My tip for 2005 is8230;

KM Beenamol/Athletics
Top Tip: I8217;m not saying this because he8217;s my brother but Binu has it him to do the country proud next year. After the Olympic experience he has learnt a lot and that will help him in 2005
Choice Change: More tours abroad for athletes since that will help them get the much-needed experience to shine at big events. Before the World Championships this year athletes should have a stint abroad

Chuni Goswami/Football
Top Tip: No one in India
Choice Change: A total overhaul of the system at youth level. It8217;s time we implement serious measures with a vision to build a team in the next 10 years.

Rajyavardhan Rathore/Shooting
Top Tip: Anyone who has a burning desire and backs it with the required hard work will excel. My tip is Gagan Narang, the young Air Rifle shooter from Hyderabad
Choice Change: Relax the rules to make things easier for shooters. One, the rules covering import of sporting guns, so that we can keep pace with competitors who have easy access to all shooting equipment. Two, lifting the limit of the number of guns we can possess for our sports: are tennis/cricket/hockey players barred from buying more than 2 rackets/bats/sticks in a year?

Naresh Kumar/Tennis
Top Tip: There8217;s just one player that comes to my mind and that8217;s Karan Rastogi, the others are above 20. He has the potential, the credentials to make it big.
Choice Change: Hundreds of new courts. We have too few courts, so they are usually heavily overloaded; youngsters should be able to put in 4-5 hours of playing.

Enrico Piperno/Tennis
Top Tip: It8217;s a big year for Sania Mirza; if she can take off from what she did in 2004 we8217;ve got one of the best women8217;s players ever produced. Among the boys, French youngster Gael Monfils, who beat Roger Federer, is the guy in focus8230;anyone beating Federer is a name to follow!
Choice Change: A slowed-down game8230;I8217;m not for the slam bang stuff

Nazir Hossein/Auto Racing
Top Tip: Prithbeen Rajan. In just his second year of rallying the Coimbatore lad has won the 1400cc title, competing in just three events of the Rally Star Cup
Choice Change: The entry of more manufacturers into motorsport

Narain Karthikeyan/Auto Racing
Top Tip: Armaan Ebrahim from Chennai. He8217;s good at go-karting and when he moves to racing in the next couple of years he8217;ll do really well.
Choice Change: More teams in F1, it can open up opportunities for several who are on the threshold of breaking into the top league.

Rashid Latif/Cricket
Top Tip: Ian Bell, who plays for Warwickshire. He8217;s a very good batsman.
Choice Change: The umpiring system; why can8217;t the third umpire officiate on doubtful catches, especially the bat-pad decisions?

Mahesh Bhupathi/Tennis
Top Tip: Spain8217;s Rafael Nadal, who was hot through 2004 but still hasn8217;t fulfilled his potential. Among Indians, no one other than Karan Rastogi
Choice Change: More TV coverage of the game apart from the regular Grand Slams. International tennis is growing, youngsters ought to see that.

Tim May/Cricket

Top Tip: When there is a vacancy in the fast bowling stocks, Shaun Tait may come into the team. He is strong and very quick. Can be wayward, probably due to his slinging of action, but I8217;ve heard he8217;s the 8216;next big thing8217;
Choice Change: Do away with the runner for an injured batsman. The sight of a runner out on the field is confusing, ugly and more often than not completely farcical. And how can a batsman have a person to run for him if he8217;s injured but a bowler can8217;t have someone else carry out his duties?

Merv Hughes/Cricket
Top Tip: Pakistan8217;s Salman Butt has all the makings of a good opener. And Lasith Malinga from Sri Lanka will make quite an impact in 2005
Choice Change: Why not take the new ball after 65 overs instead of 80 overs in Tests? We now have good batting pitches and fast outfields; this change will offer some encouragement to the bowlers

Nandan Bal/Tennis
Top Tip: Karan Rastogi has shaped up well all through the year. And he8217;s peaked late in 2004, winning a wild-card entry at the ATP event at Rotterdam and winning the ABN-Masters Challenge. Among the girls, it would be interesting to see Shikha Uberoi8230;she8217;s superbly fit and strong.
Choice Change: More men8217;s tournaments for local players.

Shivlal Yadav/Cricket
Top Tip: Ambati Rayudu may not have fulfilled his potential yet but he8217;s gained in maturity after playing a couple of domestic seasons
Choice Change: Greater participation of the stars in domestic tournaments

Henry Menezes/Football
Top Tip: Stephen Dias mid-fielder who was on the Indian squad against Singapore in the last World Cup qualifier, but didn8217;t play because of injury. He has the makings of another IM Vijayan
Choice Change: Jam packed stadiums. And better refereeing, which is the main factor to improve the quality of the game

Syed Kirmani/Cricket
Top Tip: Venugopala Rao, of whom I8217;ve been a fan since I saw him bat with authority against the England A team in last year8217;s Duleep Trophy. he8217;s got good shot selection, he8217;s good in defence and can make quick runs
Choice Change: A rotation policy where our senior players get the rest they need and the youngsters get a break against weaker teams.

P. Harikrishna/Chess
Top Tip: Deep Sengupta is very, very exciting. I remember him playing this one particular match where his computer wasn8217;t working and he couldn8217;t see what his opponent was doing, but he still managed to hold his opponent off.
Choice Change: We need to play more big names from across the world, we meet them only at select international meets. Corporate involvement will help

Kiran More/Cricket
Top Tip: Suresh Raina of Uttar Pradesh. I have seen a couple of his innings and he has showed class. He is an all-rounder but I am impressed by his batting
Choice Change: Actually, I8217;d like one thing to be retained: the players8217; on-field aggression. Because of various fines and bans a players has a tough time curbing his emotions. Watching a players with an attitude is always a great sight.

GS Sandhu/Boxing
Top Tip: Put your money on S B Tamang of Assam Rifles. He recently did very well in the Jakarta President8217;s Cup, winning a silver in the 64kg category. He is young, with a lot of guts and is a strong, spirited boxer
Choice Change: Our attitudes. We train through the year, but unless there8217;s a tournament coming up, our boxers don8217;t take things seriously. They relax

Dola Banerjee/Archery
Top Tip: Laxmi Majhi of Jharkhand has been doing quite well of late, even at the ongoing junior nationals in Chandigarh, and because I have seen her from close quarters, I can say that she has a lot of potential
Choice Change: It8217;s already started: more opportunities to take part in meets abroad. That8217;s one of the areas where we fall short, because we have no experience of competing against the best in the world. If that does happen, and we get some foreign exposure, it will be really good for us

Mervyn Fernandes/Hockey
Top Tip: One exciting prospect is Prabodh Tirkey, the left-in defender. He enjoys his hockey, and has very good skills, and by that I mean the very basics that are essential to be a good player. If he is given proper grooming and guidance, he can be a very good defender at the international level
Choice Change: If we really wish to get back our pre-eminence in the game at the world stage, we need the best eleven to play for the country. That8217;s not the case now, there are several passengers in the team who don8217;t deserve to be there, not even in the first 25. There has to be transparency in the selection process, and the selectors must watch every major tournament in the country to pick the best

M K Kaushik/Hockey
Top Tip: From what I have seen, Surinder Kaur of Northern Railways is a very interesting prospect. She is very talented, more agile than most inside the striking circle, and very sharp with her shots.
Choice Change: A more professional approach to the game and implement scientific methods in the training and planning. Hopefully all this will begin from the coming year, if one considers the plans that have been drawn up for 2005

Surya Sekhar Ganguly/Chess
Top Tip: Dronavalli Harika will finally come of age in 2005. She played with the seniors recently and though she didn8217;t do very well, I think she has the right mix of aggression and talent to do well. She is a very positive player, is never scared of the opponent, and has very sound theoretical knowledge of the game
Choice Change: We are very dependant on foreign coaches and that8217;s a huge problem. Everyone knows India has immense talent. But we start playing under coaches who might have played one or two nationals, or even less than that

Zaheer Abbas/Cricket
Top Tip: Tough to choose one, there are many coming up
Choice Change: A new strategy by Pakistan and India. We should only play on fast tracks, it8217;s the only way to compete with the world. It8217;s all very play well to win in Pakistan or say in India, but the idea of playing cricket should be to win everywhere, on all pitches

Jeev Milkha Singh/Golf
Top Tip: I played with Rahil Gangjee at the Okinawa Open last week and he showed immense talent. There are others, too, including Ashok Kumar and Shiv Kapur, and I think we will witness a boom this year
Choice Change: The media has been helpful but I8217;d love to see them giving more exposure to our amateur and junior players because that is where the seeds are sown. Even Tiger Woods has reached where he is after his world junior title was hyped by the media

Ashok Shandilya/Billiards
Top Tip: Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra are still our best hope but Aditya Mehta holds a lot of promise
Choice Change: The revival of professional billiards in the country

Anjali Bhagwat/Shooting
Top Tip: Among the men, Sanjeev Rajput; among the women, Meena Kumari looks very promising
Choice Change: Civil aviation rules. Right now a shooter can fly with just one weapon and 50 rounds of ammunition in the country. For my event I need at least 200 rounds and more than one weapon. There are times when we fly and ask somebody else to carry the arms and ammunition by train. That is always not possible. We have approached the Civil Aviation Ministry but things haven8217;t changed.

Contributors: Sandeep Dwivedi, S.Santhanam, Micky Aigner, Jaideep Marar, Chandresh Narayanan, Kumar Shyam, Shamya Dasgupta 038; Uthra Ganesan