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| SPORT TRIBUNE | Saturday, July 22, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
Sampras, Williams sisters to the fore From star to nobody Hat-tricks in Test cricket By Ramu Sharma THE All-India Women’s Hockey Federation’s decision to merge with the Indian Hockey Federation could not have come sooner. The news of the impending merger has been in the air for some time but has been reportedly given a final shape only now. One cannot blame the AIWHF for delaying on the decision. Amateur eyes pro circuit |
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Sampras, Williams sisters to the fore THIS year’s Wimbledon
championship, supposed to be the world’s most prestigious grass court competition, belonged to Pete Sampras and the Williams sisters. Some kind of hype was also associated with this year’s tournament mainly because no other major sporting event was taking place simultaneously. The previous three editions of the Wimbledon had been hampered by inclement weather which disrupted the schedule of matches, but nothing of that sort happened this time. Conduct of all the matches was as smooth as Sampras’ scintillating strokeplay and serve-and-volley game. The world No. 1 pocketed his seventh Wimbledon title and his record 13th singles Grand Slam championship. The American has also now won his last 28 matches at the All-England Club. Sampras’ four-set win against Patrick Rafter, who staged a remarkable comeback after nearly five months of injury lay off, may seem quite efficient and fluent, but it actually was a see-saw battle that could have swung in anybody’s favour as was admitted by the American in his post-match press briefing. After having lost the first set tie-break to the burly Australian, Sampras was trailing 4-1 in the second set tie-break. But he turned around the match to square up the first set loss and then win the next two rather comfortably. Rafter, on the other hand, may not be feeling too disappointed as he reached the finals of this prestigious championship by defeating many stars in the earlier rounds and one of the favourites for the crown Andre Agassi in the semi-finals. The effervescent American also played well in the entire tournament until his five-set loss in the semis. The clinical precision with which Agassi demolished his opponents made him more fancied to win his semi-final encounter, but he somehow could not pull it off in the crunch moments. Stoichkov, a relatively unknown player and a qualifier, was the fourth player to make it to the semis. Although, he had a fine run upto the last four stage, he clearly lacked the firepower to upset the applecart of Pete Sampras. The women’s results at the Wimbledon revealed the emergence of a new generation of serve-smashing young stars headed by the Williams sisters-Venus and Serena. Both played immaculate tennis and it was unfortunate that they were not in opposite halves which forced them to play semi-finals instead of the finals, as their father Richard Williams wanted it to happen. Venus Williams bludgeoned Martina Hingis and then over whelmed Lindsay Davenport’s power with her own. After missing two months with a knee injury, Serena Williams entered the championship without a warm-up match. But she dropped just one service game in four rounds, took less than an hour to dismantle most of her opponents and discovered the only obstacle in her journey to the title was her elder sister in the semifinal. As a proof to their dominance, the two won their doubles match after being woken up at 8.30 a.m. by a phone call from their mother. Just four hours after the wake-up call, Venus and Serena Williams walked out on the Centre Court. The unranked, unseeded wild-card entrants into the competition defeated Julie halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama for the
title. After the sisters embraced at the net, they held up the trophy to provide one last Wimbledon snapshot of their invincibility. The rest of the tour seemed a bit unsettled by their surge. Hingis once had the genius to diffuse any opponent’s power. Two years ago, her confidence was unrivalled, Hingis seemed broken after her semifinal loss to Venus Williams. |
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From star to nobody THE
marginalisation of a once magnificent athlete couldn’t have been more complete as one watches the partially-paralysed Pardamun Singh, writhing in pain and spitting venom on the government’s insensitivity towards him for the past four decades. Pardamun Singh, a medal winner in three Asian Games till 1962, is a nobody today. Forgotten by an
ungrateful nation in whose name he won laurels. That was till this year when the Sports Ministry suddenly decided to confer the Arjuna Award on the 75-year-old athlete. Pardamun Singh never smiled the day he learnt that this year’s Arjuna Award in athletics was his. But he has been caught in the vortex of uncertainty — to accept or not to accept the award. He has his own reasons for this. Was the government sleeping all these years, he asks in a voice heavy with emotion and anger. Why where his numerous petitions, addressed to bureaucrats and wily politicians for a job, thrown into dustbins? Meeting the great athlete is an education in itself. About 40 km from Bathinda is a bustling hamlet — Bhagta Bhai Ka. There appears a small modest home, no name plate just a number 92 inscribed on a pillar. This is where Pardamun Singh lives. Pardamun Singh lies on a cot, paralysed after he met with an accident in 1982. “No one has ever visited me to know how I am doing, before the Arjuna Award was announced”, was the first thing he said. In another room in a corner stands a cupboard where chipped medals, rusting cups, frayed clippings and faded photographs vie for space. He vividly remembers the tricolour rising when he won the shot put gold in the 1954 Manila Asiad “feeling like a war hero”. Then he remembers the next four decades he spent in complete desolation. From 1950 1960 he was the undisputed king of Indian athletics. He recounts some lively episodes while representing India. Suddenly the smile on his bearded face freezes, replaced with an angry frown as he tells you stories about the government’s callous attitude. The latest among the series is the Rs 1 lakh promised by a Union Cabinet Minister in February this year, which has yet to see the light of day. For a legend like Pardamun Singh, it’s not only the poverty that hurts. It is the indignity of worthy men who take sadistic pleasure in throwing petitions and job applications into dustbins. Men like Pardamun Singh knew there were no guarantees that if you represented India you would be rich, famous and satisfied. But, at least they deserved honour. And even honour is at a premium for them.
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Hat-tricks
in Test cricket ABDUR
RAZZAQ became the second Pakistani after Wasim Akram and the 24th bowler in Test cricket to perform a hat-trick. He achieved this feat by dismissing Romesh
Kaluwitharana, caught by Moin Khan, Rangana Herath, leg before, and
Ravindra, Pushpakumara, leg before off the fourth, fifth and sixth balls of his eleventh over in Sri Lanka’s first innings at Galle on June 21. At 20 years and 203 days he was the youngest to achieve this feat, beating South African Geoff Griffith by a few months. Griffith took a hat-trick against England at Lord’s in 1960. The first bowler to perform the hat-trick in Test cricket was an Australian, Frederick Robert
Spofforth, who dismissed three in a row in his six for 48 against England at Melbourne in 1878-79. Spofforth’s victims in the hat-trick were V.Royle F.Mackinnon and T. Emmett. England’s Willie Bates was the second bowler to perform this feat. He achieved this feat against Australia at Melbourne in 1882-83 by dismissing P.S McDonnell, G.Giffen and
G.J. Bonnor in the first innings. In the 1891-92 series against Australia at Sydney, England’s John Briggs performed the third hat-trick in Test cricket. He ended Australia’s second innings with this hat-trick dismissing W. F.
Giffen, S. T. Callaway and J. M. Blackham. George Alfred Lohman of England recorded the fourth hat-Trick in Test cricket against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96. He ended the match on the second day with a hat-trick . F. J. Cook, J. Middleton and J. T. Willoughby were his victims. The fifth bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket was England’s John Thomas Hearne. Hearne did the hat-trick in Australia’s second innings at Leeds in 1899 when he dismissed C. Hill, S. E. Gregory and M. A. Noble for ‘ducks’. Australian Hugh Trumble was the first bowler in the 20th century to record the hat-trick in Test cricket. Trumble performed this feat against England at Melbourne in the 1901-02 series by dismissing. A. O. Jones,
J.R. Gunn and S. F. Barnes. ON his final appearance against England at Melbourne in 1903-04, Trumble performed his second hat-trick dismissing. B.
Bosanquet, P.Warner and A. Lilley in England’s second innings. At Old Trafford, Manchester, in 1912, Australian Thomas John Matthews created a unique Test record by taking a hat-trick in each innings, both instances being on the second day of the match. T. Ward bagged a “king pair” being the third victim of both hat-tricks. Matthew’s other victims in the hat-trick were S.J.Pegler and R.Beaumont in the first innings and R. O. Smith and
H.W. Taylor in the second. Matthews took all six wickets without assistance from fielders. The eighth bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket was England’s Maurice
Allom. Playing in his first Test match against New Zealand at Christchurch in the 1929-30 series, he took four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick, in his eighth over on his first day of Test cricket. Allom’s hat-trick victims were T. C. Lowry, K. C. James and F. T.
Badcock. Englishman Thomas William John Goddard was the ninth bowler to perform a hat-Trick. He achieved this feat by dismissing A.
Nourse, N. Gordon and W. Wade in South Africa’s first innings at Johannesburg in the 1938-39 series. It was the 11th hat-trick in the history of Test cricket. In the 1957 series against the West Indies at Leeds, Peter Loader dismissed
J.D.C. Goddard, S. Ramadin and R. Gilchrist in the first innings to complete the first hat-trick for England in a home Test since 1899. Slow left-arm unorthodox Lindsay Kline of Australia was the 11th bowler to enter this elite club. He did the hat-trick by dismissing
E.Fuller, H. Tayfield and N. Adcock in South Africa’s second innings at Cape Town in 1957-58. The first West Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket was Wesley Hall. Hall dismissed Mushtaq Mohammed, Fazal Mehmood and Nasim-ul-Ghani in Pakistan’s first innings at
Bagh-i-Jinnah, Lahore in 1958-59 to perform the same. In the 1960 series against England at Lord’s, Geoffrey Merton Griffin became the only bowler to take a hat-trick for South Africa when he dismissed
M.J.K. Smith with the last ball of one over P.M Walker and F.S. Trueman with the first two balls of his next. It was also the first hat-trick in a Test match at Lord’s. It was Griffin’s final test match of his career. Lance Gibbs was the second West Indian to achieve a hat-trick in a Test match. Gibbs dismissed R.D. Mackay,
A.T.W. Grout and F.M.Mission in Australia’s first innings at Adelaide in 1960-61 to perform the 16th hat-trick in Test cricket. The second bowler to record a hat-trick on his debut was New Zealand’s off-spinner Peter James
Petherick. Petherick dismissed debutant Javed Miandad. Wasim Raja and Intikhab Alam in successive balls in Pakistan’s first innings a Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, in the 1976-77 series. Courtney Walsh achieved the 18th hat-trick in Test cricket at Brisbane in 1988-89 when he had Australian.
A.I.C. Dodemaide caught off his last ball in the first innings and dismissed M.Veletta and G.Wood with his first two balls in the second. It was first hat-trick to involve both innings. In the next Test of the series at Perth, Australian Merv Hughes achieved the mostextended hat-trick in Test history, having ended the first innings by dismissing Curtly Ambrose with the last ball of his 36th over and Patrick Patterson with his first ball of the 37th over, he had Gorden Greenidge leg before with the first ball of the second innings. The third player to take a hat-trick on debut was Australian Damien. Fleming achieved this feat by dismissing Aamer
Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Salim Malik in Pakistan’s second innings at Rawalpindi in the 1994-95 series. Shane Warne was the 19th bowler to perform a hat-trick in Test cricket. Warne achieved this feat by dismissing Darrein Gough, Philip DeFreitas and Devon Malcolm in England’s second innings at Melbourne in the 1994-95 Ashes series. After Shane
Warne, England’s Dominic Cork became the 20th bowler to join this elite club. Bowling from the Stretford End at Manchester in the 1995 series, Cork picked off Richie Richardson. Junior Murray and Carl Hooper to become only the eighth England bowler to do the hat-trick, the first since Peter Loader surprised West Indies at Headingley in 1952. England’s Paceman Darrein Gough marked the final Ashes Test of the Century with the first hat-trick for England against Australia in this century at Sydney cricket ground in 1998-99. Gough first dismissed Ian Healy, caught by
Hegg, and then clean bowled Stuart MacGill and Colin Miller with lethal yorkers to become the ninth Englishman to get a hat-trick in the history of Test cricket. It was the 23rd hat trick at this level of cricket. Pakistan’s pace bowler Wasim Akram recorded the 24th hat-trick in Test cricket. He achieved this feat when he dismissed Rumesh
Kaluwtharana, Niroshan Bandaratilleke and Pramodaya Wickremasinghe on his first three balls of his ninth over in Sri Lanka’s first innings in the third Test of the Asian Test championship at Lahore in 1998-99. It was for the first time that a hat-trick has been recorded against Sri Lanka. In the final of the Asian Test Championship against Sri Lanka at Dhaka, Wasim Akram achieved his second hat-trick in Test cricket by dismissing Asanka
Gunawardane, Chaminda Vaas and Mahela Jayawardene on the fifth and sixth ball of his first over and first ball of the second over. Akram’s first over was the first in Sri Lanka’s second innings while his second over was the third of the
innings. Nuwan Zoysa achieved the first ever hat-trick for Sri Lanka in Test cricket by dismissing three Zimbabwean batsmen in his very first three balls in the match at Harare in 1999-2000 Zoysa bowling the second over of the Zimbabwean innings, trapped Trevor Gripper leg before with his first ball. He persuaded Murray Goodwin to edge a catch wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana with his second ball. His third victim was Neil Johnson, leg before. |
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Merger will benefit women’s hockey THE
All-India Women’s Hockey Federation’s decision to merge with the Indian Hockey Federation could not have come sooner. The news of the impending merger has been in the air for some time but has been reportedly given a final shape only now. One cannot blame the AIWHF for delaying on the decision. It’s hesitation was understandable. Fears of loss of identity and independence must have weighed heavily on the minds of the officials running women’s hockey. Of course, as is usual with such impending mergers, minor items are given more importance. There is no need for the AIWHF to insist on any pre-conditions before the actual merger. There is no doubt that the IHF will be more than accommodating and ensure that the officials from the AIWHF be given responsibilities matching their capabilities. The AIWHF must view the merger as a major step in the promotion of women’s hockey. So far, all these years, women’s hockey in India, has survived and, nay even flourished, without having the advantage of strong roots. It is indeed a miracle that a few dedicated officials have managed to put Indian women’s hockey on such a high pedestal on the Asian scene, a runners-up berth in the Asian Games and second place in the Asian championships at both the senior and junior level. The women could have made an impact even at the world level but for some unforseen problems within the team. The fact that Indian women have taken such strides without a proper base at the school, college and state level means the country has enough talent waiting to be discovered and trained. And the merger with men’s hockey will go a long way in giving women’s hockey a great chance to prosper from the roots. The success of Indian women’s hockey in the Asian scene is one of the mysteries of Indian sport. This is a game which has an efficient but a top-heavy administration and nothing really to show at the grassroots level. Of the affiliated units people generally talk about the work done by Chandigarh, Mumbai and Maharashtra as functional units thereby meaning that these centres hold tournaments at certain levels and women’s hockey is an active proposition. Strangely enough, barring of course the Railways, there is little evidence of activity in most of the States. One has not heard of any Inter-Club Championship or State League in Delhi or for that matter in a majority of the affiliated units. The office in Shivaji Stadium has hardly been used. And as for clubs, there may be some on paper but not in action. Even the Inter-College Hockey Championship is a non-existing discipline and if at all it is ever held in the recent times, there are no more than three or four colleges which send teams. Hockey for girls at schools level is unheard of. To have a national body one must have votes from the affiliated units and to have State associations there must be clubs and institutions on the rolls, with teams that are involved in various hockey functions. And if the various affiliated units have no clubs and thus no regular field activity, where do the officials who represent the States in the national body draw their authority from? One cannot compare the working of the IHF with the AIWHF. With rare exceptions perhaps, all the affiliated units conduct regular league and championships and at the national level the IHF holds many major championships. In addition to these there are the various tournaments at the national level with the Nehru Hockey Society alone conducting age group tournaments and a colleges level meet after its major offering, the Nehru Senior Hockey Tournament. Neither at the state level or at the national level can the AIWHF even think of matching the IHF in terms of actual effort. So far the AIWHF has been conducting the junior and senior nationals and building up teams for the Asian Games and Asian Championships and other internationals when invited. But there has been very little effort made to run even the routine league and state championships. The AIWHF should thus make the most of the merger. Normally mergers take place between two equal units. In this case the IHF is acknowledged as the more versatile and superior in every respect with a tradition which goes way back, before even Independence. Women’s hockey at the state-level was perhaps active in the years immediately after partition mainly because of the Anglo-Indians who were natural addicts of sport in any form. Things have changed over the years and it is only in recent times that women’s hockey has taken an identity of its own. Now it has a chance to expand its canvas to bring more and more players under its patronage. In this respect, with the merger, it can explore the possibilities of the various men’s clubs and institutions at the state-level starting a women’s wing at both the junior and senior level. A drive could also be made to encourage the various schools and colleges to include hockey as a competitive game for women. A look at the national championships at both the senior and junior level showed that Adivasi girls were the dominant factor in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa and these teams invariably finished among the last four if not in the final two. The reason for the Adivasis taking to this sport despite the lack of proper administrative machinery is the employment opportunities which are automatically opened. This possibility should be stressed to girls and women in other centres too. The All-India Women’s Hockey Federation should see this merger as an opportunity to promote the game at an all-India level and not merely as bowing to pressure from the International Federation. It is an opportunity which will open up new avenues for women’s hockey, both at the national and international level. The Indian Olympic Association too has a duty to ensure that the merger will not affect the identity of the two bodies. So far it has given patronage to women’s hockey without demanding that it expand its promotional activities on the domestic front. After the merger the IOA’s responsibilities will increase and women’s hockey administration will come under pressure to ensure proper functioning at the state-level. The combined body after merger will mean that there will be more responsibilities for both the men and women, the women in particular. It is a challenge which the present lot of officials looking after women’s hockey are quite capable of meeting.
Amateur eyes pro circuit RAHUL Ganapathy (20) has decided to turn professional before this month is out. He feels that he is ripe enough to participate among Indian pros under the umbrella of the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI). Ganapathy from Mysore, took this spot decision after he won the title in the 99th Amateur Golf Championship of India. He amply demonstrated that apart from possessing sound technique and skill, he carried a very sharp mind. What was remarkable about him was that he did not get overawed by the occasion and the reputation of many renowned players in the field. Ganapathy’s victory was considered a major upset of the championship. His seeding suggested that. Even the runner-up, Saurabh Bahuguna, was seeded very low. Both met in the final. Happy indeed Ganapathy was on his winning the prestigious title, but he was focussed throughout the competition. He was four up on the first day and when he become three up on the second day he felt that he was, in effect, one down. This kind of thinking kept him focussed and it brought him fruitful outcome. Ganapathy hits a long ball. His driving is consistent. As he neared the title, he hit most of the fairways and many regulations on the final day. The analysts feel that he possesses promise and his doings in the pro circuit will be watched with more than keen interest by his coach, Brandon D’Souza and Sudarshan. Candid, he says that he always consults D’Souza whenever in trouble. “He has helped me in short game also” says Ganapathy. In the Ganapathy-Bahuguna final, spectators, though not many, were supportive of the local player. But it did not upset him at all. In fact, he thought within himself that they were clapping for him. This mature thinking saw him carry the day. Considered the most important tournament in the country for amateurs, there was no qualifying round. The field was open to all players with the handicap of 7 and under. As many as 128 players took part on the first day. One of the most exciting moments came for the 16-year-old Manav Jaini, who shocked the defending champion and top seed Lalith Kumara (Sri-Lanka) in the third round. Golf in Bangladesh Judging from the manner and style in which the SAARC Championship was recently conducted in Dhaka, golf in Bangladesh is on the take off just as cricket is. For this, the country has to thank Lt. Gen M.M. Rehman, who is not only a fine patrox but a very keen student of the game. The venue for the third meet will be either Kathmandu or Colombo. Both are good venues as there are beautiful courses. The championship has come to stay and will be held on rotation basis annually. The first meet was held at Bangalore. According to veteran golfers, there should be more competitions between junior players of the two countries. Bangladesh is not devoid of talent. The more the competitions Indian boys play, the better will it be for them. Promising show In winning the Amit Verma Championship at Delhi on June 30, Girish Virk (DAV College-Chandigarh) showed his promise and talent. His gross score was 226. Participating in the special category (18-21), Girish played consistently with the scores of 74, 78 and 74. The fourth day’s play was washed out. Girish is a good striker of the ball, but he has to concentrate on his short game. His city-mate Vikramajit Singh finished runner-up. Both are aspirate to represent Chandigarh in the National Games. |
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Williams’ dedication pays off IT was a great emotional experience to see Venus Williams winning the Wimbledon singles final. She jumped, laughed and danced like a child. Her ecstacy and joy was not only shared by the spectators present on the court but by millions all over the world watching her on television. At last her love of the game, dedication and hard work have borne fruit and she stands tall among the champions. I earnestly hope and wish to see her touch new heights of glory in the years to come. M.S. SODHI II Three cheers to Venus Williams for eclipsing defending champion Lindsay Davenport. The athletic 20-year old clinched her maiden singles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. She along with younger sister Serena, won the rain-delayed women’s doubles final also to list the third Grand Slam doubles title. She also deserves kudos for being the only and the first African-American beauty to win women’s single title since Gibson in 1958. She won £ 43,000. Serena also does not lag behind. The 18-year-old had won the US Open last year. Now they are the first sisters to win the Grand Slam title. May they continue their feats and add more feathers to their caps. HARSUKH MANJIT Kudos to Walsh West Indies speed merchant Courtney Walsh deserves to be congratulated on his splendid bowling performance. Walsh took 10 wickets in the second Test at Lord’s taking his tally of wickets to 467. West Indies lost this match but Walsh had almost won it for his side with a haul of six wickets in the second innings. Walsh has still three more Tests in the current series with the five-Test series against Australia to follow. The way he is bowling at the age of 37, he is sure to touch the 500-wicket mark. Even at this stage he possesses the same sting and accuracy which have been his hallmark since his entry into cricket. V.N. SHARMA Indian hockey Cricket has now become suspect due to match-fixing allegations. We watch cricket only to kill time and not with interest. During the seventies hockey was very popular in India. After 1970, cricket almost killed hockey. During the seventies and prior to that hockey used to be played with interest in colleges, schools and even in open spaces in the streets and in villages. Indian hockey was at its peak at the international level at that time. After 1970, the place of hockey was completely overtaken by cricket. Punjab, which is known as
the nursery of hockey, also could not withstand this severe attack of cricket. Olympic Games are drawing near. If the Indian hockey team wins the gold then hockey can regain its place. I wish Ramandeep Singh and his team-mates bring the hockey gold. India last won the Olympic gold in 1980 in Moscow but that cannot be termed as a big win because most of the countries at that time had boycotted the Games. PRITPAL SINGH |
