NEW DELHE: A strange, and to some, familiar -sight meets the eye as you look over the shoulder at Indian sport even as the sands of time run out to consign 1989 to the hazy, labyrinthine confines of history.
Curiously, it was a year of hope as much as it was of despair, of achievement, and failure. Of pain and joy, of the old and typically, of controversies that threatened the very structure of sport in the country.
For all that our sportsperson did -or, did not on the field, no single event took the nation by storm as the bitter wrangle, between the cricketers and the administration, which went all the way before ending in the Supreme Court
But in terms of sport in its purest form, track queen P.T. Usha’s return to the golden trail from injury, insult and ignobility as well as the national archery squad’s glorious conquest of the Asian title merit top mention,
Even as the hockey squad toils manfully to sustain the upswing in its fortunes, the year will go down as the first in which India’s twin sporting ambassadors, Vijay Amritraj and Prakash Padukone, did not wear national colors.
The Indian cricketers showing in Pakistan where the young Sanjay Manjrekarand Sachin Tendulkar won many heart, and battles against the home paceman, saw the year end on a most hopeful note.
That stood out in stark contrast to the time when the team returned from the disastrous tour of the West Indies earlier in the year, plunging a cricket crazy people in despair.
The trip to Sharjah for a one day series and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centenary Gold Cup tournament did not do anything to refurbish the side’s image.
The intervening period between the visit to the Caribbean Islands and the Sharjah Cup Tournament saw the players go the United States and Canada for “an exhibition series.”
They immediately earned the displeasure of the Mandarins in the board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) and the sympathy of the people following a one year ban imposed on six of the alleged mercenaries,
Only when a division bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice ES, Venkataramaiah, questioned the BCI’s monopoly status did the board beat a hasty retreat and lifted the sanctions on the players.
Navjot Sidhu, who began the year with an awesome reputation that he gained in the reliance cup and later, also emerged unscathed from a court case, which charged him with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”
But, before he was cleared of the charge, the dashing batsman could undertake the tour of the West Indies with special permission from the court. He did not let that ‘come in the way of his scoring 286 against Jamaica for a record score by an Indian on foreign soil.
Left hander wookery Venkat Raman of Tamil Nadu, flown in to the West Indies as injured Krish Srikkanth’s replacement, reminded the national selectors that he should have been in the team of his own steam having piled up a record 1018 runs in Ranji trophy.
Roger Binny, star of India’s 1983 World Cup and 1985 World Championship of cricket triumphs, was piqued by being reduced to the status of a “nets bowler” for the West Indies bound team and announced his retirement.
He retracted from it much later, “to serve the cause of Karnataka cricket” was a different story altogether. He came close to being picked for the assignments that followed.
‘Sandip Patil was another who came out of retirement, hoping to join the Indian team whiles the “little master” Sunil Gavaskar wisely refused to be talked out of retirement.
There can be little doubt that track and field sport last year came to enjoy mass appeal, thanks to the dynamic initiatives by the amateur athletic federation of India President, Suresh Kalmadi.
The Nehru centenary run was clubbed with the Delhi marathon, for which the competitive level was pretty high. Briton Tony Simmons won the marathon, leading Kalmadi to say, “This is only the beginning, wait for more big names.”
The AAFI boss was as good as his word. The permit meet in September christened nehru centenary international saw Carl Lewis, said Aouita, Evelyn Ashford, Julius Kariuki, David and Sandra Patrick, Grace Jackson, Danny Everett, Billy Konchellah, Tony Campbell, Greg Foster, Steve Ovett, John Walker, Steve Backley and many more on show.
The likes of Aouita Ashford the Patrick’s and kariuki lived up to expectations but Lewis was beaten by an unknown Austrian policeman, Andreas Berger-rather than by a steroid like Stanozolol,
If the permit meet provided heady stuff to the Indian athletics fan, the Asian track and field championship that followed in November was the stage which Usha used effectively to regain her place in the hearts of the people.
Ridiculed by many after the disaster at the Seoul Olympic Games, Usha worked hard-with a lot of help from Ayurveda that helped cure her painful heel problem, to leave a final, indelible signature on the firmament of Indian sport.
A heartening show by the Indian contingent was led by Usha. Five gold’s and a silver were adequate testimony to the lady’s incredible resolve and inherent talent.
But much before that, Usha served notice of her intent with a good showing at the inter railway meet here early this year,
The inter-state championship at Guntur in a humid march, the national open at Madras in August, the masters meet at Trivandrum all on different surfaces, and the permit meet were only stepping stones on her way back to the top.
Indian track and field sport also received a shot in the arm with champion material in Bahadur Prasad and Ashwini Nachappa surfacing strongly while the “killer instinct” of Arjun Deviah was in display in all its splendor,
The manner in which the beard sprinter from Bangalore ran the anchor leg of the 1600m relay final in the Asian meet just failing to cap the splendid effort with gold for India will remain the best of sights in memory.
Having looked at all that was good in Indian athletics this year; it would only be fair to mention the ills that plague the sport. ‘The running feud between the AAFI and the sports authority of India has caught athletes helplessly in the crossfire
Can you forget that a group of 10 athletes were herded into a delayed flight to London by SAI when the AAFI was against such a trip? Or that a sore AAFI served show cause notices on the poor athletes on the eve of the south Asian Federation games in Islamabad?
Talking of the SAF games, you cannot but recall that host Pakistan made rapid strides to catch India unawares in athletics, table tennis, boxing and volleyball
A sweep of the opening day’s five gold medals stunned the entire Indian contingent, Thanks to athletes like Anand Natarajan, who emerged a bright sprinting prospect, and the women -minus Usha; of course India came away with its reputation intact.
Boxing touched a dismal low; the home team taking 10 of the 12 gold’s with just Manoj Pingale doing that for India,
The biggest shock of the games for India was in volleyball, where Pakistan bounced back from two sets down to win the title in the face of strong home crowd support.
Coming weeks after Pakistani’s win against India at the Asian championship in Seoul, it was a sad day for Indian volleyball lovers.
Kamlesh Mehta, who lost the national Men’s Table Tennis crown in February, with Manmeet Singh finally emerging on top alter years of struggle, closed the year accepting the home truth that he was unable to get the better of Pakistan Arif Nakhuda for the second time running the SAF games.
If it was not for a half fit Khajan Singh proving strong enough for a haul of seven gold’s, the Indian swim team would have returned from Islamabad a battered outfit.
The only surprise, if you can call it that, was Khajan Singh’s loss to teammate Sebastian Xavier in the 50m freestyle, Earlier, Khajan Singh returned from Trento in Italy with a silver medal in the world police games.
The SAF games were the only multi discipline outing for India and they served to illustrate that our sportspersons have to do a great deal to keep pace with the sporting giants of the continent in the Asian games next year.
The archery squad of Limba Ram, Shyamlal Meena and Hkalzang Donji showed it was well aware of the target, winning the ‘Asian championships at Beijing, where the ‘Asian games will be held in 1990,
For a man who could shoot moving objects, Limba ram may have been surprised that he was asked to aim at a stationary target. But, along with Meena and Dorji, he put India on the Asian map in archery and at once stood out as an example of the good work done by Sai’s special area games scheme
‘Away from the media’s watchful eyes, Maj. A.S. Ahluwalia also won the Asian show jumping prize in Tokyo. That was the first time an Indian rider had done well in a showjumping competition.
‘Coming, as it did, with an unfamiliar horse, his efforts deserved the highest praise as they spoke richly of his riding skill and the ability to strike an immediate rapport with any animal
A first ever gold in Asian rowing, through the coxed fours of Ram Kumar, Dilip Kumar, G.D. Ghorai, Jasbir Singh and V.Y Rao and a medal after 27 years in Men’s Asian cycling through Balraj Singh Cheema were among the other highlights.
Surely Yasin Merchant’s Asian Snooker Championship victory and the Asian Cadet sailing gold through Cyrus Cama and Amish Ved cannot also be forgotten. Merchant did himself and the national proud by becoming the first Indian to win the Asian crown.
Staying on with the Baize games, the double reverse for Geet Sethi in the national billiards and snooker championships at Srinagar was a major surprise; He had a firm grip on the two prizes for four years
Article extracted from this publication >> January 5, 1990
