Not cricket!

Die-hard cricket lovers, getting bored by the lull between the Sri Lanka series and the forthcoming Australian one, may be disappointed with this post. Because there is not much in it about cricket.

There are several other sports in which Indians have been excelling of late - not just at home but across the world.

It started with Abhinav Bindra's shooting gold at the Beijing Olympics.  What followed on his arrival back to India exemplified the old phrase 'from the sublime to the ridiculous'. People who didn't have the foggiest about what particular event brought Abhinav his gold medal, started falling over each other trying to garland him and announce cash rewards!

Sania Nehwal had also performed well in the Beijing Olympics but had succumbed in the quarters. Her win at a badminton tournament in Taipei should come as a moral booster (her subsequent first round loss in Japan notwithstanding).

Young Pankaj Advani won the World Billiards championship at Bangalore with a victory over the formidable Geet Sethi in the quarters. Pankaj has also qualified to participate in the upcoming World Snooker Championship at Austria.

Then came the announcement of the Rest of India cricket team for the Irani trophy, and notable for their absence were Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly. While the media went to town announcing the end of the road for Sourav, a namesake - Saurav Ghoshal caused ripples in the squash world by winning a tournament in France after beating a higher ranked opponent in the final. The reason Saurav Ghoshal had entered the tournament was because he had never been to France before and wanted to see the country! Hope he continues to bring glory to India.

Last, but not the least, is the evergreen Leander Paes, who won the Mixed Doubles title with Cara Black at the US Open tennis - his 8th grand slam doubles title.

There is a common thread in all the five champions - they participate in non-contact sports. My theory about this is that Indian parents do not like to risk injuries for their children lest it interfere with academics.

Even though Vijay Kumar and Suresh Kumar got bronze medals at Beijing in boxing and wrestling, the track record of Indians in contact sports is dismal. A FIFA ranking of 151 in football and non-existent ranking in basketball are cases in point.

New stars on the tennis horizon

The fast hard courts at Flushing Meadows, NYC have produced some scintillating tennis matches that brought into spotlight upcoming stars and some veteran journeymen.

Marin Cilic from Croatia is one youngster to watch out for. What was evident was a very mature head on top of a still growing body. The explosive power of his serves and forehand were a treat for tennis lovers. He is arguably even better than his fellow countryman Mario Ancic  and provided a stern test for Djokovic before bowing out in 4 sets in 4 hours. If he puts in a little work on his net game, he should be a top 10 player very soon.

Sam Querrey is another very tall and very strong player with a great serve, a powerful forehand and a good net game. He gave Nadal a run for his money and should take away several positives from his 4 set defeat.

Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina won 4 tournaments in a row prior to the US Open and is another one from the young brigade who is very tall and very focused. He lost a tight 4 setter to Andy Murray but the match could have gone either way.

Andy Murray has put in a lot of hard work to improve his fitness and is already a star with two wins over Djokovic this year in the hard court series. His never-say-die attitude helped him to get through some remarkably close matches - particularly the 5 setter against the Austrian, Juergen Melzer.

Among the tour veterans, Mardy Fish had a great run with some excellent wins. His win over Blake and the complete outclassing of Gael Monfils speak volumes about his physical and mental skills. Nadal was just too good for him.

But my vote for the player of the tournament goes to south paw Gil Mueller of Luxembourg. This middle-of-the-road tour regular played some amazing serve-and-volley tennis that reminded me of Greg Rusedski in prime form. His win over Almagro of Spain (another star in the making) showcased some of the best clutch volleys at this Open. It is such a refreshing change to see some one playing an all-court game with great success.

The disappointment of the US Open was Jo Wilfried Tsonga, the Frenchman who had given such a hiding to Nadal at the Australian Open with his serve-and-volley skills before bowing to Djokovic in the final. He may not have fully recovered from his injuries yet and seemed short of match practice.

Amongst the oldies, Leander Paes of India displayed his fitness and strategy by reaching the finals of the Mixed doubles and the Men's doubles. Not bad for some one on the wrong side of 35.