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Shooters shunted around
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Rani ready for new, quick, deadly hockey
Indian cagers no more a basket case
Perera steers Kings past Hurricanes
Tough task for Indian paddlers in Incheon
US lawmakers disappointed by FIBA’s decision
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Shooters shunted around
Each time you report on an international event, you expect to hear tales of a sports federation screwing up on basic stuff. So here’s the story of how the National Rifle Association of India failed its shooters. For reasons best known to the rulers of Indian sport, out of the squad of 43 shooters, the accreditation passes of only seven shooters reached the national federation in India. The shooters had been participating in the World Championships in Granada, Spain.
The plan was that they would be provided the accreditation cards in Granada, so they could reach Incheon without an unnecessary trip to India. The accreditation passes act as visa waivers for the Asian Games; this meant that in the absence of the passes, the shooters had to travel to New Delhi and apply for the visa at the South Korean embassy there. In special cases like this, the visas are granted in quick time, within 24 hours; so the shooters did get the visas, but this caused them unnecessary hassle of travel to New Delhi, the application for a visa at the South Korean embassy, and the wait for the passports. They lost time and sleep over this process. Most crucially, they lost the time to get acclimatised to the conditions at the venue — time was of the greatest importance, for the shooting event begins on Saturday. The officials say that they had sent the names of the shooters to the organisers of the Asian Games as early as possible, but for some reason, the names of only seven shooters were in the records of the organisers. Abhinav Bindra, the star of the shooting team who is very keen to win his first Asian Games medal, reached here today, while most of the others would arrive on Friday and Saturday. When Bindra did arrive here, it took him four hours to reach the athletes village, as there was no official to receive him or help him release his shooting equipment. “It would have been nice to come in early but what can I do?” Bindra told a news agency.. “But you know what, I have got used to these things. Nothing surprises me anymore. The best I can do is concentrate on my event and give my best.” “The shooting association claims credit for the success of the shooters, but I can tell you it’s not very well managed,” a senior Indian Olympic Committee official said here today.
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Suspense over, hockey skipper Sardar is the flag-bearer
Incheon, September 18 But, it seems, this time even the Indian team officials were playing this game, but in an embarrassed, agonised manner. For the record, the hockey team captain, Sardar Singh, is going to be India's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony tomorrow. However, the decision was made after a torturous time for the officials. For this honour, the Indian Olympic Committee, in principle, selects an athlete who has been an Olympian, has been a winner at the Asian Games, ideally the winner of a gold medal. The IOA had prepared a list of 10 prospective candidates to carry the Indian flag. That, though, was the easy part. Initially, the preference seemed to be badminton star Saina Nehwal. She, however, had to say no because she was playing her first match the next day, ie Saturday. It has been learnt that Saina and her new coach, Vimal Kumar, very reluctantly declined the offer, explaining their reason. Sudha Singh, winner of the 3000m steeplechase gold at Guangzhou, was another possibility; she, too, had more pressing business to attend — she had a time trial session to attend for her event on Friday. Abhinav Bindra could have been the most ideal candidate, but he wasn't approached, apparently because he'd declined the offer the Indian flag during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Discus thrower Vikas Gowda would have been a good choice, too, but he has not yet arrived here. The boxers and wrestlers, too, are reaching over the next two days. The fact that the Indian squad was cleared very late, and many athletes are yet to reach here — the shooters had to apply for visas in New Delhi at a late stage — meant that the athletes were keen to skip the non-essential activities. They, instead, wanted to focus on their training and acclimatisation. India's chef-de-mission, Adille Sumeriwala, said that deciding on the name of Sardar Singh was not a compromise. “Sardar is one of the best Indian sportspersons in the event here,” he said. “There's absolutely no controversy around his selection. We did have a list of the players and he was among them. We considered everything before approaching an athlete.” |
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Rani ready for new, quick, deadly hockey
Incheon, September 18 Hockey's makeover, to keep it relevant and make it more telegenic, has added a dash of speed and spice into the game. Four quarters, each 15 minutes long, reduce the game by 10 minutes — from 70 minutes to 60 minutes. But the speed increases, as does the demands on the players. Rani Rampal, the star Indian forward, says that this has made things tougher — and easier. Rani is excited today —she's come to India's flag-hoisting ceremony at the edge of the Athletes Village. She's taking selfies with her phone — not to put on Facebook or twitters, she says dismissively — and is excited bubbly. “See, it can be looked at both ways,” says Rani, the 19-year-old Shahbad girl who got into the Indian team at age 16. “It's tougher because the game is faster, it's more intense, and more demanding on the body. It's easier because earlier, we used to play 35 minutes without a break, now we play 15 minutes and then there's a two-minute break. The total playing time has decreased too, to 60 minutes.” In Asia, the women's hockey world is a bit topsy turvy — in rankings, the Chinese are top dogs (world No. 5), followed by South Korea (9), Japan (10) and India (13). But in last year's Asia Cup, Japan won the title by beating South Korea in the final; and India finished third by beating China 3-2 via a penalty shootout. That makes Rani believe that the four teams are equals. “China, Korea, Japan and India equals,” she says. “We are playing China, Malaysia and Thailand in our pool, and that's what we're concentrating on — we want to top the pool so that we can play semifinals with the second team of the other group.” This, she says, is the Asiad — the winner of gold qualifies for the Olympics. “That's why it's very competitive — everyone is determined to win gold and qualify for the Rio Olympic Games,” Rani adds. “So, every time we play, every match we play, we would play like a semifinal,” she says. The team has been focussing on scoring on penalty-corners, because that's a high percentage strategy. “See, in today's hockey, it's difficult to make field goals because teams don't allow field goals,” she says. Coach Neil Hawgood has changed the way the team plays, she says — they attack in waves, together, and then when the ball is lost, they fall back in defence together. The others play this way too, and the defences are generally packed, and that makes goals difficult to come by. “So penalty corners give you an easier opportunity to score. We try to focus on penalty corners — to create maximum penalty corners, and then try to score off them.” “There are separate variations, and we can't say anyone is specialist,” says the star forward. “Drag-flicker, hitter, slapper… Different experts, because we can't use the same variation with every team. We don't want to be predictable, because everyone (opponents) has the software, they watch videos. So they are prepared for us, and we should be ready with other options.” Still a teen, Rani has the stature and the confidence of a senior player. “As a senior, I want to lead by example,” she says. “I think it's my responsibility to help and guide the younger players.” |
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Indian cagers no more a basket case
Incheon, September 18 There was a caveat — China had fielded a younger team — but the result was still remarkable. It ought to have caused great joy and wave of interest in the sport in the country, it ought to have boosted hopes of a medal at the Asian Games. However, that hasn't happened — and not due to the fault of the players. They were not even sure that they'd compete at the Asian Games. There was a real possibility that the Indian basketball teams would have been axed, and until the 11th hour, their fate hung in balance. “We lost our preparations game, because we didn't know whether the team would come here,” Flemming told this writer today. “We were going to Lithuaina and China, and because of the uncertainty, those trips were cancelled. Then we had a week when the players didn't even know that they were coming, so it was impossible to focus on practising.” There have been other, unforeseen obstacles in the past — Flemming has been with the Indian team for two years, and now they're training at a very good facility at Greater Noida, but he's still trying to get the physical conditioning equipment in place. “It's kind of complicated… We have a coach, but we're trying to get equipment that we can use consistently,” he says in a bemused manner. “We have the equipment, but since we've gone to Jaypee Greens to train, our goal was to get all our equipment down there. We're still in that process of making that happen — believe it or not!” Logistic and equipment are not something a national coach should ever need to worry about. Flemming — who had been a college coach in the US for 25 years before working with the Dallas Mavericks NBA team — is still getting to terms with the reality of Indian sport. But, he says, “we're hopeful, we're hopeful.” “I've been with them for two years, at least the core of the team,” he says. “Earlier there had been problems — no foreign coaches stayed for more than a year earlier. But now we've also got some good young players. Most of our best players are under 25, and they're improving steadily.” “I never pick places, but we have some confidence from how we played in the Asia Cup,” he says. “But we've not played any games, so it's hard to know, and the first goal is to get into the next round.” If India get beyond the first stage, he says, they have to face teams like China, Iran, Philippines. “We've played them all, and we've played them competitively. So hopefully, we can win some of those matches,” he says. The women's team coach, the friendly Spaniard Francisco Garcia, has had problems of his own. One star player got married and opted out of the team; another excellent player has had a child; and a third player injured herself just days before the team was to come here. Garcia is mournful when he discusses the excellent news that Anna Jose Gethu and Anitha Pauldurai have had in the last one year. “Gethu got married last summer and she decided to not to play,” Garcia says sadly. “Anitha Pauldurai, she had a baby just now. And Shireen Limaye, she got injured two days before coming here.” At the last Asian Championship in Bangkok, India were placed fifth. “We're coming without three of the starting five players, so we are coming here with a really down team,” he says. “But I expect everyone try our their best, to fight as much as we can… But we cannot predict any result in the competition.
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Perera steers Kings past Hurricanes
Mohali, September 18 Put into bat, Hobart Hurricanes had gradually strengthened to 144/6 in 20 overs just as Tasmanian Travis Birt 28 (21) and Jonathan Wells 28 (18) tried to capitalize on already marooned Kings. It was Perera, having cooled his heels during the entire IPL-7, who quelled the brewing storm by removing Ben Dunk and then Aiden Blizzard by the end of 12th over. Hurricanes tried to raise a storm through Jonathan Wells and Travis Birt but the total in the end looked far from deadly. The Hurricanes looked all set to rip apart Kings when Virender Sehwag’s wild slash off the first ball and Wriddhiman Saha’s early dismissal left a trail of destruction. But Glenn Maxwell (43 in 25 balls) not only picked the debris but helped the team stand up to the storm. His firebrand cricket left the Tasmanians with little hope. That too was put off by Perera and George Bailey as they anchored the team home with a 68-run partnership. The Sri Lankan’s brute straight-hits, a six and a four, brought out the destructive streak in him. His two fours (one off Evan Gulbis and another off Ben Laughlin towards the end) through the midwicket aptly summed up who was the dominant side today. What looked like a fairly easy win for Kings could have turned otherwise had Perera not taken hold of the situation after the hosts were reeling at 51/4 after eight overs. Scoreboard Hobart Hurricanes: 144/6 Kings XI: 146/5 in 17.4 overs Today’s match: |
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Tough task for Indian paddlers in Incheon
Incheon, September 18 Indian paddlers had managed to win only a single medal at the Commonwealth Games 2014 and here in Incheon they must lift their game by several notches. Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal had partnered with Antony Amalraj to a silver medal win amid a considerably poor show by the Indians, who had won five medals in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Sharath Kamal had showcased his vintage form in the singles, before losing in the semi-final and the third-place finish match to Liam Pitchford in Glasgow. This time again, India will pin their hopes on the 32-year old Chennai lad who continues to be country's numero uno star in the discipline. Along with Sharath Kamal, Amalraj, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Harmeet Desai will also ply their trades in the singles and they are responsible for the men's team's show. In the 2010 Asian Games, World No.40 Sharath Kamal and Amalraj had reached the quarter-finals in the singles competitions and the men's team had also qualified till the round of eight. But what is a cause of concern is the inconsistency shown by the youngsters - Ghosh, Desai and Harmeet. Considering that China dominate the sport at the world stage, most of its top stars are expected to vie for the honours at the Games, taking the overall competition to a higher level and thereby making it stiffer for Indian paddlers. Similarly, Indian women's - Ankita Das, Madhurika Patkar, Poulomi Ghatak, Manika Batra and Neha Aggarwal will also be having a difficult time as they look to impress head coach Peter Engel, who will part ways with the Indian team after the Asian Games.
— IANS
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Hockey India to provide FIH certification to coaches
Una, September 18 He said that coaches would get to attend refresher clinics by world-renowned coaches including High Performance Director, Roelant Oltmans, and chief coach of Indian men’s team, Terry Walsh. The present system of a one-time course at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) had become obsolete as the game was ever changing and new methodologies in training, planning, tactics and fitness were emerging, he told The Tribune during his inspection visit of the synthetic turf at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex here today. The former India player said he was touring Himachal Pradesh to identify the available infrastructure for the development of the game. He expressed concern over the fact that the turf, laid a year ago at a cost of more than Rs 5 crores, was being grossly under-utilised as there was no hockey coach here. He said HI was already in discussion with the state authorities for proper utilization of infrastructure. “While HI can only give technical assistance, the services of coaches and turf maintenance has to be done by the state governments,” he said. Meanwhile, a section of pitch has been covered by rubble for two days after rain caused landslide at the hillock adjoining the field. The debris has broken a part of the iron grills and some damage to the water sprinkler system is also being feared. District Sports Officer Ishwar Chaudhary said the Public Works Department officials have been informed about the incident.
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US lawmakers disappointed by FIBA’s decision
Washington, September 18 FIBA had said that it would wait until 2016 to make a permanent decision about religious accommodations. The two Democratic lawmakers, Congressman Joe Crowley and Ami Bera, said that there was no evidence that turbans or religious headgear pose a threat to players, and it’s time for FIBA to do what the rest of the sporting world is doing and let Sikhs play. “Rest assured, we will continue to closely monitor FIBA’s continued actions to ensure they ultimately make the right decision,” they said.
— PTI |
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Incheon, September 18
Mohali, September 18
