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Wednesday,
September 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Hockey coach foresees
tough task ahead Discontentment in hockey team?
PSB Academy, HMV eves hockey champs
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Kolkata, September 16 In an unprecedented move, the Indian Football Association (IFA) today spelt out punishment for 13 footballers of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting along with three club officials for on-field violence, assault on referee and other acts of indiscipline committed during two Kolkata Super League matches.
Easy
outing likely for TFA White Top players for Atray memorial cricket
Stray bullet kills
shuttler
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Hockey coach foresees
tough task ahead New Delhi, September 16 The lessons learnt at Amstelveen are too fresh in the memory of Rajinder Singh to be forgotten them in a hurry, and no wonder he is quite circumspect when dwelling on India’s chances in the Asia Cup, to be held in Kuala Lumpur from August 21 to 28. India have never won the Asia Cup since its inception in 1981, though they were the silver medallists twice. Rajinder Singh does not expect the Indian team to reverse the “trend” in this edition of the Cup either, and he would consider it only as a bonus, if the cup comes to India’s possession, as his long-term game plan is to help the country qualify for the Olympic Games at Athens, 2004, which he considers is a “very difficult task”. India will be battling with 11 other countries in the Olympic qualifier for the seven remaining berths to be filled for the Athens Games, at Madrid (Spain) next year. Rajinder Singh said the void created by Jugraj Singh’s injury would be difficult to fill, as he was of the opinion that Jugraj Singh was the best drag-flick exponent in the world, even ahead of Pakistan’s Sohail Abbas. But the show must go on, and Rajinder Singh has trained players like Sandeep , Dinesh Nayak and Didar Singh to take on the responsibility, along with Dilip Tirkey as he plans to employ variants during penalty corner conversions. Though Didar Singh will play as a forward, Rajinder considers him as the next best drag-flick exponent after Jugraj, in India. Rajinder was upset at the “activism” of some of the senior players during the Champions Trophy competition in Holland, and he felt that India could have acquitted themselves much more creditably had senior players like Dhanrj Pillai, Dilip Tirkey, Baljit Singh and Baljit Singh Saini gave off their best on the field. He said the Champions Trophy was no forum to experiment with the junior players in the team, and when the seniors, on whom had depended a lot, failed to deliver, the Indian gameplan went to pieces. But the chief coach plans to give opportunities to some of the junior players in the Asia Cup competition as he strongly feels that “unless the juniors are given a chance to play alongside the seniors in a competitive environment, how would they gain experience?”. Rajinder Singh admitted that his “lenient” attitude had been taken for granted by some of the seniors and this forced the team management to put a blanket ban on players’ interaction with the media during a week-long camp in Delhi, which came to a close with two hectic practice sessions at the Shivaji Stadium today, prior to the team’s departure for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. He said the “over exposure” of the team prior to the Champions Trophy only did “more harm than good to the team”. Rajinder Singh admitted that the team’s accomplishments were not that great to be accorded such over exposure in the media because it resulted in some of the senior players taking their “exalted” status for real, creating an unsettling effect in the team discipline. Rajinder Singh conceded that the “basics” of the team needed firming up, as the defence was weak as it failed to hold its own during the crucial last ten minutes of any crucial game, and the missed scoring opportunities had assumed serious proportions. He pointed out that due to the fickleness of the defence, too many penalty corners were conceded against India, but with Jugraj Singh around, many of these hits were baulked, and he also scored a lot of goals off short corners. He said India’s ball possession, ball control, passing et al needed improvement, and he had worked on these flaws during the coaching camp in Delhi. |
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Discontentment in hockey team?
New Delhi, September 16 “There is discontentment among players regarding endorsements. There is a feeling that some players are getting good contracts while others are not. It is affecting the team...,” the coach told reporters at the Shivaji Stadium here where the team underwent its final training before emplaning for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow for the September 21-28 Asia Cup event. “It is good that media is supporting the game but at the same time so much publicity is affecting the attitude of the players.” “They have started feeling they are heroes. There is nothing wrong in that but they should perform to justify their hero status,” he said. Taking a swipe at some of the senior players, he said they should become politicians as they are good talkers. Rajinder Singh, a former Olympian, also partly blamed lack of concentration on the part of the players for the Champions Trophy debacle. “Most of the time they were doing phone-ins and other stuff. They were distracted... during rest time they were talking to the media as also during the training. They could neither take rest nor train properly,” Rajinder Singh said. The coach said the trouble was the players in the national squad were taking their places for granted. “There is no competition for places in the side and players have become a little complacent. What we need is a strong second line-up,” Rajinder Singh said. On criticism that Sameer Dad was ignored despite his impressive credentials, Rajinder Singh said, “he is not fit to be in the team”. “We gave him (Dad) three chances but he failed to prove his fitness. Lazarus Barla did not impress in domestic hockey and even in the National Games (2002) he did not play well,” the coach said. — PTI
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PSB Academy, HMV eves hockey champs Amritsar, September 16 HMV College trounced BBK DAV College 3-1. Inside-right Manpreet Kaur struck a hat-trick for the HMV College. She was declared the best player. Her first goal came in the 18th minute through a penalty corner. Four minutes later, she scored one more goal through a penalty stroke. She scored the third goal through a penalty corner in the 65th minute. Inside right Sandeep Gill of BBK DAV College, Amritsar, struck the first goal two minutes from the start. But they could not maintain the momentum. BBK DAV College did not earn any penalty corner in the first half. In the second half they got three penalty corners, but failed to convert any. In the men’s final Punjab and Sind Bank Academy, Jalandhar, vanquished Bengal Hockey Academy 2-0. Full-back Rajinder Singh of PSB Academy scored the first goal by converting penalty corner in the 31st minute. The second goal of the match came from full-back Jatinder Pal Singh through a penalty corner in the 56th minute. PSB Academy earned six penalty corners and converted two. However, Bengal Academy could not earn any penalty corner. On the concluding day of the tournament several former hockey Olympians were present to encourage the youngsters. Among them were Harbinder Singh, Ramandeep Singh, a former captain of the Indian hockey team, Rajinder Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and A. Edward. |
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13 football players fined for violence
Kolkata, September 16 The IFA disciplinary committee, which held a meeting this afternoon, imposed fines ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 on the 13 players and also suspended seven of them for one match. “The players will have to pay up the fines by October 31, failing which they will remain suspended till making the payment,” IFA secretary Subrata Dutta told newspersons here. Barring two Sporting players — skipper Dipendu Biswas and Hossain Mustafi who were let go after being cautioned — the rest of the 15 footballers summoned by the IFA were awarded punishment “as per the intensity of their offence,” he said. Altogether six Bagan players and four East Bengal footballers were booked for their September 4 match while three Sporting players were punished for ground violence during their tie against East Bengal on August 19. Bagan’s Brazilian striker Jose Barreto and East Bengal’s Nigerian forward Mike Okoro, who appeared before the committee today, were both handed out one match suspension and Rs 30,000 fine for manhandling referee Subrata Sarkar during the match. Those handed out punishment, which would be effective from the date they receive the letter, however, would be given chance to appeal before the governing body of the IFA against the decision, Mr Dutta said. — PTI
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Easy outing likely for
TFA White Jamshedpur, September 16 India TFA White, coached by national coach Stephen Constantine, is currently leading the league table with four points in two matches with one win and a draw in their kitty. The Indian outfit had opened their accounts with a facile 3-0 victory over an inexperienced Bangladesh. But the home team had to face a stiff challenge from a stronger team like Iran yesterday.
— UNI
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Top players for Atray memorial cricket Chandigarh, September 16 Prominent players likely to be seen in action in the tournament include. Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Reetinder Sodhi, Vikram Rathore, Zaheer Khan, Pankaj Dharmani, Gagan Khoda, Tilak Naidu, Daniel Manohar, Bevendra Bundela, Deep Das Gupta, Debang Gandhi, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Doda Ganesh, J. Arun Kumar, Nikhil Chopra, Vijay Dahiya and D. Mohanti. Top teams of the country like ONGC (last year’s winners), PCA Colts (last year’s runners-up), MP Cricket Association, Bihar Cricket Association, Rajasthan Cricket Association, Himachal Cricket Association, Cricket Association of Bengal, Indian Oil Corporation, Mumbai, Air-India. Mumbai, Bishnoi Cricket Club, Delhi and All India Associates Banks, Bangalore, are participating in the tournament, which over the years has come to be reckoned as a fine tournament prior to the Ranji Trophy season.. According to Mr Sushil Kapoor, organising secretary of the tournament, the 12 teams have been drawn in three pools of four teams each. Each team will play once with the remaining three teams of its pool. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the quarter-finals while two best teams from the No 3 slot from the three pools (on the basis of points earned from the league round; if points will be the same than the right to qualify for the quarter-finals will be determined on the basis of net run rate) will be eligible for the quarter-finals which will be played on knockout basis. All the matches will be of 50 overs each. The tournament will be played on the latest ICC rules and the Duckworth and Lewis system will be adopted in shortened/curtailed matches; bonus point will also be awarded in the league phase. The winning team will get four points, the losing team 0, and in case of a tie or an abandoned match two points each will be given. According to Mr S.S. Bedi, IRS, Chief Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise and chairman of the organising committee, the winners will get a cash prize of Rs 75,000 and the runners-up Rs 50,000 whereas the two losing semi-finalists will get Rs 15,000 each. Attractive prizes for the ‘man-of-the-match’, best batsman, best bowler and man of the series will be given. He further stated that efforts were on to get a sponsor for the day-and-night finals. If that comes through then the finals will be played at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. as a day and night affair with coloured clothing and white balls. The following are the pools. Pool A :
Punjab CC, MP Cricket Association, All India Associate Banks and Bihar Cricket Association. Pool B :
ONGC, Rajasthan Cricket Association, Indian Oil Corporation, and Air India. Pool C : PCA Colts, Himachal Cricket Association, Bishnoi Cricket Club and Cricket Association of Bengal. |
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Vijay Singh focuses on
money list
London, September 16 Twice major champion Singh swept to the top of the PGA Tour standings with earnings of $ 5,702,507 after pulling away from the field with a six-under-par 65 to win the rain-delayed John Deere Classic yesterday. “I’ve been asked so many times about player of the year,” Singh, 40, told reporters at the TPC at Deere Run. “Again, I say that I’ll have to think about that when the season is finished and see how it plays. “Money list obviously is going to dictate if you’re player of the year or not and my goal is to win the money list. Player of the Year is not up to me. “I can play the best golf, but somebody has to choose who the player of the year is (the prestigious award is voted upon by the PGA Tour players).
— Reuters
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Stray bullet kills
shuttler Dehra Dun, September 16 Three youths, present in the stadium at the time of the incident, have been arrested by the police. A pistol has also been recovered from the trio. One of the boys was fiddling with the pistol when the bullet was shot inadvertently, which hit Manoj on the chest. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead, police said. Manoj was scheduled to participate in the National Badminton Tournament to be held in Dehra Dun from September 20 to 21.
— UNI |
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