Foreign fixation

The failure to create its own talent pool is making Indian football depend on foreign players for reviving the national team’s fortunes, writes Kushal Chakraborty

Ranty Martins, Jose Barreto Ramirez, Odafe Okolie, Roberto Mendes Silva, Yusif Yakubu — these are some of the foreign players who are dominating the Indian football scenario. Their induction has often been vital to the success of their respective clubs.

The craving for foreign recruits has come to such a pass that football officials are now seriously thinking of giving Indian citizenship to some outstanding foreigners. Japan has taken the lead with the success of Brazil-born Alex in its ranks.

The failure to create its own pool of talent is forcing the country’s football think-tank to venture outside its geographical borders in search of players of Indian origin. With the country’s world ranking plummeting to 157, the mandarins of the sport are taking recourse to a relatively new legislation laid out by the sport’s world governing body FIFA.

It is about the dual nationality of a player. In the Indian context, the law would broadly read like this — a player playing outside India but of Indian origin would be eligible to play for the country if he has not represented the country where he is presently residing. With several second or third-generation Indian expatriates making their presence felt in various soccer leagues in Europe, the football administration is hoping for its deliverance in the new generation of NRIs.

Unlike cricket, which has remained largely insular to player import, football in the country has a long history of foreign dependence. Prior to Independence, neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka contributed players to various Indian clubs. This trend continued even after 1947 with players like Pagsali (Myanmar) and Masud Fakri (Pakistan) featuring for reputed clubs in Kolkata.

The need to excel in a highly competitive format spurred the Kolkata clubs to look outside the country for better talent. In this effort to outscore each other, two clubs — especially East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting — played the pioneering role. Mohun Bagan, being more conservative in principle, kept itself away from this process of hiring foreign players initially.

East Bengal did not recruit Anglo-Indian players till 1942. The club broke this “embargo” by roping in Fred Pagsali, an Anglo-Indian refugee from Myanmar. The player carved a niche for himself in the pantheon of the club’s all-time stars with his exceptional skills as a striker.

1979 stands out as a watershed year regarding the recruitment of foreign players. Whereas Bagan failed to recruit Nepalese Mohon Chhetri owing mainly to protests from many of the club hardliners, East Bengal recruited Nigerian striker David Williams. The player had come to Tamil Nadu University to study and he became a big hit in the Kolkata league after being drafted in by East Bengal. It was with Williams’ one outstanding season that the clubs in Kolkata began to realise the importance of foreign recruits.

In 1980, after Williams had moved over to Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal brought in two Iranian footballers from Aligarh Muslim University – Jamshed Nasiri and World Cup player Majid Bakshar.

Mohammedan Sporting recruited from Hyderabad University in 1985 a player named Cheema Okerie, who went on to become one of the greatest scorers in Indian football, playing for several clubs in a career spanning over a decade.

This was the time Mohun Bagan was beginning to realise the inefficacy of its stubbornness in not going in for imports. It broke the convention finally in 1992 and did so in style bringing in Cheema as its first foreign recruit. By this time East Bengal had made it their habit bringing hordes of foreigners every season.

East Bengal had introduced another future star in 1986, picking up Emeka Ezuego from Aligarh Muslim University. After stints in Kolkata and Dhaka, Emeka went back to his country Nigeria and represented his national side in the 1998 World Cup.

It can be said without any doubt that African players have been more successful than imports from other continents.

With Brazilians turning their attention to India, the club rosters have a healthy presence from the land of Samba. Led by Jose Barreto, who can easily be ranked among one of the best foreigners to have played in the country, there are several Brazilians who are playing for various Indian clubs. Cristiano Junior, who met an untimely end on the field in the 2004 Federation Cup final at Bangalore, was also a Brazilian.

The import scene has improved somewhat with the change in the pattern of recruiting foreign players. Earlier, most foreigners came either as students or tourists, but now they are recruited through agents.

Still, the standard of the game has not improved much as the top-class players, especially from Europe or Latin America, are not keen to play in India. — TWF

Serbs on the march

Serbian success in sports has traditionally been achieved in team games like football and basketball, but the Balkan country’s tennis stars are starting to make their mark in the individual arena.

Men’s sixth seed Novak Djokovic, along with women’s fourth seed Jelena Jankovic and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, have impressed everyone at this year’s French Open. Unseeded Janko Tipsarevic, the world number 80, showed flashes of brilliance when he humbled former world number one Marat Safin of Russia in the second round.

Serbia is eyeing its first Grand Slam title since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and both Djokovic and Jankovic are capable of achieving this feat.

The 20-year-old Djokovic, who has rocketed up the rankings last year and is considered a potential rival of Roger Federer for top honours in the years to come, said the current quartet could be the forerunners of a new force in tennis.

“We are not a country with a big tennis tradition,” he said. “In the past two years, we have so many players in the top 10. It’s a fantastic success for a country without a tennis tradition and without a tennis system.

“We actually didn’t have enough good conditions and facilities to stay in our country. So I was practising in Germany, Ana in Switzerland, and Jelena in the USA.

“We had a little bit of help from our federation, but it was nothing. We are a nation of team sports. Now, individual sports have come and people are interested in playing them, professionally as well.

“There are a lot of kids in the past year and a half that I know of that have started playing tennis because of us.”

Tennis stardom is not totally unknown to Serbia as it was from the Balkan country that Monica Seles emerged and put together one of the finest careers in women’s tennis until she was stabbed in the back during a tournament in Hamburg.

But Seles, born in Novi Sad in an ethnic Hungarian community, turned her back on her country by taking US citizenship in 1994 and she has been resident in the USA ever since.

A few years after that, civil war erupted in the Balkans as the old Yugoslavian Federation collapsed and fragmented into several countries, including Serbia.

Belgrade was widely portrayed as the guilty party in the chaos that engulfed the region and Serbia emerged badly damaged economically and diplomatically from the conflicts.

The bubbly 22-year-old Jankovic for one feels that sport and in her case tennis can play a major part in healing the wounds.

“I think that sports and athletes in general are best for our country,” said Jankovic, one of the game’s most improved players.

“It’s amazing that we have three players in the top 10. I am really proud of that and hopefully we’ll continue to become better and better.”

“It’s very, very nice for me to see that players from Serbia are doing well,” said 19-year-old Ivanovic, who first attracted attention by reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open two years ago.

“It’s exciting for all of us because that’s our motivation. I really hope that now, with all the success we have, people will start investing more in making some facilities because that’s what we need for further success,” avers Ivanovic, who dumped Sania Mirza in straight sets in the second round.

For his part, the flamboyant Tipsarevic, who sports the line “Beauty will save the world”, is convinced that success begets success. “I just have to thank each and every Serb that makes progress,” he said.

“It gets the others to react. If Novak can do it, I tell myself that so can I. His wins are a great influence on me. Also, we have a few good juniors,” he adds. — Agencies

Upward bound
Amlan Chakraborty

Moving in and out of the top 40, Joshna Chinappa believes she has finally found in Malcolm Willstrop a squash guru who can redefine her career. The Chennai girl is now all set to shift base to the UK.

She returned to India after a fortnight-long stint under Willstrop in Britain recently.

Willstrop’s list of wards include former world number one Lee Beachill, apart from his son James, who rose to the number two position, and India’s national champion Saurav Ghosal. It was Ghosal who suggested Joshna to have a stint under Willstrop.

Back to her 40th place on the ranking ladder this month, Joshna believes she is at the crossroads of her career and has set herself a target of breaking into the top 30 by the year-end.

Weakened by food poisoning, Joshna lost to lower-ranked Lauren Siddal in the first round of the Hurghada International in Cairo last month but reached the quarterfinal of the Subway Goshen Open in India, where she lost to eventual champion and world number 14 Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong.

Joshna flies to the USA later this month for the Epstein Becker and Green Los Angeles Open and the San Diego Squash Classic. — PTI

Ace maker
Donald Banerjee

He has honed the skills of some of the country’s leading golfers, such as Amandeep Johl, Gurbaaz Mann, Sandy Lehal, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Irina Brar and Parnita Garewal.

Besides these top professionals, teenaged amateurs knocking on the doors of the Asian circuit come to him to polish their talent.

Their mentor and guide is 48-year-old Jesse Grewal. The only Grade-A teaching professional in the region, Jesse slogs it out on the greens of the Chandigarh Golf Association (CGA) Golf Range improving the swing, putting and pitching of up-and-coming golfers.

Jesse talks highly of Gurbaaz. “He has a wonderful swing,” says Jesse. Although he entered the greens late (at the age of 13), the coach saw in him “top golf material”. This 24-year-old golfer is already making waves on the national and Asian circuits.

These days, a regular with Jesse is Jeev Milkha Singh’s contemporary Amandeep Johl. His aim is to get back his swing, which he admits has fallen apart. According to Jesse, the “swing clean-up” has already taken place. Although Amandeep has had regular coaching with Italian coach Donato Diponziano, he has shifted camp to the CGA Range for a two-month stint under Jesse, whom he rates among the best.

Irina Brar, who has made a mark for herself on the Asian women’s circuit, is all set to get tips on her swing from Jesse before she gets back to the pro circuit in July.

Ever since Gaganjeet Bhullar excelled at the Asian level, there has been a rush of young golfers from Kapurthala for the summer coaching camp at the CGA Golf Range.

Jesse sees a bright future for juniors like Tarundeep Chadha, Anish Gupta (both 14), Abhijit Chadha (16), Rahul Bakshi (17), Mani Chander (17) and Rabiya Gill (14).

Although Chandigarh has emerged as a golf nursery, the Indian Golf Union (IGU) has done little for the golfers in the City Beautiful. Jesse does not mince words in his criticism of the national body. But he is happy that despite no help from the IGU, Chandigarh golfers have made it big on their own.

Helping Jesse during the eight hours of coaching daily is Mahesh Kumar, a former caddy of the Chandigarh Golf Club. Under Jesse’s guidance, Mahesh qualified as a Grade B teaching professional.

SPORTS MAIL

Sporting jewels

After being hit for a six by Africa XI’s Loots Bosman (right), Asia XI’s S. Sreesanth struck back to dismiss him during the Twenty20 match in Bangalore. Photo by PTI

Apropos of the news item with the headline “Dravid in fray for Khel Ratna” (The Tribune, June 2, 2007), two outstanding sportspersons who deserve to win the award are Chandigarh golfer Jeev Milkha Singh and Punjab athlete Manjit Kaur.

Jeev had a dream run in 2006, which saw him winning several titles, including the Volvo Masters in Spain. He also broke into the world top 50 and became eligible to play all four Majors this year. He made the cut at the US Masters in Augusta (Georgia) earlier this year.

Manjit won the silver medal in the 400m race and the gold in the 4x400m relay at the Doha Asian Games last year. She had also won the solitary gold for India at the 15th Asian Track and Field Championship.

Narinder Singh, Chandigarh

Back on track

Congratulations to the Indian cricket team for their comprehensive victories over Bangladesh in the Test and one-day series. It was sweet revenge for Team India, who had suffered a shock defeat at the hands of their neighbours in the World Cup, which led to their premature ouster.

Anil Kumar, Ambala