Bonanza for lovers of sports!!!

Let me confess at the beginning itself that I have never been a "sporty" person though I do enjoy watching little bit of cricket, soccer and tennis once in a while. I was just thinking about the summer of 2008 and the many sporting events that went through as well as the ones scheduled and boy- o- boy, it cant get any better for lovers of sports in India!

It started with the money and madness of IPL in April. Initially I was a bit apprehensive about how successful it would be and I did have my reservations about the way players were bought and sold like commodities by the money- bags of the country. But once it started, it was as if there was nothing else happening in the country- Sachin's inability to play, the Harbhajan- Sreesanth fiasco, the Ganguly- SRK war of words, the BCCI v SRK imbroglio, the cheer girls and the protests from the protectors of Indian culture- it was like a well written Bollywood commerical potboiler that had everyone wanting for more. After a month and half of fast and energetic cricket, Rajasthan Royals walked away with the trophy in their kitty.

Cut it to Rolland Garros- yet another Federer v Nadal and it was the latter proving once again his superiority on the clay court. Barely was the French open over, we had the tri- series tournament between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Expectedly, it was an India- Pak battle in the finals with the latter having an easy march over our countrymen.

Immediately, the focus shifted to Euro 2008. Non sport football action every night with the best players in the universe struggling it out against each other for the highly coveted cup- we have Spain taking on Italy tonight in the last quarter finals and the semi finals scheduled in a couple of days from now. Will it be Germany v Italy in the grand finale? Let us wait and watch.

And guys that is not it! We have the baap of lawn tennis starting tomorrow in UK- the most awaited and the most coveted Wimbledon- the odds are in favor of Nadal. But we do have the formidable trio posing a threat to him- Federer, Roddick, Djokovic. The ladies also pack quite a punch- Ana Ivanovic, the winner at Rolland Garros; the indefatigable Maria Sharapova, the indispensable Williams sisters- or it could be a surprise entrant in both the categories. Anyways, the whole world is keeping its fingers crossed and all eyes are on grass courts at Wimbledon.

Lovers of cricket need not be disappointed for we have the big Asia Cup starting in Pakistan on 23 June- with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India; along with UAE and Hong Kong, battling it out, this one is gonna be a real good warm up before the Champions trophy starts rolling in September 2008!

And that is just not it guys- the biggest sporting event of the world, this time bogged down by all kinds of controversies foreseeable and posing to be more of a political event than a sporting event- yes, you guessed it right- the mega Olympics 2008 rolling out of China in August!!!

I dont think there has ever been a deluge of sporting events like this any time in the recent past! I am enjoying all of these in spite of not being a very "sporty" person and I can understand how much a real sports lover would be enjoying all of this! For the time being, my attention is on who lifts the Euro Cup! I am with Germany, how about u?