VOL. 25 :: NO. 42 :: Oct. 19 - 25, 2002
LETTERS
A pair of winners
Sir, - Venus and Serena cannot help it if the matches played between them are not found to be 'exciting' by some spectators ("Fear and envy of Sister Act," The Sportstar, September 21).
Similarly, if, unlike other siblings, the Williams sisters insist that playing each other is not a problem, then there is nothing abnormal in it. After all, they have played each other since childhood. In fact, it only shows the great rapport they share as sisters, and it also reflects upon the role their parents have played in grooming them.
The fact remains that they have made it to the top two in the world of women tennis by virtue of their skills and abilities. That they have won seven out of the 10 Grand Slam events in the recent past, is a proof of this. Frankly speaking, to the millions of fans of Williams sisters, like me, it doesn't really matter who among the two finally gets the trophy because the winner is, undoubtedly, the better of the two, at that point of time.
MUKESH MOHAN SINHA,
NAVI MUMBAI
Overseas blues
Sir, - India's performance Down Under in the Davis Cup World group qualifying match against Australia was well below par. Mahesh Bhupathi expressed his inability to play by quoting injury problems. Leander Paes was offcolour. Tennis is an individual game where performance is the name of the game. Somehow Indian superstars take things very lightly and like Indian cricketers, the performance on an overseas tour is simply pathetic.
C. K. SUBRAMANIAM,
VASHI
Informative
Sir, - I would like to convey my deep gratitude to your esteemed magazine for the informative article on the Russia vs Rest of the World Chess tournament (October 5 issue).
Hats off to Rest of the World for defeating the Super Power Russia. It indeed marks one of the greatest surprise in the history of chess. The failure of top Russian players was certainly the highlight of the match. I was also highly impressed by the victory of Judit Polgar over Garry Kasparov. It overshadowed her overall poor performance.
ABHIJEET MORE,
NASHIK
Rain God the winner
Sir, - This is to congratulate the Indian cricket team for sharing the ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka. Cricket is a game where the winner is not easy to predict halfway through. But, at last, the winner was the rain god much to the despair of Indian cricket fans.
Cricket is a game which is played by gentlemen and gentlemen only. But Russel Arnold's body language in the finals (replayed) did not show he is a mature cricketer. Yes, Sourav was aggressive for he had a point against Arnold. Thanks to the intervention by the umpire David Shepherd there was no harm to the game. The Indian team had to work twice to have a hold on one side of the trophy which could well have been theirs had rain not intervened on both days.
P. KANNAN,
SRIVILLIPUTHUR (TN)
Let Sachin open
Sir, - The gem of Indian cricket, the scourge of all the bowlers, Sachin Tendulkar was not sent to open the innings in the recent one-dayers. Instead he was sent in at No. 4.
We know that the Indian team depends a lot on him and yet the team management has been shuffling his position constantly in the recent past.
Should the management not allot a specific place for the master so that he scores constantly?
YOGESHWAR MISHRA,
KOLKATA