Siddhartha Talukdar

Yeah, I am aware of this. Host Nation generally gets top seed. But if the host is weak then the host's group winner gets it easy in the knockouts. Eg Uruguay in 2010, Netherlands in 2022

Why is no one talking about the draw for the inter-continental playoffs? IC-2 includes teams from South America, North America, and Asia, which means its winner will end up in a group alongside two European teams and an African team. The main issue is that the draw takes place before the playoffs, so we don’t know the identities of those teams—or which pots they actually deserve to be in. Another problem is the FIFA rankings themselves. Intra-continental comparisons are usually fine: Iran is clearly stronger than Qatar, Costa Rica is stronger than Haiti, Colombia is stronger than Bolivia, and so on. But globally the rankings don’t always reflect reality. Is Iran really the 20th-best team in the world when most of its players are in the domestic league, whose clubs rarely go past the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League? Or look at Ivory Coast: ranked 42nd, yet they’re African champions with players across major European leagues. A third issue is that FIFA doesn’t do much to ensure a balanced knockout stage. In most sports, the top four seeds are placed so they can’t meet before the semifinals. FIFA’s system doesn’t guarantee that kind of structure.

In 1954, quarter finals were played where group winners played each other and runners up played each other

Till 2014, draws used to be based on continental zones. Since 2018 pots are based on rankings so groups could be more balanced. But rankings can never be accurate unless nations from inter-continents play more competitive matches. Also, suddenly if a lower ranked team nation gets decent players like Norway or a higher ranked team have lesser quality players like Italy who are ranked 10th right now

Are we playing Cricket 10 times!!

FIH Hockey World Cup is simulation event but the tournament is generally held once in 4 years with the next scheduled in 2026 and the previous one was held in 2023. Otherwise there were no relavant tournaments in 2025 You can go with rankings as they are a decent indicator of top teams Rankings - link In Cricket, there are three main formats played internationally - Test, 50 over One-Day Internationals (ODI), Twenty 20 or T20. The Olympics shall be played in T20 format which also the most widespread, short and thrilling format. T20 World Cup is relevant simulation event which happens every 2 years. The previous one occurred in 2024 and the next one is in 2026. Again rankings are a decent indicator Rankings - men women

Yes, you do. is currently 81st in T20 rankings here: rankings Also finished last in Americas sub-regional qualifier for 2026 T20 World Cup - tournament

Detailed breakup Archery - 8: Men's + Women's team in recurve and 2 in mixed team compound Athletics - 25 ish: Average contingent size has been 25-30 in the past Badminton - 8: One quota each in all the five events. Second quota in MS and WS depends on which of the current juniors step up Boxing - 6: Average figure Cricket - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Equestrian - 1: Someone in dressage or eventing. Team also possible Field Hockey - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Golf - 4 Judo - 1 Rowing - 1 Sailing - 2 Shooting - 22: Very good depth in rifle and pistol. 2 quota in shotgun could happen too Squash - 2: One male and one female Swimming - 2 Table Tennis - 4: Not aware how many doubles can qualify from one NOC. Conservative figure of two singles players qualifying each per gender Tennis - 2: Men's Doubles possible Weightlifting - 1 Wrestling - 7: Even with federation issues we somehow qualify a decent number Total: 156 Optimistic qualifiers Fencing - 1: Bhavani Devi or Taniksha Khatri Equestrian - 3: Team qualification realistic Track Cycling - 1: Lets see how crop of Ronaldo and Beckham progress

Draw Simulation video of BWF World Championships

You can probably add 3x3 Basketball - https://fiba3x3.basketball/2025/worldcup Table Tennis - https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Overview&eventId=3108&innerselectedTab=Scheduled

Table Tennis in May, Judo in June, While Badminton in August; Wrestling, Archery, to take place in September

My two cents here. I feel ICC sees 2028 Olympics as a write off as there are too few teams and no stadiums to have a proper tournament. The only positive are Americans get exposure to a new sport and their team and perhaps more participation in the future, for IOC a lucrative broadcast deal especially catering to India market. I think the real decent tournament with 8-12 teams shall be in 2032 onwards with historic cricket venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

So Italy innings is over and they scored 134. So Netherlands have to win to qualify after Jersey's win earlier in the day Italy current NRR: 1.722 Jersey current NRR: 0.306 If Netherlands score 135 runs in 84 balls or 14 overs then Italy NRR shall be 0.296 and if Netherlands score in 85 balls or 14.1 overs so Italy NRR shall be 0.319. So restricting after 85 balls is the magical target for Italy

Italy virtually qualified unless they lose heavily against Netherlands. Will you be traveling to India if Italy qualifies

This tournament is a dress rehearsal of FIFA World Cup replacing the Confederations Cup. So it will be held a year prior to the World Cup and played in the host country. So 2029 Club World Cup shall be held in either Spain, Portugal or Morocco

Sir Alex had poor record of transfers since Ronaldo left in 2009, which left the team stale and ageing; but the team was still winning because of past aura and sheer will. Since he left, the job is big for any manager not helped by poor scouting and transfer policy. The club needs focused ownership and management from the top

Westerners are not naive. They know India is going to be the next superpower and need Pakistan to needle India. Already, Turkish drones, Chinese AD and US planes were no match for indigenous weapons. So they wanted to stop the war asap to stop getting exposed. The weapons industry is huge so the aura of Chinese and US weapons had to be maintained. But Western hegemony is crumbling quickly. Australia and UK were so eager to do FTA with India. Already UK has suggested 'sharing access' to Kohinoor Diamond to increase cultural bonds

Actually we should care for India to prosper that Pakistan must break and take back PoK because it will achieve several objectives 1) A more stable border in the west 2) Remove false sense of superiority among the minority in South Asia. Notice how Bangladesh is completely quiet 3) Increased geopolitical influence. Notice none of the Western countries and Middle East are practically ignoring the situation which means they support India 4) A stable Central Asia including Afghanistan as they can access warm water ports in Arabian Sea if western part of Pakistan is broken off 5) More electricity and water as PoK is major catchment area for Indus river system

India is very much interested in riding the escalation ladder and breaking Pakistan into new sovereign states. Several aspects are different this time compared to 2019 which means India has definitely learnt how to fight the propaganda war 1) Disregarding the IWT which forced Pakistani elite to bluster which only brings their stupidity like Mr Tarar confirming to harbour terrorists on international media 2) Naming 'Operation Sindoor' ('sindoor' or vermillion is applied to Hindu women forehead during wedding) which is symbolic in itself 3) Press conference by women Army officers especially showing photos of before and after the missile strike. Having women in conference is also symbolic in itself including one from minority community 4) Hitting in Punjab which would ensure proof as Pakistan cares about that province only

In Doubles, one needs to be in top 10 for automatic qualification otherwise its combined ranking which the minimum is about 130 to qualify. Right now pair of Bhambhri-Sriram Balaji is 89 which is good enough to qualify

So here's my reaction to Qualification to 2028. If we plan correctly, we can have a large contingent. AQUATICS: Swimming: Universality quota ki jai!! Diving: Nope Water Polo: Do we even play this? Athletes = 2 ARCHERY: Even though Compound event is added the number of quotas has not increased, so its expected quotas for individual Recurve to reduce. So its imperative we qualify via team which think we can for both sexes. In Compound Mixed Team, we should qualify. Athletes = 8 ATHLETICS: Nothing really changed, just mixed race relay replaced by 4x100m mixed relay; so similar qualification Athletes = 25 BADMINTON: A sport where slowly we hitting a gradual decline despite being a core sport for us. Men's Singles: Lakshya Sen should qualify but the second shuttler is doubtful. Haven't seen any improvement from Kiran George or Rajawat so far Women's Singles: 1 shuttler. Need to look out for teenagers Anmol Kharb and Unnati Hooda Men's Doubles: Only Satwik-Chirag pair Women's Doubles: Treesa-Gayatri will hopefully maintain top 20 in 3 years Mixed Doubles: One of Kapila / Crasto and Sathish / Aadya to qualify Athletes = 8 BASKETBALL: In 5x5, men are 76th and women are 79th. In 3x3, the men's team had a memorable recent Asia Cup; hope it wasn't a fluke. Even with increased quotas from 8 to 12, not expected to qualify Athletes = 0 BOXING: Even with lot of issues with the sport, there is no quota change and 1 event increase in women. Expecting similar quotas as of 2024 Athletes = 8 BASEBALL/CANOE / FLAG FOOTBALL / HANDBALL / LACROSSE / MODERN PENTATHLON / RUGBY / SKATEBOARDING / SPORT CLIMBING / SURFING /TAEKWONDO / TRIATHLON / VOLLEYBALL: No chance. Don't care Athletes = 0 CYCLING: Make or break for Track Cycling. We have former junior champions who expected to be in their prime by 2028 and first foreign coach. Athletes = 0 CRICKET: Whatever the qualification system be, by some abracadabra both our teams will qualify Athletes = 30 EQUESTRIAN: Easiest sport to qualify. Just turn up in team qualification event and try to maintain MER for next 2 years. If we can win team medals in Asian Games then we can certainly qualify for Olympics too Athletes = 6 FENCING: Hope young epee fencer Taniksha Khatri becomes serious for the sport; she hasn't participated at all this season. Bhavani Devi is somehow maintaining her 40s rank and she could look at realistic qualification again. Athletes = 0 FOOTBALL: We can't even beat Bangladesh. Kalyan Chaubey had promised very lofty goals. Can't believe we hired a coach who is still ISL coach who will ensure national team is full of FC Goa players Athletes = 0 GOLF: Two per gender which also ensures quota in Mixed Team Athletes = 4 GYMNASTICS: Not aware of any upcoming junior gymnasts and current crop is too old Athletes = 0 HOCKEY: Men's team is miles ahead in Asia so should win Asian Games. China women's team has shown significant improvement and Japan being host, it will be tough for the women to qualify via Asian Games but they should qualify via qualification tournament Athletes = 30 JUDO: We should qualify 1 judoka but there's potential for more. If we invest in Asmita Dey (48 kg), Shraddha Chopade (52 kg) and Himanshi Tokas (63 kg) who still young, we can get automatic qualifier Athletes = 1 ROWING: We should qualify in Single Sculls. Need to see on qualification criteria which of the events have continental qualification as Lightweight Double Sculls is not part of the programme now Athletes = 1 SAILING: Vishnu Saravanan and Nethra Kumanan to qualify again Athletes = 2 SHOOTING: Probably among our best managed sports. Medals at 2024 Olympics was a big boost and players, coaches and federation should feel confident about 2028 Athletes = 22 SQUASH: Very limited quotas of just 16 per gender. By my guess, qualification shall be via rankings where 2 per NOC if in top 8 otherwise 1. Our highest ranked male is Ramit Tandon (31st) and within top 16 with my qualification scenario. The highest ranked female is Anahat Singh who is 62nd but she is still a teen and we can expect her to be within top 30 in 3 years Athletes = 2 TABLE TENNIS: Should qualify 2 singles players per gender. Not sure how doubles qualification will work but we can qualify 2 pairs per gender and also qualify in Mixed Team. Athletes = 6 TENNIS: Only Sumit Nagal Athletes = 1 WEIGHTLIFTING: A sport which has given us medals but no realistic weightlifter in horizon who can even qualify in 2028. Still fingers crossed Athletes = 1 WRESTLING: Hope all the issues are cleared by 2028. Even with little preparation our wrestlers were decent in Asian Championships Athletes = 7 Total: Athletes = 164 Overall Opinion: I think this could be a memorable Olympics especially with inclusion of Cricket and if we plan well. It could be even even better if India is declared the host for 2036!

For me, a 6 team tournament for Cricket is not ideal but a good start. Anyways, US don't have an exclusive stadium for cricket and 2024 T20 World Cup was a poor viewing experience because of poor pitches. I don't want automatic quota for the host nation but wish for one qualification spot for the Americas to ensure atleast one island from the West Indies as cricket there has been on a steep decline. Just yesterday, West Indies Women team lost to Scotland in the World Cup qualifier. I expect Cricket to grow in 2032 in terms of teams, ticket sales if also held in nearby venues like Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, broadcast revenues. Australia themselves will be serious as they are genuine gold medal contenders especially in the women's game

@nitinsanker, Reetika Hooda wins Silver in Asian Championships. Is she a prospect in next Games

Correction, Newcastle won the second tier league in 2017

Chelsea vs Fiorentina is the most likely final