India notebook - Mohun Bagan claims the Cup honours

The football scene picked up momentum with the seasons first major tournament outside of Calcutta, the Durand providing some really absorbing matches in Delhi last week.
One could not have wished for a more fitting preamble to the National League starting soon.

The four top in-form teams clashed in the semifinals and set the stage for a Mahindra United and Mohun Bagan meeting in the final.
Mohun Bagan were determined to add to the top honours claimed in the Airlines Cup and the Governors Gold Cup. They put their seal on the final with a golden goal by striker Prakash.

                                  
Bangalore last week was the venue for a get-together of tennis legends.
It was a rare occasion with the past masters gathering for the Gold Flake Legends championship which according to Henri Leconte "had lot more fun winning Grand Slam matches and playing in Davis Cup".

The unique tour party making its first visit to India, thanks to the efforts of Vijay Amritraj.
Among the former heavyweights was Sweden's Bjorn Borg, whom Vijay called an all-time icon of the game, Pat Cash of Australia, Guillermo Vilas who still holds the record of 50 consecutive victories in 1977-78, Mansour Bahrami, the Iranian-born Frenchman and Ross Case.
The legends had not come to Bangalore just for reviving old memories. They had come to play and in the words of Vijay Amritraj, "We enjoy it, but when we get on with it, we are serious about winning."

Pat Cash obviously was very serious about it and went on to win the title beating Bjorn Borg 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 in the final. Borg however made sure of the doubles crown when in partnership with Mansour Behrami he beat Vijay Amritraj and Henri Leconte 3-6, 6-2, 10-4.
By far the youngest of the elite group, Pat Cash has very close links with India, Calcutta in particular. He is involved in charity work, heading the UK chapter of charity organization "Goal" which raises funds for the welfare o the street children in the Eastern metropolis.

Doha's acceptance as the venue for the 2006 Asian Games and the withdrawal after the first round exit of New Delhi has come in as a shock.
Obviously the Indian Olympic Association had miscalculated grossly. The puzzle of how Doha was given preference to both Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong will, however, take some solving.

One sincerely hopes that this failure to get New Delhi accepted as a venue for the third time will serve as a lesson to the over-confident Indian Olympic Association.
New Delhi is already a host for the first ever Afro-Asian Games, scheduled next year, and there was no need for the IOA to become more ambitious.
It is now some eighteen years since the Asian Games were held in New Delhi and neither the IOA and nor any other agency has been able to maintain properly the infrastructure built for that purpose.

In fact the Nehru Stadium where the athletics and football competition was held is hardly used much what with the Permit Meet also being withdrawn from India.
And no effort has been made to re-lay the synthetic surface laid specially for the women's hockey competition at the Shivaji Stadium.
The athletics scene in fact has shifted to Qatar which has staged some four Grand Prix Meetings. And it has also received praise for its efforts from Primo Nebiolo, head of the IAAF.

It would be better for the IOA to concentrate on the domestic scene and help the federations get some much needed modern equipment for the competitors.
There is no need to host multi-discipline sports till India is able to ensure some medals.