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| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, July 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
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A sportsman in Parliament! A forgettable year for world champs Brazil Women wrestlers of
Tarn Taran TEEING-OFF |
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A sportsman in Parliament! Milkha Singh is in the news again and typical of him,
with a reason. He wants more importance and recognition for sports with
a member of the fraternity being nominated to the Rajya Sabha. He has
disowned his claim to that honour though stating that he is already
"famous". The former ace quarter-miler who gave Indian
athletics something to shout about when he broke an Olympic record while
finishing fourth in the final of the Rome Olympics in 1960 has recently
made a suggestion which could be considered. The only snag about Milkha
Singh’s argument is in relation to the comparisons he has offered
while calling artistes from the film world naachnewale (dancers) and
gaanewale (singers). In Hindi these translations sound a little harsh.
Perhaps Milkha has erred in the choice of words and too much should not
be made out of his statement on the issue. Milkha has had considerable
support for his new theme (an old one according to him), but given the
reaction from the various personalities from the world of sport, it is
obvious that no one really has a clue to what it is that a member of
Rajya Sabha can do which he otherwise cannot do from outside of it. Or
the clamour for a sportsperson being nominated to Rajya Sabha is because
of the aura associated with it. Being nominated to the Rajya Sabha is
indeed an honour and a person so selected lends lustre to the House. And
the inclusion of an outstanding sportsperson will only increase the
status of the House. That is one way of looking at it. The advantage he
or she will have is access to the seat of authority, the ministry
concerned or even direct to the office of the Prime Minister. But a
sportsperson as a member of the Rajya Sabha is not someone seeking to
alleviate some grievance. He is there to improve the lot of sports in
India and much more. A mere voice in a such vocal gathering is not going
to be of much use except in special cases. It must be clear to everyone
following the proceedings of the Parliament that sports gets a mention
only after the usual debacle in a multi discipline events like the Asian
Games or Olympics when everyone becomes knowledgeable enough to condemn
the authorities. The other occasion sports gets a mention is when an
Indian cricket team beats Pakistan in one of those rare matches. There
are congratulations all over with even the Prime Minister’s office
being dragged in. The Parliament and the Indian system appears to think
that the world contains only India and Pakistan and their problems. The
Parliament is a big platform and to expect an Indian Parliament to have
a fruitful discussion on sports is to delude oneself. Sports is not a
priority in Parliament except for the reasons given earlier. The
ordinary member of Parliament not only does not care much about sport
but is also generally quite ignorant. Nothing useful can be expected on
any such discussions in the House. Milkha and other personalities would
do well to concentrate in promoting the discipline they have excelled
in. Prakash Padukone for instance had taken administrative
responsibility of badminton in addition to his work in the academy in
Bangalore. Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Amrithraj and others of that standing
are doing the best in areas best known to them. Sriram Singh is another
example of a sportsman spelling out his knowledge of athletics to
youngsters. There are thousands of others who are doing the
same. Earning nomination to the Rajya Sabha is not going to help
sports. M.F. Hussain spent six years doing sketches in Parliament and
later made a book of his efforts. R.K. Narayan, the famous author also
spent six years and made one valuable suggestion, about the weight of
schoolbags children carrying to schools. Hussain did nothing for
painters, Narayan nothing for writers. As for the interest taken in
sports by the governments, the less said the better. The BJP Government
has had Test cricketers Chetan Chauhan and Kirti Azad, and both elected
members, in its ranks. And one of them could have been made the Minister
of Sports. But no! That job was given to a political appointee. Sports
is not going to improve by sportsmen getting nominated to Rajya Sabha.
It will improve only when there is a sports culture in the country. For
that one has to look beyond the politicians and Parliament. |
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A forgettable year for world champs Brazil Rivaldo is on the substitutes’ bench at AC Milan, Edmilson is out of
favour at Olympique Lyon, Kleberson is still hoping somebody will come
along and buy him and goalkeeper Marcos is playing second division
football. The year since Brazil won their fifth World Cup in Japan and
South Korea will probably go down as the most dismal in history both for
the team as a whole and for many of its individual parts. Far from
sweeping all before them, Brazil have scraped together a modest record
of three wins, three draws and three defeats. Brazil’s only
competitive internationals have been in the much-maligned Confederations
Cup, when club commitments forced coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to take
a makeshift squad including 11 uncapped players and his team suffered
the indignity of first-round elimination. In the absence of real
competition, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has been happy
to lead its team around the world, playing friendlies in any country
willing to pay an appearance fee reported to be between $700,000 and one
million dollars. Brazil have been to South Korea, China, Portugal,
Mexico and Nigeria, travelling up to 30 hours and usually taking the
field after only a single training session. Parreira described the trip
to China as a massacre after a five-day excursion in which he and the
Brazil-based players spent more time in the air than in China itself.
Because of club commitments — both in Europe and at home —
Parreira has not even been able to use the matches to prepare his team
for the looming South American World Cup qualifiers. Brazil, who under
new FIFA rules will this time have to qualify even though they are
defending champions, kick off their campaign in Colombia on September
7. Parreira, who led Brazil to their fourth World Cup title in 1994,
was reappointed in January after Luiz Felipe Scolari, the volatile,
ranting coach who led Brazil in Japan and South Korea, took charge of
Portugal. Parreira initially intended to continue with Scolari’s team
and planned to gradually draft in Brazil’s wealth of promising young
players such as the Santos duo Diego and Robinho, Cruzeiro striker
Deivid, Sao Paulo’s Luis Fabiano and Corinthians striker
Gil. Circumstances have torpedoed that idea and the beleaguered coach
has found himself piecing together teams with whoever is available. ‘’We
knew before that it would be very difficult to put together this team in
the face of all these restrictions,’’ said Parreira before the
Confederations Cup. But even if Parreira had been able to choose from a
full array of top players, he might have been startled by the way in
which some had lost their form. Rivaldo, a forlorn spectator at the
Champions League final, finished the Italian season on the bench at AC
Milan. Defender Lucio missed five months of the season with his club
Bayer Leverkusen, who narrowly escaped relegation in the Bundesliga. Edmilson,
his partner at the centre of the defence, struggled to find his form for
most of the season with Olympique Lyon. Left-back Roberto Carlos did
well enough for Real Madrid but was given a three-month international
ban after shoulder-charging the referee and being sent off during a 2-1
friendly defeat by Scolari’s Portugal. Midfielder Kleberson saw
possible moves to English premier league clubs fall through after they
failed to agree terms with provincial club Atletico Paranaense, where he
remains. Marcos, who kept four clean sheets in seven games at the World
Cup, has been relegated to the second division of the Brazilian
championship with Palmeiras. The low point for the player nicknamed
"Saint Marcos’’ by the club’s fans came in a Copa Brasil
match in April when he made a hat-trick of blunders in a 7-2 home defeat
against Vitoria. — Reuters |
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Women wrestlers of
Tarn Taran A silent revolution has been witnessed in the sphere of
women’s wrestling in the tiny border town of Tarn Taran, once the
hotbed a terrorism. The area has produced at least 30 women wrestlers,
including two international, eight national and nearly 20 state-level
grapplers in the past four years since the event was thrown open to
women. This is indeed a laudable achievement. In the days of terrorism,
people did not dare to venture out of their houses after sunset. The
women’s wrestling centre is housed in a hall of S.G.A.D. Government
Girls Senior Secondary School. The centre has been doing a commendable
job. It has at present 25 women wrestlers, including one of
international level, four national position holders and 15 state-level
wrestlers. Surprisingly the centre does not have a professional coach.
One physical education instructor (PTI) Ms Shanti Sharma who had been an
athlete oversees the arrangements. She used to impart judo training in
the school before the introduction of wrestling four years ago. However,
with the introduction of wrestling she started imparting training after
learning some lessons from a SAI wrestling coach in Amritsar. From time
to time she also took help from male wrestlers of Tarn Taran to give
tips to the trainees. Roopinder Kaur who competes in 48 kg category,
shone when she fetched the gold in the International Invitation
Wrestling Championship 2002 in Turkey. She won gold (subjunior) and
bronze (junior national) in 2001 and 2002, respectively. She got a
silver in the National Games in Hyderabad last year and in the recently
concluded junior national wrestling championship in Chennai. Suman Preet
Kaur (67 kg) won gold and silver medals in subjunior National Wrestling
Championships in 2000 and 2001, respectively. In the last two National
Games held in Punjab and Hyderabad she fetched a silver and bronze. In
the junior nationals held in Chennai this year she stood first. Ritu
Bala (44 kg) fetched gold, bronze and again gold in the last three
Junior National Wrestling Championship from 2001 to 2003. Gurjeet Kaur
(56 kg) won a gold medal each in the subjunior nationals (2001) and
junior nationals (2003). Gurmeet Kaur (63 kg) won bronze in the junior
nationals this year. Gursharan Preet Kaur, who was a member of the
national wrestling team in the 16th Asian Senior Wrestling Championships
in New Delhi, was a trainee of this centre for three years. She joined
Punjab Police a year earlier. Shanti Devi says the government must take
notice of the performance of the centre which is functioning without a
coach. Therefore a coach must be provided at the centre. She recalled
that the centre did not have proper mats till a few months back.
However, the Director Sports Mr Kartar Singh arranged 32 mats for the
centre. She says it would be more beneficial if people came forward to
extend monetary help for diet as the trainees come from different
backgrounds. |
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TEEING-OFF Capitalising on the enormous success in 2002-03 season
in which Hero Honda Tour touched 2.42 crores from 24 tournaments in
different centres, the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI)
is hopeful of reaching a landmark figure of Rs 3 crore in the season
that is about to unfold shortly. The qualifying school competition has
already been held in Pune and some new and young faces are expected to
figure in tournaments. There are quite a few, who are endeavouring hard
to check Mukesh Kumar’s supremacy in the domestic circuit. "We
are trying to stop Mukesh Kumar from becoming ‘player of the year’
for the fifth time in succession", said a few young aspirants. It
will be great if that happens because the change is the sure sign of
progress. Mukesh Kumar, however, wears optimism that he will continue
to do his best in the circuit. He is working hard at his Mhow course.
But if he fails to retain his supremacy, he will not be unduly
disappointed. This happens in golf, which is a very unpredictable
discipline. Imagine, Tiger Woods failing to win any major title in the
last season. If that happens to Tiger, it can happen to any
player. Ashok Kumar’s performance in his first pro season was
remarkable. Impressive was the display of Shiv Shankar Chowrasia. Both
are young and should be able to assert themselves as the season unfolds.
They have talent and technique. They have to sharpen their minds to stay
in hunt for the billing. Rahul Ganapathy is also making waves. What is
satisfying is that golfers from regions other than north and east are
announcing their arrival. This is very healthy sign. Harmeet Kahlon was
cock-ahoop when he bagged a huge prize for securing an eagle in the
international competition, which was marred by rain. He did not play two
of the three rounds well and finished 28th. His performance has always
been excellent one day and not so impressive on other days. Consistency
is the key to success in golf. He has in him to overtake some more
renowned players provided he plays in a carefree vein. Deep thinking is
essential but worry leads to failure. Brandon de Souza is a key figure
in promoting golf in the country. While Tiger Sports Marketing unit
feeds Indian media with meticullous care, he ropes in leading sponsors.
He has not yet revealed his plans but some new sponsors are likely to
participate in a big way. The more the sponsors, the better for the
game. The junior training programme at the Delhi Golf Club was a
riproaring success. So was the Amit Verma tournament. But juniors need
to be provided more facilities. They should be given facilities to play
at different courses. The Indian Golf Union should help youngsters to
get opportunities to play. The IGU has got to activate itself. The
IGU has also to provide proper facilities and exposure to women golfers.
Their performance has not shown much improvement.
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Hockey victory at Hamburg laudable Heartiest congratulations to the Indian hockey team for winning the Four-Nation Hockey Tournament at Hamburg in Germany. India beat Argentina 4-1 in their first match. They went down fighting 2-3 in their second match against Germany. India beat Spain 4-2 in their last match. Baljit Dhillon, Kanwalpreet ,Jugraj and Tirkey performed well in this tourney. It is a victory of the continental style and should be an eye-opener. The Indian team's real test will be in the forthcoming Champions Trophy where top six teams of the world will participate. It is hoped that under the able guidance of their experienced coach Rajinder Singh they will perform creditably. RAJDEEP SINGH, Phagwara II After winning the three-nation tournament
in Sydney on June 8, the Indian team's victory in Four-Nation Masters
Hockey Tournament in Hamburg on June 29 was another significant
achievement. The players played well in all departments of the game.
The chief coach, skipper and all members of the team deserve heartiest
congratulations from all countrymen. There was an improvement in the
rate of penalty corner conversions as six out of 11 were converted.
There was confidence in the deep defenders and many saves were
effected by the goalkeeper. The forward line demonstrated power,
precision and proficiency. Keep it up, India ! I.S. SAROYA,
III The
second successive title-victory at Hamburg has revived memories of the
Dhian Chand era. Coach Rajinder Singh has found the winning side now.
He should keep honing the skill of the boys and should work more on
half-backs and penalty corners. Experience and youth are doing a
wonderful job. P.N. MENON,
IV Heartiest
congratulations to the Indian coach Rajinder Singh and his boys for
winning the four-nation hockey Tournament in Hamburg. Although India
could not beat world champions Germany, they played excellent hockey.
This is the second great win after India won the Three-Nation
Invitation Hockey Tournament at Sydney last month. It seems good days
have returned. From now onwards they should make strenuous efforts for
cornering glory in the Athens Olympics. When the Indian hockey team
was at the peak, more than half the side comprised players of Punjab.
The present team also have maximum players from Punjab. PRITPAL
SINGH,
V The Indian victory in the Four-Nation Hockey
Tournament at Hamburg and humiliation of arch rivals Pakistan twice in
two months shows that India are one of the strong contenders for the
Olympic title. It is perhaps the strongest team after 1964. The credit
goes to coach Rajinder Singh. It is time big business houses came
forward to encourage the players. GIAN P. KANSAL,
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