The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sansarpur remains beacon of hope
By Ramu Sharma

BY now the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has tried all that is possible to revitalise the game in the country. Various formulas have been attempted, new combinations experimented with and coaches shuffled with a frequency which is more indicative of a desperation in the rank and file of the brains trust rather than a logical effort to find a solution.

Indeed the names of the coaches, mostly all reputed ex-internationals, including a few former captains, make for a rare collection of talent. If one was to pool in the hockey content of all the men who have tried to give direction to Indian hockey from the time K.P.S. Gill has taken over the game, it will fill many volumes. Gill and company has indeed explored possibilities galore to update Indian hockey with the rest of the world. One last experiment is left yet.

That is to hand over the training of the team to a foreign expert. It sounds rather ridiculous for India to go in for a hockey teacher from outside of the country. Earlier days it was India which was spreading largesse in terms of coaches to all parts of the world. Now it is the other way around. Indian coaches have done their work by upgrading the standard in other countries. Now it is the reverse flow, for the need of coaches from other countries to come and help motivate Indian hockey. The wheel indeed has turned full circle.

While waiting for the IHF to pick and choose the foreign coach, it would be a good thing if one was to look closer home or in fact within the country for motivation. Firstly there must be a critical introspection before looking for inspirational avenues in the country. Secondly to immediately take remedial measures and start repair work wherever and whenever necessary of the existing facilities. It would be in fact a good idea to go back to the beginning, the roots if necessary, to restart the journey that the game has taken since its victorious debut in the Olympics

While going over the past performance of Indian hockey one finds that one village, Sansarpur in Punjab, has contributed a large number of internationals, the number of Olympians alone totalling 13 including four who represented Kenya. It would not be out of place here to mention that all those who have played in the Olympics are Kulars and belong to one street. Another interesting thing that has come to light is that one Bindi Kular is expected to play for Canada in the Sydney Olympics. He played in the last World Cup for that country.

Sansarpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar is a place worth visiting. One look at the cluster of six or seven grounds, adjacent to each other and the enthusiasm of the youngsters of all ages keenly watched by the coaches is a sight which will warm the heart of any hockey lover. The main ground houses the Karam Chand Thapar Hockey Academy with the legendary Udham Singh holding reigns as it were, both guide and mentor. For a man who is over 80, this long lasting Olympian and international is a household name in Sansarpur. He is there regularly at the ground, morning and evening, working without any money. He does not require any money to teach hockey. He is the idol of the players practising on the ground under the direct scrutiny of coaches Lakhbir Singh and Ranjit Singh.

There was a time earlier in the decade that the grounds had been lost to the army. But they were all returned in 1994 and since then Sansarpur is a hub of activity with the main centre being financed by the Thapars. Both Lakhbir Singh and Ranjit Singh are confident that there will be many from among those practising in those grounds who are capable of wearing India colours. They point out to the tall, sturdy Sharanjit Singh, a full-back selected by the Punjab and Sind Bank Academy, as an India prospect. There are others too, all raring to go. The coaches are confident of Sansarpur again hitting the headlines, of the village keeping up its tradition of supply us star material for Indian hockey.

There are reasons why Sansarpur and Jalandhar can hope to keep the supply of hockey players going. There is a keen competitive flair which keeps the players on their toes in Jalandhar. There is the PSB Academy and the Surjit Singh Stadium(earlier known as Burlton Park) where the Government has laid an astroturf. Then there are two other academies sponsored by newspapers, the Ramesh Academy by Hind Samachar Group and the Hamdard academy by the Ajit Group. And adding to work done at the academies is the contribution of the Army which has its own teams, all making Jalandhar and Sansarpur humming with hockey activity.

The atmosphere is indeed very heartening and hockey appears to be in safe hands. There is no dearth of goodwill and more importantly of heroes. Jalandhar and Sansarpur and the territory around is packed with internationals, past and present, some of them having established themselves in no uncertain terms even outside of the country.

Another place one could draw inspiration from is the State College of Sports (now College of Arts and Sports) and State School of Sports. A brainchild of former Chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon, this institution was born, as it were, the day India lost the hockey title to Pakistan in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Kairon took decisions fast and invited double international Som Nath ( hammer thrower in the first Asian Games in Delhi and member of the volleyball team under Gurdev Singh in the second edition of the Games at Manila in 1954) as Principal. A brilliant academician in addition to his excellence in sports, Som Nath provided the incentive and the necessary motivation to the boarders in this institution. Over the next few years the institution produced some of the finest sportsmen to represent the country in various fields — athletics (Bahadur Singh, Jagraj Singh — shot putters, Hari Chand 5,000 and 10,000 metres, Lehmber Singh — 400 hurdles, Raghubir Bal — hammer and Baldev Singh 110 metre hurdles), hockey (Surjit Singh, Harcharan, Kulwant, Ajit Singh, Baldev Singh, Balbir Singh); football — (Manjit, Harjinder, Gurmit Singh and Mukharjee); basketball (Anil Kumar Punj and Sajjan Singh), and about 12 internationals including Duli Chand, Chanchal and Maha Singh from volleyball. The list is endless.

The college had about 140 students then. Today it has fallen on bad days and has just 28 sportsmen- 16 athletes and 12 footballers. It has one tartan track of some two years old but the jumping pits, exposed to rain and sun, are in tatters. This is one place where the administration in the State could be persuaded to reenergise and bring it back to its old glory with emphasis on hockey . At the moment the building appears to be in a state of collapse, with only eight rooms out of the 45 occupied. Rooms where once stars like Surjit stayed are in shambles and can be put in order only after it has been first brought down totally.

In fact the administration should be persuaded to pay more attention to the State Sports School and College and help revive the old tradition in hockey, football, athletics and other games. It would help if the IOA gives a wake up call to the Punjab Sports Department, and ask for the Sports College and School to be resurrected to its old status and effectiveness.

This is one major area where remedial measures can be taken. On the whole the atmosphere, except of course at the State Sports Institutions at Jalandhar, is very supportive to sports in general and hockey in particular Also required is a revival of the old spirit. It is still there in parts but needs to be spread. In this context there is the example of Rajbir Kaur Rai, former captain of the women’s national team who was imparting coaching to girls in the hockey field opposite her house in Khusropur, a little more than a kilometre from Sansarpur. She and her wards were chased out by the men of the coloniser who has bought the land. Construction activity has replaced the sporting atmosphere of this village.

Gopi, Aparna lead Indian comeback
By Arvind Katyal

INDIAN badminton is now on the threshold of making a glorious comeback, thanks to the recent splendid performance of the Indian players, spearheaded by Gopi Chand in the men’s section and Aparna Popat in women’s section, who played an excellent game at the recently concluded Asian Zone Thomas and Uber Cup matches in Delhi last month.

There was a time when it was felt that after Prakash Padukone, who stole the limelight by bringing home the world cup and the All-England title in the 1980s, none could ever repeat the stupendous show. But his grooming of these players at BPL Prakash Academy, Bangalore, has turned the fortune for Indians, who have now become a force to reckoned with.

The Asian Zone Thomas and Uber Cup matches where India qualified for the eight-team finals of Thomas Cup to be held in Kuala Lumpur in May saw excellent performances from Abhinn Shyam Gupta, a defensive player, who likes to play a marathon game due to abundant stamina he possess, felt Mohammad Arif, a versatile coach of the Indian team, whose sincerity and hardwork has become testimony to the fact that country needs more coaches like him.

The presence of Prakash Padukone was an inspiration and morale booster for the players, who felt proud of winning in front of the legendary player. Gopi Chand after the India’s win said: “I was more worried about restoring glory and repeating the feat that he had accomplished in 1988 when he led the team to final rounds.” When Gopi Chand was asked about his ideal in game, he said: “I do not have any particular one, but definitely would like to reach the level which Prakash scaled about two decades ago.”

He also had a word of praise for the Badminton Association of India and his coach Mohammad Arif for providing international exposure and selecting tournaments abroad to play in. The player who impressed the most in the meet and who stole the hearts of many players and fans alike was lanky Allahabad player Abhinn Shyam Gupta, who could be termed the real architect of India securing third place. He plays with long rallies and does not like to have any breaks, the idea which often irritates his opponents. After his superb win against Kazuhiro Shimogami of Japan, the Koreans, against whom was the next tie, were seen enquiring from the chief referee: “Tell us which ‘Gupt’ will be playing us in the singles?” Abhinn played one of the longest matches in India against Kazuhiro, lasting 98 minutes. It was also the second longest match after Sun Jun of China and Peter Rasmussen of Denmark had a 124-minute match.

The Indian women led by ace player Aparna Popat also demonstrated fine game play throughout the tournament. Twenty-year-old Aparna, however, did not have the desired backing to enter the final rounds.

The Chinese shuttlers headed by Sun Jun, world No 2, helped China to an easy victory in Delhi. In Kuala Lumpur, Chinese men’s and women’s teams will be the hot favourites to wrap up the titles. Li Yogbo; chief coach, said: “In China budding players are picked up as young as eight years of age. the players’ who represent China, do not have to worry about employment as the government takes care of it.

All the eight days of the championship remained agog with rumours about Prakash Padukone’s reported displeasure with senior BAI officials and his resignation from the post of Executive President.

Padukone, was made in charge of the development fund and various coaching schemes. He has shown that India has enough potential to produce world class players. The accusations against Padukone have hurt many, particularly former players. “Accusations were pointed at the former world champion by some vested interests, who for their own selfish gains, wanted to pollute the clean image of Prakash, who is selflessly serving badminton”, said one of the former players.

The moment India qualified for the final round in Malaysia in May this year, everyone was seen giving kudos to Prakash, under whose guardianship, Indian team has prospered. Some of the players opined that it was Prakash who had brought BPL forward as sponsors. BPL invested Rs 35 lakhs when they could have sponsored other sports like cricket and tennis. Mr V.K. Verma, President of the BAI, who recently was made the Commercial Director of Air-India at Mumbai must realise the value of services rendered by Prakash, whose close association with the game will prove to be invaluable for badminton in India.

TEEING-OFF

by K.R. Wadhwaney

Jyoti deserves all praise

THE field of participants was varied and tough. Many renowned golfers were in the fray for the title. The Classic Golf Resort, away from Delhi’s maddening crowd, was classic in more than one way. It had been specially done up for the big occasion of the Indian Open, which was being staged in its new and refreshing ‘abode’, established by Indian Tobacco Company.

The prize money of $ 300,000 was quite an incentive for many golfers, particularly Indians. There were one or two casualties because of indisposition and injuries. Jeev Milkha Singh who opted out was one and because of wrist problem. Had he not pulled out, the competition in Gurgaon might have been tougher and sharper than it eventually turned out to be.

Despite obscurity of the course — it is a good 40 plus km away from Delhi — a sizeable number of spectators turned up to watch the final day’s round which saw bright sunshine throughout the day. The crowd’s presence proved a blessing in disguise for at least one Indian, Jyoti Randhawa, who showed that he had guts and grit to rise to the occasion. He demonstrated once again that the more the challenging occasion, the better he played. He won the title in a play-off spread over two holes. He wore a huge smile as he stood on the 18th hole with his arms raised in jubilation. There was an occasion for him to feel satisfied.

A title-aspirant, who controls the greediness, is a champion material. This is what his coach, Kel Llewellyn, had impressed upon young Randhawa some time ago. These philosophical words went rushing to him when he got prepared for the final hole. He chose to play safe and that came to him handy and rewarding.

Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. So far his father was standing quite a distance away from him. He now advanced briskly and gave him a fondly hug. He deserved it and Jyoti in his typical vein muttered: “Daddy, I have won because of you”. Jyoti rose a few inches higher in his height as he said these affectionate words to his father, Brig R.S. Randhawa.

Jyoti was tied on fourth spot at 204, three strokes behind the leader Mike Cunning (USA), while Sammy Daniels was way down on 208. When the final round began. Not many shrewd observers gave much chance to Daniels to make a charge. But he did. He burnt the course establishing a course record of 65 to finish 15 under 273. Randhawa did not strike Daniels’ form but his 69 saw him tie with the South African on 273.

The play-off between Randhawa and Daniels began. The first hole was shared. Then Daniels fumbled. His tee-shot sneered for away on the left — for ‘out of bounds’. A two-stroke penalty he had to endure. This saw him finish with a double bogey seven. Randhawa made no such mistake and pocketed $ 50,010. It was indeed a grand victory.

Randhawa’s win meant that the title stayed at home. On previous two occasions, the winners were Feroz Ali (1998) and Arjun Atwal (1999). Randhawa’s 15-under win was the best ever achieved by an Indian.

Ali Sher’s achievements, however, remain intact. He is the only Indian pro to have won the title twice in 1991 and 1993. Both times he bagged it on the Delhi course.

For the last five years, the competition has not been held at Delhi. This is because of a ban on cigarette advertisement. Delhi Golf deserves to stage it because it provides totally different flavour and atmosphere.

It is not known whether, the Indian Open will now be held at Gurgaon only or it will rotate between Calcutta and Classic Golf Resort.

All, particularly foreign players, sang songs of praise of the resort. It is an outstanding golf resort. As it grows, it will be all the more impressive to play there.

SPORT MAIL

Robin Singh hero of Indian victory

FULL marks to Robin Singh for his responsible knock in a very tense situation against South Africa at Baroda. Though a very strong foundation was laid by our opening batsmen, yet the contribution of Robin Singh cannot be under-estimated. He intelligently guided Saba Karim to run even before he actually struck the ball. Had he not played so tactfully at that crucial moment the efforts of skipper Saurav and Sachin Tendulkar could have gone waste. He is the best allrounder in the Indian team. Well done, Robin! Keep it up.

JAGDISH CHAND
Panchkula

Kudos to Sachin for his 25th century which enabled India to win the one-day cricket series. Skipper Ganguly’s electrifying 87 proved his capability of leading his team from the front. After losing the Test series 0-3, winning the one-day series boosted the morale of the Indian cricket team.

AFROSE MOHIT KUMAR
Batala

III

In the second one-day tie against South Africa at Jamshedpur, India outclassed South Africa in all the departments of the game. The fielding was outstanding and the catches which Robin Singh and Ganguly took were a treat to watch. The ball with which Agarkar bowled Kirsten was a beauty. There may be some people who do not approve the uppish shots of Sachin and Dravid but in my opinion the attempt was good considering the condition of the wicket. In a nutshell, the team led by Ganguly achieved a splendid victory.

PARSHOTAM DABRA
SAS Nagar

Ganguly’s captaincy

It was really a great Indian win under the captaincy of Ganguly over South Africa at Kochi. Ganguly used his bowling attack well by introducing Dravid and Tendulkar. In fact the Indian team has nine bowlers and all, including Jadeja and Ganguly, can bowl well.

M.K. JAIN
Panipat

After the appointment of Saurav Ganguly as captain of the Indian cricket team, undoubtedly there is lot of improvement in the performance of each player in all departments of the game. Although India lost the Faridabad one-dayer, yet the fight was quite tough. Victory and defeat are the two sides of the same coin. After Ganguly’s appointment as captain, the pressure on Sachin Tendulkar has decreased. Coordination between the BCCI and team management and the return of Azhar into the team are positive signs.

JAGDISH CHAND
Chail

PSB’s hockey win

Punjab and Sind Bank deserve accolades for annexing the title in the 20th All-India K.D. Singh ‘Babu’ Prize Money Invitation Hockey Tournament. In an all- Jalandhar final, they vanquished their arch rivals Border Security Force 3-2. Both the teams dished out vintage, fast and exciting hockey. The bankmen exhibited fluency in their thrust and solidity in defence. The cohesion in their attack enabled them to pump in two more goals to take the match away from the reach of BSF.

TARSEM S. BUMRAH
Batala