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Cheers, tears and fears

Contemplation beat action in the world of sports this year.

Cheers, tears and fears

Though India finished eighth on the Asian Games medals tally, the gold in men''s hockey was the soothing salve. What added to the excitement was that India beat arch-rival Pakistan in the final



Rohit Mahajan

Contemplation beat action in the world of sports this year. The year did have countless thrills on the sporting arena — we had the football World Cup, and the Commonwealth and Asian Games, after all — but 2014 turned out to be a year of reflection. The tragedy of Phil Hughes, death on the cricket field, towards the end of the year dwarfed, trivialised everything that happened on any field in any sport this year. Sport, the process of striking or kicking a ball with no inherent value other than joy, seemed inconsequential as he battled for life, and died.
The start hadn't been sanguine, either — F1 legend Michael Schumacher had a skiing accident merely hours before 2014 began. The calmest and the fastest man of the sport lived most of the year through a coma, is wheelchair-bound now, and cannot speak and has "memory problems". The tragedy of Schumacher is classical tragedy — it invokes the great tragedies of history and fiction and makes one meditate. The king of speed now unable to move — oh, the sad irony.  But sport, too, is the balm that soothes the wounds.
Cricket between India and Australia resumed after Hughes' burial. A thrilling Test match ensued, during which Hughes' spirit was present, vouch his mates.
The tenacity of the administrators of sports in India made one think, too. Indian cricket's most significant contest is being played out in the courts. There the lawyers of BCCI president and IPL team-owner N. Srinivasan are saying that his conflict of interest is all right because, hold your breath, conflict of interest is endemic in Indian cricket! The hopes of the well-wishers of the sport lie with the courts.
India had a bad year in the cricket field — to start with, Brendon McCullum flogged India's feckless bowling for 224 and 302. India then lost the five-match Test series in England 3-1, after winning the second Test at Lord's to go 1-0 up. After that, it was the return of this nightmare scenario — 'Can't bat, can't bowl, can't field'.
The Football World Cup provided excellent fare in the middle of the year; the World Cup often becomes a showpiece for cagey football as league-tired players play with excessive caution or, worse, freeze. But Brazil 2014, played in the soul capital of soccer, was a non-stop thriller, captivating audiences around the world. It was possibly the best ever World Cup, and certainly the best in recent memory. Germany, who had dissected Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals, won the final against Lionel Messi's Argentina.
India finished fifth in the Commonwealth Games and eighth in the Asian Games. Some of the achievements in these events were laudable, especially those of the men's hockey team (silver in CWG, gold in Asiad), the women wrestlers in the CWG, the men's squash team in the Incheon Asiad, or shooter Jitu Rai and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt in both the events. But there were failures, of both athletes and administrators, that were galling.
Incheon saw only four individual gold winners from India — three of them veterans over 30 years of age, and the fourth 27. These numbers provide a worry and a fear for the future.
Over the years, India's decline in the Asian Games is startling — in the 1951 Asiad, India won 15 gold, and a total of 51 medals, out of a total of 169 medals. India's haul was 30.17 per cent of the total medals, and 26.31 per cent of the gold medals available. In Incheon 2014, India won 11 gold out of 439 available, ie merely 2.5 per cent.
Sadly, athletes still play second fiddle to administrators in our sport —'diet money' for athletes is delayed or not provided, elite sportspersons deal with bad infrastructure, there's perpetual conflict among the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Sports Authority of India (SAI), sports associations and athletes, etc. Guess who and what is last in the list of priorities? Sportspersons and sports.
The year saw some excellent action — the thrilling Wimbledon final won by Novak Djokovic, Rohit Sharma hit his second ODI 200 in 12 months, Pankaj Advani won the World Billiards Championship in the 'points' and 'time' formats, Indian leagues in football and kabaddi were launched. In the sport of the mind, Viswanathan Anand performed the stunning feat of reaching the World Championship final at age 44, though champion Magnus Carlsen proved too good for him once again.
Yet, tragedy in sport and the sins of administrators provided the most food for thought this year.

Shoot at sight: Jitu Rai had a dream year, winning gold medals at the World Cup, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the Incheon Asian Games    

Interested parties: The BCCI accepted that the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri have a conflict of interest in their roles in the sport                                                  

Double glory: Sania Mirza won the US Open mixed doubles title with Bruno Soares, the doubles title at the WTA Finals, and 2 medals at the Asian Games

Girl power: Wrestlers Vinesh and Babita, cousins from Haryana, won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, and Vinesh won a bronze at the Asiad             

Twin golds: Yogeshwar Dutt was one of Indian sport’s biggest successes, winning gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games                                                 

top of table: Pankaj Advani won the World Billiards Championship in the ‘points’ and ‘time’ formats, and led India to the title at the World Team Billiards                        

 

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