India notebook - Germany teaches India a lesson

Recalled hockey coach Cedric D'Souza will be the first to admit that he has learnt very little from his experiments during the India-Germany hockey Tests which concluded at Chennai on Sunday.

The visiting German team with eight players drawn from the combination that did duty at the Sydney Olympics, won the three match series 2-1, emphasizing once again the continuing difference between the teams particularly when it relates to approach work.

The scoreline in the two Tests won by the Germans was not indicative of the overall control of the situation of the visitors though it must be said that credit goes to the Indian defence which performed extremely well under the circumstances.

Cedric D'Souza has always paid special attention to the midfield where Thirumalvalavan and Baljit Singh Saini and Gill all turned in reasonable tight performance. But where the Indians failed was upfront.

Samir Dad's withdrawal at the last minute because of a recurring back pain was a big blow but the others including Thakur and Gagan Ajit failed to inspire. Though India did win the second Test at Hyderabad by two goals to one the overall story of the series was the same old one, of lack of strike power and enterprise upfront despite the chances.

The home victory in Hyderabad needs to be judged in perspective. Germany was unable to overcome heat and humidity in this city. IHF must be blamed for holding the match in the heat.
If it was bad for Germany it was definitely not all that conducive to the Indians too. Playing a match at 3.45pm is not done. This is not to take the credit away from the home tem where the midfield with Bipin Fernandes, again a picture of consistency, was as solid as ever. And overall if superiority has to be weighed in terms of penalty corners, India had five of them against the three awarded to the Germans.

The other aspect which needed special attention was umpiring. The Germans did not bring one with them. Indian then should have invited someone from the neighbouring country, not necessarily from Pakistan though. There were moments when it looked as though the Germans were not in agreement with all the rulings by the umpires. For the purposes of record, in the 68 meetings so far India has won 14 and Germany 34.

Budget blues

The Union Budget has not exactly been very generous in its allocation for sports this year. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who is also the President of the All India Tennis Federation, has increased the dole by as little as Rs210 million, from Rs1,519.3 million to Rs1,731.5 million.

Of the Rs210 million increase Rs200 million has been allotted to the Afro Asian Games. The actual benefit for sports is thus Rs10 million.

As always the Sports Authority of India walks away with about 70 per cent of the amount provided. And of this amount 80 per cent of the sum goes towards meeting the wages of its staff and only 20 per cent is available for maintaining the infrastructure in the capital and various other places and conducting coaching camps for Indians squads preparing for international events.

The minister has cut down on the allocation of funds for laying synthetic tracks and surfaces. The message is very clear. The Ministry is not happy with the utilisation of funds. The blame has to be shared by the IOA and the federation.

In Delhi for example the two astro turfs available are in a bad shape. Government has been promising to lay a fresh synthetic track for nearly five years. Nothing has been done so far. Maybe it will do something before the Afro Asian Games.

An age old problem

There is a blow for sports organizers of junior tournaments as Dr. K.S. Parthasarathy, secretary to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Boards, claims that determination of age by x-raying bone joints is not a justified practice.

This follows the move of the BCCI to subject alleged overage players in the under-16 and under-19 tournaments to X-ray tests. The malaise is not restricted to cricket alone. According to Dr. Parthasarathy the X-ray test is not clinically justified.

Not only does it involve risk, but the result may suffer from an error to the extent of plus or minus two years. It seems sports organizers will have to look at the other possibilities to determine the true ages of the competitors.