 |
|
| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, September 20, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
|
Sports
not govt’s concern alone Volleyball
going high profile |
|
|
Compton
past returns to haunt Williams family For a woman who was to break the mould of women’s tennis it was somehow appropriate that Venus Williams began playing tennis on the public courts in Compton. Far from the country clubs and tennis academies where most young Americans developed their skills, the Los Angeles suburb was a tough place to grow up. One of the many nicknames her father and coach, Richard, gave to Venus was "the ghetto Cinderella.’’ Venus and her younger sister Serena, whose power and personalities have lit up women’s tennis, now live in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Richard’s tales of drive-by shootings and gang warfare interrupting his children’s tennis lessons were a fading memory until early on Sunday when Compton came back to haunt the Williams family. Yetunde Price, the eldest daughter of five, was shot dead in Compton after an altercation. A 24-year-old man, Aaron Michael Hammer, has been arrested and will face a first-degree murder charge at his arraignment, expected today. Yetunde, 31 and a mother of three, worked as a personal assistant to 23-year-old Venus and 21-year-old Serena, for whom family was all-important. The two youngest sisters have played each other in six finals of grand slam events — the big tournaments of tennis. Every time the Williams family — led by mother Oracene, now divorced from Richard — was out in force to watch and at Wimbledon the two women take a house together every year to keep the family vibe going. Richard says he decided to put his daughters on the tennis stage when he watched a women’s match on the television more than 20 years ago and was amazed at how much the players earned. He did not believe his eldest three daughters were cut out for tennis so, according to his version of events, he went to Oracene and said: "We need to make two more kids." "There was a plan from two years before Venus was actually born as to how I would raise my kids with the help of my wife — their education, their food and most of all their tennis," he said in 2001. He said then he had deliberately moved the family to Compton to teach the girls a valuable lesson. "I wanted to live in the worst ghetto in the world so they could see all the bad that can happen to you if you don’t get an education." Using unconventional training methods, Richard kept his girls away from top flight competition until their late teens and then unleashed them to devastating effect. Venus and Serena have not appeared on the WTA Tour since Serena beat an injured Venus in the final at Wimbledon in July and following Yetunde’s death it is probable Venus will delay her return, set for the Kremlin Cup in Moscow this month. Serena had surgery in August and was due to be out of action for six to eight weeks and Yetunde’s death could accelerate the duo’s move away from tennis. Serena was in Toronto filming a movie when news of her sister’s death came and she has appeared as often on the front pages attending celebrity events as she has on the back pages winning tournaments this year. "I’m an actress, I’m a model and an athlete. I put athlete third on my list,’’ Serena said in April. Serena has been usurped as world number one in the rankings and is now number three after playing 10 tournaments this year compared with 22 played number one Kim Clijsters of Belgium. The urge to change direction may be even stronger for Venus who has been eclipsed by her younger sister after winning both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open twice. Her father has occasionally dropped hints that he expects Venus to leave tennis within a few years. Venus herself makes no secret of her
love of interior decorating and fashion — she is studying for a
bachelor’s degree in interior design and designs a line of women’s
clothing — and often appears weary with the demands of professional
tennis. — Reuters |
|
Sports not
govt’s concern alone Every sports activity requires funds and among the various sources, the central and state governments, respective associations, industrial houses and donors are important. It is true that the role the government plays in encouraging sporting activities is very important. It is not only the sports officials who are concerned about the role played by the government and its institutions but also players, who spend a lot of time and energy in sports arenas, coaches, organisers, administrators and the man in the street who wants his country’s players to perform well. True, we have a Sports Ministry and there is a Sports Minister in every state. It is also true that occasionally sports activities are discussed in Parliament and the state assemblies. It is also true that the governments, give grants to sports association, stadiums are built across the country by the government, and we have a National Institute of Sports funded by the central government. Coaches are also appointed and coaching camps are organised with funds provided by the government. But the question is can the government alone do it? No, the government cannot do it alone. It is not only the question of allocation of more funds. School-going children or children of school-going age, are our best bet for future sporting achievements. When talented children do not turn up for sports, coaches and organisers try to nurture inefficient youngsters for the sake of participation. In other words we support the inefficient because we lose the good ones to other activities. This is done because coaches and administrations have no choice and for their survival they bring in the inefficient. We have not been able to attract the quality people. It must also be added that it will be our shortsightedness to equate attracting of talent with ability to manage. Attracting talent is not a substitute for sound management. The management has to be done by the coach who works with his talented trainees in the sports field. The focus needs to be there and not on what the government is doing. Howcome we have not been able to produce quality athletes and players continuously? We have failed because of our mindset. After every loss in hockey or in any other discipline, we start looking for guidance from the government. We need to change our mindset. The government is supposed to provide infrastructure as it is very expensive. But this infrastructure has to be used by the coaches (middle level management) and players. It is beyond any government to remove indifferent attitude or mediocracy. It is the middle-level management which needs to have quest for excellence. And for this they need to attract talent. Unless youngsters find ‘something for them’ they will not come to huge complexes built with people’s money. They will flock to the grounds, swimming pools, gymnasiums only if they see the benefits of going there. Thus it is essential that sports is made attractive. We have associations of various sports
disciplines. Each association is managed by a group of people who try to
encourage sportsmen to attain better standards. The members must be
selfless in all respects, objective and honest. The success of any
association depends on whether its working inspires confidence among its
sponsors, donors and above all the community it serves. Another
important factor, crucial nowadays, is marketing. Proper marketing
enables an association to raise funds and not look for government help
to fund various activities. |
|
Volleyball
going high profile For a sport once considered among the more popular traditional games in India, volleyball appears to have taken centrestage with some really praiseworthy performances on the international court. It has now attained a status in the Indian sports hierarchy from where it will be difficult to dislodge, at least for the time being. The euphoria generated by the title-win in the Asian Youth Boys' Championship at Visakhapatnam earlier in the year and the subsequent runners-up berth in the World Championship in Subphanburl (Thailand) where it scalped some of the top graders in the world has, by and large, dimmed somewhat but the recent performance in the Asian Championship at Tianjin (China) by the senior team has revived the spirits. Indeed the early showing in this championship by India was very heartening. It beat the eventual champions South Korea among others but defeats at the hands of Japan and Iran in subsequent matches, though after some brilliant resistance, took the sheen away from the initial victories. India finished fifth and should have been an automatic choice for a place in the Olympic qualifier but for a technical snag. If Japan, the sixth team, plays host to this competition, it will replace India. It is a big setback to the Indian hopes of a chance to make the Olympic grade but given the positive mood engulfing Indian volleyball at the moment, these are but minor irritants and should be accepted as such. It is positive aspect of the whole show that one must dwell on. Indian volleyball has never has such a success in the international field barring of course the bronze medal in the Asian Games. This was in the 60s. Since then the game has gone into wilderness despite staunch loyalty at the ground level at home where it is still one of the more popular games, particularly in the rural areas of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in addition to the high profile it maintains all over Andhra Pradesh and Kerala among the southern states. But the popularity and crowd support in these areas has never really converted the game to an international level. In fact not even a national one if the overall view is considered in the context of money and sponsorship. Volleyball has remained a poor man's game despite the energetic record in the 50s and 60s where thanks in particular to the patronage of Russia the game flourished in a wider sense. For all its popularity it, however, lost out in prominence at the national level and progressive years saw it become among the many games drowned by the aggressive media projection of cricket. In fact volleyball almost disappeared even from the mind when it came to disciplines to be represented in the Asian Games though a team was sent to one of the editions of the Games. The result was not very encouraging. Suddenly, now in the year 2003, it has come back with a bang, thanks mainly to the perseverance of Sivanti Adityan, the president of the federation and now, during the past five months, Hristo Ilieve, the 52-year old coach from Sofia, Bulgaria. Ilieve has had a very successful coaching stint in the French League to add to the silver medal which he won in the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Thanks to Hristo Ilieve, Indian volleyball appears to have adopted most of the modern methods in vogue. One of them of course pertains to basic prescription regarding the height of the player. He reportedly wants all his players to be 190 cm and above. Height of course is a very important commodity in volleyball and the international body is reported to have adopted some measures by which to categorise teams on height-basis, though the details are not available. In view of the recent performances
Indian volleyball is oozing with confidence, a quality which should be
encouraged. At the same time the high profile image in the international
court should be used to boost the game in the India by hosting
international tournaments, possibly at club level to start with. For all
this the game needs acceptance of its image by the government and the
sponsors. Only then can volleyball come back to its roots as it were, a
popular game for the masses and then in turn make meaningful progress on
the international ladder. |
sm
|
 |
Indians should always play to win In the write-up on the 25th Champions Trophy ‘‘Hyped-up Indians shown their place’’ the writer has rightly stated that Indian hockey has to get out of its Pakistan-centric attitude. However, I do not agree with his view that ‘‘sometimes it may be good for India to lose to Pakistan if that helps them to win the top slot’’. I feel that a team should always play for victory. It should not even think about opting for a defeat only because it would help establish the supremacy of Asian or some other style. A victory is a victory. It improves a country’s image in the world of sports even if it does not make any difference to the final standings in a particular tournament. Moreover, it fills the countrymen with a sense of pride and generates patriotic feelings. What is more, a win motivates players to repeat or improve their performance in subsequent tournaments. Surendra Miglani Kudos to England Kudos to England who denied South Africa a slice of history by winning the final Test by nine wickets and thereby levelled the five-match Test series 2-2. It was an engrossing series in which South Africa twice took the lead but England came roaring back from behind to share the honours. Thus the Springboks’ long cherished dream of clinching their first series in England since 1965 was shattered. The architects of England’s extraordinarily outstanding victory in the final Test, on which the Proteas had pinned high hopes, were Trescothick and the duo of Bicknell and Harmison. The former hit a magnificent 219 in the first innings and an unbeaten 69 in the second while the latter, bowling in tandem, took four wickets each in South Africa’s second essay to dash the hopes of their rivals, as the visitors were skittled out for 229. No England side has ever won a Test at home after conceding 484 runs in the first innings. But England defied not only history but also scored a mammoth total of 604 for nine in the first innings to exert psychological pressure on their opponents who caved in without much resistance in their second innings placing the Test in England’s lap. What a fantastic victory! Tarsem S. Bumrah Anju George Three cheers to Anju Bobby George, who won a bronze in the World Athletics Championship in Paris. She made history by winning this medal. She is the lone Indian athlete to bag this honour. Under Mike Powell’s guidance, she excelled in her event. It shows that there is no dearth of talent in India. We should engage world class coaches from time to time to train our youngsters. We will have to deviate from cricket and focus on other games to achieve good results. Bansi Ram |
