Badminton: technology debate inconclusive
Gursharan Singh
As in other competitive sports, the controversy about using technology to do justice to players in badminton and keep crowd behaviour under control still has not reached any conclusion nor is there any chance of it receding to the background in the near future. Competition in badminton is becoming stiff with every passing day.

Regional games an avoidable exercise
Ramu Sharma

Expectedly the South Asian Federation Games at Islamabad have been postponed again. Pakistan was left with no other option than to defer the competition for the third time. This particular edition appears to be jinxed. This is the second time they have been postponed for reasons directly connected with the USA. On the first occasion it was because of the bringing down of the World Trade Center Towers and now it is related to the invasion of Iraq by the USA and some of its chosen allies.

In any case this particular regional extravaganza was doomed to be a failure. With India, the major sports power of the region, not allowed to participate by its government there would have been little of competitive flavour in the competition. India may be one of the weakest among sporting nations but in the regional context, it is still a giant, and the SAF Games have always been a very happy hunting ground for it.

There is now some talk of Sri Lanka being approached to host the Games. Perhaps India’s Southern neighbour is a more acceptable venue but there is the bigger question involved. Is it very necessary to continue with this form of competition? The SAF Games have not always had a smooth run what with financial and political issues clouding the staging of it. Nepal has always had money problems while Pakistan appears to be sitting in the hollow of a political volcano. India holds the key to the success of these games but here too sports have been hijacked by political realities of the not-so-amenable relations between the two countries.

When the idea of SAF Games was first mooted, it was more in the nature of an effort to bring together the sportspersons of the region in the manner of the more popular South East Asia Games. Unfortunately the SAF Games have nearly always faced some problem or the other and postponements are not a surprise. Now with the India-Pakistan tensions on a high and given the rigid stand of the ruling establishments and relations unlikely to improve in the near future, there is very little scope for the Games to regain the atmosphere of the earlier days of bonhomie. And in this context it is worthwhile looking at the repeatedly restricted field of the Asian Cricket Championships where more often than not, one of the two countries, refuse to take part.

From the Indian point of view these Games have very little to offer in terms of competition. Agreed Sri Lanka has a strong athletics posture but that is all. Pakistan offers some sort of competition in lifting and boxing but then at what level. These Games would have had greater value if Pakistan had been able to field their women competitors in larger numbers and in more disciplines. That unfortunately is not possible.

The introduction of hockey as one of the disciplines in the SAF Games held in Chennai did open up some possibilities and promised keen India-Pakistan final matches. But hockey has ceased to be a regular discipline. Thus as far as India is concerned the Games have very little use.

Because of the sheer number of competitors and the ability to take part in all the disciplines with a fair degree of competence India manages to top the medals tally in every SAF Games. And mind you, India does not always send top grade athletes for these Games. In fact these Games are used to give a chance to second and third rung athletes. With the exception of a few events in athletics where Sri Lanka has the last word, India has little or no competition. And medals here prove nothing.

In this context and in the prevailing situation in and around the subcontinent, there is no use pretending to go through this routine four-yearly exercise in holding the Games. A better alternative would be to have a Indo-Sri Lanka athletics competition and if politics permit, India-Pakistan hockey series. These could be extended to disciplines like weightlifting and boxing but that is all. There is no use spending so much money in trying to hold these irregular multi-discipline regional meets any more. 

Badminton: technology debate inconclusive
Gursharan Singh

As in other competitive sports, the controversy about using technology to do justice to players in badminton and keep crowd behaviour under control still has not reached any conclusion nor is there any chance of it receding to the background in the near future. Competition in badminton is becoming stiff with every passing day. With more prize money tournaments being organised tempers have started rising at an alarming rate. It may also be said that players, and at times their coaches, become enraged even at an occasional bad call which at times is by a centimetre or less. This sometimes happens due to air-conditioning or even natural convection under strong lights of TV. It was disgusting to see coaches of Indonesia and China entering the playing arena of Busan Asian Games and hitting the line judges. This behaviour is in contrast to the players and coaches of yesteryear who used to accept such things as a part of the game.

The issue of bad line calls raises two very important questions. Firstly, should the umpire over-rule the line calls made by line judges whenever he thinks that the line judge has erred in his judgement? This seems to be a rather difficult assignment for the umpire as he is not in a position to judge a shuttle falling in the far corner of the court and the space involved is one centimetre or even less. Also if every line call by a line judge has to be scrutinised by the umpire, the line judge will in all probability become less attentive.

This leads to the second question whether technology should be used to assist the umpire, at least when there is a disputed call.

These issues came up again at the Major IBF events in Seville in June 2001, Guangzhou in May 2002 and at the recently held Asian Games. At these events giant screens were used for the benefit of spectators. As in cricket, replays shown on the screen sometimes in slow motion, help in arriving at a decision. However, in cricket a decision is announced after getting the verdict from the third umpire, who sits out and watches TV replays. But at the events mentioned above the result was announced and then replays were shown. At times the call by the line judges was upheld but when it caused doubt (about the line call) it meant trouble. At the Busan Asian Games things came to such a pass that some countries refused to continue their matches and in one of the matches the game was held up for more than two hours something that had never happened before in any international event.

The technical committee of the International Badminton Federation has discussed the issue of technical help a couple of times to arrive at some decision but nothing concrete seems to have emerged till today. Though the technical committee is yet to deliberate on the subject for a final decision, it is generally believed in badminton circles that we are not at a stage where we may utilise technical equipment or cameras to review line judgements or other decisions. However, this does not solve the issue when a player is aggrieved about a call or when he draws the attention of the umpire or referee to replay which supports his contention.

Another problem arises due to the laws of the game which require that the game should be played continuously. The reference to a TV replay would cause delay. The other school of thought, which favours extensive use of technology, argues that the delay is more if the agitated player demands the referee to be called. It has also been said that TV coverage is limited to one court at a time and all courts in use at any time may not be covered. There are also chances of the TV missing a controversial call.

Does that mean that the present system should be allowed to continue under which calls made by the line judges cannot be ruled out and even “let” be allowed to be played. At Guangzhou two line judges were removed by the referee due to bad calls made by them but their decision could not be changed. Even recently re-elected president of FIFA, Mr Blatter, has not favoured video replay as it would “take the emotion out of football”.

There is no end in sight about this controversy and we are likely to see and hear more about it in the days to come.

Kudos to BSF for title win

Kudos to BSF for lifting the coveted Beighton Cup after a gap of four years. They drubbed debutants Indian Oil 3-0 in the final of the prestigious hockey championship. Starting on a slow note, the securitymen gathered momentum as Iqbaljit and Ekka, moving in tandem, helped establish the domination of their side. The scoreline amply reflected how they kept a firm grip over the match. Indian Oil having four internationals, including Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh in their ranks, failed miserably to loosen the stranglehold of the rivals. However, good, fast, attacking and vintage hockey was dished out by both the teams. But I wonder why the world's oldest hockey competition was played on grass while all top hockey tournaments are nowadays played on artificial turf.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala

The Punjab Government recently presented pension cheques to several former Olympians and their widows, but completely ignored the widow of former hockey Olympian Prithipal Singh, who represented the country in three Olympics and brought glory to the country. Similarly a few months ago, a huge amount of Rs 3.5 lakh was given to quarter-miler Paramjit Singh who gave a very poor performance in the Busan Asian Games where he clocked 47.58 seconds. On home soil, he had reportedly clocked 45.56 seconds. How come such a big difference in his timing? It is also pitiable that athletes like Hakam Singh are leading miserable lives due to poverty.

NARINDER SINGH
Chandigarh

We have not head about Harbhajan Singh since he returned after playing important, meaningful and fruitful cricket in South Africa When he arrived at Jalandhar, no government official or sports personality was present at the railway station to receive our hero, except for his mother, maternal grandfather and some friends. We read daily that Sachin, Nehra, Ganguly and others are felicitated by their respective state governments and organisations. Why is the Punjab Government not bothered?

NIRMAL GAUTAM
Nangal

Saurav Ganguly had two options after winning the toss in the World Cup final. Being the captain of the team, he was fully aware of the team’s capability. Hence, it was not an error on the part Saurav but a blunder to opt for fielding.

O.P. WADHWA
Gohana