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India’s Moment of Truth
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qualifiers
Men face UAE challenge
In fight of Madrids, Real come off second best
Lift off at last for Van Gaal
JCT Academy beat RCF
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India’s Moment of Truth
This is it. For almost a year now, this is what the chief coach and his relatively young team have been preparing for. Terry Walsh, after joining in October last year, had set himself an immediate goal – to win the Asian Games and qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
This time last year, the Indian team faced a similar situation. The men, without a coach (Michael Nobbs had quit in July), travelled to Ipoh, Malaysia, for the Asia Cup. A World Cup berth was at stake.
With High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans at the helm, the team reached the final but couldn’t get the gold. Fortunately, Pakistan’s failure to win meant India qualified for the World Cup. India’s 4-3 loss to Korea in the final after conceding a late goal had shown their inconsistency, for they beat this opposition 2-0 in the pool match. The Indians will again step onto the turf under the weight of high stakes. But this time the team exudes the confidence of genuine contenders, which was unimaginable a year ago. Over the last one year, Walsh has worked on bringing structure and stability into India’s game. And he has been fairly successful. The team has improved both physically and mentally. The experience these men have gained in the last couple of months has been invaluable. They’ve endured the disappointment of finishing ninth at the World Cup after a couple of heartbreaking losses and have felt the joy of winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games. While the World Cup losses would have hardened them mentally, the silver has been a big confidence boost. “Winning the silver at CWG was a big achievement for us as a team. And we have been working really hard after Glasgow,” said Manpreet Singh, before leaving for Incheon. “The pressure of winning the gold is obviously there. But the men are only thinking about playing their best hockey. The team is coming together after all the hard work. The guys are fitter, sharper and hungry for success. And winning the Glasgow silver has made them believe in themselves,” said MK Kaushik, coach of the team. Captain Sardar Singh said that the team was focusing on one match at a time. Sardar would want to erase the bad memories of the last edition. He was one of the four, including Danish Mujtaba, Dharamvir Singh and Gurbaj Singh, who were part of the team that finished third in Guangzhou. India led Malaysia in the semifinal before conceding the equaliser in the 67th minute. Malaysia went on to win 4-3 in extra time. India later won the qualification tournament and confirmed their berth, just four months before the Olympic Games. But qualification is much tougher now: India will have to finish in the top six out of the top 12 teams in the world. Last-minute jitters
India should easily reach the semifinals again, where they will most probably meet either Malaysia or Korea.
The Indians beat both these teams in the World Cup, which could give them an edge. But none of the three teams is consistent enough to be called the outright favourite. Korea have slipped over the last year. But, egged on by the home support, it will be the team to beat. Malaysia, the perpetual dark horses of Asia, can always spring a surprise, as they did in the 2010 semifinal. India will be wary of them. “Teams are always going to concede late goals, early goals and goals in the middle period. But I think we have improved as a defensive structure. I think we are getting better at knowing how to play during important situations,” Walsh had said during the camp. In the CWG semifinals, India held off the New Zealand offence for over 20 minutes to pull off a 3-2 win. It was a significant win, especially after the ridicule they had faced for conceding last-minute goals in the World Cup a few weeks earlier. For Walsh and his team, the last nine months of all the countless training sessions, sweating it out in Delhi’s heat, the tours and the tournaments have been a part of a longer process. But they’ve also been steps towards the Asiad gold – his one short-term goal. And returning from this continental event as Asia’s second-best will not be a consolation.
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Eves can sprint to semis but final hurdle will be tough
The form of a penalty corner specialist is always of great concern for a team and its management going into a major tournament. Drag-flicking has become one of the most vital elements of the modern game.
Though only the drag-flickers in men’s game get the limelight, the role is of an equal importance in the women’s game. The Indian women, looking to improve on the fourth place finish, will be heavily relying on its drag-flicker, Jaspreet Kaur. “Jaspreet will be an important player for us. She has worked very hard and we will be banking on her to provide us with crusial goals,” said captain Ritu Rani. Haryana’s Jaspreet had been out of action for most part of last year due to an injury. She made her comeback at the CWG, straightaway making her presence felt. She scored six goals, five from penalty corners. Chief coach Neil Hawgood recently said that Glasgow was successful in terms of penalty conversions. “Our team converted nearly 40% penalties in Glasgow.” India finished fifth at CWG but Hawgood said that the result was not that disappointing, considering the team finished last at the eight-team Hockey Champions Challenge I in April. About his target for the Asian Games, Hawgood said that not reaching the final would be a disappointment. The team should make the semis along with defending champions China. — the other two teams are Malaysia and Thailand. Getting into the final though would be tough as they will have to get past either Korea or Japan, both title
favourites. |
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For women footballers, Maldives a perfect getaway
Incheon, September 14 Captain Bembem Devi, striker Prameshwori Devi and defender Ashalata Devi also scored a goal each in a completely lop-sided Group A match. With today's win, India are virtually through to to quarterfinals in the women's football competition which began a week before the opening ceremony of the Asian Games. India next play hosts South Korea on September 17 before taking on Thailand on September 19 in their last group match. Three teams from the four-team Group A will qualify for the quarterfinals. The Maldives side is yet to register even a single shot on Indian goal. India, who led 9-0 at the interval, seized the initiative right from the kick-off and they dominated the proceedings all through the match. The flurry of passes, the slowing down of the game at will, the sudden bursts of speed proved too much. — PTI
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Men face UAE challenge
New Delhi, September 14 They reached only two days prior to the opening game at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Main Stadium. The UAE had finished runners-up in the 2010 Asian Games. The Indian team did have a mixed build-up to the Games as they won one friendly and lost another against Pakistan. — PTI |
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davis cup Gritty Som draws India level Beats higher-ranked Dusan Lajovic in a five-setter to take the tie into the decider Bangalore, September 14 Somdev, who has endured a tough season coming into this tie, carved out a heroic 1-6 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-3 win over world No. 61 Dusan Lajovic to bring the tie to level terms. Playing in a live fifth rubber for the first in his short Davis Cup career, Yuki was trailing 3-6 4-4 against the 107th ranked Krajinovic when rain started to lash the KSLTA courts, forcing suspension of play. In the 114-year-old history of Davis Cup, there have been only 51 instances when nations have came back from 0-2 to win the tie and India have done that only once when they beat Brazil in 2010 in Chennai. Somdev had won the fourth rubber then and Rohan Bopanna won the fifth. If India have to do it second time, Yuki will have to play his best and grab chances against Krajinovic as both the players are tremendous stroke makers. Slow start After being drubbed in the first set, Somdev showed amazing endurance and intelligence to counter an opponent, who reached French Open pre-quarterfinals this year. Somdev saved eight breakpoints in the second set to revive his and India’s chances and switched to serve and volley at crucial junctures, surprising his opponent. Somdev, who has struggled in the past while coming forward to finish points, was rewarded for taking risk. Lajovic dictated terms with his huge service game at the start but after receiving treatment in his left leg at the end of the second set, he lost his rhythm. Initially, Somdev could not play his usual retrieving game but as the match progressed, he could engage Lajovic in long points. He served better and also succeded in finishing points quickly. Lajovic later said that he had slipped during one of the points and that hurt his ankle which later affected his game. — PTI
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Federer fires Switzerland into Davis Cup final
Geneva, September 14 Switzerland, who lost to the United States in their only other Davis Cup final appearance in 1992, set up a title round with France, who beat holders Czech Republic at Roland Garros. "It's really nice to share it (victory) with my team members," Federer said. "I think I really struggled today. I think Fabio struggled all weekend. It's tough conditions, pretty quick court, so it's always going to happen especially if you are not serving so well. Having been rested for the doubles match, a refreshed Federer troubled the Italian with his precision hitting, winning first two sets with ease. Fognini rallied in the third set and took Federer to a tie break but the Slam champion held his nerve, claiming it 7-4 to reach the first Davis Cup final of his illustrious career.
— Reuters |
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Why England is home away from home for Indian team
This is a vexed question — no easy and obvious answers are available. During the recent England-India series, India enjoyed home-like support in the cities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Leeds — the fans were, indeed, viciously anti-English. This happened last year during the Champions Trophy final in Birmingham, and during the 2009 T20 World Cup match in London. They supported India and heckled the English players. In 2009, the Lord’s ground was packed with Indian fans, at least three-fourths of the stadium, and they aggressively heckled the England captain, Paul Collingwood. There was no provocation. “It felt a bit strange to be dealt so on our own home ground at the home of cricket," Collingwood later said of the boos and the taunts rained on him. To Indian ears, their words would be mostly unintelligible — they had strong Birmingham, London or Scottish accents. There’s delicious irony here. Indian — or Pakistani or Bangladeshi – immigrants would, clearly, gain the most if the UK turns very multicultural, and prejudice and bias are finished off. Yet, it’s they who remain aggressively isolated in sport. Why? “Moving from one country to live in another — ostensibly to live — is a very tricky thing,” says David Frith, the eminent cricket historian. “It's quite a stressful thing. You have a lot of decisions to make. Some are made for you. Sometimes you have to consciously decide how you're going to behave, how you're going to speak, even!” It's wrong to deny your past, says Frith. “If you go from A to B, you owe allegiance to both A and B,” he says. “The generation that migrated would never change. That's completely understandable. But the next generation, they've got a problem. They're aware of their ancestry, they're unable to show complete support, unconditionally, for the new country into which they were born.” It’s happening, though. Over the years, one has met tens of British Indians who support England against India. Raj Pillai and his son, for instance. Pillai, a migrant from Tamil Nadu, wore India colours during the Manchester Test last month; his son had England colours on. “That’s the right thing, isn’t it?” Pillai, who runs a fast food chain, says. “My son was born here, and I think he should support England.” But this father-son duo is a clear exception. Racism?
Nottingham, July 28, 2011. A man, obviously drunk, came to me at the crowded City Centre and asked: “Where is the bomb?” Then, tapping my backpack, he said: “In this?” Then he walked away. One doesn’t argue with a drunk. One secret to longevity is that one must not engage a dangerously stupid and strong man in a angry debate — especially if he weighs 60kg more than you. A few days earlier, on July 22, 77 people had been killed in a terrorist attack in Oslo. The attack was orchestrated by a right-wing extremist, a white man. But the terror caused people in European cities to become nervous — beware of people with backpacks! That drunk man of Nottingham was probably afraid, and he did not know who he should be afraid of — so he attacked the unknown, the ‘other’, me. I could shrug off the incident because I, short-term visitor, had no stake in that country. But how do England-born children of immigrants react when they’re told to go back to India or Pakistan? I met a young Indian-heritage bowler who played for a London club, and made it to the second division of a county team. “I started off supporting England, because that’s what all the (white) kids did,” he says. “But then I switched to India.” He talks about racist incidents in school, being called a “Paki” and other such names. It is possible that, encountering racism, immigrant children veer the other way? A classic case of a self-fulfilling prophesy — called “Pakis”, possibly they become aggressively Indians or Pakistanis. Identity in the UK is a very fluid concept — the 2011 census showed that 80% people in England and Wales are white British, ie 20 percent are non-white. Whites in London are 59.8% of the population; 37% of Londoners were born in a foreign country. England is a multicultural pot, with its attendant problems of absorption and assimilation. Identity is a very complex issue. The boxer Naseem Hamid said a few years ago: “I see myself as a British Arab – born and bred in Britain and I am proud to be British, proud to be Arab, I’m proud to be black and I’m proud to be from Sheffield.” “Being born and brought up in England, I grew up with very British surroundings and peers. I feel that I identify more with the British culture than Indian,” says Himaya Patel, a second-generation British Indian student. She supported England, and one reason was that she liked Stuart Broad very much. She says she supports both teams. “But when they are playing against each other I find it hard to pick a team to support and stick with it,” she laughs. Her older sister, Riti, says that her interest in cricket has grown independently. “My cricketing hero now is Sangakkara, which has absolutely nothing to do with my nationality!” Riti, herself a cricketer, says. “Having followed the current England team for a few years I am starting to drift more towards supporting them. But I’ll ever be able to fully support England when they play India; there will always be a part of me that wants India to win!” Norman Tebbit may not like this. In 1990, he’d said of immigrants: “Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?" Though he has his supporters, Tebbit was discredited. He didn’t ask which teams immigrants from England to Australia or the US supported. He didn’t put white immigrants to the UK through this simplistic test of loyalty. Former England captain Nasser Hussain, son of an immigrant from Madras, and fiercely supportive of England, may be a borderline case for Tebbit. In 1989, before his Test debut, Hussain was interviewed by Rob Steen. “I asked him whether it was a case of "head England, heart India" and he said it was,” says Steen. “His mother wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph the day the piece was published, complaining that her son could not have said such a thing.” But in 2011, Hussain said to Ravi Shastri: “No one is more proud than me that India have gone to be No. 1 in the world.” Exactly why should Hussain, former England captain, be proud that India became No. 1 in the world. Surely, the heart does beat a bit for India. “My sense is that more children on immigrants are now siding with England than, say, 20 years ago,” says Lawrence Booth, editor of Wisden Almanack. “I guess that's the inevitable consequence of third- and fourth-generation arrivals, and the gradual weakening of ties with their motherlands. But it's still a complex matter.” The colour of the skin the most obvious marker of race – is possibly a great hindrance in the way of assimilation. As Frith notes of the rivalry between England and Australia, “England and Australia are of the same blood. That cannot be said of the other Commonwealth countries and England, so it's about different types of people.” My Nottingham drunk didn’t go to white men wondering if they had bombs in their bags. It’s likely that the prejudice of the immigrants is aggravated by casual racism or lack of acceptance – possibly that makes the Indian immigrants aggressively boorish against cricketers representing their country, England. |
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In fight of Madrids, Real come off second best
Madrid, September 14 In their last league outing, Real let slip a two-goal lead and lost 4-2 at Real Sociedad and it was another disappointing display from the European champions, who have spent heavily to bolster their star-studded squad. Tiago beat Karim Benzema to the ball at a corner to head Atletico in front in the 10th minute before Cristiano Ronaldo levelled for the hosts with a 29th-minute spot kick after being brought down by Guilherme Siqueira. Real dominated for long periods without threatening a typically dogged Atletico side and paid dearly for failing to press home their advantage when substitute Arda Turan swept the ball low past Iker Casillas with about 15 minutes left. The Real fans made their displeasure plain at the final whistle and a cacophony of whistles rang out around the Bernabeu stadium as the players trudged off. There were calls in one section of the crowd for president Florentino Perez to resign, while goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas was also whistled by some of the home support.
— Reuters
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Prannoy wins Indonesian Masters Palembang (Indonesia ), September 14 Fifth seed Prannoy, who finished runners-up at the Vietnam Grand Prix last week, got the better of qualifier Kholik 21-11 22-20 in a 43-minute battle. The 22-year-old dished out a dominating performance in the opening game as he opened up a 6-2- lead early on and then kept increasing the margin. He then reeled off five straight points to take a lead 1-0. Kholik regrouped in the second game and moved ahead to 12-9 and thereafter it was a gruelling battle. Kholik clawed back to 20-20 after saving four match points. However, Prannoy won the next two points to seal the win. — PTI
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London, September 14 New signing Angel di Maria was outstanding throughout, scoring the first before Wayne Rooney and fellow new boy Ander Herrera made the result a formality before the break and Juan Mata completed the rout in the second half. When Radamel Falcao, on loan from Monaco, was introduced for the last quarter of the match for his debut, he joined Robin van Persie, Rooney and Di Maria in a potentially thrilling quartet which set the home crowd abuzz. United’s first win in four Premier League matches took them up to ninth place in the table, only two points outside the top four. — Reuters In fight of Madrids, Real come off second best Madrid: Real Madrid’s early-season woes deepened when they lost 2-1 at home to La Liga champions Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Tiago beat Karim Benzema to the ball at a corner to head Atletico in front in the 10th minute before Cristiano Ronaldo levelled for the hosts. Atletico’s substitute Arda Turan swept the ball low past Iker Casillas with about 15 minutes left.
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Lions register easy win over Thunders Bathinda, September 14 At half time, the Lions were ahead 28-24. The Warriors did try a fightback but it was brief and the Lions managed to race ahead. Balwan Bana of the Vancouver Lions was adjudged the best raider. He was also named the Man of the Match. Satti Dirba was declared the best stopper.
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Hoshiarpur, September 14 In the other matched, Dalbir Football Academy beat PSPCL 3-1, while BSF defeated CRPF 1-0. TR Srinivasan provided the winner for BSF in the 62nd minute. — OC
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India end campaign without a medal in wrestling Worlds Greg Norman almost severs hand with chainsaw WKL: Vancouver Lions beat Punjab Thunders 57-46 CLT20: Knights beat Lahore Lions by 72 runs Bangladesh trail by 356 runs on Day 2
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Rule changes
When it comes to cricket, India is the home country,” a young athlete of Indian heritage told me at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow recently.
What exactly is home? This athlete was born in England, benefitted from that country’s resources, and hadn’t been to India in over 10 years. Why should India, and not England, be home to him?
