Putting soccer World Cup in jeopardy
By Amardeep Bhattal
THE Asian Football Confederation’s walkout from the FIFA congress and its subsequent threat to boycott the qualifiers has not only put the 2002 soccer World Cup in jeopardy but has also revived memories of the dark days of the sixties, when barring North Korea, all Asian countries stayed away from the qualifying competition for the 1966 finals.

Good start to domestic season
By Ramu Sharma
THE four-leg domestic circuit meet with an international flavour which ended in Chennai recently reconfirmed the status of some of the known stars while establishing Anil Kumar as the sprinter with a future.

Shooting range for Punjab
By Arvind Katyal
While the state of Punjab can proudly boast of shooters such as Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Zorawar Singh who are Commonwealth Games medallists, they are forced to practice shooting in Delhi instead in their home state, Punjab, as no shooting range is available in the state.

Sport Mail

Flamboyant, debonair cricketer
By K.R. Wadhwaney

HYDERABAD cricket will not be the same any more. When gentlemanplayer Ghulam Ahmed passed away on October 28 last year, it robbed the city of nawabs much of its cricketing values. With the recent death of M.L. Jaisimha, only 60 years old, of cancer, the cricketing light has gone out of the city where sadly youngsters are more busy washing dirty linen in public than doing something concrete for the game.

If Ghulam Ahmed, loosely-limbed, tall and pan-chewing, was a gentleman of a very high order, Jaisimha was a colourful personality in whatever he did on or off the field. Unlike Ghulam Ahmed, who suffered in silence any injustice done to him, Jaisimha would give vent to his feelings without kicking up much controversy.

Unlike Ghulam Ahmed, who generally wore a low profile and was a withdrawing type, Jaisimha was flamboyant and debonair all the time. There were many dissimilarities between the two as they belonged to different eras. But there was one commonality between the two and that was their abounding love for Hyderabad and Indian cricket.

Jaisimha’s hallmark was that he enjoyed cricket all the time. He treated cricket as a game and played as such. He was seldom elated even when he was among runs and wickets. Similarly, he never brooded when he was unsuccessful in both batting and bowling. His philosophy was that success and failure were two sides of the same coin. What he did and also preached was that a player should try his utmost when on the field.

Jaisimha, tall and slim with his shirt collar standing up, was all grace on the field. There was a kind of mischief even in his walk to the wicket or fielding. He loved pulling the leg of his colleagues and his rivals. When he cover-drove for a four or lifted a bowler for a six, he would say a kind of apology to a bowler and when he bowled a batsman with a beauty of a ball, he would quietly say sorry to the batsman walking towards the pavilion.

Off the field, Jaisimha would hum a line of a Hindi or English song, according to the company. He would discuss everything under the sun, including the captain’s problems, giving an impression of being casual, carefree and unconcerned. He would keep winking and conversing.

Jaisimha was a vastly different person from his two colleagues, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Abbas Ali Beig. But when these three greats were together, they were capable of pulling the leg of even senior journalists.

Jaisimha’s batting was all aggression. His bowling was not penetrative but thoughtful. He was quick to notice the weaknesses of the batsman. His fielding was steady, if not brilliant. His contribution for Hyderabad in domestic competitions was outstanding. He would stoop to conquer a catch in close-in position and mutter to a batsman: “I beg your pardon.”

Jaisimha was engaged in 13 Test series from 1959 to 1970-71 (11 seasons). He played 39 Tests (71 innings) scoring 2056 runs (average 30.68). He bagged nine wickets (average 92.11). In 23 eventful seasons in domestic competitions, he amassed 5226 runs (average 46.25) and captured 235 wickets (average 21.95).

Fond of the good things of life, Jaisimha was a failure only once as an Indian official manager while on tour to Sri Lanka. There he was more “spirited” than he should have been. He failed to strike a rapport with the Indian mediapersons who wrote unkind things about his handlings. But he remained unbothered about criticism.

Born in Secunderabad on March 3,1939, Jaisimha (5 ft 10 1/2 in) showed liking for all ball games. He hit the ball well both in cricket and tennis. But his father told him that it was an age of specialisation. He chose cricket as his first love. After retiring he took to golf and played quite well.

A selector for many years, Jaisimha also wrote reports for various papers. His observations were as spirited as his batting was. — NPA

Putting soccer World Cup in jeopardy
By Amardeep Bhattal

THE Asian Football Confederation’s walkout from the FIFA congress and its subsequent threat to boycott the qualifiers has not only put the 2002 soccer World Cup in jeopardy but has also revived memories of the dark days of the sixties, when barring North Korea, all Asian countries stayed away from the qualifying competition for the 1966 finals. At the bottom of the crisis then was a strong Asian demand for more berths for the 1966 finals in England. More than three decades later, the row has erupted once again with a compromise nowhere in sight. The FIFA congress held in Los Angeles witnessed an unprecedented walkout by the entire Asian delegation from 43 countries which plunged world football’s governing body into a major crisis and was also a personal humiliation for its President, Joseph Blatter.

Since long Asian nations have been insisting on greater representation in the World Cup. With Asia having been allotted the 2002 World Cup for the first time, and Japan together with South Korea having been selected as co-hosts, the demand for greater representation gained momentum. The AFC’s contention is that at the previous World Cup in France, Asia was represented by four qualifiers — South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran. Three of these — South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan — were automatic qualifiers while, Iran came through as the fourth after winning the play-off against Australia.

For the 2002 World Cup, while Japan and South Korea have qualified by virtue of being hosts, two other qualifiers are supposed to join them in the finals after the preliminaries. This, as the AFC feels, is unjust as the number of qualifying nations has effectively been reduced to two since Japan and South Korea are through by virtue of being the co-hosts. The AFC has been insisting that if not more, the parity with the 1998 edition wherein Asia had three automatic qualifiers besides Iran, who won a play-off tie against Australia be maintained. As the AFC General Secretary Peter Velappan has said, it is a simple request for three places plus the hosts.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) came up with a compromise formula under which it offered to surrender one of its automatic qualifying berths and volunteered for a play-off between a European country and an Asian nation, which meant a half-place. However, this offer too did not find favour with the Asian Football Confederation which kept pressing for more places.

With every passing day, the AFC is being isolated on the issue. FIFA President Joseph Blatter has already threatened to take action against those who instigated the walkout. UEFA President Lennart Johansson, a Swede, said Asia had no reason to behave like that.

The poor performance of the Asian teams in the World Cup is one of the key factors which have deprived the AFC of crucial support at the international level. Asia has little to boast of vis-a-vis performance. Since the 1978 finals, Asian teams have played as many as 37 matches in the World Cup but have won only three. Seven of the matches were drawn while the remaining 27 ended in defeat. The only wins recorded by Asian teams so far in the history of the World Cup were when Saudi Arabia beat Belgium and Morocco in 1994 and Iran’s slender-margin victory over the USA in the last World Cup hosted by France.

Initially, Asia had only one berth in the World Cup finals. In 1986 Asia gained an additional berth. However, with 1998 edition of the World Cup getting its field enlarged from 24 teams to 32 teams Asia’s share also went up to four.

The first-ever World Cup proposed to be held in Asia has also brought several problems to the fore. There is talk of changing the dates to avoid the region’s rainy season in 2002.

If that happens, there is a possibility of the dates clashing with the European playing season, which might not be to the liking of a majority of participants. Hence the Asian threat of a boycott of the qualifiers might provide an opportunity to those opposed to the idea of holding the World Cup in Asia to persuade FIFA to shift the tournament elsewhere.

England have already shown interest in hosting the 2002 World Cup in case the FIFA-AFC row escalates. According to reports appearing in the British media, England are on the standby to take over in case the World Cup is shifted out of Asia. If that happens, it will indeed be a sad day for Asian soccer which is still struggling to match the standards set by the Europeans and the Latin Americans.

Good start to domestic season
By Ramu Sharma

THE four-leg domestic circuit meet with an international flavour which ended in Chennai recently reconfirmed the status of some of the known stars while establishing Anil Kumar as the sprinter with a future. The Services athlete, who is with the MEG in Bangalore, has been on the scene for a couple of years but though potentially on par with some of the known stars, has not really delivered the goods. But suddenly he seems to have found his rhythm and in a matter of two competitions has become the biggest talking point in Indian athletics.

The Amateur Athletics Federation of India, in their own unimaginative way, contributed a bit of unwanted drama when the athlete clocked 21.06 for 200 metres in the Bangalore leg of the domestic circuit. The performance should have satisfied the AAFT. But what transpired after the race was rather inexplicable. The AAFI Technical Committee headed by Lalit Bhanot (the Secretary) clipped .50 seconds to match the fastest time recorded by hand and ensured that Anil Kumar had equalled Milkha Singh’s record of 20.7 sec, set during the Indo-Pak meet at Lahore in 1960.

No one will accept hand timing in the days when electronic devises are available but the manner in which the AAFI went on to fiddle around with the timing raises some important questions. How can the premier athletics body in the country resort to such unacceptable means to fudge a timing?

Perhaps the answer lies in Milkha Singh’s outburst after Paramjit Singh was credited with having broken his Rome Olympic timing of 45.74 sec at Calcutta last year. The ace quarter-miler imputed motives and refused to acknowledge the feat. He went further by withholding the award of Rs 1 lakh promised to anyone breaking his record.

Obviously the Amateur Athletics Federation of India took exception to Milkha’s attitude, resenting the implied criticism of the federation having manufactured the record and now took the opportunity to embarrass the Flying Sikh by having his other record equalled. But the AAFI have gone about it in a very immature manner and have only succeeded in embarrassing Anil Kumar.

In all this drama what has been overlooked is the performance of the athlete. His electronically timed 21.8 sec constitutes the fastest run ever by an Indian within the country. Remember Milkha clocked his 20.7 sec (hand-timing those days) at Lahore. And not only that. Lest carping critics point to the favour done by the timers in the 200 metres, Anil Kumar ran at a scorching pace to come under the national record in the 100 metres too in the final leg of the meet held at Chennai four days later. Though placed second to Chintaka de Soyza (10.29), his 10.33 for the event means that he has broken Rajeev Balakrishnan’s mark of 10.43 establish on the same track last year.

The timings returned for the two events by Anil Kumar are indicative of the great possibilities in the athlete. What is more, he may not have equalled Milkha’s mark of 20.7 sec for the 200 metres but he certainly proved that he has the capability and capacity to do so.

The “arrival” as it were of Anil Kumar as India’s leading sprinter coincided with another praiseworthy performance. This came from Pramod Kumar Tewari who broke the national mark, his own to do so, in the hammer throw with his very first effort in the Chennai leg. Tewari’s throw measured 67.43 metres while his standing mark, set during the New Delhi meet of South Asian athletes two years ago, read 67.26 metres.

Shakti Singh who promised to reach 20 metres in the shot put before the Asian Games last year won both this event as well as the discus in all the four meets but only once did manage to cross 19 metres in the shot put. Holder of the national records in both the events, Shakti’s best of 19.10 metres came in the last leg at Chennai. And his national record stands at 19.73 metres.

He was consistent in the discus too but rarely came anywhere near the 60-metre mark, though his national record is over 61 metres. He will have to more consistent throwing in the region of 19.50 plus for shot put and 60 metres for discus to make any impression in the Asian scene.

Sprinter Saraswathi Dey had every reason to be happy about his running. She won the 100 metres in all the four legs, clocking 11.88 sec in the first meet, 11.86 in the second and improved to 11.60 sec in the Bangalore leg. She, however, was slow despite winning in 12.05 sec in the Chennai meet. Considering the fact this was the first serious competition of the season she should be able to reach her best by the time of the Federation Cup next month.

Also impressing for an opener of the season was Anju Markose who did the long jump with a rare degree of consistency with the best being in the opening leg at Nagercoil where she cleared 6.24 metres. The most encouraging aspect of her effort was that she went over the 6-metre mark in all the jumps. Neelam J. Singh also showed consistency but was still striving for the 60-metre mark in the women’s discus event.

The four-leg circuit should have provided an ideal take-off point for all the top athletes but not all of them chose to involve themselves, giving one reason or the other to stay away. One would have certainly enjoyed Paramjit Singh doing a repeat of a sub-46 sec show in the 400 or P.T. Usha reconfirming her status as India’s greatest woman athlete of all times. But then this was not a new story.

The foreign athletes, particularly the ones from Kenya, make quite an impression with Gideon Circhir and Charles Kamathi being outstanding in the middle and distance events, the latter becoming a somewhat of a cult figure for his style and classy showing. Ukraine, Iran, Sri Lanka were some of the other countries with athletes in the fray and one really admired the classy Chintaka de Soyza who went on to improve upon his 100 metres timings with each meet.

A word about organisation. The AAFI would do to pay a little more attention to the track conditions for such major meets. The clay surface at Nagercoil was not on. It is time to make it compulsory for the organisers of all major meets to provide synthetic surfaces. And then there was the case with Trivandrum which did have a synthetic track but it was so worn out and in patches had the look of a blotting paper. One can’t expect athletes to perform on such surfaces. And what about the foreign athletes. Substandard conditions are hardly an advertisement for Indian athletics.

Shooting range for Punjab
By Arvind Katyal

While the state of Punjab can proudly boast of shooters such as Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Zorawar Singh who are Commonwealth Games medallists, they are forced to practice shooting in Delhi instead in their home state, Punjab, as no shooting range is available in the state. Mr Raja K.S. Sidhu, the honorary Secretary of the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association, reveals that now the Punjab Government has given the final go-ahead for a possible site for a range near Mullanpur which falls in Ropar district, hardly 6 km from the Chandigarh bus stand.

The decision was taken at the tercentenary celebrations at Anandpur Sahib by the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. Raja Sidhu admitted that the youth of Punjab was keen to learn shooting and was determined to give good results at the international level.

At present the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association had nine affiliated units — Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Ropar, Amritsar and Ferozepore. The other districts would soon have associations said Mr Sidhu. When Keralites could be good in swimming and Bengalis in archery why could not Punjabis be good in shooting as it was synonymous with their dare devil approach, he asked. A former international shooter, Raja Sidhu who formed the Bathinda Shooting Club, said with the identification of land in Ropar the range could be made ready in just six months and the association was hopeful of organising a national-level shooting championship by the end of the year.

Raja Sidhu disclosed that equipment worth lakhs of the Punjab Sports Department was lying unutilised at Patiala due to lack of a shooting range. He praised the Patiali Rao shooting range at Sector 25, Chandigarh, but mushrooming of slum colonies near the range was hindering its growth. Raja Sidhu complimented Abhinav Bindra, the youngest player of the Indian contingent at the last Asiad, as he was shaping very well.

Though at present the police personnel had been excelling in the rifle and pistol events as the range at PAP Academy, Phillaur, does help shooters to improve their skills but for trap and skeet events the kind of range at Tughlakabad was the need of the hour.

Raja Sidhu said the Sports Authority of India was doing a fine job at Delhi by providing better facilities to our star shooters, and the Indian Olympic Association Secretary-General Randhir Singh as well as the President, Mr Suresh Kalmadi, had always given its fullest cooperation in helping the Indian shooters.

The inter district competition, inter-college and inter-school tournaments were high on the agenda of the state association. Raja Sidhu opined that in the near future it would be either hockey, boxing or shooting which could fetch India a Olympic gold.

Sport Mail
Pillay’s omission disheartening

THE omission of Dhanraj Pillay from the team for the tour of South Africa is disheartening. Pillay, who captained and led India to a memorable Asian Games gold at Bangkok last December, is a fleet-footed, agile and crack forward who possesses the ability, knack and stamina of penetrating any defence. With his electrifying run-ups, ball control and dribbling, he can rattle his opponents. His repeated forays into the rival territory keep the opposing side under tremendous pressure. He is not over the hill yet but still has a few more years of scintillating hockey in him. He was been made a scapegoat because of the rift and tiff between the senior players and IHF and it does not bode well for the Indian hockey.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala

Operation Vijay

Bursting of crackers marked India’s victory over Pakistan in the cricket World Cup. However, I was astonished when I didn’t hear any such sound after the Indian forces recaptured Tiger Hill after a bloody battle during Operation Vijay. Does this mean that we Indians are more concerned about cricket rather than what is going on the border?

SIMRATPAL SINGH
Patiala

Windies’ coach

Reports that the West Indies board is contemplating advertising the post of coach is very surprising. There is no dearth of talent in West Indies. Several top players with keen interest still in the game can be considered for the job. Top contenders at present are Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge. Richards took over as coach in place of Marshall during the World Cup. Greenidge is also not free from his commitments in Bangladesh. It will be insult to these and other West Indians if the board invites some outsider.

V.N. SHARMA
Ludhiana

Sachin’s performance

All those who watched the matches played by India in the World Cup must have been disappointed by the dismal performance of Sachin Tendulkar after his performance against Kenya. There is a feeling that he has been too busy in promoting the sale of tyres and Pepsi. I feel he has insulted his bat by pushing it back when offered by Shah Rukh Khan and instead preferring a can of Pepsi in an advertisement.

P.S SATNAM
Patiala

Parduman Singh

The Ministry of Sports created a ‘Sportspersons Welfare Fund’ a few years ago to help former sports heroes facing financial problems. The 73-year-old Parduman Singh who won three gold and two silver medals in the Asian Games is now lying on the bed after a paralytic stroke. His financial position is very weak. The Ministry of Sports should sanction a grant besides life pension for the former athlete.

NARINDER SINGH
Chandigarh

Tennis duo

Heartiest congratulations to the great Indian tennis stars Leander and Mahesh for their marvellous performance in the Wimbledon Tennis Championship where they won the doubles title. It was for the first time in the Indian tennis history that an Indian pair won the doubles title at Wimbledon. Besides winning the doubles title along with Mahesh, Leander also won the mixed doubles title with Lisa Raymond of the USA. Leander and Mahesh have once again done India proud with their outstanding performance.

RAJDEEP SINGH
Phagwara