management.

The initial parts of the book is from Steve’s younger days in school and local school cricket which I was not very interested in, the interesting part starts from his journey into the Australian team lead by Alan Border , his initial failures and successes , rapport he shared with some of his senior team mates from New South Wales and how they helped him gel into the national team , various anecdotes from his cricketing tours in the Subcontinent , the Ashes and the West Indies make it interesting to read.

I can only imagine what it means to win the Ashes for the Aussies or the English only after reading this book, the intensity in which the Ashes are played seem to be much more than a typical India VS Pakistan match. Many epic test matches and incidents over the 80S , 90s and 00S take you back down memory lane, most notable amongst them are the 1986 Chennai test against India which ended in a tie, the 1995 Trinidad and Tobago test against the windies and the famous face off he had with Ambrose, the Eden Gardens test against India which saw the heroic innings from VVS and Dravid, the 2003 Adelaide test which again saw VVS and Dravid get the better of the Aussies and the infamous incident involving McGrath and Sarwan.

Steve has also shared some memorable moments in the book, insights into Australian Cricket culture, the loneliness of being a captain, the highs and lows associated with the success and failures of your team, winning the prestigious Laureus award , playing the Ashes, the Frank Worrell Trophy ( version of Ashes aginst the Windies), his association with Udayan a NGO based out of Kolkatta and his love for India ( initially it was love to hate ), his first meeting with Mother Teresa , the bribing and match fixing controversies that rocked the cricketing world which involved senior layers from India, Pakistan , Australia and South Africa. The resurrection of Australian cricket under John Buchanan and Waugh himself is something worth going through, it offers lots of life lessons, be it on team play, strategy, planning fitness and discipline something that the previous generation of Aussie cricketers had not taken very seriously.

Some nice little superstitions which cricketers follow, Steve himself had this red handkerchief which he always carried with him while playing right from the days he started playing for Australia in mid 80s till the day he retired, he was so particular about it that in one of Ashes tour in England he had forgotten it back home and was going through a rough patch on the field, he immediately asked for this hankie to be couriered to him to England.

Steve hasn’t been very generous in his praise about other cricketers especially non Australians but the few that he has praised include our own Maestro Sachin ( for his talent and cricketing mind) , Dravid for his professionalism and perseverance( btw the foreword to this book has been written by Dravid and both of them have huge respect for each other ), Sehwag for his dare devil style of playing , Wasim Akram for his sheer bowling ability, Hansie Cronje, Ambrose, Walsh, Alan Donald ,Waqar, Imran, Muralidaharan and Lara .

BTW a quick fact Waugh made his test debut against India and also played his last test against India maybe that’s why his special love for India.

If you want to know the life story of an inspiring sportsman and what it takes to become one, do read this book.

Book Review - Tigers of the Snow

Anybody interested in the history of mountaineering in the Himalayas should read this book, the author Jonathan Neale has done lot of ground research, conducted interviews with former climbers mostly from Europe and off course last but not the least the Sherpas. The book is written to present to the readers an unbiased account of what happened in the early years of climbing the various peaks in the Himalayan range between the 1920s and 50s. There is enough literature which have written about the experiences of the climbers from Europe and America but nothing has been written from the perspective of the Sherpas who are the most important people in any expedition. The book attempts to give the Sherpas also called as the “Tigers of the Snow”their due share of credit which has mostly been eluding them for a long time.

The early part of the 1920s saw many expeditions led by various European nations all of them trying to conquer the big peaks in the Himalayan range which were mainly the Everest , K2, Kanchenjunga, Annapurna and Nanga Parbhat. A good amount of information of the Sherpas ( Tibetans who migrated into Nepal and India) and their life style and what made them the people of choice to assist and ferry goods in expeditions are given in details. Most of the expeditions preferred these mountain men as they were physically suited to this altitude more than the others, their strength and Iron will to survive in high altitudes was something that made them the first choice compared to any other clans who were also ready to do the job of a porter (ferrying goods from camp to camp along the mountain). Needless to say in spite of their huge contribution to the expedition they were still treated like second grade citizens, the Europeans particularly the Germans and the Brits. Things however started to change somewhere in the mid 30s after a series of setback to many expeditions most important among them was the expeditions to Nanga Parbat ( the naked mountain , the ninth highest peak in the world and considered more deadly to climb then the Everest) .

The Germans after many attempts to scale Nanga Parbat planned another one in 1934 with almost 20 Sherpas as part of the troop , things looked comfortable but as the days progressed the captain of the troop realized there were running out of time and money , there was tremendous pressure way back at home with Adolf Hitler personally monitoring the progress of this expedition, there was some sort of political rivalry between the British and Germans in who would scale the peaks in the Himalayas first and make their country proud, in this whole rush a series of fatal mistake by the captain led to death of all but three from the troop of about 30 people which included German climbers supported by the Sherpas.

Similar setbacks happened in the expeditions to K2, Kanchenjunga and Everest leaving the Sherpa community with not just loss of lives but also confidence and the fact they were not treated as equals when it came to sharing equipment, sharing tents and compensation for the job done added insult to the injury. Things slowly started to change for the good with the Sherpas taking more control of the happenings during the expedition, they were more proactive in giving warning signs, setting up tents and handling the Logistics during the climb. Initially this probably led to lot of friction especially amongst some of the European climbers but it slowly started to change and quite of few of them started getting the recognition they deserved.

A good amount of details about high altitude, the need for acclimatization, the finer details and technicalities of mountaineering, frostbites and its dangers and avalanches are covered and make you nervous about how these people did what they did about 80-90 years back, numerous lives were lost because of high altitude sickness, frostbites but that never stopped people from trying again year after year until the summit was finally conquered.

Surprisingly all major peaks were conquered between 1953-1956 including the most feared of them the Nanga Parbat and the mighty Everest .A good amount of information that went into the conquest of Everest in the 1953 is given, the planning that went into it, the thought process of the captain of the expedition John Hunt and his strategy for the final assault are worth knowing, as per plan the captain had made two teams the first was of two Englishmen and the second was as Edmund Hillary the New Zealander and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay , Hunt being an Englishman wanted someone from England to reach the summit first and make this event coincide with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth which was to happen in the coming week but somehow due to bad weather they couldn’t carry on and the chance to ascent was now given to Hillary and Tenzing.

Finally On that event full day of May 29th 1953 the two men scaled the mighty Everest and stood and could see into Tibet, they shook hands, Tenzing hugged Hillary and they patted each other. The mighty Everest had taken many lives but was finally conquered, both of them took pictures with their Ice Axes and flags of Britain, Nepal, India and the United Nations. When they came down everybody asked which of the two men on the rope had first got to the Summit, Tenzing and Hillary agreed between them not to answer this question, It dint matter , they said, they had done it together and the fact remains that Hillary wouldn’t be there without Tenzing and Tenzing wouldn't be there without Hillary.

Book Review - What I Talk about when I talk about Running

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer in both fiction and non fiction categories, quite popular in the literary circles, his books have been translated to more than 40 languages and have won numerous awards. Murakami also happens to be an enthusiastic leisure long distance runner and Triathlete and this book is all about his memoirs as a runner and triathlete.

I had heard a lot about Murakami and about this book, may be my expectations were too high and I expected to read more about running techniques, form etc etc in this book, never the less I think overall it is an above average book.

The author has written the book like a memoir, he talks a lot about importance of being fit and how he used running to get in shape. Being an author needed him to think a lot and maintain his creative thoughts flowing and to relax and let go the tension he started running long distances. He has given enough advice to runners on importance of training and building stamina and strength to avoid injuries. His own span of long distance running for more than 25 years has taught him many important life lessons the most important of them being discipline, focus and hard work.

Marukami stresses a on training, building muscle memory and most importantly listening to your body and then talking a call if you need to push or stop. His experience as an Ultra Marathon in an event in Japan exposes some of his beliefs that he had before the race and shows how ultra marathons can be such a humbling experience.

The author shares his experience of training and running in the big marathons of the world including the New York City Marathon and the prestigious Boston Marathon and his transformation to a Tri athlete.

The best sentence I liked in the book read as follows
“ If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I would never run again “

A quick read if you are at an airport in transit or taking a short flight, not something you can add to your collection but if someone gifts it to you certainly read it once even if you are not a runner.

Book Review - The way of the Runner

A completely new subject - Book on Japanese Running.......

The two countries that most of us know about when it comes to long distance are Kenya and Ethiopia, however very few of us know that Japan is also a very serious and seasoned competitor in the world of long distance running having had 5 Boston Marathon winners till date and many more top level finishes in major races around the world. Japanese and their obsession with distance running is something unknown to a large part of the leisure running community

Author Adharanand Finn an Englishman who is also a very serious leisure runner has written this very engaging book about this journey and stay in Japan to find out what has made this sport so popular in Japan. Finn after having spent time with the elite Kenyan runners now shifts base with family to Japan and in his year long stay meets various stake holders in the Japanese running community.

Running took center stage in Japan mostly after the world war, running was used more as a community building exercise in those difficult times and since then has been becoming popular year after year, the most popular events are the Ekiden ( running relays as they call it ) where teams of anywhere from 5-12 members run over distances from 21 kms - 220 kms sometimes Ekidens last for more than a couple of days.

Ekidens are held at various levels right from the shcool level to corporate championships. In such a scenario it is quite natural that the pool of runners is going to be huge and unlike
other countries like the US or UK running and being part of a top corporate Ekiden team is not a bad idea to make a career and living out of running.

It is no surprise that the timings of many of the top university level runners in Ekiden is on par with some of the best professional runners in the west off course nothing compared to the east African runners. The level of intensity and popularity with which people compete, watch and cheer the top Ekiden runners speaks volumes about how ingrained running is in their culture( Many Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes also are recruited to be a part of Japanaese Ekiden corporate teams). The most popular Ekiden, Hakone Ekiden is to Japan as what Super Bowl is to America or FA cup is to Europe.

That brings the author to a question, why is that in spite of such intense competition and such a large pool of talented athletes, why arent they able to beat the Kenyans, many reasons have been attributed to this which include training.

Japanese believe in this core philosophy in life that if you need to achieve something you have to work hard and the same is used in the field of long distance running, they focus more on covering long mileages very week, running on asphalt roads unlike the Kenyans whose training is more tactical and in the trails on soft mud. This strategy of the Japanese has often lead to runners getting injured at a very young age and hence not reaching their true potential, coaches in Japan focus on discipline to such a large extent that they rarely tell the runners that they should also enjoy what they are doing unlike the Kenyan training atmosphere which is much more fun and relaxed.

As it is the Japanese are known for hard work and putting in long hours at office, the same culture seems to have been carried to the running field also where focus is to always train hard and run long something that the east African runners cannot relate to when they come to Japan and train with the Japanese for the Ekiden runs.

In japan sports is not just about winning but it about using sport to unify body with the soul and that is why they take running so seriously , and Ekiden running is not about an individual running but the team running in harmony, Finn also runs a few Ekidens during his stay in Japan and has very nicely detailed out what it takes to run in an Ekiden. Finn also meets the Marathon Monks also known as the Daigyoman Ajira who is pursuit of spiritual enlightenment run a thousand marathons in thosuand days, they use the time when running in these long distances to reflect upon life and its purpose to attain spiritual mastery.

The pinnacle of success for runners in Japan is winning the Ekiden and that is why so many of them take up to running, even an Olympic qualifying or win cannot replace the thrill that these runners get when they win the biggest Ekiden run in the country which is the Hakone Ekiden. For a Japanese runners who is part of an Ekiden it is not just another team and a run, it is all about Bushido( loyalty , courage and honour) that is how seriously they take this event and competitive running in general.

Finn also writes about his interaction with the country's biggest running star at the moment ,Yuki Kawauchi and his philosophy in life, Yuki has resisted the temptation of joining a Ekiden team to avoid the pressure of performance, instead Yuki who has a regular day job trains on his own and run about 10-12 marathons in a year, in fact a couple of years back he finished 6 marathons under 2 hrs:12 mins time. After having finished 14th in the Tokyo marathon ,Yuki shaves his head as as mark of punishment on himself for faring so badly on home ground, such is the commitment and insanity with which some of these athletes in Japan train .Finn gives another example of a Japanese marathoner Kōkichi Tsuburaya who finished 3rd in the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 and the fact that he let his home crowd down he then takes a vow to get gold in the 1968 Olympics , unfortunately due to some health issues he cannot take part in the games of 1968, unable to bear the ignominy he kills himself and a day later his body is found with the bronze medal in hand.

A lot of research has been done to see why the Japanese have not yet beaten the Kenyans and many reasons have been attributed to it the most important being the training regime itself somethings which is also endorsed by the legendary long distance running coach and Boston Marathon winner Alberto Salazar of the Oregon Project.

A good engaging book, with a decent dose of humour and at the same time you get a glimpse of Japan's obsession with long distance running.