TheSportsCampus

February was a relatively quiet month for sports, other than a woman tennis player not being allowed to compete in a particular country, and a team in red running away with the Barclays Premier League. Champion's League action returned with some great matches being played out, and while the England tour of West Indies and the India tour of Sri Lanka went by, the Special Olympics provided both joy and misery for India. Plenty to look forward to in March, though, with the return of Tiger Woods, the next phase of the Champions League and the brand new Formula 1 season. All this, and more, below.

Israeli? No, thanks!

Politics and sports are inseparable cousins, but the UAE's decision to refuse a visa to Israeli < span style="color: #0000ff;">Shahar Peer (over Israel's actions in Gaza) for the WTA Dubai Open sparked heated debate among the tennis community. The WTA promptly slapped the tournament a fine of $300,000 and asked for a $2 million guarantee for the 2010 tournament, threatening to pull the plug if Israeli players were not issued visas at least eight weeks before the tournament began.

They also awarded Peer 130 ranking points and $44,250 in prize money to showcase support for the players.

Venus Williams, who won the tournament with a straight sets defeat of Virginie Razzano, made sure the controversy was not forgotten, by mentioning Peer in her victory speech.

"It was a shame one of our players couldn't be here", she said, sufficiently embarrassing the organisers.

Andy Roddick refused to defend his title in protest against the action, leaving the tournament deprived of a plethora of stars, including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, both nursing injuries.

Order was restored when Andy Ram, another Israeli player, was granted a visa for the men's tournament. But for just a fleeting moment, it looked like the tennis world had gone back to the Althea Gibson age.

Thankfully, it didn't last.

Europe's best are back

The last week of the month saw the return of Champions League action with several high voltage battles. Day one began with Mourinho and Ferguson locking horns again as Inter drew 0-0 with United at the San Siro. Arsenal increased Roma's losing streak on English soil to six, with a Van Persie penalty in the first half, thereby sealing the game. Lyon gave Barcelona a fright with a sublime first-half performance, including a Juninho special; but Henry's header in the second-half ensured parity and an advantage for the Blaugrana going into the Nou Camp in ten day.

Porto played bravely, twice coming from a goal behind to draw 2-2 with Atletico Madrid at the Calderon.

The flashbulbs, though, were reserved for Liverpool. The transformation from 'Premier League' Liverpool to 'Champions League' Liverpool was on display when they secured a famous 1-0 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, even with Steven Gerrard missing from the starting line up. The game itself was scrappy, but Liverpool have plenty to be pleased about with the result, even as they lose ground in the Premiership.

Chelsea rounded off a good match day for English clubs with a 1-0 win over Juventus at home, and while Villareal drew 1-1 at home to Panathnaikos, Bayern appeared ominous, thrashing Lisbon 5-0 away. It was a performance that almost looked like they were compensating for the goals they missed out on last season when they failed to qualify for the Champions League. (You can read about the Man Utd - Inter match here, and the Liverpool & Chelsea games here)

March promises more action, with the second leg of this round and the first leg of the quarterfinals being played. Keep watching as the race for the crown narrows down.

See-saw battle

England have scored more than 350 in their first innings every single time on their tour to the West Indies, except for once. They lost that test match, and midway through the fourth test of a five-match rubber, they still find themselves 1-0 down.

West Indies are hanging onto dear life-and a lead-but they began in fine fashion. The first test at Sabina Park was sweet revenge for their defeat five years ago when they were bundled out for their lowest test score of 47. They turned the tables around and got England bowled out for 51 in the second innings to win by an innings and 23 runs.

The second test had to be abandoned after only 10 balls because the outfield was unsafe. It came as a shock and the blame game hasn't ended yet.

The third test might just have been the turning point in the series. Batting first, England rattled up 566-9 riding on skipper Strauss' 169 and Collingwood's 113. The bowlers then turned the screws on the Windies, restricting them to 285 and setting a target of 503 in the fourth innings. Even as Sarwan provided resistance with a century, it took the last pair of Fidel Edwards and Darren Powell to play out 60 nerve wracking balls in the last hour before a draw was declared. It made the difference between a lead that would be a psychological boost, and a deflating defeat that would bring the teams on par.

A test-and-a-half remains, and with both sides in with a chance to clinch the series, it should be fun to watch.

Whitewash missed

India wound up their tour of Sri Lanka with a victory in the fourth ODI & T20, but lost out on the chance to go unbeaten in two consecutive rubbers when they lost the last ODI by 68 runs. Gautam Gambhir ticked 88 runs in singles, twos and threes; as he scored a career highest 150 to guide India to a mammoth 332-5 and batted Sri Lanka out of the match. Sri Lanka returned the favour in the next match with a total of 320 in the first innings and saved face by avoiding a rare whitewash.

The T20 that followed demonstrated the spirit in the Indian dressing room. Down and out at 115-7 in the 16th over chasing 172, the Pathan brothers lashed out at the fast bowlers and took India home with three balls to spare.

It was a fitting end to a tour in which India were dominant. However, it was a different story altogether in the first two T20s against New Zealand. India now needs to stage a comeback in the one-dayers and tests against a team which had inflicted defeats on India during their last two tours.

Special, indeed

The World Winter Games 2009 were held at Idaho, USA under the Special Olympics, an organisation that strives to build opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. Through sports events, the organization helps them participate in their communities and develop confidence in themselves while helping build a change in societal attitudes towards these individuals. India went in with a 45-member contingent across four sports, namely, Floor Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Snow Shoeing and Giant Slalom Snow boarding.

India won a rush of medals in the beginning, with Parth Malhotra, Paras Bhatia, Ninad Prabhaker and Megha Singh winning gold in different events; while Pinky Sunil, Shaivender Singh and Reena secured silver and bronze.

However, the mood in the contingent was soured by the fact that Parth's and Pinky's medals were withdrawn. They had performed 15% better than their final qualifying performance, which led to automatic disqualification. This is because anyone intentionally performing below par to get into a lower rung and win get disqualified.

Parth's performance in the final would have fetched him gold in the division above him, too, but his medal was taken away because of the disqualification rule.

India managed to finish the Games with a bang, with Megha winning gold on the final day, but the feeling would have been much better without the disqualifications.

The return of the Tiger

He hasn't set foot in a tournament since his one-legged miracle in the US Open last year, but when Tiger Woods returns to the course this March, it sure will be a treat to look out for. Don't miss Tiger at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard from March 26-29.

Start your engines

Come March 29, the vroom will be back in the drawing rooms. A whole new set of rules, the missing Honda, and a new season ending track at Abu Dhabi. It will also be the first time since 1950 that there will be no Formula 1 race in North America, with the dropping of the Canadian Grand Prix due to financial trouble.

In the drivers' space, Sebastien Vettel has moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull with the retirement of David Coulthard. Sebastien Buemi is the new entrant into the F1 fold, replacing Vettel at Toro Rosso from the GP2 team of Trust Team Arden.

On the constructors' side, Honda Motors has put up the F1 division for sale, and although they have not withdrawn from the season, it is still unclear whether they will stay in this year. Force India, on the other hand, has changed its engine supplier from Ferrari to Mercedes on a five-year contract and it will be interesting to see how they perform this year.

A lot of new rules come into play this year. Slick tyres are making their appearance for the first time since 1998, although Bridgestone will still be the sole provider of tyres. Cost-cutting is being done through a near total ban on in season testing, restricting the number of engines per driver for the season to eight and sharing information during race weekends as the teams could not arrive on a cap on the money they could spend to develop their cars.

All in all, an exciting season to look forward to.

If you're looking to watch an F1 race live, this year could be the one to do it. Most circuits are offering great deals on ticket prices due to the recession. The Malaysian Grand Prix, for example, has tickets starting at as low as Rs. 700 and they have a special offer for students at Rs. 1500 for Tower tickets, which is right behind the start-finish line, next to the last turn on the circuit. These tickets can only be bought at the circuit though, so it might be useful to ask someone to book them for you after sending a copy of your student ID proof across by email.

 

File  Photographs: Courtesy: Vasudev  K Bhandarkar (Shahar Peer) , Special Olympics.