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| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, April 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Mohun Bagan reassert superiority in NFL What makes Punjab cricket tick TEEING-OFF
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Mohun Bagan reassert superiority in NFL
Mohun Bagan's third title win in the prestigious
sixth National Football League is reaffirmation of the green and maroon
brigade's superiority in domestic soccer. With a chequered history
comprising several golden chapters, the latest victory at Margao on
April 15 not only swelled the club's coffers by a whopping Rs 40 lakh
but also left coach Subrata Bhattacharya rather satisfied. It was
Bagan's second title under his command. Having missed the title by a
whisker last season when they finished runners-up to East Bengal
accumulating 45 points as compared to 46 secured by the red and gold
brigade, the third title victory followed almost on identical lines. The
title was decided on the concluding day of the league which had
commenced on December 12,2001. The photo-finish kept the interest alive
till the last day. Not only was the excitement confined to the top with
Mohun Bagan and Churchill Brothers locked in a neck-and-neck race for
top honours but also extended to the bottom where winners of the
inaugural edition JCT Phagwara and south India's professional outfit FC
Kochin were locked in a grim battle of survival. As in the fifth
edition, JCT managed to ward off danger with a 2-1 win over Vasco SC at
Ludhiana's Guru Nanak Stadium but another Punjab outfit, Punjab Police,
made an inglorious exit from the National Football League despite a 2-1
win over ITI on the last day. FC Kochin became the second team to be
relegated to the second division after a humiliating 0-5 defeat at the
hands of Tollygunge Agragami at Kochi. For Mohun Bagan, who
incidentally secured 44 points , one less than their tally last year,
the title came after 13 victories, five draws and four defeats. In fact
it was the 3-4 defeat at the hands of Salgaocar at Margao on April 11
which sustained the suspense till the last day. This match in fact made
a record of sorts as it produced the maximum goals in the sixth edition
of the NFL. Mohun Bagan owed their sucess to the prolific Brazilian
striker Jose Ramirez Barreto, who with 15 goals, turned out to be the
second-highest scorer this time after Churchill's Yusif Yakubu(18). In
the previous edition, he was the top scorer with 14 goals. Goa league
champions Churchill Brothers were indeed unlucky. After having been
pipped for the title by JCT in the first edition, they met a similar
fate at the hands of Mohun Bagan on home ground although Abdul Wasiu
Saliu's goal off a Basudeb Mondal flag kick was disputed by the Goans on
the plea that their custodian Edward Ansah was fouled seconds before the
fatal strike. East Bengal, winners of the fifth edition, finished a
poor fifth with 36 points while Vasco improved their position from fifth
last year to third this time. They were followed Salgaocar, who also
jumped from the sixth spot attained in the previous edition to the
fourth position with 39 points. Mahindra United, who had a very
impressive line-up after having roped in top-notch footballers like
internationals Jules Alberto, Khalid Jamil, Noel Wilson, goalkeeper
Viender Singh, and Raman Vijayan, failed to make much headway and only
improved their position by one slot, finishing sixth with 33 points. Of
the two debutants, namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, and
Punjab Police, the former made a major impact, especially in the first
leg. The Bangalore outfit registered eight wins and figured in four
draws. They beat Salgaocar 2-1, Mohun Bagan 3-1, and East Bengal 1-0 to
name a few with Kyrgistan recruit Raja Baliev Nurlan being the star
attraction. However, Punjab Police had a disastrous outing, losing the
maximum 16 matches out of 22, to ultimately bow out of the high profile
league. It is the second time that a Punjab outfit has been relegated
after Border Security Force, Jalandhar, met a similar fate two years
back. JCTPhagwara, on the other hand were lucky to survive although they
were pushed a slot down from the ninth position held in the previous
edition. The mill men won five matches, drew six and lost 11 to pick up
21 points although their tally last season was 23 from four wins and 11
draws. JCT's lacklustre performance has been taken note of by the
management whose love for football is well known. According to assistant
coach Parminder Singh, some top- notch players are likely to figure in
the JCT line-up next season . Learning from experience, JCT may also
induct foreigners to match the strength of other teams. With national
coach Sukhwinder Singh in charge and veterans like Inder Singh ready to
provide expert tips, JCT may well take the NFL by storm in the next
season. As in the previous edition, the NFL was temporarily halted from
January 31 to February 19 to accommodate the Durand Cup in which most of
the league contestants once again tested each other's skill. The NFL
also found new sponsors in the second leg, namely Tatas, following the
AIFF's five-year contract with the London-based sports management group,
Strata. Although the deal is yet to yield major gains , its impact may
show up in the forthcoming editions of the NFL. On the whole, the
sixth National Football League can be described as a championship
dominated by foreigners. Since AIFF stipulations allow recruitment of
five foreigners, most of the participating clubs barring Punjab Police
roped in foreign players to improve their chances. Last season it was
Jose Barreto who emerged as the top scorer; this time it was Yusif
Yakubu of Churchill Brothers who set a record scoring 18 goals. But the
question which arises is who will score the goals when the national team
enters the international arena. The recruitment of foreigners also puts
department sides like Punjab Police at a disadvantage. Saddled with
stiff service rules which do not permit foreigners' recruitment, teams
like Punjab Police and BSF have little hope of making an impact in the
National Football League . Nevertheless, despite the stiff competition,
it goes to the credit of Punjab Police for producing some outstanding
players like Parveen Kumar who managed to beat the best of defenders,
including foreigners, with their deft footwork. Overall, the sixth
National Football League will be remembered for some high-quality
contests although poor publicity kept the crowds away at many venues.
Television coverage was woefully inadequate. In all 302 goals were
scored in the league which was spread over four months. Champions Mohun
Bagan, however, scored far less than the number last season. In the
fifth edition, Mohun Bagan had scored 40 goals, the maximum by any team,
but finished second. This time they scored 31 goals and finished on top.
Churchill Brothers took the credit for the maximum number of goals, 44
to be precise, in this edition. |
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What makes Punjab cricket tick Punjab were unable to overcome the jinx as they failed
to advance beyond the semifinal stage in the just-concluded Ranji Trophy
championship. Critics might prefer to look at the darker side and
maintain that the team came a cropper in the semifinal for the third
successive time. But Punjab deserve the credit having reached the
semifinal stage for the third time in running. In fact, Punjab, over the
years, have emerged a cricketing force to reckon with not only at the
zonal level but at the national level. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh,
rated among the best in the business, is an integral part of the Indian
squad. Young Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Mongia are in the process of
establishing themselves in the Indian one-day squad. Patiala’s
Reetinder Singh Sodhi is in the reckoning for the slot of an all rounder
in the Indian squad. Ravneet Ricky and Munish Sharma, both hailing from
Amritsar, distinguished themselves in the 1999 Junior World Cup in Sri
Lanka where India won the trophy and are promising youngsters. Skipper
Vikram Rathore, who has played for the country, still keeps reminding
those at the helm of his skills as an opening batsman. Punjab along with
Delhi dominate in the zonal tournaments where players like former
international Pankaj Dharmani, Munish and seamers Vineet Sharma and
Gagandeep add to the representation from the state. Besides, so many
players from Punjab are now representing other teams. Seamer Harvinder
Singh, the pace spearhead of the Ranji champions Railways, opened the
bowling for Punjab not long ago. Hard-hitting all rounder Sandeep Sharma
and middle order batsman Amit Sharma are now turning out for Himachal
Pradesh. Rathore and Yuvraj, both from Punjab, were the only batsmen to
score double centuries in the recent Duleep Trophy matches. Mr Daljit
Singh, Chief Curator and Head Coach, PCA, attributed the emergence of
Punjab as a major cricketing power to conscious efforts being made by
the PCA foremost among those being the involvement of districts in
grooming youngsters. Minor districts have also been made part of the
set-up as after ending engagements among themselves they send a team for
the inter-district tournament for which super league has also been
introduced. Besides Punjab is among very few states to have excellent
infrastructure as well as a well-defined structure of age-group
tournaments like u-14, u-16, u-19 and for seniors in the state. Mr
Daljit Singh who was associated with the Azharuddin-led team that
visited England in the early nineties said that Atrey Memorial
Tournament organised in September had assumed an all-India character.
The tournament now served as a curtain-raiser for the players of the
state for hectic domestic season ahead. Punjab fields two teams in the
tournament. Hence about 30-odd cricketers get a chance to warm-up and
compete with other outstanding players. The PCA, Mr Daljit Singh
revealed, was now giving full assistance to all six major districts in
the form of covers, nets, lawn mowers and 12 dozen balls each. Besides,
the PCA proposes to provide 50 per cent subsidy on the salary of the
coaches working at these centres. Specialised camps for budding fast
bowlers, batsmen, spinners and wicket-keepers were scheduled to start
from May 1 in which technical faults of players under Mr Tej Kaul and Mr
Manjit Singh would be ironed out. Apart from this, efforts were under
way to improve the quality of coaching and umpiring by holding seminars
and issuing them guidelines. Mr Daljit Singh also mentioned the untiring
efforts being made by the PCAsecretary, Mr M.P.Pandove as well as
Bhupinder Singh Senior for improvement of the game in the state. Mr
Tej Kaul, who joined the PCA on a regular basis early last year, has
been associated with the team since 1994 holding short-duration camps
for the benefit of Punjab players and looking after the fitness and
rehabilitation of the players. Kaul, former Director-cum-coach of the
Gwalior Pace Academy, was instrumental in bringing skipper Vikram
Rathore back in shape after the opening batsman had sustained a grievous
leg injury at a crucial phase of the Ranji Trophy championships.
Talking about the Punjab squad Kaul, who worked with the Indian squad
as well as the India "A" squad for two years in 1997 and 1998,
revealed that Punjab squad probably was the fittest in the country. He
said Punjabis besides being immensely hard-working had the natural
advantage of stout bodies with sound height and weight which helped them
develop better cricketers. No wonder the energetic Yuvraj Singh and
Reetinder Sodhi lift the standard of the fielding of the team by few
notches. Punjab players, he stated, enjoy when exposed to new fitness
drills. "There are guys who are always ahead of the trainer,"
he added. Kaul revealed that there were no fitness and profiling norms
in the country and hence the trainers here are guided by the norms
prevalent in South Africa and Australia. "We take them as our
guiding principles," he said. Asked to elaborate, Kaul revealed
that fitness depends on a host of factors like endurance
(cardio-vascular), strength, speed, power, flexibility and agility. If
one player is good at endurance and power, speed and agility can be the
forte of the other. How much a player is good at all these factors
determines his overall fitness. Injuries, he said, had become part and
parcel of the modern cricket. It was the job of the fitness trainers to
minimise the risk of injury. In the event of injury he should be able to
ensure early rehabilitation. "We had bowled out Baroda at modest
totals in both the innings. The bowlers had done their job. But lack of
application in just one session proved our undoing," Mr Sushil
Kapoor, manager of the Punjab squad, recalled the semifinal loss to
Baroda. Kapoor, however, was all praise for Baroda seamer Zaheer Khan.
"It was a fiery spell of aggressive bowling from him, may be the
best of his life on a green top." One knock on the knuckles and
Punjab are prepared to take no more. "Green tops will be in place
at Mohali, Patiala, Jalandhar and Amritsar soon so that the boys
practise regularly on such tracks and are not caught unprepared
again," Kapoor added. |
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TEEING-OFF It will take a very long time for the authorities — sponsors and promoters — to find 2-3 days for Vijay Singh to make his rescheduled maiden appearance in this country. World’s celebrated professional golfer, Vijay Singh’s schedule for competition is so intensely tight that fitment of dates for him to take part in the maiden Skins contest at the DLF course (Gurgaon) will pose problems to the organisers. The 2000 Augasta Masters champion, Vijay Singh has sustained a foot injury while playing the final round of the just-concluded championship. He has been advised three weeks rest. It means he cannot travel to Gurgaon or Delhi in May. The month of June will be too hot for him to play an 18-hole round. Gautam Thapar of Ballarpur Industries, and the International Management Group (IMG) officials are aware of the hazards they have got into. But they are optimistic that they will come out of the bunker to the satisfaction of all. If and when the prestigious event is rescheduled, there may be some changes among Indian players. Injured Jyoti Randhawa is expected to be fit and will naturally be included since he is sponsored by the sponsors. One does not know what will be the schedule of events of Arjun Atwal and Harmeet Kahlon. Maybe, Kapil Dev will graciously step down although he happens to be Vijay Singh’s favourite for his cricketing achievements. When Vijay Singh’s foot injury led to postponement of the BILT Skins contest, there was widespread disappointment among golfers and golf-lovers. Seven selected juniors — four boys and three girls — were the most disappointed. They will have to wait until they are able to get useful tips from Vijay Singh who, according to information is as proficient a teacher as he is a renowned golfer.
Neglected Sections Women golfers and junior players continue to receive step-motherly treatment from the parent body, Indian Golf Union (IGU). Had not government paid for the air passage, it would have caused problem for the Indian team to take part in the Queen Sirikit Championship. Chandigarh’s Irina Brar, who leads the Indian team, is unquestionably the best player in the country. She requires all encouragement and assistance to bring laurels to the country and herself. She is a player capable of achieving what no other woman in the past has achieved. |
