India’s slow progress in sports
By Asma Ali
IN an informal chat once with Milkha Singh, the celebrated athlete of yesteryears, on India’s tardy progress in sports, the ‘Flying Sikh’ remarked candidly: Our sportspersons are today not very hard working; they do not fully concentrate on their training, at times, they wean away from serious training and indulge in gay social life. We trained to almost death and that was the secret of our abounding success.

Inter-state meet needs restructuring
By Arvind Kayal
THE Inter-state Badminton Championship which is annually organised at the national level in all the zones needs a complete restructuring going by the monotony it has created for the players.

Sport Mail

Patiala, Jalandhar share spoils
By Harbans Singh Virdi

Patiala and Jalandhar shared spoils in the Punjab State Senior Badminton Championships which concluded with full fanfare at the NIS courts in Patiala last month.

If Jalandhar displayed its nomination in the men’s singles event by forcing an all-Jalandhar final with Jaideep Singh Kohli and Rohan Kapoor making the grade, Patiala retaliated with full forced by engineering a coup in the women’s singles event when their girls - Meeta Bhandari and Yogita Kaushal - showed they were still the best bet on the Punjab badminton scene. Therefore, in the matter of stealing honours, both Patiala and Jalandhar were the ultimate winners.

In normal case, the venue of the badminton championships would have been the indoor complex in Polo grounds where even the National Badminton Championships were held in 1995, but since the police was on duty there guarding the ballot boxes, the scene of action had to be shifted to the NIS which has excellent facilities in almost all sports. However, the change in venue did not rob the championship any excitement and intense competition. Moreover the organisers, mainly the President of the Patiala Badminton Association, Mr Brahm Mohindra, and Vinod Vatrana, a former India doubles player and the organising secretary of the championships, took pains to ensure that the tournament ran smoothly and also that the matches were over in time so that players and coaches and other connected with the spot who had come from all over Punjab were not put to any inconvenience.

Both Mr Mohindra and Vatrana took personal interest in the smooth conduct of the championship. Despite being an active politician, and that being the election time, Mr Mohindra was present almost daily at the badminton courts to oversee the progress of the meet. Little wonder then the show went on smooth. Moving on to the men’s singles tussle, one felt Jaideep Singh Kohli might carry the day, especially the way he began-spraying strokes all over the court of which Rohan watched in amazement, without doing anything. Forcing the pace of the game, Kohli won the first game 15-10. Rohan also misjudged a number of high-toss serves which many a time kissed the baseline to the despair of Rohan. But he could do little.

The second became a real tussle between the two Jalandhar boys. Rohan read the game of his opponent carefully and matched him stroke for stroke without rushing in unnecessarily. The move paid as Rohan took a narrow 7-5 lead. But this encouraged him further. Though fighting briefly, Kohli bridged the gap and made it 7-7. Rohan once again shot ahead (9-7). Sensing victory, Rohan dug himself in and slowly and steadily won the second game 15-12 and restored parity.

The fight between the two spilled over to the third and final game but the aggressive game of Kohli had taken its toll and he could no longer smash or force his opponent on the baseline with the same aplomb as before. Therefore, Rohan turned on the heat and closed the third chapter at 15-6 to crown himself as the new Punjab champion.

However, the women’s singles final between Meeta and Yogita never rose to great height though to be fair to both players, there were flashes of brilliance off an on from both sides. However, it must also be maintained at the same time that the superiority of Meeta was never in doubt at any point of clash. Meeta, started dominating from the beginning and steered the course of play in her favour. Yogita tried every trick in her kit yet failed to match the strokeplay of Meeta who raced to 11-8 victory.

But Yogita put up a semblance of a fight in the second game. The ‘bird’ changed hands a number of times yet Meeta refused to allow any latitude to Yogita, who unsuccessfully tried to upset the rhythm of Meeta. But Meeta was playing to a gameplan and also she did not fritter away any chances. Meeta ended Yogita’s ordeal when she won the second game 13-11.

Nandy Tandon who had lost in the women’s singles event, made up for her loss when she teamed up with Meeta Bhandari to beat Yogita and Sumit Kalra to win the doubles title. Thus Meeta scored the ‘double’.

The men’s doubles title went to Munish and Navdeep of Patiala, who defeated Chanderdeep (Pat) and Amandeep Sekri (Ldh) in three games. In fact the winners came from behind to win the title.

So, at the end of the championship, Patiala had the major share of titles that were up for grabs.

Davinder Ahuja, who was one of the finest players that India produced in the game, was also present in the final, in his capacity as the chairman of the selection committee of the Punjab Badminton Association. Mr K.S. Janjua, president of the Punjab Badminton Association, also graced the final day and distributed the prizes to the more fortunate of the lot the winners.

India’s slow progress in sports
By Asma Ali

IN an informal chat once with Milkha Singh, the celebrated athlete of yesteryears, on India’s tardy progress in sports, the ‘Flying Sikh’ remarked candidly: Our sportspersons are today not very hard working; they do not fully concentrate on their training, at times, they wean away from serious training and indulge in gay social life. We trained to almost death and that was the secret of our abounding success.

Milkha Singh is objective and forthright but not many will pay heed to his words, because truth is bitter. Milkha Singh, as we all know, trained so very hard. How many sportspersons will take a leaf out of his training book after reading this story? Not many I suppose!

India’s biggest problem in sports is that, like the Bourbons, we learn nothing from the past and fail to stem the rot. What holds back India’s speedy progress in sports? To be sure, it is our haphazard planning, poor administration, and above all, our lack of vision and insight. Milkha Singh may not be a Messiah, but his observation is a stark reality which frowns upon the Indian sports system as well as the sportspersons. His words should not be taken with a pinch of salt if we are aiming to occupy a dignified place in the comity of sporting nations which are highly advanced.

It is not Milkha Singh alone who holds such an opinion about Indian sports. Dronacharya awardee Mohammad Ilyas Babar’s ‘divine protege’ in 1970s, Sriram Singh, finalist of the 800m, in 1976 Montreal Olympics, supports Milkha Singh’s caustic remarks. Says Sriram Singh frankly: “Indian athletes today are not as hard working as we were. Their training is half of ours.”

The famous hurdler Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, now a government observer, is stupefied to note that the present day national athletes eat non-veg. food twice a day during coaching camps. He questions: How can you train if you eat chicken during lunch and dinner? We did not even think of eating chicken during lunch, he remarks with a grin.

Today our sportspersons are wanting to achieve international fame and name the easy way, forgetting that all great sportspersons in the world cornered glory the hard way.

Sportspersons’ lethargy apart, sports management in the country is feeble and throttles the progress of India sports. As head of the illustrious NIS, Dr D.N. Mathur failed to uplift the institution, and his successor gave mor weightage to the national coaching camps, neglecting in the process, the academics for which the institution was set up in 1961. Col B.S. Ahluwalia, who took over as the executive head of the institute about three months ago, is harrowing his nerves to inject a new life into the academic activities, not undermining the significance of the national coaching camps which run peacefully and adroitly at the institute, much to the satisfaction of the elite sportspersons.

Our upcoming sportspersons have all the attributes to become world champions in different sports disciplines. What they simply require is real hard work and dedicated approach to their training.

In his autobiography The Greatest: My Own Story, Muhammad Ali writes: “After school I would go to work four hours for the Catholic sisters, then train at Martin’s gym from six to eight in the evening. From there I would go to get the real training at Stonner’s gym from eight to twelve at night.”

Muhammad Ali was virtually a domestic servant at the house of a white called Reynolds. He recalls the torrid time he faced to earn his livelihood, but was still training hard to become the world heavyweight boxing champion.

How many elite Indian sportspersons today can bear the hardship like Muhammad Ali to win a world title in any sport?

Inter-state meet needs restructuring
By Arvind Kayal

THE Inter-state Badminton Championship which is annually organised at the national level in all the zones needs a complete restructuring going by the monotony it has created for the players.

Take for example, the recently concluded North Zone Inter-state Badminton Championship at Jammu which saw participation of nearly 100 players from seven states or UTs, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and hosts J&K.

Similarly in zones, West, South, East, North and all the states or UTs go for participation but in central zone, the institutions such as the Railways, Combined Universities and Air-India are allowed the entry.

During the past many years, the under-19 section for boys and girls along with men and women’s sections have the competitions. Since it is a team championship, top teams qualify to participate in the inter-zonal meets which are held at respective national championships, be it of junior or seniors.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) under whose aegis various associations organise these matches, has done a great deal of work by hosting many grand prix tournaments in juniors and seniors and also hosted many other major tournaments with a lot of prize money being involved.

When asked, one of the senior veteran badminton players at Chandigarh said these inter-state meets had just become the stereotype tournaments with less interest being generated. It had virtually become the “government sector” meet with poor interest and no prize money, whereas other major and grand prix tournaments were like the private sector with more money offered as prize money.

The immediate task would be to go for amendment in the style of the inter-state meets, which are, otherwise, the headache for the organise state. Every year, say in North Zone, we come across either Punjab or Delhi vying for top honours and on a few occasions the other units have qualified to enter the final in any of the four events. This year also Delhi team won three titles Punjab one.

The disadvantages of the team championship run on present format are many, likewise firstly, it is organised on knockout basis only, as a result, sometimes the better team fails to make it to the final of an event, being in the pool having the tougher team. Here the league-cum-knockout basis would be vital since only seven participating teams are allowed.

Secondly, to encourage the younger lot, the championship should be started for sub-juniors (under 16) and mini (under 13) in girls and boys sections because at present it is for under 19 and above only.

Thirdly, the individual championship for all such participants must be organised in order to adjudge the best player. As at present sometimes a weak team which may have only one best player but due to the nature of the championship, its performance goes unnoticed.

Fourthly, the championship must offer incentives and the players be given attractive cash prizes.

When BAI is trying to rejuvenate the game by introducing many innovative methods, and a legend such as Prakash Padukone, and another badminton enthusiast V.K. Verma are at the helm of affairs, the moulding of the structure could be at faster pace.

What is required is the arranging of the sponsors at the regional level, as BPL who are the national sponsors for many championships at Bangalore, and others like Bristol had evinced keen interest in putting in money in this royal game which in being an Olympic game attracts majority of the countries for participation.

The sponsorship programmes start from the grassroots level-district, state, zonal and national and the sponsors expect return in the form of mass participation of the players, leading to a good crop of players and supported by print and electronic media who would ultimately be vying with each other.

The interest in this otherwise obsolete zonal team championship is vital if it is to be kept alive and as these have lived its life and unless urgent modifications are done, the participation and the standard in this championships would be quite minimal, thus fatal to this game. Hope BAI would take notice.

Sport Mail
Cricket overdose eclipsing hockey

The unending overdose of one-day and Test cricket has definitely eclipsed the national game, hockey. If the hockey bosses at the helm are playing politics, the media is also not playing its vital role. In this regard, the Four Nation Hockey Tournaments at Canberra and Sydney (Australia) last month was more or less ignored.

SUDER SINGH GIANI
Dialpura

Kapil’s appointment

The decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to appoint Kapil Dev coach of the Indian cricket team is appreciable. Kapil Dev, who is one of the most respected cricketers in the country will help the team with his immense experience. Kapil Dev was brilliant as captain and player. His love for the game, courage, talent and determination will prove to be a blessing for the Indian cricket team.

AJAY BANSAL
Una

II

The decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to appoint former Indian skipper Kapil Dev as coach of the Indian cricket team is a welcome step. The new board president has taken a very appreciable decision because Kapil Dev was India’s best allrounder and is therefore the most appropriate person for the post of coach. With his appointment the morale of the team will now get a boost and surely the team will perform better than it was doing earlier. Kapil is the only person who can improve the Indian bowling which is deteriorating day by day. He will also improve the fitness level of the players which in turn will improve the Indian fielding. Very few people know that Kapil was the only Indian player who played so much cricket and yet did not miss a single match in his career due to injury.

Umesh Dewan
Ludhiana

Harbhajan Singh

The inclusion of young off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in the Indian team is a welcome step taken by the BCCI. Had some unpleasant controversy not arisen regarding his action he would have been a regular member of the one-day team also because he bowled very well in the one day international matches. Anyway, I would like to thank the selection committee for reposing faith in this young man. It is not understood why Reetinder Singh Sodhi, the captain and hero of the junior World Cup team, has not been taken in the team despite his good allround performance in the Irani Trophy tie against star-studded Karnataka recently. In addition to a double century in the Ranji Trophy match against Delhi, he has been showing good performance in Ranji Trophy and other matches.

The chairman of the selection committee, Chandu Borde, while announcing the team said that they did not believe in choosing a player and discarding him after giving him just one chance. Here I would like to draw the attention of Borde that Pankaj Dharmani who is still giving a consistent performance while playing Ranji Trophy and other matches, was a member of the Indian team for quite a long time, but was given only one chance against South Africa.

PRITPAL SINGH
Patiala