Day 2 of India-WI test match at the Darren Sammy Cricket Stadium at Gros Islet, St. Lucia, was a mixed bag for India.
“Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha rescued India from what could’ve been an early collapse on day 1 itself. The collapse still did come through, albeit after a marathon 6th wicket partnership of 213 runs between the two batsmen”, observes Vaikundarajan.
The Rio Olympics 2016 opening ceremony was a hit despite continuous protests in Rio. “The highlight of the ceremony was Brazilian pop star, Anitta, who performed with Brazilian music icons Caetano Veloso and Roberto Gil,” says Vaikundarajan.
For the young pop star who grew up in ghettos, performing on a world stage was a dream come true. “The youngster looked confident alongside two greats in music industry. Her performance really pumped up the audience,” adds Vaikundarajan.
The act was a combination of Anitta’s pop sound crossing over with the classical Brazilian sounds of samba and bossa nova that culminated in a taste of Brazilian culture.
Veloso and Gil, who have been friends for over 50 years, have been inspiration to many like Anitta. “To see the trio perform on stage was a treat to the audience,” says Vaikundarajan.
Now that the Olympics 2016 are on the way, all eyes are set on the Indian athletes. Names such as Dipa Karmakar are already creating a lot of buzz. Vaikundarajan expresses his complete faith in our athletes and hopes we will come out stronger than last Olympics games. He sends his best wishes to all the Indian Athletes.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis continued their top form as they beat USA’s McHale and Ostapenko in just 46 minutes. “While Mirza-Hingis impressed us with their game, Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea bowed out as they lost to tenth seeded pair Kontinen-Peers,” informs Vaikundarajan.
Mirza-Hingis entered the quarter finals of Wimbledon tennis tournament after an impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory against their opponent. On another court, Bopanna-Mergea lost 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-8 to be knocked out of men’s double tournament. The match was played for 2 hours and 55 minutes.
Sania Mirza was particularly remarkable with her aggressive first serve points. “She won a staggering 19 out of 28 first serve points and two out of five break points to open the first set at 6-1,” says Vaikundarajan.
Indian football team put up a real show when they defeated Laos 6-1 in the second leg of Asian Cup Qualifier.
Jeje Lalpekhlua has been in the form of his career as he stole the
spotlight once again with a brace against Laos. “He scored 3 goals over
the two legs against the opponents. Team India has a confident striker
in form of Jeje. Every time he steps on to the field, he brings his 100
percent,” says Vaikundarajan.
The
former Pune FC striker spoke about the intense training and hard-work
that paid off in the India’s victory. He also expressed his concern on
losing out on a possible hat-trick in the match and insisted that there
was much room for improvement.
“India’s head coach Stephen
Constantine applauded Jeje and heralded him as a complete striker with a
potential to play in European league. This should boost Jeje’s
confidence and also instill a pride among the team members,” says
Vaikundarajan. Indian goalkeeper, Gurpreet Sandhu, is the only player to
be a part of European league.
Singh and Jeje are making a mark
in the Indian football and certainly turning heads in Europe. It would
not be surprising to see Jeje follow Singh into European football. Vaikundarajan hopes for more victories and trophies of Indian football team in the near future.
With the IPL behind us, all eyes seem set on India’s tennis stars Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna who have stormed into the quarter finals (with their respective partners) of French Open 2016. Unfortunately, the duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis has been knocked out of women’s double tournament.
“Leander Paes and Matkowski beat fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares with 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) on the board. On another turf, Bopanna and his partner Florin Mergea dominated the game with 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-1 against Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell,” informs Vaikundarajan. “The 42-year-old Indian tennis maestro and his partner will face the former American world No 1 duo, Mike and Bob Bryan, in the last-eight stage of the men’s doubles.”
