ED forecasts India’s fortunes in 2013 in three sports in the first part of the two-part series. Let take a look at how ED expects India to do in cricket, tennis and shooting.
CricketThe Indian Cricket Team will continue to face tough challenges and ED forecasts that the team’s fortunes will not improve by much. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that the team is in the transition phase. Young cricketers like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwara Pujara and Bhubaneswar Kumar will become important members of the team. MS Dhoni will retire from Test cricket and focus on ODI and T20 match formats. He will retain the captaincy in these formats and will be important for the team’s transition. All in all, the India cricket team will grapple with the absence of the Fab four. However, by the end of 2014 the team should be in good shape and competent enough to do well in the next World Cup.
Tennis
Somdev Devvarman will prove to be a force in the men’s professional circuit. He will be an important member in the Indian team in the Davis Cup. The Indian team will be have a lot of new faces. This will prove to be good as it will bring fresh energy to the squad. However, the team will also lack the experience of Leander Paes. The team’s performance will also depend heavily on how the Indian Tennis Federation (ITF) handles the players. All in all the future of tennis in India looks bright but hinges on the ITF handles the emergence of tennis as a sport in the country.
Shooting
2012 was a very year for India in the field of shooting. India performed decently in the London Olympics. New stars like Vijay Kumar emerged. Big names like Gagan Narang proved their mettle by winning medals. However, ace shooters like Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Sodhi disappointed. But there are a lot of new stars emerging on the national scene. Varsha Varman has the ability to become a world-class shooter and she not the only one. The 2300 participants at the recently held 56th National Shooting Championship proved that India has the talent to become a major nation in the field of shooting.A second part of this series will be coming up soon which will cover the sports of badminton and wrestling.
