Drastic case of withdrawal symptoms?
By Ramu Sharma
Expectedly Indian athletes, in large numbers, were eliminated very early in the Sydney Olympics. With rare exceptions, they failed routinely, making their exit without a murmur, their performance far below their best achieved at home. Once again they proved that in recent years they could roar at home but only whimper abroad. What could be the reason for this drastic drop in standards once outside of the country, particularly on the Olympic arena? 

Aiming to play Davis Cup
By Pawan Kapoor
Nineteen-year-old Mustafa Ghouse is one of the top-ranked and upcoming players of India. Mustafa, who is ranked 840th in singles and 400 in doubles in the ATP rankings and No 4 in India, started playing tennis at the age of five when his uncle bought him his first tennis racquet. His uncle, Ilyas Ghouse, who is a famous tennis coach based at Hyderabad, gave him coaching from day one and is still coaching him. Ilyas himself a good player at one time has his own coaching centres at Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Smiles, tears help cement tennis
Venus smiled, the Woodies wept and Yevgeny Kafelnikov added his name to the long list of great Russian Olympians. But the stars were not the only ones to sparkle in the sunshine at the Olympic tennis tournament.

Coping with problem of doping in Olympic Games
By Pravin Kumar

JUST two days before the start of the Sydney Olympic Games, China withdrew 27 of its athletes because their blood tests were “suspicious”. The Taiwanese weightlifter Chen Po-Pu, the Bulgarian long and triple jumper Ivan Prandzheva, the Kazak swimmer Yevgenia Yermakova — were all barred from the Games after they failed drug tests Romania had to withdraw its entire weightlifting team after the Games began, for doping offences.

“The Sydney Games is the most drug-tested Games in history”, declared U.S. drugs chief Barry McCaffrey. He said that the world anti-doping agency had tested 2,040 athletes from various sports disciplines. He has been critical of the International Olympics Committee’s (IOC) commitment to fighting drugs.

In India, there has been no talk of testing for dope even after 19 national records were broken last year. The death of a 32-year-old discus thrower, Ajit Bhaduria, last month has been put down to doping, but this is difficult to prove because there is no accredited laboratory in India for testing. Ashwini Kumar, Vice-President of the IOC, has been quoted as saying that there is rampant doping in India today. Indian champions performance abroad is nowhere near their personal best at home.

A tacit admission of the problem was made when, for the first time, at the Sydney Games, the athletes’ oath included a pledge against the use of drugs at the Games. Many of the performances once believed to have been due to scientific training and natural endowment are now believed to be the result of performance-enhancing drugs. The reason for the rampant use of drugs, according to Columbia University’s National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), is the proliferation of sponsorship deals, financial incentives and a lack of effective policing of drugs.

A week before the Sydney Games started, CASA released a report entitled “Winning at any cost: doping in Olympics”. The report was panned by critics as being out of date because it was based on research conducted in 1996. However, reports of athletes being withdrawn from the Games or failing in drug tests as well as of an Uzbek Olympic official being held at Sydney airport with vials of human growth hormone (a drug banned for athletes) suggest that drug abuse is still a live issue in sport.

Many performance-enhancing substances (also called ‘ergogenic aids’) are banned by the IOC and the international governing bodies of various sports. The IOC defines drug use or doping as “administration or use by a competitive athlete of any substance foreign to the body, or any physiological substance taken in abnormal quantity, or taken by an abnormal route of entry into the body, with the sole intention of increasing in an artificial and unfair manner his/her performance in competition”. However, even vitamins could be considered as drugs when they are used in excess of normal need, though athletes have a high requirement of water-soluble vitamins, as well as of foods.

Many athletes believe that caffeine confers endurance, but the evidence is that coffee and other caffeine-containing products have negative effects on blood cholesterol and blood-pressure — two of the risk factors for heart diseases.

In the ancient Olympics, competitors fortified themselves with strychnine-laced alcohol or mushroom potions, possibly hallucinogenic, to mask pain. As early as the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis, a US marathon runner took ill after consuming a mixture of strychnine and egg-white.

Anabolic steroids

Among the commonest erogogenic aids are anabolic steroids, these are taken by male and female athletes because they increase lean muscle mass if taken along with intensive exercise and a high-protein, high-calorie diet. Anabolic steroids also stimulate the production of red blood cells, thereby increasing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and enhancing the capacity for intensive training.

In the 1940s and 1950s, anabolic steroids were openly used by Olympic weightlifers. At the 1956 World Games in Moscow, it became apparent that the Soviet athletes’ performance had been made with the aid of testosterone.

Many anabolic steroids are illicit, being manufactured in ‘underground’ laboratories. The only anabolic steroids listed in the 1998 British National Formulary are nandrolone (‘deca-durabolin’ and stanozolol (‘stromba’). Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, tested positive for stanozolol at the 1988 Olympics and was stripped of his medal.

In target sports like archery, darts, snooker, shooting and billiards, ‘beta-blockers’ are used for minimising tremors and anxiety. Also used are alcohol, benzodiazepines and barbiturates. At the 1988 Winter Olympics the IOC’s Medical Committee decided to test for beta-blockers in the biathlon, bob-sled, figure and ski-jumping competitions.

Diuretics, which stimulate urine production, may be used to lose weight and thus enable competitors to take part in lower-weight categories in sports such as wrestling; or they may used to help mask the effect of other drugs. Diuretics include spironolactone and furosemide. On September 13, the Kazak swimmer Yevgenia Yermakova was barred from the Sydney Games after having tested positive for furosemide.

The natural hormone erythropoeitin (EPO) may be used during the build-up to the competitions phase of training to increase the number of circulating red blood cells, which in turn improves endurance. EPO kills if not given under medical supervision. EPO is difficult to detect in the body because it disappears very quickly. The only way is to carry out frequent snap tests on the same athlete. One difficulty is that the blood must be tested within eight hours of being taken, which means that the laboratory has to be located near the stadium.

Blood doping

Blood doping is also a forbidden practice for athletes. It involves the transfusion of the athletes’ own, previously withdrawn and stored blood. It gives the athlete an overnight improvement in oxygen-carrying capacity. in 1,500-metre runners, an infusion of 400 ml of previously frozen blood enhanced performance by 1.7 per cent, which translated into a lowering of the race time by 4.5 seconds.

Blood doping can be detected by testing. Most sports federations follow the standards laid out by the IOC’s medical code. Drug testing of athletes’ urine is done at 25 accredited laboratories and costs more than $ 33 million a year. Tests are also beginning to take into account information on how drug metabolism differs among various ethnic groups. One problem is that urine is not refrigerated or frozen until it reaches the laboratory, by which time it can undergo biochemical changes.

Nowadays, stringent precautions are being taken to prevent tampering with urine samples. Under the “in competition” rules, the first four finishers in an event, plus one competitor chosen at random, are automatically tested. 

Drastic case of withdrawal symptoms?
By Ramu Sharma

Expectedly Indian athletes, in large numbers, were eliminated very early in the Sydney Olympics. With rare exceptions, they failed routinely, making their exit without a murmur, their performance far below their best achieved at home. Once again they proved that in recent years they could roar at home but only whimper abroad. What could be the reason for this drastic drop in standards once outside of the country, particularly on the Olympic arena? Are Indian athletes afraid of competition or do they suffer from a complex? Or is it something much more? One thing is certain. Athletes of the earlier era, at least the men till 1976, often used to perform better or least on most occasions repeat the performance recorded at home. The women came into their own from 1984 when a bunch of youngsters led by P.T. Usha all but revolutionised Indian women athletics.

One clearly remembers and recollects the deeds of Milkha, Gurbachan, Sriram Singh, T.C Yohannan, Labh Singh, Bhim Singh, Hari Chand, shiv Nath Singh, Edward Sequeira and some others, all great hearted athletes who loved competition and sought and did improve upon their home performance. And they did it without the facilities and comforts so easily available to the modern day athletes.

But over the years and among men in particular, the spirit of competition no longer endures and despite the many incentives and cash and other inducements, performances are only recorded for home consumption. The Amateur Athletics Federation of India is satisfied, the coaches are happy and the athletes are rewarded. Improvements recorded are lauded even though most of the marks appear to lack authenticity. There are reports of contrived timings and distances and worst of all, charges of performance-enhancing drugs being taken are openly made.

In fact this year when Indian athletes appear to have made the maximum progress and many records have been updated, there has been the maximum complaints about drug induced progress with some of the athletes openly charging the coaches of giving them vitamin tablets and injections. The media has mentioned these charges but has not been able to provoke the officials of the federation . In fact the federation has been totally silent and the President of the AAFI has even reportedly gone a step further and said that India does not have drug problems.

One does not have to really look for proof. All it needs is to assess the performance of the Sydney bound athletes, compare and contrast the timings and distances recorded at home and those returned in Sydney. Maybe the AAFI President and Secretary will face the truth and try and remedy the situation. As things stand Indian performance in athletics is more of an “illusion” , a mirage which the coaches and officials appear to having given a true lifelike meaning. Hence the feeling of being cheated.

It must be mentioned here that everyone who knows anything about athletics and international standards will know that India does not have a medal winning chance. But all that is asked of the Indian competitors is that they should at least make an effort and repeat the performances recorded at home. That is a very simple demand. Unfortunately the reverse works. The athletes, most of them, are not even able to reach the standards set at home. Some of them go much below that, very much below.

Take for instance the performance of Neelam J. Singh the woman discus thrower. For the past two to three years this young lady had generally improved with successive competitions and this year attained amazing heights. And what does she do at Sydney? She touches her lower form and finishes with 55.26 mts which gives her the 14th place among 16 competitors in her qualifying group. And according to one report she had an opening hit of 33.22 mts! And just look at the pre-Sydney chart: In the last six meets beginning with the one at Nagercoil, she had this excellent series of marks: 61.37 mts, 59.22 mts, 61.30 mts, 62.49 mts, 63.02 mts and 59.65 mts. And then there was the Asian title at Jakarta at 60.75 mt.

Now let us examine Shakti Singh’s adventures at Sydney. The maximum he could reach was 18.40 mts, his worst in two years. He finished 17th in his group containing 19 competitors. And his performance chart before Sydney? He had five throws of over 20 mts and six others over 19 mts, including one over 19.80 mts. Bahadur Singh who has been closing in on Shakti, but well behind generally, did better than his more famous rival, reaching 18.70 mts. But he is a 19 plus man?

We now take the case of Jagdish Bishnoi, the javelin thrower. He managed only 70.86 mts and was placed 15th among 17 competitors in his group. And he is the Asian champion, recently crowned in Jakarta where he hurled the spear to 76.81 mts. And he has done better, having recorded 79.67 mts at Chennai.

Will someone in the federation explain the drop in performances of the throwers for a start? How is it the same athletes won the Asian titles a month ago though the performances even then compared poorly with the ones at home? What went wrong with Sydney? Were they overwhelmed with the atmosphere or did all of them suddenly feel week, lack of energy or pep?

This sudden weakness or lack of competitive will if you can call it at a moment when you are required to do your best is something inexplicable. What was it that gave these athletes strength and energy to break records earlier and what was taken away from them at Sydney, rendering them incapable of normal performance. Or was it a drastic case of the withdrawal symptoms? Will the federation please enlighten the world about the cause for the sudden failure of the athletes to perform?

Aiming to play Davis Cup
By Pawan Kapoor

Nineteen-year-old Mustafa Ghouse is one of the top-ranked and upcoming players of India. Mustafa, who is ranked 840th in singles and 400 in doubles in the ATP rankings and No 4 in India, started playing tennis at the age of five when his uncle bought him his first tennis racquet. His uncle, Ilyas Ghouse, who is a famous tennis coach based at Hyderabad, gave him coaching from day one and is still coaching him. Ilyas himself a good player at one time has his own coaching centres at Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Mustafa’s dream is to play Davis Cup for India. He is been working hard and wants to make his presence felt. I spoke to him at Jakarta, Indonesia. He replied all the answers smiling. He says that he is completely immersed in tennis and has to work hard. He practices tennis five hours every day and does fitness training for one and a half hours everyday. His trainer, Mr Shyam Rao from Mysore presently working in the UAE, had come all the way to Indonesia. Mr Rao is trainer of Pralhad Srinath, Indian Davis Cup player also. Mr Rao said he was working on Mustafa’s footwork and shoulder so that he could move fast on the court and could give more power to his strokes and service.

Mustafa did very well in the nationals last year, where he lost in the final to sensational giant killer 16-year-old unseeded Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh 6-7, 0-6, 6-4, 4-6. On his way to the final he defeated Nitin Kirtane of Pune, the top seed in the quarter-finals and then Vasudev Reddy, the third seed, in the semifinals. Mustafa played very well till the final but choked badly against 16-year-old Sunil Kumar of Chandigarh. Sunil Kumar is the only player to win the nationals at the age of 16 after Ramesh Krishnan.

Mustafa consider his best victory to be over Wel Green of Israel 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at the Bangalore Future in January this year. He thinks that Pralhad Srinath is the best player after Leander and Mahesh Bhupati. His favourite players are Pete Sampras and Stephen Edberg. He admire them and wants to play like them.

Tall and well-built, Mustafa is a good server and volleyer. His strength is his first service and attacking volley. He has the potential to beat any big player on his day. He is playing tots of satellite and future tennis tournaments in India and abroad to improve his ATP ranking so he can participate in challenger tournaments. He says that its not worth playing satellite and future tournaments because there is not enough money. He says if you win these tournaments or reach the final you break even. Otherwise you lose money in every tournament. He says challenger tournaments carry lots of prize money but then these tournaments are tough ones and difficult to set in. Mustafa does not want to comment on the AITA selection Committee but appreciates AITA for having lots of future and satellite tournaments in India. He thinks it is an advantage for Indians to play at home grounds and in Indian conditions. He loves to play at Mumbai. He said that its very difficult to get sponsors these days. His sponsor is his father but says its very difficult for even his father to sponsor him for every tournament and you have to play maximum tournaments to improve your ranking.Wilson Sports Goods Co and Nike Sports Wear are sponsoring him for racquets and clothes but for the rest he has to manage by himself and by his father, who is working with Mohindra and Mohindra at Mumbai. He says its very important to get financial assistance to compete in international tournaments.

He wants to request all the former big players and AITA to come forward and help getting sponsors for up and coming players of India.

At present Mustafa is preparing hard for the Jordan futures and Sriram Open in October.

His hobbies are travelling making new friends and watching movies. He loves to spend vacations in Goa. He is so much involved in tennis that he says his studies can wait. First he wants to fulfil his dream for India in the Davis Cup.

Smiles, tears help cement tennis

Venus smiled, the Woodies wept and Yevgeny Kafelnikov added his name to the long list of great Russian Olympians.

But the stars were not the only ones to sparkle in the sunshine at the Olympic tennis tournament.

Christophe Pognon, a wildcard entrant from the tiny African state of Benin, only lasted 38 minutes against Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten. But that was long enough for him to provide one of the moments that make an Olympic Games unique.

At the end of his match he delved into his bag, pulled out a camera and handed it to a bemused ballgirl before posing with Kuerten for a souvenir photograph.

Even a multi-millionairess like Venus Williams was bitten by the Olympic bug. She went home with two golds but says her collection of Olympic pins would be treasured just as fondly.

All of which, combined with sellout crowds and a string of inspired performances from some lesser lights of the tennis world, contributed to a hugely successful tournament that helped to cement tennis’s place within the games.

But it did not manage to quell the debate over whether the Olympic tournament should continue to be run just like any regular tour event.

Many of the top players would like to see the separate singles and doubles competitions replaced by a team event similar to the Davis or Federation Cups.

“Its kind of weird that you are all together as a team but then you might have to play each other, “said Lindsay Davenport, the gold medallist in Atlanta four years ago who was forced to pull out her after the first round through injury. — AFP

DD disappoints Indian public

STAR Sports, ESPN, Sony Max and all such channels of the so-called cable revolution should be shut down forthwith. The greatest sports event i.e. the Olympics was held recently and all these so-called sports channels showed non-events of the year. I had noticed the same during the football World Cup also. Not showing the Olympics on these so-called sports channels is an unpardonable offence.

BALJIT SINGH
Jalandhar

II

By not showing the Olympic Games live on the national network, Doordarshan has disappointed crores of Indians. Moreover DD Sports has been made a pay channel. We request the authorities concerned not to repeat this in future. No one knows when some young boy will get inspired after watching the Olympics.

DR G.S. GILL
Samrala

Hockey campaign

India commenced their Olympic campaign in hockey with a bang. They trounced Argentina, always a bogey team for them in Olympics, 3-0 in their first league match. In their second crunch tie they held strong gold medal contenders Australia to a 2-2 draw. The match was played at breathtaking speed. India, giving a sterling performance, took the lead twice but unluckily Australia equalised on both the occasions. I also congratulate Malleswari who did India proud by becoming the first Indian woman ever to win an Olympic medal.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala

US Open

Three cheers to American youngster Venus Williams for capturing the US Open crown. The 20-year-old sister of Serena, kept alive her winning streak in 26 matches. She just followed Serena as the champion in the $ 15 million US Open. She got a cheque of $ 80,000 along with the top prize for beating compatriot Lindsay Davenport.

HARSUKH MANJEET
Mandi Gobindgarh

II

Hats off to 20-year-old Russian Marat Safin for clinching the prestigious US Open title at New York on September 11 in a war of nerves. Russia born Safin pipped the legendary Pete Sampras to win his maiden Grand Slam title. Marat Safin made it to the finals beating Todd Martin, another experienced tennis player from America. Safin’s American counterpart Pete Sampras entered the finals defeating Lleyton Hewitt to celebrate his 10th anniversary of the Ist Grand Slam crown. Safin’s win is not only a symbol of commitment and dedication but also proves that nothing is impossible.

H. S. DIMPLE
Jagraon

Data incorrect

The data on hockey published on September 8 pertaining to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was incorrect. In the semifinals, Spain beat Australia 2-1, and Holland beat Germany 3-2. In the final Holland beat Spain 3-1. Pakistan were not in the semifinals and finished fifth.

Swinderjit S. Bains
Garhshankar

Akram’s stance

Wasim Akram has bowled a no ball by saying that India are scared of losing to Pakistan. What a fine sense of humour the former Pakistan cricket captain has! He made similar remarks last year as well after Kargil. Everybody knows how he won the Asia Test Championship in March 1999 when Akram-led Pakistan helped Sri Lanka sneak into the final to avoid meeting India in Dhaka. Then in the World Cup we beat Pakistan in Manchester not to forget Sydney ’92 and Bangalore ’96. He is one of the most gifted cricketers but he is not winning that respect because of these things.

Vinish Garg
Chandigarh