Chelsea and Yash Raj films enter into a partnership. Maverick has more on it. Why go into such a partnership? Abhishek Bachchan, the hero of the film, tells us via this statement:

The character I play in the film is of a very loyal Chelsea fan. I have now had the chance to see Chelsea live after following them over the last few years and the club have given me a jersey with my character’s name Ricky on it, so that was fun.

The premiership is becoming big in India but it is still not being able to sell the jerseys of star players. India has missed the bus on this craze so far. Firstly, BCCI didn’t market selling shirts as well (we still don’t have BCCI official cricket shops like we have NBA stores). However, Pepsi increased it’s product sales by offering team jerseys coinciding with the 1999 world cup and then the BCCI encashed a fair bit before and during the 2003 world cup.

The big problem with jersey sales in India is the price sensitive nature of the consumer. People would rather have an unofficial t-shirt than the official costlier one. Who is to say Chelsea is looking just at jersey sales? They want to sell every thing possible to the fans and via the help of bollywood, possibly attract newer fans as well. Yash Raj films get to promote their film and it is a win-win situation for both.

The consumer sports luxury good market in India is still largely untapped and Chelsea is hoping to capture some of that market share. I won’t buy Chelsea jerseys though as we all know that Barcelona>>>>>>>>>>>>Chelsea! ;)

Half the contingent of Sierra Leone has disappeared (ran away) from the Commonwealth Athletes Village in Melbourne. Reports Reuters:

Police and Australian immigration officials have been searching for 11 athletes from the war-ravaged African country who have gone missing from the village.

This is not a new phenomena as 20 athletes went missing after the Manchester Commonwealth games in 2002. Of course the war plagued athletes will find this as a window for better life. A risk much less compared to living in the war ravaged country. Sport isn’t as important when the problems are much larger. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) isn’t going to rule out Sierra Leone for future games. Political dimplomacy evident in sport and sport again proving that it is life magnified.

India is proving difficult to handle with the doping scandal. The answer CGF President Mike Fennell gave explaining the doping occurences is amusing though:

It’s a very large country, over a billion people, and perhaps there will be people who are perhaps not as knowledgeable about the drug situation and the doping situation, and there will be instances.

The closing ceremony of the games is to be held today with bollywood stars staging a performance. Also, Javed Akhtar will present a song for the Delhi Games. I haven’t witnessed an international sporting event in India bar the Cricket World Cup in 1996. So come Delhi 2010, it will be nice.

Update: A few of the athletes have spoken out. They say that they fear genital mutation and death if they go back.