Girls just wanna play hockey

Shahbad players have overcome adversity to become an integral part of the Indian team, reports Rahul Das

When the Indian women’s hockey team won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, there was jubilation in Shahbad, a small town in Kurukshetra district.

Four girls from Shahbad — Surinder Kaur, Jasjeet Kaur, Rajvinder Kaur and Saroj Bala — were part of the squad that narrowly missed the gold. While Surinder scored the match-winner in the semifinal against New Zealand, Jasjeet struck three goals in the pool matches (two against Nigeria and one versus Malaysia).

Hockey has transformed not only the lives of the girls but also of their family members. Triumphing over adversity, these girls are proving to be breadwinners for their families.

Centre forward Surinder Kaur’s parents were daily-wage labourers who used to work on other people’s farms. Now they have started contract farming on five acres. A dairy helps in getting additional income for the poor family.

Sukhdev, Surinder’s father, says she has been playing hockey since Class VI. He recalls that there was a time when there was no road leading to their house in the middle of the fields. “During the rainy season, I used to carry her on one shoulder and my bicycle on the other. I would wade through waist-deep water up to the road. Then I would take her for hockey practice,” he said.

Sukhdev says his daughter is a tough girl. “Four months ago, she sustained injuries on her right knee. But she was undaunted. After receiving treatment at New Delhi, she continued to play and helped India win the Commonwealth silver,” he adds.

Surinder’s parents unfortunately could not watch their daughter play since they do not have a cable connection. “We were keen to watch her perform but we only got to read about her in the newspaper. We were concerned when we learnt that she had been injured in a match. Now, she is fine,” they said.

Goalkeeper Rajni Bala has led a tough life. Her father Tilak Raj is a rickshaw puller, while her brother Satish works as a waiter in a Shahbad hotel. Her aged grandfather, Hansraj, retired as a Class IV employee. Hansraj recalls that Rajni was determined to succeed as a hockey player and she would work hard to achieve her goal. “I would see her go for practice early in the morning. She would never miss her practice even if there was inclement weather,” he fondly recalls.

Living in Majri area of Shahbad, Rajni’s family members were able to see some of the matches, thanks to cable TV.

Cousin sisters Jasjeet Kaur and Rajvinder Kaur both lost their father at a young age. Amar Singh Handa, their grandfather, says hockey has given a special meaning to the lives of the family members. “My grand-daughters are the pride of the nation. While Jasjeet has come home for a day, we will be meeting Rajvinder only after the senior nationals are over,” he says.

The families of the four girls give much of the credit for their success to coach Baldev Singh.

Baldev, who is known to be a hard taskmaster, says he is satisfied with the silver medal but he would have been happier if India had won the gold.

“We had won the gold medal in Manchester. We should have repeated our performance. Also, as India had lost to Australia four times in the past six months, a strategy should have been formulated to tackle the formidable rivals.

Baldev is currently coaching 40 youngsters at the newly laid Astro-turf at Government Senior Secondary School, Shahbad. “We are always on the lookout for fresh talent. However, it would be difficult to say at this stage how many of them can go on to represent India,” he says. Most of the girls being trained by him come from a humble background.

One of his worthy pupils, Jasjeet, will become the eighth person from Shahbad to receive the Bhim award. Those who have received the award previously are Bhupinder Kaur, Sandeep Kaur, Sanjeev Kumar, Gurpreet Kaur, Surinder Kaur, Balwinder Kaur and Suman Bala. No prizes for guessing who coached them all.

The success of women hockey players from Shahbad has helped many of them earn scholarships. Of the 36 young players who are being coached by Baldev, 10 are receiving a scholarship of Rs 21,000 per year, while the rest are getting Rs 10,000.

Having rendered yeoman service to Indian women’s hockey, Baldev is now on the verge of retirement. “I sometimes wonder who would continue the effort initiated by me. It would perhaps be a good idea if the Sports Authority of India takes over the training on Astro-turf at Shahbad,” he signs off.

From bad to worse
Ramandeep Singh

The Indian men’s hockey team is in an abyss of mediocrity, with succour nowhere in sight. Finishing sixth at the Commonwealth Games, where top teams like Germany, Holland and Spain were not playing, shows the depths the team has sunk to.

With Australia and Pakistan the only strong contenders, the Indians were expected to make it to the semifinals but they played true to “form” and finished behind Malaysia, England and New Zealand.

Both Malaysia and New Zealand are the underdogs of world hockey, and India should have got past them. However, the Indians muffed innumerable opportunities to score against the Malaysians and drew the match. In the match for the fifth place against the Kiwis, the Indians put up a awful performance to lose the match.

If we cannot hold our own in not-so-challenging events like the Commonwealth Games, how are we going to perform in important ones such as the World Cup or the Olympics?

In spite of the resounding success of the Premier Hockey League, the standard of Indian hockey is relentlessly falling. Hockey might be regaining its popularity, but cricket is still the opium of the masses. Given a choice, a budding sportsperson will prefer cricket to hockey. The reason: cricket offers big money and instant stardom. So, the kind of talent required for hockey is attracted to cricket.

The present pool of players available for selection for the national team are just not good enough to be relied upon to beat ordinary teams like Malaysia.

To blame the Indian Hockey Federation or the coach for all the ills is uncalled for. When the team enters the playing arena it is the players who have to perform and not the coach or anybody else.

At this level all the IHF can do is select a balanced team. The coach can only guide and motivate the players — it’s not his job to teach them the basics. The players know what is to be done and how to do it. And when they don’t do it, it is because they don’t have it in them to excel at this level.

Unless someone with the prodigious talent of Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid walks on to the hockey turf, the dearth of wins and trophies is going to last.

With the World Cup not far away, virtually the same team is going to play. Maybe, the coach will be changed but the outcome might be the same — more defeats, some draws and very few wins.

IN THE NEWS
Punch Line
Raman Mohan

Bhiwani boxers Jitender Kumar and Vijender, who won a bronze and a silver, respectively, at the Commonwealth Games, have more in common than the sport they love and the district they come from. Both hail from lower middle-class families, have illiterate mothers but matriculate fathers. Both love doodh and dahi but shun ghee. Both families want them to win a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics.

While Vijender joined as a Senior Railways Ticket Examiner at Jaipur a few months ago, Jitender and his family want the Railways to offer him a job.

Jitender, who won the bronze in the 51 kg flyweight category, comes from a Brahmin family of Devsar village located on the outskirts of Bhiwani. The village was so far known for its temple where a mela is held every year. It is now also known as boxer Jitender’s village. His parental house is a typical three-room village house with no frills. The outer walls are still expecting their first coat of paint.

His father Sajjan Kumar is a retired Army jawan. Sajjan and his five brothers have between them just five acres. Jitender, a Class XII student, is the youngest of the three children. His elder brother Surinder Kumar is employed by a transport company, while sister Poonam is married in a nearby village.

His mother Vidya Devi never went to school but seeing her youngest child’s interest in sports, she ensured that he got the lion’s share of the doodh and dahi available in the kitchen. “None of his siblings ever resented it,” she says. Jitender’s father says he never objected to his spending long hours at the SAI hostel in Bhiwani. “But he never gave me any reason for complaint since he also scored over 50 per cent marks in his examinations,” he adds.

Vijender’s family owns no land. His father, a driver with Haryana Roadways, has a house in Kaluwas village along the Meham-Bhiwani road. Vijender’s cash rewards for his medals in various international meets have helped the family build a house with all the trappings of a comfortable urban dwelling. It has an inverter to keep the desert coolers running during power cuts. The furniture is new and the kitchen “modern” by village standards.

Vijender’s mother Krishna has also ensured that he got all the milk and curd he needed to make him strong. “Besides, I always gave him the money he wanted to pursue his sport”, she says. Vijender’s elder brother Manoj, a Havildar in the Army, is also a boxer. So are three of his cousins.

Both families have set their sights on the next Olympics. They express the same sentiment — so far so good, but it’s the Olympic gold that they want. Once that happens, both mothers also want their sons to get married and bring home a “homely” wife.

Debut dossier
Vikramdeep Johal

Giving a remarkable performance in one’s debut Test match is no mean feat. Doing an encore is even harder. India’s Munaf Patel, England’s Alastair Cook and Australia’s Stuart Clark, who all began their Test careers on a resounding note last month, face a Herculean task proving that their dream debut was no flash in the pan.

There have been a number of players in Test history who dazzled everyone in their first match, only to fade away and make a disappointing exit. Aussie speedster Bob Massie burst onto the scene in the 1972 Lord’s Test, sending England crashing to defeat with a haul of 16 wickets (eight in both innings). Repeating such a sensational effort was virtually impossible for him. Still, it was surprising that Massie did not last long (he played just six Tests in all, taking a total of 31 wickets).

Indian leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani, who announced his retirement from first-class cricket this February, emulated Massie but also suffered a similar fate. He destroyed the West Indies at Chennai, 1987-88, taking 16 wickets for 136 runs. After this high, it was all downhill for him. His loss of form, coupled with the emergence of Anil Kumble, restricted his Test career to only 17 matches, in which he claimed 66 wickets at an average of 30.10.

England’s R.E. Foster hit 287 on debut against Australia at Sydney, 1903-04. This was the only Test hundred he hit in his eight-match career. However, the epic knock enshrined Foster’s name in the record books. Even after more than 100 years, it still stands as the highest score by a Test debutant.

Lala Amarnath got a century in his first match against England at Mumbai, 1933-34. He never again crossed the three-figure mark in Tests (24). Lala’s lesser-known son Surinder Amarnath also proved to be a one-ton wonder (he made 124 against New Zealand at Auckland, 1975-76). On the other hand, Surinder’s illustrious brother Mohinder Amarnath got a duck in his first Test but went on to score 4,378 runs in 69 matches with 11 hundreds.

Indeed, there have been several players who overcame bad starts to become the world’s leading cricketers. Shane Warne, the highest Test wicket-taker of all time, had a nightmarish debut as Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar clobbered him at Sydney in 1991-92. The Australian leggie finished with unenviable figures of 1-150 from 45 overs. Kumble’s performance in his first Test was also quite unremarkable — he ended up with match figures of 3-170 from 60 overs against England at Manchester, 1990. Even the legendary Don Bradman scored just 19 runs (18 and 1) in his debut Test against England at Brisbane in 1928-29.

A few players haven’t faltered after a good start but made it the launchpad for a distinguished career. Big names like Greg Chappell, Mark Waugh, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Azharuddin, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly all scored tons on their Test debut. Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett took 11 wickets for 82 runs to cook England’s goose at Sydney in 1924-25. When he called it quits, he had 216 wickets in his kitty from 37 Tests.

History doesn’t seem to be on the side of Munaf Patel and the others. Their career has begun with a bang — let’s hope it doesn’t end with a whimper.

SPORTS MAIL

Dravid’s error cost India dear

India lost the third Test against England at Mumbai due to the wrong decision of Rahul Dravid. Hitherto he had been losing the toss, but after winning it at Mumbai, he frittered away the advantage by opting to field first.

Batting fourth at the Wankhede Stadium is always an uphill task and even a moderate target appears formidable. Overhauling 313, the target set by England, was virtually impossible on a crumbling pitch. England must been grateful to Dravid for his decision which enabled the visitors to level the series. Had India batted first, it would have been a different story.

Coach Greg Chappell should have advised Dravid on opting to bat first after winning the toss.

— D.K. Aggarwala, Phagwara

Football fiasco

The Indian football team suffered disgraceful defeats at the hands of Japan (0-7) and Yemen (0-3) recently. It is a pity that India have never been ranked among the top 100 football playing nations for the past more than 20 years. The All-India Football Federation, headed by Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi for long, should take moral responsibility for the miserable state of the game.

Also, India should take a break from international matches and in the meantime concentrate on picking talented young players for intensive training under experienced coaches and provide necessary infrastructure in all states. Liberal allocation of funds and proper planning are necessary to raise the game’s level to the international standard.

— J.K. Mago, Panchkula