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| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, February 16, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Shooting requires more than bull’s eye Gill brings money, glamour into Indian hockey
Gopi’s presence will be morale booster TEEING-OFF |
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India’s preparations lacking
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Shooting requires more than bull’s eye Shooting as a sport in India has in the past been a
monopoly generally of the Maharaias. They had the money and time and the
wherewithal. And Karni Singh of Bikaner is the name that comes readily
to mind when it is related to deeds on the international arena. But then
that was some years ago and India can now boast with some pride that it
has in the past 10 years again come into reckoning as a country which
can be counted as a power in the making as far as international shooting
is concerned. Jaspal Rana could well be said to have triggered off the
ambition in the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994 to give the country its
first individual gold medal in two editions of the Games. India had
drawn a blank even in the Beijing Games. Since then there has been
considerable improvement all around with competitors in rifle shooting
in particular making a major impact thanks to coach Laszlo Szucsak. But
Szucsak is no longer around. He left after the Sydney Olympic Games
ostensibly for better pastures but basically because he was not given
the money he was promised. His departure has left a big void which is yet
to be filled. A coach in shooting is more than just a person who guides
you in the sport. He also helps you in selection of rifles, cartridges
and other accessories and this is very important in a sport which
requires perfection in every aspect. Thanks mainly to Szucsak and his
coaching, Sydney Olympics was an eye opener which threw up two naggets
of rare calibre — Anjali Ved Pathak, who became only the second
individual finalist in an Olympic Game event after P.T. Usha, and
Abhinav Bindra, who missed making the final narrowly. Both were
specialists with rifles. Anjali had already made her mark before the
Sydney Games having made two World Cups before that. Since then she has
confirmed her class with two more World Cup finals and at home has been
doing some world class shooting. No wonder then she has been dubbed as
the most outstanding shooting star ever. As for Bindra, he has
progressed rapidly and is one of the hottest names going around in the
international range. Since the Olympics in late 2000, he has won a
bronze in the World Cup at Munich with a world junior record and had
added six gold on the European circuit. And recently he picked up three
silver medals in Luxembourg, two of them behind world champion Dick
Boschman of Holland. With these two shooters in great form and a number
of others, all talented and confident queuing up behind them, the year
of the shooters. And there is bound to be plenty of medals from the
Indian hopefuls what with four World Cups one World Championships, the
Commonwealth Games and finally the Asian Games packing the
calendar. But then there are snags. India do not have a coach. The
government and the National Rifle Association of India lack the money.
The Indian hopefuls for the European circuit, 12 of them, have been
asked to fork out Rs 1 lakh each. Money will be reimbursed later. That
is a tall order. Abhinav Bindra’s father has the resources and has
even signed Dr Uwe Riesterer as a personal coach for his 19-year son.
And he has spent quite a lot of money already. Money which has yet to be
reimbursed by the government. Some of the other shooters may have some
savings but may not have enough to risk an investment. The federation
does help the shooters in getting cartridges and other accessories buy
by and large the shooters have to fend or themselves. Another problem
facing the shooters is the lack of ammunition. In fact a national camp
in Delhi was cut short because of lack of ammunition. According to
reports, both the Sports Authority of India and the NRAI had no
ammunition to offer to the shooters. So far the shooters have been fed
with promises. Apart from having to fend for themselves in most
respects, they are also always have to look askance at the government.
According to reports, Abhinav was promised a 45-day coaching stretch in
Germany, thrice a year when he won the World Cup bronze with a junior
record last year. The same promise was held out to Anjali who had then
made it to her Fourth World Cup final. The government was to foot the
bill for both. One wonders what has happened to the promises made.
Anjali is understood to be still waiting to hear about it. The
situation in the shooting world is indeed very paradoxical. India has
the shooters with the ability to win medals but it does not have money,
ammunition, a regular coach and what not. And what is more the Dr Karni
Singh Range in Delhi is the only one range in India which is equipped
with electronic target and other modern equipment so familiar to the
shooters while on the international circuit. The shooting scene has
undergone a revolutionary change and India and Indians can talk about
winning medals in the sport with confidence. But unfortunately the
general attitude is not inspiring. The shooters need more than matching
support. |
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Gill brings money, glamour into Indian hockey Kanwar Pal Singh (KPS) Gill has brought money and
glamour into Indian hockey, which was once considered as the "poor
cousins" of cricket. Even Mr Gill’s staunchest critics will admit
that the profile of Indian hockey changed drastically after Mr Gill took
over as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) in Bhopal
eight years ago. The unanimous re-election of Mr Gill and his team in
the recently-held IHF annual general body meeting at Guawahti reaffirmed
the belief that at the present juncture that there was no official
better equipped and qualified to head the IHF than the Super Cop. After
India won the gold medal in the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998, Indian
hockey got a big shot in the arm and it was considered as a great
triumph for ‘Team Gill’. During the first four-year-term of the KPS
Gill-K Jyothikumaran team, the hockey cupboard was bereft of any major
title. But their second tenure began rather auspiciously with the
Bangkok victory, and though a few months were still left for the IHF
elections to be held, Mr Gill had the confidence to prepone the
elections by a few months, as the IHF, under his able stewardship, had
notched up many creditable wins at the international fora, the best
being the Junior World Cup triumph at Hobart (Australia), late last
year. The senior team’s title triumph in the inaugural Champions
Challenge Trophy at Kuala Lumpur at the fag end of the year 2001 came as
the icing on the cake for Gill and his comrades-in-arms. Mr Gill has
indeed galvanised hockey in the country, and the players cannot now
complain of "poor facilities". Both the seniors as well as the
juniors have been given enough foreign exposure to help them fine-tune
for major international competitions. But many grey areas still remain
to be sorted out, as the senior team had qualified for the World Cup
Hockey Championship, to be held in Kuala Lumpur from February 24 to
March 9, by the skin of their teeth in the qualifiers at Milton Kaynes
in Britain last year, and the stewardship of Cedric D’Souza and his
coaching methods had come in for scathing criticism. The World Cup will
be a litmus test for Mr Gill and his team, as the re-election of Mr
Jyothikumarn as Secretary for a third term, had not been particularly
welcomed by the hockey fraternity in the country. Knowledgeable people
in hockey circles blame Jyothikumaran for persisting with Cedric,
despite his failure to deliver major titles, and Jyothikumaran himself
has not acquitted creditably as secretary in his previous two terms.
They say it was due to Jyothikumaran’s ineptitude at the Brussels’
meeting that India could not gain a firm foothold in the International
Hockey Federation (FIH), as a man of KPS Gill’s stature deserved to
occupy a senior position in the international body, by now. Former
Indian captain and coach M.P. Ganesh, who is now an Executive Director
(team’s wing) with the Sports Authority of India, was keen to become
the secretary of the IHF, but ironically, he could not get a nomination
for the federation elections from his own State association, Karnataka,
and Ganesh’s plans of contesting for the Secretary’s post went up in
smoke. For the larger interest of Indian hockey, Mr Gill should utilise
the knowledge and experience of Ganesh, may be as the director of
coaching, instead of adopting a vindictive attitude, to help Indian
hockey occupy the high pedestal, which was it’s for the asking once
upon a time, once again. It’s to Mr Gill’s credit that he brought a
lot of money into the IHF kitty, though during his second term, he was
not holding any official position as a police officer, or otherwise.
But his clout is such that his media conferences—though few and far
between—are as crowded as the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) president’s which shows that hockey has a future. However, Mr
Gill does not tolerate dissent to his authority, and unless he gives a
willing ear to constructive criticism, he will be missing out on
valuable inputs from well-meaning critics, whose sole concern is the
revival of Indian hockey to its golden past, and nothing else. Yet,
there is no better person than Mr Gill to give Indian hockey a
much-needed push. He should get full credit for putting the IHF on a
strong footing, financially, and there are now many sponsors willing to
come to the aid of Indian hockey. Some achievement this for Mr Gill, for
making hockey a marketable commodity in the country. |
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Gopi’s presence will be morale booster Thomas Cup and Uber Cup matches for men and women,
respectively, are held every two years for determining the supremacy in
the game of badminton. In the forthcoming preliminary rounds Malaysia
and Denmark in Thomas Cup and Indonesia and Denmark in Uber Cup have
been top seeded. The competitions are to be held at Melbourne
(Australia) and Eindhoven (Netherlands) from February 17 to 24. In the
Melbourne preliminaries Malaysia will try their best to keep up the
seeding given to it and forget the year 2000 debacle as a bad dream.
They have favour draw as well. In group ‘A’ Malaysia have to prove
superiority among Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the hosts Australia.
In group ‘B’ second-seeded Korea will face Thailand, Macau, Chinese
Taipei and Pakistan. Top two teams in each group will then fight for top
three places in the finals to be held in China. In Uber Cup
preliminaries at Melbourne, Indonesia are the favourites though they are
likely to face stiff challenge from Korea and Thailand in group ‘A’
which also includes Australia and Pakistan. India have opted to play in
the European zone (Netherland) for the first time. In the Thomas Cup
India have been exempted from playing in the first stage matches and
will play directly from the semifinal stage. India are in group ‘Z’
along with England. Winners of group ‘D’ (consisting of Czech
Republic, Russia, Switzerland and Portugal) and group ‘C’
(consisting of Belgium, Hungary, Ireland and Poland) will qualify to
play in this round. India have a good chance of qualifying for the
finals being held in China in May provided they beat England in the
semifinal. The only worry for India is Gopi Chand’s recovery. India
can do well even in his absence but his presence will be a great moral
booster. Three teams are to qualify from this zone. Denmark are sure to
go to China for the finals. Sweden, England and India have equal
chances. Chief national coach Arif, who is working with the team at Hans
Raj Stadium, Jalandhar, is quite hopeful that his team will qualify for
the final. He feels that the players are working hard and the results
will be good. For the Uber Cup preliminary matches at the Netherland
venue India are playing in Group ‘C’ along with Norway, Estonia and
Ireland. The coach is confident that the girls will qualify for the
semifinal stage. In that case they will play in Group ‘Z’ along with
the Netherland, New Zealand and qualifier from Group ‘E’. Playing at
their full potential our girls have a chance to qualify for the finals.
Three teams are to qualify from this zone. Denmark are sure to make it.
England, Netherland and Sweden have good teams and have equal chances. |
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TEEING-OFF All renowned stars for the $ 300,000 fifth edition
of the Hero Honda Masters are unanimous that the DFL Golf and Country
Club courses is one of the finest and the toughest courses that they
have encountered. Those pros, who have played on the courses in their
previous outings, are emphatic that it has been considerably improved.
"It has been a delight to play here," said three foreign
players, who had made their maiden appearance on the course. Unlike
the previous session, the ongoing Hero Honda Masters is being played
on a par-71 instead of par-72. The par-5 18th (490 yards), reachable
in two shots, has been rendered a par-4. Several other tees have been
pushed back to make the course far more challenging then the one on
which Arjun Atawal won with an aggregate of 18-under 270. The course
longer by 81 yards from 7070 to 7151 yards has posed many problems to
the leading golfers. But they all have enjoyed playing and anyone
returning between under-12 and under-14 should carry the fat purse
with him. By the time this piece appears, the cut (top 65 and ties)
among 144 pros and four amateurs has already been applied. The
renowned stars, many Indians among them, are hoping against hope that
luck will befriend the at the crucial moment. "However
challenging the course may be DLF, it is not a permanent venue",
said Professional Golfer Association of India president Pawan Munjal.
"Our main concern to promote and popularise golf in the country
and we may move Hero Honda to up-country", said Munjal, adding:
"Golf’s popularity will brighten Indian sporting
scene". In the press conference, the PGAI chief was all praise
of the role of the Tiger Sports while TSM’s chief Brandon de Souza
was all praise for the PGAI. "It is not a mature admiration
society but it is a fact", said three India’s top pros adding:
"Their blending judiciously has led to golf living and kicking in
this country". Known as one of the leading Asian tigers Jeev
Milkha Singh has yet to translate his desire into reality in winning a
major title in this country. Beholden to Hero Honda for its continued
support to him during his wrist-injury lay-off period of nine months.
Jeev says he will be delighted to lift this cup. The outcome will be
known on Sunday. Noel Hunt, one of world’s most famous trick-shot
artists, delighted the spectators with his subtle mastery over the
club and the ball. His amazing display established that not for
nothing he is praised by established stars, like, Greg Norman and Nick
Faldo. He had played a pivotal role in helping Ian Botham raise funds
for leukemania research. There is a marked similarities between Jeev
and Vijay Singh (Fiji), one of world’s top nine. If Jeev was
supported by his father, Milkha, Vijay’s father, Mohan, was an
airline mechanic. His brother, Krishna, made a debut in this country
in this tournament. His another brother, Mira, has already played
here. Jeev and Vijay are great friends. Jeev is hoping against hope
that he will reach the dizzy heights of Vijay, who recently won the
Augasta Masters. Says Brandon de Souza: "I played along with
Vijay and Krishna. During those days, Krishna was considered more
talented then Vijay. But Vijay’s legendary work ethics took him to
the top of golfers world, while Krishna is still making efforts".
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India’s preparations lacking After seeing the performance of the Indian cricket team in ODIs
against England, I am convinced that while teams like New Zealand, Sri
Lanka and England are improving by leaps and bounds in their
preparation for next year’s World Cup, two teams — India and West
Indies — are taking one step forward and two steps backwards. The
obvious reason in case of India is that the skipper himself has become
bigger than the game. Otherwise why are left arm spin bowler Murli
Karthik and Sunil Joshi being ignored? Daniel Vettori and Nicki Boje
have left an impression on the fast pitches in Australia. We should
learn from the way the three teams fought in the series in Australia.
Rahul Dravid should be made the captain. Vinish Garg Spin
doctor
Tarsem S. Bumrah,
Golf
queen
Harsukh Manjeet,
Sehwag’s
knock
Subhash C. Taneja, Rohtak |
