With the Beijing Olympics around the corner, only one thought is on most of the Indian people’s minds….will we get a medal this time ?? (No…not a Gold…any medal would do). Thats been the sad story of the indian sports ever since Olympics have been established. The fact that India has never won an individual gold medal is surprising to believe when countries like Cuba, Jamaica, Israel & Saudi Arabia have managed to bag Gold medals. The fact the Rathore…who won a silver was considered pride of the country and was given a promotion in the indian army and was awarded all kinds of honors that take people a lifetime of excellence to achieve tells the sad tale of the current state of Indian sports. On the other end of the spectrum is USA…where they literally dominate the medals tally…what ever said about the competition from China, Russia, Australia etc….USA is the team to beat. Michael Phelps….the swimming sensation that won about 6 gold medals in the previous edition Olympics took a sabbatical because he couldnt achieve his goal of 8 GOLDS !!!!!! And he is back this year to take another shot at getting 8 Golds….1 more than Mark Spitz….and most of the people in the US wouldnt even know who Michael Phelps is….he has not been conferred with country’s highest honor nor has been invited to every damn award ceremony organized in the country….and the most surpising thing is that he is not even 24 yrs old!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not many may remember that Leander Paes came close to winning a bronze in doubles in his 1992 debut Olympic Games in Barcelona before he won a singles bronze at the next Games in Atlanta.

HYDERABAD: Sania Mirza is all set to script another piece of history. She will be the first Indian woman tennis player ever to take part in the singles of the Olympic Games when she participates at Beijing. “Playing in Olympics has been one of my dreams and I am delighted at being so close to realising that,” she said in a chat with The Hindu before departing for Beijing on Wednesday evening.

East West Bank Classic: The Italian reaches her first Tier II event final with a comeback victory.

CARSON – If a breakthrough victory can come against an unheralded journeyman who has never cracked the world’s top 50, then that’s exactly what Italy’s Flavia Pennetta achieved.

STOCKHOLM: Sania Mirza defeated France’s Emilie Loit to advance to the second round of the Nordic Light Open in the Swedish capital on Wednesday.

The sixth seeded Indian won 6-3, 6-2.

Federer struggles