Leslie Xavier : All

Leslie Xavier
India vs Bangladesh in Delhi Smog: Indian Cricket Team and BCCI Smokescreen Pollution
03 Nov 2019
In the toxic, smoke chamber that is Delhi, a T20I will take place this evening. The Indian cricket team and the BCCI could have used this opportunity to highlight the dangers of pollution. Even a…
Leslie Xavier
To Dhoni or Not to Dhoni and More: Questions Remain as BCCI Rolls With Cloak-Work Efficiency
25 Oct 2019
Even as MS Dhoni displays his intention to get match ready for the ICC World T20 next year, Indian cricket team chief of selectors, MSK Prasad, has hinted at the closing of a chapter. There have been…
Leslie Xavier
IAAF World Championships: The Indian Athlete and the Spinning Vortex of Failure
06 Oct 2019
Indian athletes qualify for World events with great difficulty, scraping through the times after spending an entire season chasing them. By the time they make it to the holy grail of their sport,…
Leslie Xavier
Support for Half-truths in Gaurav Gill’s Arjuna Award Application Shows Motorsport Body’s Desperation
30 Sep 2019
There is no denying that Gaurav Gill is one of India’s best rally drivers. But, by defending the inconsistencies in his application for the Arjuna Award, the governing body for motorsport in India (…
Leslie Xavier
Mat Finished: A Wrestling Icon’s Bout Against Time
22 Sep 2019
Sushil Kumar changed the paradigm for wrestling in India in more ways than one. But time and age are the two opponents that even Indian wrestling’s game changer can’t beat. And the failures pile up…
Leslie Xavier
Bajrang Punia's Loss at World Wrestling Championships was Fair, Here is Why
20 Sep 2019
The tendency to blame officiating after tight losses like Bajrang Punia suffered at the UWW World Wrestling Championships must be offset by an objective realisation that the better wrestler doesn’t…
Leslie Xavier
National Sports Day 2019: What’s the Big Idea?
29 Aug 2019
Indian sports national award system — for the Arjuna, Dronacharya and Khel Ratna — insults the man in honour of whom it is instituted. The spirit of Dhyan Chand demands sportsmen never need to play…
Leslie Xavier
Interview: Kabir Kohli, Signed by Spanish Football Club CD Olimpic de Xativa (420 Grams Shorts)
28 Aug 2019
420 Grams in conversation with Kabir Kohli, who has been signed by Spanish Tercera division football club CD Olimpic de Xativa, and Anuj Gupta, co-owner of Xativa and Sudeva.
Leslie Xavier
Alchemy Through IQ: How PV Sindhu Flipped the Script to Make History
26 Aug 2019
In her third consecutive trip to the Badminton (BWF) World Championship final, PV Sindhu finally struck gold. And luck had nothing to do with it. The victory is midpoint in a long ranging project…
Leslie Xavier
Aishwarya Pissay's World Title and the Reality of Motorsport's Gender Bias
22 Aug 2019
Aishwarya Pissay’s 2019 FIM Bajas World Cup victory is being viewed through two divergent lenses, that of adulation and another of criticism. The truth, though, lies in the middle. Her path was…