Personalities

- Nisha Millet
- Vijay Bharadwaj
- Aparna Popat
- P. Gopichand
- Mahesh Bhupathi
- Anil Kumble
- P.Anil Kumar

Young Achievers

- Punkaj Advani
- Shilpa Sequeira
- Neema Joyappa
- B.N. Chandrika

Interview

- Roger Binny
- M Azharuddin
- Raman Subba Row
- Ashok Shandilya

Review

Sports History

Football

The origin of this most popular game the world over is not very clear. There are many versions for the origins of this game, which is popularly own as soccer - the term, perhaps, having, been derived from the fact that some of this players in the earlier days used to play the game, wearing socks.

Yet another legendary tale narrates that in 11th Century England, some labourers while excavating the earth near a battlefield found the skull of a Danish soldier. As the Danes were the most hated rivals at that time, the labourers ventilated their hatred by kicking the skull around. This was imitated by boys, who replaced the skull with an inflated cow bladder.

The game became very popular among the common people during the middle ages, so much so that the royal and aristocratic societies tried to ban the game. The game survived all the repressive measures and once again became very popular in the 19th Century through the English Public Schools. The first set of soccer rules was framed by the Cambridge University in 1846 and the Football Association founded in England on 26 October 1863. In the first F.A. Cup instituted in 1871, 15 teams participated and the first official international match between England and Scotland ended in a 0-0 draw in 1872. The penalty kicks were introduced in 1891 and the first international match between non-British sides was played in 1902 in which Austria defeated Hungary 5-1. The Federation Intcenationale de Football Association (FIFA) was formed in 1904 with France, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Spain as members. Ironically, England got affiliated to the FIFA only in 1924 to withdraw in 1928 and get re-affiliated after the Second World War.

Brazil had earlier won the World Cup in 1958 and 1962. The World Cup in 1974 in Germany saw the second phase of this World Championship known as the FIFA World Cup.

The game of football was brought to India by the Britishers and the Indian populace easily took to the game, which first became popular in the Bengal region and then spread to other parts of the country. Organised football was introduced in India by the British Army in 1880; but there is evidence of a football match in 1802 in Bombay between a Military team and an Island team of Bombay. The first official match was organised in Calcutta between the Etonians and the rest. The first trophy instituted in Calcutta was the Traders' Cup in 1889, now played as a junior tournament. Club football became popular in India in the late 19th Century with the formation of the Mohun Bagan Club in 1889 and Mohammedan Sporting in 1891. The Durand Cup football tournament, the world's second oldest tournament, was started in Shimla in 1898. Since 1941, tile tournament is being regularly held on an annual basis in New Delhi. The Indian Football Association, Calcutta, the oldest Slate-level organisation in India was formed in 1893, the same year in which the IFA Shield tournament was started. The Rovers Cup football tournament founded in 1891 has been conducted by the Western India Football Association since 1911, the year in which the association was founded.

The All-India Football Federation was founded on 23 June 1937 at Shimla in the committee room of the Army headquarters with 10 members and the national championship for the Santosh Trophy named after the Maharaja of the erstwhile state of Santosh, now in Bangladesh, introduced in 1941. The DCM Trophy football tournament started in 1945 became an international tournament from 1968 with the participation or foreign teams. India made its Olympic debut in football at the 1948 London Games, but lost 1-2 to France in the first match. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics India became the first Asian nation to reach the semifinals of an Olympic football event defeating Australia 4-2 in the quarter-final including a hat-trick by Neville D'Souza of Bombay. Since the 1960 Rome Olympics, India has not qualified for the Olympics. With the British regimental teams dominating the initial phase of Indian football, the Bangalore Muslims became tile first Indian team to win the Rovers Cup in 1937 defeating Mohammedan Sporting 1-0 in the final.

India won the gold medals in the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games at New Delhi and Jakarta respectively and the bronze medal in tile 1970 Bangkok Asiad. Having won the quadrangular tournaments in 1953, 1954 and 1955, India finished as runners-up to hosts Malaysia in the 1959 Merdeka Cup.
The other major tournaments in the Indian football calendar include the Federation Cup tournament. Started in 1977 at Ernakulam when ITI, Bangalore beat Mohun Bagan 1-0 in the final, this inter-club tournament gives the winning team the right to the title of the 'Champion Club of India'; Stafford Cup tournament started in Bangalore in the 1930s when the game became popular in the city due to the stationing of many military units, the tournament has now become an all-India tournament with the participation of well known teams from Calcutta, Goa and Bombay; Dr. B.C. Roy Trophy junior national tournament; and the Sir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for the mini nationals.

India also conducts the Jawaharlal Nehru International Gold Cup tournament, which was inaugurated on 16 February 1982 at Calcutta. India has also been participating in the Asian Youth soccer championship with the best performance being the sharing of the title with Iran in 1974 at Bangkok. 

On the World Cup scene, India qualified for the fourth World Cup in 1950 from Group 10, but the team was subsequently withdrawn from the tournament.