Tennis guests from Pakistan
By Arvind Katyal
It was really a goodwill visit, as four Pakistan tennis players, including a girl, were here in this part of the country to play in the ITF Junior Circuit Tennis Championship organised at Delhi and Chandigarh.

Anatomy of a cricket crowd
By Ramu Sharma
RAY ROBINSON, the famous Australian cricket scribe, once described the crowd in Calcutta as “first among the world’s most volatile cricket-watchers.”

Crestfallen Bobby raps officialdom
By Shajan Scaria
BOBBY Aloysius, who is the only Indian woman high jumper to cross six feet, is up in arms against the Amateur Athletic Federation of India .

World’s fastest-growing sport
By Martin Bell
IN the late 1980s, the full significance of snowboarding was not comprehended by the ski industry’s establishments — the manufacturers, resorts and governing bodies.

Tennis guests from Pakistan
By Arvind Katyal

It was really a goodwill visit, as four Pakistan tennis players, including a girl, were here in this part of the country to play in the ITF Junior Circuit Tennis Championship organised at Delhi and Chandigarh. The players were Nida Wasim, Ahmed Wahla, Mohd Zia Hai and Nomi Qamar. The two officials accompanied them included Zahiruddin, the coach and Khalid Rehmani, the Manager.

It can be safely assumed that Pakistan has been slow to take up tennis as, the major emphasis was on hockey, cricket and squash. All the Pakistani players, be it any game, have always shown tremendous amount of confidence and killer instinct, which usually seems lacking in the Indian players. The same holds true for these junior players, who performed excellently at Chandigarh during the championship.

Seventeen-year old Nomi Qamar bagged the boys singles little while sixteen-year old Nida Wasim was the runner up in the girls section. Both Nomi and Nida had abundant energy, stamina, and temperament to keep their cool during play. Nomi studies in class Ninth at an ordinary school in Karachi while Nida is a student of a convent school in the same city.

Qamar started playing at the age of six under his father, who is also a tennis coach. This was Qamar’s first foreign visit, which he capitalised on by surprising all, with his facile wins over fancied Sunil Kumar, who won the ITF title at Delhi, and later in the final against the top seed Kedar Tembe.

The team manager and the joint-secretary of the Pakistan Tennis Federation, Mr K. Rehmani told that in their country very few tournaments are played unlike India, which hosts many tennis tournaments. Surprisingly, in the women’s section in Pakistan the maximum draw is of 24 and there is no juniors tournament at the National level. This is reason why Nida at 16 is the current senior national champion. The other top Pakistani women tennis players are the Rahim sisters, Halima and Mariam, Sana Bhagat and Sehr Sumad, who are above 18 years. Nida has been exposed to various international tournaments and she is indebted to her father, who sponsors her along with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). She has played in Hungary, Canada, Sri Lanka and Ireland and she will also take part in the another ITF meet in Bangladesh. Nida allayed the myths that as a Pakistani she won’t play in shorts, which she said they need to, in order to be among the best in the world. She has a private coach from England, to whom heavy coaching charges are being paid.

Qamar with heavy heart said “I am not finding any good sponsor and may be this coveted title can open the door for me”. He is not able to participate in the international tournaments at present because he can not bear the expenses himself, as a lot of money is involved. Mr Rehmani, who last came to India ten years back, told that this tournament had received great attention and coverage in the leading newspapers in Pakistan. He was hopeful that next time more players from his country will take part in the tournament.

All the players showed good match spirit in spite of the confusion regarding judgements during the finals of both boys and girls where Nida and Qamar played against Indian opponents. During the final when Qamar protested against a judgement in favour of Kedar, few young spectators tried to disrupt the appeal. The Indian girls tennis players, who were watching the match said, “see we should rather support them as they have come to play in our country and if tomorrow we go there to play, then?”

Incidentally, this season, particularly since January, Pakistan has been in the sports news, be it cricket or hockey, where top Pakistani players were touring our country to play. These under-18 players further created a mutual goodwill, which will inculcate true sports spirit in the minds of players, officials, spectators and the general public. This augurs well for the sporting ties between the two countries.

Anatomy of a cricket crowd
By Ramu Sharma

RAY ROBINSON, the famous Australian cricket scribe, once described the crowd in Calcutta as “first among the world’s most volatile cricket-watchers.” After the recent incident during the India-Pakistan tie in the Asian Test Cricket Championship Robinson may well turn around in his grave and say:” I told you so.”

Till recently this sentiment, about the crowd in Calcutta, would never have been allowed to go unchallenged. Calcutta crowd in fact has often been praised for being sports-minded and knowledgeable. That despite some very unfortunate episodes during Test matches against the West Indies (1966) and Australia (1969) and then the shameful demonstration and disruption of the Wold Cup semi-final between India and Sri Lanka in 1996. But the latest incident during the India-Pakistan match could certainly be likened to another nail in the coffin.

It was only a confirmation that a section of a crowd (that matters) in the City of Joy cannot stand India being defeated. Pakistan cricketers need not think that the crowd reaction was aimed at them. The crowd has behaved even worse against Bill Lawry, the taciturn Australian captain, in 1969. This section of the crowd had earned the dubious distinction of showing discourtesy to even Sunil Gavaskar and his wife and after that the present Indian captain, Azharuddin. An imagined slur against left-arm spinner Utpal Chatterjee was the reason for the reaction against Azar.

Keith Miller once extolled the sports-oriented fanaticism of the Calcutta crowd which gathered in front of the pavilion and threatened to burn it down.” No Mushtaq, no Test,” was the chant. This was when the great Mushtaq Ali was dropped from the Indian team to play the Australian Services team.

Things have changed a lot in Calcutta. It is not the city that Ray Robinson wrote about and Keith Miller extolled. It has now earned the dubious distinction of setting a record of sorts, of disturbed and disrupted internationals (four of them) and lacking in courtesy to some of its senior stars. It is now a city which obviously has lost its sporting spirit. The amazing thing is that this change, so transparent to the world, has escaped the notice of indulging scribes and an ever more indulgent State Government. Something has gone drastically wrong with the crowd that flock to the cricket stadium in Calcutta. It is unfortunate that Calcutta, with one of the best stadiums in the country, is fast gaining a reputation for harbouring the most ill-behaved crowd. But is Calcutta the only centre with recurring problems? Is not the crowd all over India the same? I mean crowds that throng the edges of the stands to be able to relate to the fielders placed in the deep.

Nearly all the visiting teams have complained about the crowd, of the missiles hurled at their players. The South Africans did not exactly mince words about the manner of treatment meted out to Paul Adams, the left-arm spinner, with a contorted action. Crowd misbehaviour prompted even that most amiable man, Courtney Walsh, the West Indian captain, to react. And Imran Khan took the extreme step of taking his team out of the field during a Test match in Ahmedabad. It is a sad reflection on the country and its people that not one centre has taken the necessary precaution to prevent harassment of the visiting teams while fielding.

Providing security from terrorists and ill-behaved Shiv Sainiks is one thing but to protect the fielders from the crowds in the popular stands is another. Not all those who indulge in unruly acts are mean by nature. Quite often the whole exercise of the crowd, mostly students, is to attract attention of the fielder in the deep. Sometimes this relationship takes the form of friendly banter, giving, throwing oranges and bananas, sometimes even small pebbles to keep the “fun” going. The whole thing starts as a joke, fun, before someone decides to throw a bigger stone, or a bottle. One remembers Allan Border had a narrow escape when a bottle was flung at him from the stands just near the pavilion in Ahmedabad. Imran too had a narrow escape there and stopped to glare back angrily at the miscreants. That the bottle had been thrown from the stands occupied by the so-called rich class made it all the more difficult to dismiss the incident as just another of those things. There appears to be something definately wrong with some of the people watching cricket these days.

Ravi Shastri was quick to react from the safety of the commentators box in Pakistan when some people misbehaved during an India-Pakistan one-dayer last year. He appeared to have conveniently forgotten the incidents of like nature which happen in India too. And it must be added here that Shastri’s melodramatic outburst when Tendulkar was run out during the match against Pakistan was not exactly different from the behaviour of the crowd in a section of the stand.

It is unfair to say that Calcutta alone is a centre prone to violence and crowd misbehaviour. A careless remark by a commentator was the cause of riots in Mumbai then Bombay and Azharuddin, the Indian captain did not help matters when he openly showed dissent following his dismissal in a one-dayer in a southern Test centre. Crowd psychology is the same in all the cities, the examplary behaviour of Chennai notwithstanding.

It is same story everywhere. Either India win all the matches or there is a possibility of trouble at every centre. Some of the balme has to be shared by the print media, a section of which often tends to give more weight to the patriotic angle than the actual qualifications of the teams. Azhar and Wasim Akram, the rival captains, were not wrong in apportioning part of the blame for the trouble in Calcutta on the media.

It is for the media to educate the public, for the TV to enlighten the viewer on the technical aspects of the game and for the radio commentators in particular to be very careful what they say. As for the organisers it is of course very difficult to screen everyone who come to the ground but an effort must be made to ensure that pocket radios are not allowed. Also bottled drinks must be banned. And more than that, and this is a very difficult task, but effort must be made to ensure that no loose stones are lying about. And as far as Calcutta is concerned, and when a next time a match is played and, if it is a day and night match, the organisers should confiscate all match boxes and lighters. Otherwise, one day the crowd will burn the stadium down.

Crestfallen Bobby raps officialdom
By Shajan Scaria

BOBBY Aloysius, who is the only Indian woman high jumper to cross six feet, is up in arms against the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI). She has finalised a plan to sue the AAFI claiming damages denying her a chance to wrest a medal at the Bangkok Asian Games.

According to Bobby, several athletes were sent to the Asiad, though they failed to make the qualified standard, for other considerations. “I am fighting against this discrimination,” she said, pointing out that she had already moved the Delhi High Court in this regard. The court dismissed her petition on the ground that it was based on newspaper reports and there was not enough documentary evidence.

Passing its verdict, the Court, however, held that she could file a suit for compensation. The Indian performance vindicated her stand because most of the medal the country came from unexpected quarters. “This encourages me to fight on to ensure that decisions in such cases should be governed by specific rules without leaving them to a haphazard officialdom,” she says.

Bobby recalls the background of her case thus: At the Fukuoka Asia Track and Field Meet, she broke the national high jump record, clearing 1.85 metres. This was followed by a gold at the Colombo SAF Games — 1.86 metres.

Then came the selection trials for the Asiad. Normally the qualifying standard is fixed equivalent to the third place result in the previous Asiad. In this case it was 1.83 metres. But the AAFI fixed the qualifying yardstick at 1.88 metres. She failed to qualify clearing only 1.86 metres. She was then summarily dropped from the selection list. My appeals were shrugged off. Team manager and former Tamil Nadu Director General of Police Walter Dewaram pleaded for me in vain. Mind you, this happened at a time when many others who failed to make the grade were included in the team,” she said.

The climax came at the Bangkok Asiad on December 13 as the women’s high jump event was on and Anna Chertrova of Kyrgyzstan bagged the bronze clearing just 1.84 metres, 2 cm less than my mark.

Bobby is now furious. “The Asiad result is a slap in the face of those who cast me out of the team,” she said.

She felt there was a plot to exclude her from the team. “Even for the last Olympics the qualifying mark was only 1.89 metres. The attitude of federation Secretary Lalit Bhanot was particularly vindictive,” she says tearfully.

T.P. Ouseph, national coach for jump events says: “What is the use of saying anything when people like Bhanot are at the helm of affairs? I am fed up with the favouritism and malpractices in the AAFI. I am even thinking of not attending their coaching camps any more. The indifferent treatment meted out to Bobby cannot be condoned”.

Writing in Malayala Manorama, former Asian long jump gold medallist and Olympian Suresh Babu said that Bobby had a fair chance of winning even the gold in the Asiad. He felt that the golden mark of 1.88 metres at Bangkok was not unattainable for her.

Babu, a veteran of several international meets, observed that it was intense competition that brings out that best in an athlete. He cited the example of T.C. Yohannan who created history in the long jump at the 1974 Asian with a leap of 8.07 metres. At the selection trials, Yohannan had cleared only 7.77 metres. And Aloysius is an athlete who has been improving with every international meet for the past one year, clearly the ineptitude of those who man the AAFI deprived India of an opportunity to vie for a gold, he said.

She said compensation was not her main aim. “That is secondary. My main aim is to bring the foul play that are the bane of Indian sports to the attention of the judiciary. There should be strict guidelines for the selection process. Government funds whould be utilised properly for achieving excellence in sports, and should not be misused according to the whims and fancies of vested interests,” she said.

Boby, a Preventive Officer with the Customs in Chennai, came a hard way up.

The beginning was tough for her. When she switched over from the straddle to the modern fosbury flop nearly a decade ago at the Thrissur Vimala College in north Kerala, she purchased a locally-made foam bed, made up of discarded motorbike seats with some support from the Hinduja Sports Foundation. She also had to overcome an odd body posture-slightly hunched, shoulders jutting forward-and flaws in her jumping style — Newsline

World’s fastest-growing sport
By Martin Bell

IN the late 1980s, the full significance of snowboarding was not comprehended by the ski industry’s establishments — the manufacturers, resorts and governing bodies. It was dismissed as merely a passing fad,like ski-bobs or monoskis (remember them?).

But unlike those other pursuits, snowboarding was relatively easy to learn, and even easier to progress with. The numbers of snowboarders exploded, and the establishment admitted, belatedly, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.

Ski manufacturers brought out their own snowboards, resorts built half-pipes and terrain parks, and International Ski Federation (FIS) started organising its own snowboard competitions, even though there was already a professional snowboard federation in existence, running a successful professional tour.

Snowboarding was the world’s fastest-growing sport in the early 1990s, and many companies jumped on the bandwagon, desperate to sponsor events, or use snowboarding in their adverts. But not all skiers were happy about the proliferation of baggy-trousered youngsters, with their goatee beards and pierced body parts, invading “their” slopes.

There were legitimate concerns: snowboards float easily on powder snow, so, after just a week of boarding, novices could venture off-piste before they had learned about the dangers of avalanches. In St Anton in 1995, a boarder brought down an avalanche on to four skiers, killing all of them and himself.

Also, boarders liked to jump, which can be dangerous unless done in a controlled area. Third, the very shape of the boards put boarders on a natural collision course with skiers: they could carve wide, sinuous turns, while most skiers would drift straight down the hill doing “windscreen wiper” turns pivoting their skis from side to side but not actually changing direction. An angled, skidding snowboard can do a lot of damage, because its upper edge may make contact with a skier’s leg above the ski boot.

In the United States, just a handful of ski areas resisted the urge to make more money out of snowboarding: only those that were rich enough anyway (Deer Valley, Aspen Mountain), or those that were traditionalist backwaters (Alta, Taos, Mad River Glen). Now, the growth has begun to flatten out, and it seems less likely that boarders will ever outnumber skiers. Two planks are still the most efficient way to get around, except in deep powder, and even then the flats cause problems for boarders.

But the sideways stance feels more natural for many people, and snowboarding in soft snow is a wonderful sensation; like skiing, snowboarding is here to stay. Anyone who cannot do both is missing out.

Competitive snowboarding started by borrowing its formats from other sports, like skiing (slalom), skateboarding (half-pipe) and motorcycling (motocross). But now skiing is borrowing back from snowboarding: the “New School” tricks of freestyle skiing copy the grabs and asymmetric spins of boarders. And skiers are beginning to enjoy the half-pipe, either on normal skis or ultra-short ski-boards” like Kneissl’s Big Feet or Salomon’s Snowblades. Of course, this met with initial resistance from snowboards — they didn’t want skiers invading “their” half-pipes. But the mountains belong to everyone, and the barriers are breaking down.

In the motorcross-inspired format of “boardercross” six boarders race together down a course of jumps, bombs and banked turns. In turn, this gave rise to the first ever “skiercross”, organised last year by the US cable network ESPN. This season, skiercross events are being organised by ESPN and Eclipse Television — originators of the King of the Mountain races. Skiers have even competed head-to-head with snowboarders in a “skier-boarder-cross”.The skiers won every time.

Recently, I asked Gianfranco Kasper, the new president of the FIS, whether it too would be running skiercross competitions. “No, that would be prostituting the sport,” he replied.

The conservative FIS felt the same way about parallel slaloms, freestyle skiing and snowboarding when they were first invented. But if motorcyclists can do it at similar speeds, there is no reason why skiers shouldn’t race together down one course, provided there are extensive safety rules, good course design and adequate protective gear. In 20 years’ time, it’s not impossible that we’ll be watching skiercross in the Olympics. — By arrangement with The Guardian

Mere talent is not enough for a champion

Coaching and practice are essential to help nurture talent. But mere talent is not enough to make a champion of a sportsperson. There is something else which is much more vital than practice, coaching and talent and that is self-belief.

Many highly talented sportspersons have failed to achieve or play to their potential because they lack in self-belief. Many golfers play an excellent round of golf in practice or when they are pitted against weak opponents. But when they participate in stiff competitions, their nerves become taut and they fail to play to their potential.

There are, however, a few who are unimpressive in their practice sessions, but they rise to the occasion in important competitions. They are coal, calm and collected and they bring in surprises. The tougher the competition, the better they play because they have a mind which keeps their nerves under control.

This is generally true and applies to sportspersons the world over. There is yet another class of sportspersons who suffer because of needless pressure from their parents who, by their presence and nagging disposition, make it difficult for their children to play freely to attain to their potential. It is necessary to provide protection to children but they should be left alone to find their bearings.

The Indians, by and large, are not inferior to Americans or Europeans or Chinese in talent and technique. But where they are summarily outclassed due to lack of possession of big match temperament. It can be developed if the under-teens are left alone, provided sufficient exposure and made to rough it out against superior opposition.

Injudicious

The ladies in the Indian Golf Union (IGU) are known for their organising capacity and enterprise. They conduct their affairs more meticulously and efficiently than their men office-bearers in the august body, which has more politics within it than some national federations.

The ladies unit dropped a bombshell the other day when the committee announced that India would not take part in Queen Sirikit Tournament this year. To say that the players should sharpen their skill at home instead of participating in the prestigious international competition is not a very happy argument. In the country, there are quite a few, particularly Shruti Khanna and Parnita Garewal, who deserve international exposure. One year in the short amateur life of a golfer is a lot. The opportunity delayed at the right age is virtually opportunity denied.

Investigations reveal that there is more to it than meets the eye in this far-fetched argument. Maybe, the IGU is not helping the ladies with sufficient funds to participate in international competitions.

It is on record that the IGU did not provide enough funds to ladies when the last Sirikit meet was held at Mumbai. It was to the credit of the ladies that they raised funds through their own efforts and made a grand success of the meet.

The IGU is one of the oldest bodies in the country. It is managed by people of high status, and stature. It should open its doors for amateur golfers to help them instead of functioning from the “closed doors” premises of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, which is slowly losing its charm and grandeur.

Remarkable

Nonita Lal Qureshi is wedded to golf. Her father Surrender Lall ‘Bandy’ was a gentleman-golfer and golf promoter. He was instrumental in drafting the constitution of the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGAI). He provided Nonita, now married to a golfer, all the facilities to play golf.

Champion for five times, Nonita translated her desire into reality the other day at the Delhi Golf Club course where she won her sixth national title after about half-a-dozen years. This was the first time she had bagged the title at Delhi and she rightly made a reference about ‘Bandy’ at the prize distribution function. If India had a few more Bandys, India’s golf would have been at a much better placed than it is at present.

Nonita’s win in the 82nd Ladies All-India Tournament was a fitting reward for her dedication and love for the game. Well placed until 23rd hole, she was intensely pressed by young Shruti on the next 11 holes. Nonita and Shruti were tied on the 34th. Luck smiled on Nonita who won the title on the 36th.

Shruti went down fighting. But her style of play, fighting ability and will showed that she was a player destined to rise on the firmament of the Indian golf. Maybe, Parnita will have to work harder to regain the title that she won last year. Competition is the essence of golf.

With Nonita’s cooption, the IGU Ladies Section should display more vigour than it has shown so far.