FIFA U-17 World Cup: Indian football's date with glory

The FIFA under-17 World Cup is the first of numerous great things that are inevitably bound to happen to Indian football.

To read more check out my article in The Times of India..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/FIFA-U-17-World-Cup-Indian-footballs-date-with-glory/articleshow/31676477.cms?

Shiva Keshavan - The Lone Ranger Indeed..

Five-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan, who is the first Indian to compete in luge at the Winter Olympic Games, said that India as a country needs to be more ambitious than being obsessed with cricket.

In an interaction that I had with him on the social media site Twitter, Shiva using his Twitter handle @100thofasec replied "we need to be more ambitious :)" when he was asked about his thoughts on the fact that India is obsessed with cricket.

Luger Keshavan, who finished 37th at the recently concluded Sochi Winter Olympics, said that more opportunities need to be given to youngsters with respect to competing in other sports.

He tweeted: "giving attention to cricket is ok but we need to increase the number of sports to give more opportunities to youngsters" when he was asked whether he feels that Indians pay cricket too much attention.

Keshavan has represented India at five Winter Olympic Games and feels content at just having the opportunity to represent the country at the highest level.

When he was asked "Do you feel bad that you don't get as much respect and acclaim as much as you deserve?" the Manali-born athlete replied: "No I am already quite happy just to be able to compete for India."

Being able to represent India has always been Keshavan's utmost priority and the Indian Olympic Association's ban was indeed hard for the Luger to swallow.

When asked about anything that he could change about the IOA, he tweeted: "Only sportspersons to vote and hold office in IOA and sports federations."

Keshavan, who won gold at the Asia Cup in Nagano, Japan in 2011, also said that the venue was special to him as he made his Olympic debut there during the 1998 Winter Olympics.

He tweeted: "my first olympic games in Nagano. Everything was a surprise for me then" when asked with the question "If you could go back in time and re-live any Olympic moment, which one would it be? And Why?"

Keshavan, who set a new Asian track record at 49.590 seconds in 2012, has been promoting the cause of winter sports in India and feels that Abhinav Bindra is without doubt India's greatest Olympian.

When asked with the question "Who do you think is India's greatest Olympian?" he replied "Got to be @Abhinav_Bindra."