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Save hockey, pleads Pargat
Malhotra raps Ministry for camp mismanagement
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BCCI Awards: Sachin, Durrani honoured
Nadal battles on, Djokovic gets free pass
Oldest hockey Olympian dead
Indian team leaves for West Indies
Collage upset FCI
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Save hockey, pleads Pargat
New Delhi, June 1
Pargat, who is chairman of Hockey India’s Development Committee, urged the Sports Ministry to formulate a special ‘National Game Code’, for the development of hockey in the country. He threatened that he, along with hockey lovers, including Olympians and others, will sit on a hunger strike on the National Sports Day on August 29 at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi, to fight for the cause of hockey and help it regain the pride and glory it once enjoyed. ‘Save the national game hockey - 100 days action plan’ will be the theme of his campaign. He said he had met former Indian Hockey Federation president K.P.S. Gill, Sports Minister Ajay Maken and the Hockey India officials to find ways and means to improve Indian hockey, but so far nothing has worked. Pargat said Hockey India was ‘deaf and dumb’ and unless infighting was stopped among hockey officials and federations, Indian hockey will slip beyond redemption. He said the sixth-place finish at the Azlan Shah tournament, where India were defending champions along with Korea, was the ultimate insult to the game, and unless remedial steps were taken immediately, it would be difficult for India to qualify for the London Olympics 2012 (the qualifiers for which will be held in Delhi in February). “We have very little time to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers, but so far nothing has been done to get a foreign coach, though I have had discussions with some coaches,” Pargat said. With the present set-up, he did not see India qualifying for the London Olympics. “There is total confusion.” Asked whether the IOA and its acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra were contacted to end the impasse on the hockey front, Pargat said tersely, “The IOA is part of the sports mafia!” But he was hopeful of reviving the game if the authorities co-operated to take the right initiatives without wasting time. He said he had given his suggestions for the revival of the game to Hockey India about six months ago, “but nothing has moved”. “Things are back to square one,” he said exasperatedly. Pargat was also scathing about the IOA’s insistence of maintaining its autonomy “as while on the one hand, it was talking about autonomy but at the same time, it expects the Government to do the funding”. He said the country was paying a heavy price for not developing a proper “coaching mechanism” which was affecting the growth of the game. He said former coach Jose Brasa, along with a few others, were on the radar in the country’s search for a new foreign coach, but time was slipping by, and something needed to be done urgently to start preparations for the Olympic qualifier. He said it was sad that good players like Sardara Singh and Sandeep Singh preferred club hockey to national duty as they were earning a few lakhs by playing abroad. Pargat said the diversity of the country was also affecting a uniform playing method for hockey, and it was time these aspects were looked into while formulating a larger national canvas for the integrated development of the game at the national level. “The tragedy of Indian hockey was that no one seems to take the responsibility, as everybody is trying to put the hat on another’s head,” he observed and urged the Supreme Court of India to take cognisance of the existence of two federations in the country, which cannot happen in any other country, and “sort out the mess” as he was speaking from his heart, despite the matter being sub-judice. “Otherwise, hockey will be history”, he cautioned. Pargat said though India played aggressive hockey like Holland and Australia, a weak defence was the bane of the present team. “We played attacking hockey and scored in the World Cup (in Delhi) and the Asian Games, but we also conceded goals, which showed up our weak defence.” He said the short-term plan was to qualify for the Olympic Games while the long-term goal should be to develop a strong team, with a national pool of around 200 players. The hockey pockets mainly comprise of Chandigarh, and other places in Punjab, Bangalore, Mumbai, Orissa, and the tribal areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. “If we could identify at least 30 talented players each from these pockets, we would have a good bank of players who could be trained to do duty for the country”, Pargat said. He was shocked to know that the country was not fielding the under-19 team for the Asian Championship, which was a strong signal that the death knell of the game was being sounded.
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Malhotra raps Ministry for camp mismanagement
New Delhi, June 1 Malhotra expressed his anguish over the pitiable condition of the various national coaching camps being conducted in different Sports Authority of India (SAI) and other centres, supposedly in preparation for the coming international events, including the 2012 London Olympics. “The Indian hockey team’s lackadaisical preparation, players’ outbursts for not having proper facilities at the camp, not even support staff, has already attracted severe criticism,” he said. The IOA president said the shooters, who have been bringing laurels to the country and shot the only individual gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, have had to face a new order to get licences for their air guns and air pistols as the Sports Ministry remained a mute witness, instead of coming forward to the rescue of the shooters. “Now every single shooter, who has been practicing earnestly at various home ranges, has to run from pillar to post to get licences for his/her air gun or air pistol, instead of concentrating on training,” Malhotra pointed out. He said similar was the fate of the archery training camp at SAI Eastern Centre, Kolkata, where every day one scandal or another surfaces and allegations of sub-standard food, sub-standard living conditions and out of control staff had come to light. “In spite of several complaints by the archers and the national coach, no action has been taken to improve the condition. Archers have been asking for the latest equipment, including the consumables, and they are getting mere promises, and nothing else. After shooting, it is archery, which has every chance of winning a medal in the Olympic Games. However, both the Ministry and SAI are in the grip of an ostrich-like mentality as they do not wish to see the reality of the national camps," he elaborated. “They seem to be busy in getting the support for their draconian legislation by threatening to withdraw all financial support if the NSFs do not succumb to their pressure,” he added. Malhotra said the shift of attention from the Olympic preparations to passing the Sports Legislation will only jeopardize India’s Olympic preparation. He also informed that he would soon convene a meeting of the NSFs involved in Olympic preparations “to take stock of the situation and to decide the future course of action.”
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BCCI Awards: Sachin, Durrani honoured
Mumbai, June 1 Tendulkar was bestowed with the 'Polly Umrigar Award for India's best cricketer of 2009-10' and received a trophy and cheque for Rs five lakh, while Durrani was felicitated with the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for which he received a trophy, a cheque for Rs 15 lakh and a citation. Members of the World Cup winning Indian team were felicitated and presented cheques worth Rs two crore each by BCCI president Shashank Manohar and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan. The support staff of the team too were honoured and presented cheques of Rs 50 lakh each as declared by the Cricket Board earlier. However, former coach Gary Kirsten, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and bowling consultant coach Eric Simmons were absent. Among those present were members of the 1983 World Cup winning squad, including then skipper Kapil Dev, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma. On the occasion, Dhoni thanked fans for supporting the team and said that winning the coveted trophy after 28 long years was a proud moment. — PTI
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Nadal battles on, Djokovic gets free pass
Paris, June 1
A rematch of last year's final between Spaniard Nadal and Sweden's Robin Soderling beckons in the last eight, a round in-form Djokovic gets to skip after Fabio Fognini pulled out of the clay grand slam and Tuesday's match with injury. Briton Murray decided to soldier on with his ankle problem and after whacking his foot with his racket in anger and ripping his bandage off, he came back from two sets down to level at 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Viktor Troicki when bad light stopped play. Maria Sharapova sounded in pain judging by her grunts, but was in fact all smiles as she shot her arms into the air in jubilation after reaching the women's quarters with an inconsistent 7-6, 7-5 win over Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska. As the first rain spots of the tournament began to drip on fans zig-zagging their way among the Roland Garros boutiques and snack stalls, Nadal was criss-crossing centre court in his usual all-action style even if he is still not quite at his best. "I'm playing well but there are moments where I make a few mistakes in a row," the five-times winner told reporters. "I have to hit the ball with a little more conviction." Soderling, who beat Nadal in the last 16 in 2009, bashed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 on a stunned Court Philippe Chatrier. There was some cheer for the French fans though as Gael Monfils roared back to overcome seventh seed David Ferrer 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6 and progress to meet Roger Federer on Tuesday. Monfils and Marion Bartoli reaching the last eight is the first time two French players have made it so far in their home grand slam since 2002. Australian Open runner-up Li Na, the first Chinese to reach the quarter-finals in Paris, outlasted Czech ninth seed Petra Kvitova 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 at the start of another humid day on which forecast thunderstorms never appeared. After a lightning-quick third-round victory over Sorana Cirstea, sixth seed Li was given a much tougher test, but she again impressed the tennis connoisseurs with her dogged determination. She battled back from an early break in the third set to prevail and prompted the suited gentlemen in the galleries to tip their panama hats in appreciation. "It was tough, like 3-0 down in the final set. I didn't believe I could come back, because she has a huge big serve," said Li, whose nervous husband and ex-coach could not watch. "So I don't know what happened. Maybe just my husband left and I could win six games in a row," she joked. Bopanna-Qureshi go down fighting
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi squandered a one-set lead as they went down fighting to top-ranked American pair of Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals of the men's doubles at the French Open here today. The Indo-Pak express fought a gruelling two hour and seven minutes battle before the Bryan brothers prevailed 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3) at Roland Garros. The fifth seeded pair did well to take it to the wire before the big-match temperament of the Bryans did the trick. — Agencies During tie-breakers, the brothers served well and took advantage of the inexperience of their opponents in pressure situations as the Bopanna-Qureshi pair till date have played in only one Grand Slam finals. |
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Sania-Elena storm into French Open finals Paris, June 1 Seeded seventh in the tournament, Sania and Vesnina beat their fourth-seeded opponents 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in 105 minute semifinal contest at the Roland Garros. In the final, the Indo-Russian combo will face the unseeded Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, who beat third-seeded pair of Vania King of United States and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 in another semifinal. Sania and Vesnina broke their opponents early in the first set to race to 4-1 ahead before pocketing it 6-3 in 30 minutes. The second set was a longer affair with both sides breaking serves, though Sania and Vesnina were broken thrice in their serves to lose it 2-6 in 38 minutes. In the deciding set, Sania and Vesnina broke their opponents' serve in the first game itself and held theirs to take a 2-0 lead. This is Sania's third Grand Slam final appearance in her career -- the first two being in the mixed doubles in the Australian Open. — PTI
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Oldest hockey Olympian dead
Chandigarh, June 1 The emphatic final win was more credible as India had lost to Germany in a pre-Olympic game. It was after the Berlin Olympics that a street was named after Roop Singh, brother of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. Both Dhyan Chand and Roop Singh had dazzled with their excellent stickwork and had helped India to retain the gold medal they had last one in Los Angeles. Incidentally, Galibardy was the oldest living Olympic hockey gold medallist and last surviving member of the team that played in the 1936 Olympiad. According to Dil Bahra of the London-based Hockey Writers Club, who attended Galibardy’s funeral at the London suburb of Waltham Stow, the funeral van was decorated with some of the memorabilia of the Berlin Olympics. The funeral was followed by cremation service at Manor Park. After Independence, Galibardy continue to live in India before his parents and their seven children decided to make Waltham Stow their new home. He was also the last surviving Anglo-Indian to have played for the Olympic champions India before the partition.
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India’s Tour of West Indies
Mumbai, June 1 Led by Suresh Raina, the Indian team boarded a connecting flight to Barbados via London at 0230 hours from the Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport here. India will play a Twenty20 in Trinidad (June 4) and five ODIs on June 6 (Trinidad), June 8 (Trinidad), June 11 (Antigua), June 13 (Antigua) and June 16 (Jamaica). The one-day series would be followed by a three-match Test-rubber in Jamaica (June 20-June 24), Barbados (June 28-Jul 2) and Dominica (Jul 6-Jul 10). The Indian squad for the ODIs and the lone Twenty20 is without nine players who were part of the World Cup winning team under Dhoni. The players missing out include the rested trio of Dhoni, Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, the injured troika of Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra and an unwell Yuvraj Singh. S Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla have been dropped. Dhoni and Zaheer will join the team for the Test matches along with V V S Laxman, Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, and Sreesanth. When India last toured the Caribbean Islands in 2006 under Rahul Dravid, the side scripted history by beating the home team (1-0 in a four match rubber) in a Test series for the first time in 35 years. However, the team will certainly look to change the 1-4 thrashing it got in the five-match ODI series then.— PTI
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Collage upset FCI
New Delhi, June 1 Brief scores: FCI : 202 for 6 in 40 overs (Chetan 43, Ankur not out 43, Rajender 38, Narender 3/28). Collage: 206 for 6 in 34.3 overs (Rameez 78, Pankaj not out 66, Amardeep 30, Bharat 2/37, Meraj Ahmad 2/38). — TNS |
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Former Indian captain, Olympian Pargat Singh, said Indian hockey was gasping for breath and it was time a ‘Save Hockey’ project, similar to the ‘Save Tiger’ campaign, was launched to rescue the game from extinction. He said a multiplicity of authority - Hockey India, Indian Hockey Federation, Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India - egoistic officials and inaction by the concerned authorities was throttling the national game.
Mumbai, June 1
Chandigarh, June 1
Mumbai, June 1
