The Illustrious Sports Week of the World

Fans and non-fans alike were swept off their feet with some sensational sporting events marking this week. There was tennis at its best, our humble sprinters striking Gold, boxing and wrestling rings also rumbling with stupendous knock-outs. However, cricket hogged limelight with the final proving to be as dramatic and thrilling as it could get. Cricket is like king of sports for the nations who follow this Englishman’s summer game. Ironically, soccer is now a much more popular sports for sportsbuffs in England. In contrast to us, British media as well as fans were much more besotted with another iconic event that is Wimbledon. Cricket was relegated to no 3 position in terms of fan following, inspite of the greatest extravaganza that the World Cup is!

It was the longest final played in Wimbledon’s history and a tie-breaker here too, where Novak Djokovik upset the all time favorite Roger Federer. Owing to the recent changes in Wimbledon, both players headed for the third tie-break of the match after winning 12 games each in the fifth set. The last set lasted for a couple of hours and saw both players giving their best for each point. The ladies final was equally awe-inspiring with the legendary Serena Williams bowing out to the Romanian Simona Halep. Definitely, the tables were turned.

There was constant gush of great news trickling in from Hima Das, the Assam ace, who clinched 3rd international gold in last 11 days. The 19 year old is striking gold at the grand prix event. Unfortunately, her mega success, considering the constraints the athletes face in our country, got doused under Cricket mania sweeping the nation right now. Vijender Singh also created some great moments clinching a technical knockout in his debut in the US professional circuit. The 24 year old star wrestler Vinesh Phogat won the gold at the Yasar Dogu International wrestling meet with a commanding 9-5 win over Russia’s Ekaterina Poleschuk in Istanbul on Sunday. This was her second consecutive gold in the 53 kg category, having also won at the Spanish Grand Prix last week.

No mean feats by any of these star sportspersons. It may or may not matter the kind of applause they received. What matters is the tremendous hard work and dedication each sportsperson puts in to reap a gold. The truth is Cricket does strike lot of gold. For us, it’s much more than a sports. It’s a lifestyle and will take few more generations to challenge that!