Before being dazzled by the IPL, a look at what lies beyond.
OLD IS GOLD
The other day, sports minister Manohar Singh Gill said the men who comprised the Indian football team of 1956 (they would be in their seventies) could still beat our current crop of internationals. The good minister, one presumes, was trying to praise the team that finished fourth in the 1956 Olympics.
About the current team, he said: “Sometimes the team is ranked 140 ... sometimes 120… I don’t know what has happened to Indian football. Now they may even get beaten by the Australian school team. Even now, you (the 1956 team) may beat the present Indian team by two goals.” He didn’t say what he, as the sports minister, had done about it.
FOOD PLEASE
Indian wrestlers preparing for next year’s Commonwealth Games are asking for more nutritious food at the national camp in Pune. Some of them have complained that although the government has earmarked huge amounts of money for the New Delhi games, enough is not trickling down to the athletes.
They complain of inadequate food, double-toned milk, and vegetables cooked in refined oil. The government has earmarked Rs 700 crore for preparing the elite athletes for the games. Indian wrestlers have performed consistently in international meets. Sushil Kumar won a bronze at last year’s Beijing Olympics.
GREAT INDIAN WEDDING
India’s hopes of using the Commonwealth Games to showcase its capital have hit fresh trouble with a parliamentary committee saying not enough has been done to prepare for the expected influx of visitors.
“There appears to be an utter lack of coordination, determination and sense of urgency among the agencies engaged in providing facilities to the tourists who will be visiting India in connection with the Commonwealth Games,” said the panel on transport, tourism and culture in a report. The sports minister has likened the preparations to the build-up to a big, lavish Indian wedding.
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SUSPENDED DRIBBLING
The Indian Hockey Federation, or IHF, remains suspended. The matter is pending in court. Recently a war of words had been raging between Aslam Sher Khan, a selector, and Harendra Singh, the chief coach.
Since an ad hoc committee came into being, consequent to IHF’s suspension last year, Sher Khan has been in the news for reasons that may not have made him happy. While reports floated that he was miffed at not being made to head the selection committee, the circumstances leading to his demotion to the role of a mere selector from the post of chairman raised eyebrows.
A SPENT FORCE
Former New Zealand cricketer Ewen Chatfield, who played 43 Tests and formed a successful pair with Richard Hadlee, his country’s biggest icon in the game, now drives a taxi. He has also been a courier, a salesman at a chip shop, and has driven a dairy van.