Big boost for Sri Lanka cricket
By V. Gangadhar
In the early 1950s when Czechoslovakia was a small, poor nation under the Soviet yoke, the remarkable triumphs of its star athletes, Emil Zatopek and his wife, Dana, came as a real morale booster. Zatopek won the gold medals in the 5000 metres, 10000 metres run and also bagged the marathon. His wife won the Discus throw event. The Czechs forgot the Soviet oppression and walked tall.

IOA elections unanimous compromise!
By Ramu Sharma
THE elections to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) held in New Delhi in the first week of November was a unanimous affair. Also highlighted in the media was the fact that it was unanimous for the first time in 20 years and that the spoils were shared. A scribe even lauded the fact that Kalmadi did not want to punish those who tried to rise in revolt.

TEEING OFF

By K.R. Wadhwaney
Cricket’s fall is golf’s gain
CRICKET’s tragic fall in ethics has been the gain for golf, which has been on the upswing in gaining unprecedented support from sponsors and promoters. With the country disillusioned with cricket’s malpractices, more and more youngsters are taking to golf and the support to spectators has also increased considerably. This is, in a way, a healthy sign because, for long, several sporting disciplines have been neglected by the masses and the media.

Big boost for Sri Lanka cricket
By V. Gangadhar

In the early 1950s when Czechoslovakia was a small, poor nation under the Soviet yoke, the remarkable triumphs of its star athletes, Emil Zatopek and his wife, Dana, came as a real morale booster. Zatopek won the gold medals in the 5000 metres, 10000 metres run and also bagged the marathon. His wife won the Discus throw event. The Czechs forgot the Soviet oppression and walked tall.

Mention Ethiopia, we remember only the endless droughts, starvation deaths, UN aid and civil war. But the nation rejoiced when Abe Bikhila, an Ethiopian soldier, running barefoot won the gold medal for the Olympic marathon. The poor nation rejoiced as never before. The same was the case with Kenya whose long distance runners brought their nation glory at the Olympics. Brazil is often plagued with destruction of rain forests, suppression of native Indians and drug problems, but these are redeemed to a large extent by the achievements of its star footballers, from the time of the ‘Black Pearl’ Pele. The Brazilian football magic had helped to erase the unpleasant problems of the nation.

These thoughts came to my mind as I watched the tiny nation of Sri Lanka thrash India by a whopping margin 245 runs in the final of the Coca-Cola limited overs cricket tournament at Sharjah. Poor India were bowled out for a record low score of 54 and went down by one of the biggest margins in this type of cricket. The Sri Lankans won all their matches and their performances under skipper Sanath Jayasuriya was simply awesome.

From the time Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, the nation had been on a high. Of course, Sri Lanka had its ups downs in its cricketing fortunes and would like to forget the 1999 World Cup in England in a hurry. But the team seems to have recovered its winning vein, under Jayasuriya and coach Dave Whatmore. On today’s form, Sri Lanka must be rated very high in international one-day cricket and could be among the favourites for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Sri Lanka’s progress in cricket had been truly remarkable. The nation was officially admitted to the international cricket arena only in the 1970s. In the early days, the Sri Lankans did not have the technique or temperament for Test cricket, but began well with the one-dayers. They seemed to enjoy playing the game, unlike the players from India, who were always grim faced and tense. It came as no surprise when the Sri Lankans won the 1996 World Cup, defeating the formidable Australians who had done everything possible to insult and humiliate the Asian challengers. Their progress on the Test front was also quite good and the Lankans created history by winning the only Test they played in England in 1998.

We cannot refer to Sri Lankan cricket without being aware of the local problems. The island, for quite some years now, was in a state of civil war. The LTTE’s savage attempts to establish a separate Tamil state of Eelam had paralysed life in the island. The LTTE is now recognised as the most powerful, ruthless terrorist unit in the world. It possesses some of the most sophisticated arms available and its leaders are so ruthless that they are able to “persuade” young men and women to play the role of suicide bombers and wreak havoc.

Playing cricket is no easy pastime in Sri Lanka. Colombo and other towns resembled mini fortresses. Security is always tight but the LTTE cadres were able to penetrate the armed forces and perpetrate atrocities. On many occasions, the security forces had failed to contain the LTTE. Not a day passed without any bomb attacks from different parts of the island. Sri Lanka, along with the West Bank in the Middle East, were two of the most dangerous and sensitive regions in the world. No one was safe and anything could happen any time.

It is quite remarkable that Sri Lankan cricket had thrived under such circumstances. The game is played all over the island and so far, mercifully, had been spared by the LTTE terrorists. The Sri Lankan players had displayed true grit both inside and outside the playing arenas. Touring Australia, they had to endure abuse, racial taunts, biased umpiring and other problems. One of the Australian umpires, Darryl Hair appeared to have some personal grudge against the Sri Lankan star off spinner, Muthiah Muralitharam, ‘calling’ him for ‘throwing’ even when his action had been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Hair had such contempt for the Sri Lankans and cricket authorities that on the eve of the visit of the Sri Lankan cricket team to Australia he published his memoirs where he described Murali and the rest of the Sri Lankan players as ‘diabolical’. Yet the Australian Cricket Board let him get away with it.

This was not the only insult for the Sri Lankans. Recognising the potential of the islanders, the Australian players mercilessly sledged their opponents, often using racial taunts. During the 1999 World Cup, star Australian leg spinner, Shane Warne wrote in his newspaper column that the Sri Lankan cricket captain, Arjuna Ranatunga should quit the game because he was an ‘undesirable’ character. This was from a player who had admitted to receiving money from an Indian bookie! Once more the ACB did not take any action. The Australians tried to humiliate the Sri Lankans further when they refused to play their 1996 World Cup matches in the island and chose to forfeit them. The ACB gave ‘security’ as the major reason. But the truth was that the team was scared of the possible ‘hot reception’ they may get in the island following their shabby treatment meted out to the Lankan cricketers “Down Under”.

How did the Sri Lankan cricketers withstand so much abuse? They functioned as a team and were fortunate in having as their captain, Arjuna Ranatunga. Like Imran Khan, the former Pakistan skipper, Arjuna instilled feelings of pride and self respect in his players. The tubby, cheerful, Sri Lankan skipper was worshipped by his men. When Sri Lankans won the 1996 World Cup, he was there at the finish, along with the other star batsmen, Aravinda De Silva. The entire team wanted to show to the world that despite terrorist bombings, state of civil war, the LTTE menace and the contempt shown by some of the white cricket playing nations, it would perform well provide a fitting rebuff to the critics.

The international cricket agenda gave the Sri Lankans very little exposure particularly in Test matches. To this day, they had hardly played a handful of Tests against England, Australia, the West Indies and South Africa, away from home. Such a topsy-turvy planning hardly gave any chances to the Sri Lankans to exhibit their talent.

What cricket had done to Sri Lanka is not easy to describe. For once, the team is a happy mixture of Sinhalese, Christians and Tamilians. The star spinner, but for whom, the Sri Lankans would not have performed so well, Muralitharan, is a Sri Lankan Tamil, He is one of the most popular members of the team, adored by his captain and team mates. A one hundred per cent team man, Murali is also one of the best fieldsmen in the world and this added to his stature.

IOA elections unanimous compromise!
By Ramu Sharma

THE elections to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) held in New Delhi in the first week of November was a unanimous affair. Also highlighted in the media was the fact that it was unanimous for the first time in 20 years and that the spoils were shared. A scribe even lauded the fact that Kalmadi did not want to punish those who tried to rise in revolt.

If one has to read between the lines then what took place at the IOA office in New Delhi was not an election as is understood in a democracy but a small war in which both parties ended up winning and there was no bloodshed. That is the impression it tended to convey. What a pity though.

The Indian Olympic Association is the apex body controlling sports in the country but after the compromises of the recent get-together one wonders how effective will such a conglomeration be. On the face of it the results tended to oversimplify the tremendous act of balancing which was necessary before unanimity was achieved. Thus while Suresh Kalmadi retained his post at the top of the apex body as its President he has had to accommodate any number of personalities, some of them politicians and some of them bureaucrats, to be able to project a picture of a united house. The break-up of the office-bearers makes interesting reading and is a testimony to the compromises necessary.

The newly anointed IOA is the only one of its type which, while going in for a specific shape, has had to create unheard of posts like Associate Vice-Presidents and Associate Joint Secretaries. And the numbers are not small. There are 12 Associate Vice-Presidents and two Associate Joint Secretaries in addition to the usual number of 12 full-fledged Vice-Presidents and six Joint Secretaries to add to the nine chairmen of IOA Commissions.

One would have thought that vice-presidents themselves were associates to the President and Joint Secretaries to the Secretary. The new posts, redundant apart, only meant that everyone who contested and who is someone of importance either in the government or some federation, has been included in the jumbo-sized Executive which can be likened to some of the weird concoctions bearing the name of State Cabinets in the country.

Responsibilities have been apportioned but it is not quite clear as to how many of them will be working executives. And more importantly how many of them have commitment to sports. But then there was very little Kalmadi could do but to dole out work options to every available hands. The only snag is that who will take the overall responsibility?

Getting back to the business of the number of extra office-bearers and the acceptable balance struck, one wonders if the IOA has in recent times been able to address itself to some of the perennial problems facing Indian sports. One of them of course relates to the multiple set of people claiming to represent those federations which have split, the rival factions claiming legality in the form of recognition from the IOA. If reports are true there are at least nine federations which are said to be having problems with an emerging rival group enjoying invisible backing of from within the IOA. And what about women’s hockey? Is it still functioning independently despite the ruling from the International Federation?

The working of the IOA needs to be streamlined and it should be done much before the Afro Asian Games scheduled to be held in Delhi next year. The IOA did not exactly cover itself with glory while handling the charges of alleged financial irregularity, of endorsing foreign exchange on the passports of a few athletes and officials. Quite obviously much more was made of it than necessary and the whole thing was an issue where convenience was the key factor and there was never any attempt of breaking the law. It must be said that Mr Ashok Mattoo handled the situation with rare dignity. But was it his job? One would have though that the Treasurer or the Secretary-General were the officials who should have been answering the awkward questions. Mr Ashok Mattoo was after all the Chef-de-Mission who took over only when the team left the shores.

Mr Suresh Kalmadi who has strayed into sports administration from politics has the ability and the necessary clout to give the IOA a healthy financial picture. But he must do much more. First he must cleanse the IOA from within and then instead of depending on the government for assistance, make the apex body financially viable to the extent of not only having an infrastructure of its own but also the ability and the wherewithal to maintain the existing stadia built for Asian Games of 1982 and those extra facilities being added on for the Afro Asian Games next year.

The IOA may not be willing to take the responsibility of the present state of the buildings and facilities created for the Asian Games, but it cannot escape blame for the state of disuse of stadia and other facilities built for the National Games in Pune, Bangalore and Jalandhar (they are being done up again after being postponed once) and elsewhere. A lot of money has gone into building the infrastructure for the National Games in the various centres and the IOA has a stake in the structures built for the specific purpose. After all they were built to help the IOA stage the National Games.

There is one more important item for IOA to look into. It has so far kept its distance from the drugs-syndrome. But after the fiasco of the athletics squad in Sydney and more than just rumours about how some of the performances were fudged during the domestic meets, the IOA is duty bound to go in for a fullfledged investigation into these charges and take adequate precautions to prevent a repetition. Indian athletics has lost all the reputation it had built up till the 1984 Olympics. There is no point in evading the issue of Sydney performances. Mr Kalmadi’s explanations after the elections did not exactly sound convincing.

TEEING OFF
Cricket’s fall is golf’s gain
K.R. Wadhwaney

CRICKET’s tragic fall in ethics has been the gain for golf, which has been on the upswing in gaining unprecedented support from sponsors and promoters. With the country disillusioned with cricket’s malpractices, more and more youngsters are taking to golf and the support to spectators has also increased considerably. This is, in a way, a healthy sign because, for long, several sporting disciplines have been neglected by the masses and the media.

In view of the changed scenario, Air India and the Oberoi have joined together to organise ‘clientele entertainment’ competition at Classic Golf Resort (Gurgaon) on Saturday and Sunday (November 11 and 12).

Among the 200 entries from different walks of life are M.S. Gill, Madhav Rao Scindia, Pankaj Munjal, Shyam Bhatia and Kishan Bajoria. Who wins or who loses is not the primary objective but the competition will convey the message to all that etiquette and disciplines are far greater virtues than amassing wealth through dubious methods, including betting and match-fixing.

The format is novel. Each player play a round in which ‘par score provides him two points and a birdie three. The format does not provide much advantage to lower level handicappers.

Top finishers will be provided “luxury” prizes, like travel to the USA, Paris, Hong Kong and other places. Apart from Air India and Oberoi, there are other co-sponsors for the competition which, according to organisers, may become an annual feature.

The ‘brain’ behind this competition is a golf addict, Chitranjan Bakshi (Air-India), who is supported by Jean Phillipe Begun (Oberoi).

An achievement

The $ 200,000 Hero Honda Masters, was a grand success, thanks to Pankaj Munjal, who is currently president of the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI). It was most satisfying as amidst varied field, an Indian won again. Arjun Atwal came from behind to win the title this time. On the previous two occasions, the winner was Jyoti Randhawa who, for some inexplicable reasons, did not play as well as he should have.

Unlike in the first three rounds, Atwal was at his dazzling best. He made some remarkable shots and his style of play was so masterly that he virtually annihilated the opposition.

Atwal is as good a golfer as he is a human being. He showed that he had no equals when he struck his form. His win proved that his victory in the Indian Open was not a fluke.

As the plans stand, Atwal will be seen in action in Europe next season where Jeev Milkha Singh will also be playing. Jeev has not got back into his top form following that wrist injury. But he is fully focussed and he should soon be back in his form. What is most important is that his injury has fully healed up it should help him play freely.

Two players, Ajay Gupta and Jeev, got hole-in-one. As Gupta, known in golfing circles as ‘Fatso’, got hole-in-the first, he will get the prize. “Black Label” by weight (Gupta weighs 114 kilos). He will get about 300 bottles from Johnnie Walker.

If Jeev was happy at Atwal’s win, Indrajit Bhalotia was happier. He has gone on record as saying that: “If there is one player, I would like to see win other than myself is my best friend, Arjun”.

Both Atwal and Bhalotia have been playing golf together at Calcutta and even after turning pros, they have developed healthy respect for each other.

Atwal is not a very fine exponent of the game. But what he lacks by way of technique, he makes up with his temperament. He is a kind of a player who has very calm and steady nerves. He does not say die and he keeps playing his carefree golf. This helps him perform much better than many of his rivals, who possess better technique than him. Temperament, it has been established, is far more important than technique in the sphere of international competitions.

The DLF Golf and County, Club authorities made the entry free. This was perhaps the reason why about 5,000 spectators turned up to watch the final day’s proceedings.

The DLF course was in an excellent condition. The clubhouse, with all modern facilities, and practice range helped players give their best. This is unquestionably one of the best courses in the country where the authorities, particularly K.P. Singh and Arsh Lal, are doing every thing to make it better.

Elections

In the Delhi Golf Club annual meeting, Bikram Singh has been reelected President. There is, however, a change for the office of the captain. Rajesh Dhingra has become the captain. Last year, the captain was Manmohan Singh ‘Bibloo’.

Time for soul-searching

Following the CBI report, it is time for some serious soul-searching in cricket and its administration. As it is, there has been too much of cricket with us all this while coupled with a dismal record of our team’s performance. Frequent matches mean loss of working hours which the nation can hardly afford. People feel terribly let down by those who shamed themselves by throwing the matches even as they put at stake the honour of their country. One thing is for sure — cricket will never be the same again. The ghost of match-fixing will for long continue to haunt it.

Wg Cdr SC Kapoor
Noida

Shameful defeat

Undoubtedly history was made by the Indian cricket squad at Sharjah but losing to Sri Lanka by a huge margin was not digestible for more than 100 crore Indians. It is very shameful that no Indian player could enter double digits except for Robin Singh, who scored just 11 runs. If Jayasuriya alone can score 189 runs, why not the Indians? Frankly speaking, the Indian cricket team has hurt the sentiments of cricket lovers across the country.

KARAJ S. DHILLON
Abohar

II

It was shocking to know that our cricket team suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the final of the tri-nation Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah. It has shaken the faith and trust of thousands, of Indians.

D.R. Sharda
Chandigarh

Antil’s feat

Devi Bhushan Sharma
Karnal

Kapil Dev

The CBI has exonerated Kapil Dev of match fixing allegations. This is a great victory for fans of Kapil Dev. Some vested interests had conspired to malign and tarnish the image of the Haryana ‘hurricane’. Most surprising was the behaviour of Ravi Shastri who approached the Press to confirm the allegations. Manoj Prabhakar is himself in the trap. We appreciate the working of the CBI and send our heartiest congratulations for bringing the truth to the surface.

Gian Prakash Kansal
Ambala