Australian Open to miss Sampras
By Sanjay Manchanda
THE start of a grand slam season always signals the heralding of another year of intense rivalry and struggle for supremacy among the top 20-odd players of both the men’s and women’s sections. It is in this context that the year’s first grand slam — the Australian Open — beginning from January 18 at Flinders Park, Melbourne, will be more keenly followed by the tennis lovers all round.

Delhi top Ranji league table
By Gopal Sharma
CONVINCING performances by some of the players saw Delhi (34 points) reverse last year’s result and climb atop the ladder after the conclusion of this year’s North Zone Ranji Trophy league matches. Punjab did not have much to cheer about though they regained the second spot (32 points).

Football needs more than just organising
By Ramu Sharma

THE All-India Football Federation has every reason to be satisfied with the showing of the team in the recently concluded Asian Games in Bangkok. True, the Indian team failed to go beyond the second phase but what was important was that there were no tennis scores highlighting the difference in approach and standard vis-a-vis the Indians and the winners. India in fact put up quite a stiff fight before going down to the more reputed opponents.

For a team that had no takers at home and failed to get even the courtesy nod from the government for participation, the combination can be said to have done quite well, certainly much better than expected. The AIFF should be commended for spending its own money to fund the team’s participation.

It is, however, an irony that Indian football has come to such a pass after having twice stood on the victory podium to receive the gold medal in the Asian Games. Now the football team has to be grateful to be allowed to take part. It is a big comedown and the blame has to be shared by everyone, not just the federation which is functioning as it was earlier.

There is no getting away from the fact that other countries have improved by leaps and bounds, updating on technique, approach and the whole attitude with heavy stress on physical fitness. But there is also no denying that Indian football is not what it used to be and that after mid-70s, there has been a definite downhill trend. And that despite the introduction of players from outside the country.

Football, however, is not only game which has dropped in standard. Hockey too is facing the same problem though, one hopes the gold medal in the Bangkok Games will act as a spurt to better showing in the ensuring internationals. Coming back to football the federation, while appearing to be determined to roll the time back, has decided to take too many steps at the same time.

The decision two years ago to follow the European pattern of one national league was a welcome one. But the AIFF seems to be a confused body. It has changed its mind about the number of teams to be allowed to play in the league twice and now it has also gone in for a new format. All this in the name of encouraging football and at the same time to keep the sponsors happy. Perhaps the AIFF has not learnt the lessons of doing too many things at the same time.

According to Mr Priyaranjan Das Munshi, the President, the AIFF wants to wait before stabilising the number of general format of the league. “The European and some of the Asian countries took nearly 15 years to come to an accepted form” he says. He has a point, may be, but isn’t it advisable to learn from the example of others instead of the AIFF wanting to go through the who procedure itself. His goal is to increase the number of teams to 15 so as to encourage more corporate houses to interest themselves in the game and invest in new clubs or strengthen some of the old clubs with heavy financial inputs.

It is a good thought and deserves all the backing. What the AIFF is still very vague about is the steps to be taken to improve the standard of the game. The federation has talked about inviting an Irish coach for the purpose. It has even voiced its intentions of using the 1 million earmarked for India (and other developing countries) to improve the standard of the game, by asking FIFA to use it to invite Indian teams for matches abroad. FIFA has also been asked to pay part of the salary for the Irish coach to be retained by India. Very commendable indeed but hasn’t all these things been done before.

There have been any number of coaches visiting this country and not everyone has been treated well. What is the guarantee that the Irish coach will be received differently. One of the major objections from the visiting coaches has been that they do not agree with the general scheduling of tournaments and programme of the football season in India. The federation has never been in a position to accept these demands. Once the foreign coach is given the responsibility of training the boys the AIFF should allow him to run things his own way.

More importantly, the AIFF must realise that training the national team through an imported coach is not going to improve the over all standard of the game in the country. At most the beneficiaries will be some 30 players, nothing more, nothing less. And again the Irish coach for instance, when he comes, will be solely responsible for preparing the Indian team for a specific tournament. At least that has been the general trend so far. The coach has been given a particular target and his work is judged on the basis of the performance of the team in a given tournament. Failure of the team to perform has generally meant quit orders for the coach.

The AIFF means well but it has obviously overlooked a very simple thing when inviting foreign coaches. The visitor may have been given a complete picture of Indian players and the prevailing standards but have the players in turn been made ready for the foreign coach. How many of the players really have the capacity or the wherewithal to understand what the foreign coach is aiming at. Reports from players and some of the officials associated actively with the game reveal that very few among the Indian players are able to have a meaningful dialogue with the visiting coaches. Quite often the coaches and players speak different languages, literally and otherwise.

The federation would do well to invite may be on coach to train the national team but at the same time a number of experts, armed with visuals, to advise the Indian coaches and some senior players on the shortcoming in the Indian players and on how to remove them. The Indian coaches in turn could spread the message around. This one coach for a handful of players is not going to help at all. At the same one foreign coach for so many players in such a vast country can hardly change the face of the game.

The move to encourage corporate houses to interest themselves in clubs is a decision in the right direction. A few big corporate houses have already stepped in and it is only a matter of time that more and more will follow suit. The federation meanwhile could involve itself directly in the import of talent from outside countries instead of leaving it to the clubs to negotiate on their own.

Once the AAFI takes this responsibility on its shoulders the clubs can ensure themselves of the reliability and credentials of the players concerned and deal with them accordingly. This would also remove some of the irritants facing the clubs who have been mislead into recruiting sub-standard talent.

The AIFF has big plans and need to be encouraged. But it will take much more than money, foreign coach and new formats to improve the standard of Indian football. First there has to be an awareness that there should be an improvement in the standard and then, after that, the will to work hard. But nothing short of a magic lamp can do that!

Dhruv trust promoting talent
By Abhijit Chatterjee

It was on January 31, 1992, that young Dhruv Pandove met with a fatal road accident while going home to Patiala near the Kingfisher tourist complex in Ambala. The young Dhruv was returning home after playing for North Zone against South Zone in a Deodhar Trophy match at Sambalpur in Orissa. In his last first class match the young Dhruv, then only 17 plus, had scored 73 runs which fetched him the “man of the match” award. And with his death the life of a very promising cricketer who seemed destined to play for the country came to an end.

Born on January 9, 1974, Dhruv played first class cricket when he was barely 13 plus when he turned out for Punjab against Himachal Pradesh in the North Zone Ranji Trophy league. In all Dhruv played 21 Ranji Trophy ties. And in this period he had scored two centuries and six fifties. He had amassed 1,048 runs at an average of 36.13. He became the youngest player to score a century in first class cricket (136 against Jammu and Kashmir at Udhampur) and in the bargain broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record.

He toured Pakistan with the India under-19 XI in 1987-88 which won the Asia Cup. The following year he again played for the India under-19 team in the Asia Cup Tournament in Dhaka. He toured England in 1991 as a member of the Punjab team. His performance in England won him many admirers . He also played against a West Indies Schoolboys XI in 1989 and was all set to earn an India cap when fate intervened. He had also shown his prowess with the willow in the Steel Trophy Tournament where he rubbed shoulders with players like current India captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath.

A natural cricketer, Dhruv had very little formal training. He picked up a lot of tips from his father, Mr M.P. Pandove, a very good first class cricketer of his time and the Secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association. To begin with Dhruv was a right-hand batsman, but later he turned out to be a stylish and prolific left-hand batsman.

His death shocked the cricketing world. His death was taken note of not only by the BBC, but also by the Australian commentators of the India versus Australia Test then being played at Perth.

The shock for the Pandove family was beyond description. The Pandove family knew that Dhruv would never return. But overcoming their shock the family members , along with close family friends, set up the Dhruv Pandove Trust in 1994 with Mr S.K. Sinha as Chairman to promote the cause of cricket.

The objective of the trust was to promote the game, nurture young talent and also organise blood donation camps to commemorate the death of Dhruv. In the first instance the trust took over the management of Baradari Cricket Stadium at Patiala which had by then been named Dhruv Pandove Stadium. The trust started paying for the maintenance of the stadium, including water and electricity charges.

This year the trust has undertaken, for the first time, the task of training young cricketers of Punjab. To start with 14 young cricketers in the age group of 12 to 14 have been selected under a scheme of the trust. Over a 100 boys took part in the trials held at Patiala. These young cricketers, according to a spokesman of the trust, will attend a basic orientation camp for 20 to 30 days at Patiala in March next where their action would be videotaped and their technique developed. Subsequently, the young cricketers will return to their respective places and will continue with their cricket training under the guidance of their respective coaches who would be briefed by the trust about the programme of coaching to be followed.

At Patiala the trust will avail of the services of Desh Prem Azad, cricket’s first Dronacharya and former director of the Pace Academy at Chandigarh, and NIS coach Manjit Singh, who was also involved in the running of the Chandigarh Pace Academy.

The selected cricketers would be recalled by the trust after three months where their progress would be judged. This process will continue for at least one year after which the young cricketers would be given the option of shifting permanently to Patiala or to stay on in their homes and continue with their cricket training.

If the cricketers shift to Patiala the trust will pay for their schooling, board, lodging and other expenses. The trust will also ensure that the boys are admitted to good schools in Patiala. The boys can continue to train until they attain the age of 16 and can come back for sorting out their shortcomings till they are 19. However, if the boys do not show adequate improvement and progress they can be replaced by some other cricketer. The trust hopes that at any given time at least 30 cricketers will train under the scheme.

According to the trust spokesman, the Dhruv Pandove Trust will be different from the PCL Cricket Academy and the Pace Academy. Also, unlike other cricketing schemes which are mushrooming all over the country the trust will not charge a single paise from the boys nor will they or their parents have to sign any contacts with the trust.

While this year all the boys are from Patiala, the trust hopes to expand the scheme first to cricketers of North Zone and subsequently from throughout India.

Australian Open to miss Sampras
By Sanjay Manchanda

THE start of a grand slam season always signals the heralding of another year of intense rivalry and struggle for supremacy among the top 20-odd players of both the men’s and women’s sections. It is in this context that the year’s first grand slam — the Australian Open — beginning from January 18 at Flinders Park, Melbourne, will be more keenly followed by the tennis lovers all round.

However, the men’s section of the tournament will be shorn of some of its spotlight as the world No. 1 Pete Sampras stunned Australian tournament promoters when his management announced last week that he would not be playing in this month’s Australian Open because of physical and mental exhaustion.

No doubt “Pistol Pete” will be badly missed, especially after his recent achievement of finishing the year with the No. 1 Ranking for a record sixth consecutive year, but the silver lining of his absence is that it has just opened up the draw for a lot of other players to win the year’s first grand slam championships.

The local favourite, Patrick Rafter, who is eyeing to the world No. 1 this year, should count himself among the front-runners for the title. Similarly Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek and Americans, Micheal Chang and Todd Martin, must also be training their sights on their maiden Australian Open crown after the withdrawal of Sampras.

Others expected to make a mark at Flinders Park include Andre Agassi, Thomas Enqvist, Tim Henman, Goran Ivanisevic, Mark Philippoussis, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Petr Korda.

In doubles, Leander and Bhupathi, must surely be aiming to fulfil their immediate ambition of pocketing the first grand slam title. Last year at the US Open, the Indian duo lost to the Dutch pair of Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh in the semi-finals, as they did at the same stage of last year’s Australian Open Ranked No. 2 in the doubles at present, the Indian pair must try to break the jinx of not winning a grand slam, which would go a long way in achieving their ultimate dream of becoming the top doubles combination in the world.

The favourable point for the Indian duo at this year’s open is that the powerful Dutch pair of Eltingh and Haarhuis has already called it a day for the doubles competitions after their win at last year’s US Open. So, the Dutch combination, which had almost become a bogey team for the Indians, will no longer be there to halt the progress of Leander-Bhupathi. However, the Indians still have to overcome the “Woodies”, who are always there to upset the Indian’s applecart.

The Australian pair of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge obviously would enjoy the home advantage. But the Indian pair has shown last year twice that on their day they can easily pip the Aussies to the post. So, if both the Indian and Australian pairs live up to their top billing, the final between the two should be a cracker of a game.

In the women’s section, though there may not be many contenders for the title, yet the interest among top five to six players would be at its peak.

Lindsay Davenport clearly enjoys an edge over other because she has hit top form just at the right time. She finished 1998 as world No. 1 after capturing the historic US Open crown. And now the burly American is not only proud of her accomplishment, but also of proving her critics wrong.

Besides Davenport, the world No. 2 Martina Hingis, the deposed champion, Steffi Graf, all-time favourite Monica Seles and the Wimbledon winner and runners-up, Jana Novotna and Nathalie Tauziat, respectively, will vie for the top honours. Of all these, Steffi’s performance at the open will be a great interest to her followers. Hampered by injuries last year, the German, now 29, will probably look at this championships as her supremacy, which she so admirably enjoyed until the end of 1996.

Delhi top Ranji league table
By Gopal Sharma

CONVINCING performances by some of the players saw Delhi (34 points) reverse last year’s result and climb atop the ladder after the conclusion of this year’s North Zone Ranji Trophy league matches. Punjab did not have much to cheer about though they regained the second spot (32 points). Haryana saw a steep downswing in their showing as the last year’s toppers just managed to pip lowly Services for the last super league berth. Services caused a flutter, snatching the first innings lead from Haryana. Haryana romped home by a wafer-thin margin, logging 22 points while Services ended their campaign collecting 21 points. Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, as usual, failed to make any impression and bowed out though Nischal Gaur and Rajeev Nayyar for the former and Ashwani Gupta for the latter stood out with outstanding performances.

Gaur, in fact, was a revelation. He scored 470 runs (maximum by any batsman in the zone) which included two centuries and one half century. His 130 against the formidable Delhi bowling attack was indeed a sterling knock. Rajeev was also consistent with the bat. Scoring two centuries and one half century he emerged the second highest scorer. Ashwani impressed with his bowling taking 20 wickets to share the third spot with Delhi’s medium fast bowler Robin Singh Jr, 12 for 167 vs Haryana being his best figures.

Like last year Haryana’s off-spinner Pankaj Thakur captured the maximum 25 wickets in the league matches, while his team-mate Pradeep Jain did not lag behind, claiming 21 victims to be the second most successful bowler in the zone.

For Delhi former captain Ajay Sharma proved his superiority in domestic cricket, slamming a superb 213 versus Services, while youngsters like Virender Sehwag. Amit Bhandari, wicketkeeper-batsman Vijay Dahiya and Sandeep Angurala also gave good account of themselves.

Sehwag, displaying sound technique and temperament, amassed 430 runs with the help of two centuries against Punjab and Haryana and as many half centuries at 53.75 runs per match to be the third most successful batsman. Dahiya notched up 137 against Services at Kotla to show his batting ability. Besides, Dahiya behind the stumps took 16 catches and did three stumpings to show that he was the best wicketkeeper batsman in North Zone.

Sehwag displayed his utility as a bowler also claiming 10 wickets to emerge the fourth most successful bowler from his team. Robin Singh, the only bowler to claim three five-wicket haul, from Delhi and second along with Ashwani overall was the best bowler of Delhi, while Bhandari, scalping 15 wickets showed good promise.

For Punjab Dinesh Mongia, skipper Vikram Rathore, Pankaj Dharmani and young Reetinder Sodhi did the bulk of the scoring. Mongia, who hit an unbeaten 114 against Himachal Pradesh and two half centuries ended the league fixtures with an impressive average of 66.20, the highest from the side. Rathore, who made 146 against Jammu and Kashmir at Amritsar, scored 386 runs, the maximum from Punjab. Lanky and sprightly-built Bharat Bhushan proved his utility as a good medium pacer. Bhushan had a creditable haul of 7 for 84 in the match against Haryana. Medium pacer Harvinder Singh did well against Himachal Pradesh claiming 7 for 53 at Mandi. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who got to play only two matches, reaped a rich harvest of 15 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls, six for 69 vs Delhi being his best effort.

Haryana had a lackluster run the performances of Pankaj Thakur and Pradeep Jain and the lone century (145) scored by the former skipper Amanjeet Kaypee versus Punjab being the exceptions. Most of their batsmen failed to prosper. Opener Jitender Singh and Shafeeq Khan, earlier touted as the batsmen with potential, came a cropper.

The introduction of the new format has, in fact, resulted in the championship losing much of the competitiveness among the six teams of the zone qualification of the relatively stronger teams — Punjab, Delhi and Haryana — and elimination of the rest — Services, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — becoming a foregone conclusion.