The hectic pace of today’s lifestyle is wreaking havoc on our health; so much so that turning on the television set to watch Lionel Messi dribble past defenders or Virat Kohli conquer new records in the international cricket circuit seems a cumbersome exercise. Gone are those days when people used to sit in one corner of the drawing room and skim through the pages of the morning newspaper with a view to keeping pace with the happenings of the contemporary world. In today’s day and age where time management is the need of the hour, people desire to get all the latest news in the blink of an eye (let alone the click of a button). In a country like India where sports fanatics are found in abundance, the need to develop an all-sports app has always been felt, since the inception of smartphones. It won’t be aberrant to say that the inability to keep track of the latest scores of the Indian cricket team or India’s medal count at the Olympics is bound to produce intense itching in majority of our compatriots.
Sports Flashes is one such app that could serve as the remedy for the present situation. Brought to the fore by the New Delhi-based entrepreneur Raman Raheja, the app is ‘’a first of its kind bilingual app (available in English and Hindi) that has been launched to give all the sports fans a staple diet of sports news, gossips, trivia, views and tips in just 70 words a story’’. This in fact is the USP of this app. Not that there weren’t enough sports apps in the circuit prior to the arrival of this new kid on the block. Most of those apps specialise in a particular discipline; supplying their users with information pertaining to a single sport. Besides, the articles featured in those apps are generally long and require the readers to devote ample time in order to study the stories in detail. This is where Sports Flashes emerges as an exception. Contrary to its predecessors, Sports Flashes brings together news on as many as thirty-one categories under one umbrella. As mentioned earlier, the app provides stories in less than 70-words; much in accordance with the requirements of the modern generation and primarily deals with trending stories.The app allows you to scroll in either direction and with every upward or downward stroke of your finger, you come across new content. Sports Flashes has also exhibited a modest effort to break away from the policy of the earlier sports apps to concentrate solely on a single sport.
Apart from Cricket, the app appears to put equal emphasis on other sports like Football, Tennis, Formula 1, Golf, Hockey, Kabaddi and Wrestling. With tournaments such as the Indian Super League, Hockey India League and Pro Kabaddi beginning to gatherpace in India (a country which has been dominated by cricket over the years), the app is clearly a product gushing out of the imagination of its developer to capitalise on the marketing of relatively less popular avenues like Kabaddi and Hockey; which had hitherto been an untapped opportunity in India. That’s not all.
This app will help you familiarize yourself with traditionally unexplored realms like American Football, Cue sports, Squash and Cycling. This particular feature is likely to come in handy for those who aspire to peruse a career in sports journalism in the future or those who participate in various quiz contests throughout the calendar year. The app not only displays articles penned by the organisation’s in-house writers but also features important stories published by the major publications in the country. Having developed a fair idea about the key features of this app, let us now go into further detail by looking at its plus-points and drawbacks.
THE PLUSSES
First and foremost, the user interface of the app deserves a special mention. It is user-friendly, easy to operate and its smart design catches your eye immediately. The app functions on the scrolling mechanism and aims to supply you with the latest sports news at every stroke of your finger.
Unlike most of its competitors, Sports Flashes is a fine blend of both serious and trivial stories,as is evidenced by the juicy gossips in the ‘Gossip’ section, sensational photographs of WAGS of famous athletes in the ‘Wives and Girlfriends’ section, Match-Odds and sports Astro Predictions. The latter has been incorporated into an app for the first time in Indian Sports industry. This novelty might have been accommodated to cater to the growing needs of sports fanatics who are no longer satiated with just plain and rigid articles.
For example, the astrologers associated with this app believe that Russian Tennis superstar, Maria Sharapova who was suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation earlier this year on account of an alleged doping violation, will make a strong comeback post September 2017. In another instance we find the astrologers predicting Nita Ambani (the spouse of Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani) to scale new heights in the Indian sports industry after being nominated as an independent candidate for the International Olympic Committee ahead of the Rio Olympics in July earlier this year. Not all astrological predictions are hundred per cent accurate. Astrology according to some, can only predict the future to a certain extent. Hence while the astrologers had backed gymnast Dipa Karmakar to make a podium finish at the Rio Olympics, the 22-year old girl from Agartala returned empty handed after finishing fourth in her event (artistic gymnastics).Nonetheless, the makers of this app should be applauded for coming up with this unique innovation which could turn out to its sharpest weapon in the days to come.
Its coverage of football is impressive too.
It has an exhausting list of infinite stories related to all the major football leagues to choose from.The fact that international football leagues such as the English Premier League, La Liga and UEFA Champions League have worked their magic on the Indian audiences in recent times, delivering match results in quick time, bites from the press conferences of managers and updates pertaining to the transfer market should be the principal priorities of a first-class sports application and this is where Sports Flashes wins brownie points.
Another noteworthy feature of this app is that it has not overlooked discipline sports like ‘Health and Fitness’ and ‘Mixed Martial Arts’. You can also look for fitness tips from some of the top athletes of the country including the two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in the category ‘Champions Tips’. It cannot be denied that the economic liberalisation initiated by Narsimha Rao in 1991 opened up the floodgates for globalisation in India. The upsurge of the sports industry in India over the years has led to a subsequent improvement in fields such as the Science and Business of Sports. It is heartening to see that Sports Flashes has given considerable weight age to these two aspects as well.
THE DRAWBACKS
Despite boasting of a host of impressive features, Sports Flashes is not devoid of drawbacks. Nowadays people spend a major part of their day travelling and accordingly they want more visuals since they cannot watch the matches live. Unfortunately, you will be disappointed if you expect to watch videos in this app.
The shape of images isn’t up to the mark either. The pictures are not mobile-optimised and often appear contracted. Diligent care should be taken while uploading the pictures in order to create a lasting impression on the readers.
Overall the app looks good and is steeped in plenty of good qualities. However its drawbacks should be addressed sooner rather than later. Uncertainty is the most vital element which characterizes the app market. A new app might be waiting in the wings and looking for the right opportunity to pounce on the users with all the tricks in its bag which Sports Flashes has missed.
You could download Sports Flashes from either of Google Play Store, Windows Phone Store or App Store (iOS)..
