Court of harvest
A state-of-the-art tennis academy has come up at Jassowal (Kular) village, near Ludhiana, reports Akash Ghai

It was a wake-up call for Harwinder Singh Saran, an NRI based in Canada, when some Canadian players mocked him by saying that his native country had won just one medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

With great determination, millionaire Saran, a die-hard sports enthusiast, decided to do something constructive to raise the standard of sports in India.

His efforts bore fruit about six months ago when the state-of-the-art Harvest Tennis Academy came up at Jassowal (Kular) village, about 30 km from Ludhiana along the Ludhiana-Moga road.

With the aim of setting up a world-class academy, Saran picked up the best available workforce, including technical experts. He even sent a delegation of two coaches, including Kanwaljit Singh and Sandeep Singh, to Spain to get first-hand knowledge of the working of world-renowned academies there.

“We visited Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy, Sanchez-Casal Academy and Safin Academy to gather information about their set-up, training schedules, diet charts, etc”, said Kanwaljit, academy’s chief coach and ITF level III tutor. “We are providing all necessary paraphernalia to reach the level of those foreign academies which are known for producing many top tennis players”, he says.

For the purpose, six synthetic courts, having Decoturf nine layers similar to the US Open courts, and three clay courts have been set up at a cost of over Rs 3 crore. Playing on the turf is safe as there are minimal chances of sustaining muscle injuries.

The academy, spread over three acres, has a state-of-the-art gymnasium, two powerful generators to cope with frequent power cuts and world-class floodlighting system, which provides playing hours during night time.

With the main objective of producing international players, the academy authorities chose 180 rural boys from Jassowal and Kular villages, besides over 20 budding players from other parts of the region. Everything, be it training, diet, shoes or kit, is being given free of cost.

Sandeep Singh is hopeful that in the next five to seven years, the academy will be able to produce top international players.

To achieve the target, a week-long camp was held at the academy. Leading players from Chandigarh took part in this camp. Also, a team of the top juniors from Pakistan played at the academy for a week. A team from Vietnam has also confirmed its visit for a five-week training session in July.

“We are also planning to start an exchange programme with Safin and Sanchez academies to give exposure to our players”, says Sandeep.

“At present we are working on the elite group of 18 children from the village and along with them we have about 10 players playing full time with us till October, 2006. The entire expenditure for this period will be borne by the academy”, says Kanwaljit.

The academy also has plans to invite top world-class foreign coaches to impart tips regarding the game to the players.

Expansion of the academy is also on the cards as Saran wants to make use of four more acres owned by him.

french open
Clayrion call
Vikramdeep Johal

Few tennis lovers were surprised when Rafael Nadal won the French Open last year. After all, the Spaniard was the firm favourite, even though he was making his debut at Roland Garros. This time, absolutely nobody would be surprised if he does it again.

Nadal, who will turn 20 on June 3, has become the undisputed claycourt king in barely a year. Having extended his winning streak on clay to 53 matches, he needs to win only his first-round encounter in Paris to break Guillermo Vilas’ long-standing world record of most consecutive victories on the demanding surface.

The Spanish teenager is the only player who has been too hot to handle for world number one Roger Federer. He has dominated his clashes with the Swiss, winning five encounters and losing just one. He prevailed upon Federer in two marathon finals at Monte Carlo and Rome recently.

The French Open is the only Grand Slam title missing from Federer’s imposing collection. Last year, he was ousted in the semifinals by his nemesis Nadal, and that too on the latter’s birthday.

Since the start of the new millennium, Spanish and South American players have ruled the roost in the men’s event. Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil won in 2000 and 2001, Spaniards Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero did it in 2002 and 2003, respectively, followed by Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and of course Nadal. The only player capable of reversing this trend is no doubt Fed Ex, if only he comes up with something quite extraordinary to stop Nadal and Co.

There is another Swiss for whom the French Open title has remained elusive — Martina Hingis. The comeback girl is in good form, having won her first title in over three years with a victory in the Italian Open last week. In the final, she brushed aside Russian Dinara Safina, who had knocked out US Open champion Kim Clijsters in an earlier round.

At Roland Garros, Hingis’ main rivals would be two Belgians — Clijsters and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne — and two Frenchwomen — Australian Open winner Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce. The Swiss Miss would also have to be wary of Russians like Dinara Safina, Anastasia Myskina and Nadia Petrova.

The Indian challenge would be spearheaded yet again by Sania Mirza, who has been seeded 39th. It has been a tough year for her so far, marked by injuries and defeats. She disappointed her fans by losing to Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek in the second round of the Australian Open. After a much-needed layoff, she seems ready to take on the world’s best at Roland Garros. Sania would be determined to do better than last year, when she lost in the first round itself to Gisela Dulko of Argentina.

In men’s doubles, both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have not been at their best in 2006 so far. Leander and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek lost in the pre-quarterfinals of the Rome Masters to the indomitable Bryan brothers. Bhupathi and South African Wesley Moodie also bowed out in the pre-quarters of the same event. At Hamburg last week, Bhupathi and American Robby Ginepri crashed out in the first round.

With neither the two Indians nor their partners in the top 10, they would need some upset victories to progress far in the premier claycourt tournament.

FIFA WORLD CUP
Lights of Asia
Ramandeep Singh

Four teams from Asia — South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Iran — will feature in the FIFA World Cup finals in Germany. After the tremendous success South Korea enjoyed in the last World Cup, which they jointly hosted with Japan, much is expected of them and the other Asian teams.

South Korea: The 2002 World Cup saw the coming of age of South Korean football. They made it to the semifinals beating Poland, Portugal, Italy and Spain on the way. Korea is easily the flag-bearer of Asian football. They have qualified for the seventh time and have made it to the finals every time since 1986.

Overcoming indifferent form in qualifying, which included an embarrassing goal-less draw against Maldives, South Korea booked their place by beating Kuwait 4-0. But they were beaten at home and away by fellow qualifiers Saudi Arabia.

Lee Dong-Gook, Lee Young-Pyo and Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung are the players on which Korean hopes rest. Korea are in Group G with France, Switzerland and Togo.

Japan: Japan, the reigning Asian champions, were the first team to qualify for the finals, their third consecutive appearance.

In the first round of qualifying, they won their first six matches but in the final round they were beaten by the Iranians. However, victories over Bahrain and North Korea ensured their qualification with a game to spare.

Japan are in the tough Group F with Brazil, Croatia and Australia. Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura will surely need to fire if Japan are to replicate their 2002 performance, when they reached the second round.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia qualified for their fourth straight finals with ease after remaining undefeated in their 12 qualifiers, including two victories over South Korea. Saudi Arabia qualified for the first time in 1994, when they beat Belgium and Morocco to advance to the second round.

But in subsequent World Cups, the Saudis have dished out poor performances — they have lost five and drawn one match. The ever- dependable Al Jaber and Yasser Al Qahtani — the most expensive player in the country’s league — will spearhead the Saudi challenge.

Saudi Arabia are in a comparatively easy Group F with Spain, Ukraine and Tunisia.

Iran: Germany 2006 will be Iran’s third finals, the previous being Argentina (1978) and France (1998).

Iran started their qualification journey on a losing note when they lost to Jordan. But they bounced back when the beat South Korea 4-3 and then defeated Jordan in the return match. Later, they drew against Bahrain and beat Japan. The Iranians then won their next four matches and notwithstanding a loss to Japan, their place in the finals was secure. Hashemian, Ali Daei — the top scorer in Asian qualifying — Ali Karimi and Mahdavika are the players to watch out for.

Experts have dubbed the current team to be the best ever Iranian team. Iran are in Group D with Angola, Mexico and Portugal. 

Battering Ram

Before the start of the India-West Indies one-day cricket series, Brian Lara and Chris Gayle were regarded as the “danger men” by Rahul Dravid and Co. However, Ramnaresh Sarwan has stolen the limelight from his flamboyant team-mates with glorious knocks at Kingston and St Kitts. He waged a lone battle in the second one-dayer at Kingston, remaining unbeaten on 98 off 138 balls. Thanks to his innings, the Windies managed to reach a total of 198. Inspired by his heroic effort, the bowlers did their bit to pull off a one-run win.

It is a matter of concern for Team India that only one or two batsmen have done the bulk of the scoring in each of the three matches. Rahul Dravid was the architect of India’s victory in the first one-dayer at Kingston, while Yuvraj Singh ploughed a lone furrow in the second encounter. Virender Sehwag’s whirlwind 97 off 83 balls gave India a good start at St Kitts, but he got no support from the other batsmen (barring Mohammad Kaif). To make matters worse, three Indian batsmen got run out, including the ultra-agile Kaif. — V.J.

Yoga power

The write-up “Mr Yogi” (Saturday Extra, May 13) was quite informative. It was heartening to know that Munish Kumar, who has adopted yoga as a sport, is to participate in the World Championship in Mauritius in October.

People have become health conscious in recent times and they are willing to spend a considerable amount of time and money on keeping themselves fit. Yoga is both inexpensive and a proven remedy for various ailments. The popularity of yoga is on the rise because of its immense therapeutic power.

Tarsem S. Bumrah, Batala

Ultimate Test

In the recent one-day series against England, India’s young guns, particularly Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, performed well in crunch situations. Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh bowled magnificently well and got vital breakthroughs for the team.

However, the ultimate test of cricketers is in Test matches. The Indian players were not at their best in the Test series against England. In the third Test, the weakness of the Indian team against accurate seam bowling once again came to the fore. The target was not difficult but the will to win the match was virtually missing.

On the other hand, The English bowlers, particularly Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson, bowled extremely well and were successful in containing the Indian batsmen. They bowled with accurate line and length and did not give any liberty to the batsmen to play big shots.

Nirmal Kumar, Panchkula