Congratulations to Priyadarshan on his victory. I hope he does not have to move to another country (Like Vishy had to move to Spain) as our country could not afford!

And Sridhar, let us welcome our heroes who could make it. I understand you are hurt (and so am I and many others), but then, we are not known to be a nation who respect our sporting heroes - only exception being Cricket or Tennis where glamor, money, and hype (stealth combination) is highly involved.  

Chess has not been part of this Olympics at Beijing. I guess it will take a long time: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1827716,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics. 

What are your thoughts on India doing so badly at Olympics or for that matter really performing well in any other sport?

I think we this time did far better than previous times
If chess and cricket were in olympics, we could had made out 2 more silver + medals

Jeevan, One visit to any of our cities should tell you why: due to excellent "planning" for decades, we have zero space for any kind of sporting activity. How many swimming pools are there in all of India? How many gyms? How many basketball courts? 

 Yet, just get 20 km out of any major city, and see how much land is there, land that cannot be developed easily because there are no access roads of any kind. The countryside, which has the land remains "dirt poor", because of such lack of access.
 
 People who jump and say "Other poor countries ..." should realize that economic development has made this situation significantly worse in India compared to what it was when the economy was, well, a lot less developed. 20 years ago, a city like Bangalore or Chennai actually had an occasional bit of open space.  Economic development + zero urban planning = zero sporting facilities.

Sridhar

True, very true Sridhar.

Congratulations! And let me just humbly add an area where Hungarians hold the world record :-)

Congrats to Priyadarshan ! 

and Good support from your corporate !

Jus' came across, J.Mohanapriya, who needs financial assistance for the participation of World Youth Chess Championship (Vietnam-2008), and further coaching assistances ...

More details @ http://idlyvadai.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_6167.html

[...] public links >> title   How To Become Champion Of The Naaru Saved by pleslie58 on Fri 31-10-2008   India retains World Youth Chess Olympiad title Saved by nacrofago on Thu 30-10-2008   Field Hockey team looks to defend A-10 title Saved by Narsil [...]