The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Complexities governing Indian sport
By Ramu Sharma

Indian sport, both in governance and in execution, is full of complexities, requiring both psychiatrists and philosophers to determine the causes which have consistently kept it down at a low level, often scratching the bottom. No one appears to have really made an effort to understand the reasons for this state of affairs, even the officials who have made trips abroad and have seen for themselves the progress made by other countries.

Where is exactly are we going wrong? Is it in the attitude? Perhaps it is the latter. Certainly there is a need to change our approach to the subject. We want our teams to win, our players to achieve glory but are we ready to follow the rules?

A couple of months ago Mr. Ashwini Kumar, an IOC member and a former President of the Indian Hockey Federation who also headed the Indian Olympic Association, while speaking on the occasion of the Raja Bhalindra Singh Memorial talk in New Delhi, recollected an incident when the Sports Minister of the country asked the visiting Chinese official the reason for the high standard of sport in that country. The visiting officials in reply first wanted to know the facilities available in India and then, after inspecting them, shook his head and said that in China, they applied biomechanics to determine the sport a person was suited for and to measure the proficiency level attained.

The Indian Minister was totally taken back. Naturally too. He was just a Minister, depending on the advise of his officials. It must be said to his credit that he did address the issue. Something not many officials accompanying the Indian teams time and again have ever done.

Being a man in such a responsible position for over a long period Ashwini Kumar himself should have brought to the notice the growing disparity in the standard of sports between Indian and other countries and the reasons thereof. If he had done so and not received a proper response, he should have gone to the media.

The fault does not lie with the Government. It certainly did not have money in the early days to able to send out so many teams and officials but has been more than generous for nearly a decade or so. The fault lies clearly with the officials selected by the Indian Olympic Association. Obviously not all of them have bothered to find out the reasons for this growing disparity in standards or why Indians perform so badly.

There have been reports of government observers accompanying hockey teams to various international competitions but will someone tell us what reports have been presented to the federation by these gentlemen?. Some of them were clearly never used to writing, leave alone writing reports. Others have been known to use the occasion to build up their business contacts in sports industry.

Then there is the attitude of some of sportsmen. Let us compare that with those sported by some of the foreigners. At the end of the day’s play in the Bangalore Test, one of the South African players, sat in front of the video and went through his innings, counting the number of dot balls bowled to him by Kumble and Srinath, the number of times he had been beaten outside the off-stump and other such points. Can anyone tell us of an Indian player doing likewise immediately after his dismissal?

Recently, during the Sharjah matches, Pat Symcock asked Navjot Sidhu whether he had at any time seen a video strip of his own game. Sidhu obviously had to say no to this query. He did, however, say that he had watched Kumble do so, or something like that. This is the difference between Indian players and South African and Australians. Agreed these countries have enough money to carry people with the necessary equipment on all tours and are able to see video clips of not only their own game but also those of the opponents and then decide on remedial measures.

It is not only a question of money. It is also the realisation of the importance of having such equipment and other facilities to be able to detect mistakes in one’s game. It is the overall attitude that makes a South African or an Australia different from an Indian. No wonder these countries nearly always have the upper hand.

One remembers reading about John McEnroe sitting in front of the video , rewinding it time and again, to find out where he made the vital mistakes in his match against Sweden’s Bjorn Borg in the Wimbledon final. Do Indian players have the facilities to do so? Or if they have the facilities are they inclined in that direction. Here again is the reason why Indian tennis has not been able to go beyond a certain level despite the brilliance of a few individuals.

India does not have a sports culture. It is something which cannot be grown overnight or even in a few decades. But it has had and has any number of sports officials who have made many trips abroad and we have not heard of any illuminating evidence from them on how to improve the standard. Then there is the Sports Authority of India with its wings everywhere and the National Institute of Sports in Patiala on which millions have been spent. These institutes churn out coaches but do they have the facilities of films of great matches, personalities to show the trainees where the Indian makes mistakes. Does the Indian Hockey Federation for instance have video films of matches which India have played?

One cannot understand how such a simple necessity has been overlooked by our administrators? Everyone is willing to give lectures but without understanding the essence of the subject. They should have at least kept their eyes open. Then they would have learnt something. They would have seen the Chinese, Indonesians and Thais for instance taking video films of Prakash Padukone play in order to find out where his weakness lay. They would have seen foreign cameramen taking films of our hockey teams (in those good old days) just to learn the game from the Indians.

These are basic things but somehow they have escaped the notice of our sports administrators. And what of our players. Somehow most of them appear to lack the dedication and professionalism that makes the player from South Africa and Australia so different, so superior. Rahul Dravid was reportedly in Bangalore when his team, Karnataka played Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy tie. Dravid had had a poor tour of Australia and badly needed runs. Not that the Rajasthan attack posed the same threat but it was a question of attitude. Dravid did not play the match though it is debatable if he could have saved Karnataka from losing outright to Rajasthan.

Then there was Nikhil Chopra, the off-spinner from Delhi. Selected for the one-dayer against New Zealand, he wanted to stay away from the Ranji Trophy tie between Delhi and Haryana at the Ferozeshah Kotla. He wanted to concentrate on the Rajkot match and reach there on time. The DDCA Secretary, Sunil Dev, put his foot down. He took permission from the Board for Chopra to reach Rajkot late and insisted that the off-spinner do his duty for Delhi. Chopra played and the match was over with a day to spare and he was able to reach Rajkot well on time.

In sharp contrast there is the attitude of Sachin Tendulkar. Committed to the welfare of Mumbai, he wanted to play the Ranji Trophy semi-final for his team. But since he is to play the Asian XI v World XI in Dhaka at the same time, he wanted the Ranji tie postponed. This is the sort of attitude one would like from our players and it is this difference that makes Sachin Tendulkar what he is!

Swimming pool cries for attention
By Varinder Singh

The Rs 3-crore gymnasium hall and the swimming pool set up in the once prestigious Sports College complex at Jalandhar have been lying in an utter state of neglect and remained underutilised for the past couple of years.

The hall and the pool were set up at a huge cost on the eve of the National Games which were scheduled to be held in the state in 1988. But these facilities could not be utilised as the games were aborted due to reasons best known to the authorities concerned. Even later there has been no serious effort either by the Punjab Sports Department or by the Education Department to put it into use for the benefit of students or fitness freaks, found in abundance in a city like Jalandhar, which had been in the forefront in the arena of sports.

A visit to the half- built gymnasium complex convinces visitors of the uncaring attitude of the authorities and the consequent absence of maintenance of the place. The place resembles an ancient Roman open air theatre even after 10 years of its inception no glass panes have been fixed on the massive iron panels separating the roof and the walls, resulting in difficulties for the gymnastic players, who have been regular visitors here. “It is very difficult to exercise in winter as cold wind enters directly due to absence of panes on the windows,” said one of the athletes, also complaining that the floors were not being cleaned on a regular basis. “You can see the layer of sand and dirt on floors on your own,” he said. “And if this is not enough see the seepage of rain water from the roof, which needs prompt repair,” suggested another student. So much so that one could see the jumping pits in the hall filled up with empty drums instead of jumping pads.

As far as sanitation is concerned, profuse seepage is the first thing which one comes across after one’s entry in the hall apart from the unclean toilets, originally built up for gymnastics and swimming students. From their condition it appears that they have not seen even a single repair after they were set up alongwith the pool and the hall. Same is the case with rooms attached to the hall, some of which at present are being used for storage and dumping of gymnastic and other body-building equipment.

Not much different is the case of the swimming pool, which is used by few students as swimming is not one of the subjects either in the Sports School or the college, located in the same complex. “Actually, we had a very poor response from the students last year and had been unable to find good students. Moreover, there are only half a dozen seats in the wing in the school,” said A.S. Kochhar, the swimming coach adding that keeping in view the response from students, the pool had been opened for general public last summer, who could use it after paying the monthly charging after getting registered.

The sources, however, said the pool has hardly ever been used for the sports purpose. “Even as crores of rupees have went down the drain for creation of the facility and its so called maintenance, let the department tell for how many state or national level games, it had been used, except for some district, one state-level championship in 1988, and some Police Games?” questioned one of the officials of the department, requesting anonymity. “It is ironic that though Punjab has been selected for hosting the National Games scheduled to be held in November this year, yet the swimming competitions are expected to be allotted either to Chandigarh or Ludhiana, despite the fact that the facility is available in our city,” he added.

Interestingly enough, though the Sports and the Education Departments had merged in 1995-96 and the sports facilities went to the Punjab Sports Department but the maintenance was still with the Punjab Public Health Department, which was facing a resource crunch and was not able to pay adequate attention towards the institutes, official sources said. “This dual control was the biggest hindrance in the way of ensuring proper maintenance of the place,” said a sports department official.

Mahesh Bhupathi will be missed
By Sanjay Manchanda

INDIA would be more than keen to turn the tables on the South Koreans when the two teams meet for their Zonal Group Davis Cup tie to be played in New Delhi from April 7 to 9.

The Indian team lost to South Korea 3-2 in the last tie held in Korea in February last year. Both teams have the same members that played last year minus of course Mahesh Bhupathi, who underwent a shoulder surgery in November after the World Doubles Championship in Hartford and was advised long rest. However, there is a strong possibility that Bhupathi will come to Delhi for witnessing the crucial tie, even though he is not a playing member.

The Korean team comprises Lee Hyung-Taik, Yoon Yong-II, Chung Hee Sung and Lee Seung-Hoon and non-playing captain Joo Won Hung (also captain in the last India-Korea tie).

Hyung Taik and Yong incidentally, are the same players who put South Korea 2-0 ahead by winning both singles against Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in February last year. Korean No. 1 Hyung Taik beat Bhupathi, after which Paes lost to Yong-II. Paes and Bhupathi expectedly won the doubles and Paes then beat Hyung-Taik to level up Bhupathi could not pull it across Yong-II, and India lost the tie.

Circumstances will be different this time, with the tie being on grass and in Delhi’s April heat, not the near-freezing temperatures of Korean Cheju Islands.

But the Indians would certainly miss the services of Bhupathi, because his presence would at least have given a headstart of 1-0 in the doubles as with Leander, it would have become a near-impossible task for the Koreans to snatch the doubles tie from the Indians. As a matter of fact, the Indian tennis has become so heavily reliant on Leander and Bhupathi that the absence of one player causes a big void in their Davis Cup pursuits. Indians faced a similar predicament in April, 1998, when Leander withdrew from the India-Italy first round World Group tie held at Genoa due to an injury. No wonders the Indians bowed out from the World Group competitions then without a whimper.

What Indian tennis is suffering from right now is the undeniable lack of quality support players. Paes and Bhupathi, one might argue, are doing so well, in India and abroad. But, beyond that all India can talk of now is those two players, both self-made and both fast improving, but both, surprisingly, unable to motivate the youngsters who take to the courts, aspiring to be no more than state and national champions.

India tennis no doubt, has cornered a lot of Davis Cup glory in the past. As a matter of fact, Davis Cup and India have had a chequered history together. Rarely has one nation with so little to show in terms of computer rankings and circuit points so regularly ambushed big-name teams to virtually carve out a semi-permanent place for itself in the group of 16, the World Group, to which only the best can hope to aspire.

If in years past it was the three-some of Ramanathan Krishnan, Jaideep Mukerjee and Premjit Lall, succeeded by the Amrithraj brothers and Ramesh Krishnan, India’s hopes now revolve around the pairing of Paes and Bhupathi.

But the actual bane of Indian tennis all these years has been the lack of a support cast for the front-ranking players. And today’s scenario is no different.

The term “reserve talent” has no place in the current framework, one that hinges on mediocrity, and waits in the fatalistic hope that some player will have the grit and determination of Paes, or will come from abroad like a breath of fresh air, like Bhupathi and take Indian tennis through another decade of World Group glory.

Now to call up Leander and Bhupathi to bail the country out of the Asia-Oceania group competitions at the cost of their international rankings, especially when they are also aspiring to maintain their status as world’s No. 1 So, the problem at hand has to be dealt not with minor redressals for improvement here and there, but with an entire additudinal change. We cannot shy away from the fact that Indian tennis at this juncture needs some bold initiatives.

It is in this context that it is important that upcoming youngsters are blooded into the mainstream competition to give them the necessary international exposure. Now in this forthcoming tie against South Korea, the new teenage sensation from Chandigarh, Sunil Kumar, should have been given a chance to play alongside Leander instead of continuing with the tried and tested players like Syed Fazaluddin. Some may argue that Sunil is just 16 and maybe too young to handle the pressures of Davis Cup competitions. But we all know that Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut at the same age of 16 and he went on to become the world’s greatest batsman.

Everybody knows in our country that Sunil Kumar has the talent to make it big on the international circuit and he has already proved his mettle by winning the national hardcourt championships at such a young age. So, why not give him an opportunity to nurture and display his full potential right when he is on his way to climb the top.

SPORT MAIL

Walsh’s feat Windies’ finest hour

IT was the finest hour in West Indies’ cricket history when Courtney Walsh dismissed Henry Olonga to capture his 435th Test wicket. He got past Kapil Dev’s record of 434 Test wickets. What a moment for this gentleman from Jamaica! He has reached the top of the ladder and I am sure he will still keep climbing. The important thing is that he has not dragged himself to achieve the record but has taken nearly 60 wickets in the past 12 Tests. He was never considered a frontline bowler and always played the game in the true spirit.

VINISH GARG
Panchkula

Hats off to West Indies bowler Courtney Walsh for making history by taking 435 wickets in Test cricket. Now Wasim Akram, who has taken 383 wickets, is also in the race to reach this landmark.

SUNDER SINGH
Dialpura

Selection panel

Strange are the ways of the selection committee. Once again Bhandari has been dropped without trying him in any match. This action amounts to toying with the career of the young player. Secondly, why Prasad was dropped and taken again is also not understandable. Mongia, who was fit, was not considered for Sharjah. Harbhajan Singh, who is the best off spinner and is doing well with the bat has been completely sidelined.

M.K. JAIN
Panipat

Udham Singh

My memory takes me back to 1945. In DAV College, Jalandhar, a frail-looking active boy known as ‘Udhi’ was turning out to be a magician with the hockey stick. He won laurels for the institution. He was my classmate. Only a couple of days back he met me with a warm smile and I could not dream of his departure so soon. The Urdu couplet “Hazaron saal nargis apnee beynurie pey roti hai, bari mushkal se hota hai chaman mein didawar paida” is an apt tribute to him.

HARKULDIP S BHATIA
Jalandhar

It was shocking to learn that India’s hockey legend Udham Singh died due to cardiac arrest on March 23. He was four-time Olympian and was a very good forward who represented India in the Helsinki, Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo Olympics. He was the first Arjuna awardee and the second player to play four Olympics. He remained committed to hockey all his life. Can we find such a player now ?

SUBHASH C TANEJA
Rohtak

III

To perpetuate the memory of Udham Singh his native village Sansarpur should be named after him. The Department of Posts should release a commemorative stamp in his honour and an award should be instituted by the government in his name.

NARINDER SINGH
Chandigarh