Ever heard of Ramanathan Krishnan, Kamlesh Mehta or K D Singh Babu? Well, how can you. Maybe some of us know them but am sure most of us dont. What is expected to be known of a person whose remarkable achievements have been bygone, whose scintillating glory has been obliterated and who have been left in oblivion long back. However, I am sure that we all know about stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Vijay Amritraj. A big ambiguity I am surrounded with is that if such great people can be remembered as living legends then why not people like Ramanathan Krishnan or Kamlesh Mehta. Their contribution to Indian sports is unambigously colossal. They are no less equitable in their potential than Sunil Gavaskar or Kapil Dev.
Ramanathan Krishnan represented India in Tennis in the middle of the 20th century. And guess what? At one point of time, 1960 precisely, he was ranked world No. 3 in Tennis. Other than Cricket, the number of sports personalities who have achieved such high ranks in any sport is diminutive. Krishnan won the boy’s singles titles at Wimbledon in 1954, he reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles at Wimbledon twice in two successive years ( I am not able to recollect the year exactly) and what else can one expect of him? Somdev just entered into the Grand Slams and he was highly applauded for this though he crashed out in the 1st round!!
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Kamlesh Mehta was a true gem in the Indian Table Tennis world. Its prestigious to mention that he represented India in seven World Championships, eight Asian Championships, two Asian Games, six Commonwealth Championships, four South Asian Federation Games, two Olympic Games and many other official and friendly competitions in India and abroad. What a venerable, exalted and gigantic personality he is in history of Indian sports. I salute this player, since I myself am a TT player ( analogous to a bathroom singer!!). Moreover, Kamlesh is the highest ranked Indian player in World TT ever. He has been conferred with Arjuna Award (one of the highest Civilian awards in India) in 1985 and many other international awards like Fair Play award in Commonwealth games in 1989 and The Friendship Trophy for being the best player from India in the Asian Championships in 1984.
Another eminent personality in Indian Table Tennis is A Sharath Kamal. Some of us might have heard about him But most of us dont know about him. He is an Indian player who has some extensive firsts to his credit. He was the first Indian player to win Gold medals for India in 2004 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. He also has a Arjuna Award to his credit. At the pinnacle of his career, why he chose to discontinue is none of our business though!!
Some other great and remarkable personalities in sports history of India are K D Singh Babu and Dhyan Chand in Hockey, Chetan Baboor in Table Tennis, Geet Sethi in Billiards, Ramesh Krishnan (Ramanathan Krishnan’s son) in Tennis and Gostha Pal and I M Vijayan in football. These players have not just got fame for their performance but also won India many honours and accolades in the past. Past as back as 1950s and as recent as 2000s. Then why is it that India today has decided to forget about its many favourite sons and cloistered their names and the golden memories they carry with them, in a room and locked it and now no one knows where the keys for that lock are?
One such reason might be the financial ramifications. No other sports in India could fetch you as much money as Cricket does. No other sports personality gets as many commercial endorsements as cricketers do. No other Sports Authority is as rich as BCCI is. Notwithstanding, India has to remember the names of the people who made India’s name recognizable globally. If not till now, then it has to be done from now. This is the ultimate aim of writing this article and wasting the time of the readers!! After all, reading about such “forgotten” personalities is worth wasting 5 minutes of our precious and busy time. Right????
Indian greats
Ever heard of Ramanathan Krishnan, Kamlesh Mehta or K D Singh Babu? Well, how can you. Maybe some of us know them but am sure most of us dont. What is expected to be known of a person whose remarkable achievements have been bygone, whose scintillating glory has been obliterated and who have been left in oblivion long back. However, I am sure that we all know about stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Vijay Amritraj. A big ambiguity I am surrounded with is that if such great people can be remembered as living legends then why not people like Ramanathan Krishnan or Kamlesh Mehta. Their contribution to Indian sports is unambigously colossal. They are no less equitable in their potential than Sunil Gavaskar or Kapil Dev.
Ramanathan Krishnan represented India in Tennis in the middle of the 20th century. And guess what? At one point of time, 1960 precisely, he was ranked world No. 3 in Tennis. Other than Cricket, the number of sports personalities who have achieved such high ranks in any sport is diminutive. Krishnan won the boy’s singles titles at Wimbledon in 1954, he reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles at Wimbledon twice in two successive years ( I am not able to recollect the year exactly) and what else can one expect of him? Somdev just entered into the Grand Slams and he was highly applauded for this though he crashed out in the 1st round!!
Kamlesh Mehta was a true gem in the Indian Table Tennis world. Its prestigious to mention that he represented India in seven World Championships, eight Asian Championships, two Asian Games, six Commonwealth Championships, four South Asian Federation Games, two Olympic Games and many other official and friendly competitions in India and abroad. What a venerable, exalted and gigantic personality he is in history of Indian sports. I salute this player, since I myself am a TT player ( analogous to a bathroom singer!!). Moreover, Kamlesh is the highest ranked Indian player in World TT ever. He has been conferred with Arjuna Award (one of the highest Civilian awards in India) in 1985 and many other international awards like Fair Play award in Commonwealth games in 1989 and The Friendship Trophy for being the best player from India in the Asian Championships in 1984.
Another eminent personality in Indian Table Tennis is A Sharath Kamal. Some of us might have heard about him But most of us dont know about him. He is an Indian player who has some extensive firsts to his credit. He was the first Indian player to win Gold medals for India in 2004 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. He also has a Arjuna Award to his credit. At the pinnacle of his career, why he chose to discontinue is none of our business though!!
Some other great and remarkable personalities in sports history of India are K D Singh Babu and Dhyan Chand in Hockey, Chetan Baboor in Table Tennis, Geet Sethi in Billiards, Ramesh Krishnan (Ramanathan Krishnan’s son) in Tennis and Gostha Pal and I M Vijayan in football. These players have not just got fame for their performance but also won India many honours and accolades in the past. Past as back as 1950s and as recent as 2000s. Then why is it that India today has decided to forget about its many favourite sons and cloistered their names and the golden memories they carry with them, in a room and locked it and now no one knows where the keys for that lock are?
One such reason might be the financial ramifications. No other sports in India could fetch you as much money as Cricket does. No other sports personality gets as many commercial endorsements as cricketers do. No other Sports Authority is as rich as BCCI is. Notwithstanding, India has to remember the names of the people who made India’s name recognizable globally. If not till now, then it has to be done from now. This is the ultimate aim of writing this article and wasting the time of the readers!! After all, reading about such “forgotten” personalities is worth wasting 5 minutes of our precious and busy time. Right????
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